Note: For the sake of this story, the Zero-G timeline will be slightly altered. Instead of a seven year time skip, it will be twelve years.
Chapter I
Sometimes Michaela wondered what the real Michaela would be like if she didn't fall into an eternal sleep six years ago. Would she be like her, a cold and manipulative person or a warm and kind hearted person instead?
Nobody would know, not even the false Michaela. That was why she found it fascinating that she was able to mould out her character into whatever she wanted it to be.
For six years, she had played the role of a trophy daughter, but it was starting to get old. She wanted to know her purpose in this life. Unless she was the result of some cosmic joke, surely there was a reason for being in this body. A second chance, perhaps?
She envisioned the life laid out for her: she would study and train relentlessly to be the top in every field and take over the family business. Then she would marry and produce heirs to take her place after she was gone.
That was a life that she did not want to take.
The days would pass by in a blur. All she would do was pretend to play with her toys, read cringe worthy children's books and relay the day's events to her parents. It was as bland and boring as a plain canvas.
But if she were to pick up a paint brush and splatter colours all over it, wouldn't it look more enticing?
Instead of moping around and be used as a decorative doll, she could take control of the puppeteer's strings and make a better life for herself. Perhaps she could even have some fun. Even if she were the result of a cosmic joke, she could use it to her advantage and live life to the fullest.
After all, manipulating people is fun.
…
Michaela was never a big fan of animals, yet she didn't hate then either. She used to own a rabbit-squirrel hybrid that she would carry around and stroke its soft fur. She did not like it because it was cute, rather it was tolerable and provided her company while she slaved away at her desk, endlessly trying to perfect H.D Academy's bladers and the Arrangement System. When it dies, she wouldn't feel any remorse as she could replace her dead pet with another one.
Josephine was a fine, black mare that she received for her sixth birthday. She eyed the horse warily as if anticipating for it to lash out and bite her.
"This is Josephine. She's yours to care for, train and ensure wins with."
She reached out and gingerly touched its mane. Instead of freaking out, the horse lets out a sound akin to a purr and leant into her hand.
Michaela held no interest in sports (except beyblade) and the arts. Just like her art lessons, she didn't bother to listen to her tutor in horse riding lessons and performed mediocrely. Her interests lie elsewhere, and taking unnecessary lessons would waste her precious time that could be used to study. She didn't care that every single member of the family had to be 'all rounded individuals'.
Asking her father to quit her lessons didn't work the previous time, so she began to do poorly in lessons and sometimes not even show up at all. Despite all the warnings he gave her to buck up, she was stubborn and kept her ground.
One day, Michaela curled up into a corner in her room and cried about how useless she was and how she would be an embarrassment to her parents. Seeing this, her father cancelled her classes since he didn't want to put unnecessary pressure on her. Despite successfully getting him to succumb to her demands, she earned herself hours worth of cringy pep talk sessions every week.
In one session, he asked what she wanted to be when she grew up.
"I want to be a doctor and help sick people." She said as innocently as possible.
There wasn't anything wrong with her decision. A doctor was a respectable and well-paying career, and it was an all-time favourite career choice. Nobody questioned her choices; it was expected of her as the heir to the wealthiest family in Europe.
…
Every day, Michaela would be seen sticking her nose into medical books and spending her days studying relentlessly. She would score perfect scores for her exams and skip grades like nobody's business. By the age of ten, she had graduated high school and moved on to university. This was a big milestone in her life and for the Konzern family as she was the youngest member to reach tertiary education, and a party was thrown in her honour.
It was at the party where she properly got to meet the children of her father's friends: Elliot, Liliane and Aiden. On occasion, her father would talk about them, and their parents would yap away about how their kids would love to meet her.
Aiden was nice and was pleasant to have a conversation with, Elliot looked like he would rather be someplace else, but Liliane was the worst. She was rather clingy and didn't quite understand the concept of personal space. During the entire duration of the party, she was constantly barraging her with questions and telling her what to do. If a stranger were to observe them at a distance, they would have come to the conclusion that Liliane was her older sister.
Maybe Liliane had good intentions, but Michaela was terribly annoyed and wanted to put a good distance between them. She excused herself and made a beeline towards the balcony. That was when she saw Elliot leaning against the railing with a drink in his hand. They stared at each other.
"Trying to get away from her?"
She nodded.
Elliot chuckled. "Lily's always been like this. You may or may not get used to it."
She genuinely felt sorry for him as Liliane was his sister, thus he shared the same roof together. The thought of being with her every day was terrifying, to say the least.
"Do you wish you weren't here?"
"Huh?"
"I can tell from your body movement and your excessive eye rolling."
"Spot on. As expected of a genius." Elliot took a swig from his cup. "I'm not fond of large social gatherings, instead I rather stay home and read some books."
"I feel the same way. You aren't as bad as I thought."
"You aren't so bad yourself."
As time passed their conversation grew more intimate until Sophie abruptly interrupted their session to pick him up and bid her farewell. She found it saddening that the party was over and he had to go, despite her not wanting anything to do with the party in the first place. Before he left, he assured her they would meet again soon enough.
…
At the age of eleven, Michaela tagged along to the annual Festival of Warriors. As promised, she met Elliot. However, instead of wearing an annoyed expression, he had an expression of pure excitement. She supposed his smile was amplified because his sister wasn't with him.
"You seem excited."
"Well duh. It's the Festival of Warriors! All of the world class bladers are going to duel. Pretty exciting huh?"
She watched as representatives came and went, all of them swearing victory to their respective countries. This reminded her too much of the World Championships, and there was a nagging voice at the back of her mind that wanted her to collect data on them. Unfortunately, it was difficult to do so with only the naked eye and without help from computers, and even though the bladers were strong, they were all exclusively from the EU and not from the world. It just wasn't worth.
"The representative of Luxembourg wins!" Sophie yelled, snapping her out of her trance. The Luxembourg representative laughed haughtily as his defeated opponent was carried away on a stretcher. He surveyed the crowd that looked at him with awe and envy. "Hah! Who's next?"
A heavy silence lingered in the air. He had won ten times in a row, and all his opponents were knocked out cold. Surely there was no one worthy of facing him.
"I challenge you, sir," Michaela said, raising her hand. The crowd let out collective gasps of surprise.
"Oh? Certainly. I'll go easy on you, kay?"
"Don't. Fight me like you would to anyone else here."
His lips curved into a sickly sweet smile. "If that's what you want~"
3...2...1…
"Let it rip!"
"Go Lucifer!"
"Cassiopeia!"
Her Spiral Cassiopeia was a stamina bey, and she planned to use that to her advantage. The opponent was an attack type and ruthless in battle, so she attempted to drag on the battle for as long as possible in a mishmash of attacking and dodging with a side of counterattacking.
"Hit 'em! Barrage attack!"
Cassiopeia swiftly dodged all the attacks, and the Luxembourg representative laughed. "Hey, don't run. I thought you didn't want me to go easy on you."
She remained silent as she watched Lucifer wobble ever so slightly.
"Now! Special move, Four Mirrors!"
"You can try! Special move, Devil's Scythe!"
A bright flash, smoke and then silence.
"... and Italy's representative wins!" Wales hollered, and the crowd erupted into a chorus of cheers.
Luxembourg's representative fell onto his knees and slammed his fist on the stone floor. "Ah crap, a kid of all people defeated me… but she's a Konzern, so what did I expect…"
"Thank you for the time. It was a great match." Michaela said in a flat voice, suppressing the urge to burst into a fit of uncontrollable giggles.
The reason why she picked up beyblading was not because she wanted to have fun, but rather to keep her mind entertained when she wasn't studying. Another reason was because people expected her to reach greater heights in beyblade, and pick up where her father left off. Not that she minded; it was rather enjoyable to watch her opponents sink to their knees in defeat, along with disappointment visible all over their faces. Besides, she had prior knowledge of the sport and brought down many opponents to their knees with Spiral Capricorn in her previous life, so it wasn't difficult to recap the basics. To everyone else, she looked like a natural.
"I challenge the winner!" Elliot declared, making the crowd stir in excitement.
She accepted the challenge without hesitation. The battle was intense, but when her bey came flying towards her and rolling onto the floor in all its misery, she was reminded that even though she had an advantage over regular humans, she was still prone to failure.
…
It was a fact that her mother always came home late and on occasions leaving home for a few days. Being an absent mother figure, sometimes Michaela forgets that she even had a mother. And during the times that she was home, she would either be quarrelling with her father or texting away on her phone. She never had any interest in knowing her mother's activities out of home, though she might have a clue about them.
Whenever her father was away, her mother would invite her friend to stay. He was a handsome and charming man with a strong frame and a killer smile that would send the female servants blushing and giggling. Every time he visited, he would give Michaela gifts and talk with her, with their conversations mostly revolving around her father and his business. It was amusing how he thought that he could win her favour by showering her with gifts and compliments, while everyone else had done the same and it came to a point where she became numb to it.
One night, she noticed her mother leaning against that man as they both laughed. Her mother said a few slurred words before he pulled her into a hug. They started to exchange kisses, and the man turned the handle of the bedroom door.
She simply turned to the opposite direction down the hallway, not bothering to look back.
…
At the age of twelve, Michaela went to participate in the qualifying tournaments for the new World Championships. Again, she had expectations on her shoulders and couldn't say no even if she didn't want to participate. When there were rumours about a new World Championships being made by the WBBA, she began to train rigorously. Honestly, a world tournament sounded fun, and she would be able to gain some recognition while she was at it. Again, she didn't give two flying shots about the joy of beyblading, she was in just for the fame and travelling the world.
Right now, she was about to face off Elliot again. She defeated Liliane and he defeated Aiden. They were once again facing each other at the opposites of the stadium, and she subconsciously tightened her grip on her launcher.
"You need to chill," Elliot said with a hint of amusement in his voice.
Chill? Her opponent was supposedly stronger than her, and if she lost to him she would be a regular. The thought of people looking down at her for not being able to secure the position of team leader was embarrassing. There was no way she could just 'chill' like him.
She said nothing and readied her launcher. She came here to win, not to have a friendly talk with him.
3...2...1…
"Let it rip!"
"Go Cygnus!"
Cygnus was a bey with extraordinary defence, and she underestimated his skills in the Festival of Warriors and lost to him as a result. Now she knew what to expect, she wouldn't lose that easily.
"Why are you trying to run?" Elliot said.
Just like her many battles, Michaela would not speak much unless commanding her bey. The previous her would boast and taunt her opponent regardless of their power, but now she would keep her mouth sealed unless the certainty of her winning was more than ninety percent.
Cassiopeia continued to dodge and take the attacks that were thrown her way. Of course, she would make sudden attacks whenever she found a blind spot since she did want to bore the audience.
By now, she could tell that Elliot was getting annoyed through his body language. It was about time to end his misery.
They both brought out their special moves, and blinding light briefly blinded everyone. When they regained sight, a bey was lying perfectly still on the floor.
It was Cygnus.
…
"Congrats on being the leader." Elliot complimented.
"The pleasure is all mine," Michaela replied as she took a bite out of her sandwich.
"Yeah, sure." Liliane murmured.
"Well, looks like someone's envious." Elliot sneered at his sister.
Liliane snorted "At least I'm not the substitute… no offence."
"None taken," Aiden said, not looking up from the screen of his phone.
"What group name do you think we should have?" Liliane asked.
The three began to discuss and suggest potential, cool sounding names. However, none of them seemed to be able to agree on a name. Michaela, who had been listening to them bicker like elementary school kids, decided she had enough and slammed her glass of water on the table. Immediately her three teammates jumped and looked at her.
"Since you all can't agree on a name, I'll decide it for you. We'll be called Team Gaius. No objections."
This chapter is dedicated to my pet hamster Julian and her three babies: Klaus, Wales and Sophie. They're so small and cutttteeeee ^^
But yeah this chapter is pretty much introducing new ocs and that's why this chapter is so lame. Does anybody like ocs? They're going to majorly influence the plot, so I hope you aren't annoyed by them ^^;
And yeah I can't write about beybattles to save my life uggghhhhh