A Beyblade Tale: Book 1

Chapter 3: Characterless

Hey again! So, if there was any confusion, this is where to start with the stories that don't begin until later on. Enjoy and please let me know if I can make any improvements!

Fable spent the morning of the next day unpacking her things and hanging out with Matthew and Emma. She also took the opportunity to show off her bey, Guardian Phantom. Appearance wise, it was mostly grey, but one half was darker than the other. On the top layer were four scythe-like blades, mirrored by four more on the second. Beneath the X formed by the four in the first layer was the light purple figure of a hunched over skeleton: her bey's spirit. So far, Fable had discovered two of the moves her bey was capable of.

The first was one she called Ghost Crash. When her bey gathered up speed and hit the stadium wall with enough force, the eight blades would be pushed into alignment as Phantom was thrown up into the air. Then, it would fall down and strike its unsuspecting victim from above.

The second move was Guard Launch. The scythes on the top layer were all weighted differently, but this was usually balanced out by the rest of the bey. By titling her launcher and launching with enough force, she could get Phantom's top layer of blades to slide out a little further than usual. This put the bey off balance, but that, combined with the angled launch giving it extra grip on the stadium, caused Phantom to move with amazing speed and an unpredictable zig-zagging pattern. The move gave it a lot of extra power to its attacks, as well the element of surprise because it always initially looked like a miss-launch. However, the one disadvantage of the move was that Phantom had to keep attacking its opponent more frequently than usual. Otherwise it would run out of stamina too quickly.

As well as this, Fable had taken a lot of time to personalise her style of blading. To any bladers she knew from back home, she was known as "Death's Lost Love", and her title suited her well. As death sneaks up silent yet inevitably on all living things, so did Fable and Phantom on their prey. She was usually so happy and friendly, determined to openly enjoy all aspects of life. When she battles, yes she undeniably always had a great deal of fun, but she outwardly became cold and emotionless. She never once raised her voice, whispering so only Phantom could ever know if she said anything. It put quite a lot of their opponents on edge when they saw how quickly she flicked between the two polar opposite personalities, but that was just her thing and it was a very effective strategy.

After clearing away lunch, Fable decided to go and meet Principal Shinoda. It would be strange going to school after being homeschooled by Aunt Grace since she was eight, but she was curious and excited all the same. A few wrong turns and stops to ask for directions later, she finally made it to the school she would be spending the next couple of months at. Now all she had to do was find the Principal's office… at least she got a chance to explore the school. Eventually, having found pretty much every room that wasn't the Principal's office, not wanting to disturb any classes to ask where it was, she came across a door with a label that read what she was looking for. Though, naturally, he wasn't even there at the time! And so Fable took off back down the corridors, now running around the school, until she heard the sounds of a Beyblade battle. Curious, she abandoned her previous pursuit to investigate.

Fable arrived in what appeared to be a large gym hall just in time to see a blue bey flying out of a stadium at the other end of the room. A boy, presumably its partner, immediately went charging after it through the crowd of spectators. The chase ended with the boy somehow managing to catch his bey, but making a complete mess of a cupboard in the process. It was at that moment that a quite angry Principle Shinoda made his appearance. He ordered the two bladers who had been battling to tidy up the mess, which the other protested to because it wasn't his fault. However, he wasn't excused and, grumbling and bickering already, the pair reluctantly got to work on it.

Observing the scene for a few moments longer, Fae soon noticed someone approaching her.
"Oh! Principal Shinoda? I'm Fable Row- erm, Fable Little," she said, remembering at the last minute to use Emma's surname instead of her own. Hopefully the principal hadn't picked up on her small mistake.
"Ah, Fable… Little. Mr Rowley called a couple of weeks ago to ask if you could come to school here for a couple months. Please follow me to my office and we'll get you sorted." Add that to her list of journeys around the school that day. During her conversation with the principal, Fable received her timetable, a brief explanation of the times and expectations, and a tour. Not that she really needed the last one by this point.

Just as she was heading off to explore the city later afterwards, one of the bladers from earlier came racing past her - the one who had caused the mess. He had blue-hair and seemed quite hyper but sweet at the same time from what she knew. Fable thought nothing of it to begin with, until he was followed shortly after by two younger kids. She wondered if they might all be related to each other. Her curiosity now tugging at her, Fable made up her mind to run after them.

Eventually, they stopped on a river bank with a small collection of training equipment placed along it. The older boy Fable had recognised from the battle had started to use the equipment while shouting "FUN-DA-MENT-ALS" over and over again. Fable decided to risk it and ask the younger pair what was going on. They looked really nice, but she was a little doubtful as to if she really wanted to know the answer or not.
"Hey there! I'm Fable Rowley, and I've just moved to Beigoma Academy for a few months from where I was homeschooled back in England. You go there too, right? I saw you there earlier." The boy answered first.
"Yeah, I'm Toko and this is my twin sister Nika." Nika then added, "And that's our big brother, Valt. He's trying to learn about the fundamentals of Beyblading." Not what Fable would've guessed, but oh well.
"Blading, huh? Sounds interesting," she replied.

During a few moments of hesitation, messing with the yo-yo in her right pocket, she pondered over what to do next. In the end, she decided it would be fun to join in. Jogging down the slope towards Valt, she yelled "FUN-DA-MENT-ALS!", leaving the twins confused and slightly surprised behind her. Valt also jumped slightly at her sudden outburst. As she came alongside him, she explained to her actions to him.
"Hi, my name's Fable. I've moved to Japan for a few months and I was just talking to your siblings. Do you mind if I join you?"
"Nice to meet you, Fable! I'm Valt and of course you can! FUN-DA-MENT-ALS!" They kept this up until the sun started setting, then Valt noticed someone passing on a bike. He ran off to talk to him – they were obviously close friends – so Fable called goodbye and went back to the apartment.

The next day was the first day of the regional tournament so Fable went to watch the first round with Matt and Emma. They arrived just as the last few contestants were signing up. To her surprise, the first match of the day was between her new friend, Valt, and the second boy from yesterday. Fable discovered his name was Rantaro Kiyama. As the first match began, she had to admit Valt had managed to learn the fundamentals. However, she still wasn’t positive if he could win or not. He certainly didn’t have the best start, confirming her suspicions for a moment: the battle ended with a ring out finish. One point to Rantaro Kiyama and his bey, Raging Roktavor.

Fable expected the second match to have similar or worse results, but then something changed in the split second before the second battle that caught Fable’s attention. Something that have her much more hope for her enthusiastic new friend: Valt tilted his launcher slightly. That would definitely give his bey, Valtryek, a much better shot at winning. As the second battle commenced, Valtryek spun around the stadium in a looping pattern that Fable had never seen a bey do before. It caught Roktavor completely off-guard and Valt ended up winning the match with a burst finish! Way to go!