Chapter 12 Finale Results
Flashback Sequence
[Dream Sequence]
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Cairo, Egypt, 1998
Stalking the streets of the Egyptian capital, a raven-haired young boy of only 13 years found himself in quite the predicament. Ever since he was forced to leave his home he had been roaming around like a vagabond and sometimes he managed to end up in some exotic places. This was one of those times.
The sun was blazing hot on this day and it was not exactly helping his situation. Why had he traveled all the way to north Africa? Besides wanting to see the pyramids, he did not really know. Walking past a 7 elven he felt his thirst reaching a critical point as he saw a cooler standing of to the side. With no one looking he quickly made his over to the machine, opened it and grabbed a drink. He quickly put it away in his backpack and sprinted down the street out of sight. He reached a square and stopped to catch his breath. He sat down on bench and quickly emptied the stolen bottle feeling significantly better.
A loud voice rang out snapping him out of his daydreaming. He traced the voice to a woman standing by a large white bus on the other side of the square. She was holding a megaphone, advertising a tour guide. He could see European and American tourists flocking towards the her. On the side of the bus was a sign telling him that this tour would take him to the pyramids. Standing up he picked up his backpack and quickly made his way over to the bus. He was not about to pass this up. He easily blended in with the overweight pale tourists who were chatting loudly keeping the hostess attention away from him.
The tour bus took them all over Cairo and lasted over two hours. When they finally reached the pyramids, it was late in the afternoon. Discreetly leaving the tour bus and his tour group he made his way towards the sole reason he had decided to spend two hours riding a blazing hot bus filled to the brim with loud obnoxious tourists. The sun was slowly setting, and the temperature was steadily dropping making this illegal detour a lot more enjoyable.
The Pyramids of Giza was a sight to behold. One of the seven ancient wonders of the world still standing. Walking past largest of the three pyramids located in the middle he saw and opening in the lime stone. Slowly he approached it and found a small entrance, about the size of an average person. Any rational taught disappeared completely as he was consumed by curiosity. Crouching down he made his way inside.
The inside was pitch black; he could not see anything. After digging around in his backpack for a few seconds he fished out a small flashlight. He turned it on and shined down the hallway in front of him. The light revealed a long passage way leading deep into the pyramid. He decided that he had come to far to turn back now. With new found confidence he started trekking down the passage way. He had been walking down the same passage way for what felt like hours when he came upon a large open room filled with hieroglyphs covering every inch of it.
As he studied the walls, one section caught his attention. It showed a large eye, the Eye of Horus if he remembered correctly. He continued shining down the wall underneath the eye and found a symbol showing a large black creature that resembled an eagle wearing golden armor. Something about this creature held his attention and he could not bring himself to look away. Out of nowhere he started hearing faint whispers echoing throughout the room and connecting passage ways. The whispers grew in volume and suddenly his flashlight went out.
Has he stood there in the dark, his heart beating loudly in his chest he could felt his left pocket getting warm. He franticly dug around in his pocket and found the source of the heat. An old dirty beyblade, he had not used in years. He did not even remember it being there. He held onto it as the whispers grew even louder and out of nowhere his beyblade started glowing like molten metal. As it grew so hot, he had to drop it, a loud cracking noise from behind made him stumble away from the wall. He turned around and saw the eye glowing, lighting up the room. He stared at it, mesmerized by the light. He felt an unexplainable feeling of calm and confidence washing over him. The light steadily grew in intensity and the last thing he saw before passing out was the silhouette of a large bird in the light…
When he came to, he was outside the pyramids, lying on his back in the sand. He sat up and saw the sun rise over the horizon. The first light of day reminded him of something. He quickly checked his pockets and gave a sigh of relief when he found what he was looking for. He pulled out his beyblade and his eyes grew wide. The outdated, dirty gray beginner beyblade he had grown up with was gone. In his hand was a sleek black beyblade with gold trim and in the bit-chip was a picture of black eagle with golden armor…
Biovolt Safe House, Eastern Europe, present day
It was just after midnight and the old warehouse was almost dead silent. The only expectation was the training room where a single black beyblade was spinning in the training dish glowing like a miniature sun. Its master was standing on the right side of the platform, his eyes closed, and arms folded. He was in deep concentration. The light was illuminating the otherwise pitch-black room. He let his mind wander as he concentrated on holding the beast at bay. This type training was designed to strengthen him mentally. The power he controlled in battle was out of this world, but it required a master who had the strength of will to keep it from taking control.
As he felt his endurance nearing its limit, he decided to end his training session. He let go of his concentration. Opening his eyes, he saw the light disappearing into his beyblade. He collected it and left the training room. Stalking down the hallway to his room he felt severe tiredness wash over him.
"I really need to stop training so late" he quietly told himself. He entered his room, placed his blade on the nightstand and was asleep only seconds after hitting the pillow. Morning soon came and with it a whole lot of noise. His team was awake. Rolling over he took a quick glance at the alarm clock on the nightstand, it read 10:00 am.
Dragging himself out of bed he got ready. He soon joined his team who were already halfway through their morning drills. Alexander and Ryan were going at it when he joined them. Ethan sat down in with a cup of coffee next to Mila who was doing her usual data input on her laptop.
"late night?" she asked never taking her eyes of the screen.
"Yeah, you could say that" he answered observing the match. "those two are getting good" he added.
"They have been taking your training seriously" she said and proceeded to show him the results of today's training. The match between Ryan and Alexander ended once again with the younger of two losing.
"I told you that frozen noodle is no match for Malphas" Ryan teased his little brother who once again threw his water bottle at him. Ethan caught it this time and placed it on the bench beside him. staring them down he defused the situation. As the brothers were making faces at each other behind his back. Ethan stood up and finished his coffee. "Mila?" He said catching her attention. She looked up and saw him motion towards the training course located behind the dish in the far end of the room. "Let's go" He simply said and made his way over. She placed her laptop beside her and made sure it was recording. She followed him and stopped beside him.
"Do you remember the advice I gave you in the gym?" he asked. She nodded and looked down the course. At the first level stood a thick rectangular wooden board. A few feet behind it was an even thicker wooden board. The course continued further with a concrete wall at the second level and it finished off with steel plate.
"I want you to launch your beyblade as hard as you can" he said and pointed at the various barriers along the course "I want to see how many of them you can get through"
She gave a simply nod and took out her beyblade, clicking it in place she got in position. Ethan moved behind her and started the countdown.
3…
2…
1…
LET IT RIP!
She pulled the rip cord with as much force as she could muster without sacrificing control. Her beyblade took off down the course at impressive speed. It hit the first wooden board hard and went straight through it and the one behind it with almost no problem sending splinters everywhere. Her beyblade hit the concrete wall with a loud bang and lodged itself halfway through.
"not bad" Ethan said and gave her a reassuring smile "not bad at all"
"Still not good enough" she sighed in annoyance and walked over to the concrete wall. She dislodged her beyblade and checked it for damage. It had not suffered anything more serious than a few scrapes. She joined him back at the start of the course.
"I need more power" she said and put her beyblade back in her pocket. He nodded and took out his own beyblade. "Your turn?" she asked.
"See it as a demonstration" he said and narrowed his eyes at the targets. He pulled the rip cord and she stumbled back as the force of his launch hit her. His beyblade hit the concrete wall and it exploded sending debris everywhere. She steadied herself and saw that remains of the wall scattered all over the training room.
"Holy shit!" Alexanders voice rang out through the room and her eyes widened when she saw a beyblade sized hole in the steel plate and a crater in the wall at the end of the room. Ethan attached his launcher to his belt and looked at her.
"with training and determination, anything is possible"
She nodded, taking his advice to heart. She joined Ryan and Alex as Ethan went to collect his beyblade. Sitting down she checked the data she had recorded. Her power was indeed impressive but compared to her captain she still had long way to go…
Ming Ming's apartment, Bakutan City, Japan
With the qualifiers over and the entire team ready for the world champion ships, the Justice 5 teams only female member had decided to take some time for herself and gone shopping. She had spent the past week training the with the boys for many hours every day. There is of course still training to be done but she finally had finally been able to free up some time and decided to spend it at the mall.
Ming Ming had her hands full of shopping bags as she rode the elevator up to her apartment. With a familiar ding the doors opened, and she stepped into her living room. She dropped the bags on the couch and sat down. She was checking her phone when the kitchen doors opened, and Brooklyn appeared with a bag of chips. He saw her and smiled.
"Hey! Where have you been?" he walked over and sat next to her.
She looked up from her phone and smiled back "I was at the mall, having some me time. You know Garland is going freak if he sees you with that right? You know how important nutrition is to him" Brooklyn just shrugged and continued eating. She put her phone down and looked at him. "Where are the others?"
"At the gym, training" He answered.
She nodded and fell silent, watching the city lights outside her window while the sound of chewing beside her continued. It surprisingly did not annoy her. She felt his weight on the couch shifting has he moved closer. She could feel her cheeks heat up and she looked over at him. He had put his feet on the coffee table and was currently on his phone as well. She smiled and looked back out at the city.
Looking up from his phone, Brooklyn found his teammate seemingly lost in thought, her gaze fixed on the Bakutan city skyline. Watching her for a few seconds a random thought entered his mind. "Wow… she is… beautiful" He quickly shook the thought away fighting the blush that was spreading across his face. Turning on the TV Brooklyn did his best to think of something else. He started flipping through channels and eventually landed on the sports channel. Appropriately enough it was showing a recap of the qualifying tournaments that were just about finished at this point.
His interest peaked when the broadcast showed the final match of the Australian qualifiers and the team that would be representing the country in the championships. His gaze fixed on a certain member of said team and a strong feeling of déjà vu and dread came over him. Ming Ming who was now also watching the TV noticed this. She noticed his gaze was fixed on a certain person. The winner of the Australian qualifiers and captain of their representing team.
"Brooklyn?" she asked with a hint of concern in her voice. Her teammate was staring intently at the screen and breathing weirdly. He gave no answer. It didn't even seem like he heard her. She took the remote and turned the TV off snapping him out of his trans. She placed a hand on his shoulder, finally getting his attention.
"Brooklyn? What is the matter with you? He looked at her and swallowed hard "That guy… on the TV…I swear I know him from somewhere" he said in a shaky voice.
"What? How is that possible?" she asked and looked even more concerned "Are you feeling alright"
"I'm telling you. I don't know who he is, but I swear I have seen him before" Brooklyn subconsciously grabbed hold of Zeus in his pocket as he spoke. Ming Ming saw this and grabbed that hand and held it in her own. "it's alright Brooklyn just take it easy. If you say you know him, I believe you" He nodded and started breathing easier. Looking down he noticed that she was still holding his hand. He felt his cheeks heat up as he met her gaze, her face was beet red as well…
The loud ding of the elevator ruined the moment, and both shifted away from each other as Mystel and Garland entered laughing and chatting loudly.
"What's up guys?" Mystel half yelled cheerfully and sat down between them. Brooklyn laughed at the situation and Ming Ming let out a sigh of annoyance. Garland joined them on the couch a few minutes later and soon the apartment was filled with laughter and loud conversation. Their moment ruined… for now…
As the night progressed Brooklyn temporality forgot about what he had seen on TV, and his mind was filled with a whole cocktail of positive emotions. The dread he had felt earlier and the mental picture of him was pushed to the back of his mind and there it laid dormant…
BBA Headquarters, Downtown Bakutan City
Mr. Dickenson sat at his desk and stared intently at his computer. The qualifying tournaments where now officially over. The finale results, the list of teams who would be competing in the world champion ships was before him. This year's tournament would be the biggest one yet. Twelve teams and eight stages all taking place in the span one year. Normally the BBA chairman would have been ecstatic at the thought of such an event but there was one teeny tiny problem with the entire ordeal. This problem had a name: The Infernal Fury…
An until recently unknown team who was responsible for the death and injuries of four fellow bladers. They dominated their qualifying tournament and would be competing in the championships this year. Rage, fear and dread were among the emotions the old chairman felt now. What was he supposed to do? Disqualify them? Not without concrete proof that what happened was intentional. Have someone sabotage their chances of competing? He shook his head and pushed away such thoughts. He would never sink that low…
All he could hope for was that coverage of the world champion ships, all the cameras filming would keep them from repeating their horrible actions on anyone else. At least three of the twelve competing teams know about them and would be keeping their guard up he thought and felt a little better. Max and Ray would more likely than not be relaying the information to their respective teams as well.
I suppose all we can do is hope for the best and prepare for the worst…
Two chapters in just few days? What? The reason for this quick update is that this chapter marks the end of "phase 1" of my story and I am also trying to make up for some lost time. This fanfiction has been up and sort of in limbo since the summer of 2014 and I want to be able to finish it before I die of old age. Well I'll see what can do about that… in the mean time please review and I will see you next time!
I am curious if anyone can correctly guess the name of Ethan's bit-beast based on what is written in this chapter. I gave quite a few hints and here is one more: The most obvious answer might not be the correct one…