Author's Notes: Short chapter. Sorry.

Unless I really have nothing to do, this is the last chapter before Christmas so consider this a Xmas gift (:

Disclaimer: Chase is AnimeGirl329's character. Otherwise you know the routine.

Safe, In Your Arms

Chapter 17: Not Equally Created

"Veeluza, let's fill this dish with vegetation!"

Forrest frowned. Vegetation? "Starlet, dodge whatever is coming at you!" Forrest screamed immediately. I sense trouble.

About three dozen of vines were shot from Forrest's opponent's beyblade. The center of the blade glowed a strong light and Forrest narrowed her eyes at the brightness. Starlet was barely keeping up.

It seemed like it was raining flowers. They filled the dish quickly and it became hard for Starlet to even keep spinning. But the other blade seemed to have no difficulty in keeping up.

Come on… speed, remember the pool, Starlet. Just like that… just like walking on water. Walk on the damn flowers, Forrest closed her eyes and pictured Kai's blue blade sprint across the pool with amazing speed. Yes, just like that.

Soon, Starlet seemed to be gliding on the surface of flowers just like Veezula was.

"Let's burn your vegetation, shall we?" Forrest asked in a mocking voice.

"Like you could," her opponent replied. "Veezula, show yourself! And let them admire your power!"

There was a beam of light and the stadium was filled with a sweet fragrance, coming from the beast. It was… a dragonfly. Forrest merely snorted. It was tiny compared to other bitbeasts but it seemed to hold much power. Indeed, too much power for the little beast so it grew in size.

"So… spring, huh? Starlet, fire tornado!"

The two bitbeasts battled against each other. Veezula, encircled by vines, charged towards Starlet, in the form of a lion, encircled by flame.

As Starlet put up with his opponent, Forrest quickly turned around and looked at Kenny, who was typing really fast and trying to get some information from Dizzi.

"You've got anything?"

"Nothing other than… watch out for her Millennium Vines attack," Kenny remarked as he quickly scanned the screen.

"Yes definitely," Dizzi added, "the attack lives up to its name."

As Forrest turned her head around, she heard her opponent cry: "Veezula! It's time for the Millennium Vines!" Forrest smacked her head hard and panicked.

"Hey, don't hurt yourself. My attack is going to hurt you enough," Spring mocked.

"Starlet, fire tornado!" Forrest ordered, ignoring the Weather Girl.

Exactly a three dozen vines were thrown at Starlet, the poor bitbeast dodged merely two and then he shot a spiral of fire at them. About two dozens were destroyed but they kept coming. It looked like Starlet was playing jump rope as he tried to dodge the attacks.

Then, Starlet tripped and Forrest fell on her knees. A vine hit the lion forcefully, throwing the blade into thin air. The host was ready to declare the match a win for the Weather Girls but the crowd cheered on. Forrest took the time to quickly get up. She was leaning forward to get a better look of the match and helped Starlet all she could.

"Bladebreakers!" came from one side of the crowd. "Weather Girls!" came from the other.

Forrest closed her eyes quickly. "Starlet, you know what to do!"

Sure enough, the bitbeast immediately shot a tornado of fire at the vines as he was upside down. Forrest's hands curled into balls and she bit her bottom lip. Come on, take all the energy. I want to prove myself worthy, she urged Starlet.

The tornado became bigger and fiercer. Heat surrounded the stadium and Forrest swept away some beads of sweat gliding down her forehead.

Starlet fell into the vortex of fire…

The smell of burnt objects stayed in the stadium. The host, DJ Jazzman, coughed into the microphone and waited for all the smoke to disappear. "Wow, great comeback there, newbie!"

Forrest glared at the host and fumed on. Newbie? Sure. I'm a newbie alright…

"You forgot about my attack," Spring said, "it doesn't stop until all the vines are unleashed."

"Shit," Forrest muttered, not so loud because she remembered Kai's advice. "Starlet, get the torches ready!"

"Veezula!"

"Starlet!"

The two collided in the middle of the dish. Smoke rose from the dish and both opponents coughed. Forrest shielded her eyes from the smoke and frowned. The only things that she could see were the several vines shooting upwards meaning that the thousand vines weren't all unleashed yet.

"Come on, Starlet," she muttered under her breath, between two coughs, "one last fire attack."

Forrest raised her arm up to mentally support Starlet. She could do nothing physically; she felt so helpless.

"Hail Forrest!" Max screamed in the background. Forrest sweat dropped and rolled her eyes, lowering her arm quickly.

There was a clash between the two blades and there seemed to be some kind of small explosion. No one could see what was going on. Forrest could only feel the vines hitting against her back, slower and slower. It seemed like the thousand vines were all used up.

"Wow, lots of smoke down there!" the host exclaimed, "it's clearing…," he paused and focused on the dish.

The smoke cleared so slowly, the crowd was almost silent as they waited for the announcement. The cameras zoomed on the dish one by one and Forrest's breaths were slow and heavy.

"Oh come on, Starlet, I know that you're still alive," she mumbled to herself, her hands clasped together unconsciously.

It seems to take forever for the heavy grey fog to clear, the host waited impatiently and as he saw the first sight of a beyblade glimmering, he started to talk.

"It seemed like … the Weather Girls have lost," he said, "oh well folks! Next round is—" he paused abruptly as the smoke completely cleared, "no wait! It's a tie! We have our first tie of the tournament!"

The crowd gave some kind of a groan, wanting to cheer on a winner but couldn't.

"Well, that doesn't matter!" the host said, the crowd glared. "Next up will be… Max from the Bladebreakers and Autumn from the Weather Girls!"

"Come on, Max, you can do it!" Tyson screamed as his friend walked to the dish.

Forrest sat down on her team's side and sighed. She groaned something under her breathes.

"That was a great match!" Ray exclaimed. Forrest rolled her eyes.

"But… I still tied," she mumbled.

"Oh come on, even I couldn't have done much better," Ray replied.

"At least you could have defeated her," Forrest remarked.

"Stop pressuring yourself," a voice cut in, "it was your first battle."

"Whatever Kai," Forrest replied, recognizing the voice.

She stood up from her seat and left her team alone.

"Why are you leaving?" Tyson inquired. "Don't you want to watch us play?"

"What's the point, I know that you're going to win anyway." She sighed and rubbed her eyes in fatigue.

"No, you must stay here. I need to watch the matches, learn about other's bitbeast and elemental weaknesses. You need to learn," Kai stated with a monotone voice.

Forrest had no choice but to stay and watch the rest of her team win the next two rounds.

Max grinned to himself as he watched Draciel spin proudly in the simple dish. "Hehe."

"Draciel! Attack with full power!" His blonde hair was blown outwards by the wind.

"Flameia, Eruption!" Autumn exclaimed.

The two beyblades clashed in the middle fiercely.

"Oh! Look at those two!" he paused as the tension rose in the air, "and Max from the Bladebreakers takes this round!" The green blade spun steadily in the middle of the dish while the other one was left leaning to the side, immobile.

Tyson suddenly rose from his seat enthusiastically and clapped. Max laughed heartily back as he leaned down to retrieve his blade. The boy turned to his opponent and smiled. Autumn gave a cheesy grin back.

"That was a great match, Max!" Tyson exclaimed

"Hehe, I know that I'm great," Max winked as he walked over to his team.

"Hn, don't be stupid. This is only the first round. The people are still weak," Kai grunted as he ran his fingers through his messy blue hair.

"Don't be such a kill-joy, Kai," Forrest remarked, trying to smile even though the thought of losing to a weak opponent hit her heart, and hard. I tied, damnit, I still can't believe it.

Tyson turned to Kai. "Oh, seriously, Kai you have to admit that Max did great!"

"Whatever, just go to the dish, it's your turn," the Russian boy replied.

Tyson glared and a vein popped on his forehead anime style. "That…he…"

"Hey, it's okay, Tyson," Max cut in, "besides, it is your turn. Go show them what you've got!"

"Yes, go Tyson! We should see the results of your improved blade," Kenny added, glancing at Dizzi, "of course, Dizzi did most of the work."

Tyson rolled his eyes and gripped his blade and ripcord, still fuming. He looked at his opponent, a girl with platinum blonde hair.

"3, 2, 1, let it rip!"

He pulled on the launcher so hard that he could have broken the instrument. It seemed like smoke was coming out of his nose. Forrest smirked to herself. I certainly won't talk to him for the next 24 hours.

"Dragoon! Phantom Hurricane!" Tyson cried, still angry.

"Geleila, Avalanche!" Winter screamed, as she saw her blade in trouble.

The two opponents clashed in the middle of the Beydish, creating a storm of wind and snow.

"Nice blizzard there," Tyson remarked. "But if I can beat Tala, I can beat you!"

Dragoon roared ferociously and charged forward at a great speed. In a matter of seconds, the other blade was sent flying in the air. Winter managed to catch it. She gave a low sigh and looked at Tyson.

"I am honored to have battled you," she started.

Tyson scratched his head playfully and chuckled slowly. "Same here."

"And the Bladebreakers advance to the second round! What a surprise," the host said sarcastically, "anyway," he paused and looked at the screen, "it looks like Dreams of Eden will play against the Samurais in the next matches!"

Tyson made his way to his teammates with a grin, while skipping a little.

"And I thought that we girls only had mood swings," Forrest muttered.

"What did you say?" Tyson asked, not suspecting anything.

"Nothing," Forrest chuckled. Don't get him angry, Forrest… don't get him angry.

Kai rolled his eyes, mounted the stairs to the spectator seats, and took a seat in the first row. Everyone else followed his lead and took seats beside him or in the next row.

"And it seems like first up will be Tenka from the Samurais against Chase from Dreams of Eden!"

A dark haired boy with a brown shirt and black trousers stepped to the dish first. Then on the other side, a spike-haired boy appeared. Kai had to admit that the second boy was very tall, probably taller than his brother was.

Kai left his gaze drift to the big screen hanging in the midair. There it showed the stats of the players. Samurais, mhm, very low defense but high attacks. I bet it's all physical attacks. That Chase guy has low endurance too, pretty high speed, wait…, he has almost the exact same stats as Forrest, only higher attack and speed. He frowned and looked at his attacks. Frozen Tundra, Atomic Reflection, and Swift Lightning—

"That's not possible!" he exclaimed suddenly.
"Actually, it is, Kai," came a voice. The Russian turned his head only to see Kenny sitting beside him with Dizzi on his laps. "Laptop talking! Okay. I've just looked through the database and it seemed like this Chase guy has a transforming bitbeast too and may I add, a very powerful one too."

"This is great!' Kenny exclaimed, "get ready Dizzi, we might get some good analysis to help improve Forrest's blade."

Hearing her name, the girl swung her head and only to meet Kai's gaze.

"You better watch," he warned, his voice monotone, "this is important."

"Sure…," she muttered, her voice trailing off as she turned back.

"Alright folks! It's time to… 3, 2, 1, let it rip!"

"Go Gaeliras! Sumo Slam!"

"Send him flying with Atomic Reflection!"

One beyblade jumped in the air, the top chip shining and a gorilla with heavy metallic armor appeared above it. It was furious. The other blade seemed to be immobile; it just stood there, waiting to be attacked.

"What's wrong, heh? Too baffled by my great bitbeast?" the Samurai inquired, smirking.

"No. Ever learned physics? Mass times gravity equals to weight. Since your attack only depends on weight, the bigger it, the bigger the force of your attack, therefore, greater the strength of my reflected attack!"

Kai cocked an eyebrow and grunted. That guy has ways with words.

When the blade in the air merely touched the other blade, it was blown with a force. Chase's blade spun as fast as ever and a great light shone. For a fraction of a second, it seemed like a sword was floating in midair but it transformed into a mammoth, five times bigger than Tenka's gorilla. The two beasts battled but it was obvious that Chase was winning. The gorilla stepped back twice and grunted.

"Give him your Frozen Tundra attack!" Chase cried, his eyes narrowing. Kai frowned in the crowd. Obviously he's at least three times as strong as Forrest.

The match was at the end when Kenta's blade was sent flying out of the dish; its outer layer all scratched up and destroyed. The Samurai gritted his teeth but sighed.

"I owe you all my allegiance," the boy replied, bowing.

"Don't be so old-fashioned. A lost is a lost, nothing more," Chase replied, smiling slightly.

Yes… and a tie is just a tie, nothing more, nothing less, Forrest thought, cupping her chin subconsciously. I definitely am going to talk to this Chase guy.

"Miss Fan? There is someone wanting to talk to you," came a voice. Forrest gave an annoyed grunt.

"Where? Who?"

"Just outside there," the person responded, pointing outside the door, "near the vending machines."

She lazily got up and strolled outside, only to find an older boy leaning against the wall.

"Chase Misao of the Dreams of Eden?" Forrest questioned.

"What?" the guy snapped, as he lifted his head up, "oh sorry, I thought that it was someone else. Why are you here?"

"Someone wanted to talk me, could that be you?" Forrest asked, her arms crossed in front of her chest, careful about her choice of words not to offend the guy. I have to ask him some questions.

"No. In fact, someone wanted to speak to me too," he responded, shrugging. "I've been waiting here for a minute—"
"Oh, Chase and Forrest!" came a charming voice, very welcoming but suspiciously too nice. It was a man around the age of thirty, around his neck was a tag with his identification card and in the other hand a tape recorder.

"It's you, again," Chase started. "I've no business with you. Don't you paparazzi get it? You're not getting an interview with me, or her," Chase glanced at Forrest, "it's called privacy. I can't believe that I've waited this long just for a reporter, I thought that it was something important."

"Well obviously you know me," the man chuckled, ignoring the younger boy, "I'm from Beyblade Today, we're doing an article on both of you. So two new bladders with transforming bitbeast, tell us, is it hard to maintain energy in battle?" He pressed on a button and it started recording. Forrest gave a almost-silent cough.

"Don't answer him," Chase cut in, "let's go in the waiting room."

"Just one question!" the reported cried, "oh children, just one!"

"For your information, I'm 19 years old. And you're not allowed in the waiting room, good day," Chase groaned before he quickly pulled Forrest back into the room.

Forrest raised an eyebrow cockily and shook her head. "Do you get bombarded with them everyday or what? Seems like you know how to deal with them."

"No, I'm not that famous. Not like the Bladebreakers, he should be mainly attacking you," he replied, taking a seat on a random chair.

"Well they already wrote an article on me, hopefully that's the last. They turn everything against me, it's really not fair."

Forrest gave a chuckle and examined him closely for the first time. The older boy had dark brown hair, short and spiked. He was very tall and pretty well built. He was on Beyblade Today too, now I remember. "Oh yeah, Kai wanted me to talk to you."

"He wants you to talk to me, but do you want to talk to me?" he asked, propping his legs on the side of the coffee table carelessly. Forrest only shrugged. That guy really plays with words.

"It wouldn't hurt, I guess. So what forms can your bitbeast take?"

"The mammoth that you saw today. A snow stag and falcon."

"Interesting," Forrest mumbled as she registered it in her mind, "mind you, I'm not spying or anything."

"I don't really care. This is just a tournament, not war," Chase shrugged, "besides, there are spies everywhere. You don't look harmful."

Is he saying that I'm not strong? she asked herself. This guy reminds of Kai a little too much, not good.

"So why Dreams of Eden? It sounds so Biblical," Forrest asked, purely out of curiosity. I'm so not here to spy on you.

"We all know an attack called Sword of Justice. It relates to how the angels kicked Adam and Eve out of the garden," Chase shrugged and placed his right hand near his neck to pull out a chain linked with a golden cross from under his shirt. "I'm not a Christian but because of our team name, we each have one of those. We battle for the teamwork."

"Oh," Forrest said, simply. "I'm impressed." Her eyes stared at the golden cross sitting on top of his shirt.

So maybe Mr. Dickenson was right, this tournament is filled with diversities of people. Seems like Satomi's team is exactly the opposite of this one. But, what do I battle for? She looked up at the ceiling quietly.

Chase, during that time, took the time to get back to his team quietly, not disturbing Forrest's chain of thoughts. She didn't mind anyway.

"Maybe I battle for fame."

That's really not a good reason. Maybe that's what makes Tyson and the others stronger. They don't fight for glory… they already have it. They fight for something else.

"But what?"

She jerked her head up quickly as she felt a warm hand touch her shoulder briefly.

"James!" she exclaimed. "Oh, is it time already?" she glanced at the clock hanging on the wall; it was already past four in the afternoon. Her question was left unanswered.

"Mister Hiwatari?" James asked, turning to the boy in question, "are you ready to go home?"

The mahogany eyed one gave a careless shrug and a meaningful look to Forrest. Now you're starting to think, Forrest Fan, now you know what you lack. Fame is only the weakest reason.

Author's Notes: Ergh. I disliked the ending, a lot. I'm sorry about this weird chapter. Next chapter will hopefully not have that much of the tournament 'cause it gets weird. Leave a review, thanks!

Oh yeah, if you like fantasy, please go check out my new story: Fallen from Grace. Thanks.