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The next update will probably come in 2022.


"Are you ready to get rekt, tie boy?" The tiny figure of a short-haired girl who was yet to reach her eleven years old, standing at the other side of the dish, stretched her arm ahead to show the small shining object in her hand. This exotic looking beyblade was composed of three rings varying between yellow and purple colors and the ring's edges were surrounded by a particularly shining metal that would make the blade leave a beautiful sparkling trail in its wake.

"Don't take me wrong, Efi. You have a pretty beautiful beyblade, but style alone is not enough to win a battle," Kenny explained solemnly, drawing an angry shriek from his little opponent. He looked at his own green, plain and basic beyblade in his hand while ignoring the death threats coming from the other side of the dish. "Let's go, Hopper. Let's do our best."

Kenny's words proved to be right - after an intense battle compressed into a few minutes, Kenny and Hopper emerged victorious, to the child's dismay.

"Yes! I'm actually improving! Good job, Hopper!" He recovered the green blade from the ground and then looked at the girl on her knees at the other side of the dish. He thought about going in there and offering her his hand and good advice, but upon seeing the deadly glare on her eyes and also of her team that was already surrounding her, he quickly abandoned the idea and went to his own welcoming team instead.

"Nicely done Chief!" Tyson, who was just getting taller and taller as the months went by, took him by his shoulders, swung him around and congratulated him, followed by the others. Even Kai, leaning against a pillar nearby with his arms crossed, offered him a discreet nod in acknowledgement. "You are getting better and better! I'm so proud of you, my man."

"Thanks! Let's take a look at the data. I really like the metal that Efi used to make her blade."

While Daichi advanced towards the dish onto the next match, Chief took his place on the bench and opened the laptop on his lap. He gave a quick look through the files.

"What's this? This pattern… It seems very familiar." The thought gained strength in his mind as he replayed the last movements performed by the sparkling purple beyblade. The pattern of the spins, the way it quickly dashed forward and backward, the haze it seemed to naturally produce whenever it hit or got hit by the enemy, among other details… "Dragoon?!"

Kenny suddenly jumped from his seat as if bitten by some invisible animal, startling Hilary and Tyson at his side.

"Hilary, please, I need you to do me a favor and take Hopper to the inspection for me. I gotta go!" He left the green beyblade in Hilary's hands and then dashed to the doors with his laptop firmly gripped below his arm.

"Of course, but… Kenny! Why the rush? What happened?"

"I'll tell you later!"

Minutes after disappearing from the dome and leaving behind some speechless and intrigued friends, the small researcher quickly reached the wing's upper floor and went for that single wide and polished wooden door surrounded by an elegant decoration.

"Mr. Dickenson!" He ignored the restrictive sign and opened the doors, startling the men in suits gathered in there and enjoying coffee. One of them, the bald one, stood up to receive the stirred boy. "Sirs, I'm sorry to rush in like this. Mr. Dickenson, please, can you let me take a look at the mainframe? The one that suffered the… huh… " He quickly replaced his words after realizing that the other men in the room were probably actionists and didn't know about the security breach. "the thing?"

"Kenny! I don't know, that's a very restricted area…" the chairman answered hesitantly.

"Please! I'll make it worth it."

Upon seeing the confident aura pouring like flames from the boy and knowing that that little lad was not one to get that excited, intrusive and serious for no reason, the chairman nodded positively and asked a technician to guide him to the server's room.

Fear, agony, cold…

That terrible and yet recognizable sense of danger nearby, a pair of icy eyes lurking from the shadows, covering her with its threatening gaze…

Nowhere to run. No one to aid her. Only the dry sound of footsteps slowly approaching as her only company.

She raised her face to the flickering lights, staring at them hopelessly as the corridor slowly descended into darkness.

She could feel it…

It was approaching…

The Chad.

"Come on!" She kept hitting the elevator's button as if her very life depended on it. "Dang, Kenny! Why did you had to drop this bomb on my lap? I should have gone to the inspection lab as soon as he gave me Hopper…"

"Dear visitors," the secretary's mechanical voice pouring from the speakers echoed through the long cold corridors, "we are fully aware of the technical issues affecting the power grid in wing B. Maintenance is already in progress. We estimate the power to be fully restored in: 25 minutes. In the meantime, please avoid using the elevators and enjoy a half percent discount at our cafeterias."

"Damn it! I'm taking the stairs instead. At the very least that bag of muscles with legs won't find me there," Hilary decided.

Without a second thought, she rushed to the narrow door strategically placed in front of the elevators. This was the main staircase in the building, used mainly in times of emergency and also by some staff members. The inspection laboratory was just five floors below, so she didn't waste any time.

"I know that burning aura around him," The gears of her mind quickly spun as she remembered the small researcher running from the dome with his laptop. He would never skip a battle of his own team without an extraordinary reason. "Kenny has discovered something!"

As she hurriedly turned left to the new set of stairs, however, her ankle twisted like a twig. But her body didn't stay in place, simply following the law of inertia. She widened his eyes and her hand instinctively grabbed the first thing near her that could serve as a support to keep her in place, but her fingers only touched something soft and mobile, and she heard a gasped cry in return.

The next second, she was rolling down the entire set of stairs amidst a ton of metal and scrap flying around her.

When her body finally hit the bottom, not even a single corner of her being wasn't screaming in pain. However, she did land on top of something soft enough to protect her chin and chest from bashing against the floor. She moaned and slowly opened her eyes, and when the dimness finally subsided, she distinguished the form of a girl lying at her back on the floor right underneath her, completely stunned and blackened out. She immediately recognized the braids, the uniform and the giant glasses.

"You've made quite a mess of yourselves, young ladies." The physician scolded while touching Hilary's chin and gently moving her face around in search for more bruises. Aside from the gash on her eyebrow that required some stitches and some other cuts spread here and there, there was nothing more to be found. The most worrying injury was her twisted ankle, which had already been properly bandaged and immobilized. "Stop dreaming about the boys and pay more attention to your paths, especially if you are taking the stairs."

"The nerve!"

Hilary snarled and showed her clenched fist to the doctor's back as he went to the desk for more medicine. The girl sitting on the bed beside her laughed and then cried because a bone inside her chest ached. The brunette looked at her, finding no one less than Kai's supposedly girlfriend shrunken like a squirrel. She was the first to hit the floor and her body served as a "cushion" for Hilary's own body, so she took most of the damage, mostly to her back and wrist - the very thing that the brunette grabbed and pulled when she tried to avoid the fall.

"I'm so sorry for everything," Hilary muttered and smiled embarrassedly, drawing her attention. "I was in a hurry and running like a madwoman and should have paid more attention. I almost got both of us killed."

"At least nothing more serious happened."

"And you! You should be paying more attention as well!"

"Sorry," she whined.

"So," as she finally took courage to properly talk to the girl, Hilary tilted her head a little so she could see the cracked identification card still pinned to the employee's shirt. She smiled softly. "Nice to meet you, Mary. Even in these circumstances. I'm Hilary."

"I know. You are the manager of the former G-Revolution team," she returned the gentle gaze.

"Huh? Have we met before?"

"A couple of times, actually."

"Really?" She tried to remember the girl, but to no avail. "How long have you been working here?"

"Four months, approximately. I was the one who signed you guys up to the tournament, among other things."

"Four months!" And she had never noticed the girl until she saw her receiving gifts from their grumpy slate-haired friend.

She blushed and shrunk between her shoulders in utter shame. The doctor approached the employee in order to also check on her face and took her glasses off. The brunette kept gazing at her for a while, analyzing her, trying to identify some traces of cleverness, beauty, exoticism or whatever attracted Dranzer's guardian to her. But found nothing extraordinary other than a kind gaze - even without the frame of the glasses to get in the way, the girl was just as common and plain as any other.

"What exactly do you do here?" The brunette asked after some time in silence. "Do you beyblade as well?"

"Oh, no," She answered after the physician gave back her glasses, patiently cleaning them. "I'm heavily nearsighted. I tried it when I was a kid, but in the end I couldn't even distinguish my own blade from the opponent's in the dish. So, I preferred to focus on the backstage." She put them on again and turned a curious look to the brunette. "What about you? I've seen you always supporting and cheering for the boys from the bench, but never at the dish."

"Erg, well… Let's say I'm the element of surprise."

"That's why Tyson and your team always win~"

"Exactly!"

"She's so sweet..." Hilary envied that trait on Mary.

"She's so confident…" Mary envied that trait on Hilary.

"Oh, yes, I remember now. I've seen you and Kai together. He gave you flowers." Hilary smiled nervously as she touched the subject. She had thought twice before doing it, but god knows when she would have another opportunity. "Are you guys, by any chance…?"

"By any chance…?" The girl waited for her to finish the sentence. She blushed heavily and shrugged when the penny had finally dropped. "Ah, no! Those flowers weren't meant as a romantic gift. I needed them to make tea, wouldn't be able to leave the building until late that day and he did me a favor."

A giant ice block fell over Hilary.

"Me, capable of entangling someone like Kai?" Mary laughed, although with an almost imperceptible sadness shining in her eyes, after noticing the pale and paralyzed brunette still visibly processing the information. "We are just friends. I think. At least from my side, I consider him a friend."

"Hilary!" The doors to the infirmary were violently kicked open, revealing the stirred blue-haired dragon at the other side, followed by some security employees miserably failing to pull him. Tyson took a good look at the brunette sitting on the bed, looking surprised at first, and then ranted. "That damn gossips! I've been told you fell from the third floor and then got hit by a bus."

"Well, sorry to disappoint you, it was just a little accident at the stairs."

"Are you okay? Does it hurt?" He approached her and analyzed the bruises and bandages.

"It doesn't anymore, don't worry." She smiled softly, flattered by his worry.

"That's good to hear." Two seconds later, she discreetly kicked him in the shin, and he finally realized the other girl sitting at the bed beside them. He looked at her, immediately swallowing the shock. "Oh, h-hey there!"

"Hi Tyson," she greeted the world champion shyly.

"We're done," The physician interrupted them, approaching the brown-haired girl and her newly arrived visitor. He dismissed the security guards and then turned to the girl, offering her a bunch of papers. "Your exams are okay. Here's your prescription, ma'am. Follow it carefully and you should be as new in a week."

"Nice," Tyson grabbed the papers from his hand before Hilary could do it and made a gesture inviting the girl to put her arm around his shoulders and support her weight. "Let's go then. Grandpa is really worried about you."

She did as he signaled, only to hear a painful moan.

"Right, your shoulders," Hilary smiled embarrassedly as she remembered the vivid sunburns still lying beneath the champion's jacket. "Let go, I can walk by myself."

"Don't even think about it. You almost died there." He pulled her slowly to the exit.

"You surely have a flair for the dramatic, don't ya? Come on, that must be hurting a lot."

"I'm fine. Ouch! Dang, you are heavy."

"Say what?!"

Mary kept watching them until their images and voices disappeared beyond the halls, a soft smile in her lips revealing the admiration and envy for that beautiful relationship weavering her heart. Thoughts began to sprout…

"As for you," the doctor interrupted them, approaching her and also giving her some papers. "This is a medical certificate. It will allow you to take two days off in order to rest and recover most of the damage."

The girl took the papers and suddenly her entire complexion changed. Finding the silence quite strange, the man turned around again to see her motionless, staring at the paper in her hand as lifeless as a cold statue, as if that sober paper was some kind of arrest or execution sentence.

"I mean it," He frowned, knowing her well enough, predicting her thoughts. He nodded at her bandaged wrist. "That's a tendon injury right there. You will take at least these two days plus the weekend off if you don't want your hand to be forever damaged and useless."

"Since you put it like that," she snapped out of it and gave a nervous smile in response to his serious warning.

Meanwhile, outside the infirmary and standing at the hall's entrance…

"I can't believe he won't come to offer his support. That's what boyfriends do!" Tyson complained after restlessly watching the infirmary's door and seeing no signs of Kai.

"Very interesting to hear you say that," Daichi commented with a huge and shining smile while supporting the back of his head in his crossed arms, looking playfully at the boy and the girl clung to his shoulders.

After all, no medieval fortress could have stopped Tyson when he heard about the accident and Hilary being taken to the infirmary. Tyson and Hilary looked at each other in an almost perfect synchrony, and immediately looked away, blushing like apples, when they found their faces dangerously close.

"Ahem, maybe he doesn't know about it yet," the dragon coughed.

"I don't think so, by now pretty much everyone in this wing know that some stupid chicks rolled down the stairs like watermel- ouch!" Hilary's fist greeted the redhead's forehead again.

"Well, there he is," Tyson nodded at the gray-haired imposing lad stepping out of the elevator. "Hey Kai."

The boy nodded back and approached them, but suddenly stopped when his gaze locked on something at the end of the corridor. A fierce flame slowly arised and sparkled inside his purple eyes. The group turned around, following his deadly eagle glare, to find Mary leaving the infirmary and being immediately received by a blonde young man of deep blue eyes, snow white skin and fancy clothes.

"Mary!" The lad took her gallantly by the healthy wrist. "I've just heard about the accident. How are you?"

"Whole," she smiled nervously while showing him the other wrist wrapped up in bandages, not expecting to find that particular boy waiting for her outside.

"Good! Want a ride home?"

"Not necessary. I still need to finish some stuff I-"

"I'll help you! Then I'll take you home. How about that?"

She seemed somewhat hesitant at first, but kindly accepted his aid nonetheless, causing the man to radiate an energetic happiness as he guided her to the opposite way. Tyson and Hilary discreetly moved their eyes back to Kai, expecting to see some action or reaction, but the fiery blader would just stand still, motionless as a pillar, staring at the scene like a spectator watching a pathetic comedy scene. When the couple finally disappeared at the end of the hall, Dranzer's guardian turned to Hilary, gray bangs veiling purple eyes beneath a sorrowful and profound shadow.

"How are you feeling?"

"Pain here and there but I'll live. Thanks for asking."

Kai closed his eyes and then turned around, making his way back to the elevator in silence. The blue-haired boy and the brunette looked at each other in disappointment and disbelief.

She rolled on the bed for some time, the pain and discomfort caused by the leg splint allowing her to engage only in quick and frail naps. But there was something else parked in her mind keeping her eyes from closing and her mind from properly resting. The tall light brown haired girl from the Technical Department, Mary.

There wasn't a single trait in that girl, a single hint of some exceptional talent or beauty, that explained Kai's attentions. On the contrary - her discret and light-headed demeanor and plain appearance made her an extremely missable person, to the point of no one within the team aside from Daichi remembering interacting with her before. And even Daichi only remembered her because she helped him on one occasion. There was a legion of other girls, employees, fans and even beybladers, that would supposedly have better chances of drawing the fiery blader's attention. She always thought that Kai would better enjoy some beautiful and strong personality… such as hers.

She, as a former class leader and current manager of the favorite beybladers worldwide, certainly was way more attractive than that invisible girl.

"Why am I comparing myself to her?" An extremely deep and acid sensation of self disappointment fell over the brunette when she realized that. When she realized that she was judging another girl, a hardworking employee which she barely knew and showed kindness towards her even in light of the accident, based solely on appearance and futile vanity. Based only in useless patterns. That was the behavior of children, of shallow people.

Of bad losers.

She sighed, her brown shining eyes staring blankly at the wooden ceiling, but lost somewhere else.

"How arrogant of me… When did I become this childish person?

Why am I feeling threatened, like I'm losing something?"

Neither wooden ceiling nor the penumbra inside the bedroom had answers for her. She turned her head lightly to the side, facing the moon beyond the open window. It didn't have any answers as well.

Then she heard it, the unmistakable sound of a beyblade spinning, coming from the yard below. The sound that she has been hearing from quite some time now, and that somehow always succeeded in cleaning her thoughts and helping her focus.

She slowly sat on the mattress as the leg splint and her injuries allowed. Since no sleep would come so soon, she decided that she would not beg for it nor spend the night lying on that mattress allowing bad thoughts to enter and breed. Yes, there were always better and more productive ways to spend the time.

"Hey Tyson," she reached the entrance door and found the boy sitting at the stairs, playing with Dragoon, the source of the sound she heard moments ago. He seemed serious and aloof, picking up the blade and launching it mechanically whenever it stopped spinning near his foot. "Can't sleep?"

"Nope. I was thinking about the rascal that stole our data. What possibly are his motives, and if we are in some sort of danger…" Then it dinged, and he stared at the girl intently. "Hey. Do you feel like someone pushed you?"

"No, Tyson," she giggled, predicting his idea. "I was in a hurry, not paying attention, and tripped all by myself. No one tried to hurt me."

"Good. Yeah, did you take your medication?"

"I swear I'm gonna hang you in that tree if you ask that again," she sighed impatiently since she has been listening to that question ever since they put their feet inside the Granger's house. "Hasn't Kai arrived yet?"

"Yep, but he left again already." Tyson seemed really annoyed now. "I was wondering if we are gonna ever have dinner together, you know."

"Well, he is gonna stay here for a while. And Christmas is right there, maybe we will get lucky," she hoped optimistically.

"He just sleeps here, wakes up early, leaves and comes back late at night. What's the fun in that?" He complained heartedly before lying himself on the wooden polished floor and staring grumpily at the ceiling. "When I invited him to stay a couple of weeks and he accepted, I thought we would spend the day together, train together, shop together, eat together, do stuff together. He and Tala are seeing each other almost every day and talk a lot more than he and I, who are living temporarily in the same place."

"Tyson, are you jealous?" A playful smirk grew on Hilary's face. "Oh my gosh, you are!"

"Shut up!" He pouted and rolled to the side, giving his back to her. "You know what? He can do as he pleases! I don't give a damn! I'm gonna just train like my life depended on that and give him a lesson in the next championship as well. He will regret not sticking with me and learning my secret when he had the chance."

"Your secret, right," she grinned.

The champion just mumbled something to himself that she didn't distinguish and then silence finally reigned once again in that entrance. Hilary sat down slowly, accommodating herself at the grumpy dragon's side. She hugged her legs against her chest and looked up to the skies, the shining moon facing her back, filling her dark brown eyes with all its brilliance.

"I was… thinking about talking to him." She shyly revealed. "About Mary."

"Why?" He sat up, looking at her skeptically. "I can't imagine that going smoothly, Hil. He gets grumpy at us even when we just ask at what time he wakes up. And she said they are just friends."

"Yes, but… I still have a feeling they like each other." She rested her chin on her hand, thinking. "The very little time we saw them together, he was acting really kind. And she seems to admire him deeply. And you saw his face today… Brr!"

"But what about Mr. Charming?" Tyson remembered the golden haired and blue eyed tall lad that took the employee from the infirmary. "Keh, what kind of guy lets the girl he likes be escorted away by an oh-so-princey like that?"

"That's exactly the point! I know he likes his things private to himself and all. But this is a real deal! If he by any chance likes her and is failing to convey the message because, you know, he is proud like a bull and sucks at emotions, he will eventually lose the chance and what might be a very good experience for him! Love changes a person, you know. Especially at our age, especially if it's your first one. It makes you mature, it gives you responsibility. He might even get friendlier and open up more to his friends."

"You talk like someone who pretty much knows what it's like to be in love." He turned around to face the brunette again, this time finding her completely blushed and choking. He smirked in profound amusement. "Hil… Is there something you wanna share?"

"Guys! Open up, quickly! I've found it!" Kenny's excited voice at the gates saved Hilary.

"Wow, easy," Tyson stood up and quickly unlocked and opened the gates for the boy, who seemed too full of energy for his own small body. "What have you found, Chief?"

"I've figured out the identity of the hacker behind the breach on BBA's databases!" He revealed while turning the laptop's screen to the couple, showing a handful of small letters, maps and windows that Tyson didn't comprehend at first aside from the tiny female beyblader's picture amidst all of them. "It's Efi! The girl I battled today!"

"What?! That tiny brat? Good job, Chief! Let's go and have a little chat with her right now!" Tyson adjusted his gauntlets and clothes, picked up Dragoon from the floor and was ready to go.

"BBA has already closed for the day, we won't be finding her in there..." Hilary pointed out.

"I've pinpointed the location where the cyber attack came from." Kenny typed something at the laptop's keyboard and soon turned the screen to them one more time. There was a recognizable map of Bey City's surroundings with a landmark near the beach. "Look. It came from this shaft near the lighthouse. I bet we are going to find her there, or at least some clues on the attack."

"Good job Chief! You are the man! Let's go!"

They somehow managed to wake Daichi up, who fired up upon taking notice of the findings and the mission ahead. Clothes changed, stuff gathered, they left the house carefully not to wake Ryu up and one hour later they were in front of the lone shaft one mile away from the lighthouse. That small house lost between some mild vegetation was indeed particularly small and windowless, maybe having served as a storage in a distant past, and judging by the absence of light and life signals nearby, an abandoned one. There was a single unlocked door that Tyson managed to budge after a few tries. The creaking sound echoed inside, unveiling nothing but a silent darkness.

"It's pitch black…" Hilary commented before her eyes adjusted to the darkness and she glimpsed a spider traveling on the wall beside her. She shivered and ducked behind Tyson. "Eew, and dirty! It seems like it was abandoned a long time ago."

"I'm picking up a very strong and stable local network signal. There's someone here for sure." Kenny used his laptop screen as a source of light, waving it around, slightly clearing the area around them. The inside of the shaft wasn't much more revealing than the outside, and they found themselves inside a single and completely empty room, surrounded by walls of metal and foam that blocked any sound coming from outside. "Hm… We are on top of a rocky plateau. The shaft looks small when seen from the outside, but maybe there is an underground floor. There must be a hidden passageway here somewhere."

"Hey guys," Daichi, who was snooping around and poking the walls carefully, called them. "I've found a button. It says: 'don't press'."

"Nice work Daichi!" They turned to face him, only to find the redhead already with his little hand on top of the giant red button. "Wait! Don't!"

"I wonder what it does," he smirked and smashed the button.

The floor opened wide, revealing to be a large hidden trapdoor, swallowing the intruders in its dark abyss.


If a button is labeled "don't press", immediately press it.