Land and sky continued to shake until a violet aura suddenly flared to life around the Shield Knight.

"I, I did it!" Tetsuya yelled. He turned around and smiled at the sight of another pair of wings, these ones with a total wingspan of seven feet.

"He really did," Hideo said, gawking.

"Well, seems that you aren't special anymore," Zyuuni said, chuckling.

Hideo glared at Tetsuya. "Stupid shield knight, having to steal my thunder..."

"Why are you calling him stupid? Isn't it good that our tank is stronger now?" Setsuko asked with a sly grin. "It makes saving Dan easier."

"I guess that is a good thing."

Tetsuya started to fly down but as he did the ground began to tremble more.

"Son, power down!" Anis yelled.

"Seems that he'll need some training," Serrano said, chuckling.

"You want to do the honors?" Takeshi asked.

"Sure. You can leave it to me and Kohri to train Tetsu and Hideo."

"Me too? But I can control my form better than that guy," Hideo said, puffing up his chest.

"That might be because your Second Heaven form is weaker than Tetsu's," Kohri said.

"Hmm, wonder if those two will finally be able to give me a challenge," a voice called out. Everyone turned toward the green tent where Saya had been sitting nearby. Emerging from it were Eiichi and Sabine.

"I was wondering where you had gone," Eiko said, leering at her oldest son. "Honestly, spending time like this with your girlfriend. I thought that you wouldn't slack off."

"I wasn't slacking off," Eiichi said, grumbling.

His mother scoffed. "Whatever. Now, go there and transform! I can't have you lose to that peasant boy and the runt."

"Who are you calling runt?" Hideo asked as a powerful gust blew in, almost tossing our food away.

"Hey!" I yelled, grabbing a hold of some plates. I gasped. Hideo's aura had flared up once more.

"Seems you do need to practice self-control," Takeshi said, scratching the side of his face.

Hideo stepped back and dispersed his aura. "Uh..."

Anis sighed and shook her head. "Is this kid really my nephew? He's nothing like my little sis and Hideaki."

"Well, he sure is like his auntie," Takeshi said, chuckling.

His wife shot him a death glare. "How rude!"

She sounded just like me... Guess that Tetsu wasn't lying when he said I resembled his mom.

Tetsu flew down from the sky and grunted as he landed behind Yuko and me. The two of us turned around and grabbed a hold of him before he could fall face first against the table.

"Master!" Yuko yelled. His body felt warm, as if he had a fever.

"Seems that he burned up a lot of energy there," Takeshi said, sighing. "Take him to his room to get some rest." He shook his head. "Seems that even when training, you guys have a knack of getting hurt or running out of steam."

Eiichi and Setsuko gulped.

"Well not me, I'm made of tough stuff!" Hideo said, nodding his head.

"You forget that we had to carry you part way here?" Koukyuu asked.

"So much for being made of tough stuff," Tetsuya said, chuckling. "I should be fine, though. I just need some food." He stared down at the hamburgers and grumbled. "Though they look frozen. Serra, didn't you cook them well? I could've sworn that they didn't look like this before."

"I did," Serrano grumbled. "They were re-frozen just now."

Lady Miyuki snickered as she stepped away from the table. "Sorry about that."

"We'll get more food prepared. In the meantime, rest," Anis said as she put her hands against the wooden table.

Tetsuya nodded his head. "Yuko, think that you can help me?"

"Sure, Yuko can!"

"I want to help too!" I blurted out.

The dark-skinned knight turned his head away. "If you want to, I guess you can."

My face reddened as I put his arm around my neck. It reminded me of the day we had met, after his battle with Serrano.

Yuko and I escorted him into the tiny house. While small it was homely, far more than the palace I called home...

"Is that Master as a baby?" Yuko asked. She was staring at one of the pictures. In it was a chubby baby yanking Takeshi's Aventine in its earring form.

"Yeah... I should've yanked on his ear harder..." he mumbled.

"Are you angry at Takeshi still?" I asked.

"Of course. I won't forgive him for what he did to us," he said, closing his eyes. "Not only to my family, but also what he did to Yuko and Nori's families."

"Master," Yuko said. "Yuko resents him too, but as Nori's told her, it's dangerous."

"Yeah, it can blind a person," I whispered.

"I know," he said, keeping his eyes closed. "I just, can't help it. For now, I can only manage treating him the same way I used to treat him, as the stranger in the mask. Not as my pa."

"That is understandable," I whispered as we headed for the purple carpeted stairs.

We climbed up the stairs and found three rooms. One on each end of the hallway and one in the middle.

"Which one?" I asked.

"The one on the right," he said, opening his eyes.

Yuko and I took him to the end of the hall and opened the door. The room was slightly bigger than Tetsu and Serra's tiny dorm room. Similarly, it had two beds on each side with a bookcase dividing them. In front of the right bed was a collection of rocks.

Tetsu stared at the collection. "So, he really did come here to take the seraphium pebble," he said. He stared at the hilt of the sword I had Kuroshi make for him and sighed. "Surprised that he even remembered such a thing."

"I think that Takeshi loves you," I said as Yuko and I sat him down on his bed.

He snickered. "Love me? He nearly killed me."

"That man is good at gauging one's strength," Yuko said.

He leaned his head against his bed and sighed. "So, you think he knew that it wouldn't do the job?" He turned left and stared at his pillow. It had a dragon embroidered into it.

"Maybe..."

I turned my gaze toward the book shelf and gasped. My eyes had caught sight of something. It wasn't a book but a movie. An old one. It wasn't even a disc but a black box with two dark brown colored rolls of film inside. It was a tape! And not just any old tape!

Tetsu looked up. "Snooping around, huh?" Tetsuya asked before I could grab a hold of it.

I picked up the tape. "Do you have something to play this, perhaps?" I asked, grinning.

"You want to watch that? It's a monster movie, you know."

"No duh, I can tell by the cover! But it's not just any old monster movie, it's a kaiju movie!"

"Kaiju?" Yuko asked, tilting her head.

"They're a style of movies that originated in your ancestral home," I explained.

"Kyuu Seishin?" she asked, gasping.

"Yeah! Since Saya's younger became the leader of Xeleria, there was more connection between the nations of Xeleria and Zionia. While Kyuu Seishin later did isolate, it still managed to influence the popular culture of other places."

"Yuko wasn't aware," she said with a cute smile.

"Nor was I," Tetsu said, sitting upright on his bed. "If you want to see it, there's an old VCR player in... Takeshi's study. It's in the basement."

"His study is underground?"

"Yeah, it's the most spacious room in this house. Taku sometimes sleeps there when immersed in his reading. He was actually staying there during the flash flood."

"Flash flood? The basement itself didn't flood?" I asked.

He stared at his hands. "Taku protected it. I'm glad that he did. As it would've devastated him if... Takeshi's library was ruined. Tere and I... we would've been too. We all cherished that place. It was one of the few things we had left to remember him by. " He clenched his blankets as he let his head fall against the bed.

"Master," Yuko said, wiping them off with her hand.

"It was all a lie," he said, covering his face with both arms. "A bitter lie."

I turned away. "Yuko, I think that we should go."

"Huh? Princess can go but Yuko is staying."

I sighed and grabbed her by the hand. "He needs some rest. We can check up on him once the food is done."

Yuko furrowed her brow. "Princess sure?"

I nodded.

The tanuki girl stared at Tetsu. "Master, we'll be back in a bit. Stay strong."

Tetsuya moved his arms away from his face and smiled. "Thanks, Yuko."

I pressed my back against the door. Seems that Yuko knows how to help him better than I do. On the other hand, I seem to cause him pain... He activated his Second Heaven easily. He had to have tapped into the hate he feels toward his father, as well as the emotional wounds my mistrust of him inflicted.

Yuko, I told her that I would fight for him too. Yet, honestly, she deserves him far more than I do.

"You aren't taking the video?" Tetsu asked, blinking. His eyes seemed watery.

"I'll watch it later. Plus, I got no time," I said, opening the door. "I need to help out with making the food and training."

"Okay. Well, we can see it later. Maybe at night," he said, turning away.

I stopped. The way he said that sounded as if he were asking for a date...

"Yuko too?" Yuko asked.

"Sure! We can all watch it together."

I snickered. Or not. Still, at least I get to spend some quality time with him, even if there will be others.

"Sounds good, I would love that!" I responded.

Tetsuya chuckled before sitting his head down on his pillow.

Something was telling me that he knew that I would get the wrong impression.

"Hey, Tetsu... is it fine, if I return to your team? I asked as I stepped out of the room.

"If you're feeling well enough then sure. You're welcome anytime," he said, saying the last part in a low voice.

I couldn't help but smile and blush. "Thanks, Tetsu."

***

[Half an hour later]

I went ahead of Yuko to wake up Tetsu as she and the others were putting the finishing touches on our food. Anis had taken over my job of preparing the hamburgers. Though, our waste of food earlier did mean that we were now left without anything to eat for the rest of the three-day training camp. That meant that we would need to procure our own ingredients for the next two days from the farm if possible. Some parts of it looked as if they had been destroyed by a heavy downpour some time ago.

"Hey, sleepy head, it's time to wake up," I said as I cracked the door open. I found my knight fast asleep, his arms around a wad of blankets.

"Rosa..." he muttered.

"Yeah, it's me," I said, grinning.

He turned away and let out a moan. "Stop that, that tickles," he said, laughing.

I stepped away. What was he dreaming of? I touched my head. Images flashed before my mind. I had seen them in dreams before, but they had felt so real. I... I wasn't sure if there was any truth to them.

Satoru... the mirage of him that appeared in front of me back in Xeleria said that I had taken advantage of Tetsu. One of those dreams were what led to me believe that he might've been telling the truth, but an earlier one was what led me to think that Tetsu had taken advantage to me. Could it be that...

My face grew warmer. Had Tetsu and I... did we...

I gasped for air as my vision wavered. I fell back and sat on Takuya's bed.

"Rosa?" Tetsu called out. He opened his eyes and shot up. "W-what are you doing here?"

"I came to wake you up," I said, lowering my gaze to the orange carpeted floor. "Say, what were you dreaming about?"

"I... I don't recall," he said, his voice cracking.

I raised my head and saw that he too was blushing. "Tetsu, I... also had those kind of dreams."

He edged back on his bed. "You did? I mean... Uh..."

"I think... I think that we... that something did happen between us."

He gulped. "Hahaha, don't be silly," he said, rubbing his neck. He stood up to his full height and headed for the door. "Let's go and eat! I'm starving!"

I stood up and chuckled. I gasped again. The room seemed to spin and wobble.

"Rosa?" Tetsu said as he turned around. He gasped and rushed over to me, catching me in his arms.

Being held like this, it's so familiar. Wait, that's right. He held me like this before, before everything became blurry.

"Are you okay?"

I rubbed my head once again. "Y-yeah. Just dizzy is all. Must be because I haven't eaten, well other than the bite of the hamburger you offered me."

"I hope that's it and not something more serious. I think that we should have my mom check you if it persists after eating."

"I'm sure it won't," I said, trying to smile. "Plus, I got my knight around to help me if it does."

He chuckled and rubbed the back of my head. "You got that right, Princess. I'll protect you like I said I would!"

I snickered. "You better," I said, embracing him with all my strength.

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed the chapter:3. Thoughts? Theories? Predictions?**