You didn't have to wait so long for the next upload this time. :D

Thank all of you for your kind words on my last chapter! I'm really glad you like my story in general. And thank you for the positive critics as well! :) 3

Before you start reading, I'd like to explain two things in this chapter. (I prefer explaining it at the start, not the end, you don't have to scrolling down in this case in order to understand the situation.)

*Vladimir Gregorovitch - This is Volkov (=Boris in the Canadian version). Some of you already may know that Russians have patronymics, and the most respective compellation in Russia is calling the person on her/his first name + her/his father's name. Of course, Volkov's father's name is unknown, so Gregorovitch is only my imagination.

**talantlivij - means talent in Russian. Tala's name always bothered me - seriously, what was wrong with Yuriy? It's a beautiful Russian male name! So I wanted to find an explanation why he's called Tala instead of Yuriy.

Furthermore, friendly reminder:

Tala = Yuriy/Tala

Bryan = Boris

Spencer = Sergei

Boris = Vladimir Gregorovitch Volkov

Have fun! ^^

Chapter 9

"Don't panic! We'll figure out something." Tyson patted Kenny's back, walking back to their room.

His Dragoon was demolished and this made him insecure like a child without his beloved toy, so he hid his distress behind a wall in his mind and focused instead on to comfort Kenny. Otherwise, he would scream in desperation, as well.

"Don't panic? Don't panic?! Your beyblade has just been destroyed, I have to build an entirely new one because we beybattled with the only person Kai told to avoid!" Kenny's hysterical voice filled the tight passageways.

"Did he tell us not to fight her? When?" Tyson asked innocently and Kenny made a lion cub roar.

"TYSON!"

"Okay, I was just kidding, forget it!" Tyson backed then he saw how nervous his friend was. "At least, was it worth it? Did you collect enough data to do something with them?"

Tyson frowned because he didn't get the reaction from his friend what he had expected. Kenny had a sigh of relief and smiled at him.

"Loads of it!"

"That's great, Chief..." Tyson wanted to continue but Kenny quickly added.

"The only problem is we have more questions than answers now."

"Ah, for fuck's sake, Kenny! Was it worth it or not? Decide it because I don't want Dragoon to be destroyed for nothing!" Tyson sighed just as irritated like Kenny. "C'mon, let's tell it to the team."

"NO!" Kenny cried suddenly and Tyson jumped in his surprise.

"What?!" Tyson asked on the same volume.

"We can't tell the others! Think about it, Kai would kill us if he heard we battled with that girl, giving Dranzer her without his permission." Kenny explained, terrified. "No. We pretend like nothing happened, for now. When I rebuilt your Dragoon and the times has come to face with the Blitzkriegs or when the time has come, we tell them. Until then we have to keep this to ourselves. I need time to analyze this big amount of data. "

Tyson was not happy. He hated secrets but keeping them hated more.

"But, Chief… How did you think we can hide that Dragoon is melted like ice-cream under the hot sun?" Tyson suddenly freezed and looked into the distance. "Shit! I've just realized I won't be able to play on the first matches… Argh, fuck!" In his frustration, he ripped off his hat from his head with a furious move and threw it on the floor. "I can't believe it! First, I couldn't participate in the preliminaries because of the new rules, now I can't because I screwed up and let that stupid girl beat me!"

"Tyson, it's al—" Kenny tried to calm his friend but Tyson interrupted.

"I'm a third time champion, Chief. How is that a girl with no name can defeat me with one of my best friends' beyblade? Explain it!"

Kenny stood in embarrassing silence because he really did not have an answer for that.

"I can explain it after I analyzed the data. I'll find the answer, I promise. And I will rebuild Dragoon faster than Dranzer because I already have the necessary parts. I just need a little time."

Tyson exhaled, letting go his stress. "What would I do without you, Chief?"

"I don't know." Kenny chuckled, adjusting his glasses on his head. "Making more trouble, I guess?"

"Not fair!" Tyson denied. "It is your trouble this time! You made the deal with Alexa."

Kenny grew small. "Yeah…" He said in a low voice. "Just don't tell it Kai."

"Chief, why are you so frightened of him? I know Mr. Sourpuss often seems to be heartless but he's your friend. He never would let you down. Nor I. We are a team," Tyson winked at the little genius but Kenny wasn't cheered up.

"I doubt that…"

They finally reached the door of Kenny's and Hilary's room but before they could step in, Tyson stopped him.

"Wait… What do you mean by that?"

Again, this feeling. This twisted, uncomfortable little animal in his stomach digging deeper and deeper in his inside every time when he starts questioning the friendship among his teammates. Since when they had problems? Do they even dislike each other? Is it because of him, and only Tyson? In order to make him smile, their friends suppress their revulsion for each other and play an act they're buddies?

Tyson shook his head. What is he doing? Not believing in his friends, what's going on with him? He looked at Kenny, still waiting for his reply.

But he didn't respond, instead, gently pushing away Tyson he entered the room. If he had luck, Hilary was already back and Tyson forgets this topic.

"Hey, guys! Where were you?"

Kenny looked at the heavenly cellar and murmured a hallelujah.

"We tried out the new Dranzer." He replied quickly.

"Really? Kai will be happy. I mean… as happy as he can. Which means probably just a 'hm' with a short node. How was it going?" She smiled at them. She seemed to be in a good mood. Tyson and Kenny glanced at each other.

"It went great." Tyson said laconically, then immediately asked. "Where have you been all this time?"

"I got a swim in the hotel's pool as I told you before I left. It was amazing, you have to try it!"

"Next time, thanks. I go and see Max." Tyson said and immediately headed to the door. Kenny spun around and looked at Tyson, alerted. The champion showed his thumb up, ensuring that he won't say a word.

Tyson needed to be out, getting away from this stuffed room. He said to go see Max, and originally, it was his intention first but as he left Hilary and Kenny's room, changed his mind. He needed some air to think. Maybe he could call his brother, Hiro. When he had doubts and was in a bad mood, he just beybladed or talked with his friends. Now, Dragoon was unusable and his friends were busy.

Truth be told, not just busy, his friends behaved strangely. They were polite with each other but it was too unnatural. Tyson didn't know what the problem could be but he definitely felt that something was wrong. It seemed like everybody tried to hide and put aside their discontent for the sake of championship. He wished his brother would be there.

ooOoOoo

"I got enough sleep. Let's go to the beach and rip a bit." Boris groaned, walking into Sergei's room in late afternoon.

The boys got a set of rooms. A cozy bedroom with a well-found bathroom for each of them, and a living room where they could hold the teammeeting, to discuss their strategies. Alexa had her own smaller room only with a bathroom on the corridor's other side. The girls and boys were separated in every team, but the attendants were not concerned in this rule.

Tala strongly recommended his team sleep through the afternoon after the tiring training. Eventually, they must get used to the nightlife, since the matches were going to hold at night, as well. It is easier said than done, though. They could catch only four or five hours of sleep, then Boris woke up and got bored quite soon. So he tried to convince Sergei to have some fun.

The big Russian guy just shrugged his shoulders and gestured a 'why not'.

"Cool," Boris rejoiced, "I gotta take a leak, wait for me in the hall."

Sergei obeyed without a word. Actually, he just woke up but suddenly didn't feel sleepy anymore. Sleeping and waking up was never a problem for him. But the temperature…

'This damn heat.'

And the jetlag didn't help either. Beyblading was a good idea, maybe he would forget about the hot weather. He missed the wild Russian cold, the Russian winter. It was tough but that made you feel alive. Just like the pain. Pain was a good thing if you didn't let it overwhelm on yourself.

Sergei quickly got dressed and exited into the corridor, heading to the hall on the floor. When the elevator's door opened, he found himself in front of Alexa. He didn't say hello, just smiled to her. For Russians, it was rude saying hello more than once a day. It implicated you forgot your speaking partner's face.

She noted him with a nod. No smile, although he would have liked if she had. But they were taught not to smile a lot, because only fools smile without any reason, it makes you ridiculous. Of course, Sergei had his reason to smile, he was looking at a beautiful young blonde.

Okay… a beautiful young blonde with one eye. But still.

Alexa was walking away when he had an idea. She was their teammate, she might feel alone. Afterall, they weren't such a friendly, talkative companion, it must be hard to fit in.

"Sasha, do you want to go to the beach? We beyblade and take a walk at the sea."

Alexa turned and looked back with a weird expression.

"If you don't call me Sasha again, I'll go." Then joined Sergei in the elevator.

"Okay, I can promise that." Sergei agreed, however he didn't understand why she didn't like it. Sasha was a common nickname for the names of Alexander and Alexandra, while Alexa was actually a decently rare form.

As they reached the floor and stepped into the hall, Alexa automatically reached to the door.

"Wait! We meet Boris here." As Sergei said it, Boris appeared in the room. His eyes met with Alexa's who instantly rolled her own and turned away and left them without a word.

"You invited her, too?" He whispered angrily to Sergei.

"Yes. Problem? I thought it would be nice if we spent some time together to get acquainted with each other."

Boris found himself rolling his own eyes, too.

"Since when you're such a gentleman?" He grumbled then put his hands in his pocket and started to follow Alexa out of the building as if he hadn't had other choice.

Sergei sighed heavily. He was getting tired of being always the conciliator between his teammates. In the last year, it was Kai, now Alexa. He should put in his CV that he was highly experienced in babysitting and conflict management.

For a while, they were walking in a stubborn silence, Sergei in the middle, being the wall between Boris and Alexa. Then the Russian girl started a conversation with him.

"You have a whale bit-beast, right?"

"Seaborg, yes." Replied Sergei proudly.

"May I see it?" She asked and Boris raised his brows.

Sergei, not with pleasure, but gave his beyblade to Alexa. Teammate or not, he didn't know a lot about this girl and they had learnt in the Abbey not to trust in anyone.

"It's an attack type beyblade." She stated it immediately with a surprise as she took it in her hand.

"Wow, you are a genius." Boris remarked.

"Yeah, at least one of us is." She shot back then turned to Sergei before Boris would have a chance to respond. "Why did you build an attack type beyblade for a defensive bit-beast?"

Sergei frowned at her question.

"What?" That was all he could say.

"Seaborg originally is a defensive bit-beast because he's too huge to move with ease, and not incidentally, his skin is almost an unbreakable shield. In this beyblade, his advantages can't prevail. Who suggested you to use an attack type beyblade?"

"Volkov…" Sergei answered reluctantly, taking back Seaborg, a bit offended for getting such a scholastic feedback and not realizing these obvious facts by himself. As thinking of that, it was so evident and he always felt that his bit-best could do better but, because of the attack type beyblade Seaborg could never show him that. How didn't he think of that before? Seaborg was his bit-beast, he should know these things.

At Volkov's name Alexa grunted, telling her opinion about that man, and Boris curiously glanced at her. Volkov was the Blitzkrieg Boys' sensitive topic. All of them hated him with the fire of thousands suns and could never forgive him for what he had done in the Abbey. What was Alexa's reason to hate him?

"Good old Vladimir Gregorovitch* always thinks he understands everything. It was his obsession to turn every bit-beasts into offensive by simply building an attack type beyblade for them."

The two boys shared a look. Vladimir Gregorovitch? What was this compellation? No one called that man like that. He didn't deserve such respect. Futhermore, 'good old Vladimir Gregorovitch'?! They knew Alexa's words were sarcastic but 'Volkov' and 'good' didn't get on well in the same sentence.

"I never saw you in the Abbey. I never knew Volkov trained girls, too. In which part of the building did you live?" Sergei asked, trying to sound lightly.

Alexa's jaw tightened. "You mean where were we locked up?"

"How can you ask something like that so directly, Sergei?! She clearly doesn't want to talk about those years, neither do we! Leave the past where it belongs – in the past!" Boris spoke up, unreasonably angry.

"I'm sure you want to forget, Boris, but not everyone can." Alexa marked, not giving even a slide glance to him.

Although, Sergei found this conversation more than weird, he didn't say a thing and stopped asking questions, just kept walking towards the beach with the other two in awkward silence. He knew the past of Tala and Boris, he knew it was hard and they despised Volkov. As for Sergei, he didn't have such horrible days there. He actually spent less than three years in the Abbey, didn't grow up in bad conditions. They lived in the same Abbey but sometimes he felt like they had a different life.

The beach wasn't far from their hotel so they already could feel the soft touch of the sand as their feet sank into it. The sand was still too hot, however the wind from the sea somewhat cooled the air and playfully blew their hair into their face. Soon, they also could taste the salt on their lips.

"This is the perfect place to give rein to Seaborg." Alexa said kindly. She tried to ease the tension and Sergei was grateful for that.

The sun already set, giving place to the stars to bright. The lights of the city couldn't reach the beach so it was a bit dark but their eyes soon get used to it. Because of the moonlight, it looked like the stars fell into the water and decided to dance on it forever.

Sergei looked at Boris, calling him out for a match but the grey haired boy sat down in the sand and sulked under his nose. When Boris got offended it was hard to drag him out of his mood.

Sergei turned to Alexa who was watching the horizon above the sea. "Do you want to battle? A friendly one."

Alexa looked at Sergei like she was waiting for nothing else but this question.

"Hell, yeah!" Her launcher was already in her hand, pointing at Sergei.

A long battle followed. Alexa gave Sergei some unasked tips and advises how to fight with Seaborg. Sergei's pride was hurt at first, but soon he realized the blonde actually had good ideas.

It was really hard to switch from offensive to defensive style in a blink, and there were moments when he lost the control above the huge whale, splashing lots of water into their face as a result. Fortunately, Alexa didn't get angry, she even laughed with him. Sergei hadn't had this much fun for ages. Furthermore, thanks to switching the beyblading style, his skills highly improved in a few hours. He didn't admit it to Alexa but the girl was right, and despite of his pleasure for the improvement, her competence made him uneasy. Afterall, she gave him the most useful advise in a minute after giving a short look on Seaborg. Maybe Tala decided well when he chose Alexa instead of Kai in the team but wondered how many things she could know. Smart women were dangerous – so they say.

Sergei suddenly remembered Boris was also with them, and looked back to challenge him for a fight but he found the spot where his friend sat empty. He wondered when Boris left and felt a little ashamed for ignoring him. Blitzkrieg boys were his only friends (if he could call them friends), he didn't have anyone else. Sure, he got a family but they abandoned them in the Abbey, and he could not forgive them no matter how hard he tried.

Sergei didn't know how much time went by while they were beybattling, he just felt the exhaustion on his shoulders.

"I think we should go back now," Sergei suggested and Alexa yawned in agreement.

"Good idea. Enough beyblade for the day."

"Did you see Boris?" Sergei looked around once again on the beach.

"He left like an hour ago."

Sergei was sure Boris got offended for having so much fun with Alexa. It looked like he was fond of her, he just wasn't the guy to express his own emotion so easily. Actually, none of them from Blitzkrieg Boys was like that. On the other hand, Boris was a big boy, if he wanted something he simply took it. Besides, Sergei and Alexa just enjoyed themselves, they didn't flirt with each other. Why should he feel guilty?

"How do you know so many things about the bit-beasts and the beyblade mechanics?" Sergei wondered as they silently walked back to the hotel.

Alexa shrugged her shoulder. "I read a lot of this topic."

Sergei wasn't certain she gave an honest answer. He also wanted to ask about her bit-beast because she obviously had one but didn't want to force it. He asked enough uncomfortable questions for the day. They didn't know each other well, and didn't want to make the situation awkward.

"May I ask something, Sergei?" Alexa suddenly asked, breaking the silence.

Sergei straightened his back, ready to answer to any question. He wanted to build a good friendship with her, she seemed so nice when they were alone.

"Why do you call Yuriy as 'Tala'?"

Sergei almost laughed. He had expected a more serious question.

"Well. Tala is a really good beyblader. So good he had his reputation in the Abbey. Volkov always referred to him just as 'talantlivij'**."

"Ah!" Alexa's face lighted up, "Yes, I heard of 'the talantlivij boy'!"

"That's where the name Tala comes from." Sergei explained and then they didn't stop talking until they arrived to the hotel hall.

There, Alexa excused herself and retired to her room while Sergei headed to the dining room to get some food.

As Alexa stepped into her room, she had the urge to fall into her bed and sleep through a whole day but she had to resist. She took out from her nightstand a book and started to write down her day. Reviewing the conversations with her own team, she knew they were going to have more fights with Boris.

A/N: I'm curious what you think. This chapter might be a bit slow but it was necessary to build the tension step by step in the following chapters. :P I don't know how much you like or hate the Blitzkrieg boys, especially Sergei in this chapter's case, but I hope it didn't make you bored. Sergei's not a popular character afterall, I definitely like him, though.