A.C.: Good to know that people are still reading this... hey, in the American version, what's Mr. Dickenson's first name? Hmm... normally I wouldn't update this for... like a half year... but I feel the need to finish it. Really odd for me but... prolly good for you ㄱㄱ must be mellowing in my old age. There used to be a time when I could go like a year without updating... I seem to have much trouble with tenses...
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"He's not breathing"
Electricity surged all around them, courtesy of Apollo's Radiant Thunder attack. The gray and blond hair raised on hand but the third's, the slate blue and silver colored locks did not rise out of their tomb of drying blood to the dismay of the standing duo before them.
Even with Sergei's sharp eyes and Boris' near photographic memory, it had taken them long, too long of a time to find Kai. Too long of a time to search the grounds, too long of a time to find the right door among the other unmarked wood, too long of a time that by the time they had found him, he was laying face down on the floor.
The slate haired teen lay in the pool of his own blood with the remainders of what once had been Dranzer Metal Spiral speckling the surface. They can almost imagine the internal war the phoenix had waged with himself before slipping away. The walls have telltale signs of blood painted across its surface, the floor riddled with the crimson liquid. The wounds themselves had stopped bleeding into their sluggish closure but there was absolutely no rise and fall of the chest to indicate that the fallen phoenix was in anyway alive.
"Is he..."
"I don't know..."
The burly blond hoisted the smaller on to his back, wincing as the droplets of blood splattered down his vest and eventually onto his pants. Balcov abbey had nothing on them... There was an explosion of cheering from the wider end of the hall, it was time to go.
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Yuriy sees but doesn't believe when he saw the flames erupt suddenly then fade away into smoke. He runs, ice trailing his footsteps as he sobs out his apologies, but the fire does not flicker back into existence.
A wolf with slabs of crystalline ice wings appear into view, the wolf gives off a howl to match the anguished one given off by his master.
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Takao flinches as fists strike from below, bruising his jaw and possibly knocking out a tooth. Would someone please tell the Buddha wannabe that this was not a boxing match? The gold griffin roared over head, suffocated by the thick coils of Dragoon's body. He can hear his friends cheer him on through the crowd, only one person is missing, one that's made the most difference in his life.
'For you Kai.'
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Boris takes a morbid satisfaction in tossing away the bloodied towel and clothing as Sergei finished tying the knots. Kai looked as if he was being prepared to be buried in a tomb, his skin all too pale from the loss of blood. Half his face is covered in bandages, the other half riddled with scratches and blue ink. Sergei hauls him back up onto his back; they're not certain what they're doing anymore.
"Don't die on me now Hiwatari."
The locker room is a perfect picture of carnage; blood is everywhere smeared across the floor in footprints as the three Russians leave.
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The G-Revolutions watch in revulsion and horror as the locker room door opened to reveal a blood bath.
Rei kneels down, dipping his fingers tentatively into the red and bringing it up to his face. There's only one person with the scent of ash and snow mixed in, only one who could have bled this much and disappear without a trail. The one whom they had all inevitably failed in their foolish but gallant march to glory.
"Kai..."
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Red eyes jerked open, then relaxed before blinking slowly.
"Sergei let me down."
The blond and the grayhead looked back towards the owner of the voice. Hiwatari Kai lay limp across Sergei's broad back but was staring unnervingly at them both. Tentatively the blond obeyed, a sick feeling winding itself in his stomach as Kai leaned backwards onto the power pole before attempting to stand up.
Red eyes flickered dully as he stood shakily on his two feet, flexing his bandaged hands and fingering the bandaged chest.
A shrill scream and a sky colored raptor burst free from Boris' blade, herding the two taller ones behind her back as darkness began to roll off of the slate haired blader. Kai looked up at the vivid crests of pink and blue as the falcon bit beast continued to scream obscenities at him, the remaining two Russian confused as hell as they tried to bypass the razor wings.
"Don't bother Falborg," Kai spoke in a raspy voice, so unlike his own that they began to doubt that the slate haired teen had spoke up at all. "I'm not interested... in them..." but the falcon refused to relent, backing up along with her master and the blond in tow. Sergei drew a deep breath and shuddered,
"Kuro Suzaku..."
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"...There will be a tie-breaker between BEGA's Brooklyn Vs. G-Revolution's Takao tomorrow, stay tuned for more..."
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Ivan is pacing the room like a caged animal when they return. There's shock in the eyes of the snake when they set path on the river of red upon Sergei's clothing but a cold, calculated look enters when he concludes that it couldn't possibly the older male's.
"What happened?" Ivan hissed, a rare display of anger from him. Boris hangs his head, turning away. Sergei gently replies,
"Kuro Suzaku"
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Kai approaches, fully healed and with the same arrogant gait. Brooklyn freezes as a thread of darkness appears behind him, only turn into wings that are marked as those of the dark phoenix. The redhead knows, he had seen, what he had imagined as two were true. There was light and dark, the same light and dark they were supposed to present. The light and dark he now knew not himself and Kai but Kai and someone else entirely. He wasn't sure who the other was yet.
The unknown factor brought in many possibilities, it also took away his god like visions. Fear was something unknown to him, a mystery he had no desire to experience. The image of the phoenix was used against him for a reason but why...?
"It's okay," Zeus appeared by his side as the slate haired Russian spoke, shattering any illusions that had been placed on him. "Don't blame yourself because nobody taught you anything different. Up until now you've bladed using all your natural ability and that was good enough to win." The darkness looped around him and he knew...
"Hitoshi," but the words never made it out his throat for Zeus took over him, berating the green eyed blader for the momentary weakness.
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What's a friend when there is a world to save? At least that is what Takao carves in his heart as he trains. When Mingming and Moses come to ambush them at the dojo, the navy haired teen isn't surprised. When Kyoujyu presses the new Dragoon within his hands, there's no heart in it, only duty. His brother is gone, unwilling to come back, he has a world to save tomorrow and he sleeps. He can only dream of what will happen.
'Kai'
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He is standing but he does not know why. He is looking up at Takao when he suddenly realizes that he has died.
'I died...' the thought makes him faint but whatever forces that revived him keeps him standing. Keeps his legs locked upon a solitary pillar as he keeps his arms around himself. He does not need to look beneath the blood stained bandages to know, he can already feel the cold caress of Kuro Suzaku on his thighs settling into the bone. Only the knowledge of his second chance, of Yuriy and Suzaku keeps him warm.
Already his right hand tingles with heat of Suzaku's revival, Seiryu above bears down upon Zeus, Takao tries to hold on to the redhead and fails as he is pushed away. And the sky turns still darker as buildings are lifted into the air and they are launched into violet clouds and into the nightmare of this match.
Screams all around as people were flung about, holy beasts the only defense within the fortress of concrete and steel beams.
"Just remember Takao... I'll be the one to defeat you..."
Brooklyn screamed in pain and momentarily Kai's eyes flickered upwards, before bringing them down and sweeping them across the his former teammates and Hitoshi, who held his gaze briefly before braking it and looking away in shame.
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They say that when your face to face with death, your whole life flashes through your eyes. While moderately assured that he would not die, Yuriy could not help but feel grief at the death of the Russian phoenix consumed by the black fires of his own making. Forced through revival of unknown explanations and suddenly appear, wounds and all, on the stadium watching Takao save the world. Again.
He was asking himself why the handsome youth had not turned away from him already, why not run into the open arms of the dragon tamer and leave him be. But he knew in his heart that it would be impossible for him to let the phoenix go.
He buried his face in Wolborg's fur, weaving his fingers within the silver dappled strands as the pink tongue washed him tenderly as the proceedings played out. As Japan was blown into bits with his, his Kai in the middle.
Wolborg whimpered, bidding the aqua eyed Russian to watch as Takao called upon his friends for more strength.
Yuriy made his choice, he would help Takao on one condition. Fountain of water flew forth, shielding Zeus in transparent curves. He commanded the winged wolf to lend the dragon his strength, only if Takao would keep the phoenix safe. Only if... Takao succeeded in what he had failed.
The mask came off freely as he awoke. Hands in the direction Wolborg had tore off into, the screams of names dying at the back of his throat as he was harshly pulled back into reality and to the continuous sound of his heartbeat, magnified thousandfold in lines of green.
Chairman Gogoro Daitenji and Ivan stood, jaws a slack before the awoken wolf.
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Lightning lanced across, Beihu had joined the fray, galloping across the sky in a blur of green and gold before burying his saber fangs in the Greek god's flanks.
"Takao!" Gembu's outcry was joined with a jet of water, forming an arch over Zeus. Time enough for Takao to calm Brooklyn down. The burning on his hand persisted and the water over them all froze in a field of ice before raining shards of crystalline snow on the rampaging god below. Kai knew it was time,
Seiryu flew, flashing shifting colors of the rainbow. Jaws wide open for the throat of the black centaur.
"SUZAKU!"