To Hell Hound and back

Most of the civilians seemed to have taken shelter, aside from a certain few stubborn ones and those believing themselves capable of dealing with a 'dumb dog'. As Hua Li had not been capable of reaching the scientists yet - that group had been wise enough to hide themselves from repercussion after this fuck up -  she had no direct information about their abilities and qualities. Believing they were just dogs was easy, but she knew her own kin well enough to realise those dogs would not stay 'just dogs'. they'd be much fiercer than the sweet household kind with their occasional playful bark. It was mostly a matter of knowing how much fiercer they'd be.

The sound of deep barking pulled her attention. Then the sound of a katon blaze briefly lit up the area. She wasn't far. The demon smith ran through the streets direction the sound. Halfway meeting a pair that was running away from the plaza. One boy, wounded. The scent of burned flesh pricking her nose. With him was a a girl, her face more than familiar to the tengu.

"Aya?", she'd call out. The girl looked up, her face rather pale from distress before it broke into a smile of relief. As fast as she could, Aya Li dragged the wounded baku with her to meet up with the demon smith. But short was their reunion when the fierce barks of a group of dogs made their way into the streets. The hell dogs had tracked them down, continuing their previous hunt.

"Go ahead, I'll hold them off.", Hua Li ordered as she took out her kusarigama and shifted into a combat stance. Meeting a new threat, the dogs slowed down and lowered their head. A deep, rumbling growl warned her they weren't about to accept anything standing in their way. As they inched closer step by step, Hua Li started to whirl her kusarigama around. Faster and faster until the weapon was nothing but a blur before their eyes. For a moment, they hesitated. Driven back by the invisible whirling barrier before them. Giving time to Aya Li and her companion to escape. Then, when they came to the realisation that their prey was getting away, caution made room for retaliation. Fire chakra build up in the maw of two of them; a second later, two jets of fire aimed to torch the tengu without further regard. A swift calculation of the jets' speed pushed her to run towards the inferno, forming singular handseals in the process to activate the Seals inscribed in her armour. Hua Li vanished into the blaze.

Using the inferno as a cover, the Demon Smith appeared out of the flames, assaulting the first of the hounds with blood thirst in her eyes. The kama brutally struck the beast in its head; the crack of its skull betraying its demise. Pulling it back out, she flung the weighted end of her weapon against the next beast. It caught its jaw, forcing a painful whine out of the beast as it fell down in pain. Two out, three to go. And they weren't about to wait until she came for them. The remaining trio quickly adapted a pack-like strategy. The first two running up to the tengu and lounging at her. Far swifter than these beasts, she pivoted out of the first line of attack and caught the second one's fangs upon the chain of her kusarigama. Quite angered, it bit hard into the iron and held on tight. Trying to rip it out of her hands or pinning her in place if it couldn't.

"Bad choice, pooch.", the tengu replied to its tactic, forcing her chain to wrap itself around the beast. All the while draining its chakra now that it no longer could escape her grasp. It whined as its lifeforce was being stripped out of its body and added to the demon smith it had tried to take down, enticing the other two to come to its rescue. As the first one was still recovering from its earlier attack, the last of the hell dogs opted for another firey assault of its own. Tied to the chained dog, Hua Li had little means of escaping the second blaze. She'd drop the idea of escaping in favour of holding ground, tucking her head between her arms to protect her head and show her back so her armour would catch the biggest brink of the damage.

Once the blaze had passed, she watched the other dog come in for another strike. Biting back the pain of light burn wounds, she once more dodged its slow lounge and punished it with a cursing Seal of her own. With the beast having no possibilities to get rid of her seal, its chakra would slowly but surely run out. The only question remaining: how much chakra did one such beast even have?

---

-01 : DSMA, strength: ++
-10 : AA, RoR
-03 : KHC
+05 : Cursed Metallurgy: UA, chakra drain
-05 : TFI: UA, -1T speed, +1T con
+05 : Cursed Metallurgy: UA, chakra drain
-05 : SoE
New chakra: 96/110

With only one dog left, the clone vanished from sight. Leaving Hua Li by herself with a dog leashed to a chain. It whimpered, laying there harmlessly. For one moment one could swear it was a tame dog being chastised by its master. Hua Li knew better. These mongrels were no joke. Whoever had let them loose would have to be tracked down and brought in for an explanation. The demon wanted to know all about this situation. Not only because of the danger it had posed to the district, but also because she was duty-bound as a shinobi to investigate these shenanigans for when the Raikage would ask her about it - if she'd ask about it.

"What am I to do with you, huh? Too wild to keep, too cute to let go."

The dog looked pitifully at her.

"Sorry, pooch, but I'll have to knock you out cold. Consider yourself lucky you're the only one of your group to stay alive."

Adding deed to the word, Hua Li was able to retrieve her chain and sighed deeply in relief. Other than the light burns and a minimum on chakra expenditure thanks to the persistent chakra drain, all that was left was cleaning up the mess. To that end, she started by picking up the dog and walking down the street from where she came. As far as she could hear, everything had calmed down in the immediate surrounding. Hoping quietly there wouldn't be more of those to deal with.

When she reached the end of the street, Aya Li returned with a few others in her wake. Oni, tengu, baku. Despite being a genin, that girl had a terrifying amount of influence thanks to her reputation as a pop star. All that for a signature, a personal picture or a smile? Perplexing.

"Oneesan!"
"Aya. Have you taken care of the baku?"
"Yes. I brought him to the hospital. These nice people wanted to help when they heard what happened. Is that...?"
"Yeah, that's one of those dogs. Fierce beasts; spitting fire like they're dragons. It looks pretty cute when it isn't trying to eat you."
"Is it dead?"
"No, just knocked out. I need this beast investigated. Know where it comes from, who asked for this project and what it's purpose is. If the yokai are going to have fun, they better not get on the Raikage's bad side."
"You're going to keep it, aren't you?"
"Maybe. It seems like a good pet to have at the forge. If I can avoid it from burning down everything and everyone."
"You can't do that."
"Yes, I can. It's my forge. I'll tie it to a chain and muzzle it until I figured out what to do with it."
"Ugh, you always want the dangerous stuff."
"Because they are the most fun?"

The frown on Aya Li's face told the tengu everything. Her sister was irritated. A total opposite to Hua Li, she preferred safer things that involved more love, care and cuteness. And a beast like the one she was holding now wasn't any of that in her eyes. Dogs weren't supposed to barf fire at a whim. Aya Li crossed her arms in defiance.

"Don't you worry. I'll give it a cute name and make it listen to your pop songs, alright?"
"You better or I'll sing about your mangy dog until you feel sorry."
"Oh no... Anything but that.", she'd feign terror. "Anyway, I have business to take care off. Ta~"

And at those words, she'd flash a grin and flicker away.

---

[EXIT]

-01: DSMA, strength: ++
-03 : KHC
-00 : TFI: UA, -1T speed, +1T con
+40 : Clone return
+05 : Cursed Metallurgy: UA, chakra drain
New total: 97/110