Robin's arms trembled, her hair- which she refused to tie up- stuck to her sweaty face, and she tried to inhale slowly as she lowered herself to a ninety-degree angle. Exhaled as she pushed herself back up. Forty.

Most of the others, from the rapid breathing around her, had given up by now. Robin didn't particularly like this kind of training, it was so boring, but Xander occasionally made them do it. She was prepared.

Forty-three.

A flash of orange caught her eye. Free was looking at her. God, why did he keep doing that? He was kinda freaky. Forty-four.

Why does he have to be nearly as creepy as I am? Forty-five.

She ignored him and focused on her rubbery arms, forcing them to lower her, then push her back up. Again and again. Forty-seven.

Trad was evil. So far, for today's strength training, he had them life big-ass tires, carry sandbags, do flips around braches- that part was easy. She had learned to do that in preschool. It was the only thing she didn't get yelled at for- and now this. Normally, pushups wouldn't be too hard, but they were in the freaking forest! And there was this really annoying root under her hand that seriously hurt.

Fifty!

Robin flopped to the ground, panting. After a few seconds, as usual, her breath returned, along with fury she hadn't done better. The why's and the goddammit and the too weak kept following her, no matter what she was doing. At least she had done well this time-

But look at the facts! Anyone can do fifty pushups! If you want to be someone, much less a legendary person, doing fifty is downright pathetic! Add that to training tonight!

She shook her head and stood up. Free turned away.

"Mile run next," Trad called. She stifled a laugh when she saw Stan on his back like a beached whale. Sasha was on her knees, breathing heavily, and as Robin watched, she clenched her teeth and stood up. She grinned at Robin the same way Robin herself usually did: teeth bared and pointed, with the challenge in her eyes only someone who was completely exhausted could manage.

"Anything's fair as long as you use your own body! There's a cone at the end. The first five people get Ange's new treat at lunch."

Everyone perked up. They all would probably kill for Ange's food.

Wait.

Did he just say anything goes?

Stan and Jenko looked like their birthdays had arrived. Both were glaring at Valt and Honcho. Free and Andi seemed pretty good with that, and Robin silently decided her friends would be just fine. Valt's Sonic Speed would get him out of anything, and the idiot was just as fast when he had to be.

Besides, even if she was having trouble breathing, she was gonna get that food.

"Ready!"

"Set!" She knelt. She knew exactly how she would get there.

"Go!"

Andi transformed into a bird at the same time Robin jumped, but she grabbed the bird's little body and hurtled across the ground. Most of the people swung from the branches, but robin caught a glimpse of yellow in the trees. So Free was gonna be Tarzan? If that was allowed, she would do the same. Robin released Andi, who squawked angrily before transforming into a human.

"Rude," she growled, along with some unnecessarily dirty words. "Hey! Where you goin'?"

Robin grabbed a branch and started jumping. There was a forest back in Japan, and this felt so familiar to her that she barely had to think. Judge, leap, climb, and soon she could see the number one blader. For the first time since she got here, she didn't feel bored, terrified, or head-about-to-explode. Robin felt good like she could actually do anything because she wasn't stopping herself. Like that was ever going to happen again!

"Whooo!"

Andi appeared next to her, and her eyes were bright and excited, less cunning and more awed. "I'm getting those churros!"

"No, you're not!" Robin gave a leap, bounced off a trunk, and landed on the ground. She hurtled past roots that scraped her arms, braches dropping leaves in her face, and the Andi that kept right next to her, throwing leaves and twigs at her. At least running she was good at. All Robin had to do was just keep moving, and if it got too difficult, she just had to be a Tarzan again.

Of course, her leg muscles were used to this, but they began to feel wobbly long before she ran out of breath. There were little stabbing pains in her foot, coming up her ankle.

Crap. Her stupid foot was asleep.

Robin crouched and jumped as hard as she could, scraped hands grabbing one branch and swinging to another. She could see where the forest ended, and Free was already at the cone.

Of course he was. Freaking overpowered guy, but he probably trained like hell to get that.

Then Andi pushed her violently, and Robin was roughly thrown off the twenty-foot up branch. Only her martial arts training saved her, as she flipped onto her stomach and rolled when she hit the ground, she silently thanked Xander for making her go through all of that.

Stan and Jenko, both breathing heavily and faces red, appeared a few meters behind her. Seriously, how had they kept up?

Jenko lunged for her, and she yelped, grabbing his arm and flipping him over her shoulder. Then she ran as fast as she could. The end goal was in sight with Trad beside it. Just a few more steps-

Something huge and heavy crashed down on her back, and Robin cried out and dropped like a stone. Pain flashed through her back and thighs when they struck the ground, and she barely got her hands in front of her face in time.

"Got you now," Stan gasped. "It used to be Sasha, Free, and I in tournament. You newbies ruined it!"

He applied more pressure to her back, and she grunted. It was really starting to hurt. Andi gave her a look from the finish line. Your problem. Fix it.

Robin wanted to summon fire, but in a forest, that could turn out bad. So she summoned water.

Boiling liquid splashed into Stan's back and he howled, jumping off her and up. There wasn't very much, so it didn't get through the shirt, but it would hurt like hell.

Robin crossed the finish line as the fourth person, and Jenko sneered at her, shaking his head in mock pity. "Oh Robin. The team can't afford to have terrible bladers. If you can't even run a mile well, you're useless. Go home and learn something a girl's better off kno-"

Weak.

Useless.

Go home.

No. I don't want to go home. I want to stay here. I have to stay. Please let me stay.

"What, you agree with me?" He taunted.

Kids throwing stones.

Power control hospital.

Parents cruel smile.

Flash, flash, flash. Each memory made her step back one pace and him step forward. Andi glared and Free only blinked. She was on her own.

Wait.

Free had been watching Valt and Honcho the whole time at the tournament, and now both were watching her.

Was this one of those tests?

Because Robin knew exactly what she wanted to do and when the second De La Hoya gave a little nod, she had permission.

Robin flew at Jenko and threw him into a tree.

---

"So what's the big news, Captain?"

Daigo tried not to grin at the title and failed miserably. "We're headed to El Astro tomorrow!"

Everyone cheered.

"Allen, Jean, what information do you have?"

Jean checked his notes. "After you."

"Valt doesn't have his bey under control. He seems to trust Free, but doesn't reply on him as much as everyone else. Honcho performs well under pressure. Not much else. Both are overly dramatic and could probably be unfocused by a few insults.Valt relies purely on instinct and skill. Honcho's nothing special in terms of beyblade, but I watch the team battles in Japan and he seemed like a morale booster. That's all."

Jean grinned. "That's all? That was a lot!"

"You got more, didn't you."

"Yep!' He grinned. "Okay, so I'm just going to add to what Allen said. "So Valt just evolved his bey. I'll come back to him later, cause I've got a surprise for you. Honcho, I agree, he's not an issue. Just attack immediately and your bey'll be fine. Or do a counter. Robin... I need to ask, how did she act when you called her?"

Not wanting to destroy Robin's image but still giving information, Daigo responded, "Uh, flustered, really off her game. She... I don't really want to explain."

Jean nodded. "Understood. I watched her match with Lui, then thought about it a little. After that, I don't have any records of her." He frowned slightly. "But she should have been on the team that beat Sunbat United, like you said. The reason for that... huh. I think she doubts everything she's accomplished. I assume that she was shaky at best when talking to you, maybe crying a little? If she was, she's probably scared or som-"

Daigo's fist slammed into the wall so loud that everyone was quiet. His eyes were closed, but snapped open. "Enough."

They were silent. Allen spoke first, "Uh, Daigo? Your hand is bleeding."

He glanced at the hand that hit the wall. The knuckles were definitely bleeding, but he hadn't felt any pain yet. So Daigo ignored it. He was back to the simple logic he used before he met Robin. "Stop talking about Robin."

Jean stood up. His cheeks were red. He was angry. "Daigo, what the hell! I've done so much research so we can win, we've been training like we're about to kill the devil, and we're headed over tomorrow! You want to quit now? Just because of your girlfriend?"

"I'm not quitting," Daigo snarled, his tail flicking agitatedly. "I won't quit! I want us to win!"

"THEN ACT LIKE IT!" Jean roared, eyes flaming. He almost never yelled like this, was always the quiet guy and even though it didn't work, tried to blend into the background. Nothing like this. "STOP ACTING LIKE A WUSS AND START ACTING LIKE A CAPTAIN!" He gasped for breath. "Let me finish and let us win this, Daigo!"

Lemme kill them! Doomscizor raged.

NO! ENOUGH! Either I choose my team or Robin. Let me think about this for a second!

Doomscizor was silent

Daigo had left Robin behind when he was to AS Gallus, but also when he called her and hung up. What was one more time?

Everything. He was supposed to care for her! Was this caring?

He hated himself for this, but Daigo closed his eyes. "You're right. I want to hear everything you've got on Robin, and I'll add to it. After the battle," he winced at the memory. "When she woke up, somebody said something teasing but a little mean to her. Her face was completely white in a second, and she passed out. In addition, I'm pretty sure she had some trauma when she was little." He looked at all of them. "Not a word of this leaves the room, understood? I trust you, and if you tell one other person, I swear I'll hunt you down with a rusty pitchfork." He smiled cheerfully. "Does this info help?"

"Yes," Jean said, calming down slightly. He was still pretty tense, though. "That makes sense. If Robin's mindset is that agitated now, don't bother trying to frighten her. She might pass out or go Super Saiyan. There's no way to tell. And her battle style I'm sure she can change in a moment, so I say if she's up, we send out Daigo. Last time you two fought head on, she won, but didn't she throw the first match? If she's got a weakness for him, then that could work to our advantage. Daigo, you just have to not lose your head like you did now. Okay?"

Daigo nodded. His fist stung.

"As for Valt, I researched him the most. Apparently, he's a... " Jean swallowed nervously. "Aoi's a Descendant now."

---

Robin was as cheerful as she could be during lunch and dinner, participating in Valt and Honcho's extra training, then Andi's Descendant training too. They all thought she was just being a tryhard like everyone else, but she was still pissed after that mile. How weak was she that she only got fifth? How pathetic was she that she allowed Stan of all people to be able to tackle her? And only fifty pushups?

The voices in her head still called her weak and stupid and a waste of Earth's resources. Fighting them only made her head hurt, and pretending she didn't agree just made her angry. But Robin knew they were right. If she couldn't avenge someone, if she couldn't complete her destiny Andi said was hers, she was useless. So she was going to change that.

And Robin smiled through the rest of the day like she wasn't in for hell that night.

No one noticed when she slipped out of bed and into the forest.

Robin got to the clearing they had used for training that day, and began all the things she had screwed up in the day's practices, starting with that damned mile.

---

Free De La Hoya had first seen the ciervo when he was a little boy. His father had found the deer in the forest. He wouldn't let the man go near him, but when a curious little boy with black eyes and hair like a puffball approached, he was allowed to stroke the deer's fur. From then on, the deer only came to him, didn't go looking for anyone else.

And now he was standing in front of him, head tilted to the side, watching Free test how long he could hang from a branch without passing out. He hadn't felt like spending that night with Trad- they both had too much to do, but the monster was burning his way up to his chest, and Free wanted it to shut its mouth.

Free wasn't too sure that was the deer, as he had been hanging upside-down from a tree branch for an hour and felt a bit dizzy. The forest was a green-black blur around him, but still beautiful. He did a flip around the branch and landed on his feet next to the deer. "Is there something you wanted to show me?"

He just tilted his head at him silently, as always. He couldn't speak. He was a deer. But the ciervo turned and walked north. Free knew he understood human speech because he always responded with motions, so he decided to trust his friend's judgement and follow him.

The ciervo stopped at the edge of the training clearing Trad had them use and nodded his head towards the trees. Free tilted his head once in thanks and it bounded away.

He sighed quietly, not really knowing the reason, but not caring. What did it matter why he did something? He still did it, and no one else would know why either. A person only looked at the action and judged from that. And now he was climbing up the tree easier than he had jumped out of that window before he knew Trad.

His hands felt too warm, and he was breathing too fast. Free jumped to the top of the tree and glanced down into the clearing, nearly gasping in shock.

What the hell was Kurenai's sister doing down there in the middle of the night?

Clearly training, he answered himself. She ran from one tree to the other side of the clearing at a dead spring, and he knew she wasn't letting her bey support her body. After five solid minutes, she dropped and immediately started on pushups. He decided to ask himself a different question.

Why the hell was she training in the middle of the night?

Of course it was because she felt weak, like he used to when the monster clawed his body from the inside out. His show-off sister who thought she could do anything, the number one blader, and probably Lui who made her feel that way. Who knew what else had happened to her?

No one bothered to figure out why someone did something, but Free did when he was bored. Otherwise, waste of time. When Robin did backflips off the trees, handstands, and ran until she dropped, then got up again, he wanted to know why. And didn't laugh when she fell. So when he watched Robin collapse and vomit, he didn't sneer, just watched her light her left hand ablaze, and without burning anything, incinerated that and keep going.

Kept going, even though everything must hurt like hell.

Not training, Free thought when she turned around and summoned fire, blasting it into the sky, giving the delicate flames wings. Water suddenly poured down from the clear sky, dousing it. Not training, not when he could see that agonized look in her eyes that almost looked like pleasure. Not when he had seen that look in Andi's eyes when they were twelve and he watched Andi slice her arm so deep she hit bone. She did her pushups one handed now.

Not when he had seen the agony in the defeated Shu Kurenai's eyes, so strong, too strong.

No, this wasn't for training.

This was her punishment.

----

Heyo! Im back! Early update, thank you so much for reading! If this deserves a vote, please do vote, that'd be great. Sorry for the depressing shit, but I had this long plan of events for our little Robin this book, and she's going to end up suffering in a very different way than Shu. Basically, I based it off my brother and I. My brother goes straight for revenge, starts practicing whatever. I however... don't. Can't say more, because the whole storyline is based off this~

And I'll be finally making a ch6 for Shadow to my Light on Saturday! Can't guarentee when it'll be done, but please watch out for it~

Fianlly thank so all so much for reading, I love you

Robin