Frowning, Anashi took in her surroundings as Fireblaze whirled proudly at her feet. They were situated within an arena, the countless seats vacant and covered by a thin veil of darkness. Unable to find an exit, the brunette made her way over to the stadium, only to discover that she and Fireblaze weren't alone.

Rotating soundlessly at the bottom of the pit was another bey; its metallic sheen looked cold like a sheet of black ice, and its burgundy energy ring made her feel sick with unease. Unable to identify what type of blade it was, Anashi turned to leave just as she heard a low, feral snarl. Flicking a tentative glance toward the stadium, she saw what appeared to be a wild dog standing in the place of the beyblade.

Unlike other wild dogs she had seen before, this one looked as though it had crawled up from the depths of hell. It was lean like a rail, as though it had been deprived of food for weeks, causing the sharp contours of its bones to be visible. Every inch of its coarse, russet fur was drenched with fresh blood, and its amber eyes, although wild, were keenly focused on Anashi's face as it snapped its fangs in delight.

When she attempted to flee, Anashi found herself unable to move. Her legs were rooting her to arena floor as the hound lunged, its fangs poised to tear her throat out. As it jumped, its sickly voice, laden with saliva, spoke from the recesses of her mind. It whispered, lovingly, as it explained its desire to rip her apart – to tear her open and leave her mangled corpse in the arena.

"Someone help me! Please!" She screamed, shutting her eyes as the creature overpowered her with ease, its claws ripping the flesh of her small shoulders.

"Anashi!"

Upon hearing her name, her eyes flew open and she shot forward, resulting in a searing wave of pain as her forehead connected with something solid.

"What the heck was that for!?"

Slowly sitting up, Anashi squinted as she saw Rika who was rubbing her own head, her teeth bared as her face contorted in agony. As for Kotomi, she had just flicked on a bedside lamp, her eyes wide with concern.

Realizing what must have happened, Anashi was about to offer an apology when the bedroom door was ripped open, causing her and Miyako to jump, as a shirtless Hikoya appeared from the shadows, his slate coloured hair sticking out in multiple directions.

"What the hell is going on," he growled, his voice groggy with sleep.

"I-I'm sorry; I didn't mean to wake anyone up," she whispered. "I, uh, had a bad dream …"

"Well … it's over now, so let's get some shut-eye." Kotomi yawned, her gaze landing on the digital clock which displayed that it was around three in the morning.

Nodding her head drowsily in agreement, Rika muttered an odd little fragment of words, before burying her head under her pillow.

Seemingly content, Kotomi turned to her friend, whispering that it was just a dream.

Nodding her head, Anashi watched as her teammate settled herself beside Miyako, who had already returned to her original sleeping position.

Sighing inaudibly, she looked to the ceiling.

Most dreams meant something, at least to her they did, so what did this one signify? What would happen to her? Could it be prevented?

Having forgotten Hikoya's presence, she jumped a little when his voice resonated from the doorway, suggesting that she get some rest.

"Okay … Goodnight, Hikoya," she murmured as she turned off the lamp and drew the blanket up to her chin.

Offering a tight nod of his head, Anashi watched as her commander softly closed the door.

†††

In the days that followed, Anashi felt her feelings of unease dissipate. Everyone seemed to appreciate the time and effort their captain put into their training sessions. The pairings were always coordinated in a manner that best suited the objective of the training modules, while helping each member to improve. If additional assistance was required, Hikoya offered one-on-one battles between himself and whoever need his help at the time.

To make things easier, he opted not to use his special move from earlier: "Tidal Wall" which helped his blade to vanish, just like Storm Aquario. The girls considered this to be a blessing, however, the violet-eyed male warned them not to grow accustomed to it. Just because he didn't resort to such methods every time a battle ensued didn't mean that the Australian team wouldn't, especially if they had access to that type of arsenal.

"But none of their beys can do that," Rika protested, "and I checked – they haven't made any modifications to their blades."

Grunting softly, Hikoya resumed training; while Rika had a valid point, that didn't necessarily mean that it would hold true when confronted with other international teams.

After an additional twenty minutes worth of training exercises, the violet-eyed male called it a day and departed from the group.

"What do you think he does when he takes off all the time?" Kotomi inquired.

"Probably sacrifice a few cats and light buildings on fire?" Miyako suggested.

Anashi frowned at the thought.

"Hikoya isn't like that," she protested, "and besides, considering who his father is, I doubt he would even consider hurting a cat."

"Well, how would you know? He could be in a cult," Miyako replied with a shrug, "I mean take a look at him – eerie eyes, the choker … not to mention the damn fangs."

"How is that relevant? Apart from the necklace, you basically described his dad."

"Whatever; they both creep me out." Miyako growled with a soft shudder.

Rolling her eyes, Anashi began to make her way back to the hotel. Tomorrow they would face the Australian team … something she hoped she was ready for.

†††

After the announcer had declared the commencement of the first match, Anashi rose to her feet, her stomach somewhat queasy. Her opponent was J.T., who stood with poise and a hint of annoyance at her hesitancy. Swallowing nervously, she forced herself to move to the stadium, casting a fleeting glance toward her teammates.

"You'll be fine, Anashi; we believe in you!" Kotomi exclaimed whilst pumping her fist in the air.

"Do your best, but don't do anything too rash with Fireblaze," Rika added, always one to direct an amount of concern for the blade involved.

"Good luck," Miyako said, looking pointedly at the Australian male, who stood smugly at the edge of the stadium.

Flicking her gaze to Hikoya, Anashi saw that he was standing next to the team's waiting area, leaning against one of the metal beams. His legs were crossed at the ankles and his arms folded across his chest; sensing that she wanted him to say something, he slowly opened his violet eyes and uttered two quiet, yet fearsome words.

"Destroy him."

Those words chilled her blood, but she supposed some "encouragement" was better than none, as she made her way to the stadium.

"Thought I'd be waiting for a century before you showed up," J.T. sneered as he readied his launcher.

Pursing her lips, Anashi retrieved Burn Fireblaze from the holding compartment on her hip, and clicked it into place, ignoring her opponent's words.

Don't focus on the anxiety, her father's words rang in her ears as she launched with one fluid motion while the audience counted down to the moment of execution. See through your opponent. Visualize.

Without wasting time, J.T. smirked as his bey began to circle Fireblaze, trapping Anashi's blade in the middle of the stadium. Every time she tried to reach the outer edge to build power, J.T. would push her back to the centre.

Growing frustrated, Anashi began to lose focus, causing her to concentrate on external factors … like the sickly sheen of J.T.'s blade – Poison Canis.

"Go, Canis – show her your overwhelming strength!" J.T. exclaimed, summoning a ginger furred canine to the stadium. Standing at the base of the stadium, it switched the focus of its amber eyes between Anashi and Fireblaze, as though it couldn't decide which one it wanted to attack first … The bit-beast or the girl?

When their eyes locked, Anashi felt an uncomfortable weight settle in her abdomen, and it suddenly became ten times harder to breathe. Those eerie eyes resembled the same ones from her nightmare. They were sadistic, cold and merciless.

"What are you doing, Anashi!? Get your head in the game," Miyako exclaimed from the team's waiting bench.

Nodding her head, the brunette tried again but to no avail. Every time she tried to move to the outer edge of the stadium to build power, Canis would give off a vicious shock wave, repelling Fireblaze.

What am I going to do … she thought inwardly. If she commanded Fireblaze to jump upwards, she would run the risk of landing on the furthest edge of the stadium, and if Canis was within range another shock wave could be issued resulting in a stadium out. Her stadium out and Team Japan's first loss.

"Anashi," Rika yelled, gaining her attention, "Canis uses the air current of its surroundings to shield itself; create some heat!"

Pretending to understand, Anashi resumed her focus or what there was that remained of it. If creating heat would help her, she would give it a shot. The real question was how to create that heat, and what purpose would it serve? After all, it would do her no good to have a tool in her possession if she didn't know how to use it. If she didn't know how to use it, that would ultimately eliminate the heat's intended effect.

Normally, she would use Burn Fireblaze's special move to create that heat, but she had yet to amass enough power to use it. Until Canis offered a momentary opening, she was trapped and utterly helpless …

Friction is the key …

Flicking her gaze to her teammates, Anashi frowned. Something had spoken – a man, she thought – but the only male on her team was Hikoya, and just like before he was still standing upright, shut off from the battle and the rest of the world. His arms were still folded across his broad chest and his eyes were closed as though he was deep in thought.

Was he the one, she pondered inwardly. The others gave no indication that they had heard anything, and none of them were even looking at Hikoya. Had it simply been her imagination?

Great, now I'm losing my mind, Anashi concluded.

Even so, the information could prove to be useful and right now it was all she had to work with. Rika had mentioned that she should create heat, while the mysterious voice had told her that friction was the "key." The two had to be connected, and in that moment Anashi began to understand how.

Friction could create the release of heat, thus distorting Canis's invisible shield. She didn't need to increase her speed to develop power, she just had to spin in place long enough. If Fireblaze could keep spinning – without losing too much momentum, even for a few more moments, its metal performance tip would be able to generate enough friction to release a heatwave of its own. That would cancel the effect of the air current shield.

"So are you going to fight me, or did you just come to check me out," J.T. taunted while flashing an impish grin – after all the only thing he had to do was wait for a sleep out, and then he and Poison Canis would advance to the next round.

As for Anashi, she had no idea what the Australian had just said to her, but it didn't matter. Before J.T. could get a proper grasp of the situation, a radiant aura of light encompassed Burn Fireblaze before diffusing a massive wave of energy.

Raising his arms to shield his face from the release of heat, he barely managed to catch a glimpse of Canis as it was hurled from the stadium, embedding itself in the wall behind him.

"It has been decided! Victory of the first match has been secured by Anashi and her partner, Burn Fireblaze," the Australian DJ announced.

Following in the footsteps of her father, Anashi did the polite thing and offered a sincere smile to her opponent. Despite her struggles in the beginning, it had been a good fight, overall. She would also have to thank Rika, and her lucky stars for whoever had provided her with that additional piece of information. They had truly been a lifesaver.

After she had retrieved Fireblaze, Anashi hopped off the edge of the stadium and made her way over to her teammates, most of whom were cheering enthusiastically as a result of her victory.

"You were great!" The girls exclaimed, enveloping her in a group hug.

"Thanks," she giggled, as they dispersed. "So who's going to be handling the second match?"

Upon hearing that, the girls frowned. Their captain had yet to change his mind about Miyako's penalty for going against his word, and no one had been assigned to compete in the second match.

"Maybe I should go up there? Infinity Taurus is gearing up for a battle," Kotomi announced while removing her blade from its holding compartment.

"Is that okay with you?" Rika asked, turning to face the Japanese commander, who had yet to move from his seemingly dormant position.

Opening an eye to establish that he had heard her, Hikoya offered a fraction of a nod before his countenance returned to its normal expression.

"Guess that answers that question," Miyako fumed quietly.

Shrugging, Rika informed her teammate that she would be facing off against the Australian captain.

"He'll be a tough one to beat, but I'm sure you can do it."

"Don't worry about me – this is going to be a walk in the park!" Kotomi replied, a twinkle of self-assurance evident in her eyes.

Making her way to the stadium, she readied her launcher, clicking Infinity Taurus into place. Grinning, she allowed her ruby eyes to shimmer as she heard the roar of the crowd.

"Ready to rock?" She addressed Dash, who merely frowned in response.

Readying his own launcher, he clicked his blade into place and leveled his arms. As soon as the legendary words were uttered, he and Kotomi released their blades simultaneously.

Aiming for the centre, his bey – Desert Macropus – rotated soundlessly at the bottom of the pit, anticipating Kotomi's next move. As expected, she went on the offensive, only to watch in shock as Macropus bounced into the air, effortlessly avoiding her onslaught.

"Is that all you've got? You intend to win by running away?"

"Not quite," Dash replied, his accent hardly detectable as he responded in the same language.

Ignoring the seemingly empty threat, Kotomi tried to attack again but this time from a different angle. Allowing Taurus to circle the stadium several times, thus enhancing its speed, she sent her own blade off the edge of the stadium. As soon as it was airborne, she aimed for Macropus.

Smirking, Dash purposely lowered his blade, and as soon as Taurus connected with Desert Macropus's fusion wheel, it was flung into the air like a kangaroo delivering a powerful kick to the chest of its enemy.

No … He mimicked Dark Bull – he has an uppercut attack, too, Kotomi internally panicked as her blade landed next to Dash.

"The victor of the second round is Dash Kelly!" The announcer bellowed, cheering for the captain of his country's team.

Feeling a shiver travel along the length of her spine, Kotomi dropped to her knees and smashed her fist against the ground. She couldn't believe it – she had just lost, and within mere moments her defeat had awarded Team Japan with their first loss.

Pursing her lips, she forced herself to rise and retrieve her blade. What the hell was wrong with her? How could she have allowed that to happen?

Slowly making her way back to the team, her eyes locked with Hikoya. He didn't appear to be pleased but he didn't look angry either.

"I … I'm sorry – I shouldn't have been so careless."

"It's okay," Anashi murmured in a comforting tone, "we can still win."

"Oh, yeah? How?" Miyako inquired, seemingly oblivious to the way Kotomi's shoulders had stiffened.

"Someone else will have to battle." Rika grunted, her eyes never leaving the screen of her laptop.

"And just who do you recommend? Grumpy Cat – as you've dubbed him – banned me from competing in this round, and he hasn't said so much as a word about–"

Before Miyako could finish her sentence, her eyes widened when she saw that Hikoya was no longer present. Instead, he was already situated at the edge of the stadium, reaching to acquire his launcher. He was facing off against Theodore – essentially, the Australian version of Rika. Unlike his other teammates, Theodore was more reserved and analyzed every detail concerning his competition.

"So … you're my opponent." He murmured softly, thinking that the Japanese male wouldn't hear him.

"So it would seem." Hikoya replied, switching to English to demonstrate that he had heard Theodore's words.

Frowning slightly, Theodore placed his laptop on the ground, setting it to record the progression of the battle and relay the information it collected to a special pair of glasses he currently wore.

Whipping out his launcher, he mirrored Hikoya's stance as the crowd counted down to the commencement of the battle. Without a word, both males launched, causing their beys to circle one another with predatory awareness.

As they did, Theodore's eyes widened and his body was overcome by a vicious chill. Storm Leone was trailing behind Torrens Crocodilus just like any other bey, but its movements were eerie. Blinking, hoping that it was just his imagination, Theodore watched helplessly as Leone vanished.

If he wasn't worried before, he was certainly on the way there. If the data he had been shown was accurate, Leone could be anywhere in the stadium, perhaps readying itself for a head-on attack. Literally.

Gritting his teeth, Theodore fixed his eyes on Hikoya causing him to scowl. The older male's eyes were closed, and his arms were folded across his chest as though he was trying to take a nap while standing upright.

How dare he disregard the importance of our battle, Theodore thought inwardly, after all, the victor of this match would ultimately decide who would be advancing and who would be saying goodbye to the World Championships.

It wouldn't be him, he vowed as he called upon his bit-beast and submerged the field with water. Now Hikoya couldn't see his blade either, thus forcing him to make a move to identify where Crocodilus was lurking. Or so Theodore had hoped.

Instead he was shocked when he heard a crackling noise coming from the depths below. Without warning, something appeared in the water and its eerie ruby eyes were focused on the manager of the Australian team. He wasn't entirely sure what it was, but he knew it wasn't Crocodilus, so it had to be Hikoya's bit-beast.

For the first time in his entire life, Theodore found that he was afraid of his opponent's abilities, for the creature watching him from the depths of the stadium was able to return the human gaze with acute awareness. As it continued to study him, its mouth shifted revealing a glittering row of sharp teeth, all presented in a sickly display of a smile.

Upon hearing the crackling noise again, Theodore felt as though his entire world had gone cold. From his vantage point, he could see small faint movements circulating in the depths of the water Crocodilus had created. In that moment it became frighteningly clear just how much danger he was in. In his haste to internally criticize Hikoya, the Japanese male had been constructing a trap and now it was too late to escape …

The water (as he now knew – thanks to his glasses) had been charged with dangerously high levels of electricity, and because it had yet to convert itself to the fourth state of matter – plasma – it had been lurking in the depths of the stadium ever since Crocodilus had flooded the battlefield with water. As soon as the conversion occurred, the electricity would take on its more recognizable form and Theodore would lose the match.

"I underestimated you …" He whispered, knowing fully well that Hikoya could hear him.

"So it would seem." the Japanese male murmured, repeating his exact words from earlier but this time in his own language.

Without another word, the Japanese commander decided to put an end to Theodore's misery and watched as Leone responded to his mental commands.

Mirror Drive …

Instantaneously, the electricity circulating in the water turned purple, as though it had been injected with poison, and violet lightning released itself from the depths of the stadium, aiming toward the heavens. Without warning, a horrific sound cracked across the arena, like magnified gunfire – a single shot, piercing the ears of all who were present, followed by a blinding explosion.

When the smoke cleared, Theodore was unconscious and as well as a few members within the audience. Many had flinched and some of the younger individuals had tears in their eyes.

Wordlessly, Hikoya called Leone back to his hand, while Crocodilus rested in a newly formed crater at the bottom of the stadium.

Closing his eyes, Hikoya trusted his feet to take him past his frightened teammates and to the arena's exit. Team Japan had won, but he suspected that they still didn't fully grasp the severity of his power … After all, he hadn't even been using a tenth of what he truly had at his disposal and his little demonstration from earlier was only Leone's second special move: Mirror Drive.

One more still lurked in the shadows, but it was for a single individual.

They had no idea concerning the level of hell that had been reserved unto them, however, they would find out soon enough …