Disclaimer: I don't own anything from the Danball Senki series.
Author's note: I'm so sorry for not updating in a long time. But I hit a snag in writing a particular scene here and ended up changing it several times before cutting out most of the part I was struggling with. And I had midterms and assignments that kept me busy. Some of the characters may be ooc because of the lengthy time between writing.
Initially, I wanted to do a whole chapter regarding the Energy Compass but I decided to split it into two parts instead.
Somewhere in a shadowy room, a woman was laying in the bed with various medical equipment hooked up to her body. A monitor showed her heartbeat slowly picking up as her fingers twitched. A sighed slipped through her lips with a name that was nearly loss in the beeping of the monitors as the heart rate spiked.
"Arata…"
Arata shot up from his bed disorientated. He blinked as he tried to remember what woke him up. Glancing at his clock, he sighed when he saw that it was just slightly past midnight. He frowned as he looked around his room. There was no one so why did his senses jolt him awake?
Deciding to get some hot chocolate to help him go back to sleep, Arata slipped out of his room and headed down to the kitchen. But when he got there, he was mildly surprised to see that Nick had the same idea.
"Can't sleep?"
Nick jumped and spun around defensively. But he relaxed when he realized it was only Arata. "Oh, it's you." Rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, he apologized. "Sorry about that. I'm a little jumpy right now. You kind of startled me just now."
"Sorry." Arata winced, only then remembering that Yuko had warned him and Reika that Nick was dealing with PTSD after serving with the US Military for six months so they should not surprise him badly.
"It's fine." Nick waved it off. "Hot chocolate?"
"That'll be great." Arata pulled out one of the chairs at the table to sit down as Nick made another cup of hot chocolate. "Why are you up this late?"
"I could say the same for you." Nick said drily. "But to answer your question, nightmares."
"Oh." Arata stared at the surface of the table, feeling bad for asking. "I don't know what woke me up. I was sleeping one moment. And the next thing I know, I was jolted awake by something but there was no one in my room."
"Hm." Nick hummed and placed a cup in front of Arata. "Were your senses going haywire again?"
"Maybe, I can't tell."
"Strange." Nick mused as he slipped into the chair opposite of him. Taking a sip from his cup, he settled it down. "Anyway, since you're awake now, might as well talk to you now."
"About what?" Arata straightened up.
"Reika was telling me that you are being stubborn over not telling her what Seredy said that is bothering you. And she's worried for you over it."
Arata sighed at that. He should have known that Reika would figure out that it was Seredy who is causing him so much heartache now. He badly wanted to forget what Seredy told him, both about his birth mother and Maddie. But he can't.
Nick eyed Arata carefully, considering what the red-haired boy is thinking. He can easily guess part of what Arata heard from Seredy if one put together the bombshell Yuko gave them about Tougou Giichi and that Kamui Island was his to control back when he was the Prime Minister. Yuko had put together the truth about Maddie's death and told him, Maya, Atsuya and Reika about it after dinner. They were not sure if Arata knows the truth yet, but based on how he was acting now, Nick was willing to bet that he did.
"We know about what happened to Maddie." He said quietly. Arata lifted his head with tears filling his eyes.
"How?"
"Yuko figured it out and told us about it just now." Nick settled his mug on the table and folded his hands together. "We know that Tougou Giichi killed Maddie by sabotaging the truck that killed her and covered it up."
Arata rubbed his eyes fiercely. "Why didn't she tell me?"
"You clearly knew about it. From Seredy no doubt." Nick said pointedly. "And Reika won't let us tell you until you stopped sulking. She didn't want to bother you after you walked out on her at Aviane Armor training."
Arata groaned and settled his hands on the table. "Alright, that was my fault."
They sat in silence, Arata clenching and unclenching his fist, Nick calmly sipping his hot chocolate. When he was done, he got up to the sink to wash the cup.
"If you don't want to talk about it now, it's alright." He told Arata softly. "We understand. But if you can't trust us with the whole truth of what Seredy talked to you about, you will be the one who will hurt Reika the most."
The Next Morning
Reika blinked at the sight of her brother the next morning when he came down for breakfast. His hair was in a mess, there were dark rings around his eyes, and he looked like he was out of it and in deep thought at the same time.
"Ok…what happened to you?"
"Nothing. Just woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't sleep." Arata yawned, passing Yuko to get the coffee pot.
"Oh?" Yuko raised an eyebrow. If she was guessing correct based on the damp mugs in the strainer that weren't there the night before, there was more to the 'couldn't sleep after waking up in the middle of the night' excuse.
Arata ignored her and sat down at the table with his coffee. "Where's Nick?"
"He's out for a jog. Now," Yuko sat down across from him. "I'm bringing Wataru, Nick and Atsuya to the Aviane dimension for a while to find something that will help us in our search for the Element Stones. So the both of you have to continue to try and master the Aviane Armor. We have no idea when the Grim Lurker will show up again so it is important for at least one of you to master it. Kalina will be staying back and once she is done with the translation, she will teach you how to use the Combo Blast."
"Right." Reika nodded, determine more than ever to master the Aviane Armor. Arata only nodded silently, but Blaze and Nick's words made him think all night.
Seeing that her charges understood their roles for now, Yuko took her leave. But Arata was still bothered by his troubles and knew that it will interfere with his efforts to master the Aviane Armor. He knew he had to come clean to Reika sooner or later. And he promised himself that he will eventually.
Meanwhile, Yuko and the boys gathered in front of the portal that will take them to the Aviane Dimension's meadow. Each lugged a backpack with necessities and ready to get the Energy Compass before Tougou Giichi does.
"Everyone ready? Once we go in, we're not coming back until we get the Energy Compass." At everyone's nod, Yuko stepped in the portal first. Emerging at the other side, Yin and Daimen's Aviane friend, Sora swooped down to the meadow. Sora is an eagle Aviane that has grey body and white wings. Its beak, talons and eyes are yellow. One thing that the group noticed was that Sora was giving Atsuya dark glares as they approached them. Yin was rolling its eyes in exasperation.
"…I think Daimen's dislike towards Atsuya is passed on to Sora." Wataru sweatdropped.
"No kidding." Nick sighed. He approached Sora with Wataru and petted its wing. "Don't worry, Wataru and I will be your passengers today."
Sora trilled, lowering itself to let its passengers on. Atsuya growled as he boarded Yin with Yuko. "I feel like I'm being targeted."
"You have only yourself to blame on that." Yuko shrugged. Atsuya scowled darkly at her backside. Unfortunately for him, she ignored him. It was not fair that Yuko was implying that everything bad that is happening to him came from cheating on Mia. His rivalry with Daimen stemmed from before he and Mia started dating and so it was natural that Sora would dislike him.
He also felt that Yuko played no small part in his misery even if she didn't feel that way. Ever since they were kids, he always felt inferior to his sister since their father have been grooming her to be his successor and barely paid any attention to him. Hence, he pushed himself to keep up with her. Yet, his father never seemed to acknowledge his effort. And the fact that Yuko tends to steal the attention from him unintentionally did not help matters at all. The only one who knew about his insecurities and his secret resentment towards his father and sister is Mia.
Mia was the only one who understood his feelings as she felt the same towards her father and Muraku. She was the one who was by his side every time he felt down from the inferior emotions. And he was the one who held her every time Master Houjou treated her coldly. That was how their feelings for each other bloomed. And he guessed that Mia only tolerated his flirting because she understood his need to feel better whenever he felt inferior against Yuko. But cheating on her crossed that line.
"Hey, Atsuya, are you paying attention?" Yuko glanced back at him with a small concerned frown.
"Yes." Atsuya huffed, adverting his eyes. Yuko eyed him for a second longer but reverted her gaze back to the front to steer Yin. Nothing more was said for the rest of the flight.
"What's that?" Wataru pointed at a dark shadow visible from the clouds during the second hour of the flight.
Yuko peered at the shape and smiled. "That's the Sky Realm! Get ready to land."
Sora and Yin were too happy to land and rest from the nonstop flight. Once their passengers disembarked, they decided to take a break to stretch their legs and have a quick lunch.
"So we need to find the shadow of the cat during sunset. But how much longer til' sunset?" Wataru mused with his mouthful of the sandwiches they brought.
"Chew." Nick said pointedly.
"To answer your question, I think it should be soon. Time passes differently here than from our realm. So the sun should set within the hour." Yuko explained, gulping down water to wash down the lunch. "Until then, we should keep our eyes open for any shadow that is shaped like a cat."
With an unspoken agreement, the group split up into teams of two to scout the area. Nick surprisingly decided to go with Atsuya. There was silence between them since they were not particularly close and Atsuya was still upset at Yuko and Nick is contemplative.
"See anything resembling a cat?" Nick asked to break the silence.
"No." Atsuya shook his head. He summoned out his Electro Bardiche to cut down the foliage in their path. "What do you think can make a shadow of a cat up here? There's only trees and mountain ridges here."
"Who knows. Maybe we need get creative. The text was not forthcoming that we should start at the Sky Realm. It just gave hints of where to start."
"So this cat that it mentioned might be a metaphor." Atsuya contemplated. "Or we are looking at it in the wrong angle."
Nick perked up in curiosity and tapped his chin. "Do you think we should get to higher ground and look?"
"I have an easier idea." Atsuya whistled to call his Aviane, Electro, to his position. It did not take long for it to zip over to their position. It is a small lightning bolt shaped Aviane that is made out of plasma.
"Electro, I need you to fly up and take a look around the Sky Realm. Send back what you see to me every five seconds." Atsuya instructed the plasma Aviane. It bobbed its head and shot up in the sky. Soon, small bursts of electricity orbs with images of what Electro was seeing was sent down to him.
Atsuya mentally flipped through the images after absorbing the orbs to view them. He paused and mentally instructed Electro through his bond with it to send more images while facing west.
"I think I got something." He told Nick. Summoning Electro back, he used its plasma body to display an image. "What do you think of this?"
"It's the Sky Realm." Nick mused and outlined the shape of the Sky Realm with his fingers. "And it looks like a cat!"
"And the paw here looks like it is pointing at a direction."
"We just need to wait for sunset to get a precise direction. We should call Yuko and Wataru to let them know…"
"Let's confirm the whereabouts of the blue star first." Atsuya cut him off. Nick raised an eyebrow at that.
"But it'll be better to stick together. We have no idea of what dangers we could be walking into and Yuko and Wataru will worry if we don't check in soon."
"Look, if we do tell them and it turns out we're wrong, Yuko is going to blame everything on me."
"Are you sure about that? I don't think that Yuko would fault you for a potential lead gone wrong."
"She makes it a habit. She's like, the perfect child, while I'm the scapegoat for everything gone wrong." Atsuya growled, crossing his arms. Electro floated by him apprehensively. "She even blames everything I do wrong on my failed relationship with Mia."
"I'm not going to comment on the last part. But why do I feel that it is similar to what Mia used to complain to me about Muraku and Master Houjou?"
"Because it is. I'm inferior compared to Yuko and the 'spare successor'." Atsuya said bitterly. "And Yuko is so self-righteous like everything she does is right. And whenever I do something wrong, she becomes harsh towards me."
"I think you misunderstand your sister." Nick sighed. It seems like he's facing a common trend within their group. Almost everyone had troubles involving their siblings, parents or both. And just after helping fix up Arata and Reika's problems, he is facing another set of siblings having problems of their own whom he probably needs to mediate between. And before all that was Muraku and his issues with Mia.
Thankfully, before Atsuya could retort to Nick's suggestion and Nick can continue bemoaning his fate, Electro buzzed and zipped up to the sky. That caught their attention and they didn't realize that the sun was already setting. Electricity orbs were traveling down to Atsuya again.
"Where is the cat shadow pointing us to?"
Atsuya blinked at the last image the electricity orbs provided and gestured for Nick to follow him. "I'm having Electro follow the direction the cat shadow is pointing us to and find the blue star ahead of us. It will direct me there while we get Yin."
"We should get Yuko and Wataru too." Nick frowned.
"There's no time." Atsuya argued back.
Nick sighed and waved his hand. "In that case, you go on ahead with Yin. I'll find Yuko and Wataru and we'll catch up on Sora."
Atsuya scowled but nodded. He ran back to the clearing where they left Yin and Sora and hopped on the former.
"Come on. We got to get to the blue star."
As Yin took off, neither of them noticed that they were watched from another Aviane hidden in the clouds or that its passenger silently directing it to follow them.
In case you didn't spot it, the morning kitchen scene was the part that I was struggling with. I had no idea if I wanted Reika to be mad at Arata for keeping secrets from her, Arata telling her the truth, or simply dealing with it in the next chapter. (I chose the last option)
And for some reason, most of the ocs suffer from sibling and/or parent issues in my fic.