//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5: Fundamentals 
// Story: Beyblade: Worlds Unite 
// by Seeker1 
//------------------------------//

The sun was ablaze upon the city of Canterlot. It shined down as one person was waiting patiently for who they expected to show up. Emerald was in Canterlot Park as he was currently leaning against a tree. After informing Twilight the previous day that he would teach her how to beyblade, he told the bookworm to meet him here. The teen looked at the giant clock lamp post near the park's entrance as there were only ten minutes left before it was four. This meant that soon, the principal of the student council would be here.

Safe to say, Emerald was a bit nervous. He'd trained and given pointers to other bladers before, yet, he was most unsure about this time. For one, all the people he advised in the past were male, so he was already going to be out of his comfort zone with Twilight. The second had to do with the girl herself. Twilight Sparkle was not only one of the, if not the brightest, student in CHS. A girl like her could have no problem accomplishing whatever she wanted if she put her mind to it. And here she was, a student council, a bookworm, an adorkable nerd, asking him... him... of all people to teach her. It just... felt so... unheard of. 

Didn't she have other people she could ask? I mean, doesn't she hang out with that one boy? What was his name again? The one that almost everyone at school agrees is the favorite to win the district tournament. Flash something, if he could guess. Why didn't she go to him? I'm sure he would have agreed to teach no sweat and have a much easier time than she would have had with him.

But I don't want anybody else! I want you!!

Emerald recalled the words that the bookworm had said to him. 

Still, what could someone like him, born and raised on the streets from where he grew up, could teach a girl like her. He was nothing more than a street kid, whereas Twilight was raised like a princess. Having a good life and a nice home, why risk all that to learn some beyblading from someone she probably wasn't gonna even remember later in her life?

The teen reached into his pocket and pulled out Lunor. The boy looked at his bey as it seemed to be talking to him. Emerald sighed as he began to recall something from his past.

(Memory)

"The fact that Emerald has taken a liking to Blading actually makes you happy, doesn't it?" said Emerald's mother to her husband as they sat across from each other with a cup of hot chocolate. "I know that you're concerned, but it seems like there's more to it. What's wrong?"

"Emerald has a strong resonance with his bey. I've honestly never anything quite like it before," responded Emerald's father to his wife while looking down at his mug.

"Well, that's a good thing, right?" asked Emerald's mother, as she didn't know much about Blading.

"When the resonance isn't too strong, but when it is, a Blader can be consumed by their Bey. I've seen them suffer because of it," said Emerald's father as he tightened his grip on his mug. One could see a hint of personal tone in that statement. "More than anything, I don't want Emerald to endure that pain."

"But dear, you're the one who allowed Emerald to make a Bey in the first place, remember?" said the woman to her husband as he sighed and looked down for a bit. "I think, in your heart, you honestly want Emerald to Blade."

(End of Memory)

"Right... promise," said Emerald as he closed his hand.

Just then, he heard some footsteps and someone shout.

"I'm coming! I'm coming!" said Twilight as she was jogging toward the boy with some papers flying out of her backpack.

Emerald looked up at the clock and saw four on the dot, and the girl showed up. Not that he didn't expect her to, given how much of a freak she was about being organized and whatnot.

"Sorry about that; I got lost grading papers," said Twilight as she leaned over a bit to catch her breath from running from school.

"You grade papers?" Emerald said as he bent over to pick some off the floor.

"Not only am I principal of the student council, but I'm also a teacher's aid," said Twilight, taking some pride in that.

"Of course you are," snickered Emerald quietly as he found it to be cute in a way for the girl. He then collected all the papers before handing them to the bookworm, who put them away.

"Alright, I'm ready to train. So, what's the first thing we're gonna do? Oh, I brought some pens and paper. Not to mention flashcards." squealed Twilight as she reached into her backpack and pulled the materials out.

"Calm down, Einstein. Blading is much more than just holding a launcher and pulling the string. It requires dexterity when holding and aiming your launcher, athleticism when trying to get the best spin speed, and endurance when you're in the tenth round of a tournament or in a high-pressure situation. If you can master these three, you'll be a better Blader than when you walked in. Understand?"

"Yes," nodded Twilight as she wrote those three points down. She then showed them to Emerald as the boy rolled his eyes; seems the girl had her own way of studying.

"Alright, to start. We're gonna do some basic drills that anybody can do. So follow me," said the boy as he led Twilight to a park section where he had some stuff set up.

They approached a tree as it had a string wrapped around the base.

"This here is simple. You pulled back on the string as hard as you can. This is to work the muscles in your arm and to help build them. Core muscle determines how strong you pulled the cord of your launcher, which then translates to how much speed and power your bey will have when it's launched." 

"I see. The speed of a bey depends on how fast you pull the launcher string. If you pull the string quickly, your Bey will spin much faster. However, it would be best if you had power to make it happen. A simple matter of kinetic and potential energy. The kinetic energy is the spin speed of your bey, and the potential energy is how much muscle and strength you put into launching it to give it power." rambled Twilight.

"Y-yeah. That's correct. Huh, well done. Not many people would get it like that on their first try, " said Emerald as he was impressed by Twilight's intelligence and how she worded it in a way that made sense.

"Well, I'm not just a straight-A student because I failed Physics," smiled Twilight with a hint of pride.

"Anyways, let me show," said Emerald as he approached the tree and grabbed the string hanging off the tree bark.

The boy took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a few seconds before opening them.

"Three... two... one... Let it rip!" shouted Emerald as he backed on the string as hard as he could. He then brought it back before pulling back on it again. The teen did a couple more pulls as Twilight watched and studied Emerald's form.

After a few more pulls, he let go of the string and turned to the girl.

"Simple. Now you give it a try," said Emerald.

Twilight stepped up as she looked at the tree. Emerald grabbed her hand as he guided it to the string.

"Remember, firm hand. Pull back; let your arm do the work," stated the boy, who was next to the girl with his hand over hers as he showed her what to do.

"Got it," said Twilight as Emerald removed his hand and stepped to the side.

"Alright. 3... 2... 1... Let it rip!" shouted the boy.

Twilight pulled as hard as she could on the string and reeled her arm back. She retracted it back and then pulled on Emerald's next command. The girl pulled more as the boy watched her and took mental notes. After a few minutes, he got the bookworm to stop.

"How'd I do?" asked Twilight.

"Okay, but there are some problems," said Emerald as he approached the girl. "You want to keep your back straight," stated the teen as he appeared behind the girl and put his hands on her waist. He straightened the girl's posture as Twilight turned a bit red, mainly because if anybody walked by and saw them in this position, it would raise some questions.

"Next, your stance. You want to make sure your legs aren't too spread apart but wide enough if you need to change your pose," stated Emerald as he bent down, grabbed Twilight's legs, and helped position them properly.

Once again, the girl was red from the boy touching her and feeling his hands on her exposed skin, but also because of the thought of people walking by.

"And lastly, don't be so tense," said Emerald as he stood up and placed his hands on her shoulders. "If you're tense, you're gonna overshoot how much power you're putting into your launcher, which will affect your bey. This is the most important part, so it's the one you want to make sure you have down perfectly."

Emerald had his hands on the girl's shoulders as he tried to get them to calm down while also adjusting them. Once again, Twilight couldn't help but turn red at their position should any wondering eyes see them. Not only that, but with Emerald's hands on her shoulders, the girl could feel the tiny bits of muscles in his fingers as they felt nice. Comfortable in a way. While Emerald wasn't giving her a massage, his fingers dug into her shoulder as he adjusted her stance, giving off that vibe as she seemed to enjoy it.

"You ready?!" said Emerald.

"Huh? Oh, yeah!" stated Twilight as she was brought out of her small daydream and shook her head. The girl was now refocused on the task as she took a deep breath.

"Alright... three... two... one... Let it rip!" announced Emerald.

Twilight pulled the string on the tree as hard as she could. She brought it back before retracting it and pulling on Emerald's command. The boy watched the girl do the exercises, now with the adjustments, he made to her as he saw how much better she was getting. 




In the Sparkle household, Spike was in his room. Since suffering his loss, he'd been in a rut as of late. The boy had his face buried in his pillow as his bey, Dragonheart, was on his desk. While the boy felt sorry for himself, Velvet was shown peeking into his room. The woman could sense her son was devasting after suffering a big loss; Shining was the same when he was Spike's age. 

"Hey, Spike," said Velvet as she appeared by her child's bed. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Mom," spoke Spike's muffled voice.

"Why don't you help me make a pie? It'll cheer you up," said Velvet with a warm smile.

"Okay," spoke the boy as he removed his face from the pillow.

The woman smiled as she got up and left with Spike following his mother.

"The first thing is mopping! We need the floor cleaned. So strengthen your arms." said Velvet as she tossed the mop to her son.

"Alright," said Spike as he began to mop the floor.

The boy was putting some muscle behind mopping the floor as Velvet was shown smiling.

"Now, the windows. Put your shoulders into it! You'll need that shoulder strength, " the woman said to her son. "Use your arm muscles too."

"On it!" said Spike as he began to furiously scrub the windows, wanting to make sure they were sparkling and clean.

"Don't forget, strong core muscles are key to everything!" said Velvet as she watched her son pick up sacks of soil for her plants.

"Core workout! Got it!" said Spike as he struggled to lift and walk with the bags of soil.

Bags of floor were now dropped onto the kitchen floor as Spike let out a sigh of exhaustion and wiped his forehead.

"There! So, what do I do next?" asked Spike to his mother.

"That's all, my son. Now, go wash up and do your homework. Dinner won't be long!" stated Velvet as she rubbed Spike's hair.

"'Kay!" said Spike as he turned and walked up the stairs to his room.

Velvet turned as she was revealed to have a sneaky smile. What seemed like regular chores was actually some training. The woman had her son do all these chores to build up his muscles to have a better handle at launching his bey. And as a result, she could see the small muscles that were developing for Spike. It worked when Shining Armor was younger and in the same position as Spike, as it proved effective once again. 

"Still got it," snickered Velvet as she was proud of herself for helping her son and getting him to do chores for her.




Emerald and Twilight were wrapping up their launcher pulls. They were now walking a few meters away as the boy had something else to show the girl he was tutoring. Twilight was taken aback as she saw an obstacle course of sorts.

"What is this?" said the girl.

"You like it? I made it myself," said Emerald.

"You... made this?" said Twilight, now taken aback by Emerald's creativeness. 

She figured the boy was smart, given how he was in the same advanced math class as her, but to put together this course with nothing but his bare hands impressed her.

"It's nothing big. Enough for us to train on it," said the boy.

"Train?" stated Twilight.

"You heard me; this is where you'll be training alongside me. I run it before and after school every. Single. Day," he turned back and walked over to his backpack beside the course that Twilight hadn't seen. He picked up a small stopwatch from the box beside it, "We'll start out small. You'll run the course a few times when you're able, and I'll time it with this watch," he held up the small timepiece, then set it back down, "and once you've gotten the hang of it, we'll try beating that time, again and again, until I've deemed you good enough," he said, then gave her a wicked grin that sent shivers down her spine, "If you haven't given up by then," he intoned darkly.

Twilight swallowed the lump in her throat, "I-I don't know..." she began, "How is this any better than before....?" she asked. Emerald's grin fell, replaced by a small smile.

"Because this time, it's all up to you," he said; Twilight tilted her head, not understanding, "With this course, your standard is set by your first run. Your goal is to simply beat that time," he explained, "Beating that time requires effort. It requires you to be able to run faster. To react quicker. To be better," he said firmly, "If you don't manage to beat it, then you keep trying and trying until you do. And after you've beaten that time, you can try to beat that one. And so on and so forth, until you've reached a point you're satisfied with."

Twilight blinked and glanced back at the obstacle course in a new light. This... this could help her. It was a perfect idea. A training regime set by her standards and at her pace. If she needed to do better, it would be evident how long it took her to run, and it would constantly keep track of her progress!

"Keep in mind, even though I'm willing to let you use this thing, I use it too. So please try to keep it clean and in one piece," Emerald said, startling her from her thoughts, "You can use it anytime you want," he stressed that part hard, "but I'd recommend a half-hour break between each run for you, at least at first," he added, "Understand?" he asked. Twilight nodded.

"Of course!" she said confidently, then gave him a gentle smile, "And thank you, Emerald. This.... this means a lot to me," she added sincerely. Emerald turned away suddenly, chuckling nervously.

"N-no problem. Now... I'll give it a go to show you how it's meant to be run, alright?" he asked, then held the watch out to her, "Mind timin' it for me?"

Twilight was running the course for the fifth time. Emerald was timing her as he could see the massive improvement in the girl. They soon stopped for a small break as the boy pulled out some sandwiches and water for them to snack on.

"Here," said Emerald as he offered a sandwich to Twilight.

"Thanks," said the girl as she took it. "So, how am I doing?"

"For someone just starting out. Not bad," stated Emerald. "Out of everyone I've helped and tutored when they began to Blade, you've definitely understood it and got the handle of it relatively quickly."

"Really? You're not just saying that to be nice, are you? I can handle constructive criticism. Don't be afraid that you might hurt my feelings." said Twilight as she tried to tell Emerald to be honest with her.

"Believe me, if I did tell you that you sucked. You've heard me say so about now," said Emerald as he held his sandwich in one hand and took a bite. "I don't sugarcoat shit, Twilight. I call it as I see it. It's one of the reasons why I said what I said to your brother. Um, by the way, how is he?"

"He's... doing okay. He loves to Blade as well, and no doubt a loss like that after gaining such confidence, really set him back a bit. But I have no doubt and full faith that Spike will be fine." stated the lavender-haired girl.

"Again, let me be clear. When we battled, I didn't mean to upset him or make him think he was inferior. I gave him a life lesson on reality. The world is cruel; what I said to Spike was more like a slap on the wrist. The world will be much harsher than what I said. Because we live in a world where most people don't care about your feelings." stated Emerald. 

"That's a unique way of looking at the world," responded Twilight.

"Well, when you grow up on the streets, you tend to see things for what they truly are."

Emerald took a sip of his water as he finished the last bit. He then tossed it toward a nearby recycle bin, and it landed in the hole.

"So... why did you choose to tutor me? After rejecting me and my pleas? What changed?" asked the student council president.

"Well..." started Emerald as he rubbed his neck and turned away, trying to put his reasoning into words, "I... I... saw that you... had a big heart."

"Huh?"

"I had doubts that you could handle all it took to be a Blader. But the way you were determined to learn, I could tell this was something that you wanted. So I said yes to see if you'd quit after the first session. And well... you're still here with me. So that heart that I saw proved to be right. I told you, Blading is a lot harder than you think. But if you have heart, you can be a decent player."

Twilight to a second to register what Emerald was saying as the teen looked at the rest of her sandwich. A smile came on her face as she was glad to see that she could convince the boy to change his mind.

"Well, thank you. Truly. It means a lot to hear that."

"Don't mention it," replied Emerald as he turned to look ahead while Twilight finished her sandwich.

After a few minutes of sitting in silence and watching some kids play in the park, Twilight spoke.

"So, Emerald. How are you enjoying CHS?" asked the bookworm.

"Not bad. Then again, I've only been there for a few days, but everyone here is friendly. Almost too friendly in some regards, but I can tolerate it."

"Have you thought about joining any clubs?" asked Twilight.

"I'm not really the club-joining kind of guy," said Emerald.

"Well, it wouldn't hurt to look. We have a club fair on Friday for any people wanting to join. You could look at it and see if any catch your interest. We got a Bey club." said Twilight, hoping that would entice the boy.

"Hmm, I'll see. Again, though, no promises," stated Emerald.

"By the way, what's next?" asked Twilight.

"Well, now that you've got the workout and obstacle course done to prepare you mentally and physically. This is the part where we start to make your bey."

"Make my bey?" said Twilight.

"Yup, I made my all on my own," said the boy as he pulled out his bey, Lunor, and handed it to the girl. "I envisioned what I wanted it to look, put a computer program over it, and voila, it came out better than I expected."

"Computer program, eh? So... that means you're good at technology?" asked Twilight as she leaned in and got really close to the boy's face with a huge smile.

"Eh, I dabble a bit," stated the teen, as he didn't think it was anything worth bragging about.

"Well, I can help you. I am the president of the student council. Not to mention I have some leeway regarding other curriculums."

"Anyone mention that you're a nerd?" said Emerald.

"Don't call me that!" shouted Twilight as she pouted.

Emerald couldn't help but snicker at how he got such a reaction from the bookworm. It was a cute reaction, he had to admit.

"So, when do we make my bey?" asked Twilight.

"Well, to do that, we need some special machines. Come to my house tomorrow once you're done with your council meeting. I'll help you in creating it. Tonight try to come up with some designs on what you want your bey to look like."

"Alright, then," nodded the girl. "By the way, you never told me why you transferred here? If it's not too personal."

"It's fine. Well, my grandmother lives here. And well... my parents felt it best if I moved here to sort of get away from all the crazy stuff I grew up with in my old home. I guess they just wanted me to get out of there and go somewhere happier. It's fine for what it is; my grandma was able to help me find a small place and a job so I could afford it. But she still checks on me once in a while."

"I see. What's your favorite color?" asked Twilight.

"That's a weird segway after what I just said," stated Emerald.

"I want to get to know you better. After all, if you're tutoring me, the least I can do is get to know who you are other than your name. I want us to be friends, not just acquaintances." said the girl.

"You sure you want to associate yourself with me? I'm nothing special, not like your other friends."

"So? That doesn't bother me. So... your favorite color?" asked Twilight.

"... Yellow," answered Emerald.

"Me too," said Twilight, "Favorite ice cream?"

"Plain vanilla."

"Wow. Same here!" stated Twilight.

"Okay, now that's just weird," stated Emerald at how he and the girl seemed to like the same things.

"Alright, this will prove if we like the same things. Favorite subject?"

"Really? Out of all the questions, you could ask me to see if we're similar; you go with 'favorite subject'? Really? That's what you ask?!" said Emerald.

Twilight started to turn red as she looked away. Hearing the boy's response embarrassed her as she seemed to reinforce Emerald's claim of what he said earlier about her being a nerd.

"Sorry. Got carried away," spoke the girl as she rubbed her hair.

"It's fine," smiled Emerald.

At that moment, a sound was heard. Twilight reached into her pocket as her phone rang.

"Hello?" said the girl as she answered her mobile device. "Hi, Mom. Yeah, I'm on my way. I was just... hanging out with a friend. I'll be there in 15 minutes. Love you."

"Let me guess, you're late," stated the boy.

"My mom says dinner is ready and where I was. Sorry," apologized Twilight.

"Nah, it's fine. I think it's best we call it for the day," said Emerald as he and Twilight stood up.

The pair grabbed their backpacks as they began to leave the park.

"So, tomorrow at your place?" asked the bookworm.

"Yeah. We'll get to making your bey then. Just come up with some designs or drawings on what you want it to look like," stated Emerald.

"Will do. Thanks. Oh, before I forget, let me give you my number." stated the teen as Emerald gave her his phone and she inputted her info. "There. If I have any questions, I'll text you for some answers. See you tomorrow at school!" stated Twilight as she waved goodbye to the boy before taking off.

Emerald just watched Twilight until she was gone from his sight. He then looked down at his phone as he opened up his contacts and saw the image of the girl.

"Moving to a new place and getting a girl's digits. Not a bad day," said Emerald as he put his smartphone away and began to head home.