"Hardcore!" (OPEN)

[Cody Travers]

The wind was crisp..

The sand was fresh..

It was just right..

Cody brushed his hand lightly through his hair. He'd been wanting to explore ever since he got to the town. Clad in his camo beach trunks and a green tank top he strolled down the beach with a soccer ball in hand.

He set the ball down onto the soft warm sand and looked toward the sun as he put his hand over his eyes. He let out a get sigh and relaxed a little as the tide rushed agianst his feet. It was cold but nothing like the shores in Canada.

Cody then kicked the ball up and proceeded to do some tricks with the ball, bouncing it off his head, his chest, his knees..

He was basically playing keep-it-up with himself until he reached a rock stuck into the shore. He looked at it for a moment..Then suddenly kicked the ball right at the rock. The ball bounced right off the regiment and landed right near Cody's feet again. He smirked and fired a few more off the eyesore. Then he decided to get cocky and tried to kick it back at the rock in mid air.

"Hah! Yeah! Bam! Alright! I am so hardcore!!"

With that last statement however Cody's kicked the ball awkwardly into the direction behind him..It soared into the air.

"Uh-oh.."

Cody proceeded to chase after the flying ball in hopes that it wouldn't hit anyone..

[chihiro]

One of the first breaks Chi had gotten from training with Valekin, she decided to wake a walk on the beach. She didn't even want to go home, she just wanted the fresh air. True, it was daytime, and Chi didn't care for all the other inhabitants, but she decided she could just ignore them, lungs filling with the crisp, clean air, tasting the salt from the water on her lips.

There were small scratches on her arms and a small one on her left cheek. Barely noticable, but still there. That was what happens when you push your body to the limits. When you train. You fall, get hurt, but rise again. She'd been training for a little while now, but already the results were visible. Her demeanor was quiet, focused. Her gaze set, even as it drifted off over the water..

..her reflexes were almost catlike.

A ball came whizzing through the air in her direction, the senior's peripheral vision catching it, eyes shifting to it and her hands coming up to catch the ball directly in front of her face. Close call. Looking at the ball for a second, chocolate eyes looked up in the direction that it came front, narrowing slightly as she focused on the boy a few feet away. Was it his?

She would wait for him to claim it, curious on how he would react. Apologetic, humorously, cocky? All of that would decide how she would react to this. For now her face was almost blank.

[Cody Travers]

Cody worried.

I hope it didn't hit anyone..

I hope it didn't..

Damn it didn't..

I hope not..

He finally saw it. The mischivious ball that got away from his last kick..And someone was holding it..Someone who'd been training..Hard..It was obvious..Not to a normal person however..But to someone like Cody it was painfully obvious. The straightforward stance, the blank stare. To Cody it was all too familiar..It was painful..To see someone like this. Seeing that Cody had experienced this painful before..He thought he left it behind..If anything Cody had wished that his fate be put to no one else.

Cody looked on at the girl before him holding the ball with a strong gaze..He spoke..

"I apoligize..I was careless..Please accept my humblest apoligies." He spoke with a bland tone..As if one warrior was speaking to another. He approached the "warrior" slowly..

He stopped only a few small inches away from the girl. Standing straight. Arms at his sides. Like a whipped statue. His eyes fixed on hers with a stare that would kill. Suddenly, he blurted out.

"You..Have been training..Haven't you?...I can tell..You seem..Slightly uptight.." Softly he spoke..Gentle almost..

He awaited her response..

[chihiro]

Chi watched as the boy noticed his mistake, making his way toward her. Cautious, but composed. She was surprised to find someone like him retrieving a ball, she expected a blundering, grinning fool. But maybe she was too quick to make judgments. Even his speech was relatively disciplined in his apology. The expression in her eyes changed to that of, what, understanding? Yes, understanding. He appeared to be someone who understood the actual purpose of an apology.

As he approached her gaze remained on him and met his, her head tilting up slightly as he was a bit taller than her. Steady gaze, he was disciplined. Very good. Though the senior's eyes widened, an eyebrow quirking slightly at his observation. Was it really that obvious? Well, looking at how she was as a freshman compared to now, yes, the change was more than obvious, but Chi couldn't recall seeing this boy before in her years in Long Beach.

"I have."

Her reply was short, though her tone light. Uptight? Did being disciplined make her uptight? Perhaps in the end she had to be so, as her training depended on her surviving the tasks given.

"Who might you be?"

Chi wasn't really one to make friends, as all of the friends she'd ever made always ended up disappearing one way or another, but you couldn't blame her for being curious. Realizing she was still holding the ball, she balanced it on her right palm and held it out to him to take.

[Cody Travers]

Cody watched carefully as she met her eyes with his. He thought to himself though he didn't show it..As he showed discipline and manners..He felt..Empty.

Dad..You bastard..You made me like this..How could you..?

I could have had a normal life..With a normal personality..This girl is probably too scared of me..

He then saw her as she extended her arm with the ball in hand..He looked out to it then moved his gaze to the ball. Eyes widened as she asked who he was..

"My name.."

He stopped.
Quickly, Cody removed the ball from her hand in a whiplike manner and threw it up in the air. Hard. His eyes did not move off the girl as he did so.

"I also wish to know your name as well.."

His hand wraps began to drip with red. Cody then quickly removed a pill from his back pocket and swallowed it..No water..No food. Nothing. It was as if this event had happened before. But nobody knew about it.

"First.." He said quietly and sternly after taking the pill. "I want to see it..I want to see your strength.."

What had come come over him? The sudden enragement of another person who'd been training. This reminded him of course..Of his father. The one who'd forced upon him to become observant of others. He didn't want to do this..Especially since he'd not made friends here. His current status. Loner. He waned to be this girl's friend..But..Just the compelling figure of his father in his mind stopped him.

The ball flew back down into the sand.

"I want to see..If you're as "Hardcore" as I think you are.."

He kicked the ball up into his arms..

"Come..We shall play a game.."

He beckoned her not with a taunting voice..But with a shifiting of his blue eyes once agian meeting hers.

[chihiro]

Chi blinked as the boy snatched the ball away and whipped it into the air. With such a fast movement, she half expected him to attack her, and though she showed no physical movement, her muscles tensed slightly so she could move if need be. But now, something more peculiar.

"My name...I also wish to know your name as well."

But he hadn't given his name yet. Interesting, was he challenging her? He caught the ball with ease, kicking it up to his arms like a soccer player would. She'd played soccer once, when she played on the school's team for a while before the coach disappeared.

"How do you expect to learn my name as well if you haven't given yours yet?"

A question, and a light challenge. He seemed to be wanting to know what she was made of. She wasn't about to just kick this random kids ass, but if was going to challenge her, then he was going to get a run for his money.

"What kind of game do you have in mind?"

Her gaze hadn't shifted, and she leaned to the side slightly onto her right hip, feet shifting in the sand. She wasn't wearing shoes, she never did when she was on the beach.

[Cody Travers]

Cody smirked..But on the inside he was frowning..He really didn't want to do this..

"The game...Is simple.."

He threw the ball up in the air once more.

"Do you see that rock?"

Without moving he pointed to a giant stone relief outside the beach head which was pretty far from here. Cody suddenly leaped into the air and with a great strike he kicked the ball straight at the rock. The rock bounced off with great force whistling through the air as Cody leaped up a second time kicking it back at the rock again. This time around though with the ball came back Cody let it drop.

"It's a test of reflexes..I will kick the ball at the rock once then kick it once more...You must keep the ball in the air off THAT rock and ONLY THAT rock..you can use any part of your body to bounce it off the rock twice then kick it back at me again off the rock.. I will then proceed to kick it off the rock to myself 3 times and kick it to you agian..and so on.."

He released his gaze a little bit..Becoming more gentle..

"Do you understand?" He said as he smiled a bit..

[chihiro]

Not your average boy plays not your average game...she should have expected as much. So...hit the ball to the rock twice and pass it, going up one hit per time. Not exactly the challenge she was used to, but it would work.

The trick would be to keep it in the air, because if the ball hit the sand, its momentum would fall drastically if not drop all together. Looking to the boy, the senior's head would tip down, then up again, a nod. Yes, she did understand.

"Will there be a prize for winning this game?"

An exchanging of names maybe? A money wager? All games had a victor, and the victor always ended up with a prize in the end. Otherwise, what would be the point of a game with a stranger in the first place?