FANFICTION
"THE DARKNESS OF THE MIND"
Chapter 1:-
It was the beginning of a glorious morning when the sun emerged on the scene and began to spread its light like a candle lit in the darkest of rooms. There was still moisture in the air and dew drops had not yet dried from the surface of the leaves. All was peace and quiet. Sounds of people snoring could be heard from a distance as the roads of the busy city of Tokyo were now empty. People slept comfortably to wake up once again to join the hustle and bustle of life. This was the town where lived the four best bladers of the world, owners of the four legendary guardian spirits, seized by slumber and drowned in their own world of sub consciousness.
Sleeping to yet again wake up in the face of a new challenge of life! Tyson, Kai, Max and Ray, formally known as The Bladebreakers.
As the morning moves towards mid-day, the Bladebreakers start waking up on after the other and looked forward to a beautiful morning to brighten up their day and have a nice filling breakfast. Well, at least one of them does.
"Grandpa! How many push-ups and jogging laps will I have to do before I actually starve to death?" said Tyson looking angrily at the watch as if it had committed a heinous crime.
"Well m'boy! It's not my fault you are waking up so late so don't expect me to make you breakfast at this hour because I'm done with my cooking in the morning. I guess you'll just have to wait for lunch." Grandpa said taking out a weed from the flower pot and looking irritated.
"C'mon Gramps! It's just 12:30. There's sill an hour and a half left. How do you reckon I'll stay alive till lunch if I have nothing to eat? I'm a growing boy, remember?" said Tyson desperately.
"Growing boys should also wake up early. It keeps them fresh and active. Besides, the whole point of having breakfast is to fill you stinking stomach and keep it shut till lunch. But does our champion here understand that? Nooooo!" Hilary interrupted in a usual mocking tone.
"Blah! Blah! Blah! Lay off me, okay, Hilary. I don't have time to listen to your lousy lectures?" muttered Tyson looking slightly crossed and shocked at the sudden appearance of Hilary out of no where.
"You wouldn't have to listen to my lectures if you were a little disciplined yourself." Hilary said with her voice a little higher than before.
Tyson, who had completely forgotten about his hunger and the presence of Grandpa, started shouting back, "Save your lectures for someone who cares. STOP bossing me around and get the hell out of here."
"Well, excuuuuuuse me for trying to knock some sense into you but some people just don't value a good advice." She said turning red.
"You're going somewhere with this, Hilary?" he said looking furious.
"Knock it off, you two! I can't believe you guys can turn such a stupid thing into an argument." Max said entering the room with his hands covering his ears to block all the noise. He was quickly followed by Ray.
"Thanks Max, m'boy! I was about to CRACK! Those two were driving me up the wall!" Grandpa said almost in whisper. He looked relieved to see Max and Ray.
"Humph!" exclaimed Tyson and Hilary together and turned their backs at each other.
Chapter 2:-
Tyson was distracted by Ray almost immediately when he turned his mind towards blading. Meanwhile, Max opened the refrigerator and started to fix a little snack for Tyson.
"You do remember that The World Championships are not until the next six months?" he said reading a worried expression on Tyson's face.
"Which reminds me" muttered Kenny as he entered the room with Dizzy and a briefcase and settled himself beside Tyson before continuing, "I have to give a weekly check-up to all your blades till The Championships start to make sure that they are in perfect shape."
"Okay….sounds great! Give my Dragoon a check-up first." Tyson said while peeping into Kenny's briefcase to find a blade-testing kit.
"All done!" said Max looking satisfied with his work. "Here you go, Tyson. Stuff your face." He smiled.
Tyson felt a huge churn in his stomach at the sight of some yummy sausage sandwiches with mayonnaise, fresh lettuce and a thin layer of mustard sauce. He grabbed the plate and within seconds they were gone.
"Don't tell me, you used the sausages I kept for lunch." Grandpa interrupted as he opened the refrigerator to find them missing.
"Oops!" giggled Max. "My bad. So we will have to have something else for lunch."
"I don't think it would be a bad idea to bring up the topic of having a barbeque. It would be great. An outdoor cooking ought to freshen up everyone, right?" Hilary broke into speech looking hopefully at Grandpa.
"Can't argue with that. I will have to hurry up and buy some meat right away if we are grilling in less than an hour." Grandpa rushed outside and Kai entered the room.
"Yo Kai! Where were you all this time?" inquired Tyson with a light smile.
"Obviously, unlike other people, I keep my skills from tarnishing" he replied coldly.
Max turned towards Kai and asked him, "So what are you practicing for? Got any new moves?"
"A couple." He replied shortly to end the conversation quickly.
"Let's see what's on the news these days." Ray said holding the remote in his hand.
Ray turned on the TV and everyone's attention was diverted towards it.
"There is a tournament being arranged by the B.B.A. in Russia and all the beyblading teams have been invited to compete in this tournament to achieve the title of the best blading team in the world. This is a team competition where no individual participation will be allowed. Teams are required to have more than two players to enter in the tournament." The news reporter informed the viewers.
"A team competition in Russia???" said Tyson pointing at the TV.
"Pretty amazing, huh?" Max said turning his attention on the news.
"The tournament will begin within a week and all the participating teams must arrive a day or two before for their registration in the tournament and to compete for the quarter final rounds. That is all for now. Keep watching for latest updates. Have a good day." concluded the news reporter.
The TV was switched off and everybody stared at everybody else for a while before the talking began.
"And you were saying that The World Championships are not until the next six months?" said Tyson
"Snap out of it. It's not like you have never been in a competition before!" said Max trying his best to calm down Tyson.
"But we haven't done any training at all. If I knew there was a tournament going to be held, I never would have fallen for the crazy outdoor barbeque idea. I would have practiced instead." Tyson said looking much more worried than before.
"Speak for yourself." Kai said giving a mocking smile.
"Relax Tyson; we still have time to get back on track! I will plan your daily practice everyday after lunch." Kenny said.
"Yeah, that got to work but we have to focus hard on our practice from now on." Ray said
Chapter 3:-
"I will help Kenny plan a schedule. You can have two practices in a day, one after lunch and one early in the morning." Hilary said looking excited.
"Oh no, you don't! You already ruined our training session for the day. Just stay away from our team. We need to train and we don't need your lame schedules to tell us that. We can work on our own." he said a little irritated.
"I was only trying to help. Fine, have it your way!" she left.
"Tyson, that was harsh! You shouldn't have said that!" Max looking worried now.
"She was the one butting in. Why does she have to be so bossy?" Tyson said turning away from Max. "Don't worry, she'll come back. She never lets go a chance to boss me around."
"Okay my little dudes. Lunch is almost ready so come on out all of you." Grandpa stood at the door.
Everybody followed him outside and what a day it was. The sun was shining brightly over their heads. Trees swayed with the breeze and birds fluttered around. Just the perfect atmosphere for going outdoors.
"Wow!" They all gazed at the wonderful weather.
"Ah! This feels so good!" Tyson whispered as he lied down on the freshly-cut grass.
"You know what would feel much better? If we would win that best blading team trophy." Ray said thoughtfully.
Kai, who remained aloof from the others, didn't show much enthusiasm on joining the conversation and so said nothing but by looking at him one could tell that he was completely absorbed in his own thoughts.
While everybody was deeply interested in this conversation, Grandpa served the meal and called out loudly, "Dig in, everyone!"
After a lovely meal and a through chat, everybody went inside and fell silent except for one person who couldn't stop talking. (exceptional case ')
"Hey, now that we have had our meal shall we continue with the training?" Tyson looked questioningly at everybody else hoping to receive a positive reply.
The plan was greeted very well by everybody else. So they practiced the remaining part of the afternoon. Hilary was no where to be seen. The practice went very well and now they all returned inside exhausted. Grandpa came in the room bringing them refreshments. "Boys, Mr. Dickinson is here to see you."
They went inside and saw Mr. Dickinson sitting on the sofa with a cheerful smile. "Well boys, I am sure you might have heard the news about the tournament. So I just dropped by to give you guys your tickets. Your plane flies on Saturday. You have exactly three days to pack and Kai, being the captain; you will have to come with me to register your team mates into the tournament." He handed Kai the tickets and left.
"We should start packing now, if we are leaving within three days." said Tyson excitedly.
"I say we should all have the refreshments Grandpa brought us and go to sleep and start on the packing tomorrow." Max suggested.
Chapter 4:-
Everybody slept comfortably in their rooms with wild thoughts arising in their minds. Who will be their opponents? Which new comers will surprise them? Will they be able to win? Nobody knew the answer to that.
Over the next two days, they were all busy with packing and intense training sessions. They all slept heavily through the night and practiced throughout the day. One morning before their departure, Max and Ray decided to go and get Hilary back. So they went to her place to find her sitting in her garden pouring tea in her cup and biting on a slice of peanut butter and jelly. Hilary gave a cheerful smile to greet them.
"Hi Ray, Max! What are you both doing here so early?" she inquired.
"Hilary, we wanted to tell you that after you left Mr. Dickinson came by and gave us the tickets for our tournament." Max informed her.
"Yeah, that's right! So we decided to come and give you yours." Ray said smiling at Hilary and holding out her ticket.
"I'm sorry you guys but I have decided that I am not coming along this time." Hilary suddenly had a sad expression on her face that none had seen before.
"Hilary, if you are thinking about what Tyson said then I will advise you to take it easy. You know Tyson gets angry very quickly and he can say harsh things but he doesn't mean it." Max reminded her calmly.
"Max is right. Tyson is really short-tempered and it takes him a little time to realize his mistake. Please don't take it to your heart. Just come back to the team. We could really use a little help in planning our schedule." Ray comforted her.
"Well, I don't know." Hilary said sounding unsure.
"Come on now. Please Hilary!" Max said looking at her intently.
"Alright! Thanks, you guys!" she said smiling back at them.
"Ok then. Start packing because the plane leaves on Saturday and while you are at it, design a nice schedule for our training sessions in Russia. Well, I guess that's it so see you at the airport. Bye!" Saying this they left.
Chapter 5:-
Then the day arrived when they had to depart for Russia. They were all packed and ready. They left for the airport and there they were joined by Kenny and surprisingly by Hilary as well. The plane took off and after hours and hours of waiting they finally arrived at their destination. Mr. Dickinson dropped them at their hotel so they could lodge in their rooms and he took Kai with him for the team registration. Seeing Hilary come back, Tyson felt ashamed of what he had said earlier to her so he wanted to apologize but Hilary didn't seem eager to listen to him and so she went past him and ignored him completely. He felt even more embarrassed but thought that he deserved such treatment.
After this cold encounter, he went into his room and unpacked. A few minutes later, they all entered his room and together they went to join the dinner buffet arranged by the hotel staff.
"Ummmmmmm... The food smells delicious. I can't wait to eat." Tyson looked around with a hungry look on his face and his mouth watering.
The food was undoubtedly delicious and as evidence you could see how Tyson smacked his lips with joy helping himself to a fifth serving.
"The food here is really good. I would love to spend my day sight-seeing here too but now I am really very tired. I want to go to bed now." yawned Max.
"We still have one more day till the tournament begins. We can have a look around the city tomorrow." Ray suggested looking at everybody.
"Well, if you think you can go another day without training then it is fine." Hilary said not looking at Tyson. "But I do agree that a little look around the city would be a good idea."
So it was agreed. That night everybody went to bed and spent the next day in sight-seeing. They visited some old architectural ruins and museums. Then they came across with something at the museum. There was security and journalists surrounding a huge box made out of glass. They all leaned closer to have a look. They saw a most beautiful looking, red-coloured jewel resting on a mauve cushion. Apparently, the jewel was broken or part of it was missing. As they were standing so close, they heard the manager of the museum giving an account of the jewel's appearance.
"So what exactly did the jewel look like?" inquired the policeman.
"This legendary jewel had a shape of a cuboid." replied the manager handing out a picture of the complete jewel to the officer.
"When did you last see it?" went on the officer.
"It was last night. I was patrolling the area before closing down the museum to make sure the security was alert but when I entered in my museum this morning, my beautiful jewel was broken." wept the manager.
"It's funny why the robber didn't actually take the whole jewel but took just a fragment instead." Tyson whispered into Max's ear.
"Why do you think the robber was interested in just a piece of the jewel and not the whole?" Officer continued.
"I really don't know but may be it was because the security was too high. There were infrared sensors everywhere." suggested the manager.
"Well, if he managed to tap into the system so accurately, he could have taken the whole jewel. Is there anything else you might want to tell me regarding the jewel?" The officer looked questioningly at the manager.
"Yes, this is a legendary family jewel. It has been our family since a very long time. It was passed down from generations to generations. It belonged to my great great great-grand father. It contains dark powers. It can be used to possess people. Only I knew about its secret history because there were many people in our family who used this jewel in order to gain benefits from it. I used it as an exhibit in my museum but whoever stole it must know about it. It could only interest a dark magician." the manager wiping out his tears.
"Alright everybody, clear out." the officer ordered the people to evacuate. He sealed the museum for further investigation.
Chapter 6:-
The Bladebreakers left with the others. They were very surprised at what they had seen but nobody was ready to accept it. They tried not to bring up the topic and act like nothing happened.
"We have other important things to take care of. We have a tournament tomorrow so let's just concentrate on our training." Tyson blurted out absent-mindedly. He was not paying attention to what he was doing either as he nearly bumped into Hilary.
"Right, so everyone, your blades out and begin your training now." Kenny commanded.
Everyone immediately indulged themselves in their practice and with pressure building up in their minds. The team championship tournament was tomorrow. There was panic everywhere.
To their astonishment, Kai decided to monitor their training as he himself was through with it already.
"Tyson, put your head in the game!" he muttered watching Tyson's poor launch.
"I know what I am doing, Kai" Tyson sounded irritated.
"Wanna bet?" Kai said holding out his blade and within a glimpse of an eye, he knocked Tyson's blade out of the dish.
"Argh!" Tyson yelled in disbelief. His blade was lying on the floor.
"Come on, Tyson!" Max tries to cheer him.
After a hopeless training on Tyson's account, they all went to bed early.
Chapter 7:-
Next day in the tournament, they confronted some new teams.
"Greetings, fellow beyblade fans! This year, we have come up with the team competition to judge the overall performance of the team members. Let me explain the rules. There will an all-in-one match. Meaning, all the members of the competing teams will blade together. The judgement will be made on the level of co-operation, team work and skills. A person is not allowed to attack a member of his team unless or until specified. Today we have with us, The Demolition Boys, F-Dynasty, The White Tiger X, The Saint Shields, Team Psykick, The PPB All Stars, Barthez Battalions and the world champion team. Give it up for THE BLADEBREAKERS!" yelled the commentator of the match.
"And let us also welcome some new teams in our competition. Put your hands together for The Black Jaws, The Fiery Dragons and The Devastating Hawks" shouted the commentator. The people saw a man running towards him with a piece of paper and once again he continued, "There is also a new entry in the tournament by the name of The Kattle GrazerZ!" There was a halt in the applause as all the viewers were dumb-founded with the ridiculous name. The commentator also looked puzzled as he whispered to the man, "Are you sure that this is the correct name?"
"That's what I thought so too but Mr. Dickinson handed over the name to me himself. So I don't think there is much of a doubt." replied the man and he rushed away from the battle arena.
"Well, you heard me, folks! So give a BIG hand to all of them." the commentator said with a queer tone!
Instead of applause, the crowd burst into laughter and started making weird sounds as the Kattle GrazerZ made their appearance on the stage.
I wouldn't blame them because it was an awful sight! They all looked so totally bizarre – the clothing in particular was the cause of giggles from the crowd. They were all dressed in rompers and baggy pants with dirty patches on them and on top they were wearing a sombrero. It was like they were displaying farm fashions.
"All right now, everyone!" the commentator tried to distract the people but he himself could hardly stop laughing. "Let me explain the elimination rules of the tournament. There is total of
twelve teams that are going to compete in this tournament. The rules are pretty simple for the qualifying rounds. All the competing teams will battle with each other in the best of three battles and the teams with the lowest winning matches will be eliminated from the competition. The remaining rules will be described when necessary. So let the Bladerz Kombat begin!" And with that, some fire works were set off and the tournament began!
Chapter 8:-
"Hahhahahaahahahahahhahahaha!" Tyson burst out laughing. "Look at them. Man, what are they? Farmers? Hahahahahahahah!" Tyson almost choked with laughter.
"Tyson!" Max said thoughtfully. "These people have strange appearances but we can't judge them by their looks. We don't know their full potential."
"Yeah, maybe you are right, Max" Tyson tried to put on a somber expression on his face.
"Hey, check it out, Ozuma and all the old friends are here." He said turning to look at them.
"Hey Ozuma, Kane! How are you guys doing?" Tyson gave a welcoming smile.
"Tyson, It's been a while since I last saw you." Kane shook hands with Tyson.
"Yeah, long time." Said Ozuma in an under tone.
"I am really excited about the match." Tyson said looking illumined. "I wonder how good the new teams are."
"All you need to do now is worry about your own blade because I am going to smash it to shreds." Ozuma said in a threatening tone.
"Oh yeah! Well, we'll see about that!" Tyson laughed.
"I think I might have arrived here at the right time. Looks like I will be joining for your little match!" said a familiar voice and everybody turned around to look at the speaker.
"ZEO?!? Man, you're here too. Somebody pinch me, I must be dreaming." Tyson gaped at him with utter astonishment. "Just when I thought this day couldn't be any better!"
"All right folks, let it rip! First up, we have the Saint Shields competing against The Devastating Hawks. The competing teams should now approach the battle arena." concluded D.J
"Hello Folks! We will be your hosts for the evening. I'm Brad Best with A.J.Topper here live in Moscow, Russia." The commentator introduced himself and his partner to the viewers.
"Thanks Brad! Let's move on to the battle. Today, we have with us the famous Saint Shields, who had previously declared an all out war against The Bladebreakers and some new-comers who call themselves The Devastating Hawks. Will the tough name be enough to beat The Saint Shields or will they end up throwing in the towel?" said A.J.Topper
"Well, we will only come to know that after the match starts A.J but for now let's just look at their stats!" continued Brad.
"From The Saint Shields, we have Maryam with her awesome bit Sharkrash and her brother, Joseph will join in with his ramping bit beast Vanishing Moot. Then we have Dunga and Vortex Ape and finally the leader Ozuma with his fastest bit in the cat family, Flash Leopard!"
"And in The Devastating Hawks we have, Natasha with her Unikorn blade then comes in William with his blade Eagle-eye. Next up, we have Alice with her blade Ackwatic and in the end, we have the team captain Shaun with his blade Tauro." introduced A.J
And the crowd jeered and applauded as both the team were ready to launch.
Chapter 9:-
"Beyblade fans, are you ready to see our challenge dish for today?" D.J shouted at the top of his voice.
There was a huge roar from the crowd. The battle arena that was hidden under the ground was brought up to the surface and everyone moved a bit closer to have a look of it.
"There you have it folks. We have with us today a Golf dish which has been designed as a miniature golf course with many holes on the field. The bladers must watch out for the holes because whoever goes in, never comes out!" yelled D.J. "So bladers please note once again that if any of you attacks/hits any member of your team, you will be immediately eliminated from the battle. Players must try to throw their competition out of the blading dish. The play will continue till only one team's blade(s) remain in the arena. I hope I made myself clear. So now, players ready, beyblades ready, 3...2...1...LET IT RIP!" concluded the D.J
With that the battle began and the all the eight blades zoomed around in the dish. The new teams faced some problems keeping up with the speed of their rival but got used to it in a few minutes. Dunga's Massive Vortex Ape took care William's Eagle-eye within seconds of their launch. Only three blades remained in the dish from The Devastating Hawks. Meanwhile, Ozuma and The Hawks captain, Shaun began to battle one-on-one but all of a sudden Maryam's blade entered their battle and Shaun's final attack hit Maryam's blade and it flew out of the battle arena.
"Oh no! Why that...!" Maryam shrieked at the sight of her blade flying out. "Sharkrash, NO!"
Well, the score was equal on both sides but Shaun had deep regrets for missing his final attack on Ozuma as now Ozuma's blade zoomed around the arena with great speed. Joseph and his Vanishing Moot hit an all-heavy stampede attack on Natasha's Unikorn blade and sent it back to its fantasy land.
Now Dunga and Joseph decided to corner Alice and throw her out of the game next but the girl seemed far too skilled for them as she used her Frost attack to freeze their blades in ice and then used her Hurricane Wave to send their blades out of the dish.
"What??? Argh!" muttered Dunga looking aghast.
"Ah Man, she was good! I am really sorry Ozuma for letting the team down." Joseph said turning to leave the battle arena.
After being eliminated from the battle, Dunga and Joseph came and settled themselves between the crowd and beside Maryam.
The Saint Shields team was under heavy attack as only Ozuma alone was left in the dish ad Alice and Shaun were onto him. But he used his strategy when both of them thought that they had cornered him, his blade disappeared as soon as Alice was leaping forward to attack him and seeing his blade disappear, she got confused and her blade got disbalanced. Seconds later she ended up in one of the holes of the dish she was suppose to watch out for and then her blade was sucked out of the battle zone and it flew back into her hand.
Now, it was up to the team captains to win the game for their teams but it was just a matter of a few seconds because Ozuma had just called in his bitbeast, Flash Leopard and there was a flash and Shaun's blade flew out of the dish and Ozuma's blade was in flames.
"Did you see that, fellows??? Awesome battle! And with that The Saint Shields are one up in this tournament. Congratulations!" informed the D.J excitedly.
As Ozuma was turning to leave, Shaun called him. "Ozuma, you're an AWESOME blader. It was fun battling with you!" Shaun held out his hand and Ozuma took it and with that the battle was officially over.
Chapter 10:-
"Hey Ozuma! You were great although, for a second there I thought that you were going to lose. No Offense, buddy!" Tyson started blabbing. "The new team...?" Tyson looked around confused to find Hilary covering his mouth with her hands and looking him straight in the eyes. For a second, Tyson was in a trance-like condition and couldn't not realize what was going on but then he came back to his senses and shook Hilary's hands off his face and said, "Hey, what gives?"
"Tyson, you are not supposed to talk like that. It sounds really rude and proud." she said but this time with softness in her voice. Tyson was astonished to see Hilary finally talk to him and yet happy too.
"Okay! If you say so." He fell silent.
Pretty soon all the other Bladebreakers joined Ozuma and the others.
"I got to agree that the new team came out pretty strong. I thought it was going to be a piece of cake but the way that girl threw out both Dunga and Joseph out of the dish...Man, it was scary." Max exclaimed.
"And it also marked the turning point of the match because at first we were not taking them seriously but after that we all got a little alert. Good for us." Kenny expressed his thoughts elaboratively.
However, Tyson didn't seem to be concentrating much on his words as his mind was still pondering over finally getting rid of Hilary's silent treatment and suddenly his thoughtful face turned into a slight smile.
He was awaken from his thoughts when the D.J yelled, "All right, fans! Next up, we have The Demolition Boys against the strangest team in the whole tournament, The Kattle GrazerZ! Players please approach the battle zone."
"Brad, Take it away buddy. Let's not keep the people waiting and move straight to the stats." A.J Topper said.
"Thanks, A.J. Okay folks, from The Demolition Boys we have, Bryan and Spencer with their powerful bits, Falborg and Seaborg. The final call is Tala, the leader of the team and he gives everyone the shivers with his awesome bit beast Wolborg." informed Brad.
"And on the Kattle GrazerZ side, we have Edward, Fredrick, Stevenson, Catherine and for some strange reason, we don't know the names of their blades, do we, Brad? Brad?" A.J sounded confused and Brad was not responding.
"Sorry, A.J, bathroom break! Anyway, what were you saying??" he questioned.
"Never mind. Time to reveal our secret dish of the day." A.J said.
"Well, I hope they have sushi." Brad replied.
"Not that dish, Brad. I'm talking about the battling dish." A.J said.
"Oh, but if you ask me the first one would have tasted better." Brad said.
"Ahem, Ahem! So we have in store for us a silver dish. It's polished and that makes it more slippery." A.J interrupted.
"You better watch out or your blade goes wild. So let's cut to the battle now. Over to the D.J" Brad said.
"Blades ready? Beybladers ready? Three, Two, One! LET IT RIP!" the D.J yelled.
There was a flash of light as Tala screamed, "GO Wolborg!" And the next moment all of the blades of the Kattle GrazerZ were out of the battle arena. Everybody exchanged startled looks.
"Wow! The Battle ended before it even begun. Too bad for the Kattle GrazerZ. They didn't realize who they were dealing with." A.J said.
"And that's a one up for the Demolition Boys as well though they did very little to achieve this Big! I guess its back to the pavilion for The Kattle GrazerZ. Better luck in the next match!" Brad said sounding a little confused himself.
"That's all for today, people. Come in tomorrow to see The Blade breakers compete against The Fiery Dragons and The P.P.B All Stars compete against the Black Jaws. Till then good day to all!" concluded the D.J and with that all the people began to evacuate the bey-stadium
Chapter 11:-
. "Hey Max, I told you that they were going to lose. It's not some farmer boy's game, its serious business. Tala sure showed them. It was a piece of cake." Tyson said making his way through the crowd and out of the bey-stadium. "They have just lost one match. Big deal! Don't get so over-confident yet. We are up next with those Fiery Dragons and we don't know anything about them so we better not let down our guard. How about a practice session tomorrow morning?" Ray waited for everyone's approval. Everyone nodded back.
"SO that means it's straight to bed for all of us. Okay, c'mon everyone. Go to your rooms and have a good night sleep so that you are all fresh for the morning training. Good night!" Hilary directed everyone back to their bedrooms.
Next morning, everyone got up early and started training hard for their match. So much over-exertion made them tired quickly. Supervising this training were Kenny and Hilary. "Nice work guys. I never thought I would say this but you people were never in a better form than today. It was the best training ever." Kenny said happily looking over their latest stats from today's match and looking satisfied.
"Okay everyone! You heard Kenny. Well done! Since you have already done so much training, it's time to pack up now! Hurry up, move along now everyone." Hilary said in a commanding manner and everybody followed quietly. Tyson was the last one to leave so he had an opportunity to speak with Hilary who was busy cleaning up the place.
"Hey Hil! Thanks for talking to me again. I feel really bad about all that happened earlier…." Tyson began.
"Before you say something to me, Tyson, let me tell you something. I came back not because I had forgiven you but because Max and Ray asked me to and that day with Ozuma, I just covered your mouth so that Ozuma doesn't feel bad about what you were about to tell him. So don't go getting any ideas that I am going to be back on talking terms with you. I think I have made myself clear." She said and walked away.
"But……." Tyson wanted to say something. "I just wanted to say sorry." He whispered to himself and went back to his bedroom with a heavy heart.
Chapter 12:-
As the hours moved towards mid-day, they all were ready and quickly left for the Bladerz Kombat tournament. Once there, everyone was indulged in devising their own battle strategies and discussing it with their team mates.
Kai, unlike the others, sat in one corner calmly as if nothing was going on. He had everything set and had some tricks up his sleeves.
"Hey Kai, it won't kill you if you shared your battle strategy with the rest of the team." Tyson said looking irritated with Kai's calm attitude as he himself was turning into a nervous wreck.
"Mind your own business. I will take them down, I'll give you that much." His voice never differed from his usual cold and mocking one.
"Yeah, Yeah. Cold as always." Tyson said not paying attention to his yap.
"That's our Kai." Max interrupted looking cheerfully from Kai to Tyson. "Good luck, Kai! Do your best."
"But what if he hits any one of us by mistake then it will be all over for us. If he told us what his strategy was, we could watch out before he makes a move." Tyson made up a story but deep-down he actually was curious to know about Kai's strategy and Kai sensed this.
"I advised you to concentrate on your own moves for now and besides, I don't make such amateur mistakes. I won't hurt anyone of you as long as you stay out of my way." Kai said giving a dangerous look to his team mates. "I am warning you now, don't intervene in my battle. Don't tell me later that I didn't tell you to keep off." Saying this he moved towards the stage.
"Blah, Blah, Blah." Tyson imitated Kai right after he left. "He's such a show-off."
As the day moved towards the evening, the stadium began to fill up with people; spot lights highlighted the excited looks on faces of many beyblade lovers. It was now time for the battle sessions to finally begin.
"Uh oh, we're up next." Tyson started nail-biting.
"Quit being such a drama king. You don't have to act like "oooo – I –am – so - scared". Max looked annoyed by Tyson's foolish talk.
"Okay, okay. Now you don't start like Kai, okay?" Tyson tried to calm down Max.
Chapter 13:-
"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to today's match which is the continuation for the qualifying rounds. Today, as we told you earlier, The World Champion Blade breakers will compete against the team called The Fiery Dragons. So stick to your seats for a whole two hours of beyblading in action." The D.J. cried out loudly and the crowd roared back in response.
"Good evening, everyone. I hope that everyone is well-aware of us by now. But just to be on safe side. I am Brad Best and this is A.J. Topper reporting live from the Bladerz Kombat in Moscow, Russia." Brad gave a re-introduction.
"Yes, thank you, Brad. We are here in Moscow, Russia and preparing for the battle session of The Blade breakers Vs the Fiery Dragons. Let's quickly move on to the stats. From the Fiery Dragons we have, Ashley with her blade Blazer, Sarah with her Sparkler, Racquelle with her blade Akzis and finally the leader of the team, Christene with her blade Flamboyant" informed A.J.
"Amazing! It's the first time in history that we have an entirely girls blading team. So let's all welcome them on stage. With a huge round of applause, The Fiery Dragons." yelled the D.J. to the anxious crowd who were curious to see the new team upfront.
It was such a magical moment when those girls made their appearance on stage. They were a collection of the all the world's beauty. They were fair like snow with silky blonde hair and big brown eyes and as delicate as the first bud on a rose plant. Everyone's gaze was set upon them as they all were spell-bound with their beauty.
"Ahem, Brad….On the Blade breakers side we have the cheerful Max with his bit-beast Draciel along with Ray and his Driger. We also have with us the aggressive Tyson and his ferocious bit, Dragoon and lastly we have the cold as ever, Kai, who is the captain of the team, with his Fire Phoenix, Dranzer." said A.J finally.
"It looks like we are up next." Max said taking out his blade from his pocket. "I hope we will be able to win. What do you say, Tyson?" Max turned around to see Tyson still staring open-mouthed at the girls of Fiery Dragons. "Tyson….Tyson" He shook him.
"WHA..??" he said finally waking up.
"What are you doing?" Max looked cross.
"Those girls, those girls are so pretty. I wonder how they are going to beat us." Then he had some stupid thoughts of those girls transforming into dragons and burning him from head to toe and he started laughing. All of sudden Kai appeared in front of him and his laughter vanished almost immediately.
"Move it, lover boy! We have a match to win." Kai stepped into the stadium and everyone quietly followed him.
Chapter 14:-
"It is going to be a historic match as first time girls are going to compete against boys. Will their looks be enough to break-down the mighty champions?" D.J yelled. "Let's see for ourselves. Bladers ready? Now it's time to reveal our secret dish of the day. Over to Brad."
"Today, we have with us a Mini-forest dish which is the replica of the beautiful but dangerous alpines. Once you go in, you better watch out for all the thorns." said Brad.
"And these are not just any thorns. You go anywhere near them and the next moment your blade is trash. It's more like a blade-crushing machine in there. There are also some forest factors which you will have to keep in mind before actually stepping in. There is a swamp and huge grasses due to which you will have less eye-contact with the floor of the dish." A.J concluded quite out of breath.
"And to make it clear, I will announce one more rule. Each challenge dish will have one such component which, if touched or struck, will suck the blade out of the bey-dish and out of the battle. This dish has the swamp just like the previous dish had holes. So let the games begin." The D.J yelled at the jeering crowd. "3……2…..1…..LET IT RIP!"
And with that, both the teams launched their blades in the dish. Kai, who looked really aggravated by all the obstacles in his way, yelled," I am going to destroy this forest once and for all. Dranzer, Flame saber attack!" It was, at this moment, that the entire forest of the dish burned into ashes and only a clearing now remained. Max cooled down the stadium with his Heavy-wiper wall attack and the entire dish was flooded with water. On the other hand, Christene used her Fire-Arrow to evaporate the entire water within seconds and started using her Nova-flame attack to hit Ray's Driger, who at that time was busy chopping down the huge grass in the dish with his Gattling-Claw Attack.
Max quickly turned towards Tyson and screamed, "Tyson, NOW!" Now Tyson came to the limelight and used his Victory Tornado Attack to blow away the swamp water to reveal the sucking hole. Meanwhile, Ashley and Max were having a one-on-one match. Racquelle aimed for Ray and Sarah turned to attack Tyson while Christene now came face-to-face with Kai. Kai was just bearing her attacks for a little while as he was preparing to launch his final attack and side-by-side, Tyson was about to attack Sarah, when his gaze suddenly fell on her pretty face and he missed his target and his blade got disbalanced. "Dragoon, No! Hang in there." He screamed. As Tyson was about to turn his blade back towards Sarah, Kai had already launched his Final Attack and was heading for Christene. But Christene had already noticed it and dodged it easily. Kai became confused seeing his attack missed. He tried to pull his blade back but it was too late. Dranzer was already in its optimum level so he turned his blade again towards Christene. Tyson, who had been trying to get his control back on Dragoon, came in between Kai and Christene. Ray screamed, "TYSON! WATCH OUT!" but it was too late Kai hit Tyson and a huge fire explosion took place. Smoke and ashes filled the entire stadium.
"I can't see a thing myself people so we will have to wait until the smoke clears out." The D.J said looking at the curious look on the audience's face.
When the smoke cleared out, they all could see almost all of the blades lying out of the bey-dish except for just one blade that was spinning. And the smoke left the building, the blade was identified. It was Christene's blade that had managed to escape to the other end of the exploded dish.
"And so the winner of today's match is The Fiery Dragons. Congratulations girls! You will be moving on to the next rounds." The D.J informed happily but the crowd fell silent. Their famous champions had lost a match a bunch of delicate girls was hard to believe but it would have been rude not to encourage the new team so after a pause of a few seconds, the crowd applauded for the winners of the match.
Chapter 15:-
"I can't believe we lost. We lost to a bunch of gurly gurls." Tyson looked destroyed.
"Yeah, it is pretty strange. How could we?" Ray said looking thoughtfully.
"I'll tell you how. They had more than one power or shall I say that it was one of our weaknesses." Kai suddenly spoke. Everybody knew what he meant but nobody wanted to blame Tyson, in particular, for loosing the match but Kai, unlike others wanted to shed some light on it.
"What do you mean our weakness?" Tyson looked at Kai with the utmost hatred in his glare as if he already knew what was coming at him.
"Isn't it obvious? The girls had beauty which marked the end of your game so in this case, none can be blame for not focusing hard enough except for you." He said with a little anger in his voice.
"Kai, what are you coming at? You're the one who got disbalanced and threw me off course, remember? You are to be blamed as much as I am." Tyson said standing up and biting back.
"Settle down, you two! We lost the match. That's what is supposed to important right now not who did it so STOP blaming each other. We lost and now, there is nothing we can do except to work harder for the other upcoming matches." Max came in between them at the right time or else they would have ripped off each other.
Tyson sat back down, not out of fear but out of guilt. It was all his fault even if he could blame it on Kai; it wasn't going to solve anything. They lost. "You were right, Max. I did speak a little too soon about our victory and now we are no better than those Kattle GrazerZ." He said with repentance and sense of failure in his mind and left.
He left the bey-stadium and so did Kai but not together. He sat near the river bank with the horrible memories of the lost battle flashing back into his mind but then he heard footsteps behind him. He turned around. To his utter astonishment, it was Sarah standing behind him.
"Hey…….uh…..what are you doing here?" Tyson said looking puzzled.
"Well, I saw you coming this way so I thought may be I could have a little chat with you." She said in her sweet, angel-like voice and smiled at him.
Tyson could not see her in the eye as she was the very girl he had lost the match to so he started looking elsewhere and kept quiet. He thought she might go away but instead she settled herself beside him.
"I thought you would do that." She said in a polite way.
"Is there anything else you predicted about me, Ms. Pretty-face?" Tyson said irritably.
"Well, I just wanted to say that you are awesome blader and I really had fun battling with you." She said humbly despite the response she was getting.
"Thanks but I am really not in a mood to be all-happy and stuff. I want to be all-alone right now." He said and stood to leave but Sara suddenly stood up and said "Oh, I'm sorry. I thought I didn't have the time to tell that to you when the battle got over so I figured it won't be a bad time to have acquaintance with someone new. I never knew you people made such a BIG deal out of this silly game. I play it for FUN! Well, then I will be off now." She said.
Tyson concentrated on her words for a while and then was able to get out his miserable condition. "It's just a GAME. Winning and losing are a part of it. SO what if I lost just a single match? It can't keep me down forever." He said to himself and then turned towards Sarah and said "Thanks" and gave her a smile. She held out her hand and he took it. They shook hands and then she said, "It was nice talking to you. See you around some time. Bye." And she left.
Tyson, who was now feeling a lot better, returned back to the bey-stadium where Max, Ray and Kenny awaited him in the crowds as the next match was about to begin.
"Your timing couldn't be better, C'mere and have a seat. The match is about to start." Max yelled from somewhere in the crowds.
Tyson, made his way through the crowd and settled beside Max when Ray asked, "You okay??" in a worried sort of way.
"Yeah, I am fine." Tyson replied and turned his attention towards the bey-stadium.
Chapter 16:-
"Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, after a short break, back to the Bladerz Kombat. Now it's time for the second match of the evening against the P.P.B All Stars and The Black Jaws. So let us now welcome both of the teams on stage. Over to A.J.Topper." D.J said giving way for the teams to make their appearance. The crowd roared at the sight of their famous hi-tech team, P.P.B All Stars but also gave a warm welcome to the new comers.
When the Black Jaws came on the stage, the crowd fell silent. They were all wearing robes of black colour and a mask on their eyes which was partially concealing their faces and above all they had their names curved on their robes out of the thread made from gold. They had some strange air about them as if they were surrounded by some miasma or a strong aura. The only girl in the team came forward and bowed in front of the audience and then sweet, flowery fragrance lingered in the entire stadium.
"Thank you. Now it's time to bring on the stats. From the Black Jaws side, we have the charming Jessica with her beyblade Majestic along with the rough and tough Mike with his beyblade, Voltex and last but not the least the captain of the team Mathew with his awesome blade, Grix. Who do we have from the All-Stars side with us today, Brad?" said A.J.
"Nice question A.J. In fact, I was about to ask the same thing. The official registered number of bladers in their team is four but apparently, the other team has only three members which means they will have to drop one member out in order to compete. Let's see who will it be?" as he uttered these words, a member from the B.B.A was seen making his way from Michael to Brad. He had the name of the member who will not participate. Brad, after silently reading the name, came over to the microphone and said, "To end this suspense, let's quickly move to the stats of the P.P.B All Stars. Today, we have Stevenson with his bitbeast, Tryhorn, the girl with brains, Emily with ravaging bitbeast, Trygator and last but not the least, the captain of the team, Michael and his devastating hawk, Trygle." Brad concluded.
His bitbeast wasn't the only thing that was devastating but his looks and style as well for when he landed with a parachute from the roof of the stadium, all the girls went crazy with screams and roars of appreciation. His attitude wasn't bad either. He kinda took himself as a star. After landing on the ground safely, he passed a smile and some flying kisses to his fans before turning and walking towards his team mates.
"It's time once again for us to reveal the secret dish for the match." This time it was the D.J who spoke. As he ended his speech, the dish emerged from the depths of the stadium onto the surface. It was just another ordinary dish. Not much of a challenge.
"Bladers ready? Beyblades ready?? Three……Two…….One……LET IT RIP!" This yell marked the beginning of the battle and everybody could see blades launched in mid-air and landing on the ground in full throttle and moving swiftly across the dish.
The P.P.B All-Stars were like their old self with Emily's mind working like a computer and the rest of the team receiving her help. Michael usually never liked Emily butting in his affairs so he did not seem to pay much attention to her words and went on playing his own game. They came out pretty strong in the beginning. Whilst, the other team didn't even pretend to try and win, P.P.B were bringing massive destruction to the dish. The Black Jaws team had a tougher name than their strategies but there was something strange about the way they were playing. They were not very active but on the other hand, despite all the damages the P.P.B was doing, they didn't loose their momentum. They kept on going with the same pace as the beginning of the game. It seemed that the damage was not affecting them in the least as none of the players was out of the game yet. They were not even trying to eliminate their opponents' blade which was quite odd.
"What are you trying to do, running away from us like that? YOU CHICKENS!!" Michael lost his temper as they were doing nothing at all.
Half of the game had passed and the P.P.B started to slow down as it was no use attacking them when they were not fighting back suddenly all of the blades of the Black Jaws started emitting crimson fumes which mystified the vision and their eyes reflected the dangerous blood red colour. There eyes were the last thing everybody could see before the entire arena was filled with the smoke and then some amplified voices could be heard. When Mike yelled, "Voltex, Grind attack!" followed by Jessica who yelled, "Majestic, Give them a taste of your majestic scent." With this attack, the entire audience, including the P.P.B, fell into a drowsy state and ended up temporarily unconscious. Seeing Jessica's attack work, Mathew, the captain of the team, then, launched his nuclear shock-wave attack which sent vibration of electric current throughout the stadium and when combined with the other attacks of the team mates nearly collapsed the entire place as it began to disintegrate. The P.P.B's blades went out of control as the bladers were not conscious and it was a matter of few seconds before they stopped spinning.
As this game was coming to a destructive end, everybody came back to life and saw the crimson smoke diminishing and also witnessed huge cracks from Mathew's nuclear shock-wave. When the D.J came back to his senses, he was out of words and it was a long pause before he spoke, "And the winner of today's battle is no doubt, The Black Jaws. Congratulations, team. We request you to come upfront to receive appreciation from the crowd. Everybody gave startled looks to everybody else and then began to applaud for the winners when they found out that they had already left. Then, the D.J continued, "It seems they have already left and it is with my deepest apologies for bringing this event to an abrupt end but we better evacuate this arena as soon as possible because it is in a very bad condition after this battle." With this everybody used the emergency exits of stadium to rush outside and within seconds after everybody came out of the stadium, the entire place crumbled down to tiny pieces.