Up on deck, Madison was lying impatiently on the cold sea soaked wood, looking out over the foggy night time horizon while crewmates continued to attempt an approach. She snapped her jaws the moment that they came close, before huffing out a small burst of electricity and turning away to avoid their stares. Many minutes had passed since Haylee left with the lead guard, Madison was now growing worried for her safety.
"Guards!" Avon yelled, stepping out onto the deck with his sword held tightly in hand. "We've been tricked by the daughter of the Park Pirates! Destroy her ship at once!" He ordered, raising his sword as he gestured out towards the open ocean where the Shellshock was left floating. In response to Avon's words though, Madison immediately rose from the floor, turning towards him with a bloodthirsty glare and roaring out a shaking hollar of anger.
"You will bow before me, Dragon." Avon hissed, reaching down into his pocket as he loaded a pistol with a small plastic pellet. Naturally, Madison assumed it was a normal bullet and surrounded herself with a burst of electrical energy to force back any metallic objects, but of course the moment Avon fired, the plastic pellet ripped right through her defences and slammed weakly into the scales of her chest. The small object barely drew blood, it hardly even dented her skin, but from that single shot alone, Madison suddenly felt dizzy.
The pellet exploded with a burst of thick heavy gas, pushing Madison to open her wings and fly up into the air to avoid it, only to be met by nets flying up at her from below, as well as chains that were shot up and wrapped around her legs in order to drag her down. Panic rushed through her veins as she struggled and roared with a thunderous screech, causing storm clouds to form above the lead ship while others began appearing from within the fog.
Madison looked around and spotted dozens of ships surrounding her from every side, while one kept sailing forwards towards the Shellshock. Angrily, Madison flapped her wings with immense power and roared towards the enemy ship that threatened her crewmates lives, then, in the momentary blink of an eye, a huge lightning strike burst down from the sky and shattered the ship completely. Hollars of anger and rage erupted from the surrounding ships, as more nets were fired towards her mouth and wings, until finally a harpoon was blasted up towards her, striking her deep in the shoulder and halting her flight completely.
"It's down!" The crew cheered, celebrating Madison's fall as her body slammed into the deck below. Unfortunately for them, she was far from finished. Another roar echoed out from within her restrained muzzle, striking the ships with lightning and bursting some completely into flames. She was not so lucky with Avon's main ship though.
Despite its size and overwhelmingly wooden frame, the ship refused to burn, and would simply absorb any lightning strike that struck the salted deck. It left Madison in an utter state of confusion, one which put her in a vulnerable position for incoming attacks, especially the kind of attacks that came from the Captain himself.
"Take them down! But leave them alive!" Avon ordered, raising his sword as he slammed it down into the deck, shaking the absorbent wood while a shock wave of energy coursed through Madison's body and left her shaken and dizzy for many moments. Those few moments were crucial though, as Avon blasted three bullets straight into her chest while she was attempting to recover.
Screeches and roars of pain erupted from Madison's throat, as her eyes glasses over with a steely black shade, her wings sparking with lighting and blue flickers of flames. Within an instant, she roared and blasted lightning straight from her mouth, channelling the energy from the sky as she guided her attack with the position of her head. It was a powerful attack that ripped apart the crew and the top half of the ship's features, but once again the deck refused to burst into flames. It was as though it was coated in a spell that absorbed elemental magic.
"You will kneel to me!" Avon yelled, rushing towards Madison with his sword raised and ready to strike, only to be blasted back by the force of her tail as she swung it around and slammed him into the deck below. She never even allowed him a moment to speak as she kept raising her tail and slamming it down atop him with an ever increasing force. She roared, screeched and blasted her magic in every direction, accepting the shots that were fired at her and occasionally letting off a burst of electricity to blast away the flurry of bullets.
After far too long of pounding Avon into the ground, her eyes now completely glazed over, Madison leaned down towards his beaten body and opened her jaws. Avon attempted to move and fight back, he even blasted her with magic powerful enough to kill any normal man, but Madison barely flinched. Her rage had completely taken over, she was now nothing more than a vessel for destruction. When he tried to move, she stepped down forcefully atop his chest, before snapping her teeth down over the man's right shoulder and whipping her head to the side in order to rip his delicate body in two. With another effortless flick of her head, she cast his body out into the sea, before turning back towards the crew with a bloodthirsty glare.
'Who's next?' She growled, blood dripping from her chin as she spoke. Horror and fear ripped through the crew at the sound of the Dragon's voice, but also at the sight of their defeated Captain. Despite everything that they had seen though, the crew raised their weapons and continued to fight, blasting Madison with everything they had and challenging the fierce Dragon to a full on war.
Unfortunately, Madison failed to realise that during her battle another ship had snuck away towards the Shellshock, sailing up towards the side of the Nightshade Pirate ship before a small team of three boarded the abandoned vessel.
"Keep your heads low," the leader ordered, skulking around the deck of the ship while they searched for people to kill.
"Shall we steal stuff, boss?" One of the crewmates asked, noticing the fresh berries that glimmered in the moonlight. They reached out to take one, but the leader slapped their hand away.
"Don't touch anything, it could be poisonous." He mumbled, stepping towards the stairway nearby that led down into the hallway full of bedrooms.
"Fine," the crewmate sighed, pulling out a knife as the trio stepped silently through the corridor, gently opening doors to peek inside at the empty rooms.
"Is anyone even here?" The final member asked, looking around at the empty and silent corridor.
"Maybe they all left to fight our armada…" The leader muttered, turning back towards the sound of a creaking floorboard. The others whipped around as well, watching as a small snowy fox waddled out from within a room.
"Hey look, they have a pet." The first crewmate smiled, stepping over towards Pip as he reached out and gently wrapped his hands around him. Unfortunately for him though, Pip was still half asleep and dazed, so the sudden contact of another person struck fear through his entire body, causing him to snap awake and bite down on the delicate skin of the man's arm. "Ow! Little savage!" They yelled, dropping Pip in an instant as they quickly stepped away, holding their arm in pain and annoyance.
"Oh come on, you only got bit by a puppy." The leader chuckled, watching as his crewmate stared back at him with a pout.
"They bite hard," he whined, struggling to stand for a moment as his vision suddenly became clouded. His teammates noticed immediately and the leader stepped forwards to catch him as he fell, staring in confusion when the crewmates body stopped moving all together.
"The hell…" he muttered, staring up towards Pip as the young fox growled and revealed his sharp venom-soaked teeth. "Venom," the leader gasped, pulling up his crewmate's sleeve and revealing the dying skin around the point where Pip had bit him.
"We need to get out of here." The other man panicked, watching as his leader dropped their crewmates body to the floor.
"I'm not leaving," the leader growled, pulling out his blade and revealing the sharp serrated edge to Pip. "This puppy paralysed our friend, he's going to die." They growled.
"I'm not a puppy! I'm a fox!" Pip yelled, transforming back into his human form as he spoke.
"Sir, that's a kid. You can't kill a kid." The crewmate muttered, but his leader had already begun charging towards Pip.
Naturally, the small boy panicked and turned to run away, transforming back into his fox form so that he could scurry off behind a box. The leader had a great sense of direction though, and quickly began moving the boxes aside in order to reach the boy.
"Come on kid, if you come quietly I'll let you live," he hummed, searching the darkness for Pip's infamous pure white fur. Before he could even get close though, Pip snuck around between his legs and jumped up from the space behind him, landing directly on the leader's shoulder as he quickly leaned down and bit his arm. "You little!!" He growled, reaching up in an attempt to pull him off.
"Don't worry, sir! I've got them!" His crewmate replied, swinging a bat towards Pip's body, only for the small fox to jump away and allow the wooden item to slam forcefully into the leader's head. "Woops." The man mumbled, watching as his leader fell back towards the ground and passed out atop the cold wooden floor boards. Pip landed safely on the ground and watched as well, before looking up at the man with shimmering orange eyes that could see perfectly in the light of the dim night.
"G-good puppy." The man stuttered, backing up towards the door as he turned to run away, Pip was far too invested in the battle though, and quickly followed after him with a loud but adorable yip. "Stay back!" The man yelled, turning around as he slashed his blade towards him and managed to slice through the skin and fur of Pip's left shoulder. He whined and whimpered in pain and fear, limping away as the man realised what he had done and moved closer to attempt another attack. The moment he stepped too close though, Pip's fur rose up with a growl as a thin powdery dust burst out from all over his body, landing atop the man's right hand as he laughed and brushed it away with the other.
"Your venom won't affect me unless you bite me," he chuckled, raising his hand for another attack before his arm dropped down to cover his mouth when he yawned. "What the-" he yawned again, his legs becoming weak and shaky while tiredness consumed his body. "You cheeky mutt…" he muttered, collapsing to the floor. "Sleep… sleeping powder..." He trailed off, leaving Pip completely alone with the beaten bodies of his opponents. Slowly though, the fox boy limped back towards Zenith's room, whining in pain as agony as he slowly curled up into the sleeping arms of his father.
He could only hope that no more enemies would come.