Chapter 6: The First Mile, Part 2

If there was one thing Aibo Academy was known for, it was the fact that they took their Buddyfighting dead seriously. Hey, they had to justify that stadium somehow, right? Being tightly aligned with the Buddycard Office, Aibo found great importance in maintaining their stake as the best Buddyfighting academy in the country, perhaps even the world.

While their chief rival, Sengoku Academy, threw everything they had into training buddyfighters, it was still no match for the undercurrent of pressure Aibo put on their students to participate, as well as its ability to draw talented Buddyfighters. Buddyfighting was integrated into lesson plans and extracurricular activities and in other ways, as well.

At least that's what Hideki assumed, anyway. While not packed, the stadium was still sparsely filled with his fellow students, roughly half of which were side-by-side with their Buddy Monsters. Hideki glanced to the side at one of them, a portly dragon holding a large, bladed spear. It had large horns on its lightly armored body, and its helmet had a pair of bat wings that jutted straight up. The large dragon noticed that Hideki was looking at it and let out an agitated snort, a slight twinge of flame escaping its nostrils.

Marie, again, was oblivious to the world around her as she sulked. The arena was certainly an impressive architectural feat, but not even that seemed to interest Marie. Like the night before, she clearly had her mind set on one thing.

Hideki glanced around some more at the muttering people. At one point, his eyes fell upon a pair of girls sitting a few rows in front of him, one a normal student in her uniform, the other with purple skin, wings, and a tail, wearing armor that looked like it was snatched from a junkyard. They had been staring up at him, curious about the newcomer, and now that they had been caught, they paused for a bit before turning to each other and giggling.

The various sounds and muttering were brought to a halt at the sound of a microphone being switched on, the low thrum signaling everyone to pay attention. At the podium stood a portly young man, likely a senior, who cleared his throat into the mic, the sound of it echoing through the rest of the arena. Behind him stood a squat, dragon-like monster that didn't really seem to carry the menace one would expect of someone who would address the crowd. The red dragon had a pair of bull-like horns that jutted forward and was in an oversized piece of armor with what looked like an angry, sharp-toothed smiley-face on it.

"Hello, everyone," the young man said, "Thanks for coming to the meeting, today. As you know, I am Yuu Watanabe, President of the Highschool Buddyfighting Club,"

Hideki braced himself for a long, boring speech.

"And this is my buddy," Yuu said as he motioned to his squat dragon friend, "Inferno Armor Dragon." On cue, the small dragon was engulfed in a massive pillar of flame, soon being replaced by a far larger, more complex (and more terrifying) form; that of a large dragon that occupied the entire podium on its own, the smiley-face on its armor having transformed into the frightening visage of a howling demon. Its claws turned long and lethal and its outstretched wings seemed to be formed of yet more blades. Flames constantly dripped down from the back of its jaws as it loomed over the crowd.

That certainly woke Hideki and Marie up.

"And we have a few exciting announcements to make today," Yuu continued without skipping a beat, pulling out a piece of paper, "First of all, I'd like you to welcome our newest members, Hideki Iwagasaki of class 3-1 and Princess Marie Aquarios the 4th of Aqua World. The two became buddies just last night, apparently."

Hideki and Marie shrank a little bit as everyone turned to them and gave a warm, light applause. This even included the dragon that had sneered at them and the girls who had laughed from before.

"Yes, it's always nice to have new members," Yuu continued, "Now, as you know, the Lower and Middle-School ABC cup is coming up pretty soon, so we won't be holding our meetings here for a while, but our own cup happens about a month after that, so…"

At this point, Hideki lost interest again. Despite its flamboyant beginning, the speech had quickly devolved into subject matters that Hideki neither understood nor cared about, something about 'new expansion set' this and 'new starter deck' that. Hideki actually found himself dozing off a bit despite how the others were paying rapt attention to it all.

"…And that's all I have to say," Yuu finally finished. Marie jabbed Hideki wake with her elbow, a loud snort coming from Hideki as he came to, "Now we can move on to trading and Buddyfighting. Of course, we'll start with the New members," he motioned to Hideki and Marie, "If you two could come down and fight Broocke here, we can see what you're made of,"

Broocke was apparently a man's name, for soon they found themselves in position in the large arena against a slight, bespectacled boy at least a year younger than Hideki. Behind Broocke stood a large, angular centaur that almost seemed to be made of ivory. Carrying a lance in one hand and a flag in the other, its look seemed to resemble that of a chess piece, the flag being a generic, blank slate. Broocke held a similar spear in his hand. Hideki cracked his neck; might as well get this over with. The two had soon dealt their cards and were ready to go.

"Ready?!" Yuu said, raising his hand.

"BUDDY FIGHT!" The crowd chanted as Yuu lowered his hand.

"I'll go first!" Broocke stated, "Charge and draw! I Buddy Call Battle Unit, Knight Fighter to the center!" Planting the flag into the terrain behind him. The unit, owing to its namesake, leapt over its user and right into the Center area. "Now, attack the fighter!" Broocke gestured forward with his and and, making a robotic neigh, the Knight charged forward and plunged its lance into Hideki's chest.

Hideki was remarkably uninterested in this. Still looking bored, he hardly reacted as the illusory lance passed through him, leaving a mere hologram of a hole behind in a total No-Sell. If he'd bothered to look up, he would have seen the knight make a bit of a confused expression before retracting its lance and jumping back to the center position, leaving Hideki with 8 life points remaining.

"Okay," Hideki said casually, "I've just got to make this look good, right?" Charging and drawing without a word, Hideki picked one card in his hand and played it, "I call Militant Pixie, Hoplite to the Right," Appearing in the Right zone was what looked like Stinging Sprite Pawn's older sister, in heavier, golden armor with a similar lance and shield.

Militant Pixie, Hoplite

Aqua World/Nereid

Size 1

ATK 3000/Def 2000/Cri 2

"Militant Pixie, Hoplite attacks the Center," Hideki said. Marie found herself a bit taken aback by Hideki's sudden movement to the Battle phase, despite him not summoning anything else. The Hoplite hefted itself into the air and lunged at the opposing monster waiting there.

"Not so fast!" Broocke replied, "By paying two Gauge, I counter with Chessenergy!" Two of Broocke's gauge vanished into small stars and flew into his Knight, wreathing him in a golden glow, "Chessenergy increases the attack and defense of a Chess monster by 4000!" As he said this, the knight intercepted the Hoplite's attack bare-handed, "And gives it counterattack to boot!" Bringing its spear to bear, the Knight jabbed at its assailant, causing it to burst apart into cards.

"My turn!" Broocke continued, "Draw! Charge and Draw!" He smirked, "First, I cast Gambit, which returns Knight Fighter to my hand!" His Knight vanished from the field, "Now, I play Battle Unit, Knight Fighter to the left and Control Unit, Suppression Queen to the Right!" The Knight from before reappeared in the Left position, and in the right position appeared a feminine figure made of a similar type of ivory to the Knight Fighter. Adorned with a cape and large, curling pigtails, a scant few pink bows added some light color to the otherwise pearl-white figure. "And finally, I pay 1 gauge to equip Burning Sword!" One more of Broocke's gauge vanished as a large, heavy-looking blade appeared in his hands.

"Now, Suppression Queen, let's attack the fighter together!" Hefting his burning sword into the air, Broocke leapt from his perch and dashed out at Hideki, bringing the sword down onto him. He hardly reacted at all, drawing a bit of an odd look from his opponent as Hideki stood stock-still with the large gash down his body.

Following up on its master's attack, the Suppression Queen drew back its arms, a pair of pink blades made of pure energy emerging from a pair of bracelets on its wrists. Hideki again remained undisturbed as the blades came down on him from both sides.

Caught a bit off-guard by Hideki's nonchalance, His opponent hesitated for a bit before continuing. "Final phase! Checkmate!" A card in his hand glowed more brightly than normal, "Thanks to all of the Chess cards in my drop zone, and with you at four or less life, If I hit with this final attack, I win the game automatically!"

Knight reared up onto its hind legs and charged, lance forward. As the knight closed in, Hideki continued to remain unmoved. Marie glanced around at Hideki's hand, then at the charging knight, then back again several times. She then winced at the Knight drew its lance back, then sent it plunging into Hideki's midsection.

Hideki glanced down casually at the spear that had penetrated his abdomen, then back up to his opponent, "Oh dear, I lost," Hideki said with a smile that held no conviction to it at all, before quickly dropping it, "Can I go home now?"

An awkward air swept through the arena. People glanced between each other and only a light muttering filled the air. Marie seemed especially anxious. Even the Knight had a confused expression as it withdrew its lance, leaving no damage behind as the rest of the battlefield vanished

"Well?" Hideki said, shooting a glace at the Club President.

"Uh, sure," The president responded hesitantly.

"Good," Hideki replied before turning and leaving the stage. Still a bit off-balance, Marie turned and followed him.

"You lost on purpose!" Marie yelled once the two were outside of the arena, "I saw your hand; you had everything you needed to survive that turn! Why did you throw the game?!"

"Hey," Hideki retorted, "You kept going on about Shion and doing that got us out of there as fast as I could manage. You got a problem with that."

Marie clenched her teeth at this response. Her tightly-held fists made it clear she wanted to say something

"Still," Hideki said, "That guy sure talked a long time. It's gotten pretty late. I don't know if we could make it to Shion's on time."

Marie perked up a bit at this and struck a more confident pose, "Hm-hmm," She snorted proudly, "Leave that part to me!"

"What, do you keep a jetpack under that cape of yours?" Hideki snarked.

"No," Marie puffed, "I was talking about the Buddy Skill!

"Buddy Skill?" Hideki asked. True, Commander I had mentioned that before, but wasn't entirely sure about what that meant.

"Uh huh!" Marie replied, "Like this!" She pointed her finger into the air, "Buddy Skill: On!" She chanted.

Hideki staggered around as he suddenly found himself feeling weightless. Hideki looked down to discover that he was now hovering slightly inches above the ground. Parallel to his ankles, a pair of small, flat, blue fins made out of light had appeared, similar to the ones on Marie's own ankles.

"Wait, I remember these!" Hideki replied, "Aren't these like what that Tasuku kid had? Can I fly with these?" He said, trying to move his legs, which no longer held traction with the ground.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk," Marie waggled her finger, "Don't associate me with that common-as-Clay Buddy Skill," She chided, "I'm a Princess, remember. My Buddy Skill is Royal Class, just like me!"

"So, how does it work?" Hideki deadpanned, his trembling legs struggling to find footing like someone trying to ice-skate for the first time.

"Like this," Marie replied, walking behind Hideki. With another one of her elegant flips, Marie jumped into the air and planted her arms on Hideki's shoulders.

Suddenly, Hideki found himself with tunnel vision, as though everything in front of him was accelerating forward at incredible speed. It only took him a moment to feel the wind on his face and discover that, in fact, it was HIM that was going that fast. A quick glance behind him showed that now he was leaning intensely forward as a pair of powerful blue jets of energy erupted behind him. Marie's body was similarly horizontal, as she remained perched on his shoulders, seemingly adding to his speed. Hideki had little time to take it in, however, as the sound of a car horn caused him to turn forward in time to see that he was about to have a head-on collision with a luxury sedan! Shifting his legs to one side, Hideki managed to steer out of the way, but then found himself confronted with a tree! Straining to keep his eyes open, Hideki did his best to swerve away from the obstacles as they came, dodging street signs, pedestrians, and other things nearby.

Hideki knew his only hope was to reach the highway.

The view of the ocean was beautiful from that remote stretch of highway, the orange hue of the setting sun rippling across the water as the sound of crashing waves hit the rocks at the base of the cliffs. It would have been a beautiful sight to anyone.

Except for Hideki, of course. Rather than enjoying the view, Hideki was wheezing in strain, his hands on his knees as he struggled to stand up. Somehow, he had finally managed to get Marie to turn off the buddy skill and stop them from running out of control. However…

"Hey, Hideki," Marie said as she took in the sight, "…Where are we?"

"I! Don't! Know!" Hideki roared rearing up into the air, "What was that just know? Why are we out here?! Why wouldn't you stop?!"

"I thought you knew where Shion's house was," Marie replied.

"I thought YOU knew!" Hideki yelled.

Marie suddenly had a goofy grin cover her face before she could not restrain herself anymore and began laughing uncontrollably.

"What is it now?!" Hideki demanded.

"Your hair!" Marie laughed, "It's all swept back! You look like a he-he-hedgehog!"

Hideki felt his hair. Granted, he did spike it in the morning, but the wind had indeed caused the spikes to be swept backwards from the speed. With a huff, Hideki sat heavily on the ground, "Seriously, why do I have to put up with this?!"

"You have to put up with?!" Marie yelled, her face taking a sudden angry glare, "Have you even considered what your behavior does to other people? Didn't you see how the other people in the Club looked when you threw the game like that? You hurt their feelings! The game was important to them!" Marie huffed and turned around, "I was just going to grin and bear it for Shion's sake, but I just can't stand this anymore!"

"Then leave!" Hideki retorted. Marie kept her back turn, her arms falling a bit slack. There was a pause, filled only with the sounds of Hideki's intense breathing. Marie finally turned around, her angry face having been replaced with an expression of despair.

"Just… go home?" she said, "Just go home? Do you have any idea how hard it is to get to Earth in the first place? Once a monster leaves the Human World, it's not that easy for them to come back, ya know!" Marie wiped some of the tears away, "I've wanted to come to the Human World for so long, but I finally get here and I'm told to go home after a single day?"

Hideki didn't really know what to say. As Marie tried to control her crying, the two of them noticed that the sound of the crashing waves was being slowly replaced by something. After a minute, the unmistakable sound of a Harley Davidson became clear. However, it was also blended with…rock music

The two of them turned to see a huge chopper motorcycle, handlebars high in the air, being driven by an old man with a white, shaggy beard and a leather outfit and jeans. Sitting, nay, standing on the back of the motorcycle was a similarly-clad demon that resembled sort of a horse with spiky hair. In his hands was an oddly-shaped electric guitar, onto which it was playing a high-speed series of hot licks, completely undisturbed by the movement of the bike or the wind.

Hideki and Marie watched dumbstruck as the sight drew closer and louder. Before they knew it, the two had come to a stop next to them, the demon on the back allowing its final note to slowly fade out in tune to the machine slowing down

It was silent once again when the old biker switched off the engine. Lifting the goggles off from over his eyes, he and his demonic buddy looked down at them. Hideki and Marie had no idea how to react.

"You guys lost?" The biker finally said. Hideki and Marie nervously nodded in reply.

"I think I get what's goin' on," The donkey demon said, "Just look at the kid's hair. Granted, it's got class," he continued, wiping his hand through his own spikey mane, "But if you ask me, it looks like they're having Buddy Skill trouble." He pointed at Marie, "Speed-type, right?"

"Uh, yeah," Marie replied.

"Yeah, we had trouble figuring out how our Buddy skill worked the first time, didn't we, Valefar?" The old biker said as he opened a compartment on the side of his bike. Valefar crossed his arms and chortled in response.

"Use these," The biker said, suddenly tossing something out of his bag at Hideki. Before he knew it, Hideki had reacted and caught a pair of biking goggled in his hands, "The wind in your eyes makes it impossible to see, right?" He lowered his own goggles and kicked the starter on his bike, the roaring sound coming forth once again.

"If you're looking for the city," he said, "Just keep heading back the way you came and hang a right onto the highway there." With a roar of the engine, the Biker sped off, Valefar continuing its rock ballad where it had left off.

And just like that, it was crashing waves again. After staring in the distance the Biker had left, Marie and Hideki slowly turned to each other.

"Um," the two said in unison, before stopping and waiting for the other to start again.

"You know," Hideki said, "I guess you are right, trying to avoid a problem doesn't make it go away,"

"No, no," Marie said, "I mean, I guess I never realized that you'd have your own things to deal with and I guess I got a bit pushy."

The two of them sighed. Hideki looked down at the goggles he had been given. They were actually fairly fancy, with an adjustable strap, padding, and some small precision holes in the sides to allow proper ventilation.

"So," Hideki said as he drew the goggles over his head, slipping them over his eyes, "Wanna try this again?"

Marie, a bit stunned by Hideki's change in attitude, couldn't help but smile.

"Yeah!"

With the goggles, controlling the direction the two went became a lot easier for Hideki this time around. Before they knew it, the pair was back in town and knocking on Shion's door.

"I appreciate the gesture, but" Shion replied as she answered the door, "Isn't it a bit late for this?"

As the clockstruck an awkward Midnight hour, Hideki and Marei felt their legs give out underneath them as they facefaulted into the ground before Shion's pajama'd feet.