Ray was braiding his long hair. Normally Tala would come, wake him and do it for him, but this morning there was no sign of the fierce redhead. But after what Boris told him the previous day, Rei thought that maybe he was just briefing others. Or maybe Tala just wanted to give him some space. Either way, the wolf blader was not here the first thing in the morning.

Speaking of the previous day. When Rei thought about what happened, his stomach did somersaults. But he quickly shook his head to clear his mind.

Just as he was finishing the long braid, someone knocked on the door.

"Come in," he said soflty.

The door opened, revealing Ian.

"Hey…" Ian said, "We are going for breakfast. Boris wants everyone ready."

Rei nodded and stood up. When he got to the shared room, there was Boris reading some documents and two bodyguards. But no Tala or Spencer in sight.

"Where are others?" he asked confusedly.

Ian opened his mouth to answer when a voice interrupted him, "Right here…"

Both bladers turned to the speaker and saw Tala heavily leaning onto Spencer. The redhead was even paler then normally and he was putting all his weight on his left leg.

"What...?" Rei started.

"I fell down stairs," Tala said through teeth and looked away.

It was obviously a lie and Rei was opening his mouth to call him on it, but then he looked at Boris and closed his mouth again. If Tala didn't want to tell the truth, then he wouldn't pry. Not with all those listening ears.

Boris stood up from his documents and looked at them.

"Well then, we shall go to the dinning hall," he said as if nothing unusual was going on, "We do want you to have strength for your battles. Rei, dear, if you could walk beside me, that would be wonderful, because it would be horrible if you got lost in this maze of a hotel."

Rei nodded and walked to Boris, his long hair swishing behind him like a tail. Others were walking behind them, with Tala in the middle and Spencer and Ian at his sides. The group was followed by two bodyguards.

After breakfast they pilled in the car that was always driving them around. Boris was giving them some last minute instructions, but Rei tuned him out.

He was currently looking out of the window. He was trying to ignore the dull ache pooling in the back of his head. He was already used to it. But then hot white ache blinded him and he had to bite his lower lip to stifle a groan, while lowering his head so the bangs were hiding his head.

However this didn't go unnoticed by Tala sitting beside him.

"Rei, are you okay?" he asked concerned, reaching for the Chinese boy's shoulder.

"Don't touch me…" murmured Rei.

Tala ignored him and tried to lift Rei's head to see his face, only to have his hand slapped away.

"I said, don't touch me, you filthy dog!" Rei growled, as he looked at the redhead with eyes full of disgust.

Tala was looking at his friend in stunned silence.

"Now now boys," Boris smirked, "I know you are stressed, but after today you will be World Champions, so don't worry. As soon as we arrive I will inform the higher ups, that your dear Captain sprained his angle and Raymond will take his place."

Tala gritted his teeth but didn't say anything.

Boris turned to Spencer, "Oh and Spencer, for this battle you are stand-in captain."

Spencer slowly nodded.

Soon they arrived at the BeyStadium. Their bodyguards opened the door and Black Sharks pilled out of the car, only to be almost mobbed by fans and journalists. At this moment they were really glad, that Boris was so strict, that he immediately ordered those bodyguards to keep everyone away.

Black Sharks walked into the building. They already knew where the changing room was, so they headed straight there.

Boris left them there with their guards, while he went to the officials to announce his players switching.

There was a silence in the room, until Tala couldn't take it anymore. He didn't care if Boris shot him again for disobedience, but he had to convince Rei to lose deliberately.

"Rei-Rei," Tala started, but Rei glared at him with such hatred that the redhead's mouth ran dry.

"Do not talk to me," the cat like boy hissed and stomped away.

Tala's knees buckled under him and he would have ended up on the floor, if Spencer didn't catch mi.

"What the hell was that?" the blonde asked.

"I'm afraid that that we are losing our Rei," Tala sighed.

Soon Boris was back and ushered Tala with him to audience seats. He said that it was so Tala could have a little break and enjoy the battle from better angle, but he knew, that it was so Boris could deal with him immediately in case something went badly. The gun jabbing to his side was clear evidence of that.

Ian and Spencer were checking their blades one last time.

Then Spencer leaned to the smaller boy, "We will win this right?"

"We have to," Ian agreed, "I mean… we can't have Rei to use that… thing."

Meanwhile Rei was sitting on the bench in cockpit on their side of the arena. He was looking disinterested, until he suddenly smirked and looked around.

'They are here,' flashed in his mind, 'All three of them…'

He looked around, until he found two of the sources of the feeling.

"And the oldest is…" he murmured and shot a glance at the other side of the arena, before quickly looking away.

'I will show them… We will show them," echoed his head, 'They should never had stood up to me…'

DJ Jazzman walked to his small podium.

"Hello everyone," he started cheerfully, "It's finally time for the matches that are awaited by all of you. Blade Breakers vs Black Sharks!"

There was a excited roar in the arena, at which DJ smirked. He just loved to entertain the beyblade fans.

"I just want to announce one change… Black Shark's Tala Ivanov pulled out of the competition due to accident and his is replaced by the final member of the team, Raymond Wong," he.

The audience broke into confused whispers, but Jazzman didn't give them much time for gave players signal and announced: "And now first match of this round: Ian Pappov vs Bryan Kuznetsov!"

Okay, so I don't how it happened… but I had to write this three times. I literally had to start over and over, because somehow I managed to lose digital document. And I didn't erased it. It just poofed out of existence.

So I was writing this all like: "Keep doing, watch what you push, gotta get this done, before it vanishes..." And I am still hoping this turned out enough okay for you not to beat me…