As I ran, my feet kicked up little puffs of dust. The weather was sweltering hot, but I didn't notice a thing. The warm wind carressed my face and whipped my hair back; I loved it.
Where did Zeo say it was again? He had taken me there once. Dungeon Gym . . . Then I saw it. The icon of a spinning bey was molded into the wall. "Finally!" I said, relieved.
I peeked in. Kids ~ boys ~ were battling. Not a girl in sight. But there was a first time for everything . . .
"Shantel? What are you doing here?" Zeo was standing in front of me, confused and slightly irritated. "Girls aren't allowed in here!"
"Who said?" a strict voice asked briskly.
Zeo flinched and turned around. "Coach Steel...?"
"But at the same time, outsiders aren't allowed here either," he remarked.
"I'm his sister," I pointed out helpfully, gesturing to Zeo. "So technically, I'm not an outsider."
Coach Steel grunted. "Eh. Come in."
I walked inside cautiously, my big eyes gazing around in ten-year-old innocence. Some boys were battling, some were racing, some were doing push-ups . . .
"All right," Coach Steel declared, "Battle against Masamune and let's see what you can do."
Out of nowhere, a black-haired boy jumped up to the other side of the stadium. "Let it rip! Ray Striker!" he yelled, launching his bey immediately while I suddenly realized what had happened.
In one fluid movement, I launched my bey as well. Immortal Ghost. Creepy, right?
People gathered around to watch. From the way they were gazing at me with their eyes wide as saucers, they weren't expecting me to launch my bey so quickly. I smiled and mentally commanded my bey to dodge Striker's attack.
Practically everyone gasped when, at the last second, Immortal Ghost swerved sharply to the right. Two things most likely amazed them: One, that I had managed to make my bey dodge without speaking and two, that it was that fast. Speed was my specialty, along with my strong bond with my bey.
Even Zeo, who was used to my battle style, couldn't help but grin in anticipation. Another boy caught my eye; he had chestnut-brown hair and pale-blue eyes. He was watching me, intrigued. Our eyes met for a second, and I was the one who looked away rapidly, hoping no one saw that. But it didn't escape Zeo. I could tell because he was trying and failing to supress a huge smile.
Even Coach Steel noticed this. He frowned slightly and said, "What's so funny, Zeo?"
Zeo flinched yet again and replied hastily, "Nothing~"
"Four-hundred shadow launchers! On the double!" Coach yelled.
After muttering, "Crap," he walked over to the side of the gym and began.
I turned my attention back to the battle. Striker was running out of stamina, while Ghost still spun swiftly.
"Go now, Striker!" Masamune shouted. "Lightning Sword Flash!" His bey used the stadium like a ramp and flew swiftly up, then came crashing down, with what looked like sparks flying from it.
I did a quick physics recap. The friction from the stadium must have resulted in the sparks, and acceleration due to gravity was the cause of his bey spinning with lightning speed. If that attack hit my bey, it was all over.
But it wouldn't.
I waited until Striker was inches from Immortal Ghost. I could tell from the look on everyone's faces that they thought I was done for. Then my bey flew to the left, leaving Striker with no time to break. It made a crater in the stadium and buried itself in it.
I knew that it stopped spinning before the smog in Dungeon Gym cleared. Everyone else gaped at what they saw. Striker was still, under a considerable amount of rubble. Coach Steel was furious.
"Now you're going to have to get the money to repair the stadium!" he scolded Masamune. Speaking of Masamune, he was busy trying to free his bey from the pile of cluttered dusty rocks.
He looked up for a second to shoot me a look of disbelief and say, "Yes, coach."
Coach Steel turned to me. "You're not bad. You're reflexes are top notch for your age, but I haven't seen the power of your bey yet. Have you got a special move?"
"Um . . . no," I answered.
He patted me on the back. "You can work on that later. Now, just sign this contract and get the fees tomorrow, and you're in."
I signed the piece of paper and shot Zeo a triumphant look, proving that, yes, girls could be allowed here.
Just then a voice said, "I'm in, too!"
I turned. A girl with brown hair and eyes walked in, looking quite frankly proud. Well, if another girl was joining, yay for me!
She walked directly up to Coach Steel and said, "I'm Leslie. Toby's sis, so you might want to let me in."
Toby?
Then I saw the girl, Leslie, stop her gaze on the boy with pale-blue eyes. So he was Toby. But was that a good enough reason for Coach to simply allow her into the Gym without testing her skills? With that attitude, I guessed not. And I was right, of course.
"Not until you battle someone so we can see your skills," he barked. He looked around, and set his eyes on some random boy. "Blaze! Battle Leslie."
The boy walked over to the stadium where Leslie was already standing coolly. Blaze looked bored, as if he was sure he was going to beat her without a problem. But the look vanished when she yelled, "Andromeda! Special move: Discipline!"
Discipline? Not much like her, acting all high and mighty and such.
The spirit of her bey, a beautiful, regal lady, showed above her bey her posture practically screaming, "LISTEN TO ME!"
Just as Blaze's bey was about to cream Leslie's, Leslie shouted, "I command you to STOP!"
I thought that was silly, until I realized that his bey actually stopped. It was frozen, still as a statue. I could never compete with that . . . could I? Then I realized that it was probably because her bey was emitting waves of strong centrifugal force, which forced Blaze's bey to remain in the same position. How ironic!
His bey was released for a split second as Leslie's Andromeda crashed into it, sending it flying. Stadium out.
Her comeback was, "Never mess with the Princess."
I realized that it was true; Andromeda was the princess constellation. So her special move was like, 'I'm a princess. Do as I say and stop in your tracks,' when really, it was waves of centrifugal force that gave it the power to stop a bey.
"So, I'm in, right?" she asked Coach.
He nodded, but said, "Your tactic was pretty good, but your speed and attack power needs work. Sign this." He gave the contract to her and she signed it with flourish.
He turned to the rest of us and said, "Training session's done! Everyone come back tomorrow!"
I walked out slowly, waiting for Leslie. She kept pace with me. We both walked in silence for a while, until I said, "Your battle was awesome."
"Yours was, too," she replied. "I watched it from outside the window. Impressive."
"Thanks," I answered, slightly surprised that the girl who froze the opponent's bey was complimenting Ghost's speed. She looked two years older than me, and her hair was straight except for the waves at her back. My own hair fell in ripples to my waist. I couldn't think of anything else to say.
Then Zeo was suddenly beside me out of nowhere. Creepy . . .
I noticed that Masamune and Toby were with him.
"Hey," Masamune said, "you know, I was just going easy on you."
I laughed. "I've heard that. Nice battle, anyway. That was a sweet attack."
He looked down quickly. For the second time that day, Zeo had to strain himself to keep from bursting out laughing. And I had to strain my hands from punching his arm. And I don't mean a girly punch; I'm talking punches that leave bruises.
He seemed to get the hint in my eyes, though. Because he quickly changed the subject.
"How did you stop Blaze's bey?" he asked Leslie.
She shrugged and said mysteriously, "Everyone listens to royalty."
"Centrifugal force," I put in, to avoid the superstitious nonsense. When everyone stared at me, I defended myself, "What? I like physics! Sort of . . ."
"Nerd," Zeo muttered, earning the punch I had been trying to hold back. Out of everything else, I hated when people called me a nerd.
"Say that again. I dare you," I challenged.
"Fine. You're a total nerd."
"What was your first hint?" I asked, smiling sweetly.
"You like physics," he pointed out.
"So?" I questioned.
"What?" He was confused.
"Exactly," I replied, finishing the argument.
It took five seconds to find out that our words created the sentence: 'So what?' So what if I liked physics? I outsmarted Zeo yet again.
"Whatever," he murmured, while Leslie, Toby and Masamune were in hysterics.
"Anyway," I said, changing the subject again, "what now?"
Everyone shrugged. We reached the nearest candy shop. Excellent, I thought sarcastically. I hated sweets and chocolate, unlike a lot of people. I preferred french fries and other salty things.
I particularly despised the jellybeans in Zeo's hands. Gooey and sickly sweet . . . yuck.
He didn't even bother to ask me if I wanted any, and that was fine with me. It seems Masamune hated them too. Toby and Leslie grabbed some right away, though.
Then we parted ways. I said bye to Leslie and mine and Toby's eyes met once again, and then Zeo and I were walking in silence.
Then I burst out, "What's with all the laughing?" That sentence made him laugh even more.
"One thousand shadow launchers," I said, mimicking Coach Steel's voice. And he was laughing even more. "I'm serious," I said, bemused.
"Ri~i~ght," he drew out the word. Then, without warning, he ran ahead, leaving me in the dust. But not for long . . .
I broke into my usual running pace and caught up with him in no time. Then I pulled ahead.
I reached home without breaking into sweat. Zeo was beside me a minute later, panting. "Why . . . do . . . you . . . have . . . to . . . be . . . so . . . good . . . at . . . running!" he gasped.
I shrugged. "X-D."
"What is that?" he asked.
"It's supposed to be a smiley face on the internet, but sayin it out loud kind of ruins the smile part."
He rolled his eyes. "Anyway, I'm going to meet Toby and Masamune at the park. Or something . . ."
"But we just got here!" I exclaimed.
"Yeah, and I'm going to leave now. See ya!" Then he walked out. And guess what?
I decided to tag along.