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Reina picks her way up the staircase, the signs of battle litter everything and holes pop up randomly. But she sees the nametag still hovering above and the sounds of shulkers being opened and closed repeatedly start to become louder. She increases the sounds of her steps to not startle the Combat Master as she nears the top. Flame barely glances up from the shulkers he’s restocking to glance at Reina through his blindfold. “I kill uninvited guests, just a forewarning.” Flame intones as he keeps working.
“No, you don’t. Not unless they pose a threat to you.” Reina remarks as she stands on the open edge of the circle. The only safe part to stand on that’s still giving Flame his space.
Flame huffs before closing the shulker he’s working on and looking at the woman, “What do you want?”
“I need your help.” Reina says, watching as Flame begins to laugh.
“I’m not helping Parrot. Get out of here.” Flame dismisses her, returning to his shulkers.
“I didn’t say Parrot needed your help. I need your help. I want you to train me in combat.” Reina says seriously. Which only causes her to scowl as Flame starts to laugh again, harder this time if possible.
“Nah, nah. No way you just asked me that! Get out of here, bro. I don’t train people. Especially not lost causes like you, bro.” Flame chuckles a few more times as he returns to his shulkers, shaking his head in disbelief. Reina glowers at him in annoyance, reaching onto her back and unhooking her trident, she steps back a few paces until she hits the wall of Flame’s base before dropping the bottle of water at her feet, she feels the trident begin to hum in her hand and she sends it flying high above Flame. The magic of the item pulls her along and while mid-air she replaces the trident with her diamond spear and swings it down at Flame.
Who catches it at the shaft just under the tip and counter turning his body to swing his full weight and sends Reina crashing to the ground under the pole of her spear. Flame cocks an eyebrow as Reina rolls from under the pole, taking out her trident again and swinging a stab towards Flame, who uses his newly acquired spear to push the trident upwards above him as he slides around Reina’s side and knocks her in the side with the pole of the spear and sends her to the ground again. Flame quickly swings the spear tip around to rest just under her chin, “You done?”
Reina sighs as she lays on the ground, “Y-yeah. Guess I am.” Flame pulls the spear away, offering her a hand up, which she accepts. Flame walks over to the trident that was knocked away and kicks it up into his hands to join the other pole weapon.
“So, what is the point in you learning to fight anyway?” Flame asks as he walks back towards the woman.
“I can’t-“ Reina starts before thinking for a moment, “When I started, I couldn’t protect my best friend from CinderCrest. Then again when I got new friends, I could hold my own, but Theo still protected me mostly and now with Parrot…” Reina sighs deeply.
“Parrot…?” Flame asks, resting the two pole weapons against his shulkers next to Reina.
“Theo and I don’t know what happened to him after Capital City. And now Theo and I are separated. Rumors are that Theo is being used as bait for Parrot by King Saparata.” Reina explains, using quotations around the word king. Flame hums, folding his arms and waiting for her to continue. “So, if I am all alone out here for now, I need to know how to protect myself. You were the only person I could think that could teach me.”
Flame leans against a shulker watching her, “So what was your plan if I refused?”
“Find Parrot or die trying. There is not much else I want or can do on a server actively trying to kill me.” Reina folds her arms in a self-soothing way, “I figured that a challenge to know if you were a true Combat Master or not was to train someone. See if you truly understand the concepts you use. Sorry for wasting your time.” Reina picks up her weapons and begins to head towards the stairs she had ascended earlier.
Flame watches her for a moment before chuckling softly, shaking his head, “Man you have learned something from Parrot. Alright, bro, I’ll train you.”
Reina stops and turns quickly, looking surprised, “Wait-what?”
“I said I’ll train you. I’m not going to be nice, and I expect results or I’m kicking you out.” Reina nods excitedly, reminding Flame of a certain brother he hopes is eatin’ good somewhere out in the world. A small smirk graces Flame’s face as he motions to the small tower to Reina’s right, “Go pick out a room and get some rest. You’ve had a long day and I’m not training someone that’s barely standing on adrenaline right now.”
“Thank you! You won’t regret this!” Reina smiles and starts to move towards the tower before hesitating, “What if CinderCrest comes?” She asks, looking over her shoulder, worried.
“Then we will have live target practice, won’t we?” Flame smirks before waving her off. She moves away into the tower as Flame finally returns to his shulkers, “Alright, Lomedy, I said I was going to change. Let’s hope I don’t regret that promise.”