FLAMED
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Kiyaaa, had it been that long already! I am really sorry, been very busy with lots of things, awaiting my teacher certification, this and that, blah blah blah. I'm pretty sure you're thinking this little fic would be finished in time for the next Ice Age…oh well, Kai gets hot! Could the flight of Black Dranzer aka Devil Dranzer not that too far behind? What power do both Creator and Destroyer have as to bring things to fulfillment? And would Selenay be impressed? 3 R/R PLEASE!
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Bey Blade and all its characters; I only own some of the OCs (and other authors own some of the OCs) portrayed within. Sadako, owned by whoever made Ring, Ring 2, and Ring 0. So no suing! yatta, I think I've finally discovered the secret of the Quick Edit! D thanks, myspace! D
The dark blue Bey shot straight into the battle dish like a flaming comet. DJ held the microphone closer to him as he watched the 2 battling Beys went headlong against each other, sparks flying this way and that. "Dranzer F is REALLY hot today! It only goes to show that Kai Hiwatari has not let his training regimen go off even for just a brief respite after the Russian Finals…he proves worthy of the flames he wields as its one TRUE flaming master!"
Diego Mujeres glared right at Kai. "Heh, I've no intentions losing to you! Those flames are just about as pathetic as a marshmallow barbeque. Where's that fury I've heard so much about?"
"…" Kai looked at him, calm as always, a perfect foil to the flaming destruction he commands, his red brown eyes nonchalant. "Patience is a virtue. Or have you forgotten about that? I'll get to that part later. I'm just beginning to heat things up."
Dranzer F swirled about in a tornado of flame, then shot towards Euros again, leaving curling tendrils of fire as it went. Selenay blinked. "Wow, that's one mean pyrotechnics display! I've never seen –Holy Beast- aura this intense…"
"I see what you mean," Cerridwen said as her fingers flew lightly over her Apple iiMac. "No wonder the Balkov Monastery's so wound up when he defected. If things were a little different I highly doubt the BBA Team would be able to compete head-on with Team Russia and we'd have another World Champion…"
"And Medain wouldn't hear the end of it," Selenay replied, watching Kai just stand there as his Bey did all the work. "And he's the least concerned about how he'd fare in this fight…"
"He's got control of his –Holy Beast- down pat, up an amazing 34.8 from the last time it saw serious action," Cerridwen mused. "He's been training REAL hard, I guess."
"…" Ana smiled benignly. "Not training hard. He's just very scared."
"?" Selenay looked over to where Ana was sitting. The young girl was looking at Kai with a strange bemused expression on her face. Selenay blinked. "Excuse me?"
Ana blinked, then turned to look at Selenay. She gave a small smile, her eyes closed happily. "Oh, sorry, just thinking out loud. Hope I didn't get to you."
"…" Selenay frowned. "How come you say that he's just scared that's why his technique's good? Do you know Kai Hiwatari?"
"I guess you could say that. I've had him for a past couple circuits before, and I know him well enough to tell if he's serious or he's seriously scared." Ana nodded, then looked over again at Kai. "We used to Bey together, too."
"…" Selenay turned SD. "And HOW completely relevant is it trying to reminisce your Bey Blading days with your past boyfriend when all we're talking about is why he's just incredibly good TODAY?"
"Boyfriend? I wasn't saying anything about a boyfriend." Ana gave another faint smile, then stood up to leave. "Well, I have to run. No point reminiscing about the past, present, or future, isn't it?" She looked over at Selenay. "My name's Ana Mund Freid. I'll be seeing you around, I guess."
She leaves. Selenay stared after her, Cerridwen staring after her as much as she did. Selenay shuddered involuntarily. "How do YOU like that? She's so ODD, don't you think?"
"I don't know about her being odd Selenay, but she just gives me the creeps." Cerridwen gulped. "For some strange reason she reminds me of Sadako."
Selenay held her balled fists to her mouth, shaking her head very furiously, a million sweatdrop explosions over her head. "Don't REMIND me! That was the last time I'll be eating grilled burritos for DINNER! With those horrid nachos at the side! And ANCHOVY DIPS!"
"It wasn't our fault Sadako came out of the TV just as Shizue was serving us burritos."
Selenay had turned very white. "No HAIR! PLEASE!"
"And those nachos while Sadako's hair grew longer at the morgue."
"AGGGHHHH!"
"and what a MOVE! Boy, Kai Hiwatari sure knows when to strike that much needed blow at the most opportune time!" DJ was yelling. "Even Diego Mujeres' Counterslash Attack's no match for the Flare Breaker!"
"!" Cerridwen turned to look. Her mint green eyes went wide. "WHOA!"
The Red Phoenix was screeching as it encircled the stadium, turning everything about it pitch black. The enemy –Holy Beast-, a hyena, was stunned as it stayed at the center of it all, seemingly held up by some strange power. An ominous red ring of light suddenly flashed around the periphery of the battle dish, resonating as it swept outwards, bursting into shining spectral feathers of flame. The Red Phoenix swooped down for the kill, screeching for all its worth. Its feathers suddenly sparkled, turning into a kaleidoscope of colors, before deciding to cut through the hyena. It screeched, and just as soon as the ring of swirling feathers reached the outermost rim of the stadium, everything burst into flames and the hyena's pained screech was abruptly cut off.
DJ clung tightly to the handrails of the floating platform, his eyes very wide. Euros fell to the middle of the battle dish in slow motion, slowing until it came to a complete stop. It clattered uselessly on the center of the battle dish, while Dranzer F continued twirling about it in its cloak of flames, swirling like some mini fire tornado. Just as wildly, as if they were in some surreal suspended animation, the crowd erupted in cheers, their roars almost deafening.
"And he's OUT!" DJ swiped his right arm in the air in an outward arc. "First point goes to Kai Hiwatari of the BBA TEAM!"
Selenay stopped being terrified just as soon as Kai knelt down to retrieve his Bey. She was puzzled. "Eh? What happened?"
"If the Balkov Monastery didn't let go of Kai Hiwatari, they'd have burned that entire Bey Stadium to nothingness," Cerridwen said as she resumed typing on the Apple iiMac, relaying everything that had transpired a while ago while it was still fresh in her mind. Cerridwen's eyes flitted across the laptop's monitor as she checked, double checked, and triple checked her data all in a matter of a few seconds, analyzing them and doing mental calculation in her head before adding it all to Kai's data. "His anpsychic ratio is amazingly high, almost comparable to either Medain's or Shizue's during pre-Rave and almost-Rave states…I don't know with what that girl said a while ago, but we're looking at percentages pretty far from a Blader who's very terrified. Recap stats…still way above normal average, which the set norm would have to be 24.2...his ability to Rave given these coordinates would most definitely be within the time frame of 13.7 to 19.3 seconds…not too high, not too shabby either…"
"That is, if he could Rave, given specifics if and only IF he were to go against a Blader with more 'grit', so to speak." Selenay stared at the battle dish. "Judging from the way that battle was handled, finished in a couple of minutes…he's got a surgeon's precision of handling a given situation and could definitely cut in at the most opportune moment, not too early, not too late."
"Just your way of Bey Blading, eh, Selenay?"
Selenay and Cerridwen looked over their shoulders. William MacKenzie gave a small wave, grinning. "Hey."
"MacKenzie!" Selenay frowned. "Thinking you'd just as well say goodbye before deciding to leave for good?"
"Plain old Will to you." William turned SD. "And you're always a meanie, Selenay. No wonder you and that Donatore lad go together VERY well."
"He KISSED me in that dark gazebo, not the other way AROUND!"
"Yes, and Giancarlo's been telling me he liked your lips of sherry."
Cerridwen's mouth became a little O. "Sherry…Abbey grounds…!"
"That Giancarlo laced my LEMONADE!"
"Whatever." William plopped on the seat next to Selenay's, where Ana was seated a while ago. "So. Been scoping out potential opponents….errh…victims, I suppose?"
"I'm just doing my homework, thank you very much," Cerridwen replied. She started typing again. "The BBA Team's quite good."
"Oh, and here I was thinking Selenay would only notice people who are just as good as her," William said with a little nod. "Talk about some perverted sense of narcissism."
"Excuse ME! Who's a NARCISSIST!"
William patted her on the head. "Don't worry about a thing, cheri. I'll still like you, even if you were."
Selenay glared at him. "I am SO NOT a NARCISSIST!"
"…" Cerridwen smiled, her eyes closed happily (think Nadeshiko Kinomoto – Tomoyo Daidouji smile!). "She only notices people who are good. I think you didn't quite make the cut, eh, MacKenzie?"
William's mouth dropped open. Selenay blinked, then started kowtowing.
"Evil CERRIDWEN!" Selenay was in tears. "I THOUGHT I'll never be able to live to see that OXYMORON! Wait till I tell MEDAIN!"
William turned into a block of stone. He glared right back at Selenay. "Shut up HERRAULT!"
----------------------------------
Takao was speechless as Kai went back to the dugout to tweak his Bey a little before the next bout. "What was that fireworks show! How come you didn't say anything about having a new move like THAT!"
Kai sighed. "That's WHY it's called a secret move Kinogu. And thankfully, I am not so much of a braggart like you, so there."
"Who's a BRAGGART!"
"Well for one thing, it burned up that Bey Blade just fine," Lei was saying as he looked over at Kai. "I think that guy didn't expect you to pull a move like that…"
I didn't expect it either. Kai turned to look at Professor, determined to will that disquieting thought away. "Well? Any chances of us making it to the semifinals by now?"
"Based on your last performance from the Russian Finals and comparing it with your current 'form', so to speak…it's risen quite decently. I say we still have a chance to hit the Semis yet." He looks over at Lei, Max, and Takao. "I'm really excited how your own performances would turn out, I'm still uncertain about how I've tweaked your Beys to suit the data I've collected over our past matches, the Russian Finals, and our hiatus…"
"Hey, everything you did up to now worked really awesome, Professor, nothing to it!" Max told him, giving him a hearty slap on the back. "We've been through worse scrapes than this, and you've saved us time and again with your technical know-how!"
"I think I have a PRETTY clear idea why he's nervous," Lei said slyly, turning into a sly chibi neko. "It's because his idol's around here somewhere, watching."
"No, that's not IT!" Professor yelps, his face turning bright red. "I'm VERY worried, I really AM!"
"No use worrying about it now, isn't it. We're already here." Kai did a final check on his Bey Blade then started walking back towards the battle dish. He stopped, turning to look at Professor, his red brown eyes still wearing that same nonchalant expression. "It'll work just fine, so stop being anxious about it. You'll only feel much worse."
He then stepped up to the battle dish. Lei blinked.
Kai…? Is something wrong…?
Takao was pulling at his hair. "What the---did Hiwatari just say something NICE right now!"
"Will wonders never cease." Max blinked. "Yuri, you sure with the lineup?"
"Yeah," Yuri replied, looking over to where Kai was. He frowned, sensing something was amiss, as much as Lei did. Was it just the pressure or was it something else?
"So, it's like Kai, Lei, Yuri, Max," Professor said, looking at the piece of paper he held in his hand.
Takao turned SD. "How come I don't get to make my grand debut?"
"Kai reckons it's best if you stay out of this one for a while," Professor replied. "You've been experiencing an unusual jet lag over jet lags lately and he wants you to rest."
"There he goes again, saying something NICE! Am I missing something here! Is the world about to end?"
"From the looks of it, yeah," Max says with a laugh. "And Kai is its prophet of doom."
DJ was waving his arms in the air again to get everybody's attention. "This is it, 2nd battle, Team BBA VS Team Brazil, Kai Hiwatari VS Diego Mujeres! Are you guys ready to rip IT! EVERYBODY! 3…2…1…GOOO…SHOOOOOTTTTTTTT!"
Yuri frowned slightly. Max and Takao sure weren't too far off from the truth. And Kai's feeling the pressure.
Keep this. It's yours.
Kai glared at Chairman Daitenji, then slapped his hand away. I don't want anything from you, especially that cursed Bey. I thought you have so wanted to destroy it!
Quite right, when it had swallowed you whole back there. But now it's the time that I return it back to you. You are its rightful owner. Chairman Daitenji's eyes had been very serious. I am sure the Devil Dranzer would have it no other way. No other Blader would it acknowledge except you, for you are its' only known master. And to leave it here will utterly destroy you…it will seek revenge on the one who has abandoned it, and we may not be able to help you overcome it, as much as your other teammates did for you. Do you understand, Kai?
Kai gritted his teeth, looking the other way. Yuri had never seen Kai so angry, yet so frightened.
The next time I'm going to use that thing is when I've already done everything I can to save myself, and have utterly lost. Don't go telling me to use that to hunt my sister down. It's better if I have her lost forever. Kai's voice was the barest thread of a whisper. Do you understand, Chairman Daitenji? If you do as much hint about using that thing to get my sister back, then I'll be out of this stupid little game.
Understood, Kai.
Yuri could not still grasp the horror Kai felt about even suggesting to him that he use that Dark Bey, when he had used it formerly to hurt his friends back at the Russian Finals, and a couple others more, besides. The Volg created 2 very powerful Beys and had in them contained the power of life and death itself, and suffer that no other Blader should wield it except for the one it chooses to become its master. Wolborg and the rest of his former comrades' Beys were patterned after them. He was still awed by how powerful his Bey already was, but he hasn't really understood the true meaning of the power these Beys held: something which Kai had seen, and it had terrified him greatly. If he'd seen how truly powerful they were, would he have understood life and death itself…?
Yuri watched as Max, Takao and Professor cheered Kai on as he went on his Bey spree. If they'd known about the secret of Saint Dranzer, would they still be so gung-ho about every opportunity that came their way? Ana must've known everything about life and death already, that was why Kai was frightened, and whatever Ana knew to be the truth, it must be terrifying indeed. Nobody in their right minds would have their younger siblings dragged back to the monastery to where their lives had been hell, and come back years later as if nothing happened.
Kai knew Ana was watching him, and if he wasn't careful, she'd get to his friends just to make him use the Devil Dranzer. Kai knew that if Ana saw how strong he'd already become, she'll let off trying to make him take to the Devil Dranzer again and hover between life and death, just as she did to him when she left him so many years ago, just when he did when he tried to destroy his teammates completely during the Russian Finals…Ana would cease, maybe, for a couple of weeks, months…or even years. But he knew she'd come back again and again, and each time she comes back, his resolve not to use the Devil Dranzer will diminish, and he'll eventually fall prey to it at the end, just as much as how the Saint Dranzer swallowed his sister's soul and was no more than a mindless puppet than Yuri and the rest of Team Russia were under the clutches of Boris Balkov and his grandfather, Souichiro Hiwatari.
He swipes his arm, his red brown eyes narrowing. Dranzer F soared. Watch me Ana. Watch me fight ME!
"Crush him, Dranzer! Rising Flame SABER!"
The audience's roar was proof enough.
--------------------------------
Selenay's mouth was a little O. "That was some AWESOME move!"
"Eh? As what MacGregor's been going at, his skills are just a tad bit under him," William said, nodding.
Selenay rolled her eyes. "Leave it to Johnny to color things up a bit, will you? I'm pretty sure they've both been training hard and such and such, but that is just so wrong of him to judge that his skills are a tad better than whomever what. And that is just not SO Johnny. Might it be that you're the one doing the coloring? Johnny's SUCH a gentleman."
"Ah, SHADDUP!"
"So, what do you think, Cerridwen?"
Cerridwen blinked, her fingers a seeming blur as she typed furiously on her laptop. "His second performance has been pretty consistent with his projected Rave so far, with ± 2.367 difference in the peak anpsychic ratio, and a little bit over 0.081 average in the last 12 seconds of his second match."
"Definitely Selenay material," William commented.
Selenay glared at him. "Would you stop getting on my CASE, MacKenzie!"
"He can't help it, he's hopelessly in love with you." Johnny appeared then kicked William out of the way, his eyes devilish little slits. "And how the bloody HELL did you even DARE breathing on her you stupid GIT! I could teach your stupid chimera a barbeque recipe or 2!"
"OUCH! HEY! When did you suddenly grow such HUGE feet MACGREGOR!"
"And your feet AREN'T!"
"What THE----"
"Hi, Johnny!" Cerridwen said with a small smile on her face. "You're finally fed up with Giancarlo?"
"Yes, he was hitting on a couple more girls he met just 3 seconds ago prior to entering the chocolate bar, and I haven't seen him since. He says one of them actually knows Helmet Hilde, so I decided to make like Houdini and disappear." Johnny leaned over and used William's gold brown hair as a stand (Oo;; you get the point.). "So, the BBA Team won already?"
"Yup, 1 to 0," Cerridwen answered. She gestured to Selenay. "And Selenay says she's actually interested in him."
"I DID not! I just said his moves were pretty AWESOME!"
"You haven't actually acknowledged other guys' Bey Blade tactics before you met that tattoo guy down there," William said, his eyes little slits. "And I'm sticking with what I have said earlier, about you having a perverted sense of narcissism."
"I AM NOT A NARCISSIST!"
"And Johnny's not a PORCUPINE head?"
Johnny twitched. "Make them 100 barbeque recipes."
Cerridwen gave that small smile again (Nadeshiko Kinomoto + Tomoyo Daidouji smile), then went back to her work, finishing Kai's data analysis and saving them onto the file she created solely for the BBA Team. She looked over her laptop and saw Kai being greeted by his jubilant teammates, meeting him halfway before he made it to their dugout. She was still thinking of that last match and making up a report for Lady Celes in her head when DJ cleared his throat in preparation for announcing the second match.
"Alright, that concludes the 1st match between these 2 very awesome teams, securing a point for the fast-becoming crowd favorites, the BBA Team, and 0 to Team Brazil! Could the Wing Blades' end be just in sight! Well, this 2nd match will determine it out! Would the next Bladers, please step forward?"
"…" Lei, who had his eyes closed as he said a little prayer, opened them again then went towards the battle dish, holding a small brown parcel to his side, his Bey Blade and Shooter on the other.
"For the BBA Team, we have Lei Kon! And for Team Brazil, we have Jimena Montero!"
William stopped bickering with Selenay and Johnny long enough to deadpan, "You SURE Lancaster doesn't have a frigging twin?"
"NO. If that were the case, you 2 wouldn't be alive by now, sitting close to Cerridwen, I reckon he'd have asked his twin to kill any male who'd try to make themselves cozy sitting next to his little Cerri, and because he's also bonkers over her as much as Arthur did," Selenay retorted, just as Lei stopped at the edge of the battle dish. She threw her hands up in the air in exasperation. "Haven't you had enough of that Lancastrian experience to make you stop wishing Arthur was HERE?"
"No," came William's short reply.
"Oh boy. You HAVE a death wish."
"…" Cerridwen looked over at the battle dish beneath them, her heart stopping unwillingly as soon as her eyes saw the raven haired young man face his violet haired opponent. It wasn't right! He wasn't Arthur!
But why does her heart still wish it was him…?
Was there any way to stop this madness?
"…" Lei looked over at his opponent, his gold yellow eyes determined and set.
"Let's finish this."
----------------------------------
AUTHOR'S NOTES: . Extremely long chappie. How will Cerridwen fare in this ghost battle?
