A/N: Like I said. I'll be updating multiple times. And no, I don't mean just two chapters. No. I mean MULTIPLE.
Anyway, this chapter'll be more sea questing! Yush!
I haven't done this in a while, lol, so I'm kindda nervous. Also, I lost my copy of EO3, 'cuz my DS decided to be a lil' shit and fuck up on me *cries*
Anyway, all that aside, let's start shall we?
Warning and Disclaimer... *shoves you to the first chapter*
Enjoy~
Chronicles of the Drowned City
C.27: Haunted Treasure Islands
"Mind helping us with a little something?" Asked the regal looking girl, donned in garment similar to that of Adisa's.
Rudollf reluctantly answered.
"Yea, sure... what is it?" The farmer brightened up a bit.
" 'Heard there's a treasure island west of here! You guys don't happen to know where it is, would ya?" Rudollf's shoulders slumpped further at the mention of a treasure island.
"Yep."The two instantly brightned up some more, if that was even possible.
"Yes! Mind takin' us there, then?" the farmer asked.
"Yes! We'd love to go and see it!" the 'princess' added.
Rudollf stared at the two, who are looking at him with pleading eyes. He contemplated his decision, before the 'princess' spoke again, her hand moving to correct the bangs on her lavender coloured hair.
"I heard there's actually a ghost ship there." Evita took a step forward.
"What's that? A haunted cave? I'm in!" she instantly decided.
"Sis... c'mon..." Orion sighed. He hated ghost stories. He may be a Gladiator, but everyone has their fears. No one's truly fearless. Especially Orion.
Evita turned to him with a mocking look.
"What? Ya scared, bro?" Orion scowled at that remark. She'd always do this to him the moment she gets a chance to.
"F-Fine, I'll go! I'm not scared or nothin'..." He mumbled the last part to himself.
"Well, I'm not going then, if your going ghost hunting." Rudollf turned towards the Ninja, and so did the others.
"Wha'? Why not? It'll be fun!" Chitose shook her head.
"I'm not all that interested in ghost stories, sorry. Anyway, I'll head back to the labyrinth to gather some stuff. Sound good?" Evita and Orion nodded. Rudollf didn't, though.
"W-Wait, can't ya just take my place instead?!" He's already starting to feel like Chitose during her 'animal parts deprevation'.
"Sorry, but I won't." She then went off, just like that.
"Well, that leaves you to help us out, captain!" said Evita. Rudollf sighed in defeat.
"Fine. Captain!" Said man turned to him.
"Yes?"
"We're headed to Tortuga Island!" Rudollf answered, handing a large amount of money, the last of what they had left really, to the captain. He nodded, before ordering the crew to get their ship ready.
After a while, the crew announced that the ship is all prepped up and ready to go. The group got on, hoisted their sails, weighed anchors, and set off to the ocean.
Rudollf as usual, took on the task of steering the ship. He was happy to have found some liquor in the ship. Sneaking those into the captain's deck, he happily downed 8 bottles of the liquor left on that ship, singing happily to himself as a light blush graced his cheeks as he finished the last two bottles.
"Oi! Your drinkin' again!" Evita said, as she slammed the door open. Rudollf jumped, quickly turning towards the Arbalist.
How...
How the hell did she know he smuggled in liquor just now?!
"Before ya ask, I can smell alcohol from a mile away!" Rudollf sighed.
"Look, I ain't all that drunk. Maybe a lil' tipsy, but I ain't drunk t'th'point where I'll drag ya t'th'depths o'th'sea." Evita sighed.
"I'm stayin' in here. Make sure ya don't drink any more."
"No need to!" Rudollf exclaimed happily. "That was th'last bottle!" Evita gaped.
She counted the number of bottles on the floor.
8.
The man's not even all that drunk after drinking this much liquor.
"The hell...?"
Meanwhile, on the lower deck of the ship, Orion, and the two people who filed in the request are sitting down, enjoying the breeze.
The weather's especially cool today. The sky is rather cloudy and the sun isn't blaring as much as it normaly would.
Feeling the silence slowly becoming awkward, Orion turned towards the two people on deck with him.
"Ey, uh... I never caught your name."
"Oh who, me? My name's Toma, a farmer in Armoroad." He then pointed towards the lavender-haired 'princess'.
"And this 'ere's Dezerte. She's a princess from a faraway kingdom, but she ran away. Never asked her why, though. And I suggest ya don't bother to either. She won't say a thing."
"I'm right here, you know," the 'princess' deadpanned. Toma merely scratched the back of his head, smiling sheepishly.
"Ok, then. Name's Orion. I'm a Gladiator."
"Oh? From where?"
"A city north of Aeaea." Dezerte nodded.
"Anyway, about that ghost ship thing... is it really true?" Toma cupped his chin, thinking.
"Well, I've only heared rumors," he said,"but people say there's a ghost ship right there on that island's shores." Orion nodded, trying his hardest to hide his fears.
"My big bro can be such a whimp sometimes, he might as well be my lil' bro!" Orion turned towards the voice, blushing a bit as he heard those words, embarrassed.
And as he suspected, it had to be Evita.
"Sis, c'mon! It ain't like that! I ain't scared!"
"Well, if not bein' scared meant you'd be shakin' in your boots while hearin' ghost stories, then by all means, I agree!" Orion's starting to get ticked off. Evita, on the other hand, smiled mischeviously.
Revenge. How sweet thou art!
"Oi you two, stop yer bickerin! We're 'ere!"
The group, at the announcement Rudollf made just now, clammored on towards the front of the ship's hull, the two clients staring in awe at the island, with it's strange, gold skull-like mountain on top of it.
"Oh my... it's real..." the 'princess' uttered.
"It's really there!" Toma exclaimed. "That's the island!"
As the group stared at the island, Rudollf noticed the clouds starting to darken. His eyes trailed down towards the sea.
He may be slightly tipsy after drinking 8 bottles of liquor, but his eyes wouldn't lie to him.
A disturbance occured in the waters. But it's not the kind of disturbance that happens when something's about to appear from within the waters.
No. Something was riding on the waters.
Rudollf noticed the sky getting darker.
The others did too apparently, as they turned from the treasure island to the skies.
Flashes of white could be seen in the clouds now, accompanied by the sound of rumbling thunder.
The winds started picking up, getting harsher by the second, throwing their ship around left to right, the waves becoming more violent as each second passed.
"A storm?!" Dezerte exclaimed.
"No!" Rudollf replied from atop the captain's deck. "Look over there!" The Buccaneer pointed northeast of the island, while trying his hardest to maintain control over the ship.
The others turned to where Rudollf pointed to, their eyes widening as they saw what appeared in the distance.
An ominous, old, rickety, see-through pirate ship, dark in color, surrounded by an ominous green aura began to materialize in the distance, headed towards the group, in full speed. Battle cries could be heard coming from the ship, as the broken looking vessel and torn sails lead them towards the group.
"Hold yer ground, men! Don't lose control of the ship!" Rudollf shouted, trying to steer the ship away from the ghastly looking ship.
Sadly though, that didn't happen.
It happened so fast. The ship, suddenly, was just there, right next to them.
The ship crashed against the groups, narrowly throwing the ship overboard.
Rudollf and the crew managed to get the ship under control just in time, at least enough so that they won't plumment into the sea and to their deaths.
"Dammit!" Rudollf hissed. "Guess we're just gonna have t'fight this thing!"
"How though?!" Evita asked.
"Strom 'em!" Rudollf then called one of the crew members.
"Oi!"
"Captain?!"
"Take control o'th'ship fer me, would ya?!" Rudollf shouted. The crew-member nodded, getting hold of the wheels as Rudollf jumped off the captain's deck.
" 'K! We gotta storm that ship now, or we're dead!"
"Yeah, but how're we—"
"Ya can step jump in from here, guys!" All of them turned towards Dezerte, hacking her way through a few of the ghost ship's incoming crew-members, jumping in from the ghost ship. Rudollf sighed.
"Some girl ya have there." Toma sighed, shaking his head all the while.
"Anyway, I'm gonna stay here. Someone needs to guard your ship." Rudollf nodded, getting his gun out.
"I'm headed in there."
"I'll stay here, then, and mow down those guys from here!" Evita said, getting her crossbow ready.
"Got it!" Rudollf then ran towards the ghost ship, instinctively leaning down while running, attempting to grab the sword on the floor.
His hand went right through.
Well. This is a ghost crew, after all. The weapons would be ghostly as well.
"Rudollf!" Said man turned towards Orion, who threw him a sword.
"Shouldn't leave your weapons like that!" As Rudollf inspected the sword, he came to notice that it's his own sword.
"Thanks!"
Evita, meanwhile, began shooting down a rain of arrows on the ghost crew. The crew members with ranged weapons decided to join in and fire some extra arrows at the ghost ship.
To their dismay though, the ship's equipped with something the group's ship doesn't have.
Cannons.
"OPEN FIRE!" The group heard from within the ghastly shouts.
As ordered, the ship opened fire, raining a barrage of cannonballs at the group's ship.
The crew member tasked with steering the ship did his best to avoid the shots, though a majority of the cannonballs managed to hit the ship's body.
Surprisingly enough though, the ship managed to stay up, the damage dealt to it at a minimum.
Maybe it's because it's a ghostly ammunition?
Evita didn't pay heed to those thoughts though. Instead, she re-loaded her crossbow, and fired a barrage of fire arrows.
It didn't look like it had that much of an effect on the ship.
"Dammit! Fire ain't workin... uh..." The Arbalist began to rummage through her assortment of ammo, before she managed to find a thunder infused one.
Meanwhile, on the ship, Orion kept on fending off the ghostly crew members.
Being the skilled fighter he is, he managed to fend off the crew quite easily, though the Gladiator's easily outnumbered.
He dodged a sword, attempting to slice through him, before bashing the poor soul on the head with his spiked mace. He swung it again, hitting two others, who are attempting to attack from his side.
"Shit, there's so many of them...," he uttered under his breath. Thinking of going for faster kills, he switched his mace in favor of a sword. He held it up as the long, rather big looking blade glinted under what little light is in the area.
A crew member, idiotically, went in for the kill. Unbeknownst to them, Orion stood ready to counter. The ghost slashed. Orion dodged to the side, before cutting the ghost in half with his blade. A clean cut right on the waist.
Orion immediately dashed forward, swiping his sword in a flurry of slashes, killing off or wounding the soldiers around him.
Dezerte meanwhile, is taking cover behind a barrel, deciding that she should imbue her weapon. As a barrage of fire arrows came down from where she's currently hiding, Dezerte had no trouble at all focusing on casting the enchanctment spell. When she was done casting it, she stepped right out of her hiding place, ready to strike.
A crew member managed to sneak right behind her, but she stabbed him with her fleuret. The girl then directed her fleuret to her front, stabbing another pirate headed her way in the chest. She then charged at the small group of pirates, dodging attacks and quickly countering them, wounding some and killing some others.
A mace then came down on her. The 'princess' narrowly dodged it, just as the mace was about to come in contact with her head.
Trails of mist followed her as she moved her fleuret. Her attacks also seem to deal more damage as well, more so than the others.
Toma started feeling anxious.
"I'm goin' in," he said. Evita turned to him, momentarily stopping her rain of arrows.
"Huh?"
"I said I'm goin' in. I'm gonna go help Dezerte out!" Toma then immediately ran towards the ghost ship, getting his pitchfork ready. Evita sighed, getting another set of arrows ready, this time ice elemental since thunder didn't seem to do much.
Rudollf kept on hacking at the mooks. He parried with his sword, stabbed, sliced, occasionally shooting the crew members.
As he struck down his latest victim, another one came right behind it and nearly got Rudollf on the head.
That is, if he didn't parry just in time.
His sword met with the ghost's, sparks emmanating from both swords as metal brushed against 'metal'.
As the two are in a deadlock, Toma came up behind the ghost, stabbing him with his pitchfork.
The ghost slumped down immediately, lying down on the ground, dying for a second time.
"Hey!"
"I'm gonna go help Dezerte! Kill the captain! Maybe then the ship'll dissapear." Rudollf nodded. That's just what he had in mind.
Just then, a barrage of ice arrows rained down upon the ship, freezing all it came into contact with.
All the crew members are instantly frozen in place, and the ship itself suffered massive damage.
"They're all weak to ice!" shouted Evita. Dezerte, upon hearing this, nodded.
She began chanting again, before quickly casting the enchantment spell on Rudollf. Toma came up to her just then.
"Hey, you ok?"
"Yea, I'm fine," she said, Toma nodded.
"Good! Mind imbuin' my weapon, please." Dezerte nodded, before casting the enchantment spell on the farmer.
Evita and the rest of the crew members rained down more arrows on the ghost ship, some of the crew members even joining in the fight on the ghost ship's deck.
Evita didn't notice someone secretly firing an arrow at her though, as the girl was too preoccupied with shooting down the ship itself, and so are the crew members. One of them though, noticed.
"Oi, lady!" The man then fired an arrow, killing off the ghost. Evita turned just then, wide eyed.
"Careful!" The crew member told her. The Arbalist replied with a thumbs up, before resuming her barrage.
That is, if another arrow hadn't struck her on the shoulders just then.
The arrow drove deep, hitting just above the lungs.
"Ngh!" Evita got knocked back a little, before doubling over in pain. She gritted her teeth, her hand gripping onto the arrow, attempting to pull it out of her body.
'No, don't pull it out, Evita. No matter what, don't pull the damn arrow out, or you'll lose blood...' Evita took a deep breath.
She loaded her crossbow again, with more ice arrows, and, with her pain clouded vision, she aimed, sending out another barrage of arrows.
Orion upon seeing this, felt a sudden surge of ire boil inside if him.
He looked around, getting increasingly pissed as he saw the crew surrounding him.
Instead of going all out in a blind rage though, he took a deep breath, remembering bits of his training.
Concentrating his ire, turning it for a single purpose, he let out a loud scream. A sort of howl, more like.
The crew, upon hearing that howl, backed off in fear. Orion had changed completly.
His eyes are now trained on the enemies, no fear whatsoever in them. He gritted his teeth, snarrling all the while, about to go berserk, with only bloodlust evident in his eyes.
Never piss off an older brother.
"HRAAAAAAGH!" he shouted, as he killed off the crew with quick succesion, a rush of swipes from his sword leaving the dead crew members for dead again.
He continued his rampage, this time opting for his mace. Just then, he felt a surge of weird energy going through him.
As he brought his hammer down, a trail of mist followed it. He bashed the ground, hard, causing ice to rise up from the ground, piercing all the enemies rounded up around him.
Still, this didn't stop the young Gladiator.
He charged further into the enemy ranks, pounding them with his mace, occasionally switching for his sword, swiping at them instead, a few of the soldiers cut clean in half.
Many of the soldiers fell under the Gladiator's wrath, some quite litteraly, having fallen from the decks due to the sheer force of Orion's attacks when he uses his mace.
Evita merely watched in awe.
'Man... I forgot that part about you, bro...' The surge of pain came back, harder than ever. Evita clutched the arrow again, but then remembered not to take off the arrow.
She instead opted to load more ice arrows, but realized she's out of ammunition.
'Shit!'
"Dezerte!" The 'princess' immediately nodded, needing to hear no more. She casted the enchantemet spell, with Toma covering for her. As soon as the spell was cast though, the girl doubled over, panting.
"I don't think I can take much more of this..." Toma turned towards his companion, worry plastered all over his face.
He parried an attack from the crew members just in time. His eyes trailed towards the captain's deck. He noticed that Rudollf's inching closer towards the captain.
"Hang in there! I think we're close to the end!"
Rudollf hacked away at countless mooks, shooting some down, before he quickly re-loaded his gun, climbing up the captain's deck, before leaping up the rest of the way, his blade at the ready.
He thrusts forward, but the captain dodged just in time. He then unsheathed his own weapon, a smaller, more rusted version of Rudollf's blade, with chipped edges. The captain dashed towards Rudollf, thrusting his blade forward.
Rudollf parried the attack, before counter-attacking with a swipe. And so the fight went. The captain would attack. Rudollf would dodge every once in a while, other times he would parry and counter, trying to land some hits on the captain.
Trails of mist followed Rudollf's blade with every swipe he made. The captain, upon seeing this, stayed extra cautious.
Rudollf finally managed to find an opening as the captain swiped again. He parried, and drove the blade to the side with his sword, before he swiped upwards. The captain narrowly dodged the attack, though his body did still manage to get grazed somewhat.
Ice started to cake around the wound, and the captain's eyes suddenly blared with anger.
His attacks became that much more desperate now. Especially for only having received a small, flesh wound.
Orion continued his rampage, covered in more cuts than one could count, before finally finding the ghost that shot his sister. He went up to him and bashed him in, hard.
Ice formed around the floor as the ghost froze up. Orion panted, the bloodlust in his eyes dying slightly.
He then turned to look behind him, where more pirates gathered up. He took one step back.
His back hit a wall.
He's cornered.
Orion gritted his teeth, his feral instinct coming out.
He let out another battle cry, dashing head-on into the group, bashing his mace relentlessly, pounding the poor souls in his way and freezing up those around it.
Toma panted as he stabbed another crew member on the chest. He looked around.
Dezerte looks very tired.
The crew members don't seem to be holding up that well either.
Evita's almost ran out of arrows from the looks of it, and her shots don't seem to be as accurate.
Dezerte turned her gaze towards Rudollf, locked in a match against the ghost ship's captain.
"C'mon, hurry up..." she uttered.
Clanging sounds rang in the air as Rudollf and the captain clashed swords with each other. Rudollf noticed that the wounds he inflicted on the captain also froze him, to an extent, due to his sword being imbued with ice.
He also noticed that the ship's frozen all over the place too, though it still managed to float on the water.
The captain did a series of slashes, all of which Rudollf either parried or dodged.
Another opening!
He went in for the kill, aiming for the captain's head. The captain parried, the sword merely inches away from the captain's head.
The captain forced the sword back, before striking again, Rudollf dodging as he tried to steady himself again.
The Buccaneer noticed though, that he's being driven towards the edge of the ship.
Towards the planks.
'I'm not 'bout t'get thrown out there!'
Rudollf strikes again, swiping at the captain, forcing him into the defensive driving him back.
Their swordplay continued for a while, with Rudollf, despite his efforts, still getting pushed back towards the planks.
A few swipes later, and Rudollf had officially stepped onto the planks. He tried attacking again, but to no avail. The captain instead, forced Rudollf's sword away while in a deadlock. The Buccaneer lost his grip, and the sword fell into the dark waters of the Tortuga Seas.
'Aww dammit! That was my favorite sword! ...And my only one.' The Buccaneer suddenly felt a light, stinging sensation on his throat.
The captain smiled maniacally at him, chuckling a bt all the while. His eyes darted once towards the sea, as if to say 'jump off the plank'.
Rudollf smirked.
"Well, if ya really want me to..." He then quickly fished out his gun, shooting at the captain's head.
It hit his forehead dead on.
The captain's face froze in shock, as ice crawled all over his skull, freezing his head off completely. Rudollf then kicked him off the plank.
"But it'd be pretty useless t'do that since my crew's here t' rescue me."
The ship began to dissappear, as the captain sunk back to his grave . Rudollf, panicking, jumped off the plank, leaping towards his own ship, hanging just off the edge. The rest of the group followed.
Orion climbed up the edge of the ship's hull, before running over to Evita.
"Sis, you ok?!" The bloodlust in Orion's eyes is completely gone now, replaced by pure worry. Evita looked at him with pain filled eyes.
"I got a fuckin' arrow lodged on my shoulders. What the hell do you think?!" she hissed. Orion sighed.
"Oi!" The crew member on the captain's deck turned towards the group.
"Yea?!"
"Hurry up and get us back to Armoroad! Also, anyone here good with patchin' up wounds?!" Rudollf ran up towards Orion.
"Lemme check..." Orion moved away a bit, giving Rudollf some space. He winced a bit at the wound.
"Man, that arrow's lodged in deep..." He then turned towards his crew members.
"Oi! Grab some cloth, would ya?! And bandages!" The crew members nodded and set to work.
Toma and Dezerte meanwhile, surveyed the scene. Toma sighed.
"That's a lot of bodies..." Dezerte nodded.
In front of them is a sea of bodies. Not that many, but still a lot. Mostly the crew members that joined in the battle on the ghost ship itself. Now they're floating above the blood-stained waters of Tortuga Island's shores.
Toma turned towards Dezerte, who had a solemn expression on her face. She then closed her eyes, and for a minute, Toma thought she was a about to cry. But then she opened them again, revealing not a single tear brimming in her eyes.
"What? I just offered them my prayers." Toma sighed, nodding. He too then offered up his prayers to the souls of their dead crew members as well.
"Cap'n, here!" Rudollf nodded, taking the cloth and bandages. He then gave the cloth to Orion.
"Alright... this' gonna hurt a bit, 'k?" Evita winced.
"Just get this thing outta me!" Rudollf nodded, gripping tightly onto the arrow. He took a deep breath, before quickly pulling out the arrow. Evita screamed in agony as the arrow was pulled out, blood bursting from within the puncture wound, smearing onto Rudollf's and Orion's faces.
Immediately, Rudollf plugged the wound with his hand, throwing the arrow away. He then turned towards Orion.
"Alright, grab that cloth over there." Orion nodded, before grabbing the cloth laid right next to him.
" 'K. Now, when I let go of th'wound, cover it up with th'cloth, got it?" Orion nodded.
"Ok..." Rudollf then let go of the wound, more blood spluttering out of it, before Orion covered it up with the cloth.
"Alright, good! Now keep th'cloth in place!" Again, the Gladiator nodded, listening to his sister writhe in pain. Rudollf then got the bandages (a gauze actually), and immediately wrapped it up around the wound. When he's done, he told the crew members to have Evita brought over to one of the beds inside the ship. The crew nodded, taking Evita into the ship.
Night soon came, as they went farther away from Tortuga Island. Rudollf sighed. Toma and Dezerte weren't the only ones that saw the mass of dead bodies, floating around in the waters, blood pooling around them, turning the waters into a dark shade of red.
The Buccaneer closed his eyes, offering up his prayers to the souls of his crew members that passed on.
Let's hope they don't end up stranded in this world, like that ghost ship was.
-TBC-
A/N: Well... That got real dark real fast. Anyway, hey, it was a battle against a ghost ship, so what'd you expect?
Anyway, folks, Orion is a prime example as to why one should not piss off older brothers! You get your asses kicked and handed right back at you in a bloody heap!
Also, YAY FOR CLICHE PIRATE SCENE WHICH I HORRENDOUSLY PULLED OFF! *BACKHANDED*
ALSO, man, I feel compelled to draw Orion defending a heavily wounded Evita. Dunno why...
And now I shall go proofread *creeps to page 1*