Jugger x Candira

Avatar is Nathan
Darian
Nathan's Airship


The wind was blowing hard this day...and what a day for it to be a nice gust storm. The grand prix had finally started after two years of hiatus! Nathan had been lucky, as he had just earned his first airship and was capable of participating. The race had started hours ago, but it was the point in time where the ships were spaced out enough for there to be silence in the wind as they road. The first race was nothing more than a test of endurance, to see if any of the racers could make it around the world within two days with their airship. This was moreover a race against the clock rather than against each other...but this would also prove if the racers were able to hold off against each other.

Nathan grinned as he watched the seagulls fly as high as his ship did. He felt free as he flew his ship past the currents of the water, leaving ripples in them from the jetstream left behind in his ship before pulling it upward to be more into the sky. He would not notice if any of the ships were coming up from behind him...He was moreover trying not to crash into something or plummet into the water.

Tara was working with her team in the grand prix. So far, it was smooth sailing. They were making excellent time for their size and the amount of supplies they carried. This year, they were all hoping for one thing: sponsorship. Even at the top of their game, sky racing was an expensive business. No matter how many trophies they took, it seemed like they always had more expenses. Having a shipping company helped offset those and maintain a decent lifestyle, but sponsorship would drastically improve their quality of living. And it wasn't just Tara who thought so. Besides, they were prime for a sponsorship deal. Her bubbly race persona and expertise in flying and navigation made her an ideal choice, not to mention their skilled pilot and ace engineer.

Claire, the ship's engineer, was currently on deck. There was nothing to do just now. Once their engine got going, all she really needed to do was monitor the fuel now and then. Her true skills came in unleashing the hidden potential of their ship and in emergencies, when her help was truly needed. The woman was a mellow racer, but she wasn't deluded. It took more than just a fast ship and good strategy to win a race. And frankly, she wasn't above doing what needed to be done. Neither were any of the crew of their ship.

The whole crew was made up of fierce competitors, and if anyone got in their way, she knew they'd start pulling out the tricks. Other racers might look down on them, but the sponsors weren't usually swayed by ethics, and there were no rules against it in the racing league.

(Tara is the psychotic betrayal one and Claire is the other one correct?)

Darian grinned as he sat atop of his ship, watching the two ladies on monitor as they did their duties. "Keep it up gals...and in no time all the sponsorship in the world will be ours! The grand prix guarantees the highest and most richest of sponsors to the victor and we've waited years for this! Don't fuck it up or your asses will be on the line!" He yelled at them before cutting the intercom. He soon saw a ship up on the horizon, and grinned. It was a single-manned ship...No match for his destroyer-class warship of a raceship. "Excuse me, passengers and crew...We seem to have come across a wimpy one-person ship." He remained silent for some moments before grinning. "Prepare to eliminate! Full speed ahead and get those cannons mounted and ready!"

Nathan, however, was sitting aboard his ship with a grin, looking over the map that would chart his course for the race. He had no idea of the ship that was coming to attack him.

(Tara is the psycho, Claire will betray them all because she kinda sucks at being evil)

Claire wasn't really much for violence, but it was difficult to resist any of Darian's orders. Especially since he was the damn pilot. Either way, weaponry tended to fall into her job description, so she gave Tara a wave and headed below deck to arm them. Tara's job was to signal Claire from the cockpit with the PA system they'd set up. Once Claire was in place, Tara headed to join Darian, her blonde curls flying behind her. The wind flirted with her shorter skirt as she headed back inside, but she paid it no mind. "Leave it to us, Darian. We'll take care of the little guy." She smiled and studied the ship they were coming upon. It was small, but it looked pretty agile. It was a single-pilot craft, however, and easily outmatched in firepower.

"No need to kill him, now," she said with a smile. "Just enough to damage his ship." With that, she began telling Claire how to angle the guns and which ones to fire. In just a few moments, the single pilot wouldn't know what hit him. When they were within a decent range, Tara signaled to fire the Gatling gun at the tail of the ship.

Nathan had felt a sudden change in the way the wind was moving, and looked around. He hopped up to a higher elevation of his ship and saw the large destroyer-class airship coming straight toward him. "Oh shit!" He couldn't believe the size of that thing! And the guns...They were aimed toward him! "No no no no!" He just managed to jump down to the navigational controls in the captain's deck before feeling his ship rumble from the gatling gun firing on it. "I just got this thing! I'm not losing you in the first race!" He called out to his ship as he began to maneuver out and about, trying to be unpredictable to the gatling guns so that it was more difficult for him to get hit. All the while, he went up top and began to man a cannon, and fired a wrecking ball straight toward their ship. Darian, however, simply grinned as he held a hand up and motioned for Tara to take charge in defeating this pest.

Tara grinned at the pathetic attempt to get back on track and gave new coordinates to Claire, directing a cannon to the proper angle and telling Darian to speed up a little for her plan to work. When Nathan fired his cannon, she had Claire fire theirs as well and the two balls hit each other, exploding on impact. Then came more fire from the gat, trying to take out his ability to steer and climb.

"This is UNFAIR AS HELL!" He called out toward them, though it was obvious they could not hear him. Darian simply smirked as he looked at the monitor, Nathan's image of him yelling at them amusing him. "Tara...Finish him off. I'm trusting you to not let him get away...Be sure you damage his ship enough to drop him out of the race. I'll be down in my quarters." He began to walk off, but stopped himself. "And Tara...you know what happens when you fail me." With that, he descended below deck.

Nathan however, was reloading his cannon once more but this time with a different kind of shell: Grape Shots. Many tiny little iron balls that would shoot out, and hopefully pop one or two of their balloons to slow them down or temporarily put them out of the race. "Eat this mother fuckers!" He cried out as the cannon shot out the grape shots toward them, sending them skyrocketing toward their ships' balloons.

Tara saw Nathan load the new ammo through her spy glass and gasped. "Claire, I need more altitude!" She pulled on the throttle, taking them higher up as Claire fed the engines. "I need a scatter shot, now!" And so Claire used every gun available to shoot as many of the grape shots out of the sky. Unfortunately a few still made impact, but not enough to significantly slow them down. "Fucker. He's gonna wish he'd never been born!"

With that she called out more angles and directed cannon fire to take out his guns and possibly do more damage to his ship.

Nathan cried out as a sudden piece of shrapnel had hit his cannon and caused it to tip off the destroyed railing, falling to the world below them. "Shit!" He cried out as he moved to the next nearby cannon and began to load more grape shots into it. "If I keep firing these, I'll bring down that ship!" He hoped....He shot out the grape shots out toward them...and this time, one of them actually ripped a hole in one of the balloons that carried their ship. The hot air within it quickly dispersed and Nathan cheered out, hoping this would be enough of a win for him to get away from them.

"Goddamnit! The little fuck! Keep firing Claire!" She gave new coordinates even after they'd been hit and kept up a steady barrage of attacks on his little ship. Even if they didn't hit anything particularly valuable, he would still have to make repairs at the next checkpoint. Extensive repairs if Tara had anything to say about it. "Darian, we could use your help!" she called on the PA system. "One of our balloons was hit!"

Darian lifted up a visor that would give him a visual view of what was going on when he heard Tara cry to him about needing his help. He shook his head in disappointment. "All hands prepare to deploy the backup balloon! Tara, get some men to salvage what we can from our ruined balloon! Let him get away for now, we can't risk trashing the ship! We're over the sea and if we fall into the water, we'll be done for without help! Let him go for now!" He yelled at her through a receiver that sent his voice up to the cockpit of their ship. "And Tara...You've failed me." With that, his voice cut out...leaving an ominous mood to the cockpit.

Tara growled at her failure to take the man down and called off the attack. Claire quickly retracted the guns and cannons, a sure sign that the threat was gone for now. The engineer sighed and rolled her neck as new orders were given to send up the back up balloon and wished her partners would think a little more before engaging someone they didn't know in combat. It was folly to attack without knowing the strength of the enemy--even Tara knew that.

But then, she had to deal with Darian, and resisting him in any way was a challenge in itself.

The blonde in the cockpit fumed. She knew damn well she was in for trouble once Darian got back up. It wasn't often that she failed him, but when she did, he didn't let it go unpunished. Her heart raced and she felt herself blaming Darian and the damned one-person crew of the other ship. It was Darian's fault for not leaving well-enough alone, and it was the other ship's fault for putting up a fight and using goddamn grape shots! Why did nothing go her way!?

Once Nathan saw that he was in the clear, he sighed and sunk down against the railing, seeing the damages done to his ship. They were minor...but seeing as how this was his first race...he thought he took serious damage. "Oh no! My first ship....!" He murmured as he rubbed his face in disbelief. "Gotta get this thing repaired when we land..." He murmured as he stood up and grabbed the planks of wood and metal that had broken off from the fight and threw it all into a scrap pile for later. He would return to replot his course...taking a less open path along a ravine now that would grant both safety and a small, though more dangerous, shortcut.

Darian frowned as he looked to the two women on the monitor. "Useless...My head engineer and my second in command...How could I be stuck with such a...' He grabbed the PA mic and yelled into it. "WORTHLESS CREW!". He hung up the mic, and tossed a bottle out at the wall, shattering it. Tara was going to get it...she had one job, and she let him down.

Tara was furious. She wasn't terribly angry at herself. More at Darian for sending them into a situation like this one. Normally they knew more about the ships they attacked before doing so. Even if she had foreseen this issue somehow, Claire wouldn't have been able to have accommodated the needs of the ship--it was too large for quick maneuvers unless they wanted to plummet to their doom. Frankly, Tara enjoyed living. She doubted, however, that Darian would be forgiving at all. She would need to find a way to overpower him--or a way to at least make him see her side of the story--perhaps a way to turn it all around on Claire.

Yes. It wasn't the best solution, but it was the one that would save her hide. If Claire had invested in the proper shielding or the correct ammunition to fight back...it was a flimsy argument at best, but it was all she had going for her at this point. It seemed that she wouldn't be able to deflect Darian's anger entirely, but that was what she got for allowing him to wander off in the middle of a battle instead of actually helping. Next time, she would need to know better.

((OMG, I'm so sorry I forgot about this one. This was the week before I graduated so I had a lot on my mind. T_T Sorry!))

Once Nathan had managed to escape from his pursuers, he dropped down and began to breathe heavily, having been holding his breath this entire time, forgetting to breathe as he was trying to stay alive and not get shot down out of the sky from such a larger ship. "Its a...miracle that I managed to get the hell away..." He murmured as he looked at the narrow valley he had escaped into. "Looks like I can trek easily here and they can't...but I wonder where this leads...?" He stood up and began to navigate through the valley...which began to become less than a detour and more of a ride from hell as he began to turn and dodge rock formations every side and out. He couldn't even escape by flying upward because the valley's top had become so narrow he feared they would pop his balloons! By the time he had managed to escape...he would find that he came out just nearby the ocean...and beside the previous ship he had encountered. To make things worse...he would be in clear view of Tara's position on the ship if she looked out a window.