Battle File 03: Lei VS Diego
"The Lost Roar of the White Tiger"
Asaya was gasping and panting for air as she ran down the sleek hallways of the stadium, toting her translucent cream-colored Bey tech kit (looks like one of those mini toolboxes kids tote around to keep their Tamiya parts in). It was really hard avoiding all the members of the Cheering Brigade, and Llewelyn was most helpful as to scare them away with Giovanni and Sigurd.
***Oh dear, I'm LATE! I can't believe this…I hope their Beys are still doing fine…***
Guys stared at her as she made her way down the hallways, with her Bey tech kit. She was wearing an off-shoulder mocha-colored peasant blouse with tiny Valenciennes lace peeking at its edges, its sleeves flowing about her arms like wings, tied up with ribbons, like that of her upper blouse. The blouse had tiny pastel colored blooms embroidered at the edges of the lacey collar and sleeves, even the ribbons had them embroidered upon its fluttering ends. She wore a quilt-type tight denim skirt that had artistically snagged edges, and a pair of open-toed flat sandals tied back with thin cords at her porcelain-ankled feet. Her wonderful hair was tied back into thin braids about her head in the manner of a headband, flowing behind her like a silky, glorious banner. She had drop silver filigreed butterfly earrings in her small delicate ears, along with a red leather cord about her neck on which dangled the same butterfly, and the crystal pendant she never took off unless if she had to bathe. She had a delicate butterfly bracelet on her left wrist that flitted about filigreed vines, along with a silver bracelet with a small crescent moon. Her trusty ice-pink Jansport with its many keychains was upon her shoulders, and now it had 2 new ones: a small Chocobo asleep and a chibi Princess Garnet in her royal regalia. Fashionista or not, the guys were ogling her as she ran down the hallways to get to the ring side proper.
She practically ran all the way to the arena, and was soon greeted by loud cheers as she emerged from one of the gates that led right in.
"ALRIGHT! 2 wins for the BBA Team!" Maverick was grinning widely at the audience. "They need ANOTHER win more to complete the SET! But of course, we still can't count out Team Portugal, they've showed a very intense game for the last 2 matches that were fought a while ago. This could STILL be ANYBODY'S GAME!"
"2 wins?" Asaya blinked. "They just need another win more, and they'll win this match." She hurried to where the dugout was, and was soon greeted by Takao, who was wide-eyed.
"Hey Asaya! Where were you?!" Takao nodded. "I understand, those guys had practically swarmed you and nearly drowned you in the process, so it's OK."
"Sorry about that. Llewelyn, Giovanni, and Sigurd managed to scare them away. They were…giving me a really hard time, trying to get away from them." Asaya blinked, as she saw Max, who was staring at his now maimed Draciel. "Oh Max! What happened?"
"Got decimated in that last match with Santiago a while ago," Kai answered. His red brown eyes narrow. "Pretty convenient."
Asaya, fortunately or unfortunately, didn't get the message he was trying to convey. She went over to Max then stared at Draciel. "Don't worry. Professor can fix him up in no time flat. And I'll help him."
"REALLY?!" SD Takao showed his crippled Dragoon. "You would help Professor? Then you'll also help me fix my BEY?!"
"Yes. I am his Bey tech assistant, right?" Asaya blinked again, as she saw Dragoon and Draciel's now evolved central bits. "What happened?"
"Long story," Tsukiyo said, nodding. "Right now it's Lei's turn to battle."
"Next Bladers, step up to the shooting points, PLEASE!"
"…" Lei was very quiet as he started walking towards the shooting point. He passed Kai, and Kai had his eyes narrowed even further.
"Watch it. The enemy is around us," he whispered. "Do not let your guard down even for a second."
"I know," Lei whispered back. "You have no need to worry."
He went to the shooting point. Asaya and Professor huddled closer together and started working on Max and Takao's Beys, with a blinking SD Tsukiyo at the side. Kai frowned.
"For our 3rd set, we have LEI for the BBA TEAM~~~!!!" Maverick was yelling. "And for Team Portugal, we have DIEGO~~~!!!"
The spotlights shone down on Lei and Diego respectively. Lei was wearing a sleeveless pure white cheongsam that was edged with dark blue braid, closed at the side with frog closures of the same color. He wore a pair of dark blue baggy trousers underneath the triple slit skirt of the cheongsam (the skirt behind was cut in the manner of a tail coat's rear and flowed down to the ankles of his feet while the front part hung just below his knees in front), and had his lower legs bound with white cloth and yellow cords in the manner of Shaolin monks in old kung-fu movies. He had red gloves on his hands, which were first swathed in bandages before putting the gloves on; it had the yin/yang symbols embroidered on each backside of the gloves' hands (^^;; you get the idea). He had his red yin/yang bandanna about his forehead, now edged with dark blue stripes above and below the symbol, and had it tied back in a standing bow at the back of his head. His long pigtail was bound in the same white cloth, although now the edges were red with dark blue edged trim. He had a pair of kung-fu sandals on his feet, and a red sash was tied about his lean waist, leaving its tails to flutter freely at his left side, and tied in the same standing bow manner as his bandanna. His nondescript brown satchel was hung casually across his chest from left to right. His amber yellow eyes were narrowed so seriously and he looked so heartachingly handsome that a lot of girls fainted in the audience: it was easy to see why he was voted as the "Sexiest Blader Alive" in every Lei Kon shrine throughout the world, dedicated to the quiet, unassuming leader of the legendary White Tiger Clan.
"Shooters at the ready! OK, Bladers, are you ready to RIP it?!" Maverick raised her arms in the air. "Let's go, THEN!"
Lei got his new Driger out of the octagonal box inside his satchel then got its new Shooter for it, as well. Kai's eyes went wide as he stared at the reborn Driger and its reborn Shooter.
"…" Diego Montes fitted his yellow Bey onto his sleek Shooter. "I'll give you a 1-2 count at the most. Are you ready to lose?"
"…never." Lei's eyes narrowed even further, and at this, the girls who fainted were now in grave danger of being comatose vegetables. "I'm not that easy to defeat."
"Heh. Let's just WAIT and SEE."
Lei fitted Driger onto his Shooter.
"ALRIGHT! 3…2…1…GOO…SSHHHOOOOOOOTTTT~~~!!!"
Lei and Diego let their Beys out at the same time. Driger's become so fast, it entered the arena area with a white light swirling about it, along with myriads of sparks and a mini-tornado as it encircled Lothis (! Hehehehehehe!). Maverick watched intently as she saw Driger fly around the ring.
"Anybody out there who's willing to put Driger on ball and CHAIN~~~?! Gosh, will you look at THAT! I've NEVER seen such SPEED and POWER before in any given BEY~~~!!!"
"Let's see about THAT!" Diego clenched his fists. "LOTHIS! DREAD CRUSHER~~~~!!!"
Lothis shot towards Driger, who deftly avoided it, still keeping its unusual spin velocity. Diego's eyes went wide. "WHAAAT~~~?!"
"It takes more than THAT to defeat a White Tiger." Lei's eyes flashed, and looked more like a cat than ever. "DRIGER! ATTACK!"
Driger spun even more furiously and shot towards Lothis, tearing up the arena itself as it did so. Maverick was surprised.
"What THE~~~?! Is Driger planning to remodel the ENTIRE stadium?! Well, of COURSE Driger has STILL to remodel the arena, but…what the HECK! Oh, LOOK! Lothis is coming on STRONG!"
Lothis shot towards Driger head-on, and a yellow light issued forth from its central bit. Another –Holy Beast- appeared, and this time around it was a sleek panther. It thundered towards Driger, roaring loudly as it went, intent on crushing the opponent before it's too late.
Lei clenched his fists, and was about to give the enemy Bey his deserved beating when a voice spoke directly into his head.
*^*White Tigers are supposed to be STRONG, but why did they ALL die OUT?!*^*
***WHAT~~~?!***
*^*It's your fault, Lei, it's your fault they all died back there! Aren't you at LEAST a little ASHAMED of YOURSELF?! What were you thinking when you left?! What were you thinking when you decided to go on that journey and find EVERYBODY dead because of your stupidity?! You're even stupider than I first THOUGHT you would BE. And I was actually AFRAID of what you can do to me. But now, I've got it ALL figured out, and you can't do anything but play along upon the strings of my hands, a willing puppet to everything and anything I so do wish. Now, who would want a coward for a LEADER anyway?!*^*
***Stop IT…***
*^*Your fault, YOUR fault, Lei!*^*
***NO…!***
*^*Can't even protect MAO?! Can't even protect the one woman DEAREST to HIM?! What MORE if you can't even protect that one person you treasure most above ALL?! Your friends…family…oh, Mao is out of the question, she hates you like a disgusting leech…family? WHAT family, you ASK?! They're all DEAD! They're all~~~*^*
"STOP IT!"
Lothis got through Driger's furious assault and almost sent the Bey flying out of the arena if not for the bounce points (^^;; the guards at the edge of a standard Bey Stadium) that were set conveniently on 3 key points of the arena.
"That was CLOSE!" Maverick was nodding. "Alright, after almost flying out of the arena, Driger's still alive and KICKING! Lothis coming in for another attack…"
*^*You'll never defeat me. NEVER. NEVER. Not even in your wildest DREAMS, Lei Kon.*^*
"…Lothis is bashing Driger up pretty good but Lei's Bey is showing NO signs whatsoever of slowing DOWN!"
*^*I won't let you. Get it?! I WON'T!*^*
"Gaaah, what the HELL is he DOING?!" Takao stood up. "LEI! What's the MATTER with YOU?! Driger's getting CREAMED!"
*^*How can you protect them when you can't even protect your own SHADOW?!*^*
"LEI!"
"Driger…WOBBLING?! Oh NO! Is this the end?! But what HAPPENED?!"
Diego was grinning. "HEH! I guess this is the end of the road KID!"
Lei started, his eyes going expressionless and glassy once again.
KID?
Not again.
No, not AGAIN!
Asaya looked up from doing equations on her mini iMac notebook. Kai's eyes widened.
***I was a kid and I wasn't able to do ANYTHING…I was a kid and I wasn't able to do ANYTHING~~~!!!***
That's right.
HELPLESS!
POWERLESS!
DEFENSELESS!
And what he hated most was…
He was weak to have done anything.
WEAK!
He was the White Tiger Clan's leader and he wasn't able to protect them as he ought to. Was he running away? No! He wasn't. He was just doing it for the sake of the White Tiger Clan, so that they would b enlightened about the world.
Flashbacks…going by his mind like a very fast 8 mm black and white movie.
Rai. Gao (Gary). Keiki (Kevin).
MAO.
Blood.
Destruction.
BLOOD.
Running.
RUNNING.
Where to…?!
WHERE to?!
Driger emitted a blinding white flash from its central bit, and soon, Maverick was shielding her face with her arms.
"~~~~!!! This ENERGY~~~!!! Where is it coming FROM~~~?!"
Lei won't run anymore.
NEVER.
NEVER!
Lei clenched his fists, and a furious wind blasted about him, blowing his hair about. "DRIGER~~~!!! GRANFEIST GALE~~~!!!"
The White Tiger shot out, looking like it was during his fight with Llewelyn. It roared, and shot towards Lothis, like a very fast arrow. Blinding white light and winds curled about the –Holy Beast- as it went to defeat the enemy in front of him, only this time, it was so powerful that the arena started to shake at the sudden surge of emotions welling up inside Lei and released explosively in the manner of his Bey acting so strange today.
"!" Kai was wide-eyed. "They…they are…one…"
Driger and Lothis came into contact with one another, and both panther and White Tiger were clawing at each other's throats until they were both engulfed in each of their respective aura spheres.
A huge explosion and a blinding flash of white light rocked the entire stadium, and Maverick was almost blown away by the impact. All people in the audience, the whole BBA Team, the whole Team Portugal, Tsukiyo, and Asaya shielded their faces from the glare. When it abated, Maverick blinked, and raised her arms and made a cutting gesture with it.
"It's FINISHED! Lothis out cold, out of the ARENA! Winner…Lei of the BBA TEAM~~~!!!"
Takao jumped up in the air, grinning and whooping very happily. Max joined in the whooping too, and swept Tsukiyo into doing a little victory dance with him. Professor let out a relieved sigh: he had been hiding his face behind his laptop the whole duration of Lei's seeming but very frightening anxiety attack.
As for Lei…
He sank weakly down to his knees in front of the arena. He was shaking terribly.
Chairman Daitenji was very happy for his team. He was in the middle of telling them that they were to go out that night when Kai went to where Lei was, and he was more concerned about Lei than he was about going out to dinner with the rest of the BBA Team.
"Lei…?" Asaya went towards them too, as well. "Are you…"
"Who are you really?" Kai asked quietly, but there was no denying the anger underneath the calm tone. "Why did you bring us here?!"
"?"
"You know fully well that we didn't AUDITION." Kai glared at her. "Or is it part of your grand plan to KILL us once you've finished gathering our DATA?!"
"What are you talking about…"
"Why did you invite us here in the first PLACE?!"
"That's enough, Kai."
Both Kai and Asaya looked at Lei, who was standing up from the floor, although he was still shaking very terribly. Kai's eyes narrow, then he went off. But before he did, he dropped a threat.
"If you stray one foot out of the line that's unnecessary, I swear that you'll be kissing the ground faster than you can even think," he said softly. Then he leaves.
Asaya stared at him, puzzled. Lei was just quiet.
"HEY! Let's go back to the hotel!" Takao raised his arms above his head, stretched, then smiled sheepishly. "I'm SLEEPY."
"O…OK." Asaya looked at Lei, who had now become also sleepy. "Let's go, Lei…?"
"…yes."
The BBA Team left for their hotel, amidst the wild cheering of the audience. Dr. Leimrey was watching from the sidelines, and he was pleased at what he saw.
"Sir, shall I ready the limo for you?"
"Yes please. I have a lot to do at the laboratory today. Thank you."
His secretary leaves. Dr. Leimrey smiled.
Yes, life was VERY good.