Wordlessly, I clipped Nyclix into the launcher and stared at him quietly. The boy did the same, moving to the other side of the stadium. Devin stood between us and raised his hand.
"One, two, three…"
"LET IT RIP!" We shouted. I heard a few faint exclamations and the sound of running feet. Out of the corner of my eye, I glimpsed several of the Bladebreakers and All-Stars standing by me. Then my attention focused solely on the match.
As my beyblade shot towards the ring, a bright purple line traced my bey's movements. I groaned inwardly when Nyclix wobbled slightly, but fortunately the beyblade evened out as it raced down the side of the stadium.
My opponent's bey was marked by a neon-green line. After the initial launch, his bey didn't shift more than an inch from the center of the stadium. So he has a defensive-type bey, I thought. I eyed the bey warily, trying to figure out the best strategy for attack.
With a sharp kick of my foot I attacked his bey experimentally. To my surprise, there was no sound as I collided with his bey. I attacked a few more times, listening carefully. No clanks. No screeching metal. The boy across from me smiled as if at a private joke.
I trained my eye on his bey, which didn't waver at any of my attacks. As I struck again, I noticed the beyblade seemed to twist. Once more, no sound. I glanced up at my opponent and cocked my head, thinking.
"Confused?" The boy asked, seeming to guess my thoughts.
"Your bey is moving," I said. The boy's mouth dropped and he looked over at Devin. I almost smiled when I remembered that he thought I couldn't speak English. I quickly explained, "You're too quick to jump to conclusions. I may be on a Japanese team, but I'm actually from America. Your bey, how is it dodging without moving its position?"
"Tarygan is moving," the boy said. He recovered quickly, though his cheeks were flushed pink. "The gear structure allows it to move at such a small scale that motion is nearly impossible to detect. All of your strikes are useless against my ability."
"You can't win without attacking," I replied, launching another few attacks.
"On the contrary, I just need to wait until you run out of power. Another bonus of Tarygan's gear structure is that it can spin up to two minutes longer than other beys."
"Oh, yeah?" I asked, trying to keep him talking. Silently, I started weaving my bey in half-moon patterns. I adjusted the pattern so that Nyclix softly attacked Tarygan on all sides, building up speed. "What if you were put up against another defense-type beyblade?"
"Then I'd just wait for them to lose their spin and attack. Tarygan can withstand any type of bey and strategy," the boy said. He seemed pleased at my interest. I narrowed my gaze.
"Even this one?" I broke the half-moon pattern and slammed directly into the underside of his bey. As expected, Tarygan twisted to dodge. The boy grinned.
"You missed." I smiled back.
"Not quite." Nyclix hit the side of the stadium and rebounded into the top of the boy's bey. There was a loud crack before Tarygan whirled to a stop. A crumpled dent marked the top of the bey.
"How…?" The boy asked. He didn't seem to know quite how to react.
"And that's the problem with using tracking stadiums," I said. "They make it too easy to catch your opponent's patterns."
"Good to know," Mrs. Tate said, standing a few feet away. I jumped and looked at her. Finally realizing that I'd been using her equipment without permission, I apologized and immediately put away my launcher. Max's mom smiled and put a hand on my shoulder.
"Don't worry about it. I'm glad you enjoyed my invention. Now, would you like to continue the tour?" She asked, walking toward the building.
As Mrs. Tate pulled ahead, I looked back at the people surrounding the tracking stadium. I noticed that most of the Bladebreakers were cautiously watching Michael and Emily as they two stared into the stadium. The two seemed to be whispering to each other and pointing at something.
"What's going on?" I asked Rei and Max as they caught up with me.
"Last time we were here, the All-Stars used informal matches to find out our beyblading strategies. I'd be careful what you show them, Sandy," Rei said. The boy straightened his white and blue uniform, still eyeing Michael and Emily. Max nodded, but he looked conflicted about something.
"Wouldn't anyone want to study the Bladebreakers' strategies if they got the chance? I mean, you guys are world champions," I asked. I was genuinely curious about what had happened between my team and the All-Stars. The two teams acted like good friends and this new tension was unexpected. I was relieved to see that my question pulled Max out of his trance.
"We weren't champions back then," he said, his face lighting up. "People didn't realize they should have been keeping their eyes on us." I smiled at Max, but the thought came to me that I really didn't know very much about the Bladebreakers. They each seemed to have lives and backstories that I could only infer or guess at. I shivered as I realized I was probably fulfilling Emily's prophecy that my silence would keep me from making friends.
"Now we could probably expect people to keep tabs on us," Rei said with a laugh. "It wouldn't surprise me if someone had a whole file of information collected on Tyson."
"More like a cabinet of files," Max agreed, grinning at the thought. The boys snorted. My lips twisted upward in a smile.
"So what was your first tournament like?" I asked, trying to picture a time when the Bladebreakers were just another set of unknown amateurs. I thought of Kai and Tyson and the image failed.
"Exciting and stressful," Max replied. Both he and Rei began describing their first year beyblading in a tournament. I listened intently as they shared stories of training, hard matches, and people. As well as the many times they had gotten lost or in trouble along the way.
Before long, the three of us were talking animatedly. I even found myself sharing a few of my own experiences with the Daredevils, though recalling them made me a little sad. I quickly learned that Max had a sense of humor and an easy smile, while Rei was more serious and good with retorts.
Mrs. Tate lead us around the research facility, showing the Bladebreakers and I some of the new technology they had come up with over the years. Daichi and Tyson maintained a certain distance from the others, however, responding that beyblading was about spirit and not the technology that went with it. I personally agreed with them, but couldn't help staring at some of the new launchers and stadium arrangements anyway.
Eventually, it was time for lunch and I took my food outside to enjoy the sunny weather. Being inside the building, even such a big one, was making me restless. My mouth watered and my stomach rumbled as I looked at my plate. Though Japanese food was good, I was happy to see a slice of pepperoni pizza again.
I was about to bite into my pizza when a cold breeze blew through the air. Chilled, I huddled tighter into my black jacket. A strange sensation came into my mind causing me to look around. A figure leaned against the windowsill inside the building, his face half covered in shadow.