Touring the City [Maia/Marshal]

"Wow, already? I'm impressed! Of course, now there's no reason for me to hold back. Puppercut!" The canid Digimon looked very relieved to no longer be fighting a literal baby. He slid towards Coronamon, hands raised in a protective boxing stance. First he juked left, then he juked right, and finally he lunged forward in a rising uppercut with his dominant hand. Would the feints successfully throw the lion off in this battle of dogs vs cats? Of course, it was also hard to ignore that there was a new focus in Gao's eyes. Whereas before he was far too flustered to properly do his job, now he was fully in his element. It seemed when he wasn't the constant subject of teasing and jokes, he was actually a pretty measured and talented fighter.

Of course, compared to Grizz, his determination was severely lacking. "You're a terrible liar, kid. And that's coming from someone who knows Gao, worst liar in the pack. Come on, you gotta tell me!" The normally lazy bear was practically unshakeable when she saw something she liked. In this case, that something was seeing a straight-laced, proper looking person turn out to be a complete secret prankster. That said, her attention was briefly shifted to focus on the Digivolving Coronamon, which earned a clap, a cheer, and a shouted declaration of awesomeness. However, as soon as her focus changed it quickly returned, expectant eyes falling right on Maia.

Gao grinned a little as his attack landed solidly, only to feel that burn from Coronamon's shield. It was a good guard, and the Gaomon had to shake his hand a little to get out some of the pain. That kind of singe was going to force him to be more careful with his punches in the future. "Quick thinking! That's going to pay off for you later on," Gao said, hunching back into his defensive stance and trying to plan his next move. It was important to keep the rookie on his toes, or else he'd grow complacent. If he passed that on, he wouldn't be a very good teacher, right? "Alright, this one's gonna be big, so look out! Dogpile!" The Gaomon hopped back, sticking to one of the dojo's walls briefly before springing off. As he careened down he aimed a powerful elbow drop right at Coronamon, planning to crash into him with all of his might.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Keep being a buzzkill," Grizz said, rolling her eyes in response. "And a slingshot that can make you fly? Please, you say that like I haven't been cooking up one of those for a while now. It's too big to drag over here, but I've been working my butt off on planning it. Although, I bet if you ducked down in that cartridge of yours you could fit into one of the smaller slingshots. That thing's really aerodynamic." It seemed like Grizz was way more knowledgeable on matters of pranking science than she was on anything and everything else. Sometimes, Gao felt that if she applied a single bit of that drive to any other aspect of life, she could really be a huge success. Instead, she turned slacking off into an artform.

His rush to the face was met with a projectile at point-blank range. In a real fight that would be a very risky endeavor, met with either significant blowback or a counter. Instead, being a friendly spar, Gao took the hit head on. He slide back, gently nursing the impact site and grinning at Coronamon. "You're picking up on this really quick! But can you handle my strongest technique?" he asked.

As she re-entered the room and heard this setup, Grizz let out a groan of disgust. She even dropped the giant slingshot she was dragging behind her! "Don't tell me you're actually doing this."

"Get ready for the awe-inspiring might of my Wolf Fang Fist!"

Uproarious laughter came from Grizz's corner. "Oh my god! He's really doing this! Put down the Dragon Ball Z tapes, ya big nerd!"

While visibly flustered, Gao turned his attention back to the fight. His fist moved in a blur as he swayed back and forth, feinting in ever direction before unleashing a flurry of open-hand strikes at Coronamon. If he could dodge his way out of this one, he would well and truly be ready for primetime.

Ignoring the big nerd doing his best Yamcha impersonation, Grizz began setting up The Biggun. A tiny folding stand helped support the grand behemoth, which was made of beautiful redwood and primed with at least five different rubber bands. It stood as big as Maia, once fully erected. Clearly, Grizz was not messing around. "Aaaanyway, ignoring tall dark and nerdy over there, this thing's the biggest slingshot Grizzly Pack's ever made. It could launch your cartridge no problem, kiddo. Ready to take it out for a spin?"