A/N: Wow. I've gotten quite a bit of work done on this story and my other one lately. I'm getting' to like this whole fanfic writing thing. Anyway, it's time for some "Pow! Bam! Crash!" action. On another note, aren't Vyse and Fina cute?
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Chapter 5: Ambush
The large gates leading to Sailor Island's port swung open slowly as the sun began to rise over the horizon. Through it walked nearly a dozen men wearing faded Valuans uniforms. They strolled past Polly's bar in unison, failing to notice Vyse hiding around the corner of the Sailor's Guild and Clara and Fina peeking from inside the bar itself.
One of the men piped up. "Man, where is that dope? We told him to wait for us at the front gate. I swear, he better have gotten us some decent loot or I'm gonna be pissed."
Without looking back, another man said, "Shut up Julio. You're gonna wake up the entire island.
They heard something stirring not too far from where they were standing. They all looked around except for the lead man.
"What was that? Did you hear that boss?" one of the men asked, eyes darting from side to side.
"Hmph," the lead man started, "Probably just your imagina-"
He was cut off when, from around the corner of another building, a body was thrown into the middle of the street in front of group of ex-Valuans.
The all of the pirates gasped in surprise. The lead man inspected the body.
"It's him. Someone knocked him out," he said. "What's going on here?"
From around the corner, a grinning man stepped out and said, "I'm what's happening here." He stood in the middle of the street and folded his arms across his chest.
The lead man stared at him coldly. "I know who you are… you're that Blue Rogue, Gilder. You're one of those fools who helped in killing Lord Galcian."
Gilder nodded happily. "Yes sir. It's a feat my friends and I, not to mention the rest of the world, are quite proud of. Now then, I'm here to talk business with you."
The lead man cocked an eyebrow. "Business, rogue?"
Gilder nodded again. "That's right. I want to talk with you about your organization. Y'see, during one of your most recent raids, you killed a very dear friend to me."
Around the corner of the Sailor's Guild, Vyse sank a bit. Every time he heard anyone mention that incident, he immediately grew depressed. He rubbed his face, telling himself to suck it up all the while. This was no time to lose focus. If he did, any of his friends could get hurt. He stood back up and peeked around the corner once more.
The pirates all looked at each other, obviously a bit worried. Taking out a friend of a Blue Rogue was never good news. They remember about how a Blue Rogue named Dyne once took out 3 Valuan battleships at once after they had killed a friend of his. Needless to say, their passion for revenge was legendary indeed.
Gilder continued. "I want you to tell me who the leader of your group is and where your base is, if you even have one."
The leader stared at Gilder coldly. "And what if we don't wanna tell you?"
Gilder smirked. This guy was brave. This might actually be fun. "If you don't comply, your group will be cut-down where they stand."
The rest of the pirates looked around, a bit confused. They saw no one else but Gilder. The leader spat in his direction.
"Go to hell, rogue. There's 12 of us… and 1 of you." With that, the leader drew his gunblade (A/N: Not the ones from FF8. It's those weird ones that some of the Valuan troopers carried in the actual game) and the other's followed suit.
Gilder sighed and slowly drew his guns, pointing them to the ground as he did so. "Sure about that, amigo? It's not too late to change your mind. No one has to be hurt today. You can walk out of this unharmed and help me at the same time. It's a win-win, y'know."
Clara drew back from the window her and Fina were peeking out of and held both of her hands to her heart. "Oh Gilder, you're so brave!" said Clara with a dreamy expression in her eyes. Fina giggled and pulled her back over to the window.
The leader spoke up again. "Feh. You're a bigger idiot than I thought, Gilder. Are you truly this eager to die?"
Gilder laughed and crossed his guns across his chest. That was the signal for Vyse, Fina, and Clara to begin the ambush.
"Good. I was gettin' antsy," Vyse thought as he circled around the guild to get behind the pirates.
Clara turned to Fina and said, "That's our cue! Let's go!"
Fina nodded and walked over to the door, ready to open it up.
The leader tilted his head. "Eh? What's so funny Gilder?"
The Blue Rogue grinned and pointed his guns at the leader. "You." He then whistled.
Hearing the whistle, Vyse ran behind the pirates. Their attention was immediately caught.
"Boss! It's V-V-Vyse the Legend!" the exclaimed in pure fear.
"Don't forget us!" called Clara and Fina as they emerged from the bar.
"Look! It's that Silvite Fina! That crazy woman Clara is with them too!" cried one of the pirates.
Clara stamped her foot, leaned over, and gave that pirate a very evil-looking glare. " "Crazy woman Clara"? Why I aughta…"
After assessing their situation, the leader turned back to Gilder, who had a winning smile on his face.
"Bah. No matter. I'll just call for reinforcements." He took a small device off his belt and was prepared to use it when he was interrupted by Vyse.
"I don't think that's gonna work," Vyse said with a sly smile.
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It didn't. As soon as the pirates left the dock area, the Delphinus emerged from its hiding spot in a nearby sky rift. The battle was short. Well placed concussion shells put an end to any resistance on board.
Taking advantage of the situation, the Delphinus docked right next to the Valuan vessel and took the opportunity to loot the ship and tie-up everyone on board, taking them as prisoners.
As he watched the rest of the crew of the Delphinus carry loot and prisoners back onto their own ship, Lawrence couldn't help but laugh at the easily defeated Valuans.
"Heh…" he started. "Suckers."
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As the men behind him panicked and made a general ruckus, a cold bead of sweat dripped down the leader's face. The situation was nearly hopeless. Even if they managed to dispose of Gilder and his posse, they would still have to face the Delphinus and her crew. With their ship being taken over by the Delphinus, engaging it would be suicide.
A plan crossed his mind. If they could manage to escape or defeat the 4 Blue Rogues around them, they could hide in the city and just wait until the Delphinus left. Once it did so, they could steal someone else's ship and get back to base. It was their only chance.
He pointed his weapon defiantly at Gilder. "Men! Unless you wanna be locked up in a jail cell the rest of your life, you better fight with everything you've got! Get 'im!"
All hell broke loose. Bullets started flying but none found their mark as the panicked men started firing frantically without aiming. After the initial volleys of fire, they all charged at the Blue Rogue closest them.
The leader was the first to go down. After Gilder managed to barely dodge an otherwise well-aimed shot from him, Gilder retaliated with two shots of his own. One struck his right knee cap, shattering it. The other struck the left cap, doing the same. He dropped his weapon and fell to the ground, screaming in pain as a puddle of blood formed underneath him. So much for that plan.
Vyse engaged two pirates at once. They both swung at either of his sides but the blows were easily deflected by Vyse's Lunarian Cutlass(s).
"Wrong move fellas," Vyse said confidently as he delivered a slash to one's left thigh and another slash to the other's right thigh, effectively taking them out of the fight. He moved to engage two more.
Meanwhile, Clara was busy with her own pirate. He was obviously very strong but her skill with a blade was far greater. After deflecting one blow, a second blow from him knocked the saber out of her hand. Thinking he had won, he winded back to make a fatal blow.
This was interrupted however when Clara drew two of the knives from inside her vest and, while he was winding back, jabbed them down into his shoulders, causing him to drop his own weapon. Now distracted, Clara took the opportunity to kick him straight in the groin.
The pirate clutched himself. "M…momma…" he whispered as he fell to the ground, clutching himself, ignoring any pain coming from his now bloody shoulders.
Clara picked up her saber once more. "Hmph. Don't underestimate me." As she moved to help Vyse, she witnessed Gilder take down two more ex-Valuans with 4 well placed shots directed at each of their inner elbows.
Fina, on the other hand, had her hands full. 3 pirates had surrounded her and were prepared to strike her down. She had closed her eyes and began mumbling something about the moons.
"Heh. Check her out, boys. She's praying. Like that's gonna help." They laughed and drew back their blades, ready to strike.
Fina's eyes shot open as a blue circle surrounded her. "Wevlum!"
Before the pirates could say "Huh?", a wave of water and gale of wind slammed them head first into the wall of the Sailor's Guild, knocking them out immediately.
Fina giggled to herself. "Hehe… if they say so." She readied Cupilrang, ready for anyone else she might encounter. The only two pirates that she saw were the only ones left. Vyse and Clara seemed to be dealing with them quite easily. A few slashes to the calves and they were down as well.
Vyse and Clara threw up their arms in victory and cheered. Gilder twirled his guns around and holstered them. Fina merely breathed a sigh of relief and said a short prayer.
Gilder was readjusted his shades when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Someone was sneaking up on Vyse with a knife drawn! Gilder realized he had made a fatal mistake. When taking a body count, he had counted 12 but had forgotten about the one pirate he threw into the street earlier.
"Vyse! Behind you!" Gilder yelled.
Vyse whirled around but didn't have enough time to draw his blade. The pirate was about to plunge his knife into Vyse's chest when something struck him in the head.
Vyse spotted something flying back around and back to Fina. It was Cupilrang. She had thrown it in just the nick of time.
The pirate wasn't down though and looked as if he was about to strike again. Too late for him. While he was busy recovering his senses, Gilder had enough time to draw one of his gun and. Without really aiming, he fired and watched as blood sprayed from the pirates head. He had delivered a head shot. This man would be the only pirate that died during the encounter.
"Damn," Gilder thought to himself. "I was sloppy. I guess it couldn't be helped. It was either him or Vyse.
Clara walked over to Gilder as he kneeled down next to the pirate leader, ready to interrogate him. She had never seen Gilder kill somebody but she knew that he had done it before. Perhaps she was just shocked at first. In any case, if nothing else, she wanted to make sure he was ok.
Fina ran over to Vyse, a worried expression growing on her face as she did so. "Vyse! Are you ok?"
Vyse was breathing heavily. That was the first near-death experience he'd had in a while. If it wasn't for Fina, he might have perished.
Vyse nodded to her. "Yeah… thanks to you Fina. You saved my life."
Fina smiled happily and threw her arms around Vyse as full daylight broke on the island. In response, Vyse put one arm around her, holding of his cutlass in the other as he did so.
When he held her, he thought back to the night before. The conversation that they had… the embraces they shared… the kiss she gave him. Vyse didn't believe it was the right time to let all of his feelings out but he had to at least let Fina know that she wasn't in the wrong.
Gently brushing aside her shoulder length blonde hair, Vyse kissed her on the forehead. Fina looked up in surprise at him.
"Vyse?" she asked, a bit perplexed. She thought back to last night and the expression he showed when she had kissed him. Was she right after all?
Vyse smiled at her lovingly. "Thank you again Fina. You're a wonderful person.
She smiled back at him in a similar way and they continued their embrace.
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"Find out anything Gilder?" Vyse asked as he oversaw the looting of and taking prisoner of the pirates they had recently beaten the crap out of. They also had the decency to bury the one pirate Gilder had accidentally killed.
"Well," Gilder started as he folded his arms. "Their leader told me that they have taken up temporary residence in Dangrel Island."
Vyse looked up, thoughtfully. It was a good hiding spot. Not many ships in the world had the capability of sailing below the clouds. Besides, there was little to be found beneath the clouds. No one would think to search below them for pirates.
"That's not all Vyse," Gilder continued. "It turns out that, even when we were fighting Galcian's sky fortress, the Hydra, there was already another fortress just like that being built. The Hydra was just a prototype. This one's even bigger and far more powerful."
Vyse's eyes shot open. Could that be possible? The Delphinus barely won against the Hydra a year ago. If what the pirates said about the new sky fortress was true, there's no way they could win.
"Gilder, is it finished?" he asked with anxiety.
Gilder shook his head. "No, but I was also told that it's not very far at all from completion. If we move quickly…"
Vyse cut him off. "I know. Let's take it out while it's relatively defenseless. Hopefully, their leader will be there as well." He clenched his fist. "They're going to pay. Just like these losers." He waved toward the now patched up but tied-up pirates.
Fina and Clara came strolling up to them. "Vyse! Gilder! We picked up some supplies while we were in town," Clara said.
Fina nodded. "Polly also cooked us some breakfast that we can eat along the way of wherever we're going." She then realized that she didn't know where they were going. "Speaking of which, where to next?"
"We'll explain along the way," Gilder answered. "It's potentially serious, but shouldn't be anything we can't handle."
Fina nodded once more. "Okay then. Clara and I will be on-board." With that, the two climbed the ramp leading up to the deck and walked inside the ship.
Gilder walked off as well. "I'll prep the Delphinus for launch. Let's not dawdle for too long."
Lawrence then came up to Vyse. "Captain Vyse, what should we do about their ship? It's sustained no damage."
Vyse thought for a moment. He took out a piece of paper and quickly scrawled about ten sentences and handed the paper to Lawrence.
"If possible, enlist the help of some sailors looking for work," Vyse began. "See if you can't get them to fly the ship back to Crescent Isle. Should they accept, give them this letter, and have them present the letter to Don. The letter is to inform Don to give the men that bring the ship to the island the amount of money I have listed inside and then give them a ride back to Sailor's Isle. Understood?"
Lawrence bowed slightly. "Of course, Captain Vyse. I shall make haste to the Sailor's Guild." Lawrence took off as Vyse oversaw the remaining preparations.
Roughly 10 minutes later, Lawrence came back with a group of about 8 sailors, all completely different shapes and sizes.
"Captain Vyse, these men have agreed to your terms," Lawrence said.
Vyse nodded. Good job Lawrence. We're done here. Please get on board and set a course for Tenkou Island. We'll drop off the pirates there. No way they'll escape from there."
Lawrence bowed again. "Aye aye, Captain Vyse." Lawrence did as he was told.
Vyse briefly explained to the sailors once more what they were supposed to do. After he received a confirmation of their understanding, the sailors and Vyse parted ways. Vyse made his way to the bridge and saw everyone there. Gilder had just finished explaining to Clara and Fina the situation at hand and turned to face Vyse as he came in.
"Alright everybody. First stop, Tenkou Island. We'll drop off those loser pirates there. Then, it's off to Dangrel Island. Is everyone ready to leave?" Vyse asked.
Everyone nodded. Nodding back, Vyse said, "Lawrence, let's move out."
Lawrence acknowledged him. "Aye aye, Captain Vyse." The engines fired up and Lawrence gave the wheel a hard turn to the right. Once satisfied with his bearing, Lawrence turned the engines to full speed and took off towards Yafutoman airspace.
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The plot thickens, as does the feelings between Vyse and Fina. Now that she's been kissed back, this brings the step one step closer to being lovers. But what will happen once the reach Dangrel Island? Are the ex-Valuans really in the process of making a sky fortress even more powerful than Galcian's Hydra? Stay tuned for more and keep the reviews coming in!