Maya and Patty sparred for hours. The night passed and the sun was high overhead before Maya finally held a hand up, panting desperately for air. The puppet paused mid dash, sliding to a halt with a spray of rough sand.

The pirate captain gave her crewmate a weary yet appreciative nod before trudging over to the lake. She stuffed her mouth with strawberries and cracked open a fallen coconut, greedily drinking its contents before flopping onto her back. She was asleep within seconds.

Maya slept through the day and the night, not waking up until the next morning. Patty was already on the beach, waiting for her. The pirate captain grinned and rose to her feet, running over to resume her training.

Their pattern continued for two weeks. Every day, Maya would wake up and spar Patty until she could barely get her limbs to move. She’d trudge over to the lake, eat what she could, and bathed when she had the energy. Then she went back to sleep.

On the first day of the third week, Maya changed her routine. She walked to the sea, but asked Patty to wait for a few minutes before they started their sparring. The captain hadn’t had any luck actually using the Heart’s abilities despite the many hours she’d spent fighting.

The water soaked through the knees of her pants as Maya knelt down beside the sea, dipping her hands into it and sighing. It hadn’t responded to her attempts once during the past few weeks.

The Heart was silent within her. It was almost as if it weren’t there at all. Patty watched her captain with a slight frown.

“Maybe our sparring isn’t taxing you enough,” Patty suggested. “You might need more danger to bring out your abilities.”

Maya rose, wiping her hands off and tilting her head. She considered Patty’s words for a few moments.

“I suppose that might be true, but what can we do about it?” Maya asked, raising her hands helplessly. “Wait until someone tries to kill me?”

“Well,” Patty said, nudging the axe resting in the sand with the tip of her foot and giving Maya a meaningful glance, “we could always expedite the process.”

“You want to fight with our weapons? With no healer anywhere near us?”

“Not fight,” Patty corrected her captain. “I try to hit you. You can’t use your sickle. It might be hindering you from accessing your powers.”

“I think we’re glossing over the lack of doctor part,” Maya said.

Patty slowly picked up her axe.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“You haven’t said no,” the puppet observed. “Are we doing this or not?”

Maya cracked her neck and rolled her shoulders.

“Damn it, all right. We’re both insane, but there was no point going all this way if I can’t use my own abilities,” she said. “Come at me.”

Patty bounded across the sand. Maya dashed backwards, zigzagging across the beach to make herself a harder target for her crewmate. Luckily, Patty wasn’t using her full speed, and the captain was just barely able to keep out of her reach.

The axe crashed into the sand with enough force to shake the sand several feet away. Patty might have been reducing her speed, but the puppet certainly wasn’t pulling any punches. Her crewmate swung the axe again, just barely missing the captain’s head.

Maya changed direction, skidding to a halt and jumping towards her friend. Patty blinked, but didn’t react in time as Maya leapfrogged over her and booked it down the beach.

Patty blurred forwards, appearing in front of Maya and swinging the axe at her neck. Maya threw herself to the side, rolling and popping back up to her feet just in time to dodge another violent blow.

“How am I supposed to get away if you move that fast? I’m just human!” Maya complained, dodging out of the way of a wild swing. Her voice was breathless and slightly panicked.

“You’re not supposed to get away,” Patty said. “You’re supposed to fight until your abilities work.”

Patty lunged at Maya. To the puppet’s surprise, her captain didn’t dodge. Instead, Maya met her dash. She slammed her hand into Patty’s stomach. The two of them froze. Then Maya let out a slew of curses, hopping around and shaking her hand furiously.

“Goddamn it! Are you made of iron?” She cursed.

“Steel, mostly,” Patty said, hiding a smile behind a hand. “That probably wasn’t the best idea.”

“I got too into it, okay?” Maya griped, dipping her fingers into the cold ocean to soothe them.

“Hey, Maya?” Patty asked.

“What?” The captain responded, focused on her pained hand.

“You never said we finished.”

Maya hurled herself out of the way as Patty’s axe sent a plume of water up where she’d been moments before.

“Are you trying to kill me?” Maya yelled, ducking as her crewmate swung the huge axe at her head.

“Yes, Cap!” Patty yelled back. “Until you tell me to stop, at least.”

Her next strike whizzed so close to Maya’s head that it nearly put another cut into the growing assortment of them growing upon her captains’ hat.

“Watch the hat,” Maya complained, dancing out of the way as Patty attempted to split her down the middle.

The puppet continued to push Maya back. With each swing, her blows picked up slightly in speed and the axe grew closer and closer to making contact. Maya’s teeth gritted as a powerful chop nearly took several of her fingers off.

Despite that, Maya didn’t tell her crewmate to stop. Patty seemed unconcerned as her strikes started to slice at the tips of Maya’s clothes. The captain briefly wondered if Patty thought she would respawn like a dungeon monster if she got killed.

Maya jerked her head backwards as an upward swing just barely missed carving through her face. It left a thin red line across her face that quickly started to trickle blood. Maya didn’t get time to realize how close she’d been to getting seriously injured.

Her foot sank as she stepped on a patch of especially wet sand that gave way under her weight. It caught in the ground and she stumbled, falling to her back. The air burst out of her chest in a rush.

Light glinted off of Patty’s axe as she lifted it into the air and brought it crashing down on Maya’s head. Maya opened her mouth to yell at her crewmate to stop, but a wave crashed over her, filling her mouth in saltwater and resulting in nothing more than a chocking cough.