"WELCOME TO THE FIRST ROUND OF THE INTERNATIONALS! ARE YOU ALL AS EXCITED AS I AM???"

Robin sat silently on the bench with Andi, Free, Valt, and Honcho. AS Gallus was going to give it their all, but they were sure to win if they even used the De La Hoya twins even once.

Valt bounced up, all nerves and excitement. "Can I go first? Pleaasseeeee?"

Robin closed her eyes and leaned back. Out of everyone, Valt had won the tournament for spots, and when they all fought Free, he had one of the most impressive battles. He lost by a lot, but was so incredible-giong as far as Free using his launcher- he was the first admitted onto the team.

Andi pouted, all charm and innocence. "But I wanna go first!"

Andi.

Her battle with Free had only lasted a minute. But it was the strangest thing she'd ever seen. They'd launched without saying a single word, watching each other in silence as their beys circled each other. Hades and Fafnir slowly swirled around the center and inner ring, and suddenly Andi closed her eyes, teeth clenched. Free's eyes glowed bright orange. They stood still, holding the same position for twenty seconds, and the two beys struck each other and separated. Sort of like a test, see who would bounce away first.

As if by a signal, the girl hissed and opened her bright eyes again, shaking her head. "Damn it, Free."

Fafnir crashed into Hades and snapped it into three pieces.

And Free didn't even notice.

"First matchup!"

The number one blader looked boredly at everyone. Robin bristled, but stopped. She couldn't blame him. He was so far above their level, slumming with them was incredibly boring. Robin didn't know why he hadn't left yet. Free blinked at Honcho. "You."

"AWW YEAH!" he yelled, running up the stairs with his launcher.

Robin shut out the first battle with Ruck and Honcho. She'd seen Ruck battle when she spied on them, courtesy of Andi-Dragon Transport. He was good, but Honcho was slightly better.

Robin's battle with Free was downright pathetic. She'd pulled off a fast launch, but her trajectory was just barely off, missing Free's handspin by less than an inch. He barely blinked when Phoenix dodged his few attacks and raised his eyebrows when she didn't bother to counter. Phoenix dropped to the side after defending twice. Stamina finish.

Damn, it was pathetic.

"BC Sol gets one point!" Hanami yelled. The crowd cheered, and Honcho walked back, a proud look on his face.

Andi tilted her head to the right. "They'll probably sen out Daigo or Jean next. They're the two best. Marie's just a benchwarmer, I'm not sure if she even has a bey. So... someone good next round. We can stand to lose a point."

"My turn!" Valt bounced up and registered his launcher. "Just you watch! I'll win this for us!"

Robin sat forward again,eyes brightening. Daigo. She knew it would be him, and for that reason, she didn't tell the others. They could win, even if Daigo took the next match. Even though he'd be pissed if he ever found out.

Daigo was already at the stadium by the time Valt got up the stairs. There were some differences to him: no jacket, no bandanna. A simple purple shirt and black shorts and boots, ears and tail on fully display. That got a lot of booing, which Robin snarled at.

Her boyfriend simply looked at the crowd, the one who started it shaking under that stare. He just looked at him emotionlessly, and the guy turned bright red and covered his head with a hood. Idiot.

Daigo looked back at Valt, still not saying anything. For some reason, he wasn't in a great mood today. Aggression rolled off of him.

"That's your guy?" Andi muttered to her. "Temper, much?"

Robin was silent. If she bothered to get angry, she would have threatened to punch her teeth out for that.

"Daigo! Nice to see you again!" Valt exclaimed, holding his bey out.

Daigo gave him a pointed look. "You... know we're on opposite teams, right? In the internationals? And... we want the other person to lose?"

"Yeah, but still!" Valt protested.

He facepalmed. "I am so done." Her boyfriend squinted at the bey he held. "Doesn't look like much," he noted. "You sure it was evolved?"

"OF COURSE IT WAS! I WAS THERE!"

"Right, sure. Even if your bey did evolve...I don't think you could handle it."

The blonde grinned next to her. "You know what, I take it back. Can I have him?"

Robin's eyes flashed, but she stayed quiet.

Valt's face was red now. "YOU'RE GOING DOWN!"

Well, that was a little too easy. Robin's lip twitched into a smile. He could have bothered to try harder. Making Valt angry is so easy. If Daigo had less respect for Shu, he would have used that too.

"Three!"

"Two!"

"One!"

"Let it... rip!"

Daigo's bey landed smoothly on the outer ring, quickly gaining speed. Valt's landed along the outer ring as well, but shaky. It righted itself and sped along the ring, crashing into walls at random.

Valt yelped. "Gah! What'd I do wrong!"

Robin saw Trad facepalm and already knew he was pissed off.

Valtryek streaked towards the dark bey, glowing brightly. "We're not done! I'm not losing!" Valt clenched his teeth, brown eyes reflecting the light.

Daigo grinned, eyes flashing purple. "Easy. Doomscizor, finish it!"

When they collided, broke apart, collided again, Robin knew what was going to happen. The beys crashed over and over, sliding down to the center. She could almost feel Valkyrie's will keeping the bey from bursting.

Valkyrie?Wait... that can't be right. Valt's not a Descendant!

Despair Phoenix snorted. I don't care how, but he clearly is right now. So be quiet and sync. I want you to see what Daigo looks like now.

She synced, then jolted back. Cool! That looks so epic!

Epic was probably the best word for it. Daigo was nearly surrounded by this... black mist. Two scythes were strapped across his back, a white mask with a permanent smile slung across his face. Black robes covered the rest of his body, the rough-looking cloth scrawled with spellwork. His eyes and the runes were glowing dark purple, and the only bit of exposed skin, his hands, were deathly pale compared to the rest of him.

Awesome....

"Take him down! Double Strike!"

One scythe lashed out towards Valkyrie. Valt handled her broadsword with ease, swinging his fist down in real life, but with the synced vision, she could see the blade clashing against the first scythe. He must have been synced perfectly, had tons of practice too, otherwise Valt wouldn't have been able to even use the sword. Valt had blocked the first scythe perfectly.

And was blindsided by the second.

Valtryek burst.

Andi swore under her breath. "That's not god. If you don't go up next, we are royally screwed."

Robin bared her teeth, then stopped. "Why me?"

"Strategy. Think," Free cut in, master of the one-liner. He was staring at Daigo, probably memorizing build, height, any significant muscle damage, strength, everything about him. Because that's what she would have done if she saw someone strong.

She'd done the same with Free the moment she'd seen him. First thing: weaknesses. Weaknesses....

Oh. Now it made sense. All Robin had to do was want the victory more than him. Daigo had seriously leveled up in the past few weeks, making even Andi worry. But Robin was a weakness. A very small weakness, but a weakness. Andi clearly planned to exploit that to the best of their abilities. Even if the score was tied right now.

Yeah, BC Sol was doomed if Andi ever became leader.

So Robin nodded and placed her launcher on the registration pad. She already knew that Daigo swould go up again. After that victory, he knew Andi- impulsive, wild Andi- wouldn't let Honcho or Valt go again. And he wanted his shot at the De La Hoyas. Or Robin.

The thing was, she knew as she walked up the steps, saw the tips of his ears turn to his head, and face, and body, she was his weakness. But he was hers, and that meant they had an equal chance of winning. Unless...

Phoenix?

Yea?

Robin bit her lip. Are you capable of possession? Of your blader, I mean.

Uh... duh? I'm evolved. And if Doomscyther could do it, I can.

Good. Do it. Now.

She tilted her head like Andi did. You don't have anything silver on you, so I could. But didn't you save Daigo from possession? Why would you trust me?

Oh, shut up. Just do it already.

Robin heard Daigo say, "Do you believe in destiny?"

Phoenix replied out of her mouth, "No." It was a strange feeling. She was watching through her eyes like a movie, hearing out of her ears like speakers. The area in her peripherals was dark, like she was in a movie theater, and she had no control over her body. It was like chains had been wrapped around her, but when she shifted herself slightly, her actual body shifted as well. So... these chains were breakable for a reason. Phoenix was trustworthy.

"I figured. Robin never believed in destiny either." Those bright eyes shifted to her bey. Oh, he had no idea what was going on. Sure, the better Robin didn't believe in destiny.

"Andi'll kill me if I lose," Phoenix smirked. "Hope you don't mind when I destroy you."

He grinned back, eyes burning with challenge. He had changed, looked so much happier now than when he left. That was good. Maybe he didn't need her anymore, to be happy. That made Robin a little sad, but she figured she could deal with it later. "Hope you don't die, 'cause I don't plan on going down."

They got into their launch stances, and Robin briefly wondered how Phoenix was going to launch herself.

Phoenix's voice filled her head. Well, this is my spirit form operating you right now. That's my physical form. You should know this by now, dum-dum.

"Well, excuse me," she muttered.

"Three!" Her view blinked off, and Robin panicked for a few seconds, then realized Phoenix was going for a blindfolded launch.

"Two!" She sensed her body moving forward, then up. Sky Launch, and Daigo knew it too.

"One!" Judging from the stillness of the air- geez, Phoenix's senses opened up a lot of possibilities, she didn't even need her eyes!- Daigo was headed for a Quake Launch. His bey was about to go really fast and no control. Easy fix, just had to attack.

"Let it... rip!"

Just as quickly, light flooded back into her vision and she blinked. Phoenix was rapidly falling, only catching a glimpse of the Quake Launch and Sky Launch colliding, then breaking apart before she hit the ground on her side. Her shoulder flashed white-hot, and Phoenix clenched her teeth. Robin could feel it too and barely refrained from screaming. God, how had Shu dealt with this- for a week?

Daigo glanced up as she shot to her feet. "Thought you'd mastered that."

"Even I screw up," Phoenix replied, narrowing her eyes on the battle. She didn't even have to talk, Robin could hear the voice calling instructions.

Shoot to the center and wait for him to get to you. Use Wakiya's special move... that should work.

Despair Phoenix rebounded sharply off the first scythe, bounced against the smooth side of the second scythe, and landed flat in the middle.

"Oh, no you don't," Daigo growled. "After them!"

The purple and white bey shot towards the walls, gaining speed, then went for the center. Phoenix waited patiently for the bey, spinning lazily- if a bey could look lazy- circles around the middle. When it lashed out in spirit form, two scythes bared, she circled around and hit him in the unguarded back.

Doomscizor flew out of the stadium, hit the edge, and burst to three pieces.

Phoenix released control and pain flooded through her senses, somehow making her feel a little better. She was back in control of her body, and there was no black around her vision. Robin could control what she was doing now.

Daigo growled in frustration, then sighed and shook his head. "I'll win next time. Promise."

"Sure," she grinned back. Robin leaned forward, trying not to flinch at the explosion in her left shoulder. "You know, your synced form looks kinda hot~"

"How would you know? It doesn't even have a face!"

She flipped the peace sign and walked back down the stairs. No one needed to know how fast her heart was pounding from the transitions between her body's possession or how much she wanted to collapse and puke right now. No one should have noticed the crunch of her shoulder over the cheer of the crowd. It should have just been pushed out of its socket, she could shove it back later.

But from Andi's scowl, even with the 2-1 game, she was in some serious trouble.

"Our next lesson is when it's a good time to switch," Andi snarled in her ear.

She nodded. Quiet, docile. If Andi wanted her to beat her and become Phi, she could do it. Would do it. But she was doing it her way. She'd stay like this, patient, useful, a doll. People loved dolls, loved to play with them, change them to the way they wanted to doll to be.

And when she'd learned enough, when the blader's guard was down, she'd strike.

I'm an assassin, not a warrior.

She just hoped her fake face wouldn't become her real one.

They won, 3-1, but AS Gallus was staying in town to see the rest of the tournament. Which meant Daigo would be around longer, much to the enthusiasm of the others. Even Andi looked interested, a fact that made Robin seem defensive.

Free waited the day out, training away from everyone else, who was celebrating. Trad didn't seem enthusiastic about wasting a day, but at Kris's insistence, he let everyone be happy. Andi and Robin were nowhere to be seen there, anyways. The strongest bladers were training anyways.

The new moon caught his attention, darkness surrounding him as the sun went down. He still wanted to get some training finished, though not the blading kind. Free'd heard about a blue-haired male who faded into shadows. He still had a video from Daigo Kurogami's match with him.

Ukyo Ibuki.

Shadow Walker.

Ninja.

What could he learn from this?

"Hello again, stranger," someone whispered in his ear. How had they gotten past his defenses so quickly?

Free whipped around, grateful for his hoodie and mask. Just in case he came back. "The second time? That doesn't make us strangers." He frowned. "Are you stalking me?"

"How could I stalk you when I don't know your name?" The male put a hand over his heart, feigning hurt.

"Are you Ukyo Ibuki?" he asked suddenly. Only a talented person could get behind him without his noticing, and this person seemed talented.

"No." The male tilted his head, black eyes sizing him up. "If I'm going to... stalk you... as you said, why would I go to the same place again?" He grinned. "Maybe I want to thank you."

"Why?"

He frowned suddenly. "Because you're taking care of Robin. Or at least trying." He sighed and slumped onto the branch. "So thank you."

I look at him, really looked at him. "Thank yous are a waste of words. You shouldn't say them."

"You're pretty cold, stranger," he smirked.

"Helps a lot."

"For what?" the stranger countered. "For pushing people away? For manipulating them? For finding out what kind of person they are?" He punched Free's shoulder, and it hurt. "There are better ways. Like friends, or at least knowing people." His frown looked a little sad. "Someone taught me that."

"Friends are weakness," Free stated automatically. It was the wrong thing to say.

"What the hell hurt you enough to see everyone as obstacles?" He could sense the aggression coming off him. The other male balanced perfectly on the edge of the branch. Impressive.

"None of your business."

Just as fast, the aggression was gone. "I suppose it doesn't matter." He cast a lazy glance at him as he sat down. "Pretty strange guy, Stranger."

Free flinched. Was this guy nicknaming the number-one blader Stranger? Then again, it felt good to be able to speak freely with someone without feeling a threat over his shoulder.

"Likewise, Shadow."

He laughed. "I think we're going to be good friends."