2024-03-07: A Clash of Steel on a Lonely Bridge
- Log: 2024-03-07 A Clash of Steel on a Lonely Bridge
- Cast: Dirk Swordsman, Dias Flac, Lunata Croze
- Where: Serene Coast
- Date: March 09, 2024
- Summary: While searching for wild Honedge to fight near Armlock City, Dias runs into Lacour Tournament of Arms winner, Lunata Croze, and wandering swordsman/trainer of a Honedge, Dirk Swordsman.
<Pose Tracker> Dirk Swordsman has posed.
DIRK SWORDSMAN has felt, in the light of the entire other planet - which he has visited, if only really once and kinda on a brief basis - as well as the news of another, heretofore unrevealed third planet (moon?) - that there's a lot more out there.
The journey left him with a certain restlessness. He felt WEAK... even if the weakness may have been his own fear and terror when he saw his companions struggle in the battle.
The only way to become stronger... is with MORE SWORD TECHNIQUES -- to learn more of the art, to follow the path he's made claims on. He's said stuff, and now he's got to back it up. It's not just about him any more.
SO - Along the coastal paths that go between Lavender Town and Armlock City, southernmost portion of the Nede (or northmost... eastmost... it's a little arbitrary, after all) - travels Dirk Swordsman.
He rode his skateboard as far as he could go, but that was a while ago. He's walked this path before.
Where do you think he picked up that Honedge?
INSERT - THE MUSIC THAT GOES ON IN DIRK'S HEAD BY DEFAULT:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TA9LVzuC7z4
At this point, Dirk is nearer to Armlock than Viridian, and he is walking along a dirt path. Behind him trudges Farfetch'd and Charcadet, although Charcadet's game enthusiasm for just about anything is somewhat strained. It's not that this place is rough -- though it's not easy either, having been left largely unsettled except for occasional Ranger stations and agricultural facilities -- it's that it's a LONG TRIP.
And Dirk decided to WALK. (His kicks are looking battered, frankly.)
Sweat on his brow, Dirk approaches a river, wide and shallow with some wicked-deep channels inside. Deep enough that the Rangers had put up a footbridge - long, gently curving upwards, painted in a bright vermillion accent over white. There's a landing with a couple of benches and a drink machine partway through. It's a long span, supported with a couple of concrete pilings; off to the north you can see another set of the pilings, where another bridge was, back in the Zeboim era.
From Dirk's perspective, which is kind of ground-oriented, there isn't much around other than a small cluster of Cufants wallowing in the shallows and digging up grass to eat. A single Copperajah, presumably a parent, is sort of in the vicinity, clanking around and watching the horizon phlegmatically.
Dirk's feet hit the bridge. Clonk clonk clatter clatter.
Farfetch'd tries to hop up onto the railing, doesn't quite make it, and visibly decides 'fetch it' and keeps on trudging instead. "Far," says the bird.
"No shiz," Dirk concurs. "I ain't seen nobody else all day."
<Pose Tracker> Dias Flac has posed.
Dias, on the other hand, has been studying.
Not especially *well*--he has never been to a proper school, only attended the occasional lesson put on by the priest of the church in Arlia, and while he's a smart man who can read and write and thus has largely educated himself, he has never learned proper study habits--but he's been doing it.
His studies, combined with the intel that a certain Joy gave him some time ago, has brought him to the fields around Armslock. There's supposed to be plenty of that Pokemon called Honedge in the area. He's read up on both the specifics of Honedge and of Steel and Ghost types, and he has Swallowblade with him...%T
After a maglev train to Armslock to cover most of the distance, Dias leaves the city on foot and follows the coast. A breeze picks up, brushing his long, blue hair back, but Dias doesn't pay it any mind. Every so often, he refers to a booklet--the notes he'd written up--and stops to take a look around the area. The place where the Honedge were supposed to appear was...
Just a little farther ahead. He resumes his walk, and soon approaches a bridge. It's long, and red and white, and there looks to be a child and his Pokemon on it already. Dias pays none of them any mind as he begins to cross it.
As he gets closer, though, he realizes he recognizes them. His gait inevitably slows, though he doesn't outright stop, as he eyes Dirk and his Farfetch'd.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Lunata Croze is on the HUNT.
What is she on the hunt for, you might ask? Why, fresh ingredients, of course! One can never be complacent when it comes to cooking, and today, Lunata's doing a tour of the eastern coast of Nede, and has come across said vermillion bridge carrying a large wicker basket of potatoes, carrots, roots and other delectable-looking vegetables.
Beside her is a Zubat.
"Here, do you think, Zooey?"
Zooey the Zubat screeches mildly in turn, and Lunata nods. "We can wash the potatoes by the riverside."
Lunata gives a friendly wave to Dirk as she passes by, and then gets set up on said landing where she sets the basket down and starts getting to potato-washin'. She has a stainless steel pot with her, and then--
"Zooey!"
The Zubat takes a bite into the potato, throws it in the air! Then--
TSHIIING
The unmistakable sound of a sword! With an iai draw almost too fast for the eye to see, Lunata's peeled the potato in mid-air, letting the skins drop into a strainer while the peeled potato tumbles into her pot.
"Nice teamwork!"
<Pose Tracker> Dirk Swordsman has posed.
Dirk jumps a little when he hears human speech. ("Charcadet!" points out Charcadet towards Lunata.) Dirk watches for a moment over the bridge railing as her Zubat helps out with the preparation of potato.
He keeps walking forwards...
Watching with interest...
Before there's a sudden crackle of tension!
His head snaps around to look towards the bridge's other end, where he sees Dias Flac.
Farfetch'd seems to pick up on something first, resting a wing on his leek. Dirk's hand doesn't go for his sword as he stares towards Dias through the shrouding dark glass of his shades, his face almost comically sober, perhaps even disapproving, with the shield of those glasses.
"... I recognize you," he says.
"You was at that Rocket business at, like, that town," Dirk continues. "The Filgaia town. I ain't remember the name right now. I saw your moves..."
His head cranes to the side, rocking left, then right.
("Char!" says Charcadet, waving cheerfully at Dias Flac.)
"... Pretty slick," he continues. "We're pretty far from the space hole, th--"
Dirk's head suddenly turns as he looks at Lunata.
ZOOM IN - EARS - NO POINT! You can see there's no point on the ears by the little blink-blink-blink as Dirk realizes that means Lunata, despite engaging in what appears to be completely normal Nedian behavior (to Dirk), is NOT one! Or she had tragic rice-picker accidents... either way.
"Yeah," Dirk says, reaching to get back on track as he looks back to Dias Flac. "Where'd you train?"
<Pose Tracker> Dias Flac has posed.
It's not just Dirk and his Pokemon on the bridge. There's also that girl and her Zubat. Hearing her refer to it as 'Zooey,' a hint of a laugh huffs on Dias's breath as the sides of his mouth curve very slightly up. It's just the kind of name Rena would give one of her Pokemon.
Then the Zubat tosses a potato into the air, and a flash of steel later, Lunata has it peeled. *Now* Dias comes to a stop, eyebrows rising.
"Impressive," he comments. He's tempted to challenge her to a duel, even, except--
'I recognize you,' the boy says.
That comes as no surprise, since Dias recognized him too. But he glances at Dirk, stonily silent until Dirk places him on his own. "Salva," he replies, nodding once at the Charcadet. "And I saw you again at the Psynard research facility. You fought the Team Rocket boss."
Where did he train, though?
"Nowhere in particular," he replies, unhelpfully. He pauses, considering Dirk's own pointed ears. "What brings you to this area?"
If this is where he's from, that'll be convenient--he can ask him if he knows anything about the Honedge that live around here. Otherwise...
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
After setting the potato aside, Lunata turns more fully so that she can face Dirk and Dias, giving the both of them a fuller nod and a wave. She doesn't catch what Dirk's speaking to Dias about the 'Rocket business', but...
It looks like her unusual peeling technique has *both* their attentions.
Dirk isn't the only one to say
"Hey, I recognise you," Lunata says, gesturing towards Dias. "It was a few years ago. The Lacour Tournament of Arms, right?"
Dias comments on her technique, and Lunata looks lightly embarrassed, patting the back of her head. "Thanks. It's a work in progress."
Dirk's Farfetch'd gets a look from her too! "Hey, your Pokemon's carrying a mighty-fresh looking leek there. You gonna have that for dinner? I've got a great recipe for grilled leek."
Lunata doesn't know how insensitive she's being!!
<Pose Tracker> Dirk Swordsman has posed.
He gives a place! "Where's that?" Dirk asks.
Then -- "You did?"
Authentic surprise, but then the Cool Guy face comes back on. "Hmf... wish you hadn't. It was pretty embarrassing... all we managed to do was stall the guy." He sweeps a hand through his hair.
"Me? I'm hunting," he says.
"Oshawott," he tells Dias Flac. He makes it sound... menacing, somehow. "You'd've seen 'em near the coast. They like it there. Blue colors, usually. Got a shell on their stomachs. They're natural masters of the blade... if I'm going to learn anything new, then I gotta"
CUFANT
"Seriously, man," Dirk says, looking off the side of the bridge to where a Cufant had merrily trumpeted! One of them seems to be coming over to investigate whatever Lunata's doing, snout held in the air. It's an unusually petite Cufant, although this may escape Lunata's attention.
Farfetch'd hugs his leek protectively.
"That leek's special," Dirk says, telling Dias "Scuse me," as he steps to the side of the bridge with mild exasperation. "He chews on it sometimes... but a Farfetch'd's leek is his pride!! Never forget that, alright? I know you ain't from around here." A pause.
"So where'd YOU study," says Dirk, to Lunata.
Charcadet squares up with Dias Flac for a moment, hand on his BBQ skewer handle.
... and immediately yields way with an ingratiating :D on his somewhat eerie charcoal'd face.
"Yo though I want to hear about this tournament."
<Pose Tracker> Dias Flac has posed.
"Hm." Dias looks closer at Lunata when she, too, places him, but from significantly further back. "Right," he replies. And, a brief moment later, "Now I recognize you too. You won the tournament. Lunata Croze, wasn't it?" That slight uptick of the corners of his mouth returns. "You made one hell of an upset at the betting table, I heard."
But it'd been a weird year at the Lacour Tournament of Arms, anyway. He doesn't press on her potato technique, since she looks embarrassed--and when she asks about grilling that Farfetch'd's leek, he doesn't interrupt on that either. The Farfetch'd makes his opinion on that plenty clear, even before Dirk gives an easier-to-understand explanation.
"Salva's the name of that mining town," Dias tells Dirk dryly. He likewise doesn't press on the matter of the fight against Giovanni, since Dirk is clearly embarrassed about that too, but... Oshawott, huh. Obviously another Pokemon, though this one doesn't sound familiar to Dias. (His Pokemon studies are still early, and there's over a thousand types.) The description sounds intriguing, though. "Oshawott, huh," he repeats, stepping out of the way. "Interesting. Do they fight the Honedge around here?"
The Charcadet approaches and squares up like it wants to fight. Dias eyeballs it, one hand resting lightly at the base of his sheath, not quite ready to draw but a faint threat of it all the same. But the Charcadet gives him a big ol' :D and settles. Dias leaves it be.
"The Lacour Tournament of Arms," he tells Dirk. "It's a famous tournament back where we're from. I hear they haven't been able to put in on for a while, though." He's not certain since he hasn't been in the Lacour area in ages, but the rumor mill is fairly insistent on that point.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
The amount of Pokemon around Dirk has Lunata enamored, certainly!! That sure is one adorable and very round elephant... before she even realises what's going on, Zooey has already snarled one carrot around her tail and wags it towards the Cufant, seeing if they're interested in a snack.
"O-oh! Sorry, buddy, I didn't realise," Lunata grins embarrassedly -- a second time -- and bows her head in apology to Farfetch'd. "Got it. Sorry, I don't know the local customs."
Where did she study?
"Uhhh self-taught, sorta," is Lunata's glossing-over-a-million-miles explanation of her swordplay. The tourney, though.
"That's right. Well, they got my name wrong on the roster, but looks like they cleared that up," Lunata grins, recalling winning as 'Lululu Wait'. "You were the favourite to win, though, but I remember you withdrew after the first round. If you didn't, it might've been a completely different story."
Lunata does catch Swallowblade at Dias' side when he rests his hand against its sheath at Charcadet, then nods. "You've been keeping your skills sharp, I imagine."
"Yeah. It's been a real mess in Ignas, and with how that villain, Grahf, crashed the tournament seconds after they declared a winner, people've been on edge about the tournament," Lunata explains.
But then she turns to Dirk to go, "You've got so many cool companions! You're a Pokemon trainer, right? I had my very first Pokemon Battle the other day, but Zooey there's not a fighter, I feel...!"
<Pose Tracker> Dirk Swordsman has posed.
Oh, that's where they were, not where he trained. Dirk clams up, and walks onwards, in order to hit up the vending machine - just as Dias steps aside. "... Huh?" he says, at the question, which seems to shake him out of a momentary burst of >:(.
"Honedge..."
"I don't think the Oshawotts fight 'em," Dirk says, even as he dips his credit chip into the machine. "Cuz... heh. I'm not surprised you've heard of Honedge. But Honedge isn't like most of the Pokemon you probably saw coming around." His head tilts back as he looks vaguely smug for a moment. "You know about the Ghost types?"
ch-CHUNK
Dirk scores a * COLD LEMONADE. After popping it open, Dirk leans against the railing, raising his voice a little to talk to both of the humans present.
"You looking to catch one? I had a real pain in the backside gettin' mine," Dirk tells Dias. "Struggle for the ages, man. Chespin had to get him on the rope but he almost got cleaved, like," Dirk makes a vague chopping gesture, "pow, so Farfetch'd had to get in there. Imagine it, man. Parryin' a sword the size of, like, your leg, and avoiding the RIBBON... You know about the ribbon?"
Dirk then scratches his cheek. It is not completely smooth. He's probably mildly proud of that.
"Farfetch'd," says Farfetch'd to Lunata. He leaps up to the railing, actually making it and perching it. The duck bows to her slightly, then looks over at the Cufant, skeptically.
"Graf?" Dirk asks, vaguely. Then, straightening up: "Yeah, that's right. I got a school going here. We study together. Farfetch'd, you back me up here. (Charcadet man what you doing. You just tired? Come on, you gonna fall over and burn up the bridge.)"
Farfetch'd considers, looks upwards, looks at Dias Flac -- with a more steadily measuring eye; it may be a little uncanny because this is clearly the duck with the brain in his head, however dubious a Pokemon's intelligence might be -- and then says to Lunata, "Farfetch'd." He nods afterwards.
The Cufant approaches Lunata, lowering their trunk into the water. An even SMALLER one behind that one approaches, splashing in the water and letting out a merry little brassy honk.
"You know how to catch 'em?" Dirk asks Dias.
<Pose Tracker> Dias Flac has posed.
Dias glances at the Cufant briefly, before looking back at Lunata. He chuckles dryly as she reminisces about the issue with her name. "A lot of people talked a lot about you. Some of them knew you better than others. It didn't take long for me to figure out your actual name," he replies. He merely shrugs as she brings up that he'd been the favorite to win. He no doubt disappointed a lot of people at the betting table, but: "I got what I was after at the time." He smirks. "It would've."
She notes too his sword. "I have. And you clearly have, too." His expression darkens at the mention of Grahf. Dias had already left town by the time that happened, but it'd had a lasting impact on the city's culture. It soon smooths out again. "It's a chaotic world."
He glances over at Dirk as he walks over to the vending machine. "I do," he confirms of Ghost types. "But I don't want to catch one. I want to fight one."
He's technically already fought one, twice. But that was Joy's Honedge. Dias wants to see how these Pokemon fight when left purely to their own devices. Which is to say, yes, he knows about the ribbon.
He meets Farfetch'd's measuring stare steadily. It doesn't look like he's looking to pick a fight, but he does have an assessing look... Clearly the brains of the bunch.
A weird thing to think, but Pikachu was the social diva of Chase's crew, so maybe it's just like that here on Nede.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
"A ghost sword, huh..." Lunata asides as Dirk explains that, indeed, Honedge is a Ghost-type. That feels very fitting, somehow. She listens, rapt, of the tale of Farfetch'd parrying a sword and ribbon--
Lunata's face gawks wide open! "Wow! You must be quite the accomplished fencer too, Farfetch'd." And elegant too!
"Grahf is a capital V-Villain from our world. He has this giant, evil looking machine with him, and wears a dark mask and cloak!" Lunata explains to Dirk. "If he tries to strike any kind of deal to offer you power, absolutely refuse no matter how tempting it is. Nothing good comes from making pacts with dark powers, let me tell you!"
She's projecting just a little.
The Cufants are super adorable, so Zooey keeps feeding them carrots as they come. Lunata pets one as they come along, but she doesn't want to keep them from the water.
Dias explains how he worked towards discovering her name, and Lunata grins bashfully as the news of her reputation precedes her. But Dias mentions that he got what he was after at the time...
"Hmm. I think I understand you."
Lunata's katana is back in its sheath too; it's an ornate one, with the Original Artificial Medium serving as the tsuba.
"I'm more confident in my skills being my own these days, than I was back then," Lunata remarks to Dias. A little cryptic, maybe, but it's said with certainty. Then to Dirk:
"I got Zooey through the Wonder Trade, but I heard from Jay it might've been a Rocket scam... but, well, I couldn't just leave her! So I'm taking care of her now. Better she's with me than whoever's using her to scam people."
<Pose Tracker> Dirk Swordsman has posed.
Dirk listens to some news of this tournament. He gazes on Lunata, perhaps with respect. He is getting the idea that Dias Flac respects her power, and what Dirk did not say but probably thinks is: He, too, respects Dias Flac's power. Therefore, by the transitive property (which they went over in like, the last class before Dirk bailed to go Pokemon Journeying) --
Respect is transferred. And respect is like a fire. You can pass it on... without diminishing it!!! Until it consumes the world in a blaze of -- hm, maybe it's not a lot like fire.
Farfetch'd settles down on his perch and seems to dig the breeze.
The Cufant who lowered their trunk doesn't seem to take a carrot right now, though they did, retroactively, eat one a moment ago. The even-smaller one toddles up and fumbles to take the carrot with a trunk that seems slightly misshapen -- aww -- the tip's kind of flattened out.
The carrot falls into the river. "Faaaant," whines the baby.
Dirk raises his shades, which briefly makes him look simultaneously younger and older. Younger because it shows the squinchy youth of the cheekbones: older because he sort of has sleepless-eye going on. He squints at that sword. "... Wonder Trade... Huh. I hadn't heard'a that one. What... IS it."
"Anyway, I can show you Honedge," Dirk tells Dias Flac. "But this guy's been under my training for months... don't wanna mess with the experience. There is something -- actually," his head tilts back, "Maybe you DON'T wanna know? Like, fair chance, you got a risk here, but..."
MAYBE HE'S INTO THAT.
"I don't want some cartoon dude from Philgaia tryin to give me Pokevirus or something," Dirk answers Lunata, about Grah, belatedly. "What's his deal? Is that why it was kind of crappy out there, like, he messing with your ecology or something?"
<Pose Tracker> Dias Flac has posed.
For a moment, Dias watches the Cufant's antics with the carrot. It's very cute. There's even a certain softness in his expression. It's gone by the time he looks back at Dias and Lunata, but they could see his profile just fine.
Dias doesn't recognize the tsuba as an Original Artificial Medium--but it *is* clear it's no common decoration. He gives her a slow nod as she comments on her own improved skills. "That's how it should be," he says. "How about it? I came here to fight Honedge, but I'm even more interested in fighting the tournament winner."
The Wonder Trade is new on Dirk, despite being a local. It's new on Dias too, though that's less surprising because he's both not a local and not a trainer. "A Rocket scam... I'll keep an ear out for news about that," he says, frowning. ...He doesn't bother to explain why he would bother.
He listens, too, to Lunata's description of Grahf. He'd heard rumors about him at the time, but it's been a long while, and it's valuable to hear about it from someone who was definitely there at the time. Pacts for power... that one mustn't agree to. There's something about Lunata's vehemence that twigs Dias on to the idea that this goes beyond a simple warning for her, and he asks, "Did you have some kind of bad run-in with 'dark powers' yourself?"
However Lunata answers, Dirk has his own answer. "I've already fought a trained Honedge," he replies. A pause. "...But it might be interesting to see how a Honedge fights differently from trainer to trainer," he muses. Another pause. HE frowns at Dirk's tiptoeing around risks. "What is it?"
Maybe he *is* into that.
<Pose Tracker> Lunata Croze has posed.
Lunata, too, holds a lot of respect for Dirk already -- Pokemon's difficult, and she respects those that can train multiple Pokemon all at once! She's got her hands full with just Zooey, after all.
But-- A CARROT FALLS IN THE RIVER--
And Zooey dives in after it like some big damn hero, scooping out the carrot with her tail and returning to baby Cufant to carefully hold the tip of the carrot for Safe Nibblings.
Lunata's surprised that Dirk doesn't know, though. "Wait, if you don't know, maybe it really was a scam... it was this big flashy machine that said I could trade my Pokemon with someone else in the blink of an eye! So I traded the Pokemon Professor Oak gave me... and that was how I ended up with Zooey."
"..."
"It's so obvious in hindsight, isn't it?"
Lunata hangs her head for a moment, but then looks on the topic of Grahf. "Uh-- um. Technically...? I think he was involved in the latest ruin of the world...?" 'The latest'?! There's more than one!
Dias offers her a challenge, and there's a smirk that cuts across Lunata's face for once. "Oh, you're on. ... not right now, though -- dinner's waiting. But, you can contact me through the Memory Cube anytime."
But Dias is a sharp and intuitive person -- and he asks if she had some run-in with dark powers of her own.
"Hm... that might be faster to show than to explain, when we spar," Lunata admits. "But don't worry, I'm not about to pull any underhanded tricks on you."
<Pose Tracker> Dirk Swordsman has posed.
Dirk may just not be tuned in to everything. It may not have been a huge thing at a glance to Dias, given all, but Dirk is in fact literally carrying around a sword. It's possible nobody told him about it because they are afraid he will stab them (with the sword).
To be fair: Accidents can happen.
"Those guys get up to all kinds of stuff," Dirk comments. "I thought it was just like scams and hustling... rolling over a vending machine or something... that kinda stuff. I mean, don't get me wrong, I don't approve, but it's hard to get mad about that. But they started stealing Pokemon, right infront of me, even, man."
He shakes his head wordlessly.
"... huh," Dirk says. He looks over, and up, at Dias Flac.
His jaw tenses, but then he says, "I'll let him decide what's up. Honedge!" Dirk says, with a flourish as he pops off one of the balls on his hip rack: "Go!" With the usual flash of light, Honedge appears -- blue-ribboned, still sheathed, monocular!
The Copperajah in the distance doesn't move but is, perceptibly, now Paying Attention to the ghost-type running loose.
"The ribbon," Dirk says, gesturing. "Hold it up, man." (The Honedge does.) "My guy here, he's cool, we're all cool; he ain't gonna do that unless it's a critical fight. But guys in the wild? People who catch 'em know what I mean when I say, you have some of these guys that are MEAN. Do you know the story of Honedge...?"
Honedge draws a few inches of steel from his scabbard. honnnnnnnnnn
After this, Dirk looks at Lunata. "..."
"Well, I hope that guy's safe," Dirk concludes... carefully. Meanwhile, Zooey is holding up the carrot, which makes the Cufant trumpet in delight and advance to nosh! Maybe that one's small because they can't dig up food as well...
After this, Dirk frowns. Honedge bobs up and down gently as Farfetch'd flaps to the other side of the bridge.
"... What's a Memory Cube?" he asks.
<Pose Tracker> Dias Flac has posed.
In all fairness, Dias and Lunata are also literally carrying around a sword. To Dias, this is normal. The risk of getting cut by a sword is so obvious and straightforward that he assumes that Dirk must mean some kind of risk *on top of that*. It isn't even that strange that it's a Nedian insinuating it; after all, Joy carried around a sword too. Even if it was technically also a Pokemon.
Regardless, Dias casts Lunata an inscrutable look as she realizes that she was indeed scammed. Dirk weighs in, albeit neutrally. "Common sense is different here than it is on Filgaia," Dias generously affords her. "Just be more cautious next time."
She and her Zubat seem to be getting along just fine anyway, and Lunata seems plenty strong without worrying about whether her Pokemon is strong or not too. Indeed, the way Zooey swoops after that carrot and returns it to the Cufant, it seems quite capable in its own way.
And yes, there's been *a lot* of potential ruinings of the world... Dias has only been involved in that recently, but rumors spread like wildfire among the Drifter community, and Dias drifts more than most.
He smirks back at her, and nods once. "Fair enough. I'd better finish up my business here first, too. You'll hear from me." That smirk turns into a more assessing look as she leaves explanations for the actual spar. Ultimately, he gives her another single nod. "I'll look forward to it."
Dirk summons his own Honedge then, and Dias leaves Lunata to her dinner prep to consider them. "I read a Honedge is born when a ghost possesses a sword. It uses that ribbon to drain the vital energy of the living," he replies, jutting his chin towards said ribbon, especially as the Honedge unsheathes itself a few inches. Dias doesn't draw just yet in response--but his hand certainly stays on the base of his sheath. "Is that the story you're talking about?"
He doesn't seem intimidated, but then, it *is* Dias Flac.
"A Memory Cube's a device that lets you send messages to people across Filgaia," he adds. "Some people also use it like a journal. That's why they call it a Memory Cube."
<Pose Tracker> Dirk Swordsman has posed.
"You know, you right," Dirk says after Dias finishes speaking to Lunata, and after Lunata's focus has shifted. "Common sense... my pops used to say it isn't actually common. But maybe it's just, like, variable. Like instincts you gotta build."
Farfetch'd seems dubious of this expr-- wait, is that just his face? Resting duck face. You hate to see it.
After this, Dirk nods slightly. "That's true," he says. "That's good. We go over this stuff in school, you see people with the specialist gear sometimes, you got phone apps and everything -- oh, man," Dirk says, as if realizing something. "That probably doesn't make any sense. So uh, a phone app is like... hold on."
He gets his phone out. It's pretty much an ordinary smart phone, but Dirk, it seems, has cognited that it's ordinary *to him*. He turns it towards Dias Flac. Then he turns it back, unlocks it, and shows it again. "Basically an app is a thing you put in your phone and it lets it, like, do stuff. So over here I got the PokeCyc one, which I like better than PokeDex on the phone cuz I'm not trying to do heavy collecting, you know?"
A beat passes. "So you guys got cube phones? Anyway." He clicks it off and puts it in his pocket. "Honedge."
"Honedge isn't just born from a ghost," Dirk says. "They say that all of these swords were the ones who killed the people whose souls became Honedges, but I dunno if that's exactly true. I don't see many swords like this. Like you see how big the blade here is." Honedge hovers obligingly as Dirk indicates.
"The real body of Honedge is here," Dirk says, pointing at the hilt-jewel-eye. Which goes from (o) to (^) for a moment. "I'm tellin you that for safety and also in case you got to protect yourself. You can fight my guy here but we ain't enemies, so I am telling you that up front."
A couple more moments pass.
"I guess that's it... unless you got any questions yourself." He looks at Honedge. "You wanna do it?"
Honedge bobs up and down. It's sort of like a nod.
Dirk returns the nod.
"Oh," he says, "one more thing. It's tradition. You got any of our money on you?"
<Pose Tracker> Dias Flac has posed.
Dirk muses on the nature of common sense, and Dias gives him a curt nod. "Exactly. What's commonplace where we come from isn't common here, and vice versa."
He *does* hate to see resting duck face. Fortunately, Dias lets it go without comment. If anyone can choose to doubt, it's a Farfetch'd.
"It's not exactly gear," Dias continues--but pauses when Dirk shows him his smartphone and its apps. It... definitely is a new one on him. He'd seen people through Nede messing around with phones like this, but he hadn't realized just how extensive their functions were. "Interesting," he says. He doesn't comment on cube phones, which is fine, because Dirk doesn't wait for the answer anyway. He'll see for himself in time if he ever goes to Filgaia.
He turns his attention to Honedge and Dirk's clarification of the story. His red eyes track up to that eye-jewel in the hilt. Up close and not in a fight like this, it's easy to see its expressiveness. ...It's kind of cute, in its own way. Dias's expression doesn't budge, though. This is a potential enemy.
"Hmmm. I was looking to fight wild Honedge, but if you're issuing a challenge..." Dias starts to reach for Swallowblade's hilt, but pauses when Dirk mentions the local currency. "Some," he replies. He brought some in case he'd need any for the maglev train, or if he needed to pick up anything in Armlock City. "Why?"
<Pose Tracker> Dirk Swordsman has posed.
Dirk will probably stare in mute confusion at a Memory Cube and then, perhaps wisely, nope out.
Chespin is down though. Chespin is always down for anything that gives away his personal information to strangers. It's a safe and legal thrill!
"I am," says Dirk as he's given, at least, space to back out. Honedge is down; so is he. He gets out another device and fiddles with it, producing several small squareish coinlike objects, nodding once, and reaching over to slap them down on the bridge railing. "Eight hundred on my end." So, 'lunch, with a drink.'
Still.
"You wanna match it or do something else? Cuz ultimately, it's just a way of keeping score."
Honedge cares not for money. That single strange eye has been focused on Dias Flac for all the time that Dirk was shooting the breeze now, and when matters seem to be reaching an edge, Honedge rocks about thirty degrees to the side. His ribbon comes upwards, fluttering in the breeze and then seeming to grip onto his own scabbard.
"As for the wild guys... well, you look like you can handle yourself. And you know the big surprise. So it's up to you. Just be careful, if you go too deep off the trails. The cops come up and down the trail pretty often, and if a hiker or something comes by they'll help you get to a Pokecenter, but if you're out too deep..."
He sweeps a hand through his hair. "Well... they might not get there in time."
"You ready?" Dirk asks.
The moment assent is made, Honedge draws himself out of the scabbard, the blade gleaming with steely perfection, almost silver in the afternoon sun.
(The Cufant who had been fed has meandered over to look up at the bridge. The shallows are enough that the four-foot-tall-or-so Pokemon can actually see some of the action.)
<Pose Tracker> Dias Flac has posed.
"I'll match it," Dias replies. A moment of digging in his pocket later, and he'll set down eight hundred's worth of coins a short distance away from Dirk's coins. Outwardly, he doesn't seem to pay Honedge any mind as he does so--but the intensity of their regard is felt, and when Dias returns to the center of the bridge, his red eyes go straight to the sword Pokemon as he slips with ease into a fighting stands, his right hand at last on his sword's hilt.
"Noted," he tells Dirk, of his warning. It does occur to him that maybe Joy encouraged him to go after Honedge on purpose with the intent of eliminating a strong enemy in a sneaky way--but no. She didn't strike him as that kind of person.
Really, as long as he doesn't try to grab one by the hilt, he should be fine. But the local common sense is that you fight Pokemon with Pokemon. Not knowing that common sense led Dias to getting slimed by a Sludge Bomb. He tells himself to be mindful of that, too.
For now, there is a tense silence and a shallow nod as Dirk asks if he's ready. Then, by way of further answer, Dias draws lightning-swift, the iai-like strike aimed for the steel of Honedge's blade in a single testing blow.
<Pose Tracker> Dirk Swordsman has posed.
Honedge clears the scabbard as Dias Flac comes in. The Pokemon's eye has turned up to face him, and the weapon moves in a peculiar arc forwards to meet his blade at an oblique angle --
SSHHHHHNG!
Sparks fly. Small ones, hard to see in the sunlight, but they're there.
Honedge feels like a steel blade, but you couldn't really call Honedge anything other than a greatsword given the sheer mass of the thing. Swords are often deceptively light compared to what you might expect, and Honedge doesn't WEIGH that much more, but it has a force like a knight's arm behind that motion.
The arc's weird, though to Dias Flac the peculiarity will reveal itself either immediately or after another couple of feints and parries. Honedge isn't being swung by a PERSON - the lever-action behind the sword blow is coming from the area around that eye, making for unusual and narrowed striking arcs.
And other things; to wit, after that first clash Honedge rises upwards and twirls counterclockwise to strike at Dias Flac's other side with the opposing side of its blade, before rearing back and dipping blade down for either some sort of defense stance or just to get a full dead-on view of his next move.
Dirk is watching intently. He's grinning, a little.
<Pose Tracker> Dias Flac has posed.
It is immediately a difference from Joy and her Honedge. Joy *could* and *did* wield Honedge, and her Honedge *could* and *did* wield itself, but this is a Honedge that only does the latter. There's a quality to their movements that makes that clear on impact, and more importantly, on the follow-up. The counterstrike comes from an unexpected angle, impacting Dias's armor. It doesn't draw blood, but that armor will need repairing later.
He grunts as it connects, but doesn't panic. Instead, he twists his footing in a instant, correcting his own stance on the fly as the Honedge goes on the defensive. Dias's counter is fast, *fast*, and aimed with pinpoint precision to force the Honedge back, their respective edges sliding up and down each other like a sharpening rod on a kitchen knife.
"Interesting," Dias repeats in the heartbeat between blows. There's a little smirk of his own, now.
<Pose Tracker> Dirk Swordsman has posed.
Dirk has his arms folded. He isn't getting ready. If Dias Flac wants to theorize, he has either never bothered to try wielding Honedge or decided against it.
CLANG! Blade against armor. Dias Flac smashes back, with a slashing press forwards. Honedge shifts enough to catch the blow on the center of his blade, which is another thing about Honedge that is different from a lot of other sword dynamics: the blow hits, indeed, much like armor, and while it glances off, the force transmits into Honedge, who flies down to the bridge and ricochets with a loud bound-steel WOOOOOOMMMM echo while tumbling in several axes in midair.
"You good?" Dirk says with alarm.
Honedge descends, eye focused on Dias Flac. He can see the dent where his blow dug in, and the grated-smooth spot on one of Honedge's side where they clashed. It's a Steel-type Pokemon but steel is not immortal and invincible.
But the soul might be.
Honedge comes with thrusts now, flattening to present his blade more or less point-on to Dias, stabbing forwards at different angles, with at least half of them feints. It's a pressure tactic - pushing him back on the bridge/away from the start place as much as trying to break skin.
"Normally we don't use Pokemon on people directly," Dirk comments, "but I figured this is between you and Honedge at this point so y'all do what you want. If a jenny comes by though, I'm just saying I was getting a drink."
Which he did!
So he sips it, never taking his eyes off the action.
<Pose Tracker> Dias Flac has posed.
At most, Dias expected that Dirk might issue commands to his Honedge, as Pokemon trainers. As much as Honedge's movements, it's interested that he simply stands back and watches without giving any input. It's the opposite of Joy's style. Though Dias hadn't decided to become a trainer, he's fascinated by the variety of approaches. Sending another creature out to fight on his behalf jars his sensibilities as a swordsman and as a human being, but he can appreciate that that's just his own common sense at play.
He does assume that Dirk's 'you good?' is for Honedge rather than himself, though, and consequently doesn't respond.
Honedge rises and then descends after spinning through the air. Dias is readier for the peculiarities of his approach, and meets that flurry of stabs with a series of his own. A large number of Honedge's movements are feints, though, and at first, those pressure tactics are successful; Dias retreats a step, then another. However, as they continue, and a pattern forms for Dias to recognize, it gets harder and harder to fool him. Dirk might find it fascinating to see this pan out in real time.
"I know," he tells Dirk curtly of Pokemon battle protocol, without breaking eye contact on Honedge.
And then--
"*Air Slash*!" he roars, spinning Swallowblade around and slamming a powerful rush of glowing wind towards Honedge. Air Slash is usually a distance move, and if Dirk and Honedge have seen it before, it's as that--but it's just as effective at close range.
<Pose Tracker> Dirk Swordsman has posed.
Honedge is moving easily, in so far as he's moving in the same way as a sword held by a human. Of course, to someone like Dias Flac - someone who follows the path of the sword as Dirk would put it - the big secret (Honedge is self-motivated, not being just kind of wielded by an invisible or mimed human being) is already revealed.
It does mean the flurry of stabs technique has the advantage that you can't go PAST it to score blows on the swordsman.
Meanwhile...
Cufant has been getting into this. As Dias Flac begins to parry the blows and things reach a static phase for a moment, the Cufant takes action, trundling up onto shore and turning around to... walk... up... the bridge.
Dirk doesn't really notice. If Honedge does, Honedge doesn't give a crap, he has bigger problems. The Cufant hunches to the side to watch the fight from Dias Flac's side, eyes wide and trunk held high. (The bridge creaks a little, but only a little creak.)
AND THEN:
AIR SLASH
"Oh damn!!!" says Dirk, with authentic shock and enthusiasm as the Swallowblade swings and hurls Honedge off to the side to embed three inches deep into one of the timbers of the bridge, wobbling violently enough to make another of those metallic songs.
Honedge's eye flings around wildly for a moment.
"Honedge!! C'mon!! I ain't ever seen that before, but did you see it when he, I think he did it on Filgaia -- ah, crap, are you --"
Honedge jerks several times. Lurching free, the Pokemon sways drunkenly... and then orbits nearly 180 degrees to face Dias Flac again. He may have the feeling that if breathing was a thing he did, Honedge would be panting. But that one blue eye is blazing, all but literally.
Dirk takes a step back. "Aight," he says, eyes turning back to Dias Flac -- and then HE sees the Cufant -
Honedge on the other hand flips around and bangs himself on the side of the bridge! Hard enough to vibrate violently. The vibrations seem to be propagating... throughout the form... they die down...
And then Honedge dives in a straight all or nothing strike towards Dias Flac.
He can tell, subtly, from the sound, that the vibrations haven't gone away: they're being somehow damped... held into place... this is a move he probably does not want to get hit by, whether he intends to parry. When Honedge stops moving there is going to be some kind of explosion. It might be him!
(Editorial note: Honedge's HIDDEN POWER is a Steel-type move, with a power of 64! Keep it real, Pokemaniacs!)
<Pose Tracker> Dias Flac has posed.
Cufant is an adorable li'l not-elephant. Dias has acknowledged its adorableness. Not out loud or anything, but in his heart of hearts. But adorableness doesn't have a place in a sword duel, so when Cufant trundles up onto the bridge, it's not its form but the effects of its form--that is, the tiny creaking--has on it.
It's only a tiny bit. But Dias does note it as he and Honedge trade blows.
He unleashes his Air Slash, and Dirk loses his shit. As Honedge goes flying, Dias sheathes his sword--not because he considers the fight over, but because it's a part of his iaijutsu-esque style. (You need to sheathe your sword before you can unsheathe it.) He watches carefully as the Pokemon flails in the bridge, steel singing dischordantly, before it ultimately jerks itself out.
Dias glances towards the structure beneath their feet with a slight frown.
The Honedge whirls around, its eye blazing blue. Dias returns that stare stonily. He tenses as it strikes itself on the bridge, sending reverberations through itself--
When Honedge *dives* for Dias, Dias moves--into a forward roll, sideways, away and off the landing at the bridge's center--not off the bridge, it's too long for that, but away from, say, the part that's likeliest to collapse.
Whatever ends up happening to the landing itself--and those still on it--is, for the immediate moment, a concern for people who aren't Dias. Dias himself whirls around as he comes up, though, hand going back to his blade's hilt, because whatever does happen with the bridge, he expects Honedge not to let up.
Even if it doesn't, it's better to be prepared for an attack.
<Pose Tracker> Dirk Swordsman has posed.
GOOD NEWS: This bridge is built with the assumption that there will occasionally be a lot of foot traffic.
ALSO GOOD NEWS: The Nedians build to last. It helps that the weather can in fact be pretty accurately predicted a long way out, but what also helps is that they know, like, the parameters of what it will be - it will not be ALLOWED to get hotter than a certain amount.
EVEN MORE GOOD NEWS: There aren't native Fire types around here, and the bridge has a creosote treatment for fire resistance.
BAD NEWS: Hidden Power is intrinsically unpredictable and beyond the understanding of the Rangers.
Honedge flies past Dias Flac as he rolls forwards and onto the landing, even as Dirk turns to watch him. "Whoa," he says, "that was incredibl"
WHONGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
The entire bridge begins to vibrate.
"Uh," Dirk says, a moment before there is a loud CRACK as each and every iron nail in the bridge suddenly flies out of where it was nailed in. Dirk, if his fillings were made out of Filgaian material, would feel it there. Fortunately, here they just clean out where your teeth get gunky and put a paste in it and you grow more tooth.
The entire bridge falls apart abruptly, although - amazingly enough - the landing stays... PRESENT, if not in great shape because it's now just loose boards. The vending machine and the railing fall into the ocean. Both ends of the bridge collapse into the river with a loud splish-slpash-CUFAAAAAAAANT-splash-splush -- can you spot when the Cufant just fell in the river?
Dirk says, "THAT WAS AMAZING!" before looking up at Dias Flac with something like awe -- and then remembering Honedge. "Yo! Hey! Honedge!"
No response.
Dirk kicks his shoes off. "That was insane, man, thank you. Hold on though, I gotta do this. Uh, see you around, bounce if you need to, I think this is a crime," and then he's jumping into the river to splash around. Which is probably good because the Cufant is thrashing too.
"ah man! ah geez!"
That probably doesn't happen very often.
<Pose Tracker> Dias Flac has posed.
The entire bridge begins to vibrate.
Then the nails all fly out of the boardings, which consequently collapse into the thankfully shallow river. Except for the parts that *aren't* shallow. Hopefully the Cufant doesn't end up rolling into one of those.
Dias rides the drop down, footing shifting to keep himself upright. It's not as bad as it would've been at the center, even if the landing does remain surprisingly intact. His long hair floats for an instant, then drops down. Honedge... is nowhere to be seen.
"..."
Dias gives Dirk a level look as he kicks off his shoes and jumps into the river after Cufant while saying what are technically goodbyes. At the very least, he gives him his blessing to just turn around and leave. Which is good, because that's precisely what Dias does. The eight hundred coin is left behind in silent acknowledgement that Dias is technically ditching Dirk to handle all the aftermath.
But Dirk's got this. The Cufant will be fine. The Honedge probably will be too.
And indeed, when Dias later finds where the wild Honedge roam and starts challenging them, his battle with Dirk's Honedge ensures he knows how to handle them, and when to fall back. It's a good experience. When Dias heads back to the city around sunset to take the maglev train back to where Rena and the others are staying, it's with a satisfied smile.
...Too bad he and Dirk never actually exchanged names, but they'll no doubt run into each other again. Dias isn't worried about that, either.