Ara Leopard Chapter 1: Flu Shot

AN: Well, I kind of got this idea when I posted my first fanfiction. So now I have two to handle, but I will do my best to manage. If someone likes it, please let me know :D Also, please write your honest opinion, it would be greatly appreciated and feel free to correct my English. As I said on my first fanfiction, all reviewers/reviews will be respected (well, not flamers).

"Kites are rising in the sky, catching fair winds far up high. Rise and rise to the clouds that float, fly high up in the sky…" a hoarse voice died out in the deep.

Marine guards patrolling on higher levels listened as the last echoes of the song thinned out and everything became silent once more. Not long after, however, the little voice started again. "Kites are neat in the sky, dancing, leaping way up high. Rising to the white clouds, fly high up in the sky…"

The guard closest to the railing looked down letting out a grim sigh. "There she goes again! Think she's finally lost it?" he turned towards his comrade who had an annoyed frown upon his face.

"It wouldn't surprise me, keh! Someone should teach her something new already. She's been singing that blasted song for years now!"

The two guards continued their duty, now and then glancing warily down the darkness as if hoping to see something. "You know, Kaien..." the first one spoke, "I heard that this hole is so deep that if you go down and look up, you would see a sky full of stars in the middle of the day." When finishing his sentence he let out a nervous laugh.

Kaien halted abruptly.

"If you are thinking of switching our patrols with those guys on the lower levels, then I advice you to forget it! I won't go near that monster – do you have any idea what measures that had to be taken in order to even keep her down there?" he wheezed through his teeth. Though Kaien was intrigued by the rumor it wouldn't matter. He treasured his life far too much to take such a chance. No further words were spoken between the two men and their work continued normally.

"Falling, falling is the kite. Run and run…"

~..~

A blue-nosed reindeer was happily skipping around onboard the deck of the Going Merry. The day had stared out with good winds in the sails and a lovely, waking sun that warmed nicely. An unexpected shadow caused the jolly reindeer to freeze as his eyes widened comically at the sight. Trembling, the creature turned towards the back of the ship and hollered:

"LUFFY! Everybody! Come quick!"

Doors could be heard opened and slammed shut. Footsteps came and halted as they saw whatever it was that frightened the reindeer so. "Chopper, what is…" a man lighting a cigarette began, but his words soon faltered.

Right before the ship a high mountain rose above them, and at the very top there could be seen a cylinder shaped construction with the marks of the navy. The mere presence seemed to give an ominous feeling and a thick tension was floating in the air. A sudden gasp broke the silence…

"Oh no…"

"Vivi, what is it? Do you know this place?" an orange haired woman, known as Nami, asked her friend. Everyone's attention was now focused on the young girl whose hand still covered her mouth.

"Yeah Vivi, is it cool? Perhaps some adventures, oh, or some treasures?" a boy wearing a straw hat laughed. He seemed genuinely happy to come across such a gloomy place. Considering that they were pirates, the Marine facility posed a great danger to them. That, however, never seemed to bother the captain of the Going Merry.

Vivi brushed a few strands of light-blue hair behind her ears and continued to gaze upon the dark shape. "I was hoping we wouldn't come across this place!"

Nami, now quite puzzled, gave a heavy sigh. "What do you mean? This is an island and… an island? I though our log-pose was set on Arabasta?"

Vivi turned her back towards her friends, "I know… I mean it is... but this place is actually an artificial island if I'm not mistaking. The memories are vague, but nine years ago the Marines asked my father if it would be agreeable to build this place not too far from our kingdom." She drew breath and prepared to continue. "Father told me that this prison holds a criminal, yet no one seems to know what she is held accountable for! Someone says she's a mons…"

"Awesome! Hey everyone, let's make her our nakama!"

Silence…

"WHAT?" the whole crew turned towards the speaker. Luffy, who was currently twirling his straw hat, only grinned merrily at his seemingly brilliant idea. Nami, on the other hand, was ready to explode. The captain's craziness had gone too far this time!

"Let's do it! It'll be just like with Zoro!" Luffy looked over at the swordsman who was yawning slightly. "Or what do you think, Zoro? I'm sure she's a good person, just like you!"

"Mah, do as you like, I'm going back to sleep." Zoro mumbled scratching his chest and started walking away towards the men's sleeping quarters. "Lazy ass moss-head!" murmured the blond gentleman. The swordsman stopped right in his steps and gave his nakama a deathly glare. "What did you say, you pathetic love-cook!"

'THWACK'

This idiocy had gone on far enough for the navigator, as she gave both Sanji and Zoro a solid smack on their heads, "Stop this nonsense! Oh, and would someone please wake up Usopp? He's passed out on the deck again." A boy with a long nose, quite unusual in a normal perspective, laid spread out on the wooden floor. "Monster… joins… crew…" could be heard through his quiet rambling.

Nami groaned and turned her attention at her captain once again, "Now Luffy, you have to reconsi… eh… Luffy?"

"Gomu Gomu nooo…"

Nami swallowed audibly and looked up towards the crows nest. Why me?

On Luffy's back Chopper was neatly positioned, clinging around his captain's neck. A look of panic dawned upon his face as he realized what Luffy was about to do. "…pistol!" Luffy's rubber arm shot towards the building and when he caught the edge of the prison, both he and the ship's doctor flew off before the crew's eyes.

"Luffy… YOU IDIOT!"

~..~

"Yahooo!" Luffy cried out as he soared through the air. Chopper was panicking, and it was bad. Several times before had he experienced certain doom facing Doctorine's anger, but this was something else. In a mere second, however, the panic cased to exist from his mind as he noticed the strange outer design of the building. The cylinder shaped prison was, oddly enough, built without any form of roof. At that moment the feeling of panic gladly returned. They were heading straight towards what seemed to be a bottomless pit.

A strangled scream managed to escape from his mouth and he glued himself to Luffy's head. Smoothly, though loudly, they fell down the hole.

'Craboom' - 'Beep, beep, beep'

The alarm…

"Attention marines, we are under attack. All Marines are to report to their positions. I repeat, we are under an attack. All Marines are to report to their positions." The orders were heard loud and clear throughout the prison.

A man, whose attire clearly spoke of his authority, began throwing instructions at those who were to retrieve the presumed dead bodies at the bottom of the prison. He was middle aged man whose eyes spoke of many years of experience. When the orders were given, however, no Marine moved an inch. "What is wrong with you weaklings? No one could survive a fall like that!" he hollered out to his men. When no one answered, the Marine Commodore raged. "Well?"

Trembling, one man stepped forward to salute his Commodore. "Sir, there is but one problem, sir!" The Marine Commodore only raised his eyebrows. These rats are truly testing my patience today! "Marine, state your name and purpose for not going down there to retrieve those bodies, which I might remind you was a direct order form your superior!"

With a harsh swallow the Marine continued. "Sir, the name is Tearos Kain. It's just that, s-she is down there sir. Something might have happened, what if she's gotten lo…" he never got to finish his sentence before his Commodore cut him off.

"She! She, whom you speak of, is not able to move one muscle in her entire body. Now, if those bodies are not here within the hour I'll hold you personally responsible! Also, set out some ships to patrol the sea area. Whoever's down there didn't come alone!" He finished roughly and marched towards his office.

"Sir, yes sir!"

~..~

"Luffy *cough*" the little reindeer's nostrils and airways were filled with dust. Shaken, he managed to stand up on wobbling hooves. Frantically he began his search for Luffy and to his luck he was right there beside him.

Asleep…

After a quick check to see if his Captain had received any injuries, Chopper could let out a relived sigh and started to look around. The room was dark, with a small torch hanging on the wall as the only light source. Chopper turned his head upwards, surprised not to see the blue sky high above them. Stars?

"Kites are rising in the sky, catching fair winds far up high… holy mother of fudge, I'm bored!"

"GAH…" Chopper began before he smothered the rest of his cry. Someone was there, he was not alone! I'm only a tiny reindeer. Who would want to hurt me, ehehe! Slowly, but steadily, Chopper turned around to face the strange. "I will n-not be afraid of y-you… huh?"

The sight that met the doctor's eyes was an odd one indeed. A girl, a young girl was sitting before him in a kneeling position, attired in a strange metal armour. Her hands were pulled to each of her sides, tightened at place with heavy chains.

"Kites, kites and more kites…" With a slight twitch, her head began to tilt upwards. Soon she was staring straight into the eyes of the blue-nosed reindeer. "Oh… Uhm… Gomen! I'm usually not the most intelligent person when caught in the middle of singing a silly song, heh." She croaked out.

Chopper continued to gaze at the girl. She was thin, clearly suffering from the lack of nutrition and sunlight. Her hair was impossible to determine because of the weak light the torch provided, but Chopper presumed the colour swayed between dark brown to black. The only thing he was able to properly determine was her eyes, yellow eyes. Gentle, big eyes stared back at him, patient for what was to come next. At that moment realization dawned upon Chopper. This was the rumoured monster of the deep!

"Ano, reindeer-san… Are you a doctor?" Chopper was abruptly pulled out of his thoughts by the unexpected question. "That mark on your hat, it means you're a doctor right?" she asked quietly.

"Ah, yes! That's right, true, I'm a doctor. Ehm, my name is Tony Tony Chopper… and yours?" A small, but genuine smile appeared on her face, "Leapos Reyla!" Silence fell between them as they continued to simply look at each other for a while longer. Chopper began to fidget slightly beneath her gaze, though it consisted only of pure curiosity.

"That armour... isn't it uncomfortable?" Chopper hesitantly asked. Reyla's smile turned bitter as she looked down the metal attire. "It keeps me from moving. See these small holes covering the surface?" Chopper could only give a nod. The holes had gone unnoticed to him before she pointed them out.

"In each hole, there is a… um… lock of some sorts. It puts a certain amount of pressure and paralyzes several nerves in my body, at least that's what I've heard the guards say." Her voice was calm, yet there was a certain edge beneath it as she finished the sentence. The reindeer couldn't help but feel a deep sympathy for the girl. Was she truly that terrifying? In his past, whem meeting with Wapol, it had felt completely different.

Reyla kept looking at him. "Hey, Chopper-kun? You wouldn't mind giving me a flu shot would you?"

...

"A flu shot?"

"Yeah, flu shot!"

Chopper was puzzled, however, denying her request was completely out of question. From his blue backpack he fished out what he had of medical equipment. Flu shot, flu shot, aha! Here it is! Wait... since when do I carry around flu shots in my bag? His own actions were truly confusing. As the shot was prepared he started to clean her arm. "So that there won't be any infections." he explained to her. Luckily the damned-armour, as Reyla charmingly had dubbed it, only reached until her elbow so injecting the vaccine would not be a difficult task.

Strangely enough, Relya seemed happy at the sight of the needle. "Chopper-kun, let me see that." she asked after being injected with the fluid. He noticed her looking at the needle. "Um yeah, but how are you…" suddenly he felt something soft and silky slip around the hoof he was holding the needle in. A tail? Before Chopper could even process what had happened in his mind, the armour was falling apart hitting the ground together with the chains.

"Thank you, Chopper-kun" Reyla bent forwards giving his little blue nose a peck. "I feel much better now!"

...

Did I just help her escape?

AN: I hope you all liked it.