Stormflight: Together We Stand, Chapter 1.

Madoka was scared. Really scared. She just had to find Gingka, had to get in contact with him or one of the other Legend Bladers somehow. She had been up all night repairing Saramanda and Ifraid after their battle against Goreim-Begirados. That Kira guy… he was two things: number one, the very definition of weird, and number two, a huge threat. Who knew what he was up to? Whatever it was, he must be stopped. Madoka racked her brain for ideas. The first option that came to mind was Hyoma in Koma Village.

"Surely that's where Gingka is." Madoka thought, keying in her password and requesting a video chat with Hyoma.

She breathed a sigh of relief once her light, purplish-blue haired friend came up onscreen, a look of concern on his face. "Is everything alright over there? You look worried." Hyoma asked casually.

"Not exactly. A new threat has come up here and I was wondering if Gingka was there" Madoka replied, stifling a yawn.

"No, he's not, I don't know where he is."

Madoka jumped in surprise. "But that's where he said he was going when he left here five years ago!" she stammered, caught off guard.

"Well, he's not here, he disappeared mysteriously about two years ago."

Madoka sighed. " Well, thanks anyway Hyoma."

"Hope you find him, and call me if you do, Ryo is getting worried."

"Will do" Madoka replied, exiting the chat room. She closed her eyes, trying to think of where else to look. Instead, she found herself picturing Gingka as she had last seen him five years ago. Images of a sixteen-year-old, redheaded boy flashed through her mind. Even only two years after the battle against Nemesis, he had matured a lot. Yet there was always those few traces of the old Gingka there, such as his burning passion for Beyblade, his seemingly endless appetite for triple-layer beef burgers. Madoka could still remember the day he had left, just like it was yesterday.

Ryo had been giving last-minute instructions to Tsubasa on running the WBBA, and Gingka had suggested that they go to the park. As they sat on the swings together, Madoka had finally confessed her love to Gingka, who had not been surprised, and had told her that he had had a crush on her ever since she had fixed his Pegasus for the first time. Madoka had felt the color rising in her face ad the redheaded teen turned his golden-brown eyes onto her face. She had gazed back with her sparkling, sapphire eyes. Gingka had grasped her small hands in his strong ones, and had promised her that he would return for her. Madoka could still remember the way his strong arms had felt as they wrapped around her shoulders, the way he had waved at her as he rode off on the train to Koma Village.

"I will come back for you."

His words still rang n her mind. But now, when she needed him the most, where was he? She had expected him to return, had stayed up late every night since then, watching, waiting, eyes peeled for that familiar, flaming red hair to come back in her direction. Madoka smiled slightly as the image of the teen again crept into her mind. His white scarf blew in the wind, wrapping itself around his blue t-shirt and jeans, his blader's gear ever-present at his belt, ready for action. Shining, nearly knee-high boots completed the look of the far more mature Legendary Blader known as Gingka Hagani. But now was not the time to be daydreaming, now was the time to take action and find him. She felt that it was up to her, Madoka Amano, the make sure that he would be there when the world needed him.

Meanwhile, in the Himalayas, a solitary figure gazed at the rising sun. Alarms suddenly sounded in his head as his sensors picked up something behind him. He turned, almost mechanically, motors making whirring noises as they focused his eyes on the figure behind him. One glance took it all in: the burly figure, a shining dagger grasped in his right hand, the surprised look on his face as he finally saw what he had been following all the way up this mountain.

"Shall I turn you into scrap metal, tin boy?" he sneered.

Metallic eyelids slid over the glowing blue sensors as the robot closed its eyes.

"Well now, if that was possible, I have no doubt that you would do so." came the reply as more gears clicked into place.

The man lunged, only to find himself fighting thin air as the robot leapt over the cliff edge. Halfway through his fall, the robot sprouted a pair of jetpacks and flew off, leaving the stunned man behind as it headed over mainland China.

Nearly an hour later, the robot landed in a small town at the edge of the Gobi desert, his jetpacks out of power. He retracted them back into his back and stepped into the town. Many people hid at the imposing sight of the nearly six-foot tall robotic figure as he passed through the town. Royal blue hair fell over a metal face, the shape of which gave the robot an imposing, ninja-like look. Blue eyes shone out from between loose strands of hair hanging around his face. A long, dark blue coat hung around his shoulders, a black turtleneck shirt zipped up to his chin underneath it. Underneath the coat, navy blue pants were bunched over the tops of a pair of shining, black, knee-high boots. As the robot exited the town and began crossing the Gobi desert, the people of the town began muttering. News spread quickly across all of China, and people began locking themselves inside their homes.

Back in Metal Bey City, Madoka was still trying to locate Gingka. She had come up with a list of places he could have gone, and people she could potentially call to find out if he was there. As she was still typing, Zero and Maru entered along with Ren, Shinobu, Eito and Kaito.

"Hi teacher!" Maru said happily.

Madoka jumped, then turned. "Oh, its just you guys." she said, relieved.

"Are you ok?" Maru asked, noting the tired, worried look on Madoka's face.

"What are you doing?" Zero inquired, noticing the list on her screen.

"I'm fine, just tired and confused." Madoka replied. "Just trying to find someone."

"Who are you trying to find?" Ren spoke up.

"Can we help?" Eito asked.

"I don't know, you guys probably don't have any clue that could help me. I'm trying to find someone who could help us against Kira and his allies." Madoka replied. "The list on my screen here is a bunch of places he could be."

"I have never even heard of most of these places before." Kaito said, peering at Madoka's screen. "Are they all in Japan?"

"No, they are locations all around the world, half of them I would have to actually go to to find out if he is there." Madoka replied.

"You haven't even told us who you are looking for yet, how are we supposed to help if we don't know who we are looking for?" Maru jumped in.

Madoka sighed. "I am trying to find Gingka."

Everyone jumped back in surprise.

"Of course! He can absolutely help!" Zero exclaimed.

"Where are these locations? We can go look for you!" Shinobu offered.

"Hold on a second!" Madoka said, holding up her hands to quiet the excited group. "I was going to call some people first, see if he is in those places. The only thing you guys can do right now is to go and- wait a minute! You guys can check out Bey Coliseum for me! That's nearby!"

"Bey Coliseum?" the group said, confused.

"It's just north of the city." Madoka replied to the unspoken question. "It is the place where the whole journey started for most of the bladers nine years ago, the location of a great battle between Gingka, Kyoya, Kenta, Benkei, and others just before they all set off to gather points for Battle Bladers. Many of the great battles of the Legendary Bladers happened there, it was where they hung out before they all left for various places around the world."

"Wow…" Zero muttered.

"Let's go then! North end of the city, right?" Eito exclaimed.

"Wait, here, ill give you a map." Madoka said, printing out a map for them.

After the excited group left, Madoka leaned back in her chair and clicked one of the icons on her screen. An empty chair showed up on her screen, and she could hear arguing in the background. Madoka took a deep breath, readying herself for the words that always got their attention.

"WOULD. YOU. GUYS. STOP. IT. ALREADY?" she yelled into the microphone.

The four young men wrestling on the floor yelped and stood up to see Madoka's face glaring at them from the computer screen.

"Oh, hey Madoka, sorry we were just-" Masamune began, but Madoka interrupted him.

"I don't care what you were arguing about, is Gingka there?"

"Nope, we haven't seen him since we came back here to the Dungeon Gym." King replied, running his fingers through his navy-blue hair.

"Do you have any idea where he might be?" Madoka sighed.

"Nope, the last we heard from him was him and Masamune arguing over who got the last burger at that going-away party you threw for us." Toby jumped in.

"He started it..." Masamune muttered.

"What? I seem to remember that you started it!" Zeo yelled.

Madoka sweatdropped as the four began to argue once more, then closed the chat window.

-meanwhile, at Beylin Temple-

Snoring filled the air in the main security complex at Beylin Temple. A large monitor hung from the wall on one side of the room, next to it were two smaller monitors, one of which displayed a radar, the other one displayed images from security cameras around the temple. Seated casually in the chair behind all three monitors was a tall, strong figure. His dark green eyes were closed, a few strands of golden and dark brown hair hung in his face. The light from the monitors reflected off of his white coat, a red training uniform visible underneath. Da Xiang Wang still looked much the same as he had seven years ago, with the exception of an obviously older, stronger form replacing the younger version of seven years ago. Suddenly, he was awakened by an alarm ringing. His forest-green eyes flew open, scanning the radar screen in front of him to find the disturbance that the sensors had picked up. Something was scaling the rocks outside, something metal. Whatever it was, it was getting dangerously close to Beylin Temple.

"Mei-Mei!" he called.

In response to his call, a young, black-haired woman stepped into the room. "Yes sir?" she said.

"Watch the security cameras and radar for me, there is a disturbance and I need to check it out." Da Xiang replied, grabbing his bey gear and blade and exiting the room.

"It would be my splasher." Mei-Mei said, bowing.

"It's pleasure, Mei-Mei!" Chao Xing's voice sounded irritably down the hall from where he was training some younger bladers.

Da Xiang strode down the hallway and opened a large door. Inside was a strong, brown-haired man, training with the wooden dummies for opponents. Da Xiang cleared his throat. The older man took one last launch at the target, hitting it and shutting down the training system.

"Yes, Da Xiang?" he said, turning to his friend and rival.

"We have a disturbance outside, I need you to come with me to check it out."

"Alright, ill be there in a second." Aguma replied, turning to collect his bey, then following Da Xiang.

Just outside the compound of Beylin Temple, the robot was climbing up the rocks, trying to get to Beijing before sunset. He had absolutely no intention of entering Beylin, but was merely passing through. His jetpacks were almost fully charged, and he figured that by the time he got to Beijing, he would have enough charge in the battery to fly across the Sea of Japan to Tokyo. His main goal was to not be seen, but that plan seemed to be failing him with every step he took. His sensors suddenly picked up two figures heading down in his direction. Gears whirred and clicked into place as his vision automatically zoomed out to focus on the two cloaked bladers climbing down towards him. In one swift move, he leapt off the side of the cliff, using the built-in grappling hook on his wrist to swing across to another cliff face.

"Look at that movement!" Aguma commented, watching the blue figure as it swung across the canyon.

"Should we follow it?" Da Xiang wondered out loud.

"I don't know, that might be kind of hard. We should probably go and activate Beylin's defenses." Aguma replied.

Mei-Mei's voice suddenly sounded through both of their walkie-talkies. "Da Xiang, Aguma, there is a fall here for you."

"It's call, Mei-Mei!" Chao called.

"Alright, we are on our way back." Aguma replied, then began climbing back up to the temple.

-five minutes later-

Aguma and Da Xiang entered the control room to find Mei-Mei chatting happily with Madoka about girly stuff.

"Yeah and- oh, Da Xiang! Aguma! Hi guys! Do you know where Gingka is?" Madoka asked quickly, almost in one breath.

"No, we don't, why?" Aguma replied, leaning casually against the wall.

Madoka sighed. "I'm trying to find him because we need him to stop a threat here."

"I see." Da Xiang said. "If we hear anything, we'll tell you, but for now, we don't know anything."

"Alright, thanks guys." Madoka said. "Hey Mei-Mei, we need to get together sometime, i'll see you guys later!" with that, she cut off the communication.

"That was close." the robot muttered as he climbed onto the top of the cliff. He turned back to look at Beylin Temple, then turned and continued on. Two hours later, he reached Beijing. He waited until night fell, then entered the city. Staying fully in the shadows, he quickly made his way through the city, a mere shadow himself the whole way. Once out of the city, he continued on to the beach, intending on conserving fuel. Once he reached the beach, he found no one there, and cloud cover forming, a perfect night for flying across the sea without anyone seeing him.

Back in Metal Bey City, Madoka was exhausted. She had taken most of the day as usual helping young bladers at the B-Pit, and had then called all the places she could think of. Even after calling Wang Hu Zhong, Excalibur, Team Dungeon, Yuki at his observatory, and Hyoma earlier that morning, she was ready to cry. It seemed like Gingka was nowhere to be found. She had to remind herself and the tired group of bladers behind her that there were still more places to look, such as Mist Mountain, Mount Hagani, Snowy Mountain, even potentially Nemesis Island, as the world had come to call the very island that the struggle against the dark bey had taken place on.

Zero was already tired, and even the prospect of an adventure couldn't cheer him up. He had lost the map Madoka had given them, and, completely ignoring Ren and Maru's protests, had insisted that he remembered where it was. It had taken them several hours to find it, and when they did, they had just stood and gazed up at the large structure, almost afraid to enter, wondering if there was a Legendary Blader inside. They had finally entered, however, and had found evidence of the many battles that had been fought there. The center of the arena was cracked and indented, obviously from a bey. One wall was collapsed, probably also by a bey. They also found a couple of old hamburger wrappers lying around. After looking around in awe for a while, the group left, noting that the sun was setting.

Meanwhile, although no one knew it, the robot had touched down on the coast of Japan. He immediately headed for Tokyo, intent on reaching Metal Bey City within the week. Neither the WBBA or anyone else knew that he was coming, evil was arising, and good must be ready to stop it.