Miyu shook a bit at the earthquake, but she stayed true to her job throughout it, still looking outward towards the entrance. She waited until she was called to move. She turned to Kinzo first.

"I'm going to booby trap the entrance. Don't let anyone leave without me clearing this."

Reaching into her pouch, she pulled out two disks, and put them on either side of the entrance. They were proximity mines. Finishing up in seconds, she made her way to the whole that Homuru and Boshu had fallen through. This was going to suck slightly. With a sigh, Miyu jumped down it, hitting the bottom and rolling. Not having a single traditional jutsu included Tree Climbing, which was more than a loss at times. But at least she was fit.

"Entrance is booby trapped by me, by the way. Don't go running past it. Well, unless you feel lucky."

Miyu brushed off the debris on her, though it probably wasn't truly going to come off. She might like to be clean, but honestly if cleanliness was the only casualty on the mission, it was a hell of a good mission. It was cold too, another minor nuisance.

"Are either of you any good with languages? If so can I leave this with you? I'll keep a watch out for anything coming from that hole in the wall. Be ready for a fight just in case."

"I don't think anyone here's good a with a language like this. Couldn't hurt to mess with it though."
Miyu hit the 'return' button, and messed with the terminal, doing as many familiar actions as she could, such as enter, pointing to objects on teh screen and clicking, or hitting the back button. She had no idea what she was doing to be honest, but if it increased their chances of success.

Something else Miyu noted was the light in the room, so she stored her flashlight. That was right before the earthquake hit, causing Miyu to pull out her staff from her back.

"These are too frequent to be normal. Earth jutsu around here? Some excavation of people still around? Some large creature? Anyone have any sensory techniques? I kinda have to admit I'm... lacking in that area. [size=1]And the jutsu department[/size]."

Tapo had stayed together with his team for as long as the mission allowed. They had arrived at their mission site without much issue, the pilots staying in the VTOL, leaving the team alone to face what lied ahead. Eita suggested that Tapo and him should search the residential areas, the leaf shinobi accepted that as a good idea, if only because he had no interest in hanging around his fellow Leaf shinobi. He was far too energetic for his taste. It can't be healthy for a Jonin to be so childish, which lead to Tapo having a hard time trusting Shizuka. The girl, Chichiro, was a peculiar one. Deeply religious, sure. But at least not a Jashin-worshipping weirdo. Tapo had dealt with them a couple of years ago, an isolated radical Jashin clan, their priest had managed to reach a state close to immortality - while interesting, it made him quite troublesome to dispatch. Tapo had cut the priest into pieces and spread those pieces around a 50 Kilometer area, after putting them in sealed coffins and digging a four foot hole. Beautiful Roses grew on the grave site, so the Radical at least served some purpose now.

Tapo moved into the residential area, signaling the Jonin from the Stone Empire to scout ahead with his bugs. Tapo didn't know too much about him - most of his files were secret and not something the international taskforce in Amegakure would've shared with Konoha. What he did know was from his Konoha compatriots fighting his kind during the war. They proved to be the Aburame clan's equals in their mastery of lower lifeforms, and while chakra enhanced bugs are just as disgusting as regular bugs, they certainly could be useful.

Tapo drew his Grey Sparrow, the cold blade humming with a white glow from Tapo's chakra flowing through it as Tapo twirled his wrist, his left hand holding one of his Petal Kunai. While creeping silently, he scouted the area. It looked oddly normal.. Not like the evil lair of doom Intel had made him prepare for. Not yet, anyway. Looking around, the duo eventually came upon the journal - with the bugs giving them the all-clear on the immediate danger, Tapo saw it fit to begin looking through the book. Most of the pages were completely undecipherable. Whoever it belonged to must have been a medical shinobi - or a scientist, considering the shitty handwriting. The few pages that were legible, Tapo began deciphering and within a few minutes he had figured out most of the words on the legible pages.

Tapo beganreading out loud, quiet enough to not disturb - but enough for his partner to hear him. As he finished, he had an uneasy look on his face. Nori Kinsei.. He was here? A year ago? That's.. Interesting.. Guy must be ancient. Tapo stated, looking around cautiously. Your scouts picking up anything? I've got a bad feeling about this place. Sword and kunai back at the ready.

Kinzo Uragiri

^{Raijin Dynasties | Chunin | Squad 3}

---

Kinzo was far from comfortable with the current state of affairs. Even on the occasional solo runs he had done for the tribe he had never been in a location so void of life. Even the air itself was still. It felt as if they had travelled to the home of the Shinigami. However he did not allow these feelings to make any physical manifestation. He remained aware of his surroundings and maintained his watch over the tunnel that Homuru and Boshu had entered.

It was due to his continued vigilance that he heard the cracking sound coming from the tunnel. He cautiously moved forward, just as Boshu began to speak. Of course she ended up being interrupted as the ground gave way beneath her and Homuru. Kinzo quickly closed the distance between himself and the new hole. Upon reaching the edge of the hole he carefully leaned over it. Seeing that both of his Iwa squadmates were alright he waited at his position until orders were received.

”Nothing has changed up here following the collapse, we will join you down there shortly.” Kinzo’s response to their team leader was immediately followed by Miyu’s announcement of booby trapping the path they had used for entry. He waited for the Kiri Nin to make the plummet through the hole and after taking one last look around the area they had been in he followed after her.

Kinzo soon fell in step behind the others, his eyes scanning their surroundings all the while. This area was a lot more open than the previous one, a fact he was grateful for. There would be a much lower chance of him endangering his allies with his jutsu in this setting and judging by the size of the hole where there once was a massive door this was a benefit.

”Unfortunately much like Miyu said I have no knowledge of what this language is. Hopefully her tinkering with it will lead to a positive result.”

Much like the others he reacted to the new tremor by taking a combative stance, though he didn’t focus his line of site only on the hole in the wall. Instead he let his gaze move across the entire room, worried that if something did arrive it would burst through another location.

---

The team was deep underground, disconnected from the world they knew and plunged into one shrouded in mystery. The sense of dread they felt could only be accompanied by a sensation of absolute loneliness as they realized just how advanced some of this architecture and technology truly was. It would then leave some to think as to why they've never met a civilization beyond those of the Shinobi World when they had all of this before them. Surely a single man with maybe a few goons couldn't have just made this on their own, even with all the time in the world.

The Iwa duo was more keen on keeping a lookout, with a fixation dedicated to this odd hole. The hole itself led to nothing but more depths, as the railway access was indeed cut-off by a wall of stone and metal. The kind they had as much change shoving off as destroying the other doors that blocked the tracks' passage. The terminal itself was dark, only illuminated by the blue beacons surrounding the area. A type of low-energy lightning that could last for a while, given the lack of prove of any recent activity.

Miyu was the one to go full Carpe Diem, which would yield some benefits. Notably, a high-pitched buzzing sound accompanied by sudden flashes of light. Each train had 'activated', with previously dark, metal surfaces of the machines now lightning up in the shape of two oddly curved 'S' shapes with a triangle set on the top right-hand corner. Essentially the image at the top of this post. All of them had the same insignia.

E L Y S I A

Was what the screen displayed upon selecting the 'Return' option and activating the transport. The characters were still somewhat foreign but that specific term was very much in realms of Miyu's understanding. Though, with such a great breakthrough, there had to be something going on here. It would come under the form of yet another earthquake, though this one was not only violent, but actually presented a threat to each individual present. The rumbling was violent enough to make almost anyone that hadn't immediately activated their feet-chakra jutsu to lose their footing.

Dust quickly accumulated in the area and easily drowned the whole terminal in a storm of thick sand and dust. All the while, the seismic activity didn't cease. It actually became stronger, and louder. Until they could hear what resembled an explosion, though without any sort of knock back or fire to be seen.



A giant, blue light aimed directly toward the control room's glass seemed to fixate Miyu in particular, even though it could easily encompass all others nearby. The dust and sand in the air as well as a very sudden accumulation of steam and smoke shrouded the source of the light. Before they could make a run of it or charge at it, however, the suspended control room would seem to be compressed in its center, as would a soda can, by a pair of metallic, black claws. Miyu was separated from the Iwa duo who covered the room's exit.



Whatever prompted that light seemed to have quite a hold on the supervision, glass room as it would seem to crush it further every half-second it held onto the room. Though, that would matter little as the behemoth mystery-creature would quickly rip the room off the ceiling and crash it down to the floor like a hammer. The impact itself would be enough to cause the metal and stone flooring to fissure and shatter. Had the Iwa duo either hopped back into the room to avoid being crushed or jumped off at the last minute, they'd find themselves landing in a level under the station. Had they remained inside, the surrounding glass would have given out and allowed for an escape anyway.

There was a room under the row of tracks the room had crashed against, with a very thin ceiling, which explained why the control room hadn't simply been flattened upon impact. The Iwa duo found themselves in a somewhat lit room, with dust still reining above them. They could see clearly here. What they would find would be a set of three large cases and a few sealed lockers. Each case held a few combat-oriented tools:

-The first held three arrow-like projectiles. The ends were dull and blue.

-A set of three spherical items, blue as well. They had a peculiar 'timer' on them.

-A pair of light-blue gloves, layers are relatively thin.

Each element didn't have any sort of instructions nor were they intuitive whatsoever. They were also attached to the cases, requiring active effort to remove them. Effort they'd barely have enough time for as stone and metal from the big hole from before was ready to befall them.

As for Miyu, well, she couldn't access the lower levels, given how the control room was squeezed and crushed into two new rooms. The glass around the room had shattered completely, allowing her to feel the absurd amount of heat emitted from whatever generated the huge, blue light. The claw that had seized the room had since released its grip, and instead sought to penetrate through the upper-area of the room and grab a hold of Miyu. Given how its movements were imprecise and struggling to push against the remaining metallic window frames, it'd be possible that the smoke, dust and steam blurred its vision as well, giving an opportunity for Miyu.

Kinzo, on his end, given his position ambiguous, could see the thing from the outside. Or rather, the giant silhouette concealed in the dark and dust. The heat around it made its body almost like a mirage. But it was big, and somewhat humanoid-like with only its upper body pushing out of the ground due to the size of the room. It had two arms, one being the dual claws that had been frequently using, while the other resembled some sort of cone. A drill, perhaps? It was occupied with the broken off control room and grabbing Miyu, giving Kinzo the most options in deal with the situation.

Boshu Sen'Yo

---

Underground place with some dead trains, legit

"Well then we'll see if we can prepare a situation for you to be able to capture what or whomever comes out." Boshu briefly said before Miyu began fiddling with the computer interface to figure out how to work it. Miyu may not have been a translator but her at least giving it a go was appreciated by Boshu whilst she and the rest of the team prepared for an encounter, the sight of the trains coming to life was a welcome surprise, a mental note would be made of the marking on each of them in case it meant something.

Whilst Miyu fiddled with the computer Boshu got the encounter she was expecting, yet it was certainly far more unexpected in terms of scale than it could have originally been, what with the giant something and the claw destroying most if not all of the control room. In fact had Boshu been a second late with gluing herself to the floor in the first place she would've probably been thrown off her feet by the strength of the quake that hit them.

The fact that she couldn't make out what it was despite it's size was only because of all this damned dust and smoke that followed it's arrival, part of her was angry that she didn't see it before it got to them but another part of her was more concerned about remaining alive so as soon as she had a chance to move she leapt off of the walkway and soon landed with a roll into a room she'd not seen previously. To think that there was some kind of hidden armoury underneath this station.

At this point she noticed that Homuru was down here as well, likely due to either following her lead or just pure coincidence. "You okay Homuru?"

The concept of why it was here was dwarfed by the fact that it was here and still had equipment they could probably take back to have some researchers look into, or even make use of right now. In the vein of thought that they could use some of it now, Boshu was quick to stow her three prepared arrows away and wrench the case of arrows out of whatever it was secured in so to give herself something that might help against this behemoth of a thing. "Don't know what these are gonna do, but let's take them anyway and give them a field test, so to speak. Then we've got to get back up to help Tachibana and Uragiri, any ideas on how to tackle that thing up there?"

Her words to Homuru were pretty open-ended, as she wasn't exactly expecting much of a response if any whilst there were other things to worry about, besides Homuru knew what he was doing so she could trust him to come up with something that he could do on his own end to help the situation.
Once she'd taken the case she'd start making her way back up to the railway terminal.

Miyu Tachibana

Miyu was initially ecstatic at the success she was having. She was trying to as she worked, though to be honest she still had little clue what she'd done, or if she could do it again. Still, didn't stop her looking smug. She'd said she'd always succeed. It just took a little smarts. Two of the trains came to life in the area, that was good. What would another button press do? The answer seemed to be to bring an insignia to light.

"Elysia... I'm going to have to remember that."

Sure, they hadn't found Nori yet, but little things first. If they could operate a train, it would conserve stamina, and be a hell of a lot faster than running the whole way. Still, little successes tended to get shaken easily. So did the floor apparently, Miyu being sent straight onto her ass from the shaking. She regretted so many things right now, like not learning Feet-Chakra Jutsu. The shaking only got worse, those Miyu eventually found her balance.

The universe wasn't even started on her yet, however. A blue light illuminated her like a police search light. It seemed focused straight on her.

"You know, most computers just say login failed. Uh... anyone have any idea what the hell that is?"

The entire control center started to implode, as if grabbed by something massive... and angry, but mostly massive. Miyu grabbed her staff looking a little hesitant.

"I don't make mistakes... I don't make mistakes... just another obstacle... I don't make mistakes."

Her madness mantra was interrupted in part by gravity, but more the floor collision.

The entire room seemed to have been sent crashing to the floor, Miyu with it. For a second the force sent her airborne into the room, before she too found the floor, rather hard. A spray of debris flew across the area, leaving lots of little cuts across Miyu. Suddenly the dread that had been filling her felt much deeper. It took her a second to regain herself.

Sights weren't looking much better, she was apparently now part of a live game of claw machine. Boshu and Homuru were no where to be seen, which meant from where they were earlier, they must have been thrown out of the room from the sheer force. The claw creaked again as it reached for her, stopped only by the roof. Miyu wiped a bloody cut with her hand. She wished she had more natural energy to use right now... but that would probably be a waste of time. Still, all the chaos meant battle. Miyu was a Mist Shinobi. She knew battle. This was at least SOMETHING familiar. No unknown languages, no weird paths, just an obstacle. Miyu finally smiled a bit, looking a bit crazed. FINALLY something she could do with certainty.

The blue light on her was still blazing, now it was hot as well as bright. Looking at it, there was definitely some sort of mechanical monstrosity ontop of her. She couldn't see it due to the heat mirages, dust, and debris. But... it hadn't caught her with the claw either. Maybe it didn't know where she was?

"Tch. What do you know Miyu. You got seconds to put it together... perfect. This is a giant monstrosity. Messing with the computer made me its targets. No one else is in this room. This things hot, and metal, probably a machine. It's watching me with a light.... which is far brighter than anything I have on... but does it have to be? Got it!"

Miyu reached into her pack pulling out two tags from two different compartments.

光 - Light

死過度 - Overkill

She wrapped them around two kunai as she saw the claw break through more of the window getting closer to her. She had a time limit now.

"LOOK AWAY!"

Finding gaps between the claw, she threw the first tagged kunai angled towards the giant, and then the second one straight towards source of the light. The first kunai burst into a brilliant flare that would be blinding to the area, if the debris wasn't enough. Hopefully it would hide the second kunai thrown towards the center of the light. Miyu hated using her strongest equipment off the bat, but she had two suspicions. The first, the blue light was this things eyes. Second, the force of, oh, twenty tags would be enough to make that eye sting a bit.

Of course, that left Miyu with another problem, getting the hell out of there. The claw or the heat was going to get to her soon enough. Oh well, one thing at at time.

If the monster was at least momentarily blinded, Miyu tried her best to stay as quiet as possible until she could find a safe exit. Or at least notice the monstrosity distracted enough for her to exit through the broken areas without getting smashed.

As far as seeing, if that light was its eyes, who knows what else it has? Audio? It'd have to be really advanced to hear me through all the noise it makes. Not impossible though. Heat sensing? Well, its probably too hot itself to have heat sensors. Sensing chakra? I can't suppress mine, so I'd be screwed there, but seems a little hard to program into a machine.

Tch, I don't fail, but I'm kinda screwed if my teammates don't get that thing attention. Then again, if they're smart, they'll ditch me, and keep chasing after Nori. Not failing means mission first, your teammates second. Just keep thinking of a way out, Miyu... Can't fail yet!

---

Jinzo's head was filled with a high-pitched ringing. Despite readying himself beforehand, the attack had caught him unawares and forced him off balance causing him to fall as the room he was stood in plummeted into the floor below before the ground itself seemed to give way too. It was only due to his instincts that he was able to scramble to his feet in order to leap through the shattered window of what used to be the observation room. He rolled to a stop, finding himself in a new place entirely. As he regarded his new surroundings, Jinzo's hearing slowly returned to him. ^{_{"You okay}} Homuru?"

It was Boshu, she was down here alongside him, although she almost seemed to be completely unfazed by the recent events as he watched her grab a strange case of arrows. Acting without thought, Jinzo swiped the case that held the gloves. He wasn't sure what used they'd be to anyone but he figured the brass wouldn't mind taking a look. "Any ideas on how to tackle that thing up there?" Boshu spoke again. Before Jinzo could respond, his attention was drawn to the hole above - a familiar sight during this mission so far - and the rubble that was about to fall.

He dropped the case that held the gloves and immediately slammed his hands onto the ground yelling, "Rock Pillar Prison!" Despite the earlier resistance, Jinzo managed to materialize three, large pillars that reached up to the edge of the hole, securing floor above and preventing any further debris from cascading down into the hole. He took a moment to inspect his work, confirming that any immediate danger had passed.

His fellow Tiger hadn't seemed to notice, he thought. Or maybe she did and had expected him to do something about it already? Either way, she was already making her way back up to the others in order to combat whatever had thrown them through the floor. Jinzo, however, stayed behind. Manipulating the earth hadn't been too difficult but converting the earth to crystal was definitely going to take longer. He called out to his squad mate, finally. "Same as before, Boshu. I need you to buy me some time."

Kinzo Uragiri

^{Raijin Dynasties | Chunin | Squad 3}

---

Kinzo’s emotions flickered between irritated with Miyu for causing the violent quakes that shook the entire vicinity, he was fortunate that he had followed his instincts and channeled his chakra to his feet to keep himself standing, and grateful that whatever she had down had caused a reaction at all. The silence of the place had been gnawing away at him and to finally have it removed was a temporary relief, even if the dust that soon swallowed the terminal was bothersome.

This relief quickly abated as Kinzo witnessed the control room wretched into the air by a figure that he could not quite make out due to the dust. He silently cursed himself for not being aware of its existence or even having the time to warn his comrades when it emerged in spite of his vigilance to watch the area as a hole.

He quickly pushed aside these thoughts knowing that they wouldn’t be beneficial. Reaching down to his sides he removed a total of eight kunai from his pouches, four in each hand. With ease he channalled his chakra into them, causing black lightning to leap up and down the metal.

”Black Current Kunai!” With a flick of his wrists Kinzo sent all eight lightning coated kunai flying towards the conical shaped arm of the machine. He wasn’t finished with his attack though, as the moment his hands were freed they came together to came together in the Snake seal.

”False Darkness!” Black lightning erupted from his mouth in the form of a spear as he activated the jutsu, It was aimed at the back of the machine, as close to the center as he could aim given the dust and mirage like haze that surrounded it.

---

The pale skinned kunoichi took it upon herself to investigate the surrounding area, it seemed no one really had asserted real authority or leadership over the group. With no clear leader the group kind of just buggered off and did their own thing. Shizuka’s precautions and reconnaissance were wasted on the group as Erika just rampaged forward like a bull in a china shop. This was quite the abhorrent behavior for one who seemed so reserved and delicate, almost like a flower. Who knows, perhaps it was the book she carried that gave her this kind of charisma and sense of security. Whatever as the case, Shizuka followed promptly behind her as she began her own investigation. “I don’t really like the dark, I can’t see anything when it’s dark out. So let’s shine some light on them kay?” Shizuka said with eyes smiling for him.

The dilapidated building was nothing more than a childish guise, what was housed inside was far more interesting. It seemed the group was caught in a fork in the road, not literally, but nevertheless they had to split. In any scenario splitting up was a sure fire way of being killed and picked off easier than staying in one large group, but this seemed to have called for special variables. After some quick deliberation by the insect man AKA Bug-Man, Shizuka’s super hero moniker he donned onto the fellow shinobi, the groups split. Shizuka wasn’t bothered who he was paired with as long as they didn’t really get in his way. With bible thumping Erika now in his party, the two wandered off to find this mystical laboratory. A sudden stream of relief poured itself into Shizuka’s lungs. The familiar feeling of a clean and sanitized space filled the boy with glee and effervescence. The boy collapsed the air filtration mask he had on and took one deep inhalation of clean air.

With a new outlook on life Shizuka quickly went to work, his eyes moved like buttons being pushed on a typewriter. The ruby eyed ninja couldn’t make tails end of the writing on the documents he found or on anything with writing actually. Having ruled out the ability to read any of the foreign writing, Shizuka stuck to visual evidence to help guide their path. Examining the rest of the room, his eyes were glued to the only thing keen enough to warrant any attention, hazard tape. Air walking over tables and equipment the young boy touched down in the face of the black and yellow tape. Without much thought he cut through the tape with a finger cloaked in highly pressurized wind chakra. Flicking the wind off his finger allowed the doors to part just enough for him to squeeze through.

What Shizuka found on the other side was quite interesting to say the least. “Hey Erika come over here and check this out. You might want to consult your book on answers for this” Religion always seemed like wasted energy to Shizuka, he much rather believed in that the earth had a soul and had distinct spiritual essences. Regardless that was neither here nor there, while he signaled for the pale girl to run over, the boy tried with all his might to open the reinforced access doors but to no avail. Instead, he did manage to make out seals placed on each of the chambers within. Shizuka was never too good with seals so he left that to Erika as he continued to look around. Unsheathing his sword, with the tail end of his handle he broke through the green box taking the pills while clearing the rest of the glass. “There’s some instructions on here I can’t read, here keep it as a bookmark” Tossing it over his shoulder he guided the piece of paper with air, creating a pathway to meet directly up with Erika.

“I’m not much for linguistics or deciphering unknown language, but I can tell what illustrations mean and I don’t think these are too friendly” each adjacent chamber had a picture of multiple animals. It was similar to a zoo or an aquarium where they keep the image and description of the species on the walls outside of the glass. The only difference was these were no normal animals, quite possibly genetically spliced or an amalgamation formed from some use of Kinjutsu, whatever was the case, Shizuka was glad he hadn’t opened the chamber doors. “Well now what? There’s nothing really more we can do in here, not until we figure out what those instructions mean. And I ain’t ready to go to Old McDonald’s farm just yet” The wind child joked.

---

The rooms felt... Well they looked very mechanical. Clearly it was expected of the teams living here to operate at base, or at the very least were so busy working that pleasantries did not exist. Since Eita found no photos of loved ones or any general material goods outside of the bare minimum. Or... There had managed to be an evacuation. He doubted that was the case, but at the very least this told them something about the lives of the scientists. At the very least he made sure to inspect the drinks, and picked up one bottle in particular. The one that seemed most familiar. A cherry vintage. He'd have to bring it back for "inspection." Customs might try to stop him, but considering every team needed a victory drink he figured why not? "You'd think if the beverages were any good, an evacuation team would have made sure to take these with them." Eita muttered, loud enough for his ally to hear. "At the very least studying the compounds used in the drinks could help use determine what kind of foods they prefer. Even if it does end up being just our own."

While Tapo translated, it was up to Eita to mostly stand and watch guard. And yet, something came to mind. Why did this seem to be the only diary? Did the research team who worked here only keep notes in the science lab? Is it possible that somebody else came through and took the others, or made sure to destroy anything about the personal lives? Unlikely, but Eita liked the idea. Made the whole scenario feel bigger. Until...
"Nori Kinsei?" Eita turned to read over Tapo's shoulder, before realizing that was rude and took a step back. "If Nori Kinsei was here that could mean anything. Doesn't have to be him. Could be some kind of name that became popular in this region after he arrived." But maybe... No, he was overthinking things. Clearly a coincidence, but this would have to be brought back to the Kages. "Make sure to keep that. It might be important." He said, already thinking of what they just read.

"Clearly the scientific research team met their ends at the hands of something with venom. After all, the journal confirms a bite. Can't be an insect. They have stingers for poison. Ruling out mammals, who except in rare cases don't possess any kind of gland for poison, and we're left with reptiles." Already Eita was devising a weapon for serpents. A smooth metal cylinder was being formed between his fingers, shaped by his metal chakra. Upon finishing the solid piece, insects began to crawl over it. Shaping the tip like a spear, with the odd hole in the medium length pole. A handle ended the whole thing, as if it was designed to be thrown like a kunai. Passing the makeshift weapon over to Tapo, he smiled. "For you. My insects cannot eat through the scales of a reptile, so use this to stab them." It wasn't much of a plan, but at least it was something.

"We should do one more quick sweep, and then check in on the others. At the very least pooling our information together will have some degree of benefit."

@Savato
"I was thinking more along the lines of baking it like mudbrick, but sealing it might work better!" Tsubaki shouted, running around the creature. "I can keep track of it using the tremors in the earth it makes with its steps, so I'll keep it distracted! Just do what you need to do!"

And then he made some hand signs, before kicking up a a chunk of rock and jumping onto it. As soon as his feet made contact with the rock, it began to propel itself along the mud at incredible speeds. All the while, he did his best to agitate the golem by calling up earth pillars, ramming them into the golem.

However, he knew he wouldn't be able to keep this up for long. He had some pretty awesome chakra reserves, sure, but he was also using some pretty intensive techniques. He figured he'd have… Oh, maybe five minutes of continuous use of them, probably less if he started using the big guns again, or god forbid, Earth Hand jutsu. He made one last strafe, getting far closer to the golem this time, and used his staff to kick up the beginnings of what he quickly turned into another, more solid Earth Wave jutsu. Just as the wave engulfed it, he skidded back up the wave, sending a couple of pillars down from the top directly through the golem.

Of course, he doubted he was doing much actual damage. He was mainly trying to keep its attention focused on him while Nagi prepared. Speaking of which…

"Nagi, I don't know if Ill be able to keep this up much longer! I hate to rush you, but whatever you're planning, now would be the time!"

Erika hadn't been able to shake that strange chakra presence once she had felt it full force. It permeated her spirit, more than she would have liked. That blood-thirsty energy radiating within her was something of a slight distraction to be quite honest. She mumbled a quick prayer to herself before she stood up and turned to her compatriots, dusting off her gown and heaving the tome on her back in a more comfortable position. She almost wanted to pull it out and go into a full sermon, but she digressed the idea and continued on. No clear leader had been established in their group as of yet, but after a brief deliberation amongst themselves, the teams divided off into different expanses of the building.

She and Shizuka paired off and ventured out first, eventually making their way into what appeared to be an uninhabited laboratory. She turned to him briefly when he mentioned not liking the dark. Such like a child, she thought to herself, giving him a reassuring smile before they continued on. Her eyes maneuvered throughout the room of white, taking in the clean, but strangely ominous atmosphere. Erika branched off slightly from Shizuka as she investigated the room on her own volition, peering at charts and graphs in a language that she had little comprehension of. They were nothing like the ancient language riddled throughout The Book of Heiwa, or though it seemed.

"These symbols..." she spoke aloud, using her psychokinetic technique to levitate an empty vial that was out of reach and bring it down gently into her grasp. She peered at its strange shape and noticed more of the unfamiliar inscriptions etched on the transparent glass. "Such unfamiliarity has presented itself. I pray The Lord Heiwa brings clarity to this esoteric language". She sat the vial down as another sting to her psyche resonated through her mind, making her way over to the prepubescent shinobi when he promptly called her over. She rubbed her temples gently in an attempt to ease the pain as she took notice of the severed hazard tape that lay on the floor, her gaze eventually moving from it to Shizuka as she followed him through the doors. "I had thought upon the matter of correlation between these symbols and my faith. But I have read this tome more times than there are stars in the sky. Never have I stumbled upon these symbols before in my readings."

She was vexed. Stumped.

The desert flower continued to analyze the seals of the chamber as she mindlessly fiddled with her hair, trying to piece together any of the markings that shared even a slight similarity to her own. "Be wary Shizuka. We have yet to uncover their properties, so store them with care." she directed to him, catching the instructions in the palm of her hand as he guided it over to her via his wind currents. She gazed over the instructions briefly, though to her amazement, a few symbols were surprisingly legible. But until she was certain of the clarity that had been bestowed upon her, she pocketed the instructions safely with her gown and remained silent as she meandered over to Shizuka's side.

"I must agree", she chimed, leaning closer to the pictures to get a better look, "These creatures are but anomalous abnormalities. And their absence from these chambers only brings further concern." She began untying her hair as she glanced around the room once more, weaving her hair into a neater bun once she was satisfied there was nothing else of particular interest that they had not yet uncovered within the room. The demolished walls and violent markings between the latter chambers were alarming, but she did not speak of it. Shizuka had most likely noticed the destruction before she had. She let out a delicate sigh, "For now, let us rendezvous with our comrades to relinquish our discoveries to them. I imagine they have uncovered mysteries of their own."

With the instructions still tightly snugged within her gown, she walked up to Shizuka and placed her soft fingertips gently on center of his forehead; the fingertips of her other hand were placed on her right temple.

"Hold still. I do not know of your familiarity with the Yamanaka clan techniques, but this may tingle." Closing her eyes and concentrating her mental chakra, she began channeling her Mind Transmission Technique, allowing she and her comrades to communicate with one another telepathically for as long as she had the technique active. It would function much like walkie talkies, though their voices would reverberate throughout each other's minds like a soft echo.

(Spoken to her teammates telepathically)

~ Eita. Tapo. This is Erika. Please do not be alarmed, but this is my voice you are hearing. Have you uncovered anything of concern? Shizuka and I have made a number of our own discoveries, but it seems there is much we have yet to understand. Are you both safe and in a proper locality to rendezvous? ~