Adventure Time (Hoshi)

[Mikan]

Mikan, heavily injured, looked on as her Bilkan friend tries to control her powers in small quantities. Estelle, having produced minimal energy, was able to stop herself near Mikan. Both women found themselves re-united again and Mikan was a little bit reassured at this fact. Right after, the Bilkan asked Mikan what they should do in a tone that Mikan felt pathetic about herself. She was supposed to be the doctor, the capable one, the one who should be depended on and now she's as injured as Estelle, and she had no idea what to do. She never answered the question so as not to look like a rude person, she only gave Estelle a fake smile that showed her weakness to her.

"Estelle, whatever or whoever that Celine is, we don't know. The only fact that we know of is that it's dangerous and the only way to get out of this battle alive is to take it" Mikan eyed the purple gun at the distance, looked at Estelle right in the eye, and continued - "I'm sorry but do you think we can use your powers a little bit more? As sad as it is, you're the only one capable of pulling us out of this". She looked down after. Her pride was hurt but at times like this, her pride should be the last thing to think of.

"Ok, Estelle, trust me on thi-" Mikan stopped as she noticed Estelle having a bit of a problem with her body. Few seconds later, she was on the ground looking at Dr. Beat and his surroundings. Mikan looked at the same thing but Mikan only found Dr. Beat smiling, and slowly starting to walk towards them.

Towards them!?

Mikan panicked, and started to yell "Estelle! Estelle! What's happening with you? Estelle!". She kissed her tongue, stood up and started stretching.

"I carried you before, and I know you're not that heavy, but I'm injured too, so..." she remarked but before she could do anything to Estelle, she had stood up which left Mikan shocked for a second. She came back to reality as soon as she realized that Dr. Beat was on his way towards them, so she took Estelle by the hand and forcibly started to run into the forest.

"Sorry, Estelle, but hang in there" Mikan apologized for forcing Estelle, but before she could hear Estelle's approval or something along those lines, she was met by a blur and Mikan felt a painful stab inches above her collarbone. She had seen a familiar purple cylinder retract from her body as she goes down letting go of Estelle in the process.

"Foolish girl, AHAHAHAHAHA!" A faint familiar voice screamed out loud. It was Dr. Beat, but she can't see anything. Just a blur grey. She knows for a fact that her eyes are open. She thought of possibilities of how this can be. Whatever Beat had injected into her was the reason she can't see. The last thing on her list of possibilities was a question - Is it permanent? All of this depressing thoughts collided in her head as she hear Beat's annoying laugh somewhere. She was on the ground, and she can feel it. She tried standing up but it was quite a challenge because she can't see anything.

Then... slowly, it also dawned on her that the laughter suddenly stopped.

Did Estelle do something? No... of course not. Don't tell me...

All of a sudden she started acting crazy. Well, she didn't know this but in the capable working eyes of Beat and Estelle, her sanity is starting to fade. Mikan started to lick her palm, then suddenly screamed in desperation while tears started streaming down her face. She fell into the ground and started touching it frantically.

Inside Mikan, she had realized that her sense of touch, taste, smell, sight, and hearing are impaired. She started to panic. Heavily panic for a few minutes. While she did this, Dr. Beat eyed Estelle. From the distance, the needle looked like a pencil, but from up-close it was as big as a knife.

"Did you eat an apple today, Estelle? No? I guess the doctor would have to pay a visit then," Dr. Beat's dry humor made him laugh out loud, but it shouldn't create a reaction from Estelle as he said this creepily, almost insane-like. He walked towards Estelle, and tripped at Mikan's legs. Furiously, he kicked Mikan's legs, then looked back at Estelle.

"Don't worry, you'll get to experience the same hell Mikan is having right-" Dr. Beat stopped in the middle of the sentence as he realized someone was pinning him down. It was Mikan.

"I finally found you, you bastard," Mikan said confidently, her eyes shut. Mikan hugged Dr. Beat and noticed that she was definetely hugging a man for the lack of breast fat in the person's chest.

"H-how did you even manage to do that!?" Dr. Beat said frantically.

"If you're saying anything, I don't know because I can't hear you, but if you're wondering how I got you even though I don't have any of my senses with me, it's because Celine has a flaw" Mikan remarked and started laughing like a kid.

Dr. Beat started to move nervously, trying to shrug her off but he stopped when Mikan yelled out, "Estelle, do that heat blasting wave power to me and him right now! Don't hesitate, and burn me with this quack doctor!! Please do it for me!!"

She had a plan. It was a huge risk. Either way, it's her ONLY plan of defeating Celine's annoying power.

[flame08]

((OOC: Sorry i've not posted in a while =/, i'm getting back in the groove so tis post may not be up to my usual standard))

Forward, step by step, Frien closed in upon his prey. Determination was in his eyes, for he knew this was his moment, if he could not do it now, he could not do it ever. Perhaps, he thought, this was the path of growth, a way in which he could better himself, surpass his former limits, become a better man, for the world, even if the government and possibly his sister did not agree. For right was not decided by those who lived, one cannot stand before the end and claim that virtue and justice did not agree with him at that time. Virtue could not be claimed by those who would not be at peace with every decision they made, as such his decisions were his alone, he would not allow another define for him what 'virtue' and 'justice' were. His walk turned to a jog, his job into a run, his run a charge.

Blood rolled down his lip, for while he was determined, he still required something to bend his mind away from his pain. The wound in his shoulder was harsh, every time he used his arm, the muscles in his arm would rub against the bullet causing even more pain. It made combat immensely painful, and even running a harsh torture. To combat this, his teeth were biting down upon his lip, only pain could reduce his own pain, the pressure from his teeth were such that it broke the skin on his lip, thus the blood. His determination allowed him to do this, to cause himself pain to relieve pain, for the smaller pain though it overwhelmed the greater, in the end added more damage to his body than what would have originally been his body's to bear. It would be required today, and the beating his body was to bear was just beginning, for the real test came now, with Wardus Kurosaki before him, he was in for the fight of his life. Once already he had been defeated by Wardus, and back then he was still in perfect shape. Only one thing differed from that encounter and this. He had allies here, before he could not count on the usual members of Treegap to aid him in his battle. But this time, he was not alone, he had men, and women who could fight with him, on par with the enemies which he fought.

"WAAARRRDDDDUUUSSSSSSS!!!!!"

Frien screamed as he jumped forward, on all fours his knuckles pressed hard upon the ground, their rhythm, along with his size created a thundering upon the ground increasing the weight of his yelling. He pressed forward launching his whole body straight at Wardus when he got within range. The large man simply laughed at the oncoming attack, wielding his giant war ax he placed it before him as if it was simply a breastplate. Wardus did not expect the force which was behind this attack however. As one of Frien's strongest attacks, all four of his limbs now shot in front of him straight at Wardus, landing upon the ax the force of it smashed the ax into Wardus' chest pushing him back making him topple from the weight of it. The impact also knocked Frien back, he however with the use of his tail was able to correct his movements and fall naturally back upon the ground. Pressing his 'advantage' he brought his palms together pushing them forward creating a blast of air in front of him it flew towards Wardus who was pushing himself back up. Landing head on Wardus was pushed back, and flinched for a second, but it was all that was needed for Frien to make his attack. Charging in low, he somersaulted right in front of Wardus, but as his legs came over him he pushed up with his hands landing a kick straight into Wardus' chin. His enhanced strength, pushed Wardus into flight. Using his own strength Frien launched himself into the air after Wardus. His jump was faster than the kick launched Wardus allowing Frien to get above him. His fists came together once again, he punched forward straight into Wardus' exposed belly. Wardus fell to the earth, a cloud of dust flew up from the ground as Frien fell down to the ground after him using his tail to correct his landing.

Frien smiled, he had defeated Wardus, possibly, maybe? Yes? Wardus was not rising, to be honest he couldn't tell the cloud of dust still denied him much vision of his opponent. Just in case he came down into a horse stance, fists out in front of him to block or redirect anything that would be aimed right at him. It was a strong balanced stance, if he was going to take an attack this would allow him to take the brunt of it. Unless it was . . . a rush hit him knocking him back into the air. Like a wave Wardus had gone out, swinging his axe out at full power he had created a shockwave of air which traveled out like a giant wave in front of him, it pushed Frien back into the trunk of a tree. The impact left him dazed, it had spiked the damage in his shoulder again. He cried out in pain. Bruises covered Wardus' body but they seemed not to faze him. He laughed, his powers of recovery were great, and his endurance monstrous, flinging the ax out in front of him he smiled. Only one word could be heard from his mouth "Die." The slightest motion could be seen in the ax's head. Frien still dazed from the impact had to take the air bullet straight on. His whole body shook from the impact, blood was spat out of his mouth, the small air bullet had hit like a truck. Things were not looking good, once again Wardus raised his ax. Swinging down he could fell a tree, with the air slice alone. Who knew what it would do to Frien.

---

((OOC: sorry Shisha + Armani this'll be short . . . i'll give armani one of these enemies[can you rp her . . . i need to get back in the groove] and leave shisha with the other two))

The 'dagger' woman who had tripped over the stone landed on her hands, kicking with her feet she nimbly swung herself back into a standing position. With the entrance of the newcomer who was almost definitely on the side of the enemies she beckoned for the third man to come forward to attack. She would change targets, reaching behind her she pulled out a final dagger. This one was black, and shiny, made of obsidian it was sharper than any other blade she had. Its edge was sharper than scalpels, nothing would match its cutting power. She charged forward the dagger held in hand at the old man. Given the quality of the people who had fought with these people, she could not underestimate the old man. She would get in close, where her flexibility and mobility would overpower the old man. His flexibility she could guess was not what it used to be. (i'll let you take over from here)

For Shisha a different problem was in store. With the sniper in the back still shooting at her to zone her into one area the final man with the tank on his back walked forward. With hose in hand he laughed, for his weapon was unlike any other that had been seen. "Good bye, gunny!" He said laughing. With a click the world lit with red and yellow light. Literally a stream of fire flowed out of it into the air towards Shisha. It was a flamethrower if ever one had been seen at the time. Normally it was simply used to burn excess wood when they had too much, but now in battle its uses were much greater. No one could get close to him, not to mention the fire screened him from the enemy. And in conjunction with the sniper in the back they could zone a person into one area and then burn him or her to the ground.

[Kurosaki]

"Or what, pretty boy? What are you going to do to me," taunted the Buzz wielding lunatic with one raised eyebrow and a cocky stance as his weapons churned away at sawing the air. "You going to help me with my makeup and to style my hair like that, huh? Or how about I kill your friends one by one slowly in front of you. That way before you die you'll get the treat of knowing that all of your 'nakama' were brutally killed because you were too weak. Yeah, that'll do." The man grinned broadly and then zigzagged this way and that, moving quickly before he came at Kane to strike.

This time Kane didn't say a word, only glared intensely and when the man came closer. With his more enhanced powers, he brought his fists up and then ducked low and came up to punch the man several times rapidly. This time his Hoshi Rampage, as the attack as known, was Class F star meaning each blow was hotter and was even hot enough to cause skin to catch on fire. Which it did.

Gonal Buzz screamed out in pain followed by a series of choice curse words. The blows had come quick, in such rapid succession and with such ferocity that it threw the buzzsaw wielder for a loop. Earlier, had this guy not been putting in his all? Had he just been pacing himself and weighing out how the fight was going to go? Now he seemed utterly serious, as though he would take on an entire army in one go if he had to. Nakamura Kane was just that type of guy though. He couldn't stand to hear anything bad said about his nakama or see them in anyway hurt if he could help it. So the blows landed harder and harder the more he thought about this man ever laying a hand on them.

And that was how Kane ticked.

And Gonal Buzz found out the hard way.

Falling over, landing on his back with blood seeping out of his mouth and a stunned look on his face before he slipped into unconsciousness after shutting off his saws, the man realized it all too late that he shouldn't have ever insulted the Hoshi crew.

Looking enraged still, Kane stood over the man with his fists at the ready but when it seemed to dawn on him that he was actually unconscious, he allowed himself to relax a little bit, shoulders less rigid. The other battles around him became more noticeable at his own battle's conclusion.

Nearby, Frien was slammed into a tree trunk and bombarded with attacks. Kane bore witness to this abuse and realized that despite his protecting the crew from the wrath of Gonal Buzz, they were still fighting for their lives this very moment from Wardus and his men.

Without powering down his powers, Kane took this opportunity while Wardus was distracted in his pursuits on attacking Frien and used his Nagareboshi no Spinnu attack coming at him from the side. The attack involved Kane jumping up into the air with his Devil Fruit powers activated, spinning at fast speeds, and coming crashing into the man with his fists.

Whether or not the attack would work, he wasn't sure but the main part was to distract him from what he was doing and cause Wardus to focus on the Hoshi Captain. It was time to take this man out. Kane was burning with energy, adrenaline and was not about to back down for anything. He couldn't remember the last time he was so pumped up about a fight. And if Wardus fell than this would be the end of the entire thing because the Hoshi would then be able to take out the rest of his crew or the rest of his crew might hightail it out of there.

Landing with a flourish, slowing down his descent even with his powers of solar wind, Kane met Wardus' gaze as best as he could and challenged the man.

"Your opponent is me now, Wardus! Let's end this now," he said confidently as he took another battle ready position. He was ready for anything that this man could throw at him, he felt. He needed to take Wardus out and most importantly he needed a punching bag now that couldn't take out the rest of his anger out on the unconscious Gonal Buzz.

It was odd to see the normally cheerful young man be so serious about anything. A smile didn't grace his face this time but instead he faced the man with narrowed eyes and calm readiness.

(Gah, bit short, sorry!)

[shisha]

Her stomach wound throbbed with pain, the movements of her body forcing the wound to move and twist along with her, causing much greater pain. But she didn't have time to worry about such things, even if those things felt like her body being torn open with a pair of rusty meat hooks. Not just from the sniper who'd been assulting her with many a bullet, and missing, but also from the other combatant now trudging his way towards her. At the time seeing bullets wipping past her frame, she thanked her lucky star that this sniper seemed to have a tough time actually hitting his or her mark. Being a sharpshooter herself, she could only imagine the sense of humiliation and anger that sniper was feeling. Personally Shisha would have been on the front lines, fighting in the trenches so to speak, not hiding back out of sight like a kind of creepy crawling creature. As she picked herself up off the floor a little, still clutching her wound, a sound nearby grabbed her attention. A voice. Calling out to her, with murderous intent.

Before she could react too much, a stream of belching fire erupted outwards towards her. This time she couldn't dodge the attack, having nowhere to retreat to, having no basis of comparison to this kind of attack. The fire engulfed her body hiding her from sight, until she managed to stumble her way out of its path, trying desperatly to pat herself down with her hands. She would of Stopped, dropped and rolled. Had she known that saying. Regardless she found her way out of the fire, resorting to unclipping her cape of sorts, letting it fall free from her, burning into nothingness on the ground behind her. She had to use her sleeve to wipe clean her Helmets visor, leaving a noticable clean streak up across it from corner to corner. Another reason to thank her lucky star, her attire being what it was meant that no fire had actually burned her, but had gotten pretty dam close regardless. As her Cap burnt away she also had to discard her Back mounted Winch system, it weighed her down too much as her brain told her she'd need all her agility for this one.

Again the hose bleched fire at her but this time, she expected it. Rolling to her side in a very commando like style that her Captain would possibly find interesting, sprinting towards him as the fire roared past her. But he turned, still firing, well, fire at her. Again she moved aside, but was caught in the arm with it, having to shake and pat it out very quickly, almost in mid run you could say. Shotgun now in her hands she used the disadvantage of the weapon attacking her. Turning circles. The item in question was heavy, clumbersome, whereas Shisha was fast and agile. It was while moving around him, reloading, that an idea struck her. But soon faded, as she recalled using the last of that particular ammunition before hand to save Kuro and Frien. Her plan to plug up the end of the hose had fallen flat, but still she had a back up in place. Quick as a flash she fired a single round, just one shot. At the hose itself. When it struck she smiled on the inside, standing still putting her weapon away, not moving as he turned to her.

The plan was simple, Patience. A weapon like that had to use a large amount of pressure to force the fire outwards like that. With the damage to the hose, the pressure in it would cause it to breach and when it would, the result could be a little too hot to handle. For him. Not so much for her. He aimed, she stood her ground, even going so far as to turn away from him. The pressure began to build up in the weapon, the damaged section of hose began to strain until, the second he fired, it ruptured. A ball of fire expanded out from that tiny hole, causing the man to vanish inside of the burning sphere. Looking back she smiled and reloaded, forgetting about something until, it hit her like a tonne of bricks. Like an on-coming train. Like a, well, like a speeding bullet. A single shot that hit her shoulder. She dropped her weapon, her arm fell limp. Maybe that sniper was getting a little closer.

[Armani]

The battle was raging as Scruffy stood, seemingly staring blankly at strangers he did not know with intentions much more malign towards an old man like him than he would have assumed. There were few trees left standing to absorb the sounds of conflict that thundered about and muddled together in his hearing. Gunshots, fists, battle cries, laughter; all of it fused together in a muddy mess of noise that made it difficult for even a man as observant as he to discern what might have been happening around him without looking. It was easy to tell when several of the kids made a move however, as the intense heat from the Hoshi Hoshi no Mi and the Jetto Jetto no Mi relished in sporadically blasting their unnatural powers to warm up the area. Of course, at this time, these abilities were all still new to this old janitor and the fact that he couldn't simply watch, as was his predisposition in most of his life, made it a little frustrating that he had jumped into the middle of this mess.

But to watch and listen to what others were doing wouldn't be a luxury available to him for much longer. The sound of a blade being unsheathed in fairly close proximity to him drew his attention from what was happening around him. It was a sound that was titillating to even an old swordsman like himself as he found his heartbeat began to pump faster in excitement just at the mere sound. Despite its drawing being too short to be an actual sword, Scruffy found himself once again surprised at the fact that such a little nuance could incite such a reaction and that it came so naturally to him.

Scruffy's eyes, though covered by overgrown and world heavy eyebrows met the female who had drawn her weapon of choice. A little turn of the head let her know that he had noticed her movements of unsheathing, despite the chaotic noise around them. She was a slim woman, tightly wrapped in clothes that would have helped her blend in with the surrounding of the area had most of them not been cut down already. Earthy brown and green cloaked and hugged her body to the point where it almost made it look like it had been painted on. She wore the same colors as a literal hooded cloak, making it all too obvious that her talents lied in a more assassin type style. She lied in wait for her targets, camouflaged within the foliage, waiting to strike whilst their back was turned and the guards was unsuspecting or down; which screamed that she was now at a disadvantage being out in the open amongst the barren forest. Her eyes bore a monstrous, murderous intent as they tried to kill this old man just by looking at him as her fingers nimbly gripped and twisted the unsheathed weapon in her hand.

An obsidian blade, black as night and a color so dark that it threatened to absorb the very light around it, was fondled carefully, but skillfully. But despite its threat to absorb light, it shimmered and gleamed with pride as the natural sunlight reflected on its very surface. Thinly lined edges screamed to begin eviscerating as they knew who their target was as it lied in wait within the hand of the enemy. It was a fine piece of craftsmanship, one that any one experienced in bladed weaponry could tell, even from the distance Scruffy was. But the time for admiration would end almost as quickly as it arrived.

A blur of camouflage streaked towards an old man and his cleaning supplies. With her dagger gripped firmly in her hand, this woman drove herself towards her target like a hawk to their prey. Her speed was furious and her eyes even more so, despite the fact that Scruffy had done little to nothing in the way of provoking this girl, and yet at the same time, there was a cold feeling coming from them. Scruffy stood motionless as her eyes told the story of a girl who would use her anger to empower her, but the constant of death brought about by her hand had made her callous to the fact and her heart had been steeled against feeling anything from it anymore.

The sound of the first strike echoed through the near treeless forest as her blade met with the tempered steel handle of a broom. With its head still sitting in the empty mop bucket, Scruffy stood still as she met him. She was quick, but her form lacked the power that it took to truly move the man in any way and as her momentum brought her forward, their eyes met within a foot of each other. Both she and he stared at each other impassively, which in irony, surprised the old man. If things were to go in any way he would have assumed they would, this would have been the time in which the girl would have shown her amazement that this "scruffy" looking janitor had stopped her attack so easily. With a slight push forward of the broom, the girl's momentum reversed and she moved backwards, taking the momentum Scruffy was giving her and using it to put herself out of distance as he countered with a quick, but effortless, horizontal swipe.

Her eyes never moved from watching Scruffy for any sort of weakness that might have ensued from the first strike and as she stared, so did he. For all the shouts and noise around the two of them, these two remained as silent as they could possibly be, each doing their best to size the other up with what little data they had of the other. So far, she was fast and he was immovable; but such dispositions would be quick to rectify themselves as the battle progressed. It felt like their eyes were the ones doing the fighting and their looks held the blades.

This young woman didn't waste much time though as she readjusted her footing and pushed off them once again towards Scruffy, leaving a small cloud of dust in her wake. The black of that dagger she possessed created a streak of black between her starting point and its drawing closer to Scruffy. With its impressive sharpness cleaving through the air without any resistance whatsoever, she came within inches of him as a muscular arm reached out and the janitor suddenly grabbed this woman's wrist stopping her immediately in her tracks.

"GAH! LET GO OF ME!"

The young lady swung up in the air as Scruffy's powerful arm clamped onto her dagger hand's wrist and lifted her up by it. Clasping her free hand against his surprisingly muscular forearm, she yanked, slapped, hit and tried to pull herself up to attempt to bite him in order to secure her freedom. All the while, Scruffy's eyebrows just watched her struggle.

"Hmm, why?"

"Y-YOU PERVERTED OLD MAN! YOU CAN'T HOLD A GIRL AGAINST HER WILL!"

Scruffy wasn’t the tallest of people and stood at a height a little shorter than the average man. Still, he was able to lift this petite little girl off her feet, high enough so that all she could do was wiggle in mid air.

"You're trying to hurt Scruffy."

"I KNOW I'M BEAUTIFUL! STRIKING! STUNNING! GORGEOUS! AN EXQUISITE FLOWER IN A FIELD OF WEEDS! A…"

”You wanna have tea with Scruffy?”

“PICTURESQUE! MAGNIFICENT! ATTRACTIVE! AN IMAGE OF-…wha-?”

[Die]

Whatever they did, whatever they tried, Dr. Beat seemed to be a step ahead of them. They were essentially fighting an uphill battle. When it seemed as though the gap between him and the two closed once Mikan exposed his weakness, it ended up widening again once he started to use Celine…whatever it was. All Estelle knew was that if they were to survive this, she would have to kill him. Unless Mikan had an actual ace up her sleeve, it was the only way. The Bilkan was at her wits end by now. Then again, it was not a very long way to reach that end. Mikan wanted to avoid killing the CP agent, but with the seemingly insurmountable opposition they were facing, that goal appeared unattainable by now. They were quickly running out of available options.

Mikan had grabbed her hand and made a beeline for the forest in an attempt to find some cover, though her attempted escape was cut tragically short as Dr. Beat caught up and attacked her with the mysterious Celine. Time seemed to slow as Estelle watched the needle embed itself into the good doctor's chest just above her collarbone. Mikan had dropped to the ground, appearing to lose her sanity completely as she screamed out in desperation. Whatever had happened to her as a result of Celine, it appeared to be infectious. The voices shrieked in Estelle's head once again, yet this time around the call was greater. They dug into her head, making it feel as though a thousand stilettos were suddenly sunk into her head. With her vision swimming in horribly distorted images of burnt cadavers, she slowly retreated away from Mikan and Dr. Beat in her own confusion. "S-stop it... Stop..." she said feebly.

She lost her balance in her nausea, frantically kicking at the ground to try and put some distance between her and Dr. Beat. "P-please...stop," she whimpered, her breath ragged as she gasped for air like someone who had just broken out of a stranglehold. It seemed as though all of her cognitive functions were being hampered by whatever horrible vision she was having along with the shrieking in her mind. That was until he tripped over Mikan's legs. In her confused daze, Estelle reached out towards the direction of one of the Marine ships docked on the island. As it turned out, it was the same one that had hit Estelle with cannonade and forced her into a crash landing on Treegap. In the bowels of the ship, the cargo bay, lied a familiar weapon. The characteristic large halberd, Freya, lied against a wall, held down by chains. It seemed as though they were aware to some extent of Estelle's Devil Fruit abilities, after having witnessed the launched battleships back during the White Beard war. It had not shown any signs of movement ever since the Crimson Lightning had vanished to the island. But now, it started to move. Exhaust plumes flickered around it as it began to struggle against its binds.

Mikan had suddenly sprung up and wrapped herself around Dr. Beat, restricting his movements. The abrupt move had somehow snapped Estelle out of her daze of insanity. Back on the ship, Freya had suddenly put off a huge burst in power, loudly snapping the chains that held it against the wall. It fell to the floor with a resounding clang, catching the attention of a few Marines who were left behind to make sure the Hoshi didn't try to commandeer the ship. They moved down into the cargo hold, apprehensive about whatever could have been the cause of such a violent event. Upon finding no one there, they became scared, thinking that there might be a ghost on the ship seeking revenge, not knowing that the weapon's rightful owner was calling it to her.

With Dr. Beat temporarily restrained, Mikan desperately shouted out to her, "Estelle, do that heat blasting wave power to me and him right now!"

[/color]

"B-but!" she started to shout in protest.

"Don't hesitate, and burn me with this quack doctor!!"[/b] Mikan commanded.

Estelle struggled to get to her feet, no longer bound by the intense pain that wracked her mind. She still kept her palms from facing Dr. Beat and Mikan. "But you'll get seriously hurt...or even worse!" Estelle protested.

Please do it for me!!" Mikan implored. In a way, she made a really good point. Neither one of them had even come close to matching Dr. Beat until now. The opportunity presented by Mikan's bold move provided Estelle with the only chance to end the conflict for the both of them and keep Dr. Beat from capturing the two.

Estelle's eyes widened as the burden now fell on her. Her face twisted as she clenched her teeth as her internal conflict strove to decide the fate of Mikan and Dr. Beat. She really did not want to injure...or possibly even kill her new friend. But she also wanted Dr. Beat to just go away and leave them alone, if not outright die. She clenched her eyes shut as she turned her palms toward Dr. Beat and Mikan. She let out a conflicted roar as the area right in front of her palms burst alight. The superheated air plumes erupted from her hands, but this time instead of a short burst, it was a sustained blast. Mikan and Dr. Beat would have felt the strong concussive impact of a huge, hot mass of air hitting them at beyond supersonic speeds, before being literally blown off of their feet and into whatever objects were behind them. It would take a miracle for either one of them to survive the heavy assault. "Please be okay...Mikan." Estelle thought to herself as tears assembled in the corners of her eyes once the rocket plumes dissipated and her arms fell to her sides. The strength of her internal conflict pushed her closer to the edge. A temporarily dormant monster was close to breaking free once again. It was only a matter of time before the Hoshi came another step closer to the secrets behind the Bilkan girl.[/size][/blockquote]

[Mikan]

It was a gamble.

Mikan had a 50% chance of dying from that superheated wave Estelle had released to both her and Dr. Beat. This unfavorable chance was risky for her theory might not work. It was simple, really. In the short time her senses was taken away from her, she had figured out that she needed pain to take back her senses. It is likely that Celine is a drug that temporarily takes away people's senses. To destroy this drug running through her veins that blocks all the necessary functions for her to sense her environment, she decided to risk it all and get hid with the superheated wave to increase the temperature around her. Hopefully, the pressure that builds up inside her body will be enough to suppress the drug away from her.

Plus... she has another feeling deep within her.

She is going to survive this.

The superheated wave was much powerful than Mikan had anticipated. Though they did not see anything at all, the two had felt the heat come to them and before any of them could dodge, the heat had passed through them boiling their skins.

Well, not really.

Dr. Beat prepared as Mikan was begging for Estelle to attack both of them. He had prepared for a jacket that reduces the heat waves that comes in contact with him greatly. He had put this in front of him, not wore it since Mikan was hugging him as powerful as she can, to shield the wave. He was smart enough to let it through Mikan's, though which blew Mikan away along with the superheated wave.

In the middle of her flying through the air waiting for a solid wall to stop her with the superheated wave long gone, the doctor's skin had started to boil really badly from the heat. Mikan was unconscious, so she did not notice the plants wrapping itself unto the skin which had come out of her body. Estelle's power was the perfect cure to Mikan's problems, after all.

Celine's drug was eradicated from her body, and her devil fruit powers had started to come back. What she really needed for her ability to come back was heat - lots of it. Generated heat that is converted into energy that will lasts her for months.

She did not know this though, for she was unconscious. She hit a tree that stopped her and her body now full of plants sat still under the tree. Meanwhile, Dr. Beat took this chance, and put on the coat. The jacket was created for his protection from Estelle's powers. Information travels real fast between marines, and therefore, was quite ready for both Estelle and the Hoshi Pirates. As he tuck in everything inside the heat-proof jacket, he lunged into Estelle with Celine being swung madly.

He could care less. He just really want to finish the mission as soon as possible. To do that, he would first need to finish off Estelle. He took aim in Estelle's chests, and with a jump, he went in for the kill.

[flame08]

Frien's body was laying limp against the tree trunk. He maintained only minimal consciousness as he lay there, vaguely aware of his dangerous position. It was not like he could do anything anyways, his body had been crushed against the tree and a bullet of air had basically knocked the wind out of him. If he could survive for a little longer, his body, in its current Zoan mode would probably heal him enough that he could return to battle with some sort of efficiency. But not any time soon, it needed time, time that he really did not have seeing as Wardus' ax was now hurtling down towards him. Perhaps, no most likely this was the end for him, he flitted out of consciousness and all went black.

But Wardus' strike never hit its mark, for he was distracted by a light coming up in his periphery. Swinging his ax across his body he smashed it into the boy who was spinning knocking him away. He grunted his annoyance that someone else had come to get in the way of his troubles. However his target was incapacitated for the moment, so he could change his aim a little. It was not a problem, he would swat away this little fly. Turning to face his opponent he realized how small and girly his opponent was. He laughed, hard the 'Bwahaha's coming out of his mouth in an endless stream. This fly was flimsy, a stick of a man who had neither the height nor the size of Wardus. It seemed laughable to him that this child would try and challenge one such as himself. He could see a simple swing of his ax creating enough wind to blow this boy away.

The boy's young voice rang out as he challenged Wardus to combat. "Your opponent is me now, Wardus! Let's end this now." He sounded confident? Falsely confident no doubt, unless this child had some secret technique beyond what he had already shown victory was assured. This runt would be dead soon, but to make it a little more interesting Wardus thought up something fun. If this child was going to challenge him he would have to show his own strength. Reaching down he grabbed Frien by the jacket and tossed it at Kane. Frien's body limply flew in the air landing with a thud at Kane's feet.

Wardus' deep voice thundered out "Fine then. Just a warning, if you can't defend this guy you won't be able to beat me." He laughed as his ax swung in circles around him letting out a multitude of air slashes. Each and every one of them could easily fell a tree and all of them were aimed directly at Kane and Frien. Following that he turned the ax head so its face, (for lack of a better word) faced outwards. Swinging it outwards he created a giant gust of wind, using it like a fan. Wardus paused for a second to see how his opponent would react, but then gave it a second thought and decided he wouldn't give them time to relax. Latching both hands upon his gigantic ax he began to swing in circles. The ax moving slowly at first gaining speed as he spun it around and around his body. Finally he let go, sending it flying like a giant wrecking ball straight at his enemies.

Satisfied with his throw he changed into his hybrid form. Here he had the strongest hand to hand capabilities. His wild boar form he didn't find as strong as this one. With stubby and short legs he had a low center of mass but it also anchored him to the ground much harder. His chest was still massive making him easily 11 or 12 feet tall. Large muscular arms were covered in fur and hardened at the end with rock solid hooves. And his head was reinforced with two large teeth coming out the side of his faith as well as two horns at the top. This was his strongest hand-to-hand fighting stance. An immovable wall of strength and power.

---

The crazed flamethrower user laughed maniacally as his stream of flame engulfed his enemy. Until something happened, the stream of fire stopped, something had stopped it. He didn't even have time to react as pressure built up in his 'hose'. All he could do was laugh, maniacally as always, he laughed at his failure but more because he was well insane! What man would wear such a deathtrap upon his or her back and not question his life. He was consumed in fire. Of course with nothing else to do, since he was burning alive he ran forward. The ultimate tackle glomp was coming. He could barely make out his enemy flinch as a bullet pierced her shoulder. Jumping forward even as his muscles burned up he made to land directly on her. If he was going down she was going down with him.

The sniper on the other hand just sat there and smiled. The crazy guy had annoyed him greatly. One could never really feel comfortable around him, and the sniper especially did not like him at all. But seeing his opponent take a bullet to the shoulder he quickly trained his rifle in on her and fired off 3 more rounds. Two for the forehead and one for the heart. A sniper worked quickly, disposing of his enemy before moving on to the next one. Assuming the death of his enemy he changed targets now to the old man who had just appeared recently. He was in a deep duel with the assassin girl. Their combat was too intertwined for him to take a good shot. So he continued to search for an enemy, perhap's Wardus' opponents. But then maybe Wardus didn't like his prey to be taken from him. So the sniper decided against that as well. Placing his rifle on his knee he sat down in his tree hide-out and relaxed. His work for now, was done.

[Kurosaki]

It was one of only two times that Kane had been this fired up about something. He looked like he was actually going to take this man down without batting an eye despite all of the odds against him. Sure, he was small in comparison, unarmed and relatively beat up to begin with while Wardus was strong, humongous and seemingly no worse for wear after fighting Frien. But none of that stopped Kane's fighting spirit.

Before he could stop him, however, Wardus took that opportunity to seize the unconscious Frien, slumped up against a tree, and toss him through the air so that he landed at Kane's feet with a thud. Kane knelt down beside him and tried to shake the man awake before turning his head up and listening to the lumberjack's comment about defending Frien and defeating the man.

"Well, then I have nothing to worry about," Kane replied who had already decided to hoist up the unconscious shipwright and sling him onto his shoulder. The added weight would make things difficult for sure but there was no way he could defend the man while he was simply laying on the ground. One false move and one move that slipped past him would result in the man's death and Kane was aware of this.

Positioning Frien so he wouldn't slip off but still holding onto him with one hand, Kane had to outmaneuver several air slashes that came his way. He couldn't help but jostle Frien as he did so but it was the only way to keep the two of them alive. He hoped the man didn't have any broken bones. Trees came at them but Kane would either leap so that he ended up standing on top of them or jump out of the way.

Wardus wasn't through either with just that. After a moment of pausing in which Kane used as a chance to get closer by running up to him, the man had turned his ax and was using it as a giant fan. One sweep of the ax caused a giant wave of wind to come at the two of them. Kane's feet were literally lifted from the ground but he managed to grab a hold of a vine hanging from a nearby tree and hold on until it died down.

Letting go, Kane literally glided downward and touched ground again, Frien having ridden on his back all the way. Neither of them had time to relax; or at least Kane had no time. Frien was probably completely unaware of the danger that was being tossed at them from everywhere they turned to. All Kane saw was a giant ax that was coming, hurtling straight at them. He spun quickly using his Hoshi powers and managed to zip out of the line of danger. The ax slammed into a tree and completely destroyed the base of it causing the tree to fall over.

Kane continued to spin and disappeared momentarily into the shrubbery. When he came back he spun once last time and revealed himself to be alone now. Frien he had placed somewhere he felt was save; a couple of yards away from the battle place. Which wasn't far but Kane already had plans to keep the fight away from that area.

"That the best you got, Walrus, was it? Because I'm still standing!" Kane called out, circling around the man but keeping his distance and playing it by ear. So far both of them had been doing nothing but wasting their energy. No one had exactly caused damage to the other. The man began to transform into his Zoan hybrid look revealing fur, tusks, and what seemed to be even more muscle than before.

Deciding that it was his turn now to return the favors, Kane came at his enemy, opening with a round of punches and kicks that were powered up by his Hoshi powers. This time he had already activated Class F Star which meant that his fists were burning a lighter golden color and emitted more heat and power. There was a slight increase from before in his speed and strength which was notable as well. But what was the cause?

The secret was actually in Wardus' mistake. He had felled a lot of trees in the area with his relentless wind slashes and the sun was now streaming more brilliantly through the canopy. Kane could feel its rays from where he stood and the energy was literally powering up his moves and giving him an extra boost.

Following up his barrage of punches and kicks, Kane backed up and pulled one of his arms back. Thrusting it forward, he caused a wave of heat to be sent forward. Enough to burn normal flesh and even set clothes on fire. The wave was in a radius of ten feet so thankfully having Frien safely out of the way had been Kane's other advantage. The move's name was Solar Flare and was Kane's second most powerful attacks and had been delivered directly to Wardus' face.

Backing off now, Kane panted and kept his stance, his eyes searching his enemy to see the extent of what his attacks had actually managed to do.

[shisha]

Clutching her wounded shoulder, Shisha was focusing not on the horrible pain surging through her nervous system, but on her rage towards the person who had shot her. His location was obvious, both from being a long rage fighter herself and from the angles the bullets were being fired from. An elevated spot was sort of obvious in a location like the treegap. Still she had pressing matters to attend to, such as making sure her arm was still working after having a bullet shot through her shoulder. Looking down at her arm, laying limp by her side, she focused on making her fingers move. Thankfully her glove covered fingers moved with her commands, she breathed a quiet sigh of relief. The pain in her shoulder though once again focring her face to wince and contort. Under her helmet of course.

As she moved to get up, a little Shaky at first, the Sniper who had shot her again fired more shots at her well hidden toned body. Out of sheer luck and weakness in the legs on her part, she ended up dropping to her knees, failing to stand up the first time. The shots missed their mark, but not by much. Close enough for her to feel the air rush by her. Her eyes glanced up to his location, peering through the foliage and branches, zeroing in on her inteded target. But a sound from behind her forced her eyes to divert from the sniper. The man who'd previously exploded in a ball of fire was not down for the count, but still standing and, by the looks of things, wanting to harm the ex Bounty hunter.

As the large flaming lump of Crazy ran forward out of the flames, she reached quickly for her weapon with her working arm. It proved very difficult indeed, as stretching her arm forced her other shoulder to move slightly as well, which forced more pain from the already painful injury. The man lunged through the air as her fingers tips brushed against the weapons casing, slowly running her fingers to its grip as he started to cast a shadow over her in the air. Her hand closed around it and, quick as a flash, she used it as a sort of Mountin climbing ice pick in the ground, as a post to pull herself out of his way. Landing on the ground missing his Death Glomp, Shisha looked at him laying there.

Reaching to her weapon again she pulled it back beside her, like a baseball bat and, with both hands. The pain in her shoulder was overpowering, the temptation to stop and give up was getting harder and harder to resist. She could feel the blood running down her sleeve under her attire. She swung the shotgun around with all her strength, slamming it into the face of the flaming man before her. Swung so hard was the weapon that Shisha herself span around with it, the recoil of the metal hitting his traveled back to her shoulder. Instantly she knew it was a bad idea to do such a thing. Laying on her back, egale spread looking up into the treetops. Remembering the person she was wanting revenge upon.

Like a crutch she used her weapon to prop herself up, eventually standing back on her feet. Under her helmet she was sweating terribly, her arm was bleeding so much, but that would have to wait. He hadn't shot her standing up, to her this was a chance. With his attention no longer on her injured form she loaded her weapon with a single orange coloured shell. If Shisha had to feel the sting of fire, so would this irritating corawdly sniper. She took aim and fired, holding the weapon with one arm. The shell flew up into the tree, exploding unpon impact with a fireball. The tree caught fire, she knew he was in the thick of the flame, nobody could out snipe her, even one handed.

[Armani]

Before long, the young lady in camouflaged garments and the old man in a simple suspender and t-shirt combo were sitting on a checkered blanket in the midst of a battlefield. Everything was happening around them save for these two who sat at the epicenter of tranquility. Bullets whizzed past and dirt flew everywhere about them save for their little piece of earth. It seemed almost magical how nothing could touch them, but then again, wasn’t there already magic about in the form of two people who should have been enemies drinking tea with one another?

Scruffy sat there letting his bushy eyebrows watch this young, beautiful girl take a sip. Her dainty hands held the cup gracefully to her lips and lowered it back down after the soft sound of appeasement from warm refreshment. He himself sat mostly still and took another drink of his own earl grey tea, something he just happened to have amongst his belongings in his mop bucket, due to it being his favorite kind of tea. An old dog like himself knew the value of enjoying a drink with a companion and would have much rather preferred it that way rather than drinking alone. This also gave Scruffy the ability to lock out a major figure in this fight without having to raise a weapon for too long…

It was a funny thing to watch two warriors be so delicate and elegant in the way they chose to drink. Well, at least a swordsman like Scruffy who fell into the “power type” category of the art. But that’s exactly what it was, wasn’t it? An art? Like a painter, sculptor, musician, Scruffy’s hands were a point of finesse and movement despite the acts of sundering and evisceration that came with that kind of strength.

”Hmm…” His head lifted up slightly as a question came to him. ”Do you enjoy Scruffy’s Earl Grey?”

“Huh? Oh yes.” She herself perked up in response to someone talking to her, despite the noise around them. “Although some Ginseng would be nice too.” The dull eyes of a killer stared at him though she seemed to be enjoying herself as well. Perhaps she was trying to see if he found her comment rude or upsetting. Maybe she was trying to upset him, but had that been the case, this girl would be sorely let down as Scruffy just sat and stared through his eyebrows, impassive and dull looking.

”Scruffy thinks you’re pretty young to have those eyes.”

“Excuse me?”

”Yup. Feel bad for you.”

“What exactly do you mean,” Her tone had changed to something that was unamused at this old man seemingly taking pot shots at her eyes. “I have been told that I have eyes that you could get lost in.” It was true, though it had been years since she had heard that particular phrase from anybody. At least, that’s what this old janitor would have thought as her eyes let down their guard for the slightest of seconds to look down in depressed thought.

”Scruffy thinks that you’re too young to have killed so many people as to have lost all their brightness.

At this her form became rigid and her back arched in order to look down on the man. “You don’t know anything about eye, Bushy-eyed Ossan!”

”Know a thing or two, I reckon.” Another dip of the cup brought the sound of a sip of tea. ”Sure your eyes were something to behold back before you started killin’ for money.” They say that the eyes were the window to the soul. Perhaps that’s why he kept his covered by outrageously large eyebrows. With the prowess that this girl had moved to initially attack him and the deep, stone-like, coldness that came from steeling one’s heart again and again and again, it was clear what this young woman did for a living and though he seemed to egg her on a bit, there was a bit of his heart strings being tugged at. ”Think they’d get some life back in ‘em if you found something worth fighting for.”

“Listen old man…”

[Die]

Estelle watched in horror as Mikan flew back quite aways and impacted a tree. The entire scenario played out in her eyes in slow motion, like a cliched scene from an action movie. She watched as the girl fell to the ground as debris from a whole lot of other trees, that had been blown over by being in the path of Estelle’s abilities, flew in the same direction as Mikan. The Bilkan girl had no idea the ploy Mikan had set into motion. For all intents and purposes, Estelle's abilities were excellent for causing death and destruction wherever she went. She had no idea that Mikan was a Devil Fruit user to begin with, let alone the fact that her powers were temporarily “sealed.” Similarly, she did not know that in order to reactivate her abilities, Mikan needed exposure to high temperatures. It was rather fitting, given that certain types of flowers bloom and certain types of plants grow after a fire passes through. Such things are a marvel of nature, the ability for life to regrow after the destruction wrought by a fire. A vegetative phoenix, if you would. It was only natural such an ability rested in an individual like Mikan.

And while she did what she was told, Dr. Beat had somehow produced a heat-resistant jacket and put it on. Whoever had made the jacket produced a rather marvelous piece of technology if it allowed someone to somehow survive temperatures akin to that of a weak star that would vaporize and reduce any mortal being to a black carbon husk. Even if he had been protected from the heat, he still had to worry about the immense amount of concussive thrust force from the rocket burst, and the sheer thrust force a sustained plume created. A jacket may be able to ablate heat, but it certainly was not a shield against force itself. And against forces strong enough to blast any normal man into pieces, it was again miraculous that he survived such an onslaught of heat and force.

With Mikan temporarily out of the picture, Estelle had more pressing matters to deal with. With Dr. Beat still up and running despite the fact his skin had started to boil, he had an opportunity to deal with the troublesome Bilkan girl. She could only stand in fear of what could have happened to Mikan as the CP agent donned the heat-resistant jacket and began to advance towards Estelle. He then lunged at her and swung Celine wildly. The Bilkan girl had suddenly snapped out of her trance-like state of shock and flung up her arms to try and block the first blow. Dr. Beat had succeeded in disrupting the girl’s balance, knocking her to the ground. Having virtually no time to stand up before the second strike, Estelle clambered backwards, trying once again to put some distance between her and Beat. When she needed her powers the most, her body had decided to quit on her. She was too frightened to properly utilize her abilities and flee. With her strength deserting her, Dr. Beat had the most prime of opportunities to eliminate the thread of the Bilkan girl. He took this opportunity to leap at Estelle, Celine drawn and aimed right for her chest. Once again Estelle shrieked and threw up her arms, blindly aiming her palms at his chest and stomach.

The last thing she remembered that day, before she let loose another superheated burst into Dr. Beat’s chest and stomach at point blank range, was Celine’s needle burying itself into her chest.

[Mikan]

There it was.

He expected it, but not this soon. Just a little more and he would have completed the mission. .

But, of course, his damn captain wanted him to be out of the picture that damn much to give him a powerful enemy like Estelle. Tsk, the vice-captain thought as Celine's sharp tip needle dug deep into Dr. Beat's thighs. He did not let Estelle to notice this self-sabotage but it had to be done. If he had to continue, after all. It's the only cure for pain even though it is temporary. To continue, he needed the absence of pain receptors. Celine had the power to do this. Without it, he would succumb to pain and collapse.

The "heat-proof" jacket was as heat-proof as three jackets on top of the other. He doesn't feel the arbitrary decay of his epidermis, and muscles as he continue to stand without medication, but as a doctor, he knows he will not survive the ordeal. Estelle's superheated burst was much too powerful for a three-jacket layer to protect him. His skin starts to boil, and in a matter of minutes, a cardiac arrest will follow. He knows this, but the pride of a vice-captain doesn't waver. With the aid of Celine's power to blind the pain, he jumped towards Estelle without a care in the world. But, even Estelle should be able to point out that the captain was out of shape to continue. His face is starting to grow dark spots here and there - it was too much heat for the body to handle therefore, like a burnt peace of bread, it starts to blacken and sooner or later it will turn to black ash.

But, before Dr. Beat's dying thoughts would come to him, he finally strucked Estelle with Celine. He no longer care what kind of absence it brought Estelle - sight, hearing, touch, taste, or smell. If he was lucky, probably all five, or four of them like what happened to Mikan. It could also be pain. Dr. Beat didn't have enough time to think what type of absence of sense he should bring to her as he only wanted to leave something behind to this person he never cared about in the first place. He only cared about the prestige it would bring after it. Even in death, he was a greedy doctor. With the sharp tip of Celine and its injected drug, he was blown away with another super heated blast. He no longer cared if it was much powerful than the first one. For as the blast reached his decaying body, he went into cardiac arrest from all the blood that coagulated and burned off from different sections of his body that never made it to the heart to be pumped. Dr. Beat's body was blasted off somewhere far into the island as this explosion was in point-blank range.

The afternoon fight between the pirates and the island's own pack of troublemakers is disturbed by a body and a jacket sprawled horizontally creating a silhouette of a man with large black wings engulfed in flames that blocked the sun's ray in all direction that created a shadow for everyone to notice amidst their troubling situations. This body flew all the way into the forest where everything was happening, into the town, and landing in the upcoming marine ship pulling over into the island. It flopped into the deck as a burnt corpse. The marines were quite frantic that afternoon as they saw the emblem of the world government into this burnt body in black and white embedded into his skin. Dr. Beat's back tattoo that has been the least burnt of the body has survive for the marines to see with still living flames engulfing it.

The captain of this boat came out of his office to reveal that this man was an officer situated into this town. His name was Beat, an aspiring vice-captain marine that was left behind the town because he tried to assassinate his own captain so that he could be the captain of the ship. Before he had met up with the Hoshi's, and Estelle, Beat requested for a marine ship to help capture the pirates, but they were too late.

"If only you could have taken this pirates into custody, the world government would have re-hired you, and as your friend, I will not let your death to be in vain," the captain of the marine boat whispered to himself quietly. With a spin in his step and into the high platform, he looked into the eyes of his anxious capable crew.

"MEN, TAKE THE HOSHI PIRATES, AND THE BILKAN ESTELLE GIRL INTO CUSTODY. LET NO PIRATE LEAVE THIS ISLAND", he boomed into them, and with a "YES, SIR" coming back to him in all directions, tens of soldiers in packs started to unload themselves into the island, their guns hopping up and down in their shoulders as they trudged through the sandy beaches of Treegap.

This same captain was a co-vice-captain of the same ship Beat was working at in the past. He was the person who told the idea of Beat assassinating the captain so that Beat would be the captain and him as a vice. He felt guilty after this idea had failed, and along the years, he was still a friend of Beat and the person who provided information on him about several pirates as he became a captain himself, while Beat worked as a pirate-hunter with the promise of being a captain after a certain number of pirates is taken into custody by him. This same captain was also the person who gave him Celine, an advanced weapon of the world government. He was also the one who taught him some of the rokushiki techniques that he learned.

This same captain would also avenge the death of his childhood friend as he summon his powers as a marine captain unto the island.

"If only I was faster," he said to himself as he looked on into the island. He put his palms in his eyes, and quietly he mourned for the death of his friend.

[/size]

[flame08]

Wardus watched as his axe narrowly missed the boy Kane. Who had already danced around his air slashes with Frien upon his back. And then dropped him into a bush far away before turning around to make his return attack against Wardus. Wardus watched his opponent carefully, he had good reflexes for this fight. And seemed somewhat energized as he was. Overall Kane seemed like he was in much better condition than his last opponent. The wound on his last opponent's shoulder had made his enemy a much easier fight. That probably was amplified by the fact that his enemy needed to make use of his shoulder for most of his fighting techniques. Noting the place where Frien was left quickly he turned his attention back to the boy who was now attacking. He'd get back to Frien and kill him later. Zoan powers or not Frien would not heal so fast. It would not take too long to dispose of his current enemy. Frien would still be waiting for him!

The boy looked different though, he was shining brightly. Wardus could feel the heat radiating off his body. The boy was faster, and it seemed stronger. His attacks at least hit harder than the first few had. A barrage of kicks and punches struck at Wardus, who brought himself down into horse stance and held his ground blocking the attacks with his broad arms. The attacks burned, but the layer of hair along his body helped to slightly insulate him from the attack. And even what burns he pushed past them. Wardus had high tolerance, especially in the toughened warthog skin in comparison to his more fragile human body. Then finally near the end the boy, Kane tried to make his finishing move. Reaching his arm backwards he pushed forward with a wave of heat following him which started burns on the clothes which remained upon his body and created more burns upon his now slightly leathery skin. Wardus stepped back slightly reeling from the pain of the burns. Hardening himself he stepped hard on his back foot and pushed his whole mass forward toward the boy. His two hooves coming together he slammed both of them straight into the stomach of Kane. With his next step he slammed his elbow down into the boy. And with one more he aimed a punch straight into Kane's groin.

Now then Wardus was no martial arts expert, but he had some experience with it. From watching martial artists upon karate island when he was young he had learned his basic stance as well as some simple combos to use. His style was steeped in strong stances which were rooted in the ground, he used heavy punches, throws, and grapples to defeat his opponents in hand to hand combat. Because of this he had grown used to getting hit, his pain tolerance was high, he was if anything a tank. Able to weather the damage and deal the devastating blow that would be required to defeat his opponent. The devastating blow which one would think with his training he would lack is made up with his massive strength and above that the physical buff given by his Devil Fruit power. So yes, Kane's attack had hurt, it might have even taken down a lesser man, but this was know lesser man. They would need much more than that to fell this d*mned man.

Dropping down he fully transformed now into a gigantic warthog. Charging forward with his two tusks bared forward and his massive hardened forehead at the front he aimed to do one thing and one thing only. Gore his opponent, maybe run him through with a tusk. Or simply he would run over his opponent, such a brutish attack it was. But in that same way it was extremely effective as an attack. The warthog snorted, its pride in its strength could be seen. The landing of its feet caused the earth to rumble it seemed. It was a stampede of an attack.

---

Tonal Axen, the sniper who had been battling against Shisha was distracted when he was engulfed in flame. Or more like the tree he was sitting in was engulfed in flame. He immediately knew what happened, he had missed his shot upon the sniper. So this was his retribution, already some of his clothes were burning. Reacting quickly he grabbed his rifle and jumped out of the tree falling to the ground in a cloud of dust. The fire continued to burn in the tree and was now beginning to spread to other areas. But that would not be too big of an issue for the forest because swiftly a large rain cloud was sweeping in from the west. Coming quickly to block out the sun and reduce the flames to nothing. But that was not of Tonal's concern he now had to fight the sniper again.

Except his landing had been bad, falling hard upon his left leg had dislocated it from his pelvis. He screamed in pain at the impact, biting his mouth to try and numb the pain he had in his leg, he reached over daintily touching his leg, another streak of pain ran through his body. Thinking to himself One swift motion, and it'll all be over, one swift . . . and he did it. The bone popped back into place, but that wasn't the end of his pain. No it was only the beginning, the a mountain of pain crashed through his body. The pain was so great that the marksman fell unconscious. How . . . lucky. Darkness approached him.

[Kurosaki]

There wasn't much time to recover. It seemed that Wardus' defense was much too strong for Kane to simply bash his way through. In fact, the only bashing that was going to happen was on the Captain. Wardus bulldozed his way forward and Kane was taken by surprise, unable to move fast enough to avoid the barrage as it began. First two hooves slammed into his stomach, knocking the wind directly out of his lungs. Kane gasped and felt something crack. One of his ribs? There wasn't much time to think about that though because next something connected hard with his face. Kane was struck again directly in the groin. He went down and hard.

His back slamming into the ground, Kane could only feel pain all over his body. The adrenaline pumping in his veins did help somewhat but short of pain relievers, and some super strong ones at that, there was no blocking it.

There Kane lay for a moment, breathing heavy and hurting. Blood had been coughed up again and stained his chin. He was reminded of his near defeat earlier against Gonal Buzz and shut his eyes tightly shut and clenched his teeth. So he had come all that way, defeated Buzz, only to die at the hands of this man? This Wardus? How pathetic. He knew another attack was coming soon and opened his eyes, worry being thrown to Frien. If he died here, Frien would surely be next and in his state there was no way he would survive.

Wasn't there anything... Anyway that he could defeat this mammoth of a man?

That's when his eyes locked onto something and an idea sprung into his mind. Now Kane might not have seemed like the brightest person in the world but that was because of his naive portrayal of himself but his mind was constantly working to overcome his different trials and he had just stumbled on something he thought was the ultimate solution. But would he live long enough to test it out?

Struggling upward, Kane clutched his injured stomach. The other injuries had sustained seemed to all be screaming at him at once to just lay back down and give up; that it was too much for him to take but he pushed past all of that. He saw Wardus transforming and screamed at himself to move faster. Faster! He had to move! Onto his knees and then pushing himself up, Kane ran for it but was slow, bent over and clearly not at his best. Directly at his heels was the giant Warthog zoan, unrelenting and set on either spearing him with its tusks or simply trampling over his body.

Somehow, miraculously given his condition and how slow it seemed to him that he was moving, Kane grabbed up the item he had been heading for and swung it around. He only had a few seconds at this point and flipped the switch. The buzzsaws twirled but no electricity surged through the tip. Kane's eyes widened since he had been relying on it to work and he struck the side where the controls were several times frantically, looking up and down as Wardus came at him. Just then the electricity kicked in and Kane rolled to the side with it outstretched to keep from electrifying himself and swung up at the Warthog as he passed. At that speed it would probably be hard for Wardus to change his directory.

The downside of being a strong fortress, high defense as it were, was that speed and dexterity tended to suffer. Right now Kane was hoping that these factors would be in his favor. He squinted his eyes shut and hoped that it worked!