Chapter 3 - Main Priorities

Madoka had stayed at the WBBA while the others had left, sending Maru back to the B-Pit where Benkei promised that he would watch her for the night until Madoka got back - he offered to stay the night to keep Maru company, but the brunette insisted that she would be back before 7:00.
Her and Tsubasa had no idea where the other younger bladers went, but they simply presumed that they all went home to think about everything that Zyro had told them earlier.
Now, Madoka sat in the chair that Maru had originally been sitting in, hunched over with his chin resting on her hands as she looked blankly at the ground, multiple things racing through her mind at lightning speed as she recalled today's earlier events.
Tsubasa had left for a sort of meeting with the other workers of the WBBA, supposedly saying that they would have to postpone the tournament for even longer - he would probably also tell several of the surrounding WBBA networks in Japan, such as Tokyo of which resided a couple hundred miles away, and likely the cities of Sendai, Chiba, Niigata, and Sapporo which was far up to the north, not even connected to the rest of the country of Japan.
She knew that many people would likely become agitated by this, demanding to know why the tournament had gone on a such a long halt with no explanation, but she was also sure that Tsubasa likely other things on his mind than that.
After all, a life was more important than some tournament that would mean nothing in the end.

The brunette sighed getting up from the chair she was sitting in and brushing down her skirt, walking over to the windows that covered one entire wall of Tsubasa's office and looking towards the sky, bringing one arm up to support the other at the elbow as she lifted her opposite hand and gently chewed on the skin around her nails.
She read somewhere that chewing the skin around your nails or the top layer of your bottom lip was a sign of developing anxiety disorders, but considering the situation it wouldn't be a surprise.
Her turquoise eyes were fixated upon the sky, of which was a dull blue color and beginning to fade as the sun began to go down, letting off a thin line of orange from the mountains far off; if she hadn't been as anxious as she was, she may have been able to enjoy that sight once again like she had so many times in her life.
The conversation that they had all taken part in with Zyro raced through her mind, remembering every word that was spoken and every action that was made, ever facial expression shown and all the anxiety that ran through her at that moment.
Now, as she thought about it, it actually seemed to make a bit of sense - and that absolutely terrified her to think that what Zyro had proposed was right; Alcorin was alive, switching his and Gingka's places with his powers that he had inherited from the god he was born of.

To think that they had destroyed the god of destruction 7 years prior only to find out that he had a flesh and blood son 7 years later was unthinkable - Madoka had never even thought that being the offspring of a god was even possible except for those Percy Jackson books.
So much had happened a mere week, all truly starting when Gingka had collapsed in front of Zyro, Ren, Shinobu, and Benkei and had fallen into a coma - that had been unbearable enough that day to find out that Gingka was dying, and it definitely hadn't gotten any better as the week had gone on.
Only a week and it had felt like an eternity - now, it was as if time had stopped all together, forcing her to relive the pain and anguish that she had screamed out through her tears.
Now everything they had fought for and thought they had remade had just fallen apart with what Zyro had told them; Gingka was dead in Alcorin's place, and Alcorin was alive in his, tricking them into believing that it was finally over as they all wanted it to be before shoving it in their faces that they had been the ones to lose in the end.
There was no way Zyro was lying... Madoka had wanted to believe so badly that he was, that he was just paranoid after everything that had happened and had freaked out when Gingka decided to leave, but now it just seemed all too possible to be impossible, to even be real.
But considering what they knew about Alcorin, and how "Gingka" had been acting throughout the week after he had finally woken up from his eternal rest, it seemed like the only thing that could ever make sense in this situation.
Alcorin was, in reality, the son of a destructive deity that Gingka had destroyed 7 years ago - and that offspring may have likely come back because of the grudge that he held against him.
But whatever Alcorin's motives were or had ever been was unknown, even if he said he had come to complete what his father failed which could only be guessed to be the destruction that Nemesis had wanted.

The brunette sighed, ceasing in biting the skin around her nail of which was beginning to turn red and simply crossing her eyes, staring down towards the life below in the city she had forever known as her home.
The sound of the automatic doors opening reached her ears and caused her to instinctively look over her shoulder and see Tsubasa walking into the room, a weary look on his face as walked over to his desk and simply leaned on it, a heavy sigh escaping him as the stress of announcing that the tournament was to be postponed longer still lingered.
At first, Madoka had expected Hikaru to come walking in behind the Director as she often had and had been confused for a moment when she was no where in sight before reality came back to her all at once - this was all reality.
Dynamis, Hikaru, and likely Gingka were all dead, and for all they knew Alcorin likely lived on, planning to do who-knows-what now that he was out there.
"How did that go?" Was all the brunette asked as she turned a bit towards her old friend. Tsubasa sighed before giving her a weary smile.
"Well, it went probably as you would expect it too..." He said with a small laugh on the edges of his voice, "I wasn't exactly able to come up with a good excuse in time, so I left them all without any answers as to why we're postponing it longer..."
Madoka hummed softly, looking down at the ground for a moment before back up towards the silverette that she had known for many years.

"Do you think Zyro's right?" She asked, her eyes soft yet determined, looking Tsubasa dead in the eyes from across the room as she desired to know what his answer was.
Said silverette didn't answer at first, appearing hesitant or thinking over the subject for a moment as even wasn't entirely sure what he believed - it took about a minute of silence before he looked back to her with his golden-brown eyes.
"I'm not sure what I believe..." He answered hopelessly, "Everything just seems so confusing lately, and then when we finally think that we can get on with it all, here comes the news that Alcorin's not really gone... And Gingka is..."
Madoka's face paled at the thought, remembering how they had all stood in that room under the WBBA building and watched as "Gingka" had destroyed whoever he had put in his place - no, they already knew who he had put in his place.
They had watched as their best friend and hero had been shredded into the nothingness the light had faded into, she had hugged that psychopath out of relief of believing that the man she loved was alive and awake.
It was honestly disgusting to think about how that bastard would take advantage of their love, friendship, and trust towards Gingka and use it against them for his own bidding until he took their naivety and tore it up like paper.
For Madoka, it was only possible to think about how much that all made sense now, how Gingka's behavior had been throughout the week before he just decided to leave and then supposedly disappeared with no trace of his existence left behind.

"I hate him.." She said bitterly to no one, her hands curling up into fists as he entire body shook, her face containing a calm anger while the tears began to gather, "I hate him and everything he stands for.."
Tsubasa looked at her for a moment, standing upright from leaning on his desk and making his way over to the brunette, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder to try and console her.
"So I take it you believe him?" The Director asked out of curiosity, his voice calm and delicate and filled with nothing but compassion that he had always had for this woman.
Madoka's shoulder shook as her grip on nothing loosened and her hands hung helplessly at her eyes with her arms, letting out a short breath that shook slightly along with her frame.
"I-I didn't want to, at first..." She began, swallowing the bile that rose into her throat out of pure disgust that someone was willing to do anything such as what Alcorin did, "But... Now, it's all that's makes sense, I mean... Gingka was fine.. He just woke up, and he managed to get down there so fast, I..." Madoka bit the inside of her lip as a tear fell from her eye, lifting one hand and gently wiping it off her cheek with a single finger before continuing, "I don't understand anymore.. Is this what we fought for, did we fight for him?"
Tsubasa's eyes softened as he gently pulled Madoka into a small hug of which she showed no resistance to, thankful for the comfort that Tsubasa was willing to give her.

"I don't why, Tsubasa, but..." Madoka continued as she let the tears slowly fall from her eyes in small streams down fair skin, like rivers across the most beautiful of pastures that had remained so pure for all eternity, "I-I feel like I have to believe him.. T-there's no way he's lying, Zyro wouldn't freak out like that if he was lying.."
The silvernette gently pet the back of her head as she spoke through tears that decided to take pity and not rip through her violently, taking it all in as he too remembered that Zyro wasn't the kind of person who would lie or make something like that up.
He knew as well as anybody that there was only one other thing they could do.
"Well, I guess we were never the kind of people to just abandon our friends." He said reassuringly as her gently pulled away from the brunette with his hands on her shoulders, "And I don't think it would be a good idea for Zyro to just be wandering out around Japan aimlessly with no idea of where he's supposed to go.."
Madoka giggled softly at that, whipping the tears away as she calmed down, feeling slightly better despite what the situation had to offer with Gingka's death and Alcorin's taking place of him.
"Yeah..." She said, sniffing softly as the grief still remained yet remained subdued by the hope and determination that took most of its' place, "Do you think we should say something to Shinobu and the others?.."
Tsubasa, taking his hands off of her shoulders, turned and looked out the windows that showed through to the rest of the city, the sun still high in the sky let lower than it's peak with a darkening sky behind it - the sky sure was a mysterious thing.
"Knowing them, I think they'll know exactly what they wanna do.." Tsubasa answered, his gaze out the window being joined by Madoka's as she turned while still remaining relatively close to him - at this point, Tsubasa was the only real comfort she had left in a cruel world of where anyone would do anything for their own gain; despite likely not even being human, Alcorin was definitely no different...

Ren's blond hair bounced freely behind her as she hurried down the street, having made a decision of what she had or what she was supposed to do before she even knew what she was doing.
Her breathing came in pants as she determinedly searched for both Sakyo and Takanosuke.
Her first instinct was to look in the place she had found them last time about 2 weeks ago, which had been down by the shoreline - unfortunately, they weren't there this time which left her with the other specific places that she had checked before that the time before, thoughts racing through her mind as things flashed before her eyes, things she would rather forget than ever remember or bring up again.
The moment she had heard Zyro's words that had started a very valid argument between them all, her first instinct was to believe him.
The first thing that her mind had gone back to was the several abilities that Alcorin apparently had, such as teleporting, apparent telekinesis, and mind control as he had evidently used on her.
But some other part of her mind told her not to jump to conclusions to quickly and question it like any logical person would - but after which she threw away that 'common sense' as it appeared to be and went with instinct had automatically told her; Zyro was telling the truth. Shinobu had run off somewhere shortly after Zyro had left, and with the lucky guess that he had gone to find him she had refrained from doing so herself and set off on a different task.

Takanosuke and Sakyo were their teammates in the tournament that was likely to be held off even longer with the situation they had been presented with, and if anybody deserved to know about this it was definitely them.
Sure, they had been brought into everything in the practical blink of an eye when she had gone to see them and had been contacted by Kite that Maru had come back to Metal Bey, but they were just as important in all of this as the rest of them were.
Ren had absolutely no idea where those two went in their spare time, seeing as how Takanosuke was the one who followed Sakyo around and Sakyo didn't really like being around anyone as it seemed; the last place she could think of was one of the Bey Arenas that weren't really used when things like tournaments and such came up, and seeing as how she had once seen them at one of them, it was a reasonable place to look.
And she did just that as everything in her head was mixed up into jumbled parts, unsure of what exactly was going to happen now that Zyro had revealed to them the dire situation they had been tricked into.
Explaining it to them might not be too hard, but it was really difficult to determine how they were going to react or if they were going to do anything about it.

Though, to Ren, it didn't really matter as she hurried her way through the city, making her way across several streets and making sure that she didn't run into the path of any oncoming cars.
Her legs were becoming tired as she ran down the sidewalks towards her destination, her chest starting to hurt as the air was just able to get to her lungs before being exhaled once again, though she kept pushing herself as she just felt the rush of everything coming to her in a panicked frenzy.
Small snippets of things from when she had been under Alcorin's control came back to her, having seen things through her own eyes and yet having absolutely no control over anything that she did, anything that she said, and the feeling of being entirely helpless and literally unable to do anything had been crippling until she finally fell unconscious along with her body finally being returned to her in terms of control.
Throughout the week, she had convinced herself not to think about it - but then she was forced too once everything had been brought up barely even a week after.
Now it was nearly impossible what to decipher anymore.
It wasn't long before she found herself coming to the doorstep of the Bey Arena that she had been too many times, stopping and leaning against the wall to catch her breath from running to find the 2 friends that were mainly separate from the rest of them before standing upright and making her way towards the Cyclone Bey Stadium of which many young bladers like herself often resided in their free time and out of the pure joy they got from beybattling - no matter the motive, everyone could agree that a beybattle was a beybattle.

When she entered, she definitely wasn't surprised to see several young bladers around her age battling each other fiercely; what she was surprised about, was that Sakyo and Takanosuke were a few of them on the sidelines, watching from up above in the seats while their body languages told everything.
Sakyo was sitting with his back straight and arms crossed, one leg crossed over the other that was placed firmly on the ground as he watched, cold and inexpressive; Takanosuke was the exact opposite with both feet planted firmly on the ground and bent over so that elbows met knees, his chin resting on his hands with fingers that rested loosely on his cheeks and an excited look on his face, watching the Beybattles with eagerness like he always did with a light in his eyes that could've matched Zyro's if said Fire Blader still had any light in him.
To see these 2 bladers even beside each other was a rather surreal thing - you'd honestly never think that those two polar opposites would be friends.
Either way, Ren didn't take her time in hurrying over to the stairs and rushing up them towards where they were sitting.
"Takanosuke, Sakyo!" She called out, drawing their attention towards her of which had previously been locked on the battle between 2 amateur bladers that wouldn't even begin to match their skill.

"Hey Ren." Takanosuke greeted with a smile, while Sakyo remained silent and simply watched her with his red eyes that had always been as sharp as a reptile's, "What are you doing here?" Ren didn't answer right away as she paused once more to catch her breath, doubling over slightly while still on her feet.
"I've been looking..." She began through pants, "Looking everywhere for you 2..." Sakyo turned his head more towards her and spoke before Takanosuke ever had a chance too.
"Why?" He asked sternly, which she had come to know was just apart of his nature and personality.
"It's important..." Ren answered as she finally caught her breath, able to speak properly save for the soft burning feeling in her chest from running, "Look, something kind of happened at the WBBA earlier, and I have something that I really need to tell you 2, like, right now.. Just... Just not here, exactly.."
Both Takanosuke and Sakyo exchanged a brief glance at each other at seeing Ren's urgency and the sound of it in her voice, evidently showing that there was indeed something rather important that she had to tell them.
Without a word, Sakyo stood up, Takanosuke scrambling for a moment before following in the action.

"Come on." The Dragoon Blader said roughly to Ren, who wasn't affected by his tone of voice as it was just his natural way of speaking, "We can speak elsewhere."
Ren spared a glance at Takanosuke, who gave a small shrug with a look of 'might as well' before he followed the blader that he considered a dear friend - sighing tiredly, Ren followed as well.
They didn't go very far at all, just across the street from the Bey Arena and into a darkened alley while remaining well near the entrance as to not become the accidental victims of anything that went on in the shadows of the buildings.
It was here that Sakyon stopped walking and turned to Ren, Takanosuke by his side as their eyes both went immediately to Ren.
"Alright.." Sakyo said gruffly, "What is it?" Ren bit the inside of her lip for a moment, almost hesitant to say anything that she was right here - but she knew that she had too.
They wouldn't buy some faulty excuse that she came up with right off the bat, not even thinking about what it would be before it would escape her lips.
At this point, she was pretty sure they were all willing to take risks of who's side who was on, and what decision they could possibly make.
So, with a shaking soul and a hesitant tongue, Ren told them everything that Zyro had said and claimed at the WBBA building earlier, watching as their expressions morphed - well, Takanosuke's did, while Sakyo's remained relatively the same as he listened and took everything in.
All Ren could control was what she said, and she said everything that Zyro had told them, everything that had happened at the WBBA building earlier, because she knew that there was nothing more that she could do than that...

Shinobu said nothing as he let Zyro silently weep into him, hearing his desperate attempts to force everything back in only for it to come back out once again.
It was a heartbreaking sound that tore at this out as he unwittingly listened to Zyro's muffled sobs and felt as he shivered against him, tears wracking his body as it forced him to let out as much as possible.
There was nothing that he could say, nothing that he could do to comfort Zyro other than just let him cry, cry out the tears that he had apparently held in and had not wanted to cry in front of anyone.
He wanted nothing more than to say that it was okay - but that was a huge lie, it wasn't okay and it never had been okay from the moment that "Gingka" had walked into that room under the WBBA building.
At this point, the only thing he would do was listen to Zyro's muffled sobs and whimpers as he helplessly cried, though probably still keept most of it in even with the tears that likely streamed down his face like rivers through a green glade.
He held him silently with one arm that went around his shoulders with his hand resting just below collarbone, staring blankly past his friend's shoulder as he allowed him to let out some of his sorrow and agony and grief that he had kept suppressed for so long.

If somebody saw them like this, Shinobu honestly wouldn't care, he would just shoot them a look and send them on their way; right now, Zyro just needed to cry a bit.
Everyone did once in awhile, and Zyro was definitely no different from the rest of them.
So he let him lean against him for as long as he wanted and needed, letting out whatever he needed to until he felt okay enough to get himself together once more.
It took several more minutes of silent weeping until Shinobu went Zyro shift to sit upright, letting the other pull away from him and sit properly as he wiped away the spare tears from his eyes that he did not wish to continue to let falling.
Zyro sniffed softly, wiping away at his eyes to dry them from his pathetic - why pathetic? - little fit of crying that he had unwittingly gone through; though as much as he had wished to protest against it, the natural reflexes in his body wouldn't let him.
"You okay?" Shinobu asked, leaning forward to get a better look at Zyro's face, which was tear-stained, his eyes red and dulled from the emotion of grief and anguish that filled him and had almost triumphed over all else.
No, he wasn't fine. Nothing was, it never had been even though they had thought it was, it wasn't okay...
"Y-yeah.." Zyro said softly, taking deep breaths to calm himself down even though they came in and out shakily.
Shinobu placed a hand on his back for a physical show of affection, letting Zyro know without words that he was there and he didn't have to wallow in his own sorrow alone; whether or not the ginger-ravenette got the message, he didn't know.

"Come on..." Shinobu said, standing up with a slight ache in his muscles from sitting down for so long, offering a hand out to his friend of which the other gratefully took.
Biting the inside of his lip, Zyro smiled softly as a way of thanks before looking down, a solemn look on his face as he once more failed to look his best friend in the eye.
As much as it annoyed him a bit, Shinobu tried to remain patient with his friend and not push him too hard, seeing as how he was in a bit of a more delicate state than he had been in the week that they had been trying to save Gingka, which had all been for naught.
"Zyro, look..." The light-haired blader sighed, placing a hand on the Fire Blader's shoulder which managed to get his attention.
Zyro would be listening either way, as there was nothing else to do but watch and listen and wait and hear; just because he wasn't looking at Shinobu didn't mean that he wasn't listening to him - it was the same the opposite way as well, and with Kira who never really said anything when he was explaining something to him, other than the little slaps into reality that he really needed at times.
At least he was still sane enough to admit that.
Assuring that Zyro was listening as they were able to make vague eye contact, Shinobu continued speaking.
"You don't have to do this on your own.." The Salamander Blader said, unsure himself of why he was trying to comfort his best friend when he knew that pitiful words and sorrowful looks would only upset him a bit more every time, "Yeah, we didn't exactly believe you at first, but... I guess we all just kind of wanted this to be over, and I know that you probably do too, but.. If you're this serious about it, we're not just leaving you out in the cold to wander around aimlessly, okay?"

Bloodshot eyes against blue eyes looked into Shinobu's own green ones, and for a split moment was Shinobu able to see a scared little child hiding from monsters under his blankets in the middle of the night, just as most kids were.
It took a moment before Zyro let out a small huff, seeming to have calmed down a fair bit before he nodded.
"Okay.." He said in a slightly subdued voice that was nothing like it, almost a shadow of his former self with the light and innocence to still clinging to him like a seraph to one's hand.
A sad yet hopeful smile crossed Shinobu's face as he saw that Zyro was now able to hold himself up and together by himself - or at least, he hoped he was able to.
His look of near admiration soon turned into a playful one and he poked the other blader on the shoulder lightly.
"Besides..." The light-haired blader began with a small smile, "You wouldn't make it that far without us.."
A soft chuckle was issued from Zyro's lips.
Well, Shinobu was definitely right about that.

Despite that he was independent to do most things on his own, he did need to count on his friends to be there in rough times when he needed them most; earlier, he had felt like that was being drained from him, like the will to find Alcorin was being sucked out from his being when he heard that his friends didn't believe him right away.
But looking back at what they had chosen to do, it was reasonable - he wanted it to be over just as much as they did.
"Yeah, I guess.." Zyro said softly, a visible smile making it's way onto his lips of which Shinobu was both happy and relieved to see after the seemingly long day they had all had.
"Come on, let's head back.." The Salamander Blader suggested, but which Zyro just simply agreed too, "I dunno where Ren and the others are, but I'm sure they're figuring out something with what they're gonna do."
With that, both Zyro and Shinobu left the Bey Park, and through their walk back to the B-Pit neither of them said much.
The tear-tracks on Zyro's face slowly faded away and melted into his skin tone, his eyes still a bit red though better than they were before.
However, it didn't stop the massive headache that he got from a long day of almost having several emotional breakdowns.
The sun was visibly setting in the sky now, a dark blue off in the distance that was met with rays of gold, orange, and pink that bled into each other as the 2 of them crossed the street to the opposite side of where the B-Pit was on the corner.
"So you actually believe me?" Zyro said, his tone making him sound a bit on the insecure side of which he probably was right now, "Like, you're not saying that just to make me feel better, are you?"

"No, Zyro, I'm not." Shinobu answered, trying to find the best way he could to ensure the other blader that he wasn't lying to him, "We had our doubts earlier, but we believe you now.. You're not the only one that wants to take him down for everything he's done."
The two of them both entered the B-Pit, and it didn't take a few moments before Maru came running at lightning speed and wrapped her arms around Zyro's waist in a hug, seeing as how she was much shorter than him at her age.
Zyro staggered back slightly but caught himself, startled by the sudden embrace that he got from Maru that neither had noticed had even been in the entrance way.
"Whoa, okay.." Zyro said hurriedly out of sheer surprise, unsure of how to react at the moment as Maru refused to let go for several moments.
Zyro glanced up and met eyes with Madoka, who smiled awkwardly while Benkei stood with her, accompanied by Kite, Eight, Ren, and even Kira of who did not exactly look pleased to be there.
Though it appeared that none of them were arguing with him, so it seemed to be alright save for the look that he and Shinobu exchanged for a brief moment. It took about a minute before Maru finally let go of Zyro, stepping back a few steps and smiling with an apologetic look.

"S-sorry.." She apologized sheepishly with a blush of embarrassment on her cheeks, "I was worried about you.." Zyro looked at her for a moment before a small smile crossed his face, an apologetic look crossing his features from the way that he had been acting earlier; it wasn't really anything to feel guilty about, but at this moment his emotions just decided to do whatever they wanted.
"I'm fine, don't worry.." The Fire Blader said apologetically, which Maru could only return with a smile that showed immediate forgiveness.
"We we're wondering where you went in the first place.." Madoka began, "Shinobu was the one who went looking for you while the rest of us tried to decide what to do with our lives now... But we believe you."
Sky blue eyes looked up towards the shop owner, of who stood there with his friends of who all (save for Kira) nodded with hopeful looks on their faces towards their friend - hope for what?
There wasn't anything to hope for in a world as cruel as the one they had been created on.
"Sorry about doubting you earlier, Zyro." Kite said as he pushed his glasses up on his nose, the lens' catching the light for a moment before the glare disappeared, "We, uh.. We we're a bit ignorant before.."
Kira rolled his one eye, of which nobody noticed since they didn't tend to keep an eye on him that much anymore.

"It's fine, honest.." Zyro said with a shrug, not bothering on worrying about that anymore since he had been able to cry it out a bit to Shinobu of which he trusted his friend wouldn't bring up - then again, why did anybody trust anybody?

Wait, what?...

"W-what we're mainly trying to say is..." Madoka began, trying to find the words as it now seemed incredibly awkward talking to Zyro after what had happened earlier at the WBBA building, "We're with you all the way on this.. Tsubasa postponed the tournament even longer so that we have time to begin looking for wherever Alcorin could be.. We're supposed to be devising a plan to do that tomorrow. Really, it kind of depends on you, so... You're call."
The silence that continuously settled between them for a few moments at a time felt empty, awkward, like a gap had been formed between them all in a very short amount of time. Maybe that had happened, but that didn't mean that they weren't able to work together anymore.
"Yeah, okay.." Zyro agreed, "If it makes taking him down, I'm all for it."
The rest of them were happy to hear that from him, seeing the blader that they knew through the tear-stained wall of emotions that had almost been visible around him.
Even so, it didn't help the weight of the air in the room nearly being torture with how heavy it was, and they were all able to feel it.
"So is there a specific time for this?" Kira asked, a hand on his hip as he glanced up towards Madoka of who returned his gaze, "Because none of you really tell me anything.. Or are we all just showing up at random?"
Madoka raised an eyebrow before an awkward smile crossed her face, while the rest of them glanced at each other.
"Well, definitely in the afternoon..." The brunette said unhelpfully, of which Kira didn't reply too.
"What are even doing here, Kira?" Shinobu questioned, a scowl on his face towards the Bahamoote Blader, "I don't think any of us would go running to you to give an invitation."

"Yeah, nobody but Zyro.." Kira said plainly. Most eyes immediately went to Zyro, of who looked away slightly.
"I found him, really, but I was the first one he told.." Kira went on, all eyes once again landing on the pastel-haired boy that they had never been to big on, "What?.. At least I'm not the one who emotionally broke him..."
Shinobu seemed about to reply before Ren butted in on the mainly one-sided conversation.
"I don't think we should start an argument right now..." The blond suggested warily, "Besides... We can all agree on the same thing, right?"
The night went on with much bickering, mainly with Kira before the rest of them retired for the night and left the B-Pit for their own respectful residences.
By around 8:30, nobody was in the B-Pit except for Madoka, Zyro, and Maru, of who all didn't really say much to each other from the slight awkwardness that still remained between them all.
Zyro went to bed early that night with his head aching, his eyes still stinging from the tears that he had kept in and cried and wiped away.
His tired soul sighed out of relief as he lay down in his bed with his night light on, laying on his side and staring at the wall he was facing with fear of nightmares.

It was only then did he realize just how much everything in his body hurt; his legs, his arms, his head, his eyes, his chest, his heart... Everything, all attacked mercilessly by the madness that was Alcorin's soul, the soul that still remained in the world all because of what they had done and what they had failed to do with great shame in themselves and even in each other.
He - no, they - were going to find him.
They were going to find him, wherever he was, and they were going to take him down once and for all - at first, Zyro had thought he he was going to do because of what he did to Gingka, like what Tsubasa had said.
But at that moment his heart had spoken more than his head had, because it wasn't only them that mattered anymore, they weren't just going to be fighting an isolated battle in the comforts of the city where they hadn't had to flee from; Alcorin was out there now that he had done what he had come to do, and whatever he could do to the world was a thought that would forever remain in Zyro's mind.
It would be best to get some sleep, seeing as how would likely have a long day tomorrow with what Madoka had vaguely described to him.
He hadn't been able to say much once he had returned to the B-Pit, from the heaviness that lie in his heart from what had happened earlier that day, gnawing away at him endlessly; things should never have turned out this way.
But through Alcorin's sick and cruel intentions that he had brought upon them, they had...

It was the early afternoon the next day when all of had gathered at the WBBA building in Tsubasa's office just as planned, the silvernette seemingly waiting for them as they all entered one by one.
Madoka, Maru, and Zyro were among the first to arrive, and then there was Ren, Shinobu, and Benkei then Kite and Eight who were followed by Kira, who evidently still felt the slightest bit uncomfortable being in the place that he had once been the mortal enemy of.
Sakyo and Takanosuke weren't there, though it was common of those two to just stray on their own path stubbornly - either way, Takanosuke was the one that mostly followed Sakyo around like a lost puppy without much to say for himself on the subject of much.
"Okay, so are we expecting anyone else, or can we get started?" Tsubasa asked, standing up from his seat while all the others either sat down somewhere or simply stood around in the eagerness to listen as what the plan would be.
"I think we're good." Madoka answered, of which Tsubasa simply nodded to before pressing a button on his desk that brought up a map of all of Japan from behind him on a screen, all eyes turning their attention towards the map of their homeland.
Tsubasa, with his hand on something on his desk, zoomed in on the map of Japan to the area of their city and the places located all around it.

"Now, I'm no expert at mapping, I'll give you that..." Tsubasa began as he began mapping out several things, "Now, obviously Metal Bey City is here..." The map zoomed in a bit, something circling around the area that was visible on the map from the satellite and titled 'Metal Bey City', which was located almost exactly in between the cities of Hokota and Hitachinaka beside the North Pacific Ocean, "It's obvious that Alcorin wouldn't be able to get east, so suggesting that he's traveling on foot he can only go in the directions of North, South, and West of us.. So we should very well be heading in one of those directions, but we do need to decipher which. The best we could probably do is go to other cities and towns and ask around if they know anything; know where he comes from, if they've seen him at all, basically anything we can get."

"The fact that he apparently shape-shifts isn't really going to help much.." Kira pointed out, Tsubasa's golden-brown eyes turning to him for a moment as he spoke, "At this point he could very well look like anybody, but if he still looks Hagane than I guess that counts for something."
At this statement, Maru thought for a moment before looking up towards Tsubasa with her lavender eyes.
"He teleports, too..." She said, glancing down at the hands in her lap as she sat on one of the few chairs in the office, "So he might not even be in Japan for all we know.."

"Well, assuming that he is..." Madoka began, tapping a finger on her chin before looking towards Tsubasa as well, "Where would we even start looking? He could be anywhere."
In response, Tsubasa looked back to the screen behind him and zoomed out the map to show them more of Japan, though still in the general sight of Metal Bey City that wasn't too hard to see from the map.
"Well, I'm not so sure myself... But if he puts up the whole facade with being Gingka, he might go more inland than anything else.. My suggestion is that we head to the city of Mito first since it's closest."
Kite raised an eyebrow at the suggestion, glancing at the map and pushing his glasses up.
"So basically, we're going cross country with this?" Tsubasa shrugged with a small nod at the question.
"Kind of, yeah.." He answered, "We obviously won't be able to go through all of Japan, but if we're going to find him, we at least need a basic idea of what we're doing.."

"What are you gonna be doing?" Ren asked, "Since the rest of us are gonna be hunting him down, you'll have to stay here anyway, right?" Tsubasa looked at her and nodded slightly.
"Yeah, I will." The silverette answered, "However, I will get the WBBA searching for anything of help as well."

"Okay, so we're heading to Mito first?" Madoka questioned, examing the map with her turquoise eyes, "Where do we head from there?"

"That mainly depends on all of you.." Tsubasa said, his eyes going back to the screen they all had their eyes on, "Both Hitachinaka and Kasama aren't too far from Mito, even though it'll be one hell of a hike. I'll be sure to give you a map so you don't have to worry about getting lost. All I know is that it's definitely not going to be easy to try and find Alcorin."
Zyro, who was sitting own in one of the several chairs, looked down at the floor for a moment, thinking about how everything had just decided to escalate all too quickly in such a short amount of time.
To think... Early yesterday he had been bidding farewells to Gingka of who had said he was leaving Metal Bey City, then he had suddenly found out that Alcorin had posing as him for the entire week since he had 'woken up' before he had a panic attack once "Gingka" had disappeared; after that he had run to the WBBA building and told his friends everything, then had run off again and cried to Shinobu before they had all decided to work together to find Alcorin turned Gingka.
Honestly, things had never been this surreal back in his hometown, or probably anywhere else for that matter - but maybe that just came with this city being the Beyblade Capital, or maybe it was all just really bad luck and coincidences.
Zyro looked from the ground back up to the Director and the map of Japan behind him, all of it looking as if they may have finally gotten their bearings together with what they were doing.
"I'll send some of the workers of the WBBA to a lot of far-off cities, like Tokyo." Tsubasa stated, "And Niigata, mainly for profiling reasons. If we find anything, I'll be sure to contact and tell you."

"So the rest of us are gonna head more inland, and look for him, right?" Benkei questioned, of which Tsubasa nodded to with a 'yes'.
"That's the basics we have of it." The silverette answered, "Now all of you should definitely go and pack whatever you need.. From what Zyro's mentioned, I think the sooner we get on it, the better."
Tsubasa then closed out the map was basically code for 'you're allowed to leave', of which most of them would thankfully abide by.
Everyone except for Madoka, Maru, and Tsubasa left the office, all deciding to abide by the Director's advice to head back to wherever they lived and pack whatever they would need for the mission they were about to embark on.
"You okay, Zyro?" Ren asked, coming up beside her friend of who had been walking with Shinobu, "You never said anything the entire time we were in there."
Zyro's blue eyes - no longer bloodshot like they had been yesterday - looked over towards his blond friend, and simply gave her one of his smiles that she could tell was at least half-genuine.
"Yeah, I'm okay.." The Fire Blader answered, "Way better than yesterday, anyway." Ren smiled in return at that.
"That's good to hear." She responded, "It's weird to think how hectic everything has been lately.."

"You mean with a shape-shifting psychopath that isn't even human aiming to ruin our lives?" Shinobu questioned, one eyebrow raised as he looked over at Ren, "Yeah, I'd say that's pretty crazy."
Ren rolled her eyes in response, looking like she was going to say something clever back to him though choosing the wiser path and not saying a word.
"So..." Shinobu began, a somewhat awkward tone in his voice as his green eyes shifted over to Zyro, "You ready to go after him?"
Zyro abruptly stopped walking at the question that he was asked, Shinobu and Ren following in suite with confused and concerned looks on their faces.
Zyro let out a soft breath almost in the form of a sigh, glancing down towards the ground with a grave look on his face and not paying his friend's concerned looks any mind.
"I'll be honest..." He said, looking up with a determined look in his eyes that once more burned with the intensity that they only knew as the Blader of Fire, "I never really was, I guess.."
With that, the 3 friends continued down the hall and entered once of the several elevators on that floor, heading down to the first floor to prepare for the journey that they were all about to embark on.
Though Ren and Shinobu had not said a word after Zyro's answer, they agreed with him more than anything - none of them had ever asked for this.
Especially not the man that they had failed to save.