Show Off
"This," I said as I pulverized the newcomers blade. "is too easy." The amount of time kept adding up as I let the boy named Michael drag me deeper into what he thought was despair. Nothing was going to stop me from doing what I had to do. The smug grin on his face- what I had been trying to wipe off- would soon turn into a howl of rage as I grabbed the advantage of being cornered to my side. "Today, you will feel what it is to loose everything." I was confident- but not too confident- and held my ground to the bitter end as we battled it out in the soundproof room, my friends watched from above. Most of my energy had been taken up when Alucard and I slept together the night before, but that was no biggie now. Right then, I had all the energy I was going to need to finish what this lower class blader had started.
"We'll see, Jap. You're the one that's going down!" Jap? He'd called me a well known, hated-to-the-max nickname. If you ever want to call me something, call me by name.
"My name is Tyko. And I'll be sure to see you on the floor after this attack!" He grinned more at my rage, but that soon changed as I let Wolfsbaine do his worst. "Howl Wing Blaster!" A bright white light spread and I'm sure that the others had to close their eyes to shield themselves from the blast. The room around us shook with unparallel anger, bringing me ever so closer to my undefeated glory. As Angel had said, Michael had gone in with a wind attack, but once Wind was combined with Earth... Let's just say that not much survived. As the smoke and dust cleared, I saw what I had predicted: my blade still stood spinning on to of the rubble that had buried Michael's. "To my side Wolfsbaine." My blade obeyed, spinning over to me. I knelt down to pick him up at the same time Michael dropped to his knees with a small squeak of defeat.
"I...I thought...that...No-o-o-o-o-o! I can't believe I lost! I won't believe it!"
"Believe it, Michael. Because you did. There's a better way to go about his than acting like a child who lost their puppy. Just rebuild your blade and try again. Maybe next time, you will win." I could see Voltaire smile out of the corner of my eye. Yes, by acting as a team captain should, I did my team proud. No boasting, no backtalk, no rubbing it in, just a simple statement of truths and walk away a proud member of the Shadow Storm. I reached for Michael's hand to help him up and bent to pick up one of the pieces of his broken blade. He looked at me.
"Really? Do you honestly think I'll finish rebuilding it to use it in the tournament? I mean, look at the damn thing." I smiled.
"Yes."
"OK, how, smarty-pants, do I do that?"
"Because I'm going to help you do it." He scoffed at me. "No, really! I will. And to show you I'm not joking, let's get it started now." He rose, dusting himself off, and handed me his bit-beast, Trigle.
"Lead the way, 'O fearless leader." You know, I swear that that was sarcasm in his voice. If I wasn't Tala Ivanov's son, I probably would have decked him right then and there for a comment like that. A few hours of work later, I found a friend in the boastful boy and we sat laughing at the little mistakes we had both made during the battle as we rummaged through both our cases of beyblade tools and pieces. Not more than three agonizing hours of arguing and laughing later, we stepped out of his room with a brand new beyblade.
I watched at the supper table as Alixhi and Alucard nudged Angel in the back, obviously trying to get the oldest of the three to speak up about something and he rose. "Everyone, I'd like to hold a private meeting in the common room of the North Wing after supper. There's something my team- as great as they are- need to know about. So when all of team Shadow Storm are finished, please direct yourselves to the designated area for a brief talk." He sat back down with a scowl directed at Alucard who sat smugly glaring at me in our usual fashion. I felt the blood rise to my face and quickly schooled my features into a scowl to match Angel's as I glared back. Alixhi promptly lured them both into a conversation on how many ways there were to call on your bit-beast; for some reason I could always count on him for things like that.
I stole a glance at China- my seven year crush- and watched her pick at her steak. I don't think that they knew she was a vegetarian. She never ever in her entire fourteen years alive had a piece of meat so close to her mouth as she did then and it made her look rather green around the gills to have it there. "Voltaire? China looks a bit sick, may we be excused?" The old man raised his hand in a way that said 'go ahead' and went back to his chat with Alucard's grandmother Judy Tate. China gave me a look that said she was grateful to have me as a friend. It took me an hour to get over being turned down by her- but that was that sexy, coy, not to mention extremely beautiful lover of mines fault. Though I should have seen it coming and- as Nikki had put it several times that evening- I should have seen that lecture coming as well.
"Thank you so much, Tyson. I don't think I feel well at all. Do I have a fever?" I felt her forehead to confirm that she did, in fact, have a slight fever. The meat had more than likely contributed to that. She'd called me by my first name- which was rare amongst the group- before falling into my arms in a dead-weight faint. She went pale and limp. I did my best to carry her light weight form to her room and tuck her into her bed. Measuring out a teaspoon and a half of Tynol, I forced it down her throat and ran from the room in search of the North Wing.
They had been waiting for us in the common room when I burst in. "Ty? What's wrong? I can't feel her energy. What happened?" Nikki asked a slew of questions as I entered. Everyone knew that he had a telepathic- type link with his twin that nothing ever came close to so when she was in danger he knew and vice versa.
"She had meat with her supper and now she has a fever." I replied breathlessly as I staggered into a chair. No sooner were the words out of my mouth the teen bolted for the door but was stopped by his grandfather.
"It might be contagious, Nickolas. We must not take any less precaution than anyone else here. I will talk to Judy about this matter, but in the meantime, I want every one of you to take a virus vaccine. Do I make myself clear?" There were rounds of 'yes sir's' as Voltaire turned to leave. He stopped at the door to look at me. "Did you give her any medications, Tyson?" I cringed at my own name as it rolled off his tongue.
"Yes. I gave her a teaspoon and a half of Tynol."
"Good. It my help with her healing process."
The wait on China's results was one agonizing minute after another. Soon after Judy found out that Chi was sick, the blond woman noticed the similar symptoms in her own teams' behavior. The pattern enveloped all those who had the T-bone steak with their supper- all of the Freedom Fighters and two of our own- causing them to fall sick. With the twins down for the count and results on the way, there was nothing left to do but wait for the good-bad news to arrive. I jumped as Voltaire walked solemnly into the room.
"Well? How are they?"
"Good news or bad first?" He asked answering my question with one of his own.
"Bad." Everyone cried in usion.
"The bad news is that they are suffering from food poisoning. The good news is that because of Tyko's quick thinking and timely judgment we were able to stop it on time. Meaning everyone should be back on their feet in time for the tournament."
"Yes!" Alixhi cried as he punched at the air. Alucard did a little dance and I took a fresh breath of air. Angle sighed heavily as he sat down in one of the hard wood desk chairs. Sometimes I just feel like I'm on top of the world. "We're going to the tournament! We're going to the tournament!" My lithe lover and friend chanted as Angel and I tried desperately not to join into the commotion. There was no way we were going to pass up the opportunity of a lifetime.
Alixhi looked at me through sad eyes as China took to the arena at the American tournament and I wasn't the only one who knew why. Soon, we would be on our way to China and actually have to battle the next team who called themselves the White Tigers: The Next Generation. Their Uncle Lee's son Wufei would be there and all of his friends on top of that so it would be family against family for the twins. All Chi had to do was defeat David and Windracer in the next rounds of the battle.
"Don't worry, Lex. What's the worst that China could do?" Alucard asked getting up from his seat. "GO CHINA! KICK HIS SORRY ASS BACK TO OHIO!" He shouted. Then "Hey!" as Angel pulled him back in to his chair.
"Just watch the match, Fruit-cup." I laughed at them. No matter how many times Angel said he was sorry for being who he was- after he told us his story- we forgave him because- between Alucard and himself- they were a riot.
"Yeah, yeah- we're watching the match. Keep you knickers on, Hotshot." Nikki said as he concentrated on his sister. "There's more to him then meets the eye, Alucard. So you better be taking notes from the master." Alucard threw a fry at the said boy's head and then had no time to duck the icy water that Nikki poured over him. "That should cool you down." The smirk on Nikki's face was too much for Alucard so he grabbed an ice cube from his hair and shoved it down the other's back- now I can say that he's real T-R-O-U-B-L-E, but that would be beyond the point of intersection. Suddenly, the crowd went wild as China knocked the David's beyblade out of the arena. Oh well, I guess that means that we're off to see China.
I defeated Erin. Alucard faced off against Sophia and lost- baka. Then in the moment of truth, China pulverized David. Alixhi, Angel, and Nicholas went against a team from Africa and won that battle as well. It probably means that...
"Oh, no!" I said breathlessly as we walked back to our rooms in the East Wing of the American Training Center. The others turned to look at me.
"Ty?" Nick asked. "Is everything alright?"
"No. You see, when this is all over and we've surpassed all of the other teams," I explained as the wheels in my mind worked into overtime.
"We're going to have to face one another in battle, Nikki! Which means you're going to probably face you own sister." The others thought about this for a minute before blanching. The color drained from Alixhi's face at the mention of the realization, China and Nikki shifted their weight against the wall, Alucard sank to the floor- drained from both battle and my thought. Angle and I just stood there in the hall, thinking there could be a better way to go. That was how we were found by a grim faced Voltaire. He'd obviously come to the same realization I did and wanted a way of getting out of it as well.