Chapter 12: Strahl's Declaration! A Warrior's Conviction!
In Kara's Tavern, Strahl, Ace and Kara sat in silence after Kara had finished telling Damon's story. Strahl slammed his hands on the bar and asked, face full of rage, "Where's that asshat at?! I'll kick his ass!"
Kara was jumped a little at his outburst, before saying, "Most likely he's out at sea, Damon has some freedoms, so he is allowed to go on leave."
"Alright then, I'll sail out and find him , then kick his ass."
"You can't sail though." Ace said his face a slight frown.
"Oh, right." Strahl replied his anger leaving for a moment, before he yelled out, "Then, I'll fly out there." Both Kara and Ace looked slightly confused at his statement.
You don't know how to fly yet either. Drago reminded in his head, with a sigh.
"…never mind then I'll just-"
Strahl was interrupted by the door to the tavern opening harshly to reveal a middle-aged man running in, while outside there were screams from other civilians. Upon seeing the three of them, while breathing heavily he said, "Kara! Thank goodness you're alright!"
"What's going on?" Kara asked worriedly, running over and knelling next to the man, who had fallen to the ground and was trembling.
The man took a heavy breath before he continued, "Red Town is under attack! The Bourne Pirates are on a rampage!" Kara gasped slightly while Strahl's interest peaked and Ace crossed his arms. Right after that, a group of men in ragged looking clothing wielding swords and pistols came in, grinning devilishly.
"Alright! We've found the tavern!" The pirate in the lead exclaimed, firing a pistol in the air. "Now all of you, don't try anything dumb or we'll blast you're brains out!" Kara looked defiantly at the group while the man tried to hide under a table. Strahl and Ace meanwhile had their eyes shadowed while the men began to walk forward. One pirate looked at Kara and said, "Hey, lady, you're looking pretty good how about you show us a good time?"
"Drop dead, perv." She replied, angering the man who then attempted to grab her, but was stopped by a hand grabbing his hair and was thrown out the door, slamming into the building across the street. The person who threw the man turned out to be Strahl, a look of anger on his face. "The lady said no, asshole." He said, while Drago was chuckling in his head and the surrounding group looked in shock.
"What the hell?!" One of his comrades wondered out loud, while the rest of them backed off slightly. The one that spoke raised his own pistol at Strahl, only to get punched in the head by Ace and blown across the tavern.
Strahl looked at Ace briefly before he said, "Leave these guys to me, go out and look for Bourne."
Strahl responded with a grin and said, "Right, see ya later!" The blue-haired man took off out the door as fast as he could and turned to the right.
"Hey! Don't be gettin' any ideas! After him!" one of the pirates said, causing them to run towards the exit only to be blocked by a pillar of fire from outside the building. "Agghhh! Where'd this fire come from!?" As the fire started to dissipate, Ace's form appeared in the midst of it, blocking the exit.
"Now, Now, if you turn your back on me you're liable to get burned." Ace said with a grin as the entire group began to shiver in fear and Kara looked in amazement.
With Strahl
Strahl ran as quick as he could through the town, and on the way attacked any pirate that was terrorizing the townsfolk. One particular time a group of them were about to kill a family, but Strahl jumped in just in time to throw a particularly heavy cross, shouting, "Po'a Pololei!" Punching the nearest pirate headfirst into the wall. For the next two, he jumped and dropkicked each of them in the head, flipping back on his feet, then grabbed the last one by the arm as the pirate tried for an overhead slash and through him back first into the ground, creating a small crater in the floor.
Strahl turned around to the family and asked, "You guys alright?"
The father responded, with a great smile, and said, "Y-Yes! Thank you very much! I don't know how we can repay you!"
Strahl smiled and said, "No problem!" before continuing his sprinting.
"What a fine gentleman." The mother said, earning a nod from the father.
"Wow! Did you see that!? Did you!? He was so AWESOME!" The son yelled stars in his eyes.
"Yes, he was, a boy such as that comes only once in a while." The father replied, before Strahl came running back down the street he came from when he saw them.
"Hey, you guys which way is the port!?" Strahl yelled out to them, making the family of three sweat drop, and point the way Strahl had just come from, making Strahl hit the palm of his hand. "Right! I forgot, I saw a ship over there! Thanks!"
"Y-Yes, truly every once in a while." The father said as they watched him run back.
Strahl finally found the port where the Bourne Pirates were docked and slid to a stop upon seeing it. Standing on the deck of the ship itself, with his arms crossed was Bourne, who sneered at the sight of the boy. What drew Strahl's attention though was the person who stood in front of the gang plank, now covered in a torn up ruffled shirt, scars shown on his arms and chest, and some scorch marks over his body, particularly around the silver collar on his neck. In his right hand, he held his father's crossbow at his side and was staring at the blue-haired man in slight surprise.
"You're that dreamer from Kara's bar. What are you doing here? You should've gotten out of here the moment those pirates attacked." Damon said.
Strahl stared hardly at the scars and burns, before glaring up at the Captain on his ship. "First I want to take care of that asshat, then I want to talk to you about something."
Bourne laughed at his statement, before saying, "Boy, you got spirit as well, eh, right Damon? Perhaps he should be a 'crewmate' as well!" this caused Damon to tense up slightly.
"LIKE HELL I WILL!" Strahl replied in anger. "Men like you don't deserve to lead!" This statement caused Bourne to tense up. "Damron! No…Dramon? Darmon?"
"It's Damon, you sucking moron!" the fishman replied angrily, a tick mark appearing on his head.
"Damon!" Strahl yelled back, making him ease up. "Don't follow this asshat anymore!"
Damon clenched his teeth, and shouted back, "That's easier said than done! You have no idea what it's like!"
"No I don't know what it's like, but let me ask you this, don't you still have a warrior's conviction?!"
Damon blanched slightly at that, his right hand shaking slightly, "Screw you! Of course, I do!" He said as he loaded a shot from his quiver, this one pointed, aimed it at Strahl and shouted, "Hawk's Pierce!" the shot went true straight to Strahl, who took the shot in the shoulder, making Damon look confused.
"Why didn't you try to dodge?" Damon asked, then thinking, I could have sworn I was aiming at his heart.
"Why didn't you hit you're target?" Strahl asked as he walked forward, ignoring the bolt in his shoulder. This made Damon draw out another bolt, and fire once again, this time completely missing the blue-haired boy. "So, where is it, if you have it?" Damon scowled and shot another bolt once again missing as Strahl walked ever closer. "A man who doesn't have their heart in a fight…" Damon fired once more, missing again and now Strahl stood next to him facing the Captain Bourne, who was scowling at what was occurring. "can't fight," Strahl finished as Damon aimed his crossbow straight at Strahl's head, just inches away, his head bowed.
"So? Who cares? My heart is never in the fight. Why should I need it now?" Damon asked, voice casual.
"Your mom had it. Right?" Strahl asked, making Damon widen his eyes. 'HE IS MY SON!" "See you know what it can do, a warrior's conviction. Now, will you shoot me again or will show your own conviction as a warrior?"
"Damon…" Bourne warned threateningly, a frown on his face.
'I really would like to see him again…" Damon let out a sigh and had a small grimace on his face. "I'm gonna regret this." Damon turned quickly and fired at Bourne, grazing his cheek with the bolt as it fired. "Bourne! I'm quitting this crew here and now! On my honor as the son of 'Panfish' Helen Frezz…" Damon glared dangerously at the man. "I AM A SLAVE TO NO ONE!"
Bourne glared disdainfully at the young fishman and said, "Wrong answer." He drew out a small remote with a dial on it and turned it to the max setting. Damon was immediately enveloped in electricity, collapsing to the ground and grabbing his collar, smoke started coming off his body as he screamed loudly.
"Damon!" Strahl yelled, before turning back to Bourne. "What the hell did you do?!"
"He won the final punishment…100,000,000 volts should be coursing through him right now. He should be lucky he has an electrocution collar, instead of an exploding one." Bourne said, tossing the control pad in the air. "Any normal person would be fried and dead right now, but let's just say he's had a lot of practice." Bourne chuckled, earning a growl from Strahl and Drago, as Damon kept screaming. "There is no on to blame but-"
"Fire Gun." As Bourne threw the control back into the air a shot of fire streamed straight at it, breaking to pieces. Damon stopped getting shocked, but arcs of electricity kept appearing here and there as his screaming went down to heavy breathing as he was twitching. Bootsteps were heard coming and stopped next to Damon, while Strahl grinned and Bourne scowled. "Now, now, isn't that a bit excessive?" Standing next to Damon, holding his orange hat on his head, was Ace, smirking.
TO BE CONTINUED…