Redbird, Part Two- The Merging
Chapter Two: Clashes
Lei Feng sat upright and wished she hadn't.
Wincing and gingerly touching the white bandage around her middle, she realized she had broken a rib. Damn it, this meant she would have to ease off blading for a while- or at least until the fractured rib mended.
Touching the cuts on her face, she realized what it must have felt like for Ray when Falborg had attacked him at the World Championships. Who'd have known that a bloody wind could hurt so bloody much?
She was back in her room, and in a large, oversized shirt instead of the blood soaked one, and the scent on the shirt was distinctly male and distinctly Kai. Speaking of which, he had a lot of explaining to do. She had thought that Black Dranzer had been given back to Boris- or at least, that was the story she'd heard. But no, it obviously wasn't true.
As if the thought had summoned him, Kai stepped into the room. Lei Feng automatically stood up- and sat back down as her bone cried out again in protest against the movement. But it didn't stop her from asking a little heatedly, "Why the hell didn't you tell me you still had Black Dranzer with you?"
Kai arched one eyebrow at her. "You never asked, Lei Feng."
She thought about that statement and huffed. He was right. "Okay, so I'm asking now, how come you still have Black Dranzer with you? I thought you gave it back?"
Kai walked slowly to her and sat down on the bed. In that moment, she saw a maelstrom of emotion crash across his face, only to be replaced by the Kai she knew best. "It returned to me, Lei Feng. I did give it back. But his spirit still returned- and then I knew it would be useless to try and give him back." Taking something out of his pocket and giving it to her, she saw that the blade was different from the one Black Dranzer had once resided in. This one was dark forest green with silver-gray markings, unlike the black one. But the bitchip was exactly the same, with exactly the same creature on it. As an afterthought, he added, "And I couldn't resist."
"I could resist when Boris offered it to me again. I could stand against him, because I knew what he wanted from me, what I would pay for that power. But after the Championships, when Boris and Voltaire were out of my life, and it returned... Lei Feng, do you know just how much power that blade can harness? The power it gave to Redbird just now- it wasn't even one fifth of its full strength."
Lei Feng blinked once or twice. She could still remember the dark, rich taste of that power as it had permeated the room, the feel that was like that of soft, warm silk trailing along her skin as that strength had flowed over her, into her. It had made her hungry for more. And that was less than a fifth... not surprising Kai was unable to resist. And in the hands of a blader like Kai, its force would be so much greater.
Nodding, she reached into her pocket for Redbird, looking at the bitbeast in a new light. She was sister to Black Dranzer- and would have about the same potential. She needed control; she needed to be trained in controlling the damn attack. Ring of Ruin would be virtually perfect, if not for the teensy little fact that Redbird couldn't use it safely.
Suddenly she was brought back to reality as Kai touched a cut on her face. "I'll get Black Dranzer to teach Redbird how to harness her strengths. There is a way to keep every attack down, no matter how much force one throws into it. But only after you're better."
She nodded and hugged him lightly, careful of her own hurts, resting her head softly against his chest. "Thanks, Kai."
***
Back in her room, Janrilene McGregor threw a small tantrum, a habit she hadn't indulged in ages. That girl had actually beaten her. Damn it, that girl had actually beaten her.
Alright, so she had been helped by another bitbeast- and not just any other- the fabled Black Dranzer. But even if Black Dranzer hadn't showed up, Janrilene knew that Ring of Ruin would have wrecked Hallyon- even if it would have wrecked Redbird right along with it.
There must be a way to get revenge. Only, what way? To hurt the girl personally and emotionally, or in her career as a blader?
Either. . . or maybe both. Maybe she would start soon- and start with Kai Hiwatari. She hadn't quite missed the relatively soft look in his eyes as he scooped the battered girl up from where she lay and moved off. There was something going on there- and she intended to break it up.
***
Johnny lay back on the large bed, staring at the ceiling. This time they were all in trouble. His sister didn't take easily to losing and worse, she was a spiteful person. She would have a big fat grudge against the Bladebreaker girl for this one. Every time this kind of situation occurred, the phrase that occurred to him would be 'Hell hath no fury like a woman's scorn.' Or more specifically, Janri's scorn. Janrilene was far more volatile than either he or she let on in public. She was, all in all, very much dangerous. And Hallyon would support her, no matter what she wanted to do.
But he wouldn't do anything. The pride and honor of the McGregors was at stake here. He wouldn't easily admit that his sister might be slightly deranged- a trait inherited from their mother. In the European nobility, bloodlines sometimes got so inbred that the child could be slightly off balance. However, he told himself that Janrilene might just be suffering a bruised ego.
Even as he said it to himself, he knew it was a lie.
***
Ray lay on his bed; Mariah snuggled up against him, in his arms. Brooding. "Mari, did you see the way Janri was looking at Lei Feng?"
"No," she said, puzzled. "Why?"
"She seemed so angry. Almost like she hated Lei Feng."
Mariah turned the idea over, then turned it away. Hate was too strong a word. "Dislike, maybe, but hate, Ray? I don't quite think anyone would hate another just because of a lost match. I lost to Lei Feng too."
Ray frowned, but let go of it. "Do you think Lei Feng's okay? She took a lot of injuries."
"Don't go butting in, Ray, I'll bet you five bucks Kai's with her. And I think he's got a lot to tell about Black Dranzer. And besides, he'll make sure nothing happens to her. Did you see how worried he was just now?"
"Yeah, maybe that's why Black Dranzer responded. Bitbeasts respond to strong distress signals from their human partners."
Sitting upright, Mariah began to knead the tense muscles between his shoulder blades. "Relax, Ray. Things will be fine."
"I hope so."
***
Lei Feng finally was judged well enough to get out of the bloody bed- though it was more like she had bullied her way out. Lying there was no fun. In fact, it was dead boring.
God, I feel so useless just lying there.
Fitting Redbird to the launcher, she loosed it and smiled in satisfaction as she felt no pain from her side. After a while, she asked Redbird. "Would you call Black Dranzer, please? Kai said he would get him to teach you how to control your own attacks."
A faint glow signified that Redbird had complied, and a few minutes later, Kai strode into the training room, Black Dranzer in his hand. "Are you sure you're alright?"
"Fine, Kai, as I have been telling you guys throughout the last five days. Now can we get to work? This will be a great advantage to me, and you know it. Redbird has a lot of power but without knowing how to hold it, that power's useless."
He raised an eyebrow. "Fine. Call Redbird out." As he spoke, he sent a silent command to the dark phoenix, and it rose, assessing the teenage girl, and nodded, as if satisfied that Lei Feng had passed some kind of test.
Redbird flew from the blade to rest in front of Lei Feng, eyes on Black Dranzer. "So you will teach me to control my power?"
"Yes. Firstly, Redbird, do you know what Ring of Ruin is?"
Redbird looked bewildered at simplicity of the question. "Yes, a simultaneous attack of the forces of nature that are connected with the storm."
"Fine. What are your attacks in general?"
"Power of the storm."
"And what is the power of the storm?"
"Wind, lightning, rain."
"Wrong!" the other bird snapped at his sister. "The power of the storm is your power. And your power is yours to use. Now, how do you use this power?"
"Bend it to my will," Redbird replied.
"Wrong! You do not bend it to your will; you bend your will to it. What you don't realize, Redbird, is that power is by nature a destructive force. But it cannot be controlled unless you let it control you first. It is the way you look at it. Instead of making it do what it can naturally do, let it do what it wants and help you in the process."
Lei Feng watched her bitbeast get chastised in slight amusement and inwardly smiled as Redbird fell silent for a moment and digested what Black Dranzer had just told her. Nodding, the sister looked back at her brother, waiting for further instruction.
"You know what to do? Good. Then fight me, release Ring of Ruin and we'll see what you can do." Disappearing back into his blade, Kai took it out and smirked at Lei Feng. "Well, you heard the bitbeast. Let's try."
Readying Redbird, she braced herself and released the blade. "Redbird, Ring of Ruin!"
"Black Dranzer! Do what you have to do!"
Screeching, Redbird freed the attack and immediately the whole atmosphere grew different. The growing force was spreading everywhere, and Lei Feng stiffened. Redbird had better know what she was doing...
The bitbeast wore a smug smile on her face as she released the flood, and the power rushed towards the dish, filling it, while Redbird stayed there serenely, her face clear of the dangerous tension that had suffused every inch of it in the past times she had tried using difficult attacks.
Lei Feng relaxed as well, as the first ring crashed down upon the dish, but Redbird showed no sign of weakening. Then, another beyblade suddenly joined them in the dish, knocking Redbird off balance. Lei Feng sprang alert, readying herself for the onslaught, but it never came.
Redbird wobbled a little, but never wavered in her control. Black Dranzer soared, smiled at his sister in satisfaction, and the storm stopped as Redbird slowly pulled it back into her. "So how did I do, Black Dranzer?"
The third beyblade's bitbeast rose. "Not bad for an amateur," Dranzer said.
Redbird snapped out with her beak, but the other phoenix dodged it immediately. "Why, you flaming idiotic chicken!" Lei Feng bitbeast hissed at the other in anger.
"Right back at you, my dear. Your feathers are standing up on end. Try to de-stress."
"I only need to get rid of some of the electrical charge. . . like this!" Throwing a couple of bolts at the other bird, only to have them deflected by Black Dranzer. "Stop arguing, kids. Go take a break, Redbird."
Redbird glared, but acquiesced, disappearing back into her blade. Lei Feng bowed her head in formal acknowledgement. "Thank you, Black Dranzer."
The bitbeast nodded regally at her before diving back into its blade.
***
Yu slipped out of the mansion and onto the driveway. It was early morning, with the sun risen less than one and a half hours. After ascertaining that there was no one in sight, she had Marine call for Foxflame. The fox bitbeast appeared and twined its tail around her leg, and then Yu felt utter nothingness. But she didn't panic. This had been done before and explained to her as one of the fox's techniques, the ability to move things certain distances, so she knew that the bitbeast was bringing her to meet Satashi. But what she didn't know was a female pair of lavender-grey eyes was watching her.
***
Yu reappeared in midair, then fell onto a soft landing. A soft bed, and Satashi was sleeping on it. Even in sleep, she could see the soft lines of worry that crossed his face, and she wanted to gather him into her arms, hug him, make it better somehow.
She let out a startled 'eep' as Satashi rolled over in his sleep and put an arm around her waist. She was wondering how to draw away without waking him when Foxflame looked at them both with eyes filled with amusement.
"Go to sleep, little one," the fox bitbeast said. "He wants you near him."
Nodding, she lay down too and snuggled against him. She had wanted to do this for a long time, just lie there quietly with him, not worrying, not scheming, not talking. The state of relaxation soon tipped her into a quiet sleep, deep, dreamless and restful.
Foxflame watched the two slumbering humans, a quiet smile on his face. They deserved so much more than they had. When Satashi had told Yu he hadn't known, it had been the truth. Satashi had been picked up by Varian, an orphan off the streets, and he was, of course, very grateful and loyal to the man.
But Satashi didn't know why Varian wanted the bitbeasts. Satashi didn't know that Varian was fascinated with bitbeasts. He wanted to know their genetic makeup; he wanted to know what was the extra spark in their systems that allowed them their powers. He had originally thought that genetically engineered bitbeasts could answer that question. But genetically engineered bitbeasts were man-equipped, in various ways, with that power. Not so in a normal bitbeast. And thus Varian had hopes of getting some and testing them out. And he had recently heard a legend- that there were three bitbeasts able to go through fusion, therefore the power level of the bitbeasts would be amazingly high, higher than anything they had ever seen had. And there was reason to believe that it was Dranzer, Black Dranzer and Redbird. Which is why Satashi was now entrusted with the task of getting them.
Experiments had been conducted on Foxflame, but he was a lesser bitbeast, possessed of far less power than one such as Black Dranzer and it wasn't easy to find out where that strength had come from, since there was less to detect. One widely held theory was that the blader and the blade were partners, both feeding off the energy and will of the other, but there must be another source. To live, even, there was a lot of energy needed to maintain a bitbeast. Varian supposed that when the creature was fighting in the dish, it would draw on the blader. But otherwise...
And that was why the fusion was so dangerous. Any fusion would take a high amount of energy to cause the reaction, and if the beasts didn't have enough, it would be sapped from their owners. And if too much was drained from the far frailer human bodies, that owner would just die.
But Satashi was Foxflame's master and Foxflame would obey no matter what the cost.
And Varian was Satashi's master and Satashi would obey no matter what the cost.
***
Lei Feng moved softly down the stairs, going to the breakfast room before Tyson awoke. Kai had gone to train already. In the past week, the kitchen staff had sworn to go on strike unless they were given a raise- due to the amount of overtime they were working to feed Tyson's voracious appetite.
Janrilene McGregor joined her on the way down, walking in silence, but shooting sudden glances at Lei Feng that she could barely catch. What was with her? "So what's it like being joint heiress to one of the largest estates in Europe? I never knew what the meaning of 'rich' was when I was younger."
The girl nodded. "I know. Robert told me you used to be a street urchin."
"I prefer alley kid. Urchin makes me sound like a sea creature."
Janrilene smiled a small, secret smile. Lei Feng would hurt for what she had done. "You and Kai seem quite close."
"I guess so."
"Why was he so concerned the other day when you were hurt? He carried you to your room, in case you didn't know."
Luckily, Lei Feng was spared answering that question by the bouncy appearance of Mariah, followed by a sleepier Ray. The two had obviously taken to sleeping in the same room as each other- unbeknownst to Kai, who slept with Lei Feng and therefore on a different storey.
Sitting down at the table, she nodded to Robert in greeting. When everybody had assembled and breakfast had started [minus Tyson], Robert tapped his spoon on the side of his glass for everyone's attention. "I called you Bladebreakers and the two White Tigers here for a purpose. I need your help- in two matters. One reason, which I told Johnny, is that I want to research your blades and create the perfect one- which will then be given to the best amongst us. Secondly, I need your help in fending off a guy my father hated- and who hated my father. It's an old family feud, to tell the truth. And now, he wants to exterminate the Jagen clan. He's called Varian."
Yu steeled her face into perfect indifference, fighting shock. Wasn't that...
Cherry Rain: Cliffy of sorts. =] I'll try and update soon! =]