Okay, just one note before I start. I want to thank everyone who reviewed, especially AnimeCrazy88, who has been my loyalest reviewer throughout this entire ordeal. So thanks again to everyone, and on with the chapter!
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Trial By Old Flames
Chapter 8: Moscow
Distant Storm
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The Bladebreakers arrived in Moscow, Russia, with six hours before registration ended. They took care of the annoying parts of the trip first, leaving them with four hours for training and food before the opening ceremony. The enire competition had been revised again, as the chairperson didn't expect thousands of beybladers to show up. Therefore, he added a few different channels that mixed up teams. In that way, you'd never know who you fought until the day of the tournament.
It surprised them all that Carrie showed them around the city quicker than Kai had once been able to. She knew where the best places were for food, and the best hotel to stay at. She was taking the entire ordeal pretty well, assuming that Kai didn't randomly appear.
"You ready for this?" Max asked her between bites of his sandwich.
She nodded, determination flooding her features. "I am."
Ray smiled. "Remember, we've got your back."
"I appreciate that. I haven't been on a real team before."
"But you were at the Abbey. What about Tala and his team?"
"Tala, Spencer, Ian, and Brian are hand selected beybladers. They never bonded on their own. The entire reason they even became a team was because Boris said that they'd either do as he commanded, or face the consequences." The group cringed at consequences. Consequences were not very good in the Abbey.
"And before all that?" Kenny asked. This would be a chance for him to get some information on what certain beybladers acted like on their free time.
"We'd organize teams. Usually, there'd be time to beyblade without Boris breathing down our necks. The only problem, is that when you'd organize a team together, usually, one or two of the members wouldn't make it through the week, so you didn't really bond. You'd just kind of beyblade on the same side, not killing each other."
"Oh," Hilary said. "That doesn't sound like very much fun."
"I was on a team with Tala once," Carrie said. "I beat his ass though in a beybattle set up by Boris, and then he didn't want anything to do with me unless it called for beating my ass." She shrugged. "I guess it's still kind of that way."
After this, she grew silent. Hilary turned to Tyson, who was on his third sandwich. "The ceremony is going to start in two hours! I don't wanna listen to you complain because you have a stomachache, Tyson!"
"I won't Hil, I usually eat twice as much."
"Hey Cheif, are there going to be any exhibition matches before the actual tournament?" Max leaned over to look at the screen on Kenny's laptop. He was getting the feed from the news back in Japan, which primarily consisted of the Bladebreakers, their new addition, and Kai's disappearance.
"Today, at three pm in Moscow, the Beyblade World Tour will kick off in Moscow, Russia. We've received word from Mr. Stanley Dickenson, chairman of the B.B.A, that there will be exhibition matches from veteran teams who have competed before. Tomarrow, the entire tournament will kick off, and we will be bringing you live coverage here on channel two. Stay tuned."
The stream then cut to commercial. "Well Maxy, there's your answer," Kenny replied.
"I'm glad he opened up the locations," Carrie said. "More bladers to beat."
"I agree," Ray said, from next to her. "We're only going to five of the twenty seven locations they've decided on. Dickenson sure had to expand this one. The world has been taken over by beybladers."
"Pretty much," Tyson said. "Which is because we are so awesome, everyone wants to be us."
"Almost," Hilary said. "Everyone wants to be a member of the Bladebreakers other than Tyson. He's the one who's going to end up having a heart attack from the twenty million burgers he's eaten in the past year."
"Hilary!"
"Play nice you two," Carrie said with a smile. She turned her attention back to the stream on Kenny's laptop.
"I can't wait until you see what's going to happen this year," Dickenson commented to one of the news reporters. "Even the veteran teams aren't the same."
"Yeah," Max said. "The veteran teams have gotten even better!"
"You're right," Hilary said. "The extra girl power might make the fan base grow. Especially since there's two exceptionally amazing girls on this team."
"Amen sister!" The two slapped hands, laughing the entire time.
"Two? Carrie's the only exceptional-"
"We should probably go," Ray said a moment later, saving Tyson from an enraged Hilary. "The opening ceremony is going to start and I don't think Dickenson will like it if we miss it, being the champions and all."
"Agreed."
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Tyson watched his team get ready for the opening ceremony. They were, technically a veteran team, and all members were expected to beyblade in the exhibition. Even the new ones. Glancing over at his friends, he noticed Carrie standing, in a stance identical to Kai. She held two beyblades, but when she felt Tyson's eyes upon her, she looked up. Her angelic image remained, yet her eyes were colder.
"Do you think Kai will be here?" She wondered aloud. The rest of the group looked at her.
"I don't know," Tyson stated finally. "Maybe he will."
"Well, I don't think so, unless he isn't with Tala or they changed their name again." Kenny typed furiously into the computer. "White Tiger X, All Starz, and apparently Daichi's team is entered as Blade Grounds."
"Really?"
"Yeah, there's no names similar to those that Kai and Tala have ever used."
"Great," Carrie stated.
"Don't worry about it," Ray said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "We'll worry about it when the time comes."
"Okay," she replied, unconvinced. Ray raised his eyebrows at Tyson, who nodded.
"We're all concerned about it," Tyson said. "But he made his choice, and you're on our side. When we see him, you know we'll try just as hard to get him back."
"I know, thanks." Max threw a beyblade at Tyson. "Thank Kenny. He's the one who fixed Dragoon for you."
"Thanks Cheif!"
"Hey Carrie, can I see your beyblade?"
"Sure." She walked across the room, pulling the beyblade out of her pocket. "I'm going to go change."
The second she left the room, the rest of them crowded around Kenny and Hilary who were doing maintanance to her beyblade. This was the first time they'd seen it up close, and their curiousity got the best of them. They had to see just what her beyblade was like.
"Well," Kenny said, "it's built well, and there's just about nothing wrong with it, but let's take a look." Carefully, he dismantled the beyblade piece by piece. The attack and defense rings were in perfect shape, much to their delight.
"I wonder how long she's used this style beyblade," Hilary commented. "It's an older version. We should talk to her about an update."
"Judging by the look of it, the model is from about seven years ago. It's a hardcore beyblade." Everyone looked at Tyson, who had made a rather intellectual statement.
"I'll be damned," Hilary joked. "There is some smarts inside that empty head of yours."
"Yeah well...Hey! That's not nice!"
"Yet then again..." Max sighed, shrugging.
Ray waved his hand, dismissing the entire comment by Hilary. "Somethings are just too good to be true."
"I guess we had better put this puppy back together. She's got a solid set up, the only difference is the center, which has the magnum core like you guys. She's good to go."
"Cool," came a voice from the door. The entire group turned around to see Carrie standing there, her hair curled and messy, with an entire wardrobe change. She wore a white halter and matching pants, with a blue cape. Grey makeup accentuated her blue eyes, and she held the black and blue launcher she had used for almost an eternity in her hands. Kenny stood up, handing her back the metallic black beyblade. "Thanks Cheif," she said, smiling.
"Maybe after Moscow, we could work on an upgrade." Kenny said. "It's a good beyblade, but I got a new verion I want to try out."
"Sure."
A head popped into the doorway. Stanley Dickenson stood there, rubbing his chin. "You guys ready?"
"Yeah, let's go."
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x3 Distant Storm