Ever since that whole cave fiasco, Ryuma had a lot to think about. It felt like lately, there's been one weird thing after another going on in his life. That, and the fact that as he got older, he started noticing more stuff than he didn't beforehand.
Or better yet… started questioning more stuff than he did beforehand.
Like, why did they only send a large sum of one faction over to the White dragons? Wouldn't it have been better to send a small portion of every faction as to not increase the burden?
He looked at his friend's outfit. In comparison to his white, and black outfit, Toga was wearing the same kind of outfit, only instead of sharing his color scheme, there's were red with bronze linings. It was the traditional colors of the Red Dogs
Toga lightly punched him in the arm after seeing him daydreaming. "C'mon lizard brain. We got a test to catch,"
"Sure thing dog breath,"
Ryuma followed him. It's been five years since a sizeable amount of the Red dogs have come over to the White Dragons warden. Although most of the White Dragons were against the decision, apparently, due to the White Dragons being the weakest in terms of combat strength, it was decided from the high edict, that additional assistance was to be sent over.
That's where Toga's family came in. His family was part of the Red Dog faction sent over to assist in the growth of the White Dragons. Things of pride never really bothered Ryuma in the way it clearly did the other Dragons. If they needed the help, if it came to saving lives, what did it really matter?
Unfortunately, he and very few others ever saw it that way. There were tons of descent about it that proved otherwise fruitless. When the orders came down from the high edict, there weren't much they could do about it.
Ryuma never got why everybody was so bummed about it. He was only eleven at the time and didn't understand politics. All he knew was that Toga was now in his life and that was all that mattered to him. The two took instantly to being friends.
"So here's the plan when we start. We're going to need you to hold back some of your strength. Instead of passing with flying colors, try to barely make it into the field,"
"Gee, never thought I'd hear a Red Dog say something like that,"
"I'm serious. This is important. We don't want everyone knowing our true strength,"
Ryuma thought about it for a moment. "Toga, we'll be fighting demons. We're not fighting each other. What point would there be in holding back," Ryuma asked.
"Oh… well, you know…"
Ryuma looked at him skeptically as he kept walking. Whenever Toga spoke like that, there was something he was clearly hiding.
"Well if you're not going to tell me, then maybe I should go my extreme hardest," Ryuma threatened.
"Ok, I get it," Toga put his hands up defensively. "I just don't want you to… you know… stand out,"
"If I do, it'll get me to where I'm going faster. Why wouldn't you want that?"
"Forget it. You wouldn't understand,"
"Toga," Ryuma said in a slightly more annoyed tone.
"Fine. You really want to know? We're tired of you hogging up all the girl's attention. There, I said it," Toga complained.
"We? Who's we?" Ryuma asked.
Me and all the other guys in class. We're tired of the ladies attention going to the handsome, strong, and brave RYUMA," Toga mocked.
"Is that all?" Ryuma couldn't believe how childish his friend was acting over a flimsy reason like that.
"I said you wouldn't understand,"
"Well it turns out you were right. You should be taking this more serious, not looking to score points with girls,"
"Easy for you to say. You'll never understand the plight of us average guys here. You barely have to do anything at all and they come flocking to you," Toga got up in his face. "So what's your secret Mr. Handsome?"
"I've no clue what you're talking about," Ryuma said. He nervously backed up.
"No clue what I'm talking about? Could there be a more punchable face?" Toga asked.
"GEE TOGA! I couldn't have said it better myself. Maybe you're starting to act like a Red Dog yet,"
The voice came from further away. The mockery in its tone informed Ryuma all he needed to know who that was. "Diaga Sozuki,"
The boy was stoutly bigger than they were, and he wore the same red and bronze outfit Toga wore. He was surrounded by three more stooges all in similar attire.
"Get lost Diaga. This doesn't concern you," Toga said.
"Ahh, don't be like that. We were just trying to see if everything between you and pretty boy over here was alright. After all, I am just looking after my fellow dog. Is that so wrong?" Diaga went over and side hugged the both of them.
Ryuma glared at him as his three followers chuckled. Of course the little lemmings would find whatever he did funny.
He nonchalantly shoved his arm off his shoulder. "Well we appreciate your concern; it won't be necessary. Me and Toga was just bantering is all. You know, because that's what friends do,"
Diaga stared back at him in contempt "Imagine that. A White Dragon just told a Red Dog that they didn't need our help. You hear that fellas? Clearly, he must've forgot what we're all doing here,"
His stooges started chuckling again. Suddenly, Ryuma got the annoying sense why everyone in the White Dragons despised the idea of having Red Dogs working in their territory. It was because pompous idiots like him.
"Dude lay off! Ryuma's one of the best in our generation and you know it," Toga defended.
"I'll admit. The kid has some talent. But let's get real. The whole trash of a faction is not going to pick itself up off the back of one good star. You better recognize real quick that one person can't change a thing,"
Much as Ryuma didn't like to admit such flaw within the White Dragons, it was true. He may have been the best, but if the rest wasn't up to par the rest as a whole unit did not look good. He had nothing to retort with.
But even so…
"It doesn't matter. If I must get so strong as to carry the whole weight of the White Dragons, so be it. I will restore us to our former glory," Ryuma declared.
Diaga's group laughed out loud. "You hear that Diaga? He said he's going to carry the White Dragons. You'd have to be as strong as a spirit holder to pull something like that off," They burst into even more laughter.
Their eyes were too shut to see the serious expression on Diaga's face. "You… you're going to become as strong as the Three Shining Spirits?" Diaga asked. All joy sucked out of his voice.
"I never said anything about becoming as strong as the Three Shining Spirits," Ryuma answered.
Diaga chuckled. "It seems you're not as dumb as you look. I guess even a lizard brained dragon like you knows not to cross the heavens," He shrugged his shoulder in arrogance.
"I'm saying, I'm going to pass the Three Shining Stars entirely," Ryuma finished.
Immediately, Diaga grabbed him by his collar and held him up to his face. Ryuma expression refused to budge even in the face of an obvious threat like Diaga's. He by no means meant to taunt the guy, but he had no reason to retract the path he chose to go. No… if he was going to revive the White Dragons, this was the only path to go.
The tension was now so thick, it not only hushed up his followers, it captured the attention of passerby's also on their way to school
"Do you even realize what you just said? The last Shining Spirit that died came from my family. You really think you're taking my spot?" Diaga asked.
"Taking your spot? I didn't think it worked that way. Wasn't strength the only criteria? Besides. Why would there only be three spots? I count four factions,"
He started chuckling until he led himself into laughter. His gang looked at each other before skeptically laughing along with him.
"Are you an idiot? There's never been a Shining Spirit coming from the White Dragons. Don't think that would change with you just because you declare it,"
Suddenly, and without warning, the island started shaking, as if it was hit with something hard, causing him to immediately be dropped.
Everyone struggled to keep their balance as all the lightly held stuff fell to the ground. Everything tied or melded was stable enough to not be affected. The shaking lasted a few minutes before everything stabilized itself again.
Diaga picked himself up and dusted himself off. "This is why I hate living on this crappy rock. You guys can't even manage to keep it steady," Diaga stormed off seemingly mad.
It was the rumbling again. It was a fine time to do that. Here on White Dragon island, you'd get at least three of these yearly. The only island of the four to be getting this much. Most of their rumblings usually happen in the span of only decades, and even then it's not nearly as bad.
"Well nice timing. Guess we better head to school now," Toga suggested.
"Sure thing,"