Ryuga's Return

Chapter 5

"Go Anubius!" Yuki called, swinging his arm.

Anubius suddenly retreated, rushing toward the edge of the stadium.

"Oh, no you don't!" Kenta exclaimed. "Go Sagittario!"

Sagittario charged after Anubius. In a swift movement, Sagittario leaned forward and slammed its fusion wheel into Anubius. The blue bey was thrown into the air. Yuki yelped in surprise.

"Don't give up, Anubius!" he called.

Anubius landed on the edge of the stadium, its spin wobbling slightly. Sagittario slammed into Anubius. The beys entered a fierce clash before Sagittario triumphed, flinging Anubius out of the stadium and bringing the blue bey to a halt.

"Yeah!" Kenta cheered, snatching his bey out of the air.

"Great job, Kenta!" Madoka called.

Kenta glanced at them. Ryuga smiled and dipped his head. Kenta smiled back before walking to the bench to wait for his next match.

"Oh, Masamune and King are up next." Madoka was gazing at the stadium's display screen. "That should be interesting."

"Who?" Ryuga asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Masamune and King. You fought King on Beyster Island."

Ryuga glanced at the screen. One of the bladers was clearly American, he had the obnoxious face of one, and the other was a kid around the same age with blue hair. Ryuga's eyes narrowed. He did in fact recognize the kid from Beyster Island.

"Right..." Ryuga's fist clenched. "He uses reverse rotation. L-Drago is-" Ryuga cleared his throat. "-was the only Bey that should be allowed to spin left. That kid is such a poser."

King and his opponent started their battle. Ryuga's gaze fixed on King's bey which travelled around the stadium in the opposite direction of his opponent, as L-Drago had always done. King's bey was even partly white. From a distance, Ryuga could almost mistake the thing for L-Drago.

"His bey naturally rotates left," Madoka argued, her eyes narrowed, "How does that make King a poser?"

Ryuga trembled as he spoke. "I-he- ugh, it doesn't matter. I beat him! L-Drago is w-was the superior bey." Ryuga's jaw clenched and he gripped the armrests of his seat in an attempt to stop himself from shaking. His chest began to ache.

"Oh..." Madoka's voice softened. "You miss L-Drago..."

Ryuga glared at her. Was that pity in her gaze?! *She's pitying me! HER pitying ME?! What kind of insult is this?!*

"That's none of your concern," Ryuga growled, looking away.

Thankfully, Madoka had enough sense not to question him further. Both of them gazed back at the battle. However, Ryuga couldn't bring himself to look at the left rotating bey. It obviously wasn't L-Drago. The sensible part of Ryuga's mind knew that, but he couldn't take his mind off his former Beyblade now that he had been reminded of it.

He must have zoned out for a while because when he looked back at the arena, two new bladers were fighting and somehow, neither of them were Gingka. Ryuga recognized Benkei as that one weirdly loyal follower of Kyoya's and the white-haired kid from the helicopters.

"Where is Gingka?" Ryuga asked aloud. He didn't even see his former greatest rival in the crowd anywhere. Surely he would show up to a tournament that so many of his friends and rivals had attended?

"I guess he didn't sign up," Madoka answered with a shrug.

"Why wouldn't he?"

"I don't know." With a chuckle, she added, "Maybe he's out getting burgers somewhere."