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1.
Gwyn was standing in front of the Victories’ club building.
The time was 8.32am, early in the morning. Usually, he would not waste so much time dilly-dallying outside the door, but he was feeling sluggish today, so he was not looking forward to having Drum jump in his face and ask him for a battle.
‘Yes, that was exactly how it was going to go’ Gwyn thought, as he held out his hand to grip the door handle.
Normally, he would be cooped up in his room checking out the newspaper. His favourite section, and the only one he bothered to check, was under the Entertainment portion of the newspaper, called ‘Math Whiz!’. Everyday, they would release a new complicated math puzzle and everyday, he would solve it successfully and submit the answer to the news publishers. Although, recently he had been taking more and more time to complete the daily question. At first, he had wondered why the difficulty shot up suddenly, but the more of a challenge it was to him, the better anyways.
(Elsewhere, the distinguished college professor in-charge of designing the segment for the newspaper has been going nuts slowly everyday. It was like fighting against an invisible bey, he was losing every round.)
These days, he finds himself standing at the doorstep of the Victories more often than not. He barely knows when it started becoming a habit. For Gwyn, his actions were well thought out and connected, like stones falling into place to form a pathway to his desired destination.
But when he lost to Drum and Delta in their tag battle, it was the first time he didn’t reach his goal. There was a missing step in his path. More like, it didn’t lead to where he wanted to at all.
So when he first showed up at the Victories a couple of days after Drum beat him, he didn’t ask himself any questions, he just opened the door.
After all, during their tag battles, when he asked himself why Drum and Delta were able to beat him, when he was so obviously stronger, he managed to get an answer in due time, even if it took a couple of battles to do so.
So Gwyn had slowly started to realise that his calculations might not always be right. But that didn’t deter him. Most of the time, what he had predicted turned out to be true. There were only a few times where he was wrong.
Speaking of the times he was wrong, it was when there was an anomaly he had failed to consider.
“Gwyn! Battle me now, hurry!”
Koryuu Drum lept from where the stadium was, about two metres, to where Gwyn stood at the door, just 2 centimetres away from his face.
It looks like Gwyn was getting better at dissecting anomalies.
2.
“So there you have it! Find your tag partner and register for our tournament by the end of the week!” Aiga concluded his announcement from the headquarters of WBBA. All of them were watching the announcement together back at the Victories after training.
He had partnered up with his good friend Ranjiro to organise a large-scale tag tournament across several different clubs. While it sounded like an interesting tournament, Gwyn was not really one for tag battles. He preferred the solitude of individual battles, where he wouldn’t have to worry about a teammate holding him back, and could also make decisions freely on his own.
But his loss to Drum and Delta had made him think about how tag battles were completely different from individual battles. If he were to become a strong blader who could win every opponent he were to face, mastering tag battles would also become important.
(Honestly, Gwyn was curious. When Drum and Delta struggled to defeat him on their own, they managed to do so together. Did partnering up help boost their own strength? Would he experience the same if Drum paired up with him too? Would he also feel as happy and content as they looked after winning those battles?
While this was what he really wanted to know, even for a realist like Gwyn, some truths were hard to acknowledge.)
‘Besides, there’s no way I can avoid being involved’ Gwyn concluded after he took a look at everyone in the room. Drum and Amane were raring to go, as they had already started discussing if the legends would join the tournament and who they would pair up with. Delta was silently staring at the both of them, but Gwyn could tell he was excited to participate in his own way. Considering just the three of them formed an odd number, one of them would come to Gwyn.
Logically speaking, it would be Drum, as he had talked to and had gotten to know Gwyn the best. He had also battled with Genesis the most, so Drum knew what Genesis was capable of. Delta and Amane were familiar enough with each other and their battle styles to form a duo, thanks to the many days of practice from before the battle against Apocalypse, up till now. Drum and Gwyn and Amane and Delta would be the best 2 combinations to send out from the Victories. He knew the rest would think the same.
(Knowing this didn’t stop the sinking feeling that Gwyn felt slightly in the pit of his stomach. It was a tag tournament. What if Drum wanted to partner with Delta? They had worked so well together before and Drum seemed especially affectionate towards Delta, even when Delta had seemed to reject Drum’s friendship at first.
Gwyn didn’t know what he would do if that were the case.)
He saw the three of them talking softly for a bit, before Drum came over to him.
“Gwyn, pair up with me! Let’s win the tournament together!” Drum exclaimed with a beaming smile.
(‘Too bright’, he thought.)
When Gwyn nodded, Drum somehow seemed to smile even wider. Amane matched the mood by retorting jokingly, “As if we’d let you both win so easily”. Delta was smiling from behind him.
As the uneasy feeling in Gwyn’s stomach faded, he thought to himself, ‘I was right this time too’. All of them started to come up with new training plans to train for the tag tournament right then and there.
And as they moved off for practice, there was a little spring in his step.
3.
Tag battles seemed to be quite difficult to Gwyn. Even if you were familiar with the other person, coordinating an attack with them and their beys seemed to be a whole different task altogether. For Drum and Gwyn, even after quite a bit of practice, when faced with opponents they hadn’t battled before, they struggled to work together a little. Thankfully, it only took 2 battles or so for them to bring their A game to the tournament. Before they knew it, they had made it to the finals.
Gwyn almost couldn’t believe it was ending. The past week or so, this was the only thing that had occupied his days(and nights too). That was also excluding the couple of weeks he spent training for it with the Victories.
(He also didn’t want it to end. He’s had so much fun battling with Drum, experiencing the adrenaline pumping through him as they conquered each opponent.
The last tournament with Arthur, Gwyn never thought about how it felt to win or lose. He just focused on harnessing Genesis’ power, because he knew that winning was a given. There were barely any emotions behind it. It was only at the end, he felt disappointment when he lost to Drum and Delta, and some sort of liberation in his final match with Drum. What he felt now, fighting alongside with Drum who showed him how much fun beyblade could really be, was incomparable to that.)
Drum’s rambling brought Gwyn out of his thoughts.
“What’s our plan for the final match? It’s Valt and Shu you know! They’re like the legends of the legends themselves. They’re also best friends, how awesome is that!”
No matter what Gwyn thought of, there was no surefire way to defeat the other legendary pair. Their reputation as two of the best bladers in the world certainly wasn’t a joke.
Both of them were deep in thought, when Drum suddenly broke the silence.
“I know what we should do!” he exclaimed.
One look at Drum’s face and Gwyn knew what he was going to say.
“Let’s just go in without a plan! Whatever happens, I’m sure it’ll still be a great battle!”
Gwyn nodded in response. He wouldn’t have it any other way either.
+1
The sound of Dragon bursting ricocheted through the stadium.
“Valkyrie and Spriggan, burst finish!” the referee announced shortly after, but Gwyn wasn’t paying attention.
To him, everything was in slow motion after Dragon burst. He immediately turned to the stands to see Delta and Amane’s surprised looks, as Gwyn and Drum actually had the upper hand during the start of the battle. Fumiya and Ichika were raging beside them. He noticed the referee raising his hand to announce the results, and noticed Hanami at the host booth, full of energy while commenting on the final turn of events in the battle. He also caught sight of their opponents, Valt and Shu. Valt had a mildly surprised and excited look on his face as he had delivered the final blow, while Shu, who had already been knocked out of the stadium, glanced at Valt with knowing eyes and an amused smile.
Then, Gwyn looked at Drum.
Gwyn couldn’t read the expression on his face. It was the first time for him, since Drum was someone who always had his heart on his sleeve. It was easy to tell what he was feeling from his face. But this time, Drum read a mix of expressions. Disappointment and frustration that they lost, but the excitement from such a great battle wasn’t lost.
Well, it was the first time they had paired up after all. Maybe if Delta was Drum’s partner, they would have been able to bring out each other’s potential more. Maybe they would have even won.
(But Gwyn was selfishly happy that this was the outcome. To be able to stand next to Drum, battle with him and see that thrilling expression on his face seemed equivalent to winning ten of these tournaments.
Not that he’d admit that out loud.)
Instead, he started thinking about what Drum would do next. What would he say, now that they’ve lost? Gwyn thought he’d talk about how frustrating it was to lose, but also about how there was still room for him to grow stronger. He’d probably get all red and go invade Valt and Shu’s personal space and be like “I’ll definitely win next time!”.
Slowly, a small smile was starting to form on Gwyn’s face.
(Drum noticed this.
A wide grin appeared on his face too.
Partnering with Gwyn had been fun. Thinking back to all their ups and downs ever since they met, he felt like it was all worth it, as it led up to this moment.)
As Drum’s arms encircled him right after the battle, he realised he was wrong. Although Gwyn was taken off guard, a blissful warmth filled his chest and it almost felt like it was hard for him to breathe. Gwyn was unfamiliar with such feelings. He could barely even label what they were. He only knew that he felt that way whenever Drum was around.
“I’m glad you were my partner for this tournament, Gwyn!” Drum beamed at Gwyn.
(That was the final nail in the coffin.)
Gwyn had felt some sort of liberation when Drum defeated him for the first time. But after fighting alongside him, he knew exactly what he truly felt in that moment.
“Mhm, me too!” Gwyn smiled back at Drum.
Gwyn realised that he was okay with getting his predictions wrong. More often than not, it was a pleasant surprise.
Besides, he also didn’t seem to mind any anomalies in his life anymore.