Thanks for the reviews, guys! And just in case, please don't be offended for the slight Gaara bashing I had in the last chapter. I'm sorry!
So I wonder what The Story Master will do today…
How troublesome… Shikamaru thought angrily as he jumped into a tree. This definitely wasn't how he wanted his day to go. He wasn't planning on arguing with Ino. He wasn't planning on fighting with her. He wasn't planning on getting attacked by the Story Master. He had only wanted to spend the day sleeping, or even watching clouds on his favorite hill.
But no, somehow, some god out there hated him and decided to stick him in a bad situation which involved the capture of the girl he loved and…
No! I don't love her! We're just good friends!
But he didn't have much time to reflect upon how terrible his day was turning out. The tree began swaying furiously, and he had to grip the branches to stay on. Then those branches began to wrap around his arms. He was rocked and thrown about in the air by the tree.
"Holy crap!" He yelled, trying to break free so he could get away. But the tree was unbelievably strong. He looked down at its trunk. Two dark eyes had opened in the bark, along with a malicious, Cheshire cat grin. The tree laughed at him, in a deep, low, scary voice. "Let me go, tree!"
"My job is to keep you at bay. If you want to be free, you must find a way out yourself."
Shikamaru growled. This only made things more complicated. He cursed at the tree for being so ambiguous. He'd be able to simply cut his way out if it didn't have his arms! And he couldn't make his hang signals, either.
But almost right away, Shikamaru realized something. His arms were captive, but his hands were free. If he could just reach his kunai, then…
He swung his legs up so they latched onto the branches that held his arms, and wiggled his left hand until he could get to the pouch that held his kunai. Once he grabbed one, he swung his legs back down and spun the kunai until it cut the branch that held his left arm, then reach over and cut the right one. He fell to the ground, landed gracefully on his legs and scowling at the tree, "Troublesome."
"You're not going to just run away now, are you? That would be no fun." The tree's branches shot at him again, but Shikamaru evaded.
"No," He grabbed two more kunai and threw one in to each of his eyes. The tree screamed, and then its branches fell.
"I'm blind!"
"Well that's no fun." Shikamaru smirked, throwing his last kunai into the tree's mouth. It screamed once more, its eyes and mouth sealing and its branches shrinking back to its normal length. Shikamaru picked up the kunai that had fallen from it, then sighed, "Guess I can't hide in the trees anymore."
Ino sat cross legged in her prison, tapping her fingers against her cheek and glaring into the darkness around her, "This is so boring. Shikamaru isn't going to save me, you know. I'll be stuck here for the rest of eternity!"
"I wouldn't be so sure," The Story Master appeared by her side, grinning, "There's a lot more to this boy than you think."
"Shikamaru? No. He's a lazy bastard, like you said, and he's just going to sit in a tree somewhere and wait for me to break free myself."
"Then why don't you break free?"
"I…" Ino pondered. Why didn't she break free? She could just perform her mind switch jutsu, taking over the Story Master and using her to break free from her cage. Then she'd return to her own mind and run out of here!"
The Story Master smirked, "The princess had the power to break free, but she wouldn't because deep inside, she knew and hoped that her knight would save her!"
"Shut up!" Ino blushed and growled, preparing for an attack, "Mind switch no jutsu!" (A/n: yeah I have no idea how she says that so I guessed o.0 XD)
But when she opened her eyes again, the cages bars still surrounded her. She looked down. She was in The Story Master's body! But why was there still a cage?
You think that I wasn't ready for your little mind switch technique? The Story Master said from the back of her mind, I knew it was coming, so I caged myself beforehand so you couldn't get away.
Damnit, Ino growled as she switched back to her own body. It turned out she had no choice but to sit and wait.
Shikamaru groaned, "Oh man, what a drag."
He stood face-to-face with a sphinx. It snarled and hissed at him maliciously, crouched to attack.
"So you're the knight." She stated with her tail wagging, ready to pounce.
"I'm no knight," Shikamaru said lazily, "But I need to save my friend."
"You're not a very exciting lad, are you?"
"Lad? Who calls anyone a lad anymore?"
"I do, obviously." The sphinx sat down and swayed her tail at him, loosely wrapping it around his figure, "Now anyone who wishes to pass must answer me these questions three." Of course, Shikamaru groaned, he knew this was coming. Sphinxes where told to ask people riddles when they want to pass them, and those who failed were eaten alive. But with an IQ over 200, Shikamaru was sure of himself. This would be uneventful. "How far can a dog run into the woods?"
Shikamaru instantly imagined Akamaru running into the woods, passing by so many trees, and then ending up on the other side. So it would be all the way, right? But there was a catch hidden in there, somewhere. At one point, he would be running out of the woods…
"Halfway."
The Sphinx nodded, "There is a house with four walls. All the walls face south. There is a window in one wall, a bear walks past it. What color is the bear?"
That was easy, "White." The only place, after all, where all four walls could face south would be the North Pole.
"A man has two sons. He gives a quarter to each of them. What time is it?"
Now when in that question did they ever mention time? Two sons each get a quarter. Wow, what a cheapskate father they had. Shikamaru grumbled. A quarter to two sons… a quarter to two…
"One forty-five."
"Proceed." The sphinx uncoiled her tail from his body and stepped out of the way, "Good luck on your quest, boy."
"It's no quest, just helping a friend." Shikamaru grumbled, waving his hand with out facing the sphinx.
"Good luck, all the same, against The Story Master."
Ino hummed a tune as she lied in her cage, "Is there anything I can do to keep myself occupied? It's so boring in here…"
The Story Master tilted her head, still smiling, "As the knight bravely battled monsters outside, the princess only anxiously waited for his arrival."
"Anxious? Yeah, I guess. The sooner he gets here the sooner I get out."
"The knight's wits had so far kept him out of danger, but a mob of giants was coming his way."
"Giants!? You're going to send giants at Shikamaru!?"
"I believe he'll know what to do." The Story Master smirked.
Ino could only sit back and wait.
He knew they were there the instant he heard the first loud thud in the distance. Next he saw a pair of evil eyes staring from the other side of a mountain. He sighed. Another obstacle he had to figure out.
"Troublesome…" He stood there, waiting. He would let them come to him, instead of approaching them himself.
"Hey kid, what you doing!?"
Shikamaru turned to the giant behind him. His enemy cracked his knuckles and stretched his neck to the side, angry and looking for a fight. "I'm the knight."
"The knight, eh?" Another two giants appeared from behind a mountain, "The Story Master told us about you. You're that lazy kid."
"Yeah, that pretty much sums it up." Shikamaru didn't even bother to argue. Hey, you can't deny the truth. "But I'm also that smart lazy kid."
"Smart, eh? I don't like smart kids. Think they're all that."
"Well I don't like stupid giants." Shikamaru rebutted.
"Ya see? Smart kid thinks he can top us."
"Pssh, he's puny! Smarts don't beat muscle!"
"Really? Well I bet muscle beats muscle." Shikamaru smirked. The giants looked at each other in confusion. Then Shikamaru turned to the first one, and began his hand signs, "Shadow Possession no jutsu!" (A/n: Again, forgive me for not knowing how he says it XD) Shikamaru's shadow was connected to that of the giant, who froze instantly, shocked. Shikamaru turned the giant towards his comrades, cracking his knuckles and the giant's.
"Let's do this."
Shikamaru swung a few punches, which caused the captured giant to beat up the other two. Within minutes, the two giants were unconscious on the ground.
"Well, you've hurt my friends. How you gonna hurt me?"
That would be a problem. Shikamaru could just beat himself up, but then he would be in the same position as the giant. This was a troublesome problem. He canceled the jutsu, then doubled back on his trail and met up with the sphinx.
"Why the return, boy?"
"I need your help."
The sphinx bowed as Shikamaru thanked her, and then returned to her post. He observed the dead giants lying on the ground, two that he had killed and one that the sphinx had. Now he just had to figure out where Ino was.
"What a drag, I'll probably run into a thousand more monsters before I can finally go home."
He noticed a cave in the mountain ahead. Shrugging, he figured it wouldn't hurt to check, so he ran towards it.
Ino listened as the Story Master narrated every move that Shikamaru made, everything he did to defeat the giants and reach her prison. Ino sighed as she listened.
And all I can do is sit helplessly and wait. She thought about the tale. So far, she and Shikamaru had yet to go insane, and he seemed so close to victory. What is she planning?
Before she could think about this further, the cage door opened. Ino hesitated, then got to her feet and crawled out. She stood, stretching her legs finally, and looked to the Story Master on her throne.
"The knight is getting ever closer to his goal, but now the princess has been released. What will she do?"