Valt Aoi: The Battle for the Lost (Book 3!)

Ep 27: Curtains Rise! The Tournament!

The next morning there was a weird feeling in the air. The sky was partly cloudy. Mostly it was blue but out in the distance were some dark storm clouds.

The tournament had officially started, and everyone was on edge. After waking up everyone gathered in the dining hall for breakfast. A long buffet was set up with food for everyone.

But despite how pumped Drum and Aiger were for the tournament, the tension was thick in the air because on the other side of the room was Phi and his crew of bladers.

Everyone was tensely eyeing each other except for the corrupted bladers. When Rantaro bumped into Free, he tried to talk some sense into him but Free didn't even look at him. His movements were uncoordinated and stiff as Rantaro shook him.

Walking into the room Valt and Shu stood in the doorway. Everyone silenced looking at them. But it was not Valt and Shu they were looking at. Behind them was Theodore standing in behind them.

"Morning gentlemen I can see some of you.." he looked straight at Valt smiling.
"didn't sleep well. But that doesn't matter."

Turning to everyone else Theodore straightened up more professionally.

"Lately WBBA has been doing renovations on the new stadium, where you'll be battling, training and etc. To make sure no one gets lost we'll all be going on a tour together. This tour begins at precisely 9am so don't be late."

Walking over to the drink machine Theodore grabbed a cup and began making a batch of tea. Meanwhile Valt and Shu sat down with their team.

"Why are we going on a tour with them! We should be in our own group, that's how it's always been every year." Silas said butting in.

"Valt and I already checked with WBBA, since we have the greatest amount of bladers in the tournament this year there's no need for two groups. It's easier for them to do one big group this year."

"You've got to be kidding we have to spend a whole day them?" Silas asked.

"Yup."

******

At nine am everyone meet up in front of the stadium. BC Sol was on time while Theodore was already there waiting with his bladers.

Shu made a mental note that Phi wasn't there.

Opening the doors, a small woman stood in a navy suit. Her name tag read Jasmine.

"Follow me."

Walking inside everyone followed, leading the pack was Jasmine, then Theodore, and finally BC Sol bringing up the rear.

She seemed to know a lot about the building history but everytime she glanced at the group she seemed nervous, like she didn't want to be there.

"This building opened in the early 2000's and it was originally a hotel meant for entertainment, it had a water park, mini golf and all sorts of fun."

"What happened to the hotel?" Sasha asked.

"It was used as a hotel err I mean a hospital for a war and eventually WBBA bought the place hoping to transform it into a new place of hope."

Just as Valt was about to ask a question Shu called him over.

"Hey Valt look at this!" Pointing to the wall was a picture of the old bey club.

"Why's that here?"

"The lady did say something about the history of blading."

Walking around Valt noticed the other pictures of the clubs and groups like Rideout or the Beasts.

"Whatever happened to us." Valt mumbled.

Running off back to the group Jasmine was now showing everyone last year's world championship history. There were some battles on replay while other TVs showed interviews with bladers and their owners.

Going to the other part of the building there was more art, statues and exhibits.

Some of the statues resembled old bit beasts while others were warriors.

"Hey guys look there's Achilles!"

"And Rocktovar!"

Looking around at the statues, one seemed to catch his eye. It was a large knight on his trusted steed. It resembled Valtryek but it seemed tired and old. Some of the horse's hair was gone while the point on the sword had broken off. But despite how damaged the statue was Valt still smiled.

Walking past the statues they moved onto more history. As the group was walking past the bathroom Valerie managed to slip away saying something about going to the bathroom.

But instead of going she ran down the hallway back to the artifacts room. Valt also said something about going to the bathroom and followed Valerie down the hallway.

Hiding behind corners Valt watched Valerie from afar. Looking around she opened the case and took out a sword. It glowed black with a dark aura surrounding it.

She smiled and the slashed the sword through the air, a portal of energy emerged. Through the portal was the prison of energy and within it was Vahagn. The dragon let out a roar while the knight held out its hand. Valerie gave it the sword.

Taking it, Vahagn slashed through the prison escaping into the real world.

"Valerie! Don't do it!"

Valerie whipped her head around to see Valt. The Dragon looked up and roared while the knight narrowed its eyes.

"I know what you're doing but it isn't the way Valerie, there's a reason why Vahagn is locked up in there!"

"Vahagn should be the least of your problems Valt! This energy prison was designed to hold bit beasts, including ones that shouldn't be here. When Vahagn escapes, the resonance will become unbalanced and it'll eventually collapse without a prisoner."

Vahagn slashed it with a sword and escaped from the energy. It rose into the air descending into Valerie. As they both collided Valt realized it was too much for her.

Taking a step back he went back to the corner peeking out.

There was a new energy in the air as Valerie slowly floated down to the ground.

She turned around and looked straight in Valt's direction. He leaned against the wall shaking with fear.

Then she walked off and out of the building glowing with power.

A million thoughts raced through his head as he sprinted back to the group.

What was all that? What did she mean by the resonance would collapse? Did the prison always need a prisoner? Was this part of Theodore's plan?

Running back to the group Valt caught up with them in the Virtual Reality room. For the rest of the tour Jasmine kept talking about how WBBA had set up a new Virtual simulator for bladers during battle. Some bladers even got to try it out in a battle. But as Jasmine kept talking Valt kept thinking about what had happened.

He knew he had to talk to Theodore, before Shu had assumed he was leaving to go back home but Valt wasn't going to leave.

He was going to talk to Theodore and he was going to stop him even if he had to do it alone.