Challenge: Liberty City

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It had been a long time since the World Championship tournament, celebrations had come and gone. Soon afterwards a new threat had arrived along with new friends and new battles. All of this, however, soon faded away as time pressed on, much as it usually does. Masamune, along with his two best friends, and returned to their everyday lives. This consisted of the three friends going to school like the rest of their friends, aside from Gingka and his usual group since they had already graduated.

For a blader like Masamune he knew that Gingka would find a way to get paid doing the one thing he was actually good at, and that was battling. As for the spikey haired blader, he was having to go to school. Now normally going to school isn't such a bad thing, although when you are a stranger amongst a school that has groups of people wanting to kick the ever loving shit out of you each day, it is a bad thing. Every day he would strap his launcher and bey close to him in the event that some unlucky soul tried to hurt him in any way, Blitz Striker was his only companion at this school.

His two best friends, Toby and Zeo, were located at a better school across the city which meant Masamune was having to fend himself during the first eight hours of the day. Since the defeat of Nemesis news of the bladers victory had slowly died down to the point where people thought it was nothing but a made up story. After all, not every part of the world could be affected by one bey, the world just doesn't work like that. Masamune had now become a faceless and nameless blader amongst his fellow classmates making it easy for him to hide from people wanting to get into fights.

Setting his launcher and bey inside of a tray that was set on top of a moving conveyer belt that would take it through a small tunnel, this tunnel would ID everything that was inside of the items. Walking through a metal detector the spikey haired blader looked to his right to see the school's mascot being taken through another detector. Not even the student council could get out of going through the schools detectors. Most people in the school felt like this was a prison, military base, and everything in between all mixed into one. However this was only an exaggeration.

Spreading out his arms the self-proclaimed number one blader could hear a beeping sound being emitted from a handheld metal detector. Rolling his eyes the blader took of his belt and set it near his launcher. Sticking his arms out again the blader felt the metal detector go around his body, this time the device kept silent allowing him to take his stuff and press on.

The sun was slowly going down after a long eight hour school day, and while he normally would fell like battling Masamune just shook his head. He looked as if his blader spirit had been sucked straight out of his body. Walking past a small alley way between two buildings he could see a lower classmen being picked on by a group of athletes and other upper classmen. Gripping his launcher the blader thought about helping the kid out but when he saw one of the other class men give him a look that said to stay away, Masamune took the silent advice. Attaching his launcher to his shorts the blader pressed on knowing full well that the kid was going to be severely hurt before he even sat in his used car.

Since the school year had begun Masamune has managed to save up enough money to buy a used car. He wasn't really interested in the hover boards since he could never find one he liked, that, and he never had time to practice his skills in the hover board style of bey battling. Just before he had bought the car the blader had managed to earn his driver's license, along with two reckless speeding tickets. These were mostly from winning street races that his over confidence would throw him into. The speeding tickets were part of the reason why he had to change schools, the school he was in before had a zero tolerance policy for trouble makers like him. Not that he was a trouble make he just happened to damage private property by accident during his battles.

Trudging along the cement parking lot the self-proclaimed number one blader shifted his gaze around the area to see people were packing their things up to head home for the day. People that had gone through the metal detectors before him had already hightailed it as far from the school as they could. Anyone that was staying there voluntarily was now mixed in with a large group of athletes that were beating the ever loving tar out of a crudely made rival mascot.

Seeing the people in his school cheering on everyone that was beating up the mascot made him sick to his stomach. It was almost as if they all enjoyed torturing anything that was in their way. Pushing these images aside Masamune found his way to his used car. After saving up enough money working for Coach Steel the self-proclaimed number one blader had finally been able to buy a Chevrolet Monte Carlo. To most people it wasn't much, but to him it was like having another striker beside him.

Opening the door to the driver's seat he tossed his bag into the vehicle while making sure he didn't accidently hit the red sports car that was right behind him. The last thing he wanted was for the owner to become pissed off enough to try and kick him into next week. "Aren't you Masamune? One of the bladers that was in the World Championships?" Hearing a voice coming from behind him the blader looked over his shoulder to see a girl sitting in the passenger seat belonging to the red sports car. Ignoring his own rule about talking to the girls at his school the blader spun around happy to brag about his skills. "That's right. I'm Masamune the number one blader in world!"

Off in the distance one of the athletes had stopped beating the make-shift mascot senselessly to see where his girlfriend was. When he saw the self-proclaimed number one blader talking to what he considered "his property" the athlete gripped his bag in his hand. "That's how I beat Gingka Hagane. He didn't stand a chance after Striker and I went through a lot of tough training." The girl sitting in the passenger seat responded by saying his story was fascinating, this caught the athletes attention as he tossed his bag into the back of his car.

"What's so fascinating about a shorty like him?" The athlete scoffed and looked at the old beat up used car that Masamune had bought with his own money. He walked around it a few times pointing out every flaw that the vehicle had, and from a first glance anyone could tell it was a lot. "You're nothing but trailer trash short stack. You only won like, one battle in the World Championships. Doesn't matter if you were in it or not you still lost. Loser."

Masamune had to admit that his track record in the World Championships hadn't been the best but after training with his two best friends his skills had improved a lot since then. He didn't count losing to Nemesis as a real loss since the bey he had been using was what most bladers considered a cheap bey. It was the last word that had ticked him off a little though. "Well at least I paid for my own car, and I didn't need daddy to buy it for me." Sliding into his used car the self-proclaimed number one blader backed out of the parking space while seeing the athlete's girlfriend laugh at his insult.

Pressing the gas pedal down Masamune slowly began to drive forward only to hear his back window shatter. Slamming on the brake he looked over his shoulder to see a baseball had been deliberately thrown at his car. Moving his gear shifter into park the blader unclipped his launcher and bey from his belt. Sliding out of his car he could hear people from all around owing at what had just happened. The athlete held his arms out motioning for Masamune to do something about the broken window.

Locking his bey in place on his launcher the blader aimed forward but reconsidered his action when he saw several other athletes walk behind him with their beys pointed at him. He knew he had a low chance of beating all of them but he knew that if he could challenge the main athlete to a one on one battle there would be a higher chance of winning. "Why don't you fine gentlemen let your beys do the talking?" The girl sitting in the red sports car put her sunglasses on and could see that Masamune seemed fine with this idea.

The athlete standing in front of Masamune shook his head. "Nah, if this piece of shit was in the World Championships then he does have some skill. If were gonna battle it's going to be on my turf." Stepping back slightly the spikey haired blader knew where this was going. He could see the athlete climbing into the red sports car followed by the loud sound of a revving engine. "I'll race you, but I only race for pinks." The crowd around him erupted in laughter. Letting out a depressed sigh the self-proclaimed number one blader glanced down at his shining bey. "Winner gets Blitz Striker on one condition; we battle your way and my way. We'll start out having a bey battle and run to our cars, then we'll race to whatever finish line you want."

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A few miles away from the school was a large, almost empty lot that had been cleared of trees for the new houses that were being built. So far a few dozen homes had been built through half of the lot. Around the entire lot was a brick wall that had only two entrances that were locked off with a chain link fence. Outside the fence several people used a bolt cutter to rip the lock off of the chain link fence, they pulled it open and let the two racers park their cars half way into the lot.

Standing in front of the broken chain link fence the two racers attached their beys to their launchers and faced each other. Starring down his opponent Masamune narrowed his eyes while gripping his launcher even tighter. Slowly closing his eyes and ignoring all other distractions the Blitz Striker owner inhaled and exhaled breath very slowly, concentrating on this very moment. It didn't matter to him what happened after the battle, all that matter to him now was taking down his opponent.

In his moment of prep Masamune was jolted back to his senses when he heard someone from the crowd shouting. With his mind fully focused on the battle he had just enough time to see a bey flying towards his face. Pulling the rip cord as fast as he could Masamune dove to the left just before the two beys created a large explosion that kicked up a large dust cloud.

Taking this chance to run down the deserted dirt road the spikey haired blader sprinted as fast as he could, calling out to his bey which followed him right away. A trail of dust followed behind them as the team did their best to stay ahead of the athlete. Looking over his shoulder Masamune could see his opponent running at full speed with his sights locked on him. The opposing bey jumped into the air and came hurtling towards Striker.

"Barrage mode!" Running around one of the houses the lead blader slipped on the dirt road causing him to lose his balance. Swinging his arms a bit Masamune managed to regain his balance while catching a glimpse of another large explosion. Large dust clouds engulfed the surrounding area of houses causing him to use his jacket sleeve as a shield for his eyes. Moving his sleeve away from his eyes the blader couldn't tell which way to go due to more dust clouds being kicked up every time his bey attacked its opponent.

Taking another step forward the self-proclaimed number one blader felt something slam into his rib cage. He fell to the ground placing a hand on his side. Looking up he could see the athlete running away from him with a large evil grin on his face. "Son of a," pushing himself up the blader began sprinting again. Striker sped forward again trying to catch up to the opposing bey that had somehow gotten away.

Among the loud cheering from groups of people watching the battle the sound of a car engine managed to draw Masamune's attention to the athlete that had put a small amount of distance between them. Shouting at Striker the blader caught his bey just as he slid into his used car. "Thanks Striker, I owe you one." Sliding and twisting the key into the ignition slot his car started up without stalling at all, this was a good sign since his car had stalled in the worst of times. Slamming the gear stick back into the vehicles first gear his car accelerated to fifty miles an hour.

Muttering something under his breath the blader now turned racer shifted into his vehicles second gear while attempting to close the gap between him and the athlete. Easing his way forward the racer began to smile when his car was finally racing alongside the expensive red sports car. Groaning a bit Masamune could see a large pick-up truck blocking half of the dirt road ahead of him, by the way it was moving he could tell it was intentionally trying to block his path. Looking at the athlete in the car next to him he mouthed a curse word just before he jerked the steering wheel to the left.

Narrowly missing a few steel pipes near a side walk the used vehicle sped onto another dirt path kicking up large dust clouds as the tires began to lose a bit of traction. Pushing the gas pedal down a bit further the blader managed to have his car accelerate enough to pass the pick-up and red sports car simultaneously, now that he was in the lead Masamune could see piles of construction materials near a sharp turn ahead. The back tires lost every bit of traction when the blader jerked the steering wheel to the left, this action caused the car to slam into the piles of materials sending some flying into a nearby house.

Coming to an immediate stop the blader looked out his window to see the red sports car speeding around the turn he had failed to make. Punching his steering wheel and uttering a curse word under his breath Masamune gripped the gear shifter with his right hand. Pushing the gear stick forward while slamming on the gas his car accelerated to fifty miles an hour, pulling the gear stick back he caused the car to accelerate to one hundred ten miles an hour. Despite having put a lot of distance between the two cars the athlete was soon doing everything he could to keep Masamune from passing him.

Another sharp turn lay ahead of the drivers and from the looks on their faces anyone could tell that it was the final turn of the race. Noticing that he wouldn't make the turn ahead Masamune jerked the steering wheel to the left causing his vehicle to drive onto the dirt paths that would one day become lush green backyards. The athlete was utterly surprised by this move, even his girlfriend was left surprised by this action.

Passing over several soon-to-be backyards Masamune smiled at the athlete as he sped over a road separating two backyards. Slamming the gas pedal down even further the racer could see a trail of dust being left in his wake. To the left of the used vehicle was a wall blocking the vehicles path, when Masamune turned his attention to the dirt road he was on the blader could see a large vehicle blocking his way along with a newly built house. Seeing wooden support beams holding the second floor up he knew exactly what he was going to do.

"Sorry house." The steering wheel was jerked to the right causing the vehicle to move in the direction of the newly built house. Slamming the gear shifter into the used cars last gear Masamune slammed the gas pedal down as far as it would go just before knocking every support beam out of his way. A collapsing second floor filled Masamune's ears as his car sped out of the now ruined house. Keeping his attention focused on the pile of dirt ahead of him Masamune smiled just before his car flew off of the pile of dirt and landed back onto the road.

The athlete locked eyes with Masamune and then with his girlfriend who was beginning to look embarrassed. "I thought you weren't going to embarrass me anymore!" His shocked expression soon changed into an angry one as the athlete looked back at Masamune. The self-proclaimed number one blader winked at the girl before taking the lead again. "Maybe I should be dating him."

Having heard enough from his girlfriend the athlete moved the steering wheel to the left causing his vehicle to slam into Masamune's. Giving the self-proclaimed number one blader a cruel look the athlete slammed his red sports car into the opposing vehicle causing his girlfriend to yell at him. He told her to shut up just before slamming his vehicle into Masamune's again. Loose car parts fell from both vehicles as the red sports car prepared to attack again.

Slamming on the brake and pulling up the emergency brake Masamune tried to stop only to be knocked into a tail spin by the other driver. Pushing the emergency brake down the blader was thrown into his door as his car was flipped over a large pile of dirt. He couldn't help but smile as his car flipped over another five times before coming to a stop upside down. With his vision blurred the only thing the blader could see was a red dot that looked like a red sports car. After a few moments of hazy vision Masamune was eventually able to make out what the red dot was. What he saw was a completely ruined red sports car jammed against large metal pipes.

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Chants of aww could be heard coming from the TV that was mounted to one of the four dully colored walls. The video of Masamune's battle with the athlete played on the screen while being stopped every few moments to be told what he was being accused of. Specifically, the video was being stopped at the part where the used car destroyed the support beams of a house just before flying through the air on a makeshift dirt ramp. "Can I get a copy of that?" He gestured to the frozen TV screen that was showing his car in mid-jump.

"Is this some kind of a joke to you?" Standing in front of Masamune was a man that was doing his job to make sure he put the blame on the person that didn't have a good lawyer. That meant that all the damage that the battle had caused would fall on Masamune if he didn't find some excuse to save himself. "You see those two out there?" The man gestured to the two people that had been inside of the red sports car. "They're going to walk out of here without even a slap on the wrist. Their parents are too hooked up."

Crossing his arms Masamune slid forward in his seat. The man walked over to him and looked the blader in the eyes while speaking very slowly. "You know, I like screw-ups like you. You know why? 'Cause you're guaranteed to end up in jail with all the other low life's." Masamune tried not to focus on the man's bad breath while he listened to him. Asking about his car the spikey haired blader angrily stood up when he heard the man had crushed it. He was pushed back down by a cop.

His mother arrived shortly after he was pushed back into his seat. The next conversation seemed to drag on and on as his mother gave the cop a sob story about how they had moved from two other states because of the exact same problem. The only difference between now and then was that this time Masamune used car had been the object that had dealt the damage to the house rather than his bey. "We need to get him off the streets then. I have on record that he already has two speeding tickets. Does he have any relatives?" Slamming his head down on the table seemed to go unnoticed by everyone in the room.

Groaning he pushed himself out of the seat and walked out of the room. He pulled the door shut and took a few steps to the right so he was facing the wall. Moments later he began lightly hitting his head against the wall knowing his mother was going to have to find them a new place to live. The question of how he was going to break the news to Toby and Zeo was beyond him.

People that could see Masamune starred at him as he hit his head against the wall. When he looked in their direction they pretended to pay him no attention. Keeping his head against the wall the blader closed his eyes wanting to take back the entire day. If he had only kept to himself, kept quiet, left things alone, maybe, just maybe he would have been home now getting ready to visit the Dungeon gym.

A creaking door drew Masamune's attention to his mother who had just stepped out of the room. She gave him a look that said he should be ashamed of himself. "Where we moving this time?" A question that he had asked twice before ending up in New York, which wasn't a bad thing considering his two best friends happened to be in the city. His mother folded her arms and shook her head.

"We are not moving anywhere." His curiosity had been drawn in.

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This wasn't what Masamune had in mind at all. Sitting in a plane headed for Liberty City was the last thing he wanted to do. He cringed when he heard a few children crying in the row behind him. As of that moment, he really did want to take back his day. The only thing that he could think about right now was the final moments he had with his mother before she had told him that Liberty City would be his new home.

A few tears formed in his eyes but they were brushed away with his jackets green sleeve. The memory of his mother jamming a small suitcase full of clothes without any remorse pained him more than he had thought it would. He was lucky to have been able to hide his bey with Zeo and Toby before the women had tossed out everything that had to do with bey battles. All of his spare parts and anything related to beys had been tossed out, to his fortune she didn't ask about his bey.

Just before he had boarded the plane he had exchanged farewells with his best friends, they had managed to sneak the bey into Masamunes bag without the launcher or ripcord. Now, he sat alone on the plane. Despite the two people sitting beside him he still felt alone. He was going to a new city, one that he hadn't even heard of until that day.

According to his mother, Masamunes father would be watching over him now. The last time Masamune had spoken to his father was too long ago to remember. Attempting to make the best out of this day the blader closed his eyes trying to get some sleep before the plane landed.

Later that night the plane had finally landed with a sleepless Masamune walking out of the airport with his suitcase. Standing on the sidewalk that overlooked the two lanes of traffic that were circling the airport the blader called for a cab that was only a few car links away from him. He ran towards it and bumped into two people, he apologized just before climbing into the black SUV. A local radio station played loudly while the driver looked over his shoulder asking where Masamune needed to go.

Reaching into his left pocket Masamune pulled out a folded up piece of paper that had various directions written down on it. The cab driver took the paper and unfolded it. He looked it over carefully before handing it back to the blader. "It's going to be a long drive." Resting his head on his fist the blader nodded and looked out the window.

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Stepping out of the black SUV the self-proclaimed number one blader yawned while attempting to stretch. That was when he felt the cab driver pull his green sleeve, he pointed to his hand demanding payment for the long ride from the airport. Reaching into his pocket the blader felt around for his wallet. Felling nothing inside of his right hand pocket the blader reached into his left hand pocket and felt nothing. Sliding his hands into both his back pockets he felt around for his money and found that his pockets were empty.

Frantically searching his pockets and suitcase for money he hadn't noticed that someone else had stepped into the cab. To the customers dismay he would have to wait until the cab driver was paid for his previous fare. "My wallet was stolen." Thinking back to his time at the airport he remembered the two people that had bumped into him. Only now did he realize that they had deliberately bumped into him. "Tough break kid, I still need payment." During the argument over how Masamune would pay for the ride the other customer had rolled down the cab window to listen in on what was being said.

He didn't really care what happened but he had business elsewhere. Tapping the back of the cab drivers seat the customer managed to get his attention. "Step on it I've got somewhere to be. Take this and keep the change." Two hundred dollars was slapped down on top of the glove box. Masamune looked at the man and thanked him only to be given a blank stare. "Welcome to Liberty City kid." He rolled up the window to conceal his face.

The black SUV was soon driving down the road again leaving Masamune to find his way to his apartment. Turning to face the building in front of him the blader could see his new home was located near the river the cut through the island separating it from the middle island where the city was located at. The airport was located on another island that was also separated by a river bed. Walking up to the red door Masamune pushed it open and ran up the wooden stairs that creaked with each step.

Finding the room to his father's apartment was no problem at all since it was the first room to the right. He knocked on the door and waited no more than a few minutes before his father pulled the door open. 'Son, I thought you wouldn't be arriving here until Friday." From the look on Masamune's face his father could tell that it was Friday. Scratching the back of his head the older man stepped back allowing his son to walk into the room.

"This is it." A joyless tone came from the older man as he showed Masamune the one room apartment that was in severe need of remodeling. The bed room was separated from the rest of the room with a single wall that had no door, stepping out of the bed room a person would see the small living room with an L shaped couch running along the wall. Connected to the living room was a small kitchen that barely had enough room to hold a small refrigerator, that he noticed wasn't even working properly by the sounds it was making.

To his surprise there weren't any bugs running around. Which he was more than happy about since he was not the world's number one bug enthusiast, he didn't plan on being one anytime in the near future either. "Where do I sleep?" His voice lacked any real emotion and anyone could have guessed he wasn't happy to be here from the tone of his voice.

His father let out a sigh and took note that the room was only designed for one person. This was made obvious by the whole apartment being one massive room. "Now, Masamune, you know you're mother had no other choice. I mean, it was either this or juvenile hall. I mean, you can't just keep moving around when you get into trouble." There was slightly sympathy for the younger blader but not much. His father knew about the trouble he had gotten into over the past few years but had never stepped in to help him. Even as a kid he rarely got fatherly advice.

"It worked for you." Masamune's distaste for the older man was clear as day. His father looked down and nodded but the look on his face said he regretted running from all of his problems that even included his only son. A depressed sigh was heard from the elder man as he walked over to the front door and opened it. "Look, neither of us asked for this. But I promised your mom I'd take care of you. So you just go by the rules her and I agreed to, I'm sure you'll manage just fine."

A look of disgust found its way onto Masamune's face at the mention of rules. "Yeah, rules. Real simple. You go to school, you come back here right after, and I don't want to see or hear about you anywhere near a car or bey. The bed room is yours, I've got some place to be tonight so you'll be here by yourself." The door slammed shut behind the older man as he left his son behind. After his dad walked out of the room Masamune immediately plopped down on the bed, it felt like a brick wall.

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The first re-written chapter, I had to work double time to be able to complete this as well as other chapters. After reading this story again I knew I could have made it better, and compared to my other story Heist Mission, this one can be a lot better. I have all the chapters planned out so this should be getting a few updates every so often, that is, if I'm keeping up to date with my other story.

Next Challenge: Realizer