The next "day" our heroes were once again awoken by the female mechanical voice as it bade the next contestant go forth in its usual indifferent tone. Kai and possibly Ray would both on a normal day have been awake, being as they were the most responsible and mature of the team –come on, Tyson and Max fans, you know it's true-, but due to their activity the previous night, they were as fast asleep as the other pair.

And that was why the one called by the robot was very displeased, and took some time before he actually got to the lift.

***

The room where he arrived was as dreary and hellish the previous one, Ray's, had been peaceful and natural. Its walls were a dark, bloody crimson and here and there harsh black rocks protruded from the pitch black ground; but none of this was really visible because of the flames.

Yes, flames: for the whole of the room's floor was ablaze with fierce flames. Hither and thither vicious tongues of fire cracked and whipped and spat their sparks, filling the room with their almost daemonic glow, whilst on its far side, there was a tall, black pillar carved with hideous symbols of terrible language best left unintelligible. Opposite to said pillar there was a small black pedestal, and on said pedestal stood the contestant from the Blade-Breakers that had been summoned:

Kai Hiwatari of course!

"So…" he said with a vicious grin on his face "Give me your best!"

Truth be told, a thought quite irrelevant to Beyblade had just crossed his mind. The room was really bringing out his inner devil; and of course, he brought out the place's inner Beyblade.

"Are you ready, Kai?" said the female mechanical voice.

"Oh yes," answered Kai.

"Three, two, one… let it rip."

Then, Kai heard something go off; and peering into the fire, he saw his foe: a coal black blade of the exact same size as his.

"Let it rip!" he cried; and he sent forth Dranzer.

The battle was on. On the quite literally blazing floor the two blades clashed with a great metallic bang; and then, zooming around they began to violently hit each other again and again at a vertiginous speed.

Kai shed a drop of sweat; the heat was unbearable. His foe, obviously oblivious, charged fiercely forth.

"Hold your ground!" Kai ordered his Beyblade "Hold your ground, Dranzer! You can beat this one off easily!

Yet even as Kai shouted these haughty words, he knew he was lying; or at least not telling the whole truth. Of course, if he unleashed Dranzer, he could destroy not only his adversary but probably the whole stage easily but a little part of him was nagging that it had a feeling this shouldn't be done.

Bang!

Kai was brought back from his musings by a charge of the other Blade. He'd only been distracted for a few moments, but already he had in one blow lost a great deal of ground.

Then, he decided there was only one way out.

"Dranzer! Flame Sabre Attack!"

And his foe went down in a great blaze.

***

The flames went off, and the Blade-breakers advanced to the next room. This one was even larger, and actually had separate beds for each of them, that is to say, no bunks. Tyson was the first to lay down.

"So," he said "This is it, huh?"

"Yup," said Max "One more battle, and we're out of here!"

"Seeing as it's Tyson's I wouldn't be too optimistic about it…" said Kai with a scoff.

"Yappity yap yap…" said Tyson "I'm going to win this whether you like it or not! And faster than you did, too… I'm starting to get really bored around here, sitting around not doing anything while all you guys battle!"

"Yeah," said Max "You can only play twenty questions so many times!"

Kai just scoffed again.

Fortunately, both Kai and Ray on one hand and Max and Tyson on the other had a very interesting and energy-consuming secret pastime.

"Well, Tyson," said Ray "I'm glad you're so optimistic. But remember: things are seldom what they seem, and especially in controlled environments like this one. We shouldn't let ourselves be fooled into thinking that everything is going okay…"

They were silent.

***

Many hours later, all the Blade-Breakers were sleeping. All, that is to say, save one: Kai Hiwatari.

He lay in his bead wide awake with various very naughty thoughts going through his head in the dark, tossing and turning and groaning. Until he finally decided to get up and make them come true. In truth, he'd been thinking about this since he'd been in the fire room; there, he'd thought it was definitely the kind of place he'd like to be in with "company".

And so he took Dranzer and walked over to Ray.

"Hey," he said dryly "Get up…"

Ray moved a tad; Kai nudged him at the shoulder, and then stayed his hand there. Truth be told, he liked what he was feeling: Ray's muscles were very well toned; they still are, if we're not mistaken.

Kai grinned. Ray still slept in his underwear, as opposed to Kai, who was fully dressed. He watched him sleep for a few seconds.

"Wake up, Ray," he finally repeated; and he moved him again.

This time Ray did wake up.

"K… Kai!" he whispered, jolting upright "What are you doing?"

And he caught hold of his hand, not moving it away, but just touching it. Kai was very blunt in his answer.

"I want to make love to you in the room with the fire."

"What?"

"Follow me…" said Kai.

And he kissed him. Then, Ray got up, and he and Kai silently stole down to the where Kai had fought his battle.

Now it was dark. The great black stones and the terrifying pillar were only shadows, and this perhaps made them even more ominous.

Ray wouldn't say it aloud, but he was starting to get frightened. He and Kai were now at the foot of the black pillar; he could feel his heart started to pace faster.

"Don't worry" said Kai, as if he'd felt the cat-boy's heartbeat in the air "I'll light it all up for you…"

And, pulling out his Beyblade he shouted:

"Dranzer! Set this place on fire again!"

Then, he shot his top. And in the twinkling of an eye, the whole floor was once again ablaze. All over the ground, surrounding Kai and Ray, the tongues of flame burst up roaring and cracking and spitting sparks, filling the room with their daemonic glow and primal heat. And the black stones that had before been but shadows were now visible in all their towering dark glory.

Only around the two boys, in a radius of barely two metres, was the ground not on fire; thus was the magic of the Phoenix Dranzer.

Kai's Beyblade flew back into his hand; then, he turned around and set his eyes upon the half-naked Ray next to him. He looked very nice indeed in the little clothes he was wearing:

"I thought of you when I first saw this place," he said–truthfully, we may add-, "I thought of how I'd like to f—k you right here in the middle of the fire!"

He took off his shirt. His torso was white and fit as ever.

"K… Kai…" said Ray, still quite taken aback; in the glow if the flames, Kai seemed more intimidating than ever.

"It's okay, Ray," said the boy, closing in on him "I'm not going to do anything to you…"

He put his hand on Ray's chin. He was already getting excited, and he knew for sure Ray was too.

"At least…" he grinned "Not anything you won't like!"

And he kissed him; then, with his other hand, he begun to move down Ray's back, caressing him all around his quasi-naked body; already, they were both glistening with sweat from the surrounding heat.

"Do you love me?" asked Kai, in a dark but utterly sincere voice of someone who's not used to being sincere.

"Yes," answered Ray meekly.

"Good," said Kai "Because I love you too."

With one hand, he grabbed the cat-boy's behind, and with the other, pulling him closer to him, he gave him a savage kiss.

"Kai…" moaned Ray finally when their lips parted "D… Do it…"

"What?"

"Make love to me!"

And he surrendered himself in his lover's arms. Kai kissed him again; and, against the black pillar, in the glow of the flames, in what looked like an image from one of the Nine Hells, Kai made savage love to Ray.

***

When they were done, Kai sent out Dranzer again, and she put out the fire just as she had put it on; after all, a phoenix can do what a phoenix pleases with a phoenix's fire!

The two boys were standing, blissful, naked, in each other's arms. Their bodies were exhausted and a bit sticky, and they felt as if the heat had almost melted them into one.

"Did you like it?" said Kai, with a deadpan seriousness.

"Oh yes" said Ray with a big smile on his face "Yes I did…"

"That's good," said Kai.

But then, Ray ran his finger down Kai's chest. Slowly regaining his energy, he said:

"You know… I thought of something I could do for you too."

Now it was Kai's turn to be surprised.

"Really?"

"Yeah," said Ray "but now, you follow me…"

"Okay" said Kai, quite curious.

And of course, he followed Ray across the room. He took him to the side of the room opposite to the one they'd come in through. Thence, they went into the room they'd slept in the previous night, and from there they went into the marsh room where Ray had fought.

The water was not even knee-deep now, but the trees and lily-pads still gave the place a soothing, natural pond-ish feel, and you could practically hear the sounds of animals; nothing like the previous room.

"What do you want here?" said Kai.

"Come on…" said Ray "Follow me."

And he stepped into the water; it felt frigid after the flames he'd been amongst.

Hesitantly but with a straight face, Kai followed him. Ray had completely regained his calm and control, and both boys were almost completely cooled off since the previous room.

"Sit down," said Ray with a grin.

"Where?" said Kai.

"Anywhere…" said Ray "That rock, if you like."

Kai sat down on said rock; it felt cold against his naked legs.

"You ready?"

"Yes…"

"Good."

Then Ray went on his knees in the water in front of him, and started to do something.

A shudder went up Kai's spine, and he felt a tingling at the tip of his virile member, still humid from the previous round of sex. And then, the last of the heat from the room before left him, and it was replaced by completely by the calm, cool, serene ecstasy of, well… what Ray was doing. Kai couldn't keep his face expressionless anymore.

"Oh!" he shouted "Oh yeah, Ray! S*ck it!"