<strong>"YYEAAAAHHHAAHH!"</strong>The Ichibi cried, whirling its tail about and throwing it straight on top of Chiyo and her puppet. She knelt down and the horned machine stood upright, bracing itself for the impact. An arm instantly came off from the sheer weight of the beast's great tail, and the puppet instead shoved its horns into the sand to protect the woman from the attack. It looked like a selfless act... until one considered that the puppet was merely an automaton being controlled by the kunoichi.<br/><br/>The tail lifted off, the tailed beast narrowing his eyes at his prey. Foolish as he was, it now seemed like Shukaku was focusing all of his efforts on the source of the puppets and not the machines themselves. Marise slammed her palms against the sand between her and Aimi, the gentle fist style pushing away the barrier with each strike. She was nearly two feet deep when her fatigue got the better of her. Just then, Tashi landed and sheathed his sword, scattering sand off of the top of the tailed beast's head and further caving in the gash that Marise had begun to carve out. The Ichibi winced, closing one eye as it roared out in anger. It hadn't harmed him at all, but the blast was right by his ears and enough to be a nuisance. Moreover, as fruitless as their attacks might have been against the tailed beast himself... the sand protecting Aimi was wearing down.<br/><br/>He shook his head, violently. First bobbling his head as he groaned, and then again up and down, banging his head in an effort to throw off the troublesome flies. Then Chiyo renewed her assault, the cacophony occuring so far below the other ninja that they could barely hear it. Explosions.. a chakra blade carving a swath through his flesh, the sharp greatswords wielded by the twin-bunned puppet, and the cables plunging once more deep into the tailed beast's belly. The beast roared in pain, cursing and shouting obscenities with every spare breath.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide</div><div class="spoiler_body">Tashi and Mari each do damage to the barrier. Shukaku rolls a 50 Fort. The barrier takes the full damage, while Shukaku's epic level DR shrugs it off. Also, the fort save is to prevent suffering -2 to listen, not to be deafened. ...but Mari takes full damage and is stunned! Hitomi is back on top of the barrier!<br/><br/>Aggro; Chiyo: 7, Mari: 6, Tashi: 6<br/><br/>Shukaku full-attacks everyone! He uses two shake-offs and a power attack +10 against Chiyo! Hit. 32 damage against her and 37 to Puppet one. It uses Harm's Way... but because it's an area effect and also a melee attack, I'm just using DM fiat to say the puppet eats half the damage. So 16 damage to Chiyo and 53 to the puppet.<br/><br/>Meanwhile, Shukaku shakes his head like a wet dog! Everyone must make two DC 20 reflex saves or fall 2d4x5 feet. Failing both does not mean you fall twice.<br/><br/>Shukaku and the barrier each heal 11 damage. Coming up on chakra costs for speed/strength ranks soon...<br/><br/>Round 4!<br/>Mari; Stunned for one round! Speed/Strength Rank 2, -20 HP, -20 Chakra, -10 Reserve, Init 13, Shaken 7 rounds. (0 ft. from Aimi)<br/>Tashi; Speed Rank 2, -35 Chakra -3 Reserves, Init 12.9, Shaken 6 rounds. (0 ft. from Aimi)<br/>Chiyo; -16 HP, -96 Chakra, -6 Chakra reserve, Init 12, Shaken 5 rounds.<br/>Hitomi; -4 Chakra, Init 10, Shaken 4 rounds (0 ft. from Aimi)<br/>Shukaku; -302 HP, Init 6<br/>Barrier HP: 21/60<br/><br/>Puppet One: Uses Total Defense again. +4 dodge bonus to AC. -53 HP.<br/>Puppet Two: Shoots its mini-grenades. 21 damage. -30 HP.<br/>Puppet Three: Comes back to life for 11 chakra! -2 Penalty. Is thrown by Puppet Four. Uses Uzukaze Rengeki. Hits all five times, it is a touch after-all.. 73 damage!<br/>Puppet Four: Full-round action to aid another to throw Puppet Three, doubling its movement for one turn and allowing it to use Uzukaze Rengeki.<br/>Puppet Five: Shoots out its cables again, five hit and deal 27 damage. HP; -14<br/>Puppet Six, Seven, Eight: Disabled. -1 penalty. 1 rounds remaining.<br/>Puppet Nine: Full-attack. 2 hit, dealing 26 damage. -30 HP<br/>Puppet Ten: Remains sneaky.<br/><br/>Shaken: -2 penalty on attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks.</div></div>