Batten Down the Hatches [Mature]

[Leoric]

“I was alone in the middle of a forest with my Master for years, he also suffered from night terrors, i know that when they happen you shouldn't be left alone with your thoughts…. Come on let’s go train, I got a few pointers for you.” Surprisingly Leoric was not his usual self, instead he was calm, comforting, and talked like he knew what he was talking about for once. He walked up to the top deck and took off his Fur cloak and shuddered slightly in the cold embrace of the arctic waters. However instead of stopping here, he also took off his leather jacket and shirt, leaving his chest completely exposed to the elements.

He looked back in Felicity’s direction and entered ‘First stance’ a defensive stance that his master had drilled into him. His right foot was about a foot ahead of his left foot, he was in a slightly bent forward position, his right arm fully extended and his hand contorted to the left with only his thumb, index, and middle finger curled slightly while the rest were curled up into his palm. His left hand was in a similar shape just turned to his right while his left arm was bent at the elbow and practically hugging his chest.

“This is what we call First stance, it is your general stance you take at the beginning of a fight or if you are unsure what is coming next. It is easy enough to defend yourself from, and you can easily fire out a left hook for an attack.” he brought his hands together and pushed them down as he came back to a proper standing position and exhaled slightly as the wind around him seemed to stop and then come outwards from himself instead of the direction of the wind. “Now, you get into First stance.”

He grabbed an oar from the rowboat he used as his bedroom and put the paddle side down. As she took to the stance he quickly flipped the oar and tapped her with the handle side at every region that she was off of.

“Suck in that gut! Straighten out that back! Right arm elbow 45 degrees, not this stupid 37 degree crap you are pulling. Left wrist should be at your left nipple! Now, slow deep breathes in, hold for a five count then exhale, keep your eyes on a swivel, absorb all the information around you, let your senses become filled to their limit.” he took a step back and began to ebb and flow with the motion of the ocean, his arms gently waving back and forth as he seemed to be collecting something in his palms. With a few flourishes of his wrist, they wind he had been gathering blew forward and gently surrounded the red head, swirling around her legs and gently rising to ruffle her hair, and then quickly dispersed.

“You need to practice proper form, if you are even slightly off and you train like that, you are only solidifying bad habits.” Leoric’s eyes shifted for a second as he saw a few people come up on top deck for the morning shift and his mind immediately reverted to that of a 14 year old bully. He couldn’t let anyone know how soft he could be. He was a hardened uncaring asshole, that was his reputation. He had to keep it that way. He reached out his left hand and held up a pinky. “I pinky promise I won't make fun of you anymore, kay?”

[Flamebird]

Felicity had been enjoying the lesson. When it first started, she had struggled not to blush at his bare chest. She struggled not to laugh when he used the ore to straighten her out, though she certainly smiled. As her feet caused the wooden boards underneath to groan, she had to ask, Is this the same man?

She was a fast learner, easily taking on the proper form and copying his moves. That was, until, he changed.

Felicity was taken aback when he motioned with his pinky. She... she could tell what this was about. Her left hand had the pinky removed.

The comment stung.

Felicity visibly flinched, taking a step back like a dog that had just been scolded. Why? Why has he just insulted her again? Had she gotten a move wrong?

Tears flooded her eyes, once again. Instead of lashing out, however, she simply turned around and dashed below deck. She was reminded once again that this was the jerk who mocked her forehead and pinned her down with no consent.

Once below deck, Felicity had made it to the storage room. Still feeling wounded, she huddled atop a long stack of barrels and started a light nap. She had barely slept last night, and she was so tired that she had fallen asleep without processing her very confused emotions.

Why had she snuck outside?

Standing outside her front yard, the three year old girl stood in front of an older looking man. Gruff and covered in grime, he glared through the falling snow with a face of spite. She had seen this expression before, aimed at her by countless people as her uncle lead her through town on a shopping trip. This time, however, something was different. She was alone, and she felt very, very scared. Furthermore, the man extended his hand towards her.

Everything inside her told her to run.

She turned, her heavy clothes swaying as she raced through her yard. However, she felt a hand grab her pinky. Terror and physical pain caused her to scream as the man shouted, twisting and yanking her by her pinky. How long was it, how short was it? Time seemed to break as she bawled, the man pulling her away from the door as she ate snow and mud. As soon as it started, however, it stopped. She looked up, mud coating her face. Her cousin stood over her, battle ready as she heard footsteps moving away from the yard. She was strangely numb as he looked down with panic and concern.

"How did she get outside! The door was locked!" Her uncle shouted from behind her.

Her cousin bent down and held up her ice numbed hand. Something looked very wrong, however. Her pinky was twisted and contorted. Panic rose inside her. It should not look like that!

"Who cares!" Her cousin shouted, "Something's wrong with her finger!"

Years later, Felicity had cut off the dead pinky that had been dead weight to her since she was a child.

And this cruel bully she had met on the ship called her out on it.

Tears fell from her closed eyes as she hid away in the barrels.

~~~

As the ship sailed along, the days fell into a regular routine. A routine which perplexed Felicity and made her feel so uneasy. No matter where she went, she could not escape him. The guard, who she learned was named Leoric Blackwell, was relentless in his insults. On a morning the clouds blocked the sun, he wasted no time in finding a way to insult her again.

"I think it's the redhead! Her forehead is so large, it's blotting out the sun!"

No matter how many times Felicity elbowed or punched him to shut him up, he never stopped. Of course, there were times he seemed to be... nice... In the mornings he was always waiting for her to wake up from her nightmares.

"I've noticed you never eat when you wake up."

"I don't need to. I need water and sleep, but I make my own energy through my magic."

"Here," he tossed her a sweet looking candy bar, "This will help with the morning jitters."

He took her above deck every morning. It would still be dark, and there he was forcing her onto a high beam to teach her better footing and balance in combat. He was stern, but gentle then. Eventually, of course, the insults would come. For the rest of the day, he would do things like rudely awaken her from a nap to humiliate her.

"Why can't you snore quieter? You sound like a constipated boar with a cold!"

She hated it. Why was he like this? He was so complex, and he soon was on her mind just as much as her haunting past and mission to find Shinsou.

What's wrong with you! It hurts! It hurts so much...

She simply could not wait for this trip to be over.

Aside Leoric's jabs, nothing major happened on this trip. At least nothing happened until the midday of the first Wednesday at sea...

[Leoric]

“Hey old man! What are the poles in the water for?” a young Leoric cried out as he stared at the pond.

“Balance training, can’t be much of a fighter if you lose your balance.” the Old man said as he walked towards the pillars and allowed for his towel to slowly fall off his back. Leoric stared in awe at just the sheer amount of muscles on this man, and it was the ideal goal he had for himself. “And it’s not ‘Old man’ it’s ‘Master’ get it right or you will be so sore you will be unable to train for a week”

“Yes master, i apologize, but how are we supposed to get up to those poles? They are like twenty feet up in the air.” the young brawler said as he ran up and matched pace with his master as they began to wade into the water.

“You climb, it’s really not that difficult.” he flashed Leoric a knowing grin before leaping as high as he could and climbing his perfectly smooth, cylindrical wooden pole. The way he seemed to grab onto nothing and continue climbing was something that baffled Leoric. After his first few attempts he cried out in frustration.

“How did you do that?! It's not fair, i can’t do it!”

“You can, my young apprentice, you just got to use the right leverage, sometimes just flexing your muscles won’t get you everywhere.”

--------------

Leoric opened his eyes and was greeted with blackness, the canvas cover over the rowboat doing its job of keeping the light out and some heat in. In this moment it also was covering his tears from the cold and prying eyes of the outside world. He hadn’t dreamt or thought about his old master in forever, why start now? He wiped his eyes and raised the canvas and slowly climbed out. The cold air nipped at his damp face as he shivered and put back on his cloak to try and keep warm. He checked in with Seamus and continued on his way down to get something hot to drink in the galley. He just wasn't himself, and he could feel it. He knew he had roughly an hour or so before Felicity would normally wake up from her nightmares and figured he would do a bit of watch before heading down to drag her up to the deck for training.

“Leoric! Something on the Horizon, I can just barely make it out.

“Something? Well let's go take a look before we wake up the captain or crew” Leoric finished his hot water and walked up top with Seamus and scanned the Horizon. Sure enough there was a ship on the horizon, it seemed to be on an intercept course based on the direction the bow was pointing.

“Seamus, go wake up the captain, this could be nothing, but it's better to be safe than sorry. If you're afraid of being yelled at, tell him I told you to wake him up.”

“Aye!” Seamus said as he bolted off to wake the captain. Leoric still couldn’t shake a feeling that something was off about him. Maybe it was being so long out at sea with his usual vices or if the sea air was getting to him. But something was off. He contemplated waking up Felicity so that she was ready and prepared as well for the event if this was indeed a hostile ship but there was a part of him that said ‘she needs her sleep, she gets barely any as it is.’

“Mr. Leoric, I hear you have spotted something?” The captain groggily asked as he walked out still in his pyjamas with a fur coat draped over himself.

“Aye, look off the Port Bow and you will spot a ship that seems to be on an intercept course. From this range i can’t make out who it belongs to or what flags they are flying. So we figured it best to awaken you and let you make the final decision.”

The captain sighed and looked off in the direction the hired muscle pointed too and then hastily grabbed a spyglass and peered out towards it.

“Well, you have earned your keep, that is indeed a ship and based on some information i got while in town, a few drunken sailors were bragging about being ‘pirates’ with a ship that configuration. So if we were being astute individuals, it would be safe to say that is a pirate ship trying to cut us off.”

“Well then Captain, Leoric, maybe it's best we let the red haired one sleep in, her forehead would... '' Seamus started as he was quickly backhanded across the chest. His look of surprise at leoric was palpable even without leoric looking at him.

“This isn’t the time for Jokes, start getting the crew awake, geared, and armed. I will be in the crows nest keeping a close eye on that ship and any way we could maybe gain some speed and distance on them. Also let Felicity sleep in, she isn’t crew or hired muscle, just additional cargo, she doesn't need to be around for this.”

“Mr. Leoric, you do realize we are extremely laden with cargo, if that ship is out to attack vessels such as this, she is going to be very light, very fast, and very agile.” The captain said as he bundled up his coat as a strong breeze erupted around the three of them.

“Aye, but let’s say we have one advantage they don’t, the Wind” with this the Hired muscles eyes flashed a stormy grey color as a breeze erupted from him, wrapped around the three individuals and filled the sails for a moment before fading out.

“Well then, just in case the wind in our sails runs out, Crew! Battle Stations!”

[Flamebird]

"Felicity?"

"Aww!" Felicity muttered as she scooted towards the edge of the seat. She hated bundling up. Her family was on a long trip to the center of Eiskalt, and Felicity was forced to wear clothes that pretty much covered her head to toe. As the carriage bumped along, her uncle Fulcrum had considered them close enough to their next destination. Sure, it helped keep her warm in this country's frost, but warmth was not the issue. There was something... degrading... about this. From next to him, Fulcrum pulled out a long shawl and leaned forward, wrapping it around her frame.

"Remember the rules, dear?" He asked as he took a cloak and pulled it over everything else.

Felicity reluctantly recited from memory. "Never pull down your hood. Cover your hair and forehead so no one knows you are half neanderthal."

Fulcrum pulled out a scarf and gently pulled it over her head, pushing her hairline back. "And why is that?"

Felicity blinked, twitching her left hand. Two months after being attacked in her own front yard, and she still could not feel her twisted pinky. "Because humans hate neanderthals, so they'll try to hurt you."

Fulcrum pulled the hood of the cloak over Felicity's head. There was still a chance some could take notice of Felicity's green eyes, but it was a detail they simply could not hide. Felicity slumped, feeling a tremendous weight for such a small child. Her uncle nodded with a soft, sad look. "Good job, sweetheart."

"Hurry it up! Crow's nest! Now!"

Felicity awoke with a tiny jump. The sound of people running two and fro above deck clamored as the floorboards above moaned. Shouting and chaos flooded her senses as Felicity pulled herself up. What was going on? Trouble?

Felicity hastily jumped out of her cot and changed into the outfit she wore her first day on the ship. She strapped her arming swords and katana to her belt and scooped up her explosive metal bird. Dashing above deck, she was met with the dim light of morning as she swerved between people running around like frantic mice. Felicity noticed the captain and Leoric speaking to each other. Despite the feeling of intensity, she still had that moment to hope Leoric was in an agreeable state. She was lucky to dream of her childhood, and not her losses in her mid teens, last night. Yet, it was her childhood that made her so insecure about all the things Leoric teased her about.

"Captain?" Felicity asked, "What is going on?"

The captain glanced at Felicity then turned and pointed out to sea without missing a beat. "That pirate ship, lass. We're being attacked."

Alarm flared inside. Why did they have to attack the ship she was on? Shinsou was counting on her, and this would cause further delay! Even then, Felicity also remembered that this crew would need all the help it could get. Leoric Blackwell was a fine fighter based on the training sessions they had, but Leoric was one man. Felicity stared at the captain with intense purpose, "I will fight for you, captain!"

"Heh, forehead girl!" Seamus ran up to them and saluted the captain while glancing at Felicity. "Sir, we have all battlements ready! Is forehead fighting with us?"

Felicity did not like Seamus. She reached out and slapped him before barking, "It's Felicity!"

"Rhyolite, please," The captain stepped between them trying to mediate, "We are thankful that Miss Rhyolite is willing to fight for us without pay. Seamus, to your station. Rhyolite, you stick with Blackwell."

Oh no! What was worse than sailing with Leoric? Fighting with him. Felicity tried not to hesitate as she slipped alongside him. The captain nodded to them all, the sweat beads along his hairline obvious. "May the Ethereal Sway be with us..." He stepped away and attended to other duties, muttering to himself too loudly, Felicity could hear. "Ethereal Sway, help us!"

Felicity crossed her arms, speaking to Leoric as she glanced out to the icy seas. "I hope you're as good as a fighter as I thought you were..."

The black ship drew closer.

[Leoric]

It was going to be one of those days, The pirate vessel crept closer and closer to them as the crew readied themselves for boarders, Leoric made sure his M.A.D. device was strapped to his wrists properly, he knew if he was going to defend the ship and her cargo he was going to have to board the enemy ship first and keep them preoccupied. If he could he would want to get to the captain and take them hostage, then he could force them to bring their ship to a dead stop. How he would get back to his ship after that? He wasn’t quite sure but he was paid to protect the ship and its cargo, so that is what he would do. Now, how would he distract everyone long enough to get the job done? He could go for the captain, but the cannon deck could still open fire. And if someone went below deck to keep them busy then the people on top deck could ignore them and try to capture their vessel first. So he would need three people to go over.

“Felicity, Seamus, we are going to board the enemy ship once they get close. I will head for the Captain. Seamus, you work on keeping the crew top deck focused on you. Felicity, go below deck and keep their cannoneers busy and focused on you, we don’t want them firing off a single shot.” Leoric shot Seamus a glance as he was about to stay something with a smirk on his face. “No Jokes about Felicity, only I am allowed to do that. And Seamus…. Don’t die, when you get attacked just dodge.”

It wasn’t long before the enemy ship was within range and just as predicted, their cannon ports opened up and a few shots were fired towards them, Luckily they were pretty piss poor shots as they all dove into the ocean just short of the ship.

“Seamus, Felicity, time to go!” Leoric cried out as he wrapped his right arm around Felicity’s waist and pulled her in tight as he aimed his M.A.D. and fired it off, Seamus’ M.A.D. was fired seconds later and before Felicity could say anything to retort to the close proximity her and Leoric were they were pulled off their feet towards the enemy’s ship. The cold arctic sea air biting at their flesh as they sailed through the air. Seamus stumbled and released his M.A.D and ended up falling face first onto their main deck. Leoric sighed as both him and Felicity barely missed their mark and kept swinging off the other way before turning around to come back down. “Be ready for a rough landing, I'm releasing once we are close enough.”

Sure enough, as they swung back around and were only a few feet above the deck, Leoric kicked out his right foot and connected with a pirate on the top deck as their device was disconnected and both him and Felicity skid to a halt on either side of Seamus.

“Well Ain't that just a kick to the face, you’ve been boarded!” Leoric joked as he stood up right and flashed a knowing smile at Felicity. “Now, Who's ready for round 1?”

[Flamebird]

Well, everything involving Leoric was turning into a land of confusion. As they had been swinging on the M.A.D. equipment, Felicity had been flooded with questions of what he had just told Seamus about her... and himself.

In the air it was easy to forget a battle and lock inside, but once they hit the ground, Felicity was back to earth. She could not help but snort at Leoric's pun, but was quickly reminded of the intensity of the situation. As fighting immediately broke out, Felicity stuck with her one free hand as she clutched her explosive toy in the other. Grabbing a pirate's sword arm and whacking his head with the metal bird, Felicity scowled, "Seamus!" Be useful for once!

As if her shout had reminded him of his purpose, Seamus reached into his pocket and pulled out some kind of small object. "I have a bomb! Go boom!"

Everyone flocked to Seamus like seagulls to a single piece of bread.

Felicity took the opportunity. Shouting good luck to Leoric, she darted for the entryway below deck. Okay, I have to disable the canons. But how?

Opening the door, Felicity was met with the dim lights of a constricting hallway. A single pirate stood guard in the hallway. Felicity slammed the door behind her as he shouted a warning towards the direction of the canon room and drew a sword. Felicity let her bird take flight, floating above them with flapping metal wings. Here, an idea entered her mind. Of course, she had to get through this guard first. Felicity pulled one of her arming swords out and in this tight hallway, half sworded it. Two hands safely gripped the blade as she closed the distance between them. Having seemed to have never learned this technique, the man awkwardly tried to swing his sword, but clanged it against one of the walls. As he grimaced, Felicity aimed a small slit for his leg, then immediately rammed the pommel into his thighs, hitting a weak spot.

The man crumpled, dropping his sword as he gasped in pain. She slipped into the canon room, commanding her bird to follow. Inside, two men were about to release a round! Images of everyone on board her ship entered Felicity's mind first, then memories took her further back. The moment she heard of her uncle's death. The terrible, bloody death of her cousin before her eyes.

"No!" Felicity cried, running up to them with her sword. Unable to defend themselves so quickly, each man was served a dish of pommel and crossguard bonks to the head.

As they reeled from the stars in their heads, Felicity wasted no time. She directed her bird to the fishing net in the corner, it snatched it up, gifted it to her, and Felicity properly tied the men up. Dragging them away from the canons, Felicity heard one of them moan about some bounty. Ignoring them, Felicity brought them to rest at the doorway as the hall monitor still tried to stop the bleeding in his leg.

Felicity could initiate her plan.

Felicity looked around the dark room. She needed something certain. It was hard to read the different barrels in the dark, but she squinted as she tried her best to read the fine prints. After reading enough tradespeech labels, Felicity came across a random elvish label. Felicity had been to Raiaera before, had gazed upon the lettering of signs she could not read. This appeared to be the same language, but the letters were more printed and refined than the elegant letters of the high elves. Was this Alerar produced? Could this be it?

Felicity pulled open the lid. A satisfactory smile spread across her face as she gazed upon her prize. As she commanded her bird to land on her shoulder, Felicity was assured that her plan would work.

Grabbing one of the iron shovels laying around, Felicity got to work. Hard labor for most people, Felicity was strong enough to effortlessly shovel and fling black powder across the room, specifically at the canons. Lining the entire canon set up with gunpowder, Felicity was sure to drizzle some into the canons and on top of them. As fighting could still be heard above deck, Felicity finally was happy with her work. She pulled her bird off her shoulder and stuck it into a large pile of gunpowder.

Felicity's bird was lined with gunpowder itself, and could be detonated at will. Knowing it would take a while for the bird to reforge itself and return to her, Felicity had rarely used this feature. Now, she knew she could set off a chain reaction by activating the explosion near gunpowder. With that small bird, the canons would go goodbye in a glorious flash.

Making way towards the door, Felicity snatched the three men she had beaten and made way towards the deck.

"Wha-" One of them muttered from within the net, "Where are you...?"

Felicity kicked open the door. Tasting sunlight again, she thought to herself. I'm disabling the canons, not taking lives. I'm saving lives. We're on opposing sides, but I won't leave these people to be caught in that explosion.

Stepping onto the deck, Felicity thrust the men onto the floor. Felicity looked up and saw another pirate glaring as he watched Felicity man handle three grown men. "Great job, Nicodemus! I bet you guys let her sabotage the canons too!"

Felicity smirked.

The man drew his sword and charged towards her, "That redhead sabotaged the canons!"

Felicity drew her sword again, speaking a single word as she blocked his blow.

"Boom."

Underneath them, the bird exploded. Followed by the chain reaction that caused the ship to teeter and sway like it was in a violent storm.

[Leoric]

Several of the unwashed filth on deck began to swarm around the boarders as Felicity took off below deck. Leoric rolled his shoulders and started moving towards the back of the ship. There were a few pieces of trash that tried to get in his way but with a quick block and punch to the face most of them dropped to the ground or were staggered back enough for him to get to what he assumed to be the captain.

“You know, with all this trash aboard, you might as well be called the S.S. Sewer Rat.” Leoric quipped as he smirked with pride. He was always proud of his one liners, it made fights all the more interesting to him if he could get some good quips in. “So if they are the common filth, you must be King Shit, you at least smell like it.”

“Ahh, and there is the bravado, you must be Leoric,” The captain grabbed a pair of gloves out of his pocket and slid them on. “I was told you would probably be the one with the biggest mouth.”

“Well I am glad you said mouth, cause if we were talking about the biggest failure i would have had to hold up a mirror and i didn’t bring one of those with me.” The Confident brawler said as he entered his First stance. The captain then began to skirt around the outside just outside of what he assumed leoric’s range to be, once Leoric’s back was to the stern of the ship the captain began with a flurry of blows. At first they were all aimed at the same spot Leoric’s face but after a few dozen hits were easily deflected the captain began to spread them out and randomly throw a hook for the king of bravado’s shoulder, Leoric barely deflected as he swung his own right hook straight for the Captain, evoking his powers as a quick deformation in the air, much akin to a shockwave, could be seen blasting down Leoric’s arm and once it reached his fist exploded forward.

The captain at first grinned as he thought he had evaded the punch, but a split second later the side of his face got impacted and sent him sliding a few feet back and into his Helm. “What in the great Thayne’s was that?” The captain asked as he hunched over and held his cheek before spitting out a glob of blood.

“Hey now, that isn’t nice. Maybe the regular or minor Thayne's would like to know as well huh? Why do only the Great Thayne’s get to know?” Leoric stood up straight and re entered his first stance as he stared at the captain, waiting for him to make a move. He thankfully didnt have to wait long cause it seemed the captain was getting more and more infuriated with Leoric’s quips then a wet Caspiran murder hornet.

“Split! Three!” the angry pirate captain said as his figure shifted slightly and three copies of himself walked out of him and quickly circled the Confused brawler.

“Well, i guess that answers my question of how you ever get laid, you just fuck yourself. Which, ironically is what you have done by attacking the ship I am on.” The three copies launched themselves at Leoric from all three sides, Leoric was just barely able to block the hits, with a few getting through every now and then. There was such a flurry of blows he got confused and tripped over some rope next to a cleat on the side of the ship. One of the clones immediately cut the rope and it wrapped around Leoric’s ankle as the real captain spun the wheel hard to the port side causing the ship to lurch in that direction as the sail shifted in the new direction. Draggin leoric up and over the railing and dangling him just inches above the frigid waters.

“Now, while you are just hanging out down there listen up, I was paid to come and kill you, specifically you, I was told anything on the ship can be taken as a bonus if I wanted it. But I was already being paid handsomely to bring your head back for some Noble. But because of your quips and bravado, i think i am just going to sink your entire ship and take that red head with the big forehead as my own woman.” At this moment the captain gave a command and the ship lurched back to starboard, back to its original course, and with the sail turning to match back to its original position, Leoric was dipped down into the water, being dragged behind the ship in freezing waters. Leoric was struggling to get his bearings, but he knew he had a minute or so before he would start drowning, maybe less if his body got too cold.

With his left hand he aimed it up towards a rough image of the main mast of the ship, after a few seconds he felt it connect and he gave the mental commands to pull himself up just enough to get his head out of the water and he caught his breath.

“Oh! Leoric, be careful, you don’t want to catch a deadly cold!” the Captain quipped and laughed at his own joke. Leoric scowled and was getting ready to pull himself up to the ship when he noticed two things, one, his M.A.D. was connected to the top of the Mizzen mast, and two, there was a sizable chunk of ice floating between both ships in his direction. He used the mental command to his left wrist to start pulling him up at high speed while his right wrist M.A.D. fired at the ice block and started to pull it closer to him. Once he was in the air he could see the M.A.D. was struggling slightly with the ice but once he released his left wrist and was now descending towards the captain the ice block started coming to him at an alarming speed.

“Hey Captain, Catch this Cold!” Leoric cried out as he released from the ice block and over shot the captain just enough to slide on the bridge deck and spin around just in time to watch the ice block shatter over the captain’s head as an explosion ripped out from below deck, rocking the ship and tossing a few pirates overboard. Thankful leoric was already down on his knees or he might have been knocked over as well. “Give up, your ship is sinking and you have nowhere to go but down with it!”

[Flamebird]

As the explosion went off, Felicity and the man she had been fighting fell. Felicity's delyn sword slipped away as the entire ship tilted sideways. Hearing a growl from behind her, Felicity hastily pulled out her second arming sword and blocked another sword swing. Sliding along the wet, half frozen deck, Felicity lifted her leg and rammed her boot across the man's skull. Coming to a stop against the railing of the ship, Felicity exclaimed as the man, as well as several barrels, slammed into the railing next to her. She heard her swords clang above her, just within reach.

The girl hastily took her swords and sheathed them. Reaching up and curling her hand around the rail, Felicity kicked with her legs and was dashing up the steep, slippery deck. Upon noticing the gleam of a steel knife wedged into the floorboards, Felicity reached and grabbed the hilt, hanging on as the ship swayed.

As frigid water splashed against the lowering half of the ship, Felicity looked up to the helm. Well, Leoric knew how to get things done. The captain looked dazed, holding his water splashed head. Soaking wet, grasping anything he could hold onto. Three ethereal clones of himself dashed to surround Leoric. Leoric appeared to be in bad shape himself, shivering and looking like he had outright leapt into the waves below! Surrounded by chunks and shards of ice, the two opponents tried to collect their bearings, neither attacking the other.

As the clones crept closer, Leoric demanded that the captain give up. The captain spat.

I need to get up there!

Felicity looked down, the only other pirate at the ship's side was struggling to stand. Felicity aligned her footing and slammed her other hand against the floorboard, ripping the knife out. Kicking the lone pirate on the way down, Felicity slid and landed against the railing. Leoric's balance training paid off as she darted towards the helm.

As Felicity ran, keeping balance in the ship's awkward angle, the captain commanded his clones to attack. Fatigued but still strong, Leoric spun around with a round house kick, slapping all three with a boot. He turned to the captain again and demanded surrender once more.

Felicity ran up to the side of the hold, passing Seamus. Seamus weakly waved under a dog pile of pirates holding him down. Felicity grabbed ahold the cosmetic fishing net hung on the wall and climbed. As she pulled herself up, she heard the captain's first verbal response.

"Remember our mission men!"

Felicity heaved herself onto the helm, muscular frame bunching under her clothes. As the harsh winds blew in her hair, she looked up to see the captain standing tall for the first time. He pointed at Leoric like a judge accusing a defendant guilty.

"Our target is Leoric Blackwell!"

[Leoric]

“Now focus on me” Leoric boasted “you are a coward who can’t even do his own fighting for himself, you need to create these weird copies to do any fighting!”

Leoric breathed heavily as the Adrenaline began to pump through him. He was starting to fully enjoy this fight and his aggressive side was starting to show.

“Oh, i can fight for myself, i never said anything about me raising a hand though.” he slapped his hands together and then slapped the deck as hard as he could. “Split! Forty!” Leoric stood up and braced himself on the railing as the captain just kept splitting. Soon the deck they were on was filled to the brim of duplicates and the brawler was beginning to feel a little claustrophobic.
"Are you from Salvar? Afraid of magic?" Felicity asked as she finished climbing over the helm and placed a knife against her hand.

"You think if I was, I would be able to make copies of myself? no I am not from around here" the captain said as he turned to face Felicity.

"Darn, it won't scare you that much then. But this will still scare you."

Leoric glanced over at Felicity as she climbed up over the helm, she looked around and seemed to slice her hand with a knife. Within seconds she let out a rage filled scream as her demeanor and body language shifted. Waves of warmth that began to tingle the extremities began to wash over Leoric, the pure rage coming from the redhead was so off putting and seemingly out of character Leoric took an instinctual step back before realizing if he was going to get into a fight he needed more ground. He quickly jumped down to the main deck and slid over to the dogpile that was Seamus. “You guys have Three seconds to get off of him before I send all of you into the frigid depths.”

Leoric began counting down as some of the men began scrambling, others who were more full of themselves took their time and got off but decided they were going to fight Leoric instead. There were still a few left on Seamus so Leoric shrugged his shoulders as a swell of wind began to wrap around him, kicking up dust, dirt, and shards of ice from the deck. “Look, I know you guys are pirates and all and probably been out to sea for quite some time. But come on, Seamus? You can find a more attractive partner. Hell if you think about it, your captain can service you all at the same time! Heck i bet he already does that, doesn't he. He seems like the kind of guy to receive from his crew.”

“Don’t you dare go talking about our captain that way! He is three times the man you are!” one of the deckhands cried out as the rest now seemed to be focused on him instead of Seamus.

“Well you weren’t wrong, he was three times the man I was earlier, but now? I would say your math skills are a bit off. He seems to be about forty more men than I am? But I still am a better man then he will ever be.”

Several pirates rushed Leoric, The Brawler knew these men were just crew. The crew was only there to get the ship to move, the captain was the only intimidating thing about this ship, and he seemed busy with the raging red flow currently. Instead of assuming his ‘first’ stance he took a deep breath and let the swirling air around him recede and focused the wind around his arms.

The first victim charged Leoric straight on, Leoric sighed and hit him square in the chest with a palm strike, the mix of full force palm strike and his wind magic sent him sprawling backwards across the deck, colliding with the few stragglers getting off Seamus and sending the group of them overboard.

“Thanks Leoric, you know I could have handled that right?” Seamus grunted as he got up.

“Seamus, you talked a big game as we kept watch, but now i don’t think you could fight your way out of a wet paper bag. Why don't you go help Felicity up there?” Leoric snarked and threw a punch at another three pirates as they charged towards him, something felt different about this punch. It may be that he did it subconsciously, or there was just a large lack of focus as he threw the punch. But as the punch connected with the intended target, the other two fighters charging in also recoiled in pain. Typically his quaking strike only slightly increased the range of his attacks, but to effect both of the other fighters would have been a significant boost. He paused and looked at his fist for a second before shaking himself back to the tense moment.

“Hell no! It looks like it’s that time of the month for her! Why would I want to get near her?” Seamus asked as he began brawling with one of the pirates.

“Well, you may want to say that quieter, imagine if she hears you right about now. You may become her new target.” Leoric flashed Seamus a smirk and kicked an assailant in the face as he grabbed another assailant behind the neck, knee’d him in the chest and threw him against the pirate he had just kicked in the face. Forcing both men to tumble in the ground and struggle to get back up.

It wasn’t long before water began to spill over the railings with the high swells of the waves. Both Leoric and Seamus looked at their feet, then to the railing and the incoming water before up to Felicity.

“Go! I will get her!” Leoric shouted as Seamus nodded and broke off from the same pirate he had been fighting the whole time. He reached the bow of the pirate ship, aimed his M.A.D. at the aft end of their cargo ship and fired off one of his darts. Within seconds he was pulled off of his feet and heading towards safety. Leoric pointed his M.A.D. up to the top of the mizzen mast and took off towards it, he stopped for a second to gain some momentum and swing around before calling out.

“Felicity! It’s time to go! Grab on!”

[Flamebird]

That had been one of the select few times Felicity had activated her powers willingly. She hated her powers, but also needed them. Now, she had more strength from them. All pain faded away. There was only anger, and targets.

The magic induced clones wavered and weakened under the effects of Felicity's radiation. Her magical energy sapped the energy of the clones, making them weaker as she grew in energy. It was easy, effortless. With her knife and fists, Felicity ran from clone to clone. The radiation poisoning caused them to recoil and gave her the ability to slice them down with ease. The world around her was blurred and distant as she stabbed one clone, then kicked another so hard it's rib cage shattered. In a flurry of knife, fist, and unnatural rage Felicity tore their life force like an intelligent yet infuriated bear, poked too many times.

As the last clone fell, she dashed towards the captain himself. If Leoric could not defeat him, she would. Yet, the pain returned to her hand. For a brief moment, she staggered. The captain, sweating from the effects of the radiation he was briefly exposed to, ran towards her with his fists. Felicity tossed the bloody knife aside and raised her fists, squeezing the wound on her left hand. As he came in, Felicity remembered Leoric's recent training. She ducked from a blow instead of blocking, then grabbed his extended arm with her right hand. She immediately followed this by opening her palm and reaching out, smearing her toxic blood onto his face. As he cried out in agony, Felicity wasted no time in curling the hand in another fist, slamming it into his chest. Felicity let go and he flew backwards, hitting his head on the edge of the ship.

She heard her name. Felicity turned to see Leoric swinging towards her with his M.A.D. Felicity lifted her right hand, grabbing his and being lifted from the ship. Felicity looked down and realized just how bad the ship was from up here. It was rapidly sinking, cold water flooding the ship from its side. Some of the crew were already running to life boats without the captain's order. Felicity could see... some bodies floating in the flooded parts of the ship. Eyes wide, Felicity with struck with the realization that her explosion had taken lives after all. It would probably take more.

Fear and anguish flooded her, causing her hand to weaken. "No-"

She felt her grip weaken, her hand slipping. Still up in the air, Felicity's chest jumped as she instinctively reached up and clung to Leoric with her other hand. Unfortunately for Leoric, the sudden, jerky movements completely messed up his balance. Furthermore, her hand was still bleeding. Felicity's blood smeared and splattered onto him, causing him to cry out in pain. "What the-"

Felicity had no idea they had been so close to the ship. Suspended in air, she had been lost in gravity. Leoric hastily pulled her closer and balled around her, letting his M.A.D. fail. Why-

"-Oof!" The two heavily slammed into their own ship. Leoric took the brunt of the damage, having shielded her with his own body. As he cried out in agony, Felicity shut her eyes. Her senses were flooded with the smells and sounds of shattering wood and wisps of bitter wind. She could smell rusted iron and blood as well. She hoped that the blood was her own. They came to a stop as Leoric choked. Felicity slowly opened her eyes again, still on top of Leoric. She moaned, reaching out and slamming her hand on the ground. This situation was too dire for Felicity to be upset about the violated personal space. Hair messily covering her face, she pushed herself up and reached for Leoric with her unbloodied hand. "Leoric! I'm so sorry! Are you alright!"

The short time she had been trained as a medic took over. She rapidly checked his vitals the best she could with one hand. Heart pounding in her head, she had been unable to hear what was going on beyond their small wreck in the deck. Panicked over Leoric's well being, she could not hear the battle taking place on their own ship...