BOOM!

The loud sound of an explosion jolted Mato awake. She turned her head to the direction of the noise to see a mass of smoke and dust cover the area. A small blast appeared inside the cloud then another, as several more flashed while dust and rocks were flying around. Eventually the smoke cleared enough for Mato to make out some figures inside it.

There were two humanoid shapes moving around, though one of them seemed to have... horns? They were moving pretty fast that she couldn't be sure what was happening, only that sparks and some small explosions were plentiful. Then the dust finally settled down, allowing Mato to see two girls squaring off against each other, immediately recognizing one of them.

Black Rock Shooter.

The mysterious girl that had helped her several weeks ago when Yomi had gone missing. She looked the same as Mato remembered her: pale complexion, uneven twin-tails, black bikini top with black shorts, black long coat that had a white star on it, and blue flames in her left eye. In her left hand, she was holding a weapon that looked like some sort of cannon, who's name Mato remembered was Rock Shooter. She looked as cool and dazzling to Mato from their last meeting. However, instead of the calm and controlled expression that Mato last remembered, the girl had an angry scowl on her face this time as she was fighting the other girl.

Now this one Mato didn't know, though she could feel like she saw her before... Anyway, the girl had close to the same outfit as Black Rock Shooter except that hers was a jacket instead of a long coat, had spikier boots and the gloves were more like claws. She had red horns with red tips growing on her head and long black hair. The girl had a red flame in her right eye and was holding a sword with a jagged edge on one side. The girl also had a scowl on her face, but it seemed to be more of annoyance than anger, as she dodged another shot from the other girl.

The red eyed girl dodged two more shots before dashing forward towards Black Rock Shooter with her sword at raised. Black Rock Shooter jumped backwards to avoid the slash and landed on one of the tall rock pillars while continuing to shoot at the girl.

She remained unperturbed by them though, moving side to side to dodge while dashing forward again. This time however, instead of attacking directly, the red eyed girl slashed at the rock she was standing on, cutting it cleanly in half horizontally.

This was a surprise and forced Black Rock Shooter to jump to another rock formation, which the girl seemed to have planned. The red eyed girl immediately leaped to intercept her, the sword aimed to cut her from the shoulder to the waist. Black Rock Shooter moved her weapon to block the attack, but it couldn't prevent the force from the girl's swing, causing her to be pushed several meters backwards in the air.

The other girl wasted no time waiting for her opponent to stop, immediately chasing after once she landed back on the ground. While being thrown backwards, Black Rock Shooter managed to turn around and shoot at an incoming rock column that she was going to crash. The shot broke the column into several pieces, which she used as a skipping/stepping stones to slow down her motion and land on a rock platform safely. Then she turned around and fired several shots at the other girl, who dodged them and moved behind one of the rock columns for cover.

The red-eyed girl immediately stabbed it and twisted her sword, causing the pillar collapse to the floor and disperse into several rock fragments. There was also a lot of dust from the impact, making it difficult for Black Rock Shooter(and Mato) to see her. Then her figure quickly disappeared from sight, just before the dust settled down. Mato didn't see where she hid, however Black Rock Shooter seemed to know that the girl was still somewhere in front of her.

There was a long pause as the girl remained hidden and Black Rock Shooter kept her weapon slightly raised, ready to hit anything that moved. It was now a waiting game, to see who would strike first.

The lack action brought Mato back to her current situation, which she forgot due to seeing an intense fight that was only possible in manga. Usually.

Mato slapped both her cheeks to keep herself from getting distracted. As cool and awesome their fight was, they were fighting for real and may end up killing each other. She then looked back at the scene in front of her while thinking about what she had to do, or could do.

She was just a normal girl, albeit slightly athletic due to being in the basketball team. Getting into that fight was suicide, she might even get killed going to them before being able to do anything.

It was safer and more smart to stay out of it, and hope that the blue-eyed girl would win.

But that didn't sit well for Mato, as expected. She disliked being in the sidelines when there were problems going on.

Black Rock Shooter looked poised and alert, but Mato could see her breathing to be a bit hard. She was also leaning a bit on the side her cannon weapon. The girl was really pushing herself...

Then Mato caught a glimpse of the other girl, hiding behind the 10th or 11th rock formation from Black Rock Shooter's position. In contrast, the red-eyed girl looked calm and relaxed, not looking the least bit tired from all the running and jumping.

Black Rock Shooter couldn't see her from the position she was in though. She still looked sharply at each rock formation, ready to shoot at a moment's notice. Meanwhile, the other girl had slowly inched herself to the side, with her weapon poised in preparation to move.

Mato wasn't a genius, but even she could tell that the battle was in the other girl's favor. Black Rock Shooter still had a lot of fight left, but it was just a matter of time before the red-eyed girl overwhelms her.

...

Her left knee was hurting, but she could still stand and walk.

Rock kept darting her eyes from rock to rock, wary for any sign of Gold. She had focused at the outer edges of the dust cloud earlier instead of peering within it, in order to make sure Gold wouldn't be able to blindside her. So, when the dust settled, Rock could tell she was still somewhere in front of her.

Just not which rock she was hiding in.

She kept Rock Shooter raised in front of her, ready to shoot at anything. Rock could have also hidden herself behind a rock column like Gold did, but that would block out her line of vision. Even if for a moment, it would be enough for someone sneaky like Gold to move around her vision. So she stayed there in plain sight, waiting for her rival to move first.

Approximately two minutes have passed before Gold finally came out from behind one of the rocks and started sprinting forward. Rock immediately fired in her direction, but she just avoided them by stepping and hiding momentarily behind the various rock formations. As she started getting closer, Gold suddenly sliced a chunk off the nearest column and then hurtled the piece towards the shooter.

Rock quickly dispatched the incoming debris with a shot, causing it to burst into dust... which was Gold's plan all along. Using the dust as a small smokescreen, Gold had an easier time running forward since she didn't have to dodge all of the shots this time.

Rock seemed to have realized this and tried to move away, but Gold was already in front of her. The girl smirked slightly as she swung King Saw downwards and-

"!"

Gold blinked in surprise when she felt her sword being stopped. She moved her eyes downward to see that Rock had blocked it with a large and bulky sword...

wait, no... she had blocked it with the Rock Shooter?!

"I have had a few improvements since our last fight," Rock said when she noticed Gold had stopped. This time it was her turn to smirk, "I'm not gonna be beaten easily like last time," Rock exclaimed as she started pushing Gold backwards.

Gold quickly shook off her initial surprise and firmly planted her feet to the ground, stopping Rock's force on her. The two ended up with their blades locked against the other, not moving an inch.

"...don't get ahead of yourself," Gold suddenly pulled back her sword then swung it upward, making Rock stumble backwards. Rock immediately raised her weapon over her head to block Gold's downward swipe.

"You lack the strength to properly wield that as a blade," Gold commented as she exerted more force. The weapons were slowly inching closer to Rock's face to prove her point. "Would have been better to use your Black Blade."

True, the Black Blade would have been a better choice than using the blade form of Rock Shooter due to its heavy weight. But she already lost with it once, so this time Rock was fighting with the Rock Shooter.

Rock didn't really plan on using the bladed form, as she was more of a range fighter than a melee one, but against Gold it wasn't an optimal choice. She was lucky earlier since she got the jump on her. But, as proven earlier, Gold would find a way to get past her shots and be up close and personal. So she had no choice but to use it right now.

There really wasn't a way for her to win.

Rock resisted as much as she could but her energy was already spent. She could only watch as Gold push Rock and her weapon into the ground. Gold raised King Saw above her and swung it downward... towards Rock Shooter. Rock stared as Gold planted the blade edge firmly into the ground.

Rock could tell it was stuck even without testing it. But Rock couldn't understand, though, was why Gold wasn't finishing her off...

"She's just going to lose her memories," Gold suddenly said after a while.

...what?

There was a pause as Rock looked at her with a confused expression before she continued.

"Being killed in this space doesn't equate to death of their being... it only "kills" their current experience and memory," Gold explained while lowering herself to Rock's eyes. "You do understand that our existence should remain a secret, right?

She had a point but...

"...how can I be sure you're telling the truth?" Rock said, pointing out the obvious problem. "I can't exactly trust you-"

Gold he held up a hand to cut her off. "Then you shouldn't have accepted my help in the first place," she stood up and sighed. "Doesn't matter now if you trust me or not on this," Gold said as she kept looking at Rock, likely waiting for her next question.

Rock thought deep and hard for something. While Gold had a point, and she did seem to be telling the truth for now, it still didn't sit well for her. "...how can you be sure only her memories of us are going to be lost?"

This time Gold took a long while to respond. "...um I'm not really that sure," she said sheepishly. "But don't worry too much," Gold quickly amended. "The worst case scenario would be only a few months of memory, it wont reach to the point that the girl would lose her entire identity. if that's what you're afraid of."

After hearing those words, Rock started to relax a bit. It didn't seem like a big problem now, and it's not like she could do anything right now so she might as well hope for the best.

"...I'm going to forget about all my friends?"

The sound of a new voice joining the conversation froze Rock and Gold. Rock snapped out of it first and glanced to her right.

Mato Kuroi stood there two meters away from them. She looked out of breath, likely from walking all the way here with her injured leg, and had her arm pressed on a rock column to keep herself standing up. The girl looked pale and afraid being this close to them, until you looked into her eyes. There was still fear in it, but there was also some determination in it.

"I d-don't want to forget about my friends," Mato said, trying to look at the other girl in the eye. "T-they're all important to me and the b-bonds we share are precious to us... so please," she took a deep breath before continuing, "don't destroy them, I want to keep my memories."

Rock started remembering back to their first meeting. Despite being a stranger as well as being, well, stranger than most people, Mato had trusted her when she offered help. She had braved the journey as well as the fight, all to save her friend. Rock was surprised that she did succeed actually, she was ready to take control should Mato need it. And she nearly did when they were chained up by Dead Master, but Mato broke out on her own and brought our her friend from the enemy's hands.

It was nothing short of admirable.

And just erasing all that effort would be a waste.

Rock didn't have the strength to dislodge Rock Shooter from the ground nor did she have any energy left to call out Black Blade. And even if she did have either or both, it wasn't possible for her to beat Gold with her current power.

There was still one more option she could do actually... it's just that Rock hated doing it, especially if it had to be for someone like Gold. Plus, there was no guarantee that it would work.

It was like a last resort for her... even though it was supposed to be their first resort.

"Look little girl," Gold closed her eyes for a moment. "Friends come and go, plus you can just recreate those memories, even if it's going to be awkward and your friends wouldn't understand..." Gold trailed off after realizing that she just made it worse for the girl. She closed her eyes and tried to think of something else to say when she felt something move beside her.

Gold opened her eyes and swung her sword in the direction of the movement. The blade stopped inches away from Rock's neck. Rock had managed to stand up and get in front of her, which she expected. What was surprising though was that Rock was weaponless and didn't even try to dodge it.

"Black Gold Saw," Rock had said her proper title. Gold was about to scowl,when she noticed Rock wearing a strange expression.

It had Rock's usual "determined" feeling with the intense gaze and all... but there was none of her standard glare and defiant attitude. The expression was as best described... sheepish and shy?

It was something that Gold thought would never be seen on Rock's face... at least never again.

Rock gave Gold a few moments to get her bearings back before continuing. "Can you... let this one issue slide off?" she asked as humbly as she could. "Not for free of course... I would be greatly indebted to you and I promise to do whatever request you would have to me in the future," she finished with a slight bow. Out of courtesy of course, not because she was embarrassed.

Gold didn't reply, instead she just stared at Rock.

Minutes passed as Rock could feel her cheeks burn with embarrassment for pleading, especially to someone like Gold. This was really out of character for her, and Gold knew that. Rock could already imagine the teasing that would ensue as well as the laughter from Gold making fun of her. Thinking all of that happening nearly made Rock falter. Instead, she just looked down at her feet, anywhere so long as she didn't have to see Gold's reaction.

That was also assuming she would agree. Gold tended to do whatever she felt like doing and was also a rogue, but she did still have a sense of duty and responsibility to some rules. She could refuse either to follow the rule of keeping it secret or just cause she found Mato annoying(and probably to mess with her).

Still, she had to try. For Mato's sake.

"Alright," Gold replied in surprisingly gentle tone. "I'll let this slide, so long as you can keep her silent about all of this."

Rock immediately raised her head but Gold had already turned away from her and was walking towards Mato.

"D-don't worry, Black Gold Saw," Mato said to Gold once she was right in front of her. "I promise to keep your existence- I mean everything a s-secret," she said resolutely. "It is something I've seen happen a lot of times before so I understand it is important."

Gold looked at her weirdly before chuckling slightly. "Ah yes, from that thing called 'Anime', right?"

Now it was Mato who was blushing. "Y-yes," she replied nervously. Though she still felt nervous around her, she didn't feel scared anymore. The girl seemed to have a good side in her, Mato felt like she could trust her just like the other girl.

There was that strange expression she wore after she talked with Black Rock Shooter though.

"Well then," Gold said while leaning down toward's Mato's face.

All rational thoughts flew out of Mato's head instantly. "EH?! AH! W-wait," she sputtered as the older girl moved closer and closer. Mato tried to get away but the girl had already clasped her shoulders, keeping her in place. "I-I'm not yet r-ready for this-"

For the second time in the day, or her entire life to be accurate, Gold smacked her forehead with another.

this took longer due to a combination of imagining how fights would break out as well as it being my finals week.

at least that made this chapter much longer I guess. around twice the average chapter I post.

well, please tell me your thoughts on this guys. maybe I could do better next time.