by Shadou-sama
Chapter 18 - Cyberlicious
Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblade.
Rei stood ready at the beydish, mere seconds away from the second round. That alone should have kept his mind sharp, if it hadn't been for his opponent not being there. Boris paced back and forth, muttering under his breath which Rei could barely pick up, but which made Kai's sadistic attacker cringe. Bryan and Spencer sat on the bench, uneasily watching their teacher advisor pace back and forth.
"You have five minutes, Mr. Boris, to provide a beyblader," the ref said, squatting on his podium and covering his mike.
Boris cursed violently, probably more than enough to make any sailor cover their ears. Luckily, Rei was too far away for the words to reach his innocent ears.
The redhead beyblader walked in through the gate, followed by his black-haired teammate. Tala closed his eyes and waited patiently for Boris to stop yelling at him, well, more like talk sternly. Shadra sat down apathetic next to Spencer.
"And the second match is between Rei of the Bladebreakers and Tala, team captain and substitute for the Demolition Boys!" the referee announced, striking an awkward but cool pose.
The lid to the beydish opened up and a snow filled dish appeared. The ref stared for a second, his eyes blinking twice before he regained his composure. "Representing the winter weather -- the Blizzard Dish!" He turned off his microphone to talk into his walkie-talkie. Tala and Rei were the only people able to hear him yelling at the maintenance crew and how they shouldn't leave the dishes outside.
"Bladers, in your ready position!" Watching the big screen, the shot spiraled around the ref before topping over his head and zooming in on the two beybladers. "Three! Two! One! Let it rip!"
Instantly, 4890 showed up on both shots of the beybladers on the screen. Snow blew out of the dish underneath the spin rate of the two white beyblades. The two slammed into each other, wasting no time.
Driger forced Wolborg back, the wolf helpless in the white tiger's relentless attacks.
"Tiger Claw!" Rei ordered. Light flashed and Wolborg was thrown from the dish, tidy claw marks engraved in the attack ring.
"The winner of the first beybattle is Rei!"
Rei whooped mentally, showing great enthusiasm on the outside. He'd beat Tala for Kai, but not in a gay way. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Tala merely looked at his fallen beyblade, not a single millimeter of anger or disappointment. If anything, he looked a bit happy at the event. He picked up his beyblade and walked back to Boris, who didn't look angry in the least. Rei stopped his celebration as soon as he noticed that. Something was up.
Tala came back, new attack ring installed.
"Scared?" Rei asked.
Tala's smug look took on greater intensity. "You left yourself wide open for our equipment," Tala said. "Beating you now will be easy."
"Is that so," Rei said as they took their positions.
"Three! Two! One! Let it rip!"
They held the same score again. It looked like they were matched perfectly, no program could chose between the two.
"Uh guys?" Kenny said, starting into stage one of his panic mode.
"What?" Tyson asked, tearing his attention away from the beybattle.
"Tala's brain waves are messed up," Kenny said, now into stage two.
"What do you mean?" Emily asked, leaning over to look at his screen. "Oh my"
"What's going on?" Max asked. Now everyone had his or her attention on Kenny, except for Rei.
"I recorded his brain waves from previous beybattles, and they're nothing like they are now. It's almost like..." Kenny trailed off.
"He's cyber-human," Emily finished. She snapped her fingers. "That's why his moves are so precise."
"Boris would be sick enough to try that," Hilary said, sticking her tongue out in disgust.
"Initializing Final Attack program," Tala said.
"Huh?" Rei was thoroughly confused.
Wolborg kicked into high gear, and viciously attacked Driger. This time, Driger's white beyblade was the one to eat dirt.
"Tala ties it up! This next beybattle will determine the winner!"
Rei grabbed his beyblade and retreated to his team. While Kenny looked over his beyblade for damage, Emily filled Rei in on Tala's new hardware.
"Is that even possible?" he asked.
Emily nodded. "Apparently."
"But you can beat him Rei!" Mariah said, extra cheerful. "After all, computers follow a set series of commands, and you don't so you can easily counter his strategy better then he can yours."
It would help if they knew what Tala's strategy was, Rei thought. But if Kai could nearly beat Bryan while half-conscious, than he could defeat Tala while fully conscious.
He stepped back up to the beydish. Unsmiling, not scowling, Tala did the same on the other side. One last beybattle, which would determine whether the Demolition Boys would take the championship or the Bladebreakers would have a chance.
He looked past the redhead to view the bench. Shadra leaned against the side of the dugout, arrayed in her usual black and red vest, and black clothes. She wasn't even watching the match, looking bored with the proceedings. Rei's determination strengthened. He wasn't only fighting for his team, his injured captain, but for his friend as well. This was how they were going to get her back, Mr. Dickinson had reasoned, and the first step toward their goal was winning this match.
"Are you ready?" the ref called. The two beybladers fell back into position. "Three! Two! One! Let it rip!"
I've been fighting every night and day
Gotta do my best to put you away
"A stunning 5403 and 5304 for RPM scores!" the ref called.
The two white beyblades settled right into the snow and went straight for each other. Round and round the ring they went, sending each other blows. Sparks flew, melting the snow-covered dish. The going was getting very sloppy.
Wolborg swerved into the center, and Driger with it's speed raced halfway around the dish before it could follow the wolf to the center. They sawed at each other, water swooshing onto the dish walls, then falling back to the center only to be swooshed out again.
I've been fighting every night and day
Gotta do my best to put you away
Driger backed out first, the water was seriously logging its parts. This put Wolborg off balance and nearly spun right out of the dish. The white tiger dodged to the rim, as the snow had melted by now creating a new dish where that was the only safe place. Well, unless a bit-beast could handle the water.
"Initializing attack sequence," Tala said, as his beyblade to its place exactly across from the tiger. "Wolborg!"
You think you're gonna run me up against the wall
Then let it rip, get ready to fall!
Strong blizzard winds shot out of nowhere, upland from the tiger beyblade. Driger had to lean forward to balance against the opposing force that it's attack ring was a couple millimeters from scraping the dish.
Rei stood strong. If Kai could weather the wind, so could he. Unless" The wind abruptly stopped, sending Driger toppling into the water.
"Driger!"
You're never gonna take me down
Better watch your back, I'm the best in town
A bright white light blazed from beneath the surface, and Driger's white beyblade reemerged, still spinning, if a little wobbly. Wolborg was a mere foot away from Driger, and took the opportunity to pounce. The two again wrapped themselves into endless attacks and defends and vice versa.
"Driger!" Rei summoned, and the white tiger leapt into the playing field.
Ever a-spinning round
You'll never stop me
"Wolborg!" Tala summoned, his white wolf jumping into the fray.
The two beasts fought, Wolborg trying to taste the tiger's throat and Driger introducing his claws to the wolf's hide.
The beyblades battled on, horizontal in the dish. If Tala overpowered, Driger would be sent into the pool. If Rei had the strength, Wolborg would topple out of the dish.
I got one foot off the ground
With my beyblade, my beyblade beatin'
Mariah crossed her fingers. Come on Rei, she silently prayed.
"Tiger Claw!"
"Wolf Fang!"
The two bit-beasts took a final run at each other, blowing the air every which way. A white beyblade fell at Tala's feet out of the dish. Rei held his breath, excitement bubbling within him. Only one of the beyblades had been close to being knocked out, and that was not his. Tala had" won?
Wolborg still spun in the dish. Driger had been thrown out instead of taking a dive.
"And the winner is Tala! The Demolition Boys have won the Finals—"
"Shut up," Tala snapped at the ref. He turned to Rei. "One more beybattle, winner take all," he proposed.
Rei looked up. "The last match?"
Tala nodded, picking up Rei's beyblade. "Affirmative. If your champion wins, you get the title. But if we win, we get all of your bit-beasts." To exemplify, he took the bit out of Driger Evolution and stuck it in his own pocket.
Tyson jumped up on the stage beside Rei, shoving the poor black-haired beyblader out of the way. "We accept."
"What?" Rei exclaimed, as well as his other teammates and friends.
"Don't worry, I won't lose," Tyson said. He pointed forcefully at Shadra. "You hear me? I won't lose!"
The gang walked back to their hotel rooms and suites, depending on whether they were on the Bladebreakers team or not. The next and final match would be held the next day. Lee caught up to them, and pulled Mariah over. The whole crowd stopped to see what was up.
The White Tigers' captain pulled a yellow rose from his sleeve and held it out to the pink-haired girl.
"A romantic evening for two at Le Petite Chateau?" Lee asked.
Rei, having had enough of this, stepped in between the two obviously very, very enraged. "What do you think you're doing! You know she's my girlfriend!"
"Word on the street is you have another sweetheart," Lee said. "Don't you think that Mariah deserves more than second violin to your mistress Kai?"
Rei nearly fell over. "What! I don't like Kai, not in that way!"
Mariah smiled nervously, her hand behind her head. "I just told Kai that so he'd win."
Lee's eyes widened comically.
"I know," Rei said, standing sagely beside the shocked teen. "She's a weird one. If she didn't put out, we probably would've lost interest a long time ago."
"Rei!" she exclaimed slapping him on the face.
He rubbed his bruised jaw. "What? You're the only one who gets to lie?"
"Yes," she said.
Rei and Lee glanced at each other, wishing just a little that the other would steal her away.
To be continued...
