"Tell you what, amigo!" Juavez kept dancing in front of his opponent, "Dodge one of my attacks and I'll call it your victory, okay?"
"Oka-Hey! Isn't it the other way around?! Shouldn't it be 'Hit me once and it'll be your victory'!?" Issei readied himself before getting launched but a moment later.
Aaaaand it's over already. Man, I still can't believe this guy beat me and Ed back when we went to save Meil and Lee at that hideout just a few months ago. Is Issei really this useless without his gadgets? I almost feel bad for him after seeing how much Juavez has been toying with him, but he just doesn't know when to quit. Hell, we've been sitting here waiting for him to give up for hours, yet even after he lost the twenty fifth time, he still keeps asking for a rematch. And Juavez' fighting style, it feels taxing on the body, yet he doesn't seem the least bit winded. He calle it capoeira earlier, so is that it's name? Oh, speaking of names...
"Juavez... What's it mean?" I asked.
"Mn?" He tilted his head, "I do not follow."
"No, I meant like, all names have meanings, right?" I anxiously explained myself, "So what does your name mean?"
"Must all names have meanings?" He pondered with a light smirk, "Maybe mine does, or maybe not, but it is not mine to decide."
"Be that as it may, Socrates, the guy asked you a question, so the least you could do is answer back with something." Issei threw him a nasty retort, "By the way, Issei is written with the kanji for "One" and the first kanji for "World". Pretty cool, isn't it?"
"Mine's Maple Child, though it'd probably be more fitting if it was Wind Child instead." Freddy chuckled.
"Whoa, Japanese can fit such long meanings in such little names? Kinda makes me jealous now..." I sighed, "Lune comes from the Moon, you know, but that's about it."
"How interesting, you three learn new things from each other despite coming here together as a travel group." Juavez smiled, "And you, garota? What's your story?"
"What'd you just call me?" She fussed, "In any case, how the hell should I know what Sandy comes from? I swear, you guys sound just like those astrology girls who base their entire lives on their zodiac signs right now."
"What's wrong with that? It's just a bit of friendly banter to get to know each other better." Freddy laughed, "You really ought to learn how guys function, Sands. You seem to be lacking quite a bit on that front."
"Can you blame me? I went to an all-girls school, after all." She pouted.
"Ah, see? So we did get to learn something new from this." He kept egging her on, "See Sands, life doesn't have to have a reason for the things that happen in it. Sometimes just talking about seemingly pointless stuff can make you learn quite a lot about the people around you."
"Vovô speaks in riddles, I see." Juavez nudged Issei as we all snickered at Freddy's sudden words of wisdom.
"Oh, a nickname already? I kinda like it!" Freddy all too easily accepted the foreign nickname, "By the way, are you and nephew gonna fight or what?"
"I've grown tired of him." Juavez shrugged, "He has been bested by me over a dozen times now, and yet I stopped finding it fun after the third time."
"Eh? You should've said so earlier then, asshole!" Issei rubbed his sore spots, "I didn't wanna continue getting beaten up by you hours ago too! But I thought you were gonna laugh at me so I kept going!"
"If you're out, I'd like to give it a try once then." I suggested, "I wanna try mimicking that capoeira thing he does."
"Phah! Mimic, he says!" Juavez couldn't help but burst into laughter, "You believe capoeira to be easy!? Then, I give you the best of luck, but please - Try not to make a fool of yourself too quickly!"
A fool? Who does he take me for? If he's the master of capoeira, then I'm the master of my own fighting style, the erm... The Taunting Butcher Style! L-Look, we'll work on the name later. But still, you can't deny that the style I've cobbled together from training with my dad, Aaron and Cecily has a ton of similarities to this one. Both styles focus on taunting the opponent with flashy moves before decidedly going for the killing blow when they give into a predictable rage filled pattern. The only difference is that mine uses weapons, whilst his focuses on hand-to-hand combat.
"No, no! Is that supposed to be dancing?" Juavez scolded me, "Your steps are all over the place, that is not how you enjoy capoeira!"
"Yeah, getting mad?" I snickered, "Go ahead and try to stop me if you are, then."
"Mn, no." He stopped in place with a look of disappointment, "Amigo, do you think capoeira is supposed to offend the opponent? To taunt them until they run in blind?"
"Is it not?" I stopped as well.
"Of course not." He sighed, "Your footwork is good, but tense. Tell me, have you been in street brawls before? That is what your wild movements remind me of."
"A couple, I guess." I tried to remain humble, though I think he saw right through me.
"Then tell me, amigo, are you good at dancing?"
"Huh? Like regular dancing?"
"Yes, normal fun dancing."
"Not at all." I shook my head furiously, "Hell, my wife and I pretend boxed for our first dance because we just couldn't learn the steps."
"I remember that, it was kinda cool." Issei drooled, "Though Othelia was kinda keeping me busy the entire evening, heheh..."
"I kinda wish Juavez beat you up just a bit longer now." Freddy held back tears of envy.
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"Then what do you propose I do?" I asked Juavez.
"Follow my lead." He did a simple four step shuffle, "1~2~3~4~1~2~3~4..."
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"1-2-3...?" I followed awkwardly, "Damn, how do I...?"
"Don't get lost now!" He laughed before switching it up, "1~1~4~3~2!"
"E-Eh!? Don't just suddenly...!"
"And 5!" He did a one handed handstand all of a sudden, "Come on, now! Try it!"
"Damn, so help me if I break my neck doing this..." I gulped before following suit, "Ack! What now?"
"He actually did it?" Freddy stood amazed.
"This guy's actually pretty fit..." Sandy too admired.
"Yeah, almost makes you forget he's a thirty year old guy at the end of his prime~!" Issei threw kissy faces at me.
Dammit, I'm trying to focus, don't go making me think about how my life is whittling away, asshat! Tch, gotta focus, can't let him screw me over... Not now, not like this!
"Keep calm, keep loose." Juavez reminded me, "You are doing good. I can tell your body is capable of following me very well, so please do not go tense on me."
"R-Right, sorry!" I followed him as he pushed himself back into a standing position, "Argh, not even gonna let me rest before going to the shuffle again..."
"Does one stop to rest in the middle of a dance?" Juavez chuckled, "Capoeira is the dance of the mind, body and soul. You dance, laugh and joke, leading yourself to naturally move on to the next step... Fight!"
"Whoa!? Don't go cutting the tutorial short and throwing me into the final boss battle all of a sudden!" I just barely dodged his punch as I stepped back, "You ass, I'll get you for that!"
"Hey, look at that." Freddy could barely be heard whispering to the other two spectators, "He dodged the attack, but Luneski's still shuffling his feet without missing a single beat."
"He's a quick learner, especially when it comes to fighting." Issei replied, "He was a bit rusty the last time I saw him fight, but I imagine this peaceful world has been making a buildup of energy form for a while now."
"Ah, they're going in again." Sandy pointed.
One, two, three, four, one, four, one, two, two, five, four... Six? Seven, four, one, eight... The steps keep escalating, seemingly adding in my hands and arms into the mix to spice the fiery dance up even more. Juavez, he's an incredible teacher it seems. Obviously I'm not nearly as fluid and calm as he is, but I've never had an easier time learning the fundamentals of a fighting style than right now. As you can imagine, Cecily and Aaron aren't all that good at explaining past "Go wham, then bam", but he made it sound so clear with his explanations! This is fun!
"Haha, almost!" I grazed his cheek before slipping and falling to the ground.
"Damn, he's dead!" Issei bit his tongue.
"Or am I?" I kicked myself back up as I used the momentum to drive in a kick, but he dodged without any issues, "No way, you expected that!?"
"You fell in between beats, it was clear you did that on purpose." Juavez chuckled, "But good tactic! Anyone else would have gotten a kick to the face, amigo!"
Damn, what's this feeling of excitement? This nostalgic flame beating around my heart, calling out for more? It's like I'm back in Great Hiana again, reading martial arts books in the library with Cecily before going to the courtyard together to try them out. Or with Aaron and the other Generals, asking them to spar with me before getting my ass handed to me. Oh, the fun times~! If I could turn the clock back, I'd do it all over again just to be there one more time! With Cecily, the Generals, Ed and... Carter.
"Too tense!" Juavez swept my feet clean off the ground, sending my ass straight to the ground, "Ahh, that tension is sizzling! It burns, amigo!"
"Eh? Burns...?" I looked up at him confused.
"You were doing so well too, but something in your Eyes made you dance with your memories." He elaborated, "Memories burn bright, amigo. The brighter they burn, the clearer you can see their image and thus dance with them. But the more they sizzle, the more it'll hurt you in the end."
"I see..."
"Lune Grimheart, do not dance in the past." He warned as he helped me get back up, "If you do, then there will be no one for me to spar with in the present."
Right, what's wrong with me? I got caught up in thinking about my time in ARA, but those moments are gone. Gone, but they're still present, not in the past, but the present. In my heart, they all dance together, and I make sure to keep them burning brightly in there, but it would be a mistake to join them.
"Yeah, I messed up the footwork at the end." I chuckled, "But dang, this was fun."
"Of course, you are way more interesting than One World overe there." Juavez mocked Issei.
"The hell? I'm literally just standing here and you're gonna make fun of me? Low blow, dude!" Issei stepped in, "That's it, if all you want is for me to dance, then I'll dance goddammit!"
"That idiot's gonna break his spine, isn't he?" Sandy asked Freddy.
"Does it matter?" Freddy started walking towards us as well, "Come on, aren't the real idiots the ones who just sit back and watch their friends dance in front of them without doing anything themselves?"
"You want me to do what England and Brazil just did?" She asked.
"A group of acquantances turned friends dancing together under the moonlight." Juavez noted, "It seems like your name has the ability to connect those around you, amigo."
"Yeah, and maybe..." I smiled back, "Maybe this'll be a fond memory I'll look back on one day too."
"Maybe. Or maybe not." He nodded, "But it is not mine to decide."
And so, alone in the streets of Rio de Janeiro and illuminated by the heavenly moonglow above, we moved these rusty bones of ours until we could move them no longer. How long were we up for that night? Even I couldn't tell you, since I don't even remember how I fell asleep for that matter. Capoeira, it's as if we got drunk off of it - Only smiles remained on our faces for the rest of the night. What a fascinating dance...