At last, the dust blew away, the great beast's skull fracturing and melting away to reveal, ten feet burrowed inside of the cavity where his brain would be- Aimi. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PZnSXtFf0U) She hung face-down like she was drowning, but he saw her naked back and long blonde hair half-submerged in the sand. There she was... it would be somewhat of a perilous climb down there, as the sand was already starting to fill back in. It was faster than gravity would permit... no, it was the chakra of the tailed beast at work.<br/><br/>The tailed beast narrowed its cross-eyed gaze upon Marise,<strong>"YOU'RE IN MY WAY!"</strong>He shook his nose just enough to fling her off... into the waiting grasp of his tail. She landed upon the sand and started to tumble off... but suddenly she felt a familiar sensation... that of sand wrapping around her body. It rose from his armor-like skin like bands and suddenly whirled around her, binding her hand and foot to his tail on her back. He held her suspended there not far from his face and looked down, narrowing his eyes upon the ground at a panting Chiyo,<strong>"IT'S TIME FOR <em>YOU</em> TO DIE, OOWEEEEEHEE!"</strong><br/><br/>The tailed beast slammed his one remaining claw down upon the ground, smashing the puppet guardian that stood beside the Sunagakure kunoichi. From the dust, she appeared quite injured herself... but then the shadow around her grew- and Shukaku again brought his great fist upon the earth over her head. The sand blowing from the impact obstructed everything. Three of her puppets, the ones who had taken one of his claws from him, suddenly went inert and collapsed into the earth mid-flight.<br/><br/>The woman briefly lost consciousness, but when it returned to her... she was in-between two of his fingers, laying on her back. To her left and right, nothing but walls of sand. It was dark, owing to the dust... but she tried to free herself. It was to no avail... she was stuck. The woman looked over at her arm, half-buried underneath his finger. She bit her lip and wrenched her body free, pulling herself free from the socket and letting the Ichibi have her right arm. He dragged his claw back and howled in delight, thinking her dead. Suddenly, he lifted up his tail like it was another arm, looking at Marise held suspended against it.<br/><br/><strong>"AIIIIII, DID YOU SEE THAT? I KILLED HIM, I KILLED HIM!"</strong>He giddily exclaimed, wagging his tail around- and Marise with it. Suddenly he narrowed his eyes upon the Konoha ninja and grinned wide.<strong>"NOW NO ONE CAN STOP ME! HEE HEE, THAT'S RIGHT- YOU THINK I <em>DON'T</em> KNOW WHAT YOU WERE DOING UP THERE? OH NO, YOU CAN'T SEE LITTLE AIMI-CHAN JUST YET! IT'S FINALLY <span class="bbc_u">MY</span> TURN!"</strong><br/><br/>It seemed, at least, that he had forgotten all about Tashi and Hitomi. Or had trouble telling one human from another except for when they were ten feet from his face.<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 his clones does 26 damage, breaking through the barrier entirely. Though Earth Dragon Flash doesn't explicitly do weapon damage plus the earth damage, I'll allow it on the basis that the earth<em> is</em> the target. ;)<br/><br/>Aggro; Chiyo: 11, Tashi: 5, Mari: !?<br/><br/>Shukaku full-attacks everyone! He uses two +20 power attacks on Chiyo and trades his tail attack for a grapple on Mari! One hits Chiyo and Puppet One. 44 and 38 damage to them. It uses Harm's Way and soaks half the damage of the first attack on Chiyo, but is disabled in the process with overkill. Another hits Chiyo for 43 damage. Mari is grappled. Assuming she doesn't beat his +67 bonus..<br/><br/>Chiyo deactivates Puppets One, Six, Seven, Eight, and Ten. Also loses an arm. :P<br/><br/>Shukaku and the barrier each heal 11 damage. Chakra costs for speed/strength tallied!<br/><br/>Round 5!<br/>Mari; -20 HP, -24 Chakra, -10 Reserve, Init 13, Shaken 6 rounds. Grappled!<br/>Tashi; Speed Rank 2, -34 Chakra -5 Reserves, Init 12.9, Shaken 5 rounds. (0 ft. from Aimi)<br/>Chiyo; -81 HP, -96 Chakra, -6 Chakra reserve, Init 12, Shaken 4 rounds. Sans one arm.<br/>Hitomi; -4 Chakra, Init 10, Shaken 3 rounds (0 ft. from Aimi) <strong>!!! Skipping this turn due to RL stuff. Myst, feel free to take two turns in your next post. !!!</strong><br/>Shukaku; -341 HP, Init 6<br/>Barrier HP: 11/60<br/><br/>Puppet Two: Reloads once again. -30 HP.<br/>Puppet Three: Uses two move actions to return to Puppet Four. -2 Penalty.<br/>Puppet Four: Does nothing.<br/>Puppet Five: Retracts its cables. HP; -14<br/>Puppet Nine: Full-attack. 2 hit, one is a critical! 50 damage. -30 HP<br/><br/>Shaken: -2 penalty on attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks.</div></div>