(Third Person POV: It is one day after the preliminaries, and everyone is gathered in the WBBA stadium)

This competition was one of the biggest Beyblade events to happen after the Nemesis incident. While many of the teams during the World Championship were unable to attend, their eyes were still glued to the screen to see their fellow blader friend's battle.

"Eeeeeeeeeeeee I'm so excited! This is going to be so fun!" Tithi was jumping around in his seat, overflowing with excitement.

"Hey Tithi, sit down will ya? I get you're hyped and all but we're going to get in trouble if you keep hopping around?" King was sitting next to the Venus Blader in "Dynamis's" place, making an attempt to be the reasonable babysitter for the "Jupiter Blader's" sake.

"Hehe I can't wait to have a rematch with you Tithi, you better be ready because I'm going to win you this time," Yu, who was sitting on the opposite side of Tithi, began giggling.

"Hohoho, I can't wait for our fight too," Tithi smiled back. "I bet P—Dynamis is going to win with flying colors!" Tithi realized the blunder in his words and quickly flashed a concerned smile, hoping no one would notice his blunder.

"Pfffffffffffffff. P Dynamis? I'm going to call him that once he gets back here, I wonder how he'll react to that!" King bursted in laughter, not paying any mind as to why Tithi mentioned the letter P. Masamune was next to him, but he was too busy eating lunch and bragging to Gingka behind him to notice the conversation on his right.

On the other side of the stadium, the real Dynamis was sitting around with Cycnus and Elysse. Keyser, Herschel, and Motti were sitting in the row in front of them. Due to his unfortunate circumstances, he was stuck wearing the sunglasses, mask, and hat from before to not draw the attention of the authorities. He couldn't understand how Pluto was able to walk around so casually in his cloak and goggles during the Nemesis incident. It was going to be the first time since the airport where he was going to encounter Pluto, who was messing around in his original vessel. It was difficult to make out any facial expression from Dynamis due to his disguise, but it seemed he was as composed as usual.

"I guess Pluto is going to be fighting Johannes. How is he even going to use Jade Jupiter? I thought you and Jupiter were connected very well?" Cycnus leaned over to ask Dynamis, curious about the unusual situation.

"If Jupiter does not follow Pluto's command, I fear he will do something to put it in harm's way. For Jupiter's own safety, I will allow Pluto to use it as he sees fit so long as Jupiter is not damaged," Dynamis turned his head to Cycnus. "It is not as I have much of a choice in this matter anyways. If Pluto is revealed too early, then I will be in trouble. Until I can find an appropriate way to solve this issue, I must cooperate with him to a certain degree."

"Right…That's quite mature of you…" Cycnus sighed. The whole situation to him was confusing, but he did not mind helping Dynamis for the time being. He didn't know Pluto long enough to have a say in the matter, but he also wasn't entirely sure about trusting Dynamis after the whole Nemesis incident.

"Considering how far he has managed to come, I hope he does not make a fool out of me now," Dynamis sighed worryingly.

Cycnus wanted to say something but before he had the chance, it seemed like the match was just about to start.

(Pluto POV)

What was this weird twist of fate that pitted me against my former friend who happened to find himself in Japan? I knew there was no way that the WBBA knew about me and Johannes, but it certainly felt like it. Perhaps, this was Heaven's sick way of testing just how well I could stand my ground. It didn't matter. This was just one small obstacle that I had to overcome in order to achieve my goal. If I had another Legendary Blader as an opponent, I could have easily come up with an excuse to lose and not bother with battling. Now, I actually had to try, or else people would question me losing to Johannes.

The roaring of the crowd was getting on my nerves, but luckily Dynamis had a resting bitch face like me, so I didn't have to concern myself with acting over the top like Gingka and the others.

Johannes had the same terrible posture and cat-like smile I remembered him always having. It didn't seem like anything changed for him, but why was he looking at me so weirdly? Most bey battles involved bladers talking right before the fight, but Johannes did nothing but grin at me eerily. There were many things I wanted to ask him, but I couldn't muster up a single word. Perhaps it was for the better.

"HERE WE GO EVERYBODY! LET THE FIRST BATTLE OF THE LEGENDARY TOURNAMENT BEGIN!" The Blader DJ screamed across the stadium. Did battles always start that quickly? I hastily grabbed my launcher and readied Jade Jupiter to battle against my former ally.

"Let's have some fun, Dynamis," he smiled at me in such an unusual manner. Why was he telling me to have fun? Why was there no malice in his expression, was he not facing off against the enemy? There was no way he and Dynamis talked with each other while I was gone, so why? Maybe he would say something during the battle.

"3, 2," The countdown from the audience and everyone else gave me enough time to focus my eyes onto Beat Lynx. By launching Jupiter at a specific angle, I could aim straight for Lynx from launch and knock it out of the stadium before it even had a chance to touch the ground. It was always a trick I used to eliminate other bladers easily. I didn't even know if it was legal in tournaments but considering the number of times I saw other bladers cheat, would it really matter? The faster Johannes was defeated, the better. "1," the final beat of the count was chanted, it was time.

"Let it rip!" Everyone shouted, and our beys flew for the opposite sides of the arena. It was only for a split second, but I saw Johannes shift his launcher ever so slightly to avoid my launch attack. How did he know I was going to attempt such a trick? I guess I had too high of expectations thinking I could use such a cheap tactic against someone who used it even more than I did.

Our beys landed on opposite ends of the stadium, circling around the arena without attacking. Jupiter was a defense type, so the ideal plan was to allow Lynx to wear itself out before I delivered the finishing blow.

However, Lynx hadn't made a single move to attack like I had thought. Dynamis himself was not much for aggressive strategies so it wouldn't be sensible to attack first. What was he playing at now?

"What's wrong, Dynamis? Seems like the cats got your tongue over there," Johannes sneered mockingly as Lynx continued to circle the stadium. He was already using my own silence against me. Despite his care-free front, I knew by that tone in his voice that he was not planning on playing dumb for this match.

"You aren't exactly attacking me Johannes, perhaps you are too afraid of Jupiter's defenses to come after me?" Seeing as he was so quick to insult me, I figured it would be fine to fire back at him.

"Well, it wouldn't be so wise for me to go after a defensive bey like yours nyao?" Johannes waved his sleeves much like a cat would with its paws. "Unless you want to attack me, I have no problem waiting around all day for you." I knew he was trying to bait me into attacking, but why in that unusual manner? Whatever it was, I did not have the patience to sit in this battle all afternoon. This tournament was nothing but a random impediment to my goals anyway.

"I would much prefer not to sit around all day with you of all people. If you want to do nothing, then I shall defeat you swiftly. Jupiter!" I called out the bey's name and it rushed quickly towards Lynx. It was odd how compliant it was with my orders, but I just had to roll with it and not ask questions.

"IT LOOKS LIKE DYNAMIS IS GOING IN AND FINALLY MAKING A MOVE AGAINST LYNX!" I completely forgot about the Blader DJs commenting on every one of our moves.

"Lynx!" Lynx shifted heights and avoided Jupiter's attack, of course it did. "A lousy attack like that isn't going to work on me. You know that."

I grinded my teeth quietly. What did he mean by that sentence? I tried not to comment on it.

"Jupiter!" I commanded the bey to attack Lynx once again, but to no avail.

"Nya? Are you trying to play with me or what?" Lynx continued to avoid all of Jade Jupiter's attacks, all while not countering back once. This battle was not playing in my favor in the slightest.

"WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT! BY CHANGING HEIGHT, LYNX HAS MANAGED TO DODGE ALL OF JADE JUPITER'S ATTACKS! THIS IS NOT LOOKING GOOD FOR DYNAMIS OVER HERE!" The DJ's comments were angering me by the second, I didn't exactly need to hear him state the obvious every time one little thing happened. It didn't help that I could barely hear the comments from all the spectators around me. I looked back up at Johannes, who was quietly watching Lynx steer clear of Jupiter's charges. There was no way I could continue to stand for this utter mockery.

"Meowwww, you seem upset Dynamis, that's not like you at allllll."

"And you're nothing but a coward," I snapped at him without realizing just how frustrated I was starting to become. He seemed a bit put off by my comment as his expression changed to disappointment very rapidly. I couldn't let my emotions get the better of me, but I couldn't shake the feeling that his words were directed towards me rather than Dynamis. It didn't matter that he was technically talking to the Jupiter Blader, I wanted to defeat him if it meant him shutting up.

I had to take this battle more seriously. I thought back to my practice battles I was forced to participate in with King, Masamune, and Tithi. The one benefit was they did not question nor judge when I decided to take Jupiter on a "test run" to fight more in my style.

"Satellite Move!" I called for Jupiter to change to endurance mode.

"What's that going to do? You can't even hit me!" Johannes was less pleased than earlier. Perhaps he wasn't expecting me to insult him in the manner that I did. I only called him a coward because he wasn't attacking Jupiter, so it wasn't personal. Yet, it seemed like I hit one of his nerves when I said that.

"We'll see about that."

"And just what are you going to—Huh?!" Johannes' jaws dropped as I had Jupiter fly out of the stadium ring on purpose to perform a diving attack. I could hear the rest of Gingka and company screaming with mixed emotions. It was hard to make it out, but I noticed Tithi, King, and a few others were cheering me on from a distance, while the others were sitting dumbfounded by the ridiculousness of my actions. Only Kyoya kept his composure, watching all my moves quietly as if he sensed something was off. Tsk. I best watch my back around him.

I called Jupiter to use Satellite Move once again to deliver an airborne strike onto Lynx. Johannes was too surprised to have Lynx dodge. It was not a stadium out, but Lynx was sent flying to the other end of the arena where it had lost a significant amount of stamina.

"So, what were you saying earlier about me not hitting you?"

"Dynamis would never do something so ridiculously stupid. It really is you…" Instead of retaliating in anger like I'd expect from him, he lightly whispered so that only I could hear his comment. He stepped back with a surprised but relieved expression.

What the hell did he mean by that? Why would he say something so absurd to me? Unless…

…

He knew.

"Lynx!"

"WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT, IT SEEMS DYNAMIS'S ATTACK HAS FINALLY FORCED JOHANNES TO COUNTER BACK!"

Lynx finally decided to rush towards Jupiter like I had originally intended. It was almost as if he was intentionally playing into my hand. Even with that revelation, why was he charging in so stubbornly? Whatever it was, I did not want to waste my opportunity.

This was my chance.

"I'm ending this now," I lifted my hand towards the sky and readied myself to defeat Johannes in one blow. Lynx continued to charge right into Jade Jupiter, right exactly where I needed him to go.

"Grand Lightning!" With one swift flash of Jupiter's lightning, Beat Lynx was stopped dead in its tracks.

"AND THAT IS IT FOLKS, BEAT LYNX HAS BEEN FORCED INTO A SLEEP OUT. THE VICTOR OF THIS MATCH IS DYNAMIS AND HIS JADE JUPITER!"

I quickly called back Jade Jupiter to my side before walking away as hastily as I could.

"DY—DYNAMIS?!" Johannes called for me, but I ignored him. It was good he threw away his own chance of victory for me, but there was no way I could talk to him here, I just couldn't.

Before I knew it, I was in the arena hallway not far away from the change rooms. He must have learned to get better at sneaking up on people because when I turned around, he had been following me the entire time.

"Finally, privacy!" Johannes lunged at me with his arms wide open, but I pushed him away before he could do what I was so afraid he would attempt earlier.

"What the hell are you doing?!" I panicked in fear. There was no way in Hades I could let him touch me like that, not in this form at least.

"Oooh nya sorry, I got excited," He took a step back away from me, but not before extending his sleeve near my waist. I wanted to push his hand out of the way, but he retracted his arm instantly before I could do so. Soon after, he asked me with beady cat eyes, "What are your orders?"

"Orders? What are you on about?" Was Johannes seriously asking me for orders out in the open like this. I refused to answer him and turned away without hesitation. I had to pretend as if we weren't friends for years.

"Hey don't ignore me! I want to help!"

"I don't need it! Go away," I didn't mean to respond so rudely to him, but there was no way I could be seen with him in my current state. I had to keep him away from me. No matter how reliable he was back then, having him around to help would have been more of a hassle than for good. Besides, if he was getting around fine in these last few months without me, then he could continue to do so.

"WAIT! HEY! DON'T—"

"I said go away! I refuse to speak to you!" Before he could say anymore, I sprinted away as fast I could. As I ran, I suddenly realized that there was still something I wanted to ask him, but it was too late.

I turned back to get a look at his face, but all I saw was his slanted back turned against me, walking away. There wasn't any point in chasing him again, so I turned the other way and walked back to the lobby.

No matter how much I wanted to catch up with him, it was for the better that he was staying away from me now.

Still, Johannes wasn't one to give up so easily. He always had the persistence of a cat, after all.

This wasn't the last time I was going to have to deal with him.

(A few minutes later, on the stadium bleachers)

It turns out, I was unable to bullshit my way out of watching the tournament.

Right when I was about to take my leave, Tithi and King dragged me back and forced me to sit with them to watch. I guess I could understand King doing so but Tithi? Did he snort too much sugar behind my back?

Tetsuya versus Tsubasa was an absolute joke. The crab boy Tetsuya was eliminated in less than a minute. At least he tried to be entertaining for the few seconds he was on the battlefield.

Masamune and Benkei was just a load of loud annoying screaming that I wish I brought my earplugs for. King blew my ears out cheering for Masamune. At least the self-proclaimed number one blader came out victorious. I didn't exactly want to hear King's reaction to him losing.

I hoped Yuki would win against Kenta due to my own personal bias, but it turns out Yuki is one of the lousiest bladers I have ever witnessed. No wonder Johannes beat the ever-living crap out of him.

Aguma and Bao were mediocre. Aguma is the legendary blader so of course he won.

Tithi and Yu were not bad. Not surprised Tithi won since he was a legendary blader but at least he was having fun.

There were two more battles lined up for today. Chris versus King and Gingka and Kyoya. The second round of battles were occurring right after the first round so I was just hoping to get eliminated quickly in the second round so I could retire for the rest of the day.

King and Chris were battling intensely, with neither willing to back down. At some point, it was difficult to say who was about to win until King opened his mouth.

"You should give up King, you're no match for my Phantom Orion and it's Bearing Drive!"

"Oh yea!" There was a short pause. The calm before the storm, or more accurately, lack off. "Well, you're white!"

"What?" Orion froze in its tracks and completely lost focus.

I had to use every fiber in my body to not lose it while next to Tithi and Masamune.

Perhaps some context should be provided here.

(A few minutes earlier)

I wanted to sneak off to the washroom after King left for the arena, but I was unfortunate enough to encounter him in the halls.

" P Dynamis? Thank goodness you're actually here, I forgot to ask you something earlier!" King jogged over to my side.

"P Dynamis?" What the hell was he going on about?"

"I don't know, ask Tithi, he called you that earlier. Anyway, I need your help!"

"What do you need?" I was going to ask more about P Dynamis but now wasn't the time for it. I could just interrogate Tithi later instead.

"Advice."

"On what?"

"Got any tips on making my victory against Chris easier? Like, I know I'll win but I'm thinking of how I can make this match even more of a piece of cake?"

I paused for a minute. Why did he ask me such a ridiculous question? It was not something you would ask a supposed fortune teller. He must have been looking for blading advice, but I didn't feel qualified enough to say anything for sure. Still, I couldn't leave him hanging either. I gave myself some time to think before coming up with the first stupidest idea I could come up with.

"Call him white."

"I'm sorry. What?"

"Uhm…it can't guarantee victory, but it will make him pause for a solid three seconds at least," I wasn't even sure if this would work, but I had to pull something out from nowhere.

There was silence in the long hallway. I had to come up with some Dynamis bullshit on the spot.

"The stars told me."

"Damn really? Well, I trust you, and I think you're right actually. Thanks, Dynamis, gonna beat the ever-living crap out of him now!" With that, he ran off.

Chris was put into such a confused shock that Orion lost its focus and King used one of his myriads of special moves to put Chris out of commission.

The most ridiculous part of this situation was not that I gave such stupid advice, but the fact that not only did the advice work, but King won.

If it were that easy to create such a chaotic situation, then perhaps I should have done more to mess with all of them earlier.

I left the audience stands to catch my breath in the lobby waiting room. After the disaster that was my own battle with Johannes, at least I had something stupid to laugh at. Apparently, I missed all of Gingka and Kyoya's fight but in all honesty, was it really a surprise to anyone that Gingka was going to win?

"That's where you are! I thought we were supposed to stick together?" Tithi tugged on my shrine robes aggressively with a pouted face while I wasn't paying attention. When did he learn to sneak up on me?

"We are, I just had to…catch my breath," I almost died of laughter in the washroom, I couldn't let anyone see me like that.

"You can't bug me about not leaving your sight and then you go off and do whatever, it's not fair!" Typical children temper tantrums, I wondered if I was also this annoying back then.

"Ughh whatever, I'm heading back. Have they announced the next matches yet?"

"Nope, everyone else is waiting in the lobby though. Let's hurry and get back!"

Tithi had been oddly lax about me not being the actual Legendary Blader of Jupiter. It must have been the fact that Dynamis was so cheap compared to me.

"Dynamis! I found you!" It was King again, running down the hallways in excitement.

"Hm?"

"You saw it yea? The battle! Chris actually fell for it!" This was bad, he was bursting in laughter, and I had just stopped thinking about the situation.

"I…saw," I couldn't let anyone see my hysterical laugh. If Dynamis didn't have such a calm exterior, then I wouldn't have had to try so hard not to make jokes.

"How did you know that was going to work?"

"I said it before. The stars…they told me," It was not the stars obviously, but I couldn't say I made it up as a joke.

"Ahahaha! Sounds like the Heavens have a weird sense of humor, I bet I'll win the next match too if the stars are going to give me such an easy win!" He boasted confidently, crossing his arms with pride.

"I wouldn't count on it," I whispered under my breath.

"King! P—Dynamis! Let's go back and see the results!"

"Again? Tithi! What does P even stand for? Purple?!" King teased the Venus Blader. I silently crossed my fingers that he wouldn't figure it out. Tithi was in huge trouble the second we went back to the hotel.

"Uhhh…yea! He's Purple Dynamis!"

"Wait but he's already Purple, is there a yellow one?"

"Dark…purple?" Tithi panicked, and I accidentally facepalmed in front of both.

"Dark Purple? Like when he was possessed or something?" King seemed baffled.

"Uh yea exactly that! And uh…" Tithi was visibly sweating; I think he could tell I was eyeing him down to not spill the beans.

"Oh yea! Wasn't there some dude with purple hair with Rago or something?" King finally remembered. Shit. "I completely forgot his name though. Did he even say what it was?" Thank goodness he doesn't remember.

"Uhhhhhh…" The Venus Blader said nothing.

"I mean that's on him. What did he even do? From what I saw, he just laughed at us and gave Rago orders or something? I don't know," I had no choice but to take in the slander quietly. "Wait, Dynamis? You probably knew that guy? Who was he?"

Damn it. It wouldn't make any sense if I didn't know the answer, I had no choice.

"His name was Pluto," I exhaled in defeat.

"Pluto? Is that what the P stands for? Why are you calling him Pluto Dynamis, Tithi?" King was starting to connect the dots, crap. I needed to say something.

"I knew Pluto from the past and we did not get along. When I told Tithi about him, he thought it would be funny to call me Pluto whenever I didn't get him what he wanted. To get on my nerves essentially," It was a lie I came up with on the spot. I wasn't sure if it was believable, but I didn't see any reason for King to not believe me. "Unfortunately, it seems Tithi has gotten into a bad habit of doing this in public…"

"Eh? Yea! I do it whenever he doesn't buy me the snacks I want!" Tithi was terrible at lying, but it's not like King could suspect me of being "Pluto" when he couldn't even remember my name.

"You need to stop calling me that Tithi. Otherwise, someone is actually going to think I'm Pluto somehow," My eyes glanced over to the right. The last thing I needed was someone figuring out the truth outside of Tithi, and now Johannes apparently.

"Hah imagine if you were, that would be so stupid!" He laughed. "His brain would be so fried if that were the case. His ears would have been blown off by Masamune and I by now too," The Mars Blader kept hitting every single nail on the coffin. It was starting to scare me. Tithi went completely silent, not saying anything to not make things worse than it already was.

'I thought we were supposed to head back to the lobby…" I tried to redirect the conversation to another topic. After all, we were supposed to go until Tithi called me that stupid name.

"Ooooh right! We got distracted, come on let's go!" King suddenly turned around and dashed at the speed of light for the lobby not far away from our current position. Tithi followed him but his short legs were not fast enough to keep up. I jogged and quickly grabbed Tithi by his waist, carrying up so that I wouldn't have to hear him complain about us being too fast.

"Eh?!"

"I'm not going to wait for you to catch up to me so just keep quiet and don't whine. You're in trouble when we get back to the hotel," I regretted picking him up as my fear of tripping over my own robes had suddenly escalated with Tithi's constant flailing. I ignored all his pleas for me to put him down.

"We're here," I made a sudden halt before the door and dropped Tithi back onto the ground gently. King was waiting by the door for the two of us. He saw me carrying Tithi in an odd manner, but he didn't question it. He must have assumed it was my unusual way of babysitting at the temple.

"It took you three long enough, the second-round matchups are already up!" Madoka pointed to the screen as the three of us walked into the room.

"They are?!" King and Tithi both shouted and ran up to the screen to see their next opponents.

"The next round is starting in twenty minutes in the listed order. You're up next Dynamis," Aguma explained while standing in the corner of the break room.

I quickly skimmed the list and almost broke into a coughing fit.

Round Two:

Gingka vs Dynamis

Aguma vs Tsubasa

King vs Masamune

Tithi vs Kenta

"Gingka vs Dynamis," I read the sentence aloud in my head.

You have got to be kidding me…