Disclaimer : I don't own MFB.

Part II: Searching the heir

Now that he was involved again in the stories of Ginga and his clique, after only a year of tranquility, Ryuuga was plagued by a persistent headache. Not only did these imbeciles behave as if he were their friend and allowed themselves to ask him for services – one of the reasons that led him to live as a hermit on a volcano – but they had just entrusted him with a mission in total contradiction with his ideals: looking for a blader to convey his vision of the Beyblade and help the world of beys rising from the ashes.

Basically, they gave a charitable mission. To him, the Dragon Emperor.

Why were these fools so hard to assimilate that he only cared about his ambitions and his person? That he never did anything selflessly? It wasn't that hard to understand!

Apparently, it was. And, since he had accepted, it was not about to change, even if his reasons were purely selfish.

First, if he passed on the title of Dragon Emperor, perhaps a certain clan would leave him alone and stop wanting him to gather them. He'd still be the most powerful of the Dragon Emperors, no one could dethrone him, but the new one would just have to deal with all these scattered clan stories if he had time to waste with it. Thus, Ryuuga might have enough peace to devote himself to L-Drago and his training to become the ultimate blader.

Hope sprang eternal.

Secondly, the girl who followed Ginga everywhere had indicated that the latter and other bladers – surely Kyouya – intended to choose "heirs" for their vision of the Beyblade to survive. Which meant that Ginga was going to find a sappy blader, like him, who would talk about the infinite power of friendship, and that Kyouya would look for someone as grandiloquent as him – Ryuuga doubted this was possible, but nothing would prevent that theatrical kid from training someone. And Ryuuga had had a very clear vision of the future of the Beyblade, if he left it in the hands of these two morons: it would be chatter on chatter, and there would not be the slightest minute for the fights.

Ryuuga didn't feel responsible for the Beyblade world, but he couldn't let that happen. He just couldn't.

And there was one person designated to take over the title of Emperor Dragon. He didn't need to look far.

XXX

"Are you sure it's here?"

"Certain!" replied Ryuuto, enthusiastically.

The pair was on the edge of a medium-sized city in the heart of Japan. Most of the space was occupied by buildings, the rest by few houses and green areas. Ryuuto hadn't lost his smile since Ryuuga came to him and demanded that he lead him to the last heir, his most distant descendant. It was Ryuuto who had told him about him, when Ryuuga had saved him from a trap during one of his treasure hunts. If it hadn't interested the Dragon Emperor at the time, now it ended up becoming useful.

"I continued my research on him, even though I did not approach him," continued Ryuuto. "His name is Sakyou Kurayami."

"That's a very–"

"Human, I know. His ancestors–your descendants–eventually left the land and lifestyle of the Dragon Clan. They mingled with humans and, over the generations, abandoned their heritage. I don't know if Sakyou even knows the existence of our Clan." (1)

Great.

"Let's go," Ryuuga sighed.

The only consequence of delaying would be to waste his time and the goal of all this was to allow him to devote himself fully to his training.

Ryuuga was about to step forward when Ryuuto intervened.

"What?"

"Everyone thinks you're dead, remember?"

How could he forget his ingenious idea that Ginga and his clique had swept away in an instant?

"I'd better go and get Sakyou alone. Wait for me there."

"Hurry up. I don't have all day."

"Of course!"

And Ryuuto rushed into the city. When he came back, it was in the company of a tiny child–even more than Kenta, that is to say. He had large red almond eyes and smooth hair of the same colour. He stood very straight with his neck stretched and his shoulders back. (2) He took an intriguing look at Ryuuga.

"Who are you?"

"The Dragon Emperor."

"Dragons have an emperor?" the child marvelled.

Ryuuga held a sigh. It was going to be long, very long...

He was tempted to turn his back and drop this ridiculous story, but the image of a Beyblade world shaped by Ginga and Kyouya prevented him to.

The defeat he had inflicted on them a few days earlier was not equal to the trials they forced him to go through. The two imbeciles deserved a hundred, a thousand times worse. He was almost tempted to go after them to give them a second beating.

"You don't know the Dragon Clan?" asked Ryuuto.

The child looked perplexed. Ryuuto turned his head to Ryuuga.

"Do you want to explain him or should I?"

"Indulge yourself."

The eyes of Ryuuto sparkled. He straightened himself, carrying a proud smile, a hand on his hip, before clearing his throat. "The Dragon Clan was made up of bladers, all equipped with dragon spinners like this," explained Ryuuto. He took out Omega Dragonis to show it to the child, whose eyes shone with interest–so he was not entirely lost. "They trained in wild places, often active volcanic regions, and sought constantly to strengthen themselves. Many did not survive this way of life, but those who did, gained the strength they dreamed of. They created a true civilization, with their own language, writing system and art–"

"Ryuuto," Ryuuga called him to order.

The teenager's eyes rounded. A slight redness dyed his cheeks when he realized that he had let himself be carried away by his enthusiasm. He clears his throat, trying to regain control. "All members of the Dragon Clan were characterized by extraordinary strength and power, and some of them were distinguished from the rest of the Clan: the royal lineage, the Dragon Emperors."

Ryuuto reached out to Ryuuga without taking his eyes off the child.

"Ryuuga is the most powerful of all our Dragon Emperors. He was part of the royal lineage a long, long time ago. He... woke up in our time for... some... reasons. (3)"

Ryuuto bit his lip, guilty. Ryuuga sighed again. They had both been trapped by the Dark Nebula, for different reasons – Ryuuto for his passion for the Dragon Clan's history, Ryuuga for his ambitions of power – but the organization was destroying and Daidouji dead. It was all behind them.

"And you are his descendant. Which makes you the next Dragon Emperor," Ryuuto concluded with a smile.

The child looked at him with round eyes. He slowly looked back at Ryuuga, and seemed to wonder many things. Good point for him: he asked no question.

Ryuuga handed him the Ronin Dragoon bey, made by the WBBA.

"You will become the next Dragon Emperor and dominate the world of the Beyblade. There is only one place at the top, and it exists for the Dragon Emperor. He alone is worthy of it."

The child stretched out both hands with hesitation, palms up. Ryuuga let go of the bey. Sakyou brought it back to him and watched it with a puzzled look, detailing it from every angle with great attention, as if he were trying to engrave it in his memory. A flash of energy went through it and disappeared almost immediately.

Promising.

Now that Ryuuga had solved the Ronin Dragoon problem, he could once again devote to his training. He was going to turn his heels and leave when Ginga's friend's words resounded again in his mind.

Choosing a young blader to perpetuate his vision of the Beyblade.

That's what he just did, wasn't it? His vision of Beyblade was simple: the Dragon Emperor stood at the top, the others could fight for the remains.

He looked at Sakyou, his distant descendant. If he seemed to have accepted his bey, he still looked somewhat confused.

Some clarification was needed.

First of all, the thing that had made him most exasperated with Ginga and Kyouya, and that had required three interventions from him, where he had said essentially the same thing, because apparently these two idiots needed to be told the obvious.

"Get to know your bey. If you don't know it, you'll never be able to use its full powers."

And it would not be said that any Dragon Emperor didn't master his bey.

Then, if Ginga and Kyouya were able to find their true copies to make their vision of the Beyblade live–which they would be well capable of, if only to annoy him–there were two warnings he had to give to his heir.

"One day, you will probably meet bladers that are not too bad, but very annoying. If they give you the impression of stagnating, provoke them and patronise them: it will force them to take their training seriously."

This technique had worked perfectly with Ginga and Kyouya, when their beys had evolved and, instead of behaving like bladers worthy of the name and learning to master them, they boasted about it. A few insults and a defeat were enough to put them back on the road to training.

"These bladers are bound to get into trouble. If that happens, intervene only as a last resort, if there are no other options, otherwise you will not have a single second free."

As was his case now.

"Do you understand everything?"

"I am the next Dragon Emperor, the strongest of all the bladers. There is only one place at the top of the Beyblade and it is for me. We must provoke the other bladers to make them improve and help them only if there are no other solutions."

Sakyou seemed a little worried, but he had it all figured out.

"Good. You can go home."

The child nodded and set out at full speed, carefully holding his bey in his hands.

"It was a bit abrupt, wasn't it?"

"I didn't offer him a duel, did I?"

Ryuuto winced. "Okay. You took it easy."

He looked at the direction taken by the child, thinking. "He inherited your power, did you see? It was diluted by human blood, and probably wouldn't be as powerful–"

"Nonsense. The only limits you have are those you accept. (4)"

Ryuuto looked surprised, then smiled at him. "Okay. What are you going to do now?"

"Going to a volcano alone with L-Drago."

Hoping no one would stop his plans this time.

THE END

(1) The Dragon Clan's story is explained in a file at the end of volume 2 of Beyblade Zero-G.

(2) In the manga, Sakyou practices classical dance (and anime doesn't say otherwise).

(3) Also said in manga. Ryuuga was plunged into sleep. The Black Nebula needed him because he was the only one who could control L-Drago (and the author said it was Ryuuto who led Daidouji to his lair)

(4) A sentence that Ryuuga basically says about Sakyou in manga.

Too bad the Dragon Clan wasn't more exploited in anime. It would have been interesting to learn more about them, and about Ryuuga (like, who was his wife xD this question obsesses me since I saw someone ask it to Takafumi Adachi)