The shouts that tailed right after his didn't make it any better.

"Drigger!"

"Draciel!"

Ayah broke free from their grip, flying over the bush and around the trees.

"What the—how the hell did those idiots—" started Emily.

Kai barely restrained himself from crying out as he leapt to catch Ayah and ended up on his bad leg. Fortunately, Tala had moved to follow her at the same time and managed to catch Kai before he face planted into the bush.

"You too, Dragoon!"

Out of all the times to randomly show up to be the hero! Kai cursed under his breath even as he planned to throttle the dragon wielder within an inch of his life. Why can't he ever just mind his own business!?! And those others—Max and Ray had probably played the perfect enablers as they always had! Ray, at the least, might have put up a fight of logic, but Max would have bounced to front and center with Tyson's harebrained scheme to rescue Kai from a group of blood thirsty assassins. Really!

Before his eyes a memory of Tala's blood arching high to splatter on his face replayed.

Ahead of him, Tala, despite the blood loss, had managed to catch up to Ayah. He threw himself atop her, throwing them both to the ground.

"Are you crazy?" he hissed before he had to pin down her flailing hands. "He sees you out and we're all dead."

A shriek of pain from one of his teammates sent Kai launching over the two of them, regardless. This time he made sure to land on his good leg. Adrenaline pumped through him so hard, his vision throbbed with the force. Everything went cool and hot, quick and slow, the pain of his leg all but vanished. He brought Dranzer around, silver sharpened attack blade gleaming like a mirror in the bright sun.

He could see them now—Ray had fallen to his knees. Max stood on guard before him, face turned upwards to the sky. Tyson couldn't be seen.

With a great heave on his good leg, he burst through the last of the trees, launcher trained to the sky at the black shape high above.

"Dranzer!" he roared, tearing his rip cord so quick sparks flew and his elbow and shoulder popped from the strain.

Once more, flames erupted from the end of his launcher. Dranzer flew up as a brilliant flashing dot in a pinwheel of yellow-white fire. The spirit of the phoenix gave its most piercing battle cry.

Kai barely had the time to register the surreal sight Cain made beating the sky with his enormous, sun swallowing black wings before Dranzer engulfed him in flames. Then Kai blinked and Cain reappeared, a black spot against the ever blue, and Dranzer's spinning disc shot back towards the earth.

Even at the distance, Kai could see Cain's teeth as he bared them at him.

This was it. He was going to die. There was no way Dranzer could protect him from razor sharp winds with her flames. Tyson, Max, and Ray hadn't even the time to know what was going on let alone know what to defend Kai from.

From his right came a great whirlwind of wind, so harsh and sudden he could feel it tear dirt across his face. A circle blur of white-blue shot out before him.

"Kai!"

What he could only describe as a hurricane ensued as Dragoon's winds battled against the razor wind sickles of Cain. The force of the air heaved Kai up and threw him back over the stones and underbrush, knocking the breath out of him from the force of a tree.

Tyson.

When the winds died down enough for him to open his eyes again, he saw Tyson standing between him and Cain, his jacket all but flying off him and Dragoon's enormous body of brilliant light curling before him.

Out of all the random times for you to play hero, he thought, cheeks hurting with the force of his smile. Once more, Tyson had surprised him.

"Yo! Freaky flying dude! What business you got throwing wind-knife-thingies at my friends!"

Kai groaned and peeled himself up from off the ground. He just had to go open his mouth and ruin the moment.

From above came what could only be a mad-man's shriek.

"How dare you force the soul of my people against me! You foul little beast!"

Kai looked about frantically for Dranzer and spotted her whirring away where she had landed some ways up the path to the bunker. Somehow, in their traversing the woods for a hiding spot, they had made it half way down to the docks, where the Bladebreakers must have come up from.

Just as he pulled Dranzer around to ready for another attack, Max ran up, Draciel a brilliant purple star before him. In a breath the great armored figure of Draciel rose up, shining just as bright as Tyson's dragon and roaring its defiance. Its blade shot up from beneath it to find its foe, but had to settle for spinning circles around Cain's shadow, earthbound by its own defensive weight.

Ray followed, holding a bloodied arm to his side, but up, kicking, and sharp canines flashing angrily. With a lion-like roar that was almost indecipherable from the battle cry of his bitbeast, Ray called forth the gold and white tiger, which took its place besides the turtle and dragon.

Figuring he better catch up with the times, Kai mustered his fighting spirit.

"Dranzer!"

The phoenix echoed his cry and burst forth from his silver blade in a plume of flames. She shot high above Cain, great red wings cupping between him and the heavens to prevent escape.

Cain gave an inhuman scream of rage and beat his wings down. A howling wind followed, throwing all them back. Drigger was flung into a nearby boulder, which crumbled. Draciel slid back with its master, pushed towards the shore, Dranzer was shoved aside like smoke, and Dragoon could only curl in to protect himself. Kai threw up his arms to protect his face and felt the flashes of pain as dozens of fresh cuts split open. Terror gripped him as he heard the others scream in pain.

No. He couldn't let this happen.

"Ayah!" he cried.

But, somehow, remarkably, she was already there, a gentle hand on his shoulder. The wind had ripped off the extra shirt from her head, leaving her brilliant white mane to blow about her and him. Blood dripped from cuts on her cheek.

"Tyson!" she cried, her voice somehow piercing through the wind to the boy just ahead of them. "Can you block his wind again?"

"Hell, yeah, you want sugar with that?" Tyson threw down his arms from his head, flicking off blood in the process. Kai's stomach turned. "Show him who's the real boss of storms, Dragoon!"

A faint glow rose from Tyson's skin, more like an afterimage than real light, and Dragoon uncurled. It raised its scythe like claws, gave a roar, and charged Cain. Being only spirit, Dragoon himself passed through the still flapping figure of Cain, but the wind that followed howled like death itself, tearing small rocks and bushes from the ground.

Ayah's hand clenched his shoulder.

And then she began to sing.

If this had been what she had done before back in the beystadium to set Dranzer on fire, he wished that he had heard it then. It was not so much a coherent song as it was a sound that speared through to his very core and set his soul ablaze. It was the sound of Dranzer, the sound of her whirring metal, the sound of crackling air between her feathers, the sound of flight and war and bravery and freedom.

It was the sound of his very essence.

His world became filled with all the brilliant metallics that the eye could behold. Flames raced so hot they turned colors, from red to white to brilliant sky blue. They caught up in the great gale about Cain, pushing aside Dragoon, alighting trees, setting the very sky on fire.

Knowing he had only a moment before he risked destroying his friends as well, Kai flew past Tyson and into the heart of the storm towards his blade. His feet barely touched the ground as the flames took him up, up, up as hot air will always go.

Cain's wings had caught fire. He screamed and beat them madly. Gusts tore at the tongues of flame, but they only grew more ferocious. They crawled up his arms, down his back, burning off his clothes and blackening his olive skin.

The next breath, Cain was on Kai's level, and it was just him and the black monster in a cyclone of heat and light. Kai couldn't turn his face away as Dranzer's flames began to melt his oppressor's face.

But as skin fell away, a dark smoke rose up, hissing, writhing, taking an eerie form above the snarling, screaming, dying corpse of Cain.

Kai stumbled against the wall of fire. It must be the bitbeast—the bitbeast born from Cain's soul.

But his time ran out. Ayah's song ended and suddenly Kai could feel the flames licking at his skin. The fire didn't just dissipate, it sucked into his pores, wrapping about his flesh, wrapping about the thrumming deep within him.

Then Dranzer was there, filling up his mind, filling up his vision, all scarlet-gold feathers and fierce gaze. He could just see the blackened crumpled form of Cain against the soil. The smoky newborn bitbeast coiled above it.

Oh God, the others. Visions of his friends on fire broke through the intense heat and pain, and he somehow managed to look through Dranzer and around. When he saw that they were still standing, his eyes settled on Ayah, pale, beautiful, and her eyes like mirrors. He saw his reflection in them, and he recoiled in horror. His entire person had been enveloped in flame—he really was on fire! He was being burned alive!

And with that last thought screaming through his head, he fell back into nothingness.  

Author's Note: Stay tuned for the sequel which I'll be posting up next week--on Monday, to be precise. ^.^ Thanks against so much for reading. I hope you enjoyed it.