Pirates of the Skies

Chapter 4

Gangster vs Forcefield

Mokedi stood some distance away with his shotgun held at his side. Kai could tell that things would soon escalate. He intertwined his hands and began humming. A blue dome appeared right above the two kids' heads and surrounded them as its sides grew to the ground.

Mokedi raised his eyebrow as well as his gun. "Forcefield, huh?" He said. "Let's see how tough it is." Mokedi took aim at the forcefield and fired! Omoi screamed but the bullet bounced off Kia's forcefield, giving the young +Human no problem.

Kai smiled cockily at the older gangster. "Looks like it's tougher than your little gun."

"It looks that way, doesn't it?" Mokedi said as he approach them. He dug out a bullet from his pocket and produced a yellow coloured bullet. "Do you know what this is?" Mokedi asked holding the yellow bullet up.

Kai looked at the bullet in confusion. He had seen one before but did not pay much attention to it, not being interested in guns or their ammo. He began to hum again to reaffirm his focus on the forcefield.

"It's called a Yellow Power Bullet." Mokeid said to the humming boy. "It is stronger than normal bullets, in fact the only bullet that packs more power than this one is called a Red Power Bullet. You should be honoured to be seeing one, Yellow Power Bullets are even rarer than Red Power Bullets."

"Psht, for your information, I have seen it before." Kai said, momentarily stopping his humming, "My father, a great sky pirate has one like it!"

"Sure he does," Mokedi said unconvincingly as he slotted the bullet into his shotgun. He pointed the gun at Kai's forcefield. "Your forcefield can stop a normal bullet but I wonder how well it does with a Yellow Power Bullet… fired at close range." Mokedi said with the barrel of his gun a few centimetres away from the forcefield.

/

Akum heard the first gunshot from inside the Mokedi gang's headquarters. He looked around and saw that his boss was missing. He gritted his teeth in anger. Mokedi had seen through Hazumi's distraction and had gone out to meet the escaping kids. Why was Mokedi always a few steps ahead of him? He angrily thought to himself.

"Come on men," he said. "Let's get outside and finish those kids off!" Akum completed. He needed to prove to the men that he was a better leader than Mokedi in order to successfully wrest power from him.

The men followed Akum but were stopped by an ominous voice. "I wouldn't if I were you. Because if you try to leave this room… you'll be sorry."

The men, including Akum, immediately stopped. They looked around in panic, remembering the spectre they had tussled with not too long ago. Hazumi was floating just above their heads, invisible to them.

"He's… He's lying!" Akum said looking around, the fear on his face and in his voice giving away his uncertainty. "If he could stop us, he would have already stopped us!"

Hazumi hated to admit it but Akum was right. The last attack had taken a lot out of him. He was struggling to even make his voice heard. He could at best stop a few by going partly corporal but there was no way he could stop a whole gang. The only choice he had left was to bluff them into submission or stall them until he came up with another plan.

"You must not care about your men very much if you're willing to command them… to their deaths!" Hazumi said with his ghostly voice, sounding like an echo of a whisper. "And trust me, if they do what you command they will die."

Akum gritted his teeth as his men looked to him for guidance or for a lack of guidance as it were. "Don't worry men! This ghost can't do anything to stop us! Watch." Akum unsheathed his shoto and began walking forward to the exit. Although he put on a show of being confident, on the inside he was terrified.

Partial Corporal Mode: Fist!

As he got to the door frame a silver light, shaped like the front of a fist, shot out to hit his cheek. Akum stumbled back to the waiting arms of his man from the force of the fist.

Hazumi floated near the door. "That was a warning, the next attack will be more severe!"

Akum began laughing, it started out small but then got even more crazy. "A warning?! I think that weak punch was all you could do! Your promises are empty!"

Hazumi clenched his fists. Had Akum figured out that he was less powerful than he had lead on? Akum began swaggering to the door again. Hazumi prepared to punch Akum again but he knew when the other gangsters saw that there was no increase in intensity of his attack, they would become as confident as their defacto leader and then there would be nothing he could do to stop them.

Akum was getting closer and Hazumi got even more nervous, soon he would have to act and reveal his rouse. Just as he was about to punch Akum, there was a loud BANG outside that startled everyone. It sounded like a gunshot but much much louder. For a moment everyone forgot about the current battle and looked to the direction of the loud sound.

Akum looked out wondering what was going on, hoping that Mokedi was dead or at least had not killed Omoi. Omoi was his to kill, to prove to their gang that he is strong enough to do.

Hazumi looked back over his shoulder at the direction of the sound. Was Kai and Omoi okay? Did they need his help? Hazumi looked back at the gang. It took all his self-control not to fly out and check on Kai and Omoi but he knew that if he failed to hold off the rest of the gang, what was happening now outside would not matter because Kai and Omoi's chances of surviving would drastically decrease if these ruffians got past him.

/

Mokedi aimed at the forcefield and fired! There was a resultant and deafening BANG that accompanied the Yellow Power Bullet that left a trail of smoke behind it and created a ring of smoke along its projectile path. The recoil of the shot was strong enough to push the gun into Mokedi's stomach, sending him tumbling back. The forcefield did not fair any better as it was popped like a bubble. Kai was knocked down onto his back from the resultant destruction of his forcefield. Omoi knelt next to him.

"Kai, are you okay?" Omoi said.

Kai began to stir to a sit up position. "Yeah, I'm… alive."

Omoi looked across to see Mokedi also beginning to get up. The gangster had lost possession of his shotgun, which was laying inbetween her and him. She rushed for the shotgun and held it, aiming it at Mokedi. Mokedi got to his feet and realised that he had his own gun aimed at him. He raised his arms.

"Now now girl," he said calmly, "don't do anything rash now."

"Get away from us!" She screeched.

"I would listen to her." Kai said getting onto his feet. "She has a gun."

Mokedi smirked as he began approaching them with his hands raised. "You are a little girl, Omoi. You're not going to kill me."

"Why wouldn't I kill you?" She shouted with tears beginning to fall down her cheek. "You… you killed my mom (sob) you killed my dad. I should kill you! I want to!"

"But you're not." He said as he came ever closer to them.

Omoi was still sobbing as she was seemingly unsure what she would do. The gun shook in her hands in time with her sobbing. Did she have it in her to kill this man? She made a squealing noise and closed her eyes tightly shut as she pulled the trigger. There was a resultant click instead of the expectant BANG that came out of the gun. Omoi opened her eyes in confusion. Why was Mokedi still alive? Why had the gun failed to fire? These questions ran through her mind.

Mokedi began to laugh as he approached them. "The gun has no bullets, stupid girl! You have to reload it every time you use it!"

Omoi lowered her head as well as the shotgun in defeat.

"Don't give up, Omoi." Kai said looking at the girl. "We're not dead yet." Kai grabbed the shotgun from her hands and charged at Mokedi. He swung the gun like a club and hit him in his stomach Mokedi bent over, grabbing his stomach. Kai pulled the gun back and swung it for Mokedi's head. The butt of the gun almost hit his face but was instantly stopped when Mokedi grabbed it.

Mokedi looked up at Kai with anger in his eyes. "Kid, you are in for a lot of pain," he said through clenched teeth.

Mokedi got onto is feet, firmly holding onto the butt of the gun. Kai defiantly grasped the shotgun, refusing to let it go. The young boy tried to pull the gun free but he could not get the gun from Mokedi's superior strength. Pulling was not working, so Kai decided to push the gun into Mokedi. The move took Mokedi by surprise and the butt of the shotgun was pushed into his still recovering abdomen. Mokedi grunted in pain as he released the gun, freeing Kai to run away with it.

Mokedi screamed in anger and ran after Kai. He was quickly gaining until Kai suddenly stopped and swung the gun for his head. The gangster stopped and leaned back, narrowly dodging the swinging weapon. Mokedi realised he had to be more careful as Kai was not as helpless as normal kids his age.

Kai kept running and when Mokeid almost caught him again he had to dive out of his reach. He crawled until his hand happened upon a stone. There were abunch of them in front of him. He threw a few stones at Mokedi but the gangster held up his arms to guard against the projectiles. He was about to pounce on him until Omoi tackled him down. She sunk her teeth into his leg.

Mokedi screamed in pain before he roughly grabbed her and threw her off him. He returned his attention back to Kai who was fiddling with the shotgun but Mokedi was not sure what he was doing as the boy's back was turned to him. When Kai saw that Omoi had been disposed of, he picked up a stone and wined his arm back in preparation of throwing it. However, before he could throw, Mokedi punched him, sending him flying away.

Kai grasped his face while getting on his hand and knees. "You punched me?"

Mokedi grabbed his shotgun from the ground where Kai dropped it once he was punched. He took out a bullet from his pocket. This was a normal, grey bullet. He began trying to slot it in the gun but was struggling.

Kai sheepishly got to his feet. "You punched me? How dare you use me to practice child abuse?" Kai said as he looked at Mokedi. He was still feeling the after effects of the punch and as such he was seeing everything in blurry doubles. "As soon as I tell my dad about the you… the both of you… hey wait, I didn't know you had a twin brother."

Mokedi was finally able to slot the bullet into the gun. He took aim at Kai.

"Kai, make a forcefield!" Omoi desperately shouted.

Mokedi looked at her with frustration. "I'll deal with you later as for now…" He returned his sight to Kai who was still partly out of it. He intertwined his fingers and began doing a poor job of humming. It was like his tongue got in the way of closing his lips. A forcefield flickered in and out of existence around him, like it was a broken lightbulb trying but failing to stay alight. Mokedi smiled at the poor performance to put up a defence. "Looks like this is the end of you, boy!" He said raising the gun higher to get better aim at Kai.

/

Akum stood facing the exit. He was as desperate as Hazumi to get out and see what was going on but, as with the now invisible boy, was forced to see this stand-off till the end. He began running for the exit but was stopped when Hazumi made his hand corporal and punched him in the stomach, stopping him in his tracks.

Akum stumbled back from the punch. His face was turned downwards in a grimace of pain but when he lifted it up again, he had a smile on his face. "See? I told you he can't do anything more severe then what his shown us already!"

A murmur of agreement began to sweep through the assembled criminals. Hazumi realised that his rouse had unravelled. He needed to find a way of using the little power he had to stop them from going outside. He caught sight of an old chandelier hanging above the group of thugs. It was old and in obviously had fallen into disrepair and disuse. A desperate idea began forming in Hazumi's mind. He wondered why he had not seen the old chandelier before, he could fly couldn't he? He should notice and see everything especially since no one could see him.

"Partial Corporal Mode: Hands!" Hazumi's hands and a little of his forearms began shining in a silver light. To him, it looked like his hands were glowing silver while the rest of his transparent form remained the same. However, if anyone else who had bothered to look up, which none of the thugs did, they would have seen two glowing silver partial arms without a body. He grabbed the cord connecting the old chandelier to the ceiling. He began pulling on the cord, his face convulsing with the effort. The light, illuminating his hands began receed. It started at the wrist as the glow began fading and the fade got closer to his hands.

The chandelier began to loosen from the ceiling. A piece of it was pulled out of the cracking ceiling. Hazumi's hands were disappearing faster as he pulled harder, trying to release the chandelier. The silver light fully faded, making his now incorporeal hands pass through the chanderlier.

"No!" Hazumi shouted although no one could hear him. "I've… I've failed." He said as he began hovering to a lower altitude, his energy to saaped to keep him at higher altitudes. He stopped when he heard a creaking sound. He looked up just in time to see the chandelier start to loosen even more, without his help. It finally lost purchase on the ceiling and fell straight down. The chandelier passed harmlessly through his body on its way to the criminals below.

"Come on men," Akum shouted encouragingly, "let's get out there and do our job!"

"Yay!" The men said raising their weapons before the chandelier abruptly crashed on top of them.

Hazumi looked from above. He wished he could gloat to the men in pain under the chandelier and the ones backing away in utter fear but he had no more energy left in him. It would take time for the criminals to dig out their comrades from the fallen chandelier and hopefully the ones that were fortunate enough to have not been crushed by the chandelier would be too scared to leave the room. Hazumi looked at Akum who was on his butt, looking shocked at the hurt men. Hazumi cursed that he had not gotten Akum. He knew that the aspiring leader would recover from the shock and unlike the rest of his men he would quickly venture outside. Hazumi could do nothing about that now so his only choice was to go outside and warn Kai… if he was still alive. He heard another bang from the outside. It was not as loud as the last one but it still scared him and made him worry for Kai and Omoi. He quickly phased through the door on his way to the outside.

/

Mokedi had his shotgun pointed at Kai's head. Several moments passed but he did not shoot. He could not shoot. He could not bring himself to kill a child. It was the only reason why Omoi had been left alone to live after he killed her family. It was the only reason why Kai was still alive. He needed to find another way to defeat these children without breaking his code against killing them.

"Alright kid. I won't kill if you join my gang." He said. "I could use a +Human in my gang."

"You want me to join your gang?" Kai said, having recovered fully now. "Keep dreaming! I'll never join your gang or any gang for that matter! Well, unless it's being led by my dad." Kai began tangling his fingers.

"Hey, stop that or I'll shoot!" Mokedi shouted, raising his shotgun menacingly. Kai smiled cockily before he began humming. "Hey, I said…" Mokedi was interrupted when Omoi tackled him and his gun mistakenly went off aimed at Kai.

He fell back and Omoi retreated from him. She was too afraid to turn her head back to look at Kai, for she was worried that he had been shot. She forced herself to look back and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Kai walking confidently forward.

"You're okay!" She said thankfully.

"Yep." Kai walked over to Mokedi who was lying on his back.

"My… my gun... it misfired." Mokedi said with multiple non-fatal bullet holes on his shoulders and abdomen.

"Yes, my brother knows a lot about guns." Kai said. "I learned a few things from him and one of the things was where to put a stone when you want to jam a gun's firing mechanism."

"You… you jammed it while you had it." Mokedi said.

"Yes…" Kai was interrupted by Hazumi who was flying over to them.

"You're still alive!" Hazumi excitedly said as he came to levitate close to him.

"Was there ever any doubt?" Kai said.

Hazumi looked at Omoi to confirm she was okay and then looked worryingly at the Mokedi Gang headquarters which were just a stone throw away. "We need to go. I've stalled the gangsters but they will be coming here soon."

"Okay." Kai said running forward. "Come on Omoi, we have to get out of here..." He stopped when he noticed that Omoi was not following him.

Omoi began walking forward and stopped to pick up a rock half her size before turning back to Mokedi who was still lying on his back, she crouched over him and lifted the rock above her head.

"What is she doing?" Hazumi worryingly said, causing Kai to stop and look back at Omoi,

"So Omoi, are you going to kill me?" Mokedi asked from his position on the floor.

"Yes… I'm… I'm going to take revenge for my family!" Omoi said readying herself to strike down on Mokedi's head with the heavy rock.

Hazumi's eyes went wide when he realised what she was planning to do. "She can't do that. Kai, stop her!"

"I can't," Kai said. "It's her decision to make."

"But she's just a child!" Hazumi argued.

"Go ahead then." Mokedi said to her. "If you want your revenge so bad then take it. I won't fight it." Mokedi smiled a bloody smile, "I can't."

Omoi raised the rock further above he head. She brought the rock down until it hit its target… the ground next to Mokedi's head. Mokedi had his eyes closed but opened them when he realised that his head had not bashed in.

"I… I don't have it in me to end a life." She said with tears in her eyes. "And I never want to either… ever! I guess you'll have to live, knowing that you failed to kill me and that will be vengeance enough!" Omoi got up and followed Kai.

Hazumi was relieved that she had not gone with it and although he pretended not to care much, so was Kai. They disappeared into the night together.

/

Akum finally exited the headquarters of their gang. He had failed to convince the others to come with him as they were too scared of 'The Ghost'. He saw Mokedi's body lying on the ground some distance away. For a moment he felt happiness as he approached the body. Had his boss finally died, leaving the role of leadership empty for his taking? However, he was disappointed when he saw his leader stir and look at him.

"Akum, thank goodness!" Mokedi said. "Help me get up, I need to see a doctor."

"Where… where is Omoi?" Akum said looking around.

"They escaped." Mokedi said as he offered his hand so Akum could help him up.

"After all that work I put into capturing her?" Akum angrily said.

"Forget about the girl and help me up!" Mokedi said.

"I'm not forgetting about anything! I worked to bring that girl here, and for what? So that you can go soft and…" Akum kept quiet as an idea formed in his mind. He looked around and saw nothing but the grass and sand, with the occasional chirping of crickets. The rest of the gang was cowering inside, leaving him and Boss Mokedi alone. "You have been a weak leader for this gang."

"What?" Mokedi said, surprised by Akum's brazen attitude to him.

"This gang deserves a better leader." Akum continued. "Someone strong, someone willing to do anything to further them; someone like me. In fact it needs me."

"What are you saying, Akum?" Mokedi asked fearfully.

"I'm saying, your time as the leader has come to an end!" Akum said as he approached Mokedi with his shoto pointed at him.

"No, don't do this." Mokedi slid back but because of his injuries he could not get far. "No. No. Noooooo…!" Mokedi's voice rang out into the night air but then suddenly went silent.

/

Kai and Omoi dived behind a dumpster as members of the gang that ruled the town walked by. Kai dug in the trash can in front of him and produced a half eaten chicken drumstick.

"Hey look, lunch." He said holding up the piece of meat.

Omoi groaned. "Kai, when is your dad going to get here? I'm tired of dodging gangsters and chefs and living like a common street rat."

"I'm sure he'll be here soon." Kai said.

Omoi grumbled again. She had begun to think that Kai's amazing sky pirate father was really just a lie.

"Kai! Kai! Kai!" Hazumi said flying to them from the sky.

"What?' Kai said looking up to the transparent teen.

"They're here!" Hazumi excitedly said.

Kai's eyes lit up as he looked at Omoi. "They're here! My dad is here!" He said before grabbing her hand and pulled her along as he followed Hazumi who was flying ahead.

Hazumi flew ahead of them until they reached the dock. From the sky they could see an approaching sky ship. It had a brown wooden hull and a set of six jets that released shimmering air for further thrust. Because it was a sky ship, it did not have sails but instead a blimp shaped top that was responsible for most of its ability to fly with a black square and a skull and cross bones at the side.

A ladder unfurled form the deck and someone leaned over to look down. Because of how far away the person was and the fact that the sun was directly behind them, one could not see the face of the person who unfurled the ladder but their shouting voice could be heard.

"Kai, grab the ladder!" The man on the ship said.

"You're not going to land?" Kai asked as the ladder swung closer to him.

"We can't." The man said. "We're being pursued so we don't want to stop for long!"

"Fine!" Kai shouted up. "Get ready to grab the ladder." Kai told Omoi. The ladder swung by and Kai grabbed it, however Omoi missed it.

The ladder was being drawn away from the ground as the ship continued its course straight and higher up into the air. "Kai!" Omoi shouted, seeing that she would be left behind.

"Omoi!" Kai shouted as he was being drawn away from her and into the ship.

"Partial Corporal Mode: Arms!" Silver arms appeared and grabbed Omoi at the back before lifting her high into the sky.

Upon seeing that Hazumi had gotten Omoi, Kai began climbing up the ladder. He climbed over the deck guard and fell on his face. Omoi was unceremoniously dropped on the deck floor. The man who had been shouting at them smiled at Kai. "Welcome back."