Max: Don't you think the title gave that away?
RTC: Quit ruining my fun! Well, I have no idea when Tala's birthday is supposed to be, but whatever... And this fic is a birthday present for my friend Inner Dragon! Happy sixteenth! (Glomps.)
Ray: Can we just get to the fic before you go all mushy on us?
RTC: Fine! Have fun reading. And be warned, Tala seems to enjoy talking to himself. Now disclaimer please!
Kai: I wonder if Tala knows talking to himself is the first sign of insanity. (Which is more proof this one (Points at RTC.) is crazy. Anyway, Ray-Tiger-Cat, does not own Beyblade.
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"Cheep. Cheep cheep cheep! Cheep," the birds were singing on a windowsill. Inside the room, a red headed teenager groaned and pulled a pillow over his eyes to block the sunlight.
"Wait, sunlight?! What time is it?!" he shouted as he bolted out of bed. "Holy crap, it's already eleven! Training was supposed to start at six! Now why didn't that alarm go off?"
Cursing the stupid alarm clock, Tala raced though the house to go wake his team mates, who were probably taking advantage of the situation and were sleeping late, or off getting into trouble. To Tala's amazement, they weren't anywhere in the house, not one of them.
"When I get my hands on them, they'll be sorry!" Deciding that it was pointless, not to mention stupid, to run around outside in his sleep wear, Tala washed up and got dressed. As he stumbled into the kitchen to grab a bite to eat before killing his friends, something caught his eye. The calendar.
Now there wasn't anything special about the calendar itself, no, it was the date that grabbed his attention.
"My birthday?" Tala asked himself, wondering how on earth he could have forgotten such an important event. The answer came a few seconds later: Boris.
The sadistic 'trainer' from his childhood would be please to know he still had an effect on his students, but naturally, Tala was pissed off.
"I remember the hell we went through on our birthdays and other important days, such as holidays," Tala mused.
Flashback
A younger version of Tala tried desperately to scramble back into his cell and away from an evil guard that was trying to drag him to Boris' 'office'. Despite being so young and relatively new to the abbey, Tala had learned that the 'office' was not a good place to be.
After a few minutes, the guard had Tala restrained and started dragging his, literally, to see Boris.
"So, Tala, do you know what today is?" the goggle-wearing freak of nature asked.
Tala didn't dare say anything. He knew what the date was, and he knew he was six years old today, but he was afraid that he would get a beating for admitting all that. "No," he finally replied in a meek voice.
"That's 'No, Sir'!" Boris said, punching the child in the stomach. "Can you believe he's that stupid?" This was addressed at the guard.
"Well, they are idiots, Sir."
"Ah, but forgetting his own birthday. Even I didn't suspect they were that dumb! So boy, you want to know what you're receiving as a gift?"
Tala didn't dare move. He didn't blink, he didn't respond.
"Oh, the cold and silent type, are we? Well, I'll tell you! You get an extra 'lesson' today!" Boris' eyes glinted under the goggles and he gave a maniacal laugh at Tala, whose eyes had widen in fear. Boris snickered. This was going to be fun. He reached into his desk and pulled out a knife. Might as well go with the scariest first. Such a pity I'm not allowed to shoot him.
A few hours, Tala was begging for Boris to stop. He knew he was supposed to be strong, but he couldn't stop himself. It hurt!
"Please, Sir, stop. Please," he cried as blood poured out of his swollen lip, making talking particularly painful.
"Ah, but we haven't gotten to the fun part yet." Boris punched him again. "No what do you think about birthdays?"
"They are for weak, sentimental fools," Tala replied, though he had no idea what the word 'sentimental' even meant at such a young age.
"That's right! Now as a treat for your correct answer, we'll end this."
Tala felt like a sledgehammer had smashed his skull. Boris had hit him with something very heavy. Blood poured out of the wound and soon, Tala gave away to the darkness.
"Tala! Tala, wake up!" someone was shouting as they gently prodded him. Definitely not the workers, Tala's tired brain deduced. So it could only could be his friends.
Opening his eyes and wincing at the light, Tala croaked, "I'm up." Through half-closed eyes, he could make out a mass of blue fuzz leaning over him, presumably Kai and three others running around the room, keeping guard or grabbing bandages. Ian, Spencer, and Bryan.
"It'll be okay. It gets easier every year," Spencer said, being the oldest and having obviously, suffered through more birthdays than the others.
"Stupid, fucking bastard!" Bryan added through clenched teeth. Even at that age, he had been more violent than the rest and knew more swear words than most adults.
"I'll bite him for you!" Ian offered, grinning childishly. Ever the immature one, but his words were oddly comforting to Tala.
"Thanks guys," Tala whispered.
"We just do what we can, mate," Kai replied, but Tala was already half unconscious.
End Flashback
"Well Boris is rotting in hell now, so I might as well enjoy myself. Maybe I should watch that tape of his execution again." Tala had the execution of tape so he could watch it whenever he wanted. He especially liked the part where Ian, true to his word, even years later, had bitten Boris. There something oddly satisfying about that moment.
"Ah, that reminds me, I have to find and yell at them all for ditching training!" He was spared having to hunt the down by Ian barging in.
"Oh, you're finally up. I should've tried resetting your alarm for five pm instead of am ages ago!" he exclaimed.
"Wait, you reset my alarm?! Get back here! Ian, you're so dead!" Tala screamed as he chased the youngest team member about the door ad half way across town.
Ian quickly dashed into a recreation centre and Tala was on his heels. Suddenly, as he entered a room after Ian, his team jumped out at him.
"What's going on?" he asked, though the cake and presents behind then kind of gave it away.
"Happy Birthday," a voice said from behind him and Tala whirled around.
"Kai! What are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to be in Japan."
"And miss the look on your face when you realized what was going on? And these guys attempting to bake a cake? Not a chance!"
Tala grinned at him. He knew that translated roughly into, "I've missed you and I wanted to celebrate your birthday with you."
"Well, don't just stand, blow out the candles!" Ian shouted, practically shoving the cake in his captain's face.
Tala pulled a face, but blew out all eighteen candles anyway.
"Wished you would hook up with a certain girl?" Bryan teased.
"Awe, shut up! We're in a rec centre, in case you hadn't noticed. I can easily find some training for you to do!"
The others all laughed and Spencer kept Bryan from making a retort that would result in training. Tala thought about his wish. 'Wish or no wish, I know we'll be friends forever,' he thought.
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RTC: I hope you all enjoyed! Anyway, happy birthday again, Inner Dragon! Just thought I'd do a Tala-centric oneshot, because sometimes you act like him! Reviews are always welcome! Bye!