Disclaimer:Beyblade belongs to the one and only Aoki Takao. I only own the plot and my OCs.
Chapter One
After a mere three hours flight and an even shorter bus ride, the White Tigers X had arrived at the cruise's pick up point, Tokyo Harbour.
It was a beautiful day; the sun was shining, causing the blue waters of the ocean to shimmer and sparkle invitingly. A cool breeze blew over their faces, carrying a faint tang of salt and seaweed.
Mariah closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, savouring the smell; it wasn't often that she and the White Tigers got to spent time by the beach, seeing that their hometown was high up in the mountains. She heard her friends exhale and smiled, happy that they were enjoying it as much as she was.
After a few minutes, the team began to walk along the pier towards the end of the harbour where the cruise was anchored. Soon, the ship came into view, along with a group of extremely familiar people: the BBA Revolution and the All Starz. They too were walking towards the ship and hence they didn't see the Chinese teens at the back.
Ray grinned conspiratorally at his teammates. He signaled to them to keep quiet and crept forwards. Bits and pieces of conversation floated out from the front.
A particular sentence caught his attention.
"I wonder whether the White Tigers and the Blitzkrieg Boys have arrived," Tyson said to the blond half-American beside him. Max shrugged in reply and Ray grabbed the opportunity to make his presence known.
"We're here," he said cheerfully, as if he was in the conversation since the beginning, squeezing himself in between the two boys and wrapped his arms around their shoulders, "well, at least the White Tigers are," he added, frowning thoughtfully.
There was a brief moment of silence before the younger boys burst into action.
"Ray!" They exclaimed, tackling him.
"Hey guys!" he greeted, chuckling at their enthusiastic greeting. "It's great to see you too."
Then a dry voice interrupted, "what, no hello for me?"
The owner made his way towards the middle of the group where Tyson, Max and Ray stood frozen. He smirked at their flabbergasted expressions. The smirk slipped off his face, transforming into one of surprise as his former teammates recovered, yelling, "Kai!" and grabbed him in a group hug.
And so, after a year of separation, the wielders of the four sacred spirits were reunited once again.
"213…215…217… Ah, here it is!" Hilary said happily, stopping in front of their suite, 219. She slid the card key into the slot; waited for the red indicator light turn green and turned the golden doorknob. The pine door swung inwards, unveiling their lodgings for the next ten days.
"Whoa," Daichi breathed. He staggered into the room and sank into a white L-shaped couch, looking reverently around at his surroundings, "everything's so shiny and new and…stuff."
"Yeah, it is," Kenny agreed, taking in the deco as he went further into the room. A silver square coffee table with a green glass surface sat in front of the couch and a sleek forty inch plasma screen television hung on the white wall opposite it. To the left was a short hallway which led to four bedrooms. Three slim white vases of varying heights lined the wall just before the hallway, filled sparingly with long thin branches with red buds. The floors were carpeted with plush gray-white carpet.
"Yes, yes, lovely," Tyson said, barely paying attention to the room as he walked past Hilary who was holding the door open. He dumped his duffel bag and a couple of Hilary's carry-ons by couch. A pair of dark-haired boys followed through, bringing in more of Hilary's stuff.
"Thanks for the help, guys," Hilary said, looking slightly embarrassed, "you shouldn't have."
"No problemo, Hilary," one of the guys, Sanjaya, said cheerily, setting the bags down on the floor. The Wraith Knight pushed his curly brown hair off his forehead, revealing a pair of bright chocolate brown eyes. The other boy, Stefan, nodded in agreement. Incidentally, he was the captain of the Wraith Knights.
"It's a good thing we bumped into you when we did," Tyson said as he rummaged through the small fridge in the corner, "or else we would have taken all day to lug her bags here," he joked.
"Hey!" Hilary protested, "I didn't bring that much…did I?"
"You gotta be kidding me, right?" Daichi said, vaulting over the back of the couch. He surveyed the various bags on the floor, "that's a lot!"
"Just be glad you guys only have one girl on your team," Sanjaya told them teasingly, "you should have seen the amount of bags we had to help carry earlier!"
"You have girls on your team?" Hilary asked, surprised- girls were somewhat of a rare thing in Beyblading and to have more than one was practically unheard of.
"Yup! Two; Aurelia and Yuliana!"
"Oooh," Tyson said, cringing dramatically as he walked over to bump fists with Sanjaya, "I feel your pain, man!"
A dinner party of sorts was held at the dining hall that evening. A long buffet table stretched in the middle of the room. Round tables were arranged on either side of the buffet, seating six people each.
A waiter stood by the door. He held a clear glass bowl filled with pieces of folded paper for the bladers to take. These slips of paper contain numbers that indicate their seat. This was done to randomize the seating arrangements so that the beybladers would be sitting with those from different teams and hopefully, they would be encouraged to make friends.
Well, that was the BBA's plan anyway.
Hilary found her seat, number 14. Two girls she didn't recognize were already seated.
"Hey guys," she greeted as she slipped into her chair beside a pretty Middle Eastern girl with waist-long braided auburn hair, "I'm Hilary. Nice to meet you."
"Hello," the girl said, smiling, "I'm Fizza El-Rasheed from the XX Inferno and this is Yuliana Taratova," she continued, gesturing to a younger girl with light brown hair and violet eyes on her other side, "she's from the Wraith Knights. She's a little shy," Fizza finished, turning to give Yuliana a teasing grin. A pink tinge appeared on Yuliana's cheeks as she gave Hilary a small smile.
Then Oliver, Miguel and Gary came to fill up the empty seats at their table. After the introductions were done, the teens slipped into conversation. Hilary was pleasantly surprised to find out that the XX Inferno was an all girls team. She also discovered a bit more information about her newfound friends: Fizza was a Bedouin and her tribe used to live in the Sahara Desert before relocating to Cairo. Yuliana was Russian and she loved to collect bunny-themed accessories.
Minutes later, Mr. Dickenson entered the room. He was pleased to hear enthusiastic conversation taking place at all tables as the beybladers got to know their new friends. It seemed that tonight's project was a success.
Quickly, he scanned the room, making sure that all the teams were present. Satisfied that they were all there, he stepped up to the podium.
Immediately, all conversation ceased as the teenagers turned expectantly towards him.
"Good evening, everyone," he began, "and welcome aboard the Mithra! As some of you might know, Mithra is the god of light and friendship in Persian mythology. We at the BBA thought that it was a fitting name as we intended the cruise to be a place where friendship will be forged and bonds strengthened," his moustache twitched as applause thundered in the hall.
"Hear, hear," someone called.
"Alright, before we start dinner, let me introduce our new friends: the Wraith Knights and the XX Inferno!"
The beybladers clapped politely as the members of the two teams rose and graciously bowed.
"Alright, now that that's over and done with, let the banquet begin!"
Loud cheers and whoops rose from the tables, namely Tyson's and Daichi's. Hilary rolled her eyes as the two boys dashed pass their table towards the buffet where the waiters were still serving the food.
Beside her, Fizza chuckled. "Are they always this enthusiastic?" she asked curiously. Yuliana leaned forward interestedly but didn't say anything; still shy.
"Only when it comes to food and beyblading," Hilary replied, rather exasperatedly.
"I remember that one time when I cooked a buffet for Tyson. He finished it in, I don't know, around ten minutes?" Oliver told them as they approached the buffet. "Boy, were the rest of the Bladebreakers mad! Kai even gave Tyson extra training."
Fizza laughed. "Really? It's hard to imagine them doing those things. Especially Tyson. He looked like a pretty serious person when I see him on television."
"Trust me, serious is not the word to describe Tyson," Hilary said dryly. "You'll see."
"Aw, give him some credit, Hilary," Miguel chimed in, his sapphire eyes sparkling mischievously. "He's not that bad."
"Hey, Hil!" Someone called out before Hilary could reply, "you should try this! It's delish!"
Unconsciously, she perked up at sound of Tyson's voice, despite all her previous complaints. She brushed her hair away from her eyes as she listened intently to whatever the boy was saying, a wide smile on her lips.
She didn't notice the knowing, amused looks her friends were exchanging behind her back.
Despite what the BBA chairman believed, not everyone was having fun with the seating arrangements. Tala didn't try to conceal his irritation as he stabbed a meatball with his fork. At first the redhead didn't have a problem with it; at least until he appeared at the table.
He as in the cocky, all-around-annoying kick boxer: Garland Siebald.
You could say that Tala was still sore at the fact that the silver-haired blader had sent him into a coma last tournament. Who wouldn't be? The beating he took had a taken a toll on his body: some of his more serious injuries twinged from time to time, even after the doctors declared them to be healed.
So yes, Tala held a grudge.
He cast an eye around the table; taking extra care to aim a glare Garland's way. Robert was sitting across Tala; he, Garland and Salima were trying their best to keep the conversation going. Mariah was contributing, but she wasn't very enthusiastic; the subject other three were discussing was only fit to appear on the news and though it wasn't obvious, it seemed as though she had something against the female Psykick. The last person, Aoi, some girl from one of the new teams (he wasn't paying attention) was quiet, nodding at times to show that she was listening. She only talked when the others asked her a direct question.
"So Tala, what do you think about global warming?" Robert asked, in a transparent attempt to include him in the conversation. From the corner of his eye, he saw Garland smirk at him. Tala glowered; Garland sneered and looked away.
Tala turned to Robert and stared at him in the eye.
"I think it doesn't exist," he said, even though he actually believed that it did. He stabbed another meatball, keeping his piercing blue orbs in contact with Robert's shocked brown ones. That'll teach them to leave me alone, he thought irritably.
On the other side of the room, a pair of unlikely girls had become fast friends, connected by their common interests: fashion, and shopping. A bored Mystel was listening to their chatter as he ate.
"Hey Ming-Ming," Julia began as she swallowed her roast chicken. "I've got a burning question for you." She leaned forward a little, her green eyes serious.
Ming-Ming raised an eyebrow, feeling slightly wary at her expression.
"In your opinion,"
Ming-Ming nodded to show that she was listening.
"Which is better, mousse in spray form or cream form?"
She choked on her salad. That was Julia's 'burning' question? She was expecting something more…meaningful. She thought for a moment. "Definitely spray form. Less greasy, you know?"
Julia nodded. "That's what I thought too," Julia's voice trailed away as she got lost in her thoughts. They chewed their food in comfortable silence. Ming-Ming would never have guessed that she'd be friends with Julia Fernandez, of all people. Who would have known that they'd have so much in common? Ming-Ming was relieved to have a friend on the cruise outside her team. She had been a little worried that the other teams wouldn't want anything to do with them, after the BEGA fiasco last year. And truth to be told, pop-star was lacking in female company, and she was feeling rather lonely. Then an idea stuck her.
"Hey, Julia," she began tentatively, trying to contain her excitement. "Do you wanna hang out after the cruise? I can show you around Tokyo. We can go shopping!"
Julia grinned. "I was just about to ask you that. I've always wanted to go shopping in Harajuku! You can show me where all the cool stores are!"
Mystel shook his head at the girls' excited chatter. He was glad that Ming-Ming had a friend; god knows the girl needed one but he was getting pretty bored listening to the various types of manicures, pedicures and whatnot.
And their other table mates?
Tyson seemed perpetually stuck to the buffet table. Bryan wasn't much of a conversationalist and Kenny had taken out his laptop (and sneaking glances at Ming-Ming over the screen when he thought she wasn't looking).
"I'm going out to the deck to get some air," he announced. Ming-Ming looked up.
"Okay, don't stay out too late, Mystel."
The man from earlier could be seen sitting in a high-backed leather chair. The room he was in was brightly lit by fluorescent lights. The walls were covered with many screens, each showing a view of a certain area on the ship. Sudden movement in one of the empty hallways caught his eye. He stared at it intently; a grin tugging at his lips as he watched Mystel left the dining hall alone.
He swiveled his chair around, watching as his subordinate examined the many bitchips he and his friends had acquired from bladers all over the world. Feeling someone watching him, he looked up; a blond eyebrow cocked questioningly.
"It's time to commence operation 'Disappear', Knight."
Knight smirked.
"Finally," he said as he swiftly swept the bitchips off the table and into a box, "I thought I'd die of boredom here." He pulled a mask over his face and put the hood of his cloak up. He gave the older man a two-fingered salute as he left, "see ya later, Dr. Zed."
"Grandmaster," corrected absently as he turned back to the screens, "let the game begin," he whispered.
AN: Fast update, yeah? XD Well, it's fast only cos this chapter is pretty similar to Stranded's, heheh. and Knight's scene was the most fun to write. ^_^ Also, you might notice that I didn't really describe the OCs much. I don't like to have paragraphs describing their appearance and stuff cos personally I thought that it disrupts the flow of the story. If anyone wants more info, I posted their profiles in my profile so please feel free to look. :D
Anyway, I'd like to thank AquilaTempestas and Sanaa for reviewing the previous chapter! To the rest of you reading this- please review? :3 I'd love to hear your thoughts.