Your POV

The sound of beys colliding together in a fierce match echoed all throughout the cruise and into my room. I closed my eyes, resting both of my hands behind my head and lying on my bed. This was what I had been doing for most of my time on the Battleship Cruise, besides from training.

An image of Shu instantly appeared. It had been like this for the past week since I had seen him, with him constantly on my mind. I'm not sure if that's good or not. But at least it stops those images of Xcalius from popping up.

The clinking of beys increased as the battle reached its climax. I could feel two auras activating at once before one completely demolished the other. In the distance I could hear a bey bursting, the result of somebody's loss. I yawned, wondering who it was.

I got my answer a few minutes later when the winner waltzed into my room uninvited. I growled, "Hey! You didn't knock!"

Fubuki rolled his eyes and sat back on a chair, holding a towel to his sweat covered face. "Relax, (y/n). Besides, I just had a battle."

Instantly, I sat up straighter. "Who were you battling?"

"Kyle Hakim."

Kyle Hakim. An interesting blader. He was always carrying an iPad around, reminding me vaguely of Naoki. He was a bit weird as well. Despite his odd personality, Kyle was one of the Turbo 4 and did have some skill. "Good job, kid. I'm proud of you."

"Thanks, (y/n)," smiled the blonde. We were left in a comfortable silence before he asked, "What are you doing now?"

"Now?" I repeated, pondering on the word. "I don't really know. I've just been letting my thoughts wonder. I don't really have the motivation to train or even get out of bed."

Fubuki stood up, a determined grin on his face. "Then maybe it's time we get you some motivation."

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After much complaining and dragging, Fubuki succeeded in bringing me to the main arena, where a battle was currently going on. I sat in the special box next to Kris, who was watching the battle particularly carefully. Valt had left straight after our get together with Shu, heading back to BC Sol. I just stayed because I wanted to see Fubuki kick Suoh's ass (which he had succeeded in the day before). And because I wanted to see some of Phi's hidden power.

Speaking of Phi, I narrowed my eyes into the viewing rooms below, where the other bladers were spending their time. Phi was leaning against the wall, watching Aiga battle with odd fascination. Phi sure is strange.

"Third battle!" the referee called out.

Both bladers, Aiga and Xavier, prepared for battle in their launching stance, eyes burning with determination to be the one who triumphs. They were already well into their battle, on the third battle already. So far Xavier had scored one point off Aiga.

I frowned. Would Xavier be the winner, just like last time? I expected him to win; I hadn't seen much power from the so called prodigy at all. It was time to find out.

"3 2 1!" They shouted in unison. "Let it rip!"

Both beys were launched into the stadium, circling each other in attack positions. Instantly, they swooped down together into the center, colliding with such tremendous force, wind sliced the stadium as yellow light glowed.

Xavier and Aiga clenched their fists, fixated on the battle and winning. The two beys began a relentless barrage on each other, sparks flying each time they collided together.

Achilles knocked into Xcalius, sending it into Penta Saber mode. Fire danced in Xavier's eyes. "Xcalius!"

As soon as he gave that outcry, his flaming aura swallowed Xavier up, great flames of gold and scarlet. A variation of my Xcalius beast came forward, clutching a magnificent sword with gold trimmings. "Penta Saber!"

"Achilles!" Aiga gritted his teeth, urging for his bey to hang on. As soon as the tip of the sword hit Achilles, the bey bounced back incredibly quickly onto the rim of the stadium.

My eyes widened when Aiga used it to his advantage. Achilles spun across the rim, using the momentum to shoot itself high into the air.

Aiga's hair tie broke loose and bright hair fanned out everywhere. I would've laughed at the sight of that if he didn't seem so powerful at the time. His aura shimmered with power, a series of colours surrounding Aiga. Flames burst from Achilles and another beast appeared; a proud warrior handling another giant sword and shield.

Xavier gasped in shock. I couldn't blame him, at that point, Aiga and Achilles seemed amazingly powerful. I grinned. This was the resonance I had been waiting for.

Achilles skydived down towards the stadium, ramming Xcalius with a powered up hit. The two beys broke apart, and Xcalius was launched into the air, all three pieces disconnected.

The apprentice of Xander stood there in utmost shock. Not going to lie, it surprised me too that Aiga was able to win against Xavier. It wasn't that long ago that he was one of the most powerful bladers on the ship and managed to defeat Aiga.

"Aiga Akabane wins this battle with a score of two to one!" announced the referee.

"Yes!" Aiga thrusted his hands in the air, a brilliant grin on his face as he fell back from happiness. "I did it!"

I smiled. Aiga really was like Valt. His bond with Achilles seemed extra strong too, and he did have some talent. Using the rim of the stadium to propel Achilles up into the air, I wasn't expecting that. That was the kind of skills I had been expecting from Aiga.

Fubuki's plan to get me motivated was working. I could feel the urge to battle coursing throughout my body like wildfire. It took all my willpower not to go down into the stadium and interrupt the tournament again just so I could battle.

"The competition is really exciting, isn't it?" Kris remarked, smiling. "Don't worry, (y/n), you'll get to battle soon."

"I will?" I turned to face the female sitting next to me, thrilled with the idea of battling in this tournament. "In this tournament?"

She nodded. "I've been thinking about the prize of the tournament for a while. When I was planning the tournament the prize was to originally battle the world champion, which was Valt at the time. But then you came back and took back that title. After much consideration, I think it will please our audience if the winner of the tournament battle both of you. A chance to battle the third best blader and have a shot at the championship title!"

"Well then," I grinned, turning back to the stadium, cracking my knuckles. "I better not hand over my title to an amateur!"

Kris chuckled. "Don't be surprised, that 'amateur' generation has some powerhouses. Like these two, for example."

As soon as she said those words, two bladers emerged onto the stadium, each at an opposite end. From the red corner, the Egyptian-style, animal inspired blader I had met when I first arrived stood with an eager grin on his face, though I could sense some nervousness.

I glanced to the other side, the opponent from the blue corner. I instantly recognized this blader as Phi. No wonder the animal blader was slightly nervous. I would be too. He hasn't revealed his full power, and yet he's unbelievably strong.

"That's Phi and Laban Vanot," introduced Kris for me. "Both extremely strong bladers, part of the Turbo 4."

The Turbo 4, eh? I narrowed my eyes at them. The Turbo 4 were known to be the Supreme 4 of their generation, four of the most strongest bladers. Let's see how strong the Turbo generation are.

Suddenly, I felt Phi's aura activate. Flames swirled around him in the shape of a phoenix, and a single ice-blue eye opened in the middle of the formation. The amount of power radiating off made me gasp. And it was so strangely familiar...

"First battle!"

Phi flicked his long, white hair to the side in an arrogant manner, preparing in a stance.

"3 2 1! Let it rip!"

Laban launched backwards, his bey landing in the stadium. Phi twirled around in his launch, flames following his every move. Both beys began circling each other in the stadium.

Not wasting a moment, Laban activated his aura, flecks of blue and pink and scarlet licking his skin with the occasional lightning. From his aura a striped tiger appeared, roaring and ready to pounce. The lightning increased and continued to flicker.

The Beast King's charged up bey knocked with Pheonix, letting out a fierce battle cry. "Leopard! Howling Bite!"

Leopard immediately used its powerful fangs to bite down and grab Phoenix, dealing serious damage. Usually this would've been enough to defeat an average blader, but Phoenix was anything but average.

A sly grin made its way onto Phi's face as Phoenix's performance tip rolled back in a defense style, and instantly countered against Leopard, thrusting it away. Laban's eyes widened in shocked, "What?"

Phi's eyes widened as well, but not with shock. It was something else. Black bled across his eyes, overtaking the white. His blue and crimson pupils began to glow, as his pink and blue aura began to light up and surround his body.

Once again, orange fire shot up from Phoenix, only to suddenly change to a malicious purple. A royal purple dragon emerged from the fire, roaring with the urge to destroy.

No way.

Shock pulsed through me, and my eyes widened in recognition. The fear accelerated my heart to beating what seemed like five times faster, and increasing that much in sound as well.

The dragon spread its wings, flecks of purple shimmering through the stadium. I swallowed, a feat that felt hard to do now. Xcalius, clutched tightly in my hand, began to glow a dark scarlet, black fumes emitting from it.

Phoenix seemed so evil, it wasn't anything like before. Evil had consumed it whole, darkness clouding the bey. The dragon flicked its tail towards me, almost as if it was reading my mind and was amused.

Phi let out a low, raspy chuckle, one that was all too familiar to me...

There was no doubt about it. That dragon was the very same one I had seen in that nightmare. The one who's fire I had feared so much. The one who threatened me and the beyblade world. The one who imprisoned Xcalius...

Rage powered through me, overtaking me. How much I wanted to crush Phi so badly was indescribable. It felt like an urge now, not a want. I needed to demolish him.

The dark, powered up Phoenix circled around so rapidly, the stadium began to smoke.

"Phoenix Break!" commanded Phi. Phoenix took off with a burst of flames at an extraordinary speed. It knocked into Leopard, and it was as if a nuclear bomb went off.

Raging fire was shaped into a dome, erupting from the stadium. I wasn't even the one in the stadium, but fear was starting to creep into me. The flames merged into one gigantic pillar, its dark light shining across the stadium.

A sickening crack I had heard too many times rang loud, before the pillar of fire vanished and revealed Leopard's energy layer - cracked in two. Shock was frozen on everyone's faces, but disbelief was stained on Laban's. "N-No."

What a wimp, I thought instantly. Then I properly thought about what I had just said, and regret filled my head. What was happening to me? I'm laughing at Laban, even though what just happened to him had happened to me and several of my friends before? I shouldn't be taunting him when his companion just broke.

I shook my head. I didn't want to think about it anymore. My antagonistic-like thinking or beys breaking. They were both sensitive topics to me.

Besides me, Kris gasped in shocked and so did the other bladers. Aiga stood up, his eyes wide. This was their first time seeing a bey break. Their first time witnessing somebody's partner break for good.

The darkness was leeched out from Phoenix, returning it to its normal state. An arrogant smirk adorned Phi's face. I clenched my hands into fists. Phi really was strong. And is just a fraction of his power. Wow.

Would I even stand a chance against Phi? He seemed so powerful, and I just felt so weak, even just watching his destruction from the sidelines.

Meanwhile on stage, Phi merely turned and walked away from all the havoc he had wrecked, the smirk never leaving his face. Laban was on the floor, clutching at his broken pieces with shaking hands.

I couldn't see his expression, but I could sense the despair around him at his broken bey, his dream laid in pieces. Laban not only lost his bey, but his chance at the tournament. He had no stars left; soon, he would be escorted off the ship. Guilt rushed into my head like a waterfall when I thought about my earlier thought. Had I really thought that?

Part of me wanted to deny it, deny that I would ever say a horrible thing, and another wanted to accept it that I was turning into something hideous. And a smaller part, I'm disgusted by myself at this, encouraged me to embrace all my hateful thoughts.

And what scared me even more than the idea of becoming so incredibly harsh was the thought that I had wanted it to happen.

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yayy, another chapter, finished! sorry it took me a while, i was on a road trip, but i'm back now :)

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Word count: 2294