{OPEN!!} Seimei no Taka

{仰ぎ見ゆるは　
曇りなきあの大空}

"Aogimiyuru wa kumorinaki ano ozora..." Yukimura sang into the heights' surrounds which echoed beautifully everywhere, as his Charizard flew around in freedom and happiness in the skies since it just evolved from a Chameleon and his Tepig running around joyfully looking around and sniffing the grass randomly and running around again.

"waga kono mune mo hito-iro aoku sumi watarite" Yukimura layed back in relaxation still singing.

At that point, it was like everyone was in their own little world. In joy of the peace.

Yukimura continued the song but humming to himself and closed his eyes. All he could think of was his family that were safe from the Ishya explosion and how he was thankful that they are alive and safe in a far away region.

That song... it was a song his father taught him that his father before him sang. It was a song about a Samurai's final battle against a Vast Blue Hawk.

Sanada always wondered who was that Hawk, but to him, it ment an obstacle that you had to overcome.

Though he was relaxing, his guard was still up, in case someone decided to attack him unarmed. Well, actually his Spear was 5 inches away from him MAX. But, he had good reflexes.

Yukimura took a deep breath of the landmark's, peaceful air. And continued humming his tune.

Then, Tepig walked up next to Yukimura and looked down at his face.

Yukimura smiled, still humming, and patted Tepig on the head.

Tepig leapt for joy, poked Sanada and ran away.

"Hey! You want to play tag Tepig?" Yukimura asked with a laugh.

Charizard saw his partner get up and chase Tepig, but it knew Tepig was the playful type and kept flying around.

Yukimura tried to catch Tepig as it ran away in circles around tree by tree.

Yukimura slowed down and looked up at the sky...

||NOTES;; If anyone is wondering, this is Yukimura's image song the song he was singing and humming to. =>http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=NGOsnp2Oz1A&list=PLF481F427C7B41717

Isn't he a good singer? >w<||

Will had been walking for some time now. Odd how he found himself in Angel Heights. Normally, he wasn't one to take 'easier' routes. These type of places were more attractive to weaklings as well as more populated in general because of the lack of strong pokemon prowling about. Yet, it was one of the few places he had not taken the time to explore and that annoyed him. Call him a perfectionist, but he relished in studying every area. Besides there might be a certain type found here that wasn't necessarily found in other areas. However, much to his dismay all this place seemed to offer was an abundance of daring teens.

He avoided them, drifting silently among the spots that were easier to hide in. Not that some of these kids could be bothered to notice him with how intent they were with each other. His time drifted away and Will was set on this day being wasted for nothing. With luck, he might be able to salvage it though. He was running low on funds and there was bound to be some cocky bigshot of a weakling wandering around. The plan was simple: find such a weakling, taunt he or she into a battle, crush them mercilessly, and earn the funds he needed. This plan was quickly derailed when the lull of a song came drifting on the breeze to his ears.

It wasn't bad per-say, but it was very annoying. Carefree and cheerful, Will was determined to avoid it. However, the sight of a Charizard made him reconsider instantly. Such a fine wild specimen in this area was impossible. So it most likely belonged to the owner of the voice. With a heavy sigh, he pressed closer. He hadn't gotten the chance to study the flaming lizard up close and his curiosity got the better of him. Notes could always be improved and no great achievement was won easily in the long run.

Thankfully, the song stopped soon after he got close. Will's mood took a turn for the better at not having to listen to that stupid melody any longer. The Charizard still flew overhead. Now that he was closer, Will felt a creeping sense of disappointment start to develop. It didn't look as large as the studies claimed or as robust. The skin tone looked off as well, Freshly evolved? If it was a newly developed pokemon, then there was still room for development and it would take time for the stronger signs of quality to become noticeable. Still, Will could tell that the blaze at the end of it's tail burned strongly. Maybe the trainer wasn't a complete novice.

Will paused as a new pokemon came into view, rounding a tree before laying eyes on him. A Tepig? The trainer certainly seemed to fit the part of a fire enthusiast. But why a Tepig? The evolutionary line's product was vastly lacking. Emboars were slow and bulky. They could give a few good hits, but it was rare for them to stand against a return volley without proper defensive training. If the trainer needed more fire pokemon to fill his slots, there were much more promising pokemon to choose from. Even in terms of fire fighting hybrids Emboar came up short in Will's opinion. An Infernape or Blaziken would trounce one in a straight up fight with superior agility, speed and a wider style of martial arts.

A proper Emboar could still take hits that would stagger lesser pokemon and get up afterward. Maybe that was the strategy? The Emboar softens up the enemy with strong blows while the Charizard swoops in to finish them off with a torrent of fire?
Will shut down the analysis before he could continue other scenarios. The trainer was either an idiot or knew what he was doing and that was basically it. This wasn't his pokemon anyway so he couldn't find it in him to care if the person had to get demolished repeatedly before he found and fixed the weaknesses. So he continued, ignoring and brushing passed the little piglet. Coming into view he caught sight of another individual, male, dressed in a samurai get up and toting around a spear as long as he was tall.

Rather than being intimidated, Will was blunt as he walked up brazenly. The breeder had nothing to fear and could defend himself with pokemon or fists. His curiosity over the Charizard needed to be sated. "Yo, that your Charizard?" His thumb jerked up to the circling pokemon to emphasis his question as he waited for an answer.

He must have looked quite a sight. Appearing randomly, disturbing the peaceful...whatever this guy was doing, and asking straight up about his pokemon. Add to the fact that his hair covered his eyes, it being far too long since he'd gotten a proper haircut as it went down to his shoulder blades, and wearing in a torn up green tracksuit with nothing more than a duffel bag at his side and poke'belt around his waist. But he didn't care and its not like he had any ill intent.

Yukimura heard a gruff voice from behind. It sure shook his peaceful moment but it wasn't a threat at least. If it was, well, that guy better say goodbye to his head.

Yukimura picked up his spear and looked at the newcomer.

He smiled, "Yes, that's my Charizard, he just evolved too."

Tepig looked up to the stranger and started wagging his tail, Tepig liked meeting new people.

Charizard saw the red head and didn't like his aura. So it landed next to Yukimura and just looked at the stranger.

Yukimura was happy to see someone out here.

"I'll introduce myself, I'm Yukimura, what's your name?" He smiled as he stuck his hand out for a hand shake.

Will rolled his eyes in annoyance when the man hefted up the spear. An intimidation tactic? Maybe just a flaunt of power to ward off any possible attack? All empty. Spears were both complex and extremely simple weapons to a trained body and mind. The thing would be as good as a twig if Will wanted to cave in the man's skull. Whatever, let him stay in the comfort zone he'd build for himself. So long as Will could get a decent look at the Charizard he didn't care. Will's impatience was rewarded by a thankfully quick answer which confirmed one of his theories. The lizard was a fresh evolution.

However, the Tepig from before had waddled up to him now and the breeder found himself distracted by it. He focused on the pig pokemon once more. Upon closer inspection he could pick out more detail that he'd missed during his initial study. He began mumbling to himself as he knelt down for a closer look. "Curious. A fine coat, well taken care of. Wide chest, sign of good breeding. Legs are still short, but gaining girth. Possibly soon to evolve? Still too slim though..." The breeder looked back up as the Charizard crashed down next to its trainer. The sudden gust kicked up by the pseudo-dragon sent Will's hair whipping about and revealed the breeder's sharp emerald eyes.

Still, the red haired man's eyes focused on the trainer instead of the pokemon. "Start feeding the Tepig a bit more, gradually so no setbacks occur. It'll probably gain a few pounds, but that will make the evolution into the next stage easier for it to adjust to in the long run. If it gets too slim, it'll start becoming more sluggish." Finally, the breeder stood and noticed that the man that dubbed himself Yukimura had held out a hand to shake. Will looked at it strangely before recognition dawned on him. A gesture of good faith? Where there any downfalls to accepting and returning one?

He mused over it for the briefest of seconds, weighting the odds. Taking the hand would reveal his own. Many warriors could judge training from the style of callouses on the hand. Will was well aware that his knuckles were quite thickly scarred and his hands were rough as sandpaper. It would point to him training to fight with them. Maybe not the style outright, but unarmed fighting nonetheless. He carefully chose to take the offered appendage and give it a firm shake. It was for the sake of knowledge in the end. There were more tricks hidden from view if the man turned on him.

"Ryan," he stated simply. "Mind if I examine your Charizard?" he asked carefully. There weren't many ways to ask in a way that could get the point across and be polite about it. The breeder had become out of touch with much of normal human interaction over the years. He looked towards the fire lizard and judged the short distance. 'Short, but I can move out of the range for a defensive position if it attacked with flames. Anything physical is easily avoided considering the new body and how much distance it'd have to close in a short interval.' The breeder met the Charizard's eyes easily, hair still blown back from the wind prior.

It would either back down or issue a challenge if not up to standards. A sudden attack would reveal lack of proper training and the tamer needing to establish a stronger foundation of dominance in his team. Backing down meant it was weak willed or simply uncomfortable in sudden confrontation in its new form. If it was properly tamed, however, it would simply await the trainer's command and most likely wouldn't disobey unless Will intentionally insulted its pride. The risk was already taken into consideration and all drawbacks could be avoided and responded to in kind.

Yukimura laughed a bit, "I really appreciate your advice, but Tepig here doesn't want to evolve! By the way nice to meet you Will!"

But Yukimura could see Will was lost looking at his Charizard.

"Hey my Charizard always looks at people when he doesn't like them, but he won't attack. Don't worry. It's a Warriors' Pride not to attack an unarmed person."

Charizard stared right back at the Breeder and then flew off.

Yukimura sighed, "Well I guess that means he didn't mind you." He scratched the back of his head, "You know, his guard's been up like this ever since that fight with Team Imum. We were ambushed from behind and he never forgave himself... I managed to drive them back by hand but..."

He paused.

"Whoops, sorry, I went on a tangent there didn't I? Sorry!" Yukimura smiled as he snapped out of the flashback or his home town being destroyed by Imum.

He cleared his throat, "Ahem, so uhh... I can tell you know your stuff about my Pokemon, are you a breeder?" he asked.

The breeder winced slightly when the guy practically shouted his answer to him. Okay, perhaps that was an exaggeration but Will wasn't used to the sound of another person's voice or much noise in general. There was a vague sense that this person, Yukimura he said he was called, didn't have much of an inside voice. Still, the pair were outside so it seemed that Will would just have to get used to it. Even as the young man listened to the boisterous spearman, he kept his eyes on the Charizard. That didn't stop the words from striking him as odd anyway.

A pokemon that didn't want to evolve? Yukimura said that like the creature had a choice. It would have to become stronger somehow and it's current body would only struggle to keep up against more mature species. A Tepig couldn't produce hot enough flames to oppose higher level pokemon even with type advantage. The creature wouldn't be large enough to prove a thread to more advanced stages either. Pokemon that didn't want to evolve served better as pets than a trainer's fighting team. It was a fool's notion that would either get the Tepig or Yukimura himself killed. This charizard, as strong as it may be, wasn't invincible. However, Will might have been getting ahead of himself. There were still plenty of slots the man could have filled his team with to balance out one odd choice.

Speaking of the Charizard, it hadn't attacked. Will found himself the slightest bit disappointed by that. An excuse to crush the creature in a battle would have been perfect and without repercussion because it would have made the first strike. With a few beats of its powerful wings it took back to the skies above. A sigh escaped Will's lips, the disappointment growing slightingly heavier. Trying to brush it off, he focused on Yukimura once more.

"Warrior's Pride?" Sounded small minded. Will didn't carry an obvious weapon so that meant he was less of a threat? No wonder the creature had trouble with Team Imum. Those and their ilk were nothing but pests, a hindrance alone and a annoyance in numbers. Will found himself reassessing the Charizard. Would it be able to survive a battle where it had to place everything on the line? If it had to discard that very pride to win, would it? There had to be finer specimens out there. If the newly evolved whelp flying above was the best they had to offer the hype over them was ill deserved.

"Yeah," he responded, slightly bored now that nothing new was there to catch his attention. Will didn't shy from an battles though, but he was a breeder at heart. "Where are you other pokemon?" A Houndour or a Growlithe maybe if he was the fire enthusiast he seemed to be. If not, then a grass or electricity for balancing a team?

Yukimura noticed that his voice somewhat stunned Will, so he diled his voice down a bit, not too much to a whisper, but a normal speech tone.
"Yes, a Warriors Pride, I'm from a family that has always had the strongest spearmen in history... I don't have any other Pokemon actually. But My Pokemon have extra moves to counter-attack their Type-disadvantages."

Yukimura was slightly confused why was he criticizing his friends like this?
Sanada really looked at his Pokemon as friends and Training partners...

"I know I don't have all the answers but..." he sighed, "I do what's best for my Pokemon, my friends, and I let them make their own choices."

The guy was from a famous family, good for him. However, Will didn't hold much care for that train of topic. The breeder just waited a while to see if the man would be forthcoming with more pokemon. When Yukimura admitted that he had no others, Will's eyes widened. The surprise was short lived though. Will soon added that to the information he was gathering about this man. was he a complete fool or just have the devil's luck? How he'd made it this far was astounding. Granted, he could have had and lost other pokemon. Maybe it spoke of his skill as a trainer or merely as a spearman. It wouldn't be unheard of for him to be a driving force against weaker pokemon, fighting alongside his pokemon as they adapted to battle.

Will admitted that his notions and intentions were well founded. Your pokemon being able to cover some of their weaknesses always remained tactically sound. However, it didn't mean that it was as useful as just having a pokemon of that type instead. A solarbeam from a Charizard paled in comparison to that from a Venasaur. Just because a pokemon could learn a move didn't mean it had too. By Yukimura's mindset, he ran the chance of spreading his pokemon specialties too thin leaving them lacking in higher ranking battles in the future. Still, he let it go. It wasn't his team to care about. And apparently there was nothing else left here for him to be interested in.

"No one has all the answers," he grunted out. Will was irritated now. All of this had basically been one big waste of time. His original agenda had simply been examine the Charizard and that was a complete bust. He took out a cig to ease what would surely become annoyance very soon and lit it with a simple flick of his lighter. Blowing out a stream of smoke above his head, he mulled over something else. Friends, the man seemed intent on conveying that part. A little too sapy sounding to him. What was next, tree hugging? Will's hand strayed to brush against his pokeball belt. Could he consider his pokemon friends? He didn't know. And that was food for thought.

Blowing out another breath of smoke, he shrugged his shoulders. "Well, sorry for wasting your time then," Will stated and moved to turn away He felt restless now. Then he paused and turned back, "Where'd you catch the charmander?" That would provide something for him to vent towards. Will could simply go there and catch one, crushing any other pokemon that got in the way. If he couldn't study this Charizard the next best thing would be to simply train one up from scratch to examine. The breeder could use a new specimen anyway. He'd have to drop it in storage when it had served its purpose, but that didn't matter.

"No, no, it's alright Will!" Yukimura smiled, "I met Charizard when I was 5 years old, it was living in the backyard of our house for a long time."

Yukimura frowned suddenly, "I caught it when I was 8, usually you're able to become a Trainer once you're 10, but it was different... Charizard's parents were captured by poachers one night... We tried to stop them, but we didn't know they had fire arms and the poachers shot Charizard's father and dragged away his mother... Charizard never had a family since then, so that's when I caught him. I wanted to give him another chance well..."

Yukimura stopped and looked up at the sky, "He wasn't the only one that lost someone that night..."

Tepig could see Yukimura's current despair and frowned, he knew what happened, Yukimura told him before.

But, as Sanada was standing looking up at the sky...
He was just waiting for Will to ask him what happened, if he actually cared.
Probably not.

His...house? His house! Will let a frustrated growl escape at those words. Of course, why have the pokemon within a reasonable area where he could catch it? That would be too easy. He roughly combed a hand through his hair, scratching his scalp in the process. Full of dead ends with no clues to go off of. Wonderful. Even if he did find the little lizard breeding ground, there was most likely nothing left. Poachers would have drained it of life. Those uncouth scavengers had no sense of self control when it came to a prize.

From the way the upbeat spear wielder had become silent, Will could go with the obvious guess that the incident had a profound effect on his development. He lost someone, friend or family given the age. If he was that young then lover was out. The breeder could fit most of the puzzle pieces together even without the man telling him of his past. With a heavy sigh he spoke. "Might controls everything, and without strength you cannot protect anything, let alone yourself." It was a harsh lesson, but one that had to be learned, often painfully.

Will wasn't saying he could relate to the man in front of him, but he could understand. If Will prodded, would the man explain? If he did, would Will care? The breeder wouldn't give him a pity party and wouldn't humor him if he became a bundle of snot and tears in the retelling. With a heavy sigh, Will relented as curiosity once more got the best of him. "You gonna leave the puzzle unfinished or fill in the holes for me?" The breeder asked bluntly.

"You are correct... I did learn that..." Yukimura sighed and looked back at Will.
"I'd rather leave the puzzle alone..." he tried to grin, but it sank into a small frown.

The wind blew slightly in the breeze.
Silence.

{{Sorry it's short and the looooong time to reply }}

Will could tell. The way the memories haunted the man in front of him. How his face flashed with something he couldn't classify. And the finality in which the smile he plastered on his face withered and died into a small frown. Such a lack of control. Though, Will couldn't really blame the young man. When faced with you own deepest secrets, especially in your own mind, control often slipped from your grasp. Strange how he seemed to deal with it.

Plaster on a fake smile. Ignore it never happened or rather, push it back and let it fuel you. Similar to how he himself functioned, but different. Will could fake emotions, act normally, but he wasn't. This person tried to become his mask, hiding behind false simplicity. At least, that was Will was determining through initial analysis. No more clues were given from him though and now Will could only fill in blanks on his own.

A gentle wind pushed and played with their hair. Will's own locks danced like a fire while Yukimura's swayed gently. Silence cascaded around them only broken up by his curious little fire pig milling about. Will stood there, trying to put a question into words. Maybe words that would inspire instead. Oddly enough, Will felt his words trying to reach out and form sentiment. Yet, such a thing was still so far out of his reach to say the words and mean them.

Instead, he focused and finally leveled a stare as his features hardened. "I'd like to see that Charizard in action. Mind doing a little training while I watch?" He couldn't just leave. Not when he was so close to making comparisons to this fire pokemon and his own. Even the Tepig could provide something. Show him why the man and pokemon resisted the natural evolution path.