"Why was Zack in your room?" Coco asked Vito as he was sitting down with the loners. Vito didn't answer and merely ate. Coco clicked her tongue and was about to swipe the shredded carrots away. But Vito reacted abnormally fast. Vito grabbed her hand and Coco was stunned to see that Vito was way stronger than he was when they last fought.
Vito flung Coco over his shoulder. She fell on the table, but fortunately everyone moved their bowls before Coco destroyed their meals. Vito silently finished the last of his carrots and put it down while looking her in the eye. "No reason." He said without adding anything more. Vito walked over towards the lunch ladies and gave them his empty bowl. Coco had a scowl on her face.
Vito shook his head as he walked away not talking to her. Coco got back up and followed Vito. Vito frowned and felt like she was a nuisance. But for some reason, Vito didn't want her to leave him. It was a conflicting feeling. He hated her, but he also didn't want her to go away from him. Feelings suck. Vito didn't say anything as Coco probed for information. "Why was Zack there?"
"Are you two planning something? Is it about me? Are you two planning on killing me? If you don't answer, I'll snitch on you two..." Coco kept saying random crap as Vito began to practise dagger combat. Coco stopped her blabbing as she saw Vito's skills. They were much better than even the guard's combat skills. But then again, they were in one of the farthest and poorest Bastions.
Vito was skilled in combat. Not Jay's level yet, but he wasn't too far from it. He could slice twice in a span of a single second while Jay could slice thrice and sometimes four times in a second, depending on his momentum and whether he used his power. If he did use his power, he could easily double to six or seven slashes in a single second. And this wasn't even Vito when he was using his Insectoid Body. He equipped the Training Regime.
Coco watched from a distance as Vito trained the basics of dagger combat. And she eventually got bored as she walked over with a wooden greatsword. There was a plethora of wooden weapons in the training field. And Coco wanted to spar with him. Vito looked at her as Coco walked three metres before him. She raised the great sword and attacked. Vito took a step back and got into a stance. The spar began.
Coco was quick, her potential and talent with swords were unmatched. But she preferred greatswords more. Coco had way more talent in weaponry than Vito, if not for the Training Regime boosting his training, he could never catch up. Coco swung with unrelenting power. Vito calculated the odds barely as he ducked under the blade and sprung forward. Coco sneered and used the handle of the great sword to hit Vito in the arm.
He wasn't deterred as Vito raised the wooden dagger and slashed with it. In a mere second Coco was forced to abandon the sword and side stepped two times. As the sword dropped, Coco sent a fist to Vito's face. Vito got ready to fling her over his shoulder again, but it was a feint. Coco twisted her body and grabbed her sword before raising it quickly. Vito was sent into the air. He had no panic in his eyes as he fell.
Coco spun around to gain momentum and was ready to win the spar. Vito twisted his body mid-air as he used his dagger to block the devastating blow. But the dagger broke and Vito was sent flying. Vito rolled on the ground with the handle of the dagger. Coco excelled in weapon fighting but was trash in hand to hand combat. Vito was the vice-versa. He excelled in hand to hand combat and sucked in weapon fighting.
Both had their strengths and weaknesses, that was why Vito wanted to create a dagger talent to make up for his weakness. Coco sighed and leaned on the great sword. "I win." Coco told him simply. Vito got back up and nodded. "You win." Though Coco knew she couldn't beat him in a no weapon fight. But nevertheless. She wanted to see how good he was using his fists. She dropped the great sword and put her hands up.
Vito knew that a new battle was inevitable as everyone else was already spectating the fight since it began. Even Sergeant Jay was immersed in the battle. Vito breathed in and out without switching his talents. Even if he used Insectoid Body or Rot Attack or even Hunter's Sense, he doubted he could best Coco with a real weapon of her choice. He'd die before he even knew how he died. Vito made the first move as he reached Coco's position in seconds.
Coco was endlessly trying to see what move he was going to do next. Vito sent a fist to her face, Coco blocked it. But the attack was a diversion as with his left fist, Vito slammed it into her stomach. The girl scoffed as Vito did a flying crane kick and sent her a few steps back. Following up with the relentless onslaught, Vito used his hand speed to send three punches on Coco's back but not spine.
Coco grunted and flew her head up, headbutting Vito in the face. His nose broke, but it'd be fixed later. Sticky blood dripped down his nose as Coco breathed heavily. She was outmatched, his regeneration ability allowed him to be fearless. But he played fair in the last round and would play fair again. It was merely a spar and Coco knew that he wouldn't so easily give up in a real fight. Coco attacked again with a powerful punch to his face.
Vito wasn't worried as he stepped back whilst side stepping. He stepped forward with his hand raised and using the accelerating speed, he gave Coco a broken nose too. Coco landed on the floor with her nose bleeding. She'd lost this round. 1 - 1, even. "Fuck me." Coco said under her breath. Blood oozed from the nose as Vito reached out for her hand. Coco grabbed it and was pulled up. "I win." Coco scoffed. "Fine, you win." Vito smiled slightly. Jay appeared out of nowhere at that moment.
"Bravo! Take note, both combatants fought fiercely. There were a few fatal mistakes if this was a real fight, but it is merely a spar." Jay appeared and complimented the two brawlers. Everyone saluted the Sergeant. "At ease. Now, you two. Would you like to explain what you would do if it was a real fight? Coco, you go first."
Both Vito and Coco held back for the two fights. Coco could've easily targeted Vito's heart and ended him when he was dropping from the air, or when she first attacked by aiming the blade lower. Vito could've crippled Coco by breaking her spine, but he didn't. He could've also killed her by targeting her neck in the final blow, but took her nose instead. Both of them knew that.
"I could have killed Vito by crushing his heart in the first few moves. And when he was falling, sir!" Coco stood tall and straight saluting him. Jay turned to Vito. "I could have destroyed her neck during the final blow. And I could have broken her spine, sir!" Vito did the same thing Coco did. He didn't want to attract extra attention. "Good, good. I'll make sure to praise you both to the Captain."
"Since we already had a duel today. Everyone get into training partners and spar! And I'd like to see you two in my office." Jay ordered, the children clones saluted one last time and got into pairs. Zack partnered with Scott and Maya partnered with one of the female loners. Coco and Vito followed Jay to his office.
"Since you two did an excellent performance. I'd like to reward you both. Is there anything you'd like?" Jay asked them as they sat in his air conditioned office. Damn, the entire office is probably worth more than the wooden weapons we used. Coco thought bitterly, Vito nudged her a little bit. "Something for Coco's nose would do finely." Coco was stunned at Vito's words, she felt a little warm.
"Yeah, I'd like something for it." Coco said and Jay nodded and grabbed some nose crutches (what the hell are they called?) from his top drawer. "Here, anything else?" How could Vito word his needs without hinting at what he was planning? Fortunately, he could say this. "I'd like access to the item storage. I want to explore a little." It was innocent enough. Jay nodded and gave him a card. "Granted. And you, Coco?"
"Better food." Jay nodded. "Granted, just go to the kitchen's back with this." It was another card but for the kitchen. Jay encouraged the two a little more before sending them out of the office. Coco left, but for some reason she was clutching Vito's hand. Vito noticed this weird abnormal action. But Coco didn't say anything and let go hesitantly. "I'll see you later... loser." But she didn't really mean the last part. "How weird." Vito commented before looking at the card in his hand with glee.