A/N: Hey, this is the second chapter, reworked several times, still not perfect but it will do. I wish I could say that's why this took so long but I have to admit I was drawn in by the sirens song of new games for my xbox, hopefully next chapter will be more forthcoming. Also I do not own one piece. I know shocking right?

Chapter 2

Ashes to Ashes, Blood to Blood

Eddy staggered to his feet trying to ignore the crowd of disapproving faces that now surrounded him. Typical, pirates preying on a defenceless girl and everyone is blind to the situation but a bit of purely accidental sexual harassment and the audience shows up in force. He rolled up his sleeves revealing a metal brace round each arm and a small shell slotted into each one. He unclipped the metal frames and put them in his bag which was still on the ground nearby. He then pulled out a pair of red gloves, each glove had a heat dial fitted into the centre of the palm with an actual dial surrounding it with various symbols stitched into the glove round its circumference. "Just like old times I guess. My bodies not built to take jet dial boosted punches anyway. Another one of those and I'll break my arm." He thought to himself still flexing his throbbing digits. His eyes narrowed as he slowly turned a full 360 degrees and stared at the crowds of judging faces that were encircling him.

"Don't you people have something your supposed to be doing?" Eddy yelled, his face was still glowing red with embarrassment. He carefully stepped over the stone that had already caused him so much humiliation and pushed his way through the horde of onlookers. Once he was free of the wall of people he moved over to the unconscious pirate who was still slumped against the yellow brickwork of the large stone clock tower that overshadowed the bustling street he was currently in. Eddy ran a red glove through his messy, light-brown hair and crouched next to the armoured man. "Hello?" Eddy said shaking Razor's steel clad shoulder's. There was no response. He decided the pirate would benefit from some fresh air, Eddy gripped the metal helmet firmly and pulled. The helmet didn't budge, Eddy gripped harder and stood on Razor's shoulders for leverage, even with the combined strength of his arms and legs he couldn't get the helmet free, it had been dented onto the man's face. Eddy's grip on the metal finally gave out and he launched himself backwards into a heap on the stone floor with a thud. "Ow... This isn't working." He wheezed as he tried to free himself from the pretzel like contortion he had somehow managed to land in. What Razor had said before about the marine in charge of the island being in his pocket was disturbing and he wanted some answers before he went and did something stupid. He glanced across to the scattered valuables and smiled. "I think they may want those back." Eddy thought as he walked over and began shoving the various gems and gold into the sack cloth bag they had been in. "I better do the responsible thing and take them back. Maybe ask a few questions while I'm there." He put the sack of treasure in his duffel bag and zipped it up. He slowly became aware of muffled heavy breathing behind him and turned to see Captain Razor with his lance raised above his head.

"I'rr ma' 'ou forry 'ou did vat 'ou PASTARD!" His eyes appeared to glow red with rage in the depths of his deformed helmet.

"What?" Eddy replied with his head tilted to one side and a confused look on his face.

"RRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" Razor stabbed the lance down toward Eddy ferociously.

"Oh I see." Eddy responded diving out the way of the attack. The blast of rocks that resulted from Razor hitting the stone floor collided with Eddy in mid air knocking him across the ground, he pushed against the floor using his momentum to flip himself back onto his feet but he had become separated from his bag, it had everything he owned inside, he dragged his attention back to his opponent.

"Don't you think it's time to call it a day tin man. You look a bit... dented." Razor let out another disgruntled roar and charged forwards jabbing his lance toward Eddy with lightning speed and pinpoint precision, it became a blur of movement. Eddy frantically dodged the attacks but they were coming at him too quickly, he dived to the right into a combat roll and raised his palm toward the momentarily confused Razor. His eyes focused on the crowds of people still present in the street.

"Dammit. I can't use this with those idiots standing there gawking." He told himself lowering the heat dial on his hand. Razor charged toward him again, his blood filled mouth emitted a sound somewhere between a roar and a gurgle as he brought his lance down for another powerful attack. Eddy jumped forwards and spun round in mid air swinging his heel into the side of Razor's dented metal helmet, Razor staggered sideways but his lance still shattered the ground beneath Eddy spraying debris into him like shrapnel as he landed. He dropped to one knee and clutched the various cuts along his left arm, Razor let out another blood curdling raw and charged again jumping forward with his lance poised above his head.

"So this is it." Eddy thought to himself, a sly smile crept across his face at the thought of it. "So this is how karma works. Well, at least it's exciting." His vision was blurry from the pain and he had started to feel woozy from blood loss, his vision momentarily cleared, his eyes widened when he noticed the street ahead had become devoid of people.

Eddy quickly rotated the dial on the palm of his glove and threw his hand upwards just as the lance was about to make contact, the air rippled momentarily then burst into flames in an explosion of heat. Razor screamed as he shot backwards bouncing several times off the ground until he skidded to a halt, he pulled himself to his feet, feral eyes glowed with anger in the depths of his helmet.

"I don't want to kill you pirate but you're not leaving me much choice here." Eddy said while slowly rotating the dial to a different setting than the one he had shot a moment ago. "If you carry on I will have to stop you."

Razor raised his lance horizontal to his body in line with his shoulders and his other arm which was now pointed at Eddy like he was lining up a shot. His knees bent and he blasted forwards with incredible speed, litter from the street took off behind him with the force of him pushing off and he had covered over half the distance between him and Eddy in less than half a second but Eddy was prepared. Another explosion of fire appeared a metre or so away from Eddy's outstretched palm but this time it was much larger, Razor's charge was met with an oncoming wall of fire that passed over him like a wave. The armour clad frame of Razor's body stood stationary for a moment but suddenly the various pieces of armour began clattering against the floor one by one and emitting clouds of black ash that were all that remained of Razor's body.

Eddy stood in silence staring at the cloud that was his opponent. While he attempted to catch his breath he contemplated what his next move should be but someone else had already made it for him, a flash of movement in his peripheral caught his attention, he turned to see a man sprinting away with a duffel bag. To be more precise, he saw a man sprinting away with his duffel bag. "This is going to be a long day." Eddy groaned as he forced himself forwards into some semblance of a convincing pursuit. The thief weaved through crowds of people in the narrow cobbled city streets then darted down an alley way between a pair of the cities typical timber framed houses, Eddy sprinted after him, he arrived in the alley to see the thief springing from wall to wall towards the rooves.

The thief just managed to pull himself up onto the flat roof of the building as a wave of flames rose from the ground below, his eye widened in shock when he felt the heat singe his back. Below Eddy had run back out of the alley and carried on his pursuit from the street, having to keep the thief in sight on the rooftops above while trying not to smash into any of the crowds of people that littered the streets was hard work. After a few minutes of running he noticed a flight of stairs adjacent to the street leading up to the second floor of a house, he sprinted up the staircase and pushed of the hand rail, grabbed onto a flagpole protruding from the wall just ahead and flung himself upwards onto the roof. The thief had just passed him and was leaping onto the next building along, he managed to catch a glimpse of his face as he ran by, he knew he had seen him before. He was one of the pirates from earlier, one of Razor's men, maybe getting his bag stolen wasn't so bad after all, this could be his chance to get some answers.

Eddy followed the thief, jumping from rooftop to rooftop but the vagabond was fast, Eddy could barely keep up. The man hopped across a larger gap onto a much lower rooftop with ease rolling as he landed to cushion the fall, Eddy was not used to diving across rooves or anything else for that matter, he leapt forwards without thinking and watched the ledge he was aiming for pass by the tips of his fingers. He bounced off a fire escape, hit the wall opposite and then landed in a garbage can with a thud.

Eddy slowly pulled himself up, removed a banana peel from his head and rolled forwards out of the trash dropping to the floor with his arm clutched to his stomach, he had winded himself pretty badly but at least this dealt with making the thief think he was free. He slowly limped out of the alley still rubbing his bruised back, this was definitely not a nice part of town now, the bustling streets had become deserted and there wasn't a single house that looked as though it was inhabited, the entire area seemed greyer than where he had been before, there were boards covering almost every window and planks nailed across most of the doorways.

"Nice place. Homely." Eddy said sarcastically as he walked down the street in the general direction he had been chasing the thief, various litter blew round his legs in the breeze that gained a wind tunnel effect down the built up corridor of derelict buildings.

(-)

After five minutes of walking he came to a large warehouse, like every other building in that miserable area it was run down and boarded up but it was the only building big enough to use as a hideout, pirates generally weren't smart enough to be subtle so the most obvious building is usually the one to go for. He rotated the dial on his right hand and gestured to the door, the heat from the glove rippled the air as it passed through and hit the wooden frame of the doorway igniting it with enough explosive force to blow it from the concrete surrounding. Eddy waited a moment for a response from inside but it never came, a minute or so had gone by and yet no one had even come to check on the noise, maybe he had gotten the wrong place but he decided to look inside just in case.

The second he passed through the threshold he was met with the unmistakable scent of blood and sure enough a little further down the main entrance corridor two pirates lay dead on the floor their blood smeared across the pale green wall where they had slid down its surface. A little further down the corridor there were three more men and from their various scars they seemed well acquainted with combat and violence but they hadn't even managed to draw their weapons before they were cut down; each with a near identical killing blow, three slashes across the throat like an animal attack. Suddenly a noise from upstairs caught Eddy's attention, it sounded like a struggle, whoever had done this was still here and had probably just run into the man with Eddy's bag.

Eddy ran to the end of the corridor past the main warehouse floor catching a glimpse of it in the corner of his eye as he passed by, there were bodies, ten of them. These people had at least managed to draw their weapons but that was about as far as they had gotten and from the positioning of the bodies it looked as though they had surrounded the intruder but then been annihilated. At the end of the hallway he dashed up a flight of stairs to the second floor and to a similar scene as he'd been greeted by on the first; lifeless remains slumped against the walls either side of the corridor along its entire length, it had easily been a crew of over thirty men and something had slaughtered the lot.

Eddy couldn't help feeling grateful to whatever it was that had done this as it saved him a lot of trouble, he hadn't really figured out how he was going to deal with all of these people, he highly doubted they would have given him the chance to talk before they attacked. At least this way he didn't have their blood on his hands, well their ashes at least.

"No please stop, I-I have gold, here take it just don't kill me." The voice was male but had been forced into a high pitched shriek of terror. Whoever it was in there was probably responsible for the rest of the bodies he had seen so far. The petrified man must be the thief he had followed there and the gold he was trying to bribe the killer with was from his bag.

"I don't want your blood money. There's nothing you can do to change my mind, I came here to make you all pay for your crimes and then I will pay a visit to the officer who allowed you to continue for so long." The voice was female but cold and emotionless, the voice of someone capable of assassinating an entire crew of pirates. "Before I kill you I will give you a chance to repent for your crimes by telling me where your boss is." Her eyes were dark, almost black, the pirate felt as though she was looking straight through him, he couldn't look away from them not even at the three blades protruding from a gauntlet on her hand that were inches away from his throat. He just sat on the floor staring in fear at those cold eyes.

"H-He's not here, some guy in town killed him. Burnt him alive. D-Do you work for him? T-Tell him he can have his bag back. The bribe is still all there."

"What guy?" She snapped moving the claws half an inch closer.

"The-The-The marine guy. H-He can keep the treasure, just let me go!" The man cried trying to pull himself away from the steel poised at his throat.

"What marine guy? Is he in on it too? Which marine guy!" She yelled angrily. Outside Eddy moved from the wall he had been leaning against to listen to the conversation and walked through the door of the room.

"I think that would be me." Eddy said stepping into the room, the girl had her back to him and the pirate thief was sat on the floor in front of her still cowering in fear. The first thing Eddy noticed was a large oak tree, a tattoo of one covered her entire back, the roots started on her lower back with the top branches expanding across her shoulder blades to meet with her black hair that stopped just above the ends of each branch and had a red feather tied into it on top of her head. She turned slightly redirecting the focus of her piercing black eyes towards him. The braids in front of each ear swung violently with the turn then quickly settled back into position.

"S-See t-that's the guy. I-I can go now yeah?" The thief snivelled, staring in horror at the three blades now that he had been freed from the imprisoning stare of those eyes.

"I'm sorry," The girls voice was softer now, less harsh and almost pitying, "too many people have died for you to live." She spun to face Eddy fully and the blades attached to her hands cleaved effortlessly through his neck as she turned, the thief was dead almost instantly and slowly toppled sideways leaking blood out into a puddle around the girls bare feet. Eddy's eyes widened while he watched helplessly, he wasn't naïve, he knew that sometimes people had to die, you can't save everyone and it's kill or be killed but this wasn't like that at all, he had given in but she killed him anyway. It brought up memories of someone he hated more than anyone, himself.

"You didn't have to kill him you know." Eddy said quietly while shaking away his thoughts.

"Oh I am sorry." She replied, her dark eyes narrowed in annoyance. "Was this slaver piece of trash a friend of yours?"

"Er no not really he just stole my wait, did you say slaver?" Eddy couldn't stand slavers or the governments lax views on how despicable a business slavery truly was. He found himself feeling less sorry for the hordes of dead by the second.

"Man you're pretty stupid huh?" She replied smiling smugly. Her face suddenly became cold and emotionless again. "Now, tell me about your boss."

"My boss?" Eddy asked innocently.

"Listen I know you're not the brightest spark but don't try and take me for a fool. Your wearing a marine officer jacket so you're at least a Lieutenant. That means you can save me the trouble of killing that weasel Nezumi and tell me about the slavers the marines are working with on this island." Her dark eyes were still locked onto what Eddy felt could only be his soul, it made him uncomfortable. He was also starting to notice that she didn't blink or at least hadn't so far, a sign of a trained warrior, his only chance now would be to use his amazing charm and whit.

"... erm" He was drawing a blank and her eyes had moved from his soul to his throat which was strangely less disconcerting. "I don't have any idea what you're talking about." He couldn't help seeing that her dark green tank top barely showed its original colour through various blood.

"I figured you'd say that. I'll ask you again after I raise you're voice an octave or two. Hopefully I won't need dog hearing to understand you when you're begging to tell me what you know."

"You're not very nice, you know that? Very angry. It's not healthy and it ruins your pretty face." Eddy barely had time to finish his sentence because four knives had shot towards him at bullet speed. He automatically grabbed the edge of a table with his right hand and swung it forwards at chest height with the surface facing away from him, the four knives lodged into it and poked through the other side as it hurtled away from Eddy and towards the dark eyed woman. Three slashes glowed across the table momentarily before it fell apart and she burst through the remains with both sets of claws poised to attack. Eddy kicked a chair into the air in her general direction then quickly turned the heat dial on his left hand as he spun and shot a burst of heat that engulfed the entire wooden seat in furious flames. The girl had already committed to cutting through the obstacle and couldn't stop herself in time, the hindrance was easily destroyed just like before but this time a shower of embers burst out in all direction forcing to close her eyes, just for a second. Eddy darted forward, grabbed her outstretched clawed hand and flipped her over his shoulder into the opposite wall with a thud and a crack of bones fracturing.

Eddy took a moment to bask in this small glory choosing to ignore the fact that in the books of heroism and chivalry he'd read, flinging women into walls was up there with groping on the list of what not to do but he was quickly learning real life wasn't like in books, this girl wasn't exactly what you'd call a damsel and she didn't seem like she'd ever been 'in distress'.

"I'm impressed." The girl had flipped back onto her feet as though nothing had happened, she certainly didn't look like someone with three cracked ribs. "People rarely get a hit on me, you should be proud but don't think that a bit of fire is going to scare me, I've fought someone who uses fire for a long time. You better step up your game, I have high hopes of this being a good fight." She began tying back her long black hair into a pony tail.

"You could at least tell me your name first." He replied, trying not to sound anywhere near as scared as he actually was.

"I'm former marine ensign Mai Sado and you are? It's not that I care or anything but maybe I can get them to right something nice on your grave." She smiled grimly then stretched out her arms.

"My names Edward Knox... uhm... Major I suppose." He shifted uncomfortably at the last part.

"A Major huh? That would explain those battle instincts, you must have seen a fair bit of action huh?" Mai said using the moment of conversation to get used to the throbbing pain in her side.

"Not really. I've been in one war and that was the only time I've been out of the marine base until now." Eddy was determined not to let himself see any of the memories he'd so carefully repressed from that dark time in his life. That was the point when he knew he didn't want to be a soldier, he didn't have the stomach for it.

"One war and now you're a Major? You must have done something pretty special." She said, noticing that something hit a nerve when he talked about war, all she needed was one opening and this seemed like the topic to make him give her that.

"The world government calls me The Hero of Alabasta. Alabasta still calls me the Devil of Alubarna, I think they are closer. The things I did there weren't the actions of a hero." The look in his eyes was not something Mai had accounted for, she found herself caught by the sadness that seemed to bore into the abyssal depths of his pupils. Eddy quickly looked away and then back at her with a smile on his face. "Very clever, distracting me like that but I can't help notice I'm not dead. I fell for it hook line and sinker why didn't you take the chance?"

"I just didn't want to miss this opportunity for a good fight." Mai said with a grin on her face as she darted to one side and then forwards straight past Eddy while rapidly increasing in speed until she was a blur moving round the room with amazing momentum, despite being in the confined space of the room Eddy was completely unable to follow her movements. Mai came into view a split second before she swung a claw horizontally towards his neck narrowly missing as he bent backwards to avoid it. She let the momentum of the slash carry her round into a spinning kick to his stomach that sent him flying into a wall with a similar thud to the one she made when she'd hit it. It knocked the wind out of him and left him unable to do anything while he watched Mai lunge towards him with a set three blades aimed at his neck.

Eddy slammed his hands against the wall behind him and twisted them both using the friction from the wall to turn the dials. He released two consecutive blasts of fire toward the approaching Mai, she disappeared as the flames passed through where she had been but was forced back to the other side of the now fire damaged and generally beat up room. Eddy used the opportunity to move away from the wall but Mai quickly returned to speed, blasting past Eddy in all directions not attempting an attack until she had him right where she wanted him. Out of no where she appeared moving at incredible speed in a straight line toward him, Eddy readied himself attack the incoming target but as she drew in close Mai was suddenly behind him with her claws ready to strike. He hadn't even managed to see her change direction.

The world seemed to slow down in those few seconds, it felt like the universe was giving him a final chance to take in all the details of his last few moments of life; the dull grey depressing décor of the room he was in lit by the gentle glow of scattered pieces of flaming furniture and a rhythmic beeping that echoed in the streets outside.

Beeping? His eyes widened and his body took over, a yellow beam of light ripped through the exterior wall near the floor and cut across the room diagonally continuing through the ceiling. Eddy sent a blast of fire to his left with his right hand using the force of the blast to spin round positioning himself so Mai's clawed hands moved harmlessly over his shoulders as he grabbed her round the waist and slammed himself to the floor pulling her down with him just as the Pacifista light beam glided through where she had been a split second ago.

"What the hell was that?" Mai asked, a little winded from the sudden fall. The buildings steel supports creaked and began sliding away from each other as the entire top half of the room started falling away, it crumbled under its own weight and fell in on Eddy and Mai who were still on the floor. A wave of fire ripped through the debris as it fell reducing most of it to ash and blasting what remained out of the way, Eddy lay on his back under Mai panting with his hand still pointing up towards what was now the open sky above him. Mai became aware of him beneath her and brought her hand toward his face, he winced in anticipation of claws but they had been retracted into the gauntlets on he hand, she had her index finger pressed firmly against her thumb hovering over his forehead then flicked him hard. "Pervert." She stated evenly before pushing herself to her feet and walking over to the freshly cleaved gap where the wall had been. The Pacifista stood in the street below perfectly still like a statue, "You gonna lie there all day?" She said turning to Eddy and kicking his foot in an attempt to move him from his grounded state.

"What's happening here. We were fighting a second ago. In fact I think you were about to kill me. I mean erm attempt to. I'm sure I would have been fine. *Cough*" Eddy said sitting up with a confused look on his face which was slightly blackened from cremating the upper half of the room he'd also aquired a small cut on his left cheek just above his Kanji tattoo.

"Yeah well a lot can change in ten seconds. I guess you've proven that you're worth keeping around. Try not to let it go to your head." She smiled and held out a hand to help him to his feet. Eddy decided to take her up on the offer, after that fight he wasn't sure if he'd be able to get up without at least little help.

Eddy walked towards the edge of the building to see the Kuma Pacifista still standing motionless in the street, "That could have killed me you useless glorified blender!" The robots angular face slowly looked up towards him.

"TARGET ACQUIRED: EDWARD KNOX. BOUNTY: ZERO ZERO ZERO BERI. ORDERS: KILL ON SIGHT." His mouth dropped open and a large surge of energy built up within until a blinding beam of yellow light fired up towards Eddy narrowly missing his head as he dived out the way turning the heat dial on his right hand as he rolled across the floor and back onto his feet. He directed his open hand towards Kuma and the air around the robot ignited in an explosion of fire, the Pacifista stood in the centre, seeming completely unaffected and then slowly walked out of the flames, his surface appearance had been burned away and his metallic exoskeleton glowed hot from the heat but was merely superficial and had done no real damage. The metal Pacifista had now turned a charred black as it looked up again towards Eddy.

"I take it back. I don't think you're useless and I meant blender as a complement. I love blenders!" Eddy shouted whilst slowly backing away from the exposed edge of the room. The Pacifista opened it's mouth again for another attack.

Mai suddenly appeared mid somersault over Eddy's head and dropped down onto the Pacafista bringing her heel down onto its metal cranium. The powerful kick forced its mouth shut and knocked it back a couple steps but didn't seem to damage it in the slightest. She disappeared into a blur of movement as a large metal hand swiped through the air where she had been, she darted past behind him slashing behind the mechanical joints that would be the knees on a human, the claws sparked against the Pacifista's resilient alloy. It spun round in an attempt to attack her again but she was already gone then appeared behind its head and slashed twice on the back of its head with little effect. She disappeared again, and stopped next to Eddy who had jumped down into the street.

"This guy's invincible. What are we supposed to do?" She asked not taking her eyes off the Pacifista for a second.

"I think I have an idea." Eddy replied, huddling in closer so the robots sensitive sound receivers couldn't hear.

"You sure that'll work?" Mai asked sceptically.

"It's the only plan I have." Eddy replied, feeling it probably wasn't the most confidence inspiring response.

"Oh well then, go team us I guess." Mai grinned confidently and darted forwards again running a ring round the charred Pacifista, showering sparks in all directions from a torrent of slashes. Eddy pushed his palms together then twisted them in opposite directions activating both heat dials and spun round sending two blasts of fire into the Pasifista's chest, the flames superheated the metal but nothing that would even slow it down. Mai quickly appeared next to it's enormous chest and slashed an X on the glowing metal with her claws. When the metal cooled the X shaped indentation remained in the centre of its torso.

"Let me get that for you." Eddy jeered as he ignited the air over the Pacifista's chest again. This time only the cross glowed under the heat. Mai appeared again with a throwing dagger ready in her hand and threw it at incredible speed then instantly shot forwards beating the dagger to the Pacifista, as the blade passed her again, she spun round and kicked the pommel of the knife driving the blade through the softened cross of metal. The Pacifista let out a roar then instantly swung at Mai who placed a hand on the approaching arm and used it to flip herself over the Kuma-bot's head before propelling herself off its back and disappearing for the final time. The Pacifista fumbled to pull the knife from the middle of it's chest eventually yanking it out without showing any sign of pain.

"Oi fridge features." Eddy yelled, drawing the cyborgs attention away from it's minor wound, the Pacifista looked at him, he was smiling confidently, Mai was standing behind him with a similar smug smile. "I was lying to you before." The Pacifista opened its mouth and began charging its light beam attack. "Blenders suck." He lazily gestured towards the injured cyborg, the shot of heat rippled through the air and ignited area around the Pacifista's open wound the flames travelled through the interior of the metal giant reducing what was left of it's humanity to ash. The charred shell slowly dropped to its knees and exploded violently, Eddy's jacket billowed in the force of the blast while scraps of flaming metal fell down around them. Mai's triple bladed claws retracted into the gauntlets on her hand and she let out a sigh of relief.

"That was fun." She said, sidestepping a larger piece of metal that had fallen back to earth. Eddy let out an even longer sigh and put his hands behind his head.

"You've got a pretty twisted sense of fun Mai. But I have to admit enjoyed scrapping that junk yard reject once and for all." He smiled gleefully as the intact head finally thudded into the ground cracking the cobbled street around it.

"It's not twisted it's... unique. Maybe if I stick with you a while I can bring you round to my way of thinking. Besides, I gotta pay you back for saving my ass up there." She gestured vaguely towards the destroyed warehouse with her thumb. "Although for future reference, saving my ass probably shouldn't involve grabbing it. Pervert." She said matter of factly, her dark eyes twinkled evilly as she watched Eddy's face slowly glow bright red.

"I-I-I... You see I... erm... Dammit not again."

A/N: Hope you liked it and thank you to Tommyboy1331 for the intimidating Mai Sado. R&R if you would be so kind. More importantly keep submitting characters so I have something to read and hopefully use.

ShX