Chapter 22: Kuso

I slept a lot for the next few days in a special guest room in the castle as the infirmary was too busy and with too many people being there, both Serena and the doctor thought it'd be best if I were kept away from prying eyes and given a proper room to recover in. Drago was being treated as well and they also took my bakumeter for safe keeping. I didn't really believe that was the case, but I was too tired to argue at that point. I hated this. I hated being weak and dangerous. Well, I actually kind of like being dangerous, but only to my enemies. The Neathians and Gundalians weren't my enemies, but the way events were playing out it seems things got flipped.

I opened my eyes to the warm sun shining on my feet at the end of the bed. It wasn't a harsh warmth, but it felt good as my room was a bit chilly that morning. I stretched my limbs out and away from myself to revel in the morning's energy. I shifted myself into the sunlight so I could soak up the rays. Pyrus truly is and was my attribute. I laid there for a few more minutes before finally pushing off the blankets and getting to my feet. The sun had given me the energy I need to roll out of bed, but I was still not completely myself yet. I still felt some soreness and my leg was still recovering, but at least I wasn't limping so harshly now, but if I had been back home I would've been waltzing around in crutches, I think is how the doctor described it. I was thankful for that.

Then there was a knock at my door, which I jumped a little at. Getting over my surprise quickly as I could, I hurried back to the bed before whoever was at the door could enter. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to be up and about, but I didn't want to take the chances of being scolded. I had been scolded enough as it was.

"Sir Dan are you awake?" Came Rafe's voice from the other side of the door.

Sir Dan? That was a new one.

"Yeah, come on in." I called not bothering to correct the young Castle Knight.

The bowl haircut boy peeked in before entering the room.

"What's up, Rafe?" I asked as he came to my bedside and I sat myself up more.

"Just running some errands is all." He said lifting up his left arm and opening his palm to reveal a red marble sized ball that recognized as my Bakugan partner, Drago.

"Hi Drago." I greeted as he popped out of his ball form, "Did they get you all fixed up?"

"Indeed, but I still feel a little sore." Drago said as he floated off Rafe's hand and came to rest on my knee.

"Also, Sir Dan, there seems to be a glitch with your Bakumeter after we repaired it, but we plan to have that gone and make sure it's fully operational before giving it back to you so for now you are to wear this new disguise projector bracelet. It's thinner and practically invisible.

"Greeeaattttttt." I moan out sarcastically as I take it from him and place it on my wrist.

As soon as it's on my skin turns to a really light shade of purple meaning that the projector is functioning. I sighed as my identity was masked again.

"It should be fixed within a few days, but if you really need to, your Castle Knight uniform's built in Bakumeter should still function so if you need it there's that one." Rafe suggested before giving me a slight bow and backing away slightly, "I must be off now, Sir Dan, but please get well."

"Okay, thanks, Rafe." I said as he left Drago and I alone.

I folded my arms grumpily as and Drago sighed.

"I doubt it'll be easy to get the old Bakumeter back. They can't trust me to keep the power in check." Drago said tilting himself downward to display his emotion to me.

"No, Drago. I wasn't paying attention." I admitted, "Now quit with the blaming yourself stuff, we're both in this together. There's no I in team buddy."

"Right." Drago replied tilting back up.

A yawn escaped us both and I slumped back down against the pillows. I didn't know why I was suddenly tired again, but I was soon back under the spell of sleep.

It was many hours later that I woke from a nightmare; I had been having them all day and would only maybe sleep for twenty minutes at a time. The dreams were all the same. I was back on Earth jogging when the sky went black, but everything was still illuminated as if it were day time. In my dream I would pause and look up at the darkness and then Magmel would appear. The strange thing was I had no urge in the dream to confront him, but instead my feet would force me to turn away and make a mad dash for safety except there was no safe place. Everywhere I went, he was there, every corner I rounded, he was standing with his right arm outstretched and his palm open as if waiting to receive. I knew what he wanted, but I wasn't going to give it to him.

I had to change my clothes at least four times that day as I spent it sleeping. I was up again changing my clothes when Drago spoke up.

"They've been sedating you." Drago said surprising me as he had been sleeping as well.

"Who?" I asked confused and angered slightly now.

"The Neathian nurses, but I didn't understand why at first, but I think we need to get out of here." Drago said.

"What do you mean Drago?" I asked perplexed more than ever now as my head seemed to be clearing from the daze of sleep.

"I overheard one of the females saying something strange." Drago said in thought, "Something like, well one of them was asking the other when they planned to take us. I didn't get to hear much, but I don't like the sounds of what I did hear. Dan there's something fishy going on especially when I heard the word rebellion."

"Rebellion? What? We gotta tell Fabia!" I insisted with shock.

A rebellion didn't make any sense, but then again I remembered something from school. Legit remembering that in school, my teacher explained that not everyone will agree with the government. That there can be disagreement and sometimes it'll escalate into a rebellion. It didn't make sense for Neathia to have this occurrence as they were peace loving and preferred brains before brawn.

"Dan." Drago called to me snapping me away from my thoughts, "We've got to get out of this room before they come back."

"Right, but where should we go?" I asked and then it donned on me, "Fabia. Drago I have an idea."

I quickly dug through the closet and found some normal noble clothes and hurriedly put them on and then snatched Drago up and marched over to the door when he stopped me.

"Wait. Better take off that projector just in case they've got a tracking device." Drago warned and I immediately turned around and yanked it off before tossing it on the bed.

Thankfully it was late enough in the night that the corridors and halls were empty and whenever someone was coming I could always dash and hide in a doorway. I even decided to slip into the library and use it as a shortcut.

I was halfway across the library when a hand came down on my shoulder and I nearly leapt out of my skin. I turned my head and was relieved to find it was the old woman, Gilda.

"Oh! It's you, Gilda." I said with a small smile on my face, but her's was stern.

"What are you doing, Daniel? It's late and you're supposed to be resting so you can recover faster." Gilda said sternly.

"Well Gilda, I can explain." I insisted.

"We were on our way to see Fabia." Drago interjected, "There's something fishy about Dan's nurses, I think they were planning to kidnap him for this rebellion they've got planned."

Gilda was silent for a long moment as she took in all the information we had just told her. She came closer and placed a hand on my shoulder that was unoccupied by Drago. I cannot remember what she said next, but all I can remember is finding myself in Fabia's room with a need for her help with sleeping and an urge to leave Neathia.

Chapter END

Well that was a surprise. Originally I had pushed the rebellion storyline back a lot, but going through it all I realized I need to bump it up a bit more for some good flow.