Me: Hello everyone! Guess who I've brought here today! Laynie Kim!
Everyone: Yay…
Me: *sweatdrops* Hrm, she's here anyway… but-
Laynie: Wrong. I'm outta here.
Me: *grabs Laynie's arm* Why!? Can't you be social for once?
Laynie: *glare* Do I look like a social type or what? You of all should now, you created me remember?
Me: He he. You're right. And that means that I can change you whenever I want to… *evil grin*
Laynie: *rolls her eyes* Please, you starting to sound like the guy who created Frankenstein!
Me: Damn you Laynie! You can go and launch that spinning thing of yours. I don't need you here anymore.
Laynie: The name is BEYBLADE. And I'm planning to see Kai actually.
Me: Great. Then tell him that he's mean! Goodbye!
Laynie: *snorts*
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Chapter Nine: Eye of the Tiger
Laynie watched the people outside the BBA bus and tried to push away all the butterflies that were flying around in her stomach.
[What's wrong with me? I'm not getting nervous usually…] She thought and frowned. Nothing was like it was before she had met the Bladebreakers. Feelings she thought she didn't have appeared whenever they wanted to now.
Laynie sat in the very back of the bus, with Kai two seats in front of her. Kai… Laynie could feel a little smile grow on her lips, thinking of the blue-haired boy.
What was going on between them? Laynie wasn't sure of anything now. All she could think of was the night before when they lay in the grass, watching the stars…
[Watching the stars!] It was close to that Laynie would've snort loud. All of the feelings she despised so much felt suddenly so comfortable and nice that she wanted to hit herself for being so weak.
The thoughts she had before sleeping in yesterday was still very clear.
Was it really a weakness or a source to joy and happiness?
Before she met Kai, she was absolutely sure about it. Seeing what "love" had done to her mother and her family.
[But I'm not my mother and Kai is not my father…] Laynie sighed loud. This wasn't the best thing to think about when a semi-final waited.
- "Oh no! We're facing the White Tigers!" said Kenny and grimaced.
- "You must be kidding!" shouted Tyson and turned to Kai. "Who more than you sits on the bench today?"
Kai gave Tyson an annoyed gaze. "Four bladers play the semi-finals." He said.
- "So, it's done then?" shrugged Max. Everyone expected that Kai was on the bench as usual.
- "No." Kai gave Ray a glance. "Ray will be on the bench and I'll take the last round."
Tyson's jaw dropped. "What? Why can't Ray take the fourth round?"
Kai crossed his arms over the chest and sighed. "We can't take the risk that Ray might lose because of his feelings."
- "What are you talking about? Ray and Lee are through with their fight long time ago!"
- "He's not talking about Lee." Said Laynie and frowned. "Why can't you just accept what your captain says?"
Tyson glared at Laynie and once again, Ray had to be the peacemaker…
(A/N: Aaawww, poor Ray!!!!)
- "Guys! Stop it! I don't mind and it's about time that Kai battles. We wanna make it to the finals right?" He said and looked at his team. They nodded and he smiled.
- "And to do that, we've to focus!" Kenny opened his laptop again and started to type furiously.
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- "Welcome to the semi-finals between the Bladebreakers and the White Tigers!" shouted Jazzman in the microphone. "Today, they'll battle about who's gonna continue to the finals! Block A's battle is already over and the winner of this block, B, will meet the Black Cats in an amazing final!"
[As I thought, the Black Cats won…] Kai closed his eyes. They stood in the middle of the stadium, waiting for Jazzman to announce them. They were standing very close and Kai could feel Laynie's arm touch his. It made him fuzzy and warm, not the best feelings when a semi-final waited… Suddenly, he could feel Laynie tense and followed her gaze up on the gallery.
First, he couldn't see anything particular but when Nicholas stern face was seen, he understood. [They must be here to check out our strategy and moves…]
Laynie forced herself to take a deep breath to calm down. [The only thing I can do is to show Nicholas that I'm unbeatable! Forget all those confused feelings about Kai!]
- "And we welcome the Bladebreakers to the semi-finals!" Jazzman pointed down at them.
(A/N: I'm sorry if I'm sounding a little distracted, but I'm watching the new episodes of Beyblade. Aaaawww! I can't believe that Kai betrayed the Bladebreakers! But Tala's hot! *drools* And I wonder how Ivan can see anything behind that nose… o.O)
[Come on… Get this thing started, will you?] Thought Laynie and clenched her teeth in frustration.
(A/N: Damn, damn you Kai! How could you do this to the Bladebreakers????!!!!!!! Sorry, but I've to pause here cause I'm in shock! KAI stealing bitbeasts!!!??? *sob sob* I dun know WHAT to do!!! Aaaaarrgggh!!!!)
- "And here we have the White Tigers! They were defeated by the Bladebreakers in the Asian Championships and I bet they're out for revenge! I'm Brad Best and I got A.J Topper here by my side!"
- "Thank you Brad! I don't think we should wait any longer now. Let the battle begin!"
Max who was the first one to battle stepped up to the bowl. The bowl today was a recreation of a parabola.
(A/N: Okay, I don't like Mariah but no one deserves this… I wanna smack Kai or something… I hate you! I hate you, do you hear me Kai!!!!)
- "Max here is the one in the team who plays on defense and he's good at it! If you take a look at his static's, you'll see that he's no pushover! But he's facing Kevin and he'll do everything he can to knock Max out of the bowl!"
(A/N: How could you Kai! Leave Dranzer like this! You don't deserve Laynie!)
- "Bladers ready? THREE… TWO… ONE… LEEET IIIT RIIIP!"
- "Go Draciel!" yelled Max as he launched his blade into the bowl.
- "Come on out Galman!" Kevin launched his blade and made it crash into Draciel. But he was pushed back by Draciel's speed.
Kevin's eyes widened. "No! Attack him again!" And sent his blade crashing into Draciel again.
(A/N: Go Max! Go Max! Go Max! Go Dranzer! Go Dranzer! Jump Kai! Are you insane or what!? You lost! Wow, talk about splintered feelings… Go Kai! Go Kai! You're normal again! Go Kai! Hihi!)
- "Come on out Draciel and show him who's the boss!" Max called out his bitbeast and a second later; Galman was knocked out of the dish. Max raised his fist in the air and made a V-sign with the other.
- "Yes Maxie! You won!" Tyson thumped Max's back, making him cough.
Max smiled. "Hey, take it easy! Remember, we still got three battles left!"
- "I'll show them how a Champion work!" replied Tyson.
[Careful Tyson, don't get overconfident…] Laynie thought and watched her blue-haired teammate step up to the bowl.
Tyson and Gary's battle lasted quite long and it was very close to that Tyson would have won, if someone in the crowd hadn't shouted something about Gary's eyebrows… That made Gary furious and it increased Galzzy's power to max.
Tyson walked back to his teammates with an angry look on his face.
- "I wanna strangle that kid who shouted that to Gary! I was sooo close to win!" He said and measured how close it was between his thumb and forefinger.
- "It's okay, Tyson! As Max said before, there's still battles left." Kenny said in a teaching tone, making Tyson sweatdrop.
Max laughed. "We get it, Kenny! But we gotta support Laynie now! Where is she?"
Laynie was already up at the bowl, waiting for Jazzman's countdown. She gazed up into the crowd and met Nicholas stern gaze without moving a muscle in her face.
[So you think I'm weak? Watch this then!] She thought and watched Mariah get ready on the other side.
- "Nice to see you again, Laynie. But I don't know if the battle will be…" Mariah said and smirked.
- "Well, we know who won last time…" replied Laynie and shrugged. Mariah glared at Laynie and stuck out her tongue.
- "Looks like we've a real cat-fight here! Do you get it? Both of them has a tiger bitbeast and both of them is girls!" Shouted Jazzman and smiled at his own joke.
Laynie rolled her eyes. "Shut up and get this battle started!" She yelled at him, making everyone stare at her.
- "Hello?" She shouted again and ignored the others.
- "Ouch, what an attitude that girl got! But, I guess we better get this party started! Bladers ready? Good. On my countdown then. THREE… TWO… ONE… LEEET IIIT RIIIP!"
Laynie launched Drizzler into the bowl and made it circle around Mariah's pink one. Once again, the speed made it almost invisible. Laynie smirked. Drizzler felt stronger than ever and he hungered to get out.
- "Why wait then? Come on out Drizzler and show Galux what it means to be a REAL tiger!" She shouted.
A red beam of light flashed out from Laynie's blade and the bitbeast of Kim could be seen. The tiger let out a mighty roar and ran up to the pink blade with incredible force and power.
- "Wow, looks like the tiger has found its yarn!" Jazzman leant over to see better from his high position.
Mariah snorted. "You're not the only one who has a tiger to summon! Galux, let's shred the blade into pieces!"
Galux relieved from her blade and collided into Drizzler.
- "That's right Galux!" yelled Mariah and raised her fist into the air. "So, what do you say now Laynie?"
Laynie crossed her arms. "Drizzler! Sunbeam, NOW!" She commanded and her blade flew up in the air. It started to glow in a bright, yellow light.
- "You see Mariah. Now when Drizzler has picked up so much speed and heat it has to dump it somewhere. Wouldn't your blade be a perfect target?" She smirked and cocked one eyebrow. The blade stopped in the air, and started to fall down again. Right at Mariah's Galux.
- "No! Mountain Cat Attack!" Mariah's eyes narrowed into cat-like slits.
- "Too late!" replied Laynie as her diamond blade hit Mariah's, sending it out of the dish and landing next to Mariah's feet. She stared down in disbelief.
- "And Laynie makes it 2-1 to the Bladebreakers when it's time for the last round! What a fantastic battle!" Brad's voice beamed out in the stadium and the crowd started to applause.
Laynie caught her blade and gave Mariah a little smile. "Thanks for a good battle." She said.
- "Yeah, you too." Mariah smiled back. "I'll see you at the banquet!" And then she returned to her team again.
[Banquet?] Thought Laynie as she walked back. She met Kai on the way and stopped.
- "Good battle." He mumbled and Laynie gazed at him in surprise.
- "Thanks. I guess… Good luck!" She said and gave him a broad smile and walked past him.
Kai was a little surprised he too. First of all, he said "good battle" and after that Laynie said "good luck" like they were such normal and cheery peoples as everyone else.
Strange to us maybe, but when two loners like Kai and Laynie appear as they like each other it's a big thing.
Kai won the round with a smart battling style and they were now done for the finals! The trip back to the hotel became very cheery… Tyson just COULDN'T sit down and ran around in the bus like mad…
- "Tyson sit down! We've to focus on the battle tomorrow remember!" Scowled Laynie and gazed at him.
- "Come on Laynie! Be a little happy sometimes!" replied Tyson and slammed Laynie's back. She shot a death-glare back and turned her head away.
Tyson sweatdropped. "Now you're acting like Kai again." He said.
[I AM happy, Tyson. But I've got the hardest test ever before me…] Laynie thought and leaned her chin in the hand. A worried look appeared all over her face and Kai noticed silently.
[Laynie seems to be troubled. Again.] He thought and frowned. His feelings for her were twisted. Something told him that he should support and comfort her, meanwhile something else told him that he shouldn't.
- "It's too late for team practise tonight, so I suggest that everyone trains by themselves." Said Kenny, glancing on his watch which showed at 6.05 p.m.
- "Sounds okay to me. Don't count on me for dinner." Laynie shrugged and returned to stare out through the window.
(A/N: Poor Kai! I wanna comfort that uh… cartoon… Don't accept Black Dranzer again! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Kai took a deep breath and got control over his thoughts again. His mind was a mess and the thoughts struggled towards different targets. He wanted to win the Championships, he wanted to tell Laynie… Tell her what? That he cared about her? That he wanted to be with her? Would she believe him? Or just turn away? The only way to find out was probably to spend more time with her…
(A/N: NOOOOOOOOOO!!! Kai lost!? Kai LOST? But he didn't use Black Dranzer though…)
~ An hour later… ~
Kai and Laynie were alone up in the hotel room. Kenny, Max and Tyson were out for dinner and Ray was, as he said, checking out some stuff. But Laynie and Kai both knew that he was seeing Mariah.
- "So, what are you gonna do now?" asked Laynie before even noticing it herself. When it only was she and Kai, she could put down her cold attitude and the game she always played. With Kai, she was always relaxed and comfortable.
- "Practice. To make sure that we win tomorrow." Kai picked up his Dranzer and clenched it into his fist.
Laynie picked up her diamond blade and smirked. "What about a little battle for training then? I wanna win as much as you want to." She said. "And I have to…" She added quietly.
- "Whatever." Kai opened the door and gave Laynie a look telling her to follow. She smiled and grabbed her launcher.
The training room was empty and dark when Laynie and Kai entered.
- "Choose a bowl." Laynie made a gesture towards the three bowls. One of them was a copy in miniature of the Eiffel tower, the second a classic bowl and the third a desert. "Take the one you will prefer to loose in." She added, giving him a mischievous smile.
Kai smirked. "Let's take the classic bowl so you can't hide nowhere." He replied. "And we'll see who the loser is."
[Yeah, let's find out. But I don't think you're prepared for the little surprise I got…] Laynie put Drizzler onto the launcher. Drizzler shimmered secretly in the light, making Laynie smile.
- "Your ready?" Kai asked and Laynie nodded. "Three…"
- "Two…" Continued Laynie.
- "One…"
- "Let it rip!"
Laynie and Kai launched their blades into the bowl and started a chase in rapid speed, the whole time tackling each other.
[What is Laynie up to? I can see that she's planning something…] Kai thought, watching Laynie smirk in satisfy.
- "I'm tired of this cat and mouse game now… Drizzler, listen up! It's time for some THUNDER!" Shouted Laynie and the diamond blade started to sparkle in electricity. Suddenly, the red tiger rose from the blade.
- "Okay, so we're playing it like that now? I call on you, Dranzer!" Kai smirked when the great phoenix rose with a mighty roar, rising to the sky. "Fire Arrows!"
The bitbeasts (and the blades) collide into each other and was sent flying out of the bowl both of them. Laynie and Kai caught their blades in the hand at the exact same moment.
- "I guess,…" stuttered Laynie. "I guess it's a tie."
Kai stared at his blade. "Hmph."
- "I've never tied before…" mumbled Laynie and pocketed her blade. [I thought I'd more to give…]
[Why didn't I beat her? And what was the last attack?] Kai frowned and gazed at Laynie who seemed to be as much surprised as himself.
- "Looks like you've got better since our first battle, Laynie. And now when we've figured it out, maybe we can return to the room before Tyson place us on the "Wanted" list?" Kai cocked his eyebrow.
Laynie shrugged and walked to the door. She tried to push it open but it seemed to be locked or something.
- "Let me try." Growled Kai and Laynie took a step away from the door. He tackled the door with his shoulder but nothing happened.
Laynie closed her eyes and shook her head in disbelief. "Two times at the same hotel? I wanna sue them or something!" She groaned.
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I think I'll leave it there as a little cliffie… hehe. I'm a little meanie am I? I know that all my A/N:s were a little disturbing but I was so frustrated… In the next chapter I'll put in some more Ray/Mariah fluff, okay? The finals will NOT be in it, cause I wanna focus on some Laynie/Kai getting closer.
Last, but absolutely not smallest: THANKS TO ALL REVIEWERS! :D
I know I promised to get the chapter up fast if you review, but I wanted to make the beybattles good… neway, thanx for answer my little questions and if you're curios about the plot, email me and I'll tell! ;)
Buttery (Bread 'N' Butter): it's not a fun thing to be banned from the internet… *groans* I'll add some more Ray/Mariah in the next chappie. Hope your mum got the job! Happy birthday to you! *sings* Happy birthday to you, happy birthday…
Silverninja: LoL, if someone should be in Laynie's place, it would've been me! Hehe, no I'm just being bad now. I think we all can get a piece of him! :D I promise that the storyline for the sequel is pretty good.
Kay: *blushes* Thank you! But I dun know if it's SO good… More Laynie/Kai will come!
nise-angel: Thanx *bows*! And now you've got a new chappie!
Mystique Rain: Thanks to you 2! More Ray/Mariah and Laynie/Kai will come in the next chapter! Your fic BBA High is SOOO good! It's awesome! Thanx for adding me at MSN! I'm not lonely anymore! *teary eyes*
SilverWingPhoenix: Yeah, I thought it was about time too. And Laynie was the right person to do it don't u think? :)
Surfergurl16: More Ray/Mariah to come! *nods* I think it's much easier to write that stuff cuz Ray is more nice and friendly than Kai… *sigh*
Cola4ever: I will add more Mariah/Ray okay? (hey, that rhymes!) and I'm planning a sequel!
Suicidal Maid: Glad 2 hear that! I hope the storyline for the sequel is good… But I think so!
If I've forgotten someone in here, u MUST tell me okay? And thanx again to all of the reviewers! The next chappie's name is "Giving Away My Thoughts" and I'll type as fast as I can to update!
/ Emma a.k.a dragon-eyes22