Divine Metal
"You guys are slow."
Lazily, he dug his hand about in the bag of chips, rustling as he pulled out a large orange triangle and popped it into his mouth, crunching down, apparently amused by the spectacle.
Shishi Kakeru felt no especial annoyance with the boy, Fuutaro was just a kid, and, besides, it wasn't really in his nature to lose his patience so easily. Silver, on the other hand, looked at his limit, frustrated both the boy's instance at playing the audience and also with Kakeru's own inability to master what he was being taught.
He watched as Silver closed his eyes, as he pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, seemingly coming to a decision, marching over and holding out his hand.
"Give me your G-Phone?"
Kakeru blinked.
"My G-Phone?" he echoed.
The other man, Shirogane, nodded, his expression as serious as the one he wore at the pool hall, leaning over the table, cue in hand, eyes full of determination.
"Your G-Phone."
Hesitantly, Kakeru passed over the golden phone to his friend, struggling to suppress the discomfort he had felt about being too far from it ever since Cell Phone Org had caught them off guard. That had been before Silver though, before they had met Fuutaro, before GaoFalcon had awakened.
What are you worrying about, Kakeru, he told himself; Shirogane is our ally, there's no need to panic.
With respect and reverence, Silver lifted the phone to his forehead and closed his eyes.
"GaoLion, please trust me," he said softly.
Though it was faint, Kakeru could have sworn he heard the echo of a roar.
Silver's eyes snapped open. With a flick of the wrist, he activated the G-Phone and lifted it to his ear.
"Gao Access!"
Energy crackled about him, wrapped about him, forged in place as divine metal breached the barriers between worlds and shifted into place.
The energy flickered and burst outward, washing over his surroundings in harmless waves, leaving behind it a warrior in vibrant red armour, the crest of a lion upon his chest.
With the bag of chips held in his mouth, Fuutaro clapped loudly.
"Oh, he gets it!" he called out, the words muffled as he held onto the bag.
Kakeru nodded with enthusiasm.
"So cool!" he said, investigating the sight of the familiar armour from an angle he was not often afforded.
A heartbeat later, he frowned.
"But I don't see what's so different?"
"This is a talent your predecessors possessed," Silver said, his voice unusually cool from behind the helmet.
Kakeru nodded with enthusiasm.
"Show me!"
Reaching down, Silver removed the buckle of his belt, flipping it on its side to reveal a red jewel.
"Falconer Armour," he said calmly, slotting the buckle back into place.
Again, came the storm of energy, though this time it was somehow different in how it felt, less stable, more erratic.
Kakeru found himself having to step back as the shape of something sharp breeched the space between them, a falcon-shaped glider emerging impossibly from within the buckle, golden armaments slotting into place over Silver's chest and shoulders.
The wings of the falcon unfolded, the glider curving upwards, and Silver leapt up to meet it, the two effortlessly becoming one, their shape disappearing into the cloudless blue skies of summer above.
"So cool!" Kakeru shouted again, lifting his head, shielding his eyes from the sun as he tried to follow the shape of Silver darting above them.
Even the sound of Fuutaro's progress through his bag of chips fell momentarily silent.
Silver swooped back down, landing at a distance, the sunlight catching the gold of the ancient armour moments before it receded, retreating back to where it had come from.
Almost nonchalantly, Silver reached down and flipped the buckle of his belt again, allowing even the borrowed form he wore to fade and pass as he closed the distance between them, holding out Kakeru's G-Phone to him.
For a moment, he forgot it was even his.
"T-Thanks," he said, coming to his senses, feeling the familiar weight of the small, ancient machine in his grasp again.
"You should be able to do that with practice."
Kakeru looked down at the phone with hesitation. Fuutaro's crunching of chips resumed.
For a moment, he imagined a different world, a world in which GaoFalcon had not awakened once more, a world in which only he and Silver had remained. Would they have been close; would they have been able to fight back against Ura alone? Would he have mastered the power of the Falconer Armour if circumstances were different?
"I-I'll try," he said, uncertain of himself.
He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up in surprise to see Shirogane's face full of seriousness.
"Trust in yourself, in your bond with GaoLion."
Over his shoulder, Fuutaro seemed similarly serious, and for a moment, he thought that there was a light that seemed to radiate about the boy, a halo surrounding his head.
He blinked, and it was gone. Still, he smiled, meeting Silver's serious gaze.
"I'll try," he said again, this time with more determination.