The Best Remedy for Depression is Friendship, Gratefulness, and Cookies

Information:

Takes place during the original Burst series

Sort of an AU

Valt Aoi is an 11 year old Beyblade Player, or a "Blader", for short. His Bey, Valtryek, is one of the most notorious in the District Tournament. He has been very successful in his ventures into Beyblade so far, but unfortunately, lately, Valt has been in a state of depression, and no one knows why, not even his mother or his siblings.

One afternoon, Valt is sitting in his room, doing absolutely nothing except whispering to Valtryek very rarely. His younger brother, Toko, starts to worry about how he's feeling and decides to go knock on his brother's door.

"Go away." Valt says in a downcast voice. Toko opens the door anyway and sits down next to Valt. Toko struggles to speak amidst his brother's melancholy. He hates to see Valt like this. It's happened a couple of times before, but it's gone away just as sudden as it came along. The silence is almost deafeningly loud. Valt is just sitting with his back resting against his bed. Toko finally manages to speak to his brother in a broken voice.

"Is everything okay, brother?" Valt opens his eyes and looks at his brother's puzzled complexion. He feels hot tears sting his eyes as he opens his mouth for nothing. He sobs softly. Toko rubs Valt's back in sympathy for the poor boy. He had never seen Valt in such bad shape before. This is worse than all the other times that it's happened. Normally it's after losing 2 or 3 battles in a row, but this came along without any explaination whatsoever.

Nika eventually runs out of patience and walks upstairs to Valt's room and enters. Valt has his face in his hands now, and is sobbing uncontrollably. Toko motions for Nika to come over. "See if mom can make some chocolate chip cookies." He whispers almost unintelligibly. Nika nods and heads back downstairs while Toko stays upstairs with Valt.

Meanwhile, Nika is downstairs and Chiharu is in the kitchen making bread for some customers. "Hey, Mom, do you think you could make some cookies for Valt?" she asks in a quiet voice. "Sweetie, I'm under a lot of stress right now, so could you ask again later?" Chiharu is sweating heavily amidst the bread-filled kitchen. It's unhealthy, really.

"Please, Mom. Do it for Valt. Toko told me to ask you to make some cookies for him." Chiharu smiles and pats her back understandingly. "I'll try my best, Nika." She makes a happy face and races back upstairs to her brother's room.

When she knows Nika is out of earshot, Chiharu takes a small break and goes to the phone to enlist some of the Bey club to help before the cookies are done. Of course, Rantaro obliges happily. Ken, under the identity of the puppet Keru, practically yells into the phone. "OF COURSE!" Daigo's phone goes straight to voicemail, but Shu gladly says "Definitely!" in his signature laid-back voice.

Back in Valt's room, Valt is practically asleep because he's so tired. "He's almost out." Toko says with a slightly uncertain tone. Nika shakes her head for a few seconds before bolting up and going over to the cabinet in Valt's room where he keeps Valtryek. Her idea is to hand him Valtryek to try and comfort him. It could either make him even more depressed or cheer him up, and Nika was going on that tangent.

Downstairs, Chiharu quietly welcomed the three Bladers. "Where's Valt?" Honcho asks in an almost-whisper. Chiharu motions upstairs and Rantaro nods. The three head upstairs to Valt's room to stall for his mom. Shu gently opens the door. "Hey, Valt." Valt, Valtryek in hand, looks up with his incredibly tear-stained face. Honcho winces and Ken elbows him in the stomach.

"Hey, guys." Valt says in a shaky voice. "What are you doing here?" Ken, as Besu, says "We're here to cheer you up, bucko." That goofy voice has always made Valt smile. And that he did. "Thanks, you guys." He wipes more tears from his face and stands up to give them each a hug. "We're always here for ya, bud." Rantaro says.

Just then, from downstairs, a loud holler came from the kitchen. "COOKIES, EVERYONE!" They high-five each other afterwards. "Race ya downstairs!" They cram themselves through the doorway and down the stairs. Valt comes first place and gets a standing ovation from his peers. Of course, they're already standing, so it doesn't really count.