Javal had been called to enter the Zeinav Desert to help clean up and rescue any people affected by the large boulder that had crashed down into the desert because of Mt. Drakolt’s eruption. He was approached by a mousy-looking Sol City official worker who told him the location gave him a promising downpayment and swore to give him the other half once the work was finished. Javal nodded and was excited he had been hired for another job. It seemed easy enough to help people around and clean up the desert, it wasn’t fighting bad guys or testing his strength but it was still important to help people.



“Perhaps I could even train while I do this, maybe increase my fighting skills by punching and slashing the rocks, hah I’m a genius”, he thought as he continued on his path.



He headed there straight away by himself since none of his team had the right abilities to help on the job.



He walked through the desert looking around, seeing flaming hot boulders in the sand around the area, broken wagons, some destroyed houses, and crops, and just general destruction.



“I sure have a lot of work to do huh”, he thought to himself with a smile as he charged further to get started on the mission.

    The desert, the place where Flint was born and raised. He was used to the scorching heat and constant presence of sand, though what he wasn't used to was the large uptake in boulders being scattered across it. Mt. Drakolt's eruption was the last thing he expected to happen, thought it didn't hamper his wanders in any large way. They actually seemed to help the cowboy, provided him cover from the hottest of days and made good ammunition to toss at any hunter that dared try to take the bounty on his head. Well it wasn't his bounty, but with the amount of people that mistake him for his brother, Colt, it might as well be his now. Another use that these massive heaps of molten rock provided him was something to pummel, when he started to notice them more often he would attempt to break each one he saw. This repeated striking of rock turned the cowboys already hardened hands to another level of deadly, and with each strike he started to notice an energy that down his arm.

    Flint would recognize these boulders once again as he made his way into a small town near the outskirts of the mountains. He didn't pay a whole lot of mind to the destruction that was caused by the falling rock, but he smirked as he approached one of the larger of the boulders. "Alright let's see what that energy is all about" He cracked his knuckles before taking his tight boxing stance, ¹he cocked his right arm as radiant purple fire engulfed it. He took a deep breath as he envisioned himself shattering this wall of molten rock, he took a readying step and yelled as he twisted his whole body and launched his burning fist right into the center. the initial impact sent a loud shockwave echoing through the surrounding area, Flint could feel the cracks running up the outside. Then a second later a delayed impact, identical to the first one completely shattered the rest of it sending small debris flying through the air. He looked at his hands in shock now he finally understood what the energy running down his arms were, He looked up to see a speeding purple blur kicking up a dust cloud as he approached. He squinted his eyes and asked under his breath "Is that Javal?"

---

1.) Burning smite

Passives: Bull's strength and Double Strike

Javal stopped as he approached a large boulder, “Well it appears that they were not joking about how dire this situation is huh”, he thought to himself as he walked around the boulder looking it over.



“Well this is going to be a long day of punching and beating up rocks, I mean it’s better the fighting sand”, he balls his fists and raises them into the air staring at the ground below with a glare.



He then looks up and says, “Let’s get started” and takes out his katana from his waistband, he unsheathes the blade and tucks its sheath into his coat pocket.



Let’s start this training by practicing master Ronrik’s school of swordsmanship he says now holding his katana in his right hand.



He then backs away a little bit from the giant boulder and says, “Javal Style: Single Slash”, and cuts the boulder in half with a diagonal slice of his blade.



He lets out a loud sigh of relief and then looks over his work admiring how well he did before suddenly spotting someone in the distance. At first, he thought it looked like one of the local desert dwellers he believed he saw about two villages on his way here so he presumed that it was probably someone here to speak to him. He then squints his eyes harder and sees a familiar face, “IS THAT FLINT CALDWELL I SEE THERE”, he shouts with a huge grin on his face.

    Flint's smirk widened into a smile that stretched from ear to ear, he could recognize that voice from anywhere; it was definitely him . "As I live and breath, Javal Zarrias! It's good to finally see a friendly face after a while!" He confidently sauntered over to him with his hands on his hips. Once close enough he clapped his hand in into his in the manliest way possible, the impact releasing a satisfying clap. "It's been a little bit how in the hell have you been?" Once closer Javal could see that Flint had indeed been out here for quite some time, the light stubble that lined the edges of his jaw were on the verge of becoming a full beard at this point, along with his black cloak looking as tattered as ever.

    Despite the more disheveled appearance he wore his tale tell grin just like the day they met each other. He cocked an eyebrow up curiously "also what in the hell are you doing this deep into the desert, there ain't anythin' out here other than sand and these boulders that have been becomin' more frequent" He pointed over his shoulder at the pile of rumble left after he punched his boulder, only to look over the tiefling's shoulder to see the damage he caused on his boulder. He nodded his head impressed "It's great to see yer still as strong as ever my friend ... wait are you here for a round 2? 'cause I've been traning myself and I feel way stronger than last time" He took a few steps back and he threw two punches into the open air, causing a rush of wind to follow each punch. Flint hadn't noticed this yet but Javal could see that each punch a faint purple light ran through the veins in flints arms. 

 

Javal’s grin became larger as he heard his dear friend greet him, “Hello there my friend, how have you been? And how are you here?”.



Javal cheerily responds to Flint, “I’ve been pretty well my friend going on as many adventurers as I can, I fought a Baloth, a troop of troublesome mephits, and even this really strong angel lady named Danae”.



Javal then looked over at his friend surprised and said, “Flint you have grown a beard! At least a greater beard than I shall ever have in my life. How long has it been my friend Why it only feels like yesterday that we had our spar”.



He responds to Flint’s question of his sudden presence, “I was hired by Sol City to come over here and look at the destruction that the volcano’s eruption had. I was always tasked to clear these rocks and boulders for safety reasons”.



As Flint mentioned another spar and showed Javal just how stronger he had gotten even looking like his fists were even stronger as lighting ran across his veins his eyes lit up and was about to immediately agree before suddenly being reminded by the vision of Nadia scolding him that he was here on business first.



“Why couldn’t he do both”, he thought as a great idea crept into his head, “Hey Flint why don’t we have a small contest of sorts? We both try to get as many boulders and rocks destroyed quickly and the winner gets to make the loser food as a result?".

    Flint gave a quick half shrug with a smirk "Eh, I've been better but I've certainly been worse. Though that's neither nor there, I came back to Zienav to try and get back to my roots, plus for some odd reason I kinda missed the desert." Flint nodded, impressed at Javal's adventures for the past month or so that they had seen each other. He shook his head as thought of what he did while he was off fighting monsters and sparring "Ya wanna know what I've been doing for the past while since, I have been punching rocks and punching bandits. So not too different to what I was doing before I even met you."  

    At the mention of his unkempt facial hair he couldn't help but let out a hearty laugh, "Oh this ol' thing? it ain't much but some people seem to like, though it's startin' to hide my roughish handsome face. Though you should've seen when I tried just doin' a mustache a couple weeks ago, it did not look good. For that whole week I was paying for my own drinks since I couldn't charm my way into free ones, it did a number on my coin pouch" He let another hearty laugh escape him as he rubbed his jaw feeling the increase in fuzziness from the almost beard.

    He lit up as he noticed Javal's excitement at his mention of sparring, though he let out a small groan once he realized that he was here on official business. "Ah man, I always forget that you got responsibilities and stuff. Not everyone can live a care free of a life as I do, but that's fair I've been noticing these boulders a lot more frequently after the eruption." Then his competitive heart was set ablaze as Javal mentioned a little competition between the two, it would be the closest thing to a fair competition in probably a month or so. A wide and cocky grin stretched across his "Oh you are so on, brother, if you didn't notice earlier but I shattered a decent sized one with just one punch. I feel like I'm startin' to catch up to you in strength, so watch out so I don't overtake you" He then positioned himself into a ready stance and eyed the closest boulder to the two "Alright 3 ... 2 ... 1 GO!" He just like that he took off towards the boulder ¹cocking both arms lighting them up to add some extra damage to his punches

---

1.) burning smite

Javal smiled and nodded as his friend spoke, trying to connect to his roots, “Yes that makes sense, Maybe we can try looking for him in the desert once we’re done”.



He was impressed once Flint mentioned he was punching rocks and punching bandits, “His fists must be made of steel or something even harder at this point from all that punching”, he thinks.



Javal then gave a quizzical look to decide if his friend's beard was better than his old shadowed face, and he even found it difficult to hold back laughter but failed miserably letting out a loud hearty laugh as he pictured Flint with a mustache in his head.



Javal sighed and placed his hands to his side, “Yeah that’s work I suppose, I’m glad we’ve been getting a lot more jobs since it means more money for sandwiches and also more bad guys to fight but I haven’t been able to do as fun stuff as I used to like talking to the water and seeing it respond. Sure it didn’t for the fifty times I tried but I heard it once and that means something has to be in there”.



His focus then shifted back to Flint’s mention of catching up to him as his eyes grew wide with anticipation, “You better prove that to me Flint'', he said, jumping slightly as he waited for his friend’s countdown to hit go.



He dashes towards the nearest boulder about a couple of feet from him; he quickly stops, breathes deeply, and slashes the boulder in fourths as he whispers, “Javal Style: Double Divine Tide”.



The four pieces fall to the floor and he sprints to another rock that’s closer to him ready to give it another slash.

    Even in their first spar it was apparent that Javal was faster than Flint, but as the fellblood dashed towards the closest boulder the cowboy was hot on hit tail. Though Javal got to it a split second before flint could and slashed it into four pieces, Oh this'll be fun He thought as he turned his attention to the next closest one. Both of the rival's eyes landed on a one that was 20 feet further to the right, this time Flint got a head start towards it. Though with Javal's blinding speed he was gaining on him and eventually caught up to him as he was within range of it. Both of the men took their attacks.

    It would've seemed that Javal's sword was faster than Flint's fists but the cowboy wasn't aiming for the rock, He smirked as the back of his fist clanged against Javal's steel. The impact letting out an almost metallic pang as he stopped the sword's momentum. After stopping the sword he twisted his body to send a to send his fist careening with this rock, the first impact sent a shockwave through the boulder's surface while the second did the rest of the work as purple light traveled down the cowboy's arms. "Alright score's all tied up at the beginning, though it's just gettin' interestin'" Both impacts sent debris flying into the surrounding sand, one decently sided one was shot back into Flint's face. He let out a hearty laugh as the rock forcefully bounced off of his face. He then grinned as he eyed the next boulder and took off like a freight train with his friend right on his heel.

---

Passive: Bull's Strength and Double Strike.
    

Javal sprints as fast as he can and then jumps closer to the next rock close to him. He then places a lot of strength as he hits the ground and shifts his weight into the point of his blade to cut the blade into two pieces as he whispers, “Javal Style: Lotus Break”.



He is then surprised to suddenly see his blade clash against the back of Flint’s fists as the rock in front of him gets slashed in half and slides off each other and falls to the ground two each side of him.



He heard a loud pang from the clash and jumped back to avoid Flint’s attack saying, “Woah there friend looks like you weren’t kidding about those fists, I see. They’re even powerful enough to go toe to toe with metal and stone. What do you even do to reach that level my friend? Punch walls for months straight to obtain that strength? If so I’d have to give that a try in order to get stronger".


He smirked, “You’re right about that my friend” and sprinted as fast as he could behind Flint kicking up the nearby sand.



He then touches his feet infusing them with magenta-colored energy and jumps into the air above Flint floating for a second before raising his sword and bringing it straight down into the nearby boulder and cutting through as he then lands behind it whispering, “Javal Style: Deep Slice” and turns around to see what his friend did to it.

---

Passives: Bull's Strength, Angelic Light, Water Rune

        “Well if you want to punch molten rocks for a straight month be my guest, just be careful you might break yer hands the first couple of times” he joked before having to spit out some of the sand that Javal had kicked up from sprinting. He grinned as he watch his purple friend start to float into the air and gracefully come down with a clean slice right through it. He laughed as he knew his plan was a lot less graceful as he didn’t slow down once he got close to one of the boulder halves; he dropped his shoulder as he neared the boulder and used the momentum of his sprint to crash right through it. With debris now shutting into the air and Flint replacing where it was he turned his attention to the other half, he turned on his heels to skid to a stop. Using the remaining momentum he turned his hips and inhaled deeply as he delivered a heavy upper cut to the other half. Sending even more debris into the air with both impacts he laughed as it rock material showered around the two.


        “Check this out” he joked as he caught a larger piece of the debris, about the size of a basketball ball. He scanned the surrounding area as he spotted a good target, and grinned as he transferred the rock to his throwing arm. He took a stance with his left arm out to aim and he palmed the rock in the other hand. Then like a baseball pitcher he took a step and used his entire body to hunk it at the boulder, with a loud whistle it rocketed towards it. Though since he didn’t have the best depth perception due to his bad eye he was a little off of where he aimed, nonetheless it imbedded itself into the rock with a loud crack. He clicked his tongue in frustration as he took off in another sprint and once close enough he jumped and drop kicked the rock straight through the boulder.

Javal looked over as he heard Flint call for him, his eyes widened in wonder and amazement as he saw Flint perform an incredible feat by not only throwing the rock into the boulder but kicking it straight through.



“Woah my friend you never cease to amaze me with how you have gotten so strong and powerful, it hasn’t been very long since the last time we met”.



“Speaking of", Javal says as he twists his back and swings his sword with the extra momentum from swinging his whole body and slicing a boulder in half as it falls to the floor once more.



“What have you been up to? Find any new leads on Colt? You got a lot stronger but how? Did you meet any cool new adventurers by chance?”.



“I learned a couple things after visiting my master and training for a month with another adventurer friend so don’t think I’ve stayed complacent myself”.



He then holds his blade with both hands as he walks to a giant boulder he then whispers, “Javal Style: Aqua Holy Anvil”, and rhythmically tosses them in the air and makes strange but dancelike movements before slashing the boulder into six pieces as his blade glows deep blue and is surrounded by a glowing white area.

---

1. Blade Dance Katana Slash (Angelic Light, Water Rune, Bull’s Strength)

    At this point Flint had lost count of the score and was just hoping that Javal was keeping track, though it didn't matter to him he was having a blast. As the two darted between the boulders he put his hand to his chin to jog his memory of the past month or so, "Well, not too much had happened; then again not a whole happens in the desert anyways. As for my brother, I hadn't found anything yet, besides more people mistaking me for him and tryin' to take his bounty. and as for any new faces, not too long after fightin' that dragon god thing I ran into Miss Kamille again and also met a one armed swordsman by the name of Everett" Though this wasn't exactly everything he did, there were some things he didn't want to rope Javal into; like his plan to return to the town where he was almost killed and taking his revenge. He had tried going back a couple weeks ago but backed out when the town came into view, which even he knew was uncharacteristic of him just something in him knew he wasn't ready.

    Flint was starting to lag behind Javal a little bit as he spoke of his master, though the fellblood slowed down to a walk. Cocking his eyebrow in confusion Flint watched as his graceful dancelike slashes, followed by the boulder falling into 6 pieces. Walking in stride with him he couldn't help but let out an impressed whistle along with a slow clapping "Damn, you ain't kiddin' brother, you've been busy durin' that time. well what about you? any new faces or updates on yer grandfather or yer old crew?" It almost felt weird to him to be this invested in other's business since he was a big believer in minding his own for the longest time, yet Javal had broke his way through his rough exterior the day they first sparred together.

    Wanting to impress his rival he eyed the six pieces as they fell and his arms moved faster than they ever had before, he efficiently shattered each pieces before they hit the ground. Like a gunman he brought his fist up to his mouth and blew away some of the steam that had been drifting off from it, "and that's how it's done" he joked with a wink. His eyes scanned the desert surrounds littered with rubble from the boulders and from the structures that were here prior, they had almost gotten all of them; just one remained at the far end of the destroyed town. He nudged Javal with his elbow then motioned towards the last boulder with his head "hey, whoever breaks that one first wins" He said before taking off towards it.

    

Javal looked around the two of them counting the various pieces of stone and rock and tried piecing them together in his head to keep score.



“Hm, it looks like we’re both tied in score, I think”, he said in his head intending to tell Flint after he finished speaking.



His eyes brightened as his friend mentioned the names of one adventurer he knew well and one he did not.



“Oh I’m sorry to hear about you getting mixed up with Colt but at least beating up those bounty hunters makes up for good training right? Oh so you have met Lady Kamille, how is she doing by chance? Me and I went on an adventure once beating up cultists and destroying a conspiracy of crime. She saved my life when a building I was in was about to explode. I don’t recognize the name Everett but I hope I meet him in the future ah clashing with a one-armed swordsman I’m excited to see how strong he is”.



Javal said excitedly, “Yes my friend I have met and fought alongside as well as against many many adventurers. As for updates on my grandfather there has not been much in that department, everything’s been alright I guess. I think he’s clear in terms of morality at least from what I’ve been able to see. I accidentally destroyed his first floor during an owlbear encounter and had to get serious. I unfortunately haven’t been able to start my search for my crew’s disappearance and annihilation yet I’ve been a little too busy with jobs and missions lately sadly”.



Javal’s eyes widened as he looked at the now dust that was the pieces of rock he broke off that Flint pummeled, “Dang my friend I’m still very proud and impressed by your increased strength I’m still wondering how you got those fists of yours so empowered”.



Javal barely had enough time to react as Flint barreled towards the last boulder remaining, it was colossal almost the size of the both of them combined. He placed his hand on the floor, summoning a large block of ice on the sand floor below him; he then touched his feet, coating them with ice. He then breaks forward sprinting as fast as he can, his speed increases thanks to the smooth and slippery surface he created. He zooms forward audibly quicking up a large amount of sand in the process, he then jumps in the air barely reaching the middle part of the rock.



He then twists his arm around holding his katana and whispers, “Javal Style: Double Divine Tide” as he sends out two back-to-back sword slashes forming a large x shape coated with blue and white energy from his blade.

    Flint had to spit out a good amount of sand as Javal rushed past him on the icy surface, though a mouthful of sand won't stop the freight train that he is. So the split second before he was too far out of reach he grabbed onto the back of his robe and slid along to be able to keep speed with him, he let out a heart laugh as the two rocketed at high speeds. He held onto his hat for dear life as the boulder was getting closer by the seconds, yet he had no idea how he was going to break the damn thing. It was way bigger than any of the other rocks he found scattered throughout the desert and he couldn't image how hard the thing must, nonetheless a grin creeped across his face the closet the two go.

    Suddenly the two were in the air as Javal had jumped towards the boulder once they were closer enough, and Flint's grin grew wider as he saw his opportunity as he let go of the robe. With the momentum that he had built from earlier he sling shot himself towards it as Javal attempted his x-slash, he then brought up both of his hands in an attempt to block the sword from connecting with it's target. Yet like always the fellblood was quicker on the draw as the first slash connected but Flint had gotten faster since last time as he blocked the second one with a resounding metal pang. Twisting his body in mid air to be facing the rock, he brought his right leg up and with a triple kick to it's side and with help from Javal's initial damage to it sent cracks splinter through the surface. Then as the two landed past the boulder a cacophony of crashing sounded as the pieces of rock showered around them. 

    Flint nodded as he admired the quick work they had made of the molten rocks followed by holding up his fist for a bump "And that's what I like to call a job well done, it's good to see that neither of us had plateaued in strength yet." Then he perked up as he had remember something from earlier and leaned his himself against the fellblood using his shoulder as an arm rest. "Now that business has concluded, what would you say to a round two brother?" 

As Javal finished slashing he noticed that the sudden weight at the end of his coat was gone and looked down to see that Flint was already there and clashed against his blade’s power.



His first slashed caused half of the rock to slide off the boulder and crash to the floor causing the sand to explode up as a result. He then fell down as he finished his attack and landed on the sandy floor below jumping back to avoid the large rock shower that he and Flint had made of the formerly giant boulder. He smiles widely glad that he and his cowboy friend were able to finish the job looking around at all the broken rocks.


“I’d agree with my friend that both of us have not only stayed strong but become way stronger than before, especially yourself”.


"Hm”, he says as he thinks about the new environment, “These new small rocks make the area look a bit nicer, perfect battlefield for a spar. I'll say friend Flint, what do you think about this benign setting for our second spar?”.



After hearing Flint’s response the fellblood walks over to the opposite end of the field of Flint and says, “Now that we finished the task at hand let us do battle and see how far we’ve truly come. Have any rules you’d like for us to follow friend Flint”, Javal says as he raises his katana holding it with his right hand pointing straight at Flint.