~This new water world~
Ch.7
A.n.: The mighty power of Microsoft Word on your phone increases chapter writing speed.. MY MATH, PEOPLE! .w. Do not own OP -
"So, who wants to battle me?" Eri said, grinning a bit evilly as he looked each of them straight in the eyes, but stopped at Yuki. She started to panic a bit and her innocent appearance drastically changed to an unstable, shy and scared one. Layla and Keii looked at each other questionably. What was wrong with Yuki all of the sudden? Eri raised an eyebrow and kept staring at her. He wasn't blinking and Yuki kept looking away, as if she tried to avoid something. Eri raised an eyebrow and Yuki flinched, taking a step back but quickly recovered, looking back at him with a glare. "Seems like I found a good opponent, hm?" Eri said. Keii didn't trusted the tone in his voice and she looked at Layla for a second, who frowned worriedly. "Mind if I teach her some manners?" Eri said and looked over at Keii, but his gaze turned a lot friendlier once he looked at her. "Wait a minute, she's wounded from an earlier fight. That still isn't recovered!" Keii protested. Eri chuckled and said: "Oh, don't worry, Keii. I bet she'll do fine." Keii sighed and thought for a few seconds. She eventually gave in and said: "Fine, fine. But if she's too badly injured, I'll throw you in the sea!" Eri only laughed and turned his attention back at Yuki, who seemed to have turned from a cute, innocent little girl to an enraged predator who could attack at any moment. 'What could anger her all of the sudden?' Keii thought to herself. She took a few steps backwards and carefully pulled Layla along, who still frowned worriedly and whispered to Layla: "Oi, do you think that this is a good idea? Yuki is still hurt from before, and Eri is injured from his fall." Keii smirked slightly and whispered back: "Then, they have their chance to prove themselves as trustworthy nakama. I mean, you can't rely on someone who backs out of a fight only because he or she is scared for more injuries. I don't want a crew of cowards."
As Keii and Layla were at the sides, Yuki and Eri just glared at each other, waiting until one of them breaks. After a long silence, a loud, bone-chilling screech from Yuki was heard as she was transformed in her owl form in a matter of seconds. She looked very annoyed and enraged of something. Eri just stood there, spinning his Dialyo around and smirked like a madman. He didn't even bother to cover his ears, even though Yuki was very close. Yuki flew up high and stayed there, letting out a few provoking screeches every once in a while. Eri didn't moved a muscle, and just watched in amusement as the bird got more annoyed and enraged by the minute. He knew exactly what was wrong, he tried it so many times and it always seemed to work. Yuki got sick of it and suddenly dove down, flying straight at him with her beak sticking out with incredible speed. Eri dodged her with difficulty and yelled: "A bit too slow! Thunder Dial!" A controlled sweep was all that was needed to make the blades of the Dialyo spark with electricity. In another swift movement, the Dialyo launched off towards Yuki, who was already trying to fly up again. A loud screech was heard when the blades dug in her back. Yuki was surprised, because she couldn't understand the explanation he gave earlier. She had no idea what this strange device was or what it was capable of. She tried to pull the small, but deadly thing out of her back, but that was difficult in mid air. "Thunder jolt!" yelled Eri, his smirk turning into a grin as he swiftly made another move with the thick rope of the Dialyo. A thunder-like sound was hurt and a loud scream in pain. Yuki was paralyzed because of the electricity, and crashed on the deck in her human form. Keii wanted to go help her, but got stopped by Layla who whispered: "You said it yourself; Let them fight it out. Besides, it's not over yet." Layla was right. Yuki stood on her feet again, but small sparks still jumped from the tips of her hair and clothes. Yuki smirked as she whiped the bit of blood away from her mouth with her wrist. Eri laughed and had already pulled his Dialyo back, which was spinning rapidly already. He yelled: "Not as weak as I thought, bird-brain!" Yuki changed into her hybrid-form, and flew up a bit again. Eri chuckled and said: "Are you going to try the same thing again? Won t work, you know!" He was readying himself to attack again, and Yuki flew at him with more speed than before. Eri dodged it with difficulty, but never expected that Yuki would turn in mid-air. She dug her claws in his back, but he didn't made any sound. He was gritting his teeth in pain, not wanting to give her the fun to hear him scream. As Yuki flew up a few metres in the air, she sped up again towards the outside wall of the living- and bedroom. She suddenly let him go and he crashed into the sturdy wall. Yuki landed on the deck and hooted victoriously. But it was too early to celebrate, because Eri stood up again, but it took him a lot of effort. He ignored the blood that trickled out of his nose and mouth and said: "A-Also faster than I thought. Pretty good hit, t-too.." He chuckled and his Dialyo was spinning rapidly again. He suddenly yelled with a wicked grin: "Flame storm!" And swiftly made two movements with the rope. A large amount of air suddenly escaped from the Dialyo and not a moment later a flame got out from the other side. The two mixed in a matter of seconds and a bright, white flash of fire was seen. Yuki's eyes widened in shock as the spinning fire flash hurled towards her.
When the bright light was gone, Yuki had slammed into the mast of the boat, her once beautiful feathers were laying scorched on the ground. Her skin had turned slightly black because of the ashes from her burned feathers. She panted heavily and a few feet away, Eri grinned victoriously. He already walked towards the kitchen and said: "Seems like this is over, do you guys have anything to eat around he-" He got interrupted by a terrifying screech. He turned around, seeing that Yuki stood up again. Her eyes were wide open and her pupils were as small as needle tips, which made her yellow eyes look very intimidating together with the scorched skin. Yuki screeched again as she stared straight at a very surprised Eri. Yuki transformed in her owl form, only it looked terrifying, as if she was on her last resort. The owl was terribly skinny and a few bald spots were visible. Her eyes were pupil less and almost fully yellow. The before healthy-looking claws were all crooked and looked like they hadn't been taken care of for many years. But the thing that was the most visible was the slight yellow glow that was around her. In a split second she stood in front of a stunned Eri. She reached back with her wing and slammed it on his shoulder, sending him flying into the wall again. But she didn't gave him any time to react and launched at him and hitted him with her wing again. He flinched and Yuki kept hitting him with her wings. After a while, she started to shrink back again and slowly changed in her human form, the strong hits with her wing were only weak punches in his face. The punches eventually stopped and Yuki fell on her back, panting heavily. Eri had a few wounds on his face, neck and arms with some bruises. He was also panting but didn't passed out. Yuki sat up after a while and sat next to Eri against the wall. They looked at each other before both bursting out in laughing. Eri said between his laughs: "Seems like both of us won, right?" Yuki hooted in approval, a big grin on her face.
Meanwhile, at the sides, Keii and Layla had looked at the whole fight in surprise. How the hell could they still laugh with their injuries? How the hell is that Dialyo powered? What the hell was wrong with Yuki's owl form all of the sudden? Those were several questions that were shooting through Keii's head. She looked at Layla who also seemed to be very surprised about the whole scene. She slowly said: "Well, at least they have battle skills, but.. Are you sure those two are 'normal'?" Keii slowly grinned, responding: "Nope! But we aren't, either! So that's why they're in the crew, idiot!" Layla couldn't help but chuckle at Keii's response. As expected from her captain. When the laughing from the two worn out fighters suddenly stopped, they decided to take a look and glanced around the corner. An awkwardly smiling Eri greeted them. He made a gesture to stay quiet and pointed to Yuki, who pretty much fell asleep as she rested her head on Eri's shoulder. Keii chuckled and whispered: "Well, seems like Yuki likes you already. Shall we go treat the wounds of both of you with a few meals, then?" Layla had already sneaked to the kitchen and Eri nodded in approval.
Meanwhile, on an island a bit further away from the crew, someone watched from a tree at the big flash that had appeared. The pair of eyes had turned wide in shock, the voice of the person whispering: "Visitors, eh? Better go warn the rest." The person jumped from the tree on the ground, a sword clutched tightly in the person's hand as the mysterious figure walked towards the hills.