It was now Saturday, and Saphira was feeling a little bit anxious after she got up that morning. She got up at the same time she usually would get up for work, and while she would normally be annoyed by this, she was not today. She was anxious about spending some time with Barodius today, and she was anxiously waiting for Destiny to come through so she could meet him and they could go around together. It would be nice to have her bakugan for support, but Saphira did not know if Barodius would know of bakugan, so if Destiny did visit her she would likely hide through the duration. She knew Destiny would not mind if that was the case.

She stared at herself as she stood in front of the mirror of her ensuite. She was trying to decide on what she wanted to wear today. On her days off, she usually didn't put too much thought into what she would wear, but today was different. She wanted to look nice today, so she was thinking of how her hair should look and the outfit to wear. She considered a dress, but as she was going to show Barodius the roller skate rink and show him some of her skills, she knew it was best not to wear one. She didn't want to make things awkward today.

Deciding to keep it simple, she braided her hair, as it was very long and she didn't want to deal with constant knots that could form in her hair from the wind. She smiled to herself before going through her clothes to pick out something. She hummed softly to herself as she decided on a pair of dark, blue leggings and a purple skirt to go over the top, and she picked a nice, white blouse with a floral pattern on the shoulders. She smiled to herself as she figured this would be nice to wear today.

She slipped them on and looked at herself in the mirror to admire what she looked like to see if she would like it. She smiled as she moved to the right and the left, admiring herself and she giggled happily to herself. She liked the outfit choice and she knew it wasn't too over the top, as she didn't want to make Barodius think badly about her. She thought about putting makeup on, but she really did not need it. She blushed as she thought about today, and she had to remind herself to calm down.

I barely know this man, and I am already blushing over meeting him! I really need to calm down. This might even go anywhere, and he is just being polite. But we can at least be good neighbors.

And she wouldn't really be mad about that. After all, Saphira was friendly to the neighbors around her. But most of her neighbors, like herself, had very busy lives. So she didn't really see them very much. But when she did, it was always a positive interaction. If this would end up being the case with Barodius, she was not going to be too upset. She would be disappointed, as she found him attractive and he seemed nice, but she would accept it if he did not wish for anything further.

As she was now satisfied, Saphira made her way downstairs to make herself a smoothie, as she did not feel like she needed a heavy breakfast at this time. She hummed softly to herself and walked over to the front window when she reached the ground floor and peered out to see if Barodius was there. He was not. She giggled a little as she realized she was acting too silly about this, but she couldn't help but feel anxious. She was hoping it would go well.

The smoothie she made was made with coconut milk, Greek yogurt, strawberries, blueberries and a banana, and it always made Saphira feel refreshed after having it. She thought about the places that she might show Barodius today. She knew she would show him the roller skate rink, a couple other parks, shops, a beach and a couple places by the river that were her personal favorites, but she wondered what else she would show him.

I think just general stuff would be better than every place around here. He also may not like that stuff.

Saphira sipped the smoothie from the cup quietly as she thought about the day. She glanced around as she waited to see if Destiny would arrive, though it seemed that she was late. Saphira was really hoping that her bakugan was not being held back, but if she was, there wasn't much that Saphira could do about it. Destiny had a job just like she did, so Saphira couldn't make the bakugan leave her dimension.

She looked at her phone to see Barodius has not yet texted her that he was on his way, though he may not. She and Barodius did text each other over the last couple days during the evening as Saphira wanted to see if he would be okay with that. And surprisingly, he seemed happy she spoke to him. The main thing they mostly texted about was how their days have been. Saphira was lucky she hasn't had any other stressful days this week since the big meeting and she has been very grateful for that. So she was able to tell Barodius that her days have been very reasonable.

Barodius alluded to her that he was busy with his work and unpacking in the new place, which Saphira completely understood. She reassured him he will enjoy relaxing once the unpacking was done, and he would be able to just sit back and look at the accomplishments he has been able to do. This was something Barodius agreed to, and he said he was definitely looking forward to being able to relax. That was a shared sentiment at least, and Saphira really could not blame anyone for feeling stressed when moving into a new house. She felt the same way.

But as Barodius has not sent her a text this morning, she figured she might do that. She wanted to be sure he was on his way in case something had come up and he was unable to spend time with her today. She didn't want to wait and be disappointed, even though she would understand if he couldn't be there today. It just would hurt if he wasn't there, but she would just go ahead with her original routine anyway.

Morning, Barodius. I hope I am not bothering you, but I was just making sure you are still coming this morning. If anything has come up, I hope it isn't too serious.

With the message sent, Saphira knew she could only just wait while she enjoyed the smoothie. She hummed softly while also glancing to the stairs in case Destiny has showed up. So far, nothing, and Saphira knew she had to just keep waiting. In the meantime, she decided to listen to some music while using one of the dumbbells that she had to get some exercise while waiting for a response.

She didn't own heavy dumbbells, but they were weighted enough to give her arms a good workout. She did have a room with some gym equipment so she did try to take care of her body as best as she could. She hummed along to the music as she stood in her living room pumping her arms while waiting for a response from Barodius. For all she knew, he could also be sleeping in and she had woken him from his deep slumber.

Saphira was starting to really focus when she heard her phone go off. She gasped excitedly as she put the dumbbells down on the shelf she keeps them on and walked over to the coffee table. She saw it was Barodius who responded and she was ecstatic. She couldn't wait to start the morning with him and she opened the message to read what he had sent to her.

I apologize for making you feel anxious, but I am on my way to the front of your house now. I will meet you there in about five minutes.

Five minutes...good...hopefully Destiny shows up by then.

Saphira also knew that she didn't want to be peering out of her window watching for the man, as that would be creepy in a way. She decided to wait for a couple more minutes, finish her smoothie and put her shoes on before grabbing her roller skates to put into a bag so she was ready when they would get to the rink. She did not know if he would even be interested in learning how to roller skate, and that was fine. She was definitely not going to pressure him.

When she finished her smoothie, Saphira walked out of her front door, and she smiled as she saw Barodius was walking by the front fence and she was ecstatic that this was excellent timing. She locked the door behind her and quickly ran down the stairs happily before walking to the front gate. She saw Barodius was wearing dark purple pants and a white, button up shirt with a dark purple jacket that was currently only zipped up halfway. She could not help but blush a little upon seeing him, but she tried not to make it obvious.

"Morning, Barodius. I hope I didn't disturb you for checking in on you earlier, I just wanted to know if we were still good for the day." Saphira stepped outside the gate and looked at him with a smile. "But I hope you are feeling okay. I know all about how exhausting it is to move into a new place and have a job on top of getting things settled."

Barodius gave her a soft smile. "You did not. I was already getting things sorted when you sent the message. My morning has already had some interesting events, but it is nothing that I could not handle. And being able to just walk around and talk to you will be a lot more pleasant than what I have had to deal with." The girl fully understood and she was ready to go. "So…where do you want to take me to first? I didn't get any roller skates…"

"Don't worry about it, Barodius. If you don't know how skate, that is fine. It was probably a silly suggestion on my part." She shrugged and walked around him to gesture towards the crossing to go back across the road. "And as for where we should go, almost everything is pretty much along the river here. All we need to do is walk."

Barodius did not seem to mind as he turned to walk beside her. He glanced at her and saw she was happy about walking with him. "It is very rare to come across a very nice neighbour. I haven't had much luck, as most of my neighbours in the past haven't been very welcoming. It is a breath of fresh air when someone like you decides to be nice."

"You are welcome. I try to be nice to my neighbours, even though I hardly see them. But I do understand that not everyone is a great neighbour. So I am glad that I am living up to that standard for you." She breathed in the fresh air and sighed happily. "It is so nice to have a day off after the week I've had. I have considered going to get a massage this weekend, but that will have to wait until next weekend."

"Because of me?"

She shook her head. "No, no. It would be too last minute to ask for an appointment. I was able to get the last appointment next Saturday, so they are very busy. It has nothing to do with our little get together today. I don't want you to think you are getting in the way of anything, Barodius, because I would let you know in advance. I am all about communication." She paused as she thought about Destiny as she was disappointed that the bakugan did not show like she had promised. "Which is making me wish a friend who promised to show up today would have told me she wouldn't."

"It is early, so maybe she will come later," Barodius said slowly before he frowned. "Though I do not know who your friend is. So maybe it is not my business to say anything about it."

"Well…my friend is different from my other friends. She is kind of…special. I am not sure if you were aware or remember, but a few years ago we had that strange event where cards fell from the sky like rain." Barodius raised an eyebrow as they reach the crossing and Saphira saw he seemed surprised. "Oh, you might have been busy. But…surely you would have heard about bakugan a few years ago."

"Oh, yeah, I definitely know about bakugan." Barodius was thrilled that Saphira had brought up bakugan now, as he believed it would make things easier in regards to bringing her back to Gundalia. "Are you saying this friend of yours is a bakugan? Aren't they on New Vestroia?"

"Well…" Saphira was glad that Barodius knew about bakugan, but she hoped he wouldn't be upset. "I know that you probably had a bakugan you bonded with when they were here, so I hope this won't bother you. But yes, most of the bakugan are back on New Vestroia. But my friend…she's a bit different from the rest."

"Different how?"

Saphira smiled as they cross the road and she looked at Barodius. "She's a guardian. She is a guardian of the Doom Dimension, which is the equivalent to hell for bakugan, and she is basically the gate keeper in ensuring that bakugan who deserve to be in the Doom Dimension are locked there for eternity. And she also has to ensure that bakugan who don't deserve to be there are moved onto a better place. She was very busy after New Vestroia was restored, as her guardianship over the Doom Dimension was threatened and disrupted by Naga when he caused Vestroia to fall into chaos and bakugan to end up on this world." Saphira glanced up at the sky as she thought back to that time. "I was studying when that happened. I remember when the card fell onto my textbook, and I thought someone had thrown it at me, but I saw the cards raining down myself. I didn't believe it at first, but it was true. Do you remember that?"

Barodius just nodded, even though he knew he was not here when that happened. But hearing how the humans even learned of the existence of bakugan was intriguing to him. He does remember when they detected the strange disturbance from Vestroia several years ago, and it now made sense. "I do. I don't really remember what I was doing when that happened though. I know I had just returned home after a long day, and when I saw the cards, I thought I was dreaming."

Saphira smirked at him as she was amused by his response. "That must mean you must have gone to bed and woke up to find a card beside you. That would have been quite a shock."

Barodius could not help but chuckle at that description, even if it actually never happened. "You could say that it was a shock. Though I did not get a lot of time to play against other brawlers, and I still don't have a lot of time. But it was fun while it lasted."

"Yeah, it was. But as for me and my bakugan partner, Darkus Desteen, we are still in communication. Mostly because Destiny is able to see through mirrors and use them as a means of transport." Barodius was surprised by this, and it actually answered how the Doom Dimension guardian might know he was here on Earth speaking to Saphira. "And even though New Vestroia is kind of cut off from Earth as of right now, Destiny is able to still communicate with me due to that ability. She was meant to come back today, but I guess something has happened. It happens a lot…so I am disappointed that she isn't here as I wanted her to meet you. But that can happen some other time I guess."

Barodius was definitely intrigued at how Desteen travelled from the Doom Dimension to other worlds. It made a lot of sense. But it did mean that the bakugan likely was aware of what Gundalia was planning for Neathia. "It is probably better to wait for another time anyway, Saphira. You and I have only just met and it is hard to know if we will be friends or just friendly neighbours. If we happen to become friends, I am sure that would be a better time to introduce Desteen to me. Though I am curious why you call her Destiny."

"That's just the nickname I've given her. And she actually likes it more than her own name. When I started calling Desteen Destiny, it was by accident. It just slipped out one time and she told me she liked it. So we have stuck with it." Saphira looked at Barodius with a smile. "I still don't even know how I got my high school diploma when the bakugan were around. It was hard to focus on my studies at the time. But without Destiny, I think things might be different for me now. I hope that you aren't jealous, as I know a lot of people would be due to missing their bakugan."

Barodius shook his head. "I am not jealous, Saphira. I have a lot of things that I do in my life that keep me distracted enough, so that is not something that you shouldn't be worried about. It is good that Destiny visits you."

"Yeah…but enough about her, um, we should focus on this little tour. I hope that you will be able to find some relaxation from the places I show you. Especially after a long, busy week. Nothing like getting out in nature." She smiled at him as they walk by the river. "Anyway…how are finding Bayview, anyway? Are you from another city, or a smaller town?"

"Bayview is a lot bigger than what I am used to." He glanced around at the city as it was partly true. Though the city his palace was in on Gundalia was rather large too. "And it didn't have a river running through it like this one does, and no beaches. Plus, it was small enough that you could know just about everybody."

"Oh, I see. It must be a big step from a little, country town."

"Yeah, but it has been good. I was able to work from town for quite a few years before I was transferred here to this city. It has been a bit of adjustment. I am not used to such a place like this. And it is really nice that I meet a nice neighbour like yourself." Saphira was glad she could help to make the move a bit nicer as a nice neighbour towards him. She knew that it is a big change going from the country life to city life. "I am not used to so much travelling to my job."

"Yeah, that's probably the worst part about living in the city. But I at least avoid the traffic since when I get on the train, my job is only a five-minute walk from the station in the middle of the city. So I don't need my car to get around." Saphira spotted the small shopping area she had mentioned to Barodius a few days ago. "Oh, this is the little area I told you about. Like I said, there is a small grocery store for things you might need, along with the gelato place, fish market and a café for some coffee. I'm almost tempted to get a coffee, but maybe after some skating at the rink. I come here regularly."

"I could tell when you tried to invite me over here. It looks like a nice place. I can see they are always busy, which is a good thing." Barodius was silently observing Saphira as he responded to the girl in this conversation. He was glad he has been able to respond to her with valid responses that the girl was accepting. It seemed easy to fool her, though he knew she was happy to be with him. He glanced at the buildings to look at the variety of stores that were there. He caught the scent of coffee from the café, something he's never smelt before, but it smelt very pleasant before. "That smells good."

"Coffee always smells good. It just makes a café feel cosy." Saphira breathed in the aroma of the coffee as they walk by the café. "Mmm…I'm definitely going to get one when we come back."

Barodius did not know what the drink tasted like, but he was curious about it. He knew he didn't have a way of actually buying one though, which was something he would need to figure out if he was going to keep coming back to Earth to keep speaking to the human and eventually convincing her to come with him. "It certainly seems tempting. But why wait until after skating at the rink?"

"Mostly because we are not far from the rink, and I generally take my time drinking my coffee. So when we get there and I put my roller skates on before skating around for a bit, the coffee will be cold and not very pleasant." Barodius seemed to understand that. Though he doesn't know what coffee tastes like, so he could only go off by what Saphira was saying. "Which is why I'll have the coffee afterwards. Probably after we have gone to the other parks and maybe the beach as well…only if we have the time to do that. I don't know if you have any other plans for today."

Barodius shook his head as the plans he had for today was simply to spend more time with the girl and work towards bringing her back to Gundalia. "Not really. Staying out of the house at this time feels a whole lot better to me at this time."

"That is fair. I don't really have much on for today either, so I guess we both get to enjoy each others company." Saphira didn't think they would spend the entire day together, especially as this was their first time out together, but it was already going well, so she would just have to wait and see. "I suppose if I offered to get something for you, you won't turn it down today, will you?"

Barodius chuckled a little and he simply shrugged. "I am not sure if that would be necessary, Saphira. I wouldn't say no now, but I don't think it will be necessary."

"Right, you probably brought money with you. That is okay." Saphira was also joking when she had said that too, but it was good to know that it wouldn't be necessary. She looked ahead and she saw they were getting closer to the rink. And it was not so busy at the moment. "Awesome! The rink isn't busy right now."

Barodius watched as Saphira began to skip ahead of him and he could not help but smile as he watched her. He still did not yet know what this roller skating was, but it was going to be intriguing to watch. He watched Saphira find a seat to sit down and she opened her bag to grab the skates out. He looked at the rink to see it was a quiet space. There was a lot of trees around the rink with a great view of the river.

There were many places for people to sit down to relax. There were a few areas with BBQs, which showed this place was popular for people to have lunches together. Barodius could see why Saphira enjoyed coming here. As he got closer, he looked at the rink itself. He wasn't sure what the material was as the layer of the rink, but he saw a few people who were skating on the rink. He was surprised as they looked like they were gliding along the rink, and he noticed their shoes had wheels on them. That made him smile as he realized this is what Saphira was talking about.

He walked over to the bench Saphira was sitting at, and he saw she was putting her roller skates on. He sat down beside her and looked at the rink. "I can see why you like coming here. It seems to be quite peaceful."

"When it isn't busy with a heap of families, it definitely is very peaceful." She finished tying her skates and Saphira sighed, placing her foot down, looking at the rink with a smile. "And since I get in a zone when I skate, it is better when there are not many people here." She turned to Barodius and held her hand out. "Care to help me to my feet? It's the worst part about skates."

Barodius stood up and carefully helped Saphira onto her feet. "I could tell. I imagine you can get up on your feet with no problem though. I doubt you would have someone here with you every time you come here."

"Yeah, I do. But it is nice when I can get a helping hand." Barodius huffed in amusement before he sat back down. She winked at him and began to skate forward. "I won't skate for too long, but I hope you don't mind watching."

The man shook his head. "I do not mind at all. We have time."

Saphira was glad as she began to skate around happily, moving her body as she enjoyed skating. While Barodius sat and watched her out of curiosity, and also with a little bit of impatience. At least he now understood that it was definitely possible that Desteen would not come back to Earth to spend time with Saphira while he was here. He wasn't a hundred percent sure, but it was a plausible explanation.

While he waited for the girl to finish, Barodius found himself fascinated with the girl's movements. She was moving elegantly and she looked like she was dancing with how she was skating. He hasn't felt any kind of fascination like this in a long time. Most of his days has been spent figuring out how to obtain the Sacred Orb, and to unlocking the power that would give him the ability to control the bakugan and more. So it has been a long time since he's really thought about anything else. But the last few days his mind has been distracted. Even though he was here for one reason, and one reason only, Saphira has intrigued his mind somehow. And he did not know if that will become a problem in the future or not.