Percy gripped the launcher in his hand. His other hand gripped the ripcord. He used a standard launcher, not a string one, as he felt it didn't give him enough string to properly launch his beyblade.

He took in a deep breath, before pulling the ripcord with all of his strength. His beyblade fell from the launcher, into the stadium, spinning at a pretty fast speed. It moved at fast speeds too, having a rubber tip.

The gold and blue bey spun around the stadium, just going around. He wasn't battling anyone, just practicing. Because of this, it was doing flower patterns without hitting anything.

He watched as it ran out of stamina and rolled onto its side. The image of the merman, Pontus, stared at him. His golden trident glinted in the sunlight. Percy picked up the beyblade. He took his shirt and rubbed the clear plastic on the top layer, cleaning it.

He was about to put his bey back on the launcher when his friend Grover came by.

"Hey Perce."

"Hey Grover. How are you doing?"

"Great. I just got my beyblade." Grover said, holding it out in his hand.

Percy took it from his hand and examined it. It was smooth, most likely a stamina type. It was green, with a figure in the middle. It was a darker green, with light green eyes. It had 4 spikes pointing out of it, with them getting heavier at the end, to help distribute the wait. It seemed to be a nature spirit of some kind, like the ones he had learned in Mythology class.

"What's its name?"

"Guardian. Grass Guardian."

"Stamina type?"

"You know it."

"Well, congratulations. Wanna test it out?"

"Obviously!"

Grover was disabled, but that never stopped his love for the sport. Since it was only his legs that needed help, he could battle with no issues. He took his launcher out of it's little sheath that was at his side. It was green, just like his beyblade. It was also a string launcher, which, well you know how Percy feels about those. To each their own.

Percy put Pontus on his launcher and gripped his ripcord. They counted down together.

"3."

"2."

"1."

"LET IT... RIIIP!" They yelled, launching their beyblades into the stadium.

Guardian took the center, being the stamina type that it is. Pontus started to dive in for the enemy's bey, being an attack type itself. This meant that Percy had the advantage.

Pontus clashed with Guardian, catching one of the brown spikes with the middle trident spike. Pontus unlatched and flew away from the other bey. Guardian flew away from the middle too. Pontus came around and hit Guardian again. It didn't catch anything, but it did push the green beyblade away from the middle.

Watching the battle ensue, Percy asked a question. "Are we going to 2 points, or 3?"

"Umm, I say let's do 3."

Percy nodded, and continued to watch the fight.

Pontus continued to hit Guardian, keeping it away from the center. But it was getting harder for the blue bey to hit the green one, as it had to cover more distance each time. Not only that, but Pontus was losing speed.

Pontus came around again, only to miss the beyblade. Guardian sped down to the center, claiming it for itself.

Percy cursed under his breath. He was about to lose this one.

Pontus went of course and went for the center. The blue bey smashed into Guardian with a lot of force. It looked like the forge disc was doing some work now. Heavier disks were often used for defense types, as they were adamant to not get knocked out of the stadium. But Percy used a heavier one to get more powerful attacks.

Guardian got knocked from the middle again, while Pontus continued to attack the green beyblade. But it was all for naught, as they both ended up back in the center, constantly attacking each other. It looked to be close, as Guardian was also losing stamina.

Pontus was able to spin for 2 seconds longer than Guardian, stealing the 1st point of the match. Percy smiled. He was up one point, with him only needing 2 more to win.

Grover looked at his bey. The prongs of the forge disc were halfway to the end. This meant that his beyblade was halfway to bursting. He turned the energy layer, fixing it. Percy's on the other hand was less than halfway, as his was a tighter fit.

They put their beys back on their launchers, and got ready to launch.

"3."

"2." Percy tilted his launcher subtly.

"1."

"LET IT... RIIIP!"

The beyblades were launched into the stadium. But this time, Pontus met Guardian in the center, fighting for control over it. The prongs of Pontus' trident caught on one of Guardian's prongs, turning the energy layer a little bit.

Pontus bounced off and back onto Guardian, striking it over and over again. The trident would strike, but only doing damage every once in a while. Guardian kept bouncing back from each blow, going back to the center, only to get hit again.

Just like last time, Pontus was running out of steam. It kept hitting Guardian, more frequently, but the attacks were less powerful. It came down the slope of the stadium for another attack. One of Guardian's prongs tried to catch onto Pontus, but it was blocked by the layer. However, the Pontus' layer had wave designs on the side, which the prong got caught in.

This was Guardian's undoing, as it turned the layer just enough. The beyblade came apart, 2 of it's 3 pieces landing in different places in the stadium, with the energy layer landing right at Grover's feet. The tip of his beyblade was still spinning, only to be knocked down by Pontus. The equivalent of spitting on a corpse.

A burst finish. 2 points to Percy. He gathered the pieces of Grover's beyblade and put it back together. He handed the bey to his friend who took it gratefully.

Percy collected his bey, and turned the layer, fixing the almost burst bey. He was going to suggest a rematch, when his watch beeped. He looked at it.

5:30.

He had to get home to his mom. She needed help with the store tonight.

"Grover, I gotta go. Good game." He said, reaching his hand out for a hand shake.

Grover shook it. "Yeah, good game. I'll get you next time though."

Percy smirked. "We'll see."

Grover laughed.

Percy walked down the street, towards his apartment. He passed other apartments, stores, and various other buildings. On a telephone pole, a certain poster caught his eye. The official Beyblade Competition League's logo was in the top right corner.

He walked up to it and read it.

Attention all Beyblade Bladers! It is that time again, for the annual beyblade tournament! To compete, bladers must be at least 16 years of age, have a beyblade, and a willing attitude.

Reward is 500 dollars in U.S. Cash.

Sign up starts on the 30th. Hope to see you there!

Now, Percy had gotten into this sport by watching tournaments, though he never really knew if he wanted to enter one. He had watched the tournament and thought, 'That looks fun!' and decided to try it out.

He could enter, probably wouldn't make it far, maybe enter just for shits and giggles. But that 500 dollars could help out. It wasn't a lot, but it would be helpful.

He walked away from the flyer, needing to get home. The argument in his head could wait until later.

And wait it did, for hours, until he was lying in bed, falling asleep. In his state of drowsiness, he made a decision.

"I'll compete."

A/N. Well, welcome to this... thing. Honestly, this probably isn't my best work, but it definitely isn't my worst. The cover is something else, eh? Drew it myself. Another reason why I shouldn't be allowed to draw. Maybe the art class I'm taking this year will help.

Speaking of which, school starts tomorrow. Back to Hell I go. My writing might either become more frequent or less, or stay the same. I'll give an update whenever I'm able to figure out what's going to happen on that front.

Thoughts?