Chapter Text
When I was younger, I was into Beyblade, like a lot of my friends. I watched the anime and bought the tops, but that was about it. Sure, I dreamed of going to tournaments and winning them, but nobody ever held any near where I lived.
However, almost a decade after the Metal Series reached its conclusion, I finally had my chance. Some game shop (I think it was called the G-Pit or something like that?) had opened in my hometown, and was hosting a bunch of tournaments, from Yugioh to the Pokémon TCG, to (surprisingly) multiple Beyblade tournaments, one for each “Generation” of Beyblade, for a lack of a better term. I decided to sign up for the Metal series tournament with my own custom Beyblade that I made when I was younger: Forbidden Fox. As I walked down the street to the game shop, I glanced at my phone to make sure I had the directions right…
When everything stopped. I don’t know why, but from what I could tell, some moron decided to get blackout drunk at ten in the morning. This random person, in their infinite wisdom, then decided to hop in their car and go on a Saturday drive… Now, if you were me, you would hope that this imbecile wasn’t anywhere near you, and thus you could cross the street safely. Unfortunately, if you were me, you’d be wrong. The car ended up running a red light and slamming into me while I was in the middle of the crosswalk.
Despite the pain, everything went dark. The last thing I saw was a piece of my Forbidden Fox’s Face bolt, having been cracked by the force of the car…
The first thing I heard was a train passing by. I groaned as the noise woke me up. I sat up, confused. The car crash… was that a dream? I never really had dreams, though the one or two times I did have them they were pretty realistic, so I couldn’t really rule that out… though the pain of the crash seemed to disprove the dream theory either way. Though if the car crash was real, then…
“Where… am I?” I quickly looked around for my glasses before noticing that they were already on my face. Hoping nobody saw that, I quickly looked around. I was under a bridge somewhere, it was remarkably clean, with no litter or graffiti. I glanced up at the sky, and was shocked to realize that it was dusk. How long had I been out… and how’d I even get here? Heck, where even was here, anyway?
I staggered up and brushed myself off. First thing’s first, call Mom. She must be so worried… I grabbed my phone from my pocket, called my Mom, and-
“Hello, this is Mach Pizza. What would you like to order?”
I flinched at that. “Uh… s-sorry, I think I got the wrong number.” I muttered before hanging up. I double checked that I dialed the right number, and I did. What was going on? I didn’t have much time to think about that, however, as I heard a voice from farther down the structure I was in.
“S-Somebody… SOMEBODY HELP ME!!!”
As if on instinct, I dashed towards the voice, and paled at what I saw. Five teens were crowded around a young boy, with the biggest of the teens and the boy holding what looked like… Beyblade launchers?
“Well, whaddya know… Someone actually came.” Said the biggest teen. The kid turned to me, and suddenly everything clicked.
The kid was Kenta. The “biggest teen” was Benkei. I was in the first episode of Metal Fusion!
‘What the…? How is this possible? Did… did I get truck-kunned? Man, how cliché is that…?’
I got shaken out of my thoughts by one of Benkei’s goons yelling at me to “Pay attention!”
“So, you wanna play the hero?” He asked, a smirk on his face. “Fine. I’m feeling generous. I’ll let you battle me in the kid’s place. If you lose, say goodbye to all your Beypoints! So, do we have a deal?”
I looked at Kenta, who was already tearing up. I took a deep breath, and…
“S-sorry, but I don’t have a Beyblade–.” I said, taking a step forward, “but I don’t need one.” I clenched my fists and glared at the future Dark Bull user. “You and your friends better step off.” Benkei paused for a moment before he and his goons started to burst out in laughter.
“I can’t believe how stupid you are!” Benkei said as one of his goons shoved me to the ground. “Trying to take us on without a Bey, that’s hilarious!” I let out a growl as I got back up.
“Now then, stand back and watch. This’ll be over quick.” The goon said. I glanced around to see if I could use anything to my advantage, but there wasn’t anything lying around.
‘I doubt Benkei or his goons would listen to me, so I can’t talk my way out of this… and 5 v 1’d be a terrible match, even if I was strong, so I can’t fight my way out of this…’ I glanced up at Kenta, who seemed to be shaking as he and Benkei started their match.
‘I’m so sorry, Kenta…’ I thought, frustrated at my own uselessness. Benkei’s Beyblade immediately pushed Sagittario back and completely overpowered it. I grit my teeth as Sagittario was thrown about the tunnel we were in, barely having any chance to recover.
“This isn’t fair! Stop it already!” Kenta cried out. Benkei chuckled as he let Sagittario clunk to the ground, the Beyblade wobbling from the beating it just took.
“Well then, shall I finish things off now?” Benkei asked sarcastically. “Watch closely, you might wanna take notes. This is how you attack!” His Beyblade rushed forward, and Kenta cried out…
When a blue Beyblade launched forward, and immediately knocked Benkei’s Beyblade out of the fight!
“What?! But how?!” Benkei shouted as the blue Beyblade returned to its owner. I gave a small sigh of relief as Gingka walked up.
“Hey!” He called out as everyone turned to him. “Beyblading is supposed to be fun. You gang up on someone, you’re not a true Blader.”
“And just who do you think you are, huh?” Benkei asked, still furious about his loss.
“The name’s Gingka. Gingka Hagane.” Ginga said as Benkei and his goons grouped together.
“So you think you’re tough, huh? It ain’t smart to get in the way of my battles.” Benkei threatened as he snatched his Beyblade from one of his goons. “If you really wanna help this kid, then battle us!”
“No problem, big guy.” Gingka said, holding up his Storm Pegasus.
“But, this’ll be a handicap match.” Sneered one of Benkei’s goons as they all readied their Beyblades. “One versus five.”
“What? That’s not fair!” Kenta called out.
“What the kid said.” I asked, trying to stay brave. “Though, with how easily Gingka took out your boss, I suppose that this is the only way you think you can beat him. Am I right?”
“Shut your trap, you Beyless moron!” One of the goons shouted. “This is how it’s going down!”
“So, will you battle us, or will you cough up all your points now?” Benkei asked, his smirk back on his face.
“N-no, wait! This is my battle! It has nothing to do with you!” Kenta said as Gingka walked past the two of us.
“Don’t sweat it, kid.” Gingka said as he readied Storm Pegasus. “I won’t lose.”
Benkei and his goons then launched their Beyblades… only for Storm Pegasus to knock them out in one shot. They then freaked out about Gingka’s point total and ran off.
“So cool!!!” Kenta exclaimed in awe as the two of us walked up to him. He started to walk off, though, so we started to follow him. I glanced up to the sky and frowned. Night had fallen during the battle, it seemed.
“Thanks for that… uh, Gingka, was it?” I asked as Kenta rambled on about payment for helping him. “I wish I could’ve helped too, but…”
“You don’t need to thank me, Kenta.” Gingka said, turning down Kenta’s offer. “Though I would like to know who those guys were back there.”
“Who, them?” Kenta asked. “They’re the Face Hunters. They force younger opponents into unfair battles and steal their points! They’ve done it to a lot of my friends… they’re just bullies!”
“Seems thugs like them are everywhere…” Gingka mused as Kenta caught up with us. He must’ve stopped walking, I guess.
“Yeah…” I muttered, frustrated. I then glanced at Kenta and gave him a small frown. “Again, I’m sorry for not being able to help you back there. I wish I could’ve done more, but…”
“Well, you tried, at least.” Kenta said with a shrug.
“Hey, is it true what that guy said?” Ginga asked me, a serious look on his face. “That you didn’t have a Bey?” I nodded.
“Well, I guess I had one but…” I forced myself to stop there. Even though I could trust Gingka, I still didn’t want to let anyone know about my situation. Just in case.
“What, did you lose your Bey or something? Is this it?” He asked, before reaching into his pocket. He pulled something out and-
“F-Fox?!” I exclaimed in shock. In Gingka’s hand was my Forbidden Fox, as good as new… heck, it was better than new! The face bolt had a more anime accurate look instead of just the red design on blue plastic that it once was, as if a sticker was placed on the Face Bolt. All the red decals that were once painted on the Energy Ring were restored, and said energy ring went from fully opaque to slightly transparent. The Fusion Wheel was also fixed up and polished.
“H-How’d you get it?” I asked, confused. It shattered in the car crash, right? I saw the fragments! “I thought it was gone forever…”
“So it’s yours then.” Gingka said as he handed it over. I glanced at the underside of the bey and noticed that the spin track and performance tip were the same slightly transparent dark gray they were before, but any nicks, wear, and tear they had on them were gone.
“Y-Yeah.” I said, still shocked. “But again, how’d you find it?”
“Well, I was taking a nap nearby, when your Fox hit me right in the face and woke me up.” Gingka explained. “I thought that someone either chucked it away really hard or lost a really devastating ring out…” He then closed his eyes and frowned, seemingly thinking back to something. “Though now that I think about it, I don’t know how it managed to clear that water tower I was sleeping on…”
“Wait, you were sleeping on a water tower?” I asked. “How’d you get up there?!”
“I climbed it.” Ginka said matter-of-factly. “There was a ladder, and I thought it’d be a good place to catch some zs.”
“If you… uh… say so.” I muttered.
“Hey, Gingka? You said that people like the Face Raiders were everywhere, right?” Kenta asked. “Doesn’t that mean that you’re not from here? Where’d you come from?”
“My home? It’s right here.” Gingka said as he laid down on a nearby hill. “I’ve been traveling across the country, searching for strong rivals so I can become the strongest blader.”
“The whole country? By yourself?” Kenta asked as he slid down next to Gingka. “Wow, that’s so cool! You must’ve fought a bunch of tough battles. That’s why you’re so strong, right?”
I started to tune Kenta out as I looked at Forbidden Fox, questions rolling around in my head. How did I get here? How come I didn’t die when I got hit by that car? Is this some sort of KH4-esque afterlife? How was Fox put back together, and how’d it get to Gingka?
How am I gonna get home?
That last question hit me like a punch to the gut. I was alone in a completely different world. If my mom’s number was a pizza place, it would make sense that the rest of my saved numbers would be useless too.
‘What… am I gonna do now…?’ I thought as I held Fox a little tighter… and for whatever reason, the Beyblade caught the reflection of the light, and a small shine went across the edge of Fox’s Face Bolt. Somehow, seeing that made me feel a little better.
“Oh hey, mister!” I jolted and turned to Kenta, who I just realized was talking to me now. “I just realized I never got your name!”
“O-oh.” I muttered. “Sorry about that. I’m Jacob. Jacob Morris. Nice to– uh– meet you guys.”
“Hm… That doesn’t sound like a Japanese name.” Kenta muttered.
“Uh, it isn’t. I’m from the States.” I said. Gingka raised an eyebrow at that.
“Really? You’re a lot less… uh…” He muttered, trailing off.
“A lot less ‘‘Murica, heck yeah, we’re comin’ to steal yer oil an’ gold an’ anime with the power of our free speech an’ guns’?” I asked, specifically over exaggerating my natural southern accent for the bit.
“Uh… that’s not how I would’ve put it…” Gingka muttered, though he seemed to figure out that I was joking after a few seconds, which caused him to let loose a chuckle.
“Wait, if you’re from America, then you must be like Gingka, right?” Kenta asked as I walked over to join the two, his eyes wide. “I bet you’ve been all over the place, looking for really strong opponents, right?”
“Uh… sorry to burst your bubble, kid, but nope.” I scratched the back of my head in embarrassment. “I’m not that much of a Blader. I’m sure Gingka’d probably be able to give you better advice than I could.”
“Oh, right!” Kenta then turned to Gingka. “Uh, how can I get stronger, like you?” He asked. “I know I need to work on my attack power and stamina, so do you have any tips? If I were stronger, then those Face Hunters wouldn’t make a fool outta me, so…” Gingka thought it over for a moment before answering.
“Well, it takes heart.” Gingka said. “Your bey’s attack or stamina doesn’t matter all that much, because Beyblades attack you here.” He then pointed at his chest to emphasize his point.
“I… uh… I don’t get it…” Kenta muttered after thinking it over for a bit.
“It’s alright if you guys don’t get it.” Gingka said as he lay down in the grass. “Just relax, like this.”
Kenta and I looked at each other in confusion for a moment before laying down.
“So, what now?” I asked as we looked up to the starry sky. Gingka was talking about Blader Spirit, right? While the sky was really pretty, I didn’t understand what it had to do with the Heart of the Cards-esque win button of the anime.
“Well, it’s like this.” Gingka explained. “A Beyblade’s true strength doesn’t lie in its stats. It lies in the feelings of the Blader who’s connected with it. If a Bey and it’s Blader are truly connected, it’s like the Bey is getting the power the whole cosmos poured into it. You need a heart as big as the starry sky itself!”
“Wow, that’s heavy!” Kenta said. I nodded to keep up appearances. It still didn’t make that much sense to me.
“So Gingka, are you leaving soon?” Kenta asked as he sat up. “‘Cause if you like it here, maybe you could stay for a while!” There was a moment of silence as I sat up and looked over at Gingka… who was already asleep.
“Uh… Looks like that’s the end of our lesson…” I muttered. “You should probably head on home, it's pretty late.”
“Y-you’re right!” Kenta said, running back to the street we were on before. “You’ll be staying in town for a while, right? We can meet up with Gingka tomorrow!”
“Uh… sure.” I muttered. “ See ya, Kenta.”
“Bye, Jacob!” He called out as he ran off to his home. A few seconds passed by before I realized something.
“Wait, where am I gonna sleep?”