Author's Notes: This chapter is long. Over 17 pages in total and worth the reading 'cause there are some details in here :) I tried to edit things in here. The reading is real smooth; I'm trying to use shorter sentences / new style, something like that.
Thanks to Darkest Illusions for the 100th review, -hands cookie-. You guys are great. The support is appreciated x33
PS: Don't let the title spoil you. The 'winning' part isn't that important.
Safe, In Your Arms
Chapter 19: The Bliss of Winning
As they reached the one-story house, they stepped out of the car, him from the front seat and her from the backseat. Immediately, the black car seemed to disappear in the February fog. He was the one who lead the way, his fist coming in contact with the metal knockers of the door, knocking loudly. There was a sharp cry heard from within, she frowned.
"What's going—"
"Ah, Kai!" a dark haired boy popped into view, wearing his baseball hat as usual, "and Forrest," he gave her a strange look, something close to disappointment, "you missed the last training session."
"Sorry," she mumbled before taking a step into the courtyard of the house. Several bonsai trees were planted along the bits of fresh soil uncovered by the snow; everything else was just plain white. "What did I miss?"
"A lot, actually," came Kenny's voice. He was sitting on the steps with Dizzi on his laps. "but you don't have much to do. You already know many attacks. You only need to practice with the new blade—"
Her eyes widened dramatically and her jaw hung in mid-air. "Chief! Wow, thanks!" She glanced at a red blade lying on the steps near the boy and grinned. Then her eyes trailed to a pair of Chinese style black shoes. "Ray?" He hadn't come to any of their training sessions for a month.
Indeed, the boy in question was there, standing firmly and his hands clutching on his launcher. Driger was already battling against Draciel.
"Draciel! Go on the offensive!"
"Driger, hold on!"
Forrest blinked to herself and gave a curious glance at Kenny. "That's not right. Max is the defensive one. Everyone knows that."
"This is what you missed, missy," Dizzi spoke with a strict voice, "the Chief and I looked up the energy levels and the advantages of Chase Misao's attacks and yours and we found them really great so we've figured that if your bitbeasts can know more than one type of attack, why not the others."
Forrest gave a look at Kai. "So Max is learning the Tiger Claw attack?" she turned her glance towards the two beyblades, noticing how differently they spun.
The two tops collided against each other, sending sparks and the sound of metal against metal in the air. Max's green beyblade was tipped over a little so that it was attacking mightily while Ray's was backing up and coming near to the end of the dish.
"Draciel, let's try the Tiger Claw attack!" Max's blonde hair waved in the wind, his teeth were gritted and his fists clenched. He looked ferocious for once.
"Defense maneuver!"
The tortoise and the tiger emerged from the blades, colliding against each other. Draciel was surrounded by a faint green light, one that resembled Driger's aura and Driger's armors shone purple. Giving a terrible roar, Draciel charged forwards, his fists surrounded by what seemed like electricity sparks while Driger's claws dug into the ground, not wanting to back down.
Kenny took the time to record more data as he grinned. His eyeglasses reflected the sunlight and his long brown bangs covered his eyes but his expression was readable; he was really happy.
"This is great!" he exclaimed. "Forrest," he paused, "you should go battle with Tyson over there, somewhere," he pointed to an area near the bonsai trees. "Tyson needs to learn either earth or thunder moves."
She shrugged, obliged to follow the Chief's orders. It wasn't hard, she thought. She stepped across Tyson, getting her launcher, which was hung on her belt. The World Champ already had his beyblade ready to launch.
"3," Tyson started, Forrest got her stuff ready and stretched her arms, "2, 1, let it rip!"
"Let it rip!" she cried, pulling as hard as she could on the ripcord. Merciless. "So how am I supposed to teach you?"
"Attack me," he offered, taunting her as he smirked. He played with his baseball hat a little and watched the blades closely. He noticed her squint her eyes and blowing some hair away from her eyes.
"Well, let's see what great changes Kenny has done to my blade," Forrest said, "Thunder Outrage!"
Tyson watched closely for the movements of her blade, moving in a zigzag pattern and surrounded by sparks. She did not summon her bitbeast at that time, it was just a simple battle. He narrowed his pupils and watched closely. Spinning real fast, he gritted his teeth, Dragoon can do that. Piece of cake. Her blade hit his, hard, as he felt a jerk backwards but he chuckled.
"Alright, let me try," Tyson grinned proudly and memorized the moves, "Dragoon, Thunder Outrage!"
His blade moved in almost the same pattern as Forrest's did. Slowly, he could feel the heat rising in him, like jolts of electricity. You can do it, Dragoon. More velocity. Sparks began to appear around his blade, but only a faint hint of it. Dragoon charged forward, its silver body gleaming in the sunlight as he appeared on top of Tyson's blade.
"Starlet! Evade!"
The red blade struggled a little at first but began running away from Dragoon. Tyson called Dragoon to make a turn and ended up attacking Forrest with a big clash. He gave a small sigh.
Ergh, I can't keep doing—
"Dragoon, Phantom Hurricane!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. In the background, Kenny sweat dropped.
Dragoon gave a fierce roar and charged towards Starlet with great strength, a tornado above it, making some leaves come off of the trees. Forrest shielded her face and closed her eyes. Dusts and leaves flew everywhere and she took a step back. The fallen snow was once again lifted from the ground. There was another sound of metal against metal and then silence. Tyson knew that Starlet was knocked out because he could still feel Dragoon strong and ready to battle.
"Tyson!" the Chief gave an annoyed cry, "the whole point was to not use your attacks!"
"Yeah, come on Tyson. We all know that you'll good with wind attacks," Max added. "Besides, it looked like you've got some of the sparks going already!"
"But, you can already master the Tiger Claw attack, Maxie!" Tyson groaned. "I was supposed to be the first person, you know, as World Champ."
"Don't be stupid Tyson," Ray cut in, "Max and I have been practicing for more than two days now. We barely slept. You've just started."
Tyson gave a grin and shrugged. "Sure." He turned to Forrest, who looked rather perplexed. "Wanna show me that earth move?" She gave him a chuckle and nodded gladly.
The Chief typed up some last information of the day and paused. He glanced around and noticed Kai standing there, watching both matches, switching from one to another from time to time. His mahogany eyes were focused and nothing seemed to be bothering him.
"Dizzi," Kenny spoke softly to his bitbeast, not wanting others to hear him, "do you think that Kai is going to be okay?"
"Of course he is!" Dizzi exclaimed. The Chief muttered a 'shh'. "Oops."
"We should spare him," Kenny continued, "I've analyzed the other teams and fire doesn't seem to have too much problem with any of them. It's just Tyson and Max that are at disadvantage."
"Yeah," Dizzi seemed to giggle, "give the old guy a break. I feel bad for him."
"Why would you feel bad for him?" Kenny's voice was raised a little, curious.
"He always looks so lonely. I know that it's his nature but…" her voice trailed off.
"He's not lonely, Dizzi, he has us, the Bladebreakers. He has Dranzer, Tyson, Max, Ray, me, you, and also Forrest."
Kai lifted his head unconsciously and heard the last word of Kenny's conversation. Forrest. He turned to watch her blade with a horse floating in mid-air above it. She's leaving… in exactly a week.
Her shoelaces untied, her hair sticking out, and with her backpack hanging from one shoulder, she ran into the class. As she stepped in, the bell rang loudly and she gave a sigh. "Ohayo Akiyo-sama."
"Morning class," Miss Akiyo started, giving a strict look to the girl who just entered.
Janet walked to the back of the class, where almost everyone smart and lucky enough was sitting. No one tolerated Miss Akiyo's temper. Talk about PMS.
"What page are we on?" Janet whispered as she sat flat on a squeaky chair.
"54," Forrest replied quickly, not looking away from the page. She had enough problems reading in Japanese already. Janet quickly flipped to the page, almost getting a paper cut and read it quickly.
"Jane!" came Akiyo's voice. "Read."
"Hai," Janet started, her voice clear and with a slight Japanese accent.
The girl with the flaming-red-hair was almost fluent already, ready to leave Forrest and go into the normal Japanese class. But Forrest was far from being fluent; she still couldn't understand a mere ten percent of TV shows. She started reading quicker, her tongue flicking and her eyes skimming over the lines of characters.
Janet stopped at the end of the paragraph and smiled to herself. She really was getting better; she could hold a conversation with normal Japanese people with no problems.
"Based on what Jane has just read," Akiyo started, Janet frowned at her real name 'Jane', "analyze the mood and setting. I give you five minutes."
Her eyes looking over Janet's shoulders, Forrest copied down what the other girl wrote, only slightly differently. They finished a little early so both leaned back in their chairs.
"So how's the tournament?" Janet asked in a whisper.
"Fine," Forrest paused, "we're playing again today after school."
"Oh," Janet brightened, "is Kai playing?"
Forrest gave a chuckle, knowing that Janet would always bring Kai into the conversation.
"I don't think so."
"Oh," Janet's voice sounded rather disappointed, "well, that's just too bad. Tell me when he's going to play, alright?"
"Sure," Forrest looked at the time, they still had two minutes left, "why don't you give up on him?" It was a random question.
"Why should I?" Janet shrugged, "well, it's not like I want to marry him or anything. I just admire him, almost everything about him, you know, his elegance, how he blades, how he walks, how he talks."
"It's just an infatuation," Forrest suggested, "Kai is rather … interesting, I agree, but you know, he's just like any other guy."
"If you say so," a shrug, she really liked shrugs, "do you think that we'll ever become friends? That's what I want the most: a friend like Kai."
"Why not?" Forrest gave a hopeful answer to Janet "I'm Kai's friend, I think… and truth is, you're not too different from me."
Janet gave a quick giggle and closed her eyes. "Let's hope, shall we?"
"Yes, let's hope."
Outside the class, down the spirally stairs, and out the doors, a certain boy with a phoenix bit beast strolled on school grounds. On him, he wore the school uniforms, light-colored long-sleeve buttoned up shirt and dark trousers complimented with a tie, with a golden pin that held it in place. He always hated the uniforms. Their principal and some uniform committee tried to change the uniform each year to make people actually like it. No one did, of course. He remembered the last poll that they posted was about whether the shirt should have two or three buttons. No one cared. He pitied them, nah. As if.
He loosened his tie slowly and gave a sigh. It was semi-cold outside but it seemed that Dranzer was close to him, giving him warmth both inside and outside. He gave a look at his studded Quartz watch, a present from his brother. How nice. Never before had he noticed that the watch showed temperature too. It was new, yet looked old because he had already scratched it. He felt bizarre.
It was negative five Celsius outside, a nice weather for a winter day.
He walked away from the school, heading somewhere quieter. He ended up stopping between two big maple trees, bare naked and probably freezing. Such a pity. Not far was the black metal fence, separating the garden from the outside swimming pool, which was heated and had visible steam floating over it. He wondered if it was just a plain huge Jacuzzi.
A head of brown hair came into view. He instinctively hid behind a thick trunk. From the corner of his observant eyes he saw someone familiar, someone almost forgotten but had caused so much trouble, especially for Ray Kon. It was Aurora Lyn, her back pressed against another tree and her arms stretched out. Kai squinted his eyes. In her hands was a beyblade, one in a silvery color with a red attack ring that stood out sharp. Her eyes were closed but yet she appeared attentive. Kai did not make a sound. She closed her hands and gave a sigh. Her eyes opened. Kai flashed a quick look, they weren't her eyes, were they? he asked himself. They were blue, not green. He doubted himself but his vision never lied to him before. Why now?
"Kai Hiwatari," came her perfect voice, soft and sweet, but not sweet enough to disgust him. She was abnormal, for her. Her dark hair was messy for once and dark circles hung around her eyes. Maybe she even had wrinkles. He wondered what happened to Little-Miss-Perfect.
"Yes?" he sounded pretty annoyed.
"Don't you have class?" she didn't look at him though. But he looked at her, noticing her stuff her beyblade in the inside-pocket of her uniform jacket.
"I would ask you the same question," he responded. He was just out for a walk. Besides, who needs to learn digital photography? He only took it because he had no choice.
The questions were left unanswered, at least, that's one thing that they rarely agreed upon.
"Good day to you."
She left, gracefully, and making sure that she didn't have any mud on her clothes.
He ignored her. He didn't know her anyway. She was only of mere acquaintance but he suspected her. She was part of the Slayers after all. And they meant no good.
He gave one last look at the pool and grunted. A dead beetle floated on the surface of the almost-burning water. Just one more week.
They were on the way to the tournament, in the black van driven by James. Kai, like always, sat in the front passenger seat.
"Kai do you have any other CD's?" Tyson groaned, shifting his baseball hat, bored.
Kai glared at the boy through the mirror and popped some J-Rock CD in. The volume was put on the softest, so that only people in the back row could hear the music. Kai didn't feel like listening to anything.
"You guys," Max started. "What's wrong? Why is it so quiet today? Normally I have to tell Tyson to shut up every minute."
"Well, Ray's not here," Forrest shrugged, her head buried in the supporter and looking outside the window. It was snowing, a little.
"That's not the problem," Max continued. He thinned his lips and shook his head. "Tell me."
Kai waited for Forrest to tell, but obviously she didn't. He didn't care. "Forrest's leaving." Oops.
"What?"
"I'm leaving." She confirmed.
"Leaving?"
He sensed chaos.
"Yes, I'm leaving the Japan, oh great country of the rising sun to go back to the U.S. of A," she rolled her eyes, impatient and very fidgety.
"When?" Tyson looked straight at her. She blushed slightly at the attention.
"After the tournament, of course," she smiled slightly. Awkward moment.
"So you were never going to tell us, were you?" Kenny frowned, he sat with Tyson in the second row. "How come Kai knew? How come you never told us? We have all the right to know! We're a team!"
"Yes you do, and I'm sorry," she paused, "but Kai heard it on accident."
"On accident," Tyson repeated. "Right. So how is this going to work, Chief?"
"Well, Ray is coming back to us—" Kenny started.
"Exactly! So me going won't affect anything. That's perfect," she gave an insecure grin.
The silence was short and appreciated.
"No it's not perfect," Kai hissed, his voice deep and harsh. Forrest stared like a dumbass. "Ray's missed all the things that we've been practicing.. You, Forrest, you come and then you go like it's not going to affect us. But it will and in many ways."
She closed her eyes. She didn't want to leave. She just had no choice. Japan wasn't her home; USA was and after being in Asia long enough, she realized that no matter how much of a hypocrite her dad was, Salt Lake City was where she started school, and where she will end her high school career.
She wanted to cry.
She opened her mouth but didn't speak. She sang. She sang the one song that she always sang, the one that made her feel happy because it made her feel loved.
"I could not fathom that I would ever
Bewithout your love
Never imagined I'd be
Sitting
here beside myself."
Her words were lost, muffled by her sniffing. She turned away, scared to face her friends. "I'm s-sorry." She gave a sigh. No tears fell, not yet. "Do you guys r-really think that I won't miss you? That I just came here and then I would just leave? I have n-no choice. I-I can't choose for myself. I'm under 18 and I don't b-belong here. I don't belong here with you guys," she took out her blade from her pocket, "this is your life," she smiled faintly, "but not mine."
"Then what is your life?" Max asked.
"My life?" she shrugged, rubbing her eyes a little, "I'm just going to help my dad with his company while going to college. That's me. I'm not like you guys; I don't have material to become a p-pro blader like you guys." Her sobbing faded a little.
Max gave a pitiful grin, his blonde hair seemed a little darker. "We'll miss you."
"No," she shook her head, "I will miss you."
Somehow Kai felt that she was directing the comment at him. But he knew that he wasn't her only friend. I'll miss you too. The house will be so empty.
The rest of the car ride was in complete silence, even the subtle music was turned off. No one minded much. It was pretty somber anyway.
James helped them slide open the heavy door and gave them a hand to get off. After a thank you, the old man left, the black van slowly disappearing in the February fog.
Kai looked up at the stadium, pretty big in size and built in the shape of the Coliseum. He felt a tug on his sleeve so he turned his head around, seeing a head of black hair.
"Um," she still was embarrassed after knowing him for months, "just before I forget… I'll need some of my rent back 'cause I'm leaving early."
"Oh," he nodded.
She's desperate.
Cheers could already be heard from outside, the fans were really…fanatic. He heard a cough so he turned to the Chief.
"Alright you guys," Kenny started. "I've got the setup. We're playing at dish number 3 against the Sky Gliders. There are 8 matches going on at the same time so that it goes quicker. If you want to know, the White Tigers are at number 6 against some team called with no official name."
"What about the Slayers?" Kai simply asked.
"Oh," Kenny tried to remember, "yes, the Slayers on dish 1 against the Flameshields."
Tyson grinned proudly and cracked his fingers, impatient. "What are we waiting for?" He ran through the front door and the corridor that lead to dish 3. Making a right turn, he almost collided with the wall but stopped himself just in time. He grinned to himself and pushed the doors open. The cheers were loud.
"Bladebreakers!"
It was very overwhelming. Tyson flashed a grin in glory. They had much more fans than the Sky Gliders had. "Yeah, that's what I'm talking about."
"Oh please, Tyson," the Chief took a seat like usual on the bench. "You're up first by the way. Show them some of your new moves."
"No problem!"
"His stupid ego," Forrest mumbled.
"Hey, that's not nice," Max elbowed her. "He's just excited."
Tyson held his launcher and beyblade ready. His feet were apart and stood there firmly. He looked at his opponent, a girl with a funny looking hat and a shirt with feathers drawn on it.
"Fellow beybladers!" the host exclaimed into the mike. It was a different host, some young looking guy with dark brown hair. "We have the Sky Gliders playing against the Bladebreakers! Good luck to both team. First up is Tyson from the Bladebreakers with his famous wind attacks and Lola from the Sky Gliders, also known for her wind attacks. This is going to be very interesting."
"Oh but I'm not going to use my wind attacks, not much at least," Tyson chuckled.
"Get ready! 3, 2, 1, let it rip!"
"Let it rip!" Lola yelled as she shot her blade into the dish.
The two blades collided in midair before landing on opposite sides of the simple steel dish. Suddenly, Dragoon began spinning another way, in a more zigzag pattern and Lola seemed surprised. She had studied Tyson's blade before but something strange was happening.
"Dragoon, Thunder Outrage!" Tyson screamed, his fists were clenched but still flashing a proud grin on his face. He was one tough cookie.
"What? No!" Lola panicked, "Meleiza, Silverdust!"
A glittery silver storm appeared. Dragoon charged forwards with full strength, almost unaffected by the wind attack because of the high speed that he was spinning at. Sparks shone above Tyson's blade, surprising his opponent.
There was a bright flash.
"Dragoon! Earthquake! Quick, while she's still weak!"
"No, Meleiza! Hold still!"
He felt the ground shake beneath his feet. All the practice paid off after all.
"Now finish her off!"
"No—"
Her blade flew out of the dish and landed dead still near her feet. She bit her bottom lip in shameful defeat and didn't say a word.
"Good match," Tyson told her, but he got no response back. The girl was too surprised by her lost.
"And Tyson wins 1 for the Bladebreakers!" the host exclaimed, "next shall be Mokuiu from the Sky Gliders against Forrest from the Bladebreakesr!"
Forrest erased the memories of almost shedding tears and put a bright smile on her face. I can do this. She flung her hair back and looked at her opponent, examining him closely. It was very tall boy, with a skinny build and very broad shoulders. His hair was of a silvery tone.
"Players ready?" the host didn't bother to get an answer, "3, 2," they were ready to launch, "1, let it rip!"
"Now!" the silver haired boy exclaimed as soon as his blade landed in the dish.
"You're in a hurry," Forrest smirked. "That's just too bad."
His bitbeast, a white-headed eagle with bronze armor, appeared and gave a high pitched roar. Its majestic air was almost scary. Its wings stretched far and flew in circles above the dish. Suddenly it dove down, its beak reflecting sunlight.
"No!" Forrest cried, "Starlet, Frozen Tornado!"
Cleverness helped a little. The storm weakened her opponent's attack, but not by too much. Devastated and lost for any ideas, she turned to look at her teammates, but no one seemed worried. The Chief wasn't even typing. Forrest bit her bottom lip.
"Once more, Starlet!"
But it was too late. The eagle dove down, with all its strength. The silver blade stood on the red one, destroying the glass part that protected Starlet. Forrest's opponent gave a quiet command. As she watched Starlet being beaten down in horror, she couldn't stand it anymore.
"Starlet, go teach him a lesson!"
It was a command, and a rather rash one but she couldn't take it anymore. Why do people keep ruining her? She wanted to win. She wanted to be worthy.
Starlet seemed undetermined at first, unsure of what to do but gave effort. He turned into a horse, a magnificent creature, and galloped. With enough energy, he shook the eagle off of him. Then he attacked, straight and with full strength. Around her blade, sparks were flying. Her opponent was in shock, literally.
"Thunder Outrage!"
"Block it with your wings!"
"No, you can break his defense!"
"Block him, you're strong!"
"Ignore them, Starlet, you know what to do!"
"Dammnit, stay strong!"
Forrest raised an eyebrow. She found it funny, how her opponent already cracked. She wasn't taunting him or anything but it seemed like verbally, he was no match for her.
Starlet roared and lifted his body up, his two front legs in midair and ready to stomp his enemy. Around the heavy armor that surrounded his legs were sparks, very visible and dangerous-looking. Forrest grinned. She felt evil, sort of. Finally, Starlet released all the energy; his weight concentrated on his front legs and nearly crushed his enemy. He did again, again, and again and every time he became stronger. Forrest was in no condition to give up, not yet. Some scratches were visible on her naked legs, red in color but no blood appeared; the bruises weren't so severe. With one last stomp, Starlet shook the earth, but it was to everyone's surprise that electricity ran through the bottom of the dish (steel conducts electricity) and shocked his opponent head on
"Wow," Forrest gasped in awe.
Her opponent finally fell; the mighty eagle lost its majestic air and its feathers fell from the sky. A defeated angel. But Forrest didn't care about the fallen splendor, pride took over her.
"Yes!"
The blade was completely blown away from the dish, landing near the benches. Forrest grinned and held no happiness back behind her mask.
She heard some muffled sound from her opponent but ignored him. Happiness ruined her.
"I did it!" she held Starlet in her hands and practically skipped back to the benches. She looked up at the announcer.
"Well, the Bladebreakers take this round with 2 wins!"
Kai gave a look, and a rather satisfied one.
"Great job," Kenny started. "You've improved a lot. It seems that the new blade paid off."
"Yeah," she grinned, "thanks Chief… and Dizzi too." The computer seemed to respond to her pride.
"Let's go," Kai was already up, his arms crossed in front of his chest and his scarf dancing in the soft breeze.
"Yes, we should," Kenny nodded in agreement, to Tyson's disappointment. The boy wanted to stay longer and appreciate the applauses. "We should separate ourselves. Tyson, you should go to the White Tigers' battle. Max you should go to stadium 8 for the Pierres. Kai, take the Dreams of Eden and Forrest to the Slayers. As for me, I need to enter more data, like how Forrest managed to channel two elements into one attack, which was brilliant."
Forrest flashed another proud grin. "Yes, I'll try to figure that one out somehow."
Kai gave her a look, meaning that she'd better before the semi-finals came up. He left, without looking back, and went straight to stadium 2. The crowd was energetic; some even had huge highlighter-colored banners. Fan girls, how sad.
He stood on the upper floor, in a dark corner, trying to hide from the fans. But still, some girls squealed at him, he moved away. Below him were the Dreams of Eden playing against the Beethovens. It seemed like there was a tie. Both blades didn't move much. There was a girl on the Eden's team against a short and fat boy from the Beethovens.
"Now!" the girl cried, her fists clenched.
"Follow her rhythm," the boy ordered, his eyes never left the two blades.
"Crystal Blast!"
The attack came, all of the sudden. A bitbeast appeared on top of her blade, small in size and Kai couldn't tell exactly what it was. He could, however, see that it had some kind of wings. The creature stretched its wings wide and gave a mighty roar. Crystals came out of nowhere and hit with full force. Pieces of the attack were destroyed, leaving the blade completely vulnerable. With one last hit, the other beyblade was sent flying, almost shattered.
"I thought that you were—" the boy started.
"Well, you were wrong. I was just trying to see how tough you were, sorry," the girl gave a pitiful look to her opponent before stepping back to her teammates. There was a small round of congratulations before the next player was sent up. It was a boy with light hair and a very silly grin adorned his handsome face.
"Kendall from Dreams of Eden against Michael from the Beethovens! Let's check out the stats."
Kai gave a glance. Their stats were almost equal; both had strong attacks, low defenses and medium endurances. But stats are nothing. It's how much power they can get out of their bitbeasts. He fondled with his pockets to held Dranzer in his warm palm.
The match started with two strong launches, both opponents seemed ruthless attack-wise.
"Sword of Justice!"
"Fortissimo!"
Swords appeared, becoming a shield for Kendall against his opponent. The musical attack came, but Kai was pretty sure that it wasn't music, it was just noise and very loud too. It was very irritating and the sound waves nearly cracked the dish.
"Launch, now!" Kendall cried, his arm pointing straight up.
His bitbeast followed the command, giving a roar and then unleashing all the swords that had been there. They all headed towards the other bitbeast and struck hard. Immediately, the enemy blade stopped spinning.
Kai was in awe, his hands were clenching on a metal bar and he blinked. So much for hoping that they were a weak team with strong religious values. He walked away from the scene, after giving one last glance at the Eden's team, looking straight into the team captain's eyes.
Kai almost smiled at the competition.
Happiness still lingered on his heart. As always, a proud grin was on his face and he gave some chuckles. He headed towards stadium 8, where the Pierres were playing but halted. People were coming out of the stadium already, cheering on the winner: the Pierres. Max gave a shrug.
"I guess that the match's over," he told himself before turning around and blending in the crowd.
He remembered that Kenny told them that the White Tigers played in stadium 6 so he made a sharp left turn and went to find Tyson.
"And Gary takes the win!" the host exclaimed, not too surprised.
Max scanned the big stadium, looking for a certain boy with red and yellow clothing.
"Ah, Tyson!"
"Yo, Max, over here!"
The blonde boy ran over to his friend and high-fived him.
"So have they improved?"
"Gary's not exactly in a good temper, you can relate," Tyson said.
"Totally," Max paused, "so who's up?"
"Well, Mariah, I guess," Tyson glanced at the teams, the pink girl already ready to launch her Galux.
"Go Mariah!" Max screamed like the crowd. "Just like old times."
"Yeah."
Mariah tilted her head and grinned, her sharp fangs showing and her cat-like eyes sharp. Her right leg backed up a step so that she could lean forward.
"Let it rip!"
She seemed to have roared, or meowed, as she launched her blade with full strength, fresh with a surprise attack. Her opponent was a chubby boy, seemingly confused. She had no clue how their team even got into the tournament. Sure, they had bitbeasts but they couldn't even get ten percent of the beast's power out. In other words, they were incapable.
"Galux, Scratch attack!" her pink hair blown by the wind and she didn't bother with the dust blowing around. She was used to the Beyblading, after all, she did grow up around it.
"Dodge it!"
"Galux, he's on your
right!"
There was a sharp meow and a loud screech.
The crowd stopped dead.
Both the attack and defense rings of the boy had been half destroyed; a slash across the outer ring, but Galux was merciful enough to leave the bitbeast mostly unharmed. There was no mistake that Mariah had won.
"Tyson… I don't think that the Chief will be too happy about this," Max's eyes widened. "They've put up a lot of strength."
"Yeah," Tyson closed his eyes for a second, "and Mariah's not even the toughest…." He looked at Lee, with his weird Chinese clothes that showed his bare chest. "They look tougher than before."
"Let's go."
Forrest ran around the corner to the first stadium and pushed open the double doors. She stopped dead before hitting a metal bar and falling from the bleachers. She sweat dropped at her own clumsiness. Beneath her, a match had just begun. She felt the temperature rise so she unbuttoned her collar.
"Blaze Joust!"
There was a boy, his hands curled into balls in determination and completely focused on the match. And there was girl, her soft colored hair flowing in the wind and her eyes swaying somewhere else. She didn't seem to care much. Suddenly, she turned around, her iris suddenly became thinner.
"It's time to stop playing," it was a command, her voice sharp but yet lovely at the same time.
Aurora, Forrest sighed. Because of her… oh poor Ray.
Aurora seemed to smile, her perfectly pearly white teeth in view. She saw her opponent shiver in fear. She was the ice queen.
"Show them the power of ice," she muttered, gritting her teeth a little.
Suddenly the bottom of the dish froze; a thick layer of ice covered it. The fire-beyblade tried to melt the ice but to no avail, the player sighed. The ice was so strong that it resisted fire.
"Try to keep up, Blaze Joust!"
"It's time," she laughed. Forrest pocked an eyebrow up. It was a familiar laugh, a total déjà vu moment. "Blizzard Annihilation!" But her bitbeast did not appear. It isn't time yet. Aurora looked up. Well, there, there, a spy from the Bladebreakers.
The temperature dropped, shivers ran through her body but she kept watching. Aurora's silver blade spun so quickly. There was a sudden blast of cold wind, and another one after that. The opponent blade began slowing down. Forrest frowned. Around the attack ring of the fire-beyblade hung icicles, very small in size but they grew and the weight slowed down the blade. The camera zoomed in on the battle.
In some mere seconds, the top half of the blade was frozen and because the dish had already been frozen over, the blade couldn't spin well. And with the assaults that Aurora was giving her opponent, it seemed that the Flameshield player had no more choice but to throw in the towel.
But Aurora didn't let him go.
She gave a command, with a simple glare with her eyes. Her blade charged forward. In a flash, the other blade was shattered, completely ruined by the massacre. It was easy to shatter ice.
"What the hell…," Forrest's jaw hung in mid-air, in complete awe. "She… she… completely trashed his beyblade."
She didn't want to see any more of it. Without another look at anyone, or anything, and ignoring the moans and cheers of the crowd, she turned away, pushed the doors once again and found her way back to the front door, where she was supposed to meet the others.
After a minute of walk, she spotted them, already standing in a circle with Mr. Dickenson in the center.
"Well, look who's here!" Dickenson exclaimed, chuckling deeply and straightening his white moustache, "weren't the matches excellent today? And I must congratulate you on your wins, boys and girls."
"Sure," Forrest smiled, another fake smile.
"So how were the Slayers?" Kenny asked, interested.
"You should have seen them… I can't exactly describe stuff," Forrest gave an awkward look.
"Oh," the Chief seemed sad, "that bad?"
"Well, Kenny," Dickenson started, "if you want, I have recorded the matches so you can use them. I'll send you the tapes in a moment. Now excuse me, children. Good day!"
"Good day…," Tyson and Max muttered.
"He's getting weirder every day," Tyson gave a shrug.
Lukewarm water ran down her body, relaxing but yet not soothing enough to relief all her stress. There was so much going on. Her leaving, her friends not agreeing about that, her grades dropping badly, her dad's financial issues, her strange feelings about Kai. She liked him, sort of. She had to; they lived together. She pushed the shower curtains away and stepped out, her feet coming in contact with the cold tile floor. Goosebumps.
With a reach, she grabbed for the closest towel. She turned the knob and pushed the door open, letting the steam flow out. She jumped on her bed and let herself relax against the velvety covers, not caring if the water dripped on her bed. Well, technically it wasn't her bed, but she didn't care.
She gave a glance and noticed a white piece of paper sitting at her night table. It was a check. She gave a smile.
"Thanks Kai." He couldn't hear her but she cared less.
She wiped her fingers dry on her towel and stared at the check, with the help of the small ray of moonlight that came through her curtains.
"Silly you, Kai, you're lucky that I closed the window. Or else your check would have flown out the window."
She suddenly jumped up and threw her towel away. Quickly, Forrest grasped for her pajama, which was carefully folded by Theresa and put it on. She even buttoned it wrong while dressing.
Forrest Fan was a real mess.
Sure, the house was quieter without Mrs. Hiwatari around and even though she did dislike the lady, she didn't enjoy quietness either.
Stepping outside, she saw a head of blue hair, ready to enter his room.
"Hey, Kai, thanks," she started, looking at him, "but why did you give me extra money?"
He shrugged, his messy slate hair messier than ever.
"Please. I don't want you to pity me. You know what, you can take this back," she took a step towards him and held the check in her hand, which was stretched out to him.
"I just wanted to thank you…," he muttered, unsure of what to say.
"Thank me for what?" she pressed in.
He was really getting annoyed. He knew that he did it out of pity but if he had told her that, she would have gotten furious.
"For your friendship."
She frowned, her face red with fury, and her lips in a thin line. He expected a different reaction from her.
"So you think that money can pay back for friendship, huh?" her tone was flat.
He didn't reply.
"Kai. I don't need you to pity me," she started. He wanted to smack his head, knowing that such an answer would come from her. "Just… I appreciate the gesture and all but… you know me well enough that… well…"
He was glad that she had stopped talking. It became unbearable. Sure, he knew her, but in many ways, he didn't know her.
"You're a strange person," was his reply. Forrest cocked an eyebrow. "I just hope that it becomes useful to you one day."
"Money has its limits, you know," Forrest replied, her tone bitter. "You're like your mother."
"No, I-am-not!" he roared, furious.
Forrest took a step back in fear of his outburst. She gave him a nod, meaning 'goodbye' He watched her open her door once again, holding the check in her hand, but she didn't bother to tell him another 'thank you' like she normally would have. He waited 'till she was inside her room to speak. After taking a few steps towards her door, he sighed.
"I'm sorry."
I'm such a bastard. I am like mother. I can't escape it. I'm not a Hiwatari, I'm a Black. But his ego, of course, being a Black/Hiwatari, was bigger than his heart.
"Do you… hate me?" he asked, hopeful.
He heard a muffled chuckle from the other side of the door.
"I can't hate you, Kai Hiwatari," she said softly, he flinched at how she accented on his last name. "I think that I…"
He could have waited all night for her to continue her sentence. But she didn't… so he walked away, sorry that he left her with a bad memory about Japan.
Author's Notes: Lyrics from We Belong Together by Mariah Carey, with the lovely voice. And yes, I'm not making a mistake, you've seen the lyrics before, I know that.
I worked pretty hard to get out such a long chapter, I hope that you guys enjoyed it :) R&R-ing is appreciated, thanks.