Beyblade Burst: Stardust

Chapter 8: Why Me?

[Natsumi's Perspective]

The three friends would walk home, eating snacks along the way.

The battles that came from those two were pretty intense! After that, it got pretty boring after a lot of people losing against the Legends.

Natsumi: That was surprisingly anti-climactic. Everything went downhill after Akari-san's battle, intensity-wise.

She'd mumble as she spoke since she was eating a hash brown while talking.

Peter: That's rare, coming from you.

Was it? Well, I guess I kind of like a good battle myself, so maybe.

Natsumi would chuckle.

Natsumi: Also, Marina.

Marina would turn to Natsumi.

Marina: Yeah?

Natsumi: You intended on doing something perverted to Koryu-san, didn't you?

Her eyebrows were frowning, looking at her with a bit of frustration and disgust.

Marina: H-hey, what's up with that look? Of course not, I only wanted to tease him!

Peter would also look at her with his eyebrows frowning, seemingly disgusted as well.

Peter: Your knowledge about that stuff can be quite disturbing at times.

Marina: Eh?

Natsumi: Peter's right, you can be a perverted person. At least you managed to hold back earlier.

Marina: At least?!

I'll still expect her to be like this around those types of people anyways. Well, we're still friends so I'll let it slide.

Natsumi: Anyways, that performance from Nakazatos was amazing if I'm honest. He's crazy powerful and so was Akari-san.

Peter: I sort of knew him from back then.

Oh, so Kadoya-san knows him?

Marina: Tell me more about him, what's up with his strength?

Peter: Alright, so back in the states I watched a battle of his. He went up against 50 Bladers all at once and defeated them all.

50 Bladers all at once? No wonder why he was able to beat Koryu-san, I'd probably lose against this guy if I met him.

A person with black hair would appear from around the corner, and so would a girl with the same hair color appears.

Those two... the Nakazato siblings? Why are they here?

Akari: Oh, hey there guys!

Akari would give them a big smile.

Natsumi: H-hey...!

She looks pure, on the other hand, her brother... he looks quite scary.

Tsukasa: I take all of three of you managed to beat Legends in the exams right?

Peter: Sort of, Natsumi and Marina were the only people to beat a Legend anyways.

Don't say that Kadoya-san! I'll get into another battle again!

Tsukasa: You three are interesting indeed. Anyways, I wanted to ask you three a favor.

A favor? What's this about?

Natsumi: Uh... what is it about? 

Marina: Yeah, what is it about? 

As Tsukasa opened his mouth, Akari would immediately interrupt him.

Akari: We're forming a team! Of Bladers!

Tsukasa: My sister beat me to it, yeah.

A team? Is this meant to be some sort of Blading domination thingy or something?

Tsukasa: Anyways, about that talk with Valt Aoi. Did he tell you something about avoiding him?

Avoiding Lean Walhalla... hey isn't this a sign that we'll have to battle him at some point? This is a red flag! Also, how does he know about this? 

Peter: Yeah, what about him?

Peter would raise a brow.

Tsukasa: There's something wrong with that ability of his, the Flare. And I have a bad feeling about it.

Ah! I knew it! Shit! So we'll have to deal with some sort of guy who wants world domination or whatever!

Natsumi would begin walking away.

Peter: Hey, Natsumi! Where are you going?

Natsumi would stop walking and turns to them.

Natsumi: If this is a save-the-world situation, I'm out of here.

Sorry man, but I don't wanna get involved with big stuff like this.

Tsukasa: Unfortunately, it is. And you're going to be part of it.

Uh no...? Come on, who do you think you are?

Akari: Eh? You don't wanna do something as cool as this, Hagane-san?

Natsumi: Cool? No, it would be a pain. I don't wanna battle that much, I'm not that type.

Akari: You don't want a big battle with large sparks and Beys Bursting? I know you want it!

As Natsumi was leaving, Akari would get close to Natsumi's face.

No, I don't. Don't force me to like it. I guess I'm starting to like it though, and also why are you so close to my face? It's weird.

Peter answers both the Nakazatos.

Peter: Yeah, not actually. Natsumi doesn't like battling that much, but what did you want to talk about again?

Tsukasa: Anyways, I wanted to talk to you about Lean's Flare. I have a feeling his Flare might overflow and things might get really ugly.

What does he mean by that...?

Marina: By ugly, how ugly?

Tsukasa: His Flare can engulf this whole city, burning it all away.

Everyone would go silent.

What? You're joking me, right?

This catches Natsumi's attention, just as Tsukasa hoped.

Natsumi: Hold on, are you serious? His Flare's gonna engulf the whole city? 

Tsukasa nods at her before he'd answer.

Tsukasa: Yes, the explosion might be large-scale. It might not be the whole city to be exact, but it'll be a large explosion that will damage an incredibly large area.

How the hell is that meant to happen? 

Peter: How's that meant to even happen?

Tsukasa: As I said earlier, he has an ability called Flare, it enhances a user's physical abilities by a lot, but it'll affect you mentally depending on what kind of Flare the user has.

Flare... is it supposed to be Bey spirit or something?

Natsumi: Is Flare just Bey spirit, isn't it?

Tsukasa: Not exactly, it's a variant of Bey spirit that has a physical version, which takes the form of fire, as its name suggests.

Marina: How would it affect the owner?

Tsukasa looks towards Marina to answer her question.

Tsukasa: There are two types of Flare; standard Flare and corrupted Flare. Standard Flare improves your physical abilities and your connections with your Bey. Corrupted Flare, on the other hand, gives you more strength than standard Flare, but you're not able to control it and your Bey's spirit can take over your body.

Peter: So you're saying that Lean's full of corrupted Flare? And that we'd have to defeat him?

Tsukasa: Yes.

Oh come on, are you serious? I think Kadoya-san and Yumiya-san can deal with this. I don't want anything to do with this.

Tsukasa: So do you intend to join?

Both Marina and Peter would nod, but Natsumi would look back.

Natsumi: I'm sorry, but I'll have to decline.

The rest of them would go silent, somewhat shocked at what Natsumi said.

Akari: Eh? You're kidding me, right?

Peter: Oi, Natsumi. This better not be an excuse to play more video games.

Natsumi would also get a little nervous, considering how Peter was half-right.

He nailed that, but... there's a reason why I don't wanna join.

Natsumi: It's not the reason why I don't want to join.

Tsukasa: Then what is your reason for wanting to doom the city?

Natsumi would go silent once more, before answering.

Natsumi: Truth be told, I feel like I'm not gonna be of any use. Sure, you could say I'm strong but...

Tsukasa: But what? You'll let your pessimissm drag you down, and have your home be destroyed.

Natsumi: No... it's not like that.

Marina would interrupt, and she'd open her eyes. Marina knew that Natsumi was quite pessimistic.

Marina: It is, you've always been like that ever since we were kids. Sure, you're cute like that sometimes but, it's always been dragging you down. Didn't you want to start Blading 5 years ago?

Y-yeah... I did. I don't know why but, I waited for 5 years to get into competitive Blading.

Natsumi: Yeah...

Marina: That was because you felt like you were too weak, you should grow out of that pessimism of yours.

Natsumi would grit her teeth, then scream out.

Natsumi: I can't do it, alright! Or at least I feel like I can't.

Tsukasa would interrupt her.

Tsukasa: You think you're too weak? Then...

He'd take his dark silver Bey, and reveal it to her, challenging her to a battle.

Tsukasa: Battle against me, I'll show you how strong you are... Natsumi.

-To Be Continued-