So sorry about the huge gap between updates on this story! I have been so busy with the Stormflight series and other stuff that I haven't been able to write this one much. Anyway, I am going to finish this, hopefully with chapter 20, so I wont just leave all of you guys hanging. Gingka? Oh, right, he quit after the last chapter of Stormflight… Umm… I do not own Metal Fight Beyblade.
Ryuga glanced up at the screen in front of him as an alarm sounded, notifying him that the tunnel in the top of the LBA building was opening. A circular hatch hissed as it slid open, a large metal cylinder connecting the ceiling to the floor as the tube extended itself downwards to Gingka's rooms. Through a few windows in the cylinder, Ryuga saw a bright blue object flash by.
"Well, you are back earlier than expected." the Dragon Emperor muttered, heading down to the lounge area.
Gingka meanwhile, left Pegasus to graze in the meadows of his floor and headed to the lounge himself, assuming that Ryuga would be there.
"You are back early." Ryuga stated as Gingka entered the room.
"Well, I had a bit of a run-in with your heir, he is helping Doji, who has promised him that he can become the Dragon Emperor after you, or rather, in a few weeks. We seem to have another world-wide threat on our hands." Gingka replied, handing Ryuga the other dragon bey that he had brought with him.
"Sakyo? This was not at all what I intended him to do. He was supposed to do what I did, kind of hang out in the shadows and jump in if needed."
"Well, he isn't doing that, I think you need to have a word with him."
"Where is he?"
"Locked inside a room of my house in Koma Village. If you could get L-Drago and get over there, I can let you into the room."
"I guess I'll do that then."
"Great, thanks Ryuga. Oh, and have you heard anything back from King yet?"
"Not for a while, although Masamune did call me a while ago and said that King and Zeo have been captured, but Toby was going in with Lyra and Foxe to rescue them. They apparently saw Kerbecs and Damian as well, and apparently they are using the old Hades City as their base."
"Well, hopefully we can take them out soon enough, if we gather all our forces, it shouldn't be that hard."
"Yeah. Well, let's go back to Koma, and settle things with Sakyo and Doji there."
"I'll let you handle both, Doji is inside Mount Hagane, but I'm warning you, he is now using Lightning L-Drago."
"I thought that bey no longer existed and was transformed into my current one!"
"Well, so did I, but apparently we were both wrong. Anyway, let's go. I'll meet you in Koma."
"Alright, let's go."
Pegasus, get ready to go.
But I'm eating!
You're always eating! Now get to the takeoff chute and get ready to go! I am going to be back up there in five minutes!
Fine, I'm going!
"Beys can be so stubborn at times." Gingka muttered as he left the lounge behind Ryuga.
L-Drago, we are leaving. Get ready by the time I am up there.
Yes Master Ryuga, of course. I am ready and waiting.
Good, we are going to be facing Lightning L-Drago.
Of course, my predecessor, that evil-
Ryuga chuckled as the dragon bey lapsed into angry mutterings. "So, she knew that it was this way all along?"
-Koma Village, thirty minutes later-
"Alright guys! We have an actual job to do now, so I need everyone ready!" Gingka called as his helmet retracted. He dismounted from Pegasus as Ryuga and L-Drago flew overhead, headed for his house, which he had already given Ryuga the keys to.
"What is it?" Zero asked excitedly.
"We are going to keep Doji from escaping. Ryuga is going to go into the mountain and take him out, but if he tries to escape, we have to stop him."
"I thought you said it was too dangerous!"
"Well, it is, but me and Ryuga are here, so it becomes infinitely less dangerous than before."
"Oh, okay! Let's do it!" Zero punched the air.
This should be interesting. Ifraid's voice came into the young blader's mind again.
Doh, master, who's Doji?
I don't know, Saramanda, would you please be quiet? I can't plan a battle strategy with you butting into my thoughts all the time.
Doh, sorry master, I'll shut up now.
"Let me out of here! Doji-san will get you for this!" Sakyo was still yelling and banging on the door.
"Doji doesn't care about anyone but himself." a voice came from the other side of the door. Sakyo turned, scared, as an orange light shone through the window momentarily. Curious, the young blader stepped over to the window and peered outside through the curtains.
"Whoa! Ahh!" he screamed, fell down, and scuttled backwards as he was greeted by a set of fanged orange jaws, a pair of flaming eyes staring him down. He bumped into something and looked up.
"Don't worry, L-Drago won't do anything to you, unless I tell her to." Ryuga smirked down at the young blader, who just stared.
"R-Ryuga-san? Are you here to rescue me?"
"No, I'm here to talk with you. I believe you were confronted earlier by a masked man in blue?"
"How did you know about that?"
Ryuga smirked. "I work with him, we are practically colleagues."
"Oh…" Sakyo stared at the ground.
"Why are you with Doji? You know that he is a double-crosser and a total loser, right?"
"I-I thought-"
"You thought that he could help you rule the world. Well, that is not actually the best goal, and if you insist on continuing with that, I will step in and stop you personally."
"But, what about being the strongest? Doji-san promised me that I would be the next Dragon Emperor after you!"
"That is not for Doji to decide, he does not have the heart of a dragon, and he can't give away my title, only I can do that." Ryuga's voice was almost approaching a growl as he spoke. "Doji doesn't know what it takes to be royalty, and he never will. Right now, there is a whole group of bladers surrounding the mountain where he is, and if you help me take him down, I will turn you into a true Dragon Emperor."
"O-Okay, I'll do it." Sakyo made his decision.
Ryuga smiled and reached into his pocket. "Then you will need this." he said, holding out Dragoon towards the younger blader.
Sakyo paused, then took the silver and white bey from Ryuga's hand and followed the Summer blader outside. Ryuga snapped his fingers, and L-Drago flew around from the back of the house to land in front of her master.
"Sakyo, meet L-Drago, the Empress of the Eastern Realm of dragons." Ryuga said, patting the cheek of the red-orange dragon, who made a noise similar to a cat's purr as Ryuga began stroking her face.
"Climb on, she is going to take us there." Ryuga leapt onto the dragons head, seating himself right above the diamond on her forehead.
Sakyo paused, then leapt up and landed in front of Ryuga.
"There's nothing to hold onto down there, come up here and you can grab a horn." Ryuga reached for one of the horns on top of L-Drago's head, then reached down and pulled Sakyo up.
:I-is this safe?" Sakyo said.
"I can even lie in her mouth unharmed, although it is a bit of a tight fit. It's safe as long as I don't tell her to attack you."
L-Drago made a low, rumbling noise that sounded a bit like a chuckle at this.
Sakyo wrapped both arms around the hard material of L-Drago's horns as the dragon slithered smoothly into the sky.
"Looks like they are ready, lets make sure we are." Gingka said into the communications system of his helmet. Spaced equally in separate places around the mountain were the other bladers, each with their beys. Gingka and Anashi were mounted on the backs of their winged horses, and Ren was absentmindedly stroking the feathers of the fiery bird perched on her arm. Ryo was swatting as Fireblaze, who kept pecking at his hair playfully as it sat on his head. Zero and Ifraid were seated in trees across from each other, and Shinobu was mentally face palming as Saramanda attempted to climb a tree. The salamander might be the same size as its master, but it was infinitely more clumsy and stupid, or at least it acted that way. Maru had her laptop out, and was scanning the mountain.
Meanwhile, Foxe had fallen silent in Zeo's mind as he, Toby, and Lyra neared the center of the sunken city.
Good, the annoying thing is finally quiet. Lyra commented.
Toby couldn't help but let out a chuckle.
You are lucky you don't have to listen to him rambling on and on about colors and tastes and fish and jellyfish and seaweed and other random objects that are floating by and the exact angle of the walls and his opinion on how large this whole place is and-
Ok Lyra, I get it, Foxe is entirely annoying.
That is a huge understatement.
How about infinitely annoying?
That is more like it, it describes Foxe to the letter.
Toby rolled his eyes at this. Foxe suddenly began swimming rapidly, restraining himself from barking in excitement. The blue fox rushed over and touched his nose to Lyra's beak for a second, then swam off excitedly.
What did he say? Toby asked.
He said he found them!
Great! Quickly, before we lose track of him!
The two swam off after the ecstatic blue creature in front of them.
Master! I found you! Foxe's voice once again interrupted Zeo's thoughts.
Zeo looked outside and saw his constellation swimming in the water on the other side of the door. "King, put your helmet back up!" he said, sealing his own helmet.
King glanced over, then quickly sealed his helmet as Toby opened the door and a whole ton of water rushed in.
"Let's get out of here!" Toby said.
"Wait, but we have to stop Damian and the others somehow!" King replied.
"We need backup to do that King! I know you are technically in charge of this mission, but I have to overrule you on this one. Masamune, can you hear me?" Toby said.
"Loud and clear buddy! How's it going down there?" Masamune's voice replied through their helmets, Striker punctuating the sentence with a whinny.
"We found Zeo and King, but we are going to need backup if we are going to take out Damian and the others that are down here plotting who knows what."
"Alright, transfer me the information then!"
"It's sending now, but hurry and call Headquarters!"
"Alright, alright! I'm working on it now! Striker, hand me that cord, would you? This laptop is almost out of batteries."
"Let's go guys." Toby said, leading the way.
"Alright, 'Master Toby,' where are we going then?" King asked sarcastically.
"Well, we should get out of here first, preferably using a different route then before. Where is Ares, anyway?"
"'He's on his way."
There he is, master. Lyra's voice said in Toby's mind as the red-armored Ares appeared.
Master, Kerbecs is coming! Ares warned as he swam rapidly past them. King quickly relayed this message to the others as he grabbed onto the top rim of one of Ares' boots, allowing the warrior to pull him along at a much faster pace than he would have otherwise been able to swim. Toby quickly grabbed hold of the harp slung across the back of the eagle known as Lyra, and Zeo managed to catch hold of Foxe's fur as the beys took off swimming. They rounded the corner and were out of sight just in time as the red eyes of Kerbecs appeared, the tri-headed dog eagerly on the hunt.
The weaklings have escaped somehow, master. Shall I give chase?
Of course Kerbecs! Don't you dare let them get away! Damian replied from a room in the center of the city that had been pressurized and emptied of water. The blue-haired blader was overseeing the construction and repair of the Spiral Core, which had been destroyed, as the world knew, by the combined efforts of Gingka and Ryuga, with the help of several other bladers.
"Once this is repaired, we can start moving." Damian smirked. "Jack, Gen."
"Yes?" the two bladers named stepped forwards.
"Go outside, our prisoners have escaped. Kerbecs is chasing them down and I want you two to cut them off. While we wait for the signal from Mount Hagane."
Gen and Jack nodded, pulled their scuba masks on, and left.
"Crab! Can I go too, crab?"
"No Tetsuya, I need you to go up to the surface and find out if there is any news from Doji-san."
"Crab! I finally get to do something, crab! I wont fail you, crab, that's a crab's promise!" Tetsuya pulled on a scuba mask and scuttled away in his usual sideways motion.
Damian sweat dropped. "Finally, I got rid of that annoying crab for a while." he turned back to watch the construction.
-Back at Mount Hagane-
"I have returned, Doji-san." Sakyo said confidently as he entered the heat of the inner mountain.
"Perfect, did you-" Doji stopped mid-sentence as he turned. "You…" he growled, Lightning L-Drago adding in a more menacing growl.
"Long time no see, Doji." Ryuga smirked.
Lightning L-Drago let out an angry roar.
You! You abandoned me for another bey and locked me away again! You couldn't do anything without my power, yet you still left me locked away! The angry voice said, using Doji to speak, since it couldn't do it on its own.
"Oh yeah? I could do plenty without you, you were not obeying my commands, plus, you were too full of yourself to be controlled by any blader! I fully intend on locking you away again, Lightning."
"My name is L-Drago! I am the Emperor!" L-Drago roared, again using Doji to speak.
"You have been dethroned." Ryuga said coldly.
L-Drago roared again, left Doji, and flew at Ryuga in anger, the room quickly becoming darker as it unleashed power.
"Pathetic, I have seen a darker power than yours! Meet your successor, the real Dragon Empress! L-Drago Destroy!" Ryuga yelled.
Sakyo launched his bey into the shadows to wait as the red-orange form of Ryuga's bey rose menacingly out of the lava, her powers driving the darkness back.
Lightning L-Drago's eyes became redder with anger as he flew at this new opponent.
You dare call yourself an Empress? Pathetic! he roared, this time only to L-Drago Destroy.
I have no need of darkness to make me stronger, I rely on my own strength, and that of my blader, to win. Ryuga smirked as L-Drago Destroy replied, her voice as icy as her flames were hot.
Outside, Gingka and Pegasus stood their ground as the roaring battle between two dragons began.
"Get ready guys! It's starting!" he called.
Zero gulped and nodded, Ifraid standing his ground, even though the flaming warrior was shaking in his armor.
Phoenic gave a frightened shriek and hid behind Ren, who grabbed the fiery bird and held it close in fear.
Saramanda finally wiped the stupid-looking grin off of his face as he fell out of the tree he had been attempting to climb and began frantically digging a hole in the ground to hide in. Shinobu tried to pull his bey out of the dirt by its tail, but was unsuccessful.
Flame and Anashi were both in a tree, Anashi trying to keep the orange horse from flying away.
Ryo and Fireblaze also stood their ground, becoming completely serious as the roaring continued.
Inside, Destroy had completely wrapped around two of Lightning's heads, and Dragoon was busily taking on the third as Ryuga began coaching Sakyo how to deal with another left-rotation bey, even though the young blader could not yet call out his own dragon. L-Drago Destroy, letting out one fierce roar after another, started to drag Lightning L-Drago down, towards the lava below. A few explosions threw Doji back into the other open cavern where he had been working, and collapsed the entrance, trapping him inside.
"Speak to Dragoon, encourage it." Ryuga said as his red-orange dragon finally succeeded in pulling two out of the three heads into the lava and sealing them.
Sakyo closed his eyes and concentrated. Soon enough, Lightning L-Drago was completely sealed away, and standing on the rocks just below where the third head of the purple dragon had been was a fair-sized western dragon, jet-black in color with dark red wings.
Ryuga smiled. "Now, you are the Emperor of the Western Realm of Dragons, with Dark Knight Dragoon as your partner." he said.
L-Drago Destroy flew out and touched the diamond on her forehead to the forehead of the black dragon. Dragoon let out a roar of surprise, then quieted. L-Drago backed away, wrapping herself partially around her master and looking quite satisfied with herself, having given Dragoon her own diamond to show that she was royalty.
The jet-black female let out another roar, then flew to land next to Sakyo, who quickly noticed that she was only slightly taller than he was.
"Climb on and let's go." Ryuga said, jumping up onto L-Drago's forehead and again taking hold of one of her horns. "Mission accomplished, Hagane." he said through his communications system. "Sakyo is on our side, and Doji is no more for the third time."
Gingka chuckled. "Hopefully we wont have to deal with him a fourth time." he said. "Guess we should get back to base, Kenta keeps calling me for some reason."
"Yeah, meet you back there." Ryuga replied.
L-Drago.
Yes, master?
Seal away that collapsed section, we don't want Doji potentially getting out again.
Of course, master. L-Drago opened her mouth and sent flames flying, turning the collapsed pile of rock between her and Doji into solid stone. Then, the two empresses and their masters turned and flew outside, Ryuga and L-Drago in the lead, with Sakyo and Dragoon close behind.
As the two dragons erupted out of the cave entrance, Pegasus reared and let out a loud, triumphant whinny, thrashing the air with her front legs for a few seconds, then settling down and unfolding her wings.
A few minutes later, the whole group was back in Koma Village.
"Well, hopefully that was the snake's head, now we just have to take care of the rest." Gingka said.
"We should get back to Metal Bey City and the headquarters, check up on King and the others to se how their mission is going." Ryuga said, stroking L-Drago's nose.
"Right, how many can you carry?" Gingka asked, reaching over and grabbing the reins that were hanging from Pegasus's head and pulling the winged horse towards him.
"Probably most of them." Ryuga replied.
"Alright, everyone on L-Drago, unless you can fly!" Gingka called, throwing the reins over Pegasus's neck and mounting her. Anashi and Sakyo mounted Flame and Dragoon, respectively, and Zero and Ifraid were the first ones on L-Drago's back. Shinobu sighed and climbed on as well, ordering Saramanda to grip onto him and not the slick, scaled back of the dragon. Phoenic found a comfortable perch on one of the horns, and Ren climbed up behind Shinobu and Saramanda. Maru climbed onto Flame after an invitation from Anashi, and the group soon took off.
Zero: That was awesome! Oh, right, we're done with this chapter… Umm… GalaxyPegasus14 went off to try and find Gingka-san, so it's just me for now. Anyway, she will try to get this story completed ASAP, and we hope you enjoyed this chapter. Until next time, as usual, Let it Rip!