Serious: The "Last Chance" Division - Chapter 1: The Test

"Not bad right?" Leo asked his companion as he watched Karin take off. He was impressed by her abilities. His companion shook in fear, realizing he was about to fly as well. "Oh man-up coward, it's gonna be that bad" Leo said before walking to the edge of the ship, he needed room for acceleration. "Ceryneian Steps!" He shouted and blasted forward, covering the entire ship almost instantly, he was going almost as fast as Soru. As he neared the edge of the ship, he shouted "Augean Dash!". He leaped off the ship, but instead of falling to the sea, Leo's feet repelled the air, letting him run on it as if it was solid.

He raced to the forest, where the forces were supposed to meet, keeping low altitude to reduce the chances of him being spotted. When he reached Karin, he stopped and lowered the soldier from his shoulder, whose face were white as a ghost. "Permission to vomit" Leo said, letting the soldier run for the bushes, it probably was his first time traveling in those speeds. "I'll meet you in the rocky shore north from here, I'll go and soak it as much as possible to prepare the terrain" he said, waiting for Karin to give him the que to go.

(Be prepared. Long post.)

Karin nodded to Leonardo. "Right," she said. "Hopefully I'll see you there soon. If not...well, let's just say that I'll be meeting up with you soon and forget the other possibilities." She gave the big Marine she had carried a final glance and said, "See you soon as well." Then she was gone, dashing through the trees.

Karin wasn't running at soru speeds. She didn't want to out distance the Marines following her nor did she want to get to her objective before Leonardo reached his. Instead, she made her way into town at what seemed to be a reasonable pace for an ordinary human.

When she reached the town's border, she didn't hesitate: She immediately sprang into the air and used a geppo to reach the roof of the nearest building. Then she ran along it, always making sure that she kept within sight of the streets below. It was better this way, both for the soldiers following her and the pirates who were sure to notice her. It didn't take them long. Karin already could hear someone blowing a loud horn off in the distance. They must have set up a sentry. Clever pirates.

All at once, the street to Karin's right filled with pirates. Of course, filled was a relative term. There were only about thirty-five of them in all, each of them looking up at Karin, their eyes watching her carefully. She gave them a cheerful wave and then flipped off of the roof, dropping down to the pirates below. They quickly surrounded her, forming a circle.

None of the pirates stepped forward right away, so Karin decided to take the initiative.

"I'm looking for a guy named Kraven," she said. "Tall, dark, ugly...any of you seen him?"

The nearest pirate growled in anger and reached for his sword, but the one next to him blocked him with an arm. This pirate stepped forward. He was not Kraven, but neither was he either or Kraven's lieutenants. He seemed different from the rest. He was slimmer, for one thing, and not particuraly tall. He carried no weapons on him and he didn't appear to be a fighter at all. He wore glasses, a t-shirt, jeans, and running shoes. He looked like an ordinary person.

"Are you a bounty hunter?" the man asked casually, as if merely inquiring about the weather.

Karin started to glare at the guy, until she remembered that she wasn't wearing her officer coat and her clothing was hardly what one would call, "Standard Issue".

"No, not really," Karin said, trying to be just as casual as the man in front of her. "I'm more or less a Marine. I've come to arrest him. So where is he?"

"He's...busy," the man replied, pushing his glasses up further on his nose. "I can take your message to him though, if you want."

"Nah, I'd rather give it to him in person," Karin said. Then she dropped her calm exterior. "So tell me where he is or suffer the consequences."

"How about...no?" the man offered. He turned and ran away.

"Hey...wait!" Karin shouted. She started forward, but found her path blocked by pirates. "Rankyaku!" She kicked her leg in and arc, launching a horizontal blade of air at the pirates. Suddenly, they weren't so eager to get in her way anymore. "That's three down," she muttered as she started after the strange man. Then she remembered her plan. She would have to let him get a bit of a head start. She allowed the pirates to surround her once more. "This would be easier if you just called Kraven out," she told them. Obviously they weren't going to listen, but she still had to say it. "Shigan Oren!" Karin unleashed a barrage of finger pokes on her enemy, except these pokes drilled holes into their skin. She continued the barrage for several seconds, striking a total of twelve pirates in their vital regions. Seventeen defeated.

Karin was about to attack again, when she heard a rush of air from behind her. She ducked just in time for a katana to swing through the space where her head had been. A second later, a familiar ninja landed in front of her. He instantly spun back around to face her and was surprised to see a smile forming on her face.

"I was wondering when one of you would show up," she commented. "So where is..." The sound of heavy footfalls came from behind her and she grinned, nodding wisely. "Yeah, there he is."

Karin used a soru to dodge to the side just as Martin plowed on through the space she had been in.

"Alright, the party is almost all here," she said. "Now I just need to find Kraven. See you guys later!"

With that, Karin used soru again to dash away. Her part in that particular battle was done. With a total of seventeen pirates defeated, that left twenty remaining, if one included Martin and Hikaru. Karin's Marine soldiers would draw the pirates over to Leonardo and he could handle the rest of them. Now all Karin had to do was catch up to the man wearing glasses. Then she would pummel the truth out of him and find Kraven. It was as simple as that. And yet, it was strange. She still felt uneasy. Something wasn't right here.

(Since you already have control over those Marine soldiers, you can take temporary control over the pirates to bring them to yourself, Sleepy. Or I can do it in my next post. That's up to you.)

Leo watched to make sure neither of the soldiers they picked for the mission chickened out before getting to his own mission. He remembered where the rocky beach was, but before he left, he decided to make his work a little easier. He drew his large sword from the hilt on his back. He took a second to admire his weapon before getting to work. With a swift motion, Leo slashed a nearby tree, cutting clean through its trunk and making it tilt, allowing Leo to grab it with his hands. He then lifted the tree over his shoulder. It was obviously heavier than the marine soldier, but Leo wasn't planning on flying around with it, so it was manageable.

He ran towards the beach as quickly as he could while carrying the tree, a task that took him a good five minutes, his time was running out. When he reached the shore, he lifted the tree once more, only to flip it and stick it inside the water upside down. Then, after its leaves were soaked, Leo lifted it a third time and placed the wet top of the tree on the rocky shore, before running around with it. He used the tree like a large mop, successfully soaking the area after several minutes of work. After this was done, Leo left the tree down and sat on a nearby rock, with his sword drawn and his face looking to where he came from, waiting the soldiers to come back.

Back at town, the two marine soldiers snapped out of their panic, allowing their training to kick in. "I heard rumors about how insane Captain Naito is, but I never expected to this!" One of them shouted after punching down a random pirate as Karin left them to hang for themselves. "Tell me about it..." The other answered as he slashed a second pirate with his katana. They noticed that both of their targets revealed themselves, and both swallowed their spit simultaneously, taken back by their impressive strength. When the ninja was about to turn around and chase after Karin, one of the marines aimed a flintlock at him and fired. The ninja placed his katana to slash the bullet in half before it hit him. He turned around to face the marine, with Martin turning around to face him as well. With a silly grin of mixed fear and excitement, the two marines saluted the pirates before turning around and bolting back to where they came form, attracting the pirates after them as planned. "Catch us if you can!".

Karin

Karin dashed through the city, searching for any sign of the man she had been chasing, but it was like he had evaporated into thin air. Karin momentarily came to a stop to scan the area when she heard a loud BANG. She fell over backwards, but was not quick enough to totally avoid the bullet that cut a shallow trench across her forehead.

For a moment, Karin lay on the ground, stunned. The bullet had not hit her dead on, but it had still glanced off of her skull. She didn't stay down forever, though, but rose, shakily, to her feet. Blood was running down her forehead, pouring over her right eye so that she was forced to close it.

Before her stood the man she had been chasing. In one hand he held a smoking gun and in the other, a black orb that had a fuse sticking out of it. That fuse was already lit and was quickly reaching the exploding point.

"Goodbye," the man said. A second later, he hurled the bomb at Karin's face.

Leonardo

Martin glared after the Marines. "Don't let them get away-" he started to say, but then Hikaru dashed past him, chasing the Marines. Martin growled in annoyance at his partner's overly quick reflexes and then turned his head to look back in the direction that Karin and the other man had gone. A part of Martin wanted to chase after them and take down Karin, but that man...he wasn't one to be underestimated. He could handle a single annoying wench.

Martin turned and ran off, hot on Hikaru's heels. The other sixteen remaining pirates chased after him.

With a dust cloud rising behind their feet, the two marines ran for their lives as sixteen pirates and two major criminals chased after them. Their eyes were watery and their noses too, and the only thought in their head was regret for joining such a dangerous mission. Their breaths turned heavy and loud as they ran through the forest, hoping to see the rocky beach before they lost a body part. Then, they heard a whistle of wind behind them. They jumped forward and landed on their torsos out of reflex, allowing Hikaru's sword slash to pass above them, cutting a few of their hairs in the process.

They got on their knees and assumed a praying position. "Please spare us!" They called simultaneously, with tears in their eyes and their finest puppy-dog faces. Hikaru was unimpressed as swung his sword again. The pair of marines closed their eyes in fear and a clash was heard, but not between metal and flesh, but between metal and metal. When they opened their eyes, they saw a large person standing over them, blocking Hikaru's sword with his own and his white captain's cape dangling over them. "Captain Roswell!" They called simultaneously, their eyes still watering. "Man up you big babies!" Leo shouted as he applied force to his sword, deflecting Hikaru's blade and making him take a step back.

The pair of marines got up and stood behind Leo, who faced Hikaru, Martin and the 16 pirates. "I'll take Hikaru and Martin, you cowards keep the others busy till I'm done, think you can handle that?" Leo asked angrily, and the marine nodded in fear. "Good" Leo said before raising his blade again, pointing it towards Hikaru and Martin. "Let's see if you two can justify your reputation" He taunted with a grin. Hikaru and Martin might not know it yet, but Leo already made his first move, now all he needed to do was get Hikaru and Martin to the beach.

((Hope you don't mind I made the marines cowards. Also, sorry for taking so long to post, for some reason this thread doesn't turn red when a new post is made. Also, I think you should take over Hikaru and Martin now))

(Nah, it's no problem. They are supposed to be new recruits for the navy, after all, so fear is expected. And yeah, I'll take back over for the pirates now that the battle is ready to be joined.)

Leonardo

"Who is this guy?" Martin spat out.

Hikaru didn't bother answering him. He dashed forward and swung one of his katana in a downward motion, trying to strike Leonardo's weapon down towards the ground. If it succeeded, Leonardo would be left momentarily defenseless. Hikaru followed this up with an immediate slash at Leonardo's chest.

"Huh, he always tries to hog all of the glory," Martin muttered, maneuvering himself around to the side of the battle in preparation for his own attack.

The remaining pirates let out battle cries and charged the Marine soldiers.

Karin

Karin saw the bomb flying towards her and knew full well that she only had a second to dodge. She used soru, but this time she had no time to prepare for which direction she wanted to go, so she shot forward and collided with a brick wall. It hurt, but not as much as the bullet, and a moment later, she had turned and was facing the man again. He looked like he was starting to regret showing himself to her.

"You'll pay for that," she hissed. A second soru later, she was up in his face. "Zujou Tosu!"

She seized the man by his arm and hurled him over her head into the wall she had run into. He had less luck with it than she had. The impact smashed his glasses and almost knocked him out cold. It probably would have been better for him if it had. Karin marched right up to him, seized him by the front of his shirt, and lifted him into the air, pulling back her fist.

"The next one'll take your head off," she told him. "Or you could stop messing around and TELL ME WHERE KRAVEN IS!"

Leo wasn't new to sword fights, nor was he an amateur or a weak individual, so Hikaru's attempt to disarm him right off the bat was destined to fail. Leo moved his gunblade swiftly and expertly, intercepting the downward slash with his weapon, without losing his grip thanks to his respectful amount of brute force. However, it didn't take a genius to see that Hikaru had two advantages over Leo: The first was that he had two weapons, which meant half the power but twice the possibilities. The second, was Martin, who already preparing for his entrance. Soon, Hikaru's advantages became a problem when the pirate attempted a swift slash at Leo's chest, forcing the marine to back paddle and push Hikaru back to avoid fetal injuries. Unfortunately, he couldn't dodge the attack completely, leading to a shallow cut along his chest that stained his shirt with a little blood.

He frowned, it was clear that he didn't appreciate Hikaru's abilities enough, leading to an injury. To try and solve his problems, he'll have to draw Hikaru and Martin to the wet beach. "You're pretty skilled..." Leo said as he regained his stance. "But lets see how fast you really are" he added before turning his back to Hikaru and Martin. He then started sprinting away into the woods, not using his special techniques to make sure Hikaru and Martin followed him. In addition, he didn't use his gunblade's special abilities to hide the fact that he already had one advantage over Hikaru, The Lernaean Mark.

Meanwhile, the pair of marine soldiers found themselves outnumbered and without a higher authority to protect them, with Leo being busy and Karin still in town, they were on their own. The larger soldier quickly reached for his waist and drew his standard issue marine katana, while his comrade drew a pair of flintlocks of the same quality. "Let's do this!!!" The larger one shouted and took a position in front of the gun-wielder. He intercepted a pair of pirates who charged them, while his friend took careful aim at them from behind his friend's cover and shot, hitting a shoulder and a forearm. "For promotion!" The thin one answered.

((I know Leo's fighting style can be a little confusing without fully explaining the abilities of his weapon, so I'll just post the Lernaean Mark technique here so you'll know where I'm going with this. "Named after the second labor of Hercules: Slaying the Lernaean Hydra, who's poisonous breath even made her footsteps deadly. The attack is Leonardo's own variation of poison, being his weapon's passive ability to lock on targets. By making the blade stay in contact with a living being or an object for 3 seconds, the blade locks on to the target, and from that moment until a new target is chosen, all attack from the blade will aim at that target. If such an attack would be blocked, the attack will lose it's lock and act as a normal one."
As you can already guess, Leo's blade would be locked on Hikaru's sword from when he intercepted his attack on the soldiers.))