Kishimoto-san owns Naruto.
Opening theme: Close To Your Heart(3rd opening of Monster Rancher)
Chapter 13: Shikamaru's Arcade
"What? Whaddya mean?" Oda asked the Wave-lander.
"I think I know who that monster lady is!" Inari yelled excitedly.
Oda gave him a weird look. "If y'did, then yer a smarter swab than me," the rough character remarked. "What makes ya think ya know?"
"Well…" Inari looked away before continuing. "Remember when she told us that her son was dead?" Oda nodded. "Before we hired you, Naruto told us how awful it was, not having a mom." Inari looked up at Oda, eyes solemn. "The way he looked…it was the same way she looked."
Oda contemplated what Inari said, then his eyes went wide with realization. "Nuts on the high seas," The old sailor breathed, "Are you sayin' that woman is…The Cap'n's mother?!"
DATTEBAYO
Shikamaru threw a shuriken at Mogurama. The mole monster dove into the ground, burrowing out of sight. Shikamaru barely felt the earth under him begin to move when he realized what was going to him next. Leaping to the side, Shikamaru barely avoided being skewered by the mole's claws. Undeterred, Mogurama went back underground and tried to attack Shikamaru from below again, who dodged again. And again. And again. Very shortly the area was filled with holes.
This is like one of those stupid whack-a-mole games… Shikamaru thought, panting. And I'm the prize whe- if it wins! Shikamaru did not want to think about it getting him and what would happen afterwards. Jumping aside for the umpteenth time, a thought occurred to Shikamaru.
I can't keep this up forever, He thought frantically, I don't have monster stamina like Lee or Naruto. I need a plan!
Leaping one last time, Shikamaru jumped up one of the surrounding trees. Up on the highest, sturdiest branch and took his thinking pose. As he did, Mogurama popped from the ground and glared up at Shikamaru, beady eyes blinking.
Shikamaru's eyes snapped open as an idea came to mind. Doing a quick inventory check, Shikamaru began to check his surroundings. As he did, a plan slowly began to form in his mind.
Just might work… Shikamaru was shook out of his thoughts when he felt the tree shake. Looking down, he saw that Mogurama was gone, and a moving dirt mound was ramming at the tree base. The mole monster was trying to uproot the tree!
Better work fast! Shikamaru gritted his teeth and pulled out an exploding tag.
DATTEBAYO
Torayoma gave Kawazaki a cat's glare, almost trying to discern the identity of its prey. Kawazaki looked at his soon-to-be attacker with a face full of fear, his amphibious face turning a lighter shade of green. The tiger monster's end reared up, signifying its readiness to pounce. Panicking, Kawazaki blew into his pipe, giving Torayoma a blast of steam. The tiger monster reared back, yowling in discomfort. It bounded off into the bushes.
"Hmm!" Kawazaki gave his pipe one more puff. "That's that, I see."
Kawazaki spoke to soon. A minute later, Torayoma leapt out of the bushes- wearing a welder's mask over its face.
Kawazaki's froggy eyes bugged out. "EEHHHH!?"
DATTEBAYO
Shikamaru pulled out his lighter and a cigarette. Though he had never been able to emulate Asuma's chain-smoking habit, mostly because he hated the feeling of nicotine on his lungs, the 'One last smoke before I die" excuse had saved his butt on more than one occasion, which is why he carried around a pack and Asuma's lighter with him on each mission. Lighting the cigarette, Shikamaru tossed it at one of the holes Mogurama had made. The second the lit cigarette landed in the hole, the entire ground lit up in an tremendous series of explosions.
BURAKABOOM!
Ever since that incident with the zombie Akatsuki, Shikamaru had taken to carrying at great deal many exploding tags, more than what was needed. Using his shadow-manipulation techniques, Shikamaru painstakingly planted as many of those tags he could into Mogurama's holes. It didn't matter what hole Mogurama was in at the time of the explosion, because as Shikamaru deduced, the holes were all connected. That way, even if Mogurama was in a different hole than the one the first explosion began, the chain-reaction caused by the tags planted on the tunnel walls connecting the holes together would catch up to the mole monster.
I hope that worked, Shikamaru thought, gazing down at the smoke. IT would be too much to hope for that beast to have been killed, but Shikamaru hoped it had been knocked out at least. When the smoke cleared, Shikamaru could see several more holes caused by the blasts. However, he couldn't see Mogurama. He must have been scared off by the noise.
"That was close…" Shikamaru breathed, hopping down from his perch on the tree branch. When he hit the ground, the earth collapsed. He was now sitting in a crater. Looking around, he noticed that his tree was barely standing at the edge of the crater.
Looks like it might fall over any minute. Shikamaru thought. Looking down, he saw- to his horror- a hole in the center of the crater! Moments later, Mogurama leapt out of the hole, at Shikamaru and then-
Ker...ACK!!!
DATTEBAYO (Author notes)
Mwa ha ha…I am evil for making this cliffhanger, no?
And please review!