On The Other Side [Baltoh Hoxmarch]

[Blaka]

On The Other Side
Baltoh Hoxmarch was running. He was running down a long, dark corridor, hunted by something incredibly threatening, although he wasn't quite clear on what it was. The corridor's black walls had huge windows every couple of meters. Red hot fire was burning behind the glass. All the young Wotan could hear was his own breath and steps, the crackling of the flames and his giant heart pumping in his chest. There didn't seem to be any end to the corridor, but he wasn't focused on finding one anyway. All he was thinking was how to get away from whatever was hunting him. The yellow eyes on the side of his head hectically tried to catch a glimpse of whatever that was, but all he could see behind him was the same hallway.
All of the sudden, he could hear a fourth sound. A scratch sound, as if someone took a knife and tried carving something into stone. A shiver went down the bald bountyhunter's spine and he started running even faster. Uninterrupted, the sound came closer and closer, as if somebody was following behind him while letting his or her weapon slide against the wall. Then it happened. All of the hundreds of scars on the fishman's chest burst open, it felt like he was being dipped in a whole jar of cold, wet blood.
Cold?

Baltoh Hoxmarch opened his eyes. What he felt hadn't been blood - he was underwater. Anyone else would probably have been shocked if they had just fallen off their vessel during a dream, for some that could be lethal. Sadly though, Baltoh was used to this feeling. No night went without some sort of terrible nightmare of his experiences in the Illusia Kingdom. And everyday, it was almost entirely forgotten the moment he woke up.
With one forcefull kick into the water below him like only giants are able to perform them, he shot himself back up and got hold of his 'vessels' slippery back.
Said vessel was called The Impaler - and it was a gigantic black narwhal. Sighing and spitting out the water in his mouth, the huge moray-man pushed himself on the beasts back. The Impaler responded with a loud "OOOOOUUUEEEE!" sound, it probably just woke up as well.
"Good morning buddy!" Baltoh laughed.
Sitting himself a little more comfortable, he looked up in the sky. The sun couldn't have been up for more than an hour or so. At least it was a warm, sunny day; his clothes would dry quickly. He emptied his vest and tried wringing out it out with little success. Looking to his right, he noticed another thing that managed to lift his spirits a little: The bounty posters he had picked up yesterday were still neatly lying on The Impaler's back. They would have been drenched now if they had been in his vest, but luckily he had fallen asleep looking at them.
Looking at them again, he tried to memorize the face and numbers that matched the names, mouthing each one over and over again while he wrang out his clothes.
"29 Million Beri 'Plaguelord' Tauti Vihanta...
105 Milion Beri 'Collector' Surma Musta...
15 Milion Beri 'Warchief' Sota Punaisuus...
37 Milion Beri 'Hungry' Halu Ruskea..."

He had spent the day yesterday trying to find out which one of these names were actually around or at least close to his current location and - voilà - the 'Warchief' was actually said to be on the island. And rumored to start some big trouble as well.
For all Baltoh had found out about him, he was the Boss of a selfproclaimed revolutionary army. Not the one Monkey D. Dragon was leading, but his own, brutal one. The Sota Mercenaries they called themselves. Supposedly a bunch of violent brutes that sailed from isle to isle and ransacked everything they could find in the name of supposed freedom. But Winchester Island was apparently a challenge for them.

Baltoh's gaze wandered off into the distance. He had The Impaler swim away from the Winchester's coast a bit in fear of fishermen. But even from here he could see the giant wall that protected the Marine's safe and civilized side of the island from the lawless zone in the east.
In front of the wall, he could see the houses of the town, all of them at least two or three stories high in the air, topped off with slooping roofs. None of them were of the same colour, every single one of them was different. From above, the town had to look like a bag of candies.
And then there was the Marine Base: Fort Stanley, it said in big letters on the tower.

"Bring me to the shore buddy.", Baltoh ordered as he put his vest back on. "I'll get some food and then we are going to head over to the other side. See what this Warchief fellow is all about."
"OOOOOUUUEEEE!" was the response

[RK]

A young man was sitting on a dock looking over the deep azure waters of the West Blue. He was licking a lollipop that he received from the nice doctor lady up at the marine base. This young man, Shotaro Morishi, had paid a visit to the base to help heal the wounded and beaten marines in need with his Reiki. They had been skeptical at first, but they were quick to accept the relieving techniques that Shotaro had to offer. The old doctor was so thankful that she gave Shotaro a cherry flavored lollipop for his good work. Shotaro didn't need any rewards though, he was happy to help. Though his stomach thought otherwise. As he licked away at the candy, Shotaro looked over to his left, where his tiny little sailboat, the Junior Jester, was docked. It was a sturdy little ship, albeit rather simple. It had a small little cabin big enough for one person. Inside it was mostly bed, along with a desk and chair. Tucked under the desk was Shotaro's special crate that was given to him by his adoptive father Dr. Keiji. He was told that when the time was right, the box would be able to be opened. Shotaro had no idea what it could be, but if he had to guess, it's probably like, a safety helmet or something. Dr. Keiji was always a bit over protective of him. The young Super Hero bit the rest of his lollipop off the stick and tossed the trash into a nearby bin. Standing up he decided it was high time he got to the reason why he came here, which he had been side tracked from while he was helping the marines out. That goal was simple. Shotaro thought to himself as he smashed his fists together. "Commence Operation Clean up West Winchester." Shotaro said to himself as he clenched his hands tight together. Shotaro untied the Junior Jester from the dock and hopped on. Pushing it out to the bay he pulled the sail up and directed himself towards the western shore.

As Shotaro directed the Junior Jester west, he couldn't help but feel like he was being watched. He knew that some people had probably heard him talking before, but those people were all from the eastern part of Winchester. They wouldn't be phased by some nobody talking about going to the west side. Besides, they didn't even know who Shotaro was or what he meant by "cleaning up west Winchester". Maybe he was going over there to pick up trash, or paint some houses. In any case, even if they were some bad dudes, they'd be no match for Captain Mask...right? In any case, Shotaro was confident that no matter what happens, he'll be strong enough to take on some rowdy outlaws. If nothing else the good Captain can make a dashing escape? That sounds good.

Shotaro looked out from his little boat, he was staying close enough to the island that he could swim to shore, but far enough that he wouldn't raise suspicion. He could see the shore of the west side, it looked far less catered and well kept than the east for sure. On top of that he could see several large ships docked out to the sea. Some bigger than the others. Suddenly, Shotaro had a bit of a flashback to when he was at the marine base helping out. While he was healing some soldiers, several of the men in the same room were talking about some guy who was hanging around the west side and setting up shop there. What was his name...uh...like Warlord? Warking? Warwhatever, if this guy was as scary and intimidating as he's made out to be, he wouldn't be too hard to spot. "No villain can outrun Captain Mask's gaze of justice!" Trying to ignore that he had said something so revealing out loud, Shotaro directed his ship towards the shore, hoping to find to good place to hide his Junior Jester while he scouts around the island.

Finding a nice little cove close to the eastern border, Shotaro docked his ship behind a fairly large rock. No one would be finding that any time soon. Shotaro trudged through the sand of the beach onto the nearest patches of dirt. The populated part of the West Side wasn't far off. Shotaro made sure he had all his gear on him just in case Captain Mask needed to intervene. "Alright, West Winchester, you're a pile of dirty socks, and Captain Mask is your laundromat."

Shotaro hadn't actually turned into Captain Mask before...so this would be a first time for him. He looked around. This place didn't look so bad to be honest. Sure the grass beneath his feet was brown and dehydrated, and all the trees seemed to be crying in pain. But that's what he was here to do, to help out. That's what Heroes do. That's what Captain Mask does, he helps.

[Blaka]

Meanwhile, Baltoh had gotten some food. A task that earned him a lot of strange looks from the residents and cost him almost all money he had with him. Not to mention all the jokes he had to hold back about the grouchy innkeeper's moustache.
Nonetheless he managed to get a hold of seven large hamburgers. A filling meal, and a delicious one too. While Baltoh gobbled one after another, the Impaler was carrying him around the island to the western shore. Slowly, the grand towers of the Marine base disappeared from his field of vision together with the colourful roofs. In their stead, behind the wall, the houses got colourless and shabby. Most windows were barred, same for the doors. A desiccated forest grew near the borderwall. Very few trees had any leafs at all on them and if they did they were brown and dry.

"I see!" The fishman casually mentioned his thoughts to his ride in between bites "That's why they shut them out. They can't even leave the plants alone." From what he could see there had to be at least one or two larger fires lately. Probably from random battles which inevitably occured when you left criminal gangs to themselves in an area too small for more than one local boss.
The sounds coming from the rundown west town spoke for themselves as well: Bawling. Shouting. Frequent gunshots.
"Psh buddy, don't make a sound, alright? Am I glad we took the long way! Wouldn't want you near those folks!" The duo intentionally circuited the island a good distance away from the shore. Baltoh's fear of eager fishermen was just too big to let his narwhal friend swim closer than necessary.

The blueskinned bountyhunter took his last bite the moment the Impaler arrived at the exact opposite side of Winchester Island. A few obvious pirate vessels were docking here. Even from as far away as he was, the Moray-Fishman could see people in the ships' crow's nests. There was no chance in hell he could get an element of surprise.
"Alright buddy, listen up." He patted his ride on the back "As soon as I'm off, you  get underwater and back to the east side. I don't want to see you hurt."
The Impaler sped up in response, headed towards the docks.
His rider mentally prepared himself. West Winchester would be pure war. Seeing how a fishman like him didn't get along with most normal people, good for nothing pirates would dislike him even more. Hopefully there were a few among them with an actual prize on their head. Although the Warchief alone would surfice for now.

As they swam closer in between two of the larger ships, the one of the vessel's shadows blocked the sun for a moment.
"Hey, you down there!" bellowed someone on one of the decks "What are you supposed to be? You look like a sea monster on legs!"
Baltoh looked up. Of course he couldn't make out who was talking up there but that didn't matter.
"I can't see what you look like sir!" he yelled back "Your beauty must be blocking the light down here!"
At this point, the Impaler came to a hold near the docks so the pirate's answer got drowned out by the sound of a couple of waves crashing into the wooden planks.
"...down there and smash your face in?" was all the scarred moray-man could make out
"Why not, 'means I don't have to climb your railing for the measly amount of beri I'd get for you!"
"JUST YOU WAIT!" squeaked the other guy. Footsteps were heard, apparently the pirate came running down the ramp leading down from the deck.
"Don't worry! Rovahahahaha!"

The Impaler shot away the moment Baltoh had left his back. The wotan's bare feet landed on the creaking wooden docks with crashing thud.Just as he took out his machete from under his jacket, the insulted party had made it down from the deck:
An average sized looking dude with dark skin, dark blue t-shirt and pants and a red bandana on his head. Average sized meant about half the size of his rather huge opponent. But apparently that didn't ring any alarms in the poor man's brain. Breathing heavily, he took a few seconds to pant before eagerly sprinting towards the enemy, a katana ready in his hands. Obviously, there wasn't a single thought lost on what would happen next.
"Ihmissusi!" responded Baltoh. As soon as the victim was in range, he quickly slashed out with his giant machete, three consecutive times. Mr. Red Bandana's chest looked like it completely cracked open, three spurts of blood shot out of three huge wounds. Barely any space on the guy's chest was still intact. With his left hand, the giant fishman grabbed his target by the throat and lifted him up like it was nothing. Already, the loudmouth was about to go unconscious.
"SOTA PUNAISUUS!" Baltoh gnarled, baring his razorsharp teeth "WHERE?"
But the poor sod just stared at him with big eyes before his head fell backwards. Blood dripped from his torso and made a puddle on the docks.
"Bah." No way this weakling was worth anything. Accordingly, he was casually tossed behind Baltoh's back into the ocean.

Thankfully, nobody could have noticed this incident, the huge pirate ships blocked the view. Not that it mattered, Mr. Hoxmarch thought as he held his blade into the sea wash the red off. In a lawless town like this one he could cause as much as havoc as was needed. Eventually, if this Punaisuus was such a big name, the Warchief would have to concern himself with the bounty hunter running amok in his territorry.
As soon as the blade was clean, he stepped out of the shadow, machete in his right hand, ready to face whoever dared coming at him.

[RK]

After only a few short moments of walking, Shotaro could already clearly hear the sounds of West Winchester...Westchester. Sounds of people and guns and sudden banging noises began to flutter into his ears. The sounds of injustice and fear. However, the young man could still hear the ocean. The crisp crashing waves, knocking up against the rocks and cascading across the sands. Sloshing and sliding up and down, the breeze carried the one of a kind ocean scent to Shotaro, something he honestly loved. As his feet trudged onward, coming closer and closer to town, Shotaro began to realize that he might seem a bit too...noticeable. Sure, in Eastchester he looked totally normal, but here everyone was pirates and outlaws. Shotaro felt like his current clothes would seem a bit conspicuous. A bright yellow T-shirt with the word "Sundae" written on it, a pair of shorts, and some regular shoes. He also had a backpack that carried his hero attire. He was also wearing his shades, which he decided to slyly pull over his eyes. "Alright Westchester, if i were a big shot pirate who's hiding out in the lawless part of an island, where would i be wasting away?" Shotaro thought to himself as he entered the main part of town.

There were several people here, and none of them looked like they were in a happy pappy mood. In fact, some of them even looked angry. Shotaro didn't really like the idea of getting info from criminals, but if anything they probably weren't all bad guys. He'd heard about people who were brought into some pirate crews against their will. Shotaro almost got sidetracked thinking of whether or not any of these people were like that, but regained his train of thought and approached a nearby group of 3 men, each of whom were dressed in shabby clothes, had swords and guns on them, and each appeared to be adorned with similar emblems on their clothing. Shotaro didn't fit in at all, but that was fine. "An' i says to em, yeh, i says to em, thats not a banana!" one of the three men bellow out as they all start laughing hysterically, it appears as though Shotaro had just missed a very clever joke, what a shame. However now was not the time for jokes, now was the time for justice.

"What's the buzz about guys." Shotaro asked calmly, one trick to approaching unfamiliar people is to go in when they are happy, or at least when their guard is down. One of the men, holding back more laughter, chimed in to respond to Shotaro. "The Big Cheese is gathering everybody together." He said wiping tears from his eyes. Shotaro nodded his head, despite having no idea what that even meant. He crossed his arms to appear more intimidating. "Who might this big cheese be? I'm uh...new here." Shotaro said, his voice almost shifting over into a heroic and serious tone. He had to be careful not to say anything that would give him away. "Eh, i don't recall the Warchief bringing in any more recruits? We've already got enough as it is. Barely enough rum for us veterans with all the newbies inhaling it!" The Pirate responded, his face started off with confusion but turned to glee at the mention of his rum and newbies joke, which had his two cohorts break out laughing. Shotaro was pretty sure that, if anything these guys were pretty drunk. Shotaro looked a bit closer and could see some stains on their shirts from booze, typical.

Shotaro made his way towards the center of the town, trying to avoid any other people. At least now he knew who he was looking for. This, "Warchief" was apparently top dog, and that means that taking him down would cause whatever he's planning to collapse...or cause everyone else to go along with it anyway...everything's a gamble. Even Justice. One day you might think you're saving the day, but you've actually fallen into the enemies trap, and have been unwillingly helping them. Only then for them to kidnap you and turn you into a cyborg...weird.

Asking those guys where the Warchief was would have been too obvious, and a bit alarming perhaps. So instead, the young hero would have to look on his own, starting with the literal first place he could be. The pub. Specifically the only one in town thats still in business and not currently being robbed.

"The Battered Breadstick"

As Shotaro opened up the doors to step inside, the place was dead silent. There were only a few patrons actually here. The establishment was dark too, only a few lights were even present, and they were all dim candles. Shotaro sat down at the bar, he didn't really drink alcohol, luckily however he spotted a kettle steaming away in back and ordered a cup of coffee. He could use a cup a joe to keep him at the ready. As he had his drink placed in front of him, Shotaro gave the man his money with a smile and thanked him. The man behind the counter, a balding middle aged man with an insightful looking mustache shook his head. As the bartender walked away, Shotaro could hear him say something under his breath. "Damn, Sota bringing in youngsters now too?"

Sota...was that the Warchief's name? Shotaro thought to himself as he took a swig from his mug of coffee, all he needed now was some jelly donuts...or glazed...or creme filled...

[Blaka]

To Baltoh's surprise, there weren't as many guys coming at him as he had thought. In fact, even though the noise of the lawless city was ever-present, the streets in front of him were almost empty. Most of it had to be either in a different part of town.
He could only see a total of four people wandering down the streets in front of him. One was just turning a corner, the other three were stumbling in the fishman's direction. The closer they got, the louder their laughs got.
"A Banana! HA!"
They were holding onto each other, apparently too drunk to walk on their own. All of them were dressed in what almost could pass as a uniform it wasn't so full of holes: Completely black vests, boots and pants that fell just over their knees. Baltoh decided to approach them. Obviously they were part of some kind of group - which hopefully didn't just consist of three drunk guys.

The trio ignored him until he stood right in front of them. If not for the environment they were in, the scene could have been quite comical. All of them suddenly stopped laughing and babbling nonsense and all slowly let their eyes take in the blue guy in their way.
"Wh-where's your logo dude?" asked one of them.
"Or your shoes?" mumbled the guy next to him.
Likely, they were too inebriated to even found it weird to stumble upon a giant fishman on the road.
A little surprised, said fishman looked blinked in quick succession for a bit before he realised what they were talking about.
Like the trio, he was wearing a dark vest and something that probably counted as short pants for them. Even though both was by no means black, it seemed to count. But he was missing both the footwear and something he hadn't seen from further away. All three had a symbol embroidered in their vest, the white contours of a horse head.
A sensible person with a reason to lay low in a dangerous territorry like West Winchester would have played along, thought Baltoh to himself. Would have acted like the emblem had fallen off or explained his lack of boots. But he had no reasons.
"Why, is that a talisman that protects me or something? Do I look like I need that, huh?" The Wotan grinned at his own joke. The best thing was that his soon to be victims were very unlikely to even get it with how wasted they all were.
"You could -hic- you could say so..." whispered the third guy. "You stupid or somethin'?" The moment their pal said this, the other two put on an overly exaggerated look of confusion. They wrinkled their foreheads and sniffed at the blue guy's idiocy.
Baltoh's grin got even bigger. His teeth began to show.
"Who do I need protection from?"
"You are the second dude in like...two minutes. But you don't look new, you have the clothes and all..." drunkard number two carried on mumbling
"The warchief man! The warchief!"
Jackpot.
"That's his uniform then? You drunks are his men?"
General nodding.
"And where might he be, huh?"
The excitement and ill intent had to be audible in the bountyhunters voice. Even for someone as boozed up as this trio.
"You -hic- you don't wanna join do ya? 'chief can't play with you man, gots to plan the attack!"
"Aren't you a genius! Rovahahaha!" Baltoh threw his head back, he couldn't hold it in anymore.
"We gots to stop you then!"

That sounded like quite the task for the triumvirate of alcoholics, but they tried nonetheless. Guy number one tripped as he tried to draw his gun. The other two just managed to pull out their swords without cutting each other.
"So many blades unnerve me a little, you know!"
Indeed, for a few years now Baltoh got a little nervous around bladed weapons. The trauma of the Illusia Kingdom sat too deep in his bones. But that didn't mean he was paralyzed. All it meant was he got unreasonably viscious.
Putting his right food forward, the machete fighter conveniently stepped on the head of the grounded gunman. This resulted in a painful scream followed by the horrifying sound of breaking bones. The guy who had the misfortune to stand to Baltoh's right, thus closest to his weapon hand recieved a quick slash over the chest. The other one managed to land a hit on his enemy's left forearm, which made the Wotan gnarl in pain and anger. However, before the befuddled swordman could raise his weapon again, he earned a hefty punch in the face, which send him flying against the wall to Baltoh's left.
Whimpering, the trio was lying on the ground while Baltoh stomped onwards.
"Stupid little..." he grumbled as blood from the wound on his arm came running down to his hand. The cut wasn't deep, but annoying.

Leisurely, Mr. Hoxmarch roamed the streets. Curiously, he didn't meet anyone else for a while. The sounds of the city got quieter too. Shouts and bawling was still heard in the distance but the gunshots stopped entirely. Was the Warchief gathering his guys for the attack? If so, where? And was he even a serious thread if his army consisted of whatever those guys had been on? At least they had the discipline for a dresscode. Albeit not a very special one.
After a few minutes of walking, the giant arrived at what at least looked like a place one could actually enter. All the other houses had either broken roofs or wooden bars across windows and doors.
The Battered Breadstick, said the sign above the door.
Ducking, Baltoh tried to enter. Which promptly resulted in him bashing his forehead full force against the doorframe, slipping and falling on his back.
"OW!" The giant moray-man's yell thundered through the otherwise weirdly quiet streets. "Stupid little...stupid little doorways!" he cried out, laying on his back in the dust. Only his bare legs were lying inside the bar, the rest of him was still outside.

[RK]

Shotaro looked at his coffee, hoping it hadn't been spiked as he saw a giant fishman, a Wotan he believed them to be called, bust part of the Battered Breadstick's entrance. Surprise and intrigue crash landed onto the super hero's face as he put down his mug and stood up. The Wotan's feet were sticking inside the establishment, much to the ire of the bartender. The young hero stepped outside, being careful not to stop on the Wotan. Examining him more closely, Shotaro could see this Wotan had an unusually long neck, kinda like a giraffe but not nearly as long. He had a menacingly toothed jaw, and some beady yellow eyes. Overall, he looked like a monster who jumped straight out of a movie. Shotaro would never judge him on that fact however. Shotaro was the guy who was gonna run around dressed as a superhero to save people after all.

Shotaro looked at the Wotan a bit more, he was pretty big, must have been nearly twice Shotaro's height. Shotaro looked around a bit, noticing that quite a few more people had gathered around probably due to the commotion this Wotan had caused just now involving the door. Strange to think a bunch of outlaws would care so much about just a doorway. The young Hero looked down at the Wotan, who was still on the ground, it appeared as though his face was wrought with anger at the tiny doorway.

It appeared as though the outlaws in the area were kind of...coming closer? The definitely weren't being shy about it. Some of them had swords drawn and guns at the ready. "Hey Kid! Whatcha got in that bag there?" Said one of the outlaws who was carrying a baseball bat, beating it against his open palm. "A bag like that, its probably filled with CASH!" The outlaw chimed in again.

"Crap" Shotaro thought to himself as he grasped his bag close to him. If anyone were to see inside this bag, his career as Captain Mask would be over before it ever even started. He'd have to change his name to something stupid, like Captain Flask. The men started walking faster towards Shotaro. There must have been like, 25 men brandishing weapons and greed. Shotaro looked down at the Wotan, on the ground. Somehow he had completely forgot about him. "Hey, i don't know you, and you don't know me, but uh...wanna do me a solid and look...i don't know...imposing? Just to scare off these goons?" Shotaro said with haste, the men were getting closer. "GET THE BRAT" All the outlaws chimed in together as they began to rush towards the young super hero, who was feeling about 500% less super. "Eh, i tried." Shotaro uttered under his breath as he jumped over the beached Wotan and made a break for the outskirts of town. There'd be no way those lame brains could keep up with CAPTAIN MASK. After all Shotaro was pretty fit, he needed to be. Most of those outlaws were probably either drunk or too out of shape to actually be able to keep up with model citizen Shotaro Morishi. Managing to ditch the pack of bumbling bozo's, Shotaro took this chance to catch his breath. He looked around, there was literally one house about a block away from him. It was boarded up, but it looked like it would be a good place to take a moment to rest, and then finally change.

As Shotaro closed in on the house, it was much smaller than it appeared to be from far away. Almost like one of those magic houses thats smaller on the outside and bigger on the inside...something like that. The front door wasn't boarded up, thankfully, and Shotaro went to grab at the Door Knob, which, unthankfully, was locked. "...i wonder" Shotaro said to himself aloud as he contemplated the overall stability of this house. The young hero grasped the door knob with both hands and pulled hard, but it didn't budge. Sadly, Shotaro would have to go with Plan B, neanderthal tactics. Taking a fighting stance, Shotaro reeled his fist back and prepared to punch a hole clean through the door. "Alright, my first special move!" Shotaro said aloud as he tightened his fist. "HERO..." Shotaro stopped himself short as he realized he wasn't actually Captain Mask, not yet anyway. "Well, it's clear why i can't do that...i guess i'll just have to go with Shotaro Punch!" Shotaro said as he used a totally not special in any way regular basic normal person punch on the door. He wasn't able to bust through it like he had hoped, but he did dent it a little bit. "Alright, progress is the foundation of being a hero!" Shotaro said as he raised his leg up slightly. "Shotaro Kick!" He shouted as he planted his foot right into the dented door, busting down the top half. "Woohoo! Alright, lets get to changing." Shotaro said to himself as he unlocked the door from inside and walked indoors. Aside from the now broken door, it was really pleasent looking. There were several framed pictures, a fireplace, and a couch that looked like it would be premium for taking naps on. Shotaro snooped around for someplace inconspicuous to change.

After a few moments of opening and closing doors, the soon to be Captain Mask discovered a small bathroom with a toilet, sink, and shower. A Bedroom, and another door that was locked. Shotaro had already busted one door, he wasn't too keen on breaking another. Shotaro decided to change in the Bedroom, as it was the second biggest room, and also had a large stand alone floor mirror. Shotaro entered and placed his bag on the bed, which had a really nice looking blanket draped over it, green in color with intricate swirling designs. Opening up his bag, Shotaro pulled out his Sweatshirt and sweatpants, his wool cap, his scarf, and his gloves. Shotaro placed them out in an orderly fashion across the bed and closed the door to the bedroom, locking it as well. Shotaro looked in the mirror, his shirt now reading ɘɒbnuƧ, he took his shirt off and struck a mighty pose. "Henshin!" Shotaro said aloud as he began turning from Shotaro Morishi, into Captain Mask!

Now wearing all of his gear, Captain Mask knew that it was time to return to the town and continue his pursuit of the Warchief. However...he still wasn't so sure about taking on all those goons at once...no, no task would be too great for Captain Mask to handle, none! The brilliant Captain Mask opened the Bedroom door and stashed all his clothes in his bag under the bed. Should be safe there, he thought to himself. Captain Mask made a mad dash towards the town. It appeared as though the outlaws were all around, looking for Shotaro. Too bad for them that all they would be finding is the fist of justice, delivered express class from Captain Mask! The good captain decided that simply walking back to the Battered Breadstick would be too obvious, they would find the hero and capture him nigh immediately. Instead, he climbed the nearest rooftop and began jumping from roof to roof. This way even if they saw him, Captain Mask would have the high ground.

At last, landing on the roof of the Battered Breadstick, Captain Mask looked out over the roof, there were still some guys here. Perfect. "Ok, now i just gotta say my opening line." Captain Mask thought to himself before becoming extremely nervous. It was just made clear to Shotaro that he had left his heroic opening phrase in his bag, and just so happened to not memorized it. Wonderful. Now he would have to make something up as he goes...this is gonna be, bad...

Shotaro made himself visible to everyone down on the ground. There were 5 guys there, each with swords. "...Who the hell is that?" Uttered one of the men to his cohorts. "I have no idea...looks like some kind of circus freak..." Shotaro struck another pose, his left hand on his hip and his right arm stretched out, pointing down at the men below. "Who am I?"

"A Divine Wind..."

"An Ambassador from Hell..."

"The Man of Many Faces!"

"But only one true heart!"

"I am Captain Mask!!!"

[Blaka]

While Shotaro was standing over him, Baltoh was lying on the floor, holding his head with both hands. Panting, he tried to get rid of the throbbing pain in his skull. Although he much preferred blunt damage over sharp blades, he hated when stuff like this happened to him.
He could hear a few people murmurring inside the establishment.

After a few seconds, the pain faded away and he was able to put his hands down. Above him stood a young man, around 20 years old. He was wearing a bright yellow t-shirt that stuck out among the otherwise dreary colours of West Winchester. The man's black spiky hair was parted off to the side which made his shilouette look a little strange.
"Hi there!" groaned Baltoh at this new acquaintance. He didn't look like one of Sota's grunts, at least he wasn't wearing the uniform.
The blueskinned bountyhunter pushed himself off the ground so he could sit up straight. One more time he shook his head to make the throbbing in his head go away, then blinked a few times to be able to see clearly. Just then he noticed. Finally, he had attracted some attention! Not according to the plan, but that hardly mattered. From all corners of the street they were on, including the bar he had tried to enter, men in black vests and pants came closer and closer to the two people in front of the Battered Breadstick. Some of them had guns, a few even sabers, but most were holding makeshift tools like metal rods or wooden bats. All of them had drawn their weapons however. And all of them had a sleezy grin on their face.
Grunting annoyed, the giant fishman tried to find his machete that had to have fallen to the ground somewhere in reach. Behind his back he could hear one of the grunts threatening the mister in the yellow shirt.
"Hey, i don't know you, and you don't know me, but uh...wanna do me a solid and look...i don't know...imposing? Just to scare off these goons?"
"Yeah yeah" mumbled Baltoh in response, still looking for his weapon "I intend to do a little more than that...There we go!"
Finally, he grabbed his machete with his right hand, it had been lying close to his knees inside the Breadstick.
All of the sudden, everyboy started shouting: "GET THE BRAT!"

The giant fishman, still a bit dizzy, jumped a little as 'the brat' hopped over him and ran for his life, at least 15 guys on his heels, laughing and shouting their lungs out. Most didn't get very far, esspecially those who had just been inside the bar. Too drunk to even properly walk, let alone run, they tripped over the own feet and dropped on their faces.
In the end, there were only 10 guys left to stand around the bald seamonster. Of course, the gunmen were all running after the mysterious stranger with the bag, as they had the best chance of catching him. Sadly, all four of the swordman stayed where they were.
The rest exchanged glances with each other, apparently unsure of how to properly approach the situation. This gave Mr. Hoxmarch the time he needed to get up and brush off the dust on his clothes.
"Eh!" One of the goons finally started "You're missing the logo! How did you even get that off?" This earned him a pityful look from the moray-man.
"Never had one."
"S-so you're annn oudsider?" And there were only 9. 9 sober guys that could be any sort of danger to Baltoh. Someone too boozed up to speak could be neglected.
"You could say so..." he muttered in response, gently swinging his blade through the air. "So how are we going about this? 9 little cowards against one? Not at the same time, right?" Once more, he grinned his wide grin, revealing the sharp set of teeth underneath.

As always, the grinning fishman's ability to provoke presented him with the enemy rushing forward. Thankfully, it wasn't all of them, only half. Clearly, the others, all of them swordmen, knew better than to come to close to a guy that was over twice their own height. Said guy didn't let himself get impressed by what was coming his way, he could deal with bats and rods. Only the blade weapons made him nervous and those weren't priority right now.
Three guys were coming from the front, another from the right and the last one from the left. The one on the right was the drunkard that had just tried to talk. As foreseen, he tripped and fell flat on his mug, just like his buddies earlier. The left one would be a problem, but first he had to deal with the three attackers in front of him.
"Elonkorjaaja!" bellowed the machete monster as he grabbed his weapon with both hands and slashed it from left to right through the air. The result was a thick, wide airslash that was hurled at the incoming trio. It hit all three of them in the chest, throwing them back and on the ground, blood gushing out of their torsos. To Baltoh's anger, he could do nothing to prevent the attack from the left. The goon was carrying a large rod of what looked like it could even be steel. Accordinly, he swung said rod at his opponent's already bleeding left forearm.
"Graaaah!" The fishman roared in pain. His arm didn't break like any normal person's would have, but the attack left a huge bruise right where the other guy had already cut him. The only proper punishment was a forceful ellbow to the nose - which the unlucky rod-fighter swiftly recieved, propelling his immediatly unconsciouss body away.

"Rovahaha!" Pleased, Baltoh let his gaze wander over the bodies he had just so easily downed. "So who's next?" The leftover swordmen were slowly backing away. But they weren't looking at the wotan. They were looking up, to the roof of the Battered Breadstick.
"A Divine Wind..."
"Hmm?" Baltoh turned and around and looked up as well.
"An Ambassador from Hell..." He couldn't actually see what was happening, the sun was shining in his eyes and blocking his view from whoever was up there.
"The Man of Many Faces! But only one true heart! I am Captain Mask!!!"
"Who the hell...?"

[RK]

"I AM CAPTAIN MASK!"

The Hero shouted as he placed his arms out in front of him with closed fists. With a rushing leap, he jumped into the air and brought both his arms back. With an outstretched leg, he came crashing down on one of the remaining men. "HERO HEEL!" The excellent Captain Mask cried out as his foot came slamming down. The enemy was down on his stomach and had lost his grip on his sword. If the Hero had to guess, no one had ever seen someone like him before. A Superhero? Those are just kids tales. Not anymore! Captain Mask struck a triumphant pose, both arms pointed to the sky with his index fingers pointed upwards. "No fiend of evil can find mercy when faced with true justice!" The Brilliant Captain Mask announced as he placed both hands on his shoulders. There were only 5 goons left. It appeared as though the large fishman had taken out a few of them before Captain Mask had arrived. No matter, as long as he defeats even 1 enemy, he would have done a great service! "Come now, and face the man of many faces!" Captain Mask declared his challenge, his shades reflecting light off his eyes. Striking a peace sign with both fingers as he placed them outwards he rearranged his hands into fists and looked at each enemy one at a time. They each had swords, and appeared to be finally sobering up. Looks like that huge fishman must've knocked some sense into em. One of the men, a curly haired, tubby one decided to lead the charge. The pirate brought his sword forward directly, intending to stab Captain Mask. This slow and predictable strike would be easily deflected by the Hero. These drunkard pirates must have had too much faith in themselves. "Hero Knife!" Captain Mask cried out as he brought his flat hand down sideways, knocking the blade out of the pirates hands. "How lazy!" The heroic Captain Mask scolded as he brought his fist forward into the pirates face. "Hero Knuckle!" Captain Mask said, his punch was strong enough to bring this man down to his knees, and fall flat on his face.

"Which of you is next to face the heroic fervor of Captain Mask!" The superhero called out. His resolve was iron, much like the sword he had just picked up from the first guy. He wasn't too good with swords, in fact, he was super bad with them. However, a hero must know how to use everything in his arsenal to the best of its ability, even if that meant taking from the enemy. Truthfully however, Shotaro had been longing for a chance to get better with a sword. Captain Mask could really use a signature sword...and maybe a gun...or multiple cool weapons...yeah...

"D-dont think you can ruff up my buddies and get away with it!" One of the pirates yelled, his voice switching for droned and sloppy to strong and angry. He and his 3 other friends charged at Captain Mask. Despite his inexperience, he would handle this as safely as possible. The first guy came in pretty fast, he seemed to be the most fit out of all of them. He brought his sword down hard, trying to cut up Captain Mask. The hero responded by blocking with his own sword. He definitely was leaving himself open, as there were 3 more guys about to get up in his face trying to kill him. Pushing the man away with a powerful thrust. With his free hand he delivers a Mask Knuckle to the previous attacker straight to his gut. The next three guys bore swords at the hero. One of them had twin swords. "Alright...lets see if you guys can take on the true might of a real hero!" Captain Mask said as he bore his sword at the 3 enemy pirates.

No big, he could take on three guys at once...maybe. He definitely was not going to ask the Wotan for help, he seemed to be beat up enough. He'd be able to give him some Reiki healing in a moment if he'd accept. However right now Captain Mask needed to find a way to beat these guys. The glorious Captain Mask thought to himself for a moment before picking up the other sword of the guy he had just beaten. Now holding two swords, his plan was most certainly not to use these both to fight the pirates. Holding both swords upwards, he brought them back, holding them like spears. "Hero Throw!" Captain Mask yelled as he tossed two of the swords at the enemies. One of them was able to land in a pirates leg, but the other missed. "Heh, this idiot gave us another sword!" One of the pirates yelled as they both ditched their ally and ran at Captain Mask. "No man should ever leave his friend behind!" Captain Mask proclaimed as he dashed past the two attackers and up to the one he wounded, pulling the sword out of his leg. "Don't worry, im sure this will heal properly." He said quietly to the man has he grabbed him and began to spin around with the man. As he spun and spun he then through the man forwards into his allies, knocking them down and out.

Captain Mask removed his scarf so that his mouth was visible. He ran up to the Wotan and began inspecting him. "Now, im not sure about the physiology of Fishmen OR giants, but i've heard they're similar enough to humans to share blood so, this will probably work on you too." Scoping over the Wotan, he noticed a large bruise forming on his arm. "Ah, so this is something i can manage!" Captain Mask said as he breathed on his palms and placed his hands on the bruise. "This wont heal it quickly, but it should help sooth the pain and take your mind off of it." The Captain spoke softly, in a friendly, but leader-like voice. "By the way, you may have already heard me before, but I'm Captain Mask." He said gleefully as he removed his hands from the Wotan's arm. Striking another heroic pose and shouted to the heavens. "AND I AM A SUPERHERO!"

[Blaka]

And so, Baltoh was saved by the hero. Granted, he could have taken the Warchief's soldiers by himself. All the hero really did was save him from the annoyance of having to fight a couple of swordmen. To put it in perspective, it was a nuisance to him like having to swat a couple of spiders to was a nuisance to someone who found spiders disgusting.

Yet, that did not lessen his surprise and joy of watching the fight. Indeed, like Shotaro had thought to himself, Baltoh had never seen a superhero before. Let alone in action! Although, the young Wotan didn't exactly admire the hero as someone to look up to. He just saw an incredibly cool person in front of him. A person that he would like to get to know better.
"Hero Knife!" What a neat idea to deal with swords! Then again, for that kind of technique one's unprotected hand was incredibly close to the sharp blade. A blade of his own still provided some distance.
"Hero Knuckle!" The blueskinned bountyhunter couldn't help but chuckle at his savior's attire. A rather casual black sweater with red lines down the side and matching sweatpants. A red scarf, shades and a grey woolcap covered up face and hair. Red gloves somewhat protected his hands. The whole outfit resonated with confidence.
"Alright...lets see if you guys can take on the true might of a real hero!"
That was it. Baltoh burst out laughing. He had to hold his stomach and fall on his behind out of laughter.
"Rovahahaha! You get them cap!"
'Cap' promptly did just that. One by one they fell, Baltoh laughing at every single hit, until the man with the many faces took out the last one. Awesome!
As Captain Mask came back running towards, Baltoh wiped a few happy tears out of his eyes.
"Rovahaha! I like your style dude!"

Still chuckling, he let the stranger treat his arm before introducing himself.
"I AM A SUPERHERO!"
"Sure you are!" grinned the giant fishman in response, patting his new acquaintance on the back. Maybe a bit too much wotan force behind it.
As long as he was sitting and the captain standing, the two men were about the same height. "Thanks for the help there mister. The world could use more guys like you. You know, funny looking freaks that protect people first, then ask for money. Not those uptight Marines who only bother when they are told to." As always, Baltoh didn't mean to be insulting, he just couldnt help himself. He continued grinning, at his own joke this time. "Sorry to disappoint but I can't pay you. Yet."

With his uninjured arm, the moray-man reached inside his vest to search for the warchief's bounty letter. As he did so, he continued talking.
"You see, I think you and me are two of the only three -" he paused to chuckle at the wording he was about to use "'lawabiding citizens' around West Winchester. I saw a civilian earlier, he had to get away. Did you see him? He didn't look like he'd survive very long out here. Honestly, he could have used your help a lot more. Rovahaha!"
Finally, he found what he was looking for, pulled it out and held it in the hero's face.
"You see, this fattie is responsible for the organisation of the scums around here. And I'm here to get him! Rumor is he's planning to push east. That'd mean an awful lot of dead marines before they gun him down."

Putting the wanted poster on the ground for Mr. Mask to take a closer look at it, the huge fishman stood up. Now he was towering again.
"I tried to lure him out by making a bit of noise but looking at this army here", he made a vague gesture in the direction of the unconciouss bodies on the ground "I might need some help. I don't know how much you expect as payment. But like...7 and half million should be enough to buy a cool...costume or whatever you like, huh? What do you say cap'?"

[RK]

M-Money?

For Heroism!?

Captain Mask reeled at the thought, how could a hero take payment for their deeds?! Absolutely inexcusable! A hero does not accept money, for the joy of saving those in need is the greatest payment of all. When a baby calls out for its mother because its hungry, does the mother charge the infant for use of her breasts? NO, She does it out of love, because it is her duty as a parent. Captain Mask's duty is to protect the innocent, and those who cannot protect themselves, because their safety is all that matters to him.

Even if Captain Mask's feeble alter ego Shotaro Morishi needed money to survive.

"While i am delighted that you are ok, and a fellow crime stopper like myself. I must decline a share of the wealth, Mr. Rovaha. It is simply not in my nature to accept payment for my heroism." Captain Mask boldly. The Hero took a look at the bounty poster in Rovaha's hands. He was in fact a large man, with a bounty of 15,000,000 Beri. Captain Mask placed his scarf back over his mouth. "From what i've heard this guy was an Ex Revolutionary. I can only imagine what turned him away from such a noble cause." Captain Mask said in a brief but intrigued tone. The Revolutionaries were a force he often looked up to. Even though he also looked up to the marines...and some pirates. It doesn't matter who they are, if they protect people, they've earned the respect of Captain Mask. However, something seemed off to the shining hero in this moment. His head began to hurt and he was hearing a ringing sound in his ears. "Hang on Rova...my head's feeling a bit strange." Captain Mask said, trying not to lose his mighty tone of voice. He took a few steps away from the Wotan, before suddenly running behind a nearby building.

Taking off his wool cap, he ran his gloved hands through his hair. He had never felt like this before. The ringing was getting louder and louder, and the headache was intensifying. He put his cap back on and took some deep breaths. Removing his scarf once more, he breathed onto his hands and struck a meditative stance. He began to press his hands up against his face, head, and body. "c'mon...please work.." Shotaro said, his voice halted and worrisome. As the pain began to subside, Shotaro let out a pent up exhale, and his confidence returned. Once again he was Captain Mask.

Stepping out from behind the building, the spectacular Captain Mask placed his scarf and cap back on. Captain Mask knew that Baltoh was on the other side and had met Shotaro, it'd be foolish to return to him without getting all of his disguise back on. "Fear not, my good Wotan, for i will help you in your endeavor to apprehend this foul criminal! For i am Captain Mask!" The Heroic Captain Mask stated as he walked over to one of Sota's men, who was starting to stir out of his unconscious state. The Hero picked him up by the collar and held the criminal up onto his feet. "Alright, we can do this one of two ways. The first way is you tell me what i wanna hear and i let you go. The other way is you tell me nothing and i let bad cop over there take a crack at you." Captain Mask said as he pointed with his thumb back at Baltoh. "So then, your leader is Sota, where is he, and how do we stop his plan?"

The pirate looked at Captain Mask with nothing more than a big frown. His face plastered with a less than enthused expression. "Y'know, i do remember something now, don't I?" The pirate said, his face striking a smile. Captain Mask tightened his grip on the pirate. "Go on." With that, the pirate spat at the ground between him and Captain Mask. "I'm pretty sure if you make your way east for about 10 miles, you can go straight to hell, freak." The pirate let out a disgusting laugh as Captain Mask tossed him towards Baltoh. "Maybe he'll talk if he's got someone a bit more intimidating breathing down his neck, eh?" Captain Mask replied. The pirate's laughter was unbearably gross and just..wrong. This guy was a serious nut case, but he was a loyal nutcase, so that earned him a few points at least.

Shotaro took a moment to think about, of all things, the box on his ship. Maybe, just maybe, if he had access to whatever was inside that box, it would have helped him in this situation. Maybe he could have beaten those thugs quicker. Maybe he it'd be some unique weapon. Maybe it would let him see things from a different point of view and he'd be able to find Sota. Maybe there was nothing and his old man really was just a crazy old scientist who sent his adopted child away. Nonetheless, whatever was inside, it would most certainly be of use when it opens. That's the point isn't it, for Captain Mask to open up his box and become a true hero? Whatever, there's an interrogation that needs to be finished. Captain Mask would find this pirate and bring him to justice. Well...HE wouldn't do it, Baltoh would probably take the reigns on that one...CAPTAIN MASK WOULD AID THE BOUNTY HUNTER IN MONEY MAKING ENDEAVOR! OR HIS NAME WASN'T CAPTAIN MASK!

Captain Mask was unconsciously striking poses with his back turned to Baltoh, if anything, at least it kept his cover convincing.

[Blaka]

The fact that Shotaro didn't want any money for his service managed to increase Baltoh's hype for the hero's very existence even more.
"Rovahaha! Right, I didn't tell you my name, how rude!" After his new ally had looked at the bounty poster, he put it back in his vest. "My name is Baltoh Hoxmarch. But if I can call you captain you can call me whatever."

Suddenly, Mask started acting rather strangely. With a bit of a shiver in his brave voice, he claimed that he wasn't feeling too well and swiftly disappeared behind a near corner.
"Heyhey!" Baltoh called after him "Everything alright?"
Curious, he carefully followed him. Hopefully the guy didn't actually hurt himself during the fight and held the pain in during their entire conversation. What a ridiculous action that would be. Then again, the Wotan had already figured out that the Captain was wasting a lot of energy just on looking awesome. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but maybe he overdid it a little.
"Should I get you a bag to puke in or anything?" With these words the bald bountyhunter peeked around the corner - to discover that his acquaintance was completely fine.
"Fear not, my good Wotan, for i will help you in your endeavor to apprehend this foul criminal! For i am Captain Mask!"
"Rovahaha! Sure you are!" Baltoh smirked as the hero walked past him towards one of the downed criminals on the ground. He was pleasantly surprised that a man in the Blues even knew the term Wotan. Usually, people were already treating fishmen as freaky aliens. Rarely did they ever differenciate between their different kinds.
"Don't worry, I won't ask. We all have our problems sometimes."

To his amazement, Mask started interrogating the soldier. Granted, not in a very effective way. All he could winkle out was the fact that he wasn't very good at interrogating people. The Wotan tried his best to stand menacingly behind his new partner but couldn't help but chuckle at the insults Morishi recieved.
All of the sudden, he was tossed the laughing mook, who landed on the dusty ground in front of the fishman's bare feet. Apparently whatever attack had hit him earlier had damaged a ribs, which fully broke on impact now. Thus, the laughter turned into a painful cough.
"Maybe he'll talk if he's got someone a bit more intimidating breathing down his neck, eh?"
"Yeah, better leave the dirty work to me." Baltoh agreed. The amused look on his face disappeared as he picked up the still coughing madman by the throat. Intimidation was key. One had to refuse even hints of fun to the target to get the quickest results.
Steadily, the moray-fishman increased the pressure on the lowlife's adam's apple. Immediatly, his victim realised the situation. While he was raised higher and higher, the look on his face turned to panic. His eyes widened and his cough turned into a desperate choking sound.
Baltoh held him against the sun and let him struggle in the air for a few seconds. Blood was running down from where the Elonkorjaaja technique had hit him in the chest.
"Oh look" the fishman whispered, clearly audible to the man "you got your uniform all dirty."
Further choking was the only response. Holding him right up to his face, the moray-man made sure the guy could see every single sharp teeth in the monster's mouth.
"Gonna talk now?"
The struggling got weaker. Soon, the man would be out of breath.

Mr. Hoxmarch decided that the fool would comply now - so he slammed him back down on the dusty street. The poor guy could only gasp before colliding with the earth again. A horrifying crashing sound indicated a few more bones shattering in the process. Baltoh bend down and let go of his victim's throat before raising his thundering voice:
"THE WARCHIEF! WHERE IS HE? WHAT IS HE PLANNING?"
"He's marching..." little more than a quiet breath was still possible. Not too unlikely that the tortured man had to use all the strength he had left to even form word. "...east... He has...canons...he'll blow up the wall."
"EAST? WHERE EXACTLY?" East really was everywhere from here. The wall was long enough for the two partners in justice to be too late.

However, before the snitch could respond, the wind brought a sound from the direction of the wall to the Wotan's ears. A voice, distorted, but loud. Someone was speaking through a megaphone.
"Rovahaha!" The grin reappeared back on Baltoh's face. "Thank you, I think I got it already."
Leaving the thug to his misery, he stood up straight and turned back to Captain Mask, who was posing in front of the unconciouss enemies for some reason.
"That must be our guy."

---

East, at the border of the forest that surrounded the Winchester Wall, "The Warchief" Sota Punaissuus stood in front of his troops. Every lowlife of West Winchester was there, all wearing the same black vests with the horsehead symbol on them. They had carried five huge canons in total, each one on wheels. For every canon it took a total of six men to shove it forward. And they weren't even half way there yet.

In front of his army he stood, a huge man in a barbarian style iron armor and a horned helmet that covered his face completely. Only two dark holes indicated that he could actually see something. The heavy armor he was wearing completely covered his arms and legs. Gray fur pads protected his knees, where he denied himself hard armor in favor of mobility. However, his hands were only protected with thick leather gloves and his chest was completely bare, revealing the black flame tatoos that covered it. Only a wide leather strap was strapped across his torso, holding his pants in place. Not only the pants, but the gigantic steel shield on his back, which showed the same logo as his men's uniforms. Similiar to the fur pads that protected his knees he was wearing fur shoulder pads - indicating that he was who he was: The Chief of his army.
The huge steel bastardsword in his left hand pointed to the sky as Sota yelled into the megaphone in his right:
"Men! Today is the day! The day the Sota Mercenaries will tear down the Winchester Wall! The day we free the oppressed island from the reign of the Marines! The day we get rid of their rules! The day we slaughter their sheep citizens and force them to back down! Repeat after me! Today is the day!"

[RK]

The Spectacular Captain Mask ceased posing for a moment and looked back at Baltoh, who had done a much better job getting information from one of the pirates. Sota, the leader of the army, was leading his men east with cannons and zeal. Despite the fact that they knew what was going to happen. The Bounty Hunter-Super Hero duo had no idea where the mercenaries were. "Hm, this may prove problematic for us unless we can locate these guys. I'm going to head into East Winchester and see if i can find out anything that may help us to ward them off, and maybe even defeat them." Captain Mask said proudly as he adjusted his gloves. "Fear not, though we are seperating, we are sure to cross paths again soon, and when that happens, we'll take down Sota once and for all!" The Incredible Captain Mask announced as he darted off. However, he wasn't heading for Eastchester, not just yet. First he needed to go back to that lone house.

Captain Mask had hastily returned to the place where he had transformed. The place was just as he had left it. Out of curiosity, he tried opening the door that had been locked before. Placing his gloved hand on the knob and twisting, he learned that it was still locked. This was killing him, what the hell was behind that door? It was almost like it was taunting him to break it down, but the hero had no desire to cause any more property damage.

Ignoring the temptation, he returned to the bedroom that he had changed in not too long ago. Getting down onto his knees, The Captain pulled out his backpack, which now held his casual clothing. He closed the bedroom door and in a flash he was back to normal. He was now Shotaro, nice and normal. Shotaro placed all of his gear into his bag and stuck his shades into his pocket. Opening the door back up, he rushed out the front door and onto the East end of Winchester. His bright yellow T-shirt gleamed in the sunlight as he jogged, there was a refreshing breeze flowing through the air, and everything felt alright to the hero in disguise. It wouldn't be long until he reached a gate to the east side. There was one in the distance, and as since Shotaro was such a fine young man, there'd be no trouble getting through.

"What do you mean i can't go through?!" Shotaro's voiced was filled with confusion, but also sounded quite sad. A Marine man, slightly taller than Shotaro gave a distraught smile and looked with regret at the hero. "Well, I sure am sorry kid, but we've gotten word of strange people entering and leaving the gates, and we suspect that there may be some thugs messing around, we can't take any chances, no civilians can go through." The Marine said with a regretful tone, he was sincere that he wanted to let Shotaro through, but he couldn't let him. No civilians. "...wait, i'm not a civilian, I'm a doctor!" Shotaro said, his voice hesitating a bit. Technically yes, he was a doctor, then again, not everyone believed in holistic medicine. "You...You're a doctor?" The Marine said with a mouth full of skepticism. He wasn't wrong to think that way too, Shotaro looked nothing like a doctor, or even a practitioner of Holistic Medicines for that matter.

"Y-Yeah i was at the Marine base earlier helping people out with my Reiki..." Shotaro said. He was looking intently at the Marine soldier, who was grasping his chin momentarily before a smile spread across his face. "Oh yeah! I heard about you from one of my buddies, everyone at HQ is calling you 'Magic Hands', you've become quite popular with the marines here, buddy." The Marine called him buddy! Excellent, Shotaro thought to himself and was surprised even more as the marine stepped aside from the small gateway. "To thank you for healing up my buddies, i guess it'd be alright if you went through, someone like you couldn't hurt a fly right?" The Marine said jokingly as he gave Shotaro a light tap on the shoulder. The hero chuckled and saluted as he politely walked through the gateway, letting out an immense sigh of relief. "Karma does exist."

Shotaro was back in the city now, and it appeared as though things were quiet on this end, which made sense considering this part was so close to the slums. Shotaro trotted along for a moment and in his way he saw two things that caught his attention. A large sign for a club titled "Oro's Peak", and a big top for a circus down the road. Immediately drawn to the big top, Shotaro jogged along to go see it, but was abruptly struck by the front door of Oro's Peak that had swung out without notice. He face planted into the door and was knocked down onto his bum. From the doorway came three men, two mook's who, aside from their hair, one was bald, and the other had cornrows, looked quite nearly the same. The third guy was very distinguishable. He had long blonde hair and was very tall, possibly 6'10" and wore loose fitting clothes, reminiscent of prison attire, only brown. His arms were wrapped in ropes and he had a huge weapon across his back...it wasn't a sword, but its was...similar? It appeared to be a large square column attached to a hilt, it was pure white and sat vertically across his back. "Watch where you're going kid, you almost bumped into Daijiga." The man said his own name aloud. It appeared as though this guy was either really stupid, or just loved himself a lot. "I, Daijiga, would have been devastated if some child had even touched my shoes." He said, his tone was so high in the clouds that it could predict the weather. "Sorry sir, i must not have been paying attention..." Shotaro said calmly, it would have been idiotic to be anything but polite to this kind of person. "Clearly! Now if you excuse me, I'm in a rush to get to an exclusive party my 'good friend' is throwing." Daijiga said as he and his goons began to scoff loudly. Shotaro did his best to be the bigger man there. Getting beat up before he could even take down Sota was certainly not the plan here. "Alright...now to check out that circus." Shotaro's voice had returned to its eager tone as he began running off towards the Big Top. Hopefully, he would learn a few tricks in acrobatics while there!

[Blaka]

Baltoh was a quite startled when his ally suddenly took off without even waiting for a response. A strange fellow, this hero.
"I'll go ahead then!" Baltoh yelled after him "You can join me later!"
As soon as he said that, the giant fishman noticed what a bad idea that was. Even though he was a gigantic monster of the sea, some would say a "leviathan", he still wouldn't be able to take an entire army out by himself and fight a notorious guy like the Warchief simultaneously. He wouldn't be able to spy on them either, a Wotan didn't really have the capabilities needed for a stealthy approach.

Before he was able to decide on what to do however, a voice from the bar behind him got his attention:
"Psst! Hey! You there!"
It was the barman of the Battered Breadstick Shotaro had talked to earlier. Even for regular human standarts he was quite small and round. The majority of his head was bald, but a circle of white hair still remained, surrounding the bare scalp. The most prominent part of him though was his huge white mustache. The man was half hiding behind the doorframe of his establishment, waving at the blueskinned bountyhunter to come closer.
At first, Baltoh didn't move.
"Hello sir!", he waved back "I actually don't have the time right now, got a wall to safe."
The barman's waving just got more hectic.
"Psst! I can help! Just- please come here, we can't talk outside!"
"Fine." Mr. Hoxmarch shrugged and stomped over to the stranger.
"Come in please!" whispered the bartender and vanished inside.

Ducking this time, Baltoh entered the Breadstick.
"After me please!"
The mustache guy hurried through a door behind the counter. Following him, the moray-man soon found himself in a small office. At least it resembled an office, with the only things in the room being an armchair and a large desk in the middle with lots of paperwork piling up on top. Light was provided only by a few candle holders standing in the corners, resulting in a rather grim atmosphere.
A man was sitting at the desk, looking up to the Wotan with obvious nervous anticipation. In contrast to the barman, this guy was tall and thin. At least he seemed tall, obviously Baltoh couldn't really tell since the man was sitting. He was wearing a gray pinstripe suit and a black bowler hat that covered any hair he might have had.

"Good d-day sir." the man stammered. His voice was rather weak and unusually shrill "Bill" he made a vague gesture in the barman's direction "informed me you survived an attack from the Sota mercenaries. And are about to confront the man himself for the price on his head?"
The bald bountyhunter scratched his head before responding.
"Sure... Can I ask you who are supposed to be? Sitting in a dark office in the middle of West Winchester doesn't scream nice guy to me. The owner of a shabby bar doesn't dress like this, usually."
The man at the desk nodded repeatedly while listening, apparently way too focused on keeping his cool.
"Yes, sorry sir, I should have introduced myself first: The name is Malconio Grissini. I am...uh, I was in charge of a large portion of this city a few weeks ago. Sadly I was...rhmrhm" he had to clear his throat "let's call it suspended from my position. My surviving men work for the Warchief now."
"Rovahaha!" Any suspicions that the guy could have ill intend vanished from Baltoh's mind. "A wuss like you! A petty crimeboss! Asking me for help! I could just take your head and be done with it you know!"
Grissini didn't react to the insults. Instead he flinched due to the fishman's thundering voice.
"Th-that won't be necessary, I assure you." Nervously, the mafioso stopped trying to look his acquaintance directly in the eye and instead opted for the general direction of his own feet. "I managed to stay clear of the authorities. I know how to hide."
"I can see that." Baltoh scoffed "So what do you want me to do that I wasn't going to do anyway? Besides not blowing your brains out right away."
Clearly relieved, Grissini looked up again.
"That would be appreciated. Let's talk business."

[RK]

The sounds and smells of the circus began to erupt into Shotaro's senses as he approached closer and closer. The Big Top was an array of reds and yellow's and shone brilliantly in the sun. It was very tall, and looked like it was put up with care. A small flag wove up at the top, it was hard to make out, but it looked like there was an elephant and a kangaroo with the Elephants trunk in the Kangaroo's paw on the flag, with the letters FC written on both sides of them. FC...Fantastic Circus? Shotaro didn't have the slightest idea as he walked into the circus.

Outside there were many different animals. However the most prominent ones were Elephants and Kangaroo's. Among them however, were Lions, Bears, and Seals. Shotaro looked at the animals who were training with animal masters, most likely for an upcoming show. This was all on the right of Shotaro's current position. On the left, was something a whole lot more interesting.

What appeared to be several different men and women sparring with each other. They all looked like they were really strong, and some of them even had swords and hammers. Shotaro immediately made his way over to where the people were fighting, and watched in awe as these people displayed amazing agility and strength. Shotaro sat down on a bench nearby, next to an old man. The man caught Shotaro's eye, he was stocky, was completely bald, in fact the only hair he had was his huge eyebrows, and his goatee, both of which were gray from age. The man was holding a walking stick, and was dressed in a set of very nice clothes, a purple and yellow suit, and a large purple top hat. Shotaro turned over to the man, wanting to ask if he was the Ring Leader, but the words didn't exactly come out, the man seemed so imposing, even though he was so old. The Old Man turned his body to face Shotaro, he had a small smile across his wrinkled face. "Do you like this circus, young man?" The man asked, his voice was full of earnest. Shotaro, unable to talk in the presence of this man, simply nodded intently, this circus was really amazing. The Old Man chuckled and stood up with more energy than one would expect from such an old man. "Well son, this here ain't no ordinary run of the mill circus! This here is the Fighting Circus! We travel from island to island to seek out the best of the best, with true hearts and fighting spirit to duke it out in the ring of honor and spirit!" The old man yelled eagerly, garnering the attention of the people who were training in front of him. "and my name is Matsuri Soudou!" Shotaro looked on in awe. This man was amazing at gaining the attention of those around him.

Shotaro was on the verge of asking this man if he could join the circus, but stopped himself short, he still had a job to, which was always saving the day. Always. Suddenly, Shotaro had a brilliant idea, one that would not only make him seem super cool to Baltoh, but also make their mission a whole lot easier. Shotaro stood up and crossed his arms over his chest. He tried his best to stand evenly with Mr. Soudou, but Shotaro kept feeling like he would lose his footing. "Mr. Ringleader Sir...will you please help me and my friend take down a pirate gang in West Winchester?!" Shotaro got down on his hands and knees. He pleaded to the old man to lend his services. Mr. Soudou snickered and stepped in front of Shotaro. The young hero lifted his head up to look at the Ring Leader, who was giving a heart warming smile.

Mr. Soudou then smashed Shotaro off to the side with his walking stick. "NO WAY, I DON'T EVEN KNOW YOU!" Mr. Soudou said angrily. "How dare you assume I'd fight the battle of some punk kid i don't know, putting the lives of my performers in danger." Mr. Soudou continued, his tone unwavering. Shotaro picked himself up and stood face to face with the Ring Leader. "Please listen to me, a full scale invasion force is heading for East Winchester from the west. The marines aren't prepared to handle them, i know, i was at the town HQ today helping with the dozens of injured soldiers." Shotaro begged, he was scared. He knew very well that it would take a whole lot more than just Baltoh and the Captain to take down the mercenaries. Shotaro was getting a little angry inside, if only he was stronger, he would be able to handle this by himself no sweat. That wasn't the case however...and it would be stupid to not ask for help. Besides, this was a fighting circus, to think these guys didn't know their way around a battle would be silly.

Mr. Soudou's smile was replaced by a frown, he seemed to be scanning Shotaro. "Tell you what, you think you're being a Hero by trying to help this place?" Soudou questioned Shotaro. The young hero looked at the ground for a moment, doubting himself. What was he really going to accomplish here...

He was going to save East Winchester...that's what...

"I don't think anything, i know that my actions here today will benefit countless lives not just here in the east, but for the future of the west as well...If it means getting down on my knees and humiliating myself, so be it. Humiliation doesn't mean anything to me as long as everyone around me is safe! I don't care what it is i have to do to get you to trust me, but i'm not strong enough to take on all these thugs by myself, hell my partner is a Wotan and he's not even strong enough to do this alone. Throughout my life, I've never asked anyone for help because i felt like i could do anything, and if someone got hurt because i relied on them to do more than they were able to, then it would haunt me forever. Now I've realized however, teamwork is power, and there is nothing wrong with asking for help, especially when you really need it. So please, Mr. Soudou...will you help me?" Shotaro spoke with fervor and a heroic tone, he was the most serious he had been all day. The young hero held a hand out to Mr. Soudou, hoping he would take his offer. The Ring Leader rubbed his chin and knocked Shotaro's hand out of the way. "Come with me." Soudou said abruptly, as he began walking off toward the animal side of the big top's outside area.

Soudou walked up to and placed a hand on one of the elephants, this one was easy to notice, considering is was huge, and completely pink! "This, is Bubblegum." Soudou explained, as he began to pet the elephants leg gently. "Bubblegum doesn't get along with anyone but me. If you can get her to feel comfortable around you, then we'll talk about your request." Soudou announced.

This seemed easy enough. All Shotaro had to do was make friends with a large land mammal. No biggie. Shotaro took a few steps forward, and stood in front of Bubblegum's enclosure. "Hey there Bubblegum! I'm Shotaro...how are you feeling today?" Shotaro asked the large elephant, however he garnered no response. This appeared as though it would take a bit more cunning than usual. "Bubblegum? Do you wanna make friends with me?" Shotaro asked again. However the elephant turned around so that her backside was facing Shotaro. "Hey! I'm talking to you Bubblegum! It's rude to ignore someone who's talking to you!" Shotaro yelled, getting fed up with Bubblegum's poor attitude. The Elephant actually responded this time however, and turned her trunk to face Shotaro and made a little 'toot' noise to show her disinterest. Soudou laughed hysterically, causing Shotaro to blush. "Don't let me stop you from trying more, here's the key to her enclosure if you want to get a little closure, as if it'd help." Soudou said as he started wheezing. "I'll be back where you found me when you decide to give up." Soudou announced as he slumped back to the bench he was sitting on.

Captain Mask never gives up! Of course he couldn't actually say that, but he was thinking it REALLY loudly. Shotaro unlocked the door and stepped inside, not a budge from the elephant. He locked the door behind him and tossed the key outside via a barred window on the door. "Alright Bubblegum, the safety of this island depends on us getting along...so im not leaving this cage until we become friends!" Shotaro announced, finally getting an evil eye from the over sized Elephant.

...Baby Steps, Shotaro...Baby Steps...

[Blaka]

The atmosphere back in Grissini's office was a lot less jovial than the one in the circus.
"Let's talk business!" was apparently a well known signal for the bartender, who left and the room and closed the door behind him.

Baltoh grinned. Both sides of the following discussion would were well aware that one of the parties would just chop the other ones' head off if he was provoked in any way. And the other party was a fragile human with nothing but a bowlerhat to defend himself.
For now though, the Wotan listened. There was no reason to dispose of the frail businessman. If he didn't have a bounty, like he claimed, there was nothing in it for the fishman. In general, he only attacked pirates for training and funding reasons. Neither of which he'd gain from disposing of the fallen gangster.
"From what I've gathered, Mister...uhm"
"Hoxmarch. Baltoh Hoxmarch."
"Yes, sorry, Mister Hoxmarch...rhmrhm..from what I've gathered you are going to stop the Warchief's enterprise today. I was informed he's getting his people together at the wall, presumably to tear it down."
"Rovahaha! What a witty brain you have."
Grissini ignored Baltoh's mockings completely, either because he wanted to save time or because he just didn't know how to deal with them.
"I do not believe in the success of this enterprise, which is why I never tried during my own reign. To my knowledge the Marine's of East Winchester are far too well equipped with artillery. Maybe you'd be able to tear a whole before hundreds of men fall. But so many deaths are bad for business."
The longer the mafioso took to explain things, the more nervous he got. Even from where he was standing, the giant moray-man could see an increasing amount of sweat on the crimeboss' hands and face. Even though about two dozen funny comments about that fact were immediatly appearing in his head, he held back this time, just nodding. It wasn't like he had that much time.
"Of course, my problem might seem solved with Sota's death. However, as you probably noticed, the city's almost deserted. The only reason for the Marines not to level the entire West is the amount of thugs they'd have to deal with to make that happen. If most of them die during the assault and are left without a leader, they'd come over and wipe out the rest."
"That's a bad thing in your mind, is it?" scoffed the fishman.
"Very." responded Grissini with a dead pan face "That's where you come in. You take out the Chief - and announce that you did it in my name."
"Rovahahahaha!" Baltoh threw his head back in laughter. Inside the small office the sound almost shook the walls "Why on earth would I do that?!?"
"Names."
"Names?"
"I have a list of my associates from before my suspesion from all over the world. Not here, of course", he hectically added when he saw the muscles in Baltoh's arm tense up suddenly "I'll give it to you after the job."
"Rovahaha! Witty brain indeed! Sounds fair!"

Instead of punching the guy and searching the desk for more info, Baltoh put his hand out.
"Deal?"
Grissini put his small one in abnormally huge blue palm.
"A pleasure making business with you sir."
"Sure..."