Chapter 40: Party Boat.

Thugs begin eyeing Hameshi and his team, some even going as far as to surround them.

"3 million this year? Hahaha, thanks kid. I'm going to enjoy killing you." One of the thugs says.

"Some time this sword is more trouble then it's worth…" Hameshi thinks.

"Well we could always get another boat right?" Kalisha asks.

"I don't think these guys are going to let us not get on the boat." Kohaku explains.

Horina begins cracking her knuckles.

"You can kill the kid, but you won't get the sword as long as I'm here." Horina yells.

"That's messed up Horina-chan…" Hameshi says saddened.

Everyone begins boarding the boat, as everyone keeps an eye on Hameshi and his team. Hameshi's group steps up to the Captain.

"Don't worry, we are going to be fair about this… as long as you stay inside your assigned rooms you can't be touched. But there are no bathrooms, kitchens, or luxuries inside the rooms so you will be forced to come out." The Captain explains.

"Tsk…bastard." Hameshi says.

The group heads down to their assigned room seeing four beds. They put their things down on their respective beds.

"So, we will buddy up everytime we leave the rooms… Kohaku-kun! You're going to be my partner right?" Horina says hugging Kohaku's arm.

"Uh yeah of course." Kohaku says.

"Look Hameshi-kun… you are going to have to step up and protect Kalisha-chan at all times… if anything happens to her I will be the one to claim the money." Horina says with an evil look on her face.

Hameshi nods rapidly. The boat pulls off from the dock and an announcement plays.

"Remember only one of you may claim the three million dollars… bring the sword to me as proof that you've gotten rid of everyone. That being said let the games begin." The Captain says.

A group of thugs begin fighting already, firing their respective elements at each other. Hameshi and Kohaku stand at the door hearing the grunts of many warriors outside the room.

"You going out there?" Horina asks.

"Yep, I want to test some things from training." Kohaku says smiling.

"Be careful you two!" Kalisha says.

"Don't worry; these guys don't even seem like warriors." Hameshi says confident.

Hameshi and Kohaku leave the room shutting it and standing in a battle stance as the other warriors stare at them.

"We aren't planning to run from this!" Hameshi says smiling.

"I've been ready to cut loose ever since I heard this was a battle boat." Kohaku says.

The thugs charge at the two warriors, as Hameshi and Kohaku use basic attacks and combos to knock out the warriors that challenge them. This goes on for about a couple minutes as warriors lay knocked out around them as Hameshi and Kohaku breathe heavily.

"Man it's a lot of these guys…" Hameshi says.

"Yeah, thought there was only going to be about fifty…" Kohaku says.

A group of thugs surround Hameshi and Kohaku but look afraid to try anything. For a minute the area is silent until a man with a vest and no shirt stepped forward. The man had scars all over his body, including a scar on his eye covered with an eye patch.

"I know you two aren't worn out yet… I just had lunch and now I'm ready to claim that sword." The man says.

Both Hameshi and Kohaku look up to the new challenger with serious looks on their faces.

"Alright I'll take this one Kohaku!" Hameshi says stepping forward but Kohaku slides in front of him.

"Nah you know what I'll take him, you took out the last one." Kohaku explains.

"What! Are you blind… you were the one who took out the last guy." Hameshi says in an annoyed tone.

Both begin to bicker amongst themselves and the challenger looks around confused, being ignored.

"Fine, if neither of you cowards have what it takes to stand up to me… I'll kill you both in one go." The man says.

The man surrounds himself with a tornado and charges towards both Hameshi and Kohaku, who both aren't paying any attention. The door to their room opens and two vines shoot out grabbing the man and stopping him completely in the air. Hameshi and Kohaku look up to see Horina walking out of the door with her hand up.

"Excuse me sir, but my friend and I have to use the restroom, so if you don't mind." Horina says slamming her hand to the ground.

The vines slam the man to the ground as well knocking him out cold. Horina motions to Kalisha and they both walk out to the restroom. The other men give up and leave the area finding them to be entirely too strong. Time passes and the group relaxes around the boat, not receiving any challenges even in their down time. The Captain sees no one going to attack the group and gets angry.

"This is ridiculous… my fight boat isn't moving at all… and no ones going after the kid." The Captain yells.

Team Hameshi are busy enjoying the luxuries of the boat. They eat steak dinner, and then relax in the Jacuzzi as if the boat was never a fight boat.

"See, I got us a cheap boat, and you two didn't even have to fight much." Horina says in a bragging tone.

"Well we're just lucky these guys are super weak… if it was a boat full of Haikus and Dremors… we'd have had some trouble." Hameshi says in a relaxed tone.

"Yeah, that would have been hell…" Kohaku says nodding.

Horina slides over and begins feeling on Kohaku's chest and leaning close to him.

"I know you could have handled them single handedly Kohaku-kun!" Horina says.

Kohaku blushes. Hameshi shakes his head and slides towards Kalisha in order to give them their space. Hameshi and Kalisha blush and look away from each other shyly.

"You've been quiet today Kalisha-chan… got anything on your mind?" Hameshi asks.

"Um no not really! I was just relaxing… we really don't have much time to do that with people looking for your sword." Kalisha explains.

"Yeah… this thing is more trouble then I thought." Hameshi says looking at the sword that's sitting on the edge of the Jacuzzi nearby.

"Well the bright side about all of this, is that we all got the chance to meet." Kalisha says.

"That is a bright side to this! I couldn't imagine traveling the world without friends." Hameshi responds.

The two turn to each other and smile blushing red. They both slowly began to gravitate towards each other, and close their eyes as their hearts begin pumping rapidly. A loud noise interrupts the group as the Captain enters the room with an angry look on his face.

"I hope you are enjoying yourselves!" The Captain says in an annoyed tone.

"What's the big idea, things were just getting good!" Horina says.

Hameshi and Kalisha pull away from each other, and Hameshi hides half his face under water while Kalisha plays with her hair.

"I can't believe kids like you have forced thugs to give up, even after being promised so much money." The Captain says.

"Yeah it's too bad… now go back and drive the ship or whatever…we'll be expected the money when we touch down." Horina says speaking for the group.

The Captain smiles.

"There's one person on this boat who isn't afraid of you…" The Captain says.

Hameshi and the others begin to brace themselves knowing he will probably want to fight. The Captain motions his hand and pushes a wave of the Jacuzzi water upward forcing them to fly out of the tub. Hameshi pushes forward in the air and catches Kalisha, landing on his bottom with her in his arm. Kohaku and Horina both land side by side a bit away from them.

"Damn it… a water user." Kohaku says.

"Are you okay Hameshi-kun?" Kalisha asks still in his arms.

"Yeah, but you are a bit heavier then I thought!" Hameshi says jokingly.

Kalisha stands up with an annoyed look on her face looking away.

"Smooth!" Horina responds.

Hameshi stands up with a confused look on his face. The Captain sees Hameshi a way away from his sword and attempts to grab the sword with formed water but Kalisha quickly steps up and freezes the water much to the Captain's surprise.

"An ice user…" The Captain thinks before looking up to see Hameshi spinning in the air towards him.

The Captain lifts his hand up and breaks the ice sending the resulting water towards Hameshi slowing his attack down. Hameshi lands in front of the Captain and attempts a spin kick but the Captain jumps backwards only to trip and see vines around his legs. He looks over and sees Horina clenching her fists and squeezing his legs with the vines.

"Tsk… they are stronger than I thought." The Captain thinks.

Hameshi grabs his sword and slings it around his bare chest and the others quickly join his side. The Captain sends pressurized water down to his legs cutting the vines and part of his leg in the process before standing up to face the bunch.

"We won't go easy on you since you're after the sword." Horina says.

"Horina-chan, stop stealing my lines…" Hameshi says in a somewhat whiney tone.

"Do you think this is a joke? I'm a water element user… and you're on a boat. I might not be strong but right now I have the advantage. I could crush this entire boat and sink us, and simply swim my way to shore with your sword." The Captain says.

The others look surprised as the man steps forward. He places his hand on the ground and the boat begins shaking about.

"Shit, he's seriously going to down the boat!" Kohaku says bracing himself.

"What about all the people on the boat… you just plan to kill them?" Kalisha asks in a concerned tone.

"This is the fighting boat, only one warrior is supposed to come out alive anyway. And it would seem that warrior will be me!" The Captain responds.

Hameshi and Kohaku turn to nod at each other.

"Make one step and the boat go down." The Captain yells.

Hameshi holds his arms out with his hand facing each other. He spins wind into a disk shape and throws it at the Captain. The Captain immediately tries to sink the ship but seeds bounce towards him being thrown by Horina. The Seeds open up and vines shoot out stabbing the man in the arm and legs forcing him to stand. The wind disk attack expands on impact and slams the man to the ground. Kohaku quickly surrounds his own hands with Rocks and jumps into the air punching down onto the Captain's chest, forcing him to cough up blood as a thunderous crack sounds off of the Captain's bones breaking. The Captain lays out defeated and unconscious as Hameshi, Horina, and Kohaku highfive on another like a sports team scoring a game winning goal. Kalisha is the only one not moving with her hands against her face.

"What's wrong Kalisha-chan?" Horina asks.

"That was the Captain of this ship right?" Kalisha says in a low tone.

"Yeah, but…" Hameshi says before realizing what the matter is.

"And we just crushed the only person who knows how to steer this ship…" Kohaku explains.

"Damn it… I was so caught up in the moment I forgot about that." Horina says.

"W-w-what do we do now?" Hameshi asks.

The group makes their way to the Navigation room in order to try and drive the ship. Upon entering they look around seeing thousands of buttons, with no labels and no stirring wheel in sight.

"How do we operate this?" They all yell holding their face in shock.

Hameshi walks over and presses some buttons.

"What are you doing idiot… you're going to get us all killed?" Horina yells.

The Ship begins to call a number a screen appears with the words Calling Bragen on it as everyone stares at the screen.

"Bragen… isn't that?" Hameshi asks.

The Image comes up and Bragen is sitting in a chair.

"What do you want Captain Yoshimaru?" Bragen asks not looking at his own image.

In the background the three swords can be seen sitting close by to him, to which Kohaku sees it.

"So you're the one after Hameshi's sword!" Kohaku says.

Bragen looks surprised and looks down to the image.

"Ah! Young Hameshi! I've heard things about you and your team. You're a disgusting spitting image of your father." Bragen says.

"You know my dad? Where is he?" Hameshi yells.

"He's not with you? Interesting! Now I won't have any fear of confronting you myself." Bragen says.

"Tsk… you bastard! Where are you so I can get my sword?" Kohaku asks.

"In due time my boy… but first I'm going to invite you all to a special tournament. Your swords will be on line as well as an official tournament champion fighter rating." Bragen announces.

"We aren't coming to play your little game… we know you just want Hameshi-kun's sword." Horina says.

"Actually this is perfect…" Hameshi says.

"Hameshi-kun!" Kalisha says confused.

"We'll be able to kill two birds with one stone this way… And I'll be able to interrogate this Bragen guy about the disappearance of my dad." Hameshi explains.

"I guess it's settled then, the tournament will be held on my private island in two months time. Only males are allowed to compete, the others will have to wait in the stands watching. It will be an exciting affair, thousands of warriors from nations all over will be there fighting for the Element swords." Bragen explains.

"So I'm guessing you've sent flyers to towns all over…" Kohaku asks.

"Let's just say my people get around… it was nice meeting you all and I can't wait for our encounter…hahahaha." Bragen says ending the call.

Hameshi and the others look at the screen blankly.

"That was interesting…" Kohaku says in a joke like tone.

"Now we have to figure out how to drive this ship!" Horina says face palming.

"I found a manual!" Kalisha says holding up a large book.

The group laughs and operates the boat for the next days finally arriving to the Water country.

[End of Chapter]