The New Generation

Hey, this fic isn't doing so bad

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"Holy-" Colin begun to say out loud but Evan slapped a hand over his mouth. The russet-haired beyblader pulled off his Asian teammate's palm off his mouth and blinked in astonishment, visibly amazed with the sight that lay before him and his friends.

The immense beyblading facility of the Australian branch of the BBA practically sparkled with resplendent glory. Asymmetrical pillars held up the giant dome in an almost chaotic yet exquisite manner, striking through the gold-tinted steel of the ceiling in jagged strokes. Thousands of chairs, positioned on the elevated viewing arrangement, circled the main dish, which lay in a lowered section of the arena, probably to grant the spectators a better view of the action that went on in it. All this formed a magnificent tangle of strangely distorted figures, somehow creating the impression that whoever was inside had stepped into a modern artwork.

Bradley stepped forward and shook his head in disbelief. "I never thought we'd actually go this far, you know. " He said mirthfully, laughter playing under his voice.

Evan nodded silently in agreement and continued onwards, walking to where the registration stand awaited the newly formed team of complete amateurs. His three teammates quickly followed him, their attention returned to the task at hand.

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"Names? This is just for publicity purposes, you know. The media's always so interested with new teams..." The middle-aged registrar asked, not bothering to look up from his desk. Bradley scratched under his nose, shrugged and grasped one of the black ball pens on the table in front of the registrar. The blonde orphan jotted down his name in his unruly handwriting, which provided quite a bit of a challenge for the man to decipher.

"Bradley." He said cheerfully to the confused registrar before tossing the pen over to Evan, who caught it and signed his own name in amazingly flawless script. He nodded to the registrar and handed over the pen to Leheung.

"I'm Leheung Ngie!" The Chinese national stated proudly before writing down his own name and adding some symbols beside it. The black-haired teenager, admiring his handiwork with a satisfied smile, passed the ball pen onto same old haughty Colin. The second eldest member of the team muttered something incoherent while the ball pen flew over the registration paper in clean strokes.

"There. Now can we go?" He inquired impatiently; his right eyebrow raised, daring the registrar to differ.

"Yes, yes... You will meet the other teams in the center dish for the opening ceremonies."

Colin shook his head and strolled away from his teammates, gesturing them to leave him alone. Bradley rubbed the back of his head and sighed. The guy was skilled but he could be a real temperamental pain in the ass.

"This is awesome! Imagine all the pockets to pick and the girls to meet!" Leheung exclaimed, grinning evilly as his mind began plotting away. Evan quickly poked the back of their 15-year old companion's head and stared grimly at him.

"Fine, I'll lay off the wallets... I guess I won't be needing money while hanging around the team anyway."

"Yeah! We're funded, remember?" Bradley interjected and smirked at his two comrades before jabbing a thumb in the direction of the center dish where they were due to arrive. Leheung laughed and nodded, walking off towards their meeting place.

"Cool... I've always wanted to get some new parts for Helzing. It's been ages since I updated his blade."

Bradley chortled in reply and pulled out his white blade. "We had to modify our beyblades because they must have been decades old when Father gave them to us."

"Father?" Leheung inquired, his amber eyes lighting up in curiosity.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that we're orphans... Father Matthew used to take care of us in his orphanage" The beyblader explained and Evan nodded, backing him up.

"My parents dumped me in a center when I was 10 so I sorta know how it is..." Leheung then laughed despite the somewhat touchy topic and smiled fondly, as if he was remembering stuff. He coughed and continued with his story.

"Anyway, I picked some old guy's pocket and found a really neat beyblade-" He gestured towards his blade "-but he caught me and made me battle this kid who was accompanying him. I lost but he still said I was really good and brought me with him here..."

"Here?" Bradley interrupted, surprised.

"Yeah. Although this dump wasn't so shiny last time I was here." Leheung laughed again, an amused expression spreading across his face. He ran a hand through his long messy black hair and stared at the intricately made walls wistfully.

"After that I joined their team as a reserve. I became close to one of the girls on the team-"

Evan made a gagging sound, interrupting Leheung's story. The Chinese boy narrowed his eyes and reached out for the shorter Asian's head, rubbing his knuckles into the pony-tailed boy's scalp.

"Very funny, squirt. Anyways, the guy who beat me last time around got really ticked off that she was paying more attention to me and we kept fighting each other until..." The oldest part of the team of rookies sighed regretfully and shook his head. "I had enough and ran away again."

"I thought my life was screwed up..." Bradley remarked gloomily before shrugging in his familiar carefree manner and walking just slightly faster towards the center dish. In just a few minutes, he had suddenly felt a lot closer to this enigmatic pickpocket...

"Oh well, at least Colin wasn't here... Otherwise, you wouldn't hear the end of it from his mouth." The emerald-eyed beyblader added cheerfully, trying to brighten their spirits again. Leheung laughed out loud before patting a back on Bradley's back and nodding.

"You got that right. Speaking of the brat, we should hurry up to the center dish. He's probably angry because we're late."

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"Welcome to the opening ceremonies of the annual Beyblading World Cup! This is DJ Sandman, signing in, as your guide for this blowout of beyblading!"

"And as usual, this is his partner, Joe Spinner, ready to deliver every single bit of this exciting ceremony to you, our beloved audience!"

"Today, we will be introducing the world famous national teams, along with a fresh new one, who we sincerely hope will be up to the task of facing their experienced counterparts!"

"The national teams on the other hand have chalked up amazing track records during off season and are juiced up for this season of beyblading!"

"And so, without further ado, please welcome the team with the highest Battle Point Average, The Millennium Knights!"

Below the sky box where the two rowdy commentators were announcing, Bradley and his teammates, now joined by Colin, stared through the glass doors separating the corridor in which they were assigned to remain until called for, from the commotion outside.

Four beybladers, led by an extremely severe looking girl who reminded Bradley of a vampire, walked out into the center of the stadium as applause bombarded them from every angle of the arena. Bradley immediately recognized the stern 14-year old, brown-haired teenager as Irei Beaumont, a half-French, half-British beyblader whose mythical skills placed her on a pedestal far above any of the other bladers. She crashed into the post-Bladebreaker beyblading scene with a bang, completely annihilating records set by the previous champions single-handedly. The fact that she was one of the world's most renowned concert pianists and an internationally acclaimed fencing champion added to her celebrity status, along with her becoming the only female team captain in BBA League history. Not that her teammates were without merit though.

"Can you believe that, huh? We're actually going to be standing right beside THE Millennium Knights." Bradley remarked happily.

"Which reminds me... What the hell is our team name?" Colin said urgently, pacing the floor in panic.

Bradley's green eyes bugged out slightly and he slapped a hand to his forehead.

"Argh... I didn't think of that... How about Storm Bladers?"

"Sounds all right but makes us seem like amateurs..."

"We ARE amateurs."

"Oh yeah..."

"Then Storm Bladers it is!" Leheung piped up, smiling exuberantly. "I'll sprint over to the registrar and notify him of our team name."

"Thanks."

As they discussed their new title, four new beybladers walked into the center dish as well, receiving quite a bit of applause and cheers from the crowd as they went. At their head was a relatively tall and athletic-looking teenage boy with messy brown hair, grinning widely as he proceeded to his team's spot beside the Millennium Knights. Behind him was a slightly shorter if not more sprightly boy who seemed most likely to be his brother and two teenage girls of roughly the same height.

"Please put your hands together for the overall champions in the doubles beyblading matches and the second placers in off season BPA scoring! Welcome, Revolutionaries!"

The tallish boy at their head was Matt Valencia, the Revolutionaries' 15-year old team captain and the driving force between the so-called beyblading "revolution" back at his and his teammates' home country, the Philippines. He founded and led the team of cousins and siblings to fame in their country and around the world by qualifying for and ending third overall in the beyblading association's world tournaments, igniting a craze back in his hometown for the otherwise already popular sport. Now in the same spots where they trained with punched out barrels and trash cans borrowed from their parents, practice dozens of aspiring beybladers, adding to their country's total of the world's highest number of beybladers. While definitely not in the same league as the Millennium Knights, Matt and the Revolutionaries were still one of the most popular and talented teams around.

Leheung dashed back to where his teammates stood and bent over, panting heavily. "Got lost..."

"Got the name in?" Colin asked, arms still folded across his chest.

"Yeah... Took a while too 'cause there was an old team named Storm Bladers. Disbanded though."

Colin nodded approvingly before staring back out though glass barrier. "Good. Now let's wait for our turn..."

"And as our volunteers for the exhibition match to be held later, please welcome the hometown heroes, Wild Pack! We guarantee a real show for you when these guys start blading later!"

Devon Rembrandt; the number one beyblader in all of Australia and probably one of the top bladers in the world as well. Backed up by one of the most illustriously rich sponsors in the league, Devon and his similarly well-skilled team members blazed a trail through the amateur tournaments and now sit comfortably at third place off season BPA scoring. Of course, that didn't stop him from ripping up some rookies' beyblades now and then, seeing as his mean streak definitely did not disappear with the fame he received from beyblading. It probably just got worse when he received all that popularity. Of course, this made him the enemy of many other guys in the league; whom he presently dispatched through means of utterly destroying their beyblades...

Like the way his blade would soon be annihilated by the one person he thought was gone.

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End of Chapter

Help! I need team name ideas for the Americans! Give me ideas!