"Falling Star!" Kakori declared the attack's name from his place on the gigantic rose, sitting on one of the many leaves that surrounded the red petals.

Dylan looked up as the incoming sphere dived towards him, the bright light consuming him, turning the whole scene illuminated with yellow. It seemed to expand in the sky as it fell deeper and deeper, eating away the azure sky above, as if ruling the world. Here it comes, Dylan thought as he pulled his arm back, rolling up his green sweater sleeves.

His bleeding forearm was cooled by the outside air as it was thrust outward, reaching for the falling star. He let out a self-assured cry as the ball of light came down on him, eating away at his body, crashing into the ground. The impact it made on the ground gave the earth a little shake, and lit up the whole entire forest with its beaming light. It seemed so peaceful, so holy, unlike anything that just crushed a sixteen year old boy under its large, domed body.

I guess there was no way for him to beat White Cloak anyway, Kakori thought as he looked down on the distant spherical wonder. His body is probably crushed and toasted by now. Kakori sighed and looked up at the real sun, the one he had spent so much time concealing. It shone back at him with guilt that ate away at his insides. It's too bad though… Kakori admitted. I guess I should get back now.

The rose began to shrink in height and width, returning to a normal, life-sized rose. It's petals twisted and its leaves rustled as they minimized, sinking back down into the floor, Kakori jumping off when it got to small and landing on his feet beside it, his body now larger in comparison. Kakori played with the branch stick that laid between his lips, moving it up and down, up and down. The light dome in front of him painted his expression bright and yellow, almost blinding. Surrounded by the torn and tired forest, he stared at the grave of someone who could've been something. The neon, one-man cemetery seemed nothing like anyone would imagine it to be.

Then, unexpectedly, the ball shifted. Hm? Kakori thought, paying closer attention. A second later, it shifted even more than last, shaking on its position, its stance seeming unsteady. It shook a little more, as if someone were playing a puppet show with it. It began to rise slowly, elevating to the smallest scale, bit by bit until it revealed the unharmed sixteen year old underneath, lifting the ball up with one hand.

Dylan let out a battle cry as he swung the giant orb of illumination forward, the attack backfiring on Kakori.

"N-No way!" Kakori let out a horrid gasp, opening his mouth wide in disbelief, the stick falling out of his lips' grasp and clattering to the floor as the bright light came closer. Kakori was too shocked to dodge, and was absorbed into the light, his body no longer visible.

Away from the new carrier of the light globe burden, Dylan watched as the ground exploded beneath it with a clatter, hauling dust into the surrounding area. Dylan panted out his heavy breaths, trying to regain air again. Dust crept closer to him from the implosion, the light attack completely gone, leaving nothing left but a white haired sixteen year old boy and a council member lost in the haze of dust. He stared into the smoke, his eyes piercing, his white hair ruffled and orange headband caked with dirt.

In the clearing, puffing smoke, Kakori struggled to stand up, his legs shaking, dirt embedded into various parts of his green council robes. How did he…? Kakori thought, still struggling. Amazing… his incomplete thought spoke out. Kakori smiled as he got back on his feet, trying to keep his stance straight up. He found Dylan just a few feet away from him, panting and breathing just as Kakori had begun to do. That backfiring attack knocked a lot out of me.

Kakori began to walk through the drifting smoke, his feet heavy like cinderblocks. He kept his nodding stare at Dylan as he continued to pace forward, Dylan panting heavily, not knowing if he was ready to fight any longer.

Kakori stopped and bent over to pick up his tree stick and replaced it in his mouth, not caring if it was completely infested with dirt. This guy has enough potential to take an attack that's over a million times more powerful than him even when he had no more energy and be able to manipulate it in another direction. Amazing, he repeated in his mind.

Dylan continued panting and gave a mean, half ready stare, his expression tired and structure worn out. Kakori smiled. "Let's get back," Kakori said, slowly recovering from the damage. I think he's had enough for today, he thought.

Dylan sighed heavily in reply. He didn't need to worry though. The tree and dust surrounding him, imprisoning him would all soon go away once he left.

PoVS

Daniel's eye continued to stay closed in endurance, his breath a thousandth of what it used to be, a whisper. The prickly, surrounding dead grass blades trickled on the back of his neck. Shintenmaru's eyes were glowing brightly as he continued turning him into stone, the discoloration beginning to take over Daniel like a mask, covering half his face all ready, all of his neck and the beginning of his chest. The stone crept near his eye, which was beginning to shine in the sun's light, seeming to water.

"Come on," Shintenmaru implored. "You don't want to die, do you? "

Daniel let out a weak, resistant cry as we gripped Shintenmaru's wrist with his weakening, heavy hand. The grayness began to creep up his wrist from beneath his sleeves as well. It wouldn't be long until he stopped breathing completely.

His hold did nothing, and soon his hand froze in place, his fingers becoming paler and paler by the second. Daniel soon stopped breathing and his glassy eyes froze in a state of horror, his expression constricted in the act of being reluctant.

"Hmph," Shintenmaru got up on his feet and walking away, displeased. He turned his back to Daniel as he cancelled the process. The grayness began to shrink back, the heavy stone mask dissolving like salt in water. His body turned to a small tan again and the process of breathing soon became available. Daniel stirred with a cough, the color returning back to his eyes.

He struggled to stand up on his feet, his legs still heavy. "You…shouldn't have stopped…when you had the chance…!" he rasped out in his slowly returning voice. "Soul Rain…!" he choked out, a few balls of glowing spiritual energy pulling out of his back and zooming towards Shintenmaru.

In a blink of an eye, Shintenmaru disappeared from sight, dodging the attack, his figure seeming to disappear in different directions with the wind. The attack missed, crashing into the floor and ripping a hole into the ground, creating small puffs of dust that swam in the air.

Daniel continued to gasp rapidly and falls on to the floor, sitting up. He clutched this throat, which still felt a bit stony, like it was clogged. In another blink of an eye, Shintenmaru reappeared, standing right in front of Daniel, casting his long, ominous shadow upon him.

"You're too late to use that. If I really were your opponent, you would be dead right now. Don't you get that? Are you not Takiato Daniel with IQ 189?" Shintenmaru gave, a bit of pep talk-like for his own good.

Daniel coughed in reply, taking his words into consideration. "Show it! If you were anything like I was when I was your age, you would most likely feel scared at the presence of danger. Well, here's something I didn't realize that you can," Shintenmaru said in a calming voice, his presence dark from the shade.

"What might that be?" Daniel said halfheartedly, still coughing to clear his throat.

"Listen closely and remember these words," Shintenmaru informed, leaning down to Daniel's place on the floor. "Courage…isn't because you have no fears. Courage is because you think something is more prioritized ahead of it, and realize it."

Daniel's panting soon stopped, calming down finally. He's right. I am always scared at the sight of danger. That's the only reason I'm resisting to use my real energy and choose to summon pictures from cards instead. Well then, I say this time, I show that Takiato Daniel… he thought as he stood up slowly, his feet more steady and fixed. He looked up to find Shintenmaru still bending down. That Takiato Daniel isn't a coward! He stated finally in his mind, leaning his look downward, his face being warmed by the sun's heating touch.

"Looks like you're starting to come to your senses. Are you ready to fight now?" Shintenmaru asked, standing back up on his feet to look at Daniel face to face, an assuring smile on his face that made Daniel feel more comfortable inside.

"Not entirely, but enough to hopefully beat you!" Daniel declared in a rising voice, putting his body in a readied position, as if preparing for hand to hand combat.

"That's not what I want to hear," Shintenmaru said, raising a finger to push up his glasses so they wouldn't fall off.

"Huh?" Daniel said, a bit wide-eyed and a little confused, still in his prepared position to fight.

"Don't hope," he warned. "know."

"Heh," Daniel smirked, charging up energy to resume the long awaited fight. The sunlight continued to pour even more now, and the wind picked up to a steadier rate, caressing the blood red hair of Shintenmaru, and the scarlet of Daniel.

"Soul Dragon!" Shintenmaru declared, starting the battle. Shintenmaru held his head back and thrust it forward, releasing the same dragon as before, the dragon attaching to the inside of his mouth, always a part of him no matter what. It swam in the air. The dragon zoomed out of his mouth in a twister, turning its body like a hula hoop, a sudden blast of energy from only a few feet away.

Daniel, not reacting at all with his stare on the floor moved to the side and let the dragon rush past him, wind fluttering by along with it that shook his clothes violently . The dragon crashed into the ground behind Daniel and put a hole into it, its head now hidden in a cloud of concealment.

Daniel picked his glasses up to straighten them out, and looked straight forward to find Shintenmaru with his mouth wide open. The dragon's body seemed to shiver and shake, and Daniel sensed it move out of the cloud.

The dragon came into sight from above the cloud, and turned to dive towards Daniel, who didn't care to turn around. I can't spend all my time hiding, Daniel thought. He closed his eyes as he continued to think. No matter how much I'm going to be scared and how much I try to hide it, it'll always be there, but sometimes… pretending to be something you're not is the first step to becoming that very same thing, Daniel realized in his pool of thoughts, grabbing the Dragon by its neck as it was just inches away from his head.

The Dragon was taken by surprise and roared in agony as Daniel's grip on it didn't seem to give. He squeezed tighter and tighter, and along with it, the Dragon seemed to shrink in size, downsizing thinner and thinner by the second.

"What?" Shintenmaru mumbled, grinning a little too evilly for a Council member.

The dragon roared angrily, resisting death. But its fate was all ready chosen; it was inevitable at this point. Daniel gripped its neck tighter. He revealed an unthawing look on his face as he reopened his eyes. Finally, the dragon was completely taken in by his hand, shrinking into nothing but cool air, all the life energy now inside Daniel's body.

Shintenmaru stumbled on his feet. He suddenly felt weaker. I don't think I should fool around with this kid anymore, he thought as he was welcome to close his mouth now, the dragon no longer his companion. This time, I really won't hold back. He rolled up his robe sleeves and prepared himself, turning on his analyzing mind. If he's also anything like me, then he would also have a great mind for analyzing things, which could lead to his win in this fight. And I don't feel like losing in my first fight in five hundred or so years. So this time, I'll hit him with all I've got. This time, I'll show what having a Free Spirit's power is all about, he thought finally as he shifted his feet, widening his stance, pouring all the orange energy into his fist.

PoVS

Derek ran through the darkness, the heavy ebony surrounding his every move, his feet pouncing on the floor just as heavily. I have to make sure he can't catch up with me, he thought as he zoomed past the darkness, not seeing where he was going at all, nothing except nothing surrounding him, not even one single sound other than his own and Hibiyomi's constant following voice.

"Trying to run away?" Hibiyomi's booming voice came again, Derek feeling something tripping him. Derek fell flat on the floor, his body feeling tired from running who knows how long. He got back up on his feet with the help of his hands on the cold, darkness enveloped floor. "You can't run away because I can always catch up with you in a second, you do know that, do you not?" Hibiyomi's creepy, raspy voice seeming to be closer more than ever.

Derek continued to run anyway, sweat covering his entire body, his chest still not completely healed from the Jagrock incident. His chest seared with pain as he ran, swinging his arms in a hurry, and running to nowhere. No matter where I run, it always seems like I'm going to the same place. Suddenly, he heard train tracks, a loud zooming if you will. Train tracks…? From where? He looked around, still not able to see anything. The sound came closer and closer and seemed to creep from all around. Then, he realized it. Above!

Derek jumped away and heard the zooming sound of a train against its rails rush past in front of him, going downward. A train going downward… is that possible? Just what is a train doing here?

"Spirits ride in that train, I told you, they go in and out," Hibiyomi replied, his voice reappearing, so close it was like he was speaking right in Derek's own private thoughts.

I wonder if he can figure it out now… Hibiyomi thought as he narrowed his stare, watching Derek, being the only person who could see in this situation.

Derek looked around frantically. His eyes were widened in a state of fear and meticulousness. His eyes wandered from side to side, his forehead leaking with sweat. More train came from different directions, zooming like a bullet diagonally and straight, causing a sort of chain cage around Derek, the seventeen year old boy somehow able to dodge all of them, jumping in different direction all the time.

They seem to be coming from either up or down… meaning hell is up… heaven is down. If they keep coming at this pace, then I'm going to run out of energy soon, and being unable to see anything in the Darkness means I can't dodge these things forever, Derek thought, trying to figure out a way out of his current situation, dodging another train that came upward just barely.

Heavy breathing soon took over his hearing and the cold darkness seemed to freeze the sweat that poured out of him. The roaring of train tracks and the echoing, rising and falling zooming seemed to stop for a moment, and Derek waited.

"All aboard," Hibiyomi had told him as a hint. All aboard… Derek repeated in his mind. Does that mean climb on the train? No, that would be too obvious. Only a fool would think of that. So what? There has to be a catch, and if I don't find out what it is soon, I really just might die here.