Serious: The Aurora Pirates Part 4: An Island Within an Island

Pyriss thought back to the fight with the blond woman. She had seen the very diverse and intricate traps that she created with the very durable wire that took her wrist to twist to break. She then looked up with curiosity, she assumed the set up was connected to the net of wire. Like the contraption the tunnel ad different doors and traps set up all around the area, thought this was a far fetched assumption. Pyriss attempted to picture the land she desired in her head. She was keen on sensing human presence. She looked up and right, the aura was obviously tracing upwards. Though there could be a way to get up that had something to do with whatever was located on the right of her. The left was probably the exit and the right was probably a way up.

Pyriss spoke," I think we should go up, I sense Kaori somewhere upward, but the sense is faint. Though, just by being here I think I have a nice sense of direction."

"Alright, good," James nodded. "Then lead the way. Everyone! We're pulling out!" James looked around at his four crew members who were standing there. Aya was fine. Heiki didn't look like she had been injured. Jake had a bad foot, but he could stand. Then there was Pyriss. "Will you need any help getting out of here?" James asked her. "Can you walk?"

(Well, even if no one else shows up, we may as well get off this island and they will automatically come along.)

When James asked that question, Pyriss's eyes flashed in realization. She couldn't walk! Half of her lower body was paralyzed! She responded,"" Oh! *laugh* I forgot about that. I can't walk. Would you carry me again Jake, sorry for being a nuisance. Anyways we should start right, if that is alright with you captain?" Pyriss wished that she could walk, it was embarrassing that everyone else in the crew could.

"Jake has himself to worry about," James said. "His leg is still busted." James walked over to Pyriss and picked her up. "So...right it is." James headed off in the direction Pyriss had indicated.

"Well, damn it!"
Jake stood up carefully. Not only didn't he get to hug the small one or carry Pyriss, he was also completely useless in battle now.
But that didn't mean he'd just stay there.
He couldn't let the two of them go ahead too much. Who knew what could happen to them? So he limped after them.

Pyriss was a little serious at the moment. She looked around aimlessly to find traces of Kaori's presence, she looked around and never saw anything that was allowing her to travel upward. James was carrying her and he was following the direction that Pyriss instructed. She wondered if there was a hallway that directly pushed her up. As she seen the small sight of an upward place out of the corner of her eye. Kaori's presence was in that direction.

Pyriss spoke," We should go in that passage, I can sense Kaori's presence over there. It seems to go upward, just what we are looking for, huh captain."

It was a surprise that the captain looked younger than herself, he was so much bigger than her and much more muscular. Well, he was a man and men had more testosterone than women. Pyriss was probably the eldest of the females in the crew and she was probably the most intelligent. It was a shame, she felt so useless.

"Right," James began following Pyriss's instructions. As he did, he glanced over at Jake. James frowned. Something was missing... "Hey Jake," James said hesitantly. "Did you leave Henry back at the ship?"

Jake frowned.
"Henry? Aaah! Henry!"
He had left him with Makino, and hadn't picked him up again yet.
"He's still with the Makino! what am I supposed to do?"
With this leg, how should he go pick him up? Panic!

"Calm down man," James grinned. "Just go get him and bring him back here. He can walk on his own ya know? I dunno who this Makino is, but I'm sure you wouldn't have left him with anyone dangerous. So he should be fine. I'll wait here for you. After all, there's no way you're getting out of here without Pyriss."

While James continued his conversation with Jake, Pyriss had seen a light up ahead. In relief, the presence of Kaori was very close, like Heiki, Kaori was a few feet away.

Pyriss informed James,"I see a light ahead, Kaori's presence is in that direction, I think were going up. You know, like a hill. Anyways Kaori is ahead and you guys are almost there. Thanks for carrying me James."

Pyriss was in relief, that she finally was going to get out of the tunnel. The tunnel wasn't the brightest place in the world, and people didn't get into a dark tunnel for dreams of illumination. The tunnel was quiet and dark, the sun felt like a dream to pyriss, despite her only being in the tunnel for 17 minutes.

"Eeehehe, no, she's not dangerous... Not at all... Whatever, see you guys later!"
He turned and limped off as fast as he could, then remembered something and turned back.
"Ah, don't get into trouble, okay?"
Instead of waiting for an answer, he continued to limp away.

"Don't worry about it," James grinned at Pyriss. "You're light." He looked back at Jake as the fishman was speaking. "Right, Jake. See you soon and be safe."

James headed up the 'hill' and soon found himself looking at Kaori, who was standing near a man, who had several tattoos on his bare chest.

"Yo! Kaori!" James called to the fighter. "It looks like you're okay! We're done here so head for the ship when you are ready!"

(Even if no one else shows up, we'll just finish up this RP. Then I'll send out a message to tell everyone that the end has come.)

James finally reached the ship. He lay Pyriss down on the deck and hopped up on the side. He yawned and stretched.

"Its been a long day!" he said. "Man, I'm tired."

A young boy peeked his head out of the doorway that led below deck. "You guys are back?" he asked, amazed.

James frowned at him. "Who are yo-oh yeah. You're that cook kid we saved from that vessel with all the dead people on it."

"I thought...you were all going to die..." the boy said.

"Well, as you can see we survived," James grinned at him. "We'll drop you off somewhere when we get back on track again."

Henry had been watching Makino sleep, thinking about some things, considering some things...
She was beautiful... And gentle, too. If only he could stay here to protect her... It looked like she needed a lot of rest and...
"Henry!"
He got up to see Jake coming towards him, his leg now in bandages. He wasn't as angry as he thought he'd be. It was actually kind of relieving to see his kidnapper was okay.
Pfff, Stockholm syndrome.
He gave Makino one last look, practically saying: "I'm so sorry I can't stay. I'm needed elsewhere."
Only without the words... To be exact, he didn't say anything. She couldn't have heard it anyway. But if there had been any last words he'd want to say to her, then that'd be them.
He headed towards Jake without a word.

Jake was surprised to see Henry following him so obediently.
Could it be the marine was starting to like him? he grinned happily at the thought. Frieeendship! What a wonderful thing to achieve from kidnapping!
He followed those thoughts, but was interrupted by a punch in the side.
"What're you grinning for so happily? There's nothing to be happy about here, idiot!"
And now he insulted him! Clear sign he had grown attached!
They didn't speak untill they reached the exit of the cave.
"....I'm glad you're okay..."
Jake turned to Henry with a curious look on his face.
"Excuse me, what was that? You'll have to speak louder if you want me to..."
"I said: Let's just get going, bastard!"
"That wasn't what.."
"YES IT WAS!"
And so they headed for the ship.

Pyriss smiled, she looked at the sun with delight. She was laying down, content on something that peaked her interest. How was she going to navigate the others to the next island, if she couldn't move. Pyriss had to heal quickly, she was an asset to the traveling aspects of the crew. She attempted to move her toe. She left the toe down and stared at it. Trying to rehabilitate it.......

James stared at the egg he had brought with him from the island. Once more he wondered what kind of a creature was in this thing. He scrunched up his face and leaned it close to look at it. If he tried hard enough, he could almost see something moving in there...

"Ow," James muttered. He had accidentally let a little piece of his skin touch the egg. It was hot and was growing warmer every second! James began to sweat as the air around him began to get really hot. He considered tossing the egg back over his shoulder into the water, but instead, he moved a few feet forward and set it down. Then he backed up and crouched down beside Pyriss, reaching over and grabbing her arm. He placed his other hand on Crimson Rain. Whatever this was, he had to be ready in case it was dangerous.

The air around the egg began to waver from the extreme heat. Then suddenly the egg burst. Pieces of the shell flew everywhere. James drew Crimson Rain and blocked a few of the shards as they shot towards him and Pyriss. When everything had settled down again, James let go of Pyriss's arm and moved forward slowly. Most of the eggs shell had simply collapsed into a form like a nest. In the center of the egg was a red lizard. James frowned. It didn't look all that dangerous to him. Then the lizard leaned back its head and yawned, revealing a full set of large, needle-like teeth. Then it coughed, making James jump in shock, as a small burst of fire erupted from its mouth. The lizard turned to face James and as it did, two wings unfurled on its back.

"That's a...dragon," James muttered.

(I-m-m-e-l-m-a-n has arrived.)

Jake had just come up the ship, only to see the weird creature sitting there.
His eyes wandered from it to James to Pyriss, then back to the thing.
Then he smiled warmly.
"Daaaaw, it's so cute. Look how cute it is!"

Pyriss had not encountered a dragon before, she knew it was a dragon instantly. In Lucy's entry's it described the creature in front of her, only it was blue. Everything was the same as Lucy confirmed, though Lucy, before raising Pyriss, actually went to the island of dragons. It was a surprise that she survived. Pyriss possessed a mix reaction, because the dragon reminded her of Lucy Astral who was now deceased.

Kaori looked from the side. A weird creature the captain had brought back. It didn't seem immediately hostile however, so Kaori simply let it be.

The dragon stared at James and then crouched. It tried to back away, but its leg coordination left something to be desired and it quickly found itself lying on its side with its feet in the air. The dragon growled and snapped, its attention temporarily diverted from James as it tried rolling over onto its feet. Once more it tried to balance, its legs wobbling. It took a step and then another and then another, slowly moving across the deck. Finally, confident in its new movement abilities, the dragon trotted across the deck and jumped up on the side of the ship. It looked out over the waves and let out a high pitched wailing sound.

James winced. That was loud. Was it...crying? Well, it was a baby. James frowned. He was no good in these kinds of situations.

"Jake, could you...?" James left the question unspoken. Jake would understand.

"Gladly!"
One second later, Jake already had the new born little monster in his arms.
"Shhh, It's okay, little one. Don't cry now."
His voice was so heartbreakingly warm that one could forget he was a hulking fishman with teeth no one wanted to be caught in. Ever.
Not that the teeth were the biggest problem about him.

The dragon felt himself being picked up and he whirled around to see Jake talking to him. He didn't understand the words, but he saw the fishman's teeth. He pulled back his own lips to show his teeth back to Jake. Then he let out a squeal of delight and leaped up on Jake's head, where he curled up and almost immediately fell asleep.

"Well, it looks like he's yours then," James said to Jake. Then he turned back Pyriss. "Don't worry about the navigating for now. I can take care of it. I made sure that I knew a few things before I set out to sea. You just rest and get better soon." James then headed up to the wheel. "We're setting sail!" he called to the crew as he took the wheel in his hands.

Jake squealed with happiness and tried not to move too much, he didn't want to wake the little dragon up.
"Look Henry! Isn't he cute?"
Henry moved away from him carefully.
"Yeah, yeah. Just don't come to close to me, will you?"

Pyriss looked up at James. She nodded her head. She responded with a sense of regret,"Yes captain, I'll try my best to get better.......that is not a simple phrase, that is a promise." Pyris focused to her feet once more, she attempted to move her right foot once again, by exerting all of her concentration on the foot. (ready)

Epilogue:
Several Marine ships were docked around Camille Island. They had arrived just three hours after James and the others had left. The Marine Commander, who was in charge of the operation, watched as a young man was brought down to his ship. It was the self-proclaimed Yami, the rebel who had been causing them so much trouble in the North Blue. He stood waiting for his men to bring their prisoner to him. The strange thing was, even though this was Yami's main base he had not put up a fight. Instead, he had come out and given himself up. Of course, this made the Marine Commander suspicious and so he had made some inquiries around town. Apparently it was the truth. This was Yami. The Marines dropped Yami at the Commander's feet.

"Why did you give up so easily?" the Commander asked. "I see no reason for it."

"Me and my men were defeated," Yami explained. "I'm not ashamed to admit it."

The Commander crouched down next to Yami. "Who was it?" he asked sternly.

Yami stared back dully. Nothing mattered to him at this point. "A pirate crew," he finally replied. "The Aurora Pirates."

"The 'Aurora Pirates'?" the Commander frowned. "I've never heard of them." He stood back up. "Take this man away," he said. As the other Marines dragged Yami away, the Commander was left to contemplate this new information.

"Sir?" a young ensign appeared at the Commander's side.

"What is it?" the Commander asked.

The ensign saluted. "We've just received word from the 51st branch office near the Grandline. Apparently a large group of pirates has gathered near the Grandline. The 51st thinks that they are going to try and push through our blockade in as a group. We've been asked for assistance."

The Commander nodded. "Tell them we are on our way." He turned and headed for his cabin. This could be to his advantage. Not only could he drop off his prisoner at the 51st branch office, but he could deal with a group of annoying pirates as well. This would definitely look good on his report.