Thanks to Lavender Rose of Faith, Minekoanime, queen of beyblade and NorthernShinigami for reviewing.

Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade or its characters.

Chapter 10: Names for the Faceless

The four teams were gathered in the library, with the book on Dark Bitbeasts open in front of them. They had managed to locate the book the previous night, but because of the late hour, they decided to leave their search for the following morning.

Tala was scanning through all the pages since, as it turned out, Biovolt's implants gave him a photographic memory, as well as a greater reading speed.

"Anything yet?" Ian whined.

"A few possible candidates," Tala answered, not even looking up.

"Anything on how to see them?" Enrique asked. "Because last night, me and Oliver had a visitor that, for some reason, I could see."

"What?" Johnny exclaimed. "And why didn't you say anything sooner?"

"Guess we're still tired," Oliver said. "Oh, that reminds me." He withdrew a black feather from his pocket and showed it to the others. "Our visitor last night left this behind."

The feather was eerily beautiful, and some of them couldn't help but feel that it seemed familiar. Bryan gasped, recognising it first.

"That looks like one of Black Dranzer's!" he exclaimed.

…..

"Looks like the Majestics got a few more guests," Lupinex stated.

"Anything that follows them?" Sanuinex asked.

"Not sure. Guess we need to take a closer look."

…..

"Are you sure?" Kai asked.

"Yeah," Bryan said. "See for yourself."

Kai took the feather, and immediately felt light-headed. He clutched the nearest person, which happened to be Robert, to prevent himself from losing consciousness.

"Are you okay?" Tyson asked.

"Yeah," Kai nodded. "That's definitely one of Black Dranzer's. But how…?"

"Kai," Tala interrupted. "Where is Black Dranzer?"

Kai looked into the blue eyes laced with suspicion. He sighed as he fished it out of his pocket.

"Here," he said.

"You still have it?!" Kenny exclaimed.

"If I don't hold onto it," Kai explained, "you know Boris and Voltaire would use it. It's safer with me than anywhere else."

"And yet, it attacked Oliver," Ray stated, his voice angry.

"No," Oliver denied, getting all of their attentions. "Black Dranzer had golden eyes. And he didn't attack, just demanded."

"What did he want?" Kai whispered.

"He wanted something my dad gave me to protect. Don't know why, though."

"One down," Max said.

"And a few more to go," Enrique sighed.

"Anything else?" Lee asked, looking at Tala.

Tala sighed and turned back a few pages. He held it open for everyone to see. It revealed a picture of a pitch black tiger, the portrait portraying it standing ready to pounce.

"This one is Phantom Driger," Tala said. "It's from the White Tiger Tribe."

"We've never heard about it," Mariah said.

"You wouldn't," Tala said. "According to this, the two tigers represented harmony in the tribe, until the black one decided that it didn't want to be bound to a bunch of humans. It believed itself to be a superior being, and it wanted to enslave the humans. However, the people of the White Tiger Tribe weren't completely human." Here, he paused, looking nervously at Lee. The other boy sighed and motioned for him to continue. "So, he couldn't enslave them. But, he could do it, if he had a vessel. And that's where the really disturbing stuff begins."

"More disturbing?" Tyson asked incredulously.

Tala ignored him.

"He chose a child. A new-born baby. He waited until the child was at an innocent age where the rest of the child's personality would be developed, in other words around the ages of two to six, and killed all the child's loved ones, right in front of him."

The White Tigers glanced at Ray, who looked like he was far away from awareness.

"The child grew up in isolation, and he went through a lot of suffering, until he reached adolescence. There, the Black Tiger started to torture him, his mind starting to unravel at the seams. It haunted his dreams, and made sure that the child distanced himself from everyone else, and then, it attacked."

"What else?" Ray asked, looking very pale.

Most of the others had started to keep their eyes on him, recognising the similarities.

"It used its power to enslave a large portion of the land, until the White Tiger interfered."

"Driger," Lee whispered.

"Driger, along with the elders of the White Tiger Tribe, used everything they could to expel Phantom Driger from the child. Afterwards, they worked to drain the tiger of its powers, and managed to banish it from the Tribe. But it swore its revenge. It would one day destroy the White Tiger Tribe, but to do that, history had to repeat itself."

"And now we know," Oliver said. "Our friend is Phantom Driger."

"And I'm the one he wants," Ray whispered. "He wants to use me to destroy the tribe."

"We won't let it," Mariah said firmly. "It wants to get you alone, and we won't allow it. You're surrounded by people who care for you. You won't become its pawn!"

Ray looked at her and smiled shyly. Kai sighed. He knew that isolating yourself in situations like these was a bad idea. The proof was still clutched in his hand.

'Two down,' Black Dranzer whispered. 'Two to go. Well, those that you've already encountered.'

Kai gasped, getting everyone's attention. Tala narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

"Is there something on your mind?" Tala asked.

Kai looked around and saw that everyone had their attentions focussed on him. He sighed in defeat.

"Sometimes," he said, "I can hear Black Dranzer speaking to me. And right now, he's saying that there were two others that we've encountered."

"Like that one that attacked Johnny," Oliver said in understanding.

"A description?" Tala enquired, looking at the other redhead.

"Red eyes," Johnny said. "Um, I think he called himself the 'Dark Knight'."

Tala nodded and leafed through the book again.

"I think I have a possible candidate," Tala said. "The only one that qualifies as the 'Dark Knight' is Mordred."

"Mordred?" Johnny asked. "You mean, like the one from King Arthur's stories?"

"That's right," Tala said. "Guess you have a clue?"

"Yeah. Mordred was Arthur's enemy. According to legend, he was the son of Arthur and Morgana."

"Yep. And Arthur and Mordred killed each other. Or, as much as one can kill a Bitbeast."

"He mentioned something about an item," Johnny said. "Now, what item?"

…..

There was a crack in the defence. It was fortunate. Now, move ahead, before the others…

'Looking for something?' a voice taunted.

The figure turned to see another that looked similar to it.

'You managed to slip through as well?'

'Correct. I hope you know where you're going.'

'Do not worry. I know exactly where it is. And I know the location of its guardian.'

'You know, usually we all are on our own. I think that it would benefit the both of us if we work together.'

'Agreed. I know a few of your skills, and it might come in handy.'

'Might?'

…..

"Did he say anything about what kind of item he was looking for?" Robert asked.

"No," Johnny sighed. "But it seemed like he was willing to kill to get his hands on it."

"Hey Oliver," Enrique said. "Think it might be…"

Enrique turned to look at his teammate, but he was no longer there. After looking around for a while, they all came to the same conclusion.

Oliver was no longer there.

"Where could he have gone?" Bryan snapped. "He knows: stick to the buddy-system."

"His room," Enrique said, eyes widening in realisation. "That thing Black Dranzer wanted…"

"He's gone to see if it's safe," Ray said, eyes widening in realisation.

"We need to get to him," Lee said, already going out of the library. "Who knows what could be waiting for him?"

…..

Oliver slipped out without anyone noticing. As soon as Johnny mentioned an item, his mind drifted to the item in his room, and he felt himself fill with dread. The truth was, he had an idea about what the item does, and he didn't want to take the chance.

He hurried to his room, praying that he didn't encounter anything on the way. His stomach was still sore, and he didn't need any more injuries.

Once he entered the room, he froze.

Waiting for him was not one, but two shadowy creatures. Two unfamiliar creatures. When they saw him, he felt them smile.

'Oliver Polanski?' one of them whispered. 'A pleasure to meet you. We have some business to discuss.'