Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade.
Chapter 2: All Fired Up
At the front door of a three-storey house stood awaiting four patient Bladebreakers and one hyped-up boxing adolescent. "Mr. D! Open-- Open up! Mr. D!" Tyson, the boxer, yelled impolitely.
"Tyson! Stop punching at the door before—" Kenny tried to warn when the door suddenly swung open and Tyson sent two hard blows towards the abdomen of Mr. Dickenson.
"Ouch! Tyson!" the president of the BBA whimpered and Tyson quitted his boxing career for the time being.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to, Mr. D," Tyson apologized, trying to act innocent.
"Don't play innocent, Tyson. You launched two blows. The first could be accidental, but the other is definitely intentional," Kai pointed out. "And as punishment, you'll do one hundred push-ups pronto."
"What?! Kai! One hundred?!" Tyson exclaimed in disbelief, and then fainted towards Max and Ray who were both behind him.
Instantly Ray moved out of the way, leaving poor Max to juggle Tyson's unconscious body. "HELP!!!" Max cried out literally. His eyes were wet and some tears had escaped when he first felt the pressure of Tyson's heavy body against his hands.
"Get up, Tyson! Leave Max alone unless you don't want to eat for the rest of your life," Kai threatened.
'He's bluffing,' Tyson thought as he cautiously peeked with one eye.
"Now that you're back from pretending to be unconscious, drop down and give us one hundred push-ups."
Quickly Tyson shut his eye tightly and removed his body from Max. "Hoooo—Hoooo—Hooo… Oooh…. Are you sure? Hoooo—Hooo," Tyson repeated in a spooky voice as he moved like a zombie, eyes closed, arms out and intentionally swinging back and fro from Max to Mr. Dickenson.
"Alright, Tyson. That's enough," Mr. Dickenson said as he laughed jovially, "I forgive you. So, you can come in with the team."
"Hoooo—Hoooo—Hooo… Oooh…. Ty—Ty—Ty—son's – still ….. Hoooo—Ah—Ah—Asleep… Hooo," Tyson recited eerily.
"Oh really?"
"Hoooo—Real—" Tyson managed to say when Kai pulled his right ear and began dragging Tyson into Mr. Dickenson's house by force.
"Ow! Ow! Ow! Owwww! " Tyson cried out in pain as he struggled to remove the hair from his ear. He flashed out his eyes. "KAI!!!" he screamed as Kai continued to pull him into the living room by his ear.
"Show mercy, Kai! Show mercy!" Kenny begged as he followed Kai and Tyson in. Ray, Max and Mr. Dickenson trailed behind.
"Let me go, Kai!" Tyson protested until Kai finally released him when arriving at the end of the living room. Tyson quickly placed his hands on his ear, examining it.
"Now, drop down and give me one hundred."
"Not on anyone, Tyson," Max added as he hid behind Ray.
"Humph!"
"You better do it, Tyson. It'll be good for your health," Kenny claimed. "You'll lose weight."
"Think of it as training," Ray suggested with a snicker.
"Ray means retribution," Kai said, laughing maliciously.
"Let's talk in the kitchen," Mr. Dickenson said, trying to change the subject as he began to lead the way.
Ray began following. Max quickly walked with him, fleeing for his life, "Wait for me, Ray. Don't leave me with Tyson again. He's hazardous."
"Errr!" Tyson let out as he started to trail Max when suddenly Kai appeared in front of him.
"Where do you think you're going, Tyson?" Kai asked with a devious and taunting grin as Kenny with his laptop quickly tiptoed into the kitchen, sneaking away from the dangerous situation.
'Chief!' Tyson thought. His hopes of getting out of this nasty fate Kai weaved for him were lost when Kenny disappeared with the rest of the gang, leaving him to confront Kai, the enemy and cruel captain, alone, all alone. Tyson laughed nervously. "Let's forgive and forget, Kai, and head into the kitchen for some grub. I'm dying of hunger."
"Don't worry, Tyson, you'll probably die from exhaustion from doing one hundred and no less push-ups before you starve to death," Kai mocked and laughed maliciously again.
Tyson pouted, and then gave Kai the puppy dog eyes. Kai ignored him. Merciless, Kai was. "You can join us after your little workout."
"Oh," Tyson said. 'That'll be easy. When Kai leaves, wait five minutes on the couch and then go into the kitchen for some appetizers,' Tyson thought slyly.
"Don't even think about it. I'll be watching your every move, Tyson. Any wrong step will cost you dearly," Kai tyrannized.
'Drats! The creep foils my plan all the time. Oh well, I'll do the push-ups so slowly that they'll finish talking before I finish the 'little workout' and then I can leave for lunch, brunch and more brunches,' Tyson schemed. "Okay, Kai, go away so I can get started," Tyson said impatiently as he tried to shove Kai into the kitchen backwards.
"No touching or shoving," Kai growled and glared, and Tyson retreated. "I can walk in case you hadn't noticed."
"I hadn't noticed," Tyson replied sarcastically.
"Grrrr! Make that one fifty."
"One fifty?! What?! One hundred—One hundred and fifty push—push-ups?! That's too many!"
"Oh, you're right about that one, Tyson."
"Glad you finally agree with me."
"Did I? I meant to say two hundred."
"Two hundred?!" Tyson repeated, petrified, with his eyes wide open. His body was paralyzed.
Kai burst into a menacing laughter. "Just kidding, Tyson. One hundred shall do the trick," Kai said tauntingly as he stopped laughing.
"Aren't you doing to leave yet?"
"Not till I see you sweating on the floor."
"Hmph! Fine!" Tyson whined as he dropped to the floor and began to do push-ups. Kai smiled in satisfaction when he saw Tyson sweating for his life as he did his push-ups, and so he left for the kitchen to join a saner and less baby-sitting crowd.
***
Two minutes into his fake push-ups workout, Tyson plotted the perfect revenge plan and way to get out of doing excessive training. Carefully, Tyson crept towards the entrance to the kitchen. Seeing that all of them were faced the other way and they couldn't spot him, Tyson tiptoed in and discovered a blade on the floor right in front of him. 'Kai's blade! All vulnerable. Hehehe, I'll confiscate this until he promises to be nicer to me. Hehehe, I think I just hit the jackpot here,' Tyson thought as he placed his right hand out to grab it.
His hand was halfway there when a voice furiously said, "Touch it and die, Tyson!"
Not heeding the voice's warning, Tyson grabbed the blade and began to exit the house the fast way—through a back door in the kitchen just a metre from him. "Hehehe," Tyson snickered, running away. "Bye-bye, Kai."
"Come back here you insolent thief!" Kai barked angrily. His eyes and face redden in madness, and he ran in pursuit of Tyson.
"Let's go and buy life and injury insurance for Tyson," Max joked, laughing uneasily.
"You think it's that bad?" Mr. Dickenson questioned.
"Yup! Stealing Kai's Dranzer crosses the line," Ray answered and then disappeared to help Tyson not get himself destroyed.
"Not to mention, crossed Kai," Dizzi added.
"Stealing Kai's blade is just pure stupidity and a waste of time," Kenny criticized, "Tyson should know better that Kai will sooner or later retrieve Dranzer to scorch him with."
"TYSON!!! I'M COMING!!!" Max shouted worriedly as he ran out the kitchen and into the backyard of Mr. Dickenson's house.
"Let's go too," Kenny said, "Tyson'll need all the back-up if he wishes to survive through this crisis."
"Okay, Chief," Dizzi replied and Kenny closed the laptop. As he was about to pick up his portable computer, Mr. Dickenson's kitchen phone started ringing. Mr. Dickenson got up and picked up the phone and began talking into it. "Hello?"
"Who is it?" Kenny mumbled.
"Ha-ah. Oh…. I see. Oh, okay," Mr. Dickenson said, nodding his head. "Oh my…. That's terrible. I'll be there right away."
'What's terrible?' Kenny thought. 'Worse than Tyson's crisis?'
***
Outside, in the backyard, Tyson and Kai were engaged in a fierce winner-takes-all blade battle while Max and Ray were the spectators. Both blades were spinning inside a grand metallic dish with a garden. However, only Kai's blade was in sight. Somewhere hiding among patches of flowers was Tyson's Dragoon blade.
"You can't hide Dragoon for long, Tyson. Dranzer! Come out and play," Kai commanded loudly and his bit-beast emerged.
"Dragoon!" Tyson also ordered. Dragoon obeyed.
"Time to face the phoenix, Dragoon!" Kai shouted. "Dranzer, Fire Arrow his blade!"
"Dragoon, move and use Phantom Hurricane!" Tyson yelled. Tyson's blade managed to escape when it spun out of hiding and Dragoon defended it by neutralizing fire with his Phantom Hurricane.
"What's going on here?" Kenny suddenly appeared and asked in curiosity as he looked at Tyson and Kai.
"They're dueling it out," Ray answered. "Where's Mr. Dickenson?"
"Oh. He had an urgent call so he needed to leave for a while," Kenny answered, eyes peeled to the match.
"We still haven't asked him about the blade Kai found yet," Max reminded.
"Fire Arrow!"
"Phantom Hurricane!"
"They must be enjoying this," Ray accused when unexpectedly and strangely a female figure wearing a starry scarf and casual clothes joined the spectacular destroy-the-dish-itself show.
"Intruders!!!" she shrieked. "GRANDPA. INTRUDERS!" DESTROYING MY GARDEN!!!"
Abruptly Max screamed, "Stop the match! Stop the match, guys. Kai, Tyson, the duel is postponed."
"Whatever!" Kai replied as he recalled his bit-beast and blade.
"You lose," Tyson gloated, sticking out his tongue at Kai, and then called back his bit-beast and blade also.
"Why I ought to—" Kai started to yell when he was rudely interrupted.
"WHO THE HECK ARE ALL OF YOU?!?! And why did you trespass to destroy my garden?!" the girl growled as fire glowed in her turquoise eyes. She approached Kai and glared into his eyes.
Kai glared back.
"Oh, I remember you from yesterday. You crashed into—" Tyson managed to say when Kai roared.
"Oh? Oh! Oh yes, of course! Sorry about that," she said solemnly as her glare died down and the fire in her eyes flickered out, "but you didn't need to take revenge upon my garden!"
"Oh, that wasn't what it was all about," Kenny mentioned.
"Oh?"
"Kai just wanted to wreck everything," Tyson accused, and Kai turned his glare from her towards him.
"Kai?" she repeated.
"We're the Bladebreakers. Who are you by the way?" Max questioned, wanting to know her identity.
'I despise Beyblades and bladers. I despise all of them already,' she told herself. "Oh. I'm Lauri. Lauri Wong."
"I see. But, what are you doing here, and why did you claim that Kai and Tyson devastated your garden?" Ray queried.
"So, it was Kai and Tyson. Hmmm.… I'll be sure to keep them away from my fragile garden. It's all wasted."
"Oh?" Ray asked. "I'm sure you'll be able to replant an even better one."
"You still haven't told us much," Kai said when another voice called out.
"So, you've met my dear granddaughter, Lauri."
"Did you just say granddaughter, Mr. D.?"
"Yes, Tyson. This is my one and only granddaughter, Laurianne Wong, the one who will be joining all of you for the tournament."
"Grandpa! What?! I'm not going with them, especially with him and him together," Lauri stated strictly, pointing a finger at Kai and then Tyson. 'I hate all bladers and Beyblades. They've caused too much destruction,' she thought over and over in her head.
"Hmph!" Kai and Tyson exclaimed at the same time.
"And besides, I haven't bladed for a while."
"Yes. She'll be no use to us," Kai insulted, "She doesn't even have a blade."
"What about Blitz?" Mr. Dickenson asked his grandchild.
Lauri lowered her head and mumbled guiltily, "I lost him yesterday."
"Actually, you see, Kai has it now," Max informed with a bright smile.
"He what?!"
"I found it after you raced away," Kai answered coolly and threw the blade towards Lauri.
Lauri, quick to react, caught it. "Thanks, I guess."
"Don't thank me yet, Girl. We haven't accepted you into the Bladebreakers. You'll need to prove to me that you are worthy to be on this team in a Beyblade battle."
"And why would I want to do that? I'm just an ordinary reporter who doesn't want to waste time on an inconsiderate blader. That goes to you too, Tyson."
"Lauri! Just blade battle. I haven't seen you done it for a while now."
"If you want me to, Grandpa, but this doesn't change my career decision."
"Good. That's it, Lauri," Mr. Dickenson said smiling.
"Then who shall me opponent be?"
"The best of course, the captain, me, Kai Hiwatari," he said arrogantly.
Lauri sighed. 'Oh, Bradley. I don't care if this isn't the same phoenix which caused your death. It'll just have to do for now. The bitterness is erupting from within. I must let it out once in a while. I will not let your death be in vain, Brother,' Lauri mused, ablaze for the match, 'The phoenix will pay dearly.' "Okay, let's go, I'm ready to win."
***
"Three… two… one…. LET IT RIP!!!" Max yelled enthusiastically, and Lauri and Kai launched their blades into the same dish Kai and Tyson were abusing.
"Blitz! Come out and freeze that blade!"
"Dranzer, attack!" Kai yelled, summoning his bit-beast to emerge to defend against Blitz's Ice Beam attack. Both bit-beasts dodged each other's attacks.
"Fire and ice, how nice," Ray said, eyes narrowed in annoyance as both blades and bit-beasts continued to escape one another's attacks.
"This will be a stalemate," Kenny deduced. "Fire and Ice neutralizes each other out."
"Who are you rooting for, Tyson?" Max asked.
"Neither one. They're both mean and grumpy. Kai made me do one hundred push-ups," Tyson started to reply when Ray asked him if he actually did one hundred push-ups. Tyson whistled.
"And even though I don't know Lauri well, she accused me of destroying her garden," Tyson continued to complain.
"Which you did," Max reminded and then whistled.
"Only because Kai challenged me! Grrr!"
'So, it was you who started it?! Once again the phoenix is the cause of all this destruction,' Lauri thought. "BLITZ!!! Use your Ice Spike attack!!!" Lauri offered in fury, and Blitz bombarded spikes of ice towards the phoenix and the blade.
"DRANZER! Fire Arrow attack!"
Once again, neither one of them were hit. Frustrated, Lauri yelled, "Blitz! Finish this off now before it happens again!"
Only Blitz understood what Lauri truly meant. If he loses the battle against the phoenix, history will repeat itself. Lauri would be mad at him once again, like she was when he cost her Bradley. The only reason why she forgave him was because he was her brother's bit-beast and because he tried to protect them from the dark phoenix's wrath. However, only one life was saved—hers. Given the second chance, Blitz will make his master and Lauri proud. He could feel his master, Bradley, close by, giving him strength. Blitz who was now stronger unleashed both of his attacks at the same time randomly at Dranzer and the spinning blade. Dranzer attempted to counter with his Fire Arrow attack once again, but this time, ice began to form on his fiery feathers. While Dranzer tried to melt the ice off, Lauri's blade cautiously and swiftly moved in to knock Kai's blade out of the dish with Dranzer not far behind.
Kai recalled his blade. "And the victory goes to Lauri!" Max yelled happily.
Lauri let out a breath of relief. Her burning desire for revenge was temporarily sustained once more. She recalled her blade also and thought, 'That was a close one, Blitz. Bradley would have been proud.'
"Which means that Lauri's on the team now. Welcome," Ray said, approaching her.
"You can replace Tyson," Kai smirked.
"WHAT?! You can't replace me with her! I'm irreplaceable!"
"Like my beautiful garden."
"You're still holding a grudge against us. After all, you're on the team now. Teammates don't hold grudges," Kenny lectured.
"Except for Kai and Tyson that is," Max added quickly with a chuckle.
"Huh-uh. I see. I'll only be substituting."
"YES!!! I'm not replaced! Phew!!!" Tyson rejoiced merrily.
"You should be. The girl got more potential than you, Tyson."
"And that's why I recommended her to accompany all of you, Kai."
'Oh, thanks, Grandpa,' Lauri thought sarcastically.
"Six days before the plane leaves," Mr. Dickenson reminded. "You should start getting things prepared, Sweetie."
"And thirteen days before the tournament begins in China," Lauri moaned with a sour face.
"Cheer up. You'll be able to do your interviews," her grandfather said positively.
'Oh, goody, I'll be meeting all those arrogant and hot-headed bladers that orders their bit-beasts to take out a human life,' Lauri thought, not sounding too thrilled.
***
The day of the departure to China, Tyson was running late as usual. Panicking, Tyson ran recklessly towards the door to broad on the plane to China. "WAIT FOR ME!!!!" Everyone else was there already when he entered the plane, everyone except Mr. Dickenson that is.
"What took you so long, Tyson?!" Kenny asked and Tyson just breathed heavily.
"Where's Mr. D.?" Tyson asked calming down and taking a seat besides Kenny. He scanned around and saw that Max was seated besides Ray. Behind Ray were Lauri and then Kai.
"Grandpa's busy with work so he can't join us."
"So is my grandpa. How strange. He's usually popping up out of nowhere with a dangerous kendo stick."
Ray and Max laughed. Lauri giggled quietly to herself. Kai just looked annoyed.
"Fasten your seat belts. The plane is about to take-off."
***
To be continued….