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Moxxie didn’t have plans to show up to the gym today, after all, it was one of the few days off he had that month and he did want to have dinner with Millie. But when Loona says something was important, then that simply must be the case. She rarely said that anything is important.
“Oh, and bring a gun.” was what she said over the phone on the way there. The small imp found it odd, but played along with it anyway. He slipped into the gym, with the gun hidden in his jacket as he scanned around the gym. Nobody was there but Octavia and Loona in the middle of the ring.
“But still, I wouldn’t think I need to protect myself with my hands when my magic could do more than enough.” Octavia shrugged as she demonstrated her magic by lifting some free weights from off the ground before letting them all drop on the floor with a few clangs.
Loona just shook her head and gently placed a paw on her shoulder, “But ain’t no harm in havin’ a little extra right?” She gave a gentle smile to her surrogate, owl sister. “Like, nobody has like an endless pool of magic, what if you run out?”
“I’m sure I would have enough to teleport away.” The royal teen shrugged causally.
“Yeah, but what if you can’t?” Loona argued back, “Humans are catching up to what we can do and they’re getting better at catching us lackin’. You gotta be ready for that. ‘Side’s since when did your big sis ever steer you wrong?” Loona’s red eye gave a cheeky wink before she noticed Moxxie enter the room. “Ah, and here’s our training dummy now.”
Moxxie rolled his yellow eyes as he wiped his hooves before he climbed onto the ropes and dropped himself into the ring, “Oh, thank you for your help, Moxxie, what would we do without you?” He muttered under his breath, “I know, I know, you’re welcome.” he added as he really ramped up the sarcasm. Moxxie looked up at Octavia and gave a nod of acknowledgement before he turned to the grey hellhound who was covered in protective fighting gear. “So, why did you need me with this gun?”
“Simple, because I asked Dad already and he said no.” Loona shrugged.
“And you didn’t even ask me first?!” Moxxie’s jaw dropped as he gasped in a loud offended manner. “I’m the guy you call when you NEED gun expertise!”
“And right now, I need a training dummy.” Loona added before she turned her attention to Octavia as she handed over a spare mouth guard to her. “Y’know, just in case.”
The royal black owl didn’t object, she instead shrugged and placed the guard in her mouth. Well, as best as she could with a beak instead of a mouth.
Loona nodded with a small smile as she readied herself in a fighting stance. “Okay, ‘Tavi, I’m going to teach you what you do when someone comes at you with a gun.” She cricked her neck, “Moxxie, gun.” She commanded.
Moxxie blinked for a couple of seconds in confusion before he decided to play along and aimed his custom handgun towards his colleague. He then screamed in pain as Loona dug her claws into his wrist. The magazine fell out of the gun before he could do anything, all the while the Hellhound was calm the entire time.
“First thing you do, is lift the gun away from you.” She gently shook Moxxie’s wrist, which was still holding the gun. “Then when the mag’s out. You just…” She snatched it away and dismantled the gun expertly and threw the pieces away. “After that, you’re forcing your opponent to fight hand to hand.” She slowly took a step forward as Moxxie stepped back, with his fists clenched.
The tiny imp wasn’t ready for a spar this morning, but after that? He was open to the idea. But the punch never came as Loona relaxed and proudly smiled at her apparent student. “It’s quite simple really.” But the imp remained a little tense. Things are never simple with Loona.
“You know what else is simple, you could have warned me about what you’re gonna do.” Moxxie snidely groaned as he slipped away to reassemble the gun together.
“Oh yeah, because in a real situation, you have to tell the guy with the gun, ‘hey, don’t kill me yet, I gotta do some sick kicks like I’m an action movie. Come on, you know better than that, Mox.” She rolled her eyes in a huff.
“But it’s me, Loona!” Moxxie shot back, “I would have just understood what was going on if you just told me outright!”
“Yeah, but that would have been less fun.” Loona chuckled evily as she turned back to her adopted sister, “Any questions?”
“Fuck you.” Moxxie muttered with an unamused scowl on his face.
“Why do that when I could just…” Octvaia quickly snatched the gun away from Moxxie’s hands and dismantled it again with a shrug. It was too easy. Not even worth a drop of sweat. “I would hardly need to fight after that.”
Moxxie titled his head from side to side, “Not exactly…If I were fighting you and Loona I would be prepared, gun ready and would already be aiming for you head, right? Surely, ‘Bang’ would be faster than any kind of magic you could do…No offense.”
Octavia just gave a confident smirk in response, “You don’t know how fast I could do it, little guy.” as she reassembled the handgun and guided it back to him. “Okay, go.”
“Bang.” Moxxie deadpanned, his finger away from the trigger with his outstanding discipline. Octavia blinked for a moment before she groaned in disappointment.
“Well, that’s not fair. It’s not THAT quick.” the black owl scoffed in disbelief.
“Oh believe me, it’s that quick.” Moxxie replied, “And if it was me, you’re fighting, it’s even faster.” He gave a confident grin of his own, blowing into his nails causally. “Millie really likes how fast my hands are.”
“Okay, first of all, Ew.” Loona lolled out her tongue, her face screwed up in disgust, “And second of all, as much as I hate to admit it…you’re right You are fast.” Loona looked back at Octavia with the kind of authoritative look you would expect from a teacher, “You really got to prep your magic long before a fight if you want to be faster than a bullet. Which is why disarming your opponent first is vital.”
Loona paused, “Like this.” She quickly yanked on Moxxie’s arm and pulled it behind his head as he yelped in pain like a whimpering dog. “I find wrestling to be the best kind of close quarters combat for me.” She gave a smug grin at Moxxie before he quickly slipped back and picked up the gun again and aimed it by instinct.
“Unless I create space to then shoot you from a distance.” Moxxie shot back with a smug grin of his own. “You also gotta make sure your opponent’s actually disarmed. Besides, NOW I could shoot Loona at the leg and that would lower her down to my level.”
There was a pause before Loona shook her head. “I’m not kneeling down to you, Mox. You’re not THAT good with guns.”
“Bang, Bang.” Moxxie spoke with a flat tone ‘shooting’ at both legs, “You know I’m not actually shooting you, right?”
“Because Dad would kill you, riiiight?” Loona gave a smug toothy grin, “I’m untouchable.” She teased,
“Just play along.” Moxxie groaned with a tired tone. He waited for Loona to kneel down as she overdramatised being hurt with deliberately bad acting and a hiss of pain. “Now that she’s on my level, it’s easier to get to the head.” Moxxie demonstrated this by pressing the gun to the hellhound’s head. “She’s dead from here.”
“Not unless I bite your hand off! Literally!” Loona lightly nipped at Moxxie’s wrist.
“Ow!” Moxxie hissed as he rubbed his hand to soothe the pain. “You wouldn’t do that in a real fight.”
“I did do that though.”
“Because I was there to slow them down.”
“Still did it.” Loona snarled as she leaned in close with a vicious look on her face.
Moxxie and Loona eventually butted heads with one another, literally. Moxxie knew that his colleague is a great fighter, but there was no way in his mind that he would ever want to admit that she is a better fighter than him.
“Y’know, I could just come back later.” Octavia shrugged as she placed earbuds to her ears and scrolled through her phone, “It’s clear you both have some issues with one another.” She shrugged and started lightly bopping her head casually to the music playing in her ears.
That stopped the fight between Loona and Moxxie right there and then. Moxxie gestured to the relaxed owl as he spoke in a deadpan voice, “Teachin’ her how to fight, huh? That doesn't seem to be going too well.”
“Well, I’m not always gonna be around sis to save her.” Loona rolled her red eyes, “I could only be at one place at a time, dumbass.”
Moxxie was going to shoot back at the canine colleague, probably something along the lines of, ‘shut up.’ Except, well, better. But the words died in his mouth as a thought came to him. He knew what it’s like to feel powerless to protect someone. He sighed and scratched the back of his head. “I get it.” He sighs with a nod. “It’s admirable that you want to you know, be a good ‘big sis’” Moxxie started, with the airquotes squeaking in the air, “But you got to trust Miss Octavia that she could protect herself. I mean, you saw her push that blue shitbag away to protect her dad, right?
Loona snorted with a knowing smirk, “Well, she DID fight better than you that day.”
Moxxie scoffed as he strode over to what looked to be a distracted Octavia, “Yeah, yeah, whatever.” He placed the gun up to her stomach, which was as far as he could reach given his sight. He ended up getting a swift kick as a result
Octavia didn’t waste any movement as pressed herself down on the imp and smacked the gun away, all with a very serious look on her face. “Just because I don’t WANT to fight with my fists, doesn’t mean I can’t.” She gave a confident smirk as she stood back up, she then chuckled a little, “Just don’t expect me to do any Netflix corridor stuff.”
“Yet.” Loona corrected, I won’t expect you to do that yet.” She gave a proud smile and a gentle pat on her shoulder. “I’ll make a killer out of you yet.”
Moxxie slowly got back up to his hooves with a petty pout on his face, “I totally could have had you, if I wanted to.” He yelped as a burst of purple magic pulled him close to Octavia and Loona, he never saw the two girls look so menacingly.
“Could you though?” Octavia asked with a confident smirk, Which quickly faded as she corrected herself a little, “Not like in a real fight though.”
Moxxie nodded in a quiet agreement, “Oh, yeah, of course. Like in sparring…”
“Yeah, sparring.” Octavia nodded before she quickly snatched the gun away and pressed it against Moxxie’s head and whispered, “bang.”
Moxxie scoffed and looked over at Loona, “A killer, huh?”
Loona shrugged casually, "Maybe closer to a street fighter. Still, bet you were terrified for a moment, huh.”
“Shut up, Loona.” Moxxie groaned with his arms crossed, “How many sparring sessions you’re gonna need me in?”
“Probably all of them.” Loona gave an evil smirk to the smaller imp, “Gotta have my chew toy after all.”
“Psssh, whatever!” Moxxie chuckled, “I could still beat you in a real-Actually no. Wait.” He shook his head. “That would be a mistake.”
Loona's red eyes had a sinister glow as she nodded, she bore her fangs as she looked more confident than she had been as far as Moxxie could remember. “Yeah, it would have been. I’m Hell’s best fighter.”
END