Sorry that it took so long to post that last chapter, but I hope you enjoyed all the different sections. I hope you enjoy this chapter as well. Oh, and now for the disclaimer that I usually forget.

Disclaimer: I do not own beyblade.

King: I wish you did.

Me: Really?

King: Yeah, because then I could rule over everything! Muahahahaha!

Me: …

Ryuga: I'd like to see you try.

King: I wouldn't be talking, Ryuga. You haven't been in the story since chapter 21.

Ryuga: Oh yeah? Bring it, King.

Me: STOP STOP STOP! Let's just get on with the story.

Chapter 25 The Hometown Boy

It was a sunny day in Anti-Zeo Zaggart Land. It seemed to get sunnier and sunnier, hotter and hotter since those rainy days several days ago. Many of the citizens of the town had gone to Ian's Ice Cream and Salhan's Supersoaking Water Park to cool down. (The diving well had been reopened.) The town guards had been looking after the town carefully ever since the rain, thunder, and lightning had ceased. Now it was time for the head guard to make his daily report to King.

Since King was not at his castle, he decided to mail in his report instead of chasing pointlessly around town looking for King. So off he went to Tobio's Post Office. It was cool and air conditioned inside, quite a change from the sweltering hot outdoors.

"Good morning sir," Tobio greeted him. "What may I get for you today? Our new, one-of-a-kind town stamps have recently arrived!" Tobio held up stamps that had an aerial picture of the town, as seen from the plane Masamune had sky-dived off of, along with a picture of King. Most prominent on the aerial view were Ryuto's Roller Coasters and, of course, the ever-famous Beyblade Battlegrounds.

"The stamps are fascinating, really, but I just wanted to mail this to King." The head guard passed his letter over the counter to Tobio, who promptly put one of the stamps on it and told his customer the price.

Back at home, Ryuto turned on his TV. Of course, Ryo TV automatically popped up; it was considered the top station in town. Ryuto sighed. It was the only station in town. All other stations were imported, or whatever TV stations are, from out of town.

Right now, an interesting clip was playing. "Goooooooooo!" came the voice of Masamune, who was battling King; apparently the clip had been filmed at the Beyblade Battlegrounds. As the segment rolled on, Ryuto realized that this was no clip; the entire battle had been filmed. "Trust Ryo to get some interesting stuff on his station," Ryuto said admiringly. But what came on TV next shocked the entire town, even Ryuto.

A headline came up, and Ryo was saying "Greetings from the Immortal Phoenix! We have some breaking, shocking news. Well, the first one isn't so shocking, but-"

Hikaru came onscreen. "Director Ryo, just get on with it."

Ryo looked slightly put out for about a nanosecond. Then he was back to happily announcing. "King has declared a town meeting today at 4:00 pm sharp outside the Beyblade Battlegrounds... blah blah blah."

Hikaru came back on and cleared her throat. "What he means is that important details are scheduled to be discussed. That's right, the ending of The Plan will finally be revealed!"

Studio applause filled the air.

"That's exactly what I said!" exclaimed Ryo, reclaiming the spotlight. "But that's not all!" Ryo turned proudly to the screen behind him as the words HOMETOWN BOY WINS MARATHON appeared behind him. "That's right, our very own Ryuga competed in it and won in record time!"

Something unintelligible was spoken in the background and Ryo said, "I'm sorry viewers, but we don't have the times. But all y'all know that Google is a wonderful invention!" Ryo hinted.

Hikaru walked back on and added that it was the Boston marathon. The studio applause noise swelled to a dull roar. Then the TV short-circuited and/or Ryo had connection problems at his television tower. Anyway, the newscast came to a swift end.

Ryuto frowned at this unexpected... issue, but decided to turn off the TV and go outside and do something before the town meeting at four. Once outside, he realized why he had gone inside: It was smoldering hot!

"Gee, what's up with this temperature?" asked Ryuto's friend Bao, who was walking by. "It's harder to walk around out here than it was training with the Beylin Fist in the desert!" Seeing Ryuto's look, he added, "Well, maybe not quite that bad."

"I think we need to do something to take our minds off the head, Bao," Ryuto said. "Let's go over to Chris's place."

Bao nodded, and off they went to Chris's Car & Car Repair Shop. On the way, they saw Gingka talking animatedly to Kenta, who listened with a look of bliss on his face. Bao and Ryuto couldn't help but drift closer and listen in.

"And he said to me, 'Gingka, you underestimate me way too often. I hardly even broke a sweat.' And I said 'Of course you did' and he said 'Well, fine. I'll admit that I did. But so what? I still won in record time.'"

"Wow!" sighed Kenta. "Ryuga is so cool! But did you know he fired me?"

"No! What...-" Gingka's voice trailed off as Bao and Ryuto headed off, ignoring the conversation now that it had taken a trivial turn.

Once the two reached Chris's place, Chris decided to leave his employees in charge and go off with his friends. He also needed to think about something other than the heat.

"Gee, I sure hope it cools down by the time that town meeting rolls around," Chris told them.

They both nodded. Then Chris spoke again. "You know, I'm pretty hungry. Why don't we go to Toby's Tacos for some food?"

"Yeah, sure," said Bao.

"I'm game," said Ryuto, who had just realized how hungry he was. So off the three of them went to eat. Each one ordered something different; one tacos, one quesadillas, and one enchiladas. But even by the time they finished, there were still three and a half hours to kill before the town meeting at four.

"A town meeting?" Ryuga yawned. "Seems like we have them every other week." He considered most meetings to be dull and utterly pointless, useless for him to attend. "Is there anything... good... that's going to happen?"

"Well, there is going to be a discussion on The Plan," Damian said. He had stopped by Ryuga's Readables to chat to the famous winner of the Boston Marathon about the recently scheduled town meeting.

"Oh, wonderful. The Plan." Ryuga's voice was dripping with sarcasm.

Damian was now curious. "What do you have against The Plan? I think it's ingenious!"

"It seems that everyone in town just blindly follows Kyoya's Plan-"

"And Nile's," Damian interjected.

Ryuga glared at him and continued. "Oh, sure, Zeo Zaggart is gone from town. Hooray! Let's celebrate! The Plan succeeded. Why is it continuing?"

Damian opened his mouth to answer, but Ryuga wasn't done. "Oh, I know. But how did they know? Very well, I shall attend this town meeting, if only to see whether they truly know or not."

4:00 pm rolled around. And so did some clouds, which sheltered the town from the heat. All of the citizens were grateful; all except for one. Ryuga had appreciated the scorching heat. It had reminded him of volcano training with Ldrago Destructor. But these thoughts soon exited his mind as King King began to speak.

"Welcome, welcome, citizens of Anti-Zeo Zaggart Land! Here we are outside the Beyblade Battlegrounds, as that is currently the only place big enough to hold all the citizens of my lovely town. Cheers, and let's keep growing!"

Here, Gingka led the applause, as usual.

"Keep growing?" came a voice from the back. "Then I shall join you and your... town."

Everyone turned to face a tall, strong-looking guy with brown, spiky hair. "Aguma!" shouted out Bao to his Beylin Fist buddy.

"Yes, welcome," King told him. Anyone was welcome (excluding Zeo Zaggart) in town, especially this strong legendary blader. "We are now going to have a speech by none other than Kyoya and Nile!"

The crowd applauded once more as the two co-owners of the Beyblade Battlegrounds stepped up onto the platform. Aguma had sidled over to where Bao was standing with Ryuto and Chris. "What did I miss?" he asked. Bao then proceeded to fill him in on The Plan.

As soon as the crowd quieted down, Kyoya began. "The end of The Plan is drawing near."

"Is it really?" asked Yuki.

"Shhhh!" hissed Gingka, Kenta, Tsubasa, and some others.

Kyoya went on as if the interruption had never occurred. "The Plan clearly speaks of a large-scale attack from Zeo Zaggart."

"An army," Nile added. "An army led by the arch-nemesis of the town."

Gingka gasped. "How are we to prepare ourselves?"

"I'm afraid the time to prep is short," Nile said.

"In just three days' time, Zeo Zaggart will return and attempt the utter destruction of the town with his army," Kyoya said. "Nile and I will open up the Beyblade Battlegrounds to all citizens so that they may train both their bodies and their beys for this final battle."

"It sounds tough for sure, but if we work together as a town, the army of Zeo Zaggart won't stand a chance!" Nile exclaimed.

"But how could Zeo Zaggart create an army?" piped up Yu, who was standing by Gingka and the others in the front row. "That guy is just plain uncool."

"Zeo Zaggart's father has helped him in this endeavor. We just don't know how. That is one thing The Plan doesn't cover," said Kyoya.

"Does this Plan of yours give exact numbers?" a random in-prominent citizen asked.

"About 1,000," Nile said.

"1,001," came a voice from the back. It was the Dragon Emperor, adding his all-knowingness to the discussion. "But I'm including Zeo Zaggart himself, and I'm guessing you weren't, Nile."

Nile nodded. 1,000 (in the army) + 1 (Zeo Zaggart himself) = 1,001. He and Kyoya wrapped up their speech with lots of encouragement and walked down the stairs while the crowd both applauded and talked amongst themselves.

"Aha! We outnumber them by 11, no, 12 counting Aguma!" proclaimed Masamune.

"And even more if you include my biker gang," Busujima said. He and his fellow bikers had been present at the meeting. They had no love for Zeo Zaggart, and had decided that they owed the town a little bey power after having broken the speed limit laws numerous times.

"Zeo Zaggart? An army?" Tyson was in shock. So were Kenny, Max, Hilary, and Ray, all of whom had attended the town meeting, as there was nothing else to do with all the shops closed up and all.

"I am so going to the Beyblade Battlegrounds!" Masamune Kadoya, the so-called #1 blader said. "You should come, Gingka! Then we can have a battle!"

"Okay, Masamune!" shouted Gingka, who was pumped just thinking about it. "Ooh! I can't wait for tomorrow!"

Kai was fingering his Dranzer. He knew his part in The Plan and was confident in himself and his bey.

Tsubasa eyed up Eagle, which glinted in the sun. Rose asked him "Are you ready?" Tsubasa nodded. He would train by himself. "Cree!" Oh, and with his eagle.

Nearby, Damian was laughing. "Haha! Time to battle tomorrow," he told Zeo and Toby.

"What about HIM?" asked Zeo, gesturing toward Jack, who was babbling about Befall's artwork on the canvas of the stadium, and how he still owed Ryuga a personal picture of Hades. Damian shrugged. "He can come along if he likes."

Tetsuya was making Teru crabby by talking about Gasher while scuttling in circles around him. Kenta was trying to convince himself that he was strong. The Garcias were doing a team cheer and Team Wang Hu Zhong was in a huddle, probably talking strategy. Many of the in-prominent citizens were looking terrified. Kyoya, Nile, King, and Kai were giving them advice on what to do during the battle, such as help up fallen or injured bladers, provide food and shelter (the battle was sure to be long and hard-fought), and the popular command of run and hide.

Demure, Team Lavushka, Salhan, and Vridick were talking intently. Ryo, Tobio, and Hikaru were speaking of Ryo's Television Tower short-circuiting (what that had to do with The Plan, I'm not quite sure). Benkei was telling Hyoma to battle him tomorrow at the Beyblade Battlegrounds and to bring Hycuto along. Doji was all by his lonesome, thinking of how he could disturb everyone by showing up at the Beyblade Battlegrounds and cackled evilly to himself. Julian was saying to Klaus, Sophie, and Wales about how the town had had experience battling an army before: Their army of helicopter parachuting bladers. "I guess one could say we did them a favor," Julian Konzern said proudly as the Facehunters and Johannes walked by.

All in all, most everyone was prepping for the big battle by battling each other the next three days at the Beyblade Battlegrounds, all in preparation for the big confrontation on that fourth day. "Huh." The Dragon Emperor was by no means impressed. "Just what will they do when they realize just how hard this fight will be? We are ready, Ldrago. We are ready." Ryuga wondered if he should make a surprise appearance at the Beyblade Battlegrounds tomorrow. That would sure shake things up. "To go or not to go... hmm..." And with that, Ryuga walked away from everyone at the town meeting. As a fork of red lightning flashed, obscuring him from view, he appeared to have simply vanished into thin air when the sky cleared.

Ryuga: Ha! See, I'm back! Beat that, King.

King: I still rule the town!

Gingka: GO PEGASUS!

Ryuga & King: ...