Disclaimer: I don't own anything from the Danball Senki series.
At the real world, Arata's side
Something was wrong. That much Arata knew when he arrived back at Japan with Yuko. Something was wrong and Reika is in trouble. He knew he had to get back to Kamui Island as soon as possible. The problem is, Yuko is not letting him go.
"Arata, stop worrying. If anything had happened, Master Houjou would have told us by now." Yuko chided him. While she understood his concerns, she was not too worried since Master Houjou was on the island and the kids will be safe with him. Even so, she knew that Arata never got this worked up unless his instincts were really worrying him. So maybe there might be something wrong…
"Why don't you call Daimen or Muraku to check on Reika if you are that concern." She suggested to calm his frays.
Arata conceded to that idea and dialed Daimen on his CCM. But the Aussie was not picking up. This struck weird but he chalked it down to him forgetting to charge his CCM before he went to bed…again. So he dialed Muraku's number instead, hoping that he was still awake.
Over at the Houjou house, Muraku was attending to his father when his CCM rang. He instantly grabbed it but froze when he saw the caller ID. His father instantly saw his hesitance.
"Who is it?"
"…Arata."
"Oh." He immediately understood his son's hesitance. Even he was reluctant to relay Reika's demise to the red-haired teen. Back at Fantasy, Arata was infamous for his protectiveness of Reika and everyone, even some of the teachers, were afraid of him for that.
Muraku's thumb hovered over the accept button but stop short of pressing it. He knew that Arata would be suspicious if he did not pick up but he could pass it off as being asleep since it was late. But what would happen if he decided to call Hikaru or Haruki next if not Daimen. Daimen obviously could not answer since he was underwater, looking for Reika. And if he called Hikaru or Haruki, they could tell him about the Takeru incident and know that they haven't went back to the dorms which will make him panic and come here immediately. Who knows how he will react if, when, he learns that Takeru had again unintentionally hurt Reika and the Grim Lurker made her missing.
So with great reluctance, he accepted the call while schooling his face to be neutral so as to not give away anything. "Yes?"
"Muraku!" Arata sighed in relief that at least someone was answering the phone. "Sorry for calling so late. Did I wake you up?"
"No. I'm with otou-san now." He said truthfully.
"Oh. Anyway, I wanted to check up if things are ok on your side."
"They are fine."
Muraku and his father blinked in surprise at how smooth those words flowed out of the former's mouth. It did not seem like Arata realized it though or he was more absentminded than he thought. Muraku blinked and lightly shook his head. Maya must have influenced him a lot to be able to lie that well.
"Oh. Can you tell Master Houjou that Yuko-nee and I are back in Japan already but we have to go back to Fantasy to see Lina-senpai. So I'll probably be back by tomorrow afternoon."
"Take your time." Muraku reassured him. Inwardly though, he was nearing a panic attack. They had to find Reika before Arata returned tomorrow.
"One more thing, how's Reika?"
Instantly, Muraku's stomach dropped. The dreaded question. "She not with me at the moment."
"Eh? She's not obeying curfew?"
"She's spending the night with her friends at the dorms." Muraku winced at how lame his lie sounded.
Thankfully, he overheard Yuko calling out to Arata so he did not catch the sentence fully and was now distracted. "Alright then. I'll see you guys tomorrow. Night."
"Good night." The instant he hung up, Muraku collapsed on the couch. "I am never doing that again."
"Arata is not the easiest person to deliver bad news, especially if it is about Reika. But I suspect that if he were in your shoes, he would have done the same."
Muraku turned to face his father with a tired look. "I know." He ran Arata's words around his mind again and sighed. "We need to find Reika before Arata comes back tomorrow."
"I see. But I wouldn't worry about it if I were you."
His father's unexpected response was enough to render him speechless. Master Houjou then elaborated, "If my suspicions are correct, the Grim Lurker is not the one responsible for Reika's disappearance. We should focus more on the Grim Lurker and when he will return. I only hope that we can resolve that issue before the island becomes aware of it."
Muraku was doubtful of this. But he trusted his father nevertheless. He only hoped that she would return in time when the Grim Lurker regains enough strength to strike back.
At the IE universe, Reika's side
"Welcome Aqua Child."
Reika blinked as the light subsided. Instead of the tree at the steel tower, she was in a damp cave with dark blue pools spread around the ground. As Arata had described the cavern of the Fire Ruby, at the end of the cave was a pedestal with a glowing blue gem on it. Standing beside it was a blue hooded figure but Reika managed to make out the curvy figure underneath the robes which means the guardian is a female.
"I have been informed by Oracle of your arrival. I believe you know who I am." The guardian continued. But her head was tilted skeptically at her.
'It was as though she doesn't believe that I can pass the Element Stone's trial.' Reika realized with mild displeasure. Although she could not blame her since she did not entirely believe in herself either.
"If you want the Aqua Sapphire, you have to prove yourself." The guardian continued, walking over to the wall. She tapped on it and a section of it collapsed, revealing a tunnel. "Go through here and you'll find the test."
"Alright." Reika slowly nodded. But the lack of information of what the test is was unnerving. Not to mention the guardian's condescending attitude was getting on her nerves. However, Aquila's words rang in her head.
"But unless you can get this Element Stone, your friends will be in grave danger."
Holding her head high, she brushed passed the guardian and entered the tunnel.
After walking for a few minutes, Reika eventually saw light at the end of the tunnel. Which could be either good or bad. Taking a deep breath, she stepped out of the tunnel. Blinking her eyes, the first thing that she saw was a village without color. She gasped and slowly approached it. The streets were bare and depressingly grey, black and white like the rest of the village was.
"What happened here?"
"Our color was taken away."
Reika jumped and spun around quickly, her hands poised to shoot high pressured water. But instead, she quickly lowered them when she realized it was only a colorless elf who was cowering. She raised her hands to show that she was not going to hurt him and crouched down to his eye level.
"Sorry about that. But what do you mean that your color was taken away?"
"We don't know. One day our village has color and the next day, it was gone, taken." The elf said sadly.
"I'm so sorry. Is there any way color can be restored?"
"Yes. But none of us can get it. Follow me." The elf gestured for her to follow him. He led her to the outskirts of the village where there was a wide gorge with only a thin wire between it. On the other side was a rainbow.
"Our color can be restored only by that rainbow. One must collect its color power and bring it back to the village. The problem is no one has been able cross the gorge. The wire's too thin and no one is brave enough to try it. Even if they did, they would turn back half way." The elf explained.
Reika bit her lip and stared down the bottomless gorge. It would be mean to turn her back on the elf and the village. But crossing the wire sounded daunting to her and not too mention, she could fall off the wire at any moment.
She took a deep breath and muttered, "I can do this. Just do it and get the rainbow's color and get back. How ha-!" She quickly cut herself off before she jinxed herself. Shaking her head with a rueful grin, she thought to herself. 'I'm not going to jinx myself like Arata does all the time. He's done enough of that to last a lifetime.'
She tentatively placed a foot on the wire and pressed lightly to test its stability before stepping on it fully. Gently bouncing on the wire, she did a few flips along the wire. But halfway through, she made the mistake of looking down and gasped. She nearly slipped on the wire with her distraction but thinking quickly, she grabbed ahold of it and held on until she was sure that she wouldn't stumble and straightened herself.
'This is no use. I can't do it.' She squeezed her eyes shut. 'When did I become this unconfident? Normally I can handle something like this better. Oh, Arata was always there to give me pep talks if my confidence gets on the low level. What is that he always told me?'
Flashback
"Reika! You here?" Arata peaked his head into the treehouse that Master Kuriko helped them construct. At the corner, he saw his sister huddled there staring into nothingness. Arata quietly sat down beside her and placed a hand on her shoulder tentatively. "Reika?"
"What?" Reika finally shifted her eyes at her brother.
"What's wrong? You look like you could burst into tears any second now." Arata spoke in concern.
"Because I feel like it." She mumbled.
Arata sighed and shifted to be in front of her. "Start from the beginning."
"Some of the girls in my class were mocking me by saying that I'm not good enough to complete the obstacle course today because I'm an orphan. And I failed. Then all of the class started calling me mean names." Reika droned, but she started crying as the words of her classmates floated through her mind. "The worse part is that when I was doing the obstacle course, I could only think of the girls' words and that they might be right."
Arata was furious at this point. He pulled his sister close to him. He took a deep breath to speak to her in a calm manner. "Reika, you know that their words can only affect you if you allow it. The moment you allow their words to take root, you lose your confidence."
"How can I get it back? What if I can't find it?"
Arata ruffled her hair, smiling. "Reika, remember what I always told you? Confidence is not a thing, it is a state of mind. If you let other people tell you that you can't do it, you have to tell yourself that you can do it and believe it. Otherwise, you'll lose your confidence and never succeed."
"Tell myself I can do it and believe I can do it." Reika whispered and nodded. She will regain her confidence with his words. Later on, she learned from Mia that Arata challenged all of her classmates that were bullying her to a fight and won. Their punishment for losing being to apologize to her. She had laughed for days, remembering the bruised, disgruntled faces apologizing to her. But one glare from Arata made them cower.
Present time
"Tell myself I can do it and believe I can do it." Reika opened her eyes with more determination than before. "I can do it."
Bouncing on the wire again, she continued to flip on the wire, muttering encouragements to herself and trusting her instincts to get her across. Sure enough, she reached the other side in one piece and straightened herself. Looking around, she grinned. "I did it!"
"Great!" The elf called from the other side. "You see a bucket over there?"
Reika looked around and soon found said bucket. "Here!"
"Put it under the rainbow and it'll fill up with its power!"
Reika did just that. And the bucket was soon filled with a swirl of colors. As soon as it was filed up, she removed the bucket and headed back to the wire.
"I can do this." Balancing the bucket under her arm, she crossed the wire. But this time, she did not do flips but merely hopped along the wire since she did not want to spill the rainbow's colors. As soon as she reached the other side, she handed the bucket to the elf. "Now you can restore the color of your village."
"Thank you so much!" The elf bowed in gratitude and rushed back to the village. It didn't take long before light burst out from the direction of the village and color was restored. Trees regaining their brown in trunks and green in leaves; flowers blooming with a multitude of colors; the sky taking on a lovely shade of blue.
"Well done."
Reika tilted her head at the direction of the guardian. "So I pass?"
"Indeed. I confess that I was not sure in the Aqua Sapphire's choice. But you have proven me wrong." With a wave of her hand, the guardian brought Reika back to the Element Stone chamber. "Bring out your weapon."
Reika did as told, summoning her Aqua Tessens. The guardian removed the Aqua Sapphire from the pedestal and extended it towards Reika. It flew right at her main tessen and imbedded itself in its shoulder.
"Use the power of the Aqua Sapphire wisely and remember why it chose you."
Reika inclined her head to acknowledge the guardian's words. The guardian then waved her hand again, opening a portal before her. "Now go."
With a deep breath, she leaped into the portal.
Back at the Steel Tower, Reika reemerged and found that it was already daytime.
"Gosh, time flies faster this time around." She muttered, comparing her trial's time frame with Arata's. Closing her eyes with a sigh, she realized she had to go back soon before the Grim Lurker strikes again. But, there was something she needed to do first.
"I have to find Aphrodi." She said determinately. Deciding to cheat a little, she created a viewing portal while focusing on Aphrodi. It didn't take long for her to find him, but realizing that he was at the train station made her heart drop.
"He's not running away, is he?" She asked herself, only then realizing how stupid that question was, hence her facepalming. "Of course he is. Especially…" She focused the portal on a TV screen in the station that Aphrodi was also watching, showing Raimon at a soccer stadium against a team called Diamond Dust. Based on the caption of the news, she guessed that they were the aliens that he told her the day before.
"I have to get to him and knock some sense into him." Zooming around, she found a janitor's closet that was empty at the moment. "That'll do." She altered the portal to be a transportation portal and went through it.
It's over. Aphrodi thought. He just can't bring himself to help Raimon. Even if he did try to join them, they'll only reject him. And if they happen to allow him to join the team, he won't be able to do much to help them. His strength came from the Aqua of Gods, so there's no way his current strength can be of use to them. The aliens were just too strong. So here he is, boarding a train to go back to his hometown.
Alas for that plan, someone tackled him from behind and yanked him off the train just before the doors closed, much to the bewilderment of onlookers and Aphrodi himself.
"What-!?"
"Aphrodi-kun! Don't run away!" Reika cried, trying to drag him out of the station.
"R-Reika-san!? What are you doing?!" Aphrodi managed to force out once they were outside and Reika attempting to drag him to the soccer stadium.
"Not letting you run away and brining to you to the soccer stadium where Raimon is having their match! What else?"
"What!? Why?!" Aphrodi cried as he managed to free himself.
"Because they need you." Reika sighed deeply. She grasped his shoulders, forcing him to turn to the tv screen just outside the station. "Look at them. Are they faring well?"
"No…but,"
"They need you." Reika cut him off, looking at him square in the eye. "I've been thinking about it all night. And I realized that no one can help us regain our self-confidence except ourselves. If you allow the negative words of others and yourself to remain in your mind, you'll never get your confidence back."
Aphrodi could see some sense in her words. But his doubts still stopped him from believing them. Seeing this, Reika smiled gently. "Someone wise once told me this: tell yourself that you can do it and believe it, then you can build up your confidence again."
Aphrodi closed his eyes as he took in her words. "Tell myself I can do it and believe it." Taking a shaky breath, he opened his eyes. "I think you're right."
Reika beamed, releasing her grip on his shoulders. "What are we waiting for? Let's go!"
At the Football Frontier Stadium, Aphrodi and Reika had just arrived and saw that Raimon was being pushed into a corner.
"No turning back now." Aphrodi muttered, clenching his fist. He took a deep breath and turned to Reika. "You'll stay and watch?"
"Of course. Remember, tell yourself that you can do it and believe that you can do it." Reika nodded.
Aphrodi smiled back weakly. And turned his gaze back to the field where the captain of the alien team had made a regular shoot, but it was blocked by the hissatsu of two defenders of Raimon. As a result, the ball was sent flying in their direction at the stands.
"Here's your chance." Reika nudged him.
"Right." Aphrodi nodded and went to get the ball. He kicked it back to the field and jumped down after it, shocking the players of Raimon. After some discussion, he was fitted into Raimon's uniform and replaced one of the injured players. Reika watched nervously from her hiding place. It was obvious that Raimon doesn't trust him save for the goalkeeper captain.
Then the match restarted and Aphrodi was not able to get the ball because none of the players were willing to risk passing the ball to him.
"They're crazy! What reason would Aphrodi have to sabotage the team if he wasn't on your side? There's no way anyone would want the aliens to win and take over the earth." Reika facepalmed at Raimon's actions. But as she observed them closer, she noted that some of them were not distrustful of him, like the blond forward. However, it was not enough for the team to at least trust him to let him have the ball.
The captain of the alien team soon had the ball again and shot at the goal but it was stopped. Aphrodi looked dejected and glanced at her direction. She offered a weak smile but nodded encouragingly, tapping her head to remind him of her words. Aphrodi schooled his face to resolve and nodded back, feeling more determined than ever.
And it paid off. Eventually, the ball went astray due to a miss-pass. A pink haired player barely managed to get the ball but was checked by two aliens. Spotting that Aphrodi was unmarked, he passed the ball to him.
"Yes!" Reika silently cheered. All the waiting has paid off and now, Aphrodi has the ball! The alien team was arrogant to think that no one would trust Aphrodi that they let down their guard towards him. Even when they realized their mistake and tried to mark him, he dribbled past them with Heaven's Time, a hissatsu she remembered Aphrodi telling her about.
Reika giggled at their bewildered looks. The alien captain then stopped him in his tracks, taunting him with the Aqua of Gods. But Aphrodi did not rise to the bait and calmly passed him by passing the ball to the blond forward that trusts him. He got the ball back and used his shoot hissatsu God Knows to make the goal.
"He did it!" Reika grinned, barely restraining herself from whooping out loud. It seems that the team trusts him now. "My work here is done." She slipped away, heading down to the ground floor to wait for half time so that she can say her farewells with Aphrodi.
As soon as it was half time, Aphrodi slipped away and went down the corridors of the stadium to look for Reika. He soon found her leaning against the wall not too far from the field.
"You did well just now. That goal was awesome." She grinned, pushing herself off the wall.
"I just followed your words and trusted myself." Aphrodi smiled back.
"I think you can handle things from here. I came to say goodbye."
"Oh." Aphrodi blinked and sighed. "I see." He extended his hand. "Thank you for helping me regain my self-confidence and convincing me to help Raimon."
Reika took his hand and shook it, offering a warm smile. "And thank you for giving me something to fight for. It's because of my desire to help you that I was able to accomplish what I came to do here."
Aphrodi raised and eyebrow at that. "You know, I can't tell which parts of your stories are real and which are not."
Reika pretended to think. "Oh? Then what if I told you that I'm from another dimension where I have powers and use them to fight monsters. And, I came here to find something that can help me defeat the stronger monsters."
Aphrodi blinked in slight disbelieve and much to Reika's surprise, he chuckled and nodded. "Alright, I know that you're telling the truth now."
Reika could not believe her ears. "Huh? You know my story sounds absurd. How come you believe it immediately?"
Aphrodi shrugged. "I don't know. I just could tell that you are being truthful this time around."
Reika sighed in relief. "Well, I'm glad I don't need to worry about long explanations and such." A portal then opened behind her, startling Aphrodi but Reika wasn't.
"That's my ride back. Good bye." Reika nodded in farewell.
"Will I see you again?" Aphrodi asked hopefully.
Reika paused and winked at him. "Who knows? Maybe this isn't a final farewell, maybe it is. But just so you know, I'm glad I became friends with you."
"Me too." Aphrodi managed a smile. But it faded when Reika disappeared into the portal and it vanished. He let out a sigh and replaced his down casted expression with a determined one. He had a match to win.