The three stood on the end of the boats wooden deck. Sapphire cracked her knuckles, and Dominic responded with the same. Lainey tried but couldn’t pull it off.

“Alright, count of three. Three, two, one!”

As soon as that ‘one’ came out, Sapphire launched forward into the middle of the three. Lainey ducked under her punch, and Ulrich shook his hand in an attempt to get some energy flowing to his hand. Dominic tried an overhead smash with the blunt side of his axe, and Sapphire dodged out of the way. Sapphire launched her right hand forward, forcing Dominic back, with Dominic barely able to stand upwards.

Sapphire lunged towards him, only to finally be stopped by a string of fire erupting between them. Sapphire had to take a step back, pinching a flame from her hair.

She turned towards Ulrich, casually walking towards him. She ducked under his fist. Then she began darting around him at a rapid pace, occasionally striking some kind of extravagant pose to annoy him even further. She was clearly taking joy in watching Ulrich anger reach a boiling point as he swiped forward. And once he did, she was straight behind him, as if she could teleport.

“Rule one, solar! Gotta prepare for anything!”

Ulrich turned around to try and brace for Sapphire’s attack, but all he saw was a blur. When it stopped, Dominic was on top of her.

“Hey, that’s one hit for me!” Dominic yelled.

Sapphire screamed out something, before Dominic was also heard screaming.

Dominic went back to the other two, holding his groin in extreme pain. Ulrich felt the pain when he saw him. Lainey was unaffected, just massaging her forehead and looking extremely pissed off.

“What the hell was that?”

“Rugby tackle. You guys have Rugby, right?” Dominic asked.

“I know what it is, numbnuts. I just gotta know what you used that specifically.”

“Because it was the best way to get her off of Ulrich…hey! Hold on now! If that was a man I would have done the same thing!”

“Alright, just checking.” Lainey muttered. “Just…don’t pull some stupid shit like that again, got it.”

“Yeah yeah, I got it.” Dominic replied.

“Alright, alright. You got me good, axe.” Sapphire said, her tone a lot more serious than before. “Now, let’s see if I can do a better assault.”

She dashed right in front of Dominic, then right behind him. She went in for a punch, and Lainey pushed Dominic’s head underneath, with both of them running straight afterwards.

Ulrich also started running, setting his left index finger alight and firing it towards the rampaging Sapphire. It was a direct hit. Sapphire had to stop chasing Dominic to set a gust of wind next to her hair to extinguish the flame. Dominic gave a terrified thumbs up to Ulrich, and then found himself not moving.

A giant gust of wind was in his way. He tried running the other way, only for a smaller gust of wind to hit him directly in the stomach. He made eye contact with Sapphire at the other end of the current, with her emerald eyes gleaming with excitement. The gust at his stomach disappeared, but another one struck him in the head.

Then the back of his head.

Then his right leg.

Wind currents were disappearing as quickly as they were hitting him. With how intense it was, he didn’t even get the chance to fall over. After what felt like twenty seconds, it stopped. Dominic took a single shaky step to Sapphire, and he was launched upwards by one more current.

Just before he fell to the ground, Sapphire delivered an excellently timed punch directly into his stomach. Dominic landed right next to the door of the houseboat, and a small crack formed where his back landed.

Dominic stumbled on his feet, and threw up over the edge of the boat, returning to a dumbstruck Lainey and Ulrich.

“Why didn’t you two step in?” He asked, clutching his stomach.

“Against…whatever that was?” Ulrich asked. “Sorry man, you were on your own.” Ulrich chuckled, trying to mask the fear in his voice.

“So…that’s what she’s capable of.” Lainey groaned. “I hate to break it to you guys, but I think we’re boned.”

“Okay, you guys ready for the next round?” Sapphire asked, her usual tone of voice returning. “Axe, you can stay put.”

“Yeah.” Dominic nodded wearily. “I think I’ll do that.”

Ulrich and Lainey ran towards Sapphire, who went back to her usual levels of restraint. She charged towards Ulrich, who charged the heat from three of his fingers to throw three separate fireballs towards Sapphire in three directions. She effortlessly dodged the first two, but a look of fear flashed across her face as the third one went towards her, and she had to let a current loose to dissipate it. Ulrich ducked to his left, and Sapphire continued chasing him. He tried throwing another fireball, but Sapphire caught up to him before he could get the energy to his hands.

She lunged towards him and was just about to land a hit, but instead of grabbing a teenager with an awful haircut, she was instead grabbing the floor.

“Got her.” Lainey said casually, her foot outstretched behind where Sapphire was lying.

Ulrich stepped back as Sapphire stood up, with Lainey shooting him a look of confusion. When Sapphire stood up, Lainey tapped her shoulder. And when she turned around, she gave her a backhanded slap across the face.

“Be aware of other people in a fight. Thought you’d know that.” Lainey said with a smirk.

Sapphire looked down at Lainey and began to laugh. “Alright pink, you got me.”

“Eh, it wasn’t much.” Lainey replied, looking at Ulrich with a smug look smeared across her face.

“Nah, pink. You’re right, I gotta be aware of the others. Don’t downplay this.”

She gave Lainey a quick wink, and Lainey felt herself shatter into a pile of mush. She stumbled over to the other two.

“Mate, you totally could have hit her!” Dominic yelled. “She was right there!”

“Yeah, I know.” Ulrich muttered. “I just thought she was gonna jump up and break my arms, or something.

“You’re an idiot, man.” Dominic sighed with a shake of his head. “At least Lainey got her. Good job, Lainey.”

“Hm? Oh right, I did do that.” Lainey mumbled, snapping back to reality. “Well, Ulrich buddy, it’s up to you. Don’t mess this up.”

“Yeah, I won’t.” Ulrich replied. “Don’t get hit.”

Sapphire didn’t even give a warning. She just started running towards Ulrich. Ulrich’s left hand quickly ignited and went in for a punch. Sapphire ducked underneath. She got behind Ulrich and jumped upwards to go in for a kick. Lainey sent her demon out of her guitar and grabbed Sapphire’s leg, throwing her to the end of the floor.

Sapphire looked at the demon with excitement. She threw her fists up, punching the demon. And when her fists got stuck, she sent small gusts of wind into the demon to dislodge them. The demon seemed to get panicked and tried to slash at her. She dodged them effortlessly and went right past it to Lainey. She thrust her hand out just shy of her nose, sending both of them flying into the wall of the houseboat.

“Oh, snap.” Sapphire said. “You okay, Pink?”

“Hit me again.”

“What?”

“I said to hit me again.” Lainey replied.

Sapphire did as she obliged, sending another gust of wind forward. Lainey sprinkled some granola bar crumbs around her feet. Her demon wrapped itself around her boots, and she ran up to Sapphire, brandishing her guitar. She ran up to Sapphire, swinging the guitar downwards.

It missed, and Lainey smirked.

“Ulrich, now!”

Ulrich ran up to the stunned Sapphire, who quickly unleashed an elbow strike into Lainey’s face. It looked painful, and Ulrich stepped back.

“Oh, shit! You okay, Lainey?” He yelled out.

Lainey wiped her nose to get rid of the blood, only to see a clean hand.

“Uh, yeah. I’m good, dude.”

“Relax, Pink. I put an air cushion around my arm to weaken the blow.”

“Oh, right. Thanks.”

“I mean, we’re working for God, right? So harming one of his better creations seems like a bad idea, you feel me?”

“Uh…yeah. I think? I wanna, no! I think I feel you, yeah.”

She slinked over to the boys, slowly turning as red as Ulrich has ever seen a human.

"W-was that what I think it was?" Dominic asked, a few shades of red below Lainey, but still noticeable.

"I don't know, man! Maybe?" Lainey yelled.

"Wait, is she into you? Ulrich asked.

"That's what I'm wondering!" Lainey snapped at him, sweating.

"Hey, solar!"

Ulrich turned around, and Sapphire was standing a few feet away from them, cracking her knuckles.

"Can't help but notice that a chosen hero has been running away from a single woman this whole time. Doesn't give this group a good look, you feel me?"

"Y-your point being?" Ulrich replied, stepping back.

"My point being that Axe and Pink got points on me, and I got points on them. So, just a case of you against me! Let's dance, Solar!"