Serious: The Aurora Pirates Part 5: True Strength

James headed off on his own through the trees. It didn't take him long get out of sight of the house. He dropped down over a small ledge.

"So, you're the captain, are you?" it was the old man, who was now sitting in a tree ahead of James.

"Yeah," James walked past the old man, not sparing him another glance.

"And you came here, why?" the old man asked.

James stopped. "We were attacked. Out on the ocean. There was only one man, but he was strong enough to hold us off. I couldn't do anything to stop him." James's hands tightened into fists. "I was pathetic. I couldn't protect my crew. So, I wanted to make sure I was ready to cross over into the Grand Line, although I already knew the answer. I just...wanted some reassurance I guess."

"The odd thing is you didn't ask for training," the old man commented.

"What?" James glanced over at him, confused.

"I'm a trainer, didn't you know that, boy?" the old man said.

"No, I thought you figured out whether or not people were ready for the Grand Line," James replied.

The old man stared at him in shock, but then burst out laughing. "Seriously? How could anyone get famous for something like that? Anyone could say whether or not you're ready for the Grand Line!" Still chuckling, he dropped down next to James. "If you want to get stronger then I can help you with that," he said. "But you'll have to stay here for a while."

James shook his head. "I can't," he replied. "I have to go to the Grand Line."

The man shrugged. "Very well," he said. "But if you would like, I can give you some ideas to practice on your own. Just show me what you got."

James thought about this and nodded. "Alright." He drew Kazeshini. "Stand back and watch."

Labelisa had wondered off with out a real word to anyone, she had her sword drawn and was looking around. She heard them say that there where giant insects and things in this forest. She just hopped that what ever it was she had to fight, that it wasnt a centapede. Labelisa shivered and mumbled "i hate bugs"

(Oh My goodness sorry some Jack***destroyed five poles and shut off all the electricity in my neighborhood for four days. That is the only reason why I have not responded in the last four days.)

Pyriss walked into the forest, overhearing the precautions of the test. She looked to the others who were left before entering. With confidence, she went into the forest, a few trees in her way as she walked cautiously her body not seen by anyone as she continued to walk. "three days", she thought to herself,"this is gonna be fun!!!". Pyriss sprinted inside the forest, if she sensed any presence nearby, she would stay clear of it. She still wondered what might happen in this forest other than big bugs, seeking to surprise herself. Still possessing 10 knives in her pocket, her defenses were pretty high. Though, suspicion of any thing attacking ehr from nowhere, still lingered in her head.

(I'm not sure if everyone should go over the events of what happens during the three days or whether we should just do a time skip. In any case, I'm going to set it up so that it is obvious what James is practicing.)

James grinned up at the old man above him. "How was that?" he gloated. He had preformed every technique he knew, except the one where he released Kazeshini. He didn't want to wear out his sword for a simple demonstration.

"Is that all?" the old man asked. "Don't you have any sword skills to speak of?"

"Um...no," James's confidence was dropping like a stone.

The old man sighed. "So you haven't worked on your sword skills. You rely heavily on your wind attacks and you don't even use them to their fullest extent."

"Excuse me?" James frowned. "How am I not using them to their fullest extent?"

"From what I can see you have a lot of long range attacks, cutting, piercing, and even one that allows you to fly a short ways, but what about pulling with air? What about bringing air crashing down? What about a tornado? Can you do any of those things?"

"I-I...no," James said, looking at the ground.

"Very well then," the old man said. "Get working on them. As you do that, I can help you with your sword skills."

"You would do that?" James asked.

"Sure," the old man shrugged. "I didn't send my allies along with your partners just to watch them. They are also there as sparing partners and trainers."

"That makes sense," James said.

"Then let's get started," the old man dropped down in front of James. "For the next three days I'm going to tear you to pieces," he said with a evil gleam in his eyes.

In silence, Kaori left for the woods. This was nothing new for him. He was originally a tribesman from the Grand Line. He still regarded the man's claim with skepticism. He had first hand experience of what it was like in the Grand Line as a pirate, and he was strong enough to be a lieutenant to an armada of pirates.
They were on par, but the man had struck a chord. It was angering him. So presumptuous. Whatever they had prepared for him would not faze him. He would tear it all to the ground. Simple survival would be no issue at all. He knew that nothing in the wilds could properly challenge him. Someone was coming, surely.
He walked to a clearing in the woods, and sat down in a crosslegged. He looked around the surroundings. There had to be someone following him. But he would keep quiet. Let them be the challenger.

(all telothliondid for those three days)
telothlion sat in the crows nest either sleeping , standing or siting but all of the movement he did caused splinters to go into his wing which he didnt notice. the only thing he noticed was how hungry and thirsty he was since he didnt come down for food or drink.

(thats about it)

Jake had found a pond, just deep enough for him to hide in.
For the last few hours, he had been in it, practicing his moves underwater.
From time to time, one of the insects had gotten a little too close to the water... Well, Jake didn't like crocodiles, but he couldn't deny that they had some effective hunting tecnique. Not much different from what he already knew, but still... It had just been some basic training.
He jumped out of the pond, a short surprise attack on a giant spider. Only one hit. Grabbing the head, and with a screwing motion... His hands glided off.
And one second later, one of his arms was caught in the fangs. He cursed, and, mostly out of reflex, his other hand shot forward and hit the spider right into-some- of its eyes.
It screeched and let him go. A few seconds later, it was already over, and Jake rubbed his arm. It wasn't the wound that hurt.
His goal had been a one hit kill... And until now, from the... 20 insects bodies lying in and outside of the water, only...3 had been sucessfull one hit kills.
Jake knew his technique was weak... That's why he tried to train his precision. The faster he could take an enemy down, the better he'd be able to protect Guri. And baby D. And Pyriss, Heiki, Kaori, James, and all the rest. Slowly, he went back into the pond and started luring again.

(didn't know what exactly to train, so I kinda made something up)

All around the forest, laid very creatures of all kinds, decomposers, carnivores, herbivores, all much larger than they would be in a normal forest. Though large centipedes and large birds weren't really life threatening. Though wolves were. Though her ten knives were helpful, for years, she had been starting to refine her melee skills. The knives were simple mid range weapons, and could be easily evaded by anticipating pirates, but due to its duplication ability, evading all knives were rather extremely difficult, though there were always pirates who could deflect or guard against the knives. Pyriss needed a way to refine her melee abilities, seeing as throwing knives weren't going to help. During the first few hours, she performed normal survival labor. Knocking down trees to make a fire, cleaning her water by boiling it , out of a pot of rotten metal. Finding creatures in the forest to consume, she was a herbivore and carnivore, like the animals scattered in the forest. Pyriss would use her presence seeking ability not only to avoid other crew mates, but to stalk her quarry. She would usually use moves like Shiroshin(duplicating stalking attack) to kill her prey with ease.

As she walked in the dark forest at night, she sense the presence of a wolf pack. Like her, wolves possessed keen smell, and the wolves tracked her to her sleeping area. The wolves were plentiful, 9 very large 5 foot wolves, smelling Pyriss. Pyriss, wasn't a fool, she was very petrified in fear. Though her pirate crew could not save her. The wolves about to devour her, Pyriss threw one of her duplication knives at the wolves, though they seemed to completely managed to dodge them with indecisive speed. The speed was exactly as fast as soru, she was unable to fight back as they were about to eat her alive. Though, Pyriss closed one of the wolves mouth with her knives, as the acute and potent teeth were about to completely crush Pyriss' weapon, she clicked the button as twenty nine knives went into the throat of the wolf, killing him in the process. Though something extraordinary took place, as the other eight wolves started to come at her, and not only was she able to see their fast movements, but counter them, as she hit one wolf in the jaw, as his mouth hoarded at her. The wolf, flew twenty feet back, as she went for a side kick to the one trying to bite her at her left. The wolf flew back at crashed his mangled body on a tree. The other six wolves started to run, as Pyriss started to stand, and run. With the speed of soru, Pyriss caught up with the wolves and twisted her leg to kick one wolf in the mane, as he flew back twenty feet. She slowly defeated the other five with deadly and potent kicks everywhere. In the aftermath, all the wolves were beaten all of their bodies mangled, possessing the look of death.

Pyriss flicked her hair back as she went for the first wolf she killed. She yanked her broken knife out of the teeth of the wolf, as his teeth stabbed the ground. Pyriss observed this, as the tooth possessed the power to potentially cut through material with ease. Similar to her knife, cutting metals were still difficult, but wood, earth, rock, no difficulty at the least, with the large tooth of the wolf. With the resources of the forest, Pyriss started to craft something, instead of leather, with the cotton, she was able to craft a textile claw with wolf teeth located near four of her knuckles as a replacement for the claw that she left on the ship. As dawn came around, the next two days were strict training, and survival, as she heightened her reflexes, killing large bees, lady bugs, centipedes, ants and more, bu throwing her knives at their bodies blindfolded. Pyriss started to walk back to the old man's hut, with heightened senses and some wolf soru, and a new weapon.


(learned some odd wolf Soru, learned Shiroshin, temporary wolf weapon, learned Cambio and Piercing wind formation from older posts)

While Jake worked on his underwater training, the baby dragon wandered off a few times. He didn't really understand what was going on, but he did want to learn how to fly. His wings were developed enough, he just hadn't had anyone around to show him how to do it. He climbed up a tree and jumped off, spreading his wings. He glided slowly down to earth and landed gently on the ground. Annoyed, but not deterred, he climbed up a tree again and tried it again with similar results. Frustrated, he sat down and looked up at the sky. There, high above him was a hawk. It glided through the air and came down, but then it flapped its wings and went back up. The baby dragon realized the implications of this and he eagerly scrambled up the nearest tree. He jumped off and flapped his wings. He flew upwards and screeched happily. The hawk saw him and it dove for him, attempting to drive this strange creature from its territory. The baby dragon turned and shot a fireball at the hawk, knocking it out of the air and sending it plummeting to the earth. The baby dragon flew back towards where Jake was, proud of his newfound ability.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Three days later, James found himself lying on the ground, panting. He held Crimson Rain in his right hand, but Kazeshini was strangely absent.

"Stupid old man," he muttered. He pulled himself back to his feet. "Do you think I'm finished yet?" James roared. In response, a spinning blur shot down at James. He blocked with Crimson Rain, but was driven back. The blur slowed and revealed itself as the old man, his staff extended towards James's chest.

"No, I don't think you're finished," he said. "I'm not the fool here who won't get some rest every once in a while."

Indeed, James had not slept for the entire three days and he could feel it wearing down on his body big time. The old man had been fighting him for the majority of that time, but still slipped away to rest every once in a while. He worked with James on his swordsmanship and taught him a few new tricks. He also had given James a few ideas with Kazeshini, the majority of which he had not even tried yet.

"Right," the old man took a step back. "Enough. It's time to head back to your crew."

"You go," James said. "I'm going to stay and work with Kazeshini. I'll catch up to you later."

The old man nodded, pulled Kazeshini out from under his cloak, handed it to James, and left to go back home. James sat down and began to focus, drawing the wind towards him.

It didn't take the old man long to get home. He sat down on the front step and lay his staff across his lap. He stared up at the sky and smiled slightly.

"What have I got myself into?" he said.

Heiki wandered the forest until she found a hollow tree stump. Yawning, she slipped inside. "Just like a barrel," she mumbled, trying to think of ways to train herself. The girl knew she still had to get use to the new sword and somehow put Karasu into better use.

Her sword wasn't as heavy anymore and she could use it more easily without relying on the physical strength she lacked. Heiki starting to doze off as usual. "I... I should be... should be training... I should... zzz"

It was already getting dark when Heiki heard something above her. She opened her eyes to find herself engulped in the darkness. Looking up, the girl spotted a giant mass blocking the top/entrance of the tree stump. She kicked at it, not really because she wanted but because she was still drunk from sleep.

The large creature moved out of the way and the girl quickly jumped out, realizing that it was a mosquito. "If I slept out in the open..." Heiki shuddered, petting the stump beside her as a word of thanks. She faced the large creature and reached for the sword behind her back.

THREE DAYS LEITAH~

Heiki was fixing part of Karasu's body had ripped while fighting a large praying mantis. Karasu was of course mad at her, but stayed quiet as she was mending him. After she was done, she stood up and decided to return back to where she started.

Frog Dragon wrote:

In silence, Kaori left for the woods. This was nothing new for him. He was originally a tribesman from the Grand Line. He still regarded the man's claim with skepticism. He had first hand experience of what it was like in the Grand Line as a pirate, and he was strong enough to be a lieutenant to an armada of pirates.
They were on par, but the man had struck a chord. It was angering him. So presumptuous. Whatever they had prepared for him would not faze him. He would tear it all to the ground. Simple survival would be no issue at all. He knew that nothing in the wilds could properly challenge him. Someone was coming, surely.
He walked to a clearing in the woods, and sat down in a crosslegged. He looked around the surroundings. There had to be someone following him. But he would keep quiet. Let them be the challenger.

(Sorry, I really didn't really think about this until today. I'll fix that.)

A young man walked out of the woods towards Kaori. He had dark, messy hair and brown eyes. He wore a slightly baggy, long-sleeve, red shirt and white pants. He approached Kaori and looked down at him.

"Shouldn't you be getting ready?" he asked. "If you just sit here then you won't get any stronger. Unless you're doing some weird training I've never heard of."

Kaori rose up. "You know it took quite a while to find this clearing." He said. "I've been in the Grand Line and I've braved the wilds there. I've seen nothing wild here can challenge me." He walked around the man about 90 degrees. "I don't know what.. Jack Sorrel.. thinks about the Grand Line, but he seems to have a distorted view of it. Has he been to the Grand Line?" Kaori asked the man. Kaori didn't have a very high opinion of the man.
He was also getting hungry. He'd have to go spear himself some food. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'll go get myself some food."

The man watched Kaori get up to leave. His face was deadpan. "The Grand Line...is nothing to scoff at," he whispered. He jumped up into the trees to follow Kaori, wherever he choose to go.

(Let's see...Pyriss is done...I'm guessing Jake is done...James is done...Immelman is finished...Heiki and Kaori are working on it...and Labelisa and Rai haven't even started. That's about where we are in the training.)

The old man leaned back. He wondered when those kids would bother showing up. Perhaps they were all dead, but that wasn't likely. He would have been told by now if one of them had been killed. Besides, the captain had proved to be proficient enough at defending himself despite all his faults. The old man smiled. It looked like they had an interesting crew this time, perhaps it was time to up the ante.

((oh, I'm done xD))

naneun1 wrote:

((oh, I'm done xD))

((Never mind then.))

Kaori glanced behind him. The guy was following him. Years in the wilds left keen observation as their reward. It hardly mattered. He was there to observe, apparently.
He spotted a moose eating in the woods. It would be a pain if he scared the thing and caused it to vamoose. He picked up a few rocks, and lazily threw them at the moose one at a time. It worked as a way to annoy the creature. It turned to charge as Kaori leaped fully into the open. Kaori was not worried. It was a wild animal. This would be over in one strike. As the moose approached, he swiftly stepped to the side, keeping his hand in the lane of the moose's charge, practically throwing the spear at the moose's neck at point blank range. He immobilized the spear with his power as it impaled the moose, allowing the moose to fall down through the spear.
He grabbed the spear again, having felled the moose by punching a clean hole through its neck.
Having strength far beyond average, he started hauling the creature back to the clearing. He knew the guy was somewhere nearby. He looked around for a few dry sticks, and found some quickly. However, he was wise not to go far, as the scent of a fresh kill always attracted carrion eaters. Several wolves had seen fit to try and take his slain moose. Screw that. It was his moose. While he didn't think he could learn much here, he could always engineer something. He'd refrain from using his power.
There were 6 of them in total, and they were all approaching fast. He dropped his dry wood, and picked up the spear again. One charged at him, with great speed. There might actually be some challenge here. He slammed the first wolf in the head, whacking it to the side. He stepped to the side from the next wolf's lunge, stabbing it neatly in the side while he was doing this. However, the body of the wolf took his spear with it. 4 more wolves. No weapons. They stalled for a second before lunging at him in tandem. Luckily, he had a good jump. He jumped up to avoid the lunges, landing behind the wolves. Unfortunately, he was a spear wielder first. He was hardly an unarmed combatant. He was decent, but still lacking. If he had used his power, he could've ended this in a flash, but he was determined not to. The wolves ran toward him again, and a bit earlier than normally, he took a few steps to the right, grabbing a wolf by the next just as its jaws snapped shut. The combined momentum was enough to spin Kaori around to throw the wolf at the other three, knocking them down like dominoes. Kaori now had the opportunity to pick up the spear. He did so, spearing a wolf as it tried to rise up. Three more to go. Or not. The remaining wolves decided to high tail it out.
Kaori piled his sticks and lit them by getting spark from a few nearby rocks. He cut a few pieces of the moose, putting it on a stick, and sat down to roast. "Want some?" He shouted to the apparent nothingness, knowing that the 'trainer' was there.
(Sorry for the TL;DR)

((S'all good. I made a new shortened word! It's all becomes S'all!))

The man dropped down near Kaori. "No thanks," he said. "I can get my own. We live in this forest three months out of the year so we're used to it."

(I suppose I should just put this crew on hold for now, shouldn't I? Three of its members are totally inactive right now and most of the others are fairly inactive. Those of you who are still here, what do you think I should do?)

[ooooooooh sorry, I was going to post, because my post count is so low, but I have been having problems with my computer, and having problems with my academics....and............... problems with my relationship with my boyfriend. So I have been very inactive due to those problems, sorry I'll post tomorrow]

Ugitzu wrote:

[ooooooooh sorry, I was going to post, because my post count is so low, but I have been having problems with my computer, and having problems with my academics....and............... problems with my relationship with my boyfriend. So I have been very inactive due to those problems, sorry I'll post tomorrow]

((That's what I mean. Some people, like you, have much more important things going on right now. You don't need this going on as well. So I wanted to know if I should just put it on hold for now. I don't know until when, maybe next summer if I have to.))

(Hey man, I don't really mind. You can if you want to, I'm still gonna be around this forum whenever I can. The situation's just.... well, difficult right now, so I could be on the whole day or not at all.)

((We're back in business. Let's get this show on the road.))

James walked back towards the ship. He was exhausted from all that had happened and was ready to sail away from this island. He had not actually shown up to take the final test, but had instead remained away from the crew, training for a while longer. Because of this, he had mastered a new technique, one which he was itching to try out. Upon returning to the old man's house, James had found that the final test had already taken place and his crew mates had passed. He, on the other hand, had failed because he hadn't shown up in time. Not that he cared. They were heading into the Grand Line no matter what some old man said.

Before they left, the old man had given James some books on sword fighting to look over. They had much more advanced techniques in them then what James was used to. He knew what he would be doing for the next few days.

Soon, the Aurora Pirate's ship came into view. James looked back at his weary crew and grinned.

"We're back," he said. "Finally."

After arriving from the forest. Pyriss was the first to partake in one of the numerous fights.

With her enhanced skills and experience, she began battle with a white haired, blue eyed woman. The woman, wore a professional, grey dress. Dashing, beautiful, but still deadly. As Pyriss drew her knives, it only took a short second for the woman to redress herself. As she ripped her fine dress off. The white haired woman, now wore a blue tunic, with black straps. She wore small jeans that did not reach the length of her knees. With weapons strapped upon her shins. In a second she drew her powerful slashing shuriken, and aimed for Pyriss' legs. Unfortunate for her, Pyriss was already behind her. Her neck bent, Pyriss aimed for the woman's cerebral vertebra. Though Pyriss' slash only touched air as the woman flashed while Pyriss moved her arm. Before Pyriss could react, five shuriken came hoarding at her head. Pyriss pitched two knives behind her knocking the fast shuriken off course. The shuriken hit the ground. Meanwhile the woman attempted to stab the back of Pyriss. Though Pyriss jumped, as her foot connected with the woman's head. The woman's head hit the ground with considerable force. Enough to give her a concussion.

The woman surrendered quickly," I surrender! OWWWW! My face!"

Pyriss looked at the old man. The old man nodded and responded," Nice fight young woman, you are pretty quick there. Your sense of geography allowed you to seek victory, in that short battle I analyzed how you fight. It seems you fight with observation of the area around you, how formidable, your battle presence amuses me. It seems you were already ready fro the grand line."

Pyriss started to walk in the direction of her ship as the man started to talk, she waved her hand goodbye. It did not take long to get to the ship, she was the very first one there. She sat waiting for her comrades one by one. A few hours later James arrived. she glanced in his direction, as she felt his presence.

[A little summary of my story]

telothlion noticed someone comeing to the ship so he decided to hide. when he tried to climb down one of his chains on his arms got caught so he decided to try and fly he managed to fly for a few seconds anyway. after when he had beaten his wings too many times the splinters dug deeping into his wings when he felt this he let out a loud scream of pain then he plumented to the ground smashing his head into the deck. telothlion was in so much pain but he had to get away . so he started to crawl to the door to the below decks . to those who didnt look closey to him he would look like a pile of feather, blood and splinters.