The Battle

The Duo

"Where ya headed, stranger?" the barkeep asked as he set a foaming mug in front of his latest patron.

Said patron, a large cyborg reptile wearing a gray shirt, unzipped black overcoat, brown rolled-up pants, and a brown hat, grunted. "Got hired to deal with the pest problem over in the forest."

The barkeep froze, staring at him. "You... mean the giant zombie? Rips apart everyone who ventures in?"

"That'll be the one," the customer agreed.

There was a pause, before the large buck behind the counter cleared his throat. His eyes slid up and down the lizard's form, taking note of his metal prosthetic limbs and tail, as well as the twin katanas and shotgun strapped to his back. "I mean... you do seem equipped for the task. I suppose you stand a better chance than most." His voice betrayed a lack of confidence.

"I can vouch for him."

The two of them looked up at the speaker, a tall gray dragon with a striking skull-like white face. He was garbed in a vest, overcoat, and pants all of varying shades of gray- the only spots of other color on him were the cyan lights on the cybernetic gauntlets on his wrists.

The reptile's eyes brightened. "What brings you here, Kyurian?"

The dragon smirked. "Presumably same thing as you, Gheras. You here to deal with the Blink?"

Gheras cackled. "You know me so well. Kyarzia ask you to take care of it?"

Kyurian shrugged. "She didn't object when I told her I was going. I heard rumors about it, needed some air anyway, so I figured I'd take a look." He raised an eyebrow. "Didn't expect to run into you, but in hindsight I probably should have."

"Well then." Gheras raised his glass, shaking it a little. "How about a drink or two, and then we can take the thing out together?"

Kyurian looked at the glass, his smirk shifting to a disapproving frown, then shifted to the barkeep. "I'll just take some water, thank you." He looked again at Gheras. "Don't know if drinking before a hunt is the best idea."

Gheras rolled his eyes. "Give me some credit, I'm just having the one." Then he smirked. "The rest'll come during the victory celebration."

"Hmm," Kyurian grunted, sitting down, "Suit yourself."

The barkeep looked at the two, perplexed. The two definitely knew each other, were even friends from the sound of it- but their wildly different personalities made him curious as to why. The duo were about to embark on what usually ended up as a suicide mission, which the lizard was treating almost as a celebration, but the dragon's demeanor was so cold that the buck marvelled a bit that the water he handed him didn't flash-freeze. Still, he could tell they had at least one trait in common- neither of them seemed to be willing to back down from this hunt.

He couldn't help but chuckle to himself. He could understand, at least a little. Gold was gold, and the kind of money killing a Blink would bring in... it would certainly be hard to talk anyone down from that sort of payday.

It was almost an hour later before the two exited the tavern, marching out with confidence and excitedly beaming. "Ready to kick this thing's ass?" Gheras asked, flexing his metallic arms downward, before pulling them back in a stretch.

"Naturally," Kyurian replied, flashing a toothy grin, "Just as long as I get the parts."

"You can help yourself to those- I'm in it for the pile of coin."

The dragon grinned widely. "Fair trade! Now let's go show whatever amateurs they've been throwing at it how it's done!"

Gheras laughed, before clapping Kyurian on the shoulder. "Damn right!"