"Gao," a voice whispered to Gao, who was currently sleeping in his bed. He remained asleep, "Gao," the voice called him again. "Gao! Wake up!"

Gao brutally woke up and asked, "W-what? Who? Why?" He saw Tenbu in front of him, his arms against his flank.

"Finally. You didn't wake up when your alarm clock rang, so I had to do it," Tenbu replied.

"W-why? There is no school today," Gao replied.

The dragon raised his eyebrow and said, "Gao. Did you forget what's going on today?"

"What do you-" Gao realised what Tenbu meant, "AH! The ABC Cup begins today! I'm going to be late!" Gao jumped out of his bed and searched for his clothes.

Tenbu chuckled while he heard the boy panicking, "Don't worry. You are not going to be late, you still have one hour."

Gao was dressed up and asked, "Is Drum here yet?"

Tenbu nodded negatively.

The boy sighed, "Drum will be here," he said, wanting to believe his words.

The green dragon replied, "Guess he's going to be here at the last second if this keeps up," he added as he flew outside, "Come. We have to be ready."

Chapter 67: ABC Cup, here we come!

Gao, his family, Halberd, Tenbu and Axia reached the arena for the tournament. The building was a large one with wall painted in blue. Gao stopped when he saw his friends with their buddies.

He joined them, "Eh! How's it going?"

Noboru grinned and replied, "I'm ready to own this tournament and defeat you."

Ironchain crossed his arms and grumbled, "Too bad I'm not in there, because of a cat."

Cat Sith grumpily replied, "It's because of a blue wingless dragon."

"Did you just say wingless?" Ironchain yelled.

"Calm down you two!" Kurugu said a little harshly, giving the impression it was starting to happen a little too often.

"Sorry," they both replied.

"Where is Drum?" Baku asked Gao.

"He's not here yet," he replied.

"It's getting cold for you, but I'm sure he can be here in time," Joker replied.

Kiri replied, "Too bad we couldn't enter in the tournament because I was sick."

"I'm actually glad to see you are better," Kuguru commented.

Noboru scratched the back of his head, "I don't know how to handle the headache for so long, I don't think I would do the same."

Kiri chuckled nervously.

Gao's mother said, "We have to go now. We need to get some good place if we want to watch the matches," she waved at them. Everyone followed her except those who are going to participate in the tournament.

"I'll join you later. I'll stay with Gao," Tenbu told them.

"Gao!" Tasuku yelled as he landed by the side of his friend with Jackknife.

"Hi there!" Gao replied.

Tenbu nodded toward Jackknife, who replied the same way as he turned into his mini form.

Tasuku looked around, "I see that Drum isn't here yet."

Gao nodded negatively, "We left a message back home. Are you ready for the tournament?"

Jackknife replied, "Yes. We are a little worried since Tenchi will be here. I don't what he could be planning."

Tenbu raised his shoulders, "Not sure, but he cannot do much in public eyes. So it will be outside of the match that we have to be careful."

"Are you waiting for him outside?" Tasuku asked.

Gao replied, "No. I cannot stand out there when the tournaments begin. I'll wait for him inside while I watch your match and my friends. I don't want to miss anything."

Tasuku chuckled, "Of course. We'll show you what we can do. See you inside."

Tasuku waved at his friend as he walked inside with his buddy.

Tenbu flew closer to Gao, "Do you want me to wait outside for Drum?"

"No. I cannot ask you that and miss the matches inside," Gao replied.

"Do not worry about me. I don't mind waiting outside," Tenbu said. He saw a lady and asked, "Hello there. Mind if you-"

Gao tapped on the back of the dragon, "I don't think I can count on you with many ladies around."

Tenbu turned around and chuckled, "True. True. Let's go inside then."

They went inside.

Meanwhile, in Dragon World, Drum flew back to his home with his drill launching him as fast as he could. He reached the door and landed on the ground, a proud smile on his face since his task was over. He didn't take more than two steps inside when his father blocked his path, arms crossed and lightly glaring at him.

"F-father," Drum chuckled nervously, unsure of why his father was pissed off, "I-I complete my task. Look. I got the spell card from Darkness Dragon World. Is my training over?"

The XIII looked at the card and took one step forward his son, "You took your time son."

"B-but I did as fast as I-"

"You were too long son!" his father replied a little harshly before taking another step forward.

Drum didn't dare moving and didn't dare saying anything.

"Don't you know you are getting late for something extremely important today?" The XIII asked.

Drum was confused and asked, "What are you-"

His father drew his card and said, "You even forgot about it. If you want to rule the clan one day son, you have to remember important events or you won't be suitable as a ruler of the clan!"

"But I never-" Drum was cut when his father kicked his stomach.

"Now go and remember your lesson!" The XIII said before Drum was thrown to a portal.

"Why is it always that way?" Drum yelled before disappearing through the portal.

Fang Slade Terrestrial The XIII grinned as he watched where his son left, "He grew stronger much faster than I expected," he turned around and walked inside, "Maybe I was a little unfair with him. He didn't know he had something important to return for," he then chuckled, "Nope. Anyway, this extra push might help him be there in time."

Gao joined his family and friends as the watched a large screen over the battlefield especially made for the battle between the buddies. The boy checked on the holographic screen and saw that he was on the right side of the table tournament. He was at the bottom part while he saw Noboru at the top, meaning that if they both win, they will reach the semi-final together.

The boy checked for Tasuku and saw he was on the left side of the tournament, meaning they could only fight in the big finale.

Gao was at the same time, excited that he could fight Tasuku at the finale, but also nervous because Drum wasn't there yet.

Noboru watched the holographic board and smiled, I just need to win until the semi-final to be against Gao. I'm lucky I'll confront him before I leave.

Azi Dahara sat on his deserve spot with Kyoya by his side. They were at the VIP section with the best view and had space between them. They watched the crowd getting excited for the future tournament.

"Don't they realise it's like watching a fight in a colosseum?" Azi asked.

A female voice replied, "I think we are aware of this. People enjoy watching battles as they can feel their blood boiling like their ancestors."

Azi looked at the one replying to them and saw it was Hinako, sitting at his left side. The left head of Azi looked at her and then at the two other heads before the heads looked forward, "Maybe you are right. We don't know everything about humans."

"Me neither," Hinako replied. She then added with a small smile, "Let's hope no one tries to kill me like when we were in the cruise ship."

"I don't think it will," Kyoya replied. He searched around and saw Tenchi near them, but far enough so they don't have to speak with him.

They then saw a flying saucer near them and then toward the ring where the battle's will occur, "Welcome everyone to the first tournament for the ABC cup! This will be the first time we will have match between buddies of other worlds with their human partner!" Paruko appeared on the saucer with her mic, "Now that everyone is here! Let me present you the rules of this tournament! The first rule is that only the monster will be in the ring and fight. The human will remain outside the battle and ready to use his spellcards when necessary. The second rule is that it is forbidden to kill your adversary. Speaking of the way to win the match, you win the match when you knock out your adversary, push your adversary out of the ring, either the human or his buddy surrender during the match, or when the human is too weak because he used to many of his energy. Next rule is simple, we human can only use one spellcard per minute and we are allowed to cumulate to 3 spells in total that you can use in one minute if you can. All of this will be recorded on a screen near the humans," Pakuro sighed, "It's weird to say human when you are one. Anyway, the next rule is no dirty talk, racism comment, etc." She then continued with the rules until everyone understood, "The rules aren't perfect since it's the first tournament, be I'll be here with judges to make sure the rules are respected! As for everyone at home, I will also provide comment on the matches for the entire tournament!"

The crowd cheered and were getting a little impatient to watch the tournament. Paruko started commenting on the different matches.

Gao was getting more and more nervous as the matches went on. Drum wasn't giving any sign of coming back. Tasuku had won his match and later on, he noticed Shido and Gallows winning their match without any trouble. Tetsuya and Asmodai won their matches. Gao knew that Zanya was the very last one who will have his match today.

He then heard, "Gao! Nice to see you here," a voice spoke to Gao. The boy looked behind him and saw Troubadour in his mini form. It was the same as his real form, but his big round eyes and his short limps made him cuter and close to a teddy dragon a kid would love to hug. The fun part was that his instrument remained the same size and just gave the impression he was even smaller than he looked like.

"Hi there," Gao replied.

Suzumi asked, "Who is that?"

"That's Troubadour. He's a friend from Darkness Dragon World," Gao replied.

"Getting nervous. I don't see your buddy anywhere thought. Is he late or trap in the bathroom?" Troubadour asked.

Takashi replied instead of Gao, "Drum isn't here, but we believe he's going to be here in time."

Troubadour nodded with a small smile, "That's good. I'm going to enjoy your matches Gao and count on me to cheer you up with my music."

"Thanks," Gao replied.

Tenbu and Halberd looked at the Dark Dragon who nodded at them. The two dragons nodded back at him.

"He's a nice dragon," Halberd commented, Which is a little weird for those of the Dark Dragon World.

"Agreed," Tenbu replied, trying to look at Suzumi, but Takashi was in his way and blocked his vision.

Drum felt from the sky and landed on the empty street, face first, "Argh... That hurt," he put his hand over his forehead and grumbled, "Why isn't dad proud? I complete my training and-" he looked around, "Hey. I recognise this place. I'm near the Mikado's home," he stood up with a smile, "I don't know what dad meant by late, but maybe they are waiting for me," his stomach grunted, "And something to eat. I'm so hungry right now."

He dashed toward their home and stopped at the entrance. He noticed that it was quiet in there and that their smell was lighter than the usual, telling him that they weren't there. He sighed, "I'm back and no one is here to welcome be back. I should-" he then saw a piece of paper on the front door, "What is that?" he looked at the piece of paper and read it. He gasped as he finished reading it, "What?! There is a battle tournament and I am in it with Gao and no one told me about it!" he realised what his father meant, "Gao! You should have told me about it!" he searched around for the arena and saw it, remembering visiting it once. He then dashed as fast as he could, Gao. I'm coming. I just hope I won't be late. He activated the thrusters of his drill and flew toward the arena.

AC: This is the end of chapter 67.

Next chapter: Drum's Return.