Chapter 305 Hurdles Of A Reunion
"Satoshi? Where have you been?" White Mist asked out of concern. While he was confident that Satoshi could fend for himself when the time calls for it, he couldn\'t help but feel worried since he disappeared so suddenly.
"I just needed to practice by myself. I preferred training alone to doing it with others." Satoshi responded.
"I see... but where did you go? You disappeared into thin air... how did you do that?" White Mist asked. A second later, his mouth opened into an o-shape. He remembered that one of Satoshi\'s familiars could actually teleport, and that\'s probably the explanation behind his disappearance.
"In any case, thank you for your help. If it weren\'t for you, we would still be feeling our way around that dreaded Dual Beast Integration. Your guidance really helped all of us a lot." White Mist bowed his head towards Satoshi. He may be deemed as the beast master, but there were still a lot of things he had to learn. For him, he wasn\'t half as powerful as Satoshi and Satoshi was significantly younger than him.
"The Black Fog faction... are they bad people?" Even though the question was worded a little bit weirdly, Satoshi just had to ask the question.
"That I\'m not sure... there were rumors that they practice some questionable stuff but they weren\'t proven. I don\'t know. However, this is the first time they\'re joining the Official Beast Tournament. Aside from the information I heard from others, I have no clue if they\'re evil or not." White Mist answered. "In any case, Jean Grey and I saw improvements in our Dual Beast Integration after following your advice. Who would\'ve thought that we really didn\'t have any control over our tamed beasts. We pretty much became beast masters by brute forcing our way through."
"And that orange-haired kid... what was his name again, Shoyo? He\'s pretty good. He can now walk around with his Dual Beast Integration activated." A forced chuckle came out of White Mist\'s mouth. Even though he saw Shoyo with his Dual Beast Integration active, he still couldn\'t believe that he was able to do it first before him and Jean Grey. Just the thought alone was ridiculous enough as it is, but there was irrevocable proof when they witnessed it with their eyes.
Slide.
"Satoshi? Oh, your back." Jean Grey spoke out as soon as he saw Satoshi. "You should probably head over to your parents\' hotel room... they\'re looking for you."
"Oh, all right."
The remnants of the sun\'s brightness lingered as the sunset came into view. The orange hue in the sky marked the end of the day, and the upcoming twilight which served as the day and night\'s limbo crept in as Satoshi made his way back to Grand Hotel.
As soon as he got to his parent\'s room, both his mom and dad were already heading out. "Are we going somewhere?" Satoshi asked. He concluded that since they asked for him, they were probably going somewhere together.
Shiroi and her dad were also there, as well as Aira and Emma (and as for Ryoko, the Black-Winged Dragon, and Amy, Copycat Representative, they were comfortable staying inside the Orb Oboros, resting and training with the other familiars while Satoshi kept them there.). Satoshi felt oddly confused since everyone was leaving. Fortunately, he managed to get there on time, otherwise, they would have left without him.
"Did you forget? We\'re going to visit your grandparents today." Tatsuki said ruffling his son\'s hair before he stepped forward. "It\'s been so long since you last met your grandparents, they\'re going to be surprised by how big you\'ve grown." Tatsuki continued.
Even though Tatsuki only knew what his grandparents look like in pictures, he still felt a bit nervous since this was technically his first time meeting them. The last time he ever saw them was when he was still a baby, and frankly, he couldn\'t remember what happened back then. He was a bit curious why they never visited his grandparents though after all these years.
"Why are we visiting them now... and not before?" Satoshi asked out of the blue. At this point, the group had already reached the entrance of the Grand Hotel and they were waiting for a couple of cabs to pass by.
"Because... well, there were circumstances... your grandfather could get pretty overexcited from time to time... you know... and if you were to meet him in your powerless self... " Tatsuki exhaled as he scratched his head. He could still remember the spartan training he underwent under his father. Honestly, he didn\'t want Satoshi to experience any of that, that\'s why they didn\'t visit their grandparents all this time.
Well, one of the big reasons why they didn\'t visit was because Satoshi didn\'t have any superpowers. If he were to get caught up in his grandfather\'s antics, there was a good chance that he\'ll die, that\'s why Tatsuki decided not to show his dad his son.
"You\'ll like him. I\'m sure of it." Upon seeing Satoshi\'s expression of uncertainty, Tatsuki gave him the assurance he needed. He then nodded his head and opened the side door to the cab. "Get in, we don\'t want to be late for the family dinner, don\'t we?"
Everyone nodded along before they rode their respective cabs. Now that Satoshi had gotten the assurance he needed, he kind of looked forward to meeting his grandparents for the first time. He had no idea why they were in America and why he hasn\'t seen them in forever, but he knew that everything will fall into place once they get to meet each other.
.....
The creases on Grado\'s forehead continued to increase as he leaned by the outline of the front porch. As soon as lunch was over, he was already eagerly waiting by the porch, hoping that his son and his family would come driving by the front. It was an understatement that he had been looking forward to the reunion.
"You\'re going to bore a hole through the front gate if you keep on staring at it," Lize called out from the front door, heaving a sigh. All the preparations for the family dinner were done, and even she couldn\'t help but eagerly wait for their son\'s family to arrive.
Nighttime was already approaching, and there seemed to be no sign of them. By now, Grado was beginning to think that this was all just an elaborate prank by her wife and that he was being deceived big time. He turned around, only to see that his wife was staring back at him.
"They really are coming! I received the phone call this morning." Lize defended herself since she already knew what her husband was thinking. "Look, why don\'t we check up on them... see if they really are coming."
"No, let\'s just wait for a couple more minutes, and then if they really didn\'t show up... we\'re going to check up on them," Grado said, biting his lips since he was getting rather impatient. He already envisioned himself soaring through the air checking every nearby city for signs of his son and his family.
Lize felt the impatience enveloping her body as well. Somehow, she couldn\'t help but feel worried. Even though this wasn\'t the first time their son went to America, they knew just how dangerous it could get in the country. One moment there was peace, and the next there were riots and people throwing Molotovs everywhere. Even after a couple of decades, the way of men still hasn\'t changed when it comes to their criminal impulses.
"I\'ll go reheat the food. It\'s getting rather cold outside, dear, you should head back in and wait inside." Lize muttered. But after taking a peek, Grado already formed a small lick of flame in his hand to keep him warm. Lize smiled to herself. Her husband was as stubborn as ever, in a good way, of course.
Then the explosion resounded.
And it wasn\'t even a muffled explosion, it was an ear-shattering explosion that disturbed everyone in the entire neighborhood.
"What\'s going on?!" Grado asked himself in surprise as he activated his superpower out of impulse. In an instant, the four main elements of nature revolved around him, giving him the power of flight and projectiles that could be used for attacking. A thin condensed layer of air enveloped his entire body as a shield. Using it, he immediately levitated to check what the commotion was all about.
A Gate.
A Gate appeared on the outskirts of the city!
"Why now of all times?" Grado clicked his tongue as he free-fall\'ed towards the scene. He immediately noticed the five gigantic dragon-like monsters that came out of the gate. They were at least a hundred meters tall, and they immediately laid waste to the edge of the city as soon as they came out.
The second thing he noticed though was a young man dressed in black and white, holding an orb and a scepter in his hand. He was single-handedly fighting against one of the gigantic dragon-like monsters. And what\'s more, the scales of victory tipped in the young man\'s favor.
"Wow, what a talented young kid." Grado couldn\'t help but exclaim.