As the bell rings Erik charges in toward his older brother Ryan and delivers a powerful blow to his solar plexus, Ryan grunts and begins to fall forward.
The younger brother says, "Still can't take a punch to the gut I see!" while still reeling from the shock of the punch King Erik bends his knees under Ryan's arms and pivots himself until he's behind Ryan. He grabs him by the waist and suplexes his brother onto the ring. The crowd erupts.
The king's grip on the soldier isn't broken yet so while still holding his brother. He gets to his feet and then decides to deliver another powerful slam. Erik gets up with his brother still in his grasp. He positions himself for a 3rd slam but fails to deliver it.
King Erik looks down and realizes his brother locked his ankle against his own. Before Erik can think of a next move a right elbow swiftly strikes the King's head. Erik's vision quickly turns blurry. Before he could retaliate another elbow strikes him loosening the grip King Erik has on his brother Ryan. Still unable to see, Erik hears the crowd "oohing and ahhing". Without his vision. He hears Ryan saying, "It's been a while since I've traded blows with someone as quick as me. You were nowhere near my power though little brother."
Before Erik can react. He feels a series of blows reign down on him. The bombardment of attacks begins to feel like they're leaving hot craters on the pirate king's body. King Erik grimaces in pain as he puts his hands up and guards himself. As Erik weathers the storm of the onslaught from his brother's attacks. The few that slip in leave white flashes within his vision. Erik reels back and slips a few of his brother's punches landing 2 blows to the body. And another two to his brother's head. This drops Ryan to one knee, momentarily stopping the action. This impresses the combatant's older sister and leaves Diwata, Sarah, and the rest of the crew nervous.
The crowd erupts as Dominic steps in giving Ryan time to get to his feet. He does so. Within the roars of the crowd. Erik tells his brother, "Yeah I never was as powerful but I always had a bigger gas tank than you!"
Ryan puts his hands up and tries to hide his smirk of pride towards his brother then charges forward. Then what would be best described as a brilliant display of "artistic violence" ensues between both brothers. Violent blows are exchanged, blocked, parried, and slipped for a total of 8 minutes. This leaves the crowd in awe. Also leaving a handful of pirates with tears of inspiration and pride at witnessing their founder's sons in battle. As the whirlwind of blows ends between both siblings the crowd erupts once again. Both brothers now with scrapes, bruises, and blood leaking from broken skin caused by the intense pressure of their strikes creates chatter from the crowd.
As both siblings catch their breath they circle each other hearing,
"Did you see that!?!"
"Amazing!"
"they're both barely even bleeding! A regular person's head or legs would've been taken clean off with those shots!"
"The training these two must have gone through to have their skin and bones to withstand attacks of this caliber!"
"To think the queen frequently beat these two in fights! Wow!"
The pirate who made this statement and the pirates surrounded by the individual who heard it stare at their queen in awe. Fueled by the inspiration their leaders are displaying in front of them. The crowd continues to cheer.
Dominic at the center of both son's eyes begins to well up with pride. Ryan tells Dominic, "What's wrong Uncle Dom? Erik tells Dominic, "Don't get soft on us now Dominic. You're gonna have to count to 10 when I knock this big oaf out!"
The two brothers charge at each other once again displaying all of their capabilities within their arsenal. As the crowd cheers. Dominic watches them telling himself,
"Can't help but show emotion towards the both of you kids. Your father trained you both in weapons while I trained you two in hand-to-hand combat. Your display of the combative arts is lifting the nation your father built. If there is an afterlife where your parents can see what you're doing to ensure belief in powerful leadership they'd be proud of you. I'm 100% sure of that!"
King Erik lands a powerful strike against his brother's jaw. Ryan retaliates with a kick to his brother's stomach. Erik lands a left to Ryan's ribs followed by a right to his eye socket. Ryan retaliates with a knee to his brother's gut followed by a head kick that Erik blocks partially with his hands.
As they continue to lift the morale of the pirate nation with their display of the fighting arts. The series of high-level strikes begin to bring a smile to both brothers' faces. Fighting is not only what formed the pirate nation of the red planet. It's also what bonded the brothers. Both are showing the nation their father built a true example of " iron sharpens iron. "
Time continues to pass while the two slug it out for the title of King. The crowd continues to be in awe at the violent painting being displayed in front of them. At first, it looks like the two brothers' fight would go on forever until both brothers connect with a powerful punch.
The crowd gasps. Despite both brothers landing a punch at the same time, Ryan is quite bigger than Erik, and has the longer arms. He was able to generate more power in his shot than his younger brother. This wobbles the pirate King. Ryan sees this and follows up with a swift knee to his brother's chin.
This sends the pirate King reeling backward. But rather than letting his brother fall backward Ryan holds him up. With little to no strength left Ryan is only able to have his younger brother rest on his shoulder. Erik is left with little to no energy as well. The Pirate King drops to one knee. This shocks the crowd.
Dominic begins to start the 10 count for Erik to get up. When Dominic reaches 5. His eyes widen in shock. Ryan walks in front of his brother and brings him to his feet.
The crowd cheers in elation at the display of sportsmanship in front of them. Dominic stops the count. The crowd beings to clap their hands. Queen Melina joins in with the crowds cheers and claps. Dominic claps with tears welling in his eyes as well. The two brothers stand face-to-face with each other
Erik's head to the floor as he stands. His vision was still a wobbly mess. It begins to return to normal as he hears the cheers and claps. The pirate King thinks to himself, "How the hell am I on my feet?" he looks at his shoulders and realizes he's being held up. Erik then looks in front of him and realizes he's being held up by his brother.
His face showed signs of shock. His older brother smiles at him and says, "Your endurance for battle is lacking brother." Erik can't help but let out a little laugh. But before the pirate King could reply to his older brother. The effects of the last punch the pirate King landed kick in. Ryan drops to both knees then falls face first.
The crowd erupts once again. Their eldest sister thinks to herself, "Oh my gosh! It looked like the punch to the jaw didn't affect Ryan though?" Just then the pirate Queen remembers the beginning of her brothers match. Erik started off attacking Ryan's body. Down to the last punch when both brothers connected to the face. A swift but deadly 2nd shot went in that was only noticed by a handful of people in the crowd. When Ryan and Erik connected at the same time to the jaw. Erik followed up with a shot to the ribs knowing his brother would connect with a more powerful punch. All fight he was draining the energy from his older brother with a steady attack on his organs. Slowing him down enough until the final punch.
Melina shakes her head in amazement. Dominic reaches the count of 10. King Erik is the winner of the bout for the ruler of the pirate nation. Erik catches his breath as he bathes in the cheers of his people. He looks at his brother still reeling in pain then leans down to him and says, "Your intelligence was hindered during this battle brother." While still on the floor. Ryan laughs to himself and says, "No I just think you've gotten smarter while you were on your own."
Dominic screams on the megaphone, "Ladies and gentlemen STILL your King! Erik Lowell!!" The crowd cheers. Erik looks around at the happy faces of the belief he and his brother brought to the people of the pirate nation. Then just as he brought inspiration to them. Inspiration strikes Erik while looking toward the crowd. He grabs the megaphone and says to the nation,
"Thank you! Thank you! Our goal with this match was to not only have a solidified leader. But to show what our strength is capable of. Even though we've suffered a massive loss of our brothers and sisters. We wanted to not only show that we're still capable of immense strength. We also wanted to show we're capable of even being stronger when we work together!"
The crowd cheers in agreement. Ryan continues to say,
"It's why as your leader. I ask you humbly. Has my brother proven enough in that he cares about the pirate nation's well-being?!"
The crowd looks at Ryan. He's still keeled over from the last body shot and coughs up blood. The crowd chatters with themselves saying, "How could anyone agree to a battle this intense knowing the repercussions they'd potentially face at the end, and have ill intentions behind them?" They also tell themselves the gesture of helping his brother up was enough to show there would be no hostile takeover. A few seconds later the crowd cheers in a way that feels as if Erik's answer to his question was a unanimous "yes!"
The pirate King helps his brother to his feet and then says,
"Then I ask you all. At least for this battle would you let me and my brother lead you all in avenging our fallen brothers and sisters against the Hawk droid and its companions!?"
The crowd roars with a unanimous scream.
Erik nods his head while putting his fist in the air. The cheers of the pirate nation bring a little strength back to Ryan's body as he hears this. While his arm still is around his brother's shoulder for support he also put his fist up as a gesture of solidarity. For now, the sons of the founder were under one roof again.
Dominic rushes over to the brothers and tells them, " Let's get you two to the recovery bay asap."
Ryan protests saying, "No we gotta plan asap." Dominic replies saying, "I'll do that! The queen and I can command and draw up strategies while you two recover."
This surprises Ryan. He says, "Melina is here?" He looks to the crowd and notices a handful of Queen's guard pirates in the crowd and sees his elder sister in the middle. She smirks and gives her brother a nod. He nods back. Dominic motions for the assistant droids to take the brothers back to recover.
As they exit the ring they both get on the back of a truck with two assistant droids in tow. The droids begin to patch the brothers up. Erik raises his fist again as the crowd cheers. Ryan sees their sister heading down toward the ring with Dominic. Erik tells the main droid driving the truck to head toward the recovery bay. They head off instantly after his command.
Once Melina enters the ring the crowd's elation accelerates. Since she knows how impactful the image of all 3 children of the founder being back together under the roof of the pirate nation is to her people, She gives them a moment to celebrate. Dominic leans to the Queen and says, "You're the sole leader now until your brothers return."
As Dominic hands Queen Melina the megaphone to make her first announcements as the sole leader. The entire crowd is interrupted by a crashing object from a distance. The impact of the crash is loud and powerful enough that it sets off alarms throughout New Tortuga. Melina yells out, "What was that!?" Dominic with a piece of communication tech in his ear tells Melina, "I'm being told it's a droid that landed! Reports from security droids and pirate soldiers are saying the droid is a hawk!"
Melina tells Dominic, "That must be the War Hawk droid?! Tell me where did it land!? Maybe we'll have a clue why this droid is attacking us like this!?"
Dominic with a shocked look on his face says, "The Hawk landed by the main compartment station of our camo tech my Queen!" Aghast at the information provided by Dominic, Queen Melina charges toward the direction of the crash instantly. She tells herself, "That's where Sharon went to repair the tech for our people here! She's not much of a fighter. I just hope my brother's guards and my Queen's guard can hold that droid off long enough before I get there!!"
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3 hours have passed since A.I. Elias told supremeo he'd be ready in 6 hours to return to his home dimension.
ns 18.68.41.141da2
