Meanwhile, this whole time at the pathway of Ehmead Hill...
"Lone Wolf Charge!"
"Aaaauugh!"
With a huge smash into him, Yuri knocked Akihiro hard into the ground. The teen's impact with the battlefield was so smashing, he let go of his weapons and then came limp on the ground, leaving a huge crater-type hole where he landed. The man dropped back into his stance as the old man stopped the fight.
"Hold it! We got a spar partner down!" Raven signaled to Yuri to stop, as the man rushed over to check on the teen.
"I guess that means I win the match," Yuri said, celebrating just a bit by twirling his sword a bit before walking to get his sheathe that landed near where Repede was watching.
The dog barked in recognition of his partner winning as he ran over to congratulate Yuri. The man smiled as he scratched under his chin, something Repede secretly loved Yuri doing.
"So, what do you think, Repede? Am I still on top of my game?" he asked.
"WOOF WOOF!" his dog barked, causing Yuri to laugh.
"Heh, I thought so," Yuri said as he picked up the sheathe and put his sword into it.
After doing that, the duo walked over to Raven, who was trying to wake up Akihiro. Apparently, the huge crash into the ground plus the blow Yuri gave equaled a knocked out fighter. Yuri placed his hand on his hip and gave a bit of a sympathetic smile as he watched the old man check the boy.
"Hey, is he gonna be okay?" he asked.
"Hard to tell, Yuri; ya never have pulled yer punches when ya spar," Raven said, not looking at him.
"I guess I should've gone easier on him," Yuri said, chuckling a bit.
"Yuri, did ya not hear what ol' Raven just said? When in the history have ya ever held back?" Raven asked.
"Plenty of times, like... no, maybe not that time... Um..." Yuri tried to say confidently, but then had nothing.
"See? Exactly my point," Raven narrowed his disbelieving eyes and shook his head.
With a bark from Repede that sounding like teasing, the younger man smiled and taunted, "You're just upset that I couldn't hold back, because you could never beat me one-on-one."
"Hey! Be nice!" Raven used one of his infamous demands.
Finally, Akihiro made a groan and started to move again. Feeling a bit more relieved that the kid wasn't in a coma or dead (because, come on, Yuri with a maxed out level and that Glory skill equipped, pretty freaking hard not to get killed by him), the men started to look on how he was doing.
"Hey, Akio, you okay?" Yuri asked, smiling and trying to sound concerned.
The teen groans became more intense and painful as he shot up to a sitting position suddenly. Cringing all over, he was shaking from pain, gritting his teeth. It hit their eyes in shock, as they realized Akihiro's left side of his face was dripped red down from his head. The other injuries of simple cuts and bruising on his body and clothing excluded, the head injury was enough to make Repede whine.
"Whoa! Hey, you alright? I didn't mean to hit you that hard!" Yuri said, dropping down to a knee, pulling out an apple gel, and reaching towards him.
"Wow, gotta hand it to ya, kiddo; ol' Raven wouldn't be able to just wake up that fast and sit up. You're pretty tough for a kid yer age," Raven said, as he started to pull out a melange gel, just in case.
A hand came from the teen swatting away their items away and waving for Yuri and Raven to back off, followed by a struggled groan of soreness.
"Hey, easy! It's just us, kid," Raven tried to calm the boy down.
"Nnnaagh, I just... Ow... I just got knocked out hard onto the ground; the last thing I need waking up is people shoving things in my face..." Akihiro struggled to say at first, but managed to regain his speaking as he closed his left eye when the blood got into it.
"No, the last thing you need is refusing medical attention after taking a shot that hard," Yuri corrected, about to try and hand him the apple gel.
"Rruuhh... I-It's only a dumb cut... agh... I'll be f-fine..." Akihiro said, surprising the trio by turning to his feet and pushing off the ground with his arms, standing up and being able to walk normally as he walked towards his fallen weapons.
But Yuri wasn't going to risk him being seriously hurt as he walked behind him and said, "Hey, hold it. The spar's over. I don't want you to push and risk causing an injury to become worse after what you just went through. Plus, Estelle and Flynn would kill me if I hurt you even further."
"N-No, I'm not gonna fight you," Akihiro grunted as he picked up the chakrams and walked past him, heading towards the port city direction.
"Huh? Hey, where ya goin'?" Raven called after him.
Akihiro stopped and looked over his shoulder, saying in a heroic and yet hurt manner, "I... I have to train."
"Wait, what? Hold it!" Yuri said, having to run a bit and catch Akihiro by grabbing a hold of his shoulder, "You can't just go out and fight monsters in this condition after a fight."
"Huh? Why not? I'm just a little rattled and sore; I'm not helpless, Yuri," Akihiro said, turning around confidently, slightly smirking as he pointed to himself.
"Akio, you went through a huge fight in which you look like you got smacked down hard and blood is pouring down your face," Yuri said bluntly, trying to convince the kid not to go do something stupid, yet not seeming to know how to word that nicer.
"And how do you think I've trained before meeting you?" Akihiro made a valid point as he held his head in his hands, "I've been slashed open, nearly had limbs cut off; hell, one time, I got impaled through my hip. But I kept training and ignored the pain. I'm this good so far by doing it."
The three could not believe the insanity of which he just spoke. He's fought monsters repeatedly in training with life changing or more importantly life threatening wounds before? Well, not with these guys around.
"Com' on, kid; don't be like that. So, ya lost a sparrin' match, what's the big deal?" Raven said, trying to lighten the mood and make it better, "It's just practice."
"The old man's right; it's just meant to train with each other in a way that doesn't risk killing someone," Yuri said, beginning to smile as Repede barked with agreement as he finished with this, "Look, I understand if you're angry at me because I beat you, but not everyone wins every match. So, don't take it to heart, okay?"
"No, it's not," Akihiro turned away, "I'm not mad at you; I'm mad at myself."
"Huh? What for?" Yuri said, blinked as he thought he had the kid figured out.
Suddenly, the teen turned around and his eyes flared with passion and fire, "Hello!? Do you not remember how badly you moped the floor with me!? I was too reckless and stupid; I let myself get caught in combos and attacks that I should've blocked and I used too many artes! I can't be champion after what you just did to me! That's why I gotta go get better!"
"Hey, hold on! You're being way too hard on yourself. Just because you lose one match doesn't mean you're not a good fighter. You did an great job fighting me, knocking me down and getting good hits in; honestly, you're better than a lot of other people I've taken on," Yuri tried to compliment him with a smile, but it faded as he could see the anger building in the teen.
"If I did a great job, I wouldn't have been unconscious on the ground after that arte you did, now would I!?" Akihiro yelled, clutching his fists.
…Dang, that was a really good point. Yuri honestly couldn't argue with that. But the boy was being way too aggressive and letting this get to him. He needed to calm him down before he got out of control.
"Hey, settle down now, bucko; no use gettin' riled up about this, ya hear?" Raven said smiling, "I'm sure ya'll get stronger as time goes on."
"Exactly! Which is why I'm going to train right now!" Akihiro turned and started running, "Tell the others I went ahead and they can catch me before Capua Nor!"
"Hey! What, are you trying to get yourself killed!?" Yuri tried to grab him when he started to run, but missed and yelled after him, "Come back!"
"Dammit," Raven cursed, Yuri looking back to see he had his bow ready, "Kid's so rambunctious, he ran off before we could give 'em any gels and he's outta my range for a Love Shot."
"Nice going, old man," Yuri sighed as he shook his head, but keeping his gaze on the teen.
"Me? Hey! I'm not the one who beat him so badly, he becam' upset and went into a berserk trainin' spree," Raven said, putting his weapon away and giving a humorous glare at the city man.
"But, you're the one who said he'll get stronger in time, which provoked him to go train now," Yuri gave a rebuttle, a comeback that made sense to him but not to anyone else.
Raven shook his head and held his face in his left hand, "Oh, sure, blame it on the old man; that always solves everythin' for Yuri Lowell, doesn't it?"
Getting a tired groan from Repede, Yuri sighed and looked at the teen running, "I guess I better go bring him back before he kills himself in a last-ditch effort to become powerful. Raven, can you let the others know where we are?"
"Yessir," Raven winked and saluted.
"Rgh, he knows I hate it when he does that," Yuri disgustingly thought in his head behind a pair of rolling eyes.
With that, Repede joined his side as they ran after the injuried teen, hoping he wouldn't do anything stupid to risk his life before they got there.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Raven left the party.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Skit – Stupid for power
Yuri: (neutral face) Ohh, man. I really hope Akihiro doesn't do anything stupid.
Repede: (looks to his left) Awroo?
Yuri: (head tilts to his right, carefree face) I mean, I get his point; he feels like he's not strong enough yet, but I never acted that way all the times Flynn beat me at stuff. I just hope he's not stupid for power and has some common sense.
Repede: (neutral face) *whine* …
Yuri: (neutral face) I know, Repede. We're going to find him, and he's going to be okay. He's a tough guy; he can hold on until we find him.
Repede: (barking upwards) Woof!
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
As the duo got out of the woods, it opened up to reveal the area before Capua Nor; a field with a huge raising on the left. It was where they back in their old journey went and searched for that Rhygbaro to help two parents from that Magistrate Ragou's unfair wrath. Looking around, they couldn't see the fired up teenager anywhere.
"Huh... he's faster than he looks," Yuri said, slightly impressed.
He looked down towards his dog and asked, "Repede, can you follow his scent?"
In response, the big boss of the animals began to sniff the ground and then looked towards their right. Suddenly, both saw him; Akihiro slashing at certain bandits who had attacked him.
"Come on! If we keep pressing the beat up brat, we'll get him and take his stuff!" one of them said.
"Like hell, you will!" Akihiro roared, slashing him down.
"What the...? Does this kid want a death wish!?" Yuri said, completely taken back at how stupid this kid was at throwing his safety away, and then shaking his head and throwing his sheathe away, took his sword and commanded, "All right, Repede, let's go bail him out!"
"Woof!"
Thus, the two strong warriors rushed over to the fight. By the time they got there, Akihiro had doubled over from a huge punch to the ribs and wasn't able to dodge an incoming sword towards his head.
"Hah! You're mine!" the bandit yelled as it came down.
Just then, a bigger sword clashed with his, causing the man to be shaken up and look at who he was stopped by. Yuri was in front of Akihiro who was still standing but huddled, holding his body as Repede got behind the boy and protected him there.
"Huh? The hell are you supposed to be!?" he yelled in anger.
Suddenly, another bandit started to walk away as he said fearfully, "W-Wait... that face... you're Yuri Lowell of Brave Vesperia...!"
Suddenly, all courage left the men as they all started to back off.
"I see you nitwits have some intelligence in those things you call skulls," Yuri threatened angrily, "Now beat it, before I really make you regret attacking one of our own."
With that, collective screams uttered out of bandit throats as the bridage ran away and out of sight in under ten seconds. After watching them go, Yuri began to turn around.
"Akio, I can't believe you! You honestly went picking a fi- ! Akio!"
He turned to the horror of Akihiro unconscious on the ground, blood appearing from underneath him on the grass. Repede whined as he grabbed his shirt sleeve and rolled him over. Apparently, the bandit did more than just punch Akihiro; he opened up a wound Yuri gave him back in their spar, located on the right ribcage.
"Damn it, I really went too hard on you..." Yuri said, regretfully as he knelt down to the boy's side and then looked up at Repede, "Repede, go back to the hill and get Estelle. If she's not there, get the old man. We need help healing him."
With a bark, he watched his dog use his lightning speed to hurry back towards where they came from. Placing his hands on the wound, he pressed hard, preventing any more blood from coming out. Looking at Akihiro's face, it looked sad and hurt. He closed his eyes.
"I'm sorry, Akio, for going too rough on you," he apologized, but then told him, "But you and I are going to have a long talk after you wake up."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Repede left the party.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Yikes! Not a great start for Akihiro and his time with the men! Losing to not only Yuri but a bunch of weak bandits! Will he survive this? (I hope so, because I need him for the story XD) And what will Yuri say to him once they get him healed? Find out next!