A/N: Well, here we go again with yet another chapter! I hope you guys aren't getting sick of it...lol, that's a fear that I have! Ok, let's just get on with the chappy shall we ^-^
Oh, but first I must give credit to three people for their OC's!
Sirri4@webtv.net (Aiyote) Triple (Nikki) Top Duelist (Jason King)Thanks guys...hope you enjoy!
Chapter 24: Old Friends
"LOST!" Tyson screamed, using up his entire lung capacity in one irritating screech. He was now no longer leaning up against Max- much to his relief- and he was now hopping around in front of Kenny, stomping his feet like a five-year-old throwing a temper tantrum. Everybody else reacted much differently to the realization however, too exhausted to try and argue or calm Tyson down. Jade was sitting comfortably- well as comfortably as a person can- upon the hard, cold sidewalk; her back leaning gently up against the stone wall. Her legs were curled up tightly to her chest, her bare skin arms wrapped around them loosely. Max sat a few inches in front of Jade, his own back leaning rather softly against her legs. His head was lolled back, resting upon the brim of Jade's knees, his eyes tightly closed. Pushing Tyson wasn't exactly an easy task and he felt completely worn out. His blonde hair rustled slightly against Jade's legs, his head tilting back in forth in a slow mesmerizing manner. Rei and Kai continued to remain on their feet, both of them leaning up against the wall near to Jade and Max. Kai's head was tilted forward, his chin resting against his chest as he snorted at the navy haired boy.
"I suggest somebody shuts him up...unless of course you want me to handle it!" He snapped, fists clenching into tight balls. The next thing he heard was the sound of Tyson's tongue, sticking fully-fledged out of his mouth. It was clear that the boy was mocking him and Kai could feel his eyebrow twitch in annoyance. What happened next came much to fast for even Tyson to acknowledge, as he let out an ear deafening scream- easily bringing life to his drowsy teammates. Tyson's tongue was no longer flabbing around in mock...it was now squeezed tightly between two fingers- belonging to none other than Kai. Obviously Tyson wasn't aware of Kai's 'fast' reflexes, as he moaned in pain, trying his best to loosen his tongue from the death grip.
"Ka...ith...Leth go...pleaf!!" Tyson begged the words all muffled and confused. Kai smirked at the begging boy, tightening his grip a tad more. Max chortled slightly at the pleading teen, while Rei and Jade both allowed smiles to seep across their faces. "Chiefth...helf!"
"Sorry Tyson, he warned you." Kenny replied, shaking his shaggy brown head. As much as he hated the whole scene- he had to admit- things were quite a bit quieter when Tyson wasn't complaining. The disapproval coming from Kenny's voice caused Tyson to whine even louder, screaming at the pain shooting through his tongue. Jade scrunched her face at the irritating sound, as she gently banged her head against the stone wall- wishing that he would stop.
"Ok Kai...that's enough." Rei spoke up, his hands now covering his ears with protection. Kai glanced over at the dark haired boy and sighed, finally releasing his grip, causing Tyson to jump back with relief. Instantly he began twisting and turning it all throughout his mouth, making sure it was still in working condition.
"You better hope, that none of my taste buds are ruined!" Tyson called back as he poked his tongue with a finger, checking for any damaged spots.
"That would be a blessing." Kai retorted, glancing down at his hand. His slate eyebrows furrowed over his maroon eyes in disgust, noticing the slobber and drool presently clinging upon it. "Nasty!" He declared, glancing down at Jade who was sitting but inches beside him. A small smirk spread over his lips as he began to brush his hand up against Jade's clean red hair.
"HEY!" Jade practically screamed, throwing her hands up in an attempt to protect her hair- hitting Max in the head as she did so. She began rubbing her hands through her hair in a panic, hoping to rid of Tyson's drool before it seeped in deeper. Max kept one eye closed as he rubbed his head, turning around to face Jade. The only one to burst out into hysterical laughter was Tyson, happy to see that Kai got thrills out of terrorizing other people besides himself.
"Can it drool boy!" Jade shot back, her hands still rustling through her hair. Rei studied Jade's hair closely, noticing that there was nothing in it as his golden eyes shot back up to Kai- a smirk upon his face.
"Relax, there's nothing in your hair." Kai finally announced, taking a firm hold on Jade's wrist to stop her from panicking. He held on to her with his left hand, while holding up his right hand in show. Jade surveyed the whole situation closely before letting a huge sigh of relief escape her lips.
"Yeah...good one Kai!" Jade replied, sarcasm dripping from the words. He nodded his head with an 'I know' before rubbing the slobber off on the wall behind him, Tyson still laughing around with amusement. His laughter was soon cut off however; the sound of clapping hands slowly overpowering it. Max had now risen to his feet as he began scanning the dark street with his blue eyes, brushing off the dirt that had collected on his orange overalls.
"Bravo! You guys are such good entertainment, and you don't even know it!" A masculine voice echoed out, sounding entirely amused. Rei's ears instantly perked up, instantly recognizing the familiar voice. He spun around on his heels, a smile reaching from ear to ear across his face as his fangs glistened in the dim street lighting. "I see you haven't forgotten old friends Rei!" The voice called out again as Lee emerged from the shadows, a smile present upon his face as well. He took a few steps forward towards Rei- as he suddenly embraced him with a hug. Lee was taken a back at the sudden gesture, patting Rei on the back in friendship.
"I don't believe this, what are you doing here Lee?" Questioned Rei, pulling apart from his childhood friend. All the other Bladebreakers still remained back, smiling at the sudden reunion.
"Hey...he's not the only one here!" A feminine voice demanded, as Mariah along with Gary, Kevin, and Bruce appeared as well. Mariah's golden eyes were twinkling at the sight of Rei, her long pink hair blowing gently in the warm breeze. Rei's face lit up even more at the sight of the other White Tigers, especially that of Mariah- who he had missed most of all. She seemed to acknowledge the warm looks coming from Rei as she did a little hop, skip, and a jump- wrapping her arms tightly around his neck.
"Rei," she whispered, her eyes starting to fill with tears. Rei appeared to be faring the same way, embracing Mariah tightly around the waist. Kevin rolled his eyes at the pathetic affection between the two, jamming his arms across his chest. Bruce patted Kevin on the shoulder with laughter, walking up towards Lee and the others.
"I don't believe it...the White Tigers!" Tyson exclaimed, looking over the nearly arrived team. "It's so great to see you guys again!" Lee nodded his head in agreement, indicating that it was nice to see the Bladebreakers again too. He scanned over all the familiar faces: Tyson, Kenny...or Chief as they called him, Max, same old Kai, Rei, and... Lee paused; keeping his eyes focused upon the red haired girl whom was still sitting upon the cold concrete. Jade too was staring back up at Lee, their eyes interlocking in a curious stare. Tyson swung his head back and forth, trying to figure out what the two of them were doing.
"Hello!?" Tyson yelled, waving his hands before the two teens. "What's up with you two!" He demanded, jamming his hands upon his hips. Rei slowly pulled away from Mariah, taking knowledge to what was happening between the others.
"You remember...don't you." Jade finally spoke up with a smile, her crystal eyes shining within the light.
"Shadow-Cats." Lee whispered, earning himself a nod of Jade's red haired head. Mariah quickly whipped her attention over to Jade after hearing Lee's words, as she studied her with curious looks. The White Tigers and Shadow-Cats were both world famous in China, and it was no surprise that the two teams had heard about each other before.
"You are from the Shadow-cats!" Mariah exclaimed, recognizing her from a picture in an old newspaper article. Brushing past Rei she quickly bounded over to Jade, whipping out her hand. "I'm Mariah." Her smile played upon her face beautifully, allowing her own cat like fangs to slide over her bottom lip.
"Jade." She replied, taking hold of Mariah's kind gesture. Without sparing a single second, Mariah yanked hard on Jade's arm- helping her to her feet. Jade rose rather quickly and slowly released her hand from Mariah's grip, looking up at the pink haired girl. They were close to being the same height, yet Mariah stood about an inch and a half taller. She was still beaming down at Jade, appearing to be happy that she met a new friend.
"This is great!" She finally chimed, clasping her hands together in front of her. She tilted her head slightly to the right, all the while keeping the same cheerful smile present on her face. "Finally I have someone to hang around with!"
"I resent that!" Kevin suddenly broke out, his purple eyes beaming back at Mariah. She gave a little snort as she rolled her eyes at the shorter boy's comment. "What about me...and Brucey over her!"
"I think she means that she now has a female to hang out with," Bruce answered, shaking his head at Kevin's comment. A small 'oh' escaped Kevin's lips as he began to blush to a shade of light pink. Mariah giggled, as everybody else seemed to break out into laughter- except for the one and only Kai.
"Well, Kevin." Jade started, smiling over at the green haired boy. "If you really want to be Mariah's female friend, I suppose we could dress you up to resemble more feminine attributes."
"Yeah Kev, I'd like to see how you'd look with make-up!" Rei laughed, watching as Kevin blushed even more. He shook his head frantically, blocking his ears to deafen the sound of his friends mocking.
"I agree with Rei...some nice...Sparkly make-up!" Tyson added in, laughing hysterically at his own comment. Everybody else seemed to stifle some laughter at the amusing conversation. Tyson found it the funniest of all however, as he was now holding his sides, his navy eyes watering uncontrollably. Kevin snorted then turned his back on everyone, his nose held with dignity up in the air.
"It's ok Kev...Gary knows what it's like to be bugged...just because I like food!" He patted Kevin lightly on his head with his left hand, all the while rubbing his grumbling stomach with his right hand. "In fact...Gary is hungry right now!" Mariah nearly face faulted at Gary's words, spinning around on her heels to face the larger boy.
"Gary Taylor Wong!" Mariah spoke up; her two hands jammed on each of her hips. "You just ate a meal for ten back at that buffet!" She pointed off towards the dark street as Gary scratched his head sheepishly.
"Did you say a bu...bu...buffet?" Tyson questioned, stars beginning to form in his dark eyes. He held his hands pleadingly before himself, drool seeping off he corner of his lip as he glanced over his team. "Guys, a buffet! We just have to go...PLEASE!?" The only reply that he got was a mixture of moans, rolling eyes, and shaking heads- the answer that he wasn't hoping for.
"Sorry Tyson," Lee replied with a shrug. "Even if the others agreed to go, there would be no point. Gary pretty much cleaned out the whole store." Tyson's eyes appeared to widen more- if that was humanly possible- as he quickly ran up to the tall boy.
"Gary...what's the big idea!?" Tyson demanded, poking a small finger at Gary's rounded belly. "You were supposed to save me some!" Gary simply glanced down at the much shorter boy, pushing him aside with ease.
"Gary couldn't help it!" He replied, addressing himself in third person point of view like he always did. "Food was too good." Tyson could barely contain himself at the sound of the word 'food' as he began tearing on his navy hair in annoyance.
"Forget it." Kenny spoke, addressing Tyson. "It's...oh...nine o'clock already, and we still need to find our hotel!" The word hotel escaped through Kenny's lips with exasperation, oh how he wished that he was up in a nice bed right about now!
"You mean, you guys can't find your hotel?" Mariah questioned, blinking in surprise.
"I believe that's what he said!" Kai snapped, speaking his first words since the White Tigers had arrived. Mariah's golden eyes narrowed at the rudeness of Kai's words, a small, almost hissing sound vibrating in her throat. She had her hands clenched and she felt like she could strangle the 'know-it-all' leader then and there. Taking a sudden step towards him she felt someone gently latch on to her arm, looking up to come face to face with blue eyes.
"Just ignore him," Jade smiled, sending Mariah a wink. The pink haired girl paused for a moment, then nodded her head in agreement with a smile. Rei felt his heart lighten at the sight of the two girls, thankful that they were getting along so well already. He did have his doubts though, knowing all to well that Mariah had a spunky attitude, sometimes making her the enemy of other females.
"We are so lost!" Max exclaimed, reaching his hands up to rest behind his head. "You think you guys could help us out?"
"Of course we could," Lee replied with a small nod. "If I'm correct, you guys are staying at the 'Somba' am I right?" Kenny nodded his head, handing Lee the small business card that read the name of their hotel. "Well then consider yourselves lucky...cause we're staying there too, and we know exactly where it is."
"Kewl!" Tyson yelled, pumping his fists in the air with excitement. "What a coincidence that we're staying at the same hotel as each other!"
"Its no coincidence dumb ass!" Kai answered, shaking his head at the usual stupid comments made by Tyson. "All of the participants of the Beynamite tournament are expected to stay at the Somba." Tyson stuck his tongue out at Kai, but quickly whipped it back in remembering the pain that it had gone through mere minutes ago.
"Then that means...you guys were invited to participate in the Beynamite tournament too!?" Rei asked, his golden eyes glancing at Lee with shock.
"You look a little surprised Rei!" Mariah announced, flicking a strand of pink hair from her face. "Didn't think we'd be invited?" She questioned, throwing him a playful little wink.
"Not at all, I had no doubts about you guys being invited...though, I wasn't sure whether or not Bruce had a bit beast." Rei answered, looking over to the dark haired boy who was standing next to Kevin.
"Obviously there's a lot of things you don't know about me then Rei." Bruce answered, taking out his yellow blade and running his finger over the top. A streak of light raced across the smooth bit, causing Rei's curiosity to rise a level. Bruce smiled and quickly shoved the blade back into his pocket. "You'll see him soon enough, in the meantime...don't you think we should be heading back to the hotel." As he spoke these last words he turned to his leader Lee, who in turn nodded his head. Lee began heading off towards the East, leading the way to the much-anticipated hotel, as everybody else trailed behind him.
"But guys...I'm hungry!" Tyson complained, watching the retreating backs of the ten bladers. Nobody even acknowledged his whining, as Tyson dropped to his knees in defeat. All he was asking for was a small little hamburger- or twenty- but hey...was that too much to ask for? Tyson knew that his mission to eat was out of the question as he dragged himself behind the others, moaning with every step that he took. What Tyson didn't notice however was a pair of hazel eyes that had suddenly shone out from within the shadows, as they watched the two teams intently. As the two teams rounded the corner out of sight, the beholder of the eyes stepped out, revealing himself under the dim streetlight. Lime green hair glinted in the rays of light, as a young man around the age of 15 leaned lightly up against the tall pole. He jammed his hands tightly around his chest, covering up part of his black long sleeved shirt. A pair of dark blue jeans hung from his waist, practically covering up his dark sneakers. His hair appeared to be shoot from his head in a rather wild- almost messy- look, while a pair of rounded black goggles held back the pieces that attempted to fall on his face. The last noticeable item upon him was the sterling silver stud, which reflected upon his left ear.
"Hmph...I presume those are the Bladebreakers." He spoke up, stifling a smirk at how pathetic they looked. "I can't believe King was actually worried about these die hards!"
"You don't actually think Jason was worried about the Bladebreakers...do you Aiyote?" Another voice suddenly rang out, this time resembling that of a young girl. The boy gave a slight roll of his hazel eyes, recognizing the second figure that had now appeared. The girl that stepped up beside him appeared to be a year or two younger, while her height of 5 foot clearly accented this size- especially next to Aiyote who was standing at 5'7." By the looks of the girl, she appeared to be that of a cute, bubbly teenager; as her face glowed with a sense of warmth. Long dark brown hair flowed gently upon her back, almost brushing against the backs of her legs- however she had it pulled up into two rather low pigtails. She was very slim, allowing the sky blue sleeveless shirt to accent her body beautifully. A short white skirt was present upon her lower body, while a pair of white boots-complete with a blue gem- finished off her outfit. She smiled warmly at the boy who she addressed as Aiyote, her soft violet eyes dancing with playfulness. "Unlike you, Jason knows better then to underestimate his opponents."
"Yeah, yeah...whatever you say Nikki!" Aiyote replied, rolling his eyes at the statement. He always got this lecture from his teammates... 'Never underestimate your opponent.' He lost count of how many times that sentence managed to pop up into his conversations, but what did he care? He knew that he could beat this Bladebreaker team, in fact, they didn't even look the least bit intimidating! Nikki carefully watched her older teammate, studying his ever expression for an opening into his thoughts.
"What are you thinking?" She questioned, as she caught a sudden glint streak through his left eye. Aiyote simply glanced down at the brunette before closing his eyes in thought. "Hey!" Nikki protested, poking Aiyote's arm with her finger. "Don't ignore me!"
"Sometimes I wonder why King sends you along with me." Aiyote sighed, smacking away Nikki's pestering finger.
"Oh come now, you enjoy my company as much as the next person!" She answered, sending him a playful wink. Aiyote couldn't help but smile a little at the brown haired girl. He had to admit, he did like having her around...well, sometimes. She was always the charismatic one, often times bringing a smile to either his face or his teammates.
"Come on," he replied, taking a lead as he headed back into the shadows from where they emerged mere minutes ago. "King will wanna hear all about this." Nikki nodded slowly as she glanced down the street for a few moments. A small smile spread across her lips as she suddenly took off at a run, disappearing back within the shadows.
A/N: There we go! I thought long and hard about whether or not I should bring the White Tigers into the story...but in the end I decided too! So, hopefully there will be a little Mariah/Rei in it...if I can write it that is! Anyway, I hope I got Aiyote and Nikki in character...I liked their intro, I thought they were pretty cute ^-^ And just so ya know, more of the OC's will appear as the tournament gets under way, so no worries kk! Oh yeah, and look below...there's a little comment for everybody who reviewed the last chapter.(Don't ask why, I was in a typing mood!)
Anime Fan: ^-^ You are so welcome! It was my pleasure and honor to dedicate the last chapter to you...cause I absolutely adore your story! You have the best comedy scenes in the world!
Space Lion: I have thought about just making a sequel instead of putting a bunch of chapters in this one. But the title 'Beynamite' wouldn't really suit this story if they didn't actually play at the tourny right! Besides I figure there's not really a different...you get to read the chapters anyway! ^-^
Ani05tersr(VIP: You didn't offend me at all, no worries! I'm glad you think that I got the characters personalities right, I find that important. LOL, and I was thinking about what color Dizzi was all day, thanks to your review! I have a feeling that she was yellow...*shrugz* don't know why though.
The Windcaller: Woah, you gotta be careful, I don't think passing out is a good thing! Anyway, I'll try to update soon...promise.
DestinyBabee: ~points up~ As I said up there, I will try my hardest to update soon...glad you like it!
Aphy: Lol, I'd like to see you have one of those nightmares, it would be so priceless and funny! Anyway, I updated my story now you gotta update yours! I need to know what happens!
Crystal_of_Psyche: .*smilez* I'm glad you thought this chappy was funny, that was my whole intention! Anyway, I'm still so grateful for you I owe you this story, literally! Everyday I look at that review and I thank you, just so u remember that!
Leina:.*smilez and wavez* Hi buddy! Lol, I luv reading your reviews, you always make them so fun! I know what you mean, we all pretty much update around the same time, except for you! Get going girl, I really, really need to know what happens! ^-^ (I think I use this face a little too much eh!)
K-Chan:.*Hugz* I know I put you last, but that doesn't mean a thing! I don't know what you're going on about saying that I'm your idol, but you got it all backwards. I am not your idol, because You are my idol! Kapeesh! ^-^
Everybody else who reviewed other chappys, I luv you too! I just don't think my fingers can type anymore lol! See ya all later!
