So, it's been a while since I updated this story, and I realise that my laziness has a major part to play in that. But I was just too focused on my Sonic stuff, and when I started this one was when I started my second Sonic story, and I thought I could balance them both out. Clearly, that didn't work out the way that I planned it, so as penance for that, I'll be focusing on this story until it is completely finished.
Secondly, I have a poll up, and it's the first time in my three years of writing on this site that I've done anything like that because I have four stories in mind, all of which could possibly be a series, to choose from. I won't pressure anybody, but if you have the time, please go to my profile and vote for whichever story you'd like. If you don't know much about them, then inbox me and I'll be more than happy to explain each one to you. Obviously, which ever story gets the most votes will be the first one I work on. I will do the others as well, but which one I write first is down to you guys.
And with that, let's get on to the first chapter of this story in two years. I hope you enjoy it.
Kane stepped up to the dish, his launcher and blade at the ready as his fellow team-mates shouted words of encouragement. Kane needed to win this; not just for him, but for his team. Yet, he had never faced an opponent quite like Lee before.
"You can do this, Kane!" spoke out Goki from Team Psykick's bench.
"Come on, Lee! Let's send this punk packing!" said Kevin from the White Tigers' bench.
Lee smirked and raised his hand before giving a respectful thumbs-up to Kane, who nodded and returned it.
"Let's see what dish we have for today!" said Brad.
The opening between the bladers started to part, and underneath it revealed a stony-looking dish.
"It looks like we have the quake dish!" said AJ. "The dish will randomly vibrate and try to knock our bladers off balance!"
"What do you think the best strategy is for this one, AJ?"
"If I had to guess, I'd say stick to the rock formations as cover if need be. But when the dish starts to quake, hold on to your blades!"
Boris smiled. "On my count, bladers! 3... 2... 1... LET IT RIP!"
Both Kane and Lee launched their beyblades, and without any hesitation they instantly slammed into each other, hard enough to make some of the rocks around them shake before backing off. When the blades broke away, they both seemed evenly balanced.
"So, you're a lot tougher than I thought," Lee said.
"So are you, lion man," Kane replied. "But if you liked that, then try this! Cyber Dragoon, smash him!"
"Hold your ground, Galeon!" Lee ordered his blade.
Cyber Dragoon circled and slammed into Galeon's side, but the black lion beyblade was able to hold its ground, staying still and easily counterint by shifting back and slamming right back against Cyber Dragoon, almost making it slam into a rock several feet behind it.
"What a move by Lee!" AJ said.
"And a good job keeping his ground there too!" Brad added.
Lee started to pant a bit, but he kept his breathing steady, closing his eyes as he tried to focus. 'Come on...' he thought to himself. 'Concentrate...'
Kane noticed Lee's panting and grinned. "Don't go to sleep on me, dude!" he gibed. "Cyber Dragoon, take him..."
Before Kane could finish his sentence, the bey-dish started to shake heavily, and the rocky formations around both his blade and Lee's started to crumble, causing shards of stone to fall down, almost landing on both Cyber Dragoon and Galeon.
"Whoa! Look out below!" Brad said.
A small smile suddenly appeared on Lee's face and, without blinking, his beyblade moved faster, effortlessly dodging the falling shards of rock easily. But for Kane, while he was dodging well enough, his blade's movements were noticeably sloppier.
"Look at how calm Lee looks," Mariah said. "I've never seen him so focused."
Kevin nodded. "He looks like he really wants to win this for us."
Then the atmosphere of the whole arena changed, and Ray smiled to himself. 'That's the Lee I know. You've got this, dude.'
Lee smiled, almost as if he could hear his friend's thoughts, and then his eyes opened, showing a catlike gleam in them that made Kane sweat a bit out of nervousness. The Psykick leader managed to keep himself under control, though.
"Cyber Dragoon, get him!" Kane ordered.
Cyber Dragoon slammed head-on into Galeon, but Galeon held its own and pushed back hard, and the sound of lightning crackling echoed around the arena. Then some vibrations followed, and everyone started to worry that the dish was going nuts.
"What's wrong with the dish?" Max asked. "It's like it's going to bring this whole place down!"
Tyson gritted his teeth, but then noticed how focused Ray was on the match, so he asked him, "Ray... what's happening?"
"Those vibrations aren't from the bey-dish... they're from Galeon," Ray replied. "Somehow, Lee has gotten stronger since we last fought."
"There it is, Brad! It's Galeon!" said AJ.
"It looks like he's about to take Kane out once and for all!" Brad replied.
As if on cue, Galeon erupted from its beyblade, roaring proudly and causing the arena to shake, hard enough to make some of the rocks in the bey-dish start to crack and split, creating small avalanches and almost landing on the beyblades below.
Kane covered his face with his arm to stop any dust, and then gritted his teeth. "Cyber Dragoon, don't give up! Let's end this quick!"
"Wow..." Tyson said.
"What is it?" Hilary asked.
"Well, even though Team Psykick don't have their bit-beasts any more, they're still swinging hard," Tyson replied. "If anything, they're better off without them."
Max chuckled. "Looking to get another fight with Kane in?" he teased his best friend.
"I know you're joking, but in all honesty? Yeah. That'd be nice," said Tyson.
"Look, guys!" said Hilary, pointing to the bey-dish. More specifically, pointing at Lee, who was emitting an unusual aura, flashes of black lightning crackling around him. "I've never seen Lee look so focused before!"
Ray crossed his arms a bit, smiling. "Hehe... me neither. I'm looking forward to fighting him more than ever, now."
"What's wrong with Lee?" asked AJ from the booth. "He's like a lightning rod!"
"It's not him, Brad! It's Galeon!"
"Whoa..." said Kevin from his seat.
Kane growled and spoke. "I've had enough of waiting... Cyber Dragoon, take him out!"
Cyber Dragoon moved fast to attack, but Galeon dodged very quickly countering with its own strike to send Kane's beyblade back into another rock formation, stunning it a bit and earning a worried gasp from the other members of Team Psykick.
"Kane!" Goki yelled, concerned for his friend.
"I... I can still win this..." Kane said, mostly to assure himself instead of his team. "Cyber Dragoon... don't hold back! Give it everything you've got!"
Cyber Dragoon followed Kane's orders, charging forward and keeping its sights fixed on Galeon, slamming into it hard and engaging in an extremely tense grinding match. At first, Galeon offered resistance, but Cyber Dragoon started pushing the pace more, soon gaining the upper-hand.
Lee then opened his eyes and raised his arms upwards, causing them to crackle with black lightning.
"Finish it, Galeon!" he called. "Spiral Lightning!"
On cue, Lee's beyblade's centre started to glow, and the black lion bit-beast that it held inside of it sprang out, roaring proudly before beginning its attack as the Galeon bit-beast surrounded itself in black lightning, with the bit-beast charging straight for Cyber Dragoon with a mighty roar, the strike causing the lightning that surrounded Galeon to shock Cyber Dragoon still until the beyblade of Galeon rushed forward with a strong attack, knocking Cyber Dragoon right out of the dish and behind Kane, spinning a little bit into the ground before stopping completely.
"Kane's beyblade has been knocked out of the dish! Lee wins!" Boris announced. "Which means that the first team going through to the semi-finals is White Tiger X!"
Lee smiled to himself as his Galeon bit-beast went back inside its beyblade which Lee called back, catching it in his hand before being greeted by a hug from Mariah.
"You did it, Lee!" Mariah said happily as she released the hug.
"We're one win up, it seems," Lee smiled.
"All thanks to you, buddy," Gary said, patting his team captain on the back.
Boris then began speaking. "Many congratulations to White Tiger X. You are through to the semi-finals. Next up is block two, where the BEGA team take on the Majestics." As his staircase started to sink into the ground again, he merely said two words. "Good luck, everyone..."
"Man, that was creepy..." Kane said. He then felt a hand on his shoulder, turning to see Salima. "I'm sorry I cost us the tournament..."
"Well, you sure as heck shouldn't be," Salima replied. "You fought hard in there."
"Yeah. You showed everyone what a great blader you are," Jim added.
Kane smiled at his team-mates, then looked to see Lee walking over, offering a hand to shake. Kane accepted, smiling at Lee in spite of his loss, and the crowd cheered from the good show of sportsmanship between the two.
Tyson smiled at the display before his stomach grumbled. "Ooh... hey, am I okay to go grab some snacks?"
"Sure, as long as you pick something up for the rest of us," Kenny replied with a chuckle.
The leader of the Bladebreakers smiled at that before getting up from his seat, heading to his left to find a nearby corridor. He walked down it, seeing some food and drink machines near the bottom. As he began to walk down, he noticed a shadowy figure hiding behind the wall just beyond the food machine.
"Who's there?" Tyson asked, jogging forward a bit. As he kept moving, the figure started to turn and run. "Hey, wait!" Tyson called out.
Tyson soon found himself at the end of the corridor, but looked to just barely see the person he was chasing spin around in place before they completely vanished into thin air, leaving no trace behind.
Tyson grunted to himself. "Just what the hell is going on?"
"Tyson!" a voice called. Max's, he recognised. "What's with the hold-up on the food?"
"I'm on my way, dude!" Tyson replied.
"Well, hurry it up! The next match is starting soon, and we need to get our butts over to the next block!"
Tyson chuckled to himself, thankful that his friend managed to distract from the strange occurrence that happened only a few seconds before. He grabbed the food and drinks for his friends, hurrying back to them.
"Look who finally made it back," Hilary playfully chided.
"At least I got here, didn't I?" Tyson smirked, handing his girlfriend a packet of chewy sweets before handing the rest of the food to his other friends as they all moved to the next block.
"It's a good thing the next block is only a few metres away," Daichi pointed out, "because I'd hate to just be sat in one space all day, and I don't want to walk for ages to get to the next one."
Tyson smiled at that, but then noticed Kai looking at him. "What's up?" Tyson asked.
"I just want to know what kept you," Kai answered. "And don't lie."
"All right. I saw some guy down there and I chased after him, but before I could catch him he disappeared."
"Do you think it could have been Hiro again?" asked Ray.
"I don't know. If that was him, it does beg the question of if he has been brainwashed by Boris and is taunting us, or if he's fine and trying to send us a message," replied Tyson.
"He'll be okay," Kai said. "Hiro's strong. I don't think he'd be so easily influenced by Boris like I was."
"Yeah, but Hiro's older than you, for one thing," Kenny said. "You were too young to know what you were getting into."
"I still should have seen it coming. But at least you guys managed to beat some sense into me," Kai smiled. "Especially Tyson."
"Eh, it's what I do," Tyson replied.
So, this is my first chapter of this story after a long, long while. I hope it lived up to the hype. Also, sorry about this again, but please do vote on my poll if you can. It means a lot to me. I wouldn't still be writing stuff like this if not for you guys.
Anyway, next time BEGA clash against the almighty Majestics! I'll see you all then.