Hi everyone! I know it's been a while since I've updated, and I apologize for that. We moved from Alaska to NY (about 4100 miles) and drove it, which was a fun, yet miserable experience! We also detoured a bit and saw family for the first time since like 2018, so that was a fun experience!
So I plan on updating this story with one more chapter and then putting it on hiatus until Maps is finished. I'll have Maps' new chapter out within the next few days, there are just a few tweaks I'm trying to figure out in this latest chapter that are bugging me.
Enjoy!
The Journey
Chapter Sixteen: Tournament in Spain
Kira stormed her way through the city of Barcelona to where the White Tigers' were training. She could hardly keep her composure in the crowds.
This was the final straw, Kira was done with Mariah and her antics. She pushed her way through the door and ran up the stairs to where she heard them practicing.
She kicked the door open, breathing hard, and the whole team looked over at her, confused. Mariah gave a small smile before hiding the pleasure she felt from pissing Kira off. 'Game time,' she thought and looked confused at Kira.
"What is going on, you psycho? Who the hell does that?!"
"Kira, what's wrong?" Ray jumped up, seeing the crazy look on Kira's face. Her face was absolutely flushed with anger. "I've never seen you so angry, what's going on?" Kira started slowly walking towards Mariah.
"What the hell do you want from me Mariah? Why do you keep targeting me?"
"What the hell are you talking about?" Mariah stood up, sneering at her. "I haven't done anything to you!"
"Yeah Kira, Mariah hasn't been even in the same vicinity as you since Ray banned her from going near you. If something happened it's not her." Lee shrugged looking at his sister, and then Kira, nudging Ray. Kira took a few more steps forward and Ray rushed over to her, blocking her from getting too close to Mariah. He tried to get her attention but ultimately failed. She was fully fixated on her target.
"Hey hey hey, calm down. Whatever happened isn't that serious." Kira sidestepped from him and looked at the pink-haired girl.
"You can fuck with me all you want, I don't care. But you bring my pregnant cousin into this, I'm done." Ray raised his brow and looked over at Mariah who was maintaining a face of innocence and looked then back at Kira.
"Wait? ...Luna? What happened?" Kira finally broke her stare from Mariah and pulled her phone out, showing Ray the many articles that were now out and online. "Holy... shit... Mariah..." Ray narrowed his eyes and turned towards his teammate, crossing his arms over his chest.
"I didn't do anything, Ray! Honest." Kira stepped past Ray and got in Mariah's face who slightly smirked at her.
"Look, you want Ray? You can have him." Kira paused and looked up at the ceiling. "Oh wait, actually you know what? You can't." She looked back at Mariah. "He was single for how long before I met him?" Mariah's face changed to anger and her pupil's shrunk into tiny slits. "Even after that, we broke up and he was back in China. What happened between you two? Oh right, nothing. Again."
"Kira." Kira heard Ray's voice but ignored him.
"He doesn't want you. He's with me. It doesn't matter what you do to tarnish my name." Now Mariah was the one shaking with anger. "Next time you fuck with my family you deal with me. Got it? I don't care about the competition. He's not going to be there to stop me next time." Kira had gotten directly in Mariah's face, her hands in tight fists. God, what she wouldn't do to punch her in the face.
"Oooookkaaayy..." Lee grabbed Mariah's shoulders and pulled her away from the stare off the two girls were having. Ray slid himself in between Kira and Mariah and turned towards Kira. He could still see her shaking with anger.
Ray waited until the others left the room and then placed his hands on her shoulders. "Kira... I don't think she did this." She looked up at him incredulously.
"Are you serious, Ray?! This is just like the sex tape! She's trying to ruin my reputation so you won't want me anymore. Luna and Kai aren't telling anyone they're having a baby to protect Luna, what if someone connects the dots and-"
"Hey." Ray placed his hands on both sides of her face and was shocked at how hot her body was. She looked up at him. "Your face is all red... you almost match your hair..." He sighed, seeing the expression on her face. "None of that is going to happen. Even if she does 'ruin your reputation', I know you. Nothing she can do would change how I feel about you. No one is going to put any pieces together... Luna is going to be safe, it's gonna be okay." She sighed, shaking her head.
"I have to draw the line somewhere, Ray. You may not believe that she did this but... there's no one else-" Ray tilted his head.
"Not even Amara?" He offered, and Kira sighed, looking away.
"It just doesn't make sense! I'm barely even around Johnny anymore and he broke up with her..."
"Well.. either way... even if Mariah did do this, you're giving her exactly what she wants. The best way to get back at whoever did this is to act like nothing is wrong. All you have to do is give it time to prove you're not pregnant and the rumor mill will die off." Ray hugged her and rubbed her arms. He waited until her breathing was back to normal before speaking again. "Are you ready to face off against Tyson tomorrow?"
"Not even in the slightest..." Kira sighed. "Sorry for ruining your guys' practice."
"You could never 'ruin' anything for me." He smiled, planting a small kiss on her nose. "Let's go home and relax before your big day tomorrow."
"Actually... I need to let out some anger.. do you still have those boxing gloves?" She asked him, and he smiled at her.
"Of course." Kira gave him a playful grin once he answered, and watched as he grabbed the gear. "You sure you wanna be at the butt end of my anger?"
"Eh, better me than someone else." Kira pulled the gloves on her hands and winced, feeling the pain coming back. "Ow... gimme a second." She turned away, putting her hand on the wall to support herself.
"You okay?" Ray took a step forward but Kira shook her head.
"I'm fine... I've just been cramping a lot lately." She closed her eyes and let out a short sigh. "Alright... let's do this." She smirked at him and ran over, sending a hard punch into one of the mitts Ray held up.
The next morning, Ray woke up early and saw Luna in the kitchen. Kira had already left for the day, as had the rest of the Majestics.
"Hey Luna." He called out as he walked in, and she jumped from making her food masterpiece.
"Damnit! If I had known you were awake I would have asked you to make me food over... whatever this is!"
"You made it." Ray chuckled and grabbed a drink from the fridge. "Can I ask you something?"
"Of course! What's up?" Luna sat next to him and licked her lips looking down at her plate. Ray looked at her plate and sighed with disgust. It was filled with tuna mixed with Mayo and sriracha, a fried egg, some pickle chips, with salsa on top.
"That's your breakfast...?" He shook his head. "Have you... noticed anything weird about Kira? She's been acting pretty strange. A lot more hot tempered than usual, she doesn't want or won't eat half of what I usually make her, she's been sleeping a lot lately. Like way more than last tournament season... I'm worried about her. She also keeps getting pains around her lower region..." Luna took a big bite of her food and sighed happily before looking at him, and frowning at his worried face.
"I'm sure she's fine Ray." Luna looked at him, and noticed the worry on his face. "Maybe talk to her about going to a doctor?"
"It's just... ever since that article came out saying she was pregnant I can't help but think..."
Luna's eyes widened and she started choking on her food.
"You don't think... do you?" She coughed out, and Ray pat her hard on the back, helping her. "There's no way! She was just at the hospital back in New York..." Luna took a big drink of water and thought back to it. She hadn't seen Kira drink since they were in New York, even when they toasted in the car when arriving in Spain. She didn't seem to be acting weird, but Kira was also really good at hiding when things were wrong with her... but then again, Ray would notice if something was off with her.
"It was just a thought." Ray sighed. "She's probably just pushing her limits too much. She has a tendency to do that." Luna looked down at her food and sighed, biting the inside of her lip.
"She sure does..."
At the stadium, crowds were filling in by the thousands. Kira and Johnny versus Tyson and Daichi were going to go up first. Kira was watching videos of them with Johnny on the couch, as Enrique, Robert, and Oliver were out dealing with other things.
"See that move right there? You can't counter that, so you have to dodge and wait for it to finish." Kira noted.
"Hey!" Lucy came into their waiting room with her laptop. "You won't guess what I've been doing." She smiled.
"Yep. No idea." Johnny spoke and kept watching the footage.
"What've you been doing?" Kira looked around Johnny to her and Lucy smiled, coming to sit next to Kira.
"Look!" Lucy set down her laptop next to the laptop they were watching the battles on and Kira's eyes widened.
"Is that-"
"It is!" Lucy clapped her hands together. "I downloaded Kenny's data when he was distracted with Tyson."
"I guess Tyson's annoying personality comes in handy somehow..." Johnny murmured and Kira rolled her eyes at him.
"So what did you find out?" Kira asked her, and Lucy typed on her computer.
"His strength has gone up immensely... like it's insanely high. And Daichi is also not someone to underestimate." Lucy looked right at Johnny as she said that. Johnny scoffed, rolling his eyes.
"Please, I would never."
"You would, and you have." Lucy interjected.
"Just... take them seriously and we'll be fine. Ray and Lee took Tyson down without a problem. I can definitely take him on my own." Kira looked at Johnny. "But I can also go up against Daichi. He seems to be more calculating than Tyson, so strategy would work better against him. That means not getting a big head. I know you're confident and I love that, but..."
"I know Kira, I'm not gonna let them get the best of me, okay?"
"I believe in you." Kira smiled and touched his shoulder. "We've got this in the bag."
Kira stood at the walkway from their waiting area to the beybowl, she looked over at Johnny who had a look of determination on his face. "Who do you want to battle, Tyson or Daichi?"
"I think it's only right if you battle Tyson. I'll take on the munchkin." Johnny told her and nodded, and Kira could hear Daichi yelling in the background over by Tyson and giggled.
"Just keep teasing him and you'll win, no problem." Kira smiled at him and then looked at Tyson who was staring her down. "I think you're right, though. Tyson will never forgive me if don't battle him myself."
"Hey Ki." Ray walked into their waiting pod and she smiled, turning to him.
"I'm so glad you can be down here for support this time!" She sat next to him as Johnny walked up to the beyrink along with Daichi. She put her hand over his that was sitting on her knee.
"Me too. Although, I guess this sort of announces to everyone that we're back together, hm?" He smiled at her and she kissed him on the cheek. After a few seconds he looked at her, and noticed her pale complexion. "How... how are you feeling?"
"I've been cramping a lot today but otherwise, I'm really excited! Kay, sshhh, he's about to battle!"
"Toooooday we have Johnny from The Majestics versus Daichi from BBA Revolution!" DJ Jazz shouted into the mic and Kira covered her ears. She could see Kai up in the first row of the crowd behind where Tyson was sitting with his team and Luna by his side. Before she knew it, she would be battling him... and she didn't know what would happen when they went head to head. She was honestly considering having Johnny battle him... but if there was any time to battle Kai.. it would be during the tournament. She knew that was what everyone really wanted to see... even their friends.
She could hear Johnny's name being chanted over the crowd, and a few people chanting Daichi's name as well.
'You've got this Johnny. He stands no chance against you.' She knew that he didn't really want to use their inner voices anymore, but he needed the support. She saw him briefly nod, and pull his launcher out.
"Since when do they let pipsqueaks like you battle in these tournaments? I guess they've lowered the standard." Johnny said nonchalantly as he screwed his blade onto his launcher and Kira covered her mouth. Daichi growled and held his launcher out with his blade attached.
"I'll show you pipsqueak when I destroy you, big shot! There's a reason I've been carrying this team!" Johnny smirked, seeing Daichi's temper rise.
"You have not!" Tyson jumped up from behind Daichi and Kira snickered.
"It's a battle of the redheads today, folks!" Brad spoke from their box, and AJ agreed.
"I think it's about to get fiery-hot down there, Brad!"
The countdown started, and Johnny's eyes narrowed on the little twerp standing across from him and finally, "LET IT RIP!"
"Go Johnny, go!" Kira jumped up and Johnny's blade had fire flowing from it as it fell to the beyrink.
"You're a little too cocky for my liking, how about if we cut you down to size! Strata-Dragoon, Spike Slash!"
"No Daichi! I told you he's super strong, that won't work!" Tyson called out.
Finally, it was Kira versus Tyson.
"Good luck, even though you won't need it." Ray smiled at her and she gave him a quick smile, and nod before standing. Kira could feel her heart pounding in her chest. Tyson wasn't the rookie trainer he once was when they first met. He was stronger, faster, and all around just a better beyblader. She slid her gloves on her hands, and Tyson knew from across the rink that she meant business.
"This is so intense..." Luna whispered next to Kai. Kira's blue eyes were fired up with confidence, as were Tyson's.
"So it's finally come down to it. You versus me." Tyson said as they stood across from each other. "I hope you know I'm not going to hold back."
"I'd be offended if you did." Kira tilted her head and smiled, pulling her hair into a high ponytail. "Let's do this, Tyson!" She twisted her blade onto the launcher and he smirked, doing the same.
"3," The whole entire crowd was screaming and cheering deafeningly loud.
"2!"
"1..." Both Kira and Tyson joined in, and then ripped their blades. There was a surge of energy and power that flowed through the crowd, and almost everyone had to brace themselves.
"Shit..." Kira whispered, covering her face. Because of her ice powers, it felt like cold wind was slapping her in the face. "Draiga! You know what to do! Take him down!" She yelled out over the wind.
"Dragoon, don't let her hit you!" Tyson held out his hand, and Dragoon flew past her like it was nothing. "Phantom Hurricane!" Tyson's blade started spinning so fast, Kira couldn't even see it anymore.
"What the hell is this?! Lucy?!" Kira covered her face as the wind picked up. "Draiga! Hold your defenses! Ice Storm!" Kira's blade formed into ice, and she looked around, spotting a tornado forming in the ring. "There! Draiga, speed up and knock him out of that tornado!" Draiga flew over to where the blade was and just as she reached the tornado, she picked up speed, knocking Tyson back.
"How the hell did she get through the tornado!? That's bull-" Tyson growled and then shook his head. "I can do this! Dragoon, Evolution Storm!"
"Draiga! Holy Fyre!" The two yelled out their attacks at the same time, and as she sent out her attack, Kira keeled over in pain, holding her abdomen. "Ah!" She winced. Ray jumped to his feet, but Robert grabbed his shoulder.
"You go out there, they're going to make her forfeit." Ray grit his teeth and looked over at Kira.
"Draiga, get him!" Kira had one eye open, and Draiga sped up, the stadium was blowing heavily with wind, Kira's hair was being whipped all around her. What looked like light, white/see-through colored flames came from Draiga.
'Is it... Salamolyon...?' She wondered to herself and felt herself overcome with a warm feeling. Draiga slammed into Dragoon despite the wind, beating the poor bitbeast into shreds.
"Draiga, one more hit and he's done. Heaven's Wrath!" Draiga flew to the other side of the rink-
"No! Dragoon! Get her!" and within a split second, Draiga slammed back into Dragoon, splitting Tyson's blade in half and Draiga flew over his head.
"Ow..." Kira fell to her knees and Ray ran out to her.
"Hey! Are you okay?" He knelt down beside her and the rest of her team also ran out. Kira looked like she was holding back tears.
"I'm gonna go get your blade." Lucy called out to her and ran out to the other side of the rink.
"Is Kira okay?" Tyson asked her looking down at the broken blade in his hand and then at Lucy and Lucy shrugged.
"I'm not sure..." She picked up Kira's blade. "I'm sure she's fine... but you may want have Kenny look at your blade."
"Already on it!" Kenny snatched Dragoon from Tyson and took it back into their pod, and then waiting room. Tyson looked back at Kira and then followed after Kenny and Daichi.
"I'm fine guys, you don't need to crowd around me like this." Kira stood up and had her hand on her lower abdomen. "I... I just had another bad cramp." She shook her head. "Let's go get some water, please." She looked at her teammates.
"Well you somehow still destroyed him, even though you were on the floor in pain. That's pretty impressive." Robert told her, and she smiled at Johnny.
"I think I had a little help."
"Should you maybe go see a medic, Kira? You looked like you were in a lot of pain." Ray asked her worriedly, and Oliver handed her a small cup of water. She took a drink of the water and waved Ray off.
"I'm fine. I just need to beat Tyson one more time and then we can leave. I wanna stay and watch Kai and Max but..." Ray sighed and nodded. Once she had made up her mind there was no convincing her otherwise.
It took about thirty minutes, but Kira and Tyson were back on stage, both holding their blades out in their launchers. Kira could still feel a twinge of pain in her abdomen but closed her eyes and did a similar breathing technique as Ray to push the pain out.
"Okay.. I can do this." She could see Draiga staring back at her in her mind, and she knew that she had this in the bag. All those years of doubting herself, and hearing that she wasn't good enough were going to come to a head.
"You might have beaten me once Kira, but it's my turn."
"We'll see about that." Kira smiled at her old friend and they both prepped their blades. 'I'm surprised Kenny was able to fix his blade and bit beast chip so fast...'
'They're the best of the best for a reason, you know that.' She heard Johnny in her mind and nodded. 'You sure you got this?'
'I'm fine Johnny.' Kira reassured him, and ripped her blade. "Draiga, Holy Fyre!" A white beam of light shot up to the sky as Kira's blade was covered in white fire.
"This attack again?! Come on Kira, you gotta do better than that! Get her Dragoon!"
"I'm not losing to you, Tyson! Draiga, get him!"
"You can do this, Ki..." Ray leaned back in the box where he was sitting and bit his nail anxiously. The energy from the two bladers was immense, he was actually in shock.
The two blades crashed into each other and Kira felt a wave of pain come over her but she pushed it to the back of her mind.
"You're right, she can do this... I just don't know if she can do this right now." Johnny frowned, looking at Kira. He could feel her pain.
"Dragoon, Dragon Whip!"
"Draiga, Ice Shield! Don't let him hit you!"
"Dragoon, now! Her defenses are down!" Tyson's blade flew into Kira's sending a huge wave of wind towards her, sending her flying back.
"Ahh!" Kira winced as she landed, and the pain hit her tenfold. Luckily though, Draiga was still spinning.
Kai smirked, especially after seeing Tyson's face. "I knew she'd be okay."
"Is she though?" Luna stood and looked, Kira was on the ground, holding her side.
"I... I can't..." She shook her head. "I can barely see through the pain." Johnny stood from the box.
"Forfeit." He told her, and she whipped her head to look back at him.
"What? No! You won the last match, I can't..." Kira's brows furrowed and she shook her head
"So it'll be a draw. We'll face them again when you're not in pain. Stop putting your health on the back burner." Johnny crossed his arms. "It's not worth it."
Across the ring, Tyson watched. He couldn't help but feel worry hitting him. This wasn't Kira. Kira was fierce and unforgiving in the beyrink.
"What are you doing Tyson? Knock her out!"
"She's not okay Daichi... I can't just-"
"Dude, look past the fact that she used to be your teammate and knock her out! Get your head out of your ass!"
"Shut the hell up Daichi!" Tyson turned and glared at him. Kira looked down at Draiga and winced as another huge wave of pain hit her, centered near her uterus. She looked up at Tyson, and then at the ground. She slowly stood, hearing the crowd's cheers and then raised her right arm, her fist balled up. The sign that she was forfeiting.
Tyson watched her, and gulped. Then, he too, raised his right hand and balled up his fist. Another forfeit.
"Wow! In a twisted turn of events, it looks like both bladers from both teams have decided to forfeit this match!" AJ chimed in.
"This... was definitely not expected, AJ." Brad chimed in.
"I don't want to win when you're not at your best. We'll continue this later... and I'll destroy you." Tyson smirked and Kira smiled back at him.
"Can't wai-" Kira's eyes widened as she felt like her insides were being ripped open. Ray saw her expression just in time and darted out to grab her before she fell to the floor.
"What is going on with you...?" He asked worriedly, looking down at her. Kira looked up at him and sighed, shaking her head.
"I don't... know. Just... take me home please."
After Kai and his team had defeated Max and the All Stars, Luna went to a local pharmacy and bought a few pregnancy tests and hurried back to the house. She had kind of left Kai without saying anything, but she needed to catch Kira before she ran off without saying anything... again.
"Kira! Are you home?" Luna called out, throwing her purse on the couch, and she heard retching coming from upstairs. "Mmmhm. There she is. Kira!" Luna hurried up the stairs as much as she could, but was out of breath about halfway up. "Ki...! Oh God." Luna bent over to catch her breath, then walked over to Kira and Ray's room and saw Kira come out, wiping her mouth.
"Oh... um hey Luna..." Kira looked away from her awkwardly. "I didn't realize anyone was home. Ray's out getting me some soup."
"First you collapse in pain at the tournament... now you're throwing up. What else are you not telling us? Ray's really worried about you." Luna crossed her arms, and Kira eyed the bag in her hand.
"I dunno... I've just been having weird symptoms?"
Luna looked at Kira with concern on her face. "That's why I brought this." She handed Kira a little paper bag and Kira furrowed her brows, looking at her cousin... then in the bag.
"Is this a joke?" Kira pulled the test out and held it up. "I'm not pregnant, Luna! I can't believe you believe Mariah over me."
"It's not that I believe her... there are just so many things going on with you that are similar to the symptoms I'm having." Luna stepped forward and grabbed Kira's hands. "If you are, it's not the end of the world. But you need to know." Kira looked down at the test, feeling nausea set in. "Ray... needs to know."
"I'm not... I'm not pregnant, Luna. I can't be. Not during the tournament..." Kira shook her head. Luna frowned, seeing Kira's face. It really was dangerous for her to be pregnant during a world tournament. There was a reason this was a male-dominated sport.
"If you are, you still need to test. Then you guys can figure out what you want to do from here. You have my support, and I know Kai will support you too. And then.. of course there's Ray."
'Ray...' Kira frowned. How would he react? Was he even ready to start a family? Probably not. They were still so young and trying to rebuild their relationship. "O...okay I'm gonna go take it. I'll be back." Kira went into the bathroom and took the test and set it on the counter like the instructions stated. Luna was on the other side of the door, sitting on the bed. Her nerves were going wild for Kira. After about three minutes had past, Kira came out holding the test in her hand, and she gulped, handing the test to Luna.
"Oh... my God..." Luna looked at test, with her brow raised and then up at Kira who had a blank expression on her face.
Aaaahh! Let me know what you guys think! The story is just getting better and better! T.T
Thank you for reading!
Beautifuldisaster993