Beyblade Fan Fiction ❯ Get Back Up Again ❯ Pen Palling Around ( Chapter 2 )

Here's the next chapter, I know, it's long preliminary stuff…bear with it, after this one, the real story begins.

Chapter 2: Pen Palling Around

The two best friends had grown up a lot in six years. They hadn't entered any more tournaments, only trained and trained until they finally felt ready. To reintroduce themselves to the scene, they entered the local tournament again at fourteen and slowly rose through to become the National champions under their sponsor, Mr. Charlie Montana.

Ran let the wind of Guardian's wings blow her hair out of her face as she battled fiercely against one of her new teammates, a girl from Virgina. Jinny wasn't the strongest of battlers, but she definitely was cunning. The other team member was Tom, a strange fellow from California who constantly wore the nighted shade. He gave Ran the creeps, but she usually didn't pay him much attention.

Sora was the team leader, but he was fair and gracious about it. When it came to training, though, he was right on target. Nobody, and I mean nobody, was going to stand in their way. The Bladed Knights were ready for the Worlds. But Sora kept them training hard, even though it was still several months before the Worlds would begin.

"So, what are we doing, again?" Jinny asked, letting her blade slip generously into the stadium. She didn't have a bit beast, but that was okay. She and Tom were only training with Ran and Sora, because the matches this year would be in tag teams.

"We are trying to get your accuracy up to par," Ran answered, getting "physical" on them again. She was fairly intelligent, though definitely no genius. She knew it where it counted, and that's what mattered. "You see, you're too broad-based. If you had to try and hit within a one-foot barrier, you would only make it on a lucky shot. So, we gotta get you up to par. These things need to be within inches, not feet."

"Oh, I think I get it," Jinny shrugged.

Currently, the four Bladed Knights were staying in a hotel in Hong Kong. Sora would let them all go off on their own later. For now, they needed training. Ran ripped Guardian's ripcord, watching lackadaisically as it weaved through the Pepsi cans she'd set up. Bored, she glanced over at her opponent, who was still struggling to get her beyblade to spin in one place. How had she ever become a semi-finalist in the US Nationals?

Sora was thinking along the same lines, but sighed as she finally got it to at least spin in place. They weren't friends, only allies on this turf. Once the Worlds began, Jinny and Tom were on their own. His watch beeped noisily. Eight thirty.

"Okay, you can do whatever you from now until ten tonight. Bed by then. Got it? C'mon, Ran, we can go sightseeing for a minute."

"Aren't you going to try and find Kenny? Your pen pal? He said he was going to be here."

"Yeah, with his team," Sora nodded. "They won the tournament last year. The top winner was his best bud. Tyson Granger."

"Oh, I've heard of him. Real tough guy. D'you which hotel he's staying at?"

"This one, I think. Let's ask at the desk."

>>>

"Yes, here it is, the Bladebreakers," said the desk clerk, pushing his glasses on the bridge of his nose. "Room twenty D. Fourth floor."

"Hey, thanks."

Sora and Ran boarded the elevator and soon found themselves in front of the suit twenty D. It was a lot nicer looking than their room was. From what Ran knew of them, the Bladebreakers were all guys, and all of them were really tough. Maybe they'd let her battle them, to study their technique prior to their match. For surely they would be matched. They were lucky.

At least they didn't have any girls on their team and didn't have to be embarrassed by stupid punks on the street. Of course, if there had been any girls, they probably wouldn't be teased because of that. Being on the Bladebreakers this year meant defending the title, more than winning.

Sora knocked gently on the door.

"Hello, can I help you?" asked a black-haired Chinese boy as he held open the door. Ran didn't remember his name, but recalled vaguely that at one time, he'd been on the White Tigers team.

"Uh, yeah, is Kenny here?" Sora asked. "I'm a friend of his, and-"

"Oh, the Chief? Yeah, he's here," said the Chinese boy. "Come on in. Do either of you guys have any idea how to wake up a sleeping person?"

"Have you tried pouring a tea he doesn't like in his mouth?" Ran asked, chuckling. "Sora doesn't like green tea, so that's what we use."

The Chinese stopped in the small hallway. "Wait, you're Sora Kamiya? Chief's told us a lot about you."

"Glad to know I'm famous," Sora flashed his crazy, one-sided grin. "So, you still call him Chief. Shoot, I wish he'd told me. I thought the nickname had died, the way he stopped signing his letters that way."

Ran rolled her eyes. "Just because he didn't sign it anymore doesn't he forgot or doesn't like to be called it anymore. You're such a spaz, Sora, you know?"

"You're the spaz."

The Chinese boy glanced between them, uncertain.

"Don't worry about it," Sora said. "We going to see Kenny or not?"

"Oh, sorry," the Chinese boy continued to lead them on into a large, living-room type of place. There were four other people in the room, all focused on a laptop in front of a brown-haired boy with glasses. "Chief's analyzing some of our competition at the moment, but I'm sure he'll be glad to see you. Hey, Chief, you've got company."

"Sora! I didn't know you were coming."

"Sorry, I thought we'd surprise you."

"Hey, you," Ran punched Sora in the shoulder. "You gonna introduce me or what? What am I, wolf droppings?"

A boy with dark blue, almost black hair, laughed at her attempt at a joke. The Chinese boy smiled, as did a boy with a load of cute blond hair. The last boy in the room, a boy with silver and blue hair, did not even glance up from his position on the couch. Ran thought this odd, but didn't say anything.

"Sorry," Sora said. "Um…I'm guessing you know me, sort of, from what Kenny's said. But I'm Sora Kamiya, and this is my best bud and beyblading partner, Ran Galis."

"A girl?" the midnight blue-haired boy blinked at him.

Ran suddenly wasn't so happy. "What'd you say? You have a problem with girls, Mr. High and Mighty, Ruler of the Pineapple Rind?" She clicked Guardian in her new launcher and grinned at him. "Maybe we should settle this in the stadium?"

"You're on!" Tyson jumped up. "Come on, Chief. Where's the stadium at again?"

"Sixth floor, ya idiot," Ran said. "We just came from there."

Kenny sighed and packed up his laptop. "This would be a good opportunity to get some practice in, and maybe we can analyze your beyblade."

"Sounds like a plan," Sora smiled. "Hey, Kenny, have you beybattled in a while?"

"No, but I'm sure someone else here would gladly battle with you," Kenny said. "Hey, Max, how about you?"

"Are you sure you want me to beybattle your friend? Isn't this the first time you've met face-to-face?" said Max, who turned out to be the blond "cutie" in Ran's terms.

"No worries," Sora said. "We've known each other long enough. Just `cause this is the first we've actually met face-to-face doesn't mean we can't be friends with his friends, right?"

"Sora, are you gonna flap your yap or are we gonna beyblade?"

"I forgot that you stopped being shy when you got a challenge," Sora muttered. "Hey, we may be new on the scene, but we've got it where it counts."

"Let your blade do the talking, Sora," Ran said, pushing him out the door. "Less talky, more walky. You coming, Tyson, or have you gone chicken? Oh, wait, are you the owner of that company?"

"No," Tyson said, oblivious to the entire exchange.

Ran glanced back at the Chinese boy. "You know, kid, that guy is way too oblivious. Is there something wrong with him?"

"Not that we know of," said the Chinese boy, chuckling. "I didn't introduce myself yet, have I? I'm Ray Kon."

"Ran," she said. "Ray…that's a nice name. Like sunshine. It suits you."

"Uh…thanks, I guess."

"I like names," Ran said, rambling as she continued to push a protesting Sora down the hall and into the elevator foyer. "I try and find their meanings and stuff and see if they match personality. I love doing it. Sora's means `sky' in Japanese. Fits him perfectly, `cause his head's always in the clouds."

"Hey!"

Ray laughed. "Do you always talk so much?"

"Only when I'm challenged," Ran blinked as she once again shoved Sora onto the elevator, the others following quickly behind. "Usually, I'm pretty shy, `cept around Sora. I've known his since I was born. He's twenty days older."

The elevator "dinged" letting them know that they'd reached the beystadium floor. Three stadiums remained open on the floor, completely abandoned.

"Gee, I sort of expected Jinny and Tom to stay and keep training," Ran blinked. "Guess not…They're sort of on our team. Charlie said to train them, but they're not going to get very far in this. They aren't great. Okay, you, ready to battle or what?"

"Ready when you are."

"What's your name again?"

"Tyson."

Ran blinked, her hand on the rip cord. "You're the Beyblade champ from last year? What a joke!"

"We'll see when you've faced the power of my Dragoon."

"Same when you see Guardian."

Tyson paused again. "What's a Guardian?"

"He's my bit beast. Now are you ready?"

"Yeah. Three, two, one, let it…RIP!"

***

"All right, Guardian, let's start this off with Shadow Swords of Excalibur!" Guardian's black and red attack ring shot out four shadowy black things, which spun with the blade. Tyson's white beyblade attempted to dodge, but spun a little more slowly as the attack let up.

"What is that?" Tyson stared at her.

"My Shadow Swords," she answered, smirking. "Guardian's full name is Guardian of the Shadow Realm, and he has powers to match. It's your turn. I'd use it wisely, hot shot."

"Uh…Dragoon, Storm Attack!"

A wind storm started to blow within the stadium, but Ran was still smirking. Suddenly, Dragoon stopped in the center of the stadium, spinning eerily in one place. The storm had ceased.

"You hit my tripwire," Ran said. "I don't like that. Guardian, a little Neon Trinity Attack, if you please."

Guardian spun round faster and faster, flying up into the air and coming crashing down on top of Dragoon. It continued to spin, but luckily for Tyson, the attack had also broken one of the tripwires. Dragoon escaped long enough to throw a few desperate attacks Guardian's way, but Guardian threw out its Hindered Guard to wait it out.

"All right, fly boy," Ran said. "Anything else before I finish this?" She yawned, throwing her arms lazily behind her head. "If not, Guardian, finish it off."

"I'm not through with you!" Tyson growled. "Dragoon, final attack!"

Dragoon vanished, then reappeared behind Guardian. Ran watched in a bored fashion from her side of the dish.

"You know, kid, you ain't half bad. No wonder you won the Worlds last year. But you know what? I want to find out what your like later on, in the finals. So, how about we call this a draw?"

Tyson smirked. "All right, deal."

Dragoon and Guardian returned to their owner's hands, ready for their next battle. Ran smiled at Tyson as she replaced Guardian in her wrist pocket, returning her launcher and rip cord to a shoulder pack.

"So, you're finally over that shy thing?" Sora asked. Instead, Ran blushed and shoved him forward toward the dish. "What? What'd I say?"

"Get your rear end in gear, monkey boy," she said. "You're supposed to battle, too, ya know." Sora grinned and clicked Gecko into place.

"You know it."

"Hey, no matter what, we'll be friends, okay?" Max grinned, throwing an arm around Sora's shoulders. Sora nodded, smiling. He ran around to the other side of the stadium, poised to release Gecko.

"SORA! RAN!" Someone bellowed, stopping the match in its tracks. Sora glanced up to see who had ruined the fun. "Come quickly, something's wrong!"

Tommy panted, his bad-boy exterior all but gone.

"What is it?" Ran placed a hand on his shoulder. "Did something happen to Jinny? Mr. Charlie?"

"No, something…grr, just come on! Back to the room!" And he raced back out toward their room.

"We might as well go see what's up," Ran sighed. "You guys can come, if ya want to."

>>>

"There you two are!" Mr. Charlie said, his ear glued to his cell phone. "No, Mr. Kamiya, they just came in. Sora, it's your grandfather. The plane…it…here."

He handed Sora his cell phone and strode away, leaving the two Bladed Knights with the five Bladebreakers. From what it looked like…he was packing his suitcase.

"Sora, something awful happened!" shouted Sora's grandpa into the phone. Mr. Kamiya lived in Tokyo. They'd planned on visiting him on the way back to the States after the Worlds was over. "Your parents and Ran's were coming over on a late flight to surprise you two. The plane…it…it's crashed! No one knows if anyone's survived or not. They're saying…they're saying they probably didn't. The search teams are out there now, but…Sora, I'm sorry. They've already found my son and Ran's mom. They're…they're gone, son."

Sora swallowed hard, biting his lips. "What about…Mom? And Ran's dad? Have they found them? Do they know anything?"

"It came down pretty hard. The plane is strewn everywhere. They're saying there are no survivors, but the search parties aren't going to give up. Hold on, I've another call coming in…"

Sora relayed the information to Ran while his grandfather's favorite song, I Dream of Genie, played in his ear. Ran gasped and bit her lip as grandpa returned.

"They're calling the search off…Sora. Sora, they're all gone. All of them. Including your friends, Rem, Sammy, and Matt."

Sora dropped the phone and fell to his knees. He was barely aware that Ran picked up the phone and found out the rest of the story before gently hanging up. If anything, he was glad she was there. He was glad that just this once, when he thought he was alone in the world, he wasn't.

"Sora…Sora, stop this," Ran said, her nails biting into his shoulder. "There's nothing we could have done. You know it. I know it. Okay? Things are going to be different…for both of us. You know as well as I do that I don't have any family left."

"How can you be taking this so well?" Sora asked, coughing out a struggling chuckle behind the tears forming in his eyes. "You…you're too organized…I've never lost anyone….and here you are-"

"I'm not lost because I'm right here beside you, Sora," Ran said. "I know what's up, and I know what's down. So quit whining, find your center, and focus. Where are we going to go? Grandpa Kamiya can't take two of us in, and I don't have family or friends to go to anymore…"

"That's where you're wrong," Ray said gently. "We're your friends now. I'm sure one of us could take you guys in."

Ran blinked from her seat beside Sora. These five boys…all but one were strangers to them, mostly. They'd only just met…and they were offering to let them live with them? In a small hotel in Hong Kong, away from the rest of the world, she saw something she'd never seen before. Friends who weren't close as brothers, but just as cool.

Ran smiled. "Thank you. All of you."

***

Corny…I know. The real story begins next chapter. I'm still proofing it, but I'll upload it within the next week or so. Thank you soooooo much!!!