War of the Tsurekin

It took Kai a good chunk of the day just to get up into the mountains. They found a nice spot to set up camp next to a river. It gave them easy access to fresh water, and if they ever got lost all they had to do was follow the river until they found the camp.

Once Kai had the tent all set up, he took a moment to sit down and rest. The long trek through the forest and up the mountain took a lot out of him. Now that the camp was all set up he could take the chance to rest.

"So, what are we going to do first?" Ryukin asked.

Kai thought about that. "Well, it took us a few hours to get up here. I need to start thinking about what to eat." He smacked himself on the head. "Darn it! I forgot to bring a knife to cut food with. Now that I think about it, I also forgot to bring an axe to chop food for a fire."

"Don't worry," Ryukin said. "My claws are as sharp as any blade. If you need anything cut, I'll do it for you."

Kai smiled. "Thanks, Ryukin. We'll rest for a bit longer, then we'll go hunting."

Skylar found a wooded area and smiled. "What we going to do?" Tala asked.

"Your it." Skylar smield before turning and taking off at full speed.

"WHAT!" She heard Tala roar behind her.

"Come find me you impasole." She laughed as she ran by Tala. Tala growled and took off after her chasing her through the woods.

(I'll post something in the morning. I'm going to start settling down for the night before going to bed.)

(Just in case if that was what you were planning, Skylar and Tala won't run into Kai and Ryukin while they're playing tag in the forest. Their camp is about a five hour hike from the beach house.)


Before Kai and Ryukin went hunting they went to find some firewood. As luck would have it they found a fallen tree nearby. They worked together, Ryukin cut the wood while Kai put the cut pieces into a pile. When most of the tree was chopped up they took what they had so far and brought it back to the camp, piling it all beside the tent.

Now it was time to find food. They went off in search of something to hunt. They made sure to stay in sight of the river so they wouldn't get lost. They came across a deer grazing in a small clearing. Kai went around in one direction while Ryukin went to hide behind a bush in the other. When they were in place, Kai jumped out at the deer and startled it. As expected the deer tried to run off, but in Ryukin's direction. The metal dragon leaped out from behind the bush and mauled the deer. The sun was starting to set as they dragged the poor creature back to their camp to gut and cook.

Ryukin did the gutting while Kai prepared the fire. Kai didn't want to let the meat go to waste, so he told Ryukin to take as much meat from the deer as possible and he would eat as much as he could. Whatever he couldn't eat he would bury along with the deer so as not to attract any unwanted predators to the camp.

He kept the uncooked meat in the pot while he cooked the pieces he was planning to eat with the pan. While the food cooked he turned to Ryukin and said, "This reminds me of the time I tried camping in the forest behind my old house."

"I remember that," Ryukin said. "You brought a tent and sleeping bag so you could spend the night outside with me. You were twelve years old around that time, weren't you?"

Kai smiled. "Funny how we can still remember these things, isn't it?"

"I remember it got really cold that night. Even under that sleeping bag you were shivering," Ryukin said. "I went out to find some wood and made a small fire to keep you warm."

Kai laughed when he said, "My parents saw the smoke and came looking for me. They were so angry that night, someone even called 911 because they thought it was a real fire. They never let me go camping in the forest ever again." He looked at Ryukin and said, "Now that I think about it, you used to get me into trouble a lot back then. Before my parents died, you were just as much a kid as I was."

Ryukin smiled. "I guess with age comes maturity, even with Tsurekin. When your parents died I wanted nothing more than to look after you like they had. But now that I think about it, I think I was trying to replace them."

"Nobody can replace my parents, not even you Ryukin," Kai said. He reached over and gave the dragon a pat on the head. "But you were there for me in my time of need, and that's all that matters."

The bushes behind the camp started rustling. Kai and Ryukin got up to see what it was. A large grizzly bear came out from behind the bushes. It didn't look friendly.

((I know, I wasn't planning that. ))

Skylar laughed as Tala gently tackled her to the ground after running for at least an hour.

"Tag, your it." Tala growled turning and taking off at full speed. Skylar jumped up and tore after her. She ran as fast as she could using her sense of smell to track Tala. She stopped at one point and looked around. Tala was gone. She breathed in deeply and got a very very faint scent. She moved towards a river and breathed in. Tala had moved down it. She slowly went down until she found where Tala had gotten out and she kept running until she found her Tsurekin and jumped on her back laughing. "How'd you do it?" Tala asked.

"A very faint trail." She smiled.

"Hold on." Tala grinned before taking off at full speed again. She clung tightly to Tala's neck as they ran.

(Just making sure.)


"It must have smelled the food," Kai said as he readied himself for a fight.

"I'll take care of this, Kai," Ryukin said moving to stand in front of him as the bear approached. "I won't let this animal hurt you."

Seeing this bear reminded Kai of that day back in the forest all those years ago. He remembered the bear that showed up and tried to attack him, but Ryukin appeared and fought it off. The dragon had risked his life to save him that day, without even knowing who Kai was.

Kai shook his head. "No, Ryukin. I'll handle this." He stepped up in front of Ryukin. "This time, I'll protect you."

Ryukin didn't argue. It was likely he was remembering the same thing he was. He stepped back and watched, but he stayed ready to strike at a moment's notice if anything went wrong.

The bear came up to Kai and stood on its two back feet. It roared at him, but Kai kept his ground. For any normal person, trying to fight a bear with their bare hands would be crazy, but ever since Kai's bond with Ryukin strengthened he was no longer a normal person.

The bear swiped its arm at Kai, who lifted his own arm to block it. The impact was a little stronger than he had expected but he managed to keep his ground. It was the bear's claws that hurt him the most. Kai remembered Skylar and his training sessions with Shigure. He used the first technique she ever taught them. He kept one hand on the bear's arm as he moved under it and stood behind the animal. He placed his other hand on the bear's shoulder and his foot in front of its leg before using all his strength to push him off balance. It was only because of his strength that he was able to knocked the massive creature onto the ground, but as the saying goes, the bigger they are the harder they fall.

The bear quickly shook it off and got back to its feet, ready to attack again. This time it came at him with its teeth. Kai caught it by grabbing it by the bottom and top of its mouth. He used all his strength to keep the bear from clamping down on his hands while holding it back. He swiped his foot under one of the animal's arm to knock it off balance before twisting its head to the side. In order to keep its own neck from breaking the bear's instinct told it to turn its body along with its head, but without its arm to hold it up the animal hit the ground once again.

The bear got back up yet again. But this time it looked like it was having a hard time staying up. It managed to stand on its back feet again, but its legs seemed to shake just at the effort of staying balanced. Kai decided to finish this once and for all. He called upon his power over fire and conjured a ball of flames in his hand. He threw the ball right into the beast's chest. The creature seemed to cry out in pain as it fell flat on its back. It twitched for a few moments before rolling onto its feet and limping away.

The fight had took a lot out of Kai, his breathing had become heavy. When the adrenaline in his system started to die down he could feel the sting of the cuts in his arm from the bear's claws. He pressed his hand to the spot and it came back with blood.

"Kai, you're hurt!" Ryukin said as he moved closer.

"It's just a scratch," Kai lied. It was bleeding pretty badly.

"We need to get it patched up quickly." Ryukin Hurried him back to the tent.

Kai sat down in front of the tent, holding a hand to his wound. He ended up having to take his shirt off because the blood was soaking into the fabric. Ryukin went into the tent to look for anything they could use. "All we have is your extra clothes," he said.

Kai sighed before saying, "Then use them instead."

"We'll have to clean the wound before we can patch it up," he said as he brought out one of his extra shirts. Ryukin tore the piece of clothing in half. One half he brought over to the river to soak and use to clean out the cut, while the other half he used to bandage Kai's arm. "We'll have re-bandage it every hour or so to keep the wound clean."

"So much for my extra shirts."

Skylar sat on the small cliffs over the ocean that she had found wtih Tala. "This is awesome." She smiled.

"Ya, I'd say so." Tala replied laying her head on Skylar's lap and making a sighing noise.

"We should head back." Skylar sighed.

"I thought you wanted to watch the sun set?" Tala said raising her head up.

"I do. But they'll be worried." She sighed.

"They'll be fine, lets watch the sun set then we can run back in record time." Tala grinned. "Say we lost track of time."

"Alright, I'm convinced, we're staying for a little longer." Sky laughed before resting her arms across Tala's head.

"I CAN"T SEE!" Tala growled.

"Sorry." Sky laughed moving her arms.

(My internet is back to normal speed. Horray!)


Kai ended up eating most of the meat Ryukin was able to get from the deer. After hiking for most of the day and fighting a bear he had worked up quite an appetite. While he was eating, Ryukin dug up a hole a little ways away from the camp. By the time he was finished and ready to put the deer in Kai had also finished eating his fill. He helped Ryukin put the deer into the hole, along with whatever was left of the meat he couldn't finish. He took the pot and pan and washed them in the river while Ryukin buried what was left of the deer. By the time they had finished the sun had already set and they were getting ready for bed.

They sat by the fire for a few minutes so they could change Kai's shirt-bandage. As Ryukin helped, he said, "That was pretty reckless what you did back there. I could have handled that bear no problem."

"I know you could have," Kai said. "But when I saw that bear it reminded me of that time you saved me when I was ten. Part of me wanted to return the favour."

"That's only part of the reason?" he asked.

Kai smiled. "And I guess the other part of me wanted to see the results of our training. I've got to say, taking down a bear with my own two hands was a pretty rewarding experience."

"I suppose it is, but if we run into another one while out here promise you'll let me take care of it," Ryukin said. "I don't think you have enough shirts left if you got another wound."

"All right, I promise."


(Wanna do a time jump to the third day? After the time jump you can have Skylar start to miss having Kai around.)

((He's coming back the forth right?))

Three days later Skylar had gotten into the routine of going off on her own and playing and training with Tala. They would play games that would make their smell and speed better. Skylar didn't plan on this day being any different. She walked out on the pourch and looked towards the mountains. She missed Kai. Even if they didn't talk as much as she would like she missed having him around. Being there when she needed him.

"You thinking about Kai?" Tala asked.

"Yes, I miss having him around. I mean up until now it's been a while sense I haven't seen him several times a day." She replied shaking her head. "Doesn't matter, we need to get going. When we get back home we'll have to be doing real training."

(Yeah.)


Kai and Ryukin woke up early that morning. Today he was able to take off the bandage around his arm. It had healed up nicely, but it left behind a scar that he was now stuck with. But, he could live with a scar. Unfortunately, he had ended up destroying the rest of his shirts just for patching up his arm. For the past three days he had to walk around shirtless.

The morning started out like it normally did. The two of them went out to hunt for breakfast, then they would find a place to train until Kai got hungry again. Something happened that day while they were training. They heard noises coming from further in the forest. Curious, they decided to check it out. To their surprise they found a lone Tsurekin locked in battle with a cougar. The Tsurekin was a red and orange bird about the same size as Ryukin.

Kai recognized the shape and colour of the bird's body as the same as the armour that man was wearing who saved him and Skylar during their fight against Harry's Tsurekin, Fang. "It must be that guy's Tsurekin," Kai said.

"It sure looks like it," Ryukin said.

They watched as the battle continued. The cougar Was pacing around the phoenix, waiting for the perfect time to strike. Suddenly it move, rushing toward the bird to attack. The metal bird swung its wing just as the animal closed in. Some of its feathers shot out and hit the large cat and combusting a moment later. It was the same attack that man had used. The cougar hissed at the bird before turning around and taking off into the woods. Soon after, the phoenix took off and flew away.

"Let's follow it," Kai said.

"Why?"

"Its master knows how to use Soul Fusion. I want to meet him." They both took off through the forest in the direction the bird went.

"You leaving again?" Becky asked Skylar who was standing on the porch.

"Yes." Skylar replied as she looked out over the beach.

"Where do you go?" BEcky asked.

"To all different areas around here. I think I'm going to run mostly on the beach though this week." She shrugged.

"Ok, I like building sand castles. Can we build one when you come back?" Becky asked.

"I don't see why not." Skylar smiled. "I"ll see you later, ok?"

"Ok." Skylar took off with Tala at her side. She ran as fast as she could and then ran out on part of the water smiling when she realized that she was fast enough to run on top of the water. She stayed close to the shower making sure she was where she could run ontop of the water, but where if she got tired she wouldn't sink.

"Who would have thought he would be all the way up in these mountains?" Ryukin asked.

"I know. No one would think to look up here. I know I didn't." They kept moving until they came to a large clearing with a log cabin right in the middle. "You think that's where he lives?"

"Might be," Ryukin said, "Although for all we know that Tsurekin could have flown right over it and kept going, in which case we would have lost it."

"You could have flown after it and followed it that way," Kai pointed out.

"I could have, but this forest is huge and we're pretty far from the river. If I had left your side I might not have been able to find you again."

"What do we have here?" a voice from behind them asked. Both Kai and Ryukin jumped with surprise. Kai ended up tripping and falling on his face. He rolled over to see a man in his mid twenties standing behind them with an arm-full of wood in one hand and an axe in the other.

"I'm sorry to bother you, sir. We were just passing through," Kai explained.

The man started to eye Ryukin. "Is this your friend?" he asked.

"Oh, this is Ryukin, my Tsurekin."

"Tsurekin, what's that?"

"You... you don't know?" Kai asked, surprised.

"Should I?"

Kai cursed himself for not being more careful. If this man didn't know what a Tsurekin was, he obviously wasn't the man they were looking for. That meant a regular person knew about his secret, and nothing was stopping him from calling the authorities about him.

"Please, don't tell anyone about him."

"I won't," he simply said.

Kai blinked at him. "Just like that? You're not scared of him or anything?"

"Why? He's not going to hurt me, is he?"

"Well, no..."

"Then there's no point in me being scared of him, is there? You must be freezing walking around with no shirt on. Come inside, I'll give you something you can wear."

Kai was hesitant at first, but he ended up following the man into his log cabin.

((I've nothing, ))

(If you want you can have her go check out the cave where Draco's egg is again, maybe have her reflect on everything that's happened and what's to come.)

(((That place creeps her out. She doesn't like going there. And part of her is scared that he'll 'hatch' while she is in there. )))

Skylar stopped running about lunch time and let herself sink into the water. She surfaced and shook all the water off her face and her body. Tala rolled in the sand a little before going out into the water too and splashing her.

"So, do you think we'll be able to master Soul fusion?" Skylar asked.

"Of course, we're near as good at all this as Kai and Ryukin." Tala replied confidentally.

"I'm not sure about that good, but we've got this down don't we?" She smiled.

"What were the two of you talking about the other day out in the water?" Tala asked as they walked onto shore and laid out.

"Life, his past was tough." Skylar replied.

"Like yours?" Tala asked. Skylar nodded. "I don't even know if my parents are alive. If they are I"m not sure I want to see them. But what if they had another kid, I mean what if I have a brother or a sister living through the same shit I went through?"

"I'm sure they don't and if they did you'd find out about it sooner or later." Tala replied. "We could go find them if you want."

"No, this is more important. They don't need me and I don't need them." Skylar said confidently. "Only one I need is you."

"What about Kai?"

"I don't have to have him around, well maybe." Skylar blushed a little. "Doesn't matter, I"m just another one of the team to him."