Buds Blossom into Daisies.

Haji stood on the other side of the great wall, he and his granddaughter had passed through with the help of Shitai, and now the wall of bugs and dirt stood once again. Haji was eager to take his little grand offspring into the desert and go on a hunt to find what her skills are now. It would be a great training method for her. His heart began to race at the thought of watching her in battle. He was pumped.

"I'm so ready for this."

Lacey stood along side her grandfather, poised to make him proud. It seemed as though it took an eternity for this session to begin but never the less, it was time. She stood strong, her arms down by her side, her vibrant green hair laying over her shoulders. Seiteki and Thunder Sword held firm by her side, one on each respectively. It was a day that she would put her jonin status to the test. She wanted to become a legend like the two male figures in her life, but the first female. This was her initial step into that goal. Lacey listened to Nahaji's words. The pressure was on. Keeping her flamboiance, Lacey responded with a toughness in her tone and a slight smirk as her head dipped ever so slightly. She began to stray her hands through her hair, prepping it for a ponytail.

"Im sure you are..."

Haji cracked his back and his sides by leaning back then turning his torso left and right. He was glad to see his granddaughter happily ready at this. He pulled a toothpick out of his inner pocket on his robes and popped it in his mouth.

"Well then, i'm sure you're too skilled for a Dingo no Hato, so, what do you feel you can take on out here. Scorpio-bears? Giant gorilla-raptors?"

He then said menacingly and a little indimidatively to her, almost as a joke.

"Or, The toughest son of a beast in the desert? The Komodo-Gilla-sting-widow? oooooOOOOooOoOOoOooOoooooOOOOOOooOoOOoOOOoOooOoOOOooOo"

Lacey just stayed focused on the path in front of her. She wanted the toughest challenge there was, a challenge to give her the adrenaline rush only felt by training against her dad. She began to slowly wrap the hair bow into her single strand, then once complete, grabbed two sides of her and and pulled them tight. It much resembled tightening a headband. Once her hair was tightly placed, she would raise her head high and take a deep breath, this time, no smirk. Pure focus. Pure energy. 100% Commitment.

"Bring me the best of the best."

No other words were spoken. Only silence after. The day was yound over the vast open desert skies. It would take every aspect of her for this. Agility, Dexterity, Vitality, strength. It was her time to shine. Bring on the challenge.

Haji gave a short sigh before he started slowly boxing a match with his shadow continuing his warm up. He wasn't really feeling that up to facing that beast, he really just threw it out there as a joke. A trybrid monster in the desert was unheard of, and Haji himself had faced it once before, back in his younger days. He was almost invincible back then, he could jump into a battle with the best of them on the spot, but nowadays his battles had to be as quick as possible. A dingo dove is a very dumb prey and can easily be taken down, but a trybrid was too much for him. The training with lacey earlier had him a litte out of breath.

"Well, too bad, it doesn't exist."

Haji slipped a lie through his lips.

"Perhaps we can start with a platypuss bear, they're pretty tough, good wrestlers too. A few hours with them for about a week can help your agility and toughen your core. You can't take the desert lightly."

Lacey just stood, listening to her grandfather speak. It was ok, a Platypuss Bear, in terms of a challenge. Instead of speaking, the young grandaughter stepped forward. She was initiating the hunt whether he was done warming up or not. She stepped into the soft grains below her feet, only the sound of compacting being heard as the sands forced themselves to grind under the pressure. The young Edrick girl placed her hand on her Seiteki Himei and drew it from behind her back. The gleaming of the blade as it was drawn would flicker against the sun, as the sound of the blade shredding against the sheath almost sounded as a warning to the animals. Her blue eyes wandered, ready for her first prey.

Haji popped his fingers and neck once more before giving a sigh. It was time to take her to finally begin training. If only he coulda done this all a few years ago. Oh well, now was as good a time as any. He stood beside his granddaughter and crossed his eyes over the horizon.

"Well then, let's get started."

As they wandered through the sea of golden sands, Lacey kept her eyes peeled. Where and when? That was all she processed at the moment, as her blade stay upside-down in her hand. She was in full anticipation of the attack to come. Her heart raced, her mind stacked with battle strategies. Anytime now, the initiation would begin. When and where, where and when? That's all she could muster, anxious to prove herself.

"They won't come at you with a weapon in your hands. They're beasts yes. but they aren't stupid. You need to give me your weapons for this training. Don't worry I'll be right beside you this whole time. "

Haji gave her a moment to decide to give up her defenses, but he knew she was just as good without the weapons as she is with. His granddaughter had her grandfathers abilities with her dad's attitude. ..... And Hajis toughness.

Lacey would listen around, the quiet of the open terrain agitating her adrenaline. Then she was interrupted by Nahaji, being to told give him her weapons. She turned to him in sort of a shocked expression, then sighed heavily. She would stab Seiteki Himei into the ground and remove her Thunder Sword from her hip. She would drop the Thunder Sword in the sand next to the stabbed position of her katana, putting her hands back on her ponytail, pulling it tight for assurance.

"Ok, there..."

She would turn away from her comforts and walk away from them for Haji to attain. It seemed she would have to do this the hard way, full on hand to hand, which wasn't her foré. She regained her focus and awaited the mighty beasts.

Hajii watched her drop her weapons into the vast sea of sand. He knew she was upset about this, but there was more to go. Haji crossed his arms and looked at her again.

"All of them Lacey. This means any ninja tools. I need your pouch."

He held one hand out to obtain the tool pouch that she wore. She couldn't have any tricks up her sleeve. Not right now.

'....Damnit.....'

Lacey would say this internally to herself in a yell, but whisper it under her breath as she jerked her pouch from her side. She would sling it and it fell to Haji's feet. She was pissed now, having tried to focus several times only to have it interrupted by her grandfather's rules of engagement. To have to turn on the mental switch, then back off, only to have to re-dedicate her focus was frustrating. She now had to start from square one, and start formulating new plans for attack. To show her frustration, she took on acting, allowing herself to be a damsel in distress. She would walk like a prissy woman as she did.

"Oh no! Look at me! I'm a little girl ALL ALONE in the desert with no way to defend myself! What ever am I to do?!"

Her apparent sarcasm would piss off anyone who may be around, but since no one was, it was just to irritate the animals with her loud and obnoxious rambling.

Haji just laughed under his aged experience and just gave a small sigh at his granddaughter. Yeah she was a great ninja but she was still young. He had to admire her courage though, she was fearless like her grandfather. Well, in his youth. He waited for the bears to show up, no doubt they had to be willing to try to rip her to shreds. She was unarmed, and a good 20 feet away from Haji. Things didn't operate according to plan, somethings awry in the dessert.

Haji then noticed something. There was a sense of something that. he couldn't quite put his finger on. Could it be a moisture, was it a tatse, it definately wasn't a sound. He looked at his granddaughter for a moment. She wasn't an adult, she's vulnerable, unarmed and particularly short in stature. He didn't understand. Without noticing, laceys bag slipped from his grip, and it was then he had noticed what he was sensing. It was the call of the ocean, the wave like echoes were silently sending vibrations into the aura of the desert. The creatures were all sensetive to the aura of the desert, it had come used to people passing here and there, but a person from oasis hadn't brought these conch shells here before.

Haji knew that there was a creature in this desert, one that he had tangoed with before, and found himself on the brink of death. It was territorial of its desert, and if the balance was disrupted by an outside source, it would do whatever it could to maintain comfortability. The other animals were hiding, for they don't wanna be mistaken for the accused.

"Lacey.....we need to go. NOW!"

Lacey would turn to Haji with a large groan, and an expression of confusion on her face. His tone suggested worry, and she knew nothing to be worried about. She then sighed and walked to Haji, taking her blades from the ground, sheathing them. She would then reach down and grab her pouch, placing it back to where it needed to be. Confused still, Lacey looked up to her grandpa.

"What's wrong now grandpa?"

She was more confused than frustrated, so she simply rested her hand on Seiteki Himei and waited for his reply. She had no clue, but the desert seemed to be too quiet for him. Something was out of place according to his tone. Things may be turning for the worst...

In a sense of protection, haji wasted no time. He quickly grabbed his granddaughter and threw her over his shoulder before she knew what was happening and started a full sprint back towards the wall. It was getting close, haji could feel the sands shift. Someone like lacey would attone the shift to the winds that move the sand, but haji knew different, being connected to the sand he controlled.

It was moving fast, he wasn't going to make it to the wall in time, so there was only one option.

"You remember that monster I mentioned earlier, I lied. Its real and its very pissed off right now. I don't have time to be a grandfather, we have to be teammates. I'm not going to make it to the wall before it gets to us, so were going to have to fight this thing. I almost died to it years ago, back in my prime. We won't make it if you don't listen to me. When it attacks you have to keep it busy until I can lower the sand, and we can only pray that shitai is waiting on the other side to let the bugs down. I need you at 100% on this. Understand?"

He continued his pace, the storm was in the horizon. It was almost here.

Lacey's eyes widened as Haji told her that the monster he mentioned earlier was not folklore but indeed fact. He spilled his heart out to her, and she couldnt deny feeling his urgency on the matter. With a look back as she was riding the shoulder of her grandfather, her eyes intensified, the signature yellow glow beginning to form. She slapped her hands together and began to weave handseals.
It was time for her to do her part. She yelled to him, as she began to make her move in her mind.

"No, grandpa! I'll give you 110!!"

Strategy began to take its place in her head. Three scenarios were ready, as the visual prospects of the monster came to her imagination. She had them stored, all that was left was to let the Eagle Eye Compass extend its range for her.

Having used the time they spent fleeing gave way to what Haji exactly wanted. To devise a basis ground plan for he and his new ninja, but making it to the wall before the battle was going to be impossible. Having no other options Haji thought as quick as he could. With lacey off his shoulders and his vest as well, Haji should make it close enough to begin to lower the wall, so this is what had to happen. Haji popped his right shoulder up, causing lacey to fall stomach first into his palm. He then would use the sprint momentum, bring her up to his ear, and hurl his young sprout as far as he could towards the wall. He didn't worry about overthrowing, he knew she would find a way to land safely. He flung off the weighted vest that held fast over his kage robes, and his pace increased. His heart began to beat abnormally fast, but he ignored this. More important things were happening.

-----------

On the horizon a dragon headed beast could be seen. Its large body kicked up enough sand to make it seems as though it were riding a golden wave of the sea. Hidden behind the cloud of dust lay the scaley eight legged body of this beast, its tail coming to a point as a scorpions would. Fangs shot from its mouth, tough as steel, but hollow to allow passage of its venom. The tail held a hollow point under the sharpened tip to excreet a tough rope-like web. The web not itself sticky, but can be used to constrict its opponents like a boa. This monsters hide rivaled the strongest of the winged dragons, almost impenitrable. This bad son of a bitch had his eyes locked on a small greenhaired girl who was accompanied by a red haired demon. The demon served as no threat before, but now as he aided the beasts enemy, the demon became an enemy again, once more.

As she conjured her handseals, Lacey suddenly felt herself become an accessory for Haji to throw. She felt herself lift high in the sky, her back facing the wall and her eyes now visibly locked onto a terrifying sight. Her range for the Compass was ruined, for now being moved, her range was shattered back down to the mere 20 ft. She felt her ponytail swinging over her shoulder as her eyes widened at the view of the terrible monster. She continued strumming until the last handseal, reaching in and gathering 6 feathers. She was still ascending, watching her grandpa turn into a bead below. The young Edrick would let the feathers go in mid flight, as her chakra signature was left behind with them. They seemed to take their own random direction, which was what she wanted anyway. Not taking her eyes away from the beastly creature, she knew her grandpa needed her. This thing was a something even he seemed to fear. She wanted to change that for him.

Haji himself skidded to a stop now, his body ripped with muscletone and bulk as a fire lit in his eyes. Well what seemed like a fire anyways. His pupils circled in on themselves in a dark red to gold rainbow spiral. His body was bulky for a reason, and the added boost of his doujutsu gave him the hide of a rhino. His defenses were at an adequate level to take any lethal taijutsu blow once over and continue to fight. This was due to how he trained himself throughout his mid ranged life. He was known as the red demon of the sand for a reason, however the demon before him now spat on that title once before in Haji's life. He prepped his hands back charging chakra in his palms as well as his legs and feet. He knew everything was going to have to be as brutal and precise as it can be. Even at those odds, Haji and Lacey were still the underdogs in this fight.

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The beast saw the green one hurled into the air, its gaze would hit deeply upon her, and just the stare from the creature would be enough to strike an iceburg heart into the bravest of men. Its eyes were completely inverted, a black pool of empty lives and torture swam around the small bead of white. Once this beast strands you on the white island of its vision, it plans to devour you into its darkness. It cared less for the man below. The fake demon that rules this land made this true demon laugh. A pathetic little man. And now an old one as well. It was nearing now, dust would begin to completely cloud the area as what seemed like a wave of dust was now all but a sneeze away. From destruction.

Finally after her long flight into the air, Lacey finally landed into the sands, sliding back quite a distance, sand stirring into a long and directional smoke screen. This would distort her, she had hoped anyway, until the monster started its attack. She would slide to a stop, placing her right hand on the handle of Seiteki Himei and draw it out upside down in her hand. As she did this, she place one final handseal and activated the feathers. From the sky would form clones of the Edrick Princess, directly over top of the now crossing beast from below. Was this her grandfather's plan for her? Was he buying her time for the chance to attack it himself? The monster was now too close to run and make it. They had to fight. Lacey's temple dropped a bead of sweat. This wasn't ideal for her, not here. Seiteki Himei began to channel with chakra, as did her left hand as she channeled chakra and lightning into her fist. Knees bent, right leg slightly in front of left, she awaited her new fate.

Meanwhile, the six clones fell from the sky, all forming in a free falling sky diving formation. One was just above another, and all were cloned at the moment in which Lacey had her blade in hand. So now the clones were pre-equipped. They all aimed to assault the monster in a strategic fashion if it were to not notice them. The clones also had a back up plan if needed. They were also sending the real Lacey information via clone to human bond. Was there a weakness? Only time would tell...