The Weird, Wild, and Wonderous World of Beyblade

Lean & Shu-Mask

All rights reserved to Hiro Morita.  Alright, fair warning, this one might be a bit rough on the grammar side, long story short, my computer's busted and I can't access my Grammarly properly.

Shu knew that meeting Lean would be like walking up to a tornado. Regardless, he needed to keep his cool if he wanted to reel him in.

"What do you want?" The pink-haired boy said with narrowed eyes and a clench of his teeth.

The spiky-haired boy seemed practically live and breath anger and hatred. That strange resonance he had made it all the worse. Shu had spent the last few days watching his matches. Each one left the white-haired guy turning his head in disgust.

Lean and his First Uranus shattered Bey after Bey, some from kids even as old as five. The tears and cries of his opponents always ghosted through him.

It pained him to think about it, but Shu remembered a time when he was no better when the world knew him as the monstrous Blader, Red Eye.

But that was the thing. Shu had moved past that and never looked back. Being Red Eye was just a slow-motion death spiral into obsession, he was lucky to have someone who could snap him out of it.

Lean wasn't.

Alright, focus. Shu told himself. Eyes straight, keep calm.

"My name's Shu Kurenai. Leader and captain of New York's Raging Bulls." He reached out a gloved hand to the boy who stood on the steps of the local Blading arena in the dusk light. "Nice to meet you."

Lean rolled his ringed yellow eyes. "Wish I could say the same."

Shu kept his hand out. He knew the kid wouldn't play ball from the start. Man, did he know.
"Saw your fights back at the arena. A little rougher than I'd like, but your skills can't exactly go unnoticed, can they?"

Lean scoffed. "There's no such thing as skill when it comes to tearing up those losers."

"Hey, come on now, no need to throw that on anybody. Everyone's got something to offer in a Beybattle."

"Not all too convincing coming from a Legend." Shu couldn't fault him for that. Being one of the top Bladers in the world led to mixed reactions from people outside that bubble. Some days he'd go out in public and be swarmed with clamors for autographs, battles, etc. Another day on another side of the city, people would break for it like he was some kind of monster. But the last thing he'd want people to think was that he looked down on them.

"Maybe not. That aside, I think you'd do some good work batting for my team." 'After ironing out that temper.' Shu decided to leave out. Having the kid on the team would be the best way to watch him. If Shu was ever going to find out what was wrong with Lean, he'd need him at arm's length.

Lean gave him a skeptical look before scoffing."Not exactly in the mood to be playing boot camp." He turned to leave.

"Not even for a shot at the World Championship?"

The boy stopped mid-turn. "What was that?"

Shu's stern look masked his tensing shoulders. He'd let the cat out of the bag now. And he knew Lean would take it. Lording your strength over people who couldn't fight back could only fill you with so much joy before playing itself out. But fighting and defeating someone with some real power never got old.

"If you're good enough for my team, you'll be able to shoot for the roster of our championship lineup. If you want to fight to the top of the world, there's your best shot."

Lean's skeptical look returned. "Where do I start?"

"Well, I said you'd get there if you were good enough." Shu pointed to the Beystadium. "Know one of these that isn't shut down?"