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(( It's a good series, technically; the first book is called 'A Game of Thrones'. It's unusual for fantasy because it focuses more on politics, feudalism, and a war of succession between several noble houses, rather than on swords, sorcery, and defeating an ancient evil. Terrifyingly realistic. There aren't that many clear-cut good guys or bad guys, 'Knights in Shining Armor' are just 'Heavily Armored Swordsmen on Horseback', and major characters die more frequently than in a Joss Whedon TV series.

That said, I'm pretty sure Clones don't actually produce that much smoke when summoned. Sachi tried something similar in the Jounin exams, if I recall correctly, and the mods shot the idea down. ))

Well, s***, thought Westly. Wait... no, the two clones are still pretty close together. I could... hrmm...

Westly dropped a Mist Bead at his feet, and the clone mimicked him just for the heck of it. Under the cover of mist, Westly did something peculiar that no one really expected. He performed a substitution jutsu. Westly himself perched on a branch within the mist, while the Bacchus Clone charged out. Back inside the mist where Westly once stood, was a Chakra Puppet disguised as Westly himself.

To say that Westly knew Puppet Techniques would not be precisely accurate. He had, however, once been taught how to construct and operate a humanoid Puppet. This did not make him in any way, shape, or form particularly GOOD at it. In fact, all he could really do was make it stand, walk, and perform simple hand gestures. The only alterations he'd made to the original schematic he'd been handed was emptying the weaponry compartments (since he couldn't aim any of them) and replacing them with a few dozen pounds of Fireworks.

(( To Recap/Clarify: both Westly and the puppet are in the mist, while Westly's Bacchus Clone was charging your clones ))

Westly's clone skidded to a halt and turned to face the real Harou.

"...are you stupid, or something, revealing yourself like that? I'm right here, and you? You're the real one. Earth Clones can't climb trees. Unless you learned Plant Techniques, I guess? Yeah. Right. Change of plans, mate. Best tactic: do what your opponent least expects."

Of course, what Harou probably least expected at that point was for Westly to charge into melee when he'd been avoiding just that THE ENTIRE FIGHT. The clone charged straight at Harou's tree, and began to run up the trunk. Hardly an unbelievable feat: Westly's chakra control was exceptional (a side effect of having so little to control), and the clone was, well, roughly as buoyant as the surrounding air. If the clone started FLYING, though, that'd be a dead giveaway, and Westly didn't want to ruin the slight chance that Harou didn't realize the clone was a clone.

The moment Harou switched to a different tree, so too did the clone. No point in continuing, really; he was there to give Harou a thrashing, not climb trees for his own amusement.

The clone jumped down again, following after Harou. He looked like he was trying to land on him.

(( Edit: Misread your post, you're on the ground, not another tree. ))

(( I added the second line after the main paragraph because I realized that Harou is on the ground and not still in a tree. Since the entire point of the move was to follow Harou, jumping to another tree and staying there while Harou is on the ground would be rather silly. I normally don't declare my own edits, but you were posting rapidly enough that I was nervous you might miss it. ))

(( Huh?

You laid a trap in the tree, then jumped to another nearby tree and from there, down to the ground. The clone stopped running up the tree towards you once you left the tree, at which point he followed after you, to the second tree, and then the ground. The clone is now trying to land on you. He is not technically running at you anymore, and I see no place where he could have set off a tripwire. Furthermore, when did you rig up an elaborate net trap? I mean, you could probably do it relatively quickly by using Chakra Smith, but you never did.

Your post doesn't make sense. ))

(( Every time you edit your post, it makes my complaints sound nonsensical rolleyes ))

The Westly cocked his head, regarding Harou as if wondering what to do.

"Alright," it said.

It dissipated into a swarm of bees. A decent volume of the second mist cloud off to the side peeled off, formed up as an even larger contingent of bees, and attacked from that side as well. This thinned the mist in parts. It was still hard to see, but in one of the larger patches of thinner mist, Harou could just barely make out the outline of a person holding a handseal on the ground.

As for the technique itself, Westly called it Mist Summons. It worked the same as his Mist Clones, and indeed, they were both essentially the same technique: a genjutsu painted over a shaped cloud of fog or mist. The wounds were painful but illusory, and faded quickly once the "Summon" was vanquished. As a result, despite the proven intimidation and amusement potential of Velociraptors, Westly had since switched to bees, which, while less dangerous and kind of lame, were significantly harder to hit.

"BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!" buzzed the bees, for that is the sound that bees make when they seek to be truly fearsome, which is rare. Usually, bees only attack in defense of their hives. A swarm of bees waging a purely offensive, rather than defensive, war, is nearly unheard of in nature, hence why there are no known records of that particular bee battlecry.

There was, sadly, no "big thing" coming. Just lots and lots and lots of bees. Let x be the approximate volume of the average Caucasian male, and let n be the number of bees with combined volume x. There were n bees attacking Harou from the front (which still, technically, were capable of inflicting drunkenness with each sting), and roughly 5n bees attacking Harou from Harou's left. When they reach Harou, both swarms will break formation and swarm Harou from all possible angles.

Calculate the number of bees that are going to get past Harou's defenses and sting the crap out of him as a factor of the total number of bees 6n.

For extra credit, calculate how much Harou wishes he knew how to turn off his pain receptors right now.

(( I just spent the entire afternoon, six full hours, doing my homework for Optics and Modern Physics. I SEE IN CALCULUS! ))