Ok. There have been a couple changes to The Plan. Act 2 will no longer follow Ryuga - Myth will come Act 3 or later. Act 2: Postcards will follow...I'm not telling :) Anybody got guesses?

~Tsubasa's POV~

I don't want to talk.

She wants to talk, but I don't.

Madoka sits in front of me, with her big-sister-bear face on. I told her I don't want to talk. She will not listen.

I tell her I'm trying to get in the zone before I battle. She doesn't believe me. It is a lie anyway.

I don't want to talk because I can feel the voice stirring in the deepest recesses of my mind, trying to climb back up to consciousness. I don't want to let it. She is distracting me.

"You need to talk to somebody. It may as well be me."

Why does it have to be anyone?

"Ryo told us that you have the dark power inside of you. Talk to me. Please?"

I told her I don't want to talk.

She still will not listen.

She doesn't understand that I work through my problems by keeping them from bothering me. Not talking it out, like others do.

And she still won't listen.

I try being silent, giving her no words. No objections.

"So help me, I will send Yuu out to battle in your place until you tell me something. Just five minutes, Tsubasa."

I don't mind. If I don't battle with Team Konzern, I won't have to battle with myself until...later.

"Five minutes. Is that too much to ask? Talk to me for five minutes and I'll leave you alone!"

Five minutes is a lifetime.

"Hey. Snap out of it, will you!?" She pulls on my hair.

This does it for me. I hate, hate, HATE it when people do that. I stand and leave the room. I will not speak to her. She will not listen because I will have nothing to say. And I need to get out of here before I say something that I will regret.

I try to leave, but Yuu follows me. He leaves Madoka behind in the lobby.

"Tsubasa? Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, little boy", I tell him. I do not look at him. I don't want him to see the struggle in my eyes.

"Is it true what Ryo said? About the dark power?"

Now I do stop, and turn to him. "Everyone has to battle with bad choices sometimes."

"But it wasn't bad choices. You fainted in the middle of a battle. I may be a little boy, Tsubasa, but I know stuff too! And that just isn't normal!"

His eyes are grave, quiet worry reflected in emerald facets. He is wise beyond his years.

"Don't worry about it. I'm over it now." This is the second lie I have told.

"Are you sure?"

"Trust me." Don't trust me.

I turn and continue walking. I hear his sneakers squeaking on the floor behind me, and I turn again. "Go back to Madoka and watch Masamune's match."

"Why?"

"I just want to take a walk by myself, ok?" I turn again. I hope he goes this time. If he does not, I will outrun him.

"Wait!" He grabs my clip and pulls it out of my hair. Again, I hate this. I turn on him.

"STOP! Just go back. NOW!"

"Ts-Tsubasa -"

"GO." I grab my clip back from his hand and angrily snap my hair back into it. This is exactly why I left the lobby. I said something I regret. But I'm not turning back now.

Yuu hesitates for just a second and then is gone. Did he see something in me that he is afraid of? Why did I get so frustrated? I am never like this. I have always been patient, always.

A walk around the hallways in the lobby calms my mind; and then a voice comes over the loudspeaker, calling me to battle. I dread this. I don't want to do it. But Sophie and Wales have called for a tag-team; they are twins and cannot be separated. Yuu meets me at the edge of the stadium. He looks so worried.

I give him what I hope is an encouraging smile. "I'm sorry", I whisper.

He gives me a small, hesitant smile, but keeps his distance from me as we take our places.

I don't want to do it.

I have to.

~Yuu's POV~

Tsubasa isn't usually so snappy. It's kinda confusing. But maybe battling will change his mood. It always cheers him up when he battles with me. I know I'm that little ray of sunshine! I gotta be!

Sophie and Wales make a weird pair if you ask me. It's like they say the same things at the same time. Creepy. Their Cetuses circle the stadium, while mine and Tsubasa's beys take up centre.

They're not gonna beat us today, something tells me.

I watch Tsubasa while he battles, and he signals me to attack. We hit up against Sophie's and Wales's beys but they don't waver. Annoying! But at least not boring.

Tsubasa is getting frustrated and I'm getting scared. He bangs again and again against Wales's Cetus, and I know it's not like him to do something that illogical! Come on, Tsubasa. Get in the game.

Something snaps in his eyeballs. People say that doesn't really happen but I saw it, just now. His pupils are getting all dark again. Here we go.

He told me there's no dark power in him. Did he lie? Tsubasa never lies! Never. Does he?

He's starting to breathe hard. "Tsubasa?" I say. He does not hear me.

Suddenly Eagle zips around the stadium and hits the Cetus twins, and then it hits...ME!? Why would he attack me? "TSUBASA!?"

I'm scared now. He did lie, but he never lies - but he did -

"TSUBASA!" I'm yelling and didn't even realise it. I thought that only happened in books.

Eagle is hitting me and Sophie and Wales's beys really hard now. "Tsubasa, STOP!" Please?

"Please."

That does it! I'm not losing my best friend! That happened with Ryuga once and it's not happening again! "SNAP OUT OF IT!" Libra smacks into Eagle. Hurts me to do it, but if it works I gotta try it.

For a moment sanity flickers back in his gaze. I grab his hair and pull it again. "Tsubasa! Listen to me! You gotta snap out of it! I know you can do it!"

The Tsubasa I know will come back. He's got to. He always will, I know it.

"Tsubasa, you're an honest blader, I know you are! You're a good guy!"

Another flicker. He's getting something.

"Please. You're like a brother to me! And you're scaring me!" He is shaking now. Wales and Sophie are looking at each other like, What?

I grab his hand. PleasepleasepleasepleasePLEEEEASE!

"Tsubasa!" He's snapping out of it. The flickers are coming fast now. Wales and Sophie are gearing up for their big attack. "I need your help to do this! I can't beat 'em on my own!" Well, I probably could. Maybe.

Then light hits his face just the right way. I know he's coming back. When you and a friend are this close, you kinda just know these things.

~Tsubasa's POV~

I don't remember too much about beating the voice; I just know that if it's there I can't feel it. I'm happy again. I can smile. I busted 'em all with a 'killer new special move', as Masamune so poetically phrased it, and it brought the light back to me.

Yuu is exhausted. He is sleeping on the couch by me in the lobby, drooling on my arm. I don't mind. He helped me beat the dark power - once again, i don't remember how, but I get the feeling he did. When you are this close to someone, you sort of know things.

I look at my reflection in my phone. For the first time in forever, I can see my reflection without seeing the voice's twisted rendition of me. I walked past a dog outside and it did not bark at me.

But good grief, does my hair look terrible.