"And with that… I suppose I end my turn," I said. There really wasn't much else I could do at this point. My opponent had a lockdown deck, so I just had to stall my time until I got a card that could destroy Gravity Bind or a monster that was of a weak enough level to ignore its effects. Also, though it may be a bit harsh to say so, the duelist before me just wasn't that good. Certainly, he had me in lockdown, but he was only using cards that would allow him to draw more, so he would reach deck destruction long before I did. He never summoned any monster to attack, either. It was just… boring, tedious even, after all the duels I'd been through. Still…

As my opponent activated yet another spell to draw another card, I turned my attention to Divine, who was silently observing from the sidelines. He didn't have any expression on his face, he was just stoically watching us. I suppose that was my fault… Though he said that he was fine after our duel, he still received quite a few cuts and shocks, so he told me he was going to take the next few days easy, as per his assistant's request.

There was also another problem… Kaze. It'd been a few days since we arrived at the Arcadia Movement and I hadn't seen him since he left for his training. Well, I suppose that's not true… I'd seen him with Ida working on duel puzzles, but I hadn't been able to talk to him at all. Divine said that I needed to work almost constantly to learn to control my powers. That meant from early morning to late afternoon and I was always exhausted after training, so I went straight to bed. It was… lonely. I never was truly alone though, since Divine was always with me, but still… Kaze's condition…

"Aki," Divine's voice drew me out of my thoughts. I quickly looked back at the duel field, checking to see if I had lost while I was distracted, but the field was the same and our life points were too. My opponent was waiting patiently on his side of the field. "You seem distracted. Are you alright?" Divine asked, concern laced in his voice.

"O-oh… I just… I'm worried about Kaze. Kage said he wasn't feeling good and I haven't had the time to check up on him, so…" I trailed off. Divine was silent for a few seconds after that.

"Kaze is fine. He's been up and about doing some training. If it's bothering you, though, we can stop here and you can go check up on him," Divine relented. Part of me, the part that learn how to control my powers, nagged at me that I should stay and finish training and simply resolve to find Kaze afterwards, but the other part, the part that wanted to check up on Kaze and his condition, was much stronger.

"Thank you, Divine. I'll be back tomorrow for our lessons," I said before turning to my opponent, thanking him as well, before departing. It wasn't too late in the day, so hopefully they were in the duel puzzle room like they were the few times that I saw them. Besides, it was the only lead I had besides their rooms.

"And now, Strong Wind Dragon, finish him off!" a familiar voice shouted as I approached the training room. I felt myself start to smile in spite of myself, especially when I caught sight of Kaze and Ida seated at a table together. It seemed that Ida was getting better at the duel puzzles, as the instructor simply smiled before beginning to arrange a new puzzle. In the meantime, however, Ida quickly hugged Kaze out of gratitude, I assumed. It seemed to only be for a second, but I could have sworn I saw the brunette wince. I quickly dismissed it as nothing, especially since I found myself growing more and more irritated when Ida refused to let go of him.

"Hey guys," I made my presence known. Ida quickly jumped and Kaze turned towards me, equally as surprised.

"Aki! I take it training has been going well?" Kaze questioned. It was tempting to scold him for wondering about my training when he was nauseous earlier, but finally being able to talk to him again seemed to ease out any frustration.

"It's been going fairly, I suppose. I'm more concerned about you, though. Kage said you weren't feeling good, and when we came to visit you, you were out cold. I've been meaning to catch up with you, but what with the training…" I trailed off, knowing it was probably a pathetic excuse. If I was the one who was sick, I was sure that Kaze would have done everything in his power to ensure that I was alright.

"That's alright. I mean, it was nothing anyways. I got over it when I woke up, and it hasn't happened since," Kaze tried to comfort me.

"You've been missing out on so much, though, Aki! I mean, you haven't seen Kaze yet! He lives up to his name!" Ida cheered. Well, I certainly knew I was missing out on a lot, but… Kaze living up to his name…? Did he… have a cold…? He just said he wasn't sick though…

"Ida, I keep telling you, you're exaggerating. I still have a long ways to go. I need to make smoother turns," Kaze said embarrassedly as he scratched the back of his neck. Oh, she didn't mean the cold at all, she was referring to the wind. That… still didn't make any sense though. What turns was he making? I suppose I really have missed a lot… Not only was I left in the dust in their conversation, but I couldn't deny that Kaze and Ida were a lot closer than before. I had thought that Kaze was only feigning kindness towards Ida because of his personality, but now it was clear that they were close friends. It left a bad taste in my mouth.

"Kaze, I thought your training was with the duel spirits," I decided to voice my confusion instead of focusing on my other thoughts.

"Oh, it was. After that incident last time, though, Kage said we should only do it once a week. In the meantime, Divine said I could work with D-Wheels!" Kaze spoke eagerly, though that really wasn't shocking. He said earlier that he wanted to get a D-Wheel, so this must be like a dream come true for him. Everything really seems to be going well for us! "Though, I've been meaning to ask you… How does Divine have you train with him? I was wondering if he uses a similar method to what I used," Kaze changed the topic.

"Ah, well, he's just helping me embrace my powers," I explained.

"That's great. That's the first step I did too. You have to accept that your powers are a part of you, just as I accepted Brionac as a part of me," Kaze nodded as he spoke.

"Now we're moving on to going all out on my opponents. Divine says-" I started saying when I saw Kaze freeze. "W-what is it, Kaze?" I asked the seemingly shocked teen.

"Why would you do that, Aki?" he asked in return, taking me aback a bit.

"W-why…? Isn't that how you learned to control Brionac…?" I thought back to what Kaze had told me earlier. He said that he went out and summoned Brionac, and from there, he went from blizzards to gusts. Obviously he had to start off strong. That's what Divine said.

"No, that's not how I did it at all! I practiced in the forest with no one around! I didn't duel anybody! I didn't use Brionac if I could help it," Kaze nearly shouted, taking me even more by surprise. He seemed really concerned and panicked… But at the same time… How could there be two totally different ways to controlling my powers? Which one was I supposed to follow?

Divine was a full psychic like myself. Not only was he in full control of his powers, but he's also helped lots of other psychics control their powers. There's no way that his method could be wrong. But at the same time… Kaze had Brionac, which made him like a psychic, and he's gained full control of his powers as well. There was no denying that he had results too… If I followed Kaze's method, then I'd have to reject Divine's teachings after all he'd done for me, but if I followed Divine's method, then I'd be rejecting Kaze, and he'd done just as much, if not more, for me.

"Aki, let's go and train a bit. I want to show you how I learned to control my powers. Then you can decide for yourself which method works better. If Divine's method works better for you… then I won't stop you, but you shouldn't have to go with something you don't agree with when there are other options," Kaze proposed. It certainly seemed fair enough. I had been training with Divine for quite some time, so I should at least try training with Kaze. Besides, at least this way, the two of us would be able to catch up. Just as Kaze was getting up and getting ready for us to depart, Ida jumped up, nearly knocking her chair over as she did.

"Wait! I wanna go too! I wanna see how you guys practice," Ida said. Kaze sent an inquisitive glance in my direction, clearly asking if it was okay. Truthfully, I had hoped that it would just be Kaze and I, but I couldn't just flat out tell Ida no without an actually reason. Even if I said she would probably get hurt, which she very likely would, she would dismiss it and Kaze would insist that he'd help me control my powers.

"It's fine," I relented. Ida's eyes quickly sparkled before she rushed ahead, taking ahold of Kaze's wrist.

"Come on, Kaze! Let's go to the alley!" Ida insisted. The… alley…?

"Ah, yeah, that should be a good spot! Nobody usually comes by there, so it should work," Kaze agreed, which didn't help my growing suspicions. A boy and a girl in a dark, isolated alley… For Ida's sake, I hope it's nothing.

"Do you two… go to this alley often? What exactly do you do there, with just the two of you?" I narrowed my eyes at them, not bothering to keep the accusation out of my voice. Ida quickly jumped, blushing as she realized the implications behind my questions.

"N-no! No, it's not like that, Aki, geez!" Ida fumbled for her words, releasing Kaze's wrist to try and gesture defensively in front of herself. "It's just the Justice Brigade's secret base!"

"I'm not so sure about that. It's not really secluded," Kaze muttered to himself before turning back towards me. "Ida just likes to play with Brionac sometimes. She's taken a liking to him," Kaze explained, apparently finding nothing wrong with the two of them being alone in an alley. I just continued glaring at them.

"Aki, really, that's all it is. Kaze translates for me and I talk to him. Brionac is such a gentleman! Just the other day, he told me that he'd personally freeze the duelist that beat me in the arena if he came around again," Ida gushed.

"Well, ah, that was the nice way of putting what he said," Kaze let out under his breath. Seeing how neither of them appeared to be lying, I lightened up my glare. I should have known better. Kaze didn't seem like the sharpest tool in the shed when it came to the love department. Certainly, he knew his way about catering to a girl and making her feel special, but… To put it lightly, he was far too innocent when it came to love. I mean, he never even picked up that the Rei Saotome girl from his Duel Academy had feelings for him. At least, that's what she acted like…

I let out a sigh. Worrying about it would do me no good. "Well, let's get going," I said. Ida went ahead and took the lead, smiling eagerly, while Kaze held back a bit, instead walking alongside me. "Is something wrong?" I decided to ask.

"Eh…? Is there something wrong in wanting to be with you after all this time?" Kaze questioned innocently, but it still caused me to blush regardless.

"W-well, no, there isn't, but…" I trailed off pathetically. "How do you like riding D-wheels? I mean, that's your dream, right?" I quickly made to change the topic so I could gather my thoughts. Thankfully Kaze didn't see it as strange, or at least he gave no indication that he did. He quickly began rambling all about D-wheels, the different parts and structures, the features that the D-wheel that he used had, and many other things that I just couldn't keep track of. It was a welcome distraction, however, and I tried my best to respond with some enthusiasm to match his.

Time seemed to fly by talking to Kaze, as before I knew it, we had arrived at what I assumed to be the alley in question. We had walked quite a bit in through a typical, narrow alley and arrived at some sort of opening. I couldn't tell what it was intended for, since there were no building entrances and it just seemed to be there. There were several piles of garbage in the corner, but it was large enough of a space that I didn't have to worry about coming in contact with it. In fact, I imagine it was large enough for an actual duel to be held her.

"Aaand we're here! Welcome to the Justice Brigade's secret headquarters!" Ida spoke as she gestured dramatically to the surrounding area.

"It's…quaint," I chose my words carefully. It certainly wasn't what I'd chose as a base but I supposed that it fit its purpose quite nicely.

"I know it's not the greatest, but I mean, hey, beggars can't be choosers, yeah? Maybe if we catch enough criminals we can get an actual HQ," Ida said eagerly. I considered arguing back that the Arcadia Movement was our headquarters when Kaze lightly cleared his throat. Whether it was to save Ida's dreams from being crushed or to bring our conversation back to our main focus, I'd never know, but it did convince me to not pursue the topic any further. We had more important matters to deal with after all.

"So, Kaze, how do we start?" I questioned.

"Well, let's just have you summon Black Rose first. She's your ace after all, so I think it's a good place to start," Kaze spoke after some deliberation. I nodded and began to reach for the card in question when I realized how close Kaze was standing to me. I stared at him for a few seconds, waiting for him to get the hint and move back out of harm's way. Ida was at least a few yards away already, but he was only a little out of arm's reach. If I summoned Black Rose Dragon right then, there was no doubt that he'd get hurt.

"Aki, I'm not going to move. I trust you," Kaze smiled, apparently being able to read my fears just fine. I suppose that was actually a bit reassuring, knowing that he believed in me, but it also concerned me that he didn't care if he got hurt or not. He could at least do something to try and protect himself should something go wrong. I wouldn't have been offended if he chose to believe in me from behind Brionac or some other means of protection. It would've actually made me feel better. I knew that once Kaze got an idea in his head, though, it would be hard to get it out.

I thought back to when Kaze first showed up and all of the trials he went through just to get me to open up to him a bit. It was endearing, in a way, I suppose, but that stubbornness was going to get him hurt. Hurt… like I did to him earlier… I quickly shook the fear out of my head. Divine said to not be afraid of my powers, that I should embrace them. Pain was just a part of my nature. I had to accept that. I'm sure Kaze had accepted it already to, given how calmly he was standing there when he knew what was about to come.

Taking a deep breath, I took hold of Black Rose Dragon's card. When I slapped it onto my duel disk, the air around us whirled to life. Vines began slithering down from the nearby rooftop, gathering together before me in one big column. At the top, a rose began to bloom. Once it bloomed all the way, a light erupted out of it, and with it, Black Rose Dragon. My dragon let out a roar and flapped its wings, sending a gust of wind and rose petals all around us. Kaze and Ida quickly raised their arms up to cover their faces from the petals, relying on their duel disks to take the brunt of the damage. Ida appeared to be fine since she was far enough away but I could clearly see the petals cut into Kaze's exposed skin and tear up parts of his uniform. Fear quickly seized me and I felt my body go rigid.

"K-Kaze! Kaze, I'm sorry, I didn't mean for that to happen!" I quickly apologized as the gusts died down. I closed the distance between us before taking hold of his arm. The cuts didn't appear to be too deep but they were deep enough that blood was now oozing to the surface.

"Aki, it's fine, really. The same thing happened when I summoned Brionac the first few times. Except, you know, they were ice shards, so they hurt way worse," Kaze tried to brush my concern away with a cheesy smile, but it couldn't change the fact that I had just hurt him again.

"No, Kaze, we should stop. We should get you back to the Movement and get you some bandages," I insisted as I slowly let go of his arm and reached for Black Rose's card. I wasn't expecting Kaze to grab my wrist before I could remove it, though.

"Aki, don't. Don't be afraid of Black Rose. She's your partner. Trust her," Kaze said. Trust her…? Before I could mull over the thought, Kaze let go of my wrist and began to walk towards the dragon in question, staring up at it solemnly. Black Rose slowly looked down, meeting his gaze but not doing anything further. Was he… communicating with Black Rose? He must have been, for seconds later he reached out and gingerly placed his hand on one of her petals, closing his eyes as he did. Almost mimicking him, Black Rose almost closed her eyes and lowered her head a bit.

"Black Rose… She feels your panic, your fear. She's reacting to it. She knows deep down you fear her and what she may do," Kaze muttered. She… felt my fear…? But how? It was just a card, wasn't it? It shouldn't be able to detect my emotions. It wasn't like I thought about what might happen when I summoned a monster either. I usually just did it and that was it.

"Even so, how does that warrant her attacks? If she knew I was afraid, why would she keep attacking in ways that harm everyone around us?" I questioned. Kaze opened his eyes and turned to me for a second as if he considered answering but then he turned his attention back to my dragon.

"Well, why don't you answer that yourself?" he asked her as he withdrew his hand. Black Rose let out a soft growl while flapping her wings a bit, and once she finished, Kaze nodded. Since I couldn't understand Duel Spirits, I had to wait for him to translate for her.

Instead of relaying what Black Rose had said, however, he simply walked back over to me. "Can you take Black Rose off your duel disk for a second?" he requested.

"Of course I can, but what's the problem?" I responded with my own question as I picked up the card, causing Black Rose Dragon to slip away into nothingness.

"Aki, do you trust me?" Kaze asked suddenly.

"Of course I do," I responded instantly, almost offended that he needed to ask. What did that have to do with anything though? Again, instead of explaining, Kaze simply took hold of my wrist and began to lower it back down. I felt my body tense up, remembering what had just happened only seconds ago. If I summoned Black Rose Again, then Kaze would be…

"Aki," Kaze's voice drew me out of my thoughts, "trust me."

As Kaze finished guiding my hand back to my duel disk the air vibrated once more. The vines from before began to slither back down and I tried to prepare myself for what was about to happen. The rose began to bloom and it erupted with light once more. Black Rose Dragon let out a loud roar and then… nothing. Nothing happened. I continued to stare, waiting for her petals to start whirling about and destroying the surrounding area, but still, nothing happened. Out of options, I turned to Kaze, flabbergasted by what was happening. Had I really just summoned Black Rose Dragon without anything happening?

"Now, can you try again, but this time by yourself?" Kaze questioned. Clinging on to this miracle, I removed the white card once more before placing it back down. The same sequence occurred once more and I held my breath as the rose burst with light. My spirit quickly dropped as the rose petals began to scatter about, just as they always did. I turned to Kaze, desperate for an explanation, only to find him smiling. That's when I noticed it. He didn't have to shield his face. I quickly turned to Ida, only to find that she wasn't protecting herself either. Instead, she was staring on in awe. The petals… they weren't as thick and as violent as they were before.

"I… did it?" I searched for confirmation. Kaze just continued to smile before nodding.

"That's right. You've gotten one step closer to controlling your powers," the brunette said. I found myself beginning to smile, unable to hold it back. I had actually summoned Black Rose Dragon without hurting someone. Certainly, the petals could hurt someone if they got in the way, but for the most part… This was just… "Sorry for kind of leaving you in the dust on what was happening there. Black Rose told me that you needed to have unshakeable faith for it to work. If you do, she'll respond to it and be summoned safely. I figured that if I just told you that it had to be unshakeable, then you might start worrying more and it'd be a lot more stressful. I guessed that you had more faith in me than Black Rose so I asked you to direct your faith for me into the summon, and it seemed to work since I believed in the both of you as well," Kaze apologized. At that point, none of that mattered though. Without thinking, I reached out and hugged him, taking him by surprise.

"I did it… I did it…!" I found myself whispering this, trying to cling to the moment as if it'd turn out to be some crazy dream if I didn't.

"Yeah, you did," Kaze murmured as he returned the embrace. I wasn't sure how long we remained like this but eventually the high from the success wore off and I realized what I was doing. Blushing, I quickly dislodged myself from the hug and busied myself with putting Black Rose Dragon's card back into my deck. It also seemed like a fine time to check on our almost forgotten gray-haired companion. When I turned towards Ida, though, I found her staring blankly in our direction. It was a bit concerning to not see her with her usual smile.

"Ida?" I called out. Ida jumped back a bit with a jolt, almost as if she hadn't realized what she had been doing.

"O-oh! I was just thinking about… how pretty Black Rose was! I mean, Brionac is cool, both literally and figuratively, but Black Rose is like the picture of beauty, you know!" Ida gushed.

"Just like her partner." Ida and I quickly froze upon hearing this. I felt my face quickly heat up again as I spun around to face Kaze, who apparently didn't find anything embarrassing about what he said.

"K-Kaze, what did you say?" Ida asked. If Black Rose was beautiful and Kaze said that she was just like me… I felt my face burn even more. Upon seeing our startled faces, Kaze seemed to realize how embarrassing it really was, as he face quickly flushed as well.

"A-ah! I mean…! I-It's true! You're both beautiful!" Kaze quickly made to explain himself. Internally I began begging for Ida to do something so I could compose myself a bit, some comment about Kaze being a teddy bear or whatever she usually said, so we could just laugh it off, but it seemed that I was out of luck. She was blushing with her hands raised to cover her embarrassment.

"Kaze, shouldn't we be getting you some bandages?" I decided to try and place my focus elsewhere so I could gather myself. I still found myself unable to meet his gaze, though.

"O-oh! Right! I'll just go on ahead! You guys can rest up, don't worry about me," Kaze quickly excused himself before jogging off. I simply remained there for a few seconds afterwards, a warm feeling bubbling up somewhere deep inside of me. He… thought I was beautiful… Beside me, Ida began giggling like a little school girl before twirling around a bit.

"He thinks we're beautiful! I told you, he's such a teddy bear!" she grinned, making a comment that I had wished she made earlier. I supposed that it worked out either way, though.

"Come on, Ida, let's get going. Maybe we can catch up with Kaze for dinner," I suggested. Ida nodded eagerly before taking the lead, this time skipping joyfully.

Now by myself, I turned my thoughts towards what had just happened. Not what just happened what just happened, I mean the whole summoning Black Rose Dragon thing…! If I focused on the former too much, I'd probably end up losing sleep again like with the chocolates… No, I had to focus on what Kaze had told me about Black Rose.

He said that faith was all that it took. That seemed way too simply, though. Was that really all it took? Trusting in Black Rose. It wasn't like she was a person, though. I didn't see her every day. She was just a spirit in one of my cards, so how could I even begin to trust her, especially when my only memories of her were hurting others. But… it worked when I put my faith in Kaze, right…? Maybe that would be a good place to start. If I just remembered Kaze and how he'd always been there for me when I summoned Black Rose, maybe it'd work out?

While I was still apprehensive about Black Rose Dragon, I knew that I'd always be able to put my full faith in Kaze.

Notes:

- In Japanese, 'Kaze' means both the common cold, like the illness, and the wind/breeze. When Ida says that Kaze lives up to his name, she's saying that Kaze really is like the wind on his D-Wheel, but Aki mistakes her phrasing as Kaze is living up to it because he's so sick.

Reviews:

- Oracion de las Estrellas: I'm glad that I captured his personality well and you enjoyed it. He'll be making a few more minor appearances from now on, so hopefully I can keep it up.

- Unknown: Thanks for your encouragement. I hope you continue to enjoy the story as it develops more.

- Anonymous: How come I've never heard of this game until now?! Now you're got me all pumped for its release. Hopefully it gets an English release, unlike Tag Force 6, because I am so looking forward to this! Thanks for letting me know and your support.

- Tyler Nator: I'm hoping to avoid repeating plot points as much as possible because there's no fun reading the same thing twice. If something is important enough, I might repeat it, but aside from that, I'm trying to keep things new as we truck on.

- Lion Heart Leon: Hopefully the introductions weren't too boring for you. I just had to get them out of the way to establish a few characters/the setting. As you can see, we're going straight back into the plot/main character development now, which is always fun.