Chapter 9 – The Dojo
In which Tyson explains many mysteries and Gingka gets a very special blade
Tyson put the phone down, but stayed very still for a long time.
"Tyson?" Gingka was sitting cross-legged on his futon, looking at the old Dragoon Victory blade that Tyson had been showing him before the phone rang. "You okay?"
"Yeah," said Tyson heavily, coming over and dropping down onto his own futon. "Things are just moving a bit fast, I guess. I never expected them to actually ask for all of us. Kai, yeah sure, because he knows how this sort of stuff works, but not me or Daichi."
"It'll be cool, though, you joining the WBBA, even if you're not in it as a competing blader." Gingka said. "Why didn't you do it earlier?
"What do you mean?"
"Why didn't you join the WBBA as a blader when it first started? You'd have been awesome. I mean, you totally destroyed Kyouya, even when you weren't surprising him by throwing something that looked like L-Drago at him, and what Kai did to Ryuga... I bet Battle Bladers would have been a lot different if you and the G-Revolutions had entered."
Tyson sighed and dropped down to sit on his own futon. "Well, I guess we just decided that it was better for us to teach the younger ones how to blade. I mean, I was three-times world champion, there wasn't much further I could go, and it was about time someone else got a chance." He shrugged. "I like teaching. I can see why Hiro stayed with the Justice Five team to help them learn how to coach."
"Oh yeah, them," Gingka nodded. "They've been really nice, helping to publicise the WBBA all last year."
Again Tyson shrugged. "They needed to do something to fix their reputations. Particularly Brooklyn, he would've had a nasty time trying to convince people that he wasn't dangerous without Garland and Hiro's backing, so they all had to stick together. And they couldn't just stop blading, not when they'd made it as professionals and then had to drop into the amateur competitions again."
"Brooklyn reminds me of Ryuga a lot," Gingka mused. "It's weird that they both ended up in the same house. Must be really scary for Garland."
"That's probably why they're both there," Tyson pointed out. "Garland knows how to deal with the worst of Brooklyn, and Ryuga can't be much worse than him." Gingka looked sceptical, but Tyson ignored him. "And Yuu just adores Brooklyn."
"Yuu would."
For a long while, the dojo was silent. Gingka pried the blank bit-chip out of the top of Dragoon and started to take the whole thing apart to see how it worked. Finally, he said "So, it was just because you were too busy teaching, then? Didn't you... didn't you miss the competitions?"
Tyson sighed. "Yeah, I missed them. The excitement, the noise of the crowds, not knowing how the battle was going to go, giving it your all for your team and yourself. And then getting to the finals and putting everything on the line to be the top or the one everyone forgot. Some of the best times of my life have been in the World Championships."
"So why did you stop?"
"Because the drive to get to the top wasn't worth the price I had to pay to get there."
"What?" Gingka dropped the weight ring in surprise, and looked at Tyson properly. The dragon-wielder was lying on his futon, staring at the ceiling.
"The price got higher every time. The first time, the first championship, most of the bit-beasts in the world got captured, I got transported to another dimension, and Ray was nearly killed. Yeah, we all recovered, and we got all the bit-beasts back, but it took a little while. You know, Ray says that when it's cold or windy, he can still feel Bryan's attack slicing into him. He had to give up blading outside for a while if it was windy because he kept thinking he was facing Falborg, not me or Kai or whoever." His voice was terribly sad.
"Like Hikaru," Gingka murmured.
"Who?"
"Friend of mine. She's given up blading because she was so hurt by Ryuga and L-Drago. We've tried to get her to come back, but she just can't handle it. That's why she's not here with us – she went off to a different city to try and get over it."
"Yeah, something like that." Tyson didn't take his eyes off the ceiling, but fished around in his pocket for Dragoon Metal Storm. "Then the second championship I won, we lost Dranzer and Draciel again – we lost Draciel twice, actually. I've never seen Kai and Max so downhearted. Kai gave up blading temporarily because he thought he wasn't good enough to take care of his bit-beast. Some of my other friends had their blades smashed by a pair of parts-hunters called King and Queen, and then one of my friends, a guy named Zeo, he found out that he wasn't even human. He was some sort of robot boy that his dad had built when the real Zeo was killed, and all his memories were fake. He nearly short-circuited in the battle, which would have killed him. Before that, though, we got kidnapped several times, and the battles just got worse and worse. Hilary, Kai and Kenny nearly got squashed by an avalanche, Ray, Max and I were on a runaway truck, I ended up in hospital with a twisted ankle for days – you name it, and they threw it at us."
"Not fun," Gingka agreed. "But you got Draciel and Dranzer back in the end, right?"
"Yeah, but only once Zeo was defeated and all his hopes of becoming a real human were destroyed. I don't know where he is now, but I haven't seen him again since the day I battled him for that championship."
"Becoming a real human?"
"Eh, I don't know... His dad thought that if he could collect the four bit-beasts that me, Ray, Kai and Max have, he could use them to turn Zeo into a real human." Tyson glanced over at Gingka, who looked very confused. "Yeah, I know. It was a bit of a weird idea and I never really got it. Who knows? It might have worked."
"Kind-of like Pinocchio?"
"I guess." Tyson tilted Dragoon Metal Storm so that the blade reflected the light from the high window. "But it was the third championship that really brought home to me just how high the stakes were getting. All of us ended up fighting each other on different teams because they all wanted to challenge me, rather than fight through as a team together. I nearly lost three of my best friends, but that wasn't the worst. So many blades were destroyed in that championship, and the training that everyone put themselves through was so extreme that I'm surprised some of them survived it, especially Kai." He stopped and frowned. "Then again, he is Kai."
Gingka was sorting through the parts of the old Dragoon that were now scattered across his futon. "People keep saying that and I don't really understand why," he said without looking up. "It's like the word Kai means something more than a name."
Tyson grinned. "It is more than a name. It's Kai. There's no other way of describing it. He never does anything by halves, and normally does them by doubles." He sighed. "That's just what he's like. He's... Kai."
"Definitely like Kyouya, then."
"Huh? Oh, yeah, guess so. At least, if Kyouya will swap teams as much as he can just to battle you."
"Well, he hasn't done that yet," Gingka admitted. "But I bet he would if he could."
"And then there was BEGA," Tyson continued, looking back at the ceiling again. Gingka found the clip that held the attack ring to the weight disc and slotted them together as he waited for his host to continue. It took so long that he began to wonder if Tyson had fallen asleep, but his eyes were still open. Eventually, Tyson rolled over and sat up. "BEGA hammered it home properly. We were way out of our league, and the matches weren't just extreme any more, they were dangerous. Tala fought Garland and was in a coma for over a month. Kai fought Brooklyn twice, and lost everything, even when he won. And then Brooklyn went crazy." He swallowed. "I won against him, but I knew then that I had to stop. It would be unfair for me to enter the tournaments against all the little newbies from the BBA, and it wouldn't be right to not give the matches my all, you know that. But the other problem was that if I came up against someone who really could challenge me, even if it was one of my friends, the battles would only get more and more extreme and dangerous. I knew that eventually someone I cared about would get killed, and it would be my fault for not knowing when to stop. I still like having extreme battles again Kai, Ray and all the others, but we don't do it for any reason other than having fun, so if things are getting dangerous, we can stop without worrying about titles or anything."
Gingka nodded slowly. "I think I see," he said. "So you started coaching instead."
"Yes. Now I understand why Hiro never entered the tournaments, and why he would only ever coach us instead of entering on his own. I guess... once you reach a certain level of power, it's just too dangerous for you to keep going, or people will get hurt. It's not fun if there's just one powerhouse with all the strength."
"Hmph," said Gingka. "Try telling that to Ryuga."
"That's exactly what I mean," Tyson warned, face unnaturally grave. "Even with the best of intentions, if any blader just keeps getting more and more powerful, eventually the power needed to challenge him or her is too much for anyone to hold, and it starts to destroy things. That's why there's so few adult bladers around."
"Like Doji," Gingka whispered. "He was really powerful – I couldn't beat him properly, Kyouya couldn't beat him – it took Hyoma, Yuu, Kenta and my dad together to beat him."
"A blader with too much power is just as dangerous as one with a dark power, no matter how weak it is." Tyson agreed softly. "That's why I stopped blading in the tournaments, and that's why I'll never join the WBBA as a competing blader, because I don't want any of my friends getting hurt because I don't know when to stop wanting the power." He was quiet for a very long time, then shook his head with a laugh. "This is all far too serious. Hey, let me show you how to put that back together again." He indicated the pile of pieces that Dragoon Victory was still in. Gingka winced.
"Sorry."
"Don't be. I bet I couldn't put one of your beys back together." Tyson quickly had the base clipped safely together, showing Gingka at each step. "Now you try with the attack ring."
For several minutes, the dojo was quiet as Tyson walked Gingka through how to fix an old-style bey in exactly the same way that the Chief had done long ago when Tyson had been unable to even open a bey up. Finally, the old Dragoon Victory blade was put back together again, and the two champion bladers sat back with identical expressions of pride. Tyson gave Gingka a sideways glance.
"What'd you say, Gingka? Wanna take Dragoon Victory out for a spin? It's stopped raining – we can use the dish Yuu made."
The look in Gingka's eyes was all he needed to see to know that he had made a good call. No matter that Dragoon wasn't really his blade, Gingka was a blader, and it went against his nature to be away from it for so long.
"Let's go."
.
The hole in the back garden was still there, sides smoothed by the tornadoes that had ripped around it the previous day, and surprisingly dry, considering the weather. Gingka's eyes were shining as he fitted Dragoon Victory into his borrowed launcher.
"I'll warn you now, he doesn't go left," Tyson called as they launched simultaneously. "Most of the Dragoons go left, but he doesn't."
"At least I won't have to learn how to use a new style then... whoa! Where's it going?" Dragoon Victory went tearing off across the dish, before shooting up into the sky and coming down upside down in the middle of the huge dish, much to Tyson's amusement.
"Too much power," he advised. "Try launching a bit slower the first time."
"I haven't had a new bey in years," Gingka admitted. "Pegasus was so powerful I didn't need an upgrade."
"Then we'll take it slow. Just try and follow my Dragoon around the first time – we'll battle later."
But Gingka's second and third launches were no better. By the fourth, he managed to get it to track Tyson's Dragoon around, but the moment he tried to attack or speed up, he lost control and the Victory spun to a halt. Tyson frowned. After a year of teaching the younger bladers of the BBA, he could normally figure out what was wrong with someone's style pretty quickly, but with Gingka it was proving to be very difficult. Of course, it could have been something to do with the fact that Gingka was expecting to still be at the level he had been at when he beat Ryuga.
"Just take it slow," he suggested. "Imagine that you're a little kid again, just learning how to blade for the first time. Yeah, I know it's embarrassing, but that's how I learned how to control my Metal Dragoon. Just give it a go."
Gingka looked puzzled, but closed his eyes and concentrated. Almost immediately, Dragoon Victory stopped spinning and tumbled to the bottom of the dish.
"This isn't fair!" Gingka exploded. "Why isn't this working?"
Tyson called Dragoon Metal Storm back to him and examined it, flicking his gaze between it and the Victory in the dish. He bit his lip, then came to a decision.
"Here," he said, coming round the side of the dish. "Have a go with this one."
And he handed Dragoon Metal Storm to Gingka.
"T-Tyson?"
"Be very careful with him," Tyson said gravely. "This one does spin left, and Dragoon's powerful. He'll look after you, but just watch what you do with him."
"But... but Tyson...?" Gingka stammered. "This is yours..."
Tyson shrugged. "The Victory is a plastic bey, and it's got no bit-beast power in it. You're used to a metal bey with the full power of a beast inside it, and the Metal Storm is the closest I've got to your old Pegasus. Give it a whirl, but be gentle."
Gingka gave him a long look, then nodded just as gravely. Taking the traditional stance at the side of the dish, he closed his hand around the ripcord end and took a deep breath.
"Elbow up," Tyson ordered, watching the stance carefully. "Feet set shoulder-width apart – no, a bit wider. Now turn your left foot out. Good. Aim for the other side of the dish with your mind, not your launcher. Ready?"
"Let it rip!"
Dragoon Metal Storm exploded from the launcher, throwing Gingka backwards across the garden, almost into the wall of the dojo. Wincing, winded, he got slowly to his feet to see Tyson staring open-mouthed at the dish.
"What? Did I do it?"
"Oh, you did it, alright. Take a look."
Gingka limped up to Tyson's side and looked down. Dragoon Metal Storm was circling the dish clockwise, the way that L-Drago used to, going faster and faster on each circuit. In the wake of the bey, Gingka could just make out the shimmering shape of the great blue dragon gleefully chasing his own tail around the dish as he pursued his bey.
"You got it first time," Tyson told him. "And you even got Dragoon to come out. Not much, but then again, he's not yours. That's impressive."
Gingka reached out tentatively to the dragon flickering around the huge dish in the way that he'd used to reach to Pegasus. The response was instant and astonishing. Power flooded him, blue-white power that felt just like Pegasus always had, but with a hint of... of something underneath, something far more ancient, tied to one place and one family and one blader for all eternity. And there was a strangeness to the strength that Gingka didn't quite understand, a sort of warping to the way it worked that Pegasus had never had.
"He likes you," Tyson said, Dragoon's happy hum filling the air. "Dragoon doesn't usually let other people blade with him."
"Can you use other people's bit-beasts?" Gingka asked breathlessly as Dragoon's power poured into him, the dragon delighting in finding such a fine blader. "I mean, could you use Max's Draciel?"
"Yes, you can, and yes, I have," Tyson said calmly. "Part of our training when we were the Blade-breakers was to use each other's blades in a battle to learn how to stretch our abilities in all areas. I could use Draciel pretty well, but Driger never liked me, and Dranzer's really stubborn. I guess that's why Kai blades the way he does."
"Can you use them alongside Dragoon?"
Tyson nodded. "It's possible to steal them, but it's also possible to do it with permission. Though it's tricky to use multiple beasts without them overwhelming you."
"With constellations..." Gingka stopped and swallowed, remembering. "You don't use the constellation itself, but you use the power it has, or the power of the other person's blader spirit. That's what Ryuga did."
"I know."
Dragoon suddenly roared and jumped into the sky, circling happily on a thermal up, up, up into the sky until he was barely a point of light above them. Tyson smiled.
"See? I told you he'd look after you. You've taken to the left-spin quite well, too, considering."
And suddenly Gingka understood the strangeness. "That's the left-spin power?" he whispered. "No wonder Ryuga loved it... it's incredible."
Tyson's grin got wider. "It's a lot of fun, I agree. But Ryuga didn't treat it properly. Using and understanding a left-spin blade's power is a privilege, not a right. Remember what I said about swapping blades? No-one except Kai ever got to grips with any of the Dragoons except for the Victory, just because Max and Ray couldn't handle how it works."
"So how did Kai do it?" Gingka titled his head to look up as Dragoon dived back down towards them, dragging warm, damp air behind him in a ripple. Tyson shrugged uncomfortably.
"A long time ago, Kai had a blade called Black Dranzer. Black Dranzer went left." He looked away. "Black Dranzer was supposed to be the perfect beyblade, built to match Kai, the perfect beyblader. But it was a cyber-engineered bit-beast, and none of those are exactly friendly. Black Dranzer was the worst of all of them, though. It completely consumed Kai with dark power, made him steal everyone's bit-beasts and feed them to it..." He suddenly stopped. "That's starting to sound awfully familiar."
Gingka nodded. "Do you think that's why Tsubasa was the only one to ever stand up to the dark power and succeed, at least for a while? Because Kai trained him to blade against Black Dranzer?"
"It would explain a lot," Tyson agreed, shivering before changing the subject. "Hey, Dragoon, you finished showing off yet?"
A roar echoed in both bladers' ears, and they grinned at each other. Tyson picked up Dragoon Victory.
"I've never had a Dragoon versus Dragoon battle before," he commented blithely. "Shall we have a go?"
Seconds later, the sounds of battle filled the air as Dragoon Metal Storm and Dragoon Victory took each other on for the first, but certainly not last, time.
A/N – and yes, I did look it up, and I watched the episodes very carefully. Though the art design of the first season makes it very difficult to tell, Black Dranzer does indeed spin left, at least in the episodes I watched. The model doesn't go left in real life, though, so all spin directions in this chapter and others will be from what I can tell from the anime.
Trust me, my mouth fell open in pure shock when I realised BD went left, because I just thought it would be something to add to Kai's awesomeness when I wrote it, and it was just going to be one of those things that I put down to author's license and the rule of cool. And then I went to research it like a good little author and it turned out to be canon...
