A journey? [ Closed ]

[Yoshida Katsuo]

Katsuo set out from the lands of his lord Hojo and set about on an adventure to gain a better understanding of who he was. Katsuo would start his journey by heading to the sea and he'd see where things went after that. Katsuo gathered a number of useful supplies and slung them over his back as they were contained within a small leather sack. The bag thumped against his back as he slowly walked down a deserted path that cut though the rugged mountains. It'd take Katsuo a few days to make it through the pass and that meant he'd end up sleeping outside a few nights. The prospect of that didn't really bother him all that much and soon Katsuo found himself whistling as he went about his travels. The day was glorious, not a cloud to be seen in the sky, and the present air temperature was just barely under seventy degrees. Yes, it was going to be a good day. As Katsuo lifted his head to take a glance at the sun, he would raise his hand to shield it from the majority of the light, but allowing enough to do what he needed. By looking at the suns position in the sky he determined that he'd have more than four hours of light left and that was plenty of time.

[Yoshida Katsuo]

The first night was, cold, to say the least. He slept out under the stars and despite the frigid air, it wasn't altogether unpleasant. Katsuo's bedding materials, which consisted of a few light blankets, was placed near the smoldering embers of the fire to keep himself warm throughout the night. He debated on whether or not he should keep the fire maintained at a higher level, but ultimately decided against it. He didn't need the light attracting any attention. Bandits had been known to prey on travelers in this mountainous pass and that's really the last thing he wanted. It wasn't that Katsuo couldn't handle such a situation, but rather it was that Katsuo would prefer not to kill somebody if he didn't have to. As the night dragged on he could feel his eyelids growing heavier and heavier, eventually pulling him into a deep slumber.

[Yoshida Katsuo]

" Rise and shine, Katsuo....."

Katsuo slowly awoke and rolled over to notice that there were numerous sets of footprints in and around the site where he'd chosen to set up camp. The first thing he noticed was that his knapsack was gone and that apparently they'd not taken anything else. Katsuo grumbled and cursed himself for being so tired. If he hadn't been as exhausted as he was, he might have not slept quite so hard. In which case he would have woken up when these people had entered his camp site. Katsuo rolled over onto his stomach, buried his head in his arms, and went back to sleep for a few more hours. The day had already started off poorly and he didn't really want to deal with any bullshit this early. Katsuo took his sweet time getting ready and by the time he was on the road again, it was already midday. As Katsuo had gotten dressed and packed up he'd pondered on whether or not it was in his best interest to hunt down the people that had stolen from him. In the end he'd decided that his situation was entirely of his own making and that he shouldn't blame someone else for his mistakes. Katsuo decided to make up some time and ran a good part of the day. It was easy, after all he didn't have quite as much to carry now that he'd been relieved of it.

[Yoshida Katsuo]

The rest of the day went a bit better and the warrior made good time as he ran along the mountain path with haste. He theorized that the bandits might still have been tailing him and he didn't really want to meet them. Katsuo only stopped to relieve himself from time to time. Katsuo was nearing the end of the path and could see the end in sight, but that's not all he saw. Standing where the the path merged onto another that would take him towards the nearest town was a group of five or six men. They weren't dressed very well and had old, beat up, weapons, but that wasn't the most interesting fact. Slung over the shoulder of one of these men was a leather knapsack that looked exactly like the one that'd been taken from him the previous night.

"So that's what their plan was? They had planned on waiting for Katsuo here, at this point, hoping that he'd be tired and less capable of defending himself."

Katsuo mumbled this to himself as he came to a sliding stop. It was fortuitous that they'd not taken his weapon last night and the reason for this was that they'd clearly underestimated him. Perhaps they thought that because they were able to get in and out of his camp undetected so easily, that his skills were lacking. True, he was tired from running all day, but they'd be in for a surprise when they came for round two.

[Yoshida Katsuo]

The first of these bandits stepped a few feet in front of the others and pointed towards Katsuo with an outstretched hand. He then proceeded to move his body in a shimmy while passing his hand through the hair on his head.

Katsuo's eyes narrowed and he spoke the words slowly....

"The Dougie....."

The bandit heard Katsuo's statement and responded with one of his own.

"Yea, that's right foo, The Dougie. I suppose I don't need to remind you of what's going down?"

He was right. Katsuo knew that he'd just landed himself smack dab in the middle of a dance battle and there wasn't any turning back now. He wiped the sweat from his brow and got ready to throw down.

[Yoshida Katsuo]

Katsuo didn't really know how to dance, but he wasn't about to be shown up. His counter attack would mainly involve the movement of his left leg being moved in a circular motion, then alternating to the opposite leg. It was known as "The Stanky Leg" on the streets and it was among the only tools in his arsenal. As Katsuo performed the dance move he could see the anger on the face of the bandit. Clearly he'd not expected such a response and all he could do was spit upon the ground and head back to the group.

"Sooo, you have some talent."

The bandit leader spoke as his comrade returned defeated. They talked amongst themselves in hushed voices and tried to figure out what to do next. The Dougie had been one of their trump cards and they'd foolishly expected it to defeat Katsuo on the spot. They came to a decision and the bandit leader stepped forward.

" I will be your opponent...."

That's all he said as he started to limber himself up.