Short story about rivals because I was bored.
“Just because we’ve fought a few times, that makes you my rival now? Ridiculous!”
I could hear an annoyed voice shout just as a figure appeared from behind some rocks, running towards me at full speed with a hammer swinging at the ready. As the figure drew closer, I could recognize just who exactly it was, running at me right outside of Rasna. The man’s face was contorted in anger, though with his grey straw hat, eyepatch, and bandana, it wouldn’t exactly the most obvious.
He swung his hammer at me, which I only barely dashed away from. The swing left a cloud of dust in its wake, knocking the thin layer of grass off the dirt that caked the floor of the Ravenna wilderness. I retaliated with a wind blast, followed by a crash, sending the crazed man back a couple feet. As he got back up, I fired a beam at him, stepping back a bit to avoid his hammer’s slam, and punching him once or twice.
I had fought him plenty of times before, and he only seemed all the more enraged by me. It was, what, my fourth or fifth time? I had first met him at the Whispering Caverns, where he was hiding from the Navy. I’ll admit, he gave me some trouble, but I managed to knock him out in due time and escape before the Navy came after me myself. I don’t recall where I had next met him, but I had fought him multiple times after. After the third, I recalled sneaking into Silverhold, and when I had found him in the cells, he had scowled at me, a menacing, cold glare in his eyes. However, there was a hint of determination in there… And I guess that sparked our rivalry, no matter how many times he’d deny it.
I turned my focus back to the battle, blocking several swings of his hammer before sending him flying with a few wind magic-imbued punches. And so we fought on, though I clearly had the advantage. Still, he had gotten some good hits on me, at once point managing to grab me with another of the three weapons he carried. After maybe a bit less than an hour, however, he finally collapsed, unable to withstand the battle any longer.
As he lay on the battlefield unconscious, I noticed something slip out of his pocket. A scroll? I bent down beside him, taking the scroll and unraveling it in my hands. It looked like an old piece of parchment, scribbled with faded, vague instructions. A treasure map.
I pocketed it, not interested in doing it right now. With my rival’s bounty claimed, I walked off, heading to a different part of Ravenna to get a piece of armor I had found recently enchanted.
A couple hours later, I took a quick glance on the bounty board. There was my name, and some other people’s… But the one I was most interested in sat at the top of the board. An inscription was written on the piece of paper, at the very bottom, declaring this person a rival of me. And as I looked at the name and crude picture, it was time to go find him again, this time in the swampy Forest of Cernunno. I was surprised he had recovered this quickly, but… Well, it was interesting to see how his battle tactics would change, if at all.
I was sure he knew that I was coming, anyways.