Finally, the next chapter!
Chapter 3-
Hikaru sat in Madoka's B-Pit watching T.V. She had been mushed out of the kitchen because she was apparently taking up too much space, and as she sat there, she wondered why she'd never noticed how seriously Madoka took the daily chore of dishwashing before.
Though her eyes followed the moving pictures on the T.V screen, she wasn't really watching. For the last hour, she'd been listening to the war cries of Madoka in the kitchen. Various grunts, loud bangs and violent threats echoed out into the living room.
"Ah-ha! Thought you could hide from me, huh? Oh, not in my kitchen, you don't!"
She heard a triumphant cackle followed by purposeful footsteps as Madoka came out and stood before her in front of the T.V, panting heavily.
"Finished?" Hikaru asked.
"It is done. It took an hour, but those dishes are done…"
Hikaru decided not to question Madoka. Instead, she asked, "Congratulations. Now, how long do you think you'll need to spend on those Beys?"
"Oh, I forgot about those…" she said as she let a somber gaze float over to Striker, Sagittario and Libra on the bench.
"Not to worry," assured Hikaru as she got to her feet and walked over to sit on a stool by the bench. "It doesn't usually take you too long to finish maintenance, we'll be at the mall in no time!"
Madoka dragged her feet and joined Hikaru. She picked up Striker and examined it. Then she looked at the bench, where she saw an array of different tools and parts.
"Well, what's wrong with Striker?"
She shook her head, "It has Masamune for a Blader."
Hikaru laughed, "Well, having to spend long periods of time with Masamune would put anybody out. But seriously, how long will it take you to fix it?"
"Not long, I hope."
"Good, well you'd better start now then."
Madoka paused, staring at the tools. She cupped her hand over her mouth, holding her jaw in deep thought.
"Are you okay?"
"I- I think I've forgotten my routine. Remind me; where do I usually start?"
Hikaru's brow furrowed in suspicion. "Well, um, it looks like you've already done the standard examination last night. And you've done the debris removal too, so why don't you just start with taking Striker apart with the screwdriver."
"Now I remember. Okay, easy enough." In her mind, Madoka went over that old childhood rhyme, 'eenie-meenie-mini-mo', and picked up a tool.
"No Madoka, that's a spanner…"
"Oh," she laughed, trying to pass her lack of knowledge off as a simple confusion of words. "You mean screwdriver. I thought you said, shoediver."
She picked up another object on the bench victoriously and held it towards the ceiling.
"And that's your cuticle pusher from your manicure set…"
"I knew that. I was just looking at it. Hey, what are cuticles?"
Hikaru sighed heavily, took the cuticle pusher from Madoka and handed her the screwdriver. "Are you sure you're feeling okay? You didn't accidentally drink any dishwashing liquid while you were washing up or anything, right?"
"I'm fine," Madoka retorted, a little snappier than what was usual for her. "I'm just tired."
"As long as you're sure."
"I'm totally sure. Now, can you remind me what I usually do with the screwdriver."
"You take the Bey apart, check its parts and see if anything needs replacing or mending."
Madoka went blank, Hikaru might as well have been speaking another language.
Sighing again, Hikaru bent down and fished out a Beyblade maintenance instruction manual from under the bench. She opened the book to the index, and began skimming through the contents until Madoka slammed her hand down on the pages.
"Whoa! What's wrong?"
"We don't use instruction manuals! It's an insult to my intelligence!"
"Sheesh you're starting to sound like a guy, Madoka. I thought only males refused to use instruction manuals."
"Are you calling me a boy?" she said, her shoulders staunch and manly.
Hikaru shook her head.
"Are you calling me stupid?"
"No…"
"Then we don't need an instruction manual!"
"Okay, okay. Do what you want."
'That's what I was gonna do, anyway," Madoka replied before turning her attention back to Striker.
*An Hour Later*
Madoka stood back proudly. Hikaru was asleep with her head on the bench, and next to Hikaru's head sat three mended Beyblades. Or they looked mended anyway. Finding out of they actually were fixed was another story and would have to wait until later...
She was about to wake Hikaru, when she noticed that the Beys still looked dull and dirty. She didn't care, though. It wasn't Leone so it wasn't really any of her concern, but she did remember that she had to stay in character. And the real Madoka would never leave a job unfinished. But the problem was, that she really didn't feel like slaving away with a rag just to polish them. So, she conjured up another idea.
About twenty minutes later, Hikaru woke with a start. She looked around the room and saw Madoka sitting on the couch, leaning back into the plush cushions with her legs wide open. Just the way a boy sits. Hikaru made a mental note to spend more time with Madoka, because to her, it seemed that all the time she spent with Gingka and the boys was starting to rub off on her.
"Finally. You're awake," Madoka said lazily.
"I just had a little nap... Anyway, have you finished with the repairs?"
She waved her hand as if to shoo the preposterous idea. "I finished them ages ago. They're getting polished right now."
"Great, now we can get going and-... wait a minute. They're getting polished? Did you buy some sort of polishing machine or something?"
"Nope, I'm just a genius."
Hikaru was about to reply, when she heard awfully loud clunking coming from the kitchen. She got up to follow the noise, and was lead to the dishwasher.
"Oh no. She wouldn't? Madoka's not that stupid."
She opened the dishwasher and felt like pulling a Tsubasa Facepalm. Inside was Striker, Libra and Sagittario, all wet and covered in suds.
"Good idea, huh?" said a voice behind her.
Turning around, Hikaru gapped at Madoka. "Are you serious? The dishwasher is for dishes, Madoka. Not Beyblades."
"Hey," she shrugged and held out an open hand towards the three shining and twinkling Beys. "Can't argue with results."
In another part of the city, Kyouya walked behind Gingka, Masamune and Kenta as they made their way to the Bey Coliseum.
"Oh, man. You just wait 'til Madoka fixes Striker, Gingka. I'll defeat you in a flash, you won't even know what hit you!" Masamune announced.
"Uh-uh! I'd like to see you try."
Kenta spoke up, "Well, I'm getting a lot stronger too, you know."
All three stopped and turned to Kyouya, glaring at him with expectant faces.
"What?" Kyouya asked.
"Isn't this the part where you tell us all to shut our faces because you'll be the one to defeat Gingka?" Kenta explained.
"Yeah, I suppose it is." Kyouya cleared his throat, "I, Kyouya Tategami will be the one to beat you, Gingka."
"Eh," the others said in union. "It was okay… You've made better declarations for victory."
As they turned back to keep walking, Kyouya sighed. He was finding staying in Kyoya-esc character to be quite a difficult chore, and inside, Madoka wondered how on Earth Kyouya could maintain such a high level of crankiness at all times.
Soon, they had arrived at the coliseum. Masamune and Gingka ran off ahead, shouting at each other about a race. Kena waited for Kyouya to catch up.
"Get pumped, Kyouya! Gingka said he isn't going to go easy on you, so I hope you're ready."
"Ready as I'll ever be," he replied reluctantly.
When he entered the coliseum, Gingka was already waiting with his launcher at the ready on the other side of the stadium. Masamune stood behind him, making faces at Kyouya.
Kyouya had to take some time just trying to work out where he kept Leone on his body. The launcher was easy enough to locate as it was slung around his hips, but he had to pat himself down in order to find the Bey. Sure enough, though, Kyouya soon had Leone in the launcher. He held it out in front of him as far as he could.
"You're going down, Kyouya buddy!" Gingka taunted from across the stadium.
"Um, so are you…?" he said, trying to think of something Kyouya would reply to that. Mostly, Kyouya's dialogue consisted of manly grunts, insults concerning someone's mother, and offhand sighs, but he always had something to say when it came to a battle.
Not today, though.
Gingka began the countdown, "1!"
"2…" Kyouya said weakly.
"3, Let it Rip!" They cried together. Kyouya winced as he ripped the Bey into action. Pegasus was already rocketing around the grounds.
Leone, however, just stayed in place.
"Oh, up to your old tricks again, hey Kyouya?" called Gingka. "Well, that's not gonna work this time."
"What tricks? Leone, why aren't you doing anything!?"
Pegasus crashed into Leone, but Leone didn't budge. It just sat there, spinning almost as if it were a stubborn toddler refusing to go to bed.
"Kyouya! Make a command!" Kenta called from behind.
"A command? Right. Leone, Lion Gale Force Wall!"
Leone refused.
"What's happening, why isn't Leone responding to you?" Gingka asked as he began to cool off. Even Pegasus began to slow down yet it still clashed into Leone repeatedly.
"I don't know… Leone, c'mon, please? Do it for me?"
Nothing.
"Leone, I'll ask one more time nicely, after that I'm gonna get mad!"
More nothing…
Kyouya clenched his fists loosely and put them to his chest, his leg bent and raised up behind him in typical anime girl style. "Leone!"
"Kyouya!" Masamune voiced, "Get your act together!"
"It won't listen to me! It's just as stubborn as its owner! Uh, I mean, me… Yeah, that's right Leone. I am your owner, now you do as I say!"
Then, in a twisted turn of events, Leone jumped off the ground and went flying towards Kyoya's head. It supposedly hated to be bossed around just as much as that moody guy who owned it did. Kyouya squealed and ducked away just in time as the Bey hit the wall behind him, then bounced onto the dirt floor, laying there motionless. Kyouya's hands covered his eyes.
Masamune came running out onto the stadium while Gingka called Pegasus back to his grip. "Gingka wins by default!"
"By default? Aw man, that's no fun…" Gingka whined, kicking the ground below him.
Kenta walked over and picked up Leone, then he brought it over to Kyouya. "Kyouya… I've never seen that happen before."
"Neither have I," he moaned as he took Leone from Kenta.
"Well, let's go get some burgers," Gingka announced as he walked out of the colosseum, already forgetting the previous events.
"Lunch is on Kyouya because he's a loser," Masamune chanted as he bolted out after Gingka.
Kenta shook his head along side Kyouya as they hauled themselves out after the others. "Don't listen to him. You're not a loser, you're just having a rough day."
"You can say that again," he replied. Then he stopped and began patting himself down again, feeling around his pockets.
"What's wrong?" Kenta queried.
"You wouldn't happen to know where I keep my wallet, would you?"
Anyone else noticing how much I'm putting dishwashers in this story? Maybe that's my conscience telling me to get my butt up and do my own dishwashing...
And I bet you're all thinking, 'Kyouya, really? How can you not know what a screwdriver is?'. Well, fact of the matter is that he most likely does, but hey, I'm making it that way! :) I realise the characters might be a bit OOC, but I'm trying to keep them acting as much like themselves as possible.
Now, my beautiful, wonderful friends (for that's what you all are to me. Even though I've never met you, I feel like I've got some great friends in you). This will pick up again and be slightly more entertaining in the next chapter. Until then, keep writing those fantastic stories of your own!