The Vampire's Return
After the battle, we decided to show Raivis around town. We showed him the good places to eat, where to avoid, and the main stadium. The "Soldiers of Athens" tournament banners were already hanging around it. I smiled as I saw my name among the list of competitors. Sadly, Sadik was one of them, as well.
We then found ourselves outside the BeyPark. I had a funny feeling about going in, but Raivis wanted to go in, so we did. Something was calling me in there. I could tell Aella had the same feeling. I showed him the bey-stadiums and the locker room. Raivis was very excited. "We also have Zero G stadiums, as well." I say. His eyes lit up at the sound of that. "Really?!" He exclaims. I nod. Then, the feeling is even worse.
"The "Numa Numa" song is stuck in my head." I say out of nowhere. "You too?" Aella asks. I seriously do. It's giving me a headache. Then suddenly, I fall over and everything goes black. The last thing I hear is Guppy shout for help.
Everything is blurry. I can tell a building has been destroyed. Someone stands on top of the ruble. It's the middle of the night and the moon is full. Fire is burning, smoke is everywhere, and someone is... yelling. Yelling at the person on top of the ruble. I can just barely make out the person.
It's a woman. In her mid-20's. She has on a red dress and red knee-high boots. She has short strawberry-blonde hair, a pearl necklace, and pearl earrings. I've seen her before. I can't put my finger on it. She has her eyes closed. She then opens them. Her eyes are red. Not just any red. Blood red. She smiles creepily, showing her teeth. She has fangs. I then realize who it is. She then comes straight for me.
My eyes shoot open. Someone is over me, but I can't tell who. Everything is a big blur. I moan in pain as things come back to normal. The person's face is clear. It's the woman from my vision. I let out a shriek and try to back up. She looks confused. "You okay?" She says. She puts her hand on my forehead. "You don't have a fever..."
"A-Anca Stephan!" I say, suddenly. She smiles. "So you've heard of me." She says, helping me up. I nod. "Y-Yeah!" I say. "It's a big honor! I mean meeting one of the Knights-" "She's a Knight?!" Aella exclaims, cutting me off. Anca laughs. "Yup." She says. "I am The Knight of Blood." Aella's jaw drops.
Anca laughs again. She then turns to me. "You are Heracles Karpusi." She says. My eyes widen. "Don't look so surprised," She starts. "I was the one who picked you out. I... Saw something special in you. Same with your friend Sadik." "He's not my friend." I respond. "He's my rival." Then I think about it. Anca smiles. Now I understand. She picked us for a good fight. She believed in me.
"I need to talk to you in private for a minute." She says, walking away, but gesturing her finger for me to follow her. I follow. Her finger nails are jet black, which makes me even more scared. I just noticed one of her arms was metal. She leads me to one of the back rooms. A table sits in the middle. "Go ahead and sit down." She says.
I sit down at the end near the door. She sits at the other end, taking out something. It smells weird in here. Like... Smoke. Then I see why. She has a cigarette. She sits there for a second and fiddles around with it. She then looks to me.
"Do you believe in the darkness?" She asks. What kind of question is that? I nod, just to stay safe. She laughs. "I know what you're thinking." She says. "That I'm nuts." She gets up and walks over to me. She puts something down on the table. A picture of a boy a few years older than me. He has white hair and purple eyes. He's holding a beyblade. "Marvo Astron..." I mumble.
Astron is a Greek bey that I've heard about many times. I never actually thought it was real. I guess I was wrong. She then puts down a picture of another person. Another boy that looked about 18 or 19. He looked just like the first one. He held a bey that I've seen before. "Diablo Nemesis..." I mumble.
"Good." She says. "So you've seen these beys before." I nod. She sits back down. "These are the beys of Hades." She says. "Nemesis, the deceiver, and Astron, the knight." I nod as she tells me the story of what she went through. At times, I wanted to break down and cry, it was so sad.
She then stands up and walks to the door. "Come on." She says. I get up and walk over. We walk out of the door. She then stops me and faces me. "I want to battle you." She says. My eyes widen. "After all, you are the next hero." She says.

The Blader of Ares, Revealed!
As I readied Jupiter on my old, regular launcher, Anca Stephan readied her bey on hers. My friends surrounded the lift I was on, shouting things like: "You can do it!" or "Go Heracles!", while I stood there, nervously. We lifted our launchers. "Ready?" She asks, with a different voice than usual. I nod. "3! 2! 1!" We both shout. "Go shoot!" We launch our beys and they collide in mid-air.
The stadium begins to move. "Go!" I shout. Vulpimancer just sits in the middle. Odd, for an attack type. Jupiter spun around it at high speeds, attacking it every once in a while. When Jupiter did attack, Vulpimancer was only pushed back a little bit. That's when I decided to kick it up a notch.
"Alright!" I shout. A white aura surrounds me. "Jupiter!" I shout. "Special Move! Zeus' Wrath!" Jupiter heads right for Vulpimancer. I look to Anca. She smirks. I look back down to the battle, completely unaware at the possibility she may be hiding something. Jupiter makes full contact with Vulpimancer.
"Yeah!" I shout, jumping in the air. My friends cheer. Anca's smirk turns into a laugh. "Not so fast!" She says. My special move is suddenly cut off. "What the-!?" I exclaim. Anca raises her metal arm. "Special Move." She says. "Vampire's Rage X2!" "Oh no." I mumble. Vulpimancer is surrounded by a blood red aura. It moves out of the way, leaving Jupiter in the middle, and spins around the stadium at high speed.
It now occurs to me that Vulpimancer is left spin. It leaves a trail of the aura, and next thing I know, Jupiter is trapped. Vulpimancer starts to drain Jupiter's spin. Then, the red aura surrounds me, and I am getting my own energy drained. I let out a howl in pain. I look to Anca. She doesn't care.
"A true blader is done when not only his bey is done," She starts. "but his spirit and energy are gone, as well!" I smile at the sound of that. I start to laugh. She looks confused. I laugh harder. I stand up straight and the red energy around me disappears. "B-But how!?" Anca exclaims. "Jupiter!" I shout.
Jupiter heads for the red aura. Anca laughs. "You can't break free!" She shouts. "Only left-spin beys can! It's useless! You'll just be over with!" Jupiter smashes into the wall. Red lightning flies up from it. "Jupiter!" I scream. "Vulpimancer!" Anca screams. We're both struggling to withstand the power.
"Ares!" Someone shouts. We both look confused as a bey flies in, knocking our beys out of the stadium, and onto the floor of the BeyPark. "W-What?!" Anca exclaims, falling to her knees. I do the same. We're both out of energy. "Who..." I start. "Was that?" I look down into the stadium to see a silver beyblade spinning. I've never seen one like that. A one piece bey. It then goes back to it's owner.
A dark figure is standing on one of the shelves nearby. The person has on a cloak, so I can't see them that well. They smile. Whoever it is has perfect white teeth. They take of the hood, revealing themselves.
A girl. A little older than me. My eyes widen. She has snow white hair, covering her left eye, and her right eye is purple. She looks just like the two boys from the pictures I saw. She takes off her cloak, revealing what she's wearing. She has on a black sweatshirt with a skull and cross-bones on it, black skinny jeans, and black "commando" boots.
She jumps down. "Who are you?" I ask. I look over to Anca, who's staring at the girl in shock. The girl smiles, taking out her bey. She holds it up to me. "I am Sofia Braginski!" She says. "This is my bey, VariAres R145R2F! I am the Blader of Ares!"

Ares vs. Poseidon
I somehow managed to get down from my lift. I was really tired from fighting Anca. To be honest, I'm glad someone interrupted us. If we would have kept going, we'd probably be unconscious. Or worse. I walk over to get my bey. Anca gets hers. "Good job." She says to me while we pick them up. "I'm looking forward to seeing you and your friends in the tournament." She then walks off.
I feel a smile spread across my face. Sofia chuckles. "Huh?" I mumble. She looks to me. "Sorry about that." She says. "I just couldn't help myself. That battle was just so awesome!" I smile. "It's co-" "You think that's funny?" Aella says, cutting me off. Aella stares Sofia down.
Sofia gets up in her face. "I wasn't trying to be funny." She says. "Russians aren't typically funny." They glare at each other. Guppy then steps between them. "Ladies, ladies." He says. "Can't we just talk this over with some icecre-" He gets cuts off when Aella punches him. "Shut up!" She says.
Sofia smirks. "How about this, drama queen." She says. "We'll have a battle. Ares versus Poseidon." She takes out Ares and puts it to Aella's face. Aella smiles. She takes out Poseidon and puts it to Sofia's face. "Challenge accepted." She says. Then, they go over to a regular stadium. Guppy, Raivis, and I follow.
They ready their beys on their arm launchers. Sofia takes out her card. A gold one. She holds it up. "The Card of Ares!" She says. Aella takes out hers and holds it in the air. "The Card of Poseidon!" She says. They aim their launchers. "3! 2! 1!" They shout. "Go shoot!" The slide their cards and pull the launch string.
Their beys fly through the air and land on the opposite side of each other. They begin to spin around the stadium, throwing attacks at each other. "Go Poseidon!" Aella shouts. "Ares, destroy her!" Sofia shouts. Both beys collide and then fly away from each other. I've never seen such power.
"I really hope they'll be okay." I think. I look at Aella, and then to Sofia. I have an odd feeling in my chest. But it's not for Aella. It's for Sofia. I get worried. "Please don't get hurt, you two..." I think.
"Let's get this over with!" Aella shouts. She is surrounded by a blue aura. Same with Poseidon. Sofia is unaffected by this. "Special Move!" Aella shouts. "Mega Whirlpool!" Poseidon begins to fly around the stadium, leaving a line of blue energy behind it. Sofia just stands there as it happens.
Then, suddenly, water fills the stadium, drowning both beys. Sofia still stands there. Then, the water forms a cyclone. At the top, the beast of Poseidon appears. In it's hand, it has a trident. It slams it down right on Sofia. An explosion occurs. "Sofia!" I exclaim. Smoke starts to fill the stadium and the areas around it.
It then begins to clear. Ares in nowhere to be seen. "Alright!" Aella cheers. "I win!" "Not so fast." Someone says. It's Sofia. Suddenly, a faint orange glow appears in the smoke where she stood. Then, the smoke fades, revealing a tired Sofia. She looks up. I now see why she covers her left eye.
Her left is is red, unlike her right one. A long scar leads down to her cheek. I gasp. "I'm not done yet!" She says. She stands up straight. The orange aura glows brighter. She points up. I look up. Ares is just spinning in the middle of the air. "How!?" Aella cries. Ares has an orange glow, too.
"Special Move!" Sofia shouts. "God of War: Crushing Blow!" The beast of Ares appears. The God of War, himself. In his hand, he holds a bazooka. My eyes widen. "Go!" Sofia shouts. Ares pulls the trigger, shooting a bullet at Poseidon. But, it's no ordinary bullet. It's the bey itself. It lands right on top of Poseidon.
"No!" Aella shouts. Ares sends out some kind of energy. Then, an explosion occurs. It’s so powerful, that Aella has to shield her face. Guppy, Raivis, and I do the same. I look up over the blasts and see the beast of Ares roar. He then disappears, and the explosions stop. Smoke is everywhere.
The smoke clears, revealing Aella on her knees. Beside her is Poseidon. A knock out. I look over to where Sofia is standing. She still has the orange aura. She catches Ares. She walks over to Aella. "That was awesome." She says. Aella looks up. "You really think so?" Aella asks. Sofia helps her up.
"Heck yeah!" Sofia says. We run over. "Are you guys okay?" I ask as Sofia fixes her hair. "Yeah." Sofia says. Aella turns to Sofia. "Sorry for earlier." Aella says, putting her hand out. Sofia takes it. "It's cool." She says. They shake hands. It looks like we have another person to fight in the battle against Hades.

Sadik's New Team
We walked through the city, heading towards the BeyShop. Sofia, Aella, and my bey needed repairs from the hard battles we had. I still couldn't figure out what was with that feeling from earlier. That fluttery feeling in my chest. It was for Sofia. I think it was love. I was so focused on that, I didn't realize I was staring at the ground.
"Heracles?" Someone says, scattering my thoughts. I look up. It's Sofia. "Y-Yeah?" I say. Smooth move. Now she'll know something's up. "You okay?" She asks. I nod in response. "Good. I need to talk to you in private." She says. I nod. She begins to walk to a dark ally. I follow, like a lost puppy.
"Anca Stephan is not to be trusted." She says. My eyes widen. "Why?" I ask. Sofia looks around. She then pushes back her hair, revealing her red eye. "She did this." She says, pointing at it. "What?" I exclaim. "But wh-" I don't have time to finish what I say when someone shouts to us.
"Heracles! Sofia!" Someone calls. It's Guppy. Sofia fixes her hair and we take off running in the direction of his shouts. We get to them. "What's wrong-" I go silent when I see why he called. In front of us, stands five people. One of them being Sadik. He smiles at the sight of me.
"Look who it is." He says. I step up. "Leave us alone, Sadik." I say. He chuckles. "I see you've found two new friends. How bad are their beys?" "Shut up!" I shout. He laughs. "They wouldn't last a second against my new team mates.
There was a boy, a girl, and... Two people with masks. One has a wolf mask and the other has a pegasus mask. I couldn't see the pegasus-masked one's hair, but the wolf-masked one had long brown hair. Obviously a girl. They both had on matching black motorcycle suits. The wolf's with pink details, and the pegasus' with blue.
The wolf stepped up. "I am Okami." She says. It's obvious she's a girl. The other one steps up. "I am Stratus." He says. They take out their beys. Okami holds hers up. "Chaos Diana 145WD." She says. Stratus holds his up. "Sun Apollo 135MS." A stamina and defense type. Based on Artemis and Apollo.
The other girl steps up. She has long, curly, blonde hair and blue eyes. She's wearing a white t-shirt with a hot pink jacket, that goes down to her stomach, hot pink skinny jeans, and hot pick converses. She smiles. "My name is Lucy Beilschmidt." She says. Obviously German. She takes out something from her pocket and holds it up. "This is my bey, Arketa Venus D125CS." An attack type.
The boy steps up. He has short black hair and brown eyes. He looks Asian. He has on a a black suit and black dress shoes. Something's off about him though. He bows. "My name is Kenjiro Honda. It is a pleasure to meet you." He then takes something out of his pocket. "This is my bey, Kleftis Mercury ED145B." A balance type.
Lucy and Sofia seem to be staring each other down. Sofia growls. Lucy chuckles. "What is a Braginski doing here?" She says, softly. Sofia's eyes widen. "I thought the Beilschmidt's reign was over." Sofia says. Lucy growls. "Let me show you the power of Aphrodite." Lucy says. "Ares isn't afraid." Sofia says.
"Stop it, you two." Kenjiro says. Both girls sigh and back away from each other. I look over to Raivis and Guppy. Raivis has a look of distaste on his face. "Kenjiro." He says. "Kenjiro Honda. The kid who defeated me at a tournament last year." Kenjiro turns to him with a smile on his face. "It's been awhile, Raivis." He says.
Both bladers approach each other. "How about we battle again?" Kenjiro says. Raivis snarls. "I can take you on." He says. Kenjiro puts Mercury to Raivis' face. "You can taste the power of Hermes." He says. Raivis puts Minerva to Kenjiro's face. "Well, you can feel the power of Athena." He says. I could tell, this was going to be an ugly battle.

The Thief
Kenjiro and Raivis stood across from each other at a stadium. I had a bad feeling about this. Kenjiro was hiding something. Something that I couldn't put my finger on. "Be careful, Raivis." I think.
Raivis readies his bey and takes out his card. Kenjiro does the same. Kenjiro's card is gold, just like ours. He smirks. "You ready?" He asks. Raivis nods. "Of course." He says. They aim their launchers. "3! 2! 1!" They shout. "Go shoot!"
They slide their cards and pull the launch string. Both beys fly across the stadium, passing each other. They land on the opposite sides of their bladers, and begin to circle the stadium. Minerva goes to the center of the stadium. Mercury continues to circle the stadium. Both bladers silent as this happens.
Then, suddenly, Mercury flies towards the center of the stadium. It clashes into Minerva, only to be blown back by the wall that Aella had to face. Kenjiro's solemn expression doesn't change. Something is up, and I know it.
Then, Minerva strikes back. Mercury goes flying, but somehow manages to land in the stadium. Then, both beys clash, only to fly back from each other. They then both go back to their original positions.
"A stamina battle." I say. My friends nod. Raivis looks back. Suddenly, his voice rings out in my head. "Are you sure?" His voice asks. He can read my mind. "The power of Athena..." I mumble. He smiles and turns back to the battle.
"Let's get this over with." Raivis says. Suddenly, Minerva lights up with energy. "Special Move!" Raivis shouts. "Wisdom of Athena!" Minerva sends out the yellow blast of energy. My friends and I back up. Kenjiro isn't fazed by this, though.
Mercury is beginning to get sucked into the blast. But then, Mercury flies towards the blast. "What is he planning to do?!" I exclaim. Then, it is clear. Kleftis means "Thief" in Greek. Now I know what was off about Kenjiro.
"Get out of there, Raivis!" I shout. "It's a trap!" But, it's too late. Mercury slams into the blast. "Now!" Kenjiro shouts. Mercury then sends out it's own blast of energy. The two blasts mix together, causing an even more powerful one.
Then, the stadium begins to crack under the beys. "But how?!" Raivis exclaims. Kenjiro throws his head back and laughs. "This is my Special Move!" He says. "Thief Possession! It copies the target's special move, only to make it even more powerful! It seems the God of Thieves has out smarted the Goddess of Wisdom!"
I could tell that sent Raivis over the edge. He holds his head and lets out a howl in pain. "I won't lose like this!" He shouts. A white aura surrounds him. His hair turns from blonde to black and he powers up. I never thought I'd see him like this.
He lets out another scream. He looks back to me. His violet eyes have turned red. My eyes widen at the sight of this. He looks back to the battle. "I will not lose to the likes of you!" He shouts. "This is the power of Athena!" The stadium then explodes, sending both beys flying. This cancels out Mercury's move.
Kenjiro's eyes widen. I look up to the sky, where both beys are colliding still. Minerva is surrounded by a white aura. Suddenly, the beast of Minerva, Athena, appears in the sky. Then, both beys fly back down into the stadium, causing another explosion. The smoke consumes both bladers.
"Raivis!" I shout. I feel tears in my eyes. Sofia grabs my shoulder. I look to her. She has tears in her eyes, too. I look back up to the battle. I see Sadik and his buddies, who were standing behind Kenjiro, in awe. Then, the smoke clears.
Both bladers are on their knees. Raivis is back to normal. Both bladers are shaking in pain. I look down into the stadium. Both beys are barely spinning. Then, it happens. Kenjiro lets out a cry in pain and falls down completely. Mercury stops spinning.
Raivis lets out a crazy laugh and then falls over, too. Minerva comes to his side. It too, stops spinning. I run over to his side. I hold him in my arms. I am full-on crying now. "Raivis." I say. He doesn't respond. "Please answer me, Raivis!" I exclaim. Then, his voice enters my head again. "We did it." The voice says.
My friends run over. I look to them. "How is he?!" Sofia asks, getting down on her knees with me. I stare at his bruised face. "He'll be fine." I say. "Just... Call 911." Then, I could've sworn I saw a smile come across his face.

The Blader of Dionysus
I sat outside of the emergency room, along with Aella, Guppy, and Sofia. I don't know what came over Raivis. The doctors looked at me like I was crazy when I tried explaining what happened. I was worried, but I was also upset. Kenjiro is just a whole lie. Everything about him, I can tell, is a lie.
Then, the doctor comes to us. I look up. "He'll be fine." He says. "Should be out later today. He's in room A-04." I nod and shake the man's hand. "Thanks." I say. We all walk off to Raivis' room. But, I accidentally bump into someone.
We both fall down. "Sorry!" I say. I open my eyes to see a boy my age with short, brown hair, with two spikes coming off of it on the right side, green eyes, and a bandage over his nose. He had on a tan shirt with two pockets, cargo shorts, knee-high socks, and black converses. He also had some kind of backpack on. And in it was... A koala bear.
"Sorry, mate!" He says. "Didn't see you standin' there." He gets up and helps me up. He has a funny accent. "Name's Kyle Roy." He says. "I'm from the great nation of Australia. Sydney, to be exact." I heard what he said, but I continued to stare at the koala bear on his back. It had an evil look.
"Huh?" He mumbles. He turns around to the bear. "Oh!" He exclaims. "This is my little friend, Pepper!" He then proceeds to take it out of the backpack. "She won't bite." I smile and extend my hand to pet her. She sniffs my hand and then allows me to pet her. I look back up to Kyle. "My name's Heracles Karpusi, and these are my friends." I say. He nods. "G'Day mates." He says with a smile.
They give their little introductions. And of course, pet Pepper. We then all started walking to Raivis' room. Kyle told us that he was here for the tournament, too. "So,. what's your bey?" Sofia asks. He takes his bey out of it's holder. "This is Jet Bacchus W145R2F." I stare it down. A very powerful attack type. And... It's based off of Dionysus. The God of parties and wine. Kyle's arm launcher is also based on Dionysus.
We arrive outside of Raivis' room. "Hey, Kyle." I say. He looks up. "Why are you at the hospital?" I ask. He has an embarrassed grin. "I kinda tripped and fell at the airport, and my mum took it overboard." He says with a laugh. "I'm fine, though. And she's already left back for Australia." I nod.
We go into Raivis' room, only to see him watching T.V.. "Raivis!" We shout, running over to him. He's fine, except, he has a bandage around his head. He smiles at the sight of us. "Thanks for coming, guys." He says. "No problem." I say. We introduce him to Kyle. But, as soon as that's over, an update for the tournament comes on the T.V..
Raivis turns the volume up. On the T.V. is Anca and... Z Faircloth. They're both sitting together on a couch being interviewed. Anca is laughing about something. She stops and says: "About the tournament. It's been postponed to the day after tomorrow, because of..." She pauses and looks to Z. He looks back. "Of reasons, that we have to keep secret."
Something's not right here. They then both get up. The interviewer also stands up. "And with that," He starts. "We conclude our interview with Anca Stephan and Z Faircloth, the heads of the WBBA!" They say their goodbyes, and walk off stage.
"Oh no..." Sofia mumbles. She's right. This means we only have tomorrow to train and prepare our beys. I look to Raivis. "I'm ready to go." He says, starting to get out off bed. We help him up. Something smelled rotten. I must've shown my distaste, because Aella noticed it. "What's wrong?" She asks. "Oh, nothing." I say.
I lied. Something is wrong. And I'll find out what it is. But, my thoughts are scattered when someone puts their hand on my shoulder. I look back to see Kyle. His happy expression had faded into a serious one. "I want to battle you, Heracles." He says. I nod in response. If something is wrong, I'll find out. Right after this battle.