Jane Spuckler's Story

Jane's eyes snapped open. She started to gasp for breath, where was she? Wasn't she on a pirate ship? She felt the ground around her...It felt grainy, like, like...sand. She opened her eyes, and looked around. Suddenly, the scene flashed right in front of her.
Jane stood up, this was so confusing. She rubbed her head, it took her a minute or two to figure out what had just happened...Suddenly it clicked. Once she had gone overboard, she must have washed up on this beach...And now she was soaked.
Jane looked around, and felt for her gun...Her eyes widened. She looked down at the sand, and was soon on her knees, scanning for her beloved weapon. This was not good. That gun was her only weapon. if she lost it, she was pretty much defenseless. Not only was she horrible at close combat, but what idiot would give her a weapon? There were probably wanted posters everywhere by now!
Jane let out a cry of disbelief. She needed help, she needed help, fast. Not only were there other people who wanted her dead, but there were probably Scarletts on every block by now! How long had it been, anyway? Oh, God, this was really bad. The only sane thing she could do right now was run, but she needed food, and water. She was so busy panicking she didn't realize how parched, and famished she was.
She held her breath. She was going to have to make a run through Kaylee's village, maybe a rob a few people, and run for Fern's forest...Sounds like a plan.
Jane thought, standing back up. She started to run for the village.

JANE SPUCKLER, PIRATE AND TREASONIST
ARMED AND DANGEROUS
WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE
REWARD: 1,000,000

Hangyaku-sha glanced at the new poster, seeing a Scarlett hurriedly plastering them onto walls and boards throughout the city.
"Well, this Jane character sounds like they can get something done. I should get my hands on her before the Scarletts do." Yaku scanned the bar counter she was sitting at, and eyed a Scarlett patrolman.
"Excuse me, Scarlett!" She beckoned to the officer, and gestured to the poster when he came over,
"This Jane Spuckler character, here. Does anybody know where she was last seen?" Her eyes narrowed, showing obvious intrigue.
"I've heard rumors that she is in this very area! She was last captured on her ship out in the seas, but she escaped. I don't think you should go for her yourself. Just find one of us when you find her, okay?" The officer had already gone into the 'these people are very dangerous' speech, so she just said "thank you", and left the bar.

She ripped one of the flyers from a bounty board, and started towards the edge of the village, hoping that she can catch this pirate before the Scarletts do.

A few minutes rolled by, until she caught a glimpse of someone running, soaking wet, and wearing exactly what is in the poster's description.Yaku had found her, now she just had to GET her.

She stood up from the rock she was sitting on, and strode towards Jane's path, making sure to get into her way.
Hangyaku cleared her throat.
"Excuse me, do you happen to be the person on this poster?" Yaku presented the flier.
"I'm Hangyaku-sha, a pirate-turned-drifter from the east. I see you are in a bit of a pinch, and I think we can help each other. I already know who you are, and I am not here to capture or kill you. You seem like someone who can get something done. What do you say, Jane Spuckler?" Yaku extended her hand and flashed a playful grin. She was going to get this pirate to work with her, one way or another.

Thriest trudged down the sandy beach, his heavy feet sinking deeply into the sand with every step.
He'd been ordered to patrol the beach for any sign of Jane or her crew but... as far as he could tell, patrol just meant walking for really long times as far away from the ship as humanly possible.
He sighed, though to normal people it likely sounded like the roar of some large animal.
Thriest Van-Ike, rookie Scarlett, continued his patrol of the empty beach.
He stood over six feet tall, and while he was just above medium build, 100% of that was pure muscle.
If he flexed to hard, his shirt would literally rip apart.
His eyes widened as he heard a distant cry and before he knew what he was doing, his overly powerful legs were pushing the ground away beneath him, and he all but flew across the sand.
Then he saw her. It was unmistakably Jane Spuckler, though she was soaked to the bone and covered in sand.
The only logical thing that came to mind was to draw his sword, Riptide, and chase after her.
Riptide was, without a doubt, the largest sword any smith has ever had to make.
It appeared capable of cutting through men or trees with equal amounts of ease.

Peter sat inside one of his hometown bars on his first day back from a rather unsuccessful missions. If he wanted to fulfill his desires he needed to be with a proper crew of pirates. Hell, he'd take just one proper partner to aid him if he could find one. With all these Scarletts running around the place it seems to be difficult now. He let out a sigh and took another swig out of his bottle of rum. Across the counter he noticed a blonde haired pale woman asking about a high bounty pirate of a Scarlett. Peter had heard quite a bit about this Jane Spuckler and this once again proved to himself that going to a bar was the best place to start a search. As the woman ended her conversation with the Scarlett she left the bar, soon after Peter did as well to tail her. They were looking for the same pirate he figured.

Peter kept a safe distance for a good while and after a few minutes she seemed to have spotted the popular woman on the road. Pete saw the very same girl and took a different path to her. When he finally was close enough to Jane, the blonde woman was extending her own hand with a smile. Peter - with his rose pirate hat and upper class clothing, along with the bottle of rum in hand - spoke out as soon as the blonde's greeting was finished saying, "And I am Peter Snow, expert of stealth. It would be my pleasure to accompany you and assist you in any way I can, for my own reasons of course." Peter extended - not a hand, but - the bottle of rum to her with a tip of his hat and smile as well.

Jane bit her lip when the blonde woman came over with the poster. She wasn't in a situation to talk, in the corner of her eye she could swear there was a Scarlett with a sword bigger then herself coming at her...Who would have the time to smith such a sword?
"Excuse me, do you happen to be the person on this poster? I'm Hangyaku-sha, a pirate-turned-drifter from the east. I see you are in a bit of a pinch, and I think we can help each other. I already know who you are, and I am not here to capture or kill you. You seem like someone who can get something done. What do you say, Jane Spuckler?"
Jane gave off a crooked smile,
"I pleased by the offer, but I'm not in the position to talk right now--"
She turned to another person, a male, with white hair.
"And I am Peter Snow, expert of stealth. It would be my pleasure to accompany you and assist you in any way I can, for my own reasons of course."
"Once again, this does please me, I am willing to talk terms, but, uh, meet me in Fern's Forest, right now I'm in a bit of a jiffy,"
She pointed to the Scarlett with the abnormally large sword, and darted off.

Jane left the scene after pointing out her obvious reason and concern for a hurried conversation. Might as well chip in here. Snow threw the bottle of rum at the incoming large man with accuracy and sank back into hiding, telling the blonde woman "I'll be catching you later then!". He ran off to the outskirts of town taking the path through the many buildings. This was a short jog for him and the run to the forest would be enough to put him out of breath. Peter was better at long distance running rather than a short and fast sprint. Well at least she agreed to talk to me, put in that situation. Perhaps Jane, the blondie and I could work together... Peter smiled at the thought as he went around the village's boundaries near the forest of Fern.

Peter steered himself off to the side amongst the trees of the path leading to the large forest ahead just in case there were Scarletts or anyone else following the same road. Peter slowed his pace to a walk, he could see nobody around him nor hear anything but his own footsteps. The sun shone through the grand green trees and the cold wind brushed against them all. Such a peaceful place. I remember when father took me here once... Peter drew himself into the memory and sat himself down upon a tree next to the path that twisted through the foliage. His father and him didn't go out much, there wasn't time for that in most cases. Chores needed to be done or things needed to be sold, the pub always needed looking after. He understood all that fine, though he wished he could of had more time with the old man. He never did anything wrong in his life... yet, how did he know the pirate captain - Peter's own mentor - from way back when? Whenever he had asked, the captain never told him. Ah, no use thinking about all that now. It's all in the past. Time to focus on the present. Now, where could those ladies be I wonder? Peter turned his thoughts and head to the path, keeping an eye pealed for anyone coming.

"Thriest..." Alexanders voice was barley more than a whisper. "What did you see n--" But before he could finish the sentence the large guy was way out of hearing range. Alexander sighed, the Scarlets always patrolled in pairs, but why did he have to go with Thriest! He had never liked the huge soldier, respected him for his skills in combat yes, but never liked him.

Whit a new sigh Alexander started to run after Thriest, unlike the much larger fella, Alexander moved like the wind, not making a sound, and barley leaving footprints in the smooth sand.
"Found her already?" He asked Thriest when he caught up to him. He had to smile to himself, what a stupid question, he could see her with his own eyes, so why need to ask!? "Forget it" Alexander mumbled and looked at the little group of people over by the criminal, probably criminals the hole gang. "You go back and get the others, I'll follow her..." He mumbled and started to jog slowly in an angle that would cut her of in the forest where he would have the upper hand. He didn't belive for a second that Thriest had done as he was told, and was just waiting for the moment he could hear the big guy come running.

"uh, meet me in fern's forest. I'm kind of in a jiffy right now."
With that, Jane bolted off, and the other guy went in the same direction. Yaku looked back, and saw a large figure that looked like a scarlett, with a VERY large weapon. That couldn't be good.

"Well, a trio of pirates is better than two, I guess." Hangyaku-sha sighed to herself, before starting towards the forest. She had an unusual manner of walking: fast and with a purpose, but not tense in the slightest. Her father walked in this manner, so she picked up his quick stride so she could keep up with him.

It wasn't long before the buildings and bustling activity faded into towering trees, making a verdant canopy over the forest. She spotted the scrawny male pirate, Peter, and strolled his way.
"Well, what're we going to do about that big scarlett guy? I mean sure we can take him down, but I was already wanted dead in the east, so I doubt killing him would be a good plan. Thankfully, disappearing for about ten years has left them to assume that I'm dead." Yaku shrugged her shoulders.

"Besides, do any of the three of us even have a ship?" Her facial expression was a mix of inconvenience and amusement, mostly the latter.

He grunted at Alexander and kept running with footsteps that sounded like a small herd of elephants. He disliked being paired with him just as much as he disliked Thriest, but there was nothing he could do about that. Jane ran off the beach and into the village where two other people were waiting for her. Her crew perhaps? Not important, Jane held priority. "You go back and get the others, I'll follow her..." Like that was going to happen. By the time he'd gotten back to the ship, Jane would be gone and the hunt would start all over again. Jane took off, the other two remained behind. He brandished his massive blade and kept charging. The male, dressed in extravagant clothes threw a half empty bottle of rum at him. Thriest smirked and flicked his wrist, somehow slicing the bottle cleanly in half with the massive blade. He grunted, noticing that both of the others had disappeared.

He picked up the pace, not even sweating yet, and found himself in Fern's forest. So she planned to give them the slip here? He kept running, managing to catch back up with Alexander. He merely grunted recognition and kept running. He saw them then, the man and woman from before. They were talking about killing him. He grinned and brought down his sword through the tree they stood near. It deftly fell in two. He spoke then, in a voice that brought on a vision of an avalanche hurtling towards them.
"Pretty sure you can kill me eh? Are you ready to back a up a statement like that miss?"

Jane glanced over her shoulder, and watched as the male, Peter, was it? Threw his bottle of rum at the Scarlett. She bit her lip, as he cut through it the blade of the sword, and kept running.
He's going to be fun to mess with,
She thought, smiling. She whipped her head back around, just in time to catch an incoming...apple? She grinned, and sank her teeth into the apple.
Man, that tastes good.
She thought, placing it between her teeth. Now she just needed water, which she swiped from a nearby civilian. It was in a canteen, which was quite useful. Jane, now content with what she had, made an A line for Fern's Forest. She zigged zagged through the trees, and have seemed to lose him. Jane looked around and confirmed that he wasn't on her tail anymore...
Now to find those pirates.
She thought, taking another bite of the apple. She could probably get a good sight of the forest if she climbed a tree...Jane nodded slightly, and made her way up a tree.
"...to do about that big scarlett guy? I mean sure we can take him down, but I was already wanted dead in the east, so I doubt killing him would be a good plan. Thankfully, disappearing for about ten years has left them to assume that I'm dead. Besides, do any of the three of us even have a ship?"
She grinned, and started to hop tree to tree to where the voice was coming from. Jane, about to hop to a new tree, almost shrieked when it split in two. She held her breath for a moment, only knowing that must have been the doings of that large Scarlett's sword. Her suspicions were confirmed when she heard his voice,
"Pretty sure you can kill me eh? Are you ready to back a up a statement like that miss?"
Jane, making herself snug in the tree, watched as she took a mouthful from the canteen, and displayed an amused smile,
This will be fun to watch.

"Well, I was wanted dead for over a decade in the eastern kingdoms, so me surviving that long should imply I can do something for myself."
Hangyaku-sha's lips curled into a playful smile, as she realized that this scarlett was thick headed, and that was an understatement. Anyone knows it's suicide to try to have a 'fair fight' with pirates, especially when outnumbered. Part of the reason that pirates last so long is because they are the best at fighting dirty.

She reached towards the two handles inside the lower half of her coat, and gripped both of them, pulling out her two hooked blades, that seemed shaped more like animal claws than legitimate swords.

"These two are hooked and jagged so they rip and tear, instead of slice and cut, and they're plenty sharp. Remember, pirates never play fair." Yaku glanced up at Jane in the trees, hoping she'd come and help.

“Of course...” Alexander thought as his statement was confirmed, Thriest did follow him into the forest, and he did it like a wounded bear on hunt. Alexander could hear the heavy steps catch up with him and sighed as he stopped, the big guy was more than welcome to tell everyone where he was, but there wasn't a chance in heaven that he would give away Alexander's position as well. “Never so bad that it's not good for anything” He mumbled as an idea suddenly popped into his mind. When Thriest gave away his position like that, nobody would be able to hear the guy up in the trees...

With an evil grin slowly spreading across Alexander's face he quickly climbed a tree, just in time to see some leaves falling from another one, and birds taking their wings as some large creature ran through their tree, Alexander knew instinctualy what it was... A human, and probably one of the pirates. He smiled to himself as he began the chase.

The person was fast, he had to admit that, but she wasn't fast enough. And suddenly he could hear her stop, well rather, he couldn't hear her running anymore, so he assumed that she had stopped, which forced him to slow down so he wouldn't warn her about his arrival.

“Enjoying the show?” His voice was just a devilish whisper as he leaned against the tree on a branch a little above hers. He had his walking stick nonchelant held over his shoulder, like a guy with a shotgun, as he looked down at her with the evil grin which had given him the nickname “el diablo” “Would you please come with me? Or will I have to force you blondie?” He didn't care about the guys belove him, Thriest would have to take care of them.

Jane smiled, watching them 'bicker', as she would call it. She cocked her head to the side a bit, as Yaku pulled out two blades, which Jane thought were oddly, well, cleverly shaped. Her smile widened,
Time for the fight,
She thought, perking up a little.
“Enjoying the show?”
Jane flinched a bit,
"I was, until you showed up,"
She sighed, glancing upwards, at the Scarlett.
“Would you please come with me? Or will I have to force you miss Jane?”
"I think we both know that answer,"
She narrowed her eyes,
"I also think we both know that I plan to stay undefeated, and I'm going to stay that way."
Jane placed the apple between her teeth, and dropped to a lower branch.

The two in the trees seemed to have their own business going on now, so Peter kept all his focus on the ground with the large sworded man and the dual bladed woman beside him. "These two are hooked and jagged so they rip and tear, instead of slice and cut, and they're plenty sharp. Remember, pirates never play fair."

Peter pointed his pistol at the man's legs and the cutlass pointed at his chest. "Any chance of you backing down now and running off? Cause I'm afraid she is right. We don't fight too pretty." Two of us and one of him. Jane can go either way with that man up there. Wonderful. I am not prepared to make this a life or death battle. Win or lose is another matter entirely. If I lose I'll simply make myself disappear... on second thought, why not do that sooner rather than later? They could escape with me, then we can get this meeting under control. His mind thought of the smoke grenade in his pocket that he had stolen from a soldier just last week at an outpost. Might as well hear this guy's answer though.

He blocked the flying dirt with his left arm, it was a cheap but effective trick. It was also very predictable. He straightened up as the blonde woman drew two wickedly curved and jagged swords, looking more like claws than an actual sword. They also looked quite painful.
"These two are hooked and jagged so they rip and tear, instead of slice and cut, and they're plenty sharp. Remember, pirates never play fair."
He eyed the man as he drew a cutlass and pistol, aiming at his legs and his chest.
"Any chance of you backing down now and running off? Cause I'm afraid she is right. We don't fight too pretty."
His eyes widened slightly, looking more offended than shocked. "Run off? Do these look like the muscles of a man who runs off!?" His voice rumbled through the forest like a herd of angry, wild animals as he thrust his sword into the ground, the earth around the blade shattering like glass and jutting out in huge chunks, and flexed his massive torso, literally ripping his shirt into tiny shreds which floated slowly to the forest floor.
They did not look at all like the muscles of a man who ran off. Hell, the man looked like something you'd see carved out of stone and placed in a museum somewhere.
"I will not run off like a cowardly pirate!" He flexed again in a different pose that placed both his hands closer to the hewn tree. Suddenly he grasped the tree and swung, throwing the massive piece of lumber at the two pirates. He quickly retrieved his sword and grinned. "But I'm not exactly big on fighting fair either."

Hangyaku had barely enough time to listen to the man talk when he threw the halved tree at the two of them.
She quickly ducked under it while swiping upwards with her left (lesser) dagger, splitting the piece of wood in a way that looks more like it was gnawed on by an animal.

With her balance regained, and the projectile (barely) avoided, she braced herself, ready for whatever move the brute may have next.

As the hulkish man yelled back - an obvious deny of Peter's request - he chucked the split tree at him. Peter jumped to dodge (Who throws trees at people?!), only to get his foot just by the slightest bit. He fell toward the ground and let out the smoke bomb to hit the ground as he did. The grey fog started to cover the two pirates making them very hard to spot now within the limited range.

Peter moved closer to the blonde asking "We fighting or leaving? Smoke only covers so much ground and we're fighting the gladiator over here, but I'd much rather just go and have a chat with Jane. Your call, I'll be beside you." Peter readied his pistol for a shot and readied his legs for a good sprint. He could barely see the outline of the man, and he now totally lost sight of Jane in the trees within the smoke.

"We need to make a break for it. Mr. Muscles will be a pain in the ass to kill, not mentioning the other two with him." Hangyaku-sha quickly turned about-face, in the direction Jane was in. She took her right (greater) sword and cocked her arm back, and saying in a more hushed tone to Peter,
"I'm going to get Jane down from that tree, and I need you to catch her whilst we run."
She gave him a few moments to process it, before swinging her arm and hurling the sword at the tree branch Jane was in. Once she saw the blade rip through the branch and cause Jane to start falling, she rocketed after her falling weapon, ready to dive and catch it.

Jane watched as the talking progressed, glancing back at the Scarlett for any moves he might pull,
"And it's just about to get good!"
She exclaimed, watching as the other Scarlett swung the tree at them. She stepped a bit forward, watching, highly entertained by the 'show'. Suddenly, it seemed Peter dropped a smoke bomb...
"Wait, what is she--"
Jane watched as Hangyaku-sha threw her blade at the branch Jane was standing on.
"Oh, crap."
She muttered, already felling herself start to fall.

"I'm going to get Jane down from that tree, and I need you to catch her whilst we run." She gave him a small time to take that in and she threw her weapon to break the branch.

"Wha-wait, I-" Catch a falling pretty lady? Good way to break the ice I suppose. "got it." he nodded in agreement and gave a shot from his pistol just to throw off the Scarlett. He didn't really aim anywhere, just in that direction. He put away the two weapons of his quickly and booked it to the tree, yelling up- "Don't worry deary, I got ya!" He held his arms open, readying to catch the falling pirate to come into his arms.