Serious: Pursuit of a Criminal (Closed to the invitees.)

Scott, being the only one not to defeat his enemy in one blow, didn't have time to notice his failure just yet. The sword coming towards him somehow managed to distract him. He always panicked a bit inside when things like that happened, but the thought that his father would have been completely cool even with a blade coming for his head kept him from ever showing a sign of that deep, natural fear.
He stepped aside quickly, the blade missing him barely, and, anticipating some close combat, drew his saber, which seemed a much better choise than his rifle in this case.
Lucky decision, as the pirate happened to lack any sort of protecetion, which he had sacrificied for his failed killing stroke.
Scott decided to work with what he got quickly, stepped behind his enemy and held the blade against his throat. He was immensly inexperienced in the matter of taking hosteages or any thing including such things, and hoped he was doing this whole threatening business right or that, if he wasn't, the man would be amazingly asinine and still believe he was in actual danger.
"Don't move..."
He said, just to make sure his message would be gotten.

Only then did he notice the others, who had already finished off their opponents, were talking about what to do now, and suddenly, he deeply regret not having killed or knocked out his enemy.
They'd have someone to question now, they would be able to actually find Gasparde. For a moment, Scott considered quickly takinf the man in front of him out... He could make it look like an accident....
Then he realised that would be too damn obvious, and his cantankerous companion would, of course, not let the chance slip to tell their superiors about it. He glared at her out of the corner of his eye and finally just decided to stay silent and hope they would somehow not realise he had a hostage.

Mel had a sour expression plastered onto her face as the man she clubbed fell to the ground. She lifted up the butt of her gun to eye level and looked at it scrutinuously. The brute had to go and bleed when she smashed it into his skull, staining the end of her rifle. It wasn't until AJ approached her that she returned the rifle to her back and listened to what the young woman had to say. It was definitely true that the whole situation could be a farce, but Mel didn't want to risk it. Catching Gasparde was their goal, not apprehending his men.

"I wouldn't be surprised if Gasparde's heard us by now, assuming he actually is on that ship. Chasing after that twit would only give him more time to prepare or get away. If we get too ambitious and chase the two of them, we might end up loosing both," Mel replied. It was now or never, she thought. Sure, Gus might get away if luck was on his side: but if they caught Gasparde with just the group of them, recognition was bound to be had. Her and Scott's superiors couldn't overlook that even if they tried. Serves them right for sticking the two misfits together.

With quite a bit of effort, Gus managed to reach the boat at the far end of the docks. From the looks of it, the hulking beast that had punched him out wasn't going to show up... neither were the Marines who had come with him. Gus really wasn't happy that he had been forced to run away. It wasn't like his pride was damaged beyond repair, but it still hurt a little. He grabbed onto the edge of the boat, hauling himself over the edge and onto its deck. The other crewmates had done a pretty good job stalling them, so he figured he'd take advantage of this opening and get out. Hopefully, he wouldn't be seeing the belligerent cook, the feisty waitress, or the two Marines ever again. He cut the boat free and let it go adrift, trying to do what he could with his one free hand.

The one remaining assailant dropped his blade to the ground, not really possessing the energy to continue to fight like this. Now, with a sword at his throat, he really couldn't do anything. "I... can't..." Which was basically true... he couldn't move without twisting the bullet in his stomach around a bunch. "Gus... is an ass..." He coughed a bit, as Mack doubled back after checking on his sister. Mack moved his head level with the now captured pirate, saying, "Gasparde?" Mack glared directly into the pirate's eyes, and the pirate said, "He's in the ship, probably didn't hear..." A sudden, quiet voice came from the pirate ship, saying, "Of course I heard it, you dolt."

Standing on top of the boat's railing, a tall man in a long overcoat stood straight and proud. He was reedy and thin, holding two tonfa, one in each hand. He jumped off the railing and landed right between Scott and AJ. "First off, I've got good hearing, so I've known you were here since Gus screamed his warning... or so he would have it seem. I know that he just wanted to get away... looks like he did that pretty well, didn't he? And secondly, you four aren't going to be taking me in... I mean, come on." He tightened his grip on the weapons in his hands as he tossed his brown hair out of his eyes. "From the looks of it, you Marines barely know the two ends of the gun apart."

He chuckled as he continued, "And the other two aren't even armed. Give me a break." He spun the tonfa in his hand closest to Scott, making it so that the longer end jutted out like a blunt sword. He whipped it out at the back of Scott's neck, in an attempt to deal some massive pain to Scott's neck. At the same time, he was forced to use his other free hand and tonfa to defend himself from a punch that Mack had thrown at his face. With a gentle, yet firm, movement, he redirected Mack's punch to the side along with his momentum, sending the Smith brother crashing to the ground.

Gasparde's Stats:

AJ nodded to Mel. “I guess it’s better that we all don’t go fishin’ fer red herrin’s then.”
The older woman had a definite point. With the weasel’s track-record, following him probably wasn’t going to be the most fruitful of decisions.
She eyed the gangplank of the ship before them and headed over to her brother to check that he was alright. He seemed fine, she was happy to see, interrogating the pirate that was still capable of speech at that moment in time. However AJ’s heart started to hammer in her chest when the assailant weakly mentioned that his captain was, indeed, on the ship in question.
“Got ‘im...”
She quickly looked to the ship, preparing to head onboard...when suddenly, she had no need to.
AJ’s eyes narrowed at Gasparde’s sudden appearance, her green glare not once leaving him as he gave them a little “introducing me” speech. So he’d known that they were there the whole time- and still sent his crewmates out as cannon fodder. Cocky jerk, wasn’t he?
She looked to the four tonfa in his grip and quickly scanned him from his reedy legs to the tip of the brown hairs on his head. This was the man she and her brother had been after for weeks now. Finally this slimeball was within their reach...and better still, range of a kick, a punch and/or a bullet (if needs be).
“Forget the bounty,” AJ thought, determined. “This guy’s caused these here good folk in these parts and many more, nothin’ but misery. That ends today.”
Rage flared inside her when he managed to all but spear Scott’s neck and punch her brother full in the face. That marine guy may have been a new friend to her, but he was a friend nonetheless...and no one hurt Big Mac in front of her in any way and got away with it. She glowered at Gasparde and ran towards him, letting adrenaline fuel her momentum before dropping to the ground, one hand firm against the hardwood of the pier and one leg whipping out to roundhouse kick Gasparde in the shins. She figured if she could even somewhat knock him off balance, she’d at least give one of her fellows a chance to take a fair swing at him whilst he was still reeling.
“Pard’ner, you look a helluva lot more scrawny in person than ya do on yer wanted posters!”

Scott had somewhat hoped that this wouldn't be the pirate ship they'd been looking for. He'd even gladly have taken any old hobos word for it, just as long as it meant he wouldn't be in this right here situation.
But as usual, life had a way of just throwing lemons at him, and forgot he was unimaginably untalented when it came to making lemonade.
Or maybe it didn't, and just found it funny how quickly he bruised from just being lapidated with citrusfruits.

Either way, he was sure any fruit imaginable wouldn't hurt as much as the pain suddenly exploding in his neck. Of course he'd seen Gasparde swing his weapon, and he'd had just enough time to push his hostage away from him before he had been hit... The entirely wrong choice, he found now, as he was kneeling on the ground.
The world in front of him started to blurr again and again, and the sound of the fight about to really start were already too much for his head as AJ attacked the pirate head on... Oh, she was very brave.... Just attacking such a dangerous criminal.... Who knew what could happen....
Wait! AJ was attacking Gasparde head on! Who knew what could happen!

Suddenly, Scotts head was one hell of a lot clearer, as though the smoke had been replaced by ice, which didn't necessarily made the pain at least partly more pleasant, but at least got him some basic thinking ability. While somewhere in the back of his head, Scott registered that he should be surprised to even still be concious, his hands were busy searching the ground for his blade, or his gun, really anything... damn, he'd had them in his hand just a minute ago!
There! Just a bit away from him, was his blade. He didn't exactly know where his rifle was, but something told him he had msot likely thrown it away in his earlier fight to make way for the sword... Stupid, stupid! Nevertheless, he'd have to help AJ out here! The courageous civilian was down, and his righteous relative was fighting Gasparde all on her own. Seemed his mind had excluded Mel from this little party... Possibly on purpose. Yes, very possibly.

He hadn't wanted to do this so early on, or with such a headache, but he concentrated his thoughts on everything that sucked in his life. Which was all of it. A familiar sensation tingled in his hand.
"Negative hollow!"
Normally, scott didn't call his attacks. But anything to get attention away from the siblings, well, AJ to be exact. The next second, as the ghost like entity was making his way towards Gasparde, Scott already regretted his small moment of heroism and sprinted for his blade. The clod metal in his hand gave him little more security, however, since he knew only too well he wasn't proficient at using it...

"Speak of the devil..." Mel muttered as Gasparde himself appeared on the deck of his ship. What a pitiful man; emerging from his vessel only after his henchmen were defeated. He even had the nerve to have a little speech ready for them. She chose to stand there and listen for a time, entirely unamused by his premature gloating. It wasn't long before Gasparde himself came out and clashed with Scott and Mack. Leave it to the men to get tossed aside right away. She remained collected and didn't leap into the fray immediately, though. There was no way firing off a gun haphazardly would help, not while there were so many people around her target like that.

"... G-Ghost?!" Mel exclaimed, stopping dead in her tracks. A ghost appearing out of Scott, from all things! Did he sell his soul in order to obtain such a suspicious power? Whoever made such a deal was obviously ripped off; Scott's soul just wasn't worth it, no matter what the circumstances. It took her a moment to get her focus back on track. As long as those things didn't come anywhere near her, she could keep it together. She then waited until AJ made her move and closed in behind Gasparde.

"Coup de Taille!" Mel brought her blade downwards towards Gasparde's a few moments after AJ whipped her leg towards the man's shins. Although he'd probably have enough time to react to Mel's strike, hopefully he'd be too preoccupied by everything else going on to even pay her any mind. She herself was getting quite lost in all the excitement. All she was really focused on was bashing Gasparde's back in; she couldn't help but wonder if the one that couldn't tell the two ends of a gun apart which he referred to was her. How very uncouth.

Gasparde grunted as he watched his opponents all mount a counterattack against him. He wasn't going to lie here: they were good. Only problem was... well... he was better. He flipped over, throwing his left hand upwards to stand on the end of the tonfa he was holding. As AJ's leg was sweeping toward his tonfa that had effectually replaced his leg, Gasparde tried to twist out of the way of the ghost Scott had launched at him. To his displeasure, the ghost still managed to hit him, though Gasparde felt no noticeable effects. Not willing to dwell on what had exactly happened, Gasparde was forced to move onto the third part of his defense.

With two out of three attacks out of the way, all Gasparde had left to do was counteract the second Marine's attack. He did so by flinging up his free right hand, striking the Marine's sword with as much force as he could put behind it. This managed to deflect the blade just as AJ's foot collided with his left handed tonfa, knocking it off balance. His momentum was turned to force him to continue his spin, and he seemed like he was aiming to spin back onto his feet. Unfortunately for him, he miscalculated and forgot one important factor: Mackenzie Smith.

Mack had spent the past few seconds recuperating from his poorly aimed attack, and now that Gasparde was airborne, he found the perfect opportunity to attack. As Gasparde tried to finish his maneuver and land on his feet, Mack managed to grab hold of Gasparde's ankle and fling him into the ground, though he ended up throwing him at an angle. Instead of going through the wooden floors, Gasparde more of bounced off the docks, finally skidding to a stop a short distance away. His tonfa still grasped tightly in his hands, Gasparde got to his feet, shrugging off the damage he had just taken with a shrug of indifference.

"I don't get it. Why do you people side with the Marines, let alone join them? The Marines are the pets of the World Government, and all they ever do is restrict the freedoms of the people." He shivered, loosening up even further. "That one guy with the freaky ghost abilities, and those two without the uniforms are particularly depressing. From what I can see, the four of you would be much better off without the Marine Overlords breathing down your necks." Gasparde sighed in resignation. "I suppose I'm not gonna get through to you, so... I'll just go on ahead." He rushed forward before leaping into the air, jumping straight for Mel. One of his tonfa was loose and ready to mount a defense, while the other was aiming for Mel's temple.

The bastard was fast, AJ soon found out, much to her own chagrin.

No sooner had her shin come within reasonable range of his leg, it was swiftly replaced with the sharp blade of the tonfa. She grunted as her leg collided with it, her fingers digging into the splintery floor- but at least she had managed to knock him off balance a little.
AJ leapt to her feet as quickly as possible, seeing her brother grab Gasparde by the ankle and toss him aside.
Breathing heavily, she leapt up and moved back, taking up a good, wide legged stance as she surveyed Gasparde.

Both Mel, Scott and her brother had made valiant attempts disarm him and their target didn't even seem to have broke a sweat. AJ's freckled brow creased as she shot a look up at Mack. A look that said: "We're gonna to need to take it up a notch, Big Mac..."

A kind of rage began to build up inside AJ as she insulted their friends. Good people never deserved ridicule as far as she was concerned, especially by such dirty lowlifes like Gasparde.
Also, his snide comment about Scott had quite irked Abigail Jacqueline Smith. True, his abilities had initially shocked her but "freaky" would not have been the first word that entered her mind to describe them. "Interesting" and "amazing" if anything.
(AJ made an important mental note to ask him about them later on).

AJ glowered at Gasparde, shaking her head. "World Govenmen' nothin'...the Marines are only restrictin' the freedom of varmits like you who're out t'ruin th' lives o' good folks who don' deserve th' kind o' sufferin' yer bunch dishes out!"
She tossed her fluffy blonde hair back over her shoulders and her eyes widened when he suddenly jumped for Mel. She snarled. "Don' you dare attack any friend o' mine or mah brother's..."

She looked up at Mack as she drew out her lasso rope from her belt, shooting him the look that said. "Tagteam to take him out?"

To say Scott was surprised when his hollow actually hit Gasparde instead of going haywire, being fended off, dodged or however else you could avoid being hit by those things would be an understatement. As the realisation that he might actually have done something useful sank in, he might even have been a little proud of himself.... A little. Not enough to feel like boasting, or even go so far as thinking this day might be heading anywhere good, but it was that small, scintillating spark, that extraodrinary emotion, a fantastic, fabulous feeling of having done something right without hurting himself or someone else along the way that was so unusual for him to have, or, in this case, almost be close to having...

Thus, he didn't almost have it long, as the universe decided he'd been close to being almost happy with himself as a being for far too long and decided that somehow, the hollow had no effect on Gasparde at all.
The gleam in Scotts eyes vanished as he watched the pirate suffering no emotional damage at all and realised, once again, that the world was, and always would be, a cruel and sad place to be him.
A wave of depression hit him, as if the hollow had touched him, and not Gasparde,and he sank to his knees, dropping his sword.
"Can't do anything right.... I am unworthy to walk on the thame earth as everyone else.... thuch a failure..."
So that's what his victims felt like? Scott didn't have the energy to think about it, he was busy wallowing in selfpity and murmuring about how he was nothing but an unworthy insect, something he didn't normally do, despite often feeling that way.

He heard what the pirate captain said, but at this point, he could do nothing but agree with it. He was worthless, a freak, just watching him made other people sink into depressions.... He would havegiven him a thumbs up, but that gesture was way too positive....
Slowly, he felt the depression fading to the normal level he kept within him at all times. He even felt ready to look up again, just in time to see Gasparde head for an attack against his proficient (way more so than him) partner. Figured he'd go for her... After all, he wasn't even worth attacking, scum that he was....
Then, suddenly, it hit him. If Mel was out, then that left him as the only marine present, and the team decimated by one of the more capable members, which was anyone but him. Mel might be an annoying, pesky, bossy know it all, but the situation with her looked better than the situation without her. In a completely unphysical way.
Suddenly, he felt a strange spark of motivation inside him.
...Too bad it didn't really do much in the depression that was still lingering around his senses....
"Pethky! Watch out!"
He called out, as if she hadn't noticed already. His voice wasn't exactly awe inspiring either.... He told himself that was because part of him was still hoping she'd somehow not catch him trying to help her.
His hand searched for the sword he had dropped, and found it once again. Clearly without thinking, he threw it towards Gasparde with all his strenght, which wasn't much as it was, and was even less now, that he still didn't particularily feel like fighting, least of all for his partner.
The moment it had left his hand once again, Scott wondered why he always seemed to deem it a good idea to throw his weapons, including those used in close combat usually, away as soon as he had recovered them. The best reason he could come up with was that maybe, his instincts as one who was always preyed on told him that a weakling without a weapon looked much less imposing than a weakling with a weapon.... Not that he ever looked imposing.... Maybe if he rolled on his back, he could signalise he hadn't really meant to ever be in this battle in the first place....
No, somehow he had the feeling this would give off a weird vibe, even for him, and especially after throwing a weapon at his opponent...