The Last Reunion
Chapter one:- memories from the past
Lightning flashed and thunder rolled as the storm above grew nearer. The rain pelted down but none of this seemed to matter to the sixteen-year-old girl who stood on the balcony in her own world, starring at the village that lay below her and the white balcony of her Hong Kong home. She knew that soon the time of reunion would come. She stroked a loose piece of her long dark brown hair that hung limply in tendrils around her pale face, her equally dark eyes held a far away expression that hid all of her emotions as well as her inner turmoil. She recited her poem while her torn black pants and emerald green shirt clung to her body like a second skin. "Love was lost and love was found, love was tossed back to the ground. Love holds peace, love holds hope, love holds the ability to help us cope..." the girl sighed and continued her poem as she remembered her mother who left her unwillingly so long ago. In pain she recalled her thoughts and as lightning flashed once more. The time grew closer, she tiredly continued her poem, "... Love was courage, love was light, and it was love that helped you win a fight. Love was strength, and love was wild, love makes you feel just like a child. Love shall conquer love shall rule..."
"This so-called love of yours makes you look a fool." Came a deep voice from the doorway behind her. Even though she started, she recognised the voice immediately. In response the girl turned on her heel with a false honey-sweet smile on her lips. "Good Evening dear cousin. I didn't hear you enter the anti-chamber," she said effectively hiding her true feelings. "Samantha," whispered a voice she didn't immediately recognise but she caught the drift and she curtsied like he expected her to. Her cousin's face, which was illuminated by another flash of lightning, held a positively cruel expression. Her cousin's name was Philippe. He was three years older than her and he considered himself a prince. Everyone else had to bow down to his wishes. At first the girl had denied the fact and so had vehemently refused to obey her orders but that was before...
Even if Philippe was the girl's so-called cousin, he always had treated her like a slave, even if he had no right to do so. He gave the girl so many chores that she had little time to do anything else, but if she did have time on her hands, she spent it training her faithful Bitbeast, Dyane, in secret as her cousin hated blading with a passion not easily matched by anything else. It had been over a year since her last embrace however brief. Two years since she had had her last tournament battle with Dyane. And it had been two years since she had lost all contact with her father. Since then the girl who called herself Sam had become her cousins slave only because he took her in when she most needed a home. "Of course you didn't hear me enter, you stupid girl. You were off in your own world again."
His long white-blonde hair shimmered as another bolt lit up the sky. The only other source of light was his blazing green eyes. Sam failed to respond to the implication and she fought bitterly to keep her expression bland. She looked him up and down giving herself time to recover. On his 6'2" frame he wore a richly decorated white silk top with black flowing pants. He looked so much like her father right then that Sam felt momentarily blinded. Sam's father had after all disowned her at the tender age of nine. Once they had been close in fact at the young age of three, she had taken up beyblading just to be closer to her father. They had been close, very close but since her mother's death things had changed. Because of Philippe she could hardly battle at all anymore, and wasn't allowed to enter any tournaments because of his deep hatred of the sport. Now she was a lone blader with no past and probably no future. Philippe's hand came out to grasp her shoulder and as a reflex, Sam flinched but she also raised her chin in defiance. Philippe's smile only broadened at her response. "Who are we expecting my liege?" Sam asked slowly.
Philippe turned to look down at her as he dragged her into the room. "We are expecting guests in an hour. Be on your best behaviour and call my wife and myself by our given names. NOW go and make yourself presentable." He roughly pulled her further into the room and then flung her out the door. Sam still managed to land on her feet and scowled at the closed door. She had just managed to ascend one flight of stairs as Philippe's voice rang out once more, "Oh and Sam, you'd better get rid of that toy of yours or otherwise I will." Sam's back stiffened and her hand unconsciously went to her pocket. Mentally she promised Dyane that she never would. As soon as she entered her quarters, she was hastened away by two maids who took her to a different room.
"My lord says you are to take residence in this room from now on." One of them said. The other nodded meekly in agreement and helped the first strip Sam of her garments. "HEY, what are you-?" Sam was sharply cut off by the maids pushing her into a portable bath that had been erected in her chamber. Then they began to scrub her down. "I can wash myself you know." Sam argued as another bucket of hot water was dumped over her head. Sam mumbled some unmentionable words under her breath as she gulped for air. Sam scowled in contempt and asked, "And what am I to wear? I have noting that 'his majesty' would approve of." As soon as the words were out of Sam's mouth, she wished them back as one of the maids scurried to the other end of the room, whilst the other rubbed her dry. The maid sorted through several shelves looking for something with her back turned to Sam and then the sixteen-year-old caught a flash of blue as the maid turned and hurried back. The dress was one of those that Sam was not particularly happy wearing. Ok, ok so truthfully she hated it. The blue dress was full of flares and ruffles and the cuffs were really short, the hem and just below the bust line were embroidered with a thin golden thread. "Oh yay," Sam muttered under her breath, whilst putting on some under garments. Unwillingly Sam allowed the dress to be pulled over her still wet hair and the maids quickly but efficiently hooked up all the skirts. The sixteen-year-old grimaced in disgust and found yet another fault with the dress. The neckline was very low cut and slipped off of each shoulder. Sam hid both her blade and her launcher in a hidden pocket and sat down with a sigh in front of a mirror. She actually felt like screaming. Her hair was dried and was being combed as Sam reached her limit. "I CAN'T wear this!" she moaned at her reflection.
Suddenly a deep voice rang close to her ear and nearly made her jump, "Oh believe me Samantha you have no choice in the matter. You will wear the dress." Sam's eyes fell to her lap in disgust. What had happened to her fighting spirit? 'I take no prisoners. And I'll break his neck in a minute instead of his will.' She thought bitterly as her hair was wound around her head in an Elvin fashion, 'Stupid, evil and disgusting little-'
"Rise and let me see you." Philippe demanded.
"My lord." Sam almost hissed but luckily for her sake it came out in a monotone as she slowly rose, as she had been bidden, "Good now turn... raise your chin you're ruining the effect. Turn again. Very good. You are very close to perfection." Philippe said with a slight smile. Sam turned a very light shade of pink at the unaccustomed praise, but Philippe didn't seem to notice. Shifting her weight to the other foot she asked boldly, "Who is coming cousin?"
Philippe ignored the question and circled her once more whilst draping a golden necklace around her neck. "That's better. Now downstairs to Francisca." Sam bit back a sharp response and stormed off towards the door muttering under her breath and stroking the pocket that held her hidden blade. She gracefully descended the stairs and entered the vast lounge room. Philippe's wife Francisca sat comfortably in a chair and Sam lent on a wall in the shadows, her eyes closed and her arms crossed firmly across her chest. Waiting...
As two sixteen-year-old boys raced towards another's house, a loud, droning roar could be heard from one end of the street to the other. Inside that house a fifteen-year-old boy with light brown hair and round rimmed glasses, was pacing back and forth trying to get the sleeping boy on the bed to awaken.
"Oh Tyson, there's a big pile of pancakes on the table and if you don't wake up, I'm going to eat them..." The Navy haired boy only turned over and hid his head under a pillow. "Sorry Chief but I don't think your so-called constructive negotiation is going to well. That was try 394 and you still failed." Came a cheerful voice from a nearby laptop. "Oh, I've tried everything Dizzi and still nothing seems to work." Suddenly the door opened behind the boy causing him to jump. "Hi ya Kenny." Came the voice of the always-cheerful Max. "Hey Kenny, morning Dizzi." Ray chimed in gleefully.
"Good morning Boys," Dizzi managed to say before one of her piercing alarms went off. As the sound died away, it was replaced by a deep rumbling that gradually came to a crescendo, which was more like an ear-deafening roar. As it finally receded Ray asked, "What was that?" Kenny turned around slowly as a smile flitted across his lips and said lightly "That was Tyson's snore." Both Max and Ray looked at each other in shock.
"That sound came from Tyson?!?" They asked in unison. Kenny blushed slightly in embarrassment as he said "Yeah. According to my...err...our calculations he does that Ten minutes."
Dizzi made a rude sound as he said 'my'. Max looked his watch and let out a strangled cry. "Kai is going to kill him!" he said in a high pitch but suddenly he got an idea. "I know how to wake him up."
"Better be Good Max, the Chief's tried everything." Dizzi piped up after resetting her alarm. Max smiled evilly in response. "Everything but brutal force," he responded slowly as he positioned his foot under Tyson's limp body. With a grunt, Max gathered all his strength and lifted. Immediately, Tyson was flung to the end of his bed and with a dull thud his head connected with the headboard. Groaning in pain, Tyson sat up and rubbed his head. "Ohhhh, What time is it?" Tyson asked groggily. "Never mind that Tyson," Ray said conversationally but as was his nature he hated to drag things out so he continued, "Kai expects to see us in... oh say...five minutes." Tyson paled and before you could say 'Dragoon' Tyson was running around his room screaming "Why didn't you wake me earlier?!?"
"Oh, we tried," Kenny said matter-of-factly, "It's just you didn't want to wake up, even with all our best efforts." Ray, Max and Kenny all started laughing at Tyson's dumbfounded expression. They were still laughing two minutes later as they headed out the fount door awaiting Tyson's doom.
Kai was bored. Seriously bored. He had trained earlier when Tyson was probably still in bed. He opened his eyes and looked around. The rest of his team was due to be here any minute now but knowing Tyson, he would probably be kept waiting for...an hour or two...or three... his thoughts were interrupted by a jubilant cry. His head turned and he saw followed by the rest of the BladeBreakers. Kai looked at his watch and was surprised to see that they were early...by a minute. "So you finally managed to get Tyson up and out of bed." Kai sneered in a way of greeting.
"Yeah." Max said cheerily rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. Tyson looked around and was shocked to see hardly anyone was left blading. "Hey Maxi, it would seem we have the place to ourselves huh?" Max looked around too and raised a blond eyebrow in question. "Yeah Ty, must have heard we were coming and fled back home to their parents." He joked. Kai shook his head in response and decided to tell them what really happened.
"Sorry to disappoint you but your theory is wrong. I beat most of them about half an hour ago. Come on we didn't come here for chitchat. Let's get some training done...before we meet Mr. Dickenson at the Airport." Almost immediately Tyson began whining. After an empty promise that Tyson would be able to have all he wanted to eat for lunch, they finally managed to start training. Four hours later Kai glanced at his watch and muttered some unrepeatable words under his breath before running at top speed for the airport. Max looked up from where he was battling Ray and saw the mysterious team captain quickly disappearing. He looked at his watch and yelped in surprise. "We are so close to being late!" he cried in despair. They all began to run as fast as they could to the airport. "I thought you had forgotten our flight." Came a familiar voice as the rest of the team finally stumbled into the terminal. "NAH, Mr. D, you know Kai wouldn't let us," Tyson said breathing heavily and sending a sideways glance at his team-mate. Kai ignored him and briskly headed towards the gate. "The plane to Hong Kong leaves in two minutes passengers please make your way to the gate." Came a loud voice over the loud speaker. "Let's go." Ray said following his team leader.
The flight over was uneventful and Tyson managed to stay awake for most of the flight. Kai had a sudden premonition that whatever was going to happen in Hong Kong was going to change his life forever. His hand glided down and rested on his pocket. He could clearly feel his blade beneath and it seemed to warm slightly at his touch. Kai was a very impatient person and so looked at his watch for the fifth time in ten minutes. It now read 7:23. They would land in seven minutes. Kai let his gaze roam and he saw Tyson dozing in his chair and drooling all over the place, a slightly green Kenny talking to his bit beast- the turbulence had obviously gotten to him. Both Max and Mr Dickenson were talking, and Ray was sitting next to him reading. 7:26. The seatbelt sign was flashing and so with a sigh a disgusted Kai got up and pulled Tyson into a sitting position...he was still sleeping...buckled the seatbelt and pulled it tight. Tyson's eyes shot open and he gasped for breath. Kai sat back down, put his own belt on folded his arms, and closed his eyes.
Tyson loosened the belt a little and saw the reason why he had been so rudely awakened. "That was brave." Ray muttered leaning close to Kai so that he could be heard over his team-mates yelling of 'we're here...we're here...' Kai only smiled slightly and listened to the captains' voice. "This is your captain speaking. We shall be landing in Hong Kong shortly. Thank you for flying KLM..." Kenny's face regained some of its colour at the announcement. They landed and got off the plane at 7:30 exactly and went to a hotel called 'Adonia's listener.' "Funny name for a hotel," Max remarked.
"Most places here are named after someone. This hotel happens to be named after Adonia's listener who ever they may be." Kenny said typing madly onto his laptop
"Let's get inside, we have a meeting in...an hour. Wear your best boys and don't be late." Mr. Dickenson exclaimed and walked up to the counter. After several quick words and a worried glance at the boys he returned and handed one key to Kai and the other key to Ray. "These rooms are the only ones available so, Ray you'll be sharing with Tyson, Max and Kenny...And Kai you'll be sharing with me." Kai and Ray both nodded and the blade breakers headed up the stairs. Half an hour later a moaning, groaning and thrashing Tyson was flung into the lobby. He had been forced from the room before he could call room service. "Calm down Tyson we do have a meeting soon and our ride is awaiting." Mr. D came to the rescue. Tyson smoothed his shirt and tried to calm which is a tough task for someone like Tyson...anyway...Kai was the only one who had actually decided to get changed. He now wore pure black baggy pants as well as his normal black top with red cut offs. His white scarf fluttered in the slight breeze and he had exchanged his red arm guards for red wristbands. The rain had lessened slightly as they got into the awaiting Limo and the trip to the great white house on the top of the hill was traversed in relative silence. Tyson couldn't stay serious for long. He and Max began singing. It was out of tune and out of whack and Ray had to clamp his hands firmly over his ears. If it were daylight they would have seen the vast garden that was their new team-mates pride and joy... but they didn't and all to soon Mr. Dickenson was knocking at the front door.
"Here Samantha put theses on," Francisca murmured. Sam opened her eyes and looked disgustedly at the wristbands that Francisca held in her hands. Sam's gaze rose to meet Francisca's eyes and noticed the flushed face. "What are they?" Sam asked sharply. Francisca's eyes closed momentarily and then reopened. "They are communicators. They also have the family crest on them. Look I wear them too!" she said in her usual soft manner. Sam sighed in resolution and held out her hand. "Fine I'll do as you wish. By the way, my name is Sam. Not Samantha." Francisca imperiously dropped the two wristbands into Sam's out-held hand and walked back to her chair. Sam clasped the wristbands to her wrists and settled back into the shadows. The clock stuck 8:30 and a loud door knock punctuated the sound. Sam heard Philippe's loud voice and it accompanied a voice that belonged to an older man who's voice seemed vaguely familiar. She was still trying to work it out as the voices grew louder. Finally Sam could decipher words, "...and Ray of the BladeBreakers. We're honoured to be your guests." Sam frowned. BladeBreakers. The word seemed familiar but where had she heard it? That's when reality hit. Tyson, Max, Ray and Kenny. They were the team her father had told her about. And the voice belonged to a BBA employee Mr. Dickenson. Sam smiled slightly but didn't bother to come out of the shadows. Philippe's expression became a frown as he looked around. "Where's Sam, Francisca?" he asked. Sam slowly came forth from the shadows in response and said, "I am here Philippe." All eyes turned to Sam as she looked around and greeted her onlookers of whom one she vaguely knew. "Good evening Mr. Dickenson," she said with a nod in his direction, "BladeBreakers." Tyson immediately got up and said, "The names Tyson. The blonde boy with blue eyes, Green and white shirt and Orange overalls is Max. The boy next to him with the red yin yang headband, black hair, white and gold uniform with blue pants and yellowish brown eyes is Ray and the guy with the laptop, brown hair and glasses, his name is Kenny." He took a deep breath about to continue but Sam had turned away after nodding to each of the boys in turn and allowed her gaze to rest on the final teen in the room that had not yet been introduced officially. A memory from long ago was suddenly reawakened in her mind. A memory of when Sam was a little girl and then another from roughly two years ago and her final tournament in Moscow, Russia. "K...Kai?" she whispered incredulously, paling at the sight of the older teen. She looked wide-eyed for an escape route but found none. Visibly the distressed teen gathered her scattered wits and met the eyes of her disapproving cousin. "Philippe, please, I beg of you, let me be excused!" she asked her voice an octave higher than it was wont to be. Philippe noticed and frowned slightly, narrowing his eyes. "No Samantha. You may not be excused, now sit down." He said coolly placing a hand on her bare shoulder and pushing her roughly into a spare chair before going over to one of the three couches and joining his wife. Thoughtfully he looked at Mr. Dickenson and asked "Why are you here Mr. D, why did you bring these young Men? Why must Samantha be present?" Sam scowled in Philippe's general direction but before she could comment in anyway there was a loud scream from the doorway, followed by the sound of breaking china. "What now?" Philippe groaned. Sam jumped to her feet; having seen the mouse that had so startled the maid, and whipped out her blade and launcher. Without another word to anyone she sent her blade spinning across the room. "Dyane, go and bring that mouse to me," Sam called. The black and purple blade immediately turned its attention to the mouse and after an ear-splitting sound erupted the blade seemed to pounce on the paralysed mouse. Sam held out her hand in a wordless command and the blade knocked the mouse at Sam who deftly caught the rodent. "Good girl," Sam murmured recalling her blade to her open palm. Avoiding everyone's eyes she slowly walked from the room with her head held high and an intense gaze following her every move.
He seemed particularly interested in Kai. "Of course, come in," he said. As the walked towards the living room, Mr Dickenson spoke up. "This is Kenny, Kai, Max, Tyson and Ray of the BladeBreakers. We are honoured to be your guests." Kai's gaze wondered, but something diverted his attention, or maybe it was someone, in the darkness of the wall between the fireplace and the bookshelf. The man Mr. Dickenson called Philippe turned and talked to the women who seemed to be his wife. "Where is Samantha, Francisca?" The dark figure that Kai had seen came forward and it was unmistakably someone of the weaker gender. As Kai studied her, she seemed to sense his gaze and turned to look at him. She paled visibly and whispered something. Then she blades unlike any guy or girl he'd ever encountered and then she simply walks away. Philippe seemed more than a little annoyed at Sam's actions. "Why are you here?" Philippe snapped. Mr Dickenson looked him square in the eye as he slowly replied. "Because of Sam and her skills as a -"
"Don't even say that word," Philippe hissed.
"But that is why we're here. The upcoming tournament will be held in England and -"
"Sam's not going," Philippe said through clenched teeth. Kai stood and walked towards the door, hoping Philippe would get his way but knowing otherwise. "That is not your decision to make." Kai said stonily, even though he still silently agreed with Philippe. "Where are you going Kai?" Ray asked. "To get the last... member... of our team," Kai stated blandly, walking out the door. "Well I never," said Max.
Tyson grinned and said, "Bit battles. A new team-mate, and another championship that the Bladebreakers have got to enter and we will win."
Ray shook his head and said: "Only if that Sam does decides to join us. And she better, like it or not"
Kai knew that this trip would change his life forever. But he had a weird feeling that he and that girl had met before. But where? And why? He wondered where he would find his last so-called 'team-mate' but didn't have to wonder for long. He heard the girl's loud attention demanding voice and followed it to a room where the door was slightly ajar. He entered in his usual way... without bothering to knock, hoping for some answers from the amateur blader inside...