Finches

Chapter 30 - Next Voyage

If Rave wanted to underestimate him, that was his own problem. Colt would take the free shot, but this time he wasn't going to waste it. He was going to be sure that it was the last mistake Captain Rave ever made.

Colt just shrugged. "Your loss, Captain." And then he attacked, lunging himself at Rave with his cutlass outstretched.

Rave stepped to the side and ducked down to avoid the sword. This was a mistake, because it was exactly what he'd done the first time they'd fought. Colt was ready for that move, and swung his cutlass around quickly toward the captain's new position.

Captain Rave lifted his own cutlass to defend himself and was able to, just barely, make contact with Colt's weapon and redirect it. But not before Colt was able to tear off a small section of Rave's coat. If he had been a little faster, he'd have been able to cut the captain. But it was better than nothing.

Rave looked at Colt furiously, which gave him the feeling that the captain wasn't used to having his clothing torn off.

"How dare you touch me?" he snarled.

Colt got into a defensive position and caught his breath. "That's the whole idea of a sword fight," he said.

Red-Head Rave poked a shaking finger at Colt. "You're a cabin boy! What makes you think you have the right to explain to me the rules of a sword fight?"

"The fact that you don't seem to know them yourself," he replied. "Never use the same move twice with me, Captain. Because you might not remember that fight you had with the cabin boy, but I sure do. I remember every single move you made and every single trick you tried."

"Oh I remember you, Colt," said Rave. The sound of his name was the only thing the captain had said to him so far that caught him off-guard. The pirate continued, "But nobody else will. This ends right here."

Colt knew what was coming next, but he didn't wait for Captain Rave to attack. He struck out for the second time, putting the captain on defense.

Rave blocked the first strike, then moved backwards to avoid the second. He sliced down low toward Colt's legs, causing Colt's combination of attacks to be broken as he had to use his cutlass to defend. He saw Rave about to move in for a second strike, so he quickly collected himself and swung his cutlass yet again. Parried. Colt performed a wide swing next. Blocked. He tried another strike toward an opening he saw. Parried again. Parried, blocked, dodged, blocked again, and so on and so forth. No matter what he did, he couldn't seem to get past Rave's defense.

But he had to keep trying. He'd learned through his previous battles that he needed to rely heavily upon offensive maneuvers. Fights usually turned for the worse when he was forced to use his defensive skills. As long as he was the one attacking and Rave was the one defending, and not the other way around, he should be fine. He'd eventually learn Rave's weakness. Everyone had one. He just needed to figure it out.

Colt continued to attack his former captain relentlessly. He slashed, hacked, and used every form of fighting at his disposal to try and break his opponent. But nothing was working. Everything Colt threw at Captain Rave was a miss. In fact, the only sign that the captain had even been in a fight to begin with was the tear in his coat. There were no markings on his body, save for that missing piece of his coat. And finally, after a few more failed attempts, Colt realized something. His offense, no matter how much it had improved recently, was no match for Rave's defense.

He felt his attacks begin to get slower and less creative. He was becoming fatigued and less effective. He tried to simply concentrate harder, as if he could somehow beat Captain Rave just by wanting to. But it didn't seem to help any. His muscles just weren't capable of moving any faster. He'd used up all of his strength.

Rave wasn't even bothering to try and dodge any of his attacks anymore. He simply held out his sword and stood there as Colt struck again and again, barely even adjusting his place of attack. Finally he broke the pattern and skipped a beat in his rhythm of attacks. Captain Rave smiled as Colt took a breath and tried not to fall to the ground. He deserved a nice nap, but he highly doubted he'd ever get up again if he took one.

"I hope you're not tired," said Rave, like the very idea was unheard of. Then the pirate captain smiled creepily. "Because now it's my turn."

Colt scrambled backwards as Rave approached, sword at the ready. The captain swung his sword and somehow Colt managed to block it in time with his own. But before he could even react, Rave had pulled the sword back and swung again. This time he made contact, and pain instantly flooded Colt's leg. That was all he needed: more pain.

Then, in the moment that he glanced down at his leg, Rave attacked again. He tried to move out of the way, but wasn't nearly fast enough. The captain's sword stabbed his shoulder, ripping a section of his tunic off.

He clutched his right shoulder with his opposite hand, somehow managing to not drop his cutlass. He tried to move backwards as Rave approached him. He was only faintly aware that his vision had tunneled. He could no longer see the rest of the battlefield out of his peripherals. He couldn't see anything else that was currently happening outside of his own fight. All he could make out was Rave's intimidating figure coming toward him. He made it three very painful steps or so backwards before Rave closed the distance with a single stride. He watched the captain rear back his weapon and somehow he managed to raise up his cutlass in time. The two swords came into contact with one another.

Colt gave his best effort, trying desperately to hold his own. He pushed back as hard as he could on Rave's sword. He wasn't going to let Rave do this to him. He needed to beat the captain he'd lost to previously. He needed to defeat him and his pirates, and get his information from the Authority. He had to beat Captain Rave.

He gritted his teeth and put as much force as he could into repelling Rave's sword, but it wouldn't budge. They stayed locked in a stalemate for a few moments, then things started to go downhill. Rave's sword slowly but surely began to overtake his cutlass, until...

Crack. Colt felt his wrist being twisted as his cutlass flew out of his hand and Rave's sword came toward him at an arc. He dropped fully to the ground to avoid the slash. He tried to get back up but was stopped as he felt Rave's foot on his back. He was forced further into the ground as the attacks started to come one by one.

Rave kicked him around left and right, using the flat of his sword to hit him on the back and on the back of his head. Colt realized that the captain's anger was taking over. The man wasn't trying to kill him anymore, he was trying to let out his rage.

Colt closed his eyes and took the abuse. He was in and out of consciousness, he thought, constantly just wishing for the pain to end.

And then, surprisingly, it did. A loud boom shook the entire island, thrusting him back into a state of consciousness. Then the attacks on him suddenly stopped coming. He wasn't being kicked around anymore, he was just lying still on the ground. It was almost as if... Rave was gone. But why was Rave gone?

Colt managed to raise his head and looked around. He blinked a couple times and everything became visible, yet still very blurry.

The battle was still going on, but it seemed to have paused for a moment. Everyone was looking in toward the island, at something just outside his line of sight. Colt thought he saw the figure of Captain Rave, who was yelling enraged orders at his men and pointing toward the thing everyone was staring at.

Colt slowly rotated his body to get a better look at what was causing all of the madness. It didn't take long before he saw it, and his mouth dropped wide open.

The entirety of the authoritarian outpost was engulfed in flames, and was very quickly burning to the ground.