A/N: Hmm...pretty quick update, ne? Let's just say the closer a chapter is to the epilogue, the faster it get's posted...that's just me, though. I wanna reveal the ending already! 3
Disclaimer: Nope, don't own it. It belongs to Aoki Takao-sensei, Shogakukan, TV Tokyo, d-Rights, and Takara Beyblade Project. (My gosh, I memorized the companies with at least partial ownership of this thing... O.o)
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Chapter 7: Resemblance
"So, Aika, how did your visit to Max's shop turn out?" Hiromi asked, laying down her chopsticks for a while. She, Aika, and the members of Team BBA were at Rei's house for their monthly group dinner - a habit that was hard to break. It was around halfway through the meal that Hiromi remembered the events of the night before.
Max looked up, chopsticks half-way to his mouth. "Aika was at the shop? When?"
The auburn-haired woman looked puzzled. "She said she was going earlier this afternoon." She turned to her daughter. "Aika, did you or did you not go to the hobby shop earlier today?"
Aika put down her rice bowl and glanced at her lap. She began fidgeting in her seat, her stomach feeling like it was filled with billions of butterflies, flying and bouncing around. "Um...sort of. I just passed by this afternoon; there were a lot of people, mostly kids my age and a few older ones. But I did learn what I wanted to."
"Oh?" Rei looked interested. "And what was that, Aika-chan."
"I learned..." Aika trailed off, not quite sure how to put it. After a few moments' silence, she took a deep breath and started over. "I found that...I want to participate in the upcoming Beyblade tournament."
For a few minutes, there was a stunned silence. And then...
"You WHAT?" All five adults - Hiromi, Rei, Max, Takao, and Kyouju blurted in unison."How...how'd you know there was an upcoming tournament?" Kyouju asked.
"I saw the flyer on a lamppost outside Uncle Max's shop." Aika answered.
"Aika, you know I've told you time and time again not to even think about Beyblading!" Hiromi fairly shrieked. At that moment, she was having flashbacks of Kai's last battle, the last time she - or anyone else, for that matter - saw the slate-haired blader alive. And the old feeling, half anger, half fear, was encroaching her heart.
"Whoa, whoa." Rei interrupted. "Hiromi, I don't think you should get mad just yet. We have to know why Aika suddenly wants to do this, and what changed her mind." He turned to the slate-haired child, smiling. "So, Aika, any um...special reasons why you'd want to enter the tournament?"
"Because if I don't..." the ruby-eyed girl took another deep breath. "Then the Hiwatari legacy could be at an end. At least, that's what Dranzer told me."
Max went wide-eyed, choked, and coughed. "Hang on...Dranzer actually spoke to you?"
Aika nodded. "Last night. That's why I wanted to go to your shop, Uncle Max, to see if what she said was true: I would learn the truth, she said, if I went. And I did."
"Wait a minute, wait a minute..." Takao cut in as he processed what he had just heard. "You just said 'Hiwatari'. Where'd you hear that name?"
"Well, that's supposed to be my family name, isn't it?"
"So you found out..." Hiromi said slowly.
Aika smiled, then reached for her mother's hand and held it in her smaller one. "Don't worry, Mom; I'm not mad. Dranzer told me why you did that; you didn't want me to get hurt, somehow, if someone mentioned Dad's name and linked it to me. Also, you didn't want to be reminded, to some extent, right?"
"I wonder how Dranzer knows all this..." Max whispered, leaning over to Takao, who nodded in agreement.
"Mom, please, at least let me try," Aika was asking.
"Aika, you don't know how dangerous a sport it's become!" Hiromi replied, standing up from her seat. She looked half-scared now as the images from Kai and Brooklyn's battle flew through her head, faster and faster. "It's just as deadly to the blader as it is to the bit beast; you could die!"
"I won't, Mom!" Aika shot back, also standing up. "Don't you see-"
"How can you know that? Aika-"
"-It's the only way I can get to know Dad better!"
All activity in the room stopped; an uncomfortable silence descended. Hiromi sank back into her chair.
"I...I never thought about that..." she half-whispered."I never knew..."
"Why didn't we think of it that way?" Rei looked guilty. He'd been the first among his teammates to form what resembled a close friendship with Kai, and he had failed to see that what they had prevented the young Hiwatari from doing was the one medium through which father and child could connect.
"That does change things..." Kyouju muttered.
Aika sat down, too. "I...I'm sorry for bursting out like that..." She said quietly, her eyes obscured by her bangs. "I...I..."
Hiromi came over and enfolded the young girl in a hug. "It's all right, Aika. You've nothing to apologize for. I should be the one who's sorry; I never knew that was how you felt about Beyblading." She pulled away a little, looked her daughter in the eye, and gave a small smile. "Forgive me?"
Aika smiled back, then hugged Hiromi back. "Always."
"Say, Aika?" Takao interrupted hesitantly. Both girls broke the second embrace, and Aika glanced up at the stormy-eyed male.
"Yes?"
"Uh...well...you want to enter the tournament, right? You might need a trainer, since you're still new to the game, so I thought I'd volunteer."
"Hey, I wanted to train her, too!" Max piped up. "I've felt like that ever since I saw her launch Dranzer when she was a toddler."
"Me, too!" Rei added, his amber eyes lighting up with the excitement of having someone new to train.
"You can all train her," Kyouju pointed out. "Remember, Kai's style emphasized a balance, more or less, between attack, defense, and speed. Dranzer was built according to those specifics, so it will take all three of you to help Aika reach that."
"No problem!"
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"You ready, Aika?" Takao called, gripping the ripcord tightly. Across from him, Aika nodded, moving into a launch position.
"Hai!"
It was nearly five months after Aika announced her decision to join the first Beyblade tournament in nearly ten years. When they first started the training program, it had been only on the weekends, but, as summer break hit, Aika urged that they take advantage of the free time, so they had sessions every day. These were held at the Kinomiya dojo; everyone agreed it was the best place to train the daughter of their former captain, seeing as it was where they had trained, as well.
That day, the slate-haired girl had asked to battle her trainers, as a method of measuring her prowess. Takao, Max, and Rei were happy to comply.
"Video apparatus ready to go, Takao!" Kyouju called from the sidelines, his signature laptop propped up on the table to get a better view of the practice match. He was going to record all three matches - this was the last one - so that they could go over them together, and then inform Aika of anything she had to improve.
"All right...3...2...1..."
"GO, SHOOT!" Aika finished, pulling hard on the ripcord. The Dranzer MS shot forward from the launcher and into the dish, spinning in lazy circles before suddenly launching a barrage of attacks on Takao's Dragoon MS.
"Wha-? Hey!" the stormy-eyed man exclaimed, surprised.
Surprisingly, Aika's response was to smirk, and for a moment, everyone in the room - the members of Team BBA, Kyouju, and Hiromi - thought they were seeing Kai again. The spell was broken, though, when the young girl spoke. "What's the matter, Uncle Takao?" she asked laughingly. "You said this was a practice match, but that's no reason to go easy on me,"
Takao chuckled, and then turned his gaze back to the dish. "You're right, Aika," to his blade, he said, "All right, Dragoon! Let 'er have it!"
In response, the white and green blade began to counterattack the dark blue one, but neither seemed to be affected by the other's efforts.
"Dranzer, Flame Barrage!" Aika commanded. The blade moved quickly, shifting from side to side to distract the Dragoon blade, and then circling the dish a few times before screaming down towards it's opponent and knocking it aside.
"Ah! No, Dragoon! Counter it!" Takao called. Surprise, confusion, and delight bubbled up in his chest at this unexpected turn of events. She's only been training for five months, but she can already hold her own! he thought, his steel-blue orbs narrowing. And then they widened. "WHAT?"
In the practice dish, both blades had ground to a halt, Dranzer MS coming to rest directly in the center. Aika bent forward to pick it up, and then glanced back up at her trainer and smiled. Takao held out a hand.
"Nice match, Aika. You've made impressive progress in such a short time! It takes a lot of skill to draw with the all three members of the World Championship team," he said, grinning widely.
"Thanks," the ruby-eyed teen took her uncle's hand and shook it. At that moment, Hiromi came over.
"Oh, Aika, I'm so proud of you!" she exclaimed, enfolding the girl in a hug. "And I'm sure your father is, too." Hiromi's attitude towards Aika's training had changed gradually; at first, though she had agreed, she was reluctant and sometimes didn't come to see her Aika train. But, over time, she began visiting during training sessions more frequently, and then had become fully supportive of her daughter's ambition, something Team BBA was happy about.
"Thanks, Mama," Aika replied, pulling back and smiling at her mother.
"Okay, Aika, I think we've figured it out," Kyouju called. He, Takao, Max, and Rei were gathered at the table and had apparently just finished watching the recorded matches. Aika ran over.
"What is it? What did I do wrong?"
"Okay, first, during your match with Max," the researcher began, pressing something and winding the record back a few seconds. "See here? You weren't too fixed on your decision to attack and, as a result, nearly got knocked out."
"Oh, okay, I see...Anything else?"
Hiromi smiled. It was heartening to the young girl so attentive and open to constructive criticism, at the same time bonding with family friends. Perhaps she had been hasty in banning her daughter from Beyblading. As it was, she could see in Aika some of the traits Kai had possessed - determination and a fighting spirit were the most apparent.
"Okay, now that you know your mistakes, perhaps we'd better take a look at your blade's stats," Kyouju was saying.
"How come?" Aika asked, looking confused. "Don't those stay the same?"
Max shook his head. "Nope. They blade's stats change when the blader's abilities improve. For example, your friend's 'attack' ratings equal only one-and-a-half stars when he starts training, and then three months later, the same ratings could equal two to three stars, meaning his attack ability improved. Or it could have degraded to only one star, meaning he focused more on defense or speed."
"Oh, okay." Aika glanced down at her shoes for a while, and then glanced up again, smiling. "Okay, I wanna see my stats! Please?"
"All right, all right," the bespectacled man smiled, and then tapped several keys. After a few moments, he spoke up. "Aika, these were your stats at the start of the training program roughly five months ago."
The slate-haired girl frowned. "'Attack: one star; Defense: one star; and Speed: two stars.'" She slumped in her seat. "Those stats aren't very good..." she mumbled.
Rei smiled reassuringly, his amber eyes twinkling. "But remember: you've improved steadily throughout the program - something we can see easily - but the easiest way to measure that improvement is through your stats."
"Rei's right," Takao added, ruffling the girl's hair playfully. "Kyouju, have you finished analyzing her stat improvements?"
"Hang on..." Kyouju replied, staring intently at the screen. "Almost done...five seconds more...All right! Done!"
"That was quick..." Aika commented, sitting up straight again. "So what does it say?"
"Wait a moment; I still have to upload it to your profile; it will be easier to view that way." After a few moments, he smiled, and then tilted the laptop a bit so that everyone gathered around him, especially Aika, could see the screen a bit more easily. "Okay, here we go. Cross your fingers, guys!"
"I don't think so..." Max said, confident in the young girl's abilities. The machine bleeped, indicating that the file had loaded properly.
One glance was all it took...to cause Takao to fall of his seat in shock. Max was speechless, and Rei was wide-eyed. "Impressive...to say the least..." the neko-jin commented. Even Kyouju couldn't say anything.
Aika leaned forward and read what she saw on the screen. "'Attack: three stars; Defense: two stars; and Speed: two stars,'" she crossed her arms and huffed. "It's still not good enough; the maximum four each stat is four stars."
At that, Takao leapt up from where he'd been lying on the floor. "You think those readings aren't good enough?" he practically yelped. "Aika, believe me, they're more than enough!"
"I don't believe you," Aika said, still pouting.
"But it's true," Max said, reaching over and pressing some keys. Instantly, Kai's old profile popped up on the screen over Aika's. "Of course, these readings are from nearly eleven years ago, but then, your dad was seventeen that time."
"'Attack: three-and-a-half stars; Defense: three stars; and Speed: three stars,'" Rei read out loud. And then he smiled at the ruby-eyed girl. "See? You're not far behind your dad, and your seven years younger than he was when he achieved these high stats."
"I'm confused," Aika mumbled, swinging her legs alternately as though kicking something. "You guys said that he was one of the best - everyone says so - then how come Papa's stats are so low?"
"They're not as low as you think, Aika..." Hiromi joined the group. Kai had explained the stat system before, when she had thought the same thing. "Each star actually represents 25 percent proficiency; in order to be recognized as World Championship material, a blader has to have at least two stars in at least two stats. That's why the maximum is four stars. You can't go more than one hundred percent, right?"
"I think I get it..." Aika muttered, the beginning of a smile showing on her face. "So...that means..." she closed her eyes and thought hard. "Dad was 85 percent proficient in Attack, 75 percent in both Defense and Speed. And I'm 75 percent proficient in Attack and Speed, and 50 percent in Defense."
Hiromi gave her another hug. "Yup! Basically, you're quite advanced for a rookie, something your Dad was way back when we first met him."
"A few more months, and we should have at least a Regional Champion," Takao added encouragingly. "For all we know, she could achieve the same balance as Kai did, and probably be the first to achieve 100 percent proficiency in at least two stats..."
Aika's face lit up. "Really? You think so?"
"Not just 'think'; we believe so..." Rei replied.
"Cool!" Aika jumped down off her chair. "Mom?"
"Yes, Aika-chan?"
"Um...can I have a couple of friends over? They like to blade, too, and I thought that maybe I could train with them, too..." she looked down at the ground, kicking one foot nervously. "Besides, they've been wanting to...erm...meet the World Championship team - or what's left of it - for a long time now. And I never got the chance to tell them I'd started training with you guys, so-"
Takao laughed. "I see. All right, go ahead. Go fetch these friends of yours. You must miss them, huh?"
Aika nodded, ruby eyes shining. "Uh-huh! Mom says they've been calling, but I kept forgetting to call them back at night. They might be wondering what happened to me."
"Then by all means, go and tell them, and if their parents will agree, invite them here. I'm sure they'll be thrilled to meet these four," Hiromi gestured towards Team BBA.
"Yay! Thanks, Mom! Thanks, everyone!"
With that, Aika turned and ran towards the dojo entrance, her braids bouncing as she went.
Takao plopped down into his seat. "Chief, are you sure your analyzer is still working properly?"
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A/N: All right, you know the drill, minna! I'll be looking forward to your comments! Also, feel free to come to me with any confusions and concerns you may have.
Dewa mata! Peace out and God bless!