Serious: Fires of war, frosts of silence (closed)

"Get on." Ryo suddenly descended, giving Silt a small window to mount the frog. The frog looked at the fishmen, and made a powerful, loud frog sound. The streets cracked and burst in the direction of the fishmen, unevening the path and spraying rocks at them from the streetfloor.

"Ever wonder how this town kept free of sewage?" Silt casually asked Salvat.

Salvat's right brow raised. "Trying another trick, are you? Please, you are bound to run out of tricks eventually. We saw that trap you placed there," he motioned his fishmen towards the two tubes that Gael previously did not trip shortly before cornering Silt. The fishmen moved to remove the tubes from the floor.

so why did Silt mention sewage....?

Salvat's eyes widened in horror, as he turned to the tubes that the fishmen had just started to remove; what no one knew, with the dim lighting, the heat of pursuit and lichen growing all over the floor, was that they had evaded a trap.

Which was placed neatly near a manhole.

One of the grunts gave a tube a sharp tug.

"DON'T TOUCH IT!!!!!" Salvat yelled.

Too late.

BOOM
And with that, that small section of street Silt was standing on crumbled and fell to the sewers below; all the fishmen were blown almost literally out of the alley, most of them dying. Salvat got up and cursed. He jumped into the sewer system below the broken street.

(How does Silt react to the frog swooping down next to him?)

((he just looks back at the frog; don't ask how, but it seems he's seen weirder stuff before))

The fishmen split up, departing the alley; the fishmen were too distracted by Ryo's croak to notice Silt's trap and or it's location. Each of them were bitter.

But Salvat wasn't only bitter; he was filthy as hell. For now he trudged through the muck of the sewers, in the rancid darkness, through filthy water.

(lol)
"Nice work" Dynar said. "But I recommend you get on." He continues "Ryo won't take us to another island today, but he will get us away from the fishmen. They will come back."

((errm, you do realise that Silt probably fell in along with the section of the collapsing floor he was standing on, right? And that he probably didn't stick around?))

Salvat popped out the sewage pipe, into fresh air; the pipe lead out of the far side of town, into the forest. When he'd heard the dogs of the Government were prancing around the island, he was ecstatic, and sure that he would corner Silt once more.

But just like how he met Silt again, so had he lost him; he had been too damn happy about cornering him to remember that Silt would find the smallest crack in a seemingly impenetrable wall, and turn it into a huge hole; literally.

(Ah, sorry then. Nevermind that post.)
"God damnit!" Dynar cursed. He had to find that man. "Ryo, be ready for call." He jumped down into the sewer quickly after Silt and looked where he went. He ran after him. He knew this was a risky move. The frog was much more powerful than him and the frog wouldn't fit in the sewer. But he was a biologist. He had to do this.

((no problem))

Salvat trekked through the forest; he had no nose to smell with, so if Silt moved through the sewers, tracking him was impossible. Still, he had a ship at his disposal, and Silt might have yet to leave the island.

Salvat slipped a den den mushi from out of his vest and called his shipwright.

"Grovire-"

"I warned you about this, captain."

Salvat gritted his teeth. Grovire could be as pissy as he pleased about Salvat's failures later.

"Circle the Wing around to the south end of the island. Double speed!"

"On it." with a click, the transponder went silent.

((And with this last post, I believe I will make my exit.))

Gael found a nice secluded place away from the disaster taking place near Silt. He opened his bag and took out his book. Sitting in a corner, using the restaurant's light, he began reading about IQ. After about a half hour had passed, Gael was able to create a physical copy of an IQ plant. However, he knew it would lack the powers a real IQ plant had. It was just a cosmetic copy. After another decent hour of work and practice, Gael was making weakly potent IQ specimens. It still wasn't good enough.

Another two hours passed before Gael knew he made it perfectly. He'd like to see the real thing to make sure, but this would be sufficient. It was time for him to find an island that he could use as a home base and some animals to try IQ out on. He got up, took off his bandanna, put on his robe, and left the island.

"Curses. Lost him." Dynar hadn't been able to keep up with Silt. He emerged from the sewers at the edge of town. "I better find that fish guy before he finds that man. Rarely will you see an opportunity like this." He gathered air in his lungs. "RYO!!" He called the frog. The frog came, and he took to the skies. He could see things in the ground well from the skies. He wasn't in the city. He started scanning the forest. "Ha! There he is." Dynar said.
The frog swooped down, nearing the fishman with every passing second. "Stay close. I know you are tired, but I will call you if you need you." He dropped down from the frog as it swooped over Salvat, and the frog landed nearby. Dynar floated down some 40 feet in front of Salvat. "Stop chasing that man." He said.

((sure, see you around))

Salvat stood at the beach, scanning the horizon; it was peculiar, Salvat thought, with vehemently bitter humour, how one man in a little row boat could evade a battalion of Fishman pirates in a submersible ship. As irritating as that was, however, he had no doubt that they would run into their shadowy friend again. No matter.

(He's not on the frog.)
"Whatever that was, I require your co-operation here." He drew a pair of pistols with his hands. Then he drew six more. With his hair. He targeted Salvat with each one of the eight pistols he was now wielding. "I have my interests with that man. I will not allow you to find him."

The fishmen started to advance, but Salvat held up his hand. "Return the boat, and proceed without me." They looked at each other reluctantly, but sank beneath the waves all the same. The ship then sunk beneath the waves as well.

Salvat then turned to Dynar. "Ah yes, the spirit of humans. Always love to meddle don't you? No matter. So tell me," He flashed a debonair smile, drawing his saber. "Can your hair wilt and fall at the same speed you will?"

"My hair falls at the exact speed I want it to." Dynar burst into motion. "Hairstorm." He took a stance that would allow him to shift into a dodge or move easily and fired all of the eight pistols at Salvat. His eightfold aim wasn't that good and while all were heading at Salvat, he didn't really choose where exactly they would land.

Salvat shifted his feet in an odd manner. He crouched, and muttered:

"Humbolt shuffle." He banked left, and suddenly seemed to blur instead of step left; four bullets missed, and 2 simply nicked his shorts. Salvat had moved his sword in front of his torso by that time, bullets deflecting off the metal blade.

Salvat gave Dynar a once over; it was already clear that he was already far from what one could call an ordinary human. No human had hair they could control by themselves. The man was also obviously a tactician. Now he had to wait and see what the biologist's move was. In the meantime, however, some chit chat to lighten the mood! "You seem to want that walking corpse for something!" Salvat remarked jovially. "Surely you don't intend to dissect him, do you?" The sun was beginning to rise as a red spot on the eastern horizon. The dark was retreating.

Damnit. I can't hit him with any accuracy. Dynar thought. This obviously wasn't an opponent he could take on without the help of his frog. Dynar was still in stance "No. He has information I want. He knows the way to a place." Dynar obliged his chitchat. Luckily, he doesn't seem to wish to attack yet. I may have another chance. "Now to the matter at hand.. RYO!" A croak sounded from the forest. "Get him!" The frog obliged, jumping from the woods in a grand leap. It croaked again, only much more aggressively, much more loudly. And with much more power. The sand wasn't all that conductive to the frog's sonic attack, but he managed to target Salvat along with the sand under him. The sand shifted, and raised into a cloud of sand as Ryo broke the ground with his sound.
Just after Ryo attacked, Dynar fired whatever the gunman's equivalent of a broadside was. He fired eight bullets in the cloud, hoping that Salvat was too distracted to block or dodge properly. Another eight was fired, sending a brutal salvo of eighteen pistol shots at Salvat.

(OOC: The frog sound attack is quite weak against fleshy beings and can do little else but raise up a sandcloud in these circumstances. While it's pretty damn hard to dodge, the damage is negligible, especially for a fishman of that caliber.)

The instant Salvat heard the trees creak, he knew that another opponent had joined the battle. He regardless did not expect the beast to croak so loud; for a second he flinched, as the sand lifted to the air into a cloud. Then, he recovered, sidestepping towards the gentle line of waves splashing onto the beach; then the shots sounded; Salvat swung his saber, and deflected a few bullets. but three managed to nick the top left side of his shoulder, drawing a line of blood. Salvat ignored the sting, and stood up, knee deep in the shallow surf.

This, Salvat decided, was getting a little annoying. Should he just stop playing around? Should he get serious?

No, Salvat decided. He needed his energy to chase Silt, not fight random humans and their pets. As shameful as it was to walk away from a fight, Salvat thought, there was a big difference between a duel and letting a giant frog loose on him, then blasting him with guns. Salvat also learnt the hard way that too much pride could kill a person. That, and he really did not have time for this. There was pride, and there was duty. Now, no matter how cowardly he looked, a fishman's duty to his heritage and people rang sharper than his reputation. He backtracked through the waves.

"Well, the day begins," Salvat said casually, the waves reflecting the rising sun in ripples "And i must go. You know, i really hate to let this fight go, but one can always find a fight anywhere in this bloody ocean, regardless of species. And who knows," Salvat added, as he was shoulder deep in water. "we may meet again. You may even catch up to Silt someday."

"We will not chase. We can't beat a fishman in the water" Dynar told his frog. "Let us find a place to rest, but stay on our guard for the man." He left for the woods.

Salvat sunk beneath the waves. He had heard the wild haired man's final sentence, and smirked as he swam after his crew's vessel. Whatever he and his odd pet wanted Silt for, he would not find him on the island; that cold blooded man had already left the island before dawn. Regardless, now it was impeccable to find him, and bring him to justice. He would chase him to the very ends of the oceans if need be.

War may have just ended, and no doubt more wars were sure would begin again. But the more vibrant the heat of war time day, the crypt keeper's chill shall rise as the sun goes down. And in the rising hours of dawn, a deep but whispering voice rasps out to the waves.

"For when the fiery flames of daytime war die out, the earth chills in the cold, silent night. And dark, silent things slither, and run out of sight. Encore to the edged shadows, born of the gentle moonlight."

((and with that, im out. See you around!))