xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Hargeon Port, 11:25 p.m. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Under the deck of the slaver ship, countless bodies of the thug-like crew were sprawled all over the halls. Some were knocked out on the ground, others were sticking out of holes in the walls with large welts and cuts on their bodies.
"Run away!" Exclaimed a crew member as he ran down the hallway into a group of crewmembers who were still able to fight.
"You idiot! Why are you running! It's just a fox!" Another crew member said as he held a sword in both hands as the crew member that ran away hid behind him.
"You don't get it man! That thing is beating up our guys so fast, there's almost no one to control the ship- Oh no, there it is!" The scared crew member explained before getting cutting off.
Approaching the group was Vulp, his hair standing upright like quills and spikes as he stared down the group with a look of fury on his face.
"Bring it on you stupid mutt!" Said the thug holding the sword in both hands as the other thug cowered in fear behind him.
Tucking his head down, Vulp proceeded to roll his body up into a ball and spun on the ground like a tire being revved up.
"What the? Oh no!" The thug said as Vulp came roaming at the group of thugs.
Like a bowling ball landing a strikes on pins, Vulp had mowed through the crowd of crewmates as they went flying into the walls of the hallway, knocked unconscious in pain.
Turning himself back to normal, Vulp walked down the hallway past the bodies of incapacitated thugs as he stopped at a pair of double doors that led into the room where the captive women and children were.
Using his magical powers, Vulp's tail had begun to shapeshift and turned into a set of hairy hands. Full force, Vulp had pushed opened the door with maximum strength. On the other side was a set of guards who were crushed against the wall and the door from the full force of the slam.
'"Ahhh!"' Shouted some of the women and children in the room in surprise as Vulp walked into the room. Using his powers, Vulp had morphed the hairy hands of his tail into a series of curved blades that he had stretched out towards the captives.
"P-Please! Don't hurt us!" Said one of the kids as they and the adult women shook with fear and uncertainty.
Swinging his tails, Vulp cut through the chains and shackles on the ships prisoners, freeing them from captivity.
"W-We're freed!" Stated one of the women prisoners as the group of captives looked at Vulp who motioned for the people to follow him.
"I-I think it wants us to follow him." Said one of the children as the collective of former prisoners followed Vulp out of the room.
Meanwhile, back in the captain's quarters, Corvus had continued to look around for anything important.
"Nothing... I've looked up and down this stupid room and haven't found anything useful..." Thought Corvus as he stood on the steering wheel of the ship.
"Besides a photo of a bunch of freaks, I got nothing… Wonder how the kids doing- Huh?" Corvus said aloud until he noticed something peculiar as he looked out the window of the captains quarters.
"Stop chasing me you stupid bird thing!" Shouted Bernard as he ran around the top deck to escape his pursuer.
"You cannot escape the might of justice, evil-doer!" Fukuro exclaimed as he flew behind Bernard using his jetpack to increase his speed.
"Enough with that "justice" crap!" Bernard exclaimed as he dodged and weaved through the cargo containers in attempted to dodge Fukuro attempting to grab him.
"I have you now, hoot!" Fukuro said as he stretched his right arm out and grasped Bernards right leg.
Lifting up Bernard upside to be parallel with his body, Fukuro flew high up into the air above the ship. Bernard looked down at the ship below him in fear at a sure death if he plummeted down and landed back on it.
"Oh crap!" Bernard exclaimed with sweat dripping down his face as his beanie fell off of his head and into the water next to the ship.
"Justice will always prevail against those who commit crimes! So long as I am a hero of justice, evil will never succeed!" Fukuro said as he posed in the air while holding Bernard by his ankle.
"Oh shut up you annoying contradiction!" Bernard said as the blood started to rush to his head while upside down. "What kind of "hero of justice" owns a ship for slave trading!?" He continued with a tone of aggravation.
"The kind that does a good job with delivery for his clients." Fukuro said as he stretched his owl-like head towards Bernards face. "Over a year or two ago, I had managed to get enough money stockpiled from my work in the dark guilds to afford one and I decided to use it to make some side cash!" Fukuro explained.
"With a name like "Justice Prevails," you'd think this ship was owned by someone actually virtuous but nope! You are just a moron who talks out of his ass!" Bernard shouted, sick of hearing the words coming out of Fukuros beak-like mouth.
"That's laughable coming from the evil-doer who stowed aboard a ship to cause trouble." Fukuro stated with a face of annoyance.
"T-thats not relevant!" Bernard screamed in his defense. "Now put me down you asswipe!"
"Gladly, hoot-hoot!" Fukuro said while loosening his grip on Bernard, a face of fear forming on his face as he looked up to see he was going to land on the ship with enough force to not survive.
"Whoa! Not like that! I meant gently!" Bernard said with sweat dripping off his head.
"Consider this your punishment for your wrong-doing! Farewell villain!" Fukuro proudly proclaimed as he let go of Bernard.
Bernard screamed as he fell at full speed back towards the ship, closing his eyes to brace for impact. Mere inches from hitting the deck, Bernard had stopped in the air. Opening his eyes to see that he was still alive, he twisted his head to see how he had not hit the ground. Corvus had grasped the sleeve of Bernards pant leg with his feet to keep him from smashing into a paste.
"Can't believe I'm saying this, but you're a sight for sore eyes Corvus!" Bernard exclaimed with a tone of relief.
"That's nice! But you're heavy as hell!" Corvus exclaimed as he struggled to hold Bernard's weight. Loosening his feet's grip on Bernards leg, Corvus let go of Bernard, causing him to land on his back.
"Gah! What the hell!" Bernard shouted at Corvus in anger as he got back up.
"Hey, it's not my fault that I am a crow and I just tried to lift a normal human! What'd you expect!?" Corvus shouted in his defense.
"A warning before I hit the ground?!" Bernard shouted in response.
"It would seem the villain has survived and has an evil pet to assist him!" The unwelcome voice of Fukuro stated as Bernard and Corvus had turned their attention back to him as he landed feet first on the ship with his arms crossed.
"What's this guys deal?" Corvus said with a raised eyebrow as he stared at Fukuro.
"His name is Fukuro, he said this is his ship and I'm assuming he is member of your family." Bernard explained with the last part said sarcastically.
"Just because I am a talking crow doesn't mean all talking bird people are my cousins!" Corvus said with an aggravated tone at Bernard.
"A quarrel between evil-doers has broken out before me! A sure-fire sign of my victory to come!" Fukuro exclaimed with his usual heroic tone to annoyance of Corvus and Bernard.
"So this guy can fly with that weird jet thing on his back?" Corvus whispered a question to Bernard.
"Yeah. And he is strong and fast." Bernard whispered back to Corvus.
"Heh. Too bad for him because fighting in the air is something I do best." Corvus said with a smirk forming on his face.
"It would appear your pet has more bite to his bark than you do." Fukuro said with cracking his knuckles in Corvus and Bernards direction.
"He is not my pet!" Bernard shouted loudly with an angry face. Corvus then proceeded to spark up his body with red and white lightning.
"Hang back here kid and wait for Vulp with the others. This morons mine." Corvus explained as he proceeded to flap his wings and flew high into the air.
"A dogfight? My kind of heroic battle!" Fukuro stated as his jet pack turned on and blasted up into the sky as Bernard looked up at the two.
Corvus, soaring through the air, had attempted to cut off Fukuro before he got any higher in the air by launching himself at Fukuro in attempt to tackle him. Turning to the side slightly, Fukuro had dodged Corvus' attack.
"Damn it!" Corvus thought as flew back around in attempt to go back for another tackle.
Cocking back his arm for a strike and using his speed from his jetpack to build momentum, Fukuro had stretched out his fist and punched Corvus directly in the face. Jarred by the pain, Corvus had tried to brush it off by shaking his head left and right to regain composure.
"Going to take a heck of a lot more than that!" Corvus exclaimed loudly as he begun to spark up his lightning attack, blasting a bolt of lightning down from the sky around Fukuro.
Using his intense speed, Fukuro had ducked and weaved past the bolts of lightning Corvus had summoned and got face to face with Corvus.
"Behold! The jaw of justice! Capture!" Fukuro proclaimed as he proceeded to open his mouth. Stretched out extremely wide, his tiny bird-like mouth had become a gaping maw as Corvus looked in shock at the inside of Fukuro's mouth. Clamping down on Corvus, the crow Celestial Spirit was now inside Fukuro's massive mouth with his tail and bird feet sticking out.
"Gross!" Bernard stated as he saw Corvus getting gnawed on by his opponent.
"Yuck! Let go of me! I am not edible!" Corvus shouted while inside Fukuro's mouth.
"C-Corvus! Zap him! You have a shot!" Bernard screamed in the direction of Fukuro attempting to eat his friend.
Inside Fukuros mouth, Corvus started to spark up and let loose a large amount of electricity down Fukuros throat. Tasting the bolts of lightning shock his esophagus and stomach, Fukuro had spit out Corvus, now soaking in saliva as he fell back towards the ship.
"Oh crap! I gotcha!" Bernard shouted as he leaped forward with his arms outstretched, catching Corvus before he hit the ship.
"I-I feel so violated..." Corvus exclaimed with swirls in his eyes as he laid in Bernards arms.
"Yuck! You're covered in spit!" Bernard said with a disgusted tone as he looked up at Fukuro choking and gagging.
Suddenly, Bernard felt like the ship started to rock and noticed that the ship was starting to move away from where Fukuro was floating in the air.
"Whoa!? Are we moving?!" Bernard shouted out loud as he noticed the cargo barge was beginning to leave the pier.
"About time!" Corvus said as he flailed out of Bernards arms to get the spit off of his body.
"What do you mean "about time?!"' Bernard said as he looked at Corvus.
"Forgot to mention, I kind of... Put some magic into the steering wheel in the captain quarters and let the ship loose." Corvus said with a sly look on his face.
"Are you kidding me!? Now is not the time to let loose boats! Look!" Bernard said as he pointed Corvus back in the direction of Hargeon.
Several homes and businesses were starting to light up as some people started to come out and notice the loud sounds around the pier and watched as a large ship left the docks.
"Great! Now everyone in town is watching what we are doing!" Bernard loudly proclaimed as Fukuro landed back on the ship.
"You fools have messed up everything!" Fukuro proclaimed with a tone of anger in his voice.
"Good!" Corvus shouted in response. "You're the real jerk here!"
"Enough! I am going to get rid of you fools once and for all!" Fukuro said in a rage as he begun to charge up his jetpack.
As he charged up, Bernard and Corvus looked at the ground behind where Fukuro was standing and noticing something was starting to pop up from underneath him. Thrusting out of the ships deck, a sharp blade-like object stabbed Fukuros jetpack.
"Hoot?" Fukuro said as he turned his head around and noticed something wrong with his jetpack. "Uh oh. Ahhhh!" Fukuro screamed as his jetpack had launched him into the air at full speed.
Losing control, Fukuro had flew in a circle at ultra fast speeds. Bernard and Corvus looking up at him spinning to the point he looked like he going to puke until his jetpack started to glow. A loud bang could be heard all the way from the town as Fukuros jetpack exploded and sent him flying into the ocean. Watching him hit the water far away from the ship, Bernard and Corvus looked on.
"...I think he is gone." Bernard said with a look of surprise on his face.
"I hope so, what the hell happened?" Corvus said as he flew back towards the hole where Fukuros jetpack was stabbed.
The sound of a door latch opening was heard as Bernard and Corvus looked up to see the door to the lower parts of the ship. Emerging from the door was the captive women and children and in front of them was Vulp, his tail morphed in the shape of a sword blade, a smug look on his face.
"Y-you came to help us?" one of the former child captives said.
"Oh you bet kid! Big time heroes right here!" Corvus said with a cocky attitude with Bernard giving an annoyed look the crows way.
"Look, this is not the best time for this. Everyone come on, the lifeboats are this way." Bernard said getting everyone's attention as he motioned for everyone to follow him to the where the escape boats are.
Leading the group over to the escape boats, Bernard set up each of the boats and motioned for the groups to squeeze together in the boats to get the max amount of people possible to fit in. Vulp then turned his tail in a large set of hands to lower the groups of people off of the ship with the lifeboats as it continued to sail out into open water until everyone was off.
"Okay, that should be everyone. Now all they got to do is paddle back on their own." Bernard with a content smile on his face.
"Looks like we did some good." Corvus said with a smile forming on his face as well. Shifting their heads, Corvus and Bernard noticed Vulp had walked to the center of the ships deck.
"Hey Vulp, you alright?" Bernard said with a raised eyebrow, unsure of what Vulp was doing.
Vulp had used up more of his energy and turned his tail into a large broadsword-like blade. Corvus and Bernard looked on with wide eyes as they saw Vulp proceeded to slam the sword blade through the center of the ship, stabbing through the hull and slicing up the top deck in multiple areas as the cargo containers had proceeded to fall through and break the down the ship causing it to sink.
"Whoa!? Vulp!?" Bernard said in shock as the ship begun to rock violently as it begun to cave in as Vulp leaped over into the last escape boat for Bernard, Corvus and himself.
Cutting loose the bearings and dropping the lifeboat into the ocean, Bernard and Corvus looked with dropped jaws as the ship sunk into the water from the destruction Vulp had caused as Vulp looked on with a happy expression.
"Never knew he was so violent…" Bernard said as he noticed Vulps smile.
"This is new territory for me too..." Corvus said surprised.
"...Let's get out of here." Bernard said as he went to grab the paddles to row back to dry land.
Suddenly, a large muscular hand had gripped the side of the lifeboat that startled the trio as they fell back slightly. Pulling himself up was Fukuro, slightly burnt from the explosion of his jetpack.
'"Justice Prevails" may be gone… But the true hero of justice is still here! And you crooks aren't living to see the sunlight!" Fukuro proclaimed loudly with rage in his voice.
"Crap! I haven't got much magic left in me! Vulp?!" Corvus exclaimed loudly as he motioned for Vulp to help who was low on energy as well from his large destructive attack that sunk the ship. Fukuro had then proceeded to reach his hand out to grab the animals only to be cut off by Bernard stepping in front of him.
"Piss off you stupid hero!" Bernard shouted as he picked up the paddle to the rowboat and bashed Fukuro upside the head.
"Gah!" Fukuro groaned as Bernard kept smacking him in the face with the flat end of the paddle. Slamming it into him multiple times, Fukuros sense of consciousness had begun to fade as Bernard slammed the paddle one more time on top of Fukuro, causing him to lose his grip on the lifeboat and fell into the water.
Bernard was panting heavily as Fukuro sank like his ship into the ocean as Corvus and Vulp looked at his tired state as the sun began to rise over the sea.
"You okay kid?" Corvus said with concern in his voice as he noticed the sunlight emerging.
"That was not good for my heart... But felt good regardless..." Bernard said as he grabbed the other paddle and sat down on the boat. "Been wanting to get a shot in since the fight started..." Bernard said joking.
"Guy said we won't be seeing the sun ever again, well he can suck it! Haha!" Corvus exclaimed as he pointed his wing at the sun as Bernard begun to paddle. "So whats the plan? We go back and be hailed as heroes?"
"Nope." Bernard said flatly as he begun to paddle to the far edge of town.
"What? Why not?" Corvus said confused.
"We destroyed a very large ship in the pier! And I don't want any newspaper headlines about us or have to explain this to the Magic Council!" Bernard shouted angrily as Vulp rested in the boat as Corvus looked around.
"Okay, what are we doing then?" Corvus said unsure.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Hargeon Train Station, 7:20 a.m. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Early in the morning following the destruction that happened in the ocean late last night, the random people in town in the train station were talking about the events.
"Can you believe that stuff that happened out on the water?" One man said to a group of people discussing what happened.
"It's crazy right? I heard the ship was supposed to be carrying some chairs and couches and my neighbor said the ship was carrying women and children for some slave operation." Another man had said.
"How terrible! I heard that some guy and two animals snuck aboard who blew up the whole thing after freeing the prisoners." A woman in the group had said to continue the conversation.
"Was he a wizard or something? Must have been a tough one than if they were able to cause an entire ship to plummet into the water." Said another woman amongst the crowd.
Hidden from the people in a corner of the train station was Bernard, now carrying a backpack and a change of clothes consisting of a grey button-up with a light purple t-shirt, a pair of blue pants, black and white sneakers and a brown beanie to replace the one he lost with Corvus and Vulp standing behind him.
"Great... Now rumors are being spread... I really hope they don't have my name down anywhere." Bernard said with a hint of worry.
"What's the big deal? You know what they say; "Any publicity is good publicity."' Corvus explained in response to Bernard's concern.
"Not for me... Anyway... They are going to be looking for a guy with a set of animals so you guys need to hide. Get in." Bernard said as he opened the flap to his backpack.
"Nah, we should be fine." Corvus said as Vulp nodded in response.
"No, we aren't going to be fine if you both are walking around in broad daylight and then we get detained as soon as we walk onto a train." Bernard said with a stern look.
"Give us a little more power, I want to try something." Corvus said as he and Vulp stuck out their wing and paw, respectively.
"Ugh, fine..." Bernard said as he gripped their outstretched body parts and transferred some of his energy from his heart Lacrima to the Celestial Spirits.
"Okay! Lets see here!" Corvus exclaimed as he and Vulp started to glow slightly to Bernards confusion. Suddenly, the two animals disappeared into a series of light particles that moved towards Bernard's Lacrima pacemaker.
"Uhhh. Guys? Hello? Corvus? Vulp?" Bernard said as he looked around for the two creatures that had vanished.
To his surprise, Bernard then noticed the light particles that went towards chest had reappeared in front of him and begun to take shape. Forming into the shape of a bird and a fox, Corvus and Vulp had appeared once again.
"What the- how'd you do that?!" Said Bernard with a look of surprise on his face.
"Easy, we took some of your energy and used it to convert us into base particles from the Celestial Spirit world. Then we just moved the particles to the source of energy, in other words, your heart pumper." Corvus explained.
"So... What? You could just hide yourselves inside me?" Bernard said with a weirded out expression.
"Better than stuffed in a bag, at least we don't have to worry about space in your Lacrima thingy as particles." Corvus said.
"Okay, I'll be right back, I need to get something... and shake off the weird feeling of knowing you two will be inside me like a mother giving birth... Ugh..." Bernard said feeling grossed out at the concept of him being a mother.
"Yes, mommy. Hehe." Corvus said jokingly as him and Vulp waited for Bernard.
A few minutes later and Bernard returned to the corner where Corvus and Vulp were.
"Whatcha get?" Corvus said to Bernard.
"A ticket for a train." Bernard said as he showed them his train ticket.
"Wait, I thought there wasn't any trains headed for Magnolia for awhile? Reason why we got on that ship in the first place." Corvus said with a raised eyebrow.
"That's because there aren't any trains going to Magnolia. We aren't heading there anymore." Bernard explained to Corvus and Vulp.
"We aren't?" Corvus said confused.
"I'd rather not go on a boat for awhile after last night so we need a Celestial Spirit wizard to send you guys home with fixed keys but it doesn't specifically need to be Lucy Heartfilia, right? She has the most of the Gold Zodiac keys but not "all" of them. So change of plans." Bernard said as he turned around to look at the train heading for his destination as he pulled out a magazine that said "Sorcerer Weekly" from his backpack.
"Alright? Then who are going to see then and where are we going?" Corvus said as he got close to Bernard with Vulp following suit.
"We are going to the capital city of Fiore, Crocus... Home of the other Celestial wizard with Gold Zodiac keys. The Sabertooth guilds own; Yukino Aguria." Bernard said as he flipped the pages of the magazine to a photo of a young woman with short silver-ish hair with a blue flower hairclip and a blue dress and a set of Celestial Spirit keys in hand.
Looks like a meeting between Corvus to bitch out Lucy Heartfilia won't be happening soon as Bernard decided that they aren't going to the town of Magnolia any longer to get help for the human world trapped Celestial Spirits. Now set on taking a train to the Fiore Capital City, Crocus, to find another Celestial Spirit wizard, Yukino Agaria. The trio's journey continues, hopefully with less jetpacked owl men. Stay tuned for more to come in "Menagerie!"