Of Love and Death.

The Future Chapter 16: A Champion is Crowned Pt. 2

Den cheered and whooped. Yes, yes! YES! They'd taken a point. It was now a tie game! Yes! Alright Den, are you ready? Dragon asked her. Wait, wha- oh yeah. This was the third battle. Which meant that she had to go out. The teams were only allowed to send out blader's who had yet to battle in the first few matches. So, it was her turn.

This would be interesting. But Den wasn't scared. She didn't know for certain that she was going to win. But she knew her opponent would be Pax. And she knew that she was the best ever. She and Dragon were more of a team than ever. If at any point they could win. It would be today. "Yes Dragon," Den said as she began walking up. "I'm ready."

The night before

"My name is Light."

Yes, because that made perfect sense. Den tilted her head to the side, looking at her partner. The glimmering dragon had sat down like a cat laying on a bed. His wings were politely folded at his sides, his legs crossed in front of him. Tail only slightly twitching, hair gently moving through the breeze. All of that and more gave off an air of calm. Patience, expecting a reaction. Almost like he was waiting for Den to freak out, and completely ready for it.

Well, except for Dragon's face. The bey wasn't meeting Den's eyes. Instead, he looked down with his brows creased. "Dragon, I don't really understand," the blue-haired blader said. She didn't know how to say that everything was fine. That she wasn't mad at her bey like he was clearly scared of. Or even if she should say as much. There was a lot more to the story. She knew so.

Whoosh. Dragon breathed out, blowing slight smoke out of his nostrils. It was a motion very reminiscent of a human taking a deep breath to calm themselves down. Just larger and louder. "I know," he said quietly. "So here is my explanation. Beys are...there are a lot of different things that beys are. They are spirits from a bygone era, slumbering within a spinning top. Or they may have been created from the depths of their blader's imagination. Given spirit from another's spirit. I share my origins with my brother. I was a wholly different creature, transformed to become this."

At that Dragon paused his monologue, giving Den time to process it all. Which she certainly tried to. Why, why was the main question. Why had Drago-no, Light, changed to become a bey. Had he even wanted to? Or was it some kind of curse? Did he need her help? Also, what had Den's partner been before? Had he been, like, a human? Or a komodo dragon? That would explain the name.

Looking up, Den studied Light's face. He still looked remorseful, but at least he was meeting her eyes now. There was even the slightest twinkle of humor in his gaze. "I assure you, you will not guess the creature I used to be," the dragon smirked. Oh, oh so he was laying down the challenge. Den could beat this. Okay, so he had to have been something on Earth, right? Like he wasn't an alien? Hmm...

"A fish? Like a blobfish or something?" Den guessed. It was kind of a long shot, but would narrow things down.

"Nope!" Dragon said cheerfully. And a bit smugly. Which just made Den really want to prove her partner wrong.

"Bird?"

"No."

"A...cricket?"

"Not in the slightest!"

It was at that moment that Den remembered there were a lot of creatures on Earth. And that there was no way she was guessing them all. So, she decided to throw out her most insane hail mary. Because that stupid, smug, look on that dragon's face. No, she wasn't going to let her partner win. If she couldn't guess it normally, time would be un-normal. Like this whole situation. "Were you, like, a legitimate dragon, Dragon?" she asked, fully expecting the answer to be no.