The first time Valt was completely lost for words was because of the surprise party his family threw to celebrate his seventh birthday.

The second and third was because of stage fright.

The fourth time, the Valkyrie blader decided, was because of what's happening right now.

He could only rub his eyes to check if there were tricking him.

Unfortunately, they're not.

Daina, who was also as shocked, paled. "No" and "how" were the only words his dried throat could make out.

Souta stared straight into Daina's eyes. "Cat got you're tongue?" He mocked. His sneer deepened as his past-brother tried to recover from the shock.

Daina squeezed his eyes shut, took a deep breath and said, "What is this? Why does it have to be the three of you? How did this happen?"

Valt was next to speak up. "Nika! Toko! What happened?!" He shouted.

Toko glared, "Firstly, don't call me by that ugly name. I am Triton."

Valt's eyebrows twitched. "But you are To-" Triton cut him off.

"I am Triton."

Daina stepped up. "That still doesn't answer Valt's question," he said and looked at his future-brother. "Well, Scythe? What in the world happened in the future?"

Lacking emotion, Scythe simply said, "You happened. All of you."

Shu raised an eyebrow. "All of us?" He repeated.

"Yes, genius," Nymph said coldly. She acted nothing like the Aoi Nika everyone knew. She continued, "And there are some others too. Your future selves are the reason we betrayed Asgard."

"Asgard?" Zac echoed.

"Yes. Asgard," Scythe answered. "But Lord Heracles saved us. Lord Heracles was just like us, rejected by Asgard. No one wants him there because they thought he was weak. He was nearly dying when we met. But he is powerful. He saved himself and saved us. He is our hero."

"Sounds like those stupid revenge-loving, cliché movie bad guys to me," Lui said. "Hero my foot. That Heracles guy should join a drama club and win some prizes for being a rubbish villain."

Nymph was seething. "How- how dare you say something like that about our lord!"

Lui shrugged and ignored her outburst. "And pray tell, what kind of bad things will we do in the future?" He asked.

"Why don't you come to the future to see for yourselves?" Triton's left eye flashed.

With a glare, Lui said, "No thanks. We would rather not give a rat's ass about your stupid 'revenge' and your stupid master."

Nymph's face was now burning red in anger. "I'll kill you!" She hissed. Her fingertips lit up in pink, attacks ready to fire.

She was stopped by a deep chuckling from behind.

"Well well well," Lord Heracles said. "What do we have here? And Nymph, what did I say about keep them alive?"

Nymph bowed. "I-I'm sorry, my lord!" She squeaked.

Lord Heracles waved her apology off and turned to the bladers. "Good afternoon, kids," he laughed. His face was again covered by his hood.

"We're not kids," Wakiya shot back.

Again with the laughter. His voice sent shivers down their spines. "Yes, you are," Lord Heracles said. "Especially you, Wakiya. You are just a immature child."

"You know my name."

"Ah, yes. I'm from the future, so of course I know. Turns out, the future you is just as childish as his younger self."

"Why you-" Wakiya snarled.

"Why are you here?" Shu cut in. "Let's get straight to the point. What do you want?"

Under the hood, Lord Heracles smiled. "That. Not much, actually. We just want to tell you that your futures are falling apart."

There was a pregnant silence.

Lord Heracles shrugged. "Well, I'm just reminding you. I mean, it would be confusing when your lives suddenly end for no reason," he said.

"I don't think that's the only reason why you came here," Daina said.

"Perhaps not. A smart one, ain't you?" The man chuckled. "Fine, I'll tell you. I'm going to mess with time, starting from here. And all of you are going to the future with me."

"No way in hell!" Valt shouted.

"I knew you would say that. But after seeing this..." Lord Heracles took two Beys out of his cloak. The Beyblades, unlike theirs, were glowing with energy.

Kerbeus and Behemoth.

"How... How did you get those?" Valt whispered. "They belonged to Kensuke and Ben... What have you done to them?"

"I haven't landed a single finger on those two," Lord Heracles grinned. "But if you don't help me out on this little thing, I might..." He trailed off.

No one replied. The bladers looked anxious, obvious panic showing on their faces. Was Lord Heracles just tricking them? Or was it really the truth?

Trust their fear, Kensuke and Ben might die; trust their suspicions, they themselves might die.

It was a 50/50 percent chance.

Seeing the looks on their faces, Lord Heracles laughed again. "One hour," he said. "I'll give you one hour to decide. If yes, go to the future. If no... Then there will be consequences."

A black mist surrounded him and the other three. They began to fade.

"One more thing," he said with a broad smile. "Ragnarok, Unicorn and Yggdrasil can still be summoned. At least for now."

The black mist wrapped around the four and faded.

"Wait!" Lui shouted. "We're not done with y-"

They disappeared.

The bladers then just stood there for a few minutes, unsure what to do next.

~~~

"Asgard."

"Yes. That's what Nymph and Scythe- the future Nika and Souta," Valt added bitterly, "said."

"Valt and Daina's younger siblings in the future turned 'evil', became servants to a cloaked man, and came here to seek revenge. They also had Ben and Kensuke's Beys and threatened to do something to the two if we don't follow them to the future."

"Apparently," Shu replied with a sad nod.

All of the bladers, including the Swordflames, Naoki, Jin, Akira, Orochi and Quon, were in Naoki's lab once again. Surrounding them were brightly lit computers.

Naoki slumped against his chair and glanced at Jin. "Shit. This is worse than we first imagined."

Jin bit his lower lip. "Yes, it is. But what should we do now? Should we go to the future? I'm guessing all of you can't summon the Souls, I mean, I can't feel them... Wait."

He looked straight at Yugo, Ukyo and Rantaro. "I can still sense the auras of Yggdrasil, Unicorn and Ragnarok," he said slowly.

Rantaro's eyes widened. "Yes! That Lord Heracles just said that the three of us can still- woah!" He shouted as he slipped accidentally, and something fell out of his pocket.

A bag of painkillers.

Valt's eyes widened and asked, "Painkillers? Are you feeling unwell?"

Rantaro sighed. "I have headaches for the whole week. Nightmates. Tons of them," he admitted.

Jin's eyes narrowed, "What kind of nightmares?"

"I don't remember much," Rantaro replied. "It keeps on changing though. Sometimes it's about a happy little wonderland, sometimes the wonderland is burning, sometimes there is no wonderland at all, just sleeping, soulless bodies lying around. It's like the future keeps changing. I had a dream about today, too. But no Heracles, no future people, no crazy. Just us, having fun. The future seems different."

Naoki closed his eyes. "Exactly what I thought. They are trying to change the future by changing the past," he said.

Frowning, Yugo cut in, "But why are Yggdrasil, Unicorn and Ragnarok the only Beys that can be summoned?"

"I think," Naoki said, "These three Beys are the only ones that can let us travel to the future, considering that's exactly what Heracles wants."

"But how?" Rantaro asked.

"Asgard, correct?" Jin said. Zac nodded.

"That's what he said," Zac said.

"According to legend, Asgard, like Muspelheim, is one of the Nine Realms. It is a world for spirits, mystical creatures and holy beings," Jin explained and looked at the Spin Emperors. "Spriggan, Zeus, Longinus and Xcalibur were once the rulers of the realm. I'm guessing that Yggdrasil and Unicorn are still active is because they are the Gatekeepers, meaning, they can allow us to travel to Asgard.

"And Ragnarok," he continued. "I believe Ragnarok is not just a simple Soothsayer, rather, he is the vessel to the future itself. How do you think we go to the future? Build a time machine? If Yggdrasil and Unicorn are the gods of travel, then Ragnarok would be the god of the future. Combined, we can travel through time. Heracles is not a stupid man, because why else would he spare only these three Beys?"

A round of agreement echoed throughout the room.

"Yes, you're r-" Shu stopped after catching sight of the clock hanging on the wall. "Guys, when did Heracles leave?"

"I think... Around two thirty. Why?" Daina asked after remembering.

"It's three twenty now, we still have ten minutes left," Shu said.

Everyone froze. In panic, Rantaro summoned Ragnarok's spirit.

The bey glowed orange, as well did Rantaro's eyes. The teenager's aura glowed and the spirit form of Ragnarok appeared.

The glow was fader and weaker than before.

Ukyo and Yugo also summoned their Bey souls. Unicorn and Yggdrasil appeared as well, but they felt hollow and distant.

"Ragnarok!" Rantaro said. "Your... The aura, why is it so faded?"

Ragnarok smiled sadly but ignored the question. "What's the matter, young Rantaro?"

"We need your help. Our friends have been kidnapped by people in the future!"

Yggdrasil and Unicorn's eyes darkened. "The future, you say?" Yggdrasil asked.

"Yes," Yugo replied. "We have to find them in less than ten minutes."

Unicorn looked apologetic, "I'm sorry, but no."

Ukyo looked taken aback. "Unicorn, what do you mean?"

"Time travelling. It's a great taboo. We might die, you might die," Unicorn answered truthfully.

"Please!" Valt said from the side. "I know I'm not usually the one to plead, but I want to save my friend! We won't die! You said 'might', so it's possible that we can pass!"

"Please!" The other bladers shouted in union. Even Lui mumbled a small 'please' as well.

The three spirits looked at each other. Ragnarok sighed. "The kids may be right. After all, this is the only chance to save the other spirits," he whispered.

Yggdrasil nodded uncomfortably, "I guess so. But... You know that risk, right?"

"I do," Ragnarok answered. "But what else can we do? They are our only hope in saving the others..."

"This is a huge gamble," Unicorn admitted. "But I guess there's no stopping it."

Unicorn faced the bladers. "We accept your request," he finally declared.

The bladers looked overjoyed. "Really?" Ukyo asked.

"Yes. But heed our warnings," Unicorn said. "This is no simple task; what you're about to do will break the oldest rules of all realms. There are three things you must never forget.

"One, do not touch a single thing or a single person.

"Two, do not let any of us meet the future versions of ourselves," Unicorn lowered his head. "I doubt that you can summon us, anyway."

Ragnarok spoke up, "Three. This is the most important one. Never, never look at anyone in the future in the eyes. Avoid all eye contact."

Valt raised his eyebrow, "Huh? Why-"

"Understood?" Said Ragnarok.

"Y-yes," were the answers.

Everything suddenly started to glow green. Yggdrasil was opening the gates.

Ragnarok chanted something under his breath and the green glow turned orange.

A drop of blood fell from Unicorn's horntip. Some of the bladers gasped.

"Unicorn, why did you do that?" Questioned Ukyo.

"Don't have time for you to tie my hair anymore," Unicorn muttered. The glow brightened, and the teenagers started fade away.

"Remember the three rules!" Yggdrasil shouted before the bladers were gone.

Again, all left were Naoki's computers, shining brightly among the darkness of the room.