Chapter 13: Dine 'n' Dodge

"DODGE!" Mew thrust his right hand up and Kairi's hands and head retreated for her chest like a frightened turtle.

Mew pulled his hand down slowly and had a bit of a laugh. Kairi straightened up once her heart stopped beating on the tip of her chest.

"What was that for?!" She screamed.

"Good reflexes but you needed to duck down for that." Mew promptly turned for the mirror and double-checked his notes.

"But we'll get the kinks worked out in practice." He swung his head back at Kairi and saw she was feeling skeptic.

"So you want to teach me how to...dodge?" She asked while rolling a hand out by her waist.

Mew softly told her, "Well yeah. You take too many hits head-on princess. Good thing your skin's too tough to be bruised!"

But in her mind his tone was blunt and mocking, so of course she replied with, "I don't need to learn to dodge if my enemies are too beaten up to fight back."

Mew touched his chin then swung the finger out to say, "True but...Guys like Seth show it ain't that easy now is it?"

That quieted her for a moment, and Mew helped ease her doubts by mentioning, "If you learn to dodge attacks it'll leave your opponents vulnerable. Haven't you felt angry when someone dodges everything? Now imagine them getting angry instead."

That did bring a smile to her face, which Mew was happy to see. Though he did push the envelop a bit by adding on to that, "And soon enough you'll be so good at dodging that your hair'll turn white and you'll be the one to defeat-"

"Does everything you say have to involve a random reference?" Kairi growled.

"Sorry. Force of habit." Mew coughed a little.

"Uh-uh..." Kairi didn't believe him. What a shocker.

"There's one important thing to learn before we get to that though," Mew lobbed up his pointer finger by his face and said, "Sensing power."

"Huh?" She responded slacking her jaw.

"You..." Mew tapped that finger up to his forehead, "Do not know how to sense your opponent's power."

With a twisted up smile his reasoning was thus, "Cause if you did you wouldn't have picked a fight with me."

"That's totally untrue and you know it." But Kairi was having none of it.

"Yeah, I do!" Mew laughed then resumed a neutral stance. His fists then tightened up by his hips.

"And the best way to learn is from experience."

There was a natural inclination on Kairi's part to backup a little and remark, "Uh uh! No more close contact!"

But Mew quickly gestured to the right and reassured her, "Gabriel's watching. I'm not going to try anything funny."

Gabriel raised his brows and retorted, "Implying you would, were I not here?"

Mew stuttered, "N-No way! I've respected the princess' personal space!"

Mew turned to her and asked "Right?" with some degree of faith in her backing him up.

"You pinched my waist..." But she quickly sold him up the river and now Gabriel's glare would remain firmly on Mew from here on out.

"Great, now I'm being tag-teamed." Mew sighed and tried to stay on track.

"Just summon your staff for a bit." He said dryly.

Kairi pulled one arm out from under her chest and called her staff out. Mew airboxed a few times then pointed one fist at the staff. With a grin he tried speaking in an entrancing tone.

"Close your eyes and let me punch your staff for a while. You'll get the feel of sensing power soon enough."

"One problem," Gabriel stepped up onto the mat, "When an Aurian closes their eyes they can still see."

Mew blinked at him a few times and wondered, "Is that a metaphor or...?"

"Ugh! Why are you so ignorant?" Kairi bemoaned and voluntarily decided to teach Mew a lesson about Aurians, "Our eyelids act as a second lens that block our everything but the aura in our surroundings."

Mew stared at her for a bit and in lieu of him seeming not to understand Kairi tried to invoke his language, "Y-You know. Its like how Lucario did it in that one movie?"

She turned her head aside, complimented by a pout and blush. Mew continued to stare at her until she spun her head back to yell, "Oh come on! Your name's a friggin' Pokemon's! Don't play dumb!"

"I-I'm not," Mew sputtered, then flashed a grin her way, "I just never expected you to say that princess."

Kairi's face turned bright red and she said, "I-I heard it through uhh...cultural osmosis."

"Liar Liar Shorts on Fire." Mew teased with the tone of a school kid.

"Gabriel, can you kick his ass?!" Kairi exclaimed with an equally childish tone.

Gabriel had a blank wide-eyed look. It was as if someone had stolen his soul. After a few blinks it seemed to have returned in time for him to remark, "I'm sorry I blanked out after you said 'Lucario'. What do you need?"

Kairi stood there and mumbled "Never mind".

Mew got right back on track by saying, "Well that's a cool trick and all but sensing aura's different from sensing power."

He glanced at Gabriel and remarked, "Though now I get how you kept attacking after I threw fire in your face."

He then wobbled his right hand around and apologized for that, with Gabriel claiming that he's deal with worse. Mew then puts his fists back up and said, "Alright. Lets get started!"

Kairi was reluctant to close her eyes but upon her doing so Mew went straight in and punched her staff. Fists were swung with a rhythm. A beat like hammers on steel drums. From the second began to the second he'd stop there were no pauses between punches, and no breaths for him to take.

Kairi squirmed at each punch thrown. Mew could only guess if he was doing his job right for a while there. When her brows began to rise Mew finally heard her speak.

"I'm...I'm sensing something!" She blurted in shock.

"What's it feel like?" Mew asked.

'Its...tingly?"

Mew smiled and pulled his fists away, shaking the red tint off his knuckles. He then waved a hand out and said, "Ok open your eyes."

Kairi slowly opened up and looked straight at Mew. He then raised a pointer finger beside his face and remarked, "Keep that feeling in mind from here on out. When your opponent attacks they'll be wearing their power like a suit of armor. Keen awareness of that will help you predict their moves."

"Got it?" He asked with his arms crossed.

"Yeah yeah." Kairi groaned while putting her staff away.

"Good!" Mew hopped, turned around, then landed with his knees bent and fists raised, "Now lets put it to the test, for real this time!"

Kairi tensed up as Mew told her, "Just close your eyes and focus. I'll start slow and try not to aim for the face."

Gabriel could be heard humming deeply to himself as the training session began. Mew looked over Kairi's body to seek out the simplest spot for her to evade his first attack. Then he flexed his knuckles to raise his power slightly. Kairi winced, meaning her senses were attuned.

Mew threw a punch towards Kairi's left hip. She pulled her hips to her right a second late. Mew drew his hand back then swung for her waist. She pulled right back to the left and avoided it. He tried to swing his right leg up to her shoulder and she pressed her whole arm into the side of her chest to avoid it.

"She's moving too stiffly...Maybe she needs a little shock to the system!" Mew aimed high and threw a punch at her face. His knuckles grazed her chest and she widened her eyes with a gasp.

"Y-You said you wouldn't aim there!"

"Trust your senses, not what your opponent says." Mew thought that sounded like good advice. Kairi would beg to differ.

After that little scare Kairi's reactions only got worse. Mew held back if he was about to make contact but that didn't make her any less nervous. When he decided to raise a too to her shoulder he found Gabriel grabbing his ankles out of the air.

He turned to face the man and his quiet glare. Once his firm grip released Mew stumbled back on one foot and planted the other one down. Gabriel stayed at Kairi's side and gently used his fingers to signal her to open her eyes. Then he turned his full attention unto Mew.

"This isn't working." He remarked.

"What's wrong?" Mew asked, humbly saying to the stalwart samurai, "Sorry. This is my first time teaching someone."

"Lady Kairi is tense. If you're expecting her to dodge her movements must flow like a gentle river." Gabriel then faced Kairi.

She looked at him, swung a hand out at Mew like making an accusation, then asked, "Can't you handle this Gabriel?"

"I cannot," He firmly replied, "My mastery lies in the blade, not hand-to-hand."

Kairi pouted and tilted her head at Mew. He rubbed his chin and came up with a suggestion for Kairi's tension.

"Any chance there's a spa in Sancturia?" It was innocent sounding enough but Kairi glared at him anyways. Gabriel meanwhile shook his head.

"I have a better idea."

He held one hand out and dangled a finger down in a circle towards Mew. Mew pointed at his chest and looked confused. Gabriel then nodded and with a shrug Mew turned himself around.

Mew peeked at Gabriel's reflection in the mirror. He was whispering something to Kairi and she looked shocked by it. Then after a bit of resistance she turned around and took her cap off, followed by slowly removing her shirt.

"Ahem." Gabriel's coarse cough diverted Mew's gaze from the mirror. He then closed his eyes and waited patiently.

"Oooooh...!" Kairi began to release all her stress and woes in a long, deeply pleasured moan. Mew's body tingled and his imagination tried to fill in the blanks. But the event didn't last long. Before he had the chance to picture them both Gabriel spoke up.

"You may turn around now."

Mew was a bit overeager to do so. What he found was Kairi back to normal with most of her face a light shade of pink. All Gabriel would confirm was that "She'll be fine now". The rest would have to be filled in by Mew's adolescent mind.

"S-So I close my eyes..." Kairi murmured while doing so. Mew looked at her and could tell something was different this go around. He looked to Gabriel and got his nod of approval.

So upon resuming his stance Mew reminded her, "Your whole body is vulnerable to attack. Getting hit is sometimes unavoidable. What you want to do is minimize the damage you take, and maximize the damage they take. Got it?"

"Just hurry up!" Kairi blurted in a haste.

Mew smiled and cracked his knuckles. He then ran at Kairi and threw a punch at her face. She frowned slightly but moved her head out of the way. He tossed out a few more punches and she managed to avoid them. Her body's movements flowed between each other, just like a gentle river.

When Mew moved on to the kicks she had some more trouble dodging those. She also lost the flow of her movements. So after a couple minutes of this Mew stepped back and let her open her eyes.

"You're getting the hang of it but you tense back up too quickly." Mew's comment got Kairi in a huff and she folded her arms under her chest.

"Well what should I do?" She wondered crassly.

"I guess Gabriel could keep doing...whatever he did."

"If I did Lady Kairi's muscles would turn to jello," Gabriel thus offered an alternative, "Concentrate on your breathing. It'll help you remain relaxed."

"Also," Mew bent down with his elbows on his knees and a hand waved up, "Don't just stand in place and dodge. You'll get more mileage out of moving away from attacks."

"Ok, ok..." Kairi sighed then turned to the samurai and said, "Thanks Gabriel."

"What am I chopped liver?" Mew said. He stood up and put up his dukes, waiting for Kairi to close her eyes.

The training resumed in full force. Mew swung his fists and kicked up his legs. Gabriel's advice helped Kairi a lot. She had a lot more successes over misses. Though her breathing tended to be a little too short and quick. Also, she was still standing in place.

Mew sought to force her to learn, and thus attempted a sweeping kick to her legs. And that's when she smiled and leaped to her left. Before Mew knew it she had summoned her staff and took a whack at his chest. Mew's head jerked forward as he spat out a cough and then dropped to his knees.

Kairi looked utterly baffled as she landed and turned to Mew. "I-I did it?" She muttered softly.

"Haha! Take that!" She boasted as Mew started to pull himself up. She leaned in with a narrowed glare and smug smile just to rub it in more, "What was that about trusting your senses?"

"Yeah. You got me there," Mew smirked and laid a hand on his throbbing chest, "Good job!"

"U-Umm..." Kairi didn't know how to take a compliment and remained pacified by Mew's sincerity.

"This is where you say 'Thank you'." But Mew just had to go and press his luck, which is why he shouldn't have been surprised when Kairi yelled at him to "Get bent!"

Mew winced trying to laugh then walked off the mat groaning all the while. He tapped Gabriel on the shoulder and told him, "Tag out?"

The man pulled away from the mirror as Mew laid back against it. He then walked onto the mat and drew his sword towards Kairi.

"Lets continue where we left off. Remember, concentrate on my weak points."

"R-Right!" Kairi firmly nodded her head and took position in front of the man.

The two trained for an hour while Mew let his wound rest. Then the three of them kept alternating who was on the mat to teach Kairi attacking and dodging.

A few hours went by, breaks included, but Kairi's progress was minimal. By the time the clock hit 6:00 PM she had managed to force Mew to pick up the pace of his attacks a little but failed to get around Gabriel's defense.

She collapsed flat on her back panting and sweating. Mew crossed his arms and said, "That's enough for now. You did good today."

"Did I...?" She gasped, "Cause I feel exhausted..."

"That's normal. Your body's not used to this yet."

Suddenly, from atop the stairs, Auris yelled down, "Dinner's just about ready! Will you be eating with us against tonight Mew?"

Mew looked down at Kairi and said, "I don't know, do you want me to?"

Kairi cobbled up the strength to sit up then waved her arm out at Mew and grumbled, "Whatever, I don't care. But you don't get to speak unless spoken to, got that?!"

Mew smiled then yelled out to Auris, "Yeah I'll be there shortly!"

Roughly ten minutes later they were all at the dinner table enjoying a delicious ensemble of grilled salmon and garlic cheese buns.

Kairi's restriction on Mew kept the mealtime atmosphere quiet and less awkward. But partway into dinner Gabriel looked to the boy and asked, "So where did you really disappear to for an hour?"

Mew pointed his fork at Gabriel and replied with his mouth full of food, "I stopped by the school for a bit."

Kairi almost choked on her food trying to ask, "Which one?"

"Which one?" Mew gave it some thought then snapped his fingers, "Oh yeah, South side! Duh!"

"Oh why, that's the one Kairi goes to." Auris said with a smile.

"Mom!" Kairi shouted before turning on Mew and demanding to know, "Why were you there?!"

"Relax, I didn't learn any embarrassing secrets," Mew responded with a chuckle, "Though I did meet a guy who seemed close to your family. He helped me find a few documents to learn up on Gravitus. Called himself Bobby?"

"Bobby...?" Kairi whispered and began to hang her head. She fiddled with her food until Gabriel spoke up.

"This conversation reminded me..." He turned to the downtrodden girl and asked with a smile, "How are you doing in school these days?"

"F-Fine." She said, avoiding his thoughtful gaze.

Auris pulled her fork out from between her lips and pointed it towards Gabriel, "Despite missing a few days my daughter maintain an 'A' average for the year."

"Mom!" Kairi yelled while slamming her hands on the table.

"That's wonderful to hear." Gabriel wore his smile with pride.

Kairi puffed her cheeks and let out a big long groan of, "You both suck!"

She then turned on Mew and saw him ignoring his food to put his full attention on her. Her pupils shrank and she looked intoxicated by embarrassment.

"W-What?" She muttered.

"I just...wasn't expecting you to be a genius." Mew voiced in a sincerely complimenting tone. But his choice of words, certainly, left a lot to be desired.

Kairi reared her head back and the blush in her cheeks got worse. She quickly picked up her plate and slid the remainder of her food into her mouth. With her cheeks stuffed she struggled to chew while getting out of her chair and making a run out of the kitchen.

Mew turned back and saw her run up the stairs. Once she was out of sight he heard Gabriel and Auris sigh. They both had their eyes closed and shook their heads in unison.

"Ah, the frailty of youth." Gabriel remarked.

"And the pittance of ignorance." Auris added on not a second later.

Mew just threw his arms up by his face and wondered aloud, "What? What did I say?"

There wasn't much dinner left to eat by that point anyways, fortunately. Once the delicious meal was wrapped up Mew offered his thanks to Auris by helping her clean up. Afterwards Gabriel had to leave for the night, claiming he had some things to check up on but would come back tomorrow morning. Mew then made his way to the couch to prepare for another night's sleep.

Though he wouldn't be going quietly into the night. As with the prior night, Auris advanced upon the couch opposite of him and sat down. With a playful smile she held up a small bottle of a colorless liquid and waved it around a little.

"Want a drink?" She offered. Mew stared at the bottle with an unamused expression then closed his eyes.

"I know what alcohol looks like." Was his way of politely saying "No."

Auris popped the lid off the bottle and downed the whole thing in about ten seconds flat. Mew slowly widened his eyes towards this sight and once she slammed the bottle down on the table she wiped a bit of liquid dribbling off her lips with her sleeve.

"I'll try again in five years." She claimed.

Mew shook his head and with a terse smirk thought, "How does she stay this young looking?"

"So? How did things go today?" Auris remarked in a forward, casual manner.

"Oh you know..." Mew leaned back into the couch and wiggled his shoulders, "Just another day in my increasingly crazier life."

"Hehe," Auris giggled with the back of her hand up to her face, "Yes well. A little excitement is never a bad thing."

She then slowly nodded her head and remarked, "Thank you."

"Huh? For what?"

"For what you did for Gabriel. It has been a long time since I've seen him act so...natural around me."

"Oh yeah," Mew bobbed his head a couple times and remarked, "No problem! ...Though I hardly did anything."

"Maybe. But sometimes all it takes is a tiny bit of effort to make a huge difference."

Auris raised her head up to stare straight into Mew's eyes, "Speaking of efforts. You went out of the way to find information on Gravitus?"

"I thought it'd be a good idea to figure out what Gravitus' modus operandi is," Mew planted the back of his head against the back of the couch and let out a long sigh, "Buuut it still feels like I'm missing a crucial detail."

"And that is?"

"The kind of person he is. I'm getting totally different impressions from the people I've met. Some guys owe their livelihoods to him, others despise him."

"History is filled with many people like that," Auris slanted her eyes and had this odd smile as she made note of, "Or do you think that people like Atilla the Hun and Adolf Hitler earned their follows through hypnotism?"

Mew shook his head. Though considering the insanity of important historical figures apparently being Aurians in disguise, it wouldn't be THAT odd. Auris then closed her eyes and held a hand out towards him.

"Charisma is the scariest tool a person can wield. The power to coerce one's will into following a single ideal..." Auris' smile widened with her eyes appearing withdrawn of emotions, "Its dread has left a permanent stain on many a world."

The glimmer in her eyes returned as she creased out a smile across her face and raised her head towards Mew, "But, that doesn't mean they can't be cleaned. Never stop searching for the truth Mew. You're already on the right path."

"Well...that's good to know." Mew breathed a sigh of relief, as for a moment Auris was starting to scare him.

"Now, onto the subject of my daughter," Auris tried to inject a little harmless teasing into this tense atmosphere by saying, "Did Gabriel's massage on her get a rise out of you?"

"W-What?!" Mew pulled his arms and legs back and looked like a cat pinned to a wall.

"Heeheehee!" Auris cackled like a witch stirring a brew, then laid the back of her hand up to her chin and remarked, "I kid, of course. But what of the training? Is everything going ok, in your opinion?"

Mew steadily re-positioned himself and then bobbed his head left and right alongside his hands, "Its so-so. She's showing some potential but..."

"She has trouble listening to you."

"...Yeah?" Mew awkwardly remarked.

"Hmmm, I wonder why that may be?" Auris said while tickling her grinning face with her fingertips, causing Mew to glare at her.

He then waved his hand out and wondered, "Can you help me out with her?"

"No can do." She quickly replied.

"Not a fighter?" Mew assumed.

As Auris withdrew her bracelet'd wrist into her sleeve and closed her eyes before responding, "My style of combat isn't good for teaching with."

"Yeah but like, not even the basics? She couldn't even dodge properly until today."

"You're doing fine as is. Just keep it up." Auris got up from her seat and trotted up to Mew, laying a hand flat up against his chest, causing him to grimace.

"And make sure you give this plenty of rest." She patted the wound a couple times and then turned and made her way for the stairs. With nothing left to do for the night Mew slowly laid down on the couch and stared up at the ceiling.

After a few hours of silent recollection on his part the sun disappeared into the night. And the boogiemen come out when night falls. Unfortunately, Mew's particular boogieman was more of a flea.

"So that is what happened to that witch...Ohohoho, now I see what's going on."

Mew raised his eyes and said tiredly, "What now 'D.'?"

"And here I thought you were more perceptive than this..." The demon lazily taunted away before dishing out his observation, "Her bracelet. There were no stones on it."

"Huh?" Mew wound back his memories a bit and realized, "Holy shit you're right. What the hell?"

"Yet another lie for your ears..."

"Hang on a second. So what? The Planetary Aurians don't have them either."

"Hmph, point taken..." When it seemed the demon would relent, he came back swinging, "But...I distinctly recall her having two stones. One was broken before I was sealed away..."

"And the other one?" Mew, as much as he hated to give the demon the time of day, was interested to hear what he had to say.

"If I had to guess, 'Gravitus' broke that one."

"...Huh," Mew laid his hands behind the back of his head and muttered, "And the point is?"

"She doesn't want to admit that she's weak and feeble. So in lieu of power she's drawn you in with honeyed words and wrapped you around her leash. You, the perfect little agent of vengeance..."

Mew rolled his eyes and said, "Good night 'D.'"

"Night night. Sleep tight. Don't let your doubts and fears bite~"

As the demon silenced himself Mew turned his head to the left and jolted a bit upon finding Kairi standing on the middle of the staircase. She was wearing dark green pajamas with a light hint of plaid. The shirt was too small for her though, and part of her midriff was visible.

"Oh hi there!" Mew tried to extract a pleasant conversation out of the girl.

"...Who were you talking to?" She responded.

"H-Huh?" Mew stammered while in his head he went, "Crap she heard that?!"

"D." has one last laugh at Mew's expense watching him hasten to explain what Kairi saw. He rubbed the back of his head and chuckled, "Oh I was just...talking to myself."

"Yourself." Kairi narrowed her eyes a bit in suspicion.

"Yes. It uhhh...helps me empty my thoughts before I sleep?" Mew then sniped her obvious answer by going, "Don't say it."

Kairi went to the bottom of the stairs and remarked, "And what? You call yourself 'D.' when you're talking to yourself?"

Mew closed his eyes, grinned, and told her, "O-Oh no that's an...Abbreviation. For...Dreams!"

"Dreams." Kairi's eyes somehow narrowed further.

"Yeah. You know? Wishing myself 'Good night dreams'?"

She sighed and started walking towards the kitchen, muttering a "Whatever" as he passed him by. When Mew tried to open his eyes Kairi pulled his pillow out from under his head and slammed it atop his face.

"N-No looking damn it!" She exclaimed, sounding more embarrassed than angry.

Under the cover of darkness Mew smiled and heard the girl remark, "I-I'm just getting a cup of water. Stay down until I'm upstairs."

Mew just whistled the time away. He heard the water running, her footsteps approaching and leaving, and finally she made her way up the stairs. But a sudden stop in movement prompted Mew to pull the pillow off. He saw Kairi standing in the middle of the staircase, where she turned to face him.

The moonlight outside made her silhouette appear translucent. She opened her mouth and whispered so quietly that even Mew couldn't hear her. Then her cheeks turned red, she turned away, and said in a huff, "I-I said stay down!"

She stormed off back to her room and with his curiosity tickled Mew laid the pillow under his head and tried to doze off to sleep. Tomorrow would be another new day, and he was looking forward to seeing what the next couple of Planetary Aurians would bring to the table.

Next Time: Raw Power, Raw Emotion