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Gehenna wasn't expecting such a quick recovery and took a few sloppy steps backward as the arcing arm caught him in the soft spot between his armor. He grunted in a mirror to Kairatos' reaction and laughed as he tried to regain his footing.

"I'm just a good showman, that's all."

He reclaimed his bearings as his feet dug into the earth, leaving harsh furrows from his boots. He didn't stop to catch his breath but spurred forward again to cover the few steps that had been placed between them in his stumbling. Both fists began at chest level then raised as the distance was closed, one raised to protect his face and the other lowered for a side swing at his abdomen.

The grin on his face was unmistakable, even as he expected a counter to come.

Gehenna saw the beginning of the rush too late to change his course. With his own momentum there was no time to adjust and he barreled into a man that was a full rank stronger than he.

The arm he had arced to swing at Kairatos' abdomen missed as he took the full brunt of the run, fumbling at the Knight's side as he tried to prevent himself from being knocked off of his feet by latching on instead. It was of little use. After a startling clatter of armor-on-armor that sent a flock of nearby blackbirds flying, he was knocked flat onto his back. The wind rushed out of his lungs and he rolled onto his side, gasping through a choking breath.

If this had been a real battle, he would have certainly lost then as he struggled to push himself back up and breath at the same time.

Gehenna nodded as he was struggling to get the first bits of air back into his lungs, but managed a small, pained smile to reassure Kairatos even while he was personally having troubling speaking. As the seconds ticked by, the burn in his lungs lessened and he finally began breathing somewhat normally again.

The first thing he did then was laugh.

"It's okay," his voice was tight but there was an air of amusement to it. He rolled himself from his side and onto his knees, then pushed himself up into a kneeling position with his arms. "I've just never been on the other end of one of those charges, you'd think I'd recognize the potential." As he pushed himself slowly to his feet, his right hand reached up to tap his own pauldron, strapped onto his left shoulder. It wasn't quite as big, nor did it have the same amount of flair, but overall the set-up of their armor was quite similar.

"Maybe just.. a small break, eh? That's the second time I haven't been able to breath."

Gehenna let out a loud laugh as Kairatos explained his story. It seemed the other Mars Knight was just as inclined to showmanship as he was himself. He could appreciate that, not enough people in the war knew how to put on a damn good show.

"You'd think those negafools would know better than to ignore warnings, right? I always taunt them into ******** up." A grin split his lips since he'd caught his breath. He crossed his armors over his chest, ignoring the clamor of his gauntlet against his armor. He thought about the most successful time he'd managed a bull rush against an opponent - then wished immediately that he hadn't. Whatever story he thought he was going to share died on his lips, but he didn't let his amused face fall. He didn't need to ruin a fun moment.

"I drop kicked a youma down an elevator shaft once, then landed on some ribs I'd already broken. It hurt like a b***h, but it was perfect. The b*****d just exploded into dust when he hit the bottom." He uncrossed his arms and flexed his fingers out in an 'explosion' motion, mouthing the word 'poof' - everyone knew what youma dust looked like.

"You're pretty okay, yourself. Not real fair since I'm out powered and all." He was chuckling again, pleased to have at least distracted himself. Kairatos was good at this bro thing.

Gehenna grimaced at the idea of having his shoulder broken - he'd broken many a bone doing stupid things, but nothing quite so complicated as the shoulder. Knowing how badly it hurt in general, he was having a hard time imagining what it must have felt like (or what the captain had done to break it in the first place).

"The negaverse has some really nasty characters," he muttered, taking a seat on the same stump he had claimed earlier. The way he spoke made it seem like he had definitely met his fair share, but he didn't elaborate. In fact, he changed the subject to avoid having to elaborate at all.

"I don't know who Hevergul- hevergulmar? Ahh, I don't know who that is. I don't always catch people's names, though." He shrugged and propped his elbows on his knees, watching Kairatos lazily from a relaxed slump.

Though he laughed at Kairatos admitting that he too had trouble with such a tongue-twisting name, the jovial expression on his face died quickly as the other Mars Knight spun out the description for him. A Cosmos knight with a dress and a glittering arm tattoo. Immediately, his lazy position became rigid and he stiffened. The hands that had been flopped limply over his knees curled into fists and he pushed himself up onto his feet, suddenly feeling too awkward and uncomfortable sit still.

"Yeah, I know her." But he had no funny stories to share, no laughter about the time that they'd met. Part of him was grateful to know the name, but another part of him realized it made the transgression far more real. She was a person, with a name, with friends.

"Let's head back, hm?" He shrugged his shoulders in what he hoped was a nonchalant way, though it was far more rigid than any calm, relaxed person would have done. The joking air had died and whatever Kairatos had done to distract him had all been unraveled now.

A sliver of guilt hit Gehenna as Kairatos obviously deflated in reaction to his own, well, deflation. He couldn't muster the energy to soothe him, he was simply grateful that the other man had agreed to call this little outing quits.

He let the power of his wonder go, released back to wherever the hell it came from, and turned back toward the path they had followed up.

"Oh, of course," he shrugged and tried to offer his best smile, though it was weak, "I need to train against something other than gym rats anyway." Then he let their conversation fall back into silence as the pair dwindled back down the trail to Destiny City.