Kyoya: DragonFang2011 does not own Metal Fight Beyblade or any of the characters!
DragonFang: Sorry for not updating for such a long time. How long has it been—a month? Two months? Feels like forever! I was grounded for that long! And that was for being lazy!
Ryuga: Hopefully, your writing's improved over that time.
DragonFang: Nope! Not at all! But I've gotten tons of ideas for new stories, so this one... I'm just not feeling this one anymore. I have the ending all typed up, so maybe I can just post it and get it over with...
Gingka: Sheesh. Talk about disloyal. Anyway, apologize! You said you were!
DragonFang: No! I'm not sorry about what I typed in the last chapter!
Ryuga: You'd better be, for your laptop's sake!
DragonFang: I'm a Fanfiction author. You can't even touch my laptop. It is impossible in every which way. And I don't regret anything I wrote!
Ryuga: Tell them that I don't really have a macaroni-shaped birthmark on my butt!
DragonFang: Honey, they know that you don't have one. This is Fanfiction.
Ryuga: You authors—!
*Sorry for the inconvenience. We are experiencing technical difficulties. Please stand by. The story will resume in a moment.*
Kyoya was tired.
The three questing boys have been sitting on the horses for the last fifteen hours, only taking two thirty-minute breaks—for lunch and dinner, and bathroom breaks. His legs felt stiff and his rump was nearly numb from sitting on the hard leather saddle for six hours straight. However, he bit back his complaints and quietly continued sulking, trying to move with the horse's loping strides instead of against them.
Prince Tsubasa hadn't been lenient on them.
I should've said no to this stupid trip, Kyoya thought bitterly. He felt his shoulders slump forward, and he reached for his canteen and popped open the cap. Cool water washed over his dry tongue and down his throat as he lifted the container to his lips. With a satisfied sigh, Kyoya put the canteen away, feeling a bit less cranky now that he had been hydrated.
He glanced over at Ryuga, who didn't seem very happy, either. He had been scowling and grumbling to himself for the whole day, and Kyoya was rather worried that his face would get stuck that way, which would be tragic. Funny, but tragic.
The sun had set a long time ago, and dark clouds covered the new moon and the twinkling stars. A cold breeze swept over them, ruffling Kyoya's already unruly hair. Not too far—at the front of the group—Tsubasa's long silver locks waved in the wind like a shining flag.
It was going to rain.
And worse—they didn't have tents.
Dammit, who goes on a longer-than-a-week journey and doesn't pack tents? Oh right—us.
Still, Tsubasa showed no signs of stopping.
Not for the first time, Kyoya's mind wandered to the prophecy. He knew that Gingka was the son of magic. He himself was the whisperer of the dead. Which meant that Ryuga was the half-blood of the dark warriors, whoever they were. It seemed quite unreal—not a month ago, when they were safe and happy in Ensis, he'd never even really believed in gods and prophecies.
Even now, he was doubting everything that the queen had told them.
If there were gods, why were so many people suffering?
Why did prophecies have to make things so difficult to understand?
A flash of white lightning tore through the black sky, illuminating the darkened road and creating dark highlights. A clap of thunder quickly rose to the call, meaning that the storm had arrived, followed by cold, tiny raindrops.
Tsubasa glanced back at them. "Head for the trees!" he snapped over the sound of pouring rain. He deftly maneuvered his horse towards the forest on their right side just as Aquila swooped down from the sky and perched itself on the prince's shoulder.
Kyoya pulled the hood of his cloak over his head and jerked on his horse's reins. The speckled gray horse heeded his command, snorting. Kyoya looked over his shoulder to see Ryuga not far behind them, shaking droplets of rain from his white hair.
Upon reaching a large, twisted tree, Tsubasa jumped off his horse, his boots making a squishing sound as they made contact with the ground—and disappeared into the trees. Kyoya dismounted as well, feeling his own boots sink into the wet leaves that covered the forest floor. The curves and bends of the bare tree above their heads somewhat provided them protection from the rain.
However, Ryuga didn't get off. "We can't rest yet," he hissed. "It's dangerous here!"
Kyoya was already pissed off about the horse ride, the rain, and the whole journey in general. And now his companion actually had the insensitivity to bug him. Then again, it was Ryuga, for crying out loud, but still! He gritted his teeth.
Tsubasa agilely mounted his horse. "We have to get going. There's a small group of monsters not too far from here, and we don't want to alert them. I believe that they're former Fortissimus soldiers, since they're wearing the insignia, but are unusually far away from the battle lines."
"Maybe spies?" Ryuga piped up.
"Could be..."
Kyoya frowned and strained his ears. He heard faint grumbles and roars over the rain.
"Let's get 'em." Ryuga's golden eyes were glowing with what seemed like pure bloodthirst and a bit of madness. The nearly invisible marks on his face from the Shadow Hunter attack only seemed to make him look even more intimidating and more than a little evil.
"Are you insane?" Tsubasa asked, and pointed towards the trees. "The three of us can't possibly defeat all of them. There are way too many of them, and some of them are way too big for only one person to handle alone."
"I've been waiting to kill Fortissimus soldiers ever since Ensis burned down to the ground," Ryuga growled. "I've been waiting so patiently, ever since I agreed to travel to Sirius. They killed many of our people. Now, there's this big opportunity to get back at them, right in front of us, and you just want to run away?"
"Don't tell me that this is why you joined us, Ryuga!" Kyoya said, feeling his stomach twist nauseatingly. A lump formed in his throat—he felt rather betrayed and hurt and angry. So... damn... angry. "Don't tell me that you were only out for blood this entire time!"
"This is the only reason I joined you!" Ryuga snarled, jumping off his his horse. "I told you that I had a score to settle with Fortissimus—for killing my father!"
He doesn't care about the others after all... Kyoya opened his mouth to curse him.
"Enough!" Tsubasa came between them.
Kyoya jumped a bit, surprised that the silver-haired prince had lost his cool. He met Ryuga's slightly calmer gaze, which slowly went from furious to alarmed. The archer quickly reached for his quiver and pulled out an arrow, nocking it onto the string of his bow.
The green-haired teen drew his sword, forgetting about the fight.
For a while, anyway.
Suddenly, a roar shook the ground beneath them, as loud as thunder. Monsters began to stream out from behind the trees on one side, shrieking their terrifying battle calls. There were probably about more than ten of them—all scales, fur, teeth, and claws.
"To the road!" Tsubasa yelled.
Kyoya mounted his horse and spurred it into an all-out gallop, heading back the way they came with long, fast strides. He heard the sound of the pounding of many feet and the snapping of many jaws as the monsters surged after him.
He reached the wide road in less than a minute and urged his horse to go faster. But the poor animal was tired enough from walking all day and started to slow down. Kyoya jumped off and let it stumble into the forest, where it collapsed from exhaustion.
He was going to have to fight.
As the first monster raised its heavy-looking ax, Kyoya darted in and thrust his sword into its heart, his heart pounding anxiously. Then, without looking to see the result, he moved on to the next one, parrying its sword and slicing the goat-like head clean off.
Then, he whirled around to strike at a reptilian monster. The snake turned to block his attack and swept Kyoya's legs out from under him with its long, scaly tail. Kyoya landed on the road, which was slick with rain and blood. His left wrist was engulfed in a sudden throbbing pain, and he yelped.
Before the snake could have a go at him, Tsubasa lunged forward and dug his sword into its side. Then, with a jerking motion, he sent the torso flying, separated from the rest of the body. What was left of the beast went down, splattering Kyoya with dark, sticky blood.
It all happened so quickly that the green-haired teen barely had time to process what had happened. The prince was gone in a silver flash.
The battle was over as soon as it began, leaving several bodies lying lifeless on the ground, staining the road with their blood. The remaining few monsters retreated towards the road that led to Sirius—Kyoya knew that the guards would be able to handle them.
Kyoya had several cuts—mainly on his arms. His cloak was nearly shredded, and he felt like a big bruise was forming on his stomach, which—considering his luck—was probably true. His left wrist was sprained after that slip while fighting the snake.
Tsubasa's left arm was hanging limply by his side. His white pants were stained with so much blood and muck that it looked brown—his silver hair was loose and dirty. His left eye was dark and shiny and had a cut just underneath it—a black eye.
Ryuga seemed to have sprained his ankle and had bleeding gashes everywhere. His shirt was literally just a piece of black cloth hanging from his shoulder. When he turned, Kyoya could see the beginnings of several bruises—as well as a few splinters—on his back. He could only assume that he had been thrown right through a tree.
Serves him right.
Prince Tsubasa spat blood onto the ground and moved his—apparently—dislocated shoulder back into place with a loud pop. He glared at Ryuga, who glared right back with the ferocity tenfold. "You got your fight," the prince said, his golden eyes burning with anger. "Happy now?"
Ryuga: Oh! So I'm the bad guy!
Me: But you're happy, right?
Ryuga: I'm never happy.
Me: Quote stealer! That's from Zuko! He stole it from Zuko! Quote stealer! Quote steal—mmph!
Kyoya: ... So... was Ryuga really thrown right through a tree?
Me: *removes Ryuga's hand from mouth* As a matter of fact, he was.
Kyoya: Yes!
Ryuga: I don't deserve this treatment! I'm the most popular MFB character there is! Everyone knows that!
Me: Yeah... right after Gingka and Kyoya.
Gingka and Kyoya *fist-bump*
Ryuga: *eye twitch*
Me: But on the bright side, you're the second most popular in the M-rated category! Right after Gingka Hagane, who is in the lead with a little less than fifty stories! You, my friend, have about forty! Kyoya has like, thirty, just so you know.
Kyoya: Do you really feel the need to count those?
Gingka: I'm not sure whether to be happy or extremely disturbed...