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#21 hokuten

hokuten

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Posted 09 February 2006 - 01:46 AM

Chapter 20: H&E Bound
Subtitle: Fears & Weaknesses

 

Now our journey to Heaven & Earth would take a while, since it was built in a distance so that we aren't found quite that easily ... yet. But since we were making good time, we spent most of the time exploring more of the ship. We were all trying to find out more hidden "surprises" that this Ex-N***H*** ship might have in store for us.

 

As the sunset into the horizon, I stood there on the open deck just gazing. Yoko came to tell me to come in, saying something like-

 

“Taichou! Come inside! I think we found the main galley!"

 

I didn't turn around just yet, I wanted to see the moon before I would go in. So I told her-

 

"I'll be in a little bit. Just tell everyone to wait for my arrival. It's time for a crew meeting."

 

She bow slightly and made her way back to tell everyone of my orders. A few minutes after she left, the clouds started to sparse out and revealed the pale blue moon upon my face. I sighed in relief and made my way inside.

 

---

 

Meanwhile as everyone was making their way to the galley (kitchen/dining hall), I believe it was Smiter who first arrived. He peered inside quickly looking all around very hurriedly.

 

"Nai." (None/No where) He looked to he left. "Nai." He looked to the right. "Nai." He checked in all around the entire room and sighed in relief.

 

Just then everyone else came bowling in behind him, pushing him all the way into the room! He was nearly trampled over, but a sweet helping hand lifted him to his feet. It was Ash, and she saw the look of semi-fluster upon his face.

 

"Something wrong love?"

 

"Huh?"

 

"You have a look upon your face as if you've seen a ghost."

 

"Oh, actually I'm okay. I was just looking around the galley, tis all."

 

Ash knew he was hiding something, but left it alone for his sake. He'd tell them all sooner or later. So everyone made themselves as comfortable as possible and looked all around the large dining hall. UN gladly made his way over to the kitchen to whip up some food for dinner, and Blayze had already found the booze storage. But no one drank yet, not until I made my arrival which was about ... now.

 

I came in through the only exit out of the galley, and looked the door behind me, securing the handle. Smiter looked as I closed the door, his heart beating heavily as I locked the door. He was well nervous alright, but we still didn't understand why. Anyway, we all gathered at the main long table, and everyone sat themselves down. They were all looking at me as if I was supposed to make some kind of an announcement, and then I remembered that I was.

 

"Huh? Oh yeah! I've called this meeting for us to grow stronger as a crew. Today we're going to discuss about ourselves."

 

"Ourselves? But we already know about one another!" Alpha exclaimed.

 

"Yes, but today, we're going to discuss our fears and weaknesses."

 

"Fears ... and weaknesses." Ash nodded her head understanding what I was trying to do.

 

This was a good chance for everyone to really know each other. To work with each other's fears and help them through their weaknesses. So that we can become stronger and stronger, supporting each other through the worst of times.

 

"So? Anyone?"

 

"Well that's not fair! Smiter's the only one who's not afraid of anything and he can do everything!" Alpha exclaimed again.

 

Smiter relaxed a bit and we all laughed. "Hah! Well not everything!"

 

I chuckled lightly, and continued. "Okay, then I guess I'll go first. I am bad at telling time, along with setting up a timeline. I say one week, and it ends up being like three days. I try to set up a story over the years and it happens over months. That's my main weakness."

 

Blayze merrily chuckled, since he was the only other one who knew my weakness. "Tis true! I told him to get a shipment on Tuesday, and he comes back on Thursday!"

 

Everyone enjoyed my brother's teasing of me and it lightened up the mood, which was good. I settled everyone down again, and continued on with my fears.

 

"As for my fears ... heh, well I have many fears. Fear of never getting to see what I start, fear of never getting a chance to live my dreams, fear of losing my only brother ..." I put a firm hand on Paul's shoulder and then looked all around at everyone. "... fear of losing my only family that I have left."

 

The feeling in the room was ... well, I guess you could say emotional. But everyone got the point, and understood why I was trying to open everyone up.

 

Arashi answered to my fears, and gladly went next. "We would never abandon you, nor would we ever leave you. You came to us and we answered your call. You are our soul, our body, and our hearts. I drink to you."

 

He raised his glass and everyone else did the same as well. I felt proud and honored to have such a Crew, such a family to have by my side. This was the first step in our becoming better. Arashi continued-

 

"My fear and weakness was that I was always too much of a boy scout, a law man. Always abiding to the law and never thinking for myself. And it nearly cost me my best friend." He looked to Aethos who also nodded his head at him as well. "But now that we're back together again, its like when we were kids, I feel INVINCIBLE!"

 

"HEAR HEAR!!!" Everyone cheered. Next went Blayze-

 

"I too fear the loss of my brother. Though we are not of the same blood, he I would gladly lay down my life. When he disappeared and everyone thought he was dead, I never lost hope that he would return, not once!" He proudly said out loud. Then he moved onto his weakness. "Well ... for my weakness ... it's not really a weakness. More like a hate. I MADLY HATE THAT DAMN INUYASHA ROSARY!!!"

 

I began to laugh quietly as I recalled his "most passionate hate" since we were growing up. Blayze continued on with his explanation as to why his hate was so strong that he gets blinded by it. The way he was telling everyone seemed like such a silly hate, but nonetheless he was VERY passionate about it. After Blayze followed Ash & Alpha.

 

"Well, everyone already knows our weakness! But as for our fears, it's the same as Hoku and Blayze. The same among brothers and sisters, family always comes first. I don't know what I would do with out my Alphan3ss!" Ash gladly spoke.

 

Alpha followed up with. "Yosh! Same here! But I also have one more weakness/fear!"

 

Almost immediately Ash knew exactly what she was going to say. "Oh no Alpha! Not this again ..."

 

"What!? He IS REAL! And I've seen him! And I'm gonna get him all right! You'll see!" Alpha had a look of crazed obsession upon her face, pretty scary, yet cute in a way.

 

"What? The fear of losing me?" Blayze poked at Alpha, who then hit him upside the head. We all laughed and then looked at her confusedly. She looked at us and had this exp ression of (I can't believe, no one knows what I'm talking about) look upon her face.

 

"Aw come on you guys! The Legend Of-"

 

"Alpha don't start! You're gonna take up the whole night!"

 

"Okay, okay, but next time I get to tell my tale of FatAss Sasuke!"

 

Ash and Alpha finished their segment, and we moved onto Aethos who was still perplexed at this idea of FatAss Sasuke, then realized it was his turn somehow-

 

"Hah, huh? Oh okay! My weakness is ... bah, it's more of an obsession! Y’all know I'm going after the One Piece! Fear? I fear no one, and no thing! Except when Ash turns transforms into Inner Kyuubi!"

 

The entire room just shuddered at the mere mention of Inner Kyuubi. Except for Ash who was laughing her ass off. But who are we to blame! She's a great gal, but when she gets angry ... you either RUN, or HIDE. There is no fighting such a force that combines the power of Inner Sakura and Kyuubi + the rabid powers of a Kakashi Fangirl! (minor *SSSQQQEEEEAAAAALLLLL*) UN was next after Aethos-

 

"I fear that no one will take my information seriously, or creditable. I've worked so hard to gather the truth behind NaruSaku, that people just disregard it. It is my life's work; I hope that when I finish it that I may be able to publish it. Weakness? I hate it when people waste good food. Especially food that I make, but I'm also glad that everyone here loves to eat!"

 

"Hear Hear!" We all gladly toasted to that! Who doesn't love to eat!? HH continued after UN-

 

"Weaknesses? Well I am a rabid Hinata and Subaru fanboy. Fears? That such good friends like everyone here will abandon me. Even though I am a N***H***, everyone has accepted me for who I am, and treats me with such respect that I am almost too honored to be apart of this crew. And you Captain, allowing me to come with you and accepting me into your crew."

 

It seemed like the boy was going to cry, but we cheered for him as well and he felt better. Yoko finally decided to stand up for her turn-

 

"Weaknesses? I have no real weakness. But if being with a such a supportive and caring crew is a weakness ... then I must be the weakest link."

 

We all smiled and gladly understood her words.

 

"I used to fear being alone, unwanted, and being called useless. But since the captain took me in ... I fear nothing anymore." She had a look of strong will and determination on her face.

 

Finally it came down to Smiter's turn!

 

"So Smiter! You've been awfully quiet this entire evening! Did you think we'd really skip you!?" Alpha jabbed at him teasingly.

 

"Wha-what!? Of course not! Weren't you the one saying I was the one without fear and weakness!" He confidently retorted.

 

"I was only playing around! Come on Smiter! There must be SOMETHING you dread more than losing my sister!" Alpha teased him again, and Ash giggled.

 

Smiter was turning slightly red and was fidgeting slightly in his seat. Then he stood up and began to speak. "Well, it is true. Not only do I fear the loss of Ash ... but everyone else. We are all strong as individuals, but together we are truly invincible! Weakness!? BAH! You only have a weakness if you believe in it! Same as fears! It's all apart of your mentality. If a man or a woman fears something then they will be afraid. But once you overcome them and see that it's nothing to be afraid of, the fear doesn't exist!"

 

I was deeply impressed, I think we all were and merrily cheered to his small monologue. He gracefully sat down and felt good as new, completely forgetting why he was so nervous in the first place. Now that the session was over, and everyone had taken their turns, it was to party!

 

"Well done everyone. This was a good first session to knowing more about each other. If it's not too much to ask, how about we have one of these every once in a while. Not too often, but so that we may learn more and more about each other. What say you!?"

 

"AYE AYE Capt’n!”

 

"Good! Let's party the rest of the way to H&E!"

 

Everyone gladly began to unwind, and Blayze broke out the booze for everyone. I went over into the back corner table to just sit and enjoy my crew's antics. Everyone started to spread out around the galley; UN went to clean up the dishes then returned to party. Blayze found himself at the ship's bar, mixing and serving those wonderful drinks he makes. Everyone else was sitting at the round table playing drinking games, until HH suddenly remembered something.

 

"Hey everyone! I just remembered an awesome system the N***H*** installed just before we stole this ship! Check this out!"

 

HH went over to an open area of the galley, strange enough it seemed like a small stage area. He stood on a specific spot and stomped the ground twice. Smiter's worst nightmare was about to unveil. The entire galley room began to transform in to ... A MEGA-KARAOKE BAR!!!

 

A super wide screen TV came from the floor along with super mega surround sound stereos and speakers! Then the Karaoke machine came up, it looked like an old style jukebox with the records, but it was very high tech! It had a scoring machine and a song selection menu as well! Wireless microphones were in holsters on the Karaoke machine, about four of them! The room's lights dimmed down and it seemed like a disco bar setting! Everyone seemed fairly excited and pumped up to sing!

 

"OMG!!!" - "YAY!!! KARAOKE!" - "Whoa ... LET'S SING!" - "Someone go first!"

 

And the only person who couldn't believe his luck weakly said-

 

"U-uso ..." (N--no w-way)

 

Smiter was as pale as a ghost and couldn't move from his seat. Just then he desperately ran towards the only exit out of the galley/karaoke disco bar only to find it locked. He was caught red-handed and trapped for the WHOLE night. Smiter's weakness was revealed!

 

"Oho! So the Great Smiter, our first mate's weakness is Karaoke!" Blayze instantly began to jest! "Well ladies don't let him down! Let's get it started!"

 

Ash and Alpha came over to Smiter's side and took each of his arms. Smiter was as petrified as a statue and they dragged him back to his doom. Just then Ash went first and started up a Japanese ballad! So to keep him "calm", Alpha whacked him in place with her MegaTon Hammer. He turned around to look at me as if trying to signal for (Help me!!!). But I simply chuckled, evilly grinned back, and waved in my hand the key to open the door. His next expression was (You!!! This is your doing!). I simply laughed out loud and motioned to him that (She's singing to you.). The look upon Smiter's face was priceless, but he faced forward as Ash was singing for him and he tried to enjoy the rest of this torturing night.

 

I leaned back and watched as everyone took turns, enjoying this moment of pure relaxation and happiness with my crew. Yoko was sitting next to me rather quietly and I looked over to see her in small tears.

 

"Is something wrong, Yoko?"

 

She wiped her tears away and tried to keep a straight face. "No, Sir."

 

"Then why are you sad?"

 

She looked up at me. "I'm just so happy to be here with everyone."

 

I took it upon my liberty to cheer her up again so I enthusiastically stood up, spoke to her in a direct commanding voice, and punched the air! "Well then! Smile! And PARTY! YOOOSHH!"

 

She looked at me with a bit of surprise and followed my example. She immediately stood up, punched the air exactly as I did, and shouted. "YOOOSH!"

 

Suddenly in that strong moment, Ash & Alpha called over to me. "Oyyy! Taichou! It's your turn to sing!"

 

Just then my confidence had lost me and I was in a state of panic. “EEEEHHHH!?  NANI!?

 

Ash & Alpha skipped over to me and dragged me over to the Karaoke machine. As I was being dragged I called out to Yoko.

 

"Yoko!!! Tas-ket-te!" (Help me!)

 

Yoko simply laughed as I was being dragged away. Tonight was successful, and we were almost nearing H&E. And I would be dead tired from my crew making me sing all night long.

 

To Be Continued.


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"Shiny. Let's go be bad guys."


#22 hokuten

hokuten

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Posted 09 February 2006 - 01:54 AM

Chapter 21: Heaven & Earth
Subtitle: Home Sweet Home, Bass lives!!!

 

Last night's party must have went on into the morning, because I woke up in my room and didn't remember a single thing. I assumed either Blayze or Yoko dragged me back to my room after I passed out. The last thing I remember was being dragged to that monster of a Karaoke machine.

 

"Heh, twas a good night that it was." I spoke to myself.

 

Just then my door opened and Yoko came walking in unsuspectingly.

 

"You're awake Dai-syon ... MEEEP!" And she quickly turned around to face the door, her face flustered a bright red. "Uh-um ..."

 

"You should try knocking before you enter. Was it you who brought me back here?" I chuckled at my apprentices actions.

 

"Y-yes, sir! You sang really good last night sir!" She spoke firmly.

 

"I did? Yes, I did didn't I. Well, report." I went into the shower and she simply followed me standing outside the door not looking and gave the report.

 

"Arashi says that we're almost at H&E. We should be arriving today; also a letter came from bird. It's from Bass sir."

 

I kept on listening as I washed myself. "Really!? Is he alive and well?"

 

"Yes sir. He says he got you're letter from a while ago and is already at H&E awaiting our arrival. He also apologizes for disappearing for such a while ago, his family was moving, so I went with them for that short time."

 

"Good. I'm glad he found his way ..." I got out of the shower to dry off, and began to dress myself. "... and that we'll be seeing him shortly. Good work, Yoko. Dismissed."

 

She tapped her feet and saluted, while I was putting my overcoat on and buttoning my jacket up. Before she closed the door, I told her-

 

"Oh and thank you."

 

She happily smiled back and closed the door behind her. Bass was alive and well waiting for us at H&E already. I'm glad that he had gotten my message. What adventures and tales we had to tell him, and now he would join us aboard the NaruSaku Mk.II. I finished buttoning up my overcoat and made my way to the main deck. The Airship was still moving at high speeds and we were making good time. I moved over to Arashi, who saluted me and went back to piloting the ship.

 

"Let us cut upon the sea the rest of the way, Arashi!" I told him.

 

"Yo-kai!" (Roger!)

 

He set the control panel to "sea mode" and the ship began to slowly hover its way down. I picked up the intercom and made an announcement to my crew.

 

"All hands. Brace, we're going back to sea level, and we'll sail the rest of the way to H&E!"

 

The ship slowly floated down back onto the water, and stood afloat once again. The sails withdrew from their storage and the mast stop spinning and returned back to it's normal position. We tied off the sails again to the ship and the wind began to pick up. Now we were back to normal ocean sailing. The fresh spray of the sea upon our faces, the open air filling our lungs. And we continued on our course towards H&E.

 

Alpha went back to her crow's nest, and kept a good look out for land. After a few more hours of sailing she spotted something and quickly shouted-

 

"LAAAND HOOOO!!!"

 

Everyone rushed over to the head of the ship and looked dead ahead to see beautiful, beautiful green land! Blayze handed me a telescope and I viewed ahead to check upon our home. Everything was just as I left it, still in good condition and perfect shape. Next I veered over to the docks to see a small boat already in dock. It must have been Bass' since he was the only other one who knew about it before hand. I sighed in relief, and then looked all around as everyone wasn't at their stations.

 

"COME ON YOU DOGS! Back to your posts! We haven't reached land just yet!" I barked out.

 

Everyone quickly moved back to their posts and we were getting closer to home. The time was upon us, we were nearly there and we could almost taste the new found freedoms we would soon have!

 

I still stood out on the head of the boat, just watching as we were getting closer and closer! It was Yoko again who came out to bring be back inside again.

 

"Are we finally home, dai-syon?"

 

"Yes, we are home at last!"

 

---

 

In less than a few hours were docked at the small port I had built for us. Bass was already waiting for us and helped bring in the ship to pier. We tied off the ship and everyone excitedly got off. We were all overjoyed to finally reach H&E along with seeing Bass with us again! We told him all about our adventures and the events that had happened thus far. After the where's and the how's, I stood atop a box and gave the welcoming speech.

 

"Friends! We've encountered The Flood! N***H***! S***S***! And many countless verbal battles! But now! We have a home of our own. A place where we can stay and rely on as a stable home. A place where we can share our knowledge and ways with others. We are NaruSaku and we are finally FREE!"

 

"HAIL! HAIL! HAIL!" Everyone cheered and raised their fists into the air.

 

"Here we can talk about anything we wish, and have many nightless discussion over what we want! And we won't have to worry about people calling us prejudice, or persecuting us for our beliefs! We do owe much gratitude to Smiter, who has funded us and contributed greatly for our cause!"

 

"HAIL SMITER! First Mate!"

 

"But alas our journey is NOT at an end! We will continue to travel back to NT AND to other places to spread word of our haven! Spread word to all other believers and give note that there IS a place for them to go to without worry of dislike or hatred! Spread word to others so that we too may become an even larger and greater village!"

 

"YAAARRRRR!"

 

"Here we will start a new home for the NaruSaku! Here we are FREE! NOW WHAT SAY YOU!?"

 

"AYE!"

 

"WHAT SAY YOU ALL!?"

 

"AYE!"

 

I immediately thrusted my fist into the air with pride and joy, feeling the energy rising inside of me. "YAAARRR!!!"

 

"YAAAAAAARRRRRR!!!"

 

This was only the beginning. The beginning of another great adventure for all of us. With a main Headquarters to pinpoint to, we could travel freely to anywhere and any place we chose! Soon, we would return to NT ... One Last Time.

 

To Be Continued.


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#23 hokuten

hokuten

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Posted 09 February 2006 - 02:10 AM

Chapter 22: En Route to Port NT
Subtitle: "OMG!!! WE HAVE TO GO!!!"

 

We stayed in H&E for a few more days so that everyone got accustomed to the new settings. Just about everything was NaruSaku related, and all we did was talk about NaruSaku. We fixed up some more areas of the town, so there would be a small marketplace, as well as a Political and Arts section. We've also implemented a hentai section, but it was still closed for construction. Everyone made themselves at home and found their own place to stay, but it was all pretty much in the same apartment/condo complex. In the short time we stayed there, a few more others had returned to us and found their way to H&E. Mainly Shinyu, Bryon, even DeathWorks found his way eventually.

 

Soon it was time to return to NT and see if there were any people we could bring back with us. We prepared the NaruSaku Mk.II for the journey back to NT. This time, Bass would come with us on the return trip, while the others who just arrived would hold the fort. We set sail back to NT the following day and made good speed back to our surrogate home.

 

A few days out into sea, Alpha spotted something glittering out in the middle of the ocean. She sent our falcon over to retrieve it and handed her a message in a bottle. Blayze had finished his daily weapons check, and coincidentally was topside when Alpha came down to report the message. Naturally Blayze's curiosity got to him and they opened the bottle before reporting to me.

 

"Oy! Whatchu got there Alpha-chan!" Blayze eagerly asked.

 

"I spotted it glittering in the middle of the no where, and sent the falcon to retrieve it for me. And I was about to report it to the Captain." She replied.

 

Blayze took a look at it and saw that the message inside looked like a small poster or some type of an ad. He was going to open the bottle as Alpha pulled it away from him.

 

"Aww come on! I'm sure it's not THAT important! Let's just check it so it's not something stupid or some kind of trap for the Captain that's all!" Blayze had a good point as well, but they still should have reported it to me.

 

Alpha gave into her curiosity, and they both opened the bottle. He held the bottle upside down and started to hit it. Alpha held her hands out so she could catch it. After a good minute or two, the paper finally fell out. The both unraveled it and revealed what it had to say ...

 

"Sha ... Sharon Apple? Sharon Apple? Who's that? Ne? Blayze-kun?" Alpha confusedly asked and then looked at a petrified Blayze. "Oy, Blayze-kun? Blayze? Heellloooo???"

 

Blayze was in complete shock at what they had just found. It was an advertisement for a Sharon Apple concert at Eden, performing live. This was either an omen or curse. After shock moment passed, next came panic ...

 

"Dear God! We have to GET RID OF THIS! NOW!!!" He began to speak in a full panic.

 

Alpha still confused on why Blayze was acting up all of a sudden, tried to calm him down. "What? What's going on? Why are you panicking all of a sudden!? OY BLAYZE-KUN!?"

 

*WHOMP*

 

And she finally stomped him with her MegaTon Hammer to stop him from running around like a mad man.

 

"What the hell is the matter with you!? It's just a concert poster!" She exclaimed at him.

 

He tried to regain his composure and tried to explain. "No, you don't understand. YOU - CANNOT - LET - THE - CAPTAIN - SEE THIS!"

 

He was nearly shaking her by the shoulders with a very desperate look upon his face. She still didn't grasp why, but simply understood his words. I believe it was around this time that I made my drop on them.

 

"Can't show me what?" I simply said with a curious smile.

 

Both of them froze like statues, they were both as pale as ghosts with their hands in the air. While Alpha had the flyer in her hand, they didn't move because of my sudden appearance.

 

"Oh! What's that in your hand Alpha? May I see?" I simply asked with a quiet smile on my face.

 

Both of them still not moving, I simply reached up and took the paper from her petrified hands. I looked at the flyer and read ...

 

[Performing @ Eden Square, Eden! Sharon Apple LIVE!]

 

Almost instantly my eyes opened wide and my jaw nearly dropped to the floor! I was overflowing with one new passion. I immediately grabbed the nearest intercom and made my SUPER announcement:

 

"ARASHI! SET COURSE FOR EDEN, FULL SPEED! AETHOS! I NEED FULL POWER, 110%!"

 

"Aye aye, Captain!" Arashi responded.

 

Aethos on the other hand couldn't believe this order. "But-but Captain, the engine may explode if even at 100%!"

 

I repeated myself. "ONE-HUNDRED & TEN PERCENT!"

 

Aethos sighed in disbelief, but did his best to run the engine at 110% ... if it was even possible. I enthusiastically marched my way off back to the bridge room, chanting to myself. "Sha-ron Ap-ple! Sha-ron Ap-ple! Sha-ron Ap-ple ..."

 

After I had left, Alpha and Blayze finally came back to their senses and realized what had just happened. Blayze fell to his knees and shook his head in complete and utter disbelief. Alpha unsure of what to make of what happened pretty much got why Blayze was so afraid of.

 

"It's not so bad, I guess. Captain needs to be a fanboy of someone, I'm just glad it's this singer." She nodded her head.

 

"You don't understand. He's a RABID Sharon Apple FANBOY! Ever since we were growing up, he would talk NonSTOP and do ANYTHING out of his way just to go to her concerts and buy her fan gear." He explained gravely. "And now that he's got his own ship with a crew to man it ... guess where we're going."

 

"Eden?" Alpha answered.

 

Blayze got up from where he was, and shook his head still in disbelief. "Yeah. Eden, which is COMPLETELY OUT OF THE WAY BACK TO NT!?"

 

Alpha completely flipped. <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>"NANI!?"</span>

 

And so we changed course to Eden, the emerald city of the sea. Known for the beautiful forest life and port city activity around there. Many famous people came from there, well only one that I know of, which was Sharon Apple. Hell she herself isn't even a real person! The first Virtual Idol turned into a real pop star about a few years ago. Her producer Myung was a famous local singer from the main high school in Eden. Some say that Sharon Apple is like a drug, imprinting such an addiction that her music almost touches your whole body. I for one was addicted to her and her music. And nothing was going to stop me from attending her concert live!

 

We traveled for about three long days non-stop. I spent those three days sleepless; when Arashi went to rest I took the wheel and kept us sailing towards Eden. Everyday I was eagerly awaiting to arrive at the port of Eden, since the concert was in five days. On the fifth day we were almost a day away form Eden, when suddenly ...

 

"SHIP! DEAD AHEAD! CAPTAIN!!! WE'VE GOT COMPANY!!!" Alpha immediately spotted another ship heading in our path, coming at full speed.

 

I stepped up to the window of the bridge and looked out the window with my telescope in hand. It was fairly dark, but I could make out the sails. Blue and Red ... It was THE S***S***! Somehow they must have spotted us and were waiting for us at Eden! It was a bloody trap! I quickly got the intercom system up and made my announcement:

 

"Friends! Eden is just a few miles to shore; I can see the concert floodlights flashing in the sky. But we've got some company in the way. It's the S***S***." I paused so that they could take in this news, then continued. "If it's a FIGHT THEY WANT! THEN IT'S A FIGHT THEY'LL GET! ALL HANDS! Prepare for battle."

 

Everyone from their stations felt a new rush of adrenaline and gave their battle cries! "YAAAAARRRR!!!"

 

"Aethos, load the guns on the starboard (right) side! Ash, Smiter, and Blayze prepare for boarding. Everyone else, protect the ship at all costs. We will make it to land, and we WILL definitely make that concert in time!"

 

Everyone did as they told, Aethos quickly used the multi-cannon loading system the N***H***'s installed into the ship, which was really handy. Arashi kept our course steady, but slowed down our pace so that we may MEET our foes! Smiter, Ash, and Blayze met Yoko and me on topside. We were getting ready to board their ship and strike at them, while Arashi, Aethos, UN, Bass, and Alpha would try and defend our ship. The distance grew shorter as our ships were coming side to side!

 

We looked over and saw that we were ridiculously outnumbered, but we didn't care! Our adrenaline was building up so quickly that we all felt invincible! As our ships came side to side on our starboard and their port (left) side, we saw our foes and everyone roared at each other!

 

"YAAARRRRR!!!!" - "YO HOOOO!!!!" - "RRAAARRRRR!!!!"

 

And finally as our ships were parallel, the tension built before I both sides shouted-

 

"FIRE!" - "FIRE!"

 

*BOOM BOOM - BOOM BOOM - BOOM BOOM - BOOM BOOM*

 

Cannon's firing into each other's ship and everything went into pure chaos! We all had our weapons drawn forth, and that's when the S***S***s began to swing over and board us! Ash pulled forth her dual pistols and began shooting them out of the air, while Smiter cut down any of them who made it overboard! But we could only keep it up before we were overwhelmed. Soon they made it aboard our ship! Alpha came down from her post and fought off as many as she could! Bass came topside also, he had a dual steel whips on him and fought off at least twenty men at once!

 

These pirates were fierce in combat as they are rabid fanboys/girls! As we were holding our own, it was time to strike back! Ash called for her sister and she stood on a plank with one gun held to her face, and the other behind her back.

 

"Alpha!" She called out to her sister.

 

"HAI ONEE-SAMA!" She flew across from where she was and with her Hammer she stomped on the plank LAUNCHING HER sister into the air across the water and over onto the S***S** Ship! As Ash was in midair, she almost did an acrobatic spin shooting rapidly into the masses of the enemy! Then she fell dead center into a circle of the enemy. She made an almost angelic landing, unloading her empty clips and gracefully reloading from her belt like in Tomb Raider. She stayed in a crouched pose and slowly gazed at her opponents. Just before they all charged at her, it was like she went into a bullet time mode, and in an instant she did a multi-surround shot like from Equilibrium, left-right-back-front-diagonal-front-back-right-left, taking out everyone and thing within her radius with a single shot to each person within her 360 radius! When she finished her entire clip, she went into a pose and emptied her empty clips yet again. That put a small intimidation into the enemy.

 

Next it was Smiter's turn to go, he chose to do the traditional swing over to the other side! So he climbed up the mast slightly and swung himself from one side over to the other, with his sword drawn forth! As he made his landing, he cut down several foes with a single swipe! He moved like a cat moving from one target to the next striking each one down with a single blow! I could tell his skill had improved from we fought, and he had been training harder! He struck each and every foe with such a grace that there wasn't even a blood splatter or spray! He gave them quick deaths, maybe not painless, but quick deaths!

 

As he and Ash were holding their own, it was Blayze's turn to work his part of the plan! He also swung over to the other side of the ship, but just short of missing it! The enemy looked as they saw him fall into the water, but there was no splash! Blayze had purposely missed to slip into their cannon openings! Now he would work his "magic" from the inside! Setting explosives from the inside while fending off the inside guards!

 

I stood there on the starboard side of the NaruSaku Mk.II with Yoko by my side cutting down anyone who came near us, watching as my crew did their chaos. Since they were overwhelming us, some of them got inside our own boat, but I wasn't worried at all.

 

Meanwhile in the galley of the boat, UN and his wife were prepare food for after the battle, when suddenly the door way busted open and about ten S***S*** pirates came in and saw him. UN simply continued cutting the vegetables, and as they charged at him and his wife, SINGLE-Handedly he threw his stilettos (thin throwing knives) rapidly at each target, dispatching all of them! Except for one that got hold of his wife as a hostage. This got UN's ATTENTION. As the S***S*** held a knife to her throat, she didn't struggle at all. But simply looked calmly at her husband, who cleaned off his butcher knife, and looked directly at his wife. She silently nodded, and he nodded back at her, then with an instant UN threw his butcher knife into the pirate's head who was now stuck to the door behind him. UN went to his wife's safety, then pulled the butcher knife out from the back of the door & the skull of the pirate, cleaned it, and they continued to go about their business.

 

Below deck, in the engine/storage room, Aethos was trying to reload the cannons for a second fire, but the reloading mechanism was jammed. Just then the main door for the engine room busted open and there were at least ten to twenty men upon him. Aethos had a GREAT GRIN upon his face and drew forth his dual daggers, shouting in a bloodlust-

 

"OH YEEEAAAH!!! COME ON! COME GET SOME!"

 

And instantly the door behind the S***S*** pirates closed, and the lights went out. All that could be heard were screams of horror and death as Aethos cut down each and everyone one of them in the darkness.

 

Inside the main bridge room, Arashi was guarding the controls. The doorway was being rammed into, but it was tightly secured. Suddenly the window in front of him was smashed through, and three pirates came! He quickly held up his Navy Badge and shouted-

 

"GOYO!" (Police/Navy!)

 

The pirates froze for two seconds at his words, which was their fatal mistake. In a flash, Arashi slashed through them all in a smooth stroke! He then looked at his badge, and laughed at the pirates.

 

"Oh, well look at that, my badge is expired."

 

The bridge door busted open and he charged out at them cutting down anyone who entered the bridge room! Back on topside, Ash and Smiter were being a little overwhelmed and Alpha saw her dear sister in trouble! So she rushed over to the plank, and called for Bass who was fairly open.

 

"Bass! Launch me now!" She exclaimed.

 

Bass quickly ran over and did an acrobatic back flip from the railing onto the board, then as he landed at the same time he took hold of Alpha's arm as if to give momentum and threw her over to the other side! It was one wicked ass move; I had to hand it to Bass! As Alpha flew through the air, she drop kicked into a pile of S***S***s! Then they all surrounded her, and began to laugh as they saw their opponent was just a girl. But then Alpha drew forth her MEGATON HAMMER, and whipped it all around with ONE HAND as if it was as light as a feather! Then slammed it into the deck of the ship single-handedly that made the entire S***S*** ship bob up and down! That invoked MAJOR fear and disbelief into their hearts as they stood there in shock. Alpha had such an evil grin upon her face that all she said next was-

 

"Boo!"

 

And they all ran away from her as she charged after them flailing her hammer behind her! We were winning on our side, most of the S***S*** pirates were trying to escape back to their ship, Bass getting a few more body counts as some were retreating. Soon it was almost my turn to board the ship. I placed a board across both ships so that I could walk across, and Yoko followed behind me. I held my katana behind my back so that it was semi showing, but not entirely. Just then a group of five S***S*** confronted me, and knew who I was.

 

"It's HIM! The Captain of the NaruSaku!" - "If we kill him, we'll all be famous!" - "It's just one man! Let's get em!"

 

I simply stood there facing them, and lifted my free hand towards them. Then I simply waved my hand at them and began to count down.

 

"Go." (5)

 

And the closest one to me was cut down to shreds in an instant! No one had seen what had done it or how it was done. They looked in major disbelief that with a wave of my hand that man was cut down like paper. Then the next came at me!

 

"Yon." (4)

 

And he was cut down in a most brutal way, both of his arms disappeared from his sides like twigs broken or cut off! Blood sprayed all over where he standing and he fell screaming.

 

"It's JUST ONE MAN! KILL HIM!" Then the third and second came at me!

 

"San, Ni!" (3, 2)

 

It looked as if their swords were instantly broken and each other's ends impaled each other in a flash. A look of pure disbelief and fear was no on the last man. I started to move slowly towards him, taking only two steps before he tried to run away from me. I made an open palm and thrusted at him.

 

"IPPON!" (Strike!)

 

And before the man could get away, he was stabbed through the chest. He looked down and saw a short blade sticking out from his chest through his heart. It was a wakazashi. He then slowly twitched his head back to see how he was killed, more like who it was. And to his surprise it was a young girl with a stern face. When he looked directly at her, she thrusted the blade all the way to the hilt, and quickly drew back her blade to face me, sending a small splat of blood into my open palm and I closed my fist. She held her face down to her feet, not looking up. I walked over to her slowly, and lifted her head gracefully with my finger upon her chin. She looked at me with open eyes, and I brushed her hair back to clear her forehead. Then I took my thumb and marked upon her forehead the sign of death in blood. Then I gently drew bloody tears from her eyes down her cheek with my thumb and my ring finger. I leaned in close to her ear and I softly whispered-

 

"You missed one."

 

Her eyes opened up and took a deep breath, but in that instant I made an almost demon-like slide around her and in a flash I cut off the head of the S***S*** about to backstab her. In that whole motion, I took my left foot and slid it all the way around her right side, and in one motion I drew forth my blade behind my back! In one magnificent flash, my blade made its way back around, and I was now behind Yoko with my arm around her sheathing my blade at the same time. My left hand holding the sheath and my right hand putting the blade away slowly closing my arms around her. Also in the moment a rain of blood came from the freshly cut body I struck down, and since I was covering her from the rain, my overcoat became bloody. It looked as if I was holding her gently with one arm. My right arm was across her lower neck, it seemed like a majestic dance that had just come to a finish. And I softly told her-

 

"You are now my Bloody Angel."

 

As I took my arms away from her, she nodded her head, sheathed her katana and wakazashi, and we continued to make our way down into the S***S*** ship. Ash, Smiter and Alpha witnessed that entire scene, and were almost in a state of pure awe. Ash then poked at Smiter and told him-

 

"See! Why can't we do something like that! They move like one, and he shielded her from that bloody mess! It's almost like they were dancing! So gracefully!" She spoke in pure awe of the moment, still shooting down the pirates.

 

Smiter couldn't believe what he was hearing, sighed, and laughed as he shook his head. Alpha kept on trampling anything that moved and was S***S***! As Yoko and I moved past them, Ash gracefully bowed towards me while shooting the people behind her as I passed her first. Next Smiter did a 180 spin slicing down the people around him, sheathing his sword gracefully and bowed. Then Alpha smashed down the last guard near the Ship's entrance leaving her hammer on top of the poor soul, and bowed lightly.

 

The S***S*** Ship was essentially ours; we had taken it over and slain almost the entire crew. All that was left was to loot their ship and bid our farewell. We came to the door leading down into the storage, and Yoko stabbed at the door lock with her wakazashi, and I simply moved her back to open the unlocked door. She had a grin of (oops) on her face. Now I had learned that these S***S*** pirates carried only the FINEST Sake in all of the seas. Of course, we took it upon our liberty to free them of such a burden to carry this sake. So we decided to, more or less, "share the wealth". I opened a box and read the label ...

 

[Sakura Sake]

 

Only the finest in all of the land! We quickly began to transfer the sake over to our ship, and took whatever supplies and food we could manage to find. Pillage and Plunder! Ahh~! Tis the life, of course, of pirates ourselves! Just as Alpha went back over to the NaruSaku Mk.II, suddenly the captain of the S***S*** made his appearance.

 

"YOU! Captain Hokuten of the NaruSaku! I challenge you to open combat!"

 

I turned around to face this "captain" who hadn't shown his face the entire battle, and gave a good look at him. Just another rabid fanboy, leading a bunch of idiots down the wrong path. He barely was even worth the effort of slaying. So I waved at him as to decline his challenge, and simply told everyone to leave. Of course the S***S*** captain wasn't very pleased with my response, so just before I could get off their ship, a group of his men tackled me down! They threw the board connecting the two ships into the water, and it was too late for Yoko to come back to my aid! I should have expected this since they were pirates as well, but then again I didn't think they were THAT desperate. So here I was standing on their open bloodied deck. Five big guys with swords and daggers in hand, and their captain who was ready to just backstab me as I would fight his goons. I simply shouted over to my crew-

 

"GET GOING! I will catch up."

 

My crew naturally disagreed and tried to argue, but I shouted again-

 

"THAT'S AN ORDER!"

 

They fell silent and went according to orders and the ship began to sail off. Now it was just me and these six S***S*** bastards. Of course I loved my odds! Six to one odds made me simply excited, but instead I saw a flare go up from the water, and that was my signal. Just as they all charged me at the same time, I leap over them and pushed their captain into the pile. I ran over to the front side and leapt overboard! The S***S*** pirates all got up and ran to see if I hit the water, but instead I was in a small row boat with my brother, Blayze, already getting a good distance away from the ship. Immediately the S***S*** captain ordered is men to bring the ship about port side.

 

"I'll be damned if we let him escape to leave us dead in the water! We'll blow that bastard to hell! READY THE CANNONS!" He bellowed.

 

As Blayze and I were slowly rowing away towards Eden, we saw that they were trying to fire upon us. I was rowing the boat, and saw this.

 

"OY! Paul, they're gonna fire at us!"

 

His back still faced the S***S** ship, but he had a great grin upon his face. "Oh are they?"

 

"Just what DID you do to their ship, eh brother?"

 

He then had an evil grin that could only tell of such an malicious deed! He pulled out a pen detonator from his jacket pocket, and had an even greater evil smile. And then I had a great grin upon my face as I knew exactly what he was going to do.

 

"So tell me Lloyd, do you like fireworks?"

 

Blayze pushed down on the switch. I quickly looked past him to look back at the S***S*** ship which suddenly BURST into flames! There was a GREAT explosion; the ship must have blown in half and then into smithereens! I looked to my brother who was already laughing out loud into the night air. We had successfully one our first ship-to-ship battle, and without much casualties or injuries. Everyone had gotten their chance to fight, and proved their skill well. I was extremely proud of my entire crew. Blayze and I rowed our way to shore, where the NaruSaku Mk.II was already docked and waiting for us. As we made it to port, both of us rushed to the concert hall where Alpha and Yoko were waiting for us, but there was something wrong. Before they could tell me I was already sobbing my whole life away, and I become depressed that instant.

 

"The show is sold out. No more tickets." Alpha told Blayze.

 

Yoko tried to come to my comfort, but I was still sobbing away like a little girl. I could hear the concert start, and they played my favorite song!

 

"OMG! They're starting with [Wanna Be An Angel]!!! I LOVE THAT SONG! WAAHHHHHHH!!!"

 

"It's okay, dai-syon! I'm sure she'll have another concert sometime soon!" Yoko tried to coax me, but then we passed a sign that said.

 

[Sharon Apple's LAST Live Concert here in Eden]

 

 

And I continued to sob even harder than before. I had missed this once in a lifetime chance to go to a Sharon Apple concert and we HAD to run into those damned S***S*** pirates. My life as a Fanboy was over; I had failed myself in life. I felt so depressed that I just wanted to hang myself ... but then we came across another poster.

 

[Priss Asagiri & The Replicants LIVE! @ Hot Legs, MegaTokyo!]

 

Almost immediately my entire expression and emotions pulled a 180! I was right back to CRAZY FANBOY status!

 

"EEEEEEEEHH!? NANI!?" I spoke in disbelief and started to squeal like a school girl again.

 

"Who is she, dai-syon?" Yoko curiously asked.

 

So I went into a full detailed biography! "She's Priss Asagiri the rock star of my heart! Not only is she talented and beautiful! She also has the voice of a goddess, and the attitude of a bad girl! Her number 1 hit single [Konya wa Hurricane], made top charts that same day it came out! On top of that she's apart of the Knight Sabres ..." And I continued mindlessly rambling on, and on.

 

Just then Blayze and Alpha were looking at me with pure disbelief again. Alpha looked at a very stressed out and agitated Blayze. She just couldn't believe this.

 

"We traveled for nearly a week out of our way, and we miss this concert, he's about to hang himself, and now he's back to normal cuz of this new girl!?" She asked poor Blayze who was smacking his head with his palm.

 

("Jeeooo!!! Jeooo!!! Jeeoooo!" I indistinctly was heard by them explaining to Yoko about the Knight Sabres and imitating the sounds of lasers.)

 

My brother simply looked at a baffled Alpha, and replied with. "Yeah, that's my brother for you."

 

Just then I finished my WHOLE explanation and about my fandom of Priss Asagiri to Yoko. I stood straight up proudly and picked up my radio com and called in to Arashi. "... and that's why we MUST go! This is another challenge of a lifetime for me to accomplish! ARASHI! SET COURSE TO MEGATOKYO!"

 

"YO-KAI!" He responded over the radio com.

 

"YOKO!" I firmly and gleefully shouted.

 

"HAI! SENSEI!" She responded with a firm salute.

 

I enthusiastically pointed in the direction back to the docks and commandingly shouted. "EEEEEI-KEI!!!" (LET'S GO!)

 

She tapped her feet, punched into the air like I did, and responded with, "YOOOOOSH!"

 

"UUUUUAAHAHAHAHHAHAHAAA!!!" I started to march in a mad/crazy style with my feet apart and my knees bent, pointing in the direction of the docks, back to the ship, laughing madly into the air, with Yoko marching along my side.

 

While both Blayze and Alpha just watched us march off into the distance with their heads down and their jaws dropped in pure bewilderment and disbelief. Finally Alpha asked-

 

"Is he ALWAYS like that?"

 

Blayze just responded with, "You try living with him for 18 years ..."

 

To Be Continued.


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"Shiny. Let's go be bad guys."


#24 hokuten

hokuten

    I am CLUTCH.

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Posted 09 February 2006 - 02:24 AM

Chapter 23: Port NT, The Final Fall
Subtitle: End To All Good Things, The Perfect Storm

 

... Mutiny ...

 

To a leader it's their worst possible nightmare. To the crew it means that the leader isn't doing their job. When a crew or people turn on their higher officials it means something, something has gone wrong. Which is why a mutiny can happen, it can also mean people want change, greed, power, or vengeance. All of which are valid reasons, but none should be taken so lightly.

 

... Vengeance ...

 

Such a harsh word to use, but describes all the feelings of Anger, Rage, Hate, and Sadness. Vengeance for being looked down upon, vengeance because others inflict vengeance upon you. Either way, vengeance never ends well ...

 

After our previous battle, the ship was able to set sail, but we still had a few more holes to patch up. It took a few more days in Eden to seal them up, but it was only temporary.

 

"Alas my poor NaruSaku, once we reach NT we'll fix you right up good as new!"

 

I stroked the port bow of the ship that was docked. On the starboard side, there were several gaping holes from the S***S*** cannon fire. Aethos and Arashi were already on repair duty. Everyone else rummaging through the ship, cleaning up what debris was left, along with mopping up the blood of our dead foes. The only part of the ship that wasn't broken into or damaged was our liquor storage (Thank God). We all still smelled like blood, and tried to wash our clothes off before we set sail again. I was thinking over the events that had just occurred to us. The S***S*** attack, missing Sharon Apple's Concert ... (I tried not to sob, holding in my tears) ... and now our next destination was to NT. The goal was to salvage what we could from the old club, and then bring back as many members with us as we could.

 

On the next morning we left Eden, and continued back on course to NT. It took about a week, plus the original four-day travel from H&E to NT. We ran into some small typhoons along the way, but nothing Arashi couldn't handle. Although it did seem strange that there were typhoons out in this season. We made sure to take note of that for the return trip.

 

"Port NT Ahead!" Alpha exclaimed from her crow's nest.

 

Just then a loud splash just hit us off the port side of the ship! They were FIRING at us!? In the distance, NT was a complete war zone. Buildings on fire and some in ruin, random gunfire was being shot off echoing through the city. NT was falling apart and in the middle of a civil war. We stopped the ship just out of their firing range, and went by rowboat. The crew gathered on the main deck awaiting my orders. I came from the bridge room followed by Arashi and Yoko.

 

"So it appears that Kane has done more than just cause a ruckus on NT, but opened full civil war." I looked on at the once great NT, then looked back to my crew. "All right listen up. Smiter, HH, Paul, UN, and Yoko will go to shore with me. Everyone else stay aboard and guard the ship. I would hate for irony to smile upon us again, and have this ship stolen yet AGAIN."

 

Everyone chuckled and we made our way off the rowboat and started to head for shore. Paul and HH where rowing the boat, as I gave my further instructions to this reconnaissance team.

 

"Okay. Smiter and UN gain what info you can and any other supplies that we may need. HH return to the N***H*** and gain what last intel you can. Paul and I have a few things to retrieve from the club before we leave for good."

 

They all nodded their heads and understood their orders. We reached what used to be the docks; part of it had been blown off or sunken. Everyone went to their own duties while Paul, Yoko, and I made our way to ground zero, the NaruSaku club. We made it past the pier and the Arts sector, both of which were completely in fire and ruins. Just as we made it to the Club sector, Yoko stopped me for a moment. I told Blayze to go ahead and I turned to face Yoko.

 

"What is it Yoko?"

 

"Sensei, there's someone I must find before we leave. If it's okay with you."

 

I looked at her nodded my head.

 

"Quickly, NT could fall at any moment. Just return to the ship if you get into any trouble. Meet us at the docks in a while. Understand?"

 

She quickly nodded her head and left on her own. I looked on as my Bloody Angel went on her own exploration and I continued after Blayze. We reached the club which was still in fine condition, except for the cannonball hole on the second floor, but that was okay. We went inside and to the back room to a safe vault. My brother and I placed our hands on the lock and began chanting in a foreign tongue. The safe opened and we took out what we needed.

 

Two crystal balls, a red one and a black one, and a very special case of spiced rum.

 

Blayze took the red one as I took the black one.

 

We left in a hurry and quickly made our way back over to the docks where Smiter, UN, and HH were already waiting for us. UN had gotten his cooking supplies and a bottle of wine he and his wife had been keeping. Smiter and HH had retrieved all the Intel they needed and were ready to go. All that was left was Yoko. We waited for a few more minutes and then she finally came running over to us. We quickly made a board the boat, and rowed back towards the ship. The sound of gunshots still echoing all over the city, and minor explosions from the mass fires. Just as we boarded back onto the NaruSaku Mk.II a final and large explosion occured in the center of the city!

 

We sailed off as the city of NT had finally fallen. We all stood upon the main deck looking off the starboard side, sailing off into the distance. Our home, the place where we all first came together was now gone. I took off my hat and tipped it to our lost home. But now this was only the beginning of even greater adventure and the ride of a lifetime that we could only imagine!

 

The ocean was still restless as we were making our way back to H&E. The winds were blowing at nearly hurricane level, and the sea was throwing us around like a rag doll. Everyone was inside the ship resting for the long journey back home. It wouldn't be long before we reached H&E. However, I could sense something was on Arashi's mind ... this weather was really getting to him.

 

"Arashi, is something wrong?"

 

He didn't turn his head to face me, but answered. "Dai-syon. The speed of these winds and the way the ocean is acting, our ship at this rate may not make it back home."

 

I wasn't surprised at this news, but I was worried. He continued.

 

"Also with our current condition, we won't be able to escape through the air. The hull may be able to handle the stress for us to fly, but it's risky."

 

"But that isn't what's bothering you? Arashi?"

 

"No sir. It's this storm, it's like - we're being targeted specifically. I don't mean to sound crazy, but it seems the ocean isn't being on our side tonight."

 

"..." I tried to think of our options. It was either keep sailing and we could possibly sink just before we reach H&E, or risk flying the rest of the way and crash to our deaths. "Then we fly."

 

Arashi and Yoko both looked at me at the same time. Yoko stood silent, but Arashi tried to argue.

 

"Dai-syon! That's mad! We don't even know if the ship will hold through those winds!?"

 

"Are you calling me mad? She will hold, and we will make it back home."

 

Arashi saw the confidence in my face, and couldn't help but agree with me. It was a mad plan, but it was the only way to escape the sea from sinking us permanently. I picked up the intercom system and made the announcement-

 

"Crew of the NaruSaku. We're going to try and fly over this damn storm. It sounds insane because of our damages already, but it's our only chance. All hands brace yourselves for one hell of a ride. We need to get up into the air before things get worse."

 

I put the intercom down, and Arashi and I made our way out onto the main deck to prepare for flight. Arashi stomped the floor, the controls came up and the ship quickly transformed into an Airship. We made liftoff just before a major wave hit us. The hull was holding just fine and we were still in one piece (no pun intended).

 

As we reached to the skies, the winds weren't as bad as they were on sea level. We did cut through the sky much faster and without any problem. The wind was still as fierce and nearly blew us off course, but with Arashi's skills we were able to stabilize ourselves. At the rate we were moving we would reach H&E within a few hours, until we saw IT ...

 

"... Dear God ..." Arashi muttered in pure shock.

 

It was a super typhoon! There were multiple twisters all moving across the water as if they were dancing with each other. Arashi took a firm grip onto the control wheel and looked to me. I quickly picked up the intercom and shouted-

 

"ALL HANDS BRACE YOURSELVES!!!"

 

Arashi, Yoko and myself secured ourselves down with some ropes tied to the main deck so we wouldn't fly off the ship. It was incredible! Arashi dodged each twister as if it was nothing! Moving the ship in ways that couldn't be described! But each dodge could have nearly flipped us over and have us come crashing down into the sea. It was one hell of a ride, and something only Arashi could have done himself. He was quite impressed with his own skill and yelled at the sky for more! This was exactly what he wanted! A challenge from nature that he could overcome! This was HIS time, HIS dream, HIS ultimate rush! Just as things began to calm, and the storm seemed to settle down ...

 

"Why is it so quiet?" Yoko asked.

 

"Something's wrong, something doesn't feel right." Arashi spoke quietly, and then looked up.

 

It was like the clouds were in a twist, circling all around us like it was trying to pin point our location and target us. This seemed to put Arashi into a panic and he quickly spoke to me.

 

"DAI-SYON! You need to get everyone off the ship NOW."

 

"What!? Arashi what's the meaning of-"

 

"PLEASE CAPTAIN! There's no time! I can't explain it, but this storm ... is after me!"

 

"Have you gone mad already!?"

 

"Captain. I've never asked more from you and I have never led you down the wrong path. If there was ever a time for you to trust my words, now is that time!"

 

I knew something had him spooked, but his eyes clearly spoke truth. And I believed him, so I made the order. I picked up the intercom once again-

 

"All hands. Abandon ship. Immediately."

 

Naturally there was confusion, but everyone went to the lifeboats for emergency drop off. The lifeboats were built to survive a small drop off once the Airship was near seal level. Everyone had gone to evacuate, except for Aethos who came to the main deck.

 

"Captain! What's going on!?" He questioned me.

 

I simply put a hand on his shoulder and looked towards Arashi. Aethos still didn't understand, so he went to Arashi.

 

"OY! Arashi! What the hell is going on!? Why is the captain ordering us to evac!?"

 

"You need to get off the ship friend. This storm is coming after me, and I'm going to fight it."

 

"Tch! Like hell you are! If he's staying then I'm staying with him!"

 

Arashi naturally pushed him aside to disagree with him.

 

"NO! You need to go with them, and help everyone get to shore. This is something I have to do alone!"

 

"Last time I let you go off by yourself you nearly got killed! Captain, permission to stay aboard with this fool!"

 

Aethos also had the look of firm determination. I didn't want to leave two men behind, but we were wasting time arguing. But I had full faith in both men that they would return again. So I let Aethos stay with Arashi.

 

"Granted. But I better see you two back at H&E, that's an order."

 

Arashi scoffed, but was glad to have him with him. Yoko and I left for the life boats and left the two of them to the ship. Arashi lowered the ship to hover just above sea level, and we let the life boats drop into the water. The rest of my crew and I rowed the rest of the way to shore. I had no idea what was going through his mind, but this was what he wanted, his dream to battle against this storm. So I let him pursue his dream.

 

"Godspeed, the both of you." I spoke as my ship sailed off into the sky.

 

Meanwhile back on ship, Arashi and Aethos had secured themselves onto the main deck of the Airship. Aethos still unsure of why he was here with this mad man.

 

"Dear God ... I'm on ship with a mad man who's going to fly straight into our deaths." He said with a very grave voice. Then he became over joyous over such an adrenaline rush! "YARRR! TONIGHT IS A GOOD NIGHT!"

 

Arashi showed a smile of admiration for his friend staying on board with him. But things weren't going to look good. The twisters they had passed earlier suddenly merged into one mega typhoon/hurricane! As they entered the vicious winds, the ship was being thrown all around like a piece of dead weight. But Arashi's superb skill kept them some what stabilized! He truly was the greatest helmsman of the known seas! They made a mad charge straight into the wall of wind, both of them laughing their hearts out! They were enjoying themselves as if they were children again. Just then they fought through the entire hurricane, until suddenly it became deathly silent ... they had reached the eye of the storm. Just a noise came from the starboard side! The hull was breaking apart ... they would not survive this storm.

 

"Arashi! We need to jump ship!"

 

"In the eye of the storm!? Are you mad!?" But then in that instant an idea popped into his head. "That's not a bad idea ..."

 

"What!? Are you mad!? And just how are we supposed to-"

 

*THUMP*

 

Arashi punched Aethos in the stomach and knocked the wind out of him.

 

"W-why?"

 

Arashi put the ship on autopilot and began to strap a parachute to his head, along with an oxygen mask. Aethos then realized what he was going to do, but still couldn't move. Just then Arashi retied his line near him, and Aethos laid next to him. Arashi then took back control of the ship and began to climb. The air becoming colder and the oxygen getting thinner. Aethos could still hear and see him, but not move.

 

"I've always had respect for you mate. I want you to know that. Not once did I ever give you into the Navy, not once. You were my only friend that believed that I could make it into the Navy when no one else did."

 

Aethos began to understand what he was going to do and tried to move but was still stunned. Arashi continued to take the airship higher, almost as if he was trying to fly OVER the hurricane.

 

"Heh, do you remember the day we first became rivals?" He paused, and began to tear slightly. "It was so stupid. I thought you were the cause of my sister's depression before she died. But then I learned that you were the one who would always visit her. You were there for her since we were kids, and I should have seen it. But I was so busy with the Navy I could never see her. I always felt guilty about that, and blamed you for her death when it was actually mine."

 

The ship rose faster and higher, when finally it reached to a point that it couldn't go any higher.

 

"This is the end of the line my friend. I want you to know that I’ve never bared a grudge against you, and that I've always held a respect for you. You were my only friend, even though we are rivals, you were my best friend. This is where we must part."

 

The ship's nose then began to fall and as they began to fall, Arashi pulled the parachute and cut the line he was secured too. Aethos flew back all the way to the rear of the ship, and pretty much floated over the hurricane and to safety. While the ship on the other hand was nearly fallen apart, and diving at a great speed.

 

"Good bye, Aethos." He looked as he floated out of the storm. He turned his head as he fell into the darkness of the storm and made one final battle cry. "MAYBE TODAY IS A GOOD DAY TO DIE! FOR NARUSAKU!!!"

 

And that was the last we saw of Arashi, possibly ... no ... he WAS the greatest helmsman that sailed the Seven Seas. Faithful NaruSaku believer, Ex-Navy Pilot Maverick, and one of the greatest crew members that I was proud to have. At least he died following his dreams. To pilot through ... "The Perfect Storm".

 

To Be Continued.

 

Chapter 23: Epilogue

 

Before Aethos passed out in midair, the last thing he remembered as the storm cleared was a long dark shadow in the water, along with the remains of our once NaruSaku Mk.II.

 

... Farewell my NaruSaku Mk.II ...


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"Shiny. Let's go be bad guys."


#25 hokuten

hokuten

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Posted 09 February 2006 - 02:35 AM

Chapter 24: Home, H&E
Subtitle: The Morning After


We held a formal Naval Burial ceremony and a memorial service in Arashi's honor. Even though his body never washed up to shore, and the ship was non-recoverable, we still honored both. All that DID wash to shore were our sails. We dried it off, folded it into a triangle, and let it go into the sea as HH played the burial at sea song. We all saluted as Ash laid flowers into the water. Aethos gave the a speech to commemorate him.

 

"He was a fellow NaruSaku believer. A crew member and the best helmsman anyone could ever be. But most importantly he was our friend. He died following his dream to encounter such a storm, and put my life in front of even that. He was more than a friend to me, he was like a brother. Farewell Arashi, may we meet again on the other side. But not all to soon ..."

 

And we lit a lantern in a more traditional way, and let it float out into the sea, as to let his wandering spirit find the way to heaven, or even home to us.

 

---

 

On the next morning, we continued on with our lives never forgetting those that were with us. We salvaged what we could from the near by crash site. Most of our cargo had sunken into the sea along with what was left of the ship. Thank God most of our booze casings were all sealed and not broken from the storm. If we didn't have our alcohol supply then I'd think we'd all go insane ... not that we aren't already insane.

 

Life went on, we continued to live at H&E without any disturbance, or trouble. Everyone went about their business and we got a small amount of traffic coming through our small town. Smiter and I continued to run the town and fix up whatever we needed. Blayze and UN would run the main tavern where we would all meet at the end of the day. Aethos continued to spend most of his time going over all his treasure maps as well as explore more of the area around our town. Meanwhile everyone else just made themselves at home, and moved into their rooms at the main complex. I found myself going back to writing fiction stories again, although it felt fairly slow to me.

 

Days had passed, and soon we would need to gain more traffic for our town so that we may become known. It was time to find a new ship, one that would take us to limits that we could only imagine of. A ship ten times that was our old one, the NaruSaku Mk.II. I only knew of one ship that could surpass the old one, but it was only in legend ... until now.

 

"BOSS! BOSS!" Aethos came rushing in my office interrupting my thoughts.

 

I wheeled my chair around to face him, and he looked as if he had found the holy grail. He specifically holding a parchment, particularly a map.

 

"Well? What is it?" I asked him.

 

"I think I've found IT." He began to explain excitedly. "I think I've found the map to ... the HMS NaruSaku."

 

To Be Continued.


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"Shiny. Let's go be bad guys."


#26 hokuten

hokuten

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Posted 09 February 2006 - 02:39 AM

Chapter 25: The Crew (Helmsman)
Subtitle: Soritia


"A map doesn't really help if we don't have transportation!" I told Aethos. "And besides, it's only a myth. There is no such hybrid ship that can fly, sail, and go beyond the stars. I mean WE barely even have that kind of technology yet."

 

"But boss! It's here! Somewhere on this island! The map shows that it's on a neighboring island that we can reach by row boat!" He continued to explain.

 

"No! I won't risk losing more crew members for a damn hunt. Look, as much I want to believe it exists ... we still need a new helmsman. Sure I can pilot and drive the boat, but I wasn't as advanced as Arashi-" I stopped at the mention of his name.

 

Aethos looked down for a short time, but shot right back at me with something that surprised me. "Then find a new helmsman! Arashi wouldn't have us sit here and waste away! He would want us to go get a new ship, and sail out in his honor! I'm going to that island to find the new ship, with or without your consent. You can hold me for treason when I come back with our new ship!"

 

Aethos angrily made his way out of my office and shut the door. I couldn't blame him for what he said. It was true, we did new a new ship and it was time to move on. Perhaps it was time to look for a new helmsman, but where and how? We couldn't really sail out to any other places, and NT was now gone. I felt more depressed and went to the bar where Blayze already had a drink ready for me.

 

"Oy! What's the matter brother?"

 

I sat down on a stool at the bar, put my head down, and leaned onto the bar. "Nothing. Just thinking of how our great cause is now sailing away because we have no ship and no pilot."

 

"Well, Aethos did have that nice map-"

 

"No! The HMS is only a fictional boat that we created! If it were real don't you think I would have had it by now!?" I barked out and then took another mouth full of rum.

 

"Calm down brother. Just because it may or may not be real, doesn't mean we can't believe." He poured me another mug full of rum. "It's worth a look in my opinion."

 

"Perhaps, but we still need a helmsman ..."

 

And after I had spoken those words the front door swung open and someone had came in. I didn't bother to turn around, assuming it was just one of my fellow members coming in after a long day. But then Blayze nudged me as if to tell me to look, but I didn't bother. I just kept my head down on the bar. Just then the new person had sat down right next to me. It was a young woman, perhaps a year or two younger than me.

 

"Can I help you miss?"

 

“A Greyhound, please."

 

Blayzed gave an impressed glance and that caught my attention. I began to sit up and face this girl who ordered such an specific drink.

 

"And here I thought I was the only one who drank Grey-“ As I picked my head up and turned around to face her, I felt as if my face was on fire. “-hounds…”

 

Twas a beauty before my eyes one of which I thought only Goddesses possessed. Her skin light and fair, while her hair was a smooth dark brown with a hint of a deep scarlet, and her eyes ... those eyes ... almost bewitching. I was at a loss of words, as this heavenly beauty sat directly across from me. No words could describe such euphoria that this girl ordered the same drink that I enjoy ever so much. She finished her drink and looked at me who was staring at her completely unaware of what I was doing. She gave this laugh at me as if it wasn't the first time this had happened to her, then walked out of the bar in such a way that it was hypnotic.

 

Just then Blayze brought me back to reality and smacked me upside the head.

 

"OY LLOYD! Wake up you dog!"

 

"Huh? Oh right! What just happened?" I shook my head.

 

"You went completely zombified as soon as that girl ordered a greyhound.”

 

"Ah yes ..." And as I remembered the moment I almost went back into a zombie state. Luckily Blayze smacked me once more before I went comatose.

 

"Hey. HEY!"

 

"Sorry, sorry! I can't help it. She was - well I - Um ... who was she?" I was stuttering all around.

 

"Geez, settle down brother. Don't know her name, but she's been coming here pretty regularly for the past week or so. One of the first new inhabitants to move out here to H&E. I think you'd have an advantage, she is a NaruSaku believer."

 

"Yes! I must find out her name! It must be a name that only bells from the heavens would ring too! Well I'm off brother!" After my declaration to find out who that girl was, I started to rush out of the bar when Blayze called me back.

 

"OY ANIKI! Don't go running out of here with your mug in hand!"

 

After I came back and gave back the mug, I ran out of the bar in search of that nameless beauty. I searched left and right, only to find a trail ... it was as if she wanted me to hunt after her. I gladly grinned and chuckled.

 

"And the hunt begins ..."

 

I followed this trail all around the Literary section of the town, and around into the Arts section. Little did I know that I was one step behind her, as she was going on about her business. She did give me a small glance and gave this smile/smirk to see that I was on the chase!

 

I was unsure if she was trying to confuse me, or if she was trying to lure me into some sort of a trap. But I didn't care! I was determined to find out who this nameless beauty that has me in her spell! Finally I had caught up to her, but she kept on walking.

 

"Your name milady."

 

"Ahh Sir Hunter! I'm glad you've kept up with me thus far!"

 

"Since the moment I saw you I could not sit by and let such a beauty beyond words escape! Perhaps angels have no names, only beautiful faces!"

 

She giggles and picked up her pace a little, then did a swing around to wink at me and walked her way into a building. I followed her not knowing that when she did that swing around she actually jumped over a puddle of mud. I stepped into it unknowingly and entered the building she went into.

 

"I'm afraid this is the end of the line, Sir Hunter."

 

"You still haven't told me your-"

 

"YOU DECECRATE THE HOUSE OF KAKASHI!" Ash & Alpha screamed in shock and pointed at my shoes which were all muddy.

 

I had realized what I had just done, and how she had lured me into a trap. Ash and Alpha had that fiery look in their eyes as they made their way towards me slowly. Fearing for my life, I backed away slowly towards the exit still trying to figure out her name.

 

"Please, your name milady!"

 

Just before Ash and Alpha brushed me out the door, she was laughing and enjoying herself as I was being punished by the Kakashi sisters outside. After I was pulverized into meat, I began to walk away with my head down since I had lost the hunt. The sun was setting over the docks and the sea looked as if it were on fire. I was then stopped by that same angelic voice!

 

"I applaud your determination before. You never lost sight of your target."

 

I raised my head to see the nameless beauty before my eyes. I wasn't sure if it was an illusion on my part or really her. I was frozen solid, unsure of what she would do to me. But instead she came over to me, and walked all around me as if inspecting me.

 

"I like a man who goes after his goal, and doesn't give up."

 

"Then perhaps I may show you my skill! Or perhaps a poem? A sonnet! Or even a-"

 

She then came up from behind me and placed a gentle finger on my lips to silence me.

 

"You're trying to hard." She whispered into my left ear, then whispered into my right. "You had me Hello."

 

With a confused look upon face, I wasn't sure about her words. "But I didn't say hello ..."

 

"Did you now?" She swung around me, gave me this "I've got you" smile, and ran her index finger from one ear down across my cheek to my chin and back up to my other cheek.

 

It took me a few second to realize what she meant, and as the sun set off into the horizon I instantly cheered out-

 

"YOSH!"

 

Her name was Soritia. She was an artist who also shares a passionate love for NaruSaku. She had arrived on H&E some time ago, but hadn't properly introduced herself yet. Apparently she was actually looking for me so that she could join the crew.

 

And on top of all that, she just happened to be a helmsman.

 

To Be Continued.


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"Shiny. Let's go be bad guys."


#27 hokuten

hokuten

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Posted 09 February 2006 - 02:41 AM

Chapter 26: The Crew (Medical Officer)
Subtitle: Quilted-Remorse


On the next morning, I introduced formally introduced Soritia to everyone and we warmly welcomed her into the crew. She was more than overjoyed to be apart of us, and to get to know all of us. Now we had our helmsman and I finally decided that we would go out to seek the HMS NaruSaku. We all made our way back to the tavern for drinks and food, while I made the announcement-

 

"Friends! It's high time that we stop sitting around here and drink our sorrows away! Aethos has found the map to the most legendary ship known to us believers."

 

Everyone gasped as they knew what I was about to reveal to them.

 

"Yes! The HMS NaruSaku. The legendary top secret ship created by our predecessors. A ship ten times that of our previous one! A ship that can sail not only upon the water and sky, but also among the stars! A ship that holds weapons of destruction that we can use to our advantage! Weapons that can help us fight against all of our foes! S***S***! N***H***! BAH! We have nothing to fear of once we find it!"

 

Everyone cheered out loud, but there was still some concern in the air.

 

"But captain, does it really exist?" Smiter was the first to ask.

 

"It's real! As real as the One Piece! And I will bet my life that both are as real as we are all gathered here!" Aethos gladly answered his question.

 

"Then it is set! In two days we will travel to search for this ship and reclaim it as our own! HEAR-HEAR!" I exclaimed and raised my glass high.

 

Everyone toasted and we drank the rest of the night away. On the next morning, I unfortunately found myself lying around in the middle of no where outside of the town. I woke up with a very bad hangover, so tried to sit myself up. The last thing I remembered was playing a drinking game with Smiter, Ash, and Soritia. That and Aethos, Alpha, HH, and Blayze dancing on tables, singing merrily. The next thing I know, I'm awake on the outskirts of town. Well ... at least they let me keep my clothes ... this time.

 

As I started to make my way back, I fumbled my way back pretty much. The sun sure was shining bright today, or maybe it was just this hangover. Either way I couldn't really see where I was going. Instead I ended up going out further into the outskirts of town. Somehow I ended up in the middle of a forested area, with no sense of direction. I had flare on hand, but wasn't sure if anyone would be able to see it, much less start a forest fire. I just decided to sit down against a tree and try to sleep off this hangover.

 

"Why am I always the one who ends up losing at these games ..."

 

Yet again before I was able to rest, I was interrupted by a voice.

 

"Excuse me sir!"

 

It was another young girl.

 

"Do you know the way to H&E? I'm a little lost myself."

 

Since I was lost myself, I assumed that home was in the opposite direction of where I came from. So I pointed in the opposite direction I came form and told her-

 

"That way miss."

 

She gladly thanked me and went off on her way, but before she left.

 

"Oh! And here." She handed me two pills and a bottle of water. "Take that and you should feel better. Thank you again!"

 

How did she know? It didn't matter; I just took the medicine and took a quick nap. When I awoke, I felt almost better than new. It felt as if my body was fully rejuvenated and my head was as clear as water. The medicine that girl gave me was really good. I just hope I didn't point her in the wrong direction. So I took my own advice and followed my footsteps backwards. By shear dumb luck I did find my way back. Everyone was already waiting for me back at the bar as I walked in. They all rushed to my side worried sick of what had happened to me.

 

"Captain!" - "Are you alright?" - "Sorry about that last night!" - "We thought you went on one of your late night walks again!"

 

"I'm okay, I'm okay." I rubbed my head happy to see that everyone was at least concerned about me. Then I saw that same girl who helped me out sitting at the bar. "Thanks to her."

 

I pointed the new girl out and she looked at me then at herself. She seemed a little embarrassed at first, but then came over to us.

 

"It was nothing. You helped me on my way here, good sir."

 

"What was it you gave me anyway?"

 

"Just some hangover medicine that I made. I'm glad that my medicine helped you recover fast."

 

"You're a medic?"

 

"Yes. My name is Quilted-Remorse, but you can call me QR. Some of you may also know me as chunkymacaroni from DA. I was a former Naval Medical Officer, but was kicked out for being a NaruSaku believer. I wish to join this brigade."

 

Just when she told us who she really was everyone realized who she was! Another celebrity had honored us with their presence! I was fairly impressed and did know of her artworks. Here she was in our town of H&E and she wanted to join our crew!

 

"Where might I find this Captain Hokuten?"

 

Naturally I was happy to introduce myself and pointed to myself. “Me.”

 

She was a little surprised, but also semi knew it was me at the same time.

 

"We would be honored if you join us on our crusade, QR."

 

She bowed lightly and we accepted her into our ranks! Now we had a full time Medical Officer with us, as well as a talented Artist! The time was upon us; we are regaining our morale and getting more members along the way!

 

Soon ... we would search for the HMS NaruSaku and once again, set sail across the seas!

 

To Be Continued.


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"Shiny. Let's go be bad guys."


#28 hokuten

hokuten

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Posted 09 February 2006 - 02:50 AM

Chapter 27: H&E, Isle Del Sorna
Subtitle: The HMS NaruSaku


... Isla Del Sorna ...

 

A God forsaken island that's cursed with a dormant volcano. I say dormant now, because we all know what's going to happen, so no stupid surprise. Never trust a dormant volcano in stories, movies, or television! We took what rowboats we could and traveled together.

 

Blayze, Yoko, Soritia, and I were in the lead boat, while Smiter, Ash, Alpha, HH, and Aethos were in the other. Bass, Shinyu, QR, and UN stayed behind to hold the fort while we were gone. This expedition would be a dangerous one, but well worth the cause.

 

Personally I thought it as just another wild goose chase, I mean come on, this HMS NaruSaku. A hybrid ship that can sail among water, air, and stars. It'd have to be some kind of alien technology! But legend has it that our NaruSaku predecessors had created the ship before they had disappeared in time. Whether the ship existed or not, we had to risk it. We needed a ship to get back on our cause for NaruSaku.

 

"Besides that! We're pirates! Imagine all the treasures that the Old NaruSaku's had left behind!?" Aethos started to explain.

 

Blayze answered back across the boat. "I just want to see those Mechas that they built!"

 

"Oh yeah! That would mean the ship's as big as a carrier! If it houses mechas, and even those fighter planes." Aethos contributed.

 

That caught my attention. "Fighter planes?"

 

"Yeah boss! From the descriptions I found back on H&E, this ship's supposed to be one hell of a battleship. With a hanger bay fit with five mechs, three-hybrid fighter planes, and even spare speeder boats. It can sail across the sea with great speed, as well as fly through the sky like a bird! But yeah, that sailing among the stars part is kinda fishy, I think they added that just for fun." Aethos explained.

 

About an hour more and we had reached the shores of Del Sorna. At first glance it seemed like one of those places out of a movie, like Jurassic Park, but instead it was just a jungle-like habitat. We pulled the boats in and tied them off to a near by tree so that they wouldn't be stolen, or if the tide came in and took them. We all began to make our way through the jungle, following Aethos who took the lead with the map. We marched on for about a hundred paces north, then another fifty paces east. Pretty much taking us towards the volcano (surprise surprise!). But it was strange because at the base of the volcano there was like a lake surrounding it, almost like a super moat guarding the volcano. This semi through me off, but we were expecting for the worst. Aethos stopped at the edge of the water and read off the inscriptions off the back of the map.

 

"Those that wish to reach the HMS be warned. A true NaruSaku believer would walk upon water and see that which others cannot see!"

 

"WTF? Walk on water? Who do they think we are, Jesus!?" Aethos mocked the riddle on the map. "We don’t know how deep the water goes, and it doesn't look exactly SAFE to swim across. Something doesn't smell right ..."

 

"That's the sulfur from the volcano." Alpha pointed out, teasing Aethos.

 

"Well I still don't get it. Walk on water? See what others cannot?" Aethos continued to complain.

 

Smiter went over to the water to inspect it. He put a finger into the water and tasted it. "Acidic. The lake is acidic, but it's not dangerous."

 

"So what does that mean, love?" Ash asked Smiter.

 

Smiter paused for a second, put up his finger as if he were hit by an epiphany and replied with. "I - don't - know ..."

 

We all tripped over onto the ground as he answered. As we got back up, Soritia came up with an idea. "Hey what if we bring the boats over and row across?"

 

"No. The acid may not eat us, but it will eat away at the boats." Blayze explained.

 

"Well then how the freaking hell are we supposed to get across!?" HH blurted out.

 

"Walk ... it tells us that we have to walk, but not how. See that others cannot see ..." I began to talk to myself.

 

Yoko came over to me and asked me what I was thinking. "Dai-syon, what do you think?"

 

"It's a test. If we truly believe in NaruSaku so strongly that we should be able to walk across this entire lake without worry of drowning."

 

"Walk on water. I think the captain's lost it." Aethos mumbled out loud.

 

"No, it's a test of faith. If the Ancients did create all of this then there must be some kind of way across."

 

I began to look around and saw an area where the land was level with the water. It looked as if there was a path leading straight over to the other side, but there was no bridge or ground, only water. Everyone followed me over to the semi noticeable path, and watched as I stepped forward. The edge went straight down into darkness. This stop was obviously man made, and was the initial "entrance" way to the next level. I felt like Indiana Jones in The Last Crusade, when he had to take a leap of faith. I paused for a moment to collect my wits and gather my faith ... and I took the first step into the water.

 

Only, I didn't exactly step into the water. I opened my eyes and saw that I was actually standing on what seemed to be a glass support plate! No wonder we couldn't see the path. The glass and water hid the path, and it was all about believing that the NaruSaku had left a definite way.

 

"Another meaning to Underneath the Underneath. Almost quite literally."

 

The crew relieved that I hadn't drowned myself and walked to my doom, they followed me carefully across the lake. Once you saw the first step you could easily tell the rest of the path and see the illusion that was under the water. We could see the glass bridge, and the small edges to show the definite path. We made our way across the lake and over to the volcano. Now came the hard part, finding the entrance way into the "dormant" volcano, and getting to our ship, so that we can narrowly escape the fiery magma/lava rushing to enclose us! I could only imagine the excitement that awaited us! (Well, not really ...)

 

Soon after we found this small cave that led down into the base of the volcano. The cave was fairly dark so we took out our flashlights and began exploring deep into the cavern. The path led down, always down and never up. The air grew colder and colder, it felt like we had been hiking down an entire mountainside without setting up camp. Until finally we reached a long tunnel hallway that just went on into the darkness.

 

"For building a super high tech ship, you'd think they'd install some type of high tech lab to get to it eh? Or at least some sort of a lighting system." Aethos made a wise crack.

 

We all laughed and lightened up from our tense mood. It felt like a bad sci-fi movie, you're on an abandoned island with a volcano that's been dormant for years, looking for a legendary ship in a dark spooky cavern that has no sort of lighting system. Whether it was out of sheer boredom or dumb luck, I wanted to test something.

 

"Clap on!" I said and clapped my hands twice.

 

Aethos looked at me with this (I can't believe you just did that) face. "Oh come on boss! I was only kidding! It's not like they installed such ... a ..."

 

But before he could finish his sentence, everyone couldn't believe their eyes. The entire cavern began to light up, power was coming up and a lighted path could now be seen. The long dark hallway soon lit up like a runway, there was a definite path to follow now. Well at least now we know that the Ancients used the clap-on/clap-off power system! Now THAT's some old school technology from like five or six years ago.

 

We continued down the now lit path and the surprises didn't end there, the stonewall all around us soon became a glass tube hallway, UNDERNEATH the sea! We must have been miles down underwater! It was like something you could only see in at Sea World, or a futuristic zoo! We weren't too far deep under the ocean, but far enough that it was still dark. We continued to follow the path, and weird as it already was the floor began to move. Now we were on a moving path, like the ones you see at the airport! These Ancients must have really outdone themselves this time! Clapper system, escalator walkway, what's next? That soothing female voice that tells you where you're headed and gives that whole explanation of what we're going to?

 

"Welcome fellow NaruSaku." A soothing female voice began to announce.

 

"You've got to be kidding me ..." I spoke in pure disbelief. I think everyone was a little baffled by all of this.

 

The voice continued. "If you've made it this far, we will take you the rest of the way. Long ago, we your predecessors built this entire station so that future NaruSaku troops would find it. Through hard work and dedication ..."

 

Yadda, yadda, yadda. History of NaruSaku, how they built the ship, why they built the ship, why it's been safe guarded here, and so forth. What I was really interested was when the program would get to the specifications of the ship and what it's capable off.

 

"... The ship is fully automated, and can be manned by even a skeleton crew."

 

Here we go, as I began to listen once again.

 

"The HMS NaruSaku is a full-battle carrier class ship. Equipped with 15 missile/torpedo bays, 20 gun turrets, and a front mount bow Carrion Hyper Beam cannon. The ship is also designed to be mobile above sea level, and below. The HMS is also capable of full-on flight mode, with propulsion systems for vertical take off, or runway take off. The Star System Hyper drive however was unsuccessful, our dreams to reaching the stars was too much since we were already a sea ship, airship, and submarine. Inside the ship, there is a hanger bay holding five of our finest mechs..."

 

Blayze and Aethos both became excited. "Here we go! The best part!"

 

"... Each mech is designed to recognize it's user, very simplistic to use, and is battle ready at all times. Along with our mechs, include one prototype fighter plane that one of the Ancients based off of his favorite anime, Macross Plus ..."

 

Now that DEFINITELY caught my attention! I was almost jumping up for joy when it started to explain about it. It was like the exact ship that I've always wanted to pilot in my dreams. A real Valkyrie, Variable tech fighter! A ship that could transform into three different forms, fighter mode, battleroid (robot), and gerwalk (hybrid-plane/robot). I couldn't believe my ears so I held off my emotions until I physically saw the plane. After the brief explanation of the Valkyrie, it continued with it's specifications of the ship.

 

"... with over (insert X amount) cabins and an exclusive galley for the crew ..."

 

It went on about how it had such extravagant space, dining halls, open bar hall, along with storage space, training halls, as well as recreations halls. I believe we all looked over at Smiter who was intently listening for that specific detail to which he feared the most. He was so tense we thought he was having a heart attack, or was about to fall over dead.

 

"... and that completes our ship's interior."

 

Smiter gave a sigh of pure relief and his tension immediately dispersed.

 

"Also we are proud to say that we have the best Karaoke Super System!"

 

"U-uso ..." Poor Smiter must have gone as pale as a ghost once again when he heard that last message. I believe Ash had to resuscitate and bring him back to life!

 

"Next to that of the N***H***'s have on their flagship. Only because we were out bid for it. You know, what with all the technology the Ancients put into the ship."

 

We all gave a hearty laugh as we were nearing the docking station. Just the long travel down the automated path was magnificent enough. The soft glow of the lights illuminated the ocean floor. We saw all sorts of deep-sea creatures just swimming about. I believe in Alpha pressed her face to the glass saying she saw Fat Sasuke. We must have been going down this path for nearly a mile or so. Until finally the walk path just stopped and the hall lights all dimmed down.

 

"Whoa, what happened?" A startled Aethos said.

 

Blayze looked all around "I think we've stopped."

 

"Power failure? Then we're trapped!?" HH began to panic slightly.

 

"Calm down, I'm sure it's just recharging or pausing for a moment. It is old you know." Smiter explained to a shaken HH.

 

Just then we heard a quiet humming noise, as if something where powering up. Outside the glass hallway the ocean was completely dark, only the soft light from the sunlight above was shining. Suddenly a ray of light made it's way down into the depths, and nearly revealed something.

 

"THERE! Did you see it!?" Alpha pointed out.

 

But the ray of light had already passed over what Alpha had seen. Something was out there, just beyond this enclosed airlock door. Unsure of whether we would drown or have to make our long way back, everyone’s tension was slowly building. The quiet hum soon became slightly louder and then the automated voice spoke one last time.

 

"Fellow NaruSaku, friends, and believers. Welcome ..."

 

And with those final words, there was great light before us! But it wasn't coming from the hallway or from above, it was coming from directly outside in the ocean! What we saw we couldn't believe our eyes! 

 

"... to The HMS NaruSaku."

 

It was the exactly as we had seen it in our dreams! The ship that was considered legend. The ship that was thought to have been lost in time. The ship that carried the hearts of all the NaruSaku. We had finally found it, the HMS NaruSaku.

 

To Be Continued.


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"Shiny. Let's go be bad guys."


#29 hokuten

hokuten

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Posted 09 February 2006 - 02:59 AM

Chapter 28: The HMS NaruSaku
Subtitle: Ship Of Dreams, Fly my NaruSaku! FLY!


Words had failed me yet again as the soft glow from the HMS NaruSaku emanated from it's interior. Also the side marking lights gave a glow as it illuminated the entire area to which we were standing. It must have been 3 leagues in length and 2 high! It looked like a standard battle cruiser, but altered slightly. You have the full hull, with the front half semi-flat top. While the back half was rounded off and it had this strange arc going from one side of the ship all the way around to the other. Very modern, yet also futuristic look, we could see the deck mounted gun turrets, but no sign of this "Carrion Hyper Beam cannon" they spoke of. From what we could see the thrusters were built into the arc around the ship as well as on the bow for vertical take-off.

 

Simply magnificent, it had a silver shine about it that just make you look with pure awe. This was only just he outside of the ship! Soon after the few moments of our standing in pure surprise and awe, the airlock door in front of us made a noise and opened. Now we would board this legendary ship! At first no one moved wondering if it was safe to go ahead, the lighted path leading our way into the already powered up ship. I believe it was me who took the first step. I was so excited I was nearly shaking in my boots.

 

"Tis one small step, eh brother?" Blayze said as I had made my way into the ship.

 

I sighed in relief and turned around to face the crew members with me. As I stood in the light, it made me look nostalgic and I began to speak.

 

"And one giant leap for NaruSaku. Once again, the ship is ours! YO-HO!"

 

"YAAARRRR!!!" Everyone cheered and came on board with me.

 

The halls were so clean and open; it was like going on a leisure cruise ship, the kind that sails out to the Bahamas, or Caribbean. Everything was very neat and organized. We first entered the loading area and found so much space for storage, next we all decided to split up and explore the ship while we could. Everyone had their own com radio in case something should happen. Smiter and Ash went off to explore the starboard side of the ship, while Alpha and HH inspected the port side we were on. Aethos and Blayze went searching for the hanger bay, along with weapons storage, stowing area, and of course any left over treasure the Ancients had left behind. Yoko, Soritia, and I went to look for the main bridge room.

 

Every room was enormous, at least twice that of our normal boarding rooms back on Island H&E. There were so many cabins it was as if they left this ship to house an entire army ready for battle. As we three made our way up the ship, I believe it was Aethos who called in the first find.

 

*static* "Boss! Boss! We found the hanger bay!" *static*

 

I picked up my radio and called back. *pause* "Where are you? What level of the ship?" *pause*

 

*static* "Hold on." *static, but could slightly hear (Oy! Blayze, what level we on?)* "We're on level B3 of the ship. Boss, they even have elevators on this ship! It's freaking awesome!" *static*

 

*pause* "Okay, I'll come to you. Stay put." *pause*

 

I clipped my radio back onto my belt and turned to face Yoko and Soritia.

 

"Okay, you two go ahead to the bridge room and figure out how to get us topside. I'll go meet up with Aethos and Blayze to check what they found. Okay? If you run into anything, or any problems, do not hesitate to call. DO NOT Hesitate."

 

"Yo-kai!" They both saluted quickly and continued on.

 

Luckily for us the Ancients at least installed signs to show where the elevators and stairwells were. I made my way over to the elevator and pushed the (B3) button. The elevator doors closed and the room hummed slightly. Afterwards the doors opened and I stepped out into the vast and dark hanger bay. It was HUGE; you could easily fit another small boat or submarine inside this entire bay. It was still a bit dark, but I saw the flashlights of Aethos and Blayze walking over to me.

 

"Captain! You have to check this out!"

 

Aethos led the way towards a large shadowy figure. It must have been at least thirty feet tall like a statue. He then motioned over to Blayze who was standing next to a control panel on the sidewall and Blayze hit the switch. When the lights came on, I was definitely surprised. It was full sized battle mech, only something you would see from the Gundam series. Next to the center one were two more mechs, two on each side, equaling a total of five mechs. Aethos was nearly jumping out of excitement and Blayze came rushing over.

 

Aethos excitedly went first. "Okay so check it out. The two on the left are Naruka & Sakuto, both of them are like a fused version of NaruSaku, but each with a different pattern."

 

"The ones on the right are Inner Sakura & Kyuubi. You notice the resemblance, one being black with a white outline and the other with the outfit of a fox-like mech." Blayze followed up after Aethos.

 

Then Aethos finished up with, "But this one here? In the middle? This is the Inner Kyuubi mech. Totally badass, I mean look at it! It practically speaks for itself!"

 

The center mech was black with red outlines and had a very fierce look upon it. Next the two of them pulled me over to what I wanted to see, the fighter plane.

 

"Okay, okay boss! And this one's for you!" Aethos went over to this shrouded plane, covered with a white sheet.

 

Blayze put his arm around my shoulder and leaned in to talk to me. "So brother? All those dreams of wanting to fly, and owning your own Valkyrie? It's about to get a whole lot better! Remember that ship you said you'd want to fly someday?"

 

I was getting fairly excited, but tried to stay in control. "Yes?"

 

Blayze's tone getting more alluring and preparing to surprise me. "The super valkyrie you so coveted?"

 

My nerves were tingling, and what the two of them would reveal to me was more than a shocker. "Yes?"

 

"Well feast your eyes on THE Captain’s plane!" Aethos called out and yanked the whole white blanket off the plane to reveal the ship of my dreams.

 

I nearly fell to my knees in pure disbelief! Was it real? This ship that was fictional and was nearly impossible to create before my eyes? My brother picked me up laughing at my reaction and helped me over to the plane. All I could say was-

 

"No! No way!!!"

 

Aethos laughing at this priceless moment, just enthusiastically shouted, "Yeah baby!! YEAH!!!"

 

Blayze carried me over to the ship and helped me regain my composure. I looked over at them both and nearly choked talking to them.

 

"Mine?" I pointed to myself, still in disbelief.

 

Aethos gladly grinned and nodded his head. "Yup, it's yours."

 

"My ship?" I looked at Blayze.

 

He grinned as well, happy to see me overwhelmed by this. "Tis your ship, brother."

 

"My ship." I stepped closer to touch it, and it was real. "My Ship! MY SHIP!"

 

I gave the plane a full personal inspection. It was exactly as I had pictured it in my mind. Everyday wanting to fly in such a perfect machine, being able to soar through the sky as Isamu did in Macross Plus. By the time I was done, I think we were all jumping around the hanger bay like giddy school girls, overly excited, but it was only about to get better and better.

 

*static* "Dai-syon! We found the main bridge room." *static*

 

It was Yoko's voice over the radio. We all calmed ourselves down, and I picked up my radio to respond.

 

*pause* "Okay, good. I'll be right there." *pause*

 

I put my radio back on my belt again, and turned to face my engineer and weapons officer. I put a firm hand on both of their shoulders and smiled greatly.

 

"Good job men. Continue searching and learn more about whatever you can. Soon we'll be topside and we can go home to tell everyone."

 

They both nodded their heads and I left them. I went back over to the elevator and pressed the (L5) button, since it was the highest deck. The doors opened and it led down a hallway to the main bridge. I opened the doors to find Yoko and Soritia already working on the controls. Everything did seem pretty easy to manage, nothing overly high tech or complicated to handle. We still had the good old reliable control wheel and speed control panel. Weapons and navigation was fairly automated, along with docking and boarding. The upgrade we had from our original ship was no more tricky or cool ways to enable flight mode. It was an option on the control panel next to the wheel. Soritia was getting adjusted to this new ship, and soon it was about time to make topside! I called in everyone to meet in the bridge room.

 

*pause* "All members regroup here in the main bridge room. It's time that we bring her home." *pause*

 

*static* "Yo-kai!" *static*

 

Everyone had replied back, and came to the bridge room a few minutes later. Smiter and Ash discovered the training room, recreation area, and even a literary section of the ship. Alpha and HH had explored more of the cabin area, along with the galley, and they had even managed to find the Super Karaoke room/bar. Smiter gave a slight grumble at the mention of it, while Ash giggled at him. Aethos and Blayze finished examining the hanger and weapons bay, gave a munitions count, and Aethos managed to find the engineer's manual. (Like he really needs it! ) I found my captain's chair just behind the helm, and sat finally got to sit down.

 

"Yoko seal off that airlock door we entered from. And Soritia ... take us home."

 

Yoko pressed a button that closed off the walkway we came from and we could see from inside the room the lights had turned off. Now it was time to hit the surface! Soritia took a look at the control panel to her right, and pulled the lever back to select surface. The ship gave a slight rumble and we could hear the ballasts blow, the water exiting the ship so that it would slowly rise. The ship rumbled slightly and began to move towards the surface. Everyone was excited and started cheering, as we were moving. We could see the many air bubbles pass the front window as we were rising. After about a few more minutes the top of the ship rose out of the water for the first time in years! Then the bridge room came upon the surface, the sun shining brightly into the room! Finally we were top side!

 

"Welcome to the world, HMS NaruSaku!" Alpha gleefully said out loud.

 

We all smiled and cheered when Alpha said that. Soritia then set the speed at 30 knots, and we moved through the water as if we were floating through it! Everyone then rushed outside to breathe in the fresh sea breeze! I wanted to follow but waited for Soritia. She smiled at me and saw that I was waiting for her, but she simply nodded her head and waved her hand at me.

 

"Go on you! I know you want to outside too!"

 

Like an excited kid I rushed out the door. Just as Soritia was about to put her hand back on the wheel I came back to take her hand and kiss it. We smiled at each other and I went out onto the outside deck with the rest of the crew. It was a beautiful sight out there! The ship passing through water as if it was one with the sea itself! It was simply magnificent, but it was only about to get better! Soritia called me from above and I went back inside to see her.

 

"Hoku, let's fly back home in style!" She gleefully said.

 

I smiled greatly and agreed. "Let's see what this baby can really do."

 

I called everyone back inside so that we could begin the flight process. Everyone took a seat and clipped on the safety belts attached to the seats. I stood next to Soritia near the control wheel to get a good view of our take off. First she pushed the up one notch from surface mode into the slot that said "take-off flight mode", and the ship began to power up. The engines slowly rumbling and the ship moving at an increased pace. We gained greater and greater speed, moving at nearly 90-100 knots! The power of the propulsion engines roaring! Nearly everyone was sitting back in their seats because of the sheer force, but Soritia and I stood our ground! Just then the front of the bow began to slowly lift out of the water! We were rising! My blood was rushing all around, I felt so excited!

 

"Come on, my NaruSaku! FLY!"

 

We must have reached 180 knots! We could all feel the ship rising out of the water; everything was shaking slightly out of pure g-force! Everyone getting excited and a little pumped that we were actually going to fly! Soon the stern of the ship was trailing behind still in the water waiting for that extra push to rise out! We were nearly at a 30-degree angle! Soritia was starting to lose her grip slightly on the wheel, so I quickly went up behind her and helped her hold on. She gritted her teeth and cheered on!

 

"Come on baby! Almost out of the water! FLY DAMN YOU FLY!" She commanded the ship.

 

With a final "umph" the ship rose out of the sea and into the sky! Everyone on board began to cheer madly and go wild! We gained higher altitude, higher and higher into the sky! Soritia and I stabilized the ship and now we were once again, Pirates of the Sea and Sky! It was like nothing I had ever experienced, a rush that no words could describe! Everyone unbuckled their seat belts and ran outside once again, to experience our super hybrid ship! This time we left the ship on autopilot and set a course to return home.

 

Back on Island H&E, Bass, Shinyu, UN, and QR came running out of the tavern to see what the big roar was coming from the distance. They didn't see any ship upon the sea, but as Bass looked up he couldn't believe his eyes.

 

"My God ... they found it! YEEEAAAHHH!!!" He began cheering out loud and jumping for joy.

 

The land crew saw as the HMS NaruSaku soar high above the sky on it's majestic return home! We made a circle around the island, and stood off the starboard side of the ship waving to everyone! I looked on at our home, and at everyone who was excited and pumped up, and quietly smiled. I felt this was only the beginning, just the beginning of something greater.

 

To Be Continued.


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"Shiny. Let's go be bad guys."


#30 hokuten

hokuten

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Posted 09 February 2006 - 03:07 AM

Chapter 29: H&E, HMS NaruSaku
Subtitle: Alpha's Tales from the Depths


~~~~~[. . . 12 years ago . . . ]~~~~~

"Grandpa! Grandpa!"

 

"No Alpha! Don't come out to me! DO NOT LEAVE THE BOAT!"

 

A little 6 yr old Alpha sat in the boat by herself. They were miles out in the middle of the sea. The heavy fog was all around them. Only she could see her grandfather wading out in the water, trying to swim his way back to the boat. Something had knocked him out of the boat rather violently, sending him flying out about ten feet from the small row boat.

 

"I'm telling you grandpa, I got a bad feeling about this." Alpha's father spoke worryingly.

 

"Don't worry about me, just protect that treasure!" He yelled back almost near the boat.

 

Suddenly there was a great bellow in the air, it sounded like a muffled fog horn ... only it wasn't a foghorn. It almost sounded like a cry of anger, something from the sea crying "AAAANNNNGGGSSSSTTTT". Then in the distance there was a great dark shadow coming through the fog.

 

"Alpha! Throw me the harpoon! QUICKLY!" Alpha's grandfather shouted, and stopped midway to the boat.

 

Alpha seeing the great shadow closing in on her grandfather who was still unarmed! She struggled around the boat trying to get the harpoon, but it kept slipping from her grip.

 

"ALPHA! HARPOON!"

 

"I'm trying grandpa!"

 

She kept desperately trying to pick up the heavy harpoon, but could barely pick it up with one hand.

 

"ALPHA--!!!"

~~~~~[End Of Flashback]~~~~~

 

Alpha woke up in a cold sweat gasping for air, her heartbeat racing. The bright sunlight shining through her window and upon her face. She was so pale that in the light she would have looked like a ghost. Ash came from the bathroom and saw her little sister had woken up. But from the look on her face she didn't look so good. She moved over to her side, wiped the cold sweat from her face with a cloth, and saw that her hands were literally shaking.

 

"Oy, Alpha, are you okay?" Ash tried to coax her sister. "What happened? What is it?"

 

"I ... I had the dream again." She tried to speak out, but was shivering badly.

 

Ash hadn't seen her sister like this since they were children. If anything it was Alpha who was the first one awake before Ash. Ash knew well of the exact dream she was talking about. The same dream that haunts her as well as motivates her for that silly goal. Ash simply held her sister close, and ran her hand through her hair to calm her down.

 

---

 

It had been about a week since we found the HMS NaruSaku and brought her back home to H&E. We were still exploring all around the ship, testing out the new tricks and toys it had to offer. We all decided to get accustomed to it first before we actually set sailed. But in that short week, it was pretty simple to understand the ship. It was as if the HMS NaruSaku was built by us, we already knew what everything did, and how to work it. So I decided that it was time to take her out into the sea as her first voyage with a great crew.

 

We stowed in all of the supplies needed for a good weeks voyage, I suppose you could call it a test drive. Although we'd probably just use it as a cruise ship for vacation, but it didn't matter. Supplies were properly stowed away, just about everyone was going to go, except for Shinyu who stayed behind to hold the fort down as well as welcome new comers to the island. We set sail on a Monday, and hopefully we would return back to the island on Sunday. For the first few days we stopped by all of the old ruins of NF, BK, and NT. But there was no one left, or anyone to be found. We did get to a few trading ports and got our daily Anime/Manga updates. We all did our routine jobs, and got more accustomed to this high tech super ship.

 

On the fifth day (Thursday ... oops, I mean Friday), we would have another one of our crew meetings. Since there were only two new members (Soritia & QR), we didn't really need to go through a whole process, and got to know more about our helms & medical officer. After they had done their bit, we all gathered to eat a wonderful feast that UN had prepared for us. We all sat at the long table in the galley of the HMS NaruSaku.

 

"So! Everyone report." I took a drink from my mug of rum.

 

Aethos went first. "Well, this engine the Ancients have is one hell of a piece of work! It practically runs on the seawater itself! Although I'm still not sure, but I think it's Cold Fusion. I'm still learning more about the whole ship though."

 

"Good, good. Next?"

 

"Weapons are all functional, and I think I've figured out this Carrion Hyper Beam Cannon to work. But we'll need to test it on some poor remote place." Blayze spoke next.

 

"Yeah! Why don't we go find a N***H*** island and vaporize them! Hahahaa!" Aethos gave a hearty laugh, although poor HH was shaking his head in disagreement.

 

"We haven't had any disturbances or any problems as of lately. Nothing really new to update on the outside world. Nothing really exciting to tell. We just need to go find more people and help them find their way to H&E." Smiter gladly finished up the report.

 

"Good. We'll keep searching around for more NaruSaku people to join our brigade." I nodded my head, and took another drink from my mug.

 

Food was brought out and we ate together. Afterwards everyone pretty much went all over for leisure time. UN and HH cleaned up the galley, QR and Bass went off to the library/arts section of the ship, while Yoko went to the training area to work more on combat skill. The rest of us went to the bar room across from the galley for the rest of the night. We all sat around this big table in the dim light room, just talking the night away. Blayze and Aethos discussing about the mechs and technology. Ash and Smiter playing their usual drinking game. While Soritia and I discussed more finer arts and what not. Poor Alpha was just sitting there looking at all of us getting hopelessly drunk yet again, but this time she would change tonight’s agenda.

 

"Hey hey! Come on everyone gather around! I wanna tell you guys my stories!" She rounded up all of us to sit at this small round table.

 

"Stories huh? About what?" Blayze was curious but also began to tease her. "About how you found some devilish looking guy named Paul?"

 

"Aww yeah right mate! You're as devilishly looking as the devil himself!" Aethos twisted Blayze's words.

 

We all gave a good laugh, and decided to hear what tales Alpha had to offer us. Smiter and Ash sat on one side and Blayze and Aethos sat on the other. Alpha sat right in-between her sister and Blayze, while Soritia and I sat across from them. We were all bunched around together with the dim light hovering over us. The atmosphere felt like one of those old rickety ships with the candle light swaying around.

 

"Okay yay! Now gather here friends so that I may tell the tale of THE Legendary-"

 

Ash shook her head as she knew what tale her dear sister would tell of. "Oh God Alpha, not this again."

 

"Hey! You said I could tell my story another time! Well it's another time, and I wanna tell it!" She squealed at her sister who interrupted her. "As I was saying! Before I was so ruuudely interrupted."

 

Alpha glared at her older sister who in return gave a "OoOo!" teasing look.

 

"The tale of THE Legendary-" She made this dramatic pause. "Fat Sasuke!"

 

We all gave this look of confusion, bewilderment, but also curiosity. We all looked at each other to exchange glances, but then leaned it to hear her tale, except for Ash who already knew the tale she kept on feeding poor Smiter more and more spiced rum! Alpha leaned in towards the center and she had this look of pure anguish.

 

"The tale of Fat Sasuke begins over a hundred years ago!" She paused for a moment, then thought about the time span. "Well okay, maybe not a hundred more like fifty or so. But anyway, our Grandfather Ahab-"

 

"Whoa whoa whoa! You're grandfather was THE Captain AHAB? And I supposed Fat Sasuke is another name for Moby kitten?" Blayze interrupted Alpha this time, finding the names rather very coincidental.

 

Ash sighed, and interrupted Blayze. "He's name wasn't Ahab, it was Lamar! And they only called him Ahab cuz his buddies in the navy thought he was mad-"

 

"He wasn't insane! And stop interrupting me! It's MY story and it's a TRUE story at that!" Alpha screeched at everyone.

 

"Oh come off it Alpha, you he was just making up those bed time stories. I mean he did fight in the war, but sometimes he exaggerates!" Ash argued with her sister.

 

"OH!? And WHO left me behind to go shopping with grandma! AND FOR KAKASHI STUFF TOO!" Alpha angrily spoke back. "It's MY STORY and you weren't there!"

 

Ash rolled her eyes and just let her sister continue. She couldn't care at the moment, so she let Alpha tell the story.

 

"So! Fifty years back, Grandpa LEMAR-" Alpha emphasized on the name and glared at her sister who in turn gave a wry laugh. "-was in the navy fighting a war. On his ship he and his crewmates stumbled onto this treasure."

 

She pulled something out from her pocket. It looked like some sort of a dessert, like a chocolate cake.

 

"This!" And when she it up to the light, it revealed to be ... a ho-ho.

 

We all laughed yet again still confused and unsure of whether this was a serious tale or some kind of a joke. But we still have her our attention.

 

"Lemar found these sunken cases of ho-hos on the bottom of the sea. But what he would later find was a diamond encrusted, onyx ho-ho. possibly worth millions and millions of money. But it was lost." She made another dramatic pause. "To black and blue whale. Lemar's ship was viciously attacked a few days later, their hull was nearly punched through and through. All of the ho-hos gone! Taken away by this black and blue whale. All he could recall seeing and hearing, was the sound of its cry."

 

Alpha imitated the whale call in a deep cry. "AAAAAAAANGST!" Then she continued on with her tale.

 

"The treasure they had taken was guarded by the devil of the sea! The devil sea cow that only craves for Ho-hos. Fat Sasuke. Grandpa nearly lost his life out at sea just trying to retrieve the treasure. He would go out repeatedly by himself or with his only friend, Ishmael. With harpoon in hand, sometimes he would set sail for days, and not return for a week."

 

We all really getting into this tale, it was like a weird version of Moby kitten, only it made more sense!

 

"They say Fat Sasuke only eats Ho-hos and only hunts for those WITH ho-hos. Teeth sharp like shark! Eyes red as blood! Hair taken from the body of Kiba himself! Truly it was a freak of nature, yet ... it has survived this long, guarding its only treasure, its only preeciioouusss."

 

Alpha imitated Gollum, and pretty much pantomimed what Fat Sasuke looked like, giving very detailed descriptions and motions.

 

"But finally, Grandma Ethel made him stop going out to sea. Because it was becoming a bad influence for me and Ash. So he put down the harpoon, and settled in the rest of the days. But this one-day that our family decided to spend with our grandparents would be a day I would never forget. It was also that day that my OWN SISTER forgot to wake me up and bring me with her to go shopping with Grandma!"

 

Ash stuck her tongue out at Alpha, who returned the favor.

 

"But I don't regret that day. That day Grandpa told me all about his adventures. About his travels in the navy, the treasure, and Fat Sasuke. I didn't believe him because it seemed so farfetched, but then he showed me the Diamond encrusted Onyx Ho-ho! At first glance it didn't look real, but then he let me touch it and then I knew he was telling the truth! So for fun he took me out to sea in that small row boat of his. It was also the first time I got to actually go out into the ocean."

 

She sounded so excited as if she were back to her childhood days. The way she began to talk we felt as if we were there beside her on the boat. But soon her excitement turned to a darker tone.

 

"We rowed out for about 5 miles or so, and the fog was heavy that day. Nothing really happened out there, Grandpa only wanted to give me a feel of what it was like during his navy days. The thick sea air, the cool spray of the ocean water, and the feeling of the open waters! I had never felt so alive at that time! At first it was going to be a simple fishing trip, and it was fairly fun. But then after a few more hours, I heard IT. There was a low hum in the air, we thought we were just hearing things but Grandpa knew better ..."

 

~~~[Flashback]~~~

"Alpha! Did you hear that?" Lemar spoke quietly.

 

"What was that noise Grandpa?" Little Alpha asked.

 

"I'm not sure, but let's listen carefully ..." He then sat next to his granddaughter, while she held his hand.

 

Off in the fog, the noise happened again! It was almost like a fog horn, only the words were more clear. There was a soft sound echoing across the ocean. "... aaaannnnnngggssssttt ..." The blood in Lemar's veins began to heat again, and he stood tall on the small boat quickly trying to see something that wasn't there! He slowly turned to face little Alpha, whose eyes were wide up with excitement, and he quietly said-

 

"He's here."

 

You could suddenly feel the tension in the air, Alpha didn't know if her Grandpa was just playing tricks or gone crazy, but she didn't care. It was like actually being in his stories that he told her, getting to see how he was as if he were that young naval officer all those years ago. They were in the boat for another good fifteen minutes when nothing had happened. Grandpa Lemar simply threw off the notion, and eased his nerves. He shook his head, and chuckled.

 

"Bah! Maybe I'm just getting to old for this-"

 

But as he turned around and was about to sit down .. THE BOAT SUDDENLY GOT KNOCKED AROUND! Sending Lemar out into the ocean! Poor Alpha was knocked around a bit, but she was lucky to still be in the boat! She tried to get back up and saw that her Grandpa was out in the middle of the ocean.

 

"Alpha! Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Lemar yelled over to her.

 

"I'm okay Grandpa." She replied but was a little shaken unsure of what had just happened.

 

Lemar relieved began to swim back towards the boat. But little did he know that when he touched the water along with the onyx Ho-ho, it called to IT. The waters began to stir, and the clouds began to darken. Something was coming...

~~~[End Of Flashback]~~~

 

"The sky had darken around us, and it looked like a storm was coming in! Just then in the foggy distance we saw the outline of something big. Almost like size of a full ship! That was when my Grandpa began to call for his harpoon. I was so scared at first, but then grabbed the spear and tossed it over to him! Suddenly the image disappeared into the water! We could hear his cry, AANNNNGGGSSSTTT, but couldn't tell from which direction. Suddenly the area in which my grandpa was wading in suddenly began to glow reddish!"

 

Everyone gasped at this climatic battle!

 

"WHOOSH! Fat Sasuke came nearly jumping out of the water trying to eat my grandpa! But grandpa had his trusty harpoon and managed to evade the first attempt to eat him! All I knew was that there was a titanic battle going on! The waters were twisting and swirling all about! As if we sailed right into a typhoon! For the few moments I could see my grandpa almost RIDING Fat Sasuke. I didn't know if he was trying to kill it, or tame it, but he stood atop that blubbery back without falling! Not letting go, and trying to show the whale who was boss! Fat Sasuke must have done at least ten or fifteen throws of anger, going down into the water and rising rapidly, trying to shake off my Grandpa! By now it was furious, and in desperation it charged at the boat! Grandpa saw me just barely hanging one for dear life, and realized this was Fat Sasuke's desperation move. He had to choose, to let this once in a life time dream go, or to save me."

 

Alpha paused for a few moments to let everyone absorb the tense moment. She sat back slightly and sighed heavily, but smiled.

 

"Well, you already know the results. Otherwise I wouldn't be here to tell the tale!"

 

She gave a big grin, but inside she also felt sad that her grandfather gave up his life long dream to save her. But in the end, he was far happier having her alive than dead because of him. And so Alpha finished her tale.

 

"And so Grandpa dove off Fat Sasuke's back to save me from the boat, catching me off the boat just as it was crushed to smithereens. That was the last time we ever saw the Legendary Whale. A few days later while drifting in the water Grandma and Ash came out to save us. I think I got sick, but my mom and dad took care of me. Grandpa on the other hand got a good scolding from Grandma, and he never did something so reckless again. But he still told us all about his adventures."

 

We were all impressed by her tale and felt a part of Alpha enter all of us. Just then we realized it was already three o'clock in the morning, and it was time for all of us to get some rest. Everyone said goodnight to each other, and we all went to our cabins. Alpha on the other hand couldn't sleep, so she ended up going back to the bar, where Blayze was also still awake.

 

"Don't you ever sleep, Blayze-kun?" She asked as she sat down at the main bar.

 

"Sleep? Bah! I don't sleep. Tis for the weak!" He merrily spoke and handed her a glass of warm rum. "So Fat Sasuke eh?"

 

"Yeah." She quietly replied and took a sip of rum.

 

Blayze naturally saw that something was wrong. "Hey, what's up? You don't usually stay up like this. Is something wrong?"

 

"It's just ... I don't know." Alpha's voice semi-cracked, as if she was about go into tears, but held them in.

 

"Come on now, Alpha-chan. Just cuz I look like the devil doesn't mean I am one!?" He tried to coax her, and gave his usual smirk.

 

She giggled a little, and smiled. "You always know how to cheer me up, thank you."

 

"Hey, tis what I do. I can't stand seeing depressing folk at my bar. Only drunken happy people who have good times! AHAHAHAHAAA!" Blayze gave a hearty laugh, and was glad to cheer her up a bit.

 

"But it's not that." She quietly said again.

 

"Then what?" Blayze asked.

 

Alpha paused for a moment, and looked down at her drink. "I'm not entirely sure if Fat Sasuke does exist."

 

"What!? Come on now! But that story was so realistic!" Blayze said fairly surprised.

 

"I know, but it didn't ENTIRELY happen that way ..."

 

~~~[Flashback]~~~

"ALPHA! HARPOON!"

 

"I'm trying grandpa!"

 

She kept desperately trying to pick up the heavy harpoon, but could barely pick it up with one hand.

 

"ALPHA--!!!"

 

The large shadowy figure came closer and closer, it had two red like eyes giving off this red glow! Finally Alpha got hold of the harpoon and tossed it over to her Grandpa. Lemar took hold of his trusty spear, and waded back waiting for the monstrous figure to strike!

 

"Come you devil of the sea for I shall strike you down and you shall taste THE SPEAR!"

 

He raised his out of the water, ready to throw it directly at his target! Finally the large shadow was upon him and he threw the harpoon with all his might! The harpoon disappearing into the thick fog! Suddenly there was a sound ...

 

*THUNK*

 

Something wasn't right, a whale doesn't make a "thunk" sound. The shadow in the distance soon came out of the fog, and revealed to be ...

 

"ETHEL!? ASH!? What are you doing out here!?" Lemar shouted in bewilderment.

 

It was grandma and Ash coming out to pick them up. The harpoon was stuck on the very bow of the boat. The two red lights were fog lights for signaling, and the horn they heard was just echoing so that it made a similar sound to that of Fat Sasuke. But the worst part wasn't finding Fat Sasuke, it was being saved by a very angry and upset Grandma Ethel, who was completely furious at the fact that Grandpa took me out into the sea.

 

"LEMAR! How DARE you bring little Alpha out on one of your silly adventures! Do you realize what could have happened if we hadn't found you!? ..."

 

Grandma Ethel went on and on about how dangerous it was for me, and how I'm still just a small child. Grandpa, of course felt bad about it and had to deal with the scolding. Me on the other hand, I was still kinda upset that they forgot to bring me with them to go shopping. We pulled in the rowboat and tied it up to the main boat, and sailed back to home.

 

Grandpa and I were sitting next to each other as if we were criminals caught in the act. Grandpa looked so sad with his head down, but I looked over at him and took his hand.

 

"It's okay grandpa, I still believe you."

 

I smiled happily at him, and he was glad to see me smiling. He sighed, but almost immediately went back into story telling mode. The ride home he told me more stories about him when he used to go out and narrow escape the vicious attacks of Fat Sasuke, and all about the times he nearly caught him ...

~~~[End of Flashback]~~~

 

".. and that's what really happened. No whale, only my grandma and Ash coming out to pick us up." Alpha finished the real story and wiped her small tears from her eyes.

 

"It's okay Alpha-chan." Blayze handed her a napkin. "True or not, we all need something to believe in. You don't hunt after something so fictional for years, unless there is some truth behind it."

 

"Thank you, Blayze-kun." She wiped her eyes, and finished her drink.

 

"For what it's worth, I believe you. And I know the rest of the crew believes in you too. Someday, we'll go find that whale! And when we do, we'll make him our pet and teach him to say stuff!" Blayze cheered her up.

 

She began to feel better and turned back into her old self. "Yeah! And every time he gets hungry we'll make him say-"

 

"SASUKE WANT HO-HO!"

 

The two of them laughed and made jokes the rest of the night ... err morning ... bah, it's freaking 3 AM!? But somewhere a few miles from our ship was a dark shadow following us. A long dark shadow underwater, with two glowing blood red eyes, and came a low hum ...

 

"aaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnggggggssssssssssstttttttt"

 

To Be Continued.


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"Shiny. Let's go be bad guys."


#31 hokuten

hokuten

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Posted 09 February 2006 - 03:28 AM

Chapter 30: The Return Of NF
Subtitle: Unexpected News


After that week of AWOL, we had returned home back to H&E. As we had returned, time had gone by and we went on with our lives. We gained a few more healthy members.

 

One of them, a good man, was Godai the NaruSaku highlander! He came to us with very interesting "stories", or parallel universe parodies. Where we would mix Naruto with other animes and such. It was a very good time, and we had much to discuss and jest about.

 

But back to the point, about another week or so back on the island, UN came to me with very interesting news ...

 

"Captain! Captain!" He came rushing into my office, huffing and puffing about, but had a very wide grin upon his face.

 

I looked at him and waited for him to regain his composure. After his breathe eased and he sat in the chair across from my desk and laid out my lunch for the day. He had completely forgotten what he was going to tell me, so I waved my hand at him and asked. "Well?"

 

"Huh? Oh yeah!" He slapped his hand to his head, and got back the excitement that was in him before. "Captain, you're never gonna believe this!"

 

"Come with it man! Stop with the suspense and get on with it!" I shook my head and told him.

 

"NF sir! NF has returned." He finally blurted out.

 

At first I didn't really believe him, because NF had been down for nearly months. So I listened to his reasons.

 

"I didn't believe it either boss, but while I was cooking just a few days ago. I was listening to the radio waves as usual. You know, any news or such that may pass our ears. Until finally I heard a faint report that NF had returned just those few days go!" UN paused to let me absorbed the info, then continued. "Naturally I didn't believe it, and what with all those stories you've told us about it and how it went down. So I took it into my own liberty to investigate it myself. I sailed off just for a short bit, to find out if this was real or just another trick. But this was no trick boss. It's the real deal. NF is back, Tazmo has restored his city back to full."

 

I leaned back into my chair, and put a heavy hand upon my chin. My brows began to darken slightly. Unsure of what we would do, or how we would go about it. Of course it was great news that NF was back, the original city to which I called home. But was it the same city that I had left all those months back? Will the atmosphere be the same? I continued to ponder in my thoughts.

 

"Isn't it wonderful boss? We get to go see the city that you once told us only in your stories! Now we get to live how you did once! Are you not joyous?" UN saw the heavy thought upon my face.

 

I didn't respond at first, but tried to answer him. "I don't know UN. I'm not entirely sure myself." I paused again, and then continued. "It's time for another gathering. We need to meet tonight to settle this NF business."

 

UN got up, nodded his head, and left to gather people. I got up from my chair and stood near the window, looking out into the sea. The sun was setting into the horizon setting the ocean on fire.

 

Home? What place do we have to call home, except for this one? H&E is my home, our home.

 

---

 

We had a full meeting that night. Everyone had met at the main tavern and sat in their usual seats. After everyone had ate dinner, I rose from my seat and stood atop the center table to make the announcement.

 

"Oy so Lloyd! What's the big news eh? Are the N***H*** finally dead and gone?" Blayze merrily bellowed and everyone followed laughing and cheering.

 

"Aye mates, aye. Settle down now, settle down. Tonight I have news, perhaps not good, nor bad, but news none-the-less." I paused for a moment for everyone's grumbling to quiet down a bit. "Un has just reported to me that NF, NarutoForums, has returned."

 

There was a low murmur among my members. Some unsettle talking, and other a little excited.

 

"Good news, in that we may have a new place to set up an outpost to help other fellow NaruSaku find their way here. Bad news in that, we have to start all over again, should we choose to move in temporarily."

 

There was another murmur among my members again, only this time a little more anguish in their voices. Unsure of how to take this news.

 

"But let me tell you this! NF is NOT our new home, nor is it a replacement for NT! HERE!" I stomped my foot onto the table to symbolize "here", and looked all around at everyone with a strong face of confidence. "-is MY home. I know where I belong, and it's on this bloody island we call H&E! YAAAHHAAARRRR!!!"

 

"YYAAAAAAAAARRRRR!!!!" Everyone greatly cheered at my words. I'd say they were pretty taken in and knew what point I was stressing.

 

"Perhaps, we will start an outpost there in NF, but we will always know where our hearts belong. Here in H&E!" I rose my glass to toast and everyone did so.

 

"To H&E!" - "To Home!"

 

So it was settled that night, we would set sail for NF, but only to spread our word of NaruSaku, our belief, and our revolution.

 

To Be Continued.


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"Shiny. Let's go be bad guys."


#32 hokuten

hokuten

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Posted 09 February 2006 - 03:30 AM

Chapter 31: City Of NF (Part II)
Subtitle: The City I once knew...


Not many of my members came with us to NF. Only a select few and those who volunteered. Mainly Ash, Alpha, Blayze, HH, Smiter, Aethos, Soritia, UN, and of course myself. Yoko wasn't always at my side lately; apparently she had gotten tied up with this "boyfriend" of hers, along with her "brother". But as long as she was doing okay, and keeping up with her training, I had no specific need for her by my side. Just about everyone else who didn't want to go to NF were happily content on staying on the island.

 

We sailed for about three, or four days, until finally we had reached NF. The city was there, full and whole. To everyone it seemed like a great city, almost bigger and fuller than NT, although not the same. But to me, it was neither NF, nor was it NT, it was something ... different. Just another port city for people to gather. But I did have to commend Tazmo for making the full recovery. He had done a great job, and brought back that ol' "Welcome to NF" feeling. It was good to see that he was still okay, and doing well. I had heard that he had gone under some very stressful times and was caught up with a lot of business. But it seems he had everything under control. We docked our ship and began to explore around. Although the signs were different, and the buildings were the same. We found our way over to the FC section, and began to set up our small "recruitment" office.

 

The rules and regulations here at NF's FC Section was very different, but was still the same. Already after we had just opened, we already had a good amount of members coming in to join! We even got a few familiar faces, to come back to us, but also a few newer faces as well.

 

We had gained a new strong member for our force, a NaruSaku Soldier, Godsprotector. A good man, a good soul. We welcomed him into our ranks happily and still have a merry time. He came to us a while back, very late during the NT fiasco, and was lost, but found his way to us through NF. At first he would spend time at NF, but soon transfer his way over with us to H&E. At the island he would spend most of this time there.

 

As we had set up our NaruSaku office in NF, we gained a steady amount of members. Not a flood of recruits that we had hoped for, but a good number, day by day. Of course with setting up our office, naturally we were awaiting the arrival of our rivals and such. The N***H***s hadn't fully arrived until week 2 of NF, but it wasn't so bad, there was no sign of our TRUE rival. Those from NT who had condemned us as heretics.

 

Aethos, Smiter, and UN went to their respective areas. The political square of NF was much more robust than before. They had many debates on which "pairing" was best. Ash got to start her own Kakashi FC, which is running VERY successfully! UN finally got to get the work he wanted to; he is now a staff member of NF, but not with a high rank yet. He only did the information analysis on characters for the main site. Blayze, Alpha, and Soritia come now and then, but then they mostly went back to the island. HH spends most time on both places, back with his N***H***, and time with us. Everything went smoothly, and life went on normally. Until one fateful day ...

 

We were making our voyage back home on a Tuesday ... or was it Friday? Whichever! We were making our way back to H&E during the foggy afternoon, when Alpha spotted something out in the distance.

 

"Captain!" She yelled from the deck above the bridge room. She was just hanging over the railing looking in the north-northeast direction.

 

I came upstairs to her position, and she handed me her telescope. "What is it Alpha? What did you see?"

 

"Something's out there. I saw a shadow move, but..." She paused, knowing that it could have just been anything.

 

I continued looking about, searching for this "shadow" that she had seen. Something didn't feel right either, Alpha knew that I knew something wasn't right either. Suddenly ... THERE WERE FLASHES IN THE DISTANCE! Multiple flashes! Ten!? Twenty!? Thirty guns! I took the telescope from my eye and pushed Alpha to the deck, while shielding her from any debris. "DOWN!"

 

Hard splashes and hits came against our mighty ship! Loud dongs, and clangs were ringing all over the HMS NaruSaku! It was as if we were being bombarded!

 

We were under attack! Soon the fog slightly began to dissipate, and our mystery foes would be revealed! The sails' colors began to show ... Red ... & Blue. They were back ... the S***S***s.

 

To Be Continued.


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"Shiny. Let's go be bad guys."


#33 hokuten

hokuten

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Posted 09 February 2006 - 03:36 AM

Chapter 32: Second Attack!!
Subtitle: To the bitter end! Or is it?


"DOWN!"

 

As I pushed Alpha down to the deck and instinctively shielded her from any debris that followed the bombardment! There must have been at least more than 3 or 4 ships out there!

 

*DONG! CLANK! SPLOOSH! WHOOSH WOOSH!*

 

It was that high pitched whistle of a cannon ball flying through the air that gave way to siege! The S***S***s' had somehow found us and used this cover of fog to lay in wait for the perfect chance to attack. It was no time to think how, but time to think on a counterattack! I quickly got up and Alpha quickly followed with me back into the ship. I rushed down to the bridge room and hit the alarm. The ship turned dark, and red lights were starting to flash. I picked up the intercom and quickly announced-

 

"ALL HANDS TO BATTLESTATIONS! This is NOT a drill! We're under attack by the S***S***s again! Prepare for battle-"

 

Soon after a minute or two, my crew had come to me with very confused and flustered looks. Smiter was the first to speak.

 

"Captain, what hands? We're barely even a skeleton crew!" He gave me a very worried and unsure way to tell me our situation.

 

I looked around and had just realized that our numbers weren't exactly the best. It was only Soritia, Ash, Alpha, Smiter, Blayze, Aethos, and myself. I just remembered that UN and HH stayed back at NF, while the rest of my crew were at H&E. Seven against God knows how many S***S*** this time ... We were heavily outnumbered, and with a ship that's nearly automated.

 

"I refuse to believe this! We are on the most advanced NaruSaku ship, with enough firepower to blow the Earth up, over 10 times, and we can't fight off a couple of ships?!" I slammed my fist onto the wall.

 

"We haven't gotten a chance to fully test all the weapons on board the ship, brother." Blayze began to explain. "If anything all the safeties are on and we don't know how to take them off."

 

"Sitting ducks ... we're practically dead in the water." Alpha began to speak gravely.

 

Aethos on the other hand, enthusiastically drew forth his dual daggers and bellowed. "ARRRRGGGHH!!! Let them come to us! I'll take 'em all on! We fight until the last man!"

 

"Aethos, how about those mechs? Are they ready to go yet?" Ash asked.

 

"No, we still need to charge their power cores. We needed at least another day or two for full power. They won't even budge if they're not at 100%." Aethos said rather disappointedly.

 

"Maybe we aren't meant to fight today?" Soritia began to suggest. "Perhaps we run now to fight another day?"

 

"Oh and I suppose that we would look SPECTACULAR, in our only flagship running with our tails between our legs from our mortal enemies?" Blayze became very agitated with that idea.

 

Everyone knew it was our only option, to run, but we also risk them following us back to H&E.

 

"Um ... boss? I think they're getting CLOSER." Alpha was keeping a look out the window.

 

It was true, the ship were getting closer, and moving faster. We could now see the sails of our foes. 2 Red & Blue ships, but also ... an Orange & Blue ship!? With those colors none of us couldn't believe our eyes.

 

"Oh just great! Not only do we have TWO S***S*** ships, but now we have a NaruSasu ship to deal with too! How kittening fantabulous!" Aethos sarcastically jested, but was still fairly angry.

 

Soon the ships would be upon us, and we would have a wave upon wave of pirates and rogues to deal with. I had to come to a decision, to run ... or to fight.

 

"Hoku, what is your order?" Smiter looked to me for an answer, strange as it was I who would go to him for answers this time around.

 

I put a heavy hand upon by brow and came to a final decision. "We fight."

 

Everyone looked at me with a very surprised look, but of course who wouldn't have made the same decision. It was either run and lose face, or stay and FIGHT TO THE BITTER END! Aethos and Blayze seemed very satisfied with my decision, and began to nod their heads with approval. Alpha and Ash, sighed, but agreed with my choice. Soritia didn't approve, but she would rather stay and fight than run. I finally looked to Smiter for his answer as well.

 

"To the bitter end, eh?" My first mate looked at me with this smile of (I knew you'd say that), and shook his head.

 

"Aye, to the bitter end!"

 

So it was decided, whether it was our last stand or not, we would make a stand and FIGHT! We locked down what we could of the ship, and sent out a distress signal hoping that it might reach H&E, or any friendly allies. Not that we really had any, but in hope that some kind of reinforcements would come. We all got our battle gear, preparing for the inevitable confrontation. Everyone came up onto the main deck, the three ships approaching us even faster. The first S***S*** ship would be upon us within a few minutes, followed by the NaruSasu, and then the second S***S*** ship. We would hold out as long as we could, in light that someone would come to our aid. But we all knew that no one was coming, even if our signal had reached H&E they wouldn't reach us in time to save us.

 

We were all out on the main deck now. I stood on center my long coat swooshing behind me, and my sheathed blade in my left hand. Smiter stood on my left with his overcoat swaying in the wind revealing his katana in hand. Ash was on his left with her guns in holster. Alpha was standing just behind her sister, Megaton hammer in hand. On my right, was Blayze explosives in hand, anxiously waiting for battle. Next to Blayze was Soritia, with her sword and gun in hand. Aethos stood next to her, he had dual daggers drawn. I knew he was especially anxious to get bloody. It was like something out of the Seven Samurai, or the Magnificent Seven. Here we were, seven NaruSaku, about to face an uncountable number of foes. Would we prevail? All I knew was that it was going to be a long night...

 

I looked to left and then to my right, surveying my comrades. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, then smiled. "Friends, should we live through this fine hour ..." I paused. "... drinks are on me."

 

Everyone's mood lighten just a little, as the few moments before we would be overrun with rabid fanboys/girls.

 

"Is that all that's on your mind, Captain?" Smiter grinned while chuckled.

 

"Aye, that's my brother for you, booze and NaruSaku on the mind!" Blayze answered Smiter's question.

 

Smiter nodded his head, and replied with. "Hm, although I wouldn't mind a good Southern Comfort right about now."

 

We all chuckled before our final moments. The first S***S*** ship was now upon our port side, and they were beginning to board us. And I finished up with-

 

"Friends, it's been an honor and a privilege to fight by your sides once again. From the Flood, to our first S***S*** encounter."

 

We all smiled and nodded our head at each other. The enemy was already on board our ship, now moving towards us. They just kept on coming form their ship, hundreds of them, just boarding and boarding! Then they saw that there were only seven and they began to charge towards us! With one final bellow, I gave our last battle cry!

 

"For the HMS NaruSaku! For Heaven & Earth! For NARUSAKU!!!"

 

To Be Continued???


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"Shiny. Let's go be bad guys."


#34 hokuten

hokuten

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Posted 09 February 2006 - 03:41 AM

Chapter 33: To the Bitter End! Or is it? (part 2)
Subtitle: He lives! Unexpected Allies to the rescue!


"To battle!!! YAAAARRRRR!!!"

 

Seven of us against uncountable odds, well actually more like a hundred or so of them, and another hundred or more on the other two boats about to dock us as well. We tried to stick together when the madness hit. Everyone was nearly surrounded, fighting off on their own or if someone was with them holding off their own. It was a bloody massacre, we slew at least 10-20 per person, but it was still overwhelming.

 

Ash and Smiter were back to back. One shooting down as many as she could, while the other was covering her during her reloading time. The two of them were brilliant! Watching them fight together was like watching them dance. They moved so well and coordinately since our last battle. Ash would duck and dive and shoot in all directions hitting her targets. Meanwhile Smiter would cut down countless bodies left and right! They both moved in such a way that was almost like a tale of their relationship! So in tune and with much improvising, there were no mistakes in their movements. This was on the front deck of the ship, they were holding the front line, if there even was a front line.

 

On the next level, Blayze and Alpha were holding their own. They're movements were also very fluent, but also semi-hysterical. Blayze would pitch his explosives over to Alpha, and she would whack them over into the masses of S***S***. It was as if they were playing cricket with a Megaton hammer, instead of a paddle! Of course by the time the foes reached them, Alpha would simply take a big swipe at them knocking nearly five or six people ten feet into the air! Blayze would throw caltrops, and whatever homemade explosive concoctions all about! Although in that confusion, I think Alpha might have whacked him once by accident, but he only got a slight bump on the head.

 

Aethos in his mad bloodlust simply cut down every fanboy and girl within his sight. He was in almost in a frenzy, just going at his own pace with such speed and skill! He moved from one target onto the next with such acrobatics and his speed was almost like an instant flash for every body that fell to the deck. I believe he was cheering and shouting madly with a big grin upon his blood soaked face. "AHAHAHAHAHA!!! COME ON!!! Is that all you wusses got!? 1!? 10!? 100!? I'll slay you all! AHAHAHAHAAAAA!" Even in this dire time, he was certainly enjoying himself!

 

And finally in back ranks were Soritia and myself. We were back-to-back, swords drawn as we were both surrounded by nearly 20-30 S***S***s. The enemy circled around us, and we shifted in our position to get a good count and look at the faces we would soon cut down. And then Soritia made one last comment before we began our fight; she spoke in a tone that only I could hear, since we were still back to back.

 

"First one to 50 wins."

 

I grinned, chuckled at her words, and replied with-

 

"Heh, only 50?"

 

And then we rushed to our opposite sides cutting into all the enemies all around us! Five, ten, twenty, thirty! Blood would stain our ship scarlet tonight! Soon the second ship would be upon us, those damned NaruSasu(s). If there's anything worse than S***S*** it's those yaoi loving b*tches.

 

"YARRRRR!!! Death to those Hetero-Sakura pairings! We all know Naruto belongs to-"

 

But just as the NaruSasu ship was a few meters from docking onto our ship, there was a great explosion! The NaruSasu ship had exploded! Something unbelievable had just happened and we couldn't quite explain it. It was as if someone from somewhere had fired upon them saving us from an immediate second wave of attack! With the little time I tried to look for any ships in the chaos, but could see none near by. We were all confused, but in our minds we had to keep fighting. Whoever had saved us we were forever in their thanks, but suddenly the second S***S*** ship was already upon us within that time!

 

We all tried to regroup near the center of the deck, all of us back to back as the second wave of S***S***'s had come. We were all nearly exhausted. Everyone had reached their limits. Ash and Blayze were nearly out of munitions, and everyone else was nearly fatigued to fight, but we still held our grounds. A new fresh army of S***S*** came and had us completely surrounded. They knew we were nearly spent and on the verge of collapse. Just then their commander came to confront us.

 

"Lay down your arms, proclaim that S***S*** is canon, and perhaps we may let you live."

 

Naturally, Aethos, Alpha, and Blayze spat at the commander. We all gave a good laugh, and the Commander couldn't believe this.

 

"Surrender, you're hopelessly outnumbered. Just give up and we'll let you join our ranks."

 

I stood forward and too spat at the commander's feet. Then I replied to him with-

 

"Give my regards to your fallen soldiers, once we send you too them!"

 

"Heh. Fools, you will never beat us. For every one of you, there will always be 10 more S***S***." The S***S*** commander than stood back into his men, and waved forward at us. "Kill them."

 

All of us stood backs to one another, waiting for this final charge as the enemy began to close the circle around us their swords in front of them. But suddenly there was a voice to which we thought we would never hear again in this lifetime!

 

"FOR NARUSAKU!!!"

 

And from the dark sky fell a shadowy figure that cut through the masses of S***S*** and straight for their commander! Soon followed by the one shadow fell a whole horde of more soldiers! All of them were shouting-

 

"Viva La NaruSaku!"

 

We couldn't believe our eyes! Someone had come to our aid! We were all still shocked that reinforcements came! But we shook out of our surprised state and charged into the S***S***s our second winds had just bursted! We all felt like we had just been rejuvenated and felt a new fire burning! Someone had actually gotten our distress call and came to our aid! Soon we were finally beating off the S***S***, this unexpected turn of events forcing them to retreat for now. Unfortunately their commander also narrowly escaped, shouting back to us some sort of expression of disbelief, but none of us really cared what she had to say.

 

As the battle died down, we finally got to meet our rescuers. We were all fairly covered in our enemies blood, some minor wounds and thank God that none of us were fatally wounded. They were also a type of naval group; they wore colors of blue on blue. But where did they come from? Who were they? Why did they choose to help us? Just then their commanding officer came to confront me. It was a girl that came forward. She wore the outfit of a submariner captain, and had a look of ruggedness, but she had a very kind face about her.

 

"You're a hard man to keep up with, Hokuten. We've been trailing behind you for about two days now. Just now we received your distress call for assistance and we came at full speed." She came forward covered in a bloody mess as well.

 

"And too whom do I owe such gratitude, miss?" I stepped forward and gladly welcomed our rescuers.

 

She stood straight up and gave me a salute to introduce herself. "Captain Hinata--chan of the SasuHina."

 

My crew members gave a small gasp of surprise to whom our rescuers where.

 

"SasuHina, eh?" I put a hand upon my chin as I was intrigued by this new revelation.

 

She nodded and smiled as she got this reaction quite a lot. "Aye. I present to you the submariner crew of the Typhoon class sub, the Red October, also known as the SasuHina. My crew is very limited, but we have strong believers."

 

I took my hand away form my mouth and gladly welcomed our friends at the moment! "We are forever in your gratitude. If you hadn't come, we probably would have been here all night!"

 

Everyone had a good laugh and cheered all around.

 

"You know, Captain Hoku, there's someone else here who wishes to so hello as well. You may know him." She stepped back to let way for a familiar face to step forward.

 

"NO!" Aethos was the first to react upon this shocking sight, shaking his head in pure disbelief. I believe we were all in a state of shock to see this person in front of us. "No way! No kittening way, YOU SON OF A B*TCH!"

 

"Good to see you still as spirited as I left you. Eh, Aethos?"

 

We all gathered around the man who was supposed to have died to that horrific storm that God had sent to us. It was Arashi, alive and standing before our very eyes. Ash and Alpha quickly went over to hug him and started to poke him to see if he was really real. They were both tearing, but were also extremely glad to see him.

 

"Ow ow! Okay okay! I'm real! I'm not a ghost!"

 

Smiter and Blayze came over to put a firm hand on his shoulders and they all nodded at each other, acknowledging each other. Just then Aethos came forward and punched him in the face. We were all a little shocked to see him hit him. But Aethos helped Arashi get back onto his feet. They stood before each other and Arashi held out his hand to shake his hand. As they shook hands, Aethos pulled him in for a one handed hug.

 

"You bastard! You should've let me die by your side!" Aethos held him as if he had just found his lost brother. The both of them began to laugh and were happily reunited.

 

Finally Arashi came forward to me, Soritia stood beside me as she didn't quite know him, but had the general idea of who he was.

 

"Captain." He saluted me, and held his head high as he always used to.

 

I saluted him back, and told him to be at ease. "How is this possible? We lost you to that storm and the sea!"

 

"I have no memory of what how, but I do know who." Arashi answered and looked in the direction of Hinata--chan.

 

I began to walk towards the SasuHina(s), and made an announcement. "Crew of the SasuHina, I thank you all from the bottom of my heart, and bid you welcome aboard the HMS NaruSaku."

 

"Hear Hear!" Everyone cheered.

 

I continued again. "But know that you are not guests aboard this ship." Everyone had a strange look of confusion upon my words. "Here you are among friends."

 

Then they understood my words and cheered even greater than before.

 

"Please let us dine together! You are all welcome to rest as we have all just won a fierce battle."

 

We all warmed up to each other, and got cleaned up as best as we could. We tended to any wounded and such. Soon afterwards everyone, both my NaruSaku and Hinata-chan's SasuHina, began to gather into the galley. We all sat down and began to eat the food that UN had prepared before we left NF. It wasn't much, but it fed everyone, which was enough. Then we began to discuss our ideals and what not amongst each other.

 

"So tell me Arashi, how is it that you survived that maelstrom? We saw the ship, or what was left of it." Aethos asked curiously.

 

"Well I'll tell you ..." Arashi sat up, leaned over the table, and began his tale. "Just after I had sent you off the ship, I plummeted to my doom. Of course I wouldn't give up without a good fight, so I tried to stabilize the ship by flying with the winds. The wind was blowing this way and that! Whoosh! I couldn't tell left from right and which way was that! Chaos, twas pure chaos! Just before the propellers/mast gave way, the last thing I remember was hitting the water a nearly full force. I remember the ship shattering as if it was glass. I don't know how, but I was thrown off the ship, and landed in the water nearly 50 feet away. My last thoughts were of everyone and H&E. After that the storm had passed, and I blacked out."

 

Alpha began to speak. "Then you should have drowned, yet you are sitting here with us!"

 

"That was when we had found him." Hinata--chan interrupted.

 

Arashi nodded his head, and took a drink of his rum. "Aye, if not for the SasuHina I would have been dead."

 

"So then tell us your side of the story, eh Hinata--chan?" Smiter smoothly asked.

 

"Well ..." Hinata--chan scratched her head and felt a little embarrassed as we all saw her as a hero. "Just as I had said, we've been trying to catch up to you for quite some time now. Seeing as we are SasuHina, not many people really approve of us, but that doesn't stop my crew and I from believing in it. Since we were not as heavily populated, we chose to take the more shadowy route as submariners. We've been in the sea for quite some time, but never really made any commotion to actually be known. But then we learned wind of your revolution and how the NaruSaku's were on the up-rise. So we thought that if we could somehow get to you and perhaps ... form an alliance?" Seeing as how we both like all of the characters, it’s only right that they should have their own pairings. Anyway back onto the subject as Arashi had hit the water, we were surfacing-"

 

After hearing this, Aethos almost immediately jumped up and began to speak frantically. "I knew I saw a long shadow in the water! I wasn't just delirious!"

 

"Heh, yes that was us. But you probably just saw us as we were surfacing, or just below the sea line." Hinata--chan chuckled, and continued. "So pretty much as we reached topside, he was on the hull of our sub. We quickly got him into our infirmary and tended to him. We thought he was the only survivor from that storm so we lost hope. But as we were taking Arashi to our infirmary, all he kept on muttering was ... Heaven & Earth, home. We took this a sign that you were possibly traveling to a new home, and people were waiting. So with our hope rekindled, we tended to Arashi. He was lucky to walk away from that cursed storm with only a few broken ribs and a bad bump on the head. For the next few weeks or so, we spend time recuperating Arashi, and trying to figure out where your location might be. We couldn't find this H&E, even after Arashi's recovery, he must have lost partial memory from the fall. So we lost sight of ever gaining allies, but when we had learned about NF and the sudden return of the NaruSaku, we didn't believe it at first, so we traveled as quickly as we could, only to find that you were leaving to return back to your home. And thus was how we came across your distress signal. It was only luck that we came in time.

 

"Aye, and we are forever grateful for your assistance." I tipped my mug of rum to Hinata--chan. But then face expression changed. "So, you've been following us all this time? And yet you couldn't just confront us directly?"

 

"Yes, we have." She looked away as soon as she saw the dark look upon my face, as if they had done something wrong. "I-I was afraid that you might have looked at us the wrong way!"

 

I had a very grim look, but then looked up with a big grin, smiling at her. "You could've just come to us directly! We are always glad to look for more friends and allies in this fight!"

 

Hinata--chan looked as if she had just been suckered, while everyone else was laughing. I gave a hearty laugh, and raised my glass.

 

"Come now! To new comrades! To new friends! To Arashi's return from the dead! For NaruSaku and SasuHina!"

 

"Hail! Hail! Hail!" Everyone in the galley cheered greatly and drank to our health!

 

"You are all welcome to our humble island of Heaven & Earth. And if you should ever need our assistance, all you need to do is call, and we shall answer! But until then, Let's Party!"

 

The rest of the night, we busted out the Super Karaoke bar that was built into the galley. Naturally everyone was excited and began to sing, even Smiter was trying to enjoy himself. Only this time it was Smiter who was drinking Ash under the table! Blayze and Alpha were up on stage singing a duet. Aethos and Arashi were catching up on what they had missed. Soritia sat with those two, getting to know the man she had replaced as the helms, and they discussed their many techniques of piloting and such. Meanwhile I got to speak more with Hinata--chan and learn more about her travels as well as her captain experience. It would be a good night, and we all celebrated.

 

So we had gotten back a faithful member and gained an even greater ally, the SasuHina. It was time to return home, back to comfort ... or was it?

 

To Be Continued.


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"Shiny. Let's go be bad guys."


#35 hokuten

hokuten

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Posted 09 February 2006 - 03:47 AM

Chapter 34: Twists, Turns, & Traitors
Subtitle: New Blood! More Members!


It had been nearly a week or so since the S***S***/NaruSasu incident and things were starting to settle down once again. But since the attack, there were still thoughts and questions stirring in my mind as to how we had been caught so off guard. It was when I finally realized that the only possible way anyone could have known our whereabouts was if someone ...

 

"No ... not one of my members. They would never." I spoke to myself in my private lounge.

 

To think that perhaps one of my own, a NaruSaku, would be a traitor and leak information about us. The very thought of it made me sick, I trust each and every one of my members. I would never even consider calling any of them out for such betrayal. But still ... something is amidst, something is going on, or perhaps some ONE is leaking information. But onto more joyous matters!

 

We've gained two more wonderful, strong, and spirited members! Both of which have their own individual notations to them. They are Keira the Naruto Girl, and OccasionalUtopia (aka Mel). I'll begin with Keira, because how she came to us was of a very interesting way.

 

Just about a few days after we reached H&E after the Raid, we returned back to NF to show whomever had sent them that we were still here and strong. Our daily activities went on as usual; Blayze & I would stay at the Club, Ash would go manager her Kakashi Club, and Aethos & Smiter returned to the debating section of NF. But one day as we all returned to the club for the usual gathering, Aethos & Smiter came home with +1 guest, well more like Smiter came in with her. A young spirited girl who was very enthusiastic about NaruSaku. At that time it wasn't surprising at first since Smiter had that certain charm, but also shocking since we all knew that he and Ash were very close. Naturally we all welcomed the girl, but midway in welcoming her all hit the floor for Inner Kyuubi to strike.

 

But Smiter quickly came to his defense!

 

"She followed me home!?" He quickly replied as Inner Kyuubi gave him her death stare. He then realized the excuse he had just used, as if the poor girl was some kind of a lost pet.

 

"Oh really?" As Inner Kyuubi slowly made her way over to her prey.

 

Smiter slowly backing up against a wall, his face was sweating profusely, unsure of what punishment he might have to submit to this time! But on his behalf the new girl jumped in front of him!?

 

"Please stop! It's not Smiter-sama's fault!" The new girl spoke in his defense!

 

Blayze and I looked at each other as to what she had just called our First Mate. We both spoke softly at the same time. "Smiter ... sama?"

 

The girl continued, and actually held her ground against the terrifying Inner Kyuubi! "It's true, I followed him to the NaruSaku FC, although I've always been a NaruSaku believer myself! He's even taken me under his wing as his apprentice. Please milady, do not harm him on my behalf. But perhaps I may take his place."

 

It was a valiant stand, and most of us would have simply ran from Inner Kyuubi, but this girl ... she had a certain bravery about her. Her comradery for Smiter, now her Master & Teacher, had somehow touched Inner Kyuubi. Soon Ash slowly reverted back to her normal self. Then she came up to the trembling young girl who was awaiting what horror she might have had to suffer, but instead put soft hand on her cheek and smiled.

 

"Your name, little one?" Ash spoke in her calm and kind voice.

 

The new girl opened her eyes to see no harm, and replied. "Keira. I'm a Naruto girl, and an artist."

 

Ash gave her a heart-warming smile and welcomed her into our ranks. "Welcome to the NaruSaku, Keira ..."

 

Keira closed her eyes and sighed in pure relief, but as she opened them again ... she was face to face with Inner Kyuubi again.

 

"... time for your hazing!" Inner Kyuubi gleefully replied.

 

And that was the end of that eventful day. We gained another young member among our ranks, and another artist at that! Before Ash could inflict more punishment, Keira got away by using her special technique!

 

"Go my minions!!!"

 

And out of no where, about a hundred Naruto plushies sprung out from Keira's jacket, swarmed all everywhere causing chaos and she got away. Smiter did get a good punishment after we welcomed Keira (although I'll let the details up to your own imagination), but he did take her in as his apprentice and teaches her many things. Although we all know the REAL reason why she came! 

 

Just as we were about to begin celebrating, Ash wasn't finished speaking. "Hey, since we're in the good mood and introducing new members ..."

 

She then formed into a dynamic pose and announced yet another new member to our growing numbers!

 

"Everyone meet - OccasionalUtopia! Tadaa~!"

 

And just as Ash had finished this dynamic introduction, another girl about Ash's age, jumped out from behind her and did the same dynamic pose!

 

"YOSH! Hello everyone! The name's OccasionalUtopia, but you can all call me Mel! I'm a strong believer in NaruSaku and hope to join this illustrious club that my good friend Ash has invited me to!"

 

She spoke all of this in such a way that you would have thought her and Ash were twins. Hell they even moved in the same way! Just then Ash formally introduced her friend.

 

"Everyone, this is my friend Mel. We've been long time friends for a while, and she's been meaning to join for a long time now. We've only just bumped into each other today!" Ash happily spoke and was very excited for Mel to join us.

 

We all came up to her and welcomed her in our own ways, and got to know more about her later that night. But as it was Aethos' turn to welcome her, he noticed something that we all didn't at first.

 

"Hey! Welcome to the NaruSaku -" Aethos was shaking her hand just as he had saw that color that drove him mad. " ... blue? You're a Sasuke GIRL! Get her!!!"

 

Aethos immediately backed away form her and drew forth his daggers. We were all alarmed at this and all drew forth our weapons, except for poor Ash who jumped in front of friend.

 

"Whoa whoa whoa! Stop it all of you!? What is this madness!?" Ash jumped in front of Mel and drew her guns against us.

 

Aethos began to speak. "She supports that wretched Sasuke! How could you bring her into our ranks!?"

 

"Everyone please stop! I can explain myself." Mel moved in front of Ash who was shielding her, and tried to calm everyone down. "Yes, I do like Sasuke, but I AM a loyal supporter of NaruSaku. I shouldn't have tried to hide it at first, but this is the truth. If you would not have me, I understand."

 

Just then I stepped forward. "Everyone stay this madness. She is one of us, and we will not throw her out. Everyone is entitled to their opinions, we all know that."

 

Aethos and everyone in the club put their weapons away, and as if nothing had happened, went back to their own business. After that Ash holstered her guns, and sighed in relief. Aethos didn't like the thought of her being a Sasuke-girl, but he accepted her as one of us for now.

 

---

 

After a few days of welcoming our new recruits, we continued on with our business and I began to go over my crew's profiles. As I was saying earlier, somehow we have a mole within our ranks. I wouldn't believe this, but it was a fact that someone was giving out our position and course of direction. Soon enough, I would hold a very private meeting with my senior members. These were the core crew members that I trusted more than anyone else, and now I would let them in on my troubling thoughts.

 

All of the following attended: Smiter, Blayze, Ash, Alpha, Aethos, and Arashi. I explained the problem, and let them discuss the matter as well.

 

"It was pretty fishy that those S***S*** were waiting for us in position to attack." Smiter was the first to speak.

 

"But ... one of our own?" Ash was the second to reply.

 

"Aye. There's no way they could have known our exact location unless someone told them. I know it's mad, but ... they were waiting for us, in a offensive position to strike. At first I thought it was just bad luck, but then again only NaruSaku know the way back to H&E. For all we know, they might know the location of our home. I've called you all here, because I trust you all the most."

 

"And what if one of us is the traitor, eh Boss?" Blayze poked at me.

 

"Heh, then I suppose I would have to kill you here and now dear brother." I said with a very serious face.

 

Blayze looked at me with a face of "oh crap what did I just get myself into!", but then I couldn't hold it anymore and we all got a good laugh at how panicked Blayze looked. After we all loosened up a bit, I continued with the meeting.

 

"All of you are my most trusted, your loyalty is unquestioned. That is why I have only asked for you few."

 

Everyone nodded their heads, and grinned at each other. So I continued-

 

"Getting along now. I don't want to start pointing fingers, but yes, we do have a mole. Any thoughts upon who you might suspect, or anyone who's been behaving more unusual than then they are?"

 

"Well, I don't like that Hinata boy!" Aethos announced his obvious first choice and continued bantering. "Ever since he joined us, I always knew might be a leak!"

 

"Yes, but he warned us about the N***H*** revolt-"

 

"Oh come off it boss! You know LHG came to us first, only the boy confirmed it!" Aethos continued.

 

"Even so, even he has fought with us against his own. Aethos, we all know you don't trust him yet, but even if he is N***H*** has he not proven his worth to us?" Smiter replied calmly.

 

"Whatever! I'm just saying, what everyone's thinking. I don't doubt the boy's loyalty, but then who else is there to accuse!?" Aethos started again.

 

"What about that new girl? Mel! She's a Sasuke girl-" Blayze began to start, but almost immediately Ash jumped in.

 

"Whoa whoa whoa! No one accuses MY friend! She may like Sasuke, but that doesn't mean she's a traitor!" Ash fired back. "And besides, she wasn't even with us before this attack! So ha! You wanna blame someone, let's blame that Keira girl-"

 

Smiter without thinking intervened. "What does this have to do with MY apprentice?" Then he realized that he just retorted Ash. "I-mean...um." Then he realized again, yes he should defend his student. "Yeah! She just joined us too, plus she's a Naruto girl, on OUR side! What's wrong? Jealous?"

 

Ash laughed, and put an elegant finger on Smiter's chin. "Heh, you may have a pretty young thing at your side, but she can't drink you under the table, love!"

 

We all gave a good laugh about that, and continued the discussion.

 

"What about you Alpha-chan? Do you have any suspects?" Blayze asked Alpha, who was sitting about, mumbling to herself.

 

"Fat Sasuke, I will have my vengeance!..." Then she realized that we were all silent and waiting for her response. "Um..."

 

"Gah! Come on people! Stay on topic here!" I put hand to my head and began shaking it. "Arashi! Have you seen anything unusual around us, since you've came back?"

 

Arashi scratched his head, and replied. "I'm sorry Captain, but when upon my return ... everything felt like fairly normal."

 

"Great. We have a leak and we don't know who, or where it is."

 

We just concluded the meeting at "keep an eye out, but don't let anyone know yet" kind of situation. Our tensions were growing; someone was taking us apart from within. It was only a matter of time before they reveal themselves.

 

I returned to my office afterwards, and Yoko came by later that evening. My chair was turned around, so that she was facing the back it.

 

"You missed an important meeting today. Where were you?" I simply asked her in a disappointed tone.

 

"I'm sorry Hoku. I had some important business with my brother." She simply replied.

 

This answer simply brought on more questions because, "I thought you didn't like your brother?"

 

"I'm sorry, but it was important." She replied again, bowing over to apologize.

 

I wheeled my chair around, to face her with disappointment, but it was understandable. "Even though we are your family too, real family does comes first..."

 

She bit her lip slightly, and looked away for a second, but then gave me her full attention again. I gave her the usual small speech of responsibilities, priorities, and just updated her on the "insider" business. She nodded her head understanding everything I had told her as serious business. After I dismissed her, I began to think about her small reaction to when I said "blood family". But then after a moment of realizing I was starting to accuse MY own pupil, I simply threw the very notion away and shook my head.

 

"Yoko would never. But something must have happened between her and her brother. I guess I'll ask her about it another time."

 

Afterwards I went to the bar to have a drink with my brother, who already had a mug of whatever concoction he came up with today. And the rest of the night we drank it away.

 

To Be Continued.


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"Shiny. Let's go be bad guys."


#36 hokuten

hokuten

    I am CLUTCH.

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Posted 09 February 2006 - 04:04 AM

Chapter 35: Truth be told, Brothers to the End
Subtitle: Of Crimes & Sins


~February 8th, 2005~

 

"Happy Birthday Blayze!"

 

"Three cheers for the birthday boy! Hip-hip!"

 

HOORAY!

 

"Hip-hip!"

 

HOORAY

 

"Hip-hip!"

 

HOORAY!

 

Today is a special joyous occasion, tis my brother's birthday and its gonna be one hell of a party! It started out fun and funny, because we actually lured him away from the tavern to decorate it for his surprise party. He was caught off guard so badly; we all thought he was going to have a heart attack. But his reaction was priceless! We started the party early in the afternoon, and it started to slow down near the evening.

 

Around that time, I took him out with me to get his birthday present. We took one of the smaller boats and sailed over to the closest port town, Juno. Yoko was the only other person who came with us. We came into dock, and set the boat up because we weren't going to stay that long. I would go in to town, pick up his present and we would head back home to H&E.

 

As we went into town we stopped by a brewery, the big glowing sign said "AL's". The building itself seemed pretty small; it was more of a storage warehouse, than an actual brewery. So before I went in, I turned around to face Blayze and Yoko.

 

"Okay, I'm going to be here for a bit, so you two go ahead and check out the town. I'll meet you two back on H&E later. Don't worry about me, I always have a way back home."

 

They both nodded their heads and were fairly delighted to go off on their own. But before they left, I stopped them for one more thing.

 

"Paul. Hold this for me." I hand him my dragon katana, and Yoko has this look of disbelief on her face. "Al has this thing about no weaponry inside. Take it to the sword smith if you can."

 

"Aye, that I will brother." He took it by the sheath, and strapped it to his back.

 

After that, I went inside the building and let the two of them go off. Blayze then looked over to Yoko who was still baffled at what had just happened.

 

"What? Do I have something on my face?" He asked with a grimace.

 

"N-no. H-he gave you his katana. He's never let anyone touch it, nor carry it for him. Not even me." She quickly replied.

 

"Hah." Blayze chuckled, and put a hand on Yoko's shoulder. "You forget that we are brothers, and there is no higher trust then that of your own flesh & blood."

 

Yoko shook her head, and just went along. So the two of them explored the bit of the port town of Juno. It was a fairly medium sized city, with a good population of a few thousand, maybe more. They spent most of the time, just going through the marketplace, as well as the trading bazaar. Along the way they did stop by the sword smith, and Blayze let the smith inspect the sword. At first when the smith tried to pull the katana from the sheath, he couldn't do it. After several tries he gave up, then Yoko even tried to pull it forth, but not even she could not reveal the blade. Finally Blayze took the katana back and as if by magic, he carefully pulled the blade from it's sheath as if by command. He had no problem, nor any complication. Simply pulled it out and gave that majestic ring that made the blade vibrate. It was an unusual moment, but soon came to pass. The smith inspected and did his job, re-sharpening it, and polished the blade as well as the

hilt itself.

 

"This sword is well kept and maintained. Tis a fine piece of art. Is it-?"

 

The smith began to ask, as Blayze finished his sentence with the answer.

 

"-a Masamune. Handed from generation to generation. My older brother is the current caretaker. He tends to it every month or so."

 

"Ah. He's a good man, this sword shows his soul."

 

The smith finished the job, and Blayze put the sword back into the sheath. Afterwards Yoko and Blayze stopped by a small cafe to have a snack before heading back home. There they chatted for a bit.

 

"Blayze-kun, how are you and hoku-kun related? At first glance you two don't look like brothers..." She curiously asked.

 

"Well, it's kind of a long story, but let me put it this way. We are brothers by blood, but then again, we aren't." He simply answered.

 

"Meep???" She raised an eye, as that answer simply raised even more questions.

 

"Heh, what I mean is ... we share the same father, but different mothers." He clarified his answer.

 

Yoko even more interested continued asking. "Oh. What happened? What was it like?"

 

"Well, the way I remember is something like, Lloyd's mother died when he was born, so he and father were pretty down most of the time. Then he met my mum, and we became a family again. Ever since then he and I have never really doubted each other, or have any sort of ... complications, between ourselves."

 

Blayze continued as Yoko kept listening intently and very interested.

 

"He's always taken care of me, watched over me, even though he's only older by a couple of years. But still, we would always cover each other's backs." He pauses to remember, then chuckles. "Heh, I remember this time dad sent us to do an important duty, as it was a test of our coming of age. He figured-" He pauses once again, to clear his throat and speak in the deep tone of voice that our father once spoke in. "Since you two are practically both near the same age, I'm sending you both together to save the inconvenience!"

 

Blayze began to laugh.

 

"Haha! It was so silly; it was just his excuse so he didn't have to do the task twice in the same year! It was sad though; we lost our father after we finished the task. I don't exactly remember what happened, but it took a heavy toll on Lloyd."

 

Yoko begins to laugh as well, but Blayze was quiet for a moment remembering...

 

~~~~~[12 years ago]~~~~~~

Lloyd! ... Brother wait! ... Wait for me!

 

"... w-we have to go down there!?" Young Blayze peeped. (Age: 7)

 

"Aye, little brother. That's what father said." Lloyd grinned back and replied (Age: 8)

 

"But ... it even LOOKS scary. Why did papa have to send me too, I don't have the courage yet to face this trial, not you like you."

 

"But we have too. We all have to face our fears sooner or later."

 

"I guess..."

 

"And besides! Don't you want to know the truth!?"

 

"Yeah, but ... they say this well is cursed. And the Hachi-Oni (8 Devils/Demons), are sealed away here!"

 

"Oh come on! That's just a bedtime story papa told us for fun! There's no such thing as demons, devils, or the boogeyman."

 

"But still..."

 

Lloyd looked at Paul, and sensed that he was too really afraid to go any further. So Lloyd took a deep breath and sighed, but then smiled.

 

"Okay, I'll make a promise with you. If you won't go, then I won't go either."

 

Little Paul was shocked at this response. "But! But brother, you've been waiting for this task for two years! And think of what papa might do to-"

 

"Look! I'm not going without you. If we face this, we face this together. And if we have to face father, then we face him together. I'll go when your ready too, we have to stick together, you and I."

 

Big brother...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Yoko noticed that Blayze wasn't speaking, then she poked at him. Just then Blayze shook his head, and then began to laugh too.

 

"But you know, if we hadn't gone on that task together, I don't think I would have ever been as close to him as we are now. Lloyd, I mean. That day our bond together became so strong that, we don't really need words to communicate to each other. We would know what was going on through our heads simply by looking at each other. We would know how each other felt simply by the way we moved, or acted."

 

"What happened? What was the task?" Yoko curiously asked.

 

"Ah, heh." Blayze smiled mischievously. "Now that's a secret I can't tell. Not even if you got me drunk enough to make me go dancing naked! AHAHAHAA!"

 

Yoko gave this look of unsure whether she wanted to know or not, but simply the image of a dancing naked Blayze was what she wanted to see. Meanwhile Blayze laughing his head off, calmed back down again.

 

"Haha, don't worry Melly-chan, it's nothing special or disturbing. Either way, we both came out on top of it, and here we are! So shall we head back home? I'm sure, Lloyd's already back at H&E." He merrily got up from his seat and held an arm out to escort Yoko.

 

She smiled happily, and took him arm in arm. "Let's go!"

 

As they left the cafe, there was a man in the corner watching them leave. Soon after they were in a distance he got up from his seat, and began to follow them. Blayze and Yoko made their way to the pier, but it was getting dark. They were almost at the ship, when they both stopped suddenly. They weren't stupid, they knew they were being followed.

 

"So you gonna come out from that alleyway and jump us, or waiting for us to reach our boat." Blayze began to taunt at their pursuers.

 

From the dark alleyway stepped out a man. He was fairly tall, but had strange attire on. But Blayze knew exactly who he was "supposed" to be...

 

"You..."

 

---

 

I had been at Al's for about a few hours now. I had a special custom order waiting for me from Al himself. My birthday gift to Paul was this special bottle of rum that had been aged for nearly a century. I knew he wanted it for his special drink collection that he has kept behind the bar, and so I had been tracking it down for quite sometime. Until finally Al finally purchased it for me. But then again, he had it in storage for such a long while; he had forgotten where he placed it! So I spent most of the day there helping him look for the, more or less, "buried treasure".

 

After I had found it, I decided to head back to H&E. When I had arrived at the pier, the boat had already been taken, so I assumed that Blayze and Yoko must have gone home early. Thus I borrowed a small boat from Al, and said that I'd return in the morning.

 

"Ahh, tonight’s gonna be a grand night, once he gets a surprise out of this!"

 

I merrily spoke to myself, but little did I know that this wouldn't be the only surprise any of us would be expecting upon my return...

 

---

 

~The Infirmary~

 

Everyone was gathered around, trying to find out what happened, but QR, our medic, immediately pushed everyone out of the room. First she did a full physical inspection, then tried to find if he had any wounds or any markings that might have led to an attack.

 

From what Yoko explained, they were stopped by a group of rogues, and the last thing she remembered was an unconscious Blayze on the ground. What was surprising was that she didn't know how the two of them actually lost to a bunch of punks. All she did was check if Blayze was still breathing, and call in for help. As soon as she contacted H&E, almost immediately Smiter, Ash, Alpha, and QR came to pick them up. They couldn't find me, or contact me, which was understandable, but trying to keep it from me ... that's about where I came in.

 

Everyone went into Blayze's room, by everyone I mean; Smiter, Ash, Alpha, Aethos, QR, and Yoko. Everyone else was sitting outside in the waiting area of the Infirmary. Smiter was the first to break the silence.

 

"Yoko, explain what happened again." He calmly asked.

 

"Who did this to our Blayze-kun!? WHO!?" Alpha almost tearing poor Yoko apart, forcefully asked her. But her eyes showed that she was really upset.

 

Ash restrained her upset sister, and held her in her arms trying to calm her. "Alpha calm down. We will find those that did this. Go on Yoko."

 

"W-well, it started out slow. We knew we were being followed since we stopped by the sword smith. So we stopped by the cafe for a snack, and talked for a bit. But then as we were heading back to the ship, they wouldn't leave us alone. So we did the only thing we could do. Call them out, face to face. Blayze-san had this look of anger once he saw who was following us. Although I didn't recognize him, or who he was with. They exchanged some words, and then we fought."

 

"What did he want?" Smiter questioned her.

 

"It was weird. They were after Hoku-kun ... the captain. But he wasn't with us, and instead Blayze took his place."

 

"What!?" Everyone said all at once in surprise. Yoko continued-

 

"First the man, asked ... You with the sword. Are you not Hokuten? ... Then Blayze whispered to me, and told me to play along. Then Blayze began to taunt them ... Yeah, that's me. An' what do you punks want? ... Then the man, simply grinned, and suddenly a whole group of rogues were upon us. Naturally we fought them since they weren't hiding their bloodlust from us anymore. At first we were holding our own pretty well, beating them all up. But their leader, the man that was targeting Blayze as the captain, he did some kind of a strange incantation. That's the last thing I remembered before I blacked out. The next thing I remember is seeing Blayze on the ground unconscious. And then I called you guys."

 

Smiter nodded his head, trying to understand the situation. Then he realized a factor in the story. "The sword! Where is the captain's katana?"

 

Yoko then realized that she hadn't noticed it missing from Blayze, and put a hand to cover her mouth.

 

"So they stole the captain's katana. That was probably their objective, but something still doesn't feel right. QR, how is he? Is he alright?" Smiter moved on with the subject.

 

"Alright? I'm not even sure. I mean physically he's fine, a couple bruises, a few cuts here and there, the usual bad liver, but nothing too serious. But spiritually? Something is definitely wrong. It's like he's empty or something. Or someone sucked something important out of him, but left him alive for one single reason." QR responded straight-forward.

 

"It's a message. After they took whatever it was from Blayze, they must have realized that it wasn't Hokuten." Ash deducted.

 

That's when Aethos exploded. "Then let's go get the bastards! We can't let these punks get away with hurting one of our own!"

 

Alpha soon joined in. "Yeah! I'd like to get my hands around those sick !@#%s and ..." She began to make hand motions of beating and pain.

 

"But where to start? Juno isn't exactly a small town. And the captiain-" Smiter began to think.

 

"THE CAPTAIN!" Everyone exclaimed.

 

Yoko began to panic slightly. "Oh God, that's right, what are we going to tell him? What are we going to do!?"

 

Alpha replied. "We have to tell him something-"

 

"Yeah, but what!? Sorry your brother was attacked by random rogues and we lost? I don't think he's going to buy that." Aethos sarcastically spoke, but meant well.

 

"You won't need to tell the captain anything."

 

"Yeah, we won't need to tell him anything-" Aethos repeated the words, but then realized what he said, and began to turn around to see who had said them. "HEY wait-a-minute!? Whadda ya mean we don't ..."

 

There I was standing outside of the door to my brother's room. Everyone went dead silent, as they hadn't noticed just how long I had been standing there over hearing everything. Although the way they were discussing, the whole island could have heard them. But that wasn't the point.

 

"Captain..." Smiter broke the silence. "Blayze is-"

 

"I heard everything."

 

Yoko then stepped forward, and made a brave, but silly act. "Please Captain, it was my fault. I could not protect him! I take full responsibility."

 

"Yoko! Stop that!" Ash called to her.

 

I simply stepped over to her, and saw in her eyes that she was lying. And as she looked back into mine, she knew I knew, but it was a valiant attempt. I simply put a hand onto her head to motion that it wasn't her fault. She slightly began to tear, but kept her composure.

 

"Captain. What are we going to do?" Smiter spoke again.

 

"Everyone please leave the room, and close the door." I simply spoke in a monotonous tone.

 

Aethos naturally reacted, but this time was different. "But boss!"

 

"Out. All of you. NOW!"

 

I tried to keep my cool, but there were so many emotions running through my mind and body. I didn't mean to snap at my crew members, but they knew when to leave. Yoko was the last one out and she closed the door, but stood next to it just to hear what would happen. Everyone else went to the waiting area, expecting something to happen. In the room, I stood by my brother's bedside and put a hand upon his head.

 

"Always being the big man, protecting me huh? Heh, its my fault you're like this. But ever since that day at the well, you always believed in me and I always believed in you. And here we are, big shots in a NaruSaku war...."

 

Yoko on the outside was peeking in, and creaked the door slightly open just to over hear us, without my noticing. She continued to listen, even though she knew she would get in big trouble if she was caught right now.

 

"It wasn't the sword they were after, was it dear brother." I then sad down next to him. "I never thought they would have hunted us this far. But no more, this time we end it. Here, and now. But I can't do this without you."

 

Yoko didn't understand what I was trying to get at, but someone she figured that I had some kind of a plan.

 

"So here I am. Release the seal from me, and let me have my vengeance. They killed father and they have tormented our family for the ages. I WILL NOT RUN ANYMORE. So I beg of you, please brother, let me avenge you, and bring you back to me."

 

What was this "seal", and what is the truth about these two. But what would happen next Yoko could never have imagined. I began to speak in a dark tone, an almost foreign tongue not even of this mortal plane. In that instant the room became dark and Blayze began to glow slightly. I finished speaking and opened my mouth; just then Blayze opened his mouth and out came a type of green mist, almost like Blayze's ... spirit aura. It exited his body like a breath of life, and entered into mine. After the process was complete, the room returned to normal, and I closed my mouth.

 

After that, Yoko closed the door quickly and stepped away, unsure to make of what had just happened.

 

As I stood up and began to step towards the door, I felt the change beginning. Soon upon my forehead were the markings of the process. Soon, we would have our vengeance, and I will bring back my brother. I put on my overcoat, and wore a long bandana to over my head. As I made my way out the door, I saw Yoko standing there still motionless. I simply looked at her, and she knew that I wasn't the same person, but something inside of her told her to follow me.

 

As I made my way down the hall and into the waiting area, everyone got up to see me, and to hear of what I had planned. But this time was different.

 

"Captain!” - "Boss!” - "Hoku!"

 

"What the plan of attack?" Smiter asked first.

 

"Everyone is to stay here on base. Protect him with your lives."

 

"But captain! Shouldn't we go with you!?" Aethos argued.

 

"No. This is something I must do. Alone." I said, and continued on my way out. They tried to reason with me again, but I immediately shouted back. "That's an order. Anyone who disobeys me, I will kill you myself."

 

Even after I had made that clear, Yoko still didn't know what drove her to keep following me. She knew that I was going to go alone, and possibly to my death, all to save my brother, but still she followed. I made my way over to the HMS NaruSaku's Hanger bay, and prepared my fighter jet for transit. That was when Yoko came up to me. I knew she was following me, and that even after I threatened with death to any who followed she came. So I began to speak with her.

 

"You and you alone, have witnessed what had happened in that room, yes?"

 

She nodded and I knew her response even without looking at her. I simply continued to prepare the flight.

 

"I'm giving this option only to you. You have a choice. Stay here, safe, and away from whatever horrors await. Or, you risk your life, only to see who Paul and I really are. To face a horror, unmentionable even if I told you. Once you join me on this night, you can never go back. Do you understand?"

 

Again, without looking, I knew her response. She nodded to join me.

 

"This is why I chose you to become my apprentice. You have no fear, even when you know death may come at anytime."

 

I turned to face her and I revealed my face to her. My eyes were already glowing red, but my face remained. The only thing I showed her was the seal upon my forehead. It was like a black marking, three lines, two lines forming from the inside of my eye brows and winged off up on my forehead just over my eyebrows. Then the center line was that of a upside down long diamond.

 

"This mark, is a curse. A seal that should never been shown to anyone else. Those who gaze upon it, will only know certain death. But for you, my apprentice, death is only the beginning. Come forward."

 

She stepped towards me, and stood before me. I placed my hands gentle on her head, and tilted it down. I put my forehead to hers, and spoke softly to her.

 

"You are no longer my Bloody Angel, but now an Angel Of Death. From here on out, by the end of the night, I will fully acknowledge you as my second, and not just as a pupil anymore. You will bear witness to tonight’s events, but you will only watch. For you will see your master's true nature."

 

I lifted my head away from hers and she looked at me with great reserve.

 

"Come, Yoko. The time has come for me to exact justice, and judgment."

 

We both got into the cockpit (pilot/co-pilot seating), and I a remote inside the cockpit, that opened the hanger bay doors. More or less, Aethos found the "garage opener" remote. I began to fire up the jet engines, and we flew out of the hanger bay. The YF-19 gliding with great speed over the ocean, the water sprays reflecting off of the ship! Soon we would arrive at Juno, once again.

 

"Sensei, why are these people after you?" Yoko finally asked me, breaking the silence since take off.

 

I sighed, as it was about time that I told her the full story about Blayze and I. "So how far did Paul get when he told you about our childhood?"

 

She told me, everything that Blayze had told her; unfortunately it was only just the lighter side of what had happened. So on the ride too Juno, I told her the full story.

 

"He always patronizes me. So he told you that our father left us? That's not true, the real truth is that those who attacked Blayze today were the ones who kill him. And it was my fault that he died. But anyway, you know what our task was?"

 

"What, sensei?"

 

"We were both supposed to go into that cursed well. Do you know what waited for us in that well? It wasn't any treasure, or power, or greatness ... it was the truth about who we were. Who we were to become, and how we must live for the rest of our lives. That day, we became who we were meant to be."

 

"And what were you, sensei?"

 

"Demons & Devils."

 

There was another moment of silence in the cockpit. Then I continued.

 

"Truth is, I, myself don't even fully remember what happened in that well..." I paused mid sentence remembering.

 

~~~~[12 years ago...]~~~

Do you see it, Paul?

 

"See what?"

 

I pointed in the direction ahead of us. "The doorway! I knew there was something down here!"

 

"Come on, big brother, let's just get whatever papa wanted us to get, and return home." Little Paul tugged on my arm.

 

"Don't worry; we're already this far. We're almost there, I can almost .. feel it."

 

The two of us had gone down into the large well, and traveled along a cavern path for some time. Then we had finally come to a dark room, with only two glowing lights. There were two crystals glowing softly, one blood red & the other a black/violet. The both of us walked slowly towards them, and almost instinctively Paul reached for the red one ... but then-

 

Paul look out!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

"... that was when we were attacked. By that man ... the one Paul holds such a grudge against, Sesshoumaru. We were just young kids back the, but father had trained us well. We tried to fight back, but then again what could we do, they still out numbered us. They were after the crystals, after they had knocked us out, and then they tried to take them. But after many attempts, they had failed. Finally they used us to retrieve the crystals for them. So they pushed me first, I tried to reach for the red one, but I was zapped. I still remember the feeling, like getting electrocuted by a 10,000 volts. So I then I reached for the black one. After that, it got hazy, but I remember the feeling before I passed out. Images, it was like someone was forcing images into my head and I couldn't stop them. Images of pain, suffering, hate, anger, angst, sadness, and bloodlust. And then I blacked out. The next thing I remember was waking up, seeing the enemies gone, and father by my side. But he was hurt, badly hurt. Paul was there too, but something was different about him, I ... I could see it in his eyes...

 

~~~[12 years ago...]~~~

Papa! Papa!

 

"Who did this, Paul! Was it those men!" I awoke to my fatally wounded father with my hands all bloodied.

 

Little Paul just stood there, not saying a word. Our father was dying, and we couldn't save him. But with his last few words, he spoke to us.

 

"I'm sorry, my children. Forgive me for putting this burden upon you know and so early. But you are my children, never forget that! Protect each other and live for one another. Farewell ... my sons ..."

 

Papa! Papa!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

"That day, we lost father, and learned about what we were. You see Yoko, Paul and I? We are different."

 

"Different, sensei?"

 

"You shall see. Tonight you shall witness judgment in the process."

 

We had arrived at Juno during the dead of night. We left the jet at the docks, so that we would have a quick take-off, when we were finished. Just then, the moon came out from the clouds and illuminated the ground.

 

"Sensei, how will we find them? We don't even have a trail, or clue."

 

"HE is guiding me. Paul will take me to them."

 

"But ... how-"

 

"Yoko, now it is not in you to ask me anymore. But to follow, and be my witness for this night."

 

Yoko simply nodded and just kept quiet the rest of the way. Every time we came to a dead stop, I would simply close my eyes and hold out my hand to "feel" which direction to go, and we would continue on the path. After a few more blocks we came to an old warehouse, on the far end of the pier. The sky then grew dark again, the moon hiding behind the clouds.

 

"Yoko. Only watch, do not interfere. And what ever happens ... try not to scream."

 

Inside there were the group of rogues that had attacked my brother. There were possible six or seven at most. They were all hoarding over their loot and treasures. But there were only two things I was looking for, a crystal and my sword. I couldn't see the crystal anywhere, but I did notice them playing around with my katana.

 

"Hey boss, why'd we take this hunk of junk? It won't even come out of its sheath!?" One of the rogues spoke.

 

"You fool, that's genuine Masamune! It's worth a blood fortune! Not to mention that it belonged to the Demon family that we finally taken care of!" Sesshoumaru spoke.

 

"But still, this thing - won't - come out of its sheath!" The rogue tried many times to pull, but it simply wouldn't come out.

 

The boss, Sesshoumaru then came over and tried himself, only to find out that even he could not pull the blade from its sheath.

 

"Bah! It's probably rusted and not maintained well. Whatever." But then he pulled out the crystal. "But this! This is what we've been looking for! Our clan has been trying to seize this gem from them for such a long time! Now we will have the power of the Hachi-Oni! I guess I have no need for such broken toys like this piece of garbage katana!"

 

And in his cockiness, he threw the sword at the ground and it slide away into a corner. Then all of the rogues began to laugh. And that was when I made my entrance.

 

"It's not broken."

 

Suddenly they all turned around to see me standing right at their front door by myself. As I held up my hand and reached in the direction of where my katana was on the ground. The katana then began to glow red, and instantly flew to me!

 

One hand holding the mid section of the sheath, and my other on the handle of my katana. "You just don't know how to use it!"

 

My face was shadowy, but I had an evil grin on. I pulled the blade from it's sheath, and that was when the lights of the warehouse went out.

 

----

 

In the next morning, the authorities were all over the scene. It was a bloody massacre, bodies everywhere; blood covered just about every inch of the warehouse. They said that there was only one survivor, a lone man. When the authorities apprehended him, he was shaking so badly they had to put him in a straight jacket, and all he kept babbling was "He is real. They are all real."

 

As he was being put into the ambulance to be taken away to be treated, he got one last glimpse of a shadowy figure in the public, that only he could have spotted. At that mere shadows sight, he began to make a scream, and go completely nuts, as if he was seeing ...

 

"It's him! Get away! Get me away from him! He's not human!"

 

But the shadow was gone, and he went back to shaking madly, babbling to himself.

 

---

 

Back at H&E, Blayze was already recovering, as if nothing had happened at all. He regained full consciousness and we all celebrated his recovery. Later that night at his party, it felt like nothing had even happened the night before. I sat in my usual corner drinking away, like my normal self, Yoko sitting next to me quietly ... thinking ... recalling everything ... she can still hear the screaming ...

 

---

 

Uuaaaaahhhhhh - AAHHHHHH!!!!!

 

My blade flying from one man to the next, I moved like a shadow in the dark warehouse. All of the rogues were in a panic, trying to get their guns and swords to fight back. It was like shining a light on cockroaches, all of them running around like they had been caught. But some did manage to TRY and fight back, although they were swing at pretty much nothing in front of them. All they could see, or the last thing they saw was the flash of my red eyes glowing past them, followed by a spray of blood. 

 

Yoko watched from one of the upper windows, getting a good view of the slaughter happening. She watched as I moved from one target to the next, but how I did it was in describable. It was like my first movement was instant, and the next was as if I floated over to the next. But when it came to the final four rogues left alive, the next couple of executions would be most cruel and unusual.

 

The first of rogue was huddled against a wall of boxes. He was scrambling around, feeling the wall trying to find back door. Suddenly there was a screeching noise, like a violent squeaking and then a flutter. He began to panic slightly, then saw something fly about him. Just then he saw the opening from the front gate, and made a mad dash for it. The second rogue saw him, run for the opening, but then saw above him something move at great speed! It in bits and pieces, like some kind of a dark cloud! Soon the first rogue nearly made it to the front door, but was then swooped away by the black cloud, all that was heard was his blood gurgling cry.

 

The second rogue tried to get to higher ground, and ran up a flight of stairs to try and get a better view of his surroundings. As he came to the area over where the first man was, he saw his body limp, but something else made him scream. It was another dark figure, feasting on his blood. It was like-

 

"A va-va-vampire-" He squeaked, but that was his fatal flaw.

 

The dark figure immediately turned his head to see the terrified man, and the man ran back down the stairs. But as he looked back, all that was left was his former comrades body in a pool of his own blood. He then ran towards the back stairs of the warehouse, and saw the back door. So he ran as quickly as he could, but then there were steps coming up the stairway. The second rogue made a dead stop, and was now facing the dark figure.

 

"No! I'm not with them! They wanted the boy, not me! I just joined them for the money!" He tried to plead.

 

Just then the dark figure took form of a pirate, but not just any pirate ... a dead one.

 

"Aye!? Is that so? So you be ratting out your own mates to save your own?"

 

The Undead pirate had the usual long tattered cloak, with the big corsair hat, and the eye patch. It was like looking at a walking skeleton with some organs, and missing limbs, but none the less standing right here in front of the terrified man.

 

"Do you now what we do to squealers on my ship?" The pirate spoke as he grabbed the second rogue who was too frightened to fight back. "We give em the a special cut called, The Joker's Smile."

 

At that very mention, the rogue knew exactly what the pirate was going to do.

 

"You see, we take the squealer, and cut his face. Ear to ear, like a biiiig smile face!" And the pirate did so, as all the man could do was tremble and scream. "Oh, but it gets better! Then we cut your throat like so!" And the pirate did so as well. "So all that you can hear is nothing, but a silent scream! YARR HARR HARR HARR HARR!!!"

 

The third rogue was on the ground level, had just witness that mad pirate commit the Joker's Smile on his comrade, and saw the horrifying man try to scream, but nothing came out. He saw in the darkness the pirate laughing maniacally. Then the second rogue fell over the railing and dropped to the concrete floor. That was when the third rogue decided to fight back! He drew forth whatever gun, rifle, or weaponry next to him and began to shoot at the pirate!

 

"You bastard! I'll kill you! Come on!" And he unleashed a first volley of bullets into the Undead Pirate, but all it did was get his attention. "AHHH!!! COME ON!! COME GET SOME!!! AHHHH!"

 

The third man just kept firing madly into the air, desperately trying to kill the pirate, but what would happen next he would never have believed. As the volley and volley of bullets kept flying into the pirate. But nothing had happened, it simply kept on taking hit after hit, bullet after bullet, laughing, laughing at the desperate rogue. Then the Pirate put a foot onto the railing and leaned over. Next he jumped down from the catwalk, and landed on the ground with great ease, as if it was nothing. The pirate form faded away, and it was the dark figure once again, the eyes glowing even brighter than before. And all this time the panic struck man kept firing all the guns he could, although it was funny that he was standing next to their weapons cache.

 

Finally the dark figure made it to the opening area where the rogue was, and suddenly a light came from above. A pale soft glow from the only thing illuminating the sky, the moon. Just then the dark figure began to grab at its sides and yell.

 

"RRAAAARRRRRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!"

 

The rogue unsure of what was happening ceased fire to see what was going on. But before his eyes, he would witness a transformation not seen for thousands of years. The dark figure fell to its knees and began tearing away at the cloak all around it.

 

"AARRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWOOOOOOOO!!!!!"

 

The dark figure began to take form, it got bigger, more massive ... and hairier. Soon the rogue finally understood what it was transforming into, and looked to the night sky to see ... a Full moon.

 

"N-no way..." He muttered in his final moments. "...werewolf- AHHH!!!!"

 

He looked back down to see a fully grown werewolf, at least seven, or eight feet tall! Standing on its human-like hind legs, its claw big enough to shred a man into pieces with a single swipe, drool coming from its large snarling jaw. And just as it made a full stretch, he arched its back and howled loudly into the air signaling it would strike!

 

"AWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

 

And in that instant the wolf moved with great-unseen speed! The rogue desperately firing in all directions, trying to fend it off, but neither bullets nor any type of holy weaponry could save this poor soul. The man ceased fire once again, as it fell dead silent. But he dropped his gun, as his eyes opened and he felt a hot breath upon the back of his neck. There was a deep low growl that came from behind him, the man was shaking so violently, that he was literally twitched his head just to look behind him. The last things he saw were glowing blood red eyes, and a the pearly whites of the werewolf's massive jaw.

 

And then there was one, the last of the rogue gang, Sesshoumaru. He was the only one who hadn't moved from his spot. He stood alone in the center of the entire building. He stood alone, being his over glorified and arrogant self. Soon the werewolf was upon him, in front of him. But it did not move any closer; they were at most at least 15 feet away from each other. Sesshoumaru simply stood, and instead of screaming like his other dead mates, he taunted it.

 

"I don't know who you are, or why you've come to kill us. But you can't kill me."

 

He said this, then took the red crystal and then began an incantation of his own. A small barrier formed on the ground around him in a 5-foot diameter. There were pale green runes on the ground, marking it as a circle of protection. He held his hands in a prayer like state, and kept his concentration.

 

The werewolf made its strike! Again with great speed it charged the barrier dead on, but simply got knocked away and flew back a few feet. It tried to claw and attack its way through, but it was no use. The massive werewolf would simply get zapped or electrocuted away. Then the wolf changed form back into the pirate! Thus the Undead Pirate made his attacks! Swinging his sword back and forth, the blade simply bouncing off, or reflecting doing no damage. Next the Undead Pirate took form of the Vampire! The vampire separated into a black cloud, but in turn the black cloud was a mass of many bats! The shadow bats scattered all around the barrier trying to break through, attacking all at once like a swarm, but it was no use. Next the vampire took form of a metallic man, some sort of a cyborg creature, a bio-mechanical monster! Bashing and thrashing all about! Shooting laser beams and what not! Still it was not enough! Next the Biotech creature turned into a fiery demon, throwing flame here and there in a fit of rage! A demon of shadow and flame, trying to use pure anger to its well!

 

Sesshoumaru stood there still, unharmed and unafraid. His confidence that he would prevail kept his concentration at a high. "Reveal yourself! Reveal your true form!"

 

After speaking this he chanted another incantation, and thus the demon was backing way now as if it was in some sort of inner pain. The flames subsided; the demon began to revert to its original form ... me. Sesshoumaru was unsure what to make of this, so he stayed within his barrier. But after he saw my face, he knew well of who I was.

 

"So we finally meet face to face, eh? Hokuten." He spoke in that arrogant tone of his.

 

I got up from where I had transformed. And stepped forward slightly into the pale light. "I am."

 

"So the real one finally reveals himself." He pauses.

 

I simply stand there in the pale blue light, and bowed my head as a gesture.

 

"We came for what we wanted. We have no reason to fight now." He spoke again.

 

I simply crossed my arms and laughed at him. "You think you have what you came for, when what you really wanted was this."

 

I reached our one of my hands and revealed the black crystal glowing the deep violet. As Sesshoumaru saw this, he realized that he indeed had the wrong crystal. Also that he had attacked the wrong person, now he was starting to feel a little doubt.

 

"Lies. I hold the power of the Hachi-Oni in my hand right now!" With those words he held up the red crystal in his hand towards me.

 

I laughed again, and folded my arms. "If so, then summon them."

 

After that taunt, he got angry and did exactly as I told him to do. Only after he finished his incantation, nothing happened. He looked all around him to see what was wrong, and then he looked at me. All I could tell in his face now was "Oh crap..." That was when I began to walk towards him slowly, with my katana drawn out of its sheath. As I was nearing him, by a few paces, he began to babble and find loop holes out of me killing me.

 

"Wait! You cannot judge me!" He spoke behind his barrier.

 

But I kept moving closer to him and his barrier, almost 10 paces near him.

 

He kept trying to defend himself. "The law says you cannot judge me for my crimes!"

 

Still moving closer, now 5 paces from his barrier.

 

"Devils cannot judge those who have not crimed against them!" He shouted in desperation.

 

And there I was standing directly in front of him, nothing between us except his stupid barrier. But at the last accusation, that's what stopped me. I was bound to the rules and laws of the demon/devil world.

 

"You're right. I cannot judge you for your crimes ..."

 

So I sheathed my katana, and faded away into the darkness. But Sesshoumaru didn't let his barrier go yet, instead he sighed in relief as he had just escaped certain horror beyond death.

 

"... but attacking my brother? A devil's own kin?"

 

But in that instant he relaxed, I immediately appeared behind him, within his own barrier! Shocked and unable to move, he began to tremble, as he couldn't believe how I got to him even after his efforts. And I moved in closer, to whisper into his ear.

 

"... Now that's a sin."

 

I submitted him to a punishment not fit for his crimes or sins. Instead of giving him death, I gave him life. A life to which he will always fear, a life in which he will always live in pure terror, a life in which devil, demons, and even the boogeyman is real.

 

AAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!

 

I retrieved the crystal from Sesshoumaru who was lying on the ground curled up rocking back and forth, muttering to himself. But when I touched the red crystal, it revealed to me something that I didn't expect.

 

---

 

... the voices fading from her head. Since we had missed his birthday party, Alpha and everyone had redecorated everything again. Now Alpha was making him dance on a table and sing, "I'm a little tea pot" as his hazing. Yoko turned to look at me, who was laughing merrily at Blayze's antics. It was weird at first, seeing such a demonic side of her master, and now he was back to normal as if nothing had ever happened. But she didn't care, nor did she think too much about it. All that mattered was that everything was back to normal again.

 

---

 

After the party, everyone had gone to their usual places of recreation, and it was just me and Paul in the tavern. I sat down with him at the bar for a good ol' chat with him.

 

"So it's done? Are we finally free of those wretched punks brother?" Blayze merrily spoke.

 

I nodded my head while drinking from my mug. "Aye, and I don't think anyone's gonna quite believe him or what he has to say."

 

"Heh." Blayze chuckled, and looked over at me. "Thanks Lloyd."

 

I put a firm hand on his shoulder, and told him instead. "No, thank you Paul. You're always the one who watches over me."

 

"Bah! Come 'ere you!" Blayze shook his head and we gave each other a manly hug.

 

~~~[12 years ago...]~~~

... do you ...

 

"Do you think this is our destiny?" I asked my little brother who was supporting me on my side.

 

"I'm not sure." He spoke as he looked at the red crystal in his hand. "But it's like you said; whatever happens, where ever we go, we have to stick together."

 

The two of came out of that God forsaken well all bloody and beaten, and we returned home to mother. Down in the depths, there were some runes glowing softly in the dark. It read-

 

Hachi-Oni (The 8 Devils/Demons) & the Guardian

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

To Be Continued.


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"Shiny. Let's go be bad guys."


#37 hokuten

hokuten

    I am CLUTCH.

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Posted 09 February 2006 - 05:13 PM

Chapter 36: Straying from the Light
Subtitle: Shinyu

 

It had been nearly a month or so since the incident that Blayze and I were involved in. Normal life went on, we had a steady flow of more members coming to our island. Many young and upcoming recruits; Jiraya & Tsunade (who were brother and sister), AfterDeath & Nikko (friend's of Yoko), Tatsu_no_Houou (a man with many riddles & challenges), and Faucon. Hell, we've even managed to get Geno Calamari, that old hermit to join us! Although he spends most of his days with Blayze tinkering, mixing and matching, moon shining, and what not in our little ol' tavern. But over all we gained many new-spirited people, well except for ol' Geno, but he was a good man nonetheless!

 

Through this time, there was one person to whom I had not seen since we had arrived here at H&E ... Shinyu. I had put him in charge of guarding the main headquarters, when we went on voyages, but ever since our return to NF, he had gone up and disappear. The last thing I remember of him and I doing something was this thing called RO. Now I admit RO was a pretty strong drug at the time, but I was a 6-year recovering addict of Diablo & D2. RO was like something even more addicting that D2. Even Smiter has had the taste of RO, but he had quit long before. Shinyu did introduce me to RO, but I stopped after the first couple of times or so. Now ... I feared something has happened to him ...

 

"Has anyone seen Shinyu lately?" I went around H&E asking everyone, but the response was the same.

 

"No, I'm sorry captain." - "Sorry boss, dunno where the kid is." - "Sorry Hoku, haven't seen him either."

 

"Damn. Where are you Shinyu ..."

 

After asking just about everyone, I finally came to Tatsu, who sitting in the center of the literary section was speaking to himself.

 

"Ahahaa! Challenges, challenges, challenges! Come one! Come all! I challenge you to a writing contest!" He spoke with such an alluring voice, like a ringmaster attracting customers to his show. "NaruSaku this! NaruSaku that! Time limit this! Time limit that! And each challenge comes with a different twist! Come one! Come all! If you brave Tatsu's Call!"

 

"Oh come off the riddles, you mad man!" I jested with him.

 

I caught his attention, well since I was the only one there at the moment, and he stepped down from his podium.

 

"Ahh Captain! You've honored me by accepting the Tatsu's Call?" He jested back.

 

"No no, I've only come to ask you a question."

 

"Hah, of course." He bowed lightly. "How may I be of service?"

 

"Shinyu. Have you seen him as of lately?"

 

"Shinyu, shinyu, shinyu ..." He mumbled to himself trying to remember, although he himself hadn't seen Shinyu in a while as well. Then he remembered. "Ah! Yeah boss! Last I saw him, he took one of the boats and sailed out to some town called Payon. 400 miles due east! Although he wasn't looking quite like himself, more like a zombie."

 

"Payon ... damn that cursed town." I responded in anger as I knew the town. I turned to back towards the pier. I knew where he was, and why he had left. As I was walking away, I thanked Tatsu for his help. "Thanks Tatsu, next time, I shall answer the call!"

 

"Ahaha! Good man Captain! Good luck!" He shouted back. "And when am I gonna be in this story of yours Captain, you know those memoirs you keep talking about? The HMS?"

 

Just before I was out of sight, he saw me point to the side of my head, jab at it with my finger, and yelled back . "You're already in it as we speak!"

 

Tatsu grinned, and stood back on his podium. "Come one! Come all! To Answer Tatsu's Call!"

 

I had a bad feeling about where Shinyu was. Payon town, that God forsaken, drug dealing, underworld town. I've only been there a few times, but was in the past. If Shinyu had been going there for quite some time ... then it's gonna be hard to get him out. But if it meant going back there to bring him back, I would travel to hell and back again. This time I went alone, taking my fighter jet once again. On my way there I began to think of how to get him out, and remembering how we used to do RO together.

 

~~~[1 week after arrival at H&E]~~~

"Hey hey! Hoku! Let's go have some fun! Come on!" Shinyu was dragging me along with him.

 

"Huh? Where we going?"

 

"This place called Payon! They have this thing called RO, it's so much fun! I want you to join me too!" He seemed so excited to get me into it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Finally I had arrived, just on the outskirts of the city. I got out of my plane, and began to walk towards the city gates. The old musky feeling of the great forest city bringing back old memories.

 

~~~[Flashback]~~~

"See! See! There it is! We finally made it!" Shinyu excitedly exclaimed.

 

The great tall gate of Payon stood before us. It was like one of those lost ancient Chinese cities found in the jungles, or forests. At first glance it had such an awe about it that was nearly indescribable. As we walked in, the city was fresh and lively, people everywhere moving all around, doing what business they were into.

 

"It's amazing, Shinyu. How did you find this place?" I was still looking at all the buildings and surroundings.

 

Shinyu chuckled. "Heh, a friend. Come on! There that building, we gotta go register first, then the fun can start!"

 

He pointed to a building labeled "dRO"...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

... and there I stood, in front of that same building. It had been nearly four or five months since I came here last. Only now the streets were dirtier and it seemed more crowded than the last time I was here. There were merchants in every corner vending out of order, it was like Sodom & Gomorrah ... Las Vegas ... Detroit City!? (lol with no offense to Michigan). It was complete chaos. This once city filled with beauty and wonder, now turned upside down into a city of trash and corruption. I had to find Shinyu fast, or I would lose him to this God forsaken place.

 

I entered the building, and already many people were surprised to see my return.

 

"Hey Hoku's back!" - "Hoku!" - "Where've you been!?" - "ap0c! Good to see you man!"

 

All sorts of people came to crowd around me; hunters, wizards, priests, assassins, bards, dancers, etc. I remembered that they were all my friends, and that we all used to have a great time. But I left, because I felt that NaruSaku needed me more than RO. So I gave up RO and returned to my priorities. Still it was good to see those familiar faces.

 

"Hey, anyone seen Shinyu? I'm looking for him."

 

"Yeah, he's upstairs, in that usual room you two used to share. Been here for the past couple of weeks, alone and doing RO by himself." A priest answered, he was a close friend of Shinyu's. "Hoku, its good to see you back."

 

I scoffed, but spoke calmly. "Heh. I'm not back, I'm just here to take Shinyu home."

 

Everyone went back to their business, and let me go on upstairs to find Shinyu. Third room on the left, where me and Shinyu always used to hang out, but ever since I quit, he's probably kept coming here since. As I came to our room, the door was closed only to a crack. The light inside was pretty faded, as I opened the door the smell of musk was in the air. It was so damp and impure that I had to cover my mouth and nose with a handkerchief. The windows were shut closed and the curtain had been pulled down. Whoever was staying in this room wanted to shut out the world ...

 

~~~[Flashback]~~~

"Shinyu I think we need to stop playing for a bit."

 

"But why? Isn't it fun?" He argued with me.

 

"It's interfering with our priorities. Like H&E and NaruSaku. You know we haven’t seen you for nearly a month?"

 

He sat back and crossed his arms. "So what? I still go and drop by every now and then."

 

"I'm just saying. Maybe we need a break from this, that's all." I sighed and tried to reason with him.

 

"I'll be fine. Trust me ..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

"My God. Shinyu what have you done..."

 

... and there he was, sitting in that same spot where I had left him those months ago. Only now he's eyes were sunken, and he had looked like he hadn't eaten properly in days. I wasn't sure if he was still alive or already dead, but I had to get him out of here. As soon as I entered the room, he moved his head slightly to see me.

 

"Ehh? Hoku! You came back!" He spoke in a very weary voice, as if he was tired, but not exhausted. "I knew you'd come back."

 

"Shinyu, how long have you been here?"

 

He turned over onto his side, and tried to look at the clock on the wall, but ended up falling over. "Bah! I don't know, but it's like one wild ride!"

 

I shook my head in disappointment. "I'm getting you out of here, and we're going home to get you cleaned up."

 

As I began to reach over to pick him up, he immediately pushed me away. "No! If you're not here to join me, then I don't want your help! I can quit anytime I want! I don't need your help at all!"

 

"Shinyu look at yourself, what it's done to you. Don't make me force you-"

 

And as I tried again to pick him up, he picked up his Gladius sword and pointed it at me. Although the blade was twitching slightly and wobbly, he kept it pointed at my face. "I said NO! I don't need your help or anyone else’s!”

 

I shook my head in disappointment again, and decided to let him go for now. As I exited the room, and closed the door behind me, I told him. "Fine. But I'm gonna keep coming until you come back. Can't believe I flew out 400 miles for this kitten."

 

"Fine! You'll only be wasting your time!" He shouted back and went back do doing his RO.

 

Before I shut the door, I told him one last thing before I finally left. "There's something you should know. We found it Shinyu."

 

I paused to wait for his response, but he said nothing.

 

"We found HMS NaruSaku. And I just, I just wanted you back with us. That's all." And I left dRO for today.

 

I decided to let him think about what I told him, and let him come to his senses. Inside, Shinyu sat there huddled in the corner, his arms around his knees. He sat there tearing away, thinking about what he had done and missed for the past months or so. He had been absent from his post for quite some time, and off doing these drugs that only made him worse. Finally during the night, he came to his senses and got himself up from his sorrowful hole. After he was coming down from the high, he made his way over to the main boss of dRO, some guy named Nataku. It had been nearly a week or so since I visited him, and it was time for him to clean up, realizing that he had a family waiting for him back at H&E, people who cared about him and worried about his welfare.

 

"Hey Nataku. I ... I want out." Shinyu humbly spoke as he shivered from the withdrawal.

 

Nataku simply sat there in his chair with his minions, the GMs, and laughed. "Shinyu, no one leaves dRO. You don't quit when you want to, I tell you when to quit."

 

"But Nataku, I-I can't do t-this anymore. I've g-got my r-reasons-" Shinyu was trembling, the week withdrawal affecting him now.

 

Nataku became angry and stood up from his chair. "You see this scum, guys? This kid wants out! Well then, let's give him a going away party!"

 

The GMs surrounded him and took hold of him. Shinyu was too weak to struggle against all of them, but still tried to fight back. Then they placed him on top of Nataku's table on his back. As they all held him down, Nataku himself took out a fresh dose of RO, and put it into Shinyu directly. Shinyu yelled in pain and suddenly went limp. After a few moments, he began to convulse and shake violently.

 

"Good-bye, Shinyu. Hope you like the next life." Nataku evilly grinned and laughed. "Throw him out into the alley. Make sure no one sees him."

 

The GMs then picked up Shinyu who was still shaking violently, and threw him out the back door. His body hit the wall, but was cushioned by a couple of trashcans. Shinyu lay there twitching, and unable to move. His eyes were dilated, and his mouth was beginning to drool. He was dying. Overdosed as a message to those who wanted to leave dRO.

 

During this, I was back at H&E telling everyone to get ready to sail. We would take the HMS over to Payon and bring back Shinyu by force if we had to. I told QR to prep the infirmary for a possible overdose. As we were almost there, I immediately got a bad feeling something was wrong. I left the ship on plane, and flew ahead to check on Shinyu. As I rushed into Payon and made my way over to dRO, I looked all around for him, but he was no where to be found. Finally I went to Nataku.

 

"Where is he." I simply said with a dark tone.

 

"And why should we tell you? You left us even way before!" Nataku laughed.

 

"I won't ask again. Where is he."

 

"And what are you gonna do, huh? Take us all on?" As Nataku said that, the GMs began to circle around me.

 

"If you don't give him to me, then I swear I will blow this city to hell."

 

"Oh? You and what army?" He continued to laugh.

 

"That one." I pointed out his window and they saw the HMS ship powering up the Hyperion Canon. And THAT got their attention.

 

"Then you'll die too!" He spoke again with panic.

 

"Then so be it."

 

They saw the look in my eyes that I was dead serious, and immediately confessed to what they did to him. I rushed out back, and called into the HMS for QR and a medical squad for immediate extraction. When I had reached the alleyway, Shinyu was already foaming badly at the mouth. I rushed to his side and checked for a pulse. He was still alive, but barely. I had to do something now, or the rescue team might not make it. I tried talking to him and tried to keep him conscious. He was shaking so badly, I tried to hold him down and kept him still from possibly breaking any bones.

 

"Shinyu! Don't die on me, kid. I'm not losing you here, or now. This isn't how you want to go out, in an alley overdosed. I know they forced it into you, but you gotta stay with me. Don't follow either light! The white or red one! In fact, stay the hell away from both!"

 

Suddenly he stopped moving and went dead silent. So I put my head to his, and spoke to him quietly.

 

"Lee. You're not allowed to die, you know that. But if you die here, I'm coming after you. I will go to whichever heaven, hell, nirvana, xanadu, or haven you are and bring you back myself. And when I find you, not only am I gonna drag you back here, but I'm gonna beat the crap out of you so you can go again. Now why don't you save me the trouble, and come home..."

 

And after I spoke to him it was like he immediately came back to his body, and began coughing up his own spit and blood. His eyes were blood red, but he could see me well. Then he tried to talk, but it was painful.

 

"I'm sorry, Hoku." Shinyu coughed violently, and he began to tear blood. "I tried to leave. I tried-"

 

"It's okay kid, I'm here." And I held onto him, and then I looked at him. "Okay, listen up, cause this is important. So don't pass out on me again. I've good news and bad news. Well actually bad news and worse news."

 

Shinyu coughed up more blood, but he was actually laughing. I continued.

 

"The bad news is, we have to get this poison out of you right now, but QR won't make it in time."

 

Shinyu's eyes rolled back for a second, and I though he was passing out, so I shook him again. He came back, but he was rolling his eyes cause of the bad news I gave him. So I gave him the worse news.

 

"The worse new is, I can extract the poison myself. But its gonna painful…like a lot.”

 

Shinyu nodded his head twitching, and gave me this painful smile as in "Do it". I acknowledged his answer and began the process. First I laid him out flat on the ground, and straightened him out. Next I wiped the excess blood and foam coming out of him, and cleaned as much of it as I could. Next I took out my knife and cut my thumb slightly, just so a trickle of blood came out. Then I brushed his forehead clear and drew the rune of "expelling" onto his forehead. Finally I placed a firm hand on his chest to hold him down so that he wouldn't convulse and hurt himself, and placed my other hand onto his head to prepare him.

 

"Okey-dokey kiddo, get ready for a whole world of hurt."

 

I began an incantation in a foreign tongue, which sounded like a black speech of the ancient realm. Just before I finished my chant, I spoke to Shinyu one last time.

 

"Remember that beating I said I'd give you? Consider this ... it!"

 

And I finished my last verse of the Expelling spell. The area around us began to blow around like a mini-tornado, the wind blowing trash and what not all around chaotically. The blood rune on Shinyu's forehead began to burn, as well as his body! He was screaming out in pain, as the poison of RO was leaving his body. I held him down as best as I could, his back arching up in pain. And with my other hand above his head, chanting the incantation, trying to keep total focus and concentration. After a few seconds the blood rune began to burn and fade away, the poison was almost gone. Shinyu still yelling, but it was a sign that he was no longer coughing blood, or twitching. Finally after a full minute, the rune finally burned away and faded from his forehead, signaling that the poison was fully expelled from the body. At the end of the cleansing spell, Shinyu lightly plumped onto the ground, completely exhausted, but alive and well.

 

I helped support his head gently onto the ground, and he was still semi-conscious. Soon QR & the rescue team would be here to take us back to the HMS NaruSaku. So just before Shinyu passed out, I told him.

 

"Hey kid. You did good. Not too bad myself I say. I just did a three-month detox in under a minute! Easy parts over, now the rest is up to you."

 

He gave me a big grin, raised his arm slightly up to give me a thumbs up, and fell asleep.

 

I waited there with him, until QR & crew came. I gave a hearty laugh, and grinned myself.

 

"That's my boy. Always a trooper."

 

To Be Continued.


sushiset1_shrimp.gifHard-Gay-animated-sprite.gif
"Shiny. Let's go be bad guys."


#38 hokuten

hokuten

    I am CLUTCH.

  • Kage
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  • Interests:EHRGEIZ: God Bless The Ring!

Posted 09 February 2006 - 05:36 PM

Chapter 37: Ghost Ship, Attack of the Perfects!
Subtitle: United as One


QR & Crew had found us in the back alleyway, and we all helped transfer Shinyu into the infirmary ward of the HMS NaruSaku. QR was pretty surprised to see him fully detoxed and physically well, but it was the psychological addiction and withdrawal that he would have to deal with. There's a reason why detox takes weeks, months, and sometimes years. You do it one step at a time, but I had no choice. It was either save him now, or have another one of my crew members dead. Only this time there was no one else to save him, but me. I don't regret doing what I did, and if I had to do it again I would. I believed in him, and I know he'll get through this. After all, he's one of us. He never gives up.

 

The reason why we took the HMS to sail was that, I felt that it was time for a full voyage out to sea. With every crew member available to sail with us, although some did chose to stay behind. Of course we had the usual new recruits, but to name those who came where: Smiter, Ash, Alpha, Blayze, Aethos, Yoko, Soritia, QR, HH, Bass, Arashi, Keira, Mel, UN, Shinyu, and myself. It was gonna be a full voyage this time around, and I was glad that a few of our members who were station out in NF were able to join us again, namely UN.

 

This voyage was more of another one of our leisure "cruises", well except for our new recruits; we let them do all the work since this was their boot camp now. It was funny because the fresh meat swabbed the decks, did our busy work, and were on full duty, while we sat back and enjoyed the ride. I think Blayze even did volunteered to be a drill instructor, hazing them, and pushing them to be tough. It was good training for them, and good relaxation time for all of us main crew members. With all the drama and excitement happening now a days, even we need vacations.

 

And so we sailed for about a couple weeks, to a month. I checked in the Infirmary each day to see how Shinyu's progress was doing. He was recovering quite well, sometimes his moods would change. Either he would be completely exhausted and dead tired, or others he would be awake and wanting to talk. But physically his body was still exhausted; he only got up when QR took him to physical therapy. But over all he was getting stronger each day.

 

On the third week of our vacation ... errr ... "Training Exercise", we decided to take to the air, because there was storm coming towards our coarse of direction. But once in the air, something most unlikely happened...

 

*bleep bleep* - *bleep bleep*

 

Alpha was sitting leaned back, feet on the console when the radar signal went off. At first glance she thought it was just in her head. But then the beeping continued for another few minutes. So she got off her chair and sat up to see what the big deal was.

 

"What the crap???" She said with a confused look.

 

A few moments later, she called me up to the bridge room to show me her problem. Alpha took me over to her monitor and showed me the radar on screen. There was a distress signal within the area of where we were, only it was right already almost in front of us. The problem with this distress call was the fact that we were already airborne ... and the signal isn't coming from below, or above, but on the same air space as us. It at first Alpha didn't believe it herself, but double checked it and it was a real signal, not some glitch in the system.

 

"What do we do, captain?" She asked just as baffled as I was.

 

I put a hand to my chin and thought of what to do. What this some kind of a joke, or another trick/trap waiting for us. After all we weren't the only ones with airships and such. Finally I decided-

 

"Okay, let's check it out, but everyone stay on alert."

 

Alpha nodded her head and went back to her station to try and open a communication link to the distress call. I went over to my chair and opened the com to everyone.

 

"Attention all crew members. We've just received a strange distress signal. If this is some kind of joke or prank, whoever is responsible is in big trouble. But regardless, we are going to the signal's location to see if it is real or not. All hands be on alert incase of sudden attack."

 

I closed the com, and sat down into my chair. Soon some of the main crew came to their stations. Arashi, Soritia, Smiter, Ash, and Yoko came to the bridge room to report in. Everyone else either continued on with their own business, or went to their stations. I wasn't ordering them to battle stations, but I just wanted everyone to be prepared in case worse comes to worse. Our ship kept its coarse, soon the signal was getting stronger, and we were getting closer, but Alpha couldn't get a direct communication link up with the distress call. After about another ten minutes or so, we came to the spot where the signal originally was coming from. But there was nothing there...

 

"This is where the distress call originates." Alpha said as she looked at the radar and then out the front window.

 

All there was in front of us was clouds ... but the effect made it look like we were still on the sea with heavy fog in the air. Suddenly I had a very bad feeling about this, and stepped over in front of the window and looked all around.

 

"Nothing. There's nothing here or out there." I mumbled to myself. "Something doesn't feel right."

 

Soon after a few moments, Blayze & Aethos came up to the bridge to scope out the situation.

 

"Oy! Boss why've we stopped? What's the big deal?" He spoke in his usual gruff voice.

 

Smiter updated them both on the situation. Just then I though I saw something in the fog. Something that I thought could not be possible, so I ran out of the bridge room and onto the outside deck area.

 

"Hoku! What is it!?" Smiter responded to my reaction and came after me, followed by Yoko, Ash, and Blayze.

 

We were all out on the main deck surrounded by the heavy fog. Something indeed didn't feel right, and if what I saw was correct ... then this isn't some kind of a prank, but a trap indeed. I wondered how this could be possible, but had to be sure so I called down back to Alpha by direct com link.

 

"Alpha, look closer at the frequency. And please tell me I'm wrong." I spoke quickly.

 

Alpha back on the radar looked at the signal and analyzed it as quickly as she could, and when the frequency number came back ...

 

"Oh my God. What the kitten is this? Captain, it can't be!? It's one of our own, but ... it's-it's-" She muttered back.

 

"-The NaruSaku Mk.II." And after I had finished the sentence, out of the dark fog came the silhouette of our previous ship.

 

Just about everyone couldn't believe their eyes. From the distance it looked like it had just come back from hell or wherever it was, all broken and rickety, the sails all torn and what not. It wasn't possible; the Mk.II was completely destroyed to nothing more than kindling wood. We even recovered our sail.

 

"A Ghost Ship, Hoku?" Smiter asked me first.

 

"Oh come on! It's probably the booze just messing with our minds!" Blayze shook his head and tried to reason. "I knew Geno put something extra in those drinks last night!"

 

---

 

Meanwhile in the Infirmary...

 

"Hey why have we stopped?" Shinyu said as he was lying in bed, QR checking up on him.

 

"Iunno. Captain said something about a distress call." QR spoke as she check his blood pressure. Then his heart rate monitor. "Although it's kinda silly. We're in the air for God's sake. What kind of distress signal comes from the air-"

 

QR finally turned back around to check Shinyu's breathing, only to find that he wasn't in the bed anymore. But limping over to look out the window of the infirmary.

 

"What!? Hey! Come back here you!" QR angrily shook her hand at him, and walked over to the window to get him by the arm. But then neither of them moved from the window. "You know you're not supposed - to ..."

 

"... whoa ..." Was all Shinyu could mutter, as they were both staring at what looked like a ghost airship.

 

---

 

"Even if it were a ghost ship, are there such things as Ghost Airships?" Ash began to question.

 

I spoke to myself, and then Arashi called me from the bridge room. "I suppose even airships have ghosts-"

 

"-Captain no! That is NOT our ship, and I know it. I fell with our ship, and although it still pains us, I saw it shatter to pieces! And remember! We only have one ship! This one, the one we are on right now!" Arashi put some sense back into all of us.

 

We all shook our heads and wiped our eyes to really see if the ship was there before us or not. But to our surprise the ship had suddenly disappeared, and the signal had disappeared from radar.

 

"Are you kittening kidding me? Now it's gone-" Just as Alpha began to swear and get angry, a new signal came up only more rapid.

 

*beep beep* - *beep beep*

 

"Captain! Contact! There's a ship on sea level that's really in distress!" Alpha tried to get a com link to the distress call, this time there was an answer.

 

It was a female voice. "Coast Guard! Coast Guard! Somebody! Anybody! S.O.S.! We're trapped out here in the storm-" *wind blowing* "-need assistance immediately! We can't get out! Please!"

 

After that the radio went dead, and Alpha tried to get a signal back, but the storm below us must be jamming the communications temporarily. Alpha then reported back up to me, and we all came back down to the bridge room. I ordered everyone to their stations for rescue operations. And so we began our decent down back into the storm we sought to escape. There was the ship; it was like another small battleship, strangely similar to our old MK.II. Their ship had been struck dead out in the water, one of their rotors had been torn off by the violent waves of the storm. We came down and assisted as many of their crew into our ship ... but strange as it was ... there was only one survivor. That same woman who called in the distress.

 

We got her off the boat and tied off her boat to ours, so that they were side to side. Since the HMS NaruSaku was full-fledged battle-destroyer we could afford to wait out this storm, and help the girl fix her boat. As we took her out of the storm and into our ship, I believe it was Ash & Alpha who helped he dry off. We all gathered to see who this lone survivor was in the middle of this horrific storm.

 

It was a young girl, not much older than Ash, or me. For some strange reason we all felt like something was coming over us. As she dried her air off and swung it all around, it was like being mesmerized by a goddess. Her beauty was beyond comparison, her skin light and smooth, her fair silky and shiny, the way she smiled as we helped her out of the storm was just ... whoa.

 

What the hells gotten into me!? I shook my head to clear of those strange thoughts, and went over to see our new guest. Meanwhile everyone was still ogling her, so I had to tell everyone off.

 

"Okay Fresh Meat! Nothing to see here, everyone back to your posts. Or it's 3 weeks in the meat grinder for you dogs!"

 

I barked at everyone, and they all immediately left. It was only me, Ash, and Alpha with this girl. I made it first to introduce myself, so I held out my hand to assist her to her feet.

 

"Welcome aboard. I'm the captain of this ship, Hokuten. We had just received your distress call, and came as quickly as we could, miss?"

 

"Mary. My name is Mary." She had the voice of a goddess, so sweet and pure, almost heavenly. "And thank you for saving me. I was traveling to this place called H&E, but my ship got caught in the storm so I was trapped out there..."

 

As soon as she said it, the three of us looked at each other. Did she just say H&E? This had caught our attention, and I grew a little suspicious of this, but maybe she was just trying to get there.

 

"Well, you're in luck Mary. You are aboard the ship main ship of H&E. The HMS NaruSaku herself! We are of the NaruSaku, and it seems that we found you, instead of you finding us!" Alpha cheerfully told her.

 

I gave a hearty laugh, and she laughed herself. My God! That laugh it to was soo heavenly, like angel's singing. I nearly lost my mind once again, so I had to shake my head free of this spell!

 

"I'm sorry? Are you okay?" She asked with a smile.

 

Something was wrong; I'm not one to act like this. So I tried to avoid eye contact and simply stood up from where I was.

 

"I'm okay. Ash, Alpha, take care of our guest, while we wait for the storm to pass." I turned away and began to walk over to the elevator back up. As I got into the elevator, and turned around again. "Please make yourself comfortable. Our ship is your ship. Feel free to stay in any of our rooms, and recreation areas."

 

As I left the three girls to their own, Ash & Alpha already go Mary up and they took her to the infirmary to get checked. Meanwhile on my way back to the bridge, I was in the elevator, heavy in thought.

 

Something wasn't right. This new girl couldn't have just been a coincidence. Something or someone must have set her upon us. I don't have a good feeling about her, but for now we'll harbor her. And that way she was making us all feel, what the kitten happened back there...

 

---

 

Mary got checked up by QR, who said she was absolutely fine. In fact she was better than fine, almost in perfect condition. Not a scratch or injury to her in that storm. She must have been one tough girl, sailing all by herself like that. In the infirmary she met Shinyu, who was still in bed but awake. Next she went around meeting everyone on the ship, getting to know them and saying hello. This girl went from person to person like a ship on water. Almost everyone's responses were the same, all of them cheerful and happy to see a fresh new face. They even had time to talk with her a bit and tell her about themselves. From what I had heard, it was like talking to someone who knew exactly how they felt and matched their every persona. That was what I had a problem with, so I called Smiter, my First Mate, into my office.

 

"You sent for me captain?" He spoke with that awesome grin of his! (You know what I'm talking about!  )

 

I was sitting in my tall chair leaning back; my face was covered by shadow. "The new girl. Have you met her yet?"

 

"Aye captain, I have." He replied.

 

"What are your thoughts? I think I know who she is, but I want your analysis as well."

 

"The men say she's like the perfect woman to ever exist. She matches each person to their own specific tastes. I don't trust her either Hoku." Smiter explained his thoughts.

 

I leaned forward onto my desk, with my elbows supporting me. My face was dark with though. "Then if we're right about who she is, then we've got a bigger problem on our hands..."

 

---

 

Later that evening, I sent Aethos over to the other ship to see if he could fix it, by the end of the night. But more importantly, I wanted him to check for something in specific. Only now he would find something even more troubling...

 

*static* "Boss, I'm in the ship now. You're not gonna believe this. Over." *static*

 

I was sitting in my office again, on a private channel with Aethos. "Well what do you think?"

 

*static* "This ship ... is practically a replica of the Mk.II! And the only reason I can think of how is that this ship is actually a ..." *static*

 

My assumptions were correct, and I leaned over onto my desk again with my elbows supporting me, and my face was dark. "... N***H*** ship."

 

*static* "Yeah. Hey what the kitten!? Boss! They've got one of our transponders!?" *static*

 

"What!? That's impossible!" I stood up from my chair now, as this was even more perplexing news. "The only way they could have that is if ..."

 

*static* "Yeah, they must have salvaged the one from the Mk.II. This is some kittened up kitten right here, but after all we did steal their ship. So it isn't that hard for them to find it." *static*

 

"But lucky for us, when that other storm came, they didn't track our movements to H&E. Okay, good work Aethos. I want you back immediately, the storm seems to be calming down." I sat back down into my chair and now had to think of a plan to get the SPY off of our ship without taking her to H&E. But suddenly...

 

*static* "10-4 Boss- Hey! Who the kitten!? You want a piece of me!? COME GET SOME!!!" *static*

 

 

After I heard Aethos' do his infamous battle taunt, and there was suddenly noises of fighting in the background. I could hear Aethos' blades clashing with whatever, or whoever was attacking him! After a good minute or two the radio went dead, and I tried to call in Aethos.

 

"Oy, Aethos. What happened? Report."

 

*static* " ... " *static*

 

"Report soldier!" I yelled, but what happened next I could not expect.

 

*static* " ... we're coming for you ... " *static*

 

And then there was complete radio silence. The voice was low and too broken up. It wasn't Aethos, but it was definitely a male. So now we have another unknown variable in our way. Was it a surprise attack waiting for us? Or is it just two people who think they're confident they could take me on? Either way, I knew what I had to do. Soon the storm would end as well as this whole mess.

 

I called Smiter back into my room again, to tell him of what I had planned...

 

In the early hours of the next day, the storm had completely passed, but the fog was still there and twice as thick. Smiter met with Mary, and escorted her to the main deck, alone. To Mary it seemed very quiet and there wasn't much movement going on in the ship, but then again it was very early out. So she asked...

 

"Excuse me Smiter, but where is everyone?" She asked in that sweet tone of voice.

 

Smiter fought against her spell with his strong will and love for Ash. "It's still early out. The captain only wished for you to get a move on before things got busy."

 

As they both walked out onto the deck docking her own ship, she looked around, and saw that they were still in the ocean. She then turned around to give this confused puppy dog look.

 

"Where are we? Are we not going to H&E?" She asked yet again.

 

"No." Smiter pushed her away from him and his blade quickly before her.

 

Still playing the confused maiden, she put on a confused and frightened face. "Why are you doing this?"

 

She got up from where she was, and began to take a step toward Smiter. But he immediately pointed his blade at her, making her jump back.

 

"We don't take kindly to spies, or assassins." He said with a dead tone.

 

After realizing that her gig was up, it was like she completely transformed. No longer was a sweet and innocent girl, but now a sweet and dark looking girl. She still had that look of utter perfection, but her attitude was different.

 

"So I guess you've finally figured it out huh? When did you realize this? Or did was your captain too slow to know?" She mocked Smiter and gave this laugh as if she were some higher being.

 

Smiter gave no reaction to her taunt, only answered with. "The captain exactly knew who you were the moment you stepped onto this ship, Mary Sue."

 

The girl now scoffed, but was still laughing. "And he sends his First Mate in his stead, rather than face us himself!? How cowardice-"

 

"YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO JUDGE HIM!" Smiter spoke angrily. "Rather than have him bloody his hands, I would gladly slay you myself."

 

"And yet he lets us go? Your captain is a fool." She retorted.

 

"Do not take our Captain's kindness as stupidity. He took you in even knowing that you were an enemy. Even enemies can show a decency of respect. But you, snaking through all of our crew members. Gather info and what not. But you won't get anywhere near our home." Smiter stood fast, showing his bravado.

 

He knew he may not have a chance, he could die at this very moment, but it was his devotion and pure strength of will that kept him there.

 

"Now leave."

 

The girl was at a stand off, she knew he was ready and willing to die, so how could she fight this. Instead she simply turned her charms on to full power, and she began to work her spell on him once again. Smiter tried to fight it off, but little by little everything began to become wavy and loose. He didn't know what was coming over him, all he could hear was some sweet voice in his head speaking his name. Before he knew it, Mary Sue was upon him and already disarming his katana. Smiter was completely under her spell now, he couldn’t move nor could he do anything. All he could hear was his name being called ...

 

~Smiter~ ... ~Smiter~ ... "Smiter!"

 

That last one sounded very familiar, not the same voice that was running through his head.

 

"Oy! Smiter!"

 

There it was again, the only voice he knew that could call him like that. Suddenly the spell was broken, and he shook off his head to see whom it was that broke the spell! It was non-other than Lady Luck herself, Ash! Ash had woken up and saw him go off on his own, all she saw was him out on the deck with THAT girl all up on him. Almost immediately Ash instantly transformed into Inner Kyuubi!

 

"OY! Get your bloody hands off my MEAT!" She shouted out.

 

Smiter tripped over himself as Ash had just called him "a piece of meat". Ash came running over to him and pulled him away from Mary Sue. Then she held him close to her like a rag doll.

 

All Smiter could say before he passed out was. "I'm a piece of meat to you?"

 

"Not just any piece of meat." Ash simply smiled at him with this big grin of satisfaction, but she happily responded with. "MY MEAT!"

 

Unsure of whether this was good or bad, it seemed like angels were over his head now taking his soul to heaven. And poor Smiter passed out. Now Ash in Inner Kyuubi mode stood before the temptress. Mary Sue looking away innocently, as if she didn't do anything, tried to walk away.

 

"Oy! Look here b*tch. I don't care if you're our guest anymore, but no one messes with my Smiter!" Just then Ash pulled out her guns and pointed them dead on at Mary Sue. "We're canon and I intend to keep it that way!"

 

Just as Ash was going to pump the girl full of lead, Mary Sue pulled out a barrage of Kakashi plushies, but Ash stood still. Amazingly it had no effect on her ... this time!

 

"That won't work missy. I know when love comes before obsession." Ash still had her sights dead on Mary Sue.

 

Mary Sue somehow disappointed, simply cocked her head and sighed. "Oh."

 

And again just before Ash was about to go trigger happy, she got knocked in the back of the head. Just as she fell to Smiter's side she saw who knocked her out. It was a guy, who looked almost exactly like Mary Sue ... Just then Ash realized who it was.

 

"ughh ... Gary Stu ... uggh" And she was out cold.

 

"Well sister, you sure took your sweet time." He spoke in his sweet voice. "But it seems we've already revealed ourselves.

 

Gary Stu pointed up at the bridge room, and Mary Sue looked to see that I was standing at the window watching them both. Mary Sue simply gave this cutesy wave at me, and Gary Stu pointed directly at me signaling. "We're coming for you."

 

I nodded my head to signal to them. "I'm waiting."

 

---

 

Back up in the bridge room...

 

I stepped away from the window and moved back over to sit in my chair.

 

"Yoko. Full lock-down. Make a path leading to here. They want me, let them come to me."

 

"Hai, sensei." She did as she was told, went over to a control panel and began to access the ship's security system.

 

Arashi & Sori were unsure what to make of my decision and began to question my motives. I sat back in my chair and told them everything. Then I picked up the intercom and announced to my crew.

 

"All hands. This is your captain. Prepare for full interior lock-down. All members are to remain in their rooms until further notice. This goes for Senior crew members as well. I don't want anybody being stupid and acting like a hero. Do not, I repeat, do NOT come in contact with the intruders. This dispute is between myself and them."

 

Just then after my announcement, the ship went into red alert, and the red lights in all the hallways began to flash. Most of the ship was completely locked down and secured, except for a specific pathway that led up to the bridge room. Now all I could do as wait. But instead I sat back down in my chair and put a hand to my head.

 

"Great. Just what I needed ... twins."

 

---

 

Outside on the deck...

 

Mary Sue & Gary Stu made their way into the ship. Everything was completely locked down, and they couldn't access any other pathways or computer systems. All that was before them was a single open path leading to a stair well to the second floor, then that pathway to the elevator to the bridge room. They both laughed and scoffed at such a tactic I had provided with them.

 

"The man wants to die." Gary Stu laughed.

 

Mary Sue scoffed and also giggled. "If he wants death so quickly, let's give it to him. Shall we brother?"

 

"Yes." He had an evil grin and looked to his sister. "Let's."

 

And they began their siege, making their way into the first hallway. They took a few first steps into the hallway, the red lights flashing. As they came up to the first door on their left, it bursted open! And about a hundred Naruto plushies came storming out! It was Keira trying to avenge her master!

 

"Go my pretties go! Ahahahaha!!!" She laughed maniacally and ordered her army of little Narutos to charge!

 

The little Narutos swarmed all over the two twins and soon they were overwhelmed. At first Keira thought she had beat them, since there was no movement from under the swarm. So she started to do her victory dance, when suddenly the pile exploded and she being held up choking. Mary Sue had grabbed her by the throat, strangling the poor girl. Just then she was shot in the arm by another girl across the room.

 

"She's with me." There was Mel sitting back in her chair with her gun smoking! And then stood up, tipping her hat. "You dun knocked up my friend, Ash. Now that's a crime!"

 

Mel saved Keira, but then in that room it got rowdy. Mel and Keira tried to fight off the Perfects, but it was no use, they got battered in and beaten down. It was a valiant try for the two new comers, but they were out classed. After the brawling and shoot out, the two Perfects walked out of that room unharmed. They continued down the hallway a few more doors, then the fifth door on their right bursted open and there was a great explosion! Bombs! All sorts of bombs and firetraps came out! It was my brother Blayze's turn to strike! He threw all sorts of Molotov cocktails and explosive concoctions at the two twins!

 

"You want my brother!? You gotta go through me!" He bellowed out and threw more fire bombs at them.

 

But even then, they simply walked through the fire, and entered the bar room to cause a ruckus! Blayze, Geno, and anyone in the tavern part of the ship fought with their lives! It was one hell of a bar fight! But even with the numbers and such they all gotten beaten to a pulp. After the intense bar fight, the twins once again left unharmed, and continued up the stair well. In the close and confined area of the stair well they were drop kicked from above! It was Alpha! She ran out of the bridge room after witnessing her sister go down, and intercepted them in the stair well! Alpha tried to pull her MegaTon hammer but got stuck on the railing above her! But it was no big deal; she let go and took hand-to-hand combat! She fought off the two as if it was nothing, but soon they both adapted to her style and technique rendering it useless!

 

Alpha then was taken out of the picture. Even still beaten she grabbed hold of Gary Stu's ankle, but he simply kicked her off. Now they were on the second level. Only down the hall and to the elevator was left for them. They began walking slowly again, expecting for more "surprise attacks" that were futile, but instead came to the galley, where the door was open. Just as they passed it, a volley of stiletto knives came flying through! It impaled the both of them lightly, but they simply plucked them out like it was dust. Just then UN threw his trump card, his butcher knife! But to his surprise Gary Stu caught it like a twig in the wind and immediately threw it back!

 

UN still shocked at this couldn't react in time, but luckily his wife opened a refrigerator door to stop the blade just inches from his face. Then HH quickly closed the door to seal them out. They lucked out that time.

 

The twins kept moving forward. Almost seven doors away from the elevator, when suddenly Shinyu came busting out of his door with his dual Gladius swords! But then he lost grip of one and fell to the side, supporting himself against the wall. The twins knew that he was still weak and not fully recovered. So they simply laughed and mocked him. QR came to Shinyu's aid and tried to reason with him.

 

"Lee no!" She tried to pull him back to his bed.

 

Shinyu still struggling to get back up, willed himself back to stand on his own two feet. "Let go of me Haylee! Don't you understand!? They'll kill the captain! I have to stop them! I am the last line!"

 

"But you could get killed!?" She still held him back.

 

Shinyu looked at her, his eyes filled with determination. "Then at least my life has meaning, and I can die protecting someone I treasure! Someone we all treasure!"

 

QR couldn't fight that argument, and let go of Shinyu. Shinyu grabbed his other Gladius and with all his might ran out the door charging at the two twins with all his speed! Even though he was bedridden for the past two weeks, he still had his training! He came in low, and struck from anywhere he could! His dual sword technique was magnificent! He fought with whatever willpower that drove him! Actually driving the twins back a few steps! And suddenly Shinyu had an opening to finish them both! He did a quick jump back, and folded his arms across his chest in an X and closed his eyes to focus energy!

 

"Hhhhhhaaaaaaa!"

 

He opened his eyes, had 100% concentration and moved like a demon! Like a shadow that follows its master! But suddenly in mid flight-

 

"Holy Cro-"

 

But it was too much! Even though he got himself up with pure will, he was still limited to his physical domain! He hadn't fully recovered, he hadn't finished his physical therapy, and now his body was completely exhausted again.

 

"argh ... no ... not now!"

 

He weakly spoke as he saw the twins counterattack. They both punched him in the gut, then did a uppercut that sent him flying back to where QR was. QR quickly went to his aid, and dragged him back into the Infirmary. The twins walked passed and simply mocked the poor boy who was unable to move again.

 

"Fool. Wasting your life for some stupid captain." Gary Stu said in that elegant upper class voice.

 

QR angered and treating Shinyu as quickly as she could replied back. "He cares for us all. Enough that we'd risk our lives for him. And I hope he sends you both back to whatever hell you came from!"

 

The twins scoffed and laughed at her threats. They finally made it to the elevator, and pressed up. Now the only ones left in their way were Arashi & Sori, Yoko, and finally me. It would only be a few seconds before they would be upon us, and wreck havoc. Both Arashi & Sori drew forth their blades ready to strike as soon as the doors opened. I was still sitting in my captain's chair, my katana leaning against the side. My hand was on the hilt, but not grasping my blade. Yoko was standing at my side, also prepared to do battle, but she did not draw her katana or wakazashi yet.

 

*DING*

 

The elevator had reached the bridge room and the doors opened! The two twins simply stepped out, and saw Arashi & Sori so they dueled! Arashi was fencing against Mary Sue as Sri was fighting against Gary Stu! They both gave the best as they could but both were knocked away and hit their backs against the walls. Now it came to Yoko. Gary Stu came form the left as Mary Sue came from the right. The both of them walking slowly towards us. Yoko then stepped out in front of me and drew forth both her katana & wakazashi!

 

"I won't let you take him! HAA!"

 

And she charged them both! Yoko had been training intensely since we came back from the Juno incident. I kept teaching her new, better, stronger techniques and strategies on fighting. She increased her speed, her strength, and stamina within those few weeks before we sailed off. Yoko charged them both, fighting one, and then kicking the other away so that she could fight them one-on-one at a time! Then as they both came simultaneously she indeed impressed me with her sword work! She fought the both of them at the same time with great speed and strength! But still she was way out of her league and was knocked away down to where I was.

 

The twins began to move forward to finish her off, and Yoko began to back up to me. Then they both raised their swords to strike at Yoko, but as their swords came crashing down, they were both stopped by another blade. My blade. I had stood up from my chair, and blocked their blades from striking at Yoko. I was holding my katana with my right, while my left was holding my sheath. The two twins saw that I had finally taken action, and they backed away.

 

"So finally the fool captain fights-" Mary Sue began.

 

And Gary Stu finished. "-after we had dispatched all your crew members."

 

I said nothing and stood fast not making any movement. "..."

 

"What's wrong great leader?" Gary Stu began.

 

Mary Sue finished. "Too afraid to speak, when death is upon you?"

 

They both taunted me with their starting and finishing each other's sentences. After another moment, I moved my blade and then they both flinched. Getting into a battle position as if they were spooked. I simply lifted my blade up and sheathed it slowly. It was a tense moment for them, because they didn't know what to expect from me. I found it funny how here they are, dispatched my entire crew, and now have a two-on-one advantage, yet still show fear of what I could do. Too them, I was their unknown factor. I was the only one they haven't had any contact to establish any weaknesses. They still stood in battle position unsure of what to do. Next I took a step forward, just past Yoko who was watching me, and the twins moved back a step as well.

 

"Yoko." I spoke in a low voice.

 

She immediately got up and had her fighting spirit back again. She was ready to charge again, but I held out my arm to stop her. She looked to me and understood why I had stopped her. This was now my fight. The twins saw that I was now very serious about fighting, so they both grinned and then jumped backwards out the windows and onto the main deck. It must have been at least a 20 ft drop down?!

 

"They're not human..." Yoko quietly said to herself, but the witnessed me jump out the window myself and landed perfectly on the deck. She couldn't believe her eyes and ran to the window to see if I was okay. "Captain..."

 

Then she ran over to the elevator and tried to catch up with me. Meanwhile on the deck, I faced off with the two twins. They both backed away from me keeping their distance, as I slowly stepped towards them. It was like they were ready to strike at any moment, yet still backing away from me. They knew that they could make the jump down, but hadn't expected me to do the same.

 

"What's wrong? Are the high and mighty Perfects finally afraid that they've met their match?" I said with a low tone. "You're starting too disappoint me. And here I thought I was as good as dead."

 

They both scoffed then began to laugh. Afterwards the got into battle stances, and looked at each other as if to synchronize. Yoko had finally made it to the doorway out onto the deck, and saw me engage battle!

 

First they both rushed in one following the other! I blocked the first one without drawing froth my blade, simply knocked Gary Stu with the butt of my sheath. But as he went down, his sister Mary Sue followed directly behind him, leapt up and over! Again, I blocked her attack from above with my sheath, not revealing my blade.

 

Their first strike had failed, but they hadn't given up. Next they came simultaneously from both sides and then all around! To them it was like cutting air literally, because I could read both of their movements and dodged each attack with great ease. To Yoko it looked like I was doing a waltz around in a circle, simply moving my body form left to right, or shifting me head left to right.

 

Their second attack was futile. When there was an opening, I focused my inner chi and pushed them both back at the same time, throwing up my katana, pushing them with the palms of my fists, then catching my katana on its way back down. I stood there still unharmed, unscathed, and growing tired of this meddlesome affair.

 

"I know you were sent by the N***H***. I knew you were contracted by them a long time ago. But ever since the downfall of NT, it got hard for you to track us. Until you salvaged our old transponder and faking a call out to us so that we would come to you."

 

I began to explain their plan to them.

 

"And here I thought Perfects were something to be feared of. You're nothing more than a pair of jokers."

 

The two twins, got up together, and then looked to each other laughing.

 

Mary Sue began. "You forget, one thing..."

 

"...we adapt, and learn faster when fighting." Gary Stu finished and started. "And now we have found a way to beat you..."

 

"...O' foolish captain of the NaruSaku." Mary Sue finished.

 

Just then they both dropped their weapons and started powering up. Then they did some kind of a funky dance, like out of Dragon ball Z, the fusion dance!? Soon two became one, and now the true face of the Perfect was revealed. It looked like a blank model, sort of like a non-molded piece of clay. It was blank but that was its deadliness, the power to adapt rapidly and change at the will of a thought.

 

"Time to die." The blank model emitted its thoughts into my mind, like some sort of a higher being, of course it had no mouth.

 

It charged at me with even greater speed than before. Now I was in trouble, every attack it made, I countered, but then it countered my counterattack! It matched my speed, my strength, my tactics. But through all of this I still had not drawn forth my blade from its sheath. It wondered why I haven't done so, and tried to force me to, yet I refused.

 

"Draw your sword, human." He ordered me.

 

"..." I said nothing.

 

We went another few rounds against each other, and I was getting beaten down now. Again it had me in its grasps and projected into my head.

 

"Draw your weapon, weakling."

 

"..." Still I said nothing.

 

It beat me a few more times, and I tried to dodge what I could. But I was getting nearly exhausted. Once more time, it grasp hold of me, held me up to choke the life out of me, and angrily projected.

 

"WHY WON'T YOU DRAW YOUR SWORD?"

 

Struggling against its grip, I responded with. "Because you aren't worthy of its blade."

 

In the Perfect's fit of rage, it was time for it's finishing blow. It threw me across the deck, near the front end, and formed it's arm into a sharp blade, like a T1000. It came up to me and stood before me.

 

"Any last words, Captain Of Fools?"

 

I got up as best as I could on one knee wiping the blood away form my mouth with the sleeve of my coat. I told it, "You know why you Perfects never win?"

 

And I spat blood to my side, and the Perfect picked me up by the collar. "And why's that?"

 

Looking down at the Perfect, I smiled and coughed. "You always focus on the individual."

 

And just as I finished that sentence, I made a flipping kick to push the Perfect away from me! Just as it made a recovered fall and charge back at me, it now faced another opponent. Ash was standing before me, she whirled her guns in hand and aimed dead at the Perfect. Then another pair of arms came from behind Ash, whirling HER guns too! It was Mel!

 

Ash began. "It's-"

 

"-Showtime!" Mel finished!

 

In that split second, the Perfect tried to cower and curl up to absorb the damage! AND THERE WAS A FIRE FIGHT! Both Ash and Mel unleashing hell! Total rapid fire, bullet after bullet! It was like they had infinite ammo & a no reload code! Firing & firing into the Perfect, the bullets bouncing off of it, but it was being pushed away and shot into the air!

 

After the fire fight finished, then came not one, not two, but three different blades coming from a triangular strike in mid-air!

 

"SAN" - "TEN" - "SUTORAIKI!"

("Three Point Strike!")

 

Smiter, Sori, & Arashi all impaled the Perfect from all different sides! After all of them hit the ground the trio were knocked away, and then Perfect forced the swords out of its body by shear will, but it wasn't the end! Just as the last blade was falling out, a barrage of knives, daggers, caltrops, and just about anything small and sharp came from all around being thrown by UN & HH! The Perfect soon looked like a walking porcupine, suddenly it crouched down and powered up again. Then it exploded with energy, and all the blades scattered like a frag grenade! But before it fully stretched itself out, UN charge in and did his ultimate technique!

 

"TETSU-JIN KIZU!"

("Iron Chef Cut!")

 

There was deep cut mark on the front and back of the Perfect, but then it began to heal itself once again! It began to grow agitated at all these constant attacks, and used its anger to manifest itself into a massive beast! It looked like a sort of a mating between a man and a beast, teeth like a lion, head like a bear! Claws sharp enough to tear planks into kindling! It was like the Old Norse folklore of the wendol! It then retargeted me and had me in its sights. Thus it charged at me with great speed! Just as it was about to take a large swipe, the Perfect was suddenly pulled back with great strength!

 

It was Bass! He had whipped his steal whips around both of the beast's arms and pulled back with all his might! But it wasn't only just Bass, but Keira's little naruto plushies came swarming once again! This time, she focused her energy into all of her minions and they all swarmed around, pulling the beast away from where I was. After Keira had full control over the beast and held it in place, Bass began his attacks! He did like a dance that spun him around whipping and lashing the beast with his steal whips! The razors on the whip slashing and cutting through the Perfect as it was yelling in pain and anger! Then Bass did a sort of a lasso throw, and threw the beast into the air with all of Keira's little narutos still attached to it! Then Keira muttered some words and clasped her fists together! The plushies all had explosive tags on them! There was a great explosion in the air!

 

Yet the Perfect was STILL THERE! Only bloodied, but still cut open! The explosives must have slowed down the healing process! While it was in mid-air, QR helped Shinyu out onto the main deck, and the beast hit the deck with a great shockwave that it made the ship bob up and down once. Now was Shinyu's turn to exact his revenge! Only this time, QR properly treated him and wrapped him in special bandages that would keep him intact! She saw the look in Shinyu's eyes and let him go.

 

"Eikei! Lee!" (Go Lee!)

 

"Yosh!" He felt the rush come back to him and with both dual Gladiuses in hand attacked the same way as he did in the hallway!

 

As the Perfect hit the deck, Shinyu was already on top of it! He moved once again like a demon! Speed that was like a disappearing shadow! Slashing and striking at all the vital points! It was his Dance Of Death! Just as his dance as coming to a finish, he started spinning like a tilted pinwheel, upper cutting the beast several times, before sending it flying once again into the air! Suddenly the air grew thick, and time had slowed down! Shinyu crouched over again, folding his arms across his chest like an X, the flat of his blades just resting on his shoulders. He closed his eyes and focused his chi once again. This time no mistakes, this time he could strike! And then after he was up to 100% concentration time returned, and Shinyu leaped from where he was and was now face to face with the injured Perfect! It was like a flash, no one could have seen his movements, except for me, but the end result was like a giant glowing cross! One hundred strikes, he flew at the beast, and then through it!

 

"SEISHOU JUUJIKEI"

("HOLY CROSS")

 

He floated back to the deck, his arms spread out, so that in mid-air he too was like a cross. His bandages were all ripped and torn away, rustling in the wind making him look like a fallen angel! As he landed on his two feet, he leaned over exhausted again, but satisfied that he could still perform his special technique. QR quickly went to his side and supported him again. She was glad that he was still in one piece.

 

Meanwhile as the Perfect was falling down head first, it saw another person, only this person with flaming red hair had an evil grin and had something in between his fingers. Then the beast realized what exactly what it was...

 

Blayze was already in position with a big smiling grin that it was payback time! He gathered all of his special "goodies" for this battle! As soon as he let the enemy get a good look at him, he threw all of his super explosives into the air! All of them exploding on impact, violently knocking the Perfect all around! After his damage was done Blayze stepped back from his position! When the body hit the ground once again, it still got up, all blackened from the explosions and still bloodied from Shinyu's attack. Somehow it still kept going!? Whatever drove this monster it must have had some motivation! Just as it made its way towards me again, it got smashed dead on by a MegaTon hammer! Sending it sliding back several feet again, but someone then attacked it from behind kicking it forward!

 

It was Alpha & Aethos! They both charged from opposite ends and did this simultaneous combo! They beat the living hell out of that Perfect, beating it with their bare hands! Their bloodlust level at an all time high! Aethos getting his revenge for that surprise attack on their ship, and Alpha avenging her sisters’ earlier attack! As a finishing blow, Alpha did an elbow attack that smashed the skull of the beast, while Aethos drew forth his dual daggers and dug them into the spine!

 

In another fit of rage, the beast swung its massive arms to knock them both away! Now there was no one left. Only me standing before it. It was battered down like a piece of ripped meat. Shredded from all sides, blasted, burned, beaten, sliced, diced, stabbed, and much more ... yet, it still moved, but only slightly.

 

"Do you see now?" Somehow I felt pity for the Perfect, and spoke to it one last time. "Individually, we have our flaws-"

 

It got up from its own pool of blood and still charged at me with all it's might! But then everyone came and attacked it at once! Bass and Keira once again restrained it with all their might! Bass wrapped each whip around its arms, while Keira summoned a SUPER Giant Sized Plushie of Doom! But this would be the Beast's final attack, so it kept inching forward! Then Smiter, Arashi, Sori, and even Shinyu came at it from four different angles impaling it through and through! Then Alpha & Aethos made a frontal attack, trying to use a Buddha's fist to drive the demon back, yet STILL it pushed forward! Next UN & HH tried to cripple its legs, and throw all sorts of poison daggers, and such! Still no effect! Blayze would have attacked, but his explosives might have knocked away Bass' whip restraints and Keira's Giant Plushie!?

 

Finally it came within only five paces of me. Mel & Ash were on my left & right, ready to shoot, but I held my arm out to stop them and let the monster come closer. It's arms still held back, its legs being constricted, it was one hell of a bloody mess, and so it opened its huge mouth and tired to bite my head off!

 

I simply stood there looking at it dead on, with no movement, or showing any fear. Just as the sharp jagged teeth came near of my face, my long coat waved in the wind and from out behind me came a wakazashi driving deep into the bottom of the jaw through the mouth and into the head, sealing the mouth!

 

Yoko had made the final attack closing the beast's mouth from biting my head off. It stood there with its eyes wide open in disbelief. I came this far and a this little girl would stop it.

 

"-but together, we are invincible."

 

In its last desperate attack, it tried to open its mouth by force, catching Yoko off guard for a split second! Still trying to bite my head off, but Yoko immediately forced her wakazashi all the way in and shut the mouth once more!

 

It would soon all be over, I had one last bit of business before we send this monster back to hell. We picked it up, and placed it dead center of the deck, putting it on its knees as it reverted back to its blank model form. It knew it had been beaten, and I was to provide its finishing blow.

 

"You're the first to ever fully take on all of us, and still move. That I commend you, your confidence and will power was strong. But here it ends." I told it as I walked over to its side. "I'm only going to ask you this once, and depending on your answer, I may give you a swift death."

 

The blank head turned as if it were looking at me, and projected into my head alone these words. "You know who it is. But can you act upon it? O' Captain of the NaruSaku?"

 

And it began to laugh maniacally, something also happening to me. It was forcing images into my head, so many rapid images. I put a hand to my head as if someone was forcing information into my mind! I closed my eyes and saw these images that struck my heart in pain. Upon the last image the Perfect sent to me, I opened my eyes wide open, and drew forth my katana. The blade vibrating against the sheath, making it ring majestically.

 

I lifted it with both hands, high above my head, the red sun rising in the east, reflecting upon my blade to make it set a fire!

 

"Namu Amida butsu."

 

I spoke the last words for the Perfect, and then my blade came down swift like wind! And it was over. The twins were dead, the Perfect was beaten. We were all severely exhausted. The good news was that we had gotten another ship to our fleet, maybe not the MK.II, but we named this one the Bellefonte. We had won the battle, but at what cost?

 

The sun rose, and it was a beautiful dawn. But the images left in my head, would leave me in deep thought for a while.

 

Images of a burning ship,

Images of people running,

Images of losing someone close & dear to me,

Images of who our traitor was ...

 

To Be Continued.


sushiset1_shrimp.gifHard-Gay-animated-sprite.gif
"Shiny. Let's go be bad guys."


#39 hokuten

hokuten

    I am CLUTCH.

  • Kage
  • 8,014 posts
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:'MURICA
  • Interests:EHRGEIZ: God Bless The Ring!

Posted 09 February 2006 - 05:40 PM

Written by Bassclef.

Chapter 38: Good Times
Subtitle: The First Filler Chapter


My name is Matt, but everyone here calls me Bass. I joined this group of NaruSaku’ers in the near beginning back at NT. Only Captain Hokuten, Blazye, LHG and I were there then. Too bad NT never bounced back, it was always better . . . 

 

It was barely a week after the incident with Mary Sue and Gary Stu; every crew member is still remembering the battle that occurred. I myself got beat up, but it was nothing that time couldn’t heal (just a few stitches as well). While I continue to ponder over what has happened ever since the beginning I began to hear Karaoke music playing. The person who was singing turned out to be Soritia, I have never heard her sing. But now as I think about it, this is the first time I have been in the Karaoke bar. So, I have never heard any of my fellow crew members sing before. When she finished everyone in the bar began to scream, shout or whistle. As things started to quiet down the entire crew was awaiting the next poor soul to go up and sing, but it seemed that no one else wanted to go after her so Hokuten began to look for pitiful looks on people’s faces. After many minutes of contemplation he finally chose Smiter, who in turn continued to adamantly refuse while being dragged to the stage by Ash. 

 

“C’mon pick a song” she ushered.

 

“B-but”

 

As the two, for the lack of a better word, lovers began to have a small squabble I took this as the perfect chance to head to my room for some shut eye. To ensure my escape without singing next I uttered “restroom” when I got up. As I passed through the two way swinging doors I then swiftly headed toward the elevator to go to the cabins area. While I waited for the elevator to arrive I began to hear a song playing. It seemed like rock, but my final guess is that it was alternative rock. I only got to hear a bit of the first verse before I left on the elevator. It sounded like this:

 

ooh ooh ooh ohhhhhhhhhhh

WOO 

 

She calls me on the phone

Hoping that I’m home

(and that I’m all alone)

But when I say hello

I only hear dial tones

(she thinks that I’m her own)

Out side my window she crept

Watching my every step

 

Ooh ooh ooh

She's following me

ooh ooh ooh

She's out of her tree

ooh ooh ooh

She's off of her rocker

I wanna marry my stalker ooh ooh ooh ohhhhhhh

ooh ooh ooh WOO 

 

Weird song, though it's quite catchy. It somewhat reminds me of a couple . . . 

 

(Third person POV)

 

While standing up there, trying to back out, Smiter began to fumble around with which song to sing. He had to choose fast despite his natural urge to step off the stage but when he looked over Ash had this small maniacal smile that seemed threatening to others yet very affectionate to him and him alone. But that doesn't mean it didn't make him a bit nervous. So after a few more moments he found a song by the name of, "Stalker” he never heard of it before but it was worth a shot. By the end of the first verse he realized that it seemed similar to his relationship with Ash, but not as extreme as the song went. And he certainly didn't have matrimony in mind right now. So in the end he decided to go on with the song anyhow hoping that it wouldn't end badly. 

 

sometimes she says she's my mom

looks like she doesn't belong

(she's my own peeping tom)

flowers every day 

the cops they tell her to stay 500 feet away

she sleeps on my door step she hasn't heard me yet

 

ooh ooh ooh

she's following me

ooh ooh ooh

she's out of her tree

ooh ooh ooh

she's off of her rocker

I wanna marry my

I wanna marry my

I wanna marry my stalker

 

Two verses down and an unknown amount left to go. It wasn't like Smiter was getting nervous. But, that smile Ash had done did not change much so that meant one of two things: She's either pissed at him for choosing this song, or she was very pleased with it. Too bad he couldn't tell so he began to hope he would survive the night.

 

this morning she wasn't there

I hope she still cares

I almost gave up hope

but today I awoke

to a private note

She said she's going to jail

for going through my mail

but she'll stay on my trail

 

It looked like the end so he kept his gaze on the entire room trying his best not to look into the gaze of his beloved Ash. Unfortunately for him, he succumbed to the lovely lady. When their eyes locked he saw her eyes glaze over with the vibes of who knows what. But what he saw next was unbelievable and it was; he thought he saw her eyes turn into hearts, but he knew that was impossible so he did a double take. Well, at least her eyes went back to normal.

 

ooh ooh ooh

she's following me

ooh ooh ooh

she's out of her tree

ooh ooh ooh

she's off of her rocker

I wanna marry my stalker

ooh ooh ooh 

She's following me

ooh ooh ooh

she's out of her tree

ooh ooh ooh

she's off of her rocker

I wanna marry my

I wanna marry my

I wanna marry my stalker

ooh ooh ooh ohhhhh

I wanna marry my stalker

 

As soon as he stepped off the stage Ash tackl- wait, no, she glomped him In the far back where the captain sat you could see him and his brother laughing their heads off at the scene. Was there smex going on in the room? Most likely. Were the two brothers drunk? Probably.

 

~

 

(Back to 1st person POV)

 

As I began to walk back to my quarters in the residential area I could still feel the vibrations from the music in the Karaoke bar blasting, ‘they must have the subwoofer on with the speakers on max' I thought. *sigh* Days like this always make me wonder, ‘how I can keep calm in these situations instead of being dragged, against my will, to join them in their bliss?’, ' I guess that's my individual trait, never joining the crowd and keep to myself while wondering, ‘WTF? ' Once I reached my room I closed the door behind me.

 

"Finally, solace, " I sighed. "Man, it's been one hell of a ride this past few weeks. I'm surprised everyone is so lively right now. But then again, they never cease to surprise me. *yawn* but what time is it? Mm, it's already past midnight... the witching hour. Yay..."

 

After getting changed into my PJ's I climbed into my bed hoping for a good night's sleep. With my lamp light out I began to drift into sleep, my eyes heavy from lack of sleep I thought of what my dreams would contain. Unfortunately everything was brought to an immediate halt when I heard a soft knock at my door. I ignored it at first but it grew persistent with new every set of knocks becoming louder and aggressive.

 

"All right, all right I'm coming."

 

I shouted while jumping out of my bed. With sluggish steps I managed to get to the doorknob slowly turning it to reveal a small group of crew members with impish grins on their faces. From left to right the jolly group was composed of Hokuten, UN, Blayze, and the canonized duo of Ash and Smiter who were currently making out behind the three men. I didn't know what they wanted at first until the Captain took the initiative to start a conversation.

 

"Hey, Bass Why did you leave so early? You missed the best part.” the Captain exclaimed.

 

"Yeah, you should have seen it. You left while Smiter started to sing. It was great, he sung this really corny love song to Ash. Though I suppose it was pretty romantic of him in Ash's eyes." continued Blayze.

 

"Damn straight it was!” yelled Ash, who was still behind the three men.

 

"Well, anyways Bass. You should come back to the Karaoke Bar, you haven't sung in front of the crew yet ever since we got the HMS. " said the Captain.

 

"Thanks but no thanks you guys. Besides I have no reason to sing anyhow, it's not like I have a girlfriend or anything so it's not worth it. And I'm really tired right now too, so do you guys mind going back there without me?" I said with a little irritation in my voice. And then I muttered, "I'm only sixteen as well, geez. "

 

"Hmm? Well, okay Bass, but you don't know what you're missing.” responded Blayze.

 

"Right, I don't know what I'm missing, " sarcasm, the one thing I'm still working on. "Well see you guys in a few hours."

 

"Yeah, later Bass!” said the group. As the trio left Ash and Smiter were still on the wall across from me. Great, they were still making out. I shook my head and muttered how love was stupid as I shut my door. Ok, my solace is finally here even after a few interruptions. Or so I thought. It was barely an hour later when there was another knock at my door. ‘It may be the guys again... man they're really persistent aren't they?' When I reached my door I slowly turned the knob expecting a drunk trio standing idly with dazed looks. But to my surprise a very sober looking Soritia was at my door. She looked aggravated. 

 

"Bas-, I mean, Matt Have you heard any rumors about Cap'n a- " she said with a hissed whisper shaking me.

 

"Yes, I have. " I interrupted. "Besides if anybody told me a rumor I would not spread it. Doing so would just cause more problems for everyone else. "

 

"You sure? " she asked.

 

"Yes. So, do you know who spread this idiotic rumor? "

 

"Of course not. But I have my suspicions of Keira. "

 

"The Captain did say she did complain once since she's not canon with some male crew member... Maybe she's jealous."

 

"Jealous? What for? Why did she go after me? "

 

"Who knows, and I doubt she was serious about it. Anyway, could we please discuss this another time? I've got work to do later."

 

"You're still working on repai-"

 

"Yes, I am. But let me ask you some things... why are you at my door at?” I looked towards the clock on my night stand. "1:35 am? If you want to get to the source of this problem, why don't you go and ask Keira yourself instead of bugging me in the middle of the night? "

 

"Eh... haha. Well I expected you to be the only other sober person aboard that's awake. You did mention you stay up late every night to read."

 

"True, but that doesn't give you the right to…never mind. How about this, we discuss this matter later instead, ok? "

 

"Alright, I have your word on it so you better not weasel out of it."

 

"Heh, like I ever weasel out on anything."

 

"Rrright. Well, goodnight Matt. Talk to you later."

 

"OK, later " I said closing my door. Finally Sleep, but damn, not much time for it since it's nearly 2 am now.

 

(Third Person POV)

 

It was only a few hours after the scene of Bass' door, it was a bright morning around 8:00 am. The interior was still a mess in some places from the previous week so today was another ‘repair the HMS' day. The newest crew members were stuck doing most of the dirty work as the older crew members got off the hook. However since Bass is an early riser, as well as being 100% sober, he decided to start without the aid others with the repairs. So far only one corridor has shown any evidence of being repaired.  Some of the crew members, new and old, wondered why he continued to work on the ship even though he wasn't required to do so. Some thought he needed to since he thought he wasn't much of help during the perfects fight, while others thought it was to set a good example to the new members.   During this laborious task another member appeared from their room, this time it was UN. Being the only married person on board he decided to treat his wife to breakfast in bed this bright Saturday morning. As he ventured down the long corridors that led to the elevators he heard the sound of pounding hammers, spinning electric drills, and many other tools. Moving like he was half asleep he lazily walked into the elevator and pressed the button to the kitchen/dining area floor. When he finally got into the kitchen he began to choose the perfect breakfast for his ever loving wife.

 

~

 

It was nearly 11 am now, and only a few have awoken. The party last night continued until three in the morning. But hopefully things will start up in a few minutes so that the usual routine of tasks begins. So far the only members, aside from being "fresh meat", awake were Bass, UN and his wife. With only a handful awake it would be pretty quiet until a certain few get up.  Thirty minutes have past and it seems that a handful were up and about. Alpha, Ash, and Soritia were now eating breakfast in the dining area chatting on about last night and their plans for the day. And up on the deck Blayze, Captain Hokuten, and Smiter were gazing upon the vast ocean in front of them, despite their hangovers.  When the three maidens completed their breakfast they decided to take a swim in the pool on the main recreation halls. So after going back to their quarters to get dressed into their swimsuits they headed towards the elevator. Along the way they encountered Bass who continued to work on the repairs. They stopped momentarily to ask him why he was working on the ship.

 

"Hey Bass!” said Alpha. "Why are you doin' the repairs? Don't you know you're the only one? "

 

"I'm aware of that." he replied.

 

"It's not your duty, so why? Wouldn't you prefer some help? " she questioned.

 

"Because I feel the need to do so and I don't need help, do you have a problem with that? " he asked back.

 

"No, not at all. But you know you could at least lighten up. Lately you've been acting different than you usually do. So is something the matter? "

 

"No, I'm fine, really I am. I just feel like working so I can get things off my mind, okay? " He dropped his hammer and turned to her with dull eyes. "I don't want to feel like something worthless again. Curse my damn handicap! Why must I have one?" he yelled while kicking the wall with his foot.

 

"Handicap? You seem fine to me. Wh-" 

 

"Hey sis, cut it out. Can't you see he's having a bad day? C'mon let's head down and have some fun " Ash said while getting into the elevator. 

 

"Yeah, okay. Let's go." Alpha replied.

 

As the trio left for the recreation halls, Bass paused for a moment and hung his head low. He couldn't believe that he almost slipped information about himself. He mentally hit himself and left the corridor to take a shower.

 

~

 

Up on the deck Blayze, Hokuten and Smiter conversed. They were planning for future encounters. They were also discussing plans on how to ensure they would never let their guard down again like they did when Mary got on board. But suddenly the captain changed the topic and mentioned something about a traitor. Both men looked at him and he signaled a wave to disregard that for the time being. He stated that it'll be another time before he would bring it up to brief about.

 

~

 

When he got to the men's washroom he grabbed a towel and headed toward a shower stall. As he finished getting undressed he turned on the hot water. Once the water's temperature was hot enough he stepped inside and closed the curtain.  He began to wash his hair when he thought about his life two years ago. All the good times he spent with his friends. But one person was always showing up in his head, his first girlfriend Mags. Well, he thought she was his girlfriend. She never got the chance to return the feelings nor the words she wanted to say to him. Even to this day he wishes he saved her. 

 

‘Hmm, at least I didn't tell them the whole thing. The last thing I would want is another pity party.'

 

He clenched his right fist.

 

‘I should have gone along with that operation when I had the chance...'

 

He continued to stare at his right-hand and saw it as a hindrance ever since that day two years ago.  Realizing that he was still standing in the shower he turned off the water and proceeded to get his towel to dry off. 

 

‘Maybe I should apologize to the girls. Mm, Alpha was right, I have been acting a bit strange lately. I guess I'll head down to the pool right now.' 

 

When Bass reached the elevator he suddenly realized that he was still in his towel.

 

"Well, I should head back shouldn't I? I don't want to lose this and get totally embarrassed. Then again everyone else on board has had their fair share of embarrassing moments."

 

He said while heading back to his room to change. 

 

~

 

Down in the Recreational hall where the pool was the three female crew members were swimming and chatting. But for the most part Bass' behavior made them somewhat uncomfortable.

Soritia spoke up, "What do you think his handicap is? He has never mentioned it before. What do you think it is?"

 

"I'm not sure what it is, but I think we should help him. Hmm, it could be anything something like... a faulty heart of something" Ash said with a frown growing on her face. 

 

As the girls continued to chat the elevator could be heard as it approached the current floor. The person that came out if it was Bass and by the looks of it he was trying to figure out a way to apologize to the girls. While pondering his face had an odd expression on it and the only possible way to actually describe it is to see it up close. As he approached the three he didn't notice a rather large puddle of water in front of him.

 

"Hey Bass watch-“ all three shouted.

 

"Sheesh, don't be so loud." He muttered as he took another step, his foot lost grip with the floor and he started to fall straight into a lounging chair then skidding on the hard tiled floor. "Ow, damn that hurts... Huh? Aw crap I broke open my stitches. Damnit, I better get back to the medical wing. Ouch. Well, I'll be right back."

 

"You sure you don't need help Bass? " inquired Ash.

 

"Yeah, yeah I'm sure. No worries." after a few steps Bass began to feel light headed once he saw his old battle wound open, "Never got dizzy before" he uttered before falling face first on the floor. 

 

"Wow, that was weird. . ." said Ash. 

 

"Yeah, no kidding." replied the other two.

 

~

 

Upon carrying Bass to the infirmary, the three girls crossed paths with the captain, Blayze and Smiter. The two groups just stared at each other wondering who will first speak. Things got even more awkward when seconds turned into minutes.

 

"OKAY! Enough of the silence!” Alpha shouted while letting go of Bass' arms.

 

*SMACK *

 

"Uh-oh..." Alpha whispered and turned her head back. While getting a quick sight of what she had done her face grew ghostly pale with a look of fear, blood was slowly spouting from his head. Suddenly she screamed, "ZOMFG!!! I killed him Oh no, oh no, oh no…”

 

"Hey, hey Alpha calm down It's not that bad that he can die." commented Hokuten.

 

"Man it happened so quickly! He hit the ground with a bang! Or maybe it was a bash, slash maybe?" 

 

"Okay sister you're kinda going overboard with this let's just get him over to QR and see what we can do." said Ash.

 

"No, no, no, no, no...." she continued while ignoring the others. "Alright time for plan B!”

 

"What exactly is plan B?" asked Smiter.

 

"It better not be CPR..." muttered Blayze.

 

"Plan B, initiating... NOW! Run for it!” She yelled while running down the corridor.

 

"I think I better go after her again. Catch up with you again later you guys." said Blayze while following Alpha's dust trail.

 

"Well, I guess we should hurry and help him to QR before anything worse happens." said Soritia.

 

As the four hurried to get Bass to the infirmary it came to be that QR's door had a note saying she was on her lunch break.

 

" It says, ‘I’m on Lunch Break Be back at 1 : 45 Have a nice day ^__^’…wow, our luck today sucks doesn't it? " asked the captain.

 

"Indeed it does." spoke Smiter. "Might as well see if we can-”

 

"Grrgh..." 

 

"What was that? " asked Ash.

 

"Not sure," replied Soritia. 

 

"Grrgh..."

 

"But, it is getting louder. And it sounds like it's coming from behind."

 

When the group turned around they saw the body of Bass move. His eyes were pearly white and his skin was deathly pale. His arms and legs continued to twitch.

 

"OH MY GAWD!!! He's a zombie!!!” screamed Ash. "RUN FOR IT!!!” she continued to scream as she sprinted away. In this confusion Smiter took this as the chance to stroll down memory lane.

 

"Resident Evil…Gah! No more chainsaws, no more plagues…” his voice grew very nervous. He too ran for shelter.

 

As for Captain Hokuten and Soritia, the two continued to stare at Bass' relatively dead body. They then proceeded to look at each other wondering what to do next. 

 

"What should we do now? " asked the perplexed captain.

 

"Well, the most reasonable answer is to wait for QR to arrive. I doubt anyone but her on this ship know proper medical procedures. At any rate we should try our best to stop the blood from flowing so much." responded Soritia while poking the dead looking Bass with her finger.

 

"Mhm, what time is it? "

 

"Huh? It's about 12 : 30. Why do you ask? "

 

"Well, how about we go down to the mess hall as get something to eat? "

 

"Uh, sure Captain."

 

"Sori, please, no more of this Captain business. Call me by my name."

 

"So, Hoku or Lloyd is okay? "

 

"Yeah."

 

And so the two left to eat lunch while leaving Bass behind unconscious. 

 

As 1:40 rolled around QR was walking casually down the corridor to the medical bay (wing?). She was too busy reading the medical charts of the wounded crew members to notice that she stepped on someone. "Mm?" she looked down. "Oh I'm SO sorry! Bass Let me get you inside."

 

~ Infirmary~

 

"So," started QR. "You want to know more about cybernetic limb replacements, huh?"

 

"Yeah, I had the opportunity a few years back but I turned it down." said Bass.

 

"Matt, do you realize that this procedure is extremely expensive, painful and above all dangerous? " questioned QR.

 

"Yes, I am aware of the dangers and the other topics about this procedure. But, I also have this odd theory that the limbs can only function to the body's physical limit that was already set by the limbs of flesh and bones. That's the reason why I didn't take the opportunity last time."

 

"But what about physical therapy? If you went through physical therapy then you wouldn't need bionic limbs..." she paused. "What is your true reason behind this? "

 

"Heh, it seems you saw right through me. My reason is to protect. To protect the innocent, to protect loved ones from being attacked one night and finding out the next day your best friend is in a coma. A friend who remains comatose, and me being the one who bears the guilt of not being there to protect her... my friend." 

 

"Wow... You had rough times before you joined us. How did you manage? " 

 

"Well, soon after the whole incident my family and I moved to another port city. For a year I managed to keep contact with some friends of hers to see if she has woken up yet. Unfortunately, her condition didn't improve."

 

"Oh, that's so sad. At least she didn't die, ya know." Silence grew after that while she reached into the cabinet for some bandages and stitches. She then decided to change the subject to end this uncomfortable silence. "So, how did you meet up with the Captain anyway? I heard some outlandish stories about other members but your story is one I haven't heard yet. Care to share?"

 

"Huh? No, not at all, but I'm sorry in advance because it's not funny or strange."

 

"It's ok, to tell you the truth the stories I hear from other members these days are becoming more and more unbelievable. So, go ahead, tell me your part in this crusade." 

 

"Okay, hmm, where do I begin...? Well, it wasn't long till I stumbled upon NT during that first year of contact with her friends. It was odd you know, my whole beginning in this is that I flamed a writer for writing a piece of literature. But as things turned out we worked out our differences and became good friends, you may know that person as Mrs. Hyuga. Sure, she doesn't show her works publicly anymore, but she talented. Anyway, as I ventured around the World Wide Sea I came upon NT. For about a week I continuously peered into the NaruSaku, but it was always closed. When I did join, the Captain, Paul and I always talked even if it wasn't NaruSaku related. But did you know that I'm one of the original members of NaruSaku since NT?" 

 

"No, not at all. Hold on, let me bandage up your head so it won't start a blood fountain again." she said while rolling up some bandages and gauze to his forehead. "So, anything else? "

 

"No not really. But thanks a lot QR, you're awesome. If it wasn't for you nearly everyone on this ship would dead by now." Bass said with a smile.

 

"There I'm done"€œHuh? Hehe," she blushed. "Thanks, I'm just glad to be of service. There's no need to thank me."

 

As Bass got up to leave he began to say, "Hey QR, about the fund for the procedure."

 

"Yeah, what about it?" she asked.

 

"I can pay for the whole thing right now." he said with a smirk.

 

"WHAT? How can you afford one million Zenny? " she shrieked. "Are you loaded? "

 

He smirked again with the reply, "Maybe." And immediately left to eat some lunch.

 

QR stood there, stunned and amazed. She just finished talking to a rich crew member. And she didn't even know it The rest of the crew may not even know it After several minutes of staring at the closed door she sighed and mumbled, "Why is it always the quiet ones?"

 

Chapter 38 end.

Epilogue: (Insert Collaboration by Bass & Me)

 

It had been already a few weeks since the operation, and I was already undergoing physical therapy. I had just finished today's session with QR and she had given me some medication for the pain. Laying back in the infirmary bed, I thought about whether this pain was well worth it's price. No one else really knew about my operation except for QR, since she was our main medical officer, and I had asked her to keep this a "hush-hush" matter. As I reflected on my decision, the pain in my right arm suddenly began to peak, and I reached over for the morphine button. Just as the pain was subsiding, there was a voice coming from the door.

 

"Hurts, doesn't it? But you get used to it over time."

 

It was the voice of the last person I thought would come to visit me, much less the first one to know about my surgery. It was the captain, he was standing at the door in his long coat draped over his shoulders, the sunlight from the window reflecting a glare in his glasses. I had been caught in the act, and wasn't sure what he would say about my actions. But instead, his voice wasn't that of disappointment or anger, but understanding.

 

"How? When?" I asked him as I calmed my nerves.

 

He walked over to me and pulled a chair over to my bed to sit beside me. As I asked him he gave me this quiet smile, and answered. "I need to know the well being of ALL my crew? That includes medical files."

 

"Am I in trouble?"

 

"No." He shook his head slightly. "But you could have at least came to consult me as well."

 

We sat there for a while, just talking his reasonings for wanting this operation, as well as why. After another moment, he then realized my first words 'But you get used to it over time'. And so he asked me.

 

"Captain-" I began but then he rose his hand at me.

 

"Matt. All our years since the beginning, you know you don't need to call me that." He gave me this half-assed smirk, and began to laugh.

 

"Heh." I chuckled back then continued on. "So Lloyd. What did you mean by 'you get used to it over time'?"

 

As I asked the captain this question, his face expression changed slightly. From that big hearty laugh, to a more subtle quiet face. He closed his eyes and gave me this long exhale.

 

"I know you must have discussed it with Haylee (QR), about the past attempts for cybernetic replacement." He began to explain, and I nodded my head. "Then did she ever tell you about the prototype for this procedure?"

 

Curiouser & curiouser ... I had a sense of where this was leading, but I wasn't prepared for what would happen next. The captain stood up from his seat, and carefully took off his long coat, folding it over the chair.

 

"You see, Matt." As he began to roll up his left arm sleeve. "You're lucky that the procedure's been refined since my day." As he finally rolled up his sleeve revealing a more crude version of the cybernetic arm I had on my right. Then he took off his glove on his left hand to reveal a more metallic skeletal hand. "It's not perfect, which is why I rarely use my left arm."

 

I couldn't believe this, the captain himself was a test subject. I was shocked at such a revelation, but at the same time it gave me relief that I wasn't alone. But then this topic only led to more questioning!

 

"How? When? Who?" All sorts of questions running through my head, curious as to why HE needed the surgery.

 

"Back when Paul & I were treasure hunting, he came up with this new explosive. As you can guess, the fuse went off early, and I shielded him from the blast losing my left side." He explained as he began to clothed himself again, then sitting back down in the chair.

 

"But it must of cost millions back then for such a procedure! How did you pay for it???" I questioned on again.

 

As I asked that question, the captain then went back to his old self and gave a big hearty laugh. "Ahaha! How I paid? How else!? We found that damned treasure! Ahahaha!"

 

I joined him in his merry spirit as even though that was a fairly morbid way to lose a limb, it didn't let him down but instead made him even cheerier. After another good round of talking, he began to get up and leave.

 

"We'll keep this matter between us, savvy?" He turned around just as he was heading towards the door.

 

"Mm." I nodded my head and agreed. Just before he left the room, I realized something and asked him as he was leaving. "So that's why you only fight one handed huh?"

 

He was already gone, but I could still hear him laughing merrily through the halls of the infirmary.

 

To Be Continued.


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"Shiny. Let's go be bad guys."


#40 hokuten

hokuten

    I am CLUTCH.

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Posted 09 February 2006 - 05:41 PM

Chapter 39: The Return of NT (part 3)
Subtitle: Not the same anymore...


It had been nearly a week since the Perfects had attacked us. And I haven't had a decent night of sleep since. Ever since those images, those images of pain were forced into my mind ... but perhaps it also has to do with the fact that we've been doing nothing but celebrating that victory. Time had passed; we were nearly complete in repairs. Although it was fairly slow in the beginning as Bass was the only one doing the repairs. Once I had found out, I had to whip those new recruits into shape and got things done faster.

 

I had been overseeing things personally as of lately as well. Checking up on all our active members on board, hoping that the person I saw truly wasn't the traitor in my nightmares. I was in my office on the HMS when someone came barging into my office in a crazed frenzy!

 

"ZOMG!!! Hoku!!!"

 

It was Sori, and she seemed completely overjoyed as if Obito himself was resurrected from the dead. I turned around to face her with my hands folded behind my back.

 

"Yes?"

 

"News from home: Faucon radioed in saying NT has returned yet again!"

 

I grim face slightly changed to a sort of grim smile, yet I wasn't surprised at this news. It had been nearly four? Or five long months since the NT insurrection, by Kane. We had already built relations in New NF, and just settled in comfortably. Even though this news didn't surprise me, I felt a sort of joy, I suppose.

 

"Send word to everyone. NT is back, those who wish to return are welcome to go and see our old home. But I wish to return home, to H&E now."

 

Sori nodded her head, and exited out to give out the order.

 

NT is back ... I thought to myself. It's been such a long time, will it still feel the same?

 

---

 

When we had returned back to H&E, we had a spare transport boat ready to cast off to NT. So naturally I decided to go as well to check it out. On this voyage, only a few came, Sori, Keira, Blayze, Yoko, LHG, Starlite, HH, and myself. When we had arrived it was NT indeed, everything was just like we had left it, only ... it felt different. To me it had felt like the magic that was once here, was no longer there anymore. So we stopped by the Fan Club area of Port NT. I remember that Sori & Keira kept on pressuring me to open up a new recruitment office here in NT. So I started it up again, and of course, our old enemies had soon came as well. Even though it was good to have NT back, I just didn't feel the drive to keep coming back anymore.

 

Back when we were one of the top Clubs, just reaching our 100th members, and the race to become the best. But now, to start all over again ... I was very discouraged and thus most of us either stayed at New NF, or returned home to H&E.

 

To Be Continued.


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"Shiny. Let's go be bad guys."





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