Pirates of the Skies

Chapter 24

Captain vs Cap'n

"Now you die!" Eri said as he withdrew a si with a thin double edged blade. He thrust the blade forward to Shinji's head, only to have the point stopped inches away from Shinji's face by Mary when she grabbed his wrist.

Shinji took a few steps back as it was becoming obvious that Mary could not hold on to the man's wrist for long.

Mary had already withdrawn her knife from her person and was bringing it round to s***h at Eri's neck.

Eri twisted his hand, freeing himself from her grip and brought his si up to block her blade. He initiated a quick knee and kick combination to the thief's stomach which forced Mary away.

Mary stumbled back before falling to the ground.

Eri returned his attention to Shinji as he leapt at him while brandishing his special si.

Kai slid in front of his father with his hands pressed together, eyes closed and a tune humming on his lips.

Foolish child, Eri thought as he readjusted his thrusting si for the young boy's face. Eri was surprised when his si suddenly stopped. His eyes picked up on a solid see-through dome around Kai and Shinji.

Partial Corporal Mode: Fist! Hazumi's fist flew along the dome and connected with Eri's face, causing the man to stumble back. He grabbed the wall and his fingers brushed up against the buttons of the elevator, causing the doors to open up behind him.

"How dare you harm my passenger!" Ikazu said withdrawing his sword and charging at Shinji.

"Dad, we'll handle this guy. You take care of the captain!" Kai said as he charged at Eri.

"Nice to see you two getting along again!" Shinji said as he turned to face the charging Ikazu.

Hazumi made his other fist appear in silver light as he flew for Eri.

"Kai, no don't do it!" Mary said getting on her feet.

Hazumi thrust his fists out and connected with Eri's chest, pushing him into the elevator and Kai jumped in before the doors slid close.

"Mr Otake! How could you?" Mary said.

"Don't worry. They can handle themselves." Shinji said as he withdrew his sword and blocked Ikazu's downward s***h.

/

Shuji burst in the now empty storage room. Except for a few scraps of food the only prominent thing about the room was a small cage at the corner. Inside the cage, barely able to get to a sitting position was Kazu Ita. He peered through the bars at Shuji, with his eyes shining ominously.

"It's about time someone checks up on me," Kazu said, laughing madly. "I haven't been given anything to eat for 3 days now. I'm hungry. In fact I'm so hungry I was tempted to make a little snack… of my hand. Preferable the right one because I'm right handed." Kazu laughed at this like it was the funniest thing he had ever heard.

Shuji gulped nervously. "I'll… I'll feed you, if you don't tell my mother I'm here."

"How about you free me and then you'll never have to worry about your mother ever again," Kazu said, licking his white cracked lips.

Shuji's eyes went wide behind his horn rimmed spectacles. He involuntarily took a step back but then heard his mother's voice. He shook his head in an attempt to get rid of the fear he was feeling. He reasoned that he had nothing to fear so long as Kazu was locked up.

He spotted a couple of barrels and dove behind them. "Remember don't tell her where I am and I'll feed you."

Yuki came in the storage room. He looked at Kazu with disgust. His white kimono had already dulled with dust and dried sweat. "Scum, have you seen my son?" Yuki asked him.

"Ahh, I remember you." Kazu said. "You're the little morsel I didn't get a chance to taste."

"I asked you a question, worm." Yuki said walking closer to him.

"He he he, I like you. You have spunk, so I'll tell you." Kazu said. "But know that one day, I will enjoy seeing that spunk die from your eyes." Kazu let a moment of silence pass before quickly saying, "He's behind those barrels."

"Oh, come on!" Shuji said, raising his head from the barrels. Shuji tried to run away but Yuki was able to quickly catch him because the only way out was through the door behind her.

"Honestly Shuji, you're acting like a 3 year old." Yuki said as she led her son on deck where she would force him to bed.

"Mother, I don't need bed rest." Shuji whined. "I have a broken bone not a cold!"

"You don't think you need to rest but trust me you do, I know best." Yuki said.

Shuji sighed to himself. Even a psycho serial killer couldn't hide me from mother. Shuji thought to himself defeated.

/

There were sounds of struggle in the elevator until the doors opened and Eri jumped back out of the elevator, followed by Kai before the doors slid closed behind him. They now stood on the roof of the Lux Cruiser looking at each other while the wind ruffled up their hair and the tails of their jackets and white puffy clouds drifted lazily overhead.

"Careful, Kai," Hazumi said to his brother, "We shouldn't take this guy lightly."

"What, you scared?" Kai said.

"No," Eri answered.

"I wasn't talking to you!" Kai told Eri, who simply raised his eyebrow.

"I'm serious, Kai." Hazumi continued, not daring to take his eyes off of Eri who had his hands in his pockets. "You wouldn't have known this in the elevator but this guy's reflexes are off the charts. I was struggling to keep you safe from his attacks."

"Yeah? But that was in an enclosed space." Kai said as he brought his hands together. "Out here we have a lot more space and also time to focus."

Hazumi nodded. "You call on a forcefield and I'll take him down."

"No Hazumi, I want in on this." Kai said as his hands came together. "Lead him to me and I'll do the rest."

"Hmpf..." Hazumi floated forward, preparing himself.

Eri was quietly and calmly watching the blonde haired boy seemingly having a conversation with himself. His eyes shot wide open when a silver fist once again appeared out of nowhere heading for his face. Eri stepped to the side, barely avoiding the punch. Eri did a roundhouse kick that covered the area in front of him. When his feet hit nothing, he jumped back.

Hazumi saturated his other fist with corporal energy and went after Eri in full earnest.

Eri dodged and blocked punches with high kicks and countered when he could. Judging from how the silver arms moved, he aimed for where the head, neck and chest would have been but each time his kick was met with nothing but air. The disjointed fists came together and spun around like a drill before coming down on him. Eri jumped back and slid to a stop some distance away from them.

Hazumi looked at Eri impressed. His opponent had not once used his hands in their exchange. Hazumi flew forward for him for another round.

Eri rushed forward to meet the attack head on but the partial corporal boy was not worried. If their fight had proved anything, it was that Eri could do nothing against him.

As they reached each other, Eri leaped off the ground and dove between the two hands and through the part of Hazumi that was not corporal and sprinted for Kai.

Hazumi looked back in horror as Eri was speeding towards Kai. He quickly gave chase. 'So that is what he was planning,' Hazumi thought as he desperately tried to catch up to Eri. 'He was testing his and my limits in the fight and then used what he learned against me.'

"That's it, come closer." Kai whispered to himself as he looked on to the approaching Eri.

Hazumi was able to catch up at the last second and came to float in front of Eri.

Corporal Mode! Hazumi's body transformed into a glowing silver humanoid with rising mist for hair, causing Eri to slide to a stop in surprise. Before he could do anything, Hazumi punched him in the face, sending him flying back.

Eri landed on his back and used his hands to flip back up. Gritting his teeth in anger, he wiped the blood coming from his nose with his silver handkerchief. It had been a long time since he had struggled in a fight or a confrontation. First Shinji and now it was his blonde haired son. The fact that they did not look like much and yet still made it difficult for him to defeat them irked him greatly

"Awww, what are you doing Hazumi?" Kai complained from behind his forcefield. "He was coming closer."

"Yeah, that's why I stopped him."

"I thought I told you to lead him here," Kai said.

"Are you crazy? You may die." Hazumi turned to face Kai. He shook his head before turning back to Eri Musigi. "I can handle him alone."

Eri looked at Hazumi with a bit more of understanding. At first he had thought that Hazumi was some kind of construct controlled by Kai but now he knew that Hazumi was a completely different being with his own thoughts and actions. What he thought was a one-on-oine fight was actually a two-on-one fight. He took a deep calming breathe as his hands returned to his pockets.

Hazumi launched himself for Eri who also did the same.

Eri withdrew his si from his white tuxedo jacket with his hand. At the last moment, he jumped in the air and past Hazumi overhead. His si, raked Hazumi's silver back on his way.

The lacerations caused silver energy to leak out of Hazumi's back along where the si had cut through the coporal body.

"Ahhh!" Hazumi cried as the energy escaped.

Hazumi recovered and turned around. He threw a few curving swings of fists, which Eri easily dodged before he stabbed him in the neck with his si.

Hazumi screamed as Eri withdrew the si, causing even more energy to leak out of Kai like a spring shooting out of the ground.

"HAAA!" Hazumi screamed as he felt the greatest pain he had ever felt. He could also feel his energy draining away and his shoulder began disappearing as the energy that made up his form leaked away from him.

"Hazumi!" Kai lost focus, making his forcefield to disappear. Eri's sharp eyes caught this and he withdrew his semiautomatic with his other hand and aimed for Kia.

"Kai, no!" Hazumi forced himself in front of the bullets to protect his brother. The bullets went through his corporal body, creating more outlets for the energy to temporally leak out of him as the bullets exited from his back.

Kai dropped to the ground as bullets whizzed above his head and hit the elevator door behind him. Kai put his hands together and hummed, creating another forcefield just as a bullet bounced off it.

Hazumi flew away from Eri but ensured that he was between the man and his brother. Kai allowed the forcefield to go out before quickly rising and creating another one. Eri saw this action. He had learned yet another thing, he had learned that Kai could not increase the sizes of his forcefields. He had to create bigger ones if he needed bigger ones.

The energy that was leaking out of Hazumi's neck dissipated.

"Are you okay?" Kai asked.

"I could… ask you the same thing." Hazumi said as he focused on recreating his missing shoulder that looked like it had been bit off. Silver energy crept over the missing space where his shoulder had been to create a new silver shoulder.

"Hazumi, seriously you need to listen to me and do what I say." Kai said. "I've been training remember? I have moves you don't even know about."

"Fine but…" Hazumi turned to look at his brother. "Be careful." Hazumi said before flying towards Eri again.

This time Eri did not bother to use his si, in fact he had sheathed it into his jacket and instead only held his gun.

He let out a few shots, forcing Hazumi to fly in a zig zag to dodge the shots. Some however, some did hit him which forced him to fly straight up to avoid anymore. Eri let out a few more shots before the tell tale clicking sound told him that his gun was out of bullets.

Hazumi flew right above his head. "You said you have new moves Kai, so have I!" Hazumi said as silver light with blue sparks danced around his hands. He thrust his hands out and shouted, Corporal Blast! The energy shot out of his hands as a small beam heading for Eri.

Eri jumped out of the way before the energy hit the ground and exploded outwards. The energy moving outwards hit him, sending him sliding back as his dark shoes created twin trails on the ground below before he came to a stop.

Damn it! He dodged it. Hazumi thought to himself. I can only do two more of those.

Hazumi sped towards Eri and employed a few punches in hopes of catching him. Eri nimbly dodged Hazumi's series of fists and occasional kicks.

Eri pressed a button on his gun with his thumb, causing the top part of his gun to jump up before he caught it with his other hand while putting the rest of the gun away. Eri blocked Hazumi's punch with his forearm before leaping back away from him. Hazumi determinedly chased him down with a flurry of fists that the man in white either dodged or blocked while quickly slotting bullets into the part of the gun he had which turned out to be a bullet cartridge.

Eri dodged another fist before he countered with a tornado kick to Hazumi's chest and face.

Hazumi was knocked back but forcefully stopped his momentum.

He's going to try and use his gun again, Hazumi thought as he flew to Eri with his hands sretched beside him. Silver energy with blue sparks began gathering in his palms. I need to hit at point blank, so that he can't dodge my attack.

Hazumi got even closer to Eri who was slotting the cartridge back on top of his gun.

When he was close enough, Hazumi thrust his hands out. Corporal Blast! The energy shot out in a stream. When the energy was gone, Eri was no longer where he had stood. Did I do it?

Hazumi saw a shadow pass over him causing him to look back in time to see Eri land behind him and run towards Kai.

Looks like you're going to get your wish, Kai. Hazumi turned around and flew after Eri. I hope you know what you're doing?

Eri pointed his gun at the forcefield. "Let's see how strong you protection is." He began emptying his cartridge into the forcefield but the bulltes simply bounced off its surface, causing nothing more than ripples. Eri gritted his teeth as his gun ran out of bullets. He stopped before the forcefield before he could crash into it.

Kai smiled before he thrust his hands out, "Expand!" The forcefield expanded outwards in an instant, hitting Eri and launching him into the air past Kai.

Hazumi turned around and at the last moment got an idea. Corporal Blast! Hazumi released a blast stronger than any before and it caused more than half his lower body to disappear because of the energy usage. The blast found its target on Eri's chest, adding to the momentum that Kai's expanded forcefield had added.

Eri sailed into the air before he went over the side of the ship, screaming on his way down.

"You finally learned how to do the Expand Technique." Hazumi said, his upper body disappearing as he released his corporal form.

"Yeah but everytime I expand a forcefield, it pops. That was a cool move you did there." Kai complimented. "Ghost Blast, it looks cool."

"It's not Ghost Blast," Hazumi corrected. "It's Corporal Blast."

"Yeah, but Ghost Blast sounds cooler, so it's Ghost Blast." Kai said as he pressed a button to enter the lift.

"It's my move Kai, that means I name it!"

"But my name is cooler and anyways…" The brothers continued arguing as the elevator descended.

/

Shinji's footwork was horrible and his strikes were all ill aimed and badly executed. Ikazu's form had a hint of education in it but was ultimately awkward and sloppy.

Mary sighed as she made these observations. These men were no Riku. They did not even possess a quarter his skills. In her mind she imagined the greatest sword fight ever. And she imagined that the sword fight she was seeing now was probably the exact opposite of that.

I could be wrong, Mary thought to herself as she saw them exchanging blows. I'm guessing the greatest sword fight would have two great swordsmen with roughly the same skill level but who's to say that the greatest sword fight would not have two horrible swordsmen with roughly the same skill. It was all a matter of relativity. I, right now, could be watching the greatsest sword fights in history. When Mary saw Shinji trip and stumble back and Ikazu do a wild swing that was completely off target, she began to retract her statement that this was the greatest sword fight in history.

It began to become apparent to her that Shinji would lose. She stepped forward and delivered a kick to Ikazu's exposed abdomen which caused him to stumble back.

"Two against one, huh?" Ikazu said grasping his ribs. "Even with those odds I'll still win, vagabonds!"

"Vagabond? Ah'm not a Vagabond, Ah'm Cap'n Shinji Otake." Shinji said, resting the blade of his sword on his shoulder.

"Well pirate captain, I'm Captain Ginpei Ikazu!" Ikazu said.

"Ha, this is truly a classic battle." Shinji remarked pointing his sword at Ikazu. "How about it then, Ikazu. Let's resume again. Just you and me; Cap'n vs Cap'n. No interruptions from anyone."

Ikazu was getting excited at the notion of a great battle. "Fine, lets do it!" He said with great enthusiasm.

"Mary, stay outta this." Shinji ordered.

Mary nodded. If she had learned anything from dealing with the Otakes, it was that when they tell you to stay out of their fights, it would be wise to do so. She stepped back to give Shinji some space, although she was doubtful of his chances.

"Come then, let's do it!" Shinji said.

Ikazu raised his sword above his head and charged at Shinji.

Shinji widened his stance in preparation. Then… Shinji withdrew his gun and shot Ikazu in the chest!

Ikazu held his chest as his charge came to an instant stop.

"You bastard," Ikazu said before he fell to the floor.

If Mary's mouth had been hanging any lower, it would be on the floor. Shinji re-holstered his gun and looked back confusingly at Mary's expression. "What-What happened to the whole Captain vs Captain thing?"

"That was it." Shinji gestured to the man on the ground. "Ah'm a cap'n, his cap'n, we fought and Ah won."

Mary still had the shocked expression on his face.

"What, Ah never said I wouldn't use me gun." Shinji said.

The elevator doors pinged open and out came Kai. "Hey dad! I handled that jerk like I said I would." Kai said holding his arm like he was feeling out his non-existent muscle.

"Don't you mean we?" Hazumi said but Kai ignored him.

"You guys defeated Eri Musigi?" Mary said, her mouth hung lower and just as it was forewarned, hit the ground. Who are these people, the Otakes, and why haven't I ever heard of them?

There were sounds of running feet coming closer to them. "Looks like more of them are coming. We better make our escape through the elevator."

"Okay!" Kai said before pressing the button to make the doors slide open again. The four of them got in and descended just before the crew men joined the captain who was lying on the floor with his shirts stained red with his blood.

"Captain! Captain! He's dead!" One of the men said.

"No… he's not!" Another crew member who had two fingers on Ikazu's neck said.

Ikazu regained consciousness and came up to a sitting position while clutching his bullet wound. "Pirates…" He struggled to say, "Pirates are on the ship! Don't let them escape."