Me: Hey, peeps. Well, what can I say... this is chapter six. I've slaved over it for a while, and I kept getting stuck... It's fairly long, longer than most of the chapters I've written, at least. I'll try to get chapter seven up before school starts...
Shi: You can't really blame her for being sooooooo long without posting. You see, she keeps getting these cursed writers blocks, and she was on vacation for three and a half weeks.
Primrose: Wow...
Everyone: Wha?
Prim: She defended our Lady.
Shi: So, what of it?
Primrose: in a teasing voice Shi cares about Ginny, Shi cares about Ginny...
Shi: Shut it!
Bob: Anyway, none of these crazy people own Beyblade or the Matrix, but Gin owns the Helm and its crew.
Me: Enjoy!
Chapter Six
Matrix Combat
"Alright, you lazy asses! Get up outta bed!" was the first sound of the morning for most of the Helm's crew. Dee's voice echoed through the halls, awakening all but Tyson, who's continuos snoring had kept Max up for the better part of the night anyway.
A knock on the door about five minutes later pried the sleep deprived boy out of bed. "Who is it and what do you want?" he said, leaning on the entrance.
"Wake up patrol," came Kenny's voice. "Is he awake?"
Max went over to Tyson and started poking him in the cheek. "Nope!"
The door opened, and Kenny entered, holding a steel pot and a wooden spoon. "You may want to cover your ears," advised Chief. Max took this advice. The younger of the two whacked the pot with the spoon twice, and then paused.
Tyson was shaking from the vibrations of the sound, shaking so much that he fell out of his bed. Once he escaped the bed sheets he was entangled in, he absent-mindedly proceeded to lie back on his bed, grumbling something that sounded like, "Five more minutes, Gramps."
"Oh no, not this morning," replied Kenny, as both he and Max grabbed one of his hands and hauled him off the bed. But it did not stop there. They dragged him into the hall, and the crew members exiting their quarters all cracked up as they passed. Soon, the group was in the mess hall, and they stopped.
Ray, who was having his breakfast like some of the others, said, "You're finally up, I see."
"Shut up," was the simple reply from the grouchy Ty.
The remainder of the crew entered then. KC, who was just getting off duty, was serving everyone. When he came over to give Tyson his breakfast, he said, "Don't forget what we talked about yesterday."
"So, did you guys sleep well last night?" asked Emily to the Bladers.
Max yawned. "Tyson slept like a log... but his snoring kept me up..."
"Don't worry about it, Maxie, I promise you'll all get a very good night's sleep tonight, regardless of Tyson's snoring," Kenny said. "I was on duty for a bit last night, and when I got to bed, not even Tyson's snoring from the room next to me could keep me up."
Emily started laughing. "Yeah, when I came on duty a few hours ago, you were about to fall over. But honestly, Hil would not shut up last night. She kept asking questions. Rather annoying."
"Well, you said you didn't mind answering my questions!" Hilary snapped.
A heavy sigh came from Em. "No, I said – and I quote – 'I won't mind answering a few questions'. A few, girl!"
"Sorry," replied the girl. "Kenny, why do you think we'll get a good night's sleep tonight?"
Dee, who was sitting next to Chief and had been listening to their conversation, grinned. "Because, today's combat training."
"Combat... training?" inquired Hilary.
"Yes, combat training. We've got to make sure you can handle yourself against the police and groups like that," Dee replied. "It can be a bit harsh, depending on the person."
"Kenny!" Hilary nearly shouted, making everybody in the room stare. "Does this mean that you've been in police fights and chases?! How could you do that?! You were always a good kid, Chief!"
"Hey, don't diss the Chief," said Emily. "He is a good kid. It's just that now he knows who the right enemy is, and he's fighting to protect people. The right people. He's fighting for what he now knows is right."
Kai shook his head. "Why do we need combat training, anyway? I mean, Max and Hilary might need it, but Ray and I – and even Tyson – can take care of ourselves."
"Jeez, boy, Devi could kick your butt in her sleep," said Captain Omni, who was sitting next to Kenny.
Everyone glanced over at the little one, who was hanging upside down from the lights and was somehow eating her breakfast.
"That monstrosity?" Kai inquired in a mock voice. "Man, I could kick your ass any day of the week, Cappy."
"You don't think you need combat training?" the captain asked. "Well then, after the others are finished with it, we'll put your skill to the test."
"Alright," Kai accepted.
Devi jumped onto the table. "Alright, peeps, get the heck outta here and go about your daily business!"
"That's our warning," replied the Operator. "Come on, kiddies, let's go!"
The crew began exiting the cafeteria, and the bladers made sure to keep close to Ken and Emily. They, as well as Dee and Omni, walked at a leisurely pace through the twisting halls of the hovercraft, and soon came to the core.
"Who wants to learn how to kick ass?" inquired the Operator.
Max slowly and cautiously made his way over to one of the chairs, and Emily drove the plug thing into his head.
"Alrighty," said Dee. "We're supposed to do these operational programs first, but they're major boring shit. So, I'm gonna show you how to fight, kiddo! What do you want first? Kung Fu? Jujitsu? Drunken Boxing?"
"You can't learn something like Kung Fu in a matter of hours!" exclaimed Tyson. "Martial Arts like that take years to perfect!"
Dee replied, "He's not going to learn it in a matter of hours. It'll only take a few seconds. So, what'll it be?"
"Can you teach me Tai Chi?" asked Max.
The Operator said, "Sure thang. Hold on to your breakfast, kiddo, 'cause this can be pretty intense." She put a floppy disk into the computer and typed something on her keyboard.
Max's body tensed up for a moment, and then relaxed. Max gasped for air, and drew in several breaths before saying simply, "Whoa!"
"Hehehe," she said. All of the crew knew that combat training could cause quite a rush. "'Hey Mikey, I think he likes it!' What some more?"
"Oh yeah!" the blonde proclaimed.
This process continued many times for about half an hour straight. He was pretty tuckered out when the thirty minutes were up, so Dee decided to let him rest. "You did okay, I guess," she told him, as Emily helped the exhausted boy up. "Not that good, but not that bad. So, who's next?"
The group spent the rest of the morning at this – although only two people actually took the training, Max and Hilary. When they went off for lunch, the two were halfway dead. As they entered the lunchroom, only a few besides them were there – KC, who was on lunch duty, Strife, and Cire.
"Yo, where's everyone else?" inquired Dee.
"Omni and Dea are in the cockpit," the chef told them as he served the group, "Phantom and Tochi are beating each other up, Kim's taking a nap, Blaze and Geichu are on duty somewhere, and I think Cadin and Devi are down in the medical room."
Curiously, Emily asked, "Is Devi okay?"
"Should be," replied KC, sitting down to his own lunch. "Came in here maybe twenty minutes ago, when Cay was eating, whining about a headache or something."
"Oh, okay," Emily said.
Hilary looked confused about something. "Why did you automatically assume that Devi was the one who needed medical attention?"
"Because," Kenny explained, "Devi don't know nothing about medicinal stuff. There's three trained medics on the Helm, you see. One's Cire, of course, and he trained Cadin and Geichu. Of course, everyone else knows little bits of stuff, but they're the main people to go to."
"Oh," was the reply.
"So, how are you guys finding your training?" inquired Strife, trying to strike up a conversation.
Max stopped stuffing his face for a moment to reply. "It's a bit intense, and it gives quite a rush."
"Yeah, it does," agreed Hilary.
"Too bad Tyson, Ray, and Kai are being pig-headed idiots, though. They think they don't need it, think they're super strong or something... Kai even said he could beat Devi and Captain," Dee put in.
"You're kidding, right?" Strife said. When Kai shook his head, the girl began to laugh. "You think you can beat Captain Omni?" Kai nodded affirmatively. "Idiot! How the hell do you think you can beat anybody on this ship without training?"
Dee smiled. "There's gonna be some sparring this afternoon. It's gonna be fun."
"Alrighty," Dee said as the new crewmembers, as well as Kenny, Emily, Cire, and Omni, filed into the core. "It's tournament time!"
"Tournament?" inquired Ty.
Kenny and Emily went to all of the Blade Breakers and plugged them in before doing the same thing to Cire and Omni.
The crowd ended up in a Dojo. Everybody was wearing loose white clothing. "This is our sparring program, very similar to the programmed reality of the Matrix. And, like the Matrix, it is a system built on rules," explained Cire.
"Rules? What kind of rules? Tyson wondered aloud.
Omni began, "Rules like gravity, child. You know, whatever goes up must come down? But what you have to get about these 'rules' is that they are no different than a computer program. Some of them can be bent. Others can be broken."
"Are you saying that we can defy gravity?" asked Hilary.
"For a short while, yes," Cire told them, before turning to the captain. "Demonstrate."
She nodded, and ran headlong towards the wall. But she did not stop when the wall came. Her feet continued the dash, only they ran up the wall, and then she was upside down, speeding across the ceiling. She ran down the wall opposite the one she'd started with, and returned to her spot.
"Holy fuck!" exclaimed Tyson. "How did you do that?"
Outside of the sparring program, Kenny and Emily were watching the fight from the monitors. Dee pressed a button, spoke in an announcing voice, "Would everyone please make their way to the core! The starting match of this afternoon's sparring tournament will begin shortly!" Then, talking into her headset, she said, "Yo, Cap'n, who's going first?"
"Who would like to go first? Whoever does, you will be fighting one of the crewmembers aboard the Helm," Omni told them.
Glancing at each other, they realized none of them really wanted to begin. Finally, heaving a heavy sigh, Max stood up.
"Cool! Max'll be going first, then," announced Captain Omni excitedly.
The Operator heard this statement and reported it over the intercom, adding, "Anybody who wants to fight Max, please report to the core."
Soon, most of the crew was there anyway, but Phantom decided to face him. Emily jacked him in, and as she did, she requested, "Go easy on him, would you?"
Phantom then arrived in the Dojo, situated next to Omni. He was about Chief's age, but a little taller, around 5'7". He had golden brown hair that was hauled back in a tight, short ponytail. "Hello," he said to the group. "I'm Phantom, in case you didn't remember. I'm Max's opponent."
"Good," Omni said, leading the boys to the middle of the room. Then she, like everyone else, went to one said, giving the boys plenty of space to beat each other up.
"Bow, and begin," ordered Cire.
The two boys bowed to each other, and the fight began. No matter how hard or how fast Max punched, kicked, or tried to attack the boy, Phantom was not hit. He seemed to be untouchable – a 'phantom', so to speak.
"Goddamn he's fast!" Tyson exclaimed. "How can he do that? It's impossible!"
"Jesus, Phantom's not even trying," said Dee to the others. "How are we supposed to toughen these kids up if we don't try?"
"Who knows," KC replied. "By the way, I'll be taking on Tyson, if that's no trouble."
She nodded. "None at all. Man, the kid's only had a little training, though, so you can't blame Phantom for going easy... and I expect that Emily asked it of him." The Operator shot a meaningful look over the Em, who'd glanced up from watching the fight when she'd heard herself mentioned.
"What did I do?"
"Did you ask Phantom to go easy on the kid?" inquired KC, as he leaned on the back of Dee's chair, looking over her head to watch the brawl.
Emily looked at the two for a minute, blushing slightly, and simply replied, "How'd you know?"
"Jeez, Em, how could we not?" asked Tochi, who was standing next to her. "Phantom loves sparring, and he's pretty damn good at it as well. He'd probably ask an agent to beat the living hell out of him just for the pure enjoyment of it."
The Blade Breakers were watching the fight in awe, mouths hanging far more that was appropriate, as Max tried his best. Cire was nodding every now and then, and Omni was shaking her head in disappointment.
"Jesus Christ, Phantom, what are you waiting for?!" she yelled out suddenly. "Show him how tough you are!"
This seemed to confirm something to the boy, who – if you could notice – nodded slightly and said in a loud, clear voice to the blonde, "You ready to see what I'm made of, boy?"
But Max didn't have time to answer before the younger boy punched him hard in the chest, sending him hard into one of the dojo walls. Hilary let out a squeal of pain for her comrade, and immediately ran over to his side. "Maxie! Maxie, are you okay?"
"Ouch..." he said simply.
"You evil little son of a –" Hilary yelled, getting up and turning to Phantom, but was cut short by Omni.
"I would watch your tongue, if I were you," she interrupted. "Nobody on this ship – except for Cire, of course – takes kindly to mentions of their parents. And considering what Phantom here did to the blonde, I wouldn't push it, babe."
The older of the two girls stayed silent as she helped Max to his feet.
Dee's voice suddenly broke the silence, coming from somewhere near the ceiling. "And after Round One, the Home team leads the Newcomers 1 to nothing! Who will participate in Round Two? Join me after these messages to find out!"
"So who's fighting Hilary?" Dee inquired to the group.
All went silent, except for Devi, who was shouting random things into Dee's headset. After a moment, Emily nodded to the operator. Kenny walked her over to one of the chairs, as Tochi was unplugging his little brother. KC entered the room, and went over to Emily, relieving Kenny of the task. "Promise me, Em, that you won't go easy on her."
Emily blinked, then looked into KC's eyes. "Okay."
"And welcome back, everybody!" came Dee's voice as Emily appeared in the dojo next to Kai, leaning her elbow on his shoulder. "Round Two will consist of the Newcomers' Hilary versus the Homies' Emily! Ladies, llllllllllet's get ready to RUMBLE!"
There was a slight pause, followed by a deafening smack and a yelled of "Owie!" in Dee's voice. "I'm gonna kill you KC! He smacked me upside the head..."
Everyone in the sparring program cracked up, and slight laughter could be heard coming from the ship, along with the sound of running feet as Dee chased KC through the halls, threatening to whack him with her Operators' Manual.
"Anyway..." said Cire in an offhand sort of way. "Shall we get down to business?"
Emily nodded, and took Hilary by the hand, leading her to the center of the room. Standing about two feet apart, the two girls faced each other and bowed deeply. "Hil," Emily whispered to her opponent, whose ears perked slightly, "I'm not going to go soft on you, so be on your guard. This is only your first match, I know, but I want to show you what you can be like after you get the rest of your training done." Hilary nodded.
"Alrighty, everyone ready?" the young Operator's voice came from the Heavens, though she sounded a bit out of breath. "3 – 2 – 1 – BEGIN!"
The girls attacked each other at the same second – Hilary's fist missed the side of face by about six inches, while Emily, who had slid sideways to avoid being hit, made her foot kick the other girl forcefully in the side, causing her to fall sideways onto the floor with a yelp of pain. However, unlike Max, she managed to get back up and continue the fight. She knew this time that Emily had not be kidding, and would not that it easy on her. With a smile, Emily began pounding the shit out of Hilary, who just kept wincing in pain and did not get a chance to fight back. Finally, Emily was about to punch Hil like Phantom had done to Max, but –
"Enough!" Omni yelled. Emily stood straight at once, and faced her captain. "Help her up, Em."
The addressed girl did this quickly, and Hilary managed – with a little help from Emily – to stand up straight, and then bow without falling over.
"I'm proud of you, Emily. You gave her a good match. But you almost took it too far. You should know better than that," the old man told her.
Emily nodded. "Yes, sir, I'll remember that next time."
"But never forget –" KC's voice came from the ship, only to be interrupted by Emily.
"That if I ever get in a situation with a program or a person who is still jacked in, to give full power. But if an agent is present, run like hell."
Both Cire and Omni smiled, and they heard Dee's voice in the distance, shouting, "KC, you little frigger, give me my headset back or I'll kill you, I swear!"
After a few minutes of hearing random death threats, swear words, and something that sounded as though Dee was slapping KC, the announcer's voice came again. "And with Round Two complete, we find our champions retaining the lead, bringing the score to 2 to nothing!"
Then suddenly, making Omni, Cire, and Emily laugh, a giant scoreboard appeared on one of the walls. It read Champion Home Team on one side, and Crappy Newcomers on the other. There was a large number '2' under the first one, and the words 'The Big Bubkis, Nada, Big Fat Zero' under the second team.
"Nice board!" Omni shouted.
"Thanks, Cappy! Anyways, join me again after these messages to see who will be competing in Round Three."
As KC unplugged Emily on board the Helm, he kissed her on the forehead and said, "Good work."
"No problem. She's a whiny brat most of the time anyway, I guess I was kind of venting my frustration," replied the girl. Then, turning to the Operator, she said, "I think Ray wants to have a go at someone."
Dea's ears perked up at this moment. "He's the hot Chinese dude, right?"
"Oh, shut up," replied Em. "He's a pretty damn skilled fighter, even though he didn't take the training. So, who'll be facing him?"
Everybody looked at each other, until Cadin stepped forward.
"Cay?" Kenny wondered. Cadin didn't usually take part in sparring practice.
She smiled. "Don't got anything better to do now, not until after training, at least. Hey, and like Dea said – 'He's the hot Chinese dude'."
A few of them laughed, but Kenny and Emily shook their heads. Geichu walked with Cadin over to one of the chairs, but before she sat down, she looked over at the youngest of the crew, who was taking into the headset. "Dev, hun, doing that stuff can't be good for your headaches."
As the girl lay down in the chair that Emily had been occupying a few minutes ago, Geichu whispered to her, "Cay, can you let them win one, just for the hell of it? I mean, losing like they are can't be good for their self-esteem. You know what it's like, going down that road, don't you?"
She nodded.
"So it'll be you then?" Cire asked as the female medic appeared out of thin air at his side.
Mere seconds after she nodded and Devi's voice faded away, Dee began announcing again. "And welcome back to today's third match. Our contenders now are the Champ's leading female practitioner, Cadin, versus the Newcomer's hot'n'sexy Chinese God, Ray." Above the laughter in the dojo, they could hear muffled giggles coming from the Helm. "What?" she asked stupidly. "KC, if you come near me, I've got my Manual!"
Cay smiled, knowing how much everyone one the hovercraft – save for Dee, of course – despised that wretched manual. Her short, strawberry blonde hair framed her pretty, blue-eyed face well, and although she was only about 5'4", a few inches shorter than Ray, and not near as strong looking, Ray knew that if she was anything like the other crew members, he was going to have to do something awesome.
Cadin walked over to Omni for a moment and whispered something in her ear before joining Ray in the center of the room. She flashed a smile in his direction.
He returned it, weakly.
"Don't worry, Ray, you can kick her butt!" Tyson yelled out.
Dee's voice began to count down, and within seconds, the two began to fight. Cadin was obviously slacking off, but the Blade Breakers were oblivious to this. They probably didn't notice the fact that Ray, who had no training whatsoever, could never beat anybody on the crew, because they were all (even Kai) cheering for their teammate.
"This is boring," Devi said from her spot on Geichu's shoulders. "Why ain't she fighting?"
They all looked at Geichu, who let a guilty look slip across his face. "I figured that if she let him win, at least they will have some self-esteem left."
"Jeez, first Phantom, then Cadin... at least I know that KC and Omni won't go easy on their opponents," Dee said. "Strife, Blaze, will you go check if there's anything in the perimeter?"
The two girls nodded, and ran off. Most of the others left too, leaving Dee, Kenny, and Emily to watch the predictable fight. "So Cadin will purposefully lose to the hot Chinese dude, KC'll kick Tyson's ass in a matter of seconds, and then Omni will give Kai a lesson in combat... that's what's going to happen, right?"
"Right on, Emily," Ken replied.
In the dojo, that is exactly what happened. Cadin and Ray finished up the fight, Cay having let her foe take a fair few good blows at her, and then KC wiped the floor with Tyson, giving only a couple forceful hits before Granger fell. Now Omni was standing in the middle of the room, waiting for Kai, who was currently being used as a pillow by Hilary.
On the ship, Emily, Kenny, and Dee were surprised the Sentinels weren't charging towards them at that moment as all the crew noisily bolted to the core to see the fight.
Kai finally made it to the center of the room, and he and his adversary bowed. "Hit me, Kai, if you can," she said simply. He nodded, and with all his energy began throwing his fists and feet in her directing, either missing completely, coming up short, or being blocked. She grinned slightly as she kicked him hard in the stomach, sending him into one of the walls.
As he sat on the floor, panting, Omni walked over to him. "Yo, kid, how did I win?"
"You... you're way too fast," he panted.
She smiled. "Do you think that my being faster or stronger than you has anything to do with my muscles in this place?"
Kai shrugged, looking slightly confused.
"Again."
The boy stood up, but once again, every attempt to hit her failed. The rest of the Blade Breakers watched in shock as their teammate tried his best to strike his foe. Using her arms only and never moving her feet, Omni managed to block every one of Kai's attempted kicks and punches, until she lifted her foot off the ground and kicked him in the side of the head, sending him towards Cire, who caught the boy with ease, and put him on his feet.
"Do you not understand yet, Kai?" asked the Captain, leaning her face towards him. "Do you not realize what I am trying to teach you?"
When he didn't answer for nearly a minute and everyone else remained quiet when she glanced over to them, she commanded up to the ceiling, "Load the Jump program, Dee!"
"Your word, Captain, my Captain, is my world, my job, my life's purpose, colon, double backslash, execute, command, and load," came the young Operator's voice.
Suddenly, the dojo disappeared, and they were speeding down through the sky towards a building roof, although it felt to them as though they were still standing on solid ground. Hilary latched on to Tyson, who latched on to Ray. Everybody landed and, seeing where Omni and Cire were directing their eyes, looked across the alleyway to another rooftop. The alley must have been twenty or thirty feet wide.
"I have been trying to teach you, Kai," said Omni, continuing her and Kai's conversation as though nothing had happened, "to free your mind."
She nodded to Cire, who began to run towards the edge of the roof in the direction of the other building. Hilary shouted after him to stop and not get himself killed, but the old man only ran faster, and jumped –
"No!" yelled Hil, to no avail.
Then, somehow, he landed, safe and sound, on the roof opposite them. He motioned for someone to follow him.
"You have to understand, mes amis, that it is all a state of mind – fear, doubt, and disbelief – and must be let go," explained Omni. "The only way you can make it from here to where Cire is, is to free your mind."
Hilary, who was shaking excessively, slowly made her way over to the edge of the roof and looked downward, letting out a barely audible shriek and falling backwards onto her bottom as she did. "That's gotta be at least fifty feet!"
Omni nodded. "More than that, actually. Around seventy or eighty, I think."
"But if we don't make the jump, we'll die!" exclaimed the older girl. "Nobody can survive a fall like that!"
The captain shook her head. "You won't die, trust me." Noticing the doubtful looks on the beybladers' faces, she added, "Listen, if any one of you doesn't live through it, I will provide you with a shotgun each and let you shoot me to death."
"Captain Omni, supper's ready!" came the Operator's voice suddenly, making Hilary jump. "Can you hurry it up, please? I'm getting pretty hungry!"
Omni heaved a heavy sigh. "Yeah, yeah, sure, sure. Hey, why don't you all take the leap at the same time?"
They nodded, and each stood about twenty feet away from the edge of the rooftop, facing Cire. Each of the Blade Breakers had about five feet between them, and were all muttering things like, "Alrighty then," "Okey dokey," and "Free my mind..."
A gunshot went of and the five of them ran like hell towards the roof's boundary. Hilary never even got two feet off went she began to vertically plummet towards the pavement below. Max and Tyson got about five feet out before mimicking her, and Kai got about eight feet away before doing the same thing. Ray, however, got more than ten feet, too both Omni and Cire's surprise, and when he fell he still had some of that forward momentum going, and landed about halfway between the duo of buildings. When each of the teenagers plummeted towards the ground, they were going so fast that they went into the pavement about five or six feet and then were slung out again, going nearly ten feet in the air, before finally – painfully – landing on the ground.
"Holy fuck," Omni said when Dee unplugged her. "Did you see how far Ray went?"
"Ah, he's Chinese," replied the Operator. "You've seen those funky movies with Jackie Chan and Jet Li in them... Chinese people can fly."
Cire, Omni, and Dee went around then, unplugging the bladers. When Kai was awoken, he gagged for a moment before spitting up a tiny bit of blood. "What the...! I thought it wasn't s'posed ta be real."
"And that's why I was trying to teach you to free your mind, you simpleton. It's all up here," explained the Captain, pointing to her forehead. "Now, go have some supper and try and get some rest."
Me: So, what did you think? Review and tell me, alrighty? And if you got any questions, feel free to ask. I'm working on Chapter Seven, so it should be up in the next week, and if not, before September 7th... buh-byes! -