Yay the next Chapter of my bessie mate Mimi-chans story. Brought to you by me!

Dissclaimer: We don't own Beyblade-sobs-


Chapter 7 – Meetings

An extraction taken from the book, 'A Bit of a Quote', by Dr. P.T. Haughton:

'Wisdom and intelligence can be useless attributes when attending a meeting; people often forget to approach a topic with reasoning, to come to a logical and obtainable solution. Remember that you should try to agree on at least one subject by the time the meeting is over, even if it is just to decide who exits the door first.' Draciel.

'Miss Rienna, I really must protest; sitting in that position, in a car, is a recipe for disaster!' Naugetii eyed the adolescent from where he sat in the driver's seat; normally, Spartica would be in the passenger seat, but Rienna had been adamant, that she be allowed to ride upfront. To his surprise, Spartica had held no argument over the seating arrangements, and had placed herself with the rest of her new charges in the back – although he had noticed that she had taken a window seat.

Rienna turned her hard stare at the butler, and with all the gracefulness she could muster with her rather broad hand, she waved his fretfulness away, and exclaimed that she did not realise that disaster was something you could make, and was it edible? And this was a limo, not a car, in any case.

Naugetii frowned at the young teenager, but instead of reprimanding her himself, looked into the rear view mirror to seek out his young mistress. He found two piercing green eyes watching the mirror already, and he questioned her silently, with a quiet pleading for guidance in his eyes. She said nothing, but let a little emotion shine through the bright green orbs, something that was rare for the sixteen year old, and flashed a look that clearly said; 'If that is what she wants, then let her learn the hard way.' Naugetii inwardly thought that, if dead, you could no longer learn anything, but, naturally, it was pointless arguing a case against someone who rarely spoke. Commands taken, he turned his concentration fully back to the road once more.

It was Rienna who broke the stillness the next time; silences made her uncomfortable, and she often sought places of common commotion to spend her time, although it has to be said, that most of the commotion had something to do with her in the first place. 'Naugetii?' she hailed him, a slight whine in her voice, as she elongated the 'ii' part of his name.

'Yes Miss Rienna?' The driver answered, tilting his head carefully in the direction her voice had come from – which happened to be the dashboard, because of the way she was sitting.

'Naugeii's not a Japanese name now is it'?'

'It is pronounced Naugetii, and yes you are right Miss Rienna, it is Russian.' Naugetii was not sure where the young missus was trying to get to with this subject; it seemed as if she had pulled it out of the air.

To his surprise it was another girl that piped in next, the conversation in the front, was obviously becoming a source of interest for the back seat riders. 'You know Mr Naugetii; I think it might be best if we could call you by a shorter name. You see, Rienna has trouble getting her dialect around foreign words without mimicking them, at the moment. I dare say she shall improve, but until then…well…it's only an idea…' Kim trailed off.

Naugetii allowed a small smile of amusement to play on his lips; he was always rather pleased at the politeness of Miss Kim, she had a way of speaking that made him feel respected, just like Spartica, perhaps she would turn out like Lady Haughton yet – then again, having a personality like Lady Haughton's was probably not everyone's first choice. 'Miss Kim, you may call me anything you like, within reason of course, and Naugetii is just fine, Mister is too much for me – makes me feel old.' He joked, earning himself an edge of a smile from the small girl, which encouraged his own large grin, baring well-polished, pure white teeth.

'I know!' exclaimed Fade, who had, earlier, been staring around and about her with wide innocent eyes and a smile plastered to her face, for the last two hours – it was as if she had been waiting for a conversation she could include her own words too. Although she did truly appear to have a good idea – 'How about Nougat?' Fade made the two mistakes of pronouncing the 'nou' and 'now', and adding the't' on the end, which should have been silent.

'Nougat?' Queried Rienna as she tried to put her mouth around the strange word.

'Yeah, you know…' She glanced around at everybody's frowning and confused faces. 'Like the sweet candy stuff. Rienna will remember that easily, because it's food.' She grinned widely at her own genius.

'Oh.' Kim realised with a groan. She placed one hand in front of her eyes, and rubbed her temples, as though Fade's optimistic attempts at conversation she did not seem to fully understand herself. 'She means Nougat.' Kim pronounced the word correctly for everyone else to hear.

Another silent message was sent from Spartica to Naugetii, via rear view mirror, which expressed that it was his choice to accept his chosen name, or not.

'Well?' Questioned Rienna, studying him from her dangerously balanced perch.

Naugetii used one of his eyes to look at her, while keeping the other on the road, and the ghost of a smile twitched back on to his lips as he answered; 'Nougat it is.'

Rienna nodded, then tested the new name, 'Alrigh' then…Nougat.'

The new silence that invaded Fade's mind stripped it clean of inward optimism and left a vacuum of nothingness. She felt so little to no emotion within her small radiating aura that she reached out her soul to grasp onto someone else's – the nearest person to her was Dove. The backseats were situated opposite each other, so that she faced Dove with little choice, not that she minded mind you; after getting over her first initial reaction at meeting her first neko, she had come to quite enjoy Dove's company – she rather hoped it was that same for the neko-jin, but she held crumbling hope, which rusted slowly as time passed, as Dove had said not one word this whole ride.

Dove Rikasha's feelings were an emotional tidal wave, of anxiety, insecurity and loneliness. She had heard that even within a crowd or, as the situation was, a crowded limo, you could feel completely and utterly alone. She was used to being ignored and secretly despised everywhere she went, and had learnt to block out the scowling faces of her people as she passed – she had no doubt, that as soon as these people learnt how she really was, that they would reject her immediately.

An inaudible sniff was picked up by her sharply attuned neko inherited ears, and shaking herself from her reverie of the inevitable, she looked up to find Fade's eyes watering and the rashes of red beginning to patch itself onto her skin. It was an obvious statement of sorrow, and without much warning, a silent tear coursed its way down to her chin, and dropped off into the hands clasped in her lap. Fade's bright aura of happiness had eroded into a well of distress, before the neko-jinn's eyes.

Spotting Dove's piercing amber gaze studying her closely, Fade turned away towards the window. Heat began to rise in her cheeks, and humiliation set in; Dove was not the first to see her break down so rapidly, for no apparent reason. Although to the blonde girl's surprise the neko did not query the whole episode, just sat there with an odd look on her face.

At least there was something else than that loneliness, which made Dove seem almost like that bird her name represent, except caged and frightened, and nothing to look forward to but a downward spiral. As her mother had taught her, Fade searched inside herself, for that tiny flame of happiness, which was always somehow constantly alight, inside even the most sombre of people. Then, as a car zoomed past the sleek limo, Fade got an idea.

'D. Dove.'

Everyone turned to give Fade yet another number of searching glances of confusion.

She sighed, shoulders drooping, before perking up again and explaining with wide grin and spread hands, 'It's a game, see. You look at the passing car's number plate, and you have to pick out a letter. Then, you say an animal, place, famous name, etcetera that begins with the letter. Like the number plate that was on the car that just went passed had a 'D', on it, so I said 'Dove', which is a name of an animal.' Her grinned only got larger as she watched everyone's faces take on the 'huh?' expression.

Rienna, who always had something to say, was the first to react; 'I dunno, soun's like a stoopid game ta me.' She then turned back to pulling faces at Nougat, which she had been doing for the past five minutes, finding this a most entertaining way to help the minutes go by; how Rienna was so easily pleased by doing such things, for so long, was unknown to Kim. Kim shook her head 'no' first, and realised that watching the scenery outside the window, was much more beneficial to her intelligence.

Only Dove actually considered the invitation to the game; apart from helping to scale down the boredom, which had accumulated over time, it might also be a way of communicating with someone other than her own inside mind and conscience.

Even though Dove's mind weighed heavily in favour of joining in, it still took her a full five minutes to answer – and by the time Fade had sunk back into silence, and was taken so much by surprise, that she actually jumped when she heard the neko's reply.

'C. Cat.'

After her initial shock was over, Fade smiled warmly at Dove, and both girls were nearly overcome with gratefulness. Dove, because her attempt at joining in had been accepted, and Fade because her humiliation at being rejected had nearly halved now.

Kim, understanding now that the game was going ahead, happened to catch the letter on a number plate on the other side of the seat. She thought quickly, and as she caught sight of the small monkey, gently cleaning himself, on the top of the seat, where Rienna's head should have been, knowing the right word was easy.

'M. Marmoset.' Offered Kim, thinking that announcing the name of an actual species of monkey, was much more clever than saying just 'monkey'; after all it would leave options open later on in the game, assuming the game actually went forward further.

Fade's mouth grew into a wide, crescent moon, as she bared her teeth in a grin, and Dove nodded thoughtfully in her direction. Rienna's face sported a pout; she was not used to being left out, especially where games were involved. Rienna Sassi was always the centre of attention, and everyone answered to her, and only her, being excluded from the game was not an option for her, and a crime not many would like to commit in her mind. It did not really cross her mind that it was her fault she was not playing in the first place, after openly expressing her opinion.

In reality, Rienna could not correctly play this game, even if she had wanted to from the beginning – she was illiterate. She could not read number plates, no matter how easily she could memorise the symbols; such skills were useless to her, unless she were able to process the information to make sense in her own mind. Although, to her credit, she was quick to remember that Kim had mentioned the letter, 'M', and even though Rienna did not actually know what the letter 'M' looked like, she did know that it was most likely a letter that started a word sounding like 'muh'. Rienna thought of a word she would know that started with the 'muh' sound.

'M. Muffin.' She smiled at the greatness of her mind, and licked her lips, as she conjured up the image of the food she favoured most, so far on this strange, almost unknown trip.

There was another deafening silence in the limo, as the other three girls playing the game considered this word; in their minds, the visual image of a muffin was acceptable, but their logical reasoning rejected it completely. None of the girls wanted to say anything to Rienna, but keeping silent about this obscene word in this topic, was an outrage to the game, and would most likely destroy it completely in the near future.

Kim was the first to speak up, and her left eye twitched as she did so. 'Uh…Rienna, I don't think a 'muffin' is actually classified as an animal.'

This statement was to start a riot, which included all occupants, apart from Spartica, and was to become the oddest argument that Nougat had ever experienced. Now you might say that as females, we naturally talk and squabble over the smaller points of life, but when you have been cooped up in a vehicle, even the great comfort of Spartica's limo, something is bound to make the weave of natural conversation bite its tail, and make a great turn.

Rienna stared at Kim for a full four second, before replying; 'Yar, but ya neva said anythin' bout animals – I though' i' migh' bey anythin' dat moved, so I figure' dat a 'muffin' 'classified'.' Rienna accent was cut off at the end, as she attempted to copy another of Kim's words, mimicking the voice.

'Yes, but muffins don't move anyway Rienna.' Pointed out Dove through forcefully clenched teeth, busily trying to stop herself from snorting in derision.

Rienna still fought for the losing battle, and the came across something in her memory that seemed reliable, and a good source of evidence. 'Ya say dat, but I ate a muffin da ova day, and it musta been angry at mey, coz it started up somethin' mean in me stomach. It was all wrigglin' and gurglin' and da like…'

'All right, I think we get the idea, Rienna.' Dove interrupted.

'You mean it was actually alive. You ate a live muffin? Didn't you feel sorry for it?' Fade asked of Rienna, her eyes round and watering, her lip wobbling as she visualised the cute puffy muffin, being brought slowly to Rienna's hungry and unmannered, never closed mouth.

Dove patted Fade's shoulder reassuringly, 'don't worry, she's not telling the truth – our Rienna is a compulsive liar. Otherwise, I hope you treated it with the respect it deserved; I've heard of cavemen eating their food with more civilised etiquette than you.'

'Etiquette.' Mouthed Rienna not understanding the word, and so not fully comprehending the insult, she then shook her head at the gullible nature of Fade, and the pathetic arguments of the neko-jinn. The sound of barely disguised laughter caught her attention, and she turned to look at the driving butler. 'Wat's so funny?' he didn't answer her, but instead closed his eyes, water trickling out from the crow lines of mirth surrounding them.

Kim decided that she should try and make some sort of peace between the group, and came up with a solution, what she did not remember to think of, was Rienna short extension of knowledge. 'I suppose as butter goes into muffins, then there must have been a cow somewhere in the works, but I don't think that 'muffin' is going to be accepted as a correct answer, for this game.'

Fade gasped, a mouth forming a small 'O' in horror, as a vegetarian, she was well aware of the situation she might be in now – she had been careful to steer well clear of the Hawaiian pizza for this reason. 'They put cows in muffins? Oh…but I…I…I've eaten loads of muffins.' She received a rather exasperated glance from Kim, and a slight look of confusion from Dove who, even though she had heard of muffins, had never actually encountered one before.

The inevitable question appeared next; 'Wat's a cow?' asked Rienna, frowning at everyone in annoyance, she made a mental note to make sure she was better informed about such topics in the future.

Dove raised her eyebrows; back in her village, she had spent much time with the cattle herd, more than her own people, in this way she had become much better acquainted with the gentle mammals, and her shoes with a scrubbing brush. 'I'm not even going to comment on that one, in fear of offending the poor things – no matter how tempting.'

Fade, being so excited at having understood exactly what someone had been talking about for once, lost all tact and jumped right into it. 'A cow looks like you Rienna!' she pointed her finger at the open-mouthed girl, who knew perfectly well that the blonde pipsqueak had just insulted her, and glared hard at the giggling face that had produced such grotesque words.

'Why ya lit'le…!'

'H. Home.'

Everyone turned to look at the dark haired girl, who had been staring out the window all this time – or perhaps she had been listening intently – such things were a mystery when looked upon, if Spartica was concerned. The limo went mute, as they took in the words that Spartica had spoken, and not one sound was uttered from a single person. Spartica had spoken.

As the limo turned up the drive and parked, they sat there in complete silence, not a person daring to move until a signal or a command was sounded. Naugetii wiped the remaining tears of mirth from his eyes, and then opened the door to walk around the side to the boot of the vehicle. By the time they had all piled out, Rienna was no closer to finding out what a cow was, and no one was closer to understanding the mystery that was Spartica Haughton.

The Bladebreakers' Apartment in Münich, Germany

Kai could not believe in the absurdity of his situation – actually he could, he just did not want to. He had been kept isolated from the outside world in this apartment, twiddling his thumbs, for over two days now, and even watching Tyson play hide and go seek for the biscuits he had recently hidden was beginning to bore him. Originally, annoying Tyson had been his favourite pastime, but the current circumstances called for him to be around the immature teenager for longer than he would have liked, and now, his only plan for survival was to keep himself lent up against the wall and hope he was not spotted by the yet again crowned 'champion'.

The sixteen year old teen sneered inwardly at that thought, how was it that a thirteen year old could coming riding in on his blue dragon and take the last thing away that mattered to him – was it too much to ask to be champion again, on his own, like the old days, the only high seat in his life where even his grandfather could not seem to touch him…

The slapping of a magazine hitting the table brought him back from his reverie, and he realised that perhaps he had been thinking too much into it – after all the words to describe Tyson were annoyingly loud, not unbeatably strong. He opened his eyes, inner meditation disturbed, and turned his head slightly to the left, to watch Ray put his hands back behind his head, slouching against the back of one of the two sofas of the apartment. He noticed Kenny, or better known as the 'Chief', lean down towards the magazine that was bent roughly in half. Kai allowed himself to stalk up to the coffee table, resembling a caged panther, and looked down too at the article the magazine was displaying.

'Only a few days before the world championships, Helvemar pulled out yet another victory, spinning herself to the very top of the Girls' World Championship leadership table for the sixth year running…' Kenny read out, pushing his glasses up his nose, so that he was able to read the tiny writing the publishers were determined to put on everything that was white, made of dead tree and shiny. 'Helvemar, also known as the 'Queen of Blading', has recently announced that she will be bringing together her very own team with four girls from different corners of the world – although her own nationality is still unknown, she has reassured us that she is quite adept at several languages, and hopes that her team will have be strong enough to enter the real World Championships by next year. As quite an unpredictable and excellent beyblader, who has managed to excel in all areas of the sport, it would be good advice for any team, champion or not, to be prepared.' Kenny finished the small article, and sighed as he handed the magazine over to Tyson who was peering at him with wide, disbelieving eyes. Although he wished otherwise, he also took in the half eaten, newly found, biscuit that was half munched in his open mouth.

As the magazine passed Kai's eyes, they glanced over a small picture that had been chosen to accompany the short piece of text. Within the photograph, a girl stood to one side of the beydish, eyes securely trained to a spot on the inside of it, a beyblade tucked into her launcher, ready to be spun out. He noticed the way she stood expertly, with completely relaxed muscles, but with all the wariness of cat with a twitching tail. As a male teenager with raging hormones, he also did not fail to notice that she was rather pretty – whether or not the picture did her justice was just something that would have to wait another day, however.

Tyson stuffed yet another biscuit into his mouth, as he reread the article himself, glaring whole-heartedly – Anything that was about beyblade, and did not even mention his name was blasphemy to his eyes. All right, he was not that bad with it, but someone else with a status so near his own put him slightly on edge. The again, she was just a girl…

'I think this is going to be so cool.' Chirped Max, from behind the other sofa that Hilary was curled up on. 'The Bladebreakers back together, to face yet another tough challenge of what is now going to be a world class, girl team. This is going to be awesome!' He punched the air with his right hand to provide emphasis to his statement.

'Pfft. You actually think going up against a few petty girls is going to be a challenge?' Tyson asked not quite believing his ears.

'If they win the world championship, yet another barrier will be broken in a male dominated area; right on sisters!' Hilary exclaimed happily clapping her hands, forgetting momentarily what side she was on, overcome with the urge to support her own sex.

'What's wrong with you guys? They're not gonna win anything, we're the champs remember, and with me on our team, those girls will be toast, and I think we could slice them up with a knife, a very blunt knife too.' Tyson scratched his head in thoughtfulness as he went through what he had just said in his mind.

Kai piped up for the first time that evening. 'I wouldn't underestimate them Tyson, they might pack more of a punch then you might think.'

Tyson opened his mouth to counter his team leader.

Kenny got there first: 'I agree with Kai.'

The thirteen-year-old biscuit-muncher was left spluttering crumbs onto the carpet. His best friends were siding with the sourpuss now? Whatever next?

Kenny carried on, 'and if this Helvemar,' he said absently typing furiously on his laptop, Dizzi, 'is as good as the 'Beyblade Monthly' claims, then I have no doubt that any team members she picks will be filled with the same type of expertise as well.'

Kai could not have agreed more.

Spartica Haughton's (or rather Ponti Haughton's) Mansion in Bali

The small band of girls sat around the morning table, in the large kitchen, in complete and utter silence; not from respect, more out of shock, their mouths hung open and their eyes bulged; they were so still that they seemed as if they were just models made from wax and, as always, it was Rienna who broke the mould: 'Ya kiddin' righ', I've neva eve' tooched a Beybla' in me life.'

Sighing, Spartica lifted her eyes skyward as she closed them. Digging into her pocket she felt for the familiar touch of cool metal and plastic, fingering the inner bitbeast, she tugged her eyes open and with them pierced Rienna's own as she spoke. 'I do not 'kid', not with anyone I hardly know. This was not originally my own idea, but as you are probably aware, there is no one else around willing to look after you, properly anyway. I can sort out your first problem immediately.' She added the last part, swinging up her arm from her pocket, and swiftly tossing an object towards Rienna, who in turn caught it with natural ease caused by an instinctive reaction – her eyes goggled at the beyblade that was nestled firmly in her palm.

Kim and Fade sat quietly, still trying to process the information they had been given and waiting to see how the conversation and evening would progress. Dove decided to voice her concern. 'Let me get this straight, you pick us off the streets, literally, take us home with you, and then, as if it is the most natural thing in the world, you claim that we hold 'three of the oldest bitbeasts known to mankind' and not only that, but you suddenly have a very bright idea to make a team out of us. I'm sorry, but you may have noticed that we are a girl who cannot even hold a can of coke without dropping it, a girl who can't even pronounce beyblade properly, a girl who believes that she can fly because the fairies will give her wings one day, and last, but not least Spartica Haughton a girl with a monkey on her shoulder, which did I forget to mention, is afraid of heights!' By this time, Dove's fury flared in her fiery amber eyes as her hands clenched onto the tablecloth, her anger fully directed at Spartica.

Spartica just tilted her head to the side, eyes trained on Dove's own. 'You may leave whenever you wish, the door is always open, never locked.' This statement clearly ended the conversation – no questions asked.

Kim, having gotten over her first initial shock, put up her hand uncertainly, and waved a bit at Spartica to get her attention. 'Er…question.' Spartica turned her head in the auburn-haired girl's direction, nodding at her to continue. 'Um, I know I don't hold one of these bitbeasts, because Luigi is relatively young as I well know, so where do I come into all of this.'

Spartica gave a rather rare smile to the girl, glad that she had encouraged them enough, that they all felt comfortable asking her questions, of what she might have in store for them. 'I do realise that you might not really be the type to take blading up for a sport, but your intelligence is greater than most people realise, you are good with computer and are a quick learner, the position for data collector is yours to fill.'

Kim smiled, nodding thoughtfully. Finally, a good use for her brainpower, and all in all it could be fun to do, perhaps through this she would make some new friends. She glanced over to Fade who was also smiling and nodding enthusiastically at her; yes, making friends here for the first time in her life, proper friends, was going to be an obtainable goal. Fade piped up in an exited voice, now determined to have something to say in the conversation. 'Yes, I heard daddy say once in a meeting, that all successful battles have a strategist behind the lines.'

Kim blinked, did Fade just say something intelligent and not about frogs turning into princes?

Spartica turned back to look at Dove; the only one who was yet to be even slightly happy with the new situation. 'And you, Miss Rikasha?'

Dove's growl could have matched a lion as she stood up, pushing her chair away, only managing to stumble over it backwards, tablecloth still clenched in her hands. As the tablecloth was yanked off the table, all objects flew with it, the vase of flowers landing neatly on her head, shattering, and drenching her hair with rose scented water. Climbing hastily to her feet, Dove's eyes flashed with more than just anger, but complete and utter humiliation – she had done it again! 'Well, quite frankly, I think this is the most stupidest idea in the world. You said yourself that you hardly know us, and so in that I don't see any reason why we should trust you. All this talk of divine spirits or bitbeasts or whatever, its all a load of codswallop, and I think you guys should be ashamed of yourselves for falling for it in the first place!' She breathed heavily as she glared at all the residence of the table.

Spartica gazed at her calmly, emotionless. 'Are you quite done. There is a door there,' she pointed to the oak door, by the utility area, with the wave of her right hand, 'as I have already mentioned, if you are not happy with this arrangement, you may walk out of it.'

Dove stood up, wrapped her temporary coat more tightly around her, and stalked out, not looking over her shoulder once.

Fade's eyes grew sad, as she watched yet another person walk out of her life, Kim pursed her lips in and swung her eyes left and right in an impatient and patronising manner, while Rienna's returned to her inspection of Spartica's beyblade. Spartica clasped her hands in front of her, on the table, and studied her three girls that remained.

Surprisingly it was Spartica who spoke to break the new uneasiness now, her voice settling over them like a soothing melody. 'The first thing I wish to do is to help Rienna talk properly as well as give her literacy skills. I tell you what; Rienna every time you say a word in your own voice correctly, you can hold my beyblade for another minute. Fade, Kim, you can help me in this.'

Both girls nodded, eager to help in this task – something that sounded like fun, although it would take up a good amount of time, but it was just one way to break the ice a little more.

'We shall start now.' Spartica dipped her head towards Rienna, who looked up in expectation for her first word. 'All right Rienna, in your own time and in your own voice, say 'Muffin'.'

Rienna's face split into a grin, now this was what she called a game, she absently hoped in the back of her mind that chocolate accompanied beyblade holding. And damn, this whole experience was going to be fun!

Fade and Kim could not have agreed more.