Disclaimer: The Arcan Blades do not own Beyblade. We dearly, dearly, wish we did, though.
Author's Note: Did you review? No? That's okay. Yes? Thank you! Anyway, to keep the show going, we've posted up Chapter Two. Remember, like we said in Chapter One, flamers are not going to be paid any attention to. Read and review, all right?
CHAPTER TWO
The Arcans
The sun rose on a cloudless sky the next morning, and it looked as if it had never even rained in the first place. The sunlight spread over the grounds of the cabins, and revealed a massive, beautiful landscape of green with deep blue mountains capped with white ice. The pine needles sparkled in dew in the morning sunlight.
Tyson yawned loudly as he stretched out on the doorway of their cabin. He took a deep breath of fresh air and said, "Wow, there's nothing like a good night's sleep to get you up and going in the morning." He looked at Max next to him and said, "Well, are we all ready?"
"Ready for what, Tyson?" Max asked, blinking.
"To look for that beyblade, of course!" said Tyson. "Man, I can't wait to see who that guy was and see what his beyblade can do." He turned to Kenny, who just walked up by him and said, "You got all the luck, Chief, you saw it first hand."
"Yeah, I guess so," muttered Kenny. "But I still can't shake it off… That beyblade's power was just...amazing. I couldn't understand it."
"I'd hate to say it, but neither can I," commented Dizzi as Ray and Kai also arrived in front of the cabin. "Chief and I tried to compute the possibility of power but there was just too large a power range that could've been derived if the beyblade had been pumped up by power from the lightning."
"That's why I'm so psyched about it," said Tyson with a toothy grin. He looked around at what looked like the six other cabins in the area. "Come on, let's start looking, then."
"Yeah, there couldn't be a lot of people with a beyblade like that around here," said Ray.
Kai snorted and said, "This is a waste of time. What good will finding about him do? At the power you guys currently have, you couldn't possibly defeat him and his blade anyway."
"And so you're saying that you do?" Tyson asked, putting his hands to his hips.
"Yes," said Kai bluntly, glaring back at him.
"Yeah, right," Tyson snorted.
"Guys, guys, take it easy," said Max, taking the both of them apart. "No one's going to do any fighting anyway, right? So let's just go find that blader."
"Yeah, he might be participating in the Russian tournament too, with power like that," said Ray with a nod. He led the way as he said, "So let's go, then. I want to see who he is too."
So the Bladebreakers made their way across the grounds in search for the blader. They haven't gone very far when they saw three kids a little younger than they were around a beystadium. They recognized them as the children of the man who owned the cabins.
"Hey, why don't we ask them?" asked Ray. "Maybe they might know something."
Tyson walked over to the three and said, "Hey you guys." He tapped one boy on the shoulder and asked, "Hey, Jamie, how's it going?"
"Oh, hello, Bladebreakers," said blonde-haired Jamie with a bright smile.
"Yeah, hello, um, we wanted to ask you something," said Kenny. "You didn't happen to see anyone around here who looked like he had a really good beyblade, did you?"
"Huh?" Jamie blinked, but shook his head. "Georg and I didn't, but Marta did." He motioned to his blonde sister.
Marta pulled on her pigtail and nodded. "I think I might. I was here earlier, and I saw someone walk away from this beystadium. I went to get a better look and see what happened to the beystadium!"
She turned around, picked it up, and showed it to the Bladebreakers.
"Whoa…"came their stupefied chorus.
Although they were all used to seeing a scratched beystadium due to its continued use and the running of beyblades, this one's image had to astound them. The beystadium was not scratched—it was literally gouged in the swirling pattern of a beyblade's path. And there was not just one, but several of the gouges, crisscrossing over each other.
"I don't believe it," Ray said, looking stunned. "The stadium had been carved by the beyblade!"
Kai took it from Marta's hands and took a closer look as Georg said, "Either that beyblade was really strong, or it was spinning so fast that the stadium's plastic melted."
"Or maybe both," said Dizzi. "It certainly seems to be so judging by the looks of that stadium."
Kai, looking it over, said, "More than one beyblade did this."
"What?" they all asked, looking at him. He said nothing, but he threw the stadium at Max, who caught it and said, "Hey, Kai's right. It looks like two beyblades fought here and carved the stadium."
"Way cool," breathed Tyson. He turned to the kids again. "Hey, did you see the guys who did this to the stadium?"
"Oh, I saw!" said Marta. She pointed over to a nearby cabin. "I saw someone go around that abandoned cabin just as I found the beystadium."
"All right, let's go!" said Tyson, racing off with Ray and Kai. Max gave the stadium back to the kids with a grin and followed after with Kenny in tow.
The Bladebreakers hurried off to the abandoned cabin. "I saw a cabin behind this one when we arrived," said Ray. "There must be someone occupying that one."
"Well, let's go see, then," said Tyson.
As they turned the bend, they heard a sound.
Whoosh—Thwack!!
"Huh?" said Tyson, confused. "What was that?"
"Hey, look over there!" Max exclaimed, pointing.
From a nearby tree, a few leaves fell as an arrow that had just been embedded into its trunk stopped shivering. They looked to the person who shot it, and saw that it was a girl their age, calmly fitting another arrow onto her bowstring. She had shiny straight black hair in a high ponytail on her head and swept down to her hips, and bright green eyes. Her garb was a shiny jade green eighties-style jacket, with a tight black one piece turtleneck and pants suit. On her hands were black gloves and on her feet were green ankle-cut boots.
"Cool," said Kenny. "She's an archer."
She stopped and looked to the Bladebreakers. She blinked and asked, "Um…can I help you?"
"Oh, yeah, you can," said Ray with a smile. "You don't happen to know any really good bladers around here, do you?"
"I might," she said with a laugh. "Why do you ask?"
"Our interest was piqued," Max laughed as he jerked his thumb to the fallen oak tree in the distance behind them. "We wanted to know whose beyblade knocked the tree over."
She turned a little serious at this. And then, after a slight pause, she asked, "You know that a beyblade knocked that tree over?"
Kenny nodded. "I saw someone shoot a beyblade outside last night. The beyblade conducted the lightning's power to knock over the tree."
"And we saw the evidence," said Tyson. "We saw the scorch marks made by the blade."
And now, the girl stopped and lowered her bow and arrow. She regarded them for a moment before saying, "You must be really good bladers yourselves to be able to tell." She placed the bow and the quiver of arrows up on her back and asked, "Why look for whoever it was here?"
"The cabin owners' children saw someone go this way after they found a gouged beystadium," said Kai gruffly. "And if I'm not mistaken, that beystadium had been destroyed just recently." He crossed his arms over his chest. "Am I right in guessing that you must know something about this, miss?"
She frowned slightly at Kai, but said nothing. But before she could do anything, a figure materialized in the cabin behind the girl. It was the same girl with silver hair braided in parts and wine red eyes except that she was now wearing a shiny black trenchcoat and with lavender trimmings and a lavender underside. She also wore black boots that reached below her knees and lavender gauntlets.
She came out from the door and said, "Hey, Jade, can't you help us out in here?"
She stopped and looked up. She saw the Bladebreakers. "It looks like we've got visitors," she said with a light grin. She walked up to the girl named Jade and said to the boys, "What's your business here, boys?"
"Hey, is there someone here who's a really good beyblader?" asked Tyson. "Or maybe someone with a powerful beyblade?"
Alexia frowned at this and looked at Jade, who muttered to her, "They saw the tree, Alexia."
To which the silver-haired girl groaned and said, "Darn it...I knew Mike shouldn't have gone out there…"
"Mike?" the Bladebreakers asked.
Alexia just shook her head and looked over the Bladebreakers again. She stared at them for a moment and said, "Hey, I know you guys. You're the Block A World Championship winners. The Japanese national team--The Bladebreakers. Am I right?"
Kai nodded once. "Yeah. So what?"
"Well no wonder," said Jade with a slight laugh. She looked at them and said, "Well, you're right. There are some good bladers here. And actually, we know who knocked over that tree."
"Who?" they asked.
"I did."
They looked up at the sound of the new voice. After about two seconds' brief glancing about, they spotted a figure shrouded in shadow leaning against the tree that Jade had previously been shooting arrows on. The figure against the tree looked up, and it was indeed the young man who'd shot the tree down with a lightning-energized beyblade. He stepped into the light, and the red-capped figure came into full view.
"Bladebreakers," he said with a nod.
"And you are?" asked Dizzi.
He gave them a look and looked to the girls, who just shrugged. He looked back at the Bladebreakers with a grin and held out his hand. "I'm Mikhail Xerxes. But you can call me Mike like everybody else does."
Tyson grinned. "You knocked over the tree? Wow, that's awesome…" he shook Mike's extended hand. "I'm Tyson, and that's Max, Kenny, Ray and our captain, Kai."
"I know all about you," said Mike with a grin. "You beat those know-it-all All-Stars in Las Vegas. Good for you—science doesn't solve it all, I'll say."
"So…if you're that good, to be able to knock that tree over and all, does that mean that you'll be in the Russian championships too?" asked Ray.
"Yeah," said Mike, sounding utterly calm even though faced by the entire team from Japan. "I will."
Kai, looking at the girls for a bit, turned to Mike again, "Do you have a team?"
Mike looked at him and answered, "Well…yes. Of course."
Ray knew where Kai was going with this, so he immediately stepped in. "Wait a second--if you're going to be in Russia, then what are you doing here?"
"I was going to ask you the same thing!" said Jade with a smile.
"Well…we were…on a training…trip…" said Kenny, getting a sweatdrop.
"Really? I heard you guys got left by your boat," said Alexia, grinning.
"Yeah, that too…" said Max, scratching his head sheepishly.
Mike laughed. "Actually, I'm here because I wanted to kill time. I saw no sense in going to Russia before due. There wasn't a point in hanging around there and going at all the other bladers. But I must admit…I didn't expect to see you guys here."
"Neither did we…" said Kenny.
Mike shrugged. "Well, if you guys made it into the Russian Tournaments, then that must mean that you guys are pretty good."
"Same to you," said Ray.
"Hey," said Alexia, stepping forward. "You guys watch out for a bunch of creepazoids out there. They call themselves the Dark Bladers. Really creepy guys…"
"Say no more," said Kenny, shaking his head. "We know them. They've been bothering us too."
"They have, have they?" asked Jade. "I knew it. They're targeting the contestants of the Russian Tournament. They've tried to get us down, too, and they've been hanging around up and down Europe like bats."
"Yeah, they want to destroy every single bit beast in the world," said Max. "They have this grudge against people with bit beasts."
The three stopped. "Bit beasts?"
"Yeah," said Ray, lifting up his Driger and the bit piece with Driger on it glimmered. "Bit beasts."
"Oh so that's what you call them where you come from," said Alexia with a smile. "We don't call them that. We call them relics."
Tyson grinned. "Hey, it's just like what the tape said—different people from different countries have various names for bit beasts. Hey, where do you guys from anyway?"
"Arcanis," said Alexia with a smile.
"Oh…" Max nodded, and then stopped. "I've never heard of it."
"We don't expect you to," Jade laughed. She looked at the other two, "Um, guys, whose turn is it to chop the firewood for breakfast today?"
"Yours," the other two said.
Jade sighed. "Right, right. Firewood's at the back, right?"
Alexia nodded, and as Jade turned to walk off, Ray stepped forward, "Hey wait, let me help you with that."
"What?" everyone asked, and Ray shrugged, "Well, why not? It's just firewood—and I used to get firewood a lot when I traveled alone…"
Jade looked at him and shrugged. "Well…All right. I guess if you really want to…"
"Hey, I have an idea!" said Kenny with a smile. "Why don't we all have breakfast together?"
"You've got to be kidding," Kai muttered.
"Why not?" asked Tyson. "I mean, we're all fellow bladers, right? And we're all friends so...why not? That way, we'll have twice as much food!"
"Yeah, I think that's a great idea!" said Max, grinning from ear to ear.
Mike smiled slightly. "I'll, uh…go wake Patrick. Alexia, you go get food, why don't you?"
"Oh, all right," said Alexia. "I'll go to the store right now."
"We'll go with you!" chirruped the Bladebreakers.
"Excuse me?" Kai asked, raising an eyebrow as Jade and Ray started walking off to the backyard of the cabin. "What did you mean by we?!"
"Come on, Kai, don't be such a spoilsport," said Tyson, grinning at their less-than-ecstatic captain. "It'll be great eating out with friends!"
Kai snorted and turned, and met Alexia's eyes. Alexia grinned slightly at him, and he sniffed again but started walking to he direction of the store. "Yeah, that's the spirit, Kai!" cheered Max. "Hey guys, let's go!"
Mike laughed quietly to himself and he turned to the direction of the cabin, but still looked rather serious. "Hmm…the Bladebreaker team…they're inexperienced, but they have more than enough potential to be a fierce opponent in the championships…"
Author's Note: Ta-da! Chapter two is over. We've got a battle coming up in the third chapter. So review, all right? And tell us if we should continue!
