Definitely a shorter chapter, but important as well.

Chapter 10

Rose growled as her team made their way to the locker room hallway. She could see the girls in front of her, talking to each other about the matches and wanting to watch Justice Five and the Blitzkrieg Boy go at it.

"Easy Rose." Belle whispered at her elbow. "Settle. Don't lose your cool."

Rose bit her lip, almost drawing blood. "He's so goddamn irritating!"

Belle smirked. "Aren't they all? Remember how we were raised Rose. Coincidences and uncertainty cause us to do crazy things to find out the truth."

"Yea, well, if they could only remember what the fuck happened, I would fill them in." Rose growled as a door popped open.

"Oh hey girls." Max grinned brightly, followed by Rick and Tyson. "Want to join us in the Tiger's locker room? We were all going to watch the next match together."

"Of course!" Aure jumped at the chance, dragging Clair up to the front of their group. In her haste, she basically threw Clair into Max, which might have just been her intention all along.

"S-Sorry." Clair blushed as Max held an arm out to catch her. Her hands were resting on his forearm and she couldn't help but think about how muscular he was.

"Quite alright." Max smiled charmingly and Tyson and Rick had to choke down on their laughter. "Come on, I'll walk you down."

Clair just nodded dumbly and let him guide her down the hall, her arm looped with his.

Rick rolled his eyes and chuckled, following his partner down the hall.

"Lets go Champ." Aure giggled, grabbing Tyson's wrist and dragging him down the hall. Tyson squeaked as the girl easily pulled him along. Noel snorted and smirked as she and Chanel followed them. Chanel was starting to blush and fiddle with her hands, nervous to see Ray after his smile back on the floor.

Belle smiled to herself, happy to see her friends finally relaxing a little. "Come on Rose, lets play nice."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Fine. I'll be nice."

Belle snorted and walked down the hall, Rose following her, still seething about Kai.

Chanel walked in after Noel and saw White Tiger X along with BBA Revolution and PBB All Starz lounging about the locker room, waiting for DJ to finish introducing Tala and Garland. Mystel had already narrowly beaten Bryan.

She saw Ray sitting back on the couch, a spot open next to him on the end.

Noel leaned up to reach her friend's ear. "Go for it Nelly. No harm will come to you, I'm right here. He isn't like Enrique either." She smirked at the end.

Chanel giggled worriedly, but nodded. "Ok El." She slowly walked over to Ray as she saw Max lead Clair to a bench in the middle of the room, next to Hilary and Kenny. "Hey Ray."

Ray looked up from the tv and over to see Chanel walking nervously over to him. "Hey Chanel." He smiled reassuringly. "Wanna sit?" He offered, moving over a bit more to make sure she had enough room.

"Thanks." She smiled slowly, her heart still fluttering around in her chest, but somehow reassured by him. She sat down next to him, tucking her legs underneath herself. She was turned slightly away from him, facing the end of the couch and the tv. She felt him stare at her, but it didn't give her a creepy feeling, it was more like he was looking out for her. She looked over her shoulder to just meet his golden orbs staring at her. He smiled and she blushed, turning away.

Noel smirked at her best friend as she leaned up against the wall.

"Always watching out for our best friends, right?"

Noel turned to look behind her to see Rick grinning at her. He nodded to Max and Clair. Noel turned to see Clair blushing but laughing at something Max said as Kenny was watching Tala and Garland's match, typing things furiously in his laptop as the blades battled for dominance. Hilary had a knowing look on her face as she raised an eyebrow at the couple.

"Always." Noel had to agree.

Rick nodded and said nothing more.

Rose gazed at Clair and Chanel quickly, her maternal instincts for her team never wavering, and then she gazed at Aure where she was lecturing Tyson on how it was impolite to judge a person based on looks. He was still going on and on about how strong she was for her size. Daichi was laughing at his partner as Mariah and Emily were backing up Aure, while Lee and Michael rolled their eyes at Tyson's idiocy.

Rose then trained her eyes back on the tv as the bladers unleashed their final attacks. Tala was out for revenge, she noted. She had heard about his coma during BEGA's takeover and knew that he was looking to settle the score.

Belle watched as the dish was covered in ice, making life difficult for Garland as he tried to maneuver around the dish.

Belle couldn't blame Rose for getting pissed off at Kai. She was equally pissed at Tala, she just had always been better at containing those feelings then Rose had. Underneath it all, Rose had a fiery personality, it's what originally connected her and Kai in the first place. As Tala won the battle, Belle couldn't help but be happy for him, despite everything going on.

"Stupid boys." She heard Rose growl next to her. She couldn't help the slight half-smile worming its way on her face at her best friend's comment. Rose had obviously noticed Belle's feelings.

"Agreed."

"Woot! Alright Tala!" Tyson grinned.

"Well, thats gotta feel good." Ray grinned.

Max nodded. "Evens up the score, plus it boosts Tala's ego."

Rick scoffed. "Not like he needs it."

Everyone laughed at that one and Rose and Belle shared a quick smile.

But as soon as Kai's name was announced, Rose turned all grumpy again. Belle giggled to herself as Kai and Brooklyn took the dish by storm.

"This will be good." Ray whispered to Chanel. She nodded, eyes glued to the screen as she leaned back more into the couch, starting to feel more comfortable around him. Ray noticed the shift and smiled, turning back to the screen.

Aure had a hand to Tyson's mouth to stop him from talking as Kai and Brooklyn went at it head on. Tyson quirked an eyebrow at the small girl sitting in front of him, her eyes glued to the screen, analyzing everything. He smiled into her hand as he watched too. He couldn't blame her for watching. Kai and Brooklyn were incredible bladers and watching them was like watching something out of this world.

"Spiral Fireball!"

"Darkness Reign!" The pair of bladers shouted and the stadium was suddenly divided in half, one bright as the sun, the other as dark as night.

The blades collided in the middle and below the stadium, the bladers could feel it, the entire room shaking dangerously.

"Shit." Rick grunted as he steady himself on the wall.

Chanel squeaked softly as the rumbling had sent her back into Ray's chest. "S-Sorry!" She said as she felt Ray's hands on her shoulders, holding her steady.

"It's ok Chanel." Ray said soothingly, feeling the girl tremble under his hands. "The stadium will hold."

Chanel nodded, but turned her body a little more towards him, drawing her knees up to her chest. Ray smiled and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, comforting her. Chanel's body shook underneath his arm.

Chanel was having a minor panic attack. One, it felt like the stadium might collapse on top of them and two Ray currently had his arm around her and she was freaking out. She glanced up and across the room to meet Noel's icy gaze and Noel gave her a small smile. Nothing bad would happen to her. Chanel reminded herself. She was safe. Noel had given Ray her check of approval and worse come to worse, Noel would protect her. Slowly, her body relax and she let herself be pulled into Ray's side.

Ray smiled as finally Chanel relaxed next to him. That same desire to protect her washed over him, and he still didn't know where it came from, but he would listen to it.

"Incredible!" DJ's voice came over the tv. "Kai pulls out a win once again! The Blitzkrieg Boys win!"

"Wahoo! Alright Kai!" Tyson cheered, pulling Aure's hand off his mouth.

Aure giggled and rolled her eyes at his excitement.

"Nice Kai." Ray smirked to himself and Chanel heard it. She giggled and turned to look at him.

"You guys are all so close." She commented as Max and Kenny cheered as well.

Ray chuckled, smiling down at her. "Well, when you've been together for five years, it'll strengthen any friendship. But we've also been through a lot as a team. Our first year, it was Voltaire and Boris controlling Kai's old team, second year it was Zagart using Zeo and the other Psykicks to get our bit-beasts, plus the Saint Shields testing us, third year it was dealing with splitting up for the first time, plus Boris coming back and using Justice Five to take over the world again."

"Wow. Life's not simple with you guys is it?" Chanel smiled, remembering her own twisted past.

Ray grinned and leaned down to whisper in her ear. "Never, but that's what makes it fun."

Chanel blushed red-hot as she felt his breath on her neck. It tickled and her shoulder came up to get rid of the sensation. Although it just created another one as his lips brushed against the bare skin of her shoulder due to her only wearing a tank top, her coat in her hands. Chanel froze at the contact, memories rushing through her head.

Noel narrowed her eyes at the accidental brush of Ray's lips on Chanel's shoulder, and saw the look in her eyes. She walked up to the pair as everyone started talking amongst each other as Justice Five and The Blitzkrieg Boys left the floor to be replaced by the Saint Shields and the Dark Oblivions. She placed herself on the arm of the couch, subtly bumping Chanel's knee as she settled herself.

At the bump, Chanel snapped back into the present and glanced up at her best friend, giving her a thankful look. Noel nodded and watched as Dunga took his position up against one of the hooded bladers.

Ray raised an eyebrow at Chanel's frozen body, then Noel coming over and their shared glance. He was missing something. He knew it.

"Hey Tala, Kai, nice win." Tyson smiled as the Blitzkrieg Boys passed the open door.

"Hey Ty. Thanks." Tala nodded. "Felt good."

"I bet." Max grinned. "Want to join us? Still some room in here." He laughed.

Tala caught sight of Belle and a strange urge within him drew him to her, so he nodded, stepping inside, the guys following behind him. He made his way to stand near Belle and Rose and he was aware, as Kai followed him, while Ian, Spencer and Bryan started to fan out, that Rose was seething with anger. She wasn't showing it in her body language, or even her eyes, but it was more of a sixth sense with her.

Kai and Rose shared a glance as the room went quite, the tv showing Dunga and the hooded blader launching.

Everyone had silently prayed that it wouldn't turn out the same, but alas it did and everyone was silent as spirit broken Dunga and Joseph walked away.

Clair shivered as the camera zoomed in on Joseph's life-less eyes. Max looked down worriedly at her and placed a hand on her curled up fist at her side. Clair gratefully clasped his hand in both of hers, taking comfort from his physical touch.

Rose peeled her eyes away from the screen to meet Kai's eyes. Gone was her anger at him, for the moment at least. They had bigger problems anyway.

"So Kai says you think you might know them?" Daichi blindly asked the question out loud.

Aure winced at the look in her captain's eyes. They knew he would say something to the bladers, but Daichi didn't need to bring it up right now.

"WHAT?!" Michael and Lee roared.

Max winced. Right….White Tiger X and the PBB All Starz didn't know…

"Thanks Daichi." Tyson rolled his eyes.

"Explain….." Rick ordered, with a barely controlled rage.

"We think so." Belle answered. She could sense Rose and Kai's staring match as the sensitive topic came up.

Tala felt as if hell was freezing over as he was the one person in between the pair of them. "Ok, can we just get this out in the open? The Angels think they know the Dark Oblivions from their childhood and that they used to work for Boris and probably still are. Ok? Now can you two stop glaring at each other? I don't want to die today!" He roared, giving both Kai and Rose a death glare.

Kai rolled his eyes, while Rose just closed her eyes and looked away.

"Serious?" Mariah asked, looking at the six girls.

Noel rolled her eyes. "Yea, like Belle said, we think so. The way they act reminds us of girls from our childhood."

"A five girl team, not unlike us, just one less blader." Aure explained a little further. "They're a polish team that's most likely still under Boris's thumb."

"And how do you know them?" Emily asked, facts not adding up.

Rose narrowed her eyes at the american girl and even though her element was light, she was anything but in that moment. "None of your business." She closed her eyes and exited just like that even as Zeo started blading against Raul.

Belle followed her best friend wordlessly as Aure quickly followed, with Clair at her heels. She sent Max an apologetical smile as Noel jumped up and tapped Chanel's knee, the girl nodding and following her best friend out as well, giving Ray's hand a squeeze.

As the Angel's disappeared around the corner, Rick whistled.

"Woah…..touchy….."

"You have no idea…." Tala sighed as he took one look at Kai and pushed him on the couch next to Ray. "You stay. Don't harass her."

Kai narrowed his eyes, but had to grudgingly agree with his best friend. Now wasn't the time to get answers. She wasn't going to talk right now. He had to get her alone and on his terms.

So Max and Clair as well as Chanel and Ray are finally starting to get closer.

But what's Ray missing?

And now the Tigers and All Starz know about Anna and her girls as well.