The young teen was lying down on his stomach with his hands crossed under his head on the grass beside some big trees. The trees were as big as 30 feet tall providing some shade to the throughout the forest. The sun was shining in most of the spots where the trees branches couldn't make any shadows up above. He continued to sleep until a blue bird landed in front of him. The bird pecked it's sharp on his forehead repeatedly with with every second. The young teen squinted his eyes by the annoyance of the bird, giving him a minor headache. Richie was soon awoken by the bird and proceeded to gesture his hand to brush the blue bird that soon flew away. He tries to stand up on his own two feet as he then stretched out his arms.

"Man, what a nap." He yawned while rubbing his eyes.

After he stretched, his body felt heavy all of a sudden, spacing out for a moment. His arms and legs were heavy like carrying huge plastic bags full of pudding. On one knee, he began to take even breaths to calm himself down. His body then went back to its normal state, having the teen getting back on his feet once more. Looking around, he sees tall trees and big bushes surrounding him. The humidity in the air felt different albeit smelling fresh and clean.

"Where am I?" He questioned. "Come to think of it, how long was I out?"

He had a recollection on what had happened earlier. Being summoned by a dragon empress to take part in a task he had promised the empress. Two fallen angels had stolen two out of three artifacts from the empress' tomb and now has to get them back before any damage gets done.

"Aeris' weapons. That's Right! Now I remember!" He thought smacking his fist downward on the rest of his palm. "I gotta get the sword and the amulet back if I'm ever going to get back home!"

He walks slowly inside the middle of the forest until he can find some civilization and call for help. As he proceeds to walk around the forest, he skin starts to get chills. The forest was giving him a constant reminder of what had happened to on how he was summoned here.

"Alright, this is getting me so anxious right now. At least it's broad daylight. Not a cloud in the sky or a thunderstorm in sight." He said while looking at the sky.

Richie continued to look up and kept on walking forward at the same time. His eyes were glued to the beautiful blue skies that he did not pay attention to a big root he was going to walk in front. His front ankle got caught in the root, losing his balance and eventually tripped.

"OHSHIT!" He shouted.

His body fell forward from the root he tripped on, rolling downwards on a hill. He tumbled down until he landed on a thorny bush that broke his fall. Richie rolled himself out away from the bush to a ground made out of brick and concrete. One of the thick thorns from the bush gave Richie a big cut on his left cheek. The teen got up from the fall as he brushed himself down, making sure there's no dirt on himself. He immediately felt a slight sharp pain on his face. He glided his fingers on the cut he received from the bush.

"Ssh OW!" He winced. He sees blood from the tip of his finger. The cut was still bleeding downwards from his cheek. The pain was still hurting.

"Aw crap, I'm bleeding. If only I had my bag with me." He grunted. "Too bad it's millions and billions of miles away in another world. I'll just go find a doctor or anyone with a first aid kit and get this all cleaned up. Til' then, all I can I can do is cover it up, but what choice do I have." He said to himself.

He sat up from the concrete ground with his right hand covering his cut on his cheek. Turning around, he notices up close a huge water fountain with a few metal benches and gas lamps surrounding the fountain. The fountain was gorgeous with its crystal sparkling water flowing downwards. Richie has second thoughts on cleaning his cut with the water from the fountain.

"I could fix my cut from the water fountain. Then again, I don't know what's in that water to begin with. Nah, this is a public place. I'm sure I'll be fine. Who would want to use water from a huge fountain to clean up injuries? But I gotta admit that fountain does look beautiful." He said.

He continues to walk when he finds a path that leads out of the fountain area and into another path that was long going into opposite directions of a small town. He rushes toward the long way path with his head turning left and right seeing a lookout of a few buildings up ahead. His brown eyes widen with a sigh of relief knowing now he wasn't lost anymore. He had found a new way out.

"Oh, thank God, a town close by!" He exclaimed. "Now I can get some help to figure out where the hell am I. Only, which way should I go?"

"WAHHHHHH"

Richie then heard somebody scream. It sounded like a female shouting from behind him.

"Uh-oh, it sounds like someone's in trouble! I better go check it out!" Richie belted.

He ran towards the right side of the long way path to follow to screaming sound. He then sees a girl from a distance that might be the source of the scream he heard, but what he sees next may surprise him.

"Hey, I heard you scream, is everything al-WOAH!" he screamed before covering his mouth.

Richie's face immediately turned light red and was surprised to see what he had witnessed. It was a girl that fell down front first with her rear end sticking out, revealing her white panties while wearing a red skirt with white lace on the bottom. Richie had his eyes focused on the girl's underwear. He immediately covered them up with his hands, while taking a sneak peek in between two of his fingers.

"Sweet, holy, hot, damn, what a panty shot! I-No! Don't give into perversion that easily, Richie. You know you weren't raised like that. Just help the poor girl out like the gentleman you are." He thought to himself.

He shook his head to refresh his mind and ran towards the girl. As soon as he ran, he noticed the girl had blonde hair that was down over the back of her head, down on the ground as the girl lied there front first. It was as though she tripped on something. Beside her was a white bag fell on its side that was once filled with small bags. The groceries spilled right in front of the bag, scattering on the left side where it fell.

"Oh no, I'm such a klutz." the girl said.

"Are you OK?" Richie questioned her.

"Yeah, I'm fine." answered the girl.

"I heard you scream from the other direction. Here, let me help you."

Richie let out his right hand to pick up the blonde haired. He grabs her left hand, while the girl gets herself back up on one knee for support. As soon as he picked her up, the girl's face was finally revealed. The wind blew her shiny hair to the right with her emerald green eyes and innocent smile being shown. She had a slim figure while wearing white shirt with with black lines going down vertically that matched the skirt she was wearing, along with a black neck tie, as if she was in some sort of school. As soon as he sees her face, Richie's face was at a blank stare with his mouth a little bit opened. His face blushed for a bit, turning light red once more.

"Woah! Check her out! That hair. Those eyes. This girl. What should I say?" He thought to himself while being dazzled by her cute looks. "Timeout Richie, there's a cute girl standing right at you. Just be you, introduce yourself like a gentleman, act casual and don't get so nervous."

"I-uh. I...I...A-A-Are you alright?" He stammered.

"Yeah, thanks for helping me up." the girl responded with a bow.

"Hehe, n-n-no prob Bob." He said with his hand behind his back while smiling.

"What the hell was that!? Why did you say that? Who says things like that?"

"Um, I'm sorry to bother you but, I dropped my groceries while I fell, could you be a dear and help me get them back in my bag please?" she asked.

"Y-Yes, of course." Richie answered

He then started to help the blonde haired girl put her groceries back in her shopping bag. Fortunately, her groceries were protected with little plastic bags of a various variety of vegetables and fruit, two loafs of bread, bottles of spices, and a big wrapped slab of beef steak that would feed up to six people. They both worked together to get everything back in the bag. The blonde haired girl searched right while Richie searched left. They were down to one last item. The girl told him a bag of potatoes would be the final item to be brought back. Richie found a bag of potatoes lying under a wooden bench. He places them in the bag, making it the last item.

"Thanks so much. I do appreciate of you helping me getting my groceries back."

"It's no trouble. I gotta say, doesn't your bag feel a bit heavy carrying all that food? I'd be willing to help you." Richie said while giving her bag.

"That's very sweet of you, but I think got everything under control." She said.

"Are you sure? It looks like a lot to carry. I don't want you to trip over again and risk getting injur-SHH OW!" He winced holding his cut.

"Oh my gosh, are you pain?" She asked.

"Yeah. It's OK. Really. I-I'm fine."

"Is it you face? Here let me take look at it."

"No. No. It's cool. I can get someone like a doctor to take a look at it." he refused covering his cheek.

"No, I insist. Please, I can help you with your face. Just let me take a look, it will only take a few seconds."

"Well, if you know what you're doing, then go right ahead." He sighed lifting his hand out of the cut.

Richie moved his hand out of the way. The blonde haired girl took a good look at his cut. The cut itself was still open, starting to bleed again straight downwards to his chin. To him, the stinging sensation felt worse, as if it was starting to get infected.

"That's quite a cut. How did you get it like this?"

"I was at a forest near that water fountain park not too long ago, when I fell down on a big, thorny bush. I guess there was a big thorn that skitted my face that deep that I thought it was just a minor cut."

"I see. Thankfully, there isn't appear to be too much damage. Here allow me." She says putting her hands over his cut.

"OK, what are you going to do with your hands over my-"

The blonde haired girl's hands began to emit a powerful green light. The source of the green light was coming from a silver ring with a blue-green gem embezzled in the center that appeared. The light from the ring began to seal the cut back up, making it disappeared, as if it was never there. She removed her hands off of his face.

"There. All done." the girl happily said.

Richie moved his hand to feel his face once more. His eyes widen. He was in full astonishment when the cut that was there previously was gone.

"Hey, it's gone! You really did fixed it! Thank you!"

"You're welcome. See, I told you there's nothing to be worried about, is there?" she smiled.

"No, not at all. That's an incredible power. How in the world did you do that?"

"Let's just say that a magician never reveals her secret." She said sticking out her tongue. "I want to thank you so much for helping me."

"Yeah. Like I said, it was no trouble at all. Really. Only…" he stops with a confused look.

"Huh, what's wrong?"

"Well, you see, I'm sorta lost here. I don't know my ways around this area. You know the old saying, I scratch your back, you scratch mines? What I'm trying to say is, can you help me get to the closest town near this park?"

"Oh, you would want to go to Kuoh Town. That's where I'm heading." She told him.

"Could you please show me where?"

"Yes, of course. Follow me." She leads.

Both Richie and the blonde haired girl walked together on the same path the girl was walking to get back to her town in order to show him where the town is. The two were currently conversing with each other. Introducing to one another.

"By the way, my name is Asia Argento. What's your name?"

"I'm Richie Louisé, but most people I know call me just Richie for short."

"Richie, huh? What brings you here in Japan? Where are you from anyway?"

Richie's eyes widen some more. He couldn't tell her that he was from another dimension. Then it hit him. Asia told him his current location, Japan. This was the location where Aeris sent him on where the weapons currently reside, giving him a good lead on where to go. Now he knows where his location is currently, but he couldn't tell her about Aeris, his mission, or the weapons either. He tells her where he's from, but decides to make up stuff about what he's doing here in Japan.

"I-I'm from the state of California in the United States. I live in a town called Everton."

"The United States? Oh, so you're in some sort of foreign exchange program then. Are you going to school too?"

"Well no. I'm just here for a to visit. Actually, I came here to take care of some very, important business." he said.

"I see. Well, I'm sure you'll love Japan. Especially here in Kuoh town."

"I'm sure I will. Hey, what's with all the bag full of food?" He questioned looking at the shopping bag. "Are you planning some sort of a big dinner to tonight?"

"We are. It's actually a celebration for one of my friends. How should I put this?" She said with her finger over her chin. "He won a big chess match against a rival of ours at our school, so we're celebrating his victory with a big dinner party."

"So, you're part of a chess club at your school then?"

"Not exactly. It was actually a sanctioned match against another school. It's part of the activities I participate in our Occult Research club."

"Occult Research club? Oh, so you have a club that deals with supernatural 's so cool! I wish my school had a club that. But I gotta ask, why would a club that deals with finding out supernatural beliefs would wanna sanction a match in a game of chess between two schools of the same club?

"Easy. Our club president is a master at chess. She picked the best player to face him off. It was he, the other school's president, that wanted the match sanctioned. It was the clubs' first time ever in a chess match and against another school no less. I'm usually not the best player but I do manage to keep up."

"Interesting. I wish you the best of luck when the time comes once more." He giggled until he glanced at the bag full of groceries. "Just looking it all in that bag, I can already taste the dish. Are you going to be cooking all of that?"

"Yeah, I'm actually a really great cook. In fact, the club members really like my cooking." She giggled.

"This is turning out so great! I'm not getting nervous. I'm not even sweating or stuttering my words. No funky onion breath. I'm actually having a good conversation by walking and talking with a girl. Not to mention, she's so ridiculously cute!" he thought.

"Hey, there's the town!" she pointed.

Up ahead in front of them, they came across the town of Kuoh. The town itself was lush with trees on every sidewalk. It was bustling with people moving too and fro, getting from one destination to another. Also in front were a few restaurants, a clothing store, a nice ladies boutique and both a fruit stand and a grocery store. In fact, both Asia and Richie were in a district where the part of Kuoh town was riddled with stores and entertainment. Richie took a good look at the town. He was amazed on how the town looked clean and beautiful.

"Wow. Look at this place. This town looks so pretty. It's like El Dorado and Everton was fused together, but made it five times as beautiful." He said. "Asia, thank you so much for helping me find this town."

"It's my pleasure. I'm so glad to have met someone as kind as you this quick after your arrival here in Japan. Meeting you was really a blessing. It's I'm sure that I won't forget. Oh, which reminds me. I forgot to get the lemons and tomatoes." she realized.

"Do you want me to help you that?"

"No need. I only need a few of each. There's another grocery store just up ahead. I'll be fine. It was great meeting you. I do hope we meet again one day."

"Yeah, me too. It was fun talking with you. So I guess I'll see you later then."

"Thanks. You too. Have a good day, Richie. Bye!" She said smiling while running across the street toward the fruit stand.

Richie waved back at Asia, smiling back at her. He went about on his own way walking on the opposite side of the district. When he looked back about meeting Asia at first, his face turned slightly red. He then places his hand on his cheek where Asia healed his injury. He starts to think about how she manage to seal up his cut very quickly.

"I do wonder though. How did she manage to heal my cut that fast? There has to be an explanation behind that power. When she mentioned that club to me, something felt very odd. She's part of a club that deals with magic and unknown phenomenon, yet she has a power that's very relatable. Are they somewhat connected? Make sense. Her power could very well be a magical phenomena. But, I'm not buying that magician thing one bit. Not by a long shot. I seen magicians in my world and they don't heal people's wounds. Sounds like she's hiding something. There's gotta be a logical reason behind all that. Then again, she sounded super nice when I talked to her. To be honest, I think she's one the first girls in a long time to have a smooth conversation and she's one of the nicest girls I've ever met."

The curious teen kept on walking and thinking about Asia's power. For almost every minute he continues to think about, the more he tries to theorize about it. Maybe Asia was telling the truth. She could be some sort a magician. Or what if she could be an alien from another planet? It's unclear on who or what she might be? He then hears something across to his left. His left ear perked up for a brief moment. The sounds he heard were as best described as a certain type of pop music combined with repeated tapping on a button. He turns around to spot an arcade. The sign in front of the game read "Mode 7".

"Figgin' sweet! An arcade!" He exclaimed. "I haven't been inside one since me and Blake were 12. This is bringing me back so many memories. I better check to see how much have first before I play."

Richie digs into his right pocket to find his wallet. He had realized before that his mother gave him some money before the tournament began so he and Blake can go get something to eat with his teammates after the game.

"Ha! Got it." He said finding his brown wallet. "Mom gave me about twenty bucks to spend with Blake if I remember correctly."

He opens his wallet to find the money his mother gave him. The moment he opened, his emotions went into a confused state. He pulls out the cash to find out that his twenty dollars were turned into 2000 Yen.

"My money! What the hell happened to my cash! I could've sworn I had twenty bucks in there. The only person that ever opens my wallet is myself. I always keep it chained so it was never really stolen in the first place. Unless…when I went through the portal and I guess whatever I had in possession back my world somehow changed? This is all getting to complicated. At least, the good news is that I can at least play. Even if I did had my American money, it wouldn't even work anyway."

Richie proceeded to walk inside the arcade. The building inside was crowded with people sitting down playing on top-of-the-line arcade machines. The people were glued to the screens on the machines to concentrate their every move that they make from their controls. Inside, the building was ginormous. Left to right there were a variety of carcase machines from fighting games to the classics that were popular in the 80s and 90s. The place had a plethora a dance machines playing out any genre of music for the player to enjoy and dance in order to be the one of the top leader standees. Richie was amazed and flabbergasted when he first gazed inside.

"Sweet. Holy. Balls. I never seen anything like it. It's like every gamer's dream come true. This has got to be one of the biggest arcades I have ever laid my eyes upon in my life. I don't even know where to start." Astonished Richie with one tear going down his right eye.

Left to right and right to left, the selections were tremendous. He didn't know what game first. Should he play a fighting game to put his skill to the test or see if he still got any rhythm left in his feet on the dance machines? There were also options to play the old school games and space alien shooters. The possibilities were endless for Richie. He decides to go basic and try out a space shooter game. The machines were on the far right of the corner in a well dimmed purple lighting ambience. Richie goes forth to the right corner to select his choice of games. Upon arrival was a digital change machine that dispense 100 yen coins only. The machine had a touch screen in the middle with several language selections. Similar to how an ATM would work.

"Thank God, it has an English setting. Let's see English...insert bill" he said inserting his entire 2000 yen.

The machine asked if he wanted partial change. That meant if he want to get 300 yen in coins back, he can have the rest in cash back.

"I better do the partial change option. Might wanna save up to get some grub later." He selected.

He punched in the amount of money he wished to receive. The machine was processing the data to know how much he want to take out. The process was quick, only taking about five seconds to finish. On the bottom of the machine, it dispensed the rest of the 1700 yen like an ATM. On its left, it dispensed 300 yen he took out from the 2000 on a silver tray. He grabbed the three coins, placing them inside his jacket pocket and the cash in his wallet.

"Alright, now which one should I play first." He wondered.

"YEAH! C'MON I'M ALMOST THERE!"

Richie hears someone from a feet's away. Walking downwards, he sees an dance and rhythm arcade machine. In fact, the machine looked brand new with its new machine smell. The game was called Dance Fever X4 Ultimax. The look of the machine had two High-Definition screens right next to each other that would link up for two player competition mode. The controls were a dance floor with arrows only pointing up, down, left, and right. The machine also supported a railing to help the player control better or more fast paced dancing. A guy with short brown hair was standing in front of the screen with his feet pressing every arrow on every action to the beat of the music. He was wearing a red shirt complete with a white opened button over shirt. His pants were black along with white sneakers. His eyes were concentrating on every move he makes throughout the game. On screen, he was racking up the points as fast as he could possibly get. The score was now reached at over 350,000 points with the duration of the song having a minute left in its time. Richie could not help but to stare at the feet of the young brown haired guy. His fast paced movements impressed the young boy.

"Woah. Look at him go." He said to himself. "I never seen a guy play a dance machine like that since...me. I wonder if I could beat that score of his."

"Here we go. Almost there" said the brown haired boy.

The clock counted. 5...4...3...2...1...Times up. The song was done. The brown haired boy stomped on both the left and right arrows, indicating the last steps of the song. He was sweating for a little bit while resting on the railing. On screen, a girl with short brown hair wearing a skintight red top with a matching skirt was jumping and yelling congratulations.

"Whew! Finally managed to beat that damn thing. C'MON that's gotta be a lot after all that!"

"Congratulations. You've set a new high score of 377,687." The girl said. "You are now at the overall leaderboard rank of #3."

"HAHA! Yes! Suck it, Motohama! I can't wait to rub it in his face. I believe this deserves a photo moment." he said pulling out his flip phone.

As he flipped open his phone, he immediately opened the camera application. He pointed the camera toward the screen showing the leaderboard along with his right middle finger on the lower left hand corner of the screen. Once he snapped the photo, he sent the picture to his friend Motohama with a text saying "SUCK IT! :P". The boy then hears a sound if repeated claps. He turns his head to the left to see Richie clapping his hands.

"Incredible. That was impressive the way you killed it on those dance moves."

"Thanks, pleasure's always mine." he bowed as if he was in the end if a play.

"This machine looks kinda new. How long has it been sitting here?"

"Just a couple of days ago. It's basically the sequel to Dance Fever X3. This time they added chicks in the game that cheer for you when you do good. My friends and I were burning this thing out since day one. It's getting so popular. Token after token, I spent nearly half whole allowance on this bad boy. Not to mention the new hot models they've added. Hot and busty gets me lusty!" Issei oggled the girls on the screen.

"Hehe, OOOOOOKay, So I guess this must be a popular place to hang out then, huh."

"Yep. Say, I haven't seen a guy like yourself around school or in any part of this town. You must be new around here. What's your name?"

"Name's Richie. Richie Louisé. I'm just visiting here from California by myself in an exchange program. That's why I don't go to school here." He said.

"Oh, then I'm Issei Hyoudou. Nice to meet you. How about you and me team up in a simple two player tag team match. I really wanna try out the two player option, but I don't have a partner right now. How bout it?"

"You want me to be your player two? I don't know, I mean, I-I'm good at dance machines but I just got here and I'm-"

"C'MON, don't be such a downer. Besides, you said it yourself you're good at these types of games." Issei said while putting his token in. "What's great about this machine is that it only takes one token a player for the two player team option. Downside is that it's only good for one session. It makes things so much cheaper than the prequel."

"Really? I ought to try that out someday."

"You should. It's a lot of fun. So go ahead, pick your song."

Richie took a good look at the screens. There was a plethora of songs arranging in alphabetical order and categorized by genre. He didn't know what to choose. From pop to country. To blues to dubstep. The options were plentiful. He skimmed through with the arrow button on the controls still deciding on what to pick, when eventually he would find a blue rectangular random button. Richie hit it to see what it would do. The machine automatically scrolled all of the songs when it stopped on the selected song, "Trip Innocent of D-" by C.G. Mix.

"Alright, we're almost done." Issei told Richie. "Now which difficulty you wanna go for, easy, intermediate, hard, crazy hard, or expert."

"Let's go crazy." he said selecting crazy hard. "I always play my dance machines on either to the second hardest settings. Gives me a great exercise.

"Whatever you say." brushed Issei. "It looks like this song was never played before. Looks like we'll be able to clinch the top of the leaderboard if we keep our pace up."

"Gotcha." said Richie.

"Players, get ready." the virtual bikini woman said.

The two were standing in the middle of their own dance pad with their hands holding on the dance beam behind them. The first three electric guitar riffs started playing to match in tone with the arrows coming up at a very fast rate. When the guitar riffs gotten faster, so did the arrows. Both Issei and Richie were in sync, scoring as a team of an even 25000 points to start.

Intersecting lines, calling out to the faraway sky
Dancing under the cross, a shivering voice

I don't want to show you my weaknesses
Receiving the wind's blow, I'll shake it off and move on

Release the impulse! Running about, building up a strong will
I won't forget those eyes
Shaking my memories, Draw×Delete
This moment will be converted to tomorrow
The light is reincarnated again, crimson trickles down my cheeks

Richie and Issei paced themselves as the arrows were moving at a constant speed of 4x. The two were performing well at a 64 combo rate.

"Right, up, down, down, left." Richie murmured.

Smiling mischievously, a Mary with white thorns
Scars were engraved, colors are being buried

On your back, if you received even just a bit of the dream
Protect it all the way, more strongly than divine protection

At the end of my troubled world, my heartbeats grow louder
Meant to come together, the wish of my life
To you who's drenched in tears, I'll draw an arc of hope
The light is reincarnated again, surely this name is irreplaceable

Issei was sweating. The perspiration from his face was dripping down on the dance pad, almost slipping, resulting in breaking the chain of a 524 combo. He kept his stance and his eyes focused on the screen at all times. As for Richie, he did not break a sweat from his face or anywhere on the front of his body. The only parts of his body were his back and his palm that was resting on the dance beam. He maintained his grip on the beam while his palm kept on sweating. Both men were amazed on how long they managed to keep it up. The score was now at an increasing score of over 350,000 points.

When the uncertain future and hope came together
The revolving feelings gently touched my heart

Release the impulse! Running about, building up a strong will
I won't forget those eyes
Shaking my memories, Draw×Delete
Stand up and face the light
Come on, the battle starts now, crimson trickles down my chest

That's right, I can't lose no matter what

The boys stepped on the last left and right arrows simultaneously, resulting in a tremendous 666 combo chain. Issei sat down on the dance pad indian style taking even breaths from the pace he couldn't believe they kept up. The sweat from his face was still dripping, soaking a little bit on the top of his shirt collar. Richie on the other hand was still standing with his hand holding the rail still, but was panting.

"Man, when they say crazy hard, they weren't messing around." Issei panted. "Great song I've ever heard all day, but a tricky son of a bitch."

"Amen to that." Richie replied while panting. "I wonder what's the high score."

"Congratulations! You two are the current overall leaderboard rank of #1 with a score of 382,644. Nice workout, if I do say so myself." said the virtual girl.

"Sweet! This definitely deserves a photo op. Here, richie here take my picture with my phone. Just hit the center button to snap it. I can't wait to see the look on the guys' faces." Issei told Richie handing him his phone in camera mode.

"OK, sure. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words" He replied.

Richie positioned the camera in front of Issei portrait style next to his side of the screen. Issei gave a thumbs up, a wink, and a smile as his pose. Richie pressed the center button as a shutter sound was heard.

"Got it! Now my turn." Richie said giving issei back his phone.

The two switched places as it was Issei's turn to take the picture. Richie stood beside his side of the machine with the leaderboard displayed on the monitor. He positioned himself standing next to the screen with his right hand balling into a fist as a the camera was focusing on his face smiling and the back of his right hand. Issei's hits the shutter button on his phone. The phone starts rendering the picture a little longer than Issei's picture. When the picture appeared, it was in great quality detail with the colors being rich as usual. Although Issei was impressed by the picture, he also spotted a green dot on the back of Richie's hand. He was puzzled yet mesmerized on how the picture came out. He paused for a brief moment to figure out what it was, but decides to brush it off afterwards and blame it on the lighting in the arcade.

"Hey, is something wrong with the picture? You wanna take it again?" Richie asked.

"Nah, it's nothing. My phone sometimes takes a little while for a picture to render that's all." waved issei. "Do you have a phone? I can send you a copy."

"Yeah, I have it with me. We can even exchange numbers if that's OK with you." Richie said digging in his pocket to find his galaxy.

"Sure, no problem." Issei agreed.

Richie digs deep with his front right pocket where he always keeps his Galaxy. Unfortunately, his Galaxy phone wasn't the one he was used to in his own world. Instead, the phone somehow was now a flip phone. The phone was s black, featuring the current time and date. When he opened the phone, the interior of the phone was all black with white letterings on the keys. Each individual key for the touchpad, including the direction button, had a glowing white luminescent light hidden inside the phone for easy reading in the dark and in place during the night. Richie's face gave it a surreal, yet shocking reaction. His eyes widen while his mouth halfway opened.

"What the hell is going on?! First my wallet, now my phone?! This is getting way too freaky!" He thought.

"Are you OK dude?" Issei asked. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Nah, it's just that...you see…I have two phones and this is the phone I don't usually take along with me for trips."

"You have two phones? What's the other one for?"

"Uhhh...it's merely just an old phone. I sometimes keep both my phones with me in case I lose one of them, but I sorta forgot my backup this time I guess."

"Oh. Well, do you still want a copy of your picture. I can send it to wirelessly."

"Sure, but can you help me. I seem to have forgot how to transfer from one phone to another."

"Here let me show you. Just hit little file transfer button the side of the phone and I'll send it to you that way."

"THERE'S A FREAKIN' BUTTON JUST FOR THAT!"? he exclaimed in his mind.

"I never thought of it that way. Thanks Issei"

"No problem…aaaand done. Your picture is now in your phone and my number is in there as well. So, if you're ever in town again and if you need a dance partner, you know who to call."

"Thanks, it was nice meeting you Issei." Richie said extending his right arm for a handshake.

"Hey, same to you too." Issei responded extending his left arm to accept his handshake.

The two teens cupped each other's hands for a proper man to man handshake when all of a sudden, both of their bodies started to have a chilling sensation when the both shook each other's hand as if they were sensing something unusual inside of one another. Their pupils widen having their vision seeing black and white negatives of each other for a couple of seconds. During those seconds, Issei saw a brief vision of an indigo dragon, while Richie experienced the exact same feeling except he saw a red dragon. The two released their grip when they saw their visions.

"Woah. Did you felt that?" Said Issei holding his head.

"Yeah. It felt like I was spacing out for a bit." Richie responded.

"Maybe, I should take break from this game. I've been playing it so much it's making me space out." Issei chuckled.

The two chuckled at each other until Issei's phone rang once. They both noticed it, allowing Issei to pick up knowing who it was. It was a text message from Asia, letting him know that she was done at the fruit market getting last minute ingredients for his dinner party. She also tells him to meet him in front of the market. He responds to her text to let him know that he will be on his way.

"Is that one of your friends?"

"Yeah, I gotta meet someone to finish up a party were planning tonight. I gotta meet up asap to prepare. You're more than welcome to join if you want."

"That sounds cool. Thing is, I gotta take care of something important, so I won't be able to make it." Richie says rubbing his tensing right hand. "That and I'm by myself for the night until my folks get here. Plane delays so to speak. I can just find myself some shelter with ease or find a church to stay for the night. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Anyways, I gotta go. Nice meeting you Issei!" He shouted as he ran out the door waving goodbye.

"Yeah, you too." He said waving back. His left hand started to make noises, glowing was a green symbol on the back. meaning Ddraig was starting to talk to issei.

"Partner." Ddraig started.

"Ddraig? Hey, what's up?"

"When you first came into contact with that boy earlier, did you happen to notice something different him?"

"You mean Richie? He seemed like an OK guy. I mean, I didn't see anything like remotely wrong with him? Whaddya mean by different?

"I mean when you two first communicated with each other, did you or did you not sense an unknown presence around him?

"Actually, now that I think about it. When I shook his hand earlier, it felt like my body was tensed up for a moment. Then, in my mind, I saw a bluish, purple dragon that look...almost like you."

After Issei's sentence ended, Ddraig suddenly stopped talking for a few moments until Issei responds back to him by name.

"Ddraig. Ddraig! Did you hear what I just said?" Issei said.

"Yes. I suggest doing whatever you can to stay on your guard for now and if necessary, inform your master on what happened."

"OK, but I'm not sure how Rias is going to respond to that. I mean having a vision is one thing, but having a vision of a different dragon that looks almost like you. That's gotta be something."

"Aye partner, I have a small sense that we'll see that individual once more." Ddraig thought to himself.