Thanks very much to the following reviewers:
kaz: (blushes) Aww, thanks!~I want to be a writer when I grow up so I'm so excited you like my writing! You know that feeling you get when you have to do or say something immediately and you get really anxious until you actually do it? That's kind of what Mariah's going through. J
HikArI-T3nShi: Yeah, I'm having a problem with the battles. Have you noticed they win every time? At first I had good excuse-the other bladers were pretty pathetic, but I had to make the BB team win this one. If they lost, they'd be playing against the Beginners, which means I'd have to get rid of the White Tigers and the All-Stars pretty quickly. And we don't want that to happen, do we? And I totally agree with you that Tyson actually looks cuter than Kai in the V-Force season. (;
Galux Kitty: I'd help you if I could, but I don't know what a lemon fic is. Actually, for how long I've been on this site, I only just figured out that OOC meant "Out of Character". And when is Ray rude to Mobekai? They never even come into contact. But I want to thank you because I think you're the only one that doesn't care about it-the only one that still favors Ray/Mariah! Yea! Double yea!J
Suzuran: (cries) Oh no! You've only reviewed twice and you already hate Ray!? What have I done?! Hehe-aren't guys always heartless idiots? Sorry if that sounds harsh-I don't actually mean it. We love them and we hate them, eh?
neko-neko(): NOOO! If you kill Ray, I won't be able to finish the rest of the story and then I'll have to put Mobekai with Mariah. Actually, that's probably what you want since you favor that pairing, huh?
Authors Note:
Poor Ray-he hasn't done anything and he's already up for public murder because everyone feels bad for Mobekai! He's just a little clueless, because he views Mariah as a friend still. If only he knew, if only…
But I really do have to agree that I felt so bad for Mobekai in the last chapter. Man, if any guy made me his second choice, I'd whack him over the head and kill the girl.
But Mobekai isn't Mariah' second choice, you know? She just wanted to see if Ray was interested in making their relationship more. But she still loves Mobekai as much.
Disclaimer: Any misspellings, confused references or mixed up teammates are purely accidental and are a result of the author's new innocent fascination with the world of beyblading. Kira Ocelet, Mobekai Tart, Danika Woods, Colby Peterson and Trish ?? belong to me.
By the way, the gang is 14 in the series cause they are in 8th grade, so 2 years later: that would make almost all of them about 16-a right good age to start having feelings for the opposite sex.
Italics are thoughts.
Bold Letters are songs.
*Michelle*: Oh no you don't! Just where do you think you're going?
*Ray*: AHHHH! Who are you? Trish! SecretQuill! Help! Some weird girl is in-
*Michelle*: (Whack!) It's me you idiot! SecretQuill! I changed my name cause Michelle sounds more human.
*Ray*: Oh. Hi. Did you really change your name? Hehehe…help?!
*Michelle*: I don't think so. Trying to sneak off, huh?
*Ray*: I don't know what you're talking about.
*Michelle*: Oh, don't deny it. You're staying here with me.
*Ray*: I'm going to go insane if I stay here with you two girls, I swear! And I'm really missing the rest of the Bladebreakers. I bet Kenny's discovered something fascinating and Max has a story to tell. Let's invite them over!
*Michelle*: (frowning) Let's not. You'll try and escape with them. But if you're that longely, I'll just send Kai right over.
*Trish*: NO! Please! Anyone but him!
*Michelle*: Hehehehe…torture victims.
*Ray*: I really hate it when you screw your face up like that.
*Michelle*: (Whack!) Some people just don't know when to shut up.
*Ray*: You can't keep me captive here forever!
*Michelle*: How long is forever again? I forgot.
*Ray*: AHHHHHH!
*Michelle*: (sighs) You'll just have to get used to it. You'll never escape me, because you're my #1 priority!
*Trish*: Hey!
*Ray*: (wrenching hair) glad…to…hear…it!!!
WATCH THIS!
Chapter 13: Sealed with a Kiss
"Come back to the White Tigers, Ray," Mariah pleaded.
"We've been through this before, Mariah. Please don't bring it up again. I'll always be your close friend. You know that."
"But Ray, would you ever-I mean, would you ever want to be something…more?"
He stared so thunderstruck at her. The question had come out of left field in his mind. He wasn't sure how she had plucked that deduction out of the conversation they'd just been having. Or why the thought had even entered her mind in the first place that they could be something more?
Ray must not have been seeing what he thought he saw in the garden this morning because he was sure only an hour ago she'd been kissing Mobekai and if that was the case, there was no way she would be asking him this. Was she serious?
She saw the confusion on his face and suddenly laughed, her face brightening,
"Joking…" she gasped, though it sounded quite forced, "I was only joking, Ray. Lighten up."
But was she? Maybe she was serious about the whole thing. It didn't make sense. If she'd been joking the entire time, she wouldn't have looked so sullen and serious. Had it really been a current possibility in her mind and was it the reason she'd held back for so long? He wondered if she'd only been covering up.
Her face turned long,
"But I'm quite serious about before. I really want you to come back to the White Tigers, Ray. We need you so much. We miss you. I know it sounded so out of place, especially with the conversation we were having-that's why I added the other question-but I miss blading with you, really."
He didn't answer her though. He didn't know what to say. She was quite red in the face as they entered the stadium, which immediately erupted into cheers.
"Finally! Ray's showed up and the battles will continue. Facing Ray will be Zom the Zombie from the Dark Bladers!"
"RAY!!" Kenny and Tyson waved him down furiously.
"Ray?" He turned and saw Mariah staring at him in reaction.
He still didn't know what to say, so he stared at the ground until the words came to him.
"I-I've made my decision, Mariah. I made it a long time ago when you offered me the same ultimatum. I'm sorry. I-can't let my team down."
"Like you did a long time ago?" She harshly asked.
"It's not like that Mariah! I'm still every bit a part of the White Tigers as you are-we're still best friends, but I can have more friends too. I like talking to you Mariah-I'll never stop being your friend. But lately, I feel like you've been acting like the jealous friend for a while. Can't I still talk to you even though I'm not on your team? It's not like we're severing ties completely. It's just that I've felt like I could do better in Beyblade and when I'm with the Bladebreakers, I battle my best. I feel like I belong there. I-don't think I could put into words what they've done for me as a blader. But it could never-never cut the relationship I have with you guys. We grew up together-I gave you your first blade. I couldn't forget memories like that."
"Yeah, we had fun, didn't we? Maybe it's my fault-I've never bothered to come and talk to you about all this before and we kind of distanced ourselves, you know? I don't know you as much as I thought I did and vice versa. But we could start over again. I'm not mad anymore, really. I was just giving it one more shot. But you've made your decision--and--I'm okay with that…really. I know what it's like being forced to make a decision."
"Please don't be mad at me, Mariah. I didn't know you were upset because we never talked."
"I'm not mad at you. I never was. I won't ask you anymore about it, Ray, okay? I told you I'm fine," Mariah demanded, feeling a little embarrassed and trying to make it sound like she knew what she was doing, "Now go down and win the match! Everyone's counting on you, so don't screw it up, okay?"
She winked, trying to look happy, turned, and disappeared into the crowd. In truth, she really wasn't upset about Ray not joining the White Tigers. Well, she was, but that wasn't what she'd wanted to approach him about. She knew now he'd never join back as she'd been asking him the same question for almost three years. It'd been a cover-up for the real reason she'd approached him. She'd seen the look of surprise on his face and had panicked. He wasn't ready to hear that from her. And she'd gotten her answer. The only good thing about the entire conversation was that they had been talking about things that mattered to both of them-something they hadn't done for a while: talking like two good best friends. And that topic really was something that had been on her mind; she was glad they could talk it over…but not as boyfriend and girlfriend. She smiled. Maybe it was better that way.
A rush of anxiety entered Ray's heart at having to part on that note. He felt like an idiot not having figured out that the silence between them was because neither had actually approached the other. And he'd enjoyed talking with her. But reality came rushing back hard as the frantic calls of Tyson, Kenny and Max called his name once again below.
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When Mobekai saw Mariah enter the stadium with Ray, his heart dropped. So she'd made her decision. Mobekai wasn't going to continue trying to steal her heart if she was still stuck on Ray.
He hated Ray. He didn't know much about him, but Mariah's obsession with him had turned his friendly acknowledgment of him into pure jealous hatred.
He clutched the sealed package in his hand that he had handed earlier to Danika and feeling slightly guilty, thought I just have to hand this over to Tai-Ken and then who can dare say it was I that took it?
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"Finally! What kept you?!"
"Traffic-I ran into a few problems; I'm sorry."
They were inside their official backstage room and Ray was rummaging through his stuff.
"C'mon, we've only got another minute," Max had one hand on the door handle.
Ray looked everywhere-even in the most unusual places. He dumped his bag on the ground and then began to tear stuff out of his locker.
"Gee, Ray," Tyson dodged a shoe, "Could you watch where you are throwing stuff?"
"Ray, what are you doing? We need to work on your strategy for this match!" Kenny cried, "We don't have much more time before this battle starts and everyone is already upset you delayed us once!"
Ray, seeing as it wasn't in his locker, began to open the drawers of the only desk in the room. Maybe he'd placed it there and he couldn't remember, but every single one was open.
Then he moved to the chief's locker in exasperation,
"Aahhhhh, Ray!" Chief moved to block it, "Don't you go through my stuff!
"Sorry, Chief…" Ray apologized, turned again and began to turn over chairs, his face screwed up in utter concentration.
"Ray, what are you looking for?" Max let go of the door and moved forward.
"I can't find him…" he croaked, "Why do I always have to lose my blade!?!?"
Tyson and the Chief stared in horror and Kenny voiced everyone else's thoughts,
"You've lost your blade?"
"Yes!" Ray turned, looking quite helpless, "I swear I put it in my bag, but it's nowhere! I can't seem to find it! How could this happen?" He sat down heavily on the bench.
"I'll blade then." Kai stepped up, "Seeing as the rest of you aren't prepared."
"Hey! I can battle!" Max defended.
"You're going next," Kai walked up to the bench and stopped right in front of Ray, "You should be ashamed of yourself. You weren't there to discuss strategy, you made your team late, we've had to keep an entire stadium of people waiting and you can't even keep track of the one thing that should mean the most to you: your beyblade. That's pathetic."
Tyson's fists clenched,
"Hey, Kai, don't you think that's a bit harsh?"
"It's true, though," Ray hung his head miserably, "I'm so sorry."
"Just make sure you don't do it again. You better have found that blade before the next time we battle. How can we trust you to win for us if you can't even be responsible with your own bit-beast?"
"I said I was sorry," Ray defended, "I can't believe my blade would just disappear!"
"It will show up Ray. Driger always does. And you should have the most experience, seeing as he's left you twice," Max finally opened the door.
"Thanks for bringing it up," Ray flinched.
"Sorry," Max sympathized, "The truth hurts."
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Emily watched Kai walk onto the field. The All-Stars were sitting low to the right of the entrance.
"Where is Ray? Why have they put Kai in?"
"Maybe he was too late," Eddy speculated.
"I'm not sure." Dr. Judy frowned, "Take notes on this match, Emily."
"I'm already on it," Emily replied, storing a mental folder as Kai lazily faced Zom. She rarely liked to take notes and left all the computer details to Judy. She stored and analyzed everything mentally and it was a great advantage in the stadium to know everything and anything without consulting team members or a laptop. Not that Kenny's laptop, Dizzi, was bad or anything.
"Umm….I don't believe it. The Bladebreakers aren't putting Ray in. Instead, captain Kai Hiwatari has stepped up to battle. Kai is one tough blader, isn't that right A.J.?" Brad Best called called.
"That's right. And he doesn't battle too often, so there must be a special occasion going on." A.J. Topper replied.
"That would be this match Topsy ("Brad, it's Topper")! It's gonna be pretty special if you ask me!"
"Well, no one asked you."
"On your marks!" The Jazzman lifted an arm and the crowd cheered, "3…2…1…Let it Rip!"
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Zom laughed as his blade began to wear down on Kai's Dranzer. This was going to be too easy. But there was something wrong. He'd seen the awesome power of his Dranzer and somehow...the match seemed too easy.
Kai grinned,
"Is that the best you can do?"
"No! Watch this!" Zom knew Kai was taking it easy and ordered his Zombie to slam Kai's Dranzer.
Kai's Dranzer flew, but stopped right on the edge of the stadium. Zom watched with silent bated breath before Kai's Dranzer fell…back into the stadium.
Zom tried to hit Kai's Dranzer again, but Dranzer side-stepped his attack and Zom almost flew out of the stadium himself.
"I'm tired of playing cat and mice. Dranzer attack!"
Kai commanded fiercely. His blade began to glow red before the bit-chip opened and the magnificent red phoenix appeared, crying out in anger.
"Fly Dranzer!" Kai ordered again.
The bird spread it's wings out and flew high before coming down hard right on top of Zom's spinning blade. Zom's zombie appeared out of his blade, but it was too late to react and it disappeared again. It stopped spinning underneath Dranzer.
"Kai wins this round making the Bladebreakers the champions! The Dark Bladers will get another chance to pull through against the beginners tomorrow in Austria!" A.J announced.
Kai walked back to his seat proudly.
"Oh! Very good job, Kai!" Mr. Dickinson appraised.
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Colby dressed quickly and put her hair into a ponytail so that if it rained, her wet hair wouldn't get in her face. She raced down the stairs and almost ran into the attendant ("Watch yourself miss!") before catching a taxi right outside the hotel. She hoped to catch some of the match before it ended, but as she rode in the taxi, she could see the BBA screens above several retail stores and knew that it was already over.
"So, what's your name?"
"Jacques. I am ze French immigraant lookin' for money. And you must be a beybladder?"
"Well, I'm not a bladder, but woui, I'm definitely a blader-Colby Peterson. Will you root for me?"
"Most certainly! Please-enjoy your stay here in Italy!"
"I will, thank you."
Halfway through town, the man suddenly slid on the brakes.
"What's wrong? What's happening?" She leaned forward curiously.
"Just ze traffic, mademoiselle. Please stay seated."
"I don't see a wreck."
"Zis probly just rush hour."
"No, it's too early for that…Wait a moment! What was that?"
She rolled her window and stuck her head out. She was sure she'd caught a glimpse of white ahead, but it must have just been her imagination. She was still stuck on the semi-dream she'd had about the white hare.
"Keep going; I'll be back!" She opened the door and walked down the line, careful not to get run over by oncoming traffic.
"Miss Cobby! I must insist yu come back where zis safe! You will be paid for zis-I will not stop ze meter!" He called out her open window.
She turned and waved merrily,
"It's fine! I'll be back soon, Jacques!"
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"Hey, Hiwatari," Kai turned around to see Trish with the rest of her team, "You did good."
"I'm glad you approve," he muttered, though he really was grateful for the compliment.
She smiled,
"Yeah, same as always."
"Hey, catch you guys later, then?" Kira smiled.
"Yeah, we will probably," Tyson responded, "We're going to beat you too."
"I wouldn't count on it," Trish shook her head.
"Bye Ray." Danika winked as they disappeared beyond the stadium. She could hear Max and Tyson's taunts to Ray behind them and smiled. The grass was full on either side with all of the people that had attended the match. She could see the All-Stars and other competing teams in the distance.
"Mobekai! Mobekai, wait up!"
Mobekai turned around next to Danika, surprised to actually hear his name being called through the roaring noise of the crowd.
Mariah Mynx was trying to make her way through the crowd. Danika was sure Mobekai would grin and try to meet her halfway, but instead he turned around and continued walking with Trish ahead as if he hadn't even seen her.
"Mobekai!" Mariah finally reached up to them and put an arm on his shoulder, "I need to talk to you!"
But he shrugged her off,
"Go away, Mariah."
"Stop being a stubborn twit!" She demanded, forcing him to face her. He looked away, pretending to admire the scenery.
"Fine! If you won't listen, then that's your problem, but at least look at me, Mobekai!"
Finally giving in, he looked down at her.
"I've made up my mind, all right? I just realized who I love more and I would like to tell you."
"I already know it's Ray so you don't have to tell me-I saw you walk in with him."
"Oh, stop having a pity party for yourself. Your pride is hurt."
"Well, excuse me for thinking it possible that you could actually love me-" Mobekai snapped angrily.
"Will you just listen? I love you, Mobekai. Ray's a great friend, but I don't think he wants to be anything more and you-you are so…kind, and sweet, and so great to me, and I want to give you a chance."
"Really?"
She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him softly,
"Yes, Mobekai. I choose you."
He laughed,
"You're so dramatic."
"I know."
He grinned and kissed her back when she locked lips with him.
"Oooohhh!" Danika and Kira chorused together. Trish only raised an eyebrow skeptically, "Moby's got a girlfriend! Moby's in love…! Hahaha!" They began laughing and Mobekai and Mariah broke apart instantly.
"When you all are quite finished acting like children…" Trish coughed rather loudly and crossed her arms.
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Final Note: Awwww! How sweet! Darn! Gosh, I kind of want to keep Mariah and Mobekai. The poor All-Stars: where have they been in all this? So sad…
