Chapter 30------From Me to You
The day opened on a rather laid back note. The smell of coffee in the air, the sound of papers flipping, sleepy faces; morning cartoons playing on the television; the usual morning ritual. The three Bladebreakers in the kitchenette going about their business…
"Hey Rei."
"Yeah?" The neko-jin looked up from reading the morning paper.
"You think Mai will leave us and go back to her friends?" Max rested his head on his fists.
Rei put down the paper, "I don't know… She belongs with them so maybe she would?"
"But I don't want her to leave… It'll be like losing your pet. No, worse than that…" Max glumly stirred his cereal, watching the coco-puffs swirl about in the milk.
"No one's leaving." Kai was listening in on their conversation while he poured himself some coffee. "She's part of the Bladebreakers; she can't leave the group as she pleases."
"Hmm? What're you guys –yawn- talking about?" A sleepy Mai walked into the kitchen. She opened the fridge, looking for something. "Where's the milk?"
"Finished it." Max replied.
"So there's no more?" Mai whined. The blond shook his head. Her mood dropped; she needed milk in the morning. 'Guess milo will have to do…'
"Tyson, Hilary, get over here." Kai ordered. The two obeyed. Pffht, like they had a choice.
"From now on at least one of you has to stay by Mai's side at all times." Kai announced.
"Why?" Even Mai was asking.
"Last night she got attacked by her Grandfather's henchmen. –"What!" came from everybody else 'cept Kai and Mai- I don't want her to go missing suddenly during the tournament so everyone is to keep an eye on her, got that?"
"I'm not a kid Kai! I can look after myself!" Mai argued. 'Who's he to monitor my movements? I object! Object! OBJECT!'
"Yeah? Well last night just proved you wrong." Kai said triumphantly.
The girl's mouth hung in mid-air. She couldn't argue with that. She was careless… 'Argh! Hasn't the training thought you anything Mai?' She scolded herself. 'Sensei wouldn't be proud at all…'
"Fine." She placed her mug on the table, "But I have something to say."
The others looked clueless. What was this? A group meeting? Or a two-man conference?
"We have to win that trophy." She said simply.
"It's not as easy as it –" But Kenny was interrupted.
"You don't understand. We have to win that trophy. The scale's inside it!"
"Umm… I don't have a clue what you're talking about." Tyson wasn't the only one giving her a weird look. She just came in and demanded something just like that –snaps fingers-, of course no one would know what in the blazes she was talking about.
Mai leaned in; she had to keep this information all hush-hush. "If I tell you, promise you won't go blabbing to anyone else?" She watched the group nod their heads and lean forward.
"Remember we were in that cave with all the drawings? –others nod their head- And it told about the legend of Eden? –they nod again- And said that Eden's powers were trapped in four gems which were scattered to the four corners of the earth?"
"It did?" But Max got hushed by Hilary.
Mai continued, "One of those gems is in the trophy."
"Ohhh." They finally understood.
The Zeelan paused, considering if she should tell them about…"And…you know the two souls who are supposed to free Eden? –nod their heads- Well… I found the other one." Mai waited for their reaction and it was just as she expected: loud gasps of "Who?" and "You did?" sounded from their mouths.
"Riya." As expected again, there came a huge chorus of "WHHAAAT?"
"Wait a minute, wait a minute." Tyson was trying to register all this information in his head. "You're telling us that Riya? Is the other soul?"
"Mm." Mai nodded her head. Why did it have to be Riya? Why couldn't it be someone else? And to think what Riya would do with Eden's power… She was hurt, why would Riya, her Riya, choose do to such a thing?
"If he frees Eden…" Mai sighed, "He's gonna use Eden's power to get revenge on Humans."
"Humans?" Rei raised an eye brow.
"Humans, people who don't belong to the 4 chosen tribes. We call them 'humans'." The girl explained.
"Then if he wants to get rid of us…then he's the one with the evil soul!" Tyson exclaimed. "See? I knew Mai wasn't the evil one! Girls could never be evil."
"What did you say Granger?" Mai glared daggers at him; she took that as an insult. 'Girls could never be evil huh? I'll show him.'
"N-nothing." The boy stammered. "Just the spasms in my mouth making me say rubbish again…" He muttered under his breath.
Kai smirked, he was impressed. Mai was good.
"Okay, let's put two and two together. So Riya's the –does open and close inverted commas sign with her fingers- 'evil soul' and we can't let him win the trophy because the jewel's in it which he will use to free Eden and destroy us?" Hilary asked.
"Yeah, and that's why we have to win it. And if we don't… -thinks of something- we'll steal it!" The girl smiled at her plan, the others weren't impressed though…
"If that's what you want then I've got the best solution!"
"What?" Mai's face lit up.
"Training! Which starts NOW!" She coupled her last word with a slam by the hand on the table.
Everyone groaned… "C'mon! Up on your feet! You want that trophy, you gotta work for it!"
"It's Mai who wants it. Not us… Let her train by her— OW!" The Japanese boy rubbed his shoulder, Mai had just punched it— hard. "WILL YOU QUIT IT WITH THE SHOULDER-PUNCHING? What's wrong with you?" He shouted.
Mai was stunned. It was the first time she had heard Tyson shout like that and she was a bit frightened by it. No! She had to keep her cool, 'Don't show him that you're scared! You'll blow your image!' Her conscience reminded.
"Y-you started it!" But she didn't manage to hide her fear in her voice. Tyson threw his hands up, "Forget it! Just forget it!" and he stormed out of the kitchenette. Hilary shook her head, sometimes Mai went too far with the teasing… Tyson wasn't kidding all the time and this was one of them.
All of a sudden Mai felt really guilty…she was acting like a kid. She bit her lip in shame, she had messed up.
"I'm sorry alright?" She shouted. It wasn't an angry or demanding shout, just loud enough for Tyson to hear. "If it makes you feel better, I'll treat you! Anything you want!" Her last resort— food. If this didn't work then… Gah! Just pray it works!
Tyson appeared like a hungry puppy being wheedled out by strangers offering it food. "Anything? Even if it's really expensive?"
Mai was reluctant but agreed, "Yes Tyson, anything." 'My pocket's gonna burn for this…' She sighed in dismay.
-Later after 4 HOURS! of training…-
"Where're we going? I thought you wanted food?" Mai found herself wandering the streets of China with Rei leading the group. No Mariah on his arm today, the girl decided she would sleep in.
"Hey! That's not all I think about!" Tyson defended. "I think about other stuff too ok?"
"Yeah, only 3 other stuff: beyblading, fans and Hilary." Max playfully nudged Rei's arm and the two had a good laugh. Mai laughed too. "Is that true Hilary?"
"How would I know?" She scoffed, even though she was blushing madly.
"We're here." Rei pushed open the door to a small shop and Mai heard the faint tinkle of a bell. 'Beyblading shop?' "What're we doing here?" She asked.
"Getting Dragoon fixed. You gave him quite a trashing that day." Kenny replied.
Mai smiled, she remembered. 'Levian had battled so well that day.' But her smile faded when she heard Tyson say that she was paying for the repairs. "What! You can't—"
"Anything remember?" Tyson smirked.
Mai gave him that why-you! look but she didn't say a word. She tore her gaze from Tyson and looked around the shop: beyblades, defence rings, ball bearings, attack rings, launchers; they had everything considering it was such a small shop. She caught Kai looking at something and peeked over his shoulder. "See somethin' you like?"
Kai jerked a little from the sound of Mai's voice, it was a little unexpected. "Just looking." With that he got up to join the group at the counter. Mai looked at the displays, 'A defence ring huh?'
"You can pick it up uhh –looks at clock- 4 o'clock. Don't worry sir, will take very good care of it! Bye bye!" The bespectacled owner waved as the group exited the store. Mai took a last look at the ring. She would come back later…
-Fast forward-
Mai returned to the hotel room a little happier that day. It was just that feeling you get when you're keeping a secret or know something really juicy and no one else knows about it.
"The man sure did a good job!" Tyson held his blade up, studying it against the light.
"Of course. One of the best in China." Rei said proudly.
"Yeah, best for being pricey…" The ashen-haired girl commented.
"Hey, you know what you should do?"
"What?" The bluenette looked up to see Rei looking down at him.
"Go test it!" Excitement shown in Rei's eyes. He wanted to see what the newly repaired Dragoon could do.
The group re-entered the training hall. They weren't the only ones there and yes, heads turned and murmurs were heard. Mai heard some squeals of surprise from some girls. Lucky them, they got to see Kai today. Rei and Tyson took their places at each end of the bey dish. Some bladers stopped to watch, they wanted to see the pros in action. The rest of the group stood aside. Mai slowly crept up to Kai's side; she couldn't wait to see his reaction.
"Hai. (Here)" She held out a brown paper bag in front of him. She acted like a girl offering chocolates to a boy on White's Day. (White's Day is a day in Japan where girls get to give presents to guys. Sorta like Valentine's Day just that it's the girl version.) Mai grinned as Kai took the bag from her. "I never got to thank you properly for saving my life yesterday. Hope you like it." She watched as he emptied the bag and its contents fell out.
"This is…" Kai stared as the red defence ring on his palm. The ring had four small crescent-like hooks jutting out from the main ring. It looked like an attack ring but it was more suited for defence as the hooks were blunt.
"So? Like it?" The girl tilted her head so that she could see the expression on his face. 'She actually got it for me.' Kai thought but suddenly realised that she had asked him a question and looked up, "Yeah, thanks!" He smiled and looked at the ring again.
Mai grinned even more. 'He likes it!' Then she realised something. "Hey, you're smiling." She teased. The boy shifted his gaze to her, acting as though he hadn't heard her. "It's nice. You should do it more often." She added. Kai couldn't help it, for some reason he smiled at that comment.
"C'mon, we'll get Kenny to fix it in and then you can try it out." She pulled Kai by the arm, gaining shocked expressions from the girls nearby.
-whisper-
"Hey look! She's touching Kai!"
-murmur-
-whisper-
"Who's that? Is she his girlfriend?"
"I heard she's the new edition to the team."
"He's smiling! He looks so cute when he smiles!"
-murmur-
"Guess he's taken then –sighs disappointedly-"
The girls watched from a distance; some with jealousy, others with sadness in their eyes. "You think she's any good?" The group watched Mai and Kai hover over Kenny as he fixed in the new piece.
"Why don't we go find out?" A girl stood out from the group. Why don't we go find out? Now that wasn't good, especially when the girl had that mischievous gleam in her eyes.
"Mishka! Don't!" But too late, the greyish green-haired girl was already making her way towards the trio.
"Hey." Kenny, Mai and Kai looked up to see a fairly tall girl with mid-length greyish green hair standing in front of them. She looked probably around 17 or 18 with her black sleeveless turtleneck and a pair of dark brown cargo pants.
Mishka saw them look at her with yeah?-what-do-you-want? expressions on their faces so she decided to hurry up and just ask. Plus, she was in the presence of Kai! She couldn't make a lousy first impression. "Do you mind if I battle you?" She held up her blade so they knew what she meant.
"Wait just a sec, Kai has to—"
"Not Kai. You. I challenge you to a beybattle." It was as though the girl had forgotten Kai was there. She didn't care about him, she wanted her.
"Me?" Mai pointed to herself. 'You can't be serious? She's asking me? To battle her?' But the girl yup-ed and looked straight at her so it told Mai that she wasn't kidding.
Levian: Go on! Accept! Take it as training.
'But no one's ever challenged me before… –quickly adds- And why doesn't she ask Kai? Kai's the pro here! –flashy lights all directed at Kai and a HUGE arrow that says PRO points at him-'
Levian: JUST ACCEPT IT YOU FOOL!
'Ok! ok!' "Yeah. I accept."
Kai watched as the two girls occupied another beydish and launched their blades. 'I'm surprised she accepted.' He thought as he watched the battle from the sides.
Dranzer: Do you have that little confidence in her?
'Maybe. –casually shrugs shoulders- But this match will show me where she ranks.'
"MIERR! VINE SLASH!" The pale-emerald fairy shot out its hand, sending strings of vines lashing towards Levian.
Mai smirked. The girl's attack was good but she had other plans. "LEVIAN DODGE AND USE ARTIC FLARE!"
The white blade raced towards the opponent's blade, a blue flare trailing behind it as it smacked against—
-Fast forward-
-BAM! - The two power houses collided and the blue and yellow auras from both blades exploded in a green flash of light.
"YYYYYAAAAAAAAAAHH!" The crowd went wild when they saw Ryan's blade outside the beydish. "AND ONCE AGAIN THE VICTORY GOES TO THE BLADEBREAKERS!" The announcer shouted over the microphone making the crowd erupt into a chorus of cheers and hoots.
Mai picked up her blade and ran to her team mates wearing a mega huge smile on her face. "You did it! Hahaha!" The group cheered and hi-5ed Mai for a job well done.
"AND WITH A WIN OF TWO OUTTA THREE! THE BLADEBREAKERS ARE GOING TO THE FINALS!" More bursts of cheers, shouts, wolf whistles and all sorts of sounds came from the audience once again. Mai looked up at the crowd and beamed. The multitude of people, the rumbling of their voices, it was spectacular! They were cheering for her! For the team! And it felt really good!
"C'mon. Let's go celebrate!" Max wrapped an arm around Mai's shoulder and the team headed out.
-In another part of the beystadium…-
"WHOA! WHAT A WIPE OUT FOLKS! A STUNNING VICTORY FOR TEAM FREEDOM! (cheesy I know but I couldn't think of anything else! besides, the name does cater some glory and respect to it no?)"
"Dammit!" Ozuma punched his fist into the wall, anger raging inside him. He had lost. How could he have LOST?
"It's just the first time. You'll get better." Miriam tried to comfort him.
"The damn guy has Eden!" He argued and saw the stupefied reaction by his team mates.
"What!"
"He's a Zeelan; I saw the birthmark. That last move he did, somehow he combined it with Eden's power. No ordinary bitbeast could've done something like that." He had calmed down a bit but you could still see the frustration in his eyes.
"Stupid kid! I'm gonna pound him!" Dunga smashed his fist against his palm.
"Ugh, is smashing stuff all you think about? Maybe that temper of yours has gone to your head and fried your brains."
"WHY YOU!"
"Pipe down! Just let Ozuma think alright?" Joseph scolded his sister and Dunga. (you know? Sometimes I think Joseph is the most mature person among the group. And he's the youngest too!) "So what's the plan Ozuma?"
"Heh. –grins evilly- We'll just get rid of them both then."
"You know," Miriam was leaning against the wall, her arms crossed as she stared at her shoes. "We could always destroy the jewels." She looked up at her leader, "Then we wouldn't have to worry about Eden popping up in future now would we?" She saw Ozuma's eyes gleam, "I think I like your idea better" causing the girl's mouth to break into a grin.
Uh oh! What's gonna happen? Stay tuned next week to find out!
lol, I sound like a tv commercial XP