Pegasis and Perseus kept Clashing, neither of them giving up.

"Keep going Pegasis!" Miles commanded.

"Push him away, Perseus!" Franco said.

Pegasus and Perseus never backed off from each other for even a second.

"Pegasis and Perseus are wearing each other down with powerful force!" DJ announced. "I wonder who's gonna make the next move!"

Observing it, Miles noticed at, unlike most attack types he saw, Perseus was lasting much longer...

"How is Perseus spinning that strong when it's an attack type?" Miles said, surprised.

"Easy..." Franco replied. "Metal Flat is one of the most Stamina-filled flat tips, so I can last forever! Now, destabilize him, Perseus!"

Perseus charged at Pegasis and, due to how un-smooth Perseus is, started landing irregular. destabilizing attacks on Pegasis.

Once Pegasis was wobbling, Franco went for the opporitunity. "Special Move, Peresus! Soldier's Training!!!"

A giant soldier emerged from the facebolt, and began firing his weapon at Pegasis. Astonished, Franco watched as Pegasis barely dodged all six of the shots. "H-How did you dodge all of those?" he asked.

Miles stayed silent, and smirked. "Skill..." Miles finally said. He rose his hand. "Pegasis, Special Move, Wing Starbreaker!!!"

Pegasis flew up and landed on the side of Perseus. Perseus tripped uncontrollably and eventually came to a stop.

The crowd clapped as Miles picked up his bey and hugged Franco. "Thank you for saving me..." Miles whispered, then they let go and walked to their teams. "Our winning team, 3-0, is the USA!!!"

The crowd cheered as the US team waved and together, the two teams walked out.

At the airport, the team were saying goodbye. "Well, great job today!" Franco said. "We need to catch our flight to England..."

"Yeah, we got to get on our flight to Africa..." Miles replied. "See you guys later!"

The two teams then walked away. The four friends boarded their flight and took off.

On their flight, Miles and Bri were the only ones awake.

"Hey Miles..." Bri started.

"Yeah, Bri?" Miles asked...

"I was wondering something...about our relationship..."

"What would that be?"

"I...have no idea how people at school are gonna take us, because we're both unpopular and, to be honest...my friends hate you..."

"That's...actually what I was going to say to you about my friends..."

"Wow. Looking at that, I'm...not sure if we should keep going together..."

"No, Bri, please... I love you, and nobody else should judge that. Yeah, maybe next school year, they'll all hate us, but hey, we love each other, and that shouldn't get in the way..."

"You're really sure about that?"

"I know it. Bri, how many boyfriends have you had?"

"Zero...?"

"And how many girlfriends have I had?"

"None?"

"Exactly. We shouldn't just let a few mean kids get in the way of our relationship. We are each other's first love. We should at least give it a better shot than this..."

"You know what...you're right. I'm looking forward too quickly. It's affecting my self-esteem..."

"Yeah, it was affecting mine too for a little bit..."

"I can't believe that thought even came into my mind. I feel so ashamed of myself..." She covered her face with her hands...

He moved them and gave her a hug. "Don't feel bad. I have that happen all the time. Let's just...try to stop being so worried about what might happen until it happens..."

"Agreed..."

"Now, we better get some rest. This African watch we have is a night match..."

"Oh boy, you're right!"

He gave her a kiss on the lips. "Sweet dreams, Bri..."

"You too, Miles..."

The two fell asleep, hand in hand...

Miles was awaken by the rumbling of the plane landing on the airstrip. Bri was awake next to him, staring out the window.

"W...Where are we...?" Miles asked, stretching...

"We just landed in Accra, a city in Ghana..." she replied. "You woke up just in time!!"

The four got off the plane and walked down the terminal. They spotted the African team in no time.

"Welcome, US team! I am the African Captain, Kofi Shannon! And this is my bey, Counter Scorpio AD145D! This is Yaw Jey, and he uses Inferno Leone ED145WD. That's Kwabena Oshaw. He uses Thunder Aquario DF145BS. Lastly, that's our sub, my younger brother, Kwesi Shannon, and he uses Hyper Gemios D125B!"

"Nice to meet you!" Miles said. "I'm Miles Serge, and this is my Pegasis! That's Devin Collins and his Corona, Cloud Starcutter and is Orojya, and our sub, Bri Crawford and her L-Drago!"

"Very nice to meet you!" Kofi said. "Luckily for us, we got Russia out of the way..."

"How bad was it?" Cloud asked.

Kofi pointed to Kwabena, who lifted his shirt to reveal a giant scar going down his chest to his right side.

"Damn." Devin said. "Now, that's gotta hurt..."

"It did..." Kwabena replied. "Luckily, that was the only thing to happen to any of us, but yeah, that Diablo bey really hurt!"

"Now, we heard that you guys would get in late..." Kofi said. "So we reserved the match for the morning, for you guys to rest."

"Thanks!" Bri replied. "Guess we'll head there now!!!"

"Oh wait!" Kofi said quickly. "Miles, mind if I ask you something?"

"Oh, sure! You guys go ahead. I'll catch up..." Miles said.

"Okay. Race ya!" Cloud said to the other two, and they ran off for the hotel.

"Mind if we see how your Pegasis Performs? We heard about it on TV when you won the tournament, and we'd like to see it if you'd let us..."

"Okay then!" Miles replied, pulling out Pegasis. He then attached it to his launcher and let it spin.

"It's pretty stable, isn't it?" Kwesi said, intrigued.

"Yep, and it's very useful! So much defense. Come back, Pegasis!" Miles yelled, catching it in his hand.

"Thanks for showing us, Miles..." Kofi said. "You better get running. It's late, and you need the rest..."

"Yeah. Night, guys!" Miles said, and he walked off and down the street.

Then, he was caught off guard when he got pulled into the shadows of an alleyway.

It was R-Dev again, this time, not carrying his knife. He pinned Miles by his neck, and punched a few times.

Miles coughed. "R-Dev, why do you keep doing this to me?! It's just not fair! I'm not gonna give up, no matter how many times you threaten me!"

"Well then..." R-Dev said, dropping Miles, then pulling out his concealed Pistol. "Guess that means I can just finish it then..." He cocked the gun and aimed it right at Miles' forehead. Miles closed his eyes, expecting the shot.

However, he opened his eyes when R-Dev was kicked in the head from behind. R-Dev stumbled into the wall and turned to see who kicked him.

It was Cloud.

"Nobody hurts my friend!!!" Cloud yelled.

R-Dev growled and focused his aim on Cloud. Cloud dodged both shots and charged at R-Dev. He landed two punches to R-Dev's head before being pushed off. R-Dev aimed his gun again. Cloud dodged the third shot and, in a blur, picked up Miles and moved him to safety. R-Dev tried one more time to fire off a hit. This fourth shot landed. Cloud screamed in pain, but kept fighting. He slapped the gun out of R-Dev's hand and landed one final knockout blow to the jaw. R-Dev landed on the concrete, and with the rest of his energy, disappeared.

Miles got up and ran to Cloud, who had fell to his knees.

"Cloud, are you alright?" Miles asked.

"Ow...it...it hurts, Miles..." Cloud said, holding his side.

Miles called for help and an ambulance arrived in no time. Miles helped load Cloud in the ambulance and they rode to to the hospital.

Miles and Cloud arrived at the hospital 5 minutes later. Miles hopped out and carried Cloud out of the bed and helped him inside, along with another one of the doctors.

Once inside, they carried Cloud to an open bad and laid him down. They first had to search for the bullet before they could patch it up. Miles willing decided to do so. He painstakingly felt around on Cloud's side, feeling for the bullet. Cloud screamed in pain.

"Come on, Cloud, just a bit longer. Hang on..." Miles said.

After a few more attempts, Miles pulled out the bullet from the wound. But before he threw it away, he observed the surprisingly clean copper casing as Cloud was patched up on his side. He looked at it for a while, then he put it in his pocket. Then he turned to Cloud.

"So, you gonna be okay, Cloud?" Miles asked.

"Yeah. It aches a bit, but hey, I'm tougher than that. It'll be fine..." Cloud replied. "I texted the others and told them what happened. I told them we were ok and that we'll just stay here and meet them at the coliseum..."

"Sounds good..." Miles replied. "Cloud..."

"Yeah, Miles?"

"What did we ever do to deserve going through all of this? The flashbacks, the betrayal, all of these attacks, seriously, what did we do?"

Cloud sat there thinking. "I don't think it was us..." He said grimmly. "I think it was everyone else..."

The doctors pulled in another extra bed for Miles, and the two fell asleep.

The next morning, Miles woke up to find Cloud missing, and a text on his phone. He answered it. It was Cloud, saying he was at the coliseum. Miles got up and ran towards the coliseum. When he got there, he found his team, as well as the African team. The two teams walked out to a crowd filled with the red and white of both countries, along with hints of blue for the US. The DJ walked out to his podium.

"I welcome everyone who came here to Accra for this beyblade match between our proud African team, and their opponents, our very loved allies, the USA!!! Why don't we get this underway, shall we?"

The crowd cheered in agreement to that.

"Alright, then! Captain's who will sit out?"

"I sit out for Africa..." Yaw Jey said, backing up.

"And I will for the USA..." Devin replied, backing up as well...

"I see, and who will battle first?" DJ asked.

"I will first!" Kwesi said, jumping up and down.

"I'll take him on!" Bri said in reply.

"Fantastic! So Bri VS Kwesi will be our first match!!"

Both approached the stadium. Bri pulled out L-Drago and attached it to her launcher, and Kwesi pulled out his Hyper Gemios D125B and attached it as well...

"Ready now?" DJ asked. "3! 2! 1! GO SHOOT!!!"

L-Drago and Gemios landed directly into the stadium, clashing. The sunrise's light shined on the two beys, illuminating the Gemios wheel and brightening the white on the L-Drago Wheel. It was now a beautiful sight to see the two beys clash into each other, glistening in the light.

"Keep going, L-Drago!" Bri commanded.

"Hold on, Gemios!!" Kwesi said, jumping up and down.

After several clashes, Kwesi got tired.

"Boring... Come on, Gemios, Special Move! Hyper Double Twist!!"

Two twisting vortexes emerged from Gemios and immediately charged for L-Drago.

Come on, L-Drago! Dodge!" Bri commanded.

With plenty of time left, L-Drago dodged, and Gemios' attack landed right into the ground.

"What, no fair!" Kwesi said, pouting.

"Too bad, buddy! This is how this works! Special Move, Dragon Fire Rampage!!!" Bri yelled.

L-Drago turned orange and flew up into the air. Gemios just stood as it got struck head on, and flung out of the stadium.

The crowd applauded for Bri. "And Bri Crawford wins the first round for the US!!" DJ announces.

"Aw, no fair, you moved your attack!" Kwesi whined.

"I think that's what you're supposed to do, Kwesi..." she replied.

"Really? I never do that!!" he said back... "Darn! I'm so stupid!"

As Kofi pulled his younger brother off the arena and Bri walked back to her side, DJ announced the 2nd round.

"Cloud and Kwabena, to the stadium!!!" he said.

Cloud walked up, his Orojya already attached. Kwabena approached from the other side, his Thunder Aquario also attached.

3! 2! 1! LET IT RIP!!!

Once Orojya and Aquario hit the stadium, Aquario gained a giant silver circle around it.

"Woah! What's that??" Cloud asked.

"A barrier!" Kwabena replied.

"Oh great..." Cloud thought.

Cloud's Orojya circled Kwabena's Thunder Aquario, surrounded by a barrier.

Orojya suddenly charged into a surge of attacks, none of them even shaking the barrier. Orojya bounced off and landed back down.

"That's just crazy!" Cloud said. "How am I supposed to get around that?!"

"That's the point!" Kwabena replied, "You're NOT supposed to!"

"Dammit..." Cloud thought. "That thing's unbreakable, and i know for sure my Orojya Spear isn't strong enough... Maybe if I sit still..."

"Now, Aquario, Special Move! Thunderous Wave!!!" Kwabena commanded.

Aquario flew into the air as a thunderbolt of water charged at Orojya...

"Wait for it..." Cloud thought.

...

"Wait for it....."

...

"NOW!!!"

Orojya slid out of the way as Aquario struck head-on into the stadium. Then, CLoud heard a crack. He saw the barrier. It was split on top. "That's it!" Cloud said. "Break the shield, Orojya!!"

Orojya jumped and attacked the wobbling Aquario's shield, and after about ten hits, it finally shattered.

"Now Orojya, Special Move! River Of Snakes!"

An aura of snakes rose from Orojya, and they tackled into Aquario, sending Aquario out of the stadium...

The crowd rose to their feet and gave Cloud a standing ovation. Cloud bowed as he picked up Orojya and walked back.

"As Cloud wins round two, we move onto our last match between Miles and Kofi!!!" DJ announced.

They walked to the stadium. Miles attached Pegasis, and Kofi attached his Counter Scorpio.

3! 2! 1! GO SHOOT!!!

Pegasis and Scorpio clashed into the arena, and immediately Kofi sent out his special move.

"Counter Stinger!" he yelled, and the attack destabilized Pegasis.

"Great. Now, time to charge..." Kofi said to himself.

As a white aura stated charging up in Scorpio, Miles watched Pegasis as he wobbled.

"What can I do?!" he thought. "I ain't attack, and if I don't do anything, I'm done for!"

He then witnessed as Pegasis, started getting more aggressive in its motion. It started circling the stadium, still wobbly, and it started getting faster. After several revolutons around the stadium, Pegasis had more spin!

"What was that?" Kofi asked, astounded.

"I don't know..." Miles replied. "But I do know one thing! I'm back in this match!"

The crowd cheered and rose to their feet as Pegasis charged and attacked Scorpio, killing its charge. Left, Right, Under, Over, inside-out, every single way you could imagine, Pegasis hit Scorpio.

"Ready, Pegasis? Here we go! Special Move, Omega Star Nova!!" Miles yelled, and within seconds, Pegasis struck right on Scorpio, and in an instant, the match had turned around and was over.

The crowd surged into a frenzy in an array of cheers and clapping.

"That was intense!" DJ said. "It's over! 3-0, USA wins!!! Wish them luck as they go back to the USA to face North Korea in their first home match!!!"

The two teams left the coliseum and headed back to the airport.

"Well, good luck to you guys back home. Hope you win!" Kofi said.

"Same with you and England!" Miles said. "Show em what you got!"

The two teams departed, and the four friends got on their flight back home to Princeton, North Carolina.

"Man, I can't wait to get back home!" Devin said.

"Me too..." Miles said. "Honestly...I...I really missed it..." He started tearing up.

"Awwwwww...." Bri said, hugging him. "We'll be home soon..."

The four laid back and relaxed, because within hours they would arrive home for their match against North Korea...

"Ladies and Gentlemen. We will be landing in Princeton, North Carolina soon!"

Miles jolted up to those words. He couldn't wait to get back home.

"Well, Miles, looks like that's all you need to hear on a flight to be alert..." Devin said.

"Sure is!" Miles replied. "I miss home..."

"Well, it's a good thing we're almost there!" Cloud said. "I can't wait!"

Then, Bri gets a text...

"It's from the WBBA Committee..." Bri said.

"What could they be wanting to tell us?" Miles asked.

Bri read the reply. "It appears that due to the long time it is taking, along with many other issues, many of the low-ranked teams, such as India, Italy, The Middle East, and Samoa, including many others, have dropped out of the championship, and we got word from your North Korean opponents that they are dropping out too!"

"Aw man. Well, that's a shame..." Cloud said.

"That's not all it says..." Bri replied. She continued reading. "Including your team, there are now 16 teams remaining. When you land, please arrive to the coliseum, as we will be holding a single-elimination tournament to declare the winner!!! Best of Luck to you! -WBBA Committee"

"Wow. Guess they had to change plans..." Devin said. "It's unfortunate we couldn't meet all of the teams..."

"Well, looking at the roster, we got some tough opponents in this tournament!" Bri said, looking at the roster. "Of course Russia, France, Germany, Canada, Japan, England, the whole works!!"

"Well, it looks like we can finally face a tougher team!" Cloud said. "So ready!!!"

The plane landed. Miles was first to step off. He took in a deep breath of the gentle summer breeze blowing by.

"Ahhhhh...home sweet home..." He said.

Outside, the limo was waiting, and the four entered it. The limo then arrived at the coliseum. The four friends walked in.

"Welcome, guys!!!" DJ said. "The other teams are inside, meeting each other. Russia's the only one being quiet, so I wouldn't bother them, and you guys should check it out! There's a West Coast US team!!!"

Miles and Cloud both froze. They thought in their mind of that villain stabbing the poor US member to death. However, they stayed calm and simply replied, "Cool! We'll check them out!"

They walked in to see Flags. Two USA, one with an E and one with a W, England, Russia, Mexico, France, Germany, Scandinavia, Canada, Antarctica, Jamaica, Austria, South Korea, Japan, New Zealand, and Ireland.

"Wow!!!" Miles said. "Look at these teams!!!"

They walked around, meeting the teams. Most of them friendly. Others, not so much... There was not a crowd, but plenty of cameras. They knew that even though they didn't have the noise, they had everyone watching...

However, Miles couldn't help but peek out of the corner of his eye to see R-Dev and the shadowy figure of the Diablo Blader staring with deathly glares. He gulped as the bracket popped up on screen:

1. RUSSIA
16: SCANDINAVIA

8. IRELAND
9. GERMANY

4. CARIBBEAN
13. GREENLAND

5. JAPAN
12. NEW ZEALAND

3. ANTARCTICA
14. FRANCE

6. SOUTH KOREA
11. CANADA

2. EC USA
15. ENGLAND

7. WC USA
10. MEXICO

"Oooh! We get England first round!!!" Devin said in excitement.

"Let us get the matches underway!!" DJ announced, and the teams met each other at their respective stadiums.

They met up with the England team, who was very polite. All of them wore white clothing all over, except for the captain. He was wearing a purple shirt, black and purple shorts, and black shoes with purple highlights... he also had short black hair...

"So, we didn't get the chance to introduce ourselves..." the captain said. "Our sub-member right there is Gary Schilling. He uses Evil Orso 130RSF. That is Casey Hewitt. He uses Evil Sagittario 130RDF. That's Darren Cullipher, and he uses Evil Leone 130MB...."

"And what is your name?" Miles asked...

"Dan. Dan Wheldon..." He slowly dropped his head.

"Oh, I see. I'm sorry..." Miles said patting his back. "Anyways, what's your bey?"

Dan rose his head and showed it. "Evil Shade 130RS..." He said...

"So basically a bunch of evil 130's?" Cloud said.

"Yep!" Dan replied. "We sometimes call ourselves that!"

DJ walked up to the two teams. "By the way guys, the format is your choice. Debate it out and do it, otherwise I choose it for you..."

"Ok then. How about a free-for-all, Dan?" Miles asked.

He thought for a moment, then grinned. "Sounds good to me!!"

All eight readied their beys for launch.

"You ready?" Miles asked.

"When you are!" Dan replied.

In unison they all shouted. "3! 2! 1! GO SHOOT!!!"

All eight of the beys entered the Arena, charging for one another.

"Go Corona!" yelled Devin as he clashed into Gary's Orso.

"Come on Leone!" Darren shouted as he attacked Bri's L-Drago.

All of the clashing was going on, and nobody was budging.

Then, Gary started pushing Cloud's Orojya to the edge... "Come on, Orojya, we aren't going down alone! Special Move, Unforgiving Bind!!!"

The snakes emerged and pulled Gary's Orso along with it, KO-ing both of them. It was now 3 on 3.

"Corona, Rainbow Gemstone!!" Devin commanded.

"L-Drago, Dragon Fire Tornade!!!" Bri also commanded.

The two Special Moves KO'd Darren's Leone and Casey's Sagittario.

"3 on 1, Dan..." Miles said. "Whatcha gonna do now?"

"This..." Dan said smirking. "Shade, Special Move, Supersonic Dusk!!!"

A purple Aura rose from Shade and it released a purple supersonic wave. The shot knocked out Corona and L-Drago, and Pegasis barely avoided the KO.

"Hm..." Dan said. "1 on 1 now..."

Shade immediately charged at Pegasis and both clashed with full effort. Shade pushed Pegasis to the edge.

"This is Over!" Dan said. "Supersonic Dusk!!!"

But before the attack went off, Pegasis slid behind Shade, and as the attack went off, Pegasis struck Shade, and the supersonic changed direction, and KO'd Shade.

Miles rose his hand with one finger to say to the DJ that his team won 1-0. He picked up Shade and walked over to Dan, putting it into his hand.

"Good match..." Miles said, holding out his hand. Dan shook his hand. "You too, and good luck. I know how much you need it..."

Miles looked at the Russian team, who had already finished. "No...I don't think you do..."

The two teams walked away.

"Wow guys..." Bri said. "I had no idea how many people we know are competing!"

"What do you mean?" Miles asked.

"From the last tournament!" she replied. "CD's for France, Shad's For Mexico, Gerrard-Asela is for Ireland. I mean it's crazy!"

The four then looked at the Bracket:


1. RUSSIA
8. IRELAND


4. CARIBBEAN
5. JAPAN


3. ANTARCTICA
6. SOUTH KOREA


2. EC USA
7. WC USA


"So we face the other US team!!!" Devin said. They then walked to the other US team and met them.

"Hey, You won the World Championships last year!!" Miles said.

"Yep, and we've seen you guys do really well, and saw you win the last tournament!!!" one boy said. "I'm the captain, Shawn Faircloth, and this is my bey, Duo Eagle SW145WD!"

"I'm Alfred Jones, and this is my Phantom Byxis GB145R2F!"

"I'm Karan Brar, and my bey, Meteo L-Drago LW105LF!"

"And I'm Matthew Jones, the sub!! I use Burn Phoenix 135MS!"

"Nice to meet you all!!!" Miles replied. "I'm the captain. Miles Serge is my name, and this is my bey, Metal Face-Heavy Wing Pegasis BD145CS!!!"

"I'm Devin Collins, and I use Burn Corona 230D!!!"

"I'm Cloud Starcutter, and I use Shinobi Orojya 90WD!!"

"And I'm the sub, Bri Crawford! I use Metal Face Meteo L-Drago CH120EWD!!!"

"Cool!" Shawn said. "Why don't we start battling? Free for all again?"

"Sure! Let's do it!!!" Miles replied. Cloud started tugging on Miles' sleeve. "But wait one sec. Cloud needs to ask me something "Private..."

Miles pulled Cloud away and they whispered to each other...

"That's him, Miles..."

"Who's him?"

"Him, right there..."

"Him?"

"Yeah, him!"

"So, he is..."

"The one I saw getting stabbed to death? Yes..."

"No. It can't be him, Cloud! Surely it can't!!"

"But it is, Miles! I know it!"

"No...If...If that's the case, I...I don't know what I would do..."