When Ryuu got on the boat, many thoughts crossed is mind.

The biggest thought that popped up was focused on the water dragon that appeared out of nowhere.

Before we go back to reality, he thought to some unknown audience, let's go back to the past and see the events of my life.

---

I find myself in a capsule and run away, not knowing who I am.

I find a town and work for a foundation I could live in.

I buy a crapton of merchandise with the well-earned money I gathered.

I opened up a store.

I got a pet.

I was visited by a redhead guy who apparently knew me.

I somehow got led to mysterious people in a cabin.

I somehow get dragged into said mysterious people's business.

I am somehow about to fight a f---ing dragon.

---

"..."

Ryuu sighed.

He just had to live a rough life. If he just knew what he exactly was and how he could deal with friendly, mysterious people, he might have rejected an inevitably painful journey for who-knows-what.

But no, let's fight a dragon.

The otaku grumbled something inaudibly as his mood fell down a notch. Taking out what appeared to be a toy pistol, he got out of the hold he stayed at before going on the deck. No time to observe creamy hotdog thighs; if he was pissed, he was going to make sure that his pissiness would dissolve by killing a water dragon.

Ryuu aimed and prepared to fire blasts of plasma at the creature that jeopardized his already-jeopardized-by-friendly-strangers life.

- Andromeda -

"well I'm looking forward to meeting her" Andromeda laughed a little "yeah we can be pretty lively, most of us have a bone to pick with Marcus so that's part of it" she smiled lightly again. the Athalians had been pretty powerful before the school burned down, disorganized though, which was probably their downfall. she pushed the thought from her mind and smiled at Joseph again, "yeah, they're supposed to be, we had a dragon on staff at Athalia and he was pretty powerful, if all the dragons are like him, they should be able to help us beat Marcus, no problem" she saw him looking at the snakes then looking away quickly and she blushed a little and smiled wider. he quickly changed the topic. she shook her bag lightly "art supplies mainly, I wasn't given any time to get rid of it or get anything useful before I was brought here" she reached in and pulled out her sketch book "I draw a lot so I generally keep one or two of these on me" she chuckled "not a mysterious or useful as you thought, huh?"

@Nytem4re

"Ah an artist. You could collaborate with that grim reaper guy. Apparently he's into portraits or something. I suppose it's not very useful in a fight, but it'd probably come in handy one day. Could always just paint a blue box in the center and claim it's some message of simplicity to sell it for millions. They always eat that shit up easy." Joseph suddenly heard voices of panic on the upper deck- Were they being attacked? He was about to go check for himself when Vikki confirmed it for him.

"Everybody on deck now! We've got a crewman in the water, and if we don't bag this thing ASAP we'll be joining him! Move!" Some kind of monster? Did someone unleash the kraken? "Let's go Andromeda. They're going to need our help.

Joseph sprinted above deck to find some sort of sea serpent- Or sea dragon, he wasn't entirely sure. He yelled at Vikki, as she was supposed to be the leader anyway.

"So what's the plan?"

It stared at those on the ship as they came onto the deck. He couldn't have asked for a better meal. With a large splash, the creature dove into the water. As it did, it revealed it's tail which held a large purple crystal, tied tightly to the creatures thin tail with painful latches. It dove below the boat and slide under the boat, rocking it a bit, attempting to cause some of the crew to fall. When none of them splashed into the water, it huffed, releasing a few bubbles up to the surface.

Just a few miles out, another smaller creature leapt through the water, making their way for the boat. Those on deck with good enough hearing could almost make out what it was... saying.

"..it...ta....st.....do....ki.....ki!"

---

The door slammed before him. Mate... a chicken? What in the world kind of insult was that? Did she not like chickens very much? But just as soon as the door had closed, it slowly opened.

"...alright. Get in. Don't drag me in your useless family crossfire.", she told him. "It's either you get a consultation, you get to be my apprentice, you do what you promise to say, or you get out. Nothing else."

Jonathan silently nodded and followed her inside the house, spinning around as he took it all in. "What a lovely home you have. It's certainly very... large. I don't think even Marcus has a home this large. Though, seeing it might prompt him to make one post haste." Jonathan explained, chuckling to himself. He didn't really hate his brother but...

Jonathan sighed and looked over at Artav with an awkward smile. "Alright, what do you need me to do?" When would the day come when Jonathan wasn't taking order? When he could just be Jonathan. Out of his siblings he was the one that hates his powers and just wanted to be normal...

Rain tilted her head to the side ever so slightly as she inspected the sea creature, her eyes sought out possible signs of weakness or means of attack hidden behind the obvious. Were it scales hard enough to count as armour? Could it deflect magic? Were its eyes well protected? She turned to look at the newcomers on deck as their hasty footsteps pounded to a halt close by. Her eyes grazed over Vicki's katanas, working them into a plethora of plans forming within her mind, next she glanced at the peeved otaku wearing sunglasses as he pulled out a pistol...though she wasn't really familiar with firearms she could have sworn this one looked a bit...odd to say the least. She was still getting used to how the outside world worked, her people were too prideful to rely on anything but their own teeth and claws...

As someone else came on deck and yelled at Vicki, she looked him over briefly before turning her attention back to the serpent creature that had been quietly watching them all appear. She listened out for Vicki's plan, consciously reminding herself that she wasn't in charge here and to keep her opinions to herself. "What are you waiting for?" The werewolf murmured under her breath, when the creature suddenly dove into the water her eyes narrowed and she instinctively shifted her feet further apart to brace herself against any impact. Luckily she caught sight of the strange crystal attached to its tail, it looked...unnatural to say the least. As the boat rocked Rain wobbled for a moment, unaccustomed to sea travel as it was "Does all your wildlife have crystals sewn onto them?" She asked Vicki making her way to the opposite side of the boat to search for the creature again, uneasy about it being out of sight, she rested her hands against the cool metal bars though wasn't foolish enough to lean too far out as she stared at the calm blue water below.

Keeping an ear on the others Rain quickly glanced around her, inspecting the layout of the boat and looking for anything useful...there were many differences between her and her kinsman. "You, gun man, what kind of a punch has that thing got?" She asked Ryuu, raising an eyebrow at him Her ears twitched as she caught onto an unfamiliar voice, it took her a few moments to catch where it was coming from "It,ta,st,do,ki,ki...it has to ki...ki...kill?" Rain repeated, feeling her forehead crease as she tried to piece it together. "It...ta...st...do...ki...ki" She murmured pronouncing each word with emphasis, in her mind the words kept forming the same sentence 'it has to kill'. "Anyone else hear that?" the blue haired woman asked, briefly glancing over her shoulder and taking her eyes off of the water

"It wasn't much a few months ago when we arrived here." Prometheus explained, "Just a few empty concrete rooms. I had to do the wiring myself, and I'm not done digging out extra rooms underneath. The company who built me abandoned this building for budget restrictions, but they still owned the property, so now I do. But I'm being rude, please, come in." He stood aside and waved Crash in. "I'm sure there's a reason you came to me."

Hearing Mizuki tag in on his comment, Crash turned to face her, rubbing the back of his neck and adopting an apologetic yet sheepish grin "Yeah sorry about that...haven't been able to shapeshift for five years, makes it kind of hard to resist now I'm able to again" He murmured, clearly apologetic for being a nuisance though apparently unfazed by the kistune's sharpness.

"All in all, that was pretty poor behaviour on my part...I promise you it won't happen again, Miss...?" He trailed off when he realised he hadn't even had the courtesy to ask the annoyed woman her name before shooting off like he had, as he realised this color swept across his cheeks and he averted his gaze momentarily. "Ah...I didn't catch your name before...sorry" He murmured almost apologetically, glancing back at Prometheus as the robotic man spoke to him.

The shapeshifters eyes opened in surprise as he looked up at the building behind Prometheus, clearly trying to estimate just how much the man in front of him had done. He somewhat doubted the outside of the building really showed just how much work Prometheus had put into it...As the robotic man stood aside and waved Crash in, the red head glanced back down to look at him before looking back over his shoulder at Mizuki.

"Ladies first" he offered with a small smile before looking back at Prometheus. He felt a slight twinge of deja vu as Prometheus questioned him on the reason of his visit or rather their visit. "Well...Vicki told us to come here and Maria showed me where to go" He started, only moving inside Prometheus's house once or if Mizuki did. "We're supposed to help you get a sword from Europe...somehow" Crash told him, curiously looking around once he had stepped inside Prometheus's home.

Vikki eyed the sea monster and the few additional people who reached the deck. Her mind was rapidly forming a plan A, B, C, etc...which were all immediately thrown off-kilter by the arrival of a second beast. "They speak too?" she muttered to herself. The others on deck were thankfully not trying anything stupid, so Vikki was able to formulate a plan.

"Oh, I heard it," Vikki called back to the blue-haired woman. "But I don't speak Loch Ness." Looking around, she took stock of what she remembered from the files she read on the people around her. A moment of calm returned, so Vikki quickly outlined the plan.

"Alright, listen up. We're probably not going to able to be able to do much to that creature from a distance so we're going to try to lure it to where we can do some more damage. We'll worry about the smaller creature later...if anyone can translate aquatic, do so. Next time it surfaces, anyone with ranged projectiles or abilities should use them immediately. That should be most of you. If any of you can agitate the water to get him to surface, do so. Then, be ready to fight it head on. Go for the mouth and eyes, and don't get eaten. Everyone bunch up around me - we don't want any stragglers to get picked off."

She drew her two katanas and kept her head on a swivel, waiting for the beast to surface.



"It's Kelly," Mizuki said tersely, ignoring the shapeshifter's other attempts at apology and electing to use her human name again. She noted mentally with some annoyance that Prometheus probably already knew her actual name and who/what she really was, but then again in the five years that had passed she wouldn't be surprised if everyone did. Not that she much cared. "Believe me, people have made much worse first impressions to me than you did," she replied, in a half-hearted attempt to quell the man's admittedly amusing blush. She just didn't like people blushing at her. The zenko side of her would, perhaps, but that side of her was quite dormant.

She raised her eyebrows at his gesture for her to enter first and walked in the door, hoping Prometheus wouldn't give her any trouble for doing so. After all, she was supposed to be there.

It stayed below the water, watching the boat for a few moments before rushing up again to bash it's body against the boat, rocking it pretty heavily. It's tail lashed up above the water, spraying those on the boat with the splash before it ducked under again. The snake swam over to one side of the boat and lifted it's head above the water once again, looking for anyone that may have fallen off.

The smaller creature eventually got closer to the boat, close enough that those with good enough eyesight could see that it was a woman with long blonde hair. She continued yelling what she'd yelled before and some of the words could more easily be made out.

"Wa-t st-p d-n't ki... Ma-ki!"

As she got closer, those with good eyesight could see the distress on her face as the words became even more clear.

"WAIT STOP! DON'T KILL MARUKI!" She screamed as she dove in and out of the water, quickly gaining on the boat.

"If you ask my opinion," Sharon said, her voice drifting over the noise and the chaos of the battle, "It would be to hit that crystal, not the snake." She leaned against the mast easily despite the violent motion of the ship. "Considering it's connected to Marcus and all. Then again, I'm not in charge here." She shrugged as she pulled a pack of cigarettes from her pocket and, even amidst the spray, lit it with a flame from her finger. "What do you think, Miss Mercenary?" She asked, placing the lit cigarette between her lips.



"Ah, so you two were chosen to accompany me? I see, I see. I see, I see. I see, I see." He turned and began walking back down the hall, seemingly unaware of having repeated himself. He led the way back to the main room, where Margaret still sat, and turned his attention to the large screen, which instantly brought up a map of Europe. The map zoomed forward until London took up most of the screen area, and a bright dot appeared over one building in particular.

"Moving right in, the short explanation is that the British Museum is home to a certain exhibit, which happens to contain an actual artifact. Our purpose is to replace that artifact with a replica I made without anybody noticing. If possible, I would like this to go as smoothly as possible, without anybody even noticing our presence. I would go alone, but there is a possibility that one or more of our enemies has also learned of the artifact's location, and attempt to retrieve it themselves. As this mission will be taking place outside of the magical continents, I shouldn't have to remind you to be careful with your abilities, as the existence of extranormal entities is still a secret beyond these borders." The screen went blank again, and Prometheus turned to Crash and Mizuki. "I have a boat waiting for us at the harbor. As soon as you are prepared, we can leave."

- Andromeda -

Andro had also heard the rising voices on deck and her snakes were beginning to hiss and were getting a little frantic. she wasn't sure why but she heard Vicki calling them all on deck so she followed Joseph up. Andromeda saw the water snake and groaned internally. that's why the snakes were freaking out, an even larger snake was bearing down on them. she wasn't sure if she could manipulate it but as it seemed to be under Marcus' control she didn't entirely want to risk it, if i came down to an emergency she'd at least try but for the moment she stayed back. She wasn't physically strong enough to fight that thing and trying to get it to look at her eyes without turning everyone else to stone would be a massive chore, she also didn't really want to kill it. she wished she had some kind of ranged weapon, but her only weapons had been left behind when she was rushed through a portal and onto a boat, she couldn't exactly sketch the snake to make it go away. she looked at Joseph "i want to help but i don't know how"
she listened carefully to Vicki's plan and felt even more useless as she had no means to disrupt the water and currently had no ranged attacks, she looked around with a pitiful expression and the snakes continued to hiss quietly on her head, she thought hard on what she could do then she tried to get close to Vicki "Vicki! did we bring any extra weapons with us? Maria rushed me to the boat so fast i didn't have the chance to get mine and i want to help!" she wasn't sure if Vicki would pay attention to the gorgon's cries but she hoped.

Margaret Clementine

Margaret remained still with the spherical device within her proximity. She presumed they were Prometheus's friends, because Prometheus does not usually let everyone filing into the room. Her expression remaining idle, she looked up from her sphere and stared at the visitors for a few moments.

The girl blinked as she continued to do so throughout Prometheus's presentation. She remembered them. They really were Prometheus's friends.

Data's.

"..."

She remained silent as she continued staring at the two visitors, her expression neither hostile nor bubbly. She did seem to be at ease, however.

---

Ryuu Yamauchi

"Fuck if I know," the otaku mumbled at the ongoing confusion. There are two idiot creatures flying around, one seemingly less hostile and one really damn hostile. I care about my life more than anyone else would here, anyway.

The otaku sighed as he began walking forward, finally firing blasts of plasma from his model pistols at the Sea Serpent that quickly got on his nerves. Whether they liked it or not, he was going to distract the thing until they came up with a plan to kill it.

If they didn't make a plan by then, he was probably going to start shooting at everything in sight. He didn't know these people, after all; might as well do something if he knew absolutely nothing about why he was suddenly recruited into a ragtag team of weirdos.

Vikki shot a question Sharon's way as soon as she finished speaking. "Anything else you know that you'd like to share?" Her tone was one of "I don't have time for this" and "why wasn't I informed of this sooner?" "Like why there's an aquatic woman telling us not to kill this thing?"

Before even turning to look at Andromeda, Vicki pulled out a spare pistol (not one of her Persian Long Lugers) and tossed it at the gorgon based on where her voice came from. "Use that for now," she said, her head finally turning to see Andromeda. "I'll be expecting it back."

Turning her attention back to the ocean, Vikki yelled "WHY?" at the woman creature telling them not to kill the serpent before bringing her katanas to bear. "Keep your heads on a swivel and defend yourself if attacked. If you've got a clean shot on the crystal, take it," Vikki called out to the rest of those on the bridge. She hoped the aquatic woman would answer quickly if her plea had real merit.



Wow, I am just the best choice for this mission. I'm really glad I was picked for it, Mizuki thought to herself sarcastically. If she was attacked, there was no way she wouldn't use her abilities and possibly set fire to half the museum in the process. But, she was here anyway, so she'd at least attempt to stay unnoticed while she could. Her hair and nine tails didn't exactly make that an easy task, however. She shrugged at the end of Prometheus' short briefing as if to say "I'm good to go whenever."

Apparently still unfazed with the kitsune's terse manner, Crash grinned at her and inclined his head "Well then, it's a pleasure to officially meet you Kelly" He decided on quickly saying before continuing on. He chuckled slightly as to him she seemingly attempted to quell his embarrassment "Ah, now that is something I do not hear very often..." He smiled shaking his head slightly, a part of him wondered what Mizuki really meant by that though for once he had the good sense not to question her on it. Feeling the heat retreat from his cheeks he lowered his hand from his neck and quickly added "Pleased to know I haven't offended you too deeply...I'll try and keep it that way" He grinned sheepishly, unaware if his comment could be taken in a negative way...in his mind he was referring to the possibility that his clumsy nature would eventually make him put his foot in it...so to speak, though he'd forgotten Mizuki probably didn't know much or really anything about him.

He followed Mizuki and Prometheus down the hallway, looking around with wide eyes and careful not to touch anything as he moved. He daren't lift his hands away from his sides in case he accidentally broke something...As he entered the main room, the shapeshifter noticed the woman sat with some kind of spherical device near her. He didn't really recognise her outright as he hadn't actually seen much of Margaret back when the academy was still standing...no doubt Nikolai had been wise and kept the clumsy red head away from her. As she looked up at them, he offered her a friendly smile and waved his hand in greeting all the same unsure what to make of her fairly neutral expression. He only turned his attention away from Margaret when Prometheus turned his attention to a large screen.

Crash reached up and rubbed his cheek as he looked over the map of Europe, tilting his head to the side as it suddenly zoomed in on London. He listened to Prometheus and watched the screen at the same time, though couldn't stop himself from wrinkling his nose as he heard the British Museum mentioned...it was a place he'd been on his travels a few years back. He couldn't remember exactly what was inside though he recalled it being full of ancient artwork and objects...he wouldn't have pegged it as somewhere to hide a sword, he'd of thought such a thing would have stood out...enough so that he would have remembered seeing it. "Are you sure its in the British Museum? It sounds more like something you'd find in the Natural History Museum just across the way" He piped up once Prometheus had finished talking and the screen had turned blank. "And no worries I know the rules...I was there yesterday...haven't forgotten that yet" He murmured the last part before sighing heavily and drooping his shoulders a little.

His slump only lasted half a minute before he stood up straight and pulled a smile onto his face "Guess that'll make it easier for me to blend in" He grinned at Prometheus before glancing at Mizuki or rather the throng of tails that waved around her. "...do you have a way of hiding your ears and tails?" He asked her, raising one of his eyebrows as a thoughtful look crossed his face "I'm only asking because if you don't, I know how to get you something that'll help..." He quickly added lifting his hand to rub the back of his neck as he felt his cheeks color again, embarrassed yet again. He waited a few moments for the kitsunes response before turning back to Prometheus and giving him a hearty thumbs up "All packed and ready to go, Captain" he told him, before turning to look for the way out...about halfway across the room he turned on his heel and moved back over to Mizuki and Prometheus. "...where is the harbour again?" He asked, grinning bashfully and rubbing the back of his head.

---

Rain's ears twitched as she heard Vikki's response, feeling her forehead crease she muttered "Well that makes two of us..." turning her head back to the surface of the water, the werewolf carefully moved along the rail of the boat to investigate the new creature approaching them. She still heard Vikki's orders though she couldn't bring herself to obey them right away, if she could just figure out what the other creature was saying...

As the snake rushed through the water and rammed into the boat, causing it to heave to one side Rain sprung forward and wrapped her hands around the metal bars of the railing, pulling herself against them. If she hadn't of grabbed them she was sure she'd have flown off of the boat and plummeted into the ocean below them. She closed her eyes against the harsh spray of seawater as it whipped up the sides of the rocking boat and flicked off of the sea creatures giant tail, the spray thoroughly doused her clothes and hair. As the creatures head bobbed above the water, Rain lifted a hand from the rail gathering a ball of luminescent light into her palm she shot a concussive beam of lunar energy at it, hoping to daze it for a few moments.

By this point the smaller of the two creatures was close enough for her to see, as it yelled again the werewolf turned her head sharply to the side glancing over at the figure diving towards them. "You have got to be kidding me...." Rain muttered under her breath, hastily dragging her fingers through her hair to pull it away from her face so she could see better, careful not to gouge herself with her own claws as she did. Her forehead creased further as she registered the distressed look plastered across the aquatic woman's face. Don't kill Maruki? Her ears twitched as she listened to the people behind her as well Under Marcus's control?...viable...not necessarily obvious... She turned her head to look at the woman who had mentioned the beast was under Marcus's control, the blue haired woman felt her nose wrinkle as the speaker simply stated her opinion and leant back against the mast, such a simple movement yet it got Rain's back up and dulled her opinion of the other woman.

Pushing away from the rail the blue haired woman carefully picked her way across the deck heading for the small group as previously instructed by Vikki. Hearing a woman with snakes for hair ask the mercenary about weapons she toyed with the idea of intervening or not...however she was distracted by the otaku who had previously ignored or not heard her question earlier. As he walked forward and started firing blasts of some form of energy at the sea serpent Rain felt the blonde woman's words rip free of her throat. "WAIT! Don't kill it!" She snapped at Ryuu, baring her canines as she felt her lip curl back from her teeth. "The other creature, its a woman" She quickly shouted over the top of the shooting and the waves. "She keeps yelling at us not to kill it" She stated pointing over her shoulder at the sea serpent. "Until we know what's going on, keep it distracted but don't kill it" She snapped at Ryuu, her tone adopting an authoritative edge as if for a moment she was talking to a member of her pack rather than a stranger. In hind sight it was probably a risky thing to do considering she wasn't the one in charge, though in the confusion of the whole situation and because she was rather on edge herself, she didn't really think it over and allowed her instincts to kick in.

Pulling up near Vikki as she shouted at the aquatic woman, Rain ran the tips of her claws across her fingers turning to look back over at the blonde woman swimming towards them, listening for a response though at the same time she quickly added "She's nearly reached the boat, listening to her could help. This doesn't feel like a trap but if it is we can deal with it" The werewolf continued in the same tone, glancing at Vikki as if expecting her to challenge her idea "I'll cover this side" Rain pointed to the port side of the ship "Gunslinger's got that side, concussive rounds, keep in tight and don't spread around too much as you said, less chance of anyone being thrown overboard and less chance of hurting it" The werewolf was on a tangent, all attempts to bury her bossy side had been thrown aside. "Killing it does not benefit us...unless you intend to harvest it" The blue haired woman stated and questioned at the same time as she pulled lunar energy into her palms splaying her fingers in prepartion for firing her shots. Someone watch the front of the boat, another watch the back, two eyes on the side, all ranged fighters be ready to shoot wherever it surfaces...come on! This would be less precarious if we all just worked together The werewolf thought to herself angrily, barely withholding her thoughts on the matter.

A passenger vessel making it's way from France, the S.S. Iskandar was a good-sized cruise ship thatmwas currently taking it's clientel on a joyous escapade through Europe's many tourist attractions and hot spots. As of now, they were making there way to the beating heart of England that is London, with the illustrious Big Ben lording over the city like an all seeing watcher, it's eye gazing across the rooftops of it's domain. However, among the depths of the ship was a soul who could not take part in the festivities, for discovery would likely lead to him being dragged off to the nearest police station, which would lead to more trouble in the form of questions he couldn't answer.

Man, I hope this stupid sword is worth it. If this turns out to be another dud, I'm going to be fucking pissed.

Caelus was currently hiding away in the lower compartments, his clothes being a rather smelly assortment of a grey jacket, a faded white shit, some jeans, and sneakers. He'd been unable to wash himself since Paris, so he was getting a pretty ripe smell, and had been hesitnt to do his usual fire bathing technique for fear it'd draw unwanted attention, both the mundane and otherwordly kind. He was in the home stretch now, however, and he allowed himself a sigh of relief. I wonder, will this thing really help me control my powers. I did just overhear some demons discussing it, so I've got no real proof, but it's the first bit of direction I've had in a long time.

Caelus would wait until they pulled into the harbor, then he'd exit in a silent manner, avoiding suspicionmas he began to formulate a plan of how he was going to get the blade from the place.

The snake flinched as the blasts of energy hit it's scales and after a few minutes of taking shots, managed to return to its senses and dove below the water. The woman was finally close enough to the boat that they could hear her yelling very clearly now. She could make out the voice of someone from the boat asking her why.

"That sea snake is an important cultural and religious symbol. He is the representation of our diety, Maruki. Kill him and you gain the wrath of an entire nation of merpeople!" She shouted in return. "He's being controlled right now. We don't yet know by who but kill Maruki and our civilization may very well go into chaos." She added, staying a fair distance away, as the waves from the snake wouldn't make getting closer any easier.

The snake, rushed at the bottom of the boat again, rocking it rather heavily once again. Yet another crewman who was stupidly walking on the top deck to get his phone he'd dropped flopped off of the boat and into the water. As soon as he did, Maruki's head spun in the direction of the impact and swam quickly at the man, prepared to snap at him like the other before him.

The merwoman watched the blue haired woman as she tried to stop the man from attacking Maruki and called the others to action, apparently wanting to call the shots. She didn't know if she was the leader or not, but she appreciated her none the less. Her eyes darted to sound of the crewman falling off of the boat as he flailed, screaming.

"GET. ME. OUT. PULL ME UP. PLEASE, OH GOD... PLEEEASE GET ME UP!"

A sexy merwoman caught Ryuu by surprise.

There were many things he could've thought of the moment she popped up. "What the hell is that?!" or "Holy crap, what's going on?" But Ryuu was a different story. If there was man who could think "Mom, I saw boobs for the first time in my life," then he would be the one to think of that during a middle of a life-changing crisis.

So he thought to himself,

Mom, I saw boobs for the first time in my life.

Even though he didn't really have a mom...

The otaku quickly threw his hands up in the air, his eyes wide in surprise rather than fear, when a blue-haired woman shouted at him. What was up with every man and woman looking like idols around him?! Why couldn't they look bland as hell like he was-

Oh wait. Maybe that was taking it too far. He'd really hate to see someone that looked like him.

"...Yes ma'a- I mean," the otaku stuttered before retrieving his level-headed(?) attitude. "Fine then. I won't shoot directly at it, then. But if it makes one move to kill me, I'm going to make it regret popping out of that damned water."

Even the merwoman said something about the sea snake... though, he had to trust any information he could get if he wanted to live, regardless of how ridiculous it sounded to him. He didn't want a f-ckbucket of snakes chasing after him, after all.

Before he shot again, however, Ryuu heard a distant scream from the boat. Some dude just fell off.

...Just ignore him, Ryuu thought to himself as a weird itch came to his heart. But for some reason, something commanded him to think otherwise. Just ignore him. Just- ...Fuck, I'm going to regret this.

Putting his pistols by his belt, the sunglasses-wearing man threw aside his sunglasses- they would just get in the way if he brought them to water. Ryuu grit his teeth as he ran towards the scream's direction, nearly falling off when he slammed himself against the side of the boat and saw the crewman.

He turned to the snake, then at the man.

He hated snakes. He preferred men, regardless of whether they were screaming for help or trying to kill him for no good reason.

And whatever, his life was nearly complete: he just saw boobs for the first time after all.

Ryuu jumped off the boat and as he resurfaced, grabbed the crewman.

But how the hell was he going to get back up?

...

...

...

...

...

"...FUCKING HELL, ME! WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT SHIT BEFORE I JUMPED OFF?!"

The otaku turned to the snake's direction and then at the boat. What could he do...?

Well, first things first, he needed to blast the crewman back on the ship. Since the guy was wearing clothes, he could still use his plasma powers on the man.

"Hang on," he grumbled as he swam behind the crewman and held him by his waist. Gritting his teeth, he lowered himself and caused a small blast of plasma to send the man back onto the ship.

So all was well.

Now he just needed to get himself back on the ship.

"I'm dead, aren't I?" Ryuu asked no one in particular as he quickly regretted saving the crewman.

"Killing it does not benefit us...unless you intend to harvest it"

"Staying alive doesn't benefit us?" Vikki tersely replied to the blue-haired woman, before rushing to another part of the ship to check on that side. Rain was getting increasingly authoritative, which was fine for the time being as she had good suggestions, but Vikki made a mental note to keep her in check should it become an issue.

"Oh good," she muttered sarcastically when the merwoman yelled out an explanation. Before she could take action, however, a crewman fell overboard and the plasma man jumped in afterwards, saving the man but unable to get back on the boat himself. She threw her head back at the sky in frustration momentarily before erupting into a sprint towards the bridge. Somehow nobody on board was at the helm and nobody on board had thought to stop the ship at any point. She yelled "You're in charge while I'm up there," as she sprinted past the blue-haired woman. Now's your chance to prove yourself, she thought as she ran. Sprinting down corridors and up stairs three at a time, she soon reached the vacant bridge. As she slammed the throttle lever into hard reverse, the boat began lurching slowly to a halt. From the bridge's bird's-eye view she could survey everything, but not give orders because of the windows.

Rain was surprised when she caused the otaku to stutter before he shot back a fair comment ...no arguments there the werewolf thought, it would have been unacceptable were it not for the fact Ryuu was not a member of her pack. Rain's eyes narrowed marginally at Vikki's terse response, although staying alive was a priority the werewolf realised she had been focusing on a bigger picture. Her ears twitched as the merwoman's voice reached her, over the clunking whir of the ships engine and the whoosh of water as waves troubled the surface of the sea and broke against the boat. She wondered whether the waves would slow the boat down at all...she didn't wonder long as she took in what the merwoman had said.

"Of course he is..." Rain murmured under her breath, casting a glance at Sharon, it wouldn't take much to guess who was controlling 'Maruki' Another move on the chessboard...clever, not only does this delay our journey, it puts us at risk of losing support from another faction...or a potential ally...this could still work in our favour though if we get it away from Marcus's control as Rain thought on it the damned sea serpent bashed at the boat again, the violent rocking caught her off guard and caused her to slide across the wet slippery floor boards, though she didn't move too far as she dropped into a crouch and dug her claws into the wooden boards to help hold her in place. With a shake of her head Rain flicked her drenched hair out of her face instantly looking at the others to make sure they were still aboard the ship...when she heard the screaming man she felt her stomach drop. Why? What could possibly possess you to come up here? She thought as she hastilly made her way to the rail to assess the situation. "Stop flailing and swim for the boat!" Rain hissed at the crewman as her eyes focused on the dark shadow that was Maruki, swiping her hand out to the side she fired three large blunt blades of luna energy at the sea serpent to slow him down just as Ryuu slammed into the boats railing and in the next second had jumped overboard himself. She turned her head as Vikki sprinted past her yelling over the sound of the waves In charge of what? she glanced over her shoulders at the few people left on the deck of the boat before looking back down at Ryuu.

As she watched Ryuu swim towards the crewman, Rain turned her head sharply looking for some way to help, when an epiphany hit her...a potentially deadly epiphany. Not heroic, logical "Don't get eaten!" she shouted at Ryuu as she sprung over to where one of the ropes for the pulley system above was secured against the side of the boat. "Everyone stay ON the boat!" Grabbing the rope she swiped at it with her claws catching it just above the tight knot that was threaded through a thick metal ring, pulling a good portion of the rope in towards her she sliced off any excess and hoped her quick calculations were right. "Anyone with a weapon keep an aim on it, see if you can get a shot at that crystal on its tail" The werewolf jumped up at the side of the boat, crouching close to the wall for a brief second before she propelled herself out over the water. As she hit the end of the ropes reach, her entire body jarred painfully and the pulley system creaked noisily overhead, ignoring her body's protests, she held the rope tightly in her hands as she swung round and used her body weight to make her arc towards Ryuu, catching sight of him propel the crewman aboard as she did.

One less to worry about, one less to carry As she swung closer her eyes darted between Ryuu and the dark shape of Maruki, drawing close to the otaku she gripped the rope tightly with one hand and reached for him with her other "Grab my hand!" She called to him "and for the love of Sirius do NOT miss" leaning further out Rain had angled herself so that she'd skim the water very close to Ryuu and even through the thrashing of the waves she could see him clearly and was sure he could see her...alongside that she was going fast enough to slice through any waves that sprung into her path, though the disturbed water was an uncontrollable threat to the success of this swing. Another was if Ryuu didn't grab a hold of her arm, she would probably end up hitting him instead...she really hoped it didn't pan out like that, werewolf strength and the speed she was going at...'ouch' just wouldn't be a strong enough word All this for a bunch of fish people...hot fish people...but fish people all the freaking same

"Thanks, I guess.", said Artav as she continued scribbling down on her book. "Nice knowing that someone appreciates my work on furnishing, redecorating and expanding a hand-me-down house from a dead couple. For some nonsense that I refuse to look deeper in, oddly, I've been allowed to take their estate as mine under their will. Let me explain to you in simpler words: some student gets hit in the head and goes brain-dead, I possess her, get to stay at her parents' house, they die and now I'm here."

Now there are three favors she would be glad to have Jonathan do: have him do a quick but mundane task, get him to do a consultation with her, or take him on a short journey on the jungles a bit far from here. The first two choices would get him to leave quickly and leave her focused once again, but the last choice would allow her to retrieve a desirable treasure early without having to wait to finish her summon.

Artav presented him the options.

"Now back to your obligations. You have three things to pick from. Just water my spice garden in the yard and you leave quick, take my services, or, if you're looking for more adventure, go with me on a trip. What do you say?"