This chapter is where the real action is. I hope you enjoy reading it because I was very tired when I wrote it, and yet every word written kept me awake from one minute to five minutes. Actually I was just editing the chapter because I finished it before with help from Albert but the whole tired thing is true. I'm also sad because there's one family member who will not be here to smile at me.

XXX

On an island far away . . .

Commander Braggart had finally worked up the courage to obey his long-standing orders to investigate Assassin's Isle. Recently, a storm-blown ship had managed to make it through the area without its crew vanishing. It might just have been a fluke, but Braggart was determined to do his job for once.

So his ship sailed towards the remains of what was once a stone tower with six floors. The ship disgorged its cargo of marines. Everyone traveled in groups, wandering around trying to find trouble. If trouble was found, they would leave immediately and pronounce their job done.

One of the men found a pretty rainbow coloured orb on the shore. He carried it back for his commander to inspect.

One group of men found a dead man who appeared to have shot himself in the head. The body was still warm. Creeped out, the men carried the body back to their commander in a make-shift sling.

Another group was attacked by a wild young man with a sword. He swung it around like a baseball bat. With difficulty and luck, he was knocked out and tied up. The marines brought him back for their commander to decide his fate.

Commander Braggart wandered around the ruins. He found a rotting body. It looked like some cross between a man and a bull. With a shudder of disgust, the commander turned away. But within the next couple of minutes, he found another body. The man's throat appeared to have been ripped out by some kind of beast. Eyes widening, Braggart slowly brought an old bounty poster out of his pocket, comparing it to the sagging eyeless excuse for a face before him. It took a lot of humming and hawing, but the commander realised that, yes, his hunch was right. This was undoubtedly the body of Brad T. Belcosa, famous long-vanished underworld assassin, bounty 22 million beri.

Next, he was asked to examine the much fresher body of another dead man. He quickly ascertained that it was 'Eager' Edgar, bounty of 9 million. Then Braggart was shown a pretty orb. He instructed the marine who brought it to place the orb in the ship treasury. It was sure to fetch a pretty penny.

Finally, a wild eyed swordsman was brought to Braggart's attention. There was a nasty bump on the man's head, but the commander ignored it in favour of pointing at the dead gunman.

"Youuuu speeeak myyyy laaanguuuaaage, riiiight?" he said slowly. The young man glared. Braggart pulled out another poster.

"'Killer' Molly. Bounty 8 million. Has a brother, 'Cowering' Maggy, also 8 million. Iiiss thaaat yoouu?" He asked. The man spat. Braggart slapped him.

"Answer my questions!"

"Yes." the young man said glaring. Braggart smiled benignly.

"Mind telling me what happened here?" he got a shrug in reply.

"Dunno. Stupid guy knocked me out. Woke up, Maggy was gone, tower was down."

Braggart sighed. That was no help at all.

Bang!

The poster did say 'Dead(bold) or Alive'. Braggart ignored the body as he heard a scream from his ship.

The marine who had found the orb staggered out onto the deck as his fellows ran to help him. A strange colourful creature had attached itself to the man's finger's. Braggart frowned at the sight. The creature's jaws moved. The man screamed again.

"Fascinating." Braggart said, running back onto his ship to take a closer look.

Believe it or not, there was a rainbow coloured baby dragon biting his subordinate's hand.

"Fascinating." Braggart said again, reaching out to grab it and-

The man with the dragon wrenched his arm just as the creature finally bit down as hard as it could. Blood spurted everywhere as the unfortunate marine lost his finger's to the hungry baby's stomach.

"EEEEEEEEK!" it shrieked loudly, flapping its wings. Braggart dove for it and missed.

"EEEEEEEEEEK!" it shrieked louder. Suddenly, it was airborne. Muttering curses and ignoring his injured subordinate, Braggart watched as the creature flew away.

When Commander Braggart wrote his report, he noted that it was the second defeat of a well-known bounty in the area by person or persons unknown.

XXX

Christopher rolled out of the way of the rat-dog's claws yet again. Damn it was fast! Eating the Toad Toad Fruit didn't give Christopher the speed this rat-dog possessed but if given the right attention his legs could help him dodge anything. No matter how much fury or will to kill the rat-dog had Christopher was very focused. He was only acting scared against the beast. Toads jump. Christopher jumps. The rat-dog was forced to look up as the swordsman leaped above its head.

Yokai placed the end of his staff on the ground while the giant chihuahua was distracted.

"Ancient Art of the Elementals . . ." he whispered.

The crystals glowed softly. Yokai smiled. He had a new trick he wanted to try.

". . . Wind Scythe."

His shards created a green weapon made of energy and wind. The weapon flew straight towards Yokai's enemy. True to its name, the attack was sharp as a scythe. It sliced off Chi-Chi's ear with a single slice before turning and boomeranging back towards Yokai. The monk gulped as the giant chihuahua gave a high-pitched howl.
I really hope that sound is it being angry before forgiving me . . . Yokai thought.

As if. He just sliced its ear off.

Yokai ducked as the rat-dog lunged. At that moment, the returning Wind Scythe lopped the creature's other ear off, just as Christopher finally began to fall back down to earth with blade set to plunge into the chihuahua.

Where was Fletcher in all this? Standing to one side picking his nose. He knew that his crew mates could handle this without his help. He flicked some boogers away, eyes turning back curiously to the fight. Oh. They were done already?

XXX

Chi-Chi hurriedly changed back into his human form. Just in time, as Christopher's blade breezed by his shoulder to plunge into the ground. Chi-Chi screamed and grabbed at his now non-existent ears in pain.

"You *****"

Christopher had never been called that before . . . then he had a light bulb moment. He turned to Yokai and said "He's talking to you. You're the one that cut his ears off."

Yokai was so scared of what Christopher just said he couldn't argue and Chi-Chi stared at him. Before Chi-Chi could do anything however, Christopher whipped out his tongue, using it like a make-shift rope to tie up the unfortunately earless man.

"Ta' 'alking." Christopher mumbled.

The earless man didn't know what to do, other than feel disgust being wrapped in a man's tongue. The tongue was very wet and felt really slimy against his arms.

XXX

Fletcher walked forward and peered at Chi-Chi.

"Who are you?" he asked blankly.

Chi-Chi looked at Fletcher with disdain before answering his question. " My name is Chi-Chi."

"Chi-Chi? That's a stupid name." Fletcher said bluntly. Chi-Chi's eyes bulged angrily. Christopher shook him warningly, gesturing with his hand at Yokai. The monk stepped forward, saying "Well . . . Chi-Chi, may I ask why you were waiting for us?"

Chi-Chi's eyes decreased in size and the bulging stopped. It wasn't because Chi-Chi wasn't still angry about Fletcher but he found lots of joy in telling the captain he hated why he was waiting in the first place.

"Raver thought it would be a great idea to make me do his dirty work yet again while he gets to have fun with that snobby guy and his weird assistant. I have to do everything and now you idiots have cut my ears off and caught me, damn Raver going to kick my ass and say it was all my fault when it was his in the first place."

He paused for breath, face screwed up in pain.

"I feel kind of sorry for you . . . but anyway, time to take down Raver." Yokai said blandly.

Chi-Chi went pale as Christopher started to carry him back the way they'd come by lifting his tongue. Yokai followed, Fletcher already ahead of them because he'd walked away after losing interest in their prisoner.

There was one more question to ask.

"What's Raver doing now?" Yokai asked. Chi-Chi's answer was smug.

"Oh, he'll be done with those two losers by now . . ."

XXX

Dorobou coughed the dust from his lungs, slowly rising to his feet. Were his ears deceiving him or was the atmosphere really quiet? . . .

Dorobou froze. It was way too quiet. Where was Rodroy?

One moment Rodroy was standing where he could see him and then the next thing he knew that loveable assistant was gone. Dorobou looked frantically around the collapsed building. Where was he?!

XXX

Fletcher and co. stared at the remains of Dorobou's office building.

From his place wrapped in Christopher's tongue, Chi-Chi smiled smugly.

Christopher wasn't afraid of Chi-Chi no matter how creepy his smiles were. However, he was kinda worried about Dorobou and his strange secretary. Christopher nudged Yokai, since he had his mouth full. The monk took the hint, calling out "Hello? Anyone there?"

Fletcher called out as well, yelling "Dress-guy! Doorknob!"

Christopher didn't hear anything but one of his sense's acted up. He turned his head, Chi-Chi going "whoa" above him as he moved as well. Christopher peered into the dusty ruins as a figure slowly stumbled towards them.

Christopher didn't trust this new figure. He narrowed his eyes, feeling Chi-Chi stiffen.

"'ol 'his" he mumbled, passing a slightly damp Chi-Chi to Yokai, unwinding his tongue from around the chihuahua zoan.

Fletcher noticed the figure as well. His eyes narrowed too, squinting to try and see better. He didn't notice how quiet his cook had gotten.

"Yokai?" Christopher said. The monk's eyes flicked to him.

"Take the idiot and try to find Dorobou and his assistant."

The monk nodded, and was about to leave-

The figure in the distance had been getting larger by the second. Suddenly, it lunged with a growl, breezing by a frowning Fletcher and knocking down Yokai, ripping Chi-Chi away.

"You failed." the figure growled. He rose Chi-Chi above his head, clawed hands locked around the unfortunate man's throat.

Christopher tried his best to save Chi-Chi before he would be ripped apart like an animal... But he was too slow. Blood spattered everywhere as Raver suddenly brought Chi-Chi close and ripped out the unfortunate's throat. Licking the red liquid dripping from his lips, Raver dropped Chi-Chi like a sack of potatoes. He turned to the boys with a mad grin.

" Who's next?" he growled. He leapt towards Christopher since he was closest-

A gust of wind knocked him off course, courtesy of Fletcher. The boy's eyes were narrowed in hate.

Christopher called out to Yokai, "See if Dorobou and co. are alive. Move!"

The last bit was desperate as Raver set his sights on the monk. A knife flashed in front of his eyes, wielded by an over-sized tongue. Christopher leapt, following his tongue, drawing out his sword. The blade hissed, coming between the mad-man (for he could be no other) and the the monk. With a frightened yelp, Yokai sped away to search the ruins.

Raver's smile grew bigger, if that was possible, red-stained teeth glinting in the dim light filtering through the dust Fletcher had stirred.

"Aw . . . you let him get away." Raver whined like a child. His eyes held a deadly gleam.

"I suppose you'll just to take his place."

But before Raver could make a move, a sudden gust whooshed out from behind Christopher, blowing away the dust and revealing that a very pissed-off young captain was ready to fight.

XXX

Yokai crept carefully around the unstable stones, having a sense of deja vu as he did so. He didn't dare call out, not wanting to attract the deadly attention of Raver or any goons he might have had apart from Chi-Chi. It was hard work, running like crazy and not letting his burning body or his tight clothes stop him from both helping his captain and saving lives he knew were in trouble.

He froze as a groan came from somewhere behind him. He slowly turned to see-

"Hmph. Was thinking you guys had run off or something."

Yokai stared as a somewhat battered-looking Dorobou approached, leaning on a sort-of intact wall. Yokai looked over Dorobou's shoulder, but saw no one. He looked worriedly at the other man.

"Where's Rodroy?" he asked. A stricken look passed over Dorobou's features.

Dorobou was either searching very hard for a now missing Rodroy or upset about something bad that happened to his assistant and likely friend.

"I don't know . . ." Dorobou trailed off, answering Yokai.

" I'll find your friend. I won't be a monk who ignores distraught, sad, or scared boys or girls. I'll find him and I'll ask my sacred goddess to bless him."

Dorobou gave him a strange look.

"You're a monk? Nevermind. I've checked this side of the building, so he should be somewhere on the other side . . . right?"

Yokai had to take Dorobou's word for that because he didn't have time to walk to the other side of the building and check to see if Rodroy or anyone else was there.

XXX

Christopher's blade clashed with Raver's claws as the man swung a hand at him. He gritted his teeth, a bead of sweat dripping down. Man, this guy was strong. Christopher couldn't find a breakthrough. Neither could Fletcher fighting beside him. It would seem that Raver was their toughest opponent yet.

XXX

Yokai and Dorobou stiffened as they heard a groan coming from a nearby pile of masonry.

" Rodroy?" Dorobou asked the pile of masonry hopefully.

There was another groan. Yokai eyed the pile, knowing that he and Dorobou wouldn't be able to move anything even if they worked together.

"Stand back." he said, gently tugging Dorobou's sleeve until the man stood behind him. placing the end of his staff on the ground, Yokai intoned "Ancient Art of the Elementals: Rocky Wind."

On his staff, the brown earth shard and the air shard began to glow, their powers working together in harmony. Dorobou watched with wide eyes as a breeze sprang up, rolling aside the big stones and tossing large rocks in every direction as if they weighed nothing, until a rocky whirlwind was hovering beside them. Yokai waved his staff towards the swirling mass, and it gradually moved away, dissipating back into a pile of masonry.

Now Rodroy was visible to them, lying on the floor covered in bruises and blood. One of his hands was locked around a man's throat, presumably the guy was one of Raver's goons.

"Rodroy!" Dorobou let out a startled cry, kneeling down beside his faithful assistant.

Dorobou was so happy he hugged Rodroy as hard as he could. The cross-dresser yelped in pain, and Dorobou hurriedly let go of him.

"Sorry . . ." he said.

Rodroy coughed, trying to say something. Dorobou tried to hush him, but the man kept trying to speak. Yokai leaned in closer to hear.

"Bomb . . ." Rodroy rasped. The two stared at him in disbelief as he continued, "Bomb . . . city centre . . . want to . . . make example of . . . you." the cross-dresser said to Dorobou, whose eyes widened.

"Y-you sure?"

"Yes...don't let the bomb go off...it will hurt more than you..."

Dorobou knew exactly what Rodroy meant. His hands curled into fists while Yokai gently shifted Rodroy into a more comfortable position. As Yokai got back to his feet, Dorobou said "We have to find that bomb."

With a last look at Rodroy, who was already unconscious again, the two ran off out of the ruined building.

XXX

Fletcher was beyond pissed. Raver just kept grinning at him.

Most of the time Fletcher goofed around and laughed things off. But what Raver did was unforgivable. Sure, Chi-Chi was a stupid name, and the man himself had been a minor inconvenience, but he had been working on Raver's orders, he was one of Raver's men. And that damn dog killed him, right in front of Fletcher. Fletcher would never turn on his own crew. So he really got his blood boiling as Raver licked what remained of Chi-Chi's blood off his lips.

" Rocket to the Cosmos you bastard! Hurricane Blast!"

He reached behind him with one arm, seemingly grabbing something invisible as Christopher held Raver back long enough for Fletcher to prepare. Seeing that his captain was ready, the cook threw himself to the ground to avoid what happened next.

With a roar, Fletcher brought his arm around and threw the invisible something at Raver. For a moment, everything went still. Then with a howl and shriek that shook the air, a great gust struck Raver, propelling him backwards across the ruins faster and faster until he slammed into a somewhat intact wall.

With a grim expression, Fletcher grabbed Christopher, using his wind powers to fly them towards where Raver crashed. He had a feeling that the man wasn't done yet.

He was right.

"He . . . hehe . . . some trick that was. I'm gonna enjoy this . . ." Raver rasped, slowly rising from the rubble.

"Maybe . . . maybe I'd better get serious."

XXX

Dorobou led Yokai through the streets, racing towards the city centre where Rodroy said a bomb would be.

" If we can't disarm the bomb you can use that staff of yours to destroy it without setting it off, right?"

Yokai huffed, thinking about it.

"It would depend on the type of bomb."

The two skidded to a halt, their way blocked by a group of men wearing tails. These men were blocking Dorobou and Yokai's path on purpose and it was shown with the way they smiled at the monk and the businessman.

Yokai grit his teeth. These guys had to be Raver's goons. He felt Dorobou stiffen beside him.

" You think you can just get to the bomb without going through the Coyote Brothers?" The goon on the left asked.

" Fat chance you'll have; we are ordered to kill you," the goon on the left said.

Behind them, the other minions leered confidently. Yokai and Dorobou wore identical scowls, glaring at the so-called 'Coyote Brothers'. They didn't have time for this!

"Card trick, anyone?" Dorobou muttered under his breath, a pack of cards falling out of his sleeve into his hand. Yokai put the end of his staff on the ground in preparation. But before either could make a move, the brothers yelled "Coyote Cut!"

With enormous swords that came out of nowhere, the brothers sliced down on where the two were standing. Yokai jumped aside with a yelp, Dorobou following his lead, muttering a curse.

Knowing the drill, the other minions fanned out, planning to back the boys into a corner where they couldn't dodge.

XXX

Christopher was bleeding heavily, left arm hanging uselessly at his side. Fletcher was out of breath, barely dodging each strike. Raver had revealed his true power, and he was far faster and stronger in his full zoan form than he had been at the start.

Christopher wasn't going to fall down and lose because of new boosts in power and speed the leader has. But it still sucked trying to fight with one arm. He hissed as another spasm of pain came from his injuries. Raver watched in glee as Christopher grimaced, waiting for the moment to strike and cause the young man even more pain . . . -

Christopher's head slammed into one of the few walls left standing, stars swimming in his vision as Raver's snarling face got way too close for comfort, hot stinking breath making Christopher's nose wrinkle in disgust as he slid to the floor.

So . . . dizzy . . .

Pain was blossoming from the back of his head. It was getting hard to think straight . . .

Before Raver could hurt Christopher any more, a shout came from beside him, and an invisible force sent him flying.

"Knuckle Wind!" Fletcher bellowed in fury.

Fletcher stirred a powerful ball of wind from behind him before he delivered something in the wind that felt like punches to Raver.

The mad man grinned, relishing the pain the blows caused.

Fletcher thought that face was icky. Fletcher had lots of fun when he was in a battle but he would never smile when taking that much pain. He stepped towards the zoan slowly, a clear threat presented with every movement. Raver crouched down and prepared to spring . . .