Wakiya tapped his foot impatiently, watching one of the screens in the group call ring, "Come on, you two! What's taking so long?!" He whined.
Ken shrugged, silent as ever. "Maybe they can't figure out how to use it?" Keri suggested, "They are pretty dumb after all."
Wakiya shook his head, "Not that dumb. Really, first Daigo bails on us, then these two are late!"
Cuza, on one of the other screens, snorted, "Nah, Puppet boy is right. They can't get the camera set up."
Wakiya anime fell, "Good grief!"
Ken made Keru snicker, while Besu sighed, "Oh dear. Shall someone go help them?"
Right at that moment, the screen finally lit up, displaying Rantarou and Valt, grinning eagerly, "So! What's the news?"
Wakiya straightened up, "Finally! We've been waiting for ages!"
Valt smiled apologetically, "Sorry. Got caught up in practice."
Wakiya waved them off, "Yeah, well, what's done is done. Now, for more important things; I might have another lead."
Rantarou blinked uncomprehendingly, "Another... Lead? For what?" Before realisation struck him, "Oh, you mean the Felicity Shu situation!"
Wakiya raised a judgemental eyebrow, "What? Did you forget or something?"
Rantarou huffed, "No I didn't! I've just been caught up with a lot of other things!"
Keru cut them off before things got even more heated, "So, what is this lead, anyways?"
Wakiya recomposed himself, "Alright. So, we have a suspicion that Shu and Felicity are being kept in the Snakepit and using their training facilities. But we have no way to prove it as of yet. I have an idea, though."
Cuza leaned forward, "What is it?"
Wakiya smirked, "The Ultimo Seis competition. A single day tournament held every June to decide who's the top six in Spain."
Valt blinked, "And this is our problem, how?"
Wakiya ground his teeth in frustration, "Because, Valt! With Spain's best blader out of the picture, this will be a critical tournament. Every member from last year's lineup has to show up or lose the title, which will be awful for their reputation. The Snakepit has to let Felicity show up!"
Rantarou thought it over, "Yeah. That might actually work. But what if she shows up in disguise?"
Wakiya grinned, "She can't. She's supposed to show her identity for this tournament if she wants to be eligible to enter."
Cuza nodded, "True that."
Ken decided to put in his two cents, "But what if they decide not to let her go?" Besu asked. "Yeah!" Keru followed up, "How important could a title even be?"
Wakiya grinned, "No, no, I did some digging, and apparently, this isn't the first time Felicity has used the Snakepit for training. Her previous time there caused her to make harsh changes to her schedule, but one thing remained the same: she always showed up for the Ultimo Seis competition. There's no way she'll miss it. Now are you gonna listen to what I gotta say?"
Ken shrugged, Cuza smiled, and Rantarou gave an affirmative grunt, "Alrighty then. What do you got?"
Wakiya smiled, "So, Here's my plan..."
"We can't exactly drag a completely insane world famous blader into a plane. That is asking for trouble. So all public transportation is out, which basically rules out EVERYTHING that could get us back to Japan." Boa explained, resting his hands on the table for extra dramatics.
Kajuri and Daigo were staring at him in confusion, "I mean, we all could have figured that out, Einstein." Kajuri pointed out.
"Oh shut up." Boa shot back before continuing, "So, we gotta be on the hunt for more bey whisperers. Or a way to privately transport Shu half way across the world with our nonexistent budget."
Daigo hummed, "Honestly, the second one seems more doable."
Boa pointed a pen at him, "That's where you're wrong."
Kajuri blinked, "Wait, seriously!? You found another bey whisperer?"
Boa scratched his neck, "Well, not exactly. But I did find out where exactly Akiba got his powers."
Daigo leaned forward in anticipation, "Where?"
Boa pulled out a picture of a young boy with blue hair wearing what seemed to based off of some sort of old Egyptian clothing style, and teal markings under his eyes. "Meet Laban Vanot. A cousin of Akiba's. Orphan. He's an incredible blader, but an even better fortune teller. His late family was the one that taught Akiba the tricks of the trade."
Daigo's eyes widened, "So he might have the same powers as Akiba?"
Boa nodded, "Seems like it."
Kajuri raised an eyebrow, "Seems like it? What, did you talk to him already?"
Boa cringed, "Maybe...?"
Daigo sighed, "So, is he willing to come here?"
Boa nodded, "Yup. I was just telling you guys so we can finalise plans to get him here."
Kajuri snorted, "Wow... Love the confidence you have in us." He said with no heat to his words.
Boa rolled his eyes, "Alright, enough with the sarcasm and someone tell me which plane tickets to buy for him."
She was alone, in this turmoil of colors. As black and white, red and green clashed and struggled to take over her Field. It had wrapped her up, like a cocoon. She was seeing the world through tinted lenses, sounds and sights an incoherent blur. It all hurt so much. She didn't want it to go on. She shifted in her stupor, clawing at her binds, which melted away quickly, much to her surprise. Before she could even enjoy her freedom, a face materialized in front of her, "Uh, uh, uh." Evil Felicity mocked, "There's no escape for you, Flissy dearest!"
She shuddered, "Let me go!"
Her evil incarnate sneered, "How about... no."
Felicity struggled futilely, "How are you doing this? You aren't even real!"
Shadow her spun around playfully, and booped her on the nose, "Who are you to decide what is and what isn't real?"
Felicity tried to argue, but she found that she couldn't. The strands of colour were latching on to her again, and this time, they didn't meet that easily.
These thin strands had seemed so fragile when she had seen them on Daigo and Kajuri, but when she was in the receiving end, these strands were the scariest things she had ever seen.
They sucked all the heat away from her, yet still managed to keep her warm. And she found herself loving the stability that they gave her, in some roundabout way.
She glared at the dark counterpart of herself, "And what, exactly did you do to Falcon?"
Her evil self's mask... Shifted. She actually looked... Sorry? She looked away. "I am her. In a way."
Felicity growled, "You are not Falcon. You will never be Falcon."
The demonic girl looked away, "I know. And I'm not gonna try to be her. Falcon didn't keep you safe. I, on the other hand, will."
