The New Generation
Sorry for the long delay. Track practice is eating up my free time. Thankfully though, I don't have any one weekends so I can write then. Read it and enjoy! ~pyro
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John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York, United States of America...
A red-haired adolescent boy leaned against the glass panes of JFK International Airport's massive windows, staring blankly over his shoulder, which gave him a pleasant view of the airplanes which just recently arrived. It had been quite an off season... Three exhibition tournaments and no less than fourteen challenges. At least those matches, which had turned in his favor, had earned his team quite a bit of respect from the other international beyblading squads. Speaking of which...
"Good morning, Mitchell. I assume your Lear jet is ready to depart for Australia?"
Mitchell cocked his head to one side. In front of him was probably the most impeccably dressed female in the entire world. With such a wonderfully stiff smile too. Well, it must run in her family, seeing as they descended from a bunch of rich French guys.
"Yo, Irei! Haven't seen you in ages! How's the team doing?"
The girl shifted her gaze to her fellow beybladers, her neck long brown hair bouncing in a severe manner after her.
"No need for small talk. I'd rather be early for the season opening..." Irei snapped.
Mitchell shrugged and signaled to one of his own teammates to carry the bags of their British beyblading compatriots.
"...Okay... The trip won't take long, seeing as our Lear jet is so state-of-the-art and all!"
"You actually share your jet? I thought you Americans had more class. Hurry up."
"...Vampire..."
===========================
"Whoa, man! I got to level 27 already!"
Bradley exclaimed rather loudly. Colin, who was sitting beside the somewhat overactive beyblader scowled and groaned, burying his head in the pillow. The three champions of the Blue Knight competition were finally taking their first official trip as pros via private airplane and Colin had the great misfortune of being seated next to Bradley, who was soaking up every bit of their flight. In particular, the small TV set he had gotten which appeared to be equipped with a bunch of video games.
"Oh, shut up already, moron." Colin grumbled, irritated.
The blonde orphan grinned and reclined further into the comfortable chair of the airplane, continuing to play the game on the miniature screen, much to his brown-haired companion's exasperation.
"For crying out loud, man... At least turn the volume down!"
"Jeez, spoilsport... Fine then."
Meanwhile, sitting just two seats across them, Evan stared intently into the pulsing bit chip of his beyblade, frowning slightly. In the day that had passed before they took the airplane heading for the beyblade season opening in Australia, he had mastered his bitbeast and had established a form of communication far more complex than the one Bradley had achieved. Aside from being able to converse with his bitbeast, Evan was also capable of somehow sharing the emotions of his immensely powerful raven, Eiras.
And right now, he was feeling quite nervous.
"Yo, Evs! What's wrong with you? You haven't touched that book you brought along, man!" Bradley asked.
The pony-tailed Asian shook his head and pocketed his beyblade with some hesitation. He then picked up his preposterously thick book and began to read, quickly forgetting his unfound anxieties.
===========================
Bradley sprinted ahead of the rest of his teammates to where Mr. Dickinson was standing, grinning madly with the air of an over-excited kid in a candy store. Maybe it was because he had reached level 36 in the video game aboard the airplane, which, as Evan noticed, considerably ticked off an already annoyed Colin. Maybe it was because Bradley, walking around in mid-flight, discovered the refrigerator that Mr. Dickinson had stocked earlier. But it was probably because it was his first time to be running around in a different country; specifically, Hong Kong, China.
Mr. Dickinson had just returned from a quick teleconference with one of his old associates based in China and was looking quite happy when Bradley ran up to him, nearly tackling the aging man.
"Hey! Are we gonna hang around here or something? Do we get to check out the local beyblading?"
The balding man, whose bowler hat had toppled to the floor unceremoniously just a few seconds ago, waved off Bradley's incessant questioning and pulled up his hat from the cool steel floor. He coughed and smiled back at the energetic youngster in his all so familiar way.
"No, Bradley. This is just a short stop. Our plane will be refueled and ready to head to Australia in an hour or so..." Naturally, the blonde orphan looked disappointed. Mr. Dickinson laughed heartily and continued, saying, "Well then, you can always check out the airport terminal! I'm sure there are a few children beyblading here."
Bradley pumped his fist backwards and walked, satisfied with his sponsor's answer, over to where Colin was shouting his head off at Evan, who had somehow managed to get under the brown-haired champion's skin once again.
"OF course Kaiser is just as strong as your stupid chicken!" Colin yelled, infuriated.
"If you say so... Just don't let your delusions cause our loss in tournaments to come."
Colin opened his mouth to let loose with a harsh remark but held it back. Evan was just way too smart and, may I add, sarcastic for him to handle with his regular argument strategies. The russet kid shook his head in recognition of defeat and folded his arms across his chest defiantly, staring away at Bradley instead.
"You guys want to walk around with me? Mr. Dickinson said there would be beyblading here."
Colin nodded then glared contemptuously at the stone-faced twelve-year old standing next to him. Evan's mouth was twitching, unsuccessfully trying to prevent a triumphant grin from breaking out across his face. Once again the master of Kaiser rolled his chestnut eyes skywards before walking up to Bradley.
"All right. It's a good opportunity to show Evan here what REAL power is. Eh, Evan?"
"So, you're planning to use my Eiras to battle, Colin? Kaiser surely doesn't rank as real power..."
Bradley stepped in between his one-time rival Colin Drake, whose head seemed like it was releasing steam already, and Evan, who was wearing an uncharacteristic smirk. It would be best if they arrived in Australia with none of them "missing".
"Hey, man, stop bugging Colin. You may have the stronger bitbeast-" Colin growled, interrupting Bradley's pacifist message. The blonde teenager gulped and retracted his statement, saying, "I mean, both of you are EQUALLY skilled, all right? So stop pissing him off with your sarcasm, a'right?"
Evan nodded sullenly and extended a reluctant hand towards Colin, who scowled but shook it anyway. The two then took a step away from each other and fixed their gaze in different directions.
"All right then... C'mon, let's go!" Bradley shouted, impatient. His two teammates presently followed him, jogging a bit to match Bradley's pace.
...Standing but a few meters away, a tall Chinese boy grinned in the shadows of his hiding spot. The well-built and reasonably athletic boy soon sprinted after the threesome, giving chase. As he ran, he repeated his mantra over and over again inside his head.
'You can't fight what you can't see...' And he vanished into thin air.
===========================
"Whoa, nice battle, guys!" Bradley said, congratulating both Evan and Colin, who had practically shredded apart the blades of a few morons who arrogantly accepted their challenges.
"... Thank you."
"That was over before it started anyway." Colin added to Evan's quiet reply, staring analytically at the pulverized beyblades of their opponents. Bradley shrugged and noticed a stall selling a bunch of Chinese snacks, such as siu pao and siu mai. Naturally, Bradley rushed over to it immediately, pulling out his wallet.
"Hey, I'm going to get 3 of those buns... How about you guys?"
Colin bit his lip, choosing from the limited selection of foods.
"I'll try some of the dumplings." He finally said.
Evan pulled out his wallet, seeing as he already computed the cost and was beginning to retrieve bills to pay for the food when Bradley interrupted him.
"Wait, Evs... I'll pay for the food, a'right?"
"All right. But where does your wallet happen to be?"
"Right... here. What THE?!?" Bradley exclaimed, surprised that his wallet had just disappeared.
"Hell! Somebody must've picked it out of your hand while we waited!"
Colin fumed and began looking around for any possible culprits. Bradley though, realized that they had been entirely alone in front of the dimsum stand. The only way for somebody to have stolen his wallet was for the thief to be invisible. And that was impossible, right?
Evan's eyes were already narrowed. He had shut out the voices of his two infuriated comrades and instead began to search the surroundings in very much the same way Colin tried. But this time, he had Eiras helping him.
His vision suddenly exploded in a brilliant flash and as the luminescence cleared, he saw the world in a monotone black and gray color, which seemed to pulse at erratic intervals. Eiras was circling a few meters away from where he stood, gesturing towards his master to follow him.
'I have located your bandit with some effort... It took a while but, as expected, I succeeded.'
'Excellent job, Eiras. Fly ahead but not so far ahead so that I may be able to follow your path.'
He began sprinting after his bitbeast and unknown to him, his two very confused teammates followed after his footsteps.
"Where do you think he's going?" Colin asked and Bradley shrugged in reply as they ran.
"Who knows? Geniuses are always a bit weird."
===========================
Evan stopped abruptly, not even realizing that he had practically ditched both of his teammates in the labyrinthine structure that was the airport and was now standing alone in the middle of a seemingly abandoned storage room. Or, if a passerby could see as he could, standing alongside an ethereal oversized raven, a giant black panther and a very amazed ( or possibly amused) boy.
"Return my friend's wallet." Evan said in a slightly threatening manner. His bitbeast gave out a low guttural shriek, which presently made the panther take a few steps backward.
The messy black hair of the person he was addressing fluttered slightly as the teenage boy ran a hand through it, whistling at the same time. The Chinese boy, whom Evan noticed was taller than him, grinned and patted his feline companion on the back reassuringly.
"And stop hiding. I can see you perfectly well, anyway."
"All right... On one condition, you tell me how your overgrown chicken found me."
The boy seemingly stepped out from behind an invisible curtain, holding an entirely jet-black beyblade in his right hand. Evan noted the fact that its bit chip was pulsing in the same way his did. The apparently amused pickpocket folded his arms across his chest and stared at the shorter boy, waiting for Evan to finish his end of the deal.
"I already had this foreboding about an invisible threat of some sort... I didn't expect it to be so literal in meaning though."
The Chinese boy laughed in a hollow way.
"I merely sent out Eiras to search for any bitbeasts in the immediate vicinity, seeing as bitbeasts cannot conceal themselves from one another. I theorized Eiras would lead me to someone like you, who would control a bitbeast that bestowed upon him the ability to disappear into thin air."
The black-haired boy clapped in mock approval then suddenly glared angrily at the twelve-year old who, figuratively and literally, saw right through his plan. He attached his blade to a metallic launcher in one swift motion, aiming the device straight at Evan.
"Well, congratulations, boy! You just won yourself a beyblade battle from hell!" The still unnamed boy shouted, infuriated. Evan's hands darted into his pockets and he too snapped his beyblade and launcher together in an equally lightning fast way.
===========================
"I doubt that."
The thief then pulled away the rip cord at blinding speeds, sending his blade straight for Evan's face. And as he did, Evan's beyblade was already rocketing upwards, ready to deflect what would be a scarring blow to his head. The two morbidly colored blades broke away and fell to the floor, still spinning at intensely fast speeds.
Evan's blade zipped back to where his opponent's was and the two collided; a harsh clang in an otherwise quiet room. They continued this duel, trading blows with amazing strength, as if both would never run out of energy.
'This stranger is good... I will have to summon Eiras to win this battle.'
'Amazing, this kid is actually putting up a fight. Not for long though...'
Both beyblades glided away from each other, circling the steel floor like vultures ready to strike at a rotting carcass. Then they both launched themselves at their respective opponents, causing the floor to warp under the fiery intensity of their attack. Evan's then pounced on the thief's in an attempt to wipe out his foe's blade in one strike. However, the black blade of his competitor spun away, leaving behind a set of ghost images to confuse Evan.
'Damn it... He's fast.'
"Helzing! Shadow Cloak!" The thief commanded in a booming voice, interrupting Evan's thoughts.
As expected, the black beyblade suddenly disappeared from where it stood just a few inches away from Evan's blue and black beyblade. Then it came back, unseen, ramming the orphan's beyblade repeatedly and unceasingly from all possible directions. It struck like a snake, darting back and forth with amazing precision and power, overrunning its helpless opponent in a matter of seconds.
"Eiras-" Evan shouted, feeling a familiar tinge of raw power creeping through his body. His mouth twisted into a diabolical grin as he let all resistance fall and allow the dark energies of Eiras to take possession of his mind. "Obliterate his cowardice once and for all! Fabricate!"
A crackling barrier of dark matter blasted upwards from where the two beyblades battled, effectively trapping both inside it. Without warning, the invisibility that veiled the thief's beyblade shattered into mirror-like shards of energy, providing the ruthless shadow of what the timid Evan was with an enormous window of opportunity. The empowered beyblader held his hand out in front of him and commanded his bitbeast, which now soared over the field of darkness.
"No you don't! Helzing, Reverse Cutter!"
The young pickpocket's beyblade charged straight for Evan's glowing one, then vanished seconds before achieving contact with its attack ring. It reappeared in the air right above the very edge of Evan's beyblade, before gravity brought it down right on the lip of the black and blue blade's lip, sending it flying through the air. Helzing, the giant panther, roared triumphantly before charging for the weakened Eiras at full speed.
Evan's blade slammed into the wall before collapsing onto the steel floor, spinning feebly. Without much strength in his beyblade to rely on anymore, Evan quickly turned his attention back to his bitbeast who was now spreading his wings majestically and flying upwards.
"Now! Gate to the Nether!" Evan commanded imperiously, as his raven released an earsplitting screech, which caused the thief he was fighting to fall to his knees in pain.
A monstrous gate of immense proportions, its innards bellowing with the furious shrieks of demons and monsters to horrible to be named, appeared ominously before the charging Helzing. The doors of the obsidian and brimstone gate blew inwards, releasing a jet of sulfuric fumes into the air, as the panther, desperately trying to stop, slid helplessly into the portal. Then the opposite side of the hellish gate opened as well, releasing a visibly defeated bitbeast from its grasp. The overwhelmed Helzing, bleeding silver and black blood all over, quickly dissipated into particles which flew into the bit chip of the thief's beyblade.
Apparently, the energy sucked out of Helzing was transferred to the now energized beyblade of Evan, which was zooming straight for the enfeebled blade of his opponent. And in one quick swipe, the battle was over.
===========================
The adolescent thief cursed profusely before picking up his beyblade and sprinting past Evan, who was still recovering from his second encounter with the all-consuming power of Eiras. The pickpocket quickly ran down the corridor, feeling beaten but still victorious at the same time. That is, until he ran into the heel of Colin. The boy's head connected with the underside of Colin's spinning heel, knocking him out instantly. He collapsed to the floor unconscious.
===========================
"NO WAY! Just because this half-assed moron put up a good fight doesn't mean he has to join our team!"
"Hey, Colin, calm down. This way we can sort of monitor him too, right, Evan?"
"That's the general idea... It would also be interesting to study his bitbeast."
"You guys are the stupidest idiots I've ever seen? Don't you realize how freaking impulsive all of you are acting?"
"You're one to talk, Colin."
"Evan, stop irritating the poor guy. Anyway, look at it this way: With a fourth member, we stand a way greater chance of winning the season. That battle Evan held was the best try outs we could possibly ever had. With a guy this good, we're bound to win!"
"If he doesn't steal all our resources first."
"Shut up, Colin."
"Jeez, fine. But don't blame me when your money goes missing."
Waking up groggy and with a terrible headache is one of the worse things that can happen to a person. Especially after that person was caught and beaten by a measly kid and socked by some arrogant nutcase with an iron ankle. Leheung groaned, reflecting the agony he was in. He blinked a bit, trying to make out the pudgy face of a white-haired man standing over whatever he was lying down on. He heard the whir of airplane engines in the background... A very familiar sound. Then he suddenly realized why. Leheung sat upright suddenly, which led to him whacking his head on Mr. Dickinson's and collapsing back on the makeshift cot the aging man had arranged to be brought aboard their plane.
"Why the hell did you bring me along? You could have just left me there..." He asked, his voice barely above a hoarse whisper.
Some blonde guy now stood right beside his cot, looking down on him with interest.
"Well, we figured we could do with some extra beyblading talent for the World Tournaments. Evan did praise your abilities quite a bit and as you probably know by now, not much people deserve his praise."
He heard a sarcastic cough in the background and the sound of one punching a guy lightly in the stomach.
"Colin, if you don't shut the hell up, you're gonna be eating out of a pipe in your cheek for the next few months. I mean it."
"Yeah, right."
The brown-haired guy hovering near the blonde one apparently shut up anyway. The black-haired kid who would defeated him just a while ago (How long had it been, anyway?) walked up to where the blonde-haired guy was and bent over, staring at him. Leheung blinked and tried to get a better view of the faces. The old man was now talking about something with all three of the teenagers. Something about him allowing it...
"You don't have a choice. You're part of this team now." The black-haired boy said emotionlessly and Leheung noticed his voice had changed since their battle. Sounded a lot more meek now.
"What is your name? It would be impractical to call you "thief" for the duration of our journey." The mousy kid continued and Leheung nodded, remembering that this was the same guy who humbled his beyblading skills. He sat upright, thankfully avoiding the bald man's forehead this time, and stared at the three beybladers in front of him.
The blonde guy with a seemingly permanent grin on his face who he would later come to know as Bradley.
The fellow Asian boy with the pony tail and the weird split personality who he would soon call Evan.
The conceited brown-haired nutcase with that condescending frown who would be known to him as Colin.
"My name is Leheung Ngie."
Bradley frowned, as if he had heard the name somewhere before but shrugged and smiled at his new teammate.
"Well then, Leheung, welcome to the team."
===========================
End of Chapter
Sorry for the long delay. Track practice is eating up my free time. Thankfully though, I don't have any one weekends so I can write then. Read it and enjoy! ~pyro
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John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York, United States of America...
A red-haired adolescent boy leaned against the glass panes of JFK International Airport's massive windows, staring blankly over his shoulder, which gave him a pleasant view of the airplanes which just recently arrived. It had been quite an off season... Three exhibition tournaments and no less than fourteen challenges. At least those matches, which had turned in his favor, had earned his team quite a bit of respect from the other international beyblading squads. Speaking of which...
"Good morning, Mitchell. I assume your Lear jet is ready to depart for Australia?"
Mitchell cocked his head to one side. In front of him was probably the most impeccably dressed female in the entire world. With such a wonderfully stiff smile too. Well, it must run in her family, seeing as they descended from a bunch of rich French guys.
"Yo, Irei! Haven't seen you in ages! How's the team doing?"
The girl shifted her gaze to her fellow beybladers, her neck long brown hair bouncing in a severe manner after her.
"No need for small talk. I'd rather be early for the season opening..." Irei snapped.
Mitchell shrugged and signaled to one of his own teammates to carry the bags of their British beyblading compatriots.
"...Okay... The trip won't take long, seeing as our Lear jet is so state-of-the-art and all!"
"You actually share your jet? I thought you Americans had more class. Hurry up."
"...Vampire..."
===========================
"Whoa, man! I got to level 27 already!"
Bradley exclaimed rather loudly. Colin, who was sitting beside the somewhat overactive beyblader scowled and groaned, burying his head in the pillow. The three champions of the Blue Knight competition were finally taking their first official trip as pros via private airplane and Colin had the great misfortune of being seated next to Bradley, who was soaking up every bit of their flight. In particular, the small TV set he had gotten which appeared to be equipped with a bunch of video games.
"Oh, shut up already, moron." Colin grumbled, irritated.
The blonde orphan grinned and reclined further into the comfortable chair of the airplane, continuing to play the game on the miniature screen, much to his brown-haired companion's exasperation.
"For crying out loud, man... At least turn the volume down!"
"Jeez, spoilsport... Fine then."
Meanwhile, sitting just two seats across them, Evan stared intently into the pulsing bit chip of his beyblade, frowning slightly. In the day that had passed before they took the airplane heading for the beyblade season opening in Australia, he had mastered his bitbeast and had established a form of communication far more complex than the one Bradley had achieved. Aside from being able to converse with his bitbeast, Evan was also capable of somehow sharing the emotions of his immensely powerful raven, Eiras.
And right now, he was feeling quite nervous.
"Yo, Evs! What's wrong with you? You haven't touched that book you brought along, man!" Bradley asked.
The pony-tailed Asian shook his head and pocketed his beyblade with some hesitation. He then picked up his preposterously thick book and began to read, quickly forgetting his unfound anxieties.
===========================
Bradley sprinted ahead of the rest of his teammates to where Mr. Dickinson was standing, grinning madly with the air of an over-excited kid in a candy store. Maybe it was because he had reached level 36 in the video game aboard the airplane, which, as Evan noticed, considerably ticked off an already annoyed Colin. Maybe it was because Bradley, walking around in mid-flight, discovered the refrigerator that Mr. Dickinson had stocked earlier. But it was probably because it was his first time to be running around in a different country; specifically, Hong Kong, China.
Mr. Dickinson had just returned from a quick teleconference with one of his old associates based in China and was looking quite happy when Bradley ran up to him, nearly tackling the aging man.
"Hey! Are we gonna hang around here or something? Do we get to check out the local beyblading?"
The balding man, whose bowler hat had toppled to the floor unceremoniously just a few seconds ago, waved off Bradley's incessant questioning and pulled up his hat from the cool steel floor. He coughed and smiled back at the energetic youngster in his all so familiar way.
"No, Bradley. This is just a short stop. Our plane will be refueled and ready to head to Australia in an hour or so..." Naturally, the blonde orphan looked disappointed. Mr. Dickinson laughed heartily and continued, saying, "Well then, you can always check out the airport terminal! I'm sure there are a few children beyblading here."
Bradley pumped his fist backwards and walked, satisfied with his sponsor's answer, over to where Colin was shouting his head off at Evan, who had somehow managed to get under the brown-haired champion's skin once again.
"OF course Kaiser is just as strong as your stupid chicken!" Colin yelled, infuriated.
"If you say so... Just don't let your delusions cause our loss in tournaments to come."
Colin opened his mouth to let loose with a harsh remark but held it back. Evan was just way too smart and, may I add, sarcastic for him to handle with his regular argument strategies. The russet kid shook his head in recognition of defeat and folded his arms across his chest defiantly, staring away at Bradley instead.
"You guys want to walk around with me? Mr. Dickinson said there would be beyblading here."
Colin nodded then glared contemptuously at the stone-faced twelve-year old standing next to him. Evan's mouth was twitching, unsuccessfully trying to prevent a triumphant grin from breaking out across his face. Once again the master of Kaiser rolled his chestnut eyes skywards before walking up to Bradley.
"All right. It's a good opportunity to show Evan here what REAL power is. Eh, Evan?"
"So, you're planning to use my Eiras to battle, Colin? Kaiser surely doesn't rank as real power..."
Bradley stepped in between his one-time rival Colin Drake, whose head seemed like it was releasing steam already, and Evan, who was wearing an uncharacteristic smirk. It would be best if they arrived in Australia with none of them "missing".
"Hey, man, stop bugging Colin. You may have the stronger bitbeast-" Colin growled, interrupting Bradley's pacifist message. The blonde teenager gulped and retracted his statement, saying, "I mean, both of you are EQUALLY skilled, all right? So stop pissing him off with your sarcasm, a'right?"
Evan nodded sullenly and extended a reluctant hand towards Colin, who scowled but shook it anyway. The two then took a step away from each other and fixed their gaze in different directions.
"All right then... C'mon, let's go!" Bradley shouted, impatient. His two teammates presently followed him, jogging a bit to match Bradley's pace.
...Standing but a few meters away, a tall Chinese boy grinned in the shadows of his hiding spot. The well-built and reasonably athletic boy soon sprinted after the threesome, giving chase. As he ran, he repeated his mantra over and over again inside his head.
'You can't fight what you can't see...' And he vanished into thin air.
===========================
"Whoa, nice battle, guys!" Bradley said, congratulating both Evan and Colin, who had practically shredded apart the blades of a few morons who arrogantly accepted their challenges.
"... Thank you."
"That was over before it started anyway." Colin added to Evan's quiet reply, staring analytically at the pulverized beyblades of their opponents. Bradley shrugged and noticed a stall selling a bunch of Chinese snacks, such as siu pao and siu mai. Naturally, Bradley rushed over to it immediately, pulling out his wallet.
"Hey, I'm going to get 3 of those buns... How about you guys?"
Colin bit his lip, choosing from the limited selection of foods.
"I'll try some of the dumplings." He finally said.
Evan pulled out his wallet, seeing as he already computed the cost and was beginning to retrieve bills to pay for the food when Bradley interrupted him.
"Wait, Evs... I'll pay for the food, a'right?"
"All right. But where does your wallet happen to be?"
"Right... here. What THE?!?" Bradley exclaimed, surprised that his wallet had just disappeared.
"Hell! Somebody must've picked it out of your hand while we waited!"
Colin fumed and began looking around for any possible culprits. Bradley though, realized that they had been entirely alone in front of the dimsum stand. The only way for somebody to have stolen his wallet was for the thief to be invisible. And that was impossible, right?
Evan's eyes were already narrowed. He had shut out the voices of his two infuriated comrades and instead began to search the surroundings in very much the same way Colin tried. But this time, he had Eiras helping him.
His vision suddenly exploded in a brilliant flash and as the luminescence cleared, he saw the world in a monotone black and gray color, which seemed to pulse at erratic intervals. Eiras was circling a few meters away from where he stood, gesturing towards his master to follow him.
'I have located your bandit with some effort... It took a while but, as expected, I succeeded.'
'Excellent job, Eiras. Fly ahead but not so far ahead so that I may be able to follow your path.'
He began sprinting after his bitbeast and unknown to him, his two very confused teammates followed after his footsteps.
"Where do you think he's going?" Colin asked and Bradley shrugged in reply as they ran.
"Who knows? Geniuses are always a bit weird."
===========================
Evan stopped abruptly, not even realizing that he had practically ditched both of his teammates in the labyrinthine structure that was the airport and was now standing alone in the middle of a seemingly abandoned storage room. Or, if a passerby could see as he could, standing alongside an ethereal oversized raven, a giant black panther and a very amazed ( or possibly amused) boy.
"Return my friend's wallet." Evan said in a slightly threatening manner. His bitbeast gave out a low guttural shriek, which presently made the panther take a few steps backward.
The messy black hair of the person he was addressing fluttered slightly as the teenage boy ran a hand through it, whistling at the same time. The Chinese boy, whom Evan noticed was taller than him, grinned and patted his feline companion on the back reassuringly.
"And stop hiding. I can see you perfectly well, anyway."
"All right... On one condition, you tell me how your overgrown chicken found me."
The boy seemingly stepped out from behind an invisible curtain, holding an entirely jet-black beyblade in his right hand. Evan noted the fact that its bit chip was pulsing in the same way his did. The apparently amused pickpocket folded his arms across his chest and stared at the shorter boy, waiting for Evan to finish his end of the deal.
"I already had this foreboding about an invisible threat of some sort... I didn't expect it to be so literal in meaning though."
The Chinese boy laughed in a hollow way.
"I merely sent out Eiras to search for any bitbeasts in the immediate vicinity, seeing as bitbeasts cannot conceal themselves from one another. I theorized Eiras would lead me to someone like you, who would control a bitbeast that bestowed upon him the ability to disappear into thin air."
The black-haired boy clapped in mock approval then suddenly glared angrily at the twelve-year old who, figuratively and literally, saw right through his plan. He attached his blade to a metallic launcher in one swift motion, aiming the device straight at Evan.
"Well, congratulations, boy! You just won yourself a beyblade battle from hell!" The still unnamed boy shouted, infuriated. Evan's hands darted into his pockets and he too snapped his beyblade and launcher together in an equally lightning fast way.
===========================
"I doubt that."
The thief then pulled away the rip cord at blinding speeds, sending his blade straight for Evan's face. And as he did, Evan's beyblade was already rocketing upwards, ready to deflect what would be a scarring blow to his head. The two morbidly colored blades broke away and fell to the floor, still spinning at intensely fast speeds.
Evan's blade zipped back to where his opponent's was and the two collided; a harsh clang in an otherwise quiet room. They continued this duel, trading blows with amazing strength, as if both would never run out of energy.
'This stranger is good... I will have to summon Eiras to win this battle.'
'Amazing, this kid is actually putting up a fight. Not for long though...'
Both beyblades glided away from each other, circling the steel floor like vultures ready to strike at a rotting carcass. Then they both launched themselves at their respective opponents, causing the floor to warp under the fiery intensity of their attack. Evan's then pounced on the thief's in an attempt to wipe out his foe's blade in one strike. However, the black blade of his competitor spun away, leaving behind a set of ghost images to confuse Evan.
'Damn it... He's fast.'
"Helzing! Shadow Cloak!" The thief commanded in a booming voice, interrupting Evan's thoughts.
As expected, the black beyblade suddenly disappeared from where it stood just a few inches away from Evan's blue and black beyblade. Then it came back, unseen, ramming the orphan's beyblade repeatedly and unceasingly from all possible directions. It struck like a snake, darting back and forth with amazing precision and power, overrunning its helpless opponent in a matter of seconds.
"Eiras-" Evan shouted, feeling a familiar tinge of raw power creeping through his body. His mouth twisted into a diabolical grin as he let all resistance fall and allow the dark energies of Eiras to take possession of his mind. "Obliterate his cowardice once and for all! Fabricate!"
A crackling barrier of dark matter blasted upwards from where the two beyblades battled, effectively trapping both inside it. Without warning, the invisibility that veiled the thief's beyblade shattered into mirror-like shards of energy, providing the ruthless shadow of what the timid Evan was with an enormous window of opportunity. The empowered beyblader held his hand out in front of him and commanded his bitbeast, which now soared over the field of darkness.
"No you don't! Helzing, Reverse Cutter!"
The young pickpocket's beyblade charged straight for Evan's glowing one, then vanished seconds before achieving contact with its attack ring. It reappeared in the air right above the very edge of Evan's beyblade, before gravity brought it down right on the lip of the black and blue blade's lip, sending it flying through the air. Helzing, the giant panther, roared triumphantly before charging for the weakened Eiras at full speed.
Evan's blade slammed into the wall before collapsing onto the steel floor, spinning feebly. Without much strength in his beyblade to rely on anymore, Evan quickly turned his attention back to his bitbeast who was now spreading his wings majestically and flying upwards.
"Now! Gate to the Nether!" Evan commanded imperiously, as his raven released an earsplitting screech, which caused the thief he was fighting to fall to his knees in pain.
A monstrous gate of immense proportions, its innards bellowing with the furious shrieks of demons and monsters to horrible to be named, appeared ominously before the charging Helzing. The doors of the obsidian and brimstone gate blew inwards, releasing a jet of sulfuric fumes into the air, as the panther, desperately trying to stop, slid helplessly into the portal. Then the opposite side of the hellish gate opened as well, releasing a visibly defeated bitbeast from its grasp. The overwhelmed Helzing, bleeding silver and black blood all over, quickly dissipated into particles which flew into the bit chip of the thief's beyblade.
Apparently, the energy sucked out of Helzing was transferred to the now energized beyblade of Evan, which was zooming straight for the enfeebled blade of his opponent. And in one quick swipe, the battle was over.
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The adolescent thief cursed profusely before picking up his beyblade and sprinting past Evan, who was still recovering from his second encounter with the all-consuming power of Eiras. The pickpocket quickly ran down the corridor, feeling beaten but still victorious at the same time. That is, until he ran into the heel of Colin. The boy's head connected with the underside of Colin's spinning heel, knocking him out instantly. He collapsed to the floor unconscious.
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"NO WAY! Just because this half-assed moron put up a good fight doesn't mean he has to join our team!"
"Hey, Colin, calm down. This way we can sort of monitor him too, right, Evan?"
"That's the general idea... It would also be interesting to study his bitbeast."
"You guys are the stupidest idiots I've ever seen? Don't you realize how freaking impulsive all of you are acting?"
"You're one to talk, Colin."
"Evan, stop irritating the poor guy. Anyway, look at it this way: With a fourth member, we stand a way greater chance of winning the season. That battle Evan held was the best try outs we could possibly ever had. With a guy this good, we're bound to win!"
"If he doesn't steal all our resources first."
"Shut up, Colin."
"Jeez, fine. But don't blame me when your money goes missing."
Waking up groggy and with a terrible headache is one of the worse things that can happen to a person. Especially after that person was caught and beaten by a measly kid and socked by some arrogant nutcase with an iron ankle. Leheung groaned, reflecting the agony he was in. He blinked a bit, trying to make out the pudgy face of a white-haired man standing over whatever he was lying down on. He heard the whir of airplane engines in the background... A very familiar sound. Then he suddenly realized why. Leheung sat upright suddenly, which led to him whacking his head on Mr. Dickinson's and collapsing back on the makeshift cot the aging man had arranged to be brought aboard their plane.
"Why the hell did you bring me along? You could have just left me there..." He asked, his voice barely above a hoarse whisper.
Some blonde guy now stood right beside his cot, looking down on him with interest.
"Well, we figured we could do with some extra beyblading talent for the World Tournaments. Evan did praise your abilities quite a bit and as you probably know by now, not much people deserve his praise."
He heard a sarcastic cough in the background and the sound of one punching a guy lightly in the stomach.
"Colin, if you don't shut the hell up, you're gonna be eating out of a pipe in your cheek for the next few months. I mean it."
"Yeah, right."
The brown-haired guy hovering near the blonde one apparently shut up anyway. The black-haired kid who would defeated him just a while ago (How long had it been, anyway?) walked up to where the blonde-haired guy was and bent over, staring at him. Leheung blinked and tried to get a better view of the faces. The old man was now talking about something with all three of the teenagers. Something about him allowing it...
"You don't have a choice. You're part of this team now." The black-haired boy said emotionlessly and Leheung noticed his voice had changed since their battle. Sounded a lot more meek now.
"What is your name? It would be impractical to call you "thief" for the duration of our journey." The mousy kid continued and Leheung nodded, remembering that this was the same guy who humbled his beyblading skills. He sat upright, thankfully avoiding the bald man's forehead this time, and stared at the three beybladers in front of him.
The blonde guy with a seemingly permanent grin on his face who he would later come to know as Bradley.
The fellow Asian boy with the pony tail and the weird split personality who he would soon call Evan.
The conceited brown-haired nutcase with that condescending frown who would be known to him as Colin.
"My name is Leheung Ngie."
Bradley frowned, as if he had heard the name somewhere before but shrugged and smiled at his new teammate.
"Well then, Leheung, welcome to the team."
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End of Chapter
