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It was supposed to be a wonderful day yes, Flame was doing well with his training, he sees many improvement on himself, and earlier he managed to take down a few bandits that wanted to steal from him, oh and Mane also decided to visit the main server today so they finally managed to catch up on stuff.
Flame was gonna ask Wemmbu if he wanted to spar or duel today, but the endling turned him down and didn’t even explain why he was busy, like bro come on, they’re supposed to be rivals why doesn’t he wanna fight?
Now Flame has no one to fight, and he wanted to take out all that pent up energy into a fight or duel.
“Bro, I’m here though, don’t you wanna fight your brother?” Mane commented as he continued to munch on his golden— seriously this guy is always so damn hungry all the time.
“You fight unfairly bro, I don’t want my hair chopped off today.” Flame replied as he continued to sort through his potions and items.
Mane let out a scoff and threw the gapple on Flame’s head.
“What makes Wemmbu different huh?”
“We’ve been fighting for so long, I basically know how to counter him and his tricks, and vice versa.”
“Then what’s the point of you guys fighting if you can’t even determine the winner from the loser?”
“…”
That question made Flame abruptly stop his movements, he stared at the invis pot he was holding on his hand. Wemmbu already gave him back the title of strongest a long time ago, back in the 2 v 1000 with the law, and then after the whole Egg and cindercrest fiasco, they kinda resolved some stuff and they would just spar for fun of it, it’s just how they hang out and maybe with how they swing their swords at each other is their way of talking.
Fighting Wemmbu isn’t always about winning, he enjoys fighting Wemmbu for the thrill of it, knowing the two of them can easily counter each other and are probably the only people that can match their strengths. But lately Flame realized that Wemmbu has gotten better at sword which makes their sparring more fun, wonder if he’s been training as well.
“It’s just for fun bro,” Flame finally replied after a while, placing the invis pot inside its respective double chest.
“rightttttt, and you weren’t quiet for like a whole minute just to think of that reply.” Mane said as he walked out the door.
“come, let’s spar for a bit?” Mane asked as he took out his spear from his inventory.
Flame only stared at him, if it weren’t for the blindfold you could definitely see Flame giving Mane the biggest stink eye.
“indulge your big bro once in a while.” Mane added as he walked towards Flame, and dragging him from his wrist towards his training area.
Halfway through the walk Flame’s communicator pinged a message from Wemmbu
<Wemmbu> Flammm I’m free now, the festival place by AJ I’m with your pirate bestie
<FlameFrags> he’s not my friend
<FlameFrags> gimme 20 mins
<Wemmbu> dalrighttt
“Mane you have an extra elytra?” Flame suddenly ask as he pulled his wrist off Mane’s grip, quickly speed walking towards the arena and the ender chest he placed to the side.
“uh yea bro,” Mane said following Flame’s movement and getting out his extra elytra and handing it over to Flame.
“okay, you coming with me.” Flame said as he put on his armor and equipping the borrowed elytra.
“where exactly?”
“Wemmbu wants to spar, he’s at some arena we fought at.” Flame explained as he tried to look for some fireworks on his shulkers.
Mane didn’t reply and just followed Flame, soon they were flying at the direction where said arena was.
A few minutes of flying later and then reaching the place with like 2 stacks of fireworks left on them, they could see Wemmbu with Egg and Jaden in the arena center, the demon was sitting on a wooden stair while Jaden and Egg were behind them— the scene reminds the brother of their time in with Zam where they would often stand behind her while she judges her people. But instead the one they see was more warm and soft, since the people was braiding small little braids on Wemmbu’s hair as the demon was typing on his communicator.
The two brothers landed in front of the three and Wemmbu looked up and flashed a small grin at the new arrivals. Egg and Jaden quickly tied the braid, Egg grabbing the two braids and securing both with a small black bow.
“Flammmm hiii, you brought Mane? is this gonna be a 2v2?” Wemmbu asked standing up and dusting the imaginary dust on his clothes.
Flame could feel Mane shift a bit beside him, the lion had told him before that he trained Wemmbu and they had this falling out and they weren’t on good terms and such, but when Mane showed up during the battle with cindercrest, it doesn’t seem like Wemmbu held a single grudge against Mane, didn’t even bring up anything that happened, so naturally Mane didn’t know whether to apologize for his actions or just go with the flow.
“nah, I don’t trust him with my base so I brought him along,” Flame replied.
“Dalrighttt, so wanna go?” Wemmbu asked tilting his head.
Flame only nodded as he shooed Mane away with his hand, his brother flicked his forehead before going over the stands.
Jaden and Egg did the same without a word, the three sat beside each other as they just watch the two rivals prepare for their spar.
“First to pop three totems,” Egg said to the both of them as he throw the demon one totem.
“Yo thanks Egg,” Wemmbu chuckled as he grabbed the totem and equipped his shield— Flame took note that the shield was nothing like the one he used, the bright purple and the stupid smiling face was gone, he was instead donning a black and red shield with some weird design and also his boots has red trims instead of his usual purple.
“were you killing chungies earlier bro? what’s up with the shield and boots?” Flame asked
“oh this? nah it’s a gift, but I don’t like the red trims on the rest of the armor so I got this instead.” Wemmbu said as he raised his feet and showed off the boots— seriously how does he fight with heels on?
Soon, both two warriors prepared themselves, standing opposite to each other with both their swords out. Weirdly enough the purple demon decided on using a sword today instead of his mace, which is weird and unusual for Flame but, okay.
Wemmbu lunged forward first, using his speed to his advantage, swinging his sword directly to Flame, which of course the nether demon easily parry with ease. Wile their sword was in a bind, Wemmbu suddenly unequipped his own and switch to a spear.
Using the spears long handle, he managed to swiftly twist the sword and spear together, causing Flame to almost drop his sword, but he’s not most players so he managed to quickly change his hold and gripped his sword harder.
From the sidelines, Mane watched in surprised at what Wemmbu did. He knows he doesn’t know much about the others fighting style after years of change, and also because it seems like Wemmbu also changed his fighting style when using a sword.
Flame on the other hand was caught off guard by the abrupt change, quickly backing up and composing himself before charging towards Wemmbu again. While the purple demon quickly switched back to his sword and using his enderpearl to teleport behind Flame, who easily caught the movement and turned around.
The two went back and fourth with their duel, they went on for about 20 minutes with their fight when Wemmbu’s final totem popped and the two immediately collapsed on the arena ground.
“bro…t-that was amazing!” Flame exclaimed, he finally had all his built in adrenaline and energy out with that fight, and honestly every duel with Wemmbu always leaves Flame exhausted because they both push each other to the limit.
“yea..bro you popped me twice as well..” Flame huffed as he stood up and walked towards Wemmbu offering him a hand, the other quickly accepts it, Flame pulled the other up before turning back to where Mane and the rest were watching the two of them.
Mane got down first cause like he’s the speed demon and speed is his specialty bro, followed by Jaden who was basically jogging and Egg walking like it was a normal day.
Flame quickly jogged over to meet Mane, looking up to his brother through his blindfold— he knows his brother can tell what he wanted just form his body language alone.
“You did good, you need to work on your counters though, it was shabby.” Mane commented as he patted Flame on the head. The tiger hybrid quickly leaning in to this brothers touch and just nodding.
“Nah bro, just not use to this guys new fighting style is all.” Flame replied as he pointed at Wemmbu who was chugging a few gapples.
Wemmbu who was occupied by Egg and Jaden seemed to have ignored or didn’t hear the two brothers, he was smiling ear to ear as Egg was combing through the demons long hair— how does he take care of all that hair and fight while maintaining such soft and clean state of it.
“eughh why didn’t you put my hair in a bun Eggggg.” Wemmbu’s whining could be heard from hundreds of blocks away as he grabbed a strand of lilac hair and started twirling it on his fingers.
Jaden chuckled at the sight, he was going through his inventory looking for something while Egg was busy twisting Wemmbu’s hair into a bun, after securing the bun properly, Jaden pulled out a sunflower and pinned it to the carefully well made bun.
“Ohhh where’d you get this one, Jade?” Wemmbu ask as he started slowly feeling the delicate flower on his hair.
Jaden handed him a mirror so he can look at it properly.
“yk when you were with your trainer Egg and I decided to visit, we got some few stacks, we have to plant some in pirate civ and around the base right?” Jaden said as he pulled out another flower and inserting it to Egg’s very own complicated hair style.
Wemmbu flashed the pirate the biggest smile ever, that smile where his eyes would close and you could see his toothy little fangs peeking out.
Meanwhile literally a few blocks from them, the two brothers stared at the three with an unreadable face.
“Wemmbu has a new trainer…..?” Mane whispered to himself as he continued to look at the display in front of him.
Flame cleared his throat to get the threes attention, and they all turned around at the same time to face the two of brothers only standing a few blocks away from them.
“We’re gonna get going now Wem, it was fun, let’s do it again in a few weeks , ’kay?” Flame said as he equipped his elytra.
“yea okay, see ya Flammm and Mane”
“bye Flame and Mane!”
“cya”
The two brothers already flew off with their elytra, both being quiet as the festival area slowly faded out of sight to the both them, and that was when Mane decided to break the silence. He was scared that when they can still see the area Wemmbu could probably still hear them, because no one can deny that demon has such an intense senses.
“Who’s the new trainer?” Mane suddenly ask, his eyes only focus on the trail in front of them.
“bro how should I know? he’s been like busy for months barely on the main area.” Flame said, deciding to land on a path that he knows will lead him back to his base, Mane quickly following him.
“yea but like, any potential candidates?” Mane added fidgeting with his long ass blond locs.
“dunno bro, Minute? why don’t you ask him yourself, bro.” Flame huffed as he checked his communicator, he noticed earlier there was a ping but he couldn’t read it as he was in a duel like bro obviously.
“couldn’t be, Minute prefers his mace, and it’s not how he fights with the sword, I fought him before.” Mane replied placing his arm behind his head as he looked up to the sky.
When suddenly a familiar black and red crossed his vision, the player was wearing black and red armor and was quickly out of Mane’s sight as he flew pass them, the player was clearly heading to where they came from— to the festival arena, and he knew exactly who that player was.
“Flame, what was the color of Wemmbu’s new shield?” Mane ask, his eyes still trained to where the player was heading to.
“you’re so weird today bro, it was like black and red, had this weird pattern on it, not Wemmbu’s usual stuff like.” Flame ranted as he looked back to his brother.
“Sharpness.” Mane whispered as he gritted his teeth.
“huh? what’s that guy got to do with this?” Flame asked in utter confusion.
“He taught Wemmbu the sword back then, he’s back to his trainer stuff I’m sure.” Mane said running his hand through his locs.
Flame seemed to have realized what Mane meant and closed his mouth.
See, Mane used to know Sharpness like way back before, when Mane was still 16 and still learning proper pvp, he met Sharpness and they became pvp buddies. Then when the Zam empire happened Sharpness showed up again, this time he was much better in pvp he ranked top 100 in the world that time. Mane and Sharpness had this petty fight about Mane’s training. Because Sharpness saw how Mane trained the guard, and according to the sword master it was unfair to the students that was only eager to learn— true to Sharp’s word, Mane’s student after being trained by him for months quit pvp all together.
And even after that, Mane still seems to not have seen his mistake and still continued to stick with his harsh way of training. So when he trained Wemmbu it still stuck, and now the two have this overly complicated relationship around them now, completely irredeemable of any actions.
Mane decided that today he’ll pay Wemmbu a visit, it’s been a while since they talked, and maybe he wants to clear up some misunderstanding here and there you know, so that when they talk to each other again, the air won’t be so awkward.
He got the coordinate to Wemmbu’s new base from Flame, and well it won’t hurt to give your little brother previous student a surprise visit right? Well yea of course it’s fine, like who wouldn’t wanna see The Manepear!
Flying towards the base, a silhouette of a giant tree made its way to Mane’s vision, and he slowed down and landing on the nearby area, and right beside it was a weird looking stone structure.
The lion decide to just walk towards the small way there, giving himself some time to think about what to say or maybe any excuses he could make just so he could see Wemmbu again, looking in front, the tree kinda reminded him of his old base, the one in where he trained Wemmbu, and the stone structure is kinda like the temple Egg was staying at— he must admit, those moments were special to him and the two chungi did mean a lot to him.
The sound of totem popping brought Mane out of his thoughts. his mind immediately going places, so he run as fast as he could towards where he assume the training area was in, his heart pounding as he took every step, wondering what could be happening, but he decided to calm himself— and what he saw did make him calm, because it was Wemmbu on the air, his wings flapping furiously as he whines at the person below him, someone Mane was so familiar with.
A sword master, capable enough to beat him, a person who would betray their own teammate for their very own benefit, yet he is also someone very capable enough to protect those who truly cared about, and wouldn’t actually abandon someone, blond hair always in a perfect braid that seemingly glows under the sunlight— Mane’s own blond locs who seems to dim in sunlight couldn’t compare.
The both of them has fought many battles before, and now once did Mane let it get to his head, but now, seeing his brother— students laughing and giggling because of Sharpness, it made Mane rethink all the things he had done in his life, from the moment he decided to betray the Zam empire, training Wemmbu, and leaving him there in that tree.
Mane quickly downed an invisibility potion to hide himself— no matter how great of a sword master Sharpness is, he is extremely blind. Sneaking towards the side, enough to hear the conversation between the two, but making sure that he was hidden as well.
“That was totally unfair!!!” Wemmbu shouted as he landed down in front of Sharpness, dust flying everywhere because of his sharp and harsh landing, the blond merely stood there, his arms cross and grinning like he won something.
“You said you want to know what it feels like to be when fighting right? There a hands on melee pvp to distract you, but an unknown trap under or in front of you,” Sharpness stated, walking around a bit, his heels digging towards a specific area and destroying the dirt block there to reveal a pit.
“I won’t be fighting that stupid purple rabbit anyways, this is stupid,” Wemmbu replied, wings flapping in annoyance, and his tail briefly hitting Sharp’s back.
“Well yea, but spatial awareness is good for you,” Sharp patted Wemmbu’s head as he said that, making sure to not mess up the hairstyle, he then placed his hand on Wemmbu’s shoulder and dusted off the dirt that flew there due to his tantrum earlier.
Mane just stood there, and watched the scene unfold in front of him, a bitter feeling in his stomach, because he knows that even when he craves to have this kind of relationship with Wemmbu ever again, it won’t be possible because the endling seems to be wary pf him now and no longer trust him— his student won’t be looking for him anymore.
“yea yea okay teach,”
“Wemm, have you ever had a teacher before me?” Sharpness asked. Mane’s ear seems to twitch as he heard the question, wondering if Wemmbu will still look back and call him his teacher.
“I had you, then this guy…I don’t remember, but he taught me the mace…?” Wemmbu’s tail swayed back and forth slowly, a swaying that seems to be in a calm manner and casual way.
The moment Mane heard what Wemmbu said, he had tuned out everything else, and the realization on why Wemmbu seems to have been treating him rather fairly sunk in, it’s not because Wemmbu has forgiven him, but because he does not remember that it was Mane who did those horrible thing to him— not only that, but the endling probably have no memory of all the good moments they had, he knows he had them, but he will never know who is behind the unknown face.