"So we're free to go now?" Two men, one very small and the other quite large, asked a hospital receptionist.
"Yes, the doctor says your wounds have healed sufficiently. Just remember not to do any reckless physical activities and you'll be good!"
The pair silently exited the hospital.
"Don't do any reckless physical activities, huh…" The smaller one mumbled to himself somberly.
"I guess skating would definitely count as reckless, wouldn't it." The large man comtemplated in an equally dour voice.
"I-I can't just stop skating for weeks on end! I'm a japanese national team hopeful!"
"So you keep telling us, Miya."
Miya – the smaller boy – grumbled aloud. "How am I ever going to train now?"
"I'm sure when you recover, you'll have more than enough time to catch up. These things happen."
"Oh, sure. I bet it's easy to be positive when the only thing you had to lose was not being able to impress the girl you're sweet on, huh, Shadow?"
The taller man, Shadow, leap backwards in a comical position, in a movement so fast you almost forgot he had broken bones all over his body. "Eeeeeeh?! Who – who ever told you such a ridiculous rumor?"
Miya gave him a cat-like grin and replied. "Oh, I was just buying some flowers for Cherry's hospital room and I overheard the owner of the flower shop talking to one of her friends about a certain 'Hiromi Higa' who was working there…" Shadow coughed uncomfortably.
"Ooh, Hiromi-san is so considerate of others! I was surprised to find out he was trying to impress me by winning a skating competition! It's too bad for him I'm already in a relationship! Poor Hiromi!" Miya said in an exaggeratedly feminine tone.
"LIES! All lies!" Shadow screeched. Miya could only chortle in response.
Then he gripped his stomach in pain. "Ugh, these wounds really are a problem. Stupid Cherry and his stupid fancy AI board… it should be illegal to booby-trap a skateboard!"
"Dude, that whole competition IS illegal."
"That's beside the point!" Miya and Shadow continued to walk in the direction of their homes dejectedly.
On the way, Shadow notices something in the corner of his eye. "Hey, isn't that the Big Wood course?"
"Big Wood course?"
"Yeah. At the end of it, there's a ramp with a star spray-tagged on a wall. The challenge is to get enough air to touch the star with your hand before you fall again. I could never do it, I was too heavy…" Shadow recalled. "Hey, where did-" He paused, noticing Miya had vanished from his sight suddenly.
"Oh, now where did that brat run off to? I'll feel responsible if anything happens, I just know it." On a hunch, Shadow ran in the direction of the star at the end of the Big Wood course he'd mentioned earlier.
Unsurprisingly, Shadow discovered a bruised Miya lying on the ground, having seemingly screwed up his landing.
"You moron! Didn't you hear all the doctors telling us to not do this sort of thing?"
"Did I… do it, though? Did I touch the stars?" Miya asked in a rambling tone, with a bunch of comical stars spinning around his head.
"It's star, singular, and I didn't see. But that doesn't matter right now, okay? You have to get to bed and sleep this off."
"You're damn right he should sleep this off." Suddenly, a mysterious voice echoed through the streets, appearing to address both of them. Miya and Shadow both looked around, wondering who it was.
And then, a gust of wind passed through them, and they looked back to see another skater running at the ramp at a high speed and touching the star painted on the wall with ease.
The mysterious skater landed and stared at the two with a smug grin on his face. "And by 'this', I mean his entire skating career, of course!"
Shadow stared at this strange skater who was mocking his friend (Or comrade? Acquaintance, maybe?) and tried to piece together where he'd seen him before. He had blonde swept-up hair and brown eyes, and he was wearing a bat-shaped hoodie, not unlike Miya's own cat hoodie.
"I know you! You're Bryan Komori! You're a candidate for joining the national skating team, just like Miya!"
"Glad to see even a troglodyte like you is aware of my reputation", the increasingly-insufferable skater replied.
"EXCUSE ME? If I wasn't recovering from nearly getting blown up, I'd show you what real skating is, little boy!" Shadow shouted at him in outrage.
"Don't bother, I've already seen all the matches both of you were a part of. You're not exactly what I'd call 'main attraction' material." Bryan replied calmly, running one of his hands through his hair. "But surely, this little twink here can't possibly be a candidate for joining the national team like I am, right? You and me aren't even in the same league…"
Miya gritted his teeth. "Big talk coming from someone who feels the need to taunt random skaters on the street to make himself feel better."
"I don't 'feel' better, I AM better! I'm the hero of this story, you see?"
"Hero?" Shadow coughed. "He's starting to sound a bit familiar…"
"In just a few more months, I'll join the national team and skate with all the worlds' eyes on me! Then, the world will finally know the name… of BATMAN!"
Bryan struck a pose to no one in particular, and were this an anime, you would have seen the name 'BATMAN' appear in giant golden letters in front of him in response.
Miya and Shadow were dumbstruck for a few seconds, which Bryan chose to interpret as awe. "What's this? I didn't expect my sheer amazingness to impress you THIS much! I guess even I underestimate myself!"
Then, they both started laughing uncontrollably. "BAHAHAHAHA! S-seriously? BATMAN? That's your skater name? You've gotta be kidding us!"
"D-Don't laugh! I thought about that name for a long time!" In response, Shadow started laughing even harder. "P-Please, stop being so hilariously pathetic, dude! You're going to hurt my sides from sheer laughter!" Shadow winced. "Ow. Damn, my sides. I shouldn't be laughing this hard."
"NO, it makes sense, alright? Because bats are a symbol of good fortune and heroism!"
"First of all – *pfft* - If anyone's the hero here, I am, okay?" Miya stated confidently. "You're just another slime in my way – maybe a really rare variant of slime that gives more exp, but still a slime. I wouldn't lose to the likes of you!"
"You, a hero? Don't be ridiculous! I'm the bat, so I'm the hero!"
"Where does that even come from, anyway? I've never seen bats be anything other than an irritating trash mob."
"You, on the other hand, are the cat, so you can be no more than a pernicious femme fatale standing in the hero's way!" At this, Shadow put both of his hands around his mouth to stop himself from laughing more. It worked poorly.
"For your information, I'm a BOY, so if anything, I'd be the homme fatale or however it's supposed to be in that weird language!" Miya retorted.
"Really? A boy? Gotta say, you don't look it…"
Miya looked on the verge of trying to crush this upstart's skull with his bare hands, but he decided to be more level-headed and do something highly irresponsible instead. "Fine, you think you're such hot shit? How about you and me have a beef right here, right now? Whoever gets to the star first wins."
"I'll accept on the condition that you also have to actually touch the star to win. Which I'll be able to do with ease."
"If I win, you have to admit I'm the better skater out of the two of us!"
"Same goes for you if I win."
"Deal!" Then the two of them raced back to the beginning of the course, leaving Shadow laughing by himself.
"Pff…Oh man. Calling Miya a femme fatale, that was pure gold right there. Wait a minute…
WHERE DID YOU GUYS GO?!"
The wind wooshed through the two boys' faces as they skated through the streets of Okinawa with reckless abandon.
"Warn me if I need to slow it down for you", Bryan taunted. "Wouldn't want you to get hurt… again."
"I didn't get hurt while skating, for the record!" Miya retorted. "Even though it technically did involve a skateboard…"
"Excuses fit for a villain!"
"I'm gonna wipe the floor with your face, pretty boy!"
"Oh, so you think I'm pretty? Too bad I can't say the same for you! What with that cast and bandages, and all. Clearly, not everyone can have a hero's resilience!"
"Tch!"
Miya slammed his board into Bryan's. "Don't underestimate me just because I have a few bruises!"
"I'm not underestimating you, I'm- uh… what's between under and overestimating someone?"
"GOD, you're dumb."
"YOU'RE dumb!"
"Really? That's the best comeback you can think of? At least use a different insult!"
"Hey, do you notice that weird buff guy coming slowly toward our direction…?"
"What weird buff guy – OH SHIT, IT'S SHADOW!"
Miya and Bryan hurriedly attempted to dodge out of the angry Shadow's way, but he just yelled "HYACINTHUS BOMBS!" and blinded them with some flash grenades (or his improvised attempts at such, anyway).
Shadow picked them both up off the ground. "YOU BIG IDIOTS!" he yelled. "It wasn't enough that I had to babysit a cat, now there's a bat, too?"
Miya coughed. "I'd say I was the one babysitting you, but whatever…"
"First of all, Miya! What are you even doing, getting involved in a beef in your state? Do you want to get sent to the hospital again?"
"Well…"
"And you! Whatever your name is! Don't go bothering random people just because they're skaters! The world doesn't revolve around you! If you REALLY want to fight Miya, wait until he's healed like anyone with a tiny ounce of consideration would!"
"You're yelling at me about having consideration? You're softer than you look", Bryan observed.
"Yeah, you get used to it", Miya commented in response.
"I'm serious here! Both of you… go… home! It's getting late, anyway! And I need to get this makeup off…" Shadow skated away, mumbling the last part to himself.
Miya and Bryan, for their part, heeded Shadow's advice – but not before their eyes met and an unspoken agreement was made.
'We'll settle this next time. And there will be a next time.'
-A few weeks later-
"So these are the famous 'S' grounds", Bryan observed. "Never been here before."
"How have you never been here…" Miya shook his head. "It's only where the best skaters in this town compete against one another!
"'Best skaters in this town' doesn't mean much for a national team hopeful such as myself!"
"I'M a national team hopeful!"
"You can only 'hope' to eat my dirt as I move forward toward bigger and better accolades, little boy!" Bryan got a dreamy look in his eyes as he imagined his future. "I will have a shiny, bat-shaped board (obviously) and all the other skaters' groupies will flock to me! Everyone will recognize me as the true hero of skaterdom! Of course, if you impress me enough today, I may think of you when it comes time to pick a sidekick…"
"I'm no one's sidekick, you pitiful little slime! And I'll prove it here and now! Just as soon as I get rid of this barrier…"
Miya walked towards a metal fence that was blocking the S course and tried to lift it out of the way. "RMMPFGH!"
"HEIGNEOMKR!"
"FUHYEHTUIGH!"
"Do you need help?" Bryan asked dryly.
"NO! I – can – do – this! AGHPLTE!" With one final heave, Miya finally managed to dislodge the fence from its place…
Only for it to fall right on top on him. Miya squirmed around like a little cat in response. Were there any other onlookers present, they would have called it 'the most adorable sight ever'.
"Okay, now do you think you need help?"
"…Maybe."
Bryan walked confidently toward where Miya was trapped. "See, this is why you should let the… pros… handle… this… stuff.. RHRHNHFRGH!"
Bryan grunted and huffed and puffed, but much like Miya before him, it was to no avail.
"Need your 'sidekick' to lend you a hand, o brave hero?" Miya asked with a stone-faced expression.
"What could you even do from under there?"
"I could push it at the same time you're trying to lift it, that might help…"
"You know what, fine."
So Miya pushed with his hands from underneath the fence whist Bryan tried to remove it from him. It worked; the fence was thrown out of the way and Miya was freed.
"What am embarrassing moment. Let's just agree to never mention it again." Bryan suggested.
"Yeah." They both placed their skateboards on the ground.
"On your marks… ready…"
"Set…"
"Go!"
And once again, the two youths sailed along the road with their skateboards, as though they were born for this very moment.
Take me to the top
They seemed evenly matched for the early part of the match, as one might expect.
"I sure hope that oversized circus gorilla you had for a bodyguard didn't chase us here again."
"Well, he and I don't hang out that often, so it's not that big of a worry."
"Kind of sad that your best friend is a guy who looks to be about twice your age."
"HEY! Less insulting, more skating!"
I'm sliding through the dark
On the middle of the road, they spotted a bunch of debris blocking their path. Miya made a point of deftly weaving around all of them without missing a beat.
"Try beating that one, you self-important little-!" Miya's voice trailed off into several inaudible insults, apparently ignoring the admonishment he had given only moments prior.
"I see you skate with all the grace of the animal you dress like", Bryan commended, a rare thing for him to do in any situation, much less a beef.
Tokihanate
"but just remember that while cats may leap – bats can fly!"
Then, Bryan decided to show off even harder by running directly at one of the rocks and using it as a ramp to bypass the rest, getting a lot of airtime and speed as he did so.
"Don't just ignore the environment around you, use it to you advantage! Or did they not teach you that in that fancy school you go to?"
Miya pouted and decided to just focus on the road like he'd suggested.
Nobody knows I'm burning like a fire
The pair continued to skate across the dark roads, silently, until eventually they approached the abandoned building where the matches would inevitably conclude.
"Looks like I'm winning after all!"
"Don't count on it!"
Miya leapt to the side and did a railslide against the mountain to get ahead of Bryan.
'This is shaping up to be just like that time', Miya thought to himself. Images of his beef against Langa floated through his head.
Langa, too, had used the environment to get ahead of Miya several times, while Miya simply skated normally…
And Miya had used the same railslide to counter him as well, in the same place…
'Is it true? Do I really have nothing left, like Adam said?'
"No… That's not true! I won't let it be true!" With renewed determination, Miya entered the building with his rival close behind him.
Let's go together, agatteku meter
Just as they reached the part where the track inclined downward, Miya jumped on top of the rail, taking inspiration from Langa's trick.
"What are you doing?" Bryan remarked with shock. "You can't go through like that – the handrails are severed past this point!"
"If you're a good enough skater, you don't let something like that stop you! And I just so happen to be the best around!" True enough, when he got to the broken handrail, Miya simply did a short hop and landed on the second part.
Rojou kara Paradise!
"Because I'm a national team hopeful - or did your bat-brain forget about that part?" He stated, giving his opponent a cocky glance.
"Did you forget that I'm one, too?" Bryan shouted angrily, accelerating as hard as possible.
The two young skaters were now completely evenly matched, neither one ahead of the other. Bryan slammed his board against Miya's, trying to intimidate him.
Let's go together, omae no souzougoto
"Don't think you're gonna turn it around at the last second. You're C-List material at best – and you know it!"
"You're being forgetful again. I've said it once, and I'll say it again… I won't lose to the likes of you!"
Miya turned his board sharply, flinging Bryan out of the way and into a nearby bush. Miya himself lost balance because of the maneuver and, in a split-second decision, chose to leap off his board and cross the finish line by himself.
Haruka ni tobikoeteku, day and night!
Miya got back up and spit out some dirt. "Ew. Looks like I ended up wiping the floor with my face, this time…"
Bryan rubbed his head and looked at the finish line, and realized what had happened. "I don't believe it… in the end, I lost… I wasn't the hero, after all…"
Miya walked toward him. "Hey."
"Huh?"
"It's not very hero-like to be sitting on the floor licking your wounds. You're supposed to get up and press the 'continue' button when you get a game over." Miya said, extending his hand to help him.
Bryan bristled with shock and took the offered hand. Then he put his hands together and bowed slightly. "Just as we agreed before – I recognize you as the superior skater, now and forever!"
"I wouldn't go as far as to say 'forever'", Miya remarked. "Having this beef with you reminded me of an experience I had before, with another skater… I realized that the world of skating was way bigger than I thought it was. No matter how good you are or how famous you get, a new challenger can always show up from the most unexpected places! Today you really gave me a run for my money – who knows? Maybe someday you could surpass me if you grind hard enough!"
"Right!" Bryan nodded. "I'll train really hard so I can become an even greater hero than you!"
The pair shook hands, no longer enemies, but merely friendly rivals. "And I'll take you on any time!" Miya assured. "As long as you don't insist on continuing to call yourself 'Batman'. That name is just… dumb."
"…I make no promises."
A.N. Whew! This one took a while.
I wrote this because a friend of mine just so happens to love Miya, and during one of our conversations, another friend accidentally called Miya 'bat boy' instead of 'cat boy'. Thus, the idea for this fic came about.
It was nice coming up with a rival for Miya, since he doesn't really have one of his own in the show! Not to mention giving Miya a better denouement for his story.
But it took me a long time because I was hit with a huge writer's block, for some reason. Hopefully I can get back to writing with ease soon!