Family

Chapter ten: A problem

"More bladers. That Yami kid's beat Free, Honcho, Wakiya, Xander, Ren Wu, Silas, and all the masked bladers already. Seems like he's targeting Valt next." Shu was watching Bey News.

"Why would he come all the way to Japan and leave without battling us, then?" Lui asked.

"I dunno, maybe to scare us or something?"

Lui scoffed. "The kid sounds like a cranky nine-year-old. Scaring us? Impossible."

"Fair enough, but I feel like something's off. How could he beat all those top-ranked bladers, but got all flustered and moved out of the way when I told him to? I'm sure Free is just as intimidating as I am, and that didn't stop him from losing," Shu said thoughtfully. 

Lui shrugged and said, "Whatever, we'll focus on him later. We have to get that essay done, remember?"

"Oh, crap, I forgot!" Shu slapped his forehead and got to work.

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Little did they know that not too far away was an underground bunker, fashioned to look like a makeshift Snake Pit. Going on inside was a meeting with some of the foulest people known to Beyblade. 

Theodore Glass sat in one corner, smirking in that poisonous way of his.

Phi sat in the other, his multicolored eyes glowing.

Arthur Peregrine sat closer to the center, drawing everyone's attention to his peacock-like outfit.

And last of all, in the center, was Akuma Yami. The Black Deity. 

"So." A voice filled with malice cut through the air. Theodore Glass, AKA Ashtem. 

"So what? I never wanted to be here. I can take care of myself, thank you." Akuma replied curtly. 

"Child, if you want to beat the Beast and Dragon bladers, you need our help," Phi said.

"I can beat them myself!" Akuma was frustrated. "I don't want a bunch of adults watching me all the time!"

"You won't," Arthur spoke up. He snapped his fingers, and three children walked in, around the same age as Akuma.

Gwyn Reynolds.

Blindt DeVoy.

Joe Lazure.

The team that was so popularly called "HELL."

"We'll help you. You won't have a buncha oldies watching you all the time," Blindt said mockingly.

Akuma simply stared. 

Joe flipped a coin. "The results tell me that you'll win," he said sneeringly.

Gwyn just sighed. "I need your bey stats so I can do the math," he said dully.

Each blader showed an emotion, and when put together, formed Akuma's exact personality: mocking, mean, and simply bored. 

He smiled. 

More like leered.

"It's a deal."

Training was a daily thing for most serious bladers. Shu and Lui battled almost every day, along with the 500 push-ups and running 3 miles.

Akuma, on the other hand, was the laziest person alive.

He absolutely refused any form of training, be it pull-ups, launching practice, or even climbing the jungle gym. He simply said he was "fit enough". 

But he really wasn't. Skinny arms with a slight potbelly from eating too many chips was not fit enough for a blader with his goals. Akuma couldn't even run three laps without collapsing. 

But he had an advantage. He was a genius. 

Not in math. Gwyn could beat him any day in algebra. But in blading. He could somehow pull off the best launch that any of the adults had ever seen, without training even one day.

But would that be enough?

It was a battle of hard work versus pure genius. 

Hard work had won before, in the battle between Suoh Genji and Fubuki Sumiye, but this was a battle of much higher stakes. 

Lui and Shu had untold power behind them. 

More than Free De La Hoya.

More than Valt Aoi.

More than Aiger Akabane.

The only reason they had lost to these people before was that the bond between Spryzen and Luinor had not yet been strong enough to bring out each other's full power.

But now, that bond was finally strong enough. Shu Kurenai and Lui Shirosagi were at full power.

But they didn't know that.

And that knowledge was why Akuma was going to win.