The Weird, Wild, and Wonderous World of Beyblade

Valt-Voice

"Well," His friend paused for a bit. For a second, all Valt could hear from the other end was the sound of a ticking clock. "Guess who's the new manager of New York's Raging Bulls."

Valt felt a ping of fear in his heart at that. "You?"

"Yeah."

Valt ruffled his blue hair as he chewed on that. Being the manager of an entire Blading team was hard work. What if Shu-? He pushed that thought down. He wanted to talk, and he needed to get going to get to the match. He didn't have time to think like that.

"Con-congrats!" He felt his voice lower. "So, what's that like?"

The tick of a clock could be heard again before Shu responded. "Uh-Valt, no offense, but telling you would make your head spin."

"No way, try me."

"If you say so." Shu's talk devolved into a rush of professional jargon that didn't just make Valt's head hurt; it made it crumple like paper. All sorts of stuff about paperwork, budgeting, and whatever else he was talking about. Even though he couldn't begin wrapping his head around what Shu was saying, Valt kept listening anyway. Understanding the topic or not, Valt needed to talk to someone. Someone friendly. All the while, Shu's awkward pauses and the ticking kept breaking the flow of the talk as Valt slowly felt that fear creep into his mind. Shu's rapid-fire talking didn't help either.

"So, head spinning yet?" Shu asked, only to cut off again as the sound of a door opening came through the phone.

"Well, I-" Before Valt could get another word out, he heard Shu mutter something like 'Paperwork' before picking back up again at a rapid-fire pace.

"S-sorry Valt, kinda busy. It was nice talking to you." Before Valt could get out a goodbye, he hung up. Valt felt a pit in his stomach as the reality of what just happened set in.

As much as he hated it, Shu was busy. Too busy to talk to him. Part of him wondered if things would always be like this, that he and everyone else would be too caught up in life to hang out again.

Remembering what he had to do, he pocketed his phone and headed for the coliseum.

As he finally reached the place, it was overrun with Reporters, Fans, and flashing cameras. Valt felt himself cringe instinctively but shoved it aside. He was a champion. He needed to please them, but he couldn't get those bleak thoughts after his conversation with Shu out of his head.

Could this really be his life from now on, battle after battle and interview after interview? Caught up in his thoughts, Valt snapped out of it when it felt like he hit a wall and fell on his back. As he tried to get up, the sight of what he had run into made him freeze.

The guy was huge. His arms were a mess of tattoos, and his angry gray eyes bore into the blue-haired boy's brown ones. The guy's shark-like teeth were exposed as he glared down at him.

"H-hey," Valt extended a hand and tried to save the moment. The guy gave an annoyed grunt and just walked away. Valt got up and tried to go after him. "Hey, are you at least gonna say hello?"

"Like I'd bother." The guy responded as he walked towards the stadium.

Valt kept up. "Aren't you that Argus guy who wants to take me on? The least you could do is say hi."

"Doesn't matter. All you need to know is that your fall back there was a sign of things to come." And with that, he walked into the stadium, leaving Valt behind at the entrance.

Valt's brown eyes sank. While it wasn't always the case, he got some real jerks to fight in his title matches. And today just had to kick him down further. What would be next? A surprise post-battle interview, a big signing event, commercial appearances?