Comings and Goings
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Yup, it's Cerridwen's turn! She arrives in Greece with an unusual quietude that would make even Kikka blink. And...more about Lei and Michiko, plus Kai's little reflections. Who is that mysterious young girl who owns the White Dranzer...and is she related in some way to Kai? Enjoy! :)
"We have arrived, my Lady. Shall I send for tea?"
"I would be fine, Miss Strothers, I'll just head on over straight to the hotel. I will have my tea there."
"As you wish." Lucinda Strothers nodded over at the pilot of the private Concorde plane. "Send word that Her Ladyship has arrived. Make sure she is to be escorted to the hotel as fast as they can in time for tea."
"Yes, Miss Strothers."
Miss Strothers looked over at the young girl unfastening her seatbelt in front of her. "Would that be all, my Lady?"
"Yes. Thank you very much, Miss Strothers." Cerridwen Aerin Elisabeth Ascot-Elridge nodded then stood up. "Please tell Lady Celes that I have arrived OK."
"Yes, my Lady."
Miss Strothers watched as Cerridwen made her way to the disembarking hatch (^^;;). In the last 13 years she was employed in Ellincourt, the ancestral manor-palace of the Elridges (distant relatives of the House of Spencer; BTW, I am just making this UP), she was trained to follow this young girl's word as law. She was Britain's wealthiest female catch with her very distinguished and very old title, and is a blue-blooded as one could get (the wealthiest male catch was Jonathan William Ellsey MacGregor; Team Europe's Johnny). Aside from the House of Spencer, her mother was one of the old Ascots of Lancashire, Cerridwen's grandmother being of Greek stock (again, I am making this UP!), being related to the King of Greece. Cerridwen, like Selenay, lived with the proverbial golden spoon in her mouth; having been raised from infancy by a battalion of nannies and governesses that were a staple of any royal household, she always had the best of everything money has to offer. She has also studied in different boarding schools across Europe, has an unlimited supply of credit cards, and had her own custom-made limousines to boot (1 for state functions; 1 for everyday use; 2 for her Abbey use, and 3 for visiting friends or relatives in adjacent manors surrounding their little duchy of Ellincourt). She also went through the paces noble children like her did in coming to London's highest society circles: horseback riding lessons, piano lessons, and being introduced in tea balls and going through every sojourn that was to make her the darling heiress every single blueblood would want to get his hands on.
But in spite of everything, Cerridwen remained to be as kind and as down to earth as any ordinary girl was and treated everybody with respect and as equals. The only major drawback that she had is that she had parents who had a very medieval attitude towards people lower than their own class and especially hated Cerridwen's first love: becoming a full-fledged videogame and anime otaku. Cerridwen was quiet and was dreamy and read and wrote all the time; her parents expected her to be as elegant and as proper as any gently brought-up young lady would, and they frowned about her hobbies and insisted that she was to stop all that nonsense and start thinking like a practical young lady with her heart not on her sleeve. She always had the highest grades of her classes, could draw really well, and teachers raved about her genius; she wanted to become an archaeologist, a writer, an inventor, or a manga artist in the near future, but all her father wants is for her to become the Queen of England. In truth, she was unhappy with her life with her parents meddling in all their daughter's affairs, and Medain, Shizue, Selenay, and Kikka felt sorry for her about it. And the only thing her parents hated more than her videogame and otaku affairs is her Bey Blading. But as Kikka would say, the Wing Blades would be no Wing Blades without the Bey tech expertise of Cerridwen Ascot-Elridge, and that was the end of that. It was a good thing Lady Celes was blue-blooded like her, or her parents would never hear the end of it.
But they still hate her Bey Blading.
Miss Strothers looked over at the pilot.
"Please send word to Lady Celes that Her Ladyship has arrived without incident. And also tell her that the 'operation' has formally begun."
"Yes, Miss Strothers."
"Good." Miss Strothers went off after Cerridwen.
It was going to be one very harrowing experience.
"Eat it up before it gets cold."
"Oh, thanks Aunt Haruko, I've really missed your Greek cooking!"
"I'm beginning to think you only missed the FOOD, Lei, and not the people who introduced it to you in the first place," Haruko Rinori said with a laugh.
Lei gave a sheepish grin. Michiko shook her head. "Mom, you are SO right."
The 3 of them were right inside the Rinoris' very successful Greek restaurant (Grille for the Gods), talking over food and drinks (Lei opted for an ice-cold Vanilla Coke). Mrs. Rinori was busy attending to the many customers, tourists and locals alike, with the help of her cooks and waiters. She sometimes does the cooking, if the customer booked her to cook for them, or if one of her cooks had called in sick. The locals raved about her cooking, spreading the restaurant's sumptuous fare to the surrounding cities, for Mrs. Rinori cooked like any native Greek food gourmand, and they were so right about it. She has built a very loyal clientele the last 16 years she has lived in Greece, and the list goes longer and longer every passing day.
"So, how is life treating you?" Mrs. Rinori asked.
"Very good," Lei said, looking up from eating his prassorizo (cabbage rice), along with some fried squid, gharithes me feta (baked shrimp with feta cheese), lahano dolmathes (cabbage rolls), and stifatho (veal stew with onions). He nods. "I really must know how to cook these. I want to surprise my friends when we return to Japan after the Pre-Finals here and the Finals in Finland."
"Eh?"
"Mom, you're only looking at the youngest Bey Blading Champion of the World," Michiko told her mother, as she set some baklava and rizoghalo (rice pudding) on the table. "I watched their Finals in Russia, wow, they were really AWESOME!"
"You mean you've returned to the White Tiger Clan?" Mrs. Rinori asked.
"Mmm, sort of...I mean...officially, I'm a White Tiger, but I'm affiliated with the BBA Team right now," Lei explained.
"The BBA Team?"
"Yeah, Mom, you know? Chairman Daitenji...?"
"Oh, right!" Mrs. Rinori nodded. "He was the one who brought you to us during your Grecian tour 2 years back. How is he doing?"
"Very good, Aunt Haruko," Lei replied, taking a gulp of his Vanilla Coke. "I wouldn't be too surprised if he visits here, too."
Lei offered to clear the table after he ate, but Mrs. Rinori shook her head. "You're a very important guest here, Lei. Now, run along with Michiko. I understand that you 2 have a lot of catching up to do."
The 2 of them went to the Kapnikarea Square, with its church built in the 11th century, having the same name as the square it was situated in. Michiko nodded over to several kids playing Bey Blades to one part of the square. "Ever since you guys won in the Russian Finals, almost every kid here now wants to Bey Blade. They want to become as strong and as popular as you when they grow up."
"I wouldn't be too surprised. Judging from the dedication and hard work these youngsters are showing in Bey Blading, you might have as well a new champion budding in your midst someday," Lei mused.
"Remember? We used to Bey here a lot 2 years ago," Michiko said, looking over at Lei. "You taught me everything about Bey Blading, and I still remember all those things you said to me then. I'm still Bey Blading, and...HEY! I want to show you something!"
"?" Lei blinked. "What is it..."
"LOOK!" Michiko got her Bey Blade from her shorts pocket then held it out for Lei to see. It was a black and white Bey Blade with a shuriken blade type attack ring. And in the central bit was...
"WOW! You've already acquired a -Holy Beast-?!" Lei was impressed. "That was pretty quick!"
"Heh, I had a pretty marvelous teacher," Michiko said with a grin. "What do you think?"
It was a blue, purple, and white wolf with angel wings folded neatly at its back, its fangs bared. Lei held the Bey in his hand, then nodded, his eyes wide. "He's a pretty powerful -Holy Beast-...I could feel that. When did you get him?"
"Sometime after you left," Michiko said proudly. "I really went through all the things you taught me by heart, and during the BBA registration tourney, I got him! I've named him Kinaron."
"So you're part of the BBA family now, too?" Lei asked.
"Mmm-hmm! I'm planning to join the majors sometime after the Pre-Finals...it's for the World Championship next year." Michiko was quiet for a while, then she looked over at Lei. "Hey! Why don't we Bey Blade?! I mean, you know! For old times' sake?!"
"You're on." Lei grinned. "I won't be too easy on you!"
"Nor me on you!" Michiko nodded, smiling, her eyes closed happily. "Come on, let's BEY!"
"Is this all?"
"Yes, sir."
"That is good." There was a silhouette of a man holding a Cuban cigar in one hand. "And what of the Abbey?"
"They have come together as planned."
"Good, good." The man gestured with his Cuban cigar. "You may take leave of me, Ana."
"Yes."
There was a hiss.
"Well. What did he say?"
"All is falling into place."
"Is it alright to leave Saint Dranzer in the hands of that moron?"
"..." The young girl closed her eyes. "I trust Yuri would do his duties well."
"..." There was a snort. "As you say. But Ana...if you should FAIL...then you must face the consequences."
"..."
"Let's go." There was a scuffle of leather boots on the floor, then another hiss.
"..." Ana Mund Freid's soulful red brown eyes were for a while, expressionless. She had short dark purple hair, the front part of it reaching to her collar bone (light purple with cream colored streaks), the short part of it just reaching her chin, cut in the manner of Rei Ayanami's hair. She had on a sleeveless dark blue blouse tied diagonally up by brass clasps, and a short red denim skirt held in place with 3 belts: 2 clasped diagonally leftward, 1 belt diagonally rightward. She wore thigh-high dark blue stockings held up with garters, and a pair of low cowboy maroon boots on her feet (think Squall Leonhart's boots). She had dark blue tube stockings in her arms, and red gloves (Videl style) in her small hands. Her sky blue scarf was tied at her left shoulder and was left to flutter freely down front and behind her. She had cream colored triangular face tattoos on her cheeks, and her blouse and skirt had strange gold metal straps that held it together (think Kai's costume in Bey Blade 2002).
Her eyes then narrowed.
"I will not fail. I will see to it that the whole BBA Team would suffer. Just you wait and see. Saint Dranzer would show you all yet."
With that, Ana followed suit, with the slightest flutter of her scarf.
