Chapter 20------- New Foes
-Knock Knock-
"Come in."
The door swung open and in walked Mike and a raven-haired teenager.
"You wanted to see me, Mr Takuya?" The teen stood in the middle of the room, her hands behind her back, awaiting her orders. She noticed that they weren't the only ones in the room. Two figures sat on the couch; one had light blue hair while the other had hazel-brown hair.
'Who're they?' she thought.
"Ah yes, Liz. I'd like you to meet Chace and Britten." The man's hand motioned to the bluenette and his partner as they stood up.
"They'll be your new partners in Project Eclipse."
"But sir!" Liz retorted.
"Parker and Diego have proven themselves to be… incompetent. Chace and Britten are far better. They'll be you new partners. That's an order."
"As you wish." Liz bowed her head, though she did not like the new arrangement.
"Kindly show them to their rooms will you. I have a meeting soon."
Liz nodded. "Follow me." She turned and walked out the door…
-Walking down the hallway-
"Not much of a talker are you?" Chace spoke.
Liz didn't reply.
"Liz, right? You're kinda young being in this business." He was persistent.
Liz turned around. "Look, if you have so much energy to ask so many questions then why don't you look for your rooms yourself?" She gave him a cold stare.
Chace was taken aback. Britten chuckled. "What!" He shot a glare at the guy.
His partner shook his head, suppressing his laughter.
The trio reached rooms 217 and 218.
"I'll leave you guys to fight over your rooms. Training starts at 10. Don't be late…"
Liz turned her heel and left.
"Hey! Where the hell is training!" Chace called after her, but the girl disappeared down the hallway.
"And she's supposed to be our leader? Gimme a break!" Chace pressed the button.
"Identity." A metallic voice sounded from the speaker.
"Chace. Code number 4973J."
"Analysing." The machines showed a percentage bar. "Acess granted. Please type in your password."
Chace glanced at Britten who turned away immediately. He then punched in his password.
"Welcome, Chace." The door slid open.
The room was enough for one person; it had a bunk bed, a study table and a bathroom. A rectangular window had been fixed into the ceiling over the bed and the lights were voice-activated. (Cool right? yr own personal room which only you can control)
"Nah, she'll come around. Besides, you're the one who's irritating." Britten walked into the room.
"Shut up!" A pillow came flying in his direction.
"Haha, chill, chill."
-Back to the Granger residence-
"The tournament's in 4 days are you guys are just sitting here playing cards!" Hilary placed her hands on her hips.
"Relax, Hil. We've trained the whole morning and it's raining now. Got any aces Chief?" Tyson asked the bespectacled boy.
"Nope. Go fish."
"What about packing?"
"Been there, done that. Yes! I got a pair!" Max cheered triumphantly as he threw two cards into the middle pile.
"Well what about… sigh never mind… Where's Mai?" Hilary looked around; she was usually with the guys.
"Somewhere in the house…"
-Upstairs-
-knock knock-
There was no reply. 'Cheh, stupid guy won't answer… Maybe he's asleep?' Mai turned the door snob and peeked inside the room.
'Ehh? Dare mo inai… (There's no one here…) Ma ii ka (well thts ok), I'll just leave the coffee on the table.' Mai placed the tray on the table but jumped when she heard a voice behind her:
"What're you doing here? Get out."
Kai stood by the door way. His hair was wet and he had a towel draped around his shoulders.
Mai spun around. "Um…coffee… Grampa G told me to bring it to you…" Mai had a funny feeling Grampa G did this on purpose.
(Downstairs: Grampa G chuckled to himself 'Heheh! This'll fix 'em!')
"I don't drink coffee in the afternoon. Get out." The introvert sat on the bed, drying his hair.
'Fine! I didn't wanna be here in the first place.' Mai made a face at Kai when he wasn't looking and headed towards the door.
She reached for the door knob but something made her fingers freeze in mid-air. She had to do it.
"About the other day…" The ashen-haired girl turned around to face the room.
"I don't wanna hear it. Get out. " Kai had his head under the towel. He didn't want to look at her.
Mai sensed that he was still mad and bit her lip. 'How am I gonna do this?'
"No, I want you to hear it." Mai sat on the bed nearest to the window. The room was dark but once in a while, the lighting would flash and the room lit up for a few seconds.
"I dunno…maybe because you're the one who'd understand the most…or maybe 'cos I think you can keep it a secret…" Mai looked at Kai to see if he was paying attention, the guy had his back turned.
"I'm sorry……I acted rashly… I didn't know… but from the look in your eyes… you had lost someone too…"
Kai froze. His eyes widened as the memory came back to him. 'Nala.'
"It's not fair isn't it? For someone to die because of you… Sometimes I wish it had been me who died instead of my mother… I had caused her so much trouble… I should be the one punished, not her…"
"Then one day, I had nobody… one by one everyone just left… all engulfed by the flames… Lying in the snow that time… I wanted so much to die, that way I could be with everyone… but you guys came and saved me…up to now, I don't know if I should be grateful…"
"But… it's kinda hard trusting people huh?…Even if they just wanna help… not after being betrayed by someone whom you thought would never harm you…"
Kai tightened his grip around the towel. He's grandfather, no, Voltaire had done the same thing…
The lightening flashed again, lighting up the cold room. Outside, the rain pounded even harder on the glass.
She stared out the window; taking in the gloomy skies, getting hypnotised by the rhythmic sounds of the rain beating on the glass. "You know something? I really like it when it rains… It's like cleansing the world; washing away everything bad and unhappy… And for a moment, you feel as if time has stopped and every bad thing in your life has disappeared…"
"Perhaps you've been in worse situations then I have…demo… watashitachi wa onaji desu (but we're both the same), futari wa sabishi… (both of us are lonely…)"
Mai pushed the window open slightly to let the sound of the rain in. Then she walked towards the door and opened it.
"The rain's lonely too; don't let it cry alone…"
With that, she shut the door behind her.
Kai dropped the towel on the bed. He looked at the coffee cup.
'Futari was sabishi ka… (both of us are lonely huh…)'
"Hmph." Kai erased the thought and reached for the cup. He took a sip, it was cold…
-Downstairs-
"Hah…" Mai let out a sigh. 'Glad that's over…'
"So you gave him the coffee?" Grampa Granger was waiting at the foot of the stairs.
Mai raised an eye brow. "Yeah, why?"
"Oh, nothing." And the old man skipped away.
Mai shrugged. 'Guess I'll go pack for tomorrow.'
-China, Location: unknown-
"Chace! Behind you!"
Chace turned around just in time to miss an attack by a beyblade. "Suistra!" The grey beyblade tackled the target blade and smashed it into pieces.
Everywhere, beyblades went flying while the three stood in the middle fighting them off.
"Sinistra! Attack!"
The red blade spun past the targets, slashing three or four at one go.
"Level completed." A computerised voice erupted form the speakers.
"Haahh…" Britten squatted down, his shoulders slumped forward.
"What? Tired already?" Chace wiped his forehead with his sleeve.
"Heh, you wish!" The boy stood up.
Jus then, the door slid open and man came in. He signalled for Liz to come over. The guys watched the two of them talk, Liz was nodding her head. The man handed her a piece of paper and left.
Liz read it through and crumpled it. "They've found her. Let's go."
"Dare? (who)" Britten asked.
"Project Eclipse."
The guys grinned. Finally, some fun!
Woot! I've done two chapts in two days! Haha, this short chpt thingy is really working for me, haha! Anyways, the next chpt will be the starting of the Asian tournament and more new characters! Wheee!
Lol, are ya guys confused? Is it too many characters to remember? Haha, go exercise your brains a bit.
TA TA!