Beyblade Masters (Ninjago x Beyblade Burst)

Fifth Stop: BC Sol

Valt's POV:
I was done saying goodbye to Daigo in France. He actually took it a lot better than I expected, though he always was a lot better at hiding his emotions than me. It was days before me and the others found out his guilt about cheating in his battle with Yugo; even then, we heard it through Shu, not him. If he was broken up then, I couldn't imagine how he must've be feeling when I left.
         
My heart broke more and more with each person I left, but I had to keep going. I had to explain to them why I couldn't come home... and what I was, though I still didn't fully understand it myself. Battling them first kind of made the sting of leaving a little easier to bare, but each battle only served to remind me that I'm without my partner. Raijin wasn't my partner. Valtryek was.
         
Just to get my point across, I balanced myself on the iron rail I was standing on and pulled out my so-called "partner" and held it in front of my face. "You're not my partner," I told it solemnly. "You will NEVER be my partner. Valtryek is, and will always be. After this little journey is done, I'm giving you to PIXAL to melt down into a throwing star."
         
Raijin glimmered sadly. If that is the case, allow us to make the most of our temporary partnership. Let us finish the rest of our journey and show those friends of yours just how terrifying you have become.
          
In my head, Raijin's voice was equivalent to that of a beast speaking to me from the other end of an echoing tunnel. I would have shuddered, but I lost my flinching reflex a long time ago. "Very well," I replied. "My friends at BC Sol are next. Spain." I slipped Raijin into my pocket and looked fondly at the metal infrastructure of the Eiffel Tower. Sighing, I fingered the iron rail my feet were currently on. "Goodbye, Paris," I told the sky. "Wish I could've gotten to see you on better terms."
          
With that, I leapt off of the Eiffel Tower, transformed, and flew West.
          
Hope you're ready, BC Sol. I'm coming for ya.

No One's POV
Things had been tense with BC Sol for the past few months, both with the team and outside it. The bad publicity they had gotten from the Brazil catastrophe had worn down over time, though they still got rude and even threatening emails sometimes. They had had to forfeit the battle with SB Rios because of both Cuza's destructive stunt at the Bey Carnival, and Valt's even more destructive outburst.
           
Speaking of Valt, he had gone missing after that day, with no sign of him anywhere in Rio, Brazil, or the world. Kris felt awful after the news came to them, and she distanced herself from the team afterwards. Just as well. Hardly any of the team talked to her anymore - especially Honcho.
           
Today, the members of BC Sol were practicing, as usual. That is, everyone except a specific blonde haired male. The Big Boss himself wasn't at a stadium, didn't even have his bey out. He was just sucking sadly on his lollipop, watching his teammates battle with downcast eyes. Everyone had a feeling about what he was upset over, but no one approached him about it.
          
Finally, Kit walked over from where he was battling one of the younger members. "Hey, Honcho," He greeted his brother figure. "Why don't you come and battle with us? It may snap you out of this funk you've been in all day."
          
"Which, frankly, is getting annoying," Silas spoke up from where he was battling Rickson.
          
"SILAS!!" Shasa hissed from where she was battling Cuza. "You're not helping!"
          
"I'm just stating the facts!" Silas shot back, the lightning bolt bang in his hair waving agitatedly as he threw up his hands. "He's been moping around the training area all day, and he just stared at his breakfast this morning! It's just pathetic, in my opinion!"
          
Shasa's mouth hung open for a moment, then her lips twisted into an angry frown. She marched over to Silas, pinched his ear, and yelled, "ACT A LITTLE SENSITIVE, FOR ONCE!!" Silas flinched away and rubbed his ear tenderly.
          
Honcho sighed, keeping a practiced hold on his lollipop. "Thanks for the offer, Kit," He told the orange haired blader. "But I think I'll pass. I'm just not in a battling sort of mood today."
           
"Okay, seriously; what's up?" Cuza asked, walking over to the small group with Carl perched on his shoulder. A worried frown was evident on his painted face. "First you barely touch your breakfast, now you're not in the mood to battle? What's going on?"
           
"What does it matter if he's not in the mood?" A voice laced with laziness spoke up. The group's attention went upward to the blonde/red stripe haired blader laying on his back in the stand. "If he doesn't want to battle, he doesn't want to battle. I'm not in the mood to battle, yet you don't seem so worried about me."
          
Shasa glared as her hands went to her hips. "That's because you're you, Free," She replied. "And Honcho is, well, Honcho." Her gaze turned into a concerned look as she faced the normally sassy, upbeat blader once again. "This isn't like him; that's why we're confronting him."
          
Honcho stared at the group of expecting faces, then sighed again. "Sorry, it's just... today is Valt's birthday, and today also marks four months. Four months that he's been missing."
          
"Don't remind me," Rickson groaned, his eyes becoming unfocused. "I'm still having flashbacks of the day he went missing." The poor guy had been found in the SB Rios training yard, groggy and rambling about blue dragon boys. He still couldn't hear Valt's name without flinching.
          
"Yeah, so..." Honcho continued. "I just don't feel like battling today. It feels like I'd be, I don't know... disrespecting his memory?"
          
The group went quiet at this. It was understandable, after all. Valt had loved to battle; if eating and sleeping weren't essential for living, he would have battled every moment of every day. It just didn't feel right to battle when the person who loved it the most wasn't there.
          
For a moment, the only thing that could be heard was the sound of the other members practicing. Then an eerily distorted voice cut through the air, "Tell me those words did not just come out of your mouth."
          
Everyone started, then spun in the direction of the voice. At the very top of the stands, there was a stranger leaning against the wall. A hood and a mask covered their face, and the combination of a black shirt with a trench coat made it hard to tell if they were male or female. Their arms were crossed in front of them, and their whole body posture screamed hostility. "Tell me those words did not just come out of your mouth," They repeated, facing Honcho.
          
Kit took a fearful step back as everyone in the room took notice of the stranger. "W-wha? W-who is that?" He stuttered, his green eyes widening. "How did they even get in here without anyone noticing?"
          
Shasa hurried him behind her and gestured for her younger sister Honey to do the same. "I don't know, but I don't trust them," She muttered, slowly moving her small herd backwards.
          
Honcho stood up and glared at the stranger that apparently knew his name. "Which words? I said a lot of them," He asked.
          
"The ones about you not being in the mood to battle just because your friend isn't here," They implied, stepping away from the wall to face him better. "Please tell me that those words did not just come out your mouth."
          
"So what if I did?" Honcho challenged, narrowing his brown eyes even more. "What's it to you?"
          
Releasing a garbled sound that may have been a huff, the stranger dove into an impressive double front flip and landed just outside of the stands. "Why is everyone so down today?" They groaned, curving their back and throwing their head back dramatically as they said it. Surprisingly, their hood didn't drop. "JUST because your friend is gone, it does NOT mean that you have to stop doing what you love!"

That statement touched a nerve in everyone. Even Carl squawked and flapped his wings furiously. But the thing that really spooked everyone was that Free got up from his place in the stands to fix the newcomer with a dead-eye stare. "Are you suggesting that we just forget about Valt and move on?" He asked in an emotionless manner.

"That's not what I'm suggesting at all," They replied, sounding a little offended. "All I'm suggesting is that instead of not practicing because your friend isn't here, practice because you know that it's what he would have wanted!"

The murmurs in the room revealed that most of the members agreed with their logic, but Honcho wasn't budging. "And who are you to tell us how to cope?" He asked heatedly.

"Who I am doesn't matter at the moment," They told him with equal heat. "What I'm here to do is what matters." They reached into their trench coat and revealed a bright blue bey with a jagged R in the center. "I'm here to challenge Rantaro Kiyama, Free de la Hoya, Silas Carlisle, Cuza Ackerman, Shasa Guten, and Rickson Clay to a Battle Royale."

Gasps sounded all over the room. A Battle Royale? With seven bladers? Such an event had never happened at BC Sol before. The largest Battle Royale they'd had consisted of four bladers - no one had any idea what would happen if seven bladers stepped up to the stadium.

Now Shasa was angry. "Who are you to just break in here and challenge us?" She exclaimed, clenching her fists. "Why do we have to listen to you?"

"Again, who I am is irrelevant at the moment," They said patiently. "And all I'm asking is for a battle. As fellow bladers, this shouldn't require the level of difficulty that you're displaying right now. Besides, aren't you curious about what would happen if we did a seven-people Battle Royale?" You could practically hear the raised eyebrow in their voice.

They had a point - everyone's interest was spiked. Even Honcho was wavering by this point. "If we agree," He asked, his voice surprisingly soft for him. "What's the catch? What do you get if you win?"

"Does there have to be a catch?" They asked.

"For us to put aside a team practice just for you to get a battle with six of us?" Cuza growled. He snorted disbelievingly. "Yeah, I'd say so."

The stranger was silent for a few seconds, then their head slowly nodded. "I am taking away from your team practice time, so very well," They agreed. "Since I am the one intruding, I will get nothing when I win-"

"If you win," Silas cut in, sounding bored.

"Sorry, if I win, I will get nothing other than the satisfaction of a good battle. If any of you win, I'll show you my face and tell you my tale. Deal?"
          
It wasn't a prize you would want to get from winning, especially if who you were going against was wasting your time, but it was better than nothing. Besides, everyone was curious as to who this mysterious stranger was and why they came here. The bladers in the room could already tell that the battle wasn't it.
          
"Fine," Rickson relented, sighing. "I'll battle you." With a confirming nod to each of the other chosen bladers, he added, "We all will."
          
Satisfied, the stranger clapped their gloved hands. "Great!" They said excitedly. "It's come to my attention that you also have an outdoor stadium? Do you mind if we use that one? I always think better in fresh air."