Good day to you, readers! I present to you chapter 8!
Disclaimer: I do not own a flying pony
...or Beyblade.
A Secret To Be Told
Chapter 8: Some things never change
"No-no way…." mumbled Tyson as he gaped at their future selves.
"Are they…really us?" asked Hilary in a soft, awed voice, as Kenny, Ray and Max stared with their mouths slightly open and Daichi muttered "Unreal…"
"….." Kai showed practically no emotion on his face – he was already well beyond being shocked.
"So these are the time-travellers!" exclaimed the blonde man, who could only be Max, as the group of adults turned their attention to the teens. He laughed as he looked at his younger self. "Man, I forgot what I used to look like when I was younger!" They took this as an over-exaggeration, since even though the features of this Max were more grown-up, he really didn't look all that different. Well, aside from the fact that he was not wearing blindingly bright colours, and was dressed in a navy blue t-shirt and faded jeans.
"Fascinating – I never would have thought time-travel to be possible," said Kenny, adjusting his glasses. The teens were rather taken aback by the changes in the Chief's physical appearance – the facial hair, added height and significant deepening of his voice seemed to have added a certain maturity to him, which disturbed them a little since Kenny, even while he was fifteen, was often mistaken for younger by his appearance and nervous manner. His dressing sense though had not changed, and he wore a spotless white shirt with a red tie and beige trousers under his long grey coat.
Hilary couldn't help but now note – even though he had arrived earlier - the differences in Ray as well. He too, had a more mature look to his face, and had gained a few inches in height, and also more girth to his shoulders and back.
Tyson, whose features had become more angular and seemed to have gained some significant muscle mass along with height over the years – not to mention the shocking fact that he was not wearing his precious baseball cap - grinned enthusiastically at them.
"This is actually pretty sweet!" he said, only to be slapped in the arm by Hilary – who also definitely looked more grown-up thanks to the loss of her old choppy, pixie hairstyle and her wearing a pale blue button-up blouse and cut-off capris instead of the cute mini-skirts, pink tops and shorts they were all used to. Tyson also happened to notice another change in the brunette...
"Boy, looks like you've put on some weight, huh, Hil?"
Adult Tyson froze in horror. "Uh oh. Bad thing to say!" he said in alarm, quickly covering his ears in preparation for the auditory assault as the grown-up version of the team manager turned red with anger and screamed at the top of her lungs. "I AM NOT FAT, YOU DOPE! I'm pregnant!"
Mariah facepalmed while all the other adults and Kai shook their heads at Tyson's lack of tact.
"GAAH! You are!?" teenage Hilary cried in shock, staring at her future counterpart's stomach. Sure enough, she did have a visible baby bump, though not a big one.
"Yes! Four months!" she replied, her nose in the air, very offended by Tyson's remark.
"That means - that means - I'm married, right!?" Hilary squealed excitedly. "Ooh, tell me! Is he good-looking? I bet he's hot!"
The boys noticed that adult Ray cleared his throat loudly at this and Max and Kenny looked like they were trying not to laugh, while Tyson had got an all-too-familiar, cheeky grin on his face as he rubbed his nose with his index finger. Mariah and Alex, on the other hand, looked worried.
"This is so not going to end well..." whispered Alex to Mariah, who nodded in agreement.
Hilary's future self sighed, almost defeatedly. "Unfortunately, I'm married to this idiot." The teenagers' eyes widened in shock as she jerked her thumb at none other than the grown-up Tyson.
The silence that followed was like the lull before the storm. Teen Tyson and Hilary gaped at their counterparts, before slowly turning their heads to look at each other, first turning sheet-white, then tomato red.
Then all hell broke loose.
"WHAAAAT?! IT'S NOT TRUE - PLEASE TELL ME IT'S NOT TRUE!"
"NOOOOO! IT'S IMPOSSIBLE! HOW COULD I HAVE MARRIED THAT LAZY IDIOT?!"
"WHO'RE YA CALLING AN IDIOT, YOU LOUDMOUTH?!"
"HOW DARE YOU! YOU'RE ONE TO TALK - YOU ARE THE ONE WHOSE MOUTH IS ALWAYS OPEN TO BOAST, COMPLAIN, OR STUFF YOURSELF LIKE A PIG!"
"AT LEAST I'M NOT THE ONE WHO ENDED UP PUTTING ON SO MUCH WEIGHT!"
"THAT'S IT!" screamed both Hilarys at the same time, pouncing on the teenage Tyson and proceeding to savagely beat him up.
It took the combined efforts of all the men to pull the enraged girl and young woman off of Tyson, who could unfortunately, not be saved from receiving several claw marks from long nails, a bleeding lip and a healthy black eye.
Kai nearly laughed at his rival's pitiful condition.
"Are you okay, Tyson?" asked adult Ray, checking the boy for any serious injuries, while Alex and Mariah tried to calm down the still fuming brunettes.
"No..." moaned Tyson, holding his sore head.
"Really though, you should know better than to comment on a lady's weight...particularly a hormonal, pregnant lady's weight," continued Ray with a frown, after ascertaining that no permanent damage had been done.
Adult Max laughed at this. "But that's a lesson Ray learned first-hand from Mariah, isn't it?"
Ray sweatdropped and laughed nervously. "Yeah; and it's a lesson I'm never gonna forget..."
"Boys, please," said Mariah, walking over to them with Rin in her arms, now that she and Alex had succeeded in pacifying the furious young ladies. "We should really discuss the problem at hand - we have no idea how this little accident is messing up the timeline."
"Mariah's right," Kenny's future counterpart spoke up. "There is no telling what the implications could be...or what may already have been altered."
"You mean the future - our future - could change because of this?" asked teen Max.
Kenny nodded gravely. "We can't tell for sure obviously - but it is a very real possibility that things may change - either due to this whole time-travelling itself, both in your time and in ours, or by your stay here...the case is fraught with complications." He suddenly looked uneasy. "Also, who knows if the time is passing differently in both timelines and how much time has already elapsed in your world..."
There was an uncomfortable silence in the room, as the teens wondered what their families would be going though if they were missing for days...if they went missing forever.
The train of heavy thoughts was finally broken by Kai, who as usual, commanded full attention on the rather rare occasions when he spoke. "So, how are we going to go about this?"
"Firstly, Chief and I are going to take the data Kenny here" - Max motioned to the mousey-haired boy - "collected and analyse it. We'll try to find the root of the energy signals and then, maybe...try to recreate them?" Max turned to Kenny, who nodded. "That sounds like the best bet."
"Until then, you guys should keep a low profile," said adult Hilary, coming over to them now that she had calmed down. "Most people would probably pass you off as cosplayers, but still, it won't do to have people getting suspiscious and risking them finding out that you're from the past; it would cause a huge uproar."
"Hils has-" adult Tyson was cut off by Alex's cell phone ringing.
"Sorry," said Alex, looking at the caller ID. "It's Kai," she informed them quickly, taking the call and walking further away from the group to speak to him.
"Well, Hil has a point, like I was saying," said Tyson. "Obviously, you all will be staying with one of us till things get sorted out. There's enough room in the dojo…."
"I think I'd rather not," said teen Tyson quickly, casting a frightened glance at adult Hilary. No sir, dealing with one Hilary was difficult enough, he certainly didn't want to have to deal with two…
"Me neither," piped up teen Hilary. The thought of staying with her and Tyson's future selves – who were actually a married couple...Just too weird for words.
"I'm afraid neither Kenny nor I have enough room to accommodate everyone together," said Max. "And I don't like the idea of you guys sleeping in the hobby shop's basement."
"Wait a sec," said teen Max. "Dad's still running shop?"
"Yeah, of course!"
Max frowned. "But we couldn't find it when we went there!"
"Oh – that's 'coz we shifted. Dad opened a bigger shop a few blocks down from there."
Max smiled. "That's great." Though he would certainly miss his father's old store, he was relieved that the business hadn't been closed altogether.
"Ray, Rin and I are staying at a hotel ourselves," said Mariah, guiding the conversation back to the previous subject. "So I'm afraid we can't help with accommodations either…"
"That only leaves Kai and Alex's place," said Hilary. "I think it's the best option actually…there's more than enough room here, and the grounds are so large, you all won't feel restricted or cramped, even if you don't get to go out a lot."
"If that's fine with them…." said adult Ray, turning to look at Alex, who was still on the phone.
"….I'm not joking!" she was saying."….They have no idea – apparently that stone they picked up started glowing and the next minute – stop being sarcastic!" she snapped down the line, an annoyed scowl coming to her face. "If you don't believe me, you can come home and see for yourself!" She paused, listening. Her expression softened slightly. "Fine. Bye."
"Kai being sceptical, huh?" asked adult Ray with an amused smile.
"What else did you expect?" asked Alex as she returned to join them.
Tyson stole a glance at their Kai, and saw that he was staring at the carpet with an indifferent expression on his face.
"Nonetheless, he said that he's leaving right now," she continued. "He'll be here in another hour or so."
"That's good," said adult Tyson. "So….as to where these guys are gonna crash for the time being…..is it okay if they hang at your place?"
"Sure. Why not?" Alex said with a shrug. A small smirk played across her lips as she turned to the teenagers. "Although I expect Kai is going to be laying down a few rules about behaviour in the house…."
Teen Tyson chuckled. "Guess Kai's still an ol' sourpuss, huh?" he said, grinning cheekily at his rival.
Kai's eye twitched in irritation. "I suppose a few restrictions must be placed to ensure that you don't trash the place, Tyson," he said in a condescending tone.
"Nyeh!" Tyson stuck his tongue out and pulled a goofy face at Kai.
Kai rolled his eyes. "Grow up, idiot."
"Wahwah! Wiw you take me for a walkie in da pawk, Kai?" said Tyson, rubbing his knuckles against his eyes and pouting.
"Do you want another black eye to go with the one you already have?"
Tyson stopped his baby act. "Hey! That's not very nice, ya jerk!"
All the adults started laughing.
"Man, they always bicker like this!" laughed Max.
"So they're like this even now?" asked Ray in amusement.
"Even worse, if possible," said Kenny. "I guess some things never change."
Just then, Daichi, teen and adult Tyson's stomachs growled loudly and simultaneously.
"Whoops." They all laughed nervously and scratched the back of their heads.
Hilary facepalmed. "Guess some things really never do change…"
That concludes chapter 8! I would like to thank PK Styles and Minij Akane for their reviews - I am so happy you like the story! Love you guys :)
On another note, I found out that the constant differentiation between 'adult' and 'teen' self is annoying, but unfortunately necessary.
...I now bid adieu to you, good readers, and leave it in your able hands to review this work of fiction, while I take leave to write out the first few chapters of a new beyblade AU fiction I have been planning, which takes place in a mythical land of demons and angels and shall, hopefully, be published before the weekend is out.
Regards
AthenaSeiki