On the High Seas

“Aw sweet! How much did you keep?” Ariana called back to Yui. A cannonball landed not far from the boat and she looked away again. “Uh, never mind, I’ve got to keep us moving!” She called upon the waters and gave them one last great push. While they puttered along, Kasumi skipped back to Yui. “Did you get anything cool besides the map? Not just glittery stuff, I want to see magic loot!” As the ship settled into a more steady pace, Ariana checked out the map. “Hey neat, the place is named after me. That mean I own this ocean? Hey Love, which island you want? You can have one all to yourself, if it’ll help you get over the shampoo.” Both Kasumi and Ariana paid attention when Elyssa pointed out their options. “I say we go after the big dogs. I brought spray paint, let’s graffiti a naval base.” Kasumi grabbed a can from her pack and rattled it. “Nah, magic ship! Magic is way cooler!” Ariana insisted. “We could go toe to toe with Circe!”

One by one, everyone gave their answers. Ariana and Loveline wanted to go after mythic ship, while Kasumi wanted to try her hand at the navy. Yui didn’t seem to mind at all. Placing her hand on her chin, Elyssa began to ponder. “Hmmmm...it might be more dangerous going after another mage, buuuuuuuuut I doubt they have much of a fleet to chase after us with. While a navy probably has several Dreadnaughts.” She guessed. Smirking, Elyssa pointed toward the map.

“Then it’s decided! Let’s go get a mythical ship, captain!” The adventurer explained, Silverbeard letting out a dry laugh. “Hahaha, I like yer style, kid! Let’s hope ya gots the skills to back up yer gusto.” He stated, directing the crew to sail toward the black landmass on the map. Seeing there was some downtime, Elyssa walked over to the middle of the ship and approached Loveline and Ariana. “Hey, you two! Wanna check out what we have below deck and report back? I want to see the top deck, myself.” She said, looking at Loveline and nodding. She knew Loveline wanted alone time with Ariana.

Walking over to Yui next, Elyssa grinned and got into a fighting stance. “Alright Yui...let’s see what you got! Friendly spar, first one to the floor or give up loses. You in?” She asked, adjusting her hat and preparing.

Meanwhile, the captain approached Kasumi. “She be a spirited one, aye?” He asked, looking at Elyssa. “So, why are ya here? What is yer goal to get outta driving into the belly of the beast?” He asked, leaning against a long rifle as he addressed her.

Ariana smiled when Loveline played along with her joke. “Uh, hey… I’m sorry about using your shampoo. I should have asked.” She mumbled to her girlfriend.

“It’s not like I was there, so you couldn’t ask me in the first place.” Love blushed slightly. “Ahem, I’ll just make sure I keep the priceless shampoo separated in the future.”

Before they could have a make-up kiss, Elyssa challenged Yui. “Oh hold up, I’ve gotta see this.” Ariana sat herself on the ship’s railing to watch, Kasumi flopping down on the other side with equal interest. Love was slightly disappointed by the sudden change of topic, but she was curious about the fight too. They all cheered and commentated, tossing imaginary popcorn to one another until the fight ended. “Woooo! That was great!” Kasumi cheered. “I spar with Elyssa all the time. It’s part of our regular training. When I started, I didn’t really know how to fight, so I’ve got a lot of people helping me polish all this brute force into the killer machine you see here.” Ariana flexed and winked at Love, making sure she knew that was for her… well, primarily for her. She got a wide smile in return. Yui was certainly allowed to be impressed. “Dude, I always knew you weren’t a master. I’ve crushed you ever time we fight!” Kasumi playfully punched Elyssa’s shoulder. “Yeah, she keeps us in shape. I bet I’d do better fighting you than she did.” Kasumi smirked, elbowing Yui in the ribs.

“Oh yeah,” Love said, slightly embarrassed as she remembered her clash with Elyssa, “I had a fight with her too. Despite how she looks, she’s definitely the one who thinks most with her muscles here. Even more than Riri here.” She hugged Ariana’s arm. “So, um, anyone want to check out the rest of this ship now? I bet the underside is quite impressive too.”

“Oh, yeah, let’s check out the cannons!” Ariana led the way, hopping the steps two at a time.

“I’ll stay up here, I wanna see if Yui can teach me any moves!” Kasumi said, waving the pair goodbye.

Love followed Ariana down into the interior. The inside felt calmer than the outside, though that might have been because the rest of the team wasn’t around. Instead, they only saw more decrepit soldiers shuffling about. They seemed busy keeping the ship clean and organized. Cannonballs lined the outside, kept company by a row of cannons on either side of the ship. Love wondered when was the last time these things fired anything. They seemed so rusty and disused! But what caught her eye was a colorful bird perched above, staring at the crew with a watchful gaze.

“Hehe, pretty bird. I wonder if it’s the slavedriver here.” She raised her arm and extended one finger, hoping the bird might come down.

The bird was a frazzled little puff of feathers, more pom-pom than avian, top half pink, bottom red. It perked up at Love’s motions, but didn’t come.

“Maybe it’ll listen for food.” Ariana pointed at a barrel of seed and scooped up a handful. The bird immediately flew down, landing in her palm and pecking wildly at it. “Ow ow ow ow! It’s not a very gentle eater!”

Love tried to muffle her laughter, but she wasn’t very successful. “Of course not, it’s hard to learn proper manners on a pirate ship.” She waited for the bird to finish eating before reaching out to try and pet it. The bird gladly chirped and cooed, rubbing on her hand for a few seconds before it flew back up to its observation perch.

“Next time, you feed, I pet.” Ariana said, rubbing her hand. “...think they’d be mad if we test-fired one of the cannons? You know… make sure they’re in good operational order.”

Loveline looked at the crewmen. They didn’t strike her as particularly fun people. “Um, maybe if we asked. Actually, better not. We might draw Circe to us. Besides, I’m sure whatever ship we get next will have much cooler cannons!”

“Ohhhh, magic cannons! My only regret about not going for the navy is that they probably have really big guns, but magic guns are always best!” Ariana said, poking around the rooms.

“They sure are,” Love said while they poked through the empty rooms. Finally, when she didn’t see any crewmembers around, Love tapped Ariana to get her attention. And then she kissed her. She missed that feeling, however brief their break-up was. “There, now we made up.”

Ariana was instantly flushed, head to toe red. “I forgot we even fought! It was so stupid… I don’t know how you put up with me.” She hugged Loveline, squeezing her tight.

“I guess I’m just stubborn like that,” Love returned the hug, enjoying being so close.

“Well I’m glad you are.” Ariana let go with one arm to pull a door closed behind them, granting some limited privacy on the small ship.

“Well, you heard Ely-san, do you want to spar? Or should I try to teach you something?”-Yui said as she laughed, Elyssa’s tongue was sharper than her martial moves for sure.

“Maybe not spar, cause we should stay healthy, but I’d love to see some moves! I use magic though, not ki. Could I still learn them?” Kasumi asked.

Yui scratched her head, why was she trying to learn martial arts with no ki as base?!

“Well um, how should I say this...martial arts without ki...it’s like trying to make sushi without fish”- She said, trying to find any sort of analogy, although she wasn’t sure if that had been accurate.

“Perhaps if you could find a way to enhance your physical abilities with magic, there could be some moves I could teach you”-She ended up telling Kasumi.

“Oh, I do! I’m actually a lot more physical than most mages I know, even if the average ki-user I’ve met outdoes me. I even have a summon that makes me even stronger with magic. Check this out!” Kasumi waved a hand and from an icy mist, a vibrant blue ape-thing formed. It sprang about and clapped, dancing with Kasumi for a second before its magic entered her and she bulked up, her muscles swelling to easily twice their mass. “Right now I could even toss Ariana around! Just that I can’t keep it up for long! Back ya go, Hibagon!” The creature vanished and Kasumi returned to her usual mass.

Yui’s eyes widened, so those were summons?!

“Ohhh! Alright then! I think we can do something with that! If you can’t keep it up for long, then let’s try to maximize the power of your moves! Can you throw a punch?”- Yui asked Kasumi and set her hand right in front of her

“Strike here as you would during a fight, do it 3 times as fast as you can”-She instructed her

“Well, I’m more of a grappler than a striker… but I’ll do my best!” Kasumi’s technique wasn’t terrible, but it was clear that her preferences lay elsewhere as she threw her punches, tapping Yui’s fist three times in moderately rapid succession. “I use a sword, so I just just use my free hand for magic and throwing people. No need to be good at punching when you can stab, you know?”

Yui nodded as she saw Kasumi’’s display and listened attentively

“Well, there’s some foes that are very tough against blades, but not punches. You see, your hand can be any weapon!” -She said as she formed a karate chop like form on her palm

“See? This is a sword”- Yui then closed it
“Hammer- she then retracted her pinky and her ring finger
“Spear”. Basically, there’s a lot you can do! If you hold a sword with one hand, you can probably still use it to punch. How fast can you summon that thing?- She asked again, not only was she trying to teach Kasumi, she was actually learning about mages and their limitations as well.

“Huh, never thought about it that way. Uh, Hibagon? Usually takes a few seconds. He needs to be ready and willing, so I can’t really make it any faster unless I make him wait up for me all day, and that’s not very nice.” Kasumi scratched her chin as she thought. “Normally, summons live in little pocket dimensions we make for them. So he might be eating or sleeping when I call him, and it’ll take him longer to respond.”

“Then...why not just give it a heads up if you feel a battle is about to start? Can you do that? Ah, sorry if I am making too many questions, you see, it’s fine if you can actually power up, but if enemies see it coming, they might adjust and react to it. Elyssa is...admittedly not the best fighter, but her quirk was instant, and it was that speed what threw me off. If you can make an attack seem weaker than it is and drastically change the power output, you would have a strong move in your arsenal”- Yui had precisely a move that drastically changed her power output, if Kasumi could mimic that, it could be something close to the first Kata of Kodokan Ryu.

“Well, even if he knows it takes longer for him to pass into our universe than for me to throw a punch. But, I can kinda switch it up. See, I’ve got a second summon.” Kasumi swirled her hand in the air and another cloud of mist formed, releasing a shining silver pyramid. An organic eye swirled and gazed about at its peak and insectile legs wiggled in the air at each corner. A cold mist rained off of it, changing Kasumi’s hair and all the black clothing on her body white as snow. “This is Gizaru! Hibagon makes me stronger, but Gizaru makes my ice magic more powerful. I can do both at once, but it drains me really, really fast. If somebody knows both my summons, they still might not know which I’m bringing out!”

That was interesting, her skillset surely leaned more towards close quarters until she mentioned that one, but wait, maybe there was something they could do!

“Say, have you actually tried grappling with ice magic? You know, maybe smashing someone into ice spikes, or freezing their joints so they cannot fight back?”-Yui didn’t know exactly how strong her ice magic was, but maybe the key was not in making her to go out of her way to use something else, but rather make use of the skills she already had.

“...actually, so I hadn’t. Normally, I have to focus on doing one thing at a time. Usually I use ice magic at range and my sword and grappling up close. I don’t really combine them…” Kasumi had a look of dawning ideas on her face. “I’d ask you to help me practice some… but I don’t want to throw you into spikes. That’s something I need to think about!”

“Well...you could, while piercing attacks pretty much don’t work on me, it would still be very tiring, so let’s save that for another time, glad i could help in some way tho.I had never adviced a mage before...anyway, If you do want to learn all the Ki basics one day, do visit the dojo, I think my style would suit you”-Yui told Kasumi as she tapped her shoulder.

“I’m pretty ki insensitive. My dad tried to teach me and well, that went poorly. I’ll stick to magic, but thanks for the offer!” Kasumi reflected the gesture with her own shoulder pat. “Keep a close eye on me in the next fight. I’ll show you what I can do!”

“I will! It’s always interesting looking at other fighting styles, even though Kodokan Ryun is 100% the strongest”- Yui said with a smile, she stretched a bit and looked around

“Now, shall we find Love and Ariana? They seem to be doing something below! They haven’t moved from there in a while so, who knows? Maybe they found something interesting to do!”-she told Kasumi as she headed below.

Eventually, everyone made their way to the top deck where Elyssa was leaning against an old wooden rail, looking at a leather-bound notebook in her hands and writing down details. Once everyone was present, Elyssa slammed it shut and pointed it at the others. "Ok team! We have our target!" Slamming a long brown map onto a wobbly table, Elyssa pointed toward the far left.



"Far left here is the rat island! We want to be here..." She pointed to the giant unmarked abyss in the center, surrounded by fog. "We can't get in with our current ship-" "MY ship, lassy." Silverbeard called over half-jokingly. Elyssa gave him a wave. "Yes, of course! Anyway, we want to be here." Elyssa pointed at the craggy landscape of the south east, dotted with small islands born of volcanic activity. "This is supposedly where Euryale and Stheno sail. We need to find them and take their ship! What was it called again?" Elyssa looked up at Silverbeard. 

"The Black Veil, aye. Ship that outsizes this one, an filled width these cannons that can shoot these rays...petrifies even the hardiest of sailors for some time." He explained. Elyssa smiled and turned her attention to the map. "Right! So we'll need to plan to deal with that and their ability to turn people to stone with their eyes. I'll think of something on the way there! Besides those two, we still have to worry about Circe chasing after us, and the rest of these 'lords'." Elyssa mimed air quotes, getting several grunts from the crew at how casual she was being.

"Admiral Lawrence, patrols the waters up here by the base." She pointed toward the northern fortress. "I think he'll at least be willing to talk, so that's good. Then we have Strider, who destroyed this crew here." Elyssa motioned around herself. "Smartest man on the Seven Seas, apparently. So keep a lookout for any ordinary-looking ships. They might be a decoy. And lastly..." Elyssa looked toward the center. "Davy Jones. He apparently likes to hang out around the center here, so I'm sure we'll run into him at some point. I want to have our mythic ship before we even get near him though. So, any questions?" She asked excitedly.

Once they were done discussing, the team would soon see an island pass by, one Elyssa took a note of on her journal. After sailing for a while longer, they would encounter several craggy rocks that jutted out of the sea. "Steady there, mate. This here ship can't take many hits..." Silverbeard cautioned the helmsman. The sky appeared to grow darker as they sailed further east, able to see massive volcanos in the distance. "Looks like we's got ourselves a fight, boys!" Silverbeard rang out, pointing his rusty sword at a group of 4 ships in the distance. 

Two of them were clean and built with light wood, with a single blue star on a black background flying on their flag. Several men in white sailor outfits scrambled on top of the deck, refilling the cannons on top. "Navy..." A crewmember hissed. The two ships they were fighting were made out of an older, dark wood and flew a flag with a deep red eye that stared directly into one's soul. The people who ran around were a mixture of humans, snakes similar to the one they freed from prison, and a few undead. A deep red beam flashed from a middle cannon and struck a sailor, causing him to topple over like a statue. 

"Gorgon crew, aye. They'll be able to outrun this here ship if they sink the posh blokes. I say we send 'em all to their graves!" Silverbeard yelled out, getting a chorus of yells from his crew in support. His eyes then turned to Elyssa. 

"...everyone, get ready for a ship battle!" Elyssa grinned from ear to ear, waiting until they were close enough to one of the Gorgon ships and firing her grappling hook at the mast, hoisting herself to the other side and drop kicking a skeleton off the ship. "Party's over, there's a new crew in town!" She called out, forming her short sword and clashing with the cutlass of a nearby snake person. Several cannonballs ripped through the air, giving a chaotic sense to the scene. "I'll keep 'er behind the Gorgon ships! I don't care what you do with the Navy, but they're gutless enough to stop fighting if ya deal with the Gorgon crew!" Silverbeard yelled out to the others. 

Love accepted Ariana's invitation so they could all look at the map together. She memorized the whole thing as usual; perhaps it would come in handy in the future. For now, they continued sailing toward where the magic ship was located.

But they were met with an obstacle. A naval skirmish was going on right now. Two navy ships were facing two ships from the gorgon fleet. Everyone rushed to their battle positions. Kasumi froze their scary giant cannon and Ariana transformed to cause a ruckus. Love transformed too.

"Need a hand?" she asked Yui, offering to fly her over to the ship they were focusing on. She figured Elyssa could just grappling hook over to it. Then Love would unleash hell of her own, firing Boom Boom Dandelion at the other pirate shit, trying to blow holes in it.

The Ruin team each attacked the nearby ship, while Kasumi fired her cold beam at the far ship with the petrification cannon. Love blasted a hole in the top deck of the near ship, which Yui flew into and unleashed a devastating impact directly on the bottom deck of the small ship, sending wooden planks flying as the entire structure began to crumble. The two halves of the ship began to collapse in on themselves, making the pirates on board jump for the safety of the nearby rocks.

Elyssa wobbled when she felt the ship give way, looking down the hole. “Wow, amazing Yui! Love, make sure she doesn’t drown please!” Elyssa called out, firing her grappling hook at the other ship and saw that the snake person was already there. The crew and navy ships were too busy staring in awe at Yui’s strike to fight each other, so they got on board easily. Elyssa pointed her saber at the most official-looking person.

“Hello! As you can see, we’re a bunch of badasses on the sea. So if everyone here wants to pick up their friends and see civilization again...how about you help us out?” She asked, grinning. The serpentine man flicked his forked tongue in disgust. “And just what are these demands?” He asked with venom in his voice. “Easy, you tell us where Euryale and Stheno are.”

There was an audible gasp among the crew, and the two navy ships. The man stepped forward and growled. “Do you even realize what you just assssked of me?! We’re all dead men if we speak a word of our lords!” He shouted. Elyssa shrugged her shoulders. “Weeeeeell...there are these two navy vessels here. So I doubt you’re getting away. Buuuuuuuut…” Elyssa tilted her head over to the navy ships. “Perhaps we can arrange a deal? You let these guys go, we get information on some pirate lords, and we remove a headache for you on the sea?” She offered.

The sailors talked among themselves, and a large man with a glass eye stood on the edge. “That can be arranged, lass! We want those lords gone. Do you even know how much shipping traffic these rats disrupt? If you get rid of them, these pirates can be...overlooked.” He said, Elyssa giving a thumbs up. “Perfect! Now don’t leave your friends hanging, ok?”

After speaking in whispers to the captain, Elyssa had her information. Firing off her grappling hook, Elyssa landed back on Silverbeard’s ship as the crew cheered. “By the gods...that was explosive!” Silverbeard said with enthusiasm. “Guess your friend isn’t one to cross, aye?” He said half-jokingly, Elyssa giggling. “I guess not! But don’t forget, I’m the one in charge of this team.” She pointed a thumb to her chest confidently. Looking over the railing, Elyssa waved at the others. “Heeeeeeeey! Everyone back on board, we’re going to get the Lotus!” She waved excitedly.

---

Off in the distance, a strange 3-story ship was floating behind a large rock, a person looking through a spyglass at the scene unfolding. They held their hand out and a small rotund rat walked up. “Aye, sir?” He asked. The man let out a dry chuckle. “Looks like we have some competition, Rammi my boy. Judging by their course...they’re after the gorgons.” He muttered. Rammi’s eyes widened. “But they’se Lords like you, sir!” “Aye. So why don’t we use our little friends to our advantage, hm? Let them take on the Lotus. We’ll pick apart whatever carcass is left standing, savvy?” He said with a toothy smile. Rammi clapped his hands. “Brilliant plan, Strider! I’ll alert the crew!” With a skip, he ran off to tell the other crew.

Yui found herself floating on the surface right after she smashed the ship, just before she decided to take flight Love scooped her, carrying her by the armpits. She looked at Love somewhat embarrassed by the position she found herself in.

"Um...what was that?"-She asked Love somewhat puzzled right after she set her back on the ship, she saw her fly just a second ago, didn't she? She shrugged and scratched her head. 

Looking at Elyssa, she seemed to have taken charge of things, it was definitely best to leave all the planning to her, Yui knew she was there just for the smashing. she looked attentively at Love's impression and clapped excitedly

"Yeah! you tell em', Love!"-She backed her up as she raised a fist.

There was a noticeable silence after Love tried to speak ‘their language’, a small murmur radiating throughout the decrepit crew. Elyssa joined in her team’s laughter though, patting Love’s shoulder. “Well you at least have the spirit! Looking at this map...we should be nearing their waters. Hope you’re all ready!” With a skip, Elyssa made her way back to the table with the map on top.

“Full speed ahead!” She pointed forward dramatically. The crew remained silent, but then the captain stepped forward. “Don’t forget this is MY ship, lass. Full steam ahead.” He stated plainly, the crew responding more accepting this time. They sailed for several more minutes, the density of volcanic rock increasing as they approached the three massive volcanoes. The temperature spiked considerably.

From behind a large boulder in the ocean, their target finally made her appearance. A black ship covered with volcanic ash, nearly 3x as large as the ship they currently inhabited. Two large twin wooden snakes coiled up the mast, meeting at the crow’s nest up top. If they looked through an eyeglass, they would see the crew looked similar to the ones on the ship they just defeated...but they all had deep red eyes.

Standing on the railing were two stunning figures, both small in stature. One wore a deep purple dress with golden stars on them, her long purple hair flowing down to her calves. To her left was a similar-looking girl with a white dress on, with red petals adorning the design. They each looked young, Elyssa would guess at 16. Their eyes were also larger than normal, a light purple that seemed to pierce the soul. The black dressed girl held up a cylindrical device and spoke, her voice radiating out to their ship.

“Why hello there.” She spoke in an almost singsong voice. “We heard what...dreadful things you did to our crew. You wouldn’t be so stupid as to challenge us with that ship...would you?” She asked in an almost bored tone. She then handed it to the white dress girl. “Oh what does it matter, you’re in our waters! Now hand over anything that’s valuable, or we’ll destroy that pitiful excuse for a ship!” She yelled. “You have ten minutes!”

Elyssa folded her arms and surveyed the situation. “Hmmmm...so they’re gorgons...any idea which is which?” She asked Silverbeard, who shook his head. “Afraid not. They are twins, so you never know. But it’s said that Stheno is a powerful martial artist, using her long nails to stab people to death. And she is a deadly mage, aye…” He shook his head. “Euryale on the other hand is an archer, but nimble as the wind. She could shoot my head off from this distance, aye.” He stared at the two imposing figures hundreds of meters away.

“Ok team, we need a plan of attack! We need to try and guess which is Euryale, and which is Stheno. If one’s a martial artist, that’s your realm Yui. Think you can deal with pokes?” Elyssa asked.

Yui whistled the second she saw the ship, now that was on a completely different level, they definitely had to get that! When she noticed the twins she was somewhat in disbelief, they were even younger than her! Learning the info on them made her smile in excitement. “Well, I’ll see what I can do! Leave Stheno to me, I’ll leave the rest to you girls!”

They can’t turn us to stone? I thought that was a gorgon thing.” Kasumi shielded her eyes as she looked at the distant ship, trying not to look them in the eye.

Yui stopped for a moment after she heard that, now that would be a problem…
“I guess I’m gonna have to deal with this blinded...does that actually make a difference anyway?!”-She questioned somewhat worried. If possible, she really wanted to use her sight.

“That won’t be necessary!” Elyssa declared. She held up one finger. “I spoke to the people on that ship, and found out it takes one second for it to work. Uninterrupted gazing into their eyes. So the trick is to not...look...at...that. Whatever you do. They WILL try to force you, but you can’t let them. Is that understood?” Elyssa asked the team.

"How would they try to force us?" Love asked, unsure of it herself.

Elyssa strolled over and lightly grabbed the back of Love’s neck, forcing her to look directly into Elyssa’s blue eyes. “Like this, I’d imagine. Or grabbing the sides of your head. Any number of ways.” She said, releasing the slightly blushing Love and strolling back to her position.

"B-but at that point, they could just stab us, no need for stone eyes!" Love exclaimed. Elyssa looked at her once more. “It’s just another tool in their chest, Love. You’re going to have to fight to keep your eyes off theirs. Especially you, Yui.” She looked at the martial artist. “Now, just in case, I’d like two of us to go after these Lords each. Kasumi, think you can help Yui with Stheno?” Her eyes drifted to the mage.

“Heck yeah. I’m not as good as her, but I can keep the pressure off.” Kasumi readied her sword, glancing across the water to measure how far they’d have to make it. “Who’s keeping the arrows off us until we get there?”

Elyssa’s eyes then drifted to Love, then Ariana. “Well you two are our ranged fighters. So you two will go with me and try to catch Euryale. Ariana, we need you to do a little...unconventional tactic so we can approach.” Elyssa grinned.

“Unconventional? I’m good at that.” Ariana smiled like she knew what Elyssa meant, then paused to let her explain.

Elyssa pointed to a nearby volcanic rock. “Smash that with your anchor, as hard as you can. That’ll shoot lava out, which will vaporize the water and make steam. Get where I’m going with this?” She grinned wider.

“...you’re gonna cook me.” Ariana looked skeptical of the plan. Elyssa waved her hands. “We just need you to direct it toward their ship so that’s where the steam goes. Just fly away as it’s erupting, ok?” She asked, trying to alleviate the concern.

“Here, I’ll help a little.” Kasumi swirled up some ice, forming clunky, loose armor on Ariana. It was bulky and poorly-fit, but Ariana got the idea.

“Well… yeah, sure, better than nothing. Yeah, I can do this!” Ariana created an ice anchor and began swinging it in preparation.

"Be careful," Love added with concern.

Yui just looked at Elyssa like she had lost all reason, this was supposed to be her big brain time and we got crazy.

“Oi oi, you sure about this? This whole plan sounds like something that came from a cartoon.”

Elyssa smirked at Yui. “Well either we do this, or Euryale snipes our heads off before we even get close. But you can stick around below deck if it’s too scary.” She continued to grin at the martial artist. This always got competitive people fired up.

“Now you are just being silly! Ariana! Give it everything ya got!!”- She encouraged her as she pat her on the back.

The group could then hear the black-dress woman’s voice once more. “Your time’s up, boys. Have you decided to throw your lives away?” She asked, staring at their ship. Elyssa looked at Ariana and nodded.

“Not throwing my life! Just anchors!” Ariana launched herself off the ship, flying and kicking up waves to give herself cover as she approached the rocky volcanic outcrop. Her anchor continued to keep growing and she got higher to keep it from dragging. The water kept rising and finally blasted up in a geyser to shoot her a hundred feet up in an instant. Loveline watched the girlfriend shooting up with an impressed gaze, even as some water splashed back on her. Ariana only took an instant to gauge her drop before releasing her anchor, now nearly as large as the boat she just left.

The titanic anchor smashed into the volcanic rock, instantly releasing the built-up pressure and shooting a tidal wave of lava out toward the Black Lotus. The lava instantly vaporized the ocean water it touched, releasing a large amount of steam that quickly obscured the vision of both ship. “FULL SPEED AHEAD!” Silverbeard yelled, his crew yelling in unison and directing the mast directly at the Lotus. It wasn’t long before the ship itself was visible. And on cue, a crewmember keeled over, a long purple arrow sticking out of his skull.

“Euryale is here! Find her!” Elyssa shot out her grappling hook and swung up toward the top of the Lotus’s decks. Loveline followed her, now in her gem form. She fired 3 bullets, simple ones with no fancy patterns, at the one in white, hoping her hunch was right. No sane woman would wear white if she would get blood all over it!

“Hibagon, I need a boost!” Kasumi called forth her summon and buffed up, filling her clothes out. With her improved strength, she shot herself between the boats in an instant, keeping her body as low and small as she could. Not stopping for careful target selection, she threw out a clumsy snap kick at the flank of the woman in black. It was only a second later that Ariana exploded over the side of the ship, bringing with her a wave that she directed to miss her allies on board while striking everybody else. She couldn’t tell who was who at a moment’s notice, so she threw a punch for the closer one, the one in white.

“Well there’s no need to guess much! Logic follows that the martial artist is the physically stronger of the two”-Yui resorted to sensing their aura, even if they weren’t ki fighters, there should be a difference in raw physical strength between them. Yui made a quick choice and took flight, taking a combat stance with closed eyes, she hadn’t even seen the dress color, but went entirely by feel.

“Now, let’s hope I picked right”-She said as she dashed to her target and threw a roundhouse at her neck.

The girl in white stared up at Love’s bullets, and smirked as she raised a bow. “Oh, so I guess you have tricks too. Hah!” She fired three arrows, knocking Love’s bullets away. She skipped away ready to fire more rounds at Love, but Ariana’s wave crashed against the side of the ship and swept water across the deck. Several crew members were knocked down, but the two Lords stayed firm, but the woman in white wobbled a little. “What ARE you people?!” She asked in frustration.

The woman in black expertly brought up her leg to intercept Kasumi's kick, staring at the girl with cold, calculated eyes she hoped Kasumi would stare at. “Hello. Welcome to the Black Lotus. I hope you’re ready, for this will be your grave.” With a frown, the woman in black snapped her hands forward, attempting to drive her long pointed fingers directly into Kasumi’s heart to puncture it...but Yui came flying in and knocked her back. She quickly recovered, fixing her hair.

“So there are two of you, how nice. Shall we dance?” She stepped forward, eyes flaring red for a second. “Stheno, lord of the south eastern ocean. At your service.” She gave a small bow...and dashed forward at blinding speed, attempting to drive her long fingernails straight into Yui’s throat, while using her right leg to try delivering a roundhouse kick to Kasumi’s kidney, hoping to immobilize her.

The woman in white rolled her eyes as she saw Ariana flying at her. “Could you BE anymore obvious?!” She asked with annoyance, leaping high up and firing two arrows at Ariana’s chest with precision. If struck, they would make Ariana feel far heavier than normal. She landed on a section of the ship’s mast and looked down at the others. “I guess I should tell you my name, huh? Euryale, also lord of the south eastern sea! Best archer in the world! I don’t care WHAT Atalante or Apollo say!” She yelled. Elyssa grappled up to the mast and landed, trying to tackle the archer, but missing as she leaped back several meters. “Catch me if you can, ahahahahaha!” Euryale’s laughter echoed through the mist, followed by two arrows aimed at Elyssa, and one at Loveline. But these ones were different. They would change direction only once if they missed their target, coming right back. Elyssa vaulted over the two arrows, narrowly, looking back just in time to see them coming right back.

“Love, they can move!” Elyssa yelled out, narrowly missing one of the arrows but getting glanced across the calf by the other, instantly feeling her leg get heavier and falling off the mast. But she was able to fire off her grappling hook and swing onto a lower level, taking stock of her injury.