Chapter 9
With the plane parked safely somewhere (and covered with twigs and leaves for camouflage), the gang quickly rushed through the trees. Sakura held a GPS in her hands as they ran. "Turn left!" She yelled. Everyone quickly followed their friend's instructions and veered their feet sharply to the left path. "I recognise this place!" Kairi called out. "We're almost there! I recognise this place too!" Kyoya added quickly. On the way, Carol smacked her face into a branch. "Owch! You okay there?" K.C called to her. "Yeah, fine!" Carol yelled back, rubbing her face before resuming her fast pace. After a while more of running, Kairi looked round and gave a shout. "STOP!" Everyone skidded to a halt in front of a giant building. Kairi walked towards its entrance and narrowed her eyes up at the sign. It was a dark purple 'D', just as she remembered it. "Yep, this is the place." She said, just as the Guardians landed next to her. "Doesn't look in ruins to me, mate." Bunnymund pointed out. Kyoya gritted his teeth in anger. "Oh no. We should have seen this coming!" "Seen what coming, Kyoya?" Tsubasa asked anxiously, preparing to place Earth Eagle on his beylauncher. "Doji must have rebuilt this place after the Battle Bladers Tournament!" Kyoya explained. "They must have some more traps waiting for us in there!" "And even…"Hikaru shuddered violently, almost losing her balance that Kyoya had to hold her up. "…even Ryuga…" A gasp rippled through the bladers. Sakura clenched her fists; Carol bit her lip nervously, while Miku and Demure both gulped. Kairi and the kids all exchanged fearful glances. Merida, the dancers and the Guardians all looked at each other. From what it seemed, this 'Ryuga' must be a very powerful villain. "Who's…Ryuga?" K.C murmured, only loud enough for those around her to hear. Hyoma answered her question. "He's a blader who stole the forbidden bey L-Drago long ago. He thought he could control it, but he can't. Either way, he's a very powerful force. During Battle Bladers…" Hyoma paused, his blue eyes filling with fear. "Almost every blader he battled got their strength absorbed and lost their consciousness, until Gingka beat him of course." K.C stared at Hyoma in disbelief. "Until now, I thought L-Drago was just a legend…who battled him in Battle Bladers?" Hyoma leaned closer to her, lowering his voice so only she could hear him. "Hikaru was beaten by him first, followed by Tsubasa, Kairi and Kyoya." He said. "Hikaru…" K.C turned to see Hikaru, still in Kyoya's arms, shaking violently. Her eyes were filled with terror. Poor girl. "She's the only one suffering the after effects?" "Well, Tsubasa did contract the dark power from Ryuga during his match, but he overcame it after the World Tournament. Kyoya wasn't affected too badly, but Kairi had been getting nightmares for a few weeks…"
Just then, Jack Frost's voice interrupted their conversation. "Well, no matter what we face, we have to stop them from reaching the intersection of those tunnels!" He said, his voice filled with determination. The other Guardians rose to his side, nodding. "Yeah, you said it Jack!" Yelled North. "Yeah, Santa!" Celine jumped up. "He's right! We have to do our best!" Yu, who stood beside his girlfriend, stood up too. "She's right!" He chimed in. "We have to do this! For Gingy!" "That's right!" Kyoya yelled to everyone. "Gingka may in the hospital right now, but if he was here, he wouldn't give up either! He won't want to see us give up now!" At the mention of his childhood friend, Hyoma straightened up too. "Let's do this!" He agreed, pulling out Aries from his belt. He looked at K.C. "You are coming, right?" K.C had already taken out Thermal Stardust and was fixing up her beylauncher. She didn't smile at Hyoma, but her expression was filled with determination. "I'm in, Hyoma!" Princess Merida mounted Angus and readied her bow, face alight with energy. The dancers looked at each other and shrugged. "Nobody brought a gun…or anything?" Mo asked. Lil'T sighed. "We should have. I feel so useless right now." Cheers filled the air. The short speeches of encouragement from Jack and Kyoya had been enough to make everyone pumped up once more. And soon, the big group, marched, as one, towards the steel doors of the building.
Inside the Dark Nebula
"Master, we have some unwelcome guests approaching." Said Merci in his robotic voice. Doji sipped his orange juice and turned to stare at the screen. It showed none other than the bladers themselves approaching, with some new friends whom he hadn't seen before. "Huh, they got here earlier than I thought. "He remarked, not showing any surprise. "Luckily, we've already done up everything, isn't that right, Ryuga?" The blader's reply came as a loud, evil, lunatic-like cackle. Ryuga grasped the glowing L-Drago in his hands, grinning sinisterly.
As the gang marched closer to the steel door, a long row of giant cannons appeared along the walls of the building. "Here it comes!" Carol called out. All the blader readied their launchers, shouting as one.
"3!"
"2!"
"1!"
"LET IT RIP!"
All at once, all beys were launched. At the same time, the giant cannons fired numerous beyblades at the unwelcome intruders. The gang's beyblades seemed outnumbered. Princess Merida, the Dancers and the Guardians looked on in horror. "Look out!" Tooth cried out. The gang's beys and the Dark Nebula's beys headed straight for each other. "Don't worry, we got this!" Carol yelled out. She swung both arms out to the sides, and shouted out in a loud, clear voice. "Snow Polaris, Raging Avalanche!" Carol's bey, Snow Polaris, glowed a bright pure white before suddenly bursting forward, knocking numerous Dark Nebula beys out of its path. "LEONE!" Kyoya yelled. Leone gleamed green, increasing in speed and knocking beys out of its way. The other bladers began to do the same, some calling out their special moves. Yu and Candice combined their special moves, Sonic Buster and Disaster Drive, which effectively took out more beyblades, while Tsubasa and Kairi were taking out the beys that were in mid-air. Tsubasa was making Eagle jump on other passing beys to hit those in mid-air, while Kairi was commanding Dolphin to jump. Like a graceful dolphin, Thermal Dolphin leapt all over the place, taking out beyblade after beyblade. Jack Frost hovered around in the air, before his eyes fell upon the Dark Nebula's steel door. "Guys, we have to open the door!" He yelled out. A few of the bladers heard him and nodded at him. "Okay, you heard Jack! Let's do this!" Kairi said. But before any of them could do anything, the ground started to shake. "Wha-? What's going on?" Miku cried out, starting to scream. The loud rumbling was overloading Miku's sharp sense of hearing. As she screamed and covered her ears in pain, Demure grabbed her shoulders. "Miku!" He yelled. "Hang in there!" Sakura was fighting to maintain her balance. "What's happening?" She shrieked. The giant cannons started to emanate loud noises, like as though something big was going to get shot out of them any minute. K.C's black eyes widened. Those giant cannons are gigantic, alright… too gigantic for only regular-sized beyblades! "Guys!" She shouted to the others. "Keep yourselves together! I think something BIG is coming up!"