Chapter 14

With clouds above them, Seita Tachibana put on the hood from his jacket to guard himself from the falling droplets that rained down almost gently. Mari, wearing one of his sister's old hoodies, followed him quietly to his bike which was parked outside the hospital. It had been a few days already since the last time they had met but she had finally been given the okay to not visit again for the time being, though the doctors had told her it would be a while until all of the side effects from the corruption were gone.

As Seita got more and more involved with the BABA and their business involving the tournaments, he was the one that got put in charge of going with the girl to the nearby training center where Mimi would be waiting for them. So much for a free day since school was closed, he thought to himself in frustration as he pedaled down the street with Mari holding on tightly to his clothes. "Hey can you slow down?" She whispered to him, reminding him of the dangers. He moved carefully due to the possibly slippery roads, but thankfully for Mari the trip was short-lived and they soon parked in front of another big building, almost as big as the hospital itself.

As they got off the bike and he chained it to its designated spot, he saw Mimi right outside the main doors, sweeping away some water that had managed to get into the reception area. "Oh, hello kids!" she greeted them with a big smile as soon as she caught sight of the two. "Kids? We're the same age" Seita responded. Mimi's eyes stopped on Mari for a moment, who returned the smile as the teen asked with a kind tone, "Now, who might you be?"

"Her name's Mari," he explained, "She doesn't talk much. Sakura and Kenny wanted me to look after her since she's… related to the Simon thing…"

"Say no more," Mimi replied firmly before turning around and going back inside, the two teens following her closely. The center was wide yet everything seemed to be placed in a practical way, and the halls they walked through had various windows on both sides which showed the small domes that replaced the rooms there. Though Seita had already been there, he never missed a chance to see what the potential opponents were doing.

The teen led them to an elevator on the opposite end of the long hall, and the three made their way up to the second floor – the training grounds. There was a personal goal that Seita remembered every time he came to the place: among the equipment, there was a cage-like ring containing a machine that helped the user perfect their launch as well as the form created from the beyblade as they fought against the automated machine's own launch. Wanting to beat the record for how far someone could knock the blades back, the boy made his way towards it while Mari went on to check one of the few track courses in the big room.

Using Poseidon Archstar, the boy shot the artefact to the 5ft mark which made a loud sound that made those around him turn in surprise. Using his hip into the motion, Seita shot it once more; this time it got to the 14ft mark though the beyblade still spun once it landed. He smirked, glancing at the red point that signaled the record distance.

From behind him, Mimi was watching carefully. "Your form needs to be fixed a bit," she said, taking him aback.

"Oh yeah?" He asked before stepping out of the cage. "Then try it." His retort made Mimi smile as she entered, and he gave her his launcher along with Poseidon.

That's when he noticed the lack of a third person there. "She's trying other areas," she tells him as if reading his mind, something that sends shivers down his back.

From within the launcher, they could hear a small giggle. "I like it," the bit-beast spoke clearly; the two looked at each other before sending it confused stares at Squishy. "The power she's generating, I like it partner."

"Hey, that's really not cool to say," Seita was quick to retort but Mimi only giggled. She brought the launcher up over her head, then in a swipe by the right side of her hip she swung it forward and at that moment yanked the cord back. The beyblade was sent through the air and up to the ceiling.

Poseidon Archstar continued grinding furiously against the metal at the end of the cage, unable to contain its laughter. "That's what I call power!"

Seita's eyebrow twitched at the remark; Mimi, noticing the frustration on his expression, turned to him with a gentle smile. "Since you have a beyblade now, I could teach you – though we really should go check on the plants afterwards; with this rain, who knows how they might be…"

The boy raised an eyebrow, wanting to argue that the day was meant to be only about training, but instead he went over to get Poseidon. "Hey," the beast told him as he grabbed the beyblade, "tell her to spin me one more time!" which only caused Seita to grip it harder, earning a whine and grunt from the artefact.

"So you're not coming with me?" Mimi asked him as she watched the scene.

"Sure, but where's Ares? Since I want to take her on before we go."

"Ares? She should be here soon – but with your current form you won't beat her though."

Seita let out a half-mocking laugh and said, "I just want to see what I'll have to improve on by taking her on."

"Ares?"

Looking back down at his beast, he sighed and explained, "Mimi's younger sister. She's younger by a year. She's extremely good, the champ of the battle cage."

"She hates Seita, though."

A frown formed on his face and he was ready to argue, but then a young girl with purple hair put back into a pony tail and a hat walked up to the teen – the boy's expression only deepened. "I do, beaver face. What makes you bring yer' stupid mug here after months? I thought you kicked this loser to the curb, sis."

"Ares, be nice," both Mimi and Seita said as the girl huffed.

"Why should I be nice to him? I thought I told you to not come here after you lost."

Frustration and anger bubbled up inside him, her mischievous smile doing everything it could to bring out the worse in him. "Well, that was a borrowed blade… This time it's going to be with my own." Seita mimicked her smile and brought up Poseidon Archstar.

Ares sighed and was about to walk away but Mimi placed a hand on her shoulder, stopping her in her tracks. "You should do it," she simply told her, and with a sigh the younger sibling turned around. She brought a blade out of her back pocket and went over to a nearby counter, where she told the worker they had there to give her a launcher.

"Just ten rounds," she told Seita as she made her way back to the cage, but just then Gronk walked through the door for some weekend training. Mimi greeted him, making him blush before he noticed Seita in the cage.

"Seita?! Yo, what are you doing here man?" he asked as he approached the boy, Ares looking at them from a distance. "I came to investigate after hearing Mimi works here and I find you're here to-" Turning his voice into a whisper, he added, "What are you doing with her of all people? You got something going on?! I now noticed she's always hanging out with you Seita!"

In his eyes, Seita could see a tinge of… jealousy? "She's just a childhood friend, nothing you should worry about," he explained, winking an eye at the other guy.

"Nothing I should worry about?!" Gronk almost roared.

"We were almost born next to one another, so I've known her for the longest time since our parents met in the hospital on our birth day. Turns out they … Were college buddies of the same fishing club. Our dads go fishing occasionally every year. That's it, okay?"

"This is so unfaaair!" Gronk lowly cried.

"Hey, you parrots, are you going to blade or keep on talking?" Ares asked from behind them with evident impatience, catching their attention. Grabbing Gronk's arm and pushing it aside, Seita made his way to his designated spot as he felt the sudden urge to tell her off.

Ares brought her blade over her head as he tried to do it too, taking a close look at how she was about to shoot. Just as the machine let out a beep, she spun over on one foot only half way; stopping her movement, she brought her arms in a circular motion and shot but when he tried to spin, he got it wrong causing him to trip over as Mimi giggled.

He watched in disbelief as the trainer blade Ares had shot back, striking the red dot. "How did you do that?!" Seita questioned, picking up his hat as it'd fallen.

"You don't learn that overnight – you have to find your own style, Seita," Mimi told him with a glare before turning to her sister. "Show him one more time."

"But sis…" Ares complained. "You want that dweeb to steal my moves?!" the girl growled but rolled her eyes as she pressed a button; it was very obvious to everybody that she thought of it as a waste of time. "Fine; if that's how it's going to be, I'll make it so he can't copy me!"

Ares brought the blade behind her back with the launcher and took a step forward with her left foot, raising her right foot up until her heel touched her butt. She spun and the foot landed as she knelt down, her knee slightly bent, and as she released her artefact she watched it skip across the ground before rising up and striking the bottom of the training blade.

Mimi herself saw it all in slow motion, excitement reflected in her pupils; it was always mesmerizing to see how it moved so in sync.

"Can I go now, sis?" Ares felt the initial desire she had to beyblade leaving her body, and Seita pressed the button and smirked.

"Maybe I can't do fancy tricks like that but I still have a straight approach," he said with a hint of disdain in his tone.

Mimi let out a small 'tch' before interfering in the conversation once more. "Because you haven't trained – but those angles won't always work against an opponent that knows how you shoot a blade." Seita knew that she didn't mean anything wrong by that, but he was always reticent to hear about his mistakes. "Plus, you copied Granger of all those old bladers. That old guy's headstrong!"

"Personally you should have gone with Tala… They make it work because they've mastered the old style of blading but nowadays it doesn't cut it to just blindly shoot a blade. You have to know the angles; you have to know just how predictable your opponent is. You have to do your homework and keep your opponent guessing."

"Focus is important because it allows you to move your blade and give it the power it needs for consistent rotation. Think of it like … shooting your thoughts and power behind it. Thoughts hold weight. But I guess they don't teach you that at the school you're going to … If you can't transfer your brain waves or surge from your heart to it to bridge a sync, then that energy lands at random, you end up giving your power to your opponent half the time… So you've gotta be precise. The little power you do seem to bring out ends up not hitting it's mark half the time, so your bit-beast doesn't always get the right amount of boost. I bet you don't even meditate. Do I really have ta' give ya' a science lecture?... Yer gonna have to learn this stuff on yer own! I'll just say-"

"He can develop it, we've been working on his diet" Mimi tried to cut in.

"It's not just that, I told you yer' wasting yer' breath on him. He has to generate power with his body and combine that with a comfortable launch. Your whole body is a launcher," Ares continued with wisdom that sounded beyond her young years. "And not all bodies are the same. You haven't done enough stretching to be athletic so you're guessing and blindly shooting a blade. Because guessing means you're an idiot and that's why you are one, Seita; that's why you're the centre's favourite idiot to gain money from."

Ares brought her finger up as if she's given him her best snide remark, and the boy himself turned to look at his beyblade as she was left to wonder if he was listening. "Squishy..." Seita then let it rip, feeling that although he hit the blade back he felt bad. "I really wanna shoot Poseidon Archstar in various styles," he thought aloud. "Ares, will you show me a few?"

Seita turned to her with a glint of determination in his gaze, and she found herself slightly blushing as her eyes opened wide. She reached for the front of her hat and lowered it to cover her face, turning away so he wouldn't see her cheeks turn red. She folded her arms. "As if that'll happen," Ares turned away, exiting the cage. "Unless you can show me you're actually worth teaching."

Seita followed her to the track, where the girl stood by with an impatient expression. Mimi, with her hands behind her back, only dared to watch as both Gronk and her also made their way with the other two.

They approached the place and the four saw Mari there, tearing around the court and knocking blocks in her way. Her blade maneuvered jumping up and out of a stadium just to go into another; her movements were seamless and she was focused, something that impressed Seita. Ares brought her launcher up and ran across the railing as she then jumped over and shot her beyblade into the stadium Mari had hers at the moment. It struck Mari's as it jumped back and caused her to aim her sight to the spot where Ares' beyblade wobbled, knocking two beyblades towards the side of the small arena. Her artefact flew in and struck Ares', leaving it weakly spinning around.

Seita was going to jump over the railing but remembered when he fell after trying to copy Simon, and decided to use the stairs instead. The two girls almost seemed evenly matched before he shot his own beyblade, which was instantly stricken by both girls'. It caused Poseidon to be shot back to Seita's hand, who flinched in return. "Hey! What's the big idea?!" he shouted, and Ares gave him a deadly glare.

"Shut yer' trap – can't you see I'm facing this person?!" she growled.

"But you were just going to train me, not fight someone else!"

"Fine, give me ten seconds to make room first!" she focused again as her beyblade spun behind three others, making it difficult for Mari who pursued and couldn't tell which beyblade was hers. By the time she glanced up, it had come back down and struck Mari's, shooting it out of the stadium.

"And that's why Ares is the champ here – her strategies and using many elements to her advantage," Mimi said as Seita couldn't believe Mari got beaten in such a nasty way.

She went to get her beyblade, though her attitude wasn't like a loser's. She brought her artefact up and held it tightly, looking at the others with a confident smile. "That's a good strategy, but it won't work a second time," she said as she returned to the dish.

"Are you sure?" Ares seemed defiant, mirroring the other girl's smile. "I have more cards up my sleeve, but think of me as just a trainer. The more you compete against me, the more observant you'll be when in serious battles. Seita made the right choice bringing you here; sadly, it doesn't apply to him."

"Oh, give me a break," the boy sighed and clipped his beyblade. He shot it towards Ares, who hit her own; it flew up and hit Seita's artefact as it almost got into the stadium. Ares stuck her tongue out and then waved her index finger.

"Beyblading against you is gonna be a waste of time, but keep trying to do that while having me here. A brick wall. Your immovable mountain, baby boy." She gave Seita a peace sign and reached for a random beyblade from the stadium, clipping it into her launcher.

He brought Poseidon Archstar into its launcher, taking a deep breath. "Alright! Here I go!" Seita shot it but then saw Mari's striking it from the side; it flew in but was hit by one of the beyblades Ares had struck with her own. "Mari! What's the big idea?!" he shouted with anger, irritated at the girl's actions. "I was gonna get Ares there!"

"I need to train too, you know?" she replied, a frown replacing her earlier confidence.

"Hey, hey, don't fight, there's enough of me for both of you," Ares retorted with a chuckle. "However, none of you can get in too easily while 'the champ' is here… nor can you take me out." Her whole body emanated egotism, and the boy clenched his teeth, watching how she juked his every move. "If you'd like," she added, talking directly to him, "you can release your bit-beast too. I don't have one but I can still take you down, given your… current abilities."

He shook his head. "I won't use Squishy," he replied shortly.

"It'll be good for me, I have to be ready to fight for Tizara," Mari said, catching both the teens' attention. "Maybe you'll want to work together here, since someone's feeling cocky."

Ares scoffed, bringing her hands to her hips. "It's not cockiness – it's confidence. You'd do good with some of it too." At those words, Seita smirked and shot his beyblade along with Mari but Ares used the angle to get them to strike each other out instead. To their surprise, a fourth beyblade slammed into the dish, almost pushing Ares' out of the arena. It was Gronk, who stepped into the scene with a smile. "Hey, I want some too," he said, "I bet I can get y'all out in no time."

"No cheating!" Ares shouted, visibly furious at the intrusion.

Seita laughed loudly, his partner looking at him puzzled. "Good one Gronk! What happened to being unpredictable, huh Ares?!"

"Oh, shut it now!"

"I'll make you lose, Seita," Gronk exclaimed before the beyblades once again were let rip. Mari's clashed with Gronk's in a short display of sparks, all the stares put into the arena with growing expectation.

As he observed the situation, Seita smirked and told Squishy, "Slip!" At the command, Poseidon managed to get in the dish, clashing against the two training beyblades that were shot backwards; Gronk's beyblade hit them aside, prompting the self-proclaimed champ to let out a long grunt.

"Three's a crowd, but four?! Unacceptable!"

Mimi, limiting herself to look at all the fun, noted with a wide smile, "They're sure having fun." She watched over them for another minute rejoicing in how much her sister seemed to like fighting against them despite what she'd probably say later, and then got a call from the walkie-talkie letting her know that there was a delivery for her outside.

Such delivery was none other than Jeen, waiting in the backseat of a car.

There were a few returning customers talking outside near the entrance, some guys that Mimi knew well; she greeted them before seeing Jeen exiting the vehicle. "Oh, h-hello," she greeted carefully. Her presence was still intimidating, and she seemed to be wordlessly scanning her up and down.

Such panic, Jeen thought with a smile. "I'm looking for someone," she said quickly as the other passengers got out as well – five tall men in suits and tattoos covering what portion of their skin was visible. They were holding red umbrellas with a symbol… the well known clan symbol. "A kid with a blue and red hat and a girl with pink hair. I was hoping you'd have a clue as to where they could be."

"I do," Mimi started, hesitantly but knowing that there would be no way out of it. "But I won't let you see them."

Jeen's expression never faltered. "What do you mean you 'won't'?"

"It's as simple as a 'no'," Mimi repeated.

As memories started becoming clearer in her mind, Jeen could remember she had seen Mimi somewhere before, when she first saw Seita. "You're that girl, of course."

"From the other day … Are you his girlfriend?"

"No. That's too general a word, I'm his soulmate."

"And you won't let me see him?" Jeen asked, a nerve appearing beside her eyebrow.

Without saying anything else, she raised a hand and moved her index finger; one of the men stepped forward and placed a hand on Mimi's shoulder, sending a shiver down her spine and making her feel like she had messed up big time…

Until another hand placed on top of that one. "Are these punks givin' you a hard time, miss?" Looking to the side, she saw one of the guys from before looking at the men with a deep frown. "I truly hope you're not doing anythin' wrong here, gentlemen… for your own sake."

"And who might you be?"

Eyeing the girl, the man smirked and explained, "We're from this neighborhood, the local guardians or mob if you may. This right here is the best place in this neighbourhood – you hurt its owner, you hurt us. It's that simple. I can't have you threatening Suguru's daughter like that."

Inside the training center the battle was going strong but there were no signs of anyone letting down their guard, until someone tapped Ares' shoulder and made her lose focus a second time. "Ugh, what is it now?!" she shouted in anger as she turned around only to come face to face with a disgruntled employee. "What is it?"

"It's your sister," the woman said calmly. "There's been some trouble outside."

At those words, everyone's expression shifted into worried ones, and a silent agreement to stop the fight right then and there was taken. The four grabbed their artefacts and ran towards the main doors of the building, but Ares stopped in her tracks as soon as she caught sight of who was there. "I can't believe it," she said, "the Princess of Yoshiyaki? In this side of town?" The others turned to look at her with confusion, and she added, "It's a nickname that stuck from school. Private education."

"There you are," Jeen said, coming out from behind her guards. "Finally, we meet again. You two," she pointed at Mari and Seita, who exchanged a scared gaze. "Surrender your beyblades at once and no one will get hurt." But even with her threats, none of the two did anything to show they were willing to give those up. "I see."

With a single snap of her fingers, the guards dispersed around her and she went into a fighting stance before bringing out her bit-beast.

The black blade let a sinister purple attract the drizzling rain that soon took form above the beyblade.

A swordfish-like appearance with spikes along its forearms, it seemed fiercer than what Seita had seen that day so far. "Adaro," was the only thing to come out of Jeen's lips, and a purple rain immediately surrounded the creature. The guys from the mob were the first ones to try and beat her with their own beasts, but one by one they were defeated as if they were nothing more than paper. What's with that power… the boy thought, and before he could do anything he got an idea that he hoped would work.

His gaze searched for the one he knew would be the most powerful one there, the one with the most chances of taking a stand against Jeen. "Ares!" Seita shouted from the sides, and he threw his artefact at her when she turned to him. "Give him your power! You got this!"

Confused, she seemed to hesitate before loading the beyblade and then shooting it, focusing all of her might into it until Squishy made way for Poseidon Archstar. To the surprise of both parties, with a golden radiance coming from his trident that slumped behind his shoulder only to be spun by Poseidon who stood. The two were of similar size and even looked similar with similar gazes but different features. The two creatures engaged in a vicious battle, hitting and clawing at each other under the falling rain; that each used as platforms to surf in an attempt to get one up on eachother at the same time their beyblades clashed. The street, already drenched, gave way for them to skate along its surface as they fought. Using its tail, Poseidon managed to block the oncoming attacks and slash the swordfish's hip using his trident, which made it fall back.

Jeen, who couldn't stand to watch her plan turning to pieces, took a step forward, ready to call a second bit-beast but was stopped by one of her men. "We've caused too much hassle already, ma'am. We should be going for now." The girl, looking back at her opponents with a frown, let out a huff before retreating her beast and turning back to Seita.

"I'll get you at the preliminaries," she spat out, "and if I can't, then I'll rip the beyblades out of your cold, bare hands."

Filled to the brim with frustration, Jeen got back in the car and everyone watched as it drove away as the clouds above them continued to form darkening the area.

"Seita, grab two umbrellas for the plants while I get the shovel." Mimi cut the silence, forming a soft smile.