The next day Kai was awoken abruptly by a shiny golden alarm clock. He stared at it angrily, half because he was feeling particularly groggy and half because of the hassle the clock had caused him the previous night, along with the likes of Tyson. Thanks to his tiresome teammate, Kai hadn't returned to his room until two in the morning. The terrible threesome (Tyson, Max and Daichi) had insisted on watching horror films into the early hours, and had begged Kai to stay for team bonding, when really Kai knew they just wanted him there so they didn't get too scared. Every time he tried to leave, Tyson would start chattering pointedly about penthouse suites and who could possibly afford such things. Pathetic idiots, he thought as he rolled over and punched the pillow into a comfier position. He was the person they should have been worried about, not the creepy chainsaw wielding guy on screen.

Upon his return to his ridiculously priced penthouse suite, Kai had hastily tried to set the alarm, but became completely baffled by all the unusual nobs and buttons that covered the clock. He had almost thrown the clock across the room in anger until he gave up and set it back down on the table with a loud thump and climbed straight into bed, if he woke up late, he would blame Tyson, and that was that. Kai was actually quite shocked that the clock had worked; the only problem now was that he just had to figure out how to turn it off.

It took him a mere fifteen minutes to get ready. Just as he opened the door to the hallway, he noticed a man opposite him wearing a butler's suit, pushing a shining silver teacart and reaching out to knock the door opposite. Kai mentally slapped himself in the face, why had he not ordered room service? It seemed so much easier than having to endure an entire breakfast meal with the rest of his team. He could imagine their puzzled faces, wondering where their captain was as he lay in bed, surrounded by plates of eggs benedict and blueberry pancakes whilst drinking fancy orange juice and coffee.

"Hn," he muttered as he watched the butler slide out of view, but not before a small flicker of lilac hair appeared at the door, sending a pang of annoyance through his chest.

"You're late!" droned a familiar voice as he pushed the door of the breakfast room open. Immediately, Tyson had grabbed Kai's upper arm and was dragging him back out the way he came, followed by the rest of the team.

"You're awake." Kai observed in a flat mocking tone as he flinched away from Tysons grasp.

Hilary rushed up to the two of them and pulled Tyson's hand away, "you're not late, they've just pushed the registration forward by a few hours," she explained as they made their way towards the main exit. "I got you some coffee," she smiled happily and handed it to him, "black, no sugar, right?"

Kai took the cardboard cup gingerly, "uhh… right."

"You're welcome!" Hilary said cheerfully. "Daichi, where are your shoes and socks?"

Daichi, who was pattering excitedly down the steps towards the new BBA tour bus, spun around and looked down at his feet utterly surprised, "uhhh… I guess I didn't put em on today, haha!" he chuckled.

Hilary let out a heavy sigh, "w-wait- Daichi! Oh wow, please tell me he has his Beyblade!" she spluttered at Kenny.

"Errr…." The chief swung his backpack around and began to furiously search it's contents.

"OBVIOUSLY!" Daichi called happily from the bus steps, holding his blade out for all to see.

Everyone sighed.

"I guess that's what's important…" she mused, following the younger boy up the steps.

Mr. Dickinson was sat waiting on one of the red leather seats, he greeted them with his usual jolly smile, however he seemed to be slightly on edge; Kai noticed the old man had put his tie on backwards so that the label was sticking out, it read, "COOL TIES!" Kai smirked quietly but quickly switched to a more suitable, classic composed Kai expression as Mr. Dickinson caught his eye.

"Well hello boys- and ladies- of course! I hope you all had an excellent first night of sleep!" Kai ground his teeth together and glanced towards Tyson, Max and Daichi. "Today is registration day!" the old man announced hurriedly, "once you've signed up to the tournament, you'll have the entire afternoon off to explore London! I hope you make the most of it!" he chuckled happily; quickly nodding at everyone to make sure they had all heard. "Errr, now boys, if you'd all kindly excuse me, I have to return a very important phone call!" he turned on his heel and marched away, getting slightly stuck between the bus doors on the way out.

"Wow I wonder why Mr. D is in such a rush…" Max wondered, looking towards Kenny and Hilary for an answer as if they were the all-knowing twosome of the group.

"He's probably just really bu-" Hilary began.

"-WHO CARES! WE GET THE REST OF THE DAY OFF, OH YES FISH AND CHIPS I AM SO READY!" Tyson punched the air excitedly as Max and Daichi grinned.

"What like real English fish and chips? Like the fish and chips we saw on that English cooking program? OH MAN!" asked Daichi excitedly, drooling at the thought.

"Yeah! They go so well with mustard!" the entire bus groaned and Max looked slightly crestfallen, "but mustard is the best…" he whined quietly.

"Errrr…" Ray interrupted, "Actually I-" he moved forward in his seat to rest his arms on the back on the chair in front of him, "-I told White Tiger X that I'd meet them after the sign ups. I hope that's ok?" his voice sounded uncertain.

Tyson sniffed, obviously annoyed, "well whatever, we all know you're ditching us for Mariah." The bus fell silent, even Max stopped reeling off his list of the benefits of mustard.

Everyone knew that Ray and Mariah were meant to be together, and despite being so close so many times, they'd never quite made it to the, "Official Boyfriend and Girlfriend stage," as Hilary often called it. Ray was still in total denial about his feelings for Mariah and Mariah (the last time the Bladebreakers had seen her) seemed to have given up.

"Wha- no way!" Ray said defensively.

Max appeared to have completely forgotten about mustard, "dude what is happening with you two? I swear after BEGA you two were inseparable and then all of a sudden when she visited over spring break it was like we'd gone back to the Asian tournament all over again!"

"Uuh…" Ray groaned.

Tyson opened his mouth to retort but was pushed out of the way, "you should go see her, it would be good for you two to sort things out!" Max butted in happily, placing his hand over Tyson's face in the process.

Tyson bit Max's hand, "don't encourage him! WHAT HAPPENED TO BRO'S BEFORE HOE'S RAY?"

Ray opened his mouth but no sound came out, he looked totally bewildered, "I- I- no- TYSON, Max, it's not like that… I swear."

Daichi was giggling in the background. Kai lay sprawled on the back seat of the bus. He had been trying his very best to ignore them, but this was way too much of a good opportunity for a snide comment. He sat up quickly, "don't worry Ray, Tyson's just jealous that he doesn't have the balls to ask a girl out! Or a girl to even ask out in the first place, now I think about it…"

They both turned around to face their captain, "WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN? I HAVE BALLS!" shouted Tyson.

"Oh wait, there is a girl…. But unfortunately, you're too stupid to realize that." Kai continued mockingly. Tyson was growling and throwing his arms around from the other side of the bus as Max and Kenny held him back with their hands over his mouth.

Ray sighed and looked down at his feet, "as I said Kai, it's really not like that." He shook his head and stared blankly ahead, "AAAAAGH I'm a such coward!" he muttered, flopping down sideways across the two seats.

Tyson stopped struggling and looked at Ray with a sorry expression, "LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE!" he yelled whilst pointing animatedly at the back of Ray's head, which could be partially seen sticking out into the aisle. Kai rolled his eyes and flung himself down across the back seat. Hilary ran up the center of the bus to calm everyone down, they were almost at the stadium.

'Kai Hiwatari' he signed on the dotted line. Kai handed the contract back to the BBA representative over the help desk and slouched away, ready to explore London, alone of course. Tyson was shouting at him from the door telling him to hurry up. Kai knew all to well that Tyson only had one volume setting, but he was really getting on Kai's nerves. Shoving his hands into his pocket, Kai uttered a small, "hn", and sat down on a nearby bench, simply to be as annoying as possible. Tyson came marching over with a look on his face like a toddler searching for attention.

"So you're not coming with us?" he asked defeated.

"What do you think?" Kai replied blankly.

Tyson let out an angry noise, "why did we even bother bringing you with us this time!"

"Well you wanted to actually win, I assume." He smirked, arms crossed.

"If I wasn't stupidly hungry for fish and chips, I'd hit you!"

Kai was now picking at the skin on his knuckles again, acting as if he hadn't heard a word of what his fellow teammate had said.

"Fine, whatever, no fish and chips for you!" Tyson stormed off, putting his arm around Max, "WE'LL PROBABLY HAVE A BETTER TIME WITHOUT HIM ANYWAY!" Tyson shouted in the distance.

What an idiot, he mused, staring at his hands which were now completely devoid of dry skin thanks to his perpetual picking. He could hear footsteps approaching, oh my god he's back was Kai's first thought, but looking up he saw a pair of shoes belonging to Ray.

"Can I wait with you?" Ray asked. His face looked tense, as if he were about to face an angry lion with nothing but his bare hands to protect himself.

"Yeah."

Ray sat down at the other end of the bench and for a while they stared ahead silently, watching various other teams sign up for the tournament, none of which either had ever seen before.

Ten minutes passed and eventually the door opened to reveal all four members of White Tiger X. They both watched as pink hair fluttered quickly up to the desk. Kai's eyes flickered towards Ray; he seemed utterly transfixed by that bright pink hair.

Another few minutes passed.

"Have you ever asked anyone out before?" Ray asked suddenly.

Kai opened his mouth to respond but held himself back, he didn't particularly want to answer that question. He may be the Bladebreakers captain, but relationship advice certainly wasn't listed within his job description. Finally, he decided it was better to give Ray an honest answer; after all, he was the only member of the team he could ever hold a serious conversation with.

"No." he stated, swiftly jumping to his feet and deciding it was time to leave. "You should find out what's wrong first, she seemed pretty pissed."

White Tiger X had seen them and was making their way over. They greeted Kai happily as he swiftly ignored them, letting the door swing shut behind him and leaving Ray to fend for himself.

"Kai!" he heard a familiar voice call out. He growled and looked up, would this relentless pursuit of people trying to talk to him never end?

"What, Tala?" He hadn't seen his former teammate since the end of the BEGA tournament; it looked as if he had fully recovered from the injuries inflicted by Brooklyn and it pleased Kai to see that he was doing well, not that he would ever admit that to anyone. Well ok, maybe he would confess such things to stay cats occasionally, but that was beside the point.

Kai wondered if Tala knew he had been to visit him on numerous occasions whilst in the hospital- hopefully he didn't- after all, that would be thoroughly embarrassing. Kai placed his hands into his pockets and walked down a few more steps so he was face to face with the redheaded blader.

Tala seemed to have grown yet another few inches over the winter; he must have been at least six foot two by now. His hair was also different, instead of looking as if he had airplane wings stuck to his head, his hair was long and hung limply around his face with a slight curl. Kai smirked; he looked like a die-hard Bullet For My Valentine fan or a struggling poet.

"Nice to see you too!" said his former teammate with an air of sarcasm, "yeah anyway, Mr. Dickinson's asked me to tell you to go back to the hotel, apparently got something he needs to discuss with you."

"Right…" Kai turned away, not entirely sure if he was willing to follow Mr. Dickinson's request. He saw Bryan out of the corner of his eye and quickly brushed past before he could be on the receiving end of yet more happy greetings.

"Oh, thanks for saying hey man, don't worry, we missed you too. Asshole!" called Bryan.

Kai laughed and spun around, casually sticking his finger up at Bryan. The lavender-haired blader nodded and smirked back as Kai wandered off to the taxi rank with a small grin on his face, wondering suddenly why Spencer wasn't with them.

Maybe he had missed them after all, just a tiny bit…

I hope you enjoyed this chapter :) its a bit shorter than I envisioned originally, but having shorter chapters definitely makes them more manageable. Do leave a review and let me know your thoughts! Thank you so much for reading! xx