Summary: The second adventure. A shooting star falls on Earth—except it's not just a star. What follows is a quest for discovery, for some things are not always what they appear to be.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bakugan, Beyblade, Beyblade Metal Fusion, or any other references that appear.

Nothing to see here, just go read the chapter.

"Attention everyone! This is Battle Bladers!" The announcer's voice was broadcast not just to those waiting to enter the stadium, but on video across the country. Gingka looked around him, recognizing a good amount of the people there. It was a sparse crowd, and he could spot almost all of his friends. Benkei was over towards one wall, Kyoya was closer to the center and looking extremely out of place, while Nubiasa and Tsubasa stood off to one side, talking in low voices. Gingka saw Ryutaro and Yuu enter, while Tetsuya was crabbily excited. Madoka and Kenta both gave him encouraging smiles from the bench. Gingka tried to keep everything straight in his head as he waved to Hyoma, who was looking elsewhere. Now that he thought of it, there were only a few people there he didn't recognize.

"The elimination round will now commence! Proceed into the stadium and go to your assigned battle area." Gingka glanced at his opponent, Yuu, and hoped that Pegasus was up to a challenge. Behind Yuu he saw Nubiasa facing Ryuga, and hoped even more that Nubiasa would be alright. The announcer proceeded to explain that no matter what happened in the tournament, no participants were allowed to withdraw. And on their signal, everyone launched their Beys and the stadium burst into chaos. Darkness clouded the arena like smoke, coiling around and blocking the exits, as gigantic beasts reared out from the Beys.

Gingka looked at the giant humanoid in front of him and then at Pegasus, spinning and looking so tiny compared to what had been unleashed from Yuu's Bey, Libra. The creature swiped, but somehow Pegasus avoided it. Behind the creature Gingka could glimpse Nubiasa's beast swooping down as though L-Drago were its prey. Gingka turned back to his own battle, where Pegasus seemed to be dodging a losing battle. He looked to the audience, preparing to face his defeat, only to see Kenta gesturing frantically at the fading pinpricks of light. Confused, he told Pegasus to aim for one. Yuu's creature blocked his way, and Pegasus managed to speed past using its Starblast Attack. The darkness recoiled as if struck and more points of light began to appear, the area around him and Yuu clearing up. Libra was still spinning but the creature had vanished.

Behind Yuu, Krakenoid shuddered and a moment later, a roar rang out, sounding of victory and the darkest depths of a never-ending abyss. Nubiasa screamed.

The darkness wrapped around and around, constricting. Within, no one could see the battle commencing between Hyoma and his opponent. Sabator fell to its knees, poison coursing through its body. Even as the darkness surrounding them vanished, there was no hope left for victory. Aries was knocked into the air, never touching the ground, forced to keep spinning as the other Bey, Serpent, dug into its wheel again and again. Hyoma begged for it to stop, but the darkness seemed to sense his weakness and it returned stronger, leaving Sabator in an endless throe of agony.

"Sirenoid, dive!" Its harp broken yet again, Sirenoid dove underground, leaving Damakor to look around, trying to find it. The ground began to tremble in one particular spot, so Damakor waited for Sirenoid to surface, then attacked. "Again, I'm beaten… Can't I ever win for once…?" Tobi sighed. "Well, how about we try and get this fog away? I think Sirenoid's allergic to it."

Lars Lion turned to face Teru, letting another acid spray go right past. Teru, I believe it is time to attempt another attack. Teru nodded. Lars Lion began to float closer to Lythirus, gracefully avoiding its attacks. Valkyrie Barrier. A bubble formed around Lars Lion, who now stood perfectly stationary, letting the shield absorb all of Lythirus's attacks. When Lythirus stopped to try and use its claws, the shield exploded with light, blinding Tetsuya and in the next second, Gasher had stopped spinning and the darkness retreated.

The darkness had cleared, leaving behind every match finished. Kyoya, Ryutaro, Tsubasa, and Teru all picked up their Beys, now victorious, and began to help some of the others up. Benkei looked around, rubbing his eyes, while Gingka surveyed the stadium. It was filled with holes from acid and fire, in some places, and in others there were only giant footprints as a remnant of the battles. Hyoma and Nubiasa both lay collapsed on the floor, Hyoma's arena stained in strange liquid. Gingka ran over to him.

"Hyoma! What happened?" Hyoma reached for Aries, face streaked with tears.

"It was my opponent… Whoever they were, what they did to Aries… They said it was punishment for being a traitor. Aries, Sabator, neither of them betrayed anyone…"

"Nubiasa, wake up!" Kyoya started shaking him. Nubiasa opened his eyes briefly, but Tsubasa saw no sign of recognition in them before they closed again. A medical team had apparently been called, because white clad people were helping Hyoma and Nubiasa onto stretchers and offering bandages to the others who had got off with only scratches. The announcer's voice came over the speakers again, shakily.

"W-well…" There was the sound of a deep breath. "There seems to have been some incidents with the Bey battling. Similar things have h-happened at other tournaments, but we can't let our audience down… Battle Bladers will continue, and let's hope for better things in the next round!" The excited tone sounded very forced. "Continuing on, the bladers who have made it to the second round are… Benkei, Ryutaro, Tsubasa, Kyoya, Teru…" Pictures of the bladers showed up on screen as their names were shown. Gingka watched carefully, looking for the one that had battled Hyoma. "…Gingka, Reiji, and Ryuga. The second round will start after the stadium gets the necessary repairs."

"It was that Reiji guy, wasn't it?" Hyoma nodded weakly.

"That's the same person that I saw before, in my last tournament. This might sound weird, but I think he's related to Kaza somehow." Kenta said. Gingka clenched his fist in determination.

"Whoever Reiji really is, I promise you, I'm going to defeat him!"