The Easter holidays ended and I had not been able to return to the Beyblade universe at all during the last week of them. It was the first week back ay school and I found that no matter how hard I tried, how much I struggled, I could not forget the events of seven days ago. Even as the month went by, I remained at a loss and consumed with anguish.
The fact that Beyblading was going from strength to strength in my world raised my spirits. I Beybladed against James and his cousin Ryan a lot more and improved my skills. Although this made me happy, deep down I was still very upset. It was not just the Beyblade world and my team that I missed but the one I loved. Kai. I missed his presence, his voice, his touch.
Time passed and soon it was the end of June. I was staring, uninspired, out of the window in a boring maths lesson. My thoughts were filled with my boyfriend.
One of the girls sitting behind me noticed my sadness and asked what was wrong. Her words surprised me. I was silent for a few seconds. The only time anyone in my year group talked to me or gave me any attention was when they wanted to bully me; yet for the first time, someone was actually concerned about me.
"It's my boyfriend," I sighed miserably. "I'm missing him."
The girl, a fair-haired and blue-eyed teen named Amy, replied, "Why? Can't you see him?"
"Yes. It's been almost three months since we were together."
"Oh…" Amy's voice became sympathetic. "Well, it's not like I haven't seen my boyfriend for that long - in fact I call him at least once a day if we can't meet up!" Her face brightened. She nudged the black-haired girl beside her.
"Jade, Alana's got a boyfriend."
"About time!" Jade remarked. She leaned in close to me. "So what's his name and what's he like?"
"His name's Kai and he's Russian. He doesn't talk much but he takes everything seriously," I answered.
Amy nodded. "The strong silent type and foreign, huh? He sounds interesting. Is he a good kisser?"
"Yes!" I beamed. Somehow, talking about Kai eased some of the pain and sorrow I felt.
"Have you used tong - I mean, French kissed yet?" Jade wanted to know.
"Um…yes. Once."
"Have you two made out?" Amy asked curiously.
A slow, deep blush spread across my cheeks. "Uh, no. We haven't got that far yet…"
For the rest of the day, I got a lot of attention from the girls in my classes. They wanted to know all about my boyfriend, from when we had started going out to how we had met in the first place. Of course, I did not let on about the Beyblade world but merely talked about him as if we had hit off from the start and I had got lucky in love.
I was strolling happily to the carpark at the end of school when I caught sight of a mysterious cloaked figure standing atop a hill on the school field.
I stopped dead, breathing fast. It was the Black Hell Bladers' leader, I was sure of it - the one who had sent me away from Kai's world and had somehow stopped me from getting back.
Miles, a classmate and friend who was walking beside me, followed my gaze and asked, "Who's that?"
"Just someone," I responded evasively. Hes going to pay for what he did. How he got heres beyond me but Im going send him back where he belongs. I took out my launcher, ripcord and Beyblade, not caring if anyone was watching.
Miles' blue eyes came to rest on Goldflame's Bit Chip. "Can you…bring it out?" he asked slowly. Despite not being into Beyblade, he knew I was a good Blader.
I smiled. "Depends if you can see it or not."
With that, I broke into a run and pelted at top speed to face my opponent. Standing atop a slope opposite the Black Hell Bladers' leader, I thrust out my loaded launcher at the ready. "Whoever…whatever you are, you're going down!"
My unknown opponent regarded me coldly. "The name's Damon. You've got nerve to take me on, girl."
"It's Alana!" I snapped back irritably.
Damon shrugged nonchalantly. "I don't care." He held out his launcher. "But you'll regret that you challenged me."
"LET IT RIP!" we hollered at the same time.
Goldflame surged at the oncoming Beyblade, which was comprised entirely of a clear black stone that glittered ominously like dark glass. Its inner depths glowed faintly, as if it had a life of its own. Shivers trickled down my spine. What Mr. Dickenson had said in his e-mail was true; the Black Hell Bladers were definitely not earthly beings.
My purple blade slashed the opposing Beyblade fiercely, fuelled by determination to see the Beyblade universe again but most of all by my desire to be with my boyfriend.
The ground under us shook with every collision and shock waves pulsated through the air. My opponent and I flew at each other with full power using our Special Attacks while Miles and the other students looked on in wonder.
There were gasps as the earth cracked beneath the sheer force of the impact when the attacks collided violently, causing even more forceful shock waves to pulsate and sparks to fly in every direction. The blades were sent reeling away from each other.
The cloaked Blader and I panted noticeably. Using those attacks at full power had sapped a considerable amount of our energy. Our blades circled one another. My thin polo shirt clung wetly to my body, saturated from the sweltering heat of the dry afternoon and the exertion of battling. Droplets glistened in my long hair, which was darkened by moisture.
"Whoa, this ain't normal," I heard a Year Seven boy remark. "Since when did those dumb tops do stuff like this?"
"I dunno, mate," another twelve-year-old replied. "They do that on the TV show anyway. But them Beast thingys - d'you think we'll see them next?"
"Nah. That's rubbish!"
A smile touched my lips. If I could show those kids and the other students they were wrong, they would learn to respect Beyblading and I would humiliate Damon.
Goldflame shot forward to attack Damon's blade. I saw my opponent's dark eyes flash eerily with a crimson aura and the strange unnatural wind I had been faced with last time happened again. The gale whipped dark waves about, which had begun to pulsate from the other blade. Goldflame was hurled back from the pure force of the wind and the mysterious waves.
I felt the stiff breeze itself lash and batter at my body, flaying skin and ripping my clothing. The dark waves added to the damage I received. Although I had planted my feet firmly into the ground, I could feel myself slowly sliding backward as I tried over and over to attack Damon only to have my blade pummelled to a near standstill with dark waves.
My vision blurred in and out of focus, dizziness swept over me; the energy from the other blade was affecting me profoundly. Feebly, I collapsed down on to one knee.
"Is this all you've got?" Damon sneered.
I clenched my teeth. "Far…from it."
With painful, gruelling effort, I heaved myself to my feet. My legs wanted to buckle beneath me but I stayed standing by complete determination.
"Goldflame!"
A shaft of blazing energy beamed skyward. The golden red-armoured phoenix appeared, letting out a challenging squawk.
Immedaitely, dark energy snaked around my Bit Beast like ropes. The creature struggled but remained snared fast. It was bound so tightly that it was completely paralysed. Then yellow light started to flash through the dark bindings wrapped around Goldflame's body. Goldflame screeched shrilly in pain and anger.
Rooted to the spot by Damon's powers, I could only look on helplessly as my opponent drained both my Bit Beast's energy and mine.
Soon, my whole body felt heavy and numb. Weakness from lack of strength nullified the pain of my wounds. My vision was hardly in focus and I struggled to stay conscious. My breaths came out fast and shallow. I dimly heard Miles' gasp of shock.