Firestorm (Ace x OC)

Chapter 35: Shoot for the Sky

As the bird hopped onto the nearest branch Ryoko smiled warmly before covering her mouth as the boiling sensation roiled under the skin of her back. The young reindeer doctor came to her side, still worried about the bird trying to fly away. However, his eyes flicked to the woman's pale face, beads of sweat were forming on her forehead. "Chopper... could you come with me... for a moment." Her voice was quiet, to only have the doctor hear her. 

The duo headed below the deck, into the women's bedroom, "Ryoko, what's wrong?" The doctor asked as he watched the girl pull the padding off of her desk and toss it onto the ground. The woman sat upon the padded mat, "Could you check me over... I have this boiling feeling in my back and side. Left." She says a groan passing her lips as she shifts, "I went through Cricket's stone house first, broke the table. I can't really see and deal with whatever occurred."

She pulled her shirt over her head and revealed her back and side to the doctor who carefully inspected the injury sight. She glanced over her shoulder toward the vanity mirror and grimaced at the purple bruise on her back, "doesn't look good..." she said before looking forward again.

"I would recommend lying down and resting, you seem to have suffered an internal hemorrhage in your back and side," Chopper says, looking at the woman. "Although it seems that whatever bleeding there was, has stopped. Some of the blood also seems to have healed on the outer edge of it." He reached up and carefully helped her pull the shirt back over herself. "Let the others deal with getting to Sky Island, okay?" 

"Make sure that Luffy doesn't mess with Jyojyo 'kay?" She says before lying on the mat. The doctor nodded and gave her a small smile before heading up the stairs. She looked at the ceiling of the room, she could feel the Merry beginning to move. "To heal it normally takes a lot longer than a couple of hours. Perhaps it's cause I shifted my form? That sounds unlikely though... well perhaps it could stop the bleeding, given how my physicality changes so I assume my anatomy would too." She thinks to herself as she lays as still as she can, her eyes moving around the room. 

It was relatively silent below deck, although Ryoko glared at the ceiling as if hoping she could see out to the top deck. What seemed like hours passed, although she was certain it wasn't actually that long. She was rather quickly growing bored, and slightly uncomfortable with her still-healing injury. "The timing could not have been worse for this. At least we didn't have to stop." She grumbled as she looked toward her desk and puffed out her cheeks for a moment. "Can't even tinker while I lie here."

The sudden lurching of the ship immediately caught her attention, and rather against better judgment, she slowly pushed herself to her feet and leaned on the wall as she moved toward the porthole. Her eyes narrowed immediately after seeing a pirate ship, noting the jolly roger in her mind. Her eyes caught a glance of the man from before, "What the hell does he want now?" She growls eyeing the captain of the Blackbeard pirates. The view suddenly tipped and she could see the sea had seemed to create a large whirlpool.

The bubbling pain had her sink down the wall, pulling her mat over using her heel. She huffed softly at the inconvenience, and laid back down, "I hate this not knowing crap." She grimaced as she also pressed her right side against the wall. For a moment everything was still before the force of being launched pressed down on her, causing a wheeze to expel out of her lungs. 

Her body toppled, thankfully to her right, yet the jerking of her shoulder, as she sprawled against the wall, caused her to let out a hiss of pain. The pressure didn't lessen nor did it get any greater, however, a sharp pain passed through her back and began to feel like it was spider-webbing out across her limbs. "Gah! Chopper!" she cried out before the edges of her vision blurred and her vision darkened.

~~~

Ryoko hurried along after the slightly older blond boy, who carried a bottle of Dadan's sake into the forest. She, however, carried four red o-choko and hurried along behind him toward the clearing nearby where the quartet normally trained. The two missing boys stood by a chopped stump, "We got what you asked for Ace, but why did you need these things?" Sabo questioned setting the bottle onto the stump while Ryoko set the four cups down by the bottle.