Disclaimer: I don’t own Beyblade.

I’m using the Japanese-version names:

Yuri = Tala

Takao = Tyson

 

For All Who Gave Their Lives

 

Chapter 2: And the tale begins

 

I close my eyes, and think of home

Another city goes by in the night

Ain’t it funny how it is, you never miss it

‘till it’s gone away

And my heart is lying there and will be

‘till my dying day

                                                 (Iron Maiden ‘Wasted Years’)

 

 Two years have passed since the battle at Yuri’s father’s tower and the red-head still didn’t get near finding the lich. It wasn’t the only thing, which had been bothering him, though. He didn’t have anyone to turn to anymore. His father moved to one of the large elven cities to protect what so many warriors, including Yuri’s mother, lost their life for. ‘It would waste their sacrifice, if I stayed’ the elf said and Yuri knew he was right. But it didn’t make being alone easier to bear. He hadn’t seen his father since. Unfortunately, as a half-elf, Yuri was forbidden to enter the city.

 But than something happened, which made the lack of another humanoid being easier to cope with. Shortly after he left the tower, which has been his home for all his life, he had a close meeting with an angry wolf. He killed the wolf to protect himself and it was than he found out he was one of those rare people who could understand canines.

-         Don’t hurt my child. – he heard, or rather felt clearly. She, for the wolf was a female, seemed to be speaking with her whole body. – It’ll die soon without me, but don’t hurt it!

-         I’m sorry. – he whispered, but the wolf was already dead. Than following a strange impulse, which he started to understand only later, he started looking for the wolf’s den. She probably had to leave the pack – a strange thing for a pack animal to do. A lone wolf had little chances of surviving for very long.

 Finally, he found the den. He crawled inside and found several dead cubs and one living – a pale grey female. The little animals had starved and the one alive wasn’t in a good shape. Nevertheless, it growled at him and tried to bite him.

-         Shh... I won’t hurt you. – he said.

The cub stopped growling and cocked its head curiously.

-         Mommy? – it asked.

-         She’s dead. – he answered.

 The little wolf yelped sadly. Yuri took it, crawling out from the den. He didn’t know, why he took the cub back than. Later he realized that there were two reasons. He felt lonely back than, without his parents – his mother dead and his father out of reach. That was the other reason – the little wolf lost its parents as well.

 It was hard to travel and take care of the cub, but he managed. His skills developed, his fighting style had gotten much more vicious and his body stronger. The wolf proved to be very useful, after she grew more. He wanted to name her, but she didn’t understand the reason for it. She didn’t feel like an individual – she was a part of the pack and was content as such. After several futile attempts of explaining, why names were important, Yuri decided to call her Little Sister. It was better than yelling ‘Hey, you!’ and the wolf suggested it herself. She also decided, she would call him Older Brother, because it was, how she saw him.

 They came across some people – mainly adventurers and merchants. Yuri managed to earn some coins from the latter by selling them furs of wild animals – but never canines. He also tried to pry some information about the lich Balkov from the travelers, but none of had heard anything.

 Not all adventurers, he met were friendly. Some found half-elves an abomination and those he had to kill to survive. Others were ruffians, who thought a lone wanderer was easy pray. There was one, who had been deceived by the red-heads seemingly fragile beauty. Yuri didn’t find the idea of being a bed-wormer for an unknown man attractive. It was another disagreement, which ended in a fight. The young half-elf learned not to trust strangers, even those who seem friendly. It was bitter lesson for him, but one every lone traveler has to learn.

 Sometimes he would encounter some orks. The large brutes were definitely much stronger than the young half-elf, but incomparably stupider. It wasn’t difficult to trick them one or another way, especially when he realized his sword could freeze whatever it touched, when he wanted. It made the fights considerably easier, but not risk free.

 He would find small villages from time to time and he would do some tasks for the villagers – like killing some pesky creatures. The inhabitants of those settlements have never heard of the lich either. And so he went further to the lands where the winters were not so harsh.

 

 

 It was a beautiful, sunny day. The weather was not to warm and not to cold. The sky was blue, with some white clouds slowly drifting to an unknown destination. It was the beginning of summer. A lone figure dressed in samurai armor stood in front of a bridge. His name was Takao Kinomiya and his greatest dream was to become a hero one day. It seemed, he was going to fulfill it! His lord – an old, eccentric nobleman – told him to ‘bring glory and fame to his house’. Wasn’t that great? So he went off, taking only his swords.

 The weapons he possessed were inhabited by a powerful wind spirit – a ryu named Dragoon. What was strange, all the swords – the katana, the wakizashi and the tachi – had an equal fraction of the spirits power. It was very fortunate that the Kinomiyas owned all three since they had been made.

 The young samurai started traveling only several months ago. He was prepared for various encounters with his compatriots, but not for a meeting with a gaijin.

 That day Takao stood in front of a bridge waiting for another bushi to appear. He had been there for several hours, when one finally came. However, he did not look like the young samurai expected him to be. For one he was much taller than most inhabitants of Takao’s fatherland. He was also very slender – muck like a woman – and yet moved with a grace of hunting wolf. His red hair was another aspect of his looks one could hardly miss. The armor, he wore, was exotic for Takao – it seemed to be constructed of tiny metal rings. The gaijin stopped maybe two meters before the bushi and regarded him.

-         Hello. – he said. – I’d like to pass.

-         You have to fight me to do so. – replied Takao sternly. The red-haired gaijin rolled his eyes annoyedly.

-         If I must. – he shrugged and took out his sword. As far as Takao’s knowledge about the gaijins weapons was concerned, it appeared to be a very fine great sword.

-         We are fighting to the first blood. – announced the samurai. The red-head only smirked.

-         So be it. – suddenly he turned around. – And you, Little Sister, should stay out of this.

 A wolf snuck out of the bushes nearby and sat down. It gave the gaijin a strange look, almost as if it understood what was going to happen.

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 Orks are large hostile humanoid monsters. They had their first appearance in Tolkien’s ‘Lord of the Rings’ and had been a part of many fantasy worlds since.

 A tachi was an early version of a katana. The biggest Japanese swords were tachi. In this world, however, the tachi is a two-hander katana-like sword

Ryu = dragon – I’m going to call Dragoon ryu, because he’s more of Chinese/Japanese dragon than a European.

Samurai = bushi

Gaijin = foreiginer

 

Go to chapter 3

Back to chapter 1