(Dynamis POV, it's 9AM at Cafe Lynx on a Sunday)
Elysse, Cycnus, Herschel, Johannes, and I were all hunched over Keyser's laptop. I was going to explain the tournament myself, but everyone insisted on checking the website instead. I had no idea what they were talking about, so I simply nodded my head, pretending to understand.
"The Legendary Bladers Tournament. Do you want the opportunity to fight against the world's strongest bladers? A Metal Bey City exclusive, join—" Keyser tried to read the tournament advertisement in a monotone voice before being abruptly cut off by Herschel.
"We don't need the slogans, go find the page with all the rules or something," Herschel protested at his fellow Nemesis Blader friend.
"We should probably check to see if we need to pay for admission. Does Elysse need tickets if she wants to watch?" Cycnus asked as well while trying to peer over Keyser's shoulder to look at the computer screen.
"Money is no problem for us, we just need to figure out who other than the legendary bladers are participating nya," Johannes spoke, he still had a similar cranky attitude from yesterday.
As Keyser navigated through the WBBA tournament website, I checked to see where Motti was. She was casually playing with the cats outside, tending to the same two felines that seemed so intrigued by me on the first day.
"So according to this, there is a preliminary battle royale sort of round before the actual tournament huh?" Herschel stared at the screen, still wearing sunglasses indoors.
"It looks like the legendary bladers do not fight in the first round. Non-legendary bladers register to participate in a large battle royale. There, everyone battles and the six remaining bladers will proceed onto the actual tournament," Keyser summarized the information quickly, and continued scrolling the page to look for more details.
"A battle royale? So we'll fight against other bladers to get the chance to rematch against Gingka and his company? That sounds fun," Cycnus's eyes lit up in excitement.
"We've barely had the chance to do any bey battles since we opened the cafe, this is going to be entertaining!" Herschel cheered as well.
"Nyaaaa we should all make it in the top six, that would freak all those legendary bladers out," Johannes smirked at the idea. The Lynx blader, alongside Herschel, and Cycnus began laughing. They were about to come up with a scheme when Keyser interrupted them.
"I hate to be the party pooper, but we won't be bullying children this time around," Keyser found a page listing all the rules related to sign up. He pointed his finger to a specific rule discussing participant registration.
All bladers wishing to participate in the Legendary Tournament must be under 18.
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!" Herschel, Cycnus, Johannes screamed in shock. Keyser quickly threw his hands to cover his ears due to the noise. Elysse looked disappointed but didn't seem surprised by the rule. Motti, who must have jumped at the sudden screams, barged into the room with a panicked look.
"Meeooow what happened? Your screams scared Motti and all the other lil' kitties," she blurted in a scare.
"MOTTI, LOOK!" Herschel complained while pointing at Keyser's laptop. The Musca blader, with his hands still by his ears, quickly moved his swiveling office chair away from his laptop for Motti to see. The young teen hopped over to the laptop, and dropped her head to the side, not understanding the problem.
"Nya? Motti doesn't get it."
Cycnus looked at Motti and explained the problem, "Herschel, Keyser, and I can't participate…We're all too old apparently."
"Well hey, Johannes is still young enough to get in, that's a good thing?" Elysse tried to be positive, but she was shrugging her shoulders in confusion.
"Awww this is such a bummer, we're only two years older. It must be because all the legendary bladers are still minors, and they don't want adults destroying all of them in battle," Cycnus pouted.
Everyone was quite disappointed, but a thought crossed my mind.
"How old am I supposed to be?" I asked.
"You dumbass, shouldn't you know your own age?!" Johannes hissed at me aggressively.
"What I meant was, how old is Pluto?" I probably should have been more specific, although I think Johannes would have hissed at me regardless. Johannes did not answer me, but I noticed Elysse trying to calculate something using her fingers. She was on the other side of the room, so I could hardly hear what she was muttering to herself.
"His birthday is in October, Scorpio in Dynamis terms, if I count the six months of him being in the void, AHAH! He's still seventeen. Same age as you, Johannes," Elysse answered my question. I was surprised to hear that Pluto was only older than me by two months. I never could tell if he was older or younger than me, his attitude seemed to swing both ways.
"Can we please get back on topic? I still need to read the other rules," Keyser requested, finally lifting his hands to cross his arms.
"Wait, so Johannes is the only person here that can go?" Cycnus questioned.
"Dynamis is seventeen?" Herschel shrugged.
"We can't send him you litter-al idiot, can't you see he's Pluto?!" The Lynx Blader snapped, "Even if—"
"Cut it out Johannes, we get it. You don't like Dynamis but continuing to take out your anger on him is not going to help us, or him, in any way," Elysse swiftly cut off Johannes to defend me. He gave her no response. "Sorry about that. Anyway, Keyser, what else does the website say?"
Keyser swiveled back to his laptop and announced the rest of the most notable rules, "These rules pertain to the battle royale, I'll read it."
Any blader that accidentally or purposefully leaves/steps out of the battle zone is automatically eliminated.
Forfeit/surrender will count as a loss. If a blader retreats from another blader, as long as the escapee does not launch their beyblade, it will not count as a forfeit/surrender.
Once a bey is launched at another, they must defeat their opponent.
If there are no battles occurring after a certain period of time (ten minutes), the remaining bladers will be put into forced matchups.
The battle zone shrinks every thirty minutes. Bladers will have five minutes to exit the shrunken zone before being eliminated if they do not make it out. Even if they are in a battle, if contestants do not leave the area by the time the zone shrinks, they will be eliminated.
Only six bladers will progress onto the next round. Once there are only six bladers remaining, preliminaries will conclude.
"Johannes, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Herschel grinned cheerfully at his fellow co-worker.
"I think I have an idea too, maybe it's the same as you Herschel?" Cycnus added to the conversation.
"I think we all have the same idea," Keyser's eyes widened. Johannes seemed to know what they were all thinking as he nodded his head, adorning a playful smile. He seemed to be in a better mood compared to a few minutes ago. The Nemesis Bladers and Johannes huddled together and whispered their plans. I could hear them quietly laughing at something. Before I knew it, they suddenly separated and went back to their original spots as if nothing had occurred. I was not able to decipher a plan until I remembered something. I raised my hand and asked loudly to grab their attention.
"Isn't Motti still a teen? Is she able to join the tournament?"
Johannes and the others looked at me completely baffled. I thought that was what they were discussing, but apparently, I was wrong in my guess. Before I could say anything else, Johannes bursted into a deranged laughing fit.
"MOTTI? JOIN THE BATTLE ROYALE?! YOU REALLY ARE—Actually that's not a bad idea meow," he hastily took back his sarcastic question before turning over to Motti.
"Hey Motti, I'm finally joining another tournament, do you want to come with me?" The cat blader asked in a surprisingly polite manner.
"Huh? You'll let Motti come with you again?" She jumped in joy. I never saw Motti battle before, so I was not sure about her blading abilities.
"Meow. All you have to do is eliminate as many bladers as possible. You don't need to worry about winning yourself, just have fun and distract all the other chumps for me," Johannes smirked, placing his hand on Motti's shoulder.
"You really mean it meow? But you also promised Motti that you'd train her in case she wanted to join another tournament with you?" The young girl pointed her fingers together, giving her boss charming kitty eyes to try and convince him.
Johannes sighed, "Uh? Right, fine. You better listen up though, because I'm going to teach you all my nasty little tricks!"
"Motti will learn how to be super cool, just like her big kitty cuz! Tell me about it later though, Motti is going to check on the cats now meow," she cheered before hopping out of the lounge.
"Keyser, when is the deadline for signing up?" Johannes turned over to the fly blader.
"Registrations close twenty-four hours before the tournament, so we still have a whole week."
"Good, then it's settled. Motti and I can enter the tournament. We really only need me to make it to the final six anyway."
"Then it works well for us. Even if the Nemesis Bladers joined and made it to the last six, Pluto really only is going to care about Johannes anyway," Elysse began to speak once more.
"A bummer, but hey Johannes, we can help you train right? I think we're all kind of rusty so we should probably get some practice too?" Cycnus inquired.
"Meow, I can work with that. We can afford to change the cafe opening hours too," Johannes chuckled, and so did the rest. I did not say anything myself, as there was not much for me to add.
Cycnus quickly turned over to me and prodded at me, "Dynamis, do you have a bey with you? Maybe you can train with us as well." Johannes became annoyed again, but he did not attempt to start an argument with the Swan blader. Not yet at least. I was taken aback by his request, but I appreciated the pleasant surprise. From my coat pocket, I pulled out Prototype Hades.
"Thank you for the offer, Cycnus. I do not have Jade Jupiter with me so I too must train in order to make use of this new beyblade that I now borrow," I presented the unusual beyblade to everyone. Johannes recognized it and snatched it from my hand before I could continue my speech. He did not say anything at me, he just stared, looked at me, and then away once more. His back was turned towards me, so I was unable to see what expressions he had on his face.
Herschel wanted to say something, but he seemed unsure. Keyser and Cycnus were equally speechless. I was too. I should have tried to grab the bey back, but I did not feel obligated to since it was not mine in the first place. Even Elysse seemed concerned for the bey she had just given me the night before. There was no way Johannes would have smashed the project that his former boss worked on.
I was right. Johannes placed the bey on the coffee table by the couch. He said nothing and left the room, but I managed to catch a glimpse of his face. Rather than being annoyed like I expected, he looked miserable. Perhaps the bey reminded him of something from the past, happier times? I did not say anything as I knew it would only make the relationship between us worse. Just how close was he to Pluto to hate me this much? And if he despised me so badly, what would happen if he got his hands on Gingka?
There was something urgent I had to discuss with him.
(Pluto POV, he is at a shopping mall with Tithi at 11am)
"Why are we here?" Tithi had stayed up all night watching his iPad instead of sleeping. He was barely awake, even though I explicitly told him we would have to get up to go shopping. At least his iPad ran out of battery, and that fool has no idea how to charge it. Lucky for me, he won't be asking for the password anytime soon.
"I already told you why last night, we need better clothes. This robe makes me look like an idiot."
He yawned at me, I'm very certain he did not listen to whatever I had just said. Whatever. Based on the last two days, I know at some point, he will have an unusual burst of energy out of absolutely nowhere. I just hope this time around, it won't be because of some friend of his showing up.
The shopping mall in Metal Bey City was not too bad in terms of size. It had enough shops to make it worth visiting as a tourist, but not so many that you could get lost in it for hours. I dragged Tithi around the mall to find the specific clothing items I needed for our new outfits. The night before, I looked online to find clothes that would suit the both of us. I knew exactly what I needed, I just had to find it. For safety, I selected clothes not too different from what Tithi was already wearing since I did not want him complaining about the outfit not fitting his taste.
The first stop. The clothes here were decently priced. I didn't think to bother with designer brands since the clothes would be worn by "Dynamis", and not myself.
"What store is this?" Tithi looked around confused, almost as if he only just woke up now.
"Typical Japanese clothing store. Once I'm done here, you are next."
"Huh? What?" Tithi was baffled and would have asked more questions, but I ran off to the fitting rooms before he could say anymore.
I looked at the mirror present within the tiny changing room. It felt weird seeing Dynamis, and not myself. I was still not used to this body, and there was no way I ever would be. How long did I even intend on staying like this? It was a question for my future self to figure out. The navy-blue robe jacket, the gray sweater paired with his black pants were all fitted on Dynamis's body, and it looked quite good. I had to applaud myself for giving him a good outfit from the get-go. Then again, the dark robes I gave him when he was cursed by King Hades's pendant looked far better than his regular one. I changed back into parts of Dynamis's shrine attire before exiting the room. I ditched his robes at the hotel and left Dynamis with only his black tank top and pants since I was sick of almost tripping on his garments whenever I walked.
Tithi was nowhere to be seen in the store. My heart suddenly started beating to an extremely unhealthy amount. That damned child better not have run away. My breaths were becoming heavier. I was starting to panic. Dammit, that kid was going to snitch on me, wasn't he? I even tried to suck up to that kid, but of course he—
"BOO!" Tithi jumped out from one of the clothing racks he had been hiding in for some reason. "Did I get you?" He bursted out in laughter because I accidentally screamed when he suddenly appeared out of nowhere. It was not funny in the slightest. I had to use every fiber of my being to not shout at this kid in public. People were watching the two of us because of how much noise we created.
"Don't you dare do that again Tithi," I tried to scold him quietly, since I did not want to draw more attention to myself than I already had. "You can't just go around scaring people like that, not even to the real Dynamis, you understand?"
"You need to lighten up Mr. Meanie, else everyone is just gonna think you're Pluto automatically because you're always so grumpy," Tithi stuck out his tongue in a goofy manner. Was he seriously expecting me to play with him or something?
"Tsk. You're weird."
I went to the washroom to change my outfit to the one I had just bought. I shoved Dynamis's old outfit into the shopping bag and left the stall to see Tithi waiting on a nearby bench. Thank goodness he did not try to jump me a second time.
Onto the second stop, the children's clothing store. Tithi's outfit was already planned, I just needed to grab his new clothes and force him to try it on. Before I could stroll over to my destination, Tithi pulled onto my coat.
"Can I get this?" He pointed to an extremely hideous pink shirt.
I'm not short. I'm concentrated awesome.
"This is the ugliest shirt I have ever looked at, what is wrong with you?" The quote reminded me of my own height, and I did not like it.
"Then how about this one?" Tithi smiled, showing me an equally or arguably worse shirt.
Cool story mom. Now get me a snack.
"Absolutely not. Why do you keep picking shirts with such terrible quotes?"
"I think they're funny," he pouted in frustration. The worst part about all of this was that his response seemed genuine; he was not trying to mess with me.
"They're not. Get a better sense of humor," I turned away so I could pick out Tithi's clothes.
I pulled the beige poncho reminiscent of the one he was currently wearing. After, I grabbed a small jacket quite commonly bought by blader children. Finally, simple black shorts, good for any occasion. I knew Tithi was following close behind me, so I shoved the new clothes into his hands.
"Go to the fitting room and put these on."
"Wha—Oh hey this one looks like my poncho!" The blader of Venus cheered.
"Hurry up and get changed," I pushed the kid gently to the desk where the lady managing the fitting rooms was. I thought about pushing him into the floor, but I was not so stupid as to attempt something so troublesome. It was too much work anyway.
"Hello, how can I help you?" The woman at the counter smiled.
"Umm…uh…" Tithi was too socially awkward to answer the lady. I forgot that he apparently lived in the middle of nowhere for most of his life. I didn't want to waste time, so I stepped up for the embarrassed blader.
"Sorry, my… adopted brother here is a bit shy when it comes to talking with strangers. Can he use the fitting rooms here?"
"Of course, it's right down that way. Just leave the clothes you don't plan on keeping in the room."
"Thank you," I nudged Tithi and muttered to him, "Say thank you to the shop lady."
"Oh, uh, thank you shop lady!" I facepalmed, he was not supposed to call her "shop lady".
(Four minutes later)
Tithi finally came out of the fitting room with a large smile on his face.
"Did it fit?"
"It did, they're almost as good as what I'm wearing right now!" He grinned at me. Why was this kid giving me an authentic smile? Was he starting to forget who he was talking to?
"Well, now you can wear the other outfit when you don't feel like standing out like a sore thumb," I grabbed the clothes from him and brought it to the purchasing counter. All the clothes I had planned to buy were ours. Now what?
We walked out of the store, but I paused to think about where else to go. It was only 11:30. There was no harm in me staying in the mall longer than intended, so I decided Tithi and I would just window shop for the time being. Maybe, there would be something in this mall to appeal to my nostalgia. Without warning, there was a large grumbling noise coming from Tithi's stomach.
"Umm Mr. Meanie, I'm hungry," Tithi put his hand over his irritated stomach. It was a relief to hear him still refer to me by that insulting nickname. I'd rather that than him getting too close to me. To have him see me as a friend, or for me to become friends with a legendary blader like him would be an insult to everything I worked towards.
"You made it obvious already. I'll go find the food court."
(Tithi POV)
Pluto went ahead to look for a place for us to go eat. He was really weird, but the weirdest thing was that he didn't seem all that different from Dynamis. I couldn't tell if he was being quiet so he could pretend to be him, or if he was usually like that.
Pluto was really scary when I first met him, but the more time went, the weirder he got. For a bad guy, he seemed oddly willing to do all these little things that Dynamis would normally never do for me. He also had really weird reactions when I tried to be goofy with him. A part of me really did not like or trust him, but the other wanted to learn more about him. If he was the mystery, then I was the cool detective heading off to solve the puzzle.
"We're here." He looked at me sternly, his face seemed kind of angry but more so empty.
I looked all around our new surroundings, and there were all these mini restaurants all over. It was mostly Japanese food, but there were some fast-food places too. Fast food was what Yu and the others really liked. Last time I was in Japan, Yu let me try this thing called a "burger". It was really good, and I wanted to try it again.
"Where can you buy a burger?" I looked up to Pluto, also Mr. Meanie. He knew his way around the city so I assumed he would know.
"You're in Japan, and you want to eat crappy fast food?" He looked down onto me, almost as if he was going to scold me. Again.
"It's not like I get to have fast food in the temple either, we already had plenty of Japanese food earlier anyway."
Pluto ignored me, but he walked over to one of the places that looked like something Chris would eat. I followed him and looked at the funny screen things displaying all the different types of food.
Fries. Chicken Nuggets. Salad. There it was. The burger! There were so many different options though, I didn't know what burger I was supposed to pick!
I heard Pluto mumbling to himself, "Hmm, I forgot. The menu here in Japan is different from Mexico…"
"Mr. Meanie, I don't know what to get so can you just get me something with a burger?" It was really hard calling Pluto Dynamis, so I just resorted to calling him Mr. Meanie because it was easier. I hope he isn't actually that mean though. I want to enjoy my lunch.
"A kid's meal? Fine," he looked away from me and towards the cashier person. "Hello, can I order one regular kids' meal with a cheeseburger, a teriyaki burger, your melon float, and a sakura mochi pie?"
I continued to look around the mall food court, there were plenty of other kids hanging around too. Many of them were just with their friends, and others with their parents. I didn't remember my parents anymore, since they never really were there for me. Then again, Yu said he didn't remember his parents either, so I guess I wasn't alone. Did Pluto have parents, and did he remember them if he didn't?
"Pluto, do you remember your parents?"
"Why are you asking that all of a sudden?" He snapped at me violently, only to quickly take back his answer when he remembered that other people were in the mall.
"I was just curious; you don't have to get mad at me!" I squealed. I don't know why he was mad at me for asking that, it didn't seem offensive to me.
"Why do you even care about my answer?"
"Well, you surely have them right? I do, I don't remember them, but I know they exist. Where are your parents?"
"We're ending this conversation here."
"But—" Before I could respond, he shoved a small fast-food bag into my hand.
"Your food," I wanted to check the bag, but Pluto dragged me over to one of the tables before I could do anything.
I opened the bag to find the cheeseburger I wanted, alongside a container of edamame and corn. I also got some orange juice too.
"Thank you, Mr. Meanie!" I thanked him, but he looked at me with a raised eyebrow before ignoring my thanks. Weirdo.
I quickly devoured the cheeseburger. It was so good, just like I remembered when I had it the first time with Yu. The edamame and corn were not as good, but it was still better than the leftover food I had to eat when I was by myself on the mountains. I noticed the weird sakura mochi pie Pluto decided to buy. It looked really good so I extended my hand over to try and snatch it from him, but he immediately placed his hand on it before I could grab the pie.
"What do you think you're doing?" He was very mad. Just like me, he finished his burger too. He still had that weird green drink as well. I kind of wanted to try it but I didn't really want to share the same straw with him.
"Can I have the pie? It looks really yummy and I'm still hungry," I gave him my best puppy eye impression in hopes he would give me just a little bit.
He did his typical eyebrow raise, but instead of refusing my plea, he split the dessert into half. Pluto didn't say anything, only giving me an annoyed look before finishing his portion. The sakura mochi pie was really tasty. I'll give him a point over Yo-Yo for having a good taste in food. Pluto sat there, drinking the funny green juice without saying anything. It looked like he was doing the weird Dynamis thing where he would just space out and not pay attention to any of his surroundings.
Another thought came to my mind. Dynamis and I both never really had any friends until we met the Legendary Bladers. Dynamis was in the temple by himself. I was in the ruins by myself. What about Pluto too? He did say he had Rago, but I wanted to know who else he saw as a friend. I knew I was going to get in trouble for asking, he freaked out when I asked about his parents, but this was something I wanted to know. It's his fault for having such a lonely expression on his face most of the time.
"Pluto, how many friends do you have?"
"What kind of stupid question is that?" He sneered at me mockingly.
"It's not stupid! I want to know what kind of friends you have, or had."
"Fine…" He was almost about to say something after that, but he quickly took it back to think harder about his answer. Instead of answering my question, he asked another one, "What do you even consider a friend, Tithi?"
It was a good question, but not hard to answer. "Friends are people that like you, and you like them back. You spend time with them, play with them, and help them out when they are in trouble. They do the same for you because they feel the same!"
"Is that so, how many friends do you think you need then?"
"Does it matter? As long as they're good right?" He did bring up a good point, but I was content with the friends I had now. "Even if I'm not that close to the other Legendary Bladers, having Yu and Dynamis is enough for me."
"Hmm," There was a long period of silence before he answered my question. He really had to think about his response. "I guess if I really narrow it down, I only really have Rago and Johannes," his eyes looked off into the distance. "Maybe E…no I wouldn't consider her a friend. Family would make more sense for her."
"Who's E?"
"None of your business," he didn't want to talk about it. His response sounded lonely, I felt kind of bad. It didn't sound like something you'd hear from someone who wanted to push people away because he hated everyone. I think he did not want to admit the fact he disliked being lonely.
I don't know. I don't feel like pushing it anymore though. If he kept answering me without being mad at me, I feel like his answers would just get sadder.
"Hey! It's Dynamis and Tithi, let's go say hi!"
(Pluto's POV)
Dammit. I'm tired, why are there more people here? What the hell was with Tithi asking such personal questions? Why did he seem so bummed when I answered his questions too? I really do not have the energy to interact with more brats right now.
Familiar voices rang in my ears, it was King and Masamune. There was a small bit of relief knowing that it was those two to find us and not anyone else. Dynamis himself barely interacted with them, so making slip ups in personality would not be much of a problem with them. They were carrying food from the same fast-food place I ordered from earlier.
"Masamune, King! Hiiiiiii!" Tithi got out of his seat and started jumping around in a frenzy.
"Dynamis and Tithi! I can't believe we found you guys here of all places!" King cried out in excitement.
"Yea, we've been trying to find the other legendary bladers in the city, but we've had absolutely no luck," Masamune whined. He placed his food on our table so that he could place his hands on his head.
"You can't find the other legendary bladers? What about Gingka, Kyoya, and the others?" I inquired.
"Well, we've already done our practice matches against Gingka, Yuki, and Kenta right? But everyone else just up and vanished!" Masamune explained loudly.
"Yea, also what's with the new outfit Dynamis? Where are your robes?" King asked, perplexed.
"I did not want to further taint my shrine robes, so I decided getting a new set of clothes would do me better," They did not seem like the types to pry heavily, so I left it at that.
"Oh, well they look nice," he complimented who he thought was Dynamis. "Anyway, Aguma and Bao are nowhere to be seen in the whole city. Chris too. Kyoya is with Benkei but I can't find them anywhere either. At least you guys are in the same place," King whined about not finding the other legendary bladers. I wasn't that surprised to hear about the other four going their separate ways to train. They were more reclusive than the other three, including King himself.
"I think you guys will do better not finding Yo-Yo at all!" Tithi crossed his arms. He seemed to be half-joking, but still serious to some degree. I had a feeling this kid probably hated Kyoya more than me, somehow.
"How come the two of you are looking for the others anyway?" I questioned them, wanting to understand their motives.
"Why? It's to battle of course, the tournament is in a week you know! Masamune and I wanna train against the different competitors, for fun of course," The Mars blader beamed with energy, the two young teens were very eager to battle.
"You guys are down to battle, right? We're gonna eat our lunch, and then we're gonna head to the BeyPark for our match!" Masamune looked towards Tithi and I.
"Well, it's bold of you to—" Tithi cut me off before I could finish my sentence.
"Yea! I wanna join you guys, Mr—I mean Dynamis, let's go with them!" Tithi tugged onto my arm this time around. Did he forget who I was, or was he just acting? I would have to ask him later in private.
Training with King and Masamune huh? I really did not want to battle but I had not used Jade Jupiter once since I arrived. There was no way I could make a fool out of myself during that tournament, or else everyone would be suspicious of me losing so fast. Besides, those two would be the least suspicious of me messing up as they barely knew my battling style anyway. I guess I got lucky meeting these two instead of Gingka. I at least have more freedom to experiment with Jupiter now.
"Sure. Tithi and I will join you," I gave a fake smirk at the two excited bladers. An event like this was inevitable. There was a whole week left until the tournament, so it would be a waste to not train for it at least a little bit.