"Look! They're showing the first line-up for Group A!"
Kit pointed up at the big screen that hung in the centre of the lobby.
We'd been waiting there for the announcement after the introduction.
I was leaning on a small couch where Shasa was seated as well when I pushed myself off and joined them as we stared up at the screen.
"And the lineup for Group A we have Valt Aoi versus Kurt Baratier!" The announcer called out as the screen showed the two bladers' profiles. Valt gasped.
"That guy! Oh, I'll knock him down a step or two."
He clenched his teeth and tensed his body until he started turning red.
"Calm down there," I laughed at him and patted his shoulder.
"You've gotta find a strategy to do that first." It didn't seem like he heard me as continued to glare at the picture of Kurt until it disappeared.
"Then, we have Red Eye versus Boa Alcazaba." Again, the screen showed the glaring albino and the determined Boa.
"And finally, we have Cuza Ackermann versus Norman Tarver! What an exciting round it will be for Group A!"
"Norman Tarver! This guy, huh. Wait, who is this guy?" Cuza turned to me for help but I just shrugged.
"Never heard of him." He looked to the ground in defeat.
"In fact, Both Boa and Norman haven't battled officially; why were they invited to battle in the tournament?"
"And I wasn't!" Silas cut me off with a scowl. He crossed his arms as he also glared up at the screen. I smirked slightly.
"Better luck next time, dude." He growled at me before turning away and softening his expression.
"Congrats to you for getting in, I guess." He mumbled out which made my smile grow even more.
"Aw, thanks Silas." I looked up at the screen again and stared at the lineup.
My eyes were especially fixated on a certain red-eyed foe.
"It's just like back then. When that older blader stormed the dojo with that crazy power. But I think Red Eye turned out worse than Cameron. Or Blue Eye. Or whatever he called himself."
Athena told me grimly. We were both quite shaken that day and couldn't sleep the same night.
Although his face was covered by a mask, the corrupted blader that entered our dojo so confidently radiated an aura of uncomfortable power.
It still gave me chills to this day.
"If Micheal wasn't able to help him break out of that...spell... do you think he would've turned out like Kurenai has now?" I asked her softly.
When she didn't answer, I changed the subject.
"We need to prepare. At some point, we'll probably face Kurenai in this competition and we can't let some childhood memory get the better of us." I told her with fake confidence.
"We should get to training then. Immediately."
I turned to Valt and Cuza and placed a hand on both their heads, ruffling their hair in the process.
"Good luck in your battles. I'll be there to watch but I'm afraid I can't help you prepare." I shrugged sadly as their faces fell slightly.
"I'll be doing some training of my own and I can't have you making notes on my strategies." I smiled. Valt nodded in understanding.
"Yeah, I guess we're all rivals now." He grinned.
I nodded before waving goodbye and excusing myself.
I made my way further into the arena, weaving through the plain, grey hallways, trying to find an empty practice room. I turned a particular corner and stopped in my tracks.
Chills shot up my back and I tensed.
"That aura..." I muttered to no one and turned to the left to see none other than Shu Kurenai through the big window of the practice room.
He was in a launching position, obviously getting ready to battle with no one.
But instead of jumping at the chance to watch him launch and potentially get some basis for a strategy against him, I couldn't focus on anything but the crushing weight around me.
His eyes held an almost maniacal gleam, his body was tense and firm, and his focus was unwavering.
The worst of it all was his aura.
His dark aura seemed to suck in the surrounding air, leaving me gaping like a fish for water.
I could feel goosebumps form quickly on my arms despite being covered by my warm jumper once he started the countdown.
"3!"
"2!"
"1!"
"Let it rip!"
His launch seemed to shake the area with how powerful it was.
Spryzen dropped into the stadium and I felt it.
From the moment it dropped in to the constant, whirring vibration of its spin.
My breaths were short and I'm not sure how long I would've stood there if it wasn't for the sound of a door sliding on my right.
I jolted from the noise and turned to see Norman Tarver walking out. He raised an eyebrow at me as to why I was standing there before noticing the powerful blader in the other room.
His eyes immediately darkened as he stared at the blader.
He had the tiniest hint of a smirk on his face, as if telling the red-eyed blader that all his efforts will be useless against him.
I looked back just in time to see the red bey hit the side of the stadium and fly up into his hand. I managed to relax a little bit now that another person was there.
It calmed me even if I had no idea who Norman was. But that relief quickly went away when he suddenly snapped his eyes towards us.
I heard Norman flinch behind me but why should he be scared?
When the one that intimidating gaze was pointed at was me.
And it wasn't a passing gaze either. It didn't seem as though he was staring through me. He definitely saw me, acknowledged I was there, and he was aware.
I stared back with faux confidence, clutching the ends of my sleeves for support. I couldn't decipher a single thought behind those ruby eyes.
And I didn't get to try anymore as he simply clicked a button on his remote and the glass turned opaque.
I let out a violent breath I didn't know I had in which earned me a scoff from the boy behind me. I glanced over my shoulder to see him smirking at me.
"Heh, scared?" I deadpanned and rolled my eyes before turning around. I spotted Boa making his way over and internally cringed.
"Why are both of them here?" Athena asked with an obvious distaste in her tone. I shrugged and simply ignored the boy who looked at me strangely.
"He probably recognises me from before. Maybe. Anyway, I need some air."
"We need some air," She corrected.
"We can't be cooped up in some boring room with one stadium and a water cooler for the rest of the tournament." I nodded as I passed the young boy, not even glancing his way as I was in deep thought.
"Yeah, how about training like old times then? Maybe we can find a nice tree or lake nearby." She laughed nervously, trying to forget the intense aura we were just exposed to moments before.
"Sure, you go do that then."
I didn't stop until I had made it out of the stuffy arena. As I stepped out of the sliding doors, I took a deep breath.
The sun was bright but not hot enough to be harsh. Thank goodness because there wasn't any wind to cool me down anyway.
I was about to walk off to find myself a lake when I heard a hum beside me.
"Free." I went over to the boy who was looking inside through the glass.
"Valt is facing Kurt Baratier." He observed while leaning on the glass, his forehead almost pressing onto it. I smiled slightly.
"You know, you could just go in to get a closer look." I laughed.
"I can see from out here. Besides, my skin prickles in there." My smile faltered as I realised what he was saying.
He also didn't like the feeling of Red Eye's power. I shook the thoughts out of my head as he looked at me.
"You going out?" He tilted his head and shoved his hands into his pocket as always. I nodded and looked out into the horizon.
"Training in there won't get me anywhere. I need some space to breathe." He nodded knowingly.
"Me too. Good luck on your training."
"Oh, were you just here to see me off or something?" I joked. He shrugged and came closer.
I was expecting a pat on the back or even a small, side hug if I was lucky.
I was definitely not ready for the quick kiss he placed on my lips.
"Oh-mphf!"
"You're literally together. Get used to it." Athena laughed teasingly. I shrugged.
"Nobody would be able to. I mean, did you see any indication that he was gonna kiss me?! Not a change in his facial expression at all!" I defended myself to which she curtly ignored.
"Uh-" I breathed out when we parted, still looking dazed. He smirked and gave one more light kiss to my forehead before walking off.
"See you later." He gave one last farewell.
I tried to call out too but I only ended up nodding to his back.
So he obviously didn't see.
After he was far enough away, I finally groaned out loud and slapped my cheeks, startling quite a few people who were also leaving the stadium.
"Get it together, Ally! You've got a tournament to win!" I shouted encouragement to myself before sprinting away to who knows where, leaving a small crowd of confused onlookers.
I sprinted for as long as I needed in order to get my mind off of that distracting blader and onto blading.
~~~
"This place looks good." I murmured to myself as I looked all around.
I somehow managed to find myself a small park. The park was a simple field that was surrounded by a fairly dense ring of trees.
So as I stood in the middle, it was as if I was in the middle of a forest since the tallest building in the area was the arena itself. I sighed and sat down right in the centre.
The grass was long enough to tickle my lower back and it was incredibly soft too. There were a few daffodils scattered around but that was about it for the colour.
I took a deep breath and cleared my head. My mind solely focused on becoming in tune with the nature around me.
From the gentle warmth of the sun to the sweet smell of slightly damp soil. There was no wind blowing and not a bird in sight.
Usually, that would make the place quite dead. But once I began meditating and listening quietly and intently, it was easy to see just how alive this little park really was.
It's hard to explain but think of it like this: Everything is connected with energy or mana flowing through it all.
As humans who are always moving about and thinking of different things at once, it's hard to stay connected with this consistent flow of energy.
Meditating is a way of grounding ourselves and letting our energy flow with the nature around us.
I placed my bey in front of me and allowed her to do the same.
As we became in tune with both the ground under our feet and each other, we managed to connect even more.
I sat like that for a bit, just taking in the feel of my partner in front of me when I finally opened my eyes.
In front of me, I clearly saw the wispy figure of my partner. Although she was sitting in the same cross-legged position as I was, she still towered over me.
The flail of her helmet was blowing majestically despite there being no wind and the gaze hiding behind the glowing slits of her helmet was heavy on me.
But they weren't the only weight I felt on me.
I almost flinched when I felt the burning glare on my back.
I didn't turn around, the familiarity of the intensity reminding me of Red Eye. If he was here, I don't know what I'd do.
But the longer I sat there staring at my partner, the more I realised that although this corruption was similar, it was definitely different.
In fact, I'm sure I've felt this specific aura before.
"How long are you gonna stalk me for?" I asked loudly; the sudden loss in focus caused my partner's form to diminish.
I sighed and stood up, finally facing whoever was behind me. I half-expected it to be Boa or something but I was surprised to see a girl with a distinctly familiar white mask covering her face.
"You.." I breathed.
The mask covered half of her face just like Red Eye's did.
When we first met, her hair was a light shade of pink but it seems that the colour washed out even more since last time.
She wore a dress-like cloak of white and she had her bey in one hand as well as the launcher in the other.
We were a good distance away from each other but she still heard me.
"Stalking. Funny." There was not an ounce of humour in her tone. Her voice was soft, almost too gentle to be a 'villain's' voice.
"Long time no see. You got out of the pit at least. But you've still got that mask on your face." I told her casually as if we were longtime friends.
If I'm being completely honest, I wasn't sure exactly what to do in this situation.
"What are you doing here?" I put my hands into the pockets of my jumper, remembering my bey was still on the ground.
"Red Eyes..." She murmured and looked to the side but I was still able to hear it.
"Eyes?" She looked back up, her mouth pressing into a thin line.
"Shu Kurenai is in the competition." She told me.
"I noticed. So what?" She hesitated for a moment before turning abruptly, her shoulders incredibly tense as she began walking.
"Come." I raised an eyebrow but followed nonetheless, making sure to grab Athena from the ground before pocketing her.
~~~
"You brought me to a stadium." I started as I stared at the outdoor simple stadium in a different park just a short walk from the one we were just at.
"I noticed." She mocked me. I would have laughed if her tone had even the smallest hint of joking in it.
She positioned herself on one side and held out her launcher, watching me expectantly. I shrugged and stood on the other side.
"3!"
"2!"
"1!"
"Let it rip!"
Both beys dropped into the stadium. Pride Bastet claimed the centre as Athena X, who was set in attack mode, circled around.
"His movements are quick." She suddenly said which caused me to look up in confusion.
"And unpredictable." She continued as Bastet spun out of the centre and fell into a spin alongside Athena.
"He's a menace to battle against because you just don't know what he'll do next. It's like playing against you, except worse."
She commented as Bastet pushed Athena into the centre, forcing the attack type bey into a stamina/defence position.
Basically, not an ideal place to be if you want to attack.
"He doesn't go for complex strategies," Bastet made an outwards U before circling in at an alarming speed.
"He'll beat you with whatever power he has. And maybe he'll sprinkle in a few tactics to get you where he wants you."
Bastet crashed into Athena which sent her flying. I noticed Bastet using a strike from below which was what caused my bey to fly in my direction.
I caught the bey before it could hit me. Finally, White Eye looked up at me after picking up her own bey and locking it in.
"Again."
"Shu? You're describing Shu's playstyle? Why?" I asked her first while clutching my bey tightly in my hand. She held her position firm.
"Again." She repeated but I also stood my ground.
"Answer me first, White Eye. Or...is it...Brie?"
Finally, she faltered. Her stance quickly dropped as she fell to the ground, dropping her launcher in the process. I was surprised and almost ran over to her but stopped myself.
"How did you know?" She asked breathlessly.
The fact that I knew didn't seem to surprise her, it was as if everything she'd been thinking about came crashing down onto her once I said her name.
"Since I entered the pit honestly," I walked over to her and sat down to her left.
"Both you and Kurenai." She sighed exasperatedly, like she was holding in tears.
"Where did we go wrong? It started off with him wanting to get stronger and me wanting to..." She trailed off, seemingly leaving the sentence unanswered for a while.
I picked up her launcher and examined her bey.
"I don't even know when I started blading. I never wanted to. I- I don't know. Everything is so messy. And now he's even worse, in that dumb tournament."
She rambled on and on and I did nothing but listen quietly while fiddling with her bey. I didn't know what to say.
'Sorry?' 'It'll all get better soon?' I don't even know her or her situation!
"That stupid pit was a mistake to be in. You were right for hating it. I was horrible for letting him go into something like that. I was there and I... I..."
She seemed to have nothing more to say as she brought her legs closer to her chest, holding herself in a tight ball.
She finally looked up at me and I noticed slight tear streams running down her cheeks. I tried for an encouraging smile and handed her the bey.
"There's no use dwelling in what you could've done now. Why were you telling me all that? How he battles and such?"
She took her bey and stared at it. I couldn't tell whether it was a look of sadness or disgust. But it didn't linger as she put it down.
"We're corrupted. Our resistance is corrupted. I don't know how to save myself but," She looked up at me and surprisingly, she took her mask off.
My eyes widened in shock as she threw it off to the side somewhere. "Somehow I feel like I definitely know how to save Shu."
I nodded dumbly as I stared at her face for the first time.
Her eyes were a striking silver colour. Not quite like my stormy grey eye, more like what a shiny metal would look like.
But apparently, that shine left since they were more of a murky, darker white colour now, the only shine being from the recent tears she spilled.
In fact, her whole appearance was quite worn down and...plain.
Her hair was mute, her skin devastatingly pale, and there was no shine, nothing special.
It was quite saddening to see but I didn't have time to dwell on it as she quickly moved on.
"Defeat him." She said simply.
"Uh- What?" I blinked to clear my head and focused.
"Defeat him? Simple as that?" She shook her head which caused the thin strands of her hair to wave around mesmerizingly.
"No. Words won't get through to him. And you saw what happened to him after his loss against Lui. You can't just beat him. You have to get through to him."
She unfurled herself from her huddle and leaned forward, wiping the tears from her face before gently taking one of my hands and clutching it.
"Please. He won't listen to me but to a kind opponent like you, he'd be able to break free from his corruption."
I was at a loss for words. She wanted me to get through to him? I barely know him!
"I don't think I'm the right person for the job." I laughed awkwardly. She shook her head in strong denial.
"If not you, then Valt. You or Valt. One of you needs to get through to him. Please."
I didn't know what she was asking me to do exactly.
Whether she wanted me to train with the sole purpose of defeating him or train Valt for the same thing.
"I- I guess I'll see what I can do." I shrugged, it came out as more of a question.
My expression softened when I noticed the tiniest hint of a shimmer in her lifeless eyes. She smiled.
"Thank you. Even an empty promise will be fine." Her body relaxed as she sighed in relief, My expression softened as I squeezed her hand back.
"She says there's no saving herself, but I'm pretty sure she just did." Athena scoffed. I nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, it seems her passion to save Kurenai was so strong it broke her out of that dark state of mind. She's quite strong."
"Well then," I stood up and brushed off the imaginary dust from my jumper.
"Let's get to training. I can't possibly hope to defeat Shu like this.
"When you gave me those pointers earlier, it felt like how my dad used to guide me in battles. You'd make a pretty good advisor."
I helped her to her feet as we got into position. She laughed slightly, an empty laugh but a laugh nonetheless.
"You think?" She gave one last comment before our faces turned serious. "Be ready."
"3!"
"2!"
"1!"
"Let it rip!"
~~~
PLOT NOTE:
I know the Blader's Cup is Round Robin (every contestant faces off against each other at least once) but idc.
She's gonna face off with whoever is convenient for the plot whether she's faced them before or not.
If you can't tell, she replaces Silas in the tournament. Harsh but it had to be done.