Lady: Sits on her reviewers' heads. "Aww, you guys are awesome. :D I've got 15 reviews and I'm only on chapter 2. That maketh me smile! Thank you. Anyway, I hope you do enjoy this chapter. Today, Tyson has volunteered to do my disclaimer."
Tyson: "I did?"
Lady: "Yes."
Tyson: "I don't remember."
Lady: "… Hamburger meal, my treat?"
Tyson: "Oh yeah, now I remember." Grins. "The nice Lady who is buying me dinner does not own me or anything else related to the series or manga Beyblade/Bakuten Shoot. She only owns Appolene and the other members of the FKB. As well as any other random characters and what have you that you do not recognise from the show."
Lady: "Arigatou Tyson. Please excuse the lame chapter title and enjoy people!"
Chapter 3 – Further Reunions
The next morning, the entire dining room of the hotel was quiet. All the guests were focused on watching something, looks of disgust and awe mingling on their faces. The navy-haired boy they all seemed to be fixated on was currently shovelling his sixteenth bowlful of cereal into his mouth and showed no signs of getting full.
The group around him all felt embarrassed. All of them had finished eating at least thirty minutes before and were now all waiting to leave. Rei and Max just sat there, smiling nervously, inwardly praying that Tyson would tire of his gorging soon. Kenny was there, his mouth hanging open. You'd have thought he was used to seeing this by now. Kai didn't seem to be paying much attention. His eyes were closed as if he wasn't even there. Hilary on the other hand was sick of it. The grimace on her face was enough to tell anyone that Tyson's eating habits repulsed her. Beneath the table, her fists were balled, shaking, and her teeth were clenched behind her tight-lined lips.
"I think she's gonna blow," Rei whispered through his smile to Max.
"So do I," the blonde muttered back.
Hilary shot both of them a glare and they cowered away. That girl was scary when she got mad. As she turned back to her target, about to lunge into a lecture on how Tyson needed to go on a diet, he threw his spoon into the bowl, slumped back in his chair and stretched.
"Aaah," he sighed, "that was delicious." He wore a quite satisfied expression. Then he realised everyone was staring at him. "What?"
"Are you done?" Kenny enquired, looking hopeful.
"Huh?"
"Have you finished eating Tyson?" Rei said.
"Oh. No, not by a long way," the blader smiled, rubbing his belly. "I'm still hungry; I'm just taking a break."
"WHAT!"
Everyone almost fell out of their seats as Hilary made her exclamation.
"You're kidding me? We've been sitting here for a good half an hour and you're still not full?" she screeched.
Tyson actually looked surprised at her remark.
"No," he said simply. "I could do with some toast," he added as an after thought and slid out of his chair in the direction of the buffet.
Hilary let her head hit the table. Tyson would be the death of her, she knew it.
"Can we please just go?" she said, muffled.
"Up to Kai," Rei said. "Are we training this morning oh great leader?"
Kai looked up, suddenly aware that he was being talked to.
"Yes," he said, "because you all skipped out yesterday."
"Aww Rei, why'd you ask? I was hoping to meet my Mom's plane," Max sighed. "And we said we'd introduce Heather to the Majestics.
"Well, that's tough," Kai smirked. "You should've thought of that yesterday."
Rei and Max exchanged exasperated looks.
"I guess the sooner we get it over with the better. If we started now, I still might be able to meet Mom," Max thought allowed.
"Yeah, maybe. We should get Tyson and get on with it," Rei agreed. "Hey Tyson, we've got training and…oh dear."
"What?" Max looked around, intrigued.
Hilary and Kenny both looked too. The navy-haired blader was on the opposite side of the room and with him was someone dressed in familiar colourful clothing.
"I told you Tyson, that toast is mine!" Appolene said irritably, tugging at the ceramic plate on which the toast in question was sitting.
"No way, I saw it first!"
"I've watched you eating, you've had enough. This is my first bite of food today now let go."
Tyson refused. He was adamant to have the small triangle of toast. Appolene scowled.
"Fine, take it," she snapped and let go, causing Tyson to fall back onto the floor.
The toast flew into the air…and was caught, quite deftly, by Kai.
"Move it Tyson, you've got training to do," he said without looking at him.
"But…my toast," Tyson whimpered, staring at it, wide-eyed.
"Oh, grow up. For world champion you don't half act like a four-year-old," the team captain frowned, crumbling the toast in his hand.
Tyson looked like he might cry but he got up sulkily and marched off sullenly to where Max, Rei, Kenny and Hilary were all waiting. Appolene laughed and proceeded to get herself another slice from the rack.
"You know, you shouldn't do that to him. It makes him very irritable and puts off his practice," Kai said to her.
Appolene smiled to herself.
"I know, but isn't that the idea?" She shot Kai a sly look. "I want to beat him in this tournament Kai, just like I want to beat you. Besides, I use my emotions to my advantage."
"Is that so?"
"Yep, and you know it."
"Mmm, but for you they can also be a disadvantage," he smirked, brushing her cheek with a gloved hand. She blushed. "So easy," he muttered softly before marching off to start the training session.
Appolene touched her cheek. Behind her, fits of giggles could be heard and Delaney's groggy comment that they shouldn't be that excited this early in the morning. Appolene shook her head and went to join them.
"So, what we doing today?" Delaney asked, after having some tea and pancakes to wake him up a little. "Any training?"
"Ooh, not this early I hope," Gwennie said.
"'Fraid so. We've got nothing better to do until later."
"Aww man," Delaney grumbled.
"Hey, it's not gonna be a long training session but we need to practice."
"I guess," Heather sighed.
"Mmm," Gwennie agreed.
"Then it's settled then," Appolene said, finishing her tea, "we have training straight after breakfast then we can do what we want."
The three nodded and she smiled.
"Good."
-
The Bladebreakers watched as Kenny began moving the snow around, pushing some into lumps and creating trenches. Hilary brought him a set of twigs and branches and he told her to lay them out in the snow, which she did. He then lined up some stones.
"Perfect," he smiled, sitting down on a bench and opening his laptop.
"Hey Chief, what is this?" Tyson enquired, bending down to study it.
"It's an obstacle course Tyson. I'm studying your manoeuvrability this morning. You've got to make it through in the quickest time possible."
"Aha…"
Kenny sighed.
"You need to cross the first set of branches, then go under and over the next few. After that there is a sort of snow ramp that you will go over, sending you into the air. When this happens, you need to be able to land your blade on the opposite side of the trench. Then you have to dodge in and out of the stones and finally through the snow tunnel. Is that clear?"
"Transparent."
"Oh, and where the snow has been flattened it should provide a slippery surface so control is important. You do not want your blade sliding all over the place when moving through this course."
"Yeah, yeah, I got it Chief. This'll be a piece of cake, just you watch," the smug teenager grinned, loading Dragoon into his launcher.
Kenny set up the camera and opened the appropriate files.
"On my mark," Hilary said. "Three…two…one! Let it rip!"
Tyson wrenched the ripcord from his shooter with incredible force. The beyblade shot forwards and landed on the snow only to slide out of control and crash into a bank. Tyson's mouth dropped and Hilary glanced at the clock measuring Dragoon's time on Kenny's computer.
"Wow, three seconds Tyson. I reckon that's a new record for you," she laughed.
Tyson snatched up Dragoon angrily.
"What happened?"
"You put too much power into your launch. While it is true that this will increase your attack power doing this that is not the point of this exercise. For a platform such as this you can't be so forceful."
Tyson grumbled under his breath angrily.
"Kai, you're next," Kenny said, resetting the clock.
Kai moved forwards, Dranzer already in position. He waited for Hilary's countdown.
"Let it rip!"
Dranzer landed easily on the snow and shot straight for the twigs. It mounted them effortlessly and ran the length of the bridge in seconds. The next obstacle was just as manageable with Dranzer swerving under and jumping over each branch in turn.
"Yeah, go Kai!" Hilary cheered.
"You the man!" Max agreed.
"Humph," Tyson scowled, folding his arms. "I could do that just as easily as he can."
"So you say Tyson," Kai retorted, not looking away from Dranzer, "but you didn't even know how to launch Dragoon properly to deal with this terrain."
Tyson's scowl deepened but he didn't say a thing. He only watched as Dranzer cleared the last branch and began heading for the snow ramp.
"Hey!"
Everyone but Kai turned to see Appolene running down towards them, Gwennie, Heather and Delaney not far behind. She stopped next to Rei.
"Whatcha doing then?"
"Training, what's it look like?" Tyson muttered irritably.
"Haha," Appolene said, sticking her tongue out at him.
"It's an obstacle course," Rei explained.
"Aah, neat."
"Yes, very, and Kai is currently going through it and doing it without any effort at all I might add."
Appolene smiled.
"That doesn't surprise me," she said as she watched Dranzer sail off the top of the ramp and fly through the air, landing safely on the opposite side. "Wow…"
Dranzer began dodging in and out of the stones in a sharp zigzag pattern, changing direction quickly and without trouble and then it shot for the tunnel.
"This is the harder part," Rei said. "When Dranzer is in the tunnel Kai won't be able to see it so control will be much more difficult."
Dranzer vanished from sight as he said this but Kai didn't seem bothered. He was focused on the edge of the tunnel and sure enough Dranzer emerged, breaking to a halt.
"Done," Kai said.
Kenny nodded and read over the data as Kai went to fetch Dranzer.
"These statistics are excellent Kai. Dranzer is very capable of moving easily but still being able to suddenly change direction. And your control in midair and on a slippery surface is perfect."
Kai smirked.
"Hey, Kenny, mind if we try the course?"
Kenny looked up at Appolene who was indicating to herself and her team. He frowned doubtfully.
"I dunno guys. This was designed for the Bladebreakers' blade's capability. And they really need the practice."
"Well, so do we and more so than them," Gwennie pouted, rubbing her arms as she did so. "They're World Champions for goodness sake. I think they'll survive."
Kenn still seemed dubious though.
"Aw, go on Chief," Max said.
"Yeah, you said yourself you wanted to analyse their blades."
"That's true," Kenny mused. Then he smiled. "Oh, alright then."
"Yeah!" The FKB cheered.
"Me first!" Appolene said, moving forwards.
"Okay," Kenny nodded. "Lemme just set up a new file for you guys."
He tapped away at his laptop and then gave the thumbs up. Appolene swept her coat aside and pulled her blue beyblade from the inside pocket. Kenny filled in the name of the blade: D-A-L-C-Y-N. Hilary raised her arm into the air.
"Three…"
Appolene fixed Dalcyn into the launcher.
"Two…"
She attached the ripcord.
"One…"
She held it ready.
"Let it rip!"
Dalcyn flew into the air and began to make its way through the course. Everyone watched with interest and the camera on the laptop followed every move. Appolene's eyes were locked on her blade as it made its way over the twig bridge and through the branch hurdles heading for the ramp.
"This bit shouldn't be a problem for Appy," Delaney said, glancing at a shivering Gwennie.
"N-No. Her two basic attacks involve b-being in midair to work. S-she's pretty m-much m-mastered the technique of g-getting Dalcyn into the air and then b-back again without losing her rotation," Gwennie replied, her teeth chattering.
"You should really wear the coat you know. You're gonna freeze," the red-head said.
Gwennie glared at him.
"When they design a coat that isn't a crime against fashion then sure. Until then…ACHOO!"
"Until then you'll suffer with a cold and look awfully pasty with a runny nose and bloodshot eyes."
"Oh fine! I'll wear it."
Delaney grinned.
"Knew you'd see it my way," and he tossed the spare coat at her and she put it on, reluctantly.
Meanwhile, Dalcyn was racing up the ramp. Appolene narrowed her eyes as she watched her blue beyblade fly into the air. It changed angle sharply so it was pointing towards the opposite bank and shot down at incredible speed.
"Just like her attack," Heather laughed.
"Yeah, problem is, this isn't a battle and that snow is powdered," Delaney said. "Which means –"
Dalcyn ploughed into the snow…and stayed there. The rotation of the blade slowed and eventually stopped completely. Appolene kicked the snow.
"Darnit!" she said crossly, going to collect her blade.
"Hey, you still did better than Tyson!" Hilary called, pretending not to see the navy-haired blader's death glare.
"Mmm, but not as good as someone," Appolene replied, looking at Kai.
"No one is as good as me," the slate-haired captain said.
Appolene frowned at him and then looked at her blade.
"We'll see. I may have lost to you once but I've been practicing and this time I'm gonna beat you."
Kai shrugged. "You can try," he retorted.
"Mean."
He smirked and then turned to watch Delaney as he stepped up to try. Appolene sighed, pocketed Dalcyn and watched too.
-
"So, whilst Max goes to the airport to meet his mom, the rest of us are going around Moscow?" Tyson said.
"Yes, Tyson. For the third time that's what we are doing," Hilary sighed.
"Hey, I just wanna make sure, okay?" Tyson grumbled.
"Whatever," the brunette tutted. "Come on, let's go already."
"Okay, don't get worked up about it! Geez."
He hurried after Hilary who had begun striding off ahead with Rei, Kenny and Delaney. Gwennie and Heather hung back for a moment. Kai hadn't moved yet and Appolene was busy fixing her shoe laces.
"Okay! I'm done, shall we go?" she said, straightening up and making to follow the others but was stopped by a firm hand taking hold of her wrist.
"We're not going with them," Kai said. "Come on."
Without resistance, Appolene allowed herself to be dragged away from the rest of the group, her face tinted red but smiling. Gwennie and Heather both giggled in delight.
"Whisking her away for some romantic sightseeing, eh Kai?" Gwennie asked with a sly tone.
"None of your business," Kai retorted.
"Well, mind you two behave yourselves," Heather called.
"Shut up you guys!" Appolene yelled, trying to sound stern.
Gwennie and Heather both waved, grinning.
"Have fun!" they said before disappearing after the rest of their group.
"Oh, we will," Kai whispered, his hand sliding from Appolene's wrist to her hand.
Appolene blushed deeply but beamed, moving closer to him as they walked through the snow-covered streets.
-
It began to snow some hours later.
"Wow! This is awesome!" Delaney grinned, catching the hundreds of flakes in his hands. "Wish we had snow like this back home. What do you girls think? Hmm?"
Getting no reply, he looked about.
"They're over there," Rei said, pointing to the shop across the street.
Delaney looked where he was pointing and sighed. Heather, Gwennie and Hilary were all staring in delight at the contents behind the glass. Rei laughed.
"Being on a team with all girls must be fun?" he enquired.
"Yeah, so much fun," Delaney said sarcastically, sitting down on a nearby bench. "Ah well, they're not that bad. Even Gwennie can be nice, when she wants."
They all watched as the girls vanished inside the shop.
"Never understood the joy that girls see in shopping," Kenny muttered, opening his laptop. "They can spend hours in one place and not get bored. Me, I just get what I need and that's it."
"Here, here," said Tyson. "I thought we were looking around Moscow. We've been in this blasted square for the last hour and a half."
"Yeah, well, Hilary is enjoying having some other girls around," Rei smiled, scooping up some snow into his gloved hands. "We'll just have to make the most of the time we have to ourselves. Do something the girls are not likely to be bothered about doing."
"Like what?"
SMACK! Snow exploded into the bench just to the left of Tyson's head. Rei grinned his Cheshire cat grin.
"I was thinking snowball fight," he said, throwing a second snowball, this one hitting the bench on the right of Tyson. "Next time I won't miss."
Tyson's face broke into a smirk.
"As there's no Kai here to say we're being immature I say you are on cat-boy!"
"All right!" Delaney cheered, scooping up his own snow. "Let's get this started!"
"I think I'll watch ARG!" Kenny cried, diving behind the bench. "Keep me out of this!"
"Heh, just stay out the way Kenny, and you won't get hurt," Rei smiled.
"O-Okay," Kenny laughed nervously, ducking low and watching through the slats in the bench, just to be on the safe side.
-
Appolene shivered slightly as the cold flakes brushed her cheeks.
"Cold?" Kai enquired.
"Just a little. It was never quite this cold back home," she replied, smiling up at him, her face rosy from the chill.
"No, I imagine not," Kai said, slowing to a stop.
Appolene stopped too.
"Kai?"
He turned to face her and pulled her to him.
"Erm Kai? Wha –" she began but was cut short by the sudden feeling of Kai's lips on hers.
His arms slid around her waist, keeping her from moving until he broke the kiss. His eyes half lidded, he looked down at her, their faces merely inches apart.
"Better?" he whispered.
Appolene was unable to say anything but she was able to nod.
"Still cold?"
Again she nodded, slowly. Kai smirked, moving his face closer to hers. Their lips were almost touching, their breath combining in misty clouds. Appolene could feel her heart fluttering and the blush was rising quickly in her cheeks, along with a pleasant warmth.
"Then I'll have to do it again, won't I?" Kai murmured, closing the gap between them.
Appolene's face was on fire and every fibre in her body tingled in pleasure as Kai wound his arms tighter around her waist while her own wrapped themselves around his neck, pulling them even closer and allowing their kiss to deepen. She could feel the warmth rise through her body, allowing her to forget that it was even snowing. Kai, too, could feel the glow in his own cheeks.
They drew apart slowly and Kai couldn't help the smug smile that crossed his lips when he saw Appolene seemed to be a little dazed.
"You feel warmer now?" he asked quietly.
Appolene's response was the first word that came to her mind:
"Wow…"
Kai released his hold on her and took her hand in his again. Still a little overcome, Appolene followed without question.
-
Max hummed to himself as he sat at the terminal. His legs swung back and forth as he did this, his face beaming at the thought of seeing his mother again.
"The passengers from flight B7652 will be arriving at Gate 26," the voice on the overhead announced.
"That's Mom's flight," Max cheered excitedly, jumping up and running to the front of the crowd.
As he pushed his way through, cheering started.
"There they are!"
"Oh my God, it's the All Starz!"
Just as he reached the front, he saw them. The USA team rounded the corner, marching triumphantly through the gateway, followed by the tall and slender blonde-haired woman that was Judy Tate, Max's mother. The boy grinned and waved enthusiastically.
"Mom! Mom! Over here!"
"Maxie?" Judy beamed, running with her heels clacking on the marble floor to hug her son. "Aw Maxie, I haven't seen you in ages. I've missed you."
"I've missed you too Mom."
-
Rei jumped aside as Delaney's snowball flew towards him. He laughed.
"Gonna have to do better than that!"
Delaney sighed, frowning.
"This guy is impossible to hit," he said angrily.
The neko-jin easily dodged every single snowball that was thrown at him, no matter where it came from. And what's more he was able to fire his own straight back, right on target. Which is what happened to Delaney two seconds later and he fell back into the snow.
"Aw man."
The raven-haired boy grinned triumphantly. Delaney was lying flat out, Kenny was cowering behind the bench and Tyson currently had his head buried in a snow drift. He was snowball king!
SMACK!
Rei slipped and fell as the hard cold ball hit him in the left cheek. He was down and out. He looked around, wondering who had hit him.
"Nice shot Lee!" a familiar voice cheered.
"Hmm, that was way too easy," a second responded as a hand appeared above Rei and pulled him to his feet.
Rei's face broke into a toothy grin as he laid eyes on his old team mates.
"Well, haven't seen you guys in a while," he laughed.
"It's been too long, hasn't it?" Lee nodded as he and Rei clasped fists in greeting.
"Indeed," Rei smiled.
Then he rubbed his cheek where the snow had impacted.
"Wow that really hurt. Why didn't I see it coming?"
"Ah, you were blinded by victory my friend."
The two laughed.
"Hey, what's going on here?" Tyson asked, emerging from the snow. He stared at the White Tigers and then smirked. "Hey, about time you guys got here."
"Yes, it's nice to see you too Tyson," Kevin snapped, sticking his tongue out.
The navy-haired boy responded in the same manner but a sudden irritable shout made them all turn around.
"Delaney O'Connor what the hell are you doing spread-eagled on the ground like that! Do you want us to appear even more stupid than we already do? Get up right now!"
"Hey, I would if I could Gwennie but I keep getting hit by snowballs. It's safer here," Delaney grinned sheepishly.
"Oh! You are so annoying! You know that?" the blonde girl grumbled, pulling him up with Heather's help.
"Not my fault that Rei is a good shot," the red-head replied. "Oh! Rei, who's the guy who just smacked you with the snowball?"
Rei grinned and gestured to Lee and the others.
"Delaney, Heather, Gwennie, I'd like to introduce to you, the White Tigers. Guys, these are three of the members from the UK Team, the Feathered Kingdom Bladers."
The White Tiger team all stared and bit their lips.
"Feathered…Kingdom…Bladers…" Kevin said slowly.
Gwennie grimaced, knowing what was coming. The entire White Tiger team fell about laughing.
"Somehow, I think we're gonna get this all through this stupid tournament," she said angrily.
"Yup, so do I," Delaney and Heather agreed in unison, beads of sweat trickling down their cheeks.
-
The snow was stopping now and as it was getting later, the sky was darkening and there were fewer and fewer people about. Kai decided they should be getting back to the hotel. He turned to go down the street that would take them that way but felt a tug. Looking back, he saw Appolene had stopped.
"What?" he asked.
Appolene was staring at something not too far away. A large building.
"What is that?" she said softly.
Kai followed her gaze and his eyes widened and he felt his heart thud against his chest. The Abbey rose up high against the greying sky, its dark windows seemingly staring into him.
"I-It's nothing," he said.
"You sure? It looks old but I don't think I've seen it in any books. Can we have a closer look at it?"
"No," Kai said firmly, tightening his grip on her hand. "I said it was nothing now let's go."
"But Kai –"
"But nothing, we're going," he snapped defiantly, wrenching her away, causing her to skid slightly on the ice underfoot.
"Kai!" she squealed, regaining her balance quickly. "Kai what's gotten into you?"
He didn't reply and she stared up at him, his face turned away as he marched away from the building.
"Kai…"
-
From a darkened window in the tallest tower a face in the shadows broke into a malicious smile.
"Ah, young Kai," a voice said quietly as it watched the two teenagers disappearing into the distance, "you'll return to us soon enough. You won't have much choice."
Lady: And we're done! It took me long enough, I know...well, it's actually been sitting on my computer for a couple of months. Sorry. BUT I'M VERY BUSY! I hope you liked it anyway. Review please because I love getting them and thank you for reading chapter 3.
Until next time then.