Happy Fourth of July to those living in the U.S.! Meh is back with chapter 11, and the plot is really picking up now! Enjoy!

"Ahh, home sweet home." Gingka sighed as he entered his old home in Koma Village.

"Ryo! You look good for your age." Hokuto commented.

Gingka blinked. "Uhh… Hey Hokuto."

"Is Gingka with you?!" Hokuto asked. "I'll bet he's grown."

Ryo, who was hiding just outside the door, snickered quietly, motioning to the others to listen in as Hokuto kept chattering, not giving Gingka a chance to get a word in.

"How old is he now?" Hokuto asked.

"Hoku-"

"Twenty-something, right?"

"Hokut-"

"Man it's been a long time since I've seen him."

"Hokuto, I-"

"He's an adult now?! How did I not think of that?!"

"Hoku-"

"I need to stop imagining him as a teenager, I suppose, and wait to see him now that he's fully grown. I'll bet- Ryo?" Hokuto paused and looked back at the redhead in confusion. Gingka was occupied sweatdropping and glaring.

"What's wrong? Did I say something?" Hokuto asked. The next instant, hysterical laughter began echoing from outside. Gingka facepalmed.

"You guys are so not helping!" He shouted over his shoulder before turning back to a confused-looking Hokuto.

"Ryo, what's…?" Hokuto trailed off.

"Wrong Hagane…" Gingka chuckled, shaking his head and trying his best not to look amused.

Hokuto's mouth dropped open in shock. "Wait, so..."

"Yup, you just mistook me for my dad, apparently." Gingka sighed, shaking his head again as Ryo entered, still laughing. Hokuto looked extremely embarrassed.

"O-oh… You've... grown." Hokuto said sheepishly.

"Hasn't he? Sorry Gingka, but I had to see how this would work out without me in the room." Ryo chuckled.

Gingka rolled his eyes. "Sheesh, thanks dad." he said sarcastically.

"There's the good little doggie!" Madoka exclaimed, dropping next to Hokuto and scratching his head and chin before the dog even had time to realize she was there.

"Whoa! Hang on a second!" Hokuto yelped, leaping back. "Madoka?! You've all grown!"

"Well, it has been what… Ten years since I last saw you, and longer for Madoka?" Gingka scratched the back of his head, frowning slightly in thought. "Man, comas mess with your brain…"

"Comas? As in the medical state where you don't wake up?" Hyoma raised an eyebrow as he entered.

Gingka looked at the ground. "Yeah… There's a reason we came back… With this many people."

"To explain in short, Gingka woke up a few months ago from a coma that he'd been in for exactly five years, and now there's something we need to do." Ryo said.

"What is it?" Hokuto asked.

"We need to find my dad and ask him about the tales that his father told, about a…. being… Named Pegasus." Ryo said.

"And why are you suddenly so interested in those old fairy tales that my father told me?" An older-sounding voice asked as the tapping of a cane was heard from down the hallway before an elderly man with white hair, leaning on a cane, entered the room, looking around with golden-brown eyes that seemed to be younger than the man who possessed them.

"Hey, Grandpa!" Gingka greeted, walking over and hugging the old man.

"Ooh you've gotten big!" The old man exclaimed, hugging Gingka back before pushing him away to arm's length so he could get a good look at him. "How old are you now?"

"... Twenty-six…" Gingka chuckled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.

"Well. I'm getting old."

Ryo chuckled. "No kidding. Even I almost can't believe how much he's grown."

"He's strong." The old man commented, taking Gingka's hand firmly in his own. "I can feel it. I can feel the power flowing through him. I bet his beybattles are quite the spectacle by now."

"Yeah… They were…" Gingka said, his eyes darkening slightly.

"Is… Something wrong?" Hyoma asked hesitantly.

"I'm not a blader anymore, Hyoma." Gingka sighed, turning his attention to the ceiling.

"Huh? What in the world… Are you talking about, Gingka?!" Hyoma exclaimed.

"Has something happened to Pegasus?" Hokuto asked.

Gingka shook his head. "I'll explain later. Introductions first." He motioned to the others, who were standing rather awkwardly behind him and Ryo.

"Oh! I'm sorry, where are my manners? I am Kentaro Hagane, Ryo's father and Gingka's grandfather." the old man introduced himself, holding out his free hand.

"I'm Madoka Amano, one of Gingka's friends." Madoka said sweetly.

"Girlfriend…" Benkei coughed.

Gingka and Madoka flushed beet red.

"Oh, his girlfriend, huh? Nice to meet you, Miss Amano."

"Please.. Just call me Madoka." Madoka stammered, shooting a glare over her shoulder at Benkei, who was grinning from ear to ear.

"I'm Zero Kurogane, and this is my wife Ren and our son, Eiichi." Zero said, indicating the two behind him.

"Well, nice to meet you too, Mr. and Mrs. Kurogane." Kentaro said.

"Tsubasa Ootori, another one of Gingka's friends." Tsubasa said. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Hagane."

"And you." Kentaro smiled.

"And I'm Benkei Hanawa!" Benkei shook Kentaro's hand enthusiastically.

"Well, nice to meet all of you." Kentaro chuckled. "Now, shall we sit down and have some cake? Hyoma, there is some left, right?"

"I'll check while you guys sit down." Hyoma said, going into the kitchen.

Kentaro, meanwhile, turned into the living room and sat down slowly with a sigh. Ryo and Gingka sat on either side of him, and Hokuto curled up between the feet of the three Haganes. The others sat down in various places around the room.

"No cake, sorry." Hyoma said as he entered. "So… What did happen then?"

Gingka closed his eyes, looking at the ground. "It's… Complicated… Very complicated."

"Just sum it up. It's not too complicated for that." Ryo said.

Gingka opened his eyes and leaned back, tucking his hands behind his head and staring at the ceiling. "Well… Basically… There was this deal thing that I was offered. I didn't want to take it, but I ended up having to because Nemesis returned and I needed the power the deal gave to beat him. That deal basically… Well, fused me with Pegasus… But I don't know how to use the power now that I have it. That's why we're here. Well, hopefully. We're here to find this guy who said his name was Pegasus, because he said we'd meet again."

"Why here though?" Hyoma asked.

"Because of my father's stories, you think this is a good place to start?" Kentaro guessed.

"Yeah. Do you have any ideas?" Ryo asked.

"Those were just legends… Old stories. I loved them when I was young, but there wasn't truth behind them, although my father went so far as to draw maps of the places the stories happened. He made up ways for certain landmarks around here to have happened."

"Such as…?" Gingka asked.

"Those rock formations with the holes in them, for example."

"The ones that I used to fire beys through for training?" Gingka said, blinking.

"Yes. My father said that they were created by Pegasus himself."

"What if they were…?" Madoka asked. "It's not like there's another way that they could have been done that I can think of."

"But… The precision required… And we know that Pegasus does exist, so it's possible." Tsubasa said.

"You know that he exists?" Kentaro said.

"We saw him." Ryo said. "Right after Gingka went comatose from the transformation, Pegasus caught him out of the air and told us to take him to the hospital. He handed Gingka to me and said we'd meet again, then disappeared."

"You're sure it was him?" Kentaro looked suspicious.

"Well… He had the same name. It may not be the Pegasus from your dad's stories, but we don't have any other place to start." Ryo said.

Kentaro frowned. "But… He'd have to be extremely old to still be alive. Even if what my father said was true, and he never aged over the time that my father knew him, that was nearly seventy years ago."

"What was?" Madoka asked.

"The last time my father ever saw him. He told the story of Pegasus coming on his wedding day, just before the ceremony, and telling him that they would not meet again. That was about seventy years ago, around ten years before I was born."

"Did your dad say what he looked like?" Gingka asked. "It'd make it easier to find him."

"All I remember was that he had blue eyes and hair." Kentaro said. "My dad always described him that way. He was quite the mysterious figure as well. He never let anyone else see him. Only my father ever did."

"Well, that's a start… It could be the same one, but I suppose we'll find out." Gingka sighed.

"Gingka….?" Zero suddenly sounded nervous.

"What?" Gingka blinked confusedly, looking around the room. Everyone was staring at him in shock.

"Your eyes, Gingka…" Madoka whispered.

"What about them?" Gingka said, beginning to feel uncomfortably nervous.

"They… Just look." Madoka said, handing Gingka her compact mirror, which she had pulled out of her pocket.

Gingka took it, his hand shaking slightly as he opened the mirror and looked into it. His eyes widened at what he saw: a single streak of glowing blue straight down the center of each eye.

"The transformation… Is that… Part of it?" Ryo asked.

"Rago got the same one and his eyes were fully glowing…" Gingka muttered. "So it probably is." He handed the mirror back to Madoka. "It's still a bit… Unnerving to see it though."

"Yeah… But it looks pretty cool as well." Ryo commented.

Gingka smiled slightly. "I guess so…"

"Well then, let's piece together some of these old stories and find this guy, shall we?" Kentaro said after a few moments.

Gingka nodded and stood. Ryo stood and helped Kentaro get up.

"There's an old box in the attic filled with those stories. My father wrote them down and put his maps in them as well. There is one map that he said Pegasus gave to him on his wedding day, along with a letter." Kentaro said.

"We'll get them. Is the box in a specific place?" Zero asked.

"It should be right in the center, and it is labeled as "Dad's Pegasus stories." Kentaro said.

Zero nodded and saluted, then climbed into the attic as Hyoma lowered the ladder. Soon enough, he found the box that Kentaro had named, and handed it down to Ryo before returning to the ground level himself. The group then returned to the living room, where Kentaro opened the box to reveal several dusty stacks of paper. Laying atop the stack were several faded blue feathers.

"Those… Are too large for any bird that lives around here." Kentaro said, lifting one up and running his finger over it. "I didn't put them in the box. I don't remember even seeing them."

Gingka slowly reached into the box and picked up a small envelope that was laying atop the stack, just under the feathers.

"That… Has your name on it. That wasn't in there either." Kentaro said.

Gingka took a deep breath, examining the envelope before opening it.

"This is fairly new paper. It's definitely not as old as the other stuff in here." Ryo commented as Gingka pulled out the paper inside the envelope, reading over it and narrowing his eyes.

"What's it say?" Madoka asked.

"Read it aloud, would you?" Kentaro requested. Gingka nodded.

"Looks like some sort of challenge thing." the redhead said.

"Just read it." Benkei said.

Gingka sighed and began.

"Gingka: By the time you find this, you'll have likely figured out that there might be a connection between me and your great-grandfather. That is correct. I did know Hiro Hagane back when he was young. He and I were even very close friends, but, as you will find out fairly soon, friends fade all too quickly when you've taken the deal. However, that is beside the subject. I know about the deal merely because I myself took it many years ago. How many is not important. I am waiting for you. Where, I will not say, lest this fall into the wrong hands. All I'll say is that it's somewhere you've been before, but only once have you been there. The letter I gave Hiro just before his wedding will give you more hints as to my location. Consider this the first challenge to your new powers. Find me, if you can, and I'll show you more. Good luck.

-Pegasus."

"So… He is near enough to have slipped this into the box, along with those feathers, and he wants you to find him now?" Madoka said.

"Apparently." Gingka sighed, trying to shake Pegasus's words from his mind.

Friends fade all too quickly when you've taken the deal…

Gingka shook his head slightly, growling under his breath.

"Is something wrong?" Madoka asked.

"Nothing." Gingka smiled gently at her. "Let's get working on finding this guy."

"Alright." Madoka said, although she wasn't convinced. Even with the glowing streaks in Gingka's eyes, she could see that something was indeed wrong.

"So it begins…" Pegasus muttered to himself as he stood atop Mount Hagane, his cloak flapping wildly in the wind. "He has arrived here, and it shouldn't take him too long to figure out where I am. The hard part… Will be actually getting to me. But he can do it. He already has the strength. He just has to learn how to use it. In the meantime, I will simply be watching."

Hey look, Pegasus is back! XP He'll be showing up a bit more over the next few chapters, and I'm approaching my main plot twist! Until next time, as usual, Galaxy out!