The two black dragons met once again in cyberspace. The bigger one stood up straight. "Where are you two right now?"

"Funny, I was gonna ask you the same thing." The smaller one said in a mocking tone.

Drazeros rolled all four of his eyes. "Enough of that. We're back at the cave. Basara's worried about Kurai. Hurry back."

~~~~~

Kurai Kurofuchi:

"So we went all the way out here for nothing?" I asked my partner.

Drazelle's eyes looked up at me. "Bluntly put, yes."

I groaned. "Well alright. Time to head back to..."

"Hm? Is something wrong Kurai?" My partner asked.

I turned around and saw trees. I turned again and found more trees. Oh joy... "I think I'm lost..."

"You're... What?"

"I'm lost. I've never been to this part of North City before." I furrowed my eyebrows. "Heck, who knows if this even is part of North City?"

"Unbelieveable." She said. "Why don't you follow your footsteps back?"

". . . they're covered by the snow." I said, looking behind me. I checked my pockets. "I've got two black marbles left..."

"Then use one!" Drazelle exclaimed.

"Why are you so impatient all of a sudden?" I snapped, starting to get annoyed.

"I'm worried. I could barely see anything in this snow. But it is noticably getting colder and darker, so I'm assuming it'll be night soon. So hurry up and use the shortcut already!" She explained in a rush.

I inserted the marble into Drazelle and shot at the ground. Shadows swirled and blended together. The ground below my feet began to crumble and a small blackhole appeared. I fell in and in a blink I was back at the cave. The hole, now above me, disappeared into nothing.

"And where have you been?" I heard my brother's voice rang out.

I took off his jacket from around my waist and threw it at him. "Looking for you. That was a waste of effort."

He scoffed while putting it on. "I don't need you to look out for me."

"Of course not." Drazeros stated. "You're the older one, so you should be the one looking out for her."

Drazelle let out a chuckle. "Looks like someone needs ice for that burn."

Basara looked like he wanted to react but decided against it. "Whatever."

I shook my head with a smile. "Alright, so what do we do now?"

"Marble check. How many do you have left?" He asked.

"Let me see." I dug in my pockets. "I have one black marble left... Three grey ones... There's two light blue ones... And... No wait, that's not a marble, that's my phone. I forgot I have one since I never use it for much..."

"There's barely any signal in our part of North City anyway." He muttered.

I checked the pokets inside my jacket. I found a pouch containing about two dozen normal marbles.

Basara checked his pockets and found about twenty normal marbles, three red marbles and one grey marble. He also took out a knife and a handgun.

I blinked. "Okay, I know you always have at least one knife with you anywhere you go, but where did you get the gun?"

"While you were unconcious I found some people to beat up." He replied casually. "You keep the gun. You're gonna need it."

I immediately panicked. "No! I never used one before!"

"You can use a B-daman, you can use a gun." He said. "The basics are the same. You aim, pull the trigger, hit the target. The only difference is, if you use a B-daman, your opponent will just get fatally injured. If you use a gun, your opponent will die."

I panicked even more. "I don't want to kill anyone!"

He rolled his eyes. "Stop being a baby. I didn't tell you to kill anyone, I'm just saying you might need it for self defense. You don't have to aim it for the guy's chest..."

But it'll be better if you do.

I know he's talking about Kagero so I know that's how he would've wanted to finish his sentence. He wants to kill the person who killed me. That hasn't changed from three years ago.

Hesitantly, I took it from his hand. "So... What? Only one of them had a gun?"

"Nah. I accidentally broke the rest. And others wore spiked knuckles. And you're not exactly the best when it comes to hand to hand." He said, slipping said knuckles on.

"Kicks are a different story." I reminded him.

"That's why I'm glad you got spikes on those." He replied.

"The ones on the bottom side helps me thread through the snow. The ones on the side are just decoration." I explained.

"Yeah, no kidding. The ones on the bottom are alright, but the ones on the sides are dull as fracks." He said.

I raised an eyebrow. "Fracks?"

"What kind of person would feel comfortable cursing 24/7 as if the world gives a damn? Even I don't get that bad." He said in an annoyed tone. "I mean, I can easily say 'fuck', 'shit' and stuff, but it's not like I do that cause I enjoy it. It's just basic impulses."

". . . I'll just lie and say that I agree because that last part is hard to believe." I stated.

"Which last part?"

"The part where you say, 'it's not like I do that because I enjoy it.' Like bro, where's the lie?"

". . . Okay, so I enjoy it a bit..."

"Called it."

"Shut up."

He looked out the mouth of the cave. "Nothing there but snow and trees. Ready to go?"

"Wait, now?!" Drazelle asked. "It's dark!"

"So is the essence of my soul."

"So is my sense of humor."

"So is our vessel's colour."

". . . Kurai, I do not need a reminder about your inner darkness. Basara, yes it is quite obvious you have a rather dark sense of humor. And Drazeros..." Drazelle's eyes pointed at the other B-daman. "...That was racist."

"Oh come on! For B-damans it's not even supposed to be racist! Hell, looking from a bird's eye view, our whole race is basically one big rainbow!" Drazeros shot back.

I shook my head. "I'm sorry... did you just say 'rainbow'?"

"Holy frag Drazeros, that does not sound right coming through your mouth." Basara stated. "Or well... snout."

"Was that a joke?" Drazeros said, looking up at his B-shot.

"Is what a joke?" He asked back.

"I... Nevermind. Forget it."

I nodded to myself. "Right... So... Awkward silence being thrown out the window, are we going now?"

Suddenly, thunder cracked the sky. Basara groaned. "That's a no. Alright. We'll stay here for the night."

We snapped branches from trees dangling into the cave and brought them to the center. We dropped them there and Basara tossed one of the red marbles into the pile. A flame started and we sat there.

"These things really came in useful." He said, holding up a grey marble. "I mean, freezers, fire, smoke bomb and a void teleporter..."

"First of all, the light blue ones just contain water. It depends on the temperature that we throw it in. Second, don't go crazy with the red one. I mean, that thing is a legit explosive. The only reason it becomes a fire like this is because you didn't shatter it, it just cracked. The grey one is fine though. The smoke doesn't hurt people. As for the black one, we're absolutely limited. I'll only use it when it's a COMPLETE emergency. Also it's not exactly a teleproter, more like a shortcut." I explained.

"Yeah, how did you make the black ones anyway?"

"You're asking that and you never questioned once why I have shadows gathering under my feet."

"Well yeah, that too." He narrowed his eyes. "Be real with me. How are you not dead? I saw that knife pierced through you."

I nodded. "I'll tell you, but it ain't gonna be pleasent."

~~~~~

I just realized after I re-read this draft that each coloured marble (besides the normal ones) represent each dragon type B-daman. Lol.