Ling and Bella stood at the opposite sides of the beydish. Both of them had a look of determination as they both got their launchers ready.
"Let it rip!" they both called out as they released their beyblades into the dish.
'This should be interesting,' Kali thought with a smirk on her painted face.
Both of the blades revolved quickly around the dish, neither one of them made an attempt to attack.
"What are you waiting for Ling?" Bella asked, "Are you too afraid to attack?"
"There's no way I'd be too afraid to beybattle...plus I never give up on a challenge that I made!" Ling called out.
"Then prove it," Bella said calmly.
However, before Bella even finished her sentence her beyblade was already being attacked by Ling's blade.
"I refuse to lose to you Bella!" Ling shouted.
"We'll see about that," Bella replied and responded with he defense against Ling's attacks.
Ling gritted her teeth, she didn't like having to battle her best friend and team mate but with Bella in a trance-like state there was no other way to save her.
Kali observed quietly on the side, she didn't want to intefere with the conflict between the two friends. She looked at Ling and noticed how difficult it was for her to beybattle her friend, Bella.
"Who would've thought that two friends going at each other would be so interesting. Both are determined but in the state that she's in , Bella is much stronger and is sure to be victorious and together we will serve Boris Balkov and Master Voltaire Hiwatari." Kali thought. With that she smiled slightly and continued watching the battle.
The beybattle between Ling and Bella was constantly changing. The two kept swapping from offense to defense mode, neither of them doing any significant damage.
"If only I could get through to the real Bella, then I wouldn't need to be battling her in the first place," Ling thought and then cursed, "This isn't good."
At that moment Ling's beyblade started glowing a silver colour, "Even Oxilibra can sense my anger," Ling thought.
Ling continued to attack Bella still with no effect. While Ling was getting more and more frustrated Bella remained calm, in her trance-like state she was practically emotionless.
"There is no point in continuing this pointless battle," Bella said. With that she launched a counter attack that took Ling by surprise.
"Dammit..." Ling cursed. Fortunately her blade didn't get thrown out of the dish so she still had a chance of winning. She clenched her fist and decided that no matter what happened during that battle that she'd defeat Bella and get her friend back to her normal self. "I know the real Bella is in there somewhere!" Ling called out to her friend.
Kali then stepped in and said, "The friend you knew no longer exists."
"You!" Ling yalled, "You were the one that got her into this state!"
"Tsk tsk, You better not get distracted. I want to see Bella beat you at your best," Kali replied.
Ling gritted her teeth, she was very angry at Kali but knew that if she was distracted that she'd lose the battle.
Bella's beyblade accelerated towards Ling's blade but just before it could make contact Ling's blade swerved to the side, just barely avoiding the attack.
"You were lucky that time, I'm not going to miss next time," Bella stated.
"Bring it on," Ling said quietly. She planned to attack head on.
"Now this is more like it," Kali thought.
"All this attacking doesn't seem to be doing any good, Maybe Oxilibra can beat her," Ling thought, "Oxilibra, show yourself!" she commanded.
At that moment the two beyblade glowed once again and Oxilibra came out from the purple and black beyblade.
"Hmph," Bella responded, "So you think your pitiful bitbeast can help you...well two can play at that game, Baitu come out now!" With that the rabbit-like bitbeast also came out of its respective beyblade. The two bitbeasts stared at each other and got into offense mode.
"Oxilibra attack!" Ling called out to her bitbeast. Oxilibra went in for the attack and shoved the rabbit-like bitbeast to the side. However soon Baitu countered with an attack of its own.
"Grr..." Ling grunted, "This is not looking good" she thought. She looked at her current situation, "The only real advantage I have is strength, Bella's blade has the speed and agility...but if I can reach out to the real Bella then maybe I still have a chance..."
"Bella, no matter what I'll get you back to your usual self!" Ling promised.
"Pfft, whatever..." was all Bella said.
"Don't you remember the good memories? Like the time we first met the Bladebreakers and Tyson challenged me to a battle, when I defeated him?"
"Why are you talking about those things?" Bella questioned.
"Because those were times before you got into this creepy state...that's why"
Meanwhile as Ling reminded Bella of other past events (that didn't occur in this story) Baitu seemed to back off from Oxilibra. Bella's beyblade also slowed down considerably as Bella got more and more distracted from the battle.
Ling thought, "She's starting to think of her past..."
Bella was getting confused, "Why am I letting myself get distracted from the battle?" she wondered, "Is this battle really as pointless as Ling says it is?"
"The fool! How could she get distracted so easily!" Kali thought with annoyance, "Bella! concentrate on defeating Ling. She is no longer your friend!" she shouted.
"Don't listen to her Bella, we're still the best of friends, all of us Dark Angels are best friends. Please listen to me Bella" Ling pleaded.
Bella stood by the dish dumbfounded while her beyblade continued to spin somewhat slowly. Baitu didn't make a move.
"Should I even be battling Ling?" Bella thought.
As if to answer Bella's unasked question Ling called out, "Let's stop this pointless battle!"
"Don't you dare consider stopping the battle, it'll mean admitting defeat and you don't want that do you?" Kali pointed out.
"I won't stop this battle," Bella decided.
"Why?" Ling asked, "As I said before there is not point in continuing this battle."
"Because I want to see if I can beat you in this 'dark' state I'm in," Bella stated simply.
In response to this statement Ling smiled, "Bella is starting to sound more like her usual self." She said, "If a beybattle is what you want then a beybattle is what you shall get."
Bella's blade started speeding up while the rabbit-like bitbeast got in position to attack the massive ox. Oxilibra also got ready to attack. The two blades revolved quickly around the dish.
"Oxilibra attack Baitu with everything you got!" Ling commanded. With that the ox charged at the rabbit, but the rabbit swiftly dodged the attack. Its respective beyblade swerved to the side.
"Dammit." Ling thought with annoyance, "If only Bella wouldn't insist on battling."
"You gotta be quicker than that if you plan to defeat me Ling," Bella said with a smirk.
"That's it...Oxilibra attack with a headbutt!" Ling shouted.
"Baitu, attack with Dark rabbit kick!"
The two beyblades once again went head on, they were continuously attacking each other.
Not long after the bitbeasts disappeared back into their respective beyblades and the two beyblades started to wobble.
All three girls watched carefully to see which one would stop first, and just by a second Ling's blade stopped later than Bella's.
Bella fell to her knees in disbelief, "I...I lost," she whispered.
She was no longer in her trance-like state.
"It's alright Bella," Ling told her friend, "Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose, it's all part of life. The most important thing is that you learnt a lesson from all of this."
"I'm sorry..." Bella apologised.
"Don't worry about it," Ling said and looked around for Kali.
"Hey that's weird, Kali's gone," Ling stated.
Kali knew that she had lost Bella as a potential team mate. As soon as Bella's blade stopped, she quickly and quietly left the scene, into the hotel.
From her the window in her room she could see the two best friends depart the alley and head back to where they came from. "It's been a long day," she thought.