L-Drago's Return

Chapter 4

Ryuga's POV

Ryuga spent his entire first day away from home travelling. He wanted to get as far from the city as he could so he could train without any distractions. On the first night, Ryuga used his new bey to start a campfire. The flames were blue yet again. Up close, he noticed that these blue flames were indeed warmer than orange flames. *Madoka was right...* He laid down a little further away from the fire to sleep.

At sunrise, he began walking again to wake himself up. Beside him, the bushes rustled. Ryuga whipped around, launching his bey at the bushes. A squeaking sound pierced the air. Moments later, a bunny scurried out of the bushes, barely dodging L-Drago. Ryuga snatched his bey out of the air. *Why am I so jumpy now?* He glanced at L-Drago Guardian. *I must just be anxious to use my new bey.* It had been two days now since he got it and he had still yet to properly train with it.

He looked around. There was a pile of logs lying on the ground. *Perfect.* Ryuga stepped back a bit, straightening up before launching L-Drago at the pile. The bey raced across the floor.

"Smash it apart, L-Drago!" Ryuga ordered.

The bey launched into the log pile, slicing through the middle of the pile and flinging the rest of the logs high into the air. Pieces of them began to rain down from the ground.

"Dodge!" Ryuga ordered, directing his bey left and right to weave around the falling debris.

He wasn't sure why dodging was his first instinct. Because it was a defence type? Ryuga stiffened. *No, wait, I'm thinking of stamina types!* L-Drago screeched to a halt. The debris from the logs now littered the ground. Gazing at the bey, Ryuga could sense that its stamina had gone down more than it would have if it were an attack type.

After a few moments, Ryuga directed the bey toward the remaining debris. The bey rushed toward the biggest piece. It crashed right through the piece of wood, making it crumble as it raced toward the next piece. L-Drago was already starting to slow a bit. Ryuga held up his hand, commanding the bey to fly toward him so he could catch it. He gazed at L-Drago Guardian.

*I'm going to have to battle very differently from now on...* Ryuga knew if he tried to use a defence type as an attack type, he would just run out of stamina quicker and possibly lose if he couldn't defeat his opponent fast enough. He had to use this bey's strengths to his advantage. Most bladers that used defence types waited for their opponent to attack them before countering. It was the smartest way to use a defence type. He supposed it was like having a bey in survive mode all the time.

Ryuga continued forward, looking around. *There have to be some decent sized boulders around here somewhere.* Walking a little further, he spotted a mountain range just off in the distance. He smiled a bit. *Perfect!* It would take about a day to reach them. However, it looked like it would be worth it.

It was near dark by the time Ryuga reached the foot of the mountain. He decided to stop in the forest for the night. Ryuga launched L-Drago at the higher branches, making some of the branches break off and fall to the ground. He pulled them into a pile, using the branches to start a campfire.

Ryuga's stomach growled. He gazed at the food he had found: some pears. Randomly, a craving for spicy food hit him like a hammer. *You're not going to find anything spicy out here, idiot,* He berated himself a bit. Eating the food he had found, he laid down under his black jacket and fell asleep quickly.

The next morning, Ryuga woke up at sunrise. He wasn't a morning person by any means, even now he was still tired, but he wanted more than anything to practice with his bey. Ryuga hiked up the mountains stopping when he reached a more level area. Several rocks towered over him like cliffs. Ryuga launched his bey at one of the tall rocks, bursting it into pieces. When the rocks began to rain down, Ryuga allowed L-Drago to remain in one place before sending it crashing into the rock falling right toward it. L-Drago split the rock into even smaller pieces. The pebbles were flung in all directions, and Ryuga had to step out of the way of a few.