After Shu's battle against Phi, a lot of things were happening. After all, Aiga had to train and beat Phi. But what was Shu doing, after Spriggan's destruction? How did he rebuilt his Bey and come to Beigoma in such a short time? This is the answer.

There will be two important OCs and some head canons concerning Shu's life with the Bulls. Otherwise it's canon-compliant.

---

The battle was long over but still, Shu felt restless. Aiga was training with the rest of them but they had collectively decided that they would take the next flight home. The stage for the battle of Aiga and Phi had already been decided. Since it was Beigoma it was better to get back as soon as possible as to not suffer from jetlag during it.

All of the boys had been on board with the decision, except Fubuki. He was worried, Shu could tell. He didn't want to leave his mentor alone after that battle. While Shu was touched by the sentiment he felt like Fubuki was needed elsewhere.

Valt and Kit decided to fly back to Spain and since their flight was only about an hour before the other they all decided to go to the airport together. Shu almost had to drag them away from their training battles, however. He found himself laughing.

They packed their things at a record time and then they were off. Shu went with them to the airport, even if he knew he had other things to do, just to reassure his protégé. He felt that this was the best course of action.

They sent Valt and Kit off – with smiles and promises to meet again soon – and then Shu accompanied the three younger Bladers to the check-in. Since their flight was later they hadn't been able to go through customs yet when Valt and Kit had dropped their luggage off.

Shu was aware that he was being a little overprotective, checking that they had everything and giving warnings and all that but he was honestly used to it by now. Leading a blading team also came with the responsibility of hundreds of Bladers – as young as five even – and he was long past the point of being embarrassed by it.

Aiga and Ranjiro quite enthusiastically told him goodbye and not to worry since Aiga was going to train hard and defeat Phi. Shu smiled at them. They didn't know that he was planning to join them soon enough.

Fubuki stayed behind a little longer.

"Are you sure you'll be fine?" he asked softly. "With how the battle ended..."

Shu lied a hand on his protégé's shoulder.

"It'll be okay, Fubuki. They need you more than me right now."

Fubuki seemed unsure. "But..."

Shu was really touched once more by how much Fubuki cared. It made him feel warm.

"They'll need your level-head. And don't worry, I'll join you soon enough."

Fubuki looked at him in surprise; his eyes bright and hopeful. Shu smiled and, on an impulse, reached out to ruffle Fubuki's hair. Fubuki made a sound of surprise and embarrassment but that only made Shu chuckle. He knew that sound from Tokonatsu when Valt did something overly affectionate.

"Fubuki! Come on, we don't have all day!" Ranjiro yelled.

"Coming!" Fubuki answered and turned back to Shu.

"I'll see you soon then."

"Yeah. See you."

From farther away the boys waved at Shu again. They were going to be fine.

Shu left the airport and told the driver where he wanted to go. He wasn't going home just yet. There was a lot of work to do beforehand. Shu cracked his knuckles and leaned back into his seat. A lot of work, indeed. He probably wouldn't sleep tonight.

Cho Z Spriggan had to be reborn first.

---

James had been the Bey Trainer of the New York Bulls since it was first founded. He had seen a lot in those years and had made it his job to support all the Bladers that joined the team.

Though, the previous owner, Alexander Gilten, had made that difficult. Many Beys for his star Bladers were not made by James but by someone completely unknown that Alexander obviously had more trust in. It stung a bit.

Now, the owner of the team was Shu Kurenai. James had met the kid when he had first joined the team and had been the one to help design Legend Spriggan. Shu had been cold back then, unwilling to participate in small talk and never even smiled. James had not bothered to find out why.

A whole lot went down after that and Spriggan Requiem was one of the worst things James had ever laid eyes on. It was a beautiful Bey and it was powerful but it was so clearly evil that it was ridiculous. Shu must have known it too but the battles showed that Shu was slipping. Luckily the final seemed to snap him out of it. James was surprisingly relieved.

After that, he kind of pushed the kid to the back of his mind. He wasn't part of the team anymore; he had gone back home and that should have been the end of it. It wasn't.

He came back and kind of declared war on Alexander. Or something. James wasn't sure of all the shenanigans of the team, he only heard what the Bladers told him when they inevitably came to do maintenance or update their Bey.

It took a few weeks and Shu was the new owner of the team. He was twelve at the time. He worked the team hard and changed many of the policies and James heard many complaints from the staff. He felt sorry for the kid having to deal with a bunch of old men too set in their ways to accept change.

The first time Shu came down in his office to see him, James was working on a driver for a kid. Shu waited patiently until he was done, even if it took hours. James's wife – Rose – had given Shu an estimate of the time and Shu had opted to wait and asked not to disturb James. When James was done he found the new young leader of the Bulls in his wife's café, working through some paperwork he had taken with him.

Shu had greeted him with a smile, the first one James had gotten from him.

"I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself earlier," he started and James just thought back to the disrespect that Alexander had shown him. "I'm Shu Kurenai and I'm the owner of the New York Bulls. I hope to work well with you in the future."

The kid held out his hand and James found himself smiling as he took it. He wasn't yet sure what to think of the kid but he knew it would be fine.

James found Shu in his office much more often than his predecessor. He was curious about a lot of things, asked very intelligent and insightful questions, and James found himself liking the kid. James helped the kid to construct another Bey to use after Requiem, something comparable to Legend Spriggan. It was good work but after a few battles, he could see that there was more to Shu's power. That Bey simply wasn't enough.

The next Bey that Shu built – a Cho Z Bey – he did on his own. It was one with the metal wing, the burst stoppers, and it had a beautiful red, gold, and black layer that was very representative of Shu's character. The design was very good and James found himself thinking that all the time Shu had spent asking questions was for that moment. James was proud of the kid, honestly.

Then, Phi destroyed that Bey. James had been watching the battle – he watched almost every battle of the New York Bulls, his team – and had been shocked.

Shu had been agitated during the entire battle, too. He was usually much more composed but James was sure there was a story behind his behaviour. There usually was.

James knew that the kid would soon arrive and want to build a new Bey but he was still surprised when Shu arrived in the middle of the night – probably knowing that James was awake at any hour – and asked for materials to rebuild Spriggan. The fact that instead of trying something new, the kid wanted to play it safe made James a bit suspicious.

"Why, Shu? Wouldn't that be the perfect opportunity to try something else?"

"Maybe," Shu admitted, searching around the room for something. He knew the place just as well as James by that point. "But I'm a bit short on time, you see? We'll see about a new Bey later."

That didn't really help James to figure anything out but he knew that there was no talking to Shu when he was in the zone. Shu finally found what he was looking for – just a piece of metal – and went over to the whiteboard. He turned it on and searched the files for Cho Z Spriggan. He found what he was looking for rather quickly and then made some notes on the list of materials and where to use them.

"What are you doing?"

"Changing up some of the materials," Shu answered, "I think such a combination would work better."

James didn't bother to argue. He was tired, all of a sudden.

"Shu, I'm going to sleep. Don't mess everything up too bad, alright?"

Shu just hummed in response. James didn't bother anymore.

---

Shu was looking over his plans once more. He wasn't changing a lot so he should be able to make the Bey tonight. He would work through the night and part of the morning and then use the rest to train. He could probably catch a flight to Japan in the early evening tomorrow. That should work.

After getting his planning out of the way, Shu threw his coat on the couch on the side and loosely tied his hair back. It was long enough to get in the way and while Shu rarely tied it up, it was necessary when working on his bey.

First things first, the layer. It had been the most damaged anyway and where Shu wanted to change some materials. It was a rather heavy Bey and making it a bit lighter would improve its balance and make it faster. He wouldn't make it too noticeable though, it was just to help him with the new technique he was going to try out.

He got to work. It didn't take nearly as long as the first time as he was not constantly comparing his sketches with the metal parts. A few hours later, he was done. It looked perfect and he couldn't help but smile pridefully at his work.

Now, the driver and disc. There wasn't too much to do but repair some of the damage. Shu didn't want to change the materials of those two. He did have to remake the frame, though, as it was not as durable as the rest. It didn't take long but it was difficult work since it was his first time working with that thing alone. He worked on it longer than was probably necessary but he didn't want it to be defective. He really didn't have the time to afford such a mistake.

When he was finally done, it was long past dawn. No one had come to check on him though, so either James wasn't awake yet or he and Rose had decided to let him do what he wanted.

Shu went over to the far corner of the room where a stadium was put up. It was used mostly for testing purposes but it would have to do. Shu didn't want to lose time by driving through New York at this hour.

He got into his launching stance and launched as he usually would. Predictably, his aim was a little off. The weight was ever so slightly different so he had to adapt. This was the easy part. Once he had done a few launches to make sure he had found the right angle, he turned on the whiteboard once more and displayed his match against Phi. He didn't watch everything, of course, he only watched the last battle, especially when Phi deactivated the Burst Stoppers.

Shu had had a lot of time to think about what Phi had done and had a pretty good idea of how it was done. He didn't really have anyone to try it out on but he would have to at least figure out the right angle and speed. If he went too fast, he would miss the timing and too slow would not carry enough force to push them in.

Shu had changed the weight because he had noticed his speed was lacking a little. With the current weight, speed wouldn't be a problem anymore. Control was also something Shu was good at; he just had to figure it out. Without anyone to practice on. Great.

Shu would do it. Valt was counting on him to teach Aiga and Shu would be damned if the Bey he helped Aiga built was next on the list of destructions made by Phi. Shu would teach Aiga and Aiga would beat Phi. There was no other outcome.

With that in mind, he launched. Again and again, each time visualizing Cho Z Achilles and its different moves. He had to be able to pull it off in any situation. Phi would too.

He could do this. He was a legendary Blader, that much could be expected of him.

---

James was sitting in the front of the café with his wife. They opened early and normally his office would be open too. He had already turned away multiple Bladers, saying that today something had come up. The Bladers of the Bulls knew immediately that something was their leader. They just smiled and said they'd come back later.

It was around noon when James decided to check on Shu. The kid had worked all night and morning and was probably exhausted. He wasn't the best at taking breaks, though, as James had learned the hard way so someone had to make sure the kid wasn't being too reckless.

James went into the office and was surprised to not hear the sound of a Bey in the stadium. Was Shu still not done?

Further inspection showed that the kid had trained because the stadium had scorch marks all over. James sighed. The kid had better give him a promotion for putting up with the destruction of his property. Especially when he saw that some marks were also on the wall.

James looked around, noting that Shu wasn't working or writing something down. He didn't immediately find him but then his gaze wandered over to the couch.

Shu was curled up on the couch, fully dressed, with a Bey in his right hand. His coat was thrown over the armrest. He was fast asleep. James let out a breath. Good. He had been worried about having to argue with Shu about resting.

James went over to one of the drawers which had spare blankets inside for exactly this purpose. Shu wasn't the first Blader to fall asleep after completing their Bey, after all. James carefully put the blanket over Shu, knowing that the kid was a light sleeper. He didn't want to wake him, Shu seemed like he needed the sleep desperately.

He still had dark circles under his eyes. James had noticed when the kid had stumbled in the night before that he was tired. He probably hadn't slept well the night before the battle. It would explain his agitation during the battle. If the kid had been plagued by nightmares before facing such a dangerous opponent, then it wasn't a surprise that he'd been a little off.

James left as quietly as he could, wanting to leave Shu to sleep a while longer. Even if the kid had to hurry, he was no use to anyone if he was dead on his feet.

When he stepped outside, Rose was already waiting.

"And?" she asked, worried for Shu. She had always had a soft spot for him, for the gentle and polite boy that often came to visit.

"He's asleep," James answered and put an arm around his wife. She worried too much.

"I see. He needs it," she said and after a while, she added. "I'm going to make him something to eat. Who knows when he last had a proper meal?"

James let her go. He had nothing to do at the moment with Shu sleeping in his workspace, so he went back to the café and opted to take over for his wife a little while. The regulars noticed and jokingly talked to him, asking if his workspace had burned down or something. They knew that there weren't too many things that could make him take a break since he was such a workaholic. Well, with the scorch marks all over the walls, it sure looked like something had burned.

He worked for a few hours until he closed the café for a late lunch break. Shu was in the kitchen, looking a little less tired and was eating with Rose. Rose was talking to him, making sure to not let him get lost in his thoughts. The kid had a tendency to overthink things.

"Feeling better?" James asked and sat down. It felt strangely nostalgic to have a child at their table. Their own children were all adults now, and James and Rose were awaiting their first grandchild. Oh, how it made him feel old.

"Yeah," Shu answered, smiling shyly. "Thank you."

"And your Bey?" James asked and felt Rose glare at him. She had hoped to keep it out of the conversation. Well.

Shu fished it out. It looked just like the old one, as expected, and even James's trained eyes could not see the difference. The kid had done an excellent job.

"It's a bit lighter than the old one," Shu explained, "otherwise I didn't bother changing anything."

Shu let James take the Bey and James took his magnifying glass out of his pocket – the one that Rose always complained about – and checked everything in detail.

Everything was perfectly in place, each carving in the metal done with high precision. James grinned.

"Excellent job, Shu. I think it's even better than the old one."

Shu smiled, pride shining in his eyes. He had every reason to be proud.

They finished eating with light conversation surrounding them. When they were done Shu helped Rose do the dishes.

"What are you going to do now, Shu?" Rose asked him.

"I'm going to Japan," he answered, "preferably today. I'll have to go home and pack my things, change my clothes and hopefully, there's still a flight today."

"I'm guessing you're leaving now?" James said.

"Yeah. Thank you for everything, James, Rose."

He bowed slightly towards the two of them. He rarely did, and it was a huge sign of gratitude and respect. James was honoured.

"I'll drive you," James decided. He saw Shu preparing to protest. "I want to, kid. Let me do this."

Shu had no answer to that and just smiled again, resigning himself.

The drive to Shu's apartment wasn't that long and James parked the car – luckily he found somewhere to do so – and went with Shu. Shu actually lived in a penthouse and it was impressive to see. Everything was clean but not to the point where it would seem as if no one lived there. There were a few pictures on the drawers in the hallway, some of which showed Shu as a little kid. Others were of the team, sometimes of everyday situations and other times of the competitions the team had won.

"I'm going to take a quick shower," Shu said. "Make yourself comfortable."

"Sure."

James heard the shower get turned on. He sat down on the couch in the living area. On his left side was the balcony which also had some chairs and a table on it. It was probably quite relaxing to do the work outside rather than in an office. James knew from Mark, one of the coaches of the team, that Shu often took his paperwork home since he spent a lot of time training with the team.

Shu was quickly done. He went into his room to pack and then swiftly joined James again.

"You're quick."

"Most things were still in there. I didn't bother unpacking everything last time."

James nodded. They went back to the car and made their way to the airport. Shu had already bought a ticket online, saying that this was quicker. He was probably right. Traffic was horrible as always but Shu had luckily put that into consideration before buying his ticket.

James insisted on accompanying Shu to the check-in. The kid again didn't bother to argue.

Once they were there Shu turned to him.

"Thank you again, for everything you've done."

"I didn't do anything, kid. You built that Bey."

Shu chuckled. "True. Still, thank you."

James grinned and then went forward to hug the kid. Shu seemed surprised but he didn't pull away.

"Good luck, kid."

James watched Shu leave after that. He didn't know what Shu was planning in Japan – he hadn't asked after all – but he knew that whatever it was, he would be fine. James was looking forward to seeing the kid again soon.

---

Shu only started to really relax after he had boarded the plane. He leaned into the seat as he watched the city underneath him get smaller and smaller.

He was grateful for James and Rose who hadn't asked too many questions and had let him do as he pleased. He had to remember to get them some sort of gift. Hopefully, he would get the time to do that.

He held his Bey in his hand and tighten his hold a little at the prospect of what he had to do. It was a lot to ask of anyone, Shu was well aware of that, but he wouldn't have it any other way. Aiga was going to be very surprised.

"That he will, Troublemaker," Spriggan spoke in amusement at Shu's thoughts.

'Definitely. We'll teach them well.'

"No doubt about that."

Shu almost chuckled but reined himself in. It would be a bit awkward to explain to the people next to him why he was laughing.

He fished out his phone and headphones. He had prepared everything, he should take the time to relax a little before the hard work. He put on music and made himself comfortable. Only a few hours and his work would begin. He was looking forward to it if he was being honest with himself.

A few hours later, he was back in Beigoma. Immediately upon landing in Japan he called a taxi and drove to Beigoma Academy.

Upon arriving there, he made his way to the gym, where he knew the current Bey Club trained. Standing in front of the gym he heard everyone talking about the upcoming battle. They seemed to be taking this a little too lightly. Shu took a breath.

"Quit the nonsense. You'll never defeat Phi like that."