. ⋅ ˚̣- : . ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕣𝕤 𝕤𝕙𝕠𝕨 𝕦𝕡 𝕓𝕖𝕤𝕥 𝕚𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕕𝕒𝕣𝕜 . ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : - ⭒ ⊹ ⭒
Fifteen-year-old Ravlynne Glass is used to a life of darkness, armed with a bey that controls shadows and a secretive father running an under...
"It's funny, almost. Do you know the meaning of requiem?"
The metal doors slid open with a hiss, and Theodore stepped through them, gesturing for Red Eye to follow him. The doors closed behind him soundlessly, leaving the two in a dimly-lit hallway.
The only light came from strips along the walls, which were made of a smooth matte material.
Identical cases lined the corridor, simple glass boxes set atop a white pedestal. Beys of every type and colour were displayed within.
Red Eye glanced the beys as Theodore led him down the hall.
He didn't recognise any of them, and there were too many for him to remember, but the fact Theodore had such an impressive collection was already suspicious in itself.
The man turned to look at Shu. The blader blinked behind his mask. Right, the question.
He didn't know the answer, but it wasn't important. Let the bastard play with his stupid words. He was here to get stronger, not participate in his mind games.
"Requiem's an old fashioned word, really. It was used to describe a Mass to mourn the dead, an act of remembrance."
Theodore pressed his thumb to a concealed scanner at the end of the hallway. An imprint of a circle appeared on the floor. When both Red Eye and the man stepped onto that circle, it abruptly descended into a hidden room.
Red Eye took in the great room. It was more of a laboratory than a room, with assistants dressed in long white coats hurrying about, clipboards in hand and safety goggles on.
There were a few suspended chambers in the shape of tubes at the front of the room. Some sort of liquid seemed to be bubbling in them and wires jutted out every which way. A console counter was arranged in a semicircle in front of the chambers.
What caught his attention though, were the cases displayed proudly at the entrance. Specifically, the one in the centre.
A roaring dragon was at the centre of that bey, red flames adorning its blades. Silver, blue and purple were also incorporated into it, and with so many bright colours, it was impossible not to notice its attention-grabbing design.
The bey looked so familiar, but something seemed...off about it. The aura it emitted was dark and shadows seemed to be leaking from it.
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"Ah. You've noticed this masterpiece of a bey, I see. Very well, this is L-Drago Shadow, our very own version of the original."
Red Eye clenched his fist. Every kid aspiring to be a blader grew up hearing stories about L-Drago, the bey that had been the pioneer of its generation. Every kid wanted to be like the legendary blader of summer Ryuga.
Theodore smirked as if he could hear the blader's thoughts. An assistant handed him his purple mask and the man put it on. He clapped twice and a holographic projection of an arena appeared in front of him.
"Which brings me to the objective of our organisation."
On the left of the arena was L-Drago Shadow, while the original L-Drago Destructor was on the right. The two sped towards each other and clashed in the middle of the arena.
The hologram captured the beys' movement and even produced tiny sparks from the friction between the tip of the beys and the arena.
"To produce and manufacture the perfect bey. These legendary beys, they're good, but they're old. Outdated. With the technological advancements we've made, we could design a much better version. We could revive these beys instead of just letting them waste away in a museum somewhere."
L-Drago Destructor burst in a spectacular render of an actual bey bursting. If the Snake Pit had this kind of technology...there was no telling what they could achieve. What Red Eye could achieve with them.
The blader relaxed slightly. He didn't know or care if it was right-he just needed to make use of this as an opportunity to reach new heights in his training and defeat Lui.
"So, Red-Eye, are you in?"
Ashtem stretched out a gloved hand. Red-Eye took it without hesitation.
"I'm in."
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"Magenta Eye, perfect."
Ashtem smiled at the masked blader. He gestured for her to take a seat, opened a drawer of his office desk and took out a bey.
"I understand you wish to use your own bey in competitions. However, could we request for you to try out this one in your daily training? It would be...ah...a novel experiment."
The blader looked at Ashtem, then the bey in his hand. It was a beauty, that could be seen, with silver blades and two black wing symbols in the centre, perfectly balanced and brand new.
She didn't want to split her training with between two beys, but it wouldn't hurt to just give this a try. The red-haired blader shrugged and took the bey.
It had a nice weight in her hand, lighter than most beys but not light enough such that it would be knocked out of the arena.
"This bey's name is Shadow Karaninn, and it's a rare dual-spin bey. I believe it has two modes: Attack and Stamina, which means it can deal large amounts of damage while staying in the arena and out-spinning opponents."
Ashtem slid a matching black-and-silver launcher across the table to Magenta Eye.
"It suits you, Magenta Eye. Use it well. It's an old bey, but I trust you can revive it."
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"Something's wrong."
Karaginn stiffened, raising her head. Something had stirred, ancient and forgotten. Dread pooled in her mind. It was a familiar presence, very familiar.
"You mean other than the fact that we have no idea why Shu called and where he's headed to?"
Ravlynne was seated cross-legged on her bed, laptop open, typing furiously away.
"Yes, other than that-What are you doing?"
The girl had pulled up the WBBA profile of Shu and was combing through his recent matches.
"Look at this. He lost to Lui in Japan a few weeks ago. And after that match nothing was heard from him."
"Well, maybe he's training. Knowing that orc, he would've shut himself up like a hermit to train in the jungle or something along those lines-"
Karaginn stopped. Ravlynne thought of Shu, angry and disappointed after his loss. Vulnerable.
Then she thought of her father. His cunning lies. How he would have poked and prodded the boy till he lost it. How he would convince him that he knew a place where he could become stronger.
"He's screwed."
Note: In this timeline, Shu joins the Snake Pit before getting beaten by Free but after Lui defeats him. Comment if you have any questions regarding the order of events :)
