Sora did not appreciate the wind blowing into his face, sweeping dirt and sand into his eyes as he sprinted, following behind Ryuto. The ground was rough; large rocks were scattered everywhere and slowed Sora's speed. He didn't get how Ryuto could keep up with the three Treasure Hunters in front of him, who had stolen a bag of their recently uncovered artifacts, right after waking up. Then again, this was only Sora's second treasure-hunting outing with Ryuto -and his first-ever beyblade chase. He guessed that this was just the norm for the dragon blader.
"Dragonis!" Ryuto yelled, summoning his bey to speed up ahead of him. "Hit 'em hard! Hammer Bolt!" Omega Dragonis glowed a bright green before shooting across the dirt to close the distance between it and the bey of the first treasure hunter closest to the two younger bladers. The sound of clanking metal rang in Sora's ears as he ran through the cloud of debris caused by the two beys clashing. The ringing ended as he felt the air from the opponent's bey whizzing past his face, which he struggled not to shriek at.
"Sorry about that!" Ryuto shouted, running by the passed-out blader he just beat. "But I'm gonna need your help with this next guy, Sora!"
"You got it!" Sora breathed, picking up his pace to match his partner's. He got a clear view of the remaining two treasure hunters, the farthest one holding onto the strapped bag Ryuto was trying to get back.
The next treasure hunter slowed his pace to hit the trees in front of them, causing logs to topple over in an attempt to hinder the chasing bladers. It was Sora's turn to attack now.
"That won't work on me," Sora exclaimed, gritting his teeth as he braced for the impact his Cyber Pegasus would cause. "Cyber, Avalanche Move!" He'd been practicing this move in particular lately, as he lost in a stadium-out the first time he used it.
Sora could feel the heat surging from Cyber as it bolted towards the logs, much faster than Dragonis had done, and focused on keeping the fiery red from going out of control. He couldn't mess up this time. The Pegasus bey made contact with outer logs and busted them into chips. Rippling waves of pure energy from Avalanche Move's bright red cross flung the other logs ahead, landing on top of the next opponent's bey.
"LET'S GOOO!" Ryuto and Sora cheered at the same time, high-fiving as they continued chasing after the final treasure hunter, who briefly stumbled from Cyber's waves.
Ryuto cursed under his breath as he could tell where the last treasure hunter was heading. A bridge spanning over the ravine up ahead led to a forest area of all brush with few paths. It would be harder to chase and battle in that terrain.
"We gotta stop him before he crosses that bridge!" Ryuto turned his head towards Sora. He nodded, commanding Cyber to run faster.
What the two didn't expect, though, was for the treasure hunter to suddenly stop and turn to them, quickly launching his own bey. The hunter's bey shot Dragonis and Cyber off balance, stunning Ryuto for a second.
"Damnit, I can't let him get away like this," Ryuto cursed, waving his hand to command his bey's next move.
"DON'T WORRY, HE WONT!" a nearby voice rang.
Ryuto heard the rumbling of a familiar motorcycle fly above his head and signaled Sora to stop chasing. Cyber's blader stared in awe at the blader that suddenly appeared who was about to end their chase.
"DIVINE CHIMERA, WILD BEAST DANCE!" Kakeru shouted, followed by a yellow flash of light swirling down into the ground, knocking both the opponent and bey into the air before they could reach the bridge.
.
.
"All of this over a stupid cup," the thief coughed, still on the ground while Kakeru took the bag tied across the treasure hunter's waist. Kakeru spun the bag in his hands before handing it to Ryuto.
"Your fancy cup, your highness," Kakeru grinned. Ryuto's eyebrow twitched.
"I told you not to call me that," Dragonis' blader shook his head and strapped the bag across his shoulder where it was meant to be. He summoned his bey into his hand and dusted it off with the side of his gloved hand before placing it back in its case.
"What, no "thank you?"" Kakeru fake-pouted. "I stopped that guy for ya!" he said, pointing to the treasure hunter, now passed out in the dirt.
"You could've stopped him earlier if you were here with us," Ryuto shrugged.
"Okay. Okay yeah. I could've gotten up faster," Kakeru rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. "But hey! You've got your fancy cup back. I say it's all good now."
Ryuto stared at his other partner, who regained his silly, all-teeth grin that highlighted his sharp canines. As slightly ticked off as he was at Kakeru for being the last of them to wake up while being robbed, he couldn't stay mad at him.
"You're right, you did get the chalice back," Ryuto sighed. "Thank you, Kakeru," he spoke sincerely. Chimera's blader took that as a win and patted Ryuto on the shoulder before turning to Sora.
"And you!" Kakeru pointed to Sora with both his index fingers. "I saw your special move in the air while riding over here! Almost knocked me off my bike! Our training paid off, right?"
"It sure did!" Sora cheered, returning Kakeru's gestures by slapping him a double high five.
"We're gonna battle again when we get back! I want you to use that move against Chimera!" Sora nodded at the challenge, beaming with excitement.
"By the way, Ryu," Kakeru started, watching as Ryuto carefully opened his bag to reveal the golden chalice he'd been chasing. It was slightly dull from age but still beautiful and could be resorted. Its surface was decorated with various gems and engraved with patterns that seemed to depict the long bodies of dragons from where Kakeru was standing. "What's so important with this cup specifically? Sometimes you just let other treasure hunters take small things like this one. What's up?"
"This chalice is one made by my ancestors," Ryuto smiled, turning the artifact in his hands so his partners could see the engravings better. "I've been collecting old things from the Dragon Clan for a few years now, and they're always my top priority."
"So, is that the reason why that group of treasure hunters stole from you?" Sora asked.
"That or I just have such a good reputation for having such good loot," Ryuto winked. "But I'm not sure if it's because of my ancestors. The Dragon Clan isn't very well known anymore. Usually, people who know about its existence are historians or people who have ties to it."
"I guess we fall in the category of people who have ties to it, then," Kakeru laughed, slightly shaking Sora's shoulder, who began laughing too. "Hey, how about we head back to the city for a bit? I'm craving some hot pot!"
"Only if you're paying!" Sora shook him back. "I think you owe us after that scare!"
"Sure, sure!"
Ryuto sighed but nodded his head in agreement. One chase at a time was probably good for them for now.
"All right, we'll take a break," Ryuto agreed, wrapping his arms around his two partner's shoulders.