Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade, or any Beyblade characters used in this fic. I do own Tri Force, and all the teams aside from the Steel Hawks who are owned by my friend Demitri Ivanov. This is part of the Passion-verse, a large series created by myself and Jonouchi-Kaiba-Mokie with Demitri Ivanov as our co-writer.
Summary: There are a lot of mysteries surrounding the creatures known as bitbeasts, two teams in Canada are about to discover just how many mysteries there are.
It was cold, incredibly cold but the young girl was quite used to it having lived in Russia for most of her life, she was just thankful that Arctic Quebec shared so much in common with her homeland. It had been three years since her family had moved to Nunivik in Arctic Quebec, it wasn't bad but the village of Akulivik was so different from her home in Saint Petersburg. A groan could be heard as Natalia Starikov pulled the thick blanket over her head, wanting to protect herself from the cold. She could hear her older sister pounding at the door, refusing to leave until the blonde finally raised herself out of bed. Natalia knew Lana wasn't about to give up so she finally surrendered and pulled herself out of bed.
She'd been doing little but intensive training since she moved from Russia, it was because Amarok had finally decided to show himself to her and the young girl wanted nothing more than to be worthy of the legends she'd grown up hearing about the great wolf and she didn't want to anger him by being weak. Her mother had always said Amarok would never hurt her, that he chose her, but Natalia was familiar with the old Inuit tales and wasn't about to risk it.
Letting out a yawn she grabbed for her grey hoodie, which she pulled over her blue tank top and then she yanked her jeans on and grabbed her leather jacket before heading out of her bedroom. She grabbed Amarok's blade from where he was laying on her bookshelf and then walked over to her older sister Lana. Lana was five years older than her and the two sisters looked very different. Natalia was the perfect image of a Russian girl, except she had the brown eyes that came from her Inuit roots, she was tall and lanky with long wavy blonde hair that was constantly a mess. Lana on the other hand was small and delicate; she actually looked like the modern Inuit girls in Quebec with long auburn hair and violet eyes. She'd always wanted to be a ballerina and whenever Natalia looked at her sister she believed she already had the look down.
"Morning sleepyhead, eat something," Lana said as she handed a plate to her younger sister, it was filled up with sausage, toast and potatoes. Natalia nodded and did exactly what she was told. Her older sister had been the one to spend most of the time training her; they were even living in a shack away from their parents just so Natalia could focus on training. Lana had always been strict, so Natalia knew that not listening to her would just cause her more pain.
Natalia took a seat at the table in the small kitchen and started to eat her breakfast as she set Amarok's Beyblade next to her. "When was his last tune up?" Lana asked eyeing the blade. Natalia swallowed her food, "I gave him one last night." Lana smiled, "Good. You're learning." She said.
Finishing up her food, Natalia hopped up, grabbing Amarok and her launcher. "Nat, wait. Sit back down." Lana told her. Natalia bit her lip, she was itching to get back to training but then when she saw the stern look on Lana's face she did as her sister told her. "What's up, Lan?" She asked, blinking her brown eyes. "There's a tournament in Montreal, I was talking to Ma about it and both of us figured that maybe it's time for you to be in your first tournament-"
Lana wasn't even able to finish, Natalia was already up and jumping. "Really, you're serious? You really think I'm good enough?" Natalia's brown eyes were bright and filled with excitement, she was overjoyed just because of the possibility that her sister actually thought she was good enough.
Lana sighed, "Yes, Nat, I'm serious but you need to listen to me, you need to train more before this. It might be small, but Quebec is big, there could be some really good people there." The brunette sighed; her little sister was headstrong and stubborn, she didn't often think things through and tended to always rush in head first. She had a whole lot to learn, and she wasn't sure if she'd figure that out before the tournament.
Lana could see the frown on Natalia's face, she knew what it meant; Natalia didn't think she was good enough. Lana sighed, and placed a hand on her sister's shoulder. "Nat, you've come a long way. Mama gave you Amarok because she believed in you, I know he hasn't shown himself to you yet, but you have to believe he will – just as Kheglan showed himself to me." Lana knew that her sister worried about whether or not if she was worthy. Just as her own bitbeast Kheglan was, Amarok had been in the family for generations – both bitbeasts were legendary in Inuit culture. In bitbeast terms, they were nowhere near the fame of ones like the sacred beasts, but to the Inuit people they were legends. Amarok had been a bitbeast that was feared throughout the Inuit land, in the stories they'd heard from their grandmother that before trapped in his bitchip he used to hunt the land and devour anyone was foolish to hunt alone at night – of course this was all proved as nothing more than stories due to their mothers control of him, but still Lana could see that Natalia worried that she wasn't anywhere up to her mother's potential, especially since in the three years that Natalia had possessed Amarok's beyblade he had not yet shown himself to her. "He'll come, you know he will. Now go practice." Lana gave Natalia a gentle push, handing her Amarok's beyblade.
&&&
"Fix your form, Carmelita." Carmen turned and glanced at her father who was standing behind her watching her every move as she was about to launch the gold and black beyblade into the dish. The dark haired girl straightened herself out and nodded to her father. Behind them, her younger brother Diego was sitting on a swing, swinging his legs back and forth as he watched his sister closely.
"Yes, papi," she said, focusing herself back on the dish. The man behind her was watching her every move much like the hawk that inhabited her beyblade. It left Carmen incredibly uneasy to have those dark eyes watching her, she often worried that no matter how good she got there was no way that her father would ever be able to see her as successful, after all he'd been the Spanish champion before she was born. Only now had he got himself back into the sport by helping build up the Spanish branch of the BBA with the help of the Spanish tag team F Sangre.
Carmen knew there were certain things about beyblading that her father didn't see, for instance she could tell exactly how fast her beyblade would will be spinning based on whatever angle she shot it at. Carmen was a genius, a prodigy at only fourteen years old, but still it seemed as if that wasn't enough to impress her father. She'd been updating her beyblade all on her own since her mother gave it to her, and she'd even been studying up on the MS systems that the Bladebreakers had used in their recent battle against BEGA. She may have not had much luck, but she'd been wanting to figure out what made those blades so powerful. She knew about the strength of the Bladebreakers since her father had been working with the Fernandez twins, he'd told her everything and all she wanted from that moment was to learn what made them so powerful.
"You need focus, Carmelita," turning around Carmen stared into the dark eyes of her father, wishing desperately that she could just get out of this place. Atilio Martinez was a strict teacher, and there was no one he was harder on than his daughter. It could never be said that he judged Carmen based on her gender, simply because she was his child he expected her to be the best.
She huffed and turned back to the dish, launching the black and gold beyblade right into the dish.
"Bien. You're learning," Atilio said, placing a hand on his daughters shoulder.
"Papi, I'm good enough – you know I am. Tinmiukpuk has shown himself to me, so please just let me out of here," Carmen pleaded, bending down to pick up the gold beyblade. She wished her mother could convince him, after all it was her family that the great eagle had come from. Tinmiukpuk was one of the legendary Inuit bitbeasts (well, legendary if you ask a bunch of eskimos). There were a lot of Inuit bitbeasts in the world, and according to the stories most of them weren't considered good, they only listened to select families and a lot of them were deadly. The great eagle listened to her, which she was sure her father often forgot.
"Atilio, be easier on her. Carmen I need to speak with you about something very important," Jade Martinez was standing behind her husband, hands on her hips and dark brown eyes giving her husband a warning look. Carmen knew her mother was the one really in charge in this family, but she also knew that when she said she needed to talk to her it never ended well.
Carmen looked down at the ground, trying not to make eye contact with her mother. "Shit," then as she slowly looked up she saw her mother giving her the same warning look she had just given her husband, and she immediately rushed to her mother's side.
"I want you to go to Montreal." Jade told her daughter. Carmen blinked, she had no idea what the hell that was supposed to mean. "There's a tournament there, it's a small one. Honey, I know you think you're good enough for the big time, but you know the Spanish team is a tag team, and besides that you need to learn how to step away from your father." Carmen looked away, she'd heard this speech before. She was definitely her father's daughter, she was relentless in the dish constantly sure that she was the best.
"Do I have to?" Carmen asked with a roll of her eyes. She'd always had a wonderful respect for her father, but her and her mother never saw eye to eye. She'd grown sick of the constant struggle with her mother, and honestly she wanted her whole family to just leave her the hell alone. Still for some weird reason she respected them both, so she knew she had no choice but to deal. "I know, I know. I'll fucking do it." She said, looking away, her parents respect was so not worth this shit.
&&&
Delphine had been doing whatever she possibly could do to avoid her mother. The entire town had been a buzz about the tournament that was starting in Montreal in just a few short days. She understood that the chairman of the BBA paying any attention to Canada was huge, but she didn't get why it made everyone crazy. There were teams gathering from every province and territory in Canada and in places like Quebec where they had no takers the beyblading community was hosting a tournament to decide the team. Her mother was running the one in Quebec – and that was the real problem. Delphine was not her mother, she hated competition, even though she loved beyblading. Her mother had even given her a gift just that morning – her old beyblade. Delphine knew Tizheruk well, it apparently inhabited a bitbeast – though she'd never seen this supposed bitbeast. Everything her mother did was cryptic and that morning had been the most cryptic – she'd given her a beyblade and a stone. It made literally no sense.
She'd been hiding out at a cute little boutique shop, and she knew she had to leave eventually, even if her mother did track her down. Delphine turned to head out of the shop, and just a few seconds later she was stopped by the exact person she'd been trying to run away from. "Phi, there you are, I've been looking all over for you." Delphine had a guilty look on her face as she looked into the caring blue eyes of Rosalie LeBlanc. "Mama, please let it go," she sighed before looking back at her mother with her best pout. She knew her dad would never force her to go like this, but unfortunately Rosalie was a very strong willed woman.
"Phinie, please, it would make me very happy if you at least tried." Delphine hated this idea, she knew that if she was really one of the strongest bladers in Quebec, then she'd be forced to compete. Delphine's entire life had been engrossed in the sport of beyblading, and it had never really been by her choice. Her mother was a head lawyer at a firm that focused specifically on incidents in beyblading, a lot of people would assume that those type of things wouldn't happen in this sort of sport but they'd be totally wrong. Her father on the other hand of co-chairman of the French BBA, which meant he worked directly with Kaiba Corp. He was constantly flying cross country to France, so a lot of time it was just her and her mother.
"Just so I know, are you actually giving me a choice here?"
Rosalie gave her daughter a look, her hands placed on her hips. "I'm thinking that's a no," Delphine sighed, taking the blue and green beyblade out from her purse and staring at it, then collapsing her hand around it.
"You'll do it?" Rosalie asked looking at her daughter. "Seriously Phinie, I know you're going to be amazing."
"Yeah, I'll do it."
&&&
The elder dark haired girl was watching closely as the blonde stood in the midst of the snow, her mother had said she was going to show up in order to watch Natalia. She knew that if anybody could be sure of her sister's skill, it would be her mother. Amelia Starikov had been the the previous owner of Amarok which meant that she knew the beyblade's skill. Their grandmother was also supposed to come, and though Lana knew Natalia just thought that she was an insane old eskimo, the elder Starikov knew differently.
The dark haired girl had a hooded jacket pulled closely to her body, freezing in her jeans and boots. It had been years since she herself had stepped foot into the beyblade competitive scene, enough years that the name Lana Starikov probably meant nothing to the blading universe. Her beyblading career had been short lived, but still she had been good. She had been beaten by a mysterious man who called himself Jin of the Gale, and that was when she returned home.
"She's doing well." Lana turned her head to see a pair of Inuit women, one tell and beautiful with long brown hair a woman who looked a lot like Lana herself and the other an old woman, small and wrinkly. "The spirits have been speaking to me, Svetlana, Amarok is beginning to trust his new owner. He is testing our dear Natalia, he shall appear to her soon." Lana nodded, her grandmother was always talking like that and honestly she'd gotten used to it; all the old Inuits were like that, it had become second nature to her by now.
Lana knew that soon enough all of this training was going to pay off for her dear sister, she was going to help her through everything she possibly could, Natalia was going to be the successful one and Lana was going to be sure of it. "You're sure about all of this, Aanak?" Lana asked, glancing back at her grandmother. The small girl worried, worried about whether or not her older sister could handle controlling an Inuit beast, they were powerful and they weren't your average beasts. She'd hate for Natalia to lose her control.
Looking back to her mother, Lana desperately wanted her opinion. "We worried about the same thing from you when you're grandmother gifted you with Kheglan, Svetlana, this is no different from then, us Starikov's have thick skin." All this made Lana feel better, she knew her sister, and knew that Natalia was strong, she had a chance.
"Nat, over here," Lana ushered to her sister to come over to her and the other two women. Natalia bounded over and gave both her mother and grandmother tight hugs, it had been a long time since she had seen them. Amelia smiled at her daughter and placed a hand on her shoulder, she knew that she couldn't have been prouder of the girl.
"You're ready. We leave for Montreal tonight," Lana said giving her sister a smile. Natalia had a huge smile on her face, receiving her sister's praise was everything she'd ever needed, it made her happier than ever. Her family believed in her, and she knew it. Her gripped on Amarok tightened. "I've never been more ready."
Soooo I really hope that didn't suck. I was very worried about posting this because it is very OC heavy, so hopefully I'll get some decent reactions here. Hope you enjoyed!
