I've heard of the 9 legends. The masters of the elements. I've always wanted to be like them. My beyblade, Omni Jupiter, and I, aren't backing down. A new evil has appeared. A blader who uses the bey known as "Katastrofis Hades". I am destined to take that bey down. Along with my friends, the wielders of the other few special beys, we will take down this evil. My name is Heracles Karpusi. And I am the Blader of Zeus. Go get 'em, Jupiter!

A New Hero
I woke up to the sun from the blinds bleeding through, reaching my eyes. I sat up and yawned. Another hard day is ahead. I jump out of bed, only too be met by my pet cat, Foofie. I pet him on the head and he purrs in response. I take off my pijamas and put on my clothes. A white t-shirt, brown military pants, and a brown jacket. I wear the jacket on my shoulders, like a cape.
I go to the bathroom and brush my brown hair. But, there's always that one double-hair-curl that sits on the top of my head. I don't really care. I stare into the reflection of my light green eyes as I brush my teeth. I was never a fan of them, but oddly enough, all the girls at school were. Again, I didn't care.
I walk out into the living room to see my mother and father watching the morning news. "Just another average day in Athens, Greece." The reporter says. My father turns off the television and looks to me. "Well, good morning, birthday boy!" He says. That's right. It's October 28th, or, my birthday. I smile in response.
"Thanks." I say, taking a seat next to my mother. I'm finally 14, which means I get to enter the biggest tournament in Greece, which is a few days away. But, sadly, only chosen people get to go. My mother gives me a present that is wrapped up in a package. I look to her and she smiles. "Open it, sweetie." She says. I start to carefully pull away the wrapping. I continue to do so until I realize what the present is. I can't believe it.
"No way!" I exclaim, holding up the box. "A new launcher! The Jupiter model! I've been waiting for this for so long! Thank you!" I hug my mother and she hugs back. Then, something falls off the back of the box. "Huh?" I say, bending down to pick it up. I read what it says. "Oh my gosh..." I say.
In big letters on the top of the card, I read:

You Have Been Invited To The Soldiers of Athens Mega-Tournament!

My heart races as I read the card. "We have noticed your great skills, Heracles, and we are very happy to invited you to attend this tournament! Hope to see you there! Signed, Official WBBA of Greece." It says. I can't wait to tell my friends. I open my new launcher and put it on my arm. The face and beast of Jupiter are depicted on it. "I'm gonna go train!" I say, hurrying out the door.
"Aella!" I shout, running to my best friend, Aella's, house. She's sitting on the front porch with her bey, Skull Poseidon. She looks up with a smile on her face. "Happy birthday, Heracles." She says and I get to her, gasping for air. "Thanks!" I say. I hold up my card in the hand that my launcher is on.
Her eyes widen and her mouth drops at the sight of it. "You got a new launcher?!" She says, getting up to examine it. I nod. "But, don't you see the card?!" I ask. She laughs. "I got one, too." She says, still laughing. My mouth drops. I forgot, her birthday is in March, but the cards are given out on my birthday.
I read it. It has the same thing on it, but with her name instead of mine. "Oh yeah," She starts. "How do you like my new outfit?" She twirls around, causing her blue smock to fly out. She also had on a white tank-top, a seashell necklace, short-shorts, and a pair of flip-flops. She also had her brown hair up in a pony tail, having a seashell where the hair bow is. It brought out her blue eyes. She was pretty, as always.
"Nice!" I say. She also had her signature Poseidon launcher on her arm. "Thanks." She says with a smile. Then, I hear it. "Stop it!" Someone shouts. It sounds like our other best friend, Gupta. We call him Guppy for short. "Help!" The person shouts again. "That sounds like Guppy!" I say. "We have to help!" She nods and we both run off in the direction of the screams of help.
We find the caller, and it is in fact Guppy. In front of him stands the neighborhood bully, and my rival, Sadik Adnan. Guppy's bey, Metallo Vulcan, is facing a bey I've never seen before. Sadik must've gotten a new bey. Again. Guppy's white keffiyeh, or towel-like headwear, is on the ground, revealing his jet black hair.
"Vulcan!" He shouts. His bey is surrounded by a red aura. "Go!" Sadik shouts. Both beys collide, causing a small explosion. Sadik looks up to see me. He calls his bey back, and Guppy does the same. He walks over. "Well if it isn't the birthday boy." He says. "Leave us alone, Sadik." I say.
"Well if you want me to," He starts. "Battle me." He takes out his new bey. A deep purple bey that I've never seen before. "This bey was given to me as an early birthday present." He says. "Meet Katastrofis Hades WD145WD." Just by looking at the bey, I could tell this wouldn't be easy. Today was no average day in Athens, Greece.

The Power of Zeus
"Battle me." Sadik says. I look to Guppy, who is picking up his towel-head-wear-thingy. He shakes his head as he puts it on. He also wipes the dust off of his khaki uniform. He picks up his walking stick, as well. I can tell he doesn't want me to battle. I look back to Sadik, who has a smirk on his face. "I accept." I say.
He smiles in response. I do feel a bit intimidated. He's a lot taller than me. And his clothes. He wears a long green coat, brown pants, knee-high boots, a tan scarf, and a red fez hat. Also, he has on this white mask. Like, Phantom of the Opera. It's so weird. He also has a sword with him at all times.
We step into position. "No stadium boundaries," I start. "that means this whole area is the boundaries. But, for people with your I.Q., anywhere." I hear my friends chuckle. Sadik gets mad. He takes out his bey and attaches it to his launcher on his arm. He then takes out a scan card and shows it to me.
A skull is depicted on it. "This is my new scan card." He says with a smile. I take out my old one. "Whatever." I say, readying Jupiter. "Alright." I say. We both ready our aims. "3! 2! 1!" We both shout. "Let it rip!" We scan our cards, then grab a string attached to the launchers, shooting our beys. They collide and then fly back.
"Jupiter!" I shout. My bey, an attack type, flies around Sadik's new bey. His bey sits there. "A stamina type..." I think. "This should be a little harder than usual." My bey continues to fly around his. "Alright." I say. "Let's get this on!"
Jupiter smashes into Hades. My friends cheer in the background. Sadik only smirks. Then, Hades sends out some kind of energy blast. Jupiter goes flying. Smoke fills the air. That's my chance. I run with Jupiter. I hear Sadik behind me shouting curse words at me. Then, he starts to follow me.
I decide to hide until he reaches me. I manage to climb to the flat part on top of someone's house. Jupiter follows me. We wait. Then, he comes into view. I look to Jupiter, then back to Sadik. "Come out, weakling!" He says. "Or are you just scared?!" I sit there and wait for the right moment. Then it happens.
I jump into the air. So does Jupiter. "Special Move!" I shout. A purple aura surrounds Jupiter. "Zeus' Wrath!" It flies down with a burst of energy. But, Sadik is ready. "Special Move!" He shouts. "Hell Corruption!" The ground under Hades cracks, sending out energy. Jupiter collides with it. Then, a white energy fills the area around us. I am consumed by it and then, everything goes black.
I wake up in a white void. I sit up. "Heracles." A voice says. I get up and look around. "Behind you." It says. I turn to see the beast of Jupiter. "W-Whoa!" I exclaim, backing away. It chuckles. "Don't not be scared." It says. "I am Zeus, God of Thunder, and the master of Lightning. Come here." I don't want to disobey him, so I walk to him. He puts his hand out, as if I should take it.
I do. "Good." Zeus says. "I can see you trust me." I nod. "Have this." He says. He puts his other hand on my head. "And with this, I grant you, Heraclues Karpusi, the power of Zeus." My eyes turn white and I feel a power surge through me. Then, again, everything goes black as I faint.
"Heracles!" Someone shouts. It sounds like Aella. I open my eyes to see her face over mine. She smiles. "You're okay!" She says, helping me sit up. I look around. Jupiter is still spinning, but Sadik was gone. "Yeah, but," I start. "Where's Sadik?" I look to Guppy for my answer. "He blacked out, too," He starts. "But he woke up first, called back Hades, and ran off." I nod in response.
Then, I notice something in my lap. I look down and see a white card sitting there. "Huh?" I say. "What's this?" I pick the card up. It was bright white, but then, the light fades away, revealing a Greek word. It says:


"Zeus..." I mumble. The card is colored gold, but it has a scan print at the bottom. "A scan card?!" Guppy exclaims. I nod. Then, Jupiter's beast appears on it. I get up and catch Jupiter. I feel some sort of power surge through me. "So," I think. "This is the power of Zeus."

The Power of Hephaestus
We walked back to my house. I sat down on the front porch and told them about what I saw. By the time I was done, they were both in shock. "Are you serious?!" Aella asks. I nod back. "Dead serious." I say. I look to Guppy, who is staring at the ground. "You okay, bro?" I say. There's a long pause. He then looks up. "Y-Yeah." He says. "Just thought something was wrong with my leg."
He has a fake leg. He lost his old one in a house fire. He also lost his mom. I hate thinking of that. I was there to save him, but didn't do anything. I sigh. Aella sits down beside me. "Well," She says. "No need to waist time! We need to train!" I nod in response. I look up to Guppy. "Alright," He says. "Let's battle, Heracles."
"What?!" I say, standing up. He smirks. "Since you're the so-called "Blader of Zeus", let's battle! Or, are you scared of Vulcan?" "No way!" I respond. He smiles even more. "Then, let's battle!"
We take our positions in the middle of the road. I take out my new scan card. "Since this is training," Guppy says. "We'll make this like an official battle." I nod. We ready our beys. "I choose," I say. "Legendary Card of Zeus!" I scan it, and Jupiter starts spinning in the launch gear. A bright white light fills the holding chamber.
Guppy takes out his card. "I choose," He starts. "Metallo Vulcan Mega Card!" He scans his card and I hear Vulcan take off. Aella stands in the middle of us. She puts her arms up. "Ready?!" She asks. "3! 2! 1!" We all shout. He hands go down. "Let it rip!" Guppy and I shout as we rip our beys.
They collide and then fly back. "Go Vulcan!" He shouts. "Jupiter!" I exclaim. Our beys collide once more. His being a defensive type, it's a hard wall to break through, but I manage. Or at least, I thought I did. Vulcan sends a blast back, sending my bey flying. "Jupiter!" I shout. Jupiter recovers and heads back.
Then, suddenly, Vulcan disappears. "What the?!" I exclaim. Guppy laughs. "Meet my new move!" He says. "So," I think. "He has been training..." Time fore drastic measures. "Jupiter!" I call. Jupiter just attacks at random, hitting nothing. Then finally, Vulcan appears. Then another one. And another one. And more.
"You can duplicate yourself?!" I exclaim. Guppy nods. He then gets into a position of battle. "Now let' get this goin'!" He says. "Vulcan!" All of the Vulcans set on fire, coming straight for Jupiter. "Special Move!" He shouts. "Flames of Fury!"
The flames burn brighter. "Jupiter!" I shout. Jupiter is defenseless. Then it hits me. "The power of Zeus..." I mumble. Jupiter is surrounded by a white aura, like earlier. I know what to do. "Special Move!" I call. "Zeus' Wrath!" I am surrounded by a white aura. Guppy has an orange one. "Go!" We both shout.
Our beys collide, sending out a bright light. Then, everything goes black like in my battle with Sadik. I wake to see Zeus towering above me. He smiles and helps me up. "W-What happened?" I ask. He chuckles. "It seems," He starts. "Another legend has been found." I turn to see Guppy and the beast of Vulcan.
"I am Hephaestus." The beast says. "Crippled God of fire." The word "crippled" makes me realize why Guppy is chosen. His leg. Hephaestus' leg is crippled, too. He puts his hand on top of Guppy's head. "I believe that this is the barer of the second bey." He says to Zeus. Zeus nods. "I agree." He says. "Now, let's leave these two to their battling." A white light fills the air, and I black out.
I wake, still standing, as if nothing happened. Same with Guppy. We both smile. Our beys are still clashing. But, we call them back. "Let's save the battling for later." I say with a smile. Aella is in shock. She opens her mouth, but someone else's words come out. "W-What was that?!" A voice says.
She closes her mouth and we look around. Then I see it. A streak of blonde hair coming from behind a house nearby. I run over, but the person runs. It's a boy that looks a bit younger than me. He has curly blonde hair. I can't see his eyes. From the looks of it, he's wearing a maroon military uniform with brown epaulettes.
Aella and Guppy are behind me. "Hey!" Aella shouts. "Get back here!" She follows the boy. "Aella!" I shout. Guppy puts his hand on my shoulder. I look back. In his hands, he is holding a gold card, just like mine. On it, the word Ήφαιστος, along with Vulcan and Hephaestus, is depicted on it. I then turn back to Aella, who is still chasing the boy. "Who is that?" I think. "And what does he want with us?"

The Power of Poseidon
Aella continued to chase the boy. Guppy and I weren't far behind. Something was off about him. It was like... I'd seen him somewhere before. He looks back. He has violet eyes. And he does look very familiar. Then it hits me. "Aella stop!" I shout, speeding up. Guppy can't run that fast. "Wait up!" He says, trying to catch up. I grab Aella's shoulder, causing her to stop. "Hey!" She shouts.
The boy stops and turns around. "Don't hurt him!" I say. Aella looks mad. "Why not?!" She says. She yanks her arm away. "Because." I respond. "I have a good feeling about him." Her expression goes blank. The boy walks over. "I-I'm sorry." He says. "I-I didn't m-mean t-to e-eavesdrop." I look to him. "It's cool, man." I say. "Aella just has a bad temper." She huffs as I walk over.
I put my hand out. "My name is Heracles Karpusi." I say with a smile. He takes my hand with a smile. "My name's Raivis Galante." He says. "I'm from Latvia. I was invited to a tournament here." "But, aren't you 13?" I ask. He shakes his head, and smiles with an embarrassed look. "I'm 14, but I'm just short." He says with a laugh. Guppy steps up and starts to introduce himself.
"I am Gupta Muhammad Hassan, but you can call me Guppy." He says. "I moved here from Egypt." Aella steps up. She still looks angered. "Name's Aella Maras." She says. "Do you have a bey?" She asks. I punch her in the shoulder. Asking someone that is very rude in our country. She flinches. Raivis nods. "Yes." He says, taking it out.
"This is my bey." He says. "Razor Minerva T125ES." I take a good look at it. On the face, the word "Minerva" and the beast of the bey is depicted on it. "Cool." I say. He smiles. "Thanks." He says. I look to Aella, who is holding her breath. Oh no. She only does that when she's about to go off.
She opens her mouth, taking a deep breath. "That's it!" She says. "I can't take it anymore! Battle me!" She takes out her bey and puts it to Minerva. "This is my bey, Skull Poseidon!" Raivis sports a big cheeky grin. "Such irony." He says, still smiling. "Considering Athena beat Poseidon in naming this city."
Oh no. Aella gets even madder. She readies her bey and runs to a stadium nearby. We follow. I watch Raivis ready his bey. He takes out a card. But not just any card. A gold card like mine and Guppy's. We gasp. Aella smirks, taking out her card. "Ready?" She says. Raivis nods. "3! 2! 1!" They both shout. "Go shoot!" They slide their cards. Both beys power up and they then launch them. They collide in the stadium.
Minerva stays in the center of the stadium, as Poseidon, a balance type, flies around the edge. "Poseidon!" Aella shouts. Poseidon goes in for a hit, but, something blocks it, and sends it flying in the other direction. It hits one of the barriers. "Dang." Aella mumbles. "That was a close one. But what was that?!"
Raivis smiles. "You'll find that out later." He says. "Minerva!" Minerva then speeds straight for Poseidon. "No!" Aella shouts. Poseidon tries to dodge, but can't. Something is up. Something dragged Poseidon into Minerva.
Minerva is really handing it to Poseidon. It keeps it against the wall, so it can't get some air. Aella looks nervous. "Poseidon!" She shouts. Poseidon is surrounded by a blue aura. Raivis smiles. "Not so fast!" He says. Suddenly, Minerva flies back to the center of the stadium, only to fly back right at Poseidon.
Suddenly, it stops. Then, the ground begins to rumble. Raivis smiles. "What is going on!?" Aella shouts. Suddenly a bright yellow light bursts out of Minerva. "Special Move!" Raivis shouts. "Wisdom of Athena!" A huge aura blasts out of Minerva and starts sucking Poseidon in. "No!" Aella shouts. A blue aura surrounds her and Poseidon.
Then suddenly, a white light fills the area. We are all taken into the white void. Guppy, Raivis, and I stand by our Gods. I look to Raivis. Athena stands proudly behind him. I look to Aella. There, behind her stands Poseidon. He nods at Zeus, and gives his power to Aella. Another white light appears and we are back in our detention.
We stand there. The special move still blasting. "Go!" Aella shouts. She looks confident. Poseidon then flies towards the aura. "Mega Whirlpool!" She shouts. It flies around Minerva, leaving a blue track behind it. The track then creates a whirlpool, and the seas fill the area. Minerva stops spinning.
"No!" Raivis shouts. The waves clear and he gets Minerva. "Good job!" He says, picking up his bey. Aella catches hers with a smile. She takes out something and shows us. It's the gold card. I look to Raivis. It seems we have a new friend with us.

The Vampire's Return
After the battle, we decided to show Raivis around town. We showed him the good places to eat, where to avoid, and the main stadium. The "Soldiers of Athens" tournament banners were already hanging around it. I smiled as I saw my name among the list of competitors. Sadly, Sadik was one of them, as well.
We then found ourselves outside the BeyPark. I had a funny feeling about going in, but Raivis wanted to go in, so we did. Something was calling me in there. I could tell Aella had the same feeling. I showed him the bey-stadiums and the locker room. Raivis was very excited. "We also have Zero G stadiums, as well." I say. His eyes lit up at the sound of that. "Really?!" He exclaims. I nod. Then, the feeling is even worse.
"The "Numa Numa" song is stuck in my head." I say out of nowhere. "You too?" Aella asks. I seriously do. It's giving me a headache. Then suddenly, I fall over and everything goes black. The last thing I hear is Guppy shout for help.
Everything is blurry. I can tell a building has been destroyed. Someone stands on top of the ruble. It's the middle of the night and the moon is full. Fire is burning, smoke is everywhere, and someone is... yelling. Yelling at the person on top of the ruble. I can just barely make out the person.
It's a woman. In her mid-20's. She has on a red dress and red knee-high boots. She has short strawberry-blonde hair, a pearl necklace, and pearl earrings. I've seen her before. I can't put my finger on it. She has her eyes closed. She then opens them. Her eyes are red. Not just any red. Blood red. She smiles creepily, showing her teeth. She has fangs. I then realize who it is. She then comes straight for me.
My eyes shoot open. Someone is over me, but I can't tell who. Everything is a big blur. I moan in pain as things come back to normal. The person's face is clear. It's the woman from my vision. I let out a shriek and try to back up. She looks confused. "You okay?" She says. She puts her hand on my forehead. "You don't have a fever..."
"A-Anca Stephan!" I say, suddenly. She smiles. "So you've heard of me." She says, helping me up. I nod. "Y-Yeah!" I say. "It's a big honor! I mean meeting one of the Knights-" "She's a Knight?!" Aella exclaims, cutting me off. Anca laughs. "Yup." She says. "I am The Knight of Blood." Aella's jaw drops.
Anca laughs again. She then turns to me. "You are Heracles Karpusi." She says. My eyes widen. "Don't look so surprised," She starts. "I was the one who picked you out. I... Saw something special in you. Same with your friend Sadik." "He's not my friend." I respond. "He's my rival." Then I think about it. Anca smiles. Now I understand. She picked us for a good fight. She believed in me.
"I need to talk to you in private for a minute." She says, walking away, but gesturing her finger for me to follow her. I follow. Her finger nails are jet black, which makes me even more scared. I just noticed one of her arms was metal. She leads me to one of the back rooms. A table sits in the middle. "Go ahead and sit down." She says.
I sit down at the end near the door. She sits at the other end, taking out something. It smells weird in here. Like... Smoke. Then I see why. She has a cigarette. She sits there for a second and fiddles around with it. She then looks to me.
"Do you believe in the darkness?" She asks. What kind of question is that? I nod, just to stay safe. She laughs. "I know what you're thinking." She says. "That I'm nuts." She gets up and walks over to me. She puts something down on the table. A picture of a boy a few years older than me. He has white hair and purple eyes. He's holding a beyblade. "Marvo Astron..." I mumble.
Astron is a Greek bey that I've heard about many times. I never actually thought it was real. I guess I was wrong. She then puts down a picture of another person. Another boy that looked about 18 or 19. He looked just like the first one. He held a bey that I've seen before. "Diablo Nemesis..." I mumble.
"Good." She says. "So you've seen these beys before." I nod. She sits back down. "These are the beys of Hades." She says. "Nemesis, the deceiver, and Astron, the knight." I nod as she tells me the story of what she went through. At times, I wanted to break down and cry, it was so sad.
She then stands up and walks to the door. "Come on." She says. I get up and walk over. We walk out of the door. She then stops me and faces me. "I want to battle you." She says. My eyes widen. "After all, you are the next hero." She says.

The Blader of Ares, Revealed!
As I readied Jupiter on my old, regular launcher, Anca Stephan readied her bey on hers. My friends surrounded the lift I was on, shouting things like: "You can do it!" or "Go Heracles!", while I stood there, nervously. We lifted our launchers. "Ready?" She asks, with a different voice than usual. I nod. "3! 2! 1!" We both shout. "Go shoot!" We launch our beys and they collide in mid-air.
The stadium begins to move. "Go!" I shout. Vulpimancer just sits in the middle. Odd, for an attack type. Jupiter spun around it at high speeds, attacking it every once in a while. When Jupiter did attack, Vulpimancer was only pushed back a little bit. That's when I decided to kick it up a notch.
"Alright!" I shout. A white aura surrounds me. "Jupiter!" I shout. "Special Move! Zeus' Wrath!" Jupiter heads right for Vulpimancer. I look to Anca. She smirks. I look back down to the battle, completely unaware at the possibility she may be hiding something. Jupiter makes full contact with Vulpimancer.
"Yeah!" I shout, jumping in the air. My friends cheer. Anca's smirk turns into a laugh. "Not so fast!" She says. My special move is suddenly cut off. "What the-!?" I exclaim. Anca raises her metal arm. "Special Move." She says. "Vampire's Rage X2!" "Oh no." I mumble. Vulpimancer is surrounded by a blood red aura. It moves out of the way, leaving Jupiter in the middle, and spins around the stadium at high speed.
It now occurs to me that Vulpimancer is left spin. It leaves a trail of the aura, and next thing I know, Jupiter is trapped. Vulpimancer starts to drain Jupiter's spin. Then, the red aura surrounds me, and I am getting my own energy drained. I let out a howl in pain. I look to Anca. She doesn't care.
"A true blader is done when not only his bey is done," She starts. "but his spirit and energy are gone, as well!" I smile at the sound of that. I start to laugh. She looks confused. I laugh harder. I stand up straight and the red energy around me disappears. "B-But how!?" Anca exclaims. "Jupiter!" I shout.
Jupiter heads for the red aura. Anca laughs. "You can't break free!" She shouts. "Only left-spin beys can! It's useless! You'll just be over with!" Jupiter smashes into the wall. Red lightning flies up from it. "Jupiter!" I scream. "Vulpimancer!" Anca screams. We're both struggling to withstand the power.
"Ares!" Someone shouts. We both look confused as a bey flies in, knocking our beys out of the stadium, and onto the floor of the BeyPark. "W-What?!" Anca exclaims, falling to her knees. I do the same. We're both out of energy. "Who..." I start. "Was that?" I look down into the stadium to see a silver beyblade spinning. I've never seen one like that. A one piece bey. It then goes back to it's owner.
A dark figure is standing on one of the shelves nearby. The person has on a cloak, so I can't see them that well. They smile. Whoever it is has perfect white teeth. They take of the hood , revealing themself.
A girl. A little older than me. My eyes widen. She has snow white hair, covering her left eye, and her right eye is purple. She looks just like the two boys from the pictures I saw. She takes off her cloak, revealing what she's wearing. She has on a black sweatshirt with a skull and cross-bones on it, black skinny jeans, and black "commando" boots.
She jumps down. "Who are you?" I ask. I look over to Anca, who's staring at the girl in shock. The girl smiles, taking out her bey. She holds it up to me. "I am Sofia Braginski!" She says. "This is my bey, VariAres R145R2F! I am the Blader of Ares!"

Ares vs. Poseidon
I somehow managed to get down from my lift. I was really tired from fighting Anca. To be honest, I'm glad someone interrupted us. If we would have kept going, we'd probably be unconscious. Or worse. I walk over to get my bey. Anca gets hers. "Good job." She says to me while we pick them up. "I'm looking forward to seeing you and your friends in the tournament." She then walks off.
I feel a smile spread across my face. Sofia chuckles. "Huh?" I mumble. She looks to me. "Sorry about that." She says. "I just couldn't help myself. That battle was just so awesome!" I smile. "It's co-" "You think that's funny?" Aella says, cutting me off. Aella stares Sofia down.
Sofia gets up in her face. "I wasn't trying to be funny." She says. "Russians aren't typically funny." They glare at each other. Guppy then steps between them. "Ladies, ladies." He says. "Can't we just talk this over with some icecre-" He gets cuts off when Aella punches him. "Shut up!" She says.
Sofia smirks. "How about this, drama queen." She says. "We'll have a battle. Ares versus Poseidon." She takes out Ares and puts it to Aella's face. Aella smiles. She takes out Poseidon and puts it to Sofia's face. "Challenge accepted." She says. Then, they go over to a regular stadium. Guppy, Raivis, and I follow.
They ready their beys on their arm launchers. Sofia takes out her card. A gold one. She holds it up. "The Card of Ares!" She says. Aella takes out hers and holds it in the air. "The Card of Poseidon!" She says. They aim their launchers. "3! 2! 1!" They shout. "Go shoot!" The slide their cards and pull the launch string.
Their beys fly through the air and land on the opposite side of each other. They begin to spin around the stadium, throwing attacks at each other. "Go Poseidon!" Aella shouts. "Ares, destroy her!" Sofia shouts. Both beys collide and then fly away from each other. I've never seen such power.
"I really hope they'll be okay." I think. I look at Aella, and then to Sofia. I have an odd feeling in my chest. But it's not for Aella. It's for Sofia. I get worried. "Please don't get hurt, you two..." I think.
"Let's get this over with!" Aella shouts. She is surrounded by a blue aura. Same with Poseidon. Sofia is unaffected by this. "Special Move!" Aella shouts. "Mega Whirlpool!" Poseidon begins to fly around the stadium, leaving a line of blue energy behind it. Sofia just stands there as it happens.
Then, suddenly, water fills the stadium, drowning both beys. Sofia still stands there. Then, the water forms a cyclone. At the top, the beast of Poseidon appears. In it's hand, it has a trident. It slams it down right on Sofia. An explosion occurs. "Sofia!" I exclaim. Smoke starts to fill the stadium and the areas around it.
It then begins to clear. Ares in nowhere to be seen. "Alright!" Aella cheers. "I win!" "Not so fast." Someone says. It's Sofia. Suddenly, a faint orange glow appears in the smoke where she stood. Then, the smoke fades, revealing a tired Sofia. She looks up. I now see why she covers her left eye.
Her left is is red, unlike her right one. A long scar leads down to her cheek. I gasp. "I'm not done yet!" She says. She stands up straight. The orange aura glows brighter. She points up. I look up. Ares is just spinning in the middle of the air. "How!?" Aella cries. Ares has an orange glow, too.
"Special Move!" Sofia shouts. "God of War: Crushing Blow!" The beast of Ares appears. The God of War, himself. In his hand, he holds a bazooka. My eyes widen. "Go!" Sofia shouts. Ares pulls the trigger, shooting a bullet at Poseidon. But, it's no ordinary bullet. It's the bey itself. It lands right on top of Poseidon.
"No!" Aella shouts. Ares sends out some kind of energy. Then, an explosion occurs. It’s so powerful, that Aella has to shield her face. Guppy, Raivis, and I do the same. I look up over the blasts and see the beast of Ares roar. He then disappears, and the explosions stop. Smoke is everywhere.
The smoke clears, revealing Aella on her knees. Beside her is Poseidon. A knock out. I look over to where Sofia is standing. She still has the orange aura. She catches Ares. She walks over to Aella. "That was awesome." She says. Aella looks up. "You really think so?" Aella asks. Sofia helps her up.
"Heck yeah!" Sofia says. We run over. "Are you guys okay?" I ask as Sofia fixes her hair. "Yeah." Sofia says. Aella turns to Sofia. "Sorry for earlier." Aella says, putting her hand out. Sofia takes it. "It's cool." She says. They shake hands. It looks like we have another person to fight in the battle against Hades.

Sadik's New Team
We walked through the city, heading towards the BeyShop. Sofia, Aella, and my bey needed repairs from the hard battles we had. I still couldn't figure out what was with that feeling from earlier. That fluttery feeling in my chest. It was for Sofia. I think it was love. I was so focused on that, I didn't realize I was staring at the ground.
"Heracles?" Someone says, scattering my thoughts. I look up. It's Sofia. "Y-Yeah?" I say. Smooth move. Now she'll know something's up. "You okay?" She asks. I nod in response. "Good. I need to talk to you in private." She says. I nod. She begins to walk to a dark ally. I follow, like a lost puppy.
"Anca Stephan is not to be trusted." She says. My eyes widen. "Why?" I ask. Sofia looks around. She then pushes back her hair, revealing her red eye. "She did this." She says, pointing at it. "What?" I exclaim. "But wh-" I don't have time to finish what I say when someone shouts to us.
"Heracles! Sofia!" Someone calls. It's Guppy. Sofia fixes her hair and we take off running in the direction of his shouts. We get to them. "What's wrong-" I go silent when I see why he called. In front of us, stands five people. One of them being Sadik. He smiles at the sight of me.
"Look who it is." He says. I step up. "Leave us alone, Sadik." I say. He chuckles. "I see you've found two new friends. How bad are their beys?" "Shut up!" I shout. He laughs. "They wouldn't last a second against my new team mates.
There was a boy, a girl, and... Two people with masks. One has a wolf mask and the other has a pegasus mask. I couldn't see the pegasus-masked one's hair, but the wolf-masked one had long brown hair. Obviously a girl. They both had on matching black motorcycle suits. The wolf's with pink details, and the pegasus' with blue.
The wolf stepped up. "I am Okami." She says. It's obvious she's a girl. The other one steps up. "I am Stratus." He says. They take out their beys. Okami holds hers up. "Chaos Diana 145WD." She says. Stratus holds his up. "Sun Apollo 135MS." A stamina and defense type. Based on Artemis and Apollo.
The other girl steps up. She has long, curly, blonde hair and blue eyes. She's wearing a white t-shirt with a hot pink jacket, that goes down to her stomach, hot pink skinny jeans, and hot pick converses. She smiles. "My name is Lucy Beilschmidt." She says. Obviously German. She takes out something from her pocket and holds it up. "This is my bey, Arketa Venus D125CS." An attack type.
The boy steps up. He has short black hair and brown eyes. He looks Asian. He has on a a black suit and black dress shoes. Something's off about him though. He bows. "My name is Kenjiro Honda. It is a pleasure to meet you." He then takes something out of his pocket. "This is my bey, Kleftis Mercury ED145B." A balance type.
Lucy and Sofia seem to be staring each other down. Sofia growls. Lucy chuckles. "What is a Braginski doing here?" She says, softly. Sofia's eyes widen. "I thought the Beilschmidt's reign was over." Sofia says. Lucy growls. "Let me show you the power of Aphrodite." Lucy says. "Ares isn't afraid." Sofia says.
"Stop it, you two." Kenjiro says. Both girls sigh and back away from each other. I look over to Raivis and Guppy. Raivis has a look of distaste on his face. "Kenjiro." He says. "Kenjiro Honda. The kid who defeated me at a tournament last year." Kenjiro turns to him with a smile on his face. "It's been awhile, Raivis." He says.
Both bladers approach each other. "How about we battle again?" Kenjiro says. Raivis snarls. "I can take you on." He says. Kenjiro puts Mercury to Raivis' face. "You can taste the power of Hermes." He says. Raivis puts Minerva to Kenjiro's face. "Well, you can feel the power of Athena." He says. I could tell, this was going to be an ugly battle.

The Thief
Kenjiro and Raivis stood across from each other at a stadium. I had a bad feeling about this. Kenjiro was hiding something. Something that I couldn't put my finger on. "Be careful, Raivis." I think.
Raivis readies his bey and takes out his card. Kenjiro does the same. Kenjiro's card is gold, just like ours. He smirks. "You ready?" He asks. Raivis nods. "Of course." He says. They aim their launchers. "3! 2! 1!" They shout. "Go shoot!"
They slide their cards and pull the launch string. Both beys fly across the stadium, passing each other. They land on the opposite sides of their bladers, and begin to circle the stadium. Minerva goes to the center of the stadium. Mercury continues to circle the stadium. Both bladers silent as this happens.
Then, suddenly, Mercury flies towards the center of the stadium. It clashes into Minerva, only to be blown back by the wall that Aella had to face. Kenjiro's solemn expression doesn't change. Something is up, and I know it.
Then, Minerva strikes back. Mercury goes flying, but somehow manages to land in the stadium. Then, both beys clash, only to fly back from each other. They then both go back to their original positions.
"A stamina battle." I say. My friends nod. Raivis looks back. Suddenly, his voice rings out in my head. "Are you sure?" His voice asks. He can read my mind. "The power of Athena..." I mumble. He smiles and turns back to the battle.
"Let's get this over with." Raivis says. Suddenly, Minerva lights up with energy. "Special Move!" Raivis shouts. "Wisdom of Athena!" Minerva sends out the yellow blast of energy. My friends and I back up. Kenjiro isn't fazed by this, though.
Mercury is beginning to get sucked into the blast. But then, Mercury flies towards the blast. "What is he planning to do?!" I exclaim. Then, it is clear. Kleftis means "Thief" in Greek. Now I know what was off about Kenjiro.
"Get out of there, Raivis!" I shout. "It's a trap!" But, it's too late. Mercury slams into the blast. "Now!" Kenjiro shouts. Mercury then sends out it's own blast of energy. The two blasts mix together, causing an even more powerful one.
Then, the stadium begins to crack under the beys. "But how?!" Raivis exclaims. Kenjiro throws his head back and laughs. "This is my Special Move!" He says. "Thief Possession! It copies the target's special move, only to make it even more powerful! It seems the God of Thieves has out smarted the Goddess of Wisdom!"
I could tell that sent Raivis over the edge. He holds his head and lets out a howl in pain. "I won't lose like this!" He shouts. A white aura surrounds him. His hair turns from blonde to black and he powers up. I never thought I'd see him like this.
He lets out another scream. He looks back to me. His violet eyes have turned red. My eyes widen at the sight of this. He looks back to the battle. "I will not lose to the likes of you!" He shouts. "This is the power of Athena!" The stadium then explodes, sending both beys flying. This cancels out Mercury's move.
Kenjiro's eyes widen. I look up to the sky, where both beys are colliding still. Minerva is surrounded by a white aura. Suddenly, the beast of Minerva, Athena, appears in the sky. Then, both beys fly back down into the stadium, causing another explosion. The smoke consumes both bladers.
"Raivis!" I shout. I feel tears in my eyes. Sofia grabs my shoulder. I look to her. She has tears in her eyes, too. I look back up to the battle. I see Sadik and his buddies, who were standing behind Kenjiro, in awe. Then, the smoke clears.
Both bladers are on their knees. Raivis is back to normal. Both bladers are shaking in pain. I look down into the stadium. Both beys are barely spinning. Then, it happens. Kenjiro lets out a cry in pain and falls down completely. Mercury stops spinning.
Raivis lets out a crazy laugh and then falls over, too. Minerva comes to his side. It too, stops spinning. I run over to his side. I hold him in my arms. I am full-on crying now. "Raivis." I say. He doesn't respond. "Please answer me, Raivis!" I exclaim. Then, his voice enters my head again. "We did it." The voice says.
My friends run over. I look to them. "How is he?!" Sofia asks, getting down on her knees with me. I stare at his bruised face. "He'll be fine." I say. "Just... Call 911." Then, I could've sworn I saw a smile come across his face.

The Blader of Dionysus
I sat outside of the emergency room, along with Aella, Guppy, and Sofia. I don't know what came over Raivis. The doctors looked at me like I was crazy when I tried explaining what happened. I was worried, but I was also upset. Kenjiro is just a whole lie. Everything about him, I can tell, is a lie.
Then, the doctor comes to us. I look up. "He'll be fine." He says. "Should be out later today. He's in room A-04." I nod and shake the man's hand. "Thanks." I say. We all walk off to Raivis' room. But, I accidentally bump into someone.
We both fall down. "Sorry!" I say. I open my eyes to see a boy my age with short, brown hair, with two spikes coming off of it on the right side, green eyes, and a bandage over his nose. He had on a tan shirt with two pockets, cargo shorts, knee-high socks, and black converses. He also had some kind of backpack on. And in it was... A koala bear.
"Sorry, mate!" He says. "Didn't see you standin' there." He gets up and helps me up. He has a funny accent. "Name's Kyle Roy." He says. "I'm from the great nation of Australia. Sydney, to be exact." I heard what he said, but I continued to stare at the koala bear on his back. It had an evil look.
"Huh?" He mumbles. He turns around to the bear. "Oh!" He exclaims. "This is my little friend, Pepper!" He then proceeds to take it out of the backpack. "She won't bite." I smile and extend my hand to pet her. She sniffs my hand and then allows me to pet her. I look back up to Kyle. "My name's Heracles Karpusi, and these are my friends." I say. He nods. "G'Day mates." He says with a smile.
They give their little introductions. And of course, pet Pepper. We then all started walking to Raivis' room. Kyle told us that he was here for the tournament, too. "So,. what's your bey?" Sofia asks. He takes his bey out of it's holder. "This is Jet Bacchus W145R2F." I stare it down. A very powerful attack type. And... It's based off of Dionysus. The God of parties and wine. Kyle's arm launcher is also based on Dionysus.
We arrive outside of Raivis' room. "Hey, Kyle." I say. He looks up. "Why are you at the hospital?" I ask. He has an embarrassed grin. "I kinda tripped and fell at the airport, and my mum took it overboard." He says with a laugh. "I'm fine, though. And she's already left back for Australia." I nod.
We go into Raivis' room, only to see him watching T.V.. "Raivis!" We shout, running over to him. He's fine, except, he has a bandage around his head. He smiles at the sight of us. "Thanks for coming, guys." He says. "No problem." I say. We introduce him to Kyle. But, as soon as that's over, an update for the tournament comes on the T.V..
Raivis turns the volume up. On the T.V. is Anca and... Z Faircloth. They're both sitting together on a couch being interviewed. Anca is laughing about something. She stops and says: "About the tournament. It's been postponed to the day after tomorrow, because of..." She pauses and looks to Z. He looks back. "Of reasons, that we have to keep secret."
Something's not right here. They then both get up. The interviewer also stands up. "And with that," He starts. "We conclude our interview with Anca Stephan and Z Faircloth, the heads of the WBO!" They say their goodbyes, and walk off stage.
"Oh no..." Sofia mumbles. She's right. This means we only have tomorrow to train and prepare our beys. I look to Raivis. "I'm ready to go." He says, starting to get out off bed. We help him up. Something smelled rotten. I must've shown my distaste, because Aella noticed it. "What's wrong?" She asks. "Oh, nothing." I say.
I lied. Something is wrong. And I'll find out what it is. But, my thoughts are scattered when someone puts their hand on my shoulder. I look back to see Kyle. His happy expression had faded into a serious one. "I want to battle you, Heracles." He says. I nod in response. If something is wrong, I'll find out. Right after this battle.

Z's Return
After we got Raivis out of the hospital, we decided to go to the BeyPark to train. I was the one who did the deciding, though. I said it was a shorter trip. I lied. I just wanted to see if Anca was there. I wanted to confront her. But, that would have to wait.
In front of me stands my new friend, Kyle Roy and his bey, Jet Bacchus W145CF. Between us, stood a stadium. We both take out our gold cards. "Prepare to taste the power of Dionysus, mate!" Kyle says as he readies his bey. "Slim chance!" I respond, readying mine. We aim our launchers.
"3! 2! 1!" We both shout. "Go shoot!" We launch our cards and pull the rip strings. Our beys fly past each other, landing on the opposite sides of the stadium. They then begin to fly around the stadium at break-neck speeds. Two attack types always calls for a fast-paced battle. "Go!" We both shout.
Both beys collide, sending out a burst of wind. I smile at his power. Both beys then fly away from each other, but then go back at it. They collide over and over sending out bursts of wind. "You're goin' down, mate!" Kyle shouts. Bacchus attacks with more force. "Not yet!" I say. Jupiter responds with a powerful attack.
Bacchus flies across the stadium, only to land in the middle. Then, it just sits there. "What are you up to?..." I mumble. Jupiter continues to spin around the stadium, while I try to figure out what he's up to. Then, I see it. It bounced. "Did his bey just bounce?" I mumble. I look up to see Kyle smirking.
I look back down. It bounces again. And again. It bounces so much that it becomes a big blur. "What the!?" I exclaim. Kyle raises his hand. "Special Move!" He shouts. "Sound Smasher!" Then, suddenly, waves of wind and energy erupt from Bacchus. They fill the whole stadium, only to smash into Jupiter.
"Jupiter!" I shout over the sound waves. The waves push Jupiter near a penalty pocket. "No!" I shout. Then, to add onto that, Bacchus heads straight for Jupiter, crashing into him. Jupiter is getting pushed back.
"I'm gonna lose!" I think. I stare down into the stadium. Jupiter is just barely holding it's ground. Then, the sound waves get to me. I cover my ears. I can't hear myself shout. The sound waves had their grip on me. "I can't lose..." I think. "Not now. Not ever." I feel an aura surrounding me.
Then, it happens. A bright purple aura surrounds me and Jupiter. I break free from the wave's grip on me. Jupiter does, too. Bacchus is sent flying. "What!?" Kyle exclaims. Bacchus just barely lands in the stadium.
"Special Move!" I shout. "Zeus' Wrath!" Jupiter flies towards Bacchus with amazing speed, crashing right into it. An explosion occurs. It sends Bacchus flying out of the stadium. When the smoke clears, Jupiter is spinning strongly. I call him back.
"Good job." I say to Jupiter. I look up to see Kyle picking Bacchus up. I run over. "That was amazing!" I say. He looks over his shoulder and smiles. "You did amazing, mate." He says. "No one has been able to withstand my sound waves." I smile. "Thanks." I say. We shake hands. But then, the sound of clapping fills the area.
"Huh?" I mumble. I look up to see a man with brown hair and red eyes. He has on a white t-shirt, black jacket, black pants, and black shoes. He also has on white and black, fingerless gloves. He smiles. "You're battling pattern is a lot like mine when I was your age." He says. Then, I know who the man is. My eyes widen. It's Z Faircloth.

The Earthern Wall
In front of me stood Z Faircloth. I was in awe. I couldn't believe he was standing here. But, suddenly, my thoughts scatter at the thought of him having a secret. A flashback shoots through my head. Him and Anca talking to the interviewer about the tournament. The image fades away.
"You're Z Faircloth..." I say. Z smiles and nods. "It seems I still do have fans." He says. He then looks somewhere behind me. I turn to see where he's looking. Sofia is glaring at him. "Sofia..." I mumble. Her expression fades away. I look back at Z. "Sorry about that." I say. He nods.
"Z!" Someone shouts, suddenly. It wasn't one of my friends. I looked around. But then, behind Z, a man with shoulder-length blonde hair and green eyes is running towards us. "Z!" The man shouts. He gets to Z's side. "Anca..." He says, gasping for air. "Anca, what!?" Z exclaims in a panic. "Anca needs your help with something." The man responds with a grin. Z starts walking away, punching him in the shoulder.
The man looks down to me. He has on a green military uniform, matching cape, and long, tan boots. Suddenly, a vision is sent though my head. A boy battling two others. "I am tired of you two!" The first boy shouts. He slams his foot on the ground. The earth shoots up under the other two boys. The first one calls his special move. "EARTHERN SMASH!" He shouts. Then, the vision ends.
Then, I know who the man is. "Feliks Lukasiewicz..." I say in awe. He smiles. "So, it seems I do have a fan." He says. I nod with an excited smile. "You're my favorite knight!" I say. Feliks chuckles. "If so," He starts. "How about we battle?" I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I nod. Feliks then starts walking away.
I follow him to a Zero G stadium. I run over to a lift, taking out my old launcher while it's rising into the air. It stops above the stadium. I ready Jupiter. Feliks readies his bey, Bandid Golem DF145BS. We aim our launchers. "3! 2! 1!" We both shout. "Go Shoot!" Both beys fly across the air.
Golem lands on my side of the stadium, causing it to tip over. Jupiter makes a crash landing on Feliks' side, only to get drug to the other side of the stadium. Golem moves out of the way and Jupiter smashes into the side of the stadium. Golem then moves towards the middle. I am in a heap of trouble.
Jupiter then flies around the stadium at high speeds. Golem just sits in the middle. "GO!" I shout. Jupiter smashes into Golem, only to be sent flying. Jupiter repeats the process several times. Nothing works.
Feliks smirks. "Go!" He shouts. Golem then heads for my bey, hitting him. Jupiter goes flying. "JUPITER!" I shout. Jupiter lands, somehow, and is surrounded by a white aura. "Special move!" I shout. Golem is back in the middle. I am surrounded by the aura, too. "Zeus' Wrath!"
Jupiter heads straight for Golem with an intense power. Golem sits there. Then, Jupiter collides and struggles to push Golem back. "GO!" I shout. Then, it happens. Jupiter powers up more, pushing Golem back. Feliks looks worried now.
Golem is sent flying, but Jupiter keeps it up. "GOLEM!" Feliks shouts. He is surrounded by a green aura, and so is Golem. "SPECIAL MOVE! EARTHERN SMASH V2!" Golem makes the stadium rumble as it releases a powerful energy. Jupiter is sent flying. That is followed by a series of barrage attacks.
I fear Jupiter's power is about to give out. Then, I feel a power rising in me. "JUPITER!" I shout. Suddenly, electric shocks surround Jupiter. "SPECIAL MOVE!" I shout. "GOD OF LIGHTNING!" Lightning shoots out from Jupiter, causing a bright light to fill the area. The light dies down. Both beys have stopped spinning.
"Wow..." Feliks mumbles. I'm in awe. I go down to get my bey. "Good job." Feliks says. "You're a very powerful blader." I can't help but smile. He puts out his fist. "Bro fist?" He asks. I nod, responding with my fist. "Bro fist!" I say.
But then, our conversation is ended. "HELP!" Someone shouts. It sounds like Anca. "Come on!" Feliks says, running towards the cry. I follow. I hear my friends following, too. When we get there, the sight is horrible.
Blood. Everywhere. Stadiums smashed, bladers laying on the ground, smoke filling the air. Anca and Z are both out cold on the ground. Then, I see two beys fly into a patch of smoke. It clears, revealing two familiar figures. I gasp. It's Okami and Stratus.

Okami's Deal
The sight was horrible. Stadiums destroyed, bladers laying everywhere, smoke filling the air. Anca and Z were next to each other, just barely conscious, unharmed. They were moaning and groaning. I tried going over there, but two beys stopped me. They fly into a patch of smoke, causing two figures to appear. Okami and Stratus.
Okami laughs. "That was easy." She says. Stratus nods. "The boss will be pleased with our work." He says. I feel myself getting angry. I open my mouth, but someone else shouts what I wanted to say. "YOU MONSTERS!" The voice shouts. I turn to see an angry Feliks. A green aura is surrounding him. He then runs at Stratus.
"Feliks, no!" I shout. "How annoying." Stratus says, putting his hand up to block Feliks. Feliks slams right into some sort of energy wall and is sent flying. He faceplants next to me. I get down to his side and my friends rush over as well.
"Are you okay?!" I ask in a panic. Feliks sits up. Blood is coming down from the right corner of his mouth. He nods, wiping the blood off. "I've felt worse." He says. I let out a sigh of relief. But, that doesn't last long. I glare at Okami and Stratus. I get up, gritting my teeth in anger. "You two are monsters!" I shout.
They say nothing, but Okami steps up. "You think we're the monsters?" She says. I growl. "Let me tell you something." She points to my friends. "One of your so-called "friends" is a traitor." She says. My anger turns into confusion. I look back at them. Their faces are struck with fear. My confusion turns back into rage.
I look back, but Okami and Stratus are already walking off. "I'M NOT FINISHED WITH YOU TWO!" I shout, following them. They're already outside. By the time I get to them, they're on their motorcycles. I grab Okami's sleeve. She stares at me through her mask. I feel her eyes staring into my soul. I let go.
She sighs. "I'll cut you a deal, pest." She says. "If one of you or your friends beats me or Stratus tomorrow, I'll tell you who I am and who the traitor is." I take a long pause. "Alright." I say. Okami then starts her bike. She does a burnout then drives off. Stratus does the same and then follows.
I cough at the stench of burnt rubber. "Heracles!" Someone calls. I turn to see my friends running towards me. "Are you okay?" Sofia asks. I nod. I then tell them about the deal. Sofia's eyes widen. "Let's go help the others." I say. "And get some rest for tomorrow." We then walk back to the building, leaving me wondering: "Who is she? Who is the traitor?"

The Tournament Begins
Prologue To Chapter
We helped Anca, Z, and the other bladers. Anca and Z claimed they were fine, so we left them to go back to the stadium, where they were preparing for the tournament. I was so nervous, I couldn't sleep. I stared into the night sky from my bed. "Please..." I thought. "Please help me, Zeus." I then turned over and fell into a light sleep. It felt like only minutes later, my mother was waking me up. I was so nervous, everything went by so quickly. And before I realized it, I was registering for the tournament. Other than me, there would be 15 other bladers. I stood in the waiting room. I stared at Jupiter. "Please give me strength." I think.

Actual Chapter
"Let the Soldiers of Athens, Mega Tournament begin!" The ref shouted. I stood at the end of a line of 16 bladers. Next to me was Guppy, who I could tell was nervous. The stadium was full of people, waiting for us to battle. We had to use our old launchers. Wrist launchers weren't permitted. I sighed at the thought of that. Suddenly, one of the electronic boards lit up with the pairings for the first round. They were:

Sofia vs. Lucy
Okami vs. Guppy
Aella vs. Stratus
Me vs. Kenjiro
Kyle vs. A blader named Jax Arnold
A blader named Marcus Goodin vs. A blader named Alexis Saccs
A blader named Julia McCosh vs. A blader named Osaka Morimotto
Raivis vs. Sadik

I instantly looked down to Raivis. He showed only one emotion. Rage. I then looked down to Kenjiro. He was staring dead at me. The look in his eyes was unforgiving. Like, I did something to him. Suddenly, the eyes of some kind of snake animal appear in my head, along with a young man in a white uniform that looked a lot like Kenjiro.
Someone puts their hand on my shoulder, causing my thoughts to scatter. I look to see Sofia. "Come on." She says. I didn't realize it was time to go back into the waiting room. She takes my hand and I follow her to the room. I feel myself blushing. We get to the door when she looks back to me.
"Why are you blushing?" She asks. My eyes go down to our hands. She looks down, as well. "Oh..." She says. She takes her hand away. I'm still blushing. "Heracles, I didn’t know you liked me like that..." She says. I nod. She suddenly hugs me. "Huh?" I mumble. "I..." She starts. "I like you that way, too..."
I smile and hug her back. She looks up. I see concern in her eye. "You'll be okay." I say. She smiles a little. "Yeah." She says. She pulls away. "I'll be fine. What I'm really worried about is you. I saw the dirty looks Kenjiro gave you." I nod. "Yeah, but I'll be fine." I say with a smile. She nods and smiles.
"Sofia Braginski to the arena!" A voice calls. Sofia turns, but I grab her hand. "Good luck." I say. She looks back and smiles. "Thanks." She says. I notice she has on a necklace with a cross on it. "That's a pretty necklace." I say. She looks down. "Oh, my father gave it to me." She responds.
"Last call for Sofia!" The voice calls. Sofia frowns. "I have to go." She says. "One more thing." I say. "Huh?" She mumbles. I kiss her on the cheek. She blushes and smiles. But, it then fades away. "Let's get this party started." She says. She then turns and runs off.
I go into the waiting room to meet my friends. We all go to the stands to watch Sofia's battle. I sit down right as they ready their beys. "Please be careful." I think. "Bladers ready!" The ref shouts. "3! 2! 1!" The crowd shouts.
"Go shoot!" Sofia and Lucy call as they launch their beys. Both beys rocket across the air, clashing into one another. A huge gust of wind is sent out from the clash. Both beys then separate and begin spinning around the stadium. "Please be okay, Sofia." I think. "I can't lose you now."

Ares and Aphrodite
"Go shoot!" I shouted as I launched Ares across the stadium. Across from me was Lucy, and her Venus. The two beys collided, sending out a very powerful gust of wind. I stood my ground, while Lucy took cover. Both beys then moved away from each other and began to spin around the stadium.
But, I had a trick up my sleeve. Ares was in left spin mode. Lucy hadn't realized. Blondes. Suddenly, Ares came out of nowhere, smashing into Venus, sending it flying. "Go!" I shouted. Lucy looked worried now. Ares just kept attacking from left and right. I made sure there was no escape.
But suddenly, Venus disappeared. "What?!" I exclaimed. Lucy laughed. Suddenly, Venus reappeared on the other side of the stadium and charged straight for Ares. "Watch out!" I shouted. But, it was too late. Venus smashed into Ares, sending it flying. "Ares!" I shouted. It somehow managed to land in the stadium.
I stared down Venus. I had never seen a bey move like that before. She was hiding something, too. Then, it hit me. I think back to the day we met. She said she had a CS tip on Venus. That's what made it do that. I instantly had a plan to counter it. But, Lucy must be expecting that. "What should I do!?" I think.
Venus then started barrage attacking Ares. It made sure I had no escape. This was impossible. I had no way out. "Please help me, Ares..." I think. Suddenly, an orange aura surrounded me. My necklace lit up with one, too. Same with Ares. I felt the power of Ares inside of me.
"Go!" I shouted. Ares sends out a blast of energy, causing Venus to go flying. It crashes into the side of the stadium, just barely making it. I put my hands up in the air. "Special Move!" I shouted. "God Of War: Almighty Slam!" Ares lights up with energy and charges straight for Venus.
"Not yet!" Lucy shouts. Venus is surrounded by a pink aura. "Special Move!" She shouts. "Beautiful Freezer!" Suddenly, everything stops. Ares freezes, but is still spinning. A high pitched noise is sent through my head. I cover my ears. "AH!" I exclaim.
Lucy's laugh then fills my head. Venus is now attacking my defenseless Ares. "You Braginski's aren't that tough!" She shouts. That tears in. The aura surrounds me again.
"What did you say?" I ask. Lucy laughs. "You heard me!" She shouts. I look up to her, revealing my red eye. Her eyes widen. "The Braginski's never go down." I say. Ares is now powered up.
"How?!" Lucy exclaims. Ares sends out some kind of blast of energy, sending Venus flying. "Venus!" Lucy shouts. Venus rallies back by using the plastic on it's tip. It comes back at me. Soon, Ares is also charging for Venus. They collide, causing an explosion.
Venus flies into the air. "Special Move!" I shout. My red eye lights up. I feel someone else's power in me. Ares is surrounded by an orange aura. "God Of War: Almighty Smash!" A huge beam of energy is shot up from Ares, hitting Venus.
Venus comes crashing down, but is still spinning. But just barely. "Finish them, Ares!" I shout. I see the light-up Ares fly though the smoke and hit something. That something is Venus. It goes flying and I see pieces fall off of it. It lands next to a stunned Lucy.
The crowd roars. I can't help but smile. I catch Ares and begin to turn away when I realize something. I turn back and walk over to Lucy. She's on her knees. "Lucy." I say. She looks up.
"That was awesome." I say, putting my hand out. She stares at it. She takes it and I help her up. We shake hands. "Thanks." She says. I smile. "I hope we can battle again." I say. She nods, but then looks concerned.
"I'm afraid we probably won’t be seeing each other again." She says. She then turns and walks off. She stops for a second. "For a Braginski," She says. "You're pretty cool." She then keeps walking. "Sofia!" Someone suddenly calls.
I turn and see my friends. I run to them. "That was amazing!" Heracles says. "You got a new move!" I nod. "I'm Russian." I say. "What did you expect? For me to lose?" We all laugh.
But, our mood turns serious. I look to Guppy. "Looks like you're up next." I say. He nods. "I'll make sure to find out who Okami is." He says. He takes out his bey. "Please give me power, Hephaestus." He says.

Okami's Real Power
Guppy stood at one side of the main stadium. Across from him was Okami. She seemed calm. Guppy, on the other hand... He looked nervous. I didn't blame him. Okami was a tough opponent. Guppy readied his bey. "You better keep the deal!" He shouts at Okami. Okami chuckles and readies her bey.
"Bladers ready!" The ref shouts. "3! 2! 1!" We all shout. "Go shoot!" Guppy and Okami exclaim as they launch their beys. Both beys fly past each other in the stadium. Her bey, Dianna, was a defense type like Vulcan. This battle should be tough.
"Go Vulcan!" Guppy shouts. Guppy's bey has a AD145 track and a D tip. It should have more stamina then Dianna. Both beys collided and backed away from each other. They then just stayed circling each other. "Just as I thought..." I mumble. "A stamina battle."
Okami then stretched, as if this was boring to her. "Let's get this battle over with." She says. "Dianna!" Dianna lights up with a green aura. "Special Move!" She shouts. Suddenly, the sky goes black. As if it was night time. The crowd gasps.
Guppy looks up, confused. "Moonlight Nightmare!" Suddenly, the moon lights up with a green aura. A beam is shot down into the stadium. It hits Dianna. Dianna then is surrounded by some kind of aura and heads straight for Vulcan.
"Move!" Guppy shouts. Vulcan moves, causing Dianna to just barely miss it's target. Dianna crashes into the stadium, causing an explosion. But, something isn't right. Dianna suddenly bursts out of the smoke, still surrounded by the energy. It then proceeds to cut into the stadium with the aura, leaving a trail behind it.
"Vulcan!" Guppy shouts. Vulcan takes off, running from Dianna. "Special Move!" Guppy shouts. "Flames of Fury!" Suddenly, Vulcan explodes with fire. Then, it breaks into about 20 of them, circling Dianna. Each time Dianna moves, they go in, attacking it.
But, Okami had a backup from this. Suddenly, the energy surrounding Dianna bursts into the air. It blows away the Vulcans, leaving only one. "Vulcan!" Guppy shouts. Dianna then heads for Vulcan, smashing into it.
Dianna pushes Vulcan into one of the stadium protectors. I can hear it getting cut into. "Stop it!" Guppy shouts. Okami throws her head back and laughs. "Vulcan!" Guppy shouts. A red aura surrounds both of them. "Leave Vulcan alone!"
Vulcan sets on fire, causing Dianna to fly away. "What the?!" Okami shouts. "Special Move!" Guppy shouts. "God of Fire!" Vulcan sets on fire ad the beast, Hephaestus, appears. They charge right for Dianna. "Dianna!" Okami shouts, but, it's too late.
Dianna goes flying. "Yeah!" Guppy shouts. Suddenly, the fire from Vulcan follows Dianna, who is still in the air. "Go Vulcan!" Guppy shouts. But, I could tell something was off. Dianna was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, something explodes, causing the fire to disappear.
Floating in the air was Dianna. Just floating there. Then, the aura surrounds it again. "Moonlight Nightmare!" Okami shouts. The energy from Dianna heads back down into the stadium. It smashes into Vulcan, showing no mercy.
I hear Vulcan crack even more. "VULCAN!" Guppy cries. But, Vulcan can't use his Special Move. Then, Dianna comes down, smashing into Vulcan, sending it flying. Vulcan flies out of the stadium and slams into the wall of the arena.
Guppy falls to his knees. "Guppy!" I shout, jumping down from the stadium. I run over to him. "Guppy..." I repeat. "Answer me!" Guppy looks back. His eyes show fear. Suddenly, he blacks out. I catch him.
"Guppy!" I continue. "Don't do this!" I feel tears in my eyes. I hear someone else running over to us. I look to see a crying Aella. She gets down on her knees. "No..." She says. But, our conversation is cut short by an evil laugh.
I look up to see Okami laughing. She catches Dianna. "Weak." She says, walking off. "I'll get you for this!" I shout. Okami just keeps walking. Aella gets up. "You monster!" She shouts.
She falls back down to her knees. "Get it together, Aella." I say. "You have to battle Stratus now." She nods and stands up. Her sadness turns into anger. "I'll make sure to defeat him." She says. I stand up, still holding Guppy.
"Good luck." I say. She nods. I begin to walk away, when I hear her say something. I look back to see she's still turned around. I smile. I then go and get Vulcan and take Guppy to the emergency tent, her words echoing through my head. "I love you, Guppy..." She said.

The Truth Behind Stratus
I got back to my seat, right when Aella readied her bey. Stratus does the same. Both bladers silent as they did so. Something was off. Aella's expression shows only one thing. Anger. A chill goes down my back. I feel someone put their hand on mine. "Huh?" I mumble, looking to see who it was. Sofia. Her expression is grim. "You feel it, too?" She asks. I nod. "Yeah." I say. We both look back to the stadium.
"Bladers ready!" The ref shouts. "3! 2! 1!" The crowd exclaims. "Go shoot!" Aella and Stratus yell as they launch their beys. They collide in the middle of the stadium, only to fly apart. Both bladers are fired up now. "Go!" They both shout. Both beys continue to collide with each other. "Awesome..." I mumble.
"Poseidon!" Aella shouts. Poseidon is flying around the stadium. "Apollo!" Stratus shouts. Apollo goes to the middle of the stadium. "Now!" He shouts. Suddenly, I see what's happening. Blue sparks are flying off of it's tip. Suddenly, those sparks turn into a blue flame. The flame turns into a blue, flaming, tornado. Aella steps back, guarding her face.
"Special Move!" Stratus shouts. "Flaming Uproar!" The blue flames burn higher. They start to escape the stadium. Poseidon is caught in them. I feel it getting hot in the stadium. Then, the worst thing possible happens. Aella is swallowed by the flames.
"AELLA!" I shout as I stand up. The stadium goes silent. Tears form in my eyes. "AELLA!" I shout again. No answer. I put my hands to my face and sit down. I burst into tears. Sofia puts her arm around me. Then, it happens.
The flames disperse all of the sudden. I look back up. Aella is standing there, unharmed, surrounded by a blue aura. She looks back to me with a smile. She then turns back to the stadium. "But how?!" Stratus exclaims. "Poseidon is the God of the Sea. Water beats fire." Aella responds with a smirk.
Poseidon also has the blue aura. It then begins to attack Apollo from left and right, moving so it can't attack back. "That's Aella for you." I say. Sofia giggles. Poseidon keeps this up. "Go Aella!" I shout. Then, the whole crowd starts chanting her name. "Aella! Aella! Aella!" They shout. She smiles.
The aura around her grows brighter. Same with the one around Poseidon. "I won't go down so easy!" Stratus shouts. Suddenly, the eyes on his mask glow red. "GO!" He shouts. Apollo somehow manages to get out of Poseidon's attack range. It heads towards the side of the stadium and flies into the air.
It lines up with the sun. "Special Move!" Stratus shouts. "Flaming Uproar!" The blue flames explode out of Apollo. It's even bigger than it was before. Aella smiles. "Special Move!" She shouts. Suddenly, water surrounds Poseidon. "God of the Sea!" The water turns into a giant vortex and shoots up.
"Now!" Stratus shouts as he brings his hand down. Apollo flies down. "GO!" Aella shouts as she brings her fist up. The water heads towards the fire in a head-on clash. They collide. "POSEIDON!" Aella shouts. I stand up. "AELLA!" I shouts. The aura around her explodes into the air.
Suddenly, an explosion occurs. I can't tell what happened. Smoke fills the area. "Aella!" My friends and I shout. We begin to run down to her.
By the time we get there, the smoke is clearing. Two figures stand. "Aella!" I shout. The smoke fully clears, revealing only one bey spinning. It's Poseidon. The aura still surrounds her. I run up as she turns to see us.
A smile forms as I get to her. She hugs me. "You did it." I say. Suddenly, something odd happens. "N-Not s-s-so f-fast." Someone says. We look to see Stratus without his mask. My eyes widen at the sight. His face is silver, almost metallic-like, with red dots for eyes. A part of his cheek is missing, revealing wire-like structures, instead of where a bone should have been. Then it hits me.
Stratus is a robot.

Kenjiro, the Thief
My eyes widened at the fact that Stratus was a robot. Suddenly, he fell down, mumbling words I couldn't make out. Behind him stood Kenjiro. My eyes widened more. "Such a pity that my robot didn't beat your little girlfriend here." He says, stepping on Stratus' back. Shocks of electricity fly out of it.
"I'm not his girlfriend!" Aella says. Kenjiro chuckles, kicking Stratus to the side. "Whatever you say." He says. He takes out his bey and readies it. I grit my teeth. I forgot our battle was next. I ready my bey, too.
I look back to my friends. Raivis stares into my eyes. "Be careful." His voice says, echoing through my head. I nod. He smiles. I then look back to an already smirking Kenjiro. "I won't let you win!" I say. "Yeah, whatever!" He responds.
I see my friends get back to their seats out of the corner of my eye. "Bladers ready!" The ref shouts. "3! 2! 1!" The crowd says along with us. "Go shoot!" Kenjiro and I exclaim as we launch our beys. They fly past each other and land on opposite sides of the stadium. Jupiter takes off, circling the stadium.
"Go!" I shout. Jupiter begins to throw relentless attacks at Mercury. "I won't let you escape." I think. But, something happens. Mercury begins to deflect my attacks. "What the?" I mumble. Jupiter is thrown away. Kenjiro lets out a laugh.
"You think you can get past my barrier with attacks like that?! Pathetic!" He says. Suddenly, Mercury comes back and attacks me at full force. Jupiter gets thrown into the air. "Jupiter!" I shout. Then it hits me. This is me chance.
"Special Move!" I shout. "Zeus' Wrath!" A white aura surrounds Jupiter. I see the beast of Jupiter, Zeus, appear and throw down a bolt of lightning and disappear. In that bolt is Jupiter. Kenjiro smirks. "Now!" He shouts. Mercury puts it's side up, revealing its track. "What?!" I exclaim and Jupiter slams into the track.
It gets thrown down into the stadium and the move is canceled. The crowd roars. "No!" I shout. Jupiter begins to dig into the stadium. "This is bad." I think. "What am I supposed to do?!" Suddenly the face of Feliks appears in my head.
"Use your strength and your spirit to get past this!" He says. His image fades away. I grit my teeth and Jupiter gets out of the hole it was digging. I continues to circle around the stadium. I can tell it's stamina is being drained, so I'll end this quickly.
But, suddenly, Mercury begins to spin around the stadium at high speeds, knocking Jupiter away. "What?!" I exclaim. Suddenly, a yellow aura surrounds the bey as it leaves a trail of energy behind it. It gets back to the other end and connects the trail. Suddenly, lightning erupts inside the stadium.
I back away, shielding my face. He's stolen my element. He's used it against me. Kenjiro, the thief. I cannot win against something like that. I fall to my knees. I'm done. And Jupiter is about to give in, too. Kenjiro laughs. "Just as I thought!" He says. "You can dish it out, but you can't take it!"
That tears it. I stand back up, surrounded by a golden aura. "I won't go down to someone like you." I say. I take a fighting stance. "AHHHHH!" I scream and the aura glows higher. Jupiter absorbs all of the lightning and cancels the move. "Special Move!" I shout. Jupiter uses the lightning he absorbed as energy to power up.
"GOD OF LIGHTNING!" The lightning explodes from Jupiter and sends cracks through the stadium, right at Mercury. "NO!" Kenjiro exclaims. It makes contact and a white light fills the area. "Heracles!" I hear my friends shout.
The light dies down. The golden aura still surrounds me. It's clear who's won this battle. Mercury is jammed into the wall of the arena and Jupiter is still spinning. Smoke is coming off of it. In front of me stands a surprised Kenjiro. His jaw hangs open.
I catch Jupiter and the aura disperses. "Good job Jupiter." I say. The crowd roars. I smile and wave to my friends. I look back to Kenjiro. "Good job." I say. He nods. "You too." He says. He then turns and walks away. I look up to the electronic board and see Kenjiro and my face. His picture goes black. I smile and walk away.

Begin! The Battle Against Hades!
I sat in the stands as Kyle and Bacchus rocked past their opponent and won their battle without any hardships. Kyle didn't even have to use his special move. "Good job!" I shouted. But, just then, chills went down my back. I look up to see Okami standing on the other side of the arena. Staring at Kyle.
Then, something felt different. It felt as if we were the only two people in the whole arena. Okami looked up at me. "You aren't like Stratus, are you?" I asked. "You're good at this, aren't you?" She responds. "Answer me." I said. Okami laughs. "I'm no robot!" She says. "I'm something way worse."
My eyes widen at the sound of this. "Way worse?" I mumble. Okami lets out another laugh, as I hear someone calling me. "Heracles!" The voice says. I'm sent back to the arena. I jolt as I come back to reality. "Huh?" I exclaim. I look to see Sofia.
She's gripping my hand tightly. "You okay?" She asks. "Yeah," I say. "Just kinda blanked for a minute." Sofia raises her right eyebrow. "It was longer than a minute." She says. I look up to the electronic board to see I missed two battles.
My eyes widened at the next battle. Sofia's grip tightens. "Raivis versus Sadik." I say. Suddenly, I look down. The stadium crowd roars as Raivis walks out to the stadium arena. He is silent as he does so. He stops and the crowd goes silent. The wind blows through his hair. Not a single noise is heard.
Suddenly, a dark aura blasts out from the other side of the stadium. A hole opens in the middle of it. Suddenly, Sadik appears and the hole closes. The aura surrounds him as a twisted smile appears on his face. "Prepare to lose!" He says, pointing at Raivis. Raivis says nothing in response.
"Cat got your tongue?!" Sadik says. Raivis still does nothing. Sadik readies his Hades. Raivis readies his Minerva. "This should be easy." Sadik says. Raivis grits his teeth. Sadik only laughs.
"Bladers ready!" The ref shouts. "3! 2! 1!" The crowd shouts. I stay silent as they do so. Same with my friends. "Go Shoot!" Both bladers shout as they launch their beys. They land on the opposite sides of the stadium, and begin spinning around.
"Minerva!" Raivis shouts. Both beys clash with full force, only to fly away. Sadik laughs. "What puny power!" He says. "Go! Hades!" His Hades flew across the stadium and crashed into Minerva. Minerva went flying.
"You're such a little weakling!" Sadik said. Hades caught Minerva as it landed and kept attacking it. I saw small cuts being left in Minerva. Raivis had his face hidden. "You're too small to be a God Blader!" Sadik shouts. That must tear it, because a golden aura surrounds Raivis. He looks up.
"SHUT UP!" He shouts. Suddenly, Minerva lets out a blast of energy, sending Hades flying. A deep yellow aura surrounds Raivis. "I AM NOT LITTLE!" The aura glows brighter. "STOP MAKING FUN OF ME!" The aura suddenly changes to black, as Minerva lets out a huge blast of energy. It's more powerful than the usual one.
"SPECIAL MOVE!" Raivis shouts. "GODDESS OF WISDOM!" The aura erupts even more in the stadium, consuming Hades. Raivis' hair turns black as he powers up more. The look in Sadik's eyes scared me. Fear. He was scared of Raivis. I could tell that this battle wasn't going to end well.

The Black Energy
Through Sadik's white mask, I could see fear in his eyes. He was scared of Raivis. Honestly, I was, too. Sofia's grip on my hand tightens. Raivis is being controlled by some energy. His hair had turned jet black, like in his battle with Kenjiro. He put his hands on his head and let out a scream.
The energy coming out of Minerva increased. The stadium began to crack under the beys. Hades was being hit left and right by the energy. I could tell Sadik was almost done. Could Raivis beat Sadik before I had a chance? I didn't know.
Suddenly, the black aura surrounding Raivis, changed into some type of monster. It's eyes were blood red and it had wings coming out the back of it. My eyes widened at the sight of the beast. It let out a laugh and sent out a gust of wind, blowing Sadik's mask and hat off. He looked worried.
For once I was on Sadik's side.
I couldn't let Raivis be controlled by this darkness and win. I stood up. "Sadik!" I shouted. He looked up. "Stop him now!" I shout. And for once, he nods. I could tell he was on my side now. He looked back to the battle. A purple aura surrounded him. "Hades!" He shouted. Hades was surrounded by some sort of energy.
"SPECIAL MOVE!" Sadik shouted. "HELL BREAKER!" The energy flies out of Hades and absorbs Minerva's move. "Bad idea!" Raivis says. Suddenly, Sadik's purple aura changes to black. He falls to his knees as Raivis's black aura disappears. "He absorbed the darkness..." I mumble. But, I'm not in awe. I'm in shock.
Raivis collapses, too. His hair goes back to normal. "I'm sorry, Minerva..." He says. He looks back at us. "I'm sorry my friends." He says. Then, it hits me.
Is Raivis the traitor?!
He can't be. He isn't. None of us are. "RAIVIS GET UP AND BATTLE!" I shout. His nods and tries getting up, using the strength he has left. A yellow aura surrounds him. "I'm not done yet." He says.
Sadik looks up. The look in his eyes. Crazy. I'll never forget it. "Neither am I!" He says, standing up. Both beys power up. Then, everyone goes silent. The only thing you can hear is the wind blowing through the stadium.
Suddenly, both beys charge towards each other. They clash, head on. The stadium cracks even more. Both bladers have reached their peak. Oh, so I thought.
Sadik powers up more. "KILL HIM!" he shouts. My eyes widen. I hear Minerva start to crack. "RAIVIS GET OUT OF THERE!" I shout. He can't. He's cornered. "Special Move!" Sadik shouts. "HELL BREAKER!" The stadium explodes, sending Raivis flying. He smashes into the wall of the arena. Minerva is sent flying out of the stadium.
"RAIVIS!" I shout. My friends and I take off for the stadium. As soon as we get there, I bend down to Raivis' side. His hair is covering his eyes. "Raivis!" I call. No response. "Raivis, answer me!" Still nothing.
Then it hits me. I feel for a pulse. Nothing. "No..." I say. I move his hair out of his eyes. They're wide open, but his pupils are grey. I use my thumb and index finger to close them. I can feel the tears in my eyes. They fall down and land on his forehead. I know what is wrong. "He's dead." I say.

The Second Round Begins
"He's dead." I say.

I hear one of my friends let out a whimper. I look up to them. Kyle's in shock, Aella's crying, and Sofia's expression is blank. Well, I can see rage in her eye. This makes me angry. I get up and turn to Sadik.

"I can't believe you!" I shout.

Sadik only laughs at me. This gets me even worse. Suddenly, without thinking, I charge at him.

"I'll kill you!" I shout as I speed up.

Suddenly, it seems as if the earth in front of me rises up and creates a wall. I slam into it and fall backwards.

"What... Was that?!" I exclaim as I stretch off the pain in my left shoulder.

"It was me." A voice says from behind me. I look back to see Feliks Lukasiewicz with a green aura.

He walks over and helps me up. I can tell by his expression, he's saying "Leave it for your battle". I nod and we walk back to join my friends.

"Let's go." Feliks says. "We have a long conversation ahead of us."

Feliks walks off. My friends follow. I stay to pick up Raivis. I stare into his face.

"Raivis?" I think. "Are you there?"

No response. I sigh and walk away, holding him tightly in my arms.

Back With My Friends

As I shut the door to the room they're in, Feliks slams his feet down on the floor, causing it to crack. I walk over and sit down next to Sofia.

Feliks looks up. "This is even worse than I thought." He says with a grim expression. "Anca and Z are supporting Sadik and Okami. They've changed."

Suddenly, a T.V. in the room lights up with the matches for the second round. It says:

Kyle vs. Okami
Sofia vs. Aella
Me vs. Alexis
Sadik vs. Osaka

I look over to Kyle. He grits his teeth and growls. Then, he stands up.

"I'll defeat her at all costs!" He says. "For Guppy!" Then, he charges out of the room.

I run out behind him. "Kyle!" I shout. He looks back. "Please be careful!" I say.

He nods. "I've got this, mate!" He says and turns back around. Then, he runs off.

The Traitor
As we rushed to get back to our seats, the only thing I could think about was Raivis. Where did that dark energy come from?

Hate? Rage? I didn't know. Nor, did I plan to figure it out.

We ran through the big opening into the arena seats. We got back down to our seats right as Kyle was walking out. Across from him was Okami.

"Go get her, Kyle!" Aella shouts.

He looks up and waves. But then, he gets serious and turns back to Okami.

"I'll get you for what you did to Guppy!" He says. Okami doesn't respond.

They get to the stadium and ready their beys. "Bladers ready!" The ref shouts. "3! 2! 1!" We all shout.

"Go shoot!" They both shout as they launch their beys. They rocket past each other and land on the opposite sides of the stadium.

Bacchus, being an attack type, immediately charges for Dianna. They collide and Dianna goes flying.

"Easy." Okami says. Suddenly, Dianna freezes in the air.

"What?!" Kyle exclaims.

Suddenly, day turns to night. The moon glows, causing Dianna to power up.

"Special Move!" Okami shouts. "Moonlight Nightmare!"

The beam of green energy comes down, right at Bacchus. No, right at Kyle!

"Kyle!" I shout. "Move!" He didn't budge.

Suddenly, a black aura surrounds him.

"Oh no!" I exclaim. "Not you too!"

But, then I realize. This isn't darkness. He's powering up.

Suddenly, the energy collides with him, but he blows it off. Bacchus is surrounded by a black aura, too.

"Special Move!" He shouts. "God of Frenzies!" Bacchus starts sending out huge sound waves, causing Dianna to fall. Dianna lands on top of Bacchus.

"Go now!" Kyle shouts. The black aura around Bacchus sends Dianna flying. Dianna crashes into the other side of the stadium. The sound waves from Bacchus continue to whip Dianna as Kyle commands them to. But, Okami just laughs.

"Why don't you just tell them your secret?!" She exclaims.

Kyle stops what he's doing. "What?!" He exclaims.

"You know what secret." She says. "That your the t--" She gets cut off when one of the sound waves blasts her in the face, causing her mask to crack and shatter.

It's a girl with green eyes and freckles. She's shorter than Kyle. Than it hits me.

"Okami's his sister!" I exclaim. "Kyle's the traitor!"

He looks back. "I'm sorry." He says. I shake my head.

"Moonlight Nightmare!" Okami calls, suddenly. Dianna sends out a huge blast, sending Kyle and Bacchus flying. They crash on the ground.

Stadium out. Okami wins.

Showdown! The Rematch of Aries and Poseidon!
I couldn't believe this. Kyle was the traitor. Next thing I knew, I was running through the hallway to the entry of the stadium. I run right through the big opening to the stadium and right up to Kyle.

I pick him up using his collar and shake him around.

"Why did you lie to us?!" I shout.

He doesn't respond.

"Answer me, damn it!" I shout.

Still no response.

"Kyle!" I shout, feeling the tears in my eyes.

Still, nothing. Then it hit me.

"He's dead, too..." I mumble. My grip on his collar loosens and he falls to the ground. I'm in shock. "Why Kyle?!" I think.

"You really are weak." Someone says. I look up to see Okami with a twisted smile on her face. Then she turns and walks away.

Sofia and Aella get to me. "Heracles!" They say. I don't respond, only stare at Kyle. I bend down and pick him up by his collar and drag him away, without saying a word.

A Few Minutes Later

I sit back down in my seat, ready to watch Aella and Sofia battle.

"I'm sorry about that." Someone says. I look up to see Feliks.

"F-Feliks..." I say. He sits down next to me.

"What you're going through is horrible." He says, staring at the ground. He looks up to me. "I had to deal with the same things. The loss of my best friend, Toris, being betrayed by Anca... It was rough. I didn't want to see someone else go through the same stuff. Guess that wish was just a bunch of crapski."

"Bladers ready!" The ref shouts, suddenly. We look up to see Sofia and Aella already have their beys ready. "Go shoot!" They both shout.

Their beys collide in the middle of the stadium, sending out a gust of wind. Both bladers aren't fazed by this.

"Go!" They both shout.

Both beys continue to attack each other at full power, causing small explosions to occur in the stadium.

"Now, Poseidon!" Aella shouts. "Special Move! God of the Sea!"

Water surrounds Poseidon, as it heads straight for Ares. Sofia does nothing. Same with Ares. Suddenly, Ares switches into defense mode. Poseidon smashes into Ares, but is sent flying. Aella only laughs.

"Go!" She shouts.

Suddenly, the water comes down in a vortex, heading straight for Ares.

"What?!" Sofia exclaims.

The water crashes into Ares, causing an explosion. Smoke swallows the area around Sofia, with her included.

I grit my teeth and clench my fists. Feliks chuckles. I look up at him.

"She isn't done, yet." He says.

I look back down to the stadium. He's right.

An orange glow is coming from the smoke. Suddenly, the smoke is blown away, revealing Sofia. She has her hair pushed back, revealing both of her eyes. The silhouette of someone is standing behind her. Suddenly, it seems as if a ghost appears. A man that looks like Sofia is revealed.

"Ivan Braginski..." Feliks mumbles.

"THIS IS MY FAMILY'S POWER!" Sofia shouts.

Suddenly, Ares bursts out of the smoke with an orange aura.

"Special Move!" Sofia shouts. "God of War: Almighty Smash!"

Ares charges straight for Poseidon at full power.

"This is the power of the Braginski Family!" Sofia shouts. "Don't ever doubt it!" The aura around her glows brighter. "GO!!!!" She shouts.

Ares collides with Poseidon, sending it flying out of the stadium. Aella falls to her knees in defeat.

"Wow..." I mumble. "She's more powerful than I thought."

Ghosts From The Past
"Jupiter!" I shout.

Jupiter sends Alexis' bey flying out of the stadium.

"Dang it!" Alexis exclaims.

The crowd roars as I catch Jupiter.

"Good battle!" I say. She smiles and nods, then turns to go get her bey. I walk back to the stands to great Sofia, Aella, and Feliks.

A Few Minutes Later

"Hey." I say as I get back to my seat.

They all look up with smiles. "That was awesome!" They all say at the same time. Suddenly, I'm being tackle-hugged by Sofia.

"We're going to the Semi-Finales..." She whispers.

"I know..." I respond. "I don't want you to have to go up against Sadik..."

Suddenly, a loud shriek comes from the stadium, ending our embrace. We look up to see that Osaka kid out on the ground.

"I didn't even hear them start!" I exclaim. Sofia nods.

"Wasn't much of a battle." Feliks says. "Sadik had him in one move."

"This concludes the first day of the tournament!" A voice booms over the speakers around the stadium. "Stay tuned for tomorrow's battles!"

Suddenly, the two matches appear on the big electronic screen. They read:

Me vs. Okami
Sofia vs. Sadik

"No..." I mumble.

Sofia lets out a whimper and hugs me.

"What am I going to do?!" I think.

Hours Later

I lay in my bed with the blanket over my head. So many thoughts. So sleepy. Soon, I find myself in a deep sleep.

"Hey!" A voice shouts. "Wake up!"

My eyes shoot open and I sit up. I look around my room. No one but me.

"Over here!" The voice says again.

I turn to see a blue aura beside my bed. Suddenly, a little boy with blonde hair and blue eyes appears. He had on a sailor suit and black dress shoes.

"Hello!" He says.

My eyes widen. "W-Who are you?!" I ask.

"You don't know?" He asks. I shake my head. "I'm Peter Jones! Blader of Water!"

He takes out something from his back pocket and shows it to me. A bey. Pirates Orojya 145D. He is Peter Jones.

Suddenly, a purple aura appears beside him. And then a yellow and crimson one beside the purple one. And lastly, a deep green and a black one.

My eyes widen more as the other Elemental Knights appear out of the auras. Lilly, Vash, Fan, Toris, and Saika.

"W-Why are you here!?" I ask.

Fan, the Blader of Fire, steps up. "We're here to help you." She says.

I honestly cannot focus on her because I'm too busy staring at Vash. He's holding a big rifle. It's making me uneasy.

He raises his eyebrows once he notices me.

"You scared of this?" He asks with a smirk, pointing the gun at me. I whimper.

"Cut it out, brother!" Lilly says, smacking the gun. Vash only laughs.

"Don't worry, kid." He says. "It's just my launcher."

I sigh. "Okay then, that helps with nothing." I say.

They all laugh. I can't help but smile.

Toris, the Blader of Poison, steps up. "We're gonna help you beat those meanies!" He says. The teen standing next to him, Saika, or the Blader of Darkness, nods.

They all raise their beys towards me.

"Take this." They say. Suddenly, their auras come out of the beys and surround me.

"Water!" Peter says.

"Wind!" Lilly says.

"Lightning!" Vash says.

"Fire!" Fan says.

"Poison!" Toris says.

"Darkness!" Saika says.

Suddenly, a white light fills the area. Then, everything is dark.

My eyes shoot open. I sit straight up.

"Heracles! Wake up!" My mom shouts from downstairs. "You'll be late!"

I open the blinds of my window, revealing it to by day. This makes me hop out of my bed, put on my clothes, and run down stairs. No time for breakfast.

"Good luck!" My mom says as I rush out the door. But, I take it lightly. All I could think about was that dream.

Facing Okami
"Heracles!" Sofia shouts as I run down the hallway to greet her.

I accidentally tackle-hug her, but it's still a greeting. We embrace tightly, for it may be our last.

"Go get her." She whispers to me.

I pull away and nod. "Don't worry." I say.

I turn towards the end of the hallway, where the big opening is. I clench my fists and run towards it.

Suddenly, I'm out in front of the whole arena crowd. The roar as I appear. I look around to see if I can find Aella and Feliks. I do. Their sitting next to each other and waving at me. I can't help but wave back.

But then, there's an explosion near the stadium.

"What the?!" I exclaim, turning to see what happened.

Suddenly, through the smoke, a green silhouette appears.

Okami.

She walks through the smoke with a bright green aura and a twisted smile. I growl and run up to the stadium. She laughs.

"What's the deal?!" I ask.

She stops laughing.

"My real name is Lizzy Roy." She says. "Kyle, the traitor's, little sister. But you can just keep calling me Okami."

I take out my bey and ready it. She does the same.

"Bladers ready!" The ref shouts. "3! 2! 1!" We all shout. "Go shoot!" Okami and I shout as we launch our beys.

They collide in the middle of the stadium. Jupiter manages to throw Dianna away.

"Go!" I shout as I raise my hand.

Jupiter soars into the air and is surrounded by a white aura.

"Special Move!" I shout. "Zeus' Wrath!"

Jupiter soars down with powerful force. Dianna just sits there. Suddenly, a green aura surrounds Dianna and shields it. Jupiter slams down on top of the shield and does no damage.

"What?!" I exclaim.

"Special Move!" Okami shouts. "God of Nature!"

The energy explodes, causing Jupiter to go flying. Suddenly, it seems like plant vines come up from the energy and surround Jupiter, slamming back down. They then begin to whip Jupiter over and over again.

"Jupiter!" I shout.

Okami laughs. "I'm not done yet." She says.

Suddenly, it seems like the vines come out of the ground and wrap around my wrists and ankles. I can't move. Then, everything around me goes black. I'm trapped in a void.

A green light appears in the distance and forms a body. Okami. She walks over with the twisted smile.

"Weakling." She says.

She punches me in the face. Over and over again.

"Stop!" I shout.

In my head I can picture Artemis beating down Zeus. I also see Sofia getting killed while fighting Sadik. Then I see my other friends no waking up from their internal slumber. Okami laughs.

That's it.

My eyes turn white. A bright white aura surrounds me. I break free from the vines and punch Okami back.

Suddenly, I'm sent back into reality. I still have the aura. It's like nothing happened while I was gone.

"JUPITER!" I shout. "SPECIAL MOVE! GOD OF LIGHTNING!"

Lightning surges out of Jupiter, breaking the vines around him. He then heads straight for Dianna.

"No!" Okami shouts.

Without thinking, I'm jumping across the stadium. A white aura surrounds my hand.

"This is for everyone!" I shout.

Jupiter makes contact with Dianna, right as I punch Okami in the stomach.

Dianna goes whizzing past my head. Okami falls to her knees. A black aura surrounds her and seeps into the air, as if all the darkness was leaving her. She looks up to me.

"Thank you, Heracles." She says.

Suddenly, she falls to her side. I bend down and catch her.

"You're welcome, Lizzy." I say.

The Last Sacrifice
I carried Lizzy back to my side of the arena. Waiting for me at the opening was Aella and Sofia, both with nervous expressions.

"She'll be fine." I say.

Aella's expression fades.

"I'll take her." Aella says.

She then takes Lizzy from me and walks off towards where my other friends are trapped in internal sleep.

I look back to Sofia.

We hug. As tight as we can.

"Please be careful." I say. "I want to see you in the finals."

She pulls away and nods.

"I'll do it for you. And for our friends. And for Russia." She says with a slight smile.

I smile back.

And, for the first time, we're kissing. Our first real kiss. Honestly, it's mine, too. I think it may be hers as well, for she doesn't want to pull away. It seems like forever before she does.

We both smile at each other.

"Win it for me. For us." I say.

She nods and, next thing I know, pulls away from my arms. She runs towards the stadium.

Suddenly, it seems like darkness seeps up from under the stadium and consumes her.

"Sofia!" I exclaim.

Suddenly, a bright orange glow comes from the blackness. It explodes and causes the rest of it to fade. The orange glow is surrounding Sofia. It also fades away.

The darkness on the other side of the stadium forms a silhouette. Then, a body materializes from it. It's Sadik.

Without thinking, I find myself running through the large stadium and back to my seat. I sit down right as they ready their beys.

"3! 2! 1!" We all shout.

"Go shoot!" Sofia and Sadik shout as they launch their beys.

They fly past each other and lands on the opposite sides of the stadium. Ares takes off, charging straight for Hades. They collide and Hades goes flying. Once it lands, Ares is throwing attacks left and right.

Hades does nothing. Same with Sadik. He just stands there with his face hidden.

Sofia isn't taking this very lightly.

"Hey! Why are you just standing there?!" She shouts.

He does nothing. Doesn't look up, budge, or even smile. Just stands there.

"Battle alread--" Sofia goes silent.

He eyes widen. Not surprised widen. Scared widen.

Suddenly, darkness explodes from Hades and sends Ares flying. The darkness the swirls around Sofia and consumes her once again.

"Sofia!" I shout, standing up.

The crowd goes silent.

Her screams fill the air.

"No!" I shout.

I find myself jumping from my place in the stands, right to the ground near the stadium. I want to run up to her, but I can't.

Oddly, it seems as if the darkness is absorbed by something. Sofia's body appears. She's breathing heavily and is shaking. Something is different.

Then it hits me.

Her necklace is glowing. A deep purple glow. It absorbed the darkness.

Now, a bright orange aura surrounds Sofia. She pushes back her hair, revealing her scarred eye. They both turn orange.

Sadik laughs at this.

Hades flies into the air.

"Special Move!" Sadik shouts. "Hades Blaster!"

A black aura surrounds Hades. It becomes so large that it blacks out the sun. Suddenly Hades begins to come down with huge force.

But, Sofia isn't giving up.

"Special Move!" She shouts. "God of War: Almighty Smash!"

A huge explosion of energy comes up from Ares and stops Hades.

Both of the energies are struggling to clash with each other.

"AHHHHHHH!" Both bladers exclaim as they power up.

But, it's too much for Sofia.

Hades breaks through the energy and hits Ares, causing an explosion. As smoke fills the air, I see two things fly out of the huge cloud.

Sofia's necklace. And Ares.

Ares smashes into the wall beside me and her necklace hits the ground. I run up to it and see a crack in it. I pick it up and a shock of energy surges through me.

Suddenly, a scream comes from the cloud of smoke.

Sofia is sent flying.

"NO!" I shout.

I run up and catch her.

"Sofia!" I exclaim.

She looks up to me.

"Thanks for catching me..." She says, quietly.

I already feel the tears in my eyes.

"The necklace..." She says.

I still have it in my hand. I open my fist and show her. She smiles.

"Keep it." She says, reaching up with her hand. She closes mine. "It means I'm with you in the finals. Oh, and one more thing..."

She pulls herself up with all of her strength and kisses me one last time. She falls back down after a few seconds.

"I love you..." She says.

Her eyes turn grey. I know what this means. She's gone.

The crowd is silent as I hug her tightly for one last time.

"Goodbye..." I whisper into her ear.

I pull her back down and close her eyes.

My eyes close as I begin to cry. I open them back up and notice that my tears are falling onto her cheek.

This makes it worse.

"SOFIA!" I shout in pain.

Training For The Finals
I held tightly to Sofia as I carried her to the First-Aid building.

I couldn't believe this was happening. All of my friends were gone. I'm just glad Aella is unharmed. I couldn't stand it if I was the only one left.

I burst through the door of the building and run over to the first doctor I see. He nods after I tell him the story and takes her away.

Then I knew what I had to do. I had to win. For everyone.

I walk back out of the building and slam into someone.

"Sorry--" I start, but go silent.

In front of me stood a girl with long brown hair and brown eyes. She had on a fancy Chinese-type dress.

Fan Wang.

"F-Fan Wang..." I mumble.

She smiles.

"So," She starts. "You're the legendary Heracles Karpusi. Feliks has told me all about you."

I can't help but smile.

"I'm here to help you." She says. "Well, I should say we're."

She steps away, revealing several bladers.

Peter Jones, Lilly Edelstein, Vash Edelstein, Toris Laurinaitis, Saika Arkarium, Feliks Lukasiewicz, Z Faircloth, and Anca Stephan.

My eyes widened. I couldn't believe this.

"H-Help me?" I ask.

Fan nods.

"Let's get training!" Z says with a smile.

Hours Later

"Jupiter!" I called.

Jupiter blasts through another steel beam.

I catch him and sit down for a rest.

"You can't rest now!" Vash yells at me.

I groan and get up, using what power I had left. My legs were wobbling like no one's business, but I had to keep going.

I couldn't.

I fell back over. Footsteps come towards me.

"Such a shame." Vash says. "I thought you were a God Blader."

That tears it.

I put my hands on the ground and push myself up.

"Never give up!" I shout, standing up.

"Let me have him, Vash." Someone says.

I look up to see Anca with an evil smile on her face. She has fangs.

Vash gives me a light push over to her.

"Have fun with Anca~" He says, laughing.

I nervously walk over to her. It's gotten really dark outside, so all I could really see was her red eyes. A bright blood red. That and her white teeth when she smiled.

She takes me over to Z.

"Alright." He says. "If you want a chance at Sadik, you have to beat us." He says, readying his bey.

My eyes widen as both of them point their beys at me.

I ready Jupiter as fast as I can, for, they launch their beys without a word. I launch Jupiter, as well.

They collide and Jupiter is sent flying. This sends a gust of wind out and I go flying. I land on my back, hard. I was too weak.

"Come on, Heracles." Anca says. "Get up and show us your real power."

I struggle to stand up, but somehow manage to do so.

But, Jupiter is hit again. Another wind gust. I go flying, again.

I sit there and think about what they've shown me.

"Be kind to any enemy, no matter how much you hate them." Peter says.

"You have to be quick. Make sure to have the best agility you can have." Fan says.

"You need to keep your cool in battle. Stay calm." Lilly says.

"Show them all of your energy. No matter what." Vash says.

"You need your own strength, as well as your bey's." Feliks says.

"Don't forget that your friends are behind you." Toris says.

"Show them who you really are." Saika says.

"Even if darkness consumes you, there's always a light somewhere." Anca says.

"You really have a Legendary power within you. Everyone does. You just need to find it." Z says.

This makes me sit up.

"I won't give up..." I say, standing up.

A white aura surrounds me.

Z and Anca smile.

Jupiter heads straight for Tempus and Vulpimancer. They all collide. Tempus and Vulpimancer go flying.

"Special Move!" I shout. "God of Lightning!"

Lightning surges through Jupiter. He then heads for the two beys and collides, sending them both flying. They gets slammed into several steel beams and stop spinning. I catch Jupiter.

But, I fall to my knees. I begin coughing and groaning. I hear several people run over.

"Heracles!" Someone exclaims. Sounds like Fan.

I can't tell, anymore, though. Everything is going blurry.

The last thing I can tell is someone picking me up.

I stare into the eyes of Z. He nods as mine begin to shut.

"You are a legend." He says as everything goes black.

The Finals Begin
"Heracles." A voice calls.

I can't tell who it is. I can't tell where I am. It's too dark. Which way is up and which way is down? I didn't know.

"Heracles." The voice calls again.

It sounded familiar. But, it was none of my friends. Not even Sofia.

"There's always a light in the darkness." The voice calls.

Then it hits me.

"Anca?..." I whisper.

Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I see a white light. A way out.

I move towards that white light and it consumes me.

My eyes shoot open. I'm breathing heavily. I couldn't tell where I was. It looked like my room.

I sit straight up. It is my room. I don't have a shirt on and I have the same pants from last night.

I sigh and get out of bed. I feel so much better.

I put on my clothes, grab Jupiter, and head downstairs.

My parents aren't home. They must be at the shop or something.

I open the fridge and get myself some orange juice and think about my strategy for this battle. I have to win. At all costs.

I finish my juice and brush my hair out, in it's usual, choppy, fashion.

I find myself heading out the door and on my way towards the stadium.

At The Stadium

I sit in the waiting room, alone.

"Hey." Someone says.

I look up to see Anca. I smile as she walks over.

"Hey." I respond as she sits down in front of me.

"Worried?" She asks.

I nod.

"Don't be." She says. "You'll win."

I sigh.

"What if I don't?" I ask.

"Don't think about it. Think about winning." She says. "Oh yeah, I found this yesterday."

She takes something out of her pocket and hands it to me.

Sofia's necklace. I smile.

"Thanks." I say.

"Heracles Karpusi to the stadium!" Someone calls.

I look up, but then back to her. She smiles and nods.

"Go get him." She says.

I nod and run out of the room.

The crowd roars as I enter the arena. I take a deep breath and head towards the stadium.

Already at the stadium is Sadik. He smirks.

I don't say a word and ready Jupiter.

He readies Hades.

"3! 2! 1!" We shout. "GO SHOOT!"

Our beys fly across the stadium and crash into each other, sending out a huge blast of wind.

I hold my ground.

Sadik lets out an evil, twisted, laugh.

Hades pulls away and begins to circle the stadium. Jupiter heads straight for it. He hits Hades, but is thrown back into the center.

"Legend says that Hades was cast away to hell by Zeus." Sadik says. "Time for Zeus to be sent to hell, too!"

My eyes widen as a huge blast of darkness erupts from the circles Hades has made. Jupiter is consumed.

"JUPITER!" I shout.

But, it's no good. I can't get past it.

Sadik laughs again.

Suddenly, it seems as if wisps of the darkness come out at me. They wrap around my wrists and ankles and start pulling me in.

I can't fight it. I'm pulled in.

Everything is dark.

"Welcome to hell." A voice calls through the darkness.

I am so dead. And so is everyone else.

Freedom From Hades
I stood there in the darkness.

"This is hell?" I think.

"Welcome!" A voice calls.

I look around. No one but me.

Suddenly, the white mask of Sadik appears. Then he appears fully. He walks over with an evil smile.

"Let me go!" I shout.

"Never." He says. "Not until after I have my fun."

Suddenly, he takes a swing at my jaw. I can't move, so he hits me. I fall down, still unable to move.

He takes the sword from his belt out and points it at my neck.

"Any last words?" He asks.

My life is flashing before my eyes. Then it hits me.

"Y-Yeah." I say.

He smiles more.

"WATER!" I shout.

"What?!" He exclaims as I kick him in the stomach using water.

He goes flying as I get up.

"Fire!" I shout.

A ball of fire forms in the palm of my hand and I run at him and smash it into his chest. He falls to his knees.

"Earth!" I shout as some of the "ground" comes up and locks him up so he can't move. "Wind!" I hit him with a whip made of air. "Time!" Some form of energy forms in my hands and I smash it down on his head.

"Stop it!" He shouts.

Suddenly, he breaks out of the "ground" that was holding him down. He takes another swing at me and hits my arm. He continues punching me, left and right.

I fall down, for I can't take this anymore.

He laughs.

"Weak." He says.

I look up. Suddenly, a white aura surrounds me.

"God of Frenzies!" I shout, which sends him flying. I can see the sound waves.

I get up and run over to him.

"Goddess of Wisdom!" I shout.

A yellow energy forms in my hands and I smash it into him chest before he can get up.

"God of Fire!" I exclaim.

I shoot fire out of my hands, which causes him to groan in pain.

"God of the Ocean!" I exclaim.

Water forms in a circle around me. It's like a razor. It then slams down on Sadik.

I pick him up using his collar.

"God of War." I say in a cold tone.

I punch him as hard as I can in the stomach and he goes flying.

"I'm not done yet!" I shout.

Suddenly, lightning surrounds me.

"God of Lightning!" I shout.

The lightning shoots out at Sadik. It hits him and the dark void turns white.

A rainbow aura surrounds me. I look up and see a small hole. I can see the sky above the stadium.

Suddenly, the aura around me forms Jupiter's beast, Zeus. I find myself flying up and out of hell.

"Jupiter!" I shout as I break free from hell.

I appear back in my spot at the stadium. The crowd goes nuts.

Jupiter then sends out a blast of energy, causing the darkness to disappear.

Across from me is a shocked Sadik.

The rainbow aura surrounds me.

"ULTAMITE MOVE!" I shout. "LEGENDARY GOD BLASTER!"

Jupiter powers up with the rainbow aura and charges for Hades. Sadik is too shocked to do anything.

"I am a legend." I say. "I've always had a legendary power in me. It's in everyone. They just have to find it. And I have found it. With everyone's help. I AM THE BLADER OF ZEUS, THE ALMIGHTY!"

Jupiter crashes into Hades and brings it into the sky. They fly into space. Past the planet Mars and right at Jupiter.

"THIS IS EVERYONE'S POWER!" I shout. "NOW FINISH HIM!"

Both beys circle around Jupiter and head right back for Earth. As they come back into our atmosphere, they break the sound barrier. A flame begins to surround them.

"GO!" I shout.

They head straight back for the stadium.

Then it happens.

They crash into the stadium, causing it to explode.

Through the explosion, I see Sadik staring at me.

Suddenly, it seems as if him and I walk up to each other. I put my hand out and he shakes it.

"Nice battle." He says.

Then, he turns to dust and fades away.

"You too." I say as tears form in my eyes.

I watch Hades explode. Several auras burst out of it and head towards the First-Aid building.

The explosion stops. The stadium is destroyed, but Jupiter is still spinning. The crowd is silent. That is, until I catch Jupiter.

I smile as I turn to see all of the Elemental Knights standing and cheering.

"Heracles!" Someone shouts.

I turn to see Guppy and everyone else. I run over and they all hug me.

But, someone is missing.

I look up.

"Where is Sofia?" I ask.

They shrug.

Then it hits me.

I find myself running towards the First-Aid building.

I get to Sofia and find she is still sleeping.

"No..." I mumble.

I hear my friends rush in as I fall to my knees.

I take her necklace out of my pocket. I stare at it, then set it on her chest. Then, something amazing happens. A golden aura surrounds her and I.

Her eyes open.

"H-Heracles?..." She asks.

I smile and hug her.

"You won." She says as I pull away.

"Yeah." I say. "Just like I promised. For you. And for everyone."

Then, she kisses me.

"Thanks everyone." I think. "And thank you, Jupiter."

"Meet the number one blader of Greece, Heracles Karpusi!" Anca exclaims at the Awards Ceremony.

I step up with a smile as my friends, all of the Knights, and the crowd cheers. Cameras flash as I accept the trophy.

I shake Anca and Z's hand and the wave to the crowd with a goofy smile.

I turn back to Z.

"You did good, Heracles." Z says. "I'm proud of you."

"Thanks." I say with a smile.

I turn back to the crowd and put Jupiter in the air.

My friends put their beys in the air, too.

"We are the God Bladers!" I shout.

"Yeah!" My friends shout.

[/b]After The Ceremony[/b]

I sat with Sofia on the edge of a cliff, over looking the ocean.

I look to her.

"So..." I say. "When are you going back to Russia?"

She looks at me.

"I'm staying here for awhile." She says with a smile.

"Really?!" I ask.

She nods.

I hug her tightly.

"Good." I say. "I didn't want you to go anywhere."

She giggles and pulls away.

I find us kissing each other.

"Oh, you two!" Someone shouts.

I look up to see Aella, Guppy, and Raivis with smiles on their faces.

"C'mon!" Guppy says. "I wanna battle you already, Heracles!"

"And I'll take on Sofia!" Raivis says with a smile.

I nod and get up. I help Sofia up and we run over.

"3! 2! 1!" Guppy and I shout. "GO SHOOT!"

"Jupiter!" I shout.

The Power of Zeus
"Battle me." Sadik says. I look to Guppy, who is picking up his towel-head-wear-thingy. He shakes his head as he puts it on. He also wipes the dust off of his khaki uniform. He picks up his walking stick, as well. I can tell he doesn't want me to battle. I look back to Sadik, who has a smirk on his face. "I accept." I say.
He smiles in response. I do feel a bit intimidated. He's a lot taller than me. And his clothes. He wears a long green coat, brown pants, knee-high boots, a tan scarf, and a red fez hat. Also, he has on this white mask. Like, Phantom of the Opera. It's so weird. He also has a sword with him at all times.
We step into position. "No stadium boundaries," I start. "that means this whole area is the boundaries. But, for people with your I.Q., anywhere." I hear my friends chuckle. Sadik gets mad. He takes out his bey and attaches it to his launcher on his arm. He then takes out a scan card and shows it to me.
A skull is depicted on it. "This is my new scan card." He says with a smile. I take out my old one. "Whatever." I say, readying Jupiter. "Alright." I say. We both ready our aims. "3! 2! 1!" We both shout. "Let it rip!" We scan our cards, then grab a string attached to the launchers, shooting our beys. They collide and then fly back.
"Jupiter!" I shout. My bey, an attack type, flies around Sadik's new bey. His bey sits there. "A stamina type..." I think. "This should be a little harder than usual." My bey continues to fly around his. "Alright." I say. "Let's get this on!"
Jupiter smashes into Hades. My friends cheer in the background. Sadik only smirks. Then, Hades sends out some kind of energy blast. Jupiter goes flying. Smoke fills the air. That's my chance. I run with Jupiter. I hear Sadik behind me shouting curse words at me. Then, he starts to follow me.
I decide to hide until he reaches me. I manage to climb to the flat part on top of someone's house. Jupiter follows me. We wait. Then, he comes into view. I look to Jupiter, then back to Sadik. "Come out, weakling!" He says. "Or are you just scared?!" I sit there and wait for the right moment. Then it happens.
I jump into the air. So does Jupiter. "Special Move!" I shout. A purple aura surrounds Jupiter. "Zeus' Wrath!" It flies down with a burst of energy. But, Sadik is ready. "Special Move!" He shouts. "Hell Corruption!" The ground under Hades cracks, sending out energy. Jupiter collides with it. Then, a white energy fills the area around us. I am consumed by it and then, everything goes black.
I wake up in a white void. I sit up. "Heracles." A voice says. I get up and look around. "Behind you." It says. I turn to see the beast of Jupiter. "W-Whoa!" I exclaim, backing away. It chuckles. "Don't not be scared." It says. "I am Zeus, God of Thunder, and the master of Lightning. Come here." I don't want to disobey him, so I walk to him. He puts his hand out, as if I should take it.
I do. "Good." Zeus says. "I can see you trust me." I nod. "Have this." He says. He puts his other hand on my head. "And with this, I grant you, Heraclues Karpusi, the power of Zeus." My eyes turn white and I feel a power surge through me. Then, again, everything goes black as I faint.
"Heracles!" Someone shouts. It sounds like Aella. I open my eyes to see her face over mine. She smiles. "You're okay!" She says, helping me sit up. I look around. Jupiter is still spinning, but Sadik was gone. "Yeah, but," I start. "Where's Sadik?" I look to Guppy for my answer. "He blacked out, too," He starts. "But he woke up first, called back Hades, and ran off." I nod in response.
Then, I notice something in my lap. I look down and see a white card sitting there. "Huh?" I say. "What's this?" I pick the card up. It was bright white, but then, the light fades away, revealing a Greek word. It says:


"Zeus..." I mumble. The card is colored gold, but it has a scan print at the bottom. "A scan card?!" Guppy exclaims. I nod. Then, Jupiter's beast appears on it. I get up and catch Jupiter. I feel some sort of power surge through me. "So," I think. "This is the power of Zeus."

The Power of Hephaestus
We walked back to my house. I sat down on the front porch and told them about what I saw. By the time I was done, they were both in shock. "Are you serious?!" Aella asks. I nod back. "Dead serious." I say. I look to Guppy, who is staring at the ground. "You okay, bro?" I say. There's a long pause. He then looks up. "Y-Yeah." He says. "Just thought something was wrong with my leg."
He has a fake leg. He lost his old one in a house fire. He also lost his mom. I hate thinking of that. I was there to save him, but didn't do anything. I sigh. Aella sits down beside me. "Well," She says. "No need to waist time! We need to train!" I nod in response. I look up to Guppy. "Alright," He says. "Let's battle, Heracles."
"What?!" I say, standing up. He smirks. "Since you're the so-called "Blader of Zeus", let's battle! Or, are you scared of Vulcan?" "No way!" I respond. He smiles even more. "Then, let's battle!"
We take our positions in the middle of the road. I take out my new scan card. "Since this is training," Guppy says. "We'll make this like an official battle." I nod. We ready our beys. "I choose," I say. "Legendary Card of Zeus!" I scan it, and Jupiter starts spinning in the launch gear. A bright white light fills the holding chamber.
Guppy takes out his card. "I choose," He starts. "Metallo Vulcan Mega Card!" He scans his card and I hear Vulcan take off. Aella stands in the middle of us. She puts her arms up. "Ready?!" She asks. "3! 2! 1!" We all shout. He hands go down. "Let it rip!" Guppy and I shout as we rip our beys.
They collide and then fly back. "Go Vulcan!" He shouts. "Jupiter!" I exclaim. Our beys collide once more. His being a defensive type, it's a hard wall to break through, but I manage. Or at least, I thought I did. Vulcan sends a blast back, sending my bey flying. "Jupiter!" I shout. Jupiter recovers and heads back.
Then, suddenly, Vulcan disappears. "What the?!" I exclaim. Guppy laughs. "Meet my new move!" He says. "So," I think. "He has been training..." Time fore drastic measures. "Jupiter!" I call. Jupiter just attacks at random, hitting nothing. Then finally, Vulcan appears. Then another one. And another one. And more.
"You can duplicate yourself?!" I exclaim. Guppy nods. He then gets into a position of battle. "Now let' get this goin'!" He says. "Vulcan!" All of the Vulcans set on fire, coming straight for Jupiter. "Special Move!" He shouts. "Flames of Fury!"
The flames burn brighter. "Jupiter!" I shout. Jupiter is defenseless. Then it hits me. "The power of Zeus..." I mumble. Jupiter is surrounded by a white aura, like earlier. I know what to do. "Special Move!" I call. "Zeus' Wrath!" I am surrounded by a white aura. Guppy has an orange one. "Go!" We both shout.
Our beys collide, sending out a bright light. Then, everything goes black like in my battle with Sadik. I wake to see Zeus towering above me. He smiles and helps me up. "W-What happened?" I ask. He chuckles. "It seems," He starts. "Another legend has been found." I turn to see Guppy and the beast of Vulcan.
"I am Hephaestus." The beast says. "Crippled God of fire." The word "crippled" makes me realize why Guppy is chosen. His leg. Hephaestus' leg is crippled, too. He puts his hand on top of Guppy's head. "I believe that this is the barer of the second bey." He says to Zeus. Zeus nods. "I agree." He says. "Now, let's leave these two to their battling." A white light fills the air, and I black out.
I wake, still standing, as if nothing happened. Same with Guppy. We both smile. Our beys are still clashing. But, we call them back. "Let's save the battling for later." I say with a smile. Aella is in shock. She opens her mouth, but someone else's words come out. "W-What was that?!" A voice says.
She closes her mouth and we look around. Then I see it. A streak of blonde hair coming from behind a house nearby. I run over, but the person runs. It's a boy that looks a bit younger than me. He has curly blonde hair. I can't see his eyes. From the looks of it, he's wearing a maroon military uniform with brown epaulettes.
Aella and Guppy are behind me. "Hey!" Aella shouts. "Get back here!" She follows the boy. "Aella!" I shout. Guppy puts his hand on my shoulder. I look back. In his hands, he is holding a gold card, just like mine. On it, the word Ήφαιστος, along with Vulcan and Hephaestus, is depicted on it. I then turn back to Aella, who is still chasing the boy. "Who is that?" I think. "And what does he want with us?"

The Power of Poseidon
Aella continued to chase the boy. Guppy and I weren't far behind. Something was off about him. It was like... I'd seen him somewhere before. He looks back. He has violet eyes. And he does look very familiar. Then it hits me. "Aella stop!" I shout, speeding up. Guppy can't run that fast. "Wait up!" He says, trying to catch up. I grab Aella's shoulder, causing her to stop. "Hey!" She shouts.
The boy stops and turns around. "Don't hurt him!" I say. Aella looks mad. "Why not?!" She says. She yanks her arm away. "Because." I respond. "I have a good feeling about him." Her expression goes blank. The boy walks over. "I-I'm sorry." He says. "I-I didn't m-mean t-to e-eavesdrop." I look to him. "It's cool, man." I say. "Aella just has a bad temper." She huffs as I walk over.
I put my hand out. "My name is Heracles Karpusi." I say with a smile. He takes my hand with a smile. "My name's Raivis Galante." He says. "I'm from Latvia. I was invited to a tournament here." "But, aren't you 13?" I ask. He shakes his head, and smiles with an embarrassed look. "I'm 14, but I'm just short." He says with a laugh. Guppy steps up and starts to introduce himself.
"I am Gupta Muhammad Hassan, but you can call me Guppy." He says. "I moved here from Egypt." Aella steps up. She still looks angered. "Name's Aella Maras." She says. "Do you have a bey?" She asks. I punch her in the shoulder. Asking someone that is very rude in our country. She flinches. Raivis nods. "Yes." He says, taking it out.
"This is my bey." He says. "Razor Minerva T125ES." I take a good look at it. On the face, the word "Minerva" and the beast of the bey is depicted on it. "Cool." I say. He smiles. "Thanks." He says. I look to Aella, who is holding her breath. Oh no. She only does that when she's about to go off.
She opens her mouth, taking a deep breath. "That's it!" She says. "I can't take it anymore! Battle me!" She takes out her bey and puts it to Minerva. "This is my bey, Skull Poseidon!" Raivis sports a big cheeky grin. "Such irony." He says, still smiling. "Considering Athena beat Poseidon in naming this city."
Oh no. Aella gets even madder. She readies her bey and runs to a stadium nearby. We follow. I watch Raivis ready his bey. He takes out a card. But not just any card. A gold card like mine and Guppy's. We gasp. Aella smirks, taking out her card. "Ready?" She says. Raivis nods. "3! 2! 1!" They both shout. "Go shoot!" They slide their cards. Both beys power up and they then launch them. They collide in the stadium.
Minerva stays in the center of the stadium, as Poseidon, a balance type, flies around the edge. "Poseidon!" Aella shouts. Poseidon goes in for a hit, but, something blocks it, and sends it flying in the other direction. It hits one of the barriers. "Dang." Aella mumbles. "That was a close one. But what was that?!"
Raivis smiles. "You'll find that out later." He says. "Minerva!" Minerva then speeds straight for Poseidon. "No!" Aella shouts. Poseidon tries to dodge, but can't. Something is up. Something dragged Poseidon into Minerva.
Minerva is really handing it to Poseidon. It keeps it against the wall, so it can't get some air. Aella looks nervous. "Poseidon!" She shouts. Poseidon is surrounded by a blue aura. Raivis smiles. "Not so fast!" He says. Suddenly, Minerva flies back to the center of the stadium, only to fly back right at Poseidon.
Suddenly, it stops. Then, the ground begins to rumble. Raivis smiles. "What is going on!?" Aella shouts. Suddenly a bright yellow light bursts out of Minerva. "Special Move!" Raivis shouts. "Wisdom of Athena!" A huge aura blasts out of Minerva and starts sucking Poseidon in. "No!" Aella shouts. A blue aura surrounds her and Poseidon.
Then suddenly, a white light fills the area. We are all taken into the white void. Guppy, Raivis, and I stand by our Gods. I look to Raivis. Athena stands proudly behind him. I look to Aella. There, behind her stands Poseidon. He nods at Zeus, and gives his power to Aella. Another white light appears and we are back in our detention.
We stand there. The special move still blasting. "Go!" Aella shouts. She looks confident. Poseidon then flies towards the aura. "Mega Whirlpool!" She shouts. It flies around Minerva, leaving a blue track behind it. The track then creates a whirlpool, and the seas fill the area. Minerva stops spinning.
"No!" Raivis shouts. The waves clear and he gets Minerva. "Good job!" He says, picking up his bey. Aella catches hers with a smile. She takes out something and shows us. It's the gold card. I look to Raivis. It seems we have a new friend with us.