Colt didn't watch for craters as he made his way toward the pirate captain. Nor did he pay any attention to any of the other threats around him. Pirates were clashing with Authority officers all around him, and all around him cannonballs formed brand new scorching craters in the ground. So he must have gotten lucky, because none of the pirates stopped to target him and none of the cannonballs sent him into the ground. He was somehow still intact by the time he made it within range of Captain Rave.
"Hey!" he said, before he could talk himself out of it. His knuckles were turning white from gripping his sword so tightly, and his heartbeat was currently drowning out all other sounds, so he had no idea how loud he'd spoken.
But it was loud enough. Captain Rave stopped in his tracks and turned to face him. Colt took a deep breath and remembered the last time he'd faced the captain. He had thought things were about to change for him. He'd actually thought that Rave would take a suggestion for their next destination. That the man actually knew where the lost captain was. And then, when all else had failed, Colt had actually thought that he could beat Captain Rave in a fight. He had been wrong before, but he couldn't afford to be wrong now. He had to beat Rave. There was nothing else that could truly save him.
Red-Head Rave's face contorted as he recognized that it was a former cabin boy standing in front of him, rather than an authoritarian officer. He went from confusion to surprise to outrage in a matter of seconds, each of these emotions hidden by his overgrown facial hair, of course.
Captain Rave growled lowly. "What are you doing here, boy?"
Colt vaguely recalled the man saying something similar, all the way back when he had first gone to speak with him. It made him wonder how much had really changed over the course of his journey. Was a mere week or two of experience really enough to make the difference?
He took and breath and set his jaw, making sure to keep his eyes on Rave. The man looked more angry at him than threatened, but that didn't matter. It didn't matter what Rave thought or how little time had passed. It simply mattered what Colt himself could do. And he was about to find out.
"I'm here to request your next voyage," Colt stated, trying very hard to keep his voice steady and void of emotion.
Rave arched a bushy eyebrow. His face didn't turn any less red. "When are you going to get it through your skull, boy? You don't request voyages. You have no say! All you do is clean up after and serve me, and it's obvious that you're incapable of doing something as simple as that!"
Captain Rave raised his sword. He was towering over Colt, his wide chest puffed out. His face was still scrunched up and red under his mop of hair that was quickly beginning to turn gray. His patience was clearly long gone (it was Colt's theory that it had run out years ago and he'd never gotten it back) and it was a wonder he hadn't struck yet. But Colt stayed ready, because he knew it was coming.
"I may have misspoke," Colt offered. "See, I'm not requesting a thing. I'm setting your next voyage. Do you know where it's going to be?"
"Enlighten me," Rave spat, looking down at Colt as if he were a bug that hadn't flattened properly upon being stomped. The look of pure distaste made Colt's blood boil.
"I'm sending you to the deep, dark bottom of the sea," Colt snapped.
"Funny," Rave said, though he didn't look the least bit amused, "that's what I tried to do to you, and here you are. But I won't make that mistake twice. This time I won't leave anything up to chance. There won't be anything left to hit the bottom of the sea when I'm done with you."
Colt spread his arms. "So what is it you're waiting for?"
"You. One free shot, same as last time. Then you die."
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.