Chapter 3
"I bet she'll be ugly as hell." Boris said, huddling on the couch in a hotel room what had been provided by the BBA. It was early night in Japan, the sky was carmine red by the setting sun.
He and Sergei just arrived an hour ago, but their captain already made his announcement that he had chosen their new member of the team, and incidentally, the member happened to be a girl. Boris had made Tala confirm twice what he had said, it was such a nonsense.
A girl. In the Blitzkrieg Boys team. Their team's name contained even the word 'boys'.
See? Made no sense.
Boris didn't see the girl, but he already had his judgment about her.
Girls were weak.
They were whining and making drama out of everything; constantly whoring for attention, manipulating, and messing with good men who were idiot enough to try to tolerate them; but most importantly, girls were fucking loud, in Beyblade sport. He didn't have any problem with them on the streets or in the clubs, but Beyblade was for tough men, fearful warriors who battled with sweat and blood.
Sergei only snorted on his teammate's comment. He was polishing his Seaborg in the last rays of the sun, preparing him for tomorrow's training.
"What makes you think that?"
"Because pretty girls don't bother to beyblade. They are in beauty salons doing their nails or in dancing clubs seducing us with their slim body." Boris replied like he was explaining the most evident thing to his blonde friend, but Sergei just shook his head in disagreement.
"Why, say only one girl who can beyblade and isn't ugly!" Challenged him Boris.
Sergei pocketed his beyblade and leant back to the table, folding his sturdy arms on his chest as he was listing the girls he knew from previous championships.
"Julia?"
"She's not that good." Boris waved him off immediately.
"Ming-Ming?"
"I said not ugly."
"Mathilda?"
"I said who can beyblade!"
"Emily"
Boris pretended puking.
Sergei chuckled at the quick, childish play-acting of his teammate, then frowned. He was running out of options.
"Hilary."
"Are you serious, my friend?" Boris snapped, sitting up on the couch as he was not able to lay still anymore in his annoyance.
Sergei only chortled; he loved messing with Boris' nerves. An evil smirk appeared on his face and gave a last shot.
"Judy?"
Boris looked up at the ceiling, imagining the middle-aged blonde woman's naked body there and was spectacularly humming like he'd seriously take it into consideration.
"God! I was just joking. Don't even answer!" Sergei gave up, knowing that the falcon would come up with some disturbingly dirty comeback and lifted his hands as if he could stop Boris' words in the air.
The falcon cackled triumphantly at his withdrawal.
"You're either gay, or you have a really weird taste…" Sergei sneered right before Tala stepped into the room.
"Or both." Tala said, closing his teammates' conflict. He didn't know what they were talking about, but he knew them too well to imagine the possible subjects. It was inappropriate, especially now that he was about to introduce the new member.
Sergei snapped his fingers and pointed at Tala, giving his agreement on the statement.
"Ha, ha! Quit flattering me, assholes." Boris's voice became rough; he didn't handle well being the target of a joke.
Welcoming his leader, he stood up and gathered with Sergei around the shorter, but superior boy. His icy-blue eyes always sharp and pervasive, Boris couldn't stare at them too long. They made him shiver.
"Has she come?" Sergei immediately got to business.
Tala nodded at the question then pointed to the door.
"She's waiting outside. Now, I presume you got some questions about her and why I chose her. I'll answer them, but you must know that she battled for the position, she earned her place in the team with a victory against Kai."
Boris and Sergei's jaw dropped to the floor.
"You mean Hiwatari? The one who possesses the phoenix's power?" Sergei asked and Tala nodded at his questions. He frowned. "But how?"
Boris snorted with laughter.
There was a time, not long ago, when he had respected the lofty boy for his high-level skills and bossy attitude. He was doing a great team with Tala last year, and Boris had accepted both of them as his leaders. The two worked together quite well, building up a solid, strong strategy for the championship that had led them right to the finales. He also noticed Tala had been more flamboyant around Kai, probably because he hadn't had to make every hard decision alone, taking the full responsibility for each of them that generally burdened his captain's shoulders.
Boris couldn't help Tala with tactics and plans. He was not that bright like his captain, and he couldn't see through things so quickly like Kai. He believed in the orders of his leaders and his own raw power. These were simple and easy to follow. Unlike Tala, he was not raised to give instructions and be a leader. He stood on the other side. Both he and Sergei were soldiers who fulfilled the commands of their superiors.
He was never jealous of Kai. He simply didn't have the reason to be. Partly because Boris knew Tala was primarily loyal to his original team, him and Sergei. Mostly Boris, as he shared with the redhead boy a short life before Volkov had invited them to live in the Abbey. They were stupid children, running away from the brutality of their parents who forgot how to give love; forming a life-term alliance on the streets in order to stay alive. They had stolen food and values together from pedestrians and had shared the same blanket in an abandoned house where they had found shelter for the nights.
In the Abbey, they both changed. They had been separated from each other as Volkov had assigned different destine and purpose for him and Tala. Tala had become a leader, the captain of the Demolition Boys of Russia, while he was trained for something else.
Nowadays, Tala was rather captain for him than a friend anymore; their friendship had been damaged during their years in Volkov's Abbey, not able to open up to each other anymore like they had done on the streets when they had only gotten each other.
The other reason he couldn't be jealous of Kai was because Tala simply didn't let the phoenix entirely into his inner circle, he was smart enough not to trust him. Kai was a great advantage for the team, he offered knowledge and a new perspective for them, but the Blitzkrieg Boys had serious difficulties to handle the slated haired guy's moods sometimes. It was hard to put their faith into him while they were constantly expecting him to betray the team in any time just like he had done with the Bladebreakers.
"The guy is a joke. Since his battle with Brooklyn, he lost it. Not a danger anymore." Boris stated because that was what he believed about Kai.
Boris' respect toward Kai broke after the idiot had forced him and Sergei to beybattle with him before his finale match with Tyson what he then had also lost. He had got the perfect chance to win his battle against the dragoon-wielder, but he had done what? He had blown it. For the so called 'fair play' foolishness. What was the use of being sportsmanlike if you threw your opportunity to become a champion?
Again, made no sense.
Boris was certain Kai had purposefully exhausted out himself before the final match. He just couldn't imagine a valid reason for that. Anyhow, Kai had lost the battle, and they had lost the title for the championship with it.
The falcon noticed Tala sending him a disapproving look; he didn't stand when his team, like brainless chickens, pecked each other for idiotic reasons, and although, Kai was not their teammate anymore, he considered him a member since the last tournament and he never tolerated the avoidable internal conflicts between the boys.
But Boris knew he was right. Tala couldn't deny the fact that Kai was not the same anymore, being not a real challenge. He let a girl defeat him. What a shame.
Once Tala was done with the mute scolding, he shifted his eyes to Sergei and answered his question about the how.
"She used a clever strategy and distracted him in the right moment. After that, Kai was not able to return his focus on the match and lost." Tala described vaguely. He spoke neutrally though he knew the disappointment was still audible in his voice.
"What did she do? Stripped off her shirt?" Boris snickered at the picture in his head. The Great Kai Hiwatari, who can't be affected by anything and anyone, getting embarrassed by a naked, curved body.
"Watch your mouth! She's your teammate now!" Tala bayed violently at him, taking a threatening step toward Boris, who quickly quieted under the frosty eyes.
Tala waited a few seconds, expecting his team to challenge him, but the two remained silent. The captain savoured the long moment, reminding the two tough boys who was the real boss around here, and they must submit to him.
"I want to lay down some general rules regarding the unusual situation. Listen carefully." Tala lowered his volume, but his voice was snappier and more dominant than usual.
Boris and Sergei raised their brow, curious what kind of rules he meant.
"Flirting and dating with her is prohibited. Abusing her sexually or in any way and insulting her is prohibited. If she provokes you and/or have a problem with her, do not confront with her, you come to me first. If you break the rules, you'll be kicked out of the team, regardless to the championship. Am I clear?"
The two boys stood in stupor before him, processing his words. Boris knew he was a hard case sometimes; being disrespectful and finding pleasure at picking others on their weak spots, and his friend wanted to take only precautions in this new situation, but Tala'd gone too far.
Why would he assault his teammate sexually in the first place? Did he look like some rapist? Did Tala think that lowly of him, seriously?
"Damn, Tala. We're not animals!" Boris finally blurted out, outrageous.
Boris saw as Sergei silently agreed him with a barely noticeable tilt of his head though their indignation seemingly didn't affect Tala. The captain kept facing them with crossed arms, tensed face muscles, piercing eyes.
"Am I clear?" Tala repeated, slowly articulating the words to stress his question.
"Yes, sir." Boris snarled with a curl of his upper lip.
Tala looked at the big, muscled boy beside the falcon.
"Clear." Sergei confirmed with more respect in his tone though he was not pleased with the rules.
"Good." Tala sounded satisfied. He knew the two was going to behave from now on; Boris and Sergei hardly contravened against his orders. Unfortunately, he couldn't be so sure about Alexandra.
At last, Tala stepped to the door and opened it, inviting in the blonde teenage girl. She looked different, almost shy, like she had swallowed her silver tongue since she got her direction from Tala yesterday. So, she didn't fear the captain at first sight, but she was tensed before Boris and Sergei.
She was in need to be given some more lectures by the wolf, Tala mused.
Tala closed the door and stopped next to Alexandra, they were standing before the rest of the team.
"Introduce yourself to the team." The captain commanded, tilting encouragingly his head toward the boys.
The girl's face was stiff and emotionless like she had long forgotten how to give a smile. Boris quickly noticed the eyepatch on her right eye under a thick blonde hair bang, that was left out of her long ponytail she was put high on the back of her head. He wondered how much affected the eyepatch her eyesight during the battles; she must have a huge blind spot on her right side.
He couldn't shake the feeling that she was familiar to him in a way, but Boris couldn't imagine where they could have met. With her face, with that eyepatch and brilliant green eye, he sure would remember her.
Alexandra stepped to Sergei, the steps of her knee-long, heavy boots were muffled on the carpet. Boris liked them. They looked wild. He was wearing similar ones.
"Hi. Alexandra Katin, but call me just Alexa." The girl stretched out her hand for a shake to Sergei and smiled. Oh, her face didn't crack after all.
Sergei mirrored the gesture, showing her his friendly side. Alexa's hand almost disappeared in the enormous palm.
"Sergei Petrov. Welcome on board, pirate girl. Good job on the battle against Kai."
Alexandra giggled at the joke and thanked the muscle boy for the warm welcome.
Boris barely caught Tala's theatrically eyerolling behind his new teammate, not entertained by the blarney. Boris huffed a silent laugh through his nose at his gesture, then quickly straightened himself to seem taller when Alexandra stepped to him after Sergei.
Surprisingly, her smile immediately dropped when she looked at him with a cutting glance.
"Boris Kuznetsov." He grabbed Alexa's hand and squeezed it. Her hold was unexpectedly strong, almost challenging.
"Alexa."
"What happened to your eye?" Boris asked bluntly, not bothering with any code of decency. Tala shot him another warning glare, but he ignored it.
"Someone borrowed it." Alexandra replied secretively, her voice was cold and rejecting. She released his hand and stepped back next to Tala. She was done talking with him.
"With respect to Alexa, I've registered to the championship with the name only Blitzkriegs." Tala spoke up again as the introduction ended. His full-manned team listened to him diligently. "I already have a strategy for the qualifiers, but it's too late to discuss it, now. I know you two are tired by the trip, so get a proper rest and tomorrow morning we start our training at 6, sharp."
Tala turned to Alexa now, sending his next words to her.
"I want to assess the level of your skills. You defeated Kai, but don't let that success get into your head; you made some very awful mistakes both in your defense and attack that shows you're inexperienced. You have a lot to catch up. You only won the battle against Kai because he didn't use the opportunity in time to push you out of the stadium. You did well not underestimate him and chose the proper strategy to beat him. I can see you're smart and tactical, it might be your strength. Don't think though you always can rely on this trick. It's not working against everyone. You need to learn to pull up a solid defense and finish your opponent with unstoppable force."
"Understood."
"Are you sure?" Tala raised a daring brow, testing her with pressure. "The training will be grueling. You'll have to practice and workout daytime, every day until I say to stop; then you have to sit with me to build up and discuss strategies until we figure out the best options for the team, and I'm not going to care if we have to stay up until dawn before I send you again for more training. Your muscles will hurt and ache and if I see or hear a cry or a single complain from you about it, I won't bat an eyelid to kick you out because I don't need weaklings. If you don't feel yourself ready for this, you can walk away now without any hard feelings. However, if you decide to stay, I expect discipline work from you and demand full respect as a captain. When I say you jump, you jump until your legs collapse under you. Understood?"
"Tomorrow 6 is good for me." Alexandra said with a serious face. Her stubbornness reminded Boris of Kai's pigheaded attitude.
"Good." Tala was visibly satisfied with her taking his words seriously, ready to take up the challenge he just described.
"Tomorrow morning, then." Tala said then he dismissed Alexandra and went to retire to his own room.
Boris and Sergei were left alone again. The blonde tall guy threw himself on the sofa that creaked loudly in its misery and he sighed tiredly.
The pale boy watched his friend's dead weight on the furniture as he laid comfortably, one arm on his forehead as glared the ceiling. Boris replayed the meeting with his new teammate in his head. She seemed tough, but…she still was a girl.
"I give her two weeks. One month tops." He stated, waiting what Sergei would respond to his guesstimate.
The blonde guy contemplated the bet as he pursed his lips.
"Deal."