The Weird, Wild, and Wonderous World of Beyblade

Lui & Drum-Shell

Lui's arc comes closer to its end. All rights belong to Hiro Morita. And so, this book enters the final stages. I promise I'll write something short next time. Anyway, I'm going to go play Final Fantasy 15 now.

Lui was done fighting with himself.

After that encounter with Free and making his way back to Japan, the light blue-haired boy swore never to return to Onigashima again. He wouldn't let his obsession with being the strongest Blader ruin him like that: trading the comfort of a city for the savagery of an island's jungles, throwing away convenient food for hunting like a dog.

In the dark blue bedroom of his family's apartment, the boy barred his shark-like teeth and tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for the email app on his computer to show up. After putting it off for as long as he wanted, Lui had finally decided to join the Blading Prize Circuit, a WBBA program that offered mountains of money to those who could rise to the top of their tournaments. It was the best Lui could do for his family after their poor financial state took them from a mansion to that trash heap of a car and even trashier apartments.

The horror of it all drove Lui over the edge into being obsessed with trying to feel that comfort, that security that he had as a kid, leading to him practically cutting off everything in his life to focus on his Blading and winding up on that worthless island. Thankfully, a good chewing out from Free, he'd managed to change his perspective and resolved to do something better with his life, and doing what he did best for money was definitely an improvement.

But that was where the problem started, to join the Prize Circuit, you had to be part of a team.

"Come on, come on, do what we bought you for..." Lui droned out while waiting for the computer to get on with it. He'd sent a request email to the team of his selection, the rather blandly-named Victories. As off putting as the garbage name was at first, a quick look through the rankings made it clear that they were far and above the humiliation being under that banner would bring. Good, the last thing Lui needed to get saddled with was a bunch of weaklings.

The inbox of the mail app finally flickered to life on the computer screen. Lui jumped at the chance, and clicked the top notification. The tab opened to a wall of text regarding his acceptance to the team and legal nonsense that the boy happily skimmed through, he was burning valuable hours of sleep as it was. The tail end of the document had an Accept button on the right and Decline button to the left.

Suddenly, Lui felt his once lax fingers clamp down on the mouse. A twinge of uncertainty ran through his head as his ringed, violet eyes stared at the two buttons.his mind drifted back to his last night at Onigashima. He'd made three promises to himself back there: To reunite with his parents, find a way he could support the family, and make himself some friends. The first one was all taken care of, but the other two were proving to be non-starters. Did he really need to do this of all things to make decent money? Being on a team was a pain for him; he'd always been in the business of doing things his way, most people in his eyes were like loud and obnoxious animals.

But he still needed that money.

Grunting and shaking his head, Lui slowly made his way to the Accept button and clicked it before shutting off the computer and pushing himself up from the chair.

Turning around, the boy made his way to his Bed, pulling back the blue covers and crawling under them. The world around him faded to black before he could put anymore thought into what he'd just done.

If things go south, just put up with it. He told himself as he drifted off.

Waking up slowly, Lui rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and threw the covers off of himself. Getting out of his bed, the boy went to the coat hanger on the right side of his room and pulled off the feathered boa he always wore, placing it on his bed as turned to his closet and pulled out a dark blue shirt with breeches and purple borders before draping it over his head.