They walked across the street to a small park where a few bey dishes were open. Alex chose one and walked up to it.
"Come on, Tyson, I don't have all day." She said, loosening her long blonde hair.
Kai helped Charlie to a bench and she sat down. He sat down next to her and watched as she breathed in deeply. She seemed to be in pain.
"Better?" he asked her.
She smiled weakly at him and tried to hide her pain from her face, from him.
"Much. Now that you're here." She said, looking at him.
She looked past Kai and saw Ray watching Alex getting ready.
"Hey, look at that. I think… he likes her." She said.
Kai looked back towards Ray and nodded.
"Yeah, I think so too." He said, turning right and looking at the two bladers.
"You should have seen how he was flirting with her on the chopper flight back. Who do you think will win?" he asked her.
"Alex, hands down." She said, reaching into her pocket.
"That reminds me…" she said, taking out her hand and handing Black Dranzer to him.
"No, you keep it." He said.
"Kai, she's yours. Take it." She said, prodding it at him.
He sighed and took it from her.
"Thanks." He said, stuffing it into his pocket.
"Oh, and look here." She said, taking out her blade and handing it to him.
He looked at the bit and saw a picture of a winged lion.
"What's this, your own bitbeast?" he asked, looking at her.
"Her name is Anukis. And yes, she's my bitbeast." She smiled, taking it back from him.
"As soon as I can, Alex is going to be teaching me. Maybe I can beat you yet." She said to him.
"Not likely." He smiled as Alex and Tyson launched.
Alex went on the attack right away, catching Tyson off guard. It took a big chunk out of his power. Alex smiled as his blade wobbled weakly.
"What was that about a challenge?" Alex shouted at him.
She smiled evilly at him.
"Hey, don't count me out yet." Tyson said attacking her.
"So have you heard anything from Boris?" Charlie asked Kai.
She saw the blood drain from his face, and then he went back to normal.
"No, nothing. I bet he's hiding in some hole somewhere." He said, taking his eyes off the bladers and looking at her.
He put his arm around her and pulled her closer.
"Why do you ask?" he asked.
She sighed and looked at Alex.
"Tala's here." She said, looking back at Kai.
"Here, in Paris, when?" he asked.
"This morning. He was waiting for me when I left the hospital. He asked for Black Dranzer, when I refused, he left." She said, looking as Alex was about to land the death blow to Tyson.
"I had no doubt they would come back. It was only a matter of time." He said, looking at Tyson struggling to keep spinning in an implosion of blue and green energy that bore down on Dragoon.
"Wow, she's good." He said looking at the strange attack.
"The best. That's Double Edge Implosion, her infamous attack." She smiled at her sister.
"I'm the best the abbey has ever trained. He'll come for me again. Until I get him what he wants, the world." He said, unflinchingly as Alex knocked Tyson out of the dish.
"Ah come on, best two out of three." Tyson shouted back.
"A glutton for punishment. Okay, you're on." She said, calling her blade back and they launched again.
"Boris said, that," she stopped and thought again about telling him about Voltaire.
"Said what?" Kai asked.
"No. I can't tell you. It'll hurt you too much." She said to him, looking up at him.
"It's about my grandfather, right?" he asked, not taking his eyes off the two bladers. She looked down.
"He said that Voltaire wanted you to help him take over the world for him, not Boris." She said to him.
Kai sighed, closed his eyes and was clearly embarrassed by his grandfather.
"My grandfather is a cruel man. I hope you never have the misfortune of meeting him. But I knew it all along. Voltaire wants to rule the world, not Boris." He said to her. She felt sorry for him and tried to make him feel better.
"Well, for all the crap he put you through, you turned out perfect." She smiled up at him.
He looked down and smiled back at her.
"Don't worry about Boris or Voltaire, as long as you're here. You'll be safe. The President has assigned a protection team to me and anyone with me. Boris won't get through them, I promise." She said, looking at Alex.
Alex loved blading. Then she caught Ray's face looking at her. He really did like her. She felt Kai's arm lift off her shoulders and he heard him moving away from her. She looked at him and frowned.
"Kai, what's wrong?" she asked him.
He said nothing, just watched the battle.
"Did I say something, do something that upset you?" she asked him.
He closed his eyes and sighed.
"No, you did nothing. It's me. I'm just… angry… at myself." He said, opening his eyes and watching the battle endlessly.
"Why?" she asked him.
"The last time this happened, I nearly killed me, I told you. And I promised myself I would never touch that blade again. But I did. Again." he said, hanging his head in shame more then tiredness.
She moved closer to him and took his arm and wrapped hers around it.
"Kai, you said it yourself. They would have killed me. You were just protecting me." She said, but nothing changed in his face.
"Kai, you saved my life." She said, trying to make him go easy on himself.
"So if want to be angry with someone, be angry at me, for not being stronger. For being… weak." She said, sitting back against the back of the bench.
"It doesn't matter how strong you are, or not. They would have killed you. Or let Tala have his way." He added.
She blushed and thought of telling him what had happened to her in those two weeks he didn't see her. But she thought better of it.
"No, it's my fault, for falling for you. They used you, hurt you, and if they never knew about you, I wouldn't have been so, vulnerable. I thought I knew myself, but obviously not." He said.
Her mind played on his words and then she looked at him.
"I made you… weak." She whispered to him.
He looked at her and smiled so sweetly, she felt all her anger for him saying that, disappear.
"I need to get away for a while." He said.
"From everyone and everything. To know what I really want from life" He said.
She smiled and looked at the battle. Tyson was faring slightly better now. But still not too good.
"I own a little apartment in Monaco. On the beach front. And a yacht, we can go sailing. We can get on the next plane." She smiled at the thought of having Kai all to herself in Monaco.
"I think…you misunderstood me. Everyone, including… you." He said.
She looked at him dumbfounded for a few seconds, then let go of his arm and moved away from him. She looked away and felt tears rolling down her cheeks. She hid her face from him. He would never see her cry again. She clenched her hand around her blade and she felt the cuts from earlier open up again.
"I should have known better to fall in love with… the lone wolf, the mysterious guy in the corner. The one no one can figure out." She said, wiping her tears away with the back of her hand.
"If you can't stay with me through a little problem like this, then how is this going to work when we run into serious problems?" She turned and looked at him.
He wasn't even looking at her.
"What we just went through, did it mean so little to you?" she asked him.
He looked ahead of him, not moving or even blinking. She felt the anger well up in her. She clenched her blade again and felt the blood spurt out of her hand. She also felt the tears rolling down her cheeks again. She sighed and tried to get up. He made to help her but she pushed him away forcefully.
"LEAVE ME ALONE." she shouted at him.
He looked at her and couldn't understand why she was so angry. He understood she had reason to be, but not this angry.
"IF YOU WANT TO GO, THEN JUST GO. WHY DID YOU EVEN COME BACK JUST TO LEAVE ME ALONE AGAIN." she shouted at as she stood up, stronger than ever.
"Charlie, I'm sorry…but…" Kai tried to apologize.
She stopped him by holding up her bloodied hand.
"You're bleeding." He said, looking at her hand.
"I know." She said, not even looking at her hand or the blood running down her arm. "Go, stay, it makes no difference to me. Have a nice life." She said, turning around and walking away from him.
She walked up the path and disappeared behind the bushes.
Alex saw that she was leaving and ended her match with Tyson with one blow. She caught her blade and walked up to Kai.
"What was that about?" she asked him, looking for her, but she was long gone.
"I kinda broke up with her." He said to her.
Kai saw her facial expression change. He saw her hand shaking and he saw her blade beginning to glow green. She stopped and took a deep breath and her blade stopped glowing.
"I'm sorry. You see, our bitbeasts are so powerful; it takes some time to learn to control our emotions when they have connected with us. I suspect that's what's happening to Charlie." She said, sitting down next to Kai.
She watched as Ray, Max, Kenny and Tyson all huddled together. Probably trying to figure out how to beat her next time round.
"Why did you guys break up?" she asked him.
"As long as Boris and Biovault exist, I will be their target. Their only target. And the only way they can get to me now, is by using the people I love. She's the only one…" he stopped.
It didn't matter now. She probably hated him and Alex would soon share those feelings. He sighed and leaned forward with his head in his hands.
"I told her that after Russia, I don't know myself anymore. And it's true. I was so… weak. I guess it's hard for her to understand. She's always known who she was." He said.
He also knew who he was supposed to be. The grandson of a very influential Russian crime boss. He was supposed to inherit Biovault one day, when his grandfather kicked the bucket. He smiled to himself. His grandfather dying made him smile. He was going to get Biovault, and when he did, he would make it right. Everything his father had fought for. Now he understood why he left him. This game was more than a game to him. His message of the true spirit of beyblading had to go on. He was far from Voltaire's perfect little soldier.
"Not really, we only found out a few years ago that we are royalty. Before then…" she stopped and sighed.
"It's hard to explain. Let's just say, she's been… let down many times. Her heart is so much softer than mine. She took the pain and locked it away. I used it in my blading. She had nothing and no one but me. And then you came along." She smiled at him. He looked up at her and sat back.
"That's why she's so hurt. I'm another person who hurt her." he said, feeling even worse now.
"And she didn't expect it… from you." She said, looking at her blade.
The steam was rolling over the blade edges. That last battle was a good one.
"So what does that mean, you know, for the future?" Alex said, looking at him.
"I need to get away from everyone and everything. I need to find out who I really am. I don't know for how long. I couldn't just leave her hanging." He said, looking as Tyson tried to explain what had happened in their match.
"Do they know?" Alex asked him.
He smiled and laughed.
"Yeah, they want me back within the next month. The first round for qualifying is coming up, and they want me there. But I'm thinking I'll skip this next season. They'll cope without me." He said, getting up and looking down at her.
"So, just how powerful is your bitbeast?" he asked her.
She smiled and leaned back onto the back of the bench.
"Did you see it, just now?" she asked him, looking at Tyson, tweaking his blade on the grass.
"No." he said, looking as Tyson was getting it wrong and had to be helped by Kenny.
"That's because I beat the world champion without even summoning her, so pretty powerful. He should never compete alone; he wouldn't make it very far." She said, looking at the bumbling fool on the grass.
She saw Ray walking up to her and she smiled at him. Kai saw this and was sure that she liked him too. She was just playing hard to get. He would tell Ray later on to stick it out.
"Care for a battle, Kai? Later on, just let my blade cool down." She asked Kai, looking up at him.
"No, not today, but I still wanna see you and her in action before I leave." he asked as Ray stopped in front of her.
"Hey Alex, Tyson slipped up a few times, wanna blade me? I won't slip up." he said, holding out his hand for her.
She took it and he helped her up. She walked past him, brushing her long blonde hair against his arm.
"Promise?" she smiled evilly at him.
She walked up to the dish and got ready.
"You coming or what?" she looked at Ray.
Ray blushed and was caught in a time lapse. He didn't even see Kai looking at him.
"Ray, are you blushing?" Kai said to him.
Ray snapped out of it and looked at him.
"No." he blushed harder, before walking off to battle her.
He got ready and on Kenny's signal, launched. Ray and her danced around each other for a while, not saying anything, not wanting to make first contact. She looked at him and blushed. He blushed right back. Finally a girl that could stand her ground against Ray, Kai thought to himself. Finally Alex broke the silence.
"I like you Ray, so I'll end this quickly." She said, lifting her hand into the air.
"Bellona, take care of this." She said.
A green light shot out of her bit and her bitbeast rose out. She filled the air in front of Alex and kept growing. Before long, she was above the tree line and all that was heard was Kenny's finger tips hitting the keys on his laptop.
"Kai, Ray, meet Bellona." Alex smiled at Ray.
The Snow Leopard looked at Ray's beyblade, as if luring Driger out. Driger shot out and looked at Bellona. They stared each other down for a while until, with one swift paw; Bellona knocked Driger out of the dish. He landed on the ground behind Ray, still spinning.
"Hey, that doesn't count." Ray said.
He looked at her and called Driger back to his hand.
"In this country, it does." She smiled at him, flipped her hair and walked away.
She walked up to Kai and smiled.
"So, what do you think?" she asked him.
He folded his arms and looked as Ray stared at her.
"Good, but I can take her." Kai said, folding his arms over his chest.
"In what dimension? Maybe you should enter the singles; I would very much like to defeat you, publicly. You know, for breaking my sisters' heart and all." She said punching him in the arm.
She looked around and thought better of challenging Kai to a match; she had more important things to attend to.
"Guys, I'm going to be leaving now. I need to find Charlie. See if she's ok." She said, walking off in the direction she walked off in.
