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"C'mon, Rocket, you're not backing down now are you?" Sword teased, grinning ear to ear.
"Hah, someone's eager. Who is this inphernal and what did they do with Sword." Rocket laughed.
"It's still the same me," Sword summoned his gear with a sparkle, "I can just definitely take a rocket to the face now." He held it with two hands to the side of his body, tensing up his legs, getting ready for whatever Rocket shot at him.
"Oooh, you wanna test that bird boy?" Rocket summoned his gear. A large rocket launcher fell into his grasp. He examined it and pulled the safety, priming it with a smile.
"Oh gods, wait!-"
"Tooo late, boy!" Within a second Rocket had his gear up and aimed at Sword, and an explosion of light and sound boomed across the open desert as a rocket shot straight towards Sword.
With Swords quick reaction, he jumped to the side, rather sloppily, and his foot slid across the sand. "Shoot," he swore under his breath.
"Hope you can take the heat, Sword, wouldn't wanna mess you up too bad."
Sword shook himself off and stood up straight. "Of course I can! I've fought against worse."
"Tsk, with help." Rocket rolled his eyes with a smile.
Before Sword could shoot back anything, Rocket shot out a stream of rockets after Sword. Sword dashed across the sand, kicking it up with each step. The rockets hit the ground inches behind Sword and sent a spray of sand up into the air like a smoke bomb. Sword ran in an arc and circled around to Rockets position.
Rocket kept one in the chamber and held his gear down, staring at Sword as he ran up, gear held tight next to him. He neared Rocket and, a step away from him, brought his gear to slice up towards Rocket.
However Rocket was prepared, he bent his knees and with a spring, shot his last rocket into the ground. Rocket sprang up into the air, boosted by the explosion of his rocket. He flipped in the air and locked eyes on Swords position. He was standing a few feet back from the explosion, coughing and whisking sand away from his face with his hand.
Sword looked up at Rocket as he almost seemed to hover in the air for a second, like it was taking extra long for his bodies momentum to die down and pull him back to the ground. He took that time to swiftly reload his gear, popping open the side, summoning rockets and jamming them into the chamber.
When his feet met the ground, Sword was waiting for him. Rocket had no time to think before he was weaving and dodging Swords swings. The steel of Swords gear struck Rockets with a painful scrape, and Rocket pushed Swords gear up above their heads, using the opening that created to kick Sword in the stomach with his left foot. Sword staggered back for a second, creating space between the two and Rocket took it and ran, jumping back to a distance.
"Gods, you fight dirty, Rocket," Sword huffed.
"If you want dirty I'll show you dirty," Rocket chuckled.
Sword knew he was going to eat his words the second he saw Rockets gear sparkle out of existence. He stood up and braced himself for what was about to come.
Within an instant Rocket was on him. He cleared the distance with a single dash and his fist met Swords shoulder as he tried to dodge away from the strike. Sword held his gear up but a cold hand grabbed his wrist before he could do anything. Rocket twisted Swords arm and wrenched his gear from his grasp. It clattered to the ground and Sword had no time to withdraw it as a volley of kicks and punches made contact with his body.
He felt like a punching back. Despite having a melee gear and being a close contact combatant, he was hilariously bad at hand to hand combat when compared to Rocket. Rockets natural dexterity made his fist fights dangerous, he knew exactly how to move and with what amount of force, and moved each limb as if they all had a mind of their own to direct their movements. Even Rockets prosthetic limbs, which one would expect to be more disconnected from the rest of his body, moved as if he had them his whole life; and they packed an extra punch, with several pounds of cold steel hitting Sword with every punch.
The one thing Sword had on Rocket, however, was strength. Rockets physical abilities were nothing to laugh at, however Sword packed muscle that Rocket didn't. Underneath his, unique, to say the least, attire, was carefully trained and expertly conditioned muscle. The years of training under his mentor made him strong, but brutal work and fighting in recent years polished it all off.
Rocket was too focused on his attacks to see that Swords gear on the ground had vanished. And it was too late when he saw a spark of light appear in Swords fist. A flash of light blinded him and he felt a slight sting across his chest and arms.
Rocket could barely see what happened but he leaned back away from it all. Just then he felt his legs get swept out from under him. He tried to scramble to move his feet back to catch himself but he was tipped over the edge when a heavy hit from Swords palm knocked the air out of his lungs.
He fell backwards into the sand, momentarily blinded, and opened his eyes up to Sword looming over him, holding him to the ground. His gear was plunged into the ground next to Rockets head. Rocket gritted his teeth
Sword was sweating, but had a smile on his face. "See," he panted, "told you I could handle it." His heart was beating fast as he stared down at Rocket, his eyes big. Rocket looked back up at him with a cheeky grin, his heart also racing.
"Can you handle this too?"
"Huh?"
Sword heard a small click and an explosion appeared between the two of them.
Rocket was shoved against the ground with the kickback of his gear, coughing, and Sword was sent...up.
Rocket rolled to his feet and coughed out a hoarse laugh. He had to stop himself from falling onto the ground. He couldn't remember the last time he was able to really go all out in a fight; where he didn't need to worry about property destruction, or hurting other people he cared about. Especially one where people's lives weren't on the line. That was an added bonus about being with Sword, he had determined; he was stubborn, and sometimes block headed, but he could handle a beating. Especially now, with the power of deities gifted upon him. Rocket knew he couldn't actually hurt Sword.
Which one might wonder, why even skirmish in the first place, if the winner was essentially determined before it all began, but that's just what they did. What all inphernals did maybe. The exhilaration was intoxicating. It got your heart racing and blood pumping. Your legs and arms shook with nerves, horns tingled, face grew flush. And you did it all with someone that you trusted so dearly.
It was also nice for Rocket, that he could see his partner like this-
Sword was on his feet several yards in front of Rocket. He shook himself out and then held his gear in front of him with two hands. He closed his eyes. He felt the pulse of energy through his gear. It ran through the blade to the hilt and into his hands and arms. Running through his body and to his horns. It was not just an item or weapon, but an extension of himself. And he had more energy inside of him waiting to be released.
"Are you ready?" Sword said to himself.
As if he heard a response, he smiled. He flipped the angle of his sword, opening his eyes. His view of Rocket was bisected by his gear and within seconds the energy flowing around him started to burn and glow. It grew bigger and bigger, into flames that coated his gear and body. They were warm and relaxed his muscles. He could feel himself move with ease as he turned to the side and placed one foot ahead of the other. He drew his sword down with a strike, like he was cutting through the flames around him, and as he did that the flames burst and popped off into the air, almost fully dissipating, and left him standing anew.
He was adourned with red and orange armor, on his shoulders and across his chest. His helmet was slightly larger and his normal red feathered crest was replaced with what looked like flames. His gear glowed like hot metal, and the tip was curved. There was an air about him. He seemed different, like the energy brought with it a new kind of personality: elegant, royal, exaggerated confidence maybe.
But he gave Rocket a dumb, cheeky smile and he knew it was his Sword. Rocket could look at him all day. It didn't even matter that he thought that was a stupid trump card to use, pulling out his deity powers, courtesy of Firebrand. Rocket almost didn't even care when Sword started advancing. One step after another. He could feel the heat radiating off of him, and it rivaled when the Lost Temple sun.
Rocket tilted his head a bit and smiled. "Aw, you're so shiny and handsome. Shame I'm gonna dirty your new getup."
After his last word, Rocket hoisted his gear onto his shoulder. His horns glowed. His gear hummed as he clicked the trigger. The hum grew and the earth shook a little bit, when suddenly a volley of rockets shot from his gear and arched into the sky. They shot down to earth with a deafening noise, right on top of Sword.
Sword steps grew faster as he started to run towards Rocket. Sword gripped his gear and pressed a foot into the ground, stopping his momentum and twisting on the spot. The second the rockets were level with him, he held his gear out and cut them in half with ease. Sword gear melted through them and the flames nearly disintegrated them. He spun on his feet, slicing through the rockets within milliseconds before any of them hit the ground. Fire exploded from around Sword as he moved. With every rocket he cut, it exploded prematurely, sending a huge cloud of smoke and sand into the air around him. Fire and sediment errupted in a circle around him.
Rocket was blind to what was happened and he took a few steps back. He coughed at the smoke and squinted his eyes to the sand. He heard the shink of metal punctuated by explosions.
After a minute, the dust started to settle and be pushed away by slight winds, and it was then that Rocket could see a hum of light in front of him, and felt the heat of metal burning close to his skin.
He blinked away the smoke.
Sword stood in front of him, stone faced, his arm outstretched with his gear inches away from Rockets chest. The tip of it glowed hot.
They held each other's gaze for another minute. Sweat dripping off of both of them, chests heaving. Though Swords considerably less so.
Swords expression broke and he smiled. "So do I win again?"