This is a holiday special and NOT part of the story To: Yuma From: Dad however the story is set in the timeline. This is set sometime after the World Duel Carnival and just after "Ray Shadows" comes to the school. Ray Shadows is in quotation marks because he is really Vector and Ray Shadows doesn't technically exist.
Anyways, I hope you enjoy this holiday special :)!
Fireworks and Sparklers
"Come on Yuma we're gonna miss it if you don't hurry up!" Tori yelled to Yuma who was slowly running behind her.
"I would be faster if I didn't have to carry all this stuff," Yuma complained to the rest of us.
"Well, it's your fault for taking the bet," Cathy countered as she jogged past Tori who was somewhere behind me.
"I thought I could do it. Rosemary did it," Yuma whined as he struggled to keep up.
"Yuma you knew you couldn't pull off beating Rio in a triathlon," I shouted as I reached the top of the hill where Rio and Shark were waiting.
"It looked easy," Yuma complained as he caught up to Tori who was at the bottom of the hill.
"Rose is right. You couldn't beat Rio," Bronk shouted from behind me.
"Yes. Rose is right your athletic skills are as good as your dueling," Astral commented. As he floated up the hill being the second of the group to reach the top.
"My dueling is great so then I must be a great athlete," Yuma cheered as he sped up a little.
"Yuma, your dueling isn't exactly great," Bronk spoke as he stopped for a second to catch his breath.
"I was the champion of the World Duel Carnival wasn't I," Yuma yelled as he and Tori reached the top where most of us already were.
"True and he has been kicking the Barian's butts," Ray exclaimed as he reached the top of the hill right behind Yuma and Tori.
"I think you're forgetting that Rose was the crowd favorite and was most likely to win but then she got ill forfeiting her spot in the semi finals," Cathy frowned as she walked over to the part of the hill where Astral, Rio, Shark, and I were.
"Hi," Rio chimed as she greeted us with a smile and wave.
"Hey," I replied as I stretched from running so much.
I had convinced Dr. Faker to put on a fireworks show to celebrate the 4th of July because that was a tradition back home in the real world and he owed me for helping Heart. Even though I loved Zexal I did occasionally miss some traditions we did in the real world back home. I was overjoyed that Dr. Faker had agreed to my idea and then I told Yuma, Astral, Shark, Rio, Bronk, Ray, Cathy, Tori and Heart about it. Cathy, Rio, and Tori almost immediately started to plan a party before the fireworks show.
Yuma and the rest of the group walked over to where Shark, Rio, Astral, and I were and sat down. Yuma was all too happy to set the bags he had been carrying down. Rio and Shark had already brought some blankets and food for our Fourth of July party. Yuma had carried the rest of the food as well as some fun activities to do while we waited for the fireworks. I could already tell we were going to have a lot of fun.
"So what do we want to do first while we wait?" Tori asked as she and Rio passed out blankets.
"Uh. I'm hungry," Yuma complained with a frown as his stomach growled loudly.
"I guess that answers Tori's question," Ray smiled as he opened one of the bags containing food.
"Just grab whatever you want," I smiled as I went over to the bags to help pass out food.
I wasn't hungry but I figured the others were. I finished helping with passing out the food and grabbed a bottle of soda. I twisted open the cap and brought the bottle to my lips. I tipped the bottle back and internally sighed as the cold, refreshing liquid reached my mouth. After a long drink of the ice cold soda, I pulled the bottle away from my mouth into an upright position and twisted the cap back on the bottle.
I moved the blanket I had been given to a spot over on the other side of the hill. I sat the bottle in the grass next to the blanket. I thought this spot away from the others would give me some peace and quiet that you don't get when you live in the same house as Yuma unless Yuma's asleep but even then he snores rather loud. This spot also had a fantastic view of the city and where the fireworks would go off.
I unfolded the blanket and laid it on the grass. Then I sat down and stared out at the city. It was only 7:30 in the evening and since it was summer the sun wouldn't set for another hour or so. Then I felt someone's presence next to me and when I turned my head to see if someone was there I saw that I was right. Shark had sat next to me and was looking at the city as well.
"Beautiful isn't it," I sighed at the sight.
"Yeah. Almost as beautiful as you," Shark whispered the compliment in a way that seemed romantic as he smiled happily for the first time in awhile.
"Shark," I whined since we both knew that we were more like siblings or best friends than lovebirds and I didn't harbor any romantic feelings for him.
"I was joking. You know you're like my little sister," he teased as he gave me a quick kiss on the forehead before he stood up and walked to the other side of the hill.
I turned my head so I could see the sun slowly start to lower in the sky. The soft summer breeze blew against my cool skin and messed my hair up a little. I loved summer and all the good times and new memories it brings each year. I could tell this was going to be the best summer yet.
Then I felt an arm pull me close to the body it was attached to. I moved back resting my weary frame against the warm figure behind me. I turned my head slightly to see Astral smiling gently at me. I rested my head in his shoulder and sighed a bit.
Then after a moment of peace he turned me around to face him. He rested one of his hands on my shoulders as he took the other and cupped my chin turning it slowly to face him. Astral's hands were soft and warm against my cool skin. He looked deeply into my eyes as I looked just as deep into his. I saw a smile tug at the corner of his lips as he leaned over towards my right ear.
"I want you to stay away from Shark for a few days," Astral whispered into my ear his breath sending shivers down my spine and creating a tingling sensation throughout my entire body.
"Why?" I whispered into his ear as he slowly pulled back.
"He seems to be getting to close to you for my comfort," Astral replied moving his hand that cupped my chin to hold one of my hands.
"Are you jealous Astral," I questioned a bit playfully as I giggled for a moment.
"Well I uh think Shark is spending too much time with you lately that's all," Astral muttered as he blushed a little.
"I think you're jealous," I smiled as I watched Astral's blush intensify slightly.
"Am not," Astral defended with a huff looking almost like he was offended.
"I'm not dating Shark. I'm dating you," I laughed as Astral looked at me with a bit of uncertainty.
"True. But that doesn't mean you aren't harboring romantic feelings for him," Astral pouted in a way that was kind of cute.
"I couldn't, no wouldn't trade you for the world. For me you're the kind of person I want to spend the rest of my life with. Also you know I could only ever love you," I whispered as he pulled me into a hug.
Then I pulled away slightly and looked at Astral. He smiled at me and I am pretty sure I was blushing a lot. Then he leaned in and put his face only inches away from mine as he slipped his hand behind my head and kissed me. I was a bit shocked at first but then I kissed back. After a few moments we broke apart and I rested my head on his chest.
"I love you Rose," Astral spoke softly in my ear.
"I love you too Astral," I replied as we watched the sun set.
"Hey lovebirds do wanna come over so we can all watch the sunset together," Shark called out with a small sneer on his prideful face.
"Coming," I hollered in response as Astral and I stood up.
We walked over hand in hand to where the others were and sat down. Tori and Yuma were sharing a blanket and so were Shark and Rio. Everyone else had their own blanket to sit on. Astral and I sat on Ray's blanket and watched the sunset from there. It was a beautiful sight to see and being with all my friends made it spectacular. But, being with Astral made it even better and a bit romantic.
At last the sun set and was gone for the evening. Yuma and Tori handed out matches and sparklers that we all eagerly grabbed. We were about to start lighting the matches when we heard a noise behind us and turned around. Kite, Heart, and Orbital 7 had come to join in the celebrations which I expected Heart to show up sometime but, not Orbital 7 and Kite. I smiled as I handed them some of the sparklers and matches we hadn't given out yet when they got to the top of the hill.
Tori lit a match and quickly set Rio's, Shark's, Yuma's, and her sparklers on fire before she blew out the match and threw it on a nearby blanket. I did the same thing except I lit my sparkler along with Astral's, Cathy's, Ray's, and Bronk's. Kite had already done the same thing as Tori and I as he helped Heart light his sparklers. Then we all waved our sparklers in the air and danced around with them. Laughter quickly filled the air as dusk came before darkness enveloped the sky.
After a few minutes we had used up all the sparklers and cleaned up all the trash. We had brought a trash bag to put all our trash in so we discarded any trash we had into that and sealed it for the moment and left it by our bags. Everyone was talking to one another just like any other sparklers were fun even if they only lasted for a little while the memories we created on this night would last forever.
Then I got an idea. This would be a good way to pass time since it was only 8:45 and the fireworks wouldn't start until 10:30. I had thought dueling but after all the craziness going on that involved dueling, I decided on something else. I hoped everyone would be up to the challenge I had in mind.
"I have an idea on what we could to pass time since we still have a while until the fireworks start," I chimed as I pulled out my phone and went over to where the bags were to pull out a speaker.
"What is it?" Yuma asked excitedly with a big smile spreading across his face.
"A dance competition," I smiled as I walked towards the bottom of the hill gesturing everyone to follow me.
I walked down the hill and everyone actually followed. I sat the speaker by a streetlight and then walked to the middle of the street. I turned to face everyone who had curious looks on their faces. I wondered if they knew what I was talking about.
"Okay so how it works is at the start there will be 3 judges and the rest of us split into teams. Kite, Orbital, and Heart can judge because I don't think dancing is your thing no offense. All the teams will break off and work for 30 minutes on a dance routine. Then we'll all come back and perform the routine we prepared," I explained as I saw heads nod in understanding.
"So what do the judges do?" Heart inquired interested in the idea I had proposed.
"The judges decide which group wins and moves on to round two. Round two is where the team that won round one splits up and performs individually. Each person will pick a song and do a freestyle dance to it that they make up as they go. Then everyone who didn't make it to round two and the judges pick who was the best dancer," I answered and finished my explanation with a hopeful grin.
"So a competition," Yuma mumbled in thought.
"Yep." I cheered as I thought about the songs I would do.
"I'm in cause I'm feeling the flow," Yuma yelled as he leaped up into the air.
"Sounds fun," Tori laughed as I got nods of approval from the rest of the gang.
"So how do we want to divide up the groups?" I asked already thinking of it in my head.
"How about splitting up into groups of three?" Astral suggested as I thought about how to form the groups.
"Why don't Yuma, Astral, and Ray be a group. Next Rio, Shark, and Bronk can be a group. Then Tori, Cathy, and I will be the last group and I volunteer my team to go last to perform. Is that okay?" I suggested as I scrolled through a mental list of songs I knew.
"That sounds great," Rio replied as she led Bronk and Shark to an alleyway a few blocks down.
"Alright let's go," Cathy spoke up as Tori and I followed her down a street nearby leaving Yuma's group to practice by the hill.
We walked down the street a little ways so that nobody else could hear us practicing. Cathy, Tori, and I sat down on the paved sidewalk. I could tell they were thinking and I was too. What song were we going to dance to, I thought.
"Hey Rose why did you have us go last?" Tori spoke breaking the silence.
"That way we will have saved the best dance routine for last," I replied giving them a huge grin.
"Oh I get it now," Cathy exclaimed with a hint pride.
"So what song do you guys know?" I questioned changing the subject.
"Um. Do you guys know the song "Lush Life" by Zara Larsson?"Tori asked knitting her brows together.
"I think so," Cathy answered as I nodded my head in agreement.
"That would be a great song to dance to," I smiled as I started visualizing choreography for the song.
"Yeah. Let's do it," Cathy cheered as Tori nodded her head in agreement approving the idea.
We spent the next 15 minutes coming up with a routine and the last 10 minutes perfecting it. Our routine was going to be difficult to beat. At the start of the routine I was in the middle, Tori was on my left, and Cathy was on the right. We had excellent timing and even better dance moves. That was going to bring us to the top.
Finally it was time for the teams to perform. Shark's team was up first. I had my phone connected to the speaker so everyone agreed we would play the songs from my phone. I handed my phone over to the judges so they would be in charge of making sure the music plays.
"Heart make sure Kite and Orbital don't go through my phone to look for information to blackmail me with please," I asked Heart glaring at Kite who stared back with an eyebrow raised in curiosity and then glaring at Orbital who shuddered from my icey state.
"Okay," Heart chirped with a smile on his face.
"Alright then, let's get started," Kite spoke as he scrolled through the list of songs on the music app on my phone since Rio had already told the judges what song her group was doing.
"O-okay you may bb-begin" Orbital stuttered as Kite hit the play button on the song and Shark's group took their positions.
The sound of instruments blending to create a melody came out of the speaker and filled the otherwise silent air. As the song progressed and I started to recognize the song. They had picked "Umbrella" by Rihanna. Their song choice was like their timing and dancing, excellent. They routine seemed just as good as ours if not better.
After about 4 minutes Shark's team finished. They panted from all the exercise and moved over to the side to make room for Yuma's team. Rio, Shark, and Bronk sat down against a wall nearby to watch Yuma's group. Yuma joyfully whispered to the judges what song they had picked.
Astral and Ray had already taken their positions. Yuma took his position as soon as he was done whispering to the judges. Kite found the song and hit play. The familiar sound of the song "Shut Up and Dance" by Walk the Moon started to play over the speaker. I could tell they didn't spend a lot of time practicing. Their moves were a bit unorganized and putting Yuma and Ray in the same group probably wasn't the best idea. It occurred to me then that they probably spent more time goofing off then rehearsing.
Their dance was more goofy than anything. The entire song they would gesture to their crush or girlfriend. So Astral would point at me, Yuma would point at Tori, and Ray for some reason pointed Cathy. I guess Ray had a bit of a crush on Cathy. Unfortunately for him, she was head over heels in love with Yuma. But, maybe one day Ray would find someone.
During the song the rest of us even the judges danced along to the song. "Shut Up and Dance" was too fun not to dance to. Finally the song ended and Yuma's group cleared the way for ours. Cathy and Tori took their places while I told Kite what song we were dancing to. After about a minute of discussion with Kite I joined my group on the street and took my position.
Kite hit the play button and I heard the music start. The song started to play and we began our dance. All our moves were perfectly coordinated and timed. I was having fun and I could tell Cathy and Tori were too. After a nerve racking 4 minutes the songs was over and we stopped.
We moved over to the wall where Shark's team was and sat down. Cathy, Tori, and I were exhausted from that intense dance. Now we all had to wait for the final result. Everyone except the judges, whispered to one another on who they thought won. I thought that Shark's team won because their routine was incredible and well timed. But oh well, even if my team did lose it was a lot of fun.
"Okay we have our winner," Heart announced as the judges broke their huddle.
"Here's how it went. Heart and I both liked different teams. Orbital was the tiebreaker and picked the winning team. So Orbital you do the honors," Kite smirked as he straightened up.
"A-alright the winners are Rosemary, Cathy, and Tori. T-they will p-proceed to the next round. So g-get ready for r-round t-two!" Orbital exclaimed as my face brightened and a huge grin spread across my face.
"Yeah! We won!" Tori yelled as she jumped up and started doing a victory dance.
"Congratulations on winning round one. Your team did an excellent job," Astral whispered in my ear as he pulled me into a tight hug.
"Thanks Astral," I spoke as I blushed and kissed his cheek briefly before breaking the embrace.
"Do you have to go right now?" Astral complained with a frown that made my heart melt a little.
"Yeah, I have to go win this competition," I smiled as I headed over to where Cathy, Tori, and the judges were already standing.
"Okay you each pick a number between 1 and 20. The one closest picks when they want to go," Kite explained.
"I pick the number 4," Cathy replied with a cat like grin.
"I want the number 12," Tori exclaimed in excitement.
"I guess I'll pick the number 8," I smiled at my choice feeling pretty good about the number I picked.
"The number we were thinking of was 7 so Rose you can pick when you want to go. Then you can pick , Cathy, since you were the second closest," Heart announced as he gave me a big hug and I saw Astral flinch just a little.
"I want to go last," I replied as I walked over to an empty space and I started to stretch for my dance.
"Okay then I'll go second ," Cathy laughed as she went to another empty space to warm up.
"I guess I'm going second then," Tori shrugged as she went to warm up as well.
"Alright you have two minutes to stretch and chose your song. Then we will start round 2," Kite sneered as he and the other judges sat down.
Cathy, Tori, and I all stretched and prepared for the last leg of the competition. This was the last dance so I knew I had to give it my all. I decided to pick the song "Handclap" by Fitz and the Tantrums since it was I thought it was a fun and upbeat song to dance to. I love dancing so I did it often giving me lots of experience to work with.
"Y-your time is up," Orbital proclaimed signaling Tori to tell the judges what song she was going to dance to.
Tori whispered the song she was doing to the judges and then took her place in the street. Heart tapped the play button and I recognized she had picked the song "Location" by Khalid. Her dance was a bit clumsy but not horrible by any means. She was a bit off on the timing occasionally but other than that she was excellent. I think I could beat Tori but, that depended on if Cathy was better than her. If she was then Cathy would be the person I had to beat.
Tori finished and Cathy took her place, Cathy had told the judges what song she was doing before Tori was done so she could go ahead. Heart hit the play button and the song "Immortals" by Fallout Boy came on. Cathy was very agile and that helped when she danced. I was very impressed and a bit concerned. She was going to be difficult to beat and that meant I had to step up my game.
Cathy was finishing the song and so I decided to tell the judges the song I was doing so I could start right away. I had a great entrance planned and hopefully I could pull it off. I walked to the edge of the hill as Cathy finished and moved out of the way. I reached the bottom of the hill, turned around, nodded to Heart as he got the signal, and watched as Heart hit the play button.
As soon as the music started I ran and leaped into a cartwheel followed by a roundoff, back handspring, aerial, back tuck, and double twist combo. I smiled as my timing was perfect. When the singer sand the line turn it up I was finishing my roundoff by quickly punching up in the air before going into my back handspring not breaking my momentum. Then as the first verse started I had just landed my double twist finishing the combo.
My moves were coordinated and well timed for a improv dance. I knew that my entrance made my dance over the top. Sure Cathy had done some aerials, handsprings, and roundoffs but, what I did was even better. My favorite part of the dance besides the entrance, was the chorus. I had a lot of fun coming up with dance moves as I went.
Then finally the song was over. I went over to the wall everyone else was sitting at and I sat down exhausted from dancing. I waited for voting to begin and closed my eyes for a moment. I breathed heavily exhausted from all the exercise I had just done. I hadn't looked at everyone so when I opened my eyes I did. They all had a stunned expression of some sort on their face. I don't think they expected me to do what I just did.
"Okay let's vote," Kite spoke the first of the gang to snap out of their shocked state as the others started to recovered.
"Who votes for Tori?" Heart asked as Yuma and Orbital raised their hands in the air.
"W-who votes for C-Cathy?" Orbital asked as Ray, Shark, and Kite raised their hands.
"Who votes for Rose?" Kite asked as the rest of the group raised their hands.
"I guess Rose wins," Heart cheered and gave me a big hug as I watched Astral flinch again.
I sighed as I thought about how much help Astral needed. Almost every time I interacted with a male or they interacted with me Astral felt a little jealous. I still loved him though. I broke off the embrace between Heart and I before running over to Astral. I threw my arms around Astral and gave him a hug because I had to let out my excitement and happiness somehow. He pulled me in closer and leaned his chin in my head.
"Congratulations once again Rosemary for winning. You are quite a remarkable dancer," Astral whispered in my ear as he pulled away.
"Thank you Astral," I smiled as I walked over to Kite who had my speaker leaving Astral a bit depressed.
I collected my speaker and turned it off. It had a carabiner on it so I could hook it in my belt that was around my waist. Then I made my way back to Astral who perked up when I reached him. Yep. He definitely needed help. But, I loved him no matter how much helped he needed.
"What time is it?" Yuma asked as he looked towards the hill.
"Uh. It is 10:28," I answered as I checked my phone before putting it back in my pocket.
"Well I guess we better get going," Ray commented as we started walking back to our spot on the hill.
Astral slipped the fingers of his left hand into my right hand. I tightened his light grasp slightly as we started running/ floating up the hill. As we all reached the top the first of the fireworks were bursting in the air creating rings of color. Quickly we all sat on our blankets and watched the fireworks as they bursted in the night sky and created many different patterns in gorgeous colors that were mesmerizing. I knew then and there that was and going to be the best summer that I had ever experienced.
Happy 4th of July everyone! I hope you enjoyed.
I do not ship Ray and Cathy together. I just used that as part of the story. Also I do know that 4th July is an American holiday and that Zexal is in Japan. I had them celebrate it because Rosemary is from America.
I will possibly update To: Yuma From: Dad later this week as an addition to the special story I published but, if I decide not to I will update the story sometime next week.
Sorry it was so long. Please review and tell what you think.