Somehow, Tyson and Daichi had managed to convince Hilary to go and buy them more fast food and so Kai, Ray, Max and Kenny had departed the vestibule in search of seats in the arena.
"I wonder who will be blading first!" Kenny gushed with excitement as they sat down near the back "I heard there are two new, never before heard of teams in this category, ah yes!" he said, pulling out the official BBA program, "Duality, and the Spinsnakes!" he read out loud, Ray was listening intently whilst Kai stared down at the six teams who were waiting to see if they would be randomly selected to blade in the first match. He watched as Tala walked across the stadium floor to join Bryan and Spencer who were stood at the far end of the groups. Then he noticed F-Dynasty, Julia was looking her usual pretty self. She was waving confidently up at the crowd, nudging Raul with her elbow in an attempt to get him to join in whilst Romero was surveying his audience, as if he were about to preform a prestigious ballet.
The Justice 5 were also there; Garland appeared to have finished his pre-match meditation and was standing tall and proud next to Ming-Ming; who was waving at the crowd as if she were the queen. Mystel was nowhere to be seen, but that was to be expected. Crusher was stood a few meters away, chattering happily to a young girl who Kai assumed must be his little sister- "That's Crushers sister! She must have got better, I'm so pleased!" said Ray happily. He seemed to be ignoring the fact that Ming-Ming existed.
Brooklyn was of course, lying down on a bench at the side of the arena, looking as if he didn't want to be there.
Kais eyes flickered towards the two new teams, he recognized immediately the girl with black hair- Isobel- he reminded himself. She was stood next to two boys; one of them must have been Tim; he had light brown hair and looked very excited, he was bouncing around on the balls of his feet with a goofy smile on his face; Kai was instantly reminded of Tyson. He vaguely recognized the second boy, he looked very similar to Isobel in many ways, especially his hair and face. The only difference was that he was very tall, and she was very small. He was wearing a long coat that made Kai think of the film The Matrix, and Kai could tell from the way he was standing that he was nervous.
The second unknown team was stood in the middle of all the groups that were staring around anxiously; they were each wearing green camo cargo shorts and a yellow t-shirt with the picture of a snake emblazoned on the front. Kai shook his head with a little smirk; it was always so amusing when teams had uniforms.
"They must be the Spinsnakes!" Kenny said, noting Kai's gaze.
Kai rolled his eyes at Kenny's obvious statement but then noticed that Jazzman was climbing back into the announcement box, brandishing a giant microphone.
"WELCOME TO THE BLOCK B TOURNAMENT KICK OFF! WHO WILL COMPETE IN TODAYS MATCH? LETS GET STRAIGHT TO IT!" he shouted eagerly. Everyone's attention had now turned to the screen, which began to flash between different photos of each team, and then, in the left box appeared "THE JUSTICE 5!" the crowd cheered as Garland, Ming-Ming, Crusher, Mystel (who had magically appeared as if from nowhere) and Brooklyn stepped up from the bench. "THEY WILL BE FACING-" the crowd waited with bated breath- "DUALITY!" there was mixed reaction from the stands as Isobel and her team walked swiftly over to the opposing bench.
Kai smirked; Duality would be on their way home soon enough.
"FROM THE JUSTICE 5, MING-MING!" Ming-Ming skipped up to the dish in her blading outfit, waving again to her fans as they chanted 'Ming-Ming!' over and over again in unison. Kai noticed Kenny shift excitedly in his seat and Ray looked uncomfortable.
"AND FROM OUR NEW-COMERS, DUALITY- TIM!" The brown haired boy made his way up the steps, launcher already loaded with a determined look on his face. The pair appeared to exchange pleasantries and then "3-2-1 LET IT RIP!"
"COME ON VENUS!" Ming-Ming's sickly sweet voice could be heard magnified throughout the crowd, Tim on the other hand remained quiet; he appeared to be concentrating hard on the battle. Suddenly there was a muffled clatter on the seat next to Kai and he jerked his head away from the battle. Kenny had crumpled down into his seat and his laptop had hit the floor with a crash. Kai and Ray looked at each other with bemused expressions.
"Kenny, are you alright?" Ray asked, alarmed.
A low giggle emerged slowly from the mouth of the small crumpled teenager. "My darling Ming-Ming!" he said simply, gurgling slightly with a dazed look on his face.
"Really?!" Kai let out an exasperated noise and grabbed Kenny by the scruff of the neck, pulling him back up into a normal sitting position. "Sit there, collect data and stop messing around!"
Of course, at that moment, Ming-Ming began to sing. It was one of her new songs; Kai couldn't quite decide whether it was more awful than the original or not. Naturally, the effect this had on Kenny meant that he once again lost his head and became completely uncontrollable. He slid down his chair once more, ending up on the floor where he began thrashing around like a fish out of water.
"Incompetent asshole," Kai growled, giving Kenny a sharp nudge with his foot so the small computer nerd rolled down the isle of the stand, coming to rest roughly a meter away. Ray had a look of mild amusement on his face and was laughing nervously.
"Heh, heh, heh. Never learns does he…" Ray mused, laughing slightly. Kenny was now singing and waving his arms around from the floor. Kai shook his head and turned back to the match.
The two beyblades in the center of the dish were now heated in what seemed to be an intense battle; Ming-Ming had called out her bitbeast Venus but Tim seemed to be holding back. "I wonder what he's waiting for," Ray said, but he needn't have wondered.
"COME ON LIONHEART TAKE HER OUT, ATTACK!" Tim called. Interesting, Kai thought, realizing that Tim must be quite a tactical blader. It would have been useful to collect this information, however Kenny was still a useless mess flailing around on the floor to the sound of Ming-Ming's irritating voice.
Kai guessed he would just have tell Kenny later, along with a long rant letting him know how much he had let the team down.
"Wow he's really kicking it up a notch!" Ray watched excitedly.
"I wouldn't be too sure Ray, Ming-Ming looks awfully confident!" said Max. Moments later Ming-Ming stopped singing and was concentrating all her efforts into her blade, which was spinning circles around Tim, hitting the blade back into the center of the dish whenever it tried to loop around and knock her out. A look of panic appeared on Tim's face.
"Come on Lionheart, don't give up on me-" but it was too late, the blade had left the beydish and landed with a harsh crash on the floor behind him.
"Aw man.." Max sighed
"Yep," Ray agreed.
Kai and Ray turned to gaze at Kenny; he looked like a solitary worm that had died on the pavement during a hot day.
Ray shook his head as the boy began to stir. "Ming-Ming stopped singing!" he grumbled.
"Chief, you missed the show, Ming-Ming won!" Max praised.
"My darling Ming-Ming won? That's wonderful news!" Kenny jumped up immediately, gripping his face with his palms and falling over backwards in excitement. Eventually he managed to balance himself and climbed up onto one of the arenas flimsy fold out chairs.
"I KNEW YOU COULD DO IT MING-MING!" he called down into the stadium, arms open wide as if wanting Ming-Ming to fly up into the crowd and greet him with a celebratory hug. This stance didn't last long though; both Ray and Kai grasped Kenny's shoulders and pulled him back down to earth.
Ray was laughing, "aren't you meant to be, y'know, collecting data Chief?" Kenny looked up at them both, blinking innocently as Ray's eyes traveled over to Kenny's neglected laptop that was still exactly where he had dropped it, perched upside down with a slight dent in the side.
"Oh man…." Kenny moaned, the realization dawning on his face, "Dizzi is going to kill me," he picked up the laptop and started examining it, opening the lid tentatively.
"If you think I'm collecting any data for you, you've got another thing coming!" the laptop said, and with that the screen went blank.
"Dizzi… Dizzi!" Kenny panicked, pressing the on-off button vigorously. "Oh man, what have I done?"
"Let the team down." Kai stated. Oh how he had yearned to say that for the past fifteen minutes.
"That's a bit harsh Kai!" said Max. Kai looked at him indifferently, he knew it had been harsh, that's why he had said it. Max and Kai stared each other down until suddenly, two hands grabbed each of them by the shoulders.
"What are you two arguing about!" it was Tyson, closely followed by Daichi and Hilary. Hilary was clutching a tray of food and Tyson was already tucking into his second burger of the day, or maybe it was his third, Kai had given up on counting. Ray explained their current conundrum to the rest of the team.
"Aw no sweat! That's alright Kenny, we'll just have to use our brains for once eh!" said Tyson, nudging Max in the stomach. Max chuckled and took a bite of the burger that Hilary passed to him.
"Your brain is something we definitely don't need, Tyson," said Kai accepting a burger and fries from Hilary; wondering if he was going to be living off junk food for this entire tournament.
"Oh man, what a grouch! YOU NEED MY BRAIN BECAUSE I'M THE CHAMPION!" Tyson reminded him. Kai rolled his eyes and began to eat.
"OKKK THEN!" Once again, Jazzman was rising in his announcement box, "IT LOOKS LIKE EVERYONE HERE IS READY TO GO, TODAY'S SECOND MATCH OF BLOCK B, GARLAND OF THE JUSTICE 5 VERSUS ISSAK OF TEAM DULITY!"
Kai stared down at the arena floor and watched as the leather clad boy slouched up the stairs to the dish with his head bowed. "Wow, he looks like he takes himself way too seriously," Max chuckled as Tyson and Ray laughed. Garland on the other hand was already stood at the edge looking proud as ever. Of course- Kai thought, of course they would keep Brooklyn until last.
Garland was staring the newcomer down and Issak was staring at his launcher until, "3-2-1 LET IT RIP!" The two blades flew into the dish with extreme force. Within minutes, Garland was up to his old kickboxing tricks and his blade began to mimic his actions. Issak on the other hand was attacking like a bull that had seen a red; he seemed to have only one mode, attack. Kai wondered if it would be enough to beat Garland.
"Woah, he's really standing his ground against Garland!" said Tyson, bouncing in his seat excitedly.
Fifteen minutes had passed and neither blade was letting up. Issak had seemed quite reserved before the match, but he was beginning to lash out with attacks of incredible force that could be felt all the way from the top balcony of the stadium. The Bladebreakers were in their element, if blading was their first favourite thing, then watching a really good match had to be their second. Or, then again, maybe in Tyson's case it was food.
"AW MAN I REALLY WANNA FACE THIS ISSAK GUY!" Tyson shouted impatiently with his mouth full of burger.
"I have to admit, I'd be intrigued to find out how a match between myself and him would pan out- WOAH! Look at that attack!" Ray jumped, pointing at the dish, as if he needed to.
"Garland's struggling!" Kai stated, and he wasn't wrong; Garland was breathing heavily, no longer his normal tall self, leaning slightly to one side in an attempt to keep himself upright. Issak must have noticed as he chose this moment to bring out his final attack, finally calling upon his bitbeast with a roar, "VAMPKOR!" Garlands blade was knocked directly out of the dish, right past his face as he stared in absolute shock at his defeat.
The crowd cheered with confusion and delight and the Bladebreakers all exchanged astonished looks.
"Well that was…" Max began.
"Unexpected…" finished Tyson.
Kai noted how they all looked a bit disappointed; he assumed that they had all been expecting Garland to win, and were dissapointed that they couldn't go and congratulate him after the match. Kai was impressed; after all, a newcomer had come along and defeated Garland.
He quickly scanned the stands in an attempt to locate Tala, knowing he must have been watching. Everywhere he looked there were faces of shock and bewilderment in the crowd, no one had expected Garland to be defeated in the first match. Out of the corner of his eye, Kai spotted a flash of red hair before it quickly disappeared down one of the hallways leading back into the auditorium.
Brooklyn was now making his way up to the dish. The Bladebreakers watched as he patted Garland on the shoulder in what Kai thought looked like the most patronizing way to comfort a human that he had ever seen.
Normally, there was at least a five-minute break between each session but Brooklyn was already pulling his blade and launcher from his pocket. "Hey, Brooklyn, good to see you're eager but you do know you've got a ten minute break right?" Jazzman grinned.
"I'd rather get this over and done with, then I can go for a nap." Brooklyn's voice drawled through the crowd, as if the last place he wanted to be was there.
"Fine by me." Isobel said, emerging from the bench shelter. She was clutching her blade and fixing it onto the launcher as she walked swiftly up to the dish.
"That's Isobel!" shouted Max excitedly as he pointed down into the center of the arena. "Y'know, the girl I met yesterday?" He looked around at everyone's uninterested expression and frowned, "isn't she pretty? She said I could call her Izzy!"
Everyone knew that Max was a bit of a flirt, whenever he saw a pretty girl he just couldn't resist talking to them, and Kai was 99.9% sure that Max was already making a mental note to go and speak to her after the battle.
"Someone's in lurveee!" Tyson jibed, poking Max in the cheek as Ray and Hilary chuckled.
"Maybe I am!" Max mused blissfully, "look at her long, flowing hair, it's so silky!" he added in a dreamy voice.
"Hn," Kai growled, surely they should be concentrating on the match and not on one of the bladers hair, "I don't think anyone here gives a shit how pretty she is apart from you Ma-."
Tyson cut across him, "I dunno man, she's all right, I guess," he was squinting his eyes to get a better look.
"Very petite." Ray observed.
"She doesn't quite match up to my Ming-Ming but I mean, I wouldn't say no…" Kenny giggled.
There was a long pause in which Tyson, Max, Ray and Kenny all slowly turned to towards Hilary whose face was red with anger. "Have you quite finished?" she asked in a voice that sounded dangerously calm.
"Uhhh…" Tyson gurgled before she reached out and slapped all four of them across the face.
"PAY ATTENTION!" she yelled, "especially you, Tyson!"
Kai folded his arms and smirked.
"Wh-WHY ME?" Tyson asked incredulously.
"BECAUSE!" Hilary shouted back at him as if that was a legitimate reason.
"They're starting." Kai interjected. They stifled their squabbling but not before Tyson had turned to Max and jabbed him in the rib with his elbow and whispered 'your fault'.
The two opponents in the arena were now facing each other, launchers raised and ready to pull the chord.
"IT LOOKS LIKE OUR TWO OPPONENTS ARE READY FOR THE DECIDING MATCH, BROOKLYN OF THE JUSTICE 5 VERSUS ISOBEL OF DUALITY!" The crowd cheered, "THREE-TWO-ONE LET IT RIP!" the two blades launched, meeting before they had even hit the dish. A wave of pressure passed over the crowd and all six of them leaned forward in their seats intently. Kai noticed that despite the first powerful hit, Brooklyn was looking disinterested and was, as always, not taking the battle seriously. Kai wondered if the battles with him and Tyson had taught Brooklyn nothing.
"Wow, they're so much better than the Bladesurfers!" Hilary said as a second shock wave passed over them.
"Yeah!" Max agreed, "its a shame they'll be out by the end of the match." Max sighed preemptively, voicing what everyone else was thinking- that there was no doubt in anyones mind that Brooklyn would win.
"You know, you may as well give up, your friend may have beaten Garland but you're no match for me!" Brooklyn shouted.
Isobel didn't seem to acknowledge his comment but Kai noticed a small smile flicker across her face as her blade picked up speed and quickly darted out of the way of Brooklyn's blade.
"Woah, her blade is fast!" Ray said in astonishment. Everyone knew that Ray was the fastest member of the Bladebreakers, after all, he was a White Tiger, so this must have been some speed to impress him.
Brooklyn didn't look as though he was trying very hard, he was avoiding her blade and instead spinning lazily around her. Kai could never understand why Brooklyn bladed this way; why compete in matches if you don't want to attack? It was almost like a defensive style, apart from it wasn't. It was like Brooklyn was simply avoiding her, and Isobel was unsure of what Brooklyn was hiding up his sleeve so she was following suit and avoiding contact. Kai frowned as he watched Brooklyn, surely it would have be better to get it over and done with. Kai would have knocked Isobel's blade out within the first few minutes if he were in Brooklyn's place.
On the occasion their blades met, they left marks on the surface of the dish. Kai was surprised at how well Isobel was holding her ground despite Brooklyn's lack of trying. For a new comer, she was doing pretty well. Their blades crashed together again and this time the impact left a large dent in the dish. It seemed that this time Isobel had got impatient and had rammed Brooklyn's blade back forcefully. The crowd cheered.
"I guess you're not as pathetic as you look!" Brooklyn sneered, looking down at the crack in the dish, "but you're still pretty crap…" He began to raise his hand, Brooklyn must have finally decided to get the match over and done with and Kai knew exactly what was coming.
"KING OF DARKNESS ATTACK!" A black and purple mist erupted from Brooklyn's blade and began to swirl out into the air.
The entire crowd held their breath as the mist began to engulf Isobel's blade and the silhouette of a terrifying beast could be seen emerging from the darkness. Kai couldn't help but notice that instead of looking scared, Isobel looked, if possible, pleased? Surely she didn't have anything up her sleeve that could get herself out of this predicament?
"Finally!" She said with a grin, her blade took the attack, it pushed her from the center almost to the edge of the dish but then at the last moment her blade dipped out sideways and down, circling around back and jolting Zeus forwards, right to the lip of the dish. Brooklyn stared at her angrily, annoyed that his attack didn't seem to be having its usual effect.
"AGAIN, ZEUS!" He growled angrily, but again, Isobel's blade darted out of the way and sped off in the other direction. Brooklyn went speeding after it but then it quickly changed direction, heading directly for Zeus. Slam! Another shock wave penetrated the stadium. The stands were roaring louder at this unsuspected turn of events. No one had ever stood up to Brooklyn like this in a battle before apart from Tyson and Kai.
The purple mist was staring to swirl around them and Brooklyn was beginning to get angry, Kai could see it on his face and in his posture. He was now calling on Zeus over and over, trying to bombard her with attacks.
"She's actually holding her ground!" Tyson exclaimed excitedly and the rest of the team nodded, not tearing their eyes away from the battle.
"COME ONNNN!" Brookyln roared at his blade.
"That's.. It? Oh come on, is that the best you've got?" Isobel taunted through the purple haze, "I'm not impressed," she said with a smirk. Kai frowned at this, hadn't he heard those words before? Wasn't that was exactly what Brooklyn had said to Kai before defeating him the first time? Was she mocking him? Had she watched their previous battles? It wasn't impossible.
Kai wasn't sure how he felt about her knowing that off by heart, but he grinned anyway, it was actually a pretty good strategy to to taunt Brooklyn like this, and he was impressed.
"Wh-what?" Brooklyn stuttered and his attack faded slightly.
She grinned, "Oh well, you're history!" Smoke began to emit from her beyblade, the crowd all held a collective breath as they watched her push Brooklyns blade back, all the way to the edge again. Brooklyn looked on with a horrified expression.
"No way!" he shouted angrily, but now the plume of smoke was gathering speed as it swirled around the dish, intermingling with the purple mist. "You can't fuck with me like that!" Brooklyn growled. Kai could see that he was starting to lose it again. It looked as if the smoke was about to engulf Brooklyn and his blade entirely and then-
"NO!" yelled Brooklyn, "KING OF DARKNESS, RISE AND DESTROY!"
Everyone gasped, was this a new attack? Isobel wasn't fast enough to block the oncoming attack and a dark flame lashed out, but instead of hitting her beyblade, it hit her instead. She cried out in pain, one of her sleeves tearing open to reveal a large gash.
The crowd reeled in horror and cries of out outrage could be heard throughout the stadium.
"He can't do that!" Kai shouted angrily, gripping the back of the chair in front.
"That's what he did to you!" exclaimed Max.
"WOAH!" shouted Jazzman, "THATS A LOW BLOW FROM BROOKLYN, ATTACKING THE BLADER NOT THE BEYBLADE! LOOKS LIKE HES GOING TO KEEP UP HIS TRACK RECORD!"
Another blow hit Isobel on opposite side and she let out another sharp yelp of pain.
"We should stop this!" yelled Tyson, standing up. Kai followed immediately.
"Tyson!" protested Hilary, "you can't go down there!"
Tyson turned back to argue with her but Kai was already marching down the steps towards the stadium floor. No one should ever have to face what Brooklyn did to him.
As he advanced, he didn't take his eyes off the match and was horrified when Brooklyn hit her again across the back of the leg. Isobel fell to one knee gripping the underside of her leg. Unable to concentrate, she faltered and her blade lost momentum.
"BROOKLYN!" Kai roared from the last step, marching towards them.
Isobel's teammates looked scared and quickly rushed to the side of the podium that she was stood on as a voice sounded over the tannoy system. 'No unauthorized persons on stadium floor. Please vacate the area immediately.' Kai ignored it. He could see Isobel's team staring at him, unsure of what to do. He marched past them, advancing on Brooklyn.
"YOU NEVER LEARN DO YOU?" Kai yelled, "YOU CAN'T ATTACK THE BLADER!"
"YOU!" bellowed Brooklyn, noticing him for the first time, abruptly distracted from the battle.
"IT LOOK'S LIKE KAI'S HERE TO GIVE HIS OLD RIVAL A TALKING TO!" Shouted Jazzman gleefully.
"YYYYOUUUU!" Brooklyn sneered again, as if drunk.
"Yeah, me." Kai said angrily, "stop attaking your opponents, stop using violence as a cop-out!" he said angrily.
Brooklyn was staring at Kai as if he were shocked to see him standing there. He staggering back, pointing at him, and then let out a maniacal laugh. Kai realised about half a second too late that Brooklyn had shot an attack directly at him. He hauled himself out of the way as sharp pain sliced through his upper arm.
"Ahhh!" Kai flinched and started forwards again, he could hear Tyson yelling behind him, he must have dislodged himself from Hilary.
"If either of you take one step onto the podium the match will be void!" said Jazzman and they both halted in their tracks.
"I'LL TAKE BOTH OF YOU ON!" Brooklyn roared manically at Kai and Tyson.
"Excuse me." Said a cold and clear voice from the opposite side of the dish. Kai and Tyson whipped around to see Isobel struggling to her feet.
"Isobel!" said her teammates worriedly.
"I'm fine!" Isobel she insisted, forcing herself into a standing position. It must have been difficult with the smoke and mist that was now moving almost tornado-like around them.
Brooklyn was still laughing. He hadn't removed his eyes from Kai and had not noticed Isobel was standing again.
"HEY!" Isobel yelled at him, trying to get his attention, but was again ignored.
She exhaled a derisive breath, "I'm still here, y'know," her voice was soft and silky, they could barely hear it over the rustling of the wind. To some people it may have seemed rather meek, but Kai knew that voice. It was the same voice his Grandfather used whenever he was really, really angry, and along with it, Kai noticed that the smoke around them seemed to change.
It began to take form. Long fingered, smoky hands almost like talons materialized into being and reached towards Brooklyn's pale face. They grasped him by the jaw, fingers curling around the back of his head with a delicate, tender grip. Brooklyn's eyes swiveled back to meet Isobel's, looking horrified and finally distracted, panic in his eyes.
He reached up, trying to pull the long spindly hands away from his face but it was like moving his fingers through smoke. Fear gripped him and he started to struggle, "NO!" he yelled. Everyone watched aghast as the hands clutched him tighter and he struggled even more.
"I'm the one you're battling." She said in the same soft voice, and then the hands snapped Brooklyn's head forwards to face her with a loud crack. There was a short silence where everyone must have thought for a a second, the hands had broken Brooklyn's neck. But when he didn't crumple to the foor there was a collective sigh of relief that passed over the crowd.
"Don't get distracted again." She said, her hair flowing ominously in the wind.
Jazzman let out a nervous breath into the microphone but seemed momentarily robbed of words.
They both stared each other down as if they were about to begin again, even though the match had never stopped.
"Fine, you have my undivided attention," said Brooklyn and Kai couldn't help but notice how dangerous he sounded.
"C'mon," Tyson pulled Kai away by his arm, "I think it'll be alright now," Kai nodded, feeling that the moment had passed and he and the rest of the team fell back to the edge of the stadium, seating themselves in some chairs on the stadium floor.
"You know," Brooklyn continued, "if you had wanted a proper match, you should have just gone in for it from the start, instead of just faffing around," he smirked, gesturing towards Zeus who was now standing boldly behind him, inhaling the smoke hanging in the air.
Isobel smirked, "I was just following your lead."
Kai couldn't help but admire her tenacity, that was, until Brooklyn's blade slammed hers so hard into the dish that it almost stopped spinning.
"OHHHH, IS THIS IT?" yelled Jazzman excitedly.
"NO WAY!" Isobel yelled. Zeus was swirling around, mingling with the smoke and with a look of panic she called out to her blade.
"COME ON!" for a few seconds, it did nothing. But then, a vast, dark figure rose from the bitchip. The smoke in the room intensified, shielding it from view as a figure drew itself up to full height, filling the stadium. The crowed stared in awe, mesmerized. It gave a long, drawn out rattling breath. The BitBeast seemed to suck all of the air from the room and everyone in the stands was gasping, clutching at their throats and looking scared.
Kai couldn't quite figure out what it was, but the BitBeast had the same ghostly look as the talons that had clasped Brooklyn's face minutes before. Kai felt the air catch in his lungs as he watched the figure breathing deeply, surveying Brooklyn. Since when did BitBeasts breathe? There was something about it that felt eerily familiar, kind of like Brooklyn's own BitBeast. Maybe they were similar in some way?
Kai felt a little dizzy, he wasn't sure if it was the appearance of the BitBeast or the lack of air, but he turned to Tyson and saw he too was looking slightly dazed.
Brooklyn was staring up at the figure, mouth agape. "Wh-what is that?" he asked, he sounded both angry and a little scared.
"My BitBeast," she answered angrily. Kai wasn't surprised, there were multiple gashes all over her arms, "attack!" she said bitterly.
The BitBeast drew another long breath and Kai saw what must have been eyes and talons flash through the smoke. It was swooping down, drawing another rattling, strained breath. It seemed to be trying to inhale Brooklyn's BitBeast.
"What is it doing?" Kenny asked aghast, coughing and squinting through the smoke.
The two beyblades, which now could only be seen by the light of their glowing bitchips, were crashing together with alarming force. Isobel's attack was getting faster and soon Brooklyn was starting to panic.
"KING OF DARKNESS ATTACK!" he roared once again, and Zeus advanced on her, the darkness in the stadium increasing.
"Ohh boy.." Tyson sighed, Kai momentarily pulled his eyes away, thinking that Tyson might have something important to say for once, only to see Tyson close his eyes. Hilary also turned to look at Tyson, confused.
"Err Tyson, what are you doing?"
"Oh nothing, I'm just preparing to get sucked into an alternate dimension of darkness." Tyson replied cheerily.
Kai rolled his eyes, but before they could be pulled into Brooklyn's third dimension of darkness, they heard strangled screaming from the dish. Kai quickly returned his gaze to the match only to find that he could no longer see it. "KING OF DARKNESS!" Brooklyn cried out over and over again.
"Isn't that a bit of a pretentious name for an attack?" Isobel was shouting back at him.
"ARGHHH, ATTACKKK!" Yelled Brooklyn.
There was a large crash as Zeus was pushed back against the ceiling. One of the supporting beams fell from the ceiling of the stadium with a resounding crunch of metal on concrete. Some of the walls crumbled at the edges.
"How is she doing this?" Ray gasped.
Kai had no idea how she was doing it. He had never even imagined that any of the teams in Block B would be able to go up against the Justice 5 and win, especially against Brooklyn. It was insane to think that a newcomer had managed it.
The smoke was now becoming so thick that fire alarms had kicked into action, blaring its loud siren around the entire complex. The crowd started to panic and retreat from the stands and Ray grabbed the back of Max and Daichi's jackets, "we better go!" they leap over their seats, "come on Tyson, Kai…" but Kai and Tyson were both rooted to the spot, staring at the dish with complete fascination and disregard for their own safety.
"How is this happening?" Tyson whined.
"Yeah, this is insane," Kai agreed.
"It doesn't matter how or why, we've just got to get out of here!" Hilary said impatiently grabbing them both by the arm, trying to pull them away.
"Its not an actual fire, its fine!" Tyson coughed through the smoke. Hilary gestured impatiently to the fallen beam and grabbed the back of Tyson's jacket. "Awww, but Hilary I wanna see who wins!"
"I think… she might actually win." Kai said as he squinted through the smoke. He wasn't quite sure how he knew, but his instincts were telling him so. A few seconds later, a small flaming object flew past them with extreme force, lodging itself into the concrete wall. Kai ran forward to assess the damage; it was battered and burnt to a crisp but there was no mistaking the bitchip which was still lodged in the centre. "Zeus.." he said, staring at it. "Its Zeus. Brooklyn lost."
The smoke began to fade.
"AND… THE WINNER... UM WELL.." said Jazzman looking around attempting to identity the charred blade.
"IT'S ZEUS! BROOKLYN LOST!" Tyson shouted at the announcer who stuck his thumb up in thanks.
"IN A SHOCK MOVE BY OUR NEWCOMERS, THE WINNER IS TEAM DUALITY! ISOBEL WINS!" Jazzman coughed into the microphone. The smoke was now starting to clear properly and they could all see the outline of Brooklyn, he was kneeling ontop of his podium, head bowed. Opposite, Isobel stood swaying on the spot, she looked as if she were about to faint, watching her own blade spinning in the center of the dish.
The crowd let out a confused roar. Issak and Tim were rushing up onto the podium to hug their teammate. The Bladebreakers watched as she slumped in her brothers arms.
"We should go help!" insisted Max as Jazzman continued to delight at the crowd.
"Yeah, we should make sure she's ok!" Tyson agreed.
"WHAT A BATTLE, IT SEEMS WE HAVE A NEW TEAM TO BEAT! What a surprise for the Justice 5, better luck next time eh guys!" he stuck both thumbs in the air, smiling cheesily.
"Well, I guess this changes the game a little bit," Hilary mused as the other five stood there in shock, unsure of whether to go over to the dish to help or congratulate Isobel.
"A LITTLE BIT?" Tyson shouted at her.
"Yeah, a little bit." Kai agreed, staring at Brooklyn's charred blade.
ok ok ok... i know everyone hates a mary sue. but isn't beyblade just filled with mary sues? some super powerful blader comes along to put them all in their place and remind them they still have to improve, I mean, Brooklyn? MASSIVE mary sue. like im sorry what is "naturally talented beyblader" so silly of the canon. anyway...
i mean THERES ALSO A REASON that i cannot disclose for plot purposes of course. mehehe! I can't wait to write the next chapter because its just going to be pure chaos! i swear I'll get around to some romance soon sorry for the SLOWEST BURN EVER
thanks so much to AS and SierrA 0220 for the reviews again! hope you enjoyed this chapter :)