A/N: Hey all, new chapter. I'm sorry it's so short. Kinda at a brick wall at the moment... heh... Well, enjoy!
Chapter 7
"Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the Pirate Shores tournament right here on the coast of New York." The DJ, wearing his traditional black bandana and black and red outfit, rose his arms up for cheers and he got it. The crowd yelled loudly and he ended up quieting them again. "Let me introduce the teams. Here on my right stand the reigning world champs, the BladeBreakers!" Everyone cheered but was forced silent again. "Standing next to them are, our home town, All Stars!" The DJ waited for the crowd to settle before continuing. "And the Blitzkrieg boys are here today as well!" Tyson looked over at Tala and noted that he didn't seem himself, but thought nothing of it.
The DJ announced a few more teams, ones that no one really heard of until now. There were the Renegades, an all girl team it looked to be, the Tyrants, the team from a previous tournament, the Rejects, all punk guys it seemed, and the Celestials, two guys and two girls. "These teams may be unknown to you know, but just wait. They're making their way to the top!"
"Huh?" The DJ looked over at the attendant as he handed him an envelope. He nodded his thanks before opening it. He took out the paper and read it through before announcing it. "I regret to announce that the Majestics aren't going to be participating as previously planned." The crowd erupted in whispers and Max poked Tyson.
"'They're not going to be here?'" He mimicked. "I wonder why."
Tyson merely shrugged. "I don't know either. That's not like them though."
"I know, and it kinda scares me."
"And it seems that the White Tiger team has not yet arrived." The DJ voiced soon afterwards.
Everyone turned to look at Rei, but he merely shrugged. "They must be running late."
"That's not like them though," Kai stated, not knowing that Tyson had said the exact phrase a few moments before.
"Yeah, and neither are the Majestics missing a tournament. It all seems fishy to me," Kenny said and the others agreed.
"Enough of the bad news. Let's get on to how this tournament is going to work. Each team will split up and it's members find a partner, unless they only have two players. One set of players will be put in the 'A' bracket while the other group will be put into the 'B' bracket. The winners of the 'A' bracket will face off against the winners of the 'B' bracket to find out the true champions. But," the DJ began before the crowd could do anything. "there's two wild card teams that will show up in both brackets. May I introduce to you the two members, Ryo and Lexi, of the Dragon Lords!" The DJ pointed over towards a boy and a girl entering the stadium. The boy had reddish-brown hair, like Michelle's, that was spiked up into the air. His red eyes glowered at anyone he came in eye contact with. He wore a cloak, again like Amara and Michelle, which made his appearance look even more suspicious. His partner had blondish-blue tinted hair that was thrown up into a messy bun and flopped idly behind her. Her eyes were cloudy blue, but seemed to pierce through anything and everyone. Her cloak matched that of her partners and they both walked to the center to join the other teams.
"And I thought Amara and Michelle were scary," Kenny voiced.
"They are," Hillary added and the other BladeBreakers smirked.
"And here's the other wild card team, the Black Wings!" The crowd turned towards the locker room to see the duo walk out. They both wore their traditional cloaks and stood near Lexi and Ryo. As the DJ announced their names the two wild card teams glowered at each other.
"You'll pay for every sin you ever made, Corrupts," Lexi threatened.
"And you'll pay for every stupid remark that you've voiced, Dragon Lord." Amara spat, her eyes narrowing dangerously.
It was obvious that Lexi was going to retaliate, but Ryo held out his hand for her to be quiet. "We'll settle our differences in the dish. And trust me, neither of you will survive."
"Is that all you guys can do now?" Michelle mocked as the DJ stopped his announcements and the Dragon Lords left. "Make threats and never be able to carry them out?"
"We beat you once!" Lexi retorted, darting around to face the Corrupts. "We can easily do it again.
"You had everyone then and now it's only you two. If I remember correctly, we almost won," Amara scoffed.
Ryo held Lexi back and they walked out of the arena.
"Okay, well… It seems there's already some rivalry between some of the contestants. Save it for the dish though. We don't want any mishaps," the DJ warned.
Lexi rolled her eyes, "Yeah, we'll save it for the dish alright. The dish of our choosing that is." Ryo smirked, and agreed.
"You guys sure made a scene."
Lexi and Ryo looked up to see their other partner, Artemis, standing with one hand on his hip. His hair was blonde and spiked, just a little shorter than Ryo's. His eyes were an amber color, matching the amber bandana across his upper arm. "You're not suppose to draw attention to yourself. Now they know who you are."
"They've always known who we were, Artemis," Ryo replied with a small hint of ridicule in his voice.
"True, obviously they have. But now they know that Lexi is hotheaded and you are quiet and sinister," Artemis explained.
Lexi merely snorted. "Let them know. We'll crush them like we did so long ago."
"Don't be so confident in your abilities, Lexi. That will only get you killed." With that said Artemis turned and left them, Ryo following close behind.
Lexi scowled at them before turning around and looking back over at the Corrupts. They were over by the BladeBreakers, talking. She spat on the floor and rubbed her shoe over it. "Just you wait."
"I take it that you guys know each other?" Max observed, noting the threats that were exchanged between the Black Wings and the Dragon Lords.
"We'd rather not talk about such relations," Amara replied simply and Max merely shrugged.
"Just askin'"
§§
"Rei!" Mariah ran over towards the BladeBreakers as they exited the arena. Her arm waved wildly in the air, trying to grab their attention. She stopped right before the team to catch her breath. "Did we miss the announcements?"
"Yeah," Rei responded and looked over her shoulder, trying to find the rest of the team. "Where've you been?"
"We got caught up in Europe." Her eyes narrowed dangerously at the mention of the delay and everyone turned to one another.
"What do you mean 'caught up'? What happened?" Kenny asked.
"We ran into-"
"Someone took Galleon." Rei looked behind Mariah to see Kevin supporting Lee and Gary off to the side.
"What do you mean someone took Galleon?" Tyson asked Kevin, bidding him to continue.
"We were lost, trying to find our plane when Lee here got dragged into a battle," Kevin explained.
"Well, bring him inside," Max offered. "He obviously needs to sit down and rest."
The White Tigers obliged and supported Lee inside. He looked worse for wear. He could barely stand on his own and his breathing still came in short gasps.
"How long ago was this battle?" Kenny asked.
"A while ago actually. We're surprised that he hasn't recovered yet either," Mariah said with a small sigh. She looked over at her captain, sitting on the bench in their locker room, and hung her head low. "We're thinking it's 'cause Galleon's gone."
"Yeah, back to that, do you remember who took Galleon?" Hillary asked, taking a seat across from the White Tigers.
"There you guys are." Amara and Michelle walked past the locker room door and stepped in the doorway. "We've been looking for you," Amara said.
"She did!" Everyone looked toward Lee when he spoke. Mostly out of surprise but also to see who he was pointing at. It was straight at Michelle.
"What do you mean? Michelle's been with us the whole-" Tyson stopped mid-sentence when he remembered the time in the park. He then too looked suspiciously at Michelle. The Black Wing was careful to show no outward signs of emotion as she stepped further into the locker room to face Lee and the White Tigers.
"Yes! I know it was you!" Kevin shouted and lunged at Michelle. Michelle held her ground and took Kevin's oncoming punch stoically. "You deserved that, demon."
Michelle managed a grimace at the insult, and turned back to the White Tigers. "I did what had to be done."
"So you admit it!" Mariah pronounced, pointing an accusing finger at the Elemental.
"But why, Michelle?" Max asked, stepping between the White Tigers and the Black Wing.
"You know each other?" Gary asked, looking at Max and Michelle questionably.
"We thought they were our friends," Hillary scoffed.
"First Zeo and now Lee? Don't tell me you took Robert's too! Is that why they're not here?" Tyson yelled, ready to throw a punch at Michelle too.
"We did what must be done." Everyone turned to Amara as she walked into the room and stood next to her comrade.
"I don't care about when, where or who. All I care about is why," Kai spoke coldly and everyone turned to him. Max nodded and moved off to the side again.
"Yes, please enlighten us." The tone in Rei's voice caused everyone to shift over to him. All except Michelle; she kept her eyes away. She knew Rei was mad at her. It was quite obvious. His hands were clenched firmly at his sides and his eyes were narrowed very dangerously. "Why all of these secrets?"
"If we told you then they wouldn't be very good secrets not would they?" Amara scoffed, surprised at her own tone.
Even though her outward appearance didn't support it, Michelle's voice came out strong. "Now is not the right time."
"Damn it, Michelle!" Rei shouted, surprising everyone with his choice of language. "Now is never the time, but now you're not making the decision, we are. Now is the perfect time. Explain."
"No." Michelle's reply came swift and confidently, despite her feelings inside.
"Why you little-" Tyson began, but Kai held him back. "Wha- Kai!" Tyson pulled away from his teammate as soon as he heard the sound of another punch. He looked back over at the Black Wings and saw that Rei was the one who threw the punch at Michelle. By the sound of it, Tyson concluded, it hit Michelle squarely on the right cheek.
Everyone gasped and fell silent.
Rei's fists shook at his sides as he stared at the floor. "I'm tired of this." Michelle kept her face averted. "I'm tired of this!" Rei repeated louder. "At first I saw you as a friend, even though nobody else trusted you. Then, after the incident with Zeo, I didn't know what to think. I mean why would a friend of mine attack another friend deliberately? I realize that Amara was the one that did the deed, but you were both involved," Rei added. "But then the encounter on the train, and with what happened to you, I was scared. I had forgotten all about Zeo and Cerberus. When you got better, I finally began to call you a friend again. And now… this." His fists began to shake uncontrollably. "I value friendship more than anything else, Michelle. But I guess that's something that doesn't flow through the heart of a Corrupt, …a killer."
Everyone held their breath, especially the BladeBreakers. Amara turned her head away, trying to mask her own pain, but not being able to.
"Maybe you're right," Rei continued softly. "Maybe now isn't the right time and as far as I'm concerned, it can never come." Rei finally looked up at Michelle, although she didn't match his gaze. "Anyone who hurts any one of my friends is my enemy. I'm not warning you Michelle, I'm threatening you. Now go; get out of my sight. Go put pain into someone else's life. Go do what you do best."
No one spoke for a long moment. Michelle broke the stillness by turning to look at Rei. Her eyes weren't harsh, but soft and full of pain. They matched sights for another long moment before Michelle too broke that and left the room. Amara waited a few seconds, locking gazes with Kai. They shared the same thoughts, it seemed, but Amara didn't wait around, she had to catch Michelle.
"Rei, that was a little-" Mariah began.
"Just leave me alone," Rei interrupted and left the room, turning the opposite way of the duo.
Amara caught up to Michelle and whirled her around by the arm to face her. For some reason she just wanted to yell at her comrade, to scream and tell her to retaliate against Rei. But all thoughts of anger vanished with Michelle's one look.
Tears rimmed her eyes and one could tell that she was trying desperately to hide them. She chuckled, or something that sounded like a laugh and sob combined. "Emotions, things that only make one weak… And tears belong to the weakest one." One of her tears trickled down her cheek and Amara noticed that she didn't bother to wipe it away. "Yes… the weakest one." At that moment she turned and walked away.
Amara stood still, anchored in her spot. "Why are we doing this, Tiamat? Is a mere premonition, a hunch, worth all of this?"
"We must follow orders," Tiamat said at length.
Amara laughed mockingly, "Orders. Because that's all we can do now is it? Follow orders and wait?" She looked down the darkening hallway. "But like I said before," she whispered. "is it worth it?"