CHAPTER ELEVEN - AARON SNAPS

there it was, laid out on the greeting table when he got into the Team Satomi HQ for his training on Monday. the picture of his first kiss was on the cover of IGP Weekly with the headline of "Aaron's day to remember". he was almost afraid to open to the magazine and find out what sort of things were written down.

why Aaron Neil will never forget Friday

By Jean LaRoque

it all started with a rematch that he'd been waiting six months for. the man who Aaron Neil had never been able to defeat in the eight times they'd fought so far. with a daring and dangerous move, Team Satomi's newest Forward had been able to finally end his losing streak against Harold Flash. and not only that, but share a few minutes of comradery with his opponents after the race.

but its what happened after they left the track behind that makes this an artical worth reading! Teammate Liz Ricaro claims to have accidentally walked into a moment of heated passion between Aaron Neil and the team's defender, Ami Stapleton in the Team Satomi locker room. although both of them adamantly deny this claim, saying that Aaron had a spasm caused by an injury he'd sustained earlier in the week and Ami was merely checking her teammate's condition.

these claims, however, come under heavy suspicion when you consider the young forward's stellar preformance during the race Friday afternoon. that, along with the fact that the two of them were seen enjoying dinner together that very night at Chez Appitite.

but the memories don't stop there. the two of them had stepped into an alley after leaving the restaurant in what i assume to have been an attempt to shake me off their trail. it would have worked to, had i not heard Ami scream for Aaron's help as they were being mugged. i arrived in time to see the Forward brilliantly distract and disarm the villian and rescue Ami from a knife to her throat. after trapping the mugger in a trash dumpster, Aaron had me phone the police.

and still more was yet to come after that whole fiasco. the young couple afterwards took a liesurly stroll thru the park to a hilltop. there they sat down and seemed to be very comfortable in each other's company as they enjoyed the Summer Festival's fireworks display. during the grande finale of said show, their attention was not in the sky. they enjoyed what i was told in an interview the next day was their first kiss; and not only first kiss of their relationship, but the first kiss of their lives.

after this very eventful day, Aaron escorted Ami home then retired to his own house for the night.

After questioning the staff of Team Satomi, it turns out that neither Ami nor Aaron seemed to show a particular interest in each other until just recently. but they all seemed to chalk it up to the intese training that the pilots have been going thru to bring Aaron up to par for the rest of the season. i don't know about the rest of you, but we a IGP Weekly will be watching this relationship with great interest. after all, they say your first love is the sweetest.

"i know that i beat Harry, and Jean wanted to double up his article, but this kinda feels Aaron-centric." Aaron felt a little upset that Ami was appearently the supporting cast of their big night.

a pair of arms wrapped around Aaron from behind, for once Ami arrived after Aaron. "good morning," she said almost sing-song

"morning Ami... did you hear the announcement on the news this morning?"

"which one?" she released her first boyfriend and leaning to see what he was reading. "is that our article?"

"yeah," Aaron handed the magazine to Ami, "instead of getting a by week, Velstien has demanded a rematch because Cunninham felt the results of the race when Takeshi crashed can't count because you both stopped and got out of your Mechs to watch your teammate's rescue. he appearently threatened to quit the team if they didn't submit a request for the retraction of those points and get a rematch."

"he makes it sound like we actually DID that in the locker room," Ami was mad about that.

"its his job to make his articles as interesting as he can while still telling the truth. that's what a reporter is."

"well, well," if it isn' t our local hero!" Liz walked in, carrying her team jacket over her shoulder.

"can it, Liz." Aaron hissed at her. part of him blamed Liz for the incident in the alley, but the rest of him thanked her for pretty much hooking him up with Ami.

"you guys hear about Velstien?" Liz's tone lowered as she took the magazine from Ami and started reading.

"yeah, there's no way i can get that good in time."

"yes you can!" Ami encouraged him

"awww! your first kisses! that's so cute!"

"SHUT UP LIZ!" he wasn't sure why he was getting so worked up, but he was

"alright guys!" Andre walked out of the elevator, "everybody to the gym! we got alot of work to do!"

Aaron was glad that he was going to start with a work out, he needed to work off his anger at Liz before he did something stupid.

they walked into the gym and began to stretch out, "hey Aaron," Ami asked, "do you wanna spar a little as a warm up?"

Aaron had started teaching Ami martial arts in case he wasn't there if somebody tried to mug her again. "sure."

Ami and Aaron walked out into the room that Takeshi used for his Kendo training. taking their set stances they let out a Kihap, "hya!" to signal they were ready.

Ami was a really quick learn because she had the quick movements and almost instintanious reflexes she'd honed as a racer, but she projected her moves so obviously that Aaron only needed one arm to keep up with her attacks. next it was Aaron's turn, his training over the years had made his 'tells' so subtle that Ami couldn't pick up on them, so he had to slow down his blows to try to further sharpen her reflexes.

after about a minute, Liz came into the room. "hey ami, hit the treadmill. i got this." Liz took her stance and gave a "hya". Aaron was still kinda mad at her, so he knew he shouldn't spar with her, but he saw this as a chance to sate his violent urrges towards the girl without hurting her, so he accepted the challenge.

Liz leapt across the floor with a spinning crescent kick. Aaron parried her blow with a round-off kick, and slightly threw her balence as she landed. the Mid-fielder corrected herself with a back-step, and threw a fast jab, which was blocked and spun into a lock. "he's starting to be able to move normally," she thought, "he must be starting to heal up."

Aaron charged with a series of light jabs, but as he did, for some reason he felt his anger flare again and forced Liz back into the wall. "woah!" Liz realised something was wrong, "ease up, man!" Aaron unleashed a blow that cracked the wall just to the left of her head as she stood there stunned by the change in her teammate's demeanor. he then walked quitely to out of the room. Liz's knees gave way from the mortal fear she'd felt for a split second as she'd thought the final blow was meant for her. she hugged herself and shivered, whispering "what was that?"