Red Eye's POV

I leaned forward on the crimson ornate chair, coming closer to the screen that glowed in the darkness of the room. Bringing my hands forward, I quickly pressed some buttons before leaning back and waiting. One. Two. Three. The screen that was showing the yards of Snake Pit glitched before another screen featuring five figures comforting another crouched one in the hallways of Snake Pit. A clam, serene yet alert expression crossed my face as I watched the scene unfold. There wasn't any sound emitting from the screen, but that did not matter. It seemed like the huddle of bladers were rehashing the battle to the crouched one. No emotion seemed to be crossing her face, not even a slightest hint about what she was thinking about. It was like she was lost in her own world, yet she was still here, listening to the others silently. I directed my focus onto the crouched figure, the girl who was clad in red-and-gold. The one I had battled. The one I used to -

'Red Eye,' the cutting voice of Ashtem sliced through my thoughts. I still faced away from the doorway he was standing in, but I could feel his eyes peering over my shoulder to look at the glowing screen that lit up the room. 'I see you have been observing the scene in the hallway. I am very aware of that, so in ten minutes you shall gather the others and meet in Section B, Corridor 5, Door 6. The Oculi Space. Be prompt.'

With that, he spun on his heel and closed the door, leaving me alone with my thoughts again. I took a deep breath and forced myself to get rid of all the old memories I was reliving. That was in the past.

And there was nothing to be gained by living in the past.

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(y/n)'s POV

I gripped the mossy stones around me, trying to get my head back in the game. Ever since I collapsed, again, my whole headspace has been a little blurry. Occasionally black spots cloud my vision and I'm forced to rely on the Bey Club. No offense, but there isn't much maturity in the Bey Club. Shu, who was probably the only one sane, left. Valt and Cuza are loud, impulsive, innocent and often confused. Wakiya's convinced me his goal in life is to insult everybody, especially Honcho who squabbles with Wakiya like they're three years old. Often I've heard Daigo muttering dirty jokes and pretty dark things. I don't want to rely on the Bey Club! I forced myself to keep my eyes open instead of closing them, which I was busting to do. I don't want the Bey Club to fuss and worry over a small thing. I only fainted and collapsed for the third time today.

'(y/n), are you feeling any better?' Valt asked me softly for the hundredth time that day. He crouched down besides me and patted me gently on the back.

'I'm fine,' I managed a weak smile. 'What happened? I've kinda forgotten. The last thing I remember was promising to win a battle I had with Red Eye.'

'Oh...' Valt said quietly. I bit my lip, concluding that I had forgotten a lot. 'Well, um, you started off strong in the battle. Xcalius is more powerful than ever. Somehow Red Eye managed to get ahold of Spryzen. Don't ask me how. So, erm, he kinda beat you. And then he yelled out that you broke the promise to win the battle-'

'Oh,' I murmured softly, turning away from the blunette. Unaware, he kept on talking about the battle, but the words soon became noise in the background as everything began to fade away gently. I wasn't fainting again, no, this was just like the time when I battle Lui. 'And broke the promise to Shu...'

Tears splattered Xcalius. Why? Why did this have to happen to me? I was so close to beating my old rival...to make it to the semi-finals where I could verse Shu....

Shu....I glanced sideways and saw he had left. Probably because he was ashamed to be seen with such a weak blader. I had broke my promise. To meet him and battle him with my full strength in the semi finals.

The pain hurt. Really badly. I caught a glimpse of Lui's smirking face and the pain was worse.

'What do you want?' I glared through my tears, wiping them away.

'Ha,' Lui let out a short, amused laugh, like before. 'I didn't crush your bey. But I crushed you.'

He was right. He had crushed me. All of the sudden, the pain of losing was too much. I needed to let it out. The pain, the sadness, the anger.....

I realized I was screaming without meaning too. I closed my mouth, wiping away some more tears. I looked directly into Lui's eyes, without and tears or hair in the way. It was a fierce, determined stare.

'Know this,' I demanded coldly. 'I will beat you. Someday, I'll end your winning streak! You'll see. We will battle again someday!'

'Good,' grinned Lui. 'I'll be here to end it the same way.'

For a second, both of our auras erupted, flames and everything. I gritted my teeth and walked towards the exit.

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It would've been a nice day to celebrate victory. The clouds had gone, clearing the sky of an endless blue. The sun was high up in the sky, beating down on the flying seagulls that crawed whenever a huge wave hit the sand. I wiggled my toes in the sand before sitting down.The sand was dense, but not too wet. It was a nice, cold feeling. I closed my eyes and listened to the roaring waves and the breeze ruffling my hair, staining the tear marks on my cheeks. The sand next to me squished and I knew someone sat down. I opened my eyes and was slightly suprised to see Shu there, grabbing out and holding my hand.

'Shu?' I asked, slightly suprised. 'What are you doing here.'

'Comforting my girlfriend,' he smiled. 'Obviously.'

'But...I broke my promise,' I said quietly, turning away as tears prickled my eyes. 'And you left right after I lost. I thought you....'

'That I didn't want to be with someone who lost to Lui?' When I nodded, he laughed. 'Oh (y/n), did I really seem that shallow? I like you not because you're a great blader, which you are, but because I like you being you. Not like all the other girls who are fangirls and act like every other girl...you're different.'

There was silence as I took in those sweet words. I gazed up into his ruby red hues and he stared back into my (e/c) ones, our faces nearing.

'I'm so sorry I broke our promise,' I whispered, breathing slightly on his face. 'I'll make it up to you.'

'You don't have too,' he breathed back, smiling. 'I'll win my match against Lui. For both of us.'

'For both of us.'

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Beep beep.

My head jolted up suddenly, hitting the wall and bright stars danced in my eyes before fading away into the hallway as reality came flying into me. Wincing, I rubbed the back of my head as I tried to scan the area where the noise was coming from, ignoring the other's concerned cries. There was absolutely nothing in the corridor, the same scene repeating over and over again. Vines creeping along the yellowing stones that were slowly fading away. It could be our phones, but I doubt that there was any reception way out here in the boonies. My eyes widened as I caught a flash of red in the corner of my eyes.

'There!'

I sat up quickly and dashed to a small black device wedged between two high rocks. There was two more flashes red before a low, grumbling noise echoed throughout the hall.

'(y/n), what are you-huh?'

My mouth flung open as I took in the scene unfolded around me. The two stone panels slid back to reveal something more modern. Hesitantly, I stepped in. We were in a huge room, but unlike the hallway we were in before and the building's exterior, this room as made out of metal and steel. Big screens adorned the walls, showing some sort of data in numerous charts. Countless training equipment filled up the space, ranging from treadmills to brand new technology I didn't even recognize. About seventy to a hundred people were training hard, almost too hard.

'Have to...keep...going,' a boy in front of us pulling ropes grunted before panting hard, his breathing becoming unsteady, as if he forgot how to breathe properly. He was wearing a black, tight shirt and dark green trousers, like everyone else was. I scanned the rest of his body, which was deathly skinny and awfully unhealthy. Just like everyone else's was. Sweat beads lined his creased forehead, his mousy hair tousled. His arms twitched with effort as he pulled the rope harder and harder, causing more stress onto his drenched body. The panting continued even more rapidly and irregularly, exhaustion written all over his face, with was sickly pale. Concern and confusion flickered over my face as I watched his panting stop all at once, and he directed his stare at me. I was left looking at murky green hues pooled with fatigue and confusion, as if the world was spinning beneath him. Thud. I broke away from his gaze and I realized he had crumpled under sheer weariness. Two women dressed in a white uniform and an impeccable white French twist, strutted forward and removed the limp body from the ground.

'We'll take him,' the nearest woman spoke to us, moving the boy onto a stretcher. 'And all of you are required to head up to the Anguis Area, just up that lift, next to the stadiums. You'll meet Ashtem there.'

I slowly moved my head up and down, trying to process what had just happened. 'Okay.'

We all walked in a single file to the other side of the room, near the stadiums where a lift sat, just like the woman said. As we passed each station of equipment, I tried not to look at the Bladers who were training extremely hard and pushing themselves past their limit. So this was Snake Pit. I could see why weak Bladers would come here to train, and how the rumors were so mysterious and dark. All the Bladers I had passed had the same look about on them. Exhausted, confused and slightly wild. They seemed like exact copies of the boy before, with the same uniform and deathly body.

Everyone was silent as we entered the dim lift and went about our way to the Anguis Area, even Valt and Cuza. Honcho and Wakiya stopped squabbling, silence replacing their noise. Ding. The metallic doors slid back to reveal a dimly lit room with glass panels, observing the huge room before. Three people stood in the room, their backs facing us. Two of them wore the same highly retailed inky black uniforms, with high collars and both wore a different unique mask that, like Red Eye's, covered their identity. The only difference was that the left figure and gold accents and the right figure had silver. The third one sat on large, throne-like chair with purple décor sat in the middle of the glass panels, pressing all kind of buttons, taking the training higher as more bodies collapsed and screams start being heard. I winced as a blood curdling scream was heard from a dizzy girl.

'Will she be okay?' I asked suddenly, before I could stop myself. Instantly, I bit my lip and waited for the response. My forehead creased when I heard a light chuckle from the chair.

'She'll be fine,' the mysterious figure replied, slightly amused. He stood up and turned to face us. I wasn't surprised that he was wearing a mask, but I took one look at him and knew that he was the leader. He wore the same black uniform with purple accents, but his mask was a different story. It was pitch-black, with purple painted across the top, red dragons engraved in it. He carried himself like a leader, towering over everyone. Smirking, his dark eyes scanned us, as if they were evaluating us. 'I'm Ashtem, the leader of Snake Pit.'

'What do you want?' Wakiya spat, stepping forward. He crossed his arms around his chest, looking slightly confused as Ashtem continued to look up and down at us.

'My, my,' he chuckled lightly again, but this time it had a harsher edge. 'Shouldn't I be asking you that question? Didn't you come here looking for a special someone?'

I bit my lip as his cruel eyes directed their stare towards me. 'Yes, we did!'

'And we won't stop until we've found Shu!' Valt added angrily. 'We demand a rematch with Red Eye?'

'Very well,' agreed Ashtem. A strange feeling niggled at my stomach as I saw the amused and cruel glint in his eyes.

'What's the catch?'

'To battle Red Eye. You have to battle,' Ashtem paused as if for dramatic effect. Or maybe he was just waiting for something. Because soon enough the steel paneled wall behind us emitted a low grumbling sound, and six bladers emerged, each wearing the same uniform, but each one was slightly tweaked to look differently. Each donned a unique mask with a different colour accent. 'The Shadow Bladers!'

'Yellow Eye,' the first one to the right spoke. 'And this is my bey, Shadow Rokatvor.'

A large gasp emitted out of Honcho as his mouth flung open in surprise and outrage. 'That's my bey!'

'Azure Eye,' the next one called out, ignoring Honcho's sudden outburst. 'I own Shadow Valtryek.'

'Black Eye,' sneered the next one. 'Shadow Doomsizcor is mine.'

'Violet Eye,' introduced the one clad in violet accents. 'I have Shadow Wyvron.'

'Grey Eye,' greeted a slightly chubby figure in a not-so-nice manner. 'My bey is Shadow Cognite.'

More shouts of protests and disbelief came from my companions. I clenched my fists at their copying style. 'And me?'

'Don't be so impatient,' a sickly sweet voice rang out. Two more masked figures joined the Shadow Bladers, Red Eye and a slender girl dressed in a light shade of amber, identical to Xcalius's sword shade. That meant the one dressed in amber was my opponent. 'Amber Eye, at your service. Meet your nightmare; Shadow Xcalius.'

'A copycat won't be a nightmare, I can assure you,' I rolled my eyes at her behavior, thought I couldn't shake the niggling feeling that I had met her before. I glanced at her appearance, trying to place where I got that feeling from. She wasn't any different to the others, wearing the same uniform with amber accents. An elegant mask with amber lenses were placed in front of her porcelain face, her lilac hair sweeping under her.

'Oh, don't be so sure about that,' Ashtem cackled harshly. 'Good luck.'

The last thing I could remember was darkness as a falling sensation hit me.

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Again, sorry for the crappy flashbacks.

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Word count: 2541