Jessie sighed as she looked out at the setting sun. It had been another day from training at the park, and at the present moment, she was sitting under a tree with a tuckered-out Wyatt asleep on the grass next to her, his head resting in her lap as she subconsciously stroked his hair.
He's so cute when he sleeps. She thought with a half smile.
Wyatt had been the only person in her life that had ever shown her any kindness, and she back. Although they were almost opposites, they still thought of each other like boyfriend and girlfriend. Though Jessie herself was there in reality, her thoughts were wandering as they often did through memories, thoughts, and anything else in mind. An idea sparked a flame in her imagination. Pulling a black notebook and a pen out of her pocket, she started to write. Just as she was finished, Wyatt stirred in his sleep and woke up.
"Hey sleepy head." She said with a rare smile.
Wyatt yawned and stretched from his position.
"How long was I out?" He asked sleepily.
"Only about an hour or so." She replied as she put her pen and notebook back in her pocket. "C'mon, we should be getting back now."
Wyatt gave her a mock pouting face.
"Aw, do we have to go?" He whined playfully.
"Not unless you wanna spend the night here." She replied with a smirk.
Wyatt gave her a feigned disappointed look and sat upright. Jessie got up as well, but as she did she failed to notice a small black notebook fall out of her back pocket. Wyatt picked it up and put it in his pocket. He'd seen Jessie writing in it many a time, but he never knew what she was saying in there. As they walked back home, Wyatt was mentally planning a place to read the notebook.
While Jessie was inside getting ready to go to bed, Wyatt was outside sitting on the porch reading the notebook. Much to his surprise, it was filled with amazing poetry based mostly on sorrow, pain, and tragic love.
"What are you doing out here Wyatt?"
Wyatt jumped at the question, but looked over his shoulder at the person in the doorway and replied with, "Take a guess Kai."
Kai was standing there leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed over his bare chest; apparently he was ready to hit the hay soon as well.
"You wanna sit down?"
Kai just shrugged and sat down beside Wyatt.
"I picked up Jessie's notebook from the ground..."
"Mind reading some?"
----
Kai sat there, slightly dumbfounded.
"I know; I never knew she could write like that either." Wyatt murmured.
Kai said nothing and stared out at the sky. Wyatt looked over at Kai, who had closed his eyes and leaned his head back on the wall. The Fire phoenix had changed a lot since the last time Wyatt had seen him in more ways than one. For one thing, he was taller and his hair had gotten longer. More prominent details, such as his more muscular frame and fiery crimson eyes, were what really caught Wyatt's attention, mainly his eyes. He'd always known them to be cold and unfeeling, but they seemed even emptier than before.
"Am I really that interesting to look at?"
Wyatt jumped at Kai's sudden question.
"Uh..."
Kai shrugged it off. For a few minutes they sat there in silence, then Kai broke it by asking, "What do you think of her?"
"Huh?"
"What do you think of Jessie?" He repeated slightly differently.
"It's kinda hard to put into words... but I guess the easiest way to say it is that I'm crazy about her."
Kai smirked.
"You kissed her yet?"
"KA-AIIIIIIIIIIIIII!" Wyatt whined blushing about 5 shades of red.
"Well have you?"
"Maybe..."
Kai raised an eyebrow.
"Yes." He admitted in a rather embarrassed tone.
"That's nothing to be discomfited about."
"How come you're suddenly so interested in what I've been up to?"
Kai didn't respond.
"No reason, I guess."
Wyatt shrugged and got up.
"You comin' inside?"
"Not yet."
Wyatt went back inside, leaving Kai to his thoughts.
It was getting late as clouds rolled in and started to rain down on the sleepy city. Although the Granger residence appeared quiet, it wasn't so in all places. Wyatt was tossing and turning in his bed as the rain turned into a thunderstorm, bringing back a very bad reminiscence.
Dream
14-year-old Wyatt Slovak lay motionless on his hospital bed, trying to drown out the sounds of the raging thunderstorm outside by preoccupying his mind. It did nothing to calm the panic building up inside of him, and since his mental steadiness was still highly unstable, the nerve-wracking storm was making it worse.
CRASH!
"AHH!"
Wyatt sat up with a start, beads of sweat running down his neck and chest. He looked frantically around his bedroom to see he was not in the hospital like he'd thought. Outside, rain was falling heavily against the windows. It wasn't often that he had nightmares, let alone ones that had him waking up in a cold sweat.
"Wyatt?" He jumped at the sudden question then looked to the door to see Jessie standing there in the doorway with a worried look on her face. Wyatt breathed a sigh of relief.
"I heard you scream from my room, are you alright?" She asked, concern hinting in her tone.
"Yeah... It was just a nightmare..."
Jessie raised an eyebrow.
"Just a nightmare? Considering you're sweating, clutching the sheet and you yelled when you woke up, I'd say you're a little off."
Wyatt sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
"There's no fooling you."
CRASH!
Wyatt jumped at the sound of the thunder crashing outside. Jessie walked over to him and sat down on the bed next to Wyatt.
"Flashbacks?" She murmured.
"Yeah..."
"Scoot over."
Wyatt moved over, giving Jessie enough room to sit down behind him so that she had Wyatt sitting in her lap. He rested his head against the side of her shoulder as she wrapped her arms around him, one hand gently stroking his hair. Softly, she started to sing.
"Do you remember the days that have long since gone,
We were always together, saw hope with each dawn,
We were carefree and happy, so oblivious to life
What really went on, now we know strife
Times have changed and we have too,
How did I fall in love with you?
We're older and wiser and more distant too,
Still I have this strange feeling each time I see you
I've known you as a friend but not in this way,
Why can't I speak whenever you say
Anything at all, it makes me weak in the knees
Almost like I was on a ship thrown by stormy seas
I wonder how it came to be true,
How did I fall in love with you?
How did this happen? I just can't conceive
What is going and now I've started to believe
That this feeling is more than what I perceived
But these feelings of denial are forever through,
How did I fall in love with you?
What can I do to make you mine?
I've fallen so hard, so fast, it's time
What did I say? What did you do?
How did I fall in love with you?
I cannot pretend
That we can still be friends
Everything's changed, we never knew,
How did I fall in love with you?"
Jessie looked down at Wyatt to see that he'd fallen asleep in her arms, and his breathing had returned to normal. She smiled and pulled the sheet around them and soon drifted off.
It was morning again, but it was still raining outside. The wind and lightning had gone away, but it was still pouring outside. The others were up to their usual antics inside the dojo, but Jessie was conspicuously absent.
"Hey, where the heck is Jessie?" Hilary asked after a while.
"She's outside." Wyatt answered like it was no big deal.
"In this weather! She must be crazy!"
"Look outside if you don't believe it."
Tyson, Hilary and Ray looked out the window to see Jessie outside practicing with her blade. The mud made it extremely hard to keep her balance, but that was probably the point. The center of her blade started to glow ice blue as Devi Dranzer emerged, but had intentionally scaled itself down to the size of a large dog. Over the sound of the rain hitting the windows, none of them could hear what she yelled, but Devi Dranzer started to glow blue as the rain falling around her froze into ice crystals and levitated in midair.
"Whoa, guys check this out!" Tyson said to the others.
The rest of the team looked out the window as the ice crystals sharpened into spikes and formed a tornado around Jessie, sending the attack careening at the target cans in front of her, tearing them to shreds of aluminum.
"Jessie's been practicing that move for ages. I think it's a new addition to Devi Dranzer's Whiteout Storm attack, but I'm not completely sure. Maybe it's a new attack or something." Wyatt explained.
Jessie finally came back inside after about an hour or two, soaking wet, but looking very self-satisfied. Little did she know, the day would change drastically.
As the rain started to die down and the Bladebreakers were anticipating going outside, Jessie's thoughts were elsewhere. Something didn't seem quite right, and Jessie's instincts had never been wrong before.
Something's not right, Devi.
I know. But whatever it is, it's nothing we can't handle.
Yeah…..
After what felt like an eternity, the rain finally let up.
"YES!" Tyson yelled as he ran out the door.
Jessie followed as the others went outside, but that bad feeling kept nagging her at the back of her mind, and it was getting stronger….
The team wandered down to the park, accompanied by the scent of wet dirt. It was still slippery and muddy on the ground, much to Tyson's disgruntlement.
"Great, how are we supposed to practice in this!"
Jessie pulled out her blade and aimed the bit chip at the ground.
"Devi Dranzer, Ravage Blizzard!"
The bit chip glowed blue as frigid wind and ice shot out of the blade, coating a large area in a thick sheet of ice. She pocketed the blade and smirked at Tyson, who was staring at the sheet of ice that covered nearly 20 square feet of land.
"Can we get this on or what?"
In only a matter of minutes, Wyatt had beaten both Max and Ray and was about ready to take on Tyson when another blade leapt into the arena. The others looked to where the blade had come from to see the Blitzkrieg Boys.
"Hey guys!" Tyson greeted them.
The blade in the battle ring returned to Tala as Jessie was loading Devi Dranzer into the launcher. (A/N: I gave Wolborg 3 new attacks and the others too later on)
"So, who wants a go?" She asked with a smirk.
"I haven't seen you blade in a while, I might as well." Tala said stepping forward.
The two got into their bladers' stances.
"3, 2, 1, LET IT RIIIIIIIIIPP!"
The two let loose their blades into the ice arena, both immediately going into attack mode.
"Devi Dranzer, attack pattern 19Z!"
"Wolborg, evade!"
Devi Dranzer started darting in just about every direction imaginable, striking an unsuspecting Wolborg with incredible force and speed. Despite the wolf's attempts to elude the Ice phoenix's attacks, Wolborg was taking a hard hitting.
"Wolborg, Iceberg Deepfreeze!"
"Devi Dranzer, Ravage Blizzard!"
As both blades were surrounded by wind and ice, the area around them was starting to turn into what looked like an Arctic tundra. A wolf's howl was joined by a phoenix's war cry as the bit beasts unleashed their attacks, ice clashing with ice and causing a blast of freezing cold wind. Through the snow and ice blowing through the air, it appeared that no one blader had done any more damage than the other.
"Wolborg, attack!"
"Devi Dranzer, attack!"
The blades continued to clash as clouds overhead threatened rain again. Neither Wolborg nor Devi Dranzer was showing any signs of backing out, only making them clash harder.
"Wolborg, Novae Rog!"
"Devi Dranzer, just like we practiced! Whiteout Storm Ice Age Attack!"
As Wolborg emerged from its bit chip, Devi Dranzer followed suit as it readied to unleash its newly-improved final attack.
"ATTACK!" They both yelled in unison.
Both ice bit beasts charged at one another, preparing for the final attack. As Wolborg was surrounded by a torrent of ice and snow, Devi Dranzer was consumed in a massive whirlwind of snow, ice, and freezing cold air. The Ice phoenix emitted one final war cry as the two bit beasts collided in a raging blizzard. The resulting collision caused an explosion of snow and ice. When it cleared, neither blade was spinning.
"WHOA……" Tyson gawked.
The two picked up their blades.
"Good match." They both said as they shook hands.
It was Tyson and Wyatt's turn now, and by the look of it, Wyatt would have a slight advantage from the numerous times that he and Jessie had spent practicing using an ice arena in training.
"Wait. How about we make this more interesting?" Tyson interrupted.
"How so?"
"Let's make this a team battle, you and Jessie vs. me and Daichi."
Wyatt looked to Jessie, who responded by slotting Devi Dranzer into the launcher.
"Let's do this."
As the two teams readied their blades, the others looked on in interest. Daichi and Tyson were a very tough team to beat, but then again, they had only seen Wyatt and Jessie use their team attack once. They didn't even know how many they had, let alone how much power could go into one attack.
"3, 2, 1, LET IT RIIIIIIIIIPP!"
The two teams both let rip their blades, Jessie leaping in to attack Daichi without so much as a second of hesitation. Tyson and Wyatt went head-to-head as Daichi was trying to keep up with Jessie's lightning-fast attacks.
"Gaia Dragoon, attack!"
"Devi Dranzer, counter-offensive!"
Meanwhile, Wyatt was actually starting to overpower Tyson with Coloroda's amazing attack force.
"Dragoon, Galaxy Storm!"
"Coloroda, Tectonic Earthshake!"
The Wind dragoon emerged from its bit chip as Wyatt's Earth stag did the same, preparing to unleash the attack. At full size from antler tip to hoof was roughly the size of Dragoon at 5 ½ stories tall. Since the bladers were rarely able to use their bit beasts at full power, most of them attained a size of anywhere from 3 to 4 ½ stories tall. As Dragoon launched its wind attack, Coloroda reared up and slammed its hooves onto the ground, causing an earthquake in the battle arena that was so massive it nearly threw off Jessie and Daichi, who at the moment were clashing like crazy.
"Gaia Dragoon, Great Cutter Attack!"
"Devi Dranzer, Arctic Cyclone!"
The Ice phoenix came shooting out of its bit chip followed closely by a raging torrent of sub-zero wind. Gaia Dragoon roared as the ice attack froze it in its tracks, literally, leaving only its head unfrozen. Wyatt and Tyson's bit beasts had already finished their attacks and were regrouping with their partners. Tyson's Dragoon managed to break the ice holding Gaia Dragoon as Coloroda rejoined Devi Dranzer.
"Dragoon, Gaia Dragoon, Twin Tornado Attack!" Tyson and Daichi yelled in unison.
"Devi Dranzer, Coloroda, Tempest Seismic!" Wyatt and Jessie yelled back.
The two dragons reared up as they launched the dual tornado attack, while Devi Dranzer merged with Coloroda much to everyone's surprise. As the tornadoes came careening at the stag/phoenix bit beast, it charged, beating its enormous wings creating a whirlwind filled with debris of earth, rock and ice. The twin tornadoes did very little to hurt it as Wyatt and Jessie's fused bit beast rammed into the dragons with amazing force, slamming both of their blades clear out of the battle arena. Devi Dranzer came away from Coloroda and both retreated to the confinements of their bit chips. All eyes were on Jessie and Wyatt, who both had a triumphant smile on their faces. All 4 bladers picked up their blades (with the exception of Jessie, whose blade returned to her by ramping off a piece of debris into her hand) and shook hands. All of the sudden, they heard someone clapping behind them.
"Not bad, not bad at all."
Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and scowled. It was none other than the BEGA Team minus Brooklyn and…..
"What do you want Boris!" Tala demanded.
Wyatt looked over at Jessie, who backed away a bit.
"I want to take back what is rightfully mine." He said looking at Jessie.
Wyatt stepped protectively in front of her.
"Over my dead body." He growled.
"That could be arranged." One silver-haired boy said with a smirk.
"You want her and you have to go through me." Wyatt growled.
"And me." Tyson said stepping in front of Jessie.
"You'll have to go through all of us."
Boris scowled as all of the bladers stepped in to Jessie's defense. Well, all of them except Kai. Jessie silently slotted Devi Dranzer into her launcher.
"I don't think you hear me. I'm not going until I get what's mine." Boris stated.
"You think you own me." A voice said from the back of the group.
Everyone turned to look at Jessie. Her head was down just a bit, making her bangs shadow her eyes in a way that made her look dangerous and dark. She looked up, her gray eye showing through the shadows and gleaming. "If you think I'm just some possession to be owned you need to think again." She held up Devi Dranzer as the bit chip flashed blue. "And I don't think Devi Dranzer would be too happy with this either."
Boris smirked.
"Don't you mean Black Dranzer?"
Jessie's eyes widened as she lowered her blade.
"LIAR!" She yelled, eyes starting to glow blue.
The others moved back as her blade started to glow.
"Now, now. Lets not get hasty. Tell you what. Battle one of my team and if you win, you never hear from me again. If not, you belong to me."
"Deal." She growled as her blade and eyes stopped glowing.
It wound up being Jessie vs. Garland. The two bladers got into their stances in front of the battle arena. Jessie shot Garland a dark glare.
"3, 2, 1, LET IT RIIIIIIIIIIIIPPP!"
Bwahahahaha cliffhanger! Important Note: All bit beasts have 3 or 4 attacks, so I gave everyone else who only had one another 1 or 2 attacks, maybe 3.
BTW, I wrote the Twelve Roses poem and the song Jessie sang, and they're mine, so back off! (glares darkly)
