It's Just For Fun, Right?
by Shadou-sama
Chapter 15 - Don't Even Have to Ask

Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblade.

The IHS Beyblade Circuit Championship. All the teams of Hieville Collegiate waited in the pressroom of Wikka Stadium, the stadium in Capital City and where the Finals were being held. The three competing teams sat seriously being a long table, joined by Team M, the teacher advisors, and the Circuit's organizers. The rest were the other Hieville students and a crowd of press, who sat in the audience seats opposite the long table.

A gray peppered-haired man stood up in his blue-gray suit. Automatically, a projector lit up the screen behind him with a tournament pyramid, except that it was blank.

"We have randomly selected the matches between teams," the man announced. "In tier one, the Bladebreakers," their team logo appeared in the first slot, "Will be facing Team M," he said as their team logo, an 'M' and a rose, appeared in the corresponding place.

Kai closed his eyes and crossed his arms. He would've rather faced the Demolition Boys first.

"In tier two, the Demolition Boys," their logo appeared in the third slot, "versus the Majestics." The team logo, a purple medieval armor helmet, appeared.

Robert reflected on this. The Bladebreakers' had told him of the 'D-Boys',' as Kai had taken to calling them, skills. He glanced over at Enrique and Oliver. They looked pumped to face their ex-friend, and take revenge for her ditching them. This certainly would be an interesting match.


The first match, and the Bladebreakers were psyched. So were the fans. After this match, if they won (and they sincerely hoped they won), the Bladebreakers would be in prime position to take on the D-Boys.

"On this side of the dish is Max from the Bladebreakers!" Pause for the wild applause. "Competing against him will be Yuki of Team M!"

The blonde beyblader stepped up onto the beydish platform, waving to the audience, who were going crazy with the cheering. Max looked across the beydish at a pink-streaked black-haired… boy?

"Isn't Yuki a girl's name?" Max asked.

Yuki, who didn't look too cheerful to begin with, darkened. "Yukino, that's my name. Then my idiot team captain," he pointed over his shoulder to a sandy haired girl, "signed me down as Yuki."

All right, then, Max thought. This guy wasn't the funnest guy he had ever faced.

"Are you ready?" the referee called. The two bladers nodded from their launch position. "Three! Two! One! Let it rip!"

The two launched their beyblades.

"If you turn your attention to the jumbo screen, ladies and gentleman, and you'll see their Rotation Per Minute rates on their launches!"

Max looked up against his better judgement. But the curiosity was killing him. He'd never heard of such technology. He clocked in at an even 4000, while Yuki had 4180.

Yuki's yellow beyblade smashed into Max's green. Max looked back down to see Draciel wobble. Yuki grinned.

"You should really pay more attention to the beybattle than some stupid stats, Maxie-boy," Yuki sneered.

Max gritted his teeth, knowing that Yuki was one hundred percent right, while Draciel evened out. That had been a close one. He couldn't afford another distraction. The yellow beyblade again tried to deal some damage, but this time Max was ready.

"Draciel, Metal Ball Defense!"

The attacker slowed visibly. A purple wave shield surrounding Draciel, bouncing the yellow beyblade off like a Mexican jumping bean.

"Now, Max! Hit him!" Tyson yelled from the dug out.

Max nodded. "Go, Draciel!" His green beyblade spun against Yuki's, knocking it against the dish wall. The yellow beyblade collapsed in a heap, finished.

"And the winner of the first beybattle is Max!" the referee called. "The score is one to nothing in favor of the Bladebreakers! One more win and they'll be heading to the final round of the Finals!"

Max retreated to his team's dug out, beaming proudly. He passed Rei, who was walking out to the platform for his beybattle.

"Good job," Rei said with a grin.

"Thanks." Max didn't think he'd stop smiling anytime soon. "Good luck!"

Up on the ref's platform, DJ Jazzman announced, "Next to beybattle is Rei of the Bladebreakers versus Iayah of Team M!"

Rei stepped up to meet a flame-haired girl. And flame-haired wasn't a metaphor. It stuck right up in flame-like wisps, except for the low ponytail at the nape of her neck. The main color was red, but you could see yellow and orange locks all through it, making it look even more like fire. He was going to take a wild guess and say that her element was fire.

"Ready?" the referee called, but the question was redundant for he immediately continued without any answer. "Three! Two! One! Let it rip!"

She launched her red beyblade and he his white one. Rei didn't make the mistake of looking up at the RPMs, preferring to keep his focus on the beybattle. But his teammates (and enemies) looked to find that the scores were even more impressive: 4399 for Rei, with 4378 for Iayah.

The two beyblades circled, as was the popular opening move.

"Driger!" Rei called, and the white tiger spun faster, catching up with the red beyblade. Driger lashed out at it. Iayah's beyblade swung into the vertex at the hit, but regained its composure enough to return the blow. Rei repeated the attack, which Iayah copied, on and on and on.

"Come on, Rei," Tyson muttered, standing with his hands in fists before the bench. "She's just a mimic. But you've got the real thing."

Kenny typed furiously on his laptop. He moaned in frustration. "I can't find anything on her!"

"What?" Tyson exclaimed, turning around. Kai and Max's eyes were also on him.

"You said you had found data on all the competition," Kai said, his eyes narrowing.

"Oh wait, here," Kenny said with relief, pulling up a document. "This is her rookie year, and for the entire season she was the substitute."

Max glanced back to the beybattle and to Team M. He smiled faded into a frown. "Then why change now?"

"So we wouldn't have any information about her," Kai said, leaning back onto the cement wall, his arms crossed.

"No info, no strategy," Kenny said.

"It doesn't matter!" Tyson argued. "Rei's a master beyblader! He'll figure out a way!" He hoped so.

"Driger, tiger claw!" Rei ordered from the platform. This little exchange had gone on long enough.

"Spiral Survivor!" Iayah called. A tornado of flame spun up around her beyblade, successfully blocking the attack.

Rei gasped, as did his teammates.

"That's your move, Kai," Max said, staring at the dish in disbelief. Man, what he would give to have been able to keep that smile.

"Then Rei should know how to defeat it."

The flames disapated, and before Rei could even blink, the red beyblade had sent Driger flying. It landed a few feet away from the dish.

"And the winner is Iayah!" the referee announced, throwing up his free hand. "That brings the score to a tie! Either of these teams could be going onto the finals! Isn't this exciting?"

Rei walked sullenly back to his team. "Sorry guys," he said, his gaze downcast.

"Don't worry about it," Tyson said, his expression cheerful as his voice. "That always happens to all of us. The important thing to remember is—"

"Tyson is our last hope," Kai interrupted, his voice gruff. With only one beybattle to decide their fate... Maybe he should… No, Tyson could pull it off. That stubborn piggy beyblader always managed to pull off a win when they needed it.

"Uh, I was going to say that that's what teammates are for," Tyson voiced. "But I guess that's the same thing."

"Our last and tie-breaking match is between Tyson of the Bladebreakers and team captain Holly of Team M!"

"Oh, crap!" Tyson rushed to the platform to find his sand-haired opponent already there. She was on time. She stood there, her posture confident and her launcher already loaded.

"Three! Two! One!" DJ Jazzman called, foregoing the 'ready' part as he wasn't getting paid by the word.

"Go, Dragoon Evolution!" Tyson yelled as the two launched, Tyson clocking in at 4603 while Holly managed a 4602. Amazingly close, Kai thought. It should be very interesting.

I've been fighting every night and day
Gotta do my best to put you away

Instead of circling, Holly's yellow beyblade went straight for Dragoon. Tyson, unprepared, only managed to swerve enough to only clip the other beyblade. Phew.

Tyson then grinned, and sent his dragon back at her orange beyblade and took a hit on her.

Get the psycho self; get ready to play
If you ever want to make it

The two beyblades sawed on each other before the orange beyblade broke away to escape along the edge of the beydish. Dragoon followed, and pushed her, trying to nudge it over the edge. Instead, the orange beyblade slowed and Dragoon was almost the one to take the tumble.

You think you're gonna run me up against the wall
Then let it rip, get ready to fall!

Tyson, realizing that the edge wasn't the safest place to be, retreated his beyblade to the center. Holly sped her beyblade up again and smashed into Dragoon. Unfortunately for her, the dragon was in the right place for his attack.

"Now, Dragoon! Phantom Evolution Hurricane!"

You're never gonna take me down
Better watch your back, I'm the best in town

Hurricane force winds swept around Dragoon's attack ring, picking up the orange beyblade in the wind and tossed it up to the ceiling. Tyson could practically taste the victory. The winds died down, and Holly's blade began its dissent. The audience waited with baited breath.

"No!" Holly cried out. "Golden Wing Attack!"

Ever a-spinning round
You'll never stop me

Two owl wings sprouted in gold energy, slowing the beyblade's fall and redirecting it to fall inside the dish. A foot above the ground, the wings disappeared, leaving the orange beyblade to crash onto Dragoon's bit. It bounced intentionally, forcing Dragoon to wobble.

"Tyson!" Max called out from the sidelines. "It's risky, but try a counter-spin!"

"Thanks, Max!" Tyson called back, grinning. "Dragoon, you heard him! Counter-spin!"

I got one foot off the ground
With my beyblade, my beyblade beatin'

The white beyblade complied, slowing its spin down to a complete stop. Tyson concentrated with all his might into making Dragoon spin again. The risk paid off as the dragon regained its original speed in the opposite direction. Holly's unbalanced beyblade went flying off.

You'll never stop me
You'll never take me down

"Dragoon Evolution! Final Attack!"

One last direct hit and the orange beyblade went flying out of the dish.

"Waa-hoo! The Bladebreakers are heading to the final round of the Championship!" DJ Jazzman announced as the fans went wild with applause and catcalls.

Rei, Max and Kenny ran up to Tyson, smiling and laughing and congratulating. Kai would have joined except that a certain redhead had tackled him to the ground and was currently straddling him. His teammates turned around.

"Can I have your autograph, Kai?" Iayah asked, her eyes all bubbly. "I'm your number one fan!"

Both teams sweat dropped.

"If you get off of me," he said. Iayah obliged, waiting from him to get up before she held out a black and white picture of him. Where exactly she had got it from, Kai had no idea, but at least the mystery of why she had used Kai's Spiral Survivor was solved.

Holly turned to Tyson, her expression dead serious. "Could you do us a favor?"

"Uh… sure," Tyson answered.

"Win the Finals, kay? 'Cause it would be humiliating to lose to a loser," Holly said.

Tyson grinned, and clapped her on the back, making her eyes bug. "You don't have to ask us twice."

To be continued...