bo looked over at the voice, familiar to him already from television. in what little time he had to himself between roman and increasing ranger work, he did his best to keep up with all of the major battles.

”hey, alexei! how’s it goin’?” he smiled, making his way over with thwackey still near his feet. ”yeah, that’s right. boruta maher. good to meet you, man. i’ve seen you battle a lot. really impressive stuff.”

one day, he figured, they would have to have a traditional battle.

”sounds good. let’s do it.”

Alexei Ivanov

☉

bo gave a chuckle too. he wondered if CIAN MAHER was dealin with any similar rush at his minor league gym.

it felt pretty good to be recognized from hst by someone distinguished.

”thanks, man.” and at alexei’s question, he reached for his aerodactyl’s ball and held it up in two fingers . ”yep. brought aerodactyl with me.”

alexei opened the door for them. ”ah, thank you.” and they made their way in. thwackey looked up at the gym leader with puppy-dog eyes when he was mentioned.

”yeah, i mean, he’d ride along if i let him, but i guess that’s not really the safest, huh?”

Alexei Ivanov

☉

bo grinned ”oh yeah, he’d enjoy that, huh thwack?”

the monkey perked up, clearly excited about whatever was going to happen, regardless of whether it understood.

when flying-types swarmed, bo was both surprised and enchanted. this place was special, different than anywhere he’d been before. he could only scarcely remember being in an aviary once as a child.

”that’s incredible,” he remarked in awe, as they scattered.

pool noodles. bo turned, looking very amused. ”hell yeah,” he laughed. ”okay.”

he went to pick a noodle—a yellow one—before returning to his dragon. ”which one's thwackey's?”

Alexei Ivanov

☉

bo smiled at the other aerodactyl—definitely his favorite flying-type, except for angelo vestri ’s. it had nearly killed him, after all.

the majestic braviary that approached them was a rare sight, as beautiful as anything else in the aviary. ”thanks for this,” he nodded, and went to raise thwackey onto the bird’s back. it settled there, greeting its new friend. ’thwack!’

that done, bo mounted his dragon and rode it into the air, looking down to make sure thwackey was holding on as they ascended at the tail.

almost immediately, they were charged at. ”holy shit,” bo laughed to himself. ”come on, let’s go!”

he wielded his noodle, and they charged forth airborne. thwackey cheered by drumming up a war beat high above its head.

|gXnaMtg

Alexei Ivanov

☉

it landed! bo hollered and laughed as they rounded back for a u-turn. ”don’t worry about it!” maybe aerodactyls had it out for him, though?

thwackey was appreciative of the feather gift. it trilled, taking it and fitting the plume into its leaves before beating its branches together even harder.

when alexei and his aerodactyl came in for contact, bo pulled up on shoulders, encouraging his own skyward in a pinch. as they passed, he twisted and swung his noodle, grinning.

he was a fan of traditional battles. he’d nearly opted for it—but this was far more fun than he’d predicted. hopefully neither of them were actually javelined off of their respective dinosaurs.

u95Wk8Pp

Alexei Ivanov

☉

bo grinned as the noodle made contact, and they were able to pull out of the way just in time. a tight, a+ aerial maneuver, really, if anyone worth their salt was grading. thwackey certainly seemed thrilled from the sidelines, clacking and hollering in contrast to its sore, feathery loser of a mount.

”quit goin’ easy on me, alexei!”

then, as they curved back around in the air, they were caught short in their blind moment by karma, or at least a close call. a barrel roll out of nowhere.

”shit!”

they did their best to dodge, but it really was right there.  

45ERcVyF

Alexei Ivanov

☉