The Ultimate Test Elena looked at Ryudo with complete shock. She put the blanket back over his face and then pinched her face. It hurt, she then lifted up the blanket again and Ryudo was still there. Elena knew that this was no dream. Ryudo was just as surprised as Elena. First, by being attacked by a strange person he never met and then waking up with a killer headache and coming face to face with Elena. Elena was so happy to see Ryudo that she grabbed him in a bear hug within a second. "Ryudo, I'm so happy to see you again. I was starting to think that you would never return." Ryudo began to blush from the attention. "Um....I'm really glad to see you too, Elena, but could you please bandage my cut and maybe give me some asprin?" Elena looked down at Ryudo's head. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I forgot, now hold still." Elena got some bandages and some alchohol. Elena poured some alchohol on the bandages and pressed them to Ryudo's head. Ryudo flinched a bit, but refraned himself from moving. Elena then wrapped the bandage around his head and said,"There you go, all finished." "Thanks. Um....do you know what attacked me? It had a really hard skull and horns." Elena sweatdropped a little. "That was Becky. She didn't mean to hurt you, she thought you were going to hurt one of us when she saw your sword." "Oh, I guess that explains a lot." Just then, Brandan comes walking through the door. As he passes Elena and Ryudo, he trips on the First Aid Kit which Elena left in the middle of the floor. Brandan falls face first on the floor and gives a small yell. "Elena, don't leave stuff on the floor. You know I'm too tall to notice things on the ground." Elena laughs a bit. "I'm very sorry, Brandan. I didn't think you would come in at this moment and I kinda forgot I left the kit on the floor." Brandan rubs his sore face and replies, "I trip on a First Aid Kit. Health Care will be my undoing," while shrugging. Elena gives Brandan a look, "What are you doing in here?" Brandan looks back,"This is my van, you know. I think the man who owns it has the right to use his bathroom." "Such a big boy, Brandan. When did you get off diapers?" Brandan shoots her a pussy look. "Aha.aha......sooo funny." With that, Brandan walks into his bathroom. Elena looks back to Ryudo who has a very surprised look on his face. "Um...who is that?" Elena points to the bathroom, "Brandan? Don't worry, we're in no relationship like boyfriend and girlfriend. He's the lead male singer in my minstrel group and he drives the van." Brandan walks out of the bathroom and steps out of the van to go back to his seat in the shade outside. Just then, Elena and Ryudo hear someone yelling in a different language. "What is that," asks a very curious Ryudo. Elena sweatdrops and says,"Oh, that's only Jim. He speaks a second language, fluently." "What is he saying?" "No clue. My guess is that he is yelling at Brandan or Becky." Ryudo then stands up. "Ryudo, are you sure you are alright? Do you have a headache?" Ryudo stops at the door,"No, I pretty much slept it off. Besides, I want to meet your new minstrel friends. I need a good laugh about now." Elena rolls her eyes. "You're going to get a laugh alright." Elena and Ryudo walk outside infront of Becky, Brandan, and Jim. Becky runs over to Elena and says,"Hey, he's ok, right? I didn't hurt him too bad, right?" Ryudo laughs a bit,"No, I'm ok. My head can take a lot worse than a little bump." "Oh, good. I was getting a little nervious. Anyway, my name is Becky." Becky extends her hand and Ryudo takes it and shakes. Jim then runs over. "HIHI, I'm Jim, I'm the world's best, or soon to be best, computer hacker." Jim also shakes Ryudo's hand. "Hey, Jim, you forgot "short" in your intro," said Brandan with his hand cupped around his mouth. Jim turned red and yells something in his second language. Elena points over to Brandan. "And that would be Brandan, who you met earlier." "Yeah, I remember him,"said Ryudo with sarcasam in his voice. Brandan lifts his eyebrows a bit,"Speaking of names, what's yours?" Ryudo blushed a bit but stopped. "Right, sorry. The name's Ryudo. I'm a geohound and bodyguard to the princess here." Brandan laughs,"Princess, that's a good one. That perfectly fits Elena. Oh, Elena, don't worry. Now that I've seen this Ryudo guy, I believe you. Now, on to business. From what Elena has told me, you sound like a pretty amazing guy. I challenge you to see which one of us is the superior male. If you don't, I guess that proves your a little chicken- boy. BUCK BUCK BUCK," says Brandan while he flaps his arms up and down. Ryudo is a bit insulted by this and accepts. "Your on!" Becky, Jim, and Elena all watch the two and sweatdrop. "Ok, Ryudo, the first test is the test of balance. The next is speed. The final and most challenging test is of strength. For balance, you must stand on a tight rope and the first to fall off loses. For speed, you must hit three pucks into a goal and the one to get all three in the fastest wins. For strength, you have to beat me in a duel. The one who wins the most tests is champ." Ryudo gives Brandan a confident smile. "I'll win so fast you won't have time to blink." Brandan smiles and replies,"We'll see, Ryudo, we'll see." Elena finally steps in. "Don't you think you guys are going a little to far with this." But they don't answer, they just stare eachother in the eyes. Everyone else sweatdrops. Brandan and Ryudo start getting ready for their competition. Becky, Jim, and Elena all sit in their foldable chairs and watch the two. Jim leaves to get something in the van. Becky gives Elena a sly smile and taps her on the shoulder. "You do you think is going to win?" Elena looks over at Ryudo and Brandan as they have trouble setting up the tightrope. "To tell you the truth, Becky, both seem capable of winning. I mean, they both have kind of the equal strength." Becky frowns a bit. "I can kinda see that, but I mean, is Ryudo fast and balanced? I know Brandan is balanced but I'm not too sure on his speed." Just then, Jim walks out of the van with three drinks and a large bowl of popcorn. He hands two drinks to the girls and takes one for himself. "This should get interesting. I thought we could use some refreshments while we watch these two kill eachother,"says Jim with a big grin on his face. Brandan and Ryudo finish up and the competition is about to begin. Brandan and Ryudo stand in front of the tightrope which is only two feet above the ground. Brandan turns to Ryudo and says,"Alright, the rule for this test is that we have to jump on the tightrope and get balanced. The first to fall loses. Becky, start us up." Becky stands up,"Ok, on your mark.......get set.........GO!!" Brandan and Ryudo both jump on the tightrope. Brandan gets his balance easily, but Ryudo starts to sway from side to side. The two remain in their positions. Five minutes pass and Ryudo leans over too far and falls off. Brandan gives a triumphant smile. Becky stands up again and says,"Ryudo is out, Brandan wins the test of balance." Everyone except Brandan and Ryudo cheer. Ryudo stands up and brushes himself off,"Ok, you win this round. I'll beat ya' in the speed test." "We'll see,"says a confident Brandan. Brandan and Ryudo walk over to their garage cans and pick up their hockey sticks. Jim stands up this time and says,"This is the test of speed. The first to knock in all three pucks into their trash can with the fastest time wins. Everybody ready? On your mark.....get set........GO!!" Brandan and Ryudo both raise their hockey sticks. Brandan shoots one puck in after the other with a pretty good time. Brandan turns to face Ryudo and says,"We'll looks like I win a...HUH?!" Ryudo is sitting on his garbage can with all three pucks in it and smiles. Jim stands up and says,"Ryudo got his in the fastest, so Ryudo wins the test of speed." Everyone cheers. Ryudo and Brandan walk to a large clear area and get their weapons ready. Elena now stands up. "Both Ryudo and Brandan have won one test. The winner of this test will be declared champion. For this test, you must battle eachother and the one left standing wins. One....Two.....Three.....BEGIN!!!" Ryudo begins by charging at Brandan at top speed. Ryudo swings his sword but Brandan jumps back and dodges it. Brandan then takes out his weapon and fires it at Ryudo. Ryudo tries to dodge but gets hit with a small beam. The beam does minor damage because it wasn't a dirct hit. The attack causes Ryudo to flinch and stumble backwards. Ryudo is confused and he then looks up at a smiling Brandan who has positioned himself on a tall branch of a tree. Brandan grins at the confused Ryudo,"I bet your confused, right. You see, you use a sword for a weapon, but I use a lazer gun which I built myself. This gun does some good damage when hit directly and causes the victim to flinch and become in a state of shock for a moment. My gun also gives me good accuracy from a high distance. So you see, I'm unbeatable." Ryudo stares at Brandan tring to think of a way to beat him. 'There has to be a way to beat him,'Ryudo says mentally. "This is going to be harder than choosing between Elena and Millenia,"says Ryudo with a bit of sarcasam. Brandan gives a confused look about what Ryudo just said. Ryudo thinks to himself again as he remembers the first two tests,'Lets see, I can't knock him off with ground attacks because he can avoid them and still keep his balance. Hey, I'm faster than him, maybe I can run up to him while avoiding his attacks and break the branch down. He said his gun has the best aim when he's up high. I'll only get one shot, oh well, here goes nothing.' Ryudo charge at Brandan. Brandan fires a few shots but Ryudo zig-zags and avoids them. Ryudo swings at the branch, cutting it off. Brandan holds onto the branch as is falls. Ryudo backs up a bit to avoid the branch. He powers up a DRAGON LIGHTNING! attack. As soon as Brandan hits the ground, Ryudo fires his attack and Brandan shoots at the same time. Both attacks hit their targets directly and do some good damage. Ryudo and Brandan collapse for a moment and slowly get up. Both are panting heavily and then they collapse once more. Becky stands up and says,"Brandan and Ryudo can no longer fight. The match is a tie and both are the champs. Alright!" Brandan gets to his feet slowly and brushes himself off. Ryudo also gets up, but his cut starts to bleed again. Elena runs up to them."Are you two all right? That was some fight." Brandan smiles. "Yeah it was, that was one great duel, Ryudo. You're alright." Ryudo nods,"Same to you. Did you really build that thing? It's amazing!" "Yup, but I think you should fix that cut of yours. When Becky does 'em, they don't heal as quickly as others. Oh, by the way, what did you mean when you said 'this is harder than choosing between Elena and Millenia'?" Ryudo looks at Elena and then at Brandan. "Well, I'm sure Elena has told you about Millenia, right. Since I love them both, it's hard for me to choose between them." "I see. Does this Millenia have red hair and is a teacher at Liligue City?" "Yeah" "Well, I was talking to my friend in Liligue the other day. He ways telling me about how he is dating this teacher there. He said her name is Millenia. If that's the case, then Millenia is taken." Ryudo looked rather suprised. "Really, I would have never guessed." "This will make things so much easiler,"Ryudo said under his breath. "Huh....what did you say?" Ryudo looked at him a bit nerviously,"Oh nothing, just nothing." Elena walks up to Ryudo and took his arm. "Come on,Ryudo. Let me fix that bandage for you." Ryudo smiles at her,"Ok, thanks, Elena." Elena sits Ryudo on one of the folding chairs. As Elena puts some new bandages on Ryudo's head, Brandan, Jim, and Becky look at them."Aw, they make the nicest couple, don't you think,"says Becky with her hands folded together. Jim gives a nod,"I so agree." Brandan smiles at Elena and Ryudo,"Hey guys, you think we should let Ryudo come along? You know to help with the equipment and stuff." Becky and Jim nod,"You bet, I think it would be wrong to keep those two part,"says Becky in a mushy voice. Jim put his thumb up,"It's ok with me. Maybe he can help with my computer hacking." "Ok, then it's decided, Ryudo is our newest member. Let's go give them the good news." All three walk towards Elena and Ryudo. Becky runs ahead, leaving Jim and Brandan behind. "Hey, Brandan?" "What?" "If Ryudo is hanging with us, do I have to sleep in the tub again?" "HAHAHA....no way, unless you want to, munchkin." Brandan walks ahead of Jim. "HEY!!!!!!! I'M NOT A MUNCHKIN!!!," yells Jim as he runs to catch up to Brandan.