Warnings and Disclaimer are in the first chapter.
Chapter 5
They departed a month after Japan's preliminary tournament, a date decided because it took that long for the other countries to have their preliminaries and choose their teams. The Bladebreakers and Team Gravity headed for different places, as they'd be going around and battling the top teams in each country separately before they congregated in America for the world championships. Ryou, curious, asked Max two weeks into their world tour about the tournament format. The blonde explained that it was how beyblading tournaments were usually conducted, though he admitted he didn't know the exact reasons why.
Even so, the month that Ryou spent traveling around the world with Team Gravity was a thrilling one for the amnesiac teen. Between Australia, Africa, South America, and Europe, there were so many stunning sights and great people to meet. The beyblade tournaments were scattered in there, almost lost in the simple awe of experiencing things Ryou simply hadn't before. However, it was no challenge for him to buckle down and focus on the tournaments, and his skill with his beyblade grew with every battle, as he got used to Drasonet and learned some quirks of his bit beast. It seemed that his armored spider was rather fond of taunting its opponents, something that Ryou didn't like, personally, but it proved an effective strategy in many cases.
Thus, with only a few more wins than losses under his belt, Ryou stepped off of an airplane into Las Vegas, no longer phased by the herds of people passing before him towards the exit. Behind him, Max and Zeo were checking to make sure they still had all of their carryon gear. Studying the crowds intently, Ryou's face lit up into a rare smile and he waved madly, attracting the attention of more than just the person he sought.
"Doctor Frasier!" he called, standing on his toes to better be seen. The object of his attention turned towards him and grinned, walking briskly towards him, a familiar teenaged girl and four not-so-familiar strangers trailing along behind her. He'd called Janet ahead of time to let her know when they'd be showing up, and he was looking forward to meeting her again after so long. Behind his former doctor, four people in plain clothes looked only a little out of place, and he shot them a curious glance before Janet was upon him and he was caught in a double-sided hug.
"It's good to see you, Ryou!" Janet greeted warmly, releasing him to run a critical eye over him. "Goodness, your hair's gotten long. It looks like you've healed up nicely, though!" And with that, she pulled out a small stick that Ryou knew quite well. "Now look straight ahead for me, hm?"
The teen groaned but complied, enduring the Penlight of Doom in his slowly healing left eye. "You seem like you've just been waiting to do that," he observed, blinking the spots out of his eye once she finally released him. Behind him, he heard one snicker and a confused murmur.
"I've been worried about your eye," Janet said, pocketing her penlight and waving the four strangers over. "I'd like you to meet my friends. Guys, this is that patient I told you about, Ryou Mizuhara."
The three men and single woman stepped forward. The older man with graying hair and keen blue eyes offered his hand to Ryou with a preciseness of movement that vaguely tugged at the amnesiac teen's mind, but it was quickly lost when the man spoke. "Jack O'Neill. Nice to meet you."
Ryou shook hands, and then the next man was in front of him. This man was slightly shorter than Jack, blonde hair cropped close to his skull and glasses sending his blue eyes slightly out of focus. Ryou shook the proffered hand. "I'm Daniel Jackson."
The woman was next, her blonde hair not quite reaching her chin, but her eyes were kind. When she moved, it wasn't with quite the same precision as Jack, but it was getting there, he could tell. Again, it nagged at him, but whatever it was that he was being reminded of stayed stubbornly hidden from him, and he shook his head minutely before accepting the woman's hand. "Samantha Carter," she greeted warmly.
The last stranger merely inclined his head, prompting the Japanese-born teenagers to bow back to him. "I am Murray."
"Well, now that everyone's been introduced, shall we get to the hotel?" Janet said brightly. Cassandra bounced in place next to her, obviously eager to go. "I'm sure everyone wants to get comfortable after such a long plane trip!"
Janet drove them to their hotel while the four teenagers chattered happily in the back, Cassandra gleefully updating them about various goings on in her local school. As Ryou had never been to school that he could remember, he listened intently to the stories, something that amused Max and Zeo to no end. They took to teasing him for the rest of the trip by telling outlandish stories that he at first believed, but by the time Janet had parked them he'd caught on to their ploy.
"Here we are!" Janet announced, waving at the hotel as they gathered their bags from the trunk of the car. Ryou glanced around and saw, to his surprise, Janet's friends getting out of their own car a few spots down. "I hope you don't mind us following you around, but we're staying at this hotel too!"
"That's okay," Ryou grinned. "Are they going to come to the tournament?"
Janet shrugged, but it was Daniel, walking over to them, that answered. "We haven't actually seen any beyblade matches, but we all figured that it'd be a good break."
"From deep space radar telemetry," Cassie said, voice, oddly deadpan. "Such hard work."
Janet lightly whapped her daughter on the head. "Since you invited me, I figured you wouldn't mind if I brought friends."
"I'm a bit confused about the rules," Daniel admitted a bit sheepishly. "While you unpack, do you think you could explain?"
. . . . . . .
The tournament wouldn't be held for another three days, time enough for the rest of the teams from around the world to arrive and get settled in. Team Gravity spent the time in the beystadium practicing, Janet's friends their almost-constant shadows. It wasn't all four at the same time, Ryou noticed in between bouts and tweaking Drasonet every few battles. They seemed to take shifts watching the beybladers, and by the time the tournament started, Max and Zeo had finally noticed all of the attention.
While waiting for the Bladebreakers to show up the night before the tournament, as they'd somehow missed a plane and had to bus across half of the US, the teens gathered in their (thankfully) adult-free room. Ryou leaned against the headboard of the bed he had to himself, watching Zeo and Max as they dragged out a deck of cards and turned the other bed into an impromptu card table.
"Have you noticed that Doctor Frasier's friends are always hanging around?" Max asked casually, dealing out a hand of what looked like Go Fish. Zeo took his cards absently, glancing at Ryou and Max before turning his attention to his hand.
Ryou shrugged. "They're not always hanging around me," he said truthfully.
"They're always watching me," Zeo grumped, slapping a pair of cards to the blanket in front of him. "It's annoying! Especially Miss Carter… It seems like she wants to dismantle me or something."
Ryou opened his mouth to say that of course that's not what Sam wanted to do, but when he thought about it, the older woman did seem to have an undue interest in their android member. He didn't realize that he'd forgotten to close his mouth before drifting off into thought until Max, snickering quietly, threw a piece of popcorn at him. Ryou chewed it without thinking, then blinked confusedly, prompting laughter from his teammates.
"Does Miss Carter even know you're an android?" Ryou asked when his mouth was free again. Zeo shrugged.
"Well, it's not exactly a secret, remember? I sort of wish it were, but unless you told Doctor Frasier and she told them, the only way they could have known would be to check the tournament listings."
Ryou nodded. "Didn't you ask them to take off that annotation? I mean, you're a competitor, right?"
Zeo grumped. "They didn't think it'd be fair to the other competitors. I guess having an android opponent just has to be broadcast." He made a face, then asked Max for a 3, claiming three cards for his own.
"Miss Carter's in the Air Force, right?" Max asked. "Along with Mr. O'Neill and… Murray."
"What would the Air Force want with you?" Ryou wondered, tapping his chin thoughtfully. Their musings were interrupted by Janet arriving with pizza and drinks, and the card game was abandoned in favor of refreshments.
. . . . . . .
The Bladebreakers arrived early the next day at the hotel, a bit worse for wear but nonetheless ready for a hard day of competition. Team Gravity greeted them at the door and then promptly stepped aside to let them head to their room for much-needed showers, offering their shower as well for use. Thus the first day of the Beyblade World Championships dawned, and the two teams, Zeo's erstwhile shadows in tow, made their way to the stadium.
The tournament opened with a lot of fanfare, fireworks and the like going off during the opening ceremonies right over the assembled teams' heads. Ryou started when the first of the fireworks went off but otherwise didn't react, suffering the attention with far more ease than when he'd first started out. He was certainly still nervous, but with Drasonet's predatory calm to balance it out, the bit beast impatient for the tournament to begin. He held his beyblade in one hand tightly, silently urging his partner to stay calm, as they'd get to fight soon.
The announcer DJ was there, speaking in English for the benefit of the mostly American audience, but for those that were less than fluent in the language there were translators on hand. Ryou briefly wondered why this particular announcer had come all the way from Japan to participate, but then shrugged it off and just went with it.
"Welcome to the World Championships!" DJ declared, one hand swept open in greeting. "All of the finest teams from around the world have gathered here in Las Vegas to battle it out to become the number one beybladers in the world! First up we have defending champions, the Bladebreakers!"
The spotlights sought out Takao, Kai, and Rei from the sea of beybladers. Takao jumped and waved, grinning madly at any and everything, while Kai just glowered and Rei smiled and waved a little bit. There was a large cheer from the crowd, marking the returning champions as the favorite, hands down.
"Representing Japan we have a team of new and familiar faces, Team Gravity!" DJ continued once the crowd had quieted.
Another cheer, though this one was markedly less enthusiastic. Ryou bore the blinding intensity of the spotlights resignedly, ignoring how Max practically bounced on his head in his enthusiasm and Zeo tried to make himself as small and non-threatening as possible.
"Next up, returning to once again represent America, we have the PPB All Starz!"
Ryou craned his head to see this team. Made up of what looked like a baseball player, a basketball player, and a tennis player, he wondered how the PPB All Starz had managed to get into the beyblading tournament, but his attention was dragged back to DJ when the announcer continued.
"Representing most of Europe we have the Majestics!" That was one team Ryou had encountered on his travels, and he winced, remembering his spectacular loss against the French teen Oliver.
"And from China, please welcome back the White Tigers!"
"Rei'll be happy," Max murmured, a smile on his face. Ryou followed the spotlights to a group of wild-looking teens, three boys and a girl, who all looked more than happy to be there.
"From Russia, we all remember these cool cats, the Blitzkrieg Boys!" DJ continued, oblivious to the sideline commentary.
Ryou eyed that team warily, momentarily locking eyes with a redhead. There was no hostility between them, though, just two competitors sizing each other up, and Ryou broke their eye contact to return his attention to DJ.
"From Australia, we have a group of newcomers, but don't let them fool you! Welcome the Wallabies!"
Ryou had fought that team as well on his world tour. The team was made up of siblings, three older sisters and a younger brother, who all shared the same deep brown hair and shining gray eyes. It was disconcerting, to say the least, especially when he found out that they all had different battling styles the hard way.
"And lastly, from Africa, welcome Team Sahara!"
This was another team that Gravity had encountered, comprised of three teenagers with dark complexions, night-black hair, and kind black eyes. He smiled at them from across the room and received grins in return.
"Unfortunately, our last two teams couldn't make it this year, but we'll wait for them next time!" DJ said, oddly cheerful. "Now, without further ado, let's announce the matchups!" All eyes turned to the giant screen dominating the room, which switched from random advertisements to a tournament roster.
"Team Gravity will be facing off against the PPB All Starz in the first round!" DJ announced. "The Bladebreakers and the White Tigers will get to duke it out, followed by Team Sahara and the Blitzkrieg Boys, and then the Majestics and the Wallabies!" He grinned at all of the assembled teams. "Team Gravity and the PPB All Starz, report to the beystadium, and let's get this tournament underway!"
And like that, the tournament kicked off. Most of the teams retreated to the locker rooms, while Ryou, Max, and Rei made their way over to the bench on one side of the stadium. The amnesiac team sat back and watched their opponents as they went about getting ready and, presumably, selecting their roster. He caught the baseball player, an older teen with blonde hair caught back under a baseball cap and wicked blue eyes in a somewhat handsome face, eying him predatorily, something that unsettled Ryou deeply. He looked away, at Max and Zeo, who seemed to be playing Rock, Paper, Scissors to determine who would have to go first. Rolling his eyes fondly, he said, "I'll go."
That distracted them, Zeo throwing paper a good few seconds after Max's scissors. "Huh?"
"I'll go first." Ryou stood, stretched, and pulled out his eyepatch. It had become almost second nature for him to tie it on, and once it was done he pulled out Drasonet and advanced on the beystadium, ignoring when DJ announced his name to the world and instead looking determinedly away from the stands, focusing on the beyblade in his hands. He heard a snicker and looked up to see the baseball player from the other team standing opposite, grinning dangerously at him.
"So you're Maxie's new teammate, huh?" the blonde asked, eyes flickering to the seats behind Ryou. "And here I thought Kai was the one to jump ship. Bet Takao was ticked, huh?"
"Who wants to know?" Ryou asked, somewhat annoyed. His opponent acted like he knew Max, but his teammate hadn't said anything about knowing any of the PPB All Starz.
"The name's Michael Parker," the blonde said, puffing his chest out. "Max used to be on our team, you know. In the last tournament, I mean. Last year he was working with us so he could have a chance to beat Takao!"
Ryou couldn't remember Max ever talking about that, but outside of that, he really had no way of knowing whether Michael was telling the truth. Instead of answering, he readied Drasonet and settled into his launching stance. Michael just tossed a baseball around, catching it in his gloved hand over and over again while DJ rambled on in the background about both beybladers' strengths and weaknesses. The amnesiac teen just wished they'd get the match to start already.
"And without further ado, let's get started!" DJ declared, as if reading Ryou's thoughts. "Bladers ready? Three! Two! One!"
Ryou tightened his grip on his launcher, while Michael caught his baseball and leaned back in what looked like a pitching stance.
"Let it rip!"
Drasonet landed solidly in the center of the overly large beystadium, hunkering down, while Michael's beyblade proved to be inside his baseball. The shock of seeing the white orb break open to reveal a yellow beyblade soon passed, though, and Ryou focused on the match, ignoring the cheers and shouts that arose as soon as the call to start had come.
"Let's get started, Trygle!" Michael called. "Take him out!"
The yellow beyblade zipped forward, battering away at Ryou, who for the moment held Drasonet in place and observed Trygle's movements. His violet beyblade easily withstood the attacks, which seemed to be focusing more on speed and retreating than any real damage. After a few moments, the amnesiac teen thought he'd figured out Trygle's pattern.
"What's wrong?" the American teen mocked from across the dish. "Afraid to fight back?"
Ryou only grinned at him and went on the offensive. While he'd noticed that most everyone he'd encountered liked to shout at their beyblades, as if the vocal prompting would improve performance, he just acted. That usually caught his opponents off guard, since they were expecting some kind of warning, but that fact was to his advantage.
Drasonet dodged Trygle's next attack with ease, delivering a blow to the passing beyblade, then retreated a little bit before the other could retaliate. This was the case with the next attack, and the next, Drasonet always slipping by the other without taking any damage. Ryou couldn't help his smirk at Michael's increasingly frustrated attacks, until finally, the blonde looked over at him and grinned.
"Think you're funny, do you? Try this on for size! Trygle!" Michael gestured at his beyblade, looking for all the world like a king summoning his minion. "Show this jerk who he's messing with!"
Wind and light engulfed the stadium, forcing Ryou to bring his arm up to protect his head from whatever might be flying around, and once it passed he came face to face with a giant yellow bird. It only took him a moment to figure out that this must be Michael's bit beast, Trygle. This was the first time Ryou had been confronted with another bit beast, but he knew he was prepared. Drasonet was just itching to come out to play.
"What do you think of Trygle now?" Michael taunted. "Give it up!"
Ryou's answer was a grin and one word. "Drasonet!"
The spider's appearance was much less dramatic than Trygle's. There was only a bit of deep violet light as Drasonet came out, and Ryou vaguely registered gasps and excited chatter from the nearly forgotten crowd before he smirked back at the American beyblader. Said teen was looking slightly taken aback.
"I didn't know you had a bit beast!" he said accusingly, crossing his arms in a huff.
"You never asked," was the reply, and then, "Drasonet, you know what to do!"
The spider crouched down, his large body nearly blocking Ryou's violet beyblade, and just waited. Trygle, having tensed for an attack, screeched and dove for its prey. Ryou winced at the piercing sound but otherwise didn't react, trusting that Drasonet could withstand the attack. His faith was rewarded when sharp talons found no purchase in violet armor. At his beyblader's unspoken command, the spider lurched while Trygle was reeling, capturing the bird in three of his eight legs and dragging him down. Trygle screeched in pain as several of Drasonet's quills struck home.
"Get away!" Michael shouted frantically, prompting Trygle to flap its wings and shake Drasonet off. The spider retreated a little ways at Ryou's silent prompting while the bird shook itself, loosing several pink quills that had become lodged in its wings. The blonde beyblader glared at Ryou. "That was a dirty trick."
"You unleashed your bit beast when you thought I had none," Ryou replied easily. "I'd call that a dirty trick." A small gesture, and Drasonet lurched forward, catching Trygle off guard. The bird managed to evade the spider by taking to the air, where it obviously thought Drasonet couldn't reach, and Ryou could only shake his head. "Trying for an attack from the air?"
Michael said nothing except, "Get him, Trygle!"
"Counter, Drasonet," Ryou ordered calmly. His spider hunched down until, Trygle's talons almost upon him, he unleashed his quills, striking home and knocking the bird far away. The crowd held its breath as time seemed to slow, waiting to see what happened next.
Trygle vanished with a flash of light and the yellow beyblade thunked to the ground many feet away outside of the stadium. "Ryou and Drasonet are the winners!" DJ announced, his voice prompting an explosion of cheers. Drasonet hissed fondly, raising one leg to gently nudge Ryou, an act of affection that took the teen off guard. He returned it, though, patting his partner while taking care to avoid the pink quills. With a rumble the spider vanished back into the beyblade, which jumped up into Ryou's hand without prompting.
Ryou didn't pay much attention to the rest of the match when his battle was over. Zeo faced off against the basketball player, Eddy Wheeler, and his giant armored scorpion bit beast Trypio, but came out just short of claiming victory when the other caught him off guard. Max's battle against Emily York and Trygator worked out far better, Draciel easily defeating the alligator bit beast, and the two beybladers bantered like old friends all through the match. At the end, Team Gravity was declared the winners and they retreated to the stands to watch the rest of the day's matches. In the end, the Majestics defeated the Wallabies without much effort on their part, the Bladebreakers defeated the White Tigers, and the Blitzkrieg Boys pummeled Team Sahara.
Back at the hotel, Ryou stretched and headed for his bag, intent on showering after a long day and getting some dinner. Max had all three beyblades in front of him on the bed and was tinkering a bit, having become the team mechanic in lieu of Kyouju. Zeo bounced on his heels a few moments, obviously bored, before saying, "Does anyone want to come down with me to the lobby? I heard Takao say that they were gonna head there when we got back, and I'm dying to hear how their trip went!"
"We haven't had a chance to talk to them since they got here," Max agreed. The two teams had been kept apart by their separate matches and the hordes of fans surrounding Takao and, to a lesser extent, Max himself. "Let me finish tweaking our beyblades and I'll go down with you."
Zeo looked to Ryou, who'd finished gathering a fresh set of clothes and was headed into the bathroom. "What about you?"
"Shower first," the raven-haired teen replied. "Those lights they use are unbearably hot! Why don't you go down by yourself? I'm sure Takao won't mind."
Zeo still looked undecided, but after a moment he nodded. "All right, but if you're not down in ten minutes, Max, I'm coming back up for you!" he mock-threatened. He vanished through the door without further protest, and both of the other teens could hear his footsteps pounding all the way down to the elevator. Without another word Ryou locked himself in the bathroom. When he showered he never looked in the mirrors in the bathroom, a habit he'd adopted in the hospital. He just didn't like seeing the scars that still adorned his body and always would.
