*Koukyuu*

[Hours Later]

"Papa is dinner almost ready?" Zafi asked, looking up at his daddy with those big eyes of his. "I wanna duel you!"

Hideo patted his head.

"Yeah. tell your siblings that dinner is almost ready!" Hideo said as the two of us prepared dinner in the kitchen of our hotel suite. I was staying at his place as I wanted to spend more time with the kids.

"Don't worry, I'll go fetch them," I said, drying my hands on a cloth towel. I ran out of the kitchen into a wide open living room with only a pair of sofas, a glass coffee table, and a large screen television.

Seated on one of the small sofas were my two younger kids. They were watching an animation about a card game. The same game their uncle Dan once used to play. Also sitting alongside them was Zydeco's son. He had wanted to play with my kids instead of going to the hospital, so I allowed him to. Plus, maybe it was for the best. He would've been distraught if he had seen his uncle Alto in the state that Sonata described he was in.

"Dinner is ready," I said.

None of them seemed to pay me any attention.

I sighed. It seemed that I needed to do to them what I once did when babysitting my nephews for Shin'en. I picked up the remote control, ready to push the off button.

"Let them watch it," Hideo said, grabbing my hand. He looked at the kids and smiled. "Their uncle was the same way. Only thing that could take his attention out of the television was when we told him we were making curry."

"Did someone say curry?" our kids said, turning around.

I sighed. "The three really love your curry, don't they?"

Hideo grinned. "Yup. Though it's still not as tasty as mom's."

Suddenly the doorbell rang.

I put down the control on the glass table and jogged over to the door. It was Zydeco and his family.

"Thanks for taking care of our little boy," Sonata said. She squatted down and smiled at her son. "Were you a good boy?"

"Yeah," he said, smiling.

"He spent most of the time watching a marathon of that show."

He turned back to the television and cried as the credits rolled. "I-I missed the end!"

"Don't worry, I got a DVD of it back home. I can bring it next time," Hideo said.

"Really? Thanks mister!"

Melody giggled. "Little brother must've really enjoyed it."

"I did," he said, fidgeting.

"Want to join us for dinner?" I asked. "We made enough to spare."

"Yeah, it'll be nice to have friends over... I mean..." Hideo said.

Zydeco chuckled. "So you do see as a friends."

Hideo crossed his arms and pouted just like he did when he was younger. "Maybe... I do."

Sonata giggled. "So it seems you didn't change completely."

"Who does?" he asked, shrugging. "I mean, Zydeco here is basically the same happy-go-lucky guy he is from when we first met."

"Yeah, he sure is," I said, smiling at Zydeco.

Zydeco scratched his face and blushed. "I guess I haven't. Though you two did change a lot. I mean, who would've figured that..." He stared at Zafi and his siblings and smiled at them.

"Yeah, Koukyuu was rather cold," Hideo said, averting his gaze.

"Was I?" I asked, tilting my head.

"Yeah, you were cold to me too when we first met," Zydeco said, fidgeting.

I lowered my head. Perhaps if I had been less cold, I could've...

I shook my head. It was too late now. Plus, I had decided to move on from him once and for all. I ended up hurting Hideo and the kids because of it. Though, I would still need to hide that I have a family from the public...

Sonata and I were more than just teachers. If anyone learned that we had family, they could be in danger. It was for that reason that Hideo was usually fine with raising the kids on his own. He didn't wish for them to be kidnapped like his little brother had once been.

"Well, I'm starving, so hope you don't mind if I go chow down," Zydeco said as he ran over to the kitchen.

"Daddy," Melody said, following after him. "Where are you manners?"

"He has none," Hideo and I said at the same time. We exchanged gazes and burst into laughter.

"Come on, be nice," Sonata said, putting her arms around her husband. "At least this time he said 'hope you don't mind if I go chow down'."

"Yeah, that's an improvement," Hideo said, hiding his smile.

Zydeco didn't say anything, instead he was enjoying one of the fried chicken legs we had cooked.

"Hey! Wash your hands first!" Hideo yelled, walking over to him.

"Sorry, but I was starving." He lowered his eyes. "Alto would've enjoyed this. Fried chicken legs are also one of his favorite foods."

"Your little brother? Oh right, he got hurt during that race. Is he in a bad condition?"

Zydeco remained silent.

"Uncle, how is he?" his son asked.

"Your uncle, he seems to be experiencing a fever. The result of having absorbed a lot of electricity into his body."

"Will he be okay?"

Zydeco gave him a thin smile and patted his head. "His friends are looking over him right now, so I'll say he's in good hands."

"Uncle..." Melody said.

"We can visit him after dinner, if he hasn't woken up yet," Sonata said, lifting up her daughter into her arms.

"If he does, I hope he skips the next event," Zydeco said, keeping his head down. "I don't think he's in the condition to participate. Especially considering the next one will feature more teams at once than the race did."

*Alto*

When I awoke I found my forehead was covered by a wet rag. Arima and Ulissis were also asleep at the edge of the room.

"What time was it?" I asked, shifting my eyes to the window behind Arima. It was night yet there were many colorful lights pouring in. Were they part of the festivities?

"Arima, Ulissis!" The door slammed open causing my visitors to wake up. A black haired thirteen year old kid called Onyx entered the room.

Arima and Ulissis began to stir. "Onyx?" Arima asked sleepily as she looked up.

"Onyx, didn't I tell you not to scream?" Alban said as he came in. He gasped as soon as he saw I was moving. "Alto, you're awake."

I nodded. "Yeah. So, what are you two here for?"

"The last event of the day is about to begin," Onyx said.

Arima stood up. "It's time?" She looked outside. "It's already night?"

Ulissis stretched his arms. "Ahhh, I feel better now." He smiled at me. "Not only due to sleeping, but seeing you awake too."

I smiled back.

Onyx looked at me. "Are you coming?"

My fever had already gone down. "Yes. Let me inform the doctors and change clothes first."

"Alright," Onyx said cheerfully. "The entire team will then participate in this event...this is one of the larger events so we'll need everyone."

After I had informed the doctors and changed clothing, I met my teammates outside. Waiting with Onyx, Alban, Ulissis, and Arima were two girls dressed in matching black high collar coats and black leather pants. They were Adah and Zelia, fraternal twin sisters. The two were the oldest of our team at age 19.

A taxi pulled up in front of us. "We'll go ahead and teleport to the Anima forest at the edge of town," Adah said. A swarm of insects appeared around her. They danced around and around, making the air vibrate.

A dragon, as in an actual flesh and bone one, appeared next to Zelia. "Take care," Zelia said, waving.

"So cool," Onyx said. "Wait do we have to go by taxi? I wanted to ride on Zelia's dragon!"

Ulissis pulled up his hood. Did he think that it was his fault that we had to ride a taxi to the forest?

Half an hour later we arrived at the edge of Anima forest. The twins waved over at us. In Zelia's hands was a tiny white marble while Adah held a golden shield.

"What's that?" Onyx said.

"This is the emblem we need to fill up with five marbles in order to move on to the second part of this event," Adah said. "Each team has been given an emblem along with a different colored marble. We need to find four teams with a marble of another color."

"The other marbles are red, blue-green, white, and yellow," Zelia said.

"The colors of the Wudi clan?" I said.

"Well this event did begin with us," Iah said, walking over to us. He grinned and showed off a yellow marble.

"Baiting us aren't you?" Arima said, narrowing her eyes at him.

Iah chuckled. "We didn't win a medal last event so I plan to get one here. If you don't wish to fight us then look for another yellow marble."

I looked around at the nearby teams. In Nyima's hands was a blue-green marble. Adela who was near the front of the forest carried a red marble.

"Hey," someone called out. Hal walked over to us. He was playing around with a white marble. He grinned as soon as he caught sight of our marble. "So Mina has yellow and Sefa has white... I'll keep note of that."

"How many teams are participating?" Arima asked. "It looks like a large crowd."

"All of the countries are," An said. In his hands was a black marble. "Part one appears to be an inner continental battle."

Vermeil and Xue walked over to us. Like Hal, Xue had a white marble like ours. Vermeil on the other hand didn't seem to have her team's marble, or at least was keeping it hidden. But I assumed she had a yellow one.

"So, all of the countries in our continent are here?" Xue asked. "Then that means that there are twenty-three teams."

"It appears so," Vermeil said with a confidence smile.

"At least we don't have to worry about H.E.H.," Hal said with a slight smile. "I saw what they did to Eien. That Aida girl was ruthless, she not only hurt Eien but one of the Rian members too. Her teammate Hew also hurt Alto badly."

"Do you think they'll make it to the second round? Their continent is one of the ones with the most countries," An said.

"Who knows, but we should worry about now," I said. "Aren't we going to be camping during this event? Where is our equipment?"

"We'll have to rely on the elements," Xue said with a grin. "This our team's expertise. I do hope to see you make it to the second round."

Arima chuckled and said, "Well, we won't be left behind. I know my way around a forest."

Ulissis chuckled. "Helped that the three of us trained in a similar environment for several days."

"Yeah, the three of you, but my only camping experience is from when we were heading to Wahkan for the Nine Petal Entrance Exam," Alban said, leering at the forest.

I stared at a screen overhead. It seemed that only twenty-two out of the twenty-three countries in our region were participating this year. Assuming there wasn't a wild card, that meant only four countries would make it to the second part.

A blue haired man suddenly appeared in front of the entrance to the forest. "Teams of the continent of Tozan Hoshi, prepare to embark on a long journey. You are allowed to use all your powers for this event. Do recall that killing will not be accepted. You will now all be teleported to a different point of the forest and the mountain at the center of the forest."

Every team except for ours was teleported away. The man walked over to us. He gazed back and forth between us. "It appears that you have an anti-mage in your team."

Ulissis' eyes widened.

Alban, Arima, and I moved in front of him, prepared to shield him from being taken away.

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed the chapter. If you did click on that star! :D So, thoughts, predictions?**