BoZV - Arc 4

[Swim]

After the last pirate had stopped moving a brisk gale kicked up and Terra's rage cooled as if the fog in her mind had been lifted. She looked around and was slightly relieved not to see Rion, hopefully he hadn't witnessed her in that state. As it was she was a sight to behold, her armor slick with grime and her hair, nails, and face were all saturated with blood. After being pursued out to sea by House mercenaries and nearly drowned by some otherworldly monster, those tavern thugs had been the final straw for her. She wiped away a wad of hair that was stuck to the side of her face, turning at the sound of the enemy captain bellowing for all to hear about converging on his position to capture the elf. Terra began to sprint toward the sound of his voice, she wasn't going to let these bastards have Frida.

As it happened though, both Arne and Alriik had arrived before her to assist Frida and the three of them had forced the enemy captain to flee. As Frida gave chase an new pirate stepped in her path and kicked her away like it was nothing. Terra rushed to her friend's side and helped her rise to her feet before turning her attention to Alriik who was now dueling the pirate. It was clear to Terra that this enemy carried himself differently than the other pirates she'd fought. He was no brigand swinging wildly, his movements were measured and deliberate, each parry was precise. It was a good thing she'd been able to calm down, in her bloodlust this enemy would have easily disemboweled her. She'd need to fight smart, this one was too skilled to get careless.

And speaking of bloodlust and carelessness, Terra had never seen Alriik in such a state. The elf was swinging around a heavy sword in each hand like they were nothing, and his body seemed to be emitting steam. His movements reminded Terra of the night before after he'd had too much to drink. She recalled the conversation the two of them had shared in that filthy alleyway. Who knew what Alriik was capable in his moments of madness and would he differentiate friend from foe? It was time to find out.

The pair of swordsmen broke apart and Terra saw her opening. "On your left Alriik!" she called, throwing a pair of fireballs to strike at Vile before moving to stand beside the elf. "Just like we talked about remember? Keep an eye on me and I'll do the same for you, yeah?"

[Sorrum]

Who's this now? Vile wondered, staring at the blazing sword between him and the elf known as Frida, then staring at Alriik, who he remembered as the drunken slob in the crow's nest he brought the antidote to just before all this started. Something in his eyes didn't seem quite right. Like the man was in a trance. His appearance was otherworldly as well, an elf with a strange skin palette. He would protect the captain, as he called her, so he would respect that.

"Very well. But neither she nor any of you will get past me so long as I stand guard." Vile said, drawing the saber from its scabbard. With a glint of light off Alriik's sword in his eyes, Vile squinted and covered his eyes with his open hand. "Gah! Cheap trick!"

But as Alriik closed in on him, a smile appeared on Vile's face as he rose the saber up to catch Alriik's own blade. "You didn't think I'd be ready for such a thing among pirates!?" A surge of purple electricity flung out from Vile's sword as vorpal blades slashed at Alriik's poisoned blade and blew away the poison liquid with force. With deft speed, the mercenary slashed again and again at the elf, bolts of lightning tracing his movements and following his sword, crashing against Alriik's steel with power and speed in every strike, his blitz overpowering and forcing Alriik to step back through the clearing. Just as he did so, two fireballs came flying into their space, which Vile quickly cut apart with a single slash each.

His stance had changed, before wielding the cutlass like an untrained brute he now held the blade low with it's tip high, his off-hand at his back. "Like I said, you will not get passed me." Sparks flew from his off-hand, forming a glyph of electricity on the back of his palm. In an instant, he switched his sword hand and his stance with it, the glyphed hand holding his blade. He quickly pointed the sword up, which began to spark and shine violently, before he swung the built up electrical energy at Alriik, Terra, and Aqua, blasting out in dozens of lightning bolts.

[Vic Alriikerson]

Alriik would be parried, and he would quickly take to the defensive, but as Terra shouted to him, his eyes would momentarily leave Vile to meet her. His contempt was obvious. Was she seriously doing this during the middle of combat? Did she not trust-


Vile would land a glancing blow against his chest. He would quickly return his attention to Vile, drawing his katana and blocking each blow, needing both hands to block Vile's one. This guy was good. He was compromised. Steaming silver blood would land on the deck. Alriik would stare intently at Vile as he stepped back to destroy the fireballs.


“TERRA, THIS ISN’T GONNA WORK IF YOU’RE AFRAID I’M GONNA GO CRAZY EVERY FIVE SECONDS. WE’RE ON THE CLOCK, YOU GOTTA TRUST ME WITH YOUR LIFE. IF NOT, I’LL BE GONE AFTER THIS BOAT RIDE.”


As Vile fired his hail of lightning bolts at the team, he quickly turned his back, sheathing his blades. Lightning would bounce between them, catching the bolts. He’d laugh heartily.

“YOU’RE GOOD, THUNDERBOLT. TOO BAD I’M-“

He’d go for a bit of a dramatic turn, but he’d stumble. The blood would stop steaming. He’d catch himself, looking annoyed at Vile.

"-Fading… Sh@t”

He would force himself to keep his ground, pointing the elven sword and katana at Vile, and firing one last, intense burst of fire from them… Before taking a knee. He would attempt to get back to his feet, before ultimately failing to. He would groan as his body went crumpling to the ground in a heap.

[Sorrum]

While watching Alriik be overwhelmed by Vile's assault, Aqua's head worked on a plan. This fighter was fast and strong, and out of their league. Calico's crew had been a cakewalk up to this point, so this man must be one of his ringers. Mana gathered in Aqua's being, waiting for a moment to strike.

Alriik was cut and forced back, after which Terra threw her fireballs, but Vile cut them down easily. They were fast, but this lightning mage was faster. Whatever she did, it'd have to be faster than him.. but that was impossible. A glacier cannot hope to move faster than lightning. But what strength does ice have over lightning? Lightning is bright and powerful, fast and intense, where ice is quiet and adamant, slow but dangerous. The man's sword sparked before he threw his attack, which Alriik jumped in the way to defend them all from. She was thankful. For a brief moment, she thought of the dragon's lightning strike on her at the battle with the blight mage, and dropped her defenses.

"A-Alriik.." She whispered, her shaking hands turning to rigid fists which glowed with the elf's overflowing mana. As the elf swordsman made his last desperate attack on the mage, Aqua joined in. Blue glyphs shone in captain's hands as she slapped them on the deck, a sheet of ice covering the distance between herself and the lightning mage as he defended himself from the fireball. The ice climbed his body, encasing him nearly to his neck, before a glyph of sparking purple energy halted the wave, and an explosion of ice and lightning freed the man's body from her capturing spell. That was no ordinary magic, that lightning mage had some real power in him.

"Damn it!" she shouted. The air around Aqua chilled as glyphs opened around her. She started swinging her arms wildly, with every swing a missile of ice shot forth from one of the glyphs, pelting the mage. However, he cut and ducked and evaded each missile thrown his way, gradually coming closer to the ice elf.

[Bloodbane]

Something wasn't right. Whoever the group was facing now, they weren't just another member of Calico's altered crew. More than that, however, the sheer power they appeared to be wielding was enough indication that they may not have been just another mage either.

To make matters worse, Rion had a hard time describing just what sort of change had come over Alriik, though it seemed the elf was aware enough that whatever frenzied state he had taken on was focused solely on the enemy. However, that state clearly took its toll, and before long the elf was on the ground and out of the fight. What was he shouting to Terra about, anyway? Rion looked over to Arne. "Cover me!" he shouted as he hurried to where Alriik had fallen, having no doubt in the abilities of Arne and his companion to keep the lesser foes at bay as Rion reached Alriik, the crystal sword in his hand appearing to change shape.

"Don't go dying on us yet..." he said, channeling energy into the reshaped crystal until it began to give off a warm glow. He took a moment to ensure the katana that dropped with Alriik made it back into its sheath, before slowly rolling the unconscious man onto his back, placing the crystal in his open hand and resting it against Alriik's chest. The crystal would continue to glow, steadily releasing particles of light in an attempt to help Alriik better recover from... whatever it was he had put himself through.

This left Rion with the issue of the new foe. When he managed to free himself from Aqua's spell with ease, the light mage frowned. 'Whoever he is... I have to make sure he doesn't take anyone else down.' As much as Rion could admit his light magic was somewhat different from that of a typical mage, he knew full well that one drawback of the magic was that it held no real advantages over other elements outside of darkness. Simply put, he saw no way he could overpower the mage alone, so if he was left to individually defeat the rest of the group then this fight was lost. What he could do, however, was potentially set up an opening...

'That's it... keep on coming... Couple more steps.' As the masked man continued avoiding Aqua's flurry of spells, Rion held out his armored arm, using the other to keep it fixed in a forward position as his fingers flexed outward. Light would begin to pool in front of his hand, as the glowing from beneath his armored arm began to intensify until the light had formed into an orb about the size of one of the captain's wheels, at which time Rion's fingers curled inward and the orb would suddenly contract into a point. With a bright flash, the pent-up energy erupted immediately forward in a high-impact beam of light aimed to close the distance to the target nearly instantly.

It was true, there was a good chance that although the effect of the spell traveled quickly, the build up could be enough for the enemy mage to prepare and maneuver, but what Rion hoped for was that the direction he fired in would force the mage to be more defensive than evasive, lest the impactful blast strike and do significant damage to the mast of Calico's ship. Even that would have been considered a victory for Rion at this point, for if they could keep the pirate's ship from giving chase as easily, it may give the group a means of escape if needed. Either way, Rion would hope enough of an opening was forced to allow the others a means to land an attack of their own.

[Tony]

Arne continued to tear through the pirates in a storm of lightning and fire. Along with him, Hien would swoop in, tears apart or scorching what flesh was still on this man-machine abominations. He drew one of his javelins and filled it with wind magic before tossing it, the simple weapon flying right through the chest of one the pirates. One pirate takes a swing at Arne, but he jumps back... placing his hand on a nearby metal sheet and charging it with electricity. As the pirate approaches, the metal on their body gets attracted to the sheet and is torn from their body in a bloody mess.

As the mysterious mage entered the fray, Arne still kept focus on the crew... cutting down any of those who felt particularly brave and tried to rush in. As Rion called for cover, Arne rushed in behind him "On it!". He slammed his halberd into the deck of the ship, causing an explosion of flame and electricity... blasting apart any pirates that attempt to give chase and hopefully preventing the others from getting any bright ideas.

The flames on his weapon die out as he lifts it back up and heads towards the unknown mage with labored breath. "I'm tired... pissed off... and the only thing I want right now is to blow this ship straight to hell!" He rushes in... halberd ready, "So get out of my way!"

[Swim]

Though Terra had meant to reassure Alriik with her presence it seemed to have caused a distraction for the elf as he was cut several times in short order. A silvery substance leaked onto the deck. Was that his blood? Alriik shouted that she needed to trust him as he stood in the way to catch the lightning that the pirate began to fire, but it seemed to be too much for his spellswords to absorb and the elf went down hard. "You shouldn't have done that, why'd you have to go and do that??" Terra thought silently. This wasn't what she wanted.

Now as Rion dragged Alriik aside Terra was left to exchange blows with this pirate swordmaster. She took a defensive stance, protecting her core and her face as she used the sides of her gauntlets to parry away thrusts which seemed to come from all angles. The pirate had much greater reach with his blade, and rather than lunge in to close the distance she opted to stall for time. She'd worked alongside her uncle to forge many a sword, and she was confident that if she could catch the flat of Vile's blade along the flat of her gauntlet that she could snap the metal in half and disarm him. The problem was he seemed to realize her intention and adapted his swing accordingly.

From behind Terra a chill worked its way along the deck. Recognizing Aqua's magical influence she took a more aggressive approach and began to drive the pirate back, culminating in a fiery punch to generate a heat aura around herself, just as Aqua's cold snap froze the pirate in place. It didn't hold him for long, before Terra could follow up there was an explosion of electrical magic and Terra was thrown back.

Now that she was out of the way her friends began to attack in earnest. As Frida and Rion fired magic from a distance Terra spotted Arne rushing in for a frontal assault, which so far had proven ineffective. Terra flicked the wheels out of her boots and used her fire magic to boost down the deck fast enough to catch up with Arne. As he swung his halberd Terra coiled her legs and called again on her fire magic to fuel her jump, flipping high over the pirate's swing and aiming a two handed strike toward the back of his helmet as she landed behind him.

[Sorrum]

Vile swung his sword to and fro at the fire mage, taking care to adjust his aim as the woman deflected his blows off of her gauntlets. He did not want to cut the girl's arms off, but she was rather earnest. One of his greatest attributes was his reaction time, and sure enough he noticed an attempt to deflect his blade differently, to which he adjusted and struck differently on the girl's gauntlet, throwing off her plan. She paused and generated a field of fire around herself, making him raise an eyebrow. Surely a move like that in close quarters like this would be questionable, but he soon realized why. Ice was crawling up his legs and stiffening his movement. However, the move granted him a short pause.

Vile closed his eyes for a moment, and thought back on his training and his mission. He would lose his life, but not only that he would lose the man he was searching for and the justice he sought after. He would not lose his life here, not on this pirate ship, not playing decoy, and especially not for Calico's sake. Grand runes appeared in the man's mind as lightning glyphs flooded the air around him, stopping the flow of ice up his body and shattering it with a blast of vicious lightning.

Immediately he went on the defensive, now blocking a barrage of attacks from all directions. Aqua fired ice missiles at him repeatedly, Arne had now joined and was closing in with his halberd and beside him Terra flipped around Vile with her own magic, intent on striking his blindside. And next to Alriik, Rion charged a beam of light to strike him from afar. This was going to get very tricky.

"Alright, I better not mess around anymore." The lightning glyph from before appeared again, this time on Vile's back, shining through his disguise. His movements became even faster now, and his whole body seemed to spark. As Aqua's missiles came close to Vile, lightning would fly off of his body and deflect them, sending the spikes spinning away into the air. Vile stepped forward into Arne's charge, caught the pole of the man's halberd with his open hand, and pushed it off harmlessly to the side, the blade slamming into the deck heavily. Next, he bashed the man with his shoulder, knocking him back a few steps. His attention immediately shifted to the fire mage behind him, who swung at his head. Vile ducked, reading the woman's attack, spun his body and swept her legs out from under her, then tackling her and himself away from the oncoming attack.

Rion's beam of light blasted over where Vile had been, slamming hard into the ship's mast and breaking off piece by piece. The battle around them seemed to pause. The mast was now burnt to a black crisp, and very thin. Soon, it creaked, and began to lean, and fall. Pirates and everyone around them started panicking, running and pushing and yelling as they crowded to the other side of the boat out of the way of the falling lines and heavy mast. Vile jumped off of Terra in the confusion and also fled, disappearing into the crowd of pirates as he went.

[Sorrum]

Below deck in the secret lab, Calico and Sarah went over the last step for their project. Behind a glass screen, Skinny watched them walk back and forth around him, checking various pieces of equipment and checking off a list.

"He's ready, I think." Sarah said, flipping through her checklist. Calico looked at the machine, impressed by her handiwork.

"It's a good thing we pulled you out of that Waste village. A capable girl like you isn't fit to die fighting for scraps." Calico said, lighting up a cigar. Sarah nodded, before heading back to her desk. She retrieved a case, holding two keys, removing one and handing it to Calico. He took it after blowing a steam of smoke, and headed toward where Skinny stared stoically ahead. He looked up, ready to start ignition, then looked around as Sarah hadn't followed him to the other side.

A machine against the wall, equipped with a huge array of fans and fancy, flashy bits, seemed to be freaking out with warning lights. Sarah poked on the different buttons, examining everything closely. Calico opened his mouth to say something, but Sarah lifted a finger, silencing him before he could. He took a long drag on his cigar, standing by quietly. She tacked away again, before turning toward him after a long period of time.

"Dimension storm."

"What?"

"There's a dimension storm on the horizon. It's coming this way, Captain."

Calico's red eye light faded to gray upon that news. He knew about the storms, but they were a rarity. Something like the proper alignment of the stars, certain weather conditions, and a ton of magic pulled these warpholes around in the oceans. They weren't something they understood yet but he did understand they were dangerous. Ships disappeared in 'em, didn't come back, or came back destroyed. They weren't easy to spot either, you'd just run into them and find yourself tumbling through space time. Indeed, some of these ships came back with the crew aboard as dusty skeletons and the wood rotting away.

"Our own lives are more valuable than the ransom we'd get for the elf princess." He said somberly. Sarah nodded. "Buuut, you did go to the effort of setting this guy up already.." he said, looking at Skinny again. Sarah stared at Calico behind her glasses, waiting for the captain to say something else. In the pause, the ship shook violently and leaned, knocking Sarah over on her equipment and Calico bracing himself on Skinny's metallic body. "W-what the hell was that?! Are we being attacked by another ship?" Calico shouted.

"Captain, I don't think we're gonna get away with our booty under these conditions.." Sarah yelled, trying to catch her balance. Calico had to agree. He was injured, the crew was half slain, and from what he could tell the ship was more than likely sank. Good thing it wasn't the only one he had, but still. It was a fair loss.

"Well, prepare the lifeboat." He exasperated. Sarah nodded, pressed a button on the device behind her, which opened a dock door at the back of the ship, opening the lab to the elements. Wind blew within the lab and blasted papers all about. "Let's not leave our friend here like this though, c'mon Sarah!" He shouted, beckoning the elf over.

Two keys entered the device around Skinny. He shuddered as the machine began to ignite and move. Sarah ran off as soon as she turned the key, heading for the life boat. Calico stood directly in front of Skinny's capsule, smoking his cigar as the restraints lifted and various tubes seperated from his form. "You're a real killer now, my boy." Heavy metal legs met the deck as Skinny stood to full height, towering over the pirate captain and nearly scraping the roof of the 14 foot high ceiling.

[Sorrum]

"..." Skinny stared at Calico, unsure what to say. Calico took a drag from his cigar, then walked back to Sarah's desk and rummaged through it, producing a hand mirror. He walked over to Skinny and reflected his image.

Standing now at the height of three men, Skinny's naked pale body disappeared into a metal cylinder, leaving everything above his elbows and stomach sticking out. His head had been shaved and over his mouth, nose, and left eye a metal device connected his face to wires that draped below. His new body was a big, walking machine with four legs, two in front and back, a right arm with a heavy wrecking ball attached and the left with a vicious looking saw blade all connected to where his own body disappeared into the frame. His exposed body was covered by a glass shield on top with black rods inside, making multiple windows he could look out of. On his back, two small tubes ran out of his back with flames lit at each end. Steam suddenly expelled through the joints of the machine as it moved, taking a step forward.

"Steamknight, mark 2." Calico said, looking at the robot move. Skinny turned his head, looking through the window at his surroundings, then back at Calico. "What you're strapped into is one of the more sophisticated things we've found sacking Imperial ships off in the Eastern Ocean. The interface is easy enough you can get in it and move it around like its your own body."

"Where is my gang?" Skinny's voice came through the speaker on his chest, though it came out mechanical and garbled, like it had gone through a blender.

"Dead, more than likely. You remember how those mages destroyed you at Icarus, they wouldn't be pulling any punches here." Calico pulled up his sleeve on his coat, showing the Steamknight the gash Aqua gave him before. "They nearly took me down too."

"The fire mage.." The garbled voice came out again, with an angry tone. "She's the reason!"

Calico took another puff of his cigar, pulling his coat up. "Yeah. I know she's split some heads, thats for sure. Likely even took down those House flunkies at some point. But.. they're all yours now, mate."

Another crash was heard from above, Calico catching himself better this time. "Better hurry up, this ship's damaged and the crew won't last long. You'll do better fighting them above deck."

"Aye aye, Captain!" The Steamknight cried. Steam screeched from it's body as it moved forward, past Calico and toward the walls. The wrecking ball arm smashed right through the planks as the Steamknight charged ahead, Calico standing behind and watching.

"Keep in mind, you might not last long either." Calico took one last hit off his cigar before chucking it away.

He and Sarah now crossed the waters of the sea away from the battle in a speedboat. The outside of the battle looked as if a block of storm clouds had fallen from the sky to the ground. Away, in the distance, he could see the multi-colored light of the dimension storm as it approached it, betting that everyone on those ships would be missing for the rest of his natural life.

Sarah fired off a flare which sparked white, orange and black, and soon after another flare in the distance sparked the same colors. "Sarah, make for The Kingston." Calico commanded. "We're sailing back to headquarters."

[Sorrum]

Meanwhile, aboard The Sheperd..

Seamus left the safety of his cabin and was now checking the status of his crew and ship. The ship had taken some damage from Calico's ship ramming it, and he definitely was not pleased when the report about the cannons being blown up came in. Still, there were a handful of his crew dead, plenty injured, but those mages really did some work on those pirates. There was a three to one ratio of cyborg bodies among the count, they earned their wages. The pirate presence aboard his ship was wiped out.

"Captain!" a cry came from above. Seamus looked up at sailor beckoning him from the crow's nest. "I see a storm approaching from the west!"

"A storm on top of all this!?" Seamus said exhausted. He retreated back to the helm of the ship, opened a box and pulled out a microphone. He called out to his men to seperate from the pirate ship and get ready to escape from the approaching storm at full speed.

~

Calico's ship leaned to it's side, the weight of the mast throwing off it's balance. An unlucky pirate rushed toward the back of the ship, only to slip on Aqua's ice and tumble off the side of the boat and into the waters below. The ship shook violently, adding to the commotion.

[Vic Alriikerson]

As the darkness consumed him, Alriik wondered what his friends would do without him for the big climax. He tried… But if he couldn’t stand, well… It was time to rest. They could handle the-

And suddenly, before he even had time to process his fall, he was awash with Light and returned to the waking world. He happily grinned as Rion helped him up, springing to his feet. “We are going to have a beautiful working relationship, man.” He would take a second to gaze upon the situation… Seeing Terra on the ground, and what seemed to be a massive warrior/oven rising to the deck. “Alright… Big guy, steam powered… Hrm…” He’d quickly draw his katana… before holding it out for Rion. “My master was a powerful warrior of light. He always said this sword helped him focus his power. Wanna give it a try?”

After his exchange with Rion he’d walk towards Terra, eyes on Skinny the entire time. He’d retrieve his greatsword along the way, still ablaze, and would drag it with one hand, going towards Terra with the other. He’d offer her his hand. “Look, I get what you were trying to do. I’m sorry. I was, ah... steamed. But…”

He'd pull her to her feet briskly, and would push the greatsword into her hands, the blade awash with flame. “Big guy. Steam Powered. Lot of heat. See where I'm going with this?” He’d draw his twin dragon fangs, and would look over to Arne. “HEY, CAN YOU KEEP THE AIR IN THIS BIG GUY’S ENGINES FROM ESCAPING!?” The swords would catch fire, as he stared at Skinny. “LET’S SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN HE POPS.”

[Bloodbane]

As Rion prepared to focus another magical blast, he found that in the commotion caused by his blast striking the mast of Calico's ship, the sword-wielding enemy was no longer on deck, or at least he expected someone of the caliber of their foe to not be entirely frantic about the situation compared to the other enemy crew members who began diving off of the side. "Damn, he really is fast..." he muttered, lowering his arm for the moment. He turned his head to the sound of Alriik's voice, doing a double-take as he realized the elf was already back to his feet! 'How...?' it was clear for a second that Rion simply had not expected his magic to be so immediately effective on Alriik given the state he had been in, but he simply ended up giving a grin of his own followed by a brief chuckle. "I do what I can..."

The thumping of the metal giant brought Rion's attention forward again, though he found himself raising an eyebrow as soon Alriik's hand was held out in front of him, holding the katana that he had helped back into its sheath. "You sure about this...? Thought things got pretty rough for you if you weren't holding onto these." Of course, no sooner than Rion had mentioned this had Alriik gone and offered his fire-imbued greatsword to Terra. He soon nodded his head, taking the handle of the sword as Alriik finally released it. "All right, I'll take your word for it..." If these weapons were going to help end this fight more quickly, then perhaps they could be returned to the elf before things got bad, though it wasn't clear to Rion just what sort of proximity the weapons needed to be in to keep Alriik healthy.

'Maybe this is how he did it...?' Alriik mentioned the weapon was claimed to be a strong focus for his master, a light mage in his own right, so perhaps it had something to do with Rion's magic having a greater effect. Taking the sword in both hands, Rion's hands began to glow with a white aura, the building aura beneath his armor glowing with a greater intensity as glowing markings began to appear across his right arm. Before he could prepare to strike, however, he heard the callout from the Shepherd, bringing him to turn his head in the direction of the approaching storm. "What... what is that...?!"

[Sorrum]

Aqua stared in horror as the ship they stood on became a wreck in an instant. The mast smashing against the deck threw her footing off, and she grabbed at anything she could to steady herself in the panic. The pirates now seemed to be abandoning ship, heading for their lifeboats and fleeing. She looked back and forth for the swordsman that blocked their way, but couldn't find him anywhere. However, with him gone, the door below deck was now open. She glanced quickly at her teammates, seeing that they were all coming to their feet. With the order to withdraw coming from The Sheperd and the warning of the Dimension Storm, she hesitated her next option.

"No, I need answers. I need to go after him.." She carefully crept toward the door, before hearing the sound of heavy footsteps. She jumped back from the door cautiously as it exploded open, a mass of silver construct appearing suddenly, leaping from the hole in the ground and landing heavily on the deck in front of her.

Aqua stepped back as the robot stepped toward her, a look of bewilderment on her face. Words failed to come to her as she looked at the walking tank, but soon words came from the robot. "Elf." A jet of steam escaped the robot as it towered over Aqua. "Where are my friends?" The jarring voice asked.

Aqua stared at him for a moment, then saw the man in the glass box and how he looked familiar. "...you're that thug from Shiner's.. what on earth have you done to yourself?"

"I have gained the power to destroy mages like you who interfere with my work. I will never again be penniless, and neither will my companions!" The voice said with more life than it's metal joints suggested.

"By turning yourselves into monsters?!" Aqua shouted back. Immediately, the Steam Knight lifted it's wrecking ball arm and swung down on Aqua, who rolled out of the way. The ball smashed into the deck and below, reeling up almost immediately by it's chain.

"You're the monsters here! Look around you at how many bodies lay at your feet with your magic alone!" Skinny shouted, the robotic voice brimming with hatred.

Aqua jumped to her feet, "Get over yourself! You think these guys weren't trying to kill us too?" Aqua formed a glyph of ice in her left palm, preparing an attack. But the Steam Knight came at her quicker than he had moved before, utilizing it's backlegs to jump forward, and swung his saw blade hand at her, it's high pitched squeal piercing over all other sounds on deck. Aqua threw the glyph forward and fell back, just barely out of range of the Knight's attack, but it's other arm followed up and overhead, the wrecking ball poised to strike.

Aqua rolled quickly, but the ball smashed right next to her, and she fell below the boards of the deck where the ball struck. The ball whirred back up, but the glyph she had thrown took it's effect on the robot. The glass box Skinny sat in was frozen over, blocking his vision.

A moment passed, before the arms on the Steam Knight rose up and positioned themselves parallel with the ground below. On it's back, at the mouth of the two tubes a flame ignited, and as it did so, fuel poured out of the tube, creating plumes of fire coming out of it's back. The Knight's body began to spin, shooting flames out all around itself, the boards of the deck catching fire immediately. The ice on the glass box melted quickly in the roaring heat, revealing the eerie glowing red eye of the pilot amid the blazing inferno.  It looked where the ball had nearly struck Aqua and below the deck. The elf had disappeared in the time it took him to remove the ice, but she wasn't alone, as it turned toward the other members of her party, the saw blade revving and the wrecking ball spinning in a wide arc over head. With a furious roar it leaped toward them and swung the ball in a wide arc, aiming to smash the swordsmen who were plotting an attack.

[Swim]

The ship buckled and shook violently from side to side, and in the scuffle the pirate she’d been flanking somehow ended up on top of her. The fog cloud had given way to smoke, there was a fire nearby, and lots of screaming. Terra lashed out and threw Vile off of her, and he vanished into the chaos. When someone grabbed her from behind she instinctively reeled back, but relaxed upon seeing that it was only Alriik. The elf helped Terra to her feet and pressed his flaming great-sword into her hand before drawing two others himself. Terra’s eyes widened in surprise that he would give her something like this. It wasn’t even a question of trust, more concern for Alriik’s well being. She knew by now that he suffered whenever he was separated from his blades. Apparently the urgency of the situation called for drastic measures, Alriik was now focused on their new enemy.

There was no need to point him out, there was no way Terra could have missed him as he emerged from below decks and practically tearing the ship apart as he came. Terra recognized the bloodshot eyes. She paused momentarily feeling some semblance of regret. After all, she was all too familiar with Skinny’s story. She’d known dozens of young boys just like him, back when she’d been a starving gutter rat herself. He was sickly and misshapen, possibly birth defect but it was just as likely that malnutrition had stunted his early growth. He’d led a life of misery, judgment, pain… People like Skinny and herself… were unwanted. Other people would look right past them. They’d pretend they were invisible, or look on them with derision and disgust in the instances they were actually acknowledged. She understood what it was like to feel powerless, and how that feeling could drive one to fall in with a gang. It didn’t matter if they were less than savory people, in fact that was better because if you couldn’t be respected at least you’d be feared. The gang meant you were no longer alone, it made you feel powerful, and because of that you owed them your undying loyalty, regardless or circumstance. It didn’t matter that Tom had wronged her, Tom was part of the tribe. There had been no choice, there was no other way. Their rank stupidity had driven them to mutilation of their own bodies and had already gotten most of the crew killed, now Skinny was up. There would be no reasoning with him, it was far too late for that. As he was now it would be too dangerous to even try. If the condition of his mates was anything to go by, Terra knew that Skinny must be in terrible pain, it was a miracle he could function at all. In order to block out that much pain he’d have to bury it under an even more powerful sensation, probably his rage for Terra. But his fury would make him clumsy, blind his senses to everyone else. Terra would feed his rage and bear the brunt of his ire.

“Worthless degenerate filth,” Terra spat in defiance of the 14 foot monster before her. She needed to provoke him away from Frida. “After we spared you you should’ve crawled back into your hole and stayed there. But your whole life has been one giant mistake from the start, why stop now? It's because this is all you have, isn't it. Because there won't be a single person who'll mourn you after you’re gone. But before that happens, I promise to make you suffer.”

She’d gotten his attention. “BITCH, I’LL RIP YOU TO PIECES” All four legs clattered as Skinny lunged down the deck with frighting speed. The sawblade screamed and Terra ran for cover among the debris that had been scattered across the wreckage that remained of the deck. The steamknight was faster but not necessarily suited for this terrain. Terra rounded a corner and turned, waiting for her pursuer, then lunged out bringing Alriik’s great-sword down on the steamknight’s front leg. Its flames licked her wrists but they didn’t seem to burn her, the two handed weapon felt quite natural in her arms. She dashed under the steamknight back toward her friends, dragging the blade along the metal undercarriage she escaped.