Beyblade – Ulterior Motives

A Champions work is Never Done

I

"Let's go Dragoon!" Yelled Tyson as his Beyblade span around the dish, gathering speed as it went. He looked up into the eyes of his challenger, just a child who thought he'd try himself against the world champion. "Finish him off!" Tyson yelled once more, commanding his Beyblade forward, as it collided with the rookies blade, sending it clean out of the dish, landing on the turf of the grass, in the part they where playing in.

"Aw man! I didn't stand a chance!" Said the young contender, and he ran over to reclaim his Beyblade

"Another win for Tyson." Said the chief, who was sat next to Max, watching with keen interest in the battle.

"Oh yeah! That's why I'm the world champ!" Tyson exclaimed, with a thumbs up toward his old team mates.

"Yeah you show 'em Tyson!" Max added to the mix.

As the group sat there, content in their own world of Beyblading, talking over their various matches and trash talking about one another and their various strengths. The sound of a car outside the park caught their attention. They looked over at the black Mercedes pulling into a parking space. They casually got up and started walking over, out of curiosity mostly.

The car door opened and from it emerged the familiar features of Mr. Dickinson, who's face lit up as he spotted his favourite Bladers.

"Hello boys!" He cried, walking up to them in his familiar suite and cane.

"Hey! What brings you here Mr. Dickinson?" Tyson asked walking toward him with his friends.

"I'm here to tell my favourite team about the upcoming championships!" He exclaimed, producing a poster for the tournament. "This year is modelled closely on the kind of tournament they same year the Blade Breakers where first formed. There will be three tournaments held, in China, America and Britain. The four teams that make it to the semi-finals will qualify, except the Blade Breakers of course, as you're the returning champs, you need to win each championship to qualify."

"Isn't that a little unfair?" Asked the chief, clutching his laptop.

"Well everyone is expecting great things from the Blade Breakers this year." Mr Dickinson attempted to reassure Kenny.

"Oh right! Yeah they won't be disappointed!" Tyson yelled, Holding out his Dragoon blade in front of him.

"What about Kai and Ray?" Max asked, obviously curious about his team mates.

"Actually I went to see Kai before coming here." Mr Dickinson reasured him.

"Oh? And what did the old sour puss say?" Tyson grumbled, "Mr. D. I want to be the captain of the Blade Breakers this year, I'm the best in the world, and I'm better with the team then he is!" Tyson finished his sentence slightly maliciously, apparently a clear distaste for Kai and his attitude for the rest of the team.

"I'm afraid that won't be possible, Tyson." Mr Dickinson explained. "You see Kai will be taking his possition as the leader of the Blade breakers a team requires more then being the best. It's harder then you would think." He finished.

"What about Ray?" Max asked, before Tyson had a chance to run his mouth off about not having what it takes.

"Ray will be meeting up with us at the next tournament in China." Mr Dickinson reassured them.

"Awesome! I can't wait to get back in that stadium and prove I'm the best all over again!" Tyson laughed to himself looking at his Dragoon blade.

"Typical Arrogance, Huh Tyson?" Came the cool collected voice of Kai, Leader of the Blade breakers.

"Kai!" Chorused Max, Tyson and Kenny.

"I hear you'll be leading us again this year huh?" Tyson asked of him, a slightly acidic tone escaping his lips.

"That's right. Got a problem with that?" Kai said, his hands in his pockets and his eyes closed, as he approached the group.

"Not really. It will be like last time, You'll sit on the bench and do nothing, and We'll do all the work. I may aswell be the leader!" Tyson almost yelled, a hostile posture toward Kai.

"Not this time Tyson, You'll be warming the bench as the Blade Breakers substitute." Kai said in a matter-of-fact tone, moving his arms from his pockets to be crossed across his chest.

"What was that!" Tyson yelled. Max and Kenny, aswell as Mr Dickinson looked surprised at Kai's choice.

"If he's the sub, that means you'll have to battle in his place Kai." Kenny pipped up, pointing out what he thought was an obvious flaw in Kai's plan.

"That's right." Kai said, once again in a simple tone.

"You're benching me? Why! I'm the best blader on the team! You need me to blade!" Tyson yelled at Kai again.

"I'm the team leader Tyson. It's my decision." He said finally.

"But-. Mr Dickinson! Do something!" Tyson turned to face the elderly man, anger across his face as he felt he was being treated very unfairly.

"Well, Kai is the team leader I'm afraid, there's nothing I can do!" Mr Dickinson explained. Much to Tyson's dis-pleaser.

"Why are you benching Tyson, Kai?" Max asked, in his more friendly tone.

"Tyson has let winning go to his head, he hasn't Bladed competitively for a long time, and has gotten behind on his training. He set the standard at the world championships, everyone will be striving to be better then him, and he himself has slipped behind his own standard." Kai explained in his arrogant tone.

"And how would you know all that, Kai?" Tyson demanded. "And I've won all the matches I've played since the championships!" He continued.

"You've been fighting armatures without Bit-beasts, Tyson, you haven't called on Dragoons power in a long time. I've been watching you for a while, and I'm not impressed."

"I don't need to call out Dragoon! That's how good I am!" Tyson protested, clearly unhappy with his captains choice.

"My mind is made up, Tyson!" Kai snapped. "Until you realise why I'm benching you, You'll remain there. I'll fight in your place, even if I don't want to."

"Oh yeah? What makes you think you're better then me?" Tyson said, drawing his custom shooter.

"Well, I guess I'll just have to prove it." Kai answered, drawing his own shooter.

"Hmm, This could be a good chance to collect some data on Kai, we haven't seen him blade in a while." Kenny opened the laptop he had under his arm.

After a few seconds a voice came from the trusty old fashioned laptop. "There you are chief, I though you'd forgotten about me."

"You know I could never forget about you Dizzy!" Kenny replied. "We need to update Kai's folder, it looks like he's modified Dranzer since we last saw him.

"Al right then, chief, preparing to update Kai's data. I have him saved under 'G' for 'Grumpy'." Dizzy said, continuing her tradition of churning out comedy 'gems'.

"Al right! Let's get ready to Beyblade!" Max said enthusiastic, throwing his fist in the air.

Kai and Tyson took one side of the dish each. Tyson looked angry, he wanted nothing more then to force Kai's words down his throat. Kai looked as he always did, determined and smug, they both readied their shooters, their Beyblades in place, the rip cord placed, both players in position.

Max looked at each player, raising his hand into the air. "Three. Two. One.. LET IT RIP!"

Both bladers had smooth launches, the blades circle one another, preparing to lock horns, both masters off attack, Tyson makes the first move, skimming across the ditch, to knock Kai's Dranzer blade.

"Oh right! This battle is just about over haha!" Tyson exclaimed as Dragoon had Dranzer pinned against the edge of the ring.

"Yeah, I'd say it's over. Dranzer! Fire arrow attack now!" Dranzer instantly sped up, cutting across the dish, up the other side into the air.

"Oh no!" Tyson yelled.

"It looks like Dranzer is packing some serious heat boys!" Dizzy pipped up from inside the laptop.

"Dragoon! Evade him!" Tyson yelled in vein as Dranzer slammed down on Dragoon, knocking it off balance, forcing the attack ring to hit the bottom of the bey dish and fly out of the arena.

"No!" Tyson yelled as his Beyblade hit the dirt.

"Hmph, I expected it to be easy, but that was pathetic." Kai said smugly, holding out his hand as Dranzer rotated around the dish, and darted toward his hand with ease.

"Kai!" Max yelled, in the defence of Tyson, protesting thinking his remark was too far.

"Max, I think Kai's right, look at the statistics of the match! Dranzer is over twice as strong since we last measured him, and Tyson's skill level and power has dropped! And they where almost even last time they battled, over a month ago!"

"Wow, really?" Max asked in awe over the statistics.

"And if the rest of the teams have been advancing at the same rate as Kai we don't stand a chance! Ah this is a disaster!"

"Kai what are we going to do? We've got to ace every tournament!" Max asked, looking rather frantic.

"That's why I'm captain. I trust you haven't got a problem with that, Tyson." Kai turned to look at Tyson, who was staring at his blade.

"I ugh, no. No problem, Kai." He answered quietly, quite put out.

"Good. We start training first thing tomorrow morning." He turned from the group and began walking away, the group couldn't think of anything to say to him as he left, and watched him leave over a grassy verge. It was hard to believe Tyson was defeated so easily, mere seconds into a match, and Kai hadn't even broken a sweat. Mr Dickinson retreated toward his car, without saying anything else to the team, he thought it best to let their leaders words sink in.