The Black Dragon

The Next Dragon

As Asia walks down the street with multiple questions running through her mind. The two most prominent questions are what will happen in the future since both exist are staying in Kouh and the fact that the fallen angel Kokabiel is also somewhere near the town. The second question is will Kiba be alright. After Kiba and Felix's fight with the two exorcists, Kiba had lost pretty badly and once the fight was over he stormed off. Even when the group went to go find him after their talk with Felix he was still so angry.

Asia arrives at the front door to Zato's house and searches through her bag for the spare key Zato had given her. "You two really went at it." Before Asia could open the door she hears a voice she's never heard before. "A hole in your shoulder, about four broken bones, and multiple bruises. Damn, I'm both impressed and angry at you Atsu." Hearing what the man said Asia bursts through the door to see Zato along with two unfamiliar faces. Her eyes widen as her gaze shifts to Zato. Upon seeing Zato's injuries, Asia rushes to his side and begins to heal him. 

"W-what happened to you? How did this happen?" Asia asks as Ryoji peaks over the blonde's shoulder and sees her Twilight healing at work.

"So, you're the new user of that sacred gear." Ryoji laughs as his hands begin to glow green. He points his hand toward Atsu and just like Zato, the elemental warrior's wounds begin to heal. Seeing this Asia's eyes widen, how does he posses Twilight healing too.  "It brings me back to my days in the Five Thousand Beasts," Ryoji states as he sees Asia's look of pure surprise. "Oh, this?" Ryoji asks as he points at his Twilight healing with his free hand. "Don't worry about it's just an imitation," Ryoji tells the nun 

"Imitation?" Asia asks very confused by Ryoji's answer.

"That's my magic. The magic of mimicry." Ryoji tells Asia. "Basically my magic lets imitate any other magic or sacred gear I see, but I can't imitate a balance breaker," Ryo explains as Asia nods slowly to indicate that she now understands

"Still, who are you and who's that boy?" Asia asks as Ryoji eyes widen and he looks at Zato.

"I've never felt more betrayed," Ryoji says in an overdramatic tone. "How could you not tell your girlfriend about me," Ryoji says seemingly on the verge of tears. Zato sighs as he stands up, the hole in his shoulder already healed. While winding his arm to get rid of a small bit of pain Zato speaks.

"She's not my girlfriend and would you stop the dramatics old man!" Zato shouts the last part as he puts his hands in his pockets before continuing to speak. "Asia this is Ryoji Isamu my father and that kid is Atsu Chuuya no relation," Zato explains

"Y-you're Zato's father?!" Asia says completely surprised. "I'm very sorry, I thought you had attacked Zato," Asia says in an apologetic tone.

"Can't blame you. With his injuries, I would have thought the same thing." Ryoji says as he scratches the back of his head and chuckles. "Anyway I'm sorry we caused you some trouble young lady, but I gotta ask for a favor. Can give my son and  I a moment to ourselves." Ryoji tells Asia who nods and walks into another room. "That means you too Atsu," Ryoji says as Atsu frowns.

"I thought you were gonna let us fight again," Atsu says a bit sad before looking at Zato and smirking. "Don't think this is it! Neither of us won our fight and even if one of us did it still would have been close. So from this moment on you're my rival!" Atsu says as he leaves the room.

"I can already tell that's gonna be a major pain in the ass," Zato says as his father takes a seat in front of him and smirks.

"So you're finally accepting the fact you're the new Black Dragon Emporier," Ryoji says as Zato sighs.

"No, that damn lizard is just being a pain right now. I'll get him back under control soon enough." Zato says as he crosses his legs.

"Come on kid. You can't just ignore it. A sacred gear is a part of you and ignoring it is like ignoring a part of yourself. It's not healthy plus the more you try to suppress it the more it'll fight to get out." Ryoji tells his son.

"How can it be a part of me when it was never meant to be mine in the first place," Zato says as his father looks away. "I may not be able to remember much from my old life but I do know one thing when my original father was killed he put the black dragon in me. Then you told me that each wielder of this overgrown lizard is carefully picked by the previous wielder. This sacred gear wasn't given to me out of trust, it was given to me out of desperation and I've already shown I don't have what it takes to use it consistently." Zato says as his father stands up and puts his hand on his son's shoulder.

"You can't let a few bad experiences control how you live or what parts of yourself you let loose. Yan doesn't blame you for what happened plus you were young and had no idea how to control the black dragon. With some training, you could master the basics and then some in about a week or so." Ryoji explains

Zato shakes his head. "Sorry pops but I'm not taking that chance. The first time I hurt Yan, but it was an injury he could recover from. What happens if I lose control again, I could end up killing someone. Someone close to me." Zato tells his father as he looks toward the floor.

"Look, I can't force you to use your sacred gear," Ryoji tells his son, who smirks and looks up about to thank his father for understanding. However, the moment his head is raised his father grabs his face and speaks. "But I can give you some motivation to learn more," Ryoji says as suddenly Zato falls to the ground unconscious.

Waking up Zato finds himself in a pitch-black abyss. "I am so punching my dad in the face when I wake up," Zato says as he floats in the abyss.

"So you've finally decided to pay me a visit." Turning around Zato is met with the Black Dragon itself towering over him, but Zato shows little emotions if any. "So Zato Kaku what brings you here?" The Dragon asks as Zato looks at the overgrown lizard in confusion.

"Zato Kaku?"