Chapter 11: Majestic Revival and Rules.
"Hilary, we will plan something later. Just sleep for a while," Margot suggested. Hilary looked at them tiredly after removing her head which was buried in her hands.
"Yeah," she sighed and lied down.
…
Hilary woke after a few hours and felt relaxed at how her giddy head was working fine She looked at the two girls who were closing their books, seeming they have just completed a lesson.
"You girls were still studying," she asked lightly.
"Yeah, just finished." They smiled together. Hilary blinked.
"Oh-"
"All the boys are gone to laundry for washing clothes today which means we can go to terrace today comfortably." Delia announced,
"Oh, wow," Hilary said half nervously at Delia's excitement,
"Tomorrow might be our chance," Hilary thought,
"Maybe," Margot expressed,
"Hey, just get ready. We will go up!" Delia squealed delightfully.
"What's the need of getting dressed up?" Hilary asked,
"Because other seniors might be there and you know how rude and snide comments they would make if we didn't look fine," Margot reasoned,
"Probably," Hilary said hardly,
The trio got dressed up quickly, forcing Hilary to wear her new Jeans, revealing top to which she was discomfit but agreed after their snide remarks and gulped as she looked at herself at mirror,
"Seriously, I'm not going on a date, just on terrace," Hilary sweatdropped, "This is a little, weird."
"No problem, you look super cool!" Delia smirked. Hilary rubbed her naked arms uncomfortably. "I can't believe I'm wearing a strapped top for going on terrace with a light good make-up," she hissed to herself.
"We will be there within few minutes,"
"Yeah, a little final touch up," Margot replied
She walked upstairs finding weird that literally no-one was outside. She would hear a football thrown up, guys running or girls giggling but it was so quiet and all the lights of the rooms were switched on. It meant only one thing. All of them are studying. Seniors on the next floor below might be not seriously studying, she guessed. She gave a second thought of returning and rather start studying than roaming on terrace with such an outfit. She was feeling uncomfortable. She sighed that all the boys weren't in the building yet.
She smiled at the thought, and opened the door. The wide terrace greeted her with fresh air of warm summer, fresh sunlight paving to her face, fresh smell of something like detergent in air. The terrace was undeniably extremely large with large tanks here and there and ropes tied somewhere here and there. There was no crowd or any girls or seniors on the terrace. It was sweet and serenely deserted of all the stupid people, according to her.
A wave of melody and chorus sung in her mind as she got into her blissful mood. She stretched her slender long arms in air swaying her delicate slim body in air as she attempted for a refreshing exercise. Her muscles seemed to be loosing up from her rigid state and the sensation was substantial. She mumbled softly some song fully drown. Her neck and entire hands starting from shoulders washed in sunlight and she warmed up, feeling revived. Her silky brunette hair which were half tied and some bangs and loose strands in front were swaying delightfully in gentle warm breeze. She was feeling lively, ecstatic, awakened, and brought back to life, calm, the only one and what not. If this wasn't her private moment, she would have been squirming at such a display of revealing clothes she has worn or was forced to wear.
Her half closed eyes opened fully and she looked around in an attempt to appreciate the large space in which she was alone. Her serene, sweet and alluring dignity of expressions on face jolted back in fear and shock when her gaze landed on Ryan.
He was standing, staring at her in unsure and nervous state, wearing a loose Tee and shorts. It seemed that he was wearing it from yesterday's night since he slept. She flustered undeniably and gulped as she stared at him in incredible surprise and unexpected expression.
It only meant one thing for her- she was being watched the entire time she was on terrace which heck she doesn't care was not more than a minute probably.
Ryan seemed extremely amusingly nervous, completely reddened, his black hair ruffled unruly. Here he was, standing in some stupid clothes in front of the splendid beauty. He didn't know how he was supposed to react to her that…that he had unknowingly quite enjoyed her majestic display of self-revival.
The scene filled with thick air and tension suddenly was hilarious at the moment; only if any third person had witnessed it.
They stared at each other completely flushed and embarrassed. Hilary gulped as she realized that they were seriously staring for quite a longer time. Her arms felt heated.
"Uh," she mumbled, her throat going dry,
"Ah, I—" Ryan tried,
"What are you doing here, Ryan?" she sighed internally that she has finally broken the tension of air,
"I-I…" he thought what he was doing. The clothes above him hanging on ropes hitting dryly, "Prof. Ark requested me to wash a few of his clothes urgently…so I was here to dry them up," he completed, his gaze fixed on her eyes, way too scared to look at anywhere else of her.
"Didn't dry at laundry?" she blinked.
"Why laundry?" Ryan questioned with incredible expression,
"All of the boys had to go Laundry today. Didn't you?" she asked with mouth agape,
"No!" he waved hands in defense, "We didn't have laundry day. It was last week for us." He explained with complete honesty.
"S-Seriously?" she mumbled with shock,
"Yeah," he sighed softly,
"Uhm…okay," she looked at the swaying clothes. The sunlight seemed to have worked faster. There were four white coats and a loose pant. Hilary felt uneasy and she shifted uncomfortably.
"W-What are you doing up, by the way?" he asked looking away with hands held back of him.
"Ah, I-I…I-" she stuttered, "Was just getting air. Haven't been out since quite days," she said nervously but perfectly,
Oh? In such a revealing outfit?
"Alright. Enjoy the air. I think I should leave," Ryan smiled nervously before he started walking. She moved back quickly, "I will be leaving too." Hilary said quickly and turned to trot down,
They walked some distance. Ryan was behind her with some pace as they walked the hot ground of the terrace. Hilary could feel him perhaps staring at her. Her bare nudity was making her fluster and heated.
Ryan was almost about to ask if she was going somewhere, but he dare not question. According to him, she did look pretty but the rendezvous would have been descent if she didn't put herself on a physical revival. He would have commented that she looked cool but he stayed really quiet till he waved a nervous 'bye' to her floor before heading down to inform Mr. Ark about his clothes being done.
Hillary smiled wickedly at how torturous her attacks would be to her two friends who tricked her.
She slammed the door open and witnessed a stomach wetting laughing disaster of her two friends who were looking at her with hilarious expressions.
Hillary fumed. She ran towards then to punch but they ran faster, still laughing extremely hard. The play continued for about a few minutes from here to there over chairs and bed until they all stopped, panting as they held their knees.
"Y-you girls tricked me!" Hilary said in gasps.
"We know! " they giggled,
"His reaction was hilarious. He seemed a little upset for appearing in his nightwear before your sexy figure," Delia said with intense chuckles,
"You-" Hilary said murderously,
"Sorry Hils, we just wanted to play." Margot winked. Hilary shot her a glare.
"Hey, let's stop, Margot. You were bored and lifeless. We were worried so we just wanted to revive you." Delia smiled honestly.
"The thing is you actually saw and heard us secretly-"Hilary spat.
"Bleh, forget it Hils, it was just a joke." Margot smiled and they placed a friendly hand on her shoulder. She sighed.
"Though I'd have killed you both if it was a lame joke, but since your intentions are fine, you're spared," Hilary said in a formal sarcastic tone.
The trio sunk in the couch with Hilary at center, her vague nudity at ease.
"He seriously looked so funny," Margot chuckled,
"Poor him. I unknowingly embarrassed him…and myself of course. I was on full, well-" Hilary stuttered, "He saw me,"
"I'm surprised he has strong control on his emotions," Margot said seriously.
"What do you mean?" Hilary raised an eyebrow,
"You didn't notice?" Delia blinked, "He was clearly very much attracted to you,"
"Not possible," Hilary didn't buy them,
"I'm serious," Delia said again with seriousness.
"That's fine. It was only because of that dress, leave!" Hilary was clearly uneasy with where it was going.
She sighed as she received no more remarks and the girls went to get some snacks and headed for cooking something, calling her for help.
She sighed as her Ryan-filled mind got tensioned. She got up to work a little in kitchen, an attempt to distract her current gush of temper…
.
.
.
It was just August and there was still no announcement of any Tournaments. Kai absolutely hated when there was no Tag-Team battling pattern last year just because of stupid voting, the analysis showing that 65 percent of the registered bladers voting for team-wise battles. And what about the rest of the 35 percent of the bladers including him? He seethed as he thought about it. He definitely was going to do something if it was possible but talking with Mr. D would have no avail. He was sure about it. He just wasn't accepting or say couldn't digest the fact that Tyson had actually beaten him in three times in a row. The last time he was defeated by Tyson was way too horrible to remember. The battle lasted for just fifteen minutes unlike the first time he was defeated in which he lost by borderline in a span of 126 minutes, as reported.
Kai knows very well that presently, Tyson isn't as efficient as he was in Year, 2016. And according to him, his potency was embellished and reached its peak that year, and the reason was one person- She.
Kai feels relieved that they had been separated or else Tyson's confidence and spirits would have knocked all the blades of the world launched before Dragoon without quite efforts. There is a reason why Tyson blades with excellent perfection at times, and it varied with time. The last time he'd won the Tournament was because of Max and to prove her that he was doing okay. He even got motivated by Kai himself, Kenny, Dragoon or sometimes his opponents to whom he yearned teaching a lesson.
Kai notices Tyson these days, his attitude keeping fine and in check by his alert mind, his pessimism almost on borderline evading him, his silent cries occasionally. He was the indirect, silent and constant reason for Tyson's breaking. Kai knows it and he didn't regret anything he has done to him. When jealousy took over him, he wanted his life to be fair and he made it by being unfair with Tyson at times.
He had the slightest feeling that he would be seeking his forgiveness, quite after a time like four years or so, but he didn't cared and focused on what he felt now. Just because I feel a little bad about Mike doesn't mean I will regret anything about what I've done to Tyson.
…
After taking a light nap for an hour, Kai searched for lunch in the kitchen sensing that everyone already had it.
"You were sleeping and you rarely does that, so I thought better not to disturb you," Max said,
"Hn," Kai nodded,
Ray prepared some steak on the arrival of Daichi today who had gone to his village a few months after Grandpa came back from hospital. Tyson was way too excited for his arrival.
Tyson walked restlessly with folded arms at the gate waiting for Daichi escorting Max forcefully under the scorching sun. That was for fifteen minutes when he gave up and lied in the hall, lightly grunting at Max for Daichi being late. He placed his arm over his eyes and gave final groan and Max sighed, guessing that Tyson probably must have drifted into his sleep.
"Guys! The notification came up!" Kenny squealed excitedly,
"Really?" Tyson jumped off and almost strangled Kenny to speak out, "
"Read out, Kenny," Kai said,
Ray nodded and was in all ears.
"Well, its team-wise this year too…" Kenny began adjusting his spectacles, "But there is teensy change, the champions from team that wins in the last and claims the title is supposedly to battle their tag-team partner who was in Year 2014," Kenny said with perplexity and mild aversion,
"What?" Max and Tyson said in unison.
"Yeah, and there is more to it," Kenny said with more aversion, "This is completely unacceptable and queer!"
"What is it?" Ray asked,
"There is a whole month filled with amateurs bladers, the complete nascent ones battling before the actual Tournament commences. A few of them are selected by the BBA. There are three phases of final battle. Phase one is like- it is till the final battle is over between the last two teams. There will be one winning team like how typically it comes the next phase, Phase 2- And then the winning team will battle once again. The pattern is shocking. The amateur bladers, the selected ones with opposite types (blading/bit-beast wise) are against the winning team. And the strange thing is there are two opponents against one blader of the winning team."
"WHAT!" Everyone shrieked,
"Guys, calm down. The amateur bladers will be allotted to the bladers of winning team in a strategic way in order to test the best of us," Kenny said assuming like everyone else in the room that the final winning team would be they, "And we will be told the three pairs that will be coming sequentially, well that's an advantage. This info is basically for the winning team of Phase 1."
"For us?" Daichi asked,
Everyone looked up at him.
"When did you come?' Tyson and Max yelled in surprise,
"Few minutes back," he said with a blink,
"Yeah Daichi, the winning team of Phase 1 is most probably us," Ray sighed,
"Of course it is us! Mr. D knows it and he's being unfair," Tyson groaned,
"Uh, Mr. D emailed me personally that this article is though published in common, but he's pointing us," Kenny sighed,
"Fine, read ahead," Kai said,
"We can decide who wants to go first, second and third depending upon the bladers that will be appearing, sequentially." Kenny said carefully, "We can decide since we know that two bladers at a time are against one of us."
"We need to watch all the battles of newbies as well now! Feh!" Max seethed,
"Yeah, so we can decide who will go against whom," Kenny gave a relived sigh,
"And what if we lose in any two rounds against those nasty four bladers?" Tyson questioned already showing that it was unfair,
"Guys, it's clearly mentioned that any two bladers that will be allotted to us will not be informed till the last day of our Phase 2 battle that they will be battling against. Only we will know about them. All the newbies have a tedious and tensioned responsibility of practicing for being called out at the last day of Phase 2. Each blader doesn't know if he will be called or not, but they have to practice and watch our battles till the end and know well of us, in case they are very much sure that we will be the winning team of Phase 1."
"I got you now, Kenny," Tyson sighed,
"Like I said," Kenny coughed to get their attentions and to summarize the pattern, "Phase 1 which will last till the middle of October and is like our regular team-wise much alike last year's voted pattern, we get one winning team."
"Let's assume it's us, Kenny," Max sighed,
"Fine. So, we enter in Phase 2 of finals where we battle the two amateurs who have joined this year only against any one of us. This repeats for three rounds, obviously. So it's upto us since the winning team of P1, that is, we are informed about, that to whom we are choosing to battle in three sequential rounds. If we lose, then we re-enter Phase 1. There will be any random prominent team allotted to battle three on three in regular fashion and there will be again a new winning team of P1. The process repeats as long as the winning team of P1 doesn't qualify the P2. Like if we re-enter P1, suppose, and lose, then that team enter P2, not we."
"Alright." Kai nodded,
"Then," Ray urged,
"Since we are choosing the team members to show up in Phase 2, the final blader (the blader of round 3 of P2) of our team will enter Phase 3." Kenny gave a pause. Every one tenses up a little,
"He is the pro-champion." Kenny said.
"So...This means that we have to select a suitable blader for round three of Phase 2," Tyson said nervously,
"Yep, it's a pure luck who gets the chance to be suited for round three among us. It could be anyone," Kenny smiled, "And he's the pre- champion."
That was uneasy to accept but there was no choice, "The Phase 3 like I previously mentioned is based on Year 2014. All the prominent teams still are active and in hopes in this Phase. If Tyson becomes the Pro-Champ, he will battle against Daichi for competing the final Champion title. If it's Kai, you will be competing against Tala to claim your title and Tala gets the full chance to get the Champion title in that probable scenario."
"If in case, I happen to be the pre-champ, I'll be battling against Rick!"
"And I against Lee! "Ray announced,
"What about me? " Daichi scowled,
"You were already counted with me," Tyson smirked.
"In case we lose in Phase 2, then?" Daichi asked,
"We lose it all. The opponent team of us will enter Phase 2. The amateur bladers are again random. The interesting thing is- In phase 2, though all the amateur bladers are kept in suspense till the final day of P2, the half of this is true for us." Kenny shivered,
"What?" Kai and Ray added in unison.
"I didn't tell you but we will be informed only about one amateur blader in each round of P2. The second blader is announced on spot, at the time of battle only - for all the three rounds of P2 "
"This is fucking unfair!" Ray yelled.
"Yeah!" Tyson agreed.
"But we can't do anything. We at least know one of our opponents in all three rounds." Kenny explained, "Everything is random and on spot for all of them!"
"They still have the idea that we will be the winning team! All of them will need to only watch and learn out tactics, and out of all of them, six bladers are randomly selected out of which we just know three!" Max almost growled,
"Yep, but remember, they are amateurs, entering in a real life tournament for first time in their life- this year, " Kenny says wisely.
"Fine!" Tyson grunted, "Phase 2 really sucks! It's more complicated than P3 itself! It's all upon random prediction of half information we decide the bladers of our team to appear in P2 in three rounds. And on the top of that two against one! Fucking fair?!" Tyson seethed. Max patted him reassuringly, "It's fine Tyson. It's all upon that half info of P2 one of us is destined to be the pro-champ" Max said, "This phase involves team thinking as well to allot ourselves properly against those two bladers in each round,"
"Even if Tyson doesn't fit well in P2, and if Daichi ends up the pro-champ, you still can battle against Daichi to claim your title, Tyson, "Kenny smiled,
"Weird rules," Tyson mumbled about the entire thing of notification and the pattern.
"What?" Daichi hissed,
"Nothing, I said majestic rules!" Tyson grunted ignorantly.
"You were listening?" Max inquired, "I thought you were busy with steak,"
"I'm in all ears!" Daichi grinned.
"Basically three teams have hopes and alerts- PPB All Starz, White Tigers and Demolition Boys." Ray suggested.
"Yeah," Tyson replied, Ray ignored.
"Everyone, heads up for practice- we will have direct battles next month only- be prepared. Keep up your stats till next month and then we will start practicing together from 1st." Kai announced,
"First of September?" Daichi asked,
"Obviously Daichi, "Max sighed.
"We will be training separately till first...which means eighteen days from now," He explained.
A/N: Welcome back to the story, readers. Firstly, sorry for the HUGE delayed update. I've been quite busy in college academics and the Fresher's and Fest going on and of course the stupid Operatives driving our batch insane. Secondly, thanks so much to all the reviewers. I've not been able to reply to few reviews because I was really busy, but I will say that I really admire your reviews and they mean a lot.
I know this chapter was probably a little confusing as far as the second half part was concerned. I will summarize once again the tournament details in a simplified manner in the next chapter if you still didn't understand. Just let me know once in reviews/PMs. I hope the Ry/Hil part was enjoyable. Thanks for reading!
Drop a comment before leaving! ^_^