A.N: As a sidenote, the old use of the Ray/Rei is still active. Whilst I full acknowledge that they both should be spelt Rei, it's hard to tell the difference between the two. Ray is Ray Kon (Beyblade) and Rei is Rei Hino (Sailor Moon).
Disclaimer: I do not own or am in any connection with the creators and owners of the respective anime/manga characters and plots. They deserve all the credit and responsibility.
Chapter 1: Lunch and Other Matters…"I'm so sorry, I wasn't thinking…" Yuugi said apologetically, despite the fall not being his fault. Yuugi, timid and shy by nature, was never one to point out flaws. A peacemaker. That didn't mean he was a loser…he was after all quite competitive…especially when his 'other self' kicked in…
"Yeah, ya got that right! Well, sorry isn't good enough! I challenge you to a battle!" said the boy, a scowl on his face. The other boy, dressed in what looked like a traditional Chinese outfit, sighed heavily.
"Takao, he said he was sorry. There's no need to battle," he said, giving Yuugi a knowing, sorry smile. Yes, he knew the fall wasn't Yuugi's fault. Yuugi smiled back, but the other boy, Takao, took it as a sign of peace.
"Hey, I'm sorry too…I guess…shouldn't have been rushing, but I heard there's this huge food court round the corner that's like super cheap! Do ya wanna battle though? I have this new attack I want to test…Of course I'll win, even without it" the boy named Takao said with a wink and a large grin. His companion sighed again. Yuugi cast them a puzzled glance.
"A battle? You mean a duel?"
"Yeah! C'mon! You have a beyblade don't you? Let's battle, all ready! Let's find a dish! The faster we battle, the faster I get to eat!" said Takao energetically. The other boy frowned and crossed his arms.
"Takao…they don't beybattle here. It's not one of those towns. That's why we're here remember?"
"But Ray!"
"You can't if they don't know what it is!"
"We'll just have to show him then!" Takao said triumphantly and turned back to Yuugi.
"Do you know what this is?" Takao said, brandishing a spinning top from his pocket and holding it under Yuugi's nose. Yuugi glanced down at the blue object, carved with curves and slightly bigger then the size of his palm. On top, dead center was a picture of a blue grinning dragon. Underneath was labeled: Dragoon. Yuugi's purple eyes flicked towards Takao and the Chinese boy's again, revealing a puzzlement and interest.
"I've never seen one before, they look pretty cool"
"Gahhhhh…" Takao answered, putting it back in his pocket and slapping his hand against his wide forehead. The other boy smiled and held out a bandaged hand. Yuugi looked at it, but Ray grabbed his own.
"I'm Kon Ray"
"Motou Yuugi…"
"So what do you do for fun around here? Where's the competition?" asked Ray, gesturing around them. Yuugi smiled.
"Duel Monsters is definitely where the action is" answered Yuugi proudly. The other boys lifted an eyebrow.
"We haven't heard of it," said Ray.
"Blading is definitely better" Takao smirked. Ray and Yuugi both sighed.
"I'm sorry…he has a…competitive streak. As an apologetic gesture for him, we treat you to lunch? I need someone new to talk too…"
"I'd rather not. You don't have to apologise for me. Ray, I don't know if it's good for us to be hanging out with someone who doesn't even know what a beyblade is." Takao answered in place of Yuugi.
"Then what about Hiromi? She's been hanging out with us forever and still doesn't know what's going on!" said Ray, matter-of-factly. Takao turned red and crossed his arms.
"Ray, that's mean. You can't say that…"
"Fine. And here I thought you wanted to go to that food court, with rushing and bumping into people..." smirked Ray, as Takao eyes lit up and he turned and ran down the street.
"FOOD!"
The remaining boys gave a sigh and a weirded out look to each other.
"I'm sorry…that's just Kinomiya Takao for you, food manic and Beyblade champion…" Ray said.
"I hope you don't mind me saying but…you're very short! Just how old are you…?" Yugi went red and his eyes traveled to the ground.
"I'm 16…" he answered, shuffling his toe. His height had been the subject of bullying and pranks for many years, and though some good had come of it, it still hurt. It wasn't his fault that he was a head shorter then everyone else, was it?
"Your kidding…woah…I'm 16 too…most of us in the BBA team are…well, minus Kai and I guess you wouldn't really call Hiromi or Kenny part of the team technically…and Daichi is rather young, but he's not here anyway…"
"Team?" Yugi enquired.
"Yeah, Takao and I belong to the team representing BBA Japan, the world champion BladeBreakers or just the BBA" Ray stops and colours slightly, "sorry…did I seem to patronizing or stuck up? We're not really…we just like blading…"
Yugi looked up and smiled.
"Its ok, you didn't. You sound really good at Bey-…whatever it's called…" Yuugi said and they both laughed.
"Well I guess we are…we're very determined"
Nothing is said for several seconds. Yuugi bit his lip and smiled at Ray again.
"Uh…umm…shouldn't we be catching up with…umm…Takao, wasn't it? He's probably already there, nothings far here"
"Sure," Ray said as they started to walk in Takao's direction, "…so…what's Duel Monsters?"
"Konnichiwa, Usagi-chan!" a bubbly voice in front of the blonde said brightly as the voice's owner approached Hikawa shrine. Usagi shaded herself from the sun with a hand, as she glanced up at the new comers. Blinking, she could make out several dark figures.
"Are we late for the meeting?"
"Where's Rei-chan?"
"Hey! What are you reading this time?" A voice said kindly.
"HI GUYS!" Usagi cried, wincing as she felt something jump in the middle of the two odango shaped hair buns she had on either side of her head. Usagi whined and brushed a black cat off her head and flipped the two pigtails that streamed from her buns back over her shoulders. The black cat winked as it started pacing the wooden floor.
"Meow…you weren't studying, were you, Usagi-chan?" the cat said, as the other figures, who it appeared were used to this cat talking, laughed.
"Well, what are you reading Usagi? Its not the right shape to be a text book from school…and we all know the chances of it being from there" said an averaged height, bluenette, with ice blue eyes to match, standing at the side of the other two figures. A blonde on her right, wearing a short, orange, mini skirt, a red shirt with a big red bow in her hair, whispered the tall brunette next her.
"Of course, Ami, could tell the difference between a text book and another…another...umm…"
The brunette laughed and shook her head, much to the frustration of the girl with the bow.
"Well, Mako, she studies heaps, OK?"
"Well, more then you, Usagi and I, that's for sure!" Mako said, sending the group into a fit of laughter.
"Just because I don't do as well as you guys…especially Ami," Usagi started as everyone cast glances at the blunette, the resident school genius, "but it doesn't mean I don't study…"
"And your grades reflect it…." piped Luna the cat, smirking. Usagi glared down at her pet.
"I just have other things I want to do. Like read manga." Usagi said smiling, "All work and no play makes Usagi very bored."
The others burst out into laughter as one of the sliding doors opened and Rei stepped outside and sat next to Usagi.
"Did I miss anything? Sorry, Yuu-chan was coming to my rescue again. As much as I want rescuing from her, I wasn't the one who screamed and ran out of the room"
"Humpf! You were gonna hit me with your broom! I hate to think what might have happened if you had something that could kill!" Usagi said standing up, smoothing her blue mini skirt and adjusting her pink jumper.
"You think!" yelled Rei back and standing up, she stuck her tongue out at Usagi. Usagi, in childish response stuck hers out at Rei. The others sweat-dropped from the sidelines
"This could go on forever, " Ami remarked, leaning against a wooden pole.
"Nope, longer then that, Ami! " commented Mina.
"Why do they always fight?" Mako asked, not really expecting an answer.
"We'll never know" said Luna, as she jumped into Ami's arms.
"Takao-san really likes to eat doesn't he?" commented Yugi to Ray, as he watched Takao eat bowl after bowl of food. Ray laughed again.
"Yeah…I have no idea where he puts it all"
"Mmumpf…"was Tyson's only response, mumbled though a mouth full of food, crumbs spluttering out over the low table. They were seated in a large traditional Japanese restaurant and sat close to a window, though not much light from outside shone through the wooden blinds. Beyond them were several other tables, a buffet and the soft chattering of other customers could be heard.
"SEE! I told you they would be here!" said an annoyed female voice as it stepped up behind them. Ray groaned beside Yuugi and Takao nearly vomited.
"I never doubted you for a minute, Hiromi!" said another voice beyond the female, but not very far away.
"Why didn't you leave directions!" shrieked the female, a brunette with a pink shirt and a black skirt as Ray waved them to sit down. Behind her followed three males, though they didn't seem to be there on her account.
"Konnichiwa, everyone. This is Yuugi Motou. He had an unfortunate…accident with Takao earlier." Ray said with a killer smile that the rest of the group reflected, save for the older boy, a blunette and what appeared to be a bad boy attitude.
"Accident? Takao? What were you guys doing?" asked a blonde haired boy, with blue eyes, sporting ridiculously bright orange overalls and green top, sitting himself down in a chair next to Takao.
"Knowing Takao, it probably involved food, a road and a large truck" said the boy with bluish hair, dark eyes, a tank top which showed off his perfectly muscled chest, dark blue jeans and strange shark fin like markings on his face.
"Too bad he didn't do himself any harm. So…" he continued and motioned towards Yuugi, "are you a blader?" Yuugi, sitting across from him blinked and looked to Ray for assistance.
"Well, actually, Kai, Yuugi's a duelist." Ray said confidently, using his chopsticks to spoon some rice into his mouth. Takao had long ago started to renew his eating. The blonde boy however, had just arrived back from the buffet with a plate plentiful of food and managed to catch the tail end of the conversation.
"A duelist, eh? Well, I don't know what that is but it sounds cool. Hi," he said flashing a smile and once placing his food on the table, shaking hands with Yuugi, " I'm Mizuhara Max."
"I'm Tachibana Hiromi," the girl announces, sitting down on Tyson's other side, "and this is Kenny or 'The Chief' as we sometimes call him." She then motioned to a brunette boy who was just under Yuugi's height, with large glasses that appeared to be sitting on his head, his hair so thick you could not make out his eyes. Instead of a plate in front of him, a shiny blue metallic laptop sat, beeping away, as he typed things into it. The boy paused and smiled in Yuugi's direction.
'How does he get around with such big hair? Do those glasses actually serve a purpose?' Yuugi wondered briefly, before realising Hiromi was continuing with the introductions.
"…And this is Hiwatri Kai" The blunette gave a nod of his head in recognition of his name before turning to stare at the other customers. Hiromi took a gasp of air and continued " I guess you already know Ray and Takao…"
"Well, Takao is hard to miss…" Max joked, throwing his head back, then jumping forward, and forked his defending food and started to eat like Takao. Yuugi gave an amused glance to Ray who responded with a laugh, sending Yuugi into a laughing fit as well. The others in the group gave puzzled looks and Hiromi took the opportunity to move to the buffet. Takao looked up from his food to give the laughing pair a heavy glare.
"Ont…ke…foo...of meh!" Takao mumbled to companion it. The comment only sent everyone else in the group into laughter, as the other customers in the restaurant whispered and gave them strange glances. Realising they were disrupting the rest of the establishment they apologised, quieted down to eat and for several minutes nothing but silence and low whispers came from the group.
"YES! So that's it! Thanks Dizzi!" The Chief cried randomly, causing the group to give him their full attention. Kenny blushed red and tapped his fingers on the laptop. He'd been talking to it again…
"No problem Chief" the computerised Dizzi beeped breaking the silence. Yuugi smiled and leaned over to see the screen.
"Your computer reminds me of a friend of mine's computer...his can talk too…except his is a lot bigger…" He commented, pushing a button. Kenny brushed his hand away.
"Kaiba Seto, correct?" he asked, tapping more keys. The screen light reflected on his face and he looked eerie.
"Kaiba Seto owns that big, million dollar making building downtown, Kaiba Corp. We saw it looming over us when we first arrived, remember? The one with the moving dinosaur and the big flashing letters? Formerly, the World Duel Monsters Champion, until the one and only Motou Yuugi brought him his first defeat before going on to win the title "King of Games" at the prestigious Duelist Kingdom and several other key duels." Kenny said, repeating the facts that appeared on the screen for the others, who, minus Kai, shrieked in excitement.
"How come you didn't tell us you were practically the best duelist out there?" Ray asked with a smile.
"Wow…King Of Games sounds pretty impressive…" Max commented.
"Well…I'm not that good really…there are probably better duelists out there…." Yuugi said, getting shy and turning the colour of a tomato.
"Just none that have had the nerve to verse you, right?"
"You beat Kaiba! He's supposed to be the one no one can beat isn't he…"
"Yeah…you know I think I saw a television program on it once…"
Yuugi started to find the tablemat very interesting, tracing his fingers on the strands. He was a deep magenta now, still not used to attention.
"Everyone…give him a break…obviously he's not one to talk about how good he is. You're all acting like idiots" Kai suddenly broke in, the first time his deep voice had been heard. He appeared to have utter control of the rest of the group, as they calmed down and simply nodded and smiled in Yuugi's direction. Yuugi gave him a grateful glance, took a gulp of juice and his normal colouring soon returned.
"So, Yuugi…do you go to school around here?" asked Takao as he pushed his plate away, finally full, and burped to Hiromi's disgust. "'Cos, like, the BBA people sent us here to train and go to school for a while before the next tournament…I can see what he meant by absolutely no distractions…everyone's into those monster card thingys…"
Another pause occurred, while those of the BBA shook their heads and Yuugi sweat-dropped.
"Uh…yeah…I go to school here. My old school Domino High just merged with another, Juuban High, so they'll be a lot of new students…or old students…just new to me. My friends will all be there as well" Yugi said, trying to get rid of the weird silence. It broke and the others smiled.
"Cool! We'll all being going to school together then! It'll be nice to know someone," ever-cheerful Max said friendly.
"I don't know why Chairman Gogoro Daitenji sent us here. If he wants us to be ready for the next tournament he should have sent us somewhere with no school and plenty of beybladers to beat. There's just no point being here. It won't help." Kai said, though he had an indifferent tone in his voice. Something about his attitude did not make Yuugi want to warm to him; something instead wanted to either hurt him or send him to the shadow realm. In many ways he seemed like the old Kaiba-san, an attribute Yuugi did not hold in any fondness.
"Well, actually I think Mr. D, from the BBA, actually hit something rather ingenious. Here we have a town to practice beyblading in, where no one, and I mean no one, knows anything about beyblading. In this society we have to get on with daily life in a totally different environment, in a totally different way" the chief said, reminding all those that had met the intelligent fat man in a bowler hat's wisdom. Takao cried out and banged his head on the table, much to the passing waitress' distress.
"I have no idea what you where going on about just then!" he said as each person at the table uttered a sigh.
"Even little Daichi could have gotten that…" said Hiromi, commenting on the youngest of the team, spirited, red-headed Daichi's intelligence and highlighting his absence. He had, in fact, gone to visit his mother at their family village and would come much later in the season.
"He means that we have to do things different so we can cope with the pressure of change" Ray tactfully tried to explain.
"Then why didn't he just say that?" Takao asked in response.
Too much conversation, not enough story…
… # Rei Ant # …