Justification of Evil
By TheImmortalDoll
Chapter V: Come Together
The boys at the abbey were trained to the fault in discipline. One usual custom was to stand and face resolutely forward whenever a senior member of the staff entered the room. As I pushed opened the door, every child obediently and routinely scrambled to their feet, but every pair of eyes stared fixedly on the space behind me instead on in the customary forward stance.
I ignored the breach in discipline, letting the guards handle it as several boys were whacked and the room ordered to face forward as myself and my line of followers climbed onto the central stage at the front of the hall.
Kala, Tala, Kai, Bryan, Spencer and Ian; in that order they stood in a line a couple of paces behind and to my right with the remaining student-body of the abbey staring.
I stood in the centre of the stage to address the empire I was slowly building. "My young ones, I have called you here today to announce the beginning of a new era in our prestigious abbey. Today we have the start of something potentially unimaginable in the Beyblade world. Today, we have our team. These six students-" I gestured behind me "-have over their short time here shown outstanding talent and ability. They will represent us as a whole in competitions worldwide. With a little more training, they will be ready to take on the world."
Students risked glances at each other, even the guards exchanged looks, all eyes staring questioningly towards Kala. It was time to introduce my prodigy and her new comrades to the gathering before me.
"This is the new team BIOVOLT: Ian Papov, Spencer Petrov-" I began, gesturing to each one in turn. "-Bryan Kuznetsov, Kai Hiwatari, Tala Ivanov…" I paused. I looked at Kala, she raised an eyebrow back at me. I lowered my voice, though I wasn't sure why. "And your new team captain, Kala Ivanov."
Gaps sounded throughout the hall, the place seemed alive with whispers. I looked at Kala once more. The winter sun streamed in through the tall glass window embedded in the walls, the light shining of her hair and reflecting in her eyes, making pale skin almost ghostly white. Demon child.
I turned back. "Now, I dismiss you all to dinner. Eat quickly, training will resume in fifteen minutes."
The boy clambered and dispersed as the guards brought in the serving trays and the large metal tubs of the gruel-like substance the children were fed on. Supposedly nutritious and full of protein, though it resembled (and apparently tasted) similar to something you would feed pigs.
"You are dismissed. Join the ranks," I ordered the six children still stood on the stage. They quickly complied, hurrying together to join the line for food, each being handed a bowl by a guard at the start of the queue that was then filled with their meal before they were allowed to move to a table of their choice.
Kai stood in line with the rest, several students giving the boy uneasy glances. They all knew who he was; grandson of the millionaire, financial power and founder of the abbey, Voltaire Hiwatari. No one seemed to permit themselves worthy to be in the presence of the child, leaving the poor boy undoubtedly lonely, but Kai showed no reaction to the treatment.
Even Tala and the others seemed to shy away. Kai was like a machine, seeming not to notice anyone or anything around him, designed for a purpose and interested in nothing but fulfilling that role.
I watched my young warriors. Bryan, Spencer and Ian seemed to have formed something of an alliance, grouping together at the end of a table on one of the work wooden benches. Tala seemed unsure whether to join them, hovering near his sister as if he wasn't sure what to do without her.
Meanwhile, Kai had chosen his own seat in a far corner on a so far unclaimed table. Another group of boys who had been looking to sit there quickly turned elsewhere.
Tala was served his meal and hung back, waiting for his sister before choosing to take a seat. Kala grimaced as she was served, but beamed at the guard unnervingly and cheerily chirped, "thanks!", before skipping off with Tala following. The girl stopped and looked around, before heading towards the table Kai occupied.
Voltaire's grandson looked up in confusion as Kala enthusiastically jumped onto the seat opposite Kai, her brother nervously joining her. The girl said something to Kai. From where I stood I could not hear the words, but Kai frowned slightly and said something brief back to her before continuing with his meal.
After dinner, the students were herded out to their next class. The majority were taken to the main courtyard to practice launching technique and I ordered for my new team to be taken along with this group.
I myself headed back to my office, preoccupied with competing necessary paperwork and other duties. I had worked undisturbed for almost an hour before I heard frantic footsteps outside the door and then a hasty knock.
"Come in."
A guard entered, looking rather distressed and as if he'd run all the way through the building and up the stairs to this room. "I am sorry for the disturbance, sir, but we need you urgently outside on the courtyard."
Pushing my work aside, I hastily followed as we hurried down stairs and through corridors and out into the bitter cold night air.
At first, I could only stare. Never had I seen such chaos. The guards were running around desperately trying to control the situation as fifty or so children ran every which way. At first I presumed there must be some cause for the panic, that something had frightened these children and they were running in fear or some form of terror. Then I realized that the shrieking and shouting was not screaming and crying, but laughing. And what was going on was a snowball fight.
"Stop that! Get in line! Put that snow down!" Came the constant repetitive cry of the guards.
Eventually I sought of only one thing I could possibly do, and in desperation, I yelled at them all to be quiet.
It was as if someone had pressed the pause button. Everyone and everything stopped. Even the wind around us seemed to still as every hard turned to look at me and in the middle of it all, I spotted the cause of the chaos. Kala.
I marched forward towards the girl, the crowds of boys and guards parting before me until she was left standing, unguarded, in the centre of it all and with the obvious responsibility all but written on her face. "You little brat. What do you think you're doing?"
She shrugged. "All this training is pretty boring. Besides, snowball fights are good exercise."
In my outrage, I backhanded the little bitch. "Don't you dare get smart with me. I let you off before, but this attitude of yours will not be tolerated."
She stumbled back, quickly regaining her balance and moving so fast I didn't realize what was happening until it was over. The damn brat threw a snowball at me.
Not in a mad rage, I leapt at her, snatching her up and pulling her right off of the ground. I threw the girl across the ground, flinging her several feet as the boys moved out of the way in fear, staring in horror. Glancing around, I suddenly found Kai, stood by the wall, arms crossed, watching with so little emotion showing he could have passed for a statue.
Kala was back on her feet, but I moved quickly to shove the girl back on the floor, determined to keep her down, planting a kick into her midriff for good measure. I would reinsert my power here, no matter what I had to do.
And then to my horror, she raised her head and looking up she cried, "come now, my spirit! Come now and do my bidding!"
The boys screamed in terror. The guards froze and stared. The snow around us billowed up from the floor in a white tornado, the tiles on the roof shook as if in anger, the wind blew with hurricane force, slicing cutting through the air. I saw Tala, hands over his head but calm, as if having seen this a thousand times before. I saw Bryan. Spencer and Ian, staring in wonderment. I saw Kai, eyes wide and even his expression held a hint of astonishment; he'd uncrossed his arms and stood, legs braced, staring at the spectacle before him as if trying to work out what was happening.
"Kala!" I yelled over the howling winds. "Stop this, Kala! Stop it!"
Blue eyes glinted with power, crimson locks tumbling in the wind, her skin was porcelain. I loved her and loathed her. Such power, such incredible ability, she was everything and anything I had ever aspired to find in a student, yet this power, this child would not be tamed.
Suddenly, as if the off switch had been clicked, it all stopped. The wind settled, the snow floated to the ground, the boy gradually stopped screaming. I looked up to find Kai, tall and stoic with Kala in his hold, pinning the girls arms behind her back.
Kala didn't fight, didn't argue, just stood there and continued to stare forwards.
"You have a powerful bit-beast," came Kai's voice, a whisper in the girl's ear yet we could all hear. "My grandfather seeks powerful bit-beasts. Yours is strong. Where did you acquire it?"
Kala tossed her head back against his shoulder to look up at him. "You're a tool," he said. "You're grandfather is that rich man, right? What does he want with bit-beasts? And why do you help him? You? You're a kid." And shrugging suddenly out of Kai's hold, she turned to face him. "Loosen up."
For a few moments, silence reigned. The two of them stared at each other, Kai's face a blank mask and Kala's questioning, almost mocking. Suddenly, the girl spoke up: "where's your bit-beast?"
Kai's mask suddenly melted into a picture of complete anger. In a split second, he had both beyblade and launcher in hand, pointing at Kala. "You believe yourself some kind of superior. You want me to show you whose inferior? Battle me now!"
Kala smirked. "Now you're talking!"
I wasn't sure what to do in all honesty. This was completely unauthorized, but in a school of beyblading, how could I tell children off for, well, beyblading? Instead I stood between them and began the countdown. "3…2…1…LET IT RIP!"
Both launched quickly, a black blade and a blue one skimming across the stones and quickly towards each other, colliding with force in the centre before bouncing back.
Kai's blade skidded into a sharp turn and flew straight back at Kala's. They seemed equally matched, exchanging hit for hit, neither gaining or losing any ground as they fought.
"Call out your bit-beast," Kala said suddenly.
Kai's head snapped up as he glared at her. He refused to retort and instead commanded his blade to attack. It slammed into Kala's, pushing her back until the girl took the stance I remembered for yesterday. I knew what was coming.
"Come now, my spirit. Destroy him! I summon you now to destroy his blade!"
Again the invisible spirit came at her command, the air around us shaking, it seemed, with it's power. The bit chip glowed a deep red and black blaze, but there was nothing visible, nothing that took on any form.
"Summon your bit-beast, Kai!" Kala yelled. "Summon it to defender yourself or I'll shatter you to pieces right now."
No one else- myself included- understood what she was talking about. Kai had shown no ability of having a bit-beast, though his power and elemental control suggested that he was viable for one. What bit-beast?
"Summon it! Do it, Kai!" Kala continued yelling, her blade grinding furiously at Kai's. The boy looked defeated until Kala screamed, "Kai!", one more time and suddenly the boy cried out.
"DRANZER!" The blue blade was suddenly immersed in a red haze, and to the astonishment of all present, a giant red phoenix suddenly emerged from the bit-chip. I won't go into the details of descriptions, who in the Beyblading world does not know the appearance of the powerful Dranzer? But we were all stunned; the boy had had a bit-beast all along. Why had the child hidden this powerful entity? And how had Kala known about it?
"Now we're talking," Kala grinned. She threw one arm out as she commanded her own blade. "Take him out!"
What happened from there was so fast I can't properly recall it, but after several ground-shaking clashes of power and swirls of fire dancing in the air, both bit-beasts retreated and as a haze of smoke cleared, I heard one blade clatter to the stone ground and skid to a stop.
The cracked and battered blade of Kai's now-named Dranzer lay on its side, and moments later, Kala's black beyblade fell down beside it after a last determined spin.
"Y-you beat me." Kai seemed stunned, as if he had never believed such a thing to be possible, as if he refused to believe it was possible. "You can't beat me!" he yelled suddenly, glaring at the girl. "No one can beat me! Grandfather told me a Hiwatari never loses! Never!"
Kala didn't reply. She bent down picked both blades from the floor, stuffing her own into her pocket and walking up to Kai's with his in her outstretched hand.
Kai snatched it back angrily, eyes blazing like twin fires.
Kala merely raised an eyebrow. "Anyone can lose, Kai. That is, if they're fighting for something they don't believe in. Why do you fight? Because your Grandfather wants you to? That's pretty pathetic."
"Don't you call me pathetic!" He snarled. "I am a Hiwatari. A Hiwatari must be prideful and victorious and bring honor to the family." His words were both sad and chilling; this young child was a robot, parroting his grandfather's lessons and believing only what he was told to believe. "You are not worthy of me!"
"Oh really?" Kala breathed, voice almost deadly in its composure. "You go on and on about what a Hiwatari must be, but tell me this, what must a Kai be? What about you? What do you believe and want and feel?"
Kai blinked. He seemed confused by that question.
"Do you really believe all these things your Grandfather tells you? I used to wander the streets with my brother. We used to take newspapers from stands and learn to read from them. I studied the pages about your family's empire and all its values. What about your values, Kai?"
Kai's eyes narrowed. "My values are to fulfill my Grandfather's expectations."
Kala shook her head. "If you are so intent of fulfilling his expectations, if you are so loyal, then why do you hide your bit-beast from him?"
Everything paused. Kai opened his mouth several times, as if ready to retort but finding he had no answer. He just glared at the girl, jaw clenched, before turning his back to her suddenly with an angry huff. "Mind your own business."
Kai walked away. Kala wasn't done, she called after him. "We'll battle again sometime, yeah, Kai?"
The boy stopped, paused. For few moments silence reigned, then he raised one arm into the air, fist clench, in a silent message that he had heard and understood. And no I think about it, I realize how similar that gesture was to just yesterday when Tyson asked every much the same thing of the Kai today.