A/N: Chapter written to various Linkin Park songs... just thought I'd put that out there. Read and Review :]
Pirates!
Wine Island Part 6
The Hunters and the Hunted
The panther woman stood at the cliff side as usual, her black hair flowing slightly in the light breeze that blew past her face. Her green eyes stared down at the forest below, listening to the sound of the wind. She heard disturbance in the air; the sound of wings, and waited patiently as the pigeon made its way to the top, then, in mid air, transformed into the young form of Sophie and landed gracefully at the edge on her feet.
Sophie bowed low for the briefest of moments before standing straight and beginning. "We've captured one of the four pirates in the forest, Alexa," she said calmly. Crescent Dagger and the Demon's Orthopedic escaped, as did Aven, but we did manage to get their marksman."
Alexa's jaw clenched slightly in frustration, but she nodded. "And do you know the locations of the others?" she asked.
A nod. "They're on their way up as we speak," Sophie explained. "The Captain and First Mate are traveling together, as for Aven, I don't expect her to arrive for a while, but she's using one of her illusions to mask herself. What about Gabriela's group?"
For a moment, Alexa made no motion to indicate that she was even paying attention. Then, she spoke. "Gabriela's group failed, just like yours did," she said calmly. "However, she did manage to capture the two doctors, one of which is in critical but stable condition but if she's watched, she'll survive. I want you to make sure that one stays alive. Our reward will be cut in third if she dies and if that happens, then none of you will get a portion.
"Now, with the capture of the marksman, that makes three of their members. We've almost cut their numbers in half," Behind her, Sophie watched as the others emerged: Gabriela, Sam, Archy, and Teriuz. Shortly after, Wyatt appeared, in his human form, Blue missing from his shoulder. Alexa smiled. "And when they arrive, they'll be completely outnumbered. The bounties are as good as ours,"
(--)
Charlie wasn't sure what to make of it all. She was tied to the post with Logan behind her, both of them safe and unharmed save for a few scrapes and bruises, and around here, there were three others in far worse condition. Two of them, one of them a dark skinned man and the other a green haired girl. Both were burned, bruised, with dried blood on their faces and clothes and arms. They weren't moving, but were breathing heavily. They were bound to separate posts in the ground (there were nine posts, not including the one she and Logan were tied to), and looked like they weren't going to last much longer.
But the one in the worst condition was the brown haired girl on a blanket spread out on the floor. Her hands were tied in front of her, covering the huge amount of bandages wrapped around her abdomen, and she was the most still of them all. The only reason Charlie could tell she was still alive was because of the small rise and fall of her chest. Were all of these people pirates?
"These bastards are going to pay," Logan said behind her. His voice startled her, snapping her out of her thoughts. She turned her head slightly. She could feel him trying to wriggle out of the ropes binding the two together and frowned.
"There's nothing we can do," Charlie stated. She looked toward her sword, leaning against a tree a few yards away. Logan's bow staff was there as well, both lying harmlessly out of their reach. "As much as I'd like to get loose and kick their asses, we can't," she clenched her fists beside her, closing her eyes tightly to hold back the frustrated tears that threatened to escape. "We're stuck here and there's nothing we can do…"
"You can say please," an annoyingly familiar male's voice said. Charlie lifted her head and looked to her left. The pirate from before, Zugai, was standing there, letting the red haired boy, Chris, off his back.
Chris grabbed hold of Zugai's arm to keep from falling over, taking several deep breaths to push back the vomit that rose in her throat. He placed a hand on her wrist and Chris could feel herself returning to normal and the nausea fading. "Thanks…" she muttered with light sarcasm as she released his arm and stood on her own.
When Zugai didn't comment back, she looked up at him. His visible blue eye was wide, staring straight forward, and after a moment, Chris followed his gaze. Her eyes went wide. She stepped forward slowly, carefully. She stopped suddenly, closed her eyes and counted to ten. When she opened them, the scene would be gone. She took a breath and opened her eyes.
Everything was still there. Her breath caught in her throat and without a moment's hesitation, she ran forward. "Guys!" she shouted. Zugai followed.
Chris stopped first at Aya, lightly taking the girl's face in her hands and lifting it to look at it. "Aya… Aya, wake up!" she said quickly. When she didn't get a response, she turned to Blue, examining him. "Blue, hey! Come on, wake up! Come on!"
"Chris!" Zugai called from behind her. Chris hesitated, almost afraid to turn around. However, she did. Zugai was kneeling on the ground beside Faith, a hand on the bandages wrapped around her stomach. Chris stepped forward and knelt down, hands hovering over the girl, afraid to touch her. Zugai placed his ear against her chest and heaved a relieved sigh.
"She's alive," he assured her. Chris lowered her hands and sighed. That small bit of information was enough to make her content for now. She stood and walked to Charlie and Logan, unsheathing her Crescent Dagger from her hat and cutting through the ropes holding them, then turned away and drew her Double-Sided Dagger.
"Get your weapons," she told them through the Crescent Dagger in her mouth. "Get ready to fight," As she turned away, she untied the bandage wrapped around her left hand a bit, then placed the Double-Sided dagger within it. Then, she tied the bandage again and closed her hand into a fist around the weapon, wincing slightly. She placed her Crescent Dagger in her free hand in the primary hold, the blade wrapping around her fist.
Charlie walked toward her sword and placed it in the loop on her belt where it belonged. The weight of the black Kurohisaki was comforting on her right hip. She turned to face Chris, standing tall, her hand on the sword. "Who says we're going to help you?" she asked indignantly. If there was one thing she hated, it was taking orders, especially from a pirate.
Chris stopped walking, all of the muscles in her body were stiff, and she turned her head to look at Charlie. Her own green eyes stared into the matching eyes of the swordsman and then two held that that for a few moments.
"This isn't about helping me," Chris said firmly, turning to face Charlie. "This isn't about me being a pirate. This is about kicking this Tribe's ass for doing this to my family." She gestured to the three unconscious pirates. "You don't want to help me, fine. But keep in mind that Aven is in trouble too,"
This made Charlie stagger. She loosened her grip on her sword and shot a glance at Logan uncertainly. He was holding his bo staff loosely in one hand. "Guess that got your attention then," Chris muttered. "Good, then get ready. This might get dangerous if it's just the four of us right now. Reinforcements are on their way. Zugai, help me untie them,"
Zugai, upon being summoned, walked toward Blue and pulled out Honekirite. With a carefully calculated swipe, he cut the bonds and Blue started falling forward. Chris caught him carefully and gently lowered him to the ground onto his back. They repeated the process with Aya, then cut Faith's bonds.
"Hang in there, guys," Chris said, standing beside her three crew members. "We'll take care of these assholes and get you back home to the Howling Ivory,"
"I'm sorry to say that we can't allow that," a female's voice said. Chris looked up to see Charlie unsheathing her sword, Logan raising his bo staff, and a group of people emerging from all sides. Two of them, Chris recognized as Wyatt and Sophie, but the other five were new faces to her. She lifted her daggers, and she could hear Zugai unsheathe his sword beside her.
There were four of them and seven of the enemy. They could all take one, she and Zugai could probably take two each, but that left one more person. Chris stared at each one in turn. Two of them had red hair, one of which looked much more wild and much younger then the other. Two of them were girls, one with short blond hair and the other with extremely long, knee length black hair. The other unfamiliar one had light brown skin with wild orange hair and eyes to match. Sophie and Wyatt stood amongst the group. They were all positioned in a large circle around Chris, Zugai, Logan, and Charlie.
"What do you mean you can't allow it?" Chris asked. "I don't recall ever asking for permission,"
The black haired woman smiled slightly and drew the long sword holstered at her hip. "You should really learn to respect your superiors," she said. "You can't take these three because if you do, we'll skip out on their bounty,"
Chris tightened her grip on her knife with a scowl. "You're the ones who did this to them, then," she stated. The black haired woman's smile widened.
"That's exactly right," she answered. "And you and your remaining members are next," With speed that surprised Charlie and Logan, Chris charged toward the woman and slashed at her throat with the Double-Sided dagger. With matching speed, the woman lifted her sword, stopping the dagger with ease mere inches away from her neck.
"Now now, no need to be so violent," she said calmly. Her eyes darted to the left where the blond girl, Gabriela, stood. The woman grinned and in a flash, she had on her gloves and charged toward Chris.
Chris' eyes narrowed and she stepped away from the leader to face Gabriela. The blades on the gloves were too large for her to defend with just her small knives, so she dove to the side quickly to avoid the thrust of the girl's hand directed at her chest.
"Oops, I missed," Gabriela said with a disappointed frown. She straightened up and looked at Chris. "You know, you should never attack Leader Alexa. It's just asking to die, and really, I'm not supposed to kill you," she charged at Chris again, hitting her across the face with the back of her hand and knocking her to the ground, then stabbing the blades into the ground around her, just barely missing Chris' body. "But sometimes, I just can't control myself," She raised her free hand, blades together to form a single tip, and started to thrust it down to Chris' chest once again.
Zugai stepped in at that moment, throwing a furious kick to the woman's head that was hard enough to knock her off of Chris and send her flying. "Hey, hey, that was dangerous," Zugai said with a strangely calm voice. Chris pushed herself to her feet. She was being clumsy, what was wrong with her? She looked at Zugai. He was staring at the rising Gabriela with a look of pure hatred. "You almost killed my Captain there,"
Gabriela laughed and wiped a bit of blood from her forehead. "Oops, I'm sorry," she said sarcastically. "I suppose you'd like to go first?" She held her palm upward, the blades attached to her fingers stretching into the air. Zugai lifted his own single sword.
"I've got no intentions of being captured," he assured her. "Or dying for that matter," Gabriela's grin widened.
"Well, that's not your decision!" she explained, then she ran at Zugai. The orange haired boy, Teriuz followed her and Chris ran forward to meet him, swiping with the dagger. He twisted aside, avoiding the majority of the intended damage but still earning himself a cut on the side of his face. He reacted be reeling his elbow at the side of Chris' face. The pirate ducked beneath the blow and rammed into Teriuz's stomach, sending both of them sprawling on the ground.
"Time to act!" Sophie decided. She changed into her hybrid form and ran at Zugai and Gabriela. Before she could get too far, however, Logan slammed the bo staff into her chest hard enough to send her flying back.
"Sophie!" Wyatt called desperately. He ran toward the girl and helped her to her feet, then looked at Logan. "You asshole, you'll hurt her!"
"Both of you, huh?" Logan asked calmly, spinning the staff in one hand. "I'm not surprised about Sophie. There was always something strange about her, but when did you join, Wyatt?" Wyatt tensed and raised his bow, loading an arrow quickly and aiming at Logan. He was shaking now, hesitant, afraid. "Don't think you can use those against me, I'm the one who helped you develop them. I remember how much you were begging for some sort of weapon so you could train to be strong," a sad smile crossed Logan's lips. "Remember that, kid?"
"Be quiet," Wyatt demanded. He pulled the arrow back further, preparing to release it.
"You just wouldn't be quiet about it, so finally, I made you the arrows. We stole the bow from a store down the street,"
"I said to be quiet!" Wyatt shouted. He released the arrow and it flew swiftly through the air toward Logan. The older boy turned aside and with a spin of his staff, knocked the arrow into the ground. He stared at Wyatt in surprise for the briefest of moments, then sighed.
"I'm sorry it's come to this, kid," he said sadly. Then, he charged.
(--)
Sophie recovered quickly and stared angrily at the approaching Logan. She didn't need her arrow; she had her power as a Zoan user. She ran at Logan, prepared to take the boy out, and was surprised when the world around her suddenly started spinning. She staggered to a stop, holding her head with closed eyes, trying to regain her balance. When she felt comfortable, she opened her eyes and was surprised to find smiling, dancing flowers circling her and laughing and singing.
And then, the flowers distorted, raising off of the ground and flying in circles around her. A dense fog clouded her vision, allowing her to see only the silhouettes of the newly formed objects. She realized with a sinking dread that the creatures swimming around her were sharks.
When one of them dove at her, she threw herself to the ground, changing back to her normal human form and covering her head with her hands. "Stop, stop, stop!" she begged.
"Stop?" the familiar voice of Aven asked. Sophie looked up gingerly and spotted Aven a few feet away, her arms resting loosely at her sides. Her eyes, however, were their usual green, as she was focusing all of her energy on this particular illusion. "After what you did to my friends… after you tricked me, you expect me to stop?" her eyes narrowed and the sharks all spun and swam to Sophie. "There's no mercy in my heart for you anymore,"
Sophie screamed as the sharks tackled her.
(--)
Standing on the sidelines, Archy and Sam watched the beginnings of the battles, from the children to the pirates, with varying degrees of interest. They turned their gaze to Alexa and immediately, they knew what they had to do.
Focus on the bounty heads.
"I'll take the captain," Archy decided calmly, watching Teriuz and Chris fighting hand to hand.
"Then I've got the Demon's Orthopedic," Sam agreed. He looked at Gabriela, trying in vain to cut Zugai with her knives. The two nodded briefly to one another and ran toward their opponents. Sam, however, was cut off by a black sword swiping at his quickly moving legs. He threw himself into the air to avoid it, though his velocity pushed him forward and he skidded to a stop as he turned. Immediately, Charlie was before him, slashing her sword downward at the man. He lifted a single foot to block it.
"Well, I get the pretty one, huh?" he asked with a grin. "This might be fun after all. How about we have some fun, baby," With his free foot, he aimed a kick at Charlotte, which she avoided by jumping back.
Charlotte wrinkled her nose in disgust and held her sword in front of her. "Get a life, asshole," she snarled.
(--)
Alexa watched the various battles with interest. Friends against friends in one corner, pirates against bounty hunters in another. It was intriguing. Upon hearing Sophie's scream, her eyes turned in the direction of the fight, or lack thereof. From the looks of it, Sophie was panicking about absolutely nothing. However, Aven stood before her, silently, calmly, not moving.
Of course, illusions. She drew her sword once again and started toward the girl. "Time to end this," she said quietly.
(--)
Gonzo and Jae kept a steady, fast pace as they ran toward the top of the cliff. They were getting close; already they could hear the sounds of battle above. They would be there in no time. "Chris and the others must be there already," Jae pointed out.
"Then we'd better hurry up, huh?" Gonzo asked. "We've gotta help 'em out,"
With those words said, Gonzo and Jae quickened their pace into the depths of the forest.
A/N: Not much happened here… I debated making it longer, but I'm not going to have time to write tomorrow and I wanted to get you something today. So, here it is. Now, I got a question about Aya's cat, Jinx. Well… I forgot to write her into the initial chapter when Aya and Faith started traveling with the Crescent Dagger Pirates, and it would seem weird for her to suddenly jump in. But don't worry; it's not the last we've seen of the little kitty. I think I have something planned in the future for her to join the crew, because we all know that Aya regrets leaving her pet on the island!
