Johannes' voice echoed through the walls as he rushed through the dungeons. "I had it with you!"

Both Yuki and Motti couldn't help but to roll their eyes again, he has literally been saying the exact same thing every time he visits.

Motti sighs and distances herself from the prisoner, and just overall pretends to focus on the cats around her. As usual, her brother just walks past her and leaves her unacknowledged.

Yuki does the same, he gets away from the bars and pretends to be asleep on the floor.

"Meow, you are going to tell me right now where-" Johannes stops in his tracks and growls. "WAKE UP!"

The way he fake yawns and rubs his eyes almost makes Motti snort, but she forces herself to hold it in.

Yuki sits up, still pretending to be sleepy.

"Can I go now?" He asks, his tone is far more monotone than he expected.

The cat boy growls once again.

"No!"

"Well, then can you at least return my bey, sir?" Yuki crosses his arms. Motti noticed how he seemed uncharacteristically snarky. "Or my backpack? I don't know why you would even want that? What? Do you miss your school bully days so bad that you were just dying to hit the first nerd you saw that morning?"

The young astronomer made it so incredibly hard for Motti to not laugh. The way he is acting and the way Johannes is losing his absolute mind over it is just hilarious.

Yuki needs to bring out this side of him more often. Motti could use some entertainment once in a while.

"Shut up!" Johannes punches the bars in an attempt to scare the astronomer, but he only ends up hurting his hand. "Ow!"

As Johannes rubs his hand, both Yuki and Motti try to hold back the laughter.

"Enough is enough, you pest!" Johannes ignores the pain he is feeling and goes back to threaten the brunette in front of him. "Now! Who-"

This time, Yuki can't stop himself from audibly groaning in annoyance.

" Ugh. Who do I work for?" He asks, surprising everyone with a mocking tone. "Nobody . What do I know about the star fragment? Not much, really. Where are the legendary bladers? How would I know if I've been locked in here for days?! "

Johannes growled again.

Motti blinks.

She definitely hadn't seen Yuki raise his voice to anyone before.

…It was interesting.

"Quit talking back!" Johannes practically barks. "You think I'm easy to trick?! You better start telling the truth before I make you regret it!"

"I've been telling nothing but the truth since I got here!" Yuki shouts back, exasperated. "I know about the prophecy, but everyone here already knows about it too! I don't have anything to offer anymore, so let me go!"

"You think I'm stupid, don't you?" Johannes asked, his tone was blatantly mocking. "Do you think I'm going to let a legendary blader walk free? Meow?"

Yuki blinks.

Did he just-

…What?

"I'm not a-" His words die in his mouth, he is too shocked to think.

Is he for real?

Him? A legendary blader?

… HIM?!

"I-I'm not a legendary blader! How could I-" The poor guy places his hand on the side of his head out of confusion and disbelief. "How can you even think that I am one? I haven't even used my bey since I was twelve!"

"You think I'm going to believe someone would be so pathetic to- wait , meow." Johannes narrows his gaze. "What are you wearing?"

The young astronomer flinched for a second. Instinctively looked at his black sleeves for a second before meeting Johannes' eyes again.

"Uhh…" He blabbers as he tries to think of an excuse.

So, he was glad Motti had thankfully let him out last night for a few minutes and helped him sneak around the temple to take a much needed shower… But now he is considering that the pajamas she had also graciously lended him would be their doom because they used to belong to her brother.

"Meow? What do you mean?" Motti suddenly walks up to Johannes. "He looks exactly the same, meow."

Yuki nods a little bit too fast for it to be believable.

"Y-yes! I don't understand what's wrong!" He tries to assure the guy in front of him.

Johannes doesn't believe him.

"I could swear you were wearing different clothes yesterday." He crosses his arms.

Yuki turned his gaze at Motti and saw her staring back, practically begging him to calm down and act natural with just one look.

"T-that's ridiculous!" Yuki starts to laugh nervously. "You took my bag! What?! You think I got out in the middle of the night and-"

"Meow!" Motti intervenes to cut off his babbling. "You are seeing things, Johannes. Meow, I've been here the whole time! Besides, I have Mango, Dave, and Oreo patrolling when I fall asleep, meow."

Johannes didn't look convinced, but he looked down and saw the aforementioned cats standing right next to his sister.

"Meow, you know how ruthless they are!" Motti quipped. "They would never let him get out. Just now they were threatening him!"

"It's true!" Yuki felt the need to add, still looking nervous. "They threaten me every night!"

Johannes stares at the cats, as if waiting for them to confirm their story.

Yuki stared at Motti, her usually cheery expression had been switched for a purely mortified one.

That made him understand that those cats were very likely to, ironically, rat them out.

He had to get his attention back somehow.

"A-and I'm not a legendary blader! " The young astronomer's yell goes to a higher pitch out of nervousness. "That's- That's just ridiculous!"

Johannes seems to take the bait, and quickly goes back to glare at the boy.

"Drop the act." He taunted him. "Why do you think that fragment fell on you that night?"

Yuki doesn't say anything.

Could it be that…No. No. It can't.

That's just ridiculous.

The fragment showed him that vision to reward all of his and grandpa's hard work…Right?

He couldn't be a legendary blader.

Grandpa would have told him…

He would have told him…Right?

Watching him think made Johannes upset, so he growls and gets ready to confront him again.

"You were trying to find the other legendary bladers to fight Nemesis, weren't you?! Meow?!" Johannes shouted, grabbing Yuki by his shirt to pull him and making his face clash against the cell bars.

"Ow! I- I don't know what you are talking about!" He tries to pull away. "I know about the prophecy but there is no way I…"

It cannot be. The world would be doomed if someone as weak as him was a legendary blader… He would mess everything up. He-

…He just can't be one…

"I'm not a legendary blader…"The young astronomer whispers. "...I'm not even sure if I can call myself a regular blader."

Johannes rolls his eyes and then lets out a laugh.

"Meow, cut the act! I know how to make you talk!" He grabs something from inside his jacket.

It was Yuki's tablet.

"Uh…What are you-"

"Tell us where the other legendary bladers are right now, meow!" Johannes holds it in front of him as he demands the information.

"Wait, you think that I have the location of-"

"I said: now!"

"But I don't have-"

"Meow, forget it! I'll do it myself!" Johannes growled and started to press the tablet's buttons.

As he pressed a button, he noticed that it wouldn't light up. So he started to move the tablet around and touch every button he could find.

"Wait, no." Yuki tried to stop him. "There is a button at the top but you have to press it twice to turn it on!"

Johannes did as he was told but nothing happened and he grew frustrated.

"Ugh, why isn't this thing working?!" His actions grew faster and harsher.

"Wait! You did it too fast, you have to wait one second before pressing it again!" At this point Yuki tried to extend his arm in between the bars to get his tablet back. "Be careful! I have important stuff there!"

"Meow, I'm trying but it just- Ugh!" He saw how the screen lit up for a second and then went completely blank. "Dammit!"

"You have to be more gentle! It's very old!" Yuki tried to get Johannes to stop mishandling the device. "Stop shaking it!"

"Meow, Johannes just let me do it!" Motti tried to interfere. "This is just like when you try to use the remote, meow!"

However, at that point, Johannes had reached his breaking point.

"Damn this stupid piece of junk!"

"Meow, Johannes!"

"My research!"

Before anyone could stop him, Johannes threw the tablet on the ground and started slamming his foot against it over and over.

Yuki went into a state of shock and could not move as one of his most beloved possessions was being utterly destroyed.

His research...

His journal…

….His photographs…All his memories with Grandpa just…Gone.

"Meow! Stupid! Piece! Of! Shit!" With each word, Johannes stepped on the electronic device.

Motti could barely react too, feeling instant mortification at the scene. She looked back at the poor astronomer and saw him frozen.

She was about to say something, but stopped herself in her tracks.

If Johannes sees her trying to cheer him up, she'll be in trouble.

"Well, it doesn't matter. Now you are just going to-Hey what are you doing?!"

CLANK!

"Ow!"

The young girl's eyes went wide as she saw how in less than a second, Yuki had reached for Johannes' necklace and pulled it his way to make her brother slam his face against the metal bars of the cell.

Due to her distance, Motti couldn't quite see Yuki's expression but the air around him told her that he had just been invaded by rage. A couple of seconds later, it seemed that what he had done had just barely started to sink in, because he started to appear confused as he let go of Johannes.

"Meow, fuck!" Johannes moaned in pain. "My nose!"

She snapped and rushed to her injured brother.

"Meow, are you okay?"

"No! I'm not fucking okay!" He barked at his sister. "My nose is fucking broken!"

"I-I'm sorry! I…I don't know what came over me!" Yuki started stuttering. "I've never done anything like tha-"

"Are you seriously apologizing after breaking my fucking nose?!" Johannes exclaimed. "Fuuuuuck! It hurts!"

"Meow!" Motti reached behind him. "Just let me-"

"Back off!" He slaps her hand away and goes back to his prisoner. "And don't think this is over, meow! I'll get you for this! Don't think I fear you just because I found out your stupid little secret! And you better drop the attitude and start helping us before I tell Pluto you are being a pain in the ass!"

Yuki exhaled harshly at Johannes' implication.

"I keep telling you!" He snaps without thinking. "I am not a legendary blader! What part of that are you not getting?!"

"Meow, Johannes, are you even sure he is a legendary blader?" Motti tilts her head to the side. "Because I'm pretty sure he would know if-"

What the young girl doesn't expect is her brother turning to her and placing his index finger on her nose to make her stop talking.

"Urgh! I recall telling you to back off!" Johannes snaps at Motti.

As he witnessed his friend being treated like that, Yuki's face flushed a brighter red out of anger and he tightened his grip on the metal bars he was holding.

" HEY! Why don't YOU back off, Pinocchio?! "

Johannes' eyes went wide.

Motti's eyes went wide.

"...P-pinocchio?...Motti, is my nose-"

"Meow…You told me to back off."

Even Yuki seemed surprised for a second, but he decided to hold on to whatever spunk he had grown in the last twenty minutes.

"I just about had it with you, I swear! There is no way in the entire cosmos that I would ever help your stupid cause! I fried my brain long enough trying to understand why you would help a being that has DESTRUCTION IN ITS NAME!" His voice went to a higher pitch for a second out of frustration.

Motti blinks. For a split second, it looked like Yuki's eyes flickered with a blue spark.

She turns her head to see her brother's reaction, but it seemed as if Johannes didn't notice it.

….Huh.

That was strange.

"I mean, SERIOUSLY! Why do you refuse to listen to Motti?! She is the only one with common sense in this echo chamber of stupidity! This whole cult's main goal is just…It's insane! Alright?! It's stupid, convoluted- It's like, like a nasty concoction of Shakespearean irony, people with a questionable profile at best, zero self-preservation at worst , and the logic of a soap opera! I don't know how idiotic you can be to think I'll say yes to helping you, but the answer is NO! And in case you didn't get it the first time: I AM NOT A LEGENDARY BLADER!"

…

"...Woah…Oh my stars…I think that's the first time I snapped at someone in my life…Feels good, though." Yuki's cheeks started losing its red hue as he panted repeatedly.

Motti placed her hand over her mouth and held her stomach. It took everything on her to not laugh at the face Johannes was making. He looked like a deer in headlights after being told off by a scrawny nerd that had reached his breaking point.

"Ugh! Whatever!" Johannes growled, still holding his bleeding nose. "We don't need you! Nemesis just needs the legendary bladers and their bey out of the way."

"Wait, what does that mean?" Yuki blinked.

Johannes just smirked and walked away.

"Motti, I need to go to the hospital. Why don't you torture him a little more?" He laughs. "Bring the hose if you need to."

The young girl nodded.

"Meow, leave it to me!"

Once he left, the pair exhaled with exhaustion.

"He is going to kill me, isn't he?" Yuki sat down.

Motti shrugged and sat too.

"Meow, I'm not sure… I think he is just going to break your bey and keep you locked here." She answered, looking very unsure.

"I see…." Yuki nods. "I….I am deeply sorry for breaking your brother's nose."

"Meow, don't be!" Motti giggles. "It was funny, meow!"

"Oh…Well, then I'm glad I did it." Yuki laughs awkwardly.

"Meow…Yeah."

The two remained quiet for a moment, trying to not gaze at each other in the eyes.

"So…"

"Meow…"

"I still don't think I'm a legendary blader…But I don't want anything to happen to Anubis…Nor do I want to stay to see what will happen to me." He tries to explain. "So…"

"You want to escape, meow. Don't you?" Motti smirks and raises an eyebrow.

"I would like to do that very much, yes." Yuki nods. He starts smiling due to the way she is smirking at him.

The young girl lets out a soft laugh and gets closer to him.

"Meow, lucky for you I already have a plan." She whispers. "How good of a swimmer are you?"

"Uh….I actually don't know how to swim." He whispers back.

"Oh….Meow, then we are going to have to figure out a new plan."