Two Lords, A Bat, And A Wild Spark

[BlacKitten]

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Pluto - 1

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A soothing, quiet night glittered with twinkles of white light sprinkled across the pure and rich black with a tint of indigo. The king of them all was a perfect circle; unobstructed moonlight shining down from above, serving as a heavenly lamp.

A lone shadowy ship sailed across the placid seas with small ripples of waves bumping against wood, rocking it gently like a lullaby. Legs crossed, a sentinel sat in the crow’s nest. Eyes closed, he meditated with an upright posture of the spine. Curling up against him was a younger and smaller figure, hugging his waist for protection. A warm, fuzzy blanket cloaked the sleeping girl’s body.

His arm partially wrapped around her back in a protective manner. In this vast world, it was just the two of them voyaging along the dangerous seas of the Grand Line. Alone, he fought through the cruelty of the world, exerting every ounce of determination to protect the last remaining thread connected to him by blood - his younger sister. After transcending his human limits repeatedly, he began to abandon what made him human to begin with.

For months, he thought he had lost her, spending sleepless nights praying for her life. Never again would he allow himself to experience the horror of being alone in this world.

His eyes opened slowly. A pair of gleaming eyes of mystic violet leered into the distance, spotting the silhouette of a large isle. 

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[Flame]

Legs folded twice over, crossed and twixt, sat warmed by the relative heat of the stone beneath them. That stone, was more of a large rock formation jutting out of the earth in the middle of a plain of tall grass. Or at least what was tall grass when the sun came out. Here in the night it was instead a sea of bristling heads, waving back and forth with the wind. There sat atop the rock which seemed strange in the ocean of grasses were two figures. One of medium build, and a peculiarly burnt aroma, and the other of the feline form spun up tightly upon the rock enjoying its warmth.

The one with the charred smell stared up at the sky, his red eyes reflected moonlight in a way that predators seemed to do at night. Save that he saw little more than a normal human would have in the darkness. With the moon and stars to illuminate what was on the ground the youth instead looked up. "When I look up at this I remember ..." he said with what could've been a smile in the night, a single hand rose. It reached into the heavens the fingers giving the feeling of stretching to those who might've looked upon them. "It makes me remember why I'm moving forward. Constantly moving forward." If the cat was awake and was listening he'd probably have thought them strange words.

At the very least he would've thought them overly thoughtful for one who was often so lacking in it. As the fingers helplessly tried to grasp at the sky the smile which was crisp upon his face began to fade more still. He reached harder, but to no avail, they maintained as out of reach as they always had been.

Tilting back the youth laid his back against the stone taking in the warmth in the cool of night. The only thing that bothered him was the twisting sounds of grass brushing against itself. What did not were a variety of other things, the sounds of low rumbling across the plain, the crash of what seemed to be metal with itself, and the ominous patter of what felt like footsteps.

None of these bothered him, fearless as he was Kano had seen much of the world. Tonight was one for sleeping, for the time being he was, dejected into feeling content with how it was. Red eyes swiveled beneath closed lids, "Under moonlight, all my dreams are revea-" His words didn't finish as his mouth slipped shut for the moment, only the standard beat of his heart and rise of his chest would tell one he hadn't slipped away in the night.

[BlacKitten]

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Pluto - 2

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It was time to dock the ship.

As he rose from his spot, the extra weight of another body dangled off his waist. Gazing down, he found his sister still sound asleep, but her arms refused to release him. The poor girl had been scared for a very long time, scared of being separated from him. She didn’t want to be left alone; she didn’t want to be abandoned.

“Alright,” he whispered. “You can come with me.” Lowering himself, he looped her arm over his shoulder, readjusting her onto his back. One arm over his right shoulder and another arm under his shoulder, her arms wrapped around his torso much like a seatbelt. He draped the blanket over his back, keeping her cozy and warm as he wore it like a cape. With a single leap, he jumped out of the crow’s nest, plummeting straight down. His boots landed onto the deck followed by the compression of his legs like a spring. Softening the landing with the bending of his knees and lowering of his hips, he ended in a squatting position.

Straightening himself up, he then gazed up at the clear, starry, night sky. He was well accustomed to the darkness. While the night was danger for others, it was home for him. It was on a night much like this one where he first met his younger sister just a few years ago. He didn’t know he had a sibling until then.

A brother, a guardian, a bodyguard, and a mentor, he wanted nothing more than to shape this world such that the girl on his back could live happily.

After he anchor the ship by the shores, something caught his attention. In the distance, he sensed the presence of a small group of reptiles. His eyes couldn’t quite make out the details, but they were large as horses. They had a long sleek tail that narrows towards the tip. He wasn’t sure why these reptiles caught his interest; perhaps it was just on a whim. They seemed to be active at night like nocturnal creatures, and they didn’t seem to enact any hostility either.

He proceeded to head downstairs below the main deck. It was time to sleep.

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[Flame]

"Kano ... Kano ... KANO!!!"

The repeating of his name did little to wake him up. Neither had the small bumps and pawing at his face, they barely brought him to a stir. In the end what woke him up and put him into the drowsy trance was three sharp feelings clawing their way down his cheek. That brought his eyes open and set him sitting up glancing around.

Of course in the dark of night as it still was he took moments to adjust. In the shadows he couldn't make much out. If not for the stars and moon in the sky he might not have seen anything at all. But turning his head to look for his attacker he noted the faint outline of his feline friend standing next to him with claws outstretched. He raised a hand touching his cheek to feel something slightly wet upon it. Pressing upon it slightly he flinched as he was brought pain. "What the hell Oliver?" He exclaimed, he was half used to this, but to have this be done before it was even light out.

Kano stared down into the glowing eyes of his cat companion. "Shut it! We've got other problems today fool." The cat's voice was a loud whisper, loud enough to be heard clearly but quickly diminishing away. The youth tilted his head, "Other problems?" He asked curiously not even trying to hide his voice. Oliver turned looking out at the shaking fields of grass. His golden eyes pierced through the darkness, his ears perked and twitched as he turned his head about and about.

"Out there ..." Oliver sniffed the air prompting Kano to follow suit. He smelled nothing out of the ordinary, "I can hear them, see how they change the shifting of the ..." the cat's words stopped. Kano placed a hand behind him rotating his torso to look where Oliver was. Outlined by moonlight was a scaly behemoth the size of a horse. It looked like a massive lizard, its mouth opened to reveal rows upon rows of sharp pointy teeth gleaming in the night.

"Ahh ..." Kano finally understood as his legs came close beneath him. This was what he got for spending the night on the plain rather than in a town. An extraordinarily interesting encounter, Kano's eyes gleamed like the scales of the giant lizard. He smiled, much to the annoyance of his feline friend.

[BlacKitten]

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Pluto - 3

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Through the lightless corridor, he strode through the darkness without any hesitation. Reaching out his hand, he turned the doorknob and entered inside his room. He gently lowered the girl down, letting her rest on her back on the bed while tucking the edge of the blanket beneath her chin.

“Goodnight,” he whispered – a word that rarely came out of his mouth.

Standing up by the bedside, he closed his eyes as his entire body shapeshifted into a much smaller form. Hands and arms became leathery dark wings; feet formed into black hook-shaped claws. The little bat flapped his wings towards the ceiling until he clung onto the wooden surface and hung upside down. Wings wrapped and folded around him, functioning like an air-tight blanket. Even through it was night, this nocturnal creature went straight to sleep.

Human he may be, Pluto was well-accustomed to all his forms that he can take on at will. As a bat, he took up very little space. His senses were heightened to extraordinary levels, especially his sense of hearing. Any suspicious noise would wake him up. He was ready and alert for any chance of danger as he sleeps. This was unknown territory, an island that he knew nothing of. Better safe than sorry.

With the ears of a bat, one can hear not only those far away but also sounds of extremely high frequencies that humans, cats, and dogs cannot pick up. The breath of living things gave off a unique ultrasonic signature, allowing him to distinguish certain people or creatures from one another.

Right now, he can faintly hear a male human off into the distance along with some small creature. He could not make out any words; the walls of the vessel were too much of an obstruction. They were so far away that his mind stopped paying much attention to them.

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[Flame]

Kano's eyes met the orange eyes of the creature staring back at him. He breathed calmly as he watched it tension starting to fill his body. The soft rustle of the tall grass revealed, one, two, three more who pushed into the opening. A pack of them. The youth licked his lips, "Can you talk to them?" He asked his feline friend curiously.

Oliver mewled a few times, then a few times more. Kano grinned, he'd never actually heard the cat try and talk animals. In response Kano was pretty sure he heard a barrage of chirps and squeaks, they were deeper than he might've expected but sharp sounds none the less. His cat companion winced a few times, before saying. "Nope ... never really learned animal properly. Grew up speaking the common tongue." The cat said with a shrug.

The youth blinked twice looking at his friend in confusion. He'd never heard this before, the cat didn't know how to speak animal? "Then what were you meowing about?" He asked curiously his attention momentarily leaving the more pressing problem before him. His feline friend simply ignored him, his eyes not even turning to meet Kano's own.

Kano's eyes turned forward to see two of the creatures had already launched themselves into the air straight at him. The size of horses they crashed into him their scaly skin roughing it against him. He winced toppling off of the stone and rolling into the grasses below. Glancing back up the two of them stood upon the stone alone furiously marking their territory. Oliver was no where to be seen, glancing quickly around beside him the cat was nowhere to be found. The youth's eyes narrowed as the massive lizards stared down at him from their outcrop. His ears perked to the sound of the others quickly moving in around him.

"Looks like they want the rock. We should give it to em." Oliver's voice spoke behind him as the cat emerged from tall grass to stand next to him. Kano cracked his knuckles, "Nah, that's my rock." He grinned.

[BlacKitten]

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Pluto - 4

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“Haah… Haah!” Heavy breaths of weariness echoed in the darkness. From behind, she saw the dreadful orange lights on the pursuit. After running all this way, she saw the shores up ahead – a dead end. Crawling footsteps were rapidly approaching from behind.

There was a lone vessel docked here. Desperately, she mustered the last ounce of strength for that ship. She might be able to escape through the seas. Her legs caved in; her body fell to the ground. The waters from the sea stretched inland, almost touching the tips of her hands before retracting back into the ocean. She gazed up at the night sky as the moonlight shined down on her heart-shaped face and long dark-brown hair.

It was too late. They had caught up to her. As her eyes anxiously peeked behind, they saw three giant lizards had approached her – each ridden by a soldier armed with a spear and two of them holding a lamp. Native to this island, those lizards were known as the Dark Iguanas, the largest animals on this land. With scales as hard as tempered steel, they were difficult to take down and were trained for cavalry for the ongoing war. Arrows, swords, and spears, all such weapons would fail to penetrate their defenses.

“He-ha-ha-ha-ha!” a rider laughed like a hyena. “Finally, out of stamina, little girl?”

“Please… leave me alone… spare me…”

“Then choose: die by my spear or become my wife,” he twirled his spear in both hands as his dark iguana approached the young woman.

A yawn intervened. “Could you propose your love at least a kilometer away from here? I’m trying to sleep, and your voice annoys me.” An adolescent boy squatted at the front of the vessel, lazily looking down with lethargic, half-open eyes.

All eyes were now directed at him. It could be presumed that he had been residing within the anchored vessel.

“Huh? Who are you? By chance, are you affiliated with King Bonzu Pipinpadaloxicopolis?”

W-What kind of name is that?

After a short pause, the raven-haired boy responded, “No, I’m just an outsider who’s trying to sleep.”

“Then, we have no business with you. Go back to sleep. We plan on taking this girl with us anyways. After that, we’ll leave you be.”

“Alright, sounds good to me,” he answered bluntly. “Just hurry up with it.”

“Wait!” The brunette outreached a hand, “Please! Help me!”

“Help you? With what?” He asked nonchalantly.

“Save me from these soldiers.”

“Hey now…, in case you haven’t noticed, there are three armed men riding on three giant lizards. I’m just an unarmed kid. Are you trying to get me killed?”

CRASH!

“Eh?” He soon felt his feet on longer touching any resemblance of a foothold. Suspended in air after a heavy force slamming against his back, he plummeted straight down, smashing into the earth face first.

“Pluto! I miss you!” Rebecca was sitting on his back with arms wrapped around him.

“Ah…, you’re awake…,” the brother’s voice was muffled in the ground. His little sister must have sensed his absense and searched for him. 

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[Flame]

Beside him his cat sighed with annoyance, Kano turned to look at the cat who said nothing. A puzzled expression crossed his face for a few moments before Kano shrugged away the thought and turned his attention forward. Two of the creatures advanced upon him, in the moonlight he could see that their teeth were bared.

With a swing of his head he cracked his neck twice. Then he charged forward, one step, then two steps, his foot hit the ground hard as the two before him launched themselves at him their mouths bared. But Kano, he jumped, pushing one hand down he pressed it upon the left one's mouth snapping the jaw shut just barely missing defingering himself. Instead his hand viced itself about the creature's jaw and he twisted in the air. Both feet dropped down falling on either side of the giant lizard. He mounted the creature with an enthused smile.

Immediately he could feel the creature's body writhe. It turned and bucked at Kano's attempt to ride it. With his hand firmly grasping the creature's mouth and his legs pressed against the scales he did his best to keep to the creature but there was not much he could grip on to. Kano grinned as he fought to hang onto the great reptile, but it seemed to be to no avail as it managed in only a few jumps to disentangle the fool from his seat.

With his feet floating in the air and his hand just barely grasping the jaw, the scaled behemoth gnashed with its teeth. Kano for his part laughed in amusement. What finally threw him off was when the second lizard tackled the first, he let go just in time to keep his hand from becoming the lizard's lunch. Rolling away he took a deep breath, a smile still crackled upon his lips.

Coming back to his feet he pulled an arm back, replacing his hand with a small bottle rocket he smiled. "Time to get serious." He commented. Somewhere he could hear his cat sigh again.

[BlacKitten]

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Pluto - 5

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Nuzzling against her brother, Rebecca purred affectionately like a kitten. Raising her head, she then noticed that they weren’t alone. There were three giant menacing scaled lizards facing her, each with a spearman riding on its back as if they were horseback riders. They looked awfully perplexed; their adamant determination of pursuit now wavered by the unexpected crash of these two kids falling from their ship.

“Who are you guys?” The youth tilted her head in confusion, ruining the silence.

The lead iguana-rider slowly began closing the gap between them, “You have five seconds to get away from that woman or else I’ll get rid of you for getting in my way.”

“Eh?” Rebecca turned around, only now realizing that there was a lone young damsel kneeling nearby. The brunette only glanced back with fear in her eyes. The little sister returned her attention back at the spearman, “But you can’t do that…, I don’t want you to hurt…” She blurted out her concern with the utmost confidence as if it were obvious.

“Oh? And, why would I get hurt?”

“Because if you try to harm me, Pluto will get mad,” she answered.

“… Can you get off of me?” the boy intervened their conversation as he remained pinned to the ground in a pathetic state as his younger sister sat on top of his back.

“Please…, don’t provoke him. He’s a high-ranking soldier of the invading army,” the brunette warned the seemingly naïve youth. “I’m sorry to have dragged you two into this. Please, just leave here. It’s me that they’re after.”

“Hmm?” Rebecca looked back, soaking in those words. “But, Pluto is strong. He can protect us,” she refused to believe that they were in any danger.

“Oi… quit endangering my life here….,” the brother interjected, annoyed at the expectations that the girl was stacking on top of him. “And could you get off of me?”

“Tch… your five seconds have long since been used up. I gave you multiple chances to get lost, but since you insist on getting in my way…,” the iguana-riding solider spun his poled weapon over his head before thrusting its metal pointed arrowhead straight towards the composed little girl.

The tip of the spear stopped a few inches before reaching the girl’s torso. The shaft of the spear was halted by a vice-like grip from the brother who’s remained lying on his stomach.

The spearman was taken by surprise. Even though that boy was in such a disadvantageous position, he managed to catch his weapon during execution. Above all else, no matter how much he pulled his weapon, he could not free the shaft from this boy’s grip.

“Sorry…, but attacking my sister wasn’t part of the deal.”

“!” Rebecca widened her eyes and immediately pounced away. She felt tension in her brother’s body just now, meaning even he was struggling to control his temper. As aloof as he may sometimes act, he had an ocean of bloodlust stored up inside of him, bottled up and waiting to be released.

Is Pluto… mad?

---

[Flame]

The crackling sound of the fire of the bottle rocket from his wrist set them all alert. It made a dim light in the starlit darkness of the night. As the lizard's claws cracked the ground and they raced toward him Kano did the same. His foot crashed into the ground as he closed on them as the two before him bashed into each other fighting to get the first bite into him.

The fool grinned in the night as he made for the one that was nearer. One, two, one of his feet turned to a small rocket and exploded as he stepped down. It threw his lower body skyward, twisting over himself Kano punched his fist straight into the snout of the reptile he'd managed to fling himself over. In response it made a guttural and pained response. The second one was not so troubled, it launched itself upon Kano, scaly skin crashed into his side, jaws of drawn teeth bit into an arm he threw forth to guard him. On top and below they viced about his arm as the creature fell upon him.

Kano grimaced almost yelping in his own pain as the creature hovered atop him scratching out with its clawed feet. Fire burned in his eyes and a rocket shell formed in his mouth. A metallic cone as wide as his mouth could take, it faced down the lizard. The dull metal barely shone in the moonlight but it was enough. It glinted in the lizard's orange eyes before Kano let it off.

In a short spurt it jumped forward exploding directly on the head of Kano's enemy. A small inferno exploded ripping the creature from his arm leaving what felt to be deep gouges where the teeth had once been. The fire caught upon the grasses surrounding them and soon the whole area was alight. A yellowish glow in the darkness it spread like wildfire.

[BlacKitten]

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Pluto - 6

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Slowly, Pluto rose to his feet, standing upright as he held the solder’s weapon in place.

“You’ve got a strong grip there,” the soldier commented with a stern look before gritting his teeth. “Bite him,” he then ordered as the Dark Iguana he’s riding on opened its mouth wide, revealing a set of sharp white teeth ready to clamp down on flesh and bones. The lizard changed forth, prepared to devour the human boy standing before it.

Within a split second, Pluto released his grip of the spear, pivoted on his lead foot, and swung out a roundhouse kick. His leg snapped out at blinding speed, hammering at the side of the iguana’s head and swinging the lizard's head far to the side. Just as fast as the extension of the leg was the retraction of the limb snapping back into place; it was as if he never moved. Despite its low, sturdy posture, the scaled creature toppled over onto its side; its rider falling off his seat.

“What!?” The soldier tumbled onto the ground, dethroned. “Ah!” He gaped, watching his personal iguana being knocked out cold with its jaws remaining wide open. “Impossible…, he took down a Dark Iguana with just one kick?”

Silently, Pluto walked onward, watching as the two backup subordinates charged forth on their own lizards, ready to attack. After just a few steps, he bent down and grabbed the unconscious iguana by its long scaly tail. Widening his stance, he rotated his waist, pulled the tail with both hands, and hurled the massive lizard into the air.

“WHA!” The two soldiers looked up, eyes widened as a shadowy behemoth crashed against the two of them, sweeping them off the backs of their own respective lizards. Crushed beneath its weight, the two soldiers remained immobilized. The two lunging lizards immediately stopped in their tracks. Their cold-blooded bodies were screaming out danger signals; instincts warning them to retreat. The monster guised as a human before them had shown ridiculous amount of strength, able to hurl one of their own kind like a sack of potatoes. Moreover, there was not a single sign of struggle on the boy’s blank expression.

“I don’t like hurting animals. Leave,” he ordered, showing his mercy to the scaled creatures which then turned around and fled in the other direction.

A distant boom could then be heard.

“?” Even with just his regular sense of hearing, he could hear it far away, luring his attention towards its origin. There was a faint yellowish light in the distance, gradually growing bigger and brighter. Rising obscuring air indicated smoke blending with the night; there appeared to be a wildfire.

But, what caused it?