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(September 26th, 2030)

A Friday. I definitely needed this day to come. My heart sang like a young schoolboy, but this one called for liquor. This week felt especially longer than the others, so one could only imagine how much I yearned for my weekly drunk night. Arkaid didn't show much in terms of visual excitement, keeping to her normally regal demeanor, but I noticed that the end of her tail was thumping against the ground when I reminded her of it. Even though I thoroughly enjoyed the effects of alcohol, I've yet to fully comprehend why Arkaid truly likes it. Does she like the feeling too or does she see this as a way of unwinding? I wasn't too sure of it myself, and I definitely did not want to ask about it.

We were walking to our apartment's door with a newly-bought bottle in hand. It was wrapped up in a paper bag to hide it, but I think most of the people passing by knew what it was. I decided to scrap the midori and, instead, go with a different drink. It was a juice of some kind, a mixture of raspberries and strawberry juice. It was cheaper, so I felt like trying it out. I didn't mind the taste by itself, so I was curious how it tasted with Svedka. As I fumbled for my room key, I started talking about the plans for tonight. "I'll be sure to order a lot of Takoyaki for tonight."

Arkaid smirked. "Surely you don't suggest that us two will be eating it all."

"Why not? I don't mind leftovers, but I can eat a whole pizza pie by myself," I returned. "I wouldn't be surprised if you could eat more if you really tried."

"Unlike you, I'd rather watch myself on how much I consume. It wouldn't be right for me to gain any unneeded weight."

"We work it off anyways," I returned. "I'll make you eat more tonight if this is the case."

"I'd rather let you eat more of it anyways," Arkaid replied with a soft smile. "See it as a celebration after your first week of truly being a member of the cavalry."

Finally, I unlocked the door, only to be greeted with a familiar, muscular figure sprawled across my couch. I almost lost the grip I had on the bag due to the unexpected visitor's laxness. He merely turned to me with his head nestled in his long, purple hair. Alliot looked at us with an impatient expression. He must've been waiting for a while. "What the hell?"

The dragon snickered. "Took you two long enough." He positioned himself so he was sitting straight up this time. I guess he was only on the verge of sleep due to boredom earlier. He eyed the paper bag and shifted his chin with curiosity. "What's in that?"

"First question," I immediately stated. "Why are you here?"

The dragon huffed back. "What, you don't want me here?"

"Didn't say that," I quickly returned, hoping to lower the tension. "I just want to know why you're here, in my room. How'd you get in here?"

"Arkaid's warped out of the room before, so I just tapped into the location," Alliot returned. "As to why, I chose to be with you."

"Pardon?"

Arkaid nodded, understanding something that I was certainly missing. "So the Fifth Omni Armored Dragons have already moved into our Sanctuary. I pray for their successes in protecting Lord Tenbu." That made sense to me; because the Cavalry members were, essentially, made into a recon squadron, there was no reason for us to have permanent residences in the old place, especially when the new guardians for Lord Tenbu needed a place to stay. Any of the Cavalry Dragons who didn't have a buddy needed to move out too, from the looks of things. However, Alliot didn't look too annoyed, so I took his word that he chose to come here. "Shouldn't you be finding your new buddy then? I'm sure you'll find someone you like."

"Nah, no need to," Alliot casually replied. He started picking at his teeth with one of his sharp fingernails. "Merak is moving in with Mizaru to help the girl out, and Meglax is going with Doble since they're close. Fuad is staying at the Sanctuary in order to train the new guys, but the bastard's gonna stay there, I bet," Alliot continued in a friendly, casual tone. "So, that just leaves me. And, after what we've been through, I think it's good that I stick around with you two. You certainly proved yourself, CJ, at least in my eyes."

The realization hit me hard, but in a tremendously powerful and gracious way. I found myself frozen in place when the thought came to my mind, "I have another buddy now."

Alliot continued on. "It's only for the time being. Until then, the trio system can work."

Arkaid agreed. "The teams do work out rather well, now that you mention it," Arkaid pondered to herself. "Meglax is our ranger of sorts, working with Rikka and Doble as the two different variants of physical strikers. They're definitely the more offensive, but their ranged support balances them out. Melanie's team has Mizaru, a defensive attacker, with Mizaru doing most of the offensive assaults while Melanie is the mage, working from a distance similar to Meglax." Arkaid continued on from there, even going so far as to analyze our own team too. Arkaid was our magician, our ranged attacker. Alliot was our physical striker. Me, according to Arkaid, was someone who could do a little of both once my training picked up. It was interesting how balanced our groups turned out being when it all came down to it. However, my mind wasn't on that at that specific moment.

As Arkaid continued to analyze the teams, I approached Alliot with the bag in hand. He looked up at me, confused to see the biggest smile on my face. I sat down on the couch and unwrapped the bag. His eyes widened as he gazed at the 1.5-liter bottle of vodka as well as the berry mixture. I started to grin. "So, you a lightweight?" I finally asked. Alliot turned to me with a cocky grin, answering the question for me.

Alliot was definitely something else. He remained in his normal form despite my warnings about how, because he continued to wear the large and bulky armor, he could definitely cause some damage to the furniture. His drunken nature resembled mine to an extent, but only if I drank much more vodka than what I was used to. He would groggily speak, lay his back against the back cushion of the chair. Arkaid and I simply watched from the couch as we eyed our empty dishes. It's been two hours since we left them there, and we were saving the rest for when we wanted to sober up. Of course, that wasn't going to be for a while. I had only started drinking about thirty minutes ago, so I was still only feeling a buzz. I didn't want to cancel it out.

The orange dragon was definitely enjoying himself. His dumb maw was open for most of the time, blabbering away about watching Arkaid and I drink. I guess he was startled to see Arkaid drink too. It seemed like my overall presence made Arkaid commit a bunch of "firsts" for the cavalry dragons. I didn't particularly care too much as I finished my first cup, planning to have a second mixed drink. I was definitely feeling it now, but I was still functioning normally. Arkaid, however, had already gone to her more defensive demeanor, though she looked a bit more cheerful since no one really said anything directed at her yet. Alliot was still rousing himself with the conversations he somehow continued to muster. I would've imagined that the alcohol would've exhausted him at some point, but he just kept going while slurring on his words. "So… ya bastards. Ya think Doble'll be hatin' us for this grandness?"

I could only shake my head to that, but I was unable to hold back my amused grin. "Doubt it. The guy's out to get me, I'll tell ya."

"He's so fahacking dumb," Alliot slurred. The dragon stumbled as he brought himself back up, walked over and sat himself on the armrest of the couch. He leaned closer to me and directed to me with a scaled finger. "You, you're doing good, man. I made the right choice … picking you. You keep doing you. Doble'll know what's coming to him."

"Uh, thanks, man," I replied, soon finding the amount of attention on me to be a little too much. "Still, you gotta take that armor off if you're gonna stay in your usual form. I don't want you banging into anything with that."

"Aw, ya bastard," Alliot groaned. "Get Arkaid to do the same then! Have her take her clothes off!"

The comment took me off guard. I know what I said, but Alliot must've been so far gone that something got lost in translation. Arkaid whipped her tail towards Alliot, making him recoil back. "Mind yourself, fool. Have some tact."

"Ah! Fine!" Alliot groaned lowly. "But I only have the basic crap."

I rolled my eyes. "You can wear some of my clothes," I groggily returned. "I have some clothes that are two sizes too big for me. They may be too long for ya, but-" He didn't seem to care all too much. He wandered away from me as he took the main parts of his armor off, essentially the parts that were metallic. I assumed it was the case, but I didn't really care to look. I could only tell what was happening since I heard loud thumps on the table behind me. By the time he got into my room, I turned around and noticed that all of his heavy armor was just placed on the table. I turned over to Arkaid to see if she simmered down a bit, but her eyes looked away from me. "Don't you have normal clothes?"

"I do," Arkaid replied softly. "However, my armor is of cloth and leather, and the plating is only in some areas like my shoulders and knees. I don't find it too uncomfortable."

"Speaking of which," I began. "Is Alliot normally like this when he's drunk?"

"I believe so, but it's been a while since I've watched him get like this," Arkaid returned with a calm tone. "He doesn't do anything bad, but he can say the wrong things at the worst time."

"Yeah…." I sighed. "Also, what's keeping you from wearing something casual?"

Arkaid huffed back at me. "Don't start."

"I'm not saying that, Arkaid," I urged. "It's just, Alliot seemed to act like it is normally for you to wear casual clothes."

"Your point?"

"Thing is, I've never seen you wear anything else but your armor," I returned. "Is there a reason as to why you choose to wear your armor everywhere except your room?"

"Not particularly," Arkaid grumbled. "I normally wear casual clothes around my own living space, so I don't feel I'm too reserved."

"But I've never seen you wear anything except your armor," I replied back. Arkaid pondered for a moment, looking away. "I mean, your living space isn't just your room. If you want to keep it formal, that's fine, but this is your place too. I don't want to make you feel like you have no freedom outside your room." At first, I thought she took the comment a bit too hard. She looked back to me for a moment, replying with a nod. She soon stood up and returned to her room, locking the door. I wanted to ask if I said something wrong, but then I heard some knocks on the door. I quickly made sure to, generally, clean up the area a little bit. I hastily trashed the paper plates I had laid out earlier for the food. "Be there in a sec!" I directed to the door. I briskly walked over, for I soon noticed that the vodka was starting to hit me a bit. I shook that off, soon answering the door. Upon opening it, I saw Alvis and Sitri standing in front of me. Alvis's face was initially welcoming, but he soon winced once he took a whiff of my breath. I guess he only just remembered that tonight was a drinking night. Sitri remained in his SD form, looking up to me with a reaffirming nod. "S-Sitri? Alvis?"

Alvis bit at his lower lip before turning his head away. "I'm sorry, I… I forgot you drink on Friday nights."

"It's fine, it's fine," I reassured him. "What happened yesterday? Are you okay? You want to talk about something?"

"I'm fine, don't worry," Alvis urged to me. "Well, I wanted to invite you and Arkaid to get something to eat, but I don't want to ruin your night. You do you."

Sitri looked up to his buddy, lightly jabbing Alvis's shin. "Oh come on, don't say that. You wanted us to hang out, right?"

"I just-"

Knowing his answer, I cut him off. "Don't like my drinking?" Alvis and Sitri couldn't look at me in the eye. "Sitri, if he has a problem with me, then that's fine."

Alvis gritted his teeth. "No, CJ!" he exclaimed. "It's not you, I just don't like that you drink. What if you lose it?"

"If you have a problem with my drinking, then you have a problem with me," I summarized. Alvis could get himself to refute that. "I drink for fun on Fridays. I like getting a little drunk. I'm always gonna be like this. If you have a problem with that then don't let Sitri force you to do something you don't want to do."

"No… it's fine," Alvis muttered. "You're right. I'll come in, but I won't drink, if that's alright."

"That's fine," I returned with a smirk. "I don't want to look after two more drunks. Just take some chairs from the kitchen table; I don't want you taking Alliot and Arkaid's seats."

After I welcomed them in, Alvis and Sitri did as recommended. I plopped myself on the couch again as I prepared myself another cup of the mixed drink. I was quick to take another sip when I looked over to Sitri, noticing him eying the vodka. When he noticed I was looking at him, he looked away. My only guess was that he wanted to drink, but he didn't do so in order to appease Alvis's wishes. It was understandable of him, so I let him be. Alvis suddenly realized that I mentioned a new name. "You mentioned Alliot. He's here too now?"

"Yeah, look at that." I pointed at the kitchen table. "That pile of armor is his. I'm going to need to find a place for that. My armor already has a hard time finding space in my closet. I may need to put it in a drawer or something."

"He's changing in your room?"

"Yeah. He doesn't want to go into his SD form. And Arkaid-" Before I could say anything, I heard my bedroom door slam open, rattling us all. Alliot emerged, wobbling a bit as his eyes glazed over at the new guests. Fortunately, the drunken dragon remembered to put on some clothes. He was wearing one of my oversized black sweatshirts, but even then I could see some of the texture of his muscular arms. My sweatshirt, as well as the red workout shorts that he wore, were definitely too long for him, but he didn't seem to mind. He wobbled his way to his seat before letting himself fall into it. He let out a long, content sigh before looking over at me. He grabbed his cup and drank more out of it. "I doubt introductions are necessary."

Sitri and Alvis agreed. Alliot brushed some of his long hair away from his face. "Thanks for the clothes," he slowly and wearily stated. He let out another content sigh before looking up at the ceiling. Finally, his nonstop mouth was silenced. He reached a state in drunkness similar to my own; the level where you just want to lay down and relax. He only broke out of his trance, albeit barely, when he heard Arkaid's bedroom door open. He turned to her, soon getting everyone else's attention. "Ah, so she did do it. Good on ya."

When I looked back, Arkaid seemed to be enveloped in a pure-white maiden's robe. Her nightgown was striking to me. I was so used to seeing Arkaid in her armor that I never imagined seeing her wear anything else. The nightgown had long sleeves that stretched to the palms of her hands, and the gown itself almost covered anyone's sight of her feet. She took a few steps out but soon noticed Alvis and Sitri sitting before her. "Oh, hello Alvis, and you too Sitri." Alvis and Sitri couldn't muster a response of their own. "I didn't know that you were coming. I'm sure we would've been fine ordering more food for you."

I decided to speak for them. "They wanted to invite us for dinner, but they forgot it was drinking night. So I invited them in, if that's alright."

She sat back down before picking up her cup. She took another sip of her drink before looking over to Sitri especially. He looked eager all of a sudden. His tail was occasionally flicking as his eyes were too fixated on Arkaid. He then glanced over at me, but I couldn't get a read on him. I couldn't tell if he found the situation awkward or if he was actually finding Arkaid's attire to be attractive to him. An understandable judgment, since he was looking at her for a bit longer than an average stare. However, when I recalled what his face expressed when looking at her, it wasn't really showing any interest in 'that' regard. Maybe he was simply stunned at seeing her in something else besides her armor too, I couldn't really tell. I didn't bother to ask if something was up, especially since he looked rather annoyed at something. Arkaid finally replied back to me with her regal tone. "Of course. Let's make sure they're comfortable."

Alvis managed to force himself to speak up. Something else must have came across his mind. "Actually, I'm surprised that Liam isn't here. I was hoping to find him too."

"Hm?" Arkaid asked. "Do you need him for something in particular?"

"Actually, I wanted to ask if he and Demios could come along too." Alvis mentioned. He struggled to keep going, taking occasional pauses between each one of his statements. "It's just… well, ever since Liam and Demios came around, it's seemed like … we've been doing less stuff…. I, well, I wanted to know if I could somehow … come back in?"

I interjected. "You were never kicked out," I replied. "Our work's been keeping us away from each other, is all. Heck, you and I worked in two different groups."

"That's true, but I'd still like to know where he is so that we could hang out sometime; maybe organize another hangout like this."

My mood trembled after that. Without much control, I noticed that my head lowered. My emotions didn't seem to reassure me that I should raise my head to face anyone. My eyes were glued to my shoes, only to hear Arkaid's voice speak up for me once Alvis expressed his concern. "We haven't heard from him since the meeting," Arkaid stated with worry. I felt her hand lightly grasp my left shoulder, but even then my eyes were still fixated on that one thought; Liam hasn't contacted me since then. It made me angry at Arkaid for a moment; as I recalled it, it was her rage that acted as the final straw that made Liam leave. I couldn't bring myself to blame her; she was only concerned for me. However, I couldn't help but feel like that one sour moment may be the reason why Liam has been keeping his distance.

(POV: Third)

Two men stood alone with their buddy monsters at their sides. The ferocious, furred beasts stood guard alongside their human partners as the men stared down the rest of the hallway. The light was dim, but their glasses illuminated the room for them. The horrendous, cased weapons were tightly fastened to their side as their right hands hovered over the demonic device. They couldn't afford to leave it on for too long; they didn't want to risk it corrupting them in the process. Behind the door were the answers that Ms. Fridrik sought, but she was far from the area. Instead, she sent her henchmen to this hidden base of operations.

Behind the two men was a gated door, blocking the safe room filled with Dark Core Deck Cases. They maintained a strong sense of alertness, not wanting to take any risk of someone blindsiding them. One of the two men tilted their head to peer slightly around the intersecting hallway wall. He thought that he heard someone coming. He was one millisecond short of just activating the weapon there, but he caught himself when he noticed that it was just another guard. When the two men almost activated their deck core deck cases, they didn't twitch and manage to stop themselves "just in time." Their reflexes appeared to be heightened, making themselves able to be in complete control. Fortunately for Ms. Fridrik's henchmen, her guys knew this.

This base was another discovered location. The secluded building was only discovered when an "unknown man" managed to "interrogate" one of the criminals from before for answers. At least, that's what Ms. Fridrik made sure to keep in mind if this raid were to official pop up. A part of her terrible explanation stemmed from her confidence. She was certain that she would be able to get through this without much of a hassle from any of the other officials. She needed her "unknown man" to accomplish the task given to him. The entire interrogation, to begin with, was off the books; Ms. Fridrik's man was only able to talk to the criminal from doing a coordinated, staged break in into the HQ.

The two men were beginning to think that they were in the clear. It was then when a silent voice was heard. "Shadow Dive." The two men readied themselves for combat. Their monsters bared their teeth preparing to engage a detected foe. However, no one emerged. Was it only one of their employees screwing around. The hallway appeared to darken ever so slightly when a mass moved forward along the ground. The guards were confused at what they were seeing. For some reason, the room was growing a bit darker, but the lights, although dim, were still on without any hint of a flicker. It was then that, all of a sudden, something struck the lights. The group braced themselves for someone to appear. Someone had taken out the lights, not just in the hallway, but on the entire floor. The mass from before appeared changed, but it was slowly moving closer to them. The mass itself was that of a shadow, now blending in with the new darkness created by knocking out the lights. The guards and monsters were extremely fixated on what was in front of them. However, they ignored what was on the floor beneath them.

Before they could even do a single thing, a pale-skinned boy emerged from the mass of shadows. It was instantaneous as he readied his sword. The demios sword slashed through one of the guards, severely wounding him and sending him to the floor. He could not leave any witnesses, not now. Before the other guard and the two monsters could fight back, another being emerged from the floor. The light-brown scaled dragon, clad in the armor of the Purgatory Knights, wielded a sword of his own. He lunged forward and made quick work with the three others with Liam's assistance. The guards, the individuals that were once so prepared, did not expect such an unusual buddy skill; the ability to hide and become one with shadows.

A rather unusual ability. In Liam's case, utilizing it is incredibly difficult. Not only can be spotted easily due to Demios's large mass, but he can only hide within the shadows if there are any dim lights or darkness. With enough light, the shadow becomes too easy not to ignore. Too much light, and the duo are forced out of the shadow. It certainly comes with its positives, but requirements for properly performing are incredibly strict.

Liam panted, watching as he gazed at the two maimed guards. The two buddy monsters had been defeated, retreating back into their card form in order to recuperate. Demios picked up the cards, pondering on how to deal with such creatures. He ultimately decided to bring them back to Darkness Dragon World to finally decide on what to do. He certainly could not leave the two beasts on Earth; they were witnesses to a murder. He didn't want to kill them by destroying their cards, however. A part of him forbade him from doing so, but even he himself could not understand what it was.

He was removed from his trance when he noticed Liam struggling to hold back the Disaster Force. The man was quick to fight back, initially making the sound he materialized disappear in mere moments. Regardless, the remnants of such demonic power were still eating at him, attempting to pierce into his mind and cause him a great deal of pain. Demios could only watch as Liam continued to fight back against the power. In due time, fortunately, the Disaster Force subsided. However, he was panting even harder than before. He hunched over as his hands grasped onto his knees for support. The fatigue was soon becoming too much for him as he finally started to feel his body tremble from the pressure. Demios quickly reached out to him, grasping his buddy by his left arm. Liam wearily turned back to his buddy. "… I can't do it anymore, Demios."

"Liam, you can keep going," he reassured him.

"I can't… focus right," Liam muttered weakly. "I just… I just can't stop thinking… this whole thing is nuts. I don't want to be her slave."

"I know."

"I want to kill her."

"I know you do, Liam, but we cannot. One can only imagine what she's saved for a backup plan if we've revolted. Besides, she is correct; why would anyone want to legally protect our claims? We share the bond of the Purgatory Knights, my partner. We are outside of most of their control… as well as their help."

"If she fucking tells CJ … God damn it all." Liam heaved even more. Demios understands Liam more than anyone. The pressure was killing him; holding back the disaster force, fighting the Will of Kyoya, forced to work for Ms. Fridrik to hide his dark secrets, and put into a situation where he's in fear of CJ knowing the truth. His thoughts are scrambling all over the place. He cannot bring himself to stay calm; this was all becoming too much for him to handle on his own. He just wanted it all to stop. "Let's just… get the stuff and information… and go," Liam heaved. "I can't do this, Demios."

"Liam," Demios returned. His partner wearily turned to face the leader of the Purgatory Knights. The grand dragon looked down to his buddy, expressing something of a great fondness. "I don't believe that this is where you end it all."

"Demios-"

"I've watched you grow since we first met, Liam," Demios proudly returned. His voice went low, having a much harder and stern tone. However, he wasn't berating his buddy. His voice carried sincerity and praise behind his old, seemingly aged voice. "When I first met you, you saw yourself as a coward. I wouldn't have known anything else about you. I saw that you wanted a change, however. You didn't want to keep living in such a pathetic state. I could tell that your determination was something to be admired, and now we're here." Demios looked around him for a moment. "We're in yet another of the Will's bases. We, no, you have made so much progress since we first established our buddy contract. Listen to me when I say that, if I listened to those same words you said back then, you would have never made it here. You would have never met CJ, Arkaid, and the rest of his friends. It was through people like them that made you want to fight your way through everything, so much so that I believe I have become a trusted friend. Because of that…." He reached into a crevice in his arm. The tips of his fingers grasped onto a buddyfight card. Liam finally managed to give Demios his full attention. However, by this point, Demios already reached out to Liam with the card in his right hand. "This weapon is the sword I used to wield; the sword of the First Generation Knights Leader. I, myself, served proudly with Dragon World at one point, and I want to give you this sword; the sword of my beginnings."

Liam grasped the card. The way he held it made the card appear as something that rivaled a precious jewel or crest. He was not holding just some other random card; he was holding his comrade's weapon in his arm. However, it was reduced to the form of a card. Liam, filled with a renewed confidence, nodded to his buddy. Using the Disaster Force, he made the sword become a reality. The sword was that of a powerful knight, balanced in its weight distribution. Unlike Demios's current sword, the Sword of the First Generation Knights Leader, Orcus Sword felt natural to wield. He grasped the grip of the sword with his two hands, feeling the weight of it. The sword Liam used to materialize was heavier than he would like, but this sword… it felt perfect for him. At the side of the sword's crossguard was a small, light-blue jewel. It glowed with a sharp blue hue, peering through the golden-colored crossguard that surrounded it. The white grip felt incredibly natural to Liam. As he looked up to Demios, he saw an impressed look on the dragon's face. "You're giving me… this?"

"I've given you a part of me," Demios returned. "With that sword, I want you to continue to fight against your destiny."