Many many many apologizes for taking so long with this chapter. I honestly have no idea why I struggled with writing this particular chapter plus I kept changing around plans for future chapters after thinking more on this and with the release of P4 Arena Ultimate Sulplex I had to take in that information and see if that affected any of my plans. Not to mention there were other plot bunnies that demanded to be written so I wrote them to clear my head a bit. And there was some real life stuff too….phooey. But here we go!
Oh, reviews first.
TableCloth- No full time job yet sadly but I'm gonna see how I can get Sho in the fic in the future
BahamutX978- I really need to catch up on the Golden anime
"Wow…..I thought Yuma would go mad from living here…."
Kotori groaned at Tetsuo's comment. She was tired from the long train ride they had to do since there were no subways or airports close to this town. And during that trip she had to put up with Shark's attitude, Takashi and Tokunosuke arguing for about the half the trip, Cathy bring too much luggage, and Tetsuo's snoring. At least Kaito joined them and managed to keep order somewhat. All she wanted to do is to check into the inn and get some sleep.
"Kotori!"
Kotori snapped to attention and smiled when she saw Yuma run up to them and behind him she saw who she recognized as Yu, Yosuke, and Chie. But before she could say anything, she nearly got run over but the remained of her friends.
"Yuma!" Cathy tackled Yuma so hard he nearly got knocked over, "We missed you so much-nya!"
"Oof…easy there…" Yuma tried to loosen her grip.
Tetsuo didn't help matters when he gave Yuma a hard pat on the back, "You didn't think we would sit this entire thing out did ya?"
"Not really…" Yuma said as he finally got Cathy off of him.
"Nice to see you again Rio." Chie said as he gave the girl a high five.
"You too, we've got some stories to tell you," Rio said with a sly wink as Shark tried to make it look like he was invisible.
"You're here to show us to the inn?" Kaito asked Yu.
"Yep," Yu gathered some of their bags, "Yukiko's family owns it and they have the rooms ready for you, and they have hot springs as well."
"Hot springs!?" Cathy, Rio, and Kotori's eyes lit up.
Yosuke leaned in towards the boys, "Make sure they read the schedule for the hot spring correctly."
"It sounds like you speak from experience." Takashi noted.
"Sounds like he was the one who got the schedule wrong-ura," Tokunoskue suggested.
"No no no no! That wasn't the case!" Yosuke tried to backpedal as fast he could and instead reached for some of the suitcases, "Okay who packed a bowling ball?!"
"And why do I hear meowing from this one?" Chie asked as she opened the case in question and was quite startled when a tabby kitten popped out.
"Oh dear…I told him to stay home!" Cathy quickly picked up the stowaway, "I hope you didn't get squished during the ride." The kitten gave a small meow, "Really now? Well I'll just have a talk with the cat sitter when we get home." Cathy reassured the tabby with a scratch behind the ear who let out a loud purr.
"Is…she understanding what the cat is saying?" Yosuke asked.
"She does that…you should see her army back home." Yuma informed them.
"An army?! I thought they were joking with the crazy cat lady thing!"
"Well let's keep it hidden, I don't think Yukiko's inn allows pets." Yu said.
"Then let's go already!" Shark had already traveled halfway down the road without anyone noticing.
"Shark….it's the other way."
Shark shifted his feet and headed in the right direction without making eye contact.
"What's up with Shark?" Yuma asked.
Rio pulled out her D-Pad and pulled up a picture, "This…"
Yuma looked, "…..WHAT IS THAT?!"
The rest of the investigation team was at the Amagi in to check on Yukiko and to wait for Yuma's friends to arrive as they were anxious to hear what happened in the hunt for the other Legendary Numbers. What they didn't expect was for Shark to bolt strait to where the room they had rented shutting the slider door and the reaming members of the group walking laughing their heads off expect for Kaito who kept his serious face the entire time.
"Ummmm…..what just happened?" Rise asked.
Chie wiped a tear from her eye, "You won't believe it."
Yuma was trying to breathe, "So apparently one of the locations for the Numbers was right in my hometown."
Kotori picked up the story from there, "We all went to check it out and we ran into on the Barians named Gilag but…it wasn't really him."
"You see, there spirit that was protecting the Number was a raccoon spirit and it possessing Gilag's body putting the real one inside a statue and challenged Shark to a duel for the possession of the Number." Takashi explained.
Now Rio was really trying hard to suppress giggles, "But…during the duel…it hopped into Ryoga's body!"
"Wait what?!" Kanji exclaimed.
"It did! That raccoon started to do crazy misplays on Sharks turn than hop back when it was the raccoon's turn again." Tokunosuke was in hysterics.
"Is that even legal?" Yukiko wondered.
"But the best part is that Shark ended up in Gilag's body for a while during the switcheroo." Cathy grinned.
"I hope you have pictures." Teddie was hopeful.
"I do!" Rio held up her D-Pad showing Shark who had whiskers and someone in the background that the group assumed was Gilag looking very confused over the situation.
"We are never going to live this down." Tetsuo laughed, "Never delete those pictures Rio."
"Just as long we are in agreement that these never go online."
"Agreed," was the response from the group.
"Humorous hijinks aside I believe that we have some important matters to discus." Naoto said being the mood killer.
Yuma could have sworn he saw Kaito mouth a thank you to Naoto.
Once Shark was cohersed from his room the two groups sat down in the lobby to exchange information and bring each other up to speed. Kaito handed two cards over to Yuma, Number 54 Lion Heart and Number 64 Veteran Takinuki Sanadyu, but asked to keep a third one, Number 46 Dragluon, to himself. Yuma gave him the okay once Astral gave an approving nod.
"So I wanted to ask you this," Kaito addressed the whole group, "Did the other ruins have a legend attached to them?"
"Yeah…" Chie started to think back, "The first one was about the knight and a Pegasus."
"The other one was about that psycho prince…" Yosuke shuddered.
"Did the ones you went to also have legends?" Yuma asked.
"That's right. The one I went to was about a dragon tamer." Kaito said.
"And the one back home where…it happened," Kotori swapped out her words once she saw the glare form Shark, "The legend was about a samurai lord."
"And the one I had Gauche check out was about a gladiator." Kaito finished.
"Gauche?! How's he doing?" Yuma interjected.
"Fine and let's stay on topic Yuma." Kaito turned his focus on everyone again, "Did anyone notice anything about those legends? Specifically to the Barians you encountered there?"
Murmurs went through the group. "What do you mean by that?" Yu asked.
"Because….I believe that these legends are about the Barians."
Silence coated the room. Astral eyes widen in shock but his reaction went unnoticed by everyone due to them having their attention on Kaito.
"You're joking….that's impossible." Shark was sounding angry.
"It is," Kaito shot him a glare, "The ruins I went too, the spirit there was the spirit of a dragon named Jilong who was the dragon in the legend. But after our duel…Mizeal showed up having heard the tale and Jilong recognized him as his old master."
"But that would imply….that all of the Barians were human at one point." Kotori muttered.
"So they got reincarnated or something?" Kanji asked.
"I'm not quite sure. This is something that I need to investigate further, especially if the Barians have no memories as their supposed past lives."
"That's just a load of crap….those Barians are nothing but monsters." Shark just scoffed.
"Actually…I think Kaito is right."
Those who could see Astral turned their attention towards him. "You believe that load of bullcrap?" Shark asked.
Astral ignored Shark's comment, "After we acquired Sky Pegasus…I took a look at the memory inside it and it was not my own. It was the memory of the knight of the legend there…and he looked exactly like Durbe's human form."
"Is that what was bothering you earlier?" Yuma asked his friend very worried.
"Yes…."
"So that changes things a bit." Yu muttered.
"But isn't there one more ruin to check out?" Rise asked.
"There is but…." Takashi pulled out a PDA and pulled something up showing the group, "The coordinates point to a random point in the ocean."
"I'm not in the mood for scuba diving." Tetsuo complained.
"So what do we do? Could those coordinates be wrong?" Teddie asked.
"No, I don't believe my dad would get anything wrong." Yuma sounded very confident, "There has to be a reason."
"My scans of the area found a formation underwater," Kaito started explaining, "It's also near a fault line so it's very likely that is used to be an island before being sunken during an earthquake."
"So it's still worth checking out," Naoto said, "We get some sleep tonight and leave tomorrow morning."
"Agreed," Rio suppressed a yawn, "Though I would like to take a dip in the hot springs first."
"We have some robes all set out for you," Yukiko said as she stood up getting into her professional tone, "Just follow me." Kotori, Cathy, and Rio obliged giggling about the prospects of the hot springs.
"I'll just spend the evening but I have to return in the morning." Kaito announced.
"You're not staying?" Kanji asked.
"I still have some responsibilities to do back in Heartland, and I want to go investigate the ruins that we have previously investigated as well for more clues. So I'll retire for the evening." Kaito got up giving a small wave to the group before disappearing into his room.
"Whatever…we can go visit the last ruin tomorrow," Shark scoffed.
"But it's underwater? How are we going to get to it?" Yosuke asked.
"Um…you do realize that we have a giant golden flying ship," Chie reminded him, "We can just use that to fly into it."
"Actually I don't believe that the airship is capable for underwater travel." Astral said stressing the words air and water.
"We'll figure out something," Naoto said, "For now let's get some sleep and we'll set out in the morning."
"Okay…" Yuma turned to his remaining friends, "See you tomorrow."
"Sure thing!" Tetsuo and the others waved as Yuma and the rest of the group headed out. "Tokunosokue what are doing?"
The boy in question was currently rubbing his hand against the TV screen, "They said that was a whole world through here and I want to check it out!"
"I don't think it's a good idea," Takashi interjected, "According to what they told Kotori and Rio that's a very dangerous place. We should ask the others first and have them accompany us."
"No we don't there's just has to be a way in." Tokunosokue was now rubbing his face on the TV.
"What are you doing?"
The three boys jumped in alarm, they didn't notice Teddie returning into the room.
"Ummm…er…we…..We wanted to figure out how to get into the TV!" Tokunosokue near shouted before being shushed by the other two.
"You mean like this?" Teddie asked as he stuck his arm through the screen creating a ripple life effect on the surface. The three boys oohed at the sight.
"But how does that work? It was a solid surface for us." Takashi mused.
"I honestly have no idea," Teddie answered, "But don't go asking Sensei or any of us to take you over there! It's incredibly dangerous with all the Shadows running around and this isn't our usual entrance so we have no idea what's on the other side of this screen."
"Please…." Tokunosokue begged, "We really want to see it! I'll pay you in cards!"
"No sale."
"Funny videos?"
"Nope."
"Magazines with lovely ladies in them?"
"Why do you even have those?" Tetsuo asked before realizing Teddie's expression at the last offer and grabbed the glasses wearing boy by the back of his shirt, "Sorry to be a bother."
"H-hey!" The boy protested as he was dragged off.
"So sorry about this." Takashi apologized and followed the two.
Teddie made no notice to their departure, his imagination already thinking about the promised pictures.
Okay, hard chapter out of the way. We all know what happens next….*evil cackle*….Hopefully writer's block won't hit me so hard again. In the mean time check out the short story Fever that I wrote, I may do fics that connect back to that one in the future. Also if you are in the need of movie recommendations, go see The Book of Life. DO IT! SEE IT NOW! I BEG YOU! THE PLOT BUNNIES WON'T LEAVE ME ALONE! THE FEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLS!