"I'm going to be late again, aren't I Kaen?" She whispered softly into the morning air, bringing an arm up to shield her eyes from the sunlight streaming through open curtains.
"If you get up in the next three seconds, rush like hell through everything, and eat breakfast as we run to school, then nah, you'll be fine." A tired voice grumbled into their shared pillow.
"Alright, time me, the record to beat is seven minutes and 49 seconds!" Leaping out of bed and throwing a stopwatch from her nightstand drawer at her Buddy with a sudden burst of energy, she rushed into the bathroom without another second to spare.
With a groan, the great and almighty Buddy of Chiaki Fuji, who was nicknamed Kaen for easier use, managed to catch and start the stopwatch as he rolled off the bed.
"I'll get breakfast ready!" He called as he stood up, a gurgle from the bathroom informing him his Buddy was brushing her teeth coming back in response.
Not even a minute later was the young girl running out of the bathroom, throwing a wet washcloth at him, grabbing two pieces of toast that had just popped out from the toaster, dropped the two too hot pieces of toast onto a plate her Buddy set out, and hurriedly went to tugging on her shoes.
"Wash your face, keep the stopwatch, you can drape the towel over that chair, I have your food, let's go!" As soon as she had her street shoes on, she bit into one of the pieces of toast, grabbed her bag, and ran out the door, not worried if her Buddy would follow as she already knew he would.
The towel slowly peeled off Kaen's face, leaving an unamused out-of-this-dimension being alone in the house with his Buddy running towards Aibo Academy with his breakfast.
"I'm starting to rethink my choices of coming here and becoming Buddies with her." He muttered, crouching down to pick up the washcloth. Yet even with those words, if he was asked, he wouldn't deny the affectionate smile on his face.
"Hey, you're finally here! Here you go Kaen, please tell me the stopwatch is still timing me, ah, we're almost there!" I set an even faster pace as the escalators came into view, glad to have handed off the toast I grabbed for Kaen. My stomach was sad at the loss, but it was never mine to begin with, alas.
"We're at six minutes and 38 seconds, you might break the record. Actual time right now is 7:48, you might be early! Congrats young one, I have trained you well." Kaen commented breezily next to me, not even sweating.
"That's… great." I breathed out as we finally stepped onto the escalator, giving me a nice break.
"Now if memory serves me correct, you promised you would bring a bento for Baku today." Oh. Whoops…
"Ahahaha, you'll catch me if he throws me off the roof, right?" I asked nervously, jogging in place on my moving step to get ready for a speed dash to class.
"I don't think he'll throw you off the roof, you still owe him food after all." Kaen gave me a half shrug, raising his shoulder a bit.
I rolled my eyes, getting into position to run. As soon as I was close enough to solid ground, I raced forwards, knowing Kaen wasn't far behind.
After what must have been the quickest shoe change of my life and the speed limit broken in the hallways, I burst through the classroom doors with a triumphant grin.
"I made it! I'm not late!" I cheered, fist-pumping the air. Sparse applause followed me to my seat. I bowed indulgently before taking a seat next to Gao who was chatting- er, arguing? with Noboru. Something about dragons and knights. Kaen entered a few seconds later, showing my the stopwatch face.
"Um, so I'm sure you did beat your old record, but I sort of re… set the time by accident?" He laughed as if it were a joke, then began sweating nervously.
I groaned, dropping my head onto my desk with a loud bang.
"Kaen, go away, I hate you right now, you ruined my life. Leave me alone to wallow in my misery." I moaned dramatically, my forehead pressed against wood as I stared down at my shoes.
I popped back up to stare into his red and purple eyes. His right eye was a solid red, whilst his left eye was an ever changing array of shades of purple on the color spectrum. As he said before, the color of his left eye depended on a lot of things, his mood, the weather at the moment, how hungry he was, etc. etc. At the moment, it was a light lavender, a replicated color palette of the actual flower.
"Oh, and you better visit at lunch and be back for dinner. I will go out looking for you dude. Please don't make me worry." I gave him a small smile to let him know I wasn't too pissed off. It wasn't that big of a deal, we all made mistakes sometimes, but I still wanted to break the record. A lot. With an actual legit time recorded.
Kaen grinned, flashing quite normal looking teeth at me. Sure his incisors were a bit sharper, but humans have that quality too. So, not too demonic at all.
"See you later then. Hey Gao, Noboru, Kuguru, Baku." Kaen greeted casually, as he did everyday ever since he had joined me at school. (It was a few weeks after he became my Buddy.)
Kuguru waved back, greeting him a good morning politely, Baku was stuffing his face yet managed to say something I hoped was nice with his mouth full, and then Noboru and Gao didn't even hear him as they continued their argument. Kaen waved at us all before he began stepping backwards into one of his portals, off to what he called his travel realm.
"Hey, you can help us resolve this Chiaki! Which is better, Armoured Dragons or Dragon Knights?" Noboru turned to face me, smile on his lips. "Gao here can't decide, but it's obvious Dragon Knights are better."
I rolled my eyes, leaning back in my chair and tipping it so I balanced on two legs.
"Well, I wouldn't say one's better than the other, they both have their own pros and cons. Dragon Knights are pretty cool, I guess. They ride dragons after all. But Armoured Dragons are amazing too. They have their own will, and don't take commands from a rider. They're incredible creatures. I can't decide which is better, but I might be a bit more biased towards Armoured Dragons. Their sd forms are too adorable." I cooed, imagining tiny dragons with chubby cheeks and giant eyes.
"S… D?" Both of them asked.
"Super Deformed. Uh, in simpler terms, a chibi version. Usually it's a chibi, or sometimes like my Buddy, it'll hide… certain… qualities of him that may make the public too uncomfortable. I don't think I've ever had to Buddy Call Kaen in the fights you've seen me in, and he tends to stay in his more humanoid form if not on the battlefield." I answered with a smile, thinking of how fun it would be to surprise them with Kaen's unmasked forms.
He's an angel, he's a devil, he's breath-taking and wonderful, so so beautiful, he captures light and darkness and holds them in his hands like fireflies, he can't be stopped, he makes me question reality, he can see things I never will be able to, he's undefeatable and has the most obvious weakness, he is nothing, yet everything all at once.
He's my Buddy. What a lucky human I am.
"Morning class! Today I have something very exciting planned. We're going to write essays using a Buddyfight card pack! I'd like you to create a short story using your monsters you find inside, and make one of them your main character!" I, along with almost everyone else as Baku was still eating, ripped open the card pack given.
Or cut off the top for the neater people who were organized enough to actually bring scissors. But wait, that means Gao is organized? Or were we all supposed to have scissors and I just lost mine? Eh, I guess it doesn't matter either way-
"Yeah! I got a double rare card! Ha, I can't believe it-"
"Then don't and throw it away." I cut into Noboru's speech. Doesn't he have better manners than to disrupt (my thoughts) class like that?
He shot me a glare before returning to his prideful ego.
"Ahem, as I was saying, check it out! A Dragon Knight Maximilian!" He looks pretty happy at that. Dork. But if asked, I wasn't going to say I didn't find it cute.
"Hah, maybe I've got one too." Gao began pulling out cards from next to me, a hopeful look in his eyes.
"Go for it dude, you never know until you know, and even then, expect it to change." I flashed him an encouraging smile, but he only looked back at me confused.
"What?" Aww, like a puppy dog. He's adorable.
"Well, after living with Kaen for a while, you notice life can be very odd, and the fact that Kaen can manipulate senses of truth and lies doesn't help."
"Oh." He returned to his pack with a smile, pulling out the first card. I don't think he really listened…
"A Systemic Dagger Dragon. Okay. Next one is… Huh! A Latale Shield Dragon! And a Thousand Rapier Dragon! Man, all of these monster cards are so totally cool." At least he's happy with what he got.
"Ha, none of them are rare though, are they Gao?" Noboru just had to butt in with a snide comment.
"Go back to your realm Noboru." I stuck my tongue out at him, gaining an eye roll and a mutter about my immaturity.
"Doesn't matter." You go Gao, brush him off like he's a speck of dust on your shoulder!
"Picking a double rare card is beyond you anyways. I mean, it takes a lot of skill." Worshipper of Tigers gave us a side-glance, smirk curving his lips.
"Yes Noboru, because choosing the pack of unmarked cards takes a lot of skill. I mean, it's not as if it's completely random and as if you couldn't see what cards were in your pack, right? Noooo, it's all skill that gets you there. Totally not luck." I muttered beneath my breath, itching to start another scene, yet knowing I'd be in detention if I did.
"And now for the last card." Woah, Gao can give people the cold shoulder like a pro. Good job Gao.
As he pulled out the last card, it began to glow, then flew away from his hand and turned into a floating ball of pure energy, emanating a glow from its core. It caused some chaos in the classroom before flying out a half-way open window.
"Oh." I sat there for a few seconds with Gao next to me. "You just pulled a Buddy Rare card. Congrats Gao, and it looks like you jinxed it Noboru!"
"Hey, get back here! That's my card!" Late reaction timing on that Gao. Just a bit late.
I slowly stood and walked into the hall, before the rest of the students could. I watched as Gao rounded a corner, then slid down the metal chute of death others would call a slide. It's an accident waiting to happen, how nobody's dead or seriously injured from it yet confuses me. I sighed, looking around. After deciding it was a risk well taken and that others couldn't crush me at the moment, I followed, with far less… grace than Gao.
Read me sliding down head first because I stumbled at the top, nearly giving myself a concussion when my head came only a few centimeters away from hitting the horizontal bar, and ending up dizzy at the bottom having had managed to hold in a scream as I slid down.
As soon as I was sure I wasn't about to die from a blood rush to the head, I went over to sit cross-legged a ways away from Gao, watching with interest as the glowing sphere came to a stop. The orb expanded, wind following. Classes stopped as students and instructors alike raced to get the best view they could from the many windows.
"All of a sudden now, you have nothing to say?" The voice that came from the orb sounded quite pissed off.
Smoke and dust cleared away in streams, free to disperse. In the midst of it all, a red and orange dragon stood, golden armour adorning him with an impressive drill in hand. A tattered cape blew behind him, colored a dark crimson. He had a fierce gaze, power and distaste in his golden brown eyes. Or would amber be a better description? His tail twitched a bit as he looked over to me, eyes widening a bit, before he focused back on his new Buddy.
"Hey, did I miss much?" Came a whisper from next to me, scaring me half into the death realm. I stiffened a bit, forcing myself to relax as I breathed out a shaky breath. I turned my head a bit to meet very familiar and gentle eyes in two different colors.
"Nah, just in time Kaen. Please don't give me a mini-heart attack next time." I leaned against him as he shifted his legs so he sat cross-legged as well. Maybe he was why the dragon had seemed so surprised upon looking over in my direction.
"Yes! It's a dragon!" We noticed Gao, thank you for pointing out the obvious. I'd say a sarcastic remark about now but this is too cute how excited Gao is and I still feel a bit dizzy from my trip down metal death chute.
"Am I forgiven?" Kaen whispered near my ear, his eyes never straying from the dragon. I got the feeling he meant more than just the scare he gave me right now.
"Of course, I couldn't stay angry with you if I tried. Hey, do you know the dragon?" I asked, curious as to whether they were acquainted or not. It was definitely possible Kaen had met him on a trip/training session of his.
"Well, I don't know him personally, but I think I know his card name. If memory serves me correct, Drum Bunker Dragon, Fang Slade Terrestrial the 13th otherwise known as Drum Bunker Dragon Father, who was one of the two who allowed me permission to enter and exit Dragon World whenever I wished, had a son who was looking for a Buddy. That son could be him." Kaen shrugged a bit, my head following his arm's movement up and down.
"What are you trying to pull kid?" The dragon asked as Gao held up his hand. What. Is. The. Child. Doing.
"Just a handshake. You are going to be my Buddy, aren't cha?" Gao, he looks miffed about something and oh yeah, is holding a freaking gigantic and dangerous looking drill, let's not get ahead of ourselves here dude. Idiot.
Luckily, instead of brutally murdering one of the few friends I had, the dragon turned away with a huff.
"Ha, not if I can help it." Harsh dragon dude. Harsh. Gao's first heartbreak, in front of the whole school too- Oh wait, Gao looks fine. Nevermind, return to your daily scheduled programs people!
"But you came out of my card. Doesn't that mean you have to be my Buddy?" Poor, innocent, naive Gao doesn't understand the rules and contracts of the whole Buddy thing does he? Eh, I don't either, but I've heard of Buddy contracts being terminated before. Close enough, or at least better than Gao's knowledge.
"You think Dragon Knights are better than dragons, do ya?" It's a trap, don't answer Gao, don't answer!
"Well maybe I misheard you." The big mean dragon leaned in towards Gao, ready to huff and puff and blow his house down- Oh, wrong realm, whoops.
"Well, I uh, you know!" That's not convincing at all Gao. Run whilst you still can pal. Then again, pissed off dragon dude has a drill. On second thought, I'll just say I'mma be at the funeral.
"Well I'm waiting." Poor dragon dude isn't aware that he's going to have to wait for a while.
Kaen nudged me, shaking me out of my sarcastic, narrative thoughts. His eyes slid over to the side, and as always, mine followed. There, off to the side a few feet, stood a kid who really liked tigers and dragon knights.
"Why'd you listen to that insolent little friend of your's?!" Dragon dude shouted, an accusing finger pointed at my blond frienemy. I think I can see where this is coming from, listen to Noboru talk for long enough and you're bound to get angry at some point.
"How dare he call me a dimwitted monster?!" Mental gasp, how could he?! That's crossing the lines Noboru, respect everyone until they've done something to break that respect.
"You lucked out. How did a guy like you draw a Buddy Rare monster? I just can't believe it. It's just so unfair." Maybe it's since Gao has one of the kindest, sweetest, most encouraging personalities in all of humanity? And you're over here whining and disrespecting dragons in your corner of self-pity? I don't know, but maybe it's just that?
"C'mon, don't be that way." Cue the sunlight to make Gao look even more like the angel he is.
"Huh?" Hahaha, idiot Noboru.
"I may not be the smartest, or know everything that you do, but luck or no luck, the trick is to keep trying and go after what you really want." Words of wisdom right there. I'm so glad you're my friend Gao, everyone needs a bit of sunshine in their life.
"Sure he didn't realm travel with you and pick that quote up somewhere?" I murmured quietly to Kaen. He chuckled and put his hand on top of my head, leaving it there.
"No, I think I'd notice a stowaway. Especially one who seems prone to smiling brightly enough to rival the sun." His breath felt weird on my ear. I rolled my eyes, shifted myself so I was in Kaen's lap and far more comfortable, then continued enjoying the show.
"Right?" I'm positive that Gao can win over everyone with his grin, even this moody dragon.
"Huh? Hey, don't you look at me." Aww, is the giant Armoured Dragon equipped with a mega drill feeling a bit shy?
"I'm still ticked because you believed that whining, sore loser over there. You want to buddy with me, you better show some respect." He understands me…
"Please don't replace me." Kaen's hold on me tightened as he whined into the back of my neck.
"Eh, I have a pretty similar mentality and thought process like dragon dude, but you're far more fun. Never will I replace you, you idiot. We're Buddies." I tossed a quick smile over my shoulder at him, one that he returned albeit a bit more softly.
A gust of wind stopped our Buddy-Bonding moment, forcing me to shield my eyes. Well, I didn't have to wait long to lower my arm, the wind died only a few seconds later.
"It's Jackknife Dragon." The other dragon said. Well this is going to get confusing now, isn't it?
"Woah." Gao seems quite star-struck.
A different voice joined in, once that sounded like it belonged to an authority figure, yet a tinge of excitement barely contained within. A person who loved their work.
"Sorry to just drop in on you, but actually, I'm here on official business. Do you, know who I am?" Called it, he said official business, so an authority figure!
Green light trailing from these disks at the sides of his heels, a boy who didn't look much older than me landed softly on the grass. He had light blue hair in soft spikes and a few gentle wavy strands every here and now in his bangs. His eyes were ruby red, holding a certain quality in them that made it hard to look away.
I was more focused on another detail though.
"Nice pun dude." I nodded at him casually. He looked over at me and blinked, a sheepish smile curving his lips, as if he had finally been caught for the first time stealing cookies from the cookie jar which he had managed to get away with before.
"Tasuku Ryuenji." Noboru breathed out, eyes wide in admiration.
About three seconds later and we were surrounded by small children. Ugh, humans. And nobody has died from the metal chute of death yet. Huh. Weird.
"Well, I guess next time I should have you come in mini form, huh?" Tasuku said to Jackknife Dragon.
"Yes please!" I called out, earning a look that demanded explaining from Kaen.
"Chibi dragons are adorable dude. You know I'm a sucker for cute stuff." I shrugged, Kaen sighed, we returned to the show.
"You're right… But I refuse." Nooooooooo, now I'll never be able to see mini Jackknife Dragon! Tell me it ain't so.
"It's Tasuku Ryuenji, the boy wonder from the Buddy Police! Why is he here at our school?" A different person has joined the main event. Sounds like a fangirl.
Mental note, stay clear of the path between her and her obsessions.
"Listen in as I find out. You're live with school reporter extraordinaire Paruko Nanana and her faithful Buddy sidekick, the one and only Hero World Martian UFO, Takosuke! Come on out Takosuke!" The pinkette held up a card that began glowing the same way dragon dude's had.
So she's got a Buddy, and she's the school reporter. I can make a guess that she Buddy Fights as well, or at the very least, understands the rules. I mean, if she's a reporter for Aibo where Buddy Fighting is immensely popular, then yeah, I'd expect her to know the basics. I guess I won't have to avoid her too much.
"Takosu!" A pink blob with tentacles in a UFO cooed as it came out of Paruko's card. Interesting way to use your Buddy, jumping into the UFO so you can fly...
"Let's go!" Paruko cheered, coming up closer to me, but all her focus was now on Tasuku. Oh, right, you might wanna run bluette.
"Here on active duty, or just come to see me?" I knew she was a fangirl.
"To be honest, I came here to deliver this core deck case to Gao." As if to help him further, he held the core deck case up.
"Here, this belongs to you now. It can be transformed into a core gadget, which will allow you to luminize your deck. Go on, take it." Just take it Gao, Tasuku doesn't seem evil. What's taking you so long?
"Luminize?" Please, please tell me you know what that means Gao, or else somebody's going to explain-
"Any human who becomes Buddies with a monster, is given a core deck case from the Buddyfight Office. Didn't you know that? And yes, of course I have one too." Hey, don't sound so rude. Everyone has a day when their brain is running late.
"Gao, it lets you Buddyfight with a Buddy. I have one too, see- Oh. Whoops. Um, Kaen, mind doing me a huge favor and grabbing my core deck case from home?" I hung my head upon realizing I had forgotten it in the morning rush. At least I always kept one of Kaen's cards on me so I needn't worry about that.
"Oh, and the package." I remembered, smiling up at Kaen. "Fridge, pink box, her name's on front."
"No problem Chiaki. Should only take me a minute." Kaen pulled me up before stepping into a portal. That was a quick farewell.
"Gee thanks." Good job Gao, you remembered your manners enough to thank the blue head.
"This also makes you an official Buddy Fighter. You're now able to go out and Buddyfight with monsters, at anytime and anywhere you want." Tasuku said as Gao turned to me.
"Hey Chiaki, this means we can Buddyfight each other with Buddies now!" Gao cheered, smile threatening to split his face in half.
"Is that a challenge I hear Mister Hotshot?" I teased. "Fight me when you learn your Buddy's name idiot." I rolled my eyes, affectionate smile on my lips.
"Well, bye." Tasuku turned away, getting ready to leave I guess. Too bad for him some people wanted him to stay a bit longer.
"No, hang on!" Gao called.
"Wait, hold on for a moment Bluebell!" I waved my hand around, hoping to catch his attention.
Tasuku froze in mid-step, a confused look over his face.
"Blue… Bell?" And over to the side, I could see Jackknife Dragon covering his mouth as he looked to the side. Stifled laughs came from his direction.
"Where're you going? What if I challenged you to a fight to help train me?" Gao continued without missing a beat.
"Sorry, did I hear you correctly? You'd like to Buddyfight me and Jack from the Buddy Police?" He turned slowly, smile on his lips.
"Well, yeah, that is what Gao said. At least you're not deaf." I had my arms behind my head, and a sarcastic remark just had to get out.
"Yeah! Well, you know, if you're up for it." Holy fudge brownies, either Gao's a clueless, innocent dork, of he's been hiding his taunting skills from me.
"It's too soon to be challenging Master Tasuku of the Buddy Police, don't cha think?!" Paruko leaned in closer to Gao, scaring him.
"Who made him a master? Where did 'master' even come from? Gao's a master black belt, so close enough. And what are you on Paruko?" I asked, tilting my head as a wobbly smile curved half of my face up.
"It's a no-brainer that you'll be completely destroyed! Use your head kid, it's common sense, right?!" Poor Gao's eardrums and my unanswered questions.
"Forgive me if I don't listen to common sense coming from a girl in a UFO." Gao retorted, hands protecting his ears.
"Oh, Gao's got sass. Apply cold water to the burned area." I snickered a bit. Good going Gao.
"Hey you, little human." Everyone turned to see the drill dragon walk towards Gao and scare away Paruko.
"From this moment on, you and I will be Buddies." He finished, eyes set in determination.
"Did you say Buddies?" Gao asked, eyes widening.
"Yes, he did! Ya'll need to get your ears checked, first Bluebell, now you." I muttered.
"Yes!" Gao looks so happy now, there's an even brighter spark in his eyes.
"I am none other than the son of the honorable-" I cut into the dragon's speech, which may have been a bad idea on my part considering the drill he held and all.
"The son of the honorable Drum Bunker Dragon, Fang Slade Terrestrial the 13th. Am I correct?" I smiled at the shocked people and dragon. The son of the honorable Drum Bunker Dragon, Fang Slade Terrestrial the 13th nodded mutely, mouth still open.
"How about I just call you Drum?" Gao was first to snap out of it, it seems.
"Lazy." I muttered.
"Yeah, well how about you don't!?" Drum yelled.
"Whatevs, I'm the leader." No, you're not Gao. You're not the leader. There is no leader. Buddies means partners. Idiot.
"The name's Gao. Gao Mikado." Enjoy your 15 minutes of fame dude.
"You can still take back your challenge if you want to." Paruko sing-songed as she held out her microphone to Gao.
"I don't want to take it back. I don't know why, but I know I have to do this." He definitely looks ready to do this.
"That's why, I'd like to challenge you to a Buddyfight, right here, right now." Hey, I was right, he is ready.
Huh, maybe I'm psychic...
Note that Chiaki is pronounced Chi-Aki. Means either Bloody Autumn or Death in Autumn depending on the kanji used.
Story inspired by The Carnival World Player by B-rabbit28. I've had this idea floating around (with a million other plot bunnies) for quite some time. There's so few Buddyfight multi-chapter stories here. ;-;