Checkered
WARNINGS: Darker stuff scattered throughout, brief light/implied torture, language, an OC later on. I don't want to spoil too much for you guys, so I think I'll leave it at that.
NOTES: I am awful at figuring out what genre to put these things into, so genre is a bit of a stab in the dark. Sorry if I disappoint you by writing something that doesn't fit very well.
…
"I'm sorry. We shouldn't have offered without-"
"Hey, don't worry about it." Chris cut him off. "You didn't know. It's not your fault."
"Yes it is. I should have checked everything out before I started talking." Toby groaned.
They talked for a while, most of it still Toby apologizing and Chris brushing it off. With his background, he was used to this kind of thing. Not that he told Toby that, of course, that would just make him feel worse. At least this time the friends bailing on him felt bad about it. Had he been excited about the possibility of filling in for Masamune on Team Dungeon? Yes, but things happen. There would be other tournaments- not tournaments that would give the winning team a chance to compete in the next world tournament, true, but other tournaments. It was fine.
Eventually, he managed to at least somewhat convince Toby that the universe wasn't imploding and hung up the phone. He sat on his couch for a while, absently scrolling through the group texts between him, Toby, Zeo, King, and Masamune. Maybe it was for the best. Team Dungeon was a good group, but between King and Masamune, Chris found himself on his last nerve after a few days. Weeks at a time could be a nightmare. He was more likely to keep his sanity, so he supposed it was a good thing, even if it meant giving up the opportunity of a lifetime.
He grabbed the remote and turned on the TV. He had nothing to do and all day to do it, so might as well waste some time.
"And teams are scrambling to sign up as soon as possible for the recently announced tournament, which is rumored to be-" the news announcer's message was halted by Chris turning the TV back off. So much for that. He pulled out Orion and studied the bey. Maybe he should just go do some training. It would be more constructive if nothing else.
Chris could feel the tension begin to ease almost as soon as he went out to the woods. It wasn't a lot of space, but it was enough to get away from other human beings. At least, it normally was.
"Never seen anybody else around here before."
Chris looked towards the source of the voice to find someone sitting in a nearby tree. His pale blue hair was a stark contrast to the dark browns and greens surrounding him. Speaking of which, one of those branches was moving. "You know there's a snake up there, right?"
He turned and noticed the snake with a yelp before leaping down to land next to him. "Thanks," he said, eyeing the snake. "I'm Damian, by the way."
"Chris," Chris told him, trying to figure out why Damian looked so familiar. "What were you doing up there?"
"I like climbing. It makes me feel taller," Damian shrugged before he noticed Chris' bey holder. "You're here training, too?"
Chris nodded. "Do you know the haunted stadiums?"
"I've camped in the haunted stadiums. Never saw anything though."
The haunted stadiums were a collection of raised cement bey stadiums near the edge of the forest. They were left to be overrun by nature decades ago, and had a local reputation of being haunted at night, hence the nickname. Some of them were still in reasonable shape if you took the time to clean them up, but Chris didn't often go there. It was too close to civilization for his tastes. That didn't necessarily mean that he wouldn't take a detour over there for the sake of a battle, because he most definitely would. "You want to head over and battle quick?"
They talked on the way. Usually Chris hated talking to strangers. "Yeah I was a blader for hire for years and I've done some really messed up stuff but don't worry I'm out of that nasty business now," wasn't even worth considering as an option and thinking up a different life story to tell strangers interested in small talk felt wrong, even if it was what he tended to do. Damian didn't pry about his background, though, and Chris didn't ask about his, so the whole thing was pretty enjoyable for once. They spent most of it quoting Mystery Science Theater 3000 after Chris caught a reference Damian managed to work into their conversation.
They had a stadium cleared out in what felt like no time. "Ready?" He asked.
"Ready," Damian nodded, pulled out his bey, and snapped it into his launcher. Chris still got a glance of it, though, and his memory clicked. He knew Damian looked familiar; he'd been in Team Starbreaker. But, in his defense, Damian looked a lot different without the all-out cape thing. The realization that he was going up against a blader strong enough to go to the last world championship made him grip his launcher tighter in anticipation. Things were starting to get interesting.
"Three…"
"Two…"
"One…"
"Let it rip!"
Their beys clashed in the stadium, each testing the strength of the other. Chris gradually put more force into Orion's attacks, but Kerbecs handled them well and replied with some powerful blows of its own.
"Kerbecs, Hades Drive!"
Chris watched Kerbecs respond and begin circling the stadium. He'd seen Damian use this special move before. It was impressive, but Orion could withstand it. Barnard's loop would overpower it, true, but he didn't want to finish this yet. Bladers for hire didn't enjoy their battles, they finished them, and the cruel efficiency Chris had forced himself to employ left him craving longer battles. "Don't move, Orion!" The wall of flames shot up without warning and Chris had to take a step back. Orion was far more resistant than he was, and that fire was hot.
The sarcastic part of him commented that he should know about fire being hot by his age and he almost laughed at himself. Almost. He tried to avoid behavior that could lead people to think he was crazy.
The fire subsided. Orion was fine, although not in as good condition as he'd predicted. Maybe he'd underestimated that special move. "Hit him hard, Orion!" His bey did so, and Kerbecs bounced backwards from the force of the impact. Chris sent Orion again, putting a lot into his attacks, far more than he could in the battles he'd had recently. He'd hoped as much, given Damian's previous performance on a worldwide scale, but getting what he hoped for was still more than Chris was used to. It looked like Damian wouldn't be able to handle much more, though, Orion had Kerbecs pushed near the edge of the stadium.
"Get out of there while you still have room, Kerbecs!" Damian called.
"You can't run in a stadium this size, there's nowhere to go."
"Who said anything about running? Kerbecs, Hades gate!"
As curious as Chris was about seeing Damian in Hades firsthand, he'd underestimated Damian once already. Besides, it had been a long time since he'd used his own special move. "Orion, Barnard's Loop!"
The stadium wasn't made to withstand that kind of force even when it was in pristine condition, let alone after being abandoned for so long. The beys barely made contact before it shattered.
Chris yelped and leapt back, but his eyes never left the cloud of dust obscuring his view of Orion. When it settled enough for him to see, he found Orion spinning beside a still Kerbecs and he smiled as he called Orion back to him. "Damian, that was awesome! We should do this again sometime."
Nothing happened.
Chris looked up. He couldn't see Damian on the far side of the debris. "Damian?" Still nothing. Chris ran across the rubble. Everything screeched to a halt when he found him still on the ground. Chris' stomach twisted into a knot. What had he done?
...
A/N: Well now, so begins my next project. Do you have any idea how many times I have to rewrite first chapters before I actually get any quality? There's so much pressure that I just can't do it. They are the royal bain of my existence, let me tell you. I'd forgotten that I hate them so much.
And yes, Jack will be in this. Look at the list of characters, he's up there.
And no, this is not a ghost story. As fun as taking a swing at that would be, it's not happening here.
Right then, now that that's all settled, I guess I should say that I don't own Beyblade, I never will own Beyblade, and I'm not going to stop writing Beyblade fan fictions for a long time. Whether or not that's a good thing is up for you to decide. Favorites, follows, reviews and constructive criticisms are always welcome, so don't be shy. Thanks for reading and I hope you have a nice day :)
