While Faye lay barely alive in the hospital, Anya was totally oblivious to what was going on. She was hacking into the Abbey's old files in an attempt to figure something out, something that had been eating at her patience for the past week. It was extremely difficult to get in since the Abbey scientists changed the codes on an hourly basis, and they never used the same code twice. She ran a hand through her hair and sighed. Her usually iron patience was wearing thinner with each failure code. She had already broken through 8 of 10 codes, and it was very difficult despite her skills as a nearly professional hacker. A knock came on her door.
"Anya?"
"C'mon in."
Tala opened the door, TJ leaping off the bed and clamping his teeth onto his boot, growling and attempting to "kill" his "prey".
"Stupid mutt…." He muttered irritably, shaking TJ off.
The wolf pup, bored, scampered downstairs, probably to find Kai.
He looked at the computer monitor while Anya cussed at it in German.
"Dumm stück von scheiße…." ("Stupid piece of shit….")
"Still at it?" He asked, bemused at her bullheadedness.
"Yeah."
He raised an eyebrow.
"Anya, you haven't slept in 3 days, you never take your eyes off the monitor except to train, and I've heard you swear at the computer."
"Very funny."
"Why don't you take a break?"
"Not when I'm this close."
"Oh, you mean as close as you were yesterday?" He asked with a smirk.
"Shut up." She growled, getting up from her seat and stretching.
Anya froze internally when Tala slipped his arms around her shoulders, bringing his face mere millimeters away from her ear.
"That's not very nice, is it Anya?" He whispered, the heat of his breath making Anya shiver.
Much to her astonishment and shock (mostly shock) he started to tenderly nuzzle her neck, burying his face into her soft brown hair.
"You're so tense…" He pointed out while gently sliding his hands down her sides, stopping at her hips and locking his arms around her waist. "Even Kai isn't this obsessive with anything."
Anya rolled her eyes.
"Figures you'd compare me to Kai."
"Are you implying what I hope you're not implying?"
"Yep." She replied with a smirk.
Even though both had admitted feelings towards one another, they were always at each others' throats, and Anya was still good at driving Tala crazy. Her smug reply made Tala let go, just as she had intended.
"I can't believe how gullible you are." She said with a smirk.
Tala shot her a glare, making her laugh.
"I am not gay." He growled.
"Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuure." She replied.
The next thing she knew, Tala had her pinned to the wall, his face inches from hers.
"Really? If I wasn't straight, would I do this?"
Before she could react, Tala leaned in and softly kissed her on the lips.
Damn my weak spot. She cursed at herself.
Her "weak spot" was the tiny little detail that she couldn't resist his gentle touch and kisses, no matter how hard she tried to. Tala pulled away, trying to keep from smirking.
"Damn you Valkov." Anya growled playfully, making Tala smirk openly.
"Oh gross, get a room!"
Both bladers looked to the door where Ian was standing.
"News flash runt, this is my room, and I'm about to KILL YOU FOR BARGING IN!"
Ian ran down the hall screaming as both bladers ran after him, hell-bent on murdering the snooping little weasel. From anywhere in the house, one could hear Anya and Tala yelling at Ian, who was screaming, and running for his life at the same instant.
"COME BACK HERE AND FACE YOUR PAINFUL MASSACERING LIKE A MAN!" –Anya
"I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU, YOU MISERABLE LITTLE SHRIMP!" –Tala
The others looked up from their activities downstairs to see Ian run past, and a half second later was followed by a black streak, presumably Anya, who seemed to be moving at 50 miles per hour. Tala appeared a second or two later, mainly because Anya was incredulously fast as well as strong. Bryan, never being one to pass up the opportunity to humiliate the wolf, decided he needed a speed bump and stuck his foot out right in Tala's path, sending him sprawling across the floor. Spencer lazily kicked the door open, Ian seizing the opportunity and bolting out. Anya slowed to a leisurely walk and slammed the door shut. A smug grin played her face as she admired her handiwork while Ian seemed to realize that he had been locked outside and had started pounding on the door. Tala looked about ready to strangle Bryan, who was rolling on the floor laughing. Tala suddenly smirked and whistled the tune that he'd heard Anya use. TJ, hearing the whistle, perked up his ears and ran over, pouncing on Bryan's foot and sinking his canine teeth into his boot, yanking at it until the thing came off.
"Hey! Give that back!" He yelled, getting up and giving chase.
Anya whipped the door open as TJ came to a dead halt, but since Bryan didn't stop fast enough and Ian hadn't thought to move away from the door, the two collided head-on, Anya slamming the door shut behind him.
"GUYS! This isn't funny!" Bryan yelled through the door.
Anya looked down at TJ, who looked very smug in his work. For a while, the team ignored Bryan and Ian. Spencer, Tala and Anya entertained themselves by tormenting the others by making childish faces at Ian and Bryan through the window over Kai's head, who was sitting on the couch, reading. Though it was muffled, all 4 bladers could hear the two outside swearing in Russian.
"Hey guys, you hear something?" Anya asked with a smirk.
"No." –Spencer
"Not me." –Tala
"Nope." –Kai
Even TJ was taking part in the torment and had settled himself comfortably in the window while proceeding to shred Bryan's boot to shreds with his teeth while its owner was watching, fuming and yelling something about turning the wolf cub into a fur coat.
"You have a sick, twisted mind." Tala said to Anya, who smirked.
"I know." She replied smugly.
Much to Tala's surprise, she smacked him upside the head.
"OW! What was that for!" He yelled, holding his head where she'd smacked him.
"That was for leaving the door open in the first place and letting Ian come in!" She shouted back, trying to keep from laughing at his expression.
"Hmph." He grumbled, rubbing the back of his head where it was sore.
Anya smirked and put her hands in her pockets, whistled to TJ, and walked back upstairs with the wolf pup trotting at her heels.
Meanwhile in America, the All Starz were waiting impatiently in the lobby. Steve had gotten in a football accident, and they were waiting for their teammate to come out. They knew his ankle would be broken and he wouldn't be able to blade this year, and they still had to get a teammate to replace him. Judy said she had found one online, and they were supposed to show up in the BBA HQ in New York in 3 hours. Finally, the door opened and Steve came out on crutches.
"How do ya feel?" Michael asked.
Steve smirked.
"Like I've been hit by a fucking tank."
"Well, considering the size of the guy that tackled you, I'd say that was pretty accurate." Emily joked.
The team had a good laugh and the remaining All Starz headed off to try and beat the rush hour traffic to the HQ.
It was a good half hour before they got there, but the new mystery blader still hadn't showed up. No matter how much Michael prodded, Judy wouldn't say anything about the new blader, only that they specialized in wrestling and hockey, and went for speed when it came to beyblading. Emily was trying to picture a hot wrestler coming through the doorway while the others waited, impatiently to say the least. Max seemed to be the only one not fidgeting. Finally, the doors opened and a kid walked in. Their face was mostly shadowed by a wide-brimmed black cowboy hat, also hiding their hair.
"Are you the new blader?" Max asked.
"Yep." The person responded with a playful smirk before taking off the hat.
Navy hair spilled out and fell to their shoulders and a pair of brown eyes appeared.
"A girl!" Michael yelled, making Emily and Judy glare at him.
"You got a problem with that tough guy?" She demanded calmly as she slowly folded her arms with a raised eyebrow.
"Team, this is Roxy Freeman, your new teammate." Judy announced.
"Hey." She said with a cute wink and held up one hand as a gesture of friendliness.
Roxy was introduced to everyone on the team including a disappointed Emily. Max had blushed about 5 shades of red when she gave him a mind-melting smile. Michael just folded his arms and grumbled.
"Girls."
Meanwhile in northern Russia, Team Psykick was waiting patiently for their newest teammate at the airport. The only flight that he had been able to get had wound up arriving at 5 in the morning, so Goki and Jim were sound asleep sitting against the wall while Salima and Kane remained with their eyes on Gate 14A. Finally, the new boy's flight came in. As Kane so recalled, the new boy said he would be about 15 years old, 5'6" and had said he would be wearing a black jacket, navy shirt and gray pants according to an e-mail sent over the Internet. Two pairs of alert eyes searched the crowds for said blader.
"There he is." Kane said pointing to a boy in the crowd.
Salima studied his face. It was one you could call handsome, though not quite as mature as most boys his age. Kane walked over to him and said something, too far away to be heard clearly. The new boy shook his hand and followed the team captain over to the rest of Team Psykick.
"Uh Salima, would you mind waking Tweedle-Dumb and Tweedle-Dumber up?" He sighed in frustration.
Salima delivered a good hard kick to her sleeping teammates, making both wake up on impact.
"Jeez Salima, what the hell was that for!" Jim demanded.
Kane cleared his throat and gestured to the new boy.
"Oops, sorry, I forgot to tell you our names." Kane said sheepishly.
"Ditto. The name's Ryan. Ryan Kodrik." He replied with a kawaii smile.
"Well, you already know who I am; this is Salima, Goki and Jim."
Ryan shook hands with each of them, Salima blushing when he shook hers.
"So, you guys still have to tell me what team I'm joining." Ryan pointed out.
Kane smiled.
"Ryan, welcome to Team Psykick."
Back in Japan, the BBA Revolution was just getting off their plane from Russia. Tyson and Hilary weren't speaking to each other after a stupid argument nobody remembered the topic of while Jolt trailed at the back of the group. He couldn't help but think that something was a bit off, and whatever it was, he had the feeling that it would change things... drastically.
Sitting at Faye's desk, Brooklyn was typing furiously trying to collect as much information about Branzer Renavatio as possible. So far, he had only managed to break 0 of 8 security codes to getting into her laptop's system. Apocalyptica was helping as much as he could, but being so far away back at the hospital with Faye, the dragon was of little assistance. Growing frustrated, Brooklyn started drumming his fingers on the desk, trying to think.
Dammit.
He'd been at it for nearly 7 hours straight now. Getting up to stretch, Brooklyn started pacing trying to get the blood flowing. A minute passed, then 2, then 5. Faye's Marquee screensaver appeared.
Rebirth. 74986. BranzerProject. Dryzalaia. Raidraia. Kaexalea. Faeryxea. DELTA.
An odd series of words.
Wait.
Grabbing a slip of paper and pen, Brooklyn scribbled down the words and moved the mouse to make the first code appear. Hands shaking, he typed in Renavatio.
ACCESS APPROVED.
Brooklyn punched the air with a fist in triumph. Faye had intentionally arranged her screensaver to say all of the Balkov Abbey Codes. Seven security codes later, Brooklyn finally broke in. A search window appeared.
B-R-A-N-Z-E-R R-E-N-A-V-A-T-I-O.
A window appeared with a profile that looked like this:
Branzer Project IV
Project Code: 74986 DELTA
Project Name: Branzer Renavatio DELTA
DNA Fusion: Black Dranzer
Gender: Female
Age: 16
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Blue
Height: 5'7"
Name: Anya Jaye Slovanik
Real name: Drayea Cree Calov
Occupation: Beyblader
Bit Beast: Black Dranzer (Branzer)
Blade: Phoenix Strata
Species: Dark Phoenix
Element: Shadow/Wind
Attack: 4 stars
Defense: 3 stars
Endurance: 1 star
Team: Blitzkrieg Boys
Attacks:
Dark Saber (Offense, Shadow)
Shadow Arrows (Offense, Shadow)
Eclipse Emission (Offense, Shadow)
Spiral Survivor (Defense, Shadow)
Upgrades:
DELTA Upgrade
A picture of an all-too familiar blader appeared beside the information.
So this is Branzer Renavatio. Anya IS Renavatio. Brooklyn thought bitterly. Figures.
After all, she DID have the Dark phoenix as well as twin Fire and Ice phoenixes.
Of course!
Phoenix tears healed wounds, and Anya was the one with the phoenixes and power to save her. Growing curious, Brooklyn printed out the page for future reference and went back to search a different topic.
B-R-A-N-Z-E-R G-E-N-E-S-I-S.
Faye's profile appeared on the screen, and it looked like this:
Branzer Project II
Project Code: 47826 DELTA
Project Name: Branzer Genesis
DNA Fusion: Black Dranzer, Apocalyptica
Gender: Female
Age: 17
Hair: Black
Eyes: Black
Height: 5'7"
Name: Faye Sasha Cadnik
Real name: Meridia Tanya Calov
Occupation: Beyblader, Assassin, Hacker, Hunter
Bit Beast: Apocalyptica
Blade: Apocalypse X
Species: Dragon/Demon
Element: Dark/Demon
Attack: 5 stars (off the scale)
Defense: 2 stars
Endurance: 2 stars
Team: BEGA Team
Attacks:
Phantom Shadow (Offense, Dark)
Apocalypse Reign (Offense, Demon)
Phantom Barrier (Defense, Dark/Demon)
Eclipse Apocalypse (Final Attack, Dark/Demon)
Upgrades:
DELTA Upgrade
Brooklyn studied the page, deep in thought.
So, her real name is Meridia. He puzzled.
Shaking it off, he grabbed his blade and launcher, printed out the profile and headed out the door with Renavatio's and Genesis's profiles in his hand.
Meanwhile, Anya eventually relented and let Bryan and Ian inside, but not without getting them to repeat over and over again, "I am a total moronic doofus and am not worthy of your kindness." Miraculously, Kai had cracked up with Tala and Spencer when Bryan had immediately taken off after TJ shouting what sounded like, "JUST WAIT TIL I GET MY HANDS ON YOU, YOU SATANIC BALL OF WORTHLESS FUZZ!" He had stopped when TJ had hidden behind Anya's leg, whom had already merged with Rycarraea and had flaming fists, looking ready to kill. TJ looked very smug with his work and sauntered over to Kai, leapt up onto the couch and rested his head on Kai's knee. Kai responded by scratching TJ behind the ears, making the wolf cub let out a contented sigh. Anya shook her head. Kai had really taken to the little rascal whether he admitted it or not. Grabbing her Phoenix Strata blade, Anya grabbed her parka and went outside to train.
Staring out the window of the bus, Brooklyn drummed his fingers impatiently. It was one whole hour to get from downtown where the BEGA HQ was to get to the large house the Blitzkrieg Boys were staying, and the worried blader's mind still lingered on Faye. Her condition hadn't improved or worsened since she'd gotten the beating of a lifetime, but the fact that her life hung in the balance was taking a toll on Brooklyn. As it started to snow lightly outside, he sighed.
Please be alright, Faye.
"Where am I?" Faye asked herself.
A blackness unlike any dark she had ever seen had enveloped the dragon like a dark abyss. Out of the darkness, a scaled-down version of Apocalyptica appeared on all fours. He was now about the size of a small horse.
"Lyptica?" She called out to her bit beast.
"Mistress." He said, acknowledging her.
"Where am I? And what's going on?" She asked, slightly panicking.
"Calm down Meridia."
Faye was taken back by her dragon's words.
"M-Meridia?" She stuttered.
"Yes mistress, your real name is Meridia."
Faye gave her bit beast a confused look.
"Why didn't you tell me this sooner?"
"It's a long story that I will get to later."
The blackness around Meridia/Faye (I'm going to call her Meridia from now on) suddenly faded away to show a hospital room. Looking down, Meridia saw Brooklyn bent over a hospital bed.
"He's crying..."
Meridia looked over to the bed and gasped. Lying there, bleeding, bruised and mostly dead was herself! She barely recognized herself, she was that beaten up.
"Faye, I'm so sorry... I never should have let you take that punishment for me..." He murmured softly with tears rolling down his face. Meridia's heart felt like it had been shattered into a million pieces. It was painful to see Brooklyn hurting like that, and there wasn't anything she could do about it.
"This was about 2 days ago when you came in. Right now, I'm not really sure where Brooklyn is."
"Still, how did you figure out what my name is?"
Apocalyptica sighed and sat down on his haunches.
"For over 7 hours, Brooklyn was at your laptop trying to get into the Abbey files to figure out who Branzer Renavatio was."
"Why find Renavatio?"
"Because her trio of phoenixes could easily bring you back. At the present moment, the doctors have narrowed your chances of survival from 5 percent from 2 days ago to nothing. Unless Brooklyn can get Renavatio to use her phoenixes to help you, I hate to say this... but you won't survive." Apocalyptica said the last bit quietly.
"But why did that have anything to do with my name?"
"I was trying to help him get into the Abbey files through Zeus. When he broke in, he looked up your profile as well as Renavatio's. Boris has been hiding your true identity from you, and your name is Meridia Tanya Calov."
"Anything else I should know about?"
"Oh, yes, just one other thing. Branzer Renavatio is your biological sister."
"Rycarraea, now!"
The Phoenix Strata started moving in the new pattern Anya had designed at amazing speed, slashing the boulders set up in the arena to gravel-sized pieces. The blade returned to its mistress and leapt up into her waiting hand. Anya pulled out her launcher again and slotted her blade into it, preparing to launch again. Out of the blue, a sudden pang of alertness caused her ultra-sharp hearing to pick up wind on metal. In one faster-than-lightning move, Anya whirled around, ripping the ripcord out of her launcher and sending her blade rocketing at a black streak that was heading her way. The mid-air collision caused Anya's blade to smash into the opposer with so much force that it sent it shooting back to where it came from. Anya caught her blade in one hand with no effort required, eyes closed. She opened them again as a gloved hand caught the blade.
"Anya." An all-too familiar voice said.
Anya narrowed her eyes.
"What do you want, Brooklyn." She growled.
The orange-haired boy stepped out of the shadows as a soft, frigid wind picked up.
Brooklyn stepped out of the shadows to face the one called Branzer Renavatio. When he had battled her, he hadn't really been able to see Anya's face. Up close, he almost gasped when he saw the slight resemblance to Faye, er, Meridia. Though her eyes and hair were different, as the wind picked up, her fierce and intense eyes flashed the same way Meridia's did when she got mad. Anya narrowed her eyes.
"Well?" Anya demanded.
Brooklyn lowered his head, shadowing his face, but kept his eyes on her.
"I'm here to ask for your help."
Back inside, TJ suddenly lifted his head from its spot on Kai's knee, ears perked up.
"What is it boy?" Kai asked cautiously.
TJ suddenly leapt down from the couch and ran over to the door and started clawing at it frantically, yapping and barking. The other Blitzkrieg Boys looked up from whatever they were doing. TJ pulled back a second and snarled at the door before attacking it again. Something was wrong... Tala walked over to the door and opened it, TJ immediately bolting outside. Now that he had grown a bit, his long legs made it seem that the wolf was flying over the snow. Sensing something gone awry, Tala rushed back in, grabbed his blade and launcher and ran outside after the wolf. The others seemed to catch on and followed suit.
"Don't make me laugh." Anya growled.
"I'm not kidding, Anya. Or should I say Drayea." Brooklyn responded calmly.
Getting mad, Anya whipped out her loaded launcher.
"Last chance. GET AWAY." She snarled.
Brooklyn held up a few papers.
"I know this sounds crazy, but I have right here who you are and what you don't remember."
The last half of the phrase caught Anya by surprise, causing her to slightly lower her launcher. All of the sudden, a white streak with red-tipped ears came tearing into the clearing, coming to a halt in front of Anya. It was none other than TJ, and he looked furious. A split second later, the rest of the Russian team burst into the clearing, panting, furious, and all wielding their loaded beyblade launchers.
"GET. AWAY. FROM. HER." Tala growled between panting breaths, shooting a death glare at Brooklyn over his launcher.
The others did the same. Brooklyn narrowed his eyes, getting thoroughly annoyed.
"You've got it all wrong! I'm not after Anya, I'm asking for her help."
"How do we know you can be trusted?" Kai demanded.
"You can't be sure, but I willingly hand over Zeus in exchange for your services... and temporary trust." He said pulling out his blade and throwing it to Anya.
She easily caught it in one hand. Anya looked at it. It wasn't a copy, he had to be telling the truth. She turned back to Brooklyn as she returned her still-loaded launcher into one pocket and put Zeus in the other.
"Fine. But you do anything to lose our trust and you'll never see Zeus again." She growled.
One half hour and 8 security codes later, the Blitzkrieg Boys and Brooklyn were all looking at Anya's computer monitor at her profile as Branzer Renavatio.
"Well, THAT answers a lot of questions." Ian muttered.
Anya slumped back in her chair and ran a hand over her hair.
"See? Meridia's is the same."
Sure enough, Faye/Meridia's picture and profile appeared when Anya put in a search for Branzer Genesis.
"How many of these things are there?" She wondered aloud.
"I don't know, but the reason I came here is to ask of your help. Boris did something to Meridia and right now she's lying in the hospital, dying. You are the only person that can save her."
"Me? Why me?"
"Her bit beast Apocalyptica told me of your phoenixes' healing powers. Even though she's connected to Black Dranzer, it isn't doing anything to help the situation." Brooklyn explained.
Anya sighed.
"Fine. But you had better make sure she leaves me and my team alone." She growled.
Back at the hospital, the team cringed when they saw the condition Meridia was in. According to the doctor, she no longer stood any chance of surviving. She had been hurt far too badly.
"What happened to her?" Anya asked/gasped in disbelief.
"We tried to get her bit beast back from Boris and I got caught. She defended me and took the beating." Brooklyn said quietly.
BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPPP!
"Faye!"
"She's flatlining!"
Anya, er, Drayea whipped out her Phoenix Strata blade and pointed it at her dying counterpart.
"Rycarraea, Kaexalea, heal!" She shouted.
The bit chip was split by two colors of light, ice blue and fire red as 4 doctors rushed into the room. The shrieks of two phoenixes could be faintly heard as the room temperature soared and ice formed on the walls. A mixed aura surrounded both Meridia and Drayea, transferring the phoenix wielder's energy into the dragon wielder. The frightened doctors stood paralyzed in the doorway as some of Meridia's injuries appeared on Drayea from the transfer's side effects. The cut on the corner of her mouth where a trickle of blood formed, a black eye, and countless bruises and cuts. The vital signs monitor started to display signs of life, and soon they were beating in sync with Drayea's healthy pulses.
"It is done."
She lowered her arm and put her blade back into her pocket. Without another word, the Russian team left the others behind.
Back at the Blitzkrieg Boys' place, it was awkwardly silent until Anya, now called Drayea, went up to her room to bandage up her new wounds. Tala followed her out of concern when she mentioned "the wounds' need to develop and she would be extremely irritable with them."
Coming to the end of the hall, Tala knocked on the door.
"Anya? Er, Drayea? You need any help?"
Silence.
"Drayea?"
He tried the doorknob. It was open, and he was shocked to find Drayea on the ground clutching her head.
"Drayea!"
Tala ran to her side and pulled her into his lap as she let go of her head.
"Drayea are you alright?" He asked worriedly.
"I remember everything..." She murmured with her eyes still clenched shut.
"What do you mean?"
"The transfer... it gave me my memory back..."
Back at the hospital, it was announced that Meridia was now in stable condition. Brooklyn was waiting impatiently by her side wishing she would wake up soon. It was hard, but he knew she would wake up eventually... He sighed and took his lover's hand.
Wake up soon...