Mini Episode: Beach Fight

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Beach Fight

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Note: This is an alternate scenario in Episode 5 where Gantlos accepts to fight Riven.

"So come on, punk! Fight me!" Riven shouts at him. Gantlos still wasn't sure why he was mad at him for, in his opinion, just making his typical villain quips with Musa and getting her to join their cause. But hey, he can't back down from a good fight. Riven's no Bloom, just a mere rookie, so it wouldn't be long, but he'll enjoy the look on his face once he realizes he never had a chance. So with a sinister grin, Gantlos agrees to this.

Anagan and Duman look over and facepalm. "Ugh, he always gets himself involved in stuff without thinking it through until later..." Anagan sighs.
"Why are you surprised? He's usually like that," Duman clarifies.

"I'm above fighting in a musical restaurant," Gantlos states, "let's take this to the beach."
"Don't tell me what to do!" Riven snaps.
"Psst, Riven, battle courtship!" Timmy whispers to him.
"Oh, right. Well, I suppose that's fine, but I have to wish you good luck, you'll need it." Riven chuckles.
"Oh no, please, keep it," Gantlos grins as he glares at him.
"So to clarify...why are you guys fighting?" Musa asks, feeling a bit weird about this.
"Because he's mad I'm flirting I guess," Gantlos shrugs.
"As a great man once said, there are no accidents." Anagan chips in.
"This is going to end badly..." Musa sighs.

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The two figures stood face to face on the sandy plains of Gardenia's shore, the sun starting to set and casting a golden red glow over the battlefield. Gantlos prepares himself by cracking his knuckles, focusing on his strength, while Riven lightly jogs in place, aiming to use his agility; Last time they fought head on, he charged in and this caused Gantlos to summon a seismic wave which almost knocked him out. Now, Riven will prove he's no rookie, but a master.

"You ready, punk?" Gantlos growls.
"More ready than you could imagine," he smirks. "How about you do the honors?"
"With pleasure~" Gantlos chuckles. He charges at Riven, denting the ground with his footprints, each step getting rougher and deeper as he picks up the pace. Gantlos swings a punch but Riven dodges to his right before he can get hit. Next Gantlos swings for a scratch but Riven dodges again. The others watch in awe at their fighting skills. Musa is impressed with Riven's new strategy of dodging and taking hits where he can, but she doesn't want to admit it, besides he's just dodging. The fight is intense, Gantlos throwing strong swings but missing by just a strand of purple hair. Eventually he gets ahold of Riven's leg and slams him on their sandy battlefield. The crowd gasps as Riven struggles to get up, Gantlos putting him in a headlock. The specialist tries to claw his way out of his beefy arms but it was like suffocating.

"Face it rookie, you're no match for me!" Gantlos chuckles sinisterly. Riven was not gonna let this punk win easily, or let himself be humiliated in front of Musa when HE made the bet. He knows he can beat up this stupid blonde wizard, he just needs a stroke of luck. Riven grabs onto his arms firmly, confusing Gantlos before the blondie finds himself swung in front and his back hitting the sand.
"GAH!-" he gasps. Before Riven can throw a punch he rolls to the side, getting ready to sprint before giving the onion head a taste of his knuckle sandwich. Riven staggers back, drool coming out if his mouth.
"Go Riven!" Nabu cheers.
"Come on Gantlos! Don't lose to a rookie!" Anagan shouts back.

The two men start what seems like a punching contest, hitting their faces, arms and abdomen. Riven squints his bruised black eye to see how he can defeat Gantlos once and for all, but he's struggling and Gantlos takes this chance to punch his guts, almost making Riven gag.
"You'll never learn I'm much stronger than you!" Gantlos taunts.
"Oh yeah?! Watch this!" Riven laughs before grabbing Gantlos' wrist and twisting his hand. Gantlos winces. Riven decides to use an old technique Cordatora taught them to finish off an enemy, human or animal: he first strikes his head, then his stomach, and with a final punch, Riven uppercuts his jaw as hard as he can. The blonde wizard's hat flies up as he falls back on the shore as his defeater looks down on him panting. His hat floats down on the sand. Gantlos tries to get up but can't muster up the strength, that stomach punch did a lot of damage. So he gives up, and the winner is declared.

"Riven won!" Nabu cheers, everyone except the wizards and Musa celebrating.
"Heh...I won...I won! Hah! Take that you ugly bastard!" Riven laughs while pointing at Gantlos. "Not much of a casanova now huh?! Guess all that rookie talk was you projecting! Aw what's wrong?~ want some ice for your mouth?~"
Riven stops his teasing as he sees Musa, shifting his unyielding attention towards her. "Musa! Did you see how awesome I was?" Riven gasps. "M-Musa...?" He watches as she ignores him and takes Gantlos' hat with her. She approaches the defeated opponent and he looks up at her.
"What are you doing here? I lost." Gantlos says.
"Yeah you did, that was a pretty stupid move.", she chuckles, extending a hand to help. Gantlos is a bit confused but takes her hand. She lifts him up and swings his arm over her shoulder.

"Ugh come on Musa, I won the fight." Riven points out, "You should be paying more attention to me."
"Well, maybe you should take a hint," Musa huffs, walking away with Gantlos, turning her attention back to him, "There's a med kit in the janitor's closet. Let's get you patched up."
Riven looks over as they make their way to the Frutti Music Bar. He was baffled and slightly embarrassed. I mean, how could she just ignore his victory, even if she clarified she wanted him to leave her alone just a couple of days ago. He sighs and wipes away some bruise marks and loose drool from his face, glaring at Gantlos who looked back at him with a smirk.

It seems either way, Riven would have still lost.

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Gantlos watches as Musa wraps the soft white bandages over his wrist, having replaced his old rusty ones covering up some starry scars on his palms.
"Thanks," Gantlos simply says, "I'm still not sure why you're doing this? I'm fine."
"Yeah? You broke a wrist and couldn't get up," Musa points out.
Gantlos shrugs, "Eh, well, you get knocked down enough times, those things just become minor inconveniences."
Musa tilts her head, wondering what he means by that. She finishes patching up his wrist and pats Gantlos underneath his hat. "Make sure you're careful about these minor inconveniences then," she says. He stares at her as she gets up and goes back over to Andy and his band. Anagan and Duman seemingly appear out of nowhere next to him.
"So, you lost?" Duman reaffirms, raising an eyebrow.

"No. Not exactly." Gantlos replies, shifting his attention back to Musa.
"Nah you definitely lost." Anagan sighs.
Gantlos rolls his eyes. He knows his plan is succeeding and that's all that matters right now. If Riven wanted a chance he should have challenged him days ago.

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