The Wilderness Quakes
Word Count: 3,502
It's half term, I have finished writing 2 short stories as my entries to literature laureate style. My main theme was Gothic.
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Chapter 1: Knowing a Beyblade is knowing a foreign country.
The sublime landscape gave me a half pleasurable sensation, parallel buildings collapsed in a rubber blanket. My lower pocket vibrated, a comforting emitting heat from my partner solider: Universe Essence Root-blade170 LeafFlat. Rubble seemed endless in this grim woodland the further on I marched. North seemed impractical, wildlife looked lifeless, the last fraction of the Nature pendant tasted as if it were across the continent. Universe Essence's shine was dulling, soon, nothing to be of it. With impatience, I felt as if its time had come. The pendant glowed at me depressingly; it wanted to be completed but as of now the almost completed Pendant was acting as useful as a Dark wheel.
Time was consuming me, every second I wandered; the more Kerbecs would set alight at home. As I launched out my map, I caught sight of a sparkle in the air in the corner of my eye. Within a fraction of a second it shot directly through the only remains of my map. A Beyblade was asking to be destroyed, but who was the owner to be emptied similarly? On a hill in-between two branches, a shadowed figure was grinning.
It dropped down still in shadows, simultaneously watching over my backpack. My backpack which held the near-complete pendant. Instantly the near forest lit up with the aid of excess light. Who was this boy with the flaming hair? Wondering who he was hurt me, it drained precious minutes and he wouldn't dare step out of the shadows. He peered out of the sun-blocked area to retrieve an actual burning beyblade. I thought his alight Bey was odd until he came fully visible to me. Even on a slight ledge I had to look down at his cap, it capitalised a "M". His bright comical colours were easily noticeable with the relief of light.
Every step he came, visual items came clearer. I couldn't help but snicker on seeing spaghetti and stains all over hiscostume - a costume was what I thought it was.
"What d'you think yur doin' in maah woods" IT blurred out. Disappointedly I took my time to identify what language he was trying to communicate in. Hence I adventurously teased his understanding for superiors: "I am on a life or death Quest on seeking a mystical artifact never seen to man before! Give aid, or mo-" Before I could finish, this dwarf bolted into laughter.
As the dwarf wiped offensive tears off his cheeks, his hand jogged forward. What was he doing? Trying to paralyse me? Before I could analyse it, he reached for my hand; a handshake.
"Teh name's Mario. Yee lookin for deh special rock ehh?" puffed Mario "I cud know a thingy or due about la pietra."
Despite his constant swap between languages, he had information and was contradictorily to his looks, scrupulously polite.
"Yeeh, you battle meh, and if you win" - He bolted into that laughter again..." I can show you weaar to go". Now he was talking. I felt my left pocket grabbing onto my custom grip, consisting of; a polished Granite Snipe Beylauncher and Iron Grip, chained to my belt. I activated my Beypointer, which fit on my digital watch. Then in my right pocket, a burst of comforting light - It had energy. Universe Essence was shining brighter than ever: it was eager to battle it, and, after it's evolution from Nature.
Chapter Two: Super Fire Flower - You have got to be kidding
Without signal, cooperation was automatic; both I and Mario had positioned ourselves suitable on either edges of the circle's diameter. With launchers both parallel, every second we stared at each other, my arms blood circulation accelerated, struggling to keep hold of the kilo's of a Grip I was holding on just my left hand. Since Mario was sniggering, I gained rage due to him enjoying my pain. Without his confirmation, I shouted " THREE, TWO, ONE - GO SHOOT". I enjoyed watching him struggle to launch in time.
"Switch to combination 2 SUPER FIRE FLOWER" proudly announced Mario to his Bey. I was confused - Combination? Super Fire Flower? Not only did I want to vomit over that name, but it consisted of THREE instead of the TWO for its Metal and Clear Wheel? Before I could continue questioning, SFF (Super Fire Flower) began changing its mechanisms before my eyes! The metal wheel was rearranging itself during battle? What was this new system of Beyblade? Was it some sort of Battle Striker Rip off (well deserved)?
Mario was well smug about his within-customisable system. During his fancy clicking and clanking in the centre of the stadium, I was collecting friction with the log-floor. Gaining speed I had gone in head on for a direct smash on Mario's Clear wheel - My unique RB170 Track allowed height and damage whilst being excellently balanced. As Universe Essence held its smash attack, SFF was clanking again, but with Universe Essence still in contact. The second the metal wheel had rearranged itself, both Beys were thumped into nearby tree trunks, still spinning and drilling into the wood harder than any woodpecker. We were both consistent on drilling at the trees, and even after my superior smash from above, the angular velocity on both Beys looked still at launch speed if not more. As both beys wouldn't give in on drilling the wood, a within-battle competition heated up. Both beys had kept up tremendous power then as a droplet of perspiration slapped the soil, in sync both tree's had tumbled inwards. As both tree trunks collapsed, they met in the middle, forming some sort of chaotic naturally made bridge.
This gave me an idea: "Essence! Follow along the tree trunks and use: Volcanic Mirage Distortion!" Universe Essence thrusted forward trailing a blinding beam of light and as Mario went to shield his eyes, contact was made. Essence instantly bounced off SFF, headed towards an angled log, and launched itself into the air. It took off further up than any bird could fly, directing it's spin towards Earth catching debris, branches, and leaves on the way down. The Bey rotated on it's tip closest to Earth with metal wheel Universe pointing down. Now that the Bey was hundreds of metres in the air, it was out of the emergent level of trees and free to absorb the sun in all its glory, reflecting a beam of light directly into Mario. Mario's eyes clearly weren't having the best of days. Once again blinded, Universe Essence accelerated at such speed, as impact was made, a sudden strike of thunder appeared. The Bey was dug into the ground with such force; Mario's beyspirit wasn't near enough to even make SFF wobble.
After the split second of impact, a huge wave of sound exploded within the squared kilometre, so effective that near all the trees fell at an instant. There was light, I could see, now what...?
Chapter 3: High Cholesterol
Last night tested a fraction of Essence's true power; however it was a battle nonetheless. Mario had insisted on me staying is his nearby underground hut, where I was allowed to lie on a meter squared of rough earth. I had personally chose a spot on the floor to keep my clothing of its original colour; this was due to the meatball stains literally everywhere, including what made Mario's mattress. The whole night it was a constant put up with Mario's rage, and in the morning, he had given me a 3 page (front and back) complaint form called " Yoo Cheat!!!!!". This included anger varying from "No blinding" to "No damaging my gardens trees". As he tumbled out of bed, it was a friendly surprise for him to offer yet more services, and a large variety of choices for breakfast: Meatball cocopops and Spaghetti juice. He welcomed me to his polished mahogany table (mind you it was the only polished thing in his hole of a home); here we traded information. I discussed about my situation about the pendant, he gave me sacred meatball recipes, written on one leaf, hidden inside 4 padlocked cases.
"I will bees coming wif you" sputtered Mario - This was a true surprise.
"Sorry what?" I tried to express my confusion at this point. Come with me? He couldn't possibly mean coming with me to... It smacked me in the back of the head that he knew where the pendant piece was! It was partially the reason why I even tolerated him to make contact with my Bey.
"Can you be more specific?" I fed, trying to urge more information out of an uncooperative Italian.
With 3 bowls of Meatball Cocopops in his mouth, he chugged out "I help YOU get teh pietra lucente."
I was hoping pietra lucente wasn't some sort of rare Brazilian Meatball, then the second I accepted he was referring to the stone, I accepted his offer through a proper handshake this time. Well, one covered in tomato source. We connected, I knew travelling with Mario was going to be hard, but the reward would over weigh this by a milestone. A reward I was hungry to munch on, therefore I grabbed little Mario and pulled him out of the hut so that he wasn't capable of finishing his 8th bowl - Mario was burning up. His munching was making me hungrier to fetch that last stone piece, no more slacking, time to search.
Trudging through the mud, we were heading the opposite way of where I was heading earlier - at least the collapsed trees meant a clearer view span and sunlight! My sense of direction was being a letdown. There was no point telling Mario, knowing him for just 2 days, it was obvious he would jump up and down taking the mic. So I followed him whichever way he turned; I was pretty confident he was going the right way. Mario led me to a main path, which was comforting. Something my sense of direction couldn't let me down on. Throughout the whole journey thus far, Mario had been going on about his new mechanism in his Bey. It was a 4D mechanism which he was "near" mastering. Obviously no match for Essence as was clear to both of us.
"That's the first time I've seen 4D" I tried to show some sign of interest.
Raising an eyebrow: "Thaz becuz tis one of a kind, thanks to una pietra lucente, some worthy beybladerders in dis forest arr awwoed to enhance dere beys" - Mario was surely taking the mic, who on Earth could understand a word he was saying!?
"OK so your telling me a few people in this forest have this 4D function thanks to this st-" Before I could finish, I was interrupted by a rustling of leaves behind me. It couldn't have been Mario, he was standing by my side, and for as long as I have wandered in this forest, I had seen no other life. The forest was playing with my imagination again; this is why people need to stay in the city!
Chapter 4: The Temple of Removal
We had battled the roughness of the smoothened forest floor and seemed no closer to an anonymous location. Through the brief glance at his eyes, it was obvious he wouldn't dare tell where we were going, or what I was to expect. It was reaching a lake when at this point we had been travelling for 12 hours straight and it was clear Mario was dying out. Despite any physical potential to stop me in my tracks, my thirst for the pendant was stronger than ever, only once before had I wanted to reach success at such an extent. My previous reach for had success failed, resulting in a nightmare hollowing in my beyspirit. That was one time I will never forget, with my conflicting rival as the dummy to deflate.
Three weeks ago he visited. The day was any other, I was greeted by newcomers, we battled, I won. Points were a feast, parts could be accessed by any store, and the climate was awesome. On the 9th of this month (September) he visited, he destroyed, he set alight. The shock shook the village, leaving it in a state of desuetude.
During his visit, fleeing was the instinct; mine was to stop his reign of terror. He could not be controlled, he gave no mercy, and he thrived on launching pain. My best efforts of saving the city was a pathetic one; and... Damien Hart destroyed Nature Essence. Sweet revenge was one thing; it combined with inflicting pain was another.
"We'ear close" informed Mario, he shuddered at that moment.
I being my noticeable and concerning self wondered "You ok? What was that for?"
"You'll shee" Mario choked out
what was he trying to tell me? Was he disguising yet more manipulative ways to fool me or "scare" me?
Universe slashed through yet another cluster of branches to reveal an ascending black temple just like those in old martial arts Chinese movies. I had no clue these had even existed in this area, perhaps not many people did; so deep in the wilderness.
As I approached the Temples portal, I shuddered. A pair of mossy gothic panels stared down at me; so tightly shut no being alone could stretch open the entrance to hell. Being my usual self I spat out my launcher and Universe went hurling towards the door.
"Ping" went Universe slapping off the door into the soil. Mario frowned. After an awkward silence he stepped towards Hells Gates. Letting a puff then a knock on the door, the panels fell open to reveal a shadow directly in front of the door. No it wasn't any of ours, it was slim and that of a stick creature.
"How dare you?!" hollowed through the inner-bark of the temple. Mario bounced up and down looking in all directions to find the sun of this noise. To my shock, my eyes focussed to find that the shadow was not a shadow, but a slim stickwoman piled under robes. The figure whipped off the heavy black robe to reveal a black hooded figure, where the hood covered its face. The head lifted itself and as it reached its peak, the hood came off. What swung around was a whip of flowing locks slapping the floor before my feet. The figure was female in black clothing staring at us. The actual fury her eyes gave me crept down my spine – No mercy.
Without notice, nothing other than a grenade was pulled out of her back pocket. I ran to the door which again wouldn’t budge. Betraying Mario, I crawled behind his belly which was definitely thick enough to survive multiple air raids.
“Go Shoot†She ripped out the plug that was connected to the grenade itself… suicide? It looked that way when the bottom half of the spherical grenade popped open and released an explosion of black gas. Half-realising the situation it slapped me that there was no thick gas expanding around the room at all, it was a bey.
Chapter 5: Don’t Hit Girls
My reactions are always the same when a flying chunk of deadly metal is flying at my face. I dug my hand into my the usual back pocket slashing out the metal chunk of a grip and gave the string a brief tug. Both beys met in mid-air just a foot away from my face. The sparks from the impact sprayed across the room unleashing a blinding flash. They hugged each other in mid-air for countless seconds before spreading across the entrance room. The suspicious female twirled with a grin – I caught sight of the back of her hoodie; the same devilish dog that flashes into my mind every so often. I fell back in disbelief, losing control of my bey it was thumped into the near pillar.
“Damien mentioned you†she hissed, “how impressive you are to have escaped the clutches of hell. Meet me, his upgrade if you like.†Damien has a similarity owning a bey that looks as if it were dug out of coal.
Her bey stretched around the circular room covering every inch. The bullet flashed around allowing me no time to lock onto it. The black bey began ramming itself into the pillars, bouncing off, and striking into Universe. Universe fell to the other end of the wrecked room.
“Full power†I unleashed. She favoured Damien – I knew what had to be done. Universe tilted towards the black bey through itself at it. The black bey tilted similarly and mirrored the movement. I signalled more speed; LeafFlat was burning. The more advanced black bey slid smoothly across the marble floor thanks to a metal leftflat bottom. It wasn’t the time for jealousy, they were about to collide. Both beys met making a huge explosion on Universe, the walls fell instantaneously, only the pillars held up the building now. The metal block bulldozed Universe out of its way and into the wall. Already wobbling from that single contact, Universe failed to stand. The LeafFlat bottom had been burned to bits revealing the twig beneaf. THF? The new twig hole flat awoke.
“Amateurish†laughed the female. “The name’s Sayomi Hart – Meet Bombstrike Kerbecs and BOMBSTRIKING HELL!†Kerbecs re-adjusted itself on the Bombstrike metal wheel. Three bullet-shaped protusions on the metal wheel were now revealed. Kerbecs sprinted towards my wobbling Essence. Barely able to make myself look, I decided to take the impact as a man, besides I was still making a good impression on Mario who hid under a table at the back of the room. As Kerbecs approached Essense, about to deliver one heck of a punch, Essense began emitting a blue light from its face. The second, the massive collision of particles took place, a bomb literally exploded on impact. Essense did not stop spinning, nor was it still wobbling. In fact, it seemed as if the explosion had further more tampered with Universe Essense’s performance tip. It wasn’t LeafFlat, it wasn’t Twig Hole Flat, it was Trunk Wide Defence Flat? At this point I couldn’t help but explode either, in an explosion of laughter. Whilst continuous “bombstriking hell†was going on, Essense would tilt onto the outer Wide Defence Flat surface, be stabilised, and continue moving aggressively.
“It seems you don’t want to lose without cheeting!†yelled furious Sayomi, her eyes lit up, depicting fire hot furnaces within each eye. “Kerbecs, unleash the dark move within!†This time, the Kerbecs clear wheel only twitched on the metal wheel, revealing a small sharp point on the metal wheel. “KERBECS BOMB CLAWâ€, Kerbecs was being swamped by some black gas substance it was producing as its RPM increased against logic. The swamping of power was clearly near-impossible for someone, let alone a bey to control. The Metal Left Flat itself was burning away as Kerbecs recklessly crashed into solid concrete walls, going right through per impact. The bouncing off walls pinball action was bound to make contact with me sooner or later so it was about time to make a move.
“Universe Essense, Big Bang Blast!†Universe slammed into an angled plank lying on the floor and took off. Essense crashed through several floors of the building when finally breaking through the roof itself, a blinding explosion took place. Kerbecs wasn’t even present, yet it seemed like Universe had just set off a bomb upon itself, becoming a suicide terrorist of some sort. The explosion in mid air had such an impact; it sent Universe hurling back towards Earth, at this rate, no parachute could slow down such a fall. Sayomi, frightened, mirrored such a move, slamming itself into the same plank, lifting off into the air.
“Whatever you can do, I can do and still I can shred your bey into bits!†Although she had the upper hand with multiple times my angular velocity, I hadn’t yet reached my terminal velocity; I was still accelerating towards earth as gravity hung onto me. Sayomi had the RPM, I had gravity.
Silent Mario sat dazed, staring at the scenario. It was clear to him that Universe would get blown out of the way and possibly into a different universe. I begged to differ, as Universe was clicking once again. It had evolved multiple times, but never had it done so whilst airborne. Another clank from the metal wheel Universe – My bey was breaking. The clear wheel loosened, was the face bolt a dodgy TT Hongli version or something? Every millisecond that passed, the face bolt loosened, until the extraordinary happened… The Essense clear wheel had literally detached, completely loose of the metal wheel and face bolt’s sandwhich.
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*Chapter 5 is under maintenance.
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So I have a skeletal plan, and you guys come in with the ideas that feeds this story (i.e Mario being short tempered).
Characters are enough for now - Thanks, I will recall when necessary.