"Yeah, that's it! Go, and hit him with Soaring Crash, Pidgey!" Chrissy ordered her Bit-Beast, smiling with an intense joy as her blade made a beeline straight into Angus', crashing it into the rim of the dish. "You got anything to fend off my attack, Angus, or are you done?"

Angus laughed heartily, and then pointed at their spinning tops battling. "I'm not done yet, Chrissy! Let's go, Ram Basher! Take this one home!"

Sipping on some sodas at the table a few feet from the Beydish, Damilare and his friend Cory watched the match, noting their teammates' strengths and weaknesses and how much they'd improved over the last month. Cory lifted his soda to drink when it suddenly exploded in his face, causing him to fall backwards out of his chair in dismay. Damilare started laughing as Cory picked himself up.

"What in the world?" the boy exclaimed, wringing his blue shirt out. The soda had gotten all over his upper body and covered his pelvic region as well, making him appear as if he'd wet his pants. "What the crap was that, guys?"

Angus ran over to him, kneeling down and picking up his Beyblade, snickering. "Sorry, dude. She knocked my blade out of the dish so fast that I couldn't even warn you."

Chrissy gave a cheesy smile, obviously not guilty about what she'd done, but rather impressed. She looked at Angus happily. "I guess that makes me the winner again."

"Again," Angus said, attaching his Beyblade to his launcher. "I won't lose this time."

"That's what you said the last five times," Chrissy giggled, getting ready for yet another round. "But if you insist."

After a hotel attendant had handed him a towel, Cory sat back down, cautious of anymore mishaps. He carefully took another soda and popped the cap off, watching the Beyblades intently for any sudden movements.

Seeing his friend so wary, Damilare waved his hand in front of his face. "Lighten up, man. We have the whole day to relax, so do it."

Cory's shoulders sunk and he forced himself to relax, sinking into his seat. "Yeah, I guess I'm just a little nervous about the tournament. I know we'll do well, but I don't know if we'll win."

"That's just your nerves talking, dude. We'll definitely win. I'm in the top five ranked players."

"Yeah, but the other four are in this tournament, too, and those stats are mostly based off the number of battles you've had. If someone hasn't battled as much, they won't be ranked as high. You've battled hundreds of times and won most of those times, so it's only natural you'd be so high up."

Damilare shrugged. "Whatever, we'll still win. I know I'm the best blader in the world."

"Care to back that up?"

Cory straightened up in his seat. "Manfred! What are you doing here?"

Standing a short distance away from the Demolition Raiders was the Covenant, and they didn't look overjoyed to see a team they considered to be "in their way".

Manfred answered pompously, "If you must know, we're on our way to the beach to battle the Black Hawks."

Cory's eyes widened. "What? Why would you do that the day before the tournament?"

Manfred waved his index finger. "That's none of your business, but since we're here, how about we have a little exhibition match?" Cory visibly shook a bit in his seat, and Manfred capitalized. "Oh, I see that you're scared. I mean, you already wet your pants, so it's okay to admit it. We all get scared sometimes, well, except for me and my team."

Chrissy hissed, "Yeah? I bet you'd be scared to battle me, you big-nosed ball bag!"

Chuck jumped in front of Manfred, growling like a bear. Chrissy didn't back down, and stepped closer to him, putting her hands to her hips. She wasn't the kind of girl that was easily intimidated, especially if she thought the perpetrator was all bark and little bite.

"So is that a no then?" Manfred asked, pushing Chuck back behind him.

Damilare took out his blade and pointed it at Manfred. "No way! I'll take you down right here!"

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's see just how badly I beat you," Manfred declared, stepping up to the Beydish and preparing his blade. He looked back at his teammates and gave them a nod. They nodded back, and he grinned at Damilare. "Get ready for total annihilation."

"3…2…1…Let it rip!"

Both Beyblades launched, hitting the dish below and immediately moving in to attack the other. Damilare's Spearfishborg wasted no time gaining the upper hand over Manfred's Wolfbear. It smashed into Wolfbear viciously, pushing it back until it reached the rim of the dish, where Wolfbear fought back and moved out of the way just in time. Spearfishborg almost fell out, but it saved itself and managed to just barely regain its composure.

"Don't let up, Wolfbear! Teach this foe a lesson with Cursed Claw!" Manfred shouted, finding it time to increase his intensity.

The dark gray spinning top glowed a hazy purple, and soon a pillar of light emitted from the bit chip. A fiendish looking wolf with a bear's body appeared above, howling strongly.

Damilare knew it was also time to up his game and stop testing the waters. "Come on, Spearfishborg! Show him what real power is!"

Out of the brown Beyblade came a large blue spearfish with golden armor on its fins and spikes on its gills. It headed into battle with Wolfbear, easily alluding the beast's grip and slashing it with its spear. Wolfbear howled in pain and turned, retaliating with its jagged, oversized claws. The fish dodged this as well, sliding underneath the bear, its razor sharp dorsal fin cutting the wolf's inner thighs.

Manfred snarled, clearly not enthused that he was being made to look like a chump by a fish. "This is just child's play, you fool! I'm merely toying with you, testing your strengths and weaknesses, you see? I've had this entire battle under control from the start, and you fell right into my trap!"

"Is that the best excuse for losing you could come up with?" Damilare taunted. His eyes moved past Manfred to the window, his jaw falling open.

The other Demolition Raiders noticed it, too, and ran to the window, amazed at the sight of a huge red tornado spinning in the direction of the beach. The tornado seemingly shattered, and then disappeared completely. When the shock had worn off, the Raiders returned their attention to the battle, seeing that their opponents were gone.

Damilare knelt down and retrieved his blade, smiling triumphantly. He knew he would've been the victor had the battle continued, and so did his teammates, who came over to congratulate him. Underneath his smile, he wondered just what that red tornado was, though.