[IC] One Piece: New Age

[Duthguy]

Asus knew he couldn't keep wasting hornets like that, especially since the acid made sending them in the direction of the Marine's face even less effective. At least he managed to avoid it and reach his target getting on top of Yami's shell meaning he should be safe for a while. Or so he thought because not even few seconds after he climbed up, the turtle-man jumped up which surprised Asus enough that he fell off and hit the ground.

He quickly rolled away from where he landed to avoid being crushed to death. "Much more mobile than I thought. Still that jumping might make those metal plates useful." Since Asus had no other ideas to hurt Yami at the moment he refrained form sending out anymore hornets instead focusing on either dodging or blocking the turtle-man's next move.

---

Total number of hornets in Asus' body is 100. Number of hornets used for combat 65, hornets currently in use 10/65, dead hornets 28/65

[IceHeart]

Lenny had quick reflexes and managed to block her first attempt, once she bounced off the wall and came back however, Lenny was ready for her and attempted to slash at her chest. Considering he was coming straight at her though the attempt was as plain as day, using one her left scythe handle she deflected the dagger slash but it allowed Lenny to circle around her. Despite the change in position she did not stop moving as attacking with her scythe was not the only weapon at her disposal.

As she ran she kept her right scythe low and soon enough she found what she had been aiming for. The blade tip went into one of her deposited chain links, hooking it for her next move. Instantly she dove to the left, taking the chain with her to cut across Lenny's path. If Lenny did not catch on to her trap in time and stop his assault, her sudden change in direction would cause the knife to cut across her right leg instead of the back of her left knee. Despite the obvious pain she would use her honed body to tighten her grip on the chain and quickly move around the small pirate to tighten her makeshift metal noose, to immobilize him for the rest of the fight, trapped in the iron grip of her chain.

"You're right, that's why I adapt to my circumstances. If one way won't work make your own path to victory."

[Jensoman]

Lenny smirked as his left dagger cut across Zypha's right leg. As Zypha moved the chain and attempted to wrap the chain around him, he quickly jumped back, avoiding his body from being wrapped in. He failed to dodge the chain entirely however, as he didn't respond fast enough to reel his left hand back which he used to stab at Zypha's knee earlier. The chain managed to wrap around his left dagger and hand. Lenny stared in shock for a split second, as he realised what was going on. Zypha managed to take advantage of his own position and trap him in it.

His confident, sadistic grin turned into a look of annoyance. "NERGH! You pathetic pirate!" He roared, as he slashed at Zypha's neck with his right dagger. He attempted to pull his left hand out of the chain as he did this.

[tex]

Yami turned his head towards Asus as he fell off his back with a stern glare fixated on the man's torso. If things kept going the way they were now, this would be over before the marine captain had a chance to use any of his flashier techniques. For a moment the turtle-man dreaded having to dispose of his new toy, turning towards him slowly and shaking the ground with each stomp. "What's the matter, brat?" Yami taunted, "Having difficulty thinkin' a way around this rock-hard bod of mine? Reh~ha~heh! That's it, isn't it?" Yami finally turned to face Asus after a few seconds. Although it wasn't easy to see due to his massive snapping-turtle-like jaw, he was grinning quite profusely. "Come on, come on! Show me something interesting, kid! You're a hardcore pirate, aint'chya? Or are you just another wannabe rookie looking for an early grave? Reh~ha~heh~ha~ha!!!" He blurted, spitting small droplets of acid across the ground in front of him. Yami didn't look like he intended to attack Asus at all. Hell, it looked more like he was begging for Asus to strike first. Typical marines, always smug and full of shit.

[Hatman1801]

"You want a name?! It's Sophia! Sophia Kolben!"

The girl pulled the hammer from her side again, the center of it glowing faintly as steam rose, a separate boiler active and ready to pump some power into her swings.

"You sick of my bragging? I'll gladly rip your ears off for you then, pirate!"

Sophia was just going to take some time to play with her armor some in combat. Make sure everything was working right, no misaligned plates or issues in the boiler systems. The armor was complicated enough that she needed plenty of supplies to test and upgrade it efficiently, and she needed the villager's money and supplies to do it. Well, now she could make a killing off of taking down a Devil Fruit-using pirate scum.

She pointed her left arm at Abigail first, flicking the wrist upwards to reveal a small barrel under the arm. The motion went ahead and fired the miniature cannon, with an explosive shell firing straight at the retreating pirate. She didn't waste any time after the shot, crouching for a moment with hammer at the ready. She'd no doubt try to keep an eye on the girl, and pull off another one of those high speed lunges, although this one was coming with a weapon. Still, the suit's attacks were noticeably linear at this point; she could charge like a bull, but it seemed she turned like one too.

[malmshodes]

"Sophia?" Abigail tilted her head to the side and muttered the name again, tasting it. "No. I don't think so." She shook her head. "Its a beautiful name, don't get me wrong, but its far too delicate. You strike me as more of a Nicole or Alexandria. Something that could be given a cool kids nickname. Wouldn't you love to be palling around with your crew and someone says hey Nick, mind throwing me that sword so I can finish off the last of these pieces of scum?"

The redhead crouched down and put her other hand on the sword when she saw the woman in the mechanical armor take hold of that stranger hammer, the one that should've conducted electricity into the rest of the suit but instead of doing that stopped it there and then like that guy in pot circles who refused to pass the doobie. She would've replied to her opponent's comment about her hears being disconnected from her head but didn't get a chance before the armor revealed another one of its specialties, a little cannon. Aww it was so cute, in one of those baby black widow kind of ways.

She didn't wait to see what would happen and started moving. There wasn't much else that could happen. Cannons old did one thing, two if you counted waiting around being useless until there was somebody you wanted dead. It was good thing she did too because the round wasn't something she could've shrugged off. It hit the spot where her center had just been with a celebratory bang that hit her from behind and sent her reeling. She hit the ground with her shoulder and rolled with the motion because it beat letting it stop you flat. She didn't go far though before she jammed her blade a few inches into the ground and used that to stop her tumble before the wall did it for her.

"Ouch." She muttered, getting shakily to her feet. "That's some arm your packing." The hand not on her sword started glowing with flickering flashes of red electricity.

[Duthguy]

Asus believed that the only ways of hurting Yami available to him were getting him to ram those metal plates on the wall or forcing him to temporarily transform back to human form and attack in that moment, but he had no idea how to accomplish either of those. On the other hand if the Marine had the key to the door and he could get his hands on it he might able to team up with either Abigail or Zypha.

While it was most likely that Yami would keep the key on his body in that case that was also the most predictable option so just in case Asus sent out a single hornet to search the room. In order to hide the presence of that hornet since his opponent had shown the ability to kill the insect form a distance, he once again charged the turtle-man. Instead of trying to climb his shell the goal was this time to simply punch Yami in the face. That said the punch itself wouldn't be so simple as it was one of two new techniques Asus had thought of. "Bachi Bachi no kougake!"

---

Total number of hornets in Asus' body is 100. Number of hornets used for combat 65, hornets currently in use 1/65, dead hornets 28/65

[Hatman1801]

Sophia smirked beneath the armor, steam jetting from the vents on her legs, the pressure releasing as she charged at Abigail once again. She hardly ever actually got a kill with her cannon; the explosion was solid, but the ball was too small for anything but a direct hit to really finish off anyone. It was for what she has just accomplished; knocking her enemies off-balance for the finishing blows.

"You know, insulting me over and over again is just gonna make me feel better about caving your skull in. Or maybe I'll go for the ribs, see how you like bone fragments in your lungs. Your sword isn't getting through my armor, and I don't plan on sitting still and seeing what else your little Devil Fruit might be capable of besides lame little sparks!"

She didn't take long to close the distance, and she was almost in striking range of Abigail again, only this time with a weapon. Between the wrist cannon and her ability to catch up so quickly, playing keep-away with Sophia's Aesir Armor wasn't going to be easy. Staying close was also dangerous because of the immediate power of the strikes. The suit was too durable for the sword, and the Dendo-Dendo no Mi didn't have any obvious effect on it.

Regardless of immaturity, especially for a marine, it seemed as though Sophia had every right to be arrogant.

[malmshodes]

"See, I'm the kind of enemy everyone needs." Abigail said, trying to smile but wincing at a little at the pain in her side. "I give you something to look forward to. It would be like Christmas every day for everyone if there were more people like me around that were easier to kill, at least for the psychopaths, but there's no shortage of them. Ever see how many marines there are swarming around everywhere like house flies you lot are."

The redheaded pirate didn't move when the massive hunk of armor shot towards her like a freight train. "Wanna see something cool?" She smiled, blinking rapidly. "Dendo-Dendo Earthworm." She put her glowing hand on blade's handle. Red lightning shot down the sword into the ground. It hit the EArth and changed direction, shooting towards the approaching marine, ripping the ground up as it traveled, leaving a scar 6 inches deep and three inches wide.

[tex]

Right for the face, was it? Silly little pirate, punching a turtle's shell was insane enough, but aiming for his acid-spewing bone-crunching maw was practically suicidal! Yami reeled his had back as the hornet-man stepped in with his right foot and threw his fist alarmingly fast towards his head. Of course, Yami instictively widened his jaw and prepared to snap down hard on Asus' hand, ready to not only disarm him (literally) but kill whatever hornets he bothered to send forward. Was Asus going to keep fighting this battle? Or would he run? Only time would tell.

Of course, Yami had no intention of letting the kid get away. He kept the key to the exit tucked carefully away inside his coat, which was inaccessible while his shell was protecting his squishy inner body.

[Hatman1801]

"Okay, so it does more than sparks!" Sophia couldn't stop her momentum fast enough. Her long lunge landed short of Abigail, and the cracked crumbled under her foot, red sparks coursing along the leg that sunk into the crack. She seemed more aggravated than distressed though, even as sparks of lightning danced along the plates of her armor.

"Too bad it won't save your life in the long run!" She rose her hammer, and the vents opened on one side, a jet of stream releasing as she brought the hammer down on the ground near her stuck leg, the increased momentum thanks to the stream shattering the ground around her leg further, now surrounded by rubble instead of a crevice as she stood up straight, kicking her leg a bit, releasing some steam as she inspected the joint. No obvious damage, and as she twirled the hammer in her hands a bit, she laughed.

"Bet you're wondering why that one isn't leaving me in epileptic spasms either. I'll let you in on something. My hammer conducted your blast before just fine, straight to my armor. The reason it didn't affect me is because there's an insulation layer under the plates. Keeps the temperature from getting too hot, keeps any overwhelming impacts from hurting me while I'm inside...and doesn't conduct electricity. Can't stab the outside, can't shock the inside!" She crouched down again, steam jetting from the vents on her legs again as she charged towards Abigail again. It was a little difficult to tell, but this charge seemed just a tad bit slower than the others.

[Duthguy]

Of course Asus knew his plan to punch the acid spitting turtle-man in the face was stupid, but he didn't have any other attacks that even had a chance of hurting Yami. What made the situation even worse was that he had no idea if his spy would find the key and that he would definitely lose if the fight went on long enough.

So he had to get his hornets as close possible to Yami without them getting killed, and even then the turtle-man wasn't allowed to know what he was doing hence the punch. He saw Yami opening his mouth but wasn't too worried as the target for his fist was one of the Marines' eyes. As the pirate thrusthed his arm forwards he went over his plan in his mind: step 1 punch Yami in the eye, step 2 use seven hornets to further increase the damage and step 3 no matter how the other two steps went use the distraction and the fact that he was close enough to touch the opponent to enact his real plan.

---

Total number of hornets in Asus' body is 100. Number of hornets used for combat 65, hornets currently in use 1/65, dead hornets 28/65

[IceHeart]

It wasn't complete immobilization but it was more than enough. Zypha made sure to keep the chain as taunt as possible to keep Lenny in place, this of course meant her right hand was preoccupied holding onto the scythe that was holding the chain. She also made sure to use her body as well to keep the chain in place, having it wrap around her body. Her right leg hurt as Lenny tried to wrench himself free and her wound in the front was starting to itch but there was no way she was letting the marine go.

The little bugger was no longer so smug now he was caught in her trap and desperately attacked her. A dagger to the neck was not in her game plans however, since Lenny attempted a stab rather than a thrust it gave her just enough time to use her left scythe's handle to block the blade. It was unfortunate but now both her blades and hands were preoccupied with keeping him in place and defending herself, still she had other methods of attack at her disposal. She pulled herself as close to Lenny as she could while being careful to keep his dagger at bay.

"Let's get a bit more intimate shall we?" With that declared she thrust her left knee into his solar plexus, planning to keep up the assault as long as she had him trapped. With some luck, and a lot of force, Lenny probably wouldn't be able to stand for too much longer.

[malmshodes]

Abigail blinked while she watched the armor come to an unplanned halt just in front of her. "Well, in all honesty, it was technically just a spark." She took a hold of the sword's handle and pulled it out of the ground. Then, she moved back until her back came into contact with a wall as the metallic adversary broke the ground around her leg before getting back on her feet.

She tried to listen, honestly, but she already figured there was some kind of insulator she was going to have to work around awhile ago. Her head tilted to the side, while something else whispered for her attention. There was an effort to hold back but she found herself unable to stop refrain from wondering out loud. "Sorry if this sounds kind of random. Its just that as an adult talking to a kid I can't help but question if you Aren't even a little worried about your suit's efficiency? It seems like it doesn't take much before you have to release the steam. Shouldn't it go awhile before having to do that?"

The electric blade pirate didn't get an answer in words. She got an answer in action, violent, blood lustful, action. It came in the form of the armored suit charging at her again. Strangely enough it wasn't fast enough to close the distance before she could get out of the way. Abigail decided to forgo taking another swing at the Aesir armor and keep herself focused on reaching the opposite end of the room before her opponent charged or fired from that cannon on her arm again.

[Jensoman]

As Lenny struggled to pull his left arm out, he was pulled right off his feet by Zypha as she reeled him in. The small man shrieked as Zypha's knee rammed into his stomach. "Agh!" He blurted out, landing back on the ground. He released the knife in his right hand, letting it drop to the ground. He grabbed his left arm with his right hand. Now, using both arms in an attempt to pull free. Before Zypha managed to continue her assault, he managed to yank his left hand out, leaving the other dagger stuck within the chain. The small man quickly jumped up, backflipping through the air and landing further away.

"Ha! That all ya got?! Pathetic!" Lenny shouted, taking another dagger in his right hand as he regained his confident grin. However, his breathing had gotten deeper. In truth, Zypha's knee strike managed to crack his ribs. The small man was in fact quite enraged, and in pain. He did his best not to show this, but he was failing. His left hand flashed towards the belt around his waist, and he pulled out a small bomb. He quickly threw it at the ground near Zypha's feet. If it were to strike the ground, it would erupt into a small explosion that was 3 feet high and wide.

[tex]

Yami's jaw was fast, snapping out despite Asus's shift in momentum. The marine's arrogance had gotten the better of him, and Asus's punch hit home. Still, Yami's tiny eye reflexively shut as his fit got closer, and as the force of his fist slammed against his head, Yami lurched backward, spinning on one of his back feet. His head moved a couple of feet away from the impact of Asus' punch, but his rough hide minimized the damage by a significant degree. Still, the impact shook his body enough to the point where Asus could clearly hear something bouncing around inside his shell. A metal piece of... Wait, it was the Key! If only he could get Yami to transform back to normal, even if only for a split second..

[Hatman1801]

Questioning her suit's efficiency was clearly not the way to go about staying alive against Sophia, as Abigail made the right guess in getting shot down by the cannon. The suit dropped down to one knee and lifted the left arm again, bracing it with the right arm this time as she quickly shot three times in succession, one on either side of Abigail, and the last straight towards her.

It was still a distraction, though, as once the shots were fired, she reached down to the slower leg and checked the vents. A few manual presses and pushes, and the best quick burst of steam pushed out some debris that had gotten stuck inside. "Don't you ever question my tech. The fact that I've made this suit able to put out so much power and speed without sacrificing longevity, managing to keep the boiler protected without building up pressure, those are already feats! And as for efficiency, don't think I'm about to run out of fluid any time soon. I filled up the tank before you and I even came face to face, and I can keep it going for longer than you'll live to see!"

Done with her latest boast about her armor, she picked her hammer back up and waited to see how the pirate had responded to her quick shots. Now that Abigail had actually managed to hinder her for a moment, she was sick of the girl beyond the insults about maturity.

[Duthguy]

While his attack didn't entirely go as planned,at least Asus learned that there was indeed a key and Yami had it on him, he ordered his spy to come back and dashed once again towards his opponent. This time he would try even harder to get close enough to touch the turtle-man.

Only this time he wasn't going for a punch. Asus' goal was to get his hand underneath Yami's shell or at least right next to an opening and send the remaining thirty-seven hornets he had left for combat out in order to attack the unprotected inner body.

---

Total number of hornets in Asus' body is 100. Number of hornets used for combat 65, hornets currently in use 0/65, dead hornets 28/65

[malmshodes]

Abigail turned to face her attacker, hiding her left hand behind her back. It started glowing with red power just as the Kid dropped down to a single knee and readied her projectile attack. There were three consecutive bangs as the ballistics were fired in a spread designed to make dodging difficult. So there wasn't any way for to avoid the shots by jumping to the side. So she let her legs out from under her, and thrust her hand forwards to blast an arch of red lightning, hopefully into the cannon. Of course she couldn't be sure that the attack would have the effect she hoped for, but she felt fairly optimistic that once the item was exposed to the world it was exposed to the elements. Hell, maybe she'd get lucky and her electrical power wouldn't just destroy the weapon but also surge into the suit and do some serious damage.

She didn't wait to see what happened because the explosions sent a shock wave of kinetic force and debris that would rain down on her, weren't going to wait. She tried to roll out of the way before any of that could happen but she wasn't quiet fast enough and got hit. The power behind the blow was enough to shoot her forward. She bounced like a pebble thrown on still water before coming to a stop a few inches before hitting a wall.

"Yeah, maybe." Abigail laughed as she got to her feet. "Probably, actually. So we'd better hurry up and get this thing finished. I don't have all day and I'm a bit worried about the crew. Well maybe not Zypha. She's too stubborn to die. Anyways its just a feeling I've got." Her mouth twisted into a ~ and a barked laughter escaped her mouth hard enough to make her abs hurt. She shook her head and forced herself to stop. "Plus you got me good with that last attack. There's some shrapnel from the walls buried in my back. I don't think enough to be fatal but more than I'm comfortable with. So I'm losing more blood than I'd like. Good thing I dressed in red, huh?"

She smiled and pointed the edge of her blade at the black knight. "Now then, Kid, let's go!" She didn't wait for a reply and rushed at the dark hulk. Her sword thrust out before her. The other hand hung at her side, gathering power like a scruplesless populist politician with enough money to flood the airways with his dagger smile and crocodile tears.

[IceHeart]

Unfortunately for Zypha, Lenny managed to yank himself away and gain some distance. Zypha was not in any position to pursue after him right away. So she quickly took the chain off her right scythe and prepared for her next move. "All I got? Heh, not even close but looks like you ain't got much left." Her retort to his was a slight bluff, after all she was bleeding quite a bit from too locations and her leg had taken a nasty gash from his dagger, her mobility was certainly down which could prove to a problem but Lenny had to be hurting quite a bit now so she hoped that would make up the difference.

Zypha considered reattaching the chain to her scythe to increase her range again but what Lenny did next changed things completely. At first she thought he was reaching for another dagger but instead produced a small bomb. "Shit!" She thought when she saw the small bomb, as he started his throw to Zypha the world stood still for a moment. There are times in a fighter's life when the body instinctively knows its in great danger, even life threatening and so the mind goes into overdrive. When this happens it is like a slow-mo movie as the mind takes in so much information at an incredible rate, this was one of those moments.

The bomb had no fuse or pin, which meant it would explode upon the force of impact with something hard, while probably not as powerful as some bombs it would be quite fast and with one leg not exactly in prime condition anymore it was doubtful she could avoid the blast. Still, with this kind of bomb there was something she could do. It was very risky but had the potential to end this fight once and for all, a high risk, high reward situation, and she had the tools needed to pull it off.

Discarding her scythe she took the chain and doubled it over, and jumped toward the bomb, hands clamped around the doubled up chain length as she dove. The bomb sailed toward the ground but she reached it first, her chain ready to catch the bomb. This was the integral part, the point of impact had to have enough give so the bomb would not detonate on impact. She made sure to give her chain some slack and let the chain get pushed by the bomb to let the kinetic energy dissipate along it length as her body sailed over the bomb, her hands below so the bomb wouldn't accidentally hit her body while attempting to catch it.

As the chain would be catching the bomb her body was already starting to summersault so she could land on her feet and use her body's rotation to throw the hopefully caught, and non-detonated, explosive back at its user. If this gamble worked there was a good chance the fight would be at an end, if she failed though, there was a good chance she would be the one in a body bag after.