A/N: Ya'll💀 I'm sorry for not updating, I swear every day that I didn't work on this chapter I was thinking about doing it. Dumb friend getting me into beyblade smh
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“What?!"
You hadn’t planned on joining the tournament, not wanting to mess with any major battles. Wouldn’t this make the number of teams uneven? What happens if your teammates give it their all, and you get really far in the tournament, to the point that you make it up against a major team? And surely you can’t half-ass it, or else your teammates would be quite disappointed. Damn it, Leo!
“Yeah! We’ve been aiming to get stronger, and what better way than to have a chance at battling lots of strong players, right?”
“You’re not wrong, but…”
“It’s not like you were busy, you don’t have any other friends.”
Wow, thanks Tasha, how nice of you. She’s not wrong though, and there’s no backing down now. You take a deep breath in, and do a couple of little stretches before the match.
“So, any words of encouragement, boss?”
“I dunno, kick ass I guess.” You mumble unenthusiastically.
You look around at your teammates, and you’re sure that if you were in an anime you’d be able to see a comical sweatdrop on each of their temples. You sigh, and explain.
“There’s not much to add, you guys have already improved significantly since we started training together. Hell, Skull barely had any improvement tips for Tasha.”
You double-check your ink tank, making sure it’s hooked up correctly,
“Just do what we do, and don’t overthink anything. You guys are hella skilled, and I believe in you.”
…That came out a lot sweeter than you were hoping. It’s all true, though, you are extremely proud of how far they’re come.
Leo shouts out in excitement, Milo offers you a big smile, and you can see the way Tasha’s cheeks move up under her mask before going back to inspecting her weapon. There’s about one minute until you guys have to super-jump to your spawn point, so you take the opportunity to say one last thing.
“I’m sure I don’t have to remind you guys since you all have common sense, but just be sure to have respect for our opponents.”
The battle is set on inkblot art academy and it doesn’t take long for Leo to rush in and splat multiple opponents. Milo focuses on inking the ground while you run support right behind Leo, splatting an opponent that had ninja squid. Tasha’s already on the center pillar, being the last line of defense and not allowing anyone by. After inking all of the nearby areas, you retreat to the left side of the stage, covering that escape route. Milo does the same for the right side, inking that path with his Heavy Splatling. Leo stays on the front lines, basically spawn-camping the opponents. You almost feel bad, but these are the preliminaries, so you shouldn’t have expected too much competition. At least you weren’t all the way in their spawn. The timer hits two seconds, and your teammates are quick to save up enough ink for one last sub-weapon. You’ve taught them well.
The music dies down, and both teams look over at the big screen to see the score. It’s obvious who won, but it was always good to make sure. A win, 73.06% to 19.4%. Ouch. Their teammates are kind and respectful about it, wishing your team luck and offering you a handshake. You’re appreciative that they have good sportsmanship, that seems to be rare at your rank. You thank them for the battle, and your team heads to the main area of the tower to see what teams have entered and by how much they won. You already know that there are some big-shot players, but you want to see how much the main teams won by. Gloves’s battle was a decent match, he won by about 12%. The yellow-green team seemed to be doing much better than how they were doing when they started teaming up, winning by 30%. The S4’s score was unsurprising, getting a couple fewer points than your recent score.
Your team leaves Deca Tower, and can barely move with how crowded the front is. Milo gently grabs your hand as well as Leo’s so that the two of you don’t get lost (And probably for comfort, too). He’s not too worried about Tasha, with her height towering over most inklings, along with the fact that she’s fine in crowds. Well, anxiety-wise, at least.
You guys almost make it out of the crowd, but a shout of your name interrupts you.
“This way!” He’s waving his hands around excitedly, despite having seen you just a few minutes earlier. Goggles is quick to hug you when you come over, and you stand there like a brick, unmoving for a second before slowly cradling one arm around him awkwardly.
You spot a character that’s new to the story. There’s a smile on his face, and he’s got - supposedly - the freshest gear in town.
‘He should be fun to be around.’
He fixes his gear, almost in a comical way, before introducing himself.
“Yo! The name’s Gloves! I saw the beginning of your battle, and I can bet that you’re gonna do great in the tourney!”
He looks over at Leo, pointing right at his face with an exaggerated swing of his arm.
“And you! You’re super fresh! You’re quick to attack, and you can hold your ground well with those dualies. You’ve got some crazy agility, props to you, dude!”
You see the way Leo’s eyes light right up, it seems he’s not used to having fans.
‘If we keep battling like this, that’s sure to change.’
You let the two dorks chat for a bit until you’re cut off by an announcement over the loudspeakers;
["The battle to be king of the square has begun!”]
A smirk begins to form on your face. Game on. There’s no going back now. The rules are explained, and some notable players are pointed out. Gloves is the first, and you waddle to hide behind Milo since Gloves was right beside you a minute earlier and you didn’t want all the attention on you. Next they point out Rider, you’re surprised you didn’t spot him earlier - he’s not that far away from where you’re standing. He looks around and meets your eyes, the both of your giving eachother a nod that says no going easy on eachother, and no hard feelings. Next up is Skull, and you spot Avi behind him, who shoots you a wink(?), you couldn’t quite tell, but his lopsided smile along with the way his head tilted to the side made you assume that that was the case.
“Hey, doesn’t Goggles pants Rider and Skull right about now?” You quickly survey the area, and indeed, Goggles is happily making his way over to the pair. Before he can do anything, you smoothly tug him backward by the back of his jacket. He still says the line he was supposed to say, so it seems that your little intervention didn’t change the story. Rider didn’t notice Goggles there at first, only looking behind him when he made his presence known. Rider sees the way your hand is just now letting go of the back of his jacket. He also sees the way Goggles’ arms drop from in front of him to his sides, as if he was reaching out for something. Rider gives to a nod of thanks, now realizing that Goggles was up to his regular shenanigans and that you may have just saved him from a really awkward situation.
Skull is none the wiser, and only looks at you. Just.. starring. You know that he’s just acknowledging your presence, but at least give a nod or something!
Your thoughts are interrupted by the final notable player being announced. There’s no doubt that there should be boss music playing when you look up to the stage and see an Inkling standing with his arms crossed. He’s standing above everyone, the only thing higher up than him being his ego.
‘Things sure are about to get interesting. Can’t wait to see an entirely new level of skill~.’
