Not wanting to be late, I ran through the school to the courtyard as quickly as I could. I pushed passed several seventh graders as I hurried to bey stadium, almost knocking one over. I didn't even apologize; I was too fired up!

As I anticipated, when I ran outside and looked around, I saw I was the only one there. I could see students moving around through the windows, collecting their things from their lockers and talking with their friends. I slowed from a run to a jog and then finally a walk, arriving at the stadium. I shrugged off my bag and dropped it onto the ground, then I jumped up onto the stadium wall and sat on the edge to wait for Clo.

Soon enough, the doors were pushed open and I perked up, ready to face my rival, only to see it was Amber, Nikki and Andi. I slouched back down as they hurried over, feeling mildly disappointed.

"Ally!" Amber called, waving at me, "How were your last classes?"

"Fine, thanks," I said, smiling at them, "I don't suppose either of you have seen Clo? She's late."

"Not since lunch, sweetie," Nikki replied, sitting on the stadium edge next to me. Amber and Andi stayed standing.

"Why are you guys here?" I asked, "Don't you have to catch the bus?"

"We're here to watch your battle, obviously!" Amber exclaimed eagerly, "You're way more interesting than the bus anyway."

"You'll beat Clo no problem, right Ally?" Nikki asked.

"Sure she will!" Andi grinned widely, before I could answer, "She'll just whip out her special move like at lunch! This battle will be over in, like, five minutes."

I laughed, "Yeah! But don't worry, I'll play around with her a bit first so her defeat isn't too embarrassing!"

"Hey, loser!" Clo's voice called out suddenly, the bang of a door slamming shut behind her. We all turned to look at her as she came across the courtyard, "Don't underestimate me! I'm gonna wipe the floor with you!"

I smirked, standing to meet her as she walked over, "Judging by my easy win last lunch, we're overestimating you by saying it'll take five minutes to beat you! My real guess is two! Maybe...!?"

"I was just distracted!" Clo scoffed, angrily crossing her arms over chest, "There were lots of us..."

I slapped my hand on her shoulder, "I can take it down a notch if you'd like."

She pushed my hand roughly from herself, irritated. "No way!"

"Then shall we proceed?"

"With pleasure!" Clo said, strutting arrogantly to the stadium and jumping up onto the edge, pushing past our three friends on her way. She placed herself on the far side as I took up my place on the nearer side, both of us readying our beys and launchers.

Andi, Amber and Nikki stood next to the stadium, splitting the centre. Each one was obviously excited and were showing it in different ways: Amber was drumming her fingers impatiently on the stadium edge, Andi had her arms crossed over her chest and was tapping her foot rhythmically on the ground and Nikki was yelling at us to "hurry the hell up!".

Grinning, I twisted my Dark Aries one last time and called out to my rival: "I'm ready! Are you?"

"I've been ready this whole time! I was waiting for you!"

I rolled my eyes and aimed my launcher at the stadium wall opposite to me, "Whatever. Three!"

Clo did the same, "Two!"

Our friends joined us for the last count, "One!"

"Let it rip!" We both tore out our rip cords as hard as we could, our beys, blue and red, shooting into the stadium with tremendous force. The shock wave of their landings blew my hair back forcefully and I noticed Andi and Nikki covered their faces with their arms against the sudden burst of wind while Amber cheered.

I grinned and clenched my fists in determination, looking back at our beys spinning around the stadium. There was no way I was going to lose!

Clo began the battle by calling out: "Go, Libra! Attack Aries from the left!

Her bey instantly stopped circling the stadium and used a sudden burst of power to catch up to my own. As Libra approached, it swiftly changed direction to the right, crashing into Aries hard enough to have knocked it off balance; that is, if I hadn't been expecting it. I braced for the attack and met it cleanly with a well planned defensive right down tilt of my fusion wheel.

I mean, I've battled with Clo a million times before. I know her battle style well by now. Usually, she starts off strong to weaken her opponent before finishing them off with a hard stadium out. Her Thermal Libra is balance type bey.

That being said, she knows my battle style as well. I generally like to start off slow to figure out my opponent's battle style and find the perfect place to strike. By then I've usually found a way to get the upper hand and overcome them with a big bang! My Dark Aries is a defence type bey, but don't underestimate its attack power!

One thing you have to remember is that every person and every bey have a weakness; you just need to find it.

Luckily, I don't need to find her weaknesses, because I already know them! One of her major ones is that she gets really flustered if you insult her verbally while battling. She tries to come up with something to throw back at you and ends up losing her focus on the battle.

When I met her attack, she seemed surprised that I stopped her direction-change trick. Honestly, it's the oldest trick in the book. I called out to her: "Come on, Clo, you're so predictable! Give me something to work with here!"

At my words, she narrowed her eyes at the beys spinning large circles in the stadium below us, trying to figure out where to hit next that I won't expect.

Getting impatient, I pointed swiftly at Libra and shouted, "You're being too slow! Aries! Fire Barrage Attack!"

Aries swivelled around towards Libra, a red flame engulfing my bey as it prepared to deal out my Barrage Attack. Clo quickly swept her right arm in front of her, looking oddly...prepared. She splayed her fingers out and faced her palm to her bey.

"Hold off the attack, Libra! Infinite Shield!" She shouted, her bey obeying immediately. Just as I was about to hit her, Libra swerved swiftly to the left, my bey connecting with nothing but air. Instantly, I ordered Aries to follow her, preparing the attack again. Libra stopped in the centre of the stadium and I grinned. I had her now!

I saw from the corner of my eye that Clo had closed her fingers over her palm tightly, looking attentively at Libra and not the oncoming danger. Aries raced menacingly towards Libra, hot flames trailing after it.

I had a brief second of hesitation. Clo had never willingly faced my Fire Barrage Attack before. Just what was she planning?

As Aries was about to smash into Libra, Clo opened her fingers quickly and when she did, a circle of blue light burst from her bey, exploding outward. Aries was sent flying back and ricocheted off the stadium wall precariously close to the edge before straightening itself out and beginning to spin around Libra in large prowling circles, with slight wobble.

I stared in shock at Clo's bey, "What was that?! How did you deflect my barrage attack?"

"I've been doing special training!" Clo said smugly as she dropped her arm to her side. "That was my new move: Infinite Shield! I created it especially for your barrage attack move! It's a sudden three hundred and sixty degree force field to repel oncoming attacks. In other words, a huge burst of pure energy!"

I scowled in frustration. I should have been able to finished her off with my barrage attack! "I don't care about your stupid new move!" I shouted to her, pointing defiantly at her smug stance, "Don't think for a second you can win because you can deflect one of my moves!"

"And why shouldn't I think that?"

"Tch! I'm insulted you would say that! Do you think I'm just some-"

"Oh, for crying out loud!" We both started at Nikki's shout suddenly jutting into the argument and turned to look at her as she continued: "Would you two please just shut up and continue the battle? We're all waiting here!" I made a face and Clo flipped her middle finger in Nikki's direction before returning our attention to the battle.

So, Clo can now deflect my Fire Barrage Attack. That puts a bit of a damper on my plans. But, if she just created that move, she might not have full control just yet, and if I hit her again and again with that same move, she might lose it eventually. But I could also run out of power attacking her repeatedly like that.

No. That will take too long anyway. I think I'll speed things up a little; and I mean that quite literally!

"Aries!" I called out to my bey and I could practically feel it jump to attention when I said its name, "Let's see if Clo can handle one of our newer moves, eh?"

Clo laughed, "Bring it on, flame for brains!"

"Lame," I said, pretending to cough loudly as I said it and making it as obvious as I could, "Now, Aries, Fire Flash!"

Before Clo could could even register what I had said, Aries seemed to vanish from the stadium wall it spun around momentarily, disappearing with a small flourish of bright orange flame. Almost as quickly as it disappeared, it suddenly reappeared briefly into view with another burst of fire, dangerously close to Libra before vanishing again and hitting its blue opponent with a hard direct hit and knocking it in the direction of the flow Aries was travelling in. Without hesitating, Aries repeated the attack continuously, whacking Clo's bey to and fro with powerful momentum.

Flabbergasted, Clo looked up from her bey's beating to look at me in shock, "What the hell?! When did you learn a move like that?! I can't even see your bey!"

I smiled and put on a false innocent face, "What ever do you mean? I can see it just fine!"

Clo scowled at me then turned her attention back to her bey still suffering at my hand and hesitantly cried out: "Uh, Libra! Infinite Shield! Try it!"

The blue circle of energy appeared from around her bey and quickly expanded outwards as Aries flashed by for its next attack. Clo's shield made direct contact with my bey before it could land its next blow on Libra. Aries faltered and missed Libra by a hair, coming into our view fleetingly before resuming its attack on Libra, continuing to bat it around the stadium as if nothing had happened.

I threw my head back and laughed loudly, "Oh please, Clo, seriously?! A newly developed move against a perfected attack with that much more momentum? Did you start blading yesterday or something?"

Clo exhaled, a flash of worry flickering in her eyes, like she wasn't certain on how to deal with the attack that was being delivered to her bey, but that was gone almost as quickly as it had come.

"Tch, I refuse to lose to you, Ally!" She said defiantly, splaying her right hand out again, "Again, Libra! Infinite Shield!"

"It has no effect, Clo, didn't you just see?" I reminded her, shrugging one shoulder and pointing down at our beys as the exact same chain of reactions occurred, "You're just wasting your energy."

Clo's breathing was beginning to become irregular from exerting so much power into her too-new move, but even from my spot on the stadium, I could see the determination in her expression and had to remind myself not to underestimate her so soon. If I know Clo, she will not be giving in on this battle easily.

I smirked as she tried her Infinite Shield once again, this time missing my bey entirely. As the shield dissipated, she staggered and almost lost her balance, covering the side of her face with one hand. She was draining all her energy into these futile attempts to stop my attacks and it was taking its toll on her body.

I'd better wrap things up before she passes out, I thought briefly, trying not too laugh out loud. I knew I was stronger than her!

I was about to start with the finishing blow, the words of my special move on the tip of my tongue when I noticed Clo's hand fall from her face and her eyes looking up and over at me. I paused as she spoke:

"I'm not done yet," She said quietly and I almost didn't hear her, "I still have power left to beat you with!"

I rolled my eyes, "Can you just know when you've lost?"

"I haven't lost!" She shouted and pointed at me, "This is the battle I will finally win against you!"

As she began speaking, I could see her aura, light blue, faintly beginning to glow around her, lighting up her eyes. I felt her energy level blossoming again and the aura came around Libra as well. Unconsciously, I took a step back as I watched her readjust her stance.

"Go, Libra!" She exclaimed, and I watched in surprise as her aura became brighter, "Let's end this! Special move!"

I stared in shock at what she said. Special move?!

All the movement in the stadium seemed to slow down; I saw my Aries come into view again a couple feet away, seeming to be continuing the attack, but now in slow motion. Clo stuck out both arms straight in front of her.

"Now, Libra, Special move: Infinity Booster!"

The burning blue aura around her bey burst into one single band of light around it with a huge burst of wind. I covered my face with one arm to shield my eyes from blowing debris and I almost missed the second stage of her newest move: the single circle around her bey rose up slightly and twisted over itself once, forming an infinity sign over the top of her bey.

I knew better than to mess with a special move, even a newly forming one. With an almost panicked turn, I called out to my bey that still looked like it was slowed down in time, but was still going to attack its now blazing opponent:

"Aries, get the hell away from there!" I shouted, slashing my hand through the air to emphasize my urgency.

Aries began to obey, changing its direction like I ordered, but still travelling painstakingly slow. I heard my friends shouting over the wind at us, but I couldn't make out what they were saying. I gritted my teeth as I watched Clo form her Special move in front of me.

Clo crossed her arms in front of her briefly before swiping them to her sides forcefully, yelling to her bey as she did so. I watched the infinity sign above Libra pulse once before shrinking down to a glowing speck.

I suddenly knew what was about to happen and tried to react quickly: If I was right, the infinity sign was about to explode outward. It was an attack much like her Infinite Shield, but in a much larger scale of power. And I was pretty sure I could stop a Special move with another Special move!

"Counter the attack, Aries! Special move! Fire Halo Assault!" I shouted out above the wind, which had suddenly turned icy cold as her attack progressed.

Aries, though it couldn't move around, began its Special move: The red ram burst out of my bey with a huge blast of fire, smashing its hooves into the ground immediately. The ground-shaking pound barely moved Libra, much less unbalanced it. As Aries reared back and swung its head around to create the halo, the infinity burst from Libra almost at the same time. Both of the Special moves collided together and exploded, hot flames and icy crystals shooting outwards in all directions, but you could barely see it through all the smoke the explosion caused. Faintly, I heard my friends screaming, but I didn't pay them any attention.

I looked around wildly through the smoke and icy hot air around me for my bey or Clo's to see who had won. I waved my hand frantically around to try and clear the smoke, to really no avail. We may have gone a tad overboard again. I just hoped we didn't break anything.

Soon enough though, the smoke cleared enough for all of us to see the stadium and I looked down anxiously, Clo and my friends doing the same, to see only one bey remaining in the stadium: a burning red bey wobbly spinning in the centre of the arena. Wobbly, yes. But spinning.

I let out a whoop and punched my fist in the air. Clo made a noise of defeat and dropped to her knees, exhaustion finally taking over. I could see her bey maybe fifty feet away, smoking faintly from the ground, completely still.

Our friend erupted in cheers as they saw the outcome of the battle. All three of them jumped up onto the stadium, Nikki running over to congratulate me and Andi and Amber hurrying over to Clo, who was still on her knees.

"Amazing performance, darling!" Nikki said excitedly, clapping her hands together, "I just knew you could do it!"

I grinned widely, "Thanks!"

With that, Nikki and I trotted over to where Andi was trying to coax Clo back to her feet, pulling a bit at her arm. Clo batted her away.

I walked up to Clo and extended my hand down to her, "Nice job, Clo!" I said, smiling at her, "And congrats on your new Special move!"

As I said the last part, she finally grinned halfheartedly and grabbed my hand. I hauled her up and wrapped her arm around my shoulder to help her off the stadium.

"I lost," She said with a sigh, "I can't believe it. I even used a Special move and still lost."

"Oh, don't beat yourself up," I said as we all began to walk out of the courtyard to chill for a few moments, "I am, and always will be, stronger than you!"

She snorted in disgust and pushed herself away from me as I laughed. She stumbled a bit before righting herself, "Yeah right. One day, Ally. One day..."

"You wish."

"Um, what are we doing next, guys?" We heard Andi chime in from behind us.

"Ice cream. Duh," Clo said immediately, rolling her eyes.

"Sounds good to me!" I exclaimed, turning around to see my friends, "I'll drive!"

"'Kay!"

Soon after, nice and full of ice cream, I drove each one of my friends home. Finally, after dropping off Amber last, I arrived home and threw myself into my bed, falling almost instantly to sleep. Clo was a tough opponent; I may not beat her next time.

Again, I thoroughly apologize for the lateness of this next chapter! *bows* (*mutters* every time...) The next chapter will be out sooner rather than later! Love you all; TTFN!