Indigo still wasn't sure how he'd let Indi talk him into this. It was practically the middle of the night, and they were sneaking off into the Haligan woods to spar. Well, technically not sneaking per se, as Indigo had intentionally not gone out during the day so he could say he had wanted to be out one evening... but still.
"I mean you're like... four hundred years old and in jail, how well can you fight?" His doppelganger had stated.
"I can fight just fine. I just haven't for a couple months."
"Alright then, cuz, prove it!"
And so they made a bet. To go all out.
Indigo was already regretting this. He'd even grabbed his old fireproof armor, though Indi had yet to see him wear it.
"C'mon, gramps, I wanna see your style." Indi stated, putting on his own helmet. The cords that connected to his suit lit up, and a cape appeared seemingly from nowhere. He began stretching dramatically.
Indigo sighed and put on his own armor, remembering how safe it made him feel to hide himself from everything except his family. That made him feel... mysterious.
Indi watched as he finished it with his cape, and the Indigo Phantom was all dressed up for the first time in months. "Well, how do I look?" He asked.
Indi put a hand to his chin in thought, circling his twin.
"I can see what you meant by we have the same style. But what's with the excessively long cape? Doesn't that get caught on things?" He grabbed the edge of the purple colored scaled cape. "Is this... made of dragons?"
"No, of course not! Have you not payed attention to who I am?" Indigo huffed. "It's made of SHED scales. Dragons shed a lot, especially in summer. I used my own fire and magic to melt them down and make armor and the cape out of them. It took decades to make it work. And also, I can glide with this cape."
Indi sniggered. "Heh, imagine having to have fireproof clothes... but for the opposite problem most people have. You'd burn your own clothes. That's funny."
"I beg to differ, it's the opposite of hysterical. I've had to live like this for literally centuries." Indigo sighed. "Alright, let's get this sparring match over with."
"Are you eager to get back to your stone cell, old guy?" Indi taunted lightly, pulling out his energy-based sword. "C'mon, let's do this. Bring it on, Indigo Phantom."
Indigo tightened his gloved hands into fists and pulled out a sword of pure flame. Ever since Dixie had been by a couple weeks ago... well, he'd been aching to fight something. May as well be another version of himself. "Alright, you go first."
Indi grinned under his mask and ran at Indigo, surprisingly fast for all the extra metal armor. Evidently it was built for that. Indigo watched his opponent as he always did before attacking, dodging and weaving around Indi's attacks.
He already guessed they'd be evenly matched, with only slight differences in fighting style and experiences to differentiate them.
Indigo at least had a home advantage in terrain. He'd fought under many different conditions, snow included.
Indi was already looking annoyed with Indigo's dodging. "Hey, c'mon, are we gonna fight or are you gonna be slippery all day?" He huffed, backing up a bit.
"I tend to analyze how my opponent fights first." Indigo told him. "You rely on speed and dexterity much like I do."
"Yeah, yeah, less talk, more attack. Come on, ever since I saw those flames I've wanted to see what you can do." He grinned. "Especially after what you showed miss Chief. Do a whip or something."
Indigo chuckled. "We shall see. I've had more experience than you, cousin."
Indi growled and ran at him again, slicing for where he thought perhaps Indigo would dodge to, but his older counterpart was yet sneakier than he anticipated. Indigo went down on one leg, spun, and managed to sweep Indi's feet from under him. Using this, he stood again and spun the rest of the way around in one motion, and had a flaming sword inches from the neck part of the Phantom Pirate's armor.
"How's that for a geezer?" He asked, holding the sword for a only a second more and then letting Indi get up.
"No fair, you haven't even attacked, you just tripped me." Indi huffed again. "All's fair in a fight, I suppose, but still. Actually fight me."
"You don't want me to." Phantom told him.
"Yes, I do. That was literally the point. Go all out, or go back to your cell, zombie." Indi stated firmly, summoning his weapon back to his suit and pulling it out again.
Indigo shrugged and took a step back, sliding into a ready position. "If you insist."
He hadn't channelled his whole fighting ability for a while, but he took a deep breath and seemed to get serious at last.
He was very used to toying with those he didn't fully consider a threat. Like Farris, for one. As guilty as he felt about the past, those fights... had been invigorating.
He enjoyed fights, wit to wit.
He waited again, watching Indi, who finally grew impatient and ran at him again with a yell.
Indigo pulled out a sword and locked it with Indi's, resulting in quite the clash of energies. There was a harsh zap as the two swords met.
Indigo's pupils had thinned to slits, he was finally invested in the fight. He grinned and summoned a second sword, swinging for Indi's head, shooting a few fireblasts.
The Phantom Pirate was forced to back off, and found himself on the defensive as his older counterpart dodged and attacked with a speed he hadn't even thought possible from the old zombie.
They were locked in an old fashioned sword fight, one sword vs two, and Indi ended up having to make another choice.
He did have one advantage.
Purple energy wings sprouted from his back and he lifted off rather suddenly, now flying a bit above Indigo. "Hey cuz, you forgot I can fly!" He laughed, swooping in repeatedly like a diving falcon, aiming his sword at Indigo, even considering using his energy bow.
The fight had shifted, as one Phantom was grounded on his own, and the other had wings.
Indigo was on the defensive now, dodging and blocking the energy sword and the occasional boot aimed at his head, but he was still watching.
Always thinking and analyzing.
Indi was using the same swooping pattern over and over, only in different directions, sometimes changing up his pattern to swoop past Indigo's back or front cheekily.
He usually attack swooped just above Indigo's head, aiming his sword for something he could reach.
After a dozen or so of these, Indigo sommoned a very sudden flame whip, using it as a lasso, and dragged Indi down after it caught his foot.
Indi let out a startled yelp as Indigo yanked him back with the whip, making him crash into the snow backwards. He hadn't expected that.
As he tried to get airborn again, Indigo shot a fireblast into one of the wings, making it disappear with a flicker.
Indi managed to get to his feet, startled at now being grounded again. He watched as Indigo backed off a few steps, clearly pleased with the outcome.
Indi was very unpleased. He had to stop getting cocky, evidently. Indigo, despite age and being rusty, was far more cunning and quick thinking, besides having a lot of skill with his flames.
The two stared each other down for a good minute, each waiting for the other to make a move.
Indi was uncertain, but he wanted to see this through. He wanted to see how powerful his counterpart was, and see if he was stronger. He resummoned his sword again, letting the one functioning wing vanish for now.
Indigo came at him faster than he expected once again, but this time without a sword. Indi slashed out, wondering what on earth the fire zombie was going to pull out this time, and was startled when Indigo grabbed his sword in his hands in such a way that it didnt slice him. He suddenly had a leg to his groin, which gave Indigo the opportunity to take his sword from him.
Indi hissed in pain, doubling over. "Hey, ouch! C'mon, man! What was that for? unlike you, I ain't eighty percent dead!" He clutched the new painful area, thankful Indigo couldn't hit harder, since the armor that protected that area was relatively tough.
Indigo simply chuckled. "Oh, I'm sure that hurt. Had a similar thing done to me once... recently." He twirled the energy sword in one hand confidently.
"Hey, but you forgot something." Indi snickered.
Indigo tilted his head to one side like a curious hatchling. "Did I?" Before Indi could respond that he can summon his energy sword back, he suddenly had it thrown at him full speed.
He ducked instinctively as his own sword shot over his head and into the tree behind him, but before he could summon it he got a flaming punch to the face.
He skidded back a bit and looked up at Indigo, who'd paused for just a second as if to give Indi a chance to recover.
It only insulted him a little. "Stop toying with me, brother!" He grinned, making his weapon come back in the form of a bow. He shot an energy arrow at Indigo with a grin.
Indigo caught it, which startled him, and then the older Phantom lit ablaze with a roar. It was actually kind of cool. And scary. "Whatever you say, space boy!" Indigo growled. He ran for Indi once again, trailing flame, and Indi pulled out a longer weapon, one with two blades on each side and the handle in the middle, and started trying to block Indigo's attacks.
Indigo switched seamlessly between using flame swords to hit back against the energy weapon and throwing flame punches, slowly driving Indi back.
Indi even used his wing as an extra shield, trying to hold the old man back. Indigo was way stronger than he'd bargained for, but even then, he didn't have as many attacks.
He decided to go his own all out.
Indi's suit went from lightly glowing purple to almost pulsing with it, as he activated his own secret weapon. Energy claws shot out of his gauntlets, and he began slashing back at Indigo's swords and punches.
The two locked fists for a moment, hearts racing, the snow bathed in purple light, steam hissing up from the ground with every step the Demon of the South took.
Indi, filled with purple energy, managed to get a good grip on Indigo's hands and threw him to the side, pure strength flowing through him.
He'd never been in a fight this intense, even against most of the space pirates he was rivals with. This felt wild.
Indigo rolled gracefully with the throw, getting up again and running at Indi. Neither of them was going to let up, it seemed.
Indi had enhanced strength due to his chemical poisoned body, Indigo would heal from wounds and was filled with neverending flames. Both were cunning fighters, having spent entire lifetimes fighting, running, learning. One a life of piracy, the other a vigilante.
They'd already been at it a while.
Indi threw Indigo hard into a tree, which he expected to end it. He heard a crunch of bones and stood there panting a second, proud of himself. Indigo was taking longer to get up.
"Looks like I win, cuz! You put up a good fight though!"
Indigo barely heard him. His ears were ringing, and he could feel his spine heal, crunching back into place.
He stood up slowly, looking over at his doppleganger.
Neither seemed entirely sure if the spar was over, or who won. They stared for a long moment.
Indigo sighed and let himself relax at last stretching and groaning from some slight soreness. "I say we call it a draw." He told Indi. He looked over at the other with a challenging stare, as if warning him that he was done. No more.
Indi sighed and took off his helmet, face still glowing a bit of a freakish purple underneath. It seemed to be going away though. "Sure. But I'd love a rematch some time."
"Whatever." Indigo shrugged, taking off his mask. The cold night air was actually kind of nice on his face. He chuckled. "That felt pretty awesome. I haven't gotten to let loose in so long. I wish you could stay here." He murmured.
Indi frowned. "Yeah, I plan on staying a while, but not forever. Gotta get back to my own universe eventually. Who knows, maybe I'll visit. After all, doesn't seem like you're going anywhere."
Indigo smiled at him. "Nah, I'll be here a while. Feel free to drop in, Indi. It's nice to have a brother."
The Phantom Pirate grinned wildly, walking up and reaching out a hand. "Good fight, cousin Phantom." He said easily. "You fight good for someone so old."
"Experienced." Indigo told him, holding up a finger. "I prefer to think of it as a forced extended lesson in living. And it just gives me more experience."
"You're just trying to avoid the word ancient." Indi laughed cheekily.
Indigo frowned, looking a little downcast. "Yeah. I don't always like thinking about how long I've been under this undead curse." He murmured. "It's torture, you know."
Indi winced. "Oh. Uh... sorry."
There was a momentary awkward pause. Indi coughed. "So... drinks? Your treat?"
"I can't get drunk." Indigo told him flatly. "But sure, why not?"
"Seriously?" Indi laughed, coughing slightly. "You can't- you can't get drunk??"
"Nope. Weird body." Indigo told him. "Doesn't really affect me. Trust me, I've tried. I'm just... weird."
Indi chuckled and slapped his counterpart on the shoulder. "Alright Cuz, let's see just how much it takes to get you sloshed. My treat."
"Do you have... money?" Indigo asked, eyebrow raised.
"Credit and coins!" Indi laughed. "Let's get out of this armor though. Don't want people freaking out."
The two laughed and left their stuff with the Furies again before wandering into town for some drinks at the tavern, the sun rising above the sea.
