Resting Station: Entering the Real Ilusia and the Cursed Fruit!

The night before arriving in the Ilusia Kingdom, Nina sat on her bed with the box on her lap. Tension was rising and falling as she stared at it nervously. A gift from the captain was a rare sight, so that was her excuse for being so tense. The box that held this mystery gift was a small chest with gold designs. Nina lightly tapped her fingers on the sides of the chest. "Hm, I wonder what could be in it. Ah, I don't know if I should open it right away, or if I should just wait till we get to Ilusia,"she murmured to herself. With one more sigh, she finally opened the box and her brown eyes went wide. She squeaked, "It's...a fruit?" Nina picked it up and examined the odd design of the strange fruit. Well, she was hungry enough to try and taste it. Her door suddenly opened and in came one of the other Marines, Chore Boy Beau to be exact. Nina glanced up at him with the fruit in hand, "What are you doing here? Don't you have some cleaning to do?" He frowned at her with a sweat drop on the side of his head and he grumbled, "I was just checking on my fellow chore doer. I'm not the only one that needs to clean. Get your lazy butt out here and help me out!"Beau ordered, but Nina shook her head. In her defense, she said, "I'm on break just so you know. Captain's orders, so bug off you creep." Beau glared at her as she studied the fruit some more, he was interested in what she had in her hands. Instead of stepping out of her room and leaving, he stayed inside and closed the door behind him, locking it. Nina was bounced a few inches into the air when he slumped onto her bed with his musty shoes kicked off. She sighed and gave him a questioning glare, but he ignored it. His eyes were focused on the fruit, but she pulled it close to her chest and had her arms around it as if protecting the odd food. He sat up and inched closer, but she inched away. "What the heck do you want Beau? As you can see, it's mine,"Nina pointed out to Beau. As she was about to put the oddly designed fruit into her mouth, Beau stretched his arms out, one hand hitting the fruit in her hands. Nina was nearly choking on the fruit that was forced into her mouth and began wailing with watery eyes. "Aaah! Nina, I'm sorry! Please forgive me, please, please, pretty please!"Beau begged as Nina was crushed the fruit in her mouth and swallowed it. Her wailing stopped and she took in deep breaths to take in more air than fruit, then she glared with red eyes at Beau, who was still begging down by her feet. "Beau..."she started. The chore boy looked up at her with pleading eyes, but stumbled back when he saw the unforgiving glare. "I-I'm so sorry,"he tried to reason, but found that reasoning with her in the current situation was impossible. He staggered back and out of the door, leaving with a nervous and fearful laugh. Nina sighed and placed her face in her hands. The fruit she had just eaten has been lost in her stomach and she was never going to get it back. Mentally she cursed Beau for his stretching, but maybe it was a good mistake. As she thought angry thoughts, small charges of electricity pulsed through her palms, causing her to stare at them in disbelief. In an instant the charges disappeared when her mind was clear. She thought out loud, "What's going on? Is this really what I think it is?"

"Ilusia ahead! We are finally in the Ilusia Kingdom captain!"A Marine shouted down to the captain and Nina from his post. The captain chuckled and blew a cloud of smoke into the air, "You ready kid? We're heading into the Ilusia Kingdom, so this is where we get to do some real fun stuff. Ahahahaha!" Nina nodded as she stood there next to the captain. She said with a spark in her eyes, "I'm ready!"

sc: 46
Cursed Fruit Mastery: 46/100

The Marine ship was docked, allowing the troops aboard to step out onto land. Nina and Captain Shepard were the first to enter the town ahead while the others hung out by the ship. And, it looked to be that they were the only ones there. It was more like a ghost time rather than a lively town. However, that wasn't going to stop them from training. They stopped in a bar where only the owner remained. He glanced over his shoulder from the shelves and yelped when he saw the two Marines. He questioned with sheer fear in his eyes, "What...what do you monsters want? Haven't you taken enough already?" Nina's brow rose and she looked up at the captain, who was also confused. Shepard started towards the man with calm eyes, "Relax, sir, we're only here to take a little break. And, who are you calling monsters?" Although the man was hesitant, he gave us a couple bottles of water and allowed us to take a couple seats. Nina sipped her water cautiously, as did Shepard. The captain questioned, "So, what's been going on? It looks like a ghost town here." Nina watched as the man behind the counter laughed hysterically, "Well, like you didn't know." Well, neither even knew what was going on in the first place. They merely stared at him to go on, but the man turned his back on them. Getting the hint, Nina sat up with her captain and walked out of the bar. Upon exiting, the duo was caught by surprise when a group of twenty bandits started running amok in the town. Nina whispered to Shepard, "Do we take them on?" He patted her on the shoulder, which meant yes. She giggled, "Alright, I'll take the five on the right, you take the fifteen on the left. Deal?" His chuckle was loud enough to catch the attention of the bandits, "You know what I like! Ahahahahaha! Let's get to work rookie." The "leader" of the pack stepped up to the front and gave the two a death glare. "You punks here to die?" Nina sighed and the captain stopped chuckling, questions like that never did strike their funny bones. The two nodded at each other and confronted the set amount of bandits they were going to fight. Nina was fighting four lanky goons along with the more muscular leader. Two were going to jump her from each side, but upon reaching an inch of her, both were severely burned by a burst of electricity emulating from her body. The other three stared at her dumbfounded, but the leader let it slide and sent his men after her. She stopped their swords with her own, the contact immediately sent an electrical charge through the metal blades and to the bandits. Nina had defeated more than half of the five. Next was the leader and his long katana.

Nina and the bandit clashed one on one, both were fighting on even grounds. Even with her new found powers from the Cursed Fruit, Nina was not able to deal significant damage to the monstrosity before her. One more time they tried clashing, using their weight to try and injure the other. The battle raged on with Nina picking up the lead. With the bandit on one knee, she said to him, "You can't beat the Marines, you know. You should leave before you actually get yourself killed."

sc: 42
tsc: 88
Cursed Fruit Mastery: 88/100

With the bandit on one knee and Nina near victory, things were running smoothly for the two Marines. She had both swords pointed at the bandit's face. Seule Goutte and the ragged unnamed katana that was taken from a defeated enemy. Nina told the bandit, "That's a nice sword. Where'd ya get it?" He glared up at her and then glanced down at his bloody long sword. She knew that it was specially crafted like her katana, which is why she was wondering about it in the first place. The bandit tried swinging at her, but she jumped back in time to only receive a small cut on her ankle. "I'm not sure I should tell you of all people, but why not? You are going to die today, so I'll tell. I got this from a legendary pirate that traveled all over. And he got it from the dead fingers of a Marine captain. Chahahahaha! I was surprised at first, but it was a worthy bargain,"he said and Nina narrowed her eyes. She knew exactly who the pirate was and the Marine. She didn't need the assistance of this fool, so she pounded down on both of his shoulders with her swords. He was severely injured, but alive. Nina stood up straight and sheathed her katana. Her eyes were gazing down at the sword, Brilliant. Now I have something left from him. With this sword, the Baisse Capricieux, I'll come one step closer to solving this whole thing. Nina picked it up and sheathed it, and then carried it with her as she met up with her captain.

"Kid, that was outstanding. I'm thinking about letting you handle a lot more than cleaning the ship. Perhaps tomorrow, I'll set things up to where you're the only chore kid going on adventures. Sound good?"Captain Shepard asked Nina and she nodded. He smirked approvingly and then he glanced down at her ankle. She cocked her head to the side and followed his gaze, "Oh, right. I suppose I should clean that up."

sc: 29
tsc: 117
Cursed Fruit Mastery: 117/100

After the fighting, Nina continued with exploring the kingdom. It turned out to be more peaceful than she thought. Bystanders applauded their arrival after defeating the bandits and their leader. Nina thought to herself, I thought this place had great security. Guess not since WE were the ones that handled it. The two of them continued along their path to where they could get some supplies for their mission. Shepard spoke to her as they walked, "So, I've come up with a great plan." Nina looked up at him with a raised eyebrow and asked, "Plan? Does it have to do with finding the pirates?" He chuckled and nodded. She knew him all too well. "Turning in the biggest and baddest pirates in for some good deeds being done. I'm sure it would be extremely fun. Ahahahaha, right?" He asked her with a big smirk and she nodded. For now, they were to gather up some supplies before leaving for the next island. It would be nothing but smooth sailing from that point in time!

sc: 17
Ittoryu Mastery: 17/50