"What do you mean, my father told you? He dissappeared nine years ago!" Dynamis exclaimed, angry and surprised at the same time.
Ryko sighed, and rubbed her face tiredly. She seemed older than she truly was, as if the world rested on her shoulders. "Come in. I'll explain while we eat, I guess."
Soon they had settled down around a small wooden table, steaming bowls of soup ("I made it myself," Hyoma said proudly,) passed between them. Tithi immediatley slurped it down and asked for seconds, and Natsumi ate with vigour, while Dynamis only picked at his, deep in thought, not able to eat no matter how much he missed the taste of hot food. As soon as Ryko sat down at the head of the table, he gave her a sharp glare. "You may now explain." He said.
Ryko laughed. "Impatient, you are. Well then. I guess I should begin by telling you something. Only Hyoma knows what it is, and I'm loath to sare it with you."
"We're not keeping any secrets." Natsumi said, glancing at all of them in turn. "Deal? I want to know what's going on the most. I want to know what happened to my parents."
"I understand." Ryko said.
Natsumi snickered. "Oh, you do, do you? That's something new."
Tithi interrupted them loudly. "I swear I didn't eat Dynamis' chocolate!" He called.
Dynamis smiled lightly and patted the boy on the head. "You can have it."
"But I didn't-" Tithi began, then lowered his eyes. "Thanks."
"Ryko, you should tell them now, while we have a moment." Hyoma pointed out.
"Alright, if only miss Princess here would listen." Ryko glared and Natsumi.
"Speak for yourself." Natsumi hissed.
"Children!" Hyoma said, spreading his hands apart between the two girls. Dynamis could have cut the tension in he room with Jade Jupiter if he would have bothered.
Ryko grumbled. "Fine. So," She reached into her pocket and took out a dark blue bey. The facebolt showed three snake heads and the tip gleamed viciously. "This is Thermal Hydra. It- it gave me a peculiar gift of communicating with other beyspirits. I can see them in the room if they dicide to appear. Tithi, Quetzalcoatl is curled around your shoulders. It doesn't trust me, so it's protecting you." Ryko said. "Heh, I wouldn't trust me either."
Tithi craned his neck, trying to see his bey's snakelike beast.
"That is a peculiar gift." Dynamis mused, putting the tips of his fingers together and leaning his chin on them.
"Yes." Ryko nodded. "I still don't completely understand it. But I digress. Through Hydra's eyes, I met with a strange beyspirit. A certain Jade Columba, the star dove. It contacted me in my dreams, and it spoke with the voice of a man. I recognized it from when I was younger, as a certain Aeolus' voice. My father's friend."
"So he must be alive!" Dynamis exclaimed, eyes lighting up.
Ryko shook her head. "I wouldn't be so sure if I were you. The voice was extremely weak."
Dynamis' face fell. "Well, at least there's a chance. Aeolus always had the talent of altering people's minds. It's the easiest when someone dreams. But that's a talent….." He faltered. "It's thanks to Jade Jupiter that it's bearer can do that, unless…..you said Columba was a Jade type bey?" He turned to Ryko.
She nodded.
"Than it may be that Columba also has this power to some digree."
"Yeah, it might. That remains to be seen. Anyway, it said this, the dove." Ryko cleared her throat, and suddenly, her voice went deep. "You must warn my son when you see him soon. He will hide pain from many things, and love a woman he never thought he would. This will either remain his fall or his rise, and which is only the Will of the Heavens…." She trailed off. "I hope this tells you something."
It did. In fact, something was slowly becoming clear to Dynamis he hadn't expected to think of before. His relationship with Natsumi. She would eiher be his fall of his rise…..that was not the most comforting thought.
&*&*&**D**&*&*&
"Let it Rip!" Dynamis exclaimed, launching Jupiter across the stadium, which was chiseled out of a huge tree stump. Jade Jupiter glided around it smoothly, the steady whir of the bey music to his ears. "Go, Jupiter!" Jupiter whirled faster, until it finally leaped out of the stadium. Dynamis caught it with satisfaction.
"Mind if I join you?"
Dynamis turned to see Ryko, a dark pink launcher in one hand, Thermal Hydra in the other.
"If you'd like." Dynamis gestured to the stadium.
Ryko launched, and Dynamis did too, and they both watched the beys circle each other in silence, neither wanting to attack the other. Finally, Ryko broke the quiet.
"Do you know the history of this stadium?" She asked.
Dynamis glanced at her curiously, and Jade Jupiter clanged into Hydra, bringing on a brief struggle of power, from which Jupiter emerged the winner.
"Well, Gingka and Hyoma battled here ever since the tree fell. I always thought they were crazy, the surface was so rough." Hydra dodged an oncoming attack from Jupiter.
"I see." Dynamis said, cleverly maneuvering Hydra closer to the edge of the stadium. "But?"
"I never had a true Bladers eyes. I didn't see what they saw; the possibility of smoothing out the surface with relentless practice." Hydra tipped over the edge, but held on as Jupiter changed to barrage mode and pounded away.
"I think you have different eyes." Dynamis said. Jupiter's spin began to slow.
"Do I?" Ryko asked, arching an eyebrow. Hydra darted away from Jupiter, seeing an opening in the attacks.
"You see everything in a diplomatic light; no everything can or will happen, but it may if you let it." Jupiter flew at Hydra again, glowing deep purple.
"That made no sense, but maybe it did." Ryko laughed for the first time since Dynamis had met her. "You and your father really are similar. You speak the same way." She raised her arm. "Time to finish this, don't you think?" Hydra began to glow pink.
Dynamis glared at her. "I a trying to decide wether or not that is compliment." He nodded. "This game is getting old. Jupiter, Gran Lightning!"
Ryko laughed as the sky darkened, Jupiter's form appearing overhead. "You and Jupiter have a strong connection. I never told you, but my Hydra feeds on that strength. It makes her more powerful."
Dynamis' eyes widened.
"Yep! Hydra, Strong Spirit Leech!"
A monstrous, six headed snake with sharp fangs and thick, dragon legs, appeared before Jupiter. Power flowed from one to the other, and Dynamis struggled as he felt his stregth dissapear. Suddenly, he remembered their quest, and Natsumi. He could not lose again, for her. He felt his power glow, and he grinned, raising his arms, as a clap of thunder rained across the forest, across Koma village, and reflected on the mountains.
He could feel sheer power pound through his veins as Hydra flew out of the stadium.
&*&*&**PH**&*&*&
The Power Hunter grinned, taking his binoculars away from his eyes. The girl was stupid; she should have known that flash would be a beacon to them. He turned to his companion, strapping bey equipment to his belt.
"Did you see that? Our prey has finally shown itself." He turned his eyes to the mountains in the distance. "The Twisted Meteor is almost within our reach."