Hunt
Thump. A large shadow prowled through the forest, steam seething from his nostrils as he silently stalked his prey. Thump. His large jaw at least three feet long hung open, a slight trail of drool forming on one of the front-most teeth. Thump. His stomach growled loudly at this exact moment it was the only part of him which was loud. Thump. His long green scaled tail hit the ground loudly as he tried to follow his prey a little further in. An evil green appeared on his face. He had explicit orders to kill them, but there was a lot of them...perhaps it would be best to take his time. He disappeared a bit further into the forest.
They were strong, worthy adversaries...although to be honest he highly doubted they were worth either of the Fox Brothers' time. Maybe they were worth a second of their pinky fingers. He growled quietly, it was mystery to him why they were even trying if the rumors alone didn't scare them off then shouldn't have just seeing them destroy their strategy? Yeah, they definitely weren't worth Master Alistair's time. Then again Master Alistair seemed to think so, too, why else have a small army docked on your private island to wipe out any intruders. The creature heard the sound of flesh being torn off of something and spun around, afraid he had been caught, but quickly caught sight of the source...probably because he wasn't trying to conceal himself at all.
He was thin, yet he had the obvious under-lurking of muscles forming just beneath his skin. He was holding a chunk of meat attached to a bone similar to a chicken leg, although it was obviously not from a chicken. "Anyone worth devouring?" he asked, a simple tone to his question that made it impossible to tell if he was being serious on that whole 'devouring' bit. The creature stared at him and scoffed, a harsh almost ragged tone to that single syllable. "I'm hungry after all and you know animals taste the best if you hunt them with your own two hands." As if to emphasis this point the man tore off another chunk of meat. The creature growled at him.
"I'll have you know I am a man of higher sophistication than that!" he scoffed at his colleagues tone and implications. Now that the two of them were in a brighter sighting you could see that he looked exactly like an alligator...if alligators stood on two legs and wore silk suits. His scales were mostly green, but they had a yellow tint to them even the tail which dragged heavily behind him, but every so often he lifted it into the air and let it drop, making a painful thump sound. "Besides the rules are basic. You don't mix business with pleasure and you don't crap where you eat."
"Of course, not that would spoil the food," laughed his partner as he settled down a little bit further into the nice luscious forest. "Like I said any of them look delectable to you?"
"I'm not mixing business with pleasure and I'm not crapping where I'm eating," was his partner's response, which seemed to irritate the lanky young man. "Besides the point you know we are catering not only to the Master, but also his brother and I'm sure Alan would say..."
"Bring back any broad with big breasts," muttered the man, "I know, I know...still, can't help if I like a little fat on my meat, can I?" The alligator looked disgusted at the man as if the thought of eating another living being had never crossed his mind...and, of course, it had...he was an alligator after all...and a carnivore. He had partaken in many succulent beings like a chicken, a cow, a whale, but for some reason he was always hesitant to cross the threshold of eating an intelligent being. He wasn't all, too sure if his friend was either. He had never been in his kitchen, however, after hearing some screams emanating from there...he wasn't all too eager to pay him any visits.
"If you'll excuse me I'll have to get back to focusing on the matter at hand," the alligator sighed, his shoulders sagging slightly. Honestly fighting was one of the few pleasures in his life and he had to say with a man as vulgar and rude as this. It seemed unfair...maybe if it was him he could get used to eating intelligent life...you know, as long as it was annoying and vulgar as this man was. "They are advancing at a steady pace of three miles per hour, they seemed to be hell-bent on remaining as a union despite marching into enemy territory, and the strongest fighters seem to be orienting themselves to the front...just like cave men, wanting nothing more than the primal urge of victory over their foes."
"Like you don't."
"Please be quiet, you are disturbing my train of thought." Not to mention himself. The man was really starting to bug him. "Anyways, I suppose we should start off by slowly splitting the weaker ones off from the herd...or should we start with the stronger ones and try to use the element of surprise to our advantage and take them out first. Hmm...perhaps I should contemplate the outcomes with a cup of tea before rushing to any rash decisions."
"Or we can just wait for them to split up."
"Puh-lease!" the alligator just couldn't take any more of this, the man was a simpleton, his mind only focused on food, he didn't even think before he spoke, "they are in enemy territory, surrounded by forest, the perfect place for an ambush and you think they are going to split up. Hah, they are surely not buffoons."
"Really, cause that's what they are doing."
The alligator baulked, surely he wasn't serious. He moved to the edge of the forest, hiding behind the trees and looked in the same direction as his colleague just to find out that he was right. They were, in fact, splitting up like imbeciles or 'buffoons' as he so lightly put it earlier this adventure. He shook his head and then turned it lightly to the side to hide his slight chuckle from his incorrigible 'friend'. True, he normally enjoyed a good killing, but it was going to be ruined anyways by his partner for the time being, so he may as well not even bother with it. He picked up a Den-Den Mushi and lifted it to his head. "Crush them."
This time it was a much quieter rumble then him slinking through the shadows or one of his comrade's stomach, it was so low and guttural you almost couldn't hear it unless you listened for it. The leaves were slowly being parted by light footsteps as the two of them were quickly surrounded. "You heard me, boys," muttered the large alligator as he stared up at the treetops. "Kill the Infinity Pirates!" Animalistic noises filled the air. The primal whoops and insane calls were near-deafening! No doubt the Infinity Pirates would hear them as well...oh, well, so it wouldn't be a surprise. Still its not like they could do anything about it. The tree tops shook as the invisible soldiers of the forest shot across the air.
(-With Enma-)
The first group was Enma, Aaron, and Hiro-Shu. Admittedly this was supposed to be less of a combat squad and more of a response squad with Hiro-Shu tacked on for defensive purposes. "Are you sure we should've split up," whined Aaron, obviously unhappy that he got stuck in one of the 'girl'-free groups. "I mean, we are in enemy territory, right, what is somebody attacked Sage, Rosa, or Maria?"
"Trust me," muttered Enma as he lifted another vine out of their way with his long bone spear, "I'd be more worried about my own skin then Maria. She can handle herself plenty well." Hiro-Shu looked questioningly over at Enma. Did he not know that Aaron was just saying that so he could be with the girls? He didn't particularly care about protecting them. Hiro-Shu supposed it was possible that Enma wasn't romantically inclined, but then again Hiro-Shu tended to not pry into other people's personal lives...especially when that person was a devil worshipper, people like that tend to have horrible personal lives.
"Still if they need me they should know the only thing they have to do is jump into my owns and they'll be protected! For I am their knight in shining armor," shouted Aaron. While Hiro-Shu was still uncertain if Enma understood romance it was obvious he understood perverted cliches cause he rolled his eyes at Aaron's last comments.
"Whoop!" shouted a loud voice forcing the entire Infinity Pirates that were here to spin on their heels and face the forested area where it came from. Suddenly another loud bellow came from the other side of them. A deep "Wooga!" rumbled the ground. Enma readied his bone spear and a new layer of heavy iron plating coated Hiro-Shu.
"Crap, we've been found out!" muttered Enma, taking a brief step back.
"Honestly, surprised it hasn't happened sooner considering how loud you guys were," griped Hiro-Shu. His two companions blinked, realizing what he said had some merit, especially considering these may have been the first words Hiro-Shu had muttered since they had even landed on the island. Hiro-Shu stepped forward and took the lead against the invisible foes. "Guess I may as well just flush them ot," Hiro-Shu bent backwards, taking in a deep breath. "Iguko's Flame! Forger's Fire!" The vicious flames tore up the forests, breaching the heavy line the trees made and scorching the hidden fighters, forcing them to finally reveal their hands.
The first one appeared to be a harpy. However, his wings were actually prosthetic. He was just a normal human masquerading as a bird. However, this just meant that the feathers on his wings were actually miniature and stylized daggers, giving him a cutting edge. He stood tall and wore a bird mask. He was crouched down and looking up at Hiro-Shu with interest. He was soon joined by another group. A large silver-backed gorilla with a shiny metallic headband as well as a massive python-like entity. The three of them quickly sized up their opponents with killing intent. "Great we've stumbled upon a zoo," muttered Aaron as he cracked his knuckles and stepped forward. He curved his hand and moved slowly yet steadily towards the large silver-back. "Honestly using my speed against these three wouldn't even be worth the effort. It'd be like...like...hunting bunny rabbits with a cannon. Speaking of which," Aaron said as he lightly jabbed the silver-back with his finger, "got any rabbits on your team, huh, monkey boy."
"I should warn you that metallic headbands translates human speak into gorilla," said the harpy-like creature with a smirk that was clearly evident through his mask, "and he doesn't react kindly to insults."
"Silver-Back SMASH!" shouted a robotic voice, probably coming from the headband which also reversed the process as well. The large ape struck out, firing a solid and powerful punch from a standing position. His large tree-trunk of an arm blasted through the air with incredible speed and power. Hiro-Shu and Enma were amazed as the silver-back pulled his arm back, smoke still sizzling off of his gleaning fur.
"Man, I am impressed forcing me to use half of my top speed," Aaron mocked as he appeared to the side of the gorilla. Aaron twisted around, hooking his leg around the silver-back's head. "Its just a shame that when I'm through with you you'll never be able to do that again. Impulse! Whirlwind!" Aaron spun around, making a quick spin through the air, flipping the gorilla once, twice, and then a third time sending his face smashing into the ground. "Its such a shame cause I'm actually an animal lover...eh, guess if you can walk and talk you probably aren't considered an animal any more now are you?"
Hiro-Shu smiled. While he didn't really care for Aaron's joke, he had to admit he was pleased with the fact that they had easily taken out another soldier. They were in all honesty a lot of them wandering around here. The more they could take out now the less of a pain in the ass they'd be later. However, despite Hiro-Shu's pleasure in their small victory he had to admit he still wasn't completely convinced of their victory. The look on the bird man's face didn't dissipate nor did he even frown as a matter of fact it was the exact opposite of that. He was smiling. Obviously relishing in his teammates defeat.
However, the python was the exact opposite. He coiled up and formed a tight knot. Hiro-Shu stepped forward and into his way...if Aaron thought he was hogging the glory...oh, well so be it. Hiro-Shu took up a defensive stance, staying true to his nature and checking out his opponent first. And he was lucky he did. The snake let loose, using all of its muscles to form a wicked spring it shot out at Hiro-Shu, lunging at the iron golem with its teeth set on digging into his flesh. However, it was met with a fist of blazing iron. Hiro-Shu swung downwards, knocking the snake down to the ground and finishing him off in an instant. Once more Hiro-Shu looked towards the hawk-man expecting his face to fall, but it didn't. He remained confident in his victory even after this.
"What's up with that cocky smug look on your face?" asked Aaron as he whizzed right up to the hawk, stopping a few centi-meters in front of him. "Too shocked at your team-mates loses that you forgot to react to them."
"Just now you took seventeen steps," muttered the hawk. "You made a slight detour on your way here, making a quick zig to your left to avoid a rock in your way. When you took out my comrade you went a little too far past him and had to make a move back to get into the proper kicking position. Your friend had already moved into an attacking position before the snake had unleashed an attack, meaning he foresaw an attack and reacted before the snake even acted." Aaron was kind of impressed that he could see his movements...even at half speed few people could brag about that. "They don't say eyes like a hawk for no reason."
"While I'm explaining simple things to you three," muttered the hawk as he lowered his center of gravity and getting into a near-sprinting like pose. "I suppose I should explain the natural order around here. There are prey and there are predators just like out there in any other forests. The same rings true for this forest, of course, you can never tell who is the prey and who the predator is. My two allies you've just knocked out...they were 'prey' weaklings who had barely received any of Master Alistair's true blessings, his creative genius which turns even the weakest of prey into a deadly force to be reckoned." Aaron took a tentative step back, but HE, Aaron the man who just seconds ago had been bragging about his insane speed, was too SLOW. The hawk-man zoomed across the ground, his feet barely touching the ground all the way through his charge. He zeroed in on Hiro-Shu next. A loud clash of metal against metal could probably be heard all over town as the man actually managed to cut through Hiro-Shu thick armor. Without missing a beat he cut across the ground, swinging his legs with him and zooming past the large iron wall and on to the next. He was on top of Enma in mere milliseconds, swinging his leg into the air and suddenly arching it back around to slam downwards. Enma was probably the most ill equipped to handle this man's ferocious attacks and it showed as the man's powerful kick slammed into the top of Enma's head and shoved him straight down into the ground, smashing his skull into the forest's floor.
"Oh, and I feel like I should also mention one more thing about the natural order of this island," the hawk turned around to face the two pirates left remaining, "I'm a Level 1 Predator...to put into words even you'd understand...I'm in the group of the weakest predators." He seemed to smile at that thought, despite basically just admitting that everyone else on this island could kick his butt. He lifted his head up into the air and his tongue flopped out of it as he gave them his craziest smile, "that means even if you defeat me, that means your butts will just get thrashed by someone else on this island!"
Howdy! Good-bye!