Hikaru's next path was simple. Finding a team. However, she knew the others were busy. Ryo and Hyoma were busy doing things in Koma Village, and she had heard about the next generation Zero was starting, as well his and Kira's teams preparing for a battle to decide who would go to the world. It was almost time for a new World Champion anyways.

The thought of meeting other bladers from a new world was filled with prospects.

Opportunities to grow.

To change.

To have new and exciting battles.

To regain one's passion for Beyblade.

But Gingka and the others seemed to be busy. From the looks of things, Gan Gan Galaxy was getting back together. Kenta had taken time off as well, and even the loud and boisterous Benkei went silent. There went the usual suspects.

Other potential teams were out of the window. Teru was teaching classes on dancing and Beyblade, the Sora kid had asked around for some faces but was gone in a few hours, there was no way she'd team up with a creep like Busijima, who she battled against when rejecting him and just barely won, alongside the cheating Tetsuya. He and a strange kid named Gen were busy dressing up and pulling pranks, which she overheard people complaining about for the first time and did something about it.

The next day she faced off against a Synchrome Bey for the first time, and was impressed by how much Tsubasa's leadership was doing with the new Beyblade system. However, he let his weakness slip, attacks from above, and she tried an unconventional situation: an aerial Infinite Assault she dubbed the Infinite Wave that he only barely saw through with Tetsuya's cheating. Yet it was too late as she knocked Pirate Kraken into the sea and called out Tetsuya for not changing his ways. However, Gen had asked her to find a way to preserve the beach. At first she declined, but after a battle with Tetsuya that proved slightly easier, a ton of people started surrounding her and thanking her for getting rid of the "troublemakers," and she went out of her way to clean up the beach under the condition Gen would stop the pranks. She dragged him along, and they managed to keep it clean, while other young kids around started using their Beyblades to try and build sand constructs out of them. Using her experience as a secretary she ended up joining in and helping out.

And to her embarrassment, became the Queen of Midsummer Beach. Though she used the opportunity to test out her Infinity Wave against people willing to train and got some well meaning experience.

She didn't want to visit the main headquarters. Tsubasa was probably getting busy and she hadn't found a team until she heard a familiar name around: Ryutaro Fukami, who was much older, and running a divination service.

"Fancy seeing you around here, Hikaru."

"It has been a while, I admit. You're entering that International Dimension tournament?"

He shook his head. "There are more pressing matters to attend to for me."

"Like what, the Nemesis crisis is over, isn't it?"

"That remains so, but I need to get in contact with another Legendary blader. Doji and Merci's evil are gone, but that doesn't mean there aren't others left behind. Reiji Mizuchi, the Arrangement and Evil Gene technology developed with Hades Inc resources, the other Nemesis bladers who believed in the world's destruction. Johannes, Cycnus, Herschel, Keyser, even the Garcias still hold onto those intentions. Shall that evil be resurrected, I wonder if the next generation will be able to handle it like we would."

Hikaru didn't consider that. The world was improving and rebuilding. All that effort could go to waste.

"Then both the old and the next generation need to combine our forces. We get stronger, and push them to get better. They can't go through what we did!"

"I concur. I'll be meeting with Dynamis to settle this to be prepared for what might come to pass. As for you, Hikaru," performing a prediction ritual on her.

"Why are you?"

"I saw what happened with Tsubasa. I want to be sure if that power does-"

"It won't. At least," shaking, "I won't lose to it."

Ryutaro expressed concern. "You don't have to go through this if you don't want to."

She shook her head. You believed the world would end but Gingka and the others worked their butts off and still needed our help to make sure that wouldn't happen. I can change my fate like him and Ryuga did for myself!"

Ryutaro completed the divination. "I see two paths for you. One engulfed in a drowning depth, the other dried up and reached for the sun."

"What-what does that mean?"

"The choice is ultimately yours to decide. I hope it helps."

Hikaru let him know of the situation. She needed teammates.

He pointed to the sea. "The strong can only get stronger and the weak threads of fate can tighten with every encounter."

It took her time to figure it out. "The world!"

Ryutaro packed his things. "I hope it helps." The two parted ways and Hikaru went on her way, taking a second to Ryo training Zero and the others when she fell from stumbling into some.

"Ow, sorry about that." She looked at the young short girl with bright pink hair.

"Hi, my name's Maru. What's-wait, you're Hikaru Hasama, right? Wow, I've seen you before growing up. Should I let the Chief know?"

"You're Madoka's protege, aren't you. I don't think so. She's probably getting ready for the tournament."

"Maru wanted to be too," the young girl sighed. "The World Championships are coming up, so Maru wanted to be ready to be the team's mechanic and data collector. Though Maru's worried she's not ready to handle a whole team."

"You want to prove to Madoka you can handle it, don't you."

Maru nodded.

"Well the Interdimensional Tournament's coming up, and I kinda decided to enter but I don't even have a team, so I get feeling unprepared," ruffling the girl's feathers. "You're not gonna partner up with Zero's team for it?"

"I would, but they're going to Koma Village. They'll have Gingka's father and Hyoma to help them out."

"The birthplace of Beyblade, I always wanted to go check that place out. But don't beat yourself up. Though I might need an upgrade, these Synchrome beys are tough to manage."

"Oh, Maru might be able to help with that."

Before Hikaru could ask how, another stranger flew out of the bushes, seemingly angry and pouting, though in an oddly cheerful way and was heading straight towards without looking. Maru stopped her in time.

"Ren, what's the matter," Maru asked?

"It's nothing. Looks like I'm not going to be on the Interdimensional Tournament team after all," petting Maru's hair with no positivity whatsoever. "Oh and hey Hikaru."

Then Ren perked up, swallowed, and jumped back in one fell swoop. "Hikaru Hasama?"

"Yeah that's me," Hikaru responded.

Ren shook her hand. "Ah, I'm such a big fan. I love how you were so serious and cool, like," posing seriously, "I will fight strong opponents and get better and better," trying to emulate Hikaru's persona. Hikaru herself, though, felt like she was looking in a bad mirror.

"Was I really that standoff?" Maru noted as such, though she never considered it to be a bad thing.

Ren continued. "You entered so many tournaments and didn't give up until you made it to Battle Bladers! But that Ryuga guy was a monster. Everyone tried to beat him but Gingka even lost his first Pegasus to do it. I'd give up too if that were me." Her curiosity peaked. "So what are you doing here?"

Hikaru gave her the cliff notes: teammates.

"Wait, really? Hey, why don't we team up for the tournament?"

"You sure? I'm not exactly the strongest blader out there."

"Then we just need to go on a super awesome training journey."

Maru agreed. "Benkei told us all about how he helped Kenta be a Legendary Blader and everything. You two should do the same."

"Where is Benkei anyways?"

The two weren't sure and went to Bull Burger to ask, and eat down his infamous burgers only to find out his employees were in charge and went off to "ignite some sparks," whatever the heck that meant.

Hikaru swallowed several easily deep in thought. "Well adding him to the team seemed pointless now. Guess that means we'll have to start outside of Japan then. Then again," looking down at Aquario, "I'm not sure anyone will partner with a Beyblade that needs an upgrade."

Maru offered to help, but she would need the parts and resources to try, it'd be her first time developing one. Madoka wasn't around to help her set up one this time.

Ren put those frustrations to the side. "Then we'll find someone who's got the tech and training so we can power up. Who should we go to first?"

Hikaru's first thought was the World Championship contestants.. Team Star Breaker was dissolved but Damian hadn't been heard from in months, Toby was on Team Dungeon, and Jack was doing his own thing. The Garcias were not to be trusted with, and checking in on some staff confirmed Kyoya was joining his original team with Gan Gan Galaxy, which only left Excalibur and Wang Hu Zhong as viable candidates.

To Europe or China then, Hikaru figured, and used her contacts, only to find that Dashan and Aguma were not around, yet Beylin Fist and Temple had reunited as one, and the details behind seemed to be getting ready for the World Championships, though Chi-Yun claimed in a few months, they could come at any time.

So with a few tickets, they headed to Europe and resolved to meet with Excalibur.

When they arrived, they encountered Selen talking with mysterious strangers, only for the situation to look dire, and Selen collapsing on the floor. Though Ren was hesitant, Hikaru confronted her about the situation to figure out what was going on.

Selen revealed what happened pretty quickly. They were struggling to come up with a new business model after DNA was shut down, and contacting their investors were failing once Doji and Merci's involvement with the plans were revealed. They'd be going back to Brazil, where the community had turned against them. Their mistakes have finally caught up with them.

Yet Selen didn't want to give, but she had nowhere else to go. Their schemes had come to an end. Admittedly, Hikaru felt bad, but the WBBA ejected them for a reason. Had they put their skills to good use, they probably would've ended up better than where they were now, especially with their exploitations of young bladers meaning no one would reasonably take them in.

"I hope I don't regret this, but there's a tournament featuring bladers from different worlds similar to our own. You want in?"

Selen perked up. "Really? After everything I've done?"

Hikaru grabbed her up by the choker. "This is your chance to prove you aren't just a bunch of lowlifes. Right now, you have nowhere else to turn to, and I need three more teammates. So enough with the cheap tactics and stop wasting your potential!"

Selen was about to get angry, but relented, and agreed, though not without opposition from Ren and concern from Maru, who both pointed out the harm they did hacking the WBBA's servers and the backlash Hikaru could receive working for them.

"Hey, we just gave them the opportunity they were looking for. They were the ones who brought Doji back to life, we didn't even know about that until the WBBA did, I swear."

"Maru doubts that, you guys aren't that dumb."

Selen sucked her teeth at that, but before she could give an answer, someone had rushed by and Maru's laptop as well as Selen's briefcase were snatched from their hands.

The four women took in pursuit, yelling for help against the thief's massive speed for several blocks. They passed by a Bey Park where battles between European locals heard the commotion but weren't sure what to do.

All except one. They noticed who was behind the burglar, and finished their match quickly, grabbing their Beyblade and performing several cartwheels back to land a swift roundhouse to the thief, revealed to be a low ranked blader who wanted their hands on some tech after failing to earning standings within the Festival of Warriors that just extended their ban to another year.

As he was escorted off the premises, Maru and Selen thanked the person, who revealed themselves to her, someone they weren't expecting at all.

"Ming-Ming?"

"The early sword catches the worm. Hello old friends!"

Ren raised a finger. "I think you meant worm."

Correcting herself, Ming Ming let them know that she went to go on a vacation, but in reality, wanted to hone her skills. The reunited Beylin Temple leaders were all strong, but a comment about her being the weakest from Chao-Xin got to her a bit and after considering the situation, she realized that she would only be known as the team's substitute.

"I want to perfect my fighting style. Dashan and Chi-Yun believe in me, but I can't keep getting upstaged by everyone else," thinking about Bao and Aguma's additions putting her on the bottom.

Hikaru let her know about the Interdimensional tournament, and though she was hesitant with Selen, she agreed. They just needed one more member.

"You're late." The elegant presence of France's strongest Blader, Sophie, had arrived. Though two faces were unfamiliar to what Hikaru's call described, she heard the details on their way to Excalibur's main facility, where they were caught up to speed with what had been happening. Klaus and Julian were busy prepping new talent for the World Championships while Wales had to return home. There were talks about England splitting from the European Union and he engaged in preventing that given his influence in the professional sport, which would take some time to settle out.

"That leaves me on my own. I see you have four people. Then, shall I be the final member you need with Maru as our support?"

Everyone agreed to the situation, but Maru addressed the equipment needed to keep up with the modern beys. Sophie set her up with their laboratories and equipment, taking over Mei-Mei and Hikaru's Beyblades, and they began settling up training regiments and requirements. Mei-Mei would be the physical trainee, Sophie would use her skills as a world blader to handle the more technical aspects, Selen offered tactics that were legal and sneaky, Ren kept everyone upbeat and going, and Hikaru's drive pushed them forward. Within a few weeks, they were becoming a team, even though they all agreed they would deal with Selen if she tried anything.

One night, everyone else had tuckered out when Sophie's ears caught Hikaru training with the upgraded Spiral Aquario, more driven and enraged than before.

"I have to keep going and going. There's no time left."

Then something caught Selen's eyes. An aura slowly permating around her that reminded her too similarly of the power Ryuga and Tsbuasa showed once before. In a panic, she revealed herself to Hikaru and the aura faded.

"Let's talk, shall we?"

Sophie led Hikaru into her room and showed off the research she was doing on the side of an archeologist: particularly a jar with the shape of an animal that she wasn't aware of.

"What is it?"

"A Siren. Some say they were dangerous creatures who lured sailors into shipwreck. Others assumed they were a mix of humans and beasts that struggled to survive. And some saw them as harbingers that led to nothing but death and corruption. And yet, some see them as the fear societies had over the women there with potential for power."

"Potential for power," huh. "Why don't we make that our team name then?"

Sophie asked for more details.

"To be honest, Sophie, something doesn't feel right with me. Coming back to blading has been a lot, but deep down, it feels like there's something deep inside, something I shouldn't let out. I don't know what it is."

"Maybe it's anxiety. You have been out of the game for quite some time," choosing to keep those suspicions quiet. "There's nothing wrong with walking away."

Hikaru shook her head. "I know, but I've run from this for too long. If anything happens to me out there, I want to know that I was brave enough to take that chance."

"Whatever you do, I will stand by your side."

"Should we tell them tomorrow?"

"It's an interesting idea for a team name, but I'd think it's fitting."

The two young women smiled and agreed. The next day, they announced their name.

In the present Hanami yelled it out.

"Lead by Hikaru Hasama, introducing Team 7: Team Sirens!"

While everyone on the team waved to the crowd, Sophie brought Kyoya and Tsubasa aside.

"We need to have a talk about something. The Dark Power."

With seven teams out of the way, Hanami decides to welcome the leader of the eighth team out on the stage.

"Now introducing, the Miracle Wonder Boy," Valt Aoi!

Valt Aoi, had on a red hooded short sleeve shirt, rolled up pants, high top shoes with multicolored outlines, and an iconic vest with the V logo on top of it. His bright spiky hair with the blue headband of yellow accents, his fair skin, and brown eyes, alongside the red markings on his cheek below the eye, and bright smile made the crowd roar.

Gingka and Tyson were quickly aware he was the fan favorite to win this.