Hurricane Force: Stage 4 Investigation [Mission]

Rohim arrived at the western edge of the island where Harikengakure stood. In the distance behind him, he could see the looming structure, Mt. Myria, home to his clan. It held a sturdy dominion over the people of the nearby village, and a watchful eye over the rest of the land residing around it. It was the young Edrick's job today to venture out into hurricane-plagued waters to save any ships that have been caught astray by the storm leering overhead. Rohim prayed to his goddess, Myria, that he would return from this mission alive.

The clouds came overhead from the east, riding a strong gust of wind that covered the land to his back, as well as Harikengakure, in a dark shroud of black clouds and rain that blotted out the sun. Rohim's heart began racing with nervousness; it was beginning. He hadn't been on a mission in months, since he had gone crab-fishing out in the frozen waters north of the village. It was a bittersweet feeling. He was glad to be back in action, but slightly perturbed by a nervous notion at the same time. This hurricane looked strikingly terrible, and he was about to run head-first into it.

Rohim began immediately. He focused chakra into his feet, and sprinted out onto the sea in front of him. He had no idea where to start. Should he just keep running into the abyssal ocean until something grabs his attention? Should he wait in order to spot something moving nearby? "...That's it!" he said allowed, over the increasing storm. With a blink of his eyes, and a flash of lightning to his right, the whites of his eyes shadowed over with a deep black, and the iris of his eyes formed into an elegant neon-yellow compass.

Spoiler:

Standing still on the frenzied sea, he used his Compass to take advantage of the raging winds around him. Feeling the currents of the air, he felt everything around him. He felt every single raindrop, every single cloud, and every single change in the wind currents for a half mile in every direction. But wait.. what was this? He felt a large obscurity in the air about 400 meters in front of him. On top of this obscurity, was a frantic man running around attempting to nail down his ship's belongings against the will of the storm.

"I have to save him," Rohim pointed out to himself, and he sprinted off towards the huge fishing boat in front of him. It took about a minute to get there, and in that time, it seemed like a century of battling a never-ending storm. When he reached the ship, he again focused chakra into his feet and scaled the horizontal edge of the boat. He reached the deck of the ship, and ran over to the helpless captain who was being tossed about by the gusts.

"Sir!" Rohim shouted over the storm billowing around him. The captain went on attempting to nail down a barrel using a small sledge and a rusty nail, paying no attention to Rohim. Assuming he hadn't heard him, Rohim decided to yell again. "SIR!" he shouted with such gusto that it seemed the storm around him seemed to pause for a split second with fright. It obviously scared the man as well. He whipped his head around, wide-eyed. "Well no needa yell, kid!" he said.

"Oh.. I'm sorry," Rohim said quieter than before. "WHAT?!" the old man asked, obviously not being able to hear, "Yer name's Lori?!" "No!" Rohim said with a chuckle, "My name's Rohim, I've been sent by the Kage to help struggling ships navigate the storm. May I?" Rohim asked and nodded towards the helm. "I don't see wh'not," the man said. "You take the helm thar, and I'll try'n keep m'cargo from flowing overboard!" Rohim nodded and ran up the deck towards the helm of the ship.

He struggled to reach the wheel mounted on the helm of the ship as he fought the current of the wind, that attempted to force its will upon him. When he finally reached it, he planted his feet firmly on the ground, and gripped the wheel as tightly as possible. He needed to get this boat back to the harbor. He then looked up to try to navigate his way back. He couldn't even see to the other end of the boat, let alone out to sea. The storm was just too much, and it forced him to use his Compass once again.

There he stood at the helm of a huge fishing boat, navigating through a massive storm.. with his eyes closed. The captain thought he was a little more than insane, but regardless, he let him navigate the ship. Using his Compass, Rohim dodged boulders, wrecked ships, and adapted to the strong winds. Just then, the storm stopped. It was as if the world had frozen altogether. The huge, raging storm just.. stopped. Rohim looked to the sky to figure out what had happened.

He had entered the eye of the storm. For the couple minutes that they remained in the eye, the air around him cleared, and he could see everything. The sea around him was filled with wrecked ships, floating bodies, and an occasional ember of floating debris. it was disgusting. Why had none of these ships been alerted to the oncoming storm? So many lives could have been saved. Rohim felt a knot twist in his stomach.

Before the eye had passed over, Rohim had done two very momentous things. First of which, he spotted a wrecked freight-ship with at least 8 survivors on it, and a small sloop about a half mile from them. After carefully analyzing the situation, he made his next move. Just before the eye was completely passed over, Rohim had escorted the man and his fishing ship back to the harbor successfully. He jumped off of the boat, and landed on the water. Now, it was time to save those survivors.

He sprinted back into the ocean to find the few who had made it through the first half of the storm. As the storm picked up again, Rohim was slowed down to a halt once more. The blistering wind and unrelenting downfall of rain, accompanied by an occasional bolt of lightning packed with millions of volts, made it very difficult to make anything out simply by sight throughout the storm. He had to use his Compass again.

Using his Compass, Rohim tracked down the small sloop with survivors aboard it. He sensed that there were only six people left on board at this point. Meaning, the storm had taken its toll on two more of them. When he reached the ship, the people were in a panic. Apparently, there were massive holes in the hull of the sloop, and it was taking on water faster than the passengers would have liked. Rohim guessed that the two had lost their lives trying to patch the rather huge leak.

He ran up the side of the ship and onto the deck where the remaining crew members were located. Rohim explained the situation to them, to which they desperately listened, and he began immediately attempting to decipher any possible solution to their problem. Rohim surveyed the ship, looking for anything he could find to patch the hole. Nothing. Everything had blown over the side of the ship with the wind that wasn't already bolted down.

Rohim began to panic. If he didn't figure out quickly how to patch this giant contusion in the side of the sloop, the remaining crew members would surely die. It was up to him. The survivors' morale was low, and their muscles grew fatigued as they fought against the will of the hurricane. Rohim was not about to find anything to patch that hole on this ship though, he had to go elsewhere.

Rohim ran up to who appeared to be the captain of the remaining group in order to inform him of what his plans were. After telling the scruffy, weather-beaten man of his intentions, Rohim sprinted to the side of the ship, and dove over it. He crashed into the swirling waters, and was tossed around from the angry currents as if the gods of the sea were were personally offended by something he had done. He fought the tide, and surfaced long enough to began swimming in a set direction.

After what seemed like hours of swimming, he finally found a small shipwreck. He had set out to find an abandon ship, retrieve parts, and then return to the survivors to attempt a last-minute ship repair. He leaped onto the wreckage, and began his investigation. Below deck he found several buckets of nails. He put the lid on one, and tied it to the sash around his back that was being used to hold his sword. Now, he needed to find some planks of wood.

After a few seconds of looking wildly around the broken ship, Rohim decided to make patch-wood himself. He wheeled his fist back, and shoved it through the deck he was standing on. He ripped a few planks out of the ship, tied them to his back, and leaped into the water once again. The currents immediately began to drag on the wood on his back, making it increasingly difficult to navigate the already difficult hurricane. He had to get back to that sloop though. He had to save those people.

He finally reached the survivors once again. There were only 2 left now, and he was not about to let those two go as well, he needed to get them back. He patched the hole as fast as he could, and used the empty bucket to throw water over the side of the ship to permit them to rise on top of water level once again. After a few minutes, the ship was full-sail into a hurricane. At the helm of another ship, Rohim would have to use his Compass one more time. He closed his eyes, and felt the wind around him.

Using his compass, he finally navigated the hurricane back to shore. He let the crew jump off and attempt to find shelter from the storm among the village. Rohim laid down on the sand of the beach, and looked up into the stormy sky. After a few hours of lying there in the rain, a clearing overhead appeared and eventually engulfed the sky in a sunny miracle. Rohim stood up, and went back to Harikengakure. He had saved three people today. He wished it had been more, but it was better than none.

[Exit.]

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» Hurricane Force: Stage 2 Observation
» Hurricane Force: Stage 3 Anticipation