I open my eyes. Wait, where am I? Looking out the window... I slept past my stop. Ah, crap... Why didn't they wake me up? I can feel the bus stopping, and now Blue's about to get off.

“Trace? You slept past--”

“I know...” I mumble, wiping my tired eyes. I get off with him. I'll catch a bus going the other way later. While I'm here, maybe I should make sure of something... I need to follow Blue home.

I watch Blue as he walks down the street and I try to keep from being noticed by him, so that he doesn't think I'm a stalker or something... It's late, however, and we're the only two people around, so I'll be more surprised if he doesn't notice me. I see him walk inside his house, and I hear some voices, which I assume are his family. Then, I wait...

Hours pass, and it is now 19:30. Just as I think about leaving, my wait finally pays off... I look behind me, take aim with my handgun, and fire, making the strange figure I aimed at react by blocking it with his sword. It's him. The Phoenix Shade Knight.

“So it's you... Who are you!?”

He ignores my question. “You just had to be here, making my job harder... How do you walk around with so many weapons and no one notices, anyway?” He says, scratching his head through his medium-length black hair.

“It's part of the power my Knight Force gives me. I thought you'd have been able to tell,” I say, pointing my gun at him again. “Now let's hear it. Who are you? Why do you want to kill Blue? Who are you working for?”

“Do you think I'll honestly answer--”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

I run towards him, firing, before he can finish his sentence. I manage to get a hit in on him before he put up his guard. I pull out the kodachi I was using earlier and go for his legs. He jumps, then swings underhand. Too slow. It's probably the heavy sword he uses, but compared to me, he's like a sloth, and with no one for me to protect, he's easy prey...

A step to the side, a slash to his right arm. I watch the fountain of blood spray from the wound, and can't resist getting excited by the sight...

Wham!

Sudden impact. I fly to the left, into a street pole that gets knocked over. He had kicked me in the side, throwing me off long enough for him to get away. Should've paid more attention.

“Mystic Coat!” Now he's covered in heavy black armor, his Mystic Coat. Great... now I'm gonna have trouble hitting him.

“Grey, the spell!” I allow my Magic Knight Force to hear my thoughts... “O plain blade of steel, reject your nature as a mere mortal's weapon and make me the lord of the battlefield! WarMaster!” Now my weapons glow with a faint grey light. I can hurt him now.

I shoot him as many times as I can, but not enough that the bullets can get through. He closes in. Right hook...! Still too slow. I stab for his chest, but his Mystic Coat is pretty thick. I can't get through it. He brings his blade back out, and brings it down with an overhead swing.

BAM!

I barely dodge it, but I notice it left a huge crater in the ground... Holy shit... If I get hit by that and I'm like this, I'll die for sure. I call on Grey again.

“Mystic Coat!” The suit of all grey armor covers my body. Light and easy to move in, but still pretty durable. This is much better.

I should try and finish this as quickly as possible. I move at full speed and try to get behind him. He tries to sweep my leg, but luckily I see it coming. Jump over... A bladed weapon probably won't do anything to him, so I send it away, and summon some knuckles.

With all my might, I punch at his back. He's stunned, but I'm not done with him. I punch again, and punch some more. As many times as I can. I hear cracking sounds, and see that damage is being done. I'm starting to get through the Coat!

“Screw this!!!” He rolls away and runs... where is he going?

Wait a second... He's headed towards Blue's house! Ah, crap! I shoot at him, trying to slow him down. I manage to get him in the spot where I broke his Coat.

“Agh!” He falls to one knee.

“So you are after Blue...” It should be obvious by now, but whatever... “Tell me! Why are you trying to kill him? I won't ask again!” I take aim.

Suddenly, a black glow surrounds his sword and he swings it at me! I should have seen it coming... but before I know it, I've been hit by the dark energy and thrown backwards...

“Now, stay out of my way. You're not my target. I'm just doing my job. Don't take it personally...”

Suddenly, a blue light flies into the house. That must have been his Magic Knight's Force! Azul Ryukawa... make your choice. What are you going to choose to do?

All of the sudden, the boy in black is thrown backwards by a figure covered in blue flames... I take a closer look... It's Blue... He has chosen to fight! He stands confidently, and I can tell he's not afraid of this guy. I'm impressed... He's adapted pretty quickly, it seems.

“Get up. If you're going to try and hurt me, my family, and my friends, you'd best be prepared to get hurt back.”

Blue rushes towards the guy and hits him so many times... With all those punches and kicks, I eventually lost count. He hits him so hard, so fast, and with so strong a flame that he set the guy on fire. Then Blue gives him a rising, flaming uppercut and our enemy falls to the ground, still burning with a blue flame.

Now, it is silent. Blue stands over him, and rises his flaming fist...

“Wait.” The user of Phoenix Shade suddenly speaks. He gets up slowly, sends away his Magic Knight Force, and raises his hands. “I lose.”

Blue's either angry, confused, or some combination of the two... “What!?”

“You beat me. There's no point in my fighting you guys anymore. My mission is a failure. I was supposed to keep you from getting that power, like you probably already thought. I'll... just have to not get paid for this one.” He starts to walk off. “Sorry for all the trouble. If we ever see each other again, hopefully it's on more friendly terms.”

Blue probably doesn't buy it. “Wait--”

“Adios.” He disappears into the darkness...

Probably worn out by the power he just used, Blue falls to his knees, breathing heavily.

“Blue!” I go running over to him. “Are you alright?”

He looks up at me. “I'll be fine.” He gets up and dusts himself off. Blue seems proud of himself. He should be. What he just did was amazing. “So that's why you followed me home,” he says, with a smile.

“What!? How the... you noticed me!? Why didn't you say anything!?”

He makes a big goofy grin, as if he was trying to keep from laughing at me. “I had a feeling I shouldn't have bothered you. At least everything turned out okay, right?”

“Whatevs...” I shrug, then look at my wristwatch. “Would you look at the time... I gotta get home, Blue. My folks are probably worried sick... Take care, man.” Blue goes back inside, and I get on a bus headed home...

The bus comes pretty quickly... It's getting kinda dark out. What time is it, now? 19:50... Good lord, I've been out later than I expected. Oh, well. I pay, sit in the back, and just close my eyes...

Blue... I wonder, does he remember me? I didn't bother asking. Cleo seems happy to see him again... Maybe I could ask her what he remembers. She went home already, so I'll have to ask her later.

Whatever. I fought twice today. Tired as hell... I might as well take a quick nap.

“It seems like you're getting better at this, Trace.” A voice speaks into my mind... It's Grey. What does he want?

“What do you want, man? I'm freaking tired, can't you bother me later?” I "say" back.

“You know, you're usually nicer when we're linked like this...” Yeah, he can hear my thoughts when he makes the link... Guess he won't shut up until I talk to him. I've got nothing against Grey, he's cool. It's just... he talks more than I expected, y'know? It doesn't help that he tends to start a conversation with me when I'm sleeping or whatever. Anyway...

“Of course I got better. I've been doing this for a second, now.”

It's kind of weird, having a conversation like this... I mean, people are here on the bus with me, of course, but no one can see or hear Grey right now but me. I feel like I've been somehow separated from the rest of the world, and us two are the only ones here... I figured I'd be used to it by now, but it's still pretty weird to me.

Grey “speaks” again: “You've changed.”

“Huh? What makes you say that?”

“You're different from when we first met. You've become... more heroic.”

I feel like laughing. “It's not like I'm some big hero, I just happened to be there. But then... nothing wrong with helping him out since I was there, right?”

Somehow, Grey seems disappointed with that. “You think too little of yourself. You did a great thing, especially compared to how it used to be... You can be proud of yourself.”

I smile. “I understand... but you're the one who really is great. I wouldn't even be doing this if not for you. Grey, you changed my life... Thank you.”

He laughs. “Haha, Stop that... you're embarrassing me...”

I smile again. “Alright, Grey. Just let me sleep.”

“Alright, alright. Just make sure you don't miss your stop this time.”

Grey cuts our link for now, and I close my eyes, trying to rest...