Mission #33 Searching for an answer Pt.1

[hellcats]

The sun stretched out over the sea, casting its shadow upon a ship in the far horizon. There it sat in the still waters surrounding Athens, anchored and awaiting the the return of her captain. The Prima Vista was little more then a blurred speck as Chris looked on a final time before turning his sights to the island he now stood on.

It was strange, the silence that filled every inch of Athen's woods as Chris made his way through them. Notorious for its voracious creatures, it seemed ironic that the island was so peaceful. The plants were rather strange to look at, though nothing Chris had not known of from log journals regarding the island. The breeze was soft, the woods and fields were tranquil. It was almost eerie, as though the wildlife knew of his arrival before hand, the woods themselves plotting to end his life. Such paranoid delusions were kept in check though, he could not risk letting fear cloud his mind.

An old map, warn and wrinkled from ages passed sat in his gloved hand. He had come to Athens with the knowledge and expectation of battle. His boots, marine coat, and studded gloves giving him a slightly more intimidating look. The map Almos had gathered was old, the edges curling in over time. If it served its purpose, he would be able to find his treasure before any marines or pirates noticed him or his ship. Suppose it didn't matter if he was spotted, dead men tell no tales. Rather that he get in and out without a fuss, should the Marines find him snooping around without clearance it would only lead to unwanted questions.

[mirage]

Athens. A strange little island. Jack wasn't sure how he ended up here, all he remembered was falling asleep on a ship, and then waking up here. That's when the crew of said ship notice their little stowaway and tossed him onto the beach, leaving him on this island, alongside his partner Thanatos. Jack stood up, sighing, before looking over to the wolf. "Oi, sniff around for something to eat. I don't care what, so long as it's edible."

Thanatos chuckled, before looking back at his partner. "Define 'Edible'" He sniffed around a bit, before Jack tapped him on the head. "Don't be a smartass." Jack chuckled, and walked towards a small path. He motioned for Thanatos to follow, and continued on that path until reaching a town. He laughed, and looked at Thanatos. "Looks like we won't be needing that nose of yours right now. But, luckily, this place should have some decent restaraunts. And a Pidgeon or two."

So, as they entered the city, Jack started pumping fog out of his legs, and walked through a very crowded street. As he walked, he pulled a single wallet out of someone's pocket, opening it slightly. Inside was two thousand Beri, and a small ID card. Jack cared not for the ID, simply pulling out the Beri and throwing the wallet over his shoulder. He continued to walk until he got to a restaraunt that caught is eye, claiming the best Takoyaki in the Grand Line.

As they walked into the restaraunt, Jack ordered three orders of the Takoyaki, two for himself and two for Thanatos. Jack decided to sit at a table very close to the door. When the food arrived, Jack handed an order down to Thanatos, and quickly ate both of his own orders. Then, just as the waiter was on his way back, Jack and Thanatos ran out the door, in a classic dine-and-dash. In order to avoid pursuit, they ran into the forest. Little did they know, the forest in Athens is a dangerous place.

They continued through the woods, until they reached a small clearing. Deciding to rest for a bit, Jack jumped into a tree using his Buster Springers, and layed back against a branch. A bear tried coming out of a bush to attack the pair, but Jack simply downed it with a single shot to the head from Cthugha. "Dumbass.

[hellcats]

A gunshot rang out in the forest, echoing far enough to scatter many of the dormant birds in the area. This grabbed the attention of Chris, who had just moments ago continued his trek through the woods after having stopped for a break. Though everything in his mind spoke of continuing on his path, he couldn't control the curiosity swelling up in him. Who could be this deep in the woods and still survive using a measly firearm? True, Chris himself was sporting several such weapons, but his Lorelei wasn't exactly a 'measly' gun.

It was simple enough, the path leading to where the shot came from was absent of any birds or tree dwelling life. Athen's animals had most likely learned to avoid confrontation, at least the smaller ones. Seeing as how monstrous many of the bigger ones supposedly were. This didn't concern him any as he crept through the brush, right hand gripping his sheath with the left resting on his sword's handle. He would be ready to strike once his target was in view, necessary precaution when fighting a firearm with a close distance weapon.

It would never be said that Chris was a stealthy man, but he did have his moments. Watching each footstep, controlling his breath and keeping down wind were sure ways to avoid being spotted by animals and trackers alike. His target didn't notice however, and seemed all together out of place with the surrounding environment. The clearing his perch resided in was some distance away, too much to hope for a surprise attack up front. The man's guard was down it seemed, leaving him enough time to plan out an assault instead of charging in hastily.

It took a bit of planning, and some excessive amount of imagination, but he had thought up a way of attack to deal with the threat. In his mind, the entire setup seemed outrageous and convoluted, but those were some of the best. It all started with a bang, or more of a flash in this case. One of Lorelei's 'Heart Stoppers' pierced through the sky, plunging into the tree that Jack sat in, releasing its flash powder payload with a blinding flare and a booming noise.

Following the first shot close behind, a second spear shot forward into the ground below Jack's perch, with the same blinding flash and deafening sound. The two shots were placed in hopes of disorientating his wolf companion and the man himself, while in that instant Chris took off with great speed. He fired his derringers about wildly, one in each hand, as he raced toward the tree. He wasn't trying to so much hit the man, as trick him into believing there was more of a threat then a single person. He hoped the moderately deceptive plan would shock and disorient whoever this person was, maybe long enough to be quickly investigated before Chris decided whether or not to remove his head.

[mirage]

In an instant, a flash. A bang. Of course, the mystery attacker just HAD to use a flashbang. The one thing that rendered Jack almost entirely useless. Almost. He dropped backwards out of the branch, pulling the sleeve up on his left arm, and pulled a belt of relatively blunt bullets out of his bag. He slammed the belt into the underside of his left wrist, and aimed his hand in the general direction of the attacker, letting loose a storm of rounds.

"Gods dammit ~cheh! Thanatos, try and catch a scent of him! No way in hell I'm going to let someone get the drop on me~cheh! Granny'd never let me live it down ~cheh!" Jack yelled, waving his still-firing left hand around while waiting for the black wolf's response. He sighed loudly as his feet hit the ground with a thud, stepping forward completely unnaffected.

Unfortunately, three of the bullets hit their mark, two grazing Jack's right leg, and one hitting his left shoulder. A bit of blood seeped out of the leg wound, staining Jack's pant leg, and a stinging pain surged up his leg. The bullet which hit the shoulder merely dented the metal plate. But Jack was more concerned with his pant leg than his wounds, and snarled at the mystery shooter. "Oh hell no! You did not just ruin my Wind Scale Huntsman Supreme pants! Time to whupp some ass ~cheh!"

Within another moment, Thanatos had at located the general area of the shooter, though he was still somewhat dizzy from the flashbang, and dash in a large half-circle around to the target, in order to avoid gunfire, and jumped at him, attemtping to strike him with his metal claw.

[hellcats]

The bullets rained upon him from what seemed like everywhere. The man was at least dazed, apparent by the way the bullets haphazardly zipped past him. He could feel one snag the corner of his upper right arm, taking out a small chunk of flesh as it spun off into the woods. It was painful to be sure, but nothing he couldn't ignore with adrenalin pumping through him.

It had seemed the surprise attack had worked, mostly. What Chris didn't count for exactly was the animal that came charging at him. Assuming it was only a pet, he had no real plan to deal with it. Watching as it quickly closed in on him forced his hand, his 'dash and slash' style of ending a fight wouldn't allow him to deal with two opponents at once, at least not efficiently. It came down to his sword being hastily drawn and planted blade first into the soil below him, forcing him to momentarily stop as the blade was drawn outward in a vertical arc towards Jack's companion. A large wave of debris spat up from the ground, followed by two high speed waves traveling across the forest floor.

With his attack in motion he quickly drew back to get a safe distance. He kept an eye near the tree where he figured his opponent was still recovering. If his enemy preferred ranged combat, then Chris had no choice to press the attack. With no time to think he had sheathed his sword again after putting a few steps distance and immediately taken off towards the tree.

[mirage]

Jack quickly ceased firing, sliding his sleeve back down, before jumping back about a foot. His left foot slid back a bit as it hit the ground, as Jack reached for his goggles, pulling them down over his eyes. They would definitely help with the bright lights. He looked upwards, searching for a gap in the trees, and bounded upwards, using the Buster Springers to shoot above the trees, and escape the searing noise. He sighed, and thought out loud, his accent peaking through due to his irritation. "Seems to like longed range, this one. I guess takin' it to 'im's da way ta go!"

Meanwhile, Thanatos just barely managed to avoid the unknown man's attack, slamming himself into a tree and knocking himself unconcious in the process. He fell to the ground with a thud, before slipping into the dark unconciousness. A low voice could be heard, peaking through the piercing noise. "Kick....his....ass."

Jack, hearing Thanatos's voice, reached behind his back, drawing Ignis and Aqua and dove down towards the man, who was now in plain sight. The moment Jack's feet touched the ground, he dashed at the man, swords at the ready. "Cross......Samba!" He dove at the man with his Buster Springers, aiming to slice his with Aqua.

[hellcats]

He watched out of the corner of his eye as the wolf was put down in timely fashion. This was reassuring, having to alternate between two opponents wasn't something he wanted to risk. Even if the other enemy was just an animal, there was no telling what kind of danger a trained wolf could bring. Putting that out of his mind, he continued towards his first target, the man who had initially been sitting in the tree only moments ago. It was to Chris' surprise however as the man came barreling head first at him, having assumed he was a long range fighter only moments ago. This turn of events would mean a change in strategy, though little time was left to think about such things as they clashed.

The moment was a crucial one, but even in the heat of battle Chris couldn't help but want to pull over and lecture the enemy. The two of them had gotten close to each other, and as they both readied themselves for the others attack, the person before Chris had suddenly let out a battle cry. Though not so much a battle cry, as a flagrant and rather moronic shout, detailing the name of whatever his following attack was, and alerting Chris before hand to expect it. This lead to his immediate stop in mid run, Iaijutsu propelling his Vajra at great speeds from its sheath before pointing it downward.

Gane Gane no Shift, he thought inwardly as the katana's blade shot forth at great speed into the ground, growing in length and pushing Chris off the ground as it sunk into the earth below and widened its tip. Launching himself off the ground roughly eleven feet with great force, he quickly liquefied the metal and separated it at the middle, allowing Jack to pass underneath harmlessly. As Jack passed under Chris, the metal still in the ground elongated towards the unsuspecting man above, trying to skewer him. Chris still hovering in the air for a moment swiped the blade in a large arc, three small bits of liquid metal flying off it towards the back of Jack as they formed into thin blades, aiming to dig into the enemy's back.