It wound up being Jessie vs. Garland. The two bladers got into their stances in front of the battle arena. Jessie shot Garland a dark glare.
"3, 2, 1, LET IT RIIIIIIIIIPP!"
Both bladers let rip their blades onto the ice arena, Jessie immediately taking her advantage of being on the ice by the horns. Since her Devi Dranzer Strata blade was intentionally designed to blade in very harsh conditions, especially on Devi Dranzer's home field with ice, she had a much better sense of balance and moved far more gracefully than Garland.
"Devi Dranzer, attack!"
"Appollon, counter-offense!"
The two blades charged at one another, but because of Jessie's advantage, Devi Dranzer was landing far more hits and with greater force. Garland was starting to get frustrated, but Boris had a smirk on his face.
"Ever wonder why your Devi Dranzer is so powerful? So perfect?"
"Shut up!" Jessie growled.
The bit chip on Jessie's blade, which was glowing ice blue, suddenly pulsed black.
"Devi Dranzer, Ravage Blizzard!"
"Appollon, Thunder Sonic Attack!"
The two blades were engulfed in the element of their bit beasts' natural force as they charged at each other again and again, clashing with all the force they had and every last shred of passion that was contained in their masters. The swirling winds of arctic proportions were causing Appollon to dramatically slow down from the slow-working effects of frostbite.
"I know you want to know what makes your Devi Dranzer so powerful." Boris said with a smirk.
"Shut up!" Jessie yelled back again.
Devi Dranzer's bit chip started to pulse again as Jessie's anger started to get the better of her. Boris reached into his pocket and pulled something out. Jessie's eyes widened when he opened his hand to reveal none other than Black Dranzer.
"Surprised?" He smirked.
Jessie narrowed her eyes in hatred.
"Devi Dranzer, FINISH THIS!"
The bit chip suddenly glowed bright enough to illuminate the entire arena as the Ice phoenix emerged from the confinements of its bit chip and emitted a shrill war cry.
"NOW!"
The center of the Black Dranzer blade in Boris's hand glowed a furious red as the Dark phoenix emerged, slamming right into Devi Dranzer's face and fusing with him.
"Devi Dranzer!"
All the while that Jessie was distracted, Garland had made Appollon attack the Ice phoenix, and now Jessie's blade was wobbling dangerously. Jessie fell to one knee from the intense pain, surrounded by a black aura from Black Dranzer.
"Jessie!" Wyatt yelled.
Jessie's eyes shot open, glowing black. A dark whirlwind surrounded her, encasing the Ice phoenix in a torrent of black wind. Boris laughed, loudly and derisively.
"See how you like that little flashback!" He taunted.
"Jessie, don't listen to him!" Wyatt yelled over the wind.
"Devi Dranzer! Help me!"
Kai's eyes widened. Those last two words struck a familiar memory in the Fire phoenix's mind.
FlashbackKai watched from the sidelines in horror as Wyatt yelled out, clutching his head.
"Help me!"Kai snapped back into reality. An image of Wyatt in the position where he was clutching his head flashed in front of Jessie, who was calling out helplessly to her Devi Dranzer to help her.
"Stop it!" He yelled, making heads turn as he whipped out Dranzer and launched it into the arena.
"Dranzer, end this now!" He commanded, eyes blazing.
The royal blue blade shot forward engulfed in flames and rammed both blades clear out of the arena. The torrent around Jessie died away, and a soft, ice-blue glow replaced the black on her bit chip. Devi Dranzer emerged, surrounding its mistress in its enormous wings. Jessie fell to her knees, silent tears falling down her face, freezing into tiny ice crystals mid cheek. Kai glared at the retreating BEGA Team until they were out of sight while Wyatt ran to Jessie's side and held her protectively in his arms, loving her back to herself. Jessie was pretty beat up from the battle, physically, mentally, and emotionally.
"It's alright Jessie…." Wyatt crooned, stroking her hair affectionately.
"I think we'd better come back later…" Tala murmured to his team, who nodded and followed their leader home.
For a while, it was silent except for the sounds of the soft wind blowing.
Things only seemed to go from bad to worse for Jessie. Her injuries refused to heal thanks to some of Black Dranzer's handiwork, and she was suffering significantly, it seemed like she was only worsening with every passing hour. She had lost all strength to blade, and one attempt to do so the day after the incident had caused her to nearly fall into a coma from the level of pain it had caused. She never allowed anyone besides Wyatt to touch her, and when she had gotten a hand on the shoulder, it had surprised her so much that her firstreaction was to roundhouse the person in the face, when it had turned out to be Tyson. The team had entered a tournament several weeks ago, and Jessie was in no condition to be battling. It was sort of a friendly contest between the teams that would be competing in the World Tournament, just to get an idea of what the opposition would be like. The day of the tournament arrived, and Jessie was not happy about missing it.
"Jessie, you are in no shape to be fighting, especially against opponents in full health." Wyatt lectured her when she tried to get up.
"But-" She had started to protest, but Wyatt would have none of it.
She had pouted when Wyatt had been right about her condition, though Jessie denied having anything wrong with her. The team left without her and branched off into their separate teams, Kai with the Blitzkrieg Boys, Ray with the White Tigers X, and Max with the All Starz. Wyatt had stayed with Tyson, Daichi, Hilaryand Kenny on the BBA Revolution team. Jessie had forced herself to get up and go into the living room where she could watch the tournament on the TV so she could at least see what her competition would look like, assuming she got back up on her own two feet to battle again. She sighed as the first 3 pairs of teams were called up to battle. The first sets of teams were Blitzkrieg Boys vs. All Starz, BBA Revolution vs. Barthez's Battalion, and the BEGA Team vs.- Jessie gasped. It was her old team, North Wind. Jessie had been the team captain years ago, and she recognized each team member and remembered each bit beast. Caleb had Devi Dragoon (Storm) Tayina had Devi Driger (Fire), Jason had Devi Dralyx (Shadow/Wind), and Gavin had Devi Draciel (Earth). By the look of it, they still hadn't replaced Jessie as team captain. She smirked as Tayina was called up to battle Ming-Ming.
Pfft.
Like Ming-Ming stood a chance. Tayina was very tricky, and usually left her opponents baffled at her one and the same techniques. All of them originating from what Jessie had taught her. She had taught all of them to blade, they wouldn't even be there if it wasn't for her. As for the others, Gavin was all about ripping his opponents apart with amazing speed, Caleb used his bit beast's immense attack strength, and Jason, well, there were 2 things about him. His Devi Dralyx was a descendent from Dralyxaedra, the Fire dragon that belonged to a former World Champion, Taylia Calov. Jason specialized in incredible Special Attacks, including the one called Midnight Tango. Jessie kept on watching as Tayina beat the crap out of Ming-Ming's Venus, Tala beat Max's Draciel, and Daichi pulled off a victory against Claude. The next round was Kai vs. Rick, Gavin vs. Garland, and Wyatt vs. Aaron. Jessie smiled when Wyatt's picture and stats appeared. In the picture, Wyatt was winking at the camera with a cute smile, his launcher in one hand and ripcord in the other.
"3, 2, 1, LET IT RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIPP!"
A sudden dark feeling flickered in Jessie's instinctive mind. Something was wrong, and Jessie's instincts were never wrong. Trying to remain calm, Jessie forced herself to relax, something she rarely did anyway, healthy or not. Gavin was tearing Garland to pieces with his almost invisible speed, making Jessie smirk. It had taken her ages to get each of them to find their specialty in their blading, but it was worth it. That dark feeling was growing though, despite Jessie seeing Wyatt pull off a victory with a spectacular counterattack on Miguel.
Devi, something's wrong, very wrong. I can feel it.
Me too Jessie.
As the tournament continued and more and more teams got the chance to show off their skills, Jessie was becoming more and more worried as the BBA Revolution team got closer to facing the BEGA Team.
Go to them. A dark, wheezy voice cawed in her mind.
Black Dranzer!Go to them. He said once more before fading away.
Something's definitely wrong.
Before the BBA Revolution faced the BEGA Team, the North Wind, now renamed the Four Winds, would face them one more time. Jessie forced herself to her feet, but yelled out when a sharp pain shot up her left leg.
Dammit. Dammit. Dammit. Dammit. Dammit. Dammit…
As hard as Jessie tried, her injured body was protesting loudly against her stubborn attempts to get up and go.
Devi Dranzer, help me….
She suddenly felt a surging energy shoot through her, but it evoked her wounds, making pain scream from every nerve in her battered body. Gritting her teeth, Jessie forced herself out the door and into a run, trying to ignore the intense pain that erupted from every square inch on her body.
Meanwhile, it didn't take long for Gavin to tear Crusher apart with his lightning-speed movements. Thanks to his old team captain's know-how about blades, it spun even faster than the speed of sound. Tayina pulled off a tie with Julia, Caleb just barely lost to Garland, and Jason was crushed by Mystel. It was now the BBA Revolution vs. the BEGA Team, and Tyson had to drop out from too much celebratory eating, leaving someone else to face Brooklyn in the final round. It wasn't long before Kenny got his ass kicked past Pluto with no effort needed by Raul. Daichi had managed to put up more of a fight, but still only managed a tie with Mystel. Wyatt took a deep breath as he prepared to face Brooklyn at the dish. He displayed a very intimidating smirk on his face, making Wyatt all the more passionate about winning. Both bladers loaded their launchers and got into their stances as the countdown commenced.
Still running, Jessie was on the last 10 blocks, out of breath and in severe pain from the effort required to keep running. Something inside was telling her that whatever was causing her instinctive protectiveness of her friends to go crazy, it was already starting to happen. Still, she just couldn't push herself to go any faster, as she was already in full sprint. She knew how she could summon the strength to do it, but she knew that the consequences would not be good.Please be ok, Wyatt…
Meanwhile, Wyatt was losing badly to Brooklyn, who was finishing him off slowly and painfully for his own amusement.
"Coloroda, Rockslide!" Wyatt yelled, wincing at the effort.
The stag bit beast reared up for the attack, but was rammed hard by Zeus in the front. Wyatt yelled out in pain and fell to his knees, making Brooklyn smirk.
"Zeus, finish this. King of Darkness!"
As the mighty Dark bit beast readied the attack, an ice-blue streak came hurtling at it and slammed right into Zeus head-on. Whatever it was, the thing had been moving so fast that it had left the wind behind it eating its dust. Wyatt gasped when he looked up and saw Devi Dranzer. He looked over his shoulder to see Jessie standing in the entrance of the tunnel leading onto the field. She was still severely injured, but nonetheless she looked furious. Even from there, Wyatt could see her two-toned eyes blazing in vehemence.
"Why don't you pick on someone your own size!" She snarled at Zeus, eyes ablaze same as Devi Dranzer.
The Four Winds team gasped. Their team captain was back! Brooklyn smirked at Wyatt.
"How cute, your little girlfriend is standing up for you." He sneered, calling back Zeus who had already slammed Coloroda clear out of the dish.
Wyatt picked up his damaged blade while Jessie took his place on the platform, calling back Devi Dranzer into her waiting hand. The Four Winds helped Wyatt down from the platform, but he was not going to let Jessie battle in her condition.
"Don't try to stop her." Gavin said quietly with his eyes closed and arms folded.
Wyatt looked at him strangely.
"Why not? She can't battle like that!"
"She can, and she will."
Another weird look from Wyatt.
"Trying to stop Jessie from blading, well, your chances would be better trying to stop the wind from blowing. Beyblading isn't just something she's good at, it's in her blood and soul. You can't break that iron spirit that lives inside of her. It would kill her to try and take beyblading away from her."
Wyatt said nothing as the countdown started again.
"3, 2, 1, LET IT RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIPP!"
Both bladers let rip their blades into the dish, Jessie immediately paling when Zeus hit Devi Dranzer, hard. Brooklyn had a smirk on his face again, he would finish this as slowly and painfully as possible.
"This will be interesting."
As the battle raged on, Brooklyn was astounded to see that Jessie was still holding out despite her severe injuries and weakening state.
"Devi Dranzer, Ravage Blizzard!" She yelled, trying to cover up a grimace.
Her blade was surrounded by a blizzard, but compared to the typical, overwhelming force that it more often than not had, this one was feeble to say the least. Zeus easily evaded the attack and rammed Devi Dranzer, but not hard enough to win the match. However, Jessie's blade was starting to wobble dangerously. A searing pain suddenly shot through her head, making her yell out in pain. Black Dranzer was messing with her head again.
"She can't hold out much longer!" Wyatt yelled.
Jessie suddenly closed her eyes and stood absolutely still, face contorted into an expression of pain, but nonetheless she was focusing on something. Caleb gasped.
"She's doing it…."
"What? What's she doing?" Wyatt demanded.
"The reason our team is so powerful is because whenever the blader reaches a state of absolute focus like what Jessie is doing now, we can tap into a much stronger source of energy, called the Inner Power. If Jessie can reach that absolute focus, she could tear Brooklyn apart with no effort at all. If she pulls off that attack, she'll win."
Wyatt looked back and sighed.
C'mon Jessie, you can do it…
Meanwhile, Jessie's mind was in inner turmoil. Black Dranzer was doing everything in his power to throw off her focus.
Devi Dranzer…. Help me.
Her tone was calm, fearless, and bold.
A sudden peace washed over the Ice phoenix. It was the peace she recognized as absolute focus. Her eyes shot open, glowing a furious frost blue. The power of a blizzard was raging inside her, demanding to be let out.
"Devi Dranzer!" She yelled.
Her blade was engulfed in a tempest as her Ice phoenix bit beast emerged from its bit chip, stronger than before. Jessie herself was surrounded by the howling winds and snow of the attack about to be unleashed.
"DEVI DRANZER, SPIRIT OF WINTER ATTACK!"
Her bit beast responded with a screaming war cry as a blizzard more massive than 100 Ravage Blizzards and Whiteout Storm Ice Age Attacks combined surrounded it.
"ATTACK!"
Devi Dranzer shot forward, forming a double helix of snow and ice behind it from the speed it was moving at. Zeus could be heard roaring in pain as Devi Dranzer and the Spirit of Winter Attack collided with the Dark bit beast. A second shriek could be heard following the roar, and when the blizzard died away, a black streak shot into Jessie's bit chip, neither blade in the dish spinning. Jessie fell to her knees, exhausted. Her teammates ran over to their former captain and picked her up by draping her arms around 2 of the boys' shoulders and the other two taking her legs. The audience gave a standing ovation to the amazing battle and the wounded blader, making a barely conscious Jessie smirk.
Much later, after Wyatt had lectured Jessie for probably an hour, she wandered up onto the roof as a soft wind blew. Sighing, the Ice phoenix sat down and pulled her knees to her chest and rested her folded arms on top of them. She heard footsteps behind her and looked over her shoulder. She had been expecting Wyatt, but instead her eyes met Kai's. He said nothing as he sat down 3 feet away from her. Jessie turned back to staring out at the horizon. For a while it was absolutely silent until Kai broke it.
"How did you do it?"
"Huh?"
"How did you do that back in the stadium?"
Jessie thought back to when she had harnessed the Inner Power.
"It's just something I figured out I could do when I was little."
Kai raised an eyebrow, indicating she still hadn't answered his question.
"I really don't know how I do it. It's just... natural." She muttered.
Kai just shrugged and lay back against the roof, hands behind his head and eyes closed. Jessie blushed a bit when she realized he didn't have a shirt on under his jacket, exposing his muscular chest. Kai was brawnier than Wyatt, though they were about the same age and height. The Ice phoenix sighed and got up. Kai opened one eye. Still weakened from the battle, a dizzy spell suddenly caused Jessie's cat-like balance to plunge, making her groan and put a hand to her head. The next thing she knew, she was starting to fall backwards. In less than a second, someone grabbed her wrist and pulled her back upright.
Kai opened one eye as Jessie got up. Her expression changed from apathetic to the kind someone makes before they faint, a dizzy look. Jessie groaned and put one hand on her head as if it hurt before she tilted backwards. In one lightning-fast movement, Kai leapt to his feet and grabbed her wrist, pulling the Ice phoenix back up and against him.
That battle really took a toll on her. He thought.
Jessie weakly opened her eyes halfway. It was right about then that Kai realized how close to her he was. His breath caught in his throat at the close contact. As carefully as he could, Kai placed one hand under her knees and the other behind her back and gently lifted her off the roof and carried her back downstairs to her room. Something about her just didn't seem right, and he intended to find out what it was that was gravitating him to her like a magnet.
