The courtyard was empty that day. So Rock took a ball and started dribbling it. It resounded through the entire alleyway, along with the cars and sirens, as he dribbled a couple of times, grabbed the ball for a moment, then started dribbling again.
He wondered about this situation. It was one thing to leave at daybreak to explore a close city, but to leave, in the middle of the night, to go back to a city that was at least a fifty miles away. That, that was called running away.
Dribble, catch, dribble.
Did Terry know about this? Did a bit of the paper fall on the ground and the older man managed to read between the lines? He would say something had that been the case, right? Just getting all cryptic was not like him. So what, then? They'd been at Southtown 2 for weeks, quite enough to make Rock believe this residence would be a little bit more than just passing by, as there was no tournament or anything material to keep them here.
Dribble, catch, dribble.
Of course it wouldn't take long for him to catch on Rock's little schemes. He'd see that the boy had left and come following soon after. The scent of southtown was still fresh on Rock, and Terry would be able to track that down easily. Then he would never know about this dealer thing.
Even still, if he could be stealthy enough, he might buy some time. Or better yet, this might be solved quickly and he wouldn't need any time to buy.
Yeah, right.
Dribble, catch, dribble.
Up and down, up and down. He knew he could do it with enough patience and tracking down. His plan would've worked last night if it weren't for the newcomer to interupt anything. At least he knew he could lure the snake out of the den for just enough time to catch it.
Up and down, high and low. The better alternative would've been to just get out while he wasn't too deeply involved in this. But that wasn't much of an option, his spirit had already decided a target for the hunt. The paper was still freshly imprinted in his mind.
Up and down, high and low, Bogard and Howard. No matter how hard he tried to supress it, the family karma was still inside of him. Hiding it by using burning knuckle, rising tackle and power dunk was useless. Even if he would never use it, never even let Terry know about his techniques, he could still use reppuken and raging storm, the techniques his father had shown him.
Up and down, high and low, Bogard and Howard, power wave and reppuken. So this would be a quest for answers, wouldn't it? Or something for that effect. Unlike Terry, he had learned that the past would still be behind him. He couldn't use his last name for anything, and even when Terry let him borrow the Bogard name, his hand always grew numb when he had to write that in front of his name.
Dribble, catch, throw.
The ball landed right into the basket. And Rock walked away from the court.
He had left.
Without even a word, he had just packed up his stuff and left. So much for partnership, or even friendship, he had just gone his own way without any indication of where, or why, he disapeared to.
Damnit, Rock, what the hell was wrong with you? Terry picked up the empty sleeping back and grimly folded it away. What was with that kid these days? Playing the little delinquent was so unlike his gentle natured self. But yet, it couldn't be an abduction. Rock was too strong in battle to let that happen, and his bike was gone too. He had used it to ride away from there.
The tracks were washed away by last night's slight drizzle, but even the rain couldn't wash away the suspicious scent of where he, by all likelyness, had left for.
"A winner is you!"
The opponent kicked the arcade cabinet in frustration and swore. His actions went on deaf ears, for the ringing and loud sounds of the play area drowned every soundwave under a tsunami of decibals.
Another person placed his coins and tried their luck against Rock. Over his character's life gauge was the words "20 Wins" over them, with the ever humbling "0" on the other side. This streak still continued as after one minute yet another frustrated customer left the area.
"A winner is you!"
Rock looked at the game, it was hard to distinguish one fighting game from the other these days. The character he had chosen was blond, big, and had some goofy screaming lines and exagerated win poses, the token American character in these games. The rest of the fighters ranged from the usual cast of ninjas, martial artists and street punks. With the big bad boss with world domination scheme in the end.
Another player stepped in and placed two quarters. Rock just concentrated on the screen, not really caring to see who his next win would be against. The unknown player managed to break the barrier of noise, as his war cry was actually audible. "Leeeeeeeeet's go!"
Dodge, punch, kick, special move. Dodge, dodge, block, charge, counter hit, charge, combo, special move, kick, kick, kick, punch, punch, combo, supermove.
"A winner is you!"
The American character flexed exageratedly and beamed, a sparkling flash coming from his teeth as he said, in very brocken, mangled English, "the burning eagle soars into the light!" Whatever that was supposed to mean.
"Daaaaaaaaa!" His words could still be heard. Now Rock felt the opponent looking at him as he said, "if you're going to win at least don't be so cool about it!"
He turned around. It was Shingo. "Huh? Oh, eh."
"That was some good skills," Shingo looked at the numbers above the energy bar and whistled. "22 wins? Impressive! You must have been practicing this game for days."
"It's my first time."
"Whaaaaat?" Shingo screamed.
"All these games follow the same principle, it's just a matter of finding your own groove into things," Rock said. He still didn't pry his eyes away from the machine.
"Much like true fighting," Shingo said.
"I suppose, yeah."
"Well then!" Shingo put his hand on Rock's shoulder. "What are you doing wasting your time on such a small game? With your burning spirit you should go for the highest peak of challenge!"
The older boy pryed Rock away and guided him, hand on shoulder, to the biggest cabinet of the place. It was one of those fancy machines from Japan where people could actually sit and the screen was bigger than any wide screen TV. There was a crowd surrounding the game. The title was written, in flaming orange and yellow, on top.
"Mega Road Battler Third Impression?" Rock read the title.
"It's all the rage in Japan," Shingo said with a grin. "And looks like it's the same here. Let's go!"
Easier said than done. An entire crowd had gathered around the machine, and it was thanks to Shingo's yelling and pushing that they managed to squeeze through at the end. When they arrived, another frustrated yell was emited by one of the players as he left, thumping the machine as he did. The crowd cheered as the victor of the battle threw fake kisses to his fans.
Shingo said, "don't let such a fool win once more. Come on, let's show him how us true fighters conduct ourselves!"
Rock sat down. Shingo started clapping and cheering like a derenged fanboy. Rock's opponent, a slim man dressed in black, with long neon green hair, inspected him from top to bottom and 'hmmphed'. "So this is my opponent? They get easier by the second."
Counting the match before they had even begun. The man turned completely to his side, half his face was covered by hair, "no matter. The newbies are always more enjoyable to beat, they still have some hope in them to crush!"
The crowd laughed, he raised his arm and the entire people started chanting the word, "Spiral! Spiral! Spiral!"
Shingo tried to counter that by chanting 'Rock! Rock!' but even his loud voice was drowned out by the majority. The man called "Spiral" smiled arrogantly and turned to the screen.
Rock looked at the character selection. Spiral quickly chose his character, a black haired female with a sword and dressed all in black. Rock carefully cruised through all the selection. One character caught his attention, a small boy dressed in a blue gi, similar to the hero, with a loose headband around his head.
The machine 'zoomed' in response to his selection, and Spiral laughed. "Lan? But he's the joke character! If you're going to play me at least itry/i to make it seem like you have a chance this side of hell."
The entire crowd followed their laughter. He payed no attention to them, as the announcer started the first battle. Spiral's character, Lotus, just stood there, apparently waiting for Lan to familiarize with his own moves. When Rock tried the fireball, Lan responded with a squeak and a weak, very short range punch with a small blast of energy coming from it. The uppercut was just as discouraging, as he jumped, much shorter than a normal jump even, and quickly fell to the ground on his back, causing some damage. The third move was just as bad, Lan started running to preform a dash move, then tripped after a just a few steps.
Spiral laughed, said "Let's play" and Lotus let loose her barrage of attacks. A sword slash, a low kick, and a move where the appeared from behind and started slashing even more, mercilessly pummeled the young kid until he finally fell to the ground. Not content with simply pinning, the Lotus grunted, leapt into the air, and stabbed the fallen character.
Lan rolled away and stood there. The impatient little kid started cleaning out his ears and shook his head. Lotus dashed in for an attack and then was blasted away with the small energy, connecting just in time when she was about to hit.
While the attack itself was pathetic, the damage wasn't. It was a critical hit, and had drained away at a decent amount of energy. Everyone surrounding the game gasped, but Spiral himself was unphased. Before Lotus could get up, she was assulted with a punch-punch-kick-punch-kick five hit combo, which finally chained into that uppercut, connecting to hit twice, damage gained from when Lan fell too.
The little kid sidestepped back and taunted. Lotus jumped into the air, but just when Lan was going to counter with an anti air, she sprung up even higher and came down hard with a sword strike. Cheap move, she preformed. Rock pressed the joystick back to prevent any other downed attack. Just as he had predicted, Spiral preformed that move again, leaving Lotus wide open for the deciding side kick that Lan preformed, a dramatic clash sound emitted as the letters K and O appeared on the screen.
Silence fell on the onlookers. Spiral grimanced away from the crowd. No way would he let this *kid* beat him at the game. Spiral was a true adept in this game, and at everything else, and no one would pry that title away. He gave Rock a predatory grin and said, "playtime is over." Quoting his role model from the tournaments on TV.
Shingo cheered. One point for the students! This battle was almost as exciting as a real one, with the same burning inspiration that fell on the two opponents. He knew Rock would win, this was in the bag.
When Round 2 started, the crowd picked up their frenzy of cheer as Lotus started the upper edge by preforming a slash slash, lower kick, slash, supermove fifteen hit combo. Her maximum attack filled the screen with slashes and dashes, so fast for Lan's pixel body that he didn't react until after it was all over.
Not falling for the same mistake, Lotus just waiting for Lan to get up. She sidestepped his power punch, and countered with another painful six hit combo. Lan got up once more, but this time he was left wide open to attack because of his dizzied state.
Spiral decided this would be the decisive attack and, with another combo of slashes, kicks, and connectable special moves, it didn't take long for the KO to appear.
Spiral laughed, this was it. He had let Rock win the first round to raise his spirit, but now it was time to strike that little false tower with his winning thunderbolt.
The crowd almost facefaulted when the results registered in their group consciousness. This was the first time, *ever*, that someone fighting against Spiral could get one win. The battle had extended into a third round, and the "Final Round" was announced from the machine, probably for the first time when Spiral was at the controls.
Both started out trading a kick. Lan managed to get in a combo, and finally got to try out his own supermove. It looked unimpressive enough, but at fifteen hits of punches, scratches, and bites, the damage was satisfactory for the time being. Lotus refused to take the attacks, and parried when Lan came in for another hit. This left him wide open for punishment, which, as was the usual Lotus-Spiral combo trademark, painful and very damaging.
Before the timer managed to reach 40, the battle was over. Lan looked at the ground, pleadingly in his animated youth, and said "Tora, I have failed. Why?" Lotus saluted and disapeared in a puff of smoke.
Had only Spiral been so honorable in victory. Instead, his gloat extended far beyond what was usually said and done in these situations. First it was a little victory wave, then a speech about his skills, and then he riled up the crowd to cheer even louder than before, chanting the same "Spiral, Spiral!" as before.
They laughed the losers away from the arcade. Shingo fumed at those shameful disaplays of arrogance. Rock just placed his hands in his jocket and walked away, not as phased as his partner, and commented, "geez, what a jerk."
"I'll cup of coffee," Shingo said. "Without no cream."
So his English needed a little work, it wasn't so bad. People in these places weren't exactly articulate in their mother tongue anyway. The waitress understood what he meant, as the short haired girl nodded and wrote down the order. She then turned to Rock and just looked at him without any words.
"Root beer for me," Rock said. He dug his arm in his pockets. He probably had enough to survive three meals a day for a week. But the occasional meal skipping wouldn't prove to be itoo/i ascetic, as he also had to find shelter in the meanwhile.
The sunset painted the sky in various pink tone colors. Rock had his back to the window, but he saw Shingo's vision was fixed above him, looking almost admiringly at the sky. When the waitress left the older boy used the oppertunity to say, "ah, the evening sky. Isn't it beautiful?"
Rock shrugged, "I suppose."
"Oh hey, don't let this afternoon's defeat get you down," Shingo smiled. "A rematch will show whose the true victor once and for all!"
"Hmmm? Oh," Rock said. "That doesn't bother me. I hate people who boast too much. But you know there's something more important to deal with now."
Shingo scratched the back of his head, which was becoming almost trademark of him now. "Oh yeah, that's right. Them."
"I don't really know where to start," Rock said. "If they get hold that two people have been stalking them at their usual place, they'll surely change their dealing spot."
"We could always try to buy from them."
"Yeah, right. First of all there's the problem of trying to contact them. And then, what? They probably already know me if I busted one of the deals. Those gangs are organized with their marked men, to avoid getting caught up by police informants."
Shingo's eyes gleamed with determination, "then that means I'll have to go!"
Rock laughed. "Hey, no offense but," he inspected his partner. Clean cut brown hair, yellow jumper and navy blue pants. "You're a bit too preppy. They'll catch on quickly."
"Moh," Shingo tapped the table. "Those people are persistent. But there must be a way, this is for sure."
"It is getting late," Rock looked behind him to see the sky turned black. The waitress dropped off their cups and left. "A plastic cup? I suppose that's their way of saying they want us to leave now."
"Well, if that's the way," Shingo stood up. "I'll invite you to my hotel room for the drink. It's a bit small, but it'll fit!"
"Hnnnh?"
"Come on, call it a freindly favor. We could also talk when there's no ability for the suspicious people to listen in. Let's be on our way!"
Before Rock could accept or decline (the answer most likely have been in the latter), Shingo already grabbed the cup and was on his way. Rock sighed, "well, okay then. Might as well."
The hotel, actually motel, room was well kept. A rarity for such places. The luggage was in one corner, and everything was neatly folded inside. It was almost as if he was expecting visitors, unless it was perpetually that way.
They sat on the floor and unwrapped their drinks. Fortunately the walk wasn't too far, and the weather not cold enough, that the coffee was still warm when Shingo took it in his hands.
"Why are you helping, anyway?" Rock broke the temporary silence. He took a sip and continued. "I mean, it doesn't seem like you have any involvement in this. When they catch on to this little vigilante scheme, it will be dangerous. So,why?"
Shingo crossed his arms. "Well, there is a selfish motive behind this. I'm ashamed to admit it but it's true. All my time I always aspired to be like Master Kusanagi. To be able to weild the flames like that is truly mastery. But...I've trained by his side, learned all the external form of the moves, but never managed to recreate the internal situations for them. Until that millenium tournament."
He gulped down his drink and continued, "the heat of the battle was so intense! My blood was boiling during the final moments, when the truth of the tournament was revealed. While I may not have created any flames, the situation was fiery enough! I suppose I'm hoping that, like the phoenix, the ashes form the glorious victory will arise and burn once more."
"I see," Rock said. He finished his drink.
"So, what about you?"
"Personal connections, you might say."
"Heh," Shingo grinned. "After I beared all my true intentions to you all you say is 'personal connections'?"
"I guess that's really all there is to it," Rock said. "I don't really know what's going to come out of it. But when I saw that the origin of this dealership I knew I had to find out more. Hopefully the answer will come by then."
"So that's how it is," Shingo nodded. "And the origin of this criminal act is someone very important I take it?"
"In a certain manner, he is." Rock grimaced. "It's really late now and I have to.."
"Nonsense," Shingo said. "You'll stay here for the night!"
What? "I really couldn't."
"It's late. And this is in the spirit of our new freindship, it's a small offer, but it will have to do for now."
"I gotta go back to..."
"Where?" Shingo said, almost as if he had sensed the uncertainty of where Rock will spend the night.
He sighed, "well then..."
"You're staying here," he grinned wildly, another of his trademark moves. "You know how persistant I am. There will be no such thing as no!"
"Well..." another sigh. "Okay, then."
He looked up at the stars. The grouping of stars, which he read someplace was the stars of Gandymede, were the only thing visible from the outside window. The moon had either waned, or was on the other side. He never really paid attention to the sky's movements, having had only a passing curiosity with them when he was way, iway/i younger.
Rock wondered how Terry reacted when he discovered that he had run away. Was he mad? indifferent? upset? or, Rock hoped beyond hope, did he understand this action?
Tommorrow would be the start of plan B. They try to find the other names on the dealer's list. He still had half the list, which had, fortunately, stuck on his jacket pocket, and could make out one of the names. Someone he knew with a small aquaintance. The next day they'd go and have a little chat with the daughter of the grocer.
"Have a good night, Rock!" Shingo said, he turned off the night lights.
"Yeah," Rock trailed off.
_______________
Note: Yaoi fangirls, use your imaginations ^_~
*gets thrown into orbit by Rock and Shingo*
*PING*
He wondered about this situation. It was one thing to leave at daybreak to explore a close city, but to leave, in the middle of the night, to go back to a city that was at least a fifty miles away. That, that was called running away.
Dribble, catch, dribble.
Did Terry know about this? Did a bit of the paper fall on the ground and the older man managed to read between the lines? He would say something had that been the case, right? Just getting all cryptic was not like him. So what, then? They'd been at Southtown 2 for weeks, quite enough to make Rock believe this residence would be a little bit more than just passing by, as there was no tournament or anything material to keep them here.
Dribble, catch, dribble.
Of course it wouldn't take long for him to catch on Rock's little schemes. He'd see that the boy had left and come following soon after. The scent of southtown was still fresh on Rock, and Terry would be able to track that down easily. Then he would never know about this dealer thing.
Even still, if he could be stealthy enough, he might buy some time. Or better yet, this might be solved quickly and he wouldn't need any time to buy.
Yeah, right.
Dribble, catch, dribble.
Up and down, up and down. He knew he could do it with enough patience and tracking down. His plan would've worked last night if it weren't for the newcomer to interupt anything. At least he knew he could lure the snake out of the den for just enough time to catch it.
Up and down, high and low. The better alternative would've been to just get out while he wasn't too deeply involved in this. But that wasn't much of an option, his spirit had already decided a target for the hunt. The paper was still freshly imprinted in his mind.
Up and down, high and low, Bogard and Howard. No matter how hard he tried to supress it, the family karma was still inside of him. Hiding it by using burning knuckle, rising tackle and power dunk was useless. Even if he would never use it, never even let Terry know about his techniques, he could still use reppuken and raging storm, the techniques his father had shown him.
Up and down, high and low, Bogard and Howard, power wave and reppuken. So this would be a quest for answers, wouldn't it? Or something for that effect. Unlike Terry, he had learned that the past would still be behind him. He couldn't use his last name for anything, and even when Terry let him borrow the Bogard name, his hand always grew numb when he had to write that in front of his name.
Dribble, catch, throw.
The ball landed right into the basket. And Rock walked away from the court.
He had left.
Without even a word, he had just packed up his stuff and left. So much for partnership, or even friendship, he had just gone his own way without any indication of where, or why, he disapeared to.
Damnit, Rock, what the hell was wrong with you? Terry picked up the empty sleeping back and grimly folded it away. What was with that kid these days? Playing the little delinquent was so unlike his gentle natured self. But yet, it couldn't be an abduction. Rock was too strong in battle to let that happen, and his bike was gone too. He had used it to ride away from there.
The tracks were washed away by last night's slight drizzle, but even the rain couldn't wash away the suspicious scent of where he, by all likelyness, had left for.
"A winner is you!"
The opponent kicked the arcade cabinet in frustration and swore. His actions went on deaf ears, for the ringing and loud sounds of the play area drowned every soundwave under a tsunami of decibals.
Another person placed his coins and tried their luck against Rock. Over his character's life gauge was the words "20 Wins" over them, with the ever humbling "0" on the other side. This streak still continued as after one minute yet another frustrated customer left the area.
"A winner is you!"
Rock looked at the game, it was hard to distinguish one fighting game from the other these days. The character he had chosen was blond, big, and had some goofy screaming lines and exagerated win poses, the token American character in these games. The rest of the fighters ranged from the usual cast of ninjas, martial artists and street punks. With the big bad boss with world domination scheme in the end.
Another player stepped in and placed two quarters. Rock just concentrated on the screen, not really caring to see who his next win would be against. The unknown player managed to break the barrier of noise, as his war cry was actually audible. "Leeeeeeeeet's go!"
Dodge, punch, kick, special move. Dodge, dodge, block, charge, counter hit, charge, combo, special move, kick, kick, kick, punch, punch, combo, supermove.
"A winner is you!"
The American character flexed exageratedly and beamed, a sparkling flash coming from his teeth as he said, in very brocken, mangled English, "the burning eagle soars into the light!" Whatever that was supposed to mean.
"Daaaaaaaaa!" His words could still be heard. Now Rock felt the opponent looking at him as he said, "if you're going to win at least don't be so cool about it!"
He turned around. It was Shingo. "Huh? Oh, eh."
"That was some good skills," Shingo looked at the numbers above the energy bar and whistled. "22 wins? Impressive! You must have been practicing this game for days."
"It's my first time."
"Whaaaaat?" Shingo screamed.
"All these games follow the same principle, it's just a matter of finding your own groove into things," Rock said. He still didn't pry his eyes away from the machine.
"Much like true fighting," Shingo said.
"I suppose, yeah."
"Well then!" Shingo put his hand on Rock's shoulder. "What are you doing wasting your time on such a small game? With your burning spirit you should go for the highest peak of challenge!"
The older boy pryed Rock away and guided him, hand on shoulder, to the biggest cabinet of the place. It was one of those fancy machines from Japan where people could actually sit and the screen was bigger than any wide screen TV. There was a crowd surrounding the game. The title was written, in flaming orange and yellow, on top.
"Mega Road Battler Third Impression?" Rock read the title.
"It's all the rage in Japan," Shingo said with a grin. "And looks like it's the same here. Let's go!"
Easier said than done. An entire crowd had gathered around the machine, and it was thanks to Shingo's yelling and pushing that they managed to squeeze through at the end. When they arrived, another frustrated yell was emited by one of the players as he left, thumping the machine as he did. The crowd cheered as the victor of the battle threw fake kisses to his fans.
Shingo said, "don't let such a fool win once more. Come on, let's show him how us true fighters conduct ourselves!"
Rock sat down. Shingo started clapping and cheering like a derenged fanboy. Rock's opponent, a slim man dressed in black, with long neon green hair, inspected him from top to bottom and 'hmmphed'. "So this is my opponent? They get easier by the second."
Counting the match before they had even begun. The man turned completely to his side, half his face was covered by hair, "no matter. The newbies are always more enjoyable to beat, they still have some hope in them to crush!"
The crowd laughed, he raised his arm and the entire people started chanting the word, "Spiral! Spiral! Spiral!"
Shingo tried to counter that by chanting 'Rock! Rock!' but even his loud voice was drowned out by the majority. The man called "Spiral" smiled arrogantly and turned to the screen.
Rock looked at the character selection. Spiral quickly chose his character, a black haired female with a sword and dressed all in black. Rock carefully cruised through all the selection. One character caught his attention, a small boy dressed in a blue gi, similar to the hero, with a loose headband around his head.
The machine 'zoomed' in response to his selection, and Spiral laughed. "Lan? But he's the joke character! If you're going to play me at least itry/i to make it seem like you have a chance this side of hell."
The entire crowd followed their laughter. He payed no attention to them, as the announcer started the first battle. Spiral's character, Lotus, just stood there, apparently waiting for Lan to familiarize with his own moves. When Rock tried the fireball, Lan responded with a squeak and a weak, very short range punch with a small blast of energy coming from it. The uppercut was just as discouraging, as he jumped, much shorter than a normal jump even, and quickly fell to the ground on his back, causing some damage. The third move was just as bad, Lan started running to preform a dash move, then tripped after a just a few steps.
Spiral laughed, said "Let's play" and Lotus let loose her barrage of attacks. A sword slash, a low kick, and a move where the appeared from behind and started slashing even more, mercilessly pummeled the young kid until he finally fell to the ground. Not content with simply pinning, the Lotus grunted, leapt into the air, and stabbed the fallen character.
Lan rolled away and stood there. The impatient little kid started cleaning out his ears and shook his head. Lotus dashed in for an attack and then was blasted away with the small energy, connecting just in time when she was about to hit.
While the attack itself was pathetic, the damage wasn't. It was a critical hit, and had drained away at a decent amount of energy. Everyone surrounding the game gasped, but Spiral himself was unphased. Before Lotus could get up, she was assulted with a punch-punch-kick-punch-kick five hit combo, which finally chained into that uppercut, connecting to hit twice, damage gained from when Lan fell too.
The little kid sidestepped back and taunted. Lotus jumped into the air, but just when Lan was going to counter with an anti air, she sprung up even higher and came down hard with a sword strike. Cheap move, she preformed. Rock pressed the joystick back to prevent any other downed attack. Just as he had predicted, Spiral preformed that move again, leaving Lotus wide open for the deciding side kick that Lan preformed, a dramatic clash sound emitted as the letters K and O appeared on the screen.
Silence fell on the onlookers. Spiral grimanced away from the crowd. No way would he let this *kid* beat him at the game. Spiral was a true adept in this game, and at everything else, and no one would pry that title away. He gave Rock a predatory grin and said, "playtime is over." Quoting his role model from the tournaments on TV.
Shingo cheered. One point for the students! This battle was almost as exciting as a real one, with the same burning inspiration that fell on the two opponents. He knew Rock would win, this was in the bag.
When Round 2 started, the crowd picked up their frenzy of cheer as Lotus started the upper edge by preforming a slash slash, lower kick, slash, supermove fifteen hit combo. Her maximum attack filled the screen with slashes and dashes, so fast for Lan's pixel body that he didn't react until after it was all over.
Not falling for the same mistake, Lotus just waiting for Lan to get up. She sidestepped his power punch, and countered with another painful six hit combo. Lan got up once more, but this time he was left wide open to attack because of his dizzied state.
Spiral decided this would be the decisive attack and, with another combo of slashes, kicks, and connectable special moves, it didn't take long for the KO to appear.
Spiral laughed, this was it. He had let Rock win the first round to raise his spirit, but now it was time to strike that little false tower with his winning thunderbolt.
The crowd almost facefaulted when the results registered in their group consciousness. This was the first time, *ever*, that someone fighting against Spiral could get one win. The battle had extended into a third round, and the "Final Round" was announced from the machine, probably for the first time when Spiral was at the controls.
Both started out trading a kick. Lan managed to get in a combo, and finally got to try out his own supermove. It looked unimpressive enough, but at fifteen hits of punches, scratches, and bites, the damage was satisfactory for the time being. Lotus refused to take the attacks, and parried when Lan came in for another hit. This left him wide open for punishment, which, as was the usual Lotus-Spiral combo trademark, painful and very damaging.
Before the timer managed to reach 40, the battle was over. Lan looked at the ground, pleadingly in his animated youth, and said "Tora, I have failed. Why?" Lotus saluted and disapeared in a puff of smoke.
Had only Spiral been so honorable in victory. Instead, his gloat extended far beyond what was usually said and done in these situations. First it was a little victory wave, then a speech about his skills, and then he riled up the crowd to cheer even louder than before, chanting the same "Spiral, Spiral!" as before.
They laughed the losers away from the arcade. Shingo fumed at those shameful disaplays of arrogance. Rock just placed his hands in his jocket and walked away, not as phased as his partner, and commented, "geez, what a jerk."
"I'll cup of coffee," Shingo said. "Without no cream."
So his English needed a little work, it wasn't so bad. People in these places weren't exactly articulate in their mother tongue anyway. The waitress understood what he meant, as the short haired girl nodded and wrote down the order. She then turned to Rock and just looked at him without any words.
"Root beer for me," Rock said. He dug his arm in his pockets. He probably had enough to survive three meals a day for a week. But the occasional meal skipping wouldn't prove to be itoo/i ascetic, as he also had to find shelter in the meanwhile.
The sunset painted the sky in various pink tone colors. Rock had his back to the window, but he saw Shingo's vision was fixed above him, looking almost admiringly at the sky. When the waitress left the older boy used the oppertunity to say, "ah, the evening sky. Isn't it beautiful?"
Rock shrugged, "I suppose."
"Oh hey, don't let this afternoon's defeat get you down," Shingo smiled. "A rematch will show whose the true victor once and for all!"
"Hmmm? Oh," Rock said. "That doesn't bother me. I hate people who boast too much. But you know there's something more important to deal with now."
Shingo scratched the back of his head, which was becoming almost trademark of him now. "Oh yeah, that's right. Them."
"I don't really know where to start," Rock said. "If they get hold that two people have been stalking them at their usual place, they'll surely change their dealing spot."
"We could always try to buy from them."
"Yeah, right. First of all there's the problem of trying to contact them. And then, what? They probably already know me if I busted one of the deals. Those gangs are organized with their marked men, to avoid getting caught up by police informants."
Shingo's eyes gleamed with determination, "then that means I'll have to go!"
Rock laughed. "Hey, no offense but," he inspected his partner. Clean cut brown hair, yellow jumper and navy blue pants. "You're a bit too preppy. They'll catch on quickly."
"Moh," Shingo tapped the table. "Those people are persistent. But there must be a way, this is for sure."
"It is getting late," Rock looked behind him to see the sky turned black. The waitress dropped off their cups and left. "A plastic cup? I suppose that's their way of saying they want us to leave now."
"Well, if that's the way," Shingo stood up. "I'll invite you to my hotel room for the drink. It's a bit small, but it'll fit!"
"Hnnnh?"
"Come on, call it a freindly favor. We could also talk when there's no ability for the suspicious people to listen in. Let's be on our way!"
Before Rock could accept or decline (the answer most likely have been in the latter), Shingo already grabbed the cup and was on his way. Rock sighed, "well, okay then. Might as well."
The hotel, actually motel, room was well kept. A rarity for such places. The luggage was in one corner, and everything was neatly folded inside. It was almost as if he was expecting visitors, unless it was perpetually that way.
They sat on the floor and unwrapped their drinks. Fortunately the walk wasn't too far, and the weather not cold enough, that the coffee was still warm when Shingo took it in his hands.
"Why are you helping, anyway?" Rock broke the temporary silence. He took a sip and continued. "I mean, it doesn't seem like you have any involvement in this. When they catch on to this little vigilante scheme, it will be dangerous. So,why?"
Shingo crossed his arms. "Well, there is a selfish motive behind this. I'm ashamed to admit it but it's true. All my time I always aspired to be like Master Kusanagi. To be able to weild the flames like that is truly mastery. But...I've trained by his side, learned all the external form of the moves, but never managed to recreate the internal situations for them. Until that millenium tournament."
He gulped down his drink and continued, "the heat of the battle was so intense! My blood was boiling during the final moments, when the truth of the tournament was revealed. While I may not have created any flames, the situation was fiery enough! I suppose I'm hoping that, like the phoenix, the ashes form the glorious victory will arise and burn once more."
"I see," Rock said. He finished his drink.
"So, what about you?"
"Personal connections, you might say."
"Heh," Shingo grinned. "After I beared all my true intentions to you all you say is 'personal connections'?"
"I guess that's really all there is to it," Rock said. "I don't really know what's going to come out of it. But when I saw that the origin of this dealership I knew I had to find out more. Hopefully the answer will come by then."
"So that's how it is," Shingo nodded. "And the origin of this criminal act is someone very important I take it?"
"In a certain manner, he is." Rock grimaced. "It's really late now and I have to.."
"Nonsense," Shingo said. "You'll stay here for the night!"
What? "I really couldn't."
"It's late. And this is in the spirit of our new freindship, it's a small offer, but it will have to do for now."
"I gotta go back to..."
"Where?" Shingo said, almost as if he had sensed the uncertainty of where Rock will spend the night.
He sighed, "well then..."
"You're staying here," he grinned wildly, another of his trademark moves. "You know how persistant I am. There will be no such thing as no!"
"Well..." another sigh. "Okay, then."
He looked up at the stars. The grouping of stars, which he read someplace was the stars of Gandymede, were the only thing visible from the outside window. The moon had either waned, or was on the other side. He never really paid attention to the sky's movements, having had only a passing curiosity with them when he was way, iway/i younger.
Rock wondered how Terry reacted when he discovered that he had run away. Was he mad? indifferent? upset? or, Rock hoped beyond hope, did he understand this action?
Tommorrow would be the start of plan B. They try to find the other names on the dealer's list. He still had half the list, which had, fortunately, stuck on his jacket pocket, and could make out one of the names. Someone he knew with a small aquaintance. The next day they'd go and have a little chat with the daughter of the grocer.
"Have a good night, Rock!" Shingo said, he turned off the night lights.
"Yeah," Rock trailed off.
_______________
Note: Yaoi fangirls, use your imaginations ^_~
*gets thrown into orbit by Rock and Shingo*
*PING*