The central area of New Tortuga begins to gather with more pirates to witness the match between the two sons of the former pirate king. Their current king watches the crowd through a neighboring window. King Erik's hands are being wrapped by an assistant droid for his match later on.
The king hears a knock at the door. It's Dominic on the other side. He tells King Erik, "Captain, Queen Melina is here with me. She'd like to know if it's possible to have a quick word with you?" Erik replies to Dominic, "Of course. She can come in."
Erik tells the droid they'll continue preparing for the match in a moment. He'll talk to his sister first. The droid listens and opens the door for the pirate queen. As Melina walks through the door a smile begins to show on her brother's face.
Queen Melina asks her brother, "Miss me?"
The King replies with a hug for his sister, "Of course."
Melina says to her brother, "So you're finally getting that match you wanted with him huh?"
Erik says, "Yeah..." Now with a concerned look on her face. She tells her brother, "This isn't for acceptance for the people in the pirate nation is it? They already love you." Erik replies, "No. It's more to show our troops he isn't getting an easy way back in. Plus, you know if anyone has a problem with the way I'm running things here. They can leave and join your side of the family. Melina takes a moment to look at her brother. She notices a sense of maturity in him and says, "You finally got a hold of things here huh? I remember you doubting yourself when the entire empire was left to you to control. Even when I stepped in and ran the eastern empire to help you out it was still tough on you. You used to curse Father and our brother's name every day. I see you now and see a person with direction. You're no longer the man who ruled with a chip on his shoulder. Instead, you carry that weight with purpose. Not anger."
Erik smiles half-heartedly at her sister's kind words and says, "Thanks for that. One day I just told myself. I've lost Dad, then Mom. Later Ryan leaves. And you agree to handle operations on the other side of the empire which results in you leaving also. And I don't fault you for that. With all that swirling makes for a lonely person. Add it to me leading the charge on the battlefield. I have to ignore those feelings. Or else hundreds of people will be feeling how I feel after a fight for supplies...After today I'm happy to see my brother again. And you here right now lets me know I have a reason to fight to stay on this side of the plane. It's days like today when I'm remembered how I found my maturity sister. It's when I see the joy of our pirate nation family members when their loved ones made it safe from a mission. I failed on that mission today. And I just want to make it right by the ones who are suffering the most from our losses today."
Melina now with a look of pride on her face says, "Woow so this is gonna be a straight-up match huh? I like what you said. I agree 100% about your feelings not being the main factor in the heat of battle." Erik adds to what her sister says by saying, "And hey at the end of the day it was you and Ryan who always fought and argued not me and him."
Melina smirks then tells her brother, "Yeah that's another thing I gotta do while I visit here." Erik asks her sister, "What's that?" the queen replies to her brother, "Let Ryan know I want things to be straight with me and him now. It was childish how I acted when all 3 of us were together.
I told myself it was to toughen up my little brother but in reality, I was angry. Angry that Dad cheated on our mother and angry that she took him back. Losing Dad and Mom made me take it out on Ryan. The bigger picture should be focusing on not losing any more people close to me. Especially if those close to me are my siblings."
King Erik tells his sister, "Looks like I wasn't the only one who's changed now huh?" Melina tells her brother, "What's the point in growing older if you don't look for ways to grow wiser in the process?" King Erik says, "Amen."
As she sits next to her brother the queen stands up and tells her brother, "Before I forget there's another reason why I decided to come here brother." Queen Melina bows her head and then says, "Due to the tragedy today I'm offering you my queen's guard to help fortify the defenses of your empire. The pirate nation is powerful on both the western and eastern sides of this planet. And to help it stay that way we must work together in times of need such as this!"
Erik feels a sense of relief knowing outside of his army he has supporters. And not only from his older sister but his brother as well. He's fought hard battles for years with his half of the pirate nation but this inevitable battle feels different to him. To suffer such a high number of losses that quickly brings concern to Erik's mind and now is slowly eased by his two sibling's return to his side. This causes Erik's eyes to well up. While holding tears back King Erik says, "Thank you."
As Melina raises her head she teases her brother saying, "Aw are you tearing up? For what? As a queen, this tragedy is a fact that both sides of the pirate nation have a common enemy and to stomp out this enemy from existence we'd have to work together, but as your sister, it's more of a priority to me to make sure my little brother is okay."
King Erik says, "You're living up to the name of your soldiers. The Queen's Guard." Melina tells her brother, "You know who gave them that name? It was Elias Caine. After we looted a fleet of delivery trucks from him we made an example out of the combat droids and the soldiers they had in tow with them. He gave a report on air saying the Queen's Guards looted the fleet. After that, everyone started to call the top soldiers of my army the Queen's Guard. Even though we are feared I do respect how to run your half of the operation brother. Compared to our kill-or-be-killed mentality. I admit it takes more skill and finesse to beat a group of enemy soldiers to a point you can take their cargo and they live to report it. The men and women associated with Elias Caine and Victor Hawkins are extremely talented warriors. With our brother here hopefully those same men and women can set our conflict aside for a moment until we beat our enemy. Speaking of which, I also planned to visit Ryan before the match. Where is he at?"
Erik replies, "He has been prepping in the throne room." Before Erik can continue talking the assistant droid interrupts telling Erik, "30 more minutes until the match sir! 30 more minutes!" Erik says, "Oh sh*t! Looks like you're gonna have to talk with Ryan after our match! Droid let's finish preparations right now!" the droid says, "As you wish sir."
Melina tells her brother, "Alright see you again after the match." Erik nods to his sister. Melina walks out of the room and heads to the central area with the rest of the pirate nation. As she heads out she thinks to herself, "I wonder what skills has Ryan acquired with his time spent with Victor. It should be interesting to see. Since I used to whoop both of them."
In the throne room
Ryan stretches his neck. His hands are wrapped up to his wrists. He cracks his knuckles. Diwata tells Ryan, "Are you sure this is the right thing to do? Seems a little strange they'd be up for this kind of entertainment after something tragic like this happened to them." Ryan tells Diwata, "Yeah I believe that Erik has changed enough that this will be a fair fight. Plus with the losses the pirate nation has suffered today a sign of unity would be much needed. Most of the elder statesmen have been around when my father ran things. Even though he's gone, his influence is still respected and felt throughout the whole pirate nation. I'm confident once our people see something like their founder's children back together under one roof again, they'll accept me back in their circle."
Kapurma tells Ryan, "I believe you. Your brother has been nothing but accepting toward me and the razhdarchidae. He seems like a ruler of common sense and knows the benefit of working together instead of separately."
Ryan and his companions begin to walk out of the throne room. As they exit sunlight hits the entire crew and they are greeted by hundreds of pirate residents of New Tortuga.
The pirates gawk at the razhdarchidae behind Ryan. Some look at Ryan with disdain. Others cheer at the sight of their founder's eldest son. As the pirates see Diwata she can hear them amongst them asking, "Who is she?" Kapurma catches the eyes of the pirates he hears, "Is that a giant turtle?" They see Sarah in her armor. She hears the pirates saying, "Ryan brought a soldier from the city's armies. Knowing how he left I bet she's a high-ranking soldier." Another pirate is heard saying, "Look at those dinosaurs. I heard they flew in with Ryan. What the hell kind of training program did Victor put him under?" The last statement causes Sarah to smirk under her helmet.
Moments Later
The crew reaches the center area. Ryan and Erik are surrounded by cheering pirates. Dominic is at the center of both. All 3 are in a run-down ring. Dominic pulls out a megaphone then says,
"All right! You're all here for a match for a potential leader. And as I can see the crowd is larger than usual. That's because the challenger is not your ordinary challenger. He's the first son of our founder! Ladies and gentlemen welcome back Ryan Burgos!!"
The crowd cheers while others whisper to each other saying they never thought the first son would return. Dominic continues to tell the crowd,
"Ryan insists we all have a common enemy and is willing to help us out. But he understands if some of you are hesitant to accept him back in under our roof. So in good faith, he offered to have a match with our king. He wants to show he's not only willing to dish it out. He's also willing to take the shots as well. And how is he willing to show that? He's challenging our greatest fighter. Our King Erik Lowell!!"
The crowd cheers and chatters amongst themselves. Portions of the crowd are shocked. Others are hyped and ready to see the match. Others don't know what to think and are questioning if this is the right thing to do. While other portions of the crowd also scream for their leader King Erik to beat the deserter until he's unconscious. There are also whispers within the crowd that is questioning if the little brother can even beat the older brother. All three people in the ring could hear this. Ryan continues to say,
"PIRATE NATION! DO YOU ACCEPT THIS CHALLENGE!?!"
The crowd cheers in excitement. But does not satisfy Dominic. So through the megaphone he says,
"DO YOU HAVE FAITH IN YOUR KING!?"
The crowd cheers louder. Ryan then says, "Let the match begin! Same rules as usual. No weapons, only strikes, and throws. The match ends when either of you quits or gets knocked out."
The two brothers approach each other with Dominic in the middle and Erik says, "I know neither of us are gonna quit." Ryan shrugs and nods his head then says, "Knockout it is then." Both brothers smirk, touch their gloves, and go back to the neutral corners of the ring. The atmosphere in the air could be felt as the crowd awaits for the fight to come. Melina looking at the crowd around her and the look on her brothers' faces tells herself, "This is crazy."
Then with all the chatter going on in the crowd everyone in the central area hears the ceremonial sound to signify the start of a match. The bell rings and both brothers approach each other with their hands up in a defensive guard...
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It has been 2 hours since A.I. Elias told Supremeo his new body would be able to return to his home dimension.
ns 15.158.61.8da2
