What Lies Beneath [Shin]

As his eye’s drifted aimlessly above the numerous heads of the crowd one strange figure approached him and as soon as his eye’s focused on the shinobi he was assured that this was his partner, Shin Akiyama. Koizumi Ryūza, I assume?” , it seemed like the man was also informed of Ryuza’s name and had also come to the island himself. The salamander decided to study the crimson demon from head to toe, taking in as much information about his appearance as he could. He had heard from somebody earlier that his assigned partner was related to the Kazekage herself and his appearance did not deny it. Standing at around six feet and two inches, the relative of the Kazekage sported a long mane of crimson red hair and brown eyes.

The man wore nothing but black robes and with his devilish red hair complimenting it, he really didn’t seem like a nice person on the outside. But Ryuza went by the infamous saying of ‘never judge a book by its cover’ and this could be one of those cases. Many shinobi that roamed the earth did not go by the saying and they were fooled by one’s appearance on the outside, ultimately resulting in their demise. After snapping out of his current train of thoughts and shifting back to the very fabric of reality itself he stood up exchanged a fake smile with the man, he nodded which confirmed the man’s suspicions of if this was actually Ryuza. Before he could ask for Shin’s name, there was a strange noise from off to his left, somewhere between a laugh and a honk, followed by nasally voice. "Ooo, you perhaps?"

He would not have looked if the call had not come from such close proximity, but when the kid did turn, he was not fully prepared for the sight that greeted him.

The man who was now approaching was... odd, to say the least. Not just in appearance, but in the way he moved. For starters, his body was built in the strangest of manners; a set of long wiry limbs that supported a round beach ball torso. His neck was hardly visible, giving his head the appearance of growing directly from his shoulders. Eyes, dominated by large black pupils, seemed focused on Ryuza with a mildly disturbing intensity. He was dressed much in the same manner as some of the other scientists he had seen on the island: a stiff button-down collared shirt, working jeans, and thick boots. The black topknot on the man's head bobbed back and forth as he crossed the distance between them pendulously.

"Now, aren't you small? You look like an adventurous fellow, yes? Why are you standing around with these boring rock-sorters?"The spindly man asked of him, drawing close to him as he could without physical contact, and cocking his head to the side.

Feeling his personal space violated, Ryuza took a step back before giving a tenuous response. "I'm waiting. For the next supply ship to come by."

"Next ship? Long time to wait, don't you think? There are alternatives, yes?" For some reason, the round man seemed to add a questioning inflexion onto the end of every sentence. It was difficult to discern whether he was asking or telling.

"...Um, maybe?"

A thin smile spread across his lips. "Perhaps? My brothers and I run a small game that could pass the time, if you might be interested? Adventure game could appeal to you, or maybe prizes? You want to see the ruins, yes?"

Silent. His previous reservations about the rotund man were dashed in the face of a chance to explore the island's namesake. And somehow it was a game, too? It sounded awesome, but the man sounded very fishy, who would set up a game in ruins that were not fully explored and mapped yet? However, he quickly brushed those thoughts aside and started realizing he was engaging in a rather uncool display of unveiled enthusiasm, attempted to reign in his exuberance. "I mean, yeah, I would be interested in such an activity."

Clapping his hands and bouncing up and down, quite literally, the salesman seemed giddy to have convinced him to take part. "Good, good, then you will follow?" He said, motioning away from the docks.

"Right. Lead the way."

As the young salamander walked aside the eccentric bouncing man in silence he didn’t notice if Shin was following him or not, he was too intrigued in the thought of exploring the famous ruins, as they made their way through the trees. They had initially been following one of the main paths, but had abruptly broken off onto a small side-road. The ground was just a mat of dead stomped leaves. The situation struck him as odd, but maintaining a decent path in this sort of environment was probably a worker's nightmare, so he was willing to let it slide.

Something that bothered him a lot was his companion's gait. With every step, he seemed to bend down on the knee where his weight was centered, while at the same time thrusting his opposite leg forward. Then he would pull himself back up to his full height, and repeat the process. While he had to attribute the strange pattern of locomotion to the man's mismatched body, a thick torso and incredibly long spindly legs, he couldn't help but think he was exaggerating the motion just to seem weirder. Furthermore, another thought persisted in the always working weird mind of Ryuza’s that only seemed to complicate matters: If he hit his guide, he was fairly sure the man would bounce. It was really, really tempting.

"There, do you see?" Ball-man asked of him, as they reached the end, and stepped out into the sunlight. It took a few moments for Ryuza's eyes to adjust, the treetops had strangled the sunlight from reaching them for most of their journey, but when he was able to focus, he did quickly find what they had apparently been looking for.

A building, ten stories, with maybe eight hundred square feet split between the floors. The exterior had been painted white and somewhat restored, but it was unmistakably part of the ruins. A tarp had been spread out over top of it, supported by thin metal poles, to camouflage it a sort of circus-tent appearance, but he could still see some of the crumbling stone between the gaps. Still, it looked impressively festive.

"Woah." he whispered to himself, that was the most elegant response he could come up. Then again, he had always liked the circus.

"Wonderful, is it not? Now then, Brother? Are you here, Dem?"

A second voice boomed out of the building as they came up to the door (Though door wasn't exactly the proper word, as it was only a strip of cloth). "Brother! You brought a friend!" Ow. This one was loud. Really, really loud.

Another strange round man stepped out to greet him. It was rather clear to see that they were in fact related; he was not exactly an expert, but the odds of multiple people existing with that body type outside the same genetic line were probably ridiculous. This one had a longer, pointer nose, as opposed to the first brother's rounded stubby one. Other than that, they were pretty much identical.

He grinned widely, and then opened his mouth for another verbal assault. What was it the other one had called him, Dem? “A big one this time! You are here to play MUR!"

"...Mur? The adventure game?"

The loud one glanced at the questioning one. For a moment, it seemed as if he was going to roll his eyes at Ryuza's ignorance, but he did change his expression at the last possible moment. "Yes, the game! Come inside, we will explain the rules!"

As it turned out, whoever lived here hundreds of years ago, they must have had to entertain giants as guests or something because the ruins were ginormous in size. The two shifted objects so both Ryuza and Shin could see better.

"The game is simple!" Dem shouted, appearing so suddenly at the window that the young salamander almost fell over backwards. "But first, introductions! I am Dembanger, and this is my brother Eroteme!"

The question-toned brother, who was occupied tugging a large map into place, paused for a moment and gave a wave as he was mentioned, before slipping off to grab more props.

Pointing at the illustration behind him, Dembanger continued. "This is a map of all the ruins on the island, diligently recorded by the greatest adventurer in the world! Me!" He posed, his hands on his hips, like some king out of a royal portrait. Ryuza was not entirely sure that someone so... round, could be the 'greatest' at any physical activity, but he did not judge. He had the map, after all. Maybe he really was? In the back, it seemed Eroteme was glaring at the louder brother.

"The ruins are divided into three main sections, based on the architecture and symbols found carved there: Sun, Moon, and Star! The largest section is the Ruins of the Sun, in the center of the island, where all the scientists are set up! On the far side of the island is the Ruins of the Moon, which are partially collapsed, and difficult to move around in without a team of diggers! Behind us are the Ruins of the Star, easily the most splendid of the three!"

"Huh. I understand why they might leave Moon alone, but why are you the only people studying these ruins here?"

"Because of the traps and beasts, maybe?" Dem gave his brother a vicious shove, sending him spinning out of view. But the damage was done.

"Wait, what?”

"Ah, yes. Originally, the Ruins of the Star were laden with traps! And to complicate matters, a number of different creatures had decided to make their home there! But worry not, I, personally cleaned out every one of the nefarious mechanisms, and drove off all the animals! It's perfectly safe now, not to worry!"

"Oh, okay then." The answer seemed to placate the seated shinobi. Such a feat would not be outside the realm of possibility, given enough time. Besides, what reason would they have to lie to him? "So, what's the game?"

"Well, you see, after completely my thrilling quest to cleanse the ruins, I realized that it had been an inordinate amount of fun! I came up with the idea of going back through all the tunnels and passageways, and hiding these!" Whipping his hand up, he revealed a small green shape. It was a perfectly spherical, not unlike him, and seemed to contain a glow independent of any light source. It was rather breathtaking, really. Ryuza reached out to touch it, but Dem swiftly pulled it out of his reach. "They're just trinkets, really; marbles I picked up off a merchant a few island over! But the glow makes them easy to find in dark places. These are your objective! They're concealed all over these ruins, in all sorts of places. You get ten points for every one of these you bring back, more if you find bigger ones! And if you bring back enough, you can trade them in for some of these fabulous prizes!"

Yanking the map out of the way, the brothers revealed what was behind it: a huge assortment of valuable items, each with a point price listed underneath. The lower shelves contained stuffed animals, the middle an assort of silly hats, but on the top... something caught Ryuza's eye. Something he did not think he would ever see outside of his dreams: A mask. And not just any mask, the mask of his personal hero, the undisputed king of the wrestling world, the one and only El Rey. It was stretched out over an awkward mannequin's head, and turned in the wrong direction, but there was no escaping that insignia. It was the same one that he had attempted to have tattooed onto his back. He had to have it. Had to.

"The mask." Ryuza grunted, pointing at the object of his desire.

Noting the determination in the Sunagakure boy's stare, Dem's grin widened further. "Ah, an eye for quality! One of our more expensive items! That one costs 7,000 points!"

"I'm gonna get it." Not 'I want that one' or 'I'm gonna try and get that one'.

Leaning out from the corner of the window, Ero wore a look of concern. "That is going to require a lot of work, isn't it? 700 marbles, right?"

In a feat of agility and speed one may have not expected out of the young dragon, Ryuza leapt to his feet. There was no room for argument in his voice when he spoke. "I. Am. GETTING IT."

"Okay! Here is your bag, the entrance is just that way! And remember, anything you encounter in the ruins is perfectly safe, even if it doesn't seem like it is! We have your welfare in mind!" He held out a brown canvas bag which was tied off with a rope that was long enough to either be dangled over one's shoulder, or tied to their waist. For the moment, Ryuza chose the former option.

"Don't worry, I'll be back. Don't give that mask away!" That last sentence came off harsher than he intended. But blast it, he had always wanted an El Rey mask, and he was not letting this opportunity pass him by.

"We won't!" Dem promised casually, waving after the large man as he strode away. Next to him, Ero mimicked the motion.

"We hope you will have a good time, yes?"
As he started to walk towards the entrance of the ruins he remembered that he had a companion with him on the island, quickly glancing back to see if Shin was following him he observed that he was and then made a quick motion with his hand’s for him to follow, with that, Ryuza wandered off into the darkness.

They continued to wave and shout encouragement until Ryuza disappeared from site, at which point all pretense of merry enthusiasm dropped away.

Turning towards one another, they spoke in hushed tones, afraid of who might overhead despite the fact they were alone. "Why did you tell him the ruins were safe?"

"He wasn't gonna go in if I didn't! I was crossing my toes, so it's okay!" As it turned out, Dembanger was not very good at whispering. "Besides, he's a strong fella! Even if he doesn't manage to find 700 of the jewels, he should still have plenty on him when we loot his body!"

Mollified by his older brother's words, his mind shifted from the risk over to the profit side of this equation. "Do you think this is our best scam ever?"

"Hah, I think so! We send idiots in to retrieve the goods, and when they get killed, we sneak in and take everything they've collected, plus their stuff too! They don't even realize what they're playing! MUR, the Make Us Rich game!"

The two sat there and cackled.

OOC: Shin won’t have to worry, he will be involved soon. It’s just Ryuza’s personality and the men’s lack of attention that was the reason I didn’t involve him as of yet.

As an adventurer of a sort, exploring the ruins was a breathtaking experience for Ryuza. He had never really left Sunagakure and the area surrounding it growing up, except the occasional missions he had been venturing on recently, and the closest thing to the remains of an ancient civilization he had ever seen was the hundred year old barn his neighbor had him and his brothers to knock down. They were paid in lemonade and homemade sweets. It had been a good day. But the worm-eaten wood did not hold a candle to the intricately carved stone these people had left behind.

Snapping a photo in his brain of another particularly impressive archway, overgrown with flowering vines, he continued forward. It took a few seconds for the archway to register in his brain but when it did he made a ‘Ding’ sound when he was sure it was engraved in his mind. Ryuza looked back and spotted Shin, he had followed him and the salamander smiled, he had not really talked to Shin and being a relative of the Kazekage he decided it was only going to be polite. “So, how’s things going with the Kazekage and yourself?”. That small sentence was the only words he could muster up, Ryuza was not much of a socializer and shortly after his thoughts were once again with the ruins. “Follow me through the ruins, this’ll be fun!”, he slowed down his pace to match Shin’s so they could continue on together but as fun as it seemed, he couldn’t wander off anymore.

No, no, he had a goal here. The mask. El Rey was depending on him.

Making his way through the dilapidated pathways, he kept his eyes peeled for any of the glowy little marbles the Beach Ball Brothers, or whatever they called themselves. But he was dismayed to find none of the point-yielding-buggers. 'Maybe' he reasoned silently, 'this area was already picked over by other players.' With no additional information at hand, or dissenting opinions, further thought only served to reaffirm this theory in his mind. He was going to need to go deeper into the ruins to get what he needed.

'Click.' Came a mechanical sound. It took a moment or two to realize it wasn’t his spiritual camera stored in his brain.
Ryuza's eyes moved to the ground, where an indented tile stared back at him mockingly. How odd. He then looked at Shin and pointed to the ground to see if he had noticed it.

The building around him rumbled and groaned, as unseen gears slowly creaked to life. Loose rubble deposits began to drop around him. Now that's really odd.

Walls around him, despite still being rather structurally sound, suddenly began to fall inward on top of him. For a moment, the shinobi stopped to ponder the logistics behind synchronously collapsing four stone walls without compromising the foundation. Of course, this thought was a fleeting one, as the clear and present danger involved when standing in the middle of falling building promptly overrode his intellectual curiosity.

He bolted as fast as he could which was pretty fast, yelling at Shin to see if he was alright. Ryuza ploughed through the falling rocks with all the grace of a runaway train, pushing his way towards freedom. "Gonna make, gonna make it..."

But just as he reached the exit, feet away from the safety of the open air, the ground in front of him fell away, revealing a dark and, as far as he could see, bottomless hole. Unfortunately, he had already shifted his weight into the step, and there was no backing out of it now. Arms flailing wildly, his fingers grasped for purchase, but found none. "...Not gonna make it."

Instead, he rolled face-first into the open abyss, with massive chunks of rock just behind him, with that, he looked around for Shin and yelled his name to see if he was alive and well.