Chronicles of a Self-Made Shinobi: Creatures in the Dark (chap.2)
The bushes ahead began to melt from a substance that dripped and bubbled and steamed as it hit the delicate leaves. Two enormous pinchers clacked together and a mouth lined with teeth that spat out the gooey substance. The giant centipede, looming thirty feet above the three shinobi screeched again, and darted forward.
The three ninja dispersed as it hit the ground, throwing up dust and dirt. Neji turned in mid-air and threw his kunai at its head but the beast didn't seem to notice. Lee leapt from the trees where he was hiding and pummeled his fist onto the centipede's head but its skin was too hard. Lee fell to the ground, clutching his fist.
Neji appeared next to Kumiko who was hiding in the bushes.
"Its body is surrounding the clearing, we can't escape."
Lee rolled to the side as it dug its pinches into the ground, aiming to kill, then rebelled with a kick off the ground. "Its body is too hard!" he shouted, dodging another attack and leaping back into the treetops.
The centipede screamed in anger and thrashed its body, making the ground rumble beneath the three shinobi. Lee then appeared beside the two of them, breathing hard. "We need a plan."
They were cut short as the monster located their voices and thrust its head at them hiding in the bushes. Neji and Lee leapt into the air and Kumiko ran to the side. Her teammates were safe in the treetops but Kumiko felt the impact and fell forward and rolled out into the open, gathering dirt and twigs. When she stood up she noticed her leg was bleeding where she scraped it on a thorn bush and the centipede reared back and howled.
The monster began a crash course through the bushes and brambles to catch its bleeding prey. Kumiko ran wildly, bent only on escape. One wrong move and it would have her.
She came upon a giant undulating wall and realized that it was the monster's body. She may have been able to scale it but she didn't have time. The centipede came out of the treetops and dove down at her, she leapt forward and rolled under its long upper body and ran back the way she came, with the clacking of the beast's pinchers in her ear.
All too soon she came upon the monster's body again. She was tired and sweaty, unsure if she could slip through another attack. She turned around to face the on-coming enemy and readied herself to jump. As is neared her she leapt out of the way at the last possible second and it rammed into itself. It thrashed and screamed in pain as a sticky green substance oozed out of its body.
Kumiko fell over and bounced on the ground, landing on her arm at an awkward angle. She bit her lip. It was broken. The ground continued to shake and she couldn't get her footing and instead stumbled away, earning nicks and scrapes all over her body. She rolled over onto her back just in time to watch the creature loom above her and plunge down. But before contact there was a green blur as Lee scooped her up into his arms and brought her up to the treetops into safety. Meanwhile Neji threw three explosive notes down onto the beast and they exploded on its face.
The beast reached its head up to the treetops and with a squeal fell down to the ground, upsetting earth and rising motes of dust into the air. Kumiko coughed and covered her nose with her hand to ward off the putrid stink that came from the silent monster. Lee shielded his eyes from the dust, keeping one arm around Kumiko's waist so she wouldn't fall out of the tree. But as they were about to congratulate themselves the monster stirred and lashed out its pinchers and caught Neji in the side and hurled him out of sight. Lee released Kumiko and flew out of the treetops but was stopped when the creature writhed and splattered acid and green blood on the surrounding forest. All he could do was dodge.
Kumiko reached into her pack and pulled out Kiseki no Yochi. Eyes trained on Lee she opened it into a spear and held on it tightly with her one good arm. Only one shot.
Her broken arm began to throb and she clutched at it, digging her nails into her forearm. She watched Lee frantically dodge the spluttering acid. Even he couldn't keep up with it. Sooner or later the monster would have him. Neji limped out of the bushes and joined in the battle. All Kumiko could do was watch.
The giant centipede wriggled its entire body and shook the ground underneath it and the two shinobi lost their footings and fell to the ground in a pile. A split second was all the monster needed to catch its prey. But as it reveled in its near victory there was a cry from above and Kumiko leapt out of the treetops her entire body wrapped around her spear and aimed straight at the monster's head.
Neji and Lee looked up to see their third teammate soaring through the air. Her hair was matted with dirt and leaves and her blue eyes had changed into black slits and predatorial, all rational thought disappeared. She was wrapped around the spear like an animal. They recognized immediately that something was wrong. The sight of her was almost more frightening than the monster that was bearing down on them from above.
With a loud crack she pierced right through its head and out the other side, the momentum bringing it to the ground and pinning it there. It thrashed its backside violently and Kumiko leapt off of the spear and onto its back. She howled and shoved her nails into the centipede's eye and ripped it out, then threw it off into the forest. Its movements slowed to a wiggle, then a twitch. But Kumiko was still raging, and she dug her teeth into its head and surfaced with part of its skin hanging from her mouth.
The giant centipede bucked and she lost her footing and fell to the ground. As Lee's hands caught her she began to struggle against him. The monster gave one final cough in defiance to its defeat and spat out a glob of acid mixed with green blood. Lee was too slow, and it hit Kumiko on the leg. Immediately her eyes turned back to normal and she became limp.
"Lee…" she said.
"Hold on, I got you. I got you," he replied.
The two shinobi fell to the ground. Kumiko looked down at her leg and saw bubbles forming on her skin, then oozing down her thigh to sizzle on the ground. The monster quieted for the last time. The shock wore off after a few seconds and she opened her mouth, and screamed.