Chapter 11 Masamune's 1,000 Envelopes
The next day, a letter arrived for Ryuga. "Great, I hope it's not more hate mail or Ryo's hospital bills. I put down my address as Gingka's, so it shouldn't be." Ryuga opened the envelope and discovered a balloon-printed party invitation inside. He read its contents and threw it in the fireplace of his study, which quickly burned it up. Then, Ryuga got up and left his bookstore.
King decided to go strolling around Anti-Zeo Zaggart Land like he usually did, but was stopped when his butler handed him a crisp manilla envelope. King broke the seal and read the contents of the note inside. Then he handed it to his butler and said: "Burn it."
Gingka did not want to get out of bed because of his late night last night being locked inside the dark Beyblade Battlegrounds and all, but knew that if he didn't go to work, Madoka would kill him. He yawned and went downstairs to make his breakfast. He found an envelope on the table and, being the curious boy that he was, opened it. He scanned the contents and then turned his oven up as high as it would go. Then he threw the note inside. "I knew I should have kept Tsubasa's lighter," he sighed. "Oh, I nearly forgot; it didn't even work anymore!" Gingka laughed and headed out his door to work. He tripped on his welcome mat and fell down the steps, landing on his face. "Ow..." he said. "I knew I should have eaten my breakfast."
Kyoya was just about to leave his house to go the the Beyblade Battlegrounds when a letter for him arrived in the mail. He opened it and read what the party invitation said. Then, he threw it into his natural gas fire-place, where it was burned to a crisp.
Nile had just walked out his door when the mail man rushed up to him and handed him an envelope. Nile opened it and found a party invitation inside. He read the invite, and then read it again. Then he dropped by Tsubasa's Tank Top Shop and asked Tsubasa to burn it with one of his 49 lighters. Tsubasa obliged him by doing this.
Masamune clapped his hands. "It's all going smooth so far," he said to himself. Next, he began to transform his store into a festive party room. He strung streamers, threw confetti, blew up helium balloons that floated to the ceiling, and hung up party signs. The first party-goer to arrive was Masamune's best friend, Zeo, followed closely by Toby. Damian had tagged along with them also. King arrived a few minutes after them, looking excited. Then, Team Wang Hu Zhong arrived, with Dashan in the lead. They, too, looked excited and asked Masamune if he had any soda, and he pointed them in the right direction to the beverage area of the party.
The Garcias arrived next, and asked for food, so Masamune pointed them in the right direction: Toward salads, subs, pastas, exotic fruits, and spinach. Tsubasa came next, dragging a reluctant Rose along, who then looked excited when she saw all the party décor and food. All 1,000 citizens of Anti-Zeo Zaggart Land had been invited. The party had been scheduled for 10:00 am, and when that time rolled around, 996 guests had arrived. Masamune should have been pleased that so many guests had made it, but he instead worried over those who hadn't come.
As 10:05 came, in walked two of the missing guests, Kyoya and Nile, who had decided to arrive fashionably late. As 10:10 rolled around, Masamune tapped his foot and worried over one of the last two to arrive.
"Where is Gingka?" he asked. "Does anyone know where Gingka is?"
No one seemed to know. Just then, the door blew open and purple lightning flashed. "Why do you want to know where that fool is?" Ryuga asked, putting the emphasis on the word "fool". He had only come because everyone else in town had dropped everything for the party.
"Hey Ryuga," said Masamune, determined to make peace at his party. "It's a party, don't rain on our parade. Literally," he added, looking at the lightning.
Ryuga walked in, and the lightning ceased when he saw that Gingka was not at the party. He immediately headed to the exotic fruit section and picked out the most expensive things to eat because he had decided not to make this party a complete waste of his time.
Twenty minutes later, at 10:30, Gingka had still not arrived. "Where in Anti-Zeo Zaggart Land could he be?" asked King to no one in particular. "Even the people in the hospital got here on time." King looked at Ryo, who was watching a football game on TV while in his wheelchair and yelling both insults and advice to the players on the field.
Everyone, well, most everyone at the party was oblivious to the Gingka crisis. Zeo and Toby were not. They were talking to Masamune. Ryuga didn't care; he was still eating exotic fruits. Kyoya and Nile were chatting with other townsfolk and grazing on party food all the while. Team Wang Hu Zhong and the Garcias were having a soda fight. Tetsuya was stalking Teru crab style, and Benkei was always a few inches away from Kyoya, who ignored him. Doji was sitting in a corner because everyone hated him. Ryuto, Bao, and Chris seemed to have become friends. Rose and Tsubasa were holding hands. Are they dating? Kenta was talking to Hyoma, and Gingka, Gingka was still missing, and it was now 10:40.
Masamune was busy replenishing the hors d'oeuvres and beverages now; he had no free time to worry about the one missing guest. 10:45 rolled around. The door opened, and in walked the missing Gingka. "Hey guys, sorry I'm late," he said.
"Late?" said Kyoya. "You're 45 minutes late."
"I wonder what took the fool so long," commented Ryuga.
"Oh, I had to eat breakfast," replied Gingka.
"45 minutes plus of breakfast?" Nile asked.
"Well, I was rushed into eating in only five minutes," Gingka admitted. "I had to eat breakfast!"
"Yeah, yeah, we get that!" exclaimed Masamune.
"Cooking trouble much?" Dashan asked.
"Exactly!" said Gingka. "I forgot I had the oven on so high, and burned my pancakes forty times! Then I realized my mistake and fixed it. I ate in five minutes."
"Pretty slow on the uptake; if you ask me," said Ryuga.
Everyone nodded, but Gingka didn't see because he had seen a party platter of burgers. "Burgers!" he gasped. "I'm so hungry!"
"Didn't you just eat breakfast?" asked Hyoma.
"Sure did, but I'm hungry again!" Gingka replied happily.
Everyone went back to talking again, and Ryuga went back to examining the exotic fruits.
"Oh my!" Tsubasa cried out. "You have spinach!" He took a huge plate-full. "This is my favorite!" Rose told him he looked like a rabbit. He didn't notice.
"Listen up, everyone!" called out Masamune to all of the party-goers. "We will now play a game called pin the tail on the donkey." He removed a party sign and revealed a donkey poster underneath. Some people cheered. "The object of the game is quite simple," Masamune continued. "You must pin the tail on the donkey while blindfolded, and the person closest wins."
"Masamune," King whispered to him. "There are one thousand people here."
"Oh," said Masamune. "This is only for prominent citizens, who built businesses." All the in-prominent citizens sighed and walked away. "Who wants to go first?" Masamune asked the remaining people.
"Me! Me!" cried Kenta. Kenta was blindfolded and spun around and then told to pin the tail. He ended up pinning it on the opposite wall. Everyone laughed.
"I'll go next!" called out Hyoma. He too ended up pinning the tail on the opposite wall. Everyone laughed again.
Masamune took his turn next, and managed to get the tail on the right wall, but not on the donkey. Next up was Gingka, whose uncanny luck allowed him to pin the tail on the donkey. Well, at least on the donkey's head. Dashan was very close to pinning the donkey, as were the other members of Wang Hu Zhong. The winner of the pin the tail on the donkey contest ended up being Zeo, who was the first and only one to succeed. Kyoya, Nile, and Ryuga had refused to play such a "childish" game; and had instead started their own game of Texas Hold 'Em. Masamune decided to leave them alone.
"Who wants to play red light green light?" he asked all the party-goers. All but the three playing Texas Hold 'Em raised their hands. And so, the red light green light game of 997 people began, with Masamune leading it. "We will race from my store porch to the end of the block. Ready? Red light!"
Kenta ran forward, then realized that he was the only one, so quickly realized his mistake and went back to the porch.
"Green light!" Everyone rushed forward.
"Red light!" Everyone stopped.
"Green light!" They all sprinted.
"Red light!" They skidded to a halt.
"Green light!" Run, run, run!
"Red lime!" Kenta, Madoka, Hyoma, Tetsuya, and Benkei stopped.
"Red light!" Everyone else stopped too now.
"Green!" Ryo rolled his wheelchair forward and then back.
"Green light!" Everyone sprinted, trying to win.
"Red light!" They were all forced to stop.
"Green light!" Dashan crossed the finish line. "I won!" he yelled.
"Congratulations," said Masamune. "You win a trip to New Zealand."
"Seriously?" Dashan asked.
"Of course!" said Masamune. He handed the voucher to Dashan.
"Hey, do I win anything for winning pin the tail on the donkey?" asked Zeo.
"Sure do," Masamune replied. He gave Zeo his prize. "You won a cash prize of $5,000. Congratulations!"
Now everyone was interested. They all wanted cool prizes too. "What's the next game?" asked Toby.
"The next game starts in twenty minutes," Masamune answered.
"Aww..." All the people sighed, except for Zeo and Dashan. They were super happy, surprised, and excited beyond belief. The twenty minutes went slowly for everyone. Masamune had need of those twenty minutes, however, so he could set up for the next game; it took him quite a while. When he was all set-up, he called everyone over.
"This game also is only for prominent citizens. All in-prominent citizens sighed and went inside, where Kyoya, Nile, and Ryuga were still playing Texas Hold 'Em.
"The next game will be held in back of my shop," Masamune announced. He then split them into groups of four. "Tsubasa, Kenta, Dashan, and Mei Mei are group one. Gingka, Yu, Chiyun, and Chaoxin are group two. Doji, Hikaru, Ryuto and Gaser are group three. Zeo, Benkei, Selen, and Osamu are group four. Takashi, Akira, Tetsuya, and Teru are group five. Damian, Madoka, King, and Hyoma are group six. Hycuto and the Face Hunters are group seven. Ian, Argo, Chris, and Bao are group eight. Toby, Enzo, Yuki, and Ryo are group nine. Did I miss anyone?"
"Yes, you missed me," said Johannes.
"Oh, well you'll join group nine, then," Masamune responded. "Okay, everyone follow me!" Masamune led them all to his shop's backyard, where they all beheld nine monopoly boards, which were set up and marked with numbers one through nine. They went to their assigned number and began to play.
The winners of each individual game were Tsubasa, Yu, Hikaru, Selen, Teru, Damian, Face Hunter #1, Ian, and Toby. They all won $50 gift cards to Mei Mei's Market. Then, Tsubasa, Yu, Hikaru, Selen, and Teru played each other while Damian, Face Hunter #1, Ian, and Toby played each other.
The winner of the first game was Selen, and the winner of the second Game was Ian. It was a Garcia showdown in the final round! They each won a $100 cash prize. Selen ended up winning the final round, and won a fabulous getaway trip to the Cayman Islands. The whole monopoly thing had taken three hours! Back inside went all the players. The game of Texas Hold 'Em had broken up by now.
"Last game, everyone!" Masamune called. "We are playing Track and Field Day! Once again, this is for prominent citizens only. The party is over for those who are in-prominent."
All the in-prominents left. Masamune pushed a button and his backyard turned into a track. "Now remember, you can only enter in one or two events. No more. First up, 100m dash!" Gingka blew everyone else away. In the 200m dash, Tsubasa beat the other competitors with ease. Gingka won $500 in cash, and Tsubasa won $600 in cash. In the girls 100m intermediate hurdles, Hikaru lost by a few seconds to Selen, who won $50. In the boys 110m high hurdles, Nile won by a landslide, earning him a trip to LA. Next up was high jump, where Gaser won $1,000. Then came pole-vault, where Chris creamed everyone and won $700. The next event was the 800m run, where the clear winner was Ian Garcia, who won $1,500. Then came the 300m hurdles, where Hikaru redeemed herself and beat all the guys. Next was running long jump, where Ryuto excelled. Hikaru and Ryuto both won $500. Bao won the triple jump and also won $500. Benkei won $200 for winning both shot-put and and discus throw. Ryuga ran the 1600m in four minutes flat, winning himself a trip to Key West, Florida. The last event was the 400m, where Kyoya won by no small margin. He won a trip to Cozumel, Mexico.
The party-goers then left. Masamune was glad his party had been such a success. The expensive prizes had been donated by his grandmother, who was a multi-billionaire. Masamune also found it funny that his party invitations had all said "Burn this immediately after reading."
The real plot of the story starts in the next chapter, which I should get up in about a week or so. Sorry for the wait.