That Spirit gazes through those parallelogram eyes who stream curved rays up through the smoother hood still made of a chainmail-like texture though more akin to a fiber, only one additional vent on the mask that being the microphone-like streak along the right cheek on the white mask though a smoother shape more fitting.

Amongst that gaze are floating debris, debris of brick chunks and torn brown rubber tiles, flung with him as his body is thrusted into the rubber room through the apparent hole broken into the wall.

In each of his hands he grips the collars of the two pirates, the man in the red overalls and the one in the bomber jacket with thick sunglasses, both of whom he slams simultaneously into the ground upon his landing as his black cape dances in the air, its movements more fluid, majestic.

At the same time as that slam that immediately knocked both men unconscious, the surrounding rubble crashed into the walls and ground, the local movement coming to a stop, all in front of the woman in the blazer whose head was up and watching in awe, her amber bangs parted from her face.

Her green eyes wide, Dana watches with her mouth open in shock for she hadn’t even known there was a battle occurring just outside her cell, and yet before her now she can already hear the screams and firing past the door which she perks her head higher too as the Spirit relinquishes his hold of the two bodies and stands straight.

Straightening his posture, the Spirit stands over the door as behind him a group of bandits chases at him, all of them dressed differently including the woman at the center in a coat with strange tubes wrapping around her shoulders carrying a dark purple liquid, her short brown hair waving as she lifts her hands both of which carry purple orbs, though she’s suddenly shot shot by a bright blue bolt, and upon being struck her body immediately pulsates a magnetic wave that suddenly causes all of the surrounding pirates’ bodies to be picked off their feet and thrown straight into her, forming a huge human ball that is then swarmed by pink electric arcs from behind that form a field covering the ball which then moves upwards, lifting the ball with it which reveals the source of the long arcs all coming from the arm of the Vanguard who races alongside the Alchemist whose smoking handgun swings back and forth.

The Vanguard throws her arm back, guiding the ball to be flung backwards as they’re then let go of the field for an optimal throw, repositioning the bandits on the other side between the cell and the warriors.

Both of the two reach the cell at the side of the Spirit, the Vanguard’s arm still sparking pink and the Alchemist’s revolver-like pistol smoking as in the center the Spirit begins to march deeper into the cell as he simply explain, “I’ll get her out and join you with neutralizing the remainder threats,” to which the Alchemist nods his head with a smirk before remarking, “If there’s any left that is,” and turning around to then face the rest of the prison room which he races off to with the Vanguard accompanying him.

Moving the other way, the Spirit raises both of his hands as azure flames burst from his fingertips, converging together to form a construct of stars that fully harden and texture into two metal shuriken stars both of which he tosses simultaneously outwards.

Each star collides with one of the projector reels along the wall, causing both reels to spark before making a depressive hum along with the shutdown of the black wires they were emitting, dropping the prisoner but not before being caught by the man who slides both of his arms under hers to prop her up, raising her against the wall as he asks though in a tone notably more humanly concerned, “Can you walk?”

Shaking out of her stunned state, the prisoner is quick to instead raise her head past the wall, her amber bangs sliding back to let her green gaze stare through and blurt out worriedly, “Wait, the others, they captured all of them-!”

“We evacuated them already,” immediately assures the Spirit before the sentence could be finished as he drops his left hand while still holding the prisoner with the right, using his free hand to forge with flames a small dagger with a physical blade that begins vibrating intensely though controlled, which he uses to meticulously slide across the metal cuff holding the prisoner’s first wrist, the vibrating metal seamlessly cutting through the cuff and letting it drop on the floor.

Switching hands to hold the woman with his left hand as he forms another dagger with his right, he apologizes, “I was meaning to have you board with the rest but there were…difficulties. They’ll be safe, their escape pod has defensive systems and the moment they’re engaged I’ll be alerted. Now we just need to get you out,” timed with the slicing of the other cuff, dropping that as well.

Sighing in relief to that immediate answer, Dana nods her head and thanks, “Thank you, and yes I can walk. I just needed to make sure they were safe….”

Nodding to that confirmation and letting go with his left hand to which Dana does successfully stand on her own two feet, the Spirit steps back to provide her some space as he turns his head the other way as Dana grimaces in guilt with shaky eyes and clenched teeth before then proclaiming, “Wait Medit, I’m sorry I-.”

“I know, don’t worry,” instantly absolves the Spirit as he turns his body the other way and begins walking before advising, “You should stay inside until this group is dealt with, then we can evacuate you,” as twin blazes down his hands manifest a handgun whose body is similar to a HK P30L in his left hand as his right forms a short metal baton, but one that is more as on each side emits a long plasmic extension, the one pointing down blue and the one pointing up black.

Now all focused on the final occupied cell, the remaining bandits roar and charge forward as many are lifted up in the air after being struck by yellow shots while others are also pulled up but in clusters gripped by the pink fields who are then thrown back, though through that chaotic battlefield, one pirate about four feet tall with a low stance sprints forward, running with both arms behind his back as in his left hand holds a small dagger, weaving between the bodies and reaching the Vanguard who only notices just before she’s about to be struck.

He’s however immediately shot in the neck with a black energy bolt, causing his body to flash and drop as behind the Vanguard emerges the Spirit, his handgun raised up no longer restrained to physical bolts as he now begins his experimentation with the newly tested energy, using it again in a couple more shots to the pirates floating in the air before another pirate holding a long metal blade flaming hot, though without a hilt as he instead grips it all by the blade, slashes at him to which the Spirit makes a swift evasion before knocking him in the head with the blue staff, knocking him slightly forwards for the Spirit to dash past him and knock him back with the black staff, flashing his body black.

He continues onward, swapping between slashing proximate bandits with his staff and firing down on those further away with his blaster, all right in front of the Vanguard and Alchemist who further help contain the mob.

Inside the prison cell, Dana just watches in awe as the mob loses numbers every second with now only three left, the three warriors able to fight against the horde despite not having as much former experience with each other, yet all united under the strong conviction to save their friend.

In the center, one of those last bandits charge before the Alchemist fires a gray bolt that upon impact turns that bandit to a stone statue, letting the Spirit leap off his head as the Vanguard reaches out both hands to each fire on the final pair, raising her hands to lift them off the air perfectly for the Spirit to spin himself propelled by a blue burst to slash both with his staff, defeating the final two bodies both of whom fall to the floor just before the Spirit lands.

Standing upright after the landing, the Spirit relinquishes both of his weapons to flames as the Alchemist lowers his pistol, and the Vanguard shakes both of her hands as they spark subtly before stopping, the glow in her eyes fading.

The Spirit then swivels around, his cape waving as a flag, and a flag for victory.

First making his way back to the cell now that all immediate threats have been defeated, the Spirit is accompanied by the Vanguard and Alchemist who follow him to the cell initially behind, although finally Kokei breaks as she sprints past Meditat, knocking his shoulder subtly as she dashes into the cell with the exclamation, “Dana!!” before leaping off the ground and pouncing on whom they just saved.

Tackling her, Kokei wraps her arms around Dana and clings as the rescued prisoner staggers back with a chuckle to the warm hearted reunion, smiling brightly and greeting, “Kokei! I didn’t think you’d all come!”

Shrugging his shoulders though with a smirk as he also jogs past Meditat, Ekitai admits in a shaking of his head, “I admit I actually was a bit iffy about it because of..yeah, but hey Kookie here was hyped up and I couldn’t let her get one over me.”

His eyes sharpen in curiosity as he tilts his head and wonders in a murmur, “Though huh I didn’t think you’d hold your own that well.”

Relinquishing her grip around the freed friend, Kokei drops back to her feet and turns to Ekitai, raising her hands under her chin in enthusiasm as she exclaims, “I know right? ! I don’t know either, but for some reason I just feel like really hyper, I don’t know how to explain it!”

Huffing to himself, Meditat shakes his head as he reaches Dana last after having been the lead to the return, focusing on the task at hand with the announcement: “We should make our escape soon, they’ll likely find some way around eventually, I’m curious that they haven’t tried breaking their walls down again but we can’t hold out on hope.”

He passes Dana but stops by her side, lowering his head and pausing for a moment.

His head low without eye contact while he’s also the only to be masked, Meditat softly whispers, “...I’m glad you’re okay….”

Only one other person heard that whisper, her head turning with a raised eyebrow from the gentle sincerity of the words, smiling though before she could respond, the man continued on past her towards the far wall.

Stopping by the wall, Meditat raises his hand and emits a flame that forms another large orb which flares up blue as he raises his other hand and projects a blue flame simultaneous as the firing of the blue beam, decimating the wall through to the outdoors but not even a quarter second before a sky bridge is manifested with a shield at the end to maintain pressure, only bringing in a slight gust of wind that rustles Dana’s bangs as she turns around in intrigue.

After erasing the orb, Meditat fires an additional flame through that skybridge, one that passes the shielded door and expands out to form the black interior of a pod styled as that previously similar sporty ride, accessible through both left doors as the front has two black leather seats between a table and the back has the long bench. Past the far seats are the windows that bring sight to the bright blue sky which Dana fixates on in silence as Kokei and Ekitai turn towards it too.

First to walk ahead though is Ekitai who stashes his handgun inside his coat’s inner pocket and stretches his arms over his head, yawning while remarking: “Well that was fun and normally I’d be mad it’s over but we probably shouldn’t overstay ourselves, anyways lads first,” before he then slips in through the open back door, crawling to the end of the bench.

Next is Kokei who sighs with relief, walking forward while wiping her forehead after a rather stressful battle but one won, and as she crawls into the back seat both Meditat and Dana glance at each other, Dana smiling softly in relief that finally they’d be able to leave.

She then nods her head and faces forward, walking towards the front door which is adjacent to the driver’s seat, though she crawls over the seat and neighbor table to reach the front passenger seat, leaving that adjacent seat to the last man onboard the train.

All former prisoners of the X-Prints mission evacuated and safe, the mission is complete, leaving no reason to remain. The man knows this, so after taking one quick glance back at the prison of the defeated, he returns his gaze to the pod and takes a step forward, preparing to board their escape vehicle and leave this hellish train.

Though just after his first step, he hears more heavy footsteps coming from the door which immediately prompts him to freeze, diverting his gaze to that door same as the three passengers already inside the pod who raise their heads in curiosity.

Past Meditat and the passengers in the pod, the footsteps appear to rumble from the direction of the door sealed off by the frosty crystal, and while the image through isn’t perfect due to a mixture of the frosty texture and overall fragmentation of the crystals, voices can be heard though subdued from the other side yelling: “ARG DAMMIT WE WERE TOO SLOW!!”

At the same time, while the images are blurred, entities seem to appear through the other side given the introduction of bleeding colors in the frosty door, ones that gradually cover more of the interior walls.

Recognizing the reinforcements, Dana winces and faces Meditat before beseeching, “Come on Medit, let’s get out of here! Before more comes!”

Meditat immediately turns to face Dana upon that request, and he nods his head to take another step forwards just as he hears a different masculine though almost prepubescent voice vaguely familiar shout, “Hey, don’t break the walls!” which immediately draws a worried reaction from Dana given her familiarity with it, but it notably raises Ekitai’s head too with a raised eyebrow.

Again Meditat pauses to focus back on the door as that voice again loudly groans and whines, “Maan why did they have to run ahead like that, they’re probably all out now. Hmm, what is this weird thing, wait here let me,” before a sudden thud follows a shockwave of wind that picks up Meditat’s cape as Kokei squirms slightly in concern.

Though the frosty seal shows not even a crack, as on the other side where there now prevails a blur of red and black, that same voice groans before admitting, “Well I can’t break it, huh this is kinda solid.”

A different masculine voice also familiar though deeper with more maturity advises, “I can cut a small breach, the damages should be easy to fix. But we need to get to the other side to-.”

“No no no, we can do this without property damage,” rebukes that former voice as Ekitai leans closer with intrigue but apprehension too as Dana clenches her teeth and whispers between it, “Medit…let’s go-!”

Facing back to her, Meditat does a double take between the escape pod right in front of him a few feet away and the door further where leads to the rest of the army, as though somehow the choice between the two has, well, a choice.

However, as the last man standing outside of the vehicle, Meditat lowers his head before muttering, “Dana, you said you’ve been trying to push for this project for a while, and after some digging earlier I found your first proposals dating back five years ago. All this time you’ve been trying to use what you could to give anything to these people, the people here who’ve been trapped in a turf war for centuries, who’ve been stuck in the same place as all the other worlds moved ahead of them negligent.”

Keeping his head low, he subtly raises his fist to gaze at it while introspecting, “I’ve only started helping Earths other than my own for the past five years alongside The Shield, and in that time we’ve visited so many worlds and fought so many threats. Armies seeking to level cities, beasts capable of collapsing worlds, threats that we’d target as soon as we’d receive word of their danger.”

Through the man’s perspective, the palm of the hand is white whereas the back of the curled fingers are black, the knuckles of said fingers embedding the thicker ice blue crystals that emit a gentle luminescence.

He continues in his same contemplative voice, “And yet…all this time…I’ve been ignoring a problem that’s existed long before I did, a problem I knew nobody else was facing. We were fine fighting monsters but we’d always step away from these factions. At first I was upset and would even try to go on my own but they’d always explain that it just wasn’t a problem we could deal with…and so we’d just have to ignore it and look elsewhere.”

Through those frosty knuckles albeit imperfect given the translucence and fractures, pieces of the white mask reflects back as the man meditates, “But I chose my purpose to help people when they needed it, not to conveniently select chores for myself. I’ve been sulking in that fortress for weeks doing nothing while people are still here suffering, telling myself that my home Earth has crime covered, that aberrations aren’t around anymore, that there’s nothing for me to do. But that’s a lie…and I know it…but I ignored a problem and left it to other people to handle it on their own.”

Planted on the ground right in front of the edge of the cell where the bridge reaches to the pod, the black boots reinforced with crystallic toes and shins slightly pivot as the man recognizes, “All I’ve done here is save a few people who only had to stay imprisoned for a day, while still ignoring the billions who’ve been oppressed for centuries. I can do more than this…even if this universe is ten years ahead of me…even if my team is gone…I’m here right now…and I need to use that.”

Raising his head up with flares in his lenses, The Spirit turns towards the sealed door once more as he finally determines, “I’ve been without a mission since I’ve returned, but there’s one I’ve always put off, and I’m not doing that anymore. I don’t care how deep this trench takes me, but I’ve determined my course of action.”

Through those blue lenses are the azure diamond irises bright as stars which expand upon said determination: “I will first defeat this faction as my declaration of war against the Pirates of the Rim.”

After the speech, the Spirit turns back to the pod and takes a step back as the three passengers stare at him dumbfounded as he explains, “I’ll have O.R.I.A.L return you back to Earth 50, and it’ll take Dana to the X-Prints headquarters so she can regroup with her mission team. Thank you for helping me get this far, I’ll continue on my own.”

Though right as he says that, the close edge of the driver’s seat is gripped tightly by the fair skinned hand of the woman who announces, “Wait now, who said you’re going on your own?”

Tilting his head back in slight perplexion upon finding Dana having crawled up to the driver’s seat on a march back out of the pod, bewildering both Kokei and Ekitai in the back, the Spirit reasons strictly, “Dana, you’re not staying, we had just gone through this mission to escort you. You also chose to wait for us to conceal your identity, staying would render that decision for nought.”

“Who said Dana’s staying?” first speaks the feminine voice of that very subject, though as every individual scale of the skin morphs into a golden metallic texture one by one but at such rapid rate that it consumes the palm and then the finger in seconds, those fingers furthermore stretching from helixes of golden coils stretching past the fingertips to form long sharp claws. It isn’t a simple metal shell either, but rather fragmented into individual shards some of which have smaller diamond-shaped gems embedded in them, and along the backhand are several golden wires sticking out like finger bones.

Forward the legs are raised, the individual fabrics of the black leggings transform into the golden metal threads of the heavy legs with clawed feet, those feet gripping onto the driver’s seat as they’re clad in smaller gems and wires along the toes.

Further up the body, the fabrics of the black blazer recolor to gold as they melt into the body which subtly enlarges with greater height and muscle mass, the torso also carrying the same ethereally royal design as an arc of diamond fragments wraps over the breast like a necklace while more skin scales transition to gold up the neck before blooming out like a collar.

That collar rises up around the head of the former prisoner, first opening up but once it fully surrounds the head it then clasps over, completely covering the head and amber hair along with the face which sculpts itself or rather the opposite as the face is shaved of all shape, instead becoming a flat mask without any features human or otherwise.

Through that mouthless face speaks the second voice, this one not derivative of humanity to begin with, not only deeper than the former voice but speaking with an electric, synthetic accent as it proposes, “I’m just swapping in.”

Despite his own motivation, the Spirit is quick to throw both his hands forward as the Artificer crawls out of the pod and plants her feet on the floor to the man’s concern: “Wait are you sure, this doesn’t make sens-.”

“Oh please Medit you’ve done this like every time I’ve had to rescue ‘the helpless, weak Rohan’ from all those hostage situations, you just can’t walk away without putting on the suit and going for round two,” interjects the Artificer in a voice naturally threatening yet with a tone that does carry more sarcastic charm as she knocks her fist lightly against his golden shoulder to which he turns to face her while weakly contending, “I haven’t done that…too many times.”

Though he’s in truth already accepted the loss as he sighs and nods his head, asserting the backup plan: “I’ll have O.R.I.A.L equip the pod with a treasure facade so they believe ‘Dana’ was evacuated, and I suppose we’ll identify the gap until you reach the headquarters as ‘technical difficulties.’ The pod will drop off the other two back at The Peak, here O.R.I.A.L can you-.”

“Wait-!” exclaims a different female voice which still comes from the pod, this one of a softer pitch and upon the turn of his head, the Spirit identifies that voice to come from Kokei who now leans forward with her head past the door.

Wincing in visible uncertainty, Ekitai grabs Kokei’s shoulder and reasons quietly, “Wait Kokei…I love adventure as much as, well, nobody actually, but I don’t think this is a good idea. We’ve had our fun but we can’t drag our luck for too long…I just don’t think this is a good idea.”

Turning her head back with a shocked expression given her dropped jaw, Kokei remarks sarcastically: “Woah, Eki hesitant about a fight? Did we swap bodies earlier or something?”

Though the response isn’t as lighthearted as Ekitai who instead visibly frowns as Kokei returns her gaze forward to the two warriors to proclaim, “I know I have that deadline and if I went back I probably could just barely make it…but…,” though her volume lowers as does her head, her expression from bold to contemplative.

In her mind, flashes of the underground cave city appear, the one drenched in the color palette of grays and browns, the one filled with dirt blocks for homes where the inhabitants wore ripped rags on dry, gray skin, all of them staring from the corner of their eye from both sides of the street at those who were able to live a life free of such weight.

In her mind, flashes of that one man appear, the man dressed in the azure leather bomber jacket with golden yellow highlights, a fur collar around the neck gripped tight by the dark metal collar, his bald head hidden in the black bandana. That man with terrified eyes, standing in the center of the street, the pistol of his former comrade and friend tight in his shaky hands, the hands who took that very comrade away after he was driven to a breaking point from those who tortured and abused his world.

Returning to reality, Kokei tenses her face to those recent yet engrained memories, she mutters introspectively: “But I can’t just go back to my normal life and walk away from a problem that’s robbed people of that option…no….”

In her mind, a flash appears of the silhouette of a woman with long hair dressed in a blazer and skirt, standing inside a large room empty but for the windows between brown blinds on the far end providing visibility of the dark sky painted with stars and nebulas.

Empowered at last, Kokei manages to raise her head out and declare boldly: “I want to do what I can to help, and I’ll do my best not to hold you back!”

Facing back to Kokei after the declaration, Meditat steps back with subtle hesitancy, raising his voice in protest: “Wait, I’m going to have to look after yo-.”

“Don’t worry about it Medit, I’m here now,” interjects the Artificer with assurance whom he turns to as she strolls back to the pod to extend her arm to Kokei as she appends, “I’ll keep them safe too.”

While maintaining that bold expression, a relieved smile imbues into the Vanguard’s face as she reaches her hand out to grab the golden hand, letting it pull her up off the pod and back into the cell alongside the other two as behind her watches Ekitai in disbelief, his mouth open as he mutters, “Wait a second...are you guys crazy?”

Stabilizing her footing, the Vanguard lets go of the Artificer's hand and turns back to Ekitai to quip playfully, “Never thought you’d be the one asking that. But if you want to throw in the towel, the pod still needs to go somewhere I assume.”

Opening his mouth to protest, Ekitai’s yellow irises flare in agitation, though he stops himself upon a string of contemplation, one that shuts his mouth and lowers his head. He closes his eyes and releases a heavy sigh, resetting himself.

He opens those eyes and raises his head to acknowledge, “I guess this is where we’re going now, huh? You really sure you want to dig yourself into pirate business? I…can’t really suggest it.”

Slightly perplexed by the genuine concern given the rise of the eyebrow and tilt of the head, the Vanguard silences though it’s the Spirit who faces back at the frosty crystal seal as another thud strikes against it, sending another shockwave, and while it makes no damages to the seal itself, it’s notably more intense to which he observes, “They’re getting desperate, soon they’ll barge down the wall, I’d prefer to have the pod depart before that so they can remain under the impression that Dana left.”

Sighing heavier again from that timer, the senile man lowers his head and mutters, “Damn…well I guess if it’s just taking care of this one random group…well shit I can’t just let Kokei one-up me now can I,” before shaking his head.

Sliding himself across the bench, the man pulls himself up and crawls through the door back into the sky bridge, stumbling to his feet but gaining footing to let him march forward as he slides his hand into his overcoat’s inner pocket to pull out his handgun and pull its hammer.

Raising his head up, the ultimate resolution is made by the Alchemist: “Round two it is.”

Rather than arguing against those who he was able to fight alongside with but still was a bit wary of having for a mission with far greater ambition, the Spirit acknowledges the pressure of time and ultimately surrenders in a nod of the head before he turns his gaze to the pod with the order: “O.R.I.A.L, deploy it.”

Though now completely empty, the pod’s doorways are covered from the secretion of azure clouds that then harden to form metallic doors, and seconds after the vehicle is sealed it then emits a tick sound as it suddenly stumbles outwards, detaching from the sky bridge.

While the four watch as the Alchemist turns around, the azure pod slides away from the cell as its engine kicks up, the hum growing louder as the escape vehicle no longer escaping anyone raises its nose and lifts up. Off the pod flies, its engine roaring louder as it then launches off into the sky like the bus earlier, now functioning as a decoy that leaves the atmosphere.

After watching the pod’s departure, the Spirit returns his gaze back to his primary focus: the frosty crystal seal at the same time as that familiar voice exclaims in annoyance: “Shoot, did they just get away?? Damn okay wait fine maybe I do need to break the walls…come on~ why today.”

First to step forward, the Spirit begins a slow march for the sealed door, and behind him the first to follow is the Artificer, then the Vanguard, and finally after a hesitant glance back to the sky bridge the Alchemist faces forward and trails along.

On the metal wooden floor of the prison room where bodies of pirates lay scattered in piles, the black boots march up to the crystal door, boots whose calves are hidden by the long black cape the same material as the hood covering the head, though the arms can be seen in slivers with the gleaming knuckles that flare as if alive with energy.

Behind the hero, the golden clawed feet stroll up, feet engraved in a design that features segmented diamond components with smaller gems embedded in a few of them, and where veins or bones would be instead are thicker wires that provide the body more texture. This same design follows for the back of the remaining body which stands around six feet tall with a muscular shape, its hands also sharp, every stride it makes leaving an impactful reverberation.

Behind the cyborg, the short white shoes pace up, a casual design similar to the knee socks as the whole attire is rather relaxed, the heaviest part being the oversized white hoodie designed to resemble a cupcake given the pink abdomen representing a wrapper and the small colorful decals along the upper half colored pink, purple, green and blue. The long pink hair reaches down the back as the fingers at the ends of the long sleeves spark pink electricity in windup.

At the back of the group, the oversized brown shoes follows up, a sliver of the ankle exposed under the tight black pants of the full jumpsuit, stains of purple imbued within though most of it is hidden by the brown overcoat that reaches down to the kneecaps, the coat also oversized though not in height but rather bulk as the slender body results in the coat draping over like the sleeves above the hand clenching the silver revolver with shimmering wires wrapped around the barrel. The bald head of the man lets the wrinkles shine in the reflections of the room, a man old though carrying a library of experiences in battle.

The four approach the door, making their bold approach after all have decided against evacuation, taking on an ambitious plan to not only save a few stranded hostages but rather aim for a liberation that’d potentially affect whole worlds.

On the other side of that door, a horde of pirates stand around inside the next car, this one again carrying the traditional wooden aesthetic though with a unique layout, as while the car takes advantage of its multiple floors, it does so to create various platforms at different levels, each of them specialized with equipment from the base floor having a row of circular platforms with treaded surfaces and rows of benches that have hovering dumbbells amongst tall machines made of seats and lifting bars, all seeming to be components of a gym.

Furthermore, there are several wider square platforms shaped like boxing rings, and on some of the other platforms are floating punching bags and training dummies. One of the longer platforms along the length of the car has a shooting range given the row of tables where behind are racks full of various firearms, and past the range are several hovering dummies functioning as targets made of a metal material, though some are worn out with a few missing arms.

Though all of the pirates inside the room are specifically clumped towards the end as they glance at one another in whispers and murmurs, one of them further at the front dressed in a purple hakama matching his hair watches the man at the very front right by the door, wearing what has the function of a black cape though in actuality is a black coat sitting on him under the yellow gus hat with the red band wrapped around.

That man groans as he finally surrenders, “Fine okay, you can cut the wall, but please don’t do too much. Man this is the issue with such a large ship, it’s like a giant target,” before he then turns around and begins pacing away.

Though right as that man strolls the other way from the fully intact crystal door, that very door combusts in an azure flame, immediately stumbling most pirates back as the leader freezes up from just the sound of the inflammation.

Cautiously, that leader turns the other way back to the door he just gave up on, finding it now a blue blaze that permeates the whole entrance, like a portal to the underworld that rages in violent dances.

Embedded in that portal though appears a silhouette, a shadow that grows larger and thicker, its presence taking greater power. The shadow isn’t perfectly humanoid either, but rather has a general triangular shape, one that further proposes a step back from all the pirates all but for the leader fully turning around.

Only a few feet separating him from the door, he watches as that silhouette manifests into dimensionality as an animated being that steps out of the blue flames, glaring in parallelogram eyes that flare azure on the white mask, the golden shoulders shimmering that flaming light though the whole body is lit from the streaks covering over all extending from the pencil insignia on the chest.

The being emerges from the blaze with its cape waving behind itself, both of his fists closed tight, the same crystal material as the seal on the knuckles which flare in their own luminescence, also embedded on the shoulders and boots.

From the underworld, streaks curl up like horns from the eyes, and that one entity stands before the whole reinforcement including the leader in the yellow hat, staring straight in silence as the flames at last fade away, the barrier that was holding them back finally broken.

With wide eyes, the man in the yellow hat takes a step back now with a solid analysis of the man before him, the one who therefore had been the one to intrude the fortress and took part in the defeat of the prior security, able to rescue the prisoners they just received earlier that day. Now understanding the caliber of the threat being dealt with, there’s a noticeable unease in his eyes as the man in the purple hakama stands his ground, slowly reaching both hands to his hips, each of which have two long katana sheaths on top of each other, all four of them equipped with a hilt with the top two being the ones the hands hover over.

Glaring straight at the reinforcements all of which are frozen, the Spirit stands his ground as from behind steps forward the golden cyborg who raises her head in notice of the man in the red shirt, and without a visible facial expression given a lack of a face to begin with, the Artificer mentions in an electric murmur, “That’s their leader.”

Listening to the observation, the Spirit nods his head and murmurs back in his masked voice, “That’s convenient,” and without waiting another second, a burst of azure flames emits from his right hand that he raises just in time for it to shape into a pistol resembling an M1911 though with a silver body which fires a single black energy bolt, straight for the identified leader.

Just like that.