Serious: Reunion

[Docile]

Summary

The Marine Division G-7 led by Commodore Akira Miyazaki have dispersed. It is unknown if Akira Miyazaki survived but what can be sure is that the mission he and his team were heading to accomplish was never met. There was known to be a portion of their journey where they came into some trouble of which cannot be reported. All we do know is the crew is now in pieces and the crew mates Alexis Fisher & Colton Ryker have been found alive. The same cannot be said for Sacha Kazapov. Her body has not yet been recovered. The same goes for the ship. No news of either soldier returning to duty has come in as of yet. This may be because they too have died or have decided to give up the dream of being a marine. However both of the soldiers have had letters delivered to their last known whereabouts detailing that if they wish to continue a life as a marine to arrive at the Marine Head Quarters of Poorguru for a briefing from their new leader Rear Admiral Icarus.


West Blue, Poorguru


Standing tall and robust as ever the Marine Head Quarters & academy of Poorguru awaited the arrival of both soldiers Fisher & Ryker. As the tide washed in over the shore the soldiers who'd been tasked with bringing in Ryker & Fisher to meet their superior waited armed with rifles and swords tucked firmly into their sheaths. In the courtyard soldiers could be heard training the clashes of swords upon swords and sounds of gunfire alongside the occasional scream from a superior for his men to work harder.

It was a hell of a sight. One Colton Ryker never thought he'd see again, not after the nightmare he'd undergone whilst on the way to bring down those swamp dwellers. But he still had all of his skills and the tone dial his former captain had gifted him. He wandered about Alexis though and if she'd been safe. But it wasn't the first thing on his mind. Walking up the path towards the Head Quarters, Colton noticed soldiers outside patrolling and yawned. He remembered those days. Now he was a returning Warrant Officer, but he was still just as lazy as ever. Reaching into the sky and stretching he released his arms and made his way towards the front doors where he was stopped by two marines until he raised a slip indicating that he was a higher rank. After a quick apology Colton waved off their salutes and pushed his way in through the front door.

Approaching the reception he looked at the lady behind the desk who gave him a slightly questionable look. Mainly due to the beard he'd grown in his time alone. Colton gave her a filthy grin.

"Can I help?"

Colton reached for his letter and pulled it out.

"I'm looking for a-Rear Admiral, whatshisname -" Colton's eyes scanned the paper quickly trying to find the name before landing on it and reading it out loud.

"Icarus."

"I'll just call someone to come collect you." she said before lifting the mushi up and making a quick call. Placing the phone back down she gestured towards a seat and mentioned.

"Someone will be along momentarily, if you'd like to take a seat just down there, they'll be over and take you right to him."

Looking at the seat Colton sighed and removed his guitar. As he rested his back on the wall he gathered from the people he sat beside that he smelt, but it was hard to smell good when your not around civilization with proper facilities. Plucking a few strings on his guitar Colton begun to play a simple tune and hum along with it. It was time he got back to work. As much as he'd love to sit on a beach somewhere and just pluck away at his guitar he couldn't do that forever. He needed to accomplish his goals and make his family proud.

He didn't have this devil given power for no reason.

[Vaetric]

Alexis looked around as she arrived at the Island,  she heard the sounds of swords clashing and guns blasting, which was a casual marine day on a marine island, she guessed. She’d gotten the letter in a city which she couldn’t quite remember the name of, but she managed to learn how to speak properly now, apparently. The thieves there weren’t quite like the ones she’d been born with, for one they didn’t live in the sewers. In fact they had their own little guild down there, she pilfered a few things discreetly and gained a few beli, her acrobatics helping her quite a bit before she decided to return as a marine (after of course promising not to tell on the whereabouts of their base).
 
As two marines went to stop her from walking in, she produced a slip of her status and they let her in, she wanted to smear it in their faces but that probably wouldn’t make a very good impression, but then again why should she bother with that? They’re lower than her so she could do whatever she wanted, well; maybe not everything but meh.
 
She walked into the room and saw only one thing. Yes, of all of the crew members, three of them, the one who was there was that damned Colton. “Fuck my life.” she muttered under her breath, walking to the receptionist but not before trying to cuff him around the ear casually. “[color=dodgerblue[Uh.. Yeah, Rear Admiral guy?[/color]” she asked.

[Docile]

Looking up to see Alexis the receptionist nodded and pointed towards Colton.

"Just wait alongside the man with the dreadlocks and someone will be right along to take you to him."

Noticing Alexis enter the room, Colton smirked as he continued to pluck the strings of his guitar. He didn't quite expect to see her anytime soon, but at the same time it made him realize the only two people who seemed to have suffered during the attack on their ship were Captain Akira Miyazaki & the new girl Sacha Kazapov.

Stopping the plucking of the strings Colton formed a small mud bunny on the floor and using his powers had it hop over towards Alexis where it hopped up on to land on her shoulder. Smirking as he watched the bunny make its move Colton wandered if she'd recognize him with the beard he'd grown.

Word that Alexis & Colton had arrived and heading up from the 82nd battalion briefing room was a young man with blonde straight hair which slightly poked out from under the marine hat.

[Vaetric]

“Yeah yeah, I figured as much.” She said,  turning her head to look toward him before noticing the ash bunny on her shoulder. “Oh fuck off.” She murmured, attempting to brush it off before sitting down next to the scraggy guy.  She looked around, waiting for whoever to do whatever. She glanced at Colton before shrugging and looking forward again. He probably didn’t think she would recognise him with that stupid beard on him.  Waiting… Waiting… Waiting. Soon a guy appeared. “Finally.”

[Docile]

Arriving beside him Colton found it funny. Alexis had been summoned here too. Was this a sign Akira was alive? Who else would want to see them? He doubted this Rear Admiral was anyone else than Akira. Possibly under a new name. Oh well it didn't really matter. He was being called back to duty and was happy to fill that void in his life.

As a young recruit appeared he stepped before Colton & Alexis recognizing them from their pictures.

"Ryker & Fisher. I'm recruit Seagold and I've been tasked with taking you to see Rear Admiral Icarus. If you'd please follow me."

Nodding Colton got to his feet and ceased his playing of the guitar. Slinging it around and on to his back he started to lazily follow the recruit down the hallway towards a stairwell.

Recruit Seagold led them both down the stairwell and then further down the next corridor, after taking a left a right then another set of stairs they took two more lefts then a five minute walk down a corridor and at long last they were finally there.

Stopping in front of the door Seagold turned to look at Colton & Alexis.

"He's in there."

Leaving before both of them entered Colton watched seagold take his leave and looked towards Alexis.

"Well I guess we should head on in then. After you."

Inside the room however wasn't quite what they expected. Upon entering the room they would find an empty desk with a file on it full of paper.

Sitting atop the file was a small note & two photos one of Alexis & one of Colton taken upon their first day of joining the Navy. In between the pictures sat a note.

Your First Assignment

[Vaetric]

Finally some guy came to them. "Uh, yeah. Right." Walking along the corridor, she wondered what they'd actually be doing, yes, probably a little fighting and so forth, but.. Meh. She might as well wait and find out, then again she hadn't met many rear admirals before so it must be something a little important, or else they'd just leave them alone of give them a captain or something beforehand.

She walked past Colton and into the room, she found it to be a little barren. "Yey. Photos.]" She said, before trying to sweep them away and pick up the file, no admiral so she guessed they should just read it straight away.

[Docile]

Pushing past him and straight into the room Colton watched Alexis take the lead. She hadn't changed one bit. The same old Alexis. Smirking Colton followed after her and made his way into the room as he noticed the pictures and the note he watched as Alexis opened the file.

Reading over the files Colton begun to memorize each page as it was viewed.

Mission: Raymond Winston

Raymond Winston former Marine Vice Admiral turned pirate has revealed himself once more to the world. Previously a Naval marksman, inventor, swordsman & martial artist, Raymond left the Navy 20 years ago due to a fatal injury. It seems now he has made a full recovery. With his full recovery he is returning to the battlefield on the opposite side.

Taking all of the Marine information he had locked away within that little brain of his he has resurfaced on the side of piracy. Selling Naval secrets & blueprints to Marine weaponry & technology. This will allow the enemy to get their hands on Naval strategies, turrets & even pin point Marine weak points crippling us. Winston must be stopped before he causes too much trouble for the Navy.

From what has been seen Winston does not seem to have aged a tiny bit and his skills as a renowned martial artist, marksman & swordsman may have all been retained. So be careful. He was last sighted on the canals of Crescent Drop. A beautiful historic town with years of history. Make sure to go in quietly and not disturb the quiet peaceful life that resides there as Marines are not welcome and the town is under the protection of the CDP. The CDP are professional protection agents who will try to make the Navy look bad at all costs so you two will need to deny all affiliations to the Navy whilst in the vicinity.

The aim of your mission is to head to Crescent Drop locate Raymond Winston, capture Raymond Winston & extract him. Drop off Raymond Winston at Black Ball Proving Grounds where we will be able to administer the appropriate punishment.

-Icarus

Attached to the file was the bounty poster of Raymond Winston the possibly dangerous salesman

Looking over the final page which was Raymond Winston's picture Colton memorized this too. He wandered as to why Read Admiral Icarus hadn't met them himself but shrugged it off. Perhaps he was busy or this was just protocol.

Looking towards Alexis wandering if she was ready to leave Colton noticed the recruit who'd brought them down here waiting at the door. Seagold stood waiting with what seemed to be an expression that screamed 'I've got some information for you.'

[Vaetric]

"So we're fighting a vice admiral? Greeeeeat. I'll sit back and watch you burn him or something." Alexis said, screwing up the paper and tossing onto the table. She looked around.

Then looked around. Then look around. She didn't know what else to do, since there was no captainy figure to go tell them to "move out" or something. Nope.

She turned around and headed for the door but that guy who let them in had the kind of expression you'd expect from a newspaper guy selling them on the street wanting you to sell them, "Yeah?" she asked.

[Docile]

As Alexis mention about watching Colton burn the guy he smirked.

"Nah c'mon Alexis. I'm sure you can help."

As Alexis asked the recruit what he wanted he quickly replied.

"Rear Admiral Icarus has requested for you two to get cleaned up make yourselves look presentable, mostly yourself Officer Ryker. Once this has been carried out he would like you two to both board the Skippy Toad. The ship will take you to Crescent Drop. Once you've arrived he would like you to both carry out your mission in capturing Raymond Winston."

Nodding Colton headed towards the door leading the way.

"Isn't there a bathroom on board the ship?"

"Yes Officer Ryker, that is where he wants you to make yourself presentable."

"Gotcha"

Heading out to the ship Colton would get himself shaved.

[Vaetric]

“Oh, okay.” Alexis shrugged, though the recruit tripped over himself in his meaning, (He said that they should make themselves presentable THEN go to the ship, but they have to go to the bathroom on the ship to make themselves presentable) but yeah, she went off toward the ship, and got her hair straightened out a little, nothing much else she needed to do really. She would also change into her spare pieces of clothing.

[Docile]

Two Days later . . .
12:57
Crescent Drop


Still yet to meet Rear Admiral Icarus, Alexis & Colton were aboard his ship and sitting looking out over the island Raymond Winston was on. A small rowing boat had been prepared for them to make their way from the ship to the island along with some casual clothing to wear instead of the Marine Attire.

Colton looked and felt much better now that he'd had time to make himself look presentable and happily pulled on the clothes. Slinging his guitar on his back and taking a look in the mirror he didn't much mind how he looked.

An old pair of boots, tattered pinstripe trousers which covered up the top of the boots and an old shirt with sleeves rolled up to the elbow and a grey waistcoat. He could've looked worse.

Making his way down to the rowing boat Colton refreshed the mission in his mind.

Do not attract attention. Find Raymond. Get him out of there. Do not cause a ruckus.

It was simple. Well it sounded simple.

Looking towards the island from the small rowing boat then up towards the marine ship's deck he waited for Alexis. It was going to be a nice short journey in which the two could get re-acquainted.

[Vaetric]

Alexis, once finished with her clothes-changing and whatnot, teeth brushing because everyone needs those pearly whites (and she has yet to get them), would look around the ship and wait until the island comes into view. She would hum, sleep upside down, sleep on the mast, sleep anywhere, all probably within thirty minutes or so.

Once ready, she would go off to the small boat to meet up with Colton. "All right?" she'd ask before getting on board.

[Docile]

Nodding Colton gestured for Alexis to join him in the boat. Grabbing hold of an oar he lifted the other one up and offered it to Alexis.

"We're going to need to to row."

Turning to look towards the island Colton started thinking about how they would get on.

"You coming Alexis? We should get a move on."

Colton knew how he could move around throughout the island, but he wasn't so sure about Alexis.

[Vaetric]

"Yeah, yeah." she said, stepping onto the rowboat,, sitting down and accepting the oar. She started to row, row, row the boat, except it wasn't in a stream. And not quite so merrily.

"So uh.. Any battleplans or whatever?" she asked, looking toward the island, after all they were going up against a vice captain ro something, he was bound to have haki. That wouldn't bode well for Colton if he gets too overconfident in his abilities or whatever.

[Docile]

Rowing alongside Alexis the boat begun to drift along towards the island. Coming into view quickly the island towered over them drastically. The appearance was that of a third world country with a richer upper ring where the houses seemed bigger and much nicer. whiclst the rest seemed caught in an endless struggle for survival.

"No I thought you'd have a plan. I mean I can just float through the air as ash, but you. You're stuck walking."

Thinking about how they could find him Colton looked at Alexis.

"Well he's selling Naval information all we need to do is get word around we're looking for Navy secret rights? So if we start trying to find out where we can get hold of some underworld secrets then we can start our search."

Thinking back to the report about Raymond Winston Colton started making connections and coming up with new ideas. He could scour the skies but, Crescent Drop was a big island. It would probably be better to speak to the people before scouring from above.

"How about we got to a few bars and speak to a few shady people? We could do that or declare ourselves as Marines and take on the island."

[Vaetric]

Alxis shrugged, "Yeah, we could. Maybe also the people in the gutter could help us too, if he's in one of those big rich houses, we could give them incentive to "overthrow one of the oppressive overlords" which would be Raymond, where we fcould then arrest him or something, but yeah I think we could change into civ-outfits and ask for info on the marines or something." she supposed, looking back toward the island, which did look like some kind of shit-fest apart from the upper place, it did kind of remind her of her birthplace, really.

"So yeah, how'd you survive? Though you couldn't swim for jack." she asked, continuing to row.

[Docile]

Nodding to Alexis's suggestion Colton heard her ask about how he survived. Dipping his head Colton looked away as he rowed.

"Well after the ship was sunk and I went with it I was lucky enough to be picked up by a fishing boat. I got caught in their net. What about you?"

Colton felt ashamed of how he'd been saved, but he was alive and happy to be so. Continuing to row he yawned. He wanted to stop but unfortunately he couldn't do so just yet, they weren't yet close enough another few feet and they'd be just fine though.

"Alright once we arrive on the shore you can get changed and then we'll make our way into the town and search the bars see what we can find out. Then we'll go from there."

[Vaetric]

"Must've been some bit of floaty wood or something that stopped you from going under further." Alexis shrugged, "I swam?" she said. Well, she swam to a ship that it took ages for her to get to and stayed on its side until it made port, which is where she's been staying for that time.


"Right then, should be easy enough." she said, looking back to make sure the city was getting closer, well this'll be fun, taking down an EX marine vice admiral, should be a walk in the park, of course. Though, she'd have to find a place to change, not that it really mattered, maybe just same dark alleyway since getting changed in the bar wouldn't be a good idea.

[Docile]

Arriving on the island Colton quickly turned to ash and reappeared on the shore avoiding getting wet and then used his powers of ash to change his arms into ash and reach out with his fully formed hand to tug the boat on to the sandy shore of Crescent Drop.

Yawning Colton looked towards Alexis and spoke.

"Right Alexis if you get changed we can make our way into the town. It'll be a short walk up that path there. Then we can start looking for info."

Turning his back on her Colton continued.

"Don't worry I won't look. There's nothing there I wanna see."

Keeping his brain focused on the mission at hand Colton started thinking about ways they could capture Raymond without alarming anyone they were marines more to the point how they could escape the island without looking like kidnappers who'd easily be arrested by the CDP.

This was possibly going to be really tricky.

[Vaetric]

Finally their boat hit the ground. She took out the civilian clothing she was given. She made sure to be facing the other way as she took off her trousers and started to change. "Yeah, there wouldn't. Gay." she finished putting on the trousers and then replaced the shirt, when she was finished she'd put the marine clothing beneath the seat and jump off the boat. "So, off to the tavern?" she asked, walking off toward the city/town.

[Docile]

Nodding as Alexis mentioned the tavern Colton started to make his way up led by Alexis who seemed more interested in the job at hand. Sighing as she took the lead Colton watched the down trodden city open up to them both. The pavement dusty & littered with empty beer bottles and cigarette butts whilst the walls were plastered with torn posters advertising private shows & bounty posters.

Well the CDP really seemed to be having some effect on the town. Passing a young couple who held on to each other tightly Colton nodded to them both only to be ignored.

Perfect

This town could possibly be really dismissive.

Heading past them and noticing the signs indicating bars Colton called to Alexis.

"Here we go. There's a bar here."

Heading towards the door of the Purple Ferret Colton pushed the doors open and stepped inside. The patrons were quietly chatting among themselves whilst a small band made up of a man playing the acoustic guitar and woman singing half assed a song and butchered it.

Making his way to the bar, Colton quickly reached into his pockets and removed a few small crumpled up beli notes. Placing them on the bar he smiled at the barkeep.

"Can I have a gin & tonic?" he asked politely before turning around and leaning against the bar to profile the patrons of the bar whilst he waited for Alexis to join him.

[Vaetric]

Nodding, Alexis walked into the tavern, looking around she winced at the musical duo and their song, she half wanted to take the guitar and smash them over the heads with it. "Worse than Colton." she muttered as she walked off and sat next to him. She placed some beli on the table, "Whiskey." she said, she wasn't really sure what to have, so she just said what popped into her head. She probably wouldn't get much thirst-quenching wise from it but hey, the bartender might appreciate not using much alcohol.

She looked around again. "So uh, how're we going to go through this? Pretend to be anti-marine looking for info?" She whispered.

[Docile]

joined by Alexis at the bar Colton heard her order a whiskey and thought to himself she's ordering a more manly drink to make herself look more manly than him was hilarious. Inside he laughed a little whilst on the outside he just smiled. Looking at the people around him he started to wander who might be the best resource and how to go about finding out about getting their hands on marine goods.

There were three men sitting at the table with flintlocks strapped to their legs playing a game of cards drinking whiskey by the bottle, two couples as it appeared in the booth towards the back of the bar by the window with red curtains looking out. Although Colton had a suspicion they weren't couples but two lonely men with allot less money now that they're "dates" had received payment. Sitting behind them was a man all on his own watching the band play their horrible song. Colton had half a mind to go up and show them how to perform a real song, but that was effort.

Receiving his Gin & tonic he turned to pick it up along with his change and pocketed it. Looking towards Alexis he noticed there were two men leaning against the bar on the other side of her and then looking towards his left he could see two women chatting about an engagement ring
and a burly man dressed in a cowboy attire with a mustache sipping on a pint of grog with a flintlock strapped to his thigh.

Turning back to Alexis to answer her question about how they'd go about this Colton had an answer.

"No I've got an idea. I've taken a quick look around and noticed that out of all the patrons here there's a handful of them who have something that is naval property. Look at the men playing cards just behind us. The flintlock they have strapped to their legs is naval property. Only navy soldiers are issued them so either they looted a Marine for them or got some navy information. So here's how we play it out. We either ask them where they got their hard ware or ask to join the game and befriend them. I've noticed though half the people in this place are guilty for something so the last option would be to just smoke the place out. "

Returning to his drink Colton noticed three large men enter the bar. One dressed up with a sombrero on his head & two ammunition belts crossing his chest and the other two with large heavy duty weaponry in their hands. Raising an eyebrow Colton thought to himself about who these men could be.

[Vaetric]

Alexis looked around, people playing cards, yup. Classic bad tavern, inn or whatever. She got her whiskey and drank down the shot, well.. That was finished, maybe she should've gotten something with more in the cup, oh well. Still, woke her up a little. She checked out the place, people bad at signing singing bad songs, yup. She didn't like the place.

She heard Colton speak, "Yeah, guessed so. Any good at cards? If not i'll go with those guys and you can.. Talk or something." she said, getting ready to get up and walk over to the guys playing cards, heopfully it was poker or something, she played that in the sewers and whatnot, she knew at least vaguely the rules of the game.

[Docile]

Cards? Was he good at cards? Well I might be." Colton thought to himself, but it was just effort. Looking at Alexis Colton replied.

"No, I don't really play cards. Tell you what if you go play cards and get into a conversation about his weapons you can ask him where he got it from. I'll go play music up at the stage with my guitar. Take my tone dial with you and record the whole conversation so we can listen to it later if you get anything."

Handing over his tone dial, Colton finished up his drink and made his way up to the stage where the awful couple were finishing their song. As they finished with a horribly off key note Colton smiled on the outside.

"Hey guys that was a good set, you mind if I do a little bit?"

"Thanks, most people usually tell us we suck, but its refreshing to hear a nice comment like that."

"Why be mean when you can make the world a slightly nicer place right?"

"Exactly. Of course you can go on up, we'll be watching you." the lady said as her and her partner made their way to the bar. Smiling Colton thought to himself how easy ti was to lie to their faces. Sitting on the stool he placed his guitar on his lap and strummed it once.

Smiling at Alexis and nodding he looked out over the crowd.

"This is a song about a girl called Delilah"

Colton's Song

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