Chapter 3! Well, there's not much to say here this time. I just wanted to thank you awesome people for your reviews :). They are very encouraging! Well that's all! (Sorry about the short intro this time :D)
Chapter 3: Recess Battle
"File yourselves out quietly for recess break, once you've cleaned up your lunch area," Mr. Taifu said, in his usual dignified manner.
I quickly threw out my trash, and was headed back to my desk when Masumune cut in front of me, us face to face once again,"Hey! Ginka! Do you want me to show you where the battles take place during recess? Because of course, only I would know out of all these kindergarteners," he smugly stated.
"Sure, could I bring my friend Madoka, too?"
"Yeah, but she probably won't like it. It's mostly boys and then there's this one girl, but she's not so good."
Raising an eyebrow at Masumune's mean remark, I nodded my head, "Thanks, I'll ask her anyway; she's really shy, but really nice."
"Whatever, but I'm warning you, she'll hate it a-Ooo! Panda!" Masumune literally bounded off towards a nearby panda plushie that a girl was holding.
After a quick, and much needed, face palm, I was off to find Madoka. The class would be headed out for recess soon and I wanted to find her before they split up onto the huge playground/field. It wasn't hard to find her-she was blushing/talking with Kenta, the green haired kid from before.
"Mhm, I want to be beyblade mechanic, so I've studied lot's of parts and programmed it onto this little computer that my dad gave me for Christmas, so I can analyze information and learn more about the tops," her eyes sparkled with passion, "I really love them a lot."
Kenta grinned, "That's pretty cool. I just want to learn how to battle with them better, is all."
"That's a good goal. Oh, there's Ginka! Hi!" Madoka waved me over and I entered into the conversation.
"Hey you two, how's it going?"
"Oh quite well, Ginka, thanks. Have you met Kenta?" she motioned to the short, rosy cheeked kid, smiling happily.
"It's nice to meet you Ginka! I really liked your Pegasus picture."
"Hey thanks, Kenta! It's nice to meet you too," I said, happily glancing down at him, "Your picture of a deer was pretty cool."
"Thanks."
"So, do you want to check out the battle area?" I asked Madoka, "The kid that sits at my desk, Masumune, said he'll show us, but I should warn you," I half-rolled my eyes, "He's a little…self centered."
"Sure sounds good," Madoka agreed, "Do you want to come, Kenta?"
The younger, green haired boy eagerly nodded, "Yes!"
"Let's go then, we're losing time," I gently urged. Our classroom was nearly empty, save a few girls chatting in the corner, and I was convinced that they had started early without us.
"Follow me!" I called to Madoka and Kenta, breaking into a run. We burst through the outside door, as free as cheetahs-until Masumune grabbed my shirt collar,
"What took you so long? They're going to start soon!"
"S-sorry," I apologized, a bit taken back. Us foursome ran, all following Masumune, through the field and a visible forest up ahead.
"So, does everyone in our class battle?" I asked him, panting and curious.
"Yeah, pretty much. All of us really like beyblade, well-" he stopped for a minute and turned back, "Everyone battles except for him," his finger pointed to Tsubasa, sitting on a nearby bench, still reading the same book, "He's weird. He just sits there and reads the same book every day. He's read it so many times that it's falling out; just look at it! And no one really knows what it's about. In fact, only two of my friends have seen him battle and they said that he beat everyone in under a minute," his eyes grew wide, "even Ryuga."
Kenta's face frowned, "Even…Ryuga? The Dragon Boy?"
Masumune nodded, "Yeah, but I'm sure that I could take Ryuga on and beat him easily. Tsubasa's just being a coward."
Masumune began running again, but I glanced back at Tsubasa for a second, still in wonder about his strange accomplishment. Tsubasa looked up, returned the eye contact, and smirked. A tiny eagle rested on his shoulder and it let out a loud cry that made me jump a bit. Mystified, I hurried to catch up to Masumune and to get Tsubasa out of my mind.
"Here we are!" Masumune announced.
Each one of us newbies let out a gasp of awe at the interesting place. The north, east, and west was a deep-green forest and the south side lead back to the field. In the center of the squared area, there was a huge tree stump with a bowl-like shape carved into it and about fifty kids of grades K to 4th all gathered around, their beyblades clashing against each other in the disk. I felt the excitement of everyone there pulsing in my being and I breathed in the scent of battle.
I was psyched.
"Hey, Ginka! Over here, you dumbbell!" Masumune called, motioning towards a tall oak tree. Grimacing a little at his insult, I joined him along with Madoka and Kenta.
"They're doing tag-team battles today," Masumune stated with a know-it-all tone, "So what're our pairings going to be?"
"I'm fine with whoever," I told him, trying to be flexible.
"Well, if either of you pair with me, then you'll win-guaranteed, so you should probably do a rock, paper, scissors to see who I'll pair with," he suggested.
"I don't think-"
"Let's do it Ginka!" Kenta begged, eyes all aglow.
All I had to do was look at Kenta's shining face to forget about Masumune's selfishness and soon our hands were facing each other like bladers before a match.
"Rock, Paper, Scissors-Shoot!" we chanted, extending our fingers to our chosen attack. Kenta's hand flattened out to a paper and my fist closed into a rock.
"It seems that you win," I grinned, secretly glad that I didn't have to put up with Masumune.
"Yay! This is going to be so fun!" Kenta bubbled.
"Nice job, Kenta," Madoka grinned.
Masumune swatted his hand at me, as if he were a king, "Oh, sorry Ginka. It seems that I'm with Kenta, so there's no chance of you winning. Maybe you can pair with me tomorrow."
"Thanks, Masumune," I said, slowly edging away, "but it's fine; I'm going to find someone else to pair up with."
"Fine, fine; suit yourself," he said smugly, taking Kenta and Madoka to a different part of the area.
I let out a sigh of total and utter relief before walking around a bit in search of a partner.
The guy with the weird crab cloak? Eh, nah.
Maybe the one with the lollypop in his mouth? Actually, that's a little weird…
Kyoya?
I stopped, my eyes turning to the taller blader, standing on the other side of the tree stump. He didn't look like he was partnered with anyone and he seemed to be fairly decent at battling-
"Ow! What the heck?"
Surprised, I glanced down and saw that I had bumped into a younger boy, causing him to fall smack down on the ground.
"Woah, sorry; let me help you," I apologized quickly, reaching my hand out to help him up.
"No need," he mumbled, a bit annoyed, "I'm used to it by now." His emerald eyes looked into mine and I realized that this kid was from my class.
"Hey aren't you…what was your name…Lou? Sue? Dude? Food-"
"It's Yu! Got that? It's not that hard of a name to memorize! We actually use it all the time in the English language, you know!"
I blinked at him in surprise; he sure was a feisty little guy,
"Oh, sorry."
His eyebrows were furrowed below his untamed blondish/reddish hair, and his pale, small hands were tightened into little fists, nearly hidden by his long, snow-white sleeves with the blue cuffs. He had a lime shirt underneath his jacket, a blue collar matching the cuffs, and a half-belt of green, kept in place by red dots. Yu's shorts ended just a little after his knees, tiny rectangles matching his belt, and his small sneakers of blue and grey ended his attire. After a few inhalations, the young boy calmed down and he smiled like a completely different person,
"Anyway, I'm looking for someone to battle with!" he chirped, bouncing a little, "Would you like to partner up?"
Confused, I ensued a brief stare before readily agreeing,
"Sure, I was looking for a partner too!"
How could his mood change that fast?
"Great! Let's go to the stump; it'll start soon."
"O-okay."
I let my rusty haired partner lead the way to the huge tree stump with the bowl-shaped bey-arena carved into it. Many kids had gathered around, all partnered up, and the huge crowd of guys and girls watching, created a circle around us. One 4th grader stood up on an old folding chair and raised his hand to the sky. His orange hat and deep blue shirt with the white letters "BB" on it, clashed, but he definitely stood out in this crowd.
"Alright everyone! Gather around! We're about to start! We have a total of ten teams and I'll be announcing them briefly. But first, a word from our sponsor!"
Three kids held up a primitive sign with the words, "Cookie Monster" scribbled onto it and a picture of the infamous muppet sketched next to the words. A 2nd grader stood behind the picture and imitated Cookie Monster's, "Eat cookies everybody! Omnomnomnomnom!"
Everyone stared and it became so quiet that I could hear "Cookie Monster" kid's embarrassed breathing.
Awkward silence…
The rustle of the leaves in the bright green trees reminded me to stay focused and the announcing kid soon continued,
"Uh, yeah, thanks for that. Ahem, our first team! Hikaru and Hyoma!"
Two kids from my class (the girl that liked dolphins and the boy that liked rams) stepped forward, the kids cheering.
"Our second team! Kyoya and Benkei!"
Kyoya and a large boy, with a little bit of bright purple hair protruding from his beanie hat, stepped forward, not saying a word; in perfect sync.
I shivered.
"Tetsuya and Tobio!"
The crab-guy and lollypop kid seemed to be in some sort of argument.
"I told you! We should name us: The Crab-inators!"
"No! I sad Sharpshooters!"
"Crab-inators!"
"Sharpshooters!"
Another awkward silence emerged and a few kids walked away whispering.
Announcer kid cleared his throat,
"Um, yeah. The next team is Kenta and Masumune!"
A couple kids cheered, even though Masumune ejaculated with a loud,
"Hey! I'm the world's number one blader! I should be mentioned before Kenta!"
No one really seemed to care, though.
"Next up: Ginka and Yuu!"
Yuu giggled and waved to all the girls, who were gushing over his "adorableness", and I just waved to avoid looking awkward.
A few other teams were mentioned, but they were all forgotten when the last team was announced.
"And finally, our champion pair! Ryuga and Reji!"
The crowd hushed as the two fearsome bladers strided forward. Ryuga's eyes were full of a strange, creepy excitement and his mouth was twisted into a terrible smirk. The boy next to him, whom I assumed to be Reji, had strange red hair with mustard-yellow tips and blue-green eyes dyed near the top of his head, and it all fell into his face, completely covering his eyes with the occasional flash of gold iris's. His shirt was white and his pants were long, black, and shiny. All in all, these two were very intimidating and I was a little nervous to see how well they battled.
"Okay, bladers, prepare yourselves!" Announcer kid called out.
I pulled out my dark blue launcher and attached Pegasus to the wheel, staring at Ryuga the whole time. He attached his bey to his launcher and prepared himself as well. An insane-looking smirk became apparent on his face and I felt a twinge of fear.
"Okay ready? 3..."
Deep breath. Concentrate.
"…2..."
Show no fear. Show no doubt.
"…1..."
I pulled back the rip-cord as hard as I could and shouted along with the rest of the bladers, releasing my bey into the arena,
"Let it rip!"
I decided to finish off as many at once as I could, hoping that Ryuga would be one of them,
"Pegasus! Star-blast attack!"
I watched as my bey glowed a blue aura and bounced off the edge of the stadium into the sky, before shooting back almost too fast to see.
As it smashed into the ground of the tree stump, about ten beys went flying at once, leaving only a select few bladers still standing.
Many of the kids stared at me in awe of my attack power.
"Special Move! King Lion Tearing Blast!"
What?...
I whipped around, nearly losing my bandana in the process, to see Kyouya's bey start a huge tornado about three times my height. A couple more beys went flying, leaving only Yu, Kyouya, Ryuga, Reji, and me.
"Hey! Ginkie! How about I distract Mr. Yoyo over there, and you sneak up behind and attack?" Yu suggested, using nicknames for both Kyouya and me.
"What? Ginkie?"
"Don't you even know your own name, Ginkie? Besides, you didn't answer my question! Listen to me!"
"Oh, right. Uh, sure! You distract Kyouya and I'll sneak up behind and attack."
I watched as Yu's bey, a yellow Libra, swerved up to Kyouya's, a Leone, and teased it with quick back and forth movements, Leone falling into Yu's trap nicely. Kyouya's bey followed Yu, trying to slam him out of the arena, but Yu's movements were too quick. Slowly, I directed Pegasus to ram into Leone from behind to surprise Kyouya and eliminate him from the competition.
"Go Pegasus!"
Pegasus was just about to make contact with Leone when-
"Leone!"
Kyouya's bey darted quickly out of the way and he boomed taunting laughter at Yu and I,
"How stupid do you two think I am? I heard every bit of your "plan"; it's a small area, you know."
Leone started glowing with a green aura and quickly headed towards Libra with an unmatchable speed. Yu saw and attempted to block it with his own move,
"Libra-"
It was too late.
Libra was knocked out quickly and Yu was eliminated from the battle. He stared at his still bey, wide-eyed and he frowned deeply,
"I…lost to…YOYO?" He crossed his arms and let a childish grimace creep onto his face, eyeing Kyouya, "I can't believe my luck…"
His emerald eyes darted to Reji for a second, who hissed at Yu, staring straight at him. The young boy's eyes filled with a deep fear and he stepped back to hide behind me.
"Yu, what're you-" I really couldn't say anything else though, as Kyouya was keeping me busy with my defense abilities. I took a quick glance at the other beys still left in the stadium and noted that Reji's and Ryuga's were both still alive and headed for Kyouya and I.
I stared into Kyouya's ocean-blue eyes for a moment and we shared a knowing glance. Our attitudes rapidly changed to team-like and we took on Ryuga and Reji, together.
"Lion Wild Wind Fang Dance!" Kyouya shouted, Leone headed straight for Reji. He nodded in my direction and I proceeded with my own attack,
"Pegasus Storm Bringer!"
Both Leone and Pegasus were spinning rapidly, directly towards both Ryuga and Reji's beys.
Ryuga scoffed,
"Heh. You two will have to do better than that. How old do you think I am? Five?"
"Um, actually-"
"Forget that statement!" Ryuga sneered, "I'm getting bored, so I think I'll end this now. Reji?"
Reji nodded, his soft hair bouncing a little, and a sly smile spread across his face,
"Serpent! Venom Strike!"
His bey, a deadly green serpent, crashed into Kyouya's, seeming to drill into the very center of it.
"Leone!" Kyouya gasped in alarm, glancing to look at Reji, "What are you doing?"
Reji let out a sharp, but quiet laugh, the smirk on his face growing bigger.
"Kyouya!" I cried, worried about my temporary team-mate.
"Dark Move…"
I jerked to face Ryuga, whose hands were filling with a strange, purple, orb-shaped energy.
"What?"
"Dragon Emperor Soaring Bite Strike!" He shouted, the energy flowing into the sky above us as swift as a lightning bolt. The sky cleared and there was nothing.
Just moments later, the deafening sound of thunder boomed through the sky and a flash of violet lightning hit the arena, causing my bey to waver greatly.
"Hold on Pegasus!" I shouted, worried about Ryuga's attack.
Pegasus can't spin in this energy. Is this where I lose?
"Recess is over! Come back inside children!"
Ryuga frowned a little, before retrieving his bey from the tree stump and motioning for Reji to follow him back to the school. Reji followed, a strange hiss escaping his lips, and the two walked on, Ryuga pushing a kid out of his way once.
"Well, it seems that there was a tie today! Thank you to all who participated!" announcing kid finished, before darting away to the school.
Awestruck, I removed Pegasus from the arena and stared at the blue, glossy bey, deep in thought.
Did I really almost lose to…Ryuga?
All I could see were the faces of those fearsome dragons.