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Skeletor strained against He-Man’s grasp on his staff. If he could just wrench it free, he could —
“I don’t know why you even bother, Skeletor!” He-Man leaned his full weight into the fight, and Skeletor stepped back to stabilize himself.
“Soon Primus will be mine!” Skeletor hissed, ignoring the fact that he was barely keeping himself from falling backwards. He had to win. This time it would be different.
He-Man let out a laugh, advancing further. Skeletor exhaled hard, nearly losing his balance. “This isn’t even your fight, Skeletor! It’s Flogg’s! And he sent you to do his dirty work for him!”
Rage ran through him at the accusation. He was no one’s errand boy, and especially not Flogg’s. “If you want to waste your last breath on lies, so be it!” Skeletor shoved He-Man backwards, his anger gaining him some ground in the fight.
He-Man changed his tactics, letting go of the staff quickly. Too quickly for Skeletor to recover. He toppled forward, his staff flying out of his hand. He-Man stared down at him smugly, preparing to continue the fight. “Who’s safely in a pod right now, Skeletor? It certainly isn’t you.”
Skeletor scoffed, snatching his staff. “Says the man with the military strategy of a mole rat!”
Before Skeletor could recover, He-Man was on him. He glared at the smug face above him as He-Man pushed his staff down against his throat, straining to speak with the effort. “You almost sound like you respect the mutants.”
Skeletor fought to get free, managing a short burst of magic to knock He-Man off of him. “Respect the mutants?” Skeletor laughed, getting to his feet. “Ha! You really are delusional.”
“But they don’t respect you, Skeletor,” said He-Man, once again advancing. Did this man never get tired? Skeletor needed this to end today, once and for all. “Why can’t you see that?”
Skeletor stared at him. He needed to fight back, needed to respond, but something about those words had frozen him in place. Did Flogg really…? He shook himself of the thought. What did it matter what Flogg thought of him! The important thing was ending He-Man, now.
He raised his staff, preparing to blast this smug do-gooder into oblivion once and for all. But before he could make the fatal blow, dust filled the air as the ground was hit with covering fire from the mutant pods above.
. . .
The men were celebrating on the bridge. The mission was a success. With Skeletor holding off He-Man, the mutants were able to infiltrate a critical Primus military base and gain valuable information for future raids. Truthfully though, all Skeletor could think about was how Flogg had robbed him of his chance to end He-Man once and for all. Next time. That’s what Flogg always said. Next time.
Flogg beamed at him, clapping him on the shoulder. “We couldn’t have done it without you, Skeletor!”
“You were a great distraction!” said Slushhead.
“Nice work keeping He-Man busy!” said Quakke.
“You know, Skeletor,” mused Flogg. “I think we can use you more often.”
Skeletor scowled. “Right.”