A/N: Quick update, huh? Yep, I've got nothing better to do, so here it is… Chapter 2!!! But first, let's recap!!! In our last chapter, our hero beat up a bunch of Valuans, but was injured in the process. Then, he had a pistol shoved in his face, and was knocked unconscious. Not a good day. And it's not over yet…
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Mark stirred. His first thought was, man, this is one heck of a headache. It hurt to even move his head. He looked around. He was in what looked like the storeroom of a ship. He found that he was tied securely to his chair. At first his memory was foggy, but then he remembered. He had fought off some Valuans, but one of them had stabbed him in the side. The wound still throbbed. But what after then? He had fled to the inn, but… someone had knocked him unconscious! But who?
His thoughts were interrupted when someone entered the room.
"So you're awake, eh?" It was the leader of the Blue Rouges he had been with. But why had the man fled at the first sight of Valuans? And why had he been knocked unconscious? It wasn't like Blue Rouges at all…
He voiced his questions. "Why did you run away? And why am I tied up?"
"I'll tell you, boy" the man said. "You caused a lot of trouble back there. If you hadn't gone and fought those Valuans, we could've gotten away clean. But as it is, they've sent reinforcements. Now we're in for it.
"But Blue Rouges…" Mark began, but the man cut him off.
"Fool boy! Haven't you figured it out yet?" The man roared. Then he pulled up his hood. Mark gasped. The face was one he had seen many times before, on wanted posters and in the sailor's guild. It was the face of Eric the Red, infamous Black Pirate. Mark realized he must be in the hold of Eric's ship, the Bloodkeel. "We only needed you to slip the sleeping draught into the drinks. We would have just left you then, but now…" Eric pulled a pistol from his coat. "You will have to die!"
Just when Eric was about to fire, the room was rocked by an explosion. A man who Mark identified as one of Eric's crew rushed in.
"Captain! Three Valuan cruisers are attacking!!!"
"Well fire back!! Do I have to do everything myself? Argh!" He hurried out of the room, calling back to Mark "I'll finish with you later!"
Mark struggled to get out of his chair. Above on deck, he heard the sounds of battle. It seemed that some of the Valuans had boarded the ship. Mark tried again and again to slip off the ropes, but they held firm.
Suddenly, there was another explosion. A nearby cutlass fell from the wall, neatly severing his bonds. Mark dashed out of the room, stopping to retrieve his weapons from a basket of other captured items.
He ran through the halls, with no real plan in his mind but to get on deck. When he reached the door leading to the deck, he peeked out. What he saw was the scene of a mass battle. The bodies of both side's dead littered the floor. And the battle still raged strong.
A plan started to form in his mind. He saw that one of the cruisers had been left unguarded. If he could reach it…
His mind made up, he dashed out onto the deck. He could see that they were in the air above Sailor's Island. He skirted the edge of the battle. He was halfway there when he was stopped by a Valuan.
"Hey! You're that kid who took out Lieutenant Louis' group! Stop him!" Summoned by the soldier's call, six other men came and surrounded him. There were too many for him to take on, wounded as he was. And he had never been that great at magic…
He would have to bluff them off. He started walking backwards toward the edge of the deck. The soldiers were emboldened by this, thinking he was retreating.
"Hehehehehe. Not so tough after all, huh kid?" said the leader.
Mark's next move caught them by surprise. He went back… back… until he could feel the edge of the deck. Then, he performed a back flip, going over the edge.
"What the ****?" said a soldier. They were astounded by the fact that Mark had just jumped to his death.
Mark landed on the barrel of a cannon, wincing as the shock sent pain jolting up his side. He hopped to the next… and the next… traversing the side of the ship until he reached the unguarded cruiser. He jumped onto the deck, quickly severing the boarding lines with his rapier.
Then, racing into the bridge, he reached the helm. He quickly started the engines, pulling away from the Bloodkeel. Now to make sure of its doom… cutting the engines, he ran to the gunnery room. Taking the controls to one of the main guns, he pivoted it until it was pointed at one of the other cruisers. He fired. The shell scored a direct hit on the cruiser's engine room, totally destroying it with a tremendous explosion. Then he pointed it at the second cruiser. This time, his shell only hit at deck level, starting a fire. The second shell totaled the bridge. The ship began to slowly sink, the ropes burning away in the fire. By this time, the fighters on the ship had realized what was up, and were firing back. However, their shots could not penetrate ship's armor, and before they could bring the Bloodkeel's guns to bear, Mark was firing at them. Once, twice, three times the pirate ship shook with the hits, before slowly following the second cruiser down into the deep sky, never to be seen again.
Mark walked back to the bridge, slumping down into the captain's chair. He would need to hide the ship from the Valuans. He knew an island, not far from Sailor's island… He could use that as his base. He could become… A Blue Rouge!!!
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Hehehehehe… isn't this exiting? (Crickets chirping) … whatever. The next few chapters will be about him getting a crew and setting up at his new base… See you then!