A/N: Sorry for the short chapter.

Chapter 6: Friend Or Foe

The blaring of the sirens has stopped. The barriers were holding together and keeping the fog at bay but not forever. Ratchet and Jesse were facing off against Ivin, Anna and Nick while Ruby and Yang were inside the tower.

It was clear they were very unhappy with Ratchet but saying sorry was clearly not enough. They would have to fight each other in order to understand each other's feelings.

"Psst! Ratchet." Jesse whispered, getting his attention. "I'll take the cyborg there. You can handle the other two?"

Ratchet looked over Ivin and Anna. He doubted he could beat them. The last time him and Ivin fought was four years ago and it's not like it was just them. Yang was in the fight too. He also had no idea what Anna could do now.

"I can try. Don't do anything stupid alright?" He asked.

Jesse nodded and fired off the first shot. Nick reacted quickly and blocked it with a plasma shield. The two started trying to gun each other down as the other three got out of their way and began their own fight.

Ratchet went after Anna first since she might be a bigger threat with the range of her scythe. He barley dodged her swift attack though when he he was in range. She relentlessly attacked him, almost catching his loose cloak a couple times. The white blade cut through the ground and would most likely cut him in half if she hit him dead on. Instead of relying on his aura to save his life, he used his gauntlets.

Anna raised her scythe and brought it down towards Ratchet's head. He caught the blade with hit gauntlets, not taking any sort of damage but he felt his aura being drained away. He threw Anna to the side but Ivin took this chance to get in a good kick to his side. Ratchet fell back and blocked Ivin's blade with hit arm, which was covered thanks to his gauntlets. The blades small teeth starting spinning and trying to rip through the armor. There were only sparks at first but in some time, it would cut through.

Ratchet tried making a ball of fire in his other hand but he was forced to stop and grab Anna's foot before it stomped his face in. He had both his arms occupied and he was stuck.

"Jesse! Help!" He called out.

Jesse was in an intense firefight with Nick but took a second to look away, fire a bullet into Ivin's knee and get back to Nick. The injured Ivin loosened his grip slightly but it was enough for Ratchet to push him off completely. Anna switched her scythe to sniper and fired into Ratchet's stomach. The bullets bounced off of what was left of his aura but now it was all gone.

Ratchet threw a fireball towards Anna and she dodged it with ease but wasn't able to react fast enough when he grabbed her by the throat. Anna dropped her sniper and struggled against his grip but she was losing consciousness. Thankfully, Ivin was able to rescue her by tackling Ratchet to the ground. Anna rolled to the side, catching her breath while Ivin got on top of Ratchet with a fire in his eyes.

"Why!" Ivin screamed, punching Ratchet in the face. "What drives someone to do this?! To go to such lengths!"

Ivin went to punch him again but Ratchet caught his fist and pushed him to the side, switching their roles.

"You would never understand!" He punched Ivin in the face, cutting his cheek with his bladed knuckles and making him struggle more. "This isn't something that can be solved with money or good looks!"

Ivin gritted his teeth and pushed him away. Ratchet fell to his back and got up to his hands and knees, breathing heavily. Ivin rolled away some feet and was sitting there looking at his former leader like he was someone or something else.

The wind was picking up, the sky's darkened and lightning lit up the dark sky's. In an instant, the weather changed. In the Badlands it wasn't unnatural for this to happen but for it to happen now, it was like this feud between old friends was destined to happen.

Anna looked between the two, unsure of how she should help Ivin or stop them from killing each other. Jesse and Nick have stopped fighting as well. Both were tired, Jesse was low on ammo and Nick had no fuel left to even hover off the ground.

Ivin couldn't wrap his head around why Ratchet was doing this, the way he was acting. "Why?!"

Ratchet clenched his fists and looked him dead in the eyes. "People change Ivin! It's been four goddamn years!"

"What happened to you?!" Ivin pleaded for an answer. "What happened to the man I used to know?"

"I'm not that man anymore…" Ratchet replied.

The two stood up and faced each other. The lightning cracked and sparked, connecting with the antenna at the top of the massive tower. Ivin had to know one more thing, just one before he decided on what he should do.

"Ratchet…are you still my friend? Or are you an enemy?" Ivin asked.

"If it means you'll shut up and get out of my way, I'm your enemy."

After saying his piece, Ratchet clenched his fists and the orange liquids inside the tubes on his gauntlets started to glow. Ivin tightened his grip on his blade and it started to rev up. The former friends ran towards each other, killing intent was radiating off of them. They were close to clashing when suddenly another crack of lightning struck the top of the tower and it made the antenna at the top fall over along with Ruby and Yang.

Everyone's attention was now focused on the sisters falling to their death.