"I don't know how I got this way, I'll never be alright, so I'm breaking the habit tonight!"
Sorry, I'm kinda listening to music and writing at the same time.
Hunter: You're an idiot.
Alrighty, just ignore him...he doesn't know what he's talking about.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anguish
"Quinlan...I think the water may have ruined your blade's engine gear" Hunter told him sadly.
"Don't you guys worry; I have a secret weapon today!" Quinlan announced. He pulled a silver Beyblade and an eerie metal armband, with red jewels incrested on it, out off his pocket. "Daddy dropped it this morning! It looks expensive...I'm gonna use the Beyblade and wear the bracelet!"
"...What is it exactly?" Patrick asked confusedly.
"I don't know...but the metal armband seems to somehow have a connection with the blade" Hunter said upon close inspection.
"Maybe Quinlan shouldn't use it then" Patrick said.
"Don't worry, Patty!" Quinlan said with confidence. "I'll win for the team! Daddy's gonna be proud when I beat Bladebreaker face-paint guy!"
"Oh no...he's going up against Kai!?" Patrick exclaimed.
Kai stepped up to the stadium, as did his five year old opponent Quinlan. The soaking wet dog followed and lay down behind him.
At this time, most of the water had been cleaned up. Only small puddles remained, including one in the middle of the rough-terrain stadium.
"It's time for the final round, ladies and gentlemen! The winner will advance to the quarter finals! So Let It Rip!"
Kai launched his blade as he normally would; Quinlan did a smooth front flip and then launched his. The crowd cheered at his amusing stunt.
"If that impresses them, wait until they get a load of Kai" Kai sneered confidently.
"Remember; give it everything you've got to win this match!" Hiro yelled.
"I don't need to...this kid's a little wimp" Kai answered with the same confidence.
And he had reason to be confident, because Quinlan wasn't fairing very well against him so far. Dranzer had a huge advantage already, and Kai hadn't even attacked yet.
"Attack him, come on!" Quinlan ordered. His blade bashed into Kai's but hadn't even near shattered his defences. It actually made his own blade fly backwards and crash against a rock.
Suddenly, Quinlan had difficulty standing up. He panted just trying to stay up. "What's...going on?"
"Time to finish this match..." Kai said. "Attack him now!"
Dranzer hit the blade again. Before it touched the ground, Dranzer hit it once more. Then again and again...Kai was definitely winning this. Then someone screamed. Kai looked across the stadium. Quinlan was lying on the ground.
"Stop! Stop it please! My...head! Ach!" Quinlan wailed.
"What's wrong?" Patrick called.
"I have...no clue but it hurts!" Quinlan screamed loudly.
"What on earth is happening to the little guy?" DJ asked with unusual concern.
Quinlan rose back to his feet, still breathing deeply. "I'm okay...but that was weird..."he huffed.
"That's it, Quinlan; show them that you can do this!" Hunter cheered.
"Hunter..." Patrick began.
"Just stop worrying!" Hunter said roughly.
"But...but what just happened back there?" Patrick asked. "He suddenly started feeling great pain out of nowhere"
"He doesn't know what he's going...at him again, Dranzer!" Kai ordered.
The blue Beyblade that contained Dranzer rammed powerfully into Quinlan's again.
"I can't counter...ach!" Quinlan yelped again.
"What is it now?!" Patrick yelled.
Quinlan clutched to his chest. "It's hurting again...stop, please! I don't...know...why, but it just hurts!"
"You have to put a stop to this, tell DJ that we give up!" Patrick repeated.
"We can't back down, no!" Hunter objected again. "As long as Quinlan's blade is spinning, he's still in this! It's what Sarge would've wanted"
"What's wrong with you, kid?" Kai asked the five year old. "You could at least try to face me with a little dignity. Pull yourself together!"
"He has a point!" Hunter agreed. Patrick began to worry and complain to him again, but Hunter responded the same each time.
"I...can still beat Bladebreaker face paint guy if...I just ignore the hurting..." Quinlan said fiercely as he stood back up again, but Kai launched another attack.
"My head!" Quinlan wailed again. "It's hurting now! I..."
Then the boy dropped to his knees. "I can't....I..."
"Stop this match right now!" Patrick yelled worriedly.
"How many times have I told you...Quinlan can do this?" Hunter continued to object to Patrick's pleas for surrender. But now, even he was in doubt. This strange thing kept happening to Quinlan each time Dranzer attacked. It didn't make sense...because the Beyblade itself wasn't taking any damage. Why was Quinlan suffering instead?
Quinlan was now lying on the floor, arms wrapped tightly around his own body, and was constantly screaming. The audience was starting to get freaked out as well.
"What is he doing to the little guy?"
"Someone help him! Something's not right!"
"Why isn't the leader forfeiting?"
"It's whenever Kai attacks his Beyblade..." Hunter realized. "I can't imagine why this is happening..."
Everyone realised it soon enough.
"Kai, you have to stop attacking him!" Max called with great concern. "Don't touch Quinlan's blade another time!"
"How do you expect me win, not even being able to touch him?" Kai yelled back angrily.
"But he's getting hurt! That's cruel!"
"Then why doesn't Hunter just tell him to stop?!"
"Hunter's too stubborn for that; he's not going to ever let Quinlan stop!"
"So what do you want me to do, Max?!"
"Forfeit! Leave him alone, Kai!"
"Don't talk like it's my fault this kid gets hurt! Does it look like I'm aiming for him here?"
Saying that, Kai launched another brutal attack on the little boy's Beyblade. He pinned it to a rock in the dish. Tiny bits of the Beyblade were being chipped off from the rock. Quinlan shrieked in pain.
He just dropped to the floor as if someone had dropped an anchor to his back.
"Don't do it!" Max yelled again.
"Max, he has to win this match or else they're advancing and we lose!" Hiro objected sternly. But even he was beginning to see what was going on. Quinlan was in agony. For a reason they couldn't figure out, he had just no will left to fight, let alone to stand up. And with each time Dranzer dealed damage to his blade, it got worse. Yet his Beyblade was showing no sign of defeat. It looked brand new, even though Dranzer had been beating down on it.
"I...don't know what to tell you anymore..." Hiro sighed.
"I want to advance to the next round but this...isn't right at all!" Tyson agreed.
"We know that this isn't your fault, Kai, but you need to back away!" Ray called after.
Kai thought for a moment. Was this the right thing to do?
Most definitely not.
He had not been taught to give mercy, no matter how loud his opponents begged for it.
His rigorous training wasn't going to pay off if he was sympathetic for a five year old who couldn't blade.
And he definitely wasn't planning on surrendering to one.
Ray could see the gleam in Kai's eyes and knew exactly what he was going to do next. "Kai...don't do it!" he yelled.
Kai ignored him completely. He ignored everyone; all distractions would just make this harder. He removed his white scarf and took a few deep breaths. "Dranzer, Scorch Flash attack!"
The blade glowed its traditional red colour before Dranzer emerged. Quinlan gazed weakly up at the Phoenix figure. Then he looked further to Kai; he was laughing hysterically to drown out his team mates' yells. The entire crowd gasped and the attack was launched on Quinlan's blade.
The last thing the boy saw before he blacked out was a wall of flames.
A wall of flames that encircled the entire dish. It was no longer possible to see Dranzer or either of the Beyblades. It looked like anything would be burnt to charcoal.
But not Quinlan's Beyblade. It was still spinning; slower than before, but spinning nonetheless.
Quinlan himself way lying motionless on his back. The front of hair was scorched by the fire, and there were black marks on his face, but it was clear that he was very pale.
"Oh my......we need medics out here!" DJ called, astonished.
Patrick and Hunter stared without saying a word. Hiro had his head in his hands, wondering how to react to this situation. The rest of the team was also breathless.
"Why isn't that pathetic little blade done yet!?" Kai yelled frustrated.
Suddenly, Sarge appeared in the top row of the stands. Somehow, he figured out what was going on and arrived in the nick of time.
"The blade will continue to spin as long as the bearer of that bracelet is alive! Who's wearing the bracelet?!" Then he looked down at the floor in horror. His young son was lying motionless on the floor.
"I've got to finish this now..." Kai was quietly. While everyone's attention was on the Sarge, he started towards one final attack.
"Didn't you hear him?" Max called, being the only one who noticed. "If you defeat that blade, it means Quinlan will be killed!"
Ignore him...shut out all background thoughts, it will only make this tougher...
But he was stopped. Only a foot away from the weakened Beyblade, Kai's blade was stopped; pinned to the spot by two familiar blades. Everyone else took a sigh of relief.
Ray and Tyson stood boldly near the stadium, boldly but also with looks of great disgust.
"Quit it, you heard what Sarge said!" Tyson repeated Max's statement.
"How can someone die from a Beybattle?!" Kai asked doubtfully.
"Don't you remember the BBA Tower I?" Ray yelled back angrily. The whole crowd began whispering again.
"BBA Tower I? I've never heard of that place..."
"Did someone die? I don't like the sounds of that..."
"Ray! You're not supposed to let that information slip!" Hiro called quietly.
"I'm sorry..." Ray called back.
"That's it...I'm going to forfeit this right this instant!" Sarge yelled furiously. "I'm not going to let my son battle with people who are trying to commit murder!"
"I guess that means that this match goes to Kai!" DJ concluded. The normally cheerful crowd booed and yelled offensive things. The Bladebreakers had never been looked down on by fans before. It was very unsettling to them.
"What's their problem?" Kai asked sarcastically.
"You're their problem, Kai!" Tyson snapped back at him.
"I didn't do anything!"
"The only thing that you didn't do was listen to what people were saying! Apparently you couldn't hear what Max and Sarge and Quinlan were screaming to you!"
"I'm not deaf, Tyson! Of course I heard them, I just didn't listen to them!" Kai's very unintelligent statement almost sounded like one you'd normally hear from Tyson. Kai himself was surprised.
"It still wasn't the right thing to do" Max added. The entire team walked away from him. He watched some stretcher-bearers carry off Quinlan. The dog stayed behind and growled fiercely at Kai. The rest of the Barbarians followed the medics.
Everyone saw the match and nobody really knew what had happened. They all placed the blame on Kai. Only one person understood...Pharoas, who had just finished watching it on TV.
"Garrett, make a call to Mendoza and tell him that we're finished using the electricity" Pharoas asked politely. Garrett took out a cell phone and dialled a long and complicated number.
"Do you...have any idea why he suffered like that?" Raine asked, completely stunned after watching a little kid suffer. "I know that it couldn't have been Kai. He doesn't have the power to do that."
Pharoas laughed at her last comment. "You certainly know your place, my Raine. And I know exactly what happened."
"Could you tell us?" Garrett asked curiously.
"Only if you don't say anything to Pedro or Blaise; they still haven't caught on to what we're doing" Pharoas began.
"It's called a Fusion Blade. It's an artifact; nobody's sure where it originated from or why it was even made, but it can do incredible things when used properly. There is a sacred link between that blade and the bracelet Quinlan was wearing. The link is very powerful...I should know, I've used it."
"I've heard this story before..." Raine sighed. Garrett continued to listen intentively.
"Those artifacts once belonged to me. I used them in battle many times. With it, I was actually able to communicate with the sacred spirit that resided in my Blade, good old Thermolysis."
"That's insane..." Garrett said in awe.
"That is how I accomplished the incredible feat of releasing Thermolysis from it's blade. Upon freeing it, I commanded it to destroy the building, which it bravely did. Then, also as told, it hid itself deep within the earth."
"If it's so great, then how come Quinlan nearly got killed?" Garrett asked.
"There's more to using it than just putting on a bracelet...there's a procedure that's required to do something like that. The blade's ancient powers did create a link between the Beyblade and its user; but since the boy did not use it properly, for some reason, the entire blade's damage was re-directed to him...fascinating..."
"Wait, wait...so Thermolysis still exists somewhere?" Garrett continued his bombardment of annoying questions.
"I'm not going to grant you that much info, Garrett." Pharoas said in a darker tone.
"So the Fusion Blade belongs to you; how come Quinlan had it?"
"After they locked up me, they took it away, but I have no idea how a five year old got his tiny hands on it...perhaps I should ask him"
"I really don't think he's in any condition to talk right now" Garrett pointed out the obvious.
Kai returned to his room by himself. A few people he passed in the halls gave him the familiar glare that he'd been seeing all day now.
The realization that he's almost murdered a five year old hadn't hit him until he returned and sat on his own for a long time.
He stared into the bathroom mirror, gazing deep into his own eyes. Realizing the coldness of the young man he'd become; colder and harsher than the winters he's grew up in.
"What the heck has happened to me?"
Kai laid down on his bed and closed his eyes tightly. He saw flashbacks of the fight. He heard himself barking out orders to keep attacking. Then he looked down to the terrified boy on the floor across the stadium. It was actually painful to look back.
"Please...please stop it...hurts so much..."
Kai forced his eyes open like he was waking from a nightmare.
It had always been his goal to be the most powerful Blader in the work; to strike fear into the hearts of all enemies. And at any cost. He thought that he was willing to sacrifice everything for this kind of power. He put so much blood, sweat and tears into his vigorous training. Now he was there.
He fought mercilessly against his foe and etched the pain into everyone's souls. He'd ignored his foe's beg for mercy.
That was how he was; he would've never backed down or given anything less than his all. Kai had attained his goal.
Why then, did it suddenly feel so horrible?
Garrett received a call back from Pharoas' contact named Mendoza. "Coach, he claims that their no good," he explained to his master. "They aren't working hard enough. Can't, according to him. They just aren't tough enough, and there's not enough of them. What do you suggest we do?"
Pharoas responded quickly, but unpredictably. "You and Raine are going out tonight"
"What the...?"
"Don't be funny; you know what I mean. Go fetch me...two strong people. For a job interview."
"Job interview?"
"You ask too many questions. About things you already know the answer to...you're getting quite annoying" Pharoas commented.
"Thanks a bunch" Garrett thanked sarcastically.
"Don't talk back to me! Should I sent you to Mendoza instead? Huh?"
"Pedro talks back to you all the time, and you don't seem to care..."
"There's a reason for that. I don't want him to get suspicious, Garrett...you knew that already, did you not?"
Garrett sighed and turned away. On his way out, he noticed that Raine was still there and had been watching the entire time.
"I thought you'd gone to bed" Garrett said.
Raine smiled sneakily. "You just didn't notice me before now, since I'm so quiet. People always tell me that".
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That's a wrap for this chapter. The next one is going to be a two-part chapter called it's not over until it's over.I originally planned it as being one chapter, but since two large events happened in it, I decided to make some changes and slice it in two.
I hope you like the story so far...we're about a third's way through.
I'm still pretty positive about making a sequel after this story's done. I just need to decide which ending I like best and type it out; because you see, everything I write, I've gone through hundreds of times in my head. I've pretty much had this story finished in my head since grade 5, but I wanted to wait until I was older and better at writing before I started typing it out, and the first four chapter's have been typed out since last February but I didn't post them until recently. Why?
Well before, I didn't have my own computer and all of my reviews would've gone straight to my mom's email and she would've read them all. I am a bit weird; you see, I don't normally let anyone I personally know (except my little brother) read my stories because If they don't like them, well, there goes my self esteem out the window. And my friends all think that Beyblade is gay...so I'd much rather not have their opinions.
(Plus my best friend thinks that I'm a real poor author. But I don't care XP)
So once again, visit My Blog if you're bored and you want something to do. It's at
