Well here it is...the final chapter of this story. Sorry it took so long but I hope you all enjoy it all the same.

I'm not rich so.....

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Chapter 15: The Finale

A lone figure stood on the rooftop, looking down on the city below her. A white beyblade was spinning on the ledge, perfectly balanced. No emotions showed on the figure's face but on the inside millions of thoughts were running through her head.

'Today's the day Esdraloon. Are you ready?' Celia thought to her faithful bit beast. The bit chip glowed and its spin intensified.

I've been ready. More than ready mistress. Esdraloon responded into her mistress's head.

'Although we haven't fully mastered out newest attack, I'm sure we'll do fine without it, but you know what to do if we're in a jam,' Celia thought, narrowing her eyes a bit.

Right, I understand. Esdraloon replied with understanding and a little bit of uneasiness.

'Wouldn't want to disappoint the fans Esdraloon. Besides, I wouldn't mind going out with a bang,' Celia thought with a smirk.

We shall give them a battle to remember. Esdraloon squawked proudly, confidence building up.

"Yes we shall," Celia said aloud. She turned and began to walk away, Esdraloon returning to her awaiting hand.

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"Welcome everyone to the DuoBlade Tournament finals. Here we have our two paired team finalists, the Trinity and Demolition Boys and the Sacred Stars and Bladebreakers!" Jazzman announced to the wild crowd. The crowd cheered even louder when the said teams appeared from opposite sides of the arena. They went to their benches and waited for the commencement of the final battle.

"Alright. Most likely Tala and Sidra are gonna take the final match so that means that Celia and ---" Kenny getting cut off by Kai.

"And me," Kai said in a finalized tone. Everyone just looked at him but he just sat back and shut them out. They turned back to Kenny to hear what else he had to say.

"Okay then. It will be captains vs. captains in the final match," Kenny finished looking at his laptop.

"We figure that we should just keep using the same line up as during the whole tournament. We're not sure who will be battling in the first match because they tend to switch around," Sophie informed the group. They nodded in agreement and tried to not appear nervous. The only ones that didn't seem nervous were Kai, Celia and Ray.

"Alright, let's begin the first match. Bladers please step up to the dish," Jazzman announced and waited for the teams to bring out their bladers. Julie and Max stood and made their way toward the dish. They were surprised to see Bryan and his partner, Traci, walk up to the dish. Julie and Max exchanged glances and silently tried to reassure each other. They took out their launchers and blades and saw Bryan and Traci follow suit. "Alright bladers. Ready in 3...2...1...let it rip!"

Four blades were launched at the same time and clashed at the center of the dish. Max's Draciel and Traci's Kamika blade were pushed away while Bryan's Falborg and Julie's Eczelon continued to face each other in the center. Traci's orange blade went after Max's, circling around the dish. Max immediately went on to the defensive, anticipating her attack. Max was doing an effective job of dodging until he felt a gust of wind and heard a groan of pain. He looked over to his left and saw Julie clutching her right arm.

"You won't survive long. You might as well give up now," Bryan said as Falborg delivered another blow. Julie glared at him through narrowed eyes and clenched her teeth to endure the pain. She took blow after blow but finally saw an opening and took the opportunity.

"Go Eczelon. Attack with Ice Crush," Julie commanded and her lavender blade complied. Everyone saw a black wolf rise out of the blade and howled. The wolf jumped and shot a blast of ice at the opposing blade, effectively freezing it and then pounced on the block of ice, shattering it. Falborg screeched and drew back but still held strong. Julie was surprised that he was still spinning strong after her attack and braced herself. She knew that a powerful hit from him would end it for her. She saw him smirk and knew that he knew this as well.

"Falborg, Stroblitz!" Bryan called out to his bit beast. That single attack knocked Julie's blade out of the dish and Julie herself was knocked down. Max saw her fall and it was in that moment that Traci took her chance.

"Kamika, take him down!" Traci commanded and immediately the orange blade knocked out Max's dark green blade out of the dish.

"And the first match goes to Bryan and Traci of the Trinity and the Demolition Boys!" Jazzman exclaimed declaring them the winners. Max immediately went to Julie and helped her up and made their way back to their teammates. Sophie ran up to them to check over Julie's injuries.

"How you holding up?" Celia asked her comrade who was getting bandaged up.

"I'll live. Nothing too serious," Julie assured with a shrug and a half smile.

"We'll take you to the locker room so you can dress her wounds properly," Ray offered. He along with Max, who didn't want to leave her side, helped her up and walked out of the arena to the locker room with Sophie following behind.

"Julie will be fine. Right now we need to finish this," Celia assured. Karen and Tyson nodded and stood up to take the next match. Their opponents on the other side stood as well and saw that it was Spencer and Dixie.

"Next bladers please step up to the dish," Jazzman commanded and waited until they were in place. They each took out their blades and launchers and waited for the countdown. "Alright bladers. In 3...2...1...let it rip!" At that, four blades landed in the dish and just began to circle around, waiting for the first move.

"Been a long time, Karen," Dixie greeted in a sickeningly sweet voice.

"Not long enough for me," Karen nearly snarled at her. "Why don't we settle this old score, shall we?"

"Thought you'd never ask. Usano!" Dixie exclaimed and her red blade shot out toward Karen's baby blue one. Karen didn't hesitate and met her at the center of the dish with a clash. They kept attacking each other while Tyson and Spencer started their own battle on the sides of the dish.

"Come on Dragoon! Get him!" Tyson exclaimed to his white blade. Dragoon complied and intensified its attack.

"Seaborg, Voda Impact," Spencer commanded to his blue blade.

"Dragoon, Phantom Hurricane Attack!" Tyson countered before Spencer's attack could fully get him. Karen saw this and used the storm to her advantage.

"Entranza, you know what to do!" Karen said to her blade. Entranza emerged and jumped into Dragoon's storm, lifting her up. "Alright Entranza, Triple Shot!" Entranza roared, using the storm, shot herself at the two awaiting blades, bounced off the rim of the dish and shot at them again. Then using Dragoon as a momentum jumped up back into the air and slammed straight down on the two blades. After the massive attack, Spencer and Dixie's blades flew out of the dish and landed some feet away on opposite sides of the dish.

"Seaborg and Usano are out of the dish. Karen and Tyson are the winners of round two!" Jazzman exclaimed. The crowd roared with cheers at the exciting battle. Entranza and Dragoon roared loudly before retreating back to their confinements of their bit chips and returning back to their masters' hands. They made their way back to the bench, triumphant smiles on their faces.

"Nice work," Celia commented to the pair.

"That final attack was awesome! Good thing I got it all recorded," Kenny said ecstatically. He looked as if he was offered to work at the BBA technicians department. Just then Ray came running back out with a big smile on his face.

"Hey guys that was an awesome match! To add to the good news, Julie is just fine. All she has is minor scratches and a bruise or two," Ray informed. Everyone, except Kai who was in the same position as before, showed signs of relief. The moment of relief was short however as the tension of the final match showed itself. Kai stood up and walked over to the dish with Celia beside him as they met Tala and Sidra at the dish. Celia and Kai had icy glares while Tala had a smirk on his face and Sidra had a flirtatious smile toward Kai.

"Alright! The final match is about to begin. It has come down to captains vs. captains. Bladers are you ready?" DJ Jazzman questioned looking at both pairs. Each blader took out their launchers and got into position. "Here we go in 3...2...1...let it rip!!" At that the four bladers launched their blades fiercely into the dish.

"Whoa nelly look at those blades go! The match just started and already they're going at each other," Brad Best commentated.

"Yeah, this is great! Folks don't leave now or else you'll miss the battle of the century!" AJ Topper exclaimed excitedly.

"Such a pleasure to see you again Celia," Tala greeted with a smirk.

"Can't say the same for you," Celia replied back with a glare. The four blades broke away from each other and were just spinning in place waiting for the initial attack from another. Then Sidra's green blade disappeared from site but Celia just scoffed at her attempt. "Still using the same techniques as last time, huh Sidra?" Celia's white blade moved out of the way right when Sidra's was going to hit her.

"You haven't seen everything I've got. It has been a long while the last time we faced off," Sidra snapped back with a glare.

"You aren't the only one who's learned a trick or two," Celia replied back with an amused smirk. Sidra just glared back hatefully at her rival.

"There seems to be bad tension between the females here," Brad Best declared.

"Well they were pitted against each other in the first round of the All Girls Tournament a year ago," AJ Topper informed. "The Trinity were the champions at the time and were beat badly by the rookie team Sacred Stars."

"Guess they're still competing for being the best female beyblader in the world," Brad Best mused as they turned their attention back to the match.

"How's it looking Chief?" Ray questioned to the little brunette who was recording the whole match.

"It's hard to tell. So far they seemed equally matched. Although Sidra isn't as powerful as the others, Tala makes up for that," Kenny informed.

"So Tala could take on Celia and Kai if Sidra got knocked out?" Karen questioned with a quirked eyebrow. She already knew the answer but she wanted to hear what Kenny had to say about the situation.

"We haven't seen the full extent of their power yet so it's really hard to say," Kenny concluded turning back to the match. The blades were trading blow for blow, each blader trying to use a different tactic to out smart the other. So far the only one outwitted was Sidra who Celia seemed to read like an open book.

"I grow tired of you two delaying the inevitable," Tala growled out. He glanced toward Sidra who nodded in return. He called out his ever faithful bit beast Wolborg while Sidra called out her own canary one Chinami.

"Blizzard of Chaos!" Tala and Sidra exclaimed together. Both bit beasts complied and worked together to perform their attack. Chinami was flapping its wings furiously while Wolborg was creating a massive blizzard. With their attacks together, a fierce snowstorm brewed, nearly affecting everyone in the stadium. Kai and Celia had to shield themselves from the onslaught of snow and some icicles. Celia gave a slight cry when a rather sharp icicle cut her arm. Esdraloon was actually struggling in the storm and Dranzer wasn't doing any better than her. It was a lot stronger than she anticipated and was being zapped of energy just to keep spinning.

"Why don't you two just give up to save yourself from the pain?" Tala taunted, unaffected by the blizzard. Celia glared at the red head with obvious hate in her eyes. Kai was doing the same.

"Dranzer! Melt the ice and snow with Flame Saber!" Kai yelled to his bit beast. Dranzer complied with his master's wishes and emerged from the confinements of the blade. Dranzer tried his hardest but was constantly being pushed aside by Chinami.

Celia saw the situation at hand and thought of only one thing to do. She had to put an end to the blizzard or else something bad could happen. She concentrated and poured her energy out into her white blade to her bit beast. The chip glowed with the energy boost and picked up speed. "Esdraloon! It's time for your grand entrance!" Celia commanded with a smirk.

"Hooky dina, what's going on? Did Celia just call out her bit beast Esdraloon?" Brad Best asked amazed.

"Oh yeah! This is it! This is going down in the history books as the first time Esdraloon will make an appearance in any tournament," AJ Topper informed excitedly.

At Celia's call, Esdraloon responded and emerged from its confinements and revealed itself. Anyone who was able to see saw the majestic outlive of a feminine version of Dranzer, a female phoenix who seemed unaffected by the storm. Kai was amazed that another phoenix even existed besides Dranzer.

"Esdraloon! Firespin Strike!" Celia commanded to her bit beast. Even though they never really mastered the technique, she knew it was her only chance to end the match. Esdraloon began to fly around in a circle while the blade was doing the same. Soon Esdraloon was engulfed in flames, sowing the storm a bit but not fully able to stop it. Celia struggled to stand, being drained of her energy. 'It's not enough. There's something missing but what?' she thought desperately trying to find a solution. She didn't have to look any further when Dranzer joined Esdraloon in circling the dish. Celia looked up to Kai who nodded his head and turned back to the dish.

"Let's finish this," Kai said to her but not facing her. Celia smiled in response and focused once more on the match.

"Firespin Strike!" Kai and Celia exclaimed toward the two phoenixes. Dranzer and Esdraloon screeched in response and were suddenly engulfed in flames as they picked up speed. There was soon a huge pillar of fire in the dish. Wolborg and Chinami caught in the middle. The storm died down and everyone was warming up from the fire produced by the two phoenixes. What they couldn't see in the fire pillar was that Celia and Kai's blades were continuously slamming into Tala and Sidra's. With a final hit, two blades were sent out of the dish through the fire and landed far outside the dish. The fire died down and Dranzer and Esdraloon screeched in victory before retreating back into their blades.

"It's over! The Bladebreakers and Sacred Stars are the DuoBlade Champions!!"

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"Flight 581 to Hong Kong, China will be departing soon. All passengers please board the plane now."

At that announcement, four figures stood from their seats with their carry-on bags and boarded the plane. Despite the earlier victory from the tournament, the four were quite reluctant to leave their partners without so much a word of their departure. With saddened expressions, they took their seats, which were close to each other, two in front of the other two.

"Did we really have to leave them without at least saying good bye?" Karen questioned with a sad look in her eyes.

"Yes. They would have asked questions and wouldn't let us leave," Julie responded although one look in her eyes said that she didn't want to leave the Bladebreakers either.

"I left Kenny my email address so he could try to keep in touch but I didn't say where we were going," Sophie admitted, turning in her seat to face Celia and Julie. Celia was staring out the window, her head perched on her hand.

"I left Tyson a picture of the two of us and a cookie with his and my name on it," Karen admitted with a blush. "I wrote him a note telling him that I had to leave but not where."

"I left Max my necklace and a note as well," Julie confessed.

"It seems that we all didn't want the boys to worry," Sophie said with a smile. Julie noticed that Celia was being unusually quiet.

"What about you Celia? Did you leave Kai a note saying we were leaving?" Karen asked the silent girl. She didn't say anything at first but responded in a quiet voice.

"I didn't need to. He already knew."

They were about to question her when the pilot said to buckle their seatbelts. Celia, keeping her gaze out the window, allowed a single tear to trail down her face. The plane soon took off toward its intended destination.

Unknown to them, a pair of hurt and confused crimson eyes watched the plane leave with a single tear trailing down his face.

--Owari--

That's it! It's done! Can anyone say sequel? I'll let you readers decide.....

Until then, kurai hoshi