[Notes:
Behold, my first-ever Beyblade fanfic! All for the Livejournal community under the name of beybladeyaoi, which started a challenge where you picked two numbers, 1 through 35 and you get emailed which characters you've randomly picked. So then you either made a picture or a fanfic from the two characters you got. I was of course ph33ring I would get some really hard pairing, and indeed, I kind of got a tricky one with a few ways it could work to my advantage. But yeah, I picked 13 and 30, which turned out to be Ozuma and Carlos.
The thing about Carlos is that he's a guy who only appears in the first episodes of Beyblade's first season (and I've never seen those episodes) so I'll be proud to say this is my first successful fic of where I've starred a character I've never actually seen for myself on the screen. XD So if Carlos is acting OOC at all, that's why.
Since it's my first creative attempt at Beyblade ever, I expect it all to be rusty, but for a first time (with the deadline being at June 11th, so I just BARELY got this puppy in on time) I'm pretty proud of it. And it IS fun and I'll definitely be trying my hand at another Beyblade fic soon. But I really wanna focus my attention back on my Tamers fic, By My Decision for the better part of this summer since I've missed it so. I just graduated, I'm sure my schedule will be a mess with college coming up, but I'll fight it! I love doing this ever-so much! X3
To keep it all interesting, I added some backplots of the Saint Shields and Tyson/Max stupidity to keep it all flowing. Hopefully it'll maintain your interest. I guess you could take the various hints flying around as Miriam/Max or Tyson/Max or maybe BOTH (since he's a whore like that), but the main actual PAIRING focus is Ozuma/Carlos so yeah. XD I wasn't too specific on the details. And YES, I spell it Miriam because that's how you're SUPPOSED to spell the name. Don't listen to Nelvana's lies. Same with Drigger. If it's pronounced like it has two g's, then it has two g's, goddamn you all. And as I know in Japan the name IS 'Mariamu', Japan has excuses to fuck up foreign names, seeing as they use so many of them for Beyblade in particular. But for the good ol' USA, we do it RIGHT and say Miriam! And yes, I mostly keep the dub names except for a few exceptions. For my own reasons I use 'Tyson' instead of 'Takao' but I'll be DAMNED if I use Granger in place of Kinomiya. So damn you all, he's Tyson Kinomiya in this story because I said so. XD
Okay, I think I'm done. Like I said, try to enjoy!]
"Look, would it kill you guys to have a bitmore work ethic?!"
Ozuma sternly looked to his longtime friends— the Saint Shields— bringing him nothing but a collective rolling of the eyes from each of his teammates.
"Work ethic?" Joseph scoffed at the word. "I hide under vans and risk my hide getting info from some hoity-toity scientific institute full of losers, and that's not work ethic? Dunno what planet you're from, Mister Big-Shot."
"That's all well and fine," Ozuma assured, but looking nowhere near sold on Joseph's excuse. "But doing all that didn't get you Drigger out of the deal, now did it? You shouldn't sweat the small stuff; we're all here on a mission. We're not very well fulfilling our mission if we're sitting on our butts and doing nothing, do you understand?"
"Okaaaay, so try looking at it this way," Miriam suggested. "We're practically stalking these guys, right? At least every week, I'm sure of that. You think, somewhere down the line, we might be getting to know these guys and what they're capable of? Since we're pretty much becoming the equivalent of irritating relatives that bother each other every other day for cash or something totally stupid like that?"
Ozuma rose one of his very large eyebrows. "What exactly are you implying, Miriam?"
That granted Ozuma another roll of the eyes. "I've trash talked Max so many times that my conscience is beginning to murder me for it; I can tell he loves Draciel dearly. He may be a sweet cheeky little boy, but I'm beginning to think with just a little more of my motivation," cue a Miriam wink, "That he may be worthy of owning that Sacred Bitbeast after all. He might've had it in him the whole time and I just couldn't see it. I mean, I'll look into it more, but I definitely know by now that he's not gonna misuse Draciel for any reason whatsoever. I think I'll show him my appreciation by giving him a little break. After all, kids are impressionable youths at this age; I don't wanna emotionally scar the guy by making him think the whole world's after him."
"In other words, you got soft," Ozuma said with a low hiss. "That's just great, Miriam. Way to go. Hope you're proud of yourself and your humanity while you're risking the safety of that bitbeast." He couldn't even bear looking at her any longer. "Dunga, Joseph? Am I gonna expect the same mush out of you two for why you're lazing around?"
As Miriam gave Ozuma a 'Talk-to-the-Hand' gesture, Joseph stood up from the large crate he was hanging from. "Sis is right, though," he admitted. "Maybe you never cared to watch my battles with Rei, but that guy's always going above and beyond in just about every battle he gets himself into. In fact, it's kind of freaking me out how far he'll go to protect Drigger… it's like he'd rather be tortured or something. Maybe even killed! And you know what, Ozuma? I don't think I'm going to kill the guy in order to see if he's worthy of his Sacred bitbeast." He frowned in irritation, hoping that would've meant something to his comrade. "I'll keep tabs on him, of course, but it's like Miriam said: I think he's earned himself a break. I don't think anyone, no matter how capable they are, can take all this work in good health. What's really disturbing is that Rei acts like he's BEEN through worse before, so—"
"So boo-hoo, compassion never got us anywhere, did it?" Ozuma interrupted, fed up with the emotional confessions already. "I can't believe you, Joseph. Dunga, if your excuse is seriously something like this, then…"
"KAI REALLY PISSES ME OFF!!" Dunga shouted all of a sudden. It was certainly enough to rile up the rest of the Saint Shields to the point of making them collectively thud to the ground on their sides.
"…Uhh…"
"And I don't think I have enough medication on me to last weekly visits to him, honestly," Dunga concluded, now significantly calmed down the second he popped a couple of pills. "Sorry, Ozuma. I wouldn't be fit to steal Dranzer away if I put myself back in the hospital. Right? Besides, I know for a fact the world won't bust up into a buncha flames just cuz he's got Dranzer for a little while longer. Some R&R might be good for us both, huh?"
"You're all unbelievable," Ozuma grumbled, scratching his head in frustration. "And it's obvious you're not trying hard enough, because I can find plenty of reasons why Tyson probably isn't the right guy for owning Dragoon!"
Joseph only shrugged. "It's true they're all part of the same team, but I don't think they're a collective bunch of Tyson clones. It could just very well be that Tyson doesn't deserve Dragoon but the other guys have earned their bitbeasts."
"Then they should be punished for not properly teaching their teammate otherwise!" Ozuma insisted.
"Please, they're big boys," Miriam countered, though she hardly sounded like she was taking the debate seriously at all. "Tyson can take care of himself just as much as the other Bladebreakers can take care of themselves. There's no reason at all to treat him like a special case because he's just like everybody else when it all comes down to it."
Nothing Ozuma could do to counter the argument, since he wasn't completely sure how Tyson compared to the rest of his teammates. So, he tried a different method of persuasion. "Okay, so you're all certain that Kai, Max, and Rei aren't a problem anymore, and it's just solely Tyson? Then we'll just focus all our energy and attention on him. I'm sure with the four of us concentrating on him, we'll get Dragoon in no time." A statement such as this made it obvious to the other three Saint Shields that Ozuma was just fishing for excuses to get them to work. He didn't want to work alone.
"We're just fine managing our respective Bladebreaker on our own, Ozuma!" Dunga barked out, tossing his remaining medicine on the ground in front of him. "No reason YOU need special help just because you're slower at teaching Tyson the right way to be responsible for his bitbeast!"
This drew a smirk out of Miriam. "Big Angry Guy's got a point there. However inferior Tyson may be to his team, he couldn't be so daunting that he requires all four of us to show him the light. I mean, eventually he's gotta reach some kind of revelation, right?"
"We're just one step away from seeing Rei, Kai and Max as being worthy keepers of their bitbeast," added Joseph. "Whereas Tyson's more like five steps, right? Think it might be possible that it's not entirely his fault, Ozuma?" Joseph added a wink, giving Ozuma more than enough hint as to what he really meant.
"So you're saying I'm a lousy teacher," Ozuma stated, turning his back from the others to hide the look of surprise and disgust on his face. After all, he well knew he was the leader of the Saint Shields… and if anyone were to see any weakness in him, would that really make him any better than Tyson? It was just as difficult for him to think up how to answer that honestly to his teammates. He wasn't even aware of a problem in the progress of his tutoring Tyson… other than the fact that Tyson was almost entirely unwilling to learn…
"Ahh, so you're a lousy teacher and Tyson's a lousy student," Miriam joked. "No big deal. Maybe with some extra work you'll both learn something on the way…"
It was bad enough being mocked, but Ozuma knew he wouldn't get anywhere or have anything accomplished if he continued to remain where he was, feuding with his teammates. At such times, it made Ozuma a little jealous of Tyson for having such a close-knit group of friends to call teammates. In all the years he had been with Dunga, Miriam and Joseph, he was lucky to even call them friends. No one really had much emotional attachment to the other.
Even Miriam and Joseph's relationship, as they were siblings, wasn't much to speak of. It was mostly one sibling showing off his or her blading skill to the other. Emotional problems and 'having fun' were never much present for this group; partially it could be a result of their harsh upbringing in their village, but even now it seemed the kid in everyone wanted to burst out and take over for a day or so since they had gained a bit of insurance from their respective Bladebreaker.
Everyone but Ozuma. His Bladebreaker wouldn't give him such satisfaction of having a break; he was just that stubborn.
It only made Ozuma loathe Tyson even more, increasingly so as he left his team's hideout with his tail between his legs. If only he could prove Tyson wasn't capable of handling Dragoon… perhaps he could feel the same bit of positive joy his teammates were currently experiencing?
The next day invited good weather, and a perfect time for an outing at a local amusement park. The warm, welcoming summer air… the pleasant, fun-filled atmosphere… and naturally, the convenient period of time where school had let out for three whole months. Tyson and Max couldn't have felt better.
"Man, just pick something, Tyson!" Max urged, crossing his arms and tapping his foot impatiently. "The others already went on without us, and you're still trying to decide on which ride you wanna go on!"
"One day out of the whole month where we don't have to practice sharpening our blading skills and actually get to have fun the whole time…?" Tyson's eyes briefly narrowed at Max before looking back to the map he had out. "Sorry Maxie, but I like organizing my goof-off days for maximum fun time in order to enjoy it. Guess you can say I learned how to appreciate them seeing as I barely get them handed to me these days!"
Max wasn't convinced. "That sounds so unlike you… but hey, fun days aren't supposed to be about planning and organizing, you know. It's about doing what you want and then just going wherever the day takes you!" Thinking about the prospect was already making him grin.
But, Tyson only held up an index finger, letting Max know he wasn't about to succumb to his evilly-cute method of persuading others to his point of view. "And where are we, Max? Are we in Las Vegas…? No? Are we in New York City…? No…? Oh, could we be… in Tyson's country? You think? Are we really in Japan…? Why, yes! Yes we are!"
And, of course, Max didn't like taking mockery from Tyson any more than he liked taking it from Miriam. "Well, so what?"
"Tyson's country means we get to have fun Tyson's way," the aptly-named Tyson concluded. "Tyson's way dictates that we plan out our fun for the day because, well… I said so!"
"I would've gone with Rei if I'd known that," Max muttered, looking annoyed. "So, what? Do I have to stand here and wait around for you?"
Elsewhere… well, maybe not elsewhere. Actually, just a few feet or so from where Tyson and Max stood, there was a fairly tall tree. Ozuma, who apparently enjoyed hanging out in the trees just as much as the other Saint Shields, sat with his back against the trunk of the tree, not taking an eye off his oblivious company. Being on the branch closest to the ground, Ozuma was easily able to hear what the two Bladebreakers were discussing, and thankfully, with them being so distracted over planning out their day off, never did notice they were being watched.
'Man, does everyone have the day off but me?' Ozuma thought bitterly. Watching Tyson and Max act like an old married couple right in front of him just hit Ozuma harder on the fact that he was working alone. He had no close friends, let alone someone to actually consider liking more…
Ozuma almost jumped when he heard a cell phone go off. Squinting down to see what was happening, he noticed Max was digging around in his pocket.
"Ahh, just a second, Tyson," Max said, successfully pulling out his loudly-beeping grey-colored Cingular. "Hm… it says 'Payphone'. Think I should answer it?"
"Whatever, just get it over with," Tyson urged, folding up the map and putting it in his pocket. "I just got the schedule figured out!"
Max shrugged and took the call. "What perfect timing… uh, hello? … Yeah, this is Max… who's— huh? My what…?"
Ozuma pondered for a moment, as he seemed to be interested in who would be calling Max through a payphone… perhaps someone he knew would do something like that…?
"What about my refrigerator?" Max asked, looking confused. "Yeah, it is… why?"
Of course, this made Tyson cover his mouth to muffle his laughter, as Ozuma only rolled his eyes.
"What the…? HEY!!" Max looked infuriated at his phone, partially of course from the embarrassment, and partially from the fact that he actually let his guard down enough to fall for a dead and tired prank call. "It's you again, isn't it?! Your voice is starting to sound familiar after calling me every week! You'd better stop it, because it isn't funny at all! Hey…! HEY!" One of Max's rare growls of anger slithered out as he hung up and pocketed his phone in one swift motion. "Oh, she did NOT just hang up on me! AGAIN!"
Ozuma couldn't help but smirk. 'Something tells me work pretty much equals play for Miriam…'
"It was a girl?" Tyson asked, still hopelessly trying to stifle his snickering.
"No comments from the peanut gallery, Tyson!" Max ordered sternly. "And I mean it! This HAS been happening every week, and I swear I'm about to—"
It started to ring again.
Max glared down at his pocket momentarily before looking up to a smarmy Tyson that practically just dared him to answer it. The frown eventually became gritted teeth, as Max once again picked up his phone, but this time started moving away from Tyson. Apparently it was getting personal now.
"I'll be right back," Max assured in nothing but a serious tone, which was all but fitting for him. He walked to where he could have a moment to himself, which seemed to disappoint Tyson as it meant he'd have to wait even longer.
"You've got five minutes!" Tyson called back out to him. "After that, I'm leaving without you…!"
Ozuma sat up from his resting position and sighed. It was only a pity he couldn't get the same joy Miriam got from teasing Max whenever he trash talked Tyson. Lord knows he either needs it or asks for it all the time, but Ozuma again felt more like a babysitter for Tyson and Dragoon which pretty much sucked the fun out of everything. Knowing everyone else was living it up today made this task more arduous than ever before.
But Ozuma knew he didn't really have a choice on the matter. It was his mission… and it was best to get it over with as quickly as possible so that maybe he would get to enjoy the finer things in life.
The moment was right, as Tyson was all alone now and he was in a more isolated area of the amusement park. The less crowd attention at risk, the better and swifter the process would be, Ozuma figured. So he was about to shove himself off the branch, until he heard another voice… a new voice, at that…
"So our own World Champion finally decided to come back and join the rest of the world in something NOT beyblading! How sweet!"
"Huh?" Tyson blinked and turned towards a group of bushes, a little off the side from Ozuma's tree. All of a sudden, there was a well-rounded muscle-bound boy not too far from Tyson's age standing there, hands on his hips, looking nothing short of intimidating. After getting a good look at the boy, Tyson nearly fell against the tree as he noted the shaggy eyebrows, the dull, damaged hair and of course, his bandana which covered most of said hair. He was nothing but a pure gang bully stereotype, but he always held a special place in Tyson's heart…
The first real opponent he ever had in Beyblading.
"Carlos!!"
The newcomer gave the World Champion a smile. "Hey, you remembered my name. You really must be one and the same. Heck, even with you being #1 in the world, I still forget your name sometimes!"
Unfortunately, Tyson couldn't bring himself to return the facial sentiments. As forgiving as Tyson normally was to anyone who might've done him wrong in the past, a particular ominous feeling arose from this reunion, and it was powerful enough for him to be unable to ignore it. A strong feeling about Dragoon for some reason or another… Tyson wondered if he would actually sink so low again…
"Er… you've been watching me on TV, I guess?" Tyson asked, not bothering to hide how awkward he sounded.
"Who hasn't?" the rhetorical Carlos shot back. "I know I remember seeing you wipe the floor with Tala of the Demolition Boys with that bitbeast of yours. And it always reminds me of how I could've been doing very similar things if only you never stole your beyblade back from me."
"You expected me to just let you steal something that was mine and get away with it?" Tyson returned the rhetoricalness. "That's not how I work, buddy. So what brings you here, Carlos? I mean, no offense, but a place like this doesn't seem very you."
Ozuma meanwhile was rolling his eyes in the frustration that he was only one second away from getting his battle with Tyson underway, and now all of a sudden some punk came barging in on his moment just to share some nostalgia. Honestly, Ozuma didn't care about Tyson's long road from bottom to top in the world championship tournament last year. It apparently didn't well enough teach Tyson the real meaning of owning and deserving Dragoon, and he was determined to make Tyson aware of it, no matter what. But now it was all a matter of even more waiting…
"Ahh, I'm no good with this stalling crap," Carlos muttered, reaching into his pocket and revealing none other than his beyblade. "Kinomiya, I stole Dragoon fair and square and you know it. Now that I know what I've been missing out on, I'm like, SO pissed off you wouldn't believe it! How DARE you take back what I rightfully stole!"
'Some people will just never change, I guess,' Tyson woefully thought as he immediately brought out Dragoon and his launcher. This, of course, didn't please Ozuma at all. "You're wasting your time, Carlos, but I wouldn't mind showing you up one last time if it'll get you off my back! Trust me; with all the rivals I've had since the tournament, you are so not a blip on my radar!"
"You haven't even seen me since the Qualifier match, douche!" Carlos shouted back, also prepared to launch. "You just don't have a clue how much better I've gotten since last time!"
"Sure, whatever, I'm sure it was a lot of hard work, just like stealing candy from a baby!" Tyson scoffed, positioning himself. "Which I wouldn't put past you, since you're better known for stealing kids' beyblades rather than actually doing battle with them!"
"It's called 'doing whatever it takes to win', Kinomiya. I'm sure you've heard of it."
"Now you're reminding of somebody else I know," muttered Tyson, still oblivious to the fact that the one Carlos reminded him of was sitting just above him on the tree, waiting for the perfect moment to make an entrance.
'So Tyson's lost his blade to this guy before…' Ozuma gave Carlos a quick once-over and frowned. 'He looks pretty dimwitted, but I'm sure he wouldn't wait this long to get revenge if he didn't have a trick up his sleeve. Great, and Tyson probably doesn't have a clue, and I know how history loves dooming itself to repeat… I can't fathom what kind of terrors this "Carlos" is going to unleash if he gained control of Dragoon… hooboy.'
"Three!"
"Two!"
"One…!"
Ozuma snapped away from his train of thoughts and gaped down at the scene about to happen below him. "I have to stop this…!" he said to himself.
"Let it Ri—!"
At that precise moment, Ozuma landed right between Tyson and Carlos, who were both mere milliseconds away from setting their beyblades loose. "Stop this battle now!"
"Ozuma!" Tyson exclaimed, immediately falling out of his battle position, nearly dropping his blade and launcher in the process. Carlos merely narrowed his eyes, not moving an inch from his pose. "What're you doing here?!"
That earned Tyson a glare. "What do you think I'm doing here?" Ozuma asked him angrily. "You were about to go into battle with a common thief! See Tyson, this is EXACTLY the reason why I have a problem with you owning Dragoon! You don't think these situations through at all, and I'll guarantee you that if you battle this kid right now, you're doomed to lose Dragoon for good this time!"
"He's a lightweight," Tyson insisted casually. "I wouldn't lose Dragoon to him. Really, Ozuma, I'm just humoring him if anything else. The guy goes through beyblades like they're going out of style, so he obviously doesn't even have a bitbeast, meaning he's nowhere near a challenge for me!"
"I'd say he doesn't really need one," Ozuma guessed, looking again to Carlos. "If everyone who carries a bitbeast around is as careless as you, Tyson, I'd say this guy here could pick any one he likes out of the crop and use it up until he doesn't need it anymore. And you're wondering why everyone and their grandma is after your bitbeast?"
"Aww," Carlos cooed. "You flatter me! But hey, let's get one thing straight here, kid, you call me Carlos just like all the others, okay? How do you know all about this, anyway?"
"It's really none of your concern as to who I am and what I know, Carlos," Ozuma stressed. "Fact of the matter is, thanks to you I know for SURE that Tyson can't be trusted with Dragoon, and it's my responsibility to make sure that bitbeast is under the control of someone more capable."
"Your responsibility?" Carlos could only be more confused.
Tyson wasn't about to take the criticism sitting down, though. "What, so I'd be a better Dragoon keeper if I just chickened out on every challenge I'm given?! I dunno what planet you were brought up from, but in Tyson's country, we do things my way! And my way dictates that—"
"SHUT UP!!"
Amazingly, Carlos and Ozuma had both simultaneously given that bolded order to Tyson. And they gasped a bit in such a realization. Especially in Ozuma's case. '…Could this guy possibly understand me? … Yeah right.'
"I'm the World Champion beyblader, okay?! I don't have to shut up for anyone!" Tyson insisted, looking overly irritated now. "Now, I know you guys are just dying for a piece of Dragoon, and I'm willing to prove you wrong at every turn of the way, Ozuma! I can tell just by comparing you two that you might have more of a purpose for wanting my bitbeast, but the truth of the matter is that, well, Carlos was first in line! You gotta play fair, y'know?"
"I don't do fair when the consequences are this serious," Ozuma said, shaking his head. "There are some things in this world more important than playing fair and sadly that's not something you've realized yet."
Tyson threw his hands up in the air out of frustration. "Quit trying to screw up my head with your stupid morals! It's totally not working and you're not gonna get me to surrender Dragoon to you that way, Ozuma! If you want my bitbeast that badly, you're gonna have to battle against me to do that, just like everybody else!"
"Everybody except Carlos," Ozuma murmured, now appearing annoyed.
"Everybody except… wait, what?" Tyson blinked. "Whaddya mean by that?"
Ozuma felt only compelled to point at the scene going on below Tyson, as Tyson himself failed to realize as he argued with Ozuma, that Carlos had snuck over and disengaged Dragoon from Tyson's launcher, and was making off with it as they spoke.
"What the…?" Tyson picked up his launcher, the realization not yet registering for him until he looked under it and was in for a nasty surprise. "HEY!! HE STOLE DRAGOON!!"
"The prosecution rests!" Ozuma finished with a shrug as he started to dash off after Carlos. Thankfully, Ozuma was quick on his feet and Carlos hadn't gotten very much of a head start. Tyson just stared on blankly for a moment before it occurred to him that he should follow the thief of his own bitbeast. He started dashing off, but then paused in the realization of…
"CRAP!! I'm supposed to be waiting for Max to get off the phone!! … Ugh, no matter!" Tyson (thankfully) realized this was a bit too important to just let go just because of an insignificant promise. "His five minutes was up anyway!" And Tyson too, joined the chase.
Ozuma, meanwhile, was definitely hot on Carlos' trail. Amusingly, Carlos didn't seem to acknowledge the fact that he was being chased, but Ozuma figured he knew it must be common sense. The boy seemed to be a professional in his stealing hobby. However, it wasn't pleasing for Ozuma to know that Tyson was also hot on his trail. Today had turned out to be much more complicated than Ozuma had hoped for, and while he was happy to finally see Tyson get served for once, he wasn't appreciative of how Carlos was making his mission even more of a pain than usual.
"Wait up, Ozuma!!" Tyson pleaded, panting (and clearly out of shape) and struggling to keep up the pace just to keep Ozuma within his sight. Carlos was no doubt way ahead of him, and as they ran further into the amusement park and further into the crowds and attractions, the more difficult it became for anyone to keep up.
'I think this little stint today proves Tyson shouldn't be handling Dragoon any longer,' Ozuma thought. 'So I dunno why the hell he's in this chase… but he's not gonna be of any help to me and he'll no doubt slow me down, so maybe…' Yes, Ozuma had an idea to make his problem all the simpler. Seemingly out of nowhere he pulled out his beyblade and his launcher and turned towards Tyson, though he still kept running the other way. It was difficult, of course, to properly aim a beyblade from such an unstable position, but Ozuma had faith in his abilities, and did what needed to be done.
Indeed, he let it rip in Tyson's general direction. "GO!! Flash Leopard!"
Enough in Tyson's direction for Ozuma's beyblade to nail him right in the face, knocking him over on his back and stopping him cold. Ozuma only looked back a couple of times at the result before focusing his attention towards Carlos, certain that he didn't injure Tyson… too much. Flash Leopard itself returned right back into Ozuma's hand as soon as its job was done.
It was all a matter of stealing back Dragoon from Carlos, as Ozuma struggled to keep a reasonable distance between himself and Carlos so that he'd be able to keep up with him, but also be far away enough to not fall into any trap Carlos might set during the chase.
This was, however, more or less stalling things. It made the chase last quite a while, and through such a large amusement park, Ozuma was beginning to wear down. He could tell Carlos was as well, and if he insisted on keeping up the running for this long then he must know that he was still being chased after. Finally, Carlos was beginning to run further away from the crowds and attractions, never once looking back to see who was behind him, and jump down a slant in the land that rolled out into a fairly large hill.
'It's like he's trying to lure me away or something,' Ozuma thought, wondering just what was going through Carlos' head at the moment. 'Was I mistaken? … Maybe he really doesn't have any backup plan at all.'
Ozuma followed Carlos' descent down the hill, only to find it was extremely difficult to keep his balance while going at his speed. One trip, and Ozuma fell face-first into the grass, tumbling a long way down to the bottom, where upon the end, Carlos had apparently also found out the hard way that he had led the two of them in a hazardous slope. He was still on his back, rubbing his head and looking to be in pain, though Dragoon remained in his right hand the whole time.
Thankfully, Ozuma regained enough control during his tumbling that he was able to stop before he reached the bottom. But combined with the impact of his fall with his general energy decline from running for ten straight minutes, Ozuma was barely capable of sitting up after he secured his stop. 'Guess he won't be moving for a while either… but the sooner I can recover, the easier it'll be for me to just pluck Dragoon out of his tired hands…' His limbs were still sore and weary, but Ozuma started to stand regardless of how they felt, as soon as he was able to catch his breath.
There was only a small dirt path at the end of the hill, and that even sharply cut off as a cliff where a river was waiting below. It was extremely lucky of both boys to cease their tumbling before it was too late, but as a result of landing in the dirt and rocks, Carlos obviously wasn't able to recover as quickly as Ozuma. He was certainly aware of things, though, as a low growl emerged when Ozuma cautiously stepped over to him.
Ozuma braced himself for a potential sudden attack, only to see that Carlos was clearly not going to be getting up any time soon. With the utmost care, he pried Carlos' fingers off of Dragoon, letting the beyblade plunk down into his palm. Ozuma's hand tightly grasped Dragoon immediately, drawing it away from Carlos and putting it in his back pocket. Doing this successfully means that Ozuma's day was over, and hopefully for good this time; he got what he'd come for.
With a nod and a small smile, Ozuma murmured a "Thank you" to Carlos and turned to head off. 'Well, exhausting as this ordeal was, I'd say it was a lot easier and less stressful than any time I've had to bug Tyson. Guess I owe you one, Carlos. Thanks again.'
"HEY!!"
Ozuma completely froze.
"You think you're getting away with that?!" Carlos seemed to instantly revive himself. "That's MINE! I don't care how important your 'cause' is for wanting Dragoon, but I'm DAMN sure you haven't waited nearly as long as I have to get Tyson back! Don't think I'm gonna let you get away with stealing my limelight!"
"What, you think this is all about you?" Ozuma asked him, turning around and giving Carlos the most intense glare his tired body could muster. "It's obvious you don't have a clue about how serious this matter about the bitbeasts is. You don't have a clue about what the four legendary bitbeasts are, and—"
"Don't care!" Carlos stood up, still rubbing his apparently throbbing head, and started off towards Ozuma. "You ruined my perfect comeback moment, so now I'm gonna have you for lunch!" He pounded his fists together, giving off that threatening aura. "I'll be more than happy to give you any torture method of your choosing if you'd just hand back Dragoon to me."
Ozuma found himself stepping back… he wasn't sure why, but it probably had something to do with the fact that Carlos had about 6 inches on him in height. Not that he wasn't confident that he couldn't outsmart this bully in some way… after all, as Ozuma noticed before, he looked to be about as dimwitted as they came. "Look… I don't think you're approaching this the right way… after all, we did kind of steal Dragoon together, didn't we? Right? There's no way you would've been able to steal Dragoon the way you did if I hadn't distracted Tyson! You would've had to fight him fairly in a battle! And with your blade against his, you would've never been able to—"
"You think I was gonna fight fair in the first place?!" Carlos interrupted, unable to believe what he was hearing. "God, you're stupider than Andrew! Now gimme that beyblade!"
It was weird for Ozuma to think about, but it was true… Carlos was a big part of his success today. Unexpected, sure… but it wasn't like any of his teammates were willing to go out of their way to lend their helping hand. "Maybe it would be better to work out a compromise or something. Come on, can't you admit that you couldn't have pulled this off without me?"
"Compromise?" Carlos seemed puzzled at the prospect. "You mean like, breaking Dragoon in two and sharing a half?"
"Not going that far, but that's the general idea," Ozuma said quickly, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Look, only one of us can walk away with the blade and the bitbeast. But look at it this way, Carlos; if there's anything… and I mean anything you've ever needed or wanted, I'll see if I can help you obtain or achieve whatever that is, if you'll just let me have Dragoon. You have no idea how long I've been stressing out over this, and your helping, intentional or not, has really meant a lot to me. So consider yourself fortunate that you'll walk away with something today."
"Anything I want, huh?" Carlos wondered out loud, looking up and seemingly thinking about what else he could possibly want. Ozuma stared at him expectantly, not looking forward to a long period of waiting for him to figure that out.
But all of a sudden, Carlos moved to where he was right behind Ozuma, and promptly picked him up by the back of his shirt, raising his feet well above the ground. Awkward as it was for someone as short as him, Ozuma was too taken by surprise to even flail around, as his piercing green eyes shot back towards Carlos, who had nothing to offer but a warm smirk on his face. "Maybe I should make you do the compromising!!"
Obviously that wasn't an option; Ozuma knew that. Carlos didn't have any real reason for wanting Dragoon other than to fulfill his criminal desires. But with him so emotional and strong, Ozuma realized that he wouldn't be able to combat such an overwhelming brute force with his rationality. Maybe this was a 'fight fire with fire' situation? Ozuma didn't have much time to think of how to combat such a thing with Carlos, so he did the first thing that came to mind.
He kissed him.
Carlos suddenly felt weak in the knees, wobbling, trying to maintain his hold on the Saint Shield who had found the strength to turn around while being held by his shirt, reached up, and planted his lips onto his own. It was sort of amazing in a way… desperate, it seemed, but extraordinary in the sense that it came at such an intense moment when Carlos himself was ready to pummel Ozuma into oblivion.
He'd just met this guy today. Their entire meeting was a coincidence created by their convenient common goal, and their common foe. They didn't exactly hit it off, but without even knowing it, they had helped each other.
Carlos couldn't help but be compelled to return Ozuma's kiss.
Though it was only used as a tactic to get Carlos distracted, Ozuma couldn't help but admit to himself that doing this was beginning to fill a particularly painful void in his heart. A void that had been tearing him away from everyone he'd ever met, even his own friends… it was weird, because Carlos wasn't exactly what Ozuma would've called appealing. Not even good-looking. But the fact that they had something in common; something where they could understand each other on a certain level…
Carlos' left hand was rather sneaky, though. As the two shared a moment of staring into each others' eyes, Carlos had before noticed the bulge coming out of one of Ozuma's pockets, and sure enough with enough subtle fishing, he had unearthed Dragoon from it. Carlos looked at it momentarily, his eyes still glazed over from the surprise of the first kiss. His hand brought the beyblade closer and closer towards his face, until Ozuma's hand interfered. However, it was a gentle interference… Carlos looked to Ozuma's hand as it ever-so carefully laced each finger with his, closing the gap, making Dragoon fall into the dirt with a muted clink.
That was the last time they ever looked at it.
Ozuma wasn't sure what was happening to him, but soon all his deep thoughts of Dragoon, Tyson, and beyblading in general were being clouded over by the burst of joy that had taken over his heart. Deterring from his mission? Yes. Being hypocritical to his teammates? Yes. But they were all enjoying themselves in their self-centered pleasures… and Ozuma knew he wasn't happy that way. As shallow and spur-of-the-moment this was, it was at least making him happier than he'd ever been since he left his village. Never in a million years would he have thought some emotional outburst with Carlos, some thug he just met would affect him in such a way.
It was giving Ozuma a new perspective on everything, even on seemingly hopeless people like Tyson. It soon occurred to Ozuma that maybe not everyone thinks so much like him. Maybe because they actually have an enjoyable life filled with fun and memories they'll cherish forever? … Perhaps Tyson just didn't realize that Dragoon was one of those memories?
Whatever was going on through Carlos' head at the time was very unclear to Ozuma, but he was intrigued enough to find out someday. Maybe it was the beginning of a whole new mission for Ozuma… a nice side-mission to find himself whenever the rest of his team wasn't compelled to steal the Bladebreakers' bitbeasts.
He and Carlos had apparently made a fine team against their rival.
Now it was just a matter of giving each other their thanks in the only way they knew how.
"Guh… the stars…. They stopped spinning…"
"Welcome back, Tyson!"
"Huh?" Tyson's eyes snapped open fully as he found a familiar adorable freckled blonde with his trademark neko mouth staring right down at him, smiling and waving. "Max?"
"You've been out for a while," Max told him, sounding cheerful as ever. "But he told me you'd be okay, so I wasn't too worried!"
"He…?" Tyson groaned as he sat up, noticing he was laying on a bench in the shade. He then felt at his forehead, where he found a Band-Aid over it. "What the…?"
"Oh, don't worry about that," Max consoled. "It was just a scratch that needed to be patched up. I even took you to the nurse's office here and that's what she said."
This just wasn't answering all of Tyson's questions, though. "How did…? Oh yeah, Ozuma… and his beyblade… wait, how did you find me, Max?"
"Consider yourself lucky that I did find you!" Max scolded, looking a bit peeved. "I can't believe you just ran off without me like that. After I got off the phone, I heard from some other people around here that some beybattle was about to go on, then it was a chase, so I just browsed around and then I found you passed out on the ground."
"Yeah, now I remember," Tyson concurred, nodding to Max. "Sorry, buddy. It was kind of an emergency because— DRAGOON!! Oh crap! Because Ozuma and Carlos stole my Dragoon!!"
"What, you mean this?" Max asked, nonchalantly holding up what looked to be none other than Tyson's beyblade.
"Yes, that!!" Tyson wailed, flailing uncontrollably. "W-where did you get that, Max?! Last time I saw it—"
"Ozuma gave it to me," was the simple answer, as Max handed Dragoon back to Tyson. "He told me to give it back to you after you came to, of course. I'm not sure why he gave it back exactly, though…" Max looked off to the side, thinking. "But Carlos wasn't far behind him. You think they did something to your Beyblade? I mean, Dragoon's still intact, you can see that…"
"It looks all right to me," Tyson observed, thoroughly looking through his beyblade at every angle. "I'll let Kyouju take a look at it later just to make sure… but it still doesn't make any sense. Ozuma was going nuts about how I didn't deserve Dragoon earlier. Then Carlos stole it and Ozuma cut me off from the chase, and… now I get it back?"
Max folded his arms and didn't look very pleased. "Looks like someone needs some major training when we head back to the dojo tonight. You're really too careless sometimes, Tyson!"
"We'll see about that," Tyson scoffed, turning around so he could lean on the bench. "Well, did Ozuma say anything else before he left? Something tells me I'm gonna be in for an earful the next time I catch him stalking me."
"He said something about seeing things in a whole new light, but to keep improving and protect Dragoon," said Max. He still seemed confused about something. "And then he and Carlos just walked off until I couldn't see 'em anymore. Think I heard something about a pleasure bag, but I'm not sure…"
"Whoa," Tyson held his hands up. "Too much information, Maxie."
"Just telling you what I know," Max insisted with a smile. "Anyway, if you still wanna spend the rest of the day here, I'm all for it. I think at this rate Kai might be having more fun than us by now!"
"Only if you promise not to tell the Chief of Kai or anyone else about what happened today," Tyson said with a laugh as he stood up. "I've got enough guilt trips to last me a week. I can't imagine how well the rest of the team is gonna take this!"
"My lips are sealed," promised Max, adding a wink. "Besides, I'm gonna go crazy if I stand around these rides for that much longer without going on them! Come on!"
"Right on!"
But before the two could finally enjoy their day off, a dreaded ringing tone blared out in Max's pocket.
"NOT AGAIN!!"
[END!]