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Wind sat down next to Cap.
"So, you must be the man Tetra told me about."
Cap looked at him curiously.
"You mentioned that name before, but I don’t know her."
"You haven’t met her yet?” Wind hummed in thought before smirking. "Should I tell you?"
Cap shrugged. "Time is so broken that I’m not sure what difference it would make. Maybe leave out events. So, who’s Tetra?"
"She’s a pirate! And my captain—a ship captain, not an army one." Wind nodded to himself. "I remembered what an army captain is. Tetra told me about it, but her descriptions were more colorful than the explanation Mask gave."
Cap smiled at that.
"Besides being a good storyteller, she’s a good leader. She’s also bossy, demanding, fearless, stubborn… She’ll do anything to get what she wants," Wind listed. "She’s also my best friend, I guess."
"Sounds like I’ll have a lot on my hands."
Wind laughed. "Good luck, captain. You’re going to need it. Oh, the stories she told." Wind eyed the captain thoughtfully. "You’re different from how she described you."
"How so?"
Wind propped his chin on his hand as he thought about how to answer.
"Quieter, I guess," Wind settled on. "In general. You were the focus of so many stories, I'm surprised you've stuck to the background so often."
Cap didn't have anything to say about that.
Wind tried to backpedal when he got no response.
"Not that it's bad. There's nothing wrong with that," he sputtered. "She probably just stuck to the highlights."
Cap still didn't have anything to say, but he rested a hand on the back of Wind's neck comfortingly. Wind settled down, a little flushed with embarrassment.
After a pause, Wind said, "Nothing very exciting has happened yet—well, except for Mister Wild-man's crazy magic," Wind swirled his hands around his head in a loose approximation of Aspect's sign for Wild, "—but she made you sound cool. When she wasn't poking fun, anyway."
"Are you saying I'm not cool?" The corner of Cap's mouth quirked up as he raised an eyebrow.
Wind's flush returned.
"I'm saying nothing cool has happened yet! There haven't been any chances to show off – nothing to slay, no puzzles to solve; we're just walking all the time." He threw his hands up in frustration before letting himself fall backwards onto the ground.
Cap was used to weeks of marching from one destination to another. It didn't bother him. But there was one thing that broke up the monotony of the walking. Actually, for a soldier it was just another part of the monotonous routine and was often disliked, but for a bored kid like Wind…
"That sword isn't just for show, is it?"
"Huh?" Wind blinked up at him.
"You must know how to use it, right?"
"Of course I do!" He looked offended by the implication that he wouldn't be able to wield his own weapon.
"Then why don't we spar? I'd like to see you in action." Cap smiled at him.
Wind brightened.
"Yes! That'd be awesome!"
Cap's smile fell.
"There's just one problem. I don't have any training weapons with me."
"Why can't we use our regular weapons?" Wind said, like a boy who had always trained using the same sword he used to kill monsters.
Cap raised his eyebrows.
"We aren't aiming to draw blood in a spar."
"Are you saying you can't block?" Wind challenged.
Cap shook his head with a sigh. Kids.
"Accidents happen."
There hadn't been any trees for a while so finding some good straight branches to spar with was unlikely.
"Maybe the tech guy has something we can use," Cap thought aloud.
"Which one?"
"The wild one with the hand. He seems to carry a lot of random things. But maybe the other one has something. Or someone else."
Wind shrugged.
"I don't see why we can't just use our swords."
~ ~ ~
Wild was able to give them one branch after vanishing a rock that was fused to its tip.
"The other wood I'm carrying is only fit for firewood. I'd fuse it to a sword, but I can't get it to fuse in any way other than this…"
His hand glowed blue and a tendril of light snapped the chopped wood onto the stick – horizontally. It looked vaguely like a wooden hammer, but a completely useless one.
Wild vanished the firewood and handed over the bare branch with an apologetic expression.
"Well, thanks for this, at least," Cap said as he hesitantly took their new training "weapon".
"It's a really good stick," Wind added with a look of wonder.
"What are you moping for?" Vet nudged Twilight's boot.
"I have an actual training sword, but I left it at home."
"That's too bad," said Verdi.
"Nothing to be done about it now," River said.
Cap tapped his fingers against their one training weapon idly. He trusted his own ability to defend himself. He was mostly worried that he'd accidentally injure the sailor. The boy didn't have the protection that Cap had with his chainmail. Cap had sparred against the engineer and even little Mask countless times; between that experience against smaller opponents and the chainmail, he'd be fine.
"Well, congratulations, kid. You get to use your sword after all."
Wind's frown at the word "kid" turned into a grin.
"You trust yourself to block better with a stick than with a sword?"
His grin fell as he squinted in thought. "That makes sense, actually," he said, like a boy whose teacher always caught his attacks on the wooden shaft of his spear when they were training.
Cap didn't reply to his odd comment as he walked a good distance from where the rest of the group was resting. He tested the weight and balance of the branch while Wind took a spot opposite to him, and the rest of the group shuffled around to have a good view of their battle.
They both readied their "swords" and shields.
"Are you both ready?" Sky asked.
Both nodded.
"Then I'll count you down. On one: Three."
Cap made sure his knees were bent.
"Two."
He fought to avoid letting his muscles clench in anticipation so his movement wouldn't be hindered.
"Hey, Cap—"
Cap twitched as he stopped himself from moving as Sky interrupted his own count.
"—you should bring me that branch when you're done with it. If that's okay?" Sky directed his question to Wild, who shrugged.
"I can find another."
"Great."
…
"Were you going to count them down?" said Quartz.
"Right." Sky rubbed the back of his neck. "Three. Two. One!"
Neither sprang into an attack, both watching each other's movements as they circled one another. Cap usually attacked first, with a focus on overwhelming his opponent and ending the fight quickly, but he wanted to see what Wind could do. And maybe give them both a chance to show off a little.
Wind quickly grew impatient and tried to provoke Cap with a single swipe towards his left.
Cap knocked it aside with his "sword". He didn't take the opportunity to attempt a counterattack.
He wasn't holding his shield in a blocking position yet, though he was prepared to. He wanted to see how Wind would approach him while his defenses were lowered.
Wind went for a center stab.
Cap redirected the attack once more, but Wind followed up with two more stabs and an upward diagonal slash.
Cap parried the first two and dodged the slash by jumping backwards.
Wind pressed the attack by rolling towards him and shooting up with another stab, which Cap caught on his shield. Impressive move.
Wind's determined frown became a disappointed one. He jumped to the side and did a jump slash.
Cap dodged to the other side. Wind's attack had left him vulnerable, but Cap didn't take advantage of it.
Wind stepped back and lowered his sword a little.
"What are you, a training dummy? I thought this was going to be a proper spar. Why are you only blocking?"
"You wouldn't want the fight to end too quickly, would you?" Cap replied.
Wind scoffed. "If you're not going to make this exciting, I might as well save my energy for more walking."
"Fine."
Cap flicked his sword with a flourish before closing the distance and doing a diagonal slash immediately followed by a horizontal slash from the other direction.
Wind quickly blocked both with his shield. Good, the kid had some fine defensive instincts.
Cap put some space between them once more.
When Wind didn't immediately attack, Cap went in for a few more strikes.
When Wind continued catching him on his shield, Cap leaped into the air with a horizontal slice.
Rather than Wind's shield arm being knocked aside like Cap expected, Wind held his position, only sliding back a little due to the extra force. The kid was surprisingly strong.
"Now who's blocking?" Cap said.
"Get 'im, kid!" could be heard from their audience.
Wind responded with a combo of strikes.
Cap attempted to return the favor, but Wind backflipped out of range.
Cap prepared a flurry of combos when Wind came back within striking distance, realizing too late that Wind's defenses were completely down. Before he even had a chance to soften his blows, Wind ducked under the swing with a roll that ended in Cap's blind spot.
He didn't get a chance to turn before he felt a slash up the chainmail on his back. The force of the unexpected attack left him stumbling forward.
There was a chorus of cheers and teasing oo's from their audience.
"Oops," Wind said with a wince.
Cap got his feet back under him and faced Wind with his posture erect.
"The chainmail caught it – you didn't hurt me. Good job. That was a very impressive move there."
"Thanks," Wind said, "but it's not that. I tried to hit you with the flat of my blade, but it still sliced your tunic. Orca always catches my attack before it gets that far…"
Cap reached behind him to feel the gap in the fabric. He held back a wince. It wouldn't be the first or last time he would need to repair a tear. He probably should have removed the overtunic before they started, but he'd been too overconfident in his abilities against the child.
"Don't worry about it," he said as he sheathed his sword. "Now that I know what to expect, I won't be going so easy on you next time." The kid's attacks had been more complicated than any his fellow soldiers, including the young heroes he was used to sparring with.
"You were going easy on me? I've defeated bigger things than you, you know! We can keep fighting!"
Cap shook his head. "Another time. We still have a long ways to walk."
Wind groaned at the reminder.