Oh. Also, that song from the last chapter, 'the horses'. It belongs to Kenny Loggins too.
The song "baby dragon" belongs to me. Also the sonnet "warm summer's day".
Kenta pattered down the warm sidewalk, once again barefoot. Sagittario was clutched in his hands, the heightened spin-track an unaccustomed weight in his palm. It seemed to be pulsing softly with heat. Excitement for battle, perhaps? He blew the dust off it and rubbed the facebolt thoughtfully. Sagittario had seen a lot.
At the corner Les snagged his collar. "Hold it thar a second, boy. Lemme see that."
Kenta turned around and held out the bey to him, antsy to get started. Les took Sagittario thoughtfully, turning it in his hands.
"Aha...hmm...yes. Ah see, Ah sees it...right ther." He held out the bey to Kenta, the fusion wheel tilted towards him.
A ribbon of burnt orange undulated around the perimeter of the fusion wheel, rising up and down irregularly with no fixed pattern. It was no wider than a half a centimetre.
"That thar's dragon flames right thar. Dragon's been a-burnin' this here bey. And pretty hard too. Ya see how deep them ridges goes?" He ran his finger along the orange.
"This here's a beyblade that a lotta people'd do a lotta things ta get thar hands on. Don't you let nobody know that was dragon smoke. Another thing, boy", he said, handing back the beyblade, "One bey what's got a lotta burnt on it's gonna attract more dragons. You better be careful." He traced a finger along the elongated spin track in conclusion. "This here bey might be all what's left ta protect you until you kin find the dragon what burnt it."
"So you're saying I shouldn't battle with it?"
"AH NEVER SED THAT, SONNY!" Les slapped his palms flat onto his guitar. It echoed in protest. "You get out thar and ya use that thar dragon spirit to a good cause, understand me? You do that lost dragon justice fer friendship's sake, you hear me!? Or there ain't no point in havin' that bey no more! Ya may as well sell it fer scrap metal!"
Kenta flinched at Les's outburst. "Yessir. I'll see you again this evening."
"Git outta here. Go on, you don't have no permit." Les flapped his hands at Kenta and Kenta raced off.
Kenta flipped out his launcher, swinging his head around and looking for an opponent. It wasn't long before Osamu and Tekashi raced up to him. He hadn't seen his friends since the day after he got back, and they were eager to battle him once more and see his new-found power.
"Where's Akira?" Kenta looked around. Akira, Osamu, and Tekashi were rarely seen on their own. They were a determined trio and stuck together all the time.
"Akira is going to a private school on the other side of the city. They go through the summer as well", Tekashi explained.
Akira would never have made that decision to take him away from the summer tournaments unless something really drastic had happened in his mind. Kenta's face fell. Every time you turned your back or went away, something changed; you couldn't just undertake a great responsibility and expect to come home and find things the same as you left them.
"That aside, Kenta, let's battle!" Osamu excitedly clicked his beyblade into its launcher and aimed it towards one of the stadiums.
Kenta grinned and pointed his launcher in the same direction. "3...2...1...LET IT RIP!"
A few blocks away, Yuu Tendou walked down the street, humming to himself. His shoes dangled in his hand by the laces and his jacket was slung over his shoulder, sleeves trailing behind him carelessly. In his free hand he held an ice cream cone, and his hair was tousled and sun-bleached.
Suddenly a burst of light came from the park a little way down, and he could hear a shout he'd not expected to hear for another year or so.
"GO SAGITTARIO!"
Yuu gasped, and the ice cream was thrown, forgotten and unwanted, to the sidewalk. He dropped his shoes and looked to the sky as the ghostly silhouette of a centaur rose to meet the clouds.
He let out a laugh of disbelief and slung his shoelaces around his neck, racing in the direction of the park.
As he got there, a small beyblade landed at his feet, and he could see the disappointment, mingled with awe, on Osamu and Tekashi's faces. He smiled up at the green haired boy a little way up the hill.
"Ken-chi! You're battling again! I can't believe it!"
"Yeah, Yuu, I decided to try it for old times' sake."
"Good for you, buddy!" Yuu dropped his jacket and shoes at the bottom of the hill and raced upward, handing Osamu his beyblade on the way. "Battle me! I want to see how much Sagittario's power has increased since the battle with Nemesis."
Kenta laughed and retrieved his beyblade. "Okay, Yu. But only one battle. I think maybe Sagittario might get tired out too quickly if we start battling a lot right off."
"You make a good point. All right, here we go! Three, two, one! LET IT RIP!"
Sagittario and Libra clashed fiercely in the centre of the stadium, meeting each other head-on. Libra's fusion wheel came short of Sagittario's increased height and sputtered helplessly against the spin track.
"Aww, no fair! Your bey hit its growth spurt before mine did!"
"Don't forget your facing Flash Sagittario now, Yuu, not Flame Sagittario anymore!"
"I can work with that, I'm sure. Libra, go now!" Libra circled away from the other beyblade, cloverleafing evasively and dodging Sagittario's attacks. Launching itself from the edge of the stadium, Libra circled back around, getting airborne from its own momentum and catching on Sagittario's spin track midway. Sagittario flung it off immediately, and Libra went whirling through the sky and falling to the grass a few feet away.
Yuu's eyes were wide and glinting as he watched the bey fall and then he looked at Kenta. "What was that?"
Kenta picked up his beyblade and examined the ridge on the fusion wheel. "I think it caught on those ridges Les was talking about earlier."
"Les? The musician at the corner of your apartment block?"
"Yeah. He knows a lot of things and you'd be really surprised." Kenta smiled to himself. Very surprised.
"What was he talking about?" Yuu examined the strange colour of the new markings.
"I'm not really supposed to tell you", Kenta said doubtfully. "You'll have to ask him if you want to find out."
"Okay then, if you want to be so secretive, Ken-chi", Yuu scratched his head. "I'll go ask him myself." Osamu, Tekashi, Yuu, and Kenta raced down the hill. Yuu scooped up his jacket and shoes at the bottom, shoving his launcher into a pocket of his jacket and flinging it over his shoulder again.
Les was singing on the street corner.
Where did the days go on their way?
Down in the wheat fields we'd go and run.
Down by the water hole we'd play
Skin tanned and hair bleached by the summer sun.
Where did the time go, little one,
Trees growing tall and sun never dimmed
I'm missing the days of your childhood, hon
Those carefree curls and freckled grin.
You grew up in the country where the wild wind blew
and the clouds ne'er covered the clear blue sky.
Far away from home I been missin' you,
but the memories of where I belong never dimmed.
In my mind you still live in a warm summer's day
and the smile on your little face will never fade.
The last chords of Les's guitar died in the warm air and he opened his eyes to find Kenta, Yuu, Tekashi, and Osamu gathered at his feet, shoes absent and eyes wide.
"Hey there, sons. Ya startled me."
"Who taught you that song?"
"It's another one a Cindy's songs. Don't know when she came up with that one. Who are your friends, Kenta?"
Yuu interrupted before Kenta could say anything. "That's not a song! That's a sonnet! You've got it all wrong, Leslie!"
Les squinted down at Yuu. "I woulda remembered you anywhere. Ya little nerd."
Tekashi giggled.
"You don't sing sonnets, Les! You just say them! They're poems. Poems, not SONGS! 12 lines that alternate rhymes and two at the end that rhyme with each other. That's not a song. IT'S A SONNET!"
"Easy, Yuu! He can sing a sonnet if he wants to. Whatever a sonnet is." Kenta stood up and grabbed Yuu's arm.
"YOU ARE DOING SHAKESPEARE NO JUSTICE!"
"Siddown, you pepperball. Kenta, son, will ya introduce me ta your friends before this lil' know-it-all drives me batty?"
Kenta obliged. "This is Osamu, and this is Tekashi."
"Os'mu and T'kashi. 'Bliged ta meet ya, sons. Whatcha needin?"
"STOP SINGING SONNETS! IT'S DRIVING ME CRAZY!"
"Go bore your mother to death or somethin', littlun, you got no business here 'nless you got anything ta ask me. Siddown or git off me street corner."
Yuu sat down, grumbling about poetic structure.
"First thangs first. Kenta, didja battle like I's tellin' ya to?"
"Yes, sir."
"Lemme see that bey o' yers." Les reached his hand out for Flash Sagittario and Kenta gave it.
"Yup, this un's seen battle all right. Kenta, this here dragon burn's gettin' worse. You know any trustworthy mechanics in town, boys?"
"I live with one, sir."
"Don't you call me sir no more. I'm Les, and Les only. Not Leslie, neither", he added, looking sternly at Yuu. "If ya live with a m'kanic, why ain't this beyblade been maintenanced yet? It ain't in good shape and ya need ta get it seen to. This burn's a-gonna spread and then you's gonna find yourself with a rusted-through fusion wheel. Git it replaced or filled in. Even fillin' it may not stop it spreadin'..." Les muttered.
"What can fix it?"
"I ain't sure anythin' can fix it. Ya may just hafta replace it, cos' every time ya battle with it, it's a-gonna get hotter 'n hotter till the fusion wheel done burn up inta thin air."
Kenta stared soberly at Sagittario. Even Madoka couldn't fix this.
"Ya better get on home. It's nearly lunch time, son. You gonna need sust'nance. And you", here he looked at Yuu. "Ah got mah eye on you, lil' troublemaker."
"See you after lunch", Kenta called to Osamu and Tekashi as he ran down the street towards home.