"The tournament to decide Japan's representatives will go underway tomorrow! Bladers, get your game on because only the strongest of the strongest will continue to the World-Wide Championships!"

I jabbed a finger at the vending machine button, hearing the click and clack of the metal can tumbling down. As I went to retrieve it and popped the tab, I glanced over at Kyoya. "You doing that?"

"Doing what?"

"You know what I mean. The World Championships." The bubble frothing in my mouth made me wince, and by the metallic tang that seeping in on my upper lip, I had cut myself on the metal tab. "Yuck. You want my drink?"

Kyoya shrugged and accepted the can from me, and I pretended not to notice that we had, in fact, shared a drink. "All I'm interested in beating Gingka. If I can't do that in the championships or if he's not there: I don't care. You? You'd at least put up somewhat of a good fight."

"I've... got some other battling in mind, but- Isn't it more entertaining if you beat him in front of everyone? Like, sure, I don't mind Gingka, but..."

His intense stare turned on me. I placed some more yen in the machine, getting a normal bottle of water in return and sitting next to him on the bench. "I kinda wanna know him better, I guess. Everyone, I mean. Your little friend group."

A snort. "I don't have one, I work alone."

Yeah, sure. Who even is that big guy that follows you around and pretends you're his idol or something?

The Leone blader stretched his arms above his head and I tried, oh god, I tried not to pay attention to the way his shirt hitched up.

"You have anyone I can battle or something?" I was bored, I had been bored for several hours, ever since we had stopped 'conditioning', and Kyoya hadn't even battled me. The tournaments to determine the Japan team was tomorrow or whatever Blader DJ had said, and we spend a couple of hours just... running and basically wrestling each other- what had he called it? Honing my skills?

"No."

"I'm bored."

"You sound like this kid I know. Bright hair, bright eyes, bright clothing... annoying. Doesn't know a thing about beyblade."

I glanced off towards the sun where it shone brightly in the sky, unchained by the clouds and beating down without thought. What time was it now- noon?

And then the green started.

I flinched when a giant- and I mean giant- column of green rose in the distance, the entire area basked in an eery green glow that burnt my eyes. Next to me, Kyoya stiffened, his eyes disc of green that shone hard and steely.

"That's his."

"What?"

"That thing. It's his. Yu's."

"Who?"

Kyoya tossed the can in the trash; it rattled hard against the rim of the outskirt of the object before bouncing on in. As he lurched to his feet, I stumbled after him. "Kyoya, what the hell?"

OoO

"You lost to Libra's Inferno Blast- no offense, Kenchi, but you had noooooo way of winning! I could totally take on you and Benben at the same time!"

"H-Hey, Yu!"

"That a challenge?!"

Kyoya and I screeched to a stop, and I bent over at the knees, breaths puffing out of me. "God- I need- to work out... more..."

Without seeming exhausted, Kyoya stood next to me and crossed his arms. Up ahead, three people stood to one another: Kenta, the guy I've seen probably multiple times (but couldn't remember the name of), and a boy that had his hands locked behind his head and a smile on his face.

"Yo-yo! Yo-yo! Battle me!"

As he spun towards us, I could put a person to the description. The person Kyoya was talking about earlier- bright, bright, and bright. The boy's hair was a bright orange, and it only clashed with his emerald green eyes that glittered with excitement and brought them to life.

"Yo-yo?"

"Don't you dare call me that," Kyoya growled and shoved an elbow into my side. Doubling over, I squinted at the ground and heard the sharp sounds of shoes against the ground.

"Kyoya!"

"Yeah, I'm here too, thanks," I said.

Gingka slowed to a stop, one finger hooked in the strap of a dufflebag thrown across his shoulder. Madoka is at his side, as was Tsubasa.

Upon seeing me, Tsubasa greeted me with a tilt of his head and a simple smile on his lips, but otherwise, he didn't show anything towards the fact that he knew me.

"Who are you? Yo-yo's too wild to have any friends. What the heck are you doing here?" The orange-haired boy tilted his head at me, raising one eyebrow. "You seem boring. Are you even a blader? Gooossshhh, I just wanna have fun here! Tsubasa's a party-pooper."

Next to Gingka, Tsubasa made the motion to roll his eyes but said nothing.

"I'm a blader," I huffed. "Try me."

"He's not worth it," Kyoya told me.

"You're just mad because I beat you and I'm better! Sheesh, you're so stinky and unfair!" Yu stamped his foot on the ground, then turned towards me. "You said you're a blader? C'mon, battle me and my awesome Libra!"

A glint of metal shone in his hands, and he held it up for me to see. A beyblade, energy ring hazy with green and facebolt yellow, looked back at me.

Yu- this kid- he beat Kyoya?

"What about you? C'mon, I wanna see a pretty awesome bey!"

I pulled out Eagle for him to see, and his face faltered. Rage flickered in me, tight and coiling, festering at the back of my brain, but I pushed it to the back of it, instead narrowing my eyes at him.

"I've already seen an Eagle-" Yu's eyes dart to Tsubasa. "Soooosososososo annoying sometimes! Anyway, battle me!"

Something clicked. I had seen Yu before- way back in the Dark Nebula, way back on a screen at the J.C.I when we had considered suspects. The winner of the survival battle.

Yu skipped over to one edge of a stadium carved into the middle of the grounds. Looking around me, I noticed that we were in a park- trees branch swayed and bent from the wind.

As a launcher shot out of his sleeve, my mind hummed.

Eagle still isn't listening to me. I should use Aries.

He's expecting Eagle! Use him!

I'm going to lose to him if I use Eagle! Eagle hasn't been responding to me for ages, and I doubt it'll change because of some kid.

Just battle him with Eagle! Eagle needs to feel your heart.

"Are you going to do anything or what?"

"Yeah, yeah, calm yourself, kid."

I noticed a group gathering by the side: the group we had been with earlier. Gingka, Madoka, Tsubasa, Kenta, the large guy, and... Kyoya. Slitted eyes rested on my face as he crossed his arms, but once he noticed that I was looking back at him, they darted away.

He's watching my battle.

I pulled out my launcher and fit Eagle into it; the air changed and I could tell Kyoya had turned fully towards me in terms of interest. He knew my problem with Eagle, and doubt glowed off him in waves.

"Three!" Yu called out.

"Two!"

"One!" The group cheered (excluding Kyoya, of course, who scoffed).

"Let it rip!"

As Eagle bounced into the stadium, Yu's beyblade went straight for the middle. It spun there as my beyblade circled.

"A stamina type, huh? That means I just have to attack it fir-"

Before I even finished speaking, Eagle swept towards Libra. Yu's eyes widened across from me, but instead of confusion, they sparkled.

"Whoa! A beyblade that can move on it's own! Well... too bad, that's not going to affect Libra!!"

Metal clanks rang out in the air, Eagle smashing and slamming repeatedly into the beyblade. Even through the barrage attack, Libra seemed unaffected, merely being pushed around.

"Unlike Tsubasa's bey, you don't have a wide defense performance tip! And that means... I'm going to get to finish you real quick. Libra- Inferno Blast!"

The green light appeared again.

It shot into the sky, blinding and bright, a thick column of green light as screams cut through the area, high-pitched. I gritted and held my head in my hands, squinting through the pain. The world was tinted green, Yu's face green except for the parts in shadow.

"Wh-What the hell is that!?"

"That's a potty word," the Libra blader pouts. "Buuuuut, since you asked, I'll tell you just before Eagle fully gets sucked in. It's Libra's super awesome special move, one that sends out vibration waves out. Your beyblade can't help but get sucked in."

I took a look at Eagle, who was struggling. The ground seemed to waver and ripple, shadows dancing and leaping across it.

"... is that supposed to stop me?"

"Huh?"

"Is that supposed to stop my Eagle?"

Yu tilted his head. "Well, yeah, duh. There's no escaping Libra's special move, much less the Ant Lion Trap!"

Instead, I closed my eyes.

His chatter faded to the back of my mind, pulsing and alive, but distant. It was only a minute until I tuned him out completely, and I could see myself, floating.

Floating in a world where colors didn't exist but they flashed and dance, above the sea and emerged with water, in the sky but falling, hair flying around me but perfectly still, the area dark but my heart light.

The world shimmered around me, delicate threads stretching across the air. As I looked around, threads rose from everything, they crisscrossed and intertwined, glittering with such fineness that even the best thread-weaver (or whatever they're called) in the world would be ashamed of their own work.

The trees that seemed to spring from dust once I angled my eyes that way had green threads from their leaves, but as my gaze traveled down the line and towards the ocean below me, green slowly turned into the same blue as the murky sea.

"Where... am I?"

Tess.

"The hell?"

Something in my chest tugged, pulling me across the cliff that arched and stood high across the sea. As I set myself on the ground and looked over the dizzying drop, my heart lurched again, yanking me towards the sea.

With that, I fell.

I fell.

I f e l l and crashed into the waves.

Bubbles floated around me, but I could open my eyes, see the hazy forms. Two fish swam past me, one orange and one blue, coming closer until smooth scales brushed against my palms.

We are Pisces, young one. You are in the spirit world. Come. 

With that, the orange one turned and swam gracefully through the water, the blue one close behind it. I twisted, and quickly moved after them, feeling like I was in air, not water; I could walk. 

Darkness quickly turned into a blurred white, but Pisces kept swimming, gliding until they halted in front of a cliff- they called it the continental shelf, didn't they? Nothing existed beyond it, by the looks of it- just swirling darkness except for one light that flickered in the gloom.

Take a look, my dear. The voice seemed to come from the blue one this time. 

I took a couple steps forward, peering over the cliff. Far below, a spotlight was cast on the wall and there, chained was an eagle.

My heart wrenched again.

I knew that eagle. That was my Eagle.