Ch. 4! Yay I been writing in my spare time…unfortunately I don't have much spare time. Oh Well here it is.
Please read, review, and enjoy.
Ch.4 Introduction
Connor woke up as soon as the sunlight began to shine through his window. He wasn't sure what to expect on his first day of training but he was psyched. Conner dressed as quickly as he could and walked onto the deck of the ship. It was a cool Sunday morning the sea breeze swept across the deck and filled Connor with a calm only the sea was capable of. Connor looked at the town in front of him it really was small but there was something odd he couldn't place. He looked behind him and saw another island a mile or two from the Starlight Island; unlike the other islands this one had no touch of civilization. Just looking at the island gave Connor a strange feeling in is blood. He could feel every part of him trying to push farther away from the island but his mind clouded with a desire to move closer. Connor didn't know which impulse would win. DING! DONG! Connor snapped, looking back to Starlight Island he could see the Church's bell was ringing and people dressed in their Sunday best walking in. As if on cue Connor's shipmate started making their way onto the deck in front of him. The deck was filled with expectant chatter until Cheng-Li walked onto the deck. Her air of business quieted the talk.
"Now, we originally came to this island as means to relax but a rather interesting event has changed things." Cheng-Li began talking with an authority fit only of a captain. She looked over her crew and smiled to let them know something opportune had come up of their trip. "It seems that there is a family of Vampire Hunters on this island and they are willing to teach us a bit of the trade." Cheng-Li paused so her crew could ask each other questions and talk to each other in excited whispers. "This is a wonderful opportunity and I expect all of my crew to take advantage." Cheng-Li gave a stern look to her crew. Cate was the first of the Tiger crew to speak up.
"So when do we start?" Cate asked.
"Now." A voice answered from behind the crew, making them all turn around surprised. Except for Cheng-Li who had seen Gabi climb onto the ship. Gabi was sitting on the side of the ship one leg over the other smiling at the surprised voices.
"Nightingale?" Jacoby asked, pushing himself to the front with Connor. Gabi looked at Jacoby and a thought could be seen crossing her mind. "It's always nice to meet fans but we have work to do." Gabi stood on the side of the ship and addressed Cheng-Li. "Have your crew come to the address my father gave to you." With that Gabi back-flipped over the side of the ship and disappeared. The crew ran to the side looking for Gabi.
"She's gone." Jacoby said stating the obvious.
"Show off." Jasmine said.
Cheng-Li led her crew through the interior of the island, taking dirt roads. It had been thirty minutes since they had passed the last house. But finally they came across a large clearing surrounded by trees that indented into the ground giving the appearance of a small arena.
"Took you long enough." Gabi said appearing from behind a tree, making a good few of the crew jump. "I'm not that scary. Come on dad's looking forward to meeting the Vampirate hunting crew." Gabi walked in front of them and lead them to the Arena. Connor looked at Gabi, she was dressed in black T-shirt with burgundy designs of outlined maple leaves, that had one long sleeve cover her left arm her right arm was exposed but a silver chain with a crystal on the end was wrapped around it. She was wearing short shorts on her right thigh was a holster with more crystal like objects arranged in its pouches and slips. Connor tried looking for the four crystal daggers that Gabi had once attacked him with but he couldn't see them. "Just situate yourselves in the arena, dad should be arriving shortly." The Tiger crew stood in the arena shifting nervously; not sure what to expect. Mr. Gale and Luscinia walked into the arena taking in the number of people.
"Not a bad number Cheng-Li." Mr. Gale commented to Cheng-Li. "However they are going to be a bit wet behind the ears, aren't they?"
"Well Nathan, as you know the existence of vampires wasn't common knowledge until a month ago. We've done the best we could." Cheng-Li defended her crew. 'Since when did they get on a first name bases?' Connor thought looking at his captain and Mr. Gale. Behind him Connor could hear angry voices at Mr. Gale's comment. "But it is what we are here for so if you please." Mr. Gale smirked and walked toward the crowd staying in front of them.
"Hello I am Nathan Gale." Mr. Gale introduced himself then his wife and daughter. "And this is my wife Luscinia and our daughter Gabi." Mrs. Gale waved as though she was in a parade and Gabi just stood there. "Now as Miss Li has said we are vampre hunters and we have decided to teach what we know. Now Miss Li has told us of what you know already and I have to say I am a bit impressed," The crew began to feel better at the compliment. "However what you know will only help you a little. So I need to test your fighting abilities." Mr. Gale gestured for Gabi to move forward. "Please get into groups of five."
"So what are we going to do?" Connor asked Gabi after he got into his group with Cate, Bart, Jacoby and Jasmine.
"Basically you all are going to attack me while my dad assesses your abilities."
"What?" Connor yelled unsure. "I can't just attack you."
"I can." Jasmine said behind him. Gabi shot her a cold smirk.
"Don't worry Connor I'll be fine." Gabi brought up her hand and caressed Connor's cheek. Connor could feel himself blush. Jasmine glared daggers at her. Gabi walked back to her parents while they waited for the rest of the crew to divide into groups.
"So who would like to go first?" Mr. Gale asked. Jasmine immediately volunteered their group. "Alright take your positions. Ready?" They nodded. "Then Begi-
"Hey wait!" Lance had yelled out. He was on a bicycle just on the outskirt of the Arena.
"Lance, I didn't realize you were coming." Mr. Gale said.
"And miss the Tiger crew in action? Yeah right." Lance gushed. Gabi rolled her eyes. Mr. Gale smiled at his enthusiasm.
"Alright, than begi-
"No!" Mr. Gale was interrupted by Bo-Yin. "I want to fight too!" Bo-Yin complained to Cheng-Li and anyone within ear-shot.
"Bo-Yin, no." Cheng-Li answered her. "You have had no proper training and I can't risk my blacksmith at this moment.
"Blacksmith?" Mrs. Gale said questioningly. She made her way over to Cheng-Li and began talking to the two. After a while she motioned for her husband to continue.
"Okay… if there are no more interruptions" Mr. Gale looked around the arena. "Begi-…Oh wait! I almost forgot." Mr. Gale smiled sheepishly, and then his face took on a look of complete seriousness. "For me to truly assess your abilities you must attack Gabi with the intention to kill if not this will all be for naught. So you must use your swords to attack and try to kill." Mr. Gale took in the pirates expressions. "Begin!"
Gabi stood in the middle of Connor's group taking in the situation. One broadsword, four epees, or two adults, three kids, to women three guys any way she looked at the situation it all said the same thing; easy. Jasmine came at her first, for a second Gabi hesitated. "How do I want to take her out?" Gabi reached into her sleeve and pulled out one of her daggers from its hiding place. She threw it spinning; the cross-bone end hit jasmine between her eyes. "Ow!" Jasmine yelled. Jacoby came after Jasmine slowed down; he was to Gabi's left. She looked at his out-stretched sword and followed it to his eyes. Gabi could see his hesitation. "Okay you are making this too easy" she thought. Jacoby was quick for an attack but his hesitation made him sloppy. Gabi side stepped and twirled kicking his butt, literally. Jacoby fell face first into ground.
"Ya know I was really expecting more." Gabi said baiting the rest of them. Jasmine regained her composure and came at Gabi again. But this time Jasmine was ready. Jasmine stabbed and Gabi jumped back to be grabbed by Bart. 'Crap! After her outburst I was expecting her to go at it by herself." Bart's grip was tight on Gabi, but what she did next he didn't expect. She started crying. Bart looked at the girl and saw fresh tears falling down her cheeks. At the sad helpless look, Bart relaxed his grip about to apologize. Gabi showed a cold smirk on her face as she backed off from Bart. "I won't make that mistake again." Gabi said thinking out loud.
"Bart!" Cate yelled. "Ugh… Connor, Jasmine, Jacoby we need to work together."
'So Cate is the brains, huh." Gabi thought quickly for a new strategy. "Hmmm…" 'I need to be fighting like a vampire or all will be for naught. Vampires would divide and conquer. But who first? Weakest Link.'
Connor had watched Gabi easily dispatch Jasmine and Jacoby and just when he thought he wouldn't have to do anything when Bart grabbed her she started to cry and got out of Bart's grasp like it was nothing. Connor saw Gabi change her stance looking and taking in everyone's position before proceeding. She started to fool with the chain on her arm. He watched as part of the chain fell from her arm and dangled an inch from the ground. The crystal on the end was shining like it was heated to a white heat.
Mr. Gale stood taking in the battle so far. It was as he expected his daughter would get cocky and have to change her fighting technique but what he didn't expect was that, each person would have so much hesitation. He was going to have to teach them to be merciless, but if he taught them that, then things could go bad for him and his family if Cheng-Li decided to let their secret slip. He pushed those thoughts aside to witness the abilities of the vampirate hunting crew.
Gabi flicked her wrist testing the movement of the whip. She looked for her target and saw him four feet away, too bad for him her whip was seven feet long. Gabi flicked her whip at Jacoby and it wrapped around his sword. She pulled and his sword came free from his grasp. She pulled the sword to her and with a flick of her wrist she skittered the sword away from her. With another flick the whip was around Jacoby's leg, Gabi pulled hard and Jacoby fell on his back. Gabi pulled one more of her daggers from its hiding place and threw it a centimeter from Jacoby's throat. It stuck to the ground. "Dead." Gabi said with a flirtatious smile that Jacoby returned. That got Jasmine even angrier.
Jasmine came charging again. Gabi unwrapped her whip from Jacoby's leg with another flick and took note of the other pirates surrounding her. She raised her whip above her head spinning it quickly, making the pirates give her room. "I got this!" Bart shouted to his crewmates. He raised his sword and Gabi's whip wrapped itself around his broadsword. "Gottcha!" He yelled merrily. Gabi looked over her shoulder to see what stopped her whip. Bart pulled his sword to try and wrench the whip from Gabi's grasp.
"Not bad. But too bad" Gabi said as she ran passed Bart. Swiftly Gabi was behind Bart, whip in hand. With a quick movement Gabi flung a wave through her whip, twisting it in Bart's grasp. She gave the chain a light tug and the blade of Bart's sword tapped his neck. "Dead."
"Crap!" Bart shouted. His sword was pulled from his grasp and thrown to the side. Bart walked over to the side to get out of the way. While moving he pulled Jacoby off of the ground. Gabi turned her attention back to Jasmine, she went on the offensive. With a slash of the whip Jasmine jumped backward. But Gabi continued with the flow of attack and another slash she wrapped the chain around Jasmine's hand and sword. With a strong tug Gabi pulled Jasmine face first to the ground.
Connor watched as Gabi effortlessly took Jasmine down. He saw her pull one of the crystal things from her holster and flicked into a shuriken, kinda of like what Moody Wrathe used, and through it at Jasmine it was barely a hair from her temple when it stuck to the ground. "Dead" Gabi declared. Connor looked back at the shuriken and noticed that like her daggers and the dart at the end of her whip it was glowing like the sun. "You guys have never fought anyone with a whip before, huh." Gabi stated. Tough it wasn't a question Cate answered.
"That would be correct. I must say it's a very unorthodox way of fighting." Cate looked at the whip like it was a particularly interesting discovery. "Using the whip's length and quick attacks to keep opponents at bay is genius. But I'm willing to bet…" Connor saw the look in Cate's eyes turn into a calculating stare. But Gabi wasn't willing to let her think it through. Gabi flicked her wrist readying her whip. But Cate had already come up with a strategy. "Connor move in!" Cate commanded. "That way she cannot use the length of her whip to her advantage." Connor followed the order and moved in.
Gabi started to wrap her chain against her arm like it was before. "Not bad you figured out the weakness to my whip pretty easily. So I' going to wrap this up before it become a liability." Gabi started laughing. "Get it 'wrap' it up and it's wrapped up on my arm? Hah! I'm funny." Cate and Connor moved in closer to Gabi waiting to get her at a stale mate. Gabi reached into her sleeve and pulled out a little ball. Before Cate could stop her Gabi through the ball on the ground and it released billows of smoke as it broke.
All that could be heard we sound of grunt and the clang of metal from the outside of the smoke. Slowly the smoke began to be blown away leaving the arena making a few people cough on it departure. The blurry image of three people sluggishly began to clear up showing Connor sitting on the ground his wrist tied, and Gabi standing with his sword at Cate's neck. A strange fan was in the other blocking Cate's sword from moving.
"Dead." Gabi smiled.
"Gabi!" Mr. Gale yelled. The smile on Gabi's face was quickly replaced with one of guilt. "You were not supposed to use any smoke bombs so I could witness the skill of these pirates. And what did you do?" Connor could easily tell that Mr. Gale was furious at his daughter. Other pirates stood watching with shock on their faces, whether at Cate losing or at this display of parenting Connor didn't know. Gabi looked at the ground away from her father.
"I used a smoke bomb." Gabi answered like a guilty child.
"Why did you use the smoke bomb?"
"I wanted to win." Gabi's face began to redden.
"Ugh. Just go sit with Lance, your mother and I can fight the rest of them." Mr. Gale sent his daughter away. Connor stood up and looked at Gabi then back at Mr. Gale. It was awkward.
"So…how'd we do?" Connor asked. Mr. Gale looked down at Connor. And He smiled a fatherly smile that made Connor think of his dad, Dexter Tempest…then his biological dad Sidorio. Connor began to feel sick thinking about it.
"Not bad but there is much you must learn. Connor could help me pick up my daughter's weapons, she seemed to have forgotten them."
"S-sure." Mr. Gale pulled a knife from a holster on his hip and cut the ropes on Connor's wrists. The request caught Connor by surprise. He moved over to the crystal weapons stuck in the floor. He picked up the shuriken and a dagger while Mr. Gale found the other dagger. While in his hands Connor could feel warmth radiate from them. And the light that was they were glowing with was blinding, like looking into the sun. "What are these made out of?" Connor asked Mr. Gale when he walked back to Connor.
"Sun Crystal." Mr. Gale answered without explaining. "Connor can you take these to Gabi while I fight the next crew." He pushed Connor toward where Gabi was before Connor had even answered him. Connor gave the weapons back to Gabi.
"Thanks Connor." Gabi said taking the weapons placing them back in there places.
"Connor that fight was pretty cool." Lance complimented the fight. "Wasn't Gabi amazing?" Lance said smiling at Gabi. She smirked rolling her eyes.
"Actually Gabi you were amazing I've never known anyone to fight with a whip before. And you able to take us down pretty easily." Connor said, Gabi's smile turned genuine.
"Thanks, but what you are about to watch is going to blow your mind." Gabi said gesturing to her dad. Mr. Gale was holding a rapier. And like Gabi he stood in a circle of five people.
.:.:.:.:.
The rest of the crew was completely decimated. Mr. Gale was stronger than anything they had ever seen before. His sword movements were fast and strong. So they figured that when Mrs. Gale was fighting they would have a break…wrong. Mrs. Gale was trickier than her daughter. Every attack, dodge, and parry had a purpose, nothing was wasted. And she never lost track of her surroundings, she was always able to move out of danger and into an attack with little effort. It was the scariest and coolest thing Connor had ever seen.
"Well Cheng-Li I see that that is all of your crew." Mr. Gale announced it was late in the day. "I must say though talented, your crew is inexperienced and lacks the correct state of mind when fighting." Mr. Gale turned his attention to the crew. "You must be merciless. These creatures may look like humans like people but they are not, not anymore. They will not hesitate to kill you and they will not hesitate to kill others. As Vampire hunters it is our job to protect those who are innocent. They will try to act like they once were, they will try to get you to feel sorry for them; do not fall for this. The minute they decided to kill a person for their own selfish existence made them monsters. Never forget that." Every pirate listened to him intently. They knew his skills he was the expert. Though a few were pissed to have him whoop them so easily, they couldn't help but respect the power in his voice.
Connor though back to the one person he killed. Was he a monster? Was who his father is affect him, make him a monster? His thoughts were cut short by Gabi. "Connor are you okay?"
"Y-yeah I'm fine." Gabi looked at him unbelievingly.
"Hey, Lance did you bring the books for Connor?" Gabi asked Lance while keeping her eyes on Connor.
"Yeah I brought em'." Lance answered pulling the books out of a back pack. He handed them to Connor. "Those were my older brother's and he wrote notes in the margins so that'll help out." Connor looked at the two confused.
"Why do I need books?"
"My mom had my dad make a law that all pirates under the age of eighteen, who remained on the island for an extended period of time, were to become wards of the education system." Lance explained; the explanation went over his head. So Gabi explained.
"What he means is tomorrow you're going to school."
So how's that for a cliff hanger? To anyone that has noticed I am trying to have all of my chapter titles end in 'tion'. The whole reason Connor is going to school will be addressed next chapter. Any comments, I will listen.