[Spirit Expedition] Expedition Squad

[Ace Trainer]

The floor would give way below them, dropping Koyuki and Mahalow away from their peers. For a moment, they would feel relief. The heat of the light that had been on them had been brutal and unrelenting, even in the short moment it had shone on them. Even for Sunagakure ninja, it had been an inhumane amount of light and heat, so as they were dropped into the floor and away from it, the air would feel suddenly cool on them. The relief was quickly pass, however, as they were trapped falling on the sliding floor. Any attempts at grabbing the wall that surrounded them would fail, and attempt at using chakra to stay in position would as well. Whatever had happened, there was no intent of letting them secure their position so instead they would slide.

As they fell, Koyuki and Mahalow would be given the choice to panic or allow it to happen. If they did, and stayed aware of their surroundings, the first thing they would notice was that the slide that was sweeping them away was steep, but had walls on both sides of it and had quickly converted to having something overhead as well. While it was a slide, it was also very clearly a tunnel. How far they had been traveling was unclear, seemingly hundreds of feet, but without any form of reference, any sense of how fast they were traveling or the like, it was difficult to really get their thumb on it. The next thing they would notice was that there was no light. In fact, the fact that they could see each other and their surroundings was only because of the brightness of the light that was getting increasingly far away from them.

Eventually, the slide they were on began to level out, and then suddenly the floor would fall away and both would drop a few meters before plop into a puddle of water. The sound of stone moving would come from above them as the hole they'd just fallen through closed behind them.

The small chamber they were in was filled with a few inches of water, ankle deep. You could see in the room only became of dimly glowing moss that was coating some of the walls, producing just enough light to see around them. The room was a circular chamber, maybe 10feet across. The walls were barren except for the moss. Stones upon stones, it seemed the chamber had been carefully built to trap people.

And now they were the two trapped.

[Trusted Grader]

Just my luck!
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Mahalow couldn't believe his luck, were ninjas always this careless? Did she really have to open the door inside an ancient city without even knowing what was behind the said door? Pure amature that Ikanbi woman, and now Mahalow and this other ninja were sliding down towards what could be their inevitable death, "Ooh, crap!!!" The adventurer shouted, he reached for his pouch and then removed the hook attached to the rope, and began attempting to use the hook to hold on to any nudges or cracks.

"Come on.. Come on!" He continued to struggle and try to catch any edges, though it sounded like he was panicking, he was level-headed, for unbeknownst to Koyuki, this was the type of environment the adrenaline junky liked to find himself in, though not when another person set off the trap but, still he felt more at home during situations that tested his limits than relaxing in his apartment eating a good meal.

"Son of a bitch! Hang on Koyuki!!" Mahalow knew that there wasn't much he could do now, it was almost too dark to see but with quick thinking he tossed a kunai further ahead at full speed, causing it to rush ahead and hit the water before they did. "Hey! There's water below! Hang on to me!" Mahalow had noticed that the girl didn't look that powerful, not that he was much to brag but at least he figured that the distance the knife traveled before splashing into the water would not be far enough for them to even come close to terminal velocity, so they could survive this fall if their bodies were sturdy enough.

He grabbed onto Koyuki, repositioned himself then braced for the inevitable, Here it comes! Mahalow had fallen from high altitudes before and knew that the best way to survive was to brace, tuck, and roll, though fortunately, the water helped slow down their fall. He carried Ko for a second before placing her down, he pushed his wet hair out of his face before he looked over at Koyuki, "Are you alright? That was a close one...We were lucky there was water down here, or else we would've been toast."

Mahalow looked back up the slide they had fallen through and cursed under his breath, he widened his stance and placed his hands on his hips. "That was... A little fun... But hey, stranger, promise me one thing. Don't go around and open doors just willy nilly, next time might be the last door you open if you catch my drift." The young adventurer chuckled before he let out a heavy breath, he could feel how his heart was racing but slowly started to slow down as he no longer felt like his life was in danger.

Mahalow looked back up to the slide as he heard stones move and feared that they indeed were now trapped within the confines of this grave. "Son of a bitch, I guess we are not going back that way. " If it wasn't for the moss then they would probably be screwed for the time being, seeing as the was no way he could light up their old torches, they were soggy and wet.

He moved through the ankle-deep water, slowly, making sure that he didn't step foot on anything strange. Let's hope we don't trigger anything now. Mahalow peered carefully at the walls, studying them, from the masonry to the positioning of the walls, he then turned to Koyuki, once he had studied the four walls as he wanted to try something different. "You don't happen to be able to control cha... Chaka? Chakar? What the hell do you ninjas call that magic again?" Mahalow would snap his finger once she corrected him. "Chakra, yeah, do you know any special element that could help us in any shape or form or do you just... Use base..." Mahalow narrowed his eyes as he truly knew little of the ninja world. "Magic?" He wasn't sure if that's what it was called—He was referring to Ninpou.

If only we had some flames, then I could try to see if there was any draft coming from these walls, or something... Think Mahalow, think. You can't let yourself die down here, not like this. Depending on what she responded he would attempt to get her to assist him while continued to study the walls, they needed to get out of this situation one way or another. Besides, what kind of a man would I be if I didn't make sure that this young lady made it home to her parents huh? Verndari's voice rang through his head as he chuckled out loud, if Koyuki asked what he laughed about he would simply reply. "It's nothing, it was just a silly thought."

---

800

MetaShow

Alright, let's see...
A-Rank Taijutsu Discipline
Prerequisite: 35 Will, 2 Posts.
Through years of practice the user has learned the way of solving puzzles, the users mind can see what others aren't able to see. Depending on how hard the mechanism, puzzle or trap is, the user will have to accommodate with posts. A-Rank level Puzzles/Traps can be deactivated within 1 post, S-Rank requires +1 post.

[Kabu]

The last thing Koyuki had expected was for the floor to collapse beneath the group, separating them but more importantly causing them to plunge towards what may be their deaths. Unlike how most others feel however in this moment Koyuki held no fear of death in this moment. Even as she and Mahalow fell without an inch of ground in sight she was calm, simply watching her partner. He seemed to be quite used to these kinds of situations, like a seasoned explorer or something.

Despite having been closely watching him she had to admit to being caught slightly off guard as he suddenly grabbed her, the girl letting out a slight squeak of surprise. She wanted to voice a complaint about how to handle a lady but she held it back, knowing full well that this wasn't the time for that.

It wouldn't be long before they fell into the water, the girl sputtering and coughing as they crawled back onto land. "I'm fine, this won't be the first time I've thought about cutting my hair though. I love my hair but it can be such a pain to take care of." she spoke as she was placed down, taking a moment to wring the extra water out of her hair. " And I assure you, even I'm not reckless enough to go opening every door that I see. There could be an enemy around any corner." she added nonchalantly, entirely unconcerned about the prospect of traps such as the one they had just fallen victim to but rather entirely about the prospect of running into an opponent she wasn't fully prepared for.

Eventually giving up on her hair as it would take too long to dry she opted to put it up into a ponytail for the time being, a cheeky smile crossing her face as Mahalow addressed her once more. She didn't bother to question his lack of knowledge regarding chakra and jutsu, caring about things like that being best left to those smarter than herself, besides there was something more important at hand. "My time to shine." She was clearly pumped up as she formed a set of hand seals, exhaling a small fireball to light up their surroundings, a total of 10 meters in every direction.

"This is really the best I can do in this regard. In truth my knowledge of Ninjutsu is rather lacking. I've been told that I'm quite good at it but I've always preferred to just hit thing instead. Much faster and more fun that way." she spoke, scratching her cheek in embarrassment as she joined Mahalow in studying their surroundings.

It wasn't long however before she simply tilted her head, turning her head towards her partner. "For that matter I've never been the studious type either, not really a book gal as it were. I'm really not sure how much help I can be with this."

JutsuShow

*Katon • Torch
D-Rank Ninjutsu
After performing the correct hand seals the user will exhale a small ball of flame directly in front of them. The ball lights up the surrounding area in a 10 meter radius and requires Strength greater than [Control] to destroy. Unless destroyed, it will stay locked in it's location for 5 posts before fading.

[Ace Trainer]

The pair would talk among themselves once they landed, yammering on given Mahalow’s cluelessness on the Shinobi world. Koyuki would light a fireball, assisting the already existing glowing moss to illuminate the room further. However, as she held the small ball of fire, she would find it would progressively get smaller and smaller until it eventually fizzled out, the room appearing to be too humid to sustain the fire. This was probably what allowed the moss to grow so well though, the existing water was apparently locked into the room, keeping it air tight and giving them lots to suck up and grow off of - even with limited light.

Mahalow would begin to study the walls, revealing the room to them as he did.

Upon closer inspection of the circular walls, Mahalow would find that at one point in the small circular room there was a series of 5 stones side by side at about eye level with small dots on them. Five in a row, a single dot at the center of each block. Further inspection of the bricks would reveal nothing further, touching the dots would elicit no reaction, there didn’t appear to be any depth to them beyond half an inch, and the blocks would not move or budge when touched, pressed, or pryed against. It was difficult to tell if the dots really meant anything, or if they were just some incidental quirk.

Otherwise, Mahalow nor Koyuki would find no further detail to be had. The moss was spread around the walls and ceiling without any sort of meaning or reason, and there did not appear to be any sort of features elsewhere in the stonework.]

However, as Koyuki moved to continue inspecting the space with Mahalow, she would feel a sudden shift under one of her steps. A small stone under her foot in the water giving way. Suddenly a chime would ring through the air around them from an unseen source, it would sound only a single time, a short chime that lasted just over a second. The stones Mahalow had found with the dots would have a small glow coming from the dot on the 4th one. It appeared they did have meaning! As they looked at it, the pair would the notice a feeling of their knees getting wet….

The water was rising.

The speed it was rising was quick. There didn’t appear to be water coming from any specific source, in fact, the water was rising evenly without much disturbance in it at all. What had she done!

[Trusted Grader]

"Trouble keeping your magic up?" Mahalow chuckled, he truly had no idea how chakra worked, but he deduced that it was probably the moisture from the room that killed the flame, though he half expected her to be able to overcome it. Nonetheless, they still had light down here, which was fortunate.

"I think I found something here, come check this out."

Mahalow was taken aback by the rocks that he found, he would call his partner to come take a look at them, and together they would inspect them but no matter what they did to them they didn't seem to move, perhaps there were rocks in the room? This can not be a coincidence, they surely have a meaning, right? The thief adventurer turned to face his comrade as he stroked his chin.

There are five of them, but five of what? They don't seem to respond when we touch them... And I don't believe that someone would design such a room and just paint five dots on these stones..." A sigh rolled out his breath, he scratched the back of his head as he looked around the room.

"Well, It's not a prison at least as there doesn't seem to be any bars, nor does this place seem to be some sort of—" Fox stopped speaking as he heard the chime, What was that? Was that a trap? The adventurer looked over at his partner, before noticing that the water was slowly rising.

"Crap! What was that?" Mahalow looked around the room before spotting that one of the rocks was now glowing. "Hey, whatever you did, it got one of the rocks to glow! I think we need to find the other four! Quickly, before the water drowns us!" That was the first thing that came to his mind, he would look at where she had stood and then around the room, trying to see if the remaining ones were squared off perfectly, he'd attempt to touch the ground as best as he could, hopefully, he would be able to find the others in time.

"Check the glowing rock, see if it does anything now." Desperation wasn't something he ever got used to, but it was part of his reality.

[Kabu]

Koyuki simply tilted her head as she followed along after Mahalow, listening to his musings as she looked around at the damp poorly lit room. She had quite frankly never been particularly suited to these kinds of tasks, much to the chagrin of her parents and teachers. She would much rather be hitting things right now, she was much better at it and found it more enjoyable even. That wasn't to say she didn't want to help, she just couldn't think of anything to add to the conversation on her end. Perhaps this was a sign that she needed to work on some things but oh well...

As she lamented what she was lacking, she found herself suddenly distracted by a sudden noise. A click followed by... running water? That couldn't be right unless... Fearing the worst she looked down to see the ground covered in water... and it was rapidly rising.

"If you say so..." she responded to her partner's orders, all the while wanting to call him out on the assumption that this was something that she caused. She held her tongue however, knowing full well that this was neither the time nor place. Instead she ran over towards the glowing rock, placing her hand on it to see if anything would happen. Hopefully at the very least it would provide some kind of clue...