Disclaimer: I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.
Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal
Title: Surprising Skills
Characters: Alit, Kotori
Word Count: 500||Status: One-shot
Genre: Friendship||Rated: PG-13
Challenge: Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section A, prompt #88, use every letter of the alphabet at least twice; Written for the Zexal Flash Bingo, prompt #175, skateboard
Note: This takes place post-canon.
Summary: Kotori knew Alit was a great duelist and a spectacular fighter. But there are always new things to learn about a friend.


Adjusting her shopping bags, Kotori rounded the street corner. She intended to get on the monorail and head for home, but stopped as she realized exactly what was going on at the skate park a short distance away.

"He can do that?" The words slipped from her lips without conscious thought. She supposed, on quick reflection, that it wasn't that difficult, either to believe or for him to accomplish in the first place. Alit's skills obviously extended beyond dueling and making the occasional advance towards other people.

On a skateboard that she'd never even know that he owned, Alit soared up and down, feet flipping the board this way and that with practiced ease, leaping into the air as if gravity were little more than a suggestion and one he didn't take seriously at that. She couldn't have put a name to all the tricks he did, though she'd seen Tetsuo doing some of them before. She'd just never bothered to learn what to call them.

She almost didn't realize that she'd ended up much closer than she'd intended to, until Alit pulled to a halt and looked right at her.

"Hey!" The ex-Barian Emperor grinned as he kicked his skateboard up and caught it in one strong-fingered hand. "I didn't know you were around today."

Something about his words and his smile sent a warm thrill all through her. "I was just doing some shopping," she said, indicating the bags she carried. "I didn't know you could do all of that." Her eyes fell on the board, then back to him.

He shrugged. "I've seen Tetsuo do it before and it looked interesting, so I thought I'd give it a try. I've been practicing for a while."

"I can tell," Kotori replied, her own smile widening and warming. "You're really good."

His cheeks tinged pink at her compliment. "Thanks." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Do you want to get a drink or something? My treat."

She hadn't really expected the question, but it wasn't very late yet, and she hadn't talked to Alit in a long time. She could always call home if she needed to and let them know she'd be a bit later than she'd thought.

"Sure. Sounds like a great idea."

The two of them headed off toward the nearest beverage stand that didn't have a line stretching out from it. The whole time Alit kept up a string of chatter meant to put her at ease. She wasn't certain how well it worked, but he definitely had some interesting gossip tidbits, such as how he'd dared Vector to be his sparring partner for one afternoon and Vector's rant on how it shouldn't be possible to hurt as much as he did afterward.

It really had been too long since they'd talked to each other. Kotori decided she would not let that happen again. He was just too much fun to hang around with. Maybe he could even teach her a few skateboarding tricks.

The End