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Day 12
Kaie lay awake, staring at the ceiling. According to her digital alarm clock she had been doing so for close to three hours now.
After she and Judy had left the arena Mr. Dickenson had told her to come to his office in half an hour, so he could explain how the finals would happen.
Tala, Rage, Ben and herself were there and had been told that they had the next day off, then the semi finals would happen with Tala versus Rage and Ben versus Kaie. There would then be a day of practice and then the winners of the matches would face off, in the finals.
Kaie had sat in her room thinking until dinner, thoughts wandering into her mind, and somehow each one of them somehow reminded her of Max, Rei, Tyson, Kai and everyone else that she had ever known.
Unlike when she lost Kai, Kaie felt numb, but was still able to cope. If anything it had made her stronger.
Dinner, last night, had been silent as the cafeteria was almost deserted. Kaie had gone to her room and sometime had fallen asleep, and had woken up at four am, and now it was six fifty.
Kaie got out of bed and quickly got dressed and ate breakfast and went to the arenas to train. Kaie knew it would be too painful going to the park, and the simulator needed at least two people.
Training was hard, as Kaie had no one to tell her what she was doing wrong, and the absence of Max made everything harder.
Kaie trained until four, without any lunch. Time was swallowing her up.
Kaie went back to her room and just as she was about to close her door, she heard a voice that she recognized.
It was Max's dad.
"Hello Kaie." he said
Kaie nodded in return.
"Judy sent me to give this to you. It's from …Max" he said.
Kaie took the box, and Mr. Tate departed, brushing away a tear. He had taken the news of Max being gone relatively well, as he was still able to cope. Max's mom however had gone into a coma-like state and was as attentive as a zombie.
Kaie went into her room and closed the door and looked closer at the box she had been handed. She recognized it as the box that Max had items in for her when he lost.
Kaie took it over to the bed an opened it, and read the note written in Max's scrawl.
Kaie,
If you are reading this then it means that something has happened to me, more than likely I lost a match. In the box are a few things that I hope will help you continue battling. There are other items that are numbered one to five with little notes and presents. Please read them in order.
Max
Kaie read the letter and found the number one wrapped present.
For hyper-ness, or in your case, lack there of.
Kaie opened the white tissue paper and found two bars of chocolate. Swiss chocolate, the best stuff in both her and Max's opinion. Kaie put it beside her, as breakfast for the morning; as she knew she would need something to calm her down. Chocolate had an rather odd effect on her.
Kaie found number two, next to number one and read the card.
Comercialism is really taking over the market.
Kaie opened it to find a bobble-head doll of herself, with a small note on the front. There was one of everyone…however I had a feeling that if I got Emily's it may have been used as a voodoo doll.
Kaie gave a small smile. Even when Max was not there he still managed to make her laugh.
Kaie found number three and opened it.
Our official picture.
Kaie opened the tissue paper and there was a six piece frame. In the center was the official picture of the team in their outfits. Around the edge were all the individual pictures of each member. Kaie remembered that day all too well…
Flashback
"Kaie wake up!" Max yelled
Kaie groaned and fell out of bed, the only effective way to wake herself up. She shook her head and answered the door at which Max was standing.
"What?" she said in a sleepy voice.
Max looked at her wide eyed. "You're not dressed!"
Kaie was confused. Of course she wasn't, she had just woken up.
"Didn't Emily tell you?" Max asked
"Tell me what?" asked Kaie, now fully awake. If Emily had been sent to tell her it was more than likely that the message had been 'forgotten'.
Max looked anxiously down the hall. "Today is when we all have our official pictures taken!" Kaie gave him a blank stare.
"We get dressed in our blading outfit, and then we 'pose' and they take a picture. That picture is then displayed on the screen when we are battling and is also used for all the merchandise they sell."
Kaie nodded. "Then I suppose I should get dressed. When do we go?"
"Ten minutes."
"Ten…" repeated Kaie. "This is going to be interesting. Now if you would excuse me Max I have to get organized." Kaie shut the door, and looked around her room. In actual fact she had no idea what she was going to wear, so she was trying to logically think what she owned that looked good and you could blade in.
Max was surprised that Kaie thought she could be ready in such a short amount of time. He shrugged and then went downstairs to say Kaie was getting ready, and he grabbed some food for her to eat in the car.
Kaie meanwhile was digging through her room trying to find something.
Kaie then remembered a pair of pants that she had under her bed, as she hadn't had time to put it away yet.
She pulled out a pair of baggy black pants, which looked fairly good on her because she was so small. Kaie had liked them because they had red flames going up the side.
They came with free arm warmers, and so Kaie put them on the bed with the pants and her gloves.
Kaie threw the team shirt on the bed. Everyone had to wear an All-Star shirt with a logo, so Kaie had opted for an orange tank top with the logo on the bottom left corner, so that she could hide it if necessary.
Kaie pulled out one of her shirts, a plain black shirt which ended midway on her stomach. She found that if she put that shirt on over top of the orange tank top it didn't look so bad.
Kaie looked at everything on the bed;
All-Star Shirt
Black Shirt
Black pants with flames
Free arm warmers
Gloves
Kaie put all the clothing on and grabbed a plain black belt to hold up her pants, Kai's necklace, which was red, and stepped into her black sneakers.
She was ready.
Almost
Kaie grabbed her brush and began to brush her waist length hair when Max knocked on her door.
"Coming. Just a second." Kaie put her brush in her pocket, and straightened her arm warmers. Kaie had slid them over top of her gloves so that it looked as if her arms were connected to her pants.
Kaie opened the door to see an awestruck Max. He had no idea what to expect, as she had had such a short time to change, but this wasn't it.
Kaie's outfit matched quite well and even followed the rules that his mom had set.
Her hair was the only thing that didn't match, but it was a shade that at least blended a little.
"What do you think?" she asked
Max smiled. "Pretty good for ten minutes."
Kaie nodded. "All I have to do is brush my hair."
"And figure out your 'pose'" Max said.
Kaie sighed.
They followed Judy out to the van that had come to pick them up.
The room that had been converted to do pictures was relatively small. Michael went first, with his pitcher's pose, followed by Emily with her 'tennis' pose, followed by Max with his grin, and peace sign pose.
Joel's pose was him looking at his laptop, with his head angled toward the camera, his hands holing his computer as he sided to the camera.
Then it was Kaie's turn.
Kaie stood in front of the camera and took her position. Max smiled, it was totally her.
End Flashback
Kaie looked at her picture. She had her hands in the belt loops on her black pants, and her head was looking at the ground, but her green eyes looked at the camera. Her legs were in what she like to call her 'secure' stance, with them slightly farther apart than shoulder width with her blade was clutched in her right hand.
The team photo was in the middle of the frame, surrounded by all the individual pictures.
Michael stood in the middle with his left hand gloved. He had his arm around Emily, and that hand held his baseball. Emily held her tennis racquet launcher, and was trying not to smile, which according to the camera guys looked very cute. On the right side of the picture stood Max, smiling and leaning against Emily, with Joel sitting in front with his laptop open, kneeling.
Kaie stood off to the left her body angled in to the right, in her pose, except she was looking with both her face and her eyes at the camera, and there was a hint of a smile.
The camera people had spent ages trying to get that scene to work, and a lot of time getting her to smile. It had only worked when Max had whispered to her "Drake", and then they had taken the picture. He had actually been expelled just before the tournament, Kaie remembered, for being in possession of illegal drugs.
Kaie placed the photo down and found the fourth package.
The Unofficial team
Kaie opened the package to find a photo album
She opened it to find a picture of the entire team on the first day of school dressed in their uniforms.
Then there was a picture of Drake. Max had written on it Taken from the yearbook. The staff didn't want the picture after he was expelled.
Kaie flipped the page and there was Michael and Emily holding hands, walking away from the camera.
Kaie was preparing to launch and there was a huge amount of concentration on her face.
Max laughed at something that Kaie had said and Kaie was smirking.
Emily and Kaie glaring at each other.
Kai was talking to Max.
Kaie was hugging Kai. Kaie recognized that from when Kai had told her they were siblings.
There was one huge green eye
There was a huge blue eye. Kaie remembered when she and Max had eaten a lot of sugar, and had decided to look tight into the camera and take a picture. Kaie had been blind for almost ten minutes.
They were standing at the top of a hill in uniform, their backs to the camera.
Max grinned from the page
Kaie stood in the park.
Max was in a tree at school, about to pounce/fall on Kaie
Kaie glared at who ever was taking the picture
The entire team's goofy picture. Michael was trying to kiss Emily, who was trying to push him away, but failing. Joel had turned his computer screen around and was showing the camera a movie trailer. Max was grinning and putting the peace sign over Michael's head, and had one hand on Kaie's shoulder.
Max had actually been a little more force full than necessary, and Kaie hadn't been in a strong position and had fallen, thus explaining the wide eyes.
Kaie flipped the page and there was the next frame, of her falling,
And the final frame.
Kaie was on top of Joel, who was desperately checking over his computer for any sign of damage. Emily was in the process of rolling her eyes. Max was laughing hard, and attempting to help up a very unhappy Kaie and Michael was standing there wondering what had happened, and had forgotten that he had been trying to kiss Emily.
The book finished there and Kaie put it down next to the picture frame, the bobble head, and the chocolate.
There was only one package left, and it was numbered five.
There was no letter, so Kaie opened the package straight away.
Inside the final gift was a silver armband. Etched in the silver were flames that encircled the entire band. Kaie moved the tissue paper way to see it better and found the note.
Kaie,
This is my final present. There are flames around the outside to match your costume. I was going to give it to you after the finals, but I thought 'the box' was better. Good luck and keep on fighting.
I miss you,
Max
Kaie looked closer at the band and saw a small inscription. "Always with you, Max" It floated just over the flames.
Kaie wordlessly put it on, as nothing she could say would explain how she felt. Max had given her another gift as well, a kiss, and that had already found a place in her.
The band fit perfectly, and although it had been in a cold box for quite a length of time it was warm.
Kaie put the bobble head and frame on the desk, and the photo album on her bed side table. The chocolate went there too, and Kaie looked at the clock and realised just how tired she was.
Kaie closed her eyes, and sleep found her quickly.
In the sky above a cloudless night awaited all who cared to view the sky.
One more chapter done! This one was 8 pages !
Hey did you guy know that according to Beyblade. com Tala actually was genetically enhanced and Mariah is Lee's little sister.
I though that had all been made up by fic writers, but it is actually true!
Reviews, but before I start I would like to say that I had more reviews for the last chapter than any other chapter in this fic! Thank you all!
LunaRavenCroft
Sorry for killing off Max…Thank you so much for reviewing. Thank you for telling me where to go with the story, and as most of my other readers concur with you Max will return next chapter (or maybe the one after…it depends)A/N what is NEBA?
Princess Fey
As you can see the reviews have been moved to the bottom…sorry. And again sorry, but Max will not reappear till next chapter…of maybe the one after that. It depends if I'm in a lazy mood or not – I have already written Max's fainter's land so if I'm feeling lazy all I have to do is edit it, insert it and upload it…
Thanks as always for your review!
Forfirith: The dark angel
Are you sure Max will come back? (makes loud evil laugh) Yeah, so I guess you know how Kaie is going to cope. I am amazed that there were no huge fireworks though… Thank you for your review(s) for this chapter and the others!
TorriChiobie
Glad to have a new reviewer! Yeah, Kaie does kick some serious butt doesn't she! It was indeed a sad chaper…
Ice Tiger Girl
Thank you very much for your short and concise review . It was very much appreciated.
Rebecca
Couldn't forget you could I? I hope you're happy that I finally uploaded this aren't you. I don't think it was too sappy… Let me know
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