Power Outage [M]

[Drawl]

Post 1 [Mission: Power Outage]

Amegakure's power was maintained by a series of electricians and other technicians who congregated in the main power station near the center of the village, going out to secondary locations when maintenance work needed to be done. These lesser power stations' upkeep was often something to brag about, though as in most places, the stations in affluent sections of the village got more attention than those in the slums; this neglect had allowed for a rat colony to infiltrate one such station, chewing into the wires to lead to a power outage in the slums and attacking the workers whenever they tried to get in to fix it. Thus came the call for extra support, a call that had brought Aoki and Oe knocking.

The twins, who had wasted little time after separating, didn't even bother to change clothing, instead rushing straight for the plant as quickly as possible; because of this, they looked to be twins even more than ever with their matching white long-sleeves, black pants, and combat boots. Aoki carried all of the weapons, of course, stored away in the pockets of his black cloak; in total, he carried 10 kunai, 228 senbon, and 16 caltrops, along with one baseplate compass. Besides this, Aoki also carried his oil umbrella in his left hand, resting on his shoulder, along with a white amagasa atop his head; both, while capable of holding slots of senbon, were both empty, so in reality, only the umbrella was a weapon on this day. A step behind him, Oe carried his body forward, the only weapon he had and needed at this point in his life.

Drawing close to the shut fence that served as the entrance to the main power station, the twins buckled their knees and leaped, clearing the fence side by side and landing with a soft crunch on the gravel on the other side. That display were certainly announce to all watching just who they were, but if not, the pair of headbands they wore, Oe as a choker and Aoki atop the brim of his amagasa, would for sure.

Oe was the one to notice a group of technicians watching them, their toolboxes at their feet, waiting for something to occur. Gesturing to the group for his brother's sake, the twins moved over to the group, Aoki taking on the lead role as per usual. "Are you the workers who needed shinobi support," he asked, not bothering to ask anything further; if they were indeed the workers they had been assigned to guard, they'd know enough to give him a straight answer.

"Yeah, that's us. Got us a little rat problem that you two will take care of for us," the oldest in the group, a man's whose black hair was graying around the edges; he had worked here for a long time, if the way the other workers moved when he called for them to prepare in moving out. It would take them a few minutes to ready themselves, so the twins waited in silence, Oe watching his feet while Aoki observed the yard around him, fingering the umbrella in his hand. Soon enough, the brothers would have their first chance at combat, albeit with a much smaller opponent.

Soon, indeed.

---

Mission
Power Outage
Rank: C
IIC Length: Two days
Difficulty: Difficult
Objective: Keep the workers safe while they restore power to a section of the slums.
Description: Something went wrong with the main circuit boards in an area of Amegakure's slums, and when they went down to fix it they found that the area was infested with rats. As a precaution, they have hired shinobi to keep them safe while they work on fixing the problem.
Reward: 9,750 Ryo

[Molokai]

[enter]

Turin had received a most interesting note from Shiguro, the Amekage's polite and confusingly good-looking receptionist. He was being assigned to watch over a genin conducting a mission for the village. Actually, a pair of genin, which was probably the more interesting part. The mission itself was simple, just protect some electricians from some rats while they fix up a power outage. Must have been one hell of an infestation to necessitate sending shinobi to keep them away, but that was neither here nor there. The paper he received from the raven, who's magical ability to always find whoever they were looking for perplexed Turin to no end, provided the location that he was to report to.

As he walked through the damp and darkened streets of the affected area, he already had his crossbow out and loaded, complete with stabilizer, Optima mod, and scope with ten times zoom and thermal vision. On him, he carried a hundred and fifty bolts, fifty of which had razor fletching and all of which were hand modified to spin when fired, in a hip quiver hidden beneath his long jacket. Tucked away into the hidden folds and pockets of both his jacket and shirt were his twenty backup knives. Inside his butt bag, also hidden beneath the flowing tapestry of his jacket, was his world map, lensatic compass, lock pick set, and glass cutters, all present and accounted for.

Finally he arrived at the substation. He opened the gate and winced at the loud screech the poorly maintained metal made. Electing not to close it behind him for fear of making his ears bleed, he scanned the area and headed over to the group of technicians. There, he could clearly see the pair of identically dressed twins, one of them with an umbrella. Turin wasn't sure why he was surprised to see an umbrella in Rain Country. He had all but forgotten that those things even existed. One of the twins was already talking to the technicians when Turin walked up next to them, internally fuming at the fact that everybody there was taller than him. Swallowing his annoyance at his plight, he spoke up once the technicians started getting to work.

"A little birdy told me you two were looking for a Chuunin to observe you on this mission," he began, slinging his crossbow over his shoulder to both appear cool and relax his arms, "My name's Turin." He offered his hand to the one with the umbrella, who appeared to be the more assertive of the two, but didn't ask for their names. He wasn't quite sure what his job was going to be on this mission. Whether it was to provide sagely insight to how best to exterminate pests, or to utilize his considerable talents to shoot rats, he couldn't say. At that point, he simply decided to wait and see what was needed.

[Drawl]

Post 2

It seems Aoki and Oe had a strange affliction, one of unknown people constantly addressing them from behind without there knowledge that they were even there. Still, the twins were on duty now, so there could be no misrepresentations of their village. At least, that's what Aoki thought as he turned to face the newcomer, unsure just what his brother considered acceptable as he continued to watch his feet. As he had done with Yoshi the day before, he nearly looked over the man, though he wasn't much shorter than the host twin. The boy's eyes locked on the crossbow that this man, Turin as he introduced himself, had slung over his shoulder similarly to how he held his own umbrella, though this man did better at looking natural in that pose. "Aoki, Oe," he said, introducing himself first and than his brother with a nod of the head, still watching the weapon in the man's hand. "Nice bow," Aoki finally said, unsure why the comment was even needed; the sight simply reminded him of a girl he had traveled with not too long ago, and the coincidence had thrown him off.

Enough of that, Aoki said, shaking himself out of the trance and standing straighter amongst the crowd; not only was he only duty for the village, he was also working with a Chunnin now, which only increased the judgement that he was under. "Thanks for accompanying us, sir," Aoki started, using a formal title as he was unsure how this Turin expected underlings to address him. "I'm not sure how much of the situation you're aware of. Oe and I are fresh out of the academy with a strong suggestion from our instructors there to find us a chunnin leader to oversee our training. I had been trying to reach out to our Lord Amekage, and has since received the opportunity for a private training with both him and one Yoshi, though it seems that black-haired desk assistant has sped up my process for me." It was all a mouth-full, and Aoki was sure some of it was unnecessary, but he wanted to feel slightly important towards the village; a private training with Ryosuke and his trusted comrade just seemed like the right thing to say, if he wanted to impress on others in the village.

The workers around them were finally ready to depart, as indicated by the salt-and-peppered man who drew up beside Turin and Aoki, recognizing their assertiveness over that of Oe, who was at least looking up and watching the scene unfold. "The station we're going to isn't that far from here; it'll take no longer than a half hour walk. Those bastards will be waiting for us once we're inside the station. No use delaying our dealing with them." That was as plain as an order as any, and a few moments later, the group was off, Aoki falling to the rear of the party, certain Turin would remain beside him; Oe followed a half-step behind the pair in silence.

The group passed through the gate, which had been opened prior to their departure and not been closed, but Aoki paid it no mind. He continued his debriefing of sorts with the chunnin, a strange swapping of roles. "Do you have a specific approach to this mission, in terms to your own involvement, sir? We weren't quite sure if we'd have support on this one, so Oe and I were mentally prepared to handle this together, though I doubt we'd turn down aid from a superior. Personally, I'd like to see just how one fought with a crossbow." And that last bit was true; wild, impressive Claire had never been required to use her own weapon, despite Aoki's suppressed curiosity. Fate had provided him a second chance to see it in action, though, if Turin had intentions of using it in this mission.

The group turned left out of substation, heading out of Amegakure central into the slum fringes, with tin roofs in disrepair and impoverished aura radiating out across the city. They had a half hour to run through the logistics before their arrival, leaving them just over three hours after that to eradicate some pests before it became dangerous for the twins.

Above them, the rain clouds opened, sprinkling the group in a slight drizzle that would more than likely grow in time.

[Molokai]

Aoki and Oe, the dynamic duo. Turin didn't say anything at the compliment of his bow, preferring to listen rather than speak. Something about the word, "sir" struck Turin's ears like sandpaper on his undercarriage. Nonetheless, he was both impressed and relieved with the thoroughness of Aoki's briefing. Too often he was sent into things without being told everything he would need to know, but this time around it seemed that would not be the case. Not only that, but it also explained why he was suddenly and mysteriously summoned to come oversee some repairs: he was less overseeing the workers, and more overseeing the twins. Again, Yoshi and Ryosuke came up. It seemed that those two really had a way of making friends with everybody they met. Probably how they were able to get away with it for so long.

When the foreman came up and announced that it was time to begin, Turin followed him next to Aoki, with Oe following behind. Turin was again reminded of just how monstrous these rats must be, and he was starting to look forward to shooting one or two of them. As they walked, Turin responded to Aoki's questions.

"First things first, you don't have to call me 'sir'," he began, trying to sound friendly and personable, "Secondly, as far as I can tell this is just a standard escort mission, except we're fighting rats instead of people. As far as I'm concerned, you two and I are a team on a mission, which means I'll be participating as much as I'm needed. I'm positive you two could probably handle this just fine on your own, so for the most part I'm going to let this be your show. But don't you worry, I won't just be watching. You'll definitely get to see the crossbow in action." There was nothing Turin loved more than showing off his crossbow skills, so it would be nice to have someone who actually wanted to see them.

As they walked and talked, Turin kept his eyes and ears attuned to the streets around them. They were entering the slums now, a part of the village with which Turin was intimately familiar. One thing he knew, in the slums shinobi were seen as secret police. If their presence was noticed, it would not be appreciated, even though all three of them were working to help the slum dwellers. Since they had some time still yet to walk before they got to the outage area, Turin said, "Alright, once we get there, one rule we should follow is that nobody goes out of our line of sight, not for any reason. There are three of us, so that shouldn't be too hard to pull off. I'll stay as close as I can to the workers themselves, since I have the range to pick the rats off before they get too close. You can position yourself wherever you fight best. As I said before, going to let you run this show for the most part. Sound good?"

As he said this, it began to rain. Turin pulled his hood over his head and looked enviously at Aoki's umbrella. Umbrella in Rain Country, Turin thought, why didn't I think of that?