The man looked to her in curiosity, "I was about to say that I could not let you try and free this man, but it seems as though your attention has temporarily shifted to my... moustache?"
"Mhm! It's absolutely beautiful!" she exclaimed in delight, tilting her head from left to right and jumping from side to side, up and down, viewing the moustache from all angles.
Drake watched his captain in immense confusion; he'd never seen her exert so much energy before. She was usually so grumpy and un-energetic, which is which it was weird for him to see her face completely light up upon seeing the man's moustache. It wasn't like handlebar moustaches were all that rare or anything, though he had to admit that this one was quite impressive in how precisely it had been shaped and sculpted.
Finally, Rhythm slumped down into a sitting position in front of the man. She whined, "Boo, no fair. Rhythm wants a moustache like that. Oi, wanna join her pirate crew?"
The large marines laughed heartily, before shaking his head and wiping away a stray tear that had managed to escape. He held back his amusement and answered her, saying, "Sorry pretty lady, but I'm afraid I can't do that. I am a Lieutenant Commander of the marines, and the highest ranking officer of this base."
By now, Lieutenant Chargic had finally managed to stand up and begin walking over, his steps slow and cautious. He greeted his superior with a respectful salute, "Lieutenant Commander Kai, sir! Permission to apprehend this pirate by myself and without any outside interference, sir!"
Lieutenant Commander Kai chuckled, "Heh, and by outside interference you mean me, eh?"
Chargic's gaze immediately lowered, and he nervously played with his fingers, "No disrespect intended, sir!"
"Alright, alright," Kai laughed, beginning to walk away, "Permission granted. But if this becomes too much for you, then I will be forced to step in. Agreed?"
"Agreed. Although, that won't be necessary," replied the confident lieutenant, his eyes never leaving his superior officer until the red haired man had seated himself farther down the hallway quite a ways from where their fight was about to take place, but not so far away that he couldn't see what was going on.
"Hmm."
Taking a stance a good distance away from his green haired opponent, Chargic readied himself, sword in hand. Rhythm watched him with her usual sleepy expression, rubbing her tired eyes as she waited for him to resume their fight.
Once he deemed himself ready, Lieutenant Chargic charged forward, sword slightly to the right so that he was prepared to swing it at any given time. Rhythm flew forwards as well, at a speed much faster than his own, her legs braced and just as ready to attack as he was with his sword.
Upon reaching her, Chargic swung his sword forwards in a wide arc, slicing at the leg of his attacker with the sharp side. Expecting to completely sever the limb from the rest of her body, he was astonished to find that Rhythm's leg was not even slightly damaged by his sword, and was struggling for control just the same as he. His eyes widened as he realized just how honed and well-trained she was in her way of fighting; if her leg had not been damaged from his attack, then that could only mean that her leg was just as strong as his sword, which was made of steel, if not stronger.
Lieutenant Chargic gritted his teeth, using all his might to hold against his opponent. His arms began to tire, his sword began to shake violently. Unwilling to let her push him back, he suddenly retreated, jumping back a few yards in order to set between them a good distance. Chargic was annoyed to find that the woman never showed any sign of what she was feeling within her facial expression—it was consistently drowsy and gloomy, her eyes droopy and dull. This fact irked him to no end.
Once again, it was him who was the first to charge, yelling out as he did so, "Subjection!" With his sword still in its sheath, Chargic swung a perfect circle, bringing out his weapon in mid spin. He used the momentum of the spin to add to the power of his attack as he swung it from the side at Rhythm. The green haired woman never moved, simply bringing up her right leg to counter. Sword connected with leg, but while the lieutenant struggled, Rhythm easily held her ground with apparent disinterest.
Her attention briefly turned towards her new first mate, who was quite a few yards away and still in immense pain. Her sharp eyes caught how his face was twisted up, his body twitching violently as the pain shot through his wrists, shooting down his into every inch of his body like multiple spears over and over again. She realized that the pain was a result of the handcuffs, which were most likely made from a very high grade of seastone. Unable to do anything about Drake at this point in time, she turned her attention back to the man attempting to fight her.
After briefly watching her opponent struggle beneath her, Rhythm sighed and shook her head, drawling in a drowsy voice, "Pathetic."
With her right leg still holding against Lieutenant Chargic's sword, dragging it along with her, she performed a mid-air flip above him which allowed for her to attack his open form with her remaining leg. She connected with his lower back, knocking the wind out of him as he flew forwards. Rhythm jumped back a couple feet to avoid the incoming sword he had swung back right before flying forwards, before watching him clutch his injured back with one hand and gasp for breath. He held onto his sword limply with his other hand, refusing to let it go.
Never one to waste an opportunity, Rhythm flew towards him, aiming for his skull. He saw her coming out of the corner of his eye and in a desperate attempt to not be killed, he rolled to the side, causing her attack to simply slam into the cement flooring beside his head. His eyes widened in horror, the vibrating he felt through the floor making him realize just how close he had come to death.
Chargic attempted to scurry away quickly, but was unable to do so due to yet another powerful attack launched by his opponent. Once again he was able to just barely dodge, though this time it resulted in him having to release his sword, which was now out of his reach, in order to not get crushed. Rhythm's leg slammed down onto the ground with tremendous force, causing the flooring to shatter into what seemed like a million shards, the cement shards shooting into all directions. Rhythm jumped back to dodge them all, but Chargic was unable to do the same, and many of the small yet jagged pieces of cement cut into his back, which he had angled towards the oncoming barrage of sharp objects. His face scrunched up in pain, but he temporarily ignored the feeling in order to stand up and not continue to be in such a vulnerable position.
Relentlessly, she immediately launched herself like a raging pinwheel towards him, and this time the lieutenant was unable to dodge. He crossed his arms in front of his person and braced himself.
"Apple Dicer!" Rhythm drawled as her first leg collided into his gut, immediately followed by her other leg, then by her original, over and over again in a speedy pinwheel motion. When she retreated, Lieutenant Chargic's eyes glazed over and he gasped, coughing out a large amount of blood onto the ground. He struggled to remain standing, but found that the pain was just too blinding to do so. He knew that if he were to try, it would overwhelm him and he would fall unconscious, so he allowed his legs to give way and let his body fall upon the ground, landing on his side in an unnaturally twisted position. From the immense pain coursing through his body, the lieutenant knew that he was in bad condition. He figured that he was bleeding internally, and quite possibly had shattered all of his ribs. He watched with a sad and defeated smile as his opponent went for the final attack, closing his eyes in preparation for his soon death.
Lieutenant Commander Kai frowned, unwilling to let his subject to suffer the same fate as many marines already had, all by the hands of pirates. Jumping into action, he propelled himself towards the duo, with speed easily countering that of the offending pirate's.
He was about to intercept, when Rhythm suddenly stopped just short of Lieutenant Chargic's head and proceeded no further. Instead, she turned to the Lieutenant Commander, eyes narrowing. Pivoting, she redirected her attack to assault the superior officer, though she knew it wouldn't be enough to hit someone like him. She was right; the man dodged, travelling underneath her and picking up his downed officer instead of countering. She took note of the fact that the man was significantly faster than any opponent she'd faced so far.
Rhythm took this opportunity to flit over to Drake, who was still shaking upon the ground, writhing in pain. She took out the keychain from her pocket and was about to unlock the cuffs upon her first mate's wrist when she felt a presence fast approaching her. It was too late; she didn't have enough time to remove Drake's cuffs. Diving to the side, Rhythm was just barely able to evade the Lieutenant Commander's attack. She immediately flung herself onto all four limbs in a crouching position upon making contact with the cold ground, sharp eyes carefully scanning each move the marine made.
She watched as he picked up Drake's shaking body and tossed him over to where Lieutenant Chargic was laying. Her first mate landed a couple feet away, causing the previously mentioned marine to scream, comically scooting away as best he could with all the damage he had sustained, a look of horror upon his face as Drake continued rolling towards him. Once the other man had stopped moving, the lieutenant then proceeded to angrily yell at his superior, telling him that he had to be more careful when he threw pirates, exclaiming that he could have died, before adding a respectful 'sir' to the end of his rant.
Lieutenant Commander Kai dismissed the downed man with a wave of his hand, instead turning his attention to the pirate in front of him. He tilted his head to the side, looking the woman over from head to toe, "Although I can't place why, you look familiar."
Rhythm met his cruel stare and droned back, "She has not met you before, hmm."
The marine smirked, "Oh, I know that, kiddo. I have photographic memory, so I'd remember you if I did. Hence is the reason why I think you must look similar in appearance to someone I've seen. Perhaps a relative?"
The pirate nodded, "Sì, that could easilyyyyy be it."
"So, who is it that you're related to that triggers my memory like so?" he asked curiously, though he didn't actually expect an honest reply.
Rhythm scowled at him in annoyance, "Does it matter?"
Lieutenant Commander Kai laughed at her, shaking his head, "No, I suppose not, eh? Ha ha!"
Sighing tiredly, Rhythm queried, "May the two of them fight now? Rhythm cares about this conversation as much as she cares about that ant carrying a leaf 3.8 times its size, approximately thirty feet northeast of here," Rhythm replied, still scowling.
Kai glanced in the direction she had pointed out and took a few steps forward. Upon spotting the ant she had referred to, he smirked, "You have sharp eyes, little lady. I'll give you that. Although, I'm assuming you don't care at all about that ant, and want to begin this fight and your inevitable loss."
She nodded, bringing up her hand to cover the yawn that threatened to escape.
He continued, "Well then, I'll strike you a deal. If you manage to defeat me, you get back Drake. If you lose, which you inevitably will, I'll kill him. Does that sound fair to you, sweetheart?"
Rhythm tilted her head the the side, replying in a drowsy voice, "Sì, it does, though Kai was stating the obviousssss. Kai is his name, right?"
The man in question rolled his eyes before letting out a loud laugh, "Correct, Kai's my name."
She sighed, "Alright. If it means that they will fight, Rhythm agrees to his obvious and redundant terms."
"Creepy much," Kai muttered under his breath, before readying himself and getting into a fighting stance. His voice loud and clear, he exclaimed, "Come at me then, pirate! Let's see what you can do against a real marine!"
From his position away from the battle, Lieutenant Chargic screeched, "Hey! Is that an insult? Sir!"
His question only made his superior officer laugh even more, much to his immense displeasure.
Rhythm nodded once, before launching towards him from her animalistic crouched position, which she had maintained throughout their entire conversation. She raised a leg in an effort to smash it against his skull, causing the marine to smile. He grabbed her leg, stopping it in his tracks. To his dismay, the action also caused his thumb and three fingers to give way and twist quite suddenly into unnatural angles. He cringed slightly, surprised at her strength which he had clearly underestimated, but didn't show any signs of letting go. Instead, he grabbed the limb and lifted her entire body into mid air, beginning to spin around in a rapid circle.
The act was intended to disorient Rhythm, but it failed to do so, her past training proving its usefulness. She was able to deduce everything about her situation each millisecond she was in it, which allowed her to place a hard and unexpected kick upon the area just below Lieutenant Commander's left shoulder, which he didn't expect. He let go of her as a reaction to the sudden blow, which knocked the air out of him. Rhythm was sent flying into the opposite wall, her face—soon followed by the rest of her body—colliding into the brick wall and leaving a deep imprint, before her limp body slowly slumped down to the ground beneath her.
As she fell, Rhythm recollected herself and just barely managed to get into a crouching position before she came into contact with the ground. Blood dripped down from the left side of her mouth, and bruises began to form on multiple areas of the front of her body. Kai, although his hand had been rendered useless, charged forward with just as much or more speed than he did previously. He extended his right arm, fingers extended with their sides pressed firmly into each other, creating a flat surface as he attempted to stab her with it.
Rhythm was just barely able to dodge out of the way, causing Kai to cushion into the wall in a crouching position as his opponent had done earlier and utilize the force from his unused attack into a rebounding one. She was unable to dodge this one, fleeting to the right while knowing that she would be hit. His hand connected with Rhythm's stomach in a slicing motion, causing her eyes to widen at the sudden pain. She fell to her knees, clutching her stomach with both hands as she coughed out blood.
She was unable to get out of the way fast enough to evade Kai's next barrage of attacks. He was fast... so fast.
Kai assaulted the spiky-haired woman with attack after attack, the almost non-existent time between each attack rendering her unable to get out of his way. After beating her to a bloody pulp, Kai backed away to admire his handy work. He smirked at the sight in front of him. Rhythm's long lime green hair which normally was quite voluminous and spiked messily in all directions lay limp upon the ground, coated in blood from the pile that had already begun forming beneath her. Her face was swollen and full of bruises, one eye and the area around it so enlarged that she was unable to open it.
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