Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade in any way. Any references I make are purely coincidental.

A New Blader

Chapter 1: Turned Down

During a sunny day in Japan, five months after the BEGA League were defeated, a young girl who considered herself a reporter-to-be was looking for some news. She knew she would be a mystery to her future colleagues if she could get an interview out of the only Bladebreaker they couldn't make conversation with: Kai.

At the time, Tyson and Kenny were teaching children how to work as a tag-team. Ray and Max were training elsewhere while Kai was lying in the grass not far away from where Tyson and Kenny were. The girl, Marina, came over to the area and smiled as she spotted Kai.

"I can get an interview out of him…I think." she said hesitantly to herself as she approached him.

Kai looked over at her when she was a few feet away. This couldn't be important, at least not to him, but he let her speak first.

"Kai, you're the captain of the Bladebreakers, correct?"

Kai didn't respond. He knew that she knew the answer to that.

"I was hoping you might tell me a little about how you got involved in beyblading."

The last thing Kai was going to talk about was his past, especially to a stranger, so he walked away. Annoyingly enough, she tried to follow him.

"Kai, please. This wouldn't take long."

"Listen, I am not talking about my past." he said slowly and clearly.

"Okay, I guess that is a painful subject."

Kai continued to walk away, but Marina did not get the message and tried to follow him again.

"Can't you understand? I am not talking to a nosy reporter." and he jumped up to a low railing and flipped over it to get away from her.

"Kai, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have mentioned your past." but he was soon gone and she was left without an interview for her future boss.

Tyson and Kenny had only just noticed that Kai had taken off. As they went looking for him, Tyson turned the corner and knocked into Marina, so they both fell backwards.

"Tyson, you're Kai's team-mate aren't you?"

"Yeah, and defending World Champion." said Tyson proudly.

"That isn't important. I can get an interview out of you any day. I can't get an interview out of Kai. I thought I could, but I thought wrong." she said hanging her head.

"No shock there. No one can get an interview out of him, not even one of their professionals, let alone a trainee like yourself. We're Kai's friends and we can hardly get a conversation out of him." said Tyson attempting to make her feel better about failing.

"Anyway, did you see where Kai went?" asked Kenny.

"He jumped up there and took off, I don't know where he went, but that's another one of his traits, isn't it? Disappearing." and Tyson almost laughed as Marina finished that sentence.

"Yeah, you could say that. Well, see ya." said Tyson and he ran off with Kenny behind him.

Marina watched them go until they turned a corner then she thought about what she was going to do next. She came up with a plan and phoned her boss.

"I have a plan to get that interview, but it will take much longer than I thought, it could take months, but it'll work. I'll need to go to Russia."

"Forget it. You go to Russia if you wish, but forget the job." her future boss said.

"Fine, I never wanted to be a reporter anyway." she turned off the phone. "I want to be a beyblader. A good beyblader. The environment of Russia is my starting point."

She smiled as she thought about the blizzards of Russia. Instead of fearing the extreme training she had in mind, she looked forward to it and immediately headed to the airport.

Tyson and Kenny found Kai at Tyson's place, practicing his accuracy by launching at a target in the middle of Tyson's pond.

"Everything okay, Kai?" asked Tyson when Kai collected his beyblade.

"Mind your own business, Tyson." said Kai a little harshly.

"Excuse me for living, but tell us, what did that girl want earlier?" asked Tyson a little annoyed at Kai's response, even though he expected nothing less of his friend.

"She asked me how I got involved with beyblading."

"Typical. That is the hardest thing for you to talk about. I'm assuming you didn't tell her." said Tyson.

"Of course not. Only I know all the details of my past and it's going to stay that way."

He released his beyblade again and Tyson went inside with Kenny.

"You interested in training for the upcoming tournament?" Tyson asked Kenny.

"I know I usually demand training, but we have done so much today already and the tournament is almost seven months away."

"I'll train by myself." and Tyson put out all his drinks cans like an obstacle course and made his beyblade zigzag through them.

Outside, Kai continued training even though it was getting dark, when suddenly he heard the sound of a child screaming. At first he thought it was someone nearby, but it turned out to be a flashback to his childhood. It didn't take him too long to realise the scream was what he had done back when he used Black Dranzer at the age of eight. He cursed himself for thinking about his past again.

He wasn't the type of beyblader to lose his concentration and he retrieved his beyblade from the bottom of the pond.

"I can't be distracted. Not if I want to become better." he told himself.

In the skies above Japan, Marina was in a plane to Russia. Even though she would need all the sleep she could get, she was only thinking about her training. She put her hand in her pocket and lifted out her beyblade. Completely black except a gold ring around the bit which showed a picture of a golden unicorn.

"We can do it, Zeroth. We will show them at the tournament. We can beat the World Champion." and her bit piece glowed in response.