The King of Blades
Chapter 2: Proving Ground
In the park Victor stood on one side of a park beydish. It was 1.5 metres in diameter and made of four linked metal quarters to form a full beydish. Its quarters were mounted on a brick platform like a barbeque stand to make it a raised dish as opposed to an excavated pit in the ground. Inga stood on the other side.
"Ready?" she asked "I think that's my line." he responded.
She took out her blade, a red one with yellow touches on the attack ring, and loaded it onto her launcher with a click, Victor did the same. Drigo stood on the side and did the countdown.
"Three, two, one, Let it rip!!!"
Without further ado both blades were sent spinning into the dish, they collided briefly then came apart and spun around the centre of the dish. Victor watched carefully
Seems like she's waiting for me to make the first move, okay then "Carbuncle attack."
The white blade changed course and headed straight for the red one but was casually dodged.
"Nice evade, attack again Carbuncle." The blade veered forward but was dodged again and again and again. Not one hit? That's uncanny movement "I can see you've practiced your evasion well but let's see you dodge this one." Vic immediately sent carbuncle ramping up the side of the dish and coming down again like a ramping skateboarder. The boomerang, a very basic but effective method used by many beybladers to gain speed on the way down the ramp for a stronger hit. Inga just watched patiently as his blade came careening towards hers. A red glow formed at the centre of her blade as Carbuncle was nearly on top of it.
"Tavi, Dodge-Counter." she called and with seemingly no time to evade it was off to the side while the white blade went past but it didn't end there. In the blink of an eye Tavi shot towards Carbuncle and knocked it away. Vic looked astonished. Fast.
"My turn to attack." Inga shot back "now let's see you dodge this. Tavi, Reflex Feint."
Tavi begin to switch from one side to another rapidly charging at Carbuncle. Victor was trying his best to watch it, Keep up with her, just watch and you'll be able to protect yourself, there she's going right. Surely enough she came from the right and Victor braced himself. "Here she comes Carbuncle hold your ground." and Carbuncle tilted right to brace for impact but at the very last moment she veered to the left too fast for him to follow and knocked Carbuncle with tremendous speed. "But how?"
"Having trouble keeping up, or is it that you can't read my movements, you'll need far better reflexes and foresight team-mate, Tavi let's finish it!" Tavi let loose a barrage of knocks which Vic could do nothing to prevent and with a final strike sent Carbuncle flying out of the beydish. Vic walked over to pick up and inspect his blade then surprisingly smiled.
"A stroke of luck we caught you today, now we need two more strong team-mates and we'll be just fine."
"Don't for a second think that it doesn't mean you have a lot of work to do." Drigo scolded him "We can't afford to have a weak captain."
Vic looked at Inga thoughtfully "I wonder if Daniel would accept a challenge from her, it might be interesting." he whispered to Drigo. Drigo was about to answer when something else caught his attention. "Check it out Vic."
Victor turned his attention to where Drigo pointed to see another individual wearing beige cargo pants and a blue track top with a hanging hood revealing his blonde hair standing in front of Daniel.
Daniel looked up at the stranger who hadn't yet spoken ".....Yes?"
"Are you Daniel?" he asked. Daniel thought he sounded British.
"And if I am?"
The boy broke into a smile unexpectedly "Man I've been looking all over for you what a relief, good to finally meet you, I'm Craig."
Daniel looked him over suspiciously "Okay...so what do you need me for?"
"What does anyone else need from anyone this age? A battle of course, are you game?"
"No." he replied nonchalantly. The other boy looked visibly disappointed
"But why not?"
"Because it's all I ever do every single day. Today I just want to chill without having every Tom Dick and whatever the other guy's name is walking up to me with their strange requests."
"I'll make it worth your while I promise. I'm not a walk over." said Craig now seemingly imploring.
"That's what they all say." was Daniel's only reply. At this point a wave of anger passed quickly over Craig's face before he quickly regained his composure I won't let you deny me this battle so easily, If my wanting to battle him doesn't work, I'll just make him want to battle me.
"Okay then. You should know though, that I had a high opinion of you from what I had heard but now I see what you really are." Daniel looked up. Craig now had his full attention.
"What might that be?" he snickered
"You're afraid of not being the strongest where you are, a perfect analogy for you is of a young hatched salmon that refuses to swim to sea with the rest just so he can be the biggest fish in the tiny pond where he was born." Shaun mocked while walking away and Daniel visibly tensed, so he kept pushing. "You're still swimming around with awe-struck guppies because you're afraid to see what a real barracuda looks like."
That appeared to have struck a nerve hard as Daniel stood up no longer feigning a granite countenance, his face tense and seemingly ready to pounce.
"You little prick, is that what you think? If you want to be beaten that badly then I'll gladly oblige!"
"Now we're talking!" Craig shot back.
Victor who had been shamelessly listening with Inga and Drigo tapped her on the shoulder
"Inga get the popcorn. He provoked him, why didn't I think of that before?" she smiled and responded "This'll be very entertaining."
"Oh yes it will." Drigo chimed.
Daniel and Craig made their way over to the beydish where Vic was already waiting as the self-appointed referee. As they prepared for battle Daniel took out his blade. It was black with a black/red attack ring breaking the colour though subtly. Vic admired it. Fenrir, just the way I remember it. Craig clicked his blade into the launcher and loaded his rip-cord. It was a grey blade with a thick, blue curving attack ring that had vertical slits going all the way around it. Strange blade. Victor thought.
"Anyway are you both ready?" he got no response from either "I'll take that as a yes, this will be a best of three rounds match, okay let's go. Three, Two, One, Let it riiip!!!"
Both blades were off and didn't waste any time with both going on the attack.
CLANK!!! ZZZT!!
They both kept knocking and grinding for a while until it became apparent that Craig's blade was winning in direct attack. Every time Fenrir hit it he seemed to bounce back as if he was attacked.
"Come now Daniel, I want to see what skills you've got, go all out I've already been warned about your 'Black Fang' so let's see if it's worth fearing." Craig was definitely dominating the match at this point as Fenrir kept being pushed back. Drigo frowned.
"How's he pushing Fenrir back so easily, Daniels not a weak attacker so why is he being thrown around?"
"I don't know Inga replied, I've never seen either of them battle."
"Go Fenrir!" Daniel launched a hard attack to which Craig responded with one of his own. Vic thought he saw Craig's blade seemingly blur like it was vibrating but he dismissed it as the rapid spin of the blade. They crashed mid-dish but it was Fenrir that was swatted away easily and sent through the air out of the dish. As it happened Shaun started "I told you to go al...." but was abruptly cut off when he saw his blade on the ground and Fenrir still spinning in the dish "What the?"
"As I remember you told me you wanted to see me use my skills, that's one of them."
Victor mused So that's why he's never had a ring out before, but I still didn't see what really happened. "Winner of round one, Daniel!"
Craig picked up his blade and reloaded his launcher while eyeing Daniel suspiciously and seemingly pondering over what just happened. Victor did the countdown and they were off again. Like before they were on the attack mid-dish. Daniel moved first.
"I'm not wasting anymore time, Fenrir." at that point dull black wispy energy erupted at the top of his blade as a pitch-black wolf with fierce crimson eyes came out of his blade.
"That's more like it, Gospel come forth." Craig responded and a silvery glow erupted from his own blade as a huge silver lion with darker mane rose with a roar. Vic, Drigo and Inga stared in awe. They charged and Gospel knocked back Fenrir again but this time there was a confident flash on Daniel's face as Fenrir went with the flow and ramped high up the edge of the dish. "Big mistake my man, Fenrir, Black fang!" he shouted.
Victor immediately recognised it. "Uh oh, I've been a victim of this before and I haven't seen anyone recover when it hits." Victor said
"Really, what's he doing?" Inga asked
"The 'Black Fang', an ability he's notorious for. Fenrir has the ability to control only the local gravity within and around himself so it can only affect him and nothing else, it may seem useless to some but he's found a method of maximising it's benefit in that if he gains height on an opponent he can drastically increase the effect of gravity on Fenrir bringing him down harder and faster than can be withstood. The sharp, hard base-tip of his blade combined with the dropping force and the high spin can literally bite into an opponent's blade hence the term Fang."
"Wow, I get it now, that's actually incredible." Inga said in awe.
Fenrir came down like a rocket just as Victor thought it would but what puzzled him was that Gospel didn't even try to evade he attack as it came crashing down.
KLANCK!
The sound of metal hitting metal accompanied by the open mouths of four people when the unexpected happened. Fenrir upon impact bounced straight back up into the air past the original height it had dropped from to nearly double that height.
"Was that supposed to happen?" Inga asked Vic.
"Hell no, but whatever the case this match is over, Fenrir's assault is deadlier with greater height since there's more of a distance for gravity to accelerate it." He looked puzzled though.
Daniel recovered from the initial shock "Fenrir, Black Fang again!" Craig seemed to brace himself again. Fenrir came down faster this time for another impact and as Victor watched he noticed that blur in Gospel again as Fenrir hit and bounced back to almost double the second height now. What the hell is that?
"Fenrir again!" Daniel sounded confused, angry and desperate all at the same time. This time Fenrir's speed literally made it seem like a black fang falling from up high, he hit Gospel so hard it shocked the silver blade now into an insane uncontrollable wobble but still repelled Fenrir back upwards. Fenrir was now seemingly soaring Victor thought. Holy crap, from that height.... Fenrir came down gaining more speed than he had ever gained before, moving down like a bullet. Craig had just barely gotten Gospel under control again and was seemingly debating what to do until the last moment.
"Shit, even Gospel can't take that, Evade quickly!!!" Gospel shifted at the last second when Fenrir came down on the spot where it was with such enormous impact that it shattered the brick structure under that side of the dish churning up dust as everyone shielded their eyes. When the dust finally settled three quarters of the dish remained and that's where Gospel was still spinning healthily. The fourth sector hung partially off the rest of the dish bent out of shape with the supports under it damaged completely. and Fenrir lying amongst the rubble.
"Winner of round two, Craig!" Vic announced. Wow.
Daniel recovered his blade but it wasn't a pretty sight, the base axle had snapped while half of the attack ring immediately fell off when he picked it up. He could also feel something loose inside, most likely the engine gear had been smashed to smithereens from the impact. The black glow of Fenrir faded as it went dormant, no longer needed in battle. Daniel just stood there holding it in silence without turning around. It was an uncomfortable situation for them all. Drigo nodded to Vic and Inga that they better leave.
"Well." Craig piped up, breaking the awkward silence. "Splendid battle, you're something else. I can't believe you actually destroyed the dish. Well it seems to be a tie but seeing as how your blade is damaged beyond repair, I'll claim the victory for the day. The score is one: nil but I'll accept a challenge from you again anytime. My lady, Gentlemen, I'll be off now." He started walking off and when he was out of earshot released a heavy sigh. We could never have withstood that last attack. He glanced at the blade in his hand, it was whole but stretching from the bit-chip to the attack ring was a huge spider-web crack. Definitely not another attack. This is truly the scar that stays with one who has experienced his fang. 'The Mark of the Wolves'.
"Hey!" He turned around to see who shouted, it was Vic calling out to him "Dude you were amazing, that's a fantastic bit-beast you have there!"
"Well thanks I guess," Craig replied.
"I'll get straight to the point. Would you like to join my team to participate in this year's New Age Blader tournament. From what I overheard you seem like the type to want a new challenge and if you do well you might get an invite to the 'King of Blades' tourney later in the year. That's the cream of the crop when it comes to tourneys, a chance to be world champion."
Craig glanced at the image of the silver lion on his blade. Gospel, are we strong? Yes? No? Maybe? Whatever the case, I believe strength is a relative term determined by those around us. To become stronger one needs a tougher environment and the world is large so I have no doubt there are many strong bladers in it. So let's go meet them Gospel and only then will we find the answer. As if in response the blade vibrated and Gospel gave a small glow.
Craig looked up at Victor with a smile and stretched out his hand.
"I'm in. Why don't you introduce me to my new team-mates."
Well that's chapter two done, hope you liked the battles, but these are low-key, just wait till the tourney for the real deals plus adolescent life and love in between.
