route_1065 | Let's start a Brand New Touch

Let's start a Brand New Touch

Who: Ai Hidaka and Masaru Daimon
Where: Route 29, not far from New Bark Town
When: July 9, most likely early or mid-afternoon
Summary: Meetings are always better in person.
Rating: PG-13 just for safety's sake.
Log:

Ai had yet to cease truly moving after Eri's suggestion that they work on improving their strength by not straying too far from New Bark Town at first, which the younger of the two took to mean "Go wild, just don't go far."

So far, she had startled a flock of Pidgey into flight, defeated a Sentret or two, and had narrowly avoided being bitten by a Rattata-- thanks to her new partner, who already had the honor of "first blood" (she'd jokingly told him that, and then regretted it when the poor Lillipup looked incredibly stricken).

For now, however, she abandoned the 'training', feeling just as productive as Kiba (since she'd done just as much running and noise-making, if not more) as she and the little dog circled back towards the entrance. Masaru had said he'd be waiting there, hadn't he? She'd have to make sure he saw her coming.

Because surely if the sight of a disheveled, wildly grinning girl who had a few more inches to go before she hit five feet didn't do it, the sight of the aforementioned disheveled grinning short girl waving one arm over her head like she was about ready to take off would do the trick.

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Masaru was indeed waiting where he said he'd be, a rowdy, rambunctious-looking Torchic at his side. He grinned when he saw the girl waving, recognizing her from the video feed on his Pokegear.

"Hey, you made it!" he exclaimed as he and Hayate ran over. "Awesome! Good to meet you, Ai!"

"Same he-- eeeeeeeeeeeere?!" What started off cheerful ended up startled as Kiba darted forward to investigate the new ~~threat~~ arrivals and tripped up his trainer. It was some minor miracle that Ai, windmilling rather comically to maintain her balance, managed to succeed in remaining upright.

Kind of.

She had to hop a few steps and hunch over in the process, but when she straightened, it was with both arms thrust over her head like a proud Olympic gymnast.

"S-Same here," she repeated, brightly and half-perplexed (as if she'd fully expected that she'd end up on her face, which was true). "But of course I'd make it, Masaru-san! I never break a promise! And I'm pretty sure I promised at least in spirit!!"

Masaru just blinked, staring at her and the stunt she'd just pulled. "Um, are you okay?" he asked, a bit wide eyed.

Hayate warbled and rushed forward, eager to inspect Kiba. He was taking his first steps into the world outside New Bark Town, so the bird-like Pokemon was intent on giving his fellow Pokemon as little personal space as possible as he attempted to learn more about this new face.

"I'm fine!" And she looked it, bright-eyed and chipper and finally lowering her arms to ease her appearance back into the semblance of normalcy. "Kiba just got a little excited, but there's no harm done. And I'm used to being a little klutzy."

She nodded towards the Lillipup, who had stiffened uncertainly at the sight of this weird fiery chick thing coming to greet him first. Torn between puppy-like curiosity and the urge to protect his trainer, Kiba took a few cautious sniffs, peered warily, at the boy standing behind the Torchic, and then gave Hayate a perfunctory lick.

Masaru chuckled a bit, before nodding. "Kiba huh? What kind of Pokemon is he?"

Hayate let out a little squeak, before giving the Lillipup an exploratory peck with his beak.

Edited 2012-07-13 01:14 (UTC)

"He's a Lillipup." This was delivered in the same proud tone of someone who definitely knew what they were talking about, and not someone who only knew because their Pokédex had accidentally gone off in Kiba's vicinity, and that someone had of course not then made incredulous noises of "You're not a Yorkie hybrid??"

The pride didn't last long as she stepped forward and crouched beside the duo, focusing her attention on the little bird-- the one who had just made Kiba yelp and give him a reprimanding swat. "And this is your partner? He sort of looks like a chicken..."

"Hm? You think so? I thought he looked more like a hawk or something..."

Masaru blinked and stared down at Hayate, who... immediately stepped forward and pecked Ai a little on the nose with his beak.

She was about to respond that with those stubby little wings and those legs, she couldn't see anything but chicken, but that train of thought was cut short when she was greeted with a beak to the nose.

"O-ouch..." Most idols probably wouldn't take kindly to such a greeting, but Ai (much to the chagrin of many) wasn't like most idols and only took a few seconds to rub her nose before she picked up the Torchic. "Is that your way of saying hello? If that's the case..."

She grinned, touching her nose to Hayate's beak. "Then it's nice to meet you, too! Am I gonna have to do this for Masaru-san, you think?"

Hayate responded by giving out a little chirp, smiling once Ai's nose touched his beak.

Masaru? Turned a shade of red. "Heh heh," he said, rubbing the back of his head. "You don't need to do that..."

"Of course I do!" She shifted the Torchic comfortably in her arms, ignoring Kiba's yelp of protest. "Branc new teams need a proper greeting, even if you have to risk your neck!" By bending low enough? Poor guy.

A pause.

"But since you're a fighter, maybe it's a headbutt! Or a fistbump."

"... I could go for a fistbump," Masaru replied, grinning as he held out his fist.

Hayate blinked at being held, and then settled in, enjoying being held.

Ai brightened exponentially (there was probably some law about potentially concussing boys during a first meeting, anyway), extending her own fist to...

Well.

It was probably supposed to be ladylike, but there was nothing delicate in the scrape of knuckles and the sting of one small hand meeting a larger one in a cheerful fist... punch-bump. Her fingers were already bandaged from earlier, at least, and she could proudly admit that she hadn't renewed the bleeding from the force of the gesture.

"There! Now it's official."

"Alright!" Masaru exclaimed, pumping his fist once the action was completed. "We have our team!"

Then, he smirked. "So, how about we cut our teeth by giving this Pokemon battle thing a try?"

"Huh? You mean, us?"

It was a stupid question, one she realized seven seconds after she said it. She'd have to fight other trainers and Pokémon that didn't just hang out in the wild, wouldn't she? And there were probably a ton of strategies to go about it that Eri would have known about, but the thing was...

Ai wasn't a strategist. She tended to just bulldoze her way through obstacles without her manager or her fellow idols to keep her in check, and at the proposition now (once it sank in), she merely grinned.

After a lot of Pidgey-chasing, facing Hayate was bound to be more exciting.

"You're on!" Ai lowered the Torchic to the ground, eyes taking on a determined gleam. "But I'm not going to go easy on you!"

Masaru continued to grin. Ai would find the other teen was rather similar in how they did things, but that was something to save for another time.

"Alright, then! Don't think I'll go easy on you either because you're a girl! Kiba is Hayate's opponent, after all, not you!"

Hayate ruffled up his feathers, striking a determined pose as he stood in front of Masaru.

"Toooorch!"

She snorted in response. If Kiba had been a girl, she would have had a better retort to give, but Ai already had unwavering faith in her little partner. That was good enough, and there was no point in telling Masaru that was exactly how she wanted it. However--

"Kiba's my partner! And we're gonna win this thing together!" She thrust a hand out in front of her, prompting a fierce bark from the Lillipup and a scuff of one little paw against the ground. Eri was probably going to have a heart attack if she heard about Ai getting into tougher fights already, instead of safely leveling up... but the idol placated her conscience by promising herself that at least she'd take the older girl's advice to heart about learning her Pokémon's attacks.

"Let's go! Full speed ahead!!"

Which was Ai-ese for "Tackle", because while she might have learned Kiba's attacks, she hadn't quite adjusted to actually telling him what to do. If anyone had adjusted, it had been Kiba, who flicked an ear in acknowledgment and charged straight for the Torchic.

Edited 2012-07-18 07:08 (UTC)

"Meet him head on!" Masaru exclaimed, thrusting out his fist. Unlike Ai, Masaru hadn't even bothered to learn the names of attacks... he trusted his partner to do what was best in a given situation.

And so Hayate did. He ran forward, thrusting forward with his beak, hoping to meet Lillipip's Tackle with a Peck attack.

And meet they did, in a flurry of fur and fiery feathers-- an epic image for Ai's mind, even though the two combatants didn't even reach her knees. Kiba definitely wasn't pleased to get a Peck to the nose, rearing back and then dashing forward for another Tackle to try and topple Hayate.

"Take the hit!" Masaru ordered, suppressing his natural urge to rush in and join the fight.

Indeed, Hayate did take the hit... only so he could dig his claws into the ground, force himself back against Kiba, and continue pecking at him as he attempted to hold the Lillipup with his tiny wings.

That was impressive for such a little bird, enough to brighten Ai's gaze with respect. If she wasn't fully invested in her partner's victory in this fight, she'd even cheer for Hayate's determination.

But Kiba, she'd come to find, was just as fierce as his trainer, and when a concerned squeak escaped from her when the Lillipup staggered back, he growled low in his throat and launched himself at the Torchic once more. This time, he chose to come at him from the side, rather than take a frontal peck assault.

This time Hayate was taken by surprise, and sent flying back by the hit, tumbling head over tail several times before coming to a stop near Masaru's feet.

"Hayate!" Masaru commanded with a fist pump. "Show Kiba your fiery spirit!"

The bird instantly got back on its feet, nodding... and attacked with Ember, sending multiple shots of burning red flickers at Kiba.

She'd expected a fierce showdown. A dramatic posture, maybe. Ai was already well-aware of Hayate's fiery spirit-- or so she thought, but she hadn't thought that Masaru meant literally. Her yelp mirrored Kiba's as the Lillipup jerked back and pawed anxiously at his smoldering muzzle.

"Hey, no fair!"

Well, to be truthful, she should have expected that a fire chicken would definitely have something to do with fire, but Ai was too indignant to care about silly things like logic. After a quick glance at Kiba, who really didn't look all that well after getting his fur singed, she took a deep breath. No. No use in giving up yet. She wouldn't have given up if she was the one fighting, and the puppy had that same look in his eye. If Kiba was going down, he was going down fighting.

"Let's show 'em our stage, then! Take him down, Kiba!"

With a resolute bark, Kiba shook himself and picked up speed, aiming for one final collision. Some day, someone would have to teach the pair of them the meaning of 'moderation'...

"Everything's fair in a straight up bought!" Masaru exclaimed. "Now, let's finish this!"

Hayate waited until Kiba was really close before screeching and letting out the strongest Ember attack he could muster.

She had braced herself, really-- and she was positive she could handle her partner getting hurt in order to prove himself in a fight...

But that didn't stop Ai from breaking into a run towards him at the same time that Kiba plowed straight through the fire (not without taking a direct hit) and threw himself right at the Torchic.

He wouldn't get up after that.

Torchic was hit, and thrown back by the blow, but he managed to get up afterwards, albeit with falling down to one knee in the process.

"... Heh, you guys fought well," said Masaru, realizing the battle was over.

His words fell on deaf ears; Ai, who was far more used to cheerfully endorsing friendly sumo skinship matches and karate-chopping stalkers, was too busy scooping up the unconscious puppy and holding him to her chest. She also sounded as though she was three seconds away from bursting into tears.

"Kiba! Kiba, don't die!!"

Training was going to be fun with this one.

"... Ai!" Masaru exclaimed. "Calm down! Kiba's fine! He's just unconscious...!"

'Fine' and 'unconscious' didn't register as synonymous to Ai, though at least unconscious wasn't dead. She stayed hunched over her partner, though, until the little dog stirred and feebly wagged his tail.

At which point, she did burst into tears at the same time as she held Kiba aloft like he was Simba. "You're okay!! I thought for sure he'd barbecued you!"

Masaru smiled and walked over, patting Ai on the shoulder. "See? He's made of sterner stuff than that! He's a real man!"

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Let's start a Brand New Touch

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