Aaaaaaaaaaand... did anyone call for a sequel? No? Well, you're going to get one!
All levity aside, I actually found this incredibly difficult to write. (AN at the bottom explains it if you want to know.)
Most of these rules are actually inspired by my second youngest brother. He's eleven now, which is about where I think Zero, Shinobu, and Ren are in the Zero-G timeline. Why do I think that? A lot of Zero-G is a coming of age story. These bladers are learning how to train and battle effectively with their beyblades, something that kind of reminded me of Kenta (who was nine when Metal Fusion came out, I believe). In the original MFB series, Gingka, Kyouya, Benkei, Hikaru, and the other older and more powerful bladers had already figured a lot of that stuff out by the time the series began. Kenta was the one who was always struggling to catch up (I like to think of him as the audience surrogate). Placing the Zero-G kids around his original age just makes sense - they have to grow and step into their roles as the new generation of beybladers. So, the Zero-G kids in this story are aged down a little more than you might expect.
Eight is probably eight (not punny, I swear!).
I'd place Zyro, Shinobu, Ren, and Takanoske around ten.
Sakyo and Kite would be eleven or twelve.
Thus, these rules are less about hi-jinks and more about these kids learning about the world. So... maybe they're not as funny? I dunno, I actually don't think many of my rules from Volume 1 are actually that great, but people seem to like them! I'm setting this during Zero-G all the way up to the Rep. Tournament.
"Thanks for the help, Maru. This will go a lot faster with an extra set of hands!" Madoka says with a cheerful smile.
With Neo Battle Bladers rapidly approaching, more and more customers were coming into the shop, looking for any part that could give them an edge in competition. Madoka had scrambled all day to help young, fiery bladers find everything they needed.
Which meant she would have to find her extra inventory.
Which she buried deep in the storage room at the beginning of summer.
She shoved her way through various empty boxes she had cast aside throughout the day until she reached the storage room door.
"Alright, Maru," she addressed the younger mechanic, "stand back. I'm not quite sure what's in here."
Maru nodded dutifully backed up toward the wall across from the door. "Maru is ready, Chief," she confirmed.
The elder mechanic took a shaky breath and yanked the door open, revealing dozens of haphazardly stacked boxes. The two mechanics heard a soft creak, which became their only warning as the boxes came crashing down on top of Madoka.
"Chief!" Maru exclaimed, horrified at the state of her mentor. She rushed forward and tugged at the heavy boxes. "Are you alright?"
Madoka stared dazedly at the ceiling. Her breaths came in struggling gasps as her lungs attempted to fill again. "Fine," she wheezed, "I'm fine." She pushed the boxes off of her form and sat up. "Maru, are you hurt?"
Silence.
She turned her gaze to her protege and quizzically asked, "Whatcha got there, Maru?" The young girl held a pale pink notebook in her hands. She was peering at it in sheer fascination.
She opened the book excitedly. "The Official B-Pit Rule Book," the young girl murmured. "You had rules?"
Madoka's eyes widened. "Hey, Maru," she said, "can I see that?"
Maru silently handed her the book and waited silently as her mentor flipped through the well-worn pages. Every once in awhile, Madoka would find herself laughing at the antics she and her friends would cause on a daily basis.
She came across Rule 5 and suddenly remembered the young girl she was supposed to be answering. "Ah, sorry Maru," she apologized sheepishly, "I got caught up in memory lane. You following me?" Madoka found herself pausing in surprise at her words. She hadn't used that nervous tick of hers in a long time.
Maru shook her head. "Maru understands. Maru gets like that when she thinks of home, too."
"I wouldn't exactly call it home, Maru. It's my old friends."
"But your friends and family are your home," Maru answered softly. "You taught me that, Chief."
Madoka stopped. Maru was right, she'd said that to her at the beginning of summer, when Maru's father had sent her here. "Then I guess I am thinking of home," she agreed. "Yes, Maru. I had rules once, back when Gingka and the others were still around."
"Why?"
"Teenage boys," the elder mechanic said with a shrug. "They get into a lot of trouble." A wistful smile crossed her features. "I haven't needed rules in years," she murmured.
"Can Maru have this?" Maru cut in, reaching for the book. "With the way Zyro and the others have been acting, Maru might need it."
Madoka handed it over, somewhat sad to see it go. "If you need it," she said. We're not just passing Beyblade down to the next generation, she thought to herself, we're passing down our rules too.
The two mechanics turned their attention to their work, the small tome seemingly forgotten.
Three weeks later, a new book found its way to Bull Burger. Its title: The Official B-Pit Rulebook Vol. 2.
(With, surprisingly, a few additions.)
1. Benkei is only allowed to cook burgers once per week during training trips.
(We're getting tired of burgers, Benkei. - Maru)
(How can you get tired of burgers? - Benkei)
2. Kite must get at least six hours of sun every day. No exceptions.
(What am I? A houseplant? - Kite)
(The fact that you strive for perfection is admirable, Kite, but you need to get out of that lab for a bit. - Madoka)
(You go stir crazy in there after a while. - Zyro)
(Big Bro, I think they're right. - Eight)
3. All training is to end at ten o'clock in the evening.
(Zyro, Ren, Shinobu, Kite, Eight, Benkei.)
(Benkei, Rule 16. - Madoka)
(It's not in the B-Pit, and we don't use those rules anymore! - Benkei)
(You've already hurt yourself "special training" once, Zyro. You can't hurt yourself again. - Shinobu)
(Like you're the one to talk, Mr. I'm Going to Stay up all Night Just to Work on My Special Move! - Zyro)
(Both of you, knock it off! - Ren)
(And who stole the key to the Zero-G Stadium? - Zyro)
(Twenty laps. Now! - Benkei)
4. Synchrome beys are not to be used indoors without a Zero-G Stadium.
(They're far too powerful outside a Zero-G Stadium for them to spin without causing serious damage. - Benkei)
(And you destroyed my workroom! Rule 3! - Madoka)
(Chief, we don't use that anymore… - Maru)
5. No beyblading while injured.
(Zyro and anyone else who might try.)
(You will hurt yourself even worse, and I will not be happy. - Madoka)
(Trust me, kids. She knows… - Benkei)
6. No food in The Director's Office.
(You leave food wrappers everywhere. It's a pain to clean up. - Tsubasa)
(I think he's more upset about Eight writing on the walls… - Zyro)
(And whose idea was it to give Eight sugar? - Kite)
7. Eight is never allowed to have sugar.
(And I thought Yu and Kenta were terrifying. - Madoka)
(I'm not that sugar crazy! - Eight)
(Yes. You are. - Kite)
8. Permanent markers are banned on training trips.
(Eight, you know better. - Madoka)
(They're not for penalties! - Eight)
(No, they're just for drawing all over my face! - Zyro)
(I would run and hide, Eight. - Ren)
9. Do not pick on Eight.
(No matter how much he deserves it.)
(Kite will get angry, and you will regret your actions later. - Shinobu)
(Has someone gone out to save Zyro? - Benkei)
(Last I saw him, he was still out on the lake. - Eight)
(How long does that air mattress hold air again? - Ren)
10. Do not place hair gel in the vicinity of Madoka's repair tech.
(Ren.)
(Your hair will catch on fire.)
(And we will not feel sorry for you.)
11. Quit it with the pirates vs. ninja contests.
(I'm glad you feel strong connections with your spirits, but it's getting ridiculous. - Madoka)
(And you keep injuring yourselves trying to outdo each other. - Benkei)
(Honestly, Shinobu, you're the last person I'd thought would be so childish! - Ren)
(Who exactly went around stealing everyone's launchers? - Shinobu)
(Kite, I'm beginning to wonder if we're the only sane ones here. - Zyro)
12. Stealing someone else's food is wrong.
(Stop stealing my brother's lunches! I make them just for him! - Eight)
(Zyro.)
(*munches loudly* Mmph?! - Zyro)
13. Food pranks are banned.
(Crickets in the sandwiches? That's just cruel! - Zyro)
(You stole my Big Bro's lunches! - Eight)
(Did anyone get a picture? I want to keep it as my screensaver! - Ren)
14. Do not start food fights in Bull Burger.
(Benkei will get mad.)
(And you will have to clean it all up.)
(Then you'll run laps! - Benkei)
15. No skateboarding indoors!
(You nearly hit Madoka, Eight. - Benkei)
(Then you hit me! - Zyro)
(Who says I wasn't aiming for you? - Eight)
(Why you *everything from here on is illegible*. - Zyro)
16. Madoka's computer is off limits.
(Kite, quit digging around for my data! - Madoka)
(But I can't be perfect without more data! - Kite)
17. No destroying construction yards.
(We know you were mad, Zyro, but that's no excuse for ruining construction equipment.)
(I-I wasn't in my right mind. - Zyro)
18. Hospitals are places of rest, not beyblade arenas!
(Zyro, Shinobu, Eight, Kite, Ren, and anyone else with a death wish.)
(Those nurses might never let us use that hospital again! - Tsubasa)
(But the patients had fun. - Eight)
(They had fun, but the doctors had heart attacks! - Benkei)
(Maybe it wasn't a good idea to let them borrow our beyblades… - Zyro)
(I think the wall you kids punched through would agree. - Madoka)
19. When a friend is in trouble, forget the rules.
Dun dun duuuuun!
Yeah, I left it there. It was actually kind of fun to do that.
Alright, so, here's my explanation as to why this was so hard to write:
It's not that I have a problem with the characters, but it's more of a problem with the series itself. Yes, in comparison to the rest of the MFB-verse, it's actually a bit lighter toward the beginning (with some mood whiplash coming in on the back half), but it's really not very humorous. Yes, there's the beach episode that was a lot of fun, but the kids in Zero-G just seem to take themselves more seriously than the original cast. Gingka was a bit of a goofball. Benkei was, well, Benkei. Kyouya was mysterious enough that you could really do whatever you wanted with him. Tsubasa had some fun quirks to poke at. Yu was easy to play with and Kenta was young enough to get caught up in his antics. Meanwhile, the Legendary Beybladers are just the right mix of quirky and mysterious that you can get away with tweaking them a bit.
The Zero-G kids? They just seem to be more aware of their responsibilities, which makes sense since they lived through the Nemesis Crisis and are basically rebuilding the Beyblade World. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it also means that I really can't think of any antics they might get themselves into... which makes it hard to write this since it's Pre-DNA Infiltration. Honestly, I have a bit of a headcanon where they start getting a little more goofy once they meet Gingka. I've always imagined it sort of like a "hey, you just saved the world, so let's have some fun for a change!" kind of thing. Besides, seven years can't destroy the goofball, I won't allow it!
So, yeah. Lot's of long winded explanations and headcanons this time, which is weird because I don't always do that unless I have a very good reason. But, I hope you liked it!
Feel free to PM or review with questions, suggestions, or comments! I'd be more than happy to hear (or is it read?) them!
Ciao! - stormnml