"Wait... What?" Sam looked at the man sitting across the table from him with a strange mix of confusion, understanding and disbelief. The man, who Sam now knew as Berigger, lifted one of his bushy grey eyebrows at him.
Sam had been sitting in Berigger's house for a decent few hours, as the man tried to explain what had happened to him, while asking him questions about his 'destiny' and all that. Sam was eger at first, but lost interest at the 4 hour mark. That he had managed to stay assertive for that long, according to Lavender, was a feat in itself. She had been sitting quietly next to Berigger, who was her father, since she had woken up at around the 1 1/2 - 2 hour mark. She had been staring into nowhere for a large percentage of the time she was conscious, seemingly somewhere between reality and sleep. Her face was constantly changing, from shock, to pain, to surprise, to enjoyment and any other emotion possible, and Berigger seemed to take no notice of this weird fact.
"So your saying, that I have been sent back in time by an evil ruler the world who was awoken in my time, and Astraeus saved me by bringing me here and wiped my memory" Sam shook his head; "Why?"
"Well actually;" Berigger started, as he had all his lectures. "The evil ruler, who has seemingly gone by the name of Chaos, is the combined spirit of all the Crateor tribe and not a ruler, as currently he has no followers; but he is sure to gain some. And it was not likely he tried to send you back in time, more likely that he tried to kill you and Astraeus saved you by sending you into a different time frame than him, and the mind wipe was just an after effect." He said all this rather cheerily, for someone who is talking about death and killing people. Sam groaned and hit his head on the table. So much information...
Samuel... Samuel Baychrist...
Sam's head shot up, and met the eyes of Chaos, glaring into his, his eyes like black holes trying to suck him into their icy cold depths of death...
Give me Astraeus... Give me his power!
Chaos walked toward him, his arms straggling by his side like they were broken, purple smoke poured out of his mouth. Sam reached around to his pocket to grab out Astraeus, but was met with a burning sensation. Sam yelled and pulled out his hand, his pale skin already blistering. He had been burnt; Astraeus had burnt him, when he went to touch him. He couldn't use his bey, his own bey had rejected him! Chaos laughed a raspy laugh, his voice echoing around the room;
How amusing, you own bey has disowned you, decided that you are not worthy of its power. How fitting.
Chaos grinned broadly, his teeth bearing in an animal like fashion. He lunged at Sam, his hands turned into knives, their blades so sharp they cut through the air like butter. It was only a second before contact, before he died...
"Eos!"
Sam felt a tremendous heat bearing down on him, but no pain. He opened his eyes to see Lavender standing there, holding out Dawn Eos, brilliant light flowing from it. Golden clouds surrounded them both, and there was no sign of Chaos. The light coming from Eos disappeared, and Sam found himself back in the room, he felt the stone hard ground around him. He traced the walls and realised he was in a corner, the furthest corner of the room. His right hand was blistered, badly.
It was real...
That was all he though before he collapsed into the corner, unconscious.

I really don't know what is going on anymore. My life has been turned upside down. One day I am digging for the key to hidden power, and then the next I am running from that very same power, in an unknown place and worst of all. My best friend, my beyblade has abandoned me.
Sam was sitting on his bed in the room that Berigger had given him while he recovered. His hand was still burn from touching Astraeus. But worse than the pain in his hand, was the pain in his heart. His best friend had left him, the one he looked to in times of trouble and doubt. Now in his greatest time of grief, Astraeus wasn't there for him.
Sam heard a knock at the door, he ignored it. He did not feel like company right now.
"Sam, I know you’re in there." Lavender's voice called out from behind the door. "Can I come in?" She knocked again.
Sam opened his eyes, and looked to the door. He was not going to get any peace this way. He stood up slowly and walked toward the door, pulling up the large wooden bar that locked it. As Sam looked out from the doorway he saw Lavender, just standing there.
"Finally, can I come in now?" She said breathing a sigh of relief at seeing that Sam was still alive. She had good reason to as well. Sam had practically isolated himself from the world for the days after the incident in the meeting room, coming out for only occasional food and drink. Sam looked at her and nodded, moving out of the path of the doorway so she could enter. Lavender stepped through and went and sat on a spare chair that was sitting beside his desk.
"How are you feeling?" She asked.
"Fine" Replied Sam, even though they both knew that he wasn't.
"Look, I know you are feeling bad about what happened a few days ago, but its fine. You’re not going to die from having your bey taken away from your temporarily."
Sam looked at her as if she was an alien, an outcast.
"How would you know what it's like to have your best friend taken from you, even worse reject you after you have been through so much together" Sam hissed though his teeth, struggling not to lash out at Lavender, she did not deserve that. Not yet, anyway. "Astraeus has been the only one that carried me though hard times, gave me hope. Now he has left me forever, alone in this godforsaken place." Sam took a deep breath, and hung his head.
"You really are thick sometimes, aren't you? For a world acknowledged archaeologist you need to learn to listen more."
Sam's head snapped up, his eyes glaring at Lavender. What did she just say?
"What?" Sam snapped angrily, "you say I need to learn to listen?"
"Yes” Replied Lavender simply. "I said that you’re not going to die of having your bey taken away from you temporarily"
Sam was about to shout at her to get out, when he saw her point.
"What do you mean, temporarily? I can get Astraeus back?"
"Finally! The penny drops! Took you a while, didn't it?"
"Answer my question." Sam said sharply, impatient to start the thing that will get back his partner.
"Fine, yes. You can get Astraeus back. Really I can't see how you could think you couldn't. The Titan Beys appear only to very specific people, very rare people. They do not let go of those people easily. Astraeus is just tired and confused. You need to remember, he travelled through time and space to protect you, you seriously think he is going to abandon you?"
Now that Sam looked at it, it really was stupid he could even think that. He can't even remember how he got that idea in the first place.
"How do I get him back then?" Sam had calmed down, and was not listening intently to what Lavender was saying.
"Astraeus came to you in a time of need, correct?" Said Lavender
"Yes." Replied Sam simply.
"Well, he will return to you in a time of need. Simple as that."
Sam looked at her, confused.
"Well, I am in need now and he is not here"
"’Need’ can be interpreted many ways. He is a beyblade, so he will most likely come to you when you need a beyblade"
"I am beybalde-less now, so why doesn't he just appear?"
Lavender slapped he forehead. Why was he so stupid?
Lavender put her hand into her coat pocket and pulled out a sheet of paper and handed it to Sam. As Sam grabbed it and unrolled it, he saw the words;

'321st COMA VILLAGE ANNUAL BEYBLADE TOURNEMENT!
Come all bladers and test your skills to find out who is the strongest blader in Coma Village!'

Sam looked at Lavender, he face was smug.
"But I don't have a bey to begin with, how can I enter?"
Lavender dug into the pocket on the other side of her coat and pulled out a small hand carved box, locked with a small lock. Lavender reached around her neck and pulled her necklace off. On the end was a small key. Sam recognised the mineral it was made out of as jade. Lavender pressed the key into the hole and twisted; once to the right, twice back to the left and then right once more. The box sprung open and the sides folded out, so there was a small workbench with little boxes on all sides. Sam peered at the now open box and as lavender lifted the lids on the sides, he saw possibly 50 of clear wheel and spin tracks, at least a dozen fusion wheel ‘s and god knows how many performance tips. Sam's eyes boggled at the sight.
"So” Lavender said proudly, "we better get started"

"Gimme a look through those damn glasses!" A hideous figure grabbed at a pair of binoculars that were in the hands of an possibly even more hideous humanoid figure. The figure with the glasses shoved the grabbing hand away and grabbed its owner by the collar of its shirt.
"You wanna look through these?" It said, waving the binoculars in the creatures face. "Here you go!" He shoved them into the creature’s face, the hard steel making contact with the skull.
"Owwww!" The creature yelled, reeling back. "That hurt!"
"It was meant to, dipstick!" Replied the second creature. "Now go back to your hole, I'm on lookout” The first creature made a whining noise, getting down onto all fours.
"Master made us both equal, that makes us equal shares." He complained.
"But he made me with a higher intelligence." The second creature stated. "I get the intelligent jobs"
"You’re just a pile of mixed up old body parts” Sniggered the first creature. "The master brought you to life in a graveyard"
"And he brought you to life from the gargoyle at the front of ya mamma's porch" Countered the second creature, who continued to peer down off the cliff through the binoculars.
"My Mamma doesn’t have a gargoyle” Replied the first creature, sounding confused. "Or a house for that matter"
The second creature took the time to roll his eyes in the binoculars before continuing on with his duties
"Do I even have a mother?" The first creature mumbled to himself, looking even more confused.
The second creature had to laugh at that comment
"You did, I think I have her liver” The first creature looked up, his eyes filled with fury.
"You take that back!" He lunged at the first creature, his blood red hands reaching for his neck
"Settle down you lumpy pieces of toxic waste!" Shouted a third voice from behind the two creatures, and an actual humanoid walked out of a crevice in the rock. Both creatures turned and bowed to him, cowering in fear.
"If you two idiots can't learn to get along like good little demons then you will both need to face the master and tell him why we failed to kill the boy." The man was mocking them, showing his dominance over them.
Both creatures kept their heads bowed, but the one with the binoculars spoke in a low tone
"The boy has emerged from his house, a large gathering of humans are coming to a bey stadium in the centre of the town, the boy will almost certainly be there."
The man nodded, then turned his back and returned to the crevasse he came. "Prepare your beys” He said. "We attack at daybreak"
There was no mistaking the unearthly shouts and screams of the two creatures as they ran around the cliff in excitement, barely able to wait for the massacre that was to occur the following morning...

"Libra!"
Storm Libra ran once more at the opposing bey, Grand Lacerta. The wheels of the two beys were in contact for only a second before Lacterta was driven into a floor scrape, running itself out of the brown clay stadium it was in. The crowd cheered, and Libra returned to Sam's hand.
"And the challenger Samuel has flown through the preliminary round, securing him a place in semi-finals against the almighty Victor!" Sam slid down the slope of the stadium and shook hands with his opponent, congratulating him on his effort. The young boy just sulked and walked off. Sam shrugged. 'Kids these days', he thought to himself. As he climbed out of the stadium, a hand extended down to help him up. Sam grabbed it and used it to haul himself up. Standing up straight, Sam saw Lavender smiling in front of him.
"Nice move there, you seem to have gotten used to that bey pretty quickly."
"It's not that hard, I just need to remember that Libra isn't as heavy as Astraeus. I keep trying to do my normal strategies against my opponent, but Libra just doesn't have the smash that Astraeus does."
"Well you better learn fast, because you’re up next” Lavender indicated to the massive board that represented his block in the tourney. Sam was now on top of the board, his name was next to another. 'Victor'
"Victor huh, must be a decent blader to have made it this far." Said Sam
"Very capable.” Replied Lavender. "Second best in the Village in fact."
"Who's the best?" Asked Sam, his attention turning back to Lavender.
"Beat Victor and you will find out” Said Lavender, smiling that smile that conveyed the feeling of 'I know something you don't'. Sam just nodded.
"Ok, I will."
"Samuel, please make your way to stadium C." Announced the Blader DJ. Sam said his farewells to Lavender and headed in the direction of Stadium C, the last stadium in the tournament house.
The Tournament House was the centre of all Beyblading in Coma Village. When Lavender first took him to it in order to test out his bey, Sam was in awe of the massive stone arches that bended over the whole arena, and the intricate patterns of long forgotten beys battling that were engraved into every square inch of the place. It was just one of the many wonders of ancient Coma Village.
Sam stepped up onto the pedestal at his end of the stadium. He looked across at the boy standing on the opposite him, he looked of about 16-17 years of age. He had dark red hair, so dark that it appeared nearly brown. His hair spiked up in seemingly random tufts, and streaks of black appeared here and there. One of the spikes covered his left eye, so only his right eye was showing. That eye was a light grey, contrasting with his darkish hair. He wore a black leather jacket that went down to his hands. Underneath he wore a plain grey shirt and a red necklace shaped in the form of a lizard. Its eyes were however, an ice blue. He wore black tight jeans and shiny black heeled boots. He had a determined look in his eye, the kind of look that defined the strong for the weak. Despite his darkish look, the boy did not seem to be anything more than a tough opponent, nothing that Sam detected as darkish, evil even. Yet he could still sense that something was not quite right here.
"Bladers, beys at the ready!" Shouted DJ, actually stepping back a little as he said it. "3...2...1..."
"Go Shoot!" Shouted Sam and the boy, both launching their beys. There was a shockwave as both boys’ beys left its launchers prongs. Then, the explosion. Sam was thrown backwards; he felt his face scrape against the floor as he slid face first away from the stadium. His skin singed as the heat from the blast burn it. When the ringing in his ears started to wear off and the heat of the blast had subdued he opened his eyes. Painfully, but he did all the same. The arena was in ruins, the leader board was half gone and no other life seemed to be in sight. Sam however, sensed movement from the bey stadium. He straggled towards it, cradling one of his arms that appeared to be dislocated. He peered into it, being careful not to accidentally fall into it. Rocks littered the stadium, but a bey was still spinning in the centre.
'How did he do that?' Sam looked horrified at the bey in the centre. How could the boy do this much damage? And why?
"What did you do that for?" A voice angrily shouted from just beyond where Sam was looking. The boy was there, his hair messed up and a large scar across his right cheek. The spike of hair that normally covered his eye had been blown back to reveal his left eye. Both of them were practically red with anger, his mouth tightened shut in fury.
"Why in hell did you want to blow this place up?" The boy shouted, getting angrier by the second. "What kind of monster are you?"
"I didn't do this, you did!" Sam shouted back. "Your bey is the one still spinning!"
"That is not my bey!" Replied the boy sharply. "It’s yours! Lazerus is here!" The boy held up a very strangle looking bey. It had a dark red fusion wheel that spiked out in a clockwise direction, there were 15 spikes in total and every second one was slightly smaller than its former. Its clear wheel depicted two lizards, each one biting the others tail in a ring.
Sam looked at the bey spinning in the middle. It was defiantly not Libra.
"No its not!" Yelled Sam back. The boys face went from anger to puzzlement.
"It must be; who else could it be?"
Sam was about to yell a reply went the bey that was spinning in the centre jumped out of the stadium and sped towards a gap in one of the fallen pillars. As it was about to reach it, a scaly hand launched itself out and grabbed it, pulling the bey in. The pillar was lifted and a hideous, barely humanoid figure emerged. He, or it, appeared to have no eyes or mouth. Instead of skin it had scales and shone black, green and red in the light. It had only remnants of clothes on, a pair of tattered brown pants that were stained with red. In its hand it held a beylauncher and grip, a bey loaded onto it. Then, the skin on its face split apart and Sam saw that it did indeed have a mouth, with rows of sharp spiny teeth. A blue forked tongue flicked out and the creature spoke.
"Fresh meat!" It called; its voice a hissing rasp. The creature raised its arm and hand went to its launcher, about to pull back.
"Stop, you fool!" A voice called from behind Sam. Another barely humanoid figure emerged. "What do you think you are doing? You were meant to take out the red haired boy so I can kill the target!" This figure was more human, but its head was hanging to one side. One of its arms was limp and its nose looked broken. To Sam it looked like a stereotypical zombie.
"Why should you get all the fun?" The snake creature hissed. "I could have taken both of them out if you had not got in my way!"
"You disobeyed a direct order from the master; you should be hung on a stake!"
"Your momma should be hung on a stake!" Shouted the snake creature, stalking forward. The zombie slapped its head, making it wobble from side to side.
"Why do I even bother?" He said. "Just take out the boy on the pillar, I'll do Titan boy". The snake creature let out an angry hiss, then turned to the boy on the pillar.
"Fine, this should be easy. Come here child so I can make your life a living hell!" The creature launched his bey at the broken pillar the boy was standing on. The boy leapt backwards, doing an amazing display of acrobatics and back flips. He landed on his feet facing the lizard creature. His eyes were burning with hatred. The pillar that he was previously on collapsed and the creatures bey sat spinning on a flat piece of stone.
"I am not a child, I am Victor Kellinham!" The boy, Victor, shouted. He launched his bey at the opposing beyblade. Victor's bey smashed into the snake creatures’ bey, sending it flying of the stone platform and down to the creature, who looked stunned that his bey had been knocked off. Victor’s bey returned to circle around him, and Victor looked smug.
"Lazerus and I will not be beat by the lowly likes of you." Said Victor, his anger turning into sheer determination to defeat this creature’s bey. The creature’s mouth split again into a wide, toothy grin.
"What’s this then, Lazerus you say? You think you have what it takes to defeat my Severus?" Severus? Lazerus? Sam had never even heard of these beys before. What in Pegasus’ name was going on?
"BladeLazerus85EXF" Victor replied. "We are number 2 in Coma Village, we can beat anything you can throw at us." Victor smiled, "Apart from your looks, nothing can fix that" The creatures smile turned from a grin into a hideous scowl.
"ScarSeverusWA130WF, show this punk who he is talking to." Sam watched as the two beys ran at each other, colliding in a shower of sparks that flew in every direction. As Sam watched he saw something coming at him, in a split second he threw himself to the ground and a bey flew and hit the spot where he was standing less than a second before. The zombie thing had launched his bey at him, aiming to do harm to him.
"GraveZombisFR145EWD, let’s see your precious Titan Bey protect you from this!" The zombie laughed. Sam just looked at him in disgust.
"What are you?" Asked Sam. The zombie laughed a horrible gasping laugh.
"I am Death, and my dim-witted accomplice over there is Sin. We work for the master of darkness, and we do his will. Now, I must destroy you, unless your little Titan Bey has something to say about it?"
Sam's heart sunk. This zombie was going to kill him. He had no bey to defend him and Victor was the only other person conscious by the looks of things, and he was a bit occupied. Sam couldn't run with his arm as it was, there was nowhere to hide. Zombis rushed at Sam, he could do nothing. Nothing but watch as his death came closer, second by second.
This looked like the end for Samuel Baychrist.

Sam closed his eyes, prepared for the end. This was it, no escape, nowhere to run. He heard Zombis coming closer, any second now it was going to make contact with Sam and that would be the end of it. Somehow through all the haze of panic and sadness however, Sam couldn't help but feel that this was not him. It was not like him to give up even when all odds were against him. That single thought gave Sam the strength to realise that he was not meant to die this way, cowering on the floor waiting to just die. If he was to die, he would do it in battle, using all of his strength. Sam focused on that and opened his eyes. Zombis was running at him, it ran up a piece of fallen stone and launched itself into the air. It changed direction in mid-flight and sped towards Sam, he could almost feel the lust and hunger radiating from the bey.
"NO!" Sam shouted, and with all his might through himself aside, rolling painfully across the ground. He got up on one knee and saw Zombis crash into the stone where he had just lain, shattering it. Sam grabbed his broken arm and yelled with all his might.
"I will not give up!" he lunged at Zombis, bringing the fist of his good arm down onto it. There was a second of silence before a stunning golden light erupted quite painfully from all over Sam's body. He fell to the ground, screaming in pain. Yet at the same time, he felt his arm click back into it's shoulder socket and the burns on his hands vanished. The scars on his back disappeared and all the pain and heartache Sam had been carrying left him in seconds. The pain disappeared also. Sam opened his eyes. His skin was fine; the unhealthy tinge it had gathered throughout the weeks here had gone. He raised his hands to inspect them. Where on his right hand the burns that Astraeus left last time he touched him had been, now sat the symbol of Astraeus, a sword with a helmet behind it. Sam stood up in amazement. All was better; it was like his body had fixed itself.
Or something had fixed it for him.
Sam looked up into the sky, yet he didn't know why. A golden comet was flying down from the clouds, heaven. Sam knew what it was. His angel had come. He reached out his hand and the comet landed in it was a mighty bang, golden flames racing past Sam yet not hurting him. As Sam opened his palm, Astraeus shone there; bright as ever, glittering in the light of dusk.
Sam looked across at Death, who was standing there with his mouth unhinged, gawking at Sam. Sam grinned and held up his bey.
"Now, let's see how your dirty tricks work on an even playing field shall we?" Sam's voice was confident, he felt like he had before the accident. he felt powerful, in control. The top of the world. Death clicked his jaw back into place, and glowered at Sam.
"Zombis, get him!" He shouted, pointing at Sam. Sam reached for his launcher and loaded Astraeus into it.
"Go Shoot!" Shouted Sam, Astraeus flying from his launcher like a golden arrow and smashing into Zombis. The force sent it flying and crashing at Death's feet, unmoving. Death cursed and picked up his beyblade, running into the darkness of the corner of the stadium to hide.
"Sin, pull pack!" He rasped as he vanished into the inky blackness. A second later ScarSeverus returned to Sin's hand and he ran after Death, whining about how he had not finished with the 'Little Red Runt', which Sam thought was Victor. Victor's bey returned to his hand as he saw Sin disappear into the blackness as well. As sonn as Sin had entered the shadow it disappeared and light returned. Astraeus flew back to Sam's hand as Victor walked over.
"How did they disappear like that?" Sam asked.
"Shadow Manipulator." Replied Victor. "The army of terror perfected them near the end of the war a couple of hundred years ago. They were the army's main method of transport, effective too. Anywhere there was a shadow they could send troops and men to attack and hide."
"What war?" Sam asked, but he already guessed the answer.
"The war against the Crateor tribe." Victor said. "They sought to make the ultimate bey, and they saw that power in darkness while we saw it in the light.
Sam nodded. Just as he thought. He had not escaped Chaos entirely. He was only a mere few hundred years since the end of the war, and Chaos still had supplies around most likely.
Sam looked around and saw people starting to emerge from behind rocks and out of the crumpled stone stands. He had a lot of explaining to do. Things were about to get a whole lot worse though, and Sam knew it.
And he knew what he had to do.

Sam looked over the vast mountainside that surrounded Coma Village, feeling as the cold morning air prickled his skin. The mountains that stood before him dipped slightly to forma a sort of crevasse. Sam could see a clear path through the mountains; he could be away and safe in a day.
But he couldn't go. He couldn't just leave the village as it lay, in ruin. The beyblade stadium, the heart of the village, was literally falling apart. Large wooden spokes had to be placed to keep whatever remnants of the building were still standing stable. Food supplies were low, and many people were injured by falling rocks from the collapse of the stadium. The village was in its worse shape since the war.
Are you sure about this? A familiar voice echoed in his head.
We don't have a choice. Chaos will keep getting stronger and stronger, and will eventually attack the village. When that happens, nothing will stop him. No one has the power to. He will destroy the village and rewrite history, a history where Coma Village does not exist in my time.
I agree, but you are still not full health, although my may feel it. You can rest for a while before setting off.
I am fine. Sam said. My wounds have healed.
I did not mean your physical state. I meant are you fine mentally? Sam did not reply, but just stared out over the path that he was about to take. It was a long winding gravel path; one could easily slip and fall.
Much like the path I am deciding to take with my life. It is dangerous, and I could easily fall, but it is the only way to get to where I need to be. Sam pondered to himself.
He reached down and picked up his bag that was sitting at his feet, feeling the cold and slightly damp drawstrings press against his shoulder when he threw it over his arm.
"Just where do you think you’re going?" Sam turned around to face Lavender. She looked different, her hair was tied back and the dress she normally wore was replaced with a blank white T-shirt, denim shorts that were bordering on too short and a navy blue half jacket. She wore a pair of mid-height brown heeled shoes and a bag like Sam's slung over her shoulder.
"Where are you going?" Sam asked, although he already knew the answer.
"With you, you can't do this on your own"
"I perfectly well can, we discussed this and you are not coming."
"Well lets save the discussion this time then and just let me come with you."
Sam looked at her. Why did she want to come so much? Sam had secretly wanted her to come, but he had kept that thought silent. Now, she wasn't going to leave him alone. He sighed.
"Let's go then; we can't waste any more time." Lavender nodded and fell into stride after Sam.
"So, if I'm coming then it is ok if I bring a plus one?" She said it as more of a statement then a question.
"Pus one?" Sam asked just as he saw a dark red haired boy emerge from the bushes a few meters away. Sam glared at Lavender. "Why did you bring him?"
"She didn’t bring me, I brought myself." Victor said with a slight smile on his face. He too carried a travel bag across his shoulder, and in his hand he held a beyblade. Sam just shook his head.
"Any more surprises Lavender?" Sam said in defeat of the girl’s persistence
"Not right now, but later maybe." Sam took that as a 'yes'. He started walking with Lavender and Victor next to him. After a few minutes they got into a conversation about the rotation speed of a beyblade and were talking like old friends. For once all thoughts of Chaos and the battle to come had left Sam's mind.
But that was soon to change.

Sam looked around, surrounding him were immense stone walls that gave the impression of an eerie evil. The walls scaled right up to the top if some of the mountains, making Sam feel nervous about the large possibility of a rockslide. He was eager to get out of here.
"Well, here we are." Said Victor; stopping and sitting down on a nearby rock. He had been walking ahead for about ten minutes, apparently looking for something.
"Where are we?" Sam asked looking around again. What was so special about this place that they needed to stop? Victor looked at him.
"You said you wanted to find a place to set up camp, so here we are. This is the best camping site for days in any direction." Sam lifted an eyebrow.
"Really, where will be put our tents?" He asked sceptically. He did not see anything special about this place; if anything it seemed inept for human occupation. Victor pointed towards to sky.
"Up” He said, pushing off the rock e was sitting on and finding a hole in the stone wall to climb. Sam watched as, like a spider, he quickly scaled the wall.
"Show off” Sam heard Lavender mutter behind him. All the way from Coma village, Victor and her had been arguing about who had the most skill, blading and otherwise. Each threw out impressive comments about their individual feats but in the end lavender one with the simple question "What number are you in Coma Village again?” Sam looked back up at the wall, Victor was about 20 meters off the ground now. He then proceeded to stop and pull himself up onto a ledge. He looked down at Sam and Lavender.
"If we follow this ledge along for about 1 kilometre we will find a set of steps you two can climb up." He walked of across the ledge he was on with ease, Sam and Lavender followed. Sure enough, about 10 minutes later Sam was walking up a set of steps to join Victor on a flat part of the wall. As he looked down, the height reminded him of the pit back in his time, where the Crateor Stone was hidden. He shuddered at the thought. Lavender gave him a push and Sam turned to see Victor walking off towards a little cave in the wall, it looked about 1 square meter tall and wide, just enough for Sam to fit through comfortably. The cave smelt of damp and moss, Sam swore his hand touched something furry crawling in there as well. Lavender was behind him, and Sam smirked when she told him to shake him tail and get a move on. When he emerged on the other side after Victor, Sam stretched him back out and stood. He looked over the place where Victor had led them. They were in a large cavern that had been worn away by the stream that flowed through the middle of the clearing. Small shrubs grew on even smaller patches of soil near the far side of the rock. Vines grew all over the roof of the cave and the walls. In the centre, however, was a large stone bowl in the ground. A makeshift beyblade stadium. Victor was on one side, dropping his gear and laying on it. Lavender and Sam were just staring at the place that they never knew existed. Carefully stepping over the rocks and gravel, Sam sat next to Victor.
"How did you know this place existed?"
"I train here” Victor replied with his eyes closed. "This is my hidden sanctuary. You guys are the first people I have ever showed it to." His large fringe covered most of his face, but Sam could have sworn that Victor smirked when he said that.
"Beyblade train?" Lavender asked
"Is there any other?" Said Victor; moving into a more comfortable position. "This place is totally self-sufficient. We could live here, grow our own food and there is a stream over to the right with fresh water; and a stadium to amuse ourselves. Remember this place, we may need to come back if ever anything goes... wrong." Sam nodded. He knew what Victor meant. If anything happened and Chaos found out about their plan they had been formulating then this would be their retreat. I second home.
"Well, why don't we battle then?" Lavender said. "There is a stadium, so lets go!" She stood up and had her launcher out. "Then I will prove I am a more powerful blader!" Victor just yawned.
"I'm tired, tomorrow." He said, faking being bored. Lavender scowled.
"You were complaining about how my win to you was a fluke at the Grand Tourney, prove it to me! Beat me again!"
"Lavender, we have been travelling for three days, give it a rest. We will battle in the morning." Lavender sighed an impatient sigh and sat down.
She is an impatient one. Astraeus spoke to Sam in his mind. Just like her bey.
You don't say? Sam thought back. She has so much energy that she might explode.
She hasn't battled for weeks; you would be like her if you hadn't battle for more than a few days.
Oh quiet. Thought Sam, Astraeus laughed. The morning would bring new life.