Shaking off the feeling of that dark thing, Anya returned to her work removing the inner core of her blade. Finally, she finished, but realized that she left the replacement inside.
"I'll be right back." She got up and headed inside, when all of the sudden,
"HEADS UP!"
Anya whirled around just in time to deliver a head-height roundhouse kick to a mauve streak that had been hurtling towards her. The blade went streaking back from where it came and lodged itself into a tree. The others stared.
"A little uptight, aren't we?" Kai asked cautiously.
"Don't even go there Hiwatari." She replied in a tone so dark it made Bryan and Spencer shiver. Kai raised his hands in the universal symbol of peace, rather mockingly though. Anya glared at him and kept walking.
"I think someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today." Tala muttered.
Out of nowhere, a slushball smacked into the side of Tala's head.
"OW! What the fuck was that for!"
Anya didn't reply and slammed the door behind her.
"Hey, isn't Ian coming today?" Spencer asked.
"Yeah, and I get the feeling he's going to leave as soon as he meets the demoness over there." Tala growled reproachfully.
A split second later, another slushball smacked him in the side of the head.
"I THOUGHT YOU WERE INSIDE!"
"Actually, that was me." Spencer said with a smirk.
If looks could kill, Spencer would have been dead 50,000 times over.
A few minutes later when Anya had finished putting her blade together and had pelted Tala with about 500 slushballs for making a snide remark concerning her level of sanity, the sounds of a bus engine could be heard as they pulled to a stop. A moment later, they pulled away and someone's footsteps crunched in the snow.
"Long time no see Ian." Spencer said with a wave.
The dark-haired kid smirked.
"Hey T, why are you all wet?" He asked with a mildly amused expression.
Tala shot Anya a death glare.
"This wench-"
He was cut off by another slushball in the left ear.
"THAT'S IT!"
While Tala proceeded to chase Anya around the yard, hell bent on strangling her, Bryan turned back to Ian, who looked somewhat confused.
"That's our new teammate, Anya. She's been driving Tala stark-mad all week. It's pretty funny, really,provided you stay out of her way, that is..."
"Okaaaaayyyy..."
Meanwhile, Anya had climbed, er, leapt up a tall tree while Tala stood at the base of the trunk, fuming, with a murderous look in his eyes.
"You'd better get down here or I'll-"
"You'll what?" She asked smugly from her perch on the branch.
"KILL YOU!"
"Now what makes you think I'll do that? Because to me, going to the level of someone who wants to kill me seems like a pretty stupid thing to do." She responded in a rather convincing innocent tone.
Tala growled and started to walk away when he got a slushball in the back of the head.
"I see your point." Ian remarked as Anya leapt down from the tree while running from a very pissed-off Wolborg. She whipped out her blade, making Rycarraea slam into Wolborg's face, who fell into the snow, making it fly up and cover Tala.
"Karma hates me." He groaned.
"You brought it upon yourself then." Anya replied with a smirk.
While Tala unburied himself from the waist-deep pile of snow from Wolborg's crash landing, the others exchanged glances.
"I swear, Anya made it a hobby to think of new ways to drive Tala completely insane. You know what else? She's good at it." Spencer moaned while shaking his head in exasperation.
Ian snickered.
"This I gotta see. Tala insane? She's probably a-"
Before he could say anything, Ian got a slushball in the face.
"-Psycho." He finished, his voice muffled by the slush.
Some time later, Tala had given up trying to kill Anya after she had scared the shit out of him by merging with Rycarraea and started hurling fireballs in every direction while screaming bloody murder like a drunken, crazed madman on a rampage. ("AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"). And by murder, I mean Tala's murder, which would be enough to scare anyone. Anya was cracking up at his expression and mentioned something about wishing she had a camera for it and how it was amazing that male vocal cords could reach such a high pitch. Ian seemed more amused by their new teammate than anything.
It was around mid-day when it happened. The team was brought to the BBA HQ for a meeting with Mr. D when they were interrupted.
"You." Anya snarled venomously.
Boris smirked. Behind him, he had 3 bladers, an orange-haired boy, a blond with a mask over his eyes, and a girl with two-toned brown and burnt orange hair.
"What do you want!" Tala demanded.
"The BEGA Inc. has already purchased this establishment, Dickenson. Today's the deadline for you to scram." Boris snapped at Mr. D.
"Over my dead body." Anya growled.
"That could be arranged." The girl said with a smirk.
"I could rearrange your face for that little comment." Anya snapped in a tone so deadly it made the girl shudder and hide behind Boris.
Boris smirked at Anya.
"It's been a while."
"I don't know what the fuck you're talking about." She growled.
"Pfft. Still as stubborn as ever."
"Bastard."
The orange-haired boy stepped forward, clearly pissed off.
"You watch how you talk." He snapped.
"You gonna do something about it?"
Both bladers whipped out their loaded launchers.
"Let's take this outside and settle this like civilized people, shall we?"
"Fat chance." Anya said with a snide glower at the orange-haired kid.
"You're one to be talking."
Somehow, they managed to get Anya and the other blader outside, who turned out to be called Brooklyn.
"The rules are simple. Winner decides what happens to the building."
"3, 2, 1, LET IT RIIIIIIIIPP!"
The two bladers let their blades rip, immediately clashing blades with all the force in their power.
"Rycarraea, Wildfire Inferno!"
"Zeus, attack!"
As Anya's blade was engulfed in a trademark raging inferno, Brooklyn's blade swiftly started attacking from all sides.
"NOW!"
Rycarraea sent the inferno flying out in a wave of flames, getting a pretty solid hit to Brooklyn's blade.
"Now Kaexalea, Everest Blizzard!"
The sweltering hot air was replaced by a frigid whirlwind of hail and snow.
"SHE HAS TWO BIT BEASTS?" She heard Ian and the BEGA bladers shout.
Anya smirked as Kaexalea launched a devastating attack. All of the sudden, Brooklyn's eyes started glowing black.
"ZEUS! ATTACK!"
The center of his blade glowed as a huge bit beast was unleashed. Whatever it was, it roared before slamming into the Phoenix Strata again and again.
"Kaexalea, Rycarraea, emerge and attack together!"
The two phoenixes emerged from the split bit chip, winding together before hovering side by side.
"GEMINI ELEMENT CANNON!"
The twin phoenixes shrieked as they started to power up for the destructive attack.
"KING OF DARKNESS!"
All of the sudden, a hole appeared in the center of the battlefield, starting to drag Kae and Ry into it!
"NO!" Anya yelled helplessly as she fell to her knees.
The phoenixes shrieked as they fired the red, blue, and silver energy cannon at the hole, but it did nothing as they struggled to escape the pull.
"Rycarraea! Kaexalea!" She yelled as her phoenixes were slowly starting to become enveloped in darkness.
"ZEUS, FINISH THEM!"
"Stop..." Anya muttered.
Brooklyn laughed at her.
"Stop it..." She said with more force.
"How pathetic. Did you really think you could beat me? Now your phoenixes are mine."
"I said STOP IT!"
Anya was suddenly surrounded by a black aura as a third light shot up from the bit chip, taking the form of yet another bit beast, a phoenix.
"No way..."
Anya's eyes had now turned golden, the same color as the phoenix's eyes that was standing in front of her.
"Black Dranzer!" Kai gasped.
"Black Dranzer, Eclipse Emission!"
The mighty black phoenix shrieked in a shrill pitch before launching a massive wave of shadow fog, blinding Zeus as it was mercilessly attacked by Black Dranzer.
"Kaexalea! Rycarraea! Twin Phoenix Parallel Wave!"
The 2 younger of the triplets shrieked in reply as a gigantic blinding red and blue flash could be seen somewhere in the fog. When it cleared, the three phoenix brothers were all standing strong in the midst of Brooklyn's demolished blade. Anya, on the other hand, was beaten up, and her eyes were still golden, just like Black Dranzer's. Black wings with golden ridges were unfurled from her back, and the dark aura was still surrounding her. Without another word, she picked up her blade as soon as the phoenixes retreated to the Phoenix Strata's bit chip.
As Anya walked past them, he saw that the fabric on the left shoulder of her shirt had been torn clear off, revealing the tattoo. Now it was a mix of not just Kaexalea and Rycarraea, now it bore resemblance to Black Dranzer.
"Ok, is she always like that or should I be worried?" Ian askedSpencer warily.
"I'm just going to take a wild guess and say:You should definitely be worried."