In the far reaches of space, an elderly man with an excellent beard sits on a stump. He's listening to music two generations too young for him to be listening to, and enjoying every second of it. The old man's name is Kanitah, and he's taking a short break on a backwoods planet in the middle of bumfuck nowhere in space. After his past expedition into the multiverse, Kanitah's daughter fled from home with a powerful weapon in hand, the old man had to give chase. Otherwise his wife would never let him hear the end of it, so for the past year or so, he's been looking for her. Trying his best to catch her before she does something reckless and borderline suicidal.



Kanitah, only three years after the rather exhausting venture into the Multiverse, had managed to recover fully from his injuries. The scars that had once impeded his movement and caused him pain now just an unfortunate stain on his 'perfect' aesthetic. On this little planet in bumfuck nowhere, he realized something. That he had been fighting for pretty much his whole life, and honestly, he didn't even regret it. These quiet moments alone with his thoughts are perfect, but the rush of battle is where a true man finds peace.

Defeating a powerful foe who stands in your way, or being the powerful foe standing in someone else's way. Either path is good, a challenge of any kind will always make the blood run hot in your veins.

The wind blew through his hair as the music banged out in his ears, the strange alien grass tickling at his exposed calves. (He had rolled his pant-legs and sleeves up to get comfortable while he rests.) Not a care in the world, aside from the fate of his daughter, but some slight tingle at the back of his neck kept bugging him.

Not a chance in the world that something could concievably go wrong in such an obscure little rock in space, but even so, the feeling just wouldn't stop bugging him.

The large warrior spat onto the cold steel floor of the ship, his spittle splashing onto an engineer’s feet. Deathly silence filled the room, permeated only by shuffling feet and awkward stares at anything but the two involved in the confrontation.

“Make time.” His voice, oddly accentuated by something deeper and darker than itself, rang out across the populated bridge. The commander looked down on Fury, his face mottling red with extreme anger at his impudence, delivering orders on his ship?

“We don’t have additional time to fulfil your petty vendettas soldier, back to your post.” The commander was dismissive of the Fireen warrior known as Fury, he should have been more wary of the burning rage hidden behind his pale blue eyes.

The blast of energy shook the bridge and sent the commander sprawling, two armed guards following suit as they tried to draw on the Fireen whose hands were still splayed from his act of aggression. He moved forward with deadly intent, his hands now bunched into fists.

Two days later

Fury dived from the empty evac station into the void of space, his body unperturbed by the conditions as he used energy to propel himself towards his target. He always did like to make an explosive entrance.

The earth ruptured under his feet as energy dropped to protect him from the impact, carefully generated as he fell for just this purpose. As was usual he created a great deal of sound and drilled his own small crater into the ground on landing, something which was growing to become his trademark. His foe was close, he had sensed him as he dropped down, probably within eye-sight now and Kanitah was sure to know Fury had arrived.

Fury jumped out of the crater and strode towards Kanitah in his Antireen mail, one hand raised in challenge as he roared.

“WE HAVE UNFINISHED BUSINESS YOU AND I!”

Had he heard the sound of air rushing apart as Fury fell from space, he would have looked up before the Fireen struck the ground. However, his music was far too loud. It wasn't until the eruption of debris and explosive boom threw his earbuds out that he noticed something was amiss. Disbelief and a deep seated fear flooded through his body, the music still quite audible despite the buds no longer in his ears. With one hand he cut the music off and slid a small plate and another bud into his ear. (A translator, because Pundambayans don't naturally speak English.) As the dust began to settle a far too familiar form emerged, Kanitah's eyes widened and the reflection of his old foe showed in his glossy orange eyes. By the All-Maker, this is about the last person I wanted to find out here.

With a grunt and a shove, Kanitah stood up from his seated position. The sleeve on his left arm sliding down to his wrist while the other stayed in place. The dust hadn't fully settled yet, and that awful stink of ionized air burned at his nostrils. If he didn't know how unpredictable Fury was, he would have chanced a sneeze.

"You-" The words began flowing from his mouth, out of sync with his lips. "Of all the people that I could'a bumped into in the middle of nowhere." Kanitah raised his arm and accusingly pointed at Fury. "It had to be you. What are you doing here, Fury? Don't you think that fiasco three years ago was enough?"

A pause for effect.

"Not only did we not finish what we started, you caused all this." He gestured to his right arm, a scar running from the back of his hand to his elbow, only visible because his sleeve was still up on this side. "And now my Daughter's out looking for you! She's willing to die to find you, and of all the people to show up here. It wasn't her, but you."

I love these pauses for dramatic effect!

"So now what? You're here to finish the job? Here to kill me so you feel closure? The one guy who stood up to you that you didn't kill?" Both of his pant legs fell down to his ankles, and he pulled his right sleeve down. Adjusting the cuff slightly, not even bothering to look at Fury. "Is that it?"

"Or did you just want to kill someone, and I happened to be the unlucky sod in your general vicinity?"

As Fury strode closer he nearly stopped to consider Kanitah’s words. It was a question that actually resounded with him, and he was one seldom for deep thought or consideration of his actions. Why was he here, attempting to finish off an opponent he had barely wanted to fight in the first place nigh on three years ago?

The answer pulled at him within his soul, but he couldn’t face it, he never could.

“You may be in the habit of leaving your foes alive behind you where they can stab you in the back… but I prefer an ending to things.” Fury told him, his voice strong but no longer strained with shouting as they reached a more comfortable distance from each other. He couldn’t help but relive the strange situation that had drove them to fight in the first place so long ago in the twisting worlds of the multiverse. Fury had thought he had finally found his greatest foe, Skallagrim, but had instead locked on to some coward who had recently came into contact with the Dreamer. In his hasty attack he had rather understandably struck up their ire, and Kanitah had taken offence and launched an attack on Fury.

The fight had been brutal but by all accounts relatively short. Fury had gained an early upper-hand and dealt his foe a number of wounds, but the situation had rapidly spiralled out of control and the Fireen had left in embarrassment of the mess he had made. It irked him to this day that Kanitah had not rolled over and died when faced with his full strength, Fury had only ever lost a single fight, and drawing was almost as bitter.

Still, that hardly seemed like enough for him to beat the living crap out of the Angar-Ryllan commander to force him to take Fury to Kanitah when scouts had reported his presence on this rocky planet. It all seemed to be a little mad, damn why was this always happening?

“I used to be a soldier damnit.” Fury muttered to himself, staring at Kanitah and realising he had unconsciously drawn to a stop twenty feet from his foe, a pittance of distance to the superhuman opponents.

Maybe I am just looking for a fight… maybe there’s a part of me hoping every fight will be my last.
Enough, your pity irritates me, don’t force me to seize your body, you are my vessel, never forget your place.
So be it.

“Ready yourself, see if you fare any better than last time.” Fury settled with his left foot forward in a boxing stance, his eyes fixed on Kanitah, energy bunching up around his extremities as it always did when he prepared for war.

A sudden and noticeable hesitation at his question, Kanitah had struck a nerve. Good or bad? Never too sure with Fury's sort, reminded him of the Ku-Ni-Tin general during the invasion of Pundambaya. But something about his words had brought up a question inside of his foe's heart, which meant that there was still something sensible inside of him. Honestly, now's about the perfect time for Kanitah's favorite kind of therapy. If you can't talk your problems out, I'll beat them out of you. With no words, Kanitah slid himself into a stance similar to Horse stance, however, less dipped. His legs are still splayed but less widely, a wider range of motion of legs is necessary at this level of combat.

With a silent grumble, Kanitah muttered a single word. "Darligrov." Energy whipped around him in consecutive spirals, forming into rings around his body. A faint hum emitting from each of them as they spiraled into place. Kanitah knows Fury's stronger than he is, far stronger. The rings are really his only hope of fighting him.

His shoulders felt heavy as he remembered the device mounted to them, beneath his shirt. In their previous bout, he resorted to using its power to increase his own. At the heavy cost of nearly having a heart attack, Kanitah didn't want to use its power again. No, I can fight him without it. I'm strong enough, I know I am.

"Leaving your foes alive is how you change them. The living can reform, the dead can't." His doctrine of battle. "I've killed my fair share in the past. The invasion of Pundambaya forced me to." A slight flash of memories ran through his head, the armies he stared down. Only one soldier he had faced was anything like Fury, nobody else compared. "But I'd never kill in rage, only out of necessity!"

Then the rings ceased moving, vibrating slowly as they hovered less than an inch away from his skin. The Pundambayan warrior moved his arms forward with open palms, breathing in deeply. Fury would strike first, and how he reacts to it will determine the course of the entire battle.

With a deathly stare, Kanitah glared down the Fireen. "I'm not much stronger than I was back then, and I'm not getting any younger. But I'm certain I'll beat you this time." With a swift pull, he brought his arms back to his body. Clenching his fists tightly and pressing them to his sides. "If not, I'll probably die. I'll be honest."

“Yes. You probably will.”

Fury burst forward, one stride carrying him further than any mortal man, almost closing the distance in an instance. The momentum was not to be wasted, as his left foot set down again in the earlier boxing stance he took an addition step forward on his right foot by shifting his weight and throwing his right fist forward in a driving punch directed down towards Kanitah’s nose. There was speed behind his attack, and no small amount of surprise. He had the longer reach and so was assured that his punch would limit Kanitah’s options, making counter attacking immediately very dangerous and giving Fury ample time to pull back if necessary.

First strike inbound, Kanitah shifted his right leg inward and dipped forward. A punch aimed straight for Kanitah's nose. Any half decent fighter knows that the face is the easiest place to injure, and because the face bleeds the most it's the safest place for landing an initial blow. Should have seen that one coming a mile away. With two quick steps forward, his stance partially maintained, he ducked his head underneath Fury's arm and pressed forward into the Fireen's reach. The bulk of his smaller body swinging to the side as he wound up a straight punch to the dead center of Fury's chest. All too well he knew the risks of getting this close to Fury, he remembered the draining powers, but this punch was designed with the intent of pushing him back and knocking the wind out of him. Kanitah opened his mouth and let out a shout as he swung his arm forwards, lashing the ring enveloped fist straight at his foe's sternum.

Fury was not to be lucky enough to score the first strike and unfortunately there was to be a cost for over-extending without success. His opponent moved inside quickly, benefiting from his short stature immensely against the comparably gigantic Fireen. However, Fury was aware of this disadvantage, and had been ready to pull back even before Kanitah managed to duck his strike and close the distance. Like any good fighter he was hardly willing to sacrifice the advantage of reach in a straight up fist-fight, so his right foot instinctively drew back and his left arm rose to check his opponent’s counter, blocking the strike heading for his chest with his arm and deflecting away some of its force, while also turning his body from the strike and moving backwards.

It still hurt, but Fury could remain on his feet because he was braced for the strike. With nimble footwork he bounced back another pace, Kanitah now once again too far to strike at him, his stance returned he lashed out with his slightly tingling left arm with a warding jab towards Kanitah’s face, preventing him from trying to close the distance again. If Kanitah tried to press he would have to face Fury’s full force, where-as he could hardly hold his ground while he was being struck without being able to fight back. Fury was light on his feet, and more than capable of drawing Kanitah into a mistake that would allow the Fireen to unleash hell upon him.

It hadn't worked as well as he had expected, but he had struck the arm that he was striking with. This was just as fortunate as him landing his first strike, this gave him a good target for his next strike. Kanitah righted himself into a straighter upright position, his left arm raising rapidly to defend his face. However, this isn't a block. What Kanitah had done last time they had fought, was fight like a hero and not like a warrior. Showboating had nearly cost him his life last time, and now every move that he made was with precision. As Fury's fist flew towards him, he leaned backwards and struck upwards with his forearm.

This blow isn't aimed at Fury's body, no, it's aimed directly for the underside of his arm. If Fury was paying attention, he would remember that Kanitah has rings on every strike surface of his body. Including his forearm. Kanitah lashed at Fury's wrist in an attempt to further numb his arm, intending to make every strike that Fury makes with that arm worthless.

The big downside of Kanitah's gambit is that he didn't much have the time to move out of the way, or block. So the punch was a guaranteed hit. His eyes squinted tightly and his face scrunched up before the blow landed dead center in his face. Not a full strength blow, but still extremely painful and dazing. It cracked the nasal bone that connects his forehead to his nose, but Kanitah steeled himself and pushed against it with his full weight. Refusing to move from his strike.

Accidental post in the wrong chat.

Fury was a little surprised when his exploratory jab landed fairly successfully, even more so by his opponent’s response which caught his palm as he was pulling back from the jab. Attacking someone’s arm can be pretty effective but in this instance there was nothing resisting the momentum of Kanitah’s blow, so Fury’s arm raised in the air slightly and his armoured gloves took the brunt of the force with no seeming issue. Always one to capitalise on opportunity, which was after all what the jab was for, Fury simply lashed out again with the same arm, throwing another quick jab at his opponent’s face to see if he would attempt to defend himself in a similar matter. As he did so he made to step around anti-clockwise, circling his opponent but remaining the same distance away from him.

Did Fury forget that Kanitah hadn't dropped his arm after the strike? Though his first punch had hurt, Fury hadn't put enough force in it for Kanitah to even back away. It was like Fury wasn't fighting, but rather toying with him. These mistakes were sloppy, and it left him open for another blow. As Fury thrust his fist back at Kanitah once again, Kanitah opened his palm and thrust his arm downwards. With his right foot he pushed back away from Fury's fist and pulled to his side. Putting Kanitah on Fury's off hand side, while persisting with his downwards grab. With his right hand, Kanitah intended to catch Fury's arm from behind. What was his goal after grabbing it? He didn't really have anywhere to go after the grab, but catching Fury's arm was his current goal.

Fury allowed his jab to be brushed away and simply carried out his earlier plan of side-stepping anti-clockwise, allowing him to neatly escape Kanitah’s follow up. He turned properly to face the oncoming brawler and lashed out with one more jab to the face, hoping to catch him off guard as he attempted his cumbersome grab on the far faster attack.

This time however, Fury wasn’t going to let a mistake slide. Following his jab came the expected right hook with all his power, stepping into the strike while simultaneously forcing energy to be expelled from his body to launch himself forward. He was either going to take Kanitah’s head off, or fly straight through him and bowl him to the ground with his sudden burst of momentum. After his short burst he would dart rightward and turn to face Kanitah again, drawing energy into the palm of his right hand.

With his arm slapping against his own chest, Kanitah noticed that Fury had moved away from his snatch. This position wasn't a good one, not at all, he had no guard up and Fury was moving in for massive strike. Even with his durability, Kanitah couldn't take that punch, that's a killing blow. Even worse, this was his fault. The grab was instinctual instead of planned, Kanitah had put himself in this situation. Taking the punch would be stupid, he didn't plan to die today. That was not on the agenda, he still needed to find his daughter. So, what were his options?

Fury was going to plow into him with a ridiculous amount of force, either killing him or burying him in the dirt. Neither option sounded particularly enjoyable, but being buried at least left him alive. For now.

The only option that he had was to survive.

Kanitah whipped around and stepped into Fury's blow, his right arm totally useless right now. He couldn't raise it in time, but his left arm was free. A punch wouldn't work, he wasn't faster than Fury. All he could do was to bring his left arm up to his face as he stepped forward.

Stepping into the strike was the only thing that kept him from being decapitated by the Fireen's punch.

Fury's arm slammed into his shoulder, his fist missing his head but the metal at the base of his gauntlet beat at the side of his neck and edge of his shoulder.

As Fury followed through with the strike, Kanitah was plowed into with the energy of Fury's charge. The stout warrior was slammed head first to the ground, his own weight causing even worse pain as he slammed into the earth. The wind was knocked out of him, survival was great, but the pain wasn't. In the fray, Kanitah had lost sight of his foe.

Only one of his eyes listened to him, he tried scoping out the area with just one eye. With a shove he rolled over onto his stomach, his right hand splayed out and his left pressed against his chest. Kanitah still didn't see Fury, the only thing that he could see were splotches of light. He had hit his head pretty hard against the ground.

Man, that grab had really put him in a bad spot.

Fury was unsurprised that he had put his opponent on the ground, but he was not yet enraged so immediately moving in to finish the job was not high on his agenda. Better to draw it out and not underestimate his opponent, the soldier in him knew that luck could turn any battle. He had shot through Kanitah and delivered a strike, though the sound had been wrong for skull-contact so he assumed the smaller brawler had managed to divert his strike at the last moment to a fleshier target. Assuming Kanitah would still be standing Fury had then immediately bounded right-ward and span around, drawing energy into his palm and ready for a counter attack.

Instead Kanitah had been before him sprawled in the dirt, looking somewhat dazed from Fury’s fist. He wasn’t looking in the right direction, and he was still down on his belly, so Fury deemed it wise to deal with him now. The energy already prepared he hefted it, forming a bright blue spear made from his power alone in his right hand. With a javelin like throw he launched it at his downed opponent, the distance negligible at only fifteen feet or so, the space he had cleared with a single bound earlier.

If luck held and Kanitah failed to recover his senses, the spear would probably pierce through his ribs and into his torso. Fury fervently hoped it would.

Well, the splotches were gone. That was good, but the problem was, Fury wasn't in his sights. There wasn't any thinking when it came to his next action, Kanitah just moved. Without a thought, without reason, Kanitah slapped the ground with his right hand and shoved off with his left. Pushing away with every single ton of force that he could muster, Kanitah's body was propelled away from his lying position. For a split second he witnessed the blast that would have certainly ended his life bury itself in the ground where he once lay.

The massive force of his shove sent him hurtling to the left. Spinning through the air uncontrollably until he struck a tree with his right shoulder. A hot wave of fear rushed through him as he slumped to the ground, a painful sting on his shoulder and back. Raspy breathing followed as he began to stand up, using his right hand to prop himself up. Didn't think Fury was the sort to attack from behind. Seems like the sort who likes to see the face of the person he kills.

Fury watched with a certain amount of mean amusement as Kanitah was launched bodily away from his exploding projectile, which had left a nasty groove in the earth in its wake. The stocky warrior had been thrown clear, partially by his own quick thinking, and bounced off a tree about forty feet in front of Fury. Once again, although Fury was settling old scores his opponent had yet to enrage him enough to barrel after him, which was probably working in Kanitah’s favour at that point. Fury instead decided to walk over to Kanitah, shaking his arms for different reasons as they felt a little uncomfortable.

“Had enough, ready to roll over and die?” He asked Kanitah as he walked over, letting out a low chuckle with little humour in it. “You should never have got in my way Old Man, you had your chance to escape this fate a long time ago.” Fury spat, rolling his arms and cracking his neck in expectation. He couldn’t quite grab at any energy at that point, having failed to steal any from his opponent his reserves were being used to strengthen his body and project his ever-present shielding, so his ability to fight at range was somewhat hampered. Fury hated extended fights for that reason, especially in areas devoid of most life like this rocky battlefield. If he could get to the tree then he may be able to manifest something that would blow Kanitah to pieces.

Fury’s walk would carry him to Kanitah soon, but his foe would have plenty of time to stand and decide how he would meet Fury’s calm advance.

Well, at least he had the decency to let him stand up. Which was nice. Then the everpressing issue of how much Kanitah could get done before Fury closed the gap between them. It was quite obvious that he hadn't been utilizing his full skillset, so maybe Kanitah had misread his abilities three years ago. Some limitations and terms may apply, and stuff like that. So that was even better. To be entirely honest, Kanitah isn't the sort who likes his opponents to have their full power. Never has understood that idea that other brazen warriors employ, it just pits you against the firing squad, and that's not a good place to be.

So here he was, catching his breath with his hand against a tree. Hmm, what can he do with a tree and a few dozen feet. Picking it up wouldn't be too far out of the question, your average oak tree by calculable weight is only around 8.8 tons. Which is well within the realm of possibilities. But hoisting a tree from the ground and hurling it would take a fair amount of time, and would put him at a distinct disadvantage. So, that wouldn't work very well.

But, he could utilize at least part of the tree to turn the battle in his favor.

Nothing to do as he stood up though, Kanitah took a deep breath and stepped backwards twice. Putting him just slightly rear of the tree. "I'd lie down and die, Fury. If I didn't know that I'm about the only one who can put you down!" The muscles in his entire body tensed and the veins from his neck to his feet bulged as he yelled. Kanitah brought his right arm backwards, his right hand curling tightly into a fist.

Kanitah slammed his hand into the tree, the blow shredding through the wood with relative ease. Chunks of bark and splinters of wood erupted from the opposite side of the tree as his hand passed through it. While it wasn't any kind of targeted attack, Kanitah was making an attempt at forcing Fury to turn his head away from him. (Keep in mind, the tree isn't destroyed. It just has a chunk blown out of it.)

If the gambit worked out, Kanitah would immediately clear the gap between them and begin his own offensive.

“Bah.” Fury spat, as wood splinters blasted towards him. It wasn’t a very cost effective distraction as those things went, but it was still irritating. He raised one armoured arm in front of his face, relying on his shielding to send the debris around him harmlessly. As a soldier he was aware what Kanitah was doing, a slightly more explosive version of throwing sand in his face, but Fury was a good fifteen feet from the tree so he was confident he would at least have a moment to react.

Kanitah’s actions were still undetermined, but Fury had the smaller warrior’s energy trace locked so he could tell if he made a move even with his right arm in front of his face. Kanitah had but moments to react before he settled again in his ready stance. If he moved, Fury may just be a little more ready for his pressed attack than Kanitah realised.

Every muscle in his right arm screamed, immediately throwing a punch like that after slamming into the tree on it was brutal. His pain was more than worth it, it gave him precious seconds on his opponent. Kanitah glared at Fury with a divine. . .Well, Fury. Immediately after his strike at the tree, Kanitah burst into a sprint towards the energy leech. The gap between them was entirely negligible at this speed, leaving Fury less than a second to react. The old man brought both of his arms backwards, barreling towards his foe in a headlong charge.

Before the gap slammed shut, Kanitah leaned forward with both hands thrusting forward. Fingers clenched tightly into bony fists, with every single pound of his weight and every fiber of his muscle aimed into a pair of titanic punches aimed towards Fury. His right arm thrust straight towards Fury's sternum, and his left arm aimed at where Fury's right kidney should be.

(Though to be fair, Pundambayans have twin stomachs in the same place as human kidneys. So, he's actually aiming for his right stomach. )

With the full weight of his body and an angled strike to two sensitive areas, Kanitah intends to both knock the wind out of his foe, and to cause intense pain bodily pain.