After she helped Tyson clean up, she headed out to the Granger's back yard with her beyblade and her launcher. She had always admired Grandpa's garden. Like everything else about the Dojo, it was heavily inspired by traditional flora. The perimeter of the compound was lined with Japanese cedar trees, or sugi, as the Japanese referred to them. A narrow footbridge snaked over the large pond, and Steph could hear the flutter of flippers from the many Japanese Koi that Grandpa had collected over the years. Besides the large pond, Tyson and Hiro had made some renovations to they beystadium to reflect the new competition standards and the new stadium was twice as large, and less shallow than the old one.
Her eyes on the stadium, Steph felt a sense of longing. She hadn't spun her beyblade since her match against Enrique over a month ago. She didn't want to be rusty for her first practice session, so she pulled her launcher and beyblade from her pocket.
The launcher itself had been a gift from Becky for her last birthday. It was a standard dual spin shooter and her beyblade had been one of Kenny's latest heavy metal system designs. Like the other HMS Beyblades, the white and purple beyblade was smaller than Steph's previous designs. Carefully, she slid the G-winder into the shooter and attached her beyblade.
When she quietened her mind, and pushed aside distractions, she could hear the spirit speak to her. Holding the beyblade tightly in the palm of her hand, she closed her eyes and listened for the voice. At first she could hear the sounds of Becky and Tyson's voices arguing over the TV station, then the sounds of Grandpa's radio - she ignored both and concentrated on her breathing, forcing herself to take slow, controlled breaths until she felt something brush against her consciousness.
You've been avoiding me, a quiet voice chastised her.
"Seraphina?"
The spirit chuckled. Of course, she said. In her mind, Seraphina's voice had an angelic ring to it. While she knew that bitbeasts could communicate with one another, she had never known the spirit to speak to another human. For Seraphina, Steph was her link to the outside world.
"How about a little fresh air, then?" Steph suggested. The spirit didn't answer this time, and she didn't need to. Steph could sense its restlessness. Seraphina launched through the air in a wide arch and into the stadium where it landed with the dull clatter of metal against metal.
Her connection with Seraphina had always been a two way relationship, the spirit could only be released from the beyblade when Steph summoned her, and the summoning could only be completed when Seraphina answered the call. When their bond had been new, summoning her bitbeast had taken all her concentration. Now, however, it was almost effortless.
The beyblade revolved on the spot in the centre of the stadium and in a brilliant flash of light that made Steph shield her eyes, the ancient spirit emerged from within.
The dragon stood as tall as the cedar trees that surrounded the garden, with a wing span twice the length of its body. Its scales were two-toned; half were a polished white and the rest were a sparkling purple, like tiny shards of amethyst. Its claws were the colour of parchment and as strong as diamonds. When the dragon fanned its wings, a shimmer of white gold dust was shed from each of its scales towards the ground.
"Better?" Steph asked.
The dragon smiled a toothy grin. Much, she answered. She arched her long neck towards the moon and with a mighty flap of her wings, took to the sky. Steph sat down on the grass to watch as Seraphina circled the Dojo from above. At full expansion, her wings were twice the length of her slender body and beat softly against the air as the dragon climbed higher and higher until she was little more than a irregular dot high in the sky. Moments later, the entire sky above the Dojo was lit up by a mighty jet of purple flames.
Seraphina didn't appear to show an affinity for a particular element the way that Dragoon or Dranzer did. Rather, she had demonstrated a limited influence on a number of elements - and to this day, the sight of Seraphina harnessing fire could render Steph speechless.
Her restless energy expelled, the dragon returned to earth, landing with such a force the verandah rattled violently. She folded her wings around her body as she settled into the grass and snaked her head towards Steph, her nose coming to rest only centimeters from Steph's sock clad feet. What troubles you, child?
"I thought you'd be disappointed in me after last our battle," Steph admitted with a sigh, absentmindedly reaching her hand out to stroke the bridge of her nose. The scales were as rough as sandpaper beneath her fingers. "I lost my nerve in that battle, and Enrique beat us again."
The dragon huffed, a jet of steam escaping from both nostrils and Steph tucked her feet closer to her body to avoid being burnt. The loss was as much mine as it was yours, she said. I underestimated the bond between Amphilyon and his master. I will not be so foolish next time.
"No, we won't be," Steph agreed. She had no intention of losing to Enrique a fifth time. She watched her beyblade as it revolved in the centre of the stadium. Without an opponent, Steph knew it would remain spinning for as long as Seraphina was within the earthly realm.
I can feel the other spirits nearby, the spirit told her. Dragoon, Driger, Draciel and Ophelia. Her amethyst eyes were bright with excitement. Are we to be going into battle again?
Steph laughed. Despite their modern housing choices, Steph had to continually remind herself that they were ancient creatures that had been lured from their realm to aid in the constant wars throughout earth's history.
"There is a new tournament this year," she told the bitbeast. "We're competing for Japan again."
The six of us have always been a formidable team, Seraphina remarked, and the mention of a sixth bitbeast sparked a flicker of hope for Steph. "You can sense Dranzer then too?" she asked.
The dragon furrowed her brow in concentration. I can sense the Phoenix, she said, but not as clearly as the others. Dranzer is still healing. Her last battle cost her greatly.
"It took a lot out of you, too," Steph reminded her gently.
A small price to pay to silence the forces of darkness, Seraphina replied.
"Was it?" she wondered. She placed her hand up against the rough scales of the dragon's muzzle and Seraphina nuzzled into her. "I saw Kai's face when he walked away from that match - losing Dranzer, it destroyed him. I don't think I'd handle it any better."
Seraphina said nothing and silence fell over them. After a while, the dragon began to hum quietly to herself, and Steph could feel the gentle vibrations of her breathing against the palm of her hand. When she started to drift off to sleep, the dragon gently judged her awake and sent her off to bed, her beyblade returning obediently to her hand.
The attic was empty when she went back upstairs and Steph figured Becky had gone to wash up for the night. Her phone was sitting on her bed, a missed call notification on the screen.
She crawled into bed, stifling a yawn and returned the call. Despite it being the middle of the school day in Edinburugh, it took Enrique only two rings to answer.
"About time," her cousin's voice was slightly miffed. "Johnny is already driving me crazy. Tell me again why this was a good idea?"
"Because there needs to be at least one body of water between us and the rest of the family to get any sort of independence," Steph reminded him. Italian family's had a tendency to be overbearing - Enrique's decision to study History and Politics in another country had caused an uproar amongst the grandparents long before Steph had even considered moving to Japan.
"There needs to be a body of water between me and Johnny's laundry basket," Enrique told her. "I've never smelt something so disgusting. And he covered my Lazio poster with his Celtics rubbish!"
"That's basically a declaration of war," Steph said. After all, coming between an Italian and his soccer team was never a good idea.
"If he brought his grandfather's bagpipes I'm on the first flight out of here," Enrique grumbled in reply and Steph laughed.
"You'll be fine," she assured him. She could hear Becky's footsteps on the stairs. "I should go though, it's late here." There was a pause on the end of the line, and she wondered if there had been another motive behind her cousin's call.
"Steph?" he said finally, and she could hear the hesitation in his voice.
"Yeah?"
"We're okay, right?"
She smiled, turning Seraphina over in her hand and watching the small spec of light that reflected off the bitchip and danced across her ceiling. For a while after her loss, Steph had given some serious thought to retiring from competitions all together, but when Stanley Dickenson had approached her about returning to the BBA team for the upcoming campionships, she couldn't have imagined saying no. It was strangely suspicious how the old man turned up out of the blue whenever she thought about quitting.
"Yeah, we're just fine," she said finally.
He sighed, the relief clearly evident in his voice. "Good luck tomorrow," he said, and hung up the line.
"Was that Enrique?" Becky asked, closing the bedroom door behind her. She was dressed in her favourite Hello Kitty pajamas.
"Just checking in. He and Johnny are getting along as expected."
"So not at all then," Becky surmised, crawling under the sheets. "Jess definitely had the right idea." After two decades of living with him, a body of water hadn't been enough for Jessica McGregor - she'd put half a world between her and her brother when she'd gone to Harvard instead.
"Even the closest family need some distance sometimes. You felt the same way once," Steph reminded her, thinking of when Becky had first moved to Japan four years ago and spent six months as a Bladeshark. It had been the longest time the two of them had gone without speaking to one another.
Becky shrugged and flicked off the lights. "Yeah well, that's why this year is going to be so much better," she said. "That new Japanese team Hiro told us about isn't going to know what hit them."
No, Steph thought as she set Seraphina on her nightstand before she went to sleep. They certainly wouldn't.