It's Just For Fun, Right?
by Shadou-sama
Chapter 8 - Ritual of the Dark Phoenix

Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblade.

Kai switched on the TV. Yet again he needed to clear his mind of… thoughts. He pressed the 'random channel' button on his remote control, which switched to the provincial sports channel.

"Yesterday marked the Demolition Boys fourth tournament win," a newswoman said, smiling rather fakely. The square by her head showed the team logo, a spiked metal ball with fire coming up from behind. "This brand new team has already beaten many well known names in the IHS Beyblading circuit, including tag-team champions of Hieville Collegiate, Mariah Shian and Lee Koei, team Fire Blast of Dominion Technical School, and team Havoc Wreckers of Castlewell Collegiate. This brings them to a total of fourteen points in total, bringing them to the number one position in rank."

A rather stout young man replaced the woman. This time, the square showed Kai's team logo, a blue, gray and orange beyblade. "The Bladebreakers, also from Hieville Collegiate, is the only team to be able to rival the Demolition Boys, say the sport's experts, at least this early in the season. They have won both the tournaments they have competed in. Sadly for this team, that only brings them to six points, earning them only fourth.

"Concerning whether or not the two teams will meet soon in a tournament, we asked Demolition Boys' sponsor, Biovolt Corporation. Their spokesperson and CEO, Voltaire Hiwatari, said that his team is open to any challenge from the Bladebreakers team."

Wait… That was Kai's grandfather! Now he was double sure that the Demolition Boys and their teacher supervisor were up to no good.

The camera switched back to the woman. "In non related news, Balfour Collegiate's senior basketball team…"


Kenny sat by the cafeteria window, a blizzard storming outside. To some students, that meant early dismissal and a snow day the next day. Unfortunately, Hieville got a lot of snow and freezing temperatures so the town was well equipped to handle it. There hadn't been a snow day for over sixty-five years.

But Kenny wasn't thinking about the snowstorm. His attention was directed solely on Emily and Max, who sat a few tables away. All that giggling and feeding each other… didn't they realize they were in a public forum? Argh.

He will break them up if it's the last thing he did! But how?

"Well don't you just look deep."

He looked up to see Miriam sitting down diagonally from him.

"Oh hi," he said.

"We still on for tonight?"

He looked at her, a surprised expression. What…

"For our study date."

Oh yes, Miriam had asked him to help her with her physics. A loud laugh erupted from Max's and Emily's table. He looked from Miriam to Max, then back to her. He got an evil idea.

"Could you do me a favor?"


Kai leaned back in his chair, at one of the science lab tables. As if it could only be possible, Ms. Tate's lecture was more complicated and more boring than ever. Normally, he might have listened, and probably would understand it as well. He just didn't want to spare the energy.

He looked around the room. Mariah and Rei, who sat beside him at the lab table, were passing notes to one another. Kai mentally shuddered. What those two were writing about, he didn't want to know (he didn't like to admit that his own thoughts were probably worse). He quickly looked away.

Enrique sat in front of Kai, but for some strange reason, Enrique seemed to be paying attention. He was even reading the textbook! And he looked like he enjoyed it! Kai examined it further, and sighed. Nudie mag. That guy seriously needed to get a girlfriend. Oh right, the blonde airhead related to the black-haired airhead.

Oliver sat beside Enrique, doodling in his notebook. That's what he could do to pass the time till the stupid bell rang. Except, he'd never done that before. Maybe when he was little… He couldn't remember. He had a reason for not remembering, not that he remembered or anything.

He sat forward, and rested his pencil on the page. His eyes moved all the way across the room, landing on the four Demolition Boys. They were the only ones listening to Ms. Tate's lecture, though they did look rather bored with it.

His grandfather was financing their team. His own flesh and blood was in part responsible for Shadra's transformation. She hardly ever talked to any of her old group, even him, who she supposedly had a crush on. In fact, she never talked much to anyone except her teammates, who he now never saw her without. She hadn't even said anything when she walked by Enrique and Carly making out on the front lawn like rabbits. She was a lot quieter, disciplined (or dickaplined, he joked to himself), and punctual. She always got top grade on her schoolwork, although he never saw her do anything. The other Demolition Boys as well. Even her eyes looked different. Instead of their usual soft brown (which were often compared to that of a horse's), they steadily grew more red. They were almost the same shade as Kai's.

Rei passed the note back a little to hard, sending it past Mariah and nearly onto Kai's binder. She grabbed the note, then noticed the picture he was doodling. Kai was depicted kissing a girl with black hair and bangs like her boyfriends. She glanced at Kai, whose eyes were glossed over looking across the room. She followed his gaze. Kai had a crush on Shadra!

Mariah silently fumed. How could he like that… that… disgusting traitor! She desperately wanted to hit him over the head with her stool, but she held herself back. If he wanted to like that stupid moron, than he can. She'll just give him the silent treatment.

"Will you kids listen!" Ms. Tate suddenly exploded, shaking Kai and Mariah from their thoughts. "I know that this isn't the most exciting lesson, but you need to learn it. Shadra, who was the scientist who detected the first optical pulsar?"

"Jocelyn Bell."

"It's nice to see that one person was paying attention. But I feel a pop quiz coming on. Get out a sheet of loose leaf and close up your books."

Many groans and moans and 'not fair' were heard through out the room. Kai sighed. The one time he hadn't paid attention, and he would get a failing mark on one little quiz.

He looked down at his binder, his eyes immediately on his doodle. His eyes widened. He had subconsciously drawn Rei and him kissing! Right beside Rei's girlfriend! He snatched a clean paper out of his binder and closed the darn thing before anyone could see the picture.


Shadra stepped into the office, the automatic sliding door closing behind her. Boris sat opposite her, leaning his elbows onto the desk in front of him. She took a hesitant step forward. She had never been in his office before, and considered it a very bad thing to be visiting now. Her teammates' horror stories didn't help matters.

He stood up, walked to a wall. What the hell? Was this supposed to be some kind of… uh, booty call? He touched the wall with his hand, and slid open. Oh, it was a hidden door. He walked through it a couple steps, then stopped. "Follow me," Boris said, as if realizing that she didn't know what to do.

She leaped a couple of steps to catch up. Boris continued walking. This hallway was different from the rest of the base. Instead of cold sterile walls, it featured dark stone walls. Instead of smooth repetition, it looked like the hallway had been chipped out of the surrounding rock bed.

"For the past three months, ever since that tag-team tournament, you have never lost a match. Never in practice nor in competition."

She frowned. She knew that, and it wasn't like Boris to say any sort of compliments. Something was up.

"Even most bit-beast beyblades fall to your powerful blade. But most is not enough."

Shadra peered into the darkness ahead. A spotlight shone down upon something in the near distance. In took them a whole minute to reach it. The light shone down upon a black display, golden talons held onto the piece on display. Chains ran every which way, holding the piece still. She looked closer.

"It's a beyblade," she said, without even thinking. But it was true, the black and green object was a beyblade.

"Yes, but there's something special about it. Look closer."

She obeyed, and noticed the black phoenix etched onto the bit.

"Twelve years ago, Biovolt Corporation acquired this bit-beast. We studied it, and even though it had impressive results while launched from a bey-bot, it was little more than useless."

Then what was with the security? Shadra wondered.

"Before we disassembled our testing equipment, or removed it from our labs, a young boy who had been training with us at that time broke into our lab. He had seen testing and wished to test it out. We can only assume, seeing as how it destroyed half our facilities, and his memory up to that point."

Bet he didn't see that one coming, Shadra thought.

"He grew up to become a master of beyblade. So we changed our theory, and it tested true. The weaker the beyblader, the weaker the bit-beast is. But the stronger…"

"Then the Phoenix gets stronger."

Boris nodded. "You are one such beyblader."

"What? I'm not!"

"Just touch it."

"Huh?"

"Touch it, then decide whether you are worthy."

Shadra obeyed, her hand slow and shaking. A flash of anger rose through her. Why should she be afraid to? She firmly planted her fingers on the black attack ring.

Images flashed before her: A man, a black phoenix rising behind him destroying a village. A woman ordering the phoenix to destroy her husband. A blood-covered knight slicing his foes with a phoenix-engraved broadsword, a black aura emanating from the steel. A noble woman, wearing a black opal necklace raising a dagger to kill the king. The visions sped faster and faster, banging through her mind like a drum beat. Countless samurais falling to the curved sword of a rogue with the black phoenix flying overhead. A nobleman whipping his slaves to death. A teenager was shooting a Sheriff with a musket. They kept going and going. Then a vision of a blue and gray haired little boy, that broke into a hundred million tiny shards. She fell forward through the darkness.

Her environment appeared around her. She was on her knees, her one hand clutching the black beyblade. Her breath came in steady gasps.

"Will you claim this bit-beast as your own?" Boris asked.

She got to her feet; her head bowed and eyes shadowed. Her fingers never left the attack ring. All that pain… All that death… She smirked. "Yes."

Boris smiled and went to release Phoenix from it's cage.

All that victory…

"You are mine!"

The chains disengaged and flew back up to the ceiling. The talons' grasp lessened. She picked it up, bit facing up, holding it a foot from her face.

"Black Dranzer…"


Enrique stomped the snow off his boots at his house's front door, because doing that in the porch would be fruitless. Stupid Robert, he thought, taking off his coat which included a half-inch of snow. Making them train in the blizzard. Stupid Johnny, he thought, shaking out his school uniform jacket. Sticking a snowball down his shirt.

"Enrique honey, could you come in here a second?" his mother's voice called from the dining room. Enrique didn't know what to think about that. He couldn't hear his parents bickering. But he did as he was told.

"Sit down," his father said. Enrique did, and looked at his parents. They looked very serious.

"Now, son, you'll be surprised to hear this but I think your mother is a selfish bitch."

"And I think your father is a mother-fucking bastard who can't even remember to bring milk home on his way from work, even though he passes the supermarket."

Enrique sweat dropped. It wasn't a very good surprise, seeing as how they had yelled them from across the house and said other worse surprises.

"We really can't stand the sight of each other," his mother said.

"So we decided to get a divorce," his father said.

"It's important for you to know that we love you equally," his mother said, reaching across the table to grab his hands. "But I love you just a little bit more," she whispered. She sat back in her chair, and Enrique realized she had stuck a hard candy in his hands.

"So an cold impartial judge who doesn't even know anything about us will decide," his father said.

A divorce… Well, at least there wouldn't be anymore fighting. In the house, at least. They may even grow to respect each other when they're apart. Oh, who was he kidding? The next few months, even the next couple years will be hell for him.

To be continued...