The next day, at Smithton, Cassidy was sitting out on the front wall, waiting for any of her friends to arrive. It was nearly quarter to nine before they arrived, and they all came in one big group.
"Hey guys, where've you been? Have you seen the time?" Asked Cassidy, looking at her watch.
"Sorry, Amber had to show us something." Panted Mariah, and it was obvious they had all been running.
"And you think it's OK to just leave me out of it? 'Oh, don't worry about Cass, she won't mind because she can barely walk!' Do you know how long I've been here? I've been waiting for nearly twenty minutes!" Cassidy snapped. She knew it wasn't a good idea, but she couldn't stop herself. "Just because you lot blade or have something to do with blading, you separate yourselves from me. 'She's a cripple, she can't blade. We'll leave her out of everything we do!' Well, guess what? I'll show you. I'll show all of you!" And Cassidy hurried off to her form room. She hadn't meant to snap at them, but now she'd made a commitment. She'd decided to start blading, and she wouldn't give up.
Cassidy hardly spoke to anyone all day. Whenever someone came over to speak to her, she'd blank them out completely, or tell them out straight that she didn't want to talk to them. All through Science, Spanish, Maths, English and R.S, Cassidy never put her hand up once to answer a question, and never spoke to anyone on her table.
She pulled out a small notepad in each lesson (the pages were only A5), and was designing the best model of a Beyblade that she could. She knew that she needed a strong attack ring, but also a good defence. The weight disk needed to be light so it would move faster and have longer endurance, but heavy for a stronger attack. She messed around with different designs all day, and finally came to a decision in R.S. She folded the sketch neatly and put it in her pocket. She'd ask Matt when she got home if he could give her a lift into the town centre, and maybe help her to choose parts.
About five minutes before the bell rang, Cassidy gathered her stuff up and left. She didn't bother waiting for any of her friends today; she just hurried home to see Matt. When she got home, Matt was sitting at his laptop with papers surrounding him and his head in his hands.
"Matt, I don't suppose you'd do me a favour would you?" She asked, dumping her bag on the sofa.
"Does it have to be right now, Cass? I'm a bit busy," he said, indicating to all the paperwork and his laptop.
"Oh please, Matt! It's really important!" she pleaded.
"What is it, before I commit myself." He asked, putting his pencil behind his ear.
"Could you help me do some shopping?" she asked.
"Now that's a change. It's normally, 'No Matt, it's OK. I can do my own shopping.' What's so different today?" he wondered aloud.
"It's not clothes or shoe shopping. It's for . . . Beyblades. I thought maybe you could help me, cos you work a lot for Beyblading companies." She asked, adding the little comment on the end.
"Well, how come you haven't asked one of your friends? They all blade, don't they? I'm sure they'll be happy to help." He stated.
"No, Matt. I want you to help. Please?" she asked one last time, giving him puppy dog eyes.
"OK, OK. Fine. We'll go into town now. Get your money." He said, searching for his car keys under his paperwork.
"I'm way ahead of you," said Cassidy, smiling. In her hand was her purse and Matt's keys. He just laughed.
"Am I that predictable?" he laughed, but took his keys off Cassidy and they drove into town.
They reached the parking lot in no more than ten minutes, but it took them nearly that amount of time to find a space. They finally spotted one and pulled in before anyone else could pinch it. They got out and walked around the corner to the Hobby Shop, but Cassidy made sure it wasn't the one owned by Max's dad.
"So, what are we looking for, Cass? An already made blade? Or separate parts for you to make your own?" Matt asked, pointing at the different sections in the shop.
"Separate parts. I've got a design here," she said, and gave it to Matt. He smiled and nodded approvingly at it.
They wandered around for a while, looking at the different parts, and finally decided on which attack ring, defence ring, weight disk, and base they were going to have, and they were either yellow or white. Then she picked out a golden coloured launcher, and a practice Beystadium. They paid at the desk, and left the shop.
"You've got some nice parts there, Cass. And at not a bad price either." He said, as Cassidy rummaged in her bag.
"You will help me fit them together, won't you?" she asked, looking a bit worried.
"Try yourself first. You'll be amazed at what you an achieve." He said knowingly.
When they got home, Matt went into the kitchen to start their tea; Cassidy disappeared into her bedroom, and switched on her stereo, as per usual. This time though, she played one of her oldest CDs, but it was also one of her favourites. Where The Boys Are, by Connie Francis. Her mother always used to play it when she was feeling down, so Cassidy learnt to love it.
She emptied the contents of the bag onto the floor, and the parts spilt out everywhere. She gathered them all together and took them out of their packaging. She looked at them, and thought, 'Oh my God. I'll never be able to do this.' But she thought that she might as well have a go.
To her surprise, fixing it together wasn't that hard. She put the Beystadium on the floor, and slotted her new yellow and white blade into her launcher. She wasn't sure what to try, whether to think hard and concentrate, shout and encourage it.
She pulled the ripcord out as fast as she could. The blade shot out with great speed and spun around the dish extremely fast for a first time. A bright light shone in through Cassidy's window, and it temporarily blinded her. When her sight came back to her, a gold stallion with black hooves, a glossy white mane and tail, and orange eyes was standing in front of her. Cassidy went to scream, but no sound came out. She looked around, but there was nothing. Just black.
"I am Sunrise, the spirit of light. I have been summoned here by your strength, determination, and will to blade." came a voice. Cassidy started breathing quicker, and was getting freaked out. No one was there apart from the stallion. "Do not be afraid. I use telepathy to commerce with people and other spirits. To humans, spirits like myself are known as bit beasts. Your goodness and purity have also helped me find my way to you, as light is directed by innocence, and helped along by honour. You have plenty of all of these things. Therefore, I give myself to your command." And with that, the stallion, or Sunrise, faded away, and Cassidy found herself on her bedroom floor.
"What just happened?" she said aloud. She looked around, and saw her blade spinning solely in one space in the middle of the dish. And it was glowing a bright yellow.
Cassidy got up and slowly made her way over to her new blade. She put her hand over it, and it flew into her hand. Cassidy turned it over in her hand, and in the white bit-chip, was the golden stallion, Sunrise. She couldn't take her eyes off it; and when she finally did, she shouted at the top of her voice.
Matt came flying up into her room.
"What on Earth's happened? Are you OK?" he said frantically, panting.
"I'm fine, and look!" she squealed, holding the blade literally inches away from his face. "I got a bit beast! It's a gold stallion, and her name is Sunrise. She says she's the spirit of light. I wonder what attacks it's got?" she said, and turned the blade round, and looked at it again herself.
"Well, if I were you, I wouldn't try them out just yet. Do it tomorrow, outside somewhere. We don't want any room of this house messed up thank you very much. But then again," he said, looking around Cassidy's room. "I suppose it can't get much messier than this!" he joked.
"Matt!" cried Cassidy, giving him a playful punch on the arm, as Cassidy's room was quite tidy.
"OK, OK. But no battling with your bit beast in this house, please." He said, before turning around and starting to walk out the door. "Oh, and by the way, Cass, your tea'll be ready in about five minutes, so don't get too carried away. Make sure you do your homework too." He said, before going back into the kitchen.
"OK, I promise I won't use Sunrise in the house, and I promise I will be down for tea in a minute." She joked.
Cassidy smiled and bit her lip. She would show all of them. She'd challenge them, and win. 'Step before you leap." Cassidy thought to herself. 'If I challenge them to a battle without practising, I could end up losing and looking even more of a loser than I am now.'
Cassidy's phone started to ring. She couldn't ignore it, in case it was someone for Matt. She picked it up.
Cassidy: Hello?
Ray: Hiya, Cass. It's Ray.
Cassidy: I'm not speaking to you . . .
Cassidy went to put the phone down, but she could hear Ray shouting down the phone to her not to hang up.
Cassidy: Quick then. And don't you dare tell the others I spoke to you. What do you want?
Ray: I was wondering if you're OK. You didn't wait for us today. Well, Kai was having his detention from Ms. Woodward, but the rest of us were wondering where you were.
Cassidy: Yeah, well, I was busy. I had things to do.
Ray: This isn't because we were late to meet you this morning was it? We didn't mean to leave you out, it's just . . .
Cassidy: I don't care what it was. I'll beat all of you, one after the other! You think that cos I can barely walk it's OK to hurt my feelings? Well it's not! I'll rip your blade to shreds, and I'll walk away from it with victory!
And the line went dead. Cassidy had hung up. Ray just seemed to stare at the phone, as if Cassidy would just start talking again. He slowly put it down back onto the receiver, but picked it up again straight away, and phoned Tyson. He told him all about his short, but confusing conversation with Cassidy, but it was clear that Tyson wasn't paying attention.
Ray: Tyson!
Tyson: What?
Ray: Have you been paying attention?
Tyson: Yeah . . .
Ray: What have I just told you?
Tyson: Erm . . . something about Cass?
Ray: See? It was a waste of time phoning you, you know. Don't tell anyone that I told you I spoke to Cass, OK? I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?
There was a bit of a silence before Tyson finally answered.
Tyson: You what?
Ray: Forget it. See you.
Tyson: OK.
Ray groaned as he put the phone down again. That was a complete waste of time. He decided to think it over, and see if he could make any sense of what Cassidy had said to him.
Over at Kenny's house, he had updated his Bit-Searcher, and was trying to make a second proto-type. He was typing madly when Dizzi piped up.
"Hey Chief. Got some news for you," she said in her metallic voice.
"Not now, Dizzi. Can't you see I'm trying to make another one of these damn things?" he said, obviously annoyed. He kept on typing.
"No, Chief, I really think you'd like to know." She said.
"Quick then. What is it?"
"I've tracked down 2 new bit beasts that are in this area, but I can't pin exact locations. It's Sunrise, the beast of light, and Nightfall, the beast of darkness. Here, I'll put up what I know about them." Said Dizzi, and some information popped up on her screen.
Kenny scanned it quickly, but then looked shocked. He went back to the beginning and read it all through again.
"What's up Chief?" Dizzi asked.
"This can't be right! Where did you get this information Dizzi?" he asked, sounding worried.
"You inserted it. The date was . . . 05/02/04, but you didn't put where you got it from." She said, checking her database.
"Well, from what we've got here, it says that Sunrise and Nightfall are two of the most powerful bit beasts. The legend goes that at the beginning of time, there were two spirits, both stallions, one of light and one of darkness. They both worked together to keep the world peaceful, but couldn't agree on something. They separated, and have never been located again. If our information is right Dizzi, we could've made a huge discovery here." He said.
"I'll scan for this legend," said Dizzi, and searched for any sign of such a legend. She found one thing, but it wasn't very stable, so it kept crashing. Dizzi scanned for any viruses, and she found that it had quite a dangerous one. It could crash the hard drive easily, and it could be very hard to delete if you didn't have the right know-how.
"Get rid of it Dizzi. We'll find out about Sunrise and Nightfall some other way." Kenny instructed, typing instructions to her to delete it.
Dizzi successfully deleted it, and then had an idea. "Hey Chief, how about we talk to Kelly? She said she was always looking at new information on blades and bit beasts." She suggested.
"Good idea, Dizzi. Keep searching, and see if you find anything new, while I phone Kelly." Said Kenny. His parents had bought him a headset, so it would be easier for him to do multiple tasks, so he slid it on, and dialled Kelly's number.
Kelly: Hello?
Kenny: Hi, Kelly. Kenny here.
Kelly: Oh, hey Chief. What's up?
Kenny: I was thinking about what you said to us the other day. You said that you were always researching new blades and stuff, yeah?
Kelly: Oh, yeah! I'd be in the computer suite for ages, using different computers for stuff.
Kenny: Well, I was wondering if you had any information on 2 certain bit beasts. Called Sunrise and Nightfall, a spirit of light and a spirit of darkness. And do you have anything on the Legend of Light and Darkness?
Kelly: Erm, let's think. Wait there a minute; I saved some stuff onto a floppy.
Kelly opened a tub filled with different floppy discs in. There were different coloured ones, with labels all over them. She flicked through them until she found a light blue one, with a yellow label on saying 'Legends'.
She shoved it into the drive, and opened 'My Computer'. She clicked on 3½ Floppy A:, and several word documents and Internet connections came up. She scanned through them for anything to do with Light and Darkness, and one came up, actually named 'The Legend of Light and Darkness'. She opened it, and quickly sped read through it.
Kelly: Hey, Chief, I've got this one thing. Do you want me to email it to you? Cos it would take me forever to read it out to you.
Kenny: Yeah that's fine. Could you do it straight away?
Kelly: Doing it now.
Kelly sent the word document to Kenny's email address, and said goodbye to him on the phone.
"Right Dizzi. We've got an incoming email from Kelly. Open it as soon as possible, and then get in contact with Mr. Dickinson." Ordered Kenny. "I think he'll need to know about this."
"OK, Chief." Said Dizzi, and waited for the email to turn up.
Back at Cassidy's place, she had eaten her tea and was now practising her technique, but couldn't decide whether to use Sunrise's attack, defence or speed to her advantage. It would be too difficult and advanced to try and use two or even all three of them, so Cassidy was trying out different methods.
"Let it rip!" she cried, pulling out the ripcord. Each time Sunrise shot into the dish, it glowed a bright yellow, which gave Cassidy inner-strength.
After ages of practising, Cassidy decided that Sunrise would be best for attack, then speed, and then defence, as that was it's weakest point. She hadn't actually called on Sunrise yet, as she'd promised Matt she wouldn't release her bit beast in the house. She'd practise more tomorrow, after she'd spoke to Tania and Ricardo.
Cassidy groaned, because she remembered that she had promised Kenny that he could have a look at the photo of her parents. She knew exactly where it was though – under her pillow. Normally, Cassidy would have forbidden anyone to even look at it, but she knew it was important.
'No, wait a minute.' She thought to herself as she pulled the photo out from under her pillow. 'Tania and Ricardo said they'd help me, so I wonder if they'd speak to my friends so I wouldn't have to show them my photo? All Kenny wants is some information on them, so why would they mind about that?' Cassidy just shrugged to herself, and stared at the photo for a bit longer, before kissing it gently, and sliding it back under her pillow.
The next day, Cassidy took her blade into school, but didn't actually plan on telling anyone that she had a blade, let alone a bit beast. She kept it hidden in her bag, along with her launcher.
In registration, Kai kept trying to talk to her, but Cassidy pretended she wasn't listening. She was really, because she wanted to know what he had to say for himself.
"Look Cass, it's not really that big a deal. We were late to meet you one day. Friends are always late, you should know that." He said, leaning across the aisle towards her seat.
"Well you wanna know what? You guys are the first real friends I've had. Kelly was my one friend at our old school, and she was never late, because she was always in that computer suite. If I ever had to talk to her, or her to me, we'd be able to find each other straight away. I thought that I had made some real friends." She said, putting real meaning onto the 's' at the end of friends.
Cassidy didn't say anything else to him, and as she gathered her stuff up towards the end of registration, her blade and launcher fell out of her bag. Cassidy gasped slightly, and Kai just stared at it, and then at the bit-chip. He could always see bit beasts from quite a distance away, but this one . . . something made him concentrate on it. He could see the bright gold stallion on there, and knew which beast it was straight away.
"Why didn't you tell me, Cass?" he gasped, still staring at the yellow and white blade.
"I've gotta go." She said bluntly, shoving the launcher back into her bag, but slipped her blade into her pocket.
When Cassidy had left the class, Kai shoved his stuff into his own bag, went up to Ms. Dabner and told her that he felt ill. She told him to go and see the nurse, so Kai nodded and walked out of class.
"Faker!" whispered Tessa as he went past, but Kai just stuck his middle finger up at her.
He left the classroom but instead of turning left to the nurse's office, he went right, and stood outside two classrooms, Room 8 and Room 9. A minute later, the bell rang and people came rushing out of classrooms, including Tyson. Kai grabbed hold of his sleeve and pulled him back.
"Hey!" cried Tyson, not knowing who it was.
"Shut your gob." He said, and as the others came out, he beckoned for them all to come over.
"I'm glad you're all here. Especially you Kai." Said Kenny, opening his laptop. "I was working last night, trying to make another Bit-Searcher, when Dizzi told me she'd located 2 new beasts in the area. Take a look." He said, and he showed Dizzi's plasma screen to Kai.
"That's exactly what I wanted to talk to you lot about." Kai said, after he'd quickly read through the information.
"All of us? Why all of us? And what about Amber and Cass?" said Mariah.
"Well, I'm here now!" panted Amber, running up behind them. "I was gonna come and meet you all here anyway."
"And that's what I wanted to talk to you about. Cass." Kai stated.
"I thought . . ." Toni started. "Didn't you just say you wanted to talk to us about the new bit beast?"
"I'm confused too," said Kelly.
Kai groaned. It was obvious this lot couldn't put two and two together.
"No way!" Tyson burst in.
Kai was amazed. The last person he thought would get it is the only one who actually understands.
"You mean Cass is a bit beast?" Tyson gaped.
Or not. Tyson was the only person he knew who would put two and two together, but get five.
"No! Don't be such a dumb-ass Tyson." Kai said, shaking his head.
"Hey!" pouted Tyson and Toni.
"Just shut up and listen will you?" Kai said, getting impatient and tapping his foot. "First things first. Do any of you know about the 'Legend of Light and Darkness'?"
Everyone glanced at each other as though Kai was crazy, before they all shook their heads. Apart from Kenny.
"Well, it's been told that that at the dawn of time, there were two spirits - stallions, one of light and one of darkness. They both worked together to keep the world peaceful, but there was one thing they couldn't agree on. No one knows what it was, but the two stallions, Sunrise and Nightfall, separated, and have never been seen again. Does everyone get that so far?" he asked.
Everyone nodded obediently, so Kai carried on.
"I was trying to talk to Cass in registration, but she ignored me. When she was getting her stuff together to leave, cos you know she always leaves before the bell rings so people don't push her out of the way, something fell out of her bag. A golden launcher and a yellow and white Beyblade, with a golden stallion on the bit-chip." He said, looking to see each of their reactions.
Everyone had more or less the same look on their face. Shock. Wonder. Amazement. Then everyone started talking quickly, asking questions like 'How come Cass is blading?' and 'How come she never told us?'. But Kelly's face showed just one emotion – disbelief.
"So you're saying . . . that one of the most powerful bit beasts in the world . . . belongs to Cass?" Said Kelly, blinking quite a lot.
"Well, yeah. I got a closer look at her Beyblade, and on her white bit-chip was definitely Sunrise." Said Kai.
"So that's what Cass meant!" interrupted Ray, but seeing the look on their faces, he explained it a bit further. "Last night, I phoned Cass, but she was about to hang up on me. I shouted to her to just talk to me for at least a minute, so she did. I could tell she didn't really want to though. Anyway, she said something about ripping my blade to shreds, and leaving with victory."
"Yeah, well it won't be a very triumphant victory if she can't control Sunrise," said Kai. "Sunrise is one of the most powerful beasts, and it takes a lot to control any every day bit beast, right? Well, multiply your own bit beasts' power by 3, and then try and control it properly. You think that'd be hard, well we've all bonded with our bit beasts, and Cass has only just got hers, so we better make sure she can control it, otherwise she might get hurt badly." he said.
"And the other bit beast, Nightfall, is still out there. We can't get Sunrise and Nightfall into a Beybattle, otherwise it would mean big trouble." Said Kenny. "When the two bit beasts couldn't agree on something, they hated each other. If they get into a Beybattle, they'll keep on fighting until one is crushed. Literally."
Kai quickly checked his watch. It was nearly 9.10am, and their English lesson started at 9.00am.
"Right, we'll chat later, but right now I'm in so much trouble. I'll catch you all later, by the tree." Said Kai, before rushing off.
Everyone else followed suit and rushed to their English lessons.
As Kai reached his English lesson, he took a deep breath. He really didn't feel like having to put up with Ms. Woodward today, but had no choice. He opened the door and everyone turned to look at him, and Ms. Woodward was seething.
"Mr. Hiwatari! Where have you been! It's ten past nine, and in case you haven't noticed, 1st period starts at 9.00! Detention for you, tomorrow." She screeched.
"But Ms. Woodward, I went to see the nurse. I haven't got a note because she was too busy and there were lots of other students waiting, and you can ask my form tutor, Ms. Dabner if you don't believe me, because she sent me. So I'm sorry to say I cannot attend your detention tomorrow, because you have no good reason." He said, and sat down.
"Well I shall be speaking to your form tutor about your attitude, my boy, not your health. It seems to me that you're far too cocky, but I'm giving you one more chance. Is that understood?" she asked, her nose pointing high in the air.
"Yes, Ms. Woodward." He recited. It was like being back in Primary School.