I'm back.
And I can't find my thread on the index for some reason. Oh well at least I can still access it from search.
--------------------
Foreword
Ok, so viewer discretion is somewhat advised here, as there will be some detailed violence in this chapter. However, I tried to keep it as PG-13 as I could.
Now if I could somehow make the 'fight scene' into animation, I would definitely use something like
Start Something by Lost Prophets as the background music. (Couldn't find a normal video with just the song, so the Matrix will have to do) Yes I like to imagine my fic as something with moving pictures; it lets me create some scenes more easily and give it the proper details.
Anyway, enjoy.
--------------------
Chapter 11 - Silver
After lunch at the sushi shop, Ash, Dawn, and Brock returned to the training fields to resume Dawn’s training while Altaïr wandered off on his own. The words of the older teenager lingered in Ash’s mind and distracted him from the training.
“Hey Ash, if you don’t act now, Pikachu is gonna be the one with that dazed look you have on his face.”
Ash shook his head quickly and saw the action that was taking place, and quickly yelled out orders to his Pokémon.
“Staravia, blow Buizel away from Pikachu with a Whirlwind, and follow up with Thunderbolt Pikachu!”
Dawn however, commanded her second Pokémon to go on the offensive. “Buneary, use Bounce on Staravia!”
Both teams followed through on their orders without hesitation. Buneary leapt up with grace towards Staravia in the air but the Starling Pokémon outmaneuvered her and she fell back onto the earth. Staravia then began to use his wings to create a gale that was aimed at a charging Buizel. Buizel was taken out of his Aqua Jet and thrown back by the strong winds, while Pikachu worked himself back onto his feet and began to charge one last attack with all his strength.
“Alright! I think this battle is over now,” announced Brock from the sidelines.
Ash and Dawn both looked at him with surprise on their faces.
“Brock, I could have countered Pikachu’s attack with Buneary, you know,” Dawn rebuked.
“I don’t want to risk it, Dawn. As I am the referee of this practice match, it is my responsibility to make sure the Pokémon don’t receive any unnecessary damage. If that Thunderbolt hit Buizel while he was in that condition, he may have been out of action for the contest tomorrow,” Brock explained.
Dawn resigned and sighed. “I guess you’re right Brock.”
“Don’t sweat it Dawn, you fought a great battle. I think you’ll be ready for the contest tomorrow,” smiled Ash.
Dawn turned a light shade of pink at the remark, though it remained unnoticed by the two males.
“You-You really think so, Ash?” she asked shyly.
“Of course, you’re a great coordinator, Dawn! Why, I bet you could beat everybody, even that Altaïr,” Ash said confidently while pumping a fist into the air.
Dawn giggled softly and approached Ash slowly, he not noticing as he was staring at the sky. As Dawn came closer, she hesitated slightly, then finally wrapped her arms around his back and gave him a small hug. Ash felt her arms around him and looked back down with a slightly shocked expression, but calmed down slightly after he processed what was taking place. He brought his arms up as well and gave her a small hug back, blushing heavily at the same time. An eternity seemed to past until the two grasped what they were doing, and broke apart quickly.
“Thanks for um… believing in me… Ash,” Dawn whispered softly.
“Er… um… no problem... Dawn,” Ash replied with a whisper as well.
“Wow, he’s not babbling like an idiot this time,” Brock mused.
--------------------
More hard hours of training passed before the trainer and coordinator realized their hunger, and so the breeder then began to cook up dinner right on the training field so they could resume training after. Deep in the city, another coordinator and trainer were heading to the same destination.
Altaïr strolled slowly on the busy sidewalk, taking in the sights of the beautiful city. The day was beginning to fade away as evening approached, and the sky gleamed orange. He breathed in the air, smelling the fumes and exhaust in it, and cleared his throat. As he neared an intersection, he looked up at the street signs, which read 1st Avenue and Thompson Street, confirming that he was heading in the right direction. The trainer walked another half a block until he finally made out the words ‘Spotlight Café’ in the distance, and made his way to the building the neon words hung over while flicking his long messy hair off his face.
“I need a haircut,” concluded Altaïr.
He reached the pair of glass doors and stared blankly at them, before shaking himself back into reality and pushing the two doors open.
Inside, the air was filled with smells of food and low murmurs of conversing patrons. Altaïr glanced around the interior for the person he was to meet, but unable to spot her, he walked over to a wooden bench in a corner and sat down. He stared tiredly out the window to his side and pondered what he was to do later that night.
-------------------
“Oh no, I’m late! I hope he’s not mad for making him wait this long.”
A red bandanna-wearing girl ran down the sidewalk while checking her PokéNav every few seconds. Her long brunette hair flailed behind her as she made her way through the busy crowd while her heart beat wildly in her chest.
“I knew I shouldn’t have trained so far away from the cit-,”
THUD
Not looking where she was going, the brunette bounced off the body of a large burly man standing in the center of the sidewalk and tumbled backwards. Another man, this one without a shirt and having tattoos on his entire body, peered around the larger man and raised an eyebrow. However, before either of the men could say anything, the girl had already gotten back on her feet and began to run again while yelling a “Sorry!” backwards.
Another minute of running passed until the girl finally reached her destination. She charged through the door, causing a scene, and looked around frantically until she caught sight of the person she was to meet sitting on a bench in the corner.
“Hey, May” greeted Altaïr, giving a look of amusement at her current state, and at his rhyme.
“I am SO sorry that I’m late!” May panted while putting her hands on her knees and bending forward to catch her breath.
Altaïr looked amused. “Late? It’s 6:03,” he said while pointing a clock above the main entrance.
May gave a look of embarrassment, and kept silent.
“Let’s, get a table eh?” suggested the teenaged boy.
The coordinator could only nod while she blushed a slight red, though Altaïr paid no notice.
Altaïr promptly requested a two seat table and soon they were on their way to be seated. They sat down at their table and a slim waiter who looked no older than Altaïr soon came by with a pair of menus. Altaïr and May ordered drinks and after the waiter had left, began to shift through the pages.
A silence befell them as they studied the pages of the menus, and May began to feel a slight uneasiness in the quietness between them. Whenever she tried to open her mouth to say something however, Altaïr would always seem to move right at that moment, making her retreat once again. After what seemed like an eternity, Altaïr finally said his first words to her after their initial encounter.
“I think I’ll have the salmon, how ‘bout you?” he said from behind his menu.
May almost fell over at hearing his insignificant words, and screamed as loud as she could in her head from the frustration. Altaïr noticed her movements and peered around his menu at the estranged coordinator.
“Um, you alright there?”
May dropped a bit of sweat, and feigned a smile while telling him, “I’m alright. I think I’ll just have a salad.”
Altaïr looked slightly annoyed as he questioned, “Why does it seem like the only things girls eat nowadays are salads? Or nothing at all,” he added.
“No, no it’s not like I’m trying to lose weight or anything, I’m just not very hungry!”
In reality, May was famished, and she knew that. Her lie bit her in the back of her mind as she wondered why she was ordering a salad when she in fact was hungry. The obvious answer eluded her.
Altaïr shrugged and put down his menu and glanced around for the waiter. He soon arrived and the trainer and coordinator recited their orders. The waiter promptly took note and walked away to fulfill them.
The two sat across from each other silently for many minutes, with Altaïr talking sips from his non-alcoholic strawberry daiquiri, and May slurping a bit of her orange soda from her straw. May felt the tension of the silence once again, and began to shift uncomfortably in her seat. However, this time Altaïr seemed to have no inclination to say anything, so May began to summon up as much courage as she could to speak first. She did not know what made her so nervous but she knew that she was seeing the tall teenaged boy in a new light. Her cheeks turned a slight pink as she created a short fantasy in her head, but shook it out as she finally thought of something to say.
“So, do you like strawberries?” May’s inner conscience beat her in the head at the small talk she was making.
“Uh, yeah, it’s my favorite fruit…” Altaïr spoke skeptically while raising an eyebrow.
“Huh, what’s up with this girl? What’s with her not asking about Ash first?”
May also was wonder the same thoughts as he, but quickly put her mind back on the conversation at hand.
“Mm, that’s nice. I like strawberries too,” May replied, though in fact, she actually didn’t like strawberries very much since they often were sour whenever she had them.
“That’s… great.” Altaïr said without much enthusiasm, as the gears in his brain were still turning as he speculated about what the coordinator was up to.
The silence settled back in, and the two just sat tensely across each other. Soon, the food arrived and their mouths would have something to do now besides speak. Altaïr ate the rice on the side of his salmon slowly as May carefully munched on her Caesar salad. Finally, Altaïr couldn’t take it anymore and he spoke out assertively.
“Ok, do you want to know about what Ash said, or not? I mean that is what this meeting is for, right?”
May felt as if somebody had stabbed her in the chest as he said the last part. She immediately began to feel guilty as well as she began to realize that she had been avoiding the topic of Ash the entire time so she could have more small talk with Altaïr, and maybe have the possibility of talking about something even deeper…
May put on a sheepish smile and gave a light laugh as she said, “Oh, sorry Altaïr, of course I want to know what Ash said. I just didn’t want to rush you or anything. You can tell me about Ash now if you’d like.”
Altaïr looked at May with a bit of suspicion, but returned to his original demeanor before he had lashed out at her.
“Alright, well, I didn’t really… get a real response from Ash. As soon as I brought up the topic about girls and whether or not he was interested in one, he became very defensive. I’m sorry, but I guess he just doesn’t trust me with knowledge of his personal life, or really just doesn’t have anything to say.” Altaïr shrugged his shoulders and took a sip out of his daiquiri.
“Oh,” was all the coordinator could say. “That’s alright.” However, inside her, the disappointment didn’t seem to affect her significantly. The rest of the evening would go by in silence as the two teenagers felt a new sense of awkwardness between them. Altaïr for his failure to get information, and May for her behavior.
Eventually, the two had finished their meals, and the check was brought by the waiter. May began to search through her fanny pack for her money but Altaïr was one step ahead of her and handed the waiter two twenties and told him to keep the change.
“Wow, what a gentleman…”
“Shall we leave?”
May glanced up at Altaïr who had already stood up, and nodded while standing up as well. The two made for the exit and Altaïr gave his compliments to the manager who was standing by the door as they passed.
Altaïr pushed the two glass doors open with a shove and the dusky evening sky came into view. However, that was not all that was visible to the pair.
About 20 meters from the entrance stood five men, some large and bulky while others slimmer but muscular nonetheless. Two men were identified by Altaïr and May immediately.
“Miss us?” sneered a familiar shirtless man covered in tattoos.
“’Ello there,” said a large burly man, with an air of stupidity in his voice.
Altaïr narrowed his eyes as he took in the full appearance of the two thugs for the first time. He noticed that the shirtless tattooed man sported a mohawk on his head, and wore a pair of black leather pants with chains hanging from the sides. The large burly man was completely bald on the top of his head, and had a shadow of a beard on his round head. He wore a denim jacket ripped at the sleeves with a white undershirt that seemed to barely fit him, with a pair of loose cargo pants to go. He was much taller than the shirtless man, and looked to be stupider as well.
“Your regular brain and muscle.”
“Who are these people, Altaïr? Do you know them?” asked May nervously.
The shirtless man laughed loudly as she spoke. “Who’s this with you this time, kid? You’re second girlfriend?”
May blushed from embarrassment but Altaïr merely stared passively at the five opposing men. He didn’t have an angry look on his face, which slightly irked the shirtless man. Altaïr took note that he probably was the leader of this small band of thugs.
“What do you want?” questioned Altaïr in a chilling voice.
“Oh, nuttin’ much, we just wanted to thank you for what you did to us and our buds yesterday.” The shirtless man gave a sinister grin as he said this.
May glanced at all the men with confusion, and was about question Altaïr about the men again until she noticed what each of the men were holding in their hands.
The three thugs unknown to Altaïr and May wielded a metal baseball bat, crowbar, and heavy chain, and toyed with them threateningly; the burly man carried a large sledgehammer and twirled it with his two hands with ease; and the shirtless man, carried the weapon that May feared the most. He wielded a large 12 inch blade that gleamed menacingly in the street lamps that were beginning to turn on. There was still a bit of sunlight for the conflict that was about to occur. He felt the edge of his blade as he continued.
“So you punkass, how should we do this? Are you gonna run so we can have a fun ‘lil chase? Or are you going to stand here and fight? Oh, and I wouldn’t suggest going for your Pokéballs, ‘cause if you do, you, her, and your Pokémon will be in a battle of real pain.”
Several pedestrians had noticed the confrontation and began to move away. Altaïr merely stared straight ahead and said nothing.
“I’ll also make a deal with you. Stay and fight, and we won’t hurt your ‘lil girly over there when you’re dead… much,” the shirtless man said as he eyed May with smile.
“I don’t make deals with scum like you.”
The shirtless thug began to open his mouth to spit out a retort, but before he knew it, Altaïr had moved with inhuman speed and was already within five meters of him. The leader gave a snarl and brought his blade up to counter the oncoming assault, but with bestial agility, Altaïr had leapt over the man and landed on the thug wielding the baseball bat behind him, knocking him flat on his back.
The baseball wielding man gave a grunt has he hit the ground hard, but wasn’t taken out of the fight. However, Altaïr didn’t plan to stay still in one spot, and had already got off the thug and was already engaging the chain carrying thug with his fists.
May had been stunned as in one second, Altaïr had been standing beside her and in the next, he was in a melee with five armed men. The screams of the pedestrians and onlookers were drowned out by the blood rushing through her brain and the fear grasping her heart.
The man who carried the chain had trouble swinging his lengthy weapon at the teenaged boy as the boy was moving agilely and was striking him relentlessly with his limbs. However, the thug was able to withstand Altaïr’s flurry of punches, though barely, and he backed off after ten seconds of the onslaught.
The man with the baseball bat had brought himself off the ground and attempted to sneak up on Altaïr in order to strike him from the back, but Altaïr detected his presence and quickly gave him a powerful kick to his stomach, sending the man back to the ground.
Altaïr whirled around quickly as he heard a loud shout, and saw the burly man charging him with his sledgehammer raised above his head. Altaïr dived to the side as the thug brought the hammer down onto the cement, creating a crater in the cement. The trainer rolled once and was back onto his feet in a battle ready stance. Four armed men stood in front of him, and Altaïr strategized on how he would take on this feat.
The four men then moved to form a circle around Altaïr. The circle left a space of ten meters between Altaïr and the four thugs in every direction. After several seconds of inactivity, the man with the crowbar made the first move by running into the circle from Altaïr’s right flank and swinging his crowbar. But Altaïr had sensed the attack and crouched down with one leg bent and the other extended out to his side. The goon missed completely as he had swung horizontally, giving Altaïr the opportunity to strike. Altaïr pulled off what looked to be a break-dancing move, as he planted his two hands on the cement and rotated himself 180 degrees, tripping the crowbar wielding man with his extended leg. The man fell backwards and was fearful that a beating was soon to be in effect, but Altaïr had already moved on and pounced from his crouching position at the man with the chain.
The chain wielding goon attempted to swing his chain at Altaïr, but as the chain was about to connect with Altaïr’s side, Altaïr deftly caught the chain with his left hand while still in midair, and proceeded swing his end of the chain back at the man as he landed. The chain made contact with the side of the thug’s head, instantly knocking him out.
The crowbar and baseball bat wielding men then made for Altaïr from behind with weapons raised, while the burly man with the sledgehammer charged from the front. Altaïr identified the attacks from both sides, and performed a move that surprised everybody watching the scene.
The hammer wielding thug reached Altaïr first, and gave a mighty yell as he swung his hammer horizontally with all his might, in an attempt to crush his ribs. The two other men then came within range of Altaïr and began to swing their weapons as well. Altaïr was prepared for the attack, however. Before the hammer came into contact with his body, he jumped straight up with his legs bent. As if it were in slow motion, he then rotated his body sideways until it was completely parallel with the ground. Right as he completed this action, the hammer came across the area that his body had once been, but now because he was airborne and parallel with the swing of the hammer, he stayed unharmed. However, his two assaulters from behind weren’t as lucky. As they missed their attacks, they stumbled forward into Altaïr’s former position, and the crowbar wielding thug took the full brunt of the burly man’s hammer straight into his chest. The thug was thrown sideways into the man with the baseball bat, and both were on the ground in the next second, several meters from where they had originally been. The burly man only looked at the two fallen men dumbly, before he realized what he had just done. He then went into a rage and was about to swing his hammer once again, before Altaïr seemed to materialize from the ground and strike the man from underneath with a swift kick to his groin. The large goon groaned and dropped his hammer before falling onto the ground, incapacitated.
Unnoticed by Altaïr because of the intensity of the fight, the shirtless man had snuck away from the main battle and had been creeping up on May from the dark wall of the café. May, who was still standing near the entrance of the café, was so absorbed in the battle in front of her that she hadn’t noticed the man from the corner of her eye until he was within a few meters from her. As soon as she spotted the man, she let out a scream, only to have her mouth covered by the shirtless thug and a blade pressed up at her throat. Altaïr heard the scream, and turned around to see the leading thug holding May hostage at knife-point. He had only a few seconds to act.
“Don’t think about doing anythin’ kiddo, lest you want this ‘lil cutie to have an ‘accident’,” the shirtless man taunted.
Altaïr wasn’t one to stand around, however, and as the man ended his sentence, he summoned that inhuman speed he seemed to possess and sprinted at the hostage and her captor. Between the shirtless man and Altaïr was a bench, and Altaïr used this to his advantage.
The shirtless thug seemed to become paralyzed as he saw Altaïr approaching him and slightly lost his grip on the blade. Altaïr saw this little action and knew that it was the time to act. Altaïr leapt from the cement onto the bench and proceeded to step onto the back of the bench, where he used the extra height to propel himself even higher. He was now airborne a good two meters in the air and began to descend upon his target. The leading thug was still unable to move out of the pure amazement of Altaïr’s stunt.
A flash then appeared at Altaïr’s left hand, and when he came into range, he brought his left hand onto the shirtless man’s right shoulder, causing him scream out in pain and his arm to go into a spasm, causing his hand to open its grip. The blade left the man’s hand, safely away from May’s throat. May was able to escape from the thug’s left arm that was wrapped around her torso and put a small distance in between them before she turned around and witnessed the final scene.
Altaïr was now behind the shirtless man, standing back to back with him. The shirtless man seemed to have a glazed look on his face while Altaïr stood motionless. As she watched the scene, May could make out a silvery object protruding from the man’s right shoulder. Her focus soon returned and she noticed a red substance coming out of where the silvery object was inserted.
Before May was able to make any hypothesis to what had happened, Altaïr swiftly turned around and grabbed the object that stuck out of the man’s shoulder, and pulled it sideways out of the shoulder, causing a sound that chilled May to the bone. May could now see that the small silvery object was a small pocket knife, drenched in the man’s blood. She could also see the path where Altaïr had brutally pulled it out, and nausea began to overtake her. Altaïr then kicked the shirtless man in the back to the ground, where the man lay motionless, and grabbed May’s hand and led her away from the scene.
Under normal circumstances, May would have been feeling butterflies in her stomach.
--------------------
Afterthought
Well, that's another good month's of work. (Not really)
So, I hope I wrote that fight scene clearly enough for you all to understand. I can imagine exactly what everybody does and whatnot in my own head, but writing it down for others to read is another story. If you need any sort of explanation, don't hesitate to ask. I may even provide some sort of visual aid if I find that I can't explain something specific in words.
Hope you all found the chapter as a whole interesting too. The fight scene was something I've had in my head for a long time. Stay turned. (For like a month =P)
-CICHawk