The Hero's Soul XIV

    Siegfried was instantly on guard, seeing the man who at one point possessed Soul Edge.  He was looking for an opening when he noted a woman that he'd known at one point.  Seeing him, she smiled and said, "Siegfried...  It's been a while..." "Ivy..."  He said, acknowledging her presence.  Moving to her side, he helped to her feet, while focusing the main portion of his attention on Cervantes.  The Dread Pirate, seeing Soul Calibur, glared at Siegfried and said, "Wielder of Soul Calibur, leave now, this does not concern you!" "Actually, it does, Cervantes De Leon, you used to wield Soul Edge, therefore, you are a slave to it's will!  You must be killed, apologizes, but someone such as you would only bring destruction upon the land..." "That's quite a lot of words, boy!  I hope you aren't ALL talk..." "Then have at me, and know your folly!"

    Taki watched as Siegfried and Cervantes squared off.  Seeing the gun pointed at her friend, she shouted a warning just in time.  Her warning made him bring up Soul Calibur to block the shot, which bounced off and into the water.  Cervantes growled and charged the hero, and his quick and powerful strikes threw Siegfried off guard.  Quickly forced to the defensive, the wielder of Soul Calibur was steadily pushed back towards the stern of Cervantes's ship.  Ivy, seeing what her father was attempting, interfered and wrapped her sword around his arm and yanked him off balance, much to his surprise.  Siegfried quickly took advantage of the opening and slashed for Cervantes's chest, but was blocked by his other blade.  Yanking his daughter off balance, Cervantes removed Ivy's sword from around his arm and shot at her with his pistol, but Maxi blocked it with his nunchaku.  "Can't beat that, Pirate dude…!"

    Siegfried, noticing more pirates running around, yelled out, "Taki, Master Yoda, take everyone and clear the town of pirates!  Ivy and I will handle Cervantes!" "Right, be careful, Siegfried!" "I will, don't worry, and thank you!"  Ivy smiled at him as he regrouped with her.  "What?" "Taki, telling YOU to be careful...  Did I miss something?" "I'll tell you later..."  She nodded and focused on their common foe.  Cervantes, knowing he was at a bit of a disadvantage, kept a close eye on Siegfried and a closer eye on Ivy.

    Maxi, leading Xianghua and Kilik, headed into the town, killing every pirate they could find.  Master Yoda, however, pointed Taki in the proper directions to find pirates of the most danger.  As she could move faster than he could walk, he rode on her shoulder and waited until they were in combat to jump off.  As soon as the last pirate fell, Taki waited for him to land back on and she dashed off again.  Turning a corner at Yoda's request, Taki saw someone she'd seen before, but never fought.  Seung Mina sliced open yet another pirate's chest and whirled around to kick another in the head.  Killing that one, she turned to see a blade heading for her neck, so she squeezed her eyes shut involuntarily.  Hearing a weird noise and a loud hissing sound, plus feeling a weight on her shoulder, she opened them to see a green beam of light holding back the man's sword.  "What the hell are you!?" "Master Yoda, I am...  And defeated, you will be..." "Shut up, your speech is pissing me off!" "Anger, aggression...  the dark side, are they.  Consume you, they will" The pirate lifted his sword up and tried to smash it down again, but he was suddenly flung back by nothing when Yoda lifted his free hand.

    Yoda jumped down from Seung Mina's shoulder and prepared to fight.  The pirate, angry with the Jedi, charged full speed.  Yoda jumped around the man, dodging the pirate's every attack.  Jumping over the man's blade one more time, the aged Jedi beheaded the man.  Putting his lightsaber away and calling his cane to him, he walked over to Seung Mina.  "Lucky, were you.  Had I not asked Taki to come this way, have died, you certainly would..." "Uh..."  Taki walked up behind and said, "It'll take a while, but you'll get used to his speech mannerisms..." "Don't I know you...?" "Not really, but I've observed you..."  Seung Mina blinked and then ignored her comment.  "Come, come, young ones, we must hurry.  More of them, there are..."

    Siegfried once again slammed Soul Calibur against the Dread Pirate's blades, but didn't budge the man.  Ivy, seeing her chance, wrapped her sword around her father's right leg and pulled it out of under him, making him lose balance.  Siegfried attempted to cut down the pirate, but he rolled out of the way and shot at his daughter, who blocked it with her gauntlet.  "Is that all!?  Come on, there are TWO of you!  This is pathetic!"  Siegfried then charged the pirate, who once again blocked the blade, but didn't expect Siegfried to kick his legs out of under him.  Landing on his back, he rolled out of the way of Soul Calibur, and shot at Siegfried, but the shot bounced off of his Crystal Armor.  Ivy then jumped in and used her blade to take the sword with the pistol out of her father's hands.  With only one blade, the pirate retreated into the town.  Ivy was hot on his trail, while Siegfried, in heavy armor, couldn't keep up with them.  Soon, he found himself wondering where they went.

    Taki, Yoda, and Seung Mina charged around a corner and saw Ivy and her father battling it out and quickly joined the fray.  Outnumbered again, the pirate retreated further, with the girls and Yoda in pursuit.  As they chased him throughout the town, the kept having to kill pirates that would get in their way, allowing their captain to get further and further away.

    Maxi once again whacked another pirate in the face into Kilik's staff, who knocked him into Xianghua's blade, who ended his life.  Hearing the sounds of battle a ways off, they left their current area, now devoid of pirate scum, and headed for the sounds of blades.  Turning a corner, they sprinted down an alleyway and Kilik blocked the blade of a pirate, who was then stabbed by Xianghua, and they then continued their journey.  As they neared the sounds of fighting, they headed down a long street next to the water.  Suddenly, Cervantes turned a corner from an alleyway and stopped upon seeing them.  Looking behind him, his escape path was denied him by Taki, Yoda, and Seung Mina.  Seeing only one other way out, he started to run for it, but as he approached it, he quickly backed off as Siegfried was now blocking it.

    "You cannot escape, Father...  It's over!" "Hah!  I am Cervantes de Leon!  I don't give up so easily, Ivy, my daughter!"  Walking backwards towards the water, he kept grinning at his approaching foes.  Siegfried, seeing what he was going to do, dashed for him, but wasn't fast enough.  He was about two feet from Cervantes jumped into the ocean.  Siegfried couldn't go after him thanks to his armor.  Yoda walked up next to Siegfried and said, "Let him go, a threat, he no longer is..."  Ivy, though she didn't agree with the Jedi, didn't object.  Instead, she attempted to leave, but Seung Mina prevented her.

    "Where do you think YOUR going, Ivy?" "I'm leaving, I don't want to join your little group, Siegfried..." "How did you-" "Did you forget already?  I have all kinds of ways of getting information...  One of the ways was listening in on conversations between fighters and you and Taki..."  Taki then jumped in.  "So you WERE there!" "Taki, did you see her?" "I thought I did, but I wasn't sure..."

    Maxi, not exactly sure what was going on, said, "Okay, I know I'm going to sound dumb-" "Cause you are..." "Shut up, Xianghua!  Alright, what are you three talking about?" "I'm gathering capable warriors to fight and finally destroy Nightmare.  That is why I'm going around, getting people that I remember that have the ability to harm Nightmare, to a certain extent..."  Kilik looked at Siegfried seriously and said, "Do you think it will work?" "I'm not sure...  I certainly hope so...  Even if it costs me my life, I will destroy that monster!"  Kilik smiled and said, "Then I officially join your group...  What shall we call it?" "Hm, I never thought to name us as a group, I thought we'd just destroy Nightmare and then head our separate ways..."  Xianghua spoke up and said, "We could call ourselves Nightmare Destroyers!"  Maxi looked at her with raised eyebrow.  "What?" "Cheesy..." "Well, let's see you come up with one!"  He took a thoughtful look and said, "Dreamcatchers..." "Dreamcatchers?" "Yep, because Dreamcatchers keep nightmares from getting into your head, so you only have good dreams, see?"  Siegfried watched the two argue with noted humor.  He had to admit, Dreamcatchers made sense, but he didn't think that it would go over well with others that might join the group.

    Kilik put his hand over his face and shook his head as Maxi and Xianghua got into a heated argument.  Yoda, being a peacekeeper at heart, tried to calm them, while Siegfried, Taki, and Seung Mina had a laugh or two at their expense.  Siegfried looked at the assorted group with satisfaction and, unexpectedly, happiness.  'Maybe this won't be as bad as I feared...  If we can laugh before our final battle is even near...  Then maybe we can laugh afterward...  Maybe...'  He thought while he busted up laughing at Maxi and Xianghua once again...