Amidst the chaos before the intersection to the east of Victor's Domain, Ryuzio stood in front of the Volant named Baru, confused as to why he'd ask such a weird question. Why'd he care about Ryuzio's headband?
Not exciting enough to pay any mind.
So Ryuzio pulled down an eyelid, sticking out his tongue. "I'm not telling you."
The opposing Volant gritted his teeth in annoyance, a nerve popping up where his hat casted a shadow. "Eh?" he said with a grunt. "Alright, I guess. Have it the hard way."
Baru fired up his Ether, wisps of faint blue light leaking from his skin.
Ryuzio did the same—a coat a fiery red energy enveloping him—eager to punch the man whose squadmates had troubled Benji so much.
"You know, kid," Baru said with a smirk. "You could save yourself from a lot of pain if you just hand that headband over."
"Are you dumb!" Ryuzio shouted. "I'm not giving my headband to anyone, no matter what!"
Zyon's words spoke to him just as clearly as they'd done before, of when the great man first wrapped his headband around Ryuzio's forehead. 'But I do believe you can prove ANYONE wrong, Zio. This time I came to meet you, so now it's YOUR TURN, okay?'
"It would be much better if you just listen to him," said the pink-haired girl from over Baru's shoulder. "He's not after you, just after that headband. And a headband's not worth it."
Baru smirked, his lips departing on the left side. "Who said I'll simply let him go after getting that headband? I want to know all about where and how he got it."
Ryuzio tucked his chin, bringing his fists forward. "Bring it!"
"You're willing to put your life in danger," the pink-haired girl asked genuinely, "just for a stupid headband?"
"It's not a stupid headband," Ryuzio said loudly. "It's…" He paused to think.
Zyon's headband meant so much to Ryuzio. There was no way for him to put it into simple words. It was the bond between them. It was also Zyon's faith in him. Ryuzio was convinced that Zyon gave him the headband only as a test. The condition of the headband represented the strength of its holder. And since Zyon gave the headband with its plate having not even a SINGLE scratch on it, Ryuzio had to keep it the same way.
When he would eventually meet Zyon, Ryuzio had planned to return the headband to the great Volant in the same condition in which he received it—perfect.
That was the reason why he was willing to protect the headband like it was his life. Wait… Life…?
The thought made Ryuzio smile, for he found the best way to put the importance of this headband into simple words.
"It's my life," he said, smiling, as if proud of that conclusion.
The pink-haired girl rolled her eyes. "Sheesh! It doesn't even look all that expensive."
Baru lowered his head, expression darkening.
"Yeah?" Ryuzio said, thinking hard to get back at her. "Well…your hat and…your mask and…everything else you have also don't look all that expensive."
Baru clenched his fists tightly.
"They're for sure more expensive than your entire being," she snapped back. "But that's not even the point, you moron, since I won't ever put my life at risk for something that could be brought with splinters."
"That's the reason I'll ALWAYS fight for this headband!" Ryuzio said, pointing at his forehead with a thumb. "This is one of those things!"
She raised an eyebrow, the other eye shutting halfway. "You don't know what you're talking about—"
"Shut it!" Baru shouted to the sky, and then jerked his head down to bring his eyes back onto Ryuzio. "'Stupid'? 'Expensive'? None of that matters!" He stretched out his right hand toward Ryuzio, palm toward the stars. "The only thing that matters is for THAT being in the hands of its owner. ME!"
Ryuzio's eyebrows came together. "Are you dumb? This is not yours!"
"IT IS!" Baru shouted. "Years ago a coward robbed it off of me—one of two reasons why I won't ever forgive that bastard. But now that it has finally come back to me, I won't repeat my mistake. This time I'll keep it away from bastards…
"Especially from ones with white hair!"
Ryuzio's eyebrows shadowed his eyes as they came together to point down. "Who're you talking about?" His Ether-coat flared, wisps of red flames rising toward the night sky.
"So you know him, eh?" Baru said with smirk as he closed the distance without any guard. "You know that white-haired bastard Zyon—?"
"Dragon Bullet!"
Without even a moment's hesitation, Ryuzio had formed a Dragon Gauntlet around his right fist, delivering his strongest attack to Baru's gut. The opposing Volant was so close that the Gauntlet did not even have any room to extend—turning into a Bullet—instead just sinking straight into the middle of his body.
"Don't you ever disrespect Zyon!" Ryuzio said furiously, letting his punch do its thing.
However, the masked girl—Baru's squadmate—did not even seem a tiny bit concerned about her captain. What could've been the reason? Did she not care what happened to him?
Not exciting enough to pay any mind—
Ryuzio's eyes widened as Baru's gut inflated like a balloon, thrusting out the fist punched into it. Before Ryuzio could step back, the bubble of air inside Baru's gut shifted from the man's gut to his right shoulder, then down to the hand, as if a balloon were crawling inside the opposing Volant's body, tearing the clothes on the path it traveled through—
Ryuzio focused his Ether onto his own gut as all he could see ahead was the inflated fist coming his way—
"Counter Impact!" Baru yelled.
His right fist crashed against Ryuzio's whole body, throwing him a great distance away. Gravity reclaimed Ryuzio, the earth clapping against his back. Baru's hand deflated, returning to its regular size.
No time to stay down.
Ryuzio jumped back onto his feet, facing Baru, who was now many leaps away. But…
What were these colorful spheres floating about them? Were they always here? Ryuzio recognized them as the same thing that used to appear back when he was still training in the mountains—with wild beasts and Gleam. But he hadn't seen them in ages. So why now?
Exciting enough to pay mind, but no time for it.
Baru smirked. "It's useless," he claimed. "You can't hurt me… No matter what!" He outstretched his arms to his sides, as if challenging Ryuzio to strike him once again. "I've already Scanned you, kid! You have a lower Rank than me!"
Rank? What was that? Anyway…inviting a punch was Baru's mistake. He hadn't seen the true power and range of Dragon Bullet, after all. So…
"Dragon Cloak!" Ryuzio slid his right foot behind as he lowered himself, pulling his right fist to the side, covering it with his left palm. "Dragon Gauntlet!"
The Scales locked tightly around his right fist, burning brightly around the clenched hand.
"Dragon Bullet!"
The spiky glove around his right fist shot out toward the opposing Volant, flames of Ether illuminating the fist's path, some trying to catch up to it as they trailed behind.
Baru's eyed widened in surprise—as expected—as the Bullet reached him—
He smirked, putting his left palm in the Bullet's path as he rushed toward Ryuzio.
Ryuzio's jaw loosened as Baru CAUGHT his Bullet, many colorful spheres sparking out upon their contact, the impact of the attack being blocked resulting in the opposing Volant's left arm inflating, tearing up whatever was left of his sleeve. But this was different—it was much bigger. His left arm was now twice as swollen as his right arm from before—
The massive air bubble inside the man's left arm traveled sideways to his right shoulder, then down the arm to the hand.
Ryuzio's Ether to his right Gauntlet shut off, the extended Ether-fist bursting out into twisting wisps of red flames. He braced himself, for what he saw rushing straight to pummel his face could only be described as the fist of a giant. Ryuzio put both his forearms in front to block Baru's punch—
Baru smirked, throwing the gigantic fist at Ryuzio, covering almost double his height. "Counter Impact!"
Ryuzio's guard broke as soon as the punch struck him—even more colorful spheres of light flying out from the point of their contact—the size of the fist being too large to cover. As a result, he was again thrown away, only this time, even more brutally.
He threw up blood in midair, before settling on the smooth two-laned road.
Baru strode toward him with a smirk. "You should try and listen more, kid. I wasn't joking when I said you can't hurt me."
Ryuzio wiped the blood on his lips as he got back onto his feet. "Just watch me!" he said through gritted teeth.
"No matter how many times you punch me," Baru said, standing tall with an annoying smirk, "or HOW you hit me, it's all useless!" He laughed. "I've absorbed the Augmentshard of Impact Trade! I can return the force of your punch with twice as much power! You'll never be able to put even a SCRATCH on me!"
Only now Ryuzio noticed that Baru was in the same condition as he was in the start of their fight. That meant he was tough. However…
Ryuzio showed Baru his clenched fist. "I'm tough as a dragon! I'm gonna beat you, no matter what!"
Baru snorted a weak chuckle, as if unimpressed. "You definitely have a few things missing up there. Doesn't matter… After all, you won't be staying on your feet for too long!" He laughed.
He had said he would, but even after thinking hard, Ryuzio could not come up with a way to damage Baru. By Ryuzio's understanding of what Baru told about his Shard-power-thing, no matter how many Dragon Bullets Ryuzio threw at the Volant, it was only be a waste of Ether.
What else could Ryuzio do…?
He had that imperfect punch he was training… But after revealing it, that awesome punch would become useless. So he threw away this idea… Wait…!
Ryuzio smiled, nodding to himself as he pounded his right fist sideways into his left palm. "I got it! I'm smart!"
The pink-haired girl had finished walking closer to them—but why did she even bother? "You sure can eat up damage," she said to him. "But how much can your stomach hold? Tell me, what's this 'smart' plan you came up with to bypass Baru's Shardskill?"
"It's simple!" Ryuzio said with a smile, going back to his Bullet stance, meeting eyes with Baru. "I'll just punch him so hard that he can't throw the damage back at me! My next Dragon Bullet is going to be so awesomely tough that if he tries to block it he'll just explode from ballooning up!"
But the only thing that ballooned was Baru's cheeks, before he wheezed loudly and started laughing. "That's what you came up with?"
The masked girl shook her head, fingers of a hand on her forehead. "You're definitely going to the hospital."
Ryuzio smiled, believing in his awesome plan. "Dragon Cloak!"