Serious: The Aurora Pirates Part 2: Rest, Relaxation, and Assassination

Jake sighed. He was now standing again and looking at the crew of that Alice girl. Especially the sh one struck him as interesting. Why should such a delicate girl become a pirate just like that.
But what struck him most was her childlike attitude. Hiding behind her captain.
He cast her an encouraging smile.
"Don't worry, we don't bite!"
Even though he knew showing his sharp teeth wasn't very soothing, what else could he do? He just wanted to cheer her up.

Then he looked at the one named Zak.
"I'm sure he does have his reasons to be here. He had plenty of chances to leave, but still he stayed. That's enough reason for me to trust him."

Risty took one look at Jake's smile, gasped, and then ran and hid behind Edmund. The tall man was not surprised by this and he turned around and picked up the small girl, placing her on his shoulder, where she sat casting nervous glances at Jake. After Jake's comment to him, Zak just kind of looked disdainfully at the fishman, but then turned back to Kagirinai.

"I wouldn't be with these guys, but they have something I want," he said. "Once I get that, I'm out of here."

Meanwhile back in the other conversation, Alice looked over at Jake apologetically. "Sorry about that," she said. "Risty is afraid of strangers and you do look somewhat intimidating."

Jake laughed.
"Haha, it's okay! I'm used to it!"
He could feel his heart ache a little. He hadn't wanted to scare her, just cheer her up. Couldn't he do anything right?
Still, he pretended he was okay.
Sometimes, he just cursed being born a tuna fishman. If he had been an ornamental fish like Guri, surely people wouldn't be afraid of him.
"Heee, don't worry, little one! I wouldn't do anything to someone as cute as you!"

"Enough," James walked up to Alice, seized her by the arm, and dragged her away. "I need to talk to you."

After they were a suffencient distance from the others Alice pulled her arm back and she frowned at James. "What is it?" she asked. "You've been angry ever since we arrived. Are you really that mad at me?"

"You know why I'm like this," James snapped. "But that's not the problem. You came up out of nowhere and get on my ship without permission. This is my ship and my crew. I don't want you here getting in the way."

Alice looked sadly at her brother. "I understand. We'll move along as soon as possible. Then she noticed his wound and her eyes widened. "That really is an injury isn't it?" she reached out and placed an arm on his shoulder. "I'll go get John to come fix you up." She then turned and marched off. "And while he is doing that I'll fix your cabin for you. We can't leave all that furniture on deck, can we?"

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Edmund walked up to Jake. Risty saw where they were going and she jumped off his shoulder. When Edmund stopped in front of Jake, the young girl poked her head around the side of his leg, staring at the fishman.

"Don't worry about this one," Edmund said. "She'll get used to you in no time. Everyone scares her at first. She's just been cooped up in a tower for most of her life, with only books for company. All she could do was read. We call her our walking encyclopedia because she knows so much."

"Aaah, yes. I understand."
It was relaxing to not have to kneel down if you wanted to look the guy your talking to in the eyes.
Still, he looked down to Ritsy. It was such a strong impression, he needed to say it.
"You know, I once knew someone not unlike you... And about that size, too..."
Then he turned back to Edmund.
"Heh, what is it you want, anyway?"

"Ah, nothing really," Edmund chuckled softly. "I thought I should just explain about my little friend."

"Um...sir?" surprisingly enough it was Risty who has spoken, but she wasn't looking at Edmund. "Mr. Jake? Who was that person you knew who was like me?"

Kagirinai yawned and slowly got up. He walked over to his bag and pulled out a solid gold bar. Raising it he began to eat the bar of gold.

Jake couldn't help but smile again. After all, he'd look even scarier when he didn't.
"Ah, it was a friend of mine. I owe him much for helping me out when I was in big trouble. He used to be our navigator..."
He stopped, then he spoke again. For a short time, the smile was gone from his face.
"...Until he decided he had to leave..."
His face brightened up again.
"Haha! I'm sure he'd have liked you!"

Risty smiled at what Jake said and she hid her face again behind Edmund's leg, but this time it seemed to be based more on embarrassment rather then nerves.

"So what is your crew's goal?" Edmund asked.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

James found himself facing John. The doctor had not said a word, or moved an inch since he arrived. James was starting to get uncomfortable.

"Aren't you going to do something?" James finally asked. "Don't you need to see my wound or something?"

"I have been doing something," John replied after a moment. "A scout has been examining your condition." James opened his mouth to ask what a scout was, but John wasn't finished. "One broken rib and large cut across the chest. There is no infection yet. Good. This won't take long." John spread his arms out to either side and a strange humming sound filled the air a what looked like black clouds poured from John's sleeves.

"You've got to be kidding me..." James muttered. The cloud was a swarm of insects. The insects rushed forward and covered James's entire body. He felt something bite his neck and then everything went black.

Kagirinai finished the bar and slowly got up from his spot, "Yes yes all of this touchy feeling stuff is getting on my nerves." Kagirinau dusted his pants off as he looked at the new pirate.s He grinned showing rows of sharp fanged teeth in his mouth.

Jake looked at Kagirinai. Sharp teeth. Like his.
"If you don't mind, I'm sure you can join in with your 'touchy feeling stuff', too. If you're not to busy being untouchable, i mean. Of course someone of your caliber wouldn't have something important to him, I guess."
He hadn't actually meant to make it sound that snappy, but he couldn't help it. No matter what, no one ever talked derogative about Guri.
He turned back to Edmund, and his face was friendly again.
"Heh, good question. I don't really know what we're up to myself anymore."
He laughed.

Risty saw Kagirinai's teeth, shrieked, and hid herself from him instead. Edmund didn't seem to notice this as he was still talking to Jake.

"No goal?" Edmund looked surprised. Then he grinned. "Well, that should give you a good dose of freedom in where you go. Unless your captain has a goal that he hasn't told you yet. Maybe you should ask him."

"Hmmm.. I guess I could... "
Jake said slowly, while kneeling down.
"He's not a bad guy... You don't have to hide, he won't do anything to you..."
He wasn't sure whether or not he should smile now, so he just left it at a vague raise of the corners of his mouth, without showing his teeth.
"Heh, remember that friend I told you about? When I find him, I'll introduce him to you, okay?"
He was trying his best to make her think about something more pleasant than scary people with scary smiles.

"Really?" Risty's eyes were big. She stepped out from behind Edmund and walked over to Jake. Trembling slightly, she raised a hand to touch his face.

Jake flinched first, but then he held completely still. There wasn't a reason for him to scare the little girl now that she was finally beginning to trust him a little.
She had most likely never seen a fishman before.
"Heh... What are you doing, little girl?"

Risty didn't answer. She tapped Jake lightly on the forehead with one finger and then rubbed that finger and her thumb on the same hand together.

"So that's what a fishman feels like," she said quietly. Risty pulled out a notebook and began to write something in it.

"She does this sometimes," Edmund explained. "It's her way of gathering information. You can't learn everything from a book."

(I think it's about time to move things along. After your reply the main story will probably begin again.)

Kagirinai merely watched the interaction between jake and the new pirates. He got to his feet and walked to the main of the ship. he cracked his knuckles and his neck as he looked out to the wide oceans

"Aaah. It's okay, I guess. She's supposed to learn something, after all."
He got up again. He wondered what took his captain so long.

((Sorry about being gone a day. This time wasn't my fault actually. Our computer has messed up on us and we had to hook up an old laptop, which is working surprisingly well.))

Alice walked over to the side of the ship. She saw Kagirinai a little ways off chewing up some metal. She grinned. "James certainly has found some weirdos," she thought. She looked off into the distance. The sun was beginning to set in a beautiful array of reds and yellows and pinks. Alice smiled contentedly. She lowered her head onto her arms, which were balancing her on the ship's side. Her eyes had begun to close when a face appeared in front of her over the edge of the ship. It was a man! She jumped back and the man pulled himself up onto the side of the ship making no sound at all. Thinking that something was wrong, Alice lashed out, hitting the man square on the forehead. He toppled backwards and fell off of the ship never making a sound except for the splash when he hit the water. Alice rushed forward and peered over the edge of the ship. More men were climbing up the side of the ship towards her. Alice whipped around and shouted, "We're under attack!"

The moment after Alice had spoken, the men began to speed up their ascent. Several of them jumped over the side of the ship and rushed towards the various people on the ship. The people (it was now apparent that there were both men and women among them) were dressed in classic pirate gear. Old, ratty shirts and pants along with gold rings, teeth, earrings, and bracelets. Each one of the people was wearing a mask. The masks ranged from animals to humans to random creatures from mythology. Each of the people had a belt on which they carried a short sword or dagger alongside a pistol which had a silencer on it.

A man wearing a wolf mask thrust his dagger at Alice, but she swirled to the side and jabbed him on the side as he went past. The man fell to the deck, clutching his side. Alice moved into the crowd of people doing what almost seemed to be a dance as she gracefully struck people on pressure points, managing to disable each one with a single hit.

Edmund was a little less graceful as he produced a giant battle ax, which was as tall as him, and whirled it above his head. He swung it in large arcs, cutting through the ranks of enemies in front of him. At one point three people were climbing onto the ship and he threw the ax at them. The ax hit the three people and knocked them back over the side. Edmund then heaved on a chain, which was connected to the ax, and returned his weapon back to his hand in an instant.

Risty leaped onto Edmund's shoulders. Her usually frightened face had hardened into a mask of calm. She shook loose several needles, which she had kept hidden up her sleeves, into her hands and she threw them at the enemy with incredible accuracy, usually hitting them on the neck or disarming them by hitting their hands.

Zak drew out twin tonfa and whirled them expertly as he moved into the thick of the fighting. Like Alice, Zak seemed to be dancing as he moved through the battle, striking people down right and left. He made it to the other side of the melee and flipped one of his tonfa onto his shoulder with the short end facing in front of him and the back end resting on his shoulder. He pressed a trigger on the handle of the tonfa and a small ball was fired from a tiny hole on the short end of the tonfa. The ball whizzed in between a man and a woman as they were coming onto the ship and it exploded, wiping both of them out.

Jake jumped to his feet.
It looked like they were doing well, but he still wanted to join in on the fun.
Two people stormed towards them and had to draw back again immeadeatly as he punched them oveboard.
He fought anyone who got too close, not minding who it was. He had to make his way to the captain. The wounds still hadn't healed and he had forbid him to fight.

Kagirinai slowly turned staring at the men. His tonfa drawn as the split of a second. he flashed forward his blades shining as he appeared across from jake sheathing the tonfa. Blood sprayed through the air as the men and women dropped. he had avoided their vitals, "Tetsu Tetsu no Tetsuryuu kon (Iron iron: Iron Dragon Club)!" His arm shot forward as a giant metallic pillar. THe pillar raced forward right past James.

Kagirinai shouted at them, "OI i advise you duck!" The moment he finished speaking pillared spieks of metal ebgan to shoot off from the metal pillar. The branches grew their own branches quickly covering the entire ship knocking the enemy off as the metal spiked branches consumed everything.

(I hate to slow down a fight scene, but I was wondering about your move Kagi. You said that you fired the pillar at James. James is off lying in a corner unconscious, while John is fixing his wounds. Oh, and sorry about Zak using tonfa. I didn't realize you had them as well. I was trying to make these other guys unique. Oh well.)

The battle continued without slowing down. The people in masks continued to pour over the side in an almost unending tide. Alice eventually found herself on the far side of the battlefield away from the main fighting. She stopped for a moment to catch her breath.

"It's fun to watch, isn't it?"

Alice looked to her left. There was a man sitting on the wall wearing a lion mask. He was big muscular, with dark hair that he had tied back in a ponytail. He wore a long, red cape that hid the rest of him from view. Alice jumped back and prepared to fight, but the man didn't even give her a glance.

"Your crew is strong," he said approvingly. "My people are no match for them. I would love to just watch this fight out until the end, I'm running out of time. I'd say it's about time to bring out the big guns, wouldn't you?" He snapped his fingers and several blurs shot over his head and into the battle. The man finally deemed Alice worthy of a glance and he said, "It's been great talking to you. I've got to go now." He moved off of the side of the ship and started forward towards the battle, but Alice moved in his way. He stopped and cocked his head to the side. "You really don't want to do that," he said.

"You seem to enjoy watching a fight," Alice replied. "But are you any good at actually doing it yourself?"

(Those blurs that jumped into the fight are for you guys to have fun with. They are the stronger fighters in this group. Make them into whatever you want to fight. Have fun!)

Jake slightly turned whenhe noticed the new guys arriving. They seemed strong. But he had no time for that. Later.
First, he dashed to James side and checked if he was okay.
He seemed to be unconcious. Jake grimaced. Not a good time to be sleeping.
He had a feeling he needed to return to the fight.
But he couldn't leave his captain like that.
Only now did he notice the oter man... John, or something, wasn't it?
"Hey, spooky! I'm gonna join the fight! If anything happens to my captain while I'm away, I swear I'm gonna throw you overboard!"
He meant it.
Grinning again, he turned back to the battlefield.

John didn't reply to Jake's words. Instead he merely nodded his head, but he wasn't sure if the fishman had seen him do it before returning to the fight. John pulled his insects back out of James's body. The bone was repaired. He focused the majority of his insects along the cut on James's chest. They spread a glue-like substance across the cut and fixed the skin back together. He had finished this part in only a minute. He recalled his insects to his body and sat back to rest. As long as the captain didn't move for about fifteen minutes the wounds would be set in place and would not bother James again. The glue-like substance would eventually disintegrate and make its way out of the body as the body healed itself naturally. John watched James as he continued to sleep peacefully.

"Danger..." the insects whispered to John.

John looked over his shoulder at two masked men who were approaching. He stood and stretched both arms out to their fullest lengths on each side. Twin black clouds formed over each arm and the insects buzzed angrily. The two men could see something was wrong and so they began to run towards John, but they were to late. The black clouds launched themselves from John's arms and swarmed the men. The two men fell to the deck of the ship, writhing as the insects ate away their skin. John watched the men impassively. He was impressed by how long they were keeping silent despite the pain of the bites. Most people would be screaming by now. The insects ate their way into the body of their enemy and stopped any vital organs, such as the heart or lungs, from working. Then, they could feast without interruption. One of the men had already stopped moving. Soon the other would join him. John sat back down and faced James again. The human body was such a delicate thing, he mused.