Okay, Phoenix and I are starting a role-play of the original Beyblade and any of you interested in taking part are welcome to come along. More details will be at the bottom, after the role-play's prologue. The purpose of this prologue is to set the scene of the role-play and it will not be updated. If you want to read further, then go to the website.

Disclaimer: Beyblade belongs to Takao Aoki

The Return of Voltaire

Prologue

It was a beautiful day, sun shining brightly, white clouds, blue skies and a breeze which caused movement in grass and clothing. A crowd had gathered on top of a hill, circling two bladers and watching excitedly as Tyson and Kai faced each other for a rematch. Even DJ Jazzman had joined them, as big a fan of the sport as the rest of them.

"Three, two, one," they all counted down, "Let it rip!" The group cheered as the blades were launched.

"Go, Dragoon!" Tyson shouted.

"Go, Dranzer!" Kai countered and both bit beasts rushed out to battle.

Tala walked along the road with purpose, heading for the new BBA facility and was followed by Bryan, Spencer and Ian. He turned his head as there was a flash of light from above a hill and saw both Dranzer and Dragoon rising to battle. Tala altered his course slightly to head up the hill, still followed by his companions.

Slipping past the crowd and pushing some of the more stubborn ones out of the way, Tala approached Kai directly while Bryan, Spencer and Ian waited outside the ring of spectators.

"Kai, we need to talk. Right now," the redhead told the younger Russian.

"I'm a bit busy right now, Tala," Kai retorted, not taking his eyes off his match.

"Kai, I have bad news," Tala insisted, "And you're gonna want to hear it. You're going to need to hear it," he amended.

Kai sighed and looked round at Tala. "What, Boris has raised his ugly head again?"

"Voltaire's out of prison."

Dranzer knocked Dragoon back and turned, looking down at Tala with as much shock as his master was feeling, but not showing. Instead, Kai kept calm and absorbed this information. Nodding once, he turned and looked around the circle of spectators, searching out one face. "Daichi," he called, spotting the small boy. "These guys are looking for a good beybattle. Give them one."

"Alright," Daichi cheered rushing forward and taking out his blade and launcher, "Let's go, Strata Dragoon!" The crowd cheered excitedly at the new battle while Max, Ray and Hilary traded looks and shrugs at the change. Tala returned to where the rest of his team were waiting and gave Kai an expectant look.

As Strata Dragoon took to the air and engaged with Dragoon, Dranzer's form disintegrated and returned to his blade, which Kai then caught. Without a word he turned away from what minutes ago had been his battle and joined the Blitzkrieg Boys. "We figured you'd want details, so we took the liberty of snooping around a little first. You're not going to like what we found out," Tala informed him. "They're going to need to know later, or at least some of the details, but for now we'll go somewhere quiet and give you the lowdown."

"Right," Kai agreed. "Let's go."

000

The Blitzkrieg Boys took Kai to a coffee shop where they occupied a booth at the back, right next to a window where they could keep a look out on the streets around the discreetly. The place buzzed quietly with other customers, enough to hide anything they said, but not so much that they would need to raise their voices.

"Alright," Tala began quietly, "First of all, he hasn't given up, Kai, on any of his plans. He still intends to have Black Dranzer bring terror to the world and he still intends to have you wield him. You're the only one that bit beast is compatible with after all. But he is furious, Kai. Furious at you, Furious at your friends and at us too for failing the first time he tried. It was a setback and he blames all of us for it. He's going to come looking for revenge."

"And it's not going to be pretty when he does," Ian put in, catching Tala's arm as a waitress approached their booth in order to stop the redhead when he began to reach into his jacket for something.

Tala nodded to Ian and mouthed the word "files" to Kai as an explanation of what he had. They'd snooped around and gathered some hard evidence, hard evidence which Tala fully intended to hand over to Kai. But it was for Kai's eyes only. Too many bystanders were already involved and despite the younger Russian's normally stoic attitude, Tala knew Kai would never forgive himself if things ended badly for his friends.

Waiting patiently until the waitress was gone, Kai held his hand out for the files with a growing sense of dread settling in his stomach. Tala took out the files and handed them to Kai without a word. Giving Kai time to look through the folder, the others spoke quietly amongst themselves and kept an eye out for anything suspicious. After a couple of minutes the papers crackled as Kai's grip subconsciously tightened on them, before he laid them down on the table. "Going by this, he'll be flying out here any day now," he mused quietly. "Because he knows it's where we are."

"And if you were to leave, they'd be even more vulnerable," Tala commented. "We need to come up with a solution and we need to come up with it fast."

"Agreed, running away isn't the answer." Kai's eyes hardened. "I don't run from anything." Pushing the papers back to Tala, Kai stood up and moved to leave.

"We're going to hang about in the area," Tala told him. "If you need us then let us know. We'll have your back."

"What are you gonna tell the brat pack?" Ian asked Kai.

"Until the time is right, nothing," Kai answered and walked away.

"Hn, typical Kai," Tala murmured as he picked up the folder and tucked it back inside his jacket and his team sat in silence for a few moments. The waitress brought over the orders that were made before leaving once again and the four discussed their plans.

"Has it hit the fan then?" Ian asked.

"Not yet, but it will," Bryan answered, "And soon."

"So, accommodation," Spencer asked.

"We'll go for an apartment. Who knows how long we'll be here? And it'll be easier to set up the necessary defences," Tala answered.

"We should probably do something about scoping the city out too. Find some possible information sources, get some escape routes planned in case we need to bail and relocate," Bryan mused and Tala nodded his agreement.

"I can't believe we tore that office apart and found nothing on Boris," Ian mused. "He has to have something to with Voltaire getting out so soon. Where the hell could he have gone?"

"We're just going to have to try to find that out," Tala answered. "He'll crawl out of the woodwork soon enough. When he does we'll end him. And we'll tell Kai if it turns out he has something to do with this."

The others agreed, they paid their bill and headed out to hunt down an apartment. Preparations needed to be made for the new battle.

ROLE-PLAY DETAILS

Where to go to take part:

The link to the role-play is in our profile because it won't work in the chapter. The role-play is in a yahoo group.

Taken Characters:

Ray - KedakaiOkami (Dragon)

Kai - chidori-blossom237 (Phoenix)

Hilary - Okami1001

Available Characters:

Any character UP TO and including G-Revolution except those already claimed.

Or you can make up an OC (All OCs MUST meet the approval of Dragon and Phoenix)

Further Details:

The website has a section for information.

The information section includes a list of characters that are still available.

Any Questions?

You can leave a comment here as a review and Dragon will get back to you ASAP. (Preferably AFTER you've checked the information section so Dragon will not be answering the same question more than once.)

Thank you for your time and we hope to see some of you join us.