"Thanks for the great lunch!" Mariah said to Jin, who shrugged and laughed.
"We better head back now," Rei said, "Come, Mariah."
"Right," Mariah responded and started following him.
"Have fun kids!" Jin called after them as they left with one last wave.
"Um...Rei, y'know how your uncle said I was your girlfriend...mm..." Mariah stuttered as they walked to the stadium.
"Mm?" Rei looked at her, "Hasn't it been obvious how I feel?" he commented.
"I suppose so...but-"
"No 'buts' Mariah," Rei said and he pulled her towards him, "I love you and though I never said it I do think of you as my girlfriend."
The two looked at each other with love and a blush. Then they kissed on the lips for the first time. After the passionate kiss Mariah gasped, "Oh dear, we better start going back before we miss the Dark Angels' match!"
Rei smiled, "Yeah..." Once again he grabbed her hand and they started walking speedily through the crowd.
At the arena in the Sydney Stadium DJ Jazzman announced the next battle, "The last battle for this match will be the captain of the two teams. Martin of the Shade Brothers and Kyle representing the Beykids."
Martin was tall and had dark hair that was short and spiked up at the front. Under his red short-sleeved shirt he wore a white T-shirt and he also had on black trousers like his brothers. His opponent Kyle was short with a black cap on, and a matching tracksuit with white piping.
"This should be interesting battle with the dish that will be used, it's a maze constructed with wood and miniature hedges ensuring that the beybladers will need to find each other first before they may battle. Ok beybladers, get ready now, 3, 2, 1 let it rip!!
The beybladers were off making their way through the strange maze of a beydish.
"That's the weirdest dish I've ever seen!" Alyssa commented.
"Al, this is the only official tournament you've ever entered, you haven't seen nothing yet!" Nathan said.
The girl frowned then punched him lightly on the shoulder and stuck her tongue at him. Tala watched his companions and smiled. He though the way they acted around each other was humourous.
Meanwhile Martin and young Kyle were slowly guiding their beyblades through the maze. Eventually Martin got impatient and by the time he got to the hedges he started hacking them up with his sharp blades. Kyle saw this and thought he's follow suit to speed things up so he sawed through the wooden maze until the maze was nothing more than a mass of messed up bush and wood chips.
"Heh heh," Martin cackled, "Now the battle begins," he said.
"You said it man," Kyle agreed and with a sly smiled he commanded his bitbeast to show itself. The beyblade glowed an eerie green colour. Then a green echidna appeared. It was smaller than your average bitbeast.
"Don't let Ekidna's size fool you, he's a tough bitbeast." Kyle boasted.
Martin didn't let his guard down and dodged the bitbeast's initial attacks. Eventually the attacks that kept missing were getting on Kyle's nerves and Ekidna jumped up hight, rolled into a ball and headed straight for Martin's beyblade.
'This is getting ridiculous,' Martin though and at that moment he let his bitbeast out. The bitchip shone a bright red before the platypus like bitbeast emerged.
"Platii!" Martin called out. In response the red platypus dodged the attack and striked the echidna from behind. Ekidna yelled in surprise.
"Watch out Ekidna!" Kyle warned and the bitbeast turned around and blocked the next attack.
The beyblades were smashing into each other in all directions. The bitbeasts both glared at each other. Both were exhausted after battling so hard and the owners sensed this as well.
"Ok Platii, one last blow to finish him off!" he said.
"Get that platypus with all you got Ekidna,' Kyle instructed.
The bitbeasts got into their attack stance and went in for the final attack to determine the victor. It was difficult to see at first as there was a loud explosion followed by billowing smoke. The smoke cleared and Martin's beyblade could be seen still spinning wobbly while his opponent was out cold.
"And the winner is Martin and his bitbeast Platii!!" DJ Jazzman called out and while most of the spectators cheered Nathan and the rest of the Black Sheep were speechless.
"This mean we may face then soon," Nathan noted.
"Mmm hmm," Alyssa mumbled in agreement.
"We'll see about that," Tala commented as the victory of the Shadebrothers was officially declared.
"Now, we'll have a brief intermission before the last match for today. Feel free to purchase and food or drink items from the cafeteria, located near the entrance," DJ Jazzman said.
The crowd chatted excitedly knowing the Dark Angels would be battling in the following match,
"Guess that's our cue," Ling said.
"Right," The other three replied in unison and they followed their captain to the arena.
After running for a while Rei and Mariah finally arrived at the Sydney Stadium just before the last match. The two stood at the entrance, their fingers intertwined.
"Guess we should part for now," Rei said reluctantly.
"Yeah, I 'spose so," Mariah sighed.
With one last kiss the two let go of each other and went their separate ways to find their fellow team mates.
Rei looked around trying to recall where his team sat when he heard a projected call from afar. He smiled as he recognised the voice as Tyson's immediately and followed the voice to his seat.
"Rei, where've you been, you missed a great match!" Tyson told him.
"I went out for lunch..." Rei replied.
"Right..." Max said with shifty eyes then he and the others (excluding Kai) told him of the match between the Shade Brothers and the Beykids and how the Shade Brothers were victorious. Rei listened with great interest almost regretting his date with Mariah.
Soon, the lighted dimmed slightly as DJ Jazzman appeared under the spotlight.
"Ok Folks, this is the moment you've been waiting for. The mtach with the Dark Angels battling to remain the best in Australia!!"
"Dark Angels clap clap clap Dark angels!..." the crowd chanted and the spotlight shifted from DJ Jazzman onto the Dark Angels.
Sara waved and smiled a dazzling smile. The others also waved but without as much enthusiasm. Ling was the only one not noticing the crowd. Instead she continually stared at the shadows across the beydish, their competition.
"The Dark Angels are quite popular," Kenny noted
"They are known to be quite skilled," Max commented.
"Shh...the opposing team is going to be announced!" Tyson said. The Bladebreakers shut up and waited for DJ Jazzman to speak.
"Aren't they just lovely," DJ Jazzman commented, "Anyway their opposition for this match will be the Fire Spinners!
With that the spotlight shifted once again to the opposing team. There were four members, three boys and one girl. All of them had bright orange hair that made Emily's amd Nathan's hair seem dull.
"First we have Sara from the Dark Angels up against Frank from the Fire Spinners. Both of them are determined beybladers and both have skill behind them. The beydish used is a classic dish built with randomly placed models of the "Big" structures around Australia. the Big Lobster, Bid Merino, Giant Koala, Big Orange and the Giant Worm. Now let the battle begin, 3, 2, 1 let it rip!!"
The players launched their beyblades and watched as they manouvered amongst the structures which were surprisingly detialed. Both of them were determined to win.
"Let's not waste time," Frank said, "Attack!" his red beyblade smashed Sara's light blut blade against the model of the Big Merino causing the structure to shake violently.
"Sara's got a tough opponent," Kenny said, "Frank's power is increasing with every smash!"
Sara appeared worried, "How am I going to beat him," she wondered.
So how will the battle go? Tune in next time to find out!
Author's note:
I'd like to note that monotremes are a type of mammal that lays eggs to reproduce. Platypuses and echidna's are both monotremes and hence the chapter title.