DISCLAIMER:

I don't own Beyblade: Metal Fight. Just my characters... I think...


Dear Readers,

This is the sequel to The Painful Truth, and it's about Yumiko and Haruki's adventures as they travel all over the country, and eventually, the world. I'm gonna be switching POVs every few chapters, and I'll be adding a lot of OCs. I LOVE MAKING OCs! So fun!

Just a warning: I'm not accepting OCs.

R&R! Hope you enjoy the story!

~DragonFang2011

P.S. I'm still depressed that Ryuga's dead :( ... But at least he's happy! :')


I yawned and sat up on the springy mattress of the hotel bed. It was the first full day of my Beyblade journey, and so far, the weather was looking great. I slipped my artificial left leg over the stump of my thigh and fastened it the way the prosthetic-dude told me to. (A/N: I don't know if this is true; technology in the Beyblade world is different.)

Then, I pulled on my jeans easily and glanced over at my friend Haruki, who was still snoring the morning away on the next bed, his mouth half-open and his maroon-red hair messier than usual. As always, he looked pretty good-looking. I hurled a pillow at him. He just snorted, hugged the pillow to his chest, and rolled over. "Five more minutes, Mom," he mumbled drowsily.

I huffed. "Not your mother, Haruki; I'm too young for that."

Haruki's turquoise eyes snapped open, a red blush creeping across his face. "S-Sorry!" he exclaimed. I rolled my eyes as he fell onto the carpet. "Hurry up; it's almost nine," I informed him, eyeing the clock. He scrambled to put on his blue hoodie over his red shirt, and his red fingerless gloves.

I fastened my Bey-belt around my waist and slipped my socks and violet sneakers over my feet.

Then I helped Haruki tidy our beds and skipped into the bathroom. I straightened my clothes - purple tank top, black jeans, black elbow-length fingerless gloves with stiff wrist padding, silver earrings, and my locket. Then, I tied my long blue hair into its usual ponytail. Five minutes later, I came out, feeling refreshed, and gave Haruki his turn.

When he finished, we grabbed our bags and headed out of the room, making sure that it clicked shut behind us. Hello, second day of training, I thought. Suddenly, I noticed that something was... off. I glanced at Haruki and realized what the problem was. "Haruki," I began casually.

"What?" He gazed at me with those blue eyes that used to make me melt into a puddle, but I've gotten used to them.

"Where's your Beyblade?"

"In my Bey-belt."

"Where's your Bey-belt?"

He patted his waist. "Crap." I smirked in amusement as he unlocked the door and went inside to retrieve his equipment. He came out a few seconds later, looking embarrassed. "I really need to take care of Rex better," he said, taking the midnight-blue Beyblade - Torch Rex 125HF out of its holder. The dark purple facebolt with a white T-Rex head design shone dimly in the sunlight.

I nodded in agreement. "Madoka's gonna be so mad at you if you lose that Bey."

He winced. "Don't remind me," he groaned. "Mom could be so uptight sometimes."

I pulled out my cell phone. "Wait 'til I tell her that."

"Don't you dare!" He tried to snatch the phone away, but I stuffed it into my pocket, smirking teasingly. "I won't."

I pressed the down button of the elevator. The doors opened immediately and I let Haruki push the button that would take us to the lobby, then felt the ground shift underneath me. My stomach fluttered nervously. I seriously hate elevators; they make me feel like I'm in a sardine can.

When the doors opened, I walked out as casually as I could, then waited impatiently for Haruki to check us out of the hotel, tapping my foot and yanking my blue bangs.

Haruki glanced at me, shook his head in amusement, and examined the list in the lobby. "There's a tournament in the next city over - Emerald City - in an hour or so," he informed me, plucking a map out of the stand. He folded it and stuffed it into his back pocket. "If we walk, it's gonna take us a few hours to reach it."

"And if we take a cab?"

"Only about an hour," he replied. "But don't you wanna train first? I mean... you just started blading..." He trailed off as I narrowed my violet eyes and glared at him venomously.

"Y-You know, you remind me of your m-mom, the way you glare at me like th-that," he stammered.

"I know."

I dragged him across the lobby. He opened the glass door for me, then followed.

The air was nice and warm, without a cloud in sight, and there was a slight breeze blowing through the city, ruffling Haruki's red hair as he bent over the rather large map, tracing the thick, dark lines with his index finger. He immediately attracted the attention of a few girls, who eyed him as if he was the guy of their dreams (which he probably was), and in some cases, a delicious meal.

I gave them the stink-eye, like, Stay away from him! He's mine! Or it could be, Quit staring at my friend! I have fists, and I will use them! I'd personally go with the latter, because I don't have that big a crush on him, and we were just friends, anyway. Then, I gently grabbed his elbow and steered him around the other pedestrians until we got to a nearby restaurant and sat down in a booth for breakfast.

"Gingka! Hikaru!"

I turned around warily. A tall man was standing just a ways behind our booth. He had a curly blond afro, and was wearing some kind of black suit that made him look like a spy. And judging by that red glass... thingy... on his eye, he probably was - but he wasn't concealing it very well.

"Um... who?" I was confused, so I tugged on Haruki's jacket sleeve to see if he knew the guy. Haruki slammed the map onto the table in irritation, crumpling it into a large wad of colorful paper. "Darn it, Yumiko, you made me lose my place!"

"Sorry."

"Wait," the speaker said. "You're not Gingka and Hikaru." He slid into the leather seat across from us and examined our features. "Must be the hair... no, Gingka's hair's brighter than that... I'm such an idiot."

"Gingka's my dad," Haruki said. The strange guy scratched his head. "Gingka and Hikaru had kids together?"

"Ew!" I exclaimed. The thought was too horrible to bear! I almost threw up in my mouth. Haruki smiled, as if agreeing with me. "Gingka and Madoka are my parents," he pointed out. The stranger's mouth pouted as he said, "Ohh..."

"Hikaru's your mother, right?" the guy asked me. I nodded. "Yes. My dad's Ryuga."

He blinked. "Did you say Ryuga?"

"Ryuga," I repeated slowly. "Are you deaf?"

"But-" He was getting annoying. "Oh, I've heard this one before!" I snapped. "Apparently, you people have no imagination whatsoever! Ryuga's a great dad!"

"Never thought I'd hear any of those things that you just said," he muttered. He took a deep breath, as if trying to make himself digest the information he just learned. "You do know that he almost killed your mother, right?" he asked me warily. "Of course," I scoffed. "And the truth almost got me killed. Literally - I ended up in the hospital after getting hit by a truck. Now I only have one real leg." I started to swing my prosthetic leg onto the table, but Haruki put a hand on my knee and kept it down. "No."

The stranger tilted his head in confusion. "How can you be so..." He shook his head and held out his hand. "Tobio Oike."

Who?

Haruki's head snapped up, eyes gleaming in excitement. "Captain Capri?"

Who?

Tobio nodded proudly. "That's me."

Wh - Oh, shut up! I told myself.

"NO WAY!" Haruki grabbed the man's gloved hand and pumped it up and down enthusiastically. "My parents told me a lot about you! They say that you're the best sniper ever, and that you're really good at being all accurate and stuff and-"

"Kid, you're breaking my fingers."

Haruki let go. "Sorry."

"They really said that about me?" Captain Capri grinned. Haruki nodded.

Tobio smirked, amused. Then, his brown gaze flickered to an alley across the street, where a couple of teens were battling a kid. They defeated the little boy, took his Beyblade, then ran away. A shadow settled on Tobio's face. "Tell your parents that Captain Capri says hi." Then, he got out of the booth and the restaurant, probably off to teach those bullies a lesson. I wanted to cheer him on, but that would look weird.

"Bye, Tobio Oink!" I yelled, waving him goodbye.

"It's 'Oike!'"

"Whatev!" But to be honest, I seriously forgot his last name.

A few minutes later, Haruki and I were staring at platters of scrambled eggs, crispy bacon, hash browns, buttemilk pancakes, and great-smelling sausages. I immediately took a little of everything and dumped the food onto my plate.

As he watched me chow down my breakfast, Haruki said, "You eat a lot for a girl."

I nodded, too busy ripping a strip of salty bacon in half with my teeth.


"Here you are, kiddos! Emerald City!" The taxi driver grinned broadly, showing off his nasty, crooked front tooth - as well as the rest of his yellow, decayed teeth and dark gums - after Haruki handed him a wad of cash. I huffed out of my nose as the bright yellow cab drove down the street. "We should've walked," I grumbled. "It smelled like feet in there."

"Foot cream," Haruki agreed.

"And that snaggletooth," I added.

We shuddered.

"Tournament's that way." Haruki immediately veered right, his long strides quickly covering a good amount of sidewalk as I tried to match his pace. We headed towards a large, round building which probably could've fit three of the stadiums back at home. "Wow," I whispered. "It's huge!"

Haruki chuckled. "That's just one of the smaller stadiums."

"No way! I wanna battle now!" I exclaimed.

"Calm down," he said, putting a warm hand on my shoulder. "It hasn't even started yet."

"And if it does," I began, smiling broadly. "I will beat everyone and win my first tournament!" I strolled confidently towards the glass door and opened it, but Haruki stepped in front of me, a smirk on his face. His blue eyes sparkled hungrily with the aspect of a challenge. "Don't get too carried away!" he said. "I'm your opponent too, y'know! If you wanna get to the top, you're gonna have to go through me first!"

I ducked underneath his arm. "Done."

"H-Hey!" As I looked over my shoulder, Haruki whipped around and scrambled to catch up with me. I gave my name to the lady in the booth and she put me on the list of competitors for the Beyblade tournament.

Haruki and I impatiently waited in the training room - exercising ourselves and our Beyblades - until the Blader DJ called for the tournament to begin.

It was a long wait until my turn, and there were many strong bladers out there - such as a muscled, blue-eyed blader named Troy; a handsome, dark-haired teen named Kyle; and a green-eyed girl named Athena.

I started to doubt if I could win. I hid my uncertainty from Haruki, who was defeating his own opponents with ease.

I barely won the first round against Marley - a sharp-faced boy with squinty eyes. He and his Beyblade - Mighty Gorgon 125WB - almost destroyed Aquario. And Marley called my Bey "old-fashioned" and "out-of-date," which were pretty much the same thing. But all the same, I was insulted, and drove him into the dust.

As the tournament dragged on, my confidence started to wan even more.

Troy suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Athena and her Cyber Minerva. Kyle emerged victorious from his battle with a boy named Daiki.

Haruki was leaning against a wall, his hands in his pockets and his eyes closed, trying to rest after his win over Minoru and his Magnetic Virgo. I decided to leave him alone - he was probably tired from that grueling match.

Blader DJ announced, "It is the start of the final round! First up is Yumiko against Kaito!"

Kaito was a guy in his mid-teens, and sported a spiky dark blue hairdo, which matched his eyes. He was wearing a black T-shirt with faded blue jeans and black sneakers. He whipped out his Beyblade and placed it onto his launcher. I wiped my sweaty palms on the thighs of my jeans and did the same, trying not to look nervous. Aquario was trembling with power and anxiety.

"3!"

"2!"

"1!"

"Let it... RIP!" Kaito and I yelled. I pulled on my ripcord as hard as I could without jerking my elbow, and watched as Storm Aquario circled the stadium with Kaito's Oceanic Serpent. Both Beyblades exchanged blows, each hit doing more damage than the last.

Kaito smirked. "Strike hard, Serpent! Hurricane Fangs!"

Serpent covered itself in bright, bluish-purple lightning, then charged. I panicked. "A-Aquario! Whirlpool Illusion!"

My Beyblade's form blurred and vanished. It reappeared on the opposite side of the stadium - only to get intercepted by Serpent, still crackling with Hurricane Fangs. Aquario immediately ricocheted away from the opposing Beyblade and was launched out of the stadium at my feet. I bent down and picked it up, somehow unsurprised that I had lost so easily.

"Amateur!" Kaito hissed at me, before calling back his Bey and walking away. "You don't deserve to touch a Bey, much less use one!" He reached his friends at the mouth of the tunnel and said something to them. They glanced at me and laughed boisterously. I stormed towards them - furious - and kicked Kaito in the groin with my prosthetic foot. "OW!" he yelped. "Is that thing like, metal, or something?"

Yes, it is! I wanted to snap at him.

As I passed them, one of them slapped my behind. I whirled around. "Excuse me?"

The burly one laughed. "For having a cute butt!" he said, as if adding onto my sentence.

"Damn you, pervert!" I slapped him - my eyes watering and my face burning - and forced myself to stand straight and dignified until I rounded a corner. Then, I leaned on the wall and slid down to the floor.

"You shouldn't have done that, Cadell."

I peered around the wall. A tall boy - probably a couple of years older than me - was glaring daggers at the Cadell, who smirked. "What? She does have a cute butt!"

The boy narrowed his eyes. Unlike most boys I know, his honey-brown hair wasn't spiked up; in fact, it was silky-looking and reached his shoulders, with a single bang swept to the side. He had a fair complexion, and his eyes were dark gray, like the ocean at its stormiest days. He was wearing a black leather jacket opened over a pale blue shirt, dark jeans with ripped knees, and worn red sneakers. In my opinion, he looked pretty hot; he rivaled Haruki.

"You're an idiot," he told Cadell.

"No, you're an idiot!" Cadell countered.

And that was when Kaito butted in. "Dude, that stupid girl wasn't even a decent blader; the battle barely lasted for thirty seconds!" He jabbed a finger at the brown-haired boy's chest. "So quit defending her! Or is it that you like her, hm?"

"Shut up, Kaito," he growled.

At that, I stood up and walked away as quickly as I could; that didn't stop me from hearing several people - including the ones who weren't in the conversation - laugh.

I felt so embarrassed that I wanted to burst into tears and bawl. After I trudged back into the training room, Haruki gave me a comforting hug. "It's okay, it's okay. It's not the end of the world," he told me. I breathed in his scent and choked back a sob. "I've never been so humiliated in my life!"

Alright, maybe I was overreacting, but I was really embarrassed. NO ONE SPANKS ME IN FRONT OF OTHER PEOPLE! And calls me an... un... undecent blader! That's not even a word...

"It was just one loss, Yumiko," he told me. Suddenly, I realized that he wasn't there when Kaito and his gang harassed me. Where was he? He's my friend; wasn't he supposed to be there when I got back from my match?

As if he read my mind, Haruki's handsome face twisted into a grimace. "I'm sorry I wasn't there," he said. "I don't know what happened, but whoever made you feel this way... I'll... I'll punch 'im in the face, I swear!"

"I'm fine," I assured him. "You just go onto your battle, 'kay?"

Next up was Haruki's battle with Kyle; Haruki lost, and he joined me in sulking in the training room. Everything after that went by in a blur; all I remembered was the winner's name: Athena Megalos and her Cyber Athena.


"Hey Dad!" I said. I love video-chat. So cool. And handy, especially since I could see my family through my phone. I just heard a muffled "Hello," since my father was busy sinking his sharp teeth into the flesh of a grilled chicken leg. Isamu was sitting on his lap, his large purple-and-yellow kaleidoscopic eyes reflecting the computer screen. "Wow!" He pointed a finger at the screen. "I can see Yumiko!"

"And Haruki!" Mom exclaimed, walking into the living room. She shook rain from her dark blue umbrella. "How is he? Is he there?"

"He's in the bathroom," I said carelessly. I had told Haruki about what had happened in the stadium with Cadell, and he was pretty angry, but I calmed him down. I left out the gray-eyed boy coming to my defense; somehow, he was one secret I wouldn't give up. "He'll be out after he showers."

"At least he knows personal hygiene." Mom took off her raincoat and made Isamu move over to Dad's right thigh so that she could sit on his left one.

"Hikaru!" Dad whined, sputtering. "Move it - your hair's getting in my food. Ptah! And it doesn't taste too good!"

"Oh, man up, Ryuga," she scoffed, rolling her violet eyes. She turned her face - with strands of pale, shiny blue hair plastered to it - towards the camera and smiled. "How's it going? Did you compete in your first tournament?"

I nodded glumly. "Lost in the final round," I informed them.

"That's great!" Dad exclaimed, cleaning out the remaining bits of meat from the bone. "I think. But why the long face?" he asked between bites.

"Some guys harassed me," I grumbled. "One of them spanked - oops." I hesitantly angled my gaze back to my phone; my mother and Isamu were inching away from Dad, who snapped the now-clean chicken bone between his index finger, middle finger, and thumb. He was surrounded by a fiery red aura, and I could tell that he was trying to control his temper. "What the hell did they do again?" he asked me, probably suppressing a growl.

"It's nothing, really," I said. "I kicked one and slapped the other - no biggie."

He got up and disappeared from the camera's sight. Then, I heard a loud bang. Mom quickly hurried towards the source. "Ryuga!" she screeched. "The back door - aphft! Are you serious? That thing costs money!"

After Dad came back - steaming mad but otherwise unharmed, with a chunk of Back Door in his hands - we talked for several more minutes about random stuff.

I looked outside the window at the dark, starry night sky. It was almost eleven o' clock. "Gotta go, you guys," I said. "We have to wake up early tomorrow."

"See ya next week, kiddo." Dad grinned and carried Isamu - who was sleeping as his snot bubble expanded and shrank in sync with his breathing - away.

"Love ya," I said.

"You too, sweetheart," Mom told me, then went offline. I turned off my cell phone just as Haruki walked out of the bathroom, rubbing his damp red hair with a towel.

"What did I miss?"

I smirked, shaking my head in amusement, and jumped onto my bed, removing my accessories and tossing them onto the carpet. I removed my jeans (I have shorts underneath) and removed my prosthetic leg. I stored it carefully on a folded blanket that I placed onto the floor and leaned back on my pillow. "'Night, Haruki."

I heard him sigh and pull back the covers of his bed. "'Night Yumiko. Tomorrow, we're training in the mountains."

"Why's that?"

He said nothing.


And this is the first chapter! Hope you enjoyed reading!

I'll be updating every week or so because 4,000 words a chapter is a lot and there's summer school to worry about.