Heart of Darkness

Heyo all once again! I'm trying to finish this story by Saturday, so all of you wonderful reviewers and readers will not have much longer to wait! Haha! This chappie will be a bit short, I'm sorry, but I decided to write 2 shortish chappies, or one mega-long chappie, so err… yeah! Sorry if you don't like my decision, but it also means you can leave me 2 reviews instead of 1! (cough… cough…) Now, on with the next chappie! Enjoy, and then leave a review!

Chappie 20

Over the next few days, Kai continued to train more and more with Rhea, hoping to get more answers, but Rhea seemed never to mention anything about their 'conversation,' do he decided not to press the matter further.

She's bound to be hurting, and I don't want to dig up old scars, heck, I know the pain that can bring. Rhea hasn't quite been herself since our talk, she seems slightly more distant, often very quiet. I've kept her 'secret' a secret, so she doesn't have to worry about that at least, but I know what's bothering her. It's the question that plagues my own thoughts… if I can just get a straight answer from her, everything will make sense, and everything will fall into place. It all depends on whether or not she decides to talk. Once she has this 'problem' off her mind, she'll be better, happier… I almost feel a desire to right the wrongs with her life… no… could I have greater feelings? More than friendship…?

Another argument between the brunette and the bluenette on the team broke Kai from his thoughts. Kenny was in between the two, desperately trying to calm them down, without much success. Max and Ray, on the other hand, knew all too well to stay out of any argument between Tyson and Hilary.

"How could you Tyson?" Hilary was yelling. She was waving around her very expensive pink fluffy bag she had bought in town the day before; it was now covered in mud.

"Hey, how was I supposed to know? I thought it was junk."

"Junk? JUNK? The only JUNK around here is that spinning top of yours!"

"Look, my bad, okay?" Tyson sniffed, mocking sadness. "It was the last obstacle we needed for the course, and-"

"Oh… TYSON!" She stormed off into the dojo.

"What was that all about, Tyson?" Rhea asked.

"Hilary." Tyson huffed, adjusting his cap.

"What did you do?" She asked again.

"It wasn't MY fault! How was I supposed to know she'd go ape on me! I didn't even do anything!"

"Well what did she think you did?" Max asked.

Tyson huffed again, and folded his arms. "Oh I don't know. I just put one of her bags on the ground as part of the obstacle course, and she goes ballistic! I tell ya… she's got a million of 'em…" Tyson muttered, examining his Dragoon Blade, the only distraction from the conversation about Hilary.

"Well the ground is kinda muddy…" Ray voiced.

"Pfft. Whatever." Tyson snorted, loading Dragoon into its launcher, and shooting it at the now-minus-one-obstacle course. The others laughed under their breath. The love-hate relationship between Tyson and Hilary was very entertaining.

Tyson flopped onto the wooden pathway at the back of the dojo, leaving Dragoon to spin where it was. "Aw, man! I can't take this!" He sighed loudly.

"Now what's wrong?" Kai asked.

"Just apologize to her." Ray said.

"Not Hilary! It's this reunion thing." Tyson laughed. "Mr. D said he'd let us know all the details, and we've heard nada from him."

"Just be patient. Mr. Dickenson will let us know very soon, I'm sure." Rhea said.

"Patience? Tyson? Don't make me laugh!" Kai smirked.

"Wow, we got 2 sentences from the old sourpuss!" Tyson laughed. "Good job, Rhea. You need to stay here, only way to get Kai to talk!"

Rhea blushed ever so slightly at the statement, before she amply turned her attention back to Kraken, who was in the middle of weaving through a line of tin cans.

Another distraction came in the form of an elderly man entering the back yard, who was preceded by a: "Yo, gang! Mr. D's here!" from Tyson's grandpa. The chairman was also followed by Hilary.

"Hey! Mr. D!" Tyson waved.

"Afternoon boys and girls, afternoon." The old man smiled.

"Any news?" Max asked, jumping up.

"It's going to be quite a success!" Mr. Dickenson said. "I've managed to get hold of the vast majority of beyblading teams, with young Oliver's help, of course."

"Where… is Oliver?" Ray asked, looking around.

"Oh, he had to return to France to speak to the rest of the Majestics team." Mr. Dickenson explained. "Now," he went on, "the reunion is going to be held in exactly one week, I've already outlined the details to your grandfather, Tyson."

"Alright! One week 'till my rematches!" Tyson punched the air.

"And me!" Max piped up. "I've got a few scores to settle as well."

"I think we all have." Ray agreed.

"Definitely." Kai nodded.

"Hehe, there may also be one or two small surprises…" Mr. Dickenson continued, brushing down his moustache as he spoke.

"What surprises?" Rhea asked.

"Well, well… you'll just have to wait and see…" He laughed. "Now kids, I've got to be off, I'll see you all later." With that, he showed himself out, leaving an excited atmosphere behind.

"Hear that? One week!" Tyson was yelling.

"Calm down, Tyson!" Hilary yelled back, which, of course, turned into another argument. However, not even the ear-splitting racket caused by the 'shouting-match' could quell the happy atmosphere and excitement of the team.

"Alright guys!" Kenny yelled, trying to get their attention. After several minutes of frantic waving, Tyson and Hilary finally calmed down. "Alright," the Chief began, "we'll do away with the obstacle courses for the most part, and concentrate more on actual battles, particularly one-sided matches, where you fight an uphill battle. This'll prepare us for the matches you'll be fighting at the reunion!"

The team all nodded in agreement.

"Right, then! Let's get to work!" Kenny smiled.

Later that night, Hilary and Rhea were in their room, discussing the reunion, and the possible beybladers that would be there.

"… but that's the thing, Hil, you know more bladers than me!" Rhea was saying.

"Not really. I only know the Saint Shields." Hilary disagreed. "Only four of them. I'm sure you've heard of most of the other bladers and the other teams. I mean, you play the sport."

"I dunno…" Rhea answered. "But I've never heard of the Saint Shields."

"Apparently they come from a remote village somewhere in the mountains. They're pretty secretive."

"I see."

"Well, obviously not now." Hilary thought. "Hehe, Max has a slight… fascination with one of them, though…" She giggled.

"He does?" Rhea asked.

"Uh-huh. The girl on their team. Name's Mariam."

"Oh!" Rhea smiled. "Well done Max!"

"Yeah, hehe. Well done you, too." Hilary said with a craft grin.

"Me?"

"Yup. You and Kai, eh?" Hilary giggled. "I've got eyes to see!"

"Me and… well, I…" Rhea stammered, going red.

"Come on, you can tell me!" Hilary winked.

"Why don't you tell me about Tyson, eh? I don't need to see you two, I can hear you!" Rhea asked with an equally mischievous smirk.

"Tyson?" It was Hilary's turn to go red. Both girls burst into fits of laughter, and added to the good mood.

Rhea's happy spirits, however, were soon broken early the next morning by her phone ringing. Rushing quickly into the bathroom and locking the door behind her, she answered it tentatively.

"Yes sir?" She asked quietly, for fear of waking the others. She could still hear Tyson's snores echoing down the hall, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

"Rhea." Came the cold voice. "How are you doing?"

The question was not about her health or her beyblading skills.

"I'm progressing steadily, sir." Rhea replied, forcing the tears that had welled in her eyes back.

"That's exactly what I wanted to hear from you, Rhea." He said. "Time is up. The plane leaves tomorrow. Can you achieve your goal by then?"

"… yes sir." She sighed dejectedly.

"Good, remember to bring Dranzer as the lure." The phone line went dead.

Rhea exhaled deeply, and put the phone in her pyjama pocket, before looking at her reflection in the mirror.

"It's now or never."

And that's that! Like I said, sorry for the shortishness of that chappie. I'm trying to get one update done everyday in order to finish it, so… err… yeah! Here are the replies to the people that have taken the time to review!

SweetMystery: Yup! I do love that 'why' question! All questions will be answered very soon, so you'll not have long to wait! More, more, more coming right up! Thanks for reviewing!

Soullesswinds: I'm glad you liked it, another new reviewer! Yay! I read the fic like you asked, it's very good! Can't wait for the update! Thanks for reviewing!

Storms-winter: Yup! Hehe, I'm glad you liked that bit; Kai's allowed to be embarrassed a little bit every now and then, eh? Hehe, thanks for reviewing!

HeartlessDevil: O.O You read my mind… Thanks for reviewing!

CrimsonSkye06: I'm sorry the link didn't work. Stupid site. If you wanna see it, just type in 'Chinese symbols' on google, and there should be several good links to it, it's how I found it. Thanks for reviewing!

brezzybrez: I'm glad you like it, thanks for the compliment! Next chappie should be up tomorrow!

i love athrun: Well, ahem, yes, thanks for reviewing! Next chappie up soon!

Kyogue: I'm glad you didn't expect it; I thought I made it a bit too obvious, particularly at the start of the fic, when you first meet her. I'm glad you like it, and keep reviewing!

Well, reviews done, thank you all so much for your support so far, I appreciate it, big time! Keep reviewing, and hopefully this fic'll be complete by the end of the week! Till next update!