The next morning was the final day of the tournament. Rain pounded on the ceiling and thunder shook the building. But despite the ugly weather the battles still went on.
Starting off the morning was Boa and Norman facing off.
Meanwhile BC Sol sat in their usual spot chilling and watching the battle from below. Everyone except for Valt and Aiger.
"If this is about Theodore then Fubuki and Shu already talked to me yesterday about them."
Aiger had recently pulled Valt into the hallway away from the rest of the team.
"No this is about the tournament, we can't both go to the finals."
Aiger pointed up at one of the TV's, on it was everyone's scores and in their group Aiger, Emerald and Valt were all tied for the finals.
"Oh,"
"It needs to be you Valt."
"Aiger I..."
"I've fought Phi before but I know you can stop him. I feel it and so does Achilles!"
Aiger held out Achilles at Valt. It sparkled a little in the light.
Valt looked at it for a moment and a memory came flashing back.
Immediately Valt was brought back to the time when Aiger was still corrupted, and they were having a battle. Right before the battle, Aiger had shown Valt his bey with excitement but when the battle had begun the excitement had been replaced with anger and a dark power.
"What was it like?" Valt asked without realizing it.
"What?"
"Being....corrupted."
"Oh."
Aiger looked down and away from Valt, he shifted uncomfortably at the subject.
"Forget I brought it up."
Valt was about to walk away when he felt a tug at his hand.
Aiger had sat down on the bench and patted the space next to him.
Valt sat down putting his arm around him and for a minute they sat together in silence.
"It's hard seeing everyone going through the same thing Shu and I went through, it's a path no blader should tread and yet Phi just doesn't care! He doesn't care about anyone! Not even his own brother Hyde!.....When I was corrupted my perception was warped, I had managed to convince myself I was doing the right thing and that this was just to get stronger but deep down I knew it wasn't right. But it's different now, they may be long gone at this point...."
Aiger trailed off looking down at the ground. Valt put his arm around Aiger reminding him that he was there.
"That's why it needs to be you Valt, I know you've never been corrupted before and I know you'll never understand it but you care. Those bladers down there are all just puppets to Phi. He'll never understand. I've fought Phi before and I know he'll torture you every second he gets. He wants to make you believe you can't win and that you never will."
"But you can't let that fear take over which is why it needs to be you Valt, even when you faced Shu last year you still had a smile on your face. Fubuki and I have been talking and we've decided to help you train, I know it's not much compared to what Theodore is making you do but just know that Fubuki and I will be there."
Valt was surprised at first but then started smiling.
"Thanks Aiger."
Looking back at the TV Silas and Sasha's battle had just concluded with Silas being the winner. Originally Sasha was supposed to fight Valerie that morning while Silas battled Vincent but with both of them gone, it only moved things along.
Now onstage the last two bladers competing for the first final spot were onstage: Free and Lui.
"C'mon let's go watch this with everyone else."
******
Walking onstage Lui felt ready, he had been training all morning for this battle doing whatever he could to be ready.
But standing before Free he didn't feel as ready for what Free had in store.
A shadow had fallen over Free covering his face but his eyes. Instead, his eyes were glowing golden with hints of purple.
His once tan skin was now pale and his hair was now a faded blonde. The boy standing in Free only looked like a shell of the former Legend.
"Free De La Hoya it's been a while."
"I could say the same thing to you."
Free's resonance started building up and a large ghostly Phoenix could barely be seen.
"Is this going to be a fair fight or are you going to have some help?" Lui asked looking up at the Phoenix.
Free was silent holding out his launcher.
"That's what I thought."
Free bent over and started shaking and started laughing like Phi.
"This is no longer about fun, Lui. Things have changed."
The Phoenix above let out a low inhuman noise as a warning.
Lui narrowed his eyes and held out his launcher.
"3...2...1...Let it Rip!"
Immediately both beys came flying into the stadium, colliding in the center and bursting.
'Not bad, Free it seems you've gotten stronger but you're not the only one."
Lui let his own resonance flair up around him.
"Look who finally showed up." Free said.
Lui let out a laugh, narrowed his eyes, and held out his launcher. Free did the same holding out his own launcher.
"3...2...1...Let it Rip!"
Once again both beys flew into the center attacking each other over and over. Lightning and sparks flew every and a cloud of destruction covered the battle. Once the cloud settled they collided again.
This time the wind was too much and Lui could barely see through it all, while Free stood on the other side watching everything playing out.
"Luinor!"
Through the wind Luinor rose attacking and knocking out Fafnir.
Free caught it at the last second while Lui picked up his own bey.
"I always knew Phi and Theodore were behind this."
Free looked up at Lui.
"Even before they tried to take me it was always obvious from the start but I'm surprised you fell for their tricks."
Free was silent.
"Well?"
Holding out his launcher Frees power began building up.
In the stands Valt felt his bey pulse golden.
Frees veins began to show and the Phoenix resided back and instead a ghostly Fafnir was starting to form.
"That look in your eyes I've seen it before..."
Free said nothing holding out his launcher.
"3...2...1...Let it Rip!"
This time Fafnir dodged Luinors attack and went for the center.
"Dragon Storm!"
The side of Luinor lit up blue and attacked Fafnir over and over relentlessly.
"Nice try Lui, but I know all your moves."
The more Lui watched, the more he realized the way Fafnir was brushing off the attacks was similar to Phi. Fafnir's golden color started fading to the point where it was purple.
"Give me Free back!"
"No Lui, in fact you're lucky I let you battle him at all but last I checked you were supposed to join us that night...."
"What are you talking about Phi."
"Don't play dumb Lui, you broke Theodore's deal. When you were sneaking around the Snake Pit when BC Sol was gone we had a deal. If I beat you, you would join us and now you'll suffer the consequences."
"I don't think so Phi, Valt will stop you and if can't then it's going to be me!"
Lui's resonance sent out a shockwave knocking Free or Phi back a little.
"Luinor NOW!"
Luinor let out an angry battle cry as they charged towards the middle to Fafnir.
"I don't think so Lui, you don't get to escape from your punishment and neither does Valt. You all put so much faith in him it's pathetic. Somedays you all forget who your true god is and who really has the power here."
Free held out his hand and Lui froze, Free smilied maliciously and pulled Lui in close to the battle.
"I came here to fight Free not you."
"Really Lui, this again? You've always said you don't have a side but we both know that isn't true."
Phi's grip tightened on Lui and time seemed to slow down.
"You've always been a wild card even from the start. I'll give you that Lui but tell me.... What side are you really on? How much do you care for those pawns down there? How much do you care about any of this? You say you came here with BC Sol but how loyal are you, I'll make this nice and simple."
Luinor collided with Fafnir in a storm of energy but even through the cloud Lui could see Free's glowing eyes and malicious smile.
"I'll give you one more chance Lui, join me and help me take down Valt and his little fan club or suffer the consequences."
Lui was silent for a couple of seconds thinking. Looking down in the stadium both beys began to slow down.
"I'll join you." He said quietly.
Phi tightened his grip and let his dark power consume Lui.
With his last few seconds Lui kept his eyes down on the battle.
"Luinor NOW!"
"What?"
Phi dropped Lui onto the ground losing his focus
Luinor rode the side of the stadium and knocked Fafnir into the air bursting it but at the same time Luinor too bursted.
"No! You insolent little..."
On screen the battle was being replayed to figure out who had won and a few seconds later the zero next to Free's name changed into a two.
Lui narrowed his eyes in frustration while Free/Phi relaxed.
"You never cease to surprise me, Lui. I'll admit you had me there for a second but I won't let that happen again."
Phi's dark power started to swarm Free, leaving Lui. His eyes were glowing purple and so was his resonance. But this time Phi or Free started cackling like he had lost his mind.
"We'll see about that Phi."
Lui held out his launcher while Phi or Free did the same.
"3...2...1...Let it Rip!"
Both beys once again collided in the center but this time Fafnir bounced trying to recover. Before it had a chance to recover Luinor came in attacking.
Like before Fafnir brushed off all the attacks just like Phoenix.
"Luinor, Dragon Scream!"
Colliding with Fafnir it was instead pushed back to the outer rim of the stadium.
What are you up to this time Phi?
Luinor let out an angry war cry but before it could attack Fafnir was there pushing it against the wall.
"Luinor get out of there!"
After about a second a large crack started to grow along Luinors energy layer.
"Get out of Luinor, you know what to do!"
Pushing Fafnir away from the wall Luinor got away settling in the center.
"What's wrong Phi? Do you need the wall to break the bey."
Free bent over and a shadow had fallen over his face. His shoulders started moving and he looked back up at Lui.
"You really think you can stand up to God? I am Unbeatable, I am your Lord, your master and you dared to challenge me? You're nothing."
Fafnir speed around the gaining power.
"Vahagn, Venatrix, Wvyron, Forenous, and Hades have all fallen and now.....Luinor."
Fafnir rode the stadium's slope sending Luinor into the air. The crack from before grew until the energy layer gave out and became pieces.
Lui fell to his knees picking up the pieces.
"Even with all that power, you're still nothing."
And with that Free or Phi left without saying a word.
Letting out a sigh Lui gathered the pieces and left the stage.
"You did well Luinor, you've fought with honor."
Backstage, BC Sol was gathered along with Shu and a couple others that weren't on the team.
"Lui..." Valt started.
"How could you do that!"
Everyone turned to look at Shu.
"How could you just betray us like that! You were going to join him! You were just going to give in!"
Lui narrowed his eyes.
"I figured you wouldn't have understood."
Lui brushed past him and down the hallway.
Meanwhile, BC Sol broke out into arguments over whether Lui was on their side or not. In the midst of the chaos Valt ran to Lui.
"Wait up!"
"What do you want Aoi?"
"You could've easily joined Phi back there but you didn't...why?"
Lui's hard gaze softened and he started laughing.
"I think you already know why Valt."
And with that Lui left backstage walking down the hallway until Valt couldn't see him anymore.
He never did answer my question....maybe he does care more than he wants to admit it.