After Theodore exited the training room he made his way to the stands. As he walked through the hallway everyone turned to stare straight at him.
His eyes were glowing teal and there was a faint aura surrounding him as he walked. At this point he didn't even care about hiding his true power now in fact he found himself embracing it to the point where he didn't want to turn it off.
Meanwhile on the other side of the building was Valt Aoi along with BC Sol. Below Clio and Cuza had just finished their battle. Since the next battle wasn't for a few minutes everyone was just hanging out and talking.
"I wonder who will be in the next battle." Sasha said.
"Well it's either going to be Shu and Zac or another group." Valt answered.
Onstage the next two bladers stepped out which was Joshua and Drum.
The crowd cheered including BC Sol.
"Valt."
Valt stopped and looked around, everyone was on their feet cheering except for Valt himself.
"Valt."
Theodore Glass stood with his eyes glowing and his hand on Valt's shoulder.
At this point everyone had sat down and was now watching the conversation unfold between Theodore and Valt.
"Theodore? What are you doing here I thought..."
"You can always watch this battle later now c'mon we've got training to do."
Theodore grabbed Valts hand and led him into the hallway but Valt stopped letting his hand slip out of his.
Looking back Sasha said: "We'll be fine besides don't forget to have fun."
Valt smiled and gave her a thumbs up before running off with Theodore.
******
"Interesting."
Valtryek sped across the stadium glowing with power.
Valt wasn't really focused and instead he was looking over at Theodore.
"What's interesting?" Valt asked.
"Everything."
Theodore's eyes were still glowing as his eyes followed Valtryek.
Once it slowed down Valt picked it up.
"So I was thinking we could start with..."
"No... I mean not yet."
Theodore paused holding out his hand while Valt handed it to him reluctantly.
As he looked at it there was an awkward tension in the air looking back up at Theodore his eyes were still glowing and he was muttering things like: Incredible or Interesting.
"Are you feeling okay Theodore, your eyes have been glowing for a while now.... why don't you take some of your meds? I managed to steal them out of your office when we left the Snake Pit."
Valt held out the meds and this time Theodore took them reluctantly. Opening the bottle he slowly popped one in his mouth and swallowed, his eyes stopped glowing and he shoulders relaxed.
"Thanks."
"No problem, what did you think we would start off with?"
"Right,"
Theodore adjusted his cuffs and took a deep breath.
"When battling communication is key and by being in sync together can help accomplish that even better. So I was thinking for today you could choose the activity."
"Oh um...well I was thinking I could battle you since you used to be blader."
"I've got a better idea, maybe there's a way you can fight Phi and me at the same time."
"Well actually.."
"I've seen things that would keep you up, things that you'll only ever witness in your worst fears and things that will haunt you in your nightmares. You wouldn't last five seconds with Phi which is why you need me."
Theodore got out of his seat and brought out an old stadium that still had the original grey colors.
Digging through his desk Theodore got out two Virtual Reality headsets.
"They're still very much prototypes but I think it's time we used these."
Handing one to Valt he put it on. At first it was dark until the headset loaded up and he could see Phi across the stadium.
"Don't worry Valt it's just me Theodore, on these headsets you can change your opponent to look like anyone you want."
Swiping on his iPad Theodore changed into Lui and then Free.
"The thing about holograms is that they're always kind of buggy and that they're just holograms. So for the purpose of this exercise I want you to attack as much as you can so I can assess your skill set. But these headsets don't just change your opponents appearance it can also change the background."
Swiping on his iPad the background changed into the park and then El Astro.
"The thing about holograms is that if you easily attack one it'll just pass through which is why I'm working on the technology so you can attack without it passing through. But for right now the technology can only change my appearance and voice."
Theodores appearance changed back to Phi.
For a minute Valt widened his eyes but got out his launcher anyways.
The background changed to the stadium outside but looking around Valt realized it was different, the bladers in the crowd were from last year's tournament.
"We're only doing one battle Valt, which is why I want you to give me everything you've got and for the purpose of this exercise I'm going to use a 3D copy of Phoenix."
Thedores eyes started glowing but instead it was red and blue.
"3...2...1...Let it Rip!"
The crowd cheered as Valtryek landed and so did Phoenix. Phoenix immediately took the center while Valtryek rode on the outside.
"Turbo Valtryek Whip."
The side of Valtryek lit up glowing blue but there was something else as Theodore sat back and watched Valtryek start turning from blue to a different color.
The same thing was happening to his eyes they were flickering between colors.
I've got to push him to see what this is....
"Dread Break!"
Riding up the stadium's slope Phoenix gained speed and then came back down colliding with Valtryek.
Phoenix attacked over and over while Valtryek just took each hit.
"If you can't defeat me then what makes you think you can defeat you can defeat Phi, how can you save your friends Valt when they're merely puppets?"
"Valtryek!"
The blue aura around Valtryek began flickering on and off as it attacked over and over.
"Show me your power and don't hold back!"
Looking across the stadium Valt no longer saw Theodore and instead he saw Phi with his eyes focused on the battle.
"Valtryek!"
This time breaking through the blue energy was golden yellow energy.
Looking up from the battle Theodore looked over at Valt.
Surrounding him was this aura of golden yellow power and his eyes had this dead golden look in them. Valtryek was barely seen but there was something else behind.
"Do it again and put more power into it this time!"
"You're finished!"
"I don't think so, Phoenix!"
A black aura surrounded Theodore and his eyes started glowing black.
"Dread Crush!"
Colliding with Valtryek the armor flew off into the air and came back down.
"No!"
The golden energy dissipated and Valt looked normal again.
Phoenix trapped Valtryek right in the center of the stadium.
Closing his eyes Valt didn't want any of this, he figured he would've done some launching or training but this felt too real. Maybe he was a little scared he would admit that but this was just too much.
Valt lowered his head shaking.
"I will destroy everything."
Theodore backed away from the battle grabbing his iPad, he pressed a couple of buttons trying to change the setting but instead everything in the background started glitching except for Phi.
"Valt I can't turn it off you need to get out of there NOW!"
Pressing more buttons nothing worked.
If I can't get him out of there then maybe I should push him even more....
Theodore held out his hand.
"You're my puppet now." the hologram said.
Theodore's power pulsed and spread through Valt.
Valt could feel the power slowly taking over and lowering his head he gave in.
In that second time began to slow down and just when Valt thought it was the end he was wrong.
A golden aura started to build up and Valts eyes were glowing with power. His friendly smile was gone, replaced with a dead look in his eyes and a frown.
"You're finished Phi."
Valtryek got out speeding away and the armour fell. Valt's voice seemed to echo from everywhere at once.
Looking back at Valt his golden power was everywhere and even his bey was in a golden trance.
"Valt?"
Looking up from the battle Valt looked straight at Theodore with a dead look in his eyes. Electricity sparked all around him.
"You will pay for what you've done Phi!"
Colliding with Phoenix time seemed to slow down.
Just then Phoenix flew into the air and broke, Valryek went flying through the other side of the stadium. The golden power dissipated and Valtryek slowed down the VR shut down and went black.
Taking it off the room was a mess with chairs and papers everywhere, Sasha stood in the doorway with a surprised look on her face with Theodore standing next to her.
"What was that?" she asked.
A chandelier from above fell right into the stadium.
"We were just battling or at least I think we were. I don't really remember much of it."
"What do you mean you were just battling? There was this bright light from across the building originating from here. Everyone had to cover their eyes because it was so bright. Even Zac and Shu stopped what they were doing to look up from their battle!"
"That was...incredible Valt. Sasha, will you please leave us alone for a minute"
"But.."
"It'll only take a minute." Theodore interrupted.
Sasha closed the door behind her once again leaving Valt alone with Theodore.
"Theodore what was that and what did Sasha mean by a bright light?"
"See for yourself."
Theodore turned on the TV with everything replaying, it was strange watching himself battle.
"From what I've seen today you've managed to tap into this new...power but the problem is it's still very raw and uncontrolled."
On the TV Valt saw the power starting to build up around him as he lowered his head.
"You can either hold back or completely unleash your power."
On the TV a golden light started coming from Valtryek and the camera zoomed out showing how bright it was from different angles.
Then once Valtryek broke through the 3D copy of Phoenix the light started dining down and disappeared. The Tv turned off.
"Then how do I keep in control? If I use to little power then Phi could easily break Valtryek but if I use too much..." Valt trailed off looking out the window.
"Suppressing your power isn't the answer, instead embracing your power is. By embracing it it'll be easier for you to control it. But if you're not careful enough then that power could end up controlling you. Now then,"
Theodore got up brushing the debris off of himself.
"I think that's enough for today."