Hey
I'm back with Chapter 4.
As always any feedback you can give is appreciated but not expected.
Anyway I hope you enjoy xx
Chapter 4
When they walked into the building, Kenny headed to the reception desk to confirm their arrival. Stanley had called them the day before to invite them to a demonstration of a new style of Beyblade. Apparently a team within the their Research and Development department had been working on a new style of Beyblade for a few years already. It was kept off the records but now they'd made progress on it, they were going to use some of the discoveries they'd made to create new Beyblades for all the teams. The demonstration they'd come to watch today was the main project rather than a new prototype for them.
So now, they were in the lobby waiting for their escort. Tyson was excited at the prospect it could bring. However, Kai and Ray wouldn't admit it out loud but they didn't believe this was the solution to getting them back to competing again.
"Boys!"
They all turned to see Judy walking towards them with a smile on her face.
"Mom? What are you doing here?" Max asked.
"I'm here for the presentation. I've given some input over the years and helped out on a few occasions over the years so I'm looking forward to seeing what they've achieved so far," Judy informed.
"What's your take on this?" Kai asked.
"My take? Hmmm, I'd say you might have some competition in the future," she quipped with a smile, "Come on. Time to head up."
Kai smirked before they followed Judy into the elevator and headed to the R&D Department. They had to walk through a room before getting into the viewing rom. Scientists and engineers were sat at the front with their computers, all talking between themselves. But through the glass, they could see the walls, ceiling, floors, dish and doors had all being reinforced. For Kai, it reminded him of a bunker.
"Is all this really necessary?" Kenny asked.
"Unfortunately yes," Stanley answered as he walked in, " Thanks for coming boys!"
"What is all that for?" Kai asked.
"To protect the building if things don't go well," Stanley answered.
"What are you expecting to go wrong?" Ray asked.
"Some people have bitbeasts that can't be contained by normal behaviours or bitchips because of their power. My grand-daughters included," Stanley stated, "They had specially made beyblades for their bitbeasts which went missing so I created this team so we could try to recreate them. But like with anything, if you put too much goes into something that can't contain it…"
"Boom. Like too much pressure in a tank," Kenny finished.
"How would that help us though?" Tyson asked.
"Think of it in an opposite way. If this has been to help contain power for some to Beyblade, for you guys it'll be all about increasing your bitbeasts power and making it harder to draw on the level you're used to accessing at the same time," Judy explained.
"They're prepping the tester at the moment but no matter what happens, until the test is done, you can't go in that room" Stanley advised, "Understand?"
"We understand," they all stated in unison.
"Good. Kenny you might want to record this for Daichi."
"Sir, we're ready to begin," one of the scientists announced through the microphone.
"Excellent. Send her in," Stanley said.
They all stood in a line behind the scientists and watched as a woman stepped out in 3 quarter length joggers and a sports bra. She had monitors and electrodes to track her vitals stuck to her chest and wrists, as well as an electric visor covering her eyes. But it was her hair that caught their attention. The white ombre hair was a bit of a give away and she mush have caught their shocked stares because she smirked and waved at them.
"Ok Liana, ready when you are," one of the scientists announced through the microphone.
She picked up the launcher and Beyblade off the table, standing in place and launching the beyblade with a stance Kai recognised but couldn't place.
"Liana, can you slowly start focusing your bitbeasts power into the Beyblade?"
"How much am I going up to?" she asked.
"Start with 15%," Stanley ordered.
Kai watched the monitors as it measure the power of her bitbeast rising within the Beyblade, but it wasn't what he would have called slow. Looking back at her, he saw the tendrils of her bitbeast coming from her body to the Beyblade and by the concentration on her face, it had been a struggle to restrain it to just 15%.
"No change in vitals sir," a scientist advised, "Ok Liana, can you try another 15%?"
They repeated the process and when the monitors showed the power was at 30%, they started beeping to show a change to her vitals. Ray and Kai noticed, she was breathing a little heavier but it wouldn't have been noticeable unless the others were looking for it like they were.
"Heart rate is up. Liana, you ok?"
"I'm good. I'm going to try for 40%."
They watched the monitors carefully as she started to put more power into the Beyblade, raising slower than she had been before, but it was at 36% she started to show the strain of it. Gritting her teeth, breathing like she'd been running for hours, one hand holding a trembling arm.
"Her heart rate is getting too high," a medic advised, "We should…."
"I'm fine, we're getting to 40%" they heard Liana growl as the power monitor beeped.
"Of all the times to be stubborn," Stanley muttered.
"38% reached," one scientist called.
Kai moved closer spotting blood starting to drip out of her ears and nose as she went down to one knee.
"Liana stop!" Stanley ordered.
"She just jumped to 42%," one scientist announced, "If she can…"
"Shut it down!" Kai snapped as Liana coughed up blood onto the floor and the alarms blared along with the electrics throughout the room sparking.
Before anyone could react, the Beyblade shattered and the energy dispersed like a sonic boom through the room, throwing Liana back into the walls whilst cracking the dish, floor, walls, ceiling and glass. Kai had the door open and was running into the room with Judy following before everyone's shock wore off. Skidding onto his knees as soon as he reached Liana, he rolled her onto her back carefully as she'd fallen onto her side after sliding down. All the while, Judy was checking her pulse.
"Nothing," Judy growled, "You do compressions, I'll do mouth to mouth."
It took 3 attempts before Liana started breathing, rolling onto her side and coughing up more blood. That was when the medics took over, having finally snapped out of their own shock along with everyone else, asking Kai and Judy to step back as Stanley entered.
"Get her into the medical department immediately, the monitors picked up possible fractures," Stanley ordered, "And let me know when she's ready for visitors."
Kai watched them leave whilst Stanley and Judy whispered between themselves for a moment before he surveyed the room. The damage was worse than he thought. It was a miracle, there was no damage to the room they'd been stood in since the reinforcements were literally crumbling.
"Holy shit," Tyson said as he walked in.
"She did this at less than half?" Kenny asked.
"Judy, cam you get everyone into the conference room please?" Stanley asked, "I need a moment with Kai."
Judy nodded and quietly ushered everyone out of the room as Stanley stood next to Kai.
"So how do you know Liana?" Stanley asked.
"Met her on a run and got invited to Elements," Kai answered, "Ray met Alyssa when he ran into her. I'm surprised you let your granddaughter be the tester."
"You caught on quickly as usual," Stanley smiled, "Thank you for helping Liana."
"Anyone would have."
"But you reacted the fastest. We might have lost her if you hadn't."
"I doubt that, she's too stubborn to die," Kai smirked getting a smile from the old man.
"Lets go see what results we got," Stanley stated after a few minutes of silence
When they walked into the conference room, everyone was already seated at the large table with 2 chairs at the head of the table vacant for them. They sat down as the engineers and scientists pooled the last few details together.
"So what did we get?" Stanley asked.
"The new design successfully lets her used 35% of her bitbeasts power without strain, which is a 7% increase to the last test 4 months ago. We've made more progress in the last year than in the last 4 altogether," the scientist explained.
"She could potentially use 37% and hold it but it would be risky for extended periods. Anything above 37% is dangerous though because the Beyblade itself can't contain anymore than that and will snap back at her. The higher she goes, the higher the backlash," another advised.
"She jumped up to 44% when the alarms went off though," the first scientist added, "And that was the exact moment her heart stopped as well."
"Have medical sent a report yet?" Stanley asked.
"Just now. Vitals are strong but she has fractures in both arms so she's got supports for a week. Due to the head injury and her vision not being back to normal yet, they want to keep her overnight."
"That'll be interesting," Stanley muttered quietly.
"Can we go see her?" Tyson asked.
"In about an hour you can. They're still treating some of the superficial wounds and the bruising covering her back at the moment."
"Can I look at the specs for the design of the beyblade?" Judy asked.
"Me too. I want to see if I can help at all," Kenny added.
"On that note, I'll leave you to it," Stanley stated, "The rest of us will find something to do until Liana can take visitors."
Liana was sat cross-legged on the bed looking at her arm. They were covered in bandages up to her shoulders so the superficial cuts covering them wouldn't get infected. On top of that the join wrist and arm supports went up to her elbows, leaving her unable to move her arms and hands very well. She had her laptop brought to her as soon as she was more with it, but she hadn't been able to look at the report since her eyes couldn't focus properly still. So currently, she was left with nothing but staring at her arms.
"Liana, you have visitors," a nurse announced.
"Ok," she called back.
She rested her arms and looked up to see Kai and Stanley come round the curtain.
"How are you feeling?" Stanley asked.
"Like I'm about to be put on forced leave early?" she asked cautiously.
"You guessed right, but I want to know how you're feeling," Stanley stated.
"I'm ok. Can't get my eyes to focus much but I figure that's the head injury. I'd feel better if I could go home though."
"Liana your heart stopped. They need to monitor you for the night," Stanley sighed.
"Wait, I died?" she exclaimed with a stunned expression.
"Only briefly, thanks to Kai and Judy," Stanley answered.
"Well shit," she muttered getting a smirk from Kai, "Didn't expect that. How did we do?"
"Up 7%. Judy and Kenny have practically taken over the team," Stanley asked.
"I was hoping it'd be more than that."
"We patient, we'll get there," Stanley soothed, "Now, I need to go to the lobby. It should give you 2 about 10 minutes to talk."
Kai waited for Stanley to leave before sat on the edge of the bed. Liana was looking at her arms again.
"That was pretty incredible," Kai stated, "Though I'm starting to think you're always injured."
"If you can call dying an injury," she joked, "Lucky for me, my knight in shining armour was close by."
"How are you feeling? And don't tell me the lie you just told Stanley."
"Caged," she stated, "I don't cope well with being caged."
"It's only for 1 night to make sure there's no other problems," Kai stated, "So you're Stanley's granddaughter?"
"Figured that out huh?" she asked with a smirk.
"I doubt the others have clocked on though."
"Want to make a bet on how long it'll take them to figure it out?"
Kai smirked finding the idea amusing. They had just settled the terms of the bet when they heard the doors open and someone run in.
"Liana?"
"Behind the curtain Kiyoko!"
Kai looked at the curtain as the 8-year-old ran round, jumping up on the other side of the bed & went to hug Liana only to stop. Liana just giggled and pulled her forward for a hug.
"Liana, your arms…," Kiyoko whined.
"Will be fine. It'll help your big sister feel a little less useless," Liana stated, "Now, don't be rude and ignore my friend."
"Sorry," Kiyoko said sheepishly before turning to Kai to greet them, going stock still as her jaw dropped, making Liana giggle.
"How's my scarf?" Kai asked.
"I got Alyssa to get it dry cleaned," she answered dazed, "I can't believe it's really you."
"Your sister didn't tell you we were friends?" he asked amused.
"Yeah but I didn't believe it," Kiyoko retorted, "Sorry I'm being all fan-girly aren't I?"
"I'll make an exception," Kai joked, "Want to meet the rest of the team?"
"LIANA!" they heard Alyssa yell as she burst in.
"Yes please," Kiyoko answered quickly, "We don't want to be here for Alyssa's explosion."
"You mind?" Kai asked Liana.
"Not at all," Liana stated, "Run while you have a chance."
Kai chuckled and picked up Kiyoko, walking past the curtain and to the doors as Alyssa spotted the sectioned off area. Luckily, they were out of earshot before any yelling started. As Kai headed to where he left the team, Kiyoko told him about how Alyssa reacts when Liana gets hurt and why it's never good to get on Alyssa's bad side. He found it slightly amusing an 8 year old was warning him about not upsetting her cousin.
When they reached the team she had a bit of a fan girl moment but soon settled into normal conversation with everyone, including Daichi when he joined them after being at school all day. They played games to keep her amused, gave her advice with her Beyblade and told her stories. All the while not realising how much time had passed, though Kai did notice Liana and Alyssa sat on the floor watching everyone & leaning against the wall eventually.
"How long have you been watching us?" Kai asked when he joined them.
"Bout an hour," Liana stated.
"Not that she should be out of bed since she can't use her arms or see properly yet," Alyssa added tersely.
"You already gave me a verbal lashing. You don't get to give me a second one."
"Fine. Stanley's having the canteen cook us all dinner when we're ready to eat," Alyssa advised before getting up and joining everyone.
"Thanks for taking Kiyoko for a while," Liana said, "I can't remember the last time I saw her have this much fun."
"I can't take all the credit," Kai stated, "Need some help getting up?"
"Not yet, I want to watch a little longer."
So that's it for this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it.
For anyone who's an Escaflowne Fan, please check out my story Return to Gaea.
As always, any feedback is great feedback, but it's not expected.
I'll be uploading the next chapter on 13th November.
Until next time xx