The next morning the two teams both found that they were rather reluctant to get up. After some grumbling and fighting the will to just go back to sleep, they all got up and were downstairs by 8am. The boys just wore what they normally wore, while the girls all wore matching track suits in different colors, consisting of a zip up hoodie, a tank top, and a pair of shorts. Julia wore Crimson ones, Mariam wore Emerald ones, Hilary wore pink ones, and Salima wore black ones.

Julia had decided that, as the leader of her team, she was going to be one of the people to dictate the training practices. Kai, as the leader of his team and the one who usually got them moving, decided that he was going to train his team. They were about to go off separately when Salima suggested that it would make more sense to just train together, seeing as they'd have to tag team for the tournament. Agreeing to this, Julia and Kai decided they would share the duties of coaching and training their team.

Training started out without beyblades. The teams were going to work on their physical aspects before any blading could be done. They were made to run around the track, provided in the hotel's private practice gym, and did other common things such as sit ups. Halfway through the running, Tyson came up with a smart idea. "Hey guys," he called to the rest of the team, "I have an idea! What if we do a three-legged race?"

"This isn't the time for games, Tyson", scolded Kai.

"I'm not seeing it that way! I mean, we could train together and learn to be in sync physically if we could run a three-legged race."

"Hmm," Julia said thoughtfully, "that's actually a pretty good idea! Alright, everyone partner up!"

Tyson and Salima partnered up, Max and Hilary partnered up, and Ray was left with Mariam, seeing as Kai and Julia were nearly always the main team. They tied up the legs of the others, before tying up their own. "On your marks, get set, go!" shouted Max, singaling the start of the race. Max and Hilary were the first to fall behind, with Tyson and Salima tripping over them right after. It was down to Ray and Mariam, and Kai and Julia. For a moment, it seemed like Ray and Mariam would win, but at the last minute, Julia sped off, making her team the winner.

Exhausted after the physical training, the teams went to go have lunch before returning to practice in the bey stadium. Julia put them into pairs: Max and Mariam, Tyson and Hilary, Ray and Salima, and Kai and her. Though they could have easily split up and each started their own match, Julia told them to stay put and to watch each battle, so as to learn the strengths and weaknesses of the other opponents.

Kai and Julia were the first up to battle. For a while it seemed that Kai was going to win it all, no sweat, but Julia quickly came back and now the tides had turned. After an intense match, both blades landed outside of the dish, making it a tie. As for the others; Mariam had won her battle, Ray won his, and Tyson won his. They switched who they were battling a few times and then tried two-on-two matches, before calling it a day.

After having finished practicing, Julia suggested that someone go out and get groceries for dinner. Ray agreed, and the two of them went off in search for a grocery store. It didn't take them long to find one, and after about an hour, they had bought enough food for a week. Quickly, they paid and put the bags with groceries in knapsacks they had brought with them. Ray had offered to cook that night, as long as someone else cleaned up. Max volunteered to help clean up, and in no time, Ray had made a meal of Chicken Noodle Soup, Dumplings, Spring Rolls, and Beijing style pork, along with steamed rice and vegetables.

During dinner, Julia promised them that tomorrow at training she'd teach them something that no one else knew about. Eager to know more about said tricks, the rest of them were constantly asking questions about what it was, only to receive an answer that confused them even more.

When it was time to go to bed, it was decided that the rooms should be switched up a bit. Julia put them in the same pairs as the training pairs, and sent everyone off to bed early, telling them that they'd need rest for tomorrow.

Much to their dismay, the teams had to sacrifice personal relaxation time in exchange for the ability to train for the tournament.

In Kai and Julia's room however, that was the least of the problems. She had just started telling Kai something that would definitely seem strange and supernatural.

"I have to tell you something important," she had told him.

"What is it?" he had asked, a bit more curious then perhaps need be.

"Ok, here goes nothing. I know this is going to sound really weird, but our teams are part of a prophecy."

"A prophecy? What prophecy?"

"It goes like this. Millions of years ago there were 8 bit beasts that ruled the world. They were couples like husband and wife couple. The bit beasts that ruled the west were the tiger and tigress, Drigger and Driggara, the ones who ruled the east were the two sea turtles, Draciel and Draciela, the ones that ruled the north were the dragon and dragoness, Dragoon and Dragoona, and finally the ones who ruled the south were the phoenix and the pheonixess, Dranzer and Dranzera" Julia paused, to let it all sink in.

Kai just stared at her, silent and with wide eyes. She took this as a sign to continue.

"But after living happily a while an enemy came that had a force like no other in this world. The couples tried to fight them but failed miserably and were sentenced to be trapped in this little spinning top and to be handed down through the generations until the next millennia when they would fight the evil again. My little trick has something to do with the prophecy and you shall see it tomorrow."

"So, wait, what does this mean? That we're all going to get married or something?"

"I don't know," Julia replied honestly, "I think it may just mean we have to work together. I mean it could always be 'fate' and yet, I really doubt that it is."

"Yeah, I mean, our teams barely know each other"

"Still, I've paired up everyone the way the prophecy was made, so hopefully, it'll all be alright."

"Yeah, I hope so too. Well, we need to get some rest, this prophecy thing can wait till the morning."

With that, the last of the team went to sleep, all but Julia secretly anticipating what trick they'd be taught next day.

Morning came, and with it, came the sound of groans and yawns as Julia walked into the rooms and pulled back the curtains, letting the sunlight hit the eyes of the room's occupants. They grumbled, and some even cursed her, yet all she told them was to get dressed for training and come to the common room for breakfast. After the breakfast of pancakes and fruit, she took them all down to the training room, where she could see the excited looks on their faces as they waited to find out what she was going to teach them.

"Ok," she started, "I promised you an amazing trick but it will start with an amazing story. You are all part of a prophecy and this is it. Long ago about a million years, bit beasts ruled the world. Salima and Ray's bitbeasts ruled the west, Max and Mariam's the east, Tyson and Hilary's the north and Kai's and mine the south. You see the bit beasts were very happy couples until one day when there came an evil so great that they couldn't defeat it so they got trapped in spinning tops and have been handed down throughout the generations. After a millennia, it is said that the evil would come out and these bitbeasts, along with their owners, would finally defeat it. But first, they must learn how to harness its true power. This year marks that millennia, and we are the ones who need to harness the power and defeat the evil. Now, I've already learnt the trick that harnesses the power of the bitbeasts, and today, so will you. Be reminided that this is only meant to be used for the evil in the prophecy. This pays no relation to tournament training whatsoever, unless it's seen as bit beast bonding time. Ok, now you guys have to watch and learn!"

Julia closed her eyes, and concentrated. She yelled out, "Go Dranzera! Ring of White Fire!" As soon as she had yelled out the attack, her eyes snapped open, revealing white flames in her eyes, and her hands were holding a ring of white fire, as it was blazing furiously. Everyone watched on in awe as they saw the leader of the Mystics holding fire in her hands, and she wasn't being burnt! After calming down, Julia returned back to normal, and opened her eyes, the brown orbs watching as everyone seemed to stare at her as if she'd grown a second head.

After getting over the initial shock of what they'd seen, a bunch of "Cool!"s and 'Wow's!' could be heard coming from the rest of her team.

"Well," she said, "see what I just did? I'm going to teach you to do the same, just with your bit beasts attacks. Who wants to volunteer?" she asked, and seeing that everyone had grown fear in their eyes, she decided that she'd have to pick someone. "Alright, no volunteers? Well then, thank you Kai, for being our first volunteer! The rest of you can just talk or battle or whatever, I'll do this one on one."

Kai walked beside her as she led them to the opposite side of the training room.

"Ok Kai, you're going to need to concentrate. Just focus on one of Dranzer's attacks and try to make it yours."

Kai nodded, and closed his eyes. Silence filled the room, and it almost seemed like everyone was holding their breath. It was broken only when Kai shouted, "Dranzer! Flame saber!" As soon as he did, everyone but Julia gasped because he was now holding a sword engulfed in flames. As everyone seemed to stare at him, Julia began clapping, obviously pleased that he'd been able to do it.

Next up was Ray.

"Alright, brother. You know the drill. Concentrate on an attack and make it yours."

Ray, being the very Zen person he was, went practically into meditation before calling out, "Drigger! Tiger Claw Attack!"

Again, everyone went silent as they saw Ray's hands turn into metal claws. Julia once again applauded congratulations, and moved on to the next person. This continued until everyone had had a chance to turn an attack into their own.

"Draciela!" Mariam shouted, "Hurricane Wave!"

"Driggara!" yelled Salima, "Tigress Scratch!"

"Draciel!" Max called, "Aqua Shield!"

"Dragoona" Hilary yelled, "Wind Wave!"

"Alright," said Julia, "last but not least, Tyson!"

"Dragoon!" Tyson roared, "Evolution Storm!"

After seeing that everyone had more or less gotten the hang of it on their first try, Julia let them practice a bit on their own for 30 minutes, before notifying them that training had finished for the day.

"Ok people!" she announced, "We are officially done for the day! I suggest we pick out a movie and just kick back tonight and celebrate!"

After hearing everyone agree, they made their way back to the hotel room, where Mariam took out her collection of DVD's. Most of them were movies the Bladebreakers hadn't even heard about, but they agreed to the movie that was selected by the Mystics in the end. Though the movie was called Valentine, it was anything but a romantic comedy.

"Ok, we swear to you that this is not a romantic comedy! Basically, four friends start to receive morbid valentine day cards. Someone out there is stalking them...someone they all spurned when they were younger. And Valentines Day 2001 is the Day she/he gets their revenge. This is like a horror movie, so I think you guys will like it!" Salima told them.

They all watched the movie, and collective gasping was heard when the horrendous killings of the friends occurred, or when something suddenly popped out or happened. Even though the girls had already seen this movie, it never ceased to frighten them every time they watched it.

When the movie had finished, Max turned off the TV, sending the teens into pitch black darkness. A few shrieks were heard as soon as he did this, and Ray, being the closest to the light switch, quickly flicked it back on, hearing sighs of relief when he did so.

Seeing as it was already nearly midnight, Ray suggested that they all go to bed and get some rest. The teens all went to their respective rooms, the same pairs that were sharing rooms last night, shared tonight.

In Max and Mariam's room:

"After that movie I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight!" cried out Max.

"Yeah, even though I've seen it so many times, it still creeps me out the same every time!"

"What day is it tomorrow, Mariam? Do you know?"

"February 14th, why?"

"Oh, just wondering"

At this Mariam knew why he was asking, and got playfully suspicious.

"Why's that? Did you forget what day it was today?" she asked him, one eyebrow raised knowingly, a smirk on her face.

Max blushed a bit before responding, "Uh, yeah, I forgot what day it was"

"Really now?" she asked, her smirk widening, "Are you sure you weren't trying to send some hidden message?"

Knowing that she'd caught on, he decided to play along. "I don't know, did you want there to be some hidden message?" he smirked back.

It was Mariam's turn to blush. She seemed to retreat shyly for a moment, before regaining her confidence. "So what if I did? Is there one?"

"I think you know the answer to that," Max smiled, catching her off guard by giving her a quick kiss on the cheek and leaving for the bathroom.

Shutting the door, he heard two simultaneous sighs, one that he'd been holding in and one the seemed a bit more high pitched, coming from Mariam. Hearing her sigh, he smiled, and wondered if maybe for them, the prophecy would come true in all senses of the words.

In Hilary and Tyson's Room:

"Oh my god, wasn't that movie so creepy Tyson?"

"Yes! Are you kidding me? I'm afraid to even go to sleep because I think Cupid might come and kill me!"

"Well, I think I'm more scared than you are!" Hilary said.

"Nuhuh"

"Yahuh"

"Nuhuh"

"Yahuh"

Outside their room, an owl hooted, making the two teen's hair stand on end. Frightened they jumped on to one another. When they realized the position they were in, both blushed and turned away, afraid that the other might see their embarrassment and blunt like for the other.

"S-sorry Tyson," Hilary was the first one to choke out an apology.

"N-no Problem, Hils. Don't worry about it." Stuttered back Tyson.

"Alright, this is too painfully obvious for me not to do anything about it. I like you Tyson" Hilary told the boy bluntly.

Shocked at first by her forwardness, his eyes widened, before calming down and replying, "I like you too Hils"

In Ray and Salima's Room:

"Why did we have to choose such a scary movie?" Salima wheezed, her heart beating rapidly.

"We didn't choose it, you guys did! Besides, haven't you already seen it?"

"I've never been able to watch the whole thing through, it's strange that I could now," she replied.

"Why have you never watched it all before?"

"Because I usually faint," she said, and not a second had passed after the words escaped her mouth, that her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she fell backwards.

Ray was alarmed but yet his reflexes were quick as ever. In one quick scoop, his right arm was supporting Salima's back. Her eyes quickly opened, frightened when she realized that she wasn't on the ground.

Hearing a voice but not being able to recognize who was speaking or what they were saying, and feeling someone holding her up, she got up quickly and knocked heads with Ray.

As soon as she realized who had let her not fall to the floor, she blushed and apologized multiple times. "Oh my gosh Ray! I am so sorry! I didn't know it was you!" She was about to apologize more but she heard him saying something, and she was pretty sure he wasn't talking to himself.

"Did you say something Ray?"

Holding his head in pain, through gritted teeth, he managed to force out a small smile before saying, "I asked you if you wanted to be my Valentine"

Overcome with shock, Salima nearly passed out again, giving Ray a heart attack. Of course, she ALMOST passed out. Picking herself back up, she gave him a small smile before replying, "I'd love to"

In Kai and Julia's Room:

"Could you have picked a scarier movie?" he asked.

Smirking she replied, "Why, I thought you weren't scared of anything"

"I'm not, it's my team. They're going to have nightmares. Tyson might even wet himself."

Laughing, Julia asked, "Is that you're secret way of saying you care for them?"

Looking down upon her emotionlessly, he said, "Of course not. I'm Kai Hiwatari, I don't care about anyone."

Julia scoffed and a small smile formed on his lips. "Yeah right" she said.

"So," he asked her, "what have you been doing in life until now? I mean, I haven't seen you since, well, since we were 7."

"Well, you left the abbey and I didn't have a best friend anymore. Tala was with me for a while and he kept me company really well, but then he got brainwashed by those Boris and he turned into a Biovolt zombie. When he wasn't training, he was being put in a tank, and being pumped up with all kinds of enhancers. Anyway, when I was ten, Tala became normal again and helped me escape. He was supposed to come with me too, but they got to him first. Well, after that, I worked a year for a baker and finally got enough money to go to China in the off-season. I went to White Tiger Hills where I stayed with Ray until I was 13, and then I left for Canada with a beyblading sponsorship from Mr.Dickenson."

"Wow, you sure went through a lot more then I did," he said. "I'm really glad you're back though."

"Me too," she smiled.

They stared at each other for a few moments, before Kai cleared his throat.

"Ahem, well, good night then."

"Night Kai," she responded.

And with that, the last of the teens fell asleep.