Beyblade Burst: The Warrior of the Lioness

Chapter Four: The Unknown Pact

Ali was watching as Valt practiced his upgraded bey — Strike Valtryek — against Boa and Arc Balkesh. While Jake, Noah, Daniel, and Michael watching with her after her match with the two excited boys. But Ali turned to see Xander, Ren Wu, Cuza, and Kit were watching them from the edge of the park before they approached them.
"BURST!"
"BURST!" Both Valtryek and Balkesh had bursted at the same time.
"Man, you're tough," said Valt with a grin.
"You're not too bad yourself," Boa said with a smile.
"Hey guys, we got company." Ali got up as Valt and Boa put their beys back together and the boys followed her gaze to see their approaching friends.
"Looks like we all have the same thought about practicing before tomorrow's match," said Xander with a grin.
"Maybe we can do a six-way battle?" Valt suggested eagerly.
"That's called a Battle Royale," Ren Wu informed him.
"That sounds awesome!" exclaimed Cuza excitedly.
"Awesome... Rawk," Cuza's pet cockatoo named Carl said.
"We might need a bigger stadium though," said Boa as he gazed at the stadium with a frown.
Ali walked away from them and stopped by the sidewalk before she turned to look at them as she said to them with a smile, "I know a perfect stadium we could use. Follow me."
She led them to another park and lead them towards the tree-covered part of the park. Ali tilted her head as she heard somebody walking through the shadows of the trees and barely listened to the boys' constant chatting. But she perked up when she noticed that Valt had started walking on her left side with an eager expression.
Despite his excitement and eagerness for the Battle Royale, Valt had became a little sad as he thought, Ali reminds me of Shu with her personality and competitive spirit. Valt caught sight of Ali's scar over her right eye. Her scar reminds of Shu's scar. He sighed when he caught sight of the bandage on her left upper arm. I know she doesn't blame me or Nika for her injury, but I'm still worried about her.
Valt shook off his thoughts when she took them a double-dickered stadium that was in a clearing that was surrounded by a circle of trees. Ali had it found by accident after she had arrived to the Grand Arena to watch the competitions. She wasn't able to compete in the District Tournament to get into the International Blader's Cup, because Nika had ram her head into Ali's upper arm when she was out practicing by herself at the park and Ali was forced to forfeit the tournament, so she could rest her injury and recover her full strength.
"Whoa, this is awesome!" exclaimed Valt excitedly as he stepped up onto one of the stands of the stadium.
"Yeah, it is!" Cuza said eagerly as he flipped onto a stand at the other side of the stadium.
"This is going to be interesting," said Boa as he went up onto the stand next to Valt.
"This is going to be fun!" Xander had also went to another stand at the other side of the stadium.
"Never thought I'll try this before." Ren Wu went up to stand next to Xander and Cuza.
"This is going to be fun." Ali climbed up a stand between Valt and Cuza.
Ali gazed at their beys and thought, I'm up against Valtryek, Xcalius, Cognite, Regulus, and Balkesh. She narrowed her eyes thoughtfully. Valtryek is an right-spinning attack type and has all sorts of powerful launches, but it's still evolving thanks to Valt. Xcalius is a right-spinning attack type and it can give a powerful blow to its opponent by a single attack from its metal sword, but the extended sword can make Xcalius wobble and loose its balance. Cognite is a right-spinning balance type, it can perform all sorts of circus tricks and can perform some sort of protection ball from attacks. Regulus is a right-spinning balance type too, it can deflect incoming attacks and can attack with the lion heads and fangs. Balkesh is a left-spinning defense type, it can create a red spherical shield to deflect attacks and might be hard to burst it when it's in the center of the stadium. Ali smiled as she loaded Stormstrike into her launcher. This is going to be an interesting battle alright.
"Hey Kit, mind being the ref for our match?" Valt asked the younger boy as they loaded their beys into their launchers.
"Sure." Kit got his tablet and started recording as he started. "Ready? Get set!" Everyone started the countdown. "Three!" Ali tossed her hair over her shoulders and the boys readied themselves. "Two!" Ali raised her launcher over the stadium as she stood to the left side and the others located their launchers differently. "One! Let it rip!" The challenging Bladers' beys flashed in different colors as they released their beys.
Their beys circled around the stadium in different colors and everyone shouting excitedly, not noticing that a certain albino boy with possessed crimson eyes was watching them from the shadows of the trees as they battled.
"Get him out of there Stormstrike!" yelled Ali as she saw that her bey had started to be followed by Regulus.
"Keep going Regulus!" Ren Wu shouted as both of their beys had started colliding together and sent some sparks flying.
Stormstrike had shoved Regulus away and continued zooming around in the stadium, while dodging both Balkesh and Cognite had tried to take her out.
"Stormstrike, Wild Launch!" At Ali's yell, a deep blue glow rushed from behind Stormstrike as her bey had started zooming around the stadium and had bursted Cognite.
"BURST!"
"What?!" cried out Cuza, shocked that his bey has been burst.
"I'm challenging you Valt!" Xander yelled to Valt as both of their auras started glowing from them.
"Bring it on!" shouted Valt eagerly with a grin.
As Xcalius and Valtryek collided into each other, both beys had caused a massive windstorm that had sent everyone else's beys flying and they heard screaming from both Valt and Xander. Ali and the others covered their faces from the wind, but Ali had caught Stormstrike and held it in her left hand. Once the windstorm had died down, Valtryek had stopped moving around in the stadium and Xcalius has been surprisingly bursted.
"Good job Valtryek!" Valt exclaimed as he picked up Valtryek with a bright grin.
Xander laughed at Valt before he said with a grin, "Not bad Valt. You're getting better everyday."
"Thanks Xander," said Valt with a smile. "You sure made me work." Valt grinned at Boa encouragingly when he looked a little downhearted. "Don't give up Boa."
Ali smiled calmly and said to an uncertain Boa, "You can't get up without falling down first. We had each fell down many times before we could get back up again."
"You can get stronger after you learn from your mistakes," Ren Wu said as he looked at Valt with a small smile.
"Battling friends are one of the best parts of the battles," said Cuza as he exchanged a grin with a smiling Ali.
"Having a rival means having a friend who shares the same passion as you do," Xander said with a smile and Valt nodded with a grin.
Boa was silent, but he smiled at them and said, "I guess you're all right about beyblading." Boa looked down at Balkesh in his hand. "But I still have a lot to learn." He looked at Valt and the other Bladers with a smile. "Wanna go again?"
"Yeah!" said Valt excitedly.
"Lets do it!" Cuza said eagerly.
"This is interesting," remarked Ren Wu.
"This is going to be like old times!" Xander said with his signature laugh.
"This is going to be fun," said Ali with a calm smile.
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After a while, Ali and the others were all exhausted from their Battle Royale that they had done a couple of times. They had returned to the rooftop stadium with cold water bottles as they rested and watched as Valt practiced launching Valtryek. They came back with Kit and reunited with Jake, Noah, Daniel, and Michael.
But Ali noticed that Valt was overworking himself and gotten up from the bench with another water bottle in hand. She placed a hand on his shoulder, stopping from his launching practice and gave him the spare water bottle.
"You're overdoing it," Ali told him before she withdrew herself.
Valt wiped the sweat from his face and drank from the water bottle before he said, "Shu, I mean, Red Eye will try destroy Valtryek again. I have to push my limits to beat him."
"I'm a little curious though," admitted Cuza, looking puzzled. "Why did he arrived to the Snake Pit in the first place?"
"You got me," Xander said with shrug. "But I'm going to have a serious payback on him."
"Same here." Ren Wu's eyes sharpened as he polished his bey with a cleaning rag.
"I've heard about him and Lui's rematch in Japan," admitted Boa as he glanced at the Grand Arena warily. "I could see why he holds a grudge against Lui."
Ali started piecing things together as she thought about Shu and Valt after Boa's response. Shu and Valt had both battled in the National Tournament Team Battles and Individual Tournaments in Japan. Ali had seen Shu constantly practicing by himself in the park's stadium with Storm Spryzen. But Shu has become upset and doubting himself after he had lost against Lui. Though, he was proud to see Valt is becoming a strong and honest Blader when he battled against Lui and had came up in second place. But Ali remembered the guilt, regret, and sadness whenever Shu looked at Valt before they both had gotten scouted by different BeyClubs. But with Valt, Ali had seen him having fun and smiling during practice beybattles against his friends with Valtryek. Valt has became more mature during battles and has good sportsmanship as well as friendly and sociable, even after he had lost against Lui. She had seen Valt becoming stronger by the day whenever he battled in the National Tournaments with his team as their newest teammate and BC Sol's newest captain. Ali remembered the excitement, the determination, and the fierce passion whenever he battled with the BeyClubs before he has been scouted too. But Ali remembered how desperate they had tried to win in the final tournament, only to be blown off by Lui.
They must of done some sort of promise to each other, thought Ali as she looked at Valt with a frown. It must of involved with the semifinals of the National Tournament. She glanced at the Grand Arena with a sharpened gaze. It must of hit Shu pretty hard and it had became very personal to him after he lost to Free. She glanced at Valt as he talked with Xander, Cuza, and Boa as Ren Wu kept watch for any sign of trouble. One way to find out.
"Hey Valt." Valt and his friends stopped talking when they heard Ali's voice and the seriousness her voice. "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure, what's up?" He looked at Ali curiously at the seriousness and respectful carefulness in her gaze.
"Had you and Shu made any promises of any sort involving the semifinals of the District Tournament?" asked Ali curiously.
Valt fell silent and started thinking thoughtfully when he suddenly remembered something as he heard his and old Shu's voice echoed into his head.
"See you in the finals, then?" Valt heard voice of his best friend in his head.
"Right, see you there." Valt heard his own voice and that's when he realized what Shu was trying to do with a jolt of horror.
Valt facepalmed himself and exclaimed, "I can't believe I've almost forgotten about that!"
"Forgotten what?" asked Xander, confused.
"What's wrong?" Ren Wu looked at Valt in concern.
"The pact that me and Shu had made together," Valt said, clearly upset with himself and Shu.
I knew it, Ali thought as she looked at Valt sympathetically.
"What pact?" asked Cuza curiously.
"Me and Shu had both made a pact that once Shu takes down Lui, we're supposed to battle each other in the semifinals of the tournament," revealed Valt. "But we weren't able to do it, because Lúinor had destroyed Storm Spryzen and Shu had lost against Lui."
Everybody looked stunned, horrified, and sympathetic as each of the boys looked at each other and Valt looked up at the Grand Arena with a frown. Though, Ali was sympathetic at this and exchanged a stunned look with an apologetic Boa.
Oh boy, thought Ali as she looked at Valt. I know those two were ambitious, but that's biting off more than you can chew.
"Maybe that's why he's been taking down the top Bladers," said Boa thoughtfully. "So, he can test his skills and battle against Lui again." He looked at Valt and placed a gentle hand his friend's shoulder. "To fulfill the pact for you, Valt."
"Do you think a piece of Shu is still in there, Boa?" Valt asked him pleadingly.
"I'm not too sure," admitted Boa. "But there's a possibility of the Shu you know is still in that possessed state of his." His eyes flashed with an idea. "Maybe if you two fulfill the pact, that'll snap Shu back to his senses."
"I sure hope you're right," Valt said, his brown eyes filled with uncertainty as Ali and the others joined his side. "I mean tomorrow Shu is going up against Lui and I'm going up against Free."
"No kidding," remarked Ali. "Free and Lui are both powerful Bladers. It'll take a miracle to defeat those two."
"Lets keep practicing then," said Cuza with a grin.
"Put your bey in stamina mode," Ren Wu said. "That'll help the practice."
Valt smiled and the others smiled, especially when they were joined by Valt's other friends. One by one, everybody took turns helping Valt get ready for his battle tomorrow. But Ali has to rest her left arm from her earlier training session and watched as Valt had gotten better with each practice from his friends.
But unknowingly, they were being watched by a certain albino boy with glowing crimson eyes as he watched as the Bladers practiced together for tomorrow's match.