It was at once both one of the most familiar things in the world and almost entirely new. Kasimir had had more fistfights with Eryk than either of them had ever bothered keeping track of, and also fought in his fair share of martial arts tournaments, with varying degrees of seriousness. It was something he’d been doing since his childhood, in all honesty. But the two things had never actually occurred together until just now. Both wore the traditional white uniforms, loose but not enough to inhibit motion, and as tradition demanded, Kas’s gi was fixed in place by his blackbelt, the red dan markings along it testament to a lot of years learning what his father had to teach.
This was the second semifinal of the tournament, which along with various other contests was being held on the pokemon rest day of the Cherry Festival. The first semifinal had been an interesting contest between his own father and the current dojo master in Fuchsia City, ending in a narrow win for Rigby. Which of course meant whichever of the two of them won this would be getting their ass handed to them by his dad in the finals. Not exactly a great time, as he could testify from experience, but he’d feel kind of… bad if it wasn’t him. Something something, family pride, yadda yadda. He didn’t usually care much, but then, it was usually his mother nagging him about it, which was easier to ignore than his father’s quieter expectations were. There was something about the man that you just really didn’t want to disappoint.
Plus, there was no way he was giving his dumbass best friend bragging rights here.
Padding out to the middle of the mat, he paused until the referee—Bruno, in this case—called for the bow, then settled into a ready stance, waiting for Ryk to make the first move.
Eryk stared across the floor at his long time friend, Kasimir. A large grin blossomed across his lips, waiting for Bruno to call for the bow. He mimicked Kasimir's stance with one of his own, setting into more of an offensive stance than anything. He wasn't, after all, one for defense. He was a heavy hitter, going straight for the kill when he entered into anything. It was a trait he inherited from his mother, apparently. His father was too much like his sister, though it was from him that he learned to fight. Mainly his mother, actually. He shoved all personal thoughts to the back of his mind as he inhaled slowly. It didn't seem so different, though, facing his friend. Sure, they fought when they were kids, still fought actually, but the only difference now were the set of eyes watching them.
There were more than just the two that usually supervised them. Most of the world was watching them now. For a moment, he wondered how Kasimir's fans were taking it, getting the chance to see him fighting. He almost scoffed, however; he waited patiently for the fight to begin. The only thing he needed to worry about was the person in front of him, his opponent. He could see Kasimir waiting for him to make the first move. If that was the case, then he'd oblige his friend. He moved, setting his foot forward at first before twisting the other leg in an attempt of a roundhouse kick. Kasimir would either dodge it, or catch it and attempt to flip him. He'd be prepared either way.
Vivi wasn’t exactly sure what the appeal was in standing in front of another person and attempting to beat them up, but she supposed it took a lot of talent and hard work to do it well. Still, she wasn’t precisely certain it was the kind of thing she could watch, and though she was currently sandwiched in between the very enthusiastic Crystal and Clair on one side and the entirely unbothered Cy and Lily on the other, she could not bring herself to dismiss the little feelings of dread. Perhaps it was because the only time she’d ever actually encountered fighting before was in those situations where it was for real, and someone could end up hurt, or worse.
Still, she could at least try to see what it was all about, even if it made her a little green in the gills, so to speak. She watched Eryk’s foot go sailing in a strong arc for Kasimir, then as the blue-haired man did something she took to be unexpected and simply blocked with his forearm, shoving the blow backwards but not attempting to take much advantage of it. Maybe that was because he knew what Eryk might do in retaliation? How far ahead did you have to think to be considered good at this sort of thing? Vivi didn't know, but she guessed the two of them must be at least two or three moves ahead, because everything moved so smoothly it was almost choreographed. For the first part of the fight, the flow was rather simple: Eryk came at Kasimir a lot of different ways, and Kas simply deflected with a minimum of movement.
Is he… trying to wear Eryk down? she asked those around her, and Crystal glanced at her from he corner of her eye.
“Probably,” she said. “They’re about even on physical endurance, so the strategy for someone like Kas against such an aggressive opponent is usually to let them wear themselves out a bit before you try anything. It works well on bigger guys, Like Eryk.” She turned back to the ring. “It’s boring to watch though! Come on, Kas, don’t put me to sleep here!”
"I don't think it has anything to do with wearing him down. He and Eryk used to go at it for days," Cyrilla chimed in, though perhaps exaggerating just a bit. Perhaps not days, but there was that one incident where it did take a whole day for them to beat each other into a pulp. It was as if they lived for it, and knowing Eryk, he probably did. "He's probably waiting for Eryk to stop playing around. He's excited, that's a given, but he's not going fully into it. It's what he always does in the beginning of a fight, or well what he did," before his accident. It was a good thing to see him still retaining that part of his memory, or any of his memory actually. There were still a few things he was hazy with, but that could be dealt with in time.
Cyrilla chuckled at Crystal's enthusiasm, shaking her head slowly. "Don't worry Crys, things will get interesting right about," she paused, glancing towards her brother as he made another attempt at attacking Kasimir. She could see the slight movement in his foot as he pushed it back, the faint glimmer in his eyes signaling he was finished with the warm-up. "There it is," she stated, spotting the slight shift in his posture. It was the same movement she noticed he made whenever he was done playing. The feral look in his eyes caused the usually dull brown to shine and morph into something closer to carmine, and he pulled back slightly. It was enough time for him to roll out his shoulders, and smirk at his friend.
"What do you say, care to give them an actual show?" Eryk spoke, jabbing his thumb in the direction he could hear Crystal and the others, though mainly Crystal as she was the only yelling at the moment. Cyrilla would be joining in soon, but knowing her (and he did), she would be rooting for both of them... again. His smirk faltered into a flat look.
Kas rolled his eyes, cracking his neck to one side and then the other. “About damn time,” He replied equally flatly, raising an eyebrow. They didn’t have all day this time, so they would have to actually give it pretty much all they had at once. Smoothly, Kasimir readjusted his stance, waving a lazy hand in his sister’s direction as if to say yeah, yeah, shut up Crystal. She made a face that he could barely see out of the corner of his eye, but any response was drowned out by the general noise of the crowd. Not nearly so packed as a pokemon match, it had nevertheless drawn an audience because of some of the people involved in the tournament, himself not least of all.
From there, the exchanges intensified, and even someone as untrained as Vivi could notice the difference. The blows were faster and heavier, the dodges swifter and considerably closer than they had been. Kasimir was more aggressive than he had been, but still pretty defense-oriented when compared to Eryk, who seemed to throw every punch like it was meant to end the fight all by itself. Vivianna found herself flinching more than once as one or the other made contact with a loud thud. The audience was really into it, to say the least, most people at the edges of their seats, eyes riveted on the scene before them.
She couldn’t exactly cheer like the rest, but she could do something. You… you can do it, Eryk, she said softly into his mind, hoping that she wasn’t inadvertently interrupting some crucial thought process. At this point, they seemed to be operating more on instinct and reflex than anything else, though, so she didn’t think she would be. Somehow, though, saying that the way she had felt different from being one of the members of the crowd yelling something, and for some reason, her face turned just a little pink across the bridge of her nose. She hoped anyone looking would just put it down to the fact that the outdoor arena was warm, especially with a lot of people so close to each other in the stands.
The blows each of them dealt were harder, faster, and would have caused more damage... were they ordinary people. Eryk focused mainly on Kasimir, drowning out the crowd as he became focused on just destroying. Pure instinct, if one were to give it a name, but that was just how they always fought. Each focused on nothing more than their opponent, not worried about who or what was in their way. To say they were unaware, though, would be an understatement. Even if it appeared as if they were fighting on just mere instinct, anyone who truly knew them would know that there was more to it than that. And it was perhaps this small detail that caused Eryk to lose his footing, if only for a second.
It was no mere action that caused it either. It had come so meekly that it had nearly startled him. The voice, he wasn't focused on having someone enter his mind. He could deal with peripherals, that was not a problem. In that mere second, though, Eryk was upon his back, staring up at what appeared to be the sky. Funny, he never knew the sky could smile. A frown marred his lips as he readjusted himself, sitting up to stare at his friend. It wasn't the first time he had lost, and he knew it wouldn't exactly be the last time, however; something tugged at him. It was like having his arms tied behind his back and getting a sudden itch upon his nose. Perhaps even that was not the proper metaphor to use.
"Congratulations, Kas, you officially suck," he stated, trying to collect himself as the adrenaline died down in his system. Some part of him, though, felt like he failed someone, and it wasn't until he remembered the soft voice speaking to him. He pursed his lips together. Why did it feel like he let her down? She was rooting for him, that much he could tell, but it did not stop the feeling from growing. He lost, and that usually did not upset him. If anything, it only caused him to strive to be better, so that the next time he and Kas fought, he would be the victor. So why did it feel like he failed, for the first time in his life?
“Funny,” Kas replied, bending down to help haul Eryk back upright—also standard practice when they’d finished beating the shit out of each other—and then bowing to officially finish the match. “I thought that was what the person still standing said to the idiot laid out on the floor.” He hadn’t missed Eryk’s second of distraction, and he’d used it to punch him square in the face. No mercy was basically their standing policy. It wasn’t like his friend to be distracted even for a moment, but everyone had the occasional mistake, so he put it down to that.
They walked off the ring after that—there was another hour before the finals, and Kas was not looking forward to them, especially. Of course, getting to fight his dad at full steam was a rare event, so in that sense he was looking forward to it, but it was never all that fantastic to get the stuffing beat out of you in public, and there was no doubt in his mind that this would be what happened. His father may be fifty years old, but he was still a force to be reckoned with.
They eventually met up with the others, and he endured the requisite commentary from his mother and sister before they decided to take off to lunch. Amaryllis congratulated the both of them, as did Vivianna, though she looked vaguely worried by something. Probably the fact that Eryk was doing his best impression of a steamed dumpling at the moment, the grumpiness almost enough to induce fuming at the head. This too was normal, and he mentally reassured her of as much, unsure she picked up on the thought until she nodded slightly. “Right, well… I could eat a whole Tauros at this point, so does anyone else want food?”
He was distracted. It was the reason he lost, and he would have to deal with the consequences. Still, it didn't stop him from mumbling incoherent words (probably for the best) to himself. He followed Kas off of the stage, meeting up with his sister and their friends, including Amaryllis. Part of him was slightly grateful that Drake was not present, otherwise he'd get chewed out by Cyrilla for punching the guy in the face. Instead, he allowed some of the fumes to die down, keeping the frown on his face though. He spared Vivianna a glance, but then turned to face anywhere but her. He still couldn't understand the feeling of letting her down and why it was bothering him so much, however; all thoughts fled his mind at the mention of food.
"Where's the nearest stand?" were the only words to escape Eryk's lips. Cyrilla elbowed him in the ribs, and raised a brow at him. "What? I lost, I'm hungry, I want food. Is there something wrong with that?" he spoke, his voice coming out a little deadpan in the process. Cyrilla gave him a flat stare, blinking slowly as Eryk tilted his head in confusion. Was there something else he was supposed to do? Did he forget about something? "I can't read your thoughts, Lala," he stated, speaking only to her. She rolled her eyes as she shook her head.
"You're always hungry," she pointed out, however; she said nothing more. She glanced towards Vivianna and then to Amaryllis, and then lastly to Kas. "Don't let Ryk order the whole store," was the only warning she could give. Sure, Eryk could order the whole store, or restaurant, wherever they were going to eat, however; it was a matter of paying for it. He didn't like people paying for him, and she did not doubt that Kasimir would have the means to be able to do so. "I'll catch up with you guys later, though," she stated, smiling before waving them goodbye. She was here to see her brother's match, and now she was off to watch Drake's pokemon battle.
"I'll just put it on his tab," Eryk spoke, watching as his sister left. He might not have liked Drake, but he did have some use.
RPG
