Chris and Caleb went outside, to the front of the castle, to keep an eye out for any hostiles.

~You seem a bit worried.~ Caleb said, ~What's up?~

"Ah, I have this bad feeling that Suki would be met with more resistance from our own side than from the North..." Chris said, "Kanako would probably want to keep Suki alive at all costs."

As they were talking, a young man approached them. He was slightly taller than Chris, had crimson-colored hair which was spiked back, emerald-green eyes, and wore a dark green armor without a helmet.

"Alright, who are you, and what business do you have here?" Chris asked the newcomer.

"The name's Spike." the young man said, "Basically, my business here regarding the Royal Family has been done yesterday."

"What do you mean by that?" Chris asked.

"Before I explain what my business was, I have something to tell you." Spike said, "Basically, you and I have some things in common...We were both born on the same day, in the same year, and we both have three abilities in common, Element Mastery, Shapeshifting, and Aura Manipulation."

"Hmm..." Chris said, "And it seems I've put a lot more focus on developing my Element Mastery skill than the other two."

"Apparently." Spike said, "I've worked more on the other two. My Aura Manipulation abilities are strong enough that I can mess with others' auras."

"Wait...Let me guess...You screwed around with Suki's aura?" Chris asked.

"Indeed." Spike said, "I did this to cause tension between her and Kanako, by making him think that his nemesis had possessed her."

"And you're telling us this...why?" Chris asked, "I could easily send Caleb here to let Kanako know that he's being tricked. Then again, even if he was told, he wouldn't believe it."

"The standard-issue 'Villain tells Hero of evil plan' cliche." Spike said, "But enough of the past. We're talking about right now, right here. Basically, I wish to fight you."

"Very well...I'll accept your challenge." Chris said, "After this, we'll go our seperate ways, acting as if you hadn't said anything beforehand."

"Very well...we use only what we have..." Spike said, "Our fists, our feet, and our abilities."

"Alright, let's do this!" Chris said.
The battle between Spike and Chris began, and Caleb had decided to keep her distance from the battle. For the first thirty seconds of the battle, neither fighter could get in a clean hit, as either the attack was dodged or blocked. Chris then managed to avoid an incoming punch and counter with a sweeping Blaze Kick, knocking Spike to the ground. Spike got back up onto his feet and managed to graze Chris's midsection with a left hook Thunder Punch, momentarily stunning him and leaving him open to a quick uppercut, which knocked Chris up and back.
Chris got up and said, "Not bad...but this is just the beginning!" Chris then sent a Frost Diver at Spike, effectively freezing his legs to the ground. Chris then rushed in with a Lightning Kick. Although Spike managed to catch the attack before it hit, he didn't see the Blaze Kick to the face that Chris followed up with. Chris got out of Spike's grasp and delivered a kick that not only broke the ice that held Spike to the ground, but also did severe damage to Spike's greaves.
Spike struck back, landing a fierce punch to Chris's chest, effectively knocking the wind out of him, and before Chris could recover, Spike formed two small swords out of ice and left a cut in the back of each of Chris's shoulders. Chris fell down from the attack.

"What's wrong?" Spike asked, "This is supposed to be your strong point, elemental attacks."

"...This has to be some sort of play we're putting on." Chris said, "I don't think the battle would have been much different if you just challenged me to the battle without all the dramatic stuff beforehand."

"You know, you're right." Spike said, "Even if I presented myself as a random wandering warrior who was just searching for a worthy opponent, you'd take me on. None of the stuff I said I did regarding Lady Suki, I actually did."

"Oh, really?" Chris asked, "But the other things you talked about?"

"Everything but my exact date of birth and all that villainy stuff is true." Spike said, "We're still on the same starsign, however, so my date of birth isn't that far off."

"Very well..." Chris said, then got up, "...back to the battle." Chris then called up a Fire Wall right under Spike's feet, doing some damage.
Chris backed up and formed a large hammer out of ice. Spike wasn't able to see what Chris was doing, as the Fire Wall obstructed his view. When the Fire Wall died down, the first thing Spike saw was Chris jumping at him, hammer ready.

*WHAM!*

Chris swung the hammer with all the force he could, and nailed Spike over the head with it, crushing some of his armor in the process. Spike took a few seconds to shake off the blow, and after the next step he took, most of the armor covering his legs broke off, revealing pants of about the same color as his armor, but no shoes or socks. Spike nearly fell over when this happened, and Chris took advantage of that, and two roundhouse kicks from Chris later, the armor covering Spike's arms fell off, revealing the sleeves of a short-sleeve shirt, same color as the rest of Spike's outfit.

Much to Chris's surprise, however, Spike chuckled after this had happened. "Heh...normally, I would have taken those off to do my best move anyway." Spike said.

"So I take it you're going to show me your best move now?" Chris asked, "Very well, show me your move."
"Very well...Get ready!" Spike said, then jumped back. At the top of his jump, he seemed to hover in mid-air, and then his body started glowing.

"A transformation technique..." Chris thought to himself, "No hand motions, secret words, or special weapons required...just pure willpower...I have a pretty good idea of what form he'll take with this, but nothing is certain..."

Spike's form started changing, into something that was certainly much bigger than his normal form. When the transformation was complete, Spike was now what could be described as two-thirds dragon and one-third lion, standing at around 17 feet tall. What remained of Spike's armor had also transformed to fit his new form.

"Yeah...looks like I was right in my guess..." Chris thought to himself.

Spike wasted no time showing off his new form's abilities, entrapping Chris in a ring of flames too tall for Chris to jump over.
"Let's see...two options remain." Chris said, "Let's try the first one." Chris then attempted to extinguish the fire with a Storm Gust.

...Nothing. The ring of fire was too strong for the freezing-cold winds generated by the attack to affect it. After the end of the attack, Chris looked around, and then said, "Looks like I'm down to one option...and I think this the real reason that Spike approached me...to train me in this technique..." Chris then sat down and took off his shoes and socks, "If he was barefoot and barehanded when he did it, there has to be a reason."

Chris focused his power, then a few seconds later, he began to feel a transformation taking place. All aspects of the transformation occured gradually and simultaniously. What Chris felt to most of wasn't the change in body structure, but more of the sudden growth involved with the transformation. The whole process took only twenty seconds, and Chris's new form was similar to that of Spike's, the only differences being the "mane" being a bit more disorganized as opposed to Spike's being spiked back, and that Chris was only standing at 16 and a half feet tall. Chris's shirt, like Spike's armor, had resized itself to fit.

Even in this form, the ring of flames was concealing him...until Chris parted the flames as if he was opening a curtain. Spike was somewhat surprised by this, but only for a second. "The stage is set, and the players are ready..." Chris said, "It would probably take me a couple of times doing this before I get comfortable with this form...But enough talk. The technique won't last forever..."

Chris and Spike then flew into the air, taking their battle away from the castle.
The battle started with both of them firing off elemental breath attacks. Two minutes of this proved that such attacks weren't very effective for either one. It wasn't so much that the attacks were often evaded, but a direct hit didn't seem to deal much damage to either one.

The two then closed in on each other and took the battle to close range. Both fighters traded blows equally, neither one getting any serious advantage. A minute and a half later, however, Chris managed to nail Spike with an overhead blow, effectively sending him straight to the ground, leaving a deep imprint where he landed.

"Whoa...I think I may have overdid that one." Chris said as he dove down to where Spike landed. However, when Chris got there, he saw that Spike had returned to his normal form, and was lying facedown on the ground, "Was it the force of the blow that knocked you out of that form or..."

Spike started to get up, and said, "I don't know who would be luckier with that kind of timing..."

"So it ended right after you hit the ground?" Chris said, landing just outside the newly-made hole.

"Yes." Spike replied.

"That probably means I only have a few seconds left on mine..." Chris said. As soon as he finished his sentence, Chris reverted back to normal. "...yep. Are you able to get out alright?"

Spike managed to climb out of the hole. "Yeah." Spike said, "Different circumstances, different opponent, different abilities, and the end result came out almost identical to when I last fought with my brother..."

Almost as if on cue, another young man approached them. He was a few years younger, and stood at 5'4". He had brown, somewhat messy hair, a bit better-kept than Chris's, and brown eyes. He wore a gray chainmail armor over a yellow shirt, and light-brown pants and shoes. He was carrying two swords and a shield on him, one sword, sheathed on his back, seemed to match the young man's colors, while the other, which was in his hands, seemed to fit Spike's color scheme better.

"There you are, brother." The young man said, "I went looking for you all over the place, then I heard something crash into the ground." The young man looked around, then said, "By the looks of it, it was probably one of you two..."

"I think we both had something to do with it." Chris said, "After all...one of us had to slam the other into the ground..."

"And which one of you got knocked down?" the young man asked.

"Once again, Ataru, it was me." Spike said, letting his head down to let out a sigh of frustration, "It ended the same way our battle did..."

"Actually, I think I've heard a tale of that battle." Chris said, "It may have gone the same way for Spike, but I remembered to drop altitude to make a safe landing..."

"Heh...you did, huh?" Ataru said with a somewhat embarassed look on his face, "Probably because you didn't have your attention diverted elsewhere...it's a good thing I had someone that was able to use a technique that would soften my landing..."

"Yeah, that's why we have friends..." Chris said, "One person can't do everything..."

"By the way," Ataru said, "I don't think I know you by name yet..."

"The name's Chris." Chris said, "Remember it."

"I will." Ataru said.

"Well...I've got some of my strength back..." Spike said, "Anytime you're ready, Ataru, we can go home."

"Wait!" Chris said, "What about the pieces of armor that I broke off in the battle?"

"Keep them." Spike said, "They hold me back for the most part."

"Okay..." Chris said, then headed back to the castle.

"Well, I'm ready. Let's go!" Spike said, then he and Ataru headed home.