Okay, so everything's taking a shift now. A really jarring turn. The reason? Well, I got bored of moving through the original story beat for beat, so I'm cutting loose. The meat of the story is happening now. It's not all bey battles and competitions. In-universe explanation? Seeing Kajuri for the first time in nearly a year reminded her of her friends. Encouraged her to face her fears.

Felicity trotted along the streets of New Mexico, utterly lost in memories. She had restocked on all sorts of camping supplies, and had gotten booking at an inn as well, if things went south. She took a bicycle to the woods, and navigated the woods with little difficulty. Until, it was difficult. And she came to a ravine. Felicity cursed as she stopped the cycle and looked at the obstacle from a distance. Beside her, Ghost looked disinterestedly at it, instead, taking off, and circling the skies above. Felicity groaned, "If only I could do that…"

Falcon's musical voice hummed, "Well… you could always use that…"

Felicity blinked, "Use what?" she looked at the sides of the ravine, until she spotted a zipline halfway through, "Huh. Alright…" she whistled, making sure Ghost could know she was moving, before mounting her bicycle again and taking off, taking care to avoid going too close to the sides. It took her about ten minutes to reach it, around which Ghost had returned with a mouse in her powerful claws. She looked at the harnesses attached to it, "I can get across… but what about the cycle? I can't go through this whole forest on foot."

Falcon radiated confusion, "Maybe tie the bike to two harnesses, push it down and hope for the best?"

Felicity shuddered, "And even if it holds, when I go down next, I'll slam straight into it."

"Then use your hands to stop yourself from going too fast" Falcon suggested, "Those welding gloves you use will be great for this."

Felicity tapped her chin, "That… isn't a bad idea, actually."

She pulled out rope from her bag to reinforce the knots that kept the two harnesses on.

She Let out a deep breath, and pushed the bicycle forward, over the edge. There was tense silence as it traversed the slope easily. And Felicity let out a shaky laugh as it bonked on the tree directly in front of it. No lasting damage. Now for the part she had more control over. She tied up her own harness securely. Checked the buckles and zips on her backpack, and pulled on leather gloves. She strapped her BeyTrainer Case to her arm, and stepped off onto thin air, her hands tightly wound to the cable. She moved it forward, slowly, carefully, one hand forward. Two hands forward. Again and again and again, fighting gravity with all her might. Until she slowly slid onto the ground on the other side, where she slowly unbuckled her harness and promptly collapsed breathlessly.

It took her two days to reach the base. Felicity could have cleared it in a shorter time, but she had to conserve the meagre supplies she had been able to pack for the final stretch, instead taking time off the light hours for hunting and fishing. And now she was here. She looked at the base from her perch on a faraway tree, using her Aura Sense, which made her eyes glow in a kaleidoscopic manner. She hummed as she surveyed the mass of moving bonds. A lot of them seemed to be stretched away from each other, like a single signature was being stretched in two different directions. It was obvious that those were the ones who were separated from their bey or blader. Or, well, it was obvious to Falcon, anyway. She had circled the area several times already, making it a point to stay way out of range. She sighed, as she ducked back into her nest. It was a small crevice in a hollow tree, that was barely big enough to hold her backpack and suitcase. Her cycle was parked somewhere behind the tree, covered in vines and a camouflage blanket. Ghost was away, probably hunting. As she sat, she picked up on sounds that carried far and wide in the tranquil forest. She cocked her head as Falcon suddenly whispered, "Felicity, they feel familiar. Maybe you should check them out?"

Felicity nodded, "Yeah, yeah, I'm on it."

She crept through the undergrowth, trying to pinpoint the source of the voices. It was hard, but eventually she got it. When one of them screamed, she bolted towards the source, and froze as she stared at the retreating back of Boa Alcazaba. He was staring up at something, rotating to find it, and then suddenly, they were both looking at each other.

Felicity grimaced, "Hi."

Boa's face contorted, "Hi?! That's all you gotta say?! You damn bird shat on my poncho!"

Felicity gaped, before turning skyward, "Oh, I'm so sorry. Perdóname! I'll wash it for you!"

Boa huffed, "Whatever. What're you doing here anyway, turncoat?"

Felicity wrung her ponytail in her hands, "I wanted to say sorry. I was wrong to drag you into this mess with the snakepit. It wasn't fair of me. I pressured you into enrolling. And I'm sorry for running away…"

Boa groaned, "Just shut up and stop saying sorry. I won't listen."

Felicity clenched her fists, "Doesn't mean I'll stop saying it."

Kajuri hesitated, "Now isn't the time, Fliss. We've moved on, so should you."

Felicity glared at him, "How can you say that?! We're friends!"

Kajuri huffed, "Are you sure about that?"

Felicity stared at him, "What're you talking about?"

Boa crossed his arms, "You're the special one. The perfect one. You always win no matter what. You don't need us. If anything, we became dependent on you. And I'm sick of it. I'm gonna beat you, and prove that life isn't perfect!"

Felicity ground her teeth, "You think my life is perfect?!" Her eyes got covered by shadows as she bowed her head. "Sure, I have talent. But I work hard too. All the time. But I'm just human. No matter what others think, I can't just snap my fingers and help everyone. But everyone's depending on me. And I doing want to let anyone down, and I'm trying and trying, but I can't anymore! I just can't! And I especially don't want to let you down!"

She was crying. She realized, as she sunk down, tears dripping down. She sobbed quietly as she lay on the forest floor. And suddenly Boa was holding her up, looking her in the eye, "Pathetic," he mused, "Wipe your eyes. It's harder to hate you when you're bawling on the forest floor." He grinned slightly and Felicity gave a watery smile back, before wrapping him in a tackle hug, so they landed backwards on the floor. Boa groaned, but it seemed mostly amused. It was going to be alright.

As they recovered, they settled back in the ground, talking in low voices. "Can't believe you just up and abandoned your spot in the Japanese National Tournament." Boa groused, "You get a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, to become the top in two countries and you give it up. You've been getting more impulsive over the years, turncoat."

Felicity huffed, "Shut up, it's for a good cause. I'm here to convince you to defect."

Kajuri gave a sharp grin, "You really should be more subtle about your intentions, you know? Maybe some guilt tripping, psychological torture, luring us away with promises of power and fame."

Felicity quirked a brow, "Is it needed?"

He shrugged, "Obviously not."

Felicity beamed, "So, you're leaving?"

Kajuri nodded, "Of course. But we'll need to be real subtle about it. Take suspicion away from you."

Boa hummed, "I'll stay behind." He announced, continuing before either of them could argue. "Someone has to keep an eye on their activities. Or it'll come bite us in the ass one day. Kajuri will be able to slip out eventually, probably within the week. We can use that to make it appear as if I was attempting to stop you and detain you, but you escaped, since you're stronger than me. " Felicity hesitated, "Are you sure?" She asked.

Boa nodded, "It'll be alright, guys. You got this."

Kajuri nodded, "If you're sure. We'll talk more about this escape route later. Felicity; don't get caught. Better yet, just head to New Mexico. I'll meet you there. We gotta go, before they send someone."

Felicity nodded, and quickly hugged the two of them, before darting away.

The two of them stood up and gathered their piles of wood and carried them back to the base, completely stony-faced.

They entered the base, looking as if nothing had happened outside the base. They dumped the piles of wood and went on their separate ways, moving towards their own next destinations.

Kajuri was still under extreme suspicion, so it was hard for them to converse without them being seen. He stood in front of the stadium, day and night, plowing through blader after blader. And then, finally, his errands list rotated after three days, to night Patrol. One of the others to be part of the night Patrol? Boa Alcazaba. He nodded discreetly as the boy side-eyed him. The next stage was ready.

Kajuri had been shuffled around every job and role possible, and everyone, no matter how weak or how strong or important, had done escort duty at least once. The fastest possible route to the closest airstrip was known the everyone. As he walked away from the assignment board, he could feel a plan coming together.

First, he needed his bey. While he battled a lot, he was usually given other beys, most of them Shadow Beys; monochromatic bey pieces, that were put together to match the beyblades of the challengers who approached the Snakepit. They were alright. His training forced him to be able to use any combination well, but none of them felt like Kraken. His Kraken was kept in one of the R&D labs. He snuck in during his lunch break, calm and collected. He slid towards the pedestal where the Beys under observation were kept. One of the BeyTrainers assigned to this specific lab stared at him suspiciously, "Was there something you need, Azure Eye?"

Kajuri schooled his face into his usual arrogant mask, "Yes, actually. I'm planning on using Kraken for the upcoming Shadow Trials. I need it, if you're done with the new modifications."

The BeyTrainer looked him up and down critically, before handing it over, "It's still unstable, from the readings we're getting. Don't blame us if it bursts randomly."

Kajuri smirked carelessly, "Sure, sure, I know what I'm doing. Nice of you to care, though, techie."

The BeyTrainer huffed, "I couldn't care less if you're thrown into the Tunnel. I just don't want you to make Ashtem think we're to blame as well."

Kajuri let out a hearty cackle as he strode out. Piece of Cake.

The next stage was the most challenging. There were ten people in charge of auxiliary Border Patrol. Eight loyal people, plus him and Boa, patrolling the outermost layers of the Snakepit base. And he was under suspicion too.

It was night, and the Moon's light was the only way they could see. He silently moved from place to place, getting ready for his departure. He made a perfectly normal circuit of the Shadow Blader's custom stadiums; one of the many perks of being a Shadow Blader. He had settled for a fake snowy room, with a freezing lake and a pack of Siberian Huskies. He remembered Felicity and Boa saving up the money for him to have one when he first entered AS Gallus. His dad hasn't let him keep him. He wonders if the club kept Paintbrush after he left. Probably not. He grabbed his bag and silently left his stadium, a cheap facsimile of his homeland. He walked through the hallways silently, keeping his ears open for anyone approaching. Quiet footsteps sounded around the corner, only noticeable due to the complete silence of the base. Kajuri froze, barely daring to breathe as the approaching figure came ever closer to the corner. A bead of sweat slid down from his temple as the agent poked his head around the corner...

Boa stared at Kajuri in a deadpan. The idiot had the gall to smirk toothily at him. Boa just stared him down, and simply mouthed, "Hurry it up." Before passing by him.

Kajuri nodded to himself and set off. Boa lingered behind, scanning for cameras. The two of them couldn't be seen together right now. He snuck a look towards where Kajuri had gone. The teal-haired Shadow Blader had made his way down the corridor, and was now far away enough as to make it plausible that he will not notice Boa sneaking behind him. They played this game of Follow the Leader until the door was in sight. Kajuri moved closer and closer to it. He slowly, deliberately, undid the latch and opened the door, letting moonlight spill in. Boa was in front of him in seconds. "Just where do you think you're going?"

Kajuri looked stonily at Boa, "You wouldn't understand."

Boa scowled, "Defecting, Azure Eye? Knew you were soft for the turncoat."

Kajuri just smirked, "So you do understand. Don't wait up for me, cause I have no plans on returning."

Boa readied his stance, "You're never gonna leave this place alive."

The two looked at each other with understanding in their eyes and Kajuri yanked off his mask, his safe haven, and threw it to the floor, "You sure about that?"

And with that, Boa charged. They scuffled, but it was obvious the Mexican boy with his experience with brawling and handling huge powerful pythons was holding back. Kajuri threw him back, and Boa landed heavily, before Kajuri turned taking and ran, the mask shattering under his feet as he charged. People were rushing down the corridor and Boa cast a frantic look at the approaching guards, before lying prone on the floor, faking unconsciousness.