Hi Folks! It's Christmas today, and for you, Santa has in store this Chapter! Have a HAPPY CHRISTMAS!
Garland held his head high as he became the Martial Arts world champion once again. This was his third time. Crowds raved wildly as he took the Mic for his Victory speech.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, behold, here comes our very own Champion- Garland Seibald."
Ferocious applause hailed Garland.
"Like every year, again he has held our nation's head high. I'm afraid you have been asked this question many times, but how do you feel?"
" It's the most overwhelming moment of my life. Believe me, every year when I come here, I'm stunned by the fierce competition I'm going to face. Till coming here I feel like I'm the best, invincible. But this mirage disappears as soon as I see my opponents. It's their dedication, their spirit that makes this victory so glorious."
The crowd, which is a bit more dignified now, cheers and claps for the runner-ups and other contestants, who make an effort to accept without any bitterness.
"And that's Garland for you! As great sportsmen have said over the Generations, a True Champion is the one who truly values his rivals.
So Mr Garland, what will be your Family's response to this?
"As you know my Family has achieved these milestones long ago. They expect me to keep up this reputation, or you can say, grow to my full potential. And as I've been trying my best, I'm sure they will be proud of me"
If it was three years ago, Garland couldn't have been so sure of his family. But things changed. His family wasn't as stonehearted as he used to think. Just one battle with Tyson changed everything.
That battle ...he still remembered every element of the battle and its circumstances. In today's time, he laughed at his foolishness.
How ignorant he was.
Garland was one of the Seibalds, the Legendary American Family with unprecedented excellence.
He was born as the third child of Robertson Seibald, the reputed international champion in Basketball. Garland's mother Ivory Anderson was a classical Musician mastering in Percussion. She was his father's second wife, the one he married without family approval. Due to her busy schedule, and her failure to mingle with the family, especially his Grandmother, after Garland was three, she was scarcely at home. So Garland grew up with his cousins, and two half-sisters as one of the future Sport -stars. As his uncle had three children, all older than his two sisters, he saw them reaching the top one by one. Every year someone would take the initiative to add to the collection of medals, trophies and prize checks. He could see the joy in his Father's eyes when his eldest sister won the World Basketball Championship.
He said, " I couldn't be more proud of you my daughter"
His Grandmother, the seven-time Champion in Gymnastics still stood tall before him, without showing any sign of her age( which was 82 bull the way) except for the wrinkles that still found their way after much maintenance. His Grandfather didn't live to see him, but he had the largest collection in the family, with nine Olympic medals and taking up one huge room to accommodate all his laurels. Every year at his Birth Anniversary, all members still active in sports had to assemble at the Manor and went through the numerous halls bejewelled with allocades. Children who hadn't entered international sports yet also went through the halls, taking firm decisions to start their collection as well.
At eight, Garland was still confused about his sport. Should he take Martial arts or Beyblading? But then wanted to hear the exact words his sister did. He wanted it more than anything. Then should he choose Basketball?
Even Garland's younger cousins had chosen their arena. But he couldn't choose between Martial Arts or Beyblading. Martial Arts were favoured by his family, especially by his third uncle and Aunt, who were the veterans of the Martial Arts world. Garland himself excelled at it.
But Beyblade gave him a distinct calling that rose above all. Unlike other cultured Families, his family encouraged mingling with the commoners for their Principal principle was to learn from all.
If they saw someone with exceptional talent, usually that child was adopted into the family. And if that person was older, they had enough members yet unmarried. In his knowledge, his youngest aunt was adopted by his Grandfather's second sister, who remained unmarried till death. Then his Grandfather's first brother was also adopted who was about as excellent with seven Olympic medals, and in his generation, his Aunt(who was the eldest among the aunts and uncles) had adopted his most successful cousin at yet. She dazzled everyone with her first international medal at 10. Today she was fourteen and already was preparing for her first Olympics. She was really something.
One day Garland was playing with his friends from the town, he found them highly uninterested in any game, Judo or Karate match. Instead, they were going to have a 'Beybattle'. Unlike other times, Garland decided to watch rather than going home.
And for the first time, he saw the tops actually spinning. Daily he would watch them before he lost control and broke a principle of supreme importance by stealing his friend's Bey.
He himself couldn't believe he did it. But he hated asking for something and was really sure that his family wasn't going to approve of his Beyblading fancies. He had heard their opinions about Beyblade as a sport.
So, he had to figure out ways to practice in secret. He would casually slip out of his most boring classes into the training room and when at home he would utilize the bolt for keeping out intruders like Jessica- a devil( actually his cousin).
This went on pretty smoothly before the house butler grew suspicious of the scratches on the pure marble floor he worked so hard on.
And one fine afternoon, when Garland was rejoicing over finally having his Bey spinning right, it went out of control and was caught upright in a small hole with loose threads of the carpet. Garland tried to call it back but instead, it began running haphazardly unravelling the threads and thus murdering the expensive Fur carpet. Garland's exclamations had attracted Jessica, who had been hanging around, and the cautious House Butler who was on patrol. Inside the room, the blade finally cut through the threads and knocked off a table with an ivory mantelpiece, which cracked right in the middle. He almost screamed. It was his Mom's favourite one. Garland tried to stop the Bey with his hands. It made a few slashes on his palm, but he thought he would stop it. However, he was really wrong, and as he advanced towards the door, the blade shot right out of his hands and went right through the polished Mahogany door, chipping a few hairs from his Butler's head, ultimately landing deep inside the parallel wall.
A terrified Garland stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the Butler's steaming face in the huge door crack, with Jessica's smug smile.
His cover was busted and he was presented before the Supreme Court. The Jury had five members- his seven-time world Champion Grandmother, two Grandfathers, and their wives. Any aunts and uncles in the hose were present, the older ones among whom played the role of junior judges and announcers, still in the process of learning, and his cousins and sisters made the audience. The case was simple 'Garland Seibald and Beyblade v/s The Senior, most experienced and loyal Butler. '
The proceedings always took place in a special hall on the opposite side of the Trophy rooms. The Jury sat on gratified luxury swings, others stood on the left with about 30 feet distance from the door which was nicely carpeted, and on the right was a wall with Late Grandfathers' huge portrait.
"Today on 14th July XXXX, we have before us the case of Garland Seibald, the third son of Robertson Seibald, the first son of our great second Grandfather- Sir William Regano Seibald." All eyes in the room instantly flitted to the portrait.
These were his eldest aunt and his third uncle. This was the introductory address done before every case, telling everything about Family History. This was far less illustrative. He could recall the address when his Aunt Linda's case was discussed.
[Today we have among us Mrs. "Linda Browns Seibald, an international level Volleyball Champion, in the second year of her marriage as the first wife of Arnold Seibald, the two time Champion of the annual World Basketball Championship and an Olympic Medallist. Arnold Seibald is the eldest son of Levi and Maria Seibald, renowned Football Players, and the son and daughter in law of our first Grandmother, Mrs Jennifer Joan Seibald Seine"]
But including the sport made the address way too loquacious. So it was decided that only the family line will be traced. But Garland wondered how long the address will be when it will be a case about his grandchildren.
"And he has been put under accusation by William Lawson, the 7th Butler of Seibald Manor, in the 18th year of his tenure. "
"The proceedings shall commence" Announced his eldest Grandmother in a voice of Authority.
"Good Evening My Lady." He slightly bowed.
"I had to call for this conference because it was totally unavoidable."
He took a deep breath to suppress his anger, but that was a major failure.
"This Grandson of yours is ridiculous!" Garland 's ears almost shattered.
The butler breather in hurriedly was he pointed to Garand.
"He has been busy destroying the family treasures and spilling boiling water over my hard work." Lawson gave a pretty animated performance but instead from the corner of his eye, he saw Jessica being really satisfied with this.
Once, Garland had got her sued by reporting her habit of mixing flour and chilli sauce in medicines and creams. So she was punished by not getting to leave her room for a whole month (she was a table tennis player with a table in her room), without TV, noodles or any of her colouring books.
And Garland had made it a point of playing with his best toys and friends in the garden every day, at the particular place that was visible ultra-clearly from her window.
Often he would have a noodle party with his friends, which he would get the cook to prepare in the Garden itself.
So when she emerged tortured out of her room after a month, she decided to vent her anger into getting Garland sued for even more.
She had long known about the Beyblade and its origins. She knew he skipped a few classes in school for it. But she was waiting for something substantial to happen.
And this qualified nicely for it.
"Calm down Lawson. I understand my Grandson has created a mess. And I think, " She turned her head from William to Garland, " my Grandson can tell me about it satisfactorily enough"
Garland didn't raise his head but he knew everyone was staring at him.
But what would he tell? That he broke a ton of stuff along with an important principle?
"We asked you to speak Garland Seibald," commanded one of the Grandfathers.
" I broke a few things," He said distractedly.
"Like"
"Ivory Mantelpiece, Mahogany door, Fur carpet, Polished table, and some part of the wall"
Oh... and Lawson's wig!
The Seibalds looked at one another. Some smiled, some gaped, others stared.
"Well, that certainly sounds like a lot" grimly said his other Grandfather.
" Watson it definitely is," said his wife.
"I'm sorry Grandfathers and Grandmothers"
C'mon you can do it Granny
"Sorry isn't the solution to this problem".
" Maybe" He whispered under his breath.
" You must get proper punishment for it"
Everyone nodded in approval. It eas fun, but not right.
" So what should it be?"
" Well, I think..." His Grandmother thoughtfully begun.
" But Grandparents aren't you going to ask about the Beyblade?" Everyone's heads turned to the worried childish voice.
Jessica had dared to interrupt the Seniormost of the Jury.
" Jessica!" Scolded her mother.
" You shouldn't interrupt elders when they speak" she continued.
" Marianne," Grandmother raised her hand for silence.
" Though that was not the correct way, she saved us from making a partial decision."
Marianne withdrew her hands from the scolding pose and stood straight. Why wasn't her daughter like her?
" So Garland, how come I don't remember you getting a Beyblade?"
" Because you never gave it to me"
" Your mother did?"
" No."
" Any of your aunts or uncles?"
" No"
" Was it a gift from your friend?"
Garland wanted to say yes, but he couldn't lie.
" No."
"Then?"
No reply.
"Then?"
No reply again.
" Garland I asked you something" Grandma sounded really dangerous.
"W..well, I...stole it."
Everyone present in the hall audibly gasped. A member of their family stealing?! That was a pure abomination.
Grandma certainly hadn't expected this. Her own Grandson stealing?
"Why Garland?" The shock was visible in her voice
"Garland, do you find any dearth of finance in this Manor?"
" Of course not Grandmother"
" Then why my child? What caused you to perform such an abominable action, much against our family's honour?"
" I thought..."
" I thought.."
" That you won't allow anyone to get me a Beyblade."
Oh, Man! Did he really say that on her face?
Grandmother seemed to take a few moments to think about her next sentence. So, one of the Grandfathers spoke-
"And what caused your imagination to fly so far?"
Now, this was a senior Grandfather posing him a question. Garland gulped and posing his face straight with eyes down, he began,
" From what I've understood, our family encourages, for our own good, our interests to grow in only 'proper sports'. I have listened carefully to all advice given, from which I concluded that Beyblade isn't a proper sport, and any interest in it must be limited to the bare minimum."
Garland stopped for a moment to look around and see if he spoke too much. But no, he was expected to continue. At least his family heard him with attention.
"I tried my best to refrain from taking up Beyblading as a sport, but I didn't succeed. I wanted a Beyblade for myself but I felt that this demand of mine shall not be approved. I could have asked my friends for lending me one, but that went against our family principle."
Garland was pretty satisfied with his selection of words or "articulation" in Grandparents' language, but he doubted if such a principle was in existence, but he had some faint memories of hearing something like that from his cousins.
Now please don't ask whichever Principle no. it is.
"Which principle is that?" Some grandparent from the Jury asked.
Why why why! Now which principle numbers say things like that? Hmmm…
Maybe the 40s. Oh yeah, maybe it was 4...47!
"I recall it's no. 47" He couldn't help feeling happy at his good memory. But he must not show it too much. It was a serious matter being discussed.
"And what does it say?"
"We must never borrow more than needed, and never indeed think about borrowing unless needed."
Huh!
" Is it only me or this principle has absolutely no mention of theft?"
Garland opened his mouth to say something but common sense said it was better to be quiet.
"So, if none of our principles mentions any encouragement for stealing, how come this wonderful idea struck you?"
Garland stood straight, head bowed down and lips dry and shut.
Yeah… why did he steal? He had other options like….
Oh! Right.
He didn't have any options
He stood quiet, shifting his weight from the right foot to the left.
" The reason our family encourages free mingling with the townsfolk is to learn from everyone, for you can't learn everything from one place alone. But it never ever means we need to master all bad influences. Vile language, uncouth manners and negativity are the very things we need to protect ourselves from. And it's a matter of shame that you succumbed before these"
Now, Garland couldn't help the tears in his eyes. This wasn't fun any more.
Crying wasn't a good thing he was sure, because he often heard this phrase - "Seibalds don't cry"
Though Jessica had expected this to be a satisfying experience, she wasn't feeling that good. She felt pity for Garland, as she knew how humiliating this situation was. Should she help him out?
But then, she was the one who got him caught. Just like Garland did.
Garland was sobbing. No matter how hard he tried, tears were falling out lavishly. Why did Father leave yesterday only? He could have been here today.
And couldn't his mother be here? Jessica's mother at least stood beside her. His Mother really needed Parenting advice from Aunt Marianne. He could recall Jessica pressing her hands into her mother's as the proceedings went on that day. Right now he needed that hand very much. Where was she?
Well, Ivory was playing two long xylophones simultaneously in a solo performance, holding her huge audience completely spellbound. She was to return two days later. Till then Garland was on his own.
It wasn't like no one wanted to take Garland's side, they weren't sure about it being right. Only parents stood with kids, or husbands with wives.
After what felt like an eternity, it was announced that Garland you would face the same punishment Jessica did. She went on listing forbidden things like Chocolate, marvel comics, ice cream... Garland wasn't listening. But there was nothing he could do now.
" Garland you will not step out of your room for five weeks." Garland stood downcast, actually to hide his tears, but overall it gave an impression satisfactory for this situation.
" Only me, your Father, Master Ken(his Martial Arts master), Miss Dave and Miss Kate( School subjects teachers), .. and a Beyblade coach shall see you."
Garland's head rose up in surprise. Were his ears working?
Is she crazy something!
A smile lit up his face and while searching for proper words to express his happin.. err.. Gratitude, he noticed one important thing missing. Really important
" And Mom?" the word fell out so quick he could hardly phrase it.
Grandma's gaze grew about 3 times sharper, and Jessica who was about to object immediately shut her lips and hung her head. It was not the best thing to say in Grandma's present mood.
"Ivory can see you when she comes" came the one curt sentence.
And the Hearing was over.
Garland's five weeks were fantastic. Sure there was the confinement, the limited time he got to talk with anyone, and an ever irritating Jessica having the time of her life in the courtyard facing Garland's huge window, there was exotic stuff in the room.
Master Ken decided to shift all furniture to the edges for creating more space, and training in your room with springy couches to slump on was a dream come true. Miss Kate was being pretty sympathetic, which resulted in almost no SST and English Homework. Miss Dave, however, refused to trace Miss Kate's example and gave Garland her usual dose of homework, sometimes even more than usual as he was missing school. But Garland wasn't missing school at all, instead, there was a whole lot of things he missed- TV, Ice Cream, his toy bike collection, and strawberry cookies. Strawberry cookies were his favourite, and it was a shame they didn't sell it in shops.
Ivory came a couple of days later when his Beyblade coach hadn't yet arrived.
Garland's happiness volcano exploded at her sight and he ran straight into her arms, sobbing and murmuring things to his Mother in a tone he used only with her. Ivory lightly patted his back and sat down on her knees to Garland's level, herself crying with joy. It was the first time in four years Garland had been so happy to see her. For the past two years, she had seen little of him, as Divinetune( the company she played through) had put her on long, distant tours and schedules in such close proximity that she couldn't be home for more than a fortnight in six months. Her work's relaxing schedule reflected clearly in her slight body and dark circled eyes, hardly appealing to a family where health was a top priority.
She loved Garland, and terribly missed him. There would be nights when she would talk to Garland through Marianne's phone for long hours, but Marianne had her tours as well, and in secrecy, she worked as a Fashion Designer. In the family's knowledge, Marianne was an international table tennis player who left the sport forever after a few years of her daughter's birth, largely due to her Mother in Law's pressure. Marianne's mother in law was one of the women in the family who weren't sportswomen and believed that sports were a man's arena, definitely not for a mother.
Since then Marianne was a devoted mother as well as her daughter's coach. And often she would become "Guest of Honour" as a veteran. But, in secret, with Ivory's help, she joined as a fashion designer at 'Fashionista'. She could never forget the thrill of telling the lies they told to get to the interview without exposing the secret.
Since then Marianne and Ivory were best friends. Marianne knew the pain of a disapproving mother in law, so she helped Ivory all she could to maintain her career. That included giving Garland her phone to talk to Ivory, and functioning as a substitute, but the problem was Garland's Grandma, who spent a fancy lot of time with Garland. She liked her, but their views about Ivory were too different to talk comfortably about her.
Ivory herself got little time to spare, and that stress was visible in her deprived form whenever she came back.
Garland missed his mother a lot and was pretty cross with her for long absences. Even Father wasn't as bad. If he was out for more than a month, he would write him letters. But hse never did that.
Last time, which was Christmas, he had entirely refused to talk with her, and not once during the three days he said a word. He didn't admit that he missed her and that he loved it when she sang to him when he was in bed, pretending to be fast asleep. He loved the ice cream she left for him every day on the table, and he loved it when people talked about his mother as some sort of phenomenon. And she gave him really cool stuff for Christmas.
But he could feel pangs of jealousy whenever he saw Jessica with her Mother, or his classmates being donned on at the Mother's Day Events. The last time he took her to school was way back in Kindergarten. Every time he had to get Aunt Marianne to adopt him for three hours and pose with both him and Jessica in the Mother's Day Photograph, and if that wasn't enough, last year someone decided his Mother's World Premiere version of "We wish you a Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year" to be the theme song for the whole Holiday season, and the first half of the year. And unfortunately, that was the time Ivory decided to show up, and after being constantly chided about his mother loving music more than him, he was pretty determined about not talking at all. Even his father had been to his school three times with him.
Ivory cancelled her schedule for the next two weeks, after a long talk with her boss of course.
SO Garland had memorable moments with her, which included secretly slipping in strawberry cookies. Garland had made sure there were enough photos with her to make a thick album so that he could smack Jessica's scrawny face with that.
And after a week, arrived his Beyblade coach-the coolest soul in the world. He had disapprovingly long and unruly hair, complemented by large sunglasses and a coat with same coloured pants(white). He could hear the disapproving thoughts Grandma had about him, but he didn't care a hang.
"I've heard you made a mess" This was the first question his coach asked.
"Yeah" Garland answered, unsure of whether to smile or not.
"Well," Coach looked pretty serious as he walked around with his hat skewed down.
"You've got what it needs to be a Beyblader!" Garland took a second to decide whether there was any sarcasm. There wasn't.
From that day on, Garland was spending hours trying to improve at Beyblade, which was really working. Often coach would cracks joke about his Grandma and the Subject Math, which they both hated. Coach got into an appreciable friendship with his mother. Garland's father became something like his best friend in less than a day, so Garland did have a great time.
The Five weeks ended and it was showtime for everyone except Garland except for Garland who was the performer. There was no one stage where he could flaunt his new skills, so there were numerous variations of the performance and even more varied versions of the most popular contemporary tale in school - Garland and Five weeks in a room.
By the time Garland was ten, he had already started feeling some unaccounted power in his Bey, which soon came out to be his Bit beast, who became a quick craze within the family.
Though his collection was growing too, he had firmly announced that he won't participate in international level Beyblade tournaments till he's ready, and everyone was pretty impressed by this resolution. This indicated that he was a True Sportsman who valued the sport more than Wealth and felicity. His Father said the dream words, "I couldn't have been more proud of you my son" That moment was his reason to live from then.
At eleven, he started his world tour, going from Boarding school to boarding school with each term. During vacations, he took part extensively in local tournaments all across the world. And wherever he went, he became a champion. Medals after medals docked up, and his trophies from Martial arts too were copious, and he could say he was better at Beyblading than Jessica was at Table Tennis, so he could always tease her. Spending so much time away from home, he got to see his Mother and Father even less if you don't count the TV and magazines. Whenever he went back, Grandma took a few hours fawning over him, which was getting pretty embarrassing since Garland had 'grown up into a man'.
By the time he was seventeen, he could Beybattle in his sleep. He had a diary for very Beybattle he ever had. Literally every single one. But he had enough in a year to fill up one fat diary, so presently the seventh volume was going on. His diary showed the extent of his travel-England, Japan, Russia, France, Germany, America, China, Australia, Spain, Italy, Brazil, Mexico, Spain etc… and easily enough he visited multiple cities in each country.
For the Final Term, he was in a prized Boarding school in Mumbai, India. He had a nice time touring Kashmir and Delhi, but no one could defeat him, even the proud National Champion.
Here at Mansfield Academy, he bladed only for time pass, and that too with only Aakriti, perhaps the only one with some skill and beauty. Everyone else had tried his/her luck more than once and failed.
One day everyone got pretty hyped up for a serious match between Garland and Aakriti, so Garland had to accept, though he knew he would win. Aakriti wasn't bad, if she tried hard enough she could beat him, but always she was too caught up in her Books, as she was much pissed off by Brooklyn's effortless yet perfect Grades.
So that day about the whole studentship stood around in a big circle and went on cheering madly. Soon the match was over, and he won.
"Anyone left?" he questioned from the crowd. The teens looked at each other to see if anyone wanted to challenge him. But there was no one in the surrounding crowd. Out of nearly those 200 bladers, no one was left. Suddenly, someone's eyes spotted Brooklyn, like a white light in between the colourful flowers.
"That guy is still left" shouted a person from the crowd.
"You mean that nerd?" commented a girl in her short dress.
" Has that poor soul got blade?" asked another.
" Maybe." answered the one who had spotted him.
"Yes, he has one. I have seen a black one with him"
" So let's ask him" decided Garland as he walked down from the Beydish platform towards Brooklyn.
The crowd followed and they stopped beside Brooklyn, who was down on the grass, with his one leg cocked up on the other.
Brooklyn gently opened his eyes to see the faces of people around him.
He sat up lazily and looked at Garland with an innocently questioning look.
"I want to challenge you for a Beybattle" announced Garland showing his Blade.
"Really?" asked Brooklyn stifling a yawn," You would lose, so I don't fancy wasting my time"
Garland was startled. Little did he know, how true Brooklyn was.
That day, Brooklyn broke his pride. Garland was broken, which took a long time to fix. And that was when he met a man who promised to lead him to glory- Boris.
Boris had been trying to reach Garland for long, and the moment prey was the weakest was always the best. Garland signed up in high, blinding hopes. He forgot that once you sign a contract, you are basically a puppet, just like his mother was to Divinetune. Soon he dragged in Brooklyn too. Only to regret later.
He recovered and gained success, but Brooklyn was shattered beyond repair. All because of him.
So it's done! I've worked on this chapter till three in the night yesterday, almost rewriting the whole thing. So I'd love a few reviews.
The next updates will be in the following order- Tala, Bryan, Spencer, Ian, Boris, Volitare, Mr Dickinson, Ray, Lee, Mariah, then possibly Ming Ming.
Next update is just around the corner, so stay tuned!