Flying Pirate vs. Solar Powered Vampire: The Cereal Killer vs. The Book Keeper
Round 2
Wind danced through the Cereal Killer’s impressive mustache as he jet through the air. He’d never really “flown” like this for quite so long before. The technique was always used to boost him in one direction or another faster than he’d normally be able to manage; it was not really for concentrated air flight. As such he was clumsy, constantly changing direction inadvertently, and having to boost directly below himself so as not to lose altitude. The air stung against his face, which turned red from the abuse.
Far down below, Motley Crue grumbled internally as he witnessed the flying pirate. Chasing down Erina before was a chore, then he had to double back to find this opponent. Now he was taking off and the vampire would have to give chase yet again. It was all so irksome, and though he was a patient man, he did have his limits. Well, there was no helping that now. Motley took off after Runch, starting with some mighty leaps up the colosseum, skipping several rows of stands at a time as he ascended. For a creature of his strength, it was no different from skipping stairs in a run.
Once Crue had reached the top ledge, he took another great leap, using both legs for maximum propulsion. Runch already had a good amount of distance on him; there was no way he’d be able to catch up like this, but if he could close the distance even a little… Closing one eye to take aim, the vampire pointed his right index finger forward, keeping track of his target. Runch’s erratic, unskilled flight actually made him more unpredictable, but the vampire didn’t worry. He cleared his head, regulated his breathing, and allowed his ripple to float him steadily in the air. He had a bead on the pirate. Next he built up blood pressure behind the finger, and imbued the digit with ripple energy. Pop! The foremost bone in his finger shot outward with the force of a bullet, speeding through the air!
Runch couldn’t hear the distant sound over the air filling his ears. With no possible forewarning, the attack from behind landed square in his back. ”Gah!” he yelled out, losing control of his movement. Horizontal travel became a vertical plummet. He tried to correct his course, but the added momentum of the bone-bullet caused him to spin and he couldn’t figure out how to correct the force! He only succeeded in slowing his fall from a lethal speed to a more manageable one. Worse yet, it wasn’t solid ground that was speeding toward Runch’s face, but a flooded section of Oldtown!
Oh boysenberry! Can’t drown, can’t drown, can’t drown!
”Bori bori raft!” Runch tucked himself together and generated a large, solid piece of strawberry red cereal from his feet. He whipped around just in time to collide with the water feet first in a great splash. The backwave threw him, and his emergency raft, up in the air a good ten feet before he came back down again. The Cereal Killer collapsed down onto his lifesaver, not sure if the trembling came from the rocky motion of the water, or the shake up from his near-death collision. Pain wracked through every nerve on his body. Gingerly, he reached around his back to feel where he had been shot. The wound felt tender, it hurt, but he’d be fine. He could even keep fighting with the bone still in there, but he wouldn’t.
Concentrating, the captain generated a cereal pellet from his skin inside the wound. This forced the bone-bullet to slowly push out until it fell to the raft. This had the added effect of closing the wound like a plug to prevent any further bleeding. Sighing contentedly, Runch stood up on his raft of wheat and turned around to see where his opponent was. There, in the air, slowly hovering toward him, was Motley Crue. The vampire was still a good distance off, which would let Runch plan their next encounter. A superior opponent was coming for him, someone he couldn’t fight head on. The vampire’s dark ripple and stand easily neutralized his bori bori powers. So how could the captain take him down? He pondered, dropping a few pellets of cereal into the water, and began to remember…
Meanwhile, Motley Crue allowed himself to drift back down to the ground. Running along the debris and flooded streets from last night’s storm would be a far more expedient method of travel. Something bothered him, though. K. Runch stood alone, on a raft of his own making, in the middle of the water. According the the sneak peak he had gotten on that journal, the fruit that gave Runch his powers also cursed him. If he were to fall into water, he couldn’t use his powers and he would drown. Was Runch comfortable fighting a superior enemy in the middle of his biggest weakness? He was a pirate, after all. He would have been used to sailing open waters. But a sailing ship was a farcry from a dinky raft.
No, there was something else at play here. Think, Motley! He has that journal, and now he’s had all the time he needs to completely understand what you are capable of, what you can do! So what is that pirate playing at? What is his game?
Oh. So that’s it.
Drowning wasn’t a weakness unique entirely to K. Runch. If he got Motley into the water, forced it down his lungs, then Motley couldn’t breathe anymore. It wouldn’t be fatal as it would be to a human being, but it would disrupt the ripple. It would disarm Motley of a great deal of his powers. That had to be it.
He was closing in now. Motley slowed his pace and stood atop a large delivery truck that was nearly entirely submerged by the flooded streets. Runch was a mere thirty feet away, outside the range of Heavy Fuel… But not by a great margin. ”It would have been wise to continue fleeing.” Keep the pirate off balance. Let him know you’re not intimidated. Make him doubt his plan.
”Omnomnom! But then we wouldn’t be able to have our current chat! You gotta pick the berries while they’re ripe! If you wait too long, they’ll spoil! Omnomnom!” Runch remained unintimidated by the vampire’s presence. If fact, he had even let his guard down a small bit, leaning on his sword like it was a cane. ”I was just thinkin’ about my crew, specifically about Miss Schrodinger, since she’s in this competition with the two of us.”
Motley chafed under the old man’s reminiscing. Of course, he was no doubt far older than this pirate, but the point remained. ”I suppose you should want to be comfortable before losing your wish.” he replied. ”Since you’ll serve me after you lose. It’s natural to want to come to terms.”
K. Runch let out a hearty laugh, almost in a mocking way. At least, that’s how it came across to Motley. The truth is that Runch was just that friendly of a man. ”Omnomnomnom! No, that’s not it! I was just thinking about how to beat you, and something she said popped into my head!” As if to emphasis the word “pop,” he snapped his left hand fingers.
”Really?” Motley asked, somewhat amused. The pirate had failed to deal him any significant damage so far, he could indulge their conversation a little longer. ”And what was it that she said?”
”What you need to know, Mr. Crue, is that Miss Schrodinger is my sharpshooter. The sniper of my ship. But even so, she often gets in the thick of it with the rest of us when we have a fight on our hands. Thing is, her body is really weak, on account of being a badger.” Runch gestured with his hand as he spoke. Badger? Yes, Motley did recall seeing such an animal when all the contestants had gathered together. It wore a rather large hat, if he remembered correctly.
”So one day, when we were all sparring together, the two of us had to fight. I have no shame in admitting that she beat me. In fact, I take pride in it. All my crew, they’re born fighters. I never intended this life, so they all took turns training me, you see. And Miss Schrodinger, her advice applies right now, against you, more than ever. She told me, ‘you wimp-ass honky bitch, don’t you know that when you fight some ripped dude that you need to attack him from a different angle? Somethin’ their thick-ass heads ain’t gon’ expect?’” His impression of Joanne Schrodinger was highly impressive, not that Motley would know or care.
”Then I am afraid her advice has failed you,” Motley replied in a rather dry manner. ”You intend to disrupt my breathing with this water. Now that I’ve seen it coming, it won’t work.” The vampire took a fighting stance and prepared to charge across the water. Whatever the pirate’s method of attack, he’d neutralize it and beat him down right now.
”Omnomnom! That’s a good one! But you weren’t listening, Mr. Crue. I said, ‘something they won’t expect!’ Bori bori firehose!” Motley Crue charged across the water, walking upon the surface as though it were solid thanks to his ripple, as Bartholomew K. Runch fired a steady stream of cereal pellets directly at the vampire, holding his ground. The pirate had truly learned nothing then. Heavy Fuel boiled out from Motley’s pores and intercepted the stream of assault. What came next, the vampire truly did not predict.
Fish. Fish of all shapes and sizes, ranging from guppies and minnows to piranhas, and those strange tentacle creatures he had slaughtered before, all emerged from the flood waters in a massive school. They jumped up to get the cereal, but instead found themselves surrounding a vampire. ”WRRRRAYYYYYY!” Motley cried out as he began to slaughter the aquatic animals in every way he could. Heavy Fuel killed many before they could get anywhere near him. His bare hands tore through the fish, eels, and decapods as though they were tissue paper. There were too many still, and a few had latched onto his body. One of the tentacle creatures squeezed his leg, a lobster grappled his hair, and a piranha had attached to his neck. Still the worst was yet to come.
”BORI BORI!” The sea creatures parted aside as Runch charged through them, propelled by a high pressure stream of cereal shooting from his back, his spoonsaber outstretched. ”JET SPEAR!” Taken by surprise, Motley felt the wide head of the spoonsaber sink deep into his chest. He was propelled backward as Runch continued his charge, the weapon’s serrated edges tearing apart his lungs from the inside. Damn, that’d take some effort to regenerate. And out in the open, too. The sun… The sun!
K. Runch came to a stop atop the same truck Motley had taken refuge on only seconds ago. A weak wheezing came from the vampire, his breathing, and thus his ripple, disabled. However the sun did not burn away his body. At least not immediately. Wasting no time, he recalled his stand to his own body in order to protect him from the plasma ball’s harmful rays. It only bought him a few seconds, but it was a vital, precious few seconds. Motley violently tore himself off from the still outstretched blade, throwing himself into the water below. The precious liquid of life offered some protection from that which would burn him to ash, and his form sank down to the bottom of the truck, away from the sun. Here, submerged, he could regenerate. Once he was good as new, Heavy Fuel could protect him a few more seconds until he got his lungs working in proper order. After that… The pirate needed to be put down. Hard.
Runch looked over the side of the truck, mentally congratulating himself on using his fish feed recipe as his main jet propeller. That caught the attention of all sorts of critters to gather round his location. He could see Motley, but the vampire was out of reach. The only way he’d be able to do anything at this point would be if he jumped into the water with him, and… Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen. He’d just have to take advantage of the high ground when his opponent emerged, and attack before his breathing could start up again. Until that time, Runch could only wait.
He winced in pain, glancing down at his sword arm. The skin had blackened. Rushing straight through the cloud of fish was incredibly risky, since he had no way of knowing where that toxic stand was. Looks like it got him, and not a small bit. Ouch. Then a thought occurred to him. What if his opponent stayed submerged in the water, out of his reach, and just sent his stand to attack? Runch couldn’t see Heavy Fuel; he’d only know after his body began to rot apart. No, no that couldn’t happen. The water only provided partial protection from the sun, and he clearly couldn’t be breathing down there, which meant that something else was adding that vital extra layer of protection. That something must have been his stand. Good, so he was safe for the time being.
Suddenly the truck began to rock back and forth. ”Boppin’ blueberries!” He remained steady, he was a pirate captain after all, but the sudden shock threw him for a loop. Before he knew it, Motley Crue had jumped up from beneath the waves and onto the small platform they now shared. Runch reacted as quick as he could, but his damaged sword arm wasn’t able to swing fast enough. Before the blade made contact, he found himself held up in the air, gasping for breath furiously against the hands clenched against his throat. Motley Crue spat out right into Runch’s face, enough water that it could have been confused for a heavy vomit. The captain would have sputtered and coughed, but his trachea was forcibly closed.
The vampire’s breathing took hold once again. Energy rippled around his body, protecting him from the ultraviolet radiation that normally would have him dust by now. This pirate was too dangerous to go easy on. He needed to be taken out here and now. With his breathing safely reestablished, Motley engaged in Lightning Mode. Bio-electricity flowed through his body, directly into his prey. Directly on the throat, which was now covered in conductive water.
”AAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!” Runch’s scream fought through the closed throat, forcing a path open to find some kind of relief from the agonizing pain. Motley didn’t let up. He cranked the voltage up. No more messing around. No more games. This enemy could take it. Runch’s scream only got louder as Motley forced more energy into the current. Most people would have been killed by now, but this one held on. The captain’s shirt and pants began to smoke, while his bicorn hat had fallen off. His skin blackened and burned. His very long, spiked mustache curled up and split apart. ”AAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!” It wouldn’t be long now until he passed out from the pain.
Was this it? Runch couldn’t even move. The energy coursing through his body was paralyzing, it was all he could do just to express his agony! Thoughts of battle plans, strategies, escape attempts, and fruit puns were completely drowned out by the cacophony of his own misery. He convulsed involuntarily, constantly in motion but not able to move by his own command. Motley Crue had gotten him. There had to be a way out of this, hadn’t there? Think, Runch! Think! … He could not. Everything faded into darkness.
Fight through the pain.
What was that? That sounded like…
Rely on your strength, cap’n. You are greater than you know.
Hachirou. His navigator. The man who ate the neko neko no mi: model lion. The strongest member on his ship. Runch remembered… He remembered Hachirou.
You can endure any pain. Fight with the ferocity of a lion, and you will always endure.
”You got it… Hachirou…” Motley narrowed his eyes, partly in determination, partly in bewilderment. His prey had stopped screaming. He whispered something that was just barely audible, but his body still convulsed as the voltage cooked his body alive. The man’s eyes had long since rolled up in the back of his head, showing only white.
”Bori bori… Hellberry… Grenade…” A single cereal pellet, the size of an apple, emerged from the pores on Runch’s left hand. Motley’s eyes widened. He willed it to be destroyed by Heavy Fuel before the weapon could detonate, but it was too late. The pellet collided with the truck roof and went off with an impressive explosion. The shockwave tossed the two combatants apart, flying in opposite directions. Motley got away with moderate damage, but knew it would quickly regenerate. Runch’s body had already been charred, covered in black, burnt skin from the electricity. This insulation gave him some protection against the blast force, but he too was tossed like a rag doll. He skidded along the water’s surface like a tossed stone, and once his momentum slowed, sank like that same stone.
The explosion did more than simply separate the two fighters. Damage from the flood had already been widespread. The foundation in the streets was beginning to crack. The explosion sped along the process, blasting open a small hole. A small hole which quickly expanded as water rushed through, eroding more and more ground. All that water was going somewhere, and somewhere fast! The current picked up the unconscious form of Bartholomew K. Runch, submerged and helpless. His body tumbled along until it too was sucked into the hole. Everything after that went black…
”Ugh… Why do I feel like I just woke up on the wrong side of a drinking contest with Dr. Ken?” Blink. Blink blink. Everything was hazy. Everything hurt something fierce. Everything… Was wet? Runch forced his eyes to focus, but he didn’t recognize anything. It was dark, too dark to make out much of anything. He needed to be able to see! ”Bori bori lantern.” A ball of cereal generated in his palm in the shape of a lamp, carried by hand. It began to glow with a semi-bright luminescence. This recipe had been designed so that kids could have fun with glow in the dark tongues, but it had proven itself to be quite useful.
Runch took a look around his environment, now at least able to make things out. It was some sort of dark cavern, with many winding passageways. Some sort of… Catacombs beneath the district of Oldtown. Strange hieroglyphs adorned the walls, portraying images from a long dead culture. The walls were wet with the water that still drained from up above. The place wasn’t exactly filling up and threatening to drown him, but the water level was up to his knees. Darn, that meant that his bori bori no mi powers would only work at about half strength.
”This place has been touched by the spirits of many dead,” spoke a calm, stern voice from somewhere behind Runch. The pirate jumped at the unexpected noise, then turned to see a short, svelte woman. She had a tail and ears resembling a fox. Was she also a devil fruit user? Runch hadn’t seen any zoan transformations that looked like that before. She looked all human, except for the ears and tail. No, more likely she was another contestant. That, or one of the “other factions” Oren had mentioned. ”As loathe as I am to help that undead abomination, I am bound by the loss of my soul. He ordered that I end the fight if I saw him having trouble, and watching you fly away while he could barely float along qualifies. So…”
The fox girl unsheathed a sword and pointed it decisively at Runch. Suddenly her entire presence changed, like she were another person entirely. ”Once I kill you, I will guide your soul to the next world.”
”Omnomnomnom! You’re welcome to try, miss! But you’ll find I’m a bit spicier than the average berry!” Speaking with great confidence, the captain placed a hand on his sword sheathe… Only to find the spoonsaber missing. He pat down his side a couple times before looking to confirm it was gone. Washed away somewhere in these catacombs while he was unconscious. Now visibly nervous, he looked back up to the young woman before him. No sword, already injured, his powers at a handicap, and Motley Crue was undoubtedly not far behind. This was going to be fun.
4x Like
