Dark Web

Chapter 21

"Somedays life is a great adventure, other days it's an uncomfortable necessity before sleep"

Atticus

---

Valt feared if he put his feet on the floor, he would drown. It was not the nerves of the day — he was excited about the international tournament — it was the incomprehensible changes around him. The change of his best friend, the sudden derailed friendship, most of all, the fact that he was just hours away from seeing him face to face again. Not as Kurenai Shu, but as Red Eye. A person, an alter ego created by the sheer want for power — that's what they said anyway.

The truth was, Valt couldn't believe it. He couldn't believe it was his best friend. The person whom he attended to the annual firework festivals back home, eating cotton candy as they waited by their favourite spot to get the clear view of the sky bursting with colours. The person who had the kindest heart in the world and was there for him all the time. Even when things get incredibly tough. He was just there, reassuring everything would be okay.

But now, Valt just didn't know who that person was.

It was terrifying.

"Valt, are you ready?" Honcho entered his room with a bright grin. He had been upbeat, trying to be positive for his crest-fallen best friend. Valt knew he was worrying, both about Shu and him.

Valt nodded, "Yeah." They had arrived at the Hotel yesterday night, everyone brimming with the contagious energy of the upcoming tournament. Valt had run into some trouble with a Beyblade group underground but it was fun. The thought of Shu had slipped his mind. But as he woke up this morning, readying himself for the opening tournament, his stomach churning returned. Nervous energy collected upon his brow, breaking down as a sheen of sweat.

The thought of seeing Shu again hadn't been this frightening ever before.

They walked past the clusters of bladers together in their excitement. When Valt made his way to the waiting rooms, he could hear the loud buzzing of the crowd outside. The nervous energy collected upon him slowly dissolved as the familiar excitement filled his gut. Though the circumstances were bizarre, he loved Beyblade and Valt knew Shu loved it too. Beyblade connected them together, the strength their friendship carried was one of the results of the things they went through together.

"Valt Aoi?" One of the staff members rushed in, breaking his thoughts. Valt spun on his heel.

"That's me."

"Right!" She smiled, tapping on her tablet for a few seconds before hurrying him towards a side door in the waiting room. "Off you go, everyone is waiting to see you."

Valt let himself be swallowed into the storm of bright lights illuminating the stage. The rest of the bladers participating were already there. When Valt walked down the stage and took his spot, he let his eyes brush past his best friend. The tightened grip of Valtryek reminding him why he was here. He would talk to Shu later. Maybe all this is a huge misunderstanding.

---

Shu knew he was coming before his name was announced. Kurt Baratier, a man who had fallen out of everyone's radar years ago as he started feasting in the underground world of beyblade. A man who has so many victories under his belt that no one was sure whether he had ever lost one of his matches.

He walked into the stage with the pride of a lion walking towards a pack of sheep. They had used Shu to lure him out of his caved world. He had wreaked havoc in his kingdom using his bey, single handedly bringing the bladers to their knees. He hadn't enjoyed that, the force he had to use, the desperation in those eyes. They weren't weak but under the power he had gained, they were nothing. It was as simple as that.