The Generation
Chapter 14- Kai
Three days later, we were greeted by Mr. Chapman. He had given me a flyer. Appearantly Mr. Dickinson was planning an exhibition game between the All Starz and us, it would be followed by a weeklong Beyblades convention and a huge dance party each night. (As if I'd ever dance!) That was part of the reason why we'd transferred here. What Mr. Dickinson hadn't told us was that it was sponsored by the yeerk front organization, the Sharing.
Jake had explained the circumstances of Chapman's sacrifice to Visser three. You know, I really wish that my Grandfather would be willing to do that for me, but you know what? Voltaire was an asshole, plain and simple. And you know what else?
There are days when I want to be an asshole too.
"So why didn't you tell me that there were controller spies?" I demanded. "You almost gave me a heart attack! And how can we trust him not to turn us?" I jabbed a finger at Mr. Tidwell.
"Because Illim's tip-offs have saved out lives before." Jake answered. "Mr. Tidwell, I assume that you didn't come here just because you need to arrange a retest for Cassie's English Exam?"
"That is correct." Illim's stance and manner was completely different from Mr. Tidwells. I understood now what Cassie meant by saying that yeerks were the greatest actors in the Galaxy. "Visser three found Dragoon and Flash Leopard on satellite awhile back. He's been curious about Beyblades ever since he identified the name as being andilite in origin. He's going to take advantage of the event to try and kidnap one member of each of the main teams."
"He's going to take one member each of the All Starz..." Max's expression curled into a snarl of rage. "The Tigers..." Rei stiffened, growling in reaction to what he perceived as a threat... "The Majestics, The Demolition Boys, the Saint Shields, Team Psykick, one of you, and the two individuals going by the names of Zeo and Wyatt."
"Game over." Tyson said grimly.
Wyatt wasn't so bad, when he stopped being a whining groupie. Zeo was Tyson's problem.
//I take it this is not a good thing?// Ezimili and Ax asked at once.
"That list... Ax if he took them all, those are the most powerful teams in the BBA. Nobody else would have a chance! And he could use their contacts to spread the invasion to other countries!" Tyson ranted.
"They get them its game over. They'd have the European Union from the Majestics, Russia from the Demolition Boys, China from the Tigers. They'd reach New York. They'd have a foot hold in Japan, where the Saint Shields, the Psykicks, and us are the top three." I answered. "Then from there they'd spread to the smaller teams, Jose' in Mexico for example, or what's left of the Blade Sharks, The Dark Bladers would be the second European target once they took the Majestics. They'd be too much a threat to the Majestics, he has been before and the two teams do NOT get along."
"Tobias how many of the All Starz have you managed to clear?" Jake asked. I registered the urgency in his voice.
//Only Emily, I start on Eddy tonight, But Jake, I don't think that that's necessary anymore.// Tobias pointed out. //If the yeerks are talking about taking them then they aren't controllers right?//
"Right." Mr. Tidwell confirmed. "New York is in the top three of their Target Cities. Japan and the Euro Union are next in line. Then once they have Japan they'll use it as a jumping off point for China." He was drawing lines from each city to the next. "Moscow is half an hour's flight by bug fighter. A yeerk pool in Paris would be able to service the Demolition boys until they'd turned Balkov abbey into their base, and it would be able to hold the Majestics and the Dark Bladers captive. China is HUGE! It would take them longer to take it, to put down a base there in proportion to its population. The next pool would probably be in Tokyo, or if they take you it would be in Kyoto."
I recognized the tactic from when Tyson's grandfather had taught us Go. Tyson had begun his first game by drawing a line in black stones across the middle of the board. "It's a chain." I observed. "They're cutting the planet in half."
"Precisely." Mr. Tidwell explained. "They could pass troops and supplies along the chain."
"So what do we do?" Jake asked.
I grinned wickedly. "Total disruption. We have exactly one week until the game. We train and we track. There are enough of us to keep a watch on all of those teams. I'm not trying to sound manipulative, but we'll have to use all of our contacts with the BBA."
"There's an entrance to the yeerk pool in the convention center and another in the nearby Mc Donald's." Mr. Tidwell explained. "There's plenty of places to drag them into."
"We'll need a rescue team for whoever is getting down there." Marco pointed out. "Lets mix it between old school and new."
"How do we do that?" Tyson asked.
"Draw straws." Jake answered. "We'll have Ezimili go down there to be our time keeper. We can acquire Illim and use the yeerk morph to get past the gleet bio filters that they have in place. Tobias is out because we need him to be a look out above. Also, me or Kai, who draws the short straw, the other automatically stays up. We need to be ready to shift if they decide to take Kai."
"Jake, remember what happened to Aftran, how you gave her the opportunity to morph one creature and become a nothlit?" Mr. Tidwell asked.
"Yes." He answered, looking up from cutting six short, and six long pieces of hay.
"Would you be willing to do this again?" Tidwell asked. "Nine times?"
"I'll try. Cassie, how did you transport Illim?" Jake asked. "I need details."
"Plastic bag filled with water. Real yeerk up the sleeve." Cassie was drawing quick diagrams. "But I don't think that there's a need to enter the pool. We need a meeting place for us to go to and we need to make sure that everybody knows it."
"Store room?" Asked Tidwell. "The weapons room is too frequent. But the food rooms are pretty much empty."
"Great, do your people know where?" Asked Jake.
"Yup." Answered Tidwell. "We'll get it together for your people."
"What are the defenses like? Besides the filters what do they have?" I asked.
"There are hunter killer robots, so bird morphs are out. They might even attack you on the ground. But their weakness is their optical lenses, if you can crack or break them..."
"Or bird poop on them." Cassie put in with a small smile.
"Then they'll leave you alone. There are hundreds of hork bajir. We'll send people to back you up in case there's trouble, whoever gets stuck. Tobias, since they're clear, I want Kai to be sure to introduce you to the other teams." Jake nodded at me. "So that we can track them."
//How pray tell?// Asked Tobias.
"By forming our own team." Jake said sheepishly. "Cassie can you come up with a name?"
"Why me?"
Marco shook his head. "Jake, leave this to me. How about Team Hawk?" He asked, looking smugly at Tobias.
//I wouldn't mind that name. What am I, the team mascot?// Tobias asked, blinking. Was it just me, or did his hawk body look surprised.
"That's exactly what you are." Marco nodded. "Cassie got her falconer's license about two weeks ago. You'll make the perfect mascot. That also means that we can fit just about the entire team in on this."
"But I never learned how to beybattle!" Cassie protested.
"I'll teach you." Tyson grinned, "I'll show you later."
"Great." Cassie slumped.
"Who'll be the team captain?" I asked, arching an eyebrow cynically.
"Well, since Cassie is the only resident falconer, I was thinking that she could..."
"JAAAAKKKKEEEEE!!!" Cassie protested. "All of you may know the rules for a game that entails monsters coming out of speeding tops made with some kind of weird gyroscopes, but that doesn't mean that the rest of us...."
"Everybody who thinks that Cassie should be captain and defacto leader of Team Hawk, raise your hand..." Jake said.
"Yes, raise your hand, raise your hand if you're sure!" Marco sang happily.
"MMMAAARRRCOOOO!" Cassie was flushing deeply.
"I think you'd be a great Beyblade Team Captain." Rei said defensively.
In the end it was a vote of twelve to one, guess who the one was.
Then it came time to draw straws. //What is this obscure human custom?// Asked Ezimili.
"It's a method that we use to decide something fairly." Kenny explained. "Right, I'm holding five short and six long straws. There is no way of knowing which is long or short. Each of you draw one, except for Ezimili, who goes regardless, and Tobias, who stays regardless."
Tyson drew. "OH WOW! I DREW SHORT!" He hugged the straw. "Thanks Kenny! I owe you one! Cause there is no way that I'm left behind in a fight!"
Rachel drew. "Short, great."
"Betcha five bucks she says lets do it." Marco whispered to Rei.
"LETS GO FOR IT!" Rachel cheered.
"Your turn Marco." Rachel said briskly.
"Long straw, long straw, long straw." Marco muttered under his breath, closing his eyes. He drew. "YES LONG STRAW!"
"Cassie?" Kenny held it out to her.
Cassie gulped, and drew. "Short straw, looks like I'll be keeping Tyson and Rachel under control." She smirked.
"Now that is grossly unfair." Tyson pouted.
Ax drew. //I belive that this straw is long. That is too bad.//
"Kai?" Kenny held out the straw.
I pulled. "Short."
"Have fun." Marco said, happily shaking my hand. "Go get killed instead of me. Or better yet, don't get yourself killed doing something stupid and stupidly insane."
Kenny held out the straw to Hillary. "Short."
"Okay then, the rest are long straws unless one of the long straws get captured." Jake nodded, content with that solution. "Illim, we need to acquire you now, those of us who don't have a yeerk morph. We all acquired Erek's yeerk, or us older kids. But the new kids need one."
"Right." Tidwell held his hand to his ear. The yeerk slithered out. Tidwell, the real Tidwell, handed Illim to me, before scrubbing furiously at his ear. "Sorry, it just makes me feel... kind of empty."
I didn't answer him. I closed me eyes and focused on the yeerk DNA.
Chapter 14- Kai
Three days later, we were greeted by Mr. Chapman. He had given me a flyer. Appearantly Mr. Dickinson was planning an exhibition game between the All Starz and us, it would be followed by a weeklong Beyblades convention and a huge dance party each night. (As if I'd ever dance!) That was part of the reason why we'd transferred here. What Mr. Dickinson hadn't told us was that it was sponsored by the yeerk front organization, the Sharing.
Jake had explained the circumstances of Chapman's sacrifice to Visser three. You know, I really wish that my Grandfather would be willing to do that for me, but you know what? Voltaire was an asshole, plain and simple. And you know what else?
There are days when I want to be an asshole too.
"So why didn't you tell me that there were controller spies?" I demanded. "You almost gave me a heart attack! And how can we trust him not to turn us?" I jabbed a finger at Mr. Tidwell.
"Because Illim's tip-offs have saved out lives before." Jake answered. "Mr. Tidwell, I assume that you didn't come here just because you need to arrange a retest for Cassie's English Exam?"
"That is correct." Illim's stance and manner was completely different from Mr. Tidwells. I understood now what Cassie meant by saying that yeerks were the greatest actors in the Galaxy. "Visser three found Dragoon and Flash Leopard on satellite awhile back. He's been curious about Beyblades ever since he identified the name as being andilite in origin. He's going to take advantage of the event to try and kidnap one member of each of the main teams."
"He's going to take one member each of the All Starz..." Max's expression curled into a snarl of rage. "The Tigers..." Rei stiffened, growling in reaction to what he perceived as a threat... "The Majestics, The Demolition Boys, the Saint Shields, Team Psykick, one of you, and the two individuals going by the names of Zeo and Wyatt."
"Game over." Tyson said grimly.
Wyatt wasn't so bad, when he stopped being a whining groupie. Zeo was Tyson's problem.
//I take it this is not a good thing?// Ezimili and Ax asked at once.
"That list... Ax if he took them all, those are the most powerful teams in the BBA. Nobody else would have a chance! And he could use their contacts to spread the invasion to other countries!" Tyson ranted.
"They get them its game over. They'd have the European Union from the Majestics, Russia from the Demolition Boys, China from the Tigers. They'd reach New York. They'd have a foot hold in Japan, where the Saint Shields, the Psykicks, and us are the top three." I answered. "Then from there they'd spread to the smaller teams, Jose' in Mexico for example, or what's left of the Blade Sharks, The Dark Bladers would be the second European target once they took the Majestics. They'd be too much a threat to the Majestics, he has been before and the two teams do NOT get along."
"Tobias how many of the All Starz have you managed to clear?" Jake asked. I registered the urgency in his voice.
//Only Emily, I start on Eddy tonight, But Jake, I don't think that that's necessary anymore.// Tobias pointed out. //If the yeerks are talking about taking them then they aren't controllers right?//
"Right." Mr. Tidwell confirmed. "New York is in the top three of their Target Cities. Japan and the Euro Union are next in line. Then once they have Japan they'll use it as a jumping off point for China." He was drawing lines from each city to the next. "Moscow is half an hour's flight by bug fighter. A yeerk pool in Paris would be able to service the Demolition boys until they'd turned Balkov abbey into their base, and it would be able to hold the Majestics and the Dark Bladers captive. China is HUGE! It would take them longer to take it, to put down a base there in proportion to its population. The next pool would probably be in Tokyo, or if they take you it would be in Kyoto."
I recognized the tactic from when Tyson's grandfather had taught us Go. Tyson had begun his first game by drawing a line in black stones across the middle of the board. "It's a chain." I observed. "They're cutting the planet in half."
"Precisely." Mr. Tidwell explained. "They could pass troops and supplies along the chain."
"So what do we do?" Jake asked.
I grinned wickedly. "Total disruption. We have exactly one week until the game. We train and we track. There are enough of us to keep a watch on all of those teams. I'm not trying to sound manipulative, but we'll have to use all of our contacts with the BBA."
"There's an entrance to the yeerk pool in the convention center and another in the nearby Mc Donald's." Mr. Tidwell explained. "There's plenty of places to drag them into."
"We'll need a rescue team for whoever is getting down there." Marco pointed out. "Lets mix it between old school and new."
"How do we do that?" Tyson asked.
"Draw straws." Jake answered. "We'll have Ezimili go down there to be our time keeper. We can acquire Illim and use the yeerk morph to get past the gleet bio filters that they have in place. Tobias is out because we need him to be a look out above. Also, me or Kai, who draws the short straw, the other automatically stays up. We need to be ready to shift if they decide to take Kai."
"Jake, remember what happened to Aftran, how you gave her the opportunity to morph one creature and become a nothlit?" Mr. Tidwell asked.
"Yes." He answered, looking up from cutting six short, and six long pieces of hay.
"Would you be willing to do this again?" Tidwell asked. "Nine times?"
"I'll try. Cassie, how did you transport Illim?" Jake asked. "I need details."
"Plastic bag filled with water. Real yeerk up the sleeve." Cassie was drawing quick diagrams. "But I don't think that there's a need to enter the pool. We need a meeting place for us to go to and we need to make sure that everybody knows it."
"Store room?" Asked Tidwell. "The weapons room is too frequent. But the food rooms are pretty much empty."
"Great, do your people know where?" Asked Jake.
"Yup." Answered Tidwell. "We'll get it together for your people."
"What are the defenses like? Besides the filters what do they have?" I asked.
"There are hunter killer robots, so bird morphs are out. They might even attack you on the ground. But their weakness is their optical lenses, if you can crack or break them..."
"Or bird poop on them." Cassie put in with a small smile.
"Then they'll leave you alone. There are hundreds of hork bajir. We'll send people to back you up in case there's trouble, whoever gets stuck. Tobias, since they're clear, I want Kai to be sure to introduce you to the other teams." Jake nodded at me. "So that we can track them."
//How pray tell?// Asked Tobias.
"By forming our own team." Jake said sheepishly. "Cassie can you come up with a name?"
"Why me?"
Marco shook his head. "Jake, leave this to me. How about Team Hawk?" He asked, looking smugly at Tobias.
//I wouldn't mind that name. What am I, the team mascot?// Tobias asked, blinking. Was it just me, or did his hawk body look surprised.
"That's exactly what you are." Marco nodded. "Cassie got her falconer's license about two weeks ago. You'll make the perfect mascot. That also means that we can fit just about the entire team in on this."
"But I never learned how to beybattle!" Cassie protested.
"I'll teach you." Tyson grinned, "I'll show you later."
"Great." Cassie slumped.
"Who'll be the team captain?" I asked, arching an eyebrow cynically.
"Well, since Cassie is the only resident falconer, I was thinking that she could..."
"JAAAAKKKKEEEEE!!!" Cassie protested. "All of you may know the rules for a game that entails monsters coming out of speeding tops made with some kind of weird gyroscopes, but that doesn't mean that the rest of us...."
"Everybody who thinks that Cassie should be captain and defacto leader of Team Hawk, raise your hand..." Jake said.
"Yes, raise your hand, raise your hand if you're sure!" Marco sang happily.
"MMMAAARRRCOOOO!" Cassie was flushing deeply.
"I think you'd be a great Beyblade Team Captain." Rei said defensively.
In the end it was a vote of twelve to one, guess who the one was.
Then it came time to draw straws. //What is this obscure human custom?// Asked Ezimili.
"It's a method that we use to decide something fairly." Kenny explained. "Right, I'm holding five short and six long straws. There is no way of knowing which is long or short. Each of you draw one, except for Ezimili, who goes regardless, and Tobias, who stays regardless."
Tyson drew. "OH WOW! I DREW SHORT!" He hugged the straw. "Thanks Kenny! I owe you one! Cause there is no way that I'm left behind in a fight!"
Rachel drew. "Short, great."
"Betcha five bucks she says lets do it." Marco whispered to Rei.
"LETS GO FOR IT!" Rachel cheered.
"Your turn Marco." Rachel said briskly.
"Long straw, long straw, long straw." Marco muttered under his breath, closing his eyes. He drew. "YES LONG STRAW!"
"Cassie?" Kenny held it out to her.
Cassie gulped, and drew. "Short straw, looks like I'll be keeping Tyson and Rachel under control." She smirked.
"Now that is grossly unfair." Tyson pouted.
Ax drew. //I belive that this straw is long. That is too bad.//
"Kai?" Kenny held out the straw.
I pulled. "Short."
"Have fun." Marco said, happily shaking my hand. "Go get killed instead of me. Or better yet, don't get yourself killed doing something stupid and stupidly insane."
Kenny held out the straw to Hillary. "Short."
"Okay then, the rest are long straws unless one of the long straws get captured." Jake nodded, content with that solution. "Illim, we need to acquire you now, those of us who don't have a yeerk morph. We all acquired Erek's yeerk, or us older kids. But the new kids need one."
"Right." Tidwell held his hand to his ear. The yeerk slithered out. Tidwell, the real Tidwell, handed Illim to me, before scrubbing furiously at his ear. "Sorry, it just makes me feel... kind of empty."
I didn't answer him. I closed me eyes and focused on the yeerk DNA.