Dragons Den

PG

Kenta has been given a clue, something that could help him find his mentor, but first he finds someone who looks eerily like Ryuuga.

Stumbling along the steep hill, Kenta fell flat on his face once again, his body was crying out for him to stop but he refused to listen. He had to keep going, he had to figure out these clues, he couldn't just give up.

He can't be… He isn't… There is no way… He tried to stop the tears from falling, he thought he had become so much stronger when he had travelled with the other blader, but right now he found that wasn't the case, if anything his strength came from the other blader.

His body won the battle in the end, he passed out on the open hill, not realising that someone was watching him struggle, not realising that this person was going to be the one to help him on his quest.

He groaned in pain, surprised that he was face up, looking up at a cloth canopy and his eyes darted around the tent, trying to figure out where he was when his eyes connected with amber eye, a teen with long white hair and a large red streak to the side.

"You're awake," He said, moving towards him with a cup of tea and crouched down next to the bed; "I've never seen someone force themselves up that slope before, it's impressive,"

Kenta just stared at him, he looked like his mentor, but he sounded nothing like him.

"You okay?" He asked and moved to touch his forehead; "You're fever is gone…"

"Who…" Kenta began to croak out and the other teen gave him the tea which he drank greedily; "Who are you?"

"Ryuuto," He said simply; "Who are you?"

"Kenta," He said with a sigh and began to move out of the bed, but Ryuuto stopped him; "I have to continue on,

"You can't, I mean for one thing there is a big storm happening, we haven't moved from this camp site for two or three days now,"

"How… how long was I out for?" Kenta wondered, feeling rather sore still, but he remained sitting up, with his legs over the bed, though they began to get goose bumps due to the cold and he covered them with the blanket.

"Almost two days," Ryuuto said and looked at Kenta's expression and nodded; "Yea, we thought it was bad too, but nothing can reach us up here,"

"I… I could have…" Kenta said, stunned that he might have died out there in the wilderness, having become too stubborn to listen to his bodies pleads to stop.

I could have died… And all I wanted was to find Ryuuga… He began to rub his eyes, trying to keep the tears away.

"What were you doing out there, you didn't have much on you, and how were you planning to survive?" Ryuuto asked him and Kenta felt something within him snap.

Who was this teen to ask him all these questions? Sure he saved the younger boy, but really the questions were intrusive.

"A blader doesn't need much to survive alone," He repeated what Ryuuga had taught him when they had travelled together.

Ryuuto scratched his head; "Yea? Well that's all well and good, but if you don't know what you are heading into then that doesn't mean much. Without being prepared you can't survive,"

"You can, it's just another challenge," Kenta snapped at him, hating the other male even more, not just because his words sounded like something Ryuuga probably would say to him, after all Ryuuga had been doing this kind of traveling for a lot longer than he had and on his own too. But he also hated the other because of how he looked so much like Ryuuga, even his name was similar.

"Yea but if you're not used to doing this type of thing it can get you into trouble," He shrugged and took the empty cup from him, turning his back on the younger male and pouring out some more tea from the small travel kettle that was on the little travel stove.

Kenta became silent, knowing that the other was right, he wasn't used to traveling alone, he should have been better prepared; "I guess…" He said softly.

Ryuuto poured out another cup of tea and handed it to him; "Well you can rest up here, we can't go anywhere either,"

"Oh, yes, thank you," He blushed at his rudeness, thinking that Ryuuga really had rubbed off on him; "Er, what are you doing up here anyway?"

Ryuuto smiled, his eyes lit up and Kenta realised that he was about to talk about something that he loved; "I found this map, it said it would lead us to…" He brought out the map for Kenta to see and his eyes went round as he pulled something out of his pocket urgently; "Huh?"

"It's…" Kenta showed him his map and he cried out;

"No way!" He looked at it closely, seeing that Kenta's map didn't have any of the fine details that his did; "What…" He noticed something; "Ryuuga?"

"Yes, I got this in the post and I… I want to know the truth,"

Ryuuto frowned, thinking over how he had heard that name before; "Ryuuga," He tossed the name onto his tongue and then remembered; "Oh, Madoka spoke about him being a legendary blader," He noticed that Kenta was near to tears and tried to think if he had said something wrong; "What is it?"

"He gave his power to me," Kenta wiped the falling tears off his face, only for them to be replaced by more tears.

He just stared at the shorter blader and looked at the maps, frowning; "Huh, whatever is there, it's in the same spot," He grinned; "Where's the harm in us both going to look for it?"

"Huh?"

"Well we're both heading for the same place, why not travel together?" Ryuuto suggested; "Besides I don't think you'll be in any condition to move around yet and with this storm," A loud gale whipped through the tent and Kenta shivered while the other male seemed to be unaffected by it; "We need to wait until it passes,"

"All right, I guess I can wait," he wrapped himself tightly in the blanket, noticing again how Ryuuto seemed so similar to Ryuuga in that moment.

He's just used to traveling around. Kenta tried to assure himself, but part of him wasn't so sure.

XXX

They had begun to travel two days later; it had been rather tough to begin with for Kenta, he found that Ryuuto had a lot of energy and would stride on ahead, forgetting that he had a new companion with him.

Soon they found that while the men made camp, they kept going, searching for clue to help them figure out which was to go.

Kenta sat down with a thump, his feet were killing him, he was tired and thirsty when he heard Ryuuto cry out in happiness; "Did you find something?"

He grinned at him and nodded; "It's the entrance,"

Kenta clambered over the boulders and rocks to see the entrance, just as it was pictures in Ryuuto's map. The design over the doorway was intricately done, showing two dragons as though they were dancing, although Kenta noticed that it appeared to be two different kinds of dragons, one was clearly Eastern, but the other… The other was from the west.

"Let's go," Ryuuto suggested and Kenta got his second wind, the pain in his feet was still there, he still felt tired, but he pushed it all to the backburner, because they were now there. He was so close to seeing what would happen, if the map he had been given was true.

Ryuuto brought out his torch and Kenta kept close to him, wondering what else could be down here when they finally came upon a cavern that gleamed from the giant crystals around them.

"Woah…" They both said at the same time and Ryuuto suddenly noticed something; "Hey… This." He moved towards one crystal and narrowed his eyes; "There's someone in here!"

Kenta scampered towards him, but before he could get close he found a trap had been laid, a hole began to open up in the ground and he just managed to spring out of the way.

"You all right?" Ryuuto said, surprised that the trap had opened then and not when he walked over it; "What did this Ryuuga guy look like?"

"He.. Eh… Similar to you,"

Ryuuto felt his heart stop, he had hoped that he was just seeing his crystal reflection, but given how battered and scared the male in the crystal was he knew it wasn't true, no matter how hard he hoped otherwise; the male in the crystal looked similar to him.

He quickly looked at the map and frowned, noticing that there appeared to be something almost dancing on the floor, and when he looked down at the ground below he was the pattern, a pattern only a bey could follow. He grabbed his blue bey and released it letting it follow the swirling patterns on the floor with accuracy and he grinned, proud that Dragonis knew what to do, while Kenta looked at the bey he stared at it.

"Is… Is that a dragon bey?" He called over to Ryuuto.

"Yup, Omega Dragonis!" He called out and noticed that the crystal that held the body of Ryuuga began to crack and his eyes opened suddenly; "Woa!" He began to take a step back, only there was nothing for him to step onto and he cried out.

But a tanned hand grabbed him, pulling him back up without a word. He looked into those amber eyes, glancing at the scars that covered his body and wondered what kind of hell had he been through? Then he heard another bey crash into his own and he turned sharply to see a dark bey attack Dragonis.

"Don't," He said firmly and Ryuuto just looked at him; "L Drago," He grinned "It's show time,"

Ryuuto calmed himself, hearing the name of the other bey and understood what was happening, while Kenta just watched the tow bey's, that appeared to almost be dancing when suddenly the two dragon's appeared out of them, both of them running around the room as if they were playing.

"That's L Drago…" Kenta realised and looked up to see his mentor standing next to Ryuuto and the resemblance was uncanny, but there was something else that was going on, Ryuuga appeared to be healing in front of him. The scars were starting to fade away and as he turned to look at L Drago, the dragon appeared to also become brighter with every movement.

Is L Drago healing Ryuuga?

Ryuuga began to walk down towards him and the two dragons began to slow down, walking over to Kenta he just stared at him for a moment before looking at his bey, the dragon returning to its home and it returned to his hand.

"Ryuuga?" Kenta said softly, wondering if this was nothing more than a dream, a very strange dream.

"Kenta," The former Dragon Emperor just looked at him again and nodded.

Ryuuto looked at his bey and then at the two males, before deciding that he should leave, what he was after wasn't here, at least, what he thought he was after wasn't.

He didn't question why Ryuuga looked like him, he didn't question anything, right now he had to get out of the cave. Part of his was starting to feel rather ill and he wasn't sure why, he never got sick, but right now he began to tremble as though there was something wrong with him.

"Dragonis gave some of its power to L Dragon, to help with the healing," Ryuuga called over to him and he stopped walking, but never turned around to look at him; 2That's why you are feeling weaker than normal,"

Ryuuto said nothing, just continued to make his way out of the cave, not realising that Kenta had called out to him. All he wanted was to get out. He didn't need to know that there was someone similar to him in looks and not only that also had a dragon bey.

He came to the door way and looked up, seeing the two dragon's in a new light, realising what had happened, what the place was…

A Dragons Den.