Introductory Author's Note: Hello fanfiction world. I have been away from you for far too long. This is the first fic I've written on here in upwards of 8 years. I'll start with a little insight about my story here:

I know I'm not the only person who was really disappointed with GRev being the end for all of our OG favorites. So I'm planning on picking up where we left off.

Being an obnoxious student of sociology and sports media, I'm really trying to focus on the impact social media and other similar issues in our day and age have on the teams and players, especially being treated as "world class athletes." Even though in our time it's been literally almost 10(?) years since GRev ended, I'm treating this as if 2017 is two years after GRev ended. I'm going to try and keep this as canon as humanly possible and not go too overboard, but I'm also really trying to intertwine some new issues, especially with the media. It could go really good, or really bad! I have not plotted out any serious pairings yet, but I'm willing to let the story take me in whatever direction it goes.

Moving on…I wouldn't say there's a hardcore villain in this story. Instead, I think everyone is fighting their own battles, either with others or within themselves. Don't worry I'll make sure there's plenty of drama and action to go around. Keep in mind I've aged everyone at about 16 or 17. I mean what 17 year old doesn't have issues?

Disclaimer/Warnings: I don't own Beyblade. There's some mild language for the moment a no violence yet.

Thanks for reading my bullshit, enjoy!

-I-

"Not-So-New In Town"

Spotted: Ray Kon Arriving at Narita International Airport, Bags in Hand

Monday, May 22nd - Well, well, well, what do we have here? Bladebreaker fans, are all your dreams finally coming true? Less than 48 hours after Max Tate was seen at the international departures gate at JFK Airport, Chinese phenom Ray Kon was seen arriving at Narita International with several bags in tow. Despite being in a dark hoodie and sweatpants, the blader stopped for photos with several fans before disappearing into a car headed for a small town outside of the city, where our current World Champ is said to reside.

Even though it's been a week since BBA President Stanley Dickinson made the official reinstatement announcement for the sport of Beyblading, no official teams, rosters, or schedules have been released to the public. The BBA has reportedly made a complete overhaul of their rules, regulations, and schematics of play, but details have not yet come to light. If this supposed Bladebreaker reconciliation is any indication, we're about to witness the beginning of a wild ride.

Taylor Mattingly

ESPN

"Man Ray, I thought you were trying to keep it on the down low."

Tyson Granger held his phone up, displaying a photo of two young fans anchoring either side of Ray, with the airport and Ray's bags in the backdrop.

Ray shrugged, unzipping his baggy sweatshirt to reveal a much tighter white tee, cotton stretching across his chest.

"I thought so too," he said, plopping down on several cushions splayed out on the dojo floor. "But honestly, I kind of missed being chased after by fans. Guess I couldn't resist." He cracked a toothy grin and his golden cat-like eyes glistened in the afternoon light that spilled through the wooden frames of the dojo.

A silence hung in the air as Tyson and Ray took in each other's presence. Not even a year ago, neither of them were sure they would ever be beyblading together again.

Ray closed his eyes and sighed. "It's quiet."

"Yeah," Tyson replied. "Weird, huh?"

Ray shook his head. "Not weird…just different. Although I guess most of that is from the lack of a short, wild redhead that used to live here."

Tyson laughed and scratched the back of his head. "Sometimes I miss Daichi, but the constant noise and eating all my food are two things I don't."

"Is it weird without him?"

Tyson shrugged. "I've learned over the years I can't force people to stay in a place they don't wanna be." He paused and looked up at the open door across the room, almost as if he expected someone to waltz right in just because they were talking about him. "Kenny told me he thinks what happened in the Justice Five really freaked him out, even if he didn't want to admit it. The past few months he kept saying 'I'm ready to go home, I wanna go home.' So one day at breakfast he just grabbed his shit and said goodbye." Tyson snapped his fingers, "Just like that."

Ray nodded in understanding. Even though Tyson and Daichi would argue and bump heads on the regular, they also had one of the most intimate relationships out of anyone else on the team, mostly in part to how much time they spent together. Ray could hear the feeling of abandonment in Tyson's voice, and felt a pang of his own self-guilt, thinking back to just a few nights ago. The thought of cold bitter air and a young, pink-haired girl's tear-filled eyes made him shudder.

Silence again. Wind whistled through the trees outside and the faint sound of a group of kids laughing echoed from around the corner. Seconds turned to minutes.

"Hey, Ray," Tyson finally said.

"Yeah?" Their eyes met.

"I'm glad you're back buddy." Tyson offered his warm, trademark goofy smile that Ray felt like he hadn't seen in ages.

"Me too Tyson. Me too." Suddenly, any guilt Ray had felt absolved, remembering the sense of belonging he had sitting right next to Tyson.

The two sat in a much more comfortable silence until a shrill voice rang through the halls of the dojo, causing both boys to spring to their feet.

"TYSONNNN!"

Hilary Tachibana came running into the dojo, frazzled and out of breath.

"Jeez Hil, any louder and you're gonna blow my eardrums," Tyson glared in her direction and rubbed at his ear.

"Tyson, I don't have time for your attitude." Hilary began pacing, heels clacking on the wooden floor. "The Guardian keeps emailing me for a comment from you about the team getting back together, your brother's not answering his phone, and I feel like I'm breaking some kind or moral or ethical ground here…" Her pace quickened and her sentences started turning into long words, and eventually Tyson walked over to her and grabbed her by her shoulders, stopping her manic pace.

"Hillary! Relax, alright? Nobody said you had to give anybody any comment about anything. Who cares anyway?"

She whipped off her gold, bug-eyed sunglasses to stare right into Tyson's blue eyes. Her nostrils flared and she spent a moment breathing heavily, choosing her next words. Finally, she poked Tyson square in the chest.

"You are going to make me go gray before I turn 20. I know you don't care, but somebody has to operationally run this team, which includes but is not limited to our image, interaction with the media, and answering a thousand emails a day!"

Ray looked on tensely. This was definitely one thing he didn't miss.

"Heeeey guys…" he intervened sheepishly as Tyson and Hilary glared into each other. Tyson was now almost a head taller than Hilary and could actually look down at her. "Why don't we see what are Kenny and Max up to?"

Tyson and Hilary looked at Ray simultaneously. After some silent huffing from them both, Hilary turned and began to walk out of the dojo.

"We have dinner reservations at 7:30 with everyone. I've already spoken to Max and Kenny. Don't be late!" She called over her shoulder.

After she was fully out of ear-shot, Tyson sighed and sat back down on the floor, rubbing his forehead.

"Some things never change, huh?" Ray quipped, raising an eyebrow. "Or do they?"

Tyson's head shot up at Ray's comment, face reddening like a ripe tomato. He rolled his eyes and tried to hide his discomfort with annoyance. He knew in the back of his head he's spent more alone time with Hilary than anyone else, even if it was just studying or doing nothing of importance, but outwardly admitting he enjoyed it put him in deep, uncharted waters.

"You have no idea what it's been like being around just Kenny and Hilary for all this time. Just the constant nagging alone has made me wanna rip my hair out! Like, 'you better study Tyson because you need to think of your future outside of beyblading,' and 'no respectable profession is going to take beyblading on your resume seriously.' It's ridiculous."

Ray shook his head and let out a chuckle. "Well they do have a point Tyson."

Tyson smirked slightly and shoved Ray in the arm. "Yeah, don't remind me."

The Alley was a trendy, American-style diner where Hilary decided their unofficial first team get-together would be. Max, Kenny, and Hilary were all seated at a table in the back corner when Tyson and Ray arrived.

"Hey, Ray!" The blonde stood up from the table and nearly knocked his chair over on his way to embrace his old teammate.

"Max! It's been too long!" Ray exclaimed.

The two started talking and exchanging stories since their time apart, and Tyson sat down beside Kenny and drank in the environment. After all this time, countless beybattles, friends and enemies, some crazy megalomaniacs and a few otherworldly experiences, in the end they were still a team. Not BBA Revolution or G-Revolution, not some lame two-man tag team, but the tried and true original Bladebreakers. Tyson looked around the restaurant, and with the exception of a group of younger kids whispering and looking in their direction, everyone pretty much kept to themselves, leaving Tyson and the rest of the gang to enjoy their time together. Tyson wondered how many moments like this they would have before the chaos began.

Even still, an uneasy feeling sat in Tyson's stomach, and he knew it wasn't hunger. He glanced at the empty seat at the other end of the table meant for Hiro, but shook it off. Tyson's elder brother always had some type of business to tend to, and came and went as he pleased. Instead, he felt that empty seat could have held someone else.

"Something wrong, Tyson?" Kenny's voice pulled Tyson out of his daze. Tyson crossed his arms and squinted, hoping the answer to his problems would appear out of thin air in front of him.

He exhaled. "I think I'm just hungry."

But even burgers and fries couldn't keep Tyson out of his own thoughts. After all, it wasn't Tyson's fault he left. Not this time. And it wasn't Tyson's fault that nobody's heard from him. It was so typical, Tyson kept telling himself. But the churning pit in his stomach said otherwise.

"Hey, Tyson!" Max waved his hand in front of his friend's face. "You've been chewing on the same french fry for like five minutes. Is something bothering you?"

"Yeah Tyson, you look totally zoned out," Ray chimed in.

"Ugghhh I'm fine you guys, okay?!" Tyson snapped. "These fries just suck, that's all."

"That's not it," Kenny said. He looked pointedly at Tyson. He glared at Kenny for a moment, then sat back in his chair and sighed.

"The fact of the matter is," Kenny began. "it's been bothering Tyson since last week when Mr. Dickinson announced the reinstatement of the BBA." Kenny opened his laptop and started plugging away, while the rest of the group watched on with curiosity. "There's almost no information available, and after some digging this was all I could find."

The Chief turned his laptop to face the others, displaying several news articles, some even in Russian. All of the photos and articles centered around their once team captain. "Kai had been missing for a week after the Justice Five tournament. They found him outside the city in an abandoned warehouse, barely alive. He was flown to Russia and any info stops there. Someone somewhere is doing a very good job of keeping his business hush-hush."

The gang looked on, unsure of what to make of the information.

"I read something not that long ago," Hilary said, looking down at her half-eaten salad. "It was…awful."

The group was silent until Max finally spoke up. "Well go on Hil. Tell us."

Hilary sighed. "The article basically said after Kai went back to Russia, he was never able to recover from his injuries. And…he died. I know there's no way it's true, but I got chills even thinking about it."

"No!" Tyson pounded his fist on the table. "No way. It can't be. We would know. Everyone would know! That's not something you can keep a secret!"

"I'm sure that whatever's going on, he'll be okay Tyson," Max assured in his warm, positive tone. "We don't even know if he's beyblading anymore."

"Well, I'm sick of being kept in the dark," Tyson shot back. "But it doesn't even matter. Because if he blading, it's not with us. The BBA wants our official rosters by the end of the week, and I'm tired of waiting around for him."

Kai had become such a touchy subject for Tyson recently. Since Kai or anyone associated with him hadn't reached out to anyone, Tyson felt a familiar twinge of dereliction so often associated with Kai, and it stung. Was Kai even well enough to blade? And if he was, did Tyson want to blade against him as a rival or with him as a friend? Did Kai even care that they cared? Too many unknowns made Tyson uncomfortable, and it resonated to the rest of his teammates. After a few more bouts of silence, Tyson finally rose from his seat. He knew that despite all his questions and all his frustration, he had a major responsibility.

"So this is it right here," he stated boldly. "I officially declare the people sitting at this table are the new and improved Bladebreakers. And we have some ass-kicking to do."

Breaking: Bladebreakers Release Official Roster

Tuesday, May 23rd - After much anticipation, the defending world champions have released their official roster, as first reported by BBA National, and have reverted back to their original team name. Tyson Granger, Ray Kon, and Max Tate round out the squad, with Kenny Saien and Hiro Granger listed as alternates. Since match play has reverted to the original best two-out-of-three, we can expect to see all three at their absolute best. Notably missing is Daichi Sumeragi, the wild child that stormed onto the beyblading scene two years ago, and who was ultimately Tyson's counterpart in the most recent World Championships. Team rep Hilary Tachibana said Daichi had "moved on," and declined to comment any further.

Drama already? If that isn't enough, the team schedules are set for release later this week, which sources say is bound to drop some jaws. Stay tuned.

Taylor Mattingly

ESPN

Closing notes: I know I kind of ended it a little cheesy, but fear not. Cheesy is not my strong suit, so don't get used to it.

I know that there's some unhappy dispute on whether or not Kai actually did die after his Justice Five battle with Brooklyn. Yes, I'm using certain information to my advantage, but let's face it this fandom would fall apart if we actually played into what supposedly happened.

Also, I was inspired by the infamous Gossip Girl on how to report on our characters while keeping a completely third-party POV. I'm going to try and use those kinds of news articles and such as a way of giving readers certain information without being boring. So for future reference, Taylor Mattingly is the beyblade reporter for ESPN and she'll definitely be a recurring character, even if it's only her name signed at the bottom of an article or report. Let me know what you think! I'll hopefully have the next chapter out later this week.

xoxo Rae