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Valt sprinted at top speed towards the beach, tears streaking off his face as he neared the water and collapsed on the sand. "I was the only one to lose!" he wailed, pounding his fists into the water, which receded. "Why was I the only weak one?"

A strange feeling welled us inside his chest, in his heart, making him feel sick and angry and useless.

Stop!

He turned and ran into the surf, tears eaten by bigger salt droplets. Small animals scuttled over his feet, and he felt a prickle of fear as something slimy whispered over his foot. Valt was angry with himself. He needed to be able to do something, anything, right now.

I want to tear the world apart.

Turning around, he stomped back to solid ground. He fully intended to make the world feel his own pain, starting with that tree.

Enough! Valt, stop it!

Valt crashed into it at full speed. The tree flung him backwards, narrowly missing a boulder. His head throbbed painfully and his body was bruised. He felt sick, but the tree look more or less unharmed.

"DIE, TREE!" He charged it again.

Stop.

Stop.

"Valt, stop!" someone yelled.

Why should you care! He yelled back internally, crashing into it again. The worlds color faded for a second, then shuddered back into focus as he fell to the ground.

Wakiya ran to him, panting. "If you think this--" he gestured at the undamaged tree trunk "--is going to fix anything, your wrong. You've hurt yourself, and that wont change the fact you went up against the strongest blader on that team and nearly won."

"Nearly won isn't good enough," Valt coughed.

"Exactly," Wakiya agreed, looping one of Valt's sandy arms around his neck and straightening. "So get better with us. Cause this isn't exactly great training... Captain."

Captain? He wondered. Did he really say...

"Yes, you dimwit," the blonde snapped. "You're our captain, win or lose, so act like it. If one of us falls, the others pick him back up. If you lose a point, we win it back. That's how a team works, so don't make me tell you again. Also, if you want to destroy something, get better so you can tear Quon apart next time."

For the second time, his tears spilled over. "T-thanks, Wakiya. I never knew you were such a softie."

Wakiya dropped him on the ground. "Iḿ not a softie! Believe it!"

The bushes laughed. "Now he sounds like Naruto," Robin's voice said cheerfully.

"Robin, you are so dead!" he yelled. "I'm the best, and I don't look like Naruto!" He turned back to Valt. "Get up, Valt. We've got training to do."

The rest of the bushes cheered.

"WHY IS EVERYONE HERE???" the blonde wailed. "My humiliation is complete!"

"Too right it is," Shu said, emerging from the nearest bush with a camera. "Because if you yell at Valt again, this goes online."

"And if you delete Shu's, we have more copies." Daigo and Robin got up, trying to keep Honcho from stealing the phones.

"Don't you dare! Wakiya is mine, so don't ship him with Valt!"

Valt still wasn't entirely over it, but going home, he decided Beybread seemed better than crashing into a tree until he got knocked out.

"Hey, sweetie!" Chiharu, his mother, greeted him. "How was your day?"

"I lost to Quon," he pouted. "But don't worry! We still won, and I know I'll win next time!"

"Of course!" she smiled encouragingly. "You have to, cause I believe in you!"

At night, it took him a while to fall asleep, but there was a reason he tried to sleep late and wake on time.

Quon readied his launcher, as well as Valt.

"So youŕe the one Xander spoke so highly of," he said, surprised. "I didn't think he'd be so small. Honestly, I thought it'd be Ruwei, maybe."

"Whats a Ruwei?" Valt asked.

Up in the stands, Xander rolled his eyes. "You're too mean, Quon."

"Doesn't matter," Quon sighed, running a hand through his bright green hair. When he took his hand away, it revealed black tips. "Give it your all, understand?"

"I wouldn't have it any other way!"

"Three!"

"Two!"

"One!"

"Let it... rip!"

Valtryek crashed into the stadium, constantly gaining a burst of speed and streaking towards the center. Quetzalcoatl waited patiently in the middle of the stadium, the beyblade pulsing like heartbeat. Completely in sync, Valt thought. Oh, yeah, I should probably be focusing--oh! Do I smell beybread? Nope. Oh, yeah, pay attention.

His partner streaked in for the attack, and the yellow and green one simply moved off to the side. His fighting style reminded him of Robin's, who would always wait for her opening. MIssed again!

"I cant believe Xander spoke so well of you," he growled, frustrated that Valt wasn't better.

"Partner, more speed!" he yelled, swinging an arm. Valtryek responded, performance to beginning to glow, and shot forwards. Quonś eyes widened.

"That's how you want to play it? Fine." He took a deep breath. "Quetzalcoatl, attack!"

Valtryek smashed into the other beyblade sending it flying.

"One point for--"

"Wait!" the green-haired boy yelled. "Watch!"

Quetzalcoatl flipped twice in the air and landed on the stadium again. Valt had a sudden flashback of seeing his excellent skateboarding skills.

"Now!" he roared.

The yellow bey crashed into Valtś, and Valt didn't have a backup like he did.

Valtryek crashed into the cold, hard ground, and Valt felt the same cold douse him as Wakiya started yelling.

"I don't understand," Quon muttered, pulling back his beyblade. "Why was Xander so impressed?"

In the stands, the redhead scowled. "C'mon, Valt Aoi," he mumbled under his breath. "You can do better."

Valt's eyes opened as he fell off the bed. "Life, that's so not cool!" He tasted blood, reached up to touch his mouth. It came away slightly red, which didn't help at all, but Valt had a severe reaction to blood, involving running in circles like a headless chicken and throwing up in the bathroom.

"Valt!" Toko yelled, banging on the door. "No one wants to hear gross noises at six in the morning!"

"Yeah!" Nika agreed. "Losing isn't so bad!"

Valt opened the door.

"Oh. Did you bite your lip while you were sleeping?"

It was super embarrassing for his eight year old brother to be taking care of him, but he nodded anyways, pouting. Valtryek glimmered reassuringly, as if to say, Don't worry! We'll get them next time!

"Blood really isn't that scary," the pink haired twin said, walking towards them with a blanket over her shoulders. "It's just that red stuff."

Still don't agree. When someone's bleeding, they're hurt. I don't like it when people are hurt. You know, other than that one time I was trying to kill a tree with my head.

Instead, Valt replied, "Yeah, your right! Hey, you wanna battle?"

The twins covered their heads in unison. "It's six! We wanna go back to sleep!"

"But the sky's awake!"

The sun was just rising out the bathroom window, and the three ran over to see it.

"And I'm awake!" Valt's eyes were bright with excitement and mischief. The twins groaned, knowing where this was going.

"SO WE HAVE TO PLAY!"

Nika giggled. "You're quoting Frozen."

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"BE QUIET!" Chiharu bellowed. "I'M TRYING TO SLEEP, AND I HAVE TO GET UP AT SI-- AHH!!! ITS SIX TWENTY!"

They all sweatdropped as they heard her run downstairs and start the first batch of bread. "Now we know where Valt gets it," Toko muttered.

"Hey!" Valt protested.

There was a knock on the door. They heard Chiharu open it, and talk to someone. "Oh... mhm...yeah, of course! Valt! Shu's here!"

The room suddenly got brighter, as he ran into the closet, threw on his actual clothes, and downstairs at Sonic speed, throwing himself into a handsome albino's arms. "Valt!" Shu yelped, stumbling backwards.

"Oh." Valt backed up, turning red. "Sorry."

He sighed, amused. "It's fine. Just... uh, warn me next time?"

Chiharu laughed. "You two are perfect together."

"Mom!" Valt whined. "That's embarrassing!"

Shu facepalmed. "Mrs. Aoi, sorry if I woke you up. I figured Valt would want to train for a while."

"YES YES YES YES YES LET'S GO!"

His mom giggled. "See you later, Valt! Don't forget, you have another tournament match today!"

The next matchups was Swordflames?

"We're up against Xander!" Valt jumped in circles, cheering. "Yeah, boii!"

Honcho scowled. "Where'd you learn that?"

"You."

He was silent, while Robin giggled. "Well... uh... okay, so Valt's bada--"

Before she could finish that, Shu kicked her in the shin and covered his ears, preventing his boyfriend from hearing the rest.

He does know I can still hear that, right? Probably not.

"Anyways," Valt said, pushing the albino off, "Strategy. I thought a lot about this. Our great strategy should be..."

They all gasped and leaned forward expectantly.

"To send Shu out last!"

Honcho face planted, through Valt couldn't figure out why. It was a decent plan.

"What?" he complained. "In video games, the boss comes out last, and we need to use our most powerful player, or attack at the end."

"That is a terr--" Wakiya growled, then stopped and rephrased it. "No. You know that they could just send out Xander to wipe out our whole team, so I suggest--"

"Stop there," Robin snapped. They all glared at her.

"Hey, we were getting somewhere!" The blonde snarled.

"For once, I agree," Shu nodded. "What is it?"

She sighed in exasperation. "Remember who's on the other team?"

"Xander, the leader of the Swordflames, Yugo, the samurai in training, and Ukyo the Shadow," Daigo recited, then groaned. "Oh."

"Yeah," Robin agreed. "I doubt Ukyo would spy on us, but can we make sure first?"

"You're basing this off a guess?" Wakiya complained.

Valt remembered something from when he was paying attention in history. "Guesses sometimes can win wars."

Robin glanced around, then closed her eyes and turned in a slow circle. "Um... no, no, hey, someone else is here!"

Ryota stepped out shyly, with Ken and another boy beside him. He had tanned skin and purple hair in a Mohawk. The sides of his head were shaved, with orange stubble in a lightning bolt shape. He wore a red and black vest around a orange hoodie, and purple shorts with black boots.

Basically, this person looked like a tall, wilder version of Valt.

Valt liked the style, but they really needed to get back to the plan. Apparently, Wakiya agreed, because he turned to the others and said, "I'm going first. Maybe Shu has the best chance, but I want to battle this time. Shu should go against Yugo, and Daigo should go against Ukyo."

"No."

Ryota jumped onto his big brother's back. "C'mon! Please?"

"No."

Robin stepped closer and whispered something in his ear. Valt couldn't make most of it out, but he could the words, "competition," and "for us" and "or else."

On second thought, it might have been the purple boy who said the last one.

Wait, is that Ken? I haven't seen him since-- oh, right, five seconds ago.

"KEN!!!" he yelled, throwing himself at the tall boy. "YOU'RE BAACKKK!!!"

Shu and the other boy rolled their eyes, smiling slightly. Ken stumbled backwards and hit the wall. Besu raised his puppet head. "Good to see you again, Valt."

"Yeah," Keru added. "But we'll still beat you at some point!"

Ken started speaking, to Valt's surprise. "This is Ben Azuki, leader of our beyteam, the Beasts. We're... dating."

"Mates is more accurate," Ben muttered, pushing Valt off his friend in a sort of possesive way. Its kinda sweet, in a weird way.

"Anyways, we're here to wish you luck!" Ryota added. "And to make my big brother participate!"

"You learned way to much from Robin."

The girl fingered her necklace. "Nice to meet you Ben, and great seeing you again, Ken 10. Is your ship name going to be Ben 10?"

Shu facepalmed and left the room. "We've got two minutes!" he called over his shoulder. "Get ready!"

Ken tugged the other two in the direction of the stands. "We'll leave you guys to prepare," Keru said cheerfully. "Win this!"

Okay!

Valt missed Wakiya's match, since he lost his Beybread lunch and had to sprint home. But he could figure out the outcome of the match by Wakiya running his fingers across the wall, creating deep gouges."I was so close!" he snarled. "That close!"

Honcho laid his hand on his arm. "Don't you remember what Xander said? He said that he didn't plan on using a special move that early. He had to work hard to beat you."

"Please. No more attention than I would pay to an irritating insect."

Valt ran up to him and stuck a loaf of Beybread in his face. "Eat this!"

While he reluctantly took it, he told Wakiya firmly, "If one us loses a point, the other one gets it back. That's how teams work. You told that to me."

When did I get so wise?

"When did you get so wise?" He finished the bread. "Is your mom for hire?"

Valt laughed. "Who's next?"

"I am," Shu replied, stealing a pastry from his bag. "What strategy should I use, Captain?"

Valt's eyes went wide. "Me? Well, uh... Four score and seven years ago... no! That's not it!"

Steam came out of his ears, and he roared in frustration. "COME ON, BRAIN!"

"Yes, Captain." Shu turned to go.

Honcho looked at him incredulously. "You understood that?"

"I got the gist," came the even reply.

Of course, he won in seconds, leaving Yugo in shock.

"Glad he did that," Daigo muttered. "Someone had to." He stood up, shaking his head. "Guess it's my turn."

Robin touched his arm. "Wait. Do you want to take off your bandanna?"

He hesitated, and it seemed he was about to. Then he shook his head.

She sighed. "Figures. But it may as well be dramatic when they do understand."

"Understood."

Ryota was cheering for him, along with Ken. Ben was reluctantly holding up a sign that the purple eyed boy probably made.

Daigo spoke briefly with Ukyo. Both seemed relaxed. They know each other? Oh, yeah, Shu said they're both apprentices, and only one of them will be the actual apprentice. Ukyo was first, so Daigo obviously thinks that the Shadow should be apprentice, but this battle is important to both, because it decides who is ahead. Also, you know, who moves on in the tournament.

Geez, when did I become such a deep thinker?

"Let it rip!"

These three words came from all over the stadium, but it seemed to echo more in the upper corner of the place. He glanced up, and saw a glimpse of flames before a gasp went through the stadium.

Doomscizor was flying through the air. "No," Valt whispered.

But then it landed on the stadium edge.

"I learn a lot this way!" Daigo growled, directing Doomscizor in his head. "I study other's moves and modify them to work in my way. You have no idea how many late nights I've spent perfecting this, so I could win this one battle. Also, you can thank Quon for the flip move."

In the corner of his eyes, Valt saw Robin's face. She was smiling, her eyes shining with happiness for him.

"Thunder Launch!"

Unicrest burst.

Robin bounced around like a five year old and did a flip. "Yes!"

"Dark Doomscizor with a burst finish! The Beigoma Academy Beyclub advances to the next round!"

Ukyo smiled. "Guess you won, again. I'm glad you continued blading."

He disappeared and reappeared behind Daigo. "It would be sad if you wasted your talent."

"Waahhh!!!" Daigo jumped a foot in the and turned around at record speed. "Don't do that!"

"You mean..." The Shadow Blader materialized next to his ear, "this?"

"Arg!" The dark haired blader took a swipe at him, but he again appeared behind him. "Dude, what is your problem?"

Ukyo laughed softly. "Battle again sometime, right?" He held out his hand.

Daigo shook it. "Definitely."

Valt looked at the giant screen for the next round. The smile dropped off his face as he saw. Ken's pale face went paler.

It was Beigoma Academy Beyclub against the Beasts.

---------

Okay, confession: I haven't re watched the series enough times. I need to remember what happens. cause I really cant. My fault.

Other me: YOU DONT HAVE FAULTS!!!

Me: Look at the editing job on several of these chapters, then talk to me

Other me: ...

Okay... this is getting weird.

Robin out!