Beyblade Burst: The Warrior of the Lioness

Chapter Two: The Swift Strike

Ali was gathering some water from a well and poured it into a cleaning bucket when she saw Xander heading out of the village. She soon remembered that the Beigoma Academy BeyClub was going to practice with the Sword Flames today. Ali smirked and walked quietly down the secret forest path. Ali soon ran through the grass, she leaped over a small stream. To her left, a dense forest stretched out unbroken, except the paths made by the deer and other woodland critters. Ali sped up on the dirty path for about twelve or thirteen paces. She soon slowed down and smiled when she saw a slender deer trail, winding like an endless and waterless stream along the forest floor, Ali raced along the path until she found the grove of towering trees that lines up the trail to the village. It wasn't long till she had found the Beigoma Academy BeyClub being led by Xander, who was carrying Toko and Nika on his shoulders.
She narrowed her deep sapphire blue eyes as she scanned at the Beigoma Academy BeyClub, noting that Wakiya was there with Hoji. Ali secretly followed them as she struggled to find a good rival that carries the same passion as she does. It wasn't long till she had found the others to the dojo as she struggled to figure out her situation and saw that the two clubs having lunch with Xander, Yugo, Ukyo, and Quon after their practice.
She looked at each of the boys, but couldn't find any of them that could provide a challenge for her. But then she caught sight of the boy from last week sitting next to a young girl with her purple hair in pigtails and a young light blue-haired boy. He's shorter than her, but he seems strong as her. As Ali continued looking at him from the shadows of the nearby trees, she could actually feel the fiery and excited spirit radiating from the boy, she could see the determination and strength in his eyes, and the fierce passion that he has for Valtryek, beyblading, and challenges. It makes her want to challenge him to a beybattle.
Ali smiled as she thought, Finally. I think I finally found a worthy rival.
"Hey, there you are." She snapped out of her thoughts and looked at Xander as he looked at her with a knowing grin. "Come on out."
Ali walked through the shadows to the other side of the table and stood behind the tough, but secretly spooked light blonde-haired boy named Rantaro Kiyama. She smirked playfully about her little incoming prank.
"Hey." Ali started grinning at the guy's reaction as he spit out his drink and fell off of his bench as he did so. Xander and the others all bursted out laughing at the prank and Rantaro's reaction towards it.
"Was that necessary?!" yelled the startled guy.
"It was for me," Ali replied calmly as her eyes sparkled with amusement.
"That's Ali De La Hoya," Yugo explained to the boys. "We call her the Swift Strike, since she's swift and we usually have a hard time catching up to her attacks."
"Now, don't scare them before the match, Ali," Xander playfully scolded her with a grin.
Ali looked at her captain and smiled playfully as she looked up at Xander and asked, "Mind if I join in?" Ali looked at Valt and his younger siblings. "I want to challenge your friend over there. He seems quite interesting to battle against."
Xander laughed and said, "Now I understand." He turned to look at his friend and caught the others' attention. "Hey Valt, meet Ali."
Valt smiled at her eagerly and said, "Hi Ali."
"Valt." Ali got out her bey from her pocket and showed Stormstrike to Valt. "I challenge you to a rematch."
Valt blinked in surprise, but he soon got up with a excited grin and held Valtryek in his hand as he said, "Bring it on!"
Ali smiled at Valt at his response and he grinned back at her excitedly. She chuckled at Valt's excitement as she remembers their beybattle in the park just after she had built Stormstrike.
At the park, Ali and Valt were both panting from their last couple of beybattles. Ali smiled from the excitement of their last few beybattles and looked at Valt with a determined expression, while Valt grinned back at her excitedly and his brown eyes shone with determination.
"Now Stormstrike!" yelled Ali as she watched as her bey started to glow in a deep silvery-blue aura. "It's time to roar!" Ali summoned the avatar of Stormstrike, an aura of deep blue came from her bey. The lioness lifted her head and roared before setting her sights on Valtryek.
"Lets do this Valtryek!" Valt yelled as he glowed in a fierce blueish-golden aura. Valt summoned the avatar of Valtryek, an aura of bright blue came from his bey. Valtryek is an androgynous humanoid clad in light-blue armor with a large gold "V" on the chest, a turquoise cape, a wing-style buckle, has six yellow eyes, a helmet with purple wing-style appendages, wields a thin jagged sword with a four-pronged hilt and a black hilt, and rides a dark blue wingless horse with dark gray plates and mahogany mane and tail. The armor also sports gold plating: an abdominal one, one on the back of each hand, one on each knee and a gold outline on the shin guard.
Both of their beys hit the stadium walls and flew into the air, it wasn't long till Stormstrike and Valtryek collided with each other. With their beys' collision, it caused a electrified windstorm. Ali and Valt both gritted their teeth as the windstorm continued on and they both pushed their strength into their beys. Ali's hair started to flow behind her fiercely and became streaked in deep blue.
Ali gasped when she heard the familiar sound of bursts from their beys. Once the windstorm had died down, Ali was stunned to the underestimate to see that both of their beys have been bursted at the same time and her streaks disappeared.
"Again?" said Ali as she tried to catch her breath and put Stormstrike back together.
"Aww man," Valt said as he panted and put Valtryek back together too.
"Maybe we could do it again some other time," Ali suggested to Valt.
"Fine by me," said Valt with a grin. "See ya next week then?"
Ali smiled and nodded as she said, "Fine by me. And Valt." Valt looked at her curiously. "That was one of the greatest battles that me and Stormstrike ever had."
"Same here." Valt grinned as he showed Valtryek in his hand and his bey gleamed at her, which made Ali smiled.
"What do you mean by a rematch?" asked Rantaro, making Ali refocused and looked at him with a smile.
"We've had a battle last week," Valt said with a grin. "It was wild!"
Ali chuckled and smirked at Valt's friends as she said, "This is going to be an interesting battle."
"And hopefully it won't end in another draw!" added Valt excitedly.
"Jeez, it's like those two are sharing the same brain," Rantaro muttered, only to flinch away from Ali's sharp glare and the others chuckled quietly at the sight.
⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡
Everyone was inside of Xander's dojo and the two teams stood on each side of the fanged stadium. Ali smiled to see that they were going to have a tough battle as she scanned the Beigoma Academy BeyClub as she checked the competition to see what she's up against. Shu wasn't competing for some reason with his teammates, though Ali took note of his regretful expression whenever he looked at a grinning excitedly Valt. Wakiya looked proud and overconfident of his skills, Rantaro looked ready to showoff and determined to win, Daigo seemed to gathering a plan into his head as he gazed at them and the stadium, and Valt seemed to be going on his instincts and placing his trust into Valtryek.
"Looks like we're equal on numbers on both sides," said Ali as she observed the teams. "But, who's going first?"
"How about you, Ali?" Xander suggested. "You didn't have a chance to battle them before, but you've seen them battle."
"Fine by me." Ali stepped forward and stood on her team's side of the stadium.
"I want go," Rantaro said, volunteering himself.
"Are you sure Honcho?" Valt looked at Rantaro worriedly. "She's pretty tough to beat."
"Nah, don't worry about it Valt." Rantaro waved it off with a confident grin. "I've got this in the bag."
Ali narrowed her eyes at him thoughtfully before she gazed at his bey curiously and thought, Roktavor is a stamina type. It's a right spinning bey. I've seen his bey head towards the center of the stadium. When it goes there, its stamina and defense can repel opponents without loosing stamina. Ali's eyes sharpened and shone in a blue light as she placed some yellow armor onto her bey that increases her bey's stamina. That means I have to strike fast and hard before he heads for the center.
The two of them both loaded their beys into their launchers, while Xander had called upon a student to serve as the ref and said as he raised his hand over the stadium, "Ready? Get set!"
"Three!" Ali tossed her hair over her shoulders and Rantaro smirked confidently. "Two!" Ali lowered her launcher over the stadium as she stood to the right side and Rantaro lowered himself over the stadium. "One! Let it rip!" Ali's hair flowed behind her as she released her bey into the stadium in a deep blue flash and Rantaro released his bey in a bright orange flash into the stadium too. Both Stormstrike and Roktavor had landed hard in the stadium and started zooming around.
It wasn't long till Stormstrike had dominated the center and, while Roktavor was zooming around the stadium in an orange light and started heading towards Stormstrike. But when it hit Stormstrike, Ali's bey had managed to stay put and sent Roktavor flying with a single hit. Roktavor hit the stadium wall and had continued zooming around the stadium.
"What!?" Rantaro was stunned as Stormstrike zoomed towards the center of the stadium again and continued spinning there. "Roktavor! Get it out of there!"
When Roktavor started pushing against Stormstrike, Ali called out, "Stormstrike, Lioness Launch!"
Stormstrike soon gained blue sparks in its light and it picked up its stamina as it remained in the center as her bey started pushing Roktavor away with its arrage of attacks and Roktavor struggled to enter the center of the stadium.
"Roktavor!" Rantaro yelled. "Break away!"
"Now Stormstrike!" yelled Ali.
Both of their beys started attacking each other with powerful impacts and speed, both of their beys are both hitting each other hard as they continued attacks each other.
"CLASH!"
"CLASH!"
"CLASH!"
"CLASH!"
"CLASH!"
"CLASH!"
"CLASH!"
"CLASH!"
"CLASH!"
"That's it! Roktavor!" Rantaro has finally lost his patience and started glowing in an orange aura as he summoned the avatar of Roktavor. Roktavor is an golden armored, winged demon with features of a ram.
"I thought you might do that." Ali started glowing in a deep blue aura and her bey started to glow in a deep blueish-silvery aura. "Stormstrike! It's time to roar!" Ali's eyes shone in a blue light as she summoned the avatar of Stormstrike, an aura of deep blue came from her bey. The lioness lifted her head and roared before setting her sights on Roktavor.
"BURST!" The Beigoma Academy BeyClub looked at her in shock when Stormstrike had pushed through and Roktavor has been bursted in the air with its combined powers. Though, Sword Flames looked very proud of her.
"Two points goes to Stormstrike!" the student said as he raised his hand towards Ali's direction. "Ali De La Hoya is the winner!"
"Arg! It bursted in one second!" complained Rantaro as he ran a hand over his face.
"That was a fun battle," Ali said to Rantaro. "But you still need to help Roktavor to evolve."
"Evolve?" Valt looked at her curiously and confusion. "What's does that mean?"
Ali chuckled softly and smiled at him with a fond expression as she said to him, "You'll find out soon."
"If you say so," said Valt with a smile.
She smiled at Yugo and nodded for him to start his explanation about her bey before she picked up Stormstrike. Ali could see the slight confusion and curiosity coming from the Beigoma Academy BeyClub when they caught sight of her bey.
Ali smiled at Stormstrike and thought, Good job Stormstrike. We're getting better every time and we'll become greater.
"Protector Stormstrike is a powerful attack type," explained Yugo as he gestured towards her bey. "It has a good deal of blades that can attack and defend itself. The lionesses' heads enforce the attacks just as well."
"Whoa, that's awesome!" Valt exclaimed excitedly.
"It's sort of looks like Lúinor," said Daigo as he looked at her held up bey thoughtfully. "But its attacks are more defended than Lúinor and has more stamina too."
No, it's nothing like Lúinor, thought Shu as he looked at her bey firmly. But she knew what she was doing when she battled against Rantaro and seems to be well-versed in our ways of beybattling. Shu looked between Ali and Valt with a warm, but sad smile. Though, those two are in sync with their beys. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that their beybattles had ended in draws.
"Yeesh, no wonder she managed to take out Roktavor," Rantaro remarked.
"Or maybe she had found out about your so-called strategy and had intercepted it before you could do anything about it," said Wakiya bossily.
"Way to state the obvious Goldilocks!" Rantaro snapped.
"I'm just stating the truth!" Wakiya argued. "She managed to beat you in a matter of seconds."
"There's no need to rub it in!" argued Rantaro.
"Guys! Stop it!" Daigo soon stopped Rantaro and Wakiya's argument, much to Ali and the others' relief.
"How about we go on our exercise run?" suggested Xander with a grin as he gathered the other students.
"Lets do it!" Valt said as the rest of his friends agreed.
"I better stay here," said Ali as both of the BeyClubs headed towards the door. "I needed to rest for a while." She eyed Toko and Nika with a protective look of an older sister as they whispered to each other. "I'll keep an eye on these two."
"Wait, what?" Toko and Nika looked at her in surprise.
"The exercise is pretty extreme for you two to handle," Ali said to them.
"Awww... Okay." The twins stood next to Ali and she smiled at them as they ran off.
Something tells me this is just beginning of our beyblading journey, thought Ali as she watched as her friends ran off towards the exercise course and narrowed her eyes determinedly. And I'll become stronger and strengthen my bond with Stormstrike. Her bey twinkled at her. We'll be legendary. I just know it.