Beyblade Fan Fiction ❯ A New Family: Kai's Cold Beginnings ❯ Here Comes the All Starz ( Chapter 6 )

All six of us headed towards the park. Ray and Dralcian took the lead. They were chatting about this and that. I noticed they were awfully close to each other. Maybe the white tiger owner had taken an interest in her. She needed someone to be with. Then again, I could also use someone to stand beside me. I glanced over at Tyson, who was playing with Max. Suddenly, I had this strange feeling course throughout my body. I didn't like it.

The park wasn't too far from our apartment. It was only a few blocks away. The weather was perfect for training, but I said that we would be relaxing. I found out they need to take breaks, unlike the silver falcon and I. We can practically keep going, since they upgraded our metabolism. When we arrived there, you would never guess who we ran into. I blinked a few times to make sure that it wasn't a delusion. Nope, it was real as any one of us.

"Mom!" Max cried out, running his mother.

Judy turned around to see her son running towards her, with open arms. She hugged him as soon as they made contact. They stayed that way for awhile, before breaking apart. She ruffled his messy blonde hair.

"How have you been doing?" She asked him.

Max gave her a huge smile. "I've been doing great. Kai has us training so that we can repeat last year's performance."

"Not if I have anything to say about it," Judy teased her son. "I see you have an extra person with your team this time."

"Yeah, that's Dralcian or Dee," Max replied. "She's one of Kai's old friends."

"And here I thought he couldn't have any," Emily said, standing next to Judy. "I thought he kept to himself to protect something."

"Emily, we will not be talking about people in that manner," Judy scolded her.

"Sorry," Emily apologized.

The rest of us walked up to them. "What brings you here?" Judy asked us.

"Kai is giving us a break from training," Tyson jumped into the conversation, before anyone could say anything. "Can you believe it?"

"Why wouldn't he?" Judy inquired.

"Because he trains us 24-7," Tyson answered.

"He doesn't train you every minute of the day?" Judy asked while eying me.

"Tyson is exaggerating," Ray sighed. He glanced over to the rest off the All Starz team, who were trying to decide on something by using rock, paper, or scissors. "What are you doing here? I thought you have a training facility."

"We have taken the afternoon off," Emily answered his question. "Since we have shown an exponential improvement within the past week, we were allowed free time. We decided on coming to the park." Every once in a while she glanced over at Max. I wondered what was going through her mind. Never mind. I wouldn't want to know what she was currently thinking.

"What are they doing?" Max pointed to Steve, Eddie, and Michael.

"They're decided which sport to play," Emily sighed. "Of course, you already can figure out which sport each one of them wants to play. I seriously doubt that we can play baseball, as we didn't bring a bat and not everyone has gloves."

"Maybe you guys would like to hang out with us?" Tyson suggested. "After all, we are going to be working together next week."

"That wouldn't be such a bad idea," Judy said, after thinking. "Maybe then they can finally decide on which sport to play. BOYS!!!!"

"What is it?" Michael yelled.

"Come over here!" Judy screamed, because they were far away from us.

"The Bladebreakers are here," Steve said the obvious. "We didn't see you arrive."

"Maybe if you weren't fighting, then you would have seen their arrival," Emily scoffed at her team mate. "Anyways, we decided that we are going to engage in a recreational activity with them."

"Huh?" The rest of the All Starz team and Tyson said simultaneously.

"It means we are going to be having fun," Dee spoke up for the first time in this conversation. I was pretty sure that she was nervous around new people, especially humans. Who wouldn't be, considering what she had gone through.

"Why did you say so in the first place?" Michael inquired. "I say we play baseball."

"Michael, in case you haven't noticed, no one has gloves and not to mention we are lacking a bat," Emily replied sarcastically.

The All Starz team captain pouted, but then finally agreed. He knew she was right, but he didn't like admitting he was wrong. In a sense, I understand how he felt. I too don't like admitting when I was wrong. I hate being corrected.

"Then basketball it is," Eddie said, twirling his ball on his right hand pointer finger.

"I say foot ball," Steve said. He was throwing the pig skin in the air and then catching it.

"Why don't you try a new sport?" Dee inquired.

"You won't know until you try," Ray said backing her up. "It's only for one afternoon. It's not like it's going to kill you."

"I guess it wouldn't hurt," Michael said. He knew that we were definitely not going to play baseball.

"I'm fine with that," Eddie reluctantly agreed.

"Okay," Steve said.

"Let's see what is there?" Tyson said to himself.

"Soccer," Dee said with a small smile. "I'm not the greatest, but I can manage."

"That sounds acceptable to me," Emily said, backing up the silver falcon.

"I can go for that," Michael replied.

"Yeah!" Max cheered. Obviously, he really liked playing it.

"Sure thing," Tyson said agreeing to the game.

"I'm in," Ray added.

The other two All Starz members agreed to it. The Chief decided to stay out of it, because he didn't want to damage his precious laptop. That kid seriously had his laptop glued to him, since he takes it everywhere he goes, except for the bathroom. The others then turned towards me, wanting to know if I would join them. I shook my head to answer no.

"Why?" Tyson asked, standing next to me.

"I don't feel like playing and there will be an uneven number," I pointed out that obvious fact. Well, it didn't seem obvious to them.

"Someone can sit out," Dee said, attempting to dissuade my decision to stay out of the game. "Either that or we can try to rope the Chief into playing."

"What about my laptop?" Kenny inquired as he hugged his mentioned item very tightly. If that kid were any stronger, that laptop of his would be a boomerang shape by now.

"You can leave it with Judy," Emily said.

"Does anyone remember we don't have a soccer ball?" Ray spoke up with his concern.

"That's right," every said, slapping their forehead.

"I suppose we can get one of our men to purchase one," Judy said thoughtfully. "There is a sports shop nearby and we certainly can afford one ball."

As someone was going to buy a soccer ball, we were deciding who will be on which team. Michael and I were named team captains. I wasn't surprised when we were picked as we were both team captains of our beyblading team. Dralcian and Tyson both wanted to be on the same team as me. Ray wanted to be with her, so he was on my team. Max wanted to be with Emily, who sided with Michael. Eddie and Steve pretty much went with their beyblading team, leaving the Chief to be on my side. I guessed he could take on Emily as they were nearly the same height.

From there, we decided on who would play what position. Dee wanted to either play keeper or forward. I decided that she should be keeper, because she can withstand the kicks that the other team will have. Kenny would play defense. Ray and I were on the offense. Tyson will be in the middle, meaning that he will have to play both offense and defense at the same time.

For the other team, Steve had been unanimously voted to be the keeper. Max had been placed as the other defense. Emily and Michael no doubt have been placed as offense, as it was in their personalities. Eddie didn't mind his position. He seemed to be more relaxed and easy going than his team mates.

While we were waiting, we decided to chat. Well, they did. I, like usual, kept distant and observed how they interacted with each other. Tyson seemed to be friendly with everyone, but that was his nature. He tended to be the outgoing friendly type of person. Max seemed to be very hyper as they talked about beyblading and other things. Dee seemed to be reserved, which was unlike her usual self. Then again, these were new people to her, though she seemed pretty close to a certain team mate of mine. That certain team mate seemed to be nervous whenever she would glance at him. I smirked at his childish response.

"How have you been doing, since we last saw you at the Russian tournament?" Emily inquired.

"We've been doing okay," Max replied.

"Even if Kai had been working us like crazy," Tyson added to Max's comment. He must have forgotten that I have sharp hearing and I could hear him.

"So how have you guys been doing?" Ray asked any member of the All Starz.

"We're doing fine, except Judy keeps poking and prodding us every single time before training," Michael said exasperatedly. "Seriously, we spend more time being examined than actual blading. You would think we won't have time to practice our sport?"

"You know we have to be in top condition if we want to perform at our maximum potential," Emily retorted. She placed her hands on her hips and glared at her team captain. She really needed work on her glare. It can't even scare a child. The Chief wasn't even afraid of her and out of all of us he gets scared the easiest.

"I seriously don't want to be poked or prodded," Dee agreed with him.

"Why would you be examined?" Eddie asked.

"I don't want to talk about it," Dee shut her mouth and kept quiet.

"Let's just say it has something to do with the Abbey," Ray filled in for her. Meanwhile as he was distracted, she used this opportunity to scoot over to Ray and lean against him. When he felt her warm body against his, he blushed a bright red, which caused everyone to laugh at him. I as usual smirked. Hey, I don't laugh. Don't even bother asking why, because I don't want to explain it to you. Got it? Good, then moving on, they decided to change the topic.

"Are you part of the Bladebreaker team?" Steve directed that question towards the silver falcon bit beast.

She glanced over towards him. "I haven't decided it and the others haven't offered."

"Hey, that's a great idea," Tyson chirped. "Why don't you join us? I'm sure Ray wouldn't mind."

"Tyson!" Ray shouted at the blue haired blader. He blushed an even brighter red, to our amusement. "It's not like that."

"Then why are you blushing?" Emily interrogated the Chinese blader.

"Because I just am," Ray appeared to be pouting. He then looked down to that mass of silver hair. She shifted around to be more comfortable leaning against him. While she was cozy, he was feeling very uncomfortable and uneasy. I should take pity on him and tell her, but she would probably be ticked at me and I would be sent flying high. He sighed and placed his arms around her slim waist.

"I think we have a couple," Tyson pointed out the obvious.

"Isn't that obvious?" Emily rolled her eyes.

Max giggled. "Sometimes, it takes Tyson more time to realize that." When Tyson heard it, he pouted at the blonde blader. "Take for instance now."

They all laughed at it. Dee appeared to be very content in the Chinese boy's arms. Emily scooted closer to Max, trying to get him to take a hint. Obviously the hyper boy was either naïve or he was completely clueless as usual. Sometimes, he doesn't pay attention to his surroundings. Emily wanted him to hold her the way Ray was holding Dee. She said that she was an observant person. You could probably say I was one also.

Tyson glanced over towards the blonde and gave him a slight push towards the red headed girl. Well, at least this time, he managed to do something right. Max stumbled into Emily, who also blushed. She tried to attain the results that Dee had. Max was completely confused as to what she wanted. Ray motioned towards himself and Dee, trying to clue him in. Finally after what seemed to be ages, Max wrapped his arms around her. It was official: love was in the air. How it made me sick to my stomach.

I looked towards Tyson. My heart skipped a beat. Was that what I was feeling? How could a cold person like myself ever love someone? Would anyone even love me even after what I had done? My past kept me from having close relationships. The only person who was ever close to me was the silver falcon, but I never recognized it until recently. He had been the only friend I had in the Abbey. Tala saw me as a rival. Both of us constantly competed for attention and praise. Bryan didn't care what others thought of him. He just did things his own way and produced the desired results so they didn't care what methods he used. Spencer was the hothead out of all of us. He always took the chance to show off what he had learned or mastered. If he received something, you can tell that half the Abbey would know within an hour. Ian wasn't much of a talker. If you told him to do something, he would immediately drop what he was doing and do it, unless what he was doing was an order.

"Where are you staying?" Eddie asked the group.

"We're staying in an apartment nearby," Kenny answered. "I can give you the address and phone number if you want."

"That would be good," Judy said stepping into the conversation. "In case we need to contact you right away."

The computer genius grabbed a pen and pad of paper from his bag. He scribbled a few lines, before giving it to Judy. She was the most responsible out of all of them. "You may have to call a few times. I sometimes go online for research. We don't have cable or DSL, because our carrier doesn't provide it."

"That's understandable," Judy said.

Just then one of her staff members arrived with a few cones and a newly purchased soccer ball. I figured the cones would be used to mark the goal as there were no goals provided. It will suffice. We don't need fancy equipment to play. Ray and I stood up at the middle of the field. Tyson stood behind him with Max off to his right. Dee took her position in front of the net.

For those of you who don't know what soccer was, I'll explain it to you. In other countries, it would be called football. Each team has eleven players, but we don't have that amount so what we have will have to do. To score, you must kick the ball into the other team's net. You have one goalie, which blocks the ball from going into the goal and prevents the other team from scoring. One sweeper helps the goalie, by keeping the ball away once the goalie blocks it. Those people stays close to the net, but not too close that he will impede the goalie. You have three people primarily on defense. They are called fullbacks. The people that play both are halfbacks. The attackers are forwards. Even though the roles may be switched, these positions have their primary roles. Only the goalie can touch the ball with his or her hands. If anyone touches the ball, it would be an automatic penalty. Kicking, tripping, pushing, shoving, and intentionally hurting someone is illegal. The only time you can have the ball touch your arm is when you're blocking the ball from hitting your face. Then it isn't called a penalty, because you're protecting yourself from being injured.

Judy started the game by throwing in the ball. I quickly kicked towards Ray, who then dodged an incoming Michael. I kept Emily busy by making her try to think my moves through. The best way to attack your opponent is to confuse them. We soon made it past their forwards with our halfback in the middle. Tyson seemed to be anxious to receive the ball. Not on my watch. Ray kicked the ball towards me as Max came in from an angle. I immediately kicked it hard towards the goal, but Steve ended up catching it and punting it to the other end. No wonder why they wanted him as their goalie. He blocked more than a third of the goal and he can kick far. The ball landed in front of Kenny, who gave it up to Tyson. Tyson had to wait before handed it to us, because Emily and Michael would intercept the ball.

I moved to the left, but quickly changed directions on Michael. With his momentum going, he couldn't stop himself in time. I received the ball from Tyson and immediate high tailed it up the field. Glancing at Ray, I signaled that I was going to pass it to him and I never did. I fooled Eddie into trying to intercept the ball. Once we cleared him, we moved up to where Max was. I was going to use the same trick. This time I intended to pass the ball. Max thought I was going to keep the ball, but he soon realized his mistake when Ray now had the ball. Using his cat like speed, he ran the rest of the way and kicked it at an angle, causing Steve to miss. We scored. Meanwhile Dee looked really bored down there.

After an hour of playing, we decided to call the game. I wasn't sweating at all. Emily seemed a bit tired. Her team mates weren't tired, but a little out of breath. Max was exhausted as he had to deal with Ray and I. We made a great team, when we worked together. Tyson was tired but not as much as Max. Kenny was tired; however, he didn't receive much action. Dee was in the same position as me. She was more powerful than me, but she didn't have much action going on at the end of her side. When there was, she skillfully blocked each attempt.

"That was a good game," Tyson chirped as we crashed underneath a large oak tree.

"You weren't that bad," Steve commented.

"Thanks, I think," Tyson said sheepishly. "So what are you guys going to do tonight?"

"We haven't decided," Emily answered for the team.

"I want to see the new Lord of the Rings movie," Michael piped in.

"Hey, I wanted to see that too," Max said enthusiastically.

"Me three," Ray and Dee said simultaneously.

"I've read all the books," Dee informed us. "The first and second movie was good, even if it didn't follow the plot."

"I know what you mean," Emily said.

"At least, they have the major concepts the same," Kenny said, speaking in favor of the movie. "They only changed the minor details, because the movie would have been three to five times that length if they did it exactly according to the book."

"Imagine sitting through a movie that long," Michael whistled. "There's no way I'm going to see it in the movie theaters. I'd rather rent it and watch part of it at a time."

"For once, you have a good idea," Emily quipped.

"I resent that!" Michael huffed.

"Anyways, who wants to go?" Kenny asked the group. "If we have enough people, we may qualify for a group discount."

Everyone except for me decided to go to the movie. Surprisingly, Dee also went. I knew she was shy around humans until she met Ray and me. She caught me off guard, when she became very close to Ray within a short amount of time. I headed back to our hotel, where I started fixing up my dinner. No doubt they will have dinner while they were out. It was a three hour movie.

I glanced over at the clock and sighed. Sometimes being alone can really be annoying. As much as I want to spend time to myself, I also needed the company of others, even if I wasn't interacting with them. At the Abbey, I was always surrounded by people. When I was in my 'room,' there were other children near mine. At the training area, several children were training. Then here with the Bladebreakers, I was constantly surrounded by at least one of my team mates. I sighed and resumed cooking. They must have really rubbed off on me, for me to admit to myself that I wish I had company.

After dinner, I relaxed on the couch and watched TV. Normally, I would be either training or reading. I wasn't in the mood and I wanted to rest from the intense training I done earlier. Staring at the ceiling, a memory flooded my mind.

FLASHBACK

"Put me down!" I yelled at the person holding me.

"Now Kai, we can't have you running away like last time," Boris placed me down onto a chair and strapped me in.

I struggled against bindings, but they wouldn't budge. "I told you I don't want to be here!" Despite all my efforts, I couldn't break loose.

"You're guardian decided to place you under my custody," Boris said with a smirk. I wanted so badly to wipe that smirk off his face. He turned around, facing his back to me. "I'll be going to retrieve your punishment for disobedience."

That same red headed kid came quietly into the room. This time, he had a different outfit on, but I can tell it was the same person. He padded softly over to where I laid. I took one hard look at him, before looking away.

"Why did you run away?"

What was his name again? Tony, Tommy, Taylor.... Oh right, it was Tala the child protégé. "I ran away, because I don't want to end up like a cold emotionless bastard like Boris. I'm not a tool he can use and get rid of easily."

"Why not?" Tala inquired, tilting his head. "He told me that power is everything and that we should strive to attain more."

"He's lying to you," I corrected him. "Happiness does not lie in power but in friends. I have a few of them, but that was before my grandfather showed up and took me away from my home."

"You must have a loving family," Tala sighed regretfully.

"Yes I did," I replied softly. "Even though we were poor, we were happy. They loved me so much that they scrimped and saved so that I can have a real birthday party."

"It must be nice having a family," Tala looked like he was going to break down and cry. "My parents were killed and I was living on the streets, when Boris took me in. I didn't know it at the time. I was just glad to get off the streets and something to eat."

"Do you know what my punishment is?" I changed the subject, when I noticed how depressed he was becoming.

Tala shook his head. "They never tell us until we are about to receive it. I've been beaten a few times, but that is as far as they go. They don't want me to be severely injured to the point that I can't blade."

"What a pathetic excuse," I said sarcastically.

"I know," Tala sighed. "I know it all too well." He hung his head down in shame.

"What brings you here?" I asked, getting to the point of his visit.

"I came here to warn you," Tala said. "I overheard them talking and you're going to be their next experiment. They have been working on this bit beast called Black Dranzer. It has the ability to absorb other bit beasts. Aside from that, I don't know much about it, except that it is a bird. You'll have to be careful, because they'll be watching you constantly. Crying, whining, whimpering, smiling, giggling, laughing, smirking, and chuckling are forbidden here. We are told to keep our emotions in check. That is why you saw all of us out there looking like robots. If we broke any of these commandments, we were automatically punished. Depending on the offense, the punishment would be privately or publicly done."

"It's like a beyblade military academy," I whispered, to which Tala nodded his head.

Tala snapped his head up. "I have to go. I don't want Boris to catch me sneaking out of my room."

"Thank you for risking being punished to warn me," I said gratefully. He nodded his head and made a dash for the exit. Fortunately, Boris didn't see him. When I turned to look at him, I found him with several needles. He numbed my cheeks with something and started doing stuff to it. I later found out that he was placing those blue triangles on my face.