CHAPTER 25: Aftermath
The air in the Green Meteorite Stadium tasted like burnt ozone and melted plastic.
The smooth stone surface Gingka and Hyoma had spent childhood summers polishing was gone. In its place: a spiderweb of fractures spreading outward from impact zero, some cracks deep enough to swallow a fist.
Hyoma stepped to the crater's edge. His voice carried across ruined stone with the weight of finality.
"The battle is over. Winner... Kyoya Tategami."
For three seconds, nobody moved.
Then—
"THAT'S MY KYOYA-BUDDY!"
Benkei's roar shattered the silence like glass. He didn't just cheer—he sobbed, thick tears cutting clean lines through the dust caked on his face. His fists shook at the sky.
"You did it! You actually—" His voice broke. "But man, Gingka, you almost had him! That was incredible! Both of you!"
Kenta didn't wait for permission. He scrambled down the steep slope, boots sliding on loose shale, sending pebbles skittering into fresh cracks. "Gingka! Are you okay? Say something!"
At the crater's edge, Madoka stood with her laptop clutched against her chest. The screen flashed angry red—overheating alerts, structural failure warnings, energy readings that should've been physically impossible for stock beys to generate.
Her knuckles were white.
"Both beys are completely exhausted," she muttered to herself, watching the numbers scroll. "I've never seen battle damage like this. The metal shouldn't even be intact."
Gingka didn't move for a long moment. Just stared at the crater where Storm Pegasus lay smoking, morning light catching on the deep gouges in its fusion wheel.
Finally his hand moved. Shaking visibly.
Closed around familiar metal.
The bey felt wrong. Too hot in some places, too cool in others where the paint had completely burned away. The face bolt bore a gouge so deep he could see the internal mechanisms. The metal wheel had trenches where Leone's claws had torn through like the steel was butter.
But when his fingers touched it, something pulsed.
Weak, faint, but still there.
Still here.
A small sad smile touched Gingka's lips.
"I put you through hell today, didn't I?" His thumb traced a crack that ran the entire width of the fusion wheel. "I'm so sorry, partner. I won't let my heart get that clouded again. I promise."
The connection pulsed once more.
Forgiven.
"GINGKA!"
Kenta hit him like a missile, arms wrapping around his waist, face pressed into his jacket hard enough to hurt. The kid was shaking.
"You're back! You're really back! I thought—when you were yelling I thought—"
Gingka looked up. At Benkei's tear-streaked face. At Madoka's watery eyes she was trying to hide behind her laptop. At the way Kenta was clinging like Gingka might disappear if he let go.
The cold, desperate hunger for the Scroll of Power—the thing that had driven him up that mountain and consumed him for days—finally evaporated. Like waking from a fever.
"Yeah, Kenta." Gingka's voice was rough. Raw. "I'm back."
He looked at them—really looked—for the first time since descending the mountain.
Kenta's eyes were still red and swollen. Benkei wouldn't quite meet his gaze, kept glancing away like he was afraid of what he might see. Madoka's expression was carefully neutral, the way people look when they're trying very hard not to show they've been hurt.
Gingka's throat tightened.
"I said some things." He stopped. Shook his head. "No. That's not right."
He took a breath.
"I blamed you for not understanding. Said friendship didn't matter. That everything you taught me was lies." His hands curled into fists around Storm Pegasus. "I was wrong. And I'm sorry."
Silence.
Just the wind across ruined stone and Kenta's shaky breathing.
"You really scared me, Gingka," Kenta whispered into his jacket. "You looked like—like you hated us."
"I know." Gingka's voice cracked. "I scared myself."
Madoka stepped forward. For a second Gingka thought she might hit him again.
Instead she grabbed his shoulder. Squeezed once, hard enough to bruise.
"Just don't do it again," she said quietly. Fiercely. "We can't lose you. Not to Ryuga. Not to yourself."
Gingka nodded. His throat was too tight to speak.
***
Across the crater, Kyoya slotted Rock Leone back into its holster with practiced efficiency. His hands didn't shake despite the tremor in his legs.
He looked like he'd fought a hurricane and barely won. Blood dried on his lip from a flying stone. Coat shredded in three places. Face caked in dust and sweat. But his eyes were sharp.
"Kyoya-buddy!" Benkei ran over, still crying. "That was incredible! You actually beat him!"
"Don't get cocky." Kyoya's voice was flat. Cold. "That last Starblast Attack nearly shattered Leone. If my defense timing was off by a fraction of a second, I'd be collecting pieces."
He wiped blood from his cheek with his thumb. Examined it. Flicked it away.
Started walking toward the trail.
Stopped as he passed Gingka.
Didn't look at him directly.
"Must've been pretty disappointing. All that climbing for a joke."
Gingka's jaw tightened. "Yeah. It was."
"Good." Kyoya's eyes cut sideways. Sharp as broken glass. "Means you stopped looking for shortcuts. About time."
A pause. The wind picked up.
"That fight though—" Kyoya's voice dropped. "That was real. Don't let Ryuga take that fire out of you."
His expression hardened into something dangerous.
"I'm the only one allowed to put it out."
Something warm flickered in Gingka's chest. The old competitive spark he thought the mountain had killed.
"Next time I won't lose."
"Next time I won't hold back." Kyoya's smirk was all teeth. "I was being nice today."
"That was nice?"
"You're still standing, aren't you?"
Before Gingka could respond, Kyoya turned and took exactly three steps toward the trail.
Kyoya scoffs "I'm heading back to the city. This mountain air is starting to make me soft."He turns to walk away, his cape fluttering heroically—for about two seconds."
"NOT. SO. FAST."
The voice didn't sound like Madoka.
Everyone froze.
She stood at the crater's edge, head bowed, pink hair falling forward to shadow her face. When she looked up, her expression was absolutely terrifying.
"Oh no," Benkei whispered. "She's in Full Maintenance Mode."
WHACK! WHACK!
"OWWW!"
Gingka hit his knees, both hands flying to his head. Kyoya stumbled, one hand pressed to his skull, eyes wide with genuine shock.
"What was that for?!" Gingka wailed.
"Yeah, watch it, woman!" Kyoya growls, rubbing his scalp,
"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!"
Madoka's voice hit a pitch that made birds scatter from nearby trees. She gestured wildly at the ruined stadium, at the crater, at the cracks spreading like infection through stone that had stood for centuries.
"LOOK AT THIS! You didn't have a battle—you tried to trigger a seismic event! Do you have ANY idea what you've done?!"
She snatched Storm Pegasus from Gingka's hand before he could react. Ripped Rock Leone straight out of Kyoya's holster with her other hand.
Shoved both beys inches from their faces.
"Micro-fractures in the fusion wheels. Melted performance tips. Heat warping severe enough to compromise structural integrity." Her voice shook. Not from anger. From fear. "This isn't battle damage anymore. This is abuse."
Her laptop beeped urgently. She ignored it.
"These beys are screaming. Their resonance signatures are completely destabilized. And for once—for ONCE—it's not Dark Resonance or some forbidden power doing it."
She looked between them with something worse than anger.
Disappointment.
"It's you two."
Kyoya actually took a step back. His hand moved unconsciously toward his holster, found it empty, dropped.
Madoka's expression didn't soften.
"March." She pointed toward the mountain trail. "Both of you. NOW."
"But—"
"And you're carrying my equipment," she continued, voice dropping to something more dangerous than shouting. "Since you clearly have SO much extra energy to burn on destroying priceless stadiums and nearly killing your partners."
She leaned forward slightly.
"If I catch either of you even LOOKING at a launcher before I say these beys are safe to battle with, I'm locking them in a lead safe and throwing away the key. Do I make myself CLEAR?"
"Yes ma'am!" they shouted in unison, scrambling backward.
Behind them, Benkei whispered to Kenta while very carefully not moving: "Uh-oh... Madoka's in 'Full Maintenance Mode.' We better stay back, Kenta.
Kenta nodded"I've never seen her this mad."
When Madoka gets like this, you don't argue. You don't negotiate. You just obey and pray.
Hyoma's laugh cut through the tension. He walked up, shaking his head, something like pride in his expression.
"You look like you finally found your answer, Gingka."
Gingka rubbed his head where Madoka had hit him, glancing back at the mountain. At the shrine somewhere up there where he'd left torn pieces of blank parchment scattered in the dust.
"The scroll was empty, Hyoma. Took me way too long to realize what that meant." He met his old friend's eyes. "A blader's power isn't a secret technique you can read in some ancient text. It's a story you write yourself. With every battle. Every win. Every loss."
"Exactly." Hyoma smiled. "My father and yours both knew the only way to defeat a Forbidden Bey wasn't through finding a stronger weapon."
He tapped his chest, over his heart.
"But through forging a stronger soul."
Thunder cracked across the peaks.
Everyone looked up.
Gray clouds swallowed the sun in seconds, rolling in from the north with unnatural speed. The temperature plummeted. Wind howled through the ruined stadium, picking up ash and dust in small cyclones.
"The mountain's angry," Hyoma said, his expression turning grave. "Storm's coming in too fast. We need to wait it out."
Rain began to fall. Heavy drops that hit the hot stone and turned instantly to steam.
Lightning split the sky.
For one brilliant flash, the clouds looked like they had wings. Dragon wings, vast and terrible, stretching across the heavens.
Then darkness returned.
Gingka stared at the space where the vision had been, Storm Pegasus clutched tight in his hand.
"Let's move," Hyoma said. "Before it gets worse."
***
[EVENING - HYOMA'S HOUSE]
The wooden floorboards of Hyoma's home creaked underfoot with familiar warmth, a sharp contrast to the cold rain hammering the roof outside. The air smelled like cedar, wet earth, and the fish broth simmering over the hearth fire.
Hokuto met them at the door, shaking rain from his coat. His tail gave a single welcoming thump against the floor.
"Welcome back, travelers." His voice was dry. Amused. "I see you survived the mountain. And each other."
He padded inside, gesturing with his head toward the main room where firelight already danced on the walls.
"Sit. Eat. You'll need your strength for the road tomorrow."
They filed in quietly, wet and exhausted, and dropped their gear in a corner. The warmth of the fire felt like a physical embrace after the mountain's cold.
Dinner was simple. Bowls of steaming rice. Grilled river fish with crispy skin. Pickled vegetables that had a sharp bite that cleared the head.
It disappeared fast.
Benkei ate three full bowls before anyone else finished one. Kenta picked at his food, kept glancing at Gingka like he was making sure he was still there. Kyoya ate in silence, methodical and efficient.
Madoka had Storm Pegasus and Rock Leone laid out on a cloth beside her, tools already spread, making notes between bites.
For a few hours, the only sounds were chopsticks on ceramic, fire crackling, and rain drumming steadily on the roof.
The weight of what was coming could wait a little longer.
End of chapter.
***
Chapter 26: Origin of Black dranzer.
Chapter 27: Road to Battle Bladers