Forming a Promise
Kohari: Well, there was some improvement in the reviews. I'm proud of you guys- you didn't all lose interest. Oh, and funny story. I thought I had lost the original version of the last chapter that I had written up, so I had to write a whole new one. About an hour after I updated, I was in my room and noticed my notebook that I keep all my written copies of chapters in. I went in there and found the original chapter three of FAP. I was pretty ticked at myself, but after reading it, I realized that I could turn it into chapter four! I guess things really do happen for a reason! Enjoy.
"Hello?"
The boys looked at one another in silence, wondering who she was talking to. They didn't have to wait long to find out.
"Oh! Hey, Mom!" Hilary exclaimed. "Yeah, I'm over at Tyson's. I told you that's where I was going...Yeah...Really?...Oh. Okay...Sure...Yeah...I'm coming home right now...Okay, Mom...Okay...See ya in a little bit...Okay...Bye-bye!" She snapped it shut.
"Your mom called?" Tyson stated the obvious.
"Yeah. She wants me to come home."
"Why?"
"She says I have an important visitor waiting for me," she explained, "and that I should probably come home right away."
"So I guess we'll be working on your beyblade tomorrow then?" Kenny inquired, disappointed. He had really wanted to update her stats immediatelyso hecould work onupgrading it.
"I guess. See ya tomorrow, guys!" She waved as she took off through the gates.
Tomorrow found Tyson stretched out on the dojo porch - after all, there wasn't really anything else better to do. The boys were waiting for Hilary to arrive for the match against Tyson (Kai had been a stand-in, remember?), who yawned. "Sure is boring without Max and Ray around, ain't it, guys?"
"Isn't it," Kenny replied from the middle of a pile of books he was organizing just inside the dojo doorway. It was a particularly hot day. As his glasses began to slip down his nose from sweat, he pressed them back up against his face, then went back to what he was doing.
"Yep."
"I wasn't answering your question, Tyson," the Chief added, "I was correcting your grammar." He sighed, then looked around, his eyes finally resting on Kai, who was cat-napping in a far corner across from his books. Memories flooded his mind of the "good ole days." Man, he never thought he'd be old enough to say that - especially as a teen.
Tyson rose to a sitting position and picked up one of the volumes that had fallen out of the open door of the dojo. How long had it been since a student, other than himself, had gone through those doors? Far too long. Grandpa seemed to have finally given up on teaching, leaving the dojo, well, empty. It made Tyson feel a little guilty. He examined the book curiously, but the words on the cover didn't process. "Say, where's Hil?"
"She's probably at home, staying away from you, you dolt," Kai answered suddenly, causing Tyson to flinch in surprise.
"You were awake?"
"Apparently," Kenny told him. After that, there was a long silence, which Tyson broke.
"They're not coming back, are they?" he wondered aloud sadly. The others were quiet for a while.
"I'm sure they'll be back someday, Ty," Kenny assured him. He knew Tyson was referring to Max and Ray. "But we all know that this is a difficult and important part of their schooling...and after this, there's college. Maybe it will be years before they see us again, but they won't forget us."
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Tyson realized that he still held the book and was flipping through its pages, staring at the pictures, but not seeing. "But that don't mean I won't miss 'em."
"True," Kenny agreed, turning his head as Kai stood up, dusting himself off.
"What's up, Kai?" Tyson asked as his friend walked past him, towards the gate.
"A direction, usually referring to something about you," came the retort as the owner of the voice leaned against a column, gazing out at the road, as if waiting for something.
"Haha. Funny," Tyson commented sarcastically.
"Kai made a joke?" Kenny inquired, looking up momentarily once again from his books. Kai made no other statements as the object of his attention strolled up with acall of "Hey guys!"
Tyson wanted to jump up and run to hug her for some odd reason, but he stopped himself. She wasn't his, he reminded himself, she didn't belong to him. She was made for Kai, whether the two knew it or not. Besides, his heart resided with someone else, though he wasn't sure when the last time that he had even heard her voice or seen her signature tagged onto an e-mail. Even so, there were times he couldn't shake the old feelings.
"Took your time," Kai chastised with a slightly thawed voice.
"Well, there were some weird things going on," Hilary excused herself. "That's actually why I came. I have to talk to Kenny."
"So who was the visitor yesterday?" Tyson interrupted.
"Later," she promised him. "Right now, I really gotta talk to Kenny. Come on, Chief."
"Huh?" This was one of those times Kenny transformed into a dumb blonde without even changing his hair color. Hilary went inside, shutting the dojo doors behind her, and handed him his laptop from beyond his reach. "We're not doing the practice run? What's going on?"
"I need you to look at this," she whispered. She slipped her beyblade into his hand. There was a significant difference in its appearance, but he couldn't quite place his finger on it.
He hooked the instruments (laptop and blade) together and ran an analysis. The cry of the bitbeast was not the same as it was before. "That's not Battle Lynx," he muttered.
"I know," she informed him, still in a low voice. "It's not even a cat. It's a - "
"Fox," Kenny finished for her, inspecting the bit. "What happened?"
"I dunno," she confessed. "But I had been having trouble connecting with Battle Lynx recently, and the other day, I couldn't even call her out when I was training. It's as though she disappeared, and in her place, this new bitbeast. I don't even know her name."
"I've heard of this happening before. People change, and then their spirits disappear."
"So you're saying that, since I'm kinda, well, different now...so is my bitbeast?"
"I'll find out what it's called," the Chief promised, typing viciously on the keyboard. They waited for what seemed like hours, though, in reality, it was only couple of moments. Then, letters scrolled across the screen - brightly colored letters in orange and pink that stood out against the black background.
ARCHANGEL
They didn't have much time to stand in awe. At that same time, Hilary's cell phone began to ring again, and Tyson and Kai entered the dojo. Hilary searched herself for the source of the high-pitched ringing as the words on the screen caught the boys' gaze.
Hilary finally found the phone and pressed it to her ear after extending the antennae. "Hello?"
Kohari: Sound familiar? Well, I promise it's not her mother this time. You'll wanna read the next chapter, though! There's more to this Archangel than meets the eye. And Kai knows something about it that the others don't. So what's so strange about this new bitbeast? Find out in chapter five,but until then - review please!
