Chapter 48-------Hovenweep
"DRACIEL! FORTRESS DEFENCE!"
The purple blade built up a force-shield around it, blocking out the opponent's attack.
"Tyson!"
"Right!" The bluenette nodded. He waited for Draciel to tag Dragoon and "DRAGOON STORM!"
The huge hurricane sent the opponent's blade spiralling through the air.
"TIGRIS!"
But it was too late, the hurricane died down and the orange blade was thrown out of the dish.
"WWWWWWWHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAA!" The crowd cheered while Max and Tyson hi-5ed each other.
"We WON! Oh yeah! We WON! Uh huh!" The pair did a little victory dance.
'What the hell?' Mai thought, as she watched from the stands.
"No…Tigris!" The boy ran to get his blade. He held it firmly in his hand. They were so close! Why had they lost?
Trey's partner came up beside him and shook his head, "C'mon, there's no point anguishing over it. We'll try again next year." Jacky lifted his friend and the pair exited the arena.
"They won." Rei said on a happy note.
"It's your turn now, isn't it?" She looked at the pair. Rei nodded and called for Kai to get going. "Good luck!" She called after them.
"Thanks!"
Mai slowly made her way to where Max and Tyson were. She would join them for now. 'So this is what I get for not battling… I get passed around like some parcel…Stupid Kai!' She checked her watch and sighed, '30 more minutes before I get passed on to Judy…'
"Congratulations on winning. Great team work at the end." Mai flashed a smile though she didn't really feel like it. One shouldn't bring down another's happiness right?
"Thanks!" Max gave her an even toothier grin. "Looks like Tyson's enjoying the limelight." He jerked his head towards the boy who was flailing his arms at the roaring crowd.
"Yeah, the buffoon." The both of them had a laugh at this.
Mai walked over to where Tyson was standing, "C'mon," She pulled him by the ear, "before they start throwing their underwear at you."
"Let go of my ear! I've got feet, I can walk back myself." Tyson pulled away and turned back once again to his adoring fans, "THANK YOU! WE LOVE YOU AMERICA!" The crowd chanted Tyson's name over and over again and the boy merrily returned their support by flashing smiles and victory signs all the way until the group was out of sight.
"Tsk. Honestly, how big-headed can you get?" Mai tossed Tyson a can of coke as the teenagers chilled in the lounge: a small area at the back of the arena furnished with a few black-cushioned sofas, a speckled-grey tabletop and a vending machine by the side of the wall. She slumped down into a chair and swung her arm lazily over the armrest.
"What? We have to please the fans; it's good publicity." He took a swig of his coke.
"So when's the preliminary round?" Mai questioned.
"Dunno," Max leaned back in his chair, "depends on how long our rest period is."
"Rest period?"
"The period between two matches. We're given time to fix our beyblades, train and stuff." Tyson replied.
"Ohh." Mai nodded her head. 'Guess there's still a lot I don't know about.'
Mai watched as the boys tried to aim their cans into the trash bin.
"SCORE!" Max shouted triumphantly. Tyson's can bounce off the edge of the bin; he picked it up and threw it in.
Just then, Judy walked in. "I heard you boys won, congratulations!" She stood next to Max, "I heard the All Starz are through to the preliminaries too, guess you'll be facing them soon."
"Who are the All Starz?"
"The pride and joy of America." Max joked, earning a laugh from Tyson and a frown from his mother.
"Don't listen to him; he doesn't like the All Starz because Eddy beat him once." Judy said the last bit in a whispered tone. Mai smirked, now she knew why.
"That's 'cos he had his blade fitted with some spring device!" Max sat upright to defend himself.
"It's all right buddy. We all knowhow it feels like to lose." Tyson said in faked sympathy and patted him on his shoulder. The blond boy moved away with a leave-me-alone look on his face.
'Oh, before I forget!' Mai rummaged through her pocket and pulled out a picture, "Um Mrs Tate, about this picture…" She held the Polaroid in between her index and middle fingers.
"Ah, I remember this. This was taken at Hovenweep. (blu: Hovenweep really does exist, go check it out. I did my research haha ;P) Where'd you get this?"
"I found it in Max's cupboard." Mai replied.
"Oh yeah, I sent this to him as a postcard." Judy had that oh-now-I-remember look as she studied the picture.
"Um, about this Hovenweep, if it's not too much to ask, can you please take me there?"
Judy raised an eyebrow, "You want to go to Hovenweep?" Mai gave a small "Yeah." "But what for? The place is in ruins."
"Mai has something very important to do, so we have to go there." Max begged.
"Honey, Hovenweep lies in a canyon, it's not so easy to get there. And it's all the way in Colorado, it'll be ha—"
"C'mon mom, please?"
"Please Mrs Tate?"
Two pairs of puppy-eyes were far more than she could take. "Fine, I'll try and arrange something." Judy finally gave in. "But if I can't get any transportation then it's off, got that?"
"Yeah! You're the best, mom!" Max was beaming from ear to ear. Mai's face brightened up too.
Judy sat down on a nearby chair and sighed, "But why Hovenweep? It'd better be for something seriously important, I'm not gonna waste my resources on some sight-seeing trip." Her voice was stern.
"Rest assured, Mrs Tate. There really is something important there that I have to find out." Mai said, but the look on Judy's face told her that she wasn't convinced.
The girl hesitated, 'How do I say this?' "Um Mrs Tate, do you know about this ancient tribe called the Norwings?"
"Norwings? But Hovenweep was home to the Pueblo North American Indian tribe…" Judy pondered a bit, "But anyway, I'll do some research on them. So you belong to this Norwing tribe then?"
"No…" Mai reached for her black wrist band and pulled it down to reveal her birthmark, "Actually I'm a Zeelan."
'Mai!' Tyson never thought she would reveal herself to anyone else but them. "But you…-points to birthmark and then to Judy-" He didn't get it.
"It's all right. Hopefully I can trust Mrs Tate not to tell anyone?" She looked to the woman for reassurance.
Judy smiled, "So you belong to the tribe that got wiped out by the fire…Ah, now I get it. No wonder you're living with the boys. You're all right, right? I mean, everything's okay?" She gave Mai a sympathetic look.
"Yeah, I'm okay. It's in the past." Mai got up and headed towards the vending machine. 'But there are still the memories…'
"Maybe…maybe the Norwings are actually the North American Indians? Just that over here we call them North American Indians but Mai knows them as Norwings." Max suggested.
The girl popped a few quarters into the slot and pushed a red button. The machine rumbled for a bit before a thud was heard at its base. She bent down to retrieve her can of green tea. "Max could be right," She said as she walked back to the circle of people huddled around the tabletop. "But like Rei always says, we won't know until we actually get there."
"Get where?" A familiar voice sounded from the other side of the room. All of them turned to see Rei and Kai enter the lounge.
"So? Did ya guys win?"
"What do you think?" Rei grinned.
"Ahah!" Tyson wagged a finger at the neko-jin, "You did, didn't you? Hahaha! Hi-5 man!" The two clapped their palms together, laughing.
"Anyway, we're we going?" Rei sat himself next to Max while Kai sat across from Mai.
"To Hovenweep. It's the place in the picture." Max slid the photo across the table to Rei who picked it up for a closer look. "My mom says she'll arrange the transport for us to get there."
Rei nodded and placed the picture back on the table.
"Anyway, I'd better get back." Judy stood up, "Mai, your coming with me right?"
"Uh yeah." The girl quickly stood up.
"I'll bring her back at 8 so you boys go ahead and have dinner first, okay?" With that, Judy signalled for Mai to follow her out of the lounge.
"8? That's a bit late, isn't it?" Kenny commented.
"Dun worry, my mom will take care of her. Anyway," Max got up and adjusted his shirt, "we've gotta get our beyblades fixed. There's a shop on the ground floor."
"Oh yeah! They have Orange Julius on the ground floor! Let's go get some shakes!"
Max pushed the back of Tyson's head, which made Rei chuckle. "Ok fine fine! Fix beyblades first…" The bluenette sulked as the group walked along…
-Fast forward-
"Yo!" Mai flopped onto Kai's bed. The boys were all sitting on her mattress playing cards.
Kenny rejoined the group after opening the door for her, "is it my turn?"
"Yup."
Mai watched the boys take turns to throw down their cards. She reached for the empty box and shook out the two jokers. She scrutinised its edge and ran her finger over it. "Heh." A smirk appeared on her lips and she took out her blade.
"Hey Rei! Think fast!" Mai flicked the card at him.
"Huh!" The card missed his hair but not his sleeve.
"You can't just fling a card at someone for no reason." Tyson spoke up.
Mai got off the bed to retrieve the joker, "No, I wanted to show you this." She pulled at Rei's sleeve; a tiny slit appeared on the white cloth. "Cool huh?" Her eyes twinkled. "And sorry Rei, I promise I'll sew it back. I was actually going for your hair."
"You did that with just a card?" Tyson decided he would try too. He took a card and ran it over the bed sheet. "It doesn't cut…"
"Haha. That's because I put diamond dust on the edge." Mai held up the card and her blade. "It's an old trick I learnt. Ninjas in the past used thin metal cards with sharp edges like a knife to attack their opponents. This card thing is just a safer version of it." She grinned.
"It can even cut hair." Mai singled out a strand of hair and sliced it in half. "See?" She held up the cut strand.
"And you're telling us this because?" Kai sounded uninterested. This was all so redundant…
"For fun." Mai rolled on top of Kai's bed with her back against the sheets. Her head dangled over the edge and her hair spilled over the mattress as she looked at them upside down. "I'm bored, so I entertain myself."
"I can see that." Rei chuckled. "Here, you can shuffle the cards then." The boys poured the deck over her head.
"Hey!" She rolled over, dusting the cards off the bed so that she could gather them easily on the floor.
"What do you think we'll find at Hovenweep?" Mai asked as she arranged the cards neatly in a stack before shuffling them.
"Spirits."
"SPIRITS?" Mai exclaimed. 'I don't wanna go to some haunted place!'
"Aww, ish wuittle Mai scared of a wuittle ghost?" Tyson mocked. Mai made a face at him and told him to shut up.
"Not those 'spirits'. The North American Indians pray to spirits like the wind spirit or the fire spirit and uh…..But anyway you get my point right? I could lend you Dizzi if you want to find out more." Kenny finished.
Mai gave a mental sigh of relief, 'So he meant elemental spirits.' She began dealing the cards, "Anyway, since Hilary isn't here and I've got nothing to do, I'll fill in for Hilary as your trainer starting tomorrow."
"What!"
"So it's rise and shine at 5 am, then 5 laps around the lake, do a few sit-ups, push-ups, jumping-jacks blah blah blah, then breakfast at 7. Then it's discussing battle strategies for the next 2 hours and – Hey! We're you going?"
"To sleep." Tyson answered as he headed towards the door with Kenny following behind.
"But I'm not done yet!"
"Exactly!" Tyson shouted before Mai heard the door close.
"Mou!" She huffed.
Kai smirked at her expression. It was adorable in a way, a pouting face with a mixture of anger in it.
"Nani yo! (What)" Mai snapped.
Kai cleared his throat, "Nothing."
"Okay, time to go to bed." Rei packed the last card into the box and got off the mattress.
"You sound like our father..." Mai commented.
"Sou ka. Then how about: let's go clubbing and get ourselves drunk on the pavement?"
"When?" Mai beamed.
Rei threw the pillow at her and laughed, "Baka. Hurry up and change."
"Hai hai." Mai lazily dragged herself off Kai's bed…
That night, Mai had borrowed Kenny's laptop. The 24-inch screen flickered in the dark as Mai surfed the internet.
-click- The image of Hovenweep appeared on screen. Mai clicked again for a larger image. 'Tsk. Don't they have better pictures?' Her browsed through the home page: tribes, culture… Mai clicked on 'Legends'.
'Now there was a Great Spirit watching over everything; some people say he was the sun…Ancients chosen by the Great Spirit to be the first people to live upon the new earth, a long, long time ago…difficulty with the early world was that most of the ancients were selfish and uneducated…Great Spirit made life easier and better for them, and performed many wonderful deeds…' Mai read in her head.
'Great Spirit…Are they referring to Eden?'
Mai heard something move, someone was awake.
"What're you doing?" Rei asked, rubbing his eye.
Mai turned around, "Umm," she quickly made up something, 'studying today's statistics for tomorrow. Sorry if I woke you."
Rei looked at her for a while, "Don't stay up too late." and settled back down.
Mai waited till he was asleep before continuing her research. There wasn't much detailed information on the webpage and she was too lazy to browse through the long list of websites the search engine had given her. 'Hmm…I wonder...'
She typed in 'Team Freedom' and clicked 'GO'.
Ok, i know this chapter is a bit boring but bear with me, i need a transition chapter (however boring it may be) for the next few chapters which will be super super interesting! So yeah, please review!