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Rei then though of the people who can be team leader. It came to a choice of either Max or Garland.
"Alright Max why don't you be the 6th captain." Rei announced his decision.
{Sorry to trouble you}

((Maria's bit beast's name is 'light'? I'd been expecting something a bit more creative. But whatever's fine with you, goddessanime. Just putting in my two centavos' worth... 3nodding ))

Strange... Kai thought as he observed what happened to the blue-haired girl. Almost as soon as her bit chip had begun to glow, her body had sagged, like a rag doll, but somehow she was still on her feet. What the heck happened there? the slate-haired teen wondered, but his attention was caught by something that was happening near the door.

Turning, he saw that Bryan had come in, and Tala was still standing by the doorway. Behind the redhead stood...

"Finally," Kai muttered, jumping down from the platform and making his way over to the two.

Hilary gave a small smile and squeezed past the Russian. "I'm sorry, please excuse me..." she said one last time before going to meet Kai halfway.

"I-I'm sorry that I took so long, Kai," she began even before the crimson-eyed teen could open his mouth. "I...guess I just-"

"Save it, Tachibana," Kai cut her off abruptly. "We've a lot of ground to cover before the training session tomorrow. Don't make me regret the decision of having you on my team." He turned to Tala. "Could you step away from the door for a moment? I'll need to find a smaller training room so I can train her properly," he gestured to Hilary. So what if he was being a bit...rude towards the girl? He was captain of a team once more, and he couldn't afford to be 'soft'. True, he'd changed a bit over the past year, but he liked to think he was still essentially the same.

Hilary couldn't care less how Kai referred to her. She knew it was partly an act. Well, at least that's what she thought. Anyway, she was more worried about her performance in the stadium. This would be her first official tournament, and she wondered why she even mentioned that she'd want to participate.

Man...I hope I don't screw up too badly... she thought nervously, glancing up at the slate-haired teen, whose back was to her. They both waited for Tala to step away from the door; Kai apparently did not like to waste time, and frankly, neither did she.

"Chess, eh?" Robert allowed a small smirk to cross his features. "Very well, then. I'll get the board..." With that, he ducked into the next room - a parlor room of sorts.

A minute or so later, the lilac-haired blader was back in the living room, chessboard and a box - containing the chess pieces - in tow. Moving efficiently, he set the board down, took out the pieces, and began setting them up. As soon as he was done, he indicated that Johnny should take a seat - after all, one rarely played chess standing up - and leaned back in his chair.

"White...or black?"

------------------------------

Kai glared at the Russian's retreating back. He did not like the look he'd seen on Tala's face a moment back there. Note: confront Ivanov about his apparent suspicion... Kai thought, even as he turned down the corridor to where he was sure the smaller training rooms were located.

Soon enough, they had one all to themselves. The dish was just a bit smaller than the standard size combat dish, but it would have to do, seeing as it was only the two of them and this was an impromptu training session. He climbed up onto the platform, and then turned to where Hilary still stood.

"What are you waiting for?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow. "Get up here and get ready with your blade."

"M-my...?" For a moment, Hilary looked confused, and then rooted around in her belt bag. At length, she produced a standard launcher, ripcord, and a nondescript Beyblade. The day she announced her intention to participate in this year's tournament, she'd asked Kenny to help her make her own blade. And today, she'd forgotten that she'd brought it along, reminded only when Kai made mention of it.

You can do this, Hilary... she coached herself as she climbed the stairs to the platform. Kai just...wants to see what you can do and...help you improve. She glanced at the slate-haired teen. After all, he's aiming for the championship this year...

Soon she stood in front of the dish, at right angles to where Kai stood. She attached her blade to the launcher, then glanced at Kai, waiting for the signal.

Seeing her look to him for instruction, Kai gave a curt nod, as if to say Any time you're ready. He found it interesting that she hadn't inserted the rip cord, and he had a feeling about her launch...

Upon Kai's signal - which wasn't really a signal at all, Hilary raised the launcher above her head, quickly inserted the ripcord, and then brought the launcher swinging downwards, yanking the cord out when her arms formed a rough 90-degree angle with her torso.

I knew it... Kai thought, observing the auburn-haired girl's launch. He'd overheard Tyson talking about it some time before, but hadn't really paid attention. Now he could see that Hilary had indeed copied his launching style from the previous tournament. He had to do something about that.

Now he turned his attention to the dish, where the blade went in aimless circles. Crimson orbs narrowed. This would not do at all...

Kioshi looked to her watch it read: 7:55 p.m. she then looked to and said quietly, "We should go to the hotel and rest unless you want to train for a while that's fine too."

Emily didn't know quite what to say on one hand resting would be the best thing to do and on the other they could train and tire themselves out somemore and with Tala as a team captain maybe that wasn't such a good idea.

"We should go rest at the hotel." Emily finally agreed. With that Emily led Kioshi to the hotel to find that they were both roommates.

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Max then told his team to go back to the hotel and to all meet in the lobby at 10 AM.

((Ooh, online chess - with no pieces! xd This should be challenging. Can we use algebraic chess notation? That's the only one I'm familiar with...))


Hmm...using his head this time, I see... Robert thought, still smiling. "Very well..."

He leaned forward and studied the board for a moment. Then he reached out and moved his fourth pawn - the one in d-2 - forward two spaces, towards d-4. Then he leaned back once more.

"Your turn."

-----------------------------

Stepping quickly to the opposite side of the dish, Kai launched his Dranzer MS directly at the aimlessly spinning blade, knocking it out instantly.

"Ah!" Hilary reached out to catch her blade, but fell short of the mark by a few centimeters. The top clattered to the floor, inches from her feet. She glanced back up at Kai, perplexed.

"You may have gotten the launch somewhat," Kai began without preamble. "But once your blade hits the dish, you've no idea what to do, and you lose confidence in yourself." With his silent command, the Dranzer MS flew back into his open palm.

"If this were a real match, you'd have lost from the minute you launched, Hilary," Kai went on. "And I can't allow that to happen. Not on my team."

The auburn-haired girl frowned slightly. "Well...what do you want me to do, then, aside from launch my blade? That's why I was unsure of what to do; because you didn't tell me what to do!"

"If you expect to compete on the internation level, you shouldn't be instructed on every little thing," Kai replied, "especially what to do during a battle. From the minute you step up on the platform, you should have an aim, at the very least; a plan at the very most."

He went back to standing at right angles to the rookie blader. "Now, launch once more. This time, aim for something, be it as lofty as working out your own special attack, or as mundane as getting your blade to spin for a minimum of two minutes. Just aim."

Hilary nodded obligingly and prepared once more to launch. She faced the dish, gripping the launcher and ripcord tightly, and counted down in her head. On 'one', she pulled hard on the ripcord, sending the blade into the beydish for the second time.

{...Um, alright. But I'll be upfront with you. I'm like Johnny. I'm no good at chess. So excuse me if it takes me a while.}

Johnny studied the board, just like Robert had. He examined his options, and then put his fingers on the pawn in front of his queen. The crimson-haired teen then moved the pawn foward two spaces. Slowly, he moved his hand off the piece and back into his pocket. "Now, your turn."

((Algebraic chess notation: the files (columns) are marked a-h, from left to right in the white player's viewpoint; ranks (rows) are marked 1-8, from bottom to top in the white player's viewpoint. So that means you moved your fourth pawn to D-5.))


Playing it safe...? Robert was perplexed. Johnny was usually more aggressive than this.

Shrugging it off, Robert moved his fifth pawn to E-3. They were in for another long chess game.

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Hilary thought she'd gotten it, because for a moment, her blade spun steadily smack-dab in the center of the dish. But that was just how long it took: a single moment. The next second, it was running around the dish again.

It isn't as aimless nor as wild as her first launch... Kei noted. I'll credit her for that. Once more, he launched his blade at Hilary's, knocking it out.

For the second time, Hilary reached out to catch her blade before it hit the ground...and caught it successfully, to what seemed to be Kai's amusement.

"How was that?" she asked, re-attaching the blade to her launcher once more.

"You've made a bit of progress, that much is apparent," Kai began. "But you seem to have lost your focus after those first few seconds."

"You want me to do it again, huh?" Hilary gave a small smile, and without waiting for Kai's instructions, launched into the dish once more.

I won't lose focus this time! she thought fiercely, watching her blade fly from the launcher and into the beydish as though through a slow-motion camera. The nondescript, pale blue Beyblade landed on the slope, and zoomed into the center, where it spun...and spun...and spun...

And then shot out, directly at Kai's face!

Reacting quickly, Kai's hand shot up, his palm making contact with the blade just centimeters from his head. He looked over the blade, as though interested, and then threw it back to Hilary, who caught it.

"I hope your goal this time was not to take my head off, Tachibana," Kai commented, though there was a slight hint of humor in his voice. That was probably the first time he'd had a blade aiming itself at his head.

Hilary quickly shook her head, mumbling an apology, and launched again.

C'mon...you can do this, Tachibana...