Beyblade Underground
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"Now if you will sit, masters, I will fetch you beverages for the match."
The portly butler assigned to the Bladebreakers bowed before scurrying off. Kai sighed and shook his head in disapproval. He turned his head and focused his attention on the teams standing at the sides of the expansive dish at the center of the beyblading complex. The fully armored Majestics of Europe were facing down their similarly dressed counterparts, the Spartans. Much to the surprise of the Bladebreakers, a crowd had actually gathered from somewhere to watch the sport and were cheering for the Majestics', opponents, who seemed to be the favorites. High above the central audience area, the master of the entire operation stared down with his guests, whom the Bladebreakers recognized as the recently pardoned Voltaire and his cohort of scheming businessmen.
"No doubt my grandfather was invited because of me."
"Yeah... I guess someone like him must be involved in this." Ray replied blandly.
Kai looked at his sullen teammate. "Worried about the White Tigers' own match?"
Ray nodded and twiddled his thumbs in a depressed manner. "Their opponents are the undisputed champions of this place. I worry for all of them." Kai noticed the stress on the word 'all' and laughed mentally. The Russian boy folded his arms across his chest and stared appraisingly at the soon to start battle below him.
"Forget about it. Lee can handle this. You should focus on the battle here. The Spartans will be our opponents later today." Kai said reassuringly without even glancing at his comrade.
"Have you lost all hope of escaping to the point that you only care for the matches?" Ray asked a bit heatedly. Kai turned his head and stared calmly at Ray. "No."
He returned his attention to the starting game, where Enrique was steeling himself for a match against the brown-haired knight standing in front of him. For an instant, he felt a small voice in his head flash by and say, "Liar." He squirmed uncomfortably in his seat.
"Masters, I brought you the drinks. Shall I get anything else?"
Tyson immediately leapt up and snatched a glass from the aging man's tray before spouting a list he was compiling of his favorite foods. Kai shook his head and stared reprovingly at the glutton he had for a teammate. "Can you even finish what you ordered, Tyson?"
"Yeah! If we're stuck here, I might as well make the most of it-"
He began but was cut off as a siren sounded off inside the relatively large arena. The Bladebreakers' attention was once again focused on the dish and they saw both beybladers ready themselves for their match.
"Round One of the Majestics - Spartans match! Enrique versus Dayo!" Cheers at the latter's name.
"Beybladers ready? Let it riiiiip!!!"
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Under the Bladebreakers' intense gazes, Enrique grinned and launched his recently modified beyblade from his unique sword and shield launcher into the ancient ruins themed dish. In front of him, Dayo was spinning his twin swords over his head in a lethal duet. The Spartan shouted as he brought the two blades, one acting as the launcher and the other acting as the rip cord, down with tremendous force, releasing his own golden beyblade into the fray.
"I have better things to do today. Sorry!" The Spartan apologized before swirling his swords around with amazing precision and grace. "Hydryon, attack!"
Enrique laughed confidently as a black scaled, one-headed, serpentine dragon rose from the center of his russet-haired opponent's golden beyblade. "Haste makes waste, friend! You forget you are outnumbered!" The blonde European replied and held out his sword in front of him.
"Amphileon, bring down that pathetic excuse for a bitbeast!"
He commanded and his legendary two-headed bitbeast arose from the bit chip on his beyblade, which had replicated itself. Enrique's two-pronged attack came down hard on Dayo and forced the Spartan into a gradual retreat. The European smiled, satisfied, and looked up to see a similarly joyous expression plastered on his opponent's face. He raised an eyebrow and quickly focused on the match, only to find his twin beyblades surrounded by five of the golden knight's own.
"What's going on here? Amphileon, attack!" Enrique shouted, panicked. Dayo laughed in response.
"You think your bitbeast is so special? It surely must have been preceded by something, which, in this case, is my own, Hydryon! Watch this, Majestic!"
Amphileon roared in frustration as it snapped again and again at the vulnerable necks of the monstrous lizard in front of it, only to find that they multiplied with each fallen appendage. In a few short moments, three more snake-like trunks rose from the torso of the black, wingless dragon. As such, the beyblades pounding on Enrique's now helpless duo increased in number in as well.
The blonde Majestic gritted his teeth and wiped away a bead of sweat falling down his temple. He swept his arm back and commanded his blade to retreat from the startling offensive of his opponent. Dayo dismissed this cowardly tactic with a wave of his hand.
"A true warrior must never step back from a battle. Give your best or give nothing at all!"
He shouted and his beyblade army charged ahead, blowing away the stone ruins that were scattered around the dish into debris. They spun around in a confused, directionless manner, as if they expected to have found their elusive prey.
Enrique laughed and grinned at his own genius. "Who said I was retreating? Go Amphileon!"
The smoke was blown away as his two beyblades exploded onto the surface of the dish like missiles. The shockwave instantly sent the eight golden foes on the dish flying away damaged. His duo immediately scooted off to attack the stragglers with resounding force.
"I was not top four in Europe for nothing!"
He said happily as the battle began to go his way. Only 3 of his opponent's beyblade copies remained, spinning feebly at the edge. He guessed his own would be able to take on just three, weakened blades. Amphileon roared triumphantly before charging at the apparently crippled Hydryon before it. One sweep would cut off all the heads of the accursed bitbeast and bring victory to the feet of the Majestics.
"I hate to say it, but you presume too much. Legion attack!" Dayo replied calmly, shaking his head.
Six more serpentine necks sprouted from the base of Hydryon's chest, along with half a dozen more duplicates of Dayo's golden beyblades. The massive onslaught quickly derailed Enrique's plans, sending his beyblade and bitbeast flying over the edge of the destroyed arena.
A claxon screamed over head and the crowd stood up cheering for the victorious Spartan, who bowed and waved to the audience in response. The brown-haired winner picked up his gold helm and walked away from the dish. Enrique shook his head sadly and walked back up to his teammates, shattered beyblade in hand.
"Victory goes to Dayo and the Spartans! Next match, Leone versus Johnny!"
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Tyson gaped downwards, his jaw moving up and down stupidly. He shook his head and pointed excitedly at the Spartans who had just demolished Enrique soundly. Tyson recalled having quite some difficulty defeating the Majestic all those years ago and wondered what kind of power would be required to defeat him so easily and soundly.
"No way! Enrique was one of the top even with us around! How could that guy have beaten him without breaking a sweat? It was like his strategy covered everything Enrique could do!"
Max ran a hand through his own blonde hair and frowned nervously.
"And the line up says I have to go up against Dayo later! ARGH! What am I going to do?"
Kai stared at both of them calmly for a moment, quieting both of them. He then returned his attention to the next match and bowed his head.
"There was a point when he was confused... I just can't seem to form a strategy out of it though. Give me some time."
"Well, at this rate, we don't really have much time. Let's hope we get lucky and don't get eliminated!"
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Ray jogged down the exquisite wooden corridor and stepped out into a lush, tropical indoor garden. He held his breath for a moment as he took in all the beautiful sights and smells that were present, only to find himself staring at the most wonderful one of all.
"Mariah." He gasped and rushed up to her. He engulfed her in his embrace and playfully nuzzled her.
"Hey, Tiger! I missed you!" She replied and pressed her head against his. They continued their affectionate snuggling for another moment or two before pulling away and walking over to a small wooden bench in the center of the forest. Ray kissed Mariah on the cheek before wrapping his arm around her lithe frame and staring upwards. His heart sunk as he saw giant panes of glass instead of open sky, reminding him that he was still trapped inside the fortress.
"Hmm? What's wrong?" Mariah asked and dropped her head onto his shoulder.
"Ah... Nothing. So, how did your match go?"
She snorted in reply. "Terrible! We lost all three matches..." She made a pouting face.
"Same here! Kai's probably trying to drown himself in the showers." Ray held her closer in a consoling way. He bit his lip as he recalled his tense conversation with Kai earlier. His eyes involuntarily flicked to the glass panes above him.
"Something's bothering you..." She stared up at him, her eyes filled with concern.
"No! I'm just a bit tense because of our match. I didn't get a chance to battle..." He excused himself, flailing his arms up for added affect. Mariah laughed and drifted away to sleep on his lap. He breathed a sigh of relief and rolled his golden eyes to the heavens above. "That was close."
Above him, a tiny sparrow watched curiously, noting the loving way the two teenage captives interacted. The bird chirped contentedly and flew off to its master, who was observing the two from the shadows of another entrance to the garden. Wang the falconer smiled happily as the bird, perched on his shoulder, whispered the events that transpired to him. He nodded with a content smile on his face. The sparrow chirped agreeably before flapping its wings off into the garden once more.
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"Dayo, I have some news."
The brown-haired Spartan was cheerfully playing a card game against his shorter, similarly russet-haired teammate when Wang entered the room. The falconer had a somewhat paradoxical expression on his face, as he seemed to be quite happy yet at the same time bore dire news. Dayo slapped down his hand of cards and grinned triumphantly at his defeated comrade. He stood up and wiped some dirt off his neat red T-shirt.
"Hey, what's going on, Wang?" He asked in his usual cheery, friendly voice.
Wang gestured for him to follow and walked over to a darker portion of the hallway. Dayo shrugged and strolled casually after his long-time friend and confidant. The falconer stopped and begun to lean against the wall. "You told me that you were feeling something for that White Tiger girl."
"Yes. Nothing in our code of honor goes against that." Dayo replied confidently.
The falconer coughed and folded his arms across his chest. "Does it say anything against claiming another man's woman?" He stared back at his warrior friend, his eyes a mix of both friendly concern and seriousness.
"What are you saying, Wang?" Dayo's voice was now tinged with icy resentment.
"She is taken, Dayo. I told you before she and that Kon had eyes only for each other."
The Spartan immediately grabbed his friend's shoulders and pinned him even harder against the wall which he was leaning against. Wang fidgeted under his powerful grasp but kept his calm stare. He whistled and his pet falcon came flying down the hallway, landing quite near to Dayo.
"I can take you down, Dayo. No matter how much I don't want to."
Dayo sighed and released his friend from his anger-fueled grip. The falconer casually stretched his shoulders for a second, testing to see if they still worked right, and clapped a reassuring hand on his friend's own shoulder.
"I am your friend and you are my friend. Ray and Mariah are not married yet, Dayo, and you can still win her over. If worst comes to worst, you can defeat him in combat." Wang said and Dayo retreated slightly, leaning back against the opposite wall.
"Yes, but there is no guarantee..."
Wang smiled reassuringly.
"Trust me." His mouth twisted into an uncharacteristic feral grin. "She will be persuaded."
Wang patted his somewhat mollified friend on the shoulder and raised his gloved arm, summoning his bird of prey. The falcon landed deftly on the padded glove and stared coldly at Dayo as the two walked away. As soon as they were out of earshot, Wang stroked the back of his falcon's head and smiled contentedly.______________________________________________________________________________________
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End of Chapter
Thank you for all the reviews! I promise I'll put more R/M later...
The plot thickens!
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"Now if you will sit, masters, I will fetch you beverages for the match."
The portly butler assigned to the Bladebreakers bowed before scurrying off. Kai sighed and shook his head in disapproval. He turned his head and focused his attention on the teams standing at the sides of the expansive dish at the center of the beyblading complex. The fully armored Majestics of Europe were facing down their similarly dressed counterparts, the Spartans. Much to the surprise of the Bladebreakers, a crowd had actually gathered from somewhere to watch the sport and were cheering for the Majestics', opponents, who seemed to be the favorites. High above the central audience area, the master of the entire operation stared down with his guests, whom the Bladebreakers recognized as the recently pardoned Voltaire and his cohort of scheming businessmen.
"No doubt my grandfather was invited because of me."
"Yeah... I guess someone like him must be involved in this." Ray replied blandly.
Kai looked at his sullen teammate. "Worried about the White Tigers' own match?"
Ray nodded and twiddled his thumbs in a depressed manner. "Their opponents are the undisputed champions of this place. I worry for all of them." Kai noticed the stress on the word 'all' and laughed mentally. The Russian boy folded his arms across his chest and stared appraisingly at the soon to start battle below him.
"Forget about it. Lee can handle this. You should focus on the battle here. The Spartans will be our opponents later today." Kai said reassuringly without even glancing at his comrade.
"Have you lost all hope of escaping to the point that you only care for the matches?" Ray asked a bit heatedly. Kai turned his head and stared calmly at Ray. "No."
He returned his attention to the starting game, where Enrique was steeling himself for a match against the brown-haired knight standing in front of him. For an instant, he felt a small voice in his head flash by and say, "Liar." He squirmed uncomfortably in his seat.
"Masters, I brought you the drinks. Shall I get anything else?"
Tyson immediately leapt up and snatched a glass from the aging man's tray before spouting a list he was compiling of his favorite foods. Kai shook his head and stared reprovingly at the glutton he had for a teammate. "Can you even finish what you ordered, Tyson?"
"Yeah! If we're stuck here, I might as well make the most of it-"
He began but was cut off as a siren sounded off inside the relatively large arena. The Bladebreakers' attention was once again focused on the dish and they saw both beybladers ready themselves for their match.
"Round One of the Majestics - Spartans match! Enrique versus Dayo!" Cheers at the latter's name.
"Beybladers ready? Let it riiiiip!!!"
____________________________________
Under the Bladebreakers' intense gazes, Enrique grinned and launched his recently modified beyblade from his unique sword and shield launcher into the ancient ruins themed dish. In front of him, Dayo was spinning his twin swords over his head in a lethal duet. The Spartan shouted as he brought the two blades, one acting as the launcher and the other acting as the rip cord, down with tremendous force, releasing his own golden beyblade into the fray.
"I have better things to do today. Sorry!" The Spartan apologized before swirling his swords around with amazing precision and grace. "Hydryon, attack!"
Enrique laughed confidently as a black scaled, one-headed, serpentine dragon rose from the center of his russet-haired opponent's golden beyblade. "Haste makes waste, friend! You forget you are outnumbered!" The blonde European replied and held out his sword in front of him.
"Amphileon, bring down that pathetic excuse for a bitbeast!"
He commanded and his legendary two-headed bitbeast arose from the bit chip on his beyblade, which had replicated itself. Enrique's two-pronged attack came down hard on Dayo and forced the Spartan into a gradual retreat. The European smiled, satisfied, and looked up to see a similarly joyous expression plastered on his opponent's face. He raised an eyebrow and quickly focused on the match, only to find his twin beyblades surrounded by five of the golden knight's own.
"What's going on here? Amphileon, attack!" Enrique shouted, panicked. Dayo laughed in response.
"You think your bitbeast is so special? It surely must have been preceded by something, which, in this case, is my own, Hydryon! Watch this, Majestic!"
Amphileon roared in frustration as it snapped again and again at the vulnerable necks of the monstrous lizard in front of it, only to find that they multiplied with each fallen appendage. In a few short moments, three more snake-like trunks rose from the torso of the black, wingless dragon. As such, the beyblades pounding on Enrique's now helpless duo increased in number in as well.
The blonde Majestic gritted his teeth and wiped away a bead of sweat falling down his temple. He swept his arm back and commanded his blade to retreat from the startling offensive of his opponent. Dayo dismissed this cowardly tactic with a wave of his hand.
"A true warrior must never step back from a battle. Give your best or give nothing at all!"
He shouted and his beyblade army charged ahead, blowing away the stone ruins that were scattered around the dish into debris. They spun around in a confused, directionless manner, as if they expected to have found their elusive prey.
Enrique laughed and grinned at his own genius. "Who said I was retreating? Go Amphileon!"
The smoke was blown away as his two beyblades exploded onto the surface of the dish like missiles. The shockwave instantly sent the eight golden foes on the dish flying away damaged. His duo immediately scooted off to attack the stragglers with resounding force.
"I was not top four in Europe for nothing!"
He said happily as the battle began to go his way. Only 3 of his opponent's beyblade copies remained, spinning feebly at the edge. He guessed his own would be able to take on just three, weakened blades. Amphileon roared triumphantly before charging at the apparently crippled Hydryon before it. One sweep would cut off all the heads of the accursed bitbeast and bring victory to the feet of the Majestics.
"I hate to say it, but you presume too much. Legion attack!" Dayo replied calmly, shaking his head.
Six more serpentine necks sprouted from the base of Hydryon's chest, along with half a dozen more duplicates of Dayo's golden beyblades. The massive onslaught quickly derailed Enrique's plans, sending his beyblade and bitbeast flying over the edge of the destroyed arena.
A claxon screamed over head and the crowd stood up cheering for the victorious Spartan, who bowed and waved to the audience in response. The brown-haired winner picked up his gold helm and walked away from the dish. Enrique shook his head sadly and walked back up to his teammates, shattered beyblade in hand.
"Victory goes to Dayo and the Spartans! Next match, Leone versus Johnny!"
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Tyson gaped downwards, his jaw moving up and down stupidly. He shook his head and pointed excitedly at the Spartans who had just demolished Enrique soundly. Tyson recalled having quite some difficulty defeating the Majestic all those years ago and wondered what kind of power would be required to defeat him so easily and soundly.
"No way! Enrique was one of the top even with us around! How could that guy have beaten him without breaking a sweat? It was like his strategy covered everything Enrique could do!"
Max ran a hand through his own blonde hair and frowned nervously.
"And the line up says I have to go up against Dayo later! ARGH! What am I going to do?"
Kai stared at both of them calmly for a moment, quieting both of them. He then returned his attention to the next match and bowed his head.
"There was a point when he was confused... I just can't seem to form a strategy out of it though. Give me some time."
"Well, at this rate, we don't really have much time. Let's hope we get lucky and don't get eliminated!"
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Ray jogged down the exquisite wooden corridor and stepped out into a lush, tropical indoor garden. He held his breath for a moment as he took in all the beautiful sights and smells that were present, only to find himself staring at the most wonderful one of all.
"Mariah." He gasped and rushed up to her. He engulfed her in his embrace and playfully nuzzled her.
"Hey, Tiger! I missed you!" She replied and pressed her head against his. They continued their affectionate snuggling for another moment or two before pulling away and walking over to a small wooden bench in the center of the forest. Ray kissed Mariah on the cheek before wrapping his arm around her lithe frame and staring upwards. His heart sunk as he saw giant panes of glass instead of open sky, reminding him that he was still trapped inside the fortress.
"Hmm? What's wrong?" Mariah asked and dropped her head onto his shoulder.
"Ah... Nothing. So, how did your match go?"
She snorted in reply. "Terrible! We lost all three matches..." She made a pouting face.
"Same here! Kai's probably trying to drown himself in the showers." Ray held her closer in a consoling way. He bit his lip as he recalled his tense conversation with Kai earlier. His eyes involuntarily flicked to the glass panes above him.
"Something's bothering you..." She stared up at him, her eyes filled with concern.
"No! I'm just a bit tense because of our match. I didn't get a chance to battle..." He excused himself, flailing his arms up for added affect. Mariah laughed and drifted away to sleep on his lap. He breathed a sigh of relief and rolled his golden eyes to the heavens above. "That was close."
Above him, a tiny sparrow watched curiously, noting the loving way the two teenage captives interacted. The bird chirped contentedly and flew off to its master, who was observing the two from the shadows of another entrance to the garden. Wang the falconer smiled happily as the bird, perched on his shoulder, whispered the events that transpired to him. He nodded with a content smile on his face. The sparrow chirped agreeably before flapping its wings off into the garden once more.
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"Dayo, I have some news."
The brown-haired Spartan was cheerfully playing a card game against his shorter, similarly russet-haired teammate when Wang entered the room. The falconer had a somewhat paradoxical expression on his face, as he seemed to be quite happy yet at the same time bore dire news. Dayo slapped down his hand of cards and grinned triumphantly at his defeated comrade. He stood up and wiped some dirt off his neat red T-shirt.
"Hey, what's going on, Wang?" He asked in his usual cheery, friendly voice.
Wang gestured for him to follow and walked over to a darker portion of the hallway. Dayo shrugged and strolled casually after his long-time friend and confidant. The falconer stopped and begun to lean against the wall. "You told me that you were feeling something for that White Tiger girl."
"Yes. Nothing in our code of honor goes against that." Dayo replied confidently.
The falconer coughed and folded his arms across his chest. "Does it say anything against claiming another man's woman?" He stared back at his warrior friend, his eyes a mix of both friendly concern and seriousness.
"What are you saying, Wang?" Dayo's voice was now tinged with icy resentment.
"She is taken, Dayo. I told you before she and that Kon had eyes only for each other."
The Spartan immediately grabbed his friend's shoulders and pinned him even harder against the wall which he was leaning against. Wang fidgeted under his powerful grasp but kept his calm stare. He whistled and his pet falcon came flying down the hallway, landing quite near to Dayo.
"I can take you down, Dayo. No matter how much I don't want to."
Dayo sighed and released his friend from his anger-fueled grip. The falconer casually stretched his shoulders for a second, testing to see if they still worked right, and clapped a reassuring hand on his friend's own shoulder.
"I am your friend and you are my friend. Ray and Mariah are not married yet, Dayo, and you can still win her over. If worst comes to worst, you can defeat him in combat." Wang said and Dayo retreated slightly, leaning back against the opposite wall.
"Yes, but there is no guarantee..."
Wang smiled reassuringly.
"Trust me." His mouth twisted into an uncharacteristic feral grin. "She will be persuaded."
Wang patted his somewhat mollified friend on the shoulder and raised his gloved arm, summoning his bird of prey. The falcon landed deftly on the padded glove and stared coldly at Dayo as the two walked away. As soon as they were out of earshot, Wang stroked the back of his falcon's head and smiled contentedly.______________________________________________________________________________________
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End of Chapter
Thank you for all the reviews! I promise I'll put more R/M later...
The plot thickens!