Disclaimer: Beyblade and all its likeness does not belong to me.
Author's Notes:
I suck, but at least the story doesn't really suck.. at least, I hope not. Thank you very very VERY much to all the people who reviewed. This chapter is a bit longer, and finally – TYSON!
The Moment
I wish that I could stay in this moment, for eternity…
Chapter 3: The Past
It'd been so long since he'd felt something other than this. This desperation, this hopelessness, like sweat on his skin - stuck to a web they'd spun in this dead-end city that they kept building up. A fly, helping the spider to construct its own death trap.
Disk meowed forlornly, but Kai did not hear. Everything was background noise, the static nonsense that the mind blocks out.
The answering machine on the kitchen counter beeped, "Please leave a message at the beep." Its little red light flashing as a message was recorded. The apartment filled with electronic presence.
"Mr. Hiwatari, we are calling to clarify your whereabouts as to the fact that you did not show up for work today–"
Kai walked silently across the tile floors of his kitchen. Slowly opening the cupboard, taking out a glass – blowing out some of the dust – setting it on the counter.
"This is a reminder that all employees must phone in to the following number, before the workday, to clarify that they will not be able to fulfill their work duties. 555–"
He poured some orange juice into the glass, half way, before stopping and recapping the juice container to replace it in the refrigerator.
Slowly the ex-blader took a sip, and picked up the phone. "Yes?"
"Mr. Hiwatari…?"
"Yes."
"Ah, good. We seem to have reached you. Please inform us–"
"No."
"Excuse me, Mr. Hiwatari?"
"You have not reached me." Kai said, voice monotone. "Please leave a message at the dial tone." He set the phone back on its receiver and closed his eyes.
Tyson Granger
1990 – 2004
We love you.
There was one message that still needed to be heard.
"Do you know what you're asking me to do?"
Kenny smiled as he buzzed around the virtually empty laboratory, hitting knobs and dials as he systematically ran through the motions of prepping Dizzi. He absentmindedly set his clipboard down as he took a seat at the main computer.
"You've had a day to think about it, I'd assume you know exactly what it is we need to do." The brunette pushed his glasses up and looked over his shoulder to where Kai was leaning against the wall.
Kai glanced away from the chief at that, and clenched his crossed arms tighter. "To change everything…" He murmured to himself before straightening and glaring at his old teammate. "More precisely, to save Tyson."
Tyson.
Saying the name out loud made it even more real. It made it harder to lie. Harder to breathe, to forget… To lov–
Kenny wheeled around, the chair making a slight squeak, as he also fixed Kai with a hard look. "Kai, if you don't want to go through with this, I understand. But I also know that you, out of all of us…" He trailed off, as if remembering the past, "I know that you're the one who understands why."
They were both silent as the computer booted up, vital data levels and ratios flashing against their pale skin.
"The first trial run of Dizzi isn't scheduled until one week from today. However, that doesn't give us much time or safety. The runner is supposed to be coming into the lab earlier in the week for some diagnostic tests. After that, I can't ensure any privacy at all, considering," Kenny paused and pointed to a mechanism that looked almost like a space pod, "you'll be the one in there instead of him."
"Why do we need so much time?" Kai came closer, looking up at the large computer screen as hordes of data scrolled up and down, reflecting against his face. "If it's a matter of my going to the past then I don't see how it should matter how much time passes in the present."
"Ah, that's the failsafe, I'm afraid." The technician began typing in information about Kai's statistics to calibrate Dizzi. "It's one of the problems we faced in the brainstorming phase. A lack of recordable time passage in the present would allow the runner to effectively be 'lost in the strand of time', so to speak. It's viable that we could Dizzi someone and not even be aware of it because no time had elapsed and thus not be aware of ever even sending someone back."
Kai nodded slowly, digesting the information.
"To combat the problem, we've constructed Dizzi to target the defragmentation velocity and match it. In essence, a day in the past means a day in the present."
Heart thudding loudly in his chest, Kai swallowed and spared the pod-like contraption a glance. "And if I end up somewhere else entirely?"
Kenny shook his head with a smile. "Not a chance. We've developed a handheld device that will allow communication through Dizzi. You could contact me given any difficulty, as I could you." He produced the device from a steel briefcase set next to the large key panel.
"I've run all the simulations and tests for this. It's the one configuration I've worked with for the entire term. The placement is near Tyson's old dojo, the date, one day before his death… You were doing solitary training in Russia, were scheduled to stay there for the whole summer until fate stepped in and you returned. It's perfect for the plan, you're the only one who was not in contact with anyone else… Kai, I dare say I've been planning this for years."
They shared a strained look, neither one knowing how to continue the already fragile discussion now that Kenny's technical jargon had finally ended and Kai knew all he had to know.
Dizzi's screen became unnaturally calm, the only words visible now were "Calibration: Complete."
"Kai…" Kenny said cautiously. He stood and handed the communicator to the other man. Together they walked over to the pod, watching in silence as the lid opened with a slight hiss.
Mechanically, Kai lowered himself into the seat, attaching the wires to his chest as Kenny had shown him to. The technician was typing furiously into the pod's special computer, making sure it picked up all of Kai's vitals and was running as it should.
"When you said you loved him–" Kai said abruptly breaking the silence.
His questioning voice startled Kenny, making him blink then smile. "I was referring to the message we left to him, on the headstone."
"I…"
For some reason Kai's words were caught in a web of emotions in his throat. His heart had never seemed to beat this fast before. He wondered if it was fear or anticipation, and did not bother to wonder why it wasn't for the time traveling but something entirely different.
"I… wasn't."
And Kenny's smile reached his eyes for the first time that evening. "I know."
Kai closed his eyes as the lid lowered down on top of him. He did not hear as the computer counted down the final seconds, he did not hear as Kenny whispered goodbye.
Colours.
At first he was lost in none; the lonely black of behind his eyelids met him. There was an unfamiliar tug behind his navel, no… not unfamiliar. It was similar to the feeling of attraction, a pull to something greater that was beyond his reach. Blearily, he felt the need to reach out to the darkness of his mind before deep violets and purples began to swim in Kai's sight.
It sent his memories back to seven years ago, a place he wanted so desperately to be, and yet, a place he had so many reasons to not want to live in. He remembered the dark flowing colours that enveloped him when he'd fought against BEGA's best blader, he remembered the coldness he'd felt as the wisps of darkness swirled around his body.
And then just as suddenly, blindingly sparkling blue light. He could make out faint traces of red behind his field of view before his attention was inevitably pulled back to the sheer brightness of the blue. He was not caught in the darkness anymore, rather, it felt as if he was flying at the speeds of a shooting star. No, riding on one, falling down from the dark, dark midnight sky on the back of a burning star.
Falling from the shadows into the glimmer of something beautiful.
Its glow washed over every inch of Kai's body until everything exploded in a brilliant spray of pure white light.
The soft breathing his body made as everything faded away.
Silence.
The calm sound of waves rolling onto the beach. A white sandy beach, a place he knew well. Too well.
Kai shot into a sitting position and his eyes widened in shock. "It… can't be…" Words failed him.
All around him was the soft white sand. The same sand that was just perfect for testing Beyblades for endurance. The same sand that would eventually get into all unwanted places if played in too long. The same sand that was ordinary and even a little too gritty as it got closer to the waterline. Before him was the bay where he and the other Bladebreakers had frequently visited in their youth.
Disbelievingly, hands gripped into the soft granules, getting underneath his fingernails.
It had worked, it had actually worked. He was here and he was going to change everything – it was…
"Hey!"
Kai's head whipped around at the voice. Along the shore was a figure that he couldn't quite make out. It seemed to be late afternoon; the fog from the bay was starting to blow in. It made it difficult for the time traveler to see.
Hastily, Kai stood up, brushing the sticky sand from his pants. He paused for a moment, barely registering that he was younger, how he could tell, he was fairly certain… there was something inside this younger body, filling years of hollowness. Something he'd been too frightened to feel in his whole life.
Hope.
"Well whaddya know? Dawg! There I am, doin' the daily kendo 1-2 and blamo! Oh man, the little homies will be glad to see you."
Tyson's grandfather stood in front of him, his trusty kendo stick at his side slightly digging into the damp sand.
The crinkled smile behind that too-large mustache made Kai blink back the fog that somehow gotten into his eyes and made them blurry.
"Kai? C'mon dude, don't leave me hangin'! Whacha doin' out here all alone?"
He never thought he'd be so happy to see the old geezer before now.
"I…" Words still failed him. Maybe he should've talked more in his life. Maybe it really wasn't too late to still say the words he needed to say. Tyson…
"Ahhh, I get it." Gramps grinned and brandished his kendo stick. "You're just out here playin' the ol' lone dawg routine. T-man didn't mention you were back."
Kai swallowed. "He… doesn't know." Heart beating so fast, the time traveler felt himself become lighter than he'd ever felt before. So light, he couldn't stop the smile from spreading on his lips. "I'm surprising him, Gramps. Can you tell me where he is?"
"Oh Oh!" Gramps grinned mischievously. "I see! Well, good thing I caught ya! The low down's that Tyson's not even shackin' up at the bachelor pad today. Got himself a little party goin' on at the Chief's. Y'know, fixin' Beyblades n'all."
"I see." Kai nodded, marveling that he had understood everything the eccentric old man had said. In his youth, he and the others had never really paid attention to the old man's slang filled banter. "I'll head straight there, thank you."
He turned to leave, feet plodding through the sand in a quick stride.
"Kai! Welcome home, little dude!"
The ex-blader looked over his shoulder to see Gramps waving his sword in the air. He watched for a moment as the old man began his kendo training, flowing through the different motions like wind. A small breeze caught his bangs and ruffled them softly, feathering to cover his eyes only to lift up and reveal them once more in a mere moment.
Kai did not hesitate as he ran.
Tyson laughed.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAH! Ohhhh man, Hilary, don't tell me you actually did that!"
"Hey! It's not funny, Tyson!" Hilary frowned menacingly at the baseball-capped teen sitting next to her. "She had a weird accent! How was I supposed to know that the woman said "sponge baths" and not "lounge mats–"
Hilary's explanation was cut off once again as Tyson burst into fresh laughter.
"Aha!" Kenny's cry of excitement overshadowed Tyson's usually louder-than-life laughter. The world champ and his bickering companion, Hilary, cast the short teen curious glances.
"What's that chief?" Hilary asked, eagerly wanting to divert the conversation from her embarrassing encounter at the seniors club where she had unknowingly volunteered to help with their sponge baths instead of supplying some lounge mats.
Kenny smiled proudly and shifted his laptop's computer screen so that his friends could see it clearly. There on the monitor was a revolving image of what looked like an upgraded MS blade.
"Hey, that's Dranzer!" Tyson grinned. "You finally finished it?"
The bespectacled prodigy nodded and immediately began printing out his data and plans. "It took weeks of work, but I've managed it alright. Now all that's left to do is to go down to Mr. Tate's hobby shop to get the parts I need ordered in." He took the print out of the cradle on the printer and handed it to Tyson, who was currently relaxing on his tiny bed that had computer-print sheets.
Hilary spun on the desk chair she was sitting on. "So why did you need to upgrade Dranzer, Kenny? Couldn't we have just rebuilt Kai's blade the way it was before it got smashed? That would have been loads faster."
"Well yes, but we wouldn't have gotten this far in the game if we kept going back to our original designs. This way I've improved on all the parts that gave Dranzer trouble in its last battle so it won't have to go through that again. The worst thing for a blader is to keep a beyblade with weaknesses that everyone knows."
Hilary giggled. "Or in Dragoon's case, he needs to get a new blader!" The chief laughed at that.
"Hey!" Tyson eyed them with a disgruntled look. "Anyway, you spent all this time on Kai's blade, but what about the rest of us?" He said, referring to him, Max, Ray, and Daichi.
"Patience, patience! Geeze Tyson, first you're over here almost everyday asking when Dranzer's gonna be done and now that it is you're on my back about four more! Ahhh!" Kenny pulled at his hair in frustration. "Make up your mind!"
The inky blue-haired teen blushed indignantly. "I just wanted to make sure Dranzer was ready for when Kai comes back…" He turned away and studied the print out carefully.
Kenny and Hilary shared a knowing smile behind Tyson's back.
"Well, since there's no telling when Kai might show up from his training excursion, might as well go get those parts now!" Hilary cheered.
Enthusiastically, the world champ jumped off Kenny's small bed, shoved the papers into his back pocket and grabbed his jacket. "Alright then! Let's go!"
"Argh! Wait a minute you guys," Kenny flailed in his haste to grab his own things to follow his two friends out the door. "Wait for me!"
It was strange to walk down these streets. It was the same and yet it wasn't, as if he were intruding on someone else's life, a person who saw everything he did not. This place, his past – their past – it seemed so innocent compared to the many buildings that scraped at the sky in the future. Like monsters blocking them all in. A testament that the sky could not be reached.
Reaching the apex of a rather steep sidewalk, Kai had a clear view of the now misty bay where he had come from. Suddenly, a loud beep came from his pants pocket. The teen jolted and his hand darted in to fish out a small device resembling a cellular phone.
The communicator!
Taking a quick glance around, Kai escaped into a dusky shallow alleyway and leaned against the wall. He flipped the device open which caused the beeps to stop.
"Kai! Come in, Kai!" The Chief's face slowly appeared onto a small screen after some severe static. The audio had interference, but just seeing the other man brought Kai crashing down into stark reality.
He immediately regained his grave disposition. "Kenny, I'm here."
"Kai!" Kenny cried. "Oh, thank goodness. Has it worked? Are you-"
"Yes," the weight of the situation made the dual-haired teen's heart beat faster. "I'm here. Everything went as according to plan. It worked."
"Oh…" The screen went scratchy a bit and a moment later Kai realized Kenny had sat down abruptly. "It… time travel… I… really did it, didn't I?"
The time traveler couldn't help but crack a small smirk. "You're just realizing this?"
"Well… it never truly seemed real until this point, you know?"
He did know. It was the same feeling he felt when he realized he was moments away from seeing Tyson again. Tyson… It seemed that name was attached to many of his emotions, forever bound to his heart. The name somehow managed to make something inside of him twinge almost uncomfortably, as if this would all disappear if he thought about it too much. He squashed those ideas down.
The communicator's little speakers buzzed again, bringing Kai out of his reverie. "Now the hard part is out of the way, and all that's left if for you to intercept Tyson before he goes to the BBA Headquarters tomorrow."
Kai nodded stonily. "Any suggestions on the best approach to that problem?"
Strangely, it looked as if Kenny was smirking but it could have been the bad video signal. "After you've diverted the event that is to occur, you'll have to come straight back to this time, so I suppose…" He trailed off and the sly expression was replaced by a more somber one.
"Kai, I highly stress that you do not do anything drastic to change the timeline. The 'You' you are now is not who you were at the point of time you are at. If for any reason you do something that is completely contradictory to what your present self would do, dyer consequences could occur. Still, that doesn't mean… you couldn't spend some time alone…"
A slight blush appeared on Kai's cheek in embarrassment and in regret. Even here, where everything was fresh slate again, he could not correct all the mistakes made in the past. And even with the time machine, he could not help thinking that there was no amount of time that could pass to apologize and make up for his past wrong doings.
Sometimes he felt like his whole life needed apologizing for.
Still, there was a serious question that had been bothering him for a while now.
"Kenny…" Kai's voice twisted over the name, his forehead creasing. "When I do it, when I save Tyson – if it changed the future so that you never invented Dizzi…"
"It's alright." The tiny monitor fizzled. "You'll still be able to return. You'll just never be able to go back."
Kai's brow creased even further. "No, that's not- What I meant-"
The image of Kenny on the communicator did not move for a long moment and Kai was beginning to think that he had lost the connection when the brunette spoke up again. The audio strangely distorting the man's voice, at least that was what the dual-haired teen wanted to believe.
"You're mistaken Kai." Kenny smiled, like the boy he had once been all those years ago. "I would gladly live an entire lifetime without inventing another machine to know that Tyson is living his life along with us. Dizzi… it doesn't mean anything to me, if I can accomplish that."
Those words were so moving that they lifted Kai's troubled heart and made him smile resignedly. "Copy that, Chief."
The image of the man in the future nodded, "Over." The connection died and the time-traveler carefully replaced the unit back into his pocket.
"So, do you think that maybe… when he comes back…" Tyson started off slowly as he and the others walked down the street.
Kenny smiled as Tyson began narrating how he would give the new Dranzer model to their stoic friend. However, he soon forced it off his face, knowing that if his baseball capped friend saw it, he'd be on the bad end of an interrogation. Lately, Tyson had been noticing more and more the all-knowing smile Kenny had come to possess.
But, it had always been that way. At least, that's the way everything seems after a couple years. Things just change, but the changes can be so gradual that by the time someone realizes it, a lot could have happened.
Kai happened. To Tyson.
Of course, it really did seem as if it'd always been that way, but Kenny knew it wasn't the case. It felt wrong to think of the way things used to be, when they just kept getting better and better. They'd started out as rivals, and maybe they always would be, but it was pretty obvious now. Kai meant so much more to Tyson.
It was the way he said Kai's name.
The chief didn't know any better way to gauge how it had started – the shift from being just rivals, just friends, to something much more – but it was the most clear when Tyson said that name. He treated it like it was something soft, as if it were the safest it would ever be, in Tyson's mouth.
"I'm sure he'll really like it." Hilary said replying to Tyson's chatter.
It really was something unique that had happened, and right under his nose. Kenny mused, watching Tyson's animated face from underneath his fringe. But it truly did seem wrong, to think of them now, in any other way…
"Yeah, it's even cooler than Dragoon now—Hey!" Tyson jerked to a halt, his eyes wide. "Hey, isn't that…?" He pointed down the street to the next crosswalk where a tall figure was shuffling slowly across the street.
Galvanized into action, Tyson was off, streaking down the sidewalk and waving his hands over his head. "Hey, K-Kai! KAI!"
"Kai!"
The time-traveler froze, a shout coming from up the street reaching his ears. All the clutter in his brain trickled away when he heard the voice again, louder now.
"Hey, stop!"
As if being flushed with beautiful icy water, Kai shivered, and turned.
Oh…
The stars were raining now. He vaguely noticed as Kenny and Hilary ran up to stand next to the person who called his name, oh Tyson.
I've died.
Kai closed his eyes and smiled. It was one of those beautiful but sad smiles. Those oh-so-sad, heart-wrenching smiles that replaced the fragility of tears. The ones that were almost an eternity in the making, like diamonds, like stars.
The fog had been slowly dissipating all morning and it had taken a while for him to realize it, but the sun was out. It was all suddenly so bright.
Tyson couldn't believe it, standing there just a street length away was their long-missed friend Kai. He grinned, feeling something odd twist inside his chest, as if telling him that he shouldn't just be standing here, grinning.
A distinct feeling that this was special somehow. A distinct feeling that he was in the dark until now.
Then Kai was walking, not bothering to even look both ways, and he was in front of them now just staring not speaking, no words.
And it seemed that in that single moment, all the pain and hollowness that he'd endured for those years came into sharp focus then dissolved away. The hurt that had consumed him for so very long vanished, everything vanished.
This moment is real and everything else was just a dream.
At that thought, Kai bit back the sudden urge to… to cry, to scream, to smile – anything. The reason he had been drifting from day to day as a ghost, was because he had been haunted by a ghost.
"Tyson." The name left Kai's lips as a whisper, barely audible.
The younger teen gave a slow smile in reply, one side of his mouth creeping over a canine slightly in the cute way it always had. Kai studied it, wondering if it could stay that way forever.
"You walked the right way this time," The world champ jibed. "Who are you and what have you done with the real Kai?" Behind them, Kenny chuckled.
There was only one thing that Kai could say.
"He changed."
Kai took the few remaining steps and wrapped his arms around Tyson, holding him closely, so closely, to his chest. Before long, the shocked glances from Kenny and Hilary had melted away to pride, and Tyson's rigid body melted into comfort. His arms completing the dream that Kai stood in, daring himself to wake up.
All the past, present, and future… All of it was lost in time, like tears in the rain.
To be continued...