-1Our heroes approached the home of their sensei; Seto. Seto was considered weak looking, but strong. He stood only 5 feet 6 inches, compared to Bakura's 5 feet 5 inches, and Doroboo's 5 feet 8 inches. The thing that made people automatically think he was weak, was that this red haired teen, was blind. He could fight better than a man with the vision of a hawk. He relied on the sound of the wind, and the vibrations of the ground. He had the speed of the mightiest tornado, and would rarely fight. Keeping the peace is what he is best known for.
He lives in a small dojo, just like the Hiragatsus, except the backyard has a giant, wooden stage, that his students train on. Rika was laughing at Bakura, who was flung over his brother's shoulder. "Keep laughing. When I get down, I'm gonna ring your neck!" Bakura shouted.
"Not so loud. My ears," Doroboo laughed. Ryou seemed quiet, and was looking at the ground most of the walk there. "What's wrong, little one?" Doroboo asked, causing the argument between Rika and Bakura to cease.
"Nothing..It's just that, Sensei wants me to try and fully transform," Ryou replied quietly.
"Crap...," Bakura shook slightly, and Rika made a look like she was getting frightened.
"What happened last time?" Doroboo stopped, and put Bakura down.
"You see, Sensei made all of us transform into our full beast forms," Bakura said, but was cut off by his brother.
"I remember that. That was hard. Did you do good, Ryou-chan?" Everyone fell silent, and looked at their feet.
"Ryou...Nearly killed us...," Rika replied, a tear slipped down her cheek. The wind swept through their hair, and all grew very still.
"It happened like this...," Bakura started. "We were training, and perfecting our attacks."
Rika, Ryou, and Bakura were all in Japanese clothes, and were shooting colorful beams of light out of their palms. All of the teens had cat ears, and tails, which flew in the wind. "Cat Bolt!" Rika fired a beam of electric, yellow lighting out of her palm, and zapped at the dummies.
"Fire Strike!" Bakura shot a beam of flames at the dummies, which turned to ashes within seconds.
"Bubble Blast!" Ryou blew the dummies away, in a colorful beam of bubbles.
"Very well done my students. I'm very glad to say that your attacks are progressing," Seto came out of the dojo, his white kimono blew in the wind. All three of the students were panting, and sweating. "Again!"
"Sensei! That was our hundredth time firing off our weak attacks! Can we please take it up a notch?!" Bakura growled impatiently.
"Very well... Advance attacks!" Seto shouted, raising his arm up.
"Dragon Fists!!" Bakura punched, and many balls of flames, which burned many of the dummies.
"Cat Bolt!!" Rika pointed her finger at the dummies, which were zapped by the beams of lighting coming from her finger tips.
"Water Dragon!!" Ryou fired a large ball of water, which took on the shape of a dragon's head, and engulfed the dummies, washing them away.
"Very good. You are all improving," Seto said, smiling lightly.
" Umm..Sensei? Can we practice our full beast forms now?" Rika raised her hand, still panted, and charging with electrical energy.
" I don't see why not... Very well. Take your forms!"
Flames appeared at Bakura's feet, and soon consumed his body. As it twisted and turned, Bakura changed forms within it. After the flames had died down, he stood, hunched forward, large fangs hung out of his mouth. His long, black hair now served as a mane, and his nose and mouth was now a full snout of a cat beast. Hands and feet were now paws, with large, oversized claws coming in and out of them. The tail he had, was now fuller, and fluffier, and wagged with a more powerful force.
"Very good, Bakura. Rika, why don't you go next?"
"Alright!" Electricity was building up at her feet, and in a blinding light, she was gone. Many seconds of zapping everything in sight, it died down. Rika stood there, only as her cat beast form. She had large fangs, similar to Bakura's, but were hidden in her mouth. She didn't have a snout like Bakura, but had paws like him. Her tail was fluffier as well. The long blue hair she originally had, now touched the ground, and her figure wasn't dispositional, like Bakura.
"Very good job, Rika. Your turn Ryou," Seto said, catching him before he wandered off.
"Ummm..Can I wait until later to try?" Ryou smiled innocently.
"What are you, chicken?" Bakura laughed his loud, roaring laugh.
"Oh stop!!" Rika smacked him in the face with her tail.
"I just don't want to try. I know I'm going to mess up...," Ryou whimpered.
"Just try, young one. They won't laugh," Seto placed his hand on Ryou's shoulder, and smiled at him. He may be blind, but his eyes had a glint of trust in them, that made Ryou give his transformation a try.
"O.k. Here I go," Ryou stood still, as a large amount of water surrounded him. All was well, until it got over his head, and he let out a loud, earsplitting scream for help.
"Ryou-sama!" Rika went to run to him, but was stopped by Seto.
"He must learn how to tame the beast within his heart," he said, making Rika lower her shoulders in defeat. Ryou's screams continued, until the water dropped. A figure stood, shadowed by an evil presence. Seto caught the presence quickly, but Bakura didn't. "Bakura! Get away from him! That's not the Ryou you know!" Seto shouted.
"What?!" Rika cried out.
"He looks like Ryou...," Bakura stared at it, slowly moving in to examine its face. In a heart beat, its head shot up, causing Bakura to gasp, and stumble backwards. "Y-Your not Ryou!" The figure roared, and swiped Bakura's face with its large claws, sending him in to the wall with such powerful force. It had claws like daggers, and had a large blade coming out of its arms. The legs looked dispositional like Bakura's, and had paws like both of its friends. Long fangs came out of its mouth, as it roared, and it charged at Bakura. "Your not Ryou, so I'm gonna take you out before you hurt me friends!" Bakura swiped at the creature that resembled his brother.
"Bakura! Stop!" Rika cried, as the creature hit the wall, and cried out. She ran past Seto, and toward the creature that lay in a dead-like state. "Ryou! Oh God! Ryou! Get up! Please! You can't be dead!" Rika cried, holding the beast to her chest.
"R-Rika...Run...," a voice said, causing her to jump up.
"Ryou! Please, let me help you...," she stuck her hand out, tears streaming down her face. He moved for a moment, and stood. His breathing was slightly increased, and he let out a growl. His head jerked up, and his eyes came in contact with hers. "R-Ryou...," she stammered, and backed up. He roared and wings appeared on his back. They flapped once, and scratched Rika's arm with its sharp edges. He glared at Rika, his cold, blood red eyes focused on her blue eyes, which were flooded with tears. He roared again, and flew.
"He can't go into town!" Seto's kimono flew off, and his own blue dragon wings, flapped. He shot like a bullet after his deformed student. "Ryou! I'm sorry that I have to do this! Dragon's Blast!!!" Seto shout a beam out of his mouth, and nailed Ryou in the back. He roared, and fell out of the air.
"NO!!" Rika screamed, and ran toward where he was falling.
It's too dangerous! Stay back!" Bakura caught her, and she was flailing in his grasp.
"Let me go! We have to catch him!!" Ryou turned over in a circle, and landed on his feet.
"Even you should know...Cats always land on their feet...," Bakura seemed tired, and frightened that his monstrous brother wasn't defeated. Ryou took a step, and fell flat onto his face. Seto landed by him, and watched as Ryou changed back to a half cat form. Rika and Bakura turned back to their half cat forms, and ran toward their fallen friend.
"Ryou!" Rika was sobbing, and held Ryou close to her. Bakura kneeled by his brother, and took his hand in his.
"I think I should take him home...," Bakura sounded quiet.
"I have herbs he could use to heal... He could stay here for the night, and if you want, you could stay here as well. I need to look at your wounds as well," Seto said, and retreated inside. Bakura picked up Ryou's limp body, bridal style, and carried him inside, limping slightly.
" That's why Ryou is upset...," Bakura finished.
"He doesn't want to become that awful beast again, and I don't want him to become it either...," Rika shook at the thought of Ryou changing again.
" Oh...I'm sorry...Maybe Sensei has a new plan on what to do...," Doroboo put his hand on Ryou's shoulder.
"No! I'm not going to risk it! I can't, and I won't ever again!!" Ryou shouted.
"Well, we better tell Sensei how you feel...," Bakura put his arm around Ryou's shoulders, and started walking to the dojo, where our heroes will face a new problem; their teacher's decision.