A/N: To whoever the hell it was that asked if Masters Ezra and Rojas would kiss in this chapter, I'm sorry to dissapoint you. I haven't planned on a kiss between the two of them, but they will have significant amounts of screentime together, especially towards the end. Time will tell what their relationship will blossom into. But, I will admit that Rojas isn't straight, so there's always hope for that!
(Addendum: Gilaflame's father's name is the Spanish word for lizard, largarto. I SUCK AT FANTASY NAMES.)
Tiera and Skycrusher's talk on 'politics' was nothing more than a half-hour screaming match, rife with arguments and some rather unkind words. Admittedly, this is an accurate representation of speaking with someone whose politics you disagree with, but this isn't the time to bring that up. Wakiki herself attempted to cool down the harshness between the two, but didn't get very far until she ended up getting dragged into the fray herself.
Chavez sat at the table beside his superior. He honestly had no idea where they were going with this, nor how to respond to any of it himself, but remained faithfully listening. He couldn't help but feel a bit responsible for this, he'd just gotten so caught up in all the sights and sounds of Blastforge city that he'd completely forgotten about his own rules. It was almost like this visit to this new dojo was awakening something different in him.
It was at this point that he realized he was completely going off track into his own thoughts, and drowning out the current argument between the two as he did. Attempting to rejoin the conversation mid-Skycrusher screech, he sat up straight and turned to Master Tiera, tugging on her sleeve.
Tiera had gotten a bit sweaty and disheveled from her 'politics', and smoothed down her hair and wiped off her face before looking down at him and answering softly "Yes, Hector?"
"Surely there's a way you could settle this without screaming at each other?" He asked, crossing his arms and trying to sound a bit more serious. "I mean, isn't there some way you could win his favor?"
Skycrusher's eyes lit up, while Wakiki furiously shook her head and mouthed 'no' from behind him. "Oh-ho! The fleshbag wants to win my favor?" He toothily grinned ad extended a clawed hand towards the boy. "I accept your challenge, child!"
Hector shook it without a second though as Wakiki whimpered softly and covered her face. Master Tiera then dully muttered "I'm not exactly sure how you'll win any more sympathy from a child than from me, but go on right ahead."
The cyber lord couldn't stand it anymore, and stated "Winning his favor means facing off with him in battle! Your utter lack of foresight is wholly illogical, Acolyte Chavez." She darted towards his side as Skycrusher released from the handshake, noting Hector's dawning horror creeping across his face as he paled.
"No turning back," the Drakon said, leaving the table and exiting the door with his guards. Hector stayed there, frozen in place, slowly ruminating on what exactly he'd just agreed to. Master Tiera was just as disturbed, but knew that she was dually damned if she were to flee with him now. The most that they could do was face the music together, even if it was a shrill droning cacophony as opposed to a gentle symphony. But, Hector felt like he already had an idea of who he would be fighting Lord Skycrusher with.
The coliseum was similar to the temple's, even though it was massively larger and warmer, and the hundreds upon hundreds of rows were nearly chock full to the brim with Fire creatures. Hector had already equipped his gauntlet, and scanned around the entire area for his opponent. And, in a blaze of superfluous glory, Skycrusher merged, covered in golden armor and wielding a massive sword.
Hector, understandably intimidated, cleared his throat and stood his ground anyways. He performed a summon kata, calling out "Gilaflame!" and out of the breach toppled a very confused looking Drakon. Now that Hector was on the same level as him, he could see the creature was a good foot taller than him, but still minuscule in comparison towards Skycrusher, who seemed equally baffled at his summoning.
"What do you think you're doing?!" he questioned angrily, jabbing an accusing finger at Hector.
"I am… dueling? Aren't we supposed to fight?" He asked, genuinely curious by Skycrusher's anger.
"Either you're too young or too stupid to understand how this works," Skycrusher started. "But, if that's the way you wish to go about it…" He whistled sharply, and out from a heavy set of metallic doors rolled a massive robot. Hector's jaw dropped as it wheeled closer, its turrets and sidling glistening brightly against the bright red sky. He watched as it stopped directly in front of Skycrusher, giving him a passage into the main controls of the bot's cockpit.
"And now we are evenly matched!" yelled Skycrusher from inside of the robot. "Duel me." Gilaflame, now fully understanding the grave circumstances, took on a defensive gait, brandishing his arm blades towards the robot's face. Hector gulped sharply and stepped back, sizing up the robot.
"Alright… Gilaflame!" He lifted his gauntlet, and motioned towards the wheels. "Eviscerate."
Meanwhile, Master Tiera and Cyber Lord Wakiki sat in the bleachers, after having made a silent vow to step in if Hector got in over his head, which seemed almost like the sole outcome. Tiera leaned forward, trying to get a closer look at the action, while a larger Fire creature sidled up to Wakiki's side. The cyber lord groaned as she stared up at him. "Oh, it's you again."
Tiera looked up to see what Wakiki had meant by that, and saw a dark red Drakon, around ten feet tall staring directly down at the both of them. He resembled Giaflame quite a bit, although he was much more muscular, and was battle-scarred and aged. He flashed his teeth at the Cyber Lord, and nudged his head in the direction of the Fire Master.
"Captain Largarto," The cyber lord calmly explained. "Is Gilaflame's father, as well as being one of the Lord's personal drill sergeant for all of his warriors and guards." The captain plopped down beside the Fire Master, and Wakiki quickly squeezed back in between them. Tiera blinked, a bit befuddled by the odd fight over seating arrangements, but went back to watching the fight. All the while, Largarto proceeded to comment on the battle in Draconian, while Wakiki translated.
"He says that he's rather impressed with both of their skills," she relayed to Tiera after his foreign tongue had subsided. And they were doing rather well, with Hector helping Gilaflame dodge the projectiles, and Gilaflame scratching and scraping at the sides of the robot rapidly. Though they hadn't made too much progress, they hand't been defeated outright, which infuriated Skycrusher to no end.
"He also wishes to congratulate you on your pupil," Wakik continued. "As well as your…" Her face blushed bright red, and she smacked Largarto upside the head as he chuckled dryly. "I will not repeat that! You dare speak that way towards a duel master?" she demanded, prearing to smack him again if he were to say anything else.
"Who cares what he said, I think we might have to end this duel ourselves!" Tiera suddenly shouted, in a rushed tone. The Water and Fire creature turned their attentions back to the battle, and gazed upon it with a new dawning terror. It appears Lord Skycrusher had realized that going after the creature was futile if he didn't find a way to stop any more possible attacks. Long explanation short, he'd completely abandoned Gilaflame and had gone straight for Hector, chasing and firing at him on all cylinders in the most literal sense.
Hector noticed his mana was starting to get low as he shielded himself from another missile blast. He breathed heavily, wordlessly regretting everything that he'd done to lead up to this moment. Gilaflame, out of either annoyance of being ignored or sheer adrenaline, rushed over, clawing is blades into the ground and hacking open fissures. The hissing steam covered up the sound of his footsteps as he soon clipped the side of the robot, smacking it off balance.
And, with a loud metallic thud, the robot fell to the ground. Hector caught his breath, and quickly walked out of the range of the missiles, most likely the most grateful he'd ever been in his life. But, Lord Skycrusher wasn't out, as it blasted directly at Gilaflame, knocking the wind out of him as he fell with a screech of pain.
Hector gasped "Gilaflame!" and rushed over to his side. Lord Skycrusher calmly ejected from the steaming wreckage, and towered over the boy with a smug air. Hector only glared back as he looked up at him, obviously betrayed and scared from all that he'd just been through.
"It was a decent fight, don't feel bad about yourself," Lord Skycrusher said with a hearty chuckle. "Besides, you've helped me work out the bugs in one of my Stompers." He turned on his heel and exited the arena. As the other creatures slowly began to drone out, Tiera, Wakiki, and Lagarto jumped down and rushed towards the two.
"Hector," Tiera said. "I know what you're going to say. You tried your hardest, but it just didn't go the way you planned."
"And there will be other battles, I know." Hector said, closing his eyes and nodding. His gauntlet glowed with a vibrant blue aura as he began to heal Gilaflame. His gauntlet powered down after half a minute or so, completely dry of mana. But, the Drakon seemed to be in much better shape, as he hopped right back up on his feet.
The Drakon father and son pair then proceeded to talk, at great length about the battle, with excitement and a bit of cool advice for future ones. This bit of parallels became increasingly noticeable towards Tiera and Hector, who watched with a sense of Déjà vu. They only stopped when Cyber Lord Wakiki reminded them that they may have very well overstayed their welcome, and the two duelists went back across the veil.
A few hours after Master Tiera and Hector's return, Kimora and Nadia also came back from their little outing with Master Ezra., a bit shaken. When he asked about what had happened, they assured him that it was mostly just boring old peace-talks, nothing too special that he should get concerned over. And when they asked him about what he'd done, Chavez was raring to display his new found friend (as well as his abilities) with flying colors.
Of course, the two of them were extremely impressed, asking about how he'd managed to learn how to train it this way, and how they'd met, which he was more than ready to explain. He was riding high from their compliments, which only peaked when Rojas herself asked about his travels when he returned. But unlike the other two, while Rojas watched, she seemed a bit amused. Hector was confused by this, did she still think that he was undertrained?
But, the real reason behind this was that she saw Gilaflame mimicking his every move outside of battle with childish fervor. It seemed the young Drakon was happy to have made a new friend as well, even if Hector wasn't fully aware of it himself.