Author's Note: Whee, second match. Just a note, I call Toni Hikaru LaVelle "Toni Hikaru" instead of just "Toni" because it sounds like Tani ^_^;;
Ah yes, and I have some backwards little plan in my mind right now. I'm going to make Deadly Nightshade a manga! And I hope all the people that submitted characters are okay with that o_o; If not, then review, or e-mail me, or whatever.
And yeah, hope that's all I had to say. Enjoy! (It's long!)
Disclaimer: Okay, I'm going to totally correctly phrase the disclaimer. Since I've written two different disclaimers in the last two chapters XD; Rhia and Ebonite are of my design and belong to me. Athena belongs to my friend Leisha (252601). Nocturna, though, in a way, belongs to Leish, but was designed by me so it's some sort of split ownership o_O; Tani and Ikira belong to my friend Caitlin (53736), I just slightly altered their design, that's it. And the other OCs in this fic belong to the people mentioned in the previous chapter XD; And I don't own Beyblade in general. Holy crap that was long.
Disclaimer Part Two (Because I can.): Toni Hikaru LaVelle is property of Bread 'N' Butter (284996). Kathy Hwang is property of Beyblade-Luver (445574). Kailie Roshi belongs to Jingle Bells (365730). And Celestial Magi belongs to Morgana Magi Lady of Light (281418).
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Deadly Nightshade
Chapter Seven
Palisade Guardians: Part 1
Bag by bag she searched. A thin sheet of paper clasped in her left hand. Her cerulean eyes scanned every square inch. She would find it.
"I'll get you…"
"Athena, don't bother. Just forget about it," Tani spoke, her eyes locked on the TV, which was playing some of the other battles from the day before.
Rhia walked in, clad in just her hoodie and a pair of boxers. She yawned before speaking, "Athena, what are you doing?"
The braid-haired girl stopped her frantic searching, "Spider. Trying to kill it."
The sleepy girl's eyes widened in shock, "I'm NOT going to watch this." She ran to the other end of the room, flopping down on a couch as Athena swiftly walked towards the bathroom.
Tani laughed, her violet and black hair untied, laying over her shoulders, "It's only a spider, Rhia!"
"They're gross and creepy," she narrowed her eyes at the screen, watching an orange Beyblade whacking against a blue one, releasing a large shower of sparks with each hit.
Athena came back from the hallway, the sound of a flushing toilet was heard. "Speaking of creepy…" she dusted off her hands, apparently the spider was taken care of, "Rhia, what's with that unusual attitude you took on during your battle?"
Rhia looked at her with a puzzled expression.
"Yeah. You were rather…" Tani turned away from the television, "evil-seeming, and your pupils were all tiny. It was like the battle we had on the roof of that hotel."
"I have no idea what you guys are talking about." The red-banged girl's expression seemed to be locked in 'confused'. "Sure, I get wrapped up in the battle, but it can't be that bad…"
Flopping down beside Tani, Athena sighed, "It's not that it's 'that bad', but let's just say, you get kinda…insane. Well, more so than usual."
"Hey, I'm not that insane!" Rhia called out in protest, snapping out of her confusion wave. Athena smirked a response.
"Rhi, seriously. You do change. It's like you're a whole other person. Well, almost. There's still some Rhia in you." Tani was staring at the floor, her eyes thoughtful.
Rhia looked at her team mates, "This is like the time I was with Tala. The first day of training, I sent out Ebonite, and got all wrapped up. Next thing I know, I'm on the ground, face to face with the red head, being questioned rather rudely about what had happened…"
The black haired girl snickered, "He was on top of you?"
Pulling her hood off of her head, Rhia looked confused again, "Yeah…?"
Both team mates laughed. It took about a minute for Rhia to register what they found so amusing. A slight blush crept over her face.
"Haha, I get it…But no, seriously now…"
Athena cleared her throat, "Okay, if you really have no clue, then I'll go rent out a video camera for the match so you can see what we're talking about."
Rhia nodded, "Alright."
"Now come on!" Tani stood, tying up her hair, "Let's get some breakfast. The restaurant's just downstairs!"
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The main lobby was full once more, but not as much as it had been the previous day. The tiled floors weren't covered in obstructing feet that would trip the Nightshades every chance they got. Tournament officials were running in and out of the arena doors, trying to finish setting up before the matches started at noon. Tani was sitting cross legged under the large tournament sign, so as not to be in the way. Her bandaged arms were clutching her stomach.
"Ugh…I ate too much too fast…mad…stomach…pains…"
Rhia, who was laying on the ground beside her chuckled lightly, "Note to Tani: Don't eat so fast."
Tani opened one of her eyes to glare at Rhia, "You could've told me BEFORE I piled on all those eggs."
Athena was standing in front of the versus board, her head tilted upwards but her eyes watched her two teammates, sitting on the cold, dirty ground. Occasionally her eyes would impatiently dart back to the board. "You'd think they'd update it right after the match, but noooo, they wait until an hour before it all starts to do so."
Just as she finished speaking, two small icons flashed up in the branches leading from two battles; The Nightshades little spirit logo, and a golden castle with tall, pointed towers. The other icons flashed into place. Like before, small text slid into place beneath the two Icons: Nightshades vs. Palisade Guardians.
"About damn time…"
Tani looked up, finally letting go of her abdomen. "I take it they've finally set up the versus status?"
The dark-haired brunette looked downwards, "Yeah. And guess what girls? We're up first again."
Way down near the floor Rhia sighed, "Goddamn.."
"We're against the Palisade Guardians, whoever they are…" Tani had gotten to her feet, and was observing the board along with Athena.
"That would be us." a voice sounded from somewhere to the right of the Nightshades. All three girls turned to find four others standing by them. The one who had spoken seemed to be the captain, as she stood with an almost controlling stance. Her beady, and unusually dark eyes bore into those of Athena. The white dog with the black spiky collar and eye patch contrasted with the red of her strap-sleeved shirt as the words "Born To Be Bad" were clearly visible. The other three girls stood behind her in a lopsided triangle.
The one closest to the assumed captain looked over the other two Nightshades with her amber eyes. Rhia was now off the ground, standing by Athena. The girl wore a crimson tank top with flame patterns around the base, with a see-through shirt over top. A crystal pendant hung around her neck, and a crystal bracelet was wrapped around her wrist.
A bit to the left of the first girl was one with wild, spiky red hair. Only one of her eyes was visible, the other was hidden by a slanted, brown headband. The visible green eye was moving from one Nightshade to the next. Her shirt's sleeves ended midway down her upper arm.
The final and fourth girl stood farther back from the other three, arms crossed over her black shirt. Visibly the tallest, she was actually taller than Rhia. She wore all black. Black pants, black boots, black wrist sheaths, whatever it was, it was black. Same with her hair. It was down to her ankles, but cornrolled halfway. But the eeriest part of her were her eyes. They were narrow, solid black, and made it look like she was a tad insane. She also wore black eyeliner, Egyptian style.
Rhia's eyes quickly darted from each member of the team, but lingered on the girl in black, man she was creepy, "So I guess you are. Either way, we'll be seeing you in an hour or so." With that, she grinned slightly and walked off, the other two Nightshades shrugged and followed their own captain towards the change room. There really was no need for a change room in a Beyblade event.
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The arena was filled with bright halogen lights, each and every one of them pointed down at the large Beyblade dish centered on the ground. It's slick red surface glinted beneath the bulbs. It was loud inside the cavernous area, the people in the audience were chatting amongst themselves, excited about the upcoming match. They all hushed as the announcer walked out onto his platform to begin announcing the match.
"Welcome everyone to the second set of the England tournament!" A loud applause rang through the crowd. "This match will be sure to amaze you, as the two teams' previous matches have probably already done! Please welcome the two competing teams; The Palisade Guardians and the Nightshades!"
The clapping was heard from all sides as the two groups walked in from opposite ends of the arena. The girl with the red spiky hair, and the one with the flame-patterned tank top were flipping a coin, apparently seeing which of them would play. The coin landed and the spiky haired girl slumped slightly, as the other one grinned. Flickering to life, the large display monitor displayed the standings between the two teams. The first match was between Tani and Kathy Hwang, the girl with the flame tank top. Her black hair, streaked with red, was laying over her face in the photo that popped up.
Second round: Rhia versus Toni Hikaru LaVelle, the captain of the Palisade Guardians, who stared down at the crowd. The photo only showed the top part of her dark brown, very short hair. The back was left long, and was braided down to her knees.
The final round was between Athena and that creepy girl, Celestial Magi. Both girls had the same dark expression set upon their faces, full of determination.
"Alright gang, let's get this party started! First up, let's give a huge round of applause for Kathy Hwang and Tani Yamaka!" And thus the audience did what he said, and applauded the two competitors. Both girls stepped up to the dish, loaded launchers in hand.
Tani was ready for anything that may surprise her; she didn't want to be made a fool of. Kathy had her face set in a unwavering expression.
"Ready? Three!" Kathy raised her black and red launcher, "Two!" Tani raised her purple one, "One! LET IT RIIIP!"
Black with red blurs, purple with black blurs. Kathy's Blade and Ikira hit the floor of the dish at the same time, and proceeded to circle around the perimeter.
"I am NOT going down as easily as I did before," Tani's fists were already clenched, "Ikira! Rise from the depths and prepare to attack!" At her command, the large black dog-demon emerged from the center of the purple Beyblade, her demon wings stretched to their full length. Once she was entirely out, she released a desolate, rumbling howl that hovered in the air a few seconds after it was emitted.
Kathy looked up at the Bitbeast that now floated above the stadium, her gaze returned to Tani and she grinned, "Two can play at that game, you know. Volcano! Awaken!" This time, the black and red Beyblade let out the glow. The light formed a shape within. A shape surrounded by an inferno. The creature was a yellow-orange horse, with bright flames over its mane and feet. Large, white angel wings adorned its back, wings which were surrounded by even more flames. And to add to the blaze of the horse, its tail was tipped with fire.
The Bitbeast of course, did not go unnoticed. Ikira glared at it, her slitted eyes reflected its form. The brightness of Volcano dulled down Ikira's dark, mat fur, in which the scars from her battle with Ebonite were still visible.
"Now! Let's take the first move! Volcano, Fire Spin!" There was a slight wind that swirled around the stadium, which made Kathy's baggy blue jeans flutter slightly as she yelled out the command.
Volcano reared up, neighing loudly. It ran around Ikira a bit, then blasted a stream of extremely hot fire at Ikira. The demon's eyes widened as it tried to mode out of the way, but the flames caught the end of her tail, setting it aflame. Ikira roared out in a slightly muffled manner, and flew down towards the ground. Once there, she whacked her tail against the concrete repeatedly, slowly putting out the painful fire. The flaming horse was circling overhead, an amused expression on it's long face.
Tani bit her tongue, luckily that 'slight' singe hadn't affected her directly. "We can't afford to fool around in this match." Her purple eyes locked on Kathy. With her pointer finger pointed into the air at her Bitbeast, she yelled out her order, "DEVIL'S CLAW!!"
Ashes covering her tail, Ikira flapped her wings, the look of evil clearly visible on her face. Volcano wasn't blind, and saw her coming. Thus the horse backed up slightly as Ikira flew upwards. But her ash-covered tail smacked Volcano in the side of the face, which provided the split second of a distraction that the canine needed in order to alter her course, smashing her foot claws down onto the mare's skull with a loud thwacking sound. Volcano neighed in protest. Ikira swiftly latched herself onto the front of the horse, narrowly avoiding the flames of its wings. Her main claws were now surrounded by a thick, black fog, and by now, the tips were digging into the muscled neck of Volcano.
Kathy stepped back slightly, "Oh no…Volcano! Shake her off!"
Down on the ground, inside the dish, Tani's blade had begun to grind into Kathy's. A large, bright shower of sparks was erupting as the two attack rings clashed.
"It's near impossible to shake Ikira off once she's gotten into the attack!" And it was rather visible that the black-haired girl was right, Ikira's claws were almost entirely sunken within the horse's neck, the fog clinging to it's yellow-orange fur. Volcano was neighing shrilly in protest, "And that fog is like poison. It'll wear away at your Bitbeast until it has no energy left!" Tani lifted her head and laughed loudly.
Kathy had her hand clasped to her neck, a look of terror upon her face. She moved her hand and a drop of blood leaked down to her collarbone. "What…what is this?"
Tani looked at the blood with mild interest, "It's a link between you and your Bitbeast. I'm surprised you haven't encountered it before."
"This has something to do with YOU!" Kathy glared at the taller girl, enraged, "Things like these aren't supposed to happen!"
Athena was standing by the team bench, listening in to the conversation, "But they do. It's not a common thing, but once a person with the link is in a battle, the other suddenly becomes linked with their own Bitbeast as well."
Kathy's gaze now switched to Athena, "Does that mean I'm being poisoned as well!?"
Athena's crystal blue eyes opened and looked right back at the brown haired girl, "No."
"Good…but that doesn't mean that I'll allow my Bitbeast to be tainted by some black fog! Volcano! Resist! Burn her off if you have to!"
The horse's eyes had become tired and lifeless during the girls' conversation, but snapped back to life upon her Blader's command. The flames over it's body swirled more intensely, and burst outward, once more burning Ikira. The dog-demon released an oddly high pitched howl as all four of her legs were set aflame. She immediately released her grip upon the equine's neck and plummeted towards the ground, thick black fog trailing from her front claws. She landed with a noisy crash which kicked up rubble and dust.
Tani screamed, but no injuries were directly visible on her skin. Obviously, the burns on Ikira had affected her nerves. The crash didn't do much to help either, for now Tani's left shoulder had emitted a slight crack, as she was forced down onto her knees. "Damnit…Damn you Kathy!"
But Tani's opponent wasn't listening to the complaints, her amber eyes had light flames flickering within. "Volcano! Finish off that dog! DIVE BOMB!"
The yellow-orange horse flapped it's great feathered wings slowly, it was still poisoned from Ikira's attack. But poison had no effect on the force of gravity. Stretching out its wings to steady itself, Volcano began to swoop down towards Ikira, its flames glowing brightly around it. Ikira had been looking up at the horse, watching it's movements with an expression of disillusion. She barely had time to duck as the horse, now in the form of a rather large fireball, shot by. The heat was incredible.
"Ikira…" Tani's forehead was dripping with sweat, as a heavy burning feeling shot through her back and spine. When the disruption from the intense heat had passed, Ikira was sprawled out over the rubble, her wings nearly destroyed. In the dish, Kathy's Blade had just completed a super-fast smash attack, and the purple Blade was moving visibly slower.
"I knew this match was going to be mine from the minute it started…Volcano! Prepare to finish the match!"
But as the stallion rose upwards slowly, re-igniting its flames, Ikira slowly opened one eye. Her thin pupil expanded, then shrunk, focusing on the bright figure meters and meters above it.
"This won't be so easy for you…" Tani was breathing heavily, fire was not a good element to be attacked with, "Ikira…Black Fire."
Her wings were useless, charred almost to the bone, the membranes burned away. Ikira couldn't attack from the air like she was accustomed to. But this Bitbeast just wouldn't give. For once, Ikira had to perform her blazing attack another way. Kathy was looking up at the flaming horse, a smug expression plastered over her face.
The demon, still partially covered by rubble slightly opened her jaws, pale, dark plum-colored flames twisting and forming from the depths of her throat. She raised her head, the bones in her neck bending painfully, and opened her mouth, directly facing the stallion. The shady flames were licking at Ikira's white teeth. What happened next took about a second.
The fire had burst forth, forcing itself upon the air in front of the canine demon, creating a thick outburst of inferno. Katie had noticed this, the smug expression now wiped from her face, but had no time to react as the flames regained their composure and shot at Volcano in a thick column of ebony fire.
"VOLCANO! NO!" The bright orange flames had now been replaced with the pale black ones of Ikira. With the lack of protection of its own fire, the large horse was now burning piteously in a hellish inferno, courtesy of Ikira. Seemingly slowly, it plummeted towards the ground. Kicking up a blast of dirt, rubble, and fire.
Tani's deep purple Beyblade had shot at Kathy's black one, then proceeded to repeatedly grind against it with all its strength. As Volcano fizzled out and returned into the center of the Blade, it stopped spinning and lay on its side, perfectly still. Within seconds, the giant figure of Ikira slumped forward, emitting a sigh which sounded as if it were mixed with a low growl. She too separated, into a dark purple light, and returned to her Beyblade, which promptly gave out next to its opponent.
Kathy stared at the finished battle in shock, sweat dripping down her face. Her knees weakened and she landed on them. Hard. "Volcano…"
With a slight clink, Tani lifted Ikira and Volcano from the floor of the dish, and climbed out on Kathy's side. The red-and-black haired girl had gotten up, and both seemed to have a slight difficulty standing. Tani handed over Kathy's Beyblade, a slight smile on her face.
"Well done, Kathy. That was quite the challenge there!" She held out a hand.
Kathy looked up at her, "Thanks!" She accepted the handshake.
"Let's give it up for Tani Yamaka, winner of the first set!" The crowd was applauding even before the announcer had completed his sentence. "The battle between Toni Hikaru LaVelle and Rhia Kotowska will begin in ten minutes!"
The rest of the Palisade Guardians welcomed their teammate back with high fives and hugs, well, two of them did.
"I'm sorry I lost guys, I tried my best." Kathy looked over at the girl with red spiked hair, "I bet you would've done a better job, Kailie."
Kailie laughed, "Who knows!"
Hikaru fished her silver and white Beyblade from her pocket, "Don't worry about your loss, Kat! I'll avenge it for you." Both girls grinned.
Over at the Nightshade's side Tani had flopped down on the wooden bench. Athena was looking over at her with a smirk. "Not bad, Ton! Sure made up for your previous shenanigan."
Tani glared over at Athena, though she was smiling, "Shut up Athena." she then turned her head to the other side, towards Rhia, "You ready?"
Rhia laughed in a sigh-esque manner, "I hope so. What you guys told me is still distracting me a bit, but I've shoved it out of my mind for the time being."
"Good to hear." Athena went back to facing the Beyblade dish, which was now being replaced with a blue one. The previous battle had caused a 'bit' of damage.
A few minutes later the announcer's voice rang out again, "Alright! Time to get the second set of this match started! Please, give it up for the two captains, Toni Hikaru and Rhia!" A wave of clapping surrounded the two girls as they walked up to their spots around the dish.
"I'm about to with this for Kat, and for the team! I won't allow you to win, Rhia!" Toni Hikaru already had her Beyblade locked into its white launcher.
Rhia quickly stuck Ebonite onto the red launcher in her hand, threading the black ripcord through. "We'll see about that, Tee." Toni Hikaru raised an eyebrow at being called 'Tee'.
"Are you ready girls? Three! Two! One! LET IT RIP!"
With a light outburst of sparks, a silver Beyblade and a navy one landed in the cerulean dish. Both promptly began to circle the perimeter.
Toni Hikaru's long braid had moved to her front, she quickly flipped it back before it could get in her way. "Crysticle, let's give this battle a blinding start! Crystal Light!"
Instead of a Bitbeast, the sterling Blade released a semicircle of white light, that expanded rapidly.
"What the-" Rhia's pupil's rapidly shrunk, not like they usually would, but because the light had now filled the entire stadium, and she was being stupid and kept her eyes open, as blinding as the light was.
"Don't be stupid, Rhia. You'll just hurt yourself if you try to see through my Crystal Light! Only Crysticle and me can see through it!" Toni Hikaru smirked, "Attack!"
Though no one could really see the battle, it (of course) went on. The silver Beyblade began smashing into Ebonite, who was previously spinning around blindly. Whatever direction the navy-blue Beyblade would spin off to, Crysticle would cut it off and smash into it.
Rhia continued staring at the whiteness ahead of her, she was blind but not deaf, she could hear the smashing, the sound of grinding metal. "Ebonite…try to avoid her! Wild Wind!"
Wild Wind was Ebonite's defensive maneuver. The navy Beyblade began spinning around violently, turning at sharp angles, greatly reducing the amount of times Crysticle smashed into it.
"Smart move…but you can't stay on the defensive forever!" It was true, the battle wouldn't be won like this. Well, not won by Ebonite. She needed to see her opponent, in some way, in order to attack. "Crysticle! Arise!"
All that was heard was a loud whooshing noise, and the clatter of hooves against some sort of steel ground. Toni Hikaru looked at her Bitbeast with pride. Crysticle was a gorgeous pure-white stag, with silver hooves and antlers. Its nose was jet black in color. And it's eyes were shadowy and gray, and would send shivers down your spine if you were to stare at them long enough.
"Crap…this is not good." Rhia was attempting to create a plan. But the words her teammates had spoken back in the hotel still echoed in her mind. She hadn't shoved them out at all. And it didn't help that the blinding white light was giving her a headache. "Ebonite…stay in your Beyblade. Crysticle can't physically hurt you there…"
Toni Hikaru smirked, "No, but it makes defeating you all the more easier…"
Rhia shut her eyes, tried to think of what to do next. She couldn't use Summon Ice Daggers on this creature, she had no idea where it was. Her entire surroundings had been covered with light from that Beyblade. Then it clicked. Light from that Beyblade. If Rhia could somehow block off the source of light, it would cut off this crazy shield of Toni Hikaru's. "That's it! Ebonite! Rise!"
With a splatter of snow and a deafening caw, the giant, dark raven flapped out of the silver center of Rhia's Beyblade.
"What was the point of that? You fool! Your Bitbeast is blind in this! There's no way it can attack!" Toni Hikaru laughed, "Crysticle! Prepare to attack!"
"Not so fast, Tee!" Rhia closed her eyes and braced herself, ready for what her Bitbeast was about to unleash, "Ebonite! Avalanche of Alpine!"
The corvid cawed, dragging out the sound. It was followed by that awkward silence that had come to signal disaster.
"What the hell was that? I expected something better…"
"Oh but it is better, Tee…"
At once, a giant twister of snow rose from the center of Rhia's Beyblade. The snow fell in thick blankets, covering the ground within and around the dish. Toni Hikaru's Blade kept moving around, so it wouldn't stop due to the snow.
"Snow…? This won't defeat Crysticle, Rhia! It's an ice type too!"
The flakes of ice just kept falling around the two Beyblades. "I'm not using the attack to defeat Crysticle!"
"What!?" Toni Hikaru's eyes widened, "What the hell are you talking about!?"
A single, thick blanket fell over the two Beyblades, a blanket of snow which covered them. The blinding light had ceased to exist above the white flakes.
"That, is what I'm talking about." The red-banged girl's pupils had returned to regular size. She was grinning evilly at her opponent.
"Oh no...my light shield!" Toni Hikaru growled, "Damnit. Fine! Have it your way Rhia! I don't need the Crystal Light to defeat the likes of you!"
Rhia sniggered, " 'The likes of me'? The likes of me is going to kick your ass!"
"I don't think so! Crysticle!" The white stag lifted its head, glaring at the dark blue corvid, "Glimmering Ice!"
Thin blue lightning crackled and began to form around Crysticle's antlers. As if the surroundings weren't already cold enough, the lightning seemed to drop the temperature another few degrees. Ebonite's silver eyes bored into Crysticle's stormy gray ones. The blue lightning had now formed a sort of thick skin over the stag's silver antlers. In the course of a second, the lightning narrowed and shot towards Ebonite, in a thin, powerful beam of coldness.
Ebonite cawed in a growling sort of manner, the first shot missed but served as a warning, for now the raven's feathery right ear was frozen solid. Frustrated, the bird attempted to claw off the ice with her thick black talons.
"Ebonite! Don't let your guard down!" Rhia glared at Toni Hikaru, "You may be an ice type but that doesn't mean you're immune to being frozen solid…"
"And that's the bonus of my little plan…Crysticle! Freeze that bird!"
The white stag reared, and shot another beam of blue lightning towards Ebonite. But the raven had come to expect this and flew upwards, avoiding the attack. Crysticle gave chase, galloping after the mass of navy feathers, occasionally launching another Glimmering Ice attack.
The situation was rather similar down in the Beyblade dish, the navy blue Beyblade was continuously dodging the silver one, which kept launching itself into offensive maneuvers.
Crysticle seemed to have gotten tired of fooling around, chasing its target. It aimed to miss the raven, but shot a beam up in the rafters of the arena. The steel bar detached from the rest of the roof, plummeting to the ground. The large crash attracted Ebonite's attention. This served as quite the good distraction. Before anyone had the time to react, Crysticle was standing with its head bowed towards the raven, which was now plummeting towards the ground. Her lower half was encased entirely in clear, bluish ice, and it weighed her down significantly.
"Oh…SHIT…" Rhia stumbled forward, her legs numbing slightly, "Ebonite…Goddamn that hooved creature…" She fell down onto her knees as Ebonite crashed into the ground; the ice still solid.
Toni Hikaru laughed evilly, "I knew this was going to be easy…Crysticle! Finish her off with Arctic Frost!"
The white stag stood directly in front of the semi-mobile raven. A chill, swift wind began to pick up off of the ground, lifting up the snow from Ebonite's avalanche. It was a snowstorm in the making.
"Two can play at this game. Ebonite! You may not be able to move your legs, let alone fly, but you can still call upon the power of ice and snow…Underworld's Snowstorm!"
It was quite an awkward sight. Ebonite's own winter winds were blowing against Crysticle's, the raven's being rather gray in color, like smoke. The snow was blowing every which way, and once all of it had been lifted from the ground, more seemed to appear from the two Beyblades on the ground. The wind continued to alter direction, depending on which Bitbeast happened to thrust out its strength at that point. Wind whipped at Toni Hikaru's and Rhia's clothes, the tiny snowflakes making painful impacts on their skin.
"This is insane…" Toni Hikaru mumbled, she had now crouched low on the ground, covering her face with her arms. The snow pricked her feet and ankles. She was wearing sandals. "Keep it up Crysticle…the storm's a lot stronger in there, there's no way Ebonite can stand up to you…"
Rhia was covering her face as well, though less snow pierced at her skin. "Come on Ebonite…you can do this…Ignore the ice you're half encased in, put all your strength into this one attack, please…"
The snowstorm kept blowing around for at least another five minutes. The audience wasn't as much in the way of it as the two girls, though.
"This is insane!" The announcer finally spoke up, "The two Bitbeasts are matching each other in power!"
"Rhia!" Athena called out to her team mate, "Are you sure you're not pushing Ebonite too far?"
"I'm not…I know I'm not because she's still fighting…" The red-banged girl's eyes were narrowed against the snowy onslaught.
"Hey Xander!" The girl with the spiky red hair called to Toni Hikaru, "You can't expect Crysticle to run her snowstorm this long!"
"Yes I can, Kailie!" Toni Hikaru called back, "Crysticle WILL defeat her opponent! She's perfectly able!"
Snow blew around, falling on the ground around the Beyblade dish. No one could see anything inside the twister-like shape of the storm. The two Bitbeasts were in there, duking it out with their giant snow attacks. This went on for at least another minute until, abruptly, it stopped.
The wind stopped unnaturally quickly. The snow glided another few feet, then gently fell towards the ground, covering the floor of the arena in a thin layer of grayish-white snow. There were no Bitbeasts in sight, just tiny sparkles shining down towards their Beyblades, which progressively slowed to a stop. A tie.
"Oh wow! After such a giant storm of clashing forces, the battle is a TIE!!!" There was a short silence after the announcer spoke, before the audience burst into applause.
"Crysticle…" Toni Hikaru slowly got to her feet, and climbed down into the dish to retrieve the shiny silver Beyblade.
"Oh man…Ebonite…" Rhia also stood up, and slipped on the snow slightly as she too, bent to retrieve her navy blue Beyblade.
"Hey, Rhia." Toni Hikaru held her hand out in front of her opponent, "That was one great match."
Rhia smiled, "Damn straight, Tee." She accepted the handshake, Ebonite's Bitchip slightly radiated in her palm.
"And another thing Rhia."
"Yeah?"
"Don't call me Tee." Toni Hikaru smirked and turned around, walking back towards her team mates.
"Whatever you say…Tee!" Grinning, Rhia also walked back towards the rest of the Nightshades.
"A tie, Rhia?" Tani tilted her head at her captain.
Rhia just shrugged, "Guess so."
Athena was putting down the video camera, "You weren't anything like what we were talking about, Rhi. You seemed, well, nearly normal that time."
"I was distracted, you know." Rhia rubbed her neck, sitting down to allow her numb legs to thaw out, "I didn't really shove all that stuff out of my head."
Tani laughed lightly, "Didn't think you had. Oh well. Athena'll win for the team, right chickie?"
The shorter girl raised an eyebrow, "Chickie? Rah, either way, I'll win. Can't get ourselves kicked out of the tournament this early now can we?"
"Not at all Athena, not at all…" Rhia pocketed Ebonite and looked up at her dark-skinned team mate, "Good luck!"
"Yeah, good luck Athena," Tani grinned.
"Haha, I don't need luck to win this." And with that, Athena walked towards the Beyblade dish.
"Alright!" The announcer had lifted his microphone to his mouth, "This is the third set of the match! It can either tie it up entirely, or give us a winner! Please, give it up for Celestial Magi and Athena Caruso!" The crowd burst into cheers and applause, ready for another powerful match.
The janitors cleared out of the stadium, they'd finished clearing up all the snow. The two girls were standing on either end of the crimson Beyblade dish.
"Celestial…prepare to get your ass kicked…" Athena swiftly locked Nocturna into place, holding her forest green launcher in front of her.
"You've got to be kidding me…" The black-haired girl's soot-colored launcher was already in place, "You're going down, bitch."
"Let's get this party started! Three! Two! One…!"
…TO BE CONTINUED!!!!
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I had to XD; This chapter's already 13 pages long! O_O; The second half of the Palisade Guardians versus the Nightshades will be in the next chapter! Let's hope I can get myself in a writing mood again soon :3 Enjoy!
Ah yes, and I have some backwards little plan in my mind right now. I'm going to make Deadly Nightshade a manga! And I hope all the people that submitted characters are okay with that o_o; If not, then review, or e-mail me, or whatever.
And yeah, hope that's all I had to say. Enjoy! (It's long!)
Disclaimer: Okay, I'm going to totally correctly phrase the disclaimer. Since I've written two different disclaimers in the last two chapters XD; Rhia and Ebonite are of my design and belong to me. Athena belongs to my friend Leisha (252601). Nocturna, though, in a way, belongs to Leish, but was designed by me so it's some sort of split ownership o_O; Tani and Ikira belong to my friend Caitlin (53736), I just slightly altered their design, that's it. And the other OCs in this fic belong to the people mentioned in the previous chapter XD; And I don't own Beyblade in general. Holy crap that was long.
Disclaimer Part Two (Because I can.): Toni Hikaru LaVelle is property of Bread 'N' Butter (284996). Kathy Hwang is property of Beyblade-Luver (445574). Kailie Roshi belongs to Jingle Bells (365730). And Celestial Magi belongs to Morgana Magi Lady of Light (281418).
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Deadly Nightshade
Chapter Seven
Palisade Guardians: Part 1
Bag by bag she searched. A thin sheet of paper clasped in her left hand. Her cerulean eyes scanned every square inch. She would find it.
"I'll get you…"
"Athena, don't bother. Just forget about it," Tani spoke, her eyes locked on the TV, which was playing some of the other battles from the day before.
Rhia walked in, clad in just her hoodie and a pair of boxers. She yawned before speaking, "Athena, what are you doing?"
The braid-haired girl stopped her frantic searching, "Spider. Trying to kill it."
The sleepy girl's eyes widened in shock, "I'm NOT going to watch this." She ran to the other end of the room, flopping down on a couch as Athena swiftly walked towards the bathroom.
Tani laughed, her violet and black hair untied, laying over her shoulders, "It's only a spider, Rhia!"
"They're gross and creepy," she narrowed her eyes at the screen, watching an orange Beyblade whacking against a blue one, releasing a large shower of sparks with each hit.
Athena came back from the hallway, the sound of a flushing toilet was heard. "Speaking of creepy…" she dusted off her hands, apparently the spider was taken care of, "Rhia, what's with that unusual attitude you took on during your battle?"
Rhia looked at her with a puzzled expression.
"Yeah. You were rather…" Tani turned away from the television, "evil-seeming, and your pupils were all tiny. It was like the battle we had on the roof of that hotel."
"I have no idea what you guys are talking about." The red-banged girl's expression seemed to be locked in 'confused'. "Sure, I get wrapped up in the battle, but it can't be that bad…"
Flopping down beside Tani, Athena sighed, "It's not that it's 'that bad', but let's just say, you get kinda…insane. Well, more so than usual."
"Hey, I'm not that insane!" Rhia called out in protest, snapping out of her confusion wave. Athena smirked a response.
"Rhi, seriously. You do change. It's like you're a whole other person. Well, almost. There's still some Rhia in you." Tani was staring at the floor, her eyes thoughtful.
Rhia looked at her team mates, "This is like the time I was with Tala. The first day of training, I sent out Ebonite, and got all wrapped up. Next thing I know, I'm on the ground, face to face with the red head, being questioned rather rudely about what had happened…"
The black haired girl snickered, "He was on top of you?"
Pulling her hood off of her head, Rhia looked confused again, "Yeah…?"
Both team mates laughed. It took about a minute for Rhia to register what they found so amusing. A slight blush crept over her face.
"Haha, I get it…But no, seriously now…"
Athena cleared her throat, "Okay, if you really have no clue, then I'll go rent out a video camera for the match so you can see what we're talking about."
Rhia nodded, "Alright."
"Now come on!" Tani stood, tying up her hair, "Let's get some breakfast. The restaurant's just downstairs!"
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The main lobby was full once more, but not as much as it had been the previous day. The tiled floors weren't covered in obstructing feet that would trip the Nightshades every chance they got. Tournament officials were running in and out of the arena doors, trying to finish setting up before the matches started at noon. Tani was sitting cross legged under the large tournament sign, so as not to be in the way. Her bandaged arms were clutching her stomach.
"Ugh…I ate too much too fast…mad…stomach…pains…"
Rhia, who was laying on the ground beside her chuckled lightly, "Note to Tani: Don't eat so fast."
Tani opened one of her eyes to glare at Rhia, "You could've told me BEFORE I piled on all those eggs."
Athena was standing in front of the versus board, her head tilted upwards but her eyes watched her two teammates, sitting on the cold, dirty ground. Occasionally her eyes would impatiently dart back to the board. "You'd think they'd update it right after the match, but noooo, they wait until an hour before it all starts to do so."
Just as she finished speaking, two small icons flashed up in the branches leading from two battles; The Nightshades little spirit logo, and a golden castle with tall, pointed towers. The other icons flashed into place. Like before, small text slid into place beneath the two Icons: Nightshades vs. Palisade Guardians.
"About damn time…"
Tani looked up, finally letting go of her abdomen. "I take it they've finally set up the versus status?"
The dark-haired brunette looked downwards, "Yeah. And guess what girls? We're up first again."
Way down near the floor Rhia sighed, "Goddamn.."
"We're against the Palisade Guardians, whoever they are…" Tani had gotten to her feet, and was observing the board along with Athena.
"That would be us." a voice sounded from somewhere to the right of the Nightshades. All three girls turned to find four others standing by them. The one who had spoken seemed to be the captain, as she stood with an almost controlling stance. Her beady, and unusually dark eyes bore into those of Athena. The white dog with the black spiky collar and eye patch contrasted with the red of her strap-sleeved shirt as the words "Born To Be Bad" were clearly visible. The other three girls stood behind her in a lopsided triangle.
The one closest to the assumed captain looked over the other two Nightshades with her amber eyes. Rhia was now off the ground, standing by Athena. The girl wore a crimson tank top with flame patterns around the base, with a see-through shirt over top. A crystal pendant hung around her neck, and a crystal bracelet was wrapped around her wrist.
A bit to the left of the first girl was one with wild, spiky red hair. Only one of her eyes was visible, the other was hidden by a slanted, brown headband. The visible green eye was moving from one Nightshade to the next. Her shirt's sleeves ended midway down her upper arm.
The final and fourth girl stood farther back from the other three, arms crossed over her black shirt. Visibly the tallest, she was actually taller than Rhia. She wore all black. Black pants, black boots, black wrist sheaths, whatever it was, it was black. Same with her hair. It was down to her ankles, but cornrolled halfway. But the eeriest part of her were her eyes. They were narrow, solid black, and made it look like she was a tad insane. She also wore black eyeliner, Egyptian style.
Rhia's eyes quickly darted from each member of the team, but lingered on the girl in black, man she was creepy, "So I guess you are. Either way, we'll be seeing you in an hour or so." With that, she grinned slightly and walked off, the other two Nightshades shrugged and followed their own captain towards the change room. There really was no need for a change room in a Beyblade event.
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The arena was filled with bright halogen lights, each and every one of them pointed down at the large Beyblade dish centered on the ground. It's slick red surface glinted beneath the bulbs. It was loud inside the cavernous area, the people in the audience were chatting amongst themselves, excited about the upcoming match. They all hushed as the announcer walked out onto his platform to begin announcing the match.
"Welcome everyone to the second set of the England tournament!" A loud applause rang through the crowd. "This match will be sure to amaze you, as the two teams' previous matches have probably already done! Please welcome the two competing teams; The Palisade Guardians and the Nightshades!"
The clapping was heard from all sides as the two groups walked in from opposite ends of the arena. The girl with the red spiky hair, and the one with the flame-patterned tank top were flipping a coin, apparently seeing which of them would play. The coin landed and the spiky haired girl slumped slightly, as the other one grinned. Flickering to life, the large display monitor displayed the standings between the two teams. The first match was between Tani and Kathy Hwang, the girl with the flame tank top. Her black hair, streaked with red, was laying over her face in the photo that popped up.
Second round: Rhia versus Toni Hikaru LaVelle, the captain of the Palisade Guardians, who stared down at the crowd. The photo only showed the top part of her dark brown, very short hair. The back was left long, and was braided down to her knees.
The final round was between Athena and that creepy girl, Celestial Magi. Both girls had the same dark expression set upon their faces, full of determination.
"Alright gang, let's get this party started! First up, let's give a huge round of applause for Kathy Hwang and Tani Yamaka!" And thus the audience did what he said, and applauded the two competitors. Both girls stepped up to the dish, loaded launchers in hand.
Tani was ready for anything that may surprise her; she didn't want to be made a fool of. Kathy had her face set in a unwavering expression.
"Ready? Three!" Kathy raised her black and red launcher, "Two!" Tani raised her purple one, "One! LET IT RIIIP!"
Black with red blurs, purple with black blurs. Kathy's Blade and Ikira hit the floor of the dish at the same time, and proceeded to circle around the perimeter.
"I am NOT going down as easily as I did before," Tani's fists were already clenched, "Ikira! Rise from the depths and prepare to attack!" At her command, the large black dog-demon emerged from the center of the purple Beyblade, her demon wings stretched to their full length. Once she was entirely out, she released a desolate, rumbling howl that hovered in the air a few seconds after it was emitted.
Kathy looked up at the Bitbeast that now floated above the stadium, her gaze returned to Tani and she grinned, "Two can play at that game, you know. Volcano! Awaken!" This time, the black and red Beyblade let out the glow. The light formed a shape within. A shape surrounded by an inferno. The creature was a yellow-orange horse, with bright flames over its mane and feet. Large, white angel wings adorned its back, wings which were surrounded by even more flames. And to add to the blaze of the horse, its tail was tipped with fire.
The Bitbeast of course, did not go unnoticed. Ikira glared at it, her slitted eyes reflected its form. The brightness of Volcano dulled down Ikira's dark, mat fur, in which the scars from her battle with Ebonite were still visible.
"Now! Let's take the first move! Volcano, Fire Spin!" There was a slight wind that swirled around the stadium, which made Kathy's baggy blue jeans flutter slightly as she yelled out the command.
Volcano reared up, neighing loudly. It ran around Ikira a bit, then blasted a stream of extremely hot fire at Ikira. The demon's eyes widened as it tried to mode out of the way, but the flames caught the end of her tail, setting it aflame. Ikira roared out in a slightly muffled manner, and flew down towards the ground. Once there, she whacked her tail against the concrete repeatedly, slowly putting out the painful fire. The flaming horse was circling overhead, an amused expression on it's long face.
Tani bit her tongue, luckily that 'slight' singe hadn't affected her directly. "We can't afford to fool around in this match." Her purple eyes locked on Kathy. With her pointer finger pointed into the air at her Bitbeast, she yelled out her order, "DEVIL'S CLAW!!"
Ashes covering her tail, Ikira flapped her wings, the look of evil clearly visible on her face. Volcano wasn't blind, and saw her coming. Thus the horse backed up slightly as Ikira flew upwards. But her ash-covered tail smacked Volcano in the side of the face, which provided the split second of a distraction that the canine needed in order to alter her course, smashing her foot claws down onto the mare's skull with a loud thwacking sound. Volcano neighed in protest. Ikira swiftly latched herself onto the front of the horse, narrowly avoiding the flames of its wings. Her main claws were now surrounded by a thick, black fog, and by now, the tips were digging into the muscled neck of Volcano.
Kathy stepped back slightly, "Oh no…Volcano! Shake her off!"
Down on the ground, inside the dish, Tani's blade had begun to grind into Kathy's. A large, bright shower of sparks was erupting as the two attack rings clashed.
"It's near impossible to shake Ikira off once she's gotten into the attack!" And it was rather visible that the black-haired girl was right, Ikira's claws were almost entirely sunken within the horse's neck, the fog clinging to it's yellow-orange fur. Volcano was neighing shrilly in protest, "And that fog is like poison. It'll wear away at your Bitbeast until it has no energy left!" Tani lifted her head and laughed loudly.
Kathy had her hand clasped to her neck, a look of terror upon her face. She moved her hand and a drop of blood leaked down to her collarbone. "What…what is this?"
Tani looked at the blood with mild interest, "It's a link between you and your Bitbeast. I'm surprised you haven't encountered it before."
"This has something to do with YOU!" Kathy glared at the taller girl, enraged, "Things like these aren't supposed to happen!"
Athena was standing by the team bench, listening in to the conversation, "But they do. It's not a common thing, but once a person with the link is in a battle, the other suddenly becomes linked with their own Bitbeast as well."
Kathy's gaze now switched to Athena, "Does that mean I'm being poisoned as well!?"
Athena's crystal blue eyes opened and looked right back at the brown haired girl, "No."
"Good…but that doesn't mean that I'll allow my Bitbeast to be tainted by some black fog! Volcano! Resist! Burn her off if you have to!"
The horse's eyes had become tired and lifeless during the girls' conversation, but snapped back to life upon her Blader's command. The flames over it's body swirled more intensely, and burst outward, once more burning Ikira. The dog-demon released an oddly high pitched howl as all four of her legs were set aflame. She immediately released her grip upon the equine's neck and plummeted towards the ground, thick black fog trailing from her front claws. She landed with a noisy crash which kicked up rubble and dust.
Tani screamed, but no injuries were directly visible on her skin. Obviously, the burns on Ikira had affected her nerves. The crash didn't do much to help either, for now Tani's left shoulder had emitted a slight crack, as she was forced down onto her knees. "Damnit…Damn you Kathy!"
But Tani's opponent wasn't listening to the complaints, her amber eyes had light flames flickering within. "Volcano! Finish off that dog! DIVE BOMB!"
The yellow-orange horse flapped it's great feathered wings slowly, it was still poisoned from Ikira's attack. But poison had no effect on the force of gravity. Stretching out its wings to steady itself, Volcano began to swoop down towards Ikira, its flames glowing brightly around it. Ikira had been looking up at the horse, watching it's movements with an expression of disillusion. She barely had time to duck as the horse, now in the form of a rather large fireball, shot by. The heat was incredible.
"Ikira…" Tani's forehead was dripping with sweat, as a heavy burning feeling shot through her back and spine. When the disruption from the intense heat had passed, Ikira was sprawled out over the rubble, her wings nearly destroyed. In the dish, Kathy's Blade had just completed a super-fast smash attack, and the purple Blade was moving visibly slower.
"I knew this match was going to be mine from the minute it started…Volcano! Prepare to finish the match!"
But as the stallion rose upwards slowly, re-igniting its flames, Ikira slowly opened one eye. Her thin pupil expanded, then shrunk, focusing on the bright figure meters and meters above it.
"This won't be so easy for you…" Tani was breathing heavily, fire was not a good element to be attacked with, "Ikira…Black Fire."
Her wings were useless, charred almost to the bone, the membranes burned away. Ikira couldn't attack from the air like she was accustomed to. But this Bitbeast just wouldn't give. For once, Ikira had to perform her blazing attack another way. Kathy was looking up at the flaming horse, a smug expression plastered over her face.
The demon, still partially covered by rubble slightly opened her jaws, pale, dark plum-colored flames twisting and forming from the depths of her throat. She raised her head, the bones in her neck bending painfully, and opened her mouth, directly facing the stallion. The shady flames were licking at Ikira's white teeth. What happened next took about a second.
The fire had burst forth, forcing itself upon the air in front of the canine demon, creating a thick outburst of inferno. Katie had noticed this, the smug expression now wiped from her face, but had no time to react as the flames regained their composure and shot at Volcano in a thick column of ebony fire.
"VOLCANO! NO!" The bright orange flames had now been replaced with the pale black ones of Ikira. With the lack of protection of its own fire, the large horse was now burning piteously in a hellish inferno, courtesy of Ikira. Seemingly slowly, it plummeted towards the ground. Kicking up a blast of dirt, rubble, and fire.
Tani's deep purple Beyblade had shot at Kathy's black one, then proceeded to repeatedly grind against it with all its strength. As Volcano fizzled out and returned into the center of the Blade, it stopped spinning and lay on its side, perfectly still. Within seconds, the giant figure of Ikira slumped forward, emitting a sigh which sounded as if it were mixed with a low growl. She too separated, into a dark purple light, and returned to her Beyblade, which promptly gave out next to its opponent.
Kathy stared at the finished battle in shock, sweat dripping down her face. Her knees weakened and she landed on them. Hard. "Volcano…"
With a slight clink, Tani lifted Ikira and Volcano from the floor of the dish, and climbed out on Kathy's side. The red-and-black haired girl had gotten up, and both seemed to have a slight difficulty standing. Tani handed over Kathy's Beyblade, a slight smile on her face.
"Well done, Kathy. That was quite the challenge there!" She held out a hand.
Kathy looked up at her, "Thanks!" She accepted the handshake.
"Let's give it up for Tani Yamaka, winner of the first set!" The crowd was applauding even before the announcer had completed his sentence. "The battle between Toni Hikaru LaVelle and Rhia Kotowska will begin in ten minutes!"
The rest of the Palisade Guardians welcomed their teammate back with high fives and hugs, well, two of them did.
"I'm sorry I lost guys, I tried my best." Kathy looked over at the girl with red spiked hair, "I bet you would've done a better job, Kailie."
Kailie laughed, "Who knows!"
Hikaru fished her silver and white Beyblade from her pocket, "Don't worry about your loss, Kat! I'll avenge it for you." Both girls grinned.
Over at the Nightshade's side Tani had flopped down on the wooden bench. Athena was looking over at her with a smirk. "Not bad, Ton! Sure made up for your previous shenanigan."
Tani glared over at Athena, though she was smiling, "Shut up Athena." she then turned her head to the other side, towards Rhia, "You ready?"
Rhia laughed in a sigh-esque manner, "I hope so. What you guys told me is still distracting me a bit, but I've shoved it out of my mind for the time being."
"Good to hear." Athena went back to facing the Beyblade dish, which was now being replaced with a blue one. The previous battle had caused a 'bit' of damage.
A few minutes later the announcer's voice rang out again, "Alright! Time to get the second set of this match started! Please, give it up for the two captains, Toni Hikaru and Rhia!" A wave of clapping surrounded the two girls as they walked up to their spots around the dish.
"I'm about to with this for Kat, and for the team! I won't allow you to win, Rhia!" Toni Hikaru already had her Beyblade locked into its white launcher.
Rhia quickly stuck Ebonite onto the red launcher in her hand, threading the black ripcord through. "We'll see about that, Tee." Toni Hikaru raised an eyebrow at being called 'Tee'.
"Are you ready girls? Three! Two! One! LET IT RIP!"
With a light outburst of sparks, a silver Beyblade and a navy one landed in the cerulean dish. Both promptly began to circle the perimeter.
Toni Hikaru's long braid had moved to her front, she quickly flipped it back before it could get in her way. "Crysticle, let's give this battle a blinding start! Crystal Light!"
Instead of a Bitbeast, the sterling Blade released a semicircle of white light, that expanded rapidly.
"What the-" Rhia's pupil's rapidly shrunk, not like they usually would, but because the light had now filled the entire stadium, and she was being stupid and kept her eyes open, as blinding as the light was.
"Don't be stupid, Rhia. You'll just hurt yourself if you try to see through my Crystal Light! Only Crysticle and me can see through it!" Toni Hikaru smirked, "Attack!"
Though no one could really see the battle, it (of course) went on. The silver Beyblade began smashing into Ebonite, who was previously spinning around blindly. Whatever direction the navy-blue Beyblade would spin off to, Crysticle would cut it off and smash into it.
Rhia continued staring at the whiteness ahead of her, she was blind but not deaf, she could hear the smashing, the sound of grinding metal. "Ebonite…try to avoid her! Wild Wind!"
Wild Wind was Ebonite's defensive maneuver. The navy Beyblade began spinning around violently, turning at sharp angles, greatly reducing the amount of times Crysticle smashed into it.
"Smart move…but you can't stay on the defensive forever!" It was true, the battle wouldn't be won like this. Well, not won by Ebonite. She needed to see her opponent, in some way, in order to attack. "Crysticle! Arise!"
All that was heard was a loud whooshing noise, and the clatter of hooves against some sort of steel ground. Toni Hikaru looked at her Bitbeast with pride. Crysticle was a gorgeous pure-white stag, with silver hooves and antlers. Its nose was jet black in color. And it's eyes were shadowy and gray, and would send shivers down your spine if you were to stare at them long enough.
"Crap…this is not good." Rhia was attempting to create a plan. But the words her teammates had spoken back in the hotel still echoed in her mind. She hadn't shoved them out at all. And it didn't help that the blinding white light was giving her a headache. "Ebonite…stay in your Beyblade. Crysticle can't physically hurt you there…"
Toni Hikaru smirked, "No, but it makes defeating you all the more easier…"
Rhia shut her eyes, tried to think of what to do next. She couldn't use Summon Ice Daggers on this creature, she had no idea where it was. Her entire surroundings had been covered with light from that Beyblade. Then it clicked. Light from that Beyblade. If Rhia could somehow block off the source of light, it would cut off this crazy shield of Toni Hikaru's. "That's it! Ebonite! Rise!"
With a splatter of snow and a deafening caw, the giant, dark raven flapped out of the silver center of Rhia's Beyblade.
"What was the point of that? You fool! Your Bitbeast is blind in this! There's no way it can attack!" Toni Hikaru laughed, "Crysticle! Prepare to attack!"
"Not so fast, Tee!" Rhia closed her eyes and braced herself, ready for what her Bitbeast was about to unleash, "Ebonite! Avalanche of Alpine!"
The corvid cawed, dragging out the sound. It was followed by that awkward silence that had come to signal disaster.
"What the hell was that? I expected something better…"
"Oh but it is better, Tee…"
At once, a giant twister of snow rose from the center of Rhia's Beyblade. The snow fell in thick blankets, covering the ground within and around the dish. Toni Hikaru's Blade kept moving around, so it wouldn't stop due to the snow.
"Snow…? This won't defeat Crysticle, Rhia! It's an ice type too!"
The flakes of ice just kept falling around the two Beyblades. "I'm not using the attack to defeat Crysticle!"
"What!?" Toni Hikaru's eyes widened, "What the hell are you talking about!?"
A single, thick blanket fell over the two Beyblades, a blanket of snow which covered them. The blinding light had ceased to exist above the white flakes.
"That, is what I'm talking about." The red-banged girl's pupils had returned to regular size. She was grinning evilly at her opponent.
"Oh no...my light shield!" Toni Hikaru growled, "Damnit. Fine! Have it your way Rhia! I don't need the Crystal Light to defeat the likes of you!"
Rhia sniggered, " 'The likes of me'? The likes of me is going to kick your ass!"
"I don't think so! Crysticle!" The white stag lifted its head, glaring at the dark blue corvid, "Glimmering Ice!"
Thin blue lightning crackled and began to form around Crysticle's antlers. As if the surroundings weren't already cold enough, the lightning seemed to drop the temperature another few degrees. Ebonite's silver eyes bored into Crysticle's stormy gray ones. The blue lightning had now formed a sort of thick skin over the stag's silver antlers. In the course of a second, the lightning narrowed and shot towards Ebonite, in a thin, powerful beam of coldness.
Ebonite cawed in a growling sort of manner, the first shot missed but served as a warning, for now the raven's feathery right ear was frozen solid. Frustrated, the bird attempted to claw off the ice with her thick black talons.
"Ebonite! Don't let your guard down!" Rhia glared at Toni Hikaru, "You may be an ice type but that doesn't mean you're immune to being frozen solid…"
"And that's the bonus of my little plan…Crysticle! Freeze that bird!"
The white stag reared, and shot another beam of blue lightning towards Ebonite. But the raven had come to expect this and flew upwards, avoiding the attack. Crysticle gave chase, galloping after the mass of navy feathers, occasionally launching another Glimmering Ice attack.
The situation was rather similar down in the Beyblade dish, the navy blue Beyblade was continuously dodging the silver one, which kept launching itself into offensive maneuvers.
Crysticle seemed to have gotten tired of fooling around, chasing its target. It aimed to miss the raven, but shot a beam up in the rafters of the arena. The steel bar detached from the rest of the roof, plummeting to the ground. The large crash attracted Ebonite's attention. This served as quite the good distraction. Before anyone had the time to react, Crysticle was standing with its head bowed towards the raven, which was now plummeting towards the ground. Her lower half was encased entirely in clear, bluish ice, and it weighed her down significantly.
"Oh…SHIT…" Rhia stumbled forward, her legs numbing slightly, "Ebonite…Goddamn that hooved creature…" She fell down onto her knees as Ebonite crashed into the ground; the ice still solid.
Toni Hikaru laughed evilly, "I knew this was going to be easy…Crysticle! Finish her off with Arctic Frost!"
The white stag stood directly in front of the semi-mobile raven. A chill, swift wind began to pick up off of the ground, lifting up the snow from Ebonite's avalanche. It was a snowstorm in the making.
"Two can play at this game. Ebonite! You may not be able to move your legs, let alone fly, but you can still call upon the power of ice and snow…Underworld's Snowstorm!"
It was quite an awkward sight. Ebonite's own winter winds were blowing against Crysticle's, the raven's being rather gray in color, like smoke. The snow was blowing every which way, and once all of it had been lifted from the ground, more seemed to appear from the two Beyblades on the ground. The wind continued to alter direction, depending on which Bitbeast happened to thrust out its strength at that point. Wind whipped at Toni Hikaru's and Rhia's clothes, the tiny snowflakes making painful impacts on their skin.
"This is insane…" Toni Hikaru mumbled, she had now crouched low on the ground, covering her face with her arms. The snow pricked her feet and ankles. She was wearing sandals. "Keep it up Crysticle…the storm's a lot stronger in there, there's no way Ebonite can stand up to you…"
Rhia was covering her face as well, though less snow pierced at her skin. "Come on Ebonite…you can do this…Ignore the ice you're half encased in, put all your strength into this one attack, please…"
The snowstorm kept blowing around for at least another five minutes. The audience wasn't as much in the way of it as the two girls, though.
"This is insane!" The announcer finally spoke up, "The two Bitbeasts are matching each other in power!"
"Rhia!" Athena called out to her team mate, "Are you sure you're not pushing Ebonite too far?"
"I'm not…I know I'm not because she's still fighting…" The red-banged girl's eyes were narrowed against the snowy onslaught.
"Hey Xander!" The girl with the spiky red hair called to Toni Hikaru, "You can't expect Crysticle to run her snowstorm this long!"
"Yes I can, Kailie!" Toni Hikaru called back, "Crysticle WILL defeat her opponent! She's perfectly able!"
Snow blew around, falling on the ground around the Beyblade dish. No one could see anything inside the twister-like shape of the storm. The two Bitbeasts were in there, duking it out with their giant snow attacks. This went on for at least another minute until, abruptly, it stopped.
The wind stopped unnaturally quickly. The snow glided another few feet, then gently fell towards the ground, covering the floor of the arena in a thin layer of grayish-white snow. There were no Bitbeasts in sight, just tiny sparkles shining down towards their Beyblades, which progressively slowed to a stop. A tie.
"Oh wow! After such a giant storm of clashing forces, the battle is a TIE!!!" There was a short silence after the announcer spoke, before the audience burst into applause.
"Crysticle…" Toni Hikaru slowly got to her feet, and climbed down into the dish to retrieve the shiny silver Beyblade.
"Oh man…Ebonite…" Rhia also stood up, and slipped on the snow slightly as she too, bent to retrieve her navy blue Beyblade.
"Hey, Rhia." Toni Hikaru held her hand out in front of her opponent, "That was one great match."
Rhia smiled, "Damn straight, Tee." She accepted the handshake, Ebonite's Bitchip slightly radiated in her palm.
"And another thing Rhia."
"Yeah?"
"Don't call me Tee." Toni Hikaru smirked and turned around, walking back towards her team mates.
"Whatever you say…Tee!" Grinning, Rhia also walked back towards the rest of the Nightshades.
"A tie, Rhia?" Tani tilted her head at her captain.
Rhia just shrugged, "Guess so."
Athena was putting down the video camera, "You weren't anything like what we were talking about, Rhi. You seemed, well, nearly normal that time."
"I was distracted, you know." Rhia rubbed her neck, sitting down to allow her numb legs to thaw out, "I didn't really shove all that stuff out of my head."
Tani laughed lightly, "Didn't think you had. Oh well. Athena'll win for the team, right chickie?"
The shorter girl raised an eyebrow, "Chickie? Rah, either way, I'll win. Can't get ourselves kicked out of the tournament this early now can we?"
"Not at all Athena, not at all…" Rhia pocketed Ebonite and looked up at her dark-skinned team mate, "Good luck!"
"Yeah, good luck Athena," Tani grinned.
"Haha, I don't need luck to win this." And with that, Athena walked towards the Beyblade dish.
"Alright!" The announcer had lifted his microphone to his mouth, "This is the third set of the match! It can either tie it up entirely, or give us a winner! Please, give it up for Celestial Magi and Athena Caruso!" The crowd burst into cheers and applause, ready for another powerful match.
The janitors cleared out of the stadium, they'd finished clearing up all the snow. The two girls were standing on either end of the crimson Beyblade dish.
"Celestial…prepare to get your ass kicked…" Athena swiftly locked Nocturna into place, holding her forest green launcher in front of her.
"You've got to be kidding me…" The black-haired girl's soot-colored launcher was already in place, "You're going down, bitch."
"Let's get this party started! Three! Two! One…!"
…TO BE CONTINUED!!!!
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I had to XD; This chapter's already 13 pages long! O_O; The second half of the Palisade Guardians versus the Nightshades will be in the next chapter! Let's hope I can get myself in a writing mood again soon :3 Enjoy!