“..we have Commander Habana and Queen Habana battling in Round two!”
The announcement brought a wide grin to both of their faces, the wait for this fight had been almost frustratingly long, the Commander had been the one waiting the longest, she had searched out the brackets before the first fight had even begun, spurred on by comments made by the Capper who had been forced to show her around the place. While her first opponent had proven interesting the fact that she could face the other Habana, the QUEEN Habana was what had her play into the means she had taken the guarantee her first round victory.
But curious as she was the Commander had taken great pains to make sure she got any information on her counterpart, she wanted to go in blind, to see how different they really were and to find out from her what had placed HER at the top of the Empire. The brackets indicated that that Universe still had its Zucceta so death was not simply the answer, and even more curiously it was not simply a strange twist of fate that had reversed her and Zucceta’s lots in life driving Habana to the top and Zucceta as her second, no Zucceta was not even Commander. Something had gone QUITE odd with that universe but the Commander wanted answers from only one person.
While the Commander had been anticipating this fight for a while longer the Queen had only known it was possible once the first round had been completed, escaping the brackets had become quite a bit more difficult then and ultimately curiosity got the better of her. It had been disappointing to see that Shem hadn’t progressed to the second round but the fact that she would be fighting essentially herself had made Habana VERY interested in the coming round.
Where the Commander had kept herself mostly in the dark, the Queen had done just a bit of digging and boy was she disturbed by what she found. She could hardly believe that the Commander of Universe 3 even was another version of herself, despite sharing a name and a face everything that she learned of her was so contrary to what Habana knew about herself that she couldn't even begin to understand what might have changed in that Universe to produce her.
The Commander took off leaping into the planetoid arena with a wide vicious grin eagerly anticipating her opponents arrival, the Queen was about to do the same when a hand grabbed hold of her shoulder
“Just a minute there” a voice spoke from behind her causing Habana to wheel around “you, you’re the man she fought last round” Habana said narrowing her eyes at the man ‘Captain Ryota’ he seemed to grin as she recognized who he was.
“That would be correct, no worries though I’m not here to mess with you before your fight or anything. I’m here to help” “I dont need help, I’m quite capable of beating her on my own” Habana said narrowing her eyes at the man, his energy felt.. Strange.. Familiar and foreign all at once.
“Ordinarily I’d agree, everything my buddy Cypress learned about you says you’d do well against her. Decent chance of winning too if you keep your head” he said pausing just long enough for Habana to grit her teeth in annoyance
“but she’s not playing fair. Dunno if she’ll give a go at busting out what she did to me against you but I wanna make sure everything remains on the up and up, I don't want him fucking anyone else over.” Habana raised an eyebrow
“who?” “All things considered it’s probably best I not say anything. It’ll rattle you a bit too much. The two of them probably don’t figure I’m still alive buuuut I’m a bit harder to put down than even he probably understands so they wont know that I can give you the heads up, don’t use the power you were given, no matter how rough it gets, use the stuff you earned yourself. Oh, and if you could, do me a favor and break whatever runes she's put on my sword eh? I’m rather attached to that blade and I’d like it back” The Captain said switching from serious to friendly in an instant before whirling Habana around
“Now I’d suggest getting out there before they DQ you or something” Habana twisted back around to question or perhaps even deck the man in the face but already Ryota was walking away and she knew he was right, if she wanted her fight she would need to move now.
“Bastard…” The Queen muttered turning back and with a pulse of power launched herself into the air and onto the arena.
“Someone took her time, a pleasure to finally have you here my Queen” the Commander said her voice dripping with condescension as she mockingly bowed as low as her body would allow
“I worried perhaps that you were not as eager for this battle as I have been” she said as she returned to an upright position.
“You don’t have to worry about that, I’ve been looking forward to this since I saw your name on the bracket, just got a bit held up” the Queen responded, it was a bit off putting to know she and the Commander were apparently both eager for this fight, she’d liked it better when she had believed the Commander was entirely her opposite some awful corrupted mirror.
“Ooooooh, Now that’s a rather nasty look you’ve fixed me with. Usually I only get that when I’m burning someone’s world” the Commander spoke watching her counterpart’s reactions carefully, try as the Queen might to keep a stern blank expression she knew her own tell’s quite well, small twitches of her lip, an intensifying of her eye’s glow. Anger. How curious. The Queen didn’t much like the idea of the Commander casually mentioning the destruction of others.
“There’s something wrong with you” The Queen finally spoke after a few moments taking a few steps forward, the Commander responded in kind by taking a few steps back.
“No I think there’s something wrong with you ‘Bana” the Commander responded with a wide grin
“Don’t call me that. Only those I’m close to are allowed to” the Queen said narrowing her eyes and lunging forward taking the initiative and forcing the fight to properly begin, a heave right was met by the open palm of the Commander and the two quickly began trading blows dealing little to no proper damage due to the ease they had at reading each other.
“But who could you be closer you than yourself ‘Bana? Sure I’m a few universes away, but I’m still YOU“ the Commander thrashed at the Queen with reckless abandon probing her defenses to see just how well they knew each other, to see if they had diverged at a point that made a discernable difference in how they fought. She quickly found no exploitable differences, the Queen was just as capable a fighter almost frustratingly so.
“We might look the same, sound the same, have the same name. But you are not me, I’ve heard a bit of what you are like, I’m not at all like you and have no interest in becoming so” the Queen punctuated her statement by summoning a her power around her fist causing it to burn like violet fire as she struck the Commander, the Commander smirked as the fist passed through her gut. The Queen quickly swirled around blocking the attack from behind
“If we’re so different, why do we fight the same ‘Bana? If you’re so much better than me why do you fight like me? You knew I was coming to attack you from behind, its because that’s what you would have done, let them think they got you and then BAM fist right through the spine” “My style hasn’t changed much, it’s refined more over the past few years but is basically the same. You’re fishing for when we split off, every universe has its splitting point. I want to know too” “I know you do, like I said we cant be that different” the Commander said cutting off the Queen and causing her to grit her teeth.
“I was GOING to try and have some fun and get you to spill the beans over the course of the fight but FINE if you want to be such a stick in the-” The Commander stopped short and made a quick kick at the Queens that she quickly fended off
“see, you know yourself so well. But yes, you’re a stick in the mud, so I’ll take a few swings at our splitting point and we can see what sticks.” even still the Commander continued to press her assault
“but if you want ME to continue, you have to keep giving me a good fight. I don't get many back home anymore. I’ve already killed almost everyone worth killing” the Commander said letting out an almost wistful sigh.
“Also YOU have to give me some of your moments, I want to know what makes you so..” the Commander paused and made a vaguely disgusted look at Habana
“and it will move things along faster”“How terrible for you” The Queen deadpanned back but true to her counterpart’s request she attacked doing everything to push through the Commanders defenses
“I’m going to guess you haven't burned many worlds, since you got so agitated about that. How about when we killed the tree creature? It came to our Homeworld thinking it could face the entirety of the Empires might, Zucc was busy pushing out some fools so it fell to me to tear him to bits” “I feel certain our divergence will be quite a bit more impactful than Walker’s death. But while it happened differently for me, it did happen, Shemha and I killed him on Namek though”“Oh yes the Majin, you have very odd taste ‘Bana. Though I suppose she’s pretty enough” the Commander said with a shrug earning a very brief window of surprise from the Queen, the Commander took it in an instant swiping her talon like nails across the Queen’s face
‘AHA! You do have some buttons to push, how fun” she said punctuating her statement by licking some blood from her nail
“hm… so that’s what we taste like. Not bad I suppose” the Commander added with a shrug
“I should have figured you were the type to play dirty” “oh come off it, I think we both know you’re not above such things. We’ve used our ability to get under others skin since we were children, and I’m sure you’re not so above it now” the Queen glared at her counterpart but remained silent striking at her quickly to try and cut off that line of conversation. She HAD done similar things but usually it was just in spars, like she had against Maeve. Usually her big fights were a bit too serious for playful banter.
“Come on now it's YOUR turn ‘Bana” the Commander urged on her counterpart getting a scowl and a hard right from the Queen
“Fine, how about Kanassa, that one’s a bit further back, before anything with Namek or Walker. We went to back up Zucceta while she set up the Tree of Might, it was the last time the thing was used and where she unlocked the ascended form” the Queen said earning a raised eyebrow from the Commander, not enough confusion unfortunately to throw her off quite as much as her comment had done for the Queen.
“Oh I think we’re onto something, that's VERY different from my Universe. We’ve still got the Tree going back home. I don’t think I’ve ever actually been to Kanassa, Zucc might have gone? I’m fairly certain we killed all of the future seer’s though, there really wasn’t any need for them. After all the future is already set to have us at the helm” the Commander added with an excited grin, the Queen however was a mix of emotions, it DID make sense that if U3 was as bad as it sounded they likely kept going with the Tree, that Zucceta seemed to lack the change of heart that hers had.
“Wait.. you mentioned Namek again, your universe still has a Namek?” the Commander said genuinely pausing flipping backwards when the Queen dove at her with a hard left
“Yes, it was returned shortly after the Invasion of Earth” “How? The Earth’s dragon balls went out after..”“The Invasion” the two Habana’s said at once both trains of thought linking up as the Commander spoke “The Invasion was total victory in my Universe, Zucc’s new form was too much for the Earthlings ‘best’ and once we picked off a few of them the rest fell easily enough, I claimed my true power and got a few wonderful prizes out of the deal” the Commander reached into a compartment on her armor producing a capsule and clicking it causing a burst of smoke as a familiar massive blade appeared, she snatched it out of the air and twirled it around in her hand once.
“I quite like the sword, but it’s wielder was my real prize” another almost-wistful look from the Commander marred by a vicious grin at the memories associated with the blade.
The Queen stared in horror as she understood exactly what the Commander meant, frankly the revelation that they had likely all but destroyed the Earth and its people paled in comparison to the fact that there was a version of herself that had instead of befriending Maeve, likely, by the way she spoke of it, enslaved her.
“Ooh, you’ve gone all quite and horrified again. You didn’t seem to like how I described our victory over Earth… but you REALLY didn't like this” the Commander waved Fateburn in the air like a toy, with none of the respect that it's true wielder had given it “don’t tell me you’re close with her in your universe too are you? Now THAT is taste I can respect” the Commander said with a wink.
The Queen snapped her aura shifted in an instant going golden and then sparking with electricity born of her rage
“SHUUUUUT UUUUUUUUUUP” she came at her like a wild animal, the Commander having only a moment to take a step back and initiate her own transformation the same form she had taken to fight the Captain before.
“Oof I’ve really hit a nerve” Unfortunately despite the Queen’s fury the Commander fought well, any attack wild enough to fall outside of what the Commander knew of her own style was defended by the bulk of Fateburn, the Queen couldn't quite bring herself to strike the blade with her full power nor was she entirely sure it was a weapon that could be properly destroyed.
“Come on ‘Bana, we don't have much longer. Tell me YOUR story, then I can actually get serious” the Queen growled at the implication, that her counterpart was holding back, she knew it had to be a bluff but it infuriated her still EVERYTHING about her infuriated the Queen.
“We lost, my squad betrayed the Empire, Vi-Poi and Reikiko were able to face Zucc at essentially full strength. Maeve and I had one of the best fights in my life, despite everything she became one of my closest friends.. She helped me.. something was off with me when we fought she set me straight, the betrayal allowed me to transform after she’d basically beaten me.”The Commander stared curiously
“off? Set you straight? You… “ The Commander seemed almost lost for words entirely dumbfounded, enough even that Habana managed a powerful blow that knocked Fateburn out of the Commanders hands sending it flying only to embed itself deep in the arena’s floor.
“You turned your back on him? For HER?! ” The Commander’s aura seemed to grow thicker the angerier she grew
“YoU UNGRATEFUL PIECE OF SHIT” it was the Commander’s turn for outrage, she dashed forward clicking open two more capsules revealing a wooden blade pulsing with purple energy and the sword of the Captain. The Queen had little time to understand her counterpart’s outrage as she was forced to defend herself summoning forth a kinetic blade on each arm to more easily defend herself.
“Fighting with Maeve taught me how to protect myself aga-” “SHUT UP SHUT UP YOU DON'T GET TO TALK HOW DARE YOU” the Queen’s voice was entirely overwhelmed by the Commander’s rage, the Queen could barely understand it she wasn’t even entirely sure WHY the Commander was so furious, the Queen was the one facing the monster that had enslaved her best friend and yet even now the Commander seemed MORE angry somehow.
As they clashed the Queen had enough time to catch sight of the blade the Captain had mentioned, his weapon DID sport a few clearly extra’s now, glowing purple runes on the blade itself, thankfully they didn’t seem etched into the weapon simply attached via… magic? The Queen didn’t quite understand mystical arts particularly well, the other weapon was another piece of work.. She could sense from it, the Commander’s power was definitely being channeled through it but there was more, another signature, a familiar one.
“You made the tree into a weapon?” the Queen voiced her question more to herself than anything as she slashed at the Commander
“YES AND MAYBE I'LL DO THE SAME TO YOU WHEN IM DONE” The Queen quickly found that her skill at defending against sword users was roughly the equivalent to the Commander’s skill WITH a sword, once again placing them at a stalemate.
She needed SOMETHING to take her down, but Habana couldn't quite think of really ANYTHING that she’d picked up after the Invasion that would make a difference, even on the off chance that the Commander DIDN'T have the Final Flash there was no time to power it up, the Commander’s assault was relentless and painful as it was to admit she didn’t see enough difference between them to expect that she had not brought it back as well.
But then it came to her, quite literally in a flash, the Queen saw the Commander’s next attack sequence and simply stepped out of the way entirely abandoning genuine defense in favor of simply moving to the exact place that the attack would have been, the Commander stared in confusion for a second too long as the Queen took advantage a flurry of blows her attacks slightly readjusted as brief glimpses of what defenses the Commander would attempt came in.
The wooden blade was knocked free from the Commander hand, the Captain's sword unfortunately was not instead the Queen only managed a broad cut across its blade cutting through the purple glyph
“HOW, WHAT!? NO THATS BULLSHIT!” The Commander growled as she shook her wrist and backed away trying to move to reclaim the wooden blade but being forced to backflip away as a series of energy blasts intercepted her path to it.
“I forgot, you already told me exactly what I needed to beat you. I was just so wrapped up in how awful you are it didn’t quite register with me until now. I’m going to enjoy tearing you apart for the things you’ve done. I barely know anything about what you’ve been up to but what you’ve told me paints the exact picture I need” “SHUT YOUR MOUTH, YOU CANT BEAT ME, YOU BETRAYED WHAT YOU SHOULD HAVE BECOME” The Commander roared rushing at Habana again causing the two to clash
“No, I became better. I might not be perfect, but I’m damn well better than YOU and you know what. I think I’m going to REALLY enjoy changing things back home after all of this, I’ll make my Empire exactly the sort of thing you’d hate” try as the Commander might she quickly found herself entirely unable to land a blow
“I NEED MORE, BREAK THERE STUPID LIMITS I NEED TO KILL HER” The Commander shouted her power wavering as if it were trying to break the limits the Vargas had placed, the Queen was frankly not entirely sure if that was even possible, the Vargas DID seem confident in there setup but she also wasn’t keen on the idea of finding out.
The Queen rushed her counterpart slamming dead center into her chest
“RAAAAAAAAA” the Commander let out an animalistic screech and rather than protecting herself clawed into Habana’s back as she was tackled to the ground
“DIE DIE DIE” the Queen was bombarded and quickly had to put a halt on her precognition, the attacks were at such close proximity that avoiding them was essentially impossible, but with how reckless her counterpart had gotten any defenses she had seemed abandoned as well, Habana stabbed at her opponent's chest with her kinetic blade causing a brief pause in the Commander’s assault as she registered the wound followed up quickly by Habana smashing her fist into the Commander’s face once.. Twice.. Her arm rose for another but as she did so the Commander managed to get hear bearings once again she twisted the blade around in her hand and stabbed into the Queen’s side.
The Queen paused, even when she foresaw it she’d had the instinct to move simply because of the visceral nature of the stabbing and how nearly it had happened, but her vision showed her that she would be fine and so she brought down her fist on the Commander’s face as the blade vanished before it ever even touched her, returning to its owner.
“NO AGH FUCKING DAMNIT aaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA” the Queen paused as the screech from her counterpart reached nearly ear piercing levels quickly though she pushed herself up and off of the Commander as an energy blast surged from her
“HOW DO YOU KEEP AVOIDING EVERYTHING”“YOU SHOULD NOT BE ABLE TO, WE SHOULD BE EVEN AT BEST OR I SHOULD BE BETTER” the Commander was quick to her feet blood streaming down her face as she glared at the Queen.
“You don't want the answer, but I’ll give you it. I’m pretty sure it's because between the two of us I have at least SOME compassion for others lives” as expected this DID infuriate the Commander
“BULLLLLLL SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT” even seeing her opponents moves before she could make them did not make it an entirely easy process to avoid the Commander’s attack, with her fury seemingly growing by the moment her attacks became more and more wild occasionally including bursts of energy that made simply sidestepping the attack not as feasible.
The Queen needed to end things soon, she didn’t want to leave things up to the judges, she wanted to show this other version of herself which of them was better, that her path of horror was the wrong one, the two clashed as the Commander ran full speed at the Queen, each strike from the Commander giving Habana a chance to move herself further into position.
Finally after a few moments of dodging and forcing the enraged Commander to chase her the Queen was in position, the Commander made another wild charge but thise time the Queen made no move to block her attack as he clawed hand letting her grab hold of her shoulder and sink her claws deep into it, the Queen grit her teeth but knew it was necessary, letting things go this way would delay the Commander’s response just long enough.
The Commander paused her assault briefly as she FINALLY connected, whatever it was that BITCH had done had finally run its course, she wasn’t untouchable anymore and soon she would be-
There was a sudden sharp pain that cut through the Commander’s thoughts she turned her head and saw she was missing something rather important. Her arm. “Wh” She began her brain locking up briefly over the shock of the wound, followed swiftly by the impact Fateburn’s pommel against the side of her head, and then again, and then a punch. And then darkness.
“THE WINNER OF THIS ROUND IS QUEEN HABANA”
The Commander had collapsed in a heap shortly before the declaration, between the Queens precognition and her blind rage she hadn’t seen that the Queen had moved them over to where Fateburn had embedded itself in the arena, and as she lay unconscious she never saw the Queen vaporize her Quilpoth blade as she departed the arena stealing from her three prizes in a single fight.
Habana didn’t much like leaving the Commander alive, but by the structure of the tournament she wasn’t going to STAY dead even if she had killed her, letting her live would probably be a greater insult anyway, especially once she noticed that Fateburn and the blade made from Walker were gone