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(If your'e stressed, we can put this on hold until things calm down for you. Would that be all right? ^_^ After all, we're enjoying it, but we don't want you to get overwhelmed. ^_^)

Zorlo looked at her as he scratched his head. "That name... Navarro... It sounded familiar. I think I knew him... or met him... or something," Zorlo said as he looked at her. "I'm sure he has some importance to me... but I couldn't tell you what. It feels like a distant memory," the man said with a sigh as he walked up to Florin, looking back at Meriele. "Sorry about that, Meriele. I hope you're feeling better now," he told her, chuckling nervously. "And miss Florin, I'm sorry I worried you and put the group in danger... but I get the feeling that whatever is bothering me will present itself later," the man said, smiling at Florin as he crossed his arms and chuckled again.

((Or even regular whelmed, if it isn't too late for that.))
The red woman was walking just behind the group, on her hands. She had pinned her ponytail to the rest of her hair to keep it from dragging across the ground while she was upside down. "I wasn't worried." Ifreeti established. "Just bored, and you've made us waste precious time backtracking. And were so close too. We are close, right Rami? Please say yes." The sound of several explosions echoed down through their area and Ifreeti fell on her face. When she got up she looked in the direction the noise had come from, the secret dock they had passed earlier. "I know those cannons, we should hurry." Now would be a great time to come back memory. I would love to know why I'm running from Nasr cannon fire.

Back at the dock, The captain of a Nasr privateer vessel blew away several ships that were in his way so that his ship could dock. "Captain Victor, what are we looking for?" "Jafar wants us to locate and retrieve a golden statue. And he pays well, you probably haven't blown all the way through what he paid for us to eliminate that red skinned harlet, have you?" That was apparently enough for the sailor because he went back to work. Victor turned to his marines, a vicious looking lot and smiled. He honestly thought his men were overarmed for raiding an abandoned colony, but Jafar had told him to exercise extreme prejudice and go in armed to the teeth, just in case. And he had learned not to disregard anything his benefactor said. Especially after the fiasco killing that woman had almost turned into.

((Agreed. Put the real World first if you need to. We'll wait for ya, Kaori!))


"It's fine, Zorlo. You can stop apologizing. For now, I kinda agree with Ifreeti in taking hurrying up to recover the statue before whatever the hell that was decided to make itself even more well known in a way that everyone may come to regret," Meriele said to Zorlo, doing her best to keep from remembering the events in the tunnel back there. She'd nearly exposed something she'd rather keep secret.

((Watashi Wa..... Kawarundaaa!))
The group felt tremors as the the Nasr ships began their bombardment, "What the Frak is going on?!" asked Kamille bewildered, "those sound like Nasr Cannons!" said Ramirez, "Nasr? What could they possibly be doing here in Valuan territory?" asked Flo as they continued running.

"I see Nasr ship's boss" said the Felineko in red, "so it seems" said Opera, the Caninu in blue, Gren is what they called him spoke, "let them tire each other first, that way we can just pick off the leftovers".

"Well, I have a couple of theories. One, I am in fact a wanted Nasr fugitive and they really want to make sure I don't make it back to Nasr in one piece for whatever crimes I committed. Two, your people pissed them off. Three, Mr. Stud muffin and Ms. Kitty stole from somebody who really wants payback. Four, they're here for the same reason we are. Asides from Rami, Flo, Flo's people, Flo's people's contact, Vector, whoever Voyeur is working for, and apparently myself. How many people could possibly know about the statue, and why would they wait until now to try and get it?" There was a particularly loud explosion. "AND WHY ARE THEY BLOWING HOLES IN THIS PLACE!?"
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Victor called a halt to the bombardment. "That's good enough. Marines, first squad, go find me that statue. Temper, go make sure it gets done." "Yes sir." Temper leaped from the ship onto the dock and snubbed out the flare Meriele had shot into the nearby wall. "Hey boys, we got us some knife work that needs doing." He said excited and a cheer went up from the men following him.

The sound of soldiers. The sound of cannons. The reality of this landscape. "War... this is war, huh?" Zorlo asked as he removed his sheathed sword from his side and walked up to Florin, resting his hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry. NO matter what, I promise we'll recover that statue for you." He smirked at her. His eyes were somewhat more dangerous than normal, but filled with... something. Even Zorlo wasn't sure what he felt at that moment, but he knew... or felt... it was probably important.

Zorlo walked up to Efreeti and placed his hand on her shoulder as well. "And Miss Efreeti, I do hope you find yourself, wherever it may be," the green-haired man stated as he spun his sheathed sword in his hand and smiled. "And no matter why these people with cannons are here, we know they want a fight. Meriele and I can give it to them, right? You all keep moving, we'll stay here and stall. Well, I'll stall, Meriele will deal with these scumbags. For now, we don't have time to dally though, so get going," he said as he started pushing the women onwards.

"Anyway, Meriele, what say we make my ancestors proud?" he asked the cat-girl, smiling.

The Nasr woman grabbed Zorlo's thumb and twisted it painfully. "Look, Zorlo, I may not know my real name, but the one Juda gave me is Ifreeti. It begins with an I not an E. So unless you know for a fact that my name is Efreeti I would appreciate any future nicknames not to so closely resemble the one I'm currently using. It may be a misspronunciation and spelling of Efreeti, but it's the way I want it said, ok? Ok." She didn't let go, but turned to Flo, "Do you think we'll need him later or should we let him commit suicide?" Ifreeti finally let go of Zorlo's thumb.

Meriele smiled as she did something unexpected. She hugged Ifreeti from behind. "If you don't mind nicknames, might I call you 'Scharl'? I thought it fit you, seeing as that's also the color of your skin. 'Scharl' or Scarlet," she said to the Nasr woman as she danced back. "And as to your question, Zorlo. I have nothing to say to my ancestors...but I'm meeting them yet," she finished as she Re-quip into some startling heavy-looking armor and Re-quip a pair of Chain Gatling guns. I'll stall whom ever that is for as long as I can before retreating to join you guys. You all might want to hurry, since I can't guarantee just how long that will be," Meriele stated simply.

Zorlo bopped Ifreeti on the head and sighed. "Sorry about that. I didn't mean to mispronounce your name. Better?" the green-haired man asked as he held his finger and sighed. "Anyway, yes, Miss Florin, is it all right if us thieves that aren't needed go and do something insanely dangerous to protect you mildly more important people," Zorlo asked as he smiled at her and chuckled. "I'm kidding with that joke, but I think that we need to keep on our toes," the man stated as he crossed his arms and smiled. "Anyway, Meriele, let's do our thing and sew discord in their ranks, right?" the fencer stated with a smile as he cracked his neck and prepared to make his next move.

"Nobody is going charging up there, even better question is how to get out of here" replied Flo sounding annoyed, "why can't you all be like Kamille and avoid combat? After all, our fight is not with them.... Yet." she added, they continued walking until they found a large steel door, Rami and Kamille proceeded to open it and there it was.... "El Dorado..." said Ramirez under his breath.


"Well, well, well, what have we here?" said an unfamiliar voice, they looked up to see a man with a goatee in a brown vest, with a another man wearing a regal outfit, probably an admiral, they descended using nearby stairs, followed by an entourage of armed soldiers who began to surround the group, Kamille noted that the soldiers were mercenaries, "so this is the fabled El Dorado, Navarro you've outdone yourself" said the admiral, "oh but the best surprise is what's inside the statue, go ahead, open it" said Navarro, as the admiral opened it, what lied inside was anything pleasant...


Dust particles came out of the corpse and fell on the admiral, he then fell to the floor coughing violently, his coughs started turning into growls, the group saw his eyes were now similar to the monsters they previously encountered, Atoq simply shot him in the head before he could get up, Flo then turned to him, "You! Do you have any idea what you're doing! You'll kill us all!" she screamed, "I don't know? Do you have any idea what this is worth, to the right buyer? I know everything about this more than your pitiful organization miss, I've studied about El Dorado longer than you think, and now, its mine" he replied with a smug look as hooks began latching on the Sarcophagus, "finish them" he said as he left the room.....

((Have I mentioned how much I enjoyed the Uncharted series? Because I did. It's like Assassins Creed, but with more guns, better graphics, and I think a better story.))
"Scharl's fine, I actually kind of like it." Replied Ifreeti before she stuffed a piece of dried fruit in her mouth.

Temper stopped dead in his tracks. It was impossible, she was dead. There was no way she could be here, and yet there she was. "You two, run back and tell the captain what's going on, and tell him the harlot's alive. We'll keep the statue from getting stolen out from under our noses and I don't want anybody shooting the red head. She is mine."

At Navarro's question of worth a very large number popped into her head. "Seriously? I know everything about this thing, but for the life of me I can't even recall my own name?" Ifreeti dove to the side just before guns started going off. A couple of the mercenaries dropped and a man in the tunnel shouted, "Move!"

Ifreeti jumped up to the second level and started shooting at anything not friendly that moved. Temper gave chase, moving almost as well as her. "What, afraid to fight me up close this time?" "This time? Who are you? How do you know me?" "Forgotten the man who nearly killed you already, I'm hurt. But not as bad as you're going to be!" Temper's blades became covered in green flames. He sliced one of Ifreeti's guns in twine and knocked the other out of her hands. She stepped back repeatedly, dodging his incessant swings until she was at the edge and could no longer give ground. She pulled off her jacket, caught one of his blades with it and tossed them away before he kicked her over, fortunately she managed to catch onto the ledge. She had a flashback to a similar situation on a ship. "No one to save you this time, harlot." Ifreeti threw herself to the other side of a column as his swing came to cut off her fingers. She scrambled back up and drew her scimitar in an arc of crimson flames to counter as he rounded the column. When they separated she jumped onto the rising sarcophagus with temper just behind and they continued their duel while climbing all over the thing. When a mercenary tried to shoot temper a yellow shield sprang up to protect him and then he threw lightning at him. That apparently gave the man an idea as he attempted to send a bolt through the gold and Ifreeti surprised herself when a counterbolt sprang from her fingers.

Zorlo's body began to glow as the bullets began to fly. The green-haired man ducked behind a number of different areas as the bullets ripped into the columns and shredded them. "Oh! Now I remember who that guy is! He's from the town I'm from... but he's from the good part of it. How bothersome that he gets to escape and I don't get to stab him," Zorlo said as he drew his sword and glanced slightly as the column he hid behind fell under siege from a bullet rain.

The swordsman heard the crackle of lightning and guessed it had something to do with the fight he had briefly seen Ifreeti start. " Aside from Ifreeti, is everyone else alive or need help? I've got plenty of help to give, someone just needs to ask. And to answer your question, beautiful miss Flo, I'm not fighting because I want to. I'm fighting because I HAVE to. There are people here whom I feel I should protect, and if that isn't a reason to fight, I doubt there is a valid reason to fight," the fencer stated as he prepared to move. Being in one of these positions sucked, but he was good at living. It was the thing he had mastered, after all.

Flo, Rami and Kamille took cover behind some rocks as the mercenaries began firing, Kamille turned to Flo and said, "care to explain whats really going on?", Flo then explained, "Pecuniam, deals with treasure, but some treasures have certain... Attributes like what you just saw" she replied, "your saying there's more?!" asked Kamille in horror, the thought that such cursed items exist horrified her, "hate to break it to you ladies but KAMILLE A LITTLE HELP WOULD BE NICE!" exclaimed Ramirez as he huddled closer to the rock, Kamille then tossed two stun grenades which let out a blinding light, as the mercenaries staggered she let loose with VAR's barrel, all the mercenaries fell dead and she blew the smoke from the barrel, "lets go get him" said Kamille as they went after Navarro, they then saw the chaos that was happening topside with Nasr, Valuan and Mercenary forces fighting each other, they then saw the sarcophagus being lifted to an airship, "okay how do we get to it?" asked Flo, Rami then pointed to some landing boats, "we'll take those" he said as the group went.

Ifreeti and Temper continued their battle on the sarcophagus while having a shouting match,"Why are you trying to kill me?!" "Because you're alive!" "There are lots of other living people, closer ones too. Why me?" "Someone hired us to!" "WHO?" "I DON"T KNOW. The captain didn't say and I didn't ask!" They finally notice how high up they are and take a breather. "So, cut the cable?" "And let this thing fall, crack, and probably kill us all? No thanks." "And there's the part where we'd fall too." "Minor detail that." "Yeah, so up?" "Up. First we take control of the ship and then kill each other." "Not necessarily in that order." "Fair enough." They sheathed their swords and scrambled up the chain until they were close enough to jump into the belly of the airship and started slicing, dicing, and throwing fire and lightning both at one another and anything else that moved plus a few things that didn't.
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"I'm asking for more next time." Said Victor as a cannonball destroyed the railing in front of him. "They have the statue! Prepare to board that ship!" A particularly well aimed cannon fired directly at Victor. He caught the cannonball and threw it back, using red magic to make it explode more powerfully. He unleashed the full power of the engines and closed with Navarro's vessel, intent on boarding or failing that ramming it.

Zorlo shuffled out when no response came for assistance. CLearly everyone else had moved on. "Guess I"ve got my own debt to settle now," Zorlo stated as he started after Navarro He had to catch him. That man... Zorlo remembered him now. That man had to pay... he had to be made to suffer. His kind... they were less than human... and that statue was one of his tools. Things had gotten so... so... complicated... but battle was something that took away those senses. All that had to be done now is to find his enemy and slay him. "Navarro! I'm gonna find you and make you pay! I swear to the gods!"

As Zorlo screamed at the heavens, a ship appeared before him, "come on kid! I aint got all day!" yelled marco as he helped him and his sidekick up, "are you crazy standing there? You could've been shot" added marco, "and where's the redhead?" asked Marco.

"Sir, those Nasr fools are trying to get close" said the helmsman as Atoq entered the bridge, "use the new engines we had installed! Prepare to dive!" barked Atoq, as the Nasr soldiers attempted to board the ship began to edge away at an alarming speed, but they were descending instead of rising...

Flo, Kamille and Rami saw what it was doing, "is that thing going to submerge under the cloud sea?" asked Flo as Rami looked, "looks like his ship has a submerging upgrade, quite expensive Valuan military tech, gift from the late admiral I bet" replied Rami, "we've got to get to it before it dives!" said Kamille, with that Ramirez hit the landing boat's engine to the max.

"Captain, they're heading for the hard deck!" "Then let's get down there before them." "Y-Yes sir." Victor picked up a cannonball and moved to the bow of his ship and threw it at the diving vessel, rocking it.
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"We're sinking!" "Thank you captain obvious!" Ifreeti shouted as she cut through a man. "Hey come here for a second, I've got an idea." She sheathed her sword and started hitting buttons on a panel. Temper finished with his group and ran to Ifreeti, it seemed the two had moment's reprieve. "Ok, what's your idea?" There was a loud bang and then several more and Temper's lifeless body fell to the deck. Ifreeti holstered the gun she had taken off Voyeur. "Sorry, but you're a liability now." The bay doors opened and Ifreeti tied a big sheet of cloth to the netting around El Dorado and wrapped it around her arm. She heard the sound of boots on stairs and threw grenades in their direction before she shot the chain keeping the statue from falling out of the ship.

She free fell for several long seconds before the whipping around stopped and the chute caught air. She created a ball of fire above her head and turned her improvised chute into an improvised hot air balloon. Although, all she really achieved was to slow her descent, El Dorado was simply too heavy. "MARCOOOOOOOO!" She shouted, although it was unlikely anybody heard her. If he didn't get there soon, she would have to let the sarcophagus go which might actually be good for the world overall but that wasn't the deal she had with Flo.
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Victor's ship blew past Ifreeti and he glared at her. Now he had a decision to make. Try to retrieve the statue, or make sure she was dead. "Bring us about. Prepare to fire on the statue!" "Sir!? Isn't-" "Yes, but we've been paid to kill her already. We are not going to return to our employer and tell him that she's still alive! I'd rather go back empty handed this time than have that come back to bite me. We're going to make sure she burns no surviving a fall this time."

((And I'm feeling better from my Tomino style depression, sorry guys))
As the statue fell a hook then launched unto it, "reel it in now!" yelled an enraged Atoq, the Statue was brought in and with Ifreeti still hanging on it, soldiers surrounded her and Atoq approached her with a pistol in hand, he then knocked her on the head with the pistol, "throw her in the brig and take her belongings, we'll deal with her later" he said.

Kamille, Flo and Rami were on the upper deck of Atoq's ship, "good thing the red witch bought us some time" whispered Rami as they snuck around, they then heard a couple of guards talking about Ifreeti, moments later the guards were stripped of their uniforms and were unconscious in a locker, "you two take the disguises, and rescue the other one, I've got a something to do with Navarro" said Rami as he left Flo and Kamile.

Marco Flew the ship towards Atoq's and asked Zorlo and Meriele, "you two need me to drop you off? ".

((Glad to hear that you're feeling better.))
Victor cursed loudly when Ifreeti was pulled out of line of fire. "Break off, we're heading back to Nasr."
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The Nasr woman sat bolt upright in the brig. Almost without a thought she slipped the handcuffs off her wrists. What required more thought was her shredded arm. Feels like I let myself get flayed. She took a deep breath and her heavily lacerated left arm stitched itself back together. Ok, I've been captured by Valuans and practically all of my things have been taken. Honestly did not expect to wake up in this situation, a little surprised I woke up at all. She rubbed her freshly healed arm and noted specks of red on her skin that looked familiar. "How long was I out?" The red haired woman checked out her surroundings, the guard was asleep and the cell was designed to hold people not her. She squeezed through the bars, Sheesh, I have been starved. I'm practically all bone now. She grabbed the weasel faced turnkey by the throat and held him against the wall. "You make any amount of noise above a whisper and I will incinerate your throat." Her crimson hand burned the flesh beneath it until he nodded understanding. "Who are you people and why did you imprison me?" "We're mercenaries, I work for a man called Atoq Navarro. I don't know why he kept you alive." "Where are we?" "Ixa'Taka, we're leaving Ixa'Taka." El Dorado. "Where is the statue?" "I don't know." "Thank you for your cooperation." She squeezed his carotid artery until he lost consciousness and then gagged him and chained him up in a cell.

Two guards arrived while she was trying to figure out which key opened the locker with her stuff in it. She struck one in the chest, sending her into the wall behind and knocking her helmet off and grabbed the other's arm, wrenching it as she threw the other onto the weasel's desk. She raised a red mana charged fist and was about to crush the first guard's skull when she realized who it was. The red head relaxed slightly. "Florin of the Pecuniam." She glanced at the second guard, "Kamille Bidan the Blue Rogue Sky Pirate. What is going on?" Ifreeti's words were crisper, more properly enunciated than before. She let her fist dropped to the side and she returned to retrieving her belongings. The boots are nice, but I feel like I'm missing something. Her outfit was now sans one leather jacket and she ripped the sleeves off her shirt, well one was practically gone already she really just made them match.

however both figures melted into water as Kamille and Flo entered the room, "I honestly didn't want to wear that drab anyway" said flo, "well we were planning on rescuing you but as I can see you dont need it" added Kamille, "lets go find Rami then" said Flo as the three of them left...

Atoq was in the bridge when a shotgun toting Rami appeared, without warning Rami began shooting everyone in the bridge, Atoq fired back with his shotgun and Rami did the same, "you should have stayed dead hombre!" yelled Atoq as he opened fire, "I guess I find it difficult to die since my nation's specialty is life and death!" he replied, only to discover that he ran out of ammo, he then drew his sword and charged at Navarro, before Atoq could pull the trigger Ramirez tackled him and they both crashed unto the main deck, Atoq drew his dagger and parried a blow, as both their blades clashed their fight somehow found its way into the loading bay...