Hiromi deeply sighs once she solemnly surmises, 'I'm really back…I can't belive that I'm right back at the place I had just escaped from.'

Her mind was absolutely cluttered with thoughts about her abrupt departure from the Bladebreakers and Japan in order to seek and fulfill her purpose.

She was soon brought out of her thoughts when she noticed a small white box that unexpectedly graced the surface of her lap.

"Meifeng told me to tell you that this gift is from her. Akane decorated it for you." Lin reveals after the brunette removes the top to behold an elaborate mask.

It was mostly black with a thick scarlet red outline along with the characters of Yuan under the slit of the right eye.

"I take it that you like it?" The goldenrod blonde probes about Hiromi's feelings on the gift after she notes the expression present on her face.

"I love it!" She sincerely voices before they suddenly overhear Akane broadcasts, "We're five minutes away. Get ready."

"Are you ready?" Audrey curiously inquires while she watches the brunette's fingers gently graze across the mask.

She then carefully removes it, gently presses it against her eyes, tightly ties the ribbon around the length of her head, and admits, "I will be."

The limo was motoring up to the front of a multistoried building with paparazzi anxiously waiting to snap pictures of the bey-teams that will be competing in the tournament.

"Here we go!" One of them cheerfully mentions as they start to file out of the limousine only to have bright bulbs constantly flash in their faces.

"Over here!" "Hey, hey," "Just a second, please?" They adamantly clamor in order to capture their attention for a photo op.

"Sheesh, are they always so demanding, Hiromi?" Audrey irritably questions once they survive the onslaught of the media.

The now masked Hiromi simply giggled at her teammate's reaction to the press before she admitted, "They can be pretty rough sometimes."

"Don't you think we should give her like a codename? Since we don't want to slip up and reveal your identity to the public." Wenling suggests after she approaches the other brunette and the dirty blonde.

"…or we just don't say her name at all." Archimedes casually proclaims, which earns a retort from Audrey, "No one asked you ice cube."

"How about we'll discuss it later?" The brunette with forest green eyes promptly advises once she senses an argument between the two on the horizon.

"Girls, I just received our locker room number and assigned seats for the press conference." Meifeng notifies them as she displays a white card in her possession.

'I'm really back, huh?'

8888

[General POV]

"All teams report to the multipurpose room immediate." A feminine voice abruptly broadcasts over the intercom system.

The teams promptly made their way to their designated location as they all share a similar thought, 'It's time.'

The bright lights rapidly flashes at the immediate entrance of the teams on both sides of the doors as reporters shout out their respective team and individual's name.

A platform that held a rather long table covered in a white table cloth was decorated with name cards and two sets of microphones for each team. The seating order was (furthest left) Yuan, Saint Shields, F Dynasty, Blitzkrieg Boys, Bladebreakers (center), Barthez Battalion, PPB All-Starz, and White Tiger X (furthest right).

"How are you holding up?" Wenling softly whispered her question to Hiromi after they stood in their assigned position.

"I'm totally nervous! I'm usually watching from the other side." She honestly admits while the flashes from the cameras temporarily blind her.

Audrey emits a "humph" before she grumbles, "It's not like we're getting questions anyway!"

"I sort of expected that. They don't have any information on us." Archimedes calmly claims while majority of the other teams entertain questions.

"Still, this is boring!" The dirty blonde teen quietly exclaims with a roll of her eyes before she asserts, "Their interest should be in us…not them!"

The darker brunette merely observes her teammates while she secretly considers, 'Actually, I'm kinda of glad we haven't had any so far. Maybe we can avoid the spotlight?'

"Question for team Yuan," A reporter unexpectedly motions to ask a question to the team. 'We got a question?!'

"Since you all are a relatively new team here, how has your experience been so far?"

"The BBA has been wonderful to us, especially for our first time in the world tournament." Meifeng easily provides a response to the question.

"What are your expectations in this year's tournament?" A different reporter wonders about their particular goals for this tournament.

"To be the world champions." Archimedes confidently answers with a stoic expression on her face.

"You are aware that you have a pretty steep mountain to climb with teams like the Blitzkreig Boys, White Tiger X and PBB All-Starz before you can even consider being champions?"

"Regardless of the altitude, a mountain goat doesn't fear to climb the mountain, does it?" The raven haired teen assertively remarks with a placid expression on her face.

Archimedes clever response to the statement prompts a rambunctious uproar amongst the reporters as well as the other bladers.

"That's a pretty interesting analogy." Bryan affirms, which earns a nod from the ever so silent giant Spencer.

'An all-girls team, huh…' Tala inwardly regards the new group from his current position on the stage.

"That reporter got some nerve to not include us in that statement." Claude impatiently mutters with his arms now cross in front of his chest.

Raul faces his twin sister in order to voice, "A team of nothing but girls, that's a first."

"You have to have that kind of confidence or you'll be eaten alive in thus jungle." Julia responds with a small "humph" and a smirk on her face.

"Emily, we need to collect as much data on them as possible." Judy immediately asserts to the lone girl on the PPB All-Starz team, who merely nods her head in understanding.

"Those are some serious hot babes!" Michael excitingly gushes once his sights land on the all-girls team name, Yuan.

"They look ready to kill." Ozuma openly declares based off of their facial expression as Mariam voices, "So that's the new team?"

"Some nerve they have!" Lee instantly rejects their boastful comment with a small huff.

Mao curiously wonders aloud, "Who are they anyway?"

"Everyone has become quite rowdy." Kai annoyingly comments as Yuan's statement left the press conference in a frenzy at their display of sheer confidence.

"What do you expect? They want to defeat us." Rei calmly regards with his eyes now close in order to concentrate his thoughts.

Max constantly peers down at the group before he happily expresses, "They're all some cuties!"

"We will crush them and everyone else that stands in our way." Takao adamantly proclaims while his grip tightens on his arms.

'Their coach seems familiar.' Hiro suddenly thinks once he manages to catch a glimpse of Yuan's coach.

"Since we have reached the conclusion of this press conference, there is one last announcement that I would like to make,"

"There will be exhibition matches for the next two days. Two teams will battle in the morning and then in the evening. We will immediately release the schedule first thing tomorrow morning once we compile each team's official roster."

"Thank you for your time."

The teams were instructed to remain in their present location while the press was escorted out of the multipurpose room.

After Mr. Dickerson received the confirmation that the room and the hallways were completely cleared, he stepped down and walked to the middle of the room.

"Let me personally welcome you to the BBA World Tournament." He cordially greets them with a smile on his face.

"Over the next couple of weeks, we will basically tour the world with the first leg being here in Japan. As I stated earlier, we will release the layout of this year's tournament as well as a rule briefing but if you will direct your sights to the screen behind you."

'This can't be possible.'

"I look forward to a spectacular year." The elderly man declares with the same smile on his face from earlier.

8888

[Yuan's Locker Room]

"Looks like Archimedes got everyone's panties in a bunch," Audrey lips about the raven haired teen's action during the press conference.

Wenling leisurely plops down on the Stainless Steel bench, faces their captain, and genuinely confesses, "That was a pretty good analogy, captain."

Hiromi simply releases a deep sigh before she eventually admits, "Whew! I'm just glad it's all over."

"A first impression is a lasting one." Archimedes stoically remarks while she rests against one of the walls in their locker room.

Lanying briefly stares at each one of the girls' faces before she issues them a compliment, "I think you all did a good job for your first Press Conference."

"I think we need to discuss our lineup for our opponents." Meifeng effectively redirects their conversation back to the topic at hand.

"After all, we are facing the champions right off the back. So Hiromi…we're going to need your help on this one."

'I can't believe we have to battle against them first.' She nervously grumbled not fully aware that Meifeng had just called her name.

"Hey Hiromi…are you listening?" Audrey poses to the brunette once she realizes that she did not respond to their coach's statement.

"Hm, is there something wrong?" Hiromi inquisitively wonders since their sights were now directly set on her.

The silver haired woman hones her sight in on her pupil when she notes the change in her aura and makes known, "We were just about to discuss the potential lineup that we should use against the champs."

"I see." She utters, which earns a comment from Lin, "We need as much info as you got."

"Well Max or Rei would usually start things off for them but…" The brunette unexpectedly pauses in the middle of her thought.

"…but what?"

"I can't say for sure exactly where Kai and Takao will be in the lineup. It all depends on if they really want to win or not. However, they hardly utilized Kai unless pushed to the edge." Hiromi honestly answers the question based off of her prior knowledge on the team members.

Archimedes inwardly processes the information when she finally surmmarizes, "So if we make them summon Kai then that means we pushed them to their edge?"

"Well…that's not quite right either." The brunette remarks before she sincerely confesses, "It's just that on any given day any one of them could be the deciding factor in their lineup."

"They're not the champs for nothing." Audrey ultimately verbalizes with a roll of her eyes at the result of their "battle" meeting.

"So what's the next move Meifeng?" Lanying curiously poses to her friend, who face displays deep thoughts until, "We're pretty much done for the day so I think we need to head to check-in and prepare for tomorrow."

8888

Author's Note:

04.29.17 Major editing revisions