Description: Hotaru's quest for penance leads her to seek out one of the first victims of the Maou Satsujinken: Zach Glen. The two talk, and Zach shows his friend the depths of his friendship, as well as some new tricks he is working on.
The YFCC has been pretty quiet of late; no psychotic swordsmen bent on revenge, no super tough boxers looking for fights, not even a thief looking to mug someone. Things have been good recently around here. It's been incredibly quiet.
Hotaru's... leave of absence is part of the reason for that, truth be told. When she returns, it is not to any incredible fanfare; the kids heard what happened to Mizuki, have seen the fights. All the same, they do not ask her to leave. They could not force her if they wanted to... but they don't ask her to leave either. Hope, then.
Some of the children get concerned when the Kenpo artist comes calling on the Walking Bomb, Zach Glen. They've heard the stories, most of them have since watched the fight on the Great Wall of China, but all the same, they point Hotaru Futaba towards the baseball diamonds out back. Zach left instructions, after all.
Hotaru will find Zach sitting cross-legged on the pitcher's mound, his legs crossed and hands held as if he were grasping a volleyball between them. His eyes are closed, and appears to be focused on what is in front of him: the small, purple-white baseball floating between his palms. Sometimes it expands, others it shrinks, but it does not get smaller than the baseball size.
Having stayed busy visiting soul after soul that she had wronged during her last few months of acting like almost a whole different person. Something snapped though, when she reached the brink of unrecoverable disaster in what was meant to be a harmless spar with her dedicated student, Kentou, and the girl has, since then, been on a constant apology spree.
She knows where to find Zach when it's time to approach the young man. Unlike a couple of the others she's talked to since then, she feels less... uncertain about this stop. He already approached her before now, after all, and their encounter ended on a cordial note. But that doesn't make this stop any less important to the girl.
Out onto the baseball field as directed, the girl in blue and white pauses a little ways off from Zach. He appears to be in the midst of something and she can't help but observe quietly, perhaps pondering the exact nature of the exercise.
Zach seems more focused than Hotaru has seen him ever, she could almost say that he looks driven until his eyes snap open, and the baseball collapses into nothing. His arms, however, seem coated in familiar looking armor. The plating is simplistic, resembling that devastating punch technique he favors, except that it extends all the way up both arms before fading into nothing.
Zach is gasping for air for a moment, sweat on his brow as he blinks somewhat tiredly. He looks up at Hotaru, not recognizing her for a moment before grinning widely. Zach pulls himself to his feet, and knocks the dust off of the back of his jeans. He chuckles softly. "Hi. See you've decided to go back to the pigtails," he says softly. "It looked nice all loose."
The girl leans her head to the side as she watches Zach's training coming to an end, a portion of his power congealing over his arms before fading away. That was interesting, she ponders. A new technique, perhaps? He always has been gradually getting better at what he does. She's seen that much from times before.
He remarks on her hair and Hotaru smiles sheepishly, clasping her hands behind her back, "Ah, well, thanks. I felt for now I needed to go back to something I was used to though." And maybe something others were used to too, she ponders quietly. Another link to the past, perhaps.
"I didn't mean to intrude," she begins, bringing her hands forward, palms out, "But I wanted to come talk to you briefly... I owe you an apology. For the way I acted, the last time we fought. It..." She shakes her head, looking to the side, "It wasn't how I had ever approached fighting ever before. It was wrong, what I did then."
Zach scratches the back of his head, looking a bit embarrassed. His own hair was getting longer as well, tied back to keep most of it out of his face. It wasn't quite the length that it was when the two met, but Tenma gave Zach an unexpected haircut during a match.
He listens to Hotaru honestly, and responds both quickly and honestly. "It's cool, Hotaru. You," Zach considers, "I've been watching your fights. It," Zach pauses, looking uncomfortably, "...felt like you were... I dunno... confused, I guess?"
Zach shrugs, "We're cool, Hotaru. I'm just glad you have things figured out."
She had a feeling that would be the young man's response. The girl nods her head slightly, blue eyes focused on his face as he speaks. Anyone who had seen her fights would have seen it, of that she's quite sure. "I was," she replies, "Confused, that is. That's a big part of it..."
Her mouth curls into a faint smile, "I figured you'd say something like that. But I had to say something all the same. I wasn't fighting for the reasons I always had before, and the change in how I behaved... looking back now it seems reprehensible to me now. I won't bore you with all the details. But I won't be fighting like that anymore... If I fight again at all, really."
She clasps her right arm with her left hand behind her back, lowering her head to stare at the grass of the field. "I... I've heard what happened has had lingering effects," the girl continues, looking up slowly toward Zach once more, "Has it gotten better?"
Zach frowns a bit when Hotaru mentions the possibility of never fighting again. When she speaks of her concerns over the lasting effects, he shrugs. He does not want her to beat her up about this; it is apparent to him that she will do a far better job of it than he ever will.
He ducks his head to catch Hotaru's eyes, "It has, actually. I've got my own theories on that. Has to do with the energy you use and what my body is used to using, and it's just theories at this point, but it /is/ getting better." Zach considers for another moment. He points at Hotaru's right arm, "That arm going to be okay?"
She glances up as he mentions getting better, making it easy to meet her eyes, his reply bringing a faint smile to her face at the bit of good news, "I'm glad," she remarks, before his hand raises to gesture toward her own right arm. The girl's smile fades as she glances at her bandaged forearm quietly for a moment.
"I think so," she remarks eventually, looking back toward Zach. "The... ah... technique I used on you. It had some rather... severe side effects. Especially the last time I used it. That's what did most of this," she remarks, holding up her arm then lowering it again.
"I've had it checked out, and while it still hurts, I'm pretty sure it's healing. Just slowly."
Zach nods slowly, as if this makes sense. He scratches at the back of his neck again, thinking. "I hope it gets better," he says. He stops again, considering for a moment. He understands Hotaru's hesitance to fight ever again, especially with an injured arm. He knows, on a certain level, that perhaps Hotaru's decision to stay out of fighting is for the best.
However, he's seen Hotaru's home. He knows just how /much/ of Hotaru's life has involved fighting.
"I think you need to get back into the ring. At some point," Zach says bluntly, a bit embarrassed. "I'm not saying right now, not with your arm injured like that. But when it's healed..." Zach frowns, "Martial arts encompasses so /much/ of your life. You can't..."
"Thanks," the girl replies to his expression of hopeful recovery, her smile warming once again. But the topic shifts a little, back toward the issue of her future as a fighter. Getting back into the swing of things... it would be nice. "It's not my arm I'm worried about," the girl replies quietly, her voice a little mumbled as she looks awkward.
"The truth is, it's a question of being able to control... myself. I... I'm afraid of that technique, Zach. When I used it last I didn't even know I was doing it. It was all a blur. I... never want to do that to anyone again."
She exhales softly. "Until I know I won't use it again, I can't fight anyone." she finishes, shaking her head slowly.
Zach... chuckles. "Welcome to my world," he says simply. "I don't won't pretend to understand everything about that technique. I don't know much about chi and how it works, and only a little more about what I use," he explains. "I just..." Zach looks at the ground, "I just think that it would be really bad if you had to walk away from all of that because you made a mistake."
"Because, y'know, you're human," Zach says softly, "And humans screw up now and then."
"Yeah... it's... I miss it," Hotaru replies, giving the young man a quiet smile as he speaks. "I really miss it. I haven't fought like I used to, back when it was for fun, for a long time." A moment of silence before she continues, "I'd like to get back to it, definitely. I don't want to give it up. But... I just can't take a chance until I feel sure."
She nods toward Zach a little, "Leaving you with that injury for so long... what I did to Roberto... I just don't want to chance it." She smiles a little in spite her somber mood. "I'll try though. Hopefully I can get back to it."
"Hey," Zach says, "Better or worse, I asked for that match. Not because I thought I could win, or anything. I just wanted to try and come by the end of the match honestly. Without, y'know, the exploding. Figured I owed you that much." Zach smiles weakly.
Zach inhales slowly, and exhales slowly. "I hope you don't take too long, though," he says with a grin. "I might have some surprises for you when you get back. Met this," Zach leans back and laughs, "I met this kid from Justice High. He showed me something amazing. I feel like I'm right on the edge of something amazing."
As he speaks of his reasons for the challenge, Hotaru nods her head slowly. "You've been getting better. Every time I see you fight, I can tell." she continues. "If I get back to fighting, perhaps another fight then sometime. Not like last time's though."
She leans her head to the side a little as he mentions a kid from Justice. "Really? Is that some of what I saw you doing when I arrived?" she asks. While they may not share the same type of energy when using their attacks, that doesn't mean what can be done with it is entirely different. And she always was one eager to see new ideas...
"It looked like a sort of defensive technique." she remarks thoughtfully.
"Sorta but not," Zach says excitedly. "I was giving all of that energy I throw around some form. Trying to figure out what exactly it is for me." He brings one palm up as he takes a couple of steps back. He spins up his typical beach ball of energy in the waiting palm. It slowly shrinks down to the size of a volleyball, getting brighter as it does so. "The idea isn't to focus on the whole thing," he explains, "But to find that tiny point at the center of it. Where the control is at. To take it, and make it /mine./"
The ball shrinks down to the size of a baseball again. "And then from there, give it a shape, a form. That, in a way, was a lot harder. I had to think a bit about that, what this is to me, exactly." Zach closes his hand around the ball gently, holding it in place. "It's power," he says, "But more than that, it's empowerment. It's... it's not like with chi, where you get it from everything around you and work it the way you want to. My energy is mine. Ingrid's energy is Ingrid's, Alma's Alma's, and so on and so forth. And, a lot like chi, it expresses itself differently from person to person. The guy who taught me uses his a lot like fireworks."
Zach closes the fist with a flash of light. When the flash dies down, that purple energy that is Zach's signature resembles that full-plate arm Hotaru saw earlier. "For me, it's as much about protection as it is about personal power. I got the idea from that 'big fist' attack. You know, the one you saw me use against Old Man Todoh?" The energy disappears. "The best I can do with it right now is the arm bits."
With the chance for a demonstration, Hotaru is more attentive, taking a step back at first as Zach pulls his power into existance. He's gotten good about controlling it, but there's still that history from the first time she ever fought him that is hard to forget. Though he keeps the psycho power completely under his control and after her initial start, the girl relaxes immediately, watching intently as he explains.
She nods slowly as he mentions other fighters that can do something like he can, having faced all of them in fights more than once each. "Right," she remarks, folding her arms in front of her thoughtfully.
He repeats the demonstration of bending the power to his will, coursing over his arm for a moment, but staying well controlled the entire time. "You've gotten better at handling that than I can chi," the girl remarks with a wry smile. While she has precise control in combat, she's never been able to do much with it outside the pressure of a fight. "I have a hard enough time just making a little ball of it in my hand without it getting out of control," she laughs lightly. "Or, well, I did, in the past. I don't think I'm going to touch chi for a long time..."
The armor disappears as Zach shrugs a bit. "I've spent the bulk of the last four years doing nothing but teaching myself how to keep my energy from going out of control," he says simply. "This is just building on everything that I've had to teach myself over that time." Zach grins wryly, "It helps, I think, that I am using something that is mine and not something more external."
Zach pauses for a moment, "Not that there is anything wrong with using chi. Far from it. But I think that it would be easier to learn how to throw a punch effectively than to swing a sword, y'know?"
"Maybe," Hotaru laughs lightly at the comparison. "It might just not be my thing. My family's style was all about strikes, with chi only used to augment the hitting power. External uses of it were never emphasized much. What I've learned to do was mostly on my own," she admits with a little bit of a shrug. "But Frei... He's a lot better at the precision stuff."
The girl takes another step backward then, "You've given me some stuff to think about," she admits after a moment. "And I owe you thanks for putting up with me. And also your vote of support last time we talked. It all helped. Really."
A quiet sigh as the girl shakes her head, "Hopefully I can get back into things again. But at least in the meantime I know this place has someone like you around to keep an eye on things," she finishes with a grin. "Thanks for the talk, Zach. Good luck with what you're learning. I can tell it's going to get you somewhere."
"Says the girl who can send energy flying back at people." Zach grins widely. "We're friends, right? 'Swhat friends do." Zach shakes his arms loose, then wipes the sweat from his brow. The movement helps to cover the blush. "If there's anything I can do to help you..." Zach pushes the brim of his cap back. "Don't be a stranger."
At Zach's remark about her propensity to twist people's energy right back on them in the heat of battle, Hotaru laughs lightly. It has given her a bit of a reputation for her control over chi, even if she can't handle the small scale precision she's seen others do. "With the kind of control you're learning, maybe you could do the same thing," the girl grins, shrugging her left arm a little, leaving her right arm alone. "And I won't, Zach. Thanks."
A turn on her heels, a wave over her shoulder, and Hotaru takes her leave.
Zach grins a bit at that. "I think I'd rather learn how to patch people up with it. I've heard it's possible." Zach shrugs, "And I can think of few better ways to use what I have to help people out."
Zach grins. "I'll see you around," he says as he turns towards the benches to grab a towel and water bottle. He whistles a little tune, clearly pleased with his life of late.
Log created on 23:33:58 04/24/2008 by Zach, and last modified on 23:05:11 07/26/2008.