[Yomegami]

The Slievers that were booted back into the sea promptly revived when they touched the water. Shifting back into normal forms, they swam by their master, who was preparing to begin a fight.

The crabs clinging onto Damon's tail hung on for dear life, but before long lost their grip and and fell. They hit the sea with a loud plunk, but fortunately for them, they suffered very little damage. These too circled the Dreiden.

The Dreiden continued circling his Hydrolisk foe. Suddenly, a loud noise reached his ears. Looking out into the sea, he could see the hull of another ship, heading towards the one he was attacking.

Ooh... This is getting interesting...

Changing his plans, he decided to let the other ship finish off what he started. He barked at the slievers to retreat from the ship. Those in earshot were already underwater, and these passed the order on to the ones on deck.

Most promptly obeyed, leaping into the water. Yet some, such as the ones battling Mekii, wanted to continue fighting. These persistant few were dragged off deck by their fellows and thrown into the ocean.

Before long, the ship was empty of crabs, except for the ones that had died.

"I'll deal with you later!" the Dreiden snapped at the Hydrolisk, before he and his troops descended into the depths.

[Krystalolive]

Damon flew down, happy that the crabs were gone. When he got to the ship his happiness was gone because of the following ship. He quickly went over to Umi, "Captain, how can I help?" He was ready to both fight and handle the ship, which ever one the Capt. chose.

[Ghostlily]

Volvaria ran up to her friend, nuzzling her side, and saying, "Oh Mekii, I missed you so much! I thought...I thought...oh, I thought that you were dead!" Her eyes were full of concern, and the Slikey expected that her friend would have felt the same way about her.
But Mekii narrowed her eyes, saying, "What, do you think a bunch of witless crabs could take me? I'm not that weak!" Her words were harsh, and the glow in her eyes harsher. Did she not care about her weaker friend anymore? Well, they would always be friends, but sometimes Volvaria was just so dang nervous about stuff! Noticing that the Slikey looked quite hurt at her comment, Mekii sighed saying, "I'm sorry. Here, let's go see what we can do to help."

Technic snorted, but no sound came out in the water. Weakling. He hadn't even stayed long enough to finish his own fight. Technic himself liked to think that he wasn't such a coward. But instead of chasing after the Dreiden, he swam upward, to the ship's side. Using his claws to pull himself up, he managed to make his way onto the deck of the ship.

{14--14--30}

[robopup24]

[center]Umi glanced around her. Ah great, why must this happen to her? She was no hero, nor was she looking for any sort of trouble. All the Serraptor wanted was to loot, pillage, and plunder to her heart's content without any weird happenings. "You." She pointed at the Hollowheart. "Why don't you distract the galleon? And you three stowaways." Umi spat the word out. "What the heck are you doing on my ship? I'll tell you, if you want to stay here, you'll have to work for it! We can't have any lazy sailors here. No, you'll have to work for your share like the rest of us." She might have a reputation as a pirate, but she could be fair when she wanted to.

Mokonth screeched out a warning. Another cannon ball flew by, nearly hitting the ship. Slia floated back to Umi, circling slowly around her mistress once more.

"Okay!" Umi thrust her sword into the air. "Get the cannons ready! Whatever you have to do, do it now! Prepare to attack! Turn 'er starboard!"

[Krystalolive]

Damon nodded, "Aye Capt." He chuckled, and flew into the air. Distract the ship. Now, could he do that? He thought of many ways with a grin. Flew above the galleon, waiting to see if they noticed.

[Yomegami]

Chief
Long Wang

On the galleon's deck, gazing over the sea at Umi's ship, there sat a Shartile and a X??ng Y??n, side by side.

Chief, the shartile, was bouncing up and down, waving his skull around like it was a precious jewel he was showing off.

"Oh boy! Are we gonna battle pirates?" he asked, voice full of energy, sporting a toothy grin.

Long Wang, the X??ng Y??n, nodded, although his face was solemn.

"I wouldn't be so eager. Pirates aren't as innocent as you may think," he said, his voice rumbling like thunder.

"Then why are we attacking them? I wanna fight, I wanna fight!" Chief continued.

"Because pirates are evils that must be stopped," Wang responded, to the best of his ability.

The shartile suddenly stopped bouncing, the smile disappearing from his face. He had spotted something launching itself from the other ship.

Long Wang followed his gaze, and squinted in the object's direction.

"It looks like a Hollowheart..." he said.

"Let me at him!...Wait, do you know what it's gonna do?" Chief asked.

"I don't know, but if it's coming from that ship, it cannot be good. And I'm not going to let it do anything to harm us!" the X??ng Y??n snapped, and with that, he launched himself from his ship, flying towards the Hollowheart.

[Ghostlily]

Mekii nodded, rushing off to assist whoever needed help. She glanced up at the crow's nest, having a perfect idea of what to do. Mekii knew that should could get up there easy, and her sharp eyes could spot anything else on the horizon, or any moves the galleon might make. Bending down, she bunched up her leg muscles and leaped, claws unsheathed, and began to climb up the rope ladder. She made quick work of climbing up the ladder, not pausing at all to stop and look down, and soon she reached the nest. Poking her head out to stare around, she could see that the X??ng Y??n was going to attack Damon.
Looking down, Mekii shouted, "Looks like that Hollowheart's about to get into some aerial combat!"

Volvaria's eyes widened. What was she supposed to do? She didn't know anything about working on a ship! Stuttering, she said, "B-but..." Glancing back at Mekii, she managed to say, "Mekii, where are you--" But she stopped when she saw that Mekii was climbing the crow's nest. "Mekii, no, don't! You...you could fall..." Obviously, Mekii was too high up to hear her...What was the Slikey supposed to do?

Technic narrowed his eyes, not willing to take orders so quickly. He was experienced in fighting, he had been to other places, probably more than the Serraptor, and wasn't about to be treated like some servant.
"I am not a stowaway," he growled. "And I will not be treated like one. It is, in part, thanks to me that the Dreiden is now gone. In fact, I believe that you owe me something for helping to save your little friend's life." Technic's eyes flickered towards the Bubble Spirit, then back to Umi.

{15--15--31}

[robopup24]

[center]Umi glanced at Technic. "I'm not referring to you. I'm referring to the other two. If I did owe you," She leaned a bit closer. "What would you want from me, eh? I have nothing you would want. Only a bit of gold here and there. We mostly grab the spices and goods then go." She suddenly laughed. "You could call us pirate-merchants, mate." The Serraptor straightened up. "Don't get me wrong now, aye. I'm grateful that you did save my ship and Slia's life."

The Bubble Spirit had floated up with Mekii, circling around the Arkuhna. Mokonth had followed the little spirit, and settled on Mekii's head, screeching, "OI! WHAT'S GOING DOWN THERE?! WE'RE 'BOUT TO BE ATTACKED!" For such a tiny creature, he could scream heck loud.

[Krystalolive]

Damon looked at the X??ng Y??n, smiling. "I have no reason to fight you, but I'll do it any ways!" He flew at the purity, ready to do some real fighting. He attacked, claws, teeth, and tail ready.

[Yomegami]

Long Wang paused, staring at the attacking Hollowheart.

"You're overly confident of yourself." he said, before promptly assuming a defensive position. He reared, showing off the claws on his front legs. Once Damon was close enough, he lunged, attempting to snare the Hollowheart's long neck.

On board the ship, Chief hopped over to a Tali, who was operating one of the galleon's cannons.

"Are we gonna do some direct combat with the pirates?" he asked excitedly.

"Only if the captain says so," responded the Tali, gazing out at the battling X??ng Y??n.

"In any case, we're gonna have to wait for an answer."

Chief glanced out back at the other ship.

"PREPARE FOR COMBAT! THE PIRATES ARE ABOUT TO PUT UP A CANNON ATTACK!" yelled the Albie sitting in the crow's nest.

The Shartile quickly darted for the steering wheel, and, to the best of his ability, began to steer the ship so its port side was facing Umi's ship.

While all of this was going on, the sea turned black as the Dreiden neared the surface once more.

That was a stupid reason to retreat, he thought.

His army was noticeably thinner since the attack on the Pirate ship, but the slievers will still great in number.

However, this time he made no move to attack either ship. He seemed to be biding his time...

[Ghostlily]

Mekii could hear Volvaria's voice shouting up at her, but the Arkuhna chose to ignore it. She didn't need the Slikey getting in her way, not now when they were in a crisis. It wasn't that the Arkuhna hated the Slikey, but, it seemed, they were starting to break apart in their friendship. These pirates were starting to make Mekii hard-hearted and tough, not soft like she had been before. No, she was stronger than she was before, in both physical and mental strength. Now, she watched the two aerial fighters, her interest sharpening in the battle, until she felt a small weight on her head. It was that stupid Monkonth...but for the moment, Mekii let him stay.

Volvaria let out a little "Oh..." Mekii had abandoned her on this wreck of a ship! Oh, how Volvaria was so tired of stupid, wretched pirates. No, she wanted off. Now!
Narrowing her eyes, the Blackberry Slikey ran, swan-dived off the ship, and began swimming. Somehow, no one noticed her go. Volvaria didn't want to be on there a minute longer. Instead, she wanted to be with those who obeyed the law, those who didn't steal or plunder. With quick strokes, the Slikey swam towards the large Galleon, not knowing whether she'd be welcomed or not.
Crying out, she said, "Help! Please help me!"

Technic narrowed his eyes, smirking slightly. "Glad to hear it," he said. "And you are welcome. I've seen enough killing to hate it, and I do what I can to help those in danger. As for what I want in return, there is nothing I need. Room and board would be kind, with food and such, nothing else. Then I will leave, sometime later..." Glancing up at Monkonth, he murmured, "You've got an interesting friend there. I'd talk more now, but there are things to be done." Turning around, he jumped on the railing, eyes scanning the depths. He almost wanted to dive down, but he decided to stay on the ship, where he might still be needed. If that Dreiden came back...Technic's claws scratched the wood, his eyes narrowed. The Dreiden wouldn't get away.

{16--16--32}

[Krystalolive]

Damon ducked, attacking the X??ng Y??n. "What's your name old timer?" He sometimes talked in battles, trying to see how good the enemy was.

[robopup24]

[center]"Holy chizz!"Mokonth screeched. Slia looked at her friend in annoyance before blowing a bubble in his eye. The Morloth fell off and yelped in surprise. "What was that-" His sentence collapsed midway when he saw the opposite ship heading toward them, notably going to attack them. "All right!"Mokonth laughed. "Finally! A ship that puts on a good fight!"

Umi could have repeated the Morloth's statement if she wasn't busy barking out orders. "All right, men! All together now! Incoming ship!"The Serraptor glanced at one of the Garudors near by, and then eyed the aerial battle between the two dragons. "Let's see if they will put up a fight."She chuckled. Umi made her way to the bow of the ship and shouted at the galleon, "All right, you landlubbers! Listen up! We give you two choices: surrender your ship or we'll take it for ourselves! I'd suggest you choose the first choice if you don't want any of you landlubbers to get hurt!"

[Yomegami]

"They call me the Purity of Fortunate Windfall." was all Long Wang said as he got out of the way of Damon's attack.

"All right, you landlubbers! Listen up! We give you two choices: surrender your ship or we'll take it for ourselves! I'd suggest you choose the first choice if you don't want any of you landlubbers to get hurt!"came a voice from the enemy ship, interrupting his plans of his next attack.

The X??ng Y??n cast a glare of pure hatred at the other ship.

"How about this? You worthless pieces of Sliever bait back off, and we won't send you to the Dreiden's locker!" he roared back at the ship.

Then he turned to his own ship.

"FIRE!"

With that, the galleon's cannons let loose a bombardment, as its crew loaded and fired the cannons as fast as they possibly could.

Chief attempted to focus on keeping the ship straight, but his small size was making it a hard job. Before long, a Kuchi Nagi took over for him.

The Shartile ran over to the edge of the ship, awaiting the enemy's attack.

Long Wang turned his attention back to the Hollowheart. Lifting both fists, he then brought them down fiercely, attempting to knock Damon downwards.

The Dreiden, meanwhile, was enjoying the show.

"'Worthless pieces of Sliever bait.' Quite a good insult, eh mates?" he asked.

"Speaking of which, where is that moron who wanted to challenge us earlier? The Hydrolisk? I think its about time we finish that little thing off."

[Ghostlily]

Mekii narrowed her eyes. "Are you sure we'll be able to...beat them?" she mewed, with a hint of doubt in her voice. She didn't have complete faith in the pirates, with their ragtag bunch, when the other ship was just as well equipped and manned by professionals. Not that the pirates weren't professionals, but...still..."Either way, we better fight carefully, or things could go...bad..." And as Mekii stared out at the sea, even she could not spot the dark blob that made its way to the enemy ship.

"Hey! Hey!" Volvaria continued to yell at the top of her lungs, trying to get the attention of the other ship. Couldn't they hear her? Or were they too preoccupied with what they were doing? Volvaria glanced at the other ship, afraid that her former best friend might see the Slikey running away. Looking up again, Volvaria shouted, "Please, someone, help me!"

Technic looked down, the shadow of his enemy catching his eye. The Dreiden...he was still there...It seemed that he was only waiting for Technic to dive down and fight. It wasn't that Technic was a coward, but it wasn't worth getting into a battle if he couldn't finish it. Not that he wasn't strong, but...still...It wasn't worth getting killed over it...
Glancing at Umi, he knew that the ship captain could handle things on deck. Perhaps he should dive down into the waters below...

{17--17--33}