Spin, Blade, Suffering (The Three Don't Mix)
Emily heaved a sigh.
Things had been on a low ebb for her, recently. More than
expected for someone of such a young age. And things were going
so well at first. The World BBA Championships had been one of
the greatest events in recent sports history. So many awesome
teams had competed in it. The relentless Blitzkrieg Boys, the
hard-rocking All Starz, the resolute White Tiger X, the
synchronized duo of F Dynasty, the
shady-but-ultimately-good-hearted Barthez Battalion; and of
course, the courageous BBA Revolution. And it equated to a
tournament that had rocked the Beyblading world to no limits. It
was quite fitting then, that it was the last major tournament
that the BBA launched before its untimely demise.
...Now BEGA was there to fill its shoes.
It wasn't exactly a welcomed change-over for everyone. Most of
the people active in the Beyblade world were generally accepting
of this new sporting corporation. But the hardcore puritans, the
Beyblading zealots; could see through all the momentum, glitz
and glamour. Those people just happened to be the world champ
himself, Tyson, and all of his entourage. Most of the friends he
had made during the tournament had gathered all together for the
upcoming fight against the BEGA Five. Hence Emily's presence in
this quiet, mountainous area. But they had work to do. The
technically prowess of the BEGA bladers, mostly glaring of
which; Crusher and Garland, had to be overcome somehow. And
while Tyson and the others trained themselves to a razor's edge
outside; Emily, Kenny and Miguel worked tirelessly to even out
the playing field with the tech of the Beyblades. Their work had
been a lot of time and stress. But one look at Tyson's resolves,
fearless face pushed all others back into the game. And
eventually; they had come up with the one trump card that they
had to play in this match.
The Hard Metal System.
Though it was essentially Kenny's hypothesis that generated the
overall outline for it, the HM would not have been possible with
out Emily's engineering experience and technical know-how. Not
to mention Miguel's added knowledge of the inner workings of the
Beyblade in addition. The three worked at the small but mildly
comfortable wooden shack upon the foothills where Tyson and the
others were training. Kenny sat across from Emily with his
laptop Dizzi at the ready, tapping into codes and pulling out
data files to draw from. While Emily did the same at her own
laptop, and Miguel began adjusting a prototype blade with the
intention of testing out the Hard Metal System.
Kenny eased back and sighed, wiping the sweat from his face.
"Whoa! This is so tiring. I haven't worked on a Beyblade so hard
since we created the new Dragoon for battle with the Demolition
Boys a while back."
Emily recalled those days well. But she didn't look up from
screen of her laptop. "...That was a long time ago, Kenny. And
we still have a lot of work to do. The HM is powerful... but we
need to substitute some of the weight we put in for enhanced
speed. Otherwise it'll just slow Tyson down when he eventually
faces the BEGA Bladers in the dish."
"Got a point there, Emily," Miguel added, tinkering with the
prototype, "This thing definitely feels heavier than normal.
Which might work better for Max, considering that he's primarily
a defensive Blader. But that won't work as well for Tyson, Rei
and Daichi."
Kenny eased on his elbows. "Yeah. I guess you guys are right.
But if we limit the overall weight of Hard Metal... you know
what that means. It'll be so powerful that even Tyson will have
trouble handling it."
"I don't think we can even that out anymore than we have," Emily
replied, "...It'll be up to them to master Hard Metal before
their match. And they would need a heck of a lot of time to do
that. So we have to keep working hard. The sooner we finish all
this, the sooner they can start practicing."
To that, Kenny and Miguel nodded. But they couldn't help notice
that something was... up with Emily. She was never an overly
emotional person, but she seemed more... stoic than she normally
was. And though Miguel hadn't really known her that long, he
knew that Emily didn't look the type to be so focused on
something. But Kenny was the one who questioned her about it.
"...Emily?" He said questioningly, "Is everything okay?"
Again, she didn't look up from her laptop. "Of course. I just
want this done. I'm okay."
Well Kenny wasn't completely prepared to believe that. But it
wasn't like he could do anything to question her further.
Sometimes when people were annoyed or down in the dumps, the
best thing to do was just leave them to get on with it for a
while. The young technician went back to tapping data in
preparation for test runs of the Hard Metal. While Miguel soon
went to work on the attack ring of the prototype. About ten
minutes after they hit the drawing board, there was a loud and
unmistakable bang upon the door.
Kenny turned and stared at it. "What the heck was that?"
Miguel did the same. "...Sounds like..."
"Go! Strata Dragoon!"
The thundering sound of wood being shattered into splinters was
soon heard. And the Daichi's amethyst tone Beyblade crashed
straight through the wooden door of the shack. Kenny and Emily
gasped; while Miguel ducked for cover. Strata Dragoon sliced
over his head and smashed into the far wall of the shack, lodged
into harder wood, still spinning in the small dent it had made.
Miguel took a breath of relief and took a glance at the doorway.
The door was open now. And Daichi stood it in with a sheepish
smile on his fiery, youthful face.
Kenny's eyebrow ticked. "Daichi?! Are you out of your mind?"
"Heh, heh, heh!" The kid upstart chuckled, "...Eh... sorry 'bout
that!"
Just as Miguel was about to say something in counter to that, he
caught sight of Tyson and Mariah running up to the doorway with
urgent, annoyed looks on their faces. They stopped suddenly.
Mariah crouched down to look at Daichi at eyelevel, with a frown
on her cute, cat-like face. "Daichi! Do you have to take
practice matches so seriously?"
"Crazy hothead!" Tyson barked, pressing his hand against his
hip, "You know the Chief is busy working in here!"
Daichi crossed his arms and scowled, looking up at his partner
and rival. He could handle being scolded by Mariah, but not by
Tyson. "Back off, Tyson! I'm a World Champion Blader and me and
my Strata Dragoon are gonna tear it up! If you can't keep up
with me then that's YOUR problem!"
Both Daichi and Tyson then growled angrily at each other, right
before Daichi jumped to the far wall of the room and grabbed
Strata Dragoon from the dent it had made in the far wall. He
then bounced back and dashed out of wooden shack, pulling his
brown shell-like launcher out of his pocket. The moment he got
back out into the hills he stared back and waved his free arm at
the two Bladers.
"Tyson! Mariah! C'mon! I'll take you both on! Right here, right
now!"
The three-time champion, Tyson, scowled vividly and followed
after the young kid who had been his partner during the
tournament. "Oh, brother. I really need to take that kid down a
peg or two! Slow down, Daichi!"
Mariah giggled gently as the two of them went back out into the
wilderness to train. "Daichi. He's so obnoxious, but so cute
it's hard to stay angry at him, you know? He and Tyson are so
similar too. You'd think they were brothers or something."
Emily shook all that off and turned back to her laptop. "...I
guess. But we need to work now. The secret we've been telling
you about will be ready soon. If we can get the peace we need to
finish it."
Though that comment wasn't harsh or harshly said, it confused
Mariah a little bit. Emily seemed a little odd right now. And it
had been that way ever since they had first met up again. Mariah
looked over at Kenny and Miguel for some kind of explanation.
The two of them just shrugged. They had no idea what was eating
the science girl. But there was definitely something wrong
there. Seeing this, Mariah couldn't help but think up something
to ease her friend's problems.
"Well, you know..." She began, "Hilary said that we should
probably head back into town to get something to eat. All of us.
And lets face it, it would be nice, wouldn't it? I know that
Gary certainly wasn't turning down the offer, either."
Miguel ran a hand through his hair. "...It might not be a bad
idea to take a break and get a fresh start later on. All this
research and effort isn't exactly the best way to spend the
day."
"It is when you want your team to win," Kenny offered, standing
upright, "But a break might just be what we need to get
everything we have into perspective. And to be perfectly honest,
I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't getting hungry."
Mariah pressed her hands together and giggled. "Great! Then it's
settled!"
However, Emily, still staring blankly into the LSD screen of her
laptop, spoke. And she spoke something that was the exact
opposite of what Mariah wanted to hear. "...I'll catch up with
you guys later. I have a few more things that I want to clear up
here."
Which was just the reaction that Kenny was expecting. But
neither him nor Miguel said anything to try to change her mind.
The two young men abandoned their posts. Kenny shut down Dizzi
then closed it; walking off to the door with Miguel. Emily
stayed put. But then, so did Mariah. The cerise-haired Beyblader
watched with a concerned expression, her vacant friend. There
was something bothering Emily. And being the kind of caring
person that she was, Mariah was both going to do something about
it; and get to the bottom of it. She instantly went for one of
the chairs that surrounded the lengthy table that the American
girl was at. Then shoved that chair into the small gap next to
Emily. Emily then looked upwards and saw the cheerful Mariah
take a seat next to her, brandishing one of her hauntingly
beautiful smiles.
"So. What are we working on?" The Asian woman asked.
Emily blinked, adjusting her glasses. "...Weren't you... going
with them...?"
"...I'd rather stay here. With you."
Though Mariah meant that with the best possible intention, all
Emily saw of it was another distraction from her work. She
quickly turned back to her laptop and got back to work, the
planning for the prototype of a Dragoon that was armed with the
Hard Metal System. But that was not enough for Mariah. Something
was most definitely wrong and she was more than sure that she
was going to figure out what it was.
And sometimes, the best way to do that was try the direct
approach. "Is something bothering you, Emily?"
"...No." She replied mechanically.
Mariah narrowed her eyes. "You could have fooled me."
"...It's nothing."
"No it's not," The pink-haired girl replied, "...You hardly said
a word when we all met up again. Rick, Michael and Eddie might
not be able to see it... but I can. And I'm not going anywhere
until you tell me what's worrying you. So did something happen?
Did you have an argument? Is it about the All Starz or that
woman you work for? What's her name... um... Judy?"
Emily's shoulders jerked with the mention of Max's mother. And
suddenly Mariah was aware of the problem. Or at least the source
of it. "...It's about Miss Judy, isn't it?"
"..." Emily said nothing.
"...Did you two have an argument?" Mariah asked, "...I know
that it might be not be easy if you did, but we White Tigers
worked everything out with Rei. If we can heal over something
like THAT, then I'm sure that you could-"
And finally, Emily let loose a worthy blast of emotion. "It's
not that simple!"
In that instant, Mariah was silenced. Finally Emily was
beginning to open up. But this had uncovered the fact that
Emily's problem... was far more serious than Mariah would have
expected. Whatever was going on, she was using all this work as
a way of running from it. Just like Mariah, Lee, Gary and Kevin
had all run away from the realities of Rei's choice to spread
his wings. Mariah knew first hand, what it was like to bury your
head in the sand. And everything it happened... the simple fact
of the matter was always proven. No matter what you try to run
away from...
...It always catches up with you in the end.
"...It's not that simple..." Emily repeated, finally casting her
eyes away from the laptop, "...And I can't say anything... more.
You guys... you guys will... hate me..."
Mariah blinked in confusion. "Hate you? Why would we hate you?"
To be perfectly honest, Mariah and Emily were not the closest of
friends but the friendship they did have was solid. And enough
to make it valuable to Emily's heart. Just as it was with Max,
Michael, Eddie and (to a lesser extent) Rick. "...I love her..."
"...Who?"
"...Judy," Emily said, "...I love her. I know you'll think that
it's weird. But it doesn't feel that way to me. Not in the
least. To me... it feels as natural as breathing or walking or
talking. But I won't blame you if you can't understand."
Oh she understood. Mariah understood in a greater depth than
Emily was giving her credit for. And if she had been paying more
attention, Emily would have noticed that Mariah's mood became
downcast at the mention of those feelings. Feelings that were
being cast in an opposite direction to where they were wanted.
And needed. Mariah pulled a sad smile onto her face and tried to
speak up a bit. Emily was hurting. That was all that mattered.
"I understand," She offered, "I really do. I'm sorry, Emily."
Emily lowered her face. She was through with crying. But not
through being sad about her plight. "...She told me that she saw
me as a friend. But that it couldn't work. She loves Max's Dad.
And she made the logical point of stating the age gap between
the two of us. In her eyes it just wasn't practical. And I know
she's right... but that doesn't stop it from hurting. I just
can't stop thinking about her. How strong and commanding and
warm she is. Even if she doesn't love me back... I don't think
I'll ever get over her."
Again, Mariah's smile fell. "...It... does get easier over
time... you know..."
"I've spent a whole month telling myself that. And it still
doesn't feel any better."
"...Oh, listen to yourself," Mariah prodded, "...Are just gonna
stamp 'done' on your forehead and give up? You're so smart and
pretty and kind... you could have anybody you want! Just come
with us and take a break from all this! You'll feel lots better
if you do, I promise!"
Emily sighed to herself. "...Look, Mariah. I know you're trying
to make me feel better. And I appreciate that. But I'm just not
in the mood to be out there with everyone right now. Maybe
later."
But later was not on Mariah's agenda. A sharp look of
determination passed over Mariah's feline features. There was no
way she was going to let this one get away. Mariah quickly stood
upright and grabbed Emily by the arm, dragging her towards the
door.
Emily struggled with surprise. "Mariah? What are you doing?!"
The pink-haired teen looked back at her friend. "You've got your
Beyblade on you, right?"
Emily nodded to that, but only out of reflex. Then Mariah
continued dragging Emily to the door. On the way out, she
grabbed a spare launcher. Then the two of them marched out into
the beautifully green foothills where everyone had been
training. By now the others had gone for something to eat like
Hilary had suggested. Mariah and Emily were alone up her now.
Free to speak about things. And free to do something that Mariah
had planned.
The only female member of the White Tiger X Team released her
hold on Emily's arm and then walked away from her. Once a good
distance of around twenty metres had been put between the two of
them, Mariah tossed the launcher at her friend with a serious
expression on her normally cute face.
Emily caught the launcher and blinked. "...What is this all
about, Mariah...?"
She was about to find out. Mariah reached into her back pocket
and yanked out her sleek pink Beyblade, adorned with the chip of
her own personal Bit Beast, Galux. "A Bey-Battle! Just you and
me, one-on-one, no Bit Beasts! If I lose, you can sit in that
shed all day and mope about something you can't fix. But if I
win, and you battle like the Emily I remember... then you'll
come out with me and the others!"
Emily sweatdropped. "...Are you serious...?"
"...Before we met... I went through something I still regret to
this day. Rei was a member of my village. And when he earned the
power of the White Tiger Bit Beast, Driger, he left us to go
experience more of the world. My team and I hated him from then
on. We felt like he had betrayed us. And when we faced off with
the Bladebreakers in the Asian Tournament; I had the greatest
match of my life with him. I learned that... no matter how much
I hated Rei for abandoning us... I could never turn my back on
his friendship. I had to accept that what he did was best for
him. And know that one day he would come back with all the
knowledge he gained and lead us to victory. Even though White
Tiger X didn't win the last Tournament... we became a true team
thanks to Rei. He taught us what it meant to know teamwork and
to strengthen that teamwork with the bonds we share as friends.
And as your friend, Emily, I won't let you waste away in there!
I know it's hard... but my friends mean too much to me to let
them stew in their own unhappiness. And that's why I'm
challenging you!"
There was absolutely no way Emily could do this. She hadn't
actively Bey Battled in months. "...Mariah..."
But the cat-like girl was far beyond talking now. Mariah
attached Galux to the underside of her launcher and then aimed
at the centre of space between herself and Emily. She had lots
of experience Beyblading in the outdoors back at her village.
Now she'd put that into practice. With one powerful yank, Mariah
pulled the cord from her launcher. "Let it rip!"
And a now spinning Galux was shot into the grassy ground below.
The pink Beyblade spun repeatedly in the spot at which Mariah
had launched it. It began waking dust as it remained stationary;
waiting for Mariah's next action. And Mariah was waiting for
Emily.
"Well then?" She prodded sharply, "Are you going to Bey Battle
or run away?"
Emily knew Mariah too well. There was no way she was going to
let his drop. And though she didn't have her normal Squash
Racquet Launcher on her, the substitute that Mariah and thrown
at her would have to do for now. Emily sighed and went into the
pocket of her white scientist smock. Then pulled out her own
Beyblade, the underrated yet not underpowered Trygator. She
attached it to the base of the launcher.
The click of metal indicated that it was properly attached.
"...If I win this... do you promise to just let the issue drop?"
Mariah nodded with a confident grin. "I will. But you're not
going to win!"
Though she really was in no mood for a Bey Battle, if it meant
letting this whole thing being put to rest then she would have
to fight... "Let it rip!"
Emily stood her ground and pulled the cord straight out of the
launcher. Trygator was blasted from the launcher just a quick
second later, and thrown straight into action with Galux. The
aqua green Beyblade span right towards the pink one, slicing up
the blades of grass in its away. Mariah saw this coming a mile
away. Galux swerved to one side of the blade and avoided the
flat-out attack without any effort whatsoever.
Emily's eyes narrowed. "...What...?"
"...You've gotten slow since our last match, Emily," Mariah
claimed, "...that kind of an attack won't stand a chance against
my Galux!"
That sudden burst of momentum had its weight on the battle.
Galux shot forth with great, searing speed. It collided with
Trygator and knocked the Beyblade off its current spot. Emily
gasped when her blade was sent straight into the air with the
force of it. Though she managed to compose herself a little as
Trygator began descent. It touched upon the grass of the
foothill a brief few seconds later. Still in the game, but now
Emily was far more cautious. Her data would have suggested that
such an attack was normally too powerful to have come from speed
over strength Beyblader like Mariah. Especially since that was
NOT her special attack. So then why?
Emily tightened her fist. "...That's... amazing..."
"I've improved since we last battled each other," Mariah put
forth, "Training with hardcore bladers like Lee and Gary is the
best way to do it. But you haven't improved... at all. Or have
you? Have you lost your edge or are you letting your feelings
for Miss Judy control you?"
"...What's... that supposed to mean?" Emily questioned.
"...I remember what happened at the World Championships, all
that time ago. I remember that Kai left the Bladebreakers and he
joined with the Demolition Boys. I remember when he stole
Trygator and all the other Bit Beasts from the All Starz. I'll
never forget the tears I saw in your eyes when that happened.
And when I failed to stop Kai myself, I couldn't stop blaming
myself for letting you down. But I won't let you down this time!
It's time to show you everything I've learned since then! Galux!
Attack!"
The pink Beyblade soon moved into action. It zoomed across the
grass and went right for Emily's Trygator. The American girl was
so startled by the speed of this oncoming assault that she
froze, unable to think of what to do. Galux then smashed against
the circular blade once more. But rather than knocking it away,
Galux rebounded off it and launched itself into the air. Once it
reached a peak in the air, Mariah concentrated and prepared
for...
"Now, Galux! Aerial Cat Scratch!"
Emily was shocked. "...Aerial...?!"
Streaks of powerful, sleek pink lightning energy surrounded the
blade. It came careening downwards at one hell of a violent
trajectory, the attack ring aiming downwards vertically. The
Aerial Cat Scratch landed straight to the spinning Trygator. If
that hit her, it was game over. Emily acted on nothing on
instinct and began evasive actions. A second later; Galux
slammed directly into the ground. Both girls covered their faces
as the force of the attack conjured up a cloud of thick dust.
But Emily was the one most confused by it. Mariah really had
improved. The Aerial version of the Cat Scratch might not have
been as forceful as the ordinary one, but to attack from above
like that was absolutely amazing. Once the dust began to
settle... two Beyblades were revealed. Both were spinning. But
they were now spinning in a relatively shallow and circular
crater. It was around a metre and a half wide and about twenty
centimetres deep. A reflection of the power that Mariah had at
her fingertips. She might not have been as strong as Gary or as
well-rounded as Lee; but her agility more than made up for it.
A smile finally came to Emily's face. "...You really have gotten
better..."
"Yeah," Mariah nodded, grinning at the fact that Emily at last
pulled a smile, "...I'm not just a pretty face, after all."
Now the Beyblading spirit was beginning to awaken inside of
Emily. "...Understood. But that doesn't mean I'm going to roll
over and let you win this, Mariah! Trygator! Attack now!"
At long last Emily was making a serious, aggressive
counterattack. The Beyblade with the circular base made a b-line
for Galux in a straight up attack. Mariah met Emily's new surge
of adrenalin with one of her own. Galux rushed towards the now
attacking Trygator. The two blades crashed into each other and
held one and other to a stalemate. As they span against each
other, friction began to burn at the point of collision.
Trygator's defences were too strong for Galux to knock it out of
an attack. And Trygator's defences weren't enough to repel Galux
in the way that Emily would have wanted it to. The two continued
to hold each other at bay until they both made one last push.
Trygator and Galux rebounded off each other and were thrown
outside of the crater. Both Beyblades landed with full spin, and
circled out of the vicinity of the crater. Finding a separate
open space to continue things. Or rather, end them.
Emily pulled an even deeper smile and got ready. "...That's it!
Lets see how you deal with this! Go Trygator! Attack at Full
Power!"
The trails of dust beneath Trygator that were generated when it
span increased. Though there was no Bit Beast action in this
match, Emily was going all out. Something that Mariah had been
hoping for since the start. The pink-haired cutie swung one of
her arms to the side and yelled out;
"Let's meet 'um head-on, Galux! Cat Scratch Attack!"
That streaky, pinkish lightning energy encircled Mariah's
Beyblade. Then it shot forth with all the power and speed that
she could muster. The two Beyblades zeroed in on each other and
then collided, full force, Emily's Trygator with Mariah's Galux.
Another explosion came about from the clash. A small rumbled
echoed beneath their feet. Dust was spread outwards from the
point of impact be the force of the collision. Mariah and Emily
stepped back to maintain balance and keep an eye on their
Beyblades at the same time. And when the dust and sliced up
grass began to settle, a newer crater had been cleaved. But
larger and deeper than the first one. Two Beyblades were
revealed again.
But neither one was spinning.
Emily's shoulders slumped. "...It's a... draw...?"
But while Emily was mystified, Mariah was smiling to no end. The
young woman skipped across the divide of space between herself
and her friend. On the way there, she picked up her Galux and
Emily's Trygator. A few moments later they were face to face
again. Mariah tilted her head to the side and peered into
Emily's eyes.
"You're heart's pounding, right?" She asked, "Whether you admit
it or not, that was a lot of fun! I bet it was more fun than you
though you could have ever since that thing with Miss Judy."
Well that was pretty blunt. But Mariah wasn't too far off in
that respect. For a while there, she did forget about her
troubles. And Emily realized that this was Mariah's true
intention all along. To motivate her.
The Asian girl then pressed Trygator in Emily's hands. "Here. I
think this belongs to you. If you keep practicing, you'll be as
good as me one day! And to be honest, I love battling with other
girls. You know what it's like being on a team full of guys too,
right?"
After taking one look at Trygator, locked in her palm, she cast
another look up at Mariah. But this time she was smiling again.
"...Yeah. Thanks, Mariah."
The pink-haired woman blushed and dipped the toe of her shoe
into the ground, almost bashfully. "...Yeah... well... I just
don't want you to think that if Miss Judy doesn't like you
back... then that's the end of it. There are... other people out
there who like you... that way."
Emily chuckled pessimistically. "...Like who?"
There was a second of silence between the two of them. Though
that was a rhetorical question in nature, Mariah had an answer
for it. The slightly shorter girl leaned towards Emily and
pursed her lips, pressing a sweet little kiss against the
American girl's cheek. Emily's eyes widened with surprise when
Mariah stepped back from her butterfly kiss, and slotted Galux
into her back pocket.
Blushing, she spoke. "They're around, Emily. You just haven't
noticed them."
With that said and done, Mariah stepped back and dashed down the
hill to catch up with the others. Expecting Emily to follow her.
Emily blinked once and touched upon her left cheek. The one that
Mariah had kissed. And after a second of indecision, she smiled
dreamily and followed after her friend. Heartbreak is never
easy...
...But it does get better.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Kaiser's Afterthoughts
* My first Beyblade fic. I've been a fan of this series for a
while but I've never written a fic on it until now. I was
originally against the idea of a Mariah/Emily fic in the past,
but I just woke up one morning, watched the match between Kai
and Tyson in G Revolution and it suddenly seemed like a good
idea to give it a try. They are strangely cute together; it's
more than likely that I'll take another shot at this pairing in
the future.
* I commented somewhere that Emily and Mariah had a match during
the first Beyblade series. I can't remember if they did or they
didn't, but for the purpose of adding an element of familiarity
in their match, I simply assumed that they did. If it breaks the
canon then I apologize. But this a fanfiction after all. When it
comes to fanfics, the canon is meant to be broken!
* Like what you read? Got any comments? Tell about them!
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