Warstock: We're back...
Setsuna-chan: Yeah! We're back... Can we just get on with it?
Warstock: So soon? Can we at least greet our viewers, Red Dux and Disclaimer?
Setsuna-chan: Hi...
Warstock: sigh... I hope she'll get better soon.
Red Dux: Me too. I miss the old Setsuna-chan who would get mad at us just because we called her cute! She smiled a lot more...
Disclaimer: Maybe it will get better if we get the story to begin.
Warstock: Yeah... Please do, Disclaimer.
Disclaimer: Warstock and chibi Setsuna-chan don't own Beyblade nor it's characters. They belong to Takao Aoki. They do own the characters of the Tsubasa Elite and Grim Reapers and the plot of this story. Enjoy your reading.
Chapter 13: Takato's plan
A couple of hours later, the whole team except their captain was back at the appartment, each of them relaxing and passing over what happened in the morning. Takato went in the kitchen to get himself a glass of water when he heard the front door open. He turned around and looked at Setsuna who just walked in, still pissed off. Takato said nothing, but he watched as the captain made her way to her room. She dropped her destroyed beyblade on the floor, beside her door. She entered her room and closed the door behind her. Takato silently walked to the door and looked at the blade on the floor. A idea lit up in his head. He ran to his room and picked up the phone and dialed a number he hadn't made in a while.
"Hello?", said a familiar voice on the phone.
"Shotaro?" asked the silver haired teen.
"Who's asking?" said Shotaro on the phone.
"Who do you think?" replied Takato. "So how are you little brother?".
"Well nothing much! So, the battle finally began for you, it seems!" said Shotaro.
"It started long ago!", raged Takato.
"I didn't mean your battle against Ryo, Takato! I meant the World Championship." said Shotaro.
"Oh, that one! Yeah it began and, so far, we didn't loose!" replied Takato. "Hey little brother? You still have your 'contacts'?"
"Of course! Why?" asked Shotaro.
"I might need your help with four blades. Want to give it a try?" asked Takato.
"Sure! Come home and I'll see what I can do!" said Takato's brother.
They both hung up. Takato picked up what was left of his blade, passed through him and Satoshi bathroom, peered in his best friend room and saw the remains of Wind Eagle. He quickly grabbed it and went outside of his room, picked up the half-melted Ember. He turned around when he heard a door open and Reanne stepped out.
"She's not in a mood to talk!" said Reanne to Takato.
"I bet, but I was coming to ask you for your blade. I'm going to get them checked at the company." lied Takato.
"Good I was going to do it, but since you are already going. Here, take it!" told Reanne, throwing Catalania to Takato.
Takato expertly catched Catalania and with a small nod of his head, he went out.
Instead of going to the company, he went directly to his father home, a couple of blocks down the road. He knocked and his little brother's opened the door.
"I wasn't expecting you this early!" said Shotaro.
"With us, you got to learn to expect the unexpected, little brother!" smiled Takato.
Takato looked at his little brother. Unlike him, Shotaro had brown hair and dark eyes, traits that emanated from their mother' side. He also wore his usual fedora style hat, a dark blue vest, black pants and a white tie. Takato never understood why his brother was so fond of ties. No one could see that they were brothers based on their physique and psychology. Takato was more open and very social, while Shotaro was reserved and shy. Also, Shotaro didn't like to blade as much as Takato, but he could perfectly take care of beyblades.
"So, what do you have for me?" asked Shotaro.
"Well, three of our blades are literally destroyed and one is in a literally good shape!" said Takato.
He handed the remains of Ember first and Shotaro whistled.
"Can you tell me what kind of battle Setsuna had?" demanded Shotaro.
"She met Aria!" answered casually Takato.
The silver haired teen didn't need to say more. His little brother knew of the rivalries between both teams. Shotaro had never met the two girls in Takato's team, but he knew Satoshi pretty well. He knew that he and his brother had been best friends for a long time. Takato then showed Wind Eagle to Shotaro.
"Satoshi's blade is in better shape, but it will need a little bit of remodeling to meet his defensive style." said Shotaro.
Takato smiled at this. Shotaro had the knowledge of every style of beyblading and just he just needed to watch a couple of matches to get a blader' style. Tsubasa Elite inlcuded. Takato handed Catalania to Shotaro.
"Hmm, the blade seems okay, but it could use some modifications to increase the speed at the start of the match!"
Takato handed him Wing Flame, but instead of the beyblade, Shotaro saw the state of his big brother hand.
"Can you even launch a blade with the state of your hand?" asked Shotaro.
"I did battle Ryo! So the answer's no!" answered Takato.
"Keep in mind that adrenaline can help reduce the pain, only to aggravate it later!" pointed Shotaro.
"Can you take care of the blade or not?" asked Takato, getting annoyed.
"Yeah sure, give me my masterpiece!" said Shotaro smiling.
Takato smiled. Shotaro made the design for the prototype of Wing Flame just before Takato became a member of Tsubasa Elite. Shotaro wasn't fond of matches so he gave his blade to his big brother who loved to play the game. Takato handed the blade to him.
"Lots of damage has been done! I can only upgrade it to meet your level of battle, but I think I should start from scratch for it to be perfect again. I'll also need your launcher!" told Shotaro.
Takato arched his left eyebrow.
"Why do you need my launcher?" asked the silver haired teen.
"Since I'm starting a new blade, I may need to modify it to increase the speed and also to help reduce the pain on your hand. Less strength will be needed to launch it with the best speed, but you might need to use the Fire Spin for a while. At least, until your hand is healed. But... I just have one question..." said Shotaro.
"Go ahead..." said Takato, handing his launcher.
"Why did you come to me? Isn't your company providing technicians to help improve your blades? I can see they touched Wing Flame and, while it wasn't the best of jobs, they did improve it!"
"If you want, I can go to them! The reason I went to you, it's because of your instinct. You know our styles better than them, especially mine and Satoshi. I didn't get Setsuna's launcher though, you might need to do one!" said Takato.
"I'm glad you prefer me to them! And yes I can do a good job out of them, even when I'm not sure I got all the pieces!" replied Shotaro.
Takato expected that from his brother. He opened his wallet and gave a bit of money to his brother.
"I want the best. How long will you be working on these?" asked Takato.
"I should be done by tomorrow morning. Pass around lunch time. I will be done!" said Shotaro.
Takato nodded and got up.
"I leave you to work then! See you tomorrow!"
Shotaro placed his hat on the shelf beside his work table.
"See you!"
Takato went back home and Satoshi was pacing back and forth in the living room. Looking at Reanne, he pointed to his best friend.
"He lost his blade! Even though I told him you took it for repairs. He isn't listening to me!" she said.
Takato turned to his friend.
"Satoshi, I took it! So stop pacing around! You're going to make a hole in the floor and I'd like to be able to sit down there when I play my video games!" told Takato calmly.
"Why Takato! WHY DID YOU TOOK MY BLADE WITHOUT LEAVING ME A NOTE?", screamed Satoshi.
"Well, I brought them to get them repaired. Are you planning to blade with a half beyblade or what?", said Takato.
"And I guess you took mine as well?" said an icy voice behind him. The voice sent chills down his spine. Takato turned towards Setsuna.
"Yeah, I took it!" said Takato.
Setsuna closed in on him and took him by the shirt.
"Next time, ask me if you can take it! You know I don't like those guys at the office to touch Ember. You know full well they take forever to build a suitable beyblade and then, it takes us a week to re-master it!" Setsuna stated.
On the corner of his eye, Takato saw Reanne and Satoshi leaving.
"You think we have a week to spare? I'm not even sure my launcher is going to work with the new blade!" she continued not letting a chance to Takato to answer.
"Can I talk?" he carefully asked.
"Go ahead." said the team captain.
"Remember, before we even went to battle against the Grim Reapers. We had a match once, Wing Flame against Ember, right before I went to work for the company!" asked Takato.
"Yeah, I was testing you and you almost beat me!" said Setsuna.
"The blade I was using wasn't mine at the time. It was my brother's blade. Wing Flame is my bitbeast, but Shotaro designed the blade!" said Takato.
"Ah yes! That brother of yours that you never bothered to bring here!" replied flatly Setsuna.
"He's very shy…", started Takato.
"Whatever! Why bringing Shotaro is this conversation?" asked Setsuna.
"He's the one having our blades right now, not the company!" said Takato.
Setsuna turned her head sharply towards Takato, who winced at the look she gave him.
"Setsuna! He knows our styles. The technicians at the company can only create beyblades and they can repair it. They can give us the technology we need. But they don't know our styles very well. We have to tell them what we want. Shotaro has contacts with the blading world and I'm sure he can create a better blade than those technicians. I have faith in him and, usually, you trust me with my decisions!" said Takato very quickly.
Setsuna let out a sigh
"Sorry Takato! I'm a bit stressed right now!" she told him.
"Well this morning's battle didn't help, I'm sure!" Takato said. "Did you try sleeping a bit?"
"Not really!"
"Well... Go take a hot bath to help you relax and head to bed!", said Takato.
"How can I when I need to train for this tournament and find out how to crush the Reapers' plans?"
"Well... For one, you don't have a tournament-ready blade. Second, you're not alone in this battle. We are also there. We depend on you like you depend on us! And right now, you're not thinking straight. I know you want your revenge. We all heard why! So, go do what I told you, otherwise you're not good for the team. We told you many times before, Setsuna: there's no I in team. And whether you like it or not, we are a team, not just four individuals with a different agenda. That is our strength. So listen to me for once!" Takato said.
Setsuna went wide-eyed at Takato for what he said. Usually she would hit him for what he said, but she was exhausted. Nodding, she went pass him, but when she was shoulder to shoulder, his hand grabbed her shoulder and he gave her a hug.
"Sorry for the harshness of what I just said!" he whispered.
"It's ok! As long as you let go of me! Now!"
Takato let her go and turned his face away.
'Let's hope ourplan to make you smile will work!' he thought silently.
After the argument between him and Setsuna, Takato managed to find Reanne and Satoshi in the backyard, obviously talking about something.
"Hey guys, I'm still alive!" said Takato.
"Good, we were discussing Setsuna's birthday plans. So what should we do?" asked Reanne.
"Why don't we go to the reception hall where her birthday is going to be?"suggested Satoshi.
"Reception Hall?" questionned Takato. "I think I missed something!"
"Yes! I did reserve something downtown. We should definitely check it out!" said Reanne.
The three headded downtown to take a look the place. That's when they met Max and Tyson.
"Hey guys!" said Tyson.
"Hi Tyson!" replied Satoshi.
"So what you guys are doing?" asked Max.
"We're checking a place for our captain's birthday party!" said Takato.
"Birthday? Can we tag along?" pleaded Tyson.
"Sure!" said Reanne.
The two remaining members looked at her. The gang started to walk towards the reception place.
"What? We will need all the help we can get to set up the place. The more the merrier."
Satoshi nodded his head at his girlfriend's reasonning.
"She's right!"
"As usual!" Reanne said. She then turned to Max and Tyson.
"Can you tell me if you can find more people for it? Like Kai, for exemple!"
Takato arched his eyebrow at the mention of his rival for Setsuna's heart.
"I don't know if we'll be able to bring him, there!" wondered Max.
"But I know of a sure way to bring Kai!" grinned Tyson.
"And that would be...?" asked Takato.
"Tala of course!" said Tyson smiling.
As they turned the corner, they ran in said person.
"Well! Speaking of the devil..." said Satoshi.
"What do you guys want with me?" asked Tala, arching his eyebrow.
"You think you can bring Kai with you to participate in a birthday party?" asked Reanne.
"Da!, It's absolutely possible!" answered the russian blader, grinning evily.
"Good! Wanna tag along, Tala?" said Max. "We're going to see the place where we'll throw the party!"
"Well.. I got nothing better to do right now! Heh! Why not?" said Tala.
They all walked, chatting happily, until they reached the reception hall.
"We're here!" said Reanne.
The group entered the place and Reanne talked to the receptionnist, who lead them to a vast reception hall.
"Hmm Reanne? We're jsut a couple of guys giving a party to our captain! Who did you invite and how many?" asked Takato.
"You're right!" said Reanne. She then turned to the receptionnist."Don't you have anything smaller?
The receptionnist nodded.
"This way please!" she said.
They passed a door and they were in a small place fit for about twenty persons. "It's perfect! What do you guys think?" said Reanne.
"Yup!" said the rest.
"I'll leave you! I'm sure you have a lot to discuss in preparation for your party!" smiled the receptionnist.
"Thank you ma'am!" said Takato.
The receptionnist left after giving to Takato a small smile.
"Man, she's falling for you!" whispered Satoshi in Takato's ear.
"No way, man!" said Takato.
"Guys!" said Reanne. "Here's what we're going to do tomorrow. Tala, you manage to bring Kai here. Tyson, Max, you guys come here around eleven. Takato, Satoshi, I'm counting on you to get some people for the party, as well as some decorations. I will drag Setsuna around town all afternoon and bring her here for six o'clock."
"That's all good Reanne!" said Takato "But how do we pay for everything?"
"Leave it to me!" said Tala with a smile "I have an idea!"
"Okay! We're leaving it to you. And when we get the money, I'll go collect everything we need. I have to do some errands for myself at the same time!" said Takato, knowing that he had to pick the blades up around lunch time, at his father's place. The silver-haired teen was also planning on dragging Shotaro.
"Might as well have a technician on the team!" thought Takato.
Disclaimer: I can't wait to see what you guys plan for her.
Warstock: National secret until next chappie... (smirking evilly)
Red Dux: Yup, even I don't know what is planned.
Setsuna-chan: (sleeping while they are talking. Long needed rest.)
Warstock: At least, she's not really aware of what we're preparing. We just need to be careful. She good at guessing stuff.
Red Dux: Guessing? I don't think so, man. It's more that you can't keep a secret from her. Your powerless against her.
Warstock: (blushing)
Disclaimer: (laughing and rolling on the ground)
Red Dux: We hope you enjoyed this chappie. Please review. We're working on the next chapter.
Disclaimer: More like Warstock is doing his homework. Setsuna-chan is knock-out. See you readers in the next chappie.