Only the strong survive, it is the way of things, the natural order that has been for centuries amongst humanity. Even nature abides by this law, and what better way to enforce this law than through battle? By battling with one another, the weak are weeded out leaving behind the strong. Do I believe that there is only one form of strength? No, each individual has their own strength, but what matters is if that strength is enough to survive in a cruel world. Why do I enjoy battle? Other than the exhilarating thrill that surges through my body or the fire that burns within me, begging to be released through the toils of battle. Other than those things, battle brings out a being’s true nature, whether that be a coward, a survivor, or a conqueror. One of these three characteristics is always present within a being. A coward would succumb to battle believing that death is the easier way out or they would run altogether avoiding the test of battle. A survivor is a fighter, a being that refuses to die and will adapt to survive a situation because their will to live is stronger than their fear. A conqueror is a warrior that doesn’t fear death, they’ve conquered their fears and will embrace any hardship for they know that the hardship will only make them stronger. What I love about these characteristics is that they can be intertwined, a coward can become a survivor but can never become a conqueror until they overcome their fear. A survivor can become a conqueror so long as they learn from the battles they survived. Even a conqueror can become a coward once they discover a new fear, how everything turns out depends on a being’s choices in life. What am I you ask? I am a conqueror of course, one of the 7 governors of the Mavis Empire, no coward would ever rise to such ranks… Glorious battle reveals the true nature of a being’s soul, after seeing all three of such characteristics, I stand firm on this belief. I wonder which ones I will see most in this battle. 

Besides our dear Gov. Java having his own soliloquy in the infancy of battle, things were only getting better for Java from his perspective. As they were running closer to the Colossal under the light of the afternoon sun, on an open metal battlefield a vast area around the empire was a metal plain with circuit patterns glowing in it. The sentinels saw a blaze of maroon radiating on the shoulder of the Colossal. The maroon formed into a massive ball of energy and was launched over the sentinels toward the outer rim wall as it reverberated a hollow sound. Upon colliding with the wall, the ball of energy burst into an explosion of maroon. The colour incinerated everything it enveloped as its grasp was wide, yet it still kept its beauty in the eyes of the warriors as the maroon reflected off their irises. 

“Impressive, too bad this body can’t do that?”

“It’s better than not having a physical body, am I right?”

“That is true…”

“You can ask Ethan to upgrade your electric output, maybe then you’ll be able to shoot energy blasts.”

“Will do, Mr Tony.”

“Call me Tony, Tenzin. We’re partners now, no need to be formal, okay?”

“Right… Tony.”

“Perfect, now let’s get to work,” Tony said as his body burst with maroon and jumped off the Colossal. Landing in front of Colossal, Tony charged toward the Sentinels as they reverted their attention to the Colossal. Java glanced at Tony and instantly recognized him as the guy who fought Gov. Codey. Filled with excitement, Java increased his speed as he changed his path toward Tony. One would only see a streak of lightning coming toward them if they were human, but since Tony was a cyborg, he could see Java just fine as he matched Java’s speed. With the two charging at each other, they collided with one another causing an explosion of force to crack the ground and a vacuum to disperse in the air. The indomitable bodies of the two withstood the collision as both remained at each other’s faces, Java chuckled while Tony smirked. “Let's see who is the better conqueror, Tony.”

“Conqueror? Well since you’re the 7th Governor of this dump, I’d say I have you out-matched,” Tony said with such arrogance. 

“Don’t be fooled by such a rank, Lord Mavis is not naïve to send her weakest governor to guard the outer rim of her empire. But we shall see if I’m stilled out-matched,” Java said then instantly converged to 100% energy output, using his speed to land a few electric punches on Tony as the sudden spike in Java’s physical performance caught him off guard. Tony stayed on his feet resisting the impact of the punches as much as he could. Java grinned trying to contain himself, I haven’t had the chance to go all out with my new upgrades, I'm sure Tony will not disappoint. 

Although Tony endured Java’s punches, he was concerned about something as he analyzed his opponent. His speed is better than mine but his strength is inferior to mine judging from those punches. Ethan did say something about this. Tony recalled what Ethan had told him in the lab about the difference in their energies, “Tony, what is the difference between the energy you use and the energy Codey used?”

“I don’t know, my energy is more powerful than his?”

Ethan sighed, “Well, you’re not wrong, but there’s more to it than that. From what I’ve noticed so far in this world, their energy system is heavily reliant on electricity which we call blue energy. Blue energy is fast but it lacks strength in small quantities. Now Tony, what is Maroon energy?”

“Uhh, isn’t it a combination of Blue and red?”  

“You have a bad habit of answering with questions Tony,” as Tony chuckled in response, “That’s just how I am when I’m not sure of the answer.”

“No matter, you were somewhat correct with your answer. Yes, Maroon is a combination of blue and red, more specifically a 5 to 1 ratio with red being the dominant energy. Now Red holds a lot of strength in it compared to Blue, but it lacks the speed that Blue has. That’s where I decided to experiment, I added a small amount of blue to red so that Red could keep its strength while increasing its speed thus creating Maroon.” Ethan explained.

“Why not add more blue to the ratio and make it equal, like a 5 to 5 ratio?” Tony asked with such ignorance for a cyborg.

“I already have, you don’t want that combination.”

“Why?” 

The thought of why triggered a vivid flashback of what happened when Ethan created and used such a combination of Blue & Red, an unpleasant flashback one he wished he never recalled again. “Just trust me, Tony, you don’t want to deal with such energy, especially with your body,” Ethan advised. 

“Alright fine, but what do I do when Blue users are faster than me?”

“You have blue properties in Maroon, you just need to focus on them. The lovely thing about energy is that it’s changeable and since you’re a cyborg, you can manipulate the ratio to your liking. So if you wish, you can change it from 5:1 to 4:2 to gain more speed and match the speed of blue users. Word of advice though, don’t ever make the ratio balanced or equal; you’ll destroy yourself if you do,” Ethan advised.

“You’re really making me curious as to what an equal ratio can do, but I’ll take your advice,” Tony replied.

“Good, also remember that every blue user has a different understanding of blue, meaning not all blue users can utilize the full true speed and power of blue.”

Tony came back to the present as he had a realization of something, I don’t know where this guy stands in terms of his understanding of blue energy, since he can utilize its speed but is neglecting its strength. Right now let me worry about his speed then I’ll work from ther-. His thought process was interrupted as Java swiftly grabbed Tony’s face and smashed it into the ground made of metal. Java smirked as he looked down at him with his face on the ground. He backed quickly backed away as Tony converged to 80% energy output abruptly out of infuriation. Charging recklessly at Java, Tony attacked him but Java dodged his attacks cleanly and countered with an electric right uppercut. However to Java’s surprise, Tony tanked the attack as he stopped the attack with his chin and countered with a maroon right hook. A burst of maroon streaked as Java was sent tumbling far on the ground until he collided with another sentinel. While Java was recovering, Tony rapidly formed a maroon energy ball, the size of a boulder, on his right palm and blasted it at Java. 

Moving the sentinel aside, Java converged to 120% energy output and focused a majority of the output into his right arm as he was readying to face the Maroon boulder. At the last moment before contact, Java deflected the attack with a massive electric discharge toward the Colossal. To the Colossal, the maroon boulder was merely a fly as it flicked the maroon energy ball toward the lower-ranked robots who scattered at the sight of the maroon boulder heading their way. Although while they were scattered, Tenzin swiftly took advantage of the disordered and slew a few sentinels with his electric battle axe. Then threw it toward a few Orbata and Cubata, slicing through a few before Tenzin summoned it back with electromagnetism as it boomeranged back to him. The Colossal continued its way to the outer rim wall, however, its mission to the wall was hindered as two Colossals climbed over the outer rim wall while another one dropped in causing the ground to quake. The Colossal noticed that there were other Colossal beyond the wall making their way to the battlefield. Realizing this, it knew that it had to make short work out of the Colossals in front of him so it drew its massive swords and threw one at a Colossal that it considered the most threatening. The massive sword pierced the gun Colossal, impaling it through its core. As its metal corpse fell to the ground, a sword Colossal threw its sword at the opposing Colossal. A loud clash of swords echoed through the battle as humanity’s Colossal deflected the sword with its sword and charged at the enemy Colossal. Due to the size and mass of Colossals, their movement looks a bit slow like slow motion but sped up slightly; however, they do cover a lot of distance in their movement so it balances itself out. While the Colossals were going at it, the battle between Java & Tony was intensifying as a clash of blue electricity and Burgundy energy radiated on the battlefield. Tony was matching Java’s speed by shifting his energy ratio from 5:1 to 4:2, from Maroon to Burgundy signifying a change in the energy ratio.   

Although they were currently equal in speed, there was a huge difference in their strength that Java couldn’t ignore; he bursted with electricity as sparks of it became erratic around him in converging to 150% energy output. I have him beat in speed, all I have to do now is match his strength. That shouldn’t be too hard, especially with my upgrades. Java focused more of his energy output on his strength rather than speed. 

150% output, he’s definitely stronger than Codey, but I wonder how high can he go with this, Tony wondered. Before he had realized it, Tony was punched in the face by Java realizing a huge electric discharge that sent him tumbling away over the ground. While tumbling away, Java flashed by him and attacked him again causing him to tumble in another direction. Tony tried to recover as quickly as possible with his agility but Java gave him no chance to recover as he continuously attacked Tony left right and centre. Left with no choice by the continuous onslaught, Tony converged to 100% energy output increasing the energy ratio to 5:3. With a burst of Burgundy, Java was repelled away allowing Tony to recover. Java dashed at Tony and attacked with a left hook but Tony blocked it and countered with a quick left jab which Java dodged as he felt the heat pass by his face. Tony had matched Java’s speed again while increasing his strength at the same time. 

However, matching Java’s speed would not be enough to have an edge over him. Tony threw several quick jabs and hooks at Java who deflected and dodged all of the attacks as he knew blocking would be a huge mistake. He countered by swiftly dodging the last attack and moved behind Tony, wrapping his arms around Tony’s waist and lifting him off his feet; falling backwards, Java’s slammed Tony on his back and neck forming a dent in the ground. Tony rolled back onto his feet and looked up to see Java already kicking him in the face as a massive electric discharge sent him tumbling away. Lying on the ground, Tony was frustrated but Java was relentless as he stood above Tony and launched a barrage of electric punches at him. Electric discharges from the punches forced Tony into the ground with an immense dent in the ground.

Damn it… this guy is really starting to piss me off... I really need to stop underestimating these governors from now on.