Undoubtedly Strong

Ira rocked the control sticks back and forth, grunting like a wild mutt. Her Tarksun bobbed from side to side low to the ground, ready to launch.

"All systems optimal, core power at 94%. All RULES online. Clutch Drive usage is estimated to be viable. Would you li-" Her onboard assistant was cut off by her war cry.

Mouth began to walk forward, taking on a classic old-world boxer stance. Ira's Tarksun snapped into a crouched position before exploding towards him in a tornado of aggressive acceleration. Mouth waited for her to approach, throwing out a well-aimed beginning jab. His Tarksun towered over her, dwarfing her in terms of size. Yet Ira didn't falter, aiming a reckless hook directly at his extended jab. Mouth's hull shook as though a warship had struck him. His arm was blown back with enough force to nearly rip it off entirely. His eyes diverted from the numerous warning alerts crowding his HUD to Ira's Tarksun. It was an avatar of power, pure and straightforward. Its follow-through stance was untrained, wild, yet with a single hit, she'd cemented herself as leagues stronger than Mouth. He backed off immediately, dodging her follow-up strikes.

Both of them took a moment.

"You alright?" Ira's head slowly rose, her two yellow piercing eyes meeting what she assumed Mouth was seeing through. "Expecting you to be a bit stronger... Getting nervous?" Ira chuckled. "Don't worry, I wouldn't want to fight me either."

Mouth's face straightened inside the cockpit. This was no joke. He flipped a few switches, which resulted in two heavy levers lowering themselves above his head. With both arms, he yanked them down, allowing them to snap back into the ceiling with a satisfying metal clang. From Ira's point of view, the lower two of his four arms suddenly detached and fell to the ground.

"I can tell you're no Vanguard. You're much worse. I'll treat you with the respect you deserve." Mouth's Tarksun growled out the words from its gigantic maw.

"You might wanna pick your arms up, think you may need them." She mocked.

"The bigger the prey, the stronger the hunger to devour them." He charged back towards her.

Ira obliged him, meeting him head-on. Rather than a slugfest, Mouth had seemingly no intention of landing hits. Instead, he was choosing to avoid her more decisive strikes. Ira couldn't care less, to her, all of her punches were lethal. Occasionally Mouth tried for a hit, only to quickly be countered by Ira. She wasn't using any sort of Tarksun-approved fighting style. It was completely random. Self-taught at best, lucky at worst. It was apparent to anyone that she relied on strength to brute force her way through.

Silccer watched from the sidelines as the other two danced, looking to see if there was a way for him to break up the fight. But without his blade, he hesitated to join the fray. He was still unsure of who he should've been siding with. One was potentially a terrorist who'd killed billions, the other an aggressive randomer asking to meet the Empress of all humanity. He rationalised it. At least the randomer hadn't killed anyone in front of him yet.

Mouth went for a particularly risky shot, but when he tried to extend his fist, he couldn't. As if from thin air, Silccer was holding on to his arm, stopping him from swinging it.

"Wha-?" He was interrupted by Ira drop-kicking him back 200ft, sending him crashing into a set of small homes.

"Nice, knew you'd figure out who the winner was gonna be." Ira created a comms link between her and Silccer as she got up from the ground.

"I'm just hoping you haven't committed too many crimes." Silccer hesitantly took a ready position beside her.

"Nowhere near as many as the Vanguard." She glared at him.

Silccer tilted his head slightly, baffled by the response.

Mouth got up slowly, expecting to be blown off his feet as soon as he showed signs of movement. But Ira waited patiently. When he was fully back in a battle-ready stance, she dashed closer once again to send out another barrage of attacks. But she was halted. The shape of an electric-yellow '2#' flashed across her dreadlocks.

A mouth the size of a Tarksun burst up from the ground like a gigantic tunnel worm. Its jaws were filled to the brim with hundreds of churning and rotating teeth. Its body had a coat of metallic fur, much like the coat that covered Mouth's arms. Ira bent backwards, barely dodging the worm as it dived over her and headed straight for Silccer. He was caught off guard but managed to dive out of the way just in time, leaving the worm to impact the ground and tunnel back underneath.

"RULE 2: Don't try to surprise attack me. That's a tactic reserved for the weak." Ira's Tarksun slowly raised itself to a standing position.

"These rules of yours are proving to be troublesome. How many you got?" Mouth stood without moving.

"5 of 'em." Ira looked back towards where Mouth had originally detached his arms, which were missing. "Your arms are worms, huh? Bit of a weird one."

"How about your rules? They seem pretty unfair..." Mouth moved closer.

"RULE 5: All of my rules apply to me as well, strengthening the other rules to a near-absolute status, as well as increasing my Tarksuns power output." Ira's Tarksun folded its arms.

"Very forthcoming of you... I assume telling me this strengthens your abilities even further." He stopped before actually coming close enough to throw hands again.

"You're catching on quick," Ira laughed.

"In that case, you can spare telling me about the 3rd and 4th. I'll have you devoured before they come into play."

Ira felt a rumbling beneath her feet. "Warning, motor movement impairment detected. Running analysis." Her assistant chimed out of nowhere.

"My worms probably count as a ranged attack, but it seems if I stay near enough... That won't be an issue."

Ira struggled through error messages, trying to find the cause of her impaired movement.

"Seismic activity determined as the source, 91% likelihood of it being emitted by the worm Breaker underneath you." The assistant's calm voice didn't match the panic Ira was in.

"This strong? It's completely immobilizing me! Ay, Vanguard! You got the same?" Ira pinned the comms link to be more clear on her HUD.

"I can't move at all!" Silccer replied through his own mess of anxiety.

Ira looked up at the stationary Mouth. "Seems like neither can the big fucker in front of us! What's the plan then? Just sit and wait it out until someone else arrives?"

A 'RULE 2' warning flashed on her HUD, just in time to alert her of a worm jumping out from her left backside. Just as it exited the ground, the vibrations let up enough for Ira to yank the controls back, her Tarksun lurching out of the way. But it wasn't in time, as the worm clipped her right arm, taking a small chunk of plating with it as it dived back underground.

"Usually, it would only take one to keep a Tarksun still when they're at this size. But I guess you're a special case." Mouth stood still.

Silccer couldn't move an inch. He was completely disarmed, yet the worms were only going for Ira anyway. He was such a non-factor that he may as well not have been there at all. He scrunched his face up in frustration. There was nothing he could do but watch.

Another RULE 2 warning. This time, directly beneath Ira. She pulled at the control sticks with all her strength. Her Tarksun managed to move back, if only a few feet. With one final yank, she managed to shuffle back one last bit. But the worm that burst out was much bigger than before, engulfing Ira's Tarksun completely. A mixture of metal crunching and liquid spurting could be heard as the worm rocketed towards the sky. Yet she seemed to almost burst out of its jaws at the apex of the worm's ascent.

"It became a ranged attack... Roughly 200ft... Oh well, it's over anyway." Mouth laid back in his cockpit, his Tarksun marching past Silccer to make sure he stayed within 200ft.

Ira's Tarksun had sustained considerable damage, most of which seemed to have been limited to her feet and lower torso. It was bleeding a red substance from most openings. And it was now plummeting to the ground, where another worm burst out to catch her. She reared her fist back to try and smash through it, despite it also being considerably larger than before.

But when the second one emerged, Silccer regained movement. With the blink of an eye, he intercepted Ira mid-fall, sending both of them flying away from the worms and Mouth.

They rushed to get up from the houses they'd annihilated on impact. Both of them hurried to their feet, sprinting to stay away from Mouth. The rumbling sound followed them close behind. Silccer tried to start running further away from Mouth, but was forced to follow Ira, who was running parallel to the enemy. She was beginning to circle him, smashing through the housing as if it wasn't even there.

"What are you doing? We need to get away from him!" Silccer shouted over comms.

"Nah. I just need time."

Silccer bit his tongue. He had no choice but to follow her.