Two warriors with their weapons out were judging each other's. Their eyes never left the other one as their blade was ready to cut down it's opponent in pieces. The gray dragon observed the samurai as the wind blew on their side.

"You will regret entering in our territory dragon," the samurai grunted.

"Not really. I was searching for an interesting opponent and I got one," a small smirk appeared in the face of the dragon, "Prepare to lose though."

"You can delude yourself that way dragon," the monster declared.

The two charged and they slashed, as the battle began in search of the victor.

Story 5: Bond Through Blades

"That was ten years ago," the dragon whispered as he walked in the plain of his own world.

He was Mizaru, a bipedal dragon with gray scales, paler on his underbelly, white hair and brown eyes with small iris, giving him an intimidating and serious look, a pair of small horns pointing forward and a long gray tail ending with a white fluff. He wore a brown cloth, covering on his left side, gray pants, red shoulder plates, red belt with a white rope holding it together. He wore a big sword and a katana.

The katana wasn't originally his own, but a first from a friend while his sword was inherited from his grandfather. His father had a wound that permanently prevented him from fighting, so it skipped to him.

Mizaru was a serious dragon with a strong liking for battle. He was often searching for an opponent to challenge and achieve victory. He also had a good taste on alcoholic beverage and often held a brown canteen on him.

He reached the spot he wanted to be, Looks like I'm here early. Guess I'll have to wait for him, a small smile appeared on his face as he sat on a large rock. He took out his canteen and drank a sip of it. He cleaned his mouth and watched the sky. It was a perfect day to be outside, the wind is nice and it's just cold enough to go as far as we want. We won't overhead after this. He lightly chuckled.

He looked at the clouds, they were small and didn't covered the blue sky. The gentle breeze blew on him. He scratched his head and sighed, a little tired of waiting. He thought back of what his father once said. You are so impatient my son. You have to learn and wait. Things aren't always coming when you want them to be, "Right," he grumbled, knowing that his father was right. He was always right.

Except for one thing and it was his future mate. He was getting old enough to get a mate. He was aware of it and rejected every female presented to him. As the son of the leader of his village, he was getting many proposals, but he refused each of them. He got no more choice in his village. He never really expressed his interest in the brother of one of the potential mates, as it wasn't seen well. He needed to forge a descendance. His father was wrong about picking the right female mate, when it was a male he preferred.

He heard something and the dragon frowned. His body tensed up. He waited for anything to happen. His eyes looked left and right, nothing interesting in his sight. A sound was heard and light suddenly reflected on his eyes. He looked down and the blade of a katana was there.

"You sure dropped your guard Mizaru," the voice of another monster said.

Mizau chuckled, "Maybe," he grabbed the handle of his sword and pushed his ambusher weapon away, he rolled on the ground and pointed his big sword at the other monster, "But it was easy to get it back Kenrosai."

The monster was Scorpion Armor, Kenrosai. It was a Skull Warrior from Katana World. He was a humanoid skull being with his eyes difficult to see because of his samurai helmet. His armor was crimson red with two wings like metal plates on his back, a pair of black horns on his helmet, gray skin that looked like bones instead of flesh appearing from under some spot of the armor. He had a long Katana drew, while his secondary weapon was still in its scabbard.

Kenrosai charged and their blades collided. The two looked at each other's eyes with a small smirk on their face. The samurai pushed the bipedal dragon away and slashed, but it was blocked by the large sword.

The dragon jumped in the air, avoiding the next attack and jumped again when his feet touched the helmet. He rolled on the ground and blocked the next attack of his enemy, which was aiming his back.

The dragon turned around and the sword fight continued. Both tried to go around the defenses of their adversary, but couldn't. Both warriors had quick reflexes and large experience in sword fight. It wasn't only that, it was as if they both knew the fighting style of the others.

Kenrosai was precise in his strike, showing that he learned how to fight through discipline and repeating the same attack often. He was predictable, but his attacks were dangerous if they passed the defense of its enemy.

Mizaru was different. The gray dragon didn't have the predictability of someone who learned a battle art. He was simply adapting to his enemy and learning some of their techniques through observation. He was less predictable, but the techniques were poorly effective.

"How's my world Kenrosai? Nice sight, right?" the dragon asked before lightly chuckling.

"It was. Then I saw you. Your scales aren't looking well with the greenery of this land you know," the samurai replied.

"Sure. That makes me more eye catching for the others," he smirked. He ducked when blade and wounded with a kick on the gut of the samurai. He sent him a few feet away. The two glared at each other's, "I notice you were a little late."

The samurai grunted, "You're wrong. You were here a little early. That is annoying me Mizaru."

"Why? Because you were a little too busy?" he grinned.

He nodded, "Had to get rid of an annoying intruder before meeting you. This one wasn't like you thought. Just bad intention and not: 'I want to fight an interesting opponent because I have dad issue.'"

The gray dragon frowned, "I have no dad issue."

Kenrosai laughed, "It's always funny to anger you like that," he put his weapon back in its scabbard, "I think that's enough for our greetings, right?"

"Of course," he also put his weapon where it first was, "Good to see you again my friend."

They grabbed each other hands and squeezed it.

"Me too," the samurai replied.

After their little greetings, they sat together and drank some alcoholic beverage, "Anything special going on in your world?" the gray dragon asked.

"Nothing interesting really going on and nothing interesting I cannot share with an enemy. It's a little boring. All I can do is train with everyone and trying to master everything I've learned," the monster gazed at the other one, "What about you? Any dragon lady trying to hit you?"

"Not anymore. I rejected all of them," he replied as he drank the rest of his canteen, "I am not interested in any of them."

"It happens. Still a virgin myself. Even with my talent, I don't have the face to get a lady," he chuckled, "Still trying thought."

"Good luck with that," the other dragon encouraged him.

"Did you train with my little gift?" Kenrosai asked with a small smile.

"Of course. It feels weird to use a katana instead of my sword, but I'm getting to hang out of it. Maybe one day, I'll be able to greet you with this weapon," Mizaru smiled.

"I will enjoy having our blade crossing together. Hope this day will come soon," he slapped the back of the dragon and laughed, "That will be the battle of our dream!"

"Still not interested in one of our swords?" the gray dragon asked.

"Nope," he finished drinking everything from his own canteen, "There is no special battle art with your own weapons. I cannot fight by slashing around and hoping for the best."

"I still manage to beat you the first time we met," Mizaru replied with a grin.

"You little liar. I was the one who beat you," Kenrosai replied offended, but still having an amusing smile on his face, "You were the one who was first on the ground and ate dirt. Wondering if you found it good thought."

"Naw. You were the one who lost against me. I remember clearly my sword passing through your armor and you felt on the ground unconscious, before I felt."

The two continued to argue about who lost the battle first, but never managed to convince the other one who was the best.

"One day. We will have to correct this my friend," the samurai from Katana World concluded.

"Agreed," the gray dragon replied.

The duo was quiet for a while. They just enjoyed the breeze gently blowing on their face as they watched the clear sky. Only a few clouds were present. Eventually, something was obscuring the sky. The duo frowned as they tried to see what it was. Something was in the way of the son. The thing was getting bigger and bigger, until it landed near them. The giant thing that covered the sun landed in front of them.

It was a giant gray monster with many orange eyes looking at them. He yelled, "Shark!"

The two understand what it said and immediately drew their weapons. They were perplexed by the question and their instinct told them that answering was dangerous. Just the way the monster looked at them, as if he found something interesting. Mirazu grunted, "Which of us is stronger?" he looked at Kenrosai and lightly grinned, "I don't know ugly fiend, but I am not answering your question."

The fiend didn't care for the insult, as if he didn't care for it at all.

"Me too sir Yamigedo," he pointed his weapon at the snout of the fiend, "I can feel the threat behind your words… Even if they didn't sound like it."

A large grin appeared on the face of the gray fiend, he raised with all its height and readied his claws, "Shark!"

"We won't lose to you!" the duo yelled.

The claws came to them and the two avoided them with easy. The samurai and the dragon split and surrounding Yamigedo. They knew he was a powerful opponent and underestimating him would be fatal. The fiend looked at Kenrosai and neglected Mizaru.

The gray dragon used his chance and charged in the blind spot of the fiend. He jumped and aimed the back, but couldn't reach him. One of his three centipede tail came to him and had to block it with his sword. He was sent far away and had to jump on the ground if he didn't want to hurt himself in the momentum. Once he recovered, he charged again.

Kenrosai saw this and decided to see the fiend as a monster without a blind spot. He avoided the claws coming at him. He slid on the ground when the fiend slashed again and charged. He never slowed down and jumped on the arm when it came to him. He ran on it and avoiding the other hand ready to splat him, between the fingers. When he was on the shoulder, he jumped and slashed the face, leaving a small wound that barely bleed.

"Dammit," the samurai grunted as he blocked the claws and was sent far away, just like Mizaru.

The dragon charged glared at the great fiend. He didn't know anything about it, but he wouldn't go down, "You might be big, but you will fall!" He opened his mouth and released black flame, aiming for the head of Yamigedo.

The great fiend blocked it with his arm, "Shark," before chuckling.

"I am not a weakling!" the dragon grunted as he avoided getting stomped. He grabbed his sword and charged. He let out a war cry, while avoiding the other attacks of the fiend and slashed on the foot coming at him. He avoided getting stomped and his weapon caused a minor wound. He panted as he turned around and pointed his sword towards his enemy, "Got enough?"

Kenrosai came by his side and commented, "This isn't going well for us. I'm already getting tired."

"We didn't recover from our greetings," the gray dragon admitted, grunting to himself. Who would have expected something like that to happen? The fiend just came to kill them, "We aren't going to lose. We can hurt him."

The fiend was gazing at his wounds but not because it hurt him or anything. The duo noticed that Yamigedo was evaluating the effectiveness of their attacks. They wondered what his intention was, but it wasn't what was important right now. The two readied to continue the battle.

Yamigedo gazed at them and grunted, "Shark?"

The same question he asked before. The two monsters frowned and replied, "Won't reply to that."

The fiend grunted, "Shark!"

"Going all out?" Mizaru wondered.

The fiend was near them and with one kick, smashed them far away. The two monsters painfully grunted as they landed on the ground and rolled. They returned on their feet and felt the full impact of the attack. They tried to recover from the blow, but their enemy was already near them and crushed them with his hand. The ground cracked by the full strength of the giant monster. Under his palm, the samurai and the dragon panted loudly.

"D-damn," the gray dragon managed to say.

"Too… s-strong," Kenrosai conceded before dropping his katana.

Mizaru grunted, but his grip on his sword was too fragile to do anything. He could only glare furiously at the Great Fiend.

"Shark? Shark! Yamigedo gave an ultimatum.

"We rather die right!" Mizaru replied as he looked at his friend.

Kenrosai didn't look at his friend. He was thinking about the ultimatum.

"You aren't listening to him right? He will kill you if you say answer it," the gray dragon warned.

"And if we said nothing, we both die," he looked at the giant who restrained them, "Why do you want to know how is the strongest?"

"Shark," he grunted.

"Claiming his… final demon?" Mizaru whispered, we are not the only one he attacked. We are just his last… for what? What? We can't let him claim- his thought stopped. It was clear what would come if they resisted. Someone else will ended up in the claws of Yamigedo. They would die and someone else will be enslaved. It was clear that a sacrifice was needed. The fiend was serious about it. He looked at them and waited for his answer.

"Shark?"

Kenrosai yelled, "I am the strongest! If you want a warrior, pick me! But let my friend go! He will lie about it!"

"Kenrosai!" the gray dragon yelled as he shook his head, "You aren't the-"

"I am!" his friend desperately yelled, looking into the eyes of the other dragon. His voice was lightly shaking, as if he hoped that his friend will understand.

"Shark," the Great Fiend replied.

"Take me," the samurai whispered.

Mizaru yelled the name of his friend as the Yamigedo grabbed the monster samurai from Katana World and left the wounded dragon behind.

Mizaru panted from exhaustion as he sat on the ground. He grabbed his sword and tried to stand up. After long effort, he finally succeeded. He slowly tried to chasse the fiend. The dragon knew it was pointless and reckless, but… I won't leave you behind! I won't! he continued for a while. He barely made a mile before the night came and landed on the knees, "Damn you Yamigedo! Damn you!" he let down a tear as he continued to curse the Fiend.

"Looks like you are his final victim," a voice said behind him.

The gray dragon turned around and saw a long and big green dragon with a pink mustache gazing at him with compassion. He added, "Sit down. We have much to talk."

AC: This is the end of this chapter.

I now have all the motivation for five of the Cavalry dragons who will appear in the next season of Earth Battlefield. The two remaining dragons will have other motivation.

As for Mizaru being gay, it just came when I was writing him at the beginning, but it won't turn into a romantic yaoi in the story. As how I'm seeing him, he will only develop feelings for someone he knew for a long time and showed some signs of reciprocity. If not, then nothing more will come. It's just a part of him, but won't be express in the story. Because of that and too much in his mind. He is focused on saving his friend, even after so long.

I will take a break until April before continuing in the next Buddy Fight project. I was supposed to take a break for March, but it ended up with finishing the How We Became A Hundred Demon.

Next thing will be to advance a little the story: A Boy And His F(r)iend but not too much to spoil a few things that will come later in the main story.