Hello, my dearest readers! We get some fighting in this chapter~! I hope ya like, it's not gonna be uber bloody of any of that crud. It'll be interesting though! (: I was listening to Let it Rock by Kevin Rudolf and Lil' Wayne, Keep Your Hands of My Girl by Good Charlotte (the irony), Everybody Talks by Neon Trees, Spider webs by No Doubt, and Burn it to the Ground by Nickelback.
I dunno if I've said this or need to say this since it's so obvious, but any of the songs listed in this chapter or any of the ones before DO NOT belong to me. Honestly, who could believe that anyway?!
As the group of four walked, Akira couldn't help but feel like something bad was going to happen. He kept glancing around, and it didn't take long until Laila noticed his odd behavior.
"Hey Akira, what's got you so alert?" She asked him, concern laced in her words.
"It's just... I feel like something bad is about to happen any second now." He replied, still peering into the surrounding trees.
"Well, I have been wondering why Daddy's men haven't come and tried to take me back home, he usually would've sent them immediately…" Artemis said, looking a bit sheepish.
"Why didn't you say that before?!" Akira and Laila asked in unison, while Yukio just sweatdropped.
"Ah ha, well you see—" She started, but was cut off (looking quite relieved for a distraction) when about a dozen men dressed in a dark suits poured onto the path they were walking.
". . . Your father's men wear suits?" Akira asked, staring at the ten men who had their guns raised at them, and a few with swords drawn. He snapped out of his confused state when he saw the missing two heading for Artemis.
"Oi, you can't just take Artemis, she's part of my crew!" Akira huffed, dropping his bag and preparing to grab his sword.
"What?! You're such a hypocrite…" Artemis muttered, though she didn't look happy about her predicament.
"Well, I didn't drag you away, you looked quite fine with leaving with me, but they're forcing you against your will. I think there's a legit difference there." Akira stated as he drew one of his swords, holding it firmly with both hands. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Laila drop her own bag slowly, sliding into a fighting stance. Yukio did the same, drawing both swords.
"Drop your weapons." One of the men who held Artemis ordered, raising his own gun and pointing it at Akira.
"You can't tell me what to do!" Akira said in a mocking tone, sticking his tongue out. The man seemed to have a short temper, because he shot at Akira. By the time Laila and Yukio had registered the noise, Akira was already on his way towards the man, raising his sword. He decided to call him baldy, since he had no hair whatsoever. Baldy could make a man blind with that shiny dome of a head. Maybe that's why he's the leader-guy? Akira thought. He was silently thankful that they were in the woods.
He saw the sword coming towards him from his right and deflected the blow with his own sword before he smacked the man in the back on the head with the hilt. He didn't want to kill anyone…
He quickly returned his attention to Baldy, who was now the only one holding Artemis; the guy who attacked Akira must've been the one who had been on the other side of Artemis. Akira watched as Baldy raised his gun again. Akira didn't give Baldy a chance to shoot. He darted around Artemis and brought his sword down, meeting the metal of Baldy's gun. He brought his foot up and kicked him in the guy before he could react, resulting in a free Artemis and Baldy slumping against a tree.
While this was happening, Laila had decided to cover a few of the guys and let Yukio get the rest. She launched herself into the air as a man who had a sword charged her, and slammed her heel into his head. She heard the clash of metal on metal, but ignored it in favor of her own opponents. She Ran forwards, some of the men looking startled by the sudden movement, and punched one of them in the nose. She heard a distinct crunching noise, but decided not to think about what bone she had just broke. She took down three more in a similar fashion before glancing over at Yukio.
Yukio had already decided that Laila would want to fight some of them, since she looked pretty irked. He would rather them be the ones on the receiving end of the girl's fury than him. He paused, adjusting his grip on his sword, before using the power of his Hayai-Hayai no mi to speed up his own thoughts. The Hayai-Hayai no mi, or the quick-quick fruit, allowed Yukio to speed up anything that was in his range. He thought of it as shooting; you couldn't shoot something if you couldn't get a clear shot. He could also use this on himself, to speed up not only his actions but his thoughts, so he could make sense of things quicker than others and have enough time to react to what was happening. He watched as a bullet came towards him, looking like it was in slow motion. He pulled his head to the side as the bullet approached, the metal missing by inches. He head a dull thud as the bullet buried itself in the wood of a nearby tree.
Yukio ran forwards, slamming the hilt of his swords into the men's stomachs and the backs of their heads, until all of the ones he had decided were his were on the ground. He glanced around, watching Laila kick and punch her way through her own little group. She was strong, he was positive of that. He turned his head to catch the last of Akira's little fight as he kicked the bald man in the stomach, sending him flying into a tree that cracked from the force.
Akira walked over to make sure Laila was alright. She seemed to be, and was grinning widely.
"You guys are awesome, Thanks for helping me." She chirped as Laila and Yukio walked over, swords sheathed. They all smiled at the brunette.
"We're your nakama now, right?" Akira asked.
"Of course, idiot." Artemis said, punching Akira's shoulder.
They all walked over to the bags that had been deposited on the ground and each picked one up, except for Artemis. Akira had reasoned that since she had just been attacked, she wouldn't have to carry any bags. Artemis's protests fell on deaf ears as they reached the town. Yukio was the one who lead the way to the shipyard, using a shortcut that he had discovered a couple weeks ago.
When they reached their destination, Akira was, to put it frankly, bouncing about, looking like a kid in a candy shop.
"Wheredowegotogetashipdesigne d?!" He asked, the whole thing coming out as a jumble of nonsense.
They all stared at him for a moment before Yukio made sense of his words. "He said 'where we go to get a ship designed'." He translated, facing both the girls. They both made a small o with their mouths before Artemis replied.
"I'll show you, if Akira stops bouncing off the freaking walls. He's acting like a kid on a sugar high!" Artemis exclaimed, shaking her head.
"Yeah, he gets like that when he's excited…" Yukio muttered, a bit surprised that Akira still had so much trouble containing his excitement.
"Well, I think it would be rude to walk in there with an overly excited Akira in tow, maybe we should let him calm down a bit…" Laila suggested as she Artemis and Yukio watched Akira stare at all the ships.
"That sounds like a pretty good idea." Yukio replied, watching as Akira dropped his bag and turned into a cat, darting off into the shipyard.
"You idiot; come back here!" Laila and Artemis shouted, staring after the green fluff-ball.
Heh! Tell me if I did well! :D I hope you enjoyed this, I feel so proud of myself for making this the next day, right after a new chapter! T_T and if ya haven't already figured it out, my updates will be completely random. Sometimes they'll be day after day, and sometimes I might take a few days or even a week for a new chapter. Either way, please review when you read! It makes me day a thousand times better~! And, I'm not sure if I'm the only one, but I like to read stories that have reviews. So maybe it'll work for me? :D
I still need a Musician, and Blacksmith is taken. I had such a stupid moment that I wanna bash my head in; I have a blacksmith! I fixed it though, so I just need the Musician. Come on people, share the MUSIC!
Review, tell me if there's anything ya didn't like. Don't make me starve from lack of reviews! D:
