Serious: Endings Become Beginnings (Open)

She slowed down, listening as Heartly approached her, and asked her a question. 

"I..." Her voice was strained, her arm was killing her, as was the headache she had been giving from all of the loud, extraneous noises. She raised her hand, and began to rub her temple. "I must say, You have me in quite the a predicament," She sighed. If she was arrested, there was still a chance that she could be freed and continue on with her mission. But then again, the marines had been cracking down on pirates lately. 

"I choose, Cave Formation!" It was at this point that caves began to grow out of the ground, surrounding everything around her, leaving little gaps in between. She knew that with all the commotion, marines would be bount to come eventually, this way, they were blocked off. Without even speaking, a trap hole appeared beneath Heartly, following by to caves popping out of the ground, and colliding above the trap hole, sealing him in. Eve didn't want to take any chances, so she put up a 20 foot tall hill in between her and the now hopefully trapped man, that is, if it worked. 

She didn't think, she just ran. "I'm sorry! If I had already finished my mission i might have been more inclined to let you kill me!" she shouted, darting through alleyways. She didn't know where she was going, but she was getting as far away from that bar as possible.

As a cave rose up and the hole opened up, Heartly quickly kicked off from the speedy drop that begun to appear. managing to escape the hole, he felt something stony slamming into his coccyx. Grunting in pain as it form around him, Heartly closed his eyes hearing the sound of footsteps and Eve speaking.

Thankfully his fully formed black dog was big, dangerous, stronger & faster.

Inu Inu: Black Dog

Growing in size quickly, the stone begun to crack and the heat started to take its toll on the stone. Cracking it and pulling his hind legs out, Heartly sniffed the air. He was able to quickly pick up her scent and hear her feet slamming into the ground.

Oh the joys of being a hound. Heartly thought to himself. He heard gunfire open up and caught sight of the locations it came from.

Marines his brain screamed. Beginning to run with a slightly injured back, Heartly shot ahead quickly managing to catch sight of Eve after he managed to sprint around the hill. Leaving horrid scorch marks behind him after each step he took, Heartly barked loudly at her warning her she wasn't out of the woods yet and as long as he was there, he would be coming for her.

His strength, size & speed all great attributes to him. His speed would allow him to catch up to her quickly, his strength allowed him to jump incredible gaps and even barge straight through somethings and this was only further aided by his heat powers.

Unless Eve could quite literally put a stop to him, Heartly would chase her until the end of the world until she was firmly locked away in a pair of cuffs.

Cloud decided to head out, guess the case full of money was just a mere illusion. He sighed as he exited the bar with his hands in his pockets and his head facing the floor. Sometimes he wished he could just float away from his troubles and live a peaceful life in the New World but that's just a mere thought.

He bumped into a hill... what, a hill? He looked up and saw 20 foot tall hall in front of him. What. The. Heck. Hills, here? This was unusual, very unusual. He shrugged it off, whatever. He sighed once again, still disappointed about the whole money thing. He closed his eyes and began to wonder about all the great drinks and women he could've gotten. Little did he know that as he did that he was starting to float, yes, float... what!?

As she continued to run, wave after wave of hills appeared before her. She was hoping no one was getting hurt, however the streets weren't very big, nor where the allys, so the end walls of beings were being destroyed. "Its no use, this isn't going to stop him..." Eve told herself, beginning to feel a bit faint. She was loosing a bit of blood form the wound on her arm. She looked around, and turned. There were at least 10 hills between her and Heartly. She had glanced back a few seconds before and had seen the dog chasing her. 

"What kind of devils fruit turns one into a flaming dog?" she whispered, asking herself. She then darted into another ally and leaned against the wall. She inhaled and exhailed quickly, for she was out of breath. "How am i supposed to deal with this thing..." She asked herself, reaching up to her head and untying one of the white bows in her hair. She then wrapped it around her arm, and clenched her teeth from the pain. It hurt, but the wound wasn't serious enough to cause her to give up. 

"Now, running again." She spoke, turning around and starting to run off. It was then she realized something, her halberd was gone. "Damn it, I must have left it in the bar..." She spoke, still running. "Looks like I have to make a U-turn..." It was then that she darted around a corner, and then another corner. Hills still formed behind her, hoping to put up distance between her and Heartly. 

"This is a bad idea..." She told herself, but she didn't care. She needed that halberd, or at least she wanted it back. It was then, however, that she neared the cares she had set up around the bar, and she stopped dead in her tracks. Now that she was coming in from behind, she could see them, the marines from before. 

She took a few steps back, and clenched her fist. I have to forget about the halberd... She told herself. Eves eyes began to tear up, however, she quickly whipped it away and turned around. She crotches down, then leaped forward. Stopping wasn't a good idea, for she gave Heartly a chance to greatly catch up, and sense he was immensely faster then she was, that might just be the death of Eve.

Pausing as he heard more hills rising in the distance, Heartly took a few moments to think using his deductive skills. Sitting down and closing his eyes, a most peculiar sight, Heartly managed to put clues together. She had seemed odd after leaving the bar. Realizing as to why she looked so odd, Heartly's face pulled into a grin.

He now realized why her scent had been so strong before and now had grown weaker. Turning and sprinting towards the bar with his increased speed, he quickly arrived at the front of the bar and changed into human form. Looking at the ruins he'd left it in he walked inside pushing though the rubble. The marines however heard & felt the vibrations of the hills closing in on them and turned to catch sight of the woman who rose them as they seemed to be following her.

Taking aim on her they opened fire all on her.

Twenty Eight of them caught sight of her as she paused and taken the chance. Leaping forward only made things worse for her as the bullets would only hit her with a much greater impact.

As for Heartly digging through the debris, he stumbled over a long metal pole and landed face first on the lap of the robber. Looking up at his deceased scarred face. Heartly felt bad for letting him die. However beside the robber sat the halbeard. Smiling, he reached for it and lifted it up.

Inu Inu: Hybrid

Feeling his hand heat up, Heartly attempted to exit the bar and continued to allow the heat in his hand to increase. Only heating up the weapon more & more, Heartly with ease burnt straight through the staff and dropped it to the floor.

Reaching for his Heart Stopper, Heartly stood outside the front of the bar. Pulling back the trigger on his Heart Stopper he waited for his enemy to make an appearance.

Digging his hand into his pocket Heartly raised a den den mushi up to his lips.

"Captain Heartly Hayes here reporting in. I currently have a pirate on the run in Orange Town trying to escape. I am calling in reinforcements, to set up a perimeter around the north sector of the town where myself & the pirate Eve whatsherface is. Beware though as she has the ability to manipulate landmass."

Cloud smirked as he continued to think about all the luxuries he could've gotten with the money but he realized he couldn't have his head in the clouds forever, he needed to get a move on. He opened his eyes to realize he was floating... not on the ground.

"Oh, I'm just floating... WAIT WHAT!?"

Upon realizing that he was not on the ground, gravity suddenly began to pull him back, in other words he was falling. He wasn't that high up so the injuries weren't really serious but it still hurt like a bastard. Cloud picked himself up and dusted himself off before spotting the same man from before. He was standing in front of the bar with something which looked like a den den mushi in front of his lips. He was speaking into it but he couldn't quite hear what he was saying. Cloud looked around, trying to figure out why on earth he was floating.

Eve was almost in shock from her discovery of the marines. She was in such a state of shock, that she had forgotten to run away before they noticed. However, it was too late for running. If she did run, she was going to be shot down, however, as the marines raised their guns, she realized that if she stayed, she was also die. 

"I'm sorry," She spoke, raising her arms, and watching as one, giant cave, about twice the size of the hills she was throwing up, appeared before her. She heard the sounds of gun fire, however, the bullets wouldn't be able to penetrate the solid rock before her. She turned around, listening to the sound of gun fire. "They sure won't give up, will they." She asked herself, looking up at the sky and reaching up. "Its only weighing me down anyways," She spoke, unbuttoning her cloak, and charging forward. It flew off of her back right away, and she realized there was a way for her to catch some speed.

A mountain formed below, it was just small enough for it to be short then the giant cave, making sure those behind it couldn't see. She then leaped, and ran down the hill. Using the momentum to pick up speed. She was going faster and faster away from the bar. 

"They won't catch me," She reassured herself. "Not just yet."

Smiling as he hung up the den den mushi, Hearty heard more radio chatter via the mushi as the marines mentioned how they were setting up a road block all around Orange Town. Now the only escape was the harbour and even that was blocked off. Using the wax Commander in the crew large wax walls as strong as steel were erected. Reaching up to a height of 30 feet, these walls were quite the feat to break down or clamber over.

Placing down cannons every five yards and arming each marine, they were ready for the woman which ever direction she came. Commander Green's wax fruit allowed him the chance to really screw over his opponent though. Taking on board the knowledge that this woman was an earth manipulator he took a step forward and started to spray wax in all directions.

Reaching out from the walls all around the town the ground was coated in wax reaching a good 40 feet from the walls. This would stop her ability to control the ground beneath the wax. At least, he hoped it would. If her ability were anything similar to other manipulators.

"Captain Heartly we've set up a block aid around the town, she shouldn't be getting out any time soon. We've even locked the ships at the docks in place with wax too. No body is getting in or out of Orange Town until we catch this girl."

"Right you are Commander, I'll head out to try and bring her to you if I can find her."

Beginning to walk from the bar and heading towards the outskirts of the town, Heartly slowly allowed his skin to take on a darker hue and his body to grow in size as a tail sprouted forth. Reaching his hybrid form once more, he continued to walk and inhaled.

Picking up an incredibly faint scent of hers Heartly turned slightly and started to walk in that direction in a slightly quicker pace to avoid losing the scent. Soon he would be face to face with Eve.

How? How was he in the air? Can he do it again? One question lead to another, Cloud was confused as hell right now. He was floating a few seconds ago and that defines all logic! Hm... maybe he could do it again? If he could, for how long? He rubbed his hands together and stared at the sky before closing his eyes and spreading his arms out in the air.

"FLOAT POWERS, ACTIVATE!" he yelled at the top of his lungs.

This attracted a lot of attention and a lot of people were talking among themselves, discussing how they thought he was either crazy or drunk. He opened his eyes and discovered he was still on the ground, what!? He put 101% in that yell and yet it wasn't enough. Maybe it was just his imagination, but if it was, why'd he feel pain when he fell?

GODDAMNIT!

He needed to find out what caused him to float and how he could activate the power again. He decided to walk around for a bit to clear his mind.

Bidibidibidi Bidibidibidi, Bidibidibidi Bidibidibidi.

Reaching for his den den mushi, Heartly lifted it.

"Captain Heartly Hayes here."

"Hayes forget this young lady your hunting down, the marines we have here are powerful enough to handle her, I've got another job for you an important one that needs to be resolved and I feel your perfect for the job. All of my other men are on important missions."

"So I'm your last resort? Thanks."

"I'm giving you the opportunity to do something great here."

"Alright, I'll get on it."

"Good, head to the harbor and we'll brief you there."

"Right you are sir."

[CLANK]

Heading to the docks, Heartly quickly found the Navy ship and boarded it, in seconds the anchor was raised and Heartly was on his way to something greater than a pathetic woman who clearly didn't know how to use her own powers and would surely succumb to death with this hesitation.

((Exiting thread because of the pointlessness of it.))

Eves back was against a wall. She slid down, and her butt touched the ground. She was by the docks, yes, she had ran that far from heartly. However, every muscle on her body ached and most of her skin burned. She clenched her teeth, hoping that it was over. The she heard it, the foot steps. She turned her head slowly, and quickly peaked at the man walking towards the docks. "Heartly?!?" she said startled, her hand reaching up to her mouth and making her shut up. She scooted back as she watched Heartly get on a ship. 


"Its... Its over." She spoke, wide eyed. 


"No, its far from over..." She waited till the boat was gone and she looked around. "Should I take one of these boats?" Eve asked herself. "I can't get off this island if i don't..."

He walked and walked and walked. He closed his eyes for a bit, trying his best to process what had just happened a few minutes ago... He was flying. He couldn't get over it, it was too much to handle. Crazy things normally happened to him but this was the craziest, he walked through an alleyway. His eyes still closed and he was deep in thought and suddenly, he was floating once more. He opened his eyes and looked around, he was in the air! This was it! He wasn't crazy! Too bad it didn't last that long, a few moments later he was falling.

As he fell, he noticed the woman from earlier.

"H-hey, watch out!"

Cloud landed onto the ground once more, he needed to figure out some sort of way to stop himself from falling back-first all the time. He picked himself up and dusted himself off it was beginning to get dark, twas a sign that he should get moving.

He was empty handed, no supplies at all. Ah, at least he got the ability to float on his side so it wasn't a complete loss. As he walked away, he turned to the woman and waved.

"Sayonara."