Summary: "Sparring- (n) a bout of play-fighting usually used to train. Only Rock's and Blues' definition of sparring included wrecking entire servers."
Friendly Sparring
Rockman didn't like to damage data material; honest. But when said data material jumped in the way of his attack? Well, he could hardly be blamed for that. At least, that's what he told himself as he Z-cannoned through a wall of solid programming just to reach his target.
If the wall wanted to exist in that particular area when he fired, fine. Not his problem.
Collateral damage aside, his Z-cannon missed. Well, of course it missed. As powerful as it was, it was also slow as a snail when it came to charging up. Not as slow as, say, Life Sword, which was tearing its way towards him now that it had gotten the chance to be executed.
And he dodged it. Simple.
...although the block of data behind him wasn't quite so lucky.
"Stop getting distracted, Rock! We'll deal with the damage later! Fight me!"
In order to avoid having the same fate as the arena around him (may it rest in cyber-pieces), he ducked his head and barely avoided a close-cut ElecSword. Dangit! He wouldn't admit it out loud, but Blues was way faster than him. At the rate they were going at, Rockman would surely lose.
"Battle chip: BambooSword! Slot in!"
I take that back, he thought to himself as a shimmering green blade materialized in place of his right arm.
"Netto-kun! You're a life saver!" he yelled nowhere in particular as he barely managed to parry Blues' hell-rain of stabs.
"Not a problem at all, Rockman," came the reply as his operator's face appeared briefly on a projected screen. "Just doing my job."
"Keep doing it, you nitwit," another, deeper voice snapped irritably as another face-sporting screen materialized in the cyberworld. White and black hair, blue eyes, serious expression: Enzan.
"Who're you calling a nitwit?!"
"Netto-kun! This is really not the time!" Rockman ground out as he held his blade in a hastily-formed block. Sparking metal met his defenses milliseconds afterwards. "Blues, are you trying to delete me?"
He saw the red navi tsk tsk a couple of times and then not answer. The nerve!
"Rockman, on your left!"
Rockman's AI program reeled a bit at Netto's voice before sending the command to jump to the right. Blues, probably deeming the effort of trying to break through the block as futile, chose to change strategies and lash out at Rock's unguarded left flank.
The blue navi felt electricity jump from his opponent's blade and onto his thigh. A bit slow on the reaction there, Rock thought grudgingly. Luckily I wasn't paralyzed.
He didn't have time to think much of it, though, because he was quickly showered by more electrical stabs. Then, a single downwards strike, which Rockman barely blocked. Wait, a barrage of stabs, followed by a strong downwards thrust? Deja vu. It was like Protoman was going through the rinse and repeat cycle!
And according to this rinse and repeat cycle, Blues would-
Rock brought up his BambooSword in anticipation of a leftward attack. It came as expected, but as a feint. Suspecting as much, he just barely caught the actual strike- one at his right- with the flat of his blade.
"Yatta, Rockman! Good job!"
Fueled by his operator's praise, Rock repelled Blues back with an extra push on his sword. The red navi landed cat-like on his feet and skidded dust trails on the grid floor.
"Don't get cocky, Rock," Blues growled. "I'm just getting started!"
"You've got that right, Blues," Enzan said from outside the net. "Battle chip: FlameSword! Slot in!"
Another blade appeared on Blues' other arm, this one blazing with fire.
"Two can play at that, Enzan! Battle chip: AquaSword! Slot in!"
Rock nearly sweat-dropped at how mirrored the two operators were. The blue, aquatic-based blade materialized on his left arm.
Blues charged.
"Now the true battle begins!"
~x-X-x~
Outside the Net, the two newly-teen (in other words, thirteen-year-old) boys were so absorbed in fighting, they barely noticed the crowd their little sparring match had amassed. Neither did they notice the electric lights of the arcade flashing dangerously. Nor the water fountains going crazy. Nor the quite obvious screaming that was taking place around them (done by people not hypnotized by the battle, of course).
"Go, Rockman! Left, Right, Center, Twirl!" Netto cheered rythmically, shouting out commands as he saw fit (some of them completely ignored due to their purely cosmetic nature. Honestly, twirl was not necessary in Rockman's opinion).
Enzan on the other hand, was remaining silent. This battle had gone to swordplay. Blues was well off enough without him screaming out (*cough* *cough* suggesting loudly) advice.
The arcade owner burst out of his office and saw his worst fears unfolding. Those two...
~x-X-x~
"Kyaaaaaahhhh!"
"Hwaaaaahhhh!"
War cries made things so much more entertaining, didn't they?
With swords clashing and bodies darting nearly faster than their data could register, Rock and Blues were truly in the moment; NaviCores pumped wildly, eyes flared (although Blues' visor left much to the imagination), and movements matched swing for swing. Although Rock's chips were technically stronger, Blues made up for it in skill and prowess.
The fact that the digital world around them was practically being decimated by their every clash flew straight over their heads and right out the cybernetic window. Right now, they really just wanted to kill- er... delete each other.
Then, one of the maintenance navis jacked in and screamed at the top of its digital lungs.
The two froze. Then, they surveyed the crumbling surroundings (with blades still locked, mind you). Finally, they disengaged, grabbed the maintenance navi, and jacked out into their own seperate PETs. Of course, Rockman was stuck with the maintenance navi.
~x-X-x~
There were certain levels of obliviousness that people possessed. The lowest ones were pretty low. The highest ones were pretty damn high. Luckily, Enzan didn't possess any of the highest levels- although he couldn't speak for Netto. After a while, he finally saw the havoc in the arcade around them (by then even the most entranced of the audience had run away screaming like madcaps) and gave Netto a pointed look.
While they shared their moment of silent communication, their navis simultaneously returned to their PETs (Rockman carrying one more in addition to himself) just in time for the roof to collapse and crush the machine they'd been using.
Obviously, the battle they'd been waging had created shock waves throughout the server- crashing the whole entire thing- and now they were stuck with a conveniently crumbling building and a most-likely blacked-out city block.
They ran.
~x-X-x~
Blues smiled smugly as he allowed Rockman into his PET.
"Fifth server this month, huh?" The blue navi asked in way of greeting as he beamed into the red-themed terminal. "We're getting really good at this."
Blues couldn't conceal the amusement (and agreement) on his expression, so he chose to bite. "You do know Enzan-sama has to pay for this every time, right?"
Rock huffed, "And you two care? It's barely a dent in your little piggy-banks."
"True. So very true. And plus, the battle's worth it. You're the only one who can keep up with me."
"Just keep up, eh?"
A moment of silence. The way the two navis were staring, you'd swear they were about to go at each other's necks again.
Instead, Rockman threw an arm around Blue's shoulders. The two friends started laughing like crazy.
"Wait, Rock. What happened to that maintenance navi you saved from the arcade machine?"
"Still in my PET."
"Don't you have super-strong practice viruses running amok in that thing of yours?"
Another moment of silence.
The two burst into hysterics yet again.
End.