The Red Hand

Chapter 84.5 – The Pirate’s Raid.

At roughly the same time as Wexel was killed by Armalthy, Hoshino was on the lookout for Skipper in Sapporo. She was sitting on the edge of a building looking at a picture on her AR device. She'd been told about his presence within the city and attacks across Japan had her on high alert. There were already a few small skirmishes with puppets, which she'd easily dispatched.

"Ohhhh, my cute little Kaori." She ogled the image of her sister floating in front of her. "Where have you gone, my little toy?" Her smile turned into a perverted grin as her cheeks flushed red. She'd been missing tormenting her little sister and had tried to find her on numerous occasions, to no avail. An official missing person bulletin had gone out, but as of now, she'd not been found and there had been no sightings of her in weeks.

"I hope you turn up soon, my cute little toy. I've got so much more fun ways of playing with you!" She smiled and swiped away the picture. Hoshino figured that Kaori was still alive, though she regretted dropping her off in Kyoto since now she couldn't find her. 

*KABOOM!*

Suddenly a massive blast sounded out from behind her. Hoshino detected some kind of large projectile coming towards her and jumped away. Seconds later, a massive metal cannonball slammed into where she'd been sitting, blasting through the building and crashing onto the street below crushing a few cars.

"I guess that answers where the pirate is." Hoshino sighed as she looked down at the carnage below. The ball had crushed several cars and even killed a few people as it embedded itself into the front of a building across the street. "Yo Skip! Hate to say it, but a fucking cannon isn't exactly stealthy!" She turned to look at Skipper, who was standing atop a massive cannon perched on a rooftop a few blocks down.

"Stealth isn't the pirate way of doing things!" He cracked a smile. "Besides I just wanted to get your attention, my fair wench. My tremendous intuitive sense of the female creature informs me that you are troubled. Is there anything I can do to help you?" He let out a hardy laugh.

{He's quoting that fucking movie again!} Hoshino growled in her head, she really hated Skipper.

"I'm going to fucking kill you for calling me that! Even if you're just messing around, you stupid NEET!" She summoned her twin blades and ran towards Skipper, who fired his cannon again. Hoshino easily dodged the blast, which smashed through the rooftop collapsing the building beneath her feet.

{I'm so going to get an ass chewing for that!} Hoshino sighed internally. She knew Aoi and Superbia would give her hell for the collateral damage, but she didn't care. The only reason she joined the RRT instead of Libra was because she couldn't stand most of the people in the terrorist group. That, and she had a bone to pick with Armalthy, and a chance to legally kill him was one she couldn't pass up. She didn't give a damn about innocent people's lives and she knew the RRT was desperate enough that they'd never kick her out.

"It will take a bit more than that to trip me up!" Hoshino hopped between the falling sections of the building, running up them at high speed before leaping towards Skipper. "Let's dance! You annoying son of a bitch." Hoshino brought down her twin blades and clashed with Skipper, who drew his Scimitar.

"Let's!" Skipper smirked as the two dueled on top of the building. As expected, he was a swashbuckler, a type of rogue that dealt with combat up close and personal. That class was also one of the very few that could get bonuses for using firearms. Skipper manifested his magical flintlock in his offhand and fired it at Hoshino, who deflected the shot.

"Oh-ho!" Skipper laughed. "So your not just all talk. I'm surprised you dodged me Man-Stopper!"

"I hate you!" Hoshino growled. "I hate you and your stupid fucking roleplay! Your almost as bad as Imp!" She slashed her blades, sending energy blasts forward which Skipper deftly avoided. "You're not in the game anymore! So for the love of god, stop it!" She sent more blasts. 

"Tis nothing to cease!" Skipper moved forward and clashed blades with Hoshino. "I am Skipper, the greatest pirate who ever lived! Ahahahah." His Rakish Audacity gave him the ability to fight as equals with her in a 1v1 scenario. 

"You're not a pirate! You're a neck bearded NEET that lived in his mom's basement, playing video games, with way too many anime body pillows!" Hoshino was getting annoyed. Skipper was one her least favorite players, due to his role play. Imp was just as bad in her eyes, but she could tolerate the madwomen due to her usefulness, but not Skipper. She'd known him before FWO and knew exactly what kind of man he was, and seeing him act like this just rubbed her the wrong way. The two continued to duel across the rooftop, clashing blades and sending sparks flying as they fought. Skipper kept trying to strike Hoshino with his pistol, but to no avail. She was too agile for the slow rounds.

After a few more clashes, the two disengaged with Skipper spinning away in a fanciful manner, while smiling.

"Then what are ye?" Skipper tilted his hat with his gun. "Are ye any better? You still call yerself Hoshino, don't ya? If yer going to call me all sorts of names and claim tis all pretend, then perhaps ye should look in a mirror!" He spun around with his footwork skill to avoid her blade. "If yer still Hoshino, then I be Skipper! Mighty pirate and handsome rogue!"

"That's an actual name, one my parents considered giving me!" Hoshino's real name was Hijika. "Besides, I always liked it much better! So why not change it?!?" She got more aggravated as she activated her blade's special property increasing their damage. "Don't compare me to losers like you! I actually have friends, a life and hobbies outside of looking at 2-D girl's!"

{Can't deny the handsome though...} (Hoshino)

"Touched a nerve, have I?" Skipper grinned as he slid forward extending his blade toward Hoshino, starting the duel again. "You're no better than I! You seek to escape reality, to change into that which you were not! The only difference between us is that I stopped lying to myself!" He laughed as the two danced with their blades.

"No, the difference is that you belong in a mental hospital along with all the other crazies. Your a freak like Imp and Akagi! Idiots who still don't understand the difference between games and reality!" Hoshino slammed her blades down at him locking them together in a test of strength. "Unlike you, I'm perfectly sane!"

Skipper laughed. "But yer eyes tell me the opposite. In fact, ye might just be crazier than most." He spun his foot around and knocked Hoshino prone. "I have seen what ye do in yer spare time. Tis pity that poor lass must deal with a sibling such as yourself."

{Fuck! I let this idiot get under my skin.} Hoshino cursed her carelessness as she slammed into the ground.

*BANG*

Skipper fired his pistol at point blank driving a lead ball into her shoulder, opening a large wound and spraying blood everywhere.

"ACK!" Hoshino screamed in pain as she frantically moved away from him. "I'm going to make you pay for that, you stupid NEET!"

"What can ye do in that condition?" Skipper laughed as he tap danced in place. "Ye can't fight without your other arm. Ye should just run away like the coward ye are."

"I don't need two arms to beat you!" Hoshino put away her second blade and focused her effort on using her good arm as she charged in ready to continue their duel.

"Fool." Skipper laughed as he lunged forward to intercept her blade.

"No, you're the fool!" Hoshino stopped short, deflecting his blade by the tip, channeled a blast of magical energy through her leg, and slammed him in the side. Sending him flying across the rooftop. "I know Karate, and I recently figured out that we can channel magic through any part of our bodies, not just our hands and arms." That was the limitation in the game, but in the real world, it didn't matter which body part was used to cast!"

A bit of blood trickled from Skipper's mouth as he got up.

"Not bad, wench." He wiped the blood from his lips. "I suppose tis time I got serious!" He zipped forward at high speed, and the two continued their clash across the rooftop. Hoshino was still at a disadvantage with only one arm, but her ability to channel magic through her body helped mitigate that issue. The fight continued as they leapt down onto the street below. Civilians began to scream and run as they clashed.

"Get the hell out of the way!" Hoshino yelled at the onlookers. "I don't have time for you!" People had gathered at a distance to watch the fight.

{Fucking idiots! Get away from the danger you dammed fools!} (Hoshino)

"Do ye really have time to look at them?" Skipper took the momentary lapse in Hoshino's concentration to lunge at her with his blade and cut her across the arm. An action she repaid by slamming him with her leg and sending him flying toward the civilians.

"Enough playing around. I'm going to end the tale of the worst pirate to ever live!" Hoshino was fuming.

"I might be the worst pirate to ever live, but that means ye have heard of me!" He smirked.

{I hate myself for setting that one up for him...} Hoshino cringed internally at her word choice.

"Besides. Me thinks this tale is only just beginning," Skipper said as he got up and grabbed a woman who was nearby, holding his gun to her head.

"You bastard!" Hoshino was going to approach him but stopped. She didn't care if the lady died, but the lecture from the others would be annoying. "Let her go and fight me! Or are you too afraid?"

"Tis only a break in the action," Skipper said as Hoshino tried to step closer. The two were about twenty feet apart before he kicked the woman forward, causing her to collide with Hoshino, who caught her.

"What the hell." Disoriented, she looked around for Skipper. Who was standing on top of a roof. "Let this be known as the day you almost caught the great pirate Skipper!" He ran off, out of sight. "A-ha-ha-ha-ha." His laughter slowly faded as he got away.

"THAT QUOTE DOESN'T EVEN FIT! AT LEAST USE THE REFERENCES CORRECTLY!" Hoshino screamed. "I hate him. I fucking hate him! AGH!" Her arm was still bleeding, and she decided not to give chase, as she called Aoi. "I swear to god, by the end of this, that fucking idiot pirate is going to die horribly. I don't care how or by who, I just need this one win!"

She heard a noise in her comms set as she connected back to Aoi.

"Aoi, let me just tell you how much I hate role-players." Hoshino limped down the street. "And also get me someone who can heal or something. Having a bullet in my arm really hurts, and I've got a lot of pain. Most physical, but some psychological. God I hate that idiot."