The New Generation

Thank you to all the peeps who read and reviewed my story. I don't care how many of you there are, just as long as I actually have some readers. Just as a note, this story might end up being very long all right? I dunno how long, seeing as I expect this to run through all the national tournaments, a laid out extra event and the last part... Eh, who cares.

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Memories of defeat and pain swirled in a tempest of destructive impulses.

The inner sanctum of his mind being stripped away once more, violently being purged of its sanity.

Voices, cold, emotionless voices seared into him like boiling water being poured over his scalp.

It hurt so much but... it had to be done. It had to be done according to his will.

He repeated it like a mantra as he was once more engulfed in fiery agony, his spirit weakening.

The suffering was too much to bear, he could not withstand this mental torture any longer. He would give...

Suddenly, cold dread washed over him, cleansing his body of the sheer anguish that flowed through it.

An image appeared in the darkest, most hollow corner of his mind, grinning at him with curved, yellowing teeth that exuded a rancid air. It slithered out, it's feathered wings unfolding and blanketing more of his innermost thoughts with a foul shadow. The sinister, swooping raven of gigantic proportions, armored with the coldest of black feathers, glided over to the center of the broken fortification that was his mind.

~Prepare yourself, my servant. The time for bitbeasts to rule mankind is at hand.~

The immense bird roared a screeching, unarguably evil shriek and flapped its great wings, taking flight and thus, abandoning the breached securities of his willing servant's mind.

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Evan's eyes shot open abruptly and he felt a warm bead of sweat trace a line down the curves of his tan cheek. He felt an unbearable pain flash through his mind for the fleetest of seconds before fading away as a silver mist does on a hot summer day. 'Strange, ' he thought, 'That was most surely not Eiras' emotions...' The black-haired teenager stroked his face with a slow swipe from his small but all so precise hand. The week had been quite the ride for the twelve-year old and although he may not have realized it at the moment, there was a lot more intrigue to come for he and his teammates.

"Evan! Quick man, it's our turn in the spot light!"

He heard Bradley say, urgent and demanding, instead of the usual chipper of delight. Evan nodded without pulling a single muscle on his face, void of emotion. For a kid about to ushered into instant fame, Evan sure showed no signs of nervousness. Or anything else for that matter.

He jogged to keep pace with his three taller comrades and slowed down when he reached them, partially because he was taken aback with all the cheers and applause that was raining down on him. He had expected some recognition to be parted to him when he became a beyblader, but not this torrent. Colin and Leheung seemed to be handling it quite professionally, avoiding the gazes of the crowd and walking straight to the center dish, as they most probably had been exposed to matters of this sort before, but Bradley seemed to be having the best time of all four of them, completely soaking up the applause, waving and flashing his teeth appreciatively at the crowd. He seemed to just attract all the cameras to him.

"Bring on... The Storm Bladers! These guy's aren't just any boys picked right off the street! Placing second, third and fourth to THE Devon Rembrandt out of a field of over 200 beybladers in a league-sanctioned tournament shows that these guys have got some mad skills! Not only that, but we've heard some rumors that their leader Bradley-"

"What!?!" Colin fumed, unbelievably surprised with the development. Bradley grinned evilly and shrugged.

"-has an angel type bitbeast! The only other angel bitbeast we know of is held by the reigning champion of both the league's tournament rankings and the BPA scoring charts, Irei Beaumont!"

The mere mention of the name brought up a tsunami of cheers from the crowd. Irei, standing in the very center of the lights trained on the beyblading teams, let a small smile slip through, pleased with the arrangements. She did have to admit, Radiance, her bitbeast, did have quite a lot to do with her so far unparalleled success in the sport. Coupled with her innate skill, Radiance proved to be a completely peerless challenger in the dish.

"But Bradley isn't just the only exceptional dude in the house, seeing as we have a two-time regional champion with us... Colin Drake, the dragon master! Wild Pack fans are also going to be in quite a surprise as Leheung Ngie of the Storm Bladers is actually a former reserve member of the famous team!"

"We have absolutely no idea why he's not playing for them any more though."

"Yep. No idea."

In that split second, Evan suddenly realized that Leheung was not avoiding the all mighty gaze of the crowd, but he was in fact evading the steely glare coming from Devon, whose team stood but a few meters away from theirs. Leheung's deep gold eyes stared down at the floor, dark and occupied by memories of only which he could see. His face was sullen and without the usual calmness that pervaded him most of the time, as if a great burden that he had struggled to contain had once more been placed on his shoulders.

"Are you all right?" Evan whispered, tapping the far taller Chinese boy on his shoulder.

"...Yeah, I'm fine. You ought to be more nervous you know, they're probably going to introduce you next."

Leheung forced a grin and scrubbed Evan's neatly combed black hair into a messy tangle with his knuckles. Evan scowled in return, as he expected his comrade to be slightly more upfront with his emotions, and continued staring blankly into the distance.

"The last member, but definitely not the least one, is Evan, another multi-talented orphan all the way from Europe! But what makes this guy special is his beyblading skills, which are rumored to be amazing for a short dude like him, and his super raven bitbeast, Eiras! You heard us right, this kid has and can actually control a raven bitbeast!"

A hushed, revering sort of silence fell upon the massive audience and suddenly, the small Asian orphan standing beside his three friends felt a lot more vulnerable.

"It's not like he's the only who was able to control a raven anyway." Devon remarked in a loud voice, breaking the awed quiet of the crowd.

Bradley's eyebrow twitched and he presently stood in front of Evan protectively, shielding the smaller kid from Devon's glare.

"Yeah well, go bite somebody else's head off. If you recall properly, I nearly beat you WITHOUT a bitbeast. Imagine what I could do now?"

Devon growled angrily and took a step forward, his fists clenched.

"You little punk, that was mere luck."

"Hey, there! The guy's got some skills, Dev. You have to respect that." Matt too had stepped forward, his life-filled brown eyes staring reprovingly back at the black ones of Devon.

"Stay out of this. I won't let you or your stupid chicken of a bitbeast interfere with me this time."

Matt scowled in fury and stomped a few more meters closer to Devon, sizing him up.

"My bitbeast is not a chicken. Why don't you shut up and put that ego of yours back into your enlarged head?" He retorted, trying to keep himself from flaying the pompous beyblader alive.

"Yeah, Devon, shut up for once!" Mitchell, the red-headed captain of the American team, The Hawk Hunters, shouted from his side, with his teammates moving near him to back their leader up.

"Why do all of you give a damn about what I do, anyway?" The Australian captain sprayed, his voice peaked with frustration and rage.

"Because you are the most freaking conceited idiot in this league!"

Bradley shouted at Devon, who presently roared in fury in a manner quite similar to his bitbeast's, throwing himself at the golden-haired orphan. Devon's teammates, with the exception of Jessica, who was staring bug-eyed at the entire melee, launched themselves too at the defiant Storm Blader, flinging punches as they went. Matt and Mitchell, restrained by their teammates, struggled to free themselves and most likely get caught up in the fight as well. Apparently their allies thought they were too valuable for that. Leheung and Colin opened their mouths to say something but were presently caught off when with a quick swish, a fencing saber was aimed at the squabbling adolescents.

"Will all of you please conduct yourselves a bit MORE CIVILIZED in this arena. This is a televised event." Irei said commandingly and a tense period of silence followed. She flicked her exquisitely designed saber back into its sheath at her hip elegantly and then glared sternly at the fighting beybladers.

"Hey, see? That's a lot better!" She chirped up, acting a lot more like a normal teenage girl than Bradley ever thought possible. Irei smiled in an approving way and walked back to her team, where Alexander was standing stiffly, his own rapier extended in self-defense. He frowned, shrugged and tucked it away, spinning around as not to maintain contact with the other teams. "Imbeciles..."

"Er... Well then, folks! Let's move onto the exhibition match between the Storm Bladers and Wild Pack!"

"Uh, yeah! This is bound to be exciting! Teams, please select your representatives!"

Below, Colin was spouting some junk about how Bradley should have kept his cool and was worrying about the match to be held, as he didn't recall any of them being told that they would be the ones facing off in the exhibition battle. Evan was silent as usual, tinkering in his own methodical little way with his beyblade, adjusting minute details here and there to assure that it would have maximum performance if he was picked by his friends. Leheung was standing coldly at the fringe of the discussion between his two younger and definitely more immature teammates, his arms folded across his chest.

"I can't believe this! We've had no time to prepare! And look, they're putting Devon up as their representative! No way can we beat him, seeing as he's seen all our strategies!"

"Hey, Colin, be more optimistic... I nearly beat him without Altiel and now I do have him. I can take him down for sure this time. Oh, and I'm aching for some revenge for that punch he landed on me..." Bradley growled, rubbing his sore cheek.

"Still, we have no idea about how much he's tweaked his style, his blade or maybe his bitbeast even! He knows for a fact that we haven't done any training since the qualifying tournament!"

"Well, I think we still stand a cha-"

"I'll fight him. I need to settle something." Leheung said calmly, stepping forward with a fiery determination glowing in his amber eyes. He unfolded his tense arms and smiled reassuringly at his surprised teammates.

"This is my battle, Bradley, Colin. I'm sorry, but I really have to defeat him."

Colin shook his head and sputtered, "Why?"

"Because I need to prove something to somebody... Prove that I'm better than him. Anyway, stay out of this, all right? I have to win this alone." The black-haired Chinese national pleaded, staring at his two hesitant teammates intently.

Bradley scratched the underside of his nose and shrugged. "Why the hell not? Anyway, we really do need to see you battle in the first place... Go kick that moron's ass." He grinned and clapped a hand on his elder friend's shoulder.

"Thanks, man! I won't let you down!" Leheung replied, grateful for the chance that they had given him.

Evan looked up from his work and watched his three teammates discuss battle tactics with amusement. Even though it was obvious they were amateurs, anyone could plainly see that these guys had the heart of winners and were determined to achieve something great... Evan winced suddenly, as another searing burst of red hot pain streaked through his mind. He held a hand to his forehead and shut his eyes in concentration.

'What the hell is happening to me?'

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End of Chapter

Heyaz! I'm updating kinda quickly, huh? I finally got rid of my mental block and am proceeding really smoothly with the writing bit now! Hope you guys enjoy!