Yuma Tsukumo (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
kattobingore) wrote2016-06-11 05:22 pm
kattobingore) wrote2016-06-11 05:22 pm
Entry tags:
[Story] Reunion (Backdated)
NOTE/SYNOPSIS: Takes place between the defeat of Eliphas and the group going to the Barian World. Yuma meets with his parents for the first time in seven years and learns of his relation to the Astrals.
Walking down a large corridor, following the Rainbow Kuriboh who was guiding their way, Kotori noticed Yuma was holding her hand a little more tightly than usual.
"Are you nervous...?" she questioned, looking up at him. Yuma glanced back at her.
"Me? Nervous? Nah! Of course no---" he stopped mid-sentence when he saw Kotori was giving him an all-knowing smile, one that she usually gives him when she knew he wasn't entirely telling her the truth. "A-ah, well, a little! I mean, I haven't seen them in seven years. But I'm also super excited to see them again too!! Guess it's a mix of both!"
Kotori smiled gently at him in response. She was happy for him. Happy that he was finally going to see his parents after so long. She'd been there every step of the way since they vanished and she'd seen how it had affected him. How much he had missed them, how he felt lonely without them, how he tried masking that sadness and loneliness and how that turned into his belief that they were still alive somewhere.
She was relieved that somehow, that belief became a reality, even down to the belief that they were in another world.
Soon enough, Rainbow Kuriboh lead them to a large and towering door that was at the bottom of the corridor. Stopping before it, Yuma took a deep breath and let go of Kotori's hand. His parents were on the other side of these doors.
Slowly, using both hands, he opened the doors and he stepped in, with Kotori following behind.
The doors led into a large room, blue in colour like the corridors, with a tiled looking floor and a large table in the middle. Sat at the table were none other than his parents, Kazuma and Mirai, who upon seeing their son enter the room, stood up from where they were sat, smiling.
Kotori hung back as Yuma slowly approached his parents, in almost a stunned daze. It seemed like a dream that they were even there in front of him. He felt like he'd wake up any moment and they wouldn't be there anymore, but as he got close to them, his mother reached out and touched the side of his face affectionately.
It was real. All of this was real.
"Look at you." Mirai began, softly. "You're so grown up. How old are you now?"
"I'm a few months away from turning 18."
"Almost 18..." Mirai gave out a small wistful sigh. Her expression was that of relief that Yuma had grown up well, but also regret that she didn't get to see him grow up herself. Slowly she looked up at Kazuma, who had a similar expression on his face. "He looks so much like you now."
Kazuma nodded in agreement, before looking back at his son, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"It's good to see you again, son."
Yuma could feel his emotions growing, before he simply threw his arms around both his parents, pulling them into a huge emotional hug.
"I've missed you guys!! We've all missed you so much!"
Both his parents smiled and placed an arm around Yuma each to return the hug.
"We've missed you all too." his mother replied.
Kotori smiled and wiped a tear from her eyes as she watched the family reconcile in front of her.
As the hug broke between the family, Mirai looked away from her son and over to Kotori. Yuma looked back at her, following his mother's gaze, before holding his hand out to invite her over to them. Kotori was apprehensive at first, unsure if she should intrude on them, but she eventually took Yuma's invitation to join them, walking over and taking Yuma's hand in her own.
For a moment, Yuma's parents looked a little surprised, exchanging glances with each other, before looking back.
Mirai then smiled at the young couple, knowing exactly what Yuma was silently trying to tell them.
"Are you two...?"
His mother didn't even need to finish the sentence, Yuma knew what she was going to ask and returned an answer with a nod.
"Ah, yeah! Kotori and I... we've been dating for a while now."
"For the last nine months." Kotori confirmed.
"You son of a gun you!" Kazuma exclaimed joyfully as he playfully ruffled Yuma's hair with his hand, a huge grin appearing on his face as he did. Mirai looked at the two of them proudly, before turning to Kotori.
"You've grown up wonderfully, Kotori-chan." she told her, making the girl blush sheepishly. "Your mother must be very proud of you. How is she?"
A shocked look. An awkward silence. These were not the reactions that Mirai was expecting on asking Kotori about her mother. Her expression became worried when she saw Kotori glance down awkwardly to the floor.
She exchanged a worried glance with Kazuma, who looked just as concerned and confused.
"Did something happen...?" Mirai questioned, apprehensively.
Looking concerned himself, Yuma placed his hand on Kotori's shoulder. Gradually she looked up at him and eventually gave him a nod to tell him that it was okay to explain the situation to them. "They need to know."
Looking over at his parents, his once joyful expression was now replaced with an expression of sorrow.
"Heartland is gone."
"Gone?" Kazuma questioned. Yuma nodded, halfheartedly.
"It was attacked, by some unknown army of duelists that controlled machine-like monsters. The entire city was destroyed.
I've been studying at Duel Academy, so I wasn't there when it happened, but..."
He looked over at Kotori, who was still looking at the floor.
"...I was able to escape, along with Akari-san and Haru-san, but we only just managed to get out..." she closed her eyes slowly as she began to remember back to the attack, something that still hung very heavily on her mind. "... they chased us down and laughed, like it was all a game to them. It all came so out of the blue. They attacked unprovoked. People screamed and ran in a panic as they began attacking. That's all we could do. We got in the car and ran. We couldn't stop to find or help anyone. If we did we...
... we wouldn't of made it out.
We haven't heard from my mother or anyone else from the city since it happened. As far as we know we're...
... we're the only survivors."
Kazuma and Mirai hung onto the teenagers words in bewildered silence. In the time they had been in the Astral World they had expected that some things may of changed, but losing their home was not one of those things.
With the Mizuki's being close family friends to their own family, they knew exactly how close Kotori and her mother were and just how much Kotori had to be hurting right now. With that, Mirai quietly wrapped her arms around her and pulled her into a gentle hug.
Kotori stood still for a second, before placing her arms around Mirai and burying her head on her shoulder, allowing silent tears to fall.
This was something she hadn't felt for a while when she needed it the most and was something she had missed dearly since the attack.
A mother's love and affection.
Both Kazuma and Yuma watched them quietly, before Yuma clenched a fist and looked away, trying to hold back feelings of anger he still held over the situation.
"Once they had escaped, they came to Domino City where I was. They had nothing but what they had on them at the time... but luckily, I've made some amazing friends at both the Academy and Domino City. I was able to find them a place to stay and with everyone's help, we've been able to start rebuilding our lives."
After a moment, Kazuma placed a hand on his son's shoulder.
"It seems you all really looked out for each other. I'm proud of you all." his expression then became more sorrowful. "I'm sorry we couldn't be there but, I guess there's a lot that we need to tell you as well."
-----------------------------------
Moments later, the family were sat around the large table in the room.
"I imagine that you will have a lot of questions you want to ask." Kazuma began. "But first, we wish to tell you some things which may give you some of the answers you want."
"To begin with, I wish to tell you a little about the history of the Astral World and those deemed to be its protectors. Eliphas, as his delusion on protecting the Astral World's 'dream' grew, appointed a powerful Astral to become the 'protector' of the world, but it was not entirely uncommon for some of the Astrals to leave the Astral World, to seek their own individual ways of 'ranking up', rather than Eliphas' way, and the first protector became just that. A maverick that eventually left the Astral World to explore other worlds.
After this, another Astral was chosen to become the protector of their world.
This second Astral, was Hope."
As his name was mentioned, Hope appeared in the room, behind where Yuma and Kotori was sat. Kazuma looked up at him and acknowledged him with a nod, before continuing.
"Hope was given newly designed armor and weapons and became a figurehead within the Astral World. A hero that the Astrals, especially the younger Astrals, looked up to. It was a role that he took with pride as he defended the Astral World.
But then came the fateful day in which he clashed with the Barian, Durendal. We do not know really what happened next, only Eliphas knows why, but Hope was arrested soon after and was imprisoned."
"So, they chose other Astrals to defend their world, but then, why was I chosen? I'm not an Astral!" Yuma exclaimed.
"That's not entirely true." Mirai replied. Yuma looked at his mother with curiosity.
"To answer this, we need to go back to the first 'protector' of their world who left the Astral World to seek their own way of ranking up." Kazuma carried on. "Astrals that left their world are said to have travelled to, and explored, many others."
"That particular Astral made it's way to our world." Mirai added on. "And is actually a descendant of our family. Specifically, my family."
Yuma raised an eyebrow in confusion. "A descendant...?"
"Yes. So through your mother, you, and your sister, are actually descended from that Astral. That said, any Astral-like abilities are thought to be dormant.
That is, except for you."
"It was believed that you held the potential for tapping into those Astral abilities. As you have seen, the Astrals, especially Eliphas, held a paranoid view that they would disappear if humans began to forget or reject the idea of Duel Monsters, so maybe this was his reasoning for choosing a human who had the potential to awaken their dormant Astral abilities."
"I have felt for a while that Yuma and I meeting was not simply a coincidence." Hope responded. "And this explains why our powers combine well with each other."
"How long have you guys known about this? Just since being here?" Yuma questioned.
"Longer than that." Kazuma replied. "Remember when I was lost in the avalanche and I was found two weeks later? When I fell back then, I somehow wound up in the Astral World. Physically, or just spiritually, I'm unsure, but while I was there, I was contacted by Eliphas who informed me of all this and then gave me the Emperor's Key to give to you, which would allow you to gain access to ZEXAL once you began unlocking your dormant Astral abilities.
But he also told me that he wished for nothing to influence you. Myself, nor your mother were to tell you about all this and that when he felt you were of an age where you may start accessing those powers, Eliphas planned to keep us separate from you in the hopes that he could influence you himself to begin serving your 'purpose' to the Astral world."
Yuma took in a slow breath. "So he took you guys away to here..."
Kazuma nodded. "We knew it was going to happen, but we had no idea when, so we did all we could to prepare both you and your sister for when we inevitably disappeared, and although we knew Eliphas was going to try and influence you, we had confidence in you and we believed that no matter what, you would follow and stick to the path you felt was right."
"While here, we tried to build a relationship with the Astral people. To forge trust and friendship between us and them. Despite Eliphas' ways of doing things, we found the actual residents here to be pleasant and we have been looked after well while being here."
"Through talking with the Astrals, and the many run-ins we had with Eliphas, we learned more about them, their history, the Barians and the Legendary Numbers, as well as the power they held, which is why I decided to hijack the airship and send it to you, in the hopes that you would be able to forge a better path for both the Barians and the Astrals."
With a proud smile Kazuma placed a hand on Yuma's shoulder. "Although your journey is not over yet, we're proud on what you've achieved so far."
Yuma smiled back, elated to hear such words from his father. A realisation then soon hit him, making him look excited at his parents.
"Hey! Since Eliphas was defeated and the Astrals will be starting from scratch with him, that means you guys could come with us, right?? Then after we've solved things in the Barian World we can all go home and you can see sis and granny again and..."
Kazuma and Mirai looked at each other awkwardly with sorrowful glances, before they turned to look back at Yuma. They didn't want to break the hope on his face, but right now, it just wasn't possible.
"I'm sorry, Yuma..." Kazuma began. "... but we can't leave here just yet."
Yuma's face fell instantly into a look of disappointment.
"Even though Eliphas was defeated and will be reborn as a clean slate, we need to make sure that he isn't influenced the same way as he was before." Mirai explained. "So we still need to work with the Astrals and guide them the best we can. You understand, right?"
Although still looking a bit disappointing, Yuma nodded. "I understand." He then looked back up at them with a determined glance.
"But promise me that when you feel you're done here that you'll come and visit us! Sis and granny miss you so much! We all do!! I want us to be a family again!"
Kazuma gave his son a nod. "We promise. Once we feel the Astrals are heading towards a better future, we will return... home..."
He trailed off at the end of the sentence, realising that he didn't quite know where their so called new 'home' was, other than it was in Domino City.
Realising this, Kotori rummaged around in her bag until she brought out a small notepad and a pen. On the notepad, she scribbled something down quickly, then held it out for Yuma's parents to take.
"It's our new address, in Domino City, so you'll be able to find us when you come back."
Mirai took the address off Kotori and gave her a soft smile. "Thank you, Kotori-chan."
"There is something I would like to give you too, son." Kazama slowly brought a card out from his pocket and held it out to Yuma. Taking it, Yuma realised that it was the very monster who had guided them there, his father's 'Rainbow Kuriboh'. As he looked at the card, Rainbow Kuriboh appeared once more and happily buzzed around Yuma.
"Rainbow Kuriboh may prove useful to you, but it can also be used as a way to directly contact us if you need to."
Yuma watched the small monster bouncing around happily in the air near him, before turning to his father. "This is great! Thanks, dad!"
Kazuma gave him a nod in reply.
"Yuma. The path ahead of you will undoubtedly be filled with challenges, but I know that no matter what, you'll continue to make your mother and I proud of you.
Kattobing, Yuma!!"
Giving his son a beaming smile, Kazuma gave him a 'thumbs up'. Grinning back, Yuma also did the same.
"Of course!!"
-----------------------------------
After saying their goodbyes and parting from Yuma's parents, both Yuma and Kotori found themselves walking back the way they came, up the large and long corridor. As they did, they both remained fairly silent, processing everything that they were told. Eventually they came to a part of the corridor which had large windows which looked over the rest of the Astral World.
"It's beautiful here" Kotori said. Yuma nodded in agreement.
As the two watched the landscape before them quietly, Kotori slowly moved her hand so it was holding Yuma's.
"Everything they said was a lot to take in, but I feel it's important to know your heritage. It can really help shape the way you see things.
"Although their misguidance hurt a lot of people... the Astrals have the chance to change. It doesn't erase what has happened, but they can move in a better direction now, with your parent's help."
Kotori then looked up at him with a positive smile.
"And maybe you will be a positive influence to them too."
Smiling back, Yuma squeezed her hand gently.
"I'm sure with my parents help, the Astrals will move towards a better future! Now, we just gotta make sure the Barians get a better future too!"
Still smiling, Kotori nodded at Yuma.
Eventually, the two of them continued on their way up the corridor to meet up with the rest of their party and head onto their destination.
The Barian World.
Walking down a large corridor, following the Rainbow Kuriboh who was guiding their way, Kotori noticed Yuma was holding her hand a little more tightly than usual.
"Are you nervous...?" she questioned, looking up at him. Yuma glanced back at her.
"Me? Nervous? Nah! Of course no---" he stopped mid-sentence when he saw Kotori was giving him an all-knowing smile, one that she usually gives him when she knew he wasn't entirely telling her the truth. "A-ah, well, a little! I mean, I haven't seen them in seven years. But I'm also super excited to see them again too!! Guess it's a mix of both!"
Kotori smiled gently at him in response. She was happy for him. Happy that he was finally going to see his parents after so long. She'd been there every step of the way since they vanished and she'd seen how it had affected him. How much he had missed them, how he felt lonely without them, how he tried masking that sadness and loneliness and how that turned into his belief that they were still alive somewhere.
She was relieved that somehow, that belief became a reality, even down to the belief that they were in another world.
Soon enough, Rainbow Kuriboh lead them to a large and towering door that was at the bottom of the corridor. Stopping before it, Yuma took a deep breath and let go of Kotori's hand. His parents were on the other side of these doors.
Slowly, using both hands, he opened the doors and he stepped in, with Kotori following behind.
The doors led into a large room, blue in colour like the corridors, with a tiled looking floor and a large table in the middle. Sat at the table were none other than his parents, Kazuma and Mirai, who upon seeing their son enter the room, stood up from where they were sat, smiling.
Kotori hung back as Yuma slowly approached his parents, in almost a stunned daze. It seemed like a dream that they were even there in front of him. He felt like he'd wake up any moment and they wouldn't be there anymore, but as he got close to them, his mother reached out and touched the side of his face affectionately.
It was real. All of this was real.
"Look at you." Mirai began, softly. "You're so grown up. How old are you now?"
"I'm a few months away from turning 18."
"Almost 18..." Mirai gave out a small wistful sigh. Her expression was that of relief that Yuma had grown up well, but also regret that she didn't get to see him grow up herself. Slowly she looked up at Kazuma, who had a similar expression on his face. "He looks so much like you now."
Kazuma nodded in agreement, before looking back at his son, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"It's good to see you again, son."
Yuma could feel his emotions growing, before he simply threw his arms around both his parents, pulling them into a huge emotional hug.
"I've missed you guys!! We've all missed you so much!"
Both his parents smiled and placed an arm around Yuma each to return the hug.
"We've missed you all too." his mother replied.
Kotori smiled and wiped a tear from her eyes as she watched the family reconcile in front of her.
As the hug broke between the family, Mirai looked away from her son and over to Kotori. Yuma looked back at her, following his mother's gaze, before holding his hand out to invite her over to them. Kotori was apprehensive at first, unsure if she should intrude on them, but she eventually took Yuma's invitation to join them, walking over and taking Yuma's hand in her own.
For a moment, Yuma's parents looked a little surprised, exchanging glances with each other, before looking back.
Mirai then smiled at the young couple, knowing exactly what Yuma was silently trying to tell them.
"Are you two...?"
His mother didn't even need to finish the sentence, Yuma knew what she was going to ask and returned an answer with a nod.
"Ah, yeah! Kotori and I... we've been dating for a while now."
"For the last nine months." Kotori confirmed.
"You son of a gun you!" Kazuma exclaimed joyfully as he playfully ruffled Yuma's hair with his hand, a huge grin appearing on his face as he did. Mirai looked at the two of them proudly, before turning to Kotori.
"You've grown up wonderfully, Kotori-chan." she told her, making the girl blush sheepishly. "Your mother must be very proud of you. How is she?"
A shocked look. An awkward silence. These were not the reactions that Mirai was expecting on asking Kotori about her mother. Her expression became worried when she saw Kotori glance down awkwardly to the floor.
She exchanged a worried glance with Kazuma, who looked just as concerned and confused.
"Did something happen...?" Mirai questioned, apprehensively.
Looking concerned himself, Yuma placed his hand on Kotori's shoulder. Gradually she looked up at him and eventually gave him a nod to tell him that it was okay to explain the situation to them. "They need to know."
Looking over at his parents, his once joyful expression was now replaced with an expression of sorrow.
"Heartland is gone."
"Gone?" Kazuma questioned. Yuma nodded, halfheartedly.
"It was attacked, by some unknown army of duelists that controlled machine-like monsters. The entire city was destroyed.
I've been studying at Duel Academy, so I wasn't there when it happened, but..."
He looked over at Kotori, who was still looking at the floor.
"...I was able to escape, along with Akari-san and Haru-san, but we only just managed to get out..." she closed her eyes slowly as she began to remember back to the attack, something that still hung very heavily on her mind. "... they chased us down and laughed, like it was all a game to them. It all came so out of the blue. They attacked unprovoked. People screamed and ran in a panic as they began attacking. That's all we could do. We got in the car and ran. We couldn't stop to find or help anyone. If we did we...
... we wouldn't of made it out.
We haven't heard from my mother or anyone else from the city since it happened. As far as we know we're...
... we're the only survivors."
Kazuma and Mirai hung onto the teenagers words in bewildered silence. In the time they had been in the Astral World they had expected that some things may of changed, but losing their home was not one of those things.
With the Mizuki's being close family friends to their own family, they knew exactly how close Kotori and her mother were and just how much Kotori had to be hurting right now. With that, Mirai quietly wrapped her arms around her and pulled her into a gentle hug.
Kotori stood still for a second, before placing her arms around Mirai and burying her head on her shoulder, allowing silent tears to fall.
This was something she hadn't felt for a while when she needed it the most and was something she had missed dearly since the attack.
A mother's love and affection.
Both Kazuma and Yuma watched them quietly, before Yuma clenched a fist and looked away, trying to hold back feelings of anger he still held over the situation.
"Once they had escaped, they came to Domino City where I was. They had nothing but what they had on them at the time... but luckily, I've made some amazing friends at both the Academy and Domino City. I was able to find them a place to stay and with everyone's help, we've been able to start rebuilding our lives."
After a moment, Kazuma placed a hand on his son's shoulder.
"It seems you all really looked out for each other. I'm proud of you all." his expression then became more sorrowful. "I'm sorry we couldn't be there but, I guess there's a lot that we need to tell you as well."
-----------------------------------
Moments later, the family were sat around the large table in the room.
"I imagine that you will have a lot of questions you want to ask." Kazuma began. "But first, we wish to tell you some things which may give you some of the answers you want."
"To begin with, I wish to tell you a little about the history of the Astral World and those deemed to be its protectors. Eliphas, as his delusion on protecting the Astral World's 'dream' grew, appointed a powerful Astral to become the 'protector' of the world, but it was not entirely uncommon for some of the Astrals to leave the Astral World, to seek their own individual ways of 'ranking up', rather than Eliphas' way, and the first protector became just that. A maverick that eventually left the Astral World to explore other worlds.
After this, another Astral was chosen to become the protector of their world.
This second Astral, was Hope."
As his name was mentioned, Hope appeared in the room, behind where Yuma and Kotori was sat. Kazuma looked up at him and acknowledged him with a nod, before continuing.
"Hope was given newly designed armor and weapons and became a figurehead within the Astral World. A hero that the Astrals, especially the younger Astrals, looked up to. It was a role that he took with pride as he defended the Astral World.
But then came the fateful day in which he clashed with the Barian, Durendal. We do not know really what happened next, only Eliphas knows why, but Hope was arrested soon after and was imprisoned."
"So, they chose other Astrals to defend their world, but then, why was I chosen? I'm not an Astral!" Yuma exclaimed.
"That's not entirely true." Mirai replied. Yuma looked at his mother with curiosity.
"To answer this, we need to go back to the first 'protector' of their world who left the Astral World to seek their own way of ranking up." Kazuma carried on. "Astrals that left their world are said to have travelled to, and explored, many others."
"That particular Astral made it's way to our world." Mirai added on. "And is actually a descendant of our family. Specifically, my family."
Yuma raised an eyebrow in confusion. "A descendant...?"
"Yes. So through your mother, you, and your sister, are actually descended from that Astral. That said, any Astral-like abilities are thought to be dormant.
That is, except for you."
"It was believed that you held the potential for tapping into those Astral abilities. As you have seen, the Astrals, especially Eliphas, held a paranoid view that they would disappear if humans began to forget or reject the idea of Duel Monsters, so maybe this was his reasoning for choosing a human who had the potential to awaken their dormant Astral abilities."
"I have felt for a while that Yuma and I meeting was not simply a coincidence." Hope responded. "And this explains why our powers combine well with each other."
"How long have you guys known about this? Just since being here?" Yuma questioned.
"Longer than that." Kazuma replied. "Remember when I was lost in the avalanche and I was found two weeks later? When I fell back then, I somehow wound up in the Astral World. Physically, or just spiritually, I'm unsure, but while I was there, I was contacted by Eliphas who informed me of all this and then gave me the Emperor's Key to give to you, which would allow you to gain access to ZEXAL once you began unlocking your dormant Astral abilities.
But he also told me that he wished for nothing to influence you. Myself, nor your mother were to tell you about all this and that when he felt you were of an age where you may start accessing those powers, Eliphas planned to keep us separate from you in the hopes that he could influence you himself to begin serving your 'purpose' to the Astral world."
Yuma took in a slow breath. "So he took you guys away to here..."
Kazuma nodded. "We knew it was going to happen, but we had no idea when, so we did all we could to prepare both you and your sister for when we inevitably disappeared, and although we knew Eliphas was going to try and influence you, we had confidence in you and we believed that no matter what, you would follow and stick to the path you felt was right."
"While here, we tried to build a relationship with the Astral people. To forge trust and friendship between us and them. Despite Eliphas' ways of doing things, we found the actual residents here to be pleasant and we have been looked after well while being here."
"Through talking with the Astrals, and the many run-ins we had with Eliphas, we learned more about them, their history, the Barians and the Legendary Numbers, as well as the power they held, which is why I decided to hijack the airship and send it to you, in the hopes that you would be able to forge a better path for both the Barians and the Astrals."
With a proud smile Kazuma placed a hand on Yuma's shoulder. "Although your journey is not over yet, we're proud on what you've achieved so far."
Yuma smiled back, elated to hear such words from his father. A realisation then soon hit him, making him look excited at his parents.
"Hey! Since Eliphas was defeated and the Astrals will be starting from scratch with him, that means you guys could come with us, right?? Then after we've solved things in the Barian World we can all go home and you can see sis and granny again and..."
Kazuma and Mirai looked at each other awkwardly with sorrowful glances, before they turned to look back at Yuma. They didn't want to break the hope on his face, but right now, it just wasn't possible.
"I'm sorry, Yuma..." Kazuma began. "... but we can't leave here just yet."
Yuma's face fell instantly into a look of disappointment.
"Even though Eliphas was defeated and will be reborn as a clean slate, we need to make sure that he isn't influenced the same way as he was before." Mirai explained. "So we still need to work with the Astrals and guide them the best we can. You understand, right?"
Although still looking a bit disappointing, Yuma nodded. "I understand." He then looked back up at them with a determined glance.
"But promise me that when you feel you're done here that you'll come and visit us! Sis and granny miss you so much! We all do!! I want us to be a family again!"
Kazuma gave his son a nod. "We promise. Once we feel the Astrals are heading towards a better future, we will return... home..."
He trailed off at the end of the sentence, realising that he didn't quite know where their so called new 'home' was, other than it was in Domino City.
Realising this, Kotori rummaged around in her bag until she brought out a small notepad and a pen. On the notepad, she scribbled something down quickly, then held it out for Yuma's parents to take.
"It's our new address, in Domino City, so you'll be able to find us when you come back."
Mirai took the address off Kotori and gave her a soft smile. "Thank you, Kotori-chan."
"There is something I would like to give you too, son." Kazama slowly brought a card out from his pocket and held it out to Yuma. Taking it, Yuma realised that it was the very monster who had guided them there, his father's 'Rainbow Kuriboh'. As he looked at the card, Rainbow Kuriboh appeared once more and happily buzzed around Yuma.
"Rainbow Kuriboh may prove useful to you, but it can also be used as a way to directly contact us if you need to."
Yuma watched the small monster bouncing around happily in the air near him, before turning to his father. "This is great! Thanks, dad!"
Kazuma gave him a nod in reply.
"Yuma. The path ahead of you will undoubtedly be filled with challenges, but I know that no matter what, you'll continue to make your mother and I proud of you.
Kattobing, Yuma!!"
Giving his son a beaming smile, Kazuma gave him a 'thumbs up'. Grinning back, Yuma also did the same.
"Of course!!"
-----------------------------------
After saying their goodbyes and parting from Yuma's parents, both Yuma and Kotori found themselves walking back the way they came, up the large and long corridor. As they did, they both remained fairly silent, processing everything that they were told. Eventually they came to a part of the corridor which had large windows which looked over the rest of the Astral World.
"It's beautiful here" Kotori said. Yuma nodded in agreement.
As the two watched the landscape before them quietly, Kotori slowly moved her hand so it was holding Yuma's.
"Everything they said was a lot to take in, but I feel it's important to know your heritage. It can really help shape the way you see things.
"Although their misguidance hurt a lot of people... the Astrals have the chance to change. It doesn't erase what has happened, but they can move in a better direction now, with your parent's help."
Kotori then looked up at him with a positive smile.
"And maybe you will be a positive influence to them too."
Smiling back, Yuma squeezed her hand gently.
"I'm sure with my parents help, the Astrals will move towards a better future! Now, we just gotta make sure the Barians get a better future too!"
Still smiling, Kotori nodded at Yuma.
Eventually, the two of them continued on their way up the corridor to meet up with the rest of their party and head onto their destination.
The Barian World.