Disclaimer: Beyblade, Tokyo, Harry Potter, England, I live in Canada. Get
the picture?
A/N: I will have to slow down the update from this day on. I realize that I have been saying this quite a lot, but this time, I think it is for real. I have just gotten a huge project on genetic engineering for RIM, and I have a 600 pages textbook of Recombinant DNA to get through in three weeks. Imagine the workload. So I am really sorry about all of this, but it's not possible for me to write so much anymore. And I have major cases of writer's block. Did I tell you how much I suck at coming up with a proper plot? (That means if you have wonderful ideas, tell me!) I will update at least once before Christmas vacation. But I warn you; this chapter and the next are mostly talk and little action!
I guess that's enough rambling. Thanks for all the review! *beam at readers* You guys rock! Now on with the story. This chapter is on the confusing side, but I beg you to bear with me. You will understand what everyone is talking about in the chapters to come.
The Blade Breakers sat around the table in the study, the beyblade tournament poster was laid open before them, and sitting on top of the poster was a chess set. The black army has every one of its pieces, though they were set in a peculiar formation. On the other side of the board it was empty.
"They have every piece set and ready, and what we destroyed in our small skirmishes before are replenished." Ray said quietly and gestured towards the board, " They set up this trap and are just waiting for us to jump in. We have only seven pieces, maybe seven power pieces, but it is still only seven."
Carefully he placed seven white queens on the board, arranged together.
Kai eyed the board and said in his dark voice, "They expect to move. We will move that one piece they wanted the most into their trap, as a bait." He moved one white queen up into the midst of the black pieces.
"And you imagine they will put all of their power pieces to the bait, and leaving only the auxiliary pieces guarding all sides." Shea said grudgingly, slowly moving the army of black pieces towards the white queen so that it was checked by both the black queen and the two castles.
"And our own power pieces can rip through their flanks as if they were made of paper." Ray said again, picking up the white queens and moved them around the black army, massacring the pawns, bishops and knights. The six white queens moved into position and circled around the black queen and castles.
"The game will be over then." He finished.
Kenny spoke up in a grave voice, "It is a risky plan. To cut through the auxiliary pieces like that requires timing and power. And slightest hint of movement will alarm the black queen and castles, and then it would be outbreak of a bloody war."
"And our bait piece is dead for sure." Max said hauntingly, knocking down the white queen that first entered the army of black pieces "I do not imagine he can unhook himself, despite all those great things he had done. He simply does not have that power."
There was a long silence. Then Kai said with a tone of finality, "That is the best we can do, and despite the risks, it has a great chance of success. We will do it. Agreed?"
His mahogany eyes swept across the table. Ray first nodded, firmly and decidedly. Max and Tyson slowly followed. Finally Kenny nodded too, though he seemed reluctant and he looked away pointedly. All save Shea gave their ascent. The dark-haired girl sat still like a statue, her face so pale as if carved of whitest marble. Slowly she shook her head.
"We can not just do it like that." She said with her teeth clenched, "This is treachery of the lowest level that even our enemy would not descend to."
Kai looked at her and rebuked sharply, "You put too ugly a name on it, Shea. It is only a straight line between point A and point B, the shortest and most efficient way."
"The shortest line between point A and point B is often curved." Shea replied, showing no sign of backing down, "For the fabric of space itself it curved due to the gravity of the celestial bodies. Even light travels the curved path."
"There are no celestial bodies blocking our path, Shea." Kai said, his eyes narrowing.
"Yes there are!" The girl's eyes were cold and hard, glinting like polished gold, "The gravitational force that bends our path is something called morality!"
Kai stood up abruptly, his mahogany eyes flaming. Shea glared back, rage clear in her golden eyes. Ray quickly put up a hand between the two.
"Kai, cool it." He said smoothly, "And Shea, do not grow angry. We know what you are saying."
Shea turned to him now, "You know what I am saying? I am telling you the end doesn't justify the means, and your plan doesn't not justify the ruthless ways that you will climb to achieve it!"
"Shea, listen to me!" Ray said, "You can not just consider the end and the means here, consider also the result and the price. I will tell you straight. I am willing to pay the life of anyone, foremost of all my own, if we can achieve our goal."
Shea looked at him, as if shocked beyond the confine of words.
Ray looked at her steadily and said in a solemn voice, "You think what we will do is a betrayal to him. But it's nothing against him. I am willing to take his place if it would work. If you do not believe me, I will swear to you then that I will try everything I can to keep him safe, and if he shall die because of our actions, I will pay for it with my own life."
Silence again, this time so thick and tense one can almost cut it up with a knife. Shea looked the raven-haired teen before her, with an incredulous expression, as if doubting her own ears.
"Please don't say something like that!" Finally she said in a teary, pleading tone, "Please reconsider. This is all too horrible."
Ray shook his head slowly but firmly, "I have placed down my words. Shea, please try to see it from our point of view. It is the best chance we have. And I beg of you stay in this with us, we need you."
The girl sank down in her chair and buried her face in her hands. Kai sat down too. In his mahogany eyes there was no longer flame, but embers of sorrow. He put a hand on the girl's shoulder and said nothing.
Then Shea raised her head. There were tears on her white face, but her voice was firm. She said, "I agree now. Let us go along with the plan."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In past years it was quiet and peaceful in Hogwarts around Christmas. The holiday air was always present, but it has never been excessive. The mood was always like a proper vacation. But it was different this year. Ever since the representatives from the Ministry of Sports and Entertainment came, the school was buzzing with excitement, despite the few students remaining in school.
At breakfast table Colin Creevy came to Harry and sat beside him with some extra excitement.
"So, what do you think of this new beyblade tournament, Harry?" He asked exuberantly.
"Er. I guess it's good." Harry shrugged, not knowing what to say.
Colin suddenly had a shrewd light in his eyes as he asked, "Are you thinking of joining?"
Harry shrugged, noticing more pairs of eyes on him, "I don't know. Probably not though. I don't think I am going to be any good at it."
"Why not?" Colin asked, "I mean, you are really good at quidditch. And you won that Tri-wizard Tournament when you were still in the fourth year."
Receiving no reply from Harry on that he went on asking, "Do you know if the Blade Breakers are in this? You are pretty tight with them, aren't you?"
"I don't know. I am not that tight with them, if you must know." Harry replied.
It's Colin's turn to shrug now as he said, "Yeah, I guess so. I wouldn't think anyone is that tight with them. They are a funny bunch."
With that he left the table, finally leaving Harry in peace. Harry sighed and turned to Ron and Hermione, who were following this conversation closely but did not say anything.
"That Colin Creevy really grinds my nerves." Ron said grumpily.
Hermione mused thoughtfully, "It's strange, you know? Everyone is so into this beyblade thing now. I never thought it would be this popular in our school."
"Well, I imagined it." Harry said nonchalantly, "You might not have noticed, but the first day when the Blade Breakers were here, they were pretty much surrounded by fans."
Ron shook his head disapprovingly, "For what? They are just like that Victor guy." Here he threw a reproachful glance towards Hermione, "Speaking of them, Harry, did you get a reply letter from them?"
Just then a snowy owl swooped down and landed in front of Harry, dropping a letter in his lap.
"I think here it comes." Harry said with a grin.
He opened the letter quickly. It went:
"Dear Harry:
We are glad to receive your letter. Right now we are in a far away place, so we apologize if the reply took a few days. What happened at the headquarter of the Order is rather a complicated matter. The details would take too long to explain, and it wouldn't be good to put too much on the paper. If you really want to know what happened, you can ask Mrs. Weasley perhaps. She was there also. It is not much of a surprise to us that there was no news of it on the Prophet. The Thames is not wholly correct either; so do not read too much into it. About the Beyblade Tournament, we are very surprised. We did not know anything of it before now. We do have some plans regarding this tournament, and we need your help. We can talk more specifically after we return to the school.
Best regard
Blade Breakers"
"What is this?" Ron said in disapprovingly, "What's with all that secrecy? Why can't they just tell us what happened."
"They do have a point, you know." Harry defended them good-naturedly, "The owl may be intercepted and all that. It is not really a peaceful time right now."
Ron said grudgingly, "Still, I hope they can tell us something next time. Maybe you haven't noticed, but they have not provided a single strand of useful information ever since we know them. And they are supposed to be well informed about everything."
Suddenly Hermione spoke as she held up a small paper package, "Look, they got you a present!"
"What?" Harry and Ron both exclaimed.
Harry took the paper package from Hermione's hand. It was wrapped in paper decorated with green, red and white strips, and a bow and the normal "Merry Christmas" message attached to it.
Eagerly and a little fearfully, Harry opened the package. He gasped at the sight of the present. It was a beautiful light green beyblade, and also a high-tech looking launcher.
"What does this suppose to mean?" Ron asked quizzically.
Harry fished through the paper package until he found a small note attached to it. It reads:
"Happy holiday! Hope you like the present. This beyblade is a state of art piece, most advanced, as good as the ones we ourselves use. Kenny designed it himself! And even if you don't like it, please do not throw it away in contempt. Try it, play with it, you will need it."
Hermione frowned and said, "Well, that was a highly unexpected turn. Do they want to recruit you for their team or what?"
Harry shrugged, "I doubt that. I mean, they are the world champions. But you know, this thing does look interesting."
He fingered the green blade, feeling its smooth sharp edge and watching the light glint of its metallic surface.
"Maybe we should test it out." Ron said excitedly.
Harry laughed, "Why are you so interested suddenly?"
Ron shrugged, "Everyone else is playing with it."
The three of them headed outside, crunching their way through the thin snow. They found a place without snow beside a large tree. Harry took out the beyblade and put it onto the launcher according the instructions. Then he pulled the ripcord, a little gingerly. The blade flew from the launcher and landed on the ground. It spun weakly. It smashed into the tree trunk, once, twice, and then stopped.
Hermione frowned, "That doesn't look mightily interesting to me."
Harry nodded. Quidditch was far more thrilling as far as he could see. Suddenly they heard a familiar sneering sound from close by. They turned and found no one else but Malfoy and his cronies.
"Well, if it isn't Potter practicing beyblade." He mocked, "How pathetic."
"Go away, Malfoy." Ron said impatiently.
Malfoy ignored him and pulled out a launcher and blade of his own.
"Let someone with competence show you how it is done." He said coldly as he fired the blade.
The small spinning object smashed into the tree trunk first, leaving a deep cut. Then it rebounded and came flying, missing their heads by an inch before doing a turn and flying back to Malfoy's hand. He caught it in his hand and smirked at them.
"That is a positive change in you, Malfoy." Hermione said coolly, "At least you touched something made by muggles."
Malfoy scowled, "What do you know, Mudblood? I am better than every muggle filth that ever known this thing. And this sport is more than what you think it is."
He sneered one last time before turning away with his cronies, leaving the threesome behind fuming and puzzled. Things are taking an even stranger turn.
A/N: I will have to slow down the update from this day on. I realize that I have been saying this quite a lot, but this time, I think it is for real. I have just gotten a huge project on genetic engineering for RIM, and I have a 600 pages textbook of Recombinant DNA to get through in three weeks. Imagine the workload. So I am really sorry about all of this, but it's not possible for me to write so much anymore. And I have major cases of writer's block. Did I tell you how much I suck at coming up with a proper plot? (That means if you have wonderful ideas, tell me!) I will update at least once before Christmas vacation. But I warn you; this chapter and the next are mostly talk and little action!
I guess that's enough rambling. Thanks for all the review! *beam at readers* You guys rock! Now on with the story. This chapter is on the confusing side, but I beg you to bear with me. You will understand what everyone is talking about in the chapters to come.
The Blade Breakers sat around the table in the study, the beyblade tournament poster was laid open before them, and sitting on top of the poster was a chess set. The black army has every one of its pieces, though they were set in a peculiar formation. On the other side of the board it was empty.
"They have every piece set and ready, and what we destroyed in our small skirmishes before are replenished." Ray said quietly and gestured towards the board, " They set up this trap and are just waiting for us to jump in. We have only seven pieces, maybe seven power pieces, but it is still only seven."
Carefully he placed seven white queens on the board, arranged together.
Kai eyed the board and said in his dark voice, "They expect to move. We will move that one piece they wanted the most into their trap, as a bait." He moved one white queen up into the midst of the black pieces.
"And you imagine they will put all of their power pieces to the bait, and leaving only the auxiliary pieces guarding all sides." Shea said grudgingly, slowly moving the army of black pieces towards the white queen so that it was checked by both the black queen and the two castles.
"And our own power pieces can rip through their flanks as if they were made of paper." Ray said again, picking up the white queens and moved them around the black army, massacring the pawns, bishops and knights. The six white queens moved into position and circled around the black queen and castles.
"The game will be over then." He finished.
Kenny spoke up in a grave voice, "It is a risky plan. To cut through the auxiliary pieces like that requires timing and power. And slightest hint of movement will alarm the black queen and castles, and then it would be outbreak of a bloody war."
"And our bait piece is dead for sure." Max said hauntingly, knocking down the white queen that first entered the army of black pieces "I do not imagine he can unhook himself, despite all those great things he had done. He simply does not have that power."
There was a long silence. Then Kai said with a tone of finality, "That is the best we can do, and despite the risks, it has a great chance of success. We will do it. Agreed?"
His mahogany eyes swept across the table. Ray first nodded, firmly and decidedly. Max and Tyson slowly followed. Finally Kenny nodded too, though he seemed reluctant and he looked away pointedly. All save Shea gave their ascent. The dark-haired girl sat still like a statue, her face so pale as if carved of whitest marble. Slowly she shook her head.
"We can not just do it like that." She said with her teeth clenched, "This is treachery of the lowest level that even our enemy would not descend to."
Kai looked at her and rebuked sharply, "You put too ugly a name on it, Shea. It is only a straight line between point A and point B, the shortest and most efficient way."
"The shortest line between point A and point B is often curved." Shea replied, showing no sign of backing down, "For the fabric of space itself it curved due to the gravity of the celestial bodies. Even light travels the curved path."
"There are no celestial bodies blocking our path, Shea." Kai said, his eyes narrowing.
"Yes there are!" The girl's eyes were cold and hard, glinting like polished gold, "The gravitational force that bends our path is something called morality!"
Kai stood up abruptly, his mahogany eyes flaming. Shea glared back, rage clear in her golden eyes. Ray quickly put up a hand between the two.
"Kai, cool it." He said smoothly, "And Shea, do not grow angry. We know what you are saying."
Shea turned to him now, "You know what I am saying? I am telling you the end doesn't justify the means, and your plan doesn't not justify the ruthless ways that you will climb to achieve it!"
"Shea, listen to me!" Ray said, "You can not just consider the end and the means here, consider also the result and the price. I will tell you straight. I am willing to pay the life of anyone, foremost of all my own, if we can achieve our goal."
Shea looked at him, as if shocked beyond the confine of words.
Ray looked at her steadily and said in a solemn voice, "You think what we will do is a betrayal to him. But it's nothing against him. I am willing to take his place if it would work. If you do not believe me, I will swear to you then that I will try everything I can to keep him safe, and if he shall die because of our actions, I will pay for it with my own life."
Silence again, this time so thick and tense one can almost cut it up with a knife. Shea looked the raven-haired teen before her, with an incredulous expression, as if doubting her own ears.
"Please don't say something like that!" Finally she said in a teary, pleading tone, "Please reconsider. This is all too horrible."
Ray shook his head slowly but firmly, "I have placed down my words. Shea, please try to see it from our point of view. It is the best chance we have. And I beg of you stay in this with us, we need you."
The girl sank down in her chair and buried her face in her hands. Kai sat down too. In his mahogany eyes there was no longer flame, but embers of sorrow. He put a hand on the girl's shoulder and said nothing.
Then Shea raised her head. There were tears on her white face, but her voice was firm. She said, "I agree now. Let us go along with the plan."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In past years it was quiet and peaceful in Hogwarts around Christmas. The holiday air was always present, but it has never been excessive. The mood was always like a proper vacation. But it was different this year. Ever since the representatives from the Ministry of Sports and Entertainment came, the school was buzzing with excitement, despite the few students remaining in school.
At breakfast table Colin Creevy came to Harry and sat beside him with some extra excitement.
"So, what do you think of this new beyblade tournament, Harry?" He asked exuberantly.
"Er. I guess it's good." Harry shrugged, not knowing what to say.
Colin suddenly had a shrewd light in his eyes as he asked, "Are you thinking of joining?"
Harry shrugged, noticing more pairs of eyes on him, "I don't know. Probably not though. I don't think I am going to be any good at it."
"Why not?" Colin asked, "I mean, you are really good at quidditch. And you won that Tri-wizard Tournament when you were still in the fourth year."
Receiving no reply from Harry on that he went on asking, "Do you know if the Blade Breakers are in this? You are pretty tight with them, aren't you?"
"I don't know. I am not that tight with them, if you must know." Harry replied.
It's Colin's turn to shrug now as he said, "Yeah, I guess so. I wouldn't think anyone is that tight with them. They are a funny bunch."
With that he left the table, finally leaving Harry in peace. Harry sighed and turned to Ron and Hermione, who were following this conversation closely but did not say anything.
"That Colin Creevy really grinds my nerves." Ron said grumpily.
Hermione mused thoughtfully, "It's strange, you know? Everyone is so into this beyblade thing now. I never thought it would be this popular in our school."
"Well, I imagined it." Harry said nonchalantly, "You might not have noticed, but the first day when the Blade Breakers were here, they were pretty much surrounded by fans."
Ron shook his head disapprovingly, "For what? They are just like that Victor guy." Here he threw a reproachful glance towards Hermione, "Speaking of them, Harry, did you get a reply letter from them?"
Just then a snowy owl swooped down and landed in front of Harry, dropping a letter in his lap.
"I think here it comes." Harry said with a grin.
He opened the letter quickly. It went:
"Dear Harry:
We are glad to receive your letter. Right now we are in a far away place, so we apologize if the reply took a few days. What happened at the headquarter of the Order is rather a complicated matter. The details would take too long to explain, and it wouldn't be good to put too much on the paper. If you really want to know what happened, you can ask Mrs. Weasley perhaps. She was there also. It is not much of a surprise to us that there was no news of it on the Prophet. The Thames is not wholly correct either; so do not read too much into it. About the Beyblade Tournament, we are very surprised. We did not know anything of it before now. We do have some plans regarding this tournament, and we need your help. We can talk more specifically after we return to the school.
Best regard
Blade Breakers"
"What is this?" Ron said in disapprovingly, "What's with all that secrecy? Why can't they just tell us what happened."
"They do have a point, you know." Harry defended them good-naturedly, "The owl may be intercepted and all that. It is not really a peaceful time right now."
Ron said grudgingly, "Still, I hope they can tell us something next time. Maybe you haven't noticed, but they have not provided a single strand of useful information ever since we know them. And they are supposed to be well informed about everything."
Suddenly Hermione spoke as she held up a small paper package, "Look, they got you a present!"
"What?" Harry and Ron both exclaimed.
Harry took the paper package from Hermione's hand. It was wrapped in paper decorated with green, red and white strips, and a bow and the normal "Merry Christmas" message attached to it.
Eagerly and a little fearfully, Harry opened the package. He gasped at the sight of the present. It was a beautiful light green beyblade, and also a high-tech looking launcher.
"What does this suppose to mean?" Ron asked quizzically.
Harry fished through the paper package until he found a small note attached to it. It reads:
"Happy holiday! Hope you like the present. This beyblade is a state of art piece, most advanced, as good as the ones we ourselves use. Kenny designed it himself! And even if you don't like it, please do not throw it away in contempt. Try it, play with it, you will need it."
Hermione frowned and said, "Well, that was a highly unexpected turn. Do they want to recruit you for their team or what?"
Harry shrugged, "I doubt that. I mean, they are the world champions. But you know, this thing does look interesting."
He fingered the green blade, feeling its smooth sharp edge and watching the light glint of its metallic surface.
"Maybe we should test it out." Ron said excitedly.
Harry laughed, "Why are you so interested suddenly?"
Ron shrugged, "Everyone else is playing with it."
The three of them headed outside, crunching their way through the thin snow. They found a place without snow beside a large tree. Harry took out the beyblade and put it onto the launcher according the instructions. Then he pulled the ripcord, a little gingerly. The blade flew from the launcher and landed on the ground. It spun weakly. It smashed into the tree trunk, once, twice, and then stopped.
Hermione frowned, "That doesn't look mightily interesting to me."
Harry nodded. Quidditch was far more thrilling as far as he could see. Suddenly they heard a familiar sneering sound from close by. They turned and found no one else but Malfoy and his cronies.
"Well, if it isn't Potter practicing beyblade." He mocked, "How pathetic."
"Go away, Malfoy." Ron said impatiently.
Malfoy ignored him and pulled out a launcher and blade of his own.
"Let someone with competence show you how it is done." He said coldly as he fired the blade.
The small spinning object smashed into the tree trunk first, leaving a deep cut. Then it rebounded and came flying, missing their heads by an inch before doing a turn and flying back to Malfoy's hand. He caught it in his hand and smirked at them.
"That is a positive change in you, Malfoy." Hermione said coolly, "At least you touched something made by muggles."
Malfoy scowled, "What do you know, Mudblood? I am better than every muggle filth that ever known this thing. And this sport is more than what you think it is."
He sneered one last time before turning away with his cronies, leaving the threesome behind fuming and puzzled. Things are taking an even stranger turn.
