Forest

"I gotta find Fubuki though-" Aoi was cut off by Haruka's voice ringing through the Reality Bangles. Apparently, the source of the power outages or freakouts were at Tokyo Tower. Great... they were all just getting over the nightmare of Shop Handsome, and now this. "You guys go ahead to the tower, singular, Neo. I gotta get Fubuki!" The gumball stated, nyooming through the forest for her buddy, not even noticing Fubuki's placement near a rock.

"FUBUPLSSSSSSSS!" was shouted.

"I'm right behind you, Neo." He said while standing beside him. He felt something sinister was about to go down and he couldn't let his friends go without his support. He resolved himself to sticking to the very end with his new comrades. Jellal was a little scared, his heart beating faster than normal and his breathing got a little heavier but not too noticeable. Yet, the determined look in his eyes didn't waver for even an instant.

Darren jumped off of the Dimentional Robo, Daidragon above the forest. Normally he didn't like the forest. He preferred the city to it by far. However, he wanted some time to himself. He jumped down and landed within a tree, jumping down from one tree to the other until his legs touched down on the ground. Good thing he was a Seed and the Seed gave him extra defense. If not, he would have more than likely died.

Darren took a breath as he looked around. No one in sight, no one to harm... He could train in peace. He closed his eyes, focusing himself as his goal from now until the next battle was to harness and control his abilities.

After flying for what seemed to be hours, Recklessness Dragon decided to land on a distant forest area unknown to both him and his Avatar. Once the dragon was safely on the ground, he placed the young man carefully on the ground. After what he just witnessed, Carlos was understandably speechless. All the sadness and rage he felt got the best of him in a matter of seconds as he decided to punch his trusted companion on the chest out of pure anger. "AHHHHHHHHHH!!!" He screamed as he repeatedly hit his companion. The punch obviously had no effect on the Narukami warrior thanks to its armor-like scales and the countless years serving as a soldier. In fact, it hurt the man much more than it was expected to hurt the Thunder Dragon. But he continued anyways, unable to suppress his feelings. "Goddamn it!!! Stupid dragon, why didn't you left me there!?" He blamed the blush creature for abandoning his friend. "I could've helped him!!! I could've helped Okuri and a lot of innocents!!! I could've done something!!!". He continued to beat his arms until they gave up from the pain that came from punching the hard surface the dragon's chest. Recklessness Dragon stood there, stoically receiving such unfair treatment even when his master ultimately resorted to use his legs to continue. He knew very well that it wasn't him talking, but the despair and uselessness caused from the recent events. Sooner or later, he needed to drain it before it was too late.

The young fighter, exhausted, collapsed on the ground, panting and trying to recover his breath. "I... I hate you!! You made me abandon my friends!!" He screamed at the Thunder Dragon, who was now visibly shocked. Despite his best efforts to get up, Carlos kept falling again each time he attempted to do so. He quickly gave up on the idea and decided to just rest there and recover. "Why...?" He kept asking, covering his eyes with his arms as tears fell from his eyes. "Why didn't you let me go and help them...?". Suddenly, a soft voice resounded through his ears, surprising him. He stood in order to look around for any one.

"I couldn't just let you die there. Simple as that..."

When he found no one on their surroundings, Carlos stopped and looked at the Thunder Dragon directly on his eyes. "Did you... Did you say that?" He asked the Unit, completely dumbfounded as the teary-faced dragon turned his gaze away. The young man did in fact forget that among the ones they left behind, were the very professors and students that welcomed the dragon to the Great Nature University and gave him the title of Honorary Student, something unheard of. If it was hard for him, then it sure as hell was hard for the Narukami dragon. The young man calmed down and began to understand how his companion felt - To at least save one person, he had to give up on the friend that accepted him as part of their own. Okuri, the Great Nature clan accompanying him and a lot of other fighters that decided to remain and confront Leviathan in a final effort to stop the creature gave up on something just to protect the ones they loved. He was reminded of something he said earlier. "A common and noble goal, bigger than any of us..." He muttered after cleaning the tears from his face. He then stood up with difficulty and proceeded to hug his bluish companion to his surprise. It took some time for the dragon to get over the shock, but in the end Recklessness Dragon hugged the young man back. It was an interesting response, given that the soldiers of the Dragon Empire are supposed to be powerful and raging warriors. "I'm sorry..." He said in a soft voice. "I'm sorry, for everything I said... You're the best, no matter what I say. Thank you...".

Sleepy Tapir ran like a animal of his caliber never should have had to in his life. He was a researcher and seeker of knowledge not an athlete. But there was a race against time now. His body was beginning to fade away and Okuri's final wish remained unfulfilled. He had barely been able to keep the blue dragon off in the very far reaches of his vision. The direction was all he needed. Carlos had to stop eventually. And he did, settling into the forest. Seeing the descent, Tapir knew he might finally catch them.

The unit kept running and eventually found the two of them, having missed the conversation and previous actions entirely. He practically collapsed at Carlos' feet, never in his life had he been so exhausted. But their wasn't any time. As it was Sleepy Tapir's body was already nearly see through. He had only moments to do his assigned task.

"Carlos!" he began as he gasped and winced in pain. "You have to be Carlos. Okuri said the one with Recklessness was. You have to take these..." he said as he forced himself to his feet and finally moved his hand that he had kept held close to his chest. He left two objects in the man's hand and then weakly his own hand slid back down. In Carlos' hand now were Okuri's reality bangle and the sash the spirit had always worn about his neck that functioned as makeshift hands for him. "He wanted you to have them." the creature began with a smile on his face now. He'd done as he'd been asked, he could join the rest of his friends now. His body began fading more rapidly as he sat on the ground and leaned back.

"Recklessness, I'm sorry. You're the only thing left of the university. Please, make it through this. Somehow." Tapir said with tears forming in his eyes. These droplets fell as his body entirely vanished into the air, the essence of his soul having finally been fully absorbed by Leviathan. Even a unit with resist, given to the Spirit of the Earth by Chronojet himself, could not hope to stand against the monster's power to delete. And so Carlos and Recklessness were left alone, the last traces of Okuri left in the man's hand.

But after a minute or so the sash in Carlos' hand began to emit a warm glow. It was not unlike the light it had emitted when the Spirit's rage had shook the earth. But this time there was no malice with it. A feeling of sorry but also something of happiness to it. The light grew brighter until it engulfed Carlos. He appeared to be back in Umano though the scenes flickered like a light and formed wispy trails as if blown about on the wind. There in front of him appeared a canine figure. It didn't look exactly like Okuri and it too flickered about. But it moved to speak and the voice was unmistakable.

"Carlos... I hope Tapir was able to get you this." the voice started. It was definitely the Spirit's. And yet this was impossible for Okuri no longer existed. As it spoke the message resonated with Okuri's Reality bangle, the message would be broadcast to others he had known, Yukino in particular. "You must be terribly upset with me. I no longer exist if you're hearing this. This sash is all that's left of me. It's the reason I remember so much of my lives. All of my memories are tied to it. That's all this is; my thoughts as I stare down death itself. I'm afraid Carlos. I don't think I can fight her. But I have to, to let you all live."

"Thank you for being my friend Carlos. I never meant to hurt you like this but I'd like to think it was worth it to protect a friend like you. Please dont mourn me. I want you to be happy. I want you all to have a future. I couldn't beat her but I know all of you can. Please don't give up. Yukino if you ever hear this: I forgive you. And I'm sorry I tried to hurt you. Please protect these people, my friends. I can't do it any longer."

"I wish I could have seen that future we'd all been fighting for. My friends, truly I and the earth loved you and wanted your well being. All I can offer you is this one last chance. One time to escape death, and try again. My time is near and my body's trembling. The Foxes are already gone. The rest of Great Nature and I will soon follow suit. Farewell my friends. I was blessed to have known you." The image finished, relaying the message to Carlos and others of the resistance.

But the sash didn't seem to be done. Though the others would not see or hear anything more, Carlos was given a glimpse of more scenes. Memories of Okuri's came into view and faded back out one after the other. There was a scene of a young pup, playing without a care in the world with his mother. A young adult finding a mate and starting a family. Then again that same adult mourning over the body of his mother, and again over the bodies of his mate and cubs. Decades of isolation came into focus. A lonely view of the mountains. The occasional crossing paths with a human. A profound sadness and loneliness emanated outward from the sash.

More scenes continued as Okuri found a way to take on the guise of a human. He braved his way into a human village, but found he could not communicate with them not knowing their language. He spent years learning. He learned to read and read everything he could and forced himself to speak. All to break this profound isolation. This deep sadness. His kind was no longer left in the world, it would have to be with humans.

Images of his life continued. He had integrated himself into human society, made friends with them, done business with them, worked with them. But still the sadness remained. Then a woman appeared. The first human that ever developed feelings for Okuri. The isolation and sadness finally lifted as feelings of warmth and love took its place. Years continued passing in front of Carlos' eyes. The spirit mourned the loss of this his first human love. He found others as the decades pressed on. He moved to other cities, worked other jobs, found other friends. Then once more images of a woman. The feelings of love were very strong as these images came into focus. There was a scene of this woman holding a baby boy with Okuri looking over her shoulder. As crazy as it seemed the two had married and adopted a child. He looked slightly different than he did now but the setting didn't seem too far into the past. More images of pain as their son grew older. Confusion as the boy left in his teenage years. He and his mate fell into depression. His mate passed from malnutrition over refusing to eat.

The deep sadness and isolation continued. Then ten years ago this version of Okuri came into being. Scenes of watching the fights of the Resistance were there. Images of Jessie and Bashiro and Aoi and even Carlos himself. The sadness was fading, the isolation dissolving. Pain continued friend after friend was lost to the war.

To end it all a massive image appeared. Faces of every friend Okuri had ever had, of his own kind and human alike. The sash emitted one last wave of happiness. The spirit had truly loved these people. They were what he had fought for. With this the light faded, the forest surroundings to the man came back into focus around him. The sash's glimmer ceased, the Reality Bangle deactivated. Nothing would ever stir them again.