[Episode] March of the Machines

Quest Request:

Round: 1
Baseera Uses MT on Sophia
Baseera Uses LT on Sophia
Baseera Uses LT on Sophia
Baseera Uses UT on Sophia

Sophia Uses LT on Baseera
Sophia Uses LT on Baseera
Sophia Uses LT on Baseera
Sophia Uses UT on Baseera

combat tracker:

The member 'Baseera' has done the following action : Dice Roll

---

#1 'Reflex Check' : 16, 15, 8, 15

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

#2 'Reflex Check' : 12, 11, 17, 9

Round: 2
Baseera Uses HT on Sophia
Baseera Uses LT on Sophia
Baseera Uses UT on Sophia

Sophia Uses LT on Baseera
Sophia Uses LT on Baseera
Sophia Uses LT on Baseera
Sophia Uses UT on Baseera

combat tracker:

The member 'Baseera' has done the following action : Dice Roll

---

#1 'Reflex Check' : 4, 12, 14

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

#2 'Reflex Check' : 15, 8, 12, 18

Round: 3
Baseera Uses HT on Sophia
Baseera Uses LT on Sophia
Baseera Uses UT on Sophia

Sophia Uses MT on Baseera
Sophia Uses LT on Baseera
Sophia Uses LT on Baseera
Sophia Uses UT on Baseera

combat tracker:

The member 'Baseera' has done the following action : Dice Roll

---

#1 'Reflex Check' : 9, 15, 13

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

#2 'Reflex Check' : 11, 16, 7, 11

Round: 4
Baseera Uses MT on Sophia
Baseera Uses LT on Sophia
Baseera Uses LT on Sophia
Baseera Uses UT on Sophia

SophiaUses LT on Baseera
SophiaUses LT on Baseera
Sophia Uses LT on Baseera
Sophia Uses UT on Baseera

combat tracker:

The member 'Baseera' has done the following action : Dice Roll

---

#1 'Reflex Check' : 11, 19, 6, 1

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

#2 'Reflex Check' : 10, 11, 4, 12

The bitter chill of Winter’s end clung to Spring’s beginning like the hand of an icy-dead ancestor coiled around the wrist of their newborn descendant. Guardsmen dressed in warmly padded uniforms oversaw the procession of a shivering mass of convicts; the cold of the iron against their wrists was a deathly, penetrating, frigidness that threatened to steal all fire in their bellies and all life from their eyes. Soon they would be liberated, and those men who had been broken could flock to “their” life’s work: the construction of Tequila Wolf’s bridge.

[npc=revo]Is joy just the absence of misery? Is that our life now?[/npc] The dark-haired mink mused to himself hopelessly as he shuffled on towards the cell-block’s end destination, [npc=revo]I guess. The rest of them learned to deal with it, that’s just the best life we’re going to get here. I’d better learn to live with it, it'd be selfish to expect something better for myself.[/npc]

The black cat revolutionary known simply as Licorice stared out towards the water as he and his fellow prisoners were marched further down the bridge, his paw pads burned of frostbite as they strode across the biting stonework; at least the humans were entitled to the basic decency of a pair of shoes. Soon enough his temperature problems would invert themselves as, being a mink, he was forced to work closest to that most infernally hot of engines: the war machine turned construction vehicle known as “Yellowbrick.”

As the bar-striped masses made their way onto the construction site they were met with the clamorous din of hammers striking nails, of men barking orders, and most disorienting: the labored screeching and gears-grinding of the hellish machine coming to its stop. She was here.

Science Officer Sophia H. Ozymandias, once she’d served the Marines as a proud Commander, but after numerous incidents of misconduct she was stripped of her title and sent to a sanitorium. After making a swift recovery the vicious woman was allowed to join the Tequila Wolf Guard as a commanding officer, in the prison camps her reputation as a fearsome “slave driver” would serve her well.

“What aren’t you excited, cat?!” The cruel but beautiful woman singled Licorice out from the crowd, a couple of the prisoners chuckled at the animal’s distress; amongst those both cruel and dehumanized, to dehumanize is to reassert some false sense of control.

A thick plume of smoke and steam belched out from the top of Yellowbrick’s exhaust pipe as it came to a full stop. It’s driver, already hung out the side of her vehicle, dropped down to the freshly-laid brick below; strutting up to the cat with a wicked grin plastered across her face, “It’s not like I’m really gonna flatten you…” the cruel ex-commander stepped up and stood directly behind the Mink, unlocking his shackles and directing him forwards, “...you’re just big bro Yellowbrick’s precious little spotter! NOW GET READY AND GET TO WORK!”  

Sea of the Rising Sun

The West Blue was a sea of structure, a tranquil pond that seemed almost stagnant; a place where no karp could grow large nor strong enough to scale the waterfall. The East was something different entirely, each day Doji was permitted to bask beneath its glimmering rays was better than the last, it was as if this vast ocean was teeming with hope and possibility; this sea’s beauty was such that even a blind man couldn’t help but see it.

The winds battered at the old sutured sail of the oni’s vessel, in times passed the gentle winds had serendipitously delivered Doji to fortuitous destinations. This day’s winds would prove an exception, it was their duty to challenge the budding swordsman, and so they drew him towards the government-controlled isle.

Firmly and precisely the ship’s hull shucked its place onto island’s beachy shoreline, it would dutifully await the return of its master, but would go no further until he attended to the task at hand.

“Yeah yeah. I get it, another island…” the oni spoke to the winds with a teasing contempt in his voice, “...what’s the deal with this place?” Doji mused as he stood to his feet from the ship.

The clicking sounds of numerous firearms being readied and loaded brought a quick end to the boy’s lackadaisical pontification.

[npc=misc]“G-G-G-GET ON THE FUCKING GROUND! ASAKURA DOJI! YOU’RE UNDER ARREST!”[/npc] The puny guard spoke boisterously, as though to reassure himself that he and his fellow men were in control of the situation.

“Yo wait, do I know you?” The blind man, unfamiliar with the concept of a wanted poster, was confused that somebody knew his name.

[npc=misc]“FIRE AT WILL!”[/npc] The officer wasn’t going to take any chances, more than enough men had died trying to take this monster in alive.

“Alright have it your way,” Doji shrugged before making a mad dash towards a nearby building, catching only a couple of grazing bullet wounds in the process. With a series of punches, kicks, and explosive sword strikes the oni dismantled the structure, flinging the rubble around the battlefield; with this the guard's ranks were scattered, and cover was dispersed for the melee fighter to divide and conquer.

One by one the little men were picked off, over ten men had been torn to shreds or blown to bits by the time the squad’s order was issued, [npc=misc]“RETREAT!”[/npc] Scurrying away like rodents fleeing from a mouser the soldiers fled for the island’s center; there they could regroup and make the rest of the island aware of the monstrous intruder.

“Yoka-ka-ka-ka-iii! Yahoo! Yoyoi! That’s right! Puny humans! Grovel before me! Asakura Doji!” The red-haired devil cackled as he leaned into his fearsome persona, but was content to leave well enough alone; he almost caught several bullets throughout the course of the exchange. Wherever there was one guardsmen there were dozens, if not hundreds, charging straight in would likely be a death sentence.

With his tactic in mind the giant began tromping through Tequila Wolf’s underbrush, sticking to its outskirts he tuned his ears in to the distant hollering of the prison camp. For now he would stick to the shoreline, and perhaps under cover of night he would be able to plunder the isle for his coming journey.

Post Word Count: 1,043
Total Word Count: 1,043

Facing the direction of the shoreline as the boat came closer Baseera eyes narrowed as she saw the silhouette of men upon the shoreline, as the boat was about to hit shore her eyes had already shrunken down as her eyes showcased a small orb of ocean blue that pierced right into the men that wore the unforgettable uniform of tequila wolf guard forces

That alone triggered so many past memories. In her mind Baseera returned back to a cell, the air all but dry as her throat from lack of proper water, her thirst only but a small taste of her suffering compared to her feet, they were fine now but once before they were a light shade of purple from the frostbitten bottom soles of her feet, everyday she wiggles her feet exactly 2000 times no matter what she did, why? If she did not she would have lost them like some of the boys her age she had been forced to endure such a hellish lifestyle with memories contained in a uniform she would never forget. That’s what the guards under the flag of the world government did to her. “WHO ARE YOU?! I WON’T AS-”

Baseera didn’t need him to speeding towards the group of several guards, Baseera whipping her right leg which had Umarian equipment installed into it causing her leg to extend further than humanly possible as it seemed to be connected like a chain while she performed a side kick knocking them off their feet. Some of them got up fast only to be meant with confusion as Baseera would seemingly disappear or it would seem like that if she hadn’t already been on the move. Shrunken down Baseera used her ultra small size to move swiftly on the ground sneaking up on the guard force, the next few minutes spent as the sound of gunfire and bones being crushed or broken was the only other thing that could be heard as snow dropped onto the ground of Tequila wolf shoreline, Baseera now much calmer as she sat on top of one of the unconscious guards as she had stripped him of all his warmer clothing and was now wearing it herself, Baseera having stripped the other six as well and hauling them on her shoulder.

The island of Tequila wolf, Beseera of course knew it well since she grew up on it and had personally slaved away in camps since she could remember, constantly abandoning and starting another camp further down as the bridge continued to stretch across every inch of the sea, every inch accompanied with the blood and sweat of all the captured people forced into endless labor, she had not always known but the World Government endorsed it and it’s soldiers maintained, as far as Baseera was cornced the intense difference in their opinions of how to treat people made the World Government itself her enemy. She does not think she could calm this rage in her soul even if she wanted to, she had to see this through to the very end, wherever it led.

Approaching a old camp she knew would most likely be out of the way of the new posts Baseera found her way inside one of the houses that was left standing, closing the door behind her as she dropped the warm clothing she took from the marines on the ground, wrapping one around herself to keep her even warmer. “THEY COULDN'T HAVE GONE FAR! SEARCH THE AREA!” Baseera heard a voice yell out, most likely reinforcements that found the others unconscious, it was close but not that close so Baseera kept watch out the hole she was looking from and could see black silhouettes barely dancing in the distance until she then saw it, tundra wolves held by long thick ropes by more guard officials. Baseera's eyes were shrinking into that familiar small blue orb as she felt deep inside, her soul that had been once crushed was burning with the power of the sun.

Attack the enemy before they attack you, hit them hard, surprise them, disable or confuse them, then do it on repeat, that was her fighting style. Going on the offensive Baseera shrunk to her largest size and then leapt into the air suddenly kicking  the door open, gathering the attention of the wolves. Immediately as she was still in the air Baseera aimed Umarian LA right at the group of guards with their tundra wolves as she let off a round of her gatling bullet fire as she once again returned to normal size spraying the entirety of the group with bullet fire, the wolves suddenly dropping from getting hit with multiple shots while the guards seemed to attempt to run but get hit by the sheer magnitude of stray bullets as well.

Stopping,  Baseera took a deep breath as she walked out into the snow that was now covered with the blood of those allied with the World Government, the groaning of some guards officials as they clung to life that Baseera ignored but she would stop as she saw something, behind the guard officials were current prisoners, slaves, whatever you wanted to call them cowering in the snow, trembling as the frigid air simply grazed their skin causing terrible trembles of shivering. Baseera could not help scrooge as she looked at the shackles that she once felt, in her dreams she felt their weight as if they were still on her. Raising an arm the slaves cowered further but as Baseera hand came down the only thing she did was break the chains that were on them, Baseera going on a mad rush where she was breaking the chains of every slave, nearly a group of five. “Inside that building there are coats, go, hide. I'll throw them off you’re trail.” Baseera said deciding that trying to stay in the camp would put their lives in anger as they desperately rushed inside to grab the warm coat, the thought of warmth their only concern as Baseera moved back towards the shoreline wondering how she would proceed.

WC:1,011
TWC:1,764

“Hm, I wonder what’s causing all that noise? Sounds like somebody’s shattering shackles…” Doji alliterated as though telling himself a bedtime story, those who greeted him as he emerged from the underbrush were not nearly as relaxed; the oni quickly caught on to the fact that he was amongst a group of silent, horrified, onlookers, “...hello there. Y’all aren’t guards right?”

An awkward silence sat in the air for a moment, “What am I saying, of course you're not. So are all of you prisoners then? So which one of you is the big hero goin’ around breaking people’s chains? I don’t suppose you’re interested in an extra set of hands, that is…” a wicked grin sprawled across the red-haired devil’s face, “... if you’re willing to hear me out on a bit of a bargain. I have a better life to offer some of these people: the life of a pirate. I won't insist anybody come along if they don’t want to, but if I can help you free more of these prisoners, then I’d like to make my case to them when the deed is done!”

Funeral March

The sweltering heat of the infernal machine engulfed its surroundings like an oppressive summer day’s heat, working alongside the mechanical fiend was like suffering through hell on earth. The sensation was unbearable for “lesser minks,” but it was borderline unlivable for somebody with fur; Licorice’s coat was damp with sweat, his body strained to do anything it could to prevent the poor cat from igniting.

[npc=revo]This is what I deserve, I thought we were going to help people, I thought we were gonna bring down the Celestial Dragons someday…[/npc] the mink recalled back to the horror of what he saw that day: those friends he had come to known as family, all vaporized in an instant, [npc=revo]...I’d rather have seen them suffer, seen them cling to life; but when that light faded they were all just gone. I will bear a dignified suffering for them. I will not go into the light.[/npc]

“Buri-shi-shi-shi! You minks look good as working animals!” The Ex-Navywoman clapped her hands as she spoke, happy to take out her grudge on any mink unlucky enough to be captured and sent to Tequila Wolf. Since the “murder” of her crewmate at the hands of a pirate mink, she had borne a grudge against the tribe; and ever since the government had stripped the animals of their personhood she was all too happy to get her revenge working them to death.

Licorice was a particularly fine specimen to torture, though his fur was coal black he would not burn nor crack under pressure; through him she would create her diamond, a flawless gem of pure agony, unbreakable and persistent in its torment. The cat was a revolutionary, who in light of the world’s government’s persecution against Minks, joined a unit with plans to assassinate Celestial Dragons at an auction on Sabaody Archipelago; the unit’s mission was a resounding failure, with only one revolutionary being captured for interrogation: “Pack Black” Licorice.

All in all, the mink wasn’t very important to the NRA. He and his group were foolhardy fledglings who bit off much more than they could chew, and all of them had died, or been sentenced to a fate worse than death for their pride.

[npc=revo]Working animals, fitting. I wonder how long it will take them…[/npc] the cat straggled forwards, accidentally shooting back a glance towards Sophia, and some of the other prisoners. Amongst those behind him were members of many tribes, half-giants, long-limbs and the like, [npc=revo]...I wonder when all of you will be classified as “working animals” too?[/npc]

In that moment, the Mink and Sophia shared a look of mutual contempt; in that moment his personhood was undeniable to her, and the cat was a person who despised her with all his heart. A cruel smile sprawled across the madwoman’s face as she pulled a number of levers in Yellowbrick’s cockpit; the machine grew hotter, and its mechanisms ran faster and faster. It didn’t matter to her if she was harming a person, she’d learned to enjoy hurting people, it was an assertion of her power; and against minks, it was a reclamation of the man she’d lost, a twisted offering for the soul of her slaughtered lover.

“Full steam ahead boys!” Science Officer Ozymandias shouted her command like a warcry.  Brick after brick was laid as the construction crew made their way forwards, this stonework wove a tapestry of oppression; in truth it was little more than a pyrrhic erection of the world noble’s egoistic “grandeur.”

[npc=revo]I won’t die here,[/npc] Licorice thought solemnly to himself as he pressed wearily onwards.

Post Word Count: 784
Total Word Count: 1,827

Just as she was telling the slaves about the coats she heard the nearby brush movement and her eyes darted towards the sound as she positioned her arm to fire, from the brush a solemn male came through, clearly not dressed in marine uniform nor sporting the coat of justice as some called it. Beseera aware that the slaves had all but frozen out of fear of thinking it was another marine official ready to capture them, Baseera taking the front position as she listened to the solemn male, a species she had not seen yet as he was tall. “I’m sure as hell not a marine. Just Baseera, “Tall Stack”. ” Baseera immediately gave this guy a  nickname as she still had her palm pointed at him ready to rotate at a moment's notice.

If it hadn’t been obvious with her first response Baseera was the so-called “hero” but she didn’t want to be seen in that light. “I'm no hero, just a girl trying to topple the authorities of the world nor am I the leader of these people, from the moment I release them they are free to do as they wish. If some wish to indulge in the life of a pirate then that is fine by me, however I too offer a choice. I was once a slave right here on Tequila wolf myself..I know you’re pain, I know the cold shivering nights and the dry frigid air devoid of warmth even in the days, I offer the chance to make the world government pay for what they did, join me and become a revolutionary! However for those that just want to escape and live a normal life I offer transport on my ship to the next island. You have my word!” Baseera said pounding her chest to signify she meant it was all her heart.

Baseera turned to the red haired pirate, “So a pirate huh? If you want to help me fight and break out the people I came to get…I won’t be opposed to that if you still feel like helping. But you should know, this would be like picking a fight with the world government, sure you can handle the pressure of it “Tall Stack if word gets out”~” Baseera said as she exhaled a cold winter breath. ”For now we need to move locations, I know a spot, from there we can make a solid plan. I know how they build their camp layouts, the most unfortunate news of my life.” Just as she was finished Baseera saw something move in the distance and through a thin slot in the brush she could see a man moving and Baseera immediately made a dash for it finding the man radioing in before she released a few clips in their back.

---

Meanwhile while the tyrant known as Sophia continued to torture the prisoner mink known as “Pack Black” Licorice and other minks and a mixture of lesser minks the news that two guard platoons hadn’t radioed in for their daily check ups was odd, further behind the brush a solemn guard was watching the encounter of the two and managed to slip away as he was able to ascertain that some alliance had been formed between a pirate and a revolutionary!

The gusrd managed to slip away to a distance they thought would allow them to radio in “Reporting Reporting! Revolutionary solid-!” Was all the people back at the radio room would catch before the sound of gunshots and blood gurgling overtook the sound of the radio and then the sound of a body dropping to the floor.

The faces in the radio room looked grim as the one in charge ordered to relay this to Head Guard Sophia, a soldier now rushing across the now very much heated area catching her attention enough to jump down and listen as one of the official guards approached her and whispered into her ear the situation. Immediately the look of joy was replaced with annoyance and anger but then back to joy, “Heh! Hey Pack Black~! Looks like soon Ill get to torture another one of you damn revolutionaries, I hope there another mink I can torture~” Looking back at the guard,“ Prepare about 20 of our best man, we got a pirate and a revolutionary to hunt! No need to rush, they are coming to us~”  Sophia said, beginning to laugh eccentrically.

WC:740
TWC:2,504

As Baseera dispatched with one of the guards’ scouts, Doji trod up to her side, evidently ready to begin making his way to the woman’s hidden safe haven, “I don’t care who gets their panties in a twist! If Nox-chan was tellin’ the truth then I think I’ve already made a couple of royal enemies. I’m headed for Wano Kuni, so anyone who wants a problem can meet me there!” The oni spoke rather casually of the prestigious New World island, as though the isle’s rough and rocky seas were just within his grasp.

[npc=pirt]“Wano Kuni?...”[/npc] a prisoner mumbled to himself incredulously, [npc=pirt]“... hey uh, big guy? Do you have any idea what you’re talking about?”[/npc]

A blunt question that most would have taken offense to, Doji simply took a moment to think about it in earnest, tapping his finger against his head before speaking, “Hyuh. I guess not!”

The man cringed and threw his head back, his mouth agape with confusion; quickly he snapped back from this shocked state, tensing his fingers against his brow as he spoke to the oni with an irritated tone to his voice, [npc=pirt]“Wano is one of the very last islands of the Grand Line! You might as well just say you’re chasing after the One Piece! You’ll never make it out there, only the best of the best even stand a chance! It’s ridiculous!”[/npc]

“Hymm…” Doji thought more on the issue, he had no idea getting to Wano would be so difficult, his mother had simply told him that it was where he would find Nobunaga, “...Then I’ll just have to be one of the best! I don’t figure I’ll go after that old guy’s treasure though, I’d rather take something for myself from this world than chase after someone else’s dreams! Say, what’s your name buddy? I’m Asakura Doji!”

As the giant oni and his newfound ”friend” carried out an awkward, one-sidedly friendly conversation, the group made their way downtown at the direction of their leader-by-default. Eventually, Doji caught back up with Baseera, eager to converse with the revolutionary girl; he’d had enough small talk, it was time to get down to brass tacks.

“So what’s the deal with this place? Sounds like there’re plenty of prison camps if I’m understanding right. What’s the point of it?” The inquisitive young adult spoke with little care for how his words might affect his newfound ally.

Overseer’s Strategy

Word made its way throughout Tequila Wolf in relatively short order, even though the taskmaster Sophia had encouraged a leisurely pace, the well-oiled machine of the guard couldn’t help but operate efficiently. Some of the guards’ finest, each tasked with operating one of the island’s camps, gathered around the now inert Yellowbrick; Ms. Ozymandias wove her fingers together and eagerly examined her men as the group’s strategy meeting began.

“So! Does anybody have information on the attackers?” The woman spoke jovially, kicking her heel into the back of the bricklayer she sat upon.

[npc=misc]“Aye. One of them wasn’t all that subtle, just sailed in and started blowing shit up. If I had to guess, I’d say that we’re looking at the “Red-haired Giant” that was causing trouble in the North not too long ago,”[/npc] one of the camp bosses answered dutifully.

“Damn! Little brat is on the warpath! How’d he get his ass across the dividers?”

[npc=misc] “Word is he was bullying other pirates into hauling his ship around. I doubt he’ll be able to keep that shtick up now that he’ll be contending with others heading for the Grand Line,”[/npc] the man muttered matter of factly.

“Buri-shi~! Fantastic! If he’s a bully by nature then perhaps we can break him! Turn him into a taskmaster like one of us to keep the RESTA THESE FUCKS IN LINE!” The woman erratically shouted back towards some of the cowering prisoners; most notably: her darling Licorice, kept chained and shackled on a leash leading to his tormentor.

[npc=revo]If I had to pick, I guess I’d take screaming over the heat. Shout at me all you want fuckin’ crybaby,[/npc] the cat thought resentfully to himself.

“There’s no way he’s alone though. Concurrently with the boy’s arrival another assault took place on one of our outer encampments. I can’t say whether or not the two intruders are  working together, but it would be unwise to dismiss our unseen threat,” another bespectacled camp boss remarked astutely.

“Interesting! If they’re trying to sneak around then perhaps we’d be well off investigating no? Us bosses will fortify here around the bridge, the rest of you lot grab some dogs and start searching for the interlopers!” Sophia gave her order with the rigid authority of an ex-Navywoman, and with that the men were off, each eager to be the one who would bring a trophy back to their cruel mistress.

Six men remained alongside Sophia and Licorice, the group leisurely began making their way towards the bridge’s entrance, the mink shuffling alongside his captor in miserable solemnity.

Post Word Count: 831
Total Word Count: 2,658

Using her left foot she slid her foot under the body and lifted up to flip them up to their face, snatching the radio comms that he had switching it to silent on their end but keeping it open to all other channels with a bit of tinkering with the frequency right after declaring her intention as her newly formed ally blurted he didn’t care if he made enemies of the World Government since it seemed he already had a few. Baseera chuckling, he had spirit and she liked that! Apparently he was heading to Wano Kuni, wherever that was.

Oh, she didn’t have to wait as one guy spoke amongst the crowd they just saved causing Baseera to finally look up as he asked if the guy had any idea, Baseera basically had the same face as her new ally as she didn’t see the big deal of Wano Kuni. The now former prisoner was all too eager to share how Wano Kuni was located in the Grand line, a place Baseera did know about! Anyway Wano Kuni was one of the last islands and according to any seafarer it was filled with human monsters that only the best of the best dared to go to “Hmmm~” Baseera had her own thoughts and after hearing that her Ally, Doji, didn’t care. Finally blurted out laughing which caused her to leap from where she was down to the middle of the crowd right in front of the guy that spoke up, Baseera looking the man dead in his eyes with her deep sea blue shimmering.

“In this wild sea, if you dare to dream and go to places you have never gone before doing whatever you want, don’t cry about the consequences but overcome them, true freedom doesn't come without a heavy price or hard work. The sea is not for the light hearted!" Baseera said with a clear rise in her voice that remained confident and strong as she remembered fighting against the sea itself and barely surviving.

Having made her comment another shouted from the crowd, “You’re just as crazy, picking a fight with the World Government! They're the ones that put us in shackles!” Baseera shouted back, “And I’m the one that broke them, but if you're too scared you might as well live in shackles your entire life! You choose which fight to take or you become a pawn of someone else, stop complaining if you have no guts to stand up for your ideals!” Finally the area fell quite as a few grunts of frustration could be heard among the group.

A moment of silence Baseera was willing to step to the side to talk to Doji as he asked a question Baseera almost wished he hadn’t as she didn’t want to remember it herself. “Yeah..” Baseera said dryly the grin from earlier all but faded as she looked outward towards the abandoned camp they were currently in, “This place is where the World Government sends captured criminals or soldiers from enemy nations. Except that not all people sent here are, and a good population are just collateral damage or people who defied the World Government by aggressive word, I can’t remember what category I and my parents used to be in but that doesn’t matter..”
Baseera said taking a second, “The main purpose of these camps is to build a bridge, not just any bridge but the largest bridge ever built in history, a bridge that stretches across islands and sea’s, and to accomplish this goal ever brick laid is mixed with the literal blood sweat and tears of all who were forced into labor by the World Government as an alternative death sentence..” Baseera grip tightened, “Unforgivable”

---

Among the group of prisoners or perhaps slaves was more fitting was two odd one’s, an elderly couple that appeared to be in their late 30’s perhaps 40’s attached to leash’s also having to follow Sophia, earlier on they had dared to defy her about mistreatment of a child aggressively and she couldn’t let that slide and look weak so they became her elderly servants, particularly the women with blonde hair that was graying with her age and had her gaze cast down as she took water from a bucket and made her way to licorice making careful movements as to not catch attention as she tried to secretly give him some refreshing water, “Drink, you need all the help you can get..” She said with an ever present sadness to her voice that she could not do more.

WC:800
TWC:3,304

The monster heard the sadness in the revolutionary girl’s voice as she spoke, and though the feelings of humans often seemed distant and alien to him, he tried to listen; solemnly taking in Baseera’s words and mulling them over in the confines of his warped perspective, “I admire your attitude. I have little patience for those too weak to decide their own destinies; but I’ve even less sympathy for those whose dominion makes their subjects weaker. Be sure that those you liberate are strong enough to pursue their own dreams, otherwise they’ll wind up right back where they started…”

The cold air sat empty for a moment, as though in that moment, the world itself was bereft of purpose.

“... without a dream, a person is little more than a walking corpse. If you are to truly free a man, then you must rekindle in him the flames of his ambition. It is difficult work, but it is never impossible; there is no man in which the embers of yearning have truly died out,” as Doji and Baseera spoke, the men surrounding turned their attention to the two’s lofty ideals.

“Pursue your dream, and if you are to hold dominion over a man, force him to pursue his own; this is the obligation of any decent king, to subjugate others for the sake of sacrificing them to your own ambition is cowardly. It is to admit that you never could have taken your destiny for yourself.”

A number of the prisoners murmured amongst themselves as the giant spoke. The brobdingnagian had seemed like a bit of a goofy dumbass when he’d first stumbled upon them, but now, the 18 year old spoke as though he were a philosopher.

“And that bridge…” Doji scoffed, taking a swig of sake from his gourd, “... to pursue a lofty ambition is honorable, but to defy the natural order is futile. The weak cannot devour the strong, and there is nothing in this world that can last forever: no castle, no peace, no king; though we may assert our fates in this life, to stake control over the next, to cling to the false notion of ‘immortality?’ These are not dreams, but delusions that fill the minds of egotists who have never been forced to come to terms with the reality of our world.”

Huddling beside the fireplace, and sitting down to listen to the two’s conversation further, the prisoners seemed almost reverent of their newfound leaders.

“Today we will leave this island with as many dreamers as we can set free. But one day…” the giant oni offers an oversized pinky to Baseera, as he finishes his meditation, “... let us promise that we will return to this place, and put an end to this abomination against mankind and nature. When we have proven ourselves worthy of kingly ambition, let us accelerate the natural order and destroy this bridge down to its last brick; let our wrath swallow it whole like a millennia of waves, rain, and wind.”

Silence filled the air for a moment, before one of the men laughed: Doji’s “friend,” a man by the name of Friedrich, [npc=pirt]“You really are fucking insane aren’t you boy? You speak of impossibilities as though they were nothing. To defy the World Government is as good as defying nature itself.”[/npc]

“You’re wrong…” the monk spoke plainly, “... they are mortal men, the same as you. They are afforded privilege and control over this world, but cut them and they will bleed; and should enough blood be shed, the course of history can be changed. The one thing that cannot be defied is the world itself, its inhabitants are all equal competitors, whether they like it or not. If you’ve given up trying to defy your oppressors, then that is a destiny you’ve chosen for yourself, not one that is inevitable.”

The man stood in shocked silence, looking down, a single tear fell from his eye. The nihilist had given up on his dreams, and confronted with that reality, he began to weep. He remembered what he had once wanted most, the happiness and good fortune of his daughter; how could he dare give up on her?

---

Licorice looked back curiously to the woman, why would she offer some of what little she had to him in such dire circumstances? Still, he quietly and graciously accepted a drink.

Even amongst the ranks of the New Revolutionary Army, the mink had rarely enjoyed consideration or respect from his human peers. He had come to loathe the “lesser minks,” for their ignorant and domineering treatment of his people. To accept kindness from one almost seemed like an affront to his pride, but these conflicted feelings were easy to put aside in favor of the basic need for hydration.

[npc=revo]“Thank you,”[/npc] Licorice mouthed silently to the woman.

Unfortunately, even silence was too loud for this moment. Sophia fixed her attention on the mink’s voiceless expression of gratitude, and then upon its recipient, “so you think you two are in this together eh?” She spoke cruelly to the elderly woman.

“Licorice, I want you to remember this…” with the snap of her fingers, the cruel mistress ordered the elder be beaten to death, and a pair of prison guards were all too happy to oblige, “... you will always be alone. You and every other prisoner here. You aren’t people, you aren’t a family, you’re tools being put to a purpose; and you will never be anything more.”

The black cat met the gaze of the woman’s husband; his look was more familiar, that of contempt and disgust, concealed only slightly by his welling tears. Maybe the humans were right to hate him, if nothing else, brutal misfortune always seemed to follow him.

Sophia swiftly broke her attention and answered her transponder as soon as it began to ring, “They’re in the middle of the slums? Perfect. Call in to the other units and we’ll surround them.”

[npc=misc]“Very well miss Sophia,”[/npc] the man and his search-dog began walking away from the side of the building where they had ferreted out the intruders, soon the real hunt would begin.

Post Word Count: 1,025
Total Word Count: 3,683

Eventually leading them to the old slums of her camp, she had chosen a two story building that had all but been abandoned in particular because she knew the building, the very room she lead the others to is where her immediate gaze fell as she looked at the floor swearing she could see blood stains, her own staining the abandoned building as a reminder of her past still. The conversation still rippled through the man they rescued ,her and Doji found a moment to speak to each other about the reality of the camps, Doji seemingly not having the experience with him being the only one in the room to luckily claim that.

Upon his own desire to know Baseera told him and when she did emotions ran higher than she would have liked to shown but this,..was very personal and she could not resist but she could say she wanted no one’s pity, the government was going to know her name by the end of her life whenever that day came.

When Doji spoke she respected him enough to listen, the conversation public now as others fell silent to listen closer to Doji’s words and Baseera just soaked it in while mulling her own thoughts. Instantly her opinion of him was solidified a bit more that he was more wise and powerful than his size let on. Thinking on it still Baseera now was thinking if the men around her were strong enough willed to even handle fighting the government, she knew it was her will and she was recruiting people of like mind-ness, she knew there was few and far in between of those types so she didn’t mind If anyone didn’t want to join, fighting the government took a specific drive, you either you had it or you didn’t.

“I do not wish to sacrifice anyone, some would call that selfish but I won’t let go.” Baseera could elaborate but looking at Doji eyes, Baseera's own were shimmering blue even amongst the ambers of the fire as she was sitting across from Doji, words could not describe but all this talk about dreams and desire brought her own up into the surface. Yes she was picking a fight with the World Government but that wasn’t her dream, her purpose in life. It just so happened her dream could never see the light of day with them around so a fight with them was going to have to be.

Continuing Doji spoke on the bridge itself, his words grew complex and although Baseera had  no formal education she got the jist of what he was saying, the bridge was an abomination or something that shouldn’t have been built, she thinks? “Aye, these very walls were once well kept and now rot in a frozen land. The blessing of life is not immortality but mortality.”


“ To know you may cease to exist one day is not something to relent, but something to cherish! We never know the last day so gather up the people you love, a friend, a brother or sister, uncle or aunt, cousin, whoever, hold them tight, laugh and cry, fight or party, argue, split up, have each other's back! To live is the ultimate gift of life and I take great pride in that. Anyone who tries to take that away doesn't understand a thing. “ Baseera looked around at the prisoner with a soft smile, perhaps a touch of a motherly affection, as she literally didn’t want to see anyone truly suffer by the hands of the World Government.”


“Yes, were help save those strong enough to take fate into their own hands once again for themselves, Tequila Wolf has committed a sin against mother nature right? In that case I, who was casted into the ocean and gave my body to the sea and was given a strange power causing me to be cursed by it, will act as it’s wrath upon the World Government who has orchestrated such sinful acts! Until that fateful day, we will keep going towards our ambitions and carrying the ambitions of others, would that be a kingly ideal? Doji.” Baseera said, giving a wild grin as her small pinky curled around his massive one as a signification of that promise and for a moment there was not the slums that they were in as the space turned white and there was just the fire, the man, Doji and her, and the promise to wage destruction upon Tequila Wolf one day.

Breaking the silence was the same man from before, stating how insane he was, Doji answered by silencing the group once more. Letting them talk for a moment, Baseera looked towards the window and in the distance she could see into the distance and her soft expression from earlier turned into a scowl as she saw a shadow in the snow fall. “Time’s up, it looks like the scouts found us. Looks like they are coming to us. That makes things easier. Shall we go to battle together, Doji?”

---

Looking at the mink suffering from the heat and cruelty of the guard reminded her very much of her daughter Baseera that was lost to her, her fate unknown after an attempt to escape. She hoped her precious daughter lived but she doubted she would live to see that day, she had lost that faith a long time ago.

The only thing she could do with her pathetic life now, was to risk it by giving water to a stranger, not any stranger but a mink, a different race, what was even race anymore when in the face of such misery. Misery loves company and she wanted to do something good. No words were expressed but a silent mouthing that the women nodded to but just as she stood up, Sofia had already spotted them

Not even a flinch the mother would stare coldly at the women that treated them worse than the last guard as she easily ordered the guards to beat her to death, it seemed her last day had come at last but she was not going silently. “Wait!” the mother yelled frantically as she ran towards Sophia slowly making it only a few feet forward as she continued to talk to the revolutionary mink, wondering why she gave the water Licorice would have his answer as with the few feet she managed to move towards Sophia she spit some water she had in her mouth right at her face and smiled, “Rot in hell, your get what’s coming to ya!” After that she didn’t care as her body grew limp, however she did look at her husband.

Her husband, his body was all but frail from malnutrition over the years, his head bald from stress and chronic pain was hunched over with tears in his eyes, face twisted with the emotion of instance anger that his wife was going to be beaten to death by two man and the overwhelming sense of grief and self-loathing knowing he could do nothing for his wife, absolutely nothing as the sound of heavy beating began….

WC:1,172
TWC:4,476.

“Aye, let’s get out there and prove to them that there are people in this world they cannot break,” Doji’s grin widened as he drew his swords and led the group’s warmarch, walking carelessly from the building’s mouth into the open streets. The oni whistled coyly, impressed at the number of men who had come to attend their own funerals.

The guardsmen were quick to train their arms on the largest threat, the dogs snarled and lunged at the edges of their leashes, Perfect… the oni thought to himself, always happy to be the center of attention. As he awaited the inevitable blustering of the authorities, he spoke back quietly to Baseera and the rest, “... we have one disagreement liberator, you believe these sorts of changes can be accomplished without sacrifice; I think that overly simplistic, the innocent, mothers and children, these people can be exempted from the toll of war. But a warrior? Some of us know what we’re getting into.”

[npc=misc]“Asakura Doji! For crimes against the people of Kano Kuni, Flevance, Lvneel, Notice Island, and numerous others, you are under arrest! Lay down your weapons and submit peacefully or we’ll be forced to open fire!”[/npc] One of the men shouted as the others readied themselves to shoot. A number of the men’s hands still trembled as they held their rifles, word was beginning to spread of the “Cemetery Ghoul,” the monster that laid men to ruin en masse; was one giant red oni not enough terror for the seas? Did such a beast truly have to stalk the Blues as well?

“Real original jackass! Also get this through yer thick fuckin’ skulls! I ain’t ever gonna back down from you government dogs! It’s kill or be killed baby, and if I get the chance I’ll dismantle every last fuckin’ one of ya!” During his taunt, Doji leapt for the only direction in which he would not be heading straight towards a wall of bullet-fire: straight up. A number of shots echoed out across the street, none finding their mark.

Shining from above like gleaming wings of a hawk, a flash of sunlight reflected down from the Oni’s blades, rendering a number of men as blind as him for the moment. After a moment, Doji landed, the earth trembling beneath his enormous weight; he was quick to pivot his momentum and exploit his opponents’ moment of confusion, charging towards a group of the Tequila Wolf Guard like cornered prey eager to bite back.

Tearing through the group of men like a maelstrom of bloodshed and viscera, swathes of overseers found themselves impaled, hooked apart, or exploded by the oni’s vicious swordsmanship. Even the “puppies” weren’t safe from the monster’s wrath, as the cruel mastiffs lunged for the giant’s legs they were kicked sky high, letting out almost comical yelps and yowls as they flew towards the ocean. Surprisingly, none of the dogs actually died; whether or not this was the Yōkai’s intention remains to be seen.

Seeing their monstrous new ally leading the charge, a number of the prisoners were emboldened, following after the oni and cleaning up any of the men unlucky enough to survive the initial assault. One man scrambled up beside Doji, hoping to prove himself to his newfound friend and ally, Friedrich took up the rifle of one of the guards and charged its bayonet toward an enemy.

The little man quickly found himself overwhelmed and outnumbered, just as quickly as his bravery had overcome him, it was gone; shuddering in fear at the end of three enemy’s weapons, the man called out desperately to the monster, [npc=pirt]“Asakura Doji! Please! Let me pledge myself to your dream! AND HELP ME!”[/npc]

“Oy?...” Doji turned curiously towards the man screaming, sloughing an impaled guard off of the end of his broken blade, “... interesting! I thought you said I was crazy! Hell you don’t even know what you’re signin’ yourself up for buddy! But I’ll take it!” With a wide smile, Doji tore another three men to shreds, liberating his new pawn.

[npc=pirt]“O-oh, uh, right…”[/npc] Friedrich stuttered as he realized what he’d just gotten himself into, [npc=pirt]“...what is your dream?”[/npc]

“Yahoo! I’m gonna restore glory to my clan…” Doji chuckled as he spoke of that far-off ambition, “... and I’m gonna be the king of the land of myths and monsters! Where anybody, no matter how fuckin’ weird they are, is free to run rampant!”

[npc=pirt]Oh god I’m gonna be sick[/npc], how was the humble family-man turned pirate ever going to deal with this fiendish lunatic? Could his dream of a peaceful life with his family ever be kindled in the presence of such a man? Or would it just be devoured by the fires of the boy’s daydreams?

Spirit of Rebellion

Even in spite of their differences, even in spite of the hatred and brutality he had faced at the hands of people who looked just like this elderly couple, Pack Black Licorice couldn’t sit and let the woman who had shown him kindness be used to make some sort of depraved point about his purpose.

He knew damn well what his purpose was. It was what had forced him to join the NRA, any animal pushed far enough had to fight back; even a worm will turn. With the inhuman strength and agility characteristic of the Mink Tribe, Licorice yanked his leash free from Sophia’s hand before coating his claws in Electro.

He only wished that he could have been blessed by the full moon, perhaps then his ferocity would have been sufficient to slaughter his oppressors; but as things were, it seemed like a hopeless endeavor, no matter how many guards he electrocuted there were always more to take their place. This was the difference between the revolutionary and the establishment: no matter how much passion a rebel had, in war, the side with superior resources and tactics was fated for victory.

Nonetheless, as long as there were those who refused to, who could not submit to authority, there would always be rebellion. This conflict was integral to the natural world as the sky or the waters, in a world of limited resources there are haves and have nots; those who have not will fight to have anything, and those who have will always demand more. This was the spirit of the revolutionary, the man with nothing who would give his life for more.

It wasn’t long before the exhausted and malnourished cat could hardly stand, and so he would use his body as a shield, crouching over the elderly woman who had shown him the grace of humanity. It was as bludgeons rained down upon the prisoners’ backs that their salvation would come, another ring of Sophia’s snail.

The call was brief, but the woman’s appearance was grave as she threw her hands to her sides and shouted an order to her men, “Attention! There’s been a change of plans, chain the prisoners here, there will be plenty of time to dole out adequate punishment later! At the moment, a group of escaped prisoners are being led against our men by the Red Haired Giant; he’s more of a problem than we thought, and we’ve suffered great casualties already. We need to put a stop to these insurrectionists before they undermine our reputation and cause greater damage! Ready yourselves for war!”

With her rallying cry, Sophia hopped into the seat of Yellowbrick as her men went about securing the prisoners and readying themselves, this is bad, the first time the higher ups leave me in charge and go on vacation and they’re gonna come back to this? I won’t allow it! She thought angrily to herself as she began pulling a series of levers.

With its operator’s commands input, the heavy machinery groaned to life, and the war-machine’s original purpose was restored to it; unfurling from its yellow-stained metal panels, the former artillery vehicle’s weaponry was allowed to see the light of day once more. Now more like a tank than a construction vehicle, the killdozer Yellowbrick and its driver Sophia Ozymandias plowed their way ruthlessly towards those who had dared to intrude upon the greatest architectural undertaking in history.

Post Word Count: 1,365
Total Word Count: 5,048

“Hell yeah!" Baseera said with a grin as from out her arm she opened a compartment in her arm as they walked outside to greet the “guests”, Tequila’s wolf forces as what was once figures moving about the shadows now surrounded the slums of Baseera old camp as she popped open the bottle cap relaxed as she began to sip her drink as the winter snow continued to drift down to the icey floor all around them. Outside Doji whistled as he seemed impressed with the numbers as they walked side by side, a duo against a platoon. She liked those odds!

Immediately they didn’t pay much attention to Baseera as almost all the guns affixed themselves to Doji with an audible click of the chambers to show they meant business, eyes trained on him, and other eyes squinted as they had fingers on the triggers no doubt. Outside in front of the guards and everything Doji found a moment to tell her he had only one disagreement and that was the simplicity of her thoughts to think she could accomplish her goals without sacrifice, “Shut up, don’t kill the mood', “Tall Stack”. I’ll think about that later.” she said, taking a pause from her drink then tipping her head back and gulping the rest down gasping audibly before throwing the empty bottle over her shoulder.

Just as they were talking one of the guards spoke to Doji apparently listing all his crime locations and Baseera whistled this time, “Wow someone’s been around, rekting shit all over the blue’s eh? Guess that’s what you meant earlier about already causing trouble~” Baseera said primarily to herself as Doji spoke to the officials, looking at the ones that had their gazes affixed to her she would wave just as Doji leapt into the air.

Using that sudden move Baseera would go on a tactical war-path of her own. Using Doji move Baseera left arm would open up to reveal a gatling gun as she zig-zagged through the field , she  began spraying the guards that had looked away for a moment causing blood to splatter the once white snow as crimson blood covered the scene. As soon as her gatling was done Baseera smiled wickedly and for a lack of words, would suddenly vanish into thin air to anyone that had eyes on her. Perhaps baffling for those that have never seen the power before. Escaped, left for dead, survived, became a cyborg, but one more thing, she wasn’t just a cyborg, but a devil fruit using cyborg, cursed by the sea! So what looked like gone was not gone but smaller, and with her small size Baseera gained even greater speed allowing her to cross the snowy landscape mostly hidden as she then leapt into the air, l mid air she whipped her right leg out, unhooking the chain inside as her foot extended, guards getting whip lashed by the chain itself while some got hit with the direct impact of her foot as she then knocked several guards off the ground as they hit their head onto the floor with a large thud becoming unconscious

Having taken out the ones with the guns immediately, some of the guards in their frantic state picked up arms against her, charging her down with a mixture of axes and swords. Clenching her fist Baseera dashed in, speeding towards them she gradually got smaller causing a slight of trick with their eyes as they aimed higher allowing her to run under the attack as she passed one of the guards bashing her elbow at their leg and then growing back to full size grabbing the man body and throwing him into another one, two incoming Baseera gun reloaded and she took several shots of her gatling again to gun down the rest.

Perhaps it was seeing Doji and her fight but the prisoners now took up the arms that were left behind by the defeated or down right dead guards , killing the ones that survived as they collected more weapons, the particular prisoner from earlier pledging his allegiance to Doji causing Baseera to whistle.

“TINY COMMANDER!” Baseera heard behind her causing her to look back as a duo of men saluted her, “Revolutionary army soldier Tex” the one to the left said, “Revolutionary army soldier Vex!”  “Tiny commander? Just call me Baseera..” She said cringing a bit at the sudden rank call, “I'm just a soldier as well. " “Then Baseera..” Tex said speaking but his faced drained a but with color as he looked like he was about to say something, her gaze sharpening to look at him, “Please..help us save him..Black Pack Licorice…!” Baseera heard of that name, a mink of sorts that had been captured by the government, a revolutionary army soldier, it didn’t make anything major but word got around quickly about those sort of arrests, “He’s here?”

“Yes, we were part of the same unit but we got attacked and separated, we seen hm with temp Warden Sophia and she is sadistic as they get when it comes to slaves, she has a whole group  that she specifically tortures.”  Vex added

“We'll find him then, I won’t leave him to rot on this frozen tundra!”

Walking away from the group for a second Baseera took out the radio she had snatched from the guard earlier, turning off the mute as she honed in onto the signal it was on earlier. “Oi, the guard that calls themselves Sophia..I heard what you are doing, and I'm the one that’s going to stop you. In the name of the Revolutionary army.” Baseera said, crushing the radio with raw power .  

---

Feeling his own spirit of Rebellion awakened from the women's kindness and how it was going to turn out she was spared a brutal beating as Black Pack Licorice took arms. His wife saved the old man took her into a bear hug and found a corner for them to cower in hoping not to get involved into the combat as they were well past there fighting days as they watched the animalistic young man become slowly defeated after a good fight, the elderly man clenching his fist wishing he could fight too.

Eventually they were chained again, the lot of them, the women focusing on her savior, “Hey! Stay awake! Keep breathing! If you past out you might suffer a concussion, stay with us!” The women yelled to keep the man awake despite the clear danger it possessed.

WC:1,089
TWC: 5,565

Rolling forwards the treads of Yellowbrick ground the earth beneath anew, the snow was driven aside and converted into sludgy black slush in the wake of the heavy machinery’s path. Running on all cylinders, the metal monstrosity belched out great clouds of smoke and steam, further adding to the fog of the crisp wintry morn. Crackling and screeching in pain, the machine's built-in Snail transceiver chattered out Baseera’s message to Sophia.

Stop me in the name of the Revolutionaries?... Although Baseera’s threat was short, the warden was already furious, already sick of the day’s challenges to her authority, “...I’ve had enough of you people’s defiance, learn your place and stay underneath my boot; OTHERWISE, I’LL STOMP YOUR FUCKING HEADS IN! I’LL FUCKING PULVERIZE YOU!” The woman began ranting to herself and slamming on the vehicle's dash as she threw her tank into full-gear, gunning its accelerator and plowing recklessly towards her quarry.

[npc=misc]“Oh boy, she’s already mad?”[/npc] One of the camp bosses spoke to another as they scrambled to keep up with the vehicle.

“Huff— I think she’s been mad this whole time! Huff!” The more spindly and out of shape boss spoke back, struggling to keep pace at all.

Beating of the Drums

Standing in the aftermath of he and Baseera’s counterattack, Doji’s ears began to twitch, he felt a soft tremor beneath his feet that should not have been there, “something’s coming…” the oni turned back to the group and spoke matter of factly before elaborating, “... it’s big, about the size of a house. Anybody know what we’re dealing with?”

[npc=pirt]“Oh god we’re doomed…”[/npc] the nihilistic Friedrich piped up, [npc=pirt]“... it’s that witch Oz and her engine of torment,[/npc] Yellowbrick."

“Some kinda machine then?” Doji asked, taking a guess based on the mechanical consistency of the quaking; his guesswork wasn’t hurt by the fact that the rumbling was rapidly approaching.

[npc=pirt]“It was a customized armored artillery vehicle that was decommissioned for causing too many civilian casualties…”[/npc] the little man’s voice quavered with fear, but choking down a gulp, he spoke his next words loudly so that all the group’s men could hear, [npc=pirt]“... we need to run! Far away! We’ll hide until we can quietly rejoin the camps without being punished! If we stay here we’ll all be ripped apart and flattened into pavement!”[/npc]

“Shini-hi-hi-hi, you give up so easily don’t you Fred?…” Doji chuckled at his ally, even if the coward ran for it, he wasn’t getting off the hook of servitude that easy, “... you lot can all do what you want, but if Baseera and I win this you better not forget your promises, or your dreams. Yo, I’m correct assuming you’re all in for this one right Bas?” Doji called over his shoulder to the short blond with a smug smile.

“Ya don’t seem like the type a’ nerd to back down from some heavy mechanics, or like the sorta girl that’s gonna give up on her dreams just cause someone’s running a tank through town…” the oni’s smile sprawled into a wicked, toothy grin as he taunted the cowardly goons fleeing the scene, “... that’s the difference between you and these guys! Some people don’t back down when the going gets rough!”

Curiously, as the climactic battle rapidly approached, the oni set his swords back to their resting places; procuring from his belt a flute, the blind monk spoke a loosely formulated plan to his ally, “find somewhere you don’t think you’ll get shot. Maybe those rooftops’ll work…” the oni snapped his fingers up towards one of the nearby tenements, “... you’ll know what to do when the time comes. I hope I’m right about this thing.”

Doji wasn’t a mechanic, but he was a warrior. Any suit of armor had its vulnerabilities, the same would have to be true of a vehicle intended for war.

As the sun gleamed from the battle-trodden snow, the red-haired rōnin drew his shakuhachi to his lips and began to play upon the ghastly flute.

It was a sorrowful tune, echoing the death of winter and the fleeting respite of spring; but from the shrieking of the wind instrument there was no true respite, blown aloft by the lungs of a giant, the song’s notes permeated the camp like a cacophonous miasma.

Doji, your eyes are not your curse. In the absence of light and shadow, you see many things an ordinary swordsman does not; your eyes cannot play tricks on you, your opponents cannot meet your gaze and force you to question yourself. No, in absence of sight you have been afforded the luxury of sound, and of touch; you are made to remember the shaking of your opponent’s footsteps, made to track their weaponry by its very breath. It seems that the Monks have taught you how to see your surroundings well with the clacking of those prayer beads; but if you are ever permitted time to savor your battlefield, to know your opponent completely before battle, savor the echoes of this instrument… Doji remembered the day that his mother gave him this flute, its sound was full and enduring, it was by this flute’s echo that Doji first knew the shapes of the mountaintops.

It was the reverberation of this ominous wind that allowed Doji to see it: the full layout of the Tequila Wolf Slums down to the finest detail, the faces of the camp bosses who trod mercilessly towards him, the hateful countenance of his new enemy and the violent inner workings of her mechanized abomination.

“Yooouuu!...” the madwoman snarled from atop her ochre tower, and clutched the side of her face as though to cling to any semblance of composure, “... Asakura boy! Where’s the other one? Where’s the little brat that spoke to me on the phone?”

The oni remained silent and sheathed his flute, he would not lie, but he was happy to obscure, “I’m afraid you have more immediate concerns,” Doji spoke with unusual calm.

“Buri-shi-shi-shi! I’ll just have to find her myself then~ DIE!” Sophia giggled chipperly before abruptly and immediately firing the tank’s cannon.

“気合!” The booming effort of the giant’s iaijutsu was like an explosion in itself, and was shortly followed by the sounds of two halves of a tank-shell detonating behind the swordsman.

“How the?! How did you do that?! That’s fucking impossible!” The rationally-minded woman shrieked with hatred, how could somebody defy her to such an extent? To rip the very laws of physics apart as though they meant nothing?

The wind of the shell’s wake blew the oni’s hair from his face, revealing his blind eyes as he answered, “you don’t believe what you see? It is as easy as cutting nothing…” the oni trailed off with a knowing smile, only a proper swordsman would know the technique he was referring to; he figured this answer was likely to piss her off more, and draw her further into his trap.

“Fine. Keep your secrets little brat, it ain’t gonna save you now! Submit to the full might of Tequila Wolf’s Heavy Metal Death Machine: Yellowbrick! Let’s show this little prick why you don’t go around picking fights with the World Government!” With her battlecry, Sophia hammered at her control panel, and every last firearm in the artillery vehicle’s frame folded out of its frame. In a percussive symphony of gunshots, Doji was strafed for with gatling guns, subjected to cannon fire, and aimed for by a menagerie of support firing modes; in that moment, Yellowbrick became the smoking, infernal embodiment of gunfire.

But no machine could match the intuition of a true gunman, its shots were mechanical and soulless; there was no imperative for the automated artillery to survive, it merely performed its function. Wading and dancing through gunfire the oni advanced through the onslaught like a koi thrashing itself upstream, “I wonder?...” Doji spoke quietly amidst the gunfire as he swept his swords through the machine’s weapons, silencing the overgrown bricklayer’s ruckus.

“...who knows this machine better? Me or you?” Doji’s question broke the dead silence, as he smiled up to Sophia’s position atop her broken vehicle.

“What do you mean?” She replied, shocked and furious.

“Do you know the inner workings of your weapon? Do you even begin to understand how limited it is?” The red-head scoffed smugly as he readied himself for an early coup de grace.

“Buri-shi~ you seem to think you know quite a bit! But I still don’t think you understand where you sit Doji, even if you can use your cheap tricks to cheat me out of my killshot! I’ll still flatten you! When faced with great enough weight, all men must yield! You’re nothing more than an ant beneath the boot of this world’s rightful rulers, just like the rest of us!” With this, Sophia threw the machine back into full gear, and began plowing towards her prey.

The oni threw his blades behind him as he was forced to meet Yellowbrick's weight, pushing back against the machine, Doji attempted to stop it’s progress forwards, “ANY MAN CAN COMPETE FOR THIS WORLD’S THRONE! Any person can be strong enough to carry that weight! It’s a weak ruler who feels the need to press that upon those beneath them!”

Despite his big words, if Doji kept bracing against the vehicle he was going to be crushed; breaking from the pushing match he threw himself back into a handspring and retrieved one of his swords, still too heavy, I can’t stop this thing alone… with this thought in mind, the oni charged back towards the artillery, slicing for its exhaust stacks.

An explosion of smoke and steam washed over the city street creating a thick and obscuring haze; suddenly, from the origin of the cloud, a jet of air bursted upwards creating a clear opening, “Baseera! Get this bitch! I’ll hold this thing off as long as I can!” Yellowbrick's cockpit has been fully exposed, and Sophia is a sitting duck.

Post Word Count: 1,667
Total Word Count: 6,715

Crushing the radio in her hand Baseera had a bit of a twisted smile, she knew the type well hearing it from the twins, a real bully with a position where they could willing torture and even kill at their own discretion were usually weak to having their authority, there place in the hierarchy threatened, this was a play of tactical warfare.

Not more than about maybe several minutes later did the heavy rumbling of what the twins described to her as a monstrosity came rolling towards the slums where they had been patiently waiting for the guests to arrive, “You hear it, I see it and hear it, it’s loud and it’s going to make the air rotten..” Baseera said. Doji asked what it was and the guy from earlier that pledged to him went from hero to zero again just lke that as he seemed to have the color drain from his skin as he recounted that the monstrosity was a machine called “Yellowbrick”

Doji hinting at machinery in which Baseera nodded in silence as she kept watching the very machine come into view of her binoculars, “In other words it’s a modified tank, just say that.” Baseera told the guy annoyed that he was trying to dramatize what was coming “Commander Baseera surely you don’t mean to take on a tank!!?” Vex said in a serious manner, visibly sweating, Baseera didn’t really want to be called that either but it does for now. “Of course not, but im not going to start shiting my pants ether like that guy over there, plenty of ways to destroy a tank boys~” Baseera couldn’t help grinning at the thought of ruining such a beauty that belonged to the enemy, she was a bit twisted in that sense.

At the same time Doji was telling people that if they won they better keep their promise, asking if she was in, “Of course, they have one of my people in there, I can’t back down now. I might have also just initially pissed their leader off to cloud her judgment so I bet she will be gunning for me first.” Baseera said, pulling out another cola to fuel herself out her arm compartment  as she watched this “Yellowbrick'' approach, Doji further taunting the fact how she was different from them who were to scared to fight because one one measly tank, suggesting she was the type of person not to run when the going gets tough. “Kehaha, when the going has always tough,  you stop running and start fighting. “Doji, you can’t see it but you should know. I'm one of those cursed people of the sea, and with my power, they will never see me coming until it's too late! Let’s show them two people can make a difference. I’ll wait for your signal.”

Kicking some snow off the roof they were standing on Baseera stepped off the ledge after falling and her size steadily decreasing as she shrunk herself smaller allowing her too hide in the snow as Deji began playing an instrument of some kind, listening the sound instantly brought the feeling of sorrow in her heart as the notes played, like a soft winter wind blowing pass her Baseera gripped her fist as the wind seemed to blow her back to the pass as she was slowly freezing to death on top of even icier waters  the death of winter, now she would bring it upon those that dared played with the lives of others.

Laying low Baseera continued to wait as the women she spoke to was still heated and was seeking her out, trusting a complete stranger she went against her better nature and waited as he seemed to further erk her just by speaking, the arrogance of the women only causing Baseera smile to twist further at the thought of taking her down herself, she was vile.

Winter wind blowing across the field of battle, Doji with his swordsmanship Baseera was definitely going to talk about later she began to use the cover of the explosions from Yellowbrick and the force of the Tequila guards as they sent an array of different ammunition to kill one singular man. In between shots Baseera used her own weapons to shoot from the heap of snow she was in while entirely shrunken down, the tiny bullet traveling a few meters then increasing in size and blitzing through the air to hit target after target slowly but surely as the women after her seemed to have lost all reason and endlessly attacked Doji to no end with heavy firearms.

When firearms didn’t yield any results, YellowBrick charged right into her large ally, his blades clashing against the heavy metal as the working of mechanical engines roared as the most vicious cloud of black smog and smoke blew like a mighty wind from the machine as Doji attempted to push back resulting in a deadlock lock between flesh and machine, the irony as Baseera was literally a combination of the two.

At last Baseera heard Doji call for her as he was holding YellowBrick off for her, having run around the field avoiding the explosions and stray bullets herself Baseera made a B-line towards Doji from behind, “THOSE WHO INSPIRE TO BE KING UPON THE CRUELTY OF OTHER!” Baseera yelled as she grew a few inches leaping on the shoulders of Doji and then kneeling as she then leapt off of him again leaping further into the air no bigger than the size of pen, her size increasing every second to it’s full size accomplished with a soft blue glow that intensified into raw electricity dancing around her left arm.

“HAS NO RIGHT TO THE THRONE OF THE WORLD YOU GOVERNMENT PAWN!!!!” Baseera said popping out of the smoke as she flipped mid air upright down, right above the exposed cockpit dancing in the winter wind. Baseera blonde locks blew wildly, the intensity of her blue eyes staring into Sophia's own as her left arm aimed directly into the cockpit spun to reveal a Gatling gun. Baseera released a wave of bullets, each one accomplished with sparks of electricity dancing around it’s circular form as she pelted the inside of the turret systems with a wild spray

“YOU BITCH! NOOOOO!!!” Sophia yelled as she pulled her blade and put it above her as she kneeled down and curled up to evade the spray as the inside of the turret began to be set on blaze as each lodged bullet caused a bigger arc of electricity that further destroyed it’s system as Baseera finally passed , kicking off of YellowBrick again, to put distance between it and her, “MOVE DOJI!” Baseera yelled as the inside of the turret exploded causing it to come to a dead stop. Sophia scream clear as the black smoke it emanated came to a slow stop as Int became nothing more than a metal husk in the winter slums of Tequila wolf as silence befell the land as the guard force was now halved.

From the damaged cockpit of YellowBrick Sophia jumped out into the cold winter air landing on the ground, clothing covered in singed markings as was her exposed skin, “I'M DONE TALKING! ILL ENSLAVE YOU ALL, I DONT NEED SOME MACHINE TO DO IT! BUT YOUFIRST, YOU LITTLE COWARD! Sophia said unsheathing the katana that had been at her side, dashing straight towards Baseera as her feet touched the ground, “YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO COMPLAIN!!” Baseera yelled back equally as she let off a round of Gatling fire, Sophia evading some of the bullets but getting hit by a few still as she charged right at her, Baseera hand popping back into place as Sophia swung her blade down on her, arms sparking with electricity Baseera opened the palm of her hands to make an X-formation blocking the blade sharp end with her metal limbs that bit slightly into the outer metal shell. “Heh..look at that, your not even fully human, your part machine, your literally just someone’s property~” Sophia attempted to cue into Baseera ears.

Eyes narrowing Baseera used her left leg to kick straight up hitting Sophia chin, Leaping back, Baseera grew small while the women was reeling and by the time she looked back Baseera had already moved to around her side and then grew back releasing a swift round kick with her right leg while mid air straight towards Sophia face while electricity sparked. her leg extending and causing Sophia to fly a few feet away upon impact  A fighter in her own right Sophia still managed to let off a few rounds of gunfire at her and some of the bullets struck a few metal parts and one actually hit the part of her that was still human, Baseera gritting as blood leaked from her lower stomach.

Both bleeding from bullet wounds Sophia had taken a lot more damage and her breathing heavier than Baseera but managed to get up but blood leaked from her wounds fluidly, “If you keep fighting your die! Take another step and you'll be joining the many you sent to the grave.” Baseera said, pointing her Gatling gun at the women, ready to shoot at the slightest movement she made.

“Go to h-“ That was it, the sound of bullet fire sounding throughout the field cut off anything the women had to say as Baseerea let off a few more rounds straight into her heart area ensuring the women’s death.

WC:1,600
TWC: 7,165

The shots that echoed from Baseera’s gun were like the firing of a starting pistol for Doji, and with Yellowbrick’s momentum stopped he was no longer fighting any more weight than he needed to; in fact, much of the machine’s weight had been stripped of it between the destruction that the revolutionary and the monster had wreaked upon it. The corpse of a tank would make for the perfect “getaway vehicle.”

Using all of the strength of his legendary lineage, the son of giants and oni hoisted the wreck above his head, and threw it towards the remaining guards like an enormous boxy shot put. Clamoring and crushing a crater into the ground below, the heap of metal exploded like a grenade made of bolts, pistons, and armored plating. The crowd was dispersed, and a number of men were crushed beneath the weight of the machine.

As the chaos died down, the guards of Tequila Wolf rallied, they realized the sheer extent of their numbers advantage; even if this monster could throw a tank at them, there’s no way it could survive a full volley from almost every prison guard, and the human girl would easily be ripped to shreds in the crossfire. Dusting themselves off, and readying their weapons they waited for the dust to clear to open fire.

The giant, and the girl, were both conspicuously absent. As soon as he’d thrown the tank, Doji had scooped up Baseera, thrown her onto his shoulders, and started running for the hills. The monster moved as though the winds themselves were carrying him, his blistering speed was beyond what most humans could hope to accomplish; and certainly beyond the chasing abilities of a group of cold, bloodied, and exhausted prison guards.

Catching up quickly with the mob of prisoners, Doji began parting the crowd until he and Baseera were leading the charge, “alright! We won! You know the deal now motherfuckers!...” The bizarre teenager smiled back ruthlessly to the men he intended to claim as new crewmates for his ambitions of kingship, “... Choose a side! Revolution or Piracy! Either way! Your destiny is your own now! You’re free to choose your path forwards, and if you’re too weak to keep up then you’re welcome to abandon that freedom and enjoy whatever life this world subjects you to! But that’s fucking boring!”

Following the bull-horned monster leading the charge, the crowd was led to the shores of Tequila Wolf, where a humble fishing boat had found itself nestled amongst the island’s warships, “If you’re comin’ with me get on that hunk a’ shit!...” Doji referred to his ship with a peculiar brand of affection, “... and if you’re goin’ with her you better get to stealin’ one of those warships quickly!”

With this, the men began sorting themselves, breaking down into roughly even groups; one crew of men jumped onto Old Sutured Sail, and the other went about hijacking one of the warships. Licorice, Vex, and Tex departed with Baseera, and the coward by the name of Fred joined some of the other more monstrous prisoners in aligning themselves with Doji. By the time their pursuers caught up with them, the pair of renegade crews had already set sail and were well on their way off of the island’s coastline.

As the sailing ships were bombarded by distant cannon fire, the waves drew the vessels apart from one another, and it seemed the perfect moment to divide the chasing guards’ attention. Doji waved over to Baseera’s crew and shouted one final goodbye, “good luck out there Bas! Let’s meet back up in the Grand Line! And don’t forget that promise! Someday we’re comin’ back to wipe this place of the face of the fucking planet! KANPAI!” Many of the men and monsters aboard Doji’s small ship raised their glasses and flasks in victory before taking a drink, and a number aboard the revolutionary vessel did the same; thus the pact was sealed over sake, the monster and the revolutionary girl would one day return to this place…

Post Word Count: 675
Total Word Count: 7,390

Round 1

Yellowbrick’s Techniques Resolve First
Yellowbrick uses LT against Doji
Yellowbrick uses LT against Doji
Yellowbrick uses LT against Doji
Yellowbrick uses UT against Doji

Doji activates (Toggle) Swaying Breeze
Doji uses AoE Heavenly Song: Melody of Zephyr's Guidance to buff self
Doji uses UT against Yellowbrick

COMBAT TRACKERS:

The member 'Doji' has done the following action : Dice Roll

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#1 'Reflex Check' : 5

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#2 'Reflex Check' : 11, 4, 9, 3

Round 2

Doji's Techniques Resolve First
Doji uses MT Jinketsukei to buff self
Doji uses LT Horrid Hook against Yellowbrick
Doji uses LT Monastery Slash against Yellowbrick
Doji uses UT against Yellowbrick

Yellowbrick uses LT against Doji
Yellowbrick uses LT against Doji
Yellowbrick uses LT against Doji
Yellowbrick uses UT against Doji

COMBAT TRACKERS: