(Author Note: Made a mistake in the last chapter about the tournament information. Instead of six finalists, it's actually supposed to be seven. Whoops. Let's just blame Keyser for the blunder.)
(Third person POV. One week passes, the day of the Bladers Royale is about to begin.)
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WELCOME TO THE LEGENDARY BLADERS TOURNAMENT, HOSTED BY THE WBBA!" The Blader DJ announced loudly, to the empty stadium filled only with the contestants of the Battle Royale Round. A total of fifty different bladers were scattered across the arena.
"AS WE CAN ALL SEE FROM OUR TELEVISIONS, OUR FIRST ROUND, THE BLADERS ROYALE, WILL BE TAKING PLACE USING THE ENTIRETY OF OUR STADIUM! FOR THE SAFETY OF OUR VIEWERS, WE'LL BE WATCHING THE BATTLES RIGHT FROM OUR COMFORTABLE SEATS!"
The entirety of the stadium building, from the front entrance to the spectator seats were reserved for the bladers to battle in. The WBBA tournament building was a battle zone for all the contestants to let loose, similar to the Beyster Island Tournament several months before. The goal was to eliminate other bladers to guarantee your spot in the proper Legendary Bladers tournament.
"WE'VE GOT PLENTY OF AMAZING BLADERS HERE TO BATTLE FOR THE TOP! WHO WILL MAKE IT TO BATTLE OUR LEGENDARY CHAMPIONS, WE'LL FIND OUT TODAY!"
"It looks like Johannes is going to have quite the competition here. Plenty of Japan's top bladers are here, and we can't forget the other members of Gingka's gang," Elysse commented as the Blader DJ made his announcements.
"We can't forget about Motti, she might not be going for the spots like him, but we should make sure to cheer her on too," Cygnus smiled brightly for his fellow co-workers.
"The winners of this royale round seem obvious, but I guess they have to do it to be fair to everyone else," Dynamis remarked, sitting on the lounge couch, with a few cats sitting on his lap.
"Hey, you never know. Anything can happen, and I'm seriously betting that Johannes will get it to happen," Elysse crossed her fingers, hoping the deal she made with the Lynx Blader would not go to waste.
"What does that mean?" Dynamis asked in concern.
"You'll see. We're really betting on Johannes to make this thing work," Cycnus joked with the Jupiter Blader. Keyser and Hershcel quietly chuckled behind his back as well. It seemed all but Dynamis knew of the unusual deal. It did not seem like the deal was harmful, so Dynamis tried laughing as well.
Normally, the cafe would be open Saturday morning, but it was closed so that the rest of the Cafe members could watch the tournament. Their eyes were all glued to the screen.
(Meanwhile, at the WBBA lounge room)
"Wow! This is going to be so exciting to watch, I hope Yu and Masamune make it ahead to the tournament! I really want to battle them tomorrow!" Tithi was jumping on his seat in excitement, with King sitting right next to him on the couch facing the TV. A few of the other legendary bladers were also sitting in the room. There was a large TV display resting on a couple shelves. In front of the television, was a three-couch arrangement with one facing the TV, and the other two facing each other on the side. Aguma and Chris were sitting on the left side couch, while Yuki and Kenta sat on the opposite side.
"Masamune better make it to the next round, I want to get a chance to have another proper rematch on the big stage!" King shouted, ready to encourage his best friend and rival.
"I'm still trying to find Bao amongst the crowd," Aguma smiled. He would have gone off to train alone but he wanted to support his fellow Beylin Fist member much like King was to Masamune.
"Sorry I'm late, has the blader royale started yet?" Dynamis, really Pluto, entered the room quietly.
"You're just in time Mr. Dynamis, they're just restating the battle rules for the viewers," Yuki greeted the false Dynamis. "Look, they're showing off all the different participating bladers."
"Oh? I don't recognize anyone other than Masamune, Yu, Tsubasa, Bao, and Benkei," Pluto looked at the screen while taking a seat next to Tithi, who was now sitting in the middle.
"There are so many top bladers of Japan here! Hyoma, Sora, oh now I don't even know who to cheer for!" Kenta beamed as we watched the television. Pluto couldn't help but roll his eyes at the new Summer blader. His arms were crossed in a bored fashion. He felt no reason to watch the tournament, not with so many unknown and irrelevant faces amongst the crowd. The television screen continued to pan across the wide arena to show off the different bladers.
"So that's where Bao is, I was—Wait, is that?" Aguma exclaimed before noticing a very familiar face. Pluto recognized them too, for he was all too close with him.
"Johannes?" Pluto blurted in shock before staring in silence. He was completely unaware of the fact that Johannes had been in Metal Bey City for the last six months. He didn't even know if he was alive or not. There was some relief in knowing his friend was doing fine, but he had no idea why Johannes was even there. Pluto's interest in the tournament suddenly shot up.
"Why is he in Japan? Did he just get here, or did he never leave or something?" Chris looked at the screen in confusion. He didn't have that much animosity towards the Lynx Blader, just confusion. Probably because he was paid a ridiculous amount of money when he signed his contract with Johannes. Money talks.
"I don't know, but he might mean trouble for us. We better keep a close eye on him. Maybe he won't make it to the next round if we're lucky," Yuki cautioned.
"Good luck with that," Pluto sneered accidentally. He couldn't help but vouch for his friend, but he quickly realized his mistake and tried to backpedal from his previous statement. "Johannes is not an opponent to be messed with. In a tournament like this, there are plenty of tricks he can utilize to his advantage to secure victory." The identity stealer had to come up with some way to cover up his blunder. He wasn't supposed to be praising Johannes, an enemy in their eyes. No one batted much of an eye towards the temple guardian, they simply nodded their heads.
"HEY GUYS! Sorry I'm late, had to go get myself some triple beef burgers for the battle royale match!" Gingka barged into the room with his mouth stuffed, carrying several bags of the same fast-food burgers to eat while watching the blader royale. Madoka and Kyoya were also following close behind him, not carrying any bags themselves.
"Are you serious? Don't tell me all those fast food bags are just for you Gingka? Nothing for us!" King demanded answers, seeing Gingka continuing to stuff himself.
"Sorry, but it's a limited edition run, and I gotta get as much as I can while I can!" Gingka hopped onto a seat next to Kenta. There weren't many seats left, so Madoka and Kyoya chose to stand.
"Did you find anyone interesting yet?" The Leone blader questioned, hoping to find more worthy opponents during the tournament.
"Johannes. He's here in Japan apparently, and…is he talking with Bao?!" Aguma tried answering Kyoya's inquiry, but he quickly became distracted by the scene.
"The cat boy thingy? What is he doing here?"
"What?! Johannes?" Gingka's eyes dilated to watch the television, confused just like everyone else was.
"No one knows why he is here. Perhaps we can find out if he makes it to the proper tournament. Alternatively, we catch him immediately after he loses in the royale, which I doubt," Pluto sat with a stern face, continuing his facade. Despite everyone's concern over the Lynx Blader, no one but Pluto seemed to notice Johannes handing over an unusual card to Bao.
"Hah, maybe I can get a proper rematch against him fair and square then if he makes it!" Gingka continued to talk with his mouth full. Everyone was engaging in their own conversations between each other, mostly ignoring the announcements related to the royale rules.
"Hey look! I think they're starting to leave for their starting positions," Madoka pointed at the screen, redirecting everyone's attention to the television.
(Johannes's POV, waiting somewhere in the stadium)
They really shouldn't have made the entire stadium open for battle if they didn't want someone like me winning.
This thing was going to be a piece of cake. All I had to do was avoid all the potent bladers Elysse and the others mentioned.
Bao. I worked with him before, and I'd like to think we got along when we were both on the side of Nemesis. He seemed shocked to see me earlier, but I managed to strike a pretty decent conversation with the Beylin Fist Blader. Maybe Cafe Lynx will get an extra two customers after this. I'll still have to watch out for him, since I already know what fighting him is like.
Tsubasa. I definitely did not want to mess with him. He's one of the stronger bladers participating in this survival tournament, and an encounter with him would be way too risky. I'd have to completely drag out our battle if I wanted to guarantee my spot.
Benkei.. No problem, I'll lure him to Motti again, just like ToRyumon. Besides, I taught her plenty of new tricks to use against anyone standing in her way. He's no problem.
Yu and Masamune. Both were members of Japan's GanGanGalaxy. Masamune I never dealt with personally so I couldn't say much. The Tendo kid though, Herschel and Keyser wouldn't stop complaining about him. They were mad at Masamune and King too, but not as much. Gahh, I actually had to scream at those two to shut the hell up. I'll avoid them just because of that stupid nonsense.
Based on the intel that we managed to gather throughout the week, several former Dark Nebula bladers were attending the tournament. I only had my eye on one of them though.
Elysse and Cycnus tried to give me the word on everyone else they found but I just slept through it.
"ALRIGHT BLADERS, WE'RE GOING TO START NOW," the stadium speakers were going off again, they were so loud it felt like my ears were going to fall out. The stadium was huge, so there were no bladers currently in my vicinity. Perfect. There were plenty of cameras placed all over the place, but none of the actual participating bladers would be able to see what was being recorded. No one would be able to see me enact my special plan. "ON YOUR MARK, READY, SET, GO!"
Finally, I quickly swung my head around to ensure no one would watch to see what I was about to do next. There was no one here yet. I jumped high and onto the air vent cover right above me. I honed my claws just for this moment. Gently, I lifted the cover and crawled into the stadium vents. Now no one would be able to get me. All I had to do was navigate the arena by quietly moving through the air passageways.
Right below, there were already several bladers running around. It was time to get a move on. The plan was to ambush weak bladers from the shadows to narrow down the number, while leaving the stronger bladers to battle each other instead. It was time to get a move on, so I creeped my way through the air vents.
"Ryutaro! I believe it's about time we have our rematch," some blader started talking from beneath me. I peered right below to see some blondie in a red suit pointing towards a blue haired blader in some traditional Japanese get-up. Ryutaro? Right, he was a Dark Nebula member at some point. Neither me nor Pluto paid much attention to whatever Doji was doing.
"So, you will be my first opponent for this match? I thought so, prepare yourself," Ryutaro grabbed his launcher and pointed it towards Teru. Now that I think about it, he's the weird optical illusion magic dude isn't he? Skip.
I crawled further down.
"Get ready for battle!" Three Benkei rip-offs were about to match up against some kid with black and yellow hair. Skip.
As I continued to crawl through the crammed vents, there was a large bang noise right outside. Crap, did someone know I was in here or were they thinking the same as me? It sounded as if someone grabbed a ladder and was trying to get in here.
"Tobio! What are you doing?" That voice, I think it was Tsubasa calling out to some other blader.
"Crap, looks like you caught me huh?" I could not see who was talking, but it sounded like this Tobio-dude was responding to Tsubasa's confusion.
"You won't be climbing in there, you're battling me here!"
"Fine then, let's go at it!"
I could hear their beys clashing intensely from a distance. Instead of moving along, I waited silently in my spot to observe the battle. It wasn't long before hearing one of the beys dropping dead on the floor.
"Shoot, you got me that quickly!"
It sounded like someone lost already, meaning it was time to get a move on. I lifted my head slightly but—
"MEOWCH!" Shit. I banged my head on the vent surface and screeched pretty damn loudly.
"What was that loud echo? Is someone actually in there?" I could hear Tsubasa speculate loudly, probably looking towards the vents. Great, it hadn't even been that long, and I already had to move on to my other plan. Quickly, I returned to crawling away in the vent. He didn't know it was me specifically in here, but he knew that someone was here. There was no point in hiding it so I scrambled through to find the nearest vent exit. Tsubasa was slowly closing in on me, but I could tell he was struggling to maneuver the passage due to his height.
There, an exit. Finally, and it's right where I wanted it. No one was nearby to see where I would go next. Perfect.
(Back to the WBBA lobby, where all the Legendary Bladers are watching)
"ALRIGHT, THE MATCHES ARE GETTING HEATED UP ALRIGHT! WE'VE ALREADY BEEN KNOCKED DOWN TO ONLY TWENTY BLADERS REMAINING!" The Blader DJ screamed through the television.
"Wooohooo Masamune! Yu! Let's go!" Tithi and King were leaning on the couch seat to cheer for their friends. Aguma was smiling at the television as well, seeing Bao easily eliminating all the bladers he encountered.
"Did anyone see Tsubasa after he defeated Tobio? The camera cut to Benkei's match like right after," Gingka was still eating his triple beef burgers.
"Is no one else concerned about not seeing Johannes, the entire time? I haven't seen him since the matches started," Madoka looked at the screen with a concerned look. Same with "Dynamis".
"Eh, he'll show his face again at some point in time," Kyoya asserted, watching the battles with great care. "Johannes probably has some sort of trick up his sleeve for this, I'd be surprised to not see him in the top seven at this rate."
"OH WELL WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT, TSUBASA HAS JUST FALLEN OUT FROM THE CEILING? NO, THE VENTS? WHAT WAS HE DOING IN THERE! The Blader DJ announced in shock, with the rest of the Legendary Bladers dropping their jaws, perplexed. "WHAT IS THIS? THERE ARE UNUSUAL CLAW MARKS ON ONE OF THE VENT COVERS? WHO COULD HAVE DONE THAT?"
"What the—" Yuki was baffled, and so was everyone else.
"It could be Johannes's claw marks. Maybe Tsubasa eliminated him?" Kyoya hypothesized, trying to figure out the situation.
"Hmph. Sounds like Johannes is up to his usual shenanigans…" Pluto thought to himself, sneaking a slight smile for his former unusual Lynx employee.
(The Cafe Lynx lobby room)
"AWW SHOOT TSUBASA GOT IN THERE?!" Herschel jumped from his seat, scaring the kitten laying in Dynamis's lap.
"I'm pretty sure Johannes would have gotten out of there and moved on to the next spot," Keyser sipped his coffee casually while watching the battles progress.
"Was the plan to just have Johannes run away from all the matches…" Dynamis seemed quite perplexed by the events. "And where is Motti?"
Cygnus ignored Dynamis's first question but quickly answered his second one, "Well, we're about to find out. Look, there she is!"
(Somewhere in the stadium)
Motti managed to avoid many of the battles up until now. When some bladers did approach her, she was able to get them to surrender using her irresistible charm. All the stronger bladers present at the tournament were too busy fighting each other and had miraculously avoided Motti. Things were going great for the young cat blader. She sat under the stadium front desk in a very lazy manner, almost ready to take a nap.
"Nya, Motti wonders how Johannes is doing," Motti yawned loudly, waiting for an opponent to show up. She peaked her head above the desk to see an unusual caped figure, sneaking around in a crab-like manner. This was Motti's chance to do a sneak attack on the unsuspecting blader. "Hehe, Motti's gotchu now meow!" The young blader launched her beyblade at the crab blader.
"CRABBY?! WHO THE CRAB IS ATTACKING ME?" The blader turned around swiftly, launching his bey in a counterattack against Motti. It was none other than the infamous Tetsuya Watarigani.
"Meow Meow! Motti is going to make sure you don't go anywhere!" Motti beamed excitedly, with sparkles glimmering in her eyes.
"Oh Crabby! What are you saying? I don't know what you're trying to do, crab, but I'm going to win this battle quick and easy!" Tetsuya commanded his Dark Gasher to take down Motti's own Flame Gasher.
Motti severely underestimated Tetsuya's strength. Even with the training she received from Johannes, Motti's bey battling skills were still quite subpar compared to her older cousin
Flame Gasher was being pushed back significantly, so it seemed it was time for Motti to pull out the special tricks she learned.
"Meow meow! Look over there! It looks like someone's coming over this way!" Motti shrieked to try and distract Tetsuya.
"CRAB?" Tetsuya fell for the girl's trick and looked over to see no one behind him. Just as he turned back, Motti pulled out pebbles from her pocket to try and fling them onto Tetsuya's bey. She missed.
"HEY! THAT'S MY TACTIC!" Tetsuya began to fume at the cat blader for supposedly "stealing" his own tactics, but he had no time to waste so he attempted the same thing right after. "CAT GIRL WITH THE CRABBY BEY LIKE MINE, LOOK OVER THERE!" He pointed towards the glass window. Motti, being the easily distracted girl she was, fell for the same trick she used earlier and turned her head over. Tetsuya grabbed his own pebble to fling at Motti's bey. He missed too.
"Meow meow! That's not nice of you!" Motti panicked, jumping back in shock.
"You did the same thing to me, kitty crab! It's my turn to get back at you, Gasher!" Tetsuya commanded his bey to charge towards Motti. She got startled and was about to run away, before turning around with glistening kitty eyes.
"Ooooh meow, are you really so mean as to hurt lil' Motti meow?" Motti placed her hands together in an attempt to charm her way out of the battle. Unfortunately, Tetsuya knew this trick all too well, for he used it plenty of times on his own.
"Haha sorry cat, but you can't use that on me!" Tetsuya's Gasher continued to charge for Motti. She should have panicked, but she remembered all the other pebbles still in her pocket. She pulled them out and started flinging them towards Tetsuya again. Gasher's charge attack was quickly disrupted as the bey's focus was changed to dodging all the incoming rocks.
"Oooh crabby, you're going to keep on doing that to me, that's not very nice," Tetsuya was now trying to play the charming trick on Motti this time around.
"Mreow? You can't just call Motti out for using cheap tricks when you're copying after me meow!" Motti stomped on the ground irritated.
(WBBA Lobby)
"What the hell are we watching? They're cheating left and right, how are they not getting called out for this?!" Kyoya was baffled by the odd battle. There were plenty of intensive fights occurring at that same moment, but the battle between Tetsuya and Motti was so ridiculous that it had been airing on the television since it started.
"It's stupid, but I'll admit it's kind of funny to see them failing," Chris chuckled lightly, having fun seeing the unusual bladers unsuccessfully trying to defeat one another.
"WELL, THIS BATTLE IS CERTAINLY ODD! THEY PROBABLY SHOULD BOTH BE DISQUALIFIED FOR CHEATING BUT SINCE THEY'RE BOTH DOING IT, I GUESS WE'LL LET IT SLIDE FOR THIS ONE! WHY DON'T WE LOOK AT WHERE THE OTHER BLADERS ARE SINCE THE NUMBERS HAVE SIGNIFICANTLY DROPPED SINCE!" The Blader DJ switched the screen camera over to the other battles taking place.
Masamune was about to begin a match with Yu. Tsubasa found himself in a match against Hyoma, and Benkei against Sora. Bao was standing in an unknown area of the stadium, waiting for an opponent to find him. Johannes? Nowhere to be seen.
"Wow, the numbers shrunk down way faster than I thought! Only one zone shrank and it was all the top floors," King kept his eyes glued onto the screen.
"WE'RE DOWN TO TEN BLADERS LEFT, WE ONLY NEED THREE MORE ELIMINATIONS TO GET OUR FINAL SEVEN! WE ARE AT THE FINAL BATTLES AND…WE HAVE NOT SEEN JOHANNES ANYWHERE IN THE STADIUM. HIS TRACKER STILL SHOWS HE'S PRESENT BUT HE IS NOWHERE TO BE SEEN!" The announcer DJ continued his commentary over the battle, none of which was heard by the participating bladers themselves.
The battles continued to rage on, with the battle between Motti and Tetsuya remaining at an unusual stand still. The Legendary Bladers continued watching intensely at the screen. Even Pluto was intrigued by the battles, but his concern was still over the Lynx Blader. He knew Johannes found somewhere to hide, but where? Suddenly, two battles managed to conclude at the same time. Tsubasa beat Hyoma, and Benkei beat Sora. Now, only one more blader needed to be eliminated for the Blader Royale to conclude.
"WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT! WE'RE NOW AT THE FINAL EIGHT BLADERS, WE'LL DO ONE BIG ANNOUNCEMENT FOR OUR PARTICIPATING BLADERS TO HAVE THEM CONCLUDE THEIR MATCHES QUICKLY!" The Blader DJ quickly turned over and repeated a similar statement to all the blader's in the arena.
Everyone watching the television screen could see Masamune and Yu looking up at the speakers, only to see them continue their heated match. Tsubasa and Benkei immediately ran back to the stadium arena since it was still available for the battle zone. Bao also decided to run for the center of the stadium to see if anyone would be there as he had become bored of waiting. Motti and Tetsuya continued their battle as usual, but Johannes?
"The weird cat guy everyone keeps talking about still hasn't shown up, is he ever going to come out of wherever he is?" Tithi looked over to Pluto, assuming he would know the answer.
"If he didn't come out earlier, what would make you—Wait, something is moving on that camera," Pluto was about to scold Tithi, but he saw an unusual object moving on the camera.
"WHAT IS THAT? WHY IS THE TRASH CAN MOVING?!" The camera quickly cut to the unusual trash can. Everyone now had their eyes on the bin.
The trash can was not so far away from Motti and Tetsuya. As soon as the Blader DJ mentioned the can, it began to shake. A hand suddenly popped out from the trash can, it was Johannes's hand. He pulled himself out from the trash and began dusting off his clothes. The Lynx Blader rubbed his hands on his face, much like a cat, before heading into Motti and Tetsuya's direction as if nothing had happened.
"HOLY COW, HAS JOHANNES BEEN SITTING IN THE TRASH THE ENTIRE TIME?! THAT IS…VERY DISGUSTING BUT I'LL GIVE IT TO HIM, THAT'S A WHOLE LOT OF DEDICATION TO HIDE YOURSELF THERE! PLEASE FOR OUR VIEWERS WATCHING, DO NOT EVER TRY THAT!"
The entirety of all the Legendary Bladers, and Madoka were left speechless. While everyone looked at the screen in disgust, Pluto was trying his hardest to not burst into a laughing fit. His cat blader really was as ridiculous as usual.
(Johannes's POV, he's out of the trash)
The trash can was empty thank goodness. It was easy fitting myself in there, and it was a real close call too. Tsubasa fell out of the same vent I exited, but he never bothered to check inside the garbage. I think I've waited at least twenty minutes for them to announce the last remaining bladers. Only one more person needed an out, so I pounced over to the entrance, where I heard a battle ensuing.
I didn't allow myself to be seen by the two bladers, I peered over the corner to see Motti and Tetsuya battling. Hah, I hit the jackpot.
"Ahhhh meow! You really need to stop copying Motti's tricks!" Motti hissed at him, she was battling Tetsuya.
"Crabby?! You're the one who is copying me!" Tetsuya looked equally as irritated as her. I could faintly hear their screams from afar, but I couldn't actually tell if it was them or not until I left the trash bin.
Meow. It's time to get my easy money from Elysse and the others. I hopped out from the shadows and launched Beat Lynx at the two Gashers.
"CRABBY?"
"Ahhh! Johannes! You've come to save Motti!" Motti smiled brightly, but her hopes would soon be crushed.
"WHAT?! You crabs are going to team up against me?!" Tetsuya stepped back in concern, but he really had nothing to worry about.
"Sorry Motti, you did a good job lasting this long so I'm proud of you, but I've got a bet I need to uphold!" I felt a little bad for eliminating her this time around, but I couldn't ignore the free money I was about to earn from the other kittens at Cafe Lynx.
I commanded Beat Lynx to charge at Motti's Flame Gasher and just as expected, it went flying.
"EH?!" Both Motti and Tetsuya watched in confusion as Flame Gasher soon stopped dead in its tracks when it crashed into the carpet floor.
"Crab what?" Tetsuya stared at me while saying absolutely nothing, he definitely was not expecting me to do that, and his expression was damn priceless to see.
"I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! JOHANNES HAS ARRIVED TO DEAL THE FINISHING BLOW FOR THIS TOURNAMENT! EVERY BLADER, STOP BATTLING!" The Blader DJ's voice was heard over the speakers once again.
"What? Already?" Tsubasa had just run over to where I was standing earlier.
"Meow Johannes?! What was that for?" Motti screeched at me in disappointment.
"Elysse and the other Nemesis buds are paying me fifty bucks each to get Tetsuya into the top seven. I had no choice but to eliminate you. It's nothing personal."
(3rd POV, Cut to Cafe Lynx)
"What?! You all paid Johannes to get Tetsuya into the top seven?!" Dynamis was not informed of this plot at all. Everyone around him was too busy dying of laughter to answer the Jupiter blader.
"HOLY CRAP, I DIDN'T THINK HE WOULD ACTUALLY DO IT! HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Elysse was clenching her stomach hard, unable to keep herself from laughing.
"NO WAY, THE FIFTY BUCKS WAS SO WORTH IT!" Cycnus was grasping onto the coffee table, trying to keep his cool. He was failing quite miserably.
"This is…" Dynamis had nothing to say. As everyone laughed, he noticed the screen displaying the finalists. "Umm, the finalists are up."
"Oh? Well hey, would you look at that. Seems we got a real lucky cat on our side," Elysse commented on the match-up list that fell perfectly with their needs.
(Back to the Stadium)
"WELL THAT'S IT LADIES AND GENTLEMAN! OUR TOP SEVEN HAS FINALLY BEEN DECIDED AFTER A QUICK BUT HEATED TOURNAMENT! LET'S LOOK AT THE BLADERS WHO WILL BE FACING OFF AGAINST OUR LEGENDARY BLADERS!"
"WE HAVE MASAMUNE KADOYA, YU TENDO, AND TSUBASA OTORI, ALL MEMBERS OF JAPAN'S GAN GAN GALAXY! BENKEI HANAWA, MEMBER OF TEAM WILD FANG. BAO, MEMBER OF THE BEYLIN FIST. JOHANNES? UH. LOOKS LIKE HIS ASSIGNED TITLE SAYS…COME OVER TO CAFE LYNX? OKAY THEN? FINALLY, WE HAVE TETSUYA WATARIGANI, JAPAN'S CRABBY GUY!"
"I can't believe it, Tetsuya is in the finalists…" Tsubasa sighed.
"Hey it's okay, all of us are going to get our chances to fight against the others now! Whoever gets Tetsuya gets a free win!" Masamune cheered. Him and Yu managed to meet back at the entrance where everyone else was standing. Bao and Benkei also found themselves at the stadium entrance.
"Awww bull, I didn't get a chance to battle more people!" Ughh, good thing I didn't run into Benkei on my way here.
Tsubasa began walking over in an attempt to interrogate me, but before he could speak, the speakers went off and the TV turned on suddenly.
"TOMORROW IS GOING TO BE THE DAY OF THE LEGENDARY TOURNAMENT SO DON'T FORGET TO TUNE IN TOMORROW FOR SOME EXCITING BATTLES! HERE ARE THE FIRST ROUND MATCH UPS, DECIDED BY RANDOM GENERATOR!"
The screen displayed all the competing names in order of battle.
Johannes VS Dynamis
Tetsuya VS Tsubasa
Masamune VS Benkei
Yuki VS Kenta
Aguma VS Bao
Tithi VS Yu
Chris VS King
Gingka VS Kyoya
"Oh, it's a free win for me," I heard Tsubasa grinned at his easy first match.
"I'm against Aguma huh? That will be a fun match for us," Bao looked at the screen enthusiastically.
Against Dynamis, no. Pluto already? Now I don't even need to worry about winning this. I just need to focus on learning more about his goal.
(WBBA Lounge)
"Whaaaa? I get to go against Yu. Woohoo! I can't wait!" Tithi jumped out of his seat, almost knocking over the drink King bought from the vending machine earlier.
"Ahhhh careful Tithi! Anyway, Chris, it's finally time for us to have a proper match!" King shifted his head over to the winter constellation blader.
"Hmph, I look forward to it," Chris smirked, confident in gaining a victory over the Mars blader.
"Bao huh? That'll be fun," the Saturn blader was satisfied with his match-up.
"Kenta, looks like we'll be going up against each other," Yuki turned over to his seatmate.
"Yea, good luck to you!" Kenta responded back cheerfully.
"Well would you look at that, I get to face off against you right off the bat Gingka!" Kyoya roared confidently at his long-time rival.
"Hah! I've been waiting to have another match with you, let's do it!" Gingka stood from his seat to face the Leone Blader.
Amongst all the noise in the room, "Dynamis" sat down quietly at the TV screen.
"Johannes huh?"the faker thought to himself. He finally had the chance to see his friend after so long, but it wouldn't be as himself. He believed Johannes had no idea of the whole body swapping shenanigans, so would it just make sense for him to taunt him like Dynamis would? He wasn't sure. He wanted to ask Johannes about everything while he was gone, but he knew he couldn't. His whole plan would fall apart if he tried to recruit Johannes again, and there was no way he could risk Johannes getting in trouble because of him. Pluto remained silent.
"Dynamis? You okay? I think you're spacing out. Again," King waved his hands in front of Pluto's face.
"Oh. My apologies. Uh…Johannes huh? That should be easy enough for someone such as myself," the false Dynamis stuttered.
"You've been blanking out very often Dynamis, what the hell is up with that?" Kyoya suspected Dynamis of something fishy, but he couldn't put his finger on it.
"Shut up Yo-Yo!" Tithi blurted out loudly in a fit. Everyone's head whipped over to the young Venus blader. It was hard to tell whether Tithi was trying to cover for Pluto, or if he just wanted an excuse to be mean to Kyoya.
"Tithi, who taught you to say that?" Madoka was not angry, more so concerned by the fact the young child was already throwing such an aggressive phrase around.
"Uh…" Tithi hesitated. Of course, Pluto was the one who taught him but he promised to not blow his cover. "Dynamis" was looking away from Tithi, remembering it was him that taught Tithi while they were waiting in the hotel. "Ummm…I learned it from Kyoya!" Tithi pointed his finger at the Leone blader. It wasn't that unreasonable to believe. Tithi did hear him say those same words before.
'YOU LITTLE—" Kyoya almost swore at Tithi, but he stopped himself to not make the situation worse. There was quite a lot of commotion afterwards, with "Dynamis" staying quiet like the real deal would.
"Tithi, let's go," Pluto suddenly stood from his seat. "We should prepare ourselves for the battle tomorrow."
"Huh? Not staying longer to train with us, Dynamis?" Gingka looked over to him in disappointment.
"I would like to keep my battling tactics a surprise, thanks," Pluto tried not to growl back, putting up a fake smile to the best of his ability.
Tithi latched himself onto Dynamis's arms, waving his arms goodbye to the other bladers. They all waved back, except for Kyoya in typical Kyoya fashion. They walked over to the elevator to leave. The two silently waited to be taken back to the entrance floor.
"So that trash cat guy, Johannes, is supposed to be your friend? Are you gonna say hi to him?"
"Hm? Well, he is, but you know I can't exactly be friendly with him when I'm like this. He doesn't know that I'm not actually Dynamis, it doesn't matter."
"You're going to be mean to him then? Are you really okay with that?" Tithi tugged onto Pluto's arm.
"You think he can't handle a few insults? Knowing him, he'll throw plenty at me. I'll simply throw them back," Pluto smiled mischievously at Tithi.
"Are you gonna fight him the way you trained with me and the others though? You fight real differently than Dynamis you know?"
"It's just as before. Yu, King, and Masamune didn't bat an eye when I told them I was trying out new blading tactics. I'm sure the others will buy that excuse as well. Besides, it'll catch Johannes off guard."
"Okey dokey," Tithi paused his thought due to the opening of the elevator door. They exited the WBBA headquarters. "What's for lunch by the way? I'm hungry."
"Seriously?"