Task information:

Centauruea was proving to be a lot less interesting than Nicholas had hoped. When he had arrived here, he was expecting plenty of opportunities for work, chances to show off his skills with tech and fighting. The problem was though, as an island under the complete control of revolutionaries, was that they were in no short supply for recruits, weren't looking for any mercenaries right now, and weren't really interested in any equipment, when they can easily get it from somewhere else. It was proving to be a complete and utter bore here! Anyone he talked to seemed to either have nothing interesting to say, or try to recruit him to bring down the government. Why would he want to do that? He had no issues with the government.

And so, at this moment, he sat at a small cafe, sipping a coffee and looking at a newspaper he bought. He may as well see what else was going on in the world that he was missing out on, get the up to date information on the biggest stars on the ocean. You have to start somewhere afterall.

"Hey, did you hear about that discovery that was made?"

Nicholas slowly peeked over his newspaper over at the two men talking some distance away from him. "You mean about that guy who found those catacombs under the old palace?" "Yeah, that's the one! He's been claiming there's a HUGE horde of treasure in there, hidden by the king before the revolutionaries overthrew him." Nicholas blinked. Treasure? Lots of it? The other man shrugged. "Yeah, it would be cool if it was true. I heard he can't even remember where abouts in the catacombs it is." "I know. That's why the revs are sending some guys down there to find it. Planning to use it to finance the army or something."

The second man chuckled. "Well, good luck to them for that. I heard the catacombs are a maze down there. Still, it would be good to find that stuff. Maybe take a little for myself before the revs get it all, you know?"

By this point, Nicholas' table was empty, the paper and coffee discarded. The young man had the exact same idea. Get into those catacombs, find the treasure before the revs do, and then get the hell out of this boring island before anyone becomes the wiser. Now just to get to the palace and into the catacombs without being seen. Shouldn't be too hard, right?

Linnea had gone for a walk that morning as was her habit; she got an early rise as she always did and went out to explore the island... The Southbird also went off to his own exploration, they had that much in common. Santiago was probably up to his own business as well but since they had. She had the map of Centorea island in hand and when Sengoku perched himself on her shoulder with its signature call, the first place he pointed was at the map. He had found something interesting... She sat a nearby café, grabbing herself some toast, a mug of coffee, as well as an apple from her own inventory. But as her oddly colored bird partner - who drew almost as many stares as the curvaceous woman herself - pointed to a specific part of the island, she also heard something else attesting to Goku's testimony. Despite her calm, laid back expression, her ears were attentively perked to hear out the words these guys were stating.

She knew how the Island had been recently freed from the Revolutionaries, but they didn't know everything about it. Apparently someone was rushing to grab some treasure and the Revs were all up in a fuss about it. Personally she actually liked the revolutionary army, but if they hadn't laid their hands on that treasure, then it was nobody's property. In that case, it was completely up for grabs. The treasure Goku apparently found must have been the same one the man was digging out:

"Good job Goku~", whispered Linnea, petting her Southbird before feeding him what remained of her half eaten apple.

With that in mind, she left some beli atop the table and pulled up her dark hood, completely ignoring the heat striking her face... It would be more than worth it.

((Since Santiago has pulled out. This will just be me and Naga))

It wasn't too difficult for Nicholas to get to the castle. After all, it was the biggest building on the island, and the revolutionaries weren't strictly stopping people from walking around. Getting INTO the castle on the other hand was another matter entirely. The revolutionaries were using it as their main base of operations, and had security all over the place. They weren't going t simply let someone walk in, especially when that someone was trying to get hold of treasure that they were trying to claim.

Thankfully, the entrance to these catacombs weren't in the palace proper, but rather just outside the grounds. It had taken some scrounging, but he had finally found the entrance, a hole in the side of a cliff. The two guards standing out front were a bit of a giveaway though.

"Damn. They must have already gone ahead!

He had to find some way in, and unfortunately it was through the two guards. Taking a deep breath and putting his best swagger on. Nicholas began to stroll up to the entrance. The guards spied him immediately and moved to block his path. Guess it was too much to hope for dumb guards. "This is a restricted area," one of them said. Nicholas calmly raised his hands up in a "I'm not armed" pose. "Relax guys," he said, "I'm with the team, going down to get the treasure that's down there." He made to move, but the guards prevented him. "The entire team's already gone down there," the guard replied, "Nobody else is to enter the catacombs." 

"But wait!" Nicholas quickly countered, "I'm here to bring supplies down to them. You don't know how long they could be down there for." The second guard looked over him. "And what 'supplies' are these?" Nicholas paused, realizing he had been caught out before a big grin spread across his face. "My handsome, morale boosting smile?" Everyone was silent for a moment before the guard spoke up. "Alright, let's get you out of here," he said, moving towards him. Nicholas brought his hands up quickly. "Wait! I just have one last thing to say!" "And what's that?" "Boot to the head." "What?"

With a light tap with his foot, the jet dial attached to his dial frame sprang to life. Before the guards could react, Nicholas spun around, bringing his foot up, accelerated by the powerful dial, delivering a kick to the side of the guard's head, sending him flying into the second. The first guard slumped to the ground unconscious as the other tried to climb to his feet, only to have his head slammed into the cave wall by Nicholas' boot.

"I said 'boot to the head'. I really hate repeating myself." Dusting himself off, Nicholas began to stroll into the cave.


Jet Dial used. 2 post cool down.

2 T1 revolutionaries dispatched.

While heading to that place, she scouted another man heading the same way. Sengoku had seen him too, and pointed out his location, staying above him at all times. The treasure was hidden inside the catacombs, huh? The revolutionaries were using it as a military headquarters, which would make this operation dangerous. If they didn't hurry they would likely be intercepted by some of them: Linnea was friendly to the Revolutionary army, and so she didn't want to kill any of them, but stopping this man wasn't really in her interest either.  It was much easy to kill an enemy with an unexpected arrow, and that kind of distraction could be achieved by something as simple as being distracted, allowing Linnea to pick up targets in none vital regions ensuring sne could simply stop them from moving without reaping their lives. Some of these guys were killers, but they were also soldiers in an army, belonging to her favorite side. Even if they competed, she wouldn't do it fatally.

But now there was the man in the cafe. As she headed for the place, she still kept following his tracks until he came across two guards, where she approeached him enough to have a clear sight of his figure and determined exactly where he entered. She prepared a message, and tied it to an arrow. Linnea did her best work unseen; she was a shy girl after all... She wasn't too keen on glory either, even if she knew that completing her exploits would likely give her the infamy she had no interest in.

The catacombs were large and Linnea was able to follow this man stealthily, always keeping an eye on him from behind. The path took many turns, allowing her Kenbunshoku Haki to give them an advantage since I should could see enemies up ahead with ease. Thus, as she noticed some guards walking silently as if to intercept the intruder. Linnea grabbed two arrows, holding an idle one of them behind her ring and pinky fingers; nocking the other. Once the guards jumped in to attack the other explorer, she had already let loose the two arrows with a quick movement aiming and releasing them both in turn.

Once the guards suddenly jumped in the other exoplorer's path, they were struck by arrows, first one, and then the other in turn, knocking them both down with non lethal shots to the gut. THey would take a long while to bleed out but a wound like this wouldn't allow them to move carelessly. More importantly this was a message akin to shooting an apple off a person's head. A little stunt she used to exhibit her skills in order to justify a partnership: "I'll cover you if you share your treasure with me. Tear the paper in half if you accept my offer."

If he said yes and tore the paper in half, Linnea would show herself, popping out from cover and smiling bashfully, tugging on her hood in front of the stranger:

"Hello...", she greeted calm and softly, looking up at his eyes with a sharp steel blue gaze. She didn't scavenge the arrows so as not to kill the wounded men, knowing it would aggravate their bleeding and shorten their life, "I'm Linnea..."


OOC: Used 2 arrows

Used B-rank Kenbu

These catacombs were a freakin maze! No wonder the one who found this place hadn't gotten the treasure out sooner. A man could get lost in a place like this. Thankfully, the revolutionaries had the same idea, having planted down markers along the cave walls to mark where places were, to ensure that they weren't walking around in circles. Such a convenient lot these revolutionaries were. It almost made Nicholas feel guilty about swiping all their gold out from under them. Almost mind you.

As he rounded a corner, suddenly two guards seemed to spring out of nowhere. Dammit, was the revolutionary army employing ninjas now? And his jet dial hadn't fully recharged yet. He was preparing to jump back to defend himself when suddenly something struck the two mean, knocking them down to the ground. It took Nicholas a moment to realize that they had been shot by arrows, one of which seemed to have a note attached. Plucking off the paper, he read it carefully. There was someone else down here? And more importantly, they were willing to help him?

He held the paper up and tore it, making sure it was something anyone could see being done. No sooner had he done so, a beautiful woman with white hair stepped out of the darkness, introducing herself as Linnea. Nicholas hadn't been a religious man, but he was fairly certain guardian angels existed now. He gave a playful smile and an elaborate bow. "Pleased to meet you Miss Linnea. The name's Nicholas Edison, at your service."

He looked down at the two wounded men. Including the two Nicholas had brought down, that would make four. "So, it shouldn't be long before the others discover what's going on. Any ideas on how we shall proceed? It shouldn't be too hard to get the drop on these guys, considering how twisted this place is." He looked on down the tunnel he was going down. If these markings were of any indication, then they were going the same way the revolutionaries were going. That was really the only lead they had. Best hope they find the treasure for them.

He bowed gracefully in an almost regal manner, agreeing to her proposition and introducing himself as Nicholas Edison; while the girl couldn't help but admire his choice of wardrobe... She was surprised he was even here dungeon crawling alongside her. Among the two of them he was better at attacking head first, with his flashily smooth appearance. Linnea's plan was the same as ever, being wily and exploring openings left by the opponent. But with this man by her side, he could continuously distract the enemies with his own special attacks that she didn't quite understand while she exploited yet more blind spots and dstractions he created.

Finding her new partner to be friendly, Linnea had a cool faint smile on her lips as they discussed how to go about their adventure. He naturally suggested they find the treasure by following the revolutionaries; if they hadn't found the treasure already, they had to be close, so they had to hurry too. Fortunaly, these very same revolutionaries had to navigate through this maze. Linnea touched her hand, touching the wall as if to scout out opponents, but actually she was using it both to help navigate the catacombs and concealing her use of Haki.

"I can spot them easily enough. So long as they're scattered we shouldn't have any problem.", she explained her plan, looking somewhat more serious than before, "Let's chase after them quietly..."

Keeping her stance low, the ranger's steps were almost completely silent, more than enough for anyone further than a meter from her. While Nicholas trailed the path marked, Linnea located the closest Revolutionary soldier. There were two of them walking side by side, one of them had a much bigger Aura than the other... He was patrolling the corridor back and forth, with another, weaker one doing the same thing in reverse. So the way to go was time her shot so both enemies were facing their back or the weaker one wouldn't see Linnea and alert his buddy. It took a couple of minutes to wait for the stars to align, as the one further away turned his back to Linnea while the stronger one still had his back to her. Lining up an three arrows, Lin released the projectiles, watcing them go straight for the man's torso and putting him out cold, too injured to move:

"WHAT THE HELL?!", shouted the other guy, turning to see his fallen comrade




OOC: Used 3 arrows; Using B-rank kenbu (25/15)

Took down 4 T1; 1 T3

used trident Skill; 5 arrows used

Spoiler:

4 T1 Revs defeated

Nicholas was really liking this girl. Very attractive, skilled, and with a good head on her shoulders. While he considered it a shame that she was simply keeping out of sight and picking off opponent's from the shadows (a beauty like that must shine!) he knew that their plan hinged on him being the distraction, the bright star that dazzled them while Linnea's deadly (or not so deadly) strikes did the work.

And so, when the revolutionary turned to see his fallen comrade, yelling out in surprise, Nicholas wasted no time charging in, lashing out with a strong, hard kick. The man brought his arm up to block, but the force of the blow was enough to knock him off balance. Nicholas through his body at him, slamming him into the wall before raining blow after blow on him, beating him into the ground. Sure. It was a rather crude way of doing it, but it got the job done, plus they had treasure to find.

"Who's there!" yelled out a voice. It seemed that somebody had heard all the commotion. Nicholas spun around, intent on delivering a spinning kick to whoever was behind him, only to find his foot caught in mid air. The revolutionary was larger than the others, and not too happy. Nicholas looked at his grabbed foot, and then back at the man. "Erm, that's how we say 'hi' where I come from," he said with a sheepish grin.

The revolutionary didn't buy it, lifting the young man off of his feet and slamming him into the wall. Nicholas fell to the ground with a grunt, quickly scrambling to his feet. The large revolutionary moved to grab him, but Nicholas quickly slipped to the side, backing up to put space between himself and the rev, as well as having his back to where he had last seen Linnea.

Meanwhile, he heard a soft hiss near his right leg. The Jet Dial was ready.


T1 revolutionary defeated. Engaging T2 revolutionary

Jet Dial is fully charged and ready for use.

5 T1 revolutionaries defeated, 1 T3 revolutionary defeated.

This guy was efficient... Not only that he perfectly filled out the role Linnea's plan charged him with, and played his part out perfectly. The weaker revolutionary turned around and seeing no other enemy against whom to retaliate against the attack, turned to attack Nicholas instead, but the blond man beat him to the punch with relative ease. Landing a flurry of attacks, the battle was over before it even began, but all this ruckus drew the attention of at least another foe. He was weaker than the first enemy Linnea took out, but stronger than the last one.

She had yet to understand exactly how this man suddenly managed to move so fast like he did before, but she was certain she would get a chance to see it if they just kept on fighting. As before, her Haki allowed her to antecipate the arrival of yet another enemy but she also antecipated Nicholas' attempt to attack, preventing her from shooting since he'd be stuck cleanly in path for a few moments.

Her lips drew a soft amused smiled at his answer, Nicholas' wit did wonders to lighten the mood of even such a serious battle against trained soldiers. But like before, she saw the man get flung against the wall and into the ground in advance, and popped out with an arrow fully nocked and ready, and shot it at the big burly Rev soldier. The guy would get caught in the gut right after throwing Nicholas out of the way, staggering and grievously wounding him; but he was tough enough to stay standing...

Still, he wouldn't be fighting too hard with an arrow through his gut, allowing her ally the perfect opportunity to finish him off while she scanned for their next foes. There weren't any more within forty meters, so for now they would be stuck wandering around the maze on their own...



OOC: Used 1 arrow; Using B-rank kenbu (20/50)

Took down 5 T1; 1 T3; T2 Rev wounded

6 arrows used total

Nicholas was really liking this girl. Reliable, intelligent, not to mention easy on the eyes. As he had gotten the revolutionary's back to her, did she let loose an arrow, wounding the man. The big guy stumbled forward, falling to one knee in front of Nicholas. The young man though about delivering a Jet Dial fueled kick to his head but thought better of it. Who knew if he would need to use it later. Instead, he settled for a simple roundhouse kick to the side of the man's head. The man crumpled to the floor in a heap with a defeated ground. He shouldn't be dead, but he would be out for a while.

"Thanks for the cover," he spoke out to where Linnea was hiding, "Much appreciated. Now let's go find us some treasure, shall we?" There didn't seem to be any more revolutionaries around, so for the time being it was simply the case of following the trail they had left behind. Whistling a small, merry tune, the young man walked on ahead, no doubt that his attractive escort was keeping close by. He could only wonder just how many more revolutionaries were down here.

It wasn't long before he had his answer. They came upon a massive open chamber, a small path leading from the tunnel they came out of down to the floor below. And in that chamber was exactly what Nicholas had been hoping for. Gold! Lots and lots of gold, as well as jewels and other valuable pieces. So the old king had indeed stashed his goodies down here before being overthrown. Of course, it wasn't just treasure down there. Nicholas noticed two more revolutionaries down there as well. They hadn't seemed to have noticed him yet, as they were busy looking over the treasure before them.

"So, what do you think?" Nicholas murmured, loud enough for the kuja sniper to hear him, but quiet enough for the revolutionaries to miss him, "Stick with the usual plan? I run down, dazzle them with my sheer awesomeness and you shoot them in the head, or the stomach, or wherever it is you like to shoot people?"

Linnea didn't even bother hiding this time, still hopeful to once more see her new partner's high speed kick in action with her own two eyes. Having downed the big burly revolutionary, the door was open for Nicholas to unleash the finishing blow, but this time, no form of high speed kick blessed Linnea's keen sight. The guy was seriously wounded and standing still, and a quick roundhouse kick to the head was more than enough to leave him sleeping as long as they'd need.

"You're welcome...", Linnea smiled humbly as she walked up to him again, nodding in agreement at his plan. The coast was clear for them to explore at will, so all they had to do was navigate the tracks led by the revolutionaries, which both of them seemed rather skilled at doing. Linnea was a hunter who excelled at following tracks, and little did she know Nicholas was a navigator as well and, in a different way, also excelled at reading people's tracks. She inquired at something that had been confusing her for a while, "You kicked really fast back at the entrance, why can't you just do the same to all of these guys?"

Was he a martial artist like Alice? That seemed like a good theory only Alice could unleash those kicks at will anyways, his seemed to be more limited. Besides, this man was pretty lean, not burly like she'd expect a male martial artist to be. Eventually they struck gold! Linnea's Haki detected two auras the moment they came upon a tunnel leading to a large chamber. Touching Nick's shoulder, she signalled for him to slow down, crouch and move silently. Grabbing an arrow, she assessed the two auras she could see. Both of these foes was powerful, though one was visibly more powerful than the other, and their room was surrounded with gold. Linnea's eyes glimmered and sparkled at the beautiful sight:

"It might be best if I sneak attack first...", she suggested. They were too dazzled by the treasure to ever see it coming, so Linnea grabbed four arrows, held her bow horizontally, and lined them all up: Two for each revolutionary

With her eyes primed on the two targets, she shot the four arrows at once, instantly knocking down one of them with one arrow to the chest and one to the gut, and seriously wounding the second one with the same arrows. Linnea was impressed as the big bad revolutionary not only survived the attack, but turned around and shot her with a rifle! Even if the archer saw it coming, she wasn't exactly fast enough to dodge bullets and still caught a grazing wound to the left arm.

"Ugh... I got careless...", she uttered, holding the flesh wound in her bicep and gritting her teeth, hoping Nick would exploit this to go in and finish the guy off, hiding behind cover...





OOC: Used 4 arrow; Active B-rank kenbu (20/50)

Took down 5 T1; 1 T3; 2 T2; 1 T3 wounded seriously but still fighting

10 arrows used total

Spoiler:

"My kick?" It seemed that Linnea had seen his little show at the entrance. With a smile, he brought his leg up, patting the Dial Frame he wore on it, or more specifically, the dial attached to it. "That's thanks to this little thing. A Jet Dial. Stores up air under high pressure, able to unleash it in one burst. It provides the acceleration for my kicks. Unfortunately the thing requires time to recharge after use." Dials weren't exactly a wide spread technology. Which was why Nicholas grew so fond of them.

He crouched down behind the rocks with Linnea, watching as she prepared her bow and fired. Guess the time for hiding was done, now it was time for a little assault. He watched as one revolutionary went down, but the other remained standing, firing a shot and managing to graze Linnea's arm. Seeing her hurt brought up a flare of anger in the man. What kind of man would allow a woman to be hurt? "I've got this!" Nicholas called out, leaping out from behind cover and charging at the last revolutionary. The man was caught by surprise, still reloading his rifle. He brought the weapon up to fire, but Nicholas lashed out with a kick, knocking the weapon aside as it fired, harmlessly striking the wall.

I hope you're watching Linnea.

As the revolutionary rounded on Nicholas, the dial on Nicholas's leg began to squeal, like a kettle reaching boiling point. The high pitched sound got the man's attention, providing just the distraction Nicholas needed. "Keep your eye on the leg!" He laughed, bringing his leg up and  strike at his midsection. Normally, seeing the attack coming, the revolutionary would have been able to dodge it. However, the increased speed caused by the Jet Dial caught the man off guard. The foot connected with his wounded side, the propulsion caused by the dial launched the revolutionary off of his feet and slamming him back into the pile of treasure. The impact knocked loose a large golden chest sitting at the top, which began tumbling down. Before the revolutionary could react, the chest struck him on the back of the head, bringing the man down.

Nicholas waited for a moment, making sure the man was down. It seemed the heavy chest had done its job. Beaten by the very treasure they were seeking. How ironic. He turned and headed back to where Linnea had been taking cover. "Are you ok? The coast's clear. I think we got them all."[/color]


Jet Dial used.

T3 Revolutionary defeated.

All enemies defeated! The treasure is ours!

Linnea peeked out of cover the moment her partner took to the spotlight. He seemed to get pretty angry upon seeing her shot, even if it was just a flesh wound. The sniper had a hard time understanding why, after all, it was her own mistaking for underestimating that Revolutionary Soldier's endurance. She had been pretty fascinated by Nicholas discription of his kicks, it wasn't the first time she heard about dials, but it was the first time anyone had given her an idea of they did. His gear was called a "Jet Dial" and it clearly served as a form of wind thruster, allowing him to speed up much faster. When unleashing a melee attack, speed is power, and he made full use of that.

His sudden attack suprised the Revolutionary soldier, allowing him to get in a quick and disarm the wounded man whose reflexes weren't nearly as sharp as before as he kept losing blood. He didn't use his Jet kick immediately, but only as a follow up, flinging the guy and sending him flying, crashing head first onto a wall and getting a treasure chest knocked onto his head for good measure:

"Wow...", she praised, astonished by the power of the Jet kick up close, as she got up from cover and started filling her pockets with all the treasure, as much as she could carry, "See if you can find another chest so we can fill two of them up."

And with that, Linnea started scavenging through the treasure room, ultimately filling herself one whole chest and leaving her wondering if working with this man again would be as profitable as the first time. He seemed really good at making his foes underestimate him and striking when their guard was down, something Linnea had learned could make even an average joe into a keen warrior...