hi, so its been a little while huh, turns out being in uni is lot of work and trying to write this story when you keep erasing what you wrote before cause you forgot where you were going is really hard and takes a lot of time. this chapter was originally a lot longer but I cut out some stuff and I am making the rest into another chapter. anyway I hope you guys enjoy this and any comments or questions feel free to ask me, its always nice to hear from people who actually take the time to read this. im hoping to have the next chapter done relatively soon but no data yet so yeah... anyways enjoy!

Chapter 3

As the police car pulled up beside the dorm Kerry looked out the window at the building standing over him, It looked like your average apartment complex but apparently it was owned by the school and housed a number of staff but a room was free and the school had agreed that Kerry could use it since he had nowhere else to go. He and Tasuku entered the building and were greeted by the building manager who gave them a key to his room, he had been informed that the rent for the room had been paid by the buddy police for now since Kerry was still under investigation. Kerry felt bad about this he was again being handed something without having to pay for it himself, he assumed this wasn't usually the case for someone in his position but since he was just a helpless kid they had taken pity on him. After thanking the manager and finding his room the two of them walked into what looked a very basic setup for one person a small lounge area with a kitchen area attached at the back and two doors down a hallway to his right which he assumed were a bedroom and bathroom. "heh, it's not that much different from my place actually" Tasuku said as the two looked around, "well maybe a bit smaller but It will be just you so im sure that's fine" Kerry looked around wondering if he even knew how to look after himself, he had no idea if he could even cook or what he liked to eat for that matter, guess I'll go from trial and error he thought to himself.

"Do you live alone then?" Kerry asked Tasuku, "You can't be that much older than me if you're in middle school right?"

"Oh yeah, special circumstances" Tasuku replied looking a little sad, "I've been independent for some time now" Kerry immediately regretted asking the question, clearly he had struck a nerve and upset Tasuku, so he had successfully managed to hurt his only friend, great going he thought to himself looking down. Noticing Kerry's reaction Tasuku regained his composure and tried to lighten the mood, "but I have jack with me so it's not like I get lonely, he's like a roommate, after a long day's work it's nice to come back home and relax with him and since we are buddy's it's easy to find out what to eat and stuff, makes cleaning a whole lot easier too"

"Wow, you guys really seem to get along, guess being partners at work makes you great friends huh"

"Yeah we have a lot of fun together, but hey im sure when you get a buddy you'll have the same, come on let see what you what you have in the fridge, im sure you're hungry after everything that's happened" as soon as Tasuku said that Kerry quickly became aware of how hungry he really was come to think of it he hadn't eaten since he woke up and he had no idea when he had eaten before that"

"Yeah that sounds like a good idea" after a quick check it was obvious someone had given Kerry some basic things to start him off, he and Tasuku then worked together to make something for them and jack to eat though jack refused to be seen in his mini form for some reason so he would have to eat later, after chatting about Tasuku's job for a while and then asking about his school Kerry realised it was getting quite late and they both had school in the morning so they should be getting ready so after cleaning up Tasuku got ready to leave.

"Well, I'd better get going, you going to be ok getting to school tomorrow?

"Yeah I should be fine, once I get to the plaza just look for the giant escalators right." Tasuku had told Kerry the rough directions to the school and told him where he could go shopping. Tasuku nodded before placing his hand on Kerry's shoulder and locking eyes with him.

"If you get into any trouble just contact us, it's not going to be easy on your own but if you ever need to talk just contact me ok". Tasuku's words were sincere clearly he had been through a lot and didn't like seeing someone in this position but Kerry was grateful for this help, he would have to find some way of repaying him for all this. After saying farewell to Tasuku, Kerry decided to inspect his room. It contained a simple single bed, chest of drawers and a wardrobe which he found to be stocked with a few simple outfits, yet another thing given to him, the only things that belonged to his were his old clothes which he found to be hanging there as well and his deck. Kerry took out his cards and quickly sorted through them he made a few minor adjustments with the cards he had been found with before lying his deck on the chest of drawers and getting ready for bed, he had a long first day at Aibo tomorrow so he should rest up early he thought, it didn't take long once his head hit the pillow for sleep to take him.

Darkness, nothing but darkness surrounded him once again as he looked around the empty void. This again? He thought to himself as he wondered the empty void before he could see shadows mass together and a familiar voice spoke to him again. "I only value the strong, if you wish to survive you must become the strongest you can possible be, then we can take our rightful place" the booming voice told him. What is this thing? Kerry thought as it spoke, what does it want with me? Questions that would seemingly remain unanswered as a bonging noise could be heard in the background, again the darkness began to fade and Kerry the darkness began to fade and Kerry once again became aware of the world around him.

Kerry awoke from his dream to hear someone banging on his front door. "Who could that be? He thought as he quickly got up and ran towards the door.

"Mister Oaks, are you in there or not" a voice yelled angrily as someone continued to bang on the door just before Kerry opened it revealing a tall man with blond hair who had a stern look on his face. "Well it's about time, I thought you were never going to get up". Kerry was confused who was this guy and why was he yelling at him at this time in the morning? Wait come to think of it what time was it? He thought before the man seemingly understanding his confusion spoke up. " at this rate you are going to be late for your first day at Aibo, so I suggest you get ready and start running" he said before turning and walking off down the corridor. Nice to meet you too, Kerry though before registering what the man had said.

"Wait, did he say im late" Kerry said out loud before turning to the clock in the lounge and seeing the time. "Yup, im screwed" he said looking at the clock, he had only 10 minutes before homeroom started on his first day. "Why couldn't they have set an alarm" he thought before rushing around the apartment quickly washing up and grabbing another set of jeans and a t-shirt and a black and red chequered jacket and his boots before basically throwing them all on and placing his deck in his pocket. He then rushed out of there faster than he thought humanly possible and sprinting in the direction he hoped the school was. "ok so first impressions and all, I could just be honest and say I overslept or say I got lost and had to get better directions, which one makes me seem less incompetent" Kerry said to himself as he rushed towards the giant escalators coming into view. "Maybe they won't notice, I mean im new I could just say I was checking to see what class I was in, that's perfectly reasonable" he said running up the escalators. "Wait I don't even know what class im in, so where do I..." he started to say before he heard yet another person yelling at him.

"And what time do you call this kid, do you have no respect for your schools pride! Yelled a boy that looked a few years older than him in a fancy green uniform. "Or are you just cutting class, either way im going to make sure your teacher finds out".

"You just got here too Shido" said a girl wearing a blue overcoat and skirt as she walked out from behind him, "I would think the president of the student council being late would be worse than some elementary school student". The girl said walking straight past the boy before stopping to look at Kerry. She narrowed her eyes as if noticing something about him causing Kerry to back up slightly, she then simply muttered something before addressing him herself. "And who are you? She said abruptly.

"Kerry, Kerry Oaks, I just transferred here miss student council member" Kerry said quickly, unnerved by her stare and assuming if Shido was the president she was involved too.

"Why are you wasting time talking to this kid Sofia" said Shido walking towards him, "and you I suggest you get to class before I really do report you, new students should go to the office over there" Shido pointed in the direction of the school office.

"Uh… thanks president Shido" Kerry quickly said before running in that direction, that girl back there had a stare that could freeze you solid he thought before running into the building. As Kerry ran off Shido turned to Sofia wondering why she was fixating on that kid.

"What is it Sofia, at this rate we really will be late" moaned Shido as he wanted to know why she was watching the kid run off.

"we need to keep an eye on him" she responded before walking off in the direction of the middle school, she had a feeling she met him before but couldn't quite remember where either way she sensed something was up with him and she intended to find out what.

Once Kerry had entered the building he had been greeted by a teacher who was waiting for him, after trying to sign out an apology as he was out of breath the teacher simply smiled and told him he was only a few minutes late and because of the situation it was ok. After breathing a sigh of relief Kerry followed the teacher to homeroom for registration and has told to stand by as he was introduced to the class. "Ok everyone, if I could have your attention for a moment, I'd like to introduce you to a new member of our class" as soon as the teacher said that all eyes immediately moved to him making Kerry a little unnerved, guess im going to be the centre to attention right now huh, he thought to himself.

"Huh, another one, didn't the other class get one just a few days ago"

"Yeah, since when are there so many transfers at this time of year"

"Wonder where he came from, do you think he came from far away" Kerry heard a few students whisper, great, answering questions about himself was going to be fun, maybe he should just make something up?

"All right settle down, now there is something you should know, im afraid he has been in a bit of an accident and can't quite remember much about himself, so if you could keep the questions light id appreciate that and so would he" the teacher addressed the class before signalling for him to step to the centre of the class. "So why don't you introduce yourself." Well this should be fun thought Kerry before he cleared this throat and prepared for the worst.

Zanya's POV

Near the back of the class a boy with blue hair in a long ponytail, wearing a smart white uniform sat listening to the boy introduce himself, his name was Kerry Oaks but that was almost all he could really tell him about himself since due to some sort of accident he could not remember anything else, apparently Tasuku had found him and taken care of him which was to be expected, Tasuku was my idol, he would help anyone in need. The kid also mentioned he was a buddyfighter and that he had played a match as castle yesterday with Tasuku at his side. Why can't that happen to me? I thought as the Kerry finished his speech. "So I don't really know much about this place, I'd be grateful if anyone could show me around" Kerry said before smiling and stepping back so the teacher could continue.

"Well Kerry im sure someone here will be happy to show you around, but for now let's see where you can sit…" said the teacher before he began looking for a spare seat, "how about over there next to Zanya" he said pointing to the spare seat next to me. I had no objections, he wasn't a girl so there was no problem there, plus I was curious to find out more about Kerry, I had never met someone with amnesia before but I imagined it must be quite hard on them. If Kerry really didn't know much about the area then I could show him around. As Kerry made his way over to me I made a quick greeting with him before we got ready for the lesson, since Kerry didn't have any books with him we shared mine for now. We made some small talk during an activity we had been given and I learned a bit more about his day with Tasuku, trying not to sound like I wanted every detail but I was glad when he told me what he was like outside of his work at the buddy police. Once the bell went I offered to take him to his next class since he didn't know where it was and he agreed, we didn't share the next one but we both had the buddyfight class later in the day so we promised to meet there. As I waved goodbye to him I wondered what exactly happened to him, he didn't seem like the type to get in fights so what could have happened to put him in the state Tasuku found him in.

Kerry's POV

As I waved bye to Zanya I suddenly became aware I didn't know anyone again, not that it was too much of a problem I was able to get along well enough with him so im sure I can do it again, he thought. The day continued on like that until lunch, he had met a few more people In class but none of them really stood out to him like Zanya, most had only been interested in his connection with Tasuku whereas Zanya asked him about his wellbeing as well, he was unsure of what to do at the moment he hadn't thought to ask someone if he could eat with them and he wasn't sure where Zanya's last class was so he couldn't just stay with him, besides he wouldn't want to ruin his plans just cause he didn't have anything to do, so I decided to go to the roof to get a good view of the school, if nothing else it might be a nice place to relax and unwind after class. As I reached the roof I heard people yelling at each other. "Drum, quit eating my lunch! I heard a boy yell as I saw a boy with black and red hair shove a small red armourdragon away from his lunchbox.

"Hey you snooze, you lose kid" retorted the dragon as he munched whatever he had taken from the boy when he wasn't looking. Im guessing that's his buddy monster? Thought Kerry as he watched the two squabble more while the others with him simply tried to calm the two down. Along with those two there was a girl in a smart green dress with some sort of loops in her hair? Was that some fashion style he didn't know about? Beside her still eating despite the arguing going on beside him was a boy dressed like some sort of mechanic and another boy with what looked like bananas in his hair. Did he stumble upon some weird club or something, these people certainly stood out, you had to wonder what made them choose this style. Along with the other sat a relatively normal looking boy with blue hair and a blue outfit, he seemed to be a little out of place here and I got a feeling looking at him that he was hiding something, but I quickly dismissed that as my imagination as I couldn't imagine him hiding anything important, as I continued looking over them I must have been noticed as I saw the girl say something and all their faces turn to me. They exchanged a few words before the boy with black and red hair ran up to me.

"Hey you the new transfer right? Im Gao Mikado, the mighty sun fighter, I saw your fight with the castle store manager yesterday on Paruko's broadcast, that was awesome, I could tell you love buddyfight by how much fun you were having up there, hey you should come sit with us" the boy finished saying before grabbing my wrist and pulling me over to his group of friends I realised that this was probably who Tasuku mentioned yesterday, he really was very friendly but I had to wonder why he was so interested, surely there were plenty of other buddyfighters he could talk to at Aibo, for what he had heard Gao had managed to beat Tasuku in a buddyfight on his first day of getting a Buddy, while I found it hard to believe Tasuku had lost I could see how determined Gao was already so it made sense why Tasuku thought of him as a rival. I was given a brief introduction to everyone in the group, the girl was named Kuguru, the boy dressed like a mechanic was Baku, the boy with bananas in his hair was Tetsuya and the blue haired boy was named Kiri, I took a seat next to Kiri and introduced myself and they asked me about how I ended up here, obviously they had heard some rumours alongside the actual facts of what happened to me so I decided to clear the story up for them. They seemed sympathetic after I told them I did indeed have amnesia and I still couldn't remember much about myself, I learned that Kiri was a transfer student as well which made me feel a little better he offered to show me around like Gao showed him and I gladly accepted, Tasuku and Zanya had told me where everything was but having Kiri show me would defiantly help. I learned that all of them were in the buddyfight class next so I could just follow them there, although only Kiri Tetsuya and Gao actually played buddyfight, Baku and Kuguru were an analyst and a deck builder. Drum, Gao's buddy seemed to be a good fit for him although the two of them did continue to argue all through lunch I could tell they were good friends, Tetsuya also had a buddy, the demon Asmodai but he was busy today and could not be here right now. The bell went off and we got ready for class again, I was grateful they let me spend lunch with them I was amazed at how quickly I had managed to make new friends at this school, I guess Tasuku had been right Kerry thought to himself, yet another thing to thank him for. As we entered the classroom for buddyfight I saw Zanya sitting a few desks down he gave me a smile but unfortunately he already had someone beside him so I couldn't sit with him I instead took a seat next to Kiri and Gao. The teacher, an older looking man with a lab coat on and strange green hair then got everyone's attention and signalled for the class to begin.

"Ok everyone as im sure you know we have a new student joining us today" the man began as everyone turned to look at me most of them I recognised from earlier In day but a few were new faces and I saw them asking the person closest to them about me. I heard the name Tasuku fly by a few times and became aware they weren't really interested in me, just how I met Tasuku. The teacher cleared his throat getting everyone's attention back before continuing on. "So today as a surprise im giving everyone a card pack" he finished before opening a large box at his side. The class were pleased by this and everyone rushed up to get first pick i walked up with the others to see what they got first. Gao and they others didn't manage to get anything particularly impressive but seemed happy all the same I heard a boy with a cat picture on his shirt brag about some dragon knight he managed to draw before waving it in front of Gao's face, nice to see everyone here gets along, I thought before turning my attention to my card pack, wonder if im lucky today? I said to myself before opening it. "ok lets see, armourknight gargoyle, hysteric spear, armourknight minotaur, battle aura circle and…" Kerry trailed off as when he revealed the last card it began to shine with a bright light before floating up and gaining everyone attention.

"Wait, is that? Kerry heard the boy in the cat shirt say before the card flew off in the direction of the door and out an adjacent window. "no It can't be" the boy continued before the class followed after the card moving to the nearest exit, they all knew what this meant, Kerry ran ahead of the group of students he could hear Gao say something behind him but he didn't quite hear what he said, it didn't matter at this moment anyway if that light came from the card it could only mean one thing.

As this was going on a buzzer was sounding in the buddy police headquarters alerting them to the new activity at Aibo. "Commander I, it looks like a monster is crossing over at Aibo" said stella who was tracking the new monster.

"At Aibo, Who called it? Asked the commander looking at the screen.

"It looks like it's a buddy registration, the one wo drew it is… oh, its Kerry"

"Looks like his luck is turning around, see if Tasuku can go over there"

As the screen displayed both Kerry and the monster attempting to make contact, unknown to the members of the buddy police and the students of Aibo another party was watching tings unfold.

"Well now this makes things more interesting" a dark voice boomed in its empty void "I thought I got rid of you a long time ago, though it seems you are in need of another lesson" the voice echoed in its own empty realm. "That boy is my buddy, and mine alone".