A/N:
Welcome back, my wonderful viewers!
The next chapter awaits.
On the high seas!
Enjoy!
(Man, isn't this so happy)
Chapter 4
Free
Ebon awoke to the sound of Beau humming close behind. She was surprised that she fell asleep due to the engine's purr. Beau looked at his watch, "How much longer?" Ebon tiredly stood up. She looked at Beau. Before they left the port, she asked what Beau was wearing and he answered back with," I'm wearing my hunter uniform. A blue and black yukata with a black obi." Ebon didn't know what those meant so he explained it to her. "It is because my family is so traditional, they wanted me to wear this. I like it anyway." After that, they entered the ship.
"We had just spotted land so not long ago," Ebon answered in a monotonous voice with a stoic expression.
"Geez, you never relax. You even have your huntress uniform on too." Ebon was wearing a black vest that had a little drape of cloth on her left side with a gray undershirt with her right sleeve rolled up to her elbow. Her left sleeve was missing but had a glove that extended to her elbow with diamond-shaped holes along it. That was accompanied by black short shorts with gray pantyhose extended up to her shorts. Also, there was an opening on the sides that showed the sides of her leg all the way to shorts also exposing the belts of ammo on her thighs, however, there is a piece of cloth covering the opening down to her gray boots.
"Well, you know why."
"Yeah yeah, I know."
"If I wanted to, I would. Sleeping is the only way."
"Alright, I see what's on deck." Ebon attempted to go back to sleep as Beau left. After many bouts of trying, she gave up and joined Beau.
Beau was propped up against the ship's railing, gazing off into the sea. "You know, I miss the desert a little bit," Beau said longingly.
"I do miss the quiet," Ebon said longingly. They both sighed at the same time, then laughed.
"Wow, It's been a very long time since you laughed like that Ebon."
"It is not like I can not laugh, I just choose not to."
" Whatever you say." Beau gave up on the conversation. After a while of sitting at the railing, Beau noticed something strange. " Hey, Ebon."
"Yeah?"
" Do you think that ship has been following us for a long time?"
" I haven't been paying attention to the surroundings lately since I was trying to sleep, so I don't know," Ebon replied, clearly annoyed, "For what I can see, there are two ships on both sides of the ship traveling at the same rate of speed." At that, Beau turned around and saw that both ships were aiming at them.
"Hey, Ebon, I think we should be ready for a fight."
" Why?"
" Those are not friendly, those are-." An explosion erupted on the deck as Beau and Ebon were forcibly blown back as two White Fang ships were firing upon the ship. If they didn't have an aura, they would be dead or unconscious. "Well, that happened," Beau remarked.
" Yeah, we should do something about this," Ebon stated in a stoic voice.
" If the bridge is still in one piece, we should ask the captain, it's his ship."
"Alright." They got up and picked up their weapons to head to the bridge. While running over there, Ebon noticed all the wrecked metal and bodies that didn't make it in the first barrage. " I think I read about some pirate group in these water."
" Really, now you bring that up. We could have taken an air transport!"
Ebon had a defeated look," Well, I was kind of low on money and thought that if we wait, we would miss my sister."
" Fine, here, there's a ladder." They climbed up as the ship was rocking in the explosions ton reach a hallway. "Now, where do we go."
" I think you should look up." Above them, was signs that pointed in many different directions. One of them was pointing towards the bridge.
" Come on, I knew that."
" Man, for a fox, you are not that clever."
"Whatever." They traveled in that direction to reach a pair of iron doors. Above it, was a sign reading "BRIDGE AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY."
" I don't think we are authorized to go in," remarked Ebon.
" Well, given the crisis and our training, I think we are," Beau shot back.
" Ok, I guess we are." Ebon and Beau opened the doors and entered.
The bridge was a mess of people and chatter. There were people run to and fro, carrying papers to each station in white naval uniforms. The whole room was in a constant alert state. An officer noticed them and walked over. "What are you kids doing here," he demanded, "You're supposed to be below deck."
" Well, we came here to find the captain and ask if he needed some help," answered Beau. The Officer looked closely at them," so you kids are one of those hunters-in-training?"
" Yes, sir."
"Alright follow me." They headed through the crowds of people traveling between stations to a chair in the center of the room.
" I want a damage report on all sectors done now! Someone tell me what happened to our guns!"
An officer answered him," Sir, the gunners on both guns have been wounded."
" Well, find some who can operate those guns or we're dead in the water." The officer nodded and ran off. The Captain sat on his chair, took off his hat, and pulled out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat on his forehead.
"Excuse me, captain."
Yes," said the Captain as he spun around. Before him, was a different officer with two kids behind him.
" I believe I found the solution to your problem."
" And what is that?"
One of the kids stepped up," I believe we can man the guns."
" And who are you?"
" I'm Beau Kaminari and this is Ebon Falke."
" Alright, so how are you planning to man the guns?"
Ebon spoke up," I believe we had training on firing these types of cannons while we were in Shade Academy."
"Hmm, they teach you that stuff."
"Yes, sir."
" Alright, can I leave you to it?"
" Yes sir, you can count on us."
" Right then, I sent one officer with each of you to each gun. Then they will come right back here. You will be alone back there so I can count on you to defend yourselves?"
"Yes, sir."
" Now go!" The two officers showed up when they finished with their conversation to lead them out. When they were out of the bridge, Beau whispered to Ebon. "Do you actually know how to fire the guns on this ship." Ebon looked at him with a half smile.
" I have no idea."
The run to the cannons was like when they were running to the bridge. They split up shortly said good luck to each other before they parted. When Ebon arrived, the gun was in good condition, but the crew was not. Bodies and guts were strewn about all over the floor. The crewmember that was assigned to her had left as she arrived. "Now, how do I work this thing," said Ebon with her hands on her hip. She looked around a bit to find some way to fire the cannon when she found what looked to be a manual. She looked it over," oh, so that how this works."
Ebon climbed up the ladder into the gunner seat. The gun itself was a Military grade single-shot dust battery. She also took the manual with her in the cabin. "So step one is to load the gun, ok, I can do that. She jumped out and found the ammo rack. In it, was 16"/50 caliber dust shells, but there were few. "At least, they were using them." She flared her aura to pick up the 2,240-pound (1,020 kg for you metric users) with ease. Ebon walked over to the loading chamber, which was located under the cannon, and at the press of a button, it opened up to revealed at loading area where she put the round. It closed in conformation because of the round that was entered. She climbed back up into the cabin. "Ok, step two, aim the cannon at the target." Ebon noticed the dials and guessed what they were for. After some fidgeting, she managed to aim the gun towards the ship, accounting for speed and distance. "Alright, the last step, fire the gun. Pretty straightforward." Ebon spotted the lever which looked to be the firing lever so she pulled it anyway.
The sudden movement by the cannon recoiling back almost knocked her off the gunner seat, but she caught herself from falling. " Did it hit?" Ebon leaped off the platform and flared her aura again to lighten her fall. She ran to the cannon opening and saw that the ship was starting to sink. "Yes," Ebon exclaimed. A few seconds after, she heard the sound of another cannon firing off. "Oh, he figured it out too." She ran back to to the T-section where they were separated and Ebon saw Beau turn the corner. "Did you get yours?"
" Yeah, you?"
" Yeah." They were taking momentary breaks to catch their breaths. Once Beau caught his, he straightened his posture and asked another question.
" How did you figure out how to use the cannon?"
" Read the manual."
"Same."
" Yeah, I figured. Anyway, let us head back." Once they got back on deck, the salty spray touched Ebon's skin again. "I really like the sea."
" Unfortunately, I can't say the same."
" Is it because you are a fox?"
" Well, yeah."
" Alright, suit yourself. Hey, do you know where the bridge was again?"
" I think it's-," He was cut off by the sound of an explosion erupting on the bridge," There." A bullhead uncloaked and was above the deck.
"Well here is the fight you wanted," remarked Ebon.
Ebon and Beau locked into gear as the first wave dropped in. Ebon pulled out her Hiraeth Warden, which was a shotgun-ax combo Meanwhile, Beau pulled out his Inazuma, which was a Halberd that used his semblance of lightning. As the borders dropped, Ebon knew who it was, it was the White Fang. 'Why are the Fang here,' thought Ebon. Her thoughts were interrupted by the first wave arriving on deck. Ebon and Beau decided to split the deck between themselves. The first few soldiers found them at the mercy Ebon's Hiraeth Warden.
" Fire at will, "yelled one of the soldiers. Ebon immediately moved to dodge the bullets. She transformed her Hiraeth Warden to its ax form and swung it at the nearest soldier. The ax landed in the head of the soldier, cracking the mask and breaking his skull. The other soldiers looking in horror as the ax was ripped out of their comrade, his body falling to the ground. In a panic, they started shooting at Ebon, but she dodges those shots and came behind them. She switched her weapon into the shotgun mode and used two shots to fire into both heads of the panicked soldiers, as they fell to the ground to join their comrade. On Beau side, he was taking out one by one with his lighting or his polearm blade. They were making good progress, but slowly, they started to diminish.
Unfortunately, before they knew it, they were surrounded. The leader came out from the fiery bridge with the captain in one hand and chainsaw with two barrels on each side, which had elaborate designs to accompany the White Fang symbol in the other.
"So, our heroes arrive," the leader smirked, then throwing the captain's corpse in front of them, "Are you going to join him?"
Beau was angry at this, "So you are now willing to attack both humans and Faunus now?"
"Well, I don't care if I kill some Faunus here and there, but I enjoy it," laughed the leader," I could say that they were harboring humans against the White Fang."
"You're sick."
"Does it matter, you're about to die." Ebon could not take it. She threw her ax at full power at the leader. He tried to block it, but the force of 600 pounds (272.1554 kilograms) prevailed. It slammed into his body to annihilate the leader's torso and then implanted itself into the wall behind him.
"How about you shut up for a while," Ebon chuckled with a tear going down her cheek before collapsing to the ground.
"You bitch," a White Fang soldier yelled before opening fire, but Beau used his staff to shock everyone there, using the last of his aura.
When Ebon regained consciousness, she was in an escape pod on the lower decks with Beau prepping her. "What are you doing Beau?" Ebon said in a confused tone.
"The ship is going down, and you're in no condition to fight."
"What are you talking about, I'm fi-," the instant she got up, she almost collapsed.
"See what I mean?"
"What about you?"
"I'll find a way." Before Beau closed the door, he gave Ebon a pendant of his symbol which was a blue crescent moon with a lightning bolt down the middle. "Goodbye, Ebon."
"Wait," Ebon yelled and pounded, but Beau couldn't hear her as the door closed. The pod was launched from the ship, and it started to dive towards seafloor. Ebon dared to look up but was greeted with a disturbing sight. The same ship that she was on exploded in an arduous blast as the pieces were now sinking beside her. Her only real friend was now gone. When she snapped back to reality, Ebon noticed that she was sinking and tried to lighten the pod with her semblance, but she didn't have much aura left. A piece of shrapnel slightly damaged the pod, but it hurt the life support system. Since the pod was running out of air, she fell unconscious.
Leena was walking in the forest when she saw a glowing fireball towards the sea. Knowing all too well what might have happened, she rushed to the beach. When Leena arrived, she slowed her pace to a walk. She was in complete shock because she thought that she just walked in hell. Among all the twisted and mangled wreckage, there were bodies everywhere in various positions. From burned corpses to impaled victims, they were littered everywhere. After going through the horror show, Leena came upon a lone escape pod. Seeing this is the first bit of hope in this despair, she rushed to the pod. It took a bit of effort, but she pried open the pod door with her Orphic Tempest. In the pod, she found a girl around her age lying unconsciousness in the pod. She took her out carefully and left the scene.
When Ebon woke, she felt a warm sensation. Ebon suddenly got up to meet face to face with another girl that looked to be the same age and a Faunus at that. She backed away and looked around she was still in a forest and seem to be away from the crash. " Who are you," Ebon said in a stern, stoic voice.
"My name is Leena Halloran, and I saved your life."
A/N:
So what a great cliffhanger.
Poor Beau, he was such a happy soul.
Besides him, we love new characters.
Ebon was explained before in chapter two, but Leena is new.
The next chapter is going to be a little short but going to be a short journey to a big stage.
(Remind anyone of Volume 4?)
(Any artists wanted)