Title: Behind the Name
Association: Beyblade
Pairings: None
Short Summary: Tyson and Ray have a discussion over Max's bit-beast. Humor fic, first attempt. Two-shot story that may be expanded upon request.
Full Summary: While enjoying a day away from training, Tyson tells Ray that he thinks Draciel is actually a seal as opposed to a turtle. Can he convince his teammate of this? Moreover, what will Kai and Max have to say on this issue?
Hello there, dearies. This is just a little something that I've been working on for a couple of weeks and I thought it was about time I uploaded an actual story here on . Just a few notes before you begin.
=There is no yaoi or lemon in this
=This is set post-G Revolution (Season 3)
=I eat fire for breakfast, so flames are perfectly acceptable XD
=Point out mistakes to me if you see them so they can be fixed
Well, I suppose that's all for now. I'll get started on Chapter Two tonight. ;)
PS: I've admittedly flamed people before too, so don't go easy on me. I want serious criticism if I can get it.
It had started off as a peculiar morning at the Granger dojo. Kai, the normally strict and stoic team captain of the BBA Revolution, had given his teammates permission to do as they pleased for the day. However, it hadn't exactly been a gesture of kindness on his part. Rather, it had been a way to prepare his team for the intense training that would take place the next day, as they were only two weeks away from competing in yet another high-level beyblading tournament.
Kai, of course, was no slacker. He would still be training, regardless of what his teammates did on their day off. He had left early that morning to get started, placing a sticky note on Tyson's forehead with the exciting news. Kai wasn't about to be shown up by his rival at the next tournament, even though he and Tyson would be on the same team; a tag team, no less. Thought the thought had initially disgusted him, he willed it from his mind and focused on the task at hand: Preparing to make a fool out of Granger at the American tournament.
Max, who had woken at about six that morning just minutes after Kai left, had discovered his captain's note and took off from the dojo after him, hoping to surprise his friend with an early morning challenge. Kai wasn't the first person Max would have liked to be around so early in the morning, but trying to wake Tyson would be like waking the dead, Ray's beyblade was under repairs, Kenny was the one repairing Ray's blade, Hilary wasn't at Tyson's place the night before and Daichi... well, no one really wanted to spend time babysitting an obnoxious pre-teen like him.
Daichi, however, was the next one to rise after a "sudden urge" kept him from sleeping any longer. After getting up at seven and reading the note on Tyson's forehead, he took off without telling anyone his whereabouts. It wasn't like anyone really cared about where Daichi was, according to Tyson at least, who had voiced this aloud the week before when Daichi had threatened to run away from home. That, of course, was another story.
Kenny had slithered out of his sleeping bag at approximately 7:15AM, after which he showered, ate breakfast and began repairing and upgrading Ray's Driger. He had to return to his own home to do all of the aforementioned, as he had forgotten to bring spare clothes and beyblade parts with him the night before. As trashed as Ray's blade was, it was likely that Kenny would spend the entire day in his room with his laptop, talking to Dizzi and analyzing data as he tested out his newest set of beyblade modifications. Sure, he'd seen Kai's note back at Tyson's place, but his day off was the perfect opportunity to get his friend's blade back to peak condition and he wasn't about to let it go to waste.
Ray, oddly enough, who was usually up second following Kai, had been second to last to wake at the Granger residence that morning. It was sometime close to eight before he awoke, realizing that the sun was glaring in at him through the windows in the dojo. He sat up suddenly, panicking until he caught sight of Tyson, who had miraculously managed to keep the sticky note attached to his head for something close to five hours. Upon seeing it, Ray was immediately disheartened. Even though he was free to do whatever he wanted for the day, he knew he'd rather be training more than anything. Without his blade though, he would be forced to find something else to help him engage his brain. With a shrug and a sigh, Ray quietly left the dojo and searched the house for something to keep himself occupied. After all, surely Tyson would give him some company after he bothered to wake up.
The time was 10:30AM, now several hours after the rest of the BBA Revolution had risen and parted ways. Tyson stirred lazily at first, rubbing the corners of his eyes with his knuckles. He opened his eyes with a smile, only to close them against the harsh rays coming through his window. Suddenly, his mind clicked.
"OH CRAP! KAI'S GONNA KILL ME!" Tyson shouted as he looked over at the alarm clock near his pallet on the floor and read the time over again in his head.
"10:30. It's 10:30 and Kai's gonna kill me. This day already sucks!"
Tyson quickly began to pull on the pair of jeans he'd worn the previous day, muttering to himself and praying that Kai wouldn't make him run laps or something for not waking up on time. He was rushing so fast that it took a minute for him to notice that a small blue sheet of paper had fallen to the floor in front of him. Still worried about his team captain's temper exploding once he went to meet the rest of his team, Tyson picked up the note and skimmed over it. He stopped moving instantly.
"No frickin' way! So, Sourpuss finally decided to give us a day off, huh? WOOT WOO!"
Tyson began running sporadically about the dojo, not caring when he tripped over one of his teammates pallets. This was, after all, a reason to celebrate. Tyson shouted random things and jumped around until Ray walked in on his one-man party.
"You know, Tyson, I was kinda trying to read. What's all the commotion about in here?"
"Oh, Ray." Tyson blushed slightly, now a little embarrassed that his friend had seen him jumping around like an eight-year-old. "Ha, did you see this little note here?" The midnight-haired boy proudly held the blue paper in front of Ray.
The Chinese blader chuckled. "Yeah, I saw it. It was on your forehead when I woke up. That was like, three hours ago."
"Oh really? Huh, guess I didn't notice it."
"Heh, as loud as you were snoring, I doubt you would have notice a wrecking ball smashing through your house." Ray smirked and sat down near Tyson's unmade pallet, placing the book he had been reading down next to his feet.
"Aww, come on, if Kai's not here to dish it out himself, then I don't want anyone else trying to insult me. It's just not the same if it's not comin' from him."
"Yeah, I'm really not that good at being a jerk, am I?"
"Nah, not really. Kai's just got his own special way of putting people down. I think it helps that bruised ego of his."
Ray just laughed. "Look who's talkin'. At least his ego isn't overly-inflated."
"I don't have an overly-inflated ego! I'm just confident in my abilities." Tyson protested, crossing his arms and putting on his best pouty face for Ray.
Ray frowned. "Aww, now don't look at me like that, I'm not trying to choose sides here! Besides, if Kai's not here to argue with you then I'm not gonna be the one to take his place."
"Fine, have it your way." Tyson plopped himself down next to Ray, arms still crossed, a smirk now tugging at the corners of his mouth. "So, where's everyone else at?"
"Dunno. The only one who bothered to leave a note was Kai, and I imagine he's probably still training even if we're not. I mean, it's not like he'll care what we do as long as we stay away from him and don't do anything stupid."
"I can't make any promises there, buddy, but I'd be training right now too if I had an opponent. I wish your blade wasn't so beat up."
"Yeah, me too. It figures; we finally get a day off and I can't find anything to do." Ray let out a defeated sigh.
"Well, weren't ya just reading somethin'?" Tyson asked, peering over to see the cover of Ray's book.
"Yeah, it's just some ghetto-old novel about a romance in Feudal Japan. Your grandpa keeps some odd stuff on that bookshelf of his..."
"Oh no, please don't tell me you took that book from the top shelf!"
"Actually, I didn't, but I did look at the top shelf and... Well, I think you probably know what I found." Ray hid his face with his long ebony bangs, cheeks flushed bright red as he recalled the collection of "novels" he'd found on accident. He was sure that he wouldn't be able to live that one down any time soon with Tyson around.
Tyson, more than eager to seize this opportunity, was rolling on the floor laughing at poor Ray. "Haha, you actually found Gramps' magazines, didn't you?"
"Shut up! It's not my fault that your grandpa's a pervert!" Ray continued to blush, but he had to admit, Gramps had pretty good taste. He'd never tell Tyson that, but he was free to think it.
"Aw, that's okay, bud. I found them one time myself." Tyson wiped invisible tears from the corners of his eyes and laid there on the floor of the dojo. "I'm just glad that Gramps likes 'em young." He busted up laughing all over again, leaving Ray to sulk further in his embarrassment.
"How long are you gonna keep this up, Tyson?" Ray whined.
"Eh, I'll let it go for now. Just wait 'til I tell ol' Maxie about this one!" Tyson clapped his hands together with glee.
"Don't even think about it."
"Aw, why not? You're not being any fun at all, Ray!"
"It's just embarrassing, okay? "
"Geez, it's not like I'm gonna tell him that you took 'em and stashed 'em somewhere. You need to lighten up a little!"
"Whatever." Ray shifted his sitting position by crossing both his legs and his arms, giving himself a very Kai-like posture. Tyson was tempted to say something about it, but decided he'd teased his friend enough for now.
"So... whadda ya wanna do today, Ray?"
"I dunno. I wanna blade, but Kenny took off with Driger." Ray's brows furrowed and his expression deepened with a frown. "I kinda wish Max and Kai were here. We could've all went to see a movie or something."
"Aw, who needs them anyway? C'mon Ray, we're gonna have a great day by ourselves. I think we should start with breakfast!" Tyson hopped up excitedly from the polished floor of the dojo and extended his hand to Ray. The Chinese blader took it half-heartedly, knowing that breakfast could very easily waste at least an hour or two of his boring day.
The two bladers left the Granger residence in search of a decent restaurant to dine in, but nothing seemed appealing to either male, so they simply decided to go sit down near the bridge that they normally trained at. Much to their surprise, their dual-haired captain and blonde friend were elsewhere, but it didn't stop them from relaxing in the emerald grass and gazing out at the river.
Ray was the first speak. "You know, Ty, we could always go back to your place and grab something to eat if you wanted to. I know I said I wouldn't earlier, but I guess I could still make breakfast for us."
"Nah, I'm not really all that hungry." Tyson, who was lying down in the grass, rolled his head over in Ray's direction. "It's almost lunchtime though, ain't it?"
"Um... lemme check." Ray, who was lying beside Tyson, reached into his white robe of sorts and brought out a scuffed-up pocket watch. "Yeah, it's about noon right now."
"Oh well, we'll get something later. Sorry I can't think of anything for us to do, Ray."
"Ah, don't worry about it." Ray turned his face toward Tyson. "I'll bet that Max and Kai are training right now. I'm so jealous I could scream."
"Heh, if nothin' else, we could always go distract The Chief." Tyson flashed a dazzling grin at Ray, but his friend seemed uninterested in the idea.
"No, better not try that. He'll never get Driger fixed if we go over and bother him. And before you say anything, don't suggest to me that we bug Hilary either. That's not fun for anyone."
Granger, for the first time in years, didn't have much to say. He wanted to have a nice day off with Ray, but his raven-haired friend was simply bored with just relaxing. What was his deal anyway? Who wouldn't enjoy having a day off for once? Well, Tyson didn't mind just lounging around, but it was sure difficult to enjoy himself when he knew his companion was unhappy. He just needed something to talk about, something that Ray would really be engaged in. Even though Ray was generally quiet unless angered, he still had a tendency to pry when he was interested in something.
"Hmm... So we can't go bug Hilary, huh?" Tyson began again.
"No way, I'm not in the mood to hear her screaming at us."
"Well that's okay," Tyson rolled up off the grass into a partial sitting position. "I've got something else that you can help me with."
"Oh yeah?" Ray followed Tyson's example and sat up. "Like what?"
"Well," Tyson looked around suspiciously, checking all over for unseen ears and turned back to Ray. "There's something that I kinda need your help figuring out. You see, I've had this really suspicious idea for a while now, but I need a second opinion."
"Yeah? Well out with it!"
"Okay, the thing is... I wanna figure out what Maxie's bit-beast really is."
Ray stared at his less-than-intelligent friend for a moment. Had he really said that?
"You're kidding."
"Nuh-uh, I'm dead serious! Really think about it for a minute, Ray. Draciel, right? Doesn't that imply that Draciel actually is a seal?"
"Tyson, are you smoking something I don't know about?" Ray raised a curiously high eyebrow at his teammate.
Tyson laughed. "No, I'm not smoking anything; I'm just confused is all."
"Well there's no need to be. Obviously Draciel is a turtle."
"Then why the heck is he named Draciel?"
"Because he... He just is, okay? Seriously, he looks like a turtle and acts like a turtle. That's all the proof you need."
"Draciel does not act like a turtle!"
"Yes he does."
"Does not!"
"Does too!"
"You don't even know what turtles act like!"
"So what? I don't have to know what they act like to tell you that Draciel is one."
"Oh yeah? Prove it." Tyson was standing by this point, hands on his hips and a mean scowl on his face. It didn't matter what Draciel looked like; Tyson was convinced that his friend's bit-beast was far from being a turtle. He just had to get Ray to see it from his point of view. The midnight-haired teen actuallyhad a little more evidence to back up his opinion, but not much, and he needed Ray's resources to fizzle out before he could state his claim.
"Alright then, I will." Ray pushed himself up off the ground and took Tyson's hand, dragging him away from the riverside.
"Hey, where're we goin'?"
"Back to your place. I'm gonna show you that Draciel's a turtle."
Ray pulled Tyson along behind him as the two boys ran the way back to the Granger residence. When they entered the doorway to the dojo, both of them were panting heavily, with Tyson on the verge of a heart attack.
"Geezus, Ray, did we really hafta run all the way here? I'm practically dying!"
"Oh you'll live, stop being a drama queen." Ray exited the dojo with Tyson following him and found his way upstairs to where Tyson's room was at.
"Hey, why'd we come up here?"
"Why do you ask so many questions? We're here 'cause I need a piece of paper and a pencil. I'd actually be surprised if you had either, seeing as you never do your homework, but I just thought I'd check anyway." Ray searched the room for Tyson's backpack until he realized that his friend might have the needed materials hidden in his desk. He quickly opened a drawer and snatched the two items out.
Tyson, who was hovering over his Chinese friend, wanted desperately to ask him another question, but kept his mouth shut.
"Alright, Ty, here's where I prove your theory wrong." Ray plopped himself on the wooden floor and pulled Tyson down beside him. "I guess you're wondering what I'm gonna do with this paper and pencil, right? Well, I'm gonna draw you a picture of Draciel. His appearance is... well, he kinda looks like an even more mutated version of a TMNT, so that's what I'm gonna shoot for." With unexpected grace and confidence, Ray put the tip of the pencil to the blank sheet before him and began bringing Draciel to life.
Tyson watched in awe as his friend drew the absolute coolest version of Draciel that he'd ever seen. The shading was perfect, the lines were solid and bold and the details on him were almost exactly as they were on Max's bit-beast. Tyson was stunned.
"Wow, I never knew you were such a good artist, Ray!" Tyson grinned as he watched Ray draw lines on Draciel's tail. "I guess you Chinese really can do anything, huh?"
Ray paused, giving Tyson a mock dirty look. "Just you wait until I get Driger back. You're in for it then," he stated with a cocky and playful tone. Tyson laughed and leaned against the side of his bed, waiting patiently on his teammate to finish his picture. After a good fifteen minutes or so, Ray dropped the pencil and wiped a few beads of sweat off his forehead. "There. It's finished."
"Oooh, lemme see, lemme see!" Tyson sat up and swiped the picture off the floor, studying it with intense interest. "Wow, it's beautiful! We gotta show this to Maxie!"
"Hold on a sec, that's not why I drew this." Ray took the picture back from Tyson and held it in front of his face. "Have you forgotten why this even exists right now?"
"Hmm... Oh yeah! You know, this really doesn't change my mind about anything though. Yeah, I know he looks like a turtle, but like I said, he doesn't act like one."
"Tyson, you're being stupid. Seriously, what in the world makes you think that Draciel isn't a turtle?"
"Because he acts like a seal! Turtles don't live in water, Ray, they live on land!"
"Sea turtles live in water."
Tyson glared at Ray and prepared to shout, but held back. "I know that, Ray, but Draciel isn't built like a sea turtle. He's got solid feet and arms."
"It's not like we're talking about actual animals here, Ty, we're talking about bit-beasts."
"Duh! Look, maybe there's still a way for me to prove my point. C'mon Ray." Tyson yanked his friend off the floor and dashed down the stairs. Ray did his best to fold the picture he'd drawn and stuffed it in his pocket.
"Whoa! Wait a minute, where are we headed to?"
"To get a second, and maybe even a third opinion. We're gonna find Kai and Max and we're gonna do it now."
Before Ray could even begin to protest, Tyson clamped a hand over the other blader's mouth and they were out the door again.
Sorry about not having the page breaks the first time around. My bad. R&R if it suits you, I won't hold you to it.