Chapter 2: Qualifying Requirements
[Come in, and please have a seat] called Mr. D as you and Chris knocked on his door. Walking in you and Chris picked the seats directly across from him, which just happened to be on end of the long oval table. [You wanted to see us?] Chris asked dully as he picked up a pencil that was left on the table. He then found a piece of paper a couple of inches away from him. {That's going to amuse him for a long time} you thought rolling your eyes and turning your attention back to Mr. D. [Yes I did want to see you two.] Mr. D started as he looked both of you in the eye. Well he looked Chris in the head since he was now doodling away. [Since you two left so early from the meeting that was held before you missed what I had to say to each team]. He now paused to look at you two with a stern look. [I don't want to lecture you, for Meg I know one of your brothers will later and Adam will talk to you Chris.] More stern staring with added rolling of the eye on yours and Chris's part. {Boy does it take him a long ass time to say something simple} you thought as you looked over towards Chris's drawing. It was a simple drawing of Mr. D being hit in the head with a rock. Smirking you looked back up at Mr. D who was now glaring at Chris. Chris realized that the silence in the room was most likely his fault so he looked up towards Mr. D as well. [Now that I have both of your attention I can tell you what you are truly here to hear. Earlier when I asked what the teams strongest blader was you only got to hear the BBA Revolution and the White Tigers, correct?] he asked already know the answer. But just to make the old fart happy you and Chris gave a small head nod and a bored as hell look. [Then you will need to hear who else is the team captions as it was announced today. For Zatknjisj the team leader is now Luke. Eric is the team leader for F.I.N.E. Tala is the leader for the Blitzkrieg Boys, and you Meg are the leader for Lunar Ray.] Mr. D finished looking at the paper he had in front of him. You and Chris just stared at him with blank faces. [Well. Aren't you going to say something?] Mr. D asked taking off his glasses and cleaning them with his shirt. [What did you want us to do. Jump for joy?] you questioned dully as you took Chris's pencil and started to draw on your own piece of paper. Mr. D chose to ignore your comment and continue with his speech. Whatever the hell it was about. [Now as you both know that every year you have to qualify for the World Championships. Last year it was another battle in divisions to see who would advance to the final rounds before teams were even picked. This year their will be no battle. We already know that we have the best bladers world wide signed up. And most likely you will all be competing in the battles this year, but we needed to make it different from last year. So the team that you were sitting across from earlier is now your partner team. To review the partners will be Blitzkrieg Boys and Lunar Ray, Zatknjisj and BBA Revolution, then it was Majestics and PPB All-stars and finally White Tigers and F.I.N.E. Since it was a perfect match of teams we wont need to have any group of three or one team working by themselves. Oh and] Mr. D continued but you cut him off. [Are you almost done?] you grumbled your paper almost completely black from your shading. [Yes I just wanted to tell you about the ball that we will be having to raise money for the World Champions. It will be held tomorrow at nine o'clock (PM) sharp. You must all be there it is a qualifying requirement. Also I have your dress Meg and your suit Chris picked out for you.] You just stared at him in disbelief. Not only was he making you go to a ball, but he, HE the old fat fart, had picked out your outfits. {This is going to suck} you thought as he dismissed you. [Oh Meg, Chris! Your teams are practicing in the training room! Its the next floor down!] Mr. D shouted after you as you closed the door. [Fun] you said sarcastically as you headed towards the stairs not even bothering with the elevator.[Hey Meg! Hey Chris!] called Sully as he saw you two walk in the door. You both nodded in his direction showing you heard him, but you were to busy looking around the room to truly care that he was talking to you. A giant black mat was set in the middle of the room for one on one combat, weights lined the walls, and beydishes were everywhere. [Wow] you could hear Chris whisper under his breath and you had to agree with him. This room was huge and it seemed to have all the equipment you needed to train. Next to the wall was even a table full of water. [Want to fight Meg?] called Adam from the centre of the mat. Looking towards him you just smirked. But before you answered him you walked over to a small table with water and grabbed the last unopened one. Grabbing the transparent bottle you popped the cap off and drank half of it. {God that was disgusting} you thought recalling the metallic taste of the water you drunk moments ago. {You would think that the BBA could afford better water}. Then slowly you made your way to the opposite side of the centre. [Five bucks on Adam] Rika said to Luke as they stopped there beybattle to watch your fight. And surprisingly Luke the normally silent one, gave her an answer [No. Megs stronger]. [Well see. Well see] Rika said confident in Adam as she crossed her arms and waited for the start of your fight. Jess then walked over to the stereo and pressed playing knowing that both you and Adam prefer to fight to music.[Feel the tension of rejection, bleach it out with the therapy, The confusion and seclusion, Turns it into my deformity] started Spineshanks Self-Destructive Pattern. As soon as the drums started Adam lunged at you his fist raised ready for a punch. But you easily ducked and jumped back. Expecting this, Adam quickly turned around and kicked you hard in the ribs. You slid on the mat a little before regaining your balance. You just had to smirk at him. This was going to be a good fight. Then the rhythm guitars kicked in and you started to fight back. Running at Adam full speed you caught him off guard. Right before you ran into him, you jumped into the air and round house kicked him in the jaw. From the force Adam was throw face first down to the mat. A thin line of blood pooled on his lip as he stood up and stared you down. Just then you got a sudden twinge of pain in your stomach. But you had to push that out of your mind as Adam came rushing at you full force. Raising his fist he prepared himself to punch you in your stomach. You braced yourself for the impact of his fist. But it never came. He instead swung his foot underneath your legs and sent you toppling towards the ground. Although before you slammed into the mat you threw your hands down and catapulted yourself into the air. Landing behind Adam gave you enough time to catch your breath. But as you stayed in your crouching position the sharp pain returned to your stomach. And this time you also had a soft ringing in your ears. Just then Adam quickly running at you caught your attention. Pushing your problems out of your mind once again you grabbed his steadily coming fist. With his one hand blocked Adam threw is other fist at you. Which you blocked with your left arm. A dull pain seeped into your arm the first sigh of a tell tale bruise that is sure to be there tomorrow. Adam continued to punch with the beat of the drums. Bang, bang, bang. You just held your ground and blocked with the rhythm of the guitars. Adam was tiring fast and quickly loosing speed. Seeing your opportunity, you quickly started to punch him back counting to follow the guitar rhythm. Dum, dum, dum dum. Adam soon fell to the mat exhausted and breathing heavy. Looking up he looked you in the eye and said [You. Win Meg.] But the words barely reached your ears. You were now feeling dizzy and unbelievably hot. The pain had also returned to your stomach. The room started shifting in your eyes. Slowly you brought your hands down to your stomach and gripped your sides in an attempt to dull the pain. [Meg are you alright] you heard Chris distantly call to you. You wanted to call out to him. To just tell him that something was wrong. Or to just hold him in a cousinly way. But you felt detached from the situation. Like this wasn't really happening to you. You were only watching it on the sidelines. But that just wasn't the case. Slowly you started to fall towards the floor. As you collided with the ground you could feel your breath shortening. With every breath you took the pain increased making the next breath agony. Your vision soon started to grow black as the pain grew even more intense and your breath shallower. But just before the black totally engulfed you heard a voice calling your name. [Meg!]. It sounded so familiar. So familiar. But who was it calling you. Who was...*Adams POV*Quickly you crouched down next to Megs ridged. You wanted her to know that you were here to help her through anything. Chris, Devin, and Mike were by your side probably all thinking the same thing. All three had worried looks spread on their faces. No one was use to seeing Meg like this. She was the strong one. The one that would put anyone else pain before her own. She's the one that would die for you. Right now she looked to be in so much pain. And she just was never the only to show pain. Three months ago when she had the infection in her arm, she never mentioned it. Then after the hospital released her she never complained that it hurt. So what in the world could be wrong with her? [Meg, you're going to be ok] you tried telling her. [Everything's going to be just fine] But she wouldn't even turn her eyes towards you. {She cant hear me!} you thought panicky. {If she heard me she would have nodded or said something smart}. Worry started to overwhelm you. What was truly wrong with your sister? Just then you could hear the room door open. Looking over you saw the Blitzkrieg Boys walk in. Tala and Spencer seemed to be deep in conversation while Bryan and Kai just stayed silent. Looking over the room they found nothing wrong. But then Bryan noticed that a crowed was formed in one corner of the room. Something that you didn't even realize until you looked up from Meg. [What's wrong?] Bryan called to you. Eminently after taking one look at you, worry started to come to his eyes. Something very strange for him. But you could feel it in your own eyes as well. Which must have warned him that something major was wrong. [Meg... Something's wrong with Meg...] said Rika as she looked worriedly down at Megs curled position on the mat, her shallow gasping breaths, and her distantly staring eyes. [What...?] Bryan asked his eyes growing wide with shock. Tala and Spencer had now stopped their conversations to listen to what was going wrong. [Her and Adam were fighting and she just collapsed.] said Devin as he grabbed her hand and held it tight. Shock rose in the other guys eyes. [Meg!] Tala called as he started to run over towards pain ridged figure. Turning your attention back to Meg, you saw that her eyes had moved. They were looking over to were Tala had called to her. {He got through to her} you thought as Tala kneeled down next to her and grabbed her other hand. [Meg. Meg! Meg wake up!] Tala called. But Megs eyes slowly started drooping. She was falling unconscious. In and instant she was scoped up in Tala's arms and he was calling back to us telling us that he was taking her to the hospital. You, Chris, Devin, Mike, and the rest of the Blitzkrieg Boys chased Tala's running form down the hall. {God I hope you're ok Meg} you thought just starting your descent down the long staircases.*With You*A dull pain in your stomach greeted you as you slowly started to wake up. After a couple long minutes of just laying there you decided that you should see where you were. Slowly you opened your eyes. A bright white ceiling is what meet your unsuspecting eyes making you close them right away. But you opened them again seconds later prepared for the bright whiteness that was there. {Where am I?} you thought as you looked down to see that you were in a large king sized bed. But it wasn't a hospital bed. It was too big. And way too comfy. The comforter that was covering you from your shoulders down was a strange floral pattern that consisted of blues, greens, and yellows. Not something that you liked. It looked to be a hotel bed, but it sure as hell wasn't your crappie hotels bed. There wasn't a stain that you could see on this bed. So just where were you? Looking to your left you saw a jacket thrown carelessly on a light oak dresser. It was a blue, white, and orange mass. {That looks like... Tala's...} you thought looking at it. You stared at it for a while longer pretending that it would just answer your questions the longer that you stared at it. Or at least move. [Its surprising your awake so soon after what happened] came a voice from your right breaking your concentration to move the jacket with your mind power. Turning you saw none other then Tala standing at a large window with and attached window seat. {Why do they get the nice hotel room?} you thought thinking back to your shit hole so wrongfully called a hotel room. You then turned your attention back to Tala. He only had on a white muscle shirt (along with his normal pants or course), telling you that he most likely got hot. Or was just sick of wearing the same jacket all the time, you knew that you sure as hell would be. [What... What happened?] you asked him in a weak voice feeling tired all of a sudden. {What the hell happened with my voice!} you screamed to yourself now really interested in what was going on. [Someone poised you] he answered seriously looking you in the eye. You could feel the shock come to your face and you didn't try to hide it. Even if it was faked. All you could do for a long time was just stare at him. Why would someone want to poison you? How could you have been poisoned? Those should be the questions going through your mind. But they aren't. you know exactly who did this. And why they did. [The bottle of water that you drank from had arsenic in it. You're luckily that you survived after all the running around like that after drinking that much of the poison.] he continued. Still all you could do was stare at him in fake disbelief. Was someone trying to poison just you or was it just a coincidence that only you just happened to pick up a poisoned bottle. For a while a strange silence hung in the air. Until something else came to your mind. [And... I'm in... your hotel room...?] you half stated half questioned. Tala sighed and slowly walked over to the bed. Before giving you your answer he took a seat on the far corner of the bed looking tired all of a sudden. [We did take you to the hospital, but Chris suggested that someone take you back to their hotel room since you hate hospitals. Adam said your bed wasn't comfortable] {Understatement} [So our room was the only option. ] Tala said. But the way he said Chris's name made you look at him weirdly. Then it clicked what was wrong. [He's my cousin] you said calmly as if it was a question he asked. You could see the flash of shock in his eyes before they returned back to their normal cold state. You both stayed silent for a while after that. You were staring out the window as well as Tala. Both of you leaving many things unsaid. [Meg] Tala said in a low voice. Out of the corner of your eye you could she him turn to look at you. [Huh] you asked as you turned to look at him. Once you were looking at his eyes you found him looking intensely at you. For a long minute you just stared at each other. You didn't know what to do. You had nothing to say, but you didn't want to look away. Then just when he opened his mouth to say something the hotel door opened. Quickly you turned to see that Kai had walked in the door. Kai paused seeing someone else in the room. He stayed there, holding the door open and just stared at you two. For a long time he just stood there, looked at you. You could tell that he wanted to say something to you. But you didn't want to ask him what he wanted. And it seemed very clear that he wasn't going to say it on his own. Kai then turned his attention to Tala. [I'm going to go now] you emotionlessly said after Kai started to glare at Tala. You knew this wasn't something that you really wanted to get into with both of them. They were both good friends of yours, and you truly just didn't want other peoples problems thrown at you. Throwing the covers off your body you jumped out of the bed. Although you really didn't want to leave the warmth and comfort of the covers. A quick dizziness suddenly came over came you, but you ignored it. You just wanted to get back to your crappie hotel and see your brother and team mates. And without knowing what Tala and Kai were fighting about. Both boys were now staring at you body as you turned back to look at them. Looking down you saw that you were in one of Adams black baggy shorts that went down an inch past your knees and a black cami. {Great} you thought as you headed towards the door. [Later] you called as you started to walk down the hall. {Wonder what's up with Kai} you thought as you started to go down the steps. {He looked pretty pissed}.A cold breeze cut right through you as you opened the hotels front door. Quickly you ran down the steps and started to fast walk on the side walk. All of the people surrounding you had on winter coats or at least a hoody. Out of instinct you brought your arms up and wrapped them around yourself in and attempt to keep warm. {Damn... Why didn't anyone leave me a hoody?} you thought as a puff of breath turned into a cloud right before your face. {Great}. A lot of strange looks were being thrown your way from the winter coated people. {What the fuck are you looking at? Never seen a cold person before?} you shouted in your head, but continued to walk on. After a couple of minutes and aimlessly walking nowhere you looked up at the street sign at the end of the block. Sakura read the white letters. {Where the hell is that?} you thought just staring at the sigh. {And I don't even know where my hotel is...} you thought with a sigh as you finally started to walk again. [Miss would you like my scarf?] came a mans voice from your right. Turning you could see a man around his forties holding out a black scarf for you to take. You were just about to take the scarf out of pure frozenness, not truly being your style. But before you could even reach out to grab it something was draped over your shoulders. Looking you saw a certain blue, white, and orange jacket placed on your shoulders. [She's fine] came a cold voice from behind you. The man turned his attention to the person behind you before looking back at you and say [Well have a nice day anyway] with a smile. Surprised by the mans kindness you gave a small head nod. [Better] Tala asked as he stood next to you. [Ya, thanks] you mumbled as you continued to walk with him next to you. For a while you both stayed silent. [Do you need anything?] you asked him after a while and him not saying a word. [I need to talk to you about something.] he said refusing to look at you. You said nothing back to him. He would tell you when he was ready. And till then you were just stuck following him.{Die, withdraw, Hide in cold sweat, Quivering lips, Ignore remorse, Naming a kid, living wasteland, This time you've tried, All that you can turning you red} you thought as 10 Years Wasteland popped into your head. You and Tala were now out of the city completely and were walking in what looked to be a wooded area. Tala hasn't said a word since you've started your little walk. And the silence was now starting to bug you. {1... 2... 3...} you started to count the lives in the trees. {...582. Damn where are we going!} you shout in your head now totally board. Just then Tala stops walking and turns around. [Meg] he said looking at you. [Humm] you mumbled looking at him bored. [Were here] he said walking over to a railing. [Here I didn't know we were suppose to be going anywhere] you muttered to yourself as you followed him. Placing one hand on the railing you looked over to see what it was keeping you out of. Once you saw it your breath caught. It was a river. Well not just a river, it was the river that you had fallen in almost a year ago. Your mind flashed back to the freezing cold of the water and your lungs burning for air. [What's wrong with you?] came Tala's cold voice breaking you from your thoughts. [Nothing] you mumbled as you took your hand off of the railing. You then turned to look at Tala. Shocked you found him sitting on the railing. You could see some concern in his eyes as he looked at you. But his gaze was also telling you something else. That he wouldn't tell you anything till you sat on the railing. Or at least told him why you didn't want to . And you felt like telling him even less then sitting on the railing. Taking a deep breath you pulled yourself up onto the rail. But this time you were facing the forest instead of the water. Which is was what Tala was facing. [Do... Do they know?] Tala asked after a long minute of silence. [Who?] you asked confused thinking of the many different people that he could be talking about. [Rika and them... Do they know?] he half whispered staring into the water. Shocked you turned your eyes to look at him. [You mean you actually know?] you asked him in disbelief. You didn't think that he would remember Rika or anyone from her team. [Answer the question Meg] he growled at you as he glared into the water. [Yes they do know.] you answered as you stared at a squirrel jumping from tree to tree. [Was it you that told them?] he asked seething you could just tell from his voice. But why was he getting so mad over this? [No] you emotionlessly as you watched the squirrel drop his nut that he was holding and randomly start to push on the tree. {Dumb thing}. [DONT LIE I KNOW YOU DO!] screamed Tala as he turned to face you. His sudden out burst made you jump. With your sudden movement you felt off centred on the railing. {Damn it! This isn't good..} you thought taking a glance towards the water only twenty five feet away. [TELL ME!] Tala demanded not knowing anything about your sudden discomfort. You could now feel yourself falling backwards. Quickly you brought your hands down to grasp the railing. But Tala didn't notice. [DAMN IT MEG!] he continued to scream. But you now weren't playing any attention to him. You could feel the pull of gravity becoming stronger and stronger. Until suddenly the wind was whipping through your hair as you fell towards the ice cold water below.