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Burying the past
Topic Started: Aug 6 2016, 04:29 PM (1,021 Views)
Masa
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The angry man
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Cactus Island, a place where the sun shone upon the entombed. To Phoenix, it seemed fated that his new life would start here. Before he could recommence his pilgrimage to find the master who had taught his father the Phoenix Fist style, he would have to bury the remains of his uncle, Kansuke. He had been the one to save Phoenix's life, at least what human parts were left of him, and now old age had claimed his life. He was the one who didn't give up on him, and Phoenix wasn't about to give up on getting him a proper burial.

Luckily, Phoenix was not alone on this journey, for his uncle was assisted by another person, a person who Phoenix had not been given much time to get to know, as the man was mainly there to keep watch of Phoenix's condition while he was unconscious due to Kansuke's failing health and imminent death.

However, from the few times that Phoenix had been able to speak to the assistant, he had learned a few things about him. His name, for one, was Larkin; that he had a wolf which accompanied him; and that he seemed a capable doctor, capable enough to meet his uncles radical standards. The old cyborg had a lot to thank him for, especially being a rather important assistant during the operation that transplanted Phoenix's brain and face to his new cyborg body. And for that matter, he was also indebted to the mechanic who crafted the body; Sam Wright, founder of Novus, and the neurological cybernetics specialist who lead the operation to move Phoenix into the suit; Rain SK. D. Waters JaggerJohnson, father of The Homunculus.

Now that Phoenix was able to move of his own accord again, it felt liberating to step off the boat at anchor. He looked at his mechanical hands, watched them tense to form fists, and then relax again. He could see the circular ducts in his palms where he would be able to fire projectiles. His arms also had a sinewy look to them, while also being metallic in form. Additionally, the inner sides of the arms showed the tubes which had been implanted to distribute fuel to his extremities. There was an exhilarating amount of flexibility within the main torso of the suit, allowing for more stable leaning and the ability to turn a full 360 degrees. That was a neat addition. In the right circumstances, that could be quite a surprise for his enemies. Additionally, the retractable mask was another cool addition. With it in use, he could see a slight green overlay on the visor, which worked in a similar way to night vision goggles. Additionally, the mask had a direct link for his left eye, allowing him to see in a wider frame than even a normal human, and at pin sharp clarity. The suit was clearly worth the money, and the fact that he was able to manipulate the suit to this level so quickly after the operation, merely 5 days later, was encouraging. However, while Phoenix was busy continuing his checks of his suit, he had allowed time for Larkin to disembark the boat too.

It was kind of Rain to pay for a ship to Cactus. Especially under the circumstances of Kansuke's death after the operation. Kansuke himself had been cremated on Machine Island, where the operation took place. Kansuke had always taken an interest in Cactus Island, although had forgone travelling there due to helping Phoenix. It made sense for Kansuke to be laid to rest there. Now he was kept in an urn, in a backpack which Phoenix now kept with him while on this journey, because he had no ship of his own to store things. Which was another thing. If Larkin and Phoenix were to continue, they'd need their own ship, and quickly. That was, if Larkin actually wanted to stay with the cyborg. He turned to his "carer", and spoke. His voice had become raspy while he was recovering, but now it had smoothed again, instead becoming deeper due to the density of the material, and with a very slight metallic ring, due to the vibrations within the metal,

"Larkin. I'm sorry I haven't said it earlier, but thank you for your help thus far. However, now that the goal of getting me back into a working body is complete, I don't know what your next objective could be. I would like to ask you to join me on an adventure. After I have put Kansuke to rest, I intend to travel to the New World. I know I will come up against much resistance, so having a doctor could be really useful for me. So what do you think?"

While the two spoke, the sun beamed off his new metallic body, attracting the attention of a monk nearby on the quayside. Having been disturbed from his daily activity or routine, a look of mild annoyance displayed on his face, as though the newcomers were an obstruction or distraction,

"Hey you! Cover yourself whilst in the presence of the dead! Have you no respect!? you'll blind someone."

The cyborg was at first confused, but then realised that his body was not flesh and bone, and that he may need some clothing or covering to stop his body blinding people. Rummaging in the backpack that had been prepared before he left with Larkin on this journey, he pulled out a rather large piece of light blue and green chequered cloth , which originally was supposed to be used for protecting the urn in which Kansuke's ashes had been placed. Quickly the cyborg tore a hole in the light blue and green chequered cloth, wearing it like a poncho. Some of it seemed to bunch up at the cyborg's neck, which gave the effect of a scarf/neck piece. The cyborg spoke in reply to the priest, who was now looking fully at him, having stopped his mourning duties momentarily,


"Sorry. I am still adapting to the suit. I am here to bury a relative. Do you know where I might find space to put them to rest?"


The monk closed the distance between them, and still visibly annoyed, seemed to accept the apology. Muttering to himself, the monk seemed to be debating whether to tell them or not, but finally decided,

"You have someone to bury? Another person to bury here? Are you kidding me! We have enough people dying here as it is, let alone burying people from another island! Don't you know, we have a "Problem" here? "

This piqued the cyborg. Indeed there were many graves on the island, it was what it was famous for. But a problem with many people dying while on the island, well there could be only a few reasons behind that. One could be a group of pirates attacking the island, a rogue monk could be murdering people, or maybe there was a disease on the island. All these thoughts buzzed through Phoenix's mind, as though he were analysing the possibilities, like a veritable detective. He looked to Larkin, trying to see if he had any reaction to the situation, then back to the priest again, before answering,

"Well, it's more scattering ashes really, but how come you have a problem with people dying here? You guys got a disease? Larkin here's a good doctor, maybe he could help you."

It had been an interesting start to an interesting day.
Edited by Masa, Aug 6 2016, 05:36 PM.
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Larkin awoke to Astra nudging him in the leg, meaning they must be nearing land. He got up letting Astra move from being his fluffy resting place, idling scratching her behind the ears as they walked out to the deck. The destination certainly lived up to its name, huge mountainous cacti blocked the horizon. 'To think this is where he wanted to be laid to rest, well it is Kansuke and I oh it to him to see him off into the next world. Yeah seems like another friend has left me behind'. Astra seeing the sombre thoughts crossing face pushes him, which is quite something considering her size, and looks up at him with a goofy grin. "Yeah I'll always have you, wont I" he says as he returns to idly scratching her behind the ears.

They finally docked and that's when he saw the half dead man he had been looking after for quite some time, Phoenix Bardo. Larkin and Kansuke had been looking after him, well what little there was until they eventually got him a body. It took some time but they got Phoenix into a cyborg body, he still seemed to be getting used to it but he seemed to be enjoying the freedom over movement. As they started walking off Phoenix was the first to break the silence "Larkin. I'm sorry I haven't said it earlier, but thank you for your help thus far. However, now that the goal of getting me back into a working body is complete, I don't know what your next objective could be. I would like to ask you to join me on an adventure. After I have put Kansuke to rest, I intend to travel to the New World. I know I will come up against much resistance, so having a doctor could be really useful for me. So what do you think?"

Larkin hadn't thought about what was to happen next, all he was doing was wondering around helping as many people as he could and trying to learn new stuff. Heading to the new world was something on the check list, all kinds over weird and wonderful places with all kinds of possibilities for furthering his medical knowledge. "Huh... never thought it past putting Kansuke to rest. What do you think girl." Astra looked Phoenix up and down for a bit then looked at Larkin, Astra would tilt he head or pull a face and he would reply completely understanding her. This half spoken half silent conversation tended to appear weird to most and they knew this, in fact they got great enjoyment from it.

"Yes I know he's made of metal, some people are in this world." Astra frowned and snarled a little.

"Well that's not a problem any way, I've told you cant eat people." She turned he head sideways, then brought it level and flicked her nose up a little.

"NO, that doesn't mean you can use him as a chew toy." Astra smiled, then took a more serious yet placid look.

"From what I've heard yes. Plus it should be fine, we can test it out." He turned to Phoenix this time and said "We will join, you for a while, not sure if it will be long term. Although not sure how much help I'll be, think a mechanic might be of more use." Larkin started smiling to him self as Astra walked over to Phoenix and nudged his hand before looking up at him and nodding her agreement.

Continuing there walk they eventually got stopped by a monk having a go at Phoenix, Larkin was mostly obliviously to what was being said. Larkin eye's narrowed partially in anger, partially in sorrow as he looked upon at least a dozen make shift graves. 'Must be an outbreak considering the number of graves. They are burying the dead so that helps prevent whatever it is from spreading. Probably transmitted by touch or through the air considering the amount already dead, although could be the water. Should proba-' His thought was cut off as he heard his name.

"Larkin here's a good doctor, maybe he could help you."

"Hi, Dr. Grimm, I know unfortunate name. So tell me how long has it been going on for, have you checked the water, has there been any pattern to the spread, how fast does it kill, have you quarantined the sick. AND finally... eat one of theses." He holds out a small white sphere in a now gloved hand, which he organised as he was talking."These might help you fight off what ever it is, it boost's you immune system. As an added bonus it also helps with cellulite." He says brandishing his trade mark grin.

MemenTo MoRi, if The nIneth liOn aTe The sun
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Masa
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The reactions of the newcomers to the island continued to baffle and annoy the priest. It seemed to him that they had gotten the wrong end of the stick, and so he corrected them,

" Diseased? Pill? Cellulite!? You damn yourself for science!? These people did not die from a disease. They were not cursed by a god. They were killed! In plain sight! A pirate crew came to this island not more than 3 days before you. I wonder if you are linked to them? Should I call the others to detain you?"

Phoenix fell silent during the priest's sudden outburst. For one it seemed out of place for a priest to show such lack of tolerance or patience, but then again they were interrupting his mourning duties. However, it seemed that it was not the disease theory, but the murder theory that had proved to be correct, though as of yet it did not seem to be connected from within the priests order. The accusation that they were pirates, however, caused Phoenix to explain further their position,

"I think I understand now. Today is your lucky day. Ahem, let me introduce myself. I am Phoenix Isen Bardo, son of Shingen Isen Bardo, the famed scourge of Flint Island. My family are pirates, and we know how to fight. Larkin and I, however, are mercenaries, and we are willing to solve your "problem" in return for an ideal place to bury my uncle."

The commotion between them had brought a few more priests who had been hiding in their homes, most likely in order to escape death at the hands of the pirates. Their body language was rather meek and hunched, the complete opposite of the tall and confident posture of Phoenix, who was less human than anyone else present. One of the new priests came close enough to join the conversation, and gave a warning to the first priest, although it was almost a murmur, difficult to be heard,

"There's no need to raise your voice, Ezekiel, you'll draw the pirates back. You know what they did when we tried to stop them. Besides, these degenerates have a copious bounty on them."

Ezekiel turned, almost surprised that the others had the courage to come out. Their situation must have been rather desperate. Of course, most of the people here, being priests, had no real martial training, therefore they wouldn't put up much of a fight. Piece by piece the cyborg was connecting the clues and reading the situation, trying to find out what was really causing all this. But before he had the time to push his offer further, Ezekiel beat him to the punch,

"I see, you are right. Sorry brother. Though I am still unsure about your loyalties, you two will come with my friend Asam and I to the local chapel. We can talk more privately there. We'd prefer to avoid any more trouble developing around here."

The two priests gestured to the group to follow them down the quayside, to a small church a little ways off. The top of the chapel was just high enough to be visible above the horizon of roofs in the distance. Somewhere that could be identified, but didn't stand out in particular. Phoenix slung his backpack over his shoulder and prepared himself to follow the priests, while the rest of the small crowd went back to their homes, all the while the cyborg spoke to Larkin,

" For now, I think it's best we follow them. They know the place better than us. Perhaps we could see a map of the island to help us flesh out our knowledge. I also have a feeling we can be of use to these people, and maybe make some profit from the bounty on the side. Maybe Astra can finally get to bite some people too."

The cyborg looked at Astra, smiling and nodding subtly in thanks for agreeing to join him on this adventure. The boat that had brought them to the island began moving off again, with Phoenix waving his goodbye to the captain. The journey across the sea had been gentle and calm, something seldom experienced in the grandline. Rain obviously had good taste in assembling a crew. Anyway, now that it was midday, and the sun shining at its highest point in the day, the light revealed that the town had been pretty much deserted, and recently. Broken stalls and fruit strewn across the street, various windows being smashed to pieces and some houses clearly effected by some sort of burning. Clearly the pirates had been having their fun. While they passed the calamity, Ezekiel explained a little more about why certain houses had been attacked,

"Most of us lost something of value in the first raid, be it a close friend, relative, or even our valuables."

The visible terror on the faces of the two priests as they moved through the place made Phoenix angry. He knew that pirates broke the law, and some could be quite hideous to people, but this island was supposed to be peaceful, and was supposed to be a resting place for people. Asam continued on from where Ezekiel had begun, explaining that it wasn't just the town that had been affected,

"Some of the graves were dug up too, to take the rings from the buried. Oh, the shame."

As he finished, his stature became a bit shivery, as though he were welling up inside. Ezekiel touched the man's shoulder, and shook him slightly, as though to bring him back to his senses, or to save face. By now they were only a street away from the chapel,

"Keep it together, Asam. If these guys are telling the truth, we might have found a solution to the problem."

The two looked back to the doctor and cyborg, and beckoned to the door up the top of the steps. They had arrived at the church. Inside, the chapel was rather simple looking, with a central aisle leading to a crossing transept, with space for a choir behind, and with a rounded ambulatory at the back of the large room. The mixture of wood and stone craftsmanship made Phoenix realise that the people who lived here really were convicted in their efforts. However, it was noticeably bare of any golden artefacts, all instead replaced with simple wooden copies. The place didn't seem touched by the pirates, so Phoenix assumed that they had hidden them elsewhere. That, or they had been handed over as a bribe to not attack the chapel. The church was empty, although there were signs of smoke rising from incense candles, keeping a refreshing fragrance flowing through the place. Taking a seat on one of the back pews, the two made the signs of prayer, and then bowed their heads for a moment, with their eyes closed.

After a few moments, they opened their eyes again, and stood again, looking decidedly serious, Ezekiel then spoke, and his voice seemed to now hold some gravitas, now that he was in his "home", he seemed more confident and open. More free to speak his mind,

"After some deliberation, we have decided to accept your offer. However, we need a guarantee of your honesty before we can properly trust you. There are many who would use our position of weakness to their advantage. If you say you have need to bury someone who means something to you, then would you submit the remains to us while you work for us? We can guarantee no harm will be done to them."

Finally, they were getting somewhere.
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Larkin's levity often missed marks, but it wasn't going to stop him any time soon.'Why would you say you have a "problem" instead of just saying pirates. Even in distress people tend to pick their words carefully, plus they are priests so they wouldn't try and hide that from newcomers and risk there lives. Something doesn't sit right.' For the most part Larkin left the talking to Phoenix, seeing as his own charismatic attempt fell flat. True enough Phoenix stayed laser focused on what he wanted, although he could of been a little more tactful.

"I think I understand now. Today is your lucky day. Ahem, let me introduce myself. I am Phoenix Isen Bardo, son of Shingen Isen Bardo, the famed scourge of Flint Island. My family are pirates, and we know how to fight. Larkin and I, however, are mercenaries, and we are willing to solve your "problem" in return for an ideal place to bury my uncle."

Slowly more priests entered the room looking rather malnourished, probably to be expected when pirates are stealing everything. Still Larkin felt something was off and the mention of a "copious bounty" affirmed this further. If they were here to set up camp they wouldn't of killed so many, yet if they were just trying to rob the temples or chapels of any valuables they could have left already. Either they were a particularly vicious bunch, killing purely for fun and had yet to finish the massacre, or there was something more. Before either him or Phoenix could push further they were being asked to more to a local chapel.

" For now, I think it's best we follow them. They know the place better than us. Perhaps we could see a map of the island to help us flesh out our knowledge. I also have a feeling we can be of use to these people, and maybe make some profit from the bounty on the side. Maybe Astra can finally get to bite some people too."

Astra's ears perked up and teeth slightly bared at hearing the possibility of munching on people happening, Larkin smirked and patted her on the head. As they walked through what was left of a seemingly empty town, with the priest elaborating on some of the atrocities the pirates had committed. Larkin's stomach turned a little when he heard the grave robbing, it wasn't so much a sick to the stomach feeling, more of a overwhelming rage and sense of disgust. Larkin had subconsciously started resting his right hand on one of his swords that were strapped to the hip. As they finally entered the chapel, the priests took to the pews for a quick pray, leaving Phoenix and Larkin to survey the interior. It was very quaint, pretty yet simple craftsmanship, and yet still a place Dr Grimm felt he didn't belong in. Some smoke caught his eyes noticing that it was coming from incense, instinctively he signalled silently to Astra to stand by the door and to be on look out. Astras eyes followed her masters, to see the clouds of odour drifting up into the room. Her face scrunching up a little in annoyance, started walking towards the door to finally curly up in front of it, closing her eyes and leaving one ear up.

After a few more moments the priests had finished there prayers and turned to speak to the duo. "After some deliberation, we have decided to accept your offer. However, we need a guarantee of your honesty before we can properly trust you. There are many who would use our position of weakness to their advantage. If you say you have need to bury someone who means something to you, then would you submit the remains to us while you work for us? We can guarantee no harm will be done to them."

While he understood there position, he still felt something was off with them. However Larkin held his tongue knowing that only Phoenix had the right to decided how he deals with Kansukes ashes. Looking at Phoenixs face, he seemed to be fine with the idea. 'Either way I need to find out more about what's happening and try and get things straight.' A light bulb clicked in His brain, a doubled up show of good will might show new sided to what was happening. Waiting till Phoenix answered, Larkin adds "Also if you have any injured, take me to them and I'll help as many as I can. And while we walk you can tell me more about these pirates, like how many are there, do they seem to be after something specific, any threats made, do you know roughly where they are. Sorry I tend to ask a looooot of questions, I just really like information. It's rather handy to have as much as possible, plus if you-." Larkin stopped mid sentence putting his hands on his swords and moving towards the door Astra was laying at. Was being the operative word as she was stood bolt up right, head down with a low reverberating growl gently escape through bared fangs.

Someone new to them was on the other side of the door and considering they hadn't knocked yet after a good few minutes they might not be friendly. This was reinforced by the fact that the only other known priests were hiding in fear, and Astra would of picked up a hint of one of them if they were on the other side of the door. Astra and Larkin shared a look, nodded, then moved to either side of the door, hiding them selves behind some support pillars. He turned to look at Phoenix, then signalled with his head for him to get the door.


Edited by Zeke-Wilder, Aug 13 2016, 11:41 AM.
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The request to hold the remains of Kansuke pleased the cyborg. Indeed, it worked in his favour to have the urn in the priest's possession, for they would be able to keep it safe, and allow for more manoeuvrability while he fought these pirates. Phoenix wasted no time in handing the urn to the two from his backpack, before slinging it back around his shoulders again. With Astra at the door to the chapel, they seemed safe enough.

However, the cyborg noticed that Larkin was not as calm and collected as he usually was, which made Phoenix think that maybe he thought something was still not being revealed. This was confirmed when Larkin asked for more information on the situation now that they were under an oath of bounty hunting. Unfortunately, he was interrupted before an answer could come forth from either Ezekiel or Asam's mouths by a Astra's deep rumbling growl. She had detected something outside. The doctor and his pet hid behind pillars close to the door, in preparation for defending from an assault. During this, Ezekiel and Asam looked at each other, decidedly confused and worried that they may have been followed by someone else,

"Asam, are you sure we weren't followed? Maybe our discussion on the way drew too much attention. Phoenix, keep us safe and we will tell you more."

Seeing as so much had happened at once, it took a moment for Phoenix to realise the situation. After a slight delay, he nodded in approval to the priests, before pointing to the altar at the centre of the room,

"Fine, but you could help us by hiding yourselves behind that altar there. No matter what happens, stay there. We will test the character of these assailants."

The priests followed his command, and promptly hid themselves under the cloth that draped over the altar itself, which was hollow underneath. It was as good a hiding place as they could find, and would be good enough for this. Larkin, visible from where Phoenix was, nodded to the cyborg in a gesture to open the door and greet whoever it was. As he made his way to the door, he heard a voice call from the other side,

"Brothers! Your time is up! Give us the artefact now, or we'll burn this building down along with the rest of the town!"

The voice was rough, coarse, unyielding and yet somehow calm, as though they were used to making these kinds of demands. The cyborg felt it would be interesting to hear the reaction of the voice to his own, steely tone,

" Greetings, deadman!"

The cyborg followed this quick greeting by testing out his new body's strength. From outside the chapel, the man witnessed the power of the cyborg, who smashed the door sending many shards of wood flying out into the street, the hinges buckled and broken from the impact clattered on the stone floor. As the dust cloud settled from the gap now created, Phoenix observed that there were three individuals, all holding swords, ready to fight. From the builds of the three people, Phoenix assumed that the broad and tall one was the one who had made the threat. Remembering that he had launchers in his palms, the cyborg held his left hand up, before initiating the launcher by mere thought, a benefit of being hardwired into the suit via his brain. It almost seemed natural to him, which was an unnerving thought.

After triggering the launcher, a metallic grenade shaped sphere was fired from his palm. The three ruffians were completely caught unaware by the attack, although one of them rolled to avoid the explosion. Unfortunately, the tall and broad pirate caught the majority of the blast, which knocked the man to the floor, now suffering in a pool of his own blood, and with metal shrapnel covering and skewering much of his torso. One had been dealt with, now to deal with the other two. The cyborg stepped outside, and as he did so, the one who had rolled to avoid the attack began running away, maybe to save his own life, or maybe to tell the others what had happened. Phoenix knew that he wouldn't be able to match his speed in his current form, and so left them to Astra and Larkin, while the other remaining pirate looked shocked and angered that the priests hadn't just caved in,

"You're not the priests! It....it wasn't supposed to be like this. Red blade will kill you for making fools of us!"

Red blade? The red blade pirates? Phoenix had heard of them before. They had been allies of the Bardo pirate family, although the alliance was broken when Shingen defeated them in combat for having stolen Flint Island's jewel of the smith. They had always been interested in rare and shiny things. It seemed that they hadn't changed much over the years. Phoenix watched as the pirate lunged at the cyborg, trying to stab his sword into him, and instead the sword bounced off, not even leaving a scratch. In reaction, Phoenix grabbed the man's sword with his right hand, before snapping and stabbing it into the pirates left shoulder blade, crippling the man's left arm. The pirate screamed in pain, dropping the broken blade to the floor. Phoenix took this moment to get up close to the crippled man's face, before making his return threat,

"Red Blade, eh!? Tell him that Shingen has come for his head!"

The man shivered in fear, bloodied and beaten, and in the pool of blood of the other man who had been exploded. Quite the fearful situation, and rather intimidating indeed. Phoenix then pulled the man up from his knees, and pushed him away, eventually the man stopped stumbling and started running as fast as he could. The cyborg turned to see how Larkin was doing, but there was no immediate sign of him. Returning back to the chapel, he checked on the priests to see how they were doing, to find that they had disappeared, along with the urn. What on earth was happening?

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Edited by Masa, Aug 14 2016, 10:44 AM.
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"Brothers! Your time is up! Give us the artefact now, or we'll burn this building down along with the rest of the town!"

'Really, god dammit I knew it was something, always something. Fucking "problem", not pirates want to steal our shit, just "problem". Pretty sure things are just going to get worse, well lets have some fun.'

His face changing from contempt to malevolent smile as he saw Phoenix finally making his move. Like Larkin figured he would, he burst through the door, shouting "Greetings, deadman!" as bits of the door slammed into the floor. As Larkin and Astra went to follow they heard an explosion. 'Da hell was that! His question was swiftly answered as his saw the crumpled bloody, possible corpse, in between two still moving men. As Larkin was judging the man's chances of survival, which seemed slim, one of his comrades started to bolt. His face transformed into an almost crazy grin. 'Time for that fun, time to Hunt!' Astra seemed just as excited, already bolting towards the fleeing man.

Chasing this guy down with swords drawn and Astra hot on his heels was a lot of fun, especially since travelling with Kansuke made him almost unnecessary for combat, considering how overwhelmingly strong he was. While seeing him run in fear like death was chasing him was exciting, it was time to kick it up a notch. With a whistle Astra was gone from the escapee's sight the next time he looked back, however Larkin was still there following him down every alley he tried to lose him down. As he turned to look where he was going all he saw was a wall of fur and fangs howling at him. The man stopped in panic, then turning in terror as he remembered there was also a man chasing him, but it was too late. "Tenchi Stab" echoed in the alley as Larkin's blade went through the panic stricken man's right shoulder.

Astra started circling the man as he dropped in pain sword still sticking out and Dr Grimms hand still firmly grasping. Astra started licking her lips and chomping at air, while Larkin crouched down so his eyes were slightly higher than his. "So here's how this going to go, I will ask questions, you will answer. That or you can piss me off and find out just how much pain I can cause you, then after I'm bored I'll let Astra eat you alive. And I realise that may be already terrifying enough, but might as well go all in. I'm a very accomplished doctor who kept a man alive, my friend who exploded your friend, sorry about that, alive when he was mostly a fifth of a corpse. SO, do you understand how royally fucked you are if you piss me off." As he finished his monologue he punctuated it by twisting his blade a little, getting a yelped yes.

"So in this order." He stopped to take a deep breathe before continuing at a much faster speed. "What's your crews name, what's the artefact, why does your crew want it, how much money would you say is on your ship, where's your crew hiding at the moment and finally what's the safe word." The man was panicking again but he was clearly thinking and trying to answer as quick as possible, especially with Astra growling in his ear. "I, Um... I- I'm part of the Red Blade pirates and, and I- A- are leader wants it but I don't know why OR, OR what it is I'm just muscle." Then he stopped as he realised what Larkin's final question was. "Safe? Word?" With a menacing grin he replied with a swift "NOPE" and the pommel of his sword colliding at speed with the confused man's head rending him unconscious.

Larkin withdrew his sword from the man's shoulder and flicked the blood off before sheathing it. "Astra lets take him back". She clamped her teeth on his ankle and started dragging him, following her master, careful not to bite to hard and make the unconscious pirate bleed more. As they got back to the pin cushion of a pirate, Larkin noticed the pool of blood had gotten considerable large. There was enough blood there to guarantee that if he wasn't dead already he would be incredibly soon. Figuring the guy had suffered enough, Larkin stepped slightly in the pool of blood and plunged his sword straight through the man's heart. Air gurgled out of his throat as his last breath escaped him. Larkin walked up to the doors of the chapel, stopped, looked down and saw his blood foot prints following him. Figuring it best not to track the blood of a man you just finished off into a holy place he found a patch of grass and wiped his boots there.

As he and Astra strolled into the chapel they saw Phoenix, just Phoenix, looking around, no priests, no third pirate. 'This doesn't bode well, did the third pirate get away? Where are the priests? surely they wouldn't of bolted on us? They would want to see us at work surely, ya know see what we can do, if we really have a chance of saving them? OK. Too many questions in my head and not enough coming out my mouth. Information is key, the more you have the more control you have.' Taking a minute to consider for a second what he should ask first, he decided against that and considered it might be better to tell first. "Got a prisoner we can interrogate if we need. Also, in my professional opinion and cause i stabbed him through the heart, the guy out side is ONE HUNDO percent dead and apparently they are part of the Red Blade Pirates. I've heard its some where before but cant seem to find it in my noodle. Also got a few questions, where's the priests, where is the other pirate and why start a fight with a grenade. Don't get me wrong it was cool as hell.. BUT if you had hit all of them or even damaged all there lungs too much we would have not been able to get any info. Kinda a glutton for information, something you should probably know if we are going to be teaming up. Was still fricking cool! but maybe just don't aim for the middle or something, I dunno."

Astra dragged the Red Blade pirate in-between the two standing humans, considering this the best place to put him for when he finally wakes up. After the hard work of dragging him there he returned to her master, giving his hand a few long licks. This was her way of asking for compensation, and sure enough two treats were chucked up into the air. Astra stood on her back legs to catch them, which made her a good two feet taller than Larkin at least. Rather than landing on all fours she slumped onto her but and let her front legs support her front, before gently lowering her self into a curled up ball of fur. The faint crunch of her munching on her treats now the only background sound.


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Edited by Zeke-Wilder, Aug 14 2016, 03:27 PM.
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Phoenix was not left on his own for a long. He had just finished searching the inside of the chapel, specifically where the priests had been told to hide, to check for any additional exits from the building, but there seemed to be none. That could only mean one of a few things; Either the priests had been captured by an additional pirate who had not been seen i.e. came through from the roof of the building, or the two had proven to be not quite what they had claimed to be.

Larkin and Astra appeared back at the church, the young doctor's blade having been bloodied. Immediately, his comrade had ascertained that the priest's disappearance was bad. Phoenix was a little surprised that he had been asked about the other pirate/aggressor, although he found no reason to hide why he had let the man go,

" I did let him go, but for a purpose. I also found out that we are dealing with the Red Blades. I know of these people. I let that man go, after telling him that I am Shingen Isen Bardo, my father who fought and defeated this group a long time ago, and that I have come this time to take their leader's head. They will not be expecting you and Astra. I don't think he saw you because you were obscured by the explosion as well."

Additionally, Larkin had asked about the priests, but honestly, Phoenix hadn't a clue where they had gone. He couldn't see much in the way of tracking clues for which way they had moved. There was no blood, so they couldn't have been harmed while in the building. While thinking what could have happened to them, Phoenix tried to explain what he knew,

"As for the priests? I have no idea of their current whereabouts. But something doesn't sit right about them, that's for sure. They were nervous the whole time they had been with us. What's more disappointing is that they've still got Kansuke with them. So our next objective is to relocate these people and obtain those ashes. After we obtain them, I don't care if they are burned alive. Might even do it myself."

The cyborg exited the building again, and noticed that the splintered corpse was now completely lifeless, thanks to Larkin's mercy. Looking at the body reminded Phoenix of himself; there laid a cocky self assured brigand who had his body broken by his own stupidity. For a moment, he could see his own face replacing that of the corpse, and his current cyborg body standing over him, with Jet Spark's face replacing his current one, smiling as though he had converted Phoenix to becoming himself. He closed his eyes for a moment, allowing for the images to pass, his brain giving itself time to block out the memory.

After a while, Phoenix returned to his calm self, ready to move on. Funnily enough, returning to his senses, he just managed to pick out the question that Larkin had mentioned; Why start a fight with a grenade? He waited for a couple moments after his comrade had finished, before answering, back turned,

"People are scared of boom sounds, so I made a boom sound that killed one of them. This made the other two scared, and compliant to our demands for information. You gained information from your guy, and I gained information from my guy. I thought it worked out well, aside from the whole priests disappearing thing, and leaving a puddle of blood outside a....... Is that a sin to them?"

The sun continued to beam down onto them in the street, with the puddle of blood slowly becoming dried to the floor, becoming a more dry-tacky texture accompanied by a couple scavenging flies. Something that was concerning the cyborg was the evident lack of interest from any other priests that were around the town. Nothing seemed to be happening. However, just in the far off distance, the cyborg could just make out something. It was more pirates, coming from quite a bit further down the street, and holding burning torches and brandishing more swords and guns. This time, Phoenix opted to stay hidden from them, quickly advising Larkin and Astra,

"There's more of them, if we hide, maybe we can work out what's going on.

Looking around impatiently trying to find a place that would be suitable for them, the cyborg came across a side alleyway, which was also a sewerage area. Thankfully the place looked like it hadn't been used for a while, probably due to the fear of everything going on. In any case, it was suitable for their needs, and offered seclusion from view but within earshot of what would happen out in the front by the church. Beckoning the others to follow him, Phoenix hid there, and waited as the sound of the vagabonds grew to a rowdy noise. However, Larkin did not appear to have followed the cyborg, and Phoenix grew anxious as the crowd stopped out the front of the church, and quietened. As the new group were stood facing the church, Phoenix tried to get a good quick view of how many there were, counting up to 16 individuals, all armed, and all of a relatively healthy stature, holding the flaming torches. The others hadn't lied when they warned that the building would be burnt down. Then Phoenix could hear a voice speak out, loud, clear and crisp,

" We have warned you, and you have refused to consider our offer! You have killed our men, and now shall pay the price for your arrogance! Come on men, set this place alight!"

The crowd roared in anger and threw their torches in through the gaping hole where the door was smashed, setting the wooden frames ablaze, including the pews and the tapestry like banners which depicted various holy appearances and scenes. Yet there were no screams of pain or death, or of those set aflame, for the priests were not in the church, as was known by Phoenix and his group. The cyborg now waited to see if any more information could be ascertained. He also wondered and hoped that Larkin had found somewhere safe to hide with Astra.
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Larkin personally preferred stealth so letting one escape wouldn't have been his first plan. However Phoenix did have a point, the only pirate that knew about him was unconscious. Effectively Phoenix would be the distraction and Him and Astra would take them apart from the shadows. He was glad he didn't have to explain who the pirates were, but he still had this weird feeling that he heard of them before but it could wait. The next answers to his questions was less than thrilling to hear. No priests, no Kansuke and a bunch or less than reliable group of priests and villages they had to be careful for. Phoenix's enthusiasm was reassuring though, deciding to chime in with "Either way you will get justice, lets make them regret ever coming to Cactus Island!"

'Those fucking priests though, should of said I thought they were a bit shady to Phoenix, could of saved us some trouble at least or even prepared us a little. It will probably best to take out the pirates then take our time with the priests, they seem less likely to run.' Astra stood up sensing the excitement in the room. "I'll Leave what happens to the priests to you, but I think we should deal with the pirates first." They walked out leaving there unconscious prisoner to look for clues as to where the priest could of vanished to or any sign of where that pirate went off to. Larkin lost focus as he saw a sombre look cross Phoenix's face as he stared down at the corpse surrounded in a puddle of blood. He had only recently just reclaimed his life at being on the brink of death for ages, so only gods know what could of been going through his head. Larkin was a little worried phoenix might not be ready to jump into something like this, that was until he returned to his normal self and played it off with a joke. The only fitting reply Larkin could think of was "Fuck'em, stealing's a sin so its even."

The town seem too quite as the sun progressively got lower, the situation almost seemed to stagnant till the brutish thrall of pirates noisily made its way towards Larkin's and Phoenix's location. Phoenix bolted towards a sewage area. deciding it would be better to spare Astra's poor nose he bolted for the garden wall he saw attached to the side of the church. Probably the best place to ambush any trying to patrol the area, which quickly became apparent that wasn't going to happen. With Astra laying low next to him as the pirates finally got to the front of the church. He quickly checked hi escape routes, the best being the path to the cemetery which lead to behind the church. The angry shouts of what seemed to be the captain pulled LArkin's attention back to see several torches fly through the air to land on and in the church. 'Well shit, they are about to barbecue their friend, ha. OOOOHHHHHHH, this might actually work out well.' Larkin was grinning again as a cascade of ideas went off in his brain, all more "fun" than the next.

The silence was suddenly punctuated by the screams of the now very awake prisoner as he ran out, diving into the only liquid he could find. The sticky pool of blood helped put the fire out as the pirates mind once again fade into unconsciousness, this time due to overwhelming pain. The pirate leader was pissed, but wasn't quite clear enough to make out what he was saying, either way twelve pirates started walking away while two tried to help there friend and two more kept adding fuel to the fire. This was perfect, with a hand signal, Astra moves to the other side of the walls opening, gets low and starts whining. One of the pirates started to walk towards them, Larkin could hear the steps as the got ever so closer. When finally he rounded the corner, he went to shout something as he saw Astra get up as if to lunge. However he could only gurgle on his own blood as Larkin's sword pierced his throat.

One down so far, this time he need to lure one and have that one lure the others for his plan to work. He motioned to Astra to take the new corpse away so it was in full view if someone came along. With one more hand signal Astra started to growl, luring another unsuspecting victim, this time though the scene was of a huge dog standing over the bloody corpse of the victims friend. Larkin waited a second allowing the pirate to go for his sword before springing up behind him, putting one sword through the pirates guts and twisting, making him scream in agony just before Larkin's second sword silenced him. The last two pirates stood up forgetting there injured crew member, worrying more about the currently two missing members. They turn to where they heard a scream mere seconds ago to see something bloody pulled out of the entrance to behind the wall. Both of them slowly moved to the garden entrance, the high tension making their hearts race, only to find trails of blood leading into the graveyard.

In the short time Astra and Larkin had they moved the corpses they made into the graveyard. The goal being to lead the the remaining two pirates on a goose chase, not matter how brief. While they were distracted Larkin ran round the other side of the church to the crispy pirate lying in a bloody pool and pierced his heart. He quickly hid again listening in for when the pirates finally found the corpses, which didn't take long. Scared and confused they seemed to quickly decide not to stick around to end up like there friends. They ran out to get there burnt up friend only to find the pool had greatly expanded and he wasn't breathing. From His hiding spot, Larkin could see the pirates finally walking off, hopefully towards their base. Swiftly he got a bit of water and a rag to clean up Astra a bit trying to get rid of the blood before it gets too sticky. 'Time to hunt.' he thought as he finished cleaning up Astra and started following the trail of bloody footprints while keeping hidden. 'Now just to follow the footprints till they run out then, Astra can track them the rest of the way by sniffing out the blood. Then I can get Astra to track down Phoenix. should be simple, should be...'
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Phoenix kept quiet as he witnessed the burning of the church, and although he couldn't hear the screams of the pirate who had been burned alive, due to the distance and concentrating on what the larger group were doing, he did catch a glimpse of the now flaming pirate, who wasted no time in dousing himself in the blood from the other casualty that the cyborg had caused. This seemed to break up the unity of the group, some who were shocked to find that they had wounded one of their own so seriously, unintentionally, and yet uncaringly. The leader especially looked uninterested in his colleague's plight, as though they weren't worth anything anyway.
Analysing the situation, the leader realised that there was no further need to stay around this place, and gave orders to his men,

" We return now! The priests have been dealt with. Adra, Shindo, tend to his wounds. Toryu and Sancho; keep burning this place til’ there's nothing left. Scavenge whatever you find that’s shiny and bring it back. The rest of you, follow me."

With this command, the men started retracing their route from the church back to wherever they came from. This was an irresistible opportunity for Phoenix to find out where these guys were holed up. However, with the four individuals set to remain, the cyborg was going to have to find some way around, while still following the large group.
Looking around where he had hidden, he saw that a large bin was placed up against the wall that separated the building he was hiding behind, to the one next to it. Phoenix wasted no time in climbing onto it, resisting any urges to wretch at the smell, and then on top of the wall. From this point, he was able to jump from the wall onto a lower jutting roof from the building next to it, which was the roof piece of an extension of the adjacent building. After jumping to this, albeit with a couple tiles being smashed in the process, Phoenix was then able to scramble to the next building on from that, this time actually standing on a flat roof.

The view from this position allowed Phoenix to observe that Larkin was still by the church, although he was handling himself fine. Knowing that he couldn't communicate with his colleagues at this point, the cyborg put his trust in Astra being able to track his fuel's scent, and so began to leave a very faint trail of the medical fluids that Larkin had concocted to power Phoenix's new body.

Now turning his attention to the group of pirates, he could see that they were moving through various different streets, almost diagonally, splitting off into four groups of three. Phoenix chose to follow the group with the commander within it, which travelled along a more central route, however from the rooftops of the buildings, the cyborg could still make some level of informed guess as to where the other groups were in the area. Every now and then, he would be careful to not make a sound, as he did get rather close to the group at certain points. A fallen tile would be the worst thing to happen at this point. Luckily, nothing of the sort happened.

During this sneaky tracking, the cyborg was able to listen in on the conversation between the leader and his two other men,

”Are you sure that it’s here?”

”If it was, you’d think we’d find it by now, right?”

”No. He was buried here with it, and we need to find it. We are not leaving til’ we find it. Understand?”

”Okay, Okay, we didn’t mean nuthin’. It’s just frustrating y’know.”

”I reckon the phoney priests took it, but maybe not the ones we killed before. I think they’re crazy personally.”

”Shut up, they might be listening in even now. Don’t you remember these streets have ears of their own?

” I know, I know, but I still recognise their symbol from somewhere. It sure doesn’t fit a church group.”

”Those guys are phoneys for sure, boss. For all we know they could be scavengers disguisin’ themselves.”

”Didn’t I just tell you to shut up! We’re almost there, I don’t wanna hear nuthin’ from you two no more.”

This information intrigued the cyborg. It seemed that the pirates were on the island for a reason, trying to find something rather than just looting and moving on. The fact they’d been here for more than a day should have been a clue, but now it was certain, from the horse’s mouth, they were looking for some artefact or something. Not only that, the pirates had also noted that some of the priests were acting strangely, and referred to them as phoney even. Maybe they had been robbed from as well.

It took the group what felt to Phoenix like a quarter of an hour to get to their destination. At the end of this journey was another church building, although this one was much larger than the former, more like a cathedral. The spires stretched far into the sky, and had a very gothic and foreboding atmosphere, which seemed rather fitting for such a macabre place.

Instead of a courtyard around the cathedral which would have gardens and nice things, the whole place was surrounded by a large ring of graveyard space, about half a mile in diameter. The yard was full of gravestones, so many that there were additional stones sharing the same spaces, and some with multiple names carved onto them. It had become a swarm of dead people’s memory. To some it would appear overwhelming that so many people would be buried in a single place and that the importance that people wanted to be buried here confused the cyborg. It was almost like Kansuke had sent Phoenix here to observe this, and ruminate on death and its various effects.

Still, the pirates seemed mostly unaffected by the graveyard, and continued straight through it to the main cathedral and inside. Lowering himself from the roof of the last house to the floor, Phoenix continued his tracking of the pirates, keeping hidden behind the gravestones as he followed. While he did so, he came across one gravestone with a name that confused him; for it was what he thought was the true name of the leader of the red blade pirates.


Flynn T. Blados


If that was so, then Phoenix abstracted that the leader of this band of pirates must no longer be the man who fought his father. Maybe he had been overthrown by someone? Or succeeded? Phoenix felt a new sense of determination to find out the core of all these strange occurrences, mainly because they were starting to agitate him. There had been far too numerous questions with too few answers. Phoenix was about to start tying up loose ends.

Now that the leader’s group of three had entered the cathedral, Phoenix waited for the other three groups to approach the building. Lo and behold, two of the groups met up at the east entrance to the surrounding graveyard, the way which the cyborg had followed and entered. Taking a moment to listen in on any more information from a conversation, Phoenix was able to overhear a more casual discussion. Clearly they were unaware of his presence, and had stopped just at the entrance to finalise their discussion,

”Hey, I wonder if those guys will find the artefact? Wasn’t it something to do with the boss’s family?”

”They’ve got as good a chance as any people we sent before. Didn’t that other guy they captured say that they’d find it there? I’m beginning to think he was lying. Maybe we should interrogate him again.”

”Yeah, but if those monks weren’t in the church, then maybe they moved it?”

”I dunno, but if we find them, I’m gonna cut ‘em til’ they tell us where they hid......GAH!!!”

”Holy shit!!”

Keeping within earshot, the old man grabbed a tombstone which had been led on the ground next to the one with Flynn T. Blados written on it, aimed it at the eastern entrance, before throwing it and moving throughout the graveyard while the six pirates approached his now previous position. Seemingly the other group had not yet arrived. Maybe Larkin had caught them, or maybe they’d gotten lost. Either way, Phoenix would have to be quick to not arouse any further suspicion.

The stone itself hit the last who spoke in the chest, lodging itself firmly into his body, crushing his sternum and sending the guy to the floor. The stone acted as a paralysing weight upon its victim, who had now started coughing blood while gasping for air. Internal haemorrhage had begun, and it wouldn’t take long for the poor soul to bleed out. Ticking off one of the six targets in his mind, the walking tank then decided to close in on the two groups, who were now quite rightly confused and scared, one might even say put on the back foot.

Phoenix took this moment as a chance to get rid of the cloth that he had draped over his body to stop the light reflecting off the metal. The other pirates were temporarily dazzled by the reflection of the light, causing them to wince and flinch, during which Phoenix closed in and landed a deft right hand cross punch utilising his momentum upon another pirate, who had dreads and lots of bands on his arm. The man flew across the graveyard, through multiple gravestones, leaving a gouge of earth in a line leading to him. Needless to say, the pirate was unconscious, although probably not dead, yet.

The others seemed stunned that the cyborg was powerful enough to put that much power into a punch, and as steam came out of a couple exhausts, proving the suit had used its capabilities, Phoenix wasted no time in setting upon the now four remaining opponents.
Phoenix approached and grabbed the next one rather brusquely, before throwing him horizontally at the other three. Two of them dodged the attack, with the one in the middle of the two caught by the body. The two crashed to the ground, before Phoenix utilised his explosive capability of his suit again, firing another exploding grenade at the two on the floor. However, the cyborg had only remembered after firing the grenade that he wasn’t trying to draw attention to himself so much,

” Hah.....Oh! Fuck!”

The explosion destroyed the tombstones surrounding the pirates, mulching the two on the floor into a pile of messy globular flesh. Additionally, due to the bodies in the way, the explosive impact had a reduced effect on the ground, blasting a very small amount of dirt skywards, revealing some bones, and sending a skull bouncing off towards the cathedral, colliding eventually with the titanic wooden doors to said holy place.

One of the two who survived the blast began kneeling, hands raised in the air as if to say “I give in”. However, since Larkin was not around, and Phoenix’s family had some beef with the Red Blades from his history, he would have no mercy for this man, moving up to finish him. Before he could though, the man spoke, shakily,

“What are you? Why are you doing this?”

In response to the questions, Phoenix as such ignored them, instead finding his own way to give the man a proper send off. Though the advice he was about to give him would not save this man’s life,

”You shouldn’t have joined the red blades.”

In Phoenix’s mind, this man had joined a band of people who were cutthroats. They’d make an alliance with any other pirates, then observe to see if those pirates had anything they wanted, and would then work their own way into stealing and taking those things, usually killing those who resisted them. However, the name red blades did not come from the act of betrayal. It was formed from the red hair of the ruling family, merged with a common misspelling of Blados, which they just kept to make it easier to read.

”I am your judge, since the marines won’t do this job properly. Pray your ancestors are more forgiv....”

Phoenix prepared his fist to end the man’s life, only for a bullet to interrupt him, ricocheting off his metal prosthetic arm. The cyborg’s head turned 90 degrees left, his body still facing where it was. From his observation, the other man who had dodged had taken his pistol and fired at him. But he was not on his own, for a man who had unique red long hair and a bushy ginger beard stood by the man’s side, sword at the ready, who seemed rather angry,

”You are not Shingen.”

Phoenix punched the kneeling man, crunching a few ribs, ripping the skin on the torso, and distending the man’s stomach so that he was now essentially dying, blood oozing from the gaping hole where his guts would be, all the while keeping eye contact and returning an icy stare at the bearded man, steam exhausting from his body again,

”And you are not Flynn Blados.”

Just at that moment, ringing bells could be heard echoing throughout the area, coming from the cathedral.
Edited by Masa, Sep 14 2016, 12:56 PM.
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As Larkin and Astra started lurking down alleyways tracking there prey they started noticing an odd yet some what familiar liquid. Astra started sniffing around a little confused before looking up, leading Larkin's eyes to a slightly loose roof tile. He dipped two fingers in the liquid and rubbed his two fingers and thumb together testing the consistency. The consistency, the colour and Astra's familiarity with it proved head seen it some where before, that's when the light bulb hit, it was Phoenix's fuel. 'That's probably Phoenix's handy work, that or he's leaking. Either way finding him should be easy.' To confirm this they skulked round to the other side of the building and sure enough there was another small puddle of fuel.

As they rounded the next building to continue their tracking they were interrupted as a bullet whizzed down the alley past them. They both bolted down the alley and round a corner to avoid the attackers currently shouting out there location. Larkin only got a passing glimpse at his attacks and knew there was at least two standing there but who knows how many when they get there reinforcements. 'Cant believe I got distracted tracking Phoenix, now how the hell am I supposed to deal with this. If I can separate them it should be fine but don't know enough about my surroundings to easily trap them.' Astra stared at him looking ready to pounce, which reminded him he's not alone. Then an idea struck him, he smiled at Astra, "Lets go for a run."

They started out running together to get an idea of the housing layout and how the alleyways connected, using Astra's nose to avoid the ones hunting them as best they could. Once they were confident enough they split up, now intentionally running in view of the group trying to kill them. There was five now but only two of them had guns, which meant less bullets they had to dodge. Eventually the pirates got tired of being toyed with, deciding to split up and try and corner there prey. This is exactly what Larkin was hoping for, with Astra still running about he could wait to ambush them from the shadows. Crossing the grand line with Phoenix and his gramps showed him how crazy strong people could be and there was still much to see, so Larkin wanted to avoid outright battles where possible.

Lurking low in the shadows he hears a pirate slowly heading down towards his alley, just as he passes Larkin skewers the pirates lungs on his katana's. Then a bolt of pain pierces Larkin's side, rushing to reclaim his katana's from the pirates chest before the pain fully sets in. With his thoughts getting a little erratic he focuses on just getting to cover. He whistles for Astra as he hears another shot ricochet off a near by wall, he cant seem to move fast enough. Now clutching his side he bursts through a houses back door and rushes up the stairs. Astra bounds up the stairs moments later blood all over her face but with no visible wounds. Larkin took off his jacket and shirt and started checking his wound, it went all the way through so no bullet to dig out. Astra started guarding the stairs as Larkin started cleaning the wound before bandaging it up. Now that was done, all that was left was to take out the last four, well by the looks of Astra's face three pirates.

After getting himself ready he carefully made his way out of the seeming abandon house, and back towards the alley. On the way they bumped into an extra corpse, most likely victim to Astra judging by the the bite marks in the leg, arm and gaping wound where the throat used to be. Larkin scratched Astra behind the ears as thanks. Considering they had been hiding for a few minutes and they hadn't heard anybody shouting about these bodies it meant the pirates hadn't come this way yet. So first thing to do was get rid of that last pistol user, so Astra started sniffing around for gun powder until she caught on to its trail. After a couple of minutes they found there target, slowly they tailed him making sure no other pirates were near by. After a minute or two it seemed like everything was clear, so signalling to Astra to cut him off while he closed in quietly. Astra sprung round the corner ahead of him and bounded back round another just as he fire a shot. That was Larkins queue to strike, he rushes in and pierces the pirates arm holding the gun. With a quick flick of the sword it tears through his arm fling blood across the alley walls and force the pirate to drop his pistol. He follows up by piercing his chest, kicking him off the blade, slicing his hamstrings before leaving him to bleed out on the ground.

With that dealt with there should only be two pirates left but rather than hunt them down he decided it would be best to find a vantage point to watch them from until they returned to... Actually that was something he hadn't really looked into, they are pirates so surely they would have a ship but had yet to see it. On the other hand Larkin did not know enough about this island to know if there was any where else to dock. Even then should his object be to find the pirates or should he go for the priests and Kansuke's ashes, Phoenix should be fine on his own. There was to much to thinking on to just stay in the alley so he started moving to the houses looking for one he could use for a vantage point, then he could go from there, plus it wouldn't hurt to let himself heal up a bit first.


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With the bell tower within the cathedral ringing aloud, Phoenix knew that it must have been a signal to call together any other Red Blade pirates to this position, meaning he had a few choices. First, he could choose to fight Red Blade here and now, hopefully demoralising the pirates in the meantime. Second, he could run away and try to rejoin Larkin and whatever he was doing with Astra. Finally, the other choice would be to see if he could gain more information from these pirates, to help inform his next moves.

Blood covered and dripped from the cyborgs metallic limbs, staining the hallowed ground around him. He then turned his body fully to face this new opponent,

"You may want to tell your comrade to stand down. If he shoots again, you'll both regret it."

The pirate with the pistol was given a look by the bearded man, and began to lower his pistol, before questioning his own actions, instead choosing to reproach Phoenix,

"You monster! Who put you up to this?! Face it Sten, he's
going to kill us anyway! He's here for the bounty. I knew this was a bad idea!"


The pistol holding pirate grew shakier, as though he'd seen a demon, now beginning to feel the effects of seeing his comrades being disembowelled and blown up in front of him. However, the bearded man was nowhere near as affected, instead looking rather disappointed in his friend, and rather annoyed at his idiocy in naming him in front of this hunter.

The pistol holding pirate then began to ready his gun for another shot, but the sound of a sword being drawn could be heard momentarily, and Phoenix saw a flash of reflected light. The cyborg braced, ready to take an attack, but instead heard the sound of flesh being sliced, like a chef cutting fish. Sten, or as Phoenix now assumed was his name, had stopped his comrade from firing the gun, at the cost of killing the pistol-wielding pirate.
The body slumped to the ground, hidden behind a tombstone. The bearded pirate then pointed his sword at the cyborg, coloured red by the blood, and still clearly angered,

"And just who are you to order me around?!"

Phoenix smiled; he now knew the name of this man, although he couldn't tell whether he was the captain or whether he was just a higher up mook. Not wishing to waste anymore time, the cyborg responded by charging at Sten, who responded by rolling towards Phoenix, but also alongside him, with his sword held ready to cut the metallic body of the cyborg. Metal scraped along metal, causing a hair raising scream to reverberate throughout the graveyard, the force of which sent Phoenix tumbling to the floor.

Sten, meanwhile, stood back up, facing Phoenix straight on, in a guarding pose, ready to meet the martial artist again. Clearly Phoenix had a lot to work on in regards of agility and manoeuvrability of the suit. The old cyborg gathered himself, and dusted off the mud from his body, and felt along his left stomach plate, which now had a clean fracture cut engraved along it, with a slight kink at the end. Phoenix now felt it was best to reply to the question,

"I don't give orders, I give advice."

The old man followed this up by closing the distance between them, and then throwing punches at Sten, who attempted to parry the blows, which came in at 160 bpm, as he had trained. The first two blows were parried with some success by the pirate, but the third punched the blade, making it twist in Sten's hand, and being unable to parry the fourth, recieved a punch to his swordarm. This made Sten drop the sword, making him unarmed. Immediately he tried to grab his means of fighting, but Phoenix stood on the blade, with his full weight of 400 lbs. The sword was going nowhere. Now that they were so close, the cyborg took advantage, grabbing Sten and lifting him up, his legs and arms dangling like cooked spaghetti dangles from a fork,

"This was your making. I did warn you."

Phoenix then threw the pirate from the graveyard to the steps leading to the doors of the cathedral, which still stood towering above the surrounding cemetary. After doing so, he quickly looked at his surroundings to see if there were any more pirates on their way. Strangely, no others had yet come. Maybe there were more further away or the bells could be signalling a ship or something by the docks where they had arrived, for there were other ships further along the quay.

In anycase, the cyborg decided that he would need to try to pry some more information from the now unarmed pirate. Phoenix approached the pirate, who was writhing on the
floor after having damaged his back and neck in his collision with the doors of the cathedral, and grabbed him again, this time dragging him inside the cathedral through
a slight opening that had been left, probably by Sten himself colliding with the heavy wooden door.

Inside, the architecture did not disappoint. Multiple columns and ornate pews littered the main hall, as well as many chandeliers and candle-lit lamps around the walls, shining light on the various stained glass windows and artwork of various holy entities. It seemed an evil thing that these pirates be using this place as a base for their actions, although Phoenix did not find his own actions within here to be bad form, religiously speaking.

To this end, Sten called out to the determined cyborg,

"Sanctuary! I claim sanctuary!"

To which Phoenix was made confused; why would such a man as this claim sanctuary. Not
moments before he had killed a member of his own group, and now he was begging for his safety?

"Oh do you now? I see the truth in your eyes. You're not Red Blade at
all! In which case, tell me where he is, or I'll hang you from the bell!"


The old cyborg pointed to the bell, up at the top of the building, which had now stopped ringing. Phoenix took a moment to see if anyone was still up there, or around the cathedral at all. From what he could see, the bell had been strung by some intricate rope system, connected to a clock.

Having observed the bell, he turned his steely gaze back on the helpless pirate, tightening his grip on the man.

"Alright, alright! I am not the captain of the Red Blade Pirates. I am Sten Tungson, first mate of the Red Blade. But Red Blade is not Flynn Blados. Our captain is Quart Z. Blados, Flynn's grandson. He's at the head of our ship at the moment, docked at the quay."

The information that the man was giving Phoenix was surprising in the sense that it was quite substantial and honest. It was also quite refreshing that the old man had been able to squeeze this man to squeaking point,

"What are you fools doing here? Terrorising the defenceless, eh? I
guess the dead and priests are soft touches for you!"


Sten quickly replied to try to rationalise why they had arrived at the island, almost as though trying to clear a conscience on his mind,

"Have you had dealings with the priests here? Noticed anything
suspicious about some of them? We heard rumours that the Shining Gold Pirates had
been infiltrating this island, dressed as monks, and graverobbing the dead here. One of which is Flynn himself. He was buried with a valuable heirloom, but we don't want those sunnavabitches to snatch it for their own. We also thought if we beat them, we could also take some of their steals. A cheap money maker."


That explained much of Phoenix's confusion and the suspicions that Larkin and Astra had
of Ezekiel and Asam, the two priests who had disappeared with Kansuke's ashes. But why
would they run off with an urn? Was it that valuable to them?
Edited by Masa, Oct 31 2016, 07:38 PM.
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After some thought and cleaning up of his wound Larkin final made a decision, he was going to go after the priest. Getting the ashes of Kansuke back should of been the first thing him and Phoenix done. In the distance he could see smoke from either a large fire or maybe even an explosion, considering Phoenix is still running about. The sound of bells rang throughout the city. 'It must be an hourly thing, but considering the churches near the port where barely functional makes sense as to why we didn't hear any on the way in. However this does mean there's a few churches near by, now to plan out my search. Seems silly to knock on every church door to find them, especially considering they may not want to be found.'

After quickly surveying the area for anyone and deeming it safe he left towards where the priest had hid the civilians. Hopefully he can bump into the priest again, or at least ask the people their where he might find them. On the way he passes another church, figuring its worth checking for the priests he carefully moves towards the large doors. As he reaches the doors he hears nothing from inside but does notice the doors are slightly a jar. Instead of heading in he decides to circle round the church letting Astra lead, slowly moving along as she sniffs around. As they get round to the back of the church her face scrunches up a little, a few seconds later the smell hits Larkin too. It's the smell of death, of rotting corpse, but it is not a fresh smell this is from years of decay.

A graveyard comes into view and so does the source of the smell, dozens of graves desecrated. Who ever done it was long gone by the looks of it and if his hunch was correct he knew who it was. Rather than back tracking to the civilians hiding out he decided the best use of his time would be to find a graveyard nearby which hadn't been dug up. First thing first though, he should probably check his wound and luckily there was an empty church near by. The bandages needed changing but the bleeding had stopped or at least slowed down considerably. It was clean and had no sign of infection which was good, so he applied a new bandage. After checking all his medical supplies he thought it might be good to get a bite to eat in, should prevent any risky of wooziness later.

Sat on of the pews he called Astra over and grabbed some food for her out the pack and set down besides him on the pew so she didn't have to reach all the way down to eat. It was easy for him to forget just how huge Astra was with out something to give perspective, most dogs would have to climb up to eat off the pew. Not Astra though, he smiled at her and scratched her behind the ear, she let out a hum every now and then in appreciation. He then got some meat and bread out for him self but as he was he realised there was not butter, not something you usually take with you on a boat. So he wandered of to look to see if the church had a pantry, it certainly looked big enough and he was pretty sure he could so some living quarters trailing of down the side. Astra found him as he was searching through cupboards and draws, only to find some vegetable. Well it was probably for the better, a good diet can help with healing. He made his sandwich and grabbed a few carrots and apples to snack on.

Munching on his sandwich he started searching the streets for the next church, which didn't take as long as he thought it would. He gradually got closer, getting low and finishing his last bite. The graveyard was in the front of this church so he didn't want to risk being seen. Eventually he got close enough to see that it had already been pillaged, how this one seemed much fresher. He was getting close now, hopefully the next church he would find the culprits in the act. Swiftly he moved through the streets, noticing a lack of presence from the pirates as he made his way. Maybe the bell wasn't an hourly thing, or it could be they use that as a time to check in. Whatever the case was it was making Larkins life easier. As he got close to the next church he noticed the doors where shut tight and the gates were still closed. He might be early, he could only hope. He and Astra jumped the low fence to make sure the gate didn't look disturbed. Slowly the crept round to the graveyard, ears tentatively waiting to hear the sound of shovels. To the contrary all there was was peaceful silence and as they got round the corner they saw the graves untouched.

'Perfect!'' Larkin thought with a grin. Time for more ambushing. A thought shot across his mind that maybe he was getting to into ambushing bad guys. It almost seemed... fun. Maybe he was sadistic or something? Nah he just liked bring judgement to bad guys plain and simple. After surveying the graveyard he found a good place for Astra to hide. He removed her caring gear and hid it with his bag in a larger bush growing up against some rubble. After carefully looking he found a place for him to hide. It was an alcove where a statue used to stand, a little more theatrical than he intended but it would fit his purpose perfectly. Now to wait.

The moment he was waiting for was slowly coming along, he could tell as he heard the doors to the church slowly creak open and then back closed. He figured the robbers would go through the church first, the other churches seemed bare. It seemed his hunches were paying off. He looked over to Astra to see if she was still waiting or if impatience had got to her. As faithful as ever she was still led there waiting ears pricked up listening intently s the grave robbers bumbled through the church taking whatever they wanted. Finally they were done and made there way through the back door of the church just below Larkin. 'FUCKIN KNEW IT!' he almost said out loud. The robbers walking underneath them wore monk garbs, three with shovels, one with a bag for there loot and another carrying the more delicate items.

"God dam this job stinks, I'm just glad it pays so well." Said the monk with the bag.

"Hey try digging them up, you got the nice end of the stick." Said the tallest of the diggers.

"All of you quit your bitchin and be quick we don't want to get caught be those pirates. They are pissed about something, luckily they seem busy with one of those idiots that came here recently. He's been making one hell of a ruckus." The bulkiest of the diggers said with a grin.

Then Larkin heard a familiar voice come from the Monk carrying the delicate stuff, it was Asam. "Yeah thanks to those idiots they think me and Ezekiel are dead." He said with what sounded like a smirk or a grin. "I don't think they are anything to worry about. I'm more scared of that huge dog they had, you should of seen that thing."

"Sorry to hear that." Larkin shouted as he dropped down behind them. "Astra REALLY missed you." He said with a grin as she bounded out of the bush and growled ferociously. The monks panicked as they realised they were trapped, then it slowly dawned on them that they out numbered Larkin and Astra. Hope flickered in their eyes, hope of escape or victory. It didn't matter Larkin need to squash that hope, he closed the distance and slammed his sword up into the skull of the bag carrying monk. It didn't pierce through the top of his skull but he was dead, he could tell by the dull look glazing over the priests eyes. Astra quickly followed up by knocking one of the diggers down with her front paws then quickly turning and dragging down the bulkiest digger down by his throat. Two dead, one knocked over and two more about to shit there pants by the looks of it.

"W-w-w-what the fuck, why would you kill monks. Your soul-"

"SHUT UP ASAM. If that is your name. Your not monks your grave robbers at best and before anyone else talks just remember I only need one of you alive for information. Now you two sit next to your friend. Now I have some question and if I don't get answers I will just hurt or kill you... depends how I'm feeling." He paused to let them show there agreement or to protest. Silence filled the void until they realised that was their cue, at which point they all started nodding and muttering ok's. Fear seemed to have the desired affect, so he signalled to Astra to start pacing behind, she added the odd growl or surprising them by getting really up close to there neck and sniffing or drooling.

"So first question what are you guys REALLY."

"Pirates." said the other digger timidly. Larkin just glared at him until he started talking again. "T-t-the Shining Gold Pirates."

"Ok, next question. Looking at you Asam. Where's Kansuke ashes." The other two's pirates eyes went wide as they realised they knew about the ashes there captor was talking about. Yet none of them uttered a word for a good few minutes. "Ok, I see how it is. Astra pick one." He had a malicious grin stretched across his face. They started to panic and beg but Larkin just carried on smiling. Astra pushed Asam onto his hands and knees and a look of relief washed across the others faces. Larkin chuckled before he swung his sword slicing the two pirates necks leaving them to choke on there blood.

"Told ya Astra missed you. Now I'm going to grab my stuff and then your going to Kansuke's Ashes. Unlike you friends though I'm not going to kill you I'm just going to hurt you. A LOT, But that is only if you piss me off." He nodded to Astra and she pounced on him keeping him pinned down while he grabbed there gear. He put Astra's gear back on but before he gave the signal to get off there prisoner he sliced his leg with surgical precision. It would hurt a little but it wouldn't kill him, just make him limp so he couldn't run away.

"AHHHH, WHY?" Asam Screamed.

"Just in case you got the clever idea of trying to run. Now lead the way, or I will cause you unimaginable pain. I'm a doctor in case you forgot so I can keep you alive for a VERY. LONG. TIME." He said as he forced the pirate onto his feet. "Now lead the way."
Edited by Zeke-Wilder, Nov 15 2016, 06:34 PM.
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Seeing that most of what he needed to know had been gained, Phoenix's thoughts turned to darker things, specifically how to dispose of Sten. If he let him live, he'd likely return to Quart, the new red blade. Then, he'd warn them of Phoenix, which would ruin all sense of surprise.

The old man pondered some more, then asked one final question,

"Say, do you know the bounty on this Quart Z. Blados?"

Sten seemed a bit disturbed, his eyes widening slightly. He knew what Phoenix was going to do, and saw no point in holding any information back, for it would likely make his end more painful,

"20,000,000, though most of that was inherited from his father and grandfather."

Phoenix didn't react to the answer immediately, but then replied by nodding slightly. Then, the cyborg put his hand around the beaten man's throat. Without wasting anymore time, the robotic hand snapped 90 degrees clockwise within the joint, breaking Sten's neck. His death was instant, and the pirate's body fell silent, lifeless. All of the pirates encountered here were now dead, which at least meant no word would get to Quart of Phoenix. The only intel that Quart should have was that it was Shingen who was here, not Phoenix. As to whether that information would mean anything to this younger captain, he did not know.

His next move was to locate the ship at the quay. As he left the cathedral, he couldn't help but think about where Larkin and Astra had gone to, or whether they had encountered their own fight. He still had belief and trust in them though, and expected that they would be safe enough without him for now, for he would need that 20,000,000 bounty to leave this island with the others.

Retracing his steps back from the graveyard outside to the smaller church a fair stretch away, through the various networking streets, Phoenix would find some traces of where the other pirates went, specifically the corpses of more pirates at the small church, as well as bloodstains on the cobbles, as though someone had been dragged, probably by Astra. At this point, the cyborg analysed two choices; either A, follow the tracks in order to meet up with Larkin and Astra again, or B, continue back to the Quay and find the Real Red Blade.

Considering that each passing moment was allowing things to move out of his and his colleagues advantage, making his exposure more likely, Phoenix decided to let Larkin and Astra continue what they were going to do uninterrupted, therefore choosing for himself to take on the Red Blades.

Making his way back to the quay with renewed purpose and motivation, Phoenix kept to the shadowed parts of the streets in order to maintain and compliment his makeshift poncho to stop the reflections of the bodysuit that would have given his position away. The sound of the baying waves crashing against the quay wall aptly described the tension of the situation.

Looking both ways to see any signs of another ship, the cyborg could make out the rough shape of a flag with a skull and crossbones, with hand painted swords dripping red blood replacing the bones. It seemed an intimidating enough design, but Phoenix remembered that the flag was mainly a propaganda mechanism. Additionally, the pirates from this crew that he had so far encountered had not truly lived up to the design. As for the ship itself, it was unremarkable, both in size and shape. Either the family had not made enough money for an upgrade, or the ship was not intended for proper battle, more like an exploratory cargo instead.

Phoenix began his approach to this ship, which was anchored a fair distance along the quay. It was so far away that, to his reckoning, no crew mate should be able to see him approaching, unless they had a particularly good scout aboard, armed with a scope. Making his own checks as he neared, keeping again to the shadowed areas by the buildings, and preferring to walk under tented areas where the quay market would have been held, he checked the see if he could locate a scout in the crow's nest. Unluckily, there was a crewman in the nest, although they didn't seem to be looking around for unexpected infiltrators, instead looking inland towards the larger cathedral which stood tall among all buildings in the vicinity. This was likely due to the fact that the bell had rung earlier, and they were likely keeping an eye on what developed there.

As Phoenix came close enough to see the rest of the crew that were around on the main deck, he began searching for the different ways he could board the ship. The only current way to board that he could see clearly was a single wooden board that stuck out from the lower deck at a sharp angle that touched the cobblestone quayside, bobbing up and down as the ship did with the waves.

However, stood defending this entrance were four pirates, armed with a variety of weapons, including swords, guns, and one who seemed to have scissor-like blades. Taking a moment to hide behind a couple barrels and stacked tables that were left over from the market, Phoenix made sure he could hear any conversation they were having while still being relatively hidden. Sure enough, his patience paid off,

"........how long we gotta wait for Sten to send word back of his search?"

"Well, the bell has only just rung. Surely the report will be here before long."

"Well, it better be here soon, otherwise Quart's gonna lose it again."


Just then, a man called out to them from the direction of the cathedral. As he came into view, it was clear that this man was one of the priests, or at least he was dressed as a priest. He was almost out of breath, clearly showing signs of prolonged running.

" I have news for Red Blade! Your men lie dead, both at the cathedral of St Zoran and the church of Lucas! Blood and fire claims our land! These omens bear you ill will."

The others took a moment to take in this news, then started laughing. The guard with the scissor blade grabbed the priest by the hood of his cowl,

" Is this another of your tricks!? Are you another of the Shining Gold's men!? Come to scare us off have you?! We know your tricks!"

The priest began snivelling, shaking, almost as though he thought he would die, and instead tried to save his life by continuing.

" Your vice-c-captain, Sten. He is dead, I saw him fighting a cloaked giant from my house. The shrouded figure carried him into the cath.....Agh!."

The pirate punched the man in the face, and threw him away with enough force that the priest tripped and fell to the floor, scraping his face on the cobblestones.

" Then why did you come here to tell us, huh!? Think that we were gonna give ya some money for tellin' us? How can we trust ya?"

The priest took his time to stand up again, still petrified, but with one final card to play in order to prove himself. He lowered his hood, revealing an old and skeletal face, heavy and worn with age,

" I.......I was.....the one who.....buried his father, Flynn T. Blados."

Another man now appeared, from the ship. This man, even from the distance that Phoenix was hiding from, was recognisable to the cyborg. The man had to be Quart, for he was the spitting image of his father, Flynn. He wore a beard, which burnt with a fiery red, as though his face were in flames. He was also tall and strong in his build, another aspect shared genetically. The other pirates made way for him, being respectful of his presence. Then, the voice came,

" That explains the delay. Who is this giant you talk about? What did he look like?"

Phoenix could tell that his time was running out. The man before him was his current target, and each second that passed, his identity was being leaked, and he was losing the element of surprise.

" I...I don't know, he wore a covering of sorts, and I was not able to see his face."

Quart's mood as he heard this answer was emanating and becoming antagonised. He was getting angry. He was also trying to think things over, make connections.

"Then maybe Shingen has come after all."

This was the moment of action. No more time could be wasted. The cyborg realised that he had to make his entrance now. Rising from behind the barrels, Phoenix fired an explosive sphere from his hand. The explosion occurred at the feet of the other pirates, although Quart and the priest were out of the reach of the blast. The other four, however, were blown to the floor, one of which fell into the water in between the ship and the quay wall, snapping the wooden plank that connected the ship to the quay. This stranded Quart from his ship, and left him with only three potential guards to help him. The captain drew his sword immediately, and put the priest in front as a meat shield. He then shouted through the smokey cloud that remained,

"Who are you!?! Have you come for my head!? Show yourself!"

Phoenix let his metallic voice ring throughout the area,

" A Phoenix of death looks upon you in judgement.......and he is displeased!"

The true test of his new body was about to begin.

tech used
Edited by Masa, Feb 10 2017, 07:11 PM.
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Asam had been grunting and mumbling as he limped towards where Kansuke's ashes, at least that was the hope. Judging by the odd veiled death threat mumbled by Asam, Larkin guessed it could also be a trap.

"How much further."

Larkin asked but he got no reply just more mumbles, so he jabbed Asam in the kidney with the butt of his sword.

"I SAID! How. Much. Further. Next time answer the first time, or next time you can loose something."

Asam started to mumble but abruptly stopped when he could hear Astra starling next to him.

"S-sorry, it's just the second turn down on the left, then its some alley ways and we will be at the church."

'They really do have a thing for churches it seems. At least the layout should be easy to figure out.' Larkin signalled to carry on walking while he figured out how he was going to go about getting Kansuke's ashes.

"Got a few more Questions for ya. Whats your bosses name and tell me when the next street will lead us straight to the church."

"Here name is Talas, bloody obsessed with gold, money and other crap. Sick of the bloody trouble she gets us into, stupid-." He was cut off by another jab from Larkin.

"Keep to the point."

"FINE. should be the next turn. You'll be able to see it. It's huge cant, miss the thing."

"Perfect." He said with a grin. He grabbed Asam by the shoulder to stop him and as he turned to say something, Larkin knocked him out. He quickly bound his hands and gagged him. He was kinda enough to sit him on a chair facing the church, even cleaned up his ankle and bandaged it. For the next part of his plan he need to scout the church as quickly as possible.

He worked his way up the street being careful in case there were any patrols but there seemed to be none. Not even Astra could catch a whiff of any one near by. Seems to easy but he wasn't going to start questioning good luck. They found there way to a house with a good view of the church, had a clear view of the front and a good view of the side, you couldn't see into the back too well due to the high walls. He could see why they chose this church: out of the way, secluded, very easy to defend. He could see two guards at the front, which meant his plan would work perfectly. What was even better is the garden at the side would be easy to get into would allow him to sneak into the church.

Now to get into position. From his vantage point he saw the perfect alley to hide in while he waited fro the fun to begin. It took a while longer than Larkin thought but he finally saw Asam panicked and stumbling down the street towards the guards. Only one noticed at first, after he started to move the other guard noticed and followed suit. Larkin bolted out the shadows behind the guards, ready to strike with Astra. Asam saw this however and tried to warn is fell crew members but the gag made it all muffled sounds. They saw the panic on his face and tried to remove the gag but it was all too late. One of the guards heard Larkins boot thud against the ground and turned round only to have Astra drag him to the floor by his throat, teeth sinking in deep. The blood spurted all overt he place, alerting the other guard and causing Asam to panic even more. This didn't matter though as Larkins sword sliced into the other guards neck, his body falling onto Asam and pinning him down. The guard Astra took down was still alive and trapped in her jaw. His struggling was useless and slowing down when it came to a sudden stop as Astra's jaw clamped down hard with a large crunch. Larkin turned to Asam and looked down at him.

"Thanks Asam. Goodbye."

Asam started panicking again and trying to escape as he saw Larkin raise his sword. He plunged it straight into his heart, nothing but a muffled screamed and a few gurgles escaped. He wasn't necessary more and Larkin didn't want to have to worry about him messing things up. Next Step was to infiltrate the huge church, the side entrance was the best bet as it had a long hallway connecting it. Hopefully it was as empty or at least as well guard as the front door was. First task was making sure he can get through the gate on the side wall.
Edited by Zeke-Wilder, Feb 25 2017, 08:57 AM.
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For a few moments, Phoenix and Quart stood in silence, each observing the other to get a full grip on their opponent's state of mind, and their intentions. Finally, Quart spoke,

"Well then? Aren't you gonna blow me up like you did them?! Eh?!"

The cyborg did not reply, instead he took a moment to look at his metallic palm, observing the still-smoking cavity from which the previous rounded bomb had been fired. Closing the palm a few times to test the movement of the synthetic muscles, Phoenix looked up again, before darting toward the pirate captain.

In response, Quart moved the sword to the priest's neck, ready to use him as a hostage to keep himself safe. The priest still seemed to be just as terrified as before, now seeing that the large figure was indeed the being stood before them, coldly peering through to the core of his aged soul. Strangely, Phoenix had stopped before them just, as though affected by this hostage situation. Quart tried to make the most of this, making his demand clear,

"Stop! Or I kill the priest!!"

The old cyborg chuckled under his breath.

"You must be mistaking me for a marine."

Noting that the priest had ratted him out to Quart, having heard it himself, Phoenix now grew tired of these pious advocates of supposed peace. Maybe he was about to cross a line of the law, but since there were no other priests around that seemed genuine, this would be an act of evil for what Phoenix considered the "greater good". With alarming speed, The cyborg let loose a right jab that hit the priest square in the chest, making a large cracking sound, before knocking him and Quart backwards along the quay. The other pirates still laid on the floor, winded and temporarily still dazed by the bomb. Phoenix saw to them by pushing them off the side of the quay with the other pirate who fell down into the sea beside the ship. Additionally, as the ship was now slowly drifting away from the quayside, the other pirates on board were now on deck, a couple taking pot shots at the cyborg, who raised his arm to defend his face from any potential hits. One bullet sank into the arm, though it hit the thicker out facing side of the arm, and did not impact his ability to manoeuvre the artificial limb. In response, he simply lifted his arm, letting a small spherical bomb drop from his hand, and then threw the explosive on to the main deck.

While he did this, Quart had fallen back onto the cobbles, scraping his back slightly on the rough surface, and having been slightly affected by the old priest falling on him too. Scrambling to get to his feet, the captain pushed the body of the old man off himself, before realising that a visible deep contour had developed on the old priest's chest. Additionally, he didn't seem to be shaking, or speaking. Not even breathing. The priest had taken the mortal blow, and had paid for it with his life. The sacrifice was oddly moving to Quart, even though he had forced that man's fate.

Picking his sword back up and pointing it at the Bardo apparition, he made his own charge on the cyborg, who had just thrown the aforementioned bomb. However, Phoenix had just enough time to see the attack, and instead of dodging the blow, decided to prove how out of depth, this Quart Blados was. Just as the blade connected with the armoured plating of Phoenix's suit, the bomb that had been thrown aboard the ship exploded, sending another few of the crew that were on-board, overboard. Along with those sent tumbling into the sea, shrapnel and splinters exploded around amongst the now torched air and smoke. The ship, it seemed, was not able to assist the famous Red Blade anymore.

The attack having hit Phoenix's layered plackart, bounced off again, due to the sword being of an inferior mixture of bronze and iron, and due to the remaining force in the blade, bent. This presented an opportunity of action to the cyborg, who reacted by grabbing the blade in a second attack by the captain, and bending the tang until it shattered, leaving the captain with a wholly useless weapon, but with a fragment in the hand of Phoenix, who proceeded to jab it into the chest of the Red Blade captain himself, being careful to not push hard enough to enter the man's heart.

Quite naturally, this brought Quart to his knees, beginning to cough up blood, spitting it on the flame-touched cobblestone road. Phoenix, knowing that his target had been neutralised, now began to make conversation with the man he had just attempted to kill.

" It looks like you got in over your head on this one, chap. I must admit, I kind of expected more. To be lured off your ship and separated so easily.....what were you thinking splitting up your crew amongst this town, with other pirate crews around?!?"

Another explosion ripped throughout the air, this time bigger than the previous. It must have been the gunpowder and alcohol kept aboard.

"You.....bastard! Killing fellow pirates!?! Shingen would be ashamed of you!"

Phoenix looked at the flames, as though his father were looking at him through them. That was a dirty blow, but then again, this Quart knew nothing of his situation, nothing of what made him become in this body, with his pain, and his own issues. Putting his foot on the blade, digging it closer to Quart's heart, he began his response,

"You don't know even the half of it........ I am taking your remains to be registered so I can receive your bounty money. If there's anything of use from you, its that."

Finally, Phoenix finished the job, stamping his foot on the shattered blade, sending it plunging through the man's struggling heart, who's blood had begun matting his red hair, and deepening its colour. Definitely Red Blade.
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