Chapter Five: Meru's Challenge

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"So, you excited about getting your hands on the new Spirit, Carlos? Are ya? Are ya? Are ya?" asked Meru in her usual rapid speech.

Carlos sighed, but smiled. "Yeah, especially after you guys gave me the 411 about those…what'd you call them…Dragoon Spirits."

Meru raised an eyebrow. "411?"

"Information…but that's not really important."

"Oh. Well, I'm outta here. Gonna head down to the practice room and watch Haschel and Kongol pummel each other. Later!" Meru gave him a quick wave, and was gone before Carlos had a chance to respond.

"ACK! Dang, Meru, be careful, will ya?" That was Dart's voice. The blond swordsman stepped into Carlos' room a couple of seconds later.

"You ready, Carlos?"

Carlos nodded as he re-attached his knife sheaths to his belt. "Mm-hmm. All set, though I've got a feeling that only applies to the trip."

Dart nodded. "I know what you mean. I was just a few seconds away from death when I got my first Dragoon Spirit, and the second…well, the second was given to me after…" Dart suddenly looked down at the ground.

"I take it that it's a fairly sensitive issue for you," said Carlos matter-of-factly.

"Bingo."

Carlos nodded. "I read you." He pulled out a pair of sunglasses from his pocket, with orange-colored lenses.

"Whoa, I've never seen glasses like that before," said Dart with a raised eyebrow.

"They're not for correcting my sight, but for cutting out light glare. You said it gets snowy up north, which means there's going to be a lot of sunlight reflecting off that snow. Getting the Spirit isn't going to mean much if I've got snow blindness, right?"

Dart chuckled. "Good point."

"And besides…" added Carlos as he put the glasses on, "sometimes you've just got to look cool!" Dart suppressed a laugh at this.

"Right…well, c'mon, let's head down."

Carlos took the sunglasses back off and replaced them in his pocket. "Right behind you, Dart."

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A little bit later, in the practice room, Haschel and Kongol were having a sparring match, with Meru on the sidelines cheering on whoever had the upper hand at the time. Dart and Carlos entered the room just as Haschel jumped away from a downward axe slash by Kongol.

"You're getting a bit slow, big guy," said the aged warrior with a small chuckle.

"Kongol not think so!" Suddenly, Kongol thrust the head of his axe forward. Haschel barely managed to get out of the way in time.

"Whew…that was certainly close."

Carlos raised an eyebrow. "Those are some great moves, Mr. Haschel!"

Haschel smirked. "Thanks, but I told you not to call me 'Mr. Haschel', young man."

"Sorry."

Haschel sighed. "I need to cool down somewhat. What do you say, Kongol? Draw?"

Kongol nodded. "Yes. Draw." They walked off the practice floor.

"Aw, man! Just when it was getting REALLY good!" grumbled Meru. "Now what am I supposed to…hey, I know!" She marched right up to Carlos. "Wanna spar, Carlos?"

Carlos raised an eyebrow. "What? Right now?"

"Duh, of course I mean right now! C'mon, please…?"

Carlos turned to Dart. "Uh, Dart…"

Dart raised both his hands. "Aw, no! I ain't getting involved!"

Carlos sighed. "All right, I'll spar with you, Meru. But I don't-HOLY SHIT!" He turned to see the young Wingly wielding an enormous mace weapon.

Meru blinked. "What? Is my outfit on backwards or something?"

"You're…not…going to use…THAT, are you?"

Meru looked confused for a second, then grinned as she realized what Carlos was referring to. "Aw, what's wrong? You scared of my little…traveling companion?"

"No, I'm not scared of the hammer…I'm scared of getting HIT with the hammer!"

Meru laughed loudly. "Relax, it's not like I'm gonna try to kill you or anything!"

Carlos sighed. "…Okay. I've faced tough fights before and lived; this can't be THAT bad."

They took their positions on the floor. Meru was beaming, while Carlos was sweating bullets.

"Ready?" she asked innocently.

"…Ready," answered Carlos.

"Here I go!" With that, she seemed to disappear.

"What the hell?!" Carlos looked around. "Where'd you go?"

"Right here!!!!" Carlos whipped around to see the hammer coming right at him. On pure reflex, he dodged to the side, barely getting clear of the weapon.

"Dios mio…how can anyone move so fast?!" Carlos quickly found himself in retreat as Meru took swipe after swipe at him with the hammer.

"Hey, stand still!" she taunted.

"Argh…this is getting embarrassing…" He jumped backwards, and reached for his knives. However, before he even grasped the hilts, Meru was right in front of him.

"Gotcha!" she laughed as she swung the huge weapon at Carlos. Carlos had no chance-the weapon caught him in the shoulder and sent him sprawling to the ground. If it had been any harder of a swing, Carlos' shoulder would've been shattered.

"Oh, no!" cried Meru. "I overdid it again! Hey, uh…Carlos?"

Dart rolled his eyes. "Meru, you've got to learn the difference between sparring and real fighting!"

"Don't worry," came Carlos' voice. It wasn't his usual tone, though. It carried a strange coldness to it. "I'm perfectly fine. You're an awesome fighter, Meru. I'm really impressed."

"Uh…thanks…I think…"

Carlos slowly stood back up, facing away from Dart and Meru. He then reached into his pocket, and pulled out the sunglasses he wore earlier. As he slipped them on, he turned sharply in Meru's direction. Next, he drew his knives from their sheaths.

"I believe it's time for round two," he said.

Meru smiled. "Heh, you got it!!!" She seemed to disappear again. Carlos just stood there.

"Three…two…one…NOW!" Carlos whipped around as Meru seemed to reappear behind him.

"I got you-WHOA!" Meru stopped dead in her tracks, as Carlos had the tip of one of his knives at her throat. "No way…how'd you do that? Before, you could barely keep up!"

Carlos expression remained emotionless, as did his tone. "I still can't keep up with your speed, Meru. I doubt any amount of training would let me do that. But I can predict your moves. Forgive me, but I was able to guess that you were the kind of person who, after using a trick that works once, will expect to always get the same result with that trick." Meru just frowned at this. "Furthermore, I remembered about how long it was between when you seemed to disappear and when you reappeared behind me. The rest, I'll admit, was a pure guess."

Meru sighed. "Whatever. Can you please take the knife away from my throat now?"

At last, Carlos' expression changed. "Oh, sorry!" He pulled it away, and re-sheathed the weapons. "I guess that means I win, huh?" he said politely.

"Oooh!" Meru kicked Carlos in the shin.

"Ow! Sorry, jeez!"

Meru turned around. "I'm going back upstairs!" She stormed out with her usual speed.

Carlos sighed, rubbed his shin. "Is she always that bad of a loser, Dart?"

Dart laughed. "I'm afraid so. Don't worry, though. Just be nice to her for a while; she'll drop the grudge eventually."

Carlos chuckled in spite of himself. "I hope so. I'd rather have the snow blindness than the broken shin!"

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Author's Note: Yeah, I know it's been a hell of a long time. College preparations are tough! Also, I know this chapter screams "filler episode." Lastly, I've been watching Trigun on Adult Swim, and I decided to add a little bit of Vash the Stampede to Carlos' character. I hope that's okay. ^_^