It had been only a week since that day Issei had run off. The Hyoudou couple had traveled back to the cave to find the boy. They were shocked to find that the entire mountain where the cave was located had vanished. The only thing they had found was a massive crater the size of a small village. At the center of that massive crater was Issei, who was laying on his back, unconscious.
The Hyoudou couple took him back to their home so they can look after him. The boy was quiet and didn't speak to them for the longest time. He ate when they gave him food, but with no enthusiasm. When he needed to go to the bathroom he went. He goes for walks across the farm and mingle with the animals. Mr. and Mrs. Hyoudou decided to leave the boy be and be there when he decides to talk. They knew the boy was grieving, and decided to leave him some space to heal.
Mrs. Hyoudou was in the kitchen doing the dishes. Issei had just decided to sit at the table and lay his head down. He hadn't spoken a word yo the older couple ever since they came into contact with eachother. Mrs. Hyoudou then decided to try and talk yo the boy.
Mrs. Hyoudou dried her hands and sat in front of the brown haired boy. "What's your name sweety?"
The brown haired boy looked at the older woman. It looked to her as if he's debating on whether to talk or to attack. She really hoped it was talk.
Just as she was about to give up and return to her chores, the boy spoke very softly, "Issei."
The woman widened her eyes. "Issei? Oh! Your name is Issei? Well what a nice name."
She decided to get a little bold. She reached out her hand to him slowly and gently stroke his hair. Issei went stiff for a moment at the unexpected contact, but shortly calmed afterwards. He then spoke in a shy, soft voice, "What's your name?"
The woman then adopted a warm and loving smile. "Call me mom."
"Okay so then, you jab the plow into the ground and you push forward. Once you make it to the end, do it again backwards. Got it?"
Issei nodded at the older Hyoudou as he gave him instructions. Issei had felt guilty for staying in their home, eating their food, and him doing nothing. So, he decided to help them out on the farm.
"Are you sure you can do this by yourself? This could be a little hard for you?"
Issei smirked at the older man. He had no idea just how strong he is. Ddraig once made him carry a boulder five times his size and walk up a mountain. This is childs play.
"Yeah. I think I can handle it."
Mr. Hyoudou shrugged and walked off to take care of some other chores.
Issei cracked his knuckles and grabbed onto the iron plow. He lifted it, jabbed it into the ground and pushed forward. Thanks to his immence strength and massive stamina, he was able to finish a whole day's of work in only an hour. Which have left Mr. Hyoudou speechless.
What is this kid? Mr. Hyoudou thought.
Later that night, the family had an productive dinner. The Hyoudou couple told Issei about themselves and vise versa (minus his dragonslaying powers). It was the closest thing Issei had ever felt to having a real actual family in his life. He was healing. Emotionally.
And the food tasted so much better than it had before.
A peaceful week had went by and Issei is grooming the mingling with the cows out on the field. It was peaceful until his sensitive ears had picked up the sound of a cry coming from the nearby woods. Issei took off towards the sound of the cry. Someone could be in danger.
He ran deep into the woods, following the sound of the cry. He stopped and listened to where it was coming from.
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
He looked up a nearby tree and saw something he couldn't believe. He had to get a closer look. Issei jumped onto the tree and climbed onto a branch that was attached to it. Now that he got a closer look at it, he now knows that his eyes weren't playing tricks on him.
It was what it looked to be a cat standing on two legs. The cat was deep red in color, almost crimson. The cat had it's other two paws (hands?) on its eyes as it cried.
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
"Umm...are you okay?" Issei asked cautiously.
The cat opened its teary eyes and ran towards Issei. It jumped into Issei's chest as it cried even more.
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! There's a monster after me! Help me!"
Issei looked down at the talking cat down on his chest. When Issei first learned that he was in a different time, he was shocked. But it explained why it was so different then what he remembered. Maybe talking cats are a common thing in this time.
Issei petted the cat on its head to calm it down. After a few minutes of crying, the cat calmed down. Issei lifted the cat in front of him and said, "All better?"
The cat nodded.
"What's your name?" Issei asked.
The cat blinked at him. He looked up like he was trying to remember something. After a few moments he looked back at Issei. "I don't know."
"Well, where are your parents?" Issei asked.
"I don't know. I don't think I have any parents."
Issei stared at the red cat. He wondered what he was gonna do. He couldn't just leave him in the woods. There were many monsters that roam around here. And the he thought...
"Wanna come home with me?" Issei smiled at the cat.
The red cat stared at Issei with teary eyes. "Really? You'll take me with you?"
"Yes. You won't be alone anymore, I promise. In return, stay by my side. We'll be partners through and through. Sound like a deal?"
The cat closed his teary eyes as he grinned a happy grin. "Yes!"
As they were grinning at each other, the ground started to shake which made Issei fall off the branch.
Issei closed his eyes as he waited for the impact of the ground. When he still didn't feel the ground, he opened his eyes and saw that the ground wasn't getting closer. He looked in his arms looking for the cat only to find that he wasn't there. He felt something grab on his back and looked behind him to see that the cat was clinging to his back with a pair of angel wings coming out of his back. They were flying in the air.
"Huh? How the hell can you do that!?" yelled Issei with a comical expression.
"It's called Aera magic. It gives me the ability to fly. And I can also carry you when I fly."
"WHAT HAVE I MISSED WHILE I WAS ASLEEP!?" Issei screamed as he grabbed his hair.
Down below them, a roar suddenly came to as a monster saw them up in the sky. This ginormously fat monster was humanoid and had a one giant horn on its head (fairy tail chapter 299).
"WAH! That's the monster that was after me!" the cat screamed.
Anger boiled up inside Issei as he looked at the monster. The more he looked at the monster, the more riled up he got. He then grinned wickedly.
"ALRIGHT!"
As Issei screamed that, he released a massive amount of red aura around him.
The red cat was shocked at the intense magic pressure he was releasing. And his aura was nothing like he'd ever seen.
Issei began to suck in a lot of air. As he sick in air, he also sucked in the red aura that surrounded him. His face and stomach buldged as a result of the air and aura inside him.
"WELSH DRAGON'S ROAAAAAAR!"
A colossal amount of red magic energy blasted out of Issei's mouth as he released his roar towards the monster below him. The giant mass of magic energy was big enough to easily overwhelm and consume the monster whole. Disintegrating it to the point where not even ashes remain. The explosion caused the entire area around the monster to be destroyed and part of a crater.
Issei and the red cat stared in shock at the result of the blast. Issei hadn't meant to go that overboard. The magic concentration in the air was really high. He wasn't used to having this much power. What would happen if he ever reached dragon force? He could destroy a continent with that much power!
The cat lowered Issei to the ground as they stared at the result of Issei's attack.
"What are you?" the cat asked.
Issei puffed out his chest and did a victory "v" sign with his fingers. "I'm Issei Hyousou. Welsh Dragon Slayer. Son of the Red Dragon Emperor."
"And I just came up with a name for you my furry partner. I'm gonna call you Bast."
The red cat looked up at Issei. "Why that name?"
Issei didn't know. It just came to him on a whim. But hey, Ddraig name him on a whim. So it was okay. Right?
