A/N: And yet another instalment in the series! I do believe I'm on a roll here! Once again, your feedback would be so welcome, and especially on this one and the next, I'd REALLY appreciate you letting me know what your favourite part(s) are! Without further adieu, on with the long-awaited update!

Disclaimer: I own my OCs and this story... and thats about it.


For the first time that night, the silence between them was a comfortable one. When Demetra finally thought of something she felt was worth disturbing the peace for, she opened her mouth to voice it, only she didn't get the chance.

"Eh! Eh, Tala! Over here, you wild dog!"

Once again, the pair were stopped by someone calling to them, this time apparently someone familiar. When Demetra looked up at the redhead beside her, there was a look of recognition on his face, accompanied by a rare ghost of a friendly smile.

"Yulian!" Tala called back in greeting. "You're not back again? Talk about a sucker for punishment."

Thinking he'd forgotten about her during the exchange, which was fine with her because truth be told she was enjoying watching the two, Demetra was a little surprised again when Tala tipped his face slightly towards her.

"Come on, you'll enjoy this." He said to her softly.

Once again to her shock, Demetra felt his hand at the small of her back, followed by a little pressure in the area. Swallowing against her suddenly dry throat, she didnt comment, but she did decide to comply with her companion's request, and moved forward to let him lead her towards the person he'd been talking to.

"Ah-haha! This time I've got you, my friend!" Yulian said with a wide grin as Tala and Demetra approached him. When they were within a few feet of him, he came out around his booth to greet Tala with an extended hand. "How are you, you terrifying little man?!"

The smile that had been fighting to be seen earlier finally broke out across Tala's face.

"I'm fine, rodnoy brat." He replied calmly. "What about you?"

Demetra's brow lifted a little at that. She still couldn't carry on any sort of conversation yet, but she'd inevitably picked up a few words and phrases since arriving in Russia, and that last one she recognized.

"He called him brother." Demetra observed thoughtfully. "They must be very close... I don't think I've ever heard him call any of the other Blitzkrieg Boys that; even though I know he sees them that way..."

The notion was intriguing to say the least.

"I wonder how they know each other..."

"Ah, I'd say damned miserable, but what's the use to complain?!" Demetra felt the tug of a smile as well when the big man suddenly broke out into a raucous laugh. "So who is your friend, Romeo? Or is she more than friend, eh?"

This time when the man reached out his elbow to nudge Tala's ribs playfully in a teasing manner, Demetra expected the redhead to flush and throw up his defences as usual. As a result she thought she couldn't have been more shocked when he replied calmly instead, but that was nothing to the shock she felt when she actually took in his words.

"This is Demetra Nakamura." Tala replied calmly and informatively, as if he'd been introducing her for years. "And she's just a friend."

It was funny, Demetra knew that in stories and movies, the heroine always died a little inside when her leading man said something like that to or about her, but right then, all Demetra felt was complete and utter shock and disbelief. The comment set a flurry of thoughts and emotions whirring in both her head and her heart. Then a certain thought struck her, and Demetra had to force herself not to make a face.

"Tala is not my leading man!" She thought defiantly Towards her inner self .

Luckily, saving her from the embarrassment of succumbing to her ludicrous thoughts, Demetra's attention shifted to Yulian as she realized he was talking to her.

"Nakamura, you say? Interesting..." He said thoughtfully, seeming serious for the first time. After observing her for a few moments he spoke again. "Net... With those looks, there's no way."

Before Demetra could question him on the curious statement, his previous playfulness quickly reappeared.

"Well then, Tala's not girlfriend-"

"That's not nearly as funny as you people seem to think it is..." Tala grumbled moodily under his breath.

Not hearing, or ignoring him, Yulian continued without missing a beat.

"-it's a pleasure too meet you! You must be a good woman to give this animal the time of day."

Tala chuckled, and Yulian's grin widened.

"So you think you've finally got something to challenge me, do you?" The redhead inserted, likely to change the subject.

Seemingly remembering what he'd called them over for in the first place, Yulian's face lit up as he lifted his hands to rub them together excitedly.

"Ah, yes!" He said with another face-splitting grin. "This time I've got you for sure!"

Demetra watched in amusement when the huge hulking man darted excitedly back around the booth. It was only then that she noticed his booth was full of targets.

"I'm pretty sure you said that last time." Tala replied cockily. Demetra noticed an over-the-top confident smirk overtake his face. "And it cost you a brand spanking new Scattershot Grip Launcher."

Yulian made a face as if he'd swallowed something foul.

"Da, don't remind me!" He said with disgust, turning his head to literally spit on the ground. Immediately after, his expression turned confident again. "But this time! This time I've got you!"

Tala crossed his arms, lifted his chin, and looked down his nose at the man who was nearly twice his height.

"Yea, we'll see." He said confidently as well. "Show me what you got."

Demetra watched in amusement as Yulian gestured again to the targets behind him, this time with a flourish.

"Behold, Yulian's masterpiece! I am a genius!" He declared, hamming it up a bit. "This time [TALAS NICK], you have to knock down all those moving targets in sixty seconds or less, and if you miss, you have to start over!"

Demetra considered thoughtfully as she listened. It would be tricky, and didn't leave much room for mistakes, but it wasn't undoable. Surely that couldn't be the entire object of the game? If so, she had to admit, she was more than a little underwhelmed for such a big build-up.

"Something tells me that's not all." Tala observed suspiciously, unknowingly agreeing with his companion, as he narrowed his eyes on the blonde. "I've done much more impressive things in much less time. Let's hear the rest."

Yulian laughed heartily - he sure seemed to do a lot of that.

"Ah-haha! Always the sharp one! Da, there is more." A glint shone in his eye as he spoke again. "This time you have to do all those things with a partner. And if your partner misses, you have to start over too."

Obviously expecting a very different reaction, Yulian looked a little disappointed when Tala chuckled cockily.

"Since you're obviously convinced tonight's the night, I guess everything comes down to my partner!" Tala said with a cocky grin. He then turned towards Demetra. "How about it, Princess? You wanna have the honour?"

Demetra smirked a moment later and lifted her chin.

"You mean do you the honour." She replied teasingly.

Yulian laughed again.

"I like this one!" He declared enthusiastically. "She's just what you need to keep you on your toes, my friend!"

Rubbing his hands together excitedly, Yulian grinned wide.

"OK! Here is how it will work! All those little targets will be backwards, and they will turn around at random. As soon as you hit one, another will turn, but if either of you miss, I will reset all the targets!" With a glint in his eye and a confident smirk on his face, Yulian eyed the two partners. "So, are you ready?"

"The question is, are you ready, Yu?" Tala replied teasingly. "Are you sure you're ready to let a complete stranger see me humiliate you with you own game?"

Yulian's grin widened more than ever.

"Make all your jokes, smart ass. We will see who the loser will be." He gestured to the front of the table. "You on this side, and you on that side."

Demetra and Tala both stepped up to the designated area, and the former looked to her left to see a sheet of blacked out plexiglass blocking her partner from view. Looking forward again, she noted the very realistic-looking rifle mounted to a tripod on the table. Sizing it up, she realized it was a type she recognized but had never had the opportunity to try.

"It's not the most challenging thing I've ever done." Demetra thought confidently, though admittedly a little nervous. "Tala's not the only one who's done this. Though I've never had to keep pace with a partner before... Especially not such a judgemental one."

Ideally, she would have liked to have had a little more time to size up the set up, or at least come up with some sort of a strategy. Unfortunately she didn't get the chance for either.

"Ready?" Yuilan asked with an extremely child-like grin.

Receiving an instant confirmation from Tala, left little time for Demetra to hesitate if she didn't want to look weak. So seemingly with no other choice, she hastily got into position and gave Yulian a nod as well.

"Great!" Yulian cheered enthusiastically. He then reached for a chunky and archaic looking switchboard, which was connected to a thick cord that lead off to who knew where. "OK. And... Go!"

Enthusiastically flipping a switch with a good measure of theatrics, Yulian stepped to the side, and instantly targets popped up on both sides. With a start, Demetra jerked her barrel towards a flicker in the corner of her eye and pulled the trigger. Sure enough, a target dropped. Before she had a chance to feel any sort of relief however, another target instantly flipped around just like Yulian had said, and Demetra jerked her rifle to the left just in time to hit it.

"This is humiliating!" She exclaimed inwardly. "What the hell is wrong with me?! I'm shooting like I've never held a gun in my life!"

Honestly, Yulian's set up wasn't really all that complicated; she'd done more complicated and impressive things before too; and if she'd been on her own, or even with virtually any other person on earth for that matter, Demetra knew she wouldn't have had a problem. What made it so bad was that her partner was Tala, and worst of all was the fact that she couldn't help but notice the little ping sounds nearly a full second ahead of her shot every time - the sound of Tala consistently hitting the mark faster than her. It was mostly this that Demetra was focusing on, and in her flurry of frustration from Yulian's game, overpowered by the urge to keep pace with Tala, combined to ensure her failure.

It didn't take long for Demetra to become overwhelmed, and soon enough, she missed her first target. The targets all reset, and she clenched her teeth when she heard a small sound of annoyance from Tala's side.

"Sorry..." Demetra muttered grudgingly, imagining Tala's face at having to start over.

"Don't worry about it." He muttered tersely in response.

Demetra frowned but said nothing else as she tried to focus on the game. Before long though, she was overwhelmed again, and eventually missed another target. Feeling her temperature rocket sharply from a combination of fury and mortification, Demetra cursed angrily under her breath when the targets reset yet again. She didnt know how many seconds they had left, but she knew there was no way they had enough time to finish now in any case.

Clenching her teeth and resisting a frustrated sigh, Demetra readied herself again nonetheless. She'd just shot another round and was ready for the next when to her surprise, she heard Tala's voice again.

"Stop, Yulian." He said firmly in a deadpan tone.

It was only then Demetra belatedly realized that she hadn't heard the ping of Tala's shot that time. Furrowing her brows, she frowned and straightened when she noted the targets stop moving.

"Hey Princess."

This time when she heard him speak, Demetra tensed.

"Yes, partner?" She asked through clenched teeth. She was fully prepared for his sharp tongue this time.

"Do you remember how you felt the first time you went paintballing with us?"

Caught off-guard, Demetra stared at the table in a sort of trance as memories from not so long ago assailed her. Of course she remembered; she remembered each and every moment from that night, particularly the ones that saw her oh so close to her extremely attractive redheaded partner.

"What does that have to do with anything?" She asked defensively. "That was completely different."

"Just answer the question." Tala said firmly.

Sighing quietly, Demetra looked off to the side.

"I remember..." She simply said softly.

"How about when you practice with your brother?" Tala asked without skipping a beat. "You remember what that feels like?"

"What do you mean?" She asked a little moodily.

"You told me you and your brother shoot together." Tala said matter-of-factly. "When you practice with him, how do you usually feel? Nervous, scared, stressed?"

Feeling her face heat at that, especially at the realization that Tala had obviously seen through her, Demetra made a face as she answered him.

"Of course not." She replied with furrowed brows, almost feeling offended. "It's... always positive feelings. What are you getting at?"

Ignoring her question, Tala continued.

"So what makes this any different?" He asked bluntly. "It's just you, me, and a complete stranger. I know you don't care what anybody thinks of you, and I know you couldn't care less what I think. So how about you start shooting like Demetra Nakamura, instead of like some humiliatingly pathetic amateur?"

Caught off guard again, all Demetra could do was stare at the black barrier in stunned silence as she tried in vain to imagine Tala's expression. Suddenly, her pulse was racing in her ears like the roll of a well-played snare drum, her throat was tight, and it felt like her heart had swelled to fill her entire chest.

At least she wasn't anxious over the game anymore.

Feeling too overwhelmed to verbally respond just yet, Demetra chewed her cheek to do her damndest to keep the stupid smile from spreading across her face.

The silence seemed to last for hours, but in reality couldn't have been more than a few minutes. Not unexpectedly, Tala broke that silence, and there was a smirk in his voice when he spoke again.

"Unless you're unnerved by my superior skills." He taunted teasingly. "In which case there's no hope for you."

To say Demetra was touched deeply would be an understatement. She knew what Tala was doing; he was offering her comfort in his own way, and trying to settle her nerves, and the thought made her heart ache.

"You're a damn good shot, Demetra..." He said quietly, making the brunette's breath hitch. "I know that... Just like I'm sure you know, that if you don't stop shooting like a rookie, and you make me break my prefect streak, I'll make sure everyone knows it, and I'll make sure you never live it down."

"He so rarely uses my name..." She thought, feeling a warm swelling sensation in her chest again.

For a few long moments Demetra stared at the table-top in a speechless daze as she mulled the redhead's words over in her head. Finally a small smile came to her face.

"You're just full of surprises tonight aren't you.." She thought towards her partner.

"You still there, Princess, or did you chicken out?" She heard Tala's voice teasing. "Like I said, if you're too overwhelmed by my obvious superiority, I completely understand."

The small smile on Demetra's face widened into an amused smirk. Bending and getting into position again, she closed her eyes, took a long, deep breath. When she opened her eyes again there was a fierce expression on her face.

"Of course I'm still here." She replied teasingly herself. "I was just waiting for you to stop rambling so we can continue our winning streak."

There was an amused sound from the other side of the glass and Demetra felt her expression soften, though the smile remained.

"Alright, it sounds like you are really ready this time!" Yulian exclaimed enthusiastically. "I will not count that last round, it was just warm up. But this one is for, eh... all the marbles as they say!"

Lifting the chunky switchboard again, Yulian looked at them both with a huge grin.

"OK! Ready! Set! Go!"

The first target swivelled, and Demetra had knocked it down almost before it had completed its turn. A small grin came to her face when she realized Tala's shot had been simultaneous with hers. Another shot, perfect unison again. And so went the rest of them game; both partners in perfect unison, making perfect shots, every single time.

Finally, the last targets fell, and Yulian blinked at it all for a second, before dropping his switchboard to produce a tiny target about the size of a large coin. With two hands he comically held it over his head with a matching child-like grin.

"BONUS!" He yelled.

A split second later, what sounded like one shot was heard before a hole appeared in the target. Lowering the target to see it mostly destroyed, Yulian stared at it, then looked down to the ground to see two shots laying there. Lifting his free hand, he placed his thumb and forefinger on his chin.

"Hmm... Impressive..." He muttered under his breath.

For a long time, the blonde was silent and unmoving, until finally Yulian threw his arms up theatrically and gave the target in his hand a toss.

"Bah!" He exclaimed with a sour face. "Kids these days! Don't you have anything better to do than play with guns!"

Suddenly he whirled around and narrowed his eyes on Demetra.

"I know you!" He boomed loudly, lifting a finger to shake at her. "I know you!"

Demetra stared at the man in bewilderment as he approached her and leaned in close, poking his finger in her face.

"I know you!" He said one last time. After giving her the stink eye, he spoke again. "You are Breal's baby sister aren't you?!"

Demetra blinked at him in stunned surprise for a moment, but after a few, an annoyed expression creased her face.

"I'm his younger sister, yes." She replied icily.

"I knew it!" Yulian exclaimed, leaning back in triumph; seemingly completely unbothered by Demetra's frost. "Should have listened to my gut after all!"

Another grin bloomed across his face then.

"You look nothing like him, so I thought there was so way you were his kid sister." The huge grin widened. "Then again, your brother is a handsome animal himself. For a pretty boy!"

That comment amused Demetra, and as such she lifted a brow at him.

"I'm sure he'd be thrilled to hear that." She replied cooly with a teasing smirk. "Particularly the latter part."

Laughing again, Yulian straightened and waved his hand playfully.

"Net, that is not necessary!" He said with another wide grin. "Your brother is a good man. I am also a good man, and a good man can admit that Breal Nakamura terrifies the crap out of me!"

Again his comment amused Demetra, especially when she made note of the mans hulking size. Yulian was Breal's opposite in every way; huge and hulky versus tall and lean, booming yet harmless as a kitten versus soft spoken yet tongue sharper than steel, peaches and cream blonde versus fair and dark. Even if Yulian was only teasing, she could tell he respected her brother, and the thought made a swell of pride for her sibling rise inside her.

"To prove my loyalty to you both, I will offer you, little Mitri, the best I have to offer, this one time only!"

Like a slap in the face, Demetra inhaled sharply, as she was suddenly struck with an intense sense of familiarity. In her minds eye, a fuzzy memory was fighting to surface, but it was just too foggy and too far back to be able to resurrect it.

While she was fighting with her own consciousness, Yulian gestured to Tala over his shoulder as he waved his hand before Demetra's face a few times.

"You can pick whatever you want too, my friend." He said absently. One hand went to his chin, the other reached up to snap his fingers in front of Demetra a few times.

While Tala had just decided on his prize and was moving to go collect it, Demetra finally blinked a few times and came out of her trance. Her eyes focused on Yulian, and when he realized she'd rejoined them, his huge grin returned.

"Ah, there she is!" He teased. "Come now, little sister, choose your prize."

Her brows furrowing, she eyed him for a moment, itching to question him. But something told her it wasnt the time, so she decided to let it be for the moment.

Wordlessly, Demetra moved past him and looked around at the collection of objects; everything from toys, to electronics, collectables and games and so much more. She could definitely see the appeal, but in all honestly there wasnt really much that interested her, or that screamed the name of one of her friends. She was just about to tell Yulian to give the prize to the next kid that came along, when something in her peripherals snagged her gaze.

Turning to look at the object, Demetra's eyes immediately locked on a large stuffed animal. Normally she wasn't one for toys, and certainly not such pointless ones, but she found herself unable to look away from this one. It was a large white wolf with polar blue eyes that seemed so real it was astonishing. Although she knew how terribly cliche it was, Demetra couldnt help but gravitate towards the toy, and before she could think better of it, she had the oversized stuffed animal that reminded her annoyingly not just of Wolborg, but of its owner as well, in her hands and was pulling it towards her.

Knowing she wasnt going to talk herself out of it at this point, Demetra turned back towards Yulian to show him her choice, and when he saw what she'd chosen, he looked over her shoulder and laughed again, this time harder than before. Giving him an odd look, she turned around to face Tala, and when the two saw what the other had in their hands, both faces flushed scarlet and turned away from each other. As it happened, Tala had uncannily chosen, of all things, a large black wolf stuffed animal, with soulful amber eyes.

"First thing I saw..." He muttered under his breath.

"Sure." Yulian said simply with a knowing grin this time.

Demetra didnt bother to lie, but she wasnt going to admit to anything either, so she kept her mouth shut.

"Anyway! We've got better things to do than waste our time here all night!" Tala said suddenly. He sounded irritated, but Demetra knew him enough by now to know he was joking.

"Well go on then, Scrooge!" Yulian said playfully. "You two kiddies have fun now! And I hope to see you again, little sister!"

Demetra halted in her retreat at that and looked back to Yulian.

"Why do you call me that..?" She asked softly, curiously. "Little sister?"

At first, she'd just thought he'd said it in reference to being Breal's sister. But after thinking about the memory his words had caused to bubble up earlier, something else began to tug at her mind. Like that very moment; when she was suddenly reminded of the word he'd called her by, which had triggered the troublesome memory in the first place.

"And why did you call me Mitri, is that an affectionate dub or something?"

'This is it." She thought. "Depending on his reply, I should be able to tell if my suspicions are correct, or if I'm just loosing my mind."

"Er-hem... did I offend?" Yulian asked awkwardly, lifting a hand to scratch behind his head. "Everybody nowadays, so sensitive, so easy to offend..."

"Well I suppose that settles that." Demetra thought, admittedly feeling a pang of disappointment. "He seems genuinely oblivious; so I suppose that simply means I am losing my mind."

"Eh, I was only trying to be... friendly." Yulian said next, apparently confirming her latter thought. "And you are Breal's little sister, and he is a good friend, so..."

"It's alright." Demetra said, saving the man from the obviously awkward moment for him. "You dont have to say any more, I was just curious."

Shaking the annoying thoughts aside more easily now, Demetra gave the Russian man a polite expression.

"It was a pleasure to meet you, Yulian." She said politely. There was an odd look on the blonde's face when she said that, but he gave her another one-hundred watt smile nonetheless.

"Da, you too!" He said enthusiastically now, and to Demetra's mild surprise he held out his hand to her. After a slight hesitation she offered him a genuine smile and reached out to shake his hand. "Don't be a stranger, little sister! And say hello to your brother for me!"

"Yes, sir." She promised teasingly.

Demetra released the huge hand and stepped back to let Tala do the same. When the redhead had stepped back as well, she thought of something and looked at Yulian one last time.

"Before we go, I have... a strange request."

"Oh?" Yulian replied, intrigued. "What strange request?"

Demetra sighed wearily before replying.

"Would you mind taking a quick picture with me?" She asked, sounding a bit embarrassed for it. "It's my sister's birthday, the first one we haven't spent together, and she wanted me to celebrate for her with lots of photographic evidence."

Finishing sarcastically, Demetra made a face. She felt foolish for over-explaining, but she couldn't help it, it was compulsive.

Grinning widely, Yulian laughed before coming around the table to stand beside her.

"Of course I will take picture with you!" He boomed enthusiastically.

The blonde then threw his huge arm around her and yanked her tight to his side, indeed like one might a kid sister they'd always known.

Tala chuckled and uncrossed his arms to hold out his hand.

"Here, I'll take it." He offered with an amused grin.

Blinking a few times, stunned, Demetra eventually shook herself out of her stupor and reached for her phone. Accepting the offered device, Tala lifted it to take a few pictures, then handed it back to its owner. Yulian leaned over to look at it when it was in the brunette's hands again.

"Look at that handsome devil!" He said playfully, puffing out his chest. "Have you ever seen such a good looking guy in all your life!"

Unable to resist a smile, Demetra shook her head and replaced her cell back into her pocket.

"Thank you, Yulian." She said politely.

"Of course!" He replied cheerfully. "Who can blame you for wanting proof of this work of art?"

That made the pair laugh.

Finally, after saying their goodbyes, the partners left the booth behind and continued on their way.

It was astounding how easily conversation was coming to them that night. Demetra almost felt like she was in some sort of surreal dream-like state. It was hard to imagine that the guy next to her, whom normally couldnt stand to be in the same room with her, and was barely able to look at her most of the time, was being so very real and accommodating, and genuinely human, that she could scarcely believe he was the same person.

Suddenly however, the conversation between them died out as the pair's attention was drawn to a commotion nearby.

"That's not fair! You broke his blade on purpose so we couldn't compete!"

Demetra and Tala both came to a halt and stared at the small group with deep frowns. Standing nearby a gigantic fenced off area bursting with almost blinding bright and colourful flashing lights, was their new friend Natasha and a small teary-eyed boy, facing off against a collection of much bigger and older looking guys.

"Yea? That what you think, small fry?" A heavily built guy rumbled tauntingly. "Then why don't you prove it!"

"You know I can't!" Natasha yelled, her voice strained as if she was fighting tears herself. "But I know you did it!"

While the group squabbled back and forth, Demetra tipped her face slightly towards Tala, though her eyes didnt leave the group.

"What do you think they're talking about?" She asked him lowly. "Compete in what?"

Tala's expression was hard as he stared at the squabble, his eyes glued to them as well.

"Probably the Beystravaganza." He informed her with an edge to his voice. "Once a month, the village has a big beyblade competition; it's always something different, but it usually strays from the conventional one on one or even tag battles. There's strategy and a lot of extra skill. Pretty popular actually, most all the village usually comes out."

"You dont say." Demetra said smoothly. "Must be my lucky night."

After a moment or two, seemingly in thought, the corner of her lip curled up slightly.

"You know Tala, we're a fairly decent team when we want to be..." She almost purred. There was a mischievous glint in her eye when she finally tore her gaze away to look up at him. "Think you can stomach being my partner one more time?"

A sly grin took hold of Tala's face at that, and he too finally broke his gaze to look down at his companion.

"I've stomached worse." He replied teasingly. "I guess it really is your lucky night, Princess."

Demetra expelled a snort of amusement before turning forwards again, then followed at Tala's side as they approached the group.

"And what do we have here?" Tala said with an air of cocky confidence when they closed in on the group. "A bunch of cliche schoolyard punks, picking on the little guys? What's wrong, too cowardly to face someone your own size? Or was the problem that you couldn't find anyone as big and ugly as yourself?"

The group turned towards the two newcomers, and while Natasha and her partner's faces seemed to light up at the sight of them, the others weren't quite as welcoming. Demetra watched with interest as an assortment of expressions crossed their faces, the leader with the meanest look of all.

"Tala Ivanov." The biggest one spat in disgust, looking like he was facing something particularly vile and hated. "So the mutt finally returns to his old hunting grounds hey? Tell me, where's the rest of your flee bitten pack of mongrels?"

It seemed like Tala was completely unbothered by the comment, but Demetra had spent enough time observing the redhead, that she was able to see the fire in those bright blues.

"Tisk, tisk. Is that any way to speak to the national champion, Sergio?" He asked with a malicious sneer. "Didn't anyone teach you to respect your superiors?"

That comment seemed to infuriate the bully, and Demetra lifted an eyebrow to see his face turning scarlet with rage.

"You will never be my superior!" He snarled savagely. "Filthy sewer rat! I should have stomped you out all those years ago when I had the chance!"

Both Demetra's brows shot up this time, and her eyes darted towards the redhead in anticipation of his response.

"Don't make me laugh, (HIS LAST NAME)." He hissed dangerously. "You were no threat to me back then, and you're less than nothing to me now."

As if to prove his point, Tala took a step towards the bully.

"You've never scared me." He seethed viciously. "The only difference between then and now, is back then you might have stood half a chance against me if you put in a little effort. Now?"

He stepped forward again until he had completely invaded his opponents space. There was a look of supreme confidence and blatant arrogance in his smirk as he glared up at the bulkier figure with a malicious gleam in his eye.

"Now I'm so far ahead of you, you'll never so much as catch sight of the dust I kick up."

Sergio pulled himself up to his full height, which wasn't really all that considerable, and crossed his meaty arms, creating what might have been a threatening profile to anyone else; though to Tala's credit, he lifted his chin in a defiant response while his lips curled back in a snarl.

"The only reason you're so far ahead, is because Boris stupidly chose you instead of me!" Sergio snarled in response. "If he would have chosen me, I would have gotten him the glory he deserved! His downfall was his own fault; it's what he got for sending a cockroach to do a man's job!"

Demetra's face screwed up in a mix of emotions as she listened to the bully disrespect her companion. She knew Tala was a lot of things, and the guy absolutely drove her to the brink of insanity most days, but hearing this complete nobody verbally bash and disrespect him like that stirred something inside her. Perhaps it was the fact that she simply knew Tala didnt deserve the things being said to and about him, or perhaps she simply didnt like this disrespectful smart-mouthed punk, or maybe it was something else. But whatever it was, Demetra eventually had enough.

Jumping in before Tala could reply, Demetra took a step forwards and fixed a scathing look on the other brunette.

"As fun as it is listening to a complete nobody disrespect a seasoned professional..." She drawled with a searing edge to her voice. "We've got a competition to win, and you're rotten personality is stinking up my airspace."

Turning towards her, there was a glint of pride in Tala's eyes, and a mix of emotions on Sergio's. Demetra's face screwed up in disgust as he gave her a brazenly vulgar once-over.

"And who are you? You look too good to be this stray mutt's girlfriend."

"My name is Demetra Nakamura." She replied with narrowed eyes. "Not that knowing my name will do you any good."

Suddenly the bully's eyes lit up as a look of recognition took hold of his face.

"Ah, I know you!" He said with a wide grin. "You're the Finnish Captain from that American tournament!"

He placed a forefinger and thumb to his chin thoughtfully.

"I thought you couldn't get any better looking, but obviously I was wrong!" He said with a greasy grin. "Very nice!"

Demetra's face screwed up in disgust. Coming from anyone else it might have been considered a compliment, but with the way he said it, she couldnt help think it sounded like he was talking about livestock.

"What's a beautiful woman like you, doing with gutter trash like him, eh?"

Demetra eyed him with a cold expression for a moment, until finally she smirked, seemingly genuinely amused.

"Now I understand." She said, closing her eyes for a moment. "Suddenly it makes sense why you're picking on kids. It's because your underdeveloped brains can't handle anything more complicated then that."

The bully growled angrily at that and began to protest, but Demetra's eyes shot open for an icy glare.

"I'm not finished." She said with a steely expression now. "Tell me, what makes you think you have the right to insult someone so very obviously better than you?"

Demetra stepped closer, looking up at the barely taller guy with a look of extreme disdain.

"Look at you. You must think you're really something don't you? I bet you get off on scaring little children. And I bet Tala's right; I bet you are too scared to face someone your own size."

With a well-executed glare, the lackeys either-side of their boss yelped and scurried back several feet.

"Tell me, what have you done with your life, besides terrorizing little children?" Demetra asked scathingly. She then began to slowly and methodically circle the pumped up big boy like a wolf circling a cornered rabbit. "Been the top of your class? Gathered a wealth of valuable skills and knowledge to yourself? Have a job the local police would approve of? Volunteered somewhere perhaps?"

Leaning up, she hissed venomously in his ear.

"How about become National champion for something?... Or maybe runner-up for the world championship?"

When she'd come full-circle again, Demetra stopped and crossed her arms, lifted her chin, and gave the bully a look that very clearly expressed how little she thought of him.

"If you didn't answer all of these questions with a yes, then you have zero business running your filthy mouth about a name you're not even worthy to utter. You asked why I hang out with Tala?" She stated icily, her voice was low and threatening and laced with all the proof that she did not like him one little bit. "It's because I like to be in the company of powerful men. Men who can handle a woman like me... Men who can keep up with a woman like me."

Her expression darkened then.

"And it upsets me when nobodies like you, think you can talk to your betters the way you do." Demetra leaned up into the guys face then. "If you think you have nothing to fear then keep this in mind; in this relationship, Tala's the Golden Retriever, I'm the Rottweiler."

Giving one last cold look, Demetra turned and walked back to Tala, and when she reached him she stopped and looked over her shoulder.

"See you from inside the winners circle, nobody."

Hooking her arm through her partner's, Demetra was pleased when Tala turned with her to walk away; admittedly she'd been a little concerned he'd be upset with her for bruising his manhood by defending him. Once they'd departed a good distance from the gang and were well out of earshot, Tala gave Demetra's arm an almost affectionate squeeze with his own.

"Hey.." He said softly. When Demetra looked at him, he gave her a small, super rare, genuine smile. "..Thanks."

Felling her heart swell in her chest, Demetra's expression softened.

"What are partners for, right?" She teased back softly as well. Tala's expression brightened, and his smile lit up his eyes this time; a sight Demetra had never seen before and one that made her heart just about melt.

"Glad you're on my side, Princess." He replied playfully.

It was just then, as they drew near the front entrance of the building, that Natasha and her partner were waiting for them with wide grins.

"You're going to compete tonight?!' The tiny blonde girl exclaimed excitedly.

"We are." Demetra replied kindly. Natasha's grin lit up her whole face.

"Yay!" Both her and her partner cheered. They then punched and kicked the air, before striking a hero pose. "Kick those bully's butts! Hiya!"

Cracking an amused grin, Demetra winked at the little pair.

"We plan to." She said conspiratorially, making the children cheer again.

"We will be rooting for you!" They cheered.

"And we'll win for you." Demetra replied confidently.

-;-

Immediately upon entering the massive building, Demetra's eyes were assaulted with a barrage of sights and sounds. As Tala led her into the heart of the bustle, her gaze scanned the area trying to take in as much as possible.

"This place is a lot bigger than it looks from the outside." She commented aloud.

Tala chuckled.

"You have no idea." He said in amusement. "This building has three levels; the one we're on, and an upper and lower floor. The Facility is the biggest building in the village, this one is the second."

"Really?" Demetra asked with interest. "I understand the Facility, but why does such a small village need such a big building?"

Seeing as she seemed genuinely interested, Tala explained and described the layout for her. The top floor was mostly for formal celebrations and meetings; weddings, parties, and the sort. The mid-level was obviously the main level, and it was where the actual stadium was, while the lower level was a miscellaneous assortment of mostly storage, and where athletes or performers usually setup, among other various things.

The building itself was a massive rectangle shape; the stadium was oval and placed smack-dab in the center of the mid-level, while the other necessary rooms and locations were spread out around it.

"To answer your question earlier," Tala supplied finally. "The building is as big as it is, because it basically serves as the place for virtually anything and everything that happens here; any events, any meetings, anything where there's a significant gathering of people. I guess you can say it's the community centre."

"It seems surprisingly high-tech." Demetra said observantly, admittedly greatly impressed. "Again, I wans't really surprised the Facility was so advanced, but I'm a little surprised this building is as well, especially since most of the rest of the village is so basic."

Tala looked around absently.

"That's because there are a couple retired geniuses living in the village. Apparently they used to have big jobs building stuff for the government or something. Some people think they're hiding out here."

Demetra turned to look at him.

"And what do you think?" She asked playfully, admittedly more than a little interested. Tala scoffed.

"I think they're exactly what I said." He replied a little wearily, as if he'd had the same conversation countless times before. "Two retired old mad-geniuses, who don't know the meaning of the word retire."

"Did they design the whole building?" Demetra questioned curiously.

"This one, the Facility, and everything in them." Tala replied, undoubtably wearily this time. "Even the bathrooms."

"Well, that's thorough." Demetra replied, mildly amused.

"Yea." Tala replied bluntly, clearly unamused. "Anyway, that looks like the sign-up area over there. C'mon."

Approaching the long table, Demetra waited patiently as Tala made a brief exchange with the people sitting behind it. When he turned back to her, Tala handed Demetra a pen and piece of paper. Looking the paper over, Demetra noticed the words were all in Russian, and looked back up at the redhead.

"I can't read this..." She said with a small frown.

Tala glanced down at the paper in his own hands, and made a face.

"Sorry..." He mumbled, holding up his own sheet towards her. "Here, this one's yours."

Demetra exchanged sheets with him, and noted that the second one was written in English. She was about to look up at her partner again, when she realized something interesting.

"This is your writing." She stated, looking back at him. To her surprise, a pinkish flush stained Tala's cheeks before he closed his eyes with an angry expression.

"They didn't have any printed in English, okay?" He snapped in response. "They were surprised I even asked until I explained. You're probably the literal only person in the village who doesn't speak Russian."

For once, it was easy to ignore Tala's little jab, because this time Demetra knew he was just using it to cover his moment of weakness. She knew it was such a simple thing - of course Tala would get her an English sheet, why wouldn't he? But even so, the thought gave her a tug of affection for the redhead, especially when she tacked on the fact that he'd bothered to transcribe a special copy just for her.

"I see..." She said quietly, looking back down at the paper again. She stared at it a few moments before eventually looking up one more time and smiling at her partner. "In that case then... thank you."

Tala's reaction was instantaneous, and it surprised Demetra immensely; the stain on his cheeks brightened, his face screwed up in a mix of anger and something else, and his arms crossed across his chest, crumpling the paper in his hand in a tight grip.

Blinking at him in astonishment, Demetra wondered what on earth had caused such a reaction to such simple; and for once heartfelt; words. She was expecting him to lash out at her, when eventually Tala released a heavy sigh and finally opened his eyes, though he didn't seem to want to look at her.

"Don't mention it..." He mumbled.

After a brief awkward silence, Tala shifted uncomfortably a few times, then released another sigh before finally looking back up at his brunette companion.

"Anyway..." He said, still seeming a little flustered for whatever reason. "We have to fill these out and pass them back to the table. When we're done, you have to go over there and wait for us to be called. I'll be on that side."

Following his gesture with her eyes, Demetra made note of his instructions before nodding.

"Alright." She said simply.

Demetra then looked back down at the page in her hand, and skimmed it over before looking back up at Tala again in confusion.

"These are all personal questions about me." She observed aloud with furrowed brows. "I thought this was supposed to be a beyblade tag team challenge."

Tala absently placed a hand on his hip as he looked around.

"I'm sure it is." He said, seemingly unbothered by the fact. "But they've obviously incorporated this into it somehow too..."

He turned back towards Demetra with a somewhat bored look then.

"The rules for these things are always weird." He stated bluntly. "Just go with it."

Demetra lifted the page again and looked it over one more time.

"If you say so." She replied, not really bothered either way.

Lifting his wrist, Tala briefly pulled back his sleeve to check the time, then swiftly let the sleeve fall into place again before looking back to his partner.

"The competition starts in half an hour, better get these filled out."

"Alright." Demetra said simply, then a mischievous smirk crossed her face. "See you on the battlefield, partner. Try not to slow me down."

A grin split Tala's face at that, and he lifted his nose to look down it at her.

"Don't you worry about that, your highness." He replied cockily. "You just try to keep up."

Each with confident looks, the pair turned away from each other and headed to their designated areas.

-;-

"What does this have to do with anything?" Demetra muttered under her breath, a little annoyed by the, what she considered, pointless questions. "Is this a beyblade challenge, or a job interview?"

Frowning irritably, Demetra quickly scribbled through the questions, relieved when she noticed there were only two left. Sighing heavily, she absently placed the back of her hand under her chin as she read the next question, but she felt something sickly squirm in her stomach when the words sunk in.

What do you think is your partner's favourite thing about you?

Snorting indignantly, Demetra tried to convince herself she wasn't as flustered as she felt.

"And how the hell am I supposed to know that?" She thought, making a face. "I doubt Tala himself would be able to name something he likes about me, much less a favourite thing."

Probably because most days, he acted like he didnt much like her at all. Admittedly, that thought stung a little, and it annoyed Demetra even more to realize it.

Thinking back to Tala's words and actions all night, Demetra made another face - this time a sour one.

"By the way, you really do clean up pretty good, Princess."

A sickening feeling churned in her gut as Tala's words from earlier that night rang out in her head; a feeling that made both her stomach and heart sick. Well, there was at least one thing the redhead liked about her; her looks, just like everyone else. From her experience, it seemed to be the main reason people tolerated her, even when she was deliberately trying to be nasty. It was something she'd noticed a long time ago, and truth be told; was probably a contributing factor, and one of the many reasons she was as jaded and cynical as she was, as well as the main reason she had such an aversion to people in general.

Normally, Tala seemed barely able to stand her, but as so many had already pointed out that night, Demetra was dressed to kill. Apparently, she even looked good enough to pretend he actually liked her a little for one night. She supposed that meant that when she went from stunning knock-out, to plain old regular beauty, things would probably go back to normal.

"Mankind is shallow and stupid." Demetra thought with a deep frown.

"Hn... Maybe you're not so different from the rest of the world after all, tough guy." She muttered with a deep frown.

Shaking the morbid thoughts away, Demetra lifted her head in defiance of them, then scribbled a quick answer before forcing herself to move on to the final ridiculous question.

However, if she thought she'd been flustered by the previous question, it was nothing compared to the final one.

Choking a little as she sucked in a sharp breath of surprise, Demetra's entire face flushed hotly as she stared at the page like it was spewing acid all over the table.

What is your favourite thing about your partner?

"Did we walk into a dating service instead of a beyblade competition?!" Demetra thought with clenched teeth while she felt the heat creeping up her neck. "What a pointless question! "

Making a face at the paper, Demetra stared at it with a narrowed gaze for a bit, before eventually heaving a frustrated sigh, and grudgingly scribbling a quick answer before she could think better of it.

Resisting the urge to ball the paper up tight and either go to find a pack of matches, or swallow it whole, Demetra turned stiffly around and stalked back towards the front table. Once she'd reached it, she slapped the paper down on it a little more forcefully than necessary, admittedly feeling a sense of satisfaction when the people behind it jumped slightly. For good measure, she gave them her best scary look.

"Here." She said forcefully. "Now what?"

"Uh... Th-through there..!" A timid teenaged boy stuttered nervously. Lifting a finger, he pointed towards a set of curtains behind Demetra. "F-first you will need a quick check up to make sure you are well enough to play..."

"You and your partner will get a number." A young girl beside the boy added timidly. "Then you will take the stairs to the lower floor, and when your number is called, you will both step up on the designated platforms... They will tell you the rest when it is time..."

"Fine." Demetra said bluntly. And with that she turned and stalked off to said designated area.

-;-

"Hey, Princess!"

Sighing heavily at the irritating nick that seemed to be forever tattooed on her soul, Demetra stopped in her walk, and turned partially around to see an oh-so-familiar redhead making his way towards her. When he was beside her, Demetra resumed walking again.

"So did ya check out alright, or are you too out of shape to play?"

Scoffing in amusement, Demetra gave him a look.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I've got a clean bill of health." She replied teasingly. "Looks like you stuck with me after all."

"Damn." Tala replied with a teasing smirk. Receiving another look for that, he chuckled before continuing. "Your bey check out ok?"

Demetra nodded, though a frown creased her features as well.

"My bey is fine, but when they took it for the modifications, they took out Trea's bit and told me there were no bitbeasts allowed in this competition..."

"That's because it's not like a regular match, I told you that." Tala said simply. Then he smirked mischievously. "What's wrong your highness, can't blade without your Bitbeast? Doesn't say much for your skills, Captain."

Demetra couldnt resist rolling her eyes.

"The problem is;" She continued irritably, narrowing her eyes on the redhead. "This outfit doesn't have any pockets or anything, and I don't want to leave him in the change room. I know it's securely locked, but I-..."

Trailing off, she chewed her cheek, apparently not planning on continuing. Staring at the ground for a while as they walked, Tala mulled a few thoughts over in his head before eventually sighing and halting in his step, which of course caused his partner to stop as well and turn to him with a questioning look.

"Something wrong?" She asked in concern.

Not answering her, Tala hesitated a few long seconds, before eventually reaching inside his shirt to pull out a heavy black cord with something attached to it. Furrowing her brows, Demetra watched him lift what appeared to be an old and worn leather draw-string pouch, and stroke it gently with his thumb, until he seemed to realize what he was doing and stopped to look up at her again.

"If you want..." He began awkwardly, a little uncertainly. "You can put it in here. I plan to have this on me."

Surprised, Demetra eyed him for a while, before eventually giving him a tender smile.

"It's not quite what I was hoping for..." She replied gently. "I was hoping I'd be able to keep him on my person, but if that's not possible then..."

Looking down at the bit in her had, she smiled fondly at the image of her Bitbeast, brushing it lovingly with her thumb as well, then looked back up at the redhead. After a slight hesitation, she held the bit out towards him.

"I suppose I'd rather he was with you then alone in the rooms."

His expression softening to a tender one, Tala reached out and accepted the bit with reverence. Pulling the little pouch open, he carefully tucked it inside and sealed it up again before tucking it back inside his shirt and looking back to his partner once more.

"Thank you..."Demetra said softly.

"What are partners for, right?" Tala replied teasingly. Demetra chuckled at the familiar words, and the two continued on their way again.

-;-

It was impossible to stop the fidgeting and shuffling, or to ignore the pit in her stomach telling her something was missing, while Demetra waited to be led towards the stadium.

"I should have kept him..." She thought anxiously. "I could have found a way to do it... I could have taped him to me..."

Knowing it wouldn't have been a good idea, she sighed heavily and began fidgeting again.

Sensing someone approaching her, Demetra absently glanced up, but she froze when she saw quite possibly the biggest man she'd ever seen in her life making a beeline for her.

Stopping mere feet from her, he looked down at her with a stern expression.

"Demetra Nakamura?" He asked with a surreally deep voice.

Blinking up at the man for a moment, Demetra turned fully towards him and took in his appearance. A handsome man of probably about the age her father would have been; coffee-dark skin, almost black eyes, bald and clean-shaven, and a heavy-set stern expression that, combined with the sheer size of the man, made for one very intimidating profile.

"He must be high-rank security..." Demetra thought with a mild sense of alarm as she noted his nice suit and equipment. "Did something happen? To my blade... or to Tala? Or have I done something I shouldn't have?"

Her thoughts buzzing in her head, it was all she could do to force herself to speak.

"Yes." Demetra managed to say eventually.

She started a little when the man reached inside his jacket, and immediately chided herself for it.

"What the hell do you think he's reaching for idiot?" She thought of herself in embarrassment.

A moment later, the Security man pulled his fist out of his pocket again, and Demetra stared at it in confusion; there didnt seem to be anything in his hand.

With the gentleness one might handle a butterfly; which looked so much more entrancing since his hands were so big to begin with, he unfolded his fist to reveal a silk handkerchief, which he carefully peeled back the folds of to reveal Trea's bit.

"This belong to you?"

Gasping lightly, Demetra reached out to take the bit and stared at it for a moment before curling her fingers around it reverently and looking up at the Guard.

"Yes. Thank you, sir." She said honestly, genuinely grateful.

At that the man's face split into a wide smile that immediately put Demetra's heart at ease.

"It's no problem." He replied kindly, and Demetra marvelled at the calming tone of his incredibly deep voice. "And the name's Knight, sir makes me feel old!"

"Alright." Demetra said respectfully with a simple nod. Seeing as this one was a tough crowd, Knight moved on.

"I'm supposed to give you this too."

Reaching back into his jacket pocket again, the man pulled out something else, and when he unfurled his fingers, Demetra was stunned again to see Tala's leather pouch, looking so small in the large palm it was laying in. Once she'd gotten over her shock, she reached out and stared at the pouch before looking back up at the man. Before she could say anything more, Knight offered her the handkerchief.

"Here, you can keep this too." He offered, grinning wide then in a way that made Demetra's heart ache; as so many times before, she wondered what her father was like; this time whether his smile would have been as warm and comforting as this man's. "My kid gave it to me, but something tells me she wouldn't mind you having it! She loved you girls in that tournament on the net. She watches your matches over and over again; always goin' on about how cool she thinks the Finnish Captain is. She's a big fan."

That stunned Demetra all over again, and admittedly she was flustered by it.

"I-... I'm-..." She cleared her throat awkwardly. "Th-thank you- I mean, please thank her.."

Looking a little amused, Knight nodded at her.

"Yea I will." He replied. "Would it be alright if you maybe said a few words to her? She really likes you a lot, thinks you the queen of the dish."

Smirking a little at that, Demetra nodded in approval.

"I'd be honoured." She said honestly.

"Yea, alright." Knight said cheerily, pulling out his cell. "We call her Coco by the way."

Turning it towards them, Demetra watched his screen, and had to resist a chuckle to see the huge cheesy grin on the otherwise colossal and intimidating man's face.

"Hey baby girl! Look who daddy met today! Miss Demetra has got some nice words for ya."

Looking over his shoulder towards her, he gave her an encouraging smile.

Feeling more awkward than ever, Demetra eventually cleared her throat and did her best to look into the camera.

"Hello Coco, I heard you're a big fan of my team, and I want to personally thank you for your support; it really does make all the difference..." Pausing, she closed her eyes and released a heavy sigh, and when she opened her eyes again, her usual confidence was back.

"I'll be honest, talking to people isn't really my strong point." She said bluntly. "I can't give you any earth-shaking words of wisdom, or give you advice that will change your life forever..."

She stared into the camera lens and pictured a little girl staring intently up at her in its place.

"All I can tell you is what's important to me; and what's important to me more than anything in the world is my family, my friends." Demetra felt her throat constrict with emotion, but after taking a moment, she plowed on. "I know as well as anyone it's so easy to take the people you love for granted, but if you never have or become anything else in the world; if you've got good family and friends, nothing else is important... so hang on to these people tightly."

Forcing her expression to soften a little, she gave the lens a small smile.

"Thank you again, Coco." She said with a soft tone. "You are so loved and so very much appreciated. Maybe someday we can meet in person and have a chat. Until then, keep cheering for us, I promise you; we'll feel it."

Seeing as Demetra seemed to be finished, Knight stopped the video with a face-splitting grin this time, then turned back towards Demetra looking like a kid in a candy store.

"That's real cool." He said approvingly. "She'll love that. You're alright Miss Nakamura, I won't forget it."

Demetra watched in amusement as he comically looked around as if to make sure no one was listening, then leaned down slightly to speak softly to her behind a huge meaty hand.

"Better not say it too loud, but I'll be rooting for ya!"

Thoroughly pleased, Demetra smiled at the man.

"Thank you, sir." She said appreciatively. When he gave her a mock-stern look, her smile widened a little. "I mean Knight."

"Don't mention it." He replied kindly. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Captain. I can't wait to show my baby girl this video! Now you go on out there, and show them boys what they mommas been warning 'em about!"

Unable to resist a laugh at that, Demetra smiled at him again.

"I'll try not to disappoint you."

"I'm sure you won't!" He replied with a jovial, booming laugh. "Good luck now!"

Demetra gave him a respectful bow of the head, and it was returned before the man finally turned and left her alone again.

Looking down at the objects in her hands, Demetra took the time to carefully wrap Trea's bit in the silk handkerchief. However, when she made to place it inside the pouch, she noticed a piece of paper already tucked in here. She took a few moments to wonder if it was meant for her and if she should open it, but eventually deciding it must be, Demetra slipped the paper out, slipped Trea inside, then unfolded the paper only to be shocked yet again when Wolborg's bit fell into her palm. Furrowing her brows deeply in confusion, she lifted the paper to read the words on it..

I did intend to keep this on me, but I realized it wasn't really practical with these getups, so I figured they'd be safer with you. After all, you're the one with all the extra padding, and you've got plenty of that, am I right, Princess?

PS; Take care of the pouch. It happens to mean about as much to me as Wolborg does.

Feeling her face burn at Tala's crude remark, especially when she easily pictured his impish smirk as he said it, Demetra growled and crumpled the paper into a tiny, super-compressed ball before angrily firing it into a nearby trash can.

"I'd say you're a dog, Tala..." She growled inside her head in embarrassment. "But I dont want to offend Trea!"

Grumbling about the redhead and his typical teenage observations under her breath, Demetra lifted the black cord and thrust it down over her head. But she was careful and reverent with the pouch when she unzipped her suit a little, even as she tucked it gently and securely between her breasts; although the action made her face heat again while Tala's words rang out in her head.

Growling to herself and trying desperately to will back her deep flush now, Demetra reached for the front of her suit and gripped the zipper. Recalling the redhead's words one last time, she made a face before violently yanking the zipper upwards.

"As I said..." She grumbled in embarrassment through clenched teeth. "Not so different after all!"

-;-

Demetra tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for her number to be called. At least she and Tala seemed to be the first ones starting off, but it was taking forever for the competition to start.

With a sigh of annoyance, Demetra's gaze wandered until it snagged on a familiar face. Across the way, Tala was looking at her with an amused expression.

"Impatient, Princess?" He mouthed with a cocky grin.

Making a face at him, Demetra crossed her arms and turned away from the redhead with an indignant look. After a few moments though, she had an after thought and looked back at her partner, thrilled to find he was still looking at her.

Then Demetra did something she wasn't sure she'd ever done in her life; she stuck her tongue out at him.

Instantly Tala's grin widened, and he looked like he was sorely tempted to comment.

Retracting her tongue, Demetra gave the redhead a look and grin of her own, one that some might even classify as flirty. Observing him curiously, Demetra was now convinced there was something her partner was just dying to say.

Before any further interaction could occur however, a voice came over the loudspeaker to finally call their team number.

Turning away from her partner, Demetra stepped forward with an uncharacteristically warm smile, and a light heart. It was in this happy daze that she took another step onto the lit-up platform in front of her, barely noticing as it started moving upwards. She'd nearly reached the top before she finally realized the shape of her face.

Instantly Demetra's expression shifted to a sour, slightly alarmed, one.

"What is wrong with me?!" She thought angrily, shaking her head sharply for good measure.

Pulling herself up to her full height, Demetra took a deep breath and forced her face to wipe her expression - just in time before she emerged from beneath the stage, and the lift came to a stop.

Stepping forward into the spotlight, Demetra lifted her hand for a moment to ward off the temporarily blinding light. Once her vision had focused again, she lowered her arm, blinked a few times, then looked around to take stock of her surroundings. To her left, Tala was standing on an identical lift as hers with crossed arms as he awaited instruction. The seating for the fans was in an oval shape around the perimeter of the stage and floor. On the stage were four huge black squares, and hanging from the ceiling was a pair of harnesses over each one.

"Don't be shy!" A bubbly, green-haired host exclaimed cheerfully. "Step on up and introduce yourselves!"

As one, Demetra and Tala both stepped further into the lights of the brightly lit stage, and as soon as they did, a murmur instantly rippled though the stadium.

"Tala Ivanov, Captain of the Blitzkrieg Boys." He said, lifting his chin and crossing his arms again proudly.

"Demetra Nakamura, Captain of Vilikosto." She added on confidently.

The hush amped up to an excited chatter then, and a little squeal to match from the host made the two teens look up at her with odd expressions.

"Eee! I knew it!" She sang excitedly. "We are in the presence of greatness folks!"

Sprinting over to them, the greenette stuck a mic in their faces with a huge cheesy grin.

"Both your teams dominated the American tournament, and in fact, you were both winner and runner-up! Tell us, are you teaming up tonight for one all-powerful super duo?!"

The two sweat-dropped at that.

"Yeeeah..." Tala drawled, giving her a look. "Let's go with that."

"Oooo! Exciting!" The host cooed theatrically. "And how about the drama between you two? You didn't seem to like each other very much back then, but you seem pretty comfortable with each other tonight! Is this the blossoming of new love I smell?"

Flushing terribly at that, the pair both turned their faces away from each other and pointedly avoided each other's gazes.

"We're just friends!" They both said in unison.

The host winked at the crowd at that.

"Whatever you say, right guys?" Receiving a playful reaction from the fans, she finally chuckled and turned back to the teammates. "Alright you two, I'll have mercy on ya! Here's your gear, and here are the rules of the game!"

Putting on the headpiece with attached goggles handed to them, then the face shields, the partners waited for a pair of drones to give them full body scans front and back, then listened as the host proceeded to fill them in. Their beyblades would be launched automatically by special machines to help keep it fair for everyone, and when they were taken for modifications, they'd been fitted to special bases that would give them certain abilities required for the game, as well as a chip that would synch the beys to their owners.

"Quick warning; there are super high tech sensors in your suits and gear that will make this experience hyper-realistic!" The host warned. "That means the bad stuff too, just keep that in mind!"

She went on to explain that the black squares were sort of like treadmills that would allow them to run in any direction without actually going anywhere. The harnesses turned out to be for added protection and abilities as well.

There were fourteen teams competing that night, Demetra and Tala were first, then a few minutes into their run, another team would start, then so on, until the four squares were filled. When one team finished, someone else would take their place until all the teams had competed.

Once they were inside, they had twenty minutes to complete the course. Their energies would be connected to their beys; what they did on the inside would affect their beys on the outside - and vise versa.

"And that about sums it up for now!" The host finished cheerfully. "I'll feed you the rest of the tid bits once you're inside! So without further adieu, get ready competitors, get ready folks, it's time for the countdown!"

Demetra and Tala readied themselves while the crowd counted them down. As soon as they struck one, the pair's visions went black, and everything went silent for a few seconds before all five of their senses suddenly exploded in an assault of sensations.

"Whoo wee, that's a trip am I right?!" The host's voice boomed from the sky. "I'll explain the rest of the rules while you kiddies take a few minutes to adjust!"

The game was a virtual reality race up a mountain course; on the inside, the teams were required to race up a mountain trail, while on the outside, their beys mimicked them on a miniature-scale mountain model. As they try and make it to the top as fast as they can, they would be faced with challenges, and asked questions they would have to answer on the spot.

"You'll have three seconds to answer each question." The host informed them. "If you answer correctly, you get a prize; a choice of a short cut, time cut, or a ten percent speed boost to your beys, which of course means a smoother and easier run for you. If you get it wrong, or you don't know, your beys get a ten percent speed cut. Now, if I think you're fishing, or hinting, or randomly guessing, or cheating in any way, it's game over for you!"

They were only allowed to stop for three seconds at a time, if they stopped for longer, their beys would begin to reduce their speed by five percent each additional second.

"Phew! And that does it for the boring stuff!" The host said finally. "Now, I'll give you lovebirds another few seconds to get settled, then it's game on!"

Normally, it wasn't easy to impress Demetra, and even when it rarely happened, she was usually very good a hiding it. This time was no exception; and yet Demetra found herself intrigued by the excellent engineering of the game.

"A person could be forgiven for thinking this is real if they woke up in here." She marvelled to herself.

The world she'd come into was so realistic, Demetra's consciousness debated for a moment if this weren't in fact reality. Everything looked and sounded so genuine, even the air smelled like the great outdoors.

"Times up!" The host exclaimed suddenly. "Alright, partners, get ready! On your marks! Set! GOOO!"

As soon as the gunshot rang through the air, both partners shot forward as one, and the ease by which they kept pace with each other seemed almost practiced.

"What's wrong, Princess?" Tala taunted teasingly. "Everyone knows you're faster than the average Joe. Having an off day?"

"Nice try." Demetra replied without missing a beat. "Only amateurs burn themselves out at the start of the marathon."

Tala smirked in amusement but said nothing else.

For a long time, nothing was said while the two got used to the course and held their own over the new terrain. At first the path was relatively easy, which wasnt surprising considering they were just starting. Demetra was just beginning to wonder if this was going to be the extent of the challenge, and was just feeling a pang of disappointment, when the two abruptly came upon their first challenge.

"Looks like we've got our first obstacle." Tala observed aloud.

"Looks like." Demetra agreed simply.

In the distance, the two could see what looked like a raging river. Once they got close enough to assess the situation, Tala headed left towards a scattering of rocks across the river, while Demetra veered towards a large tree trunk that had fallen across. They'd both nearly reached their destinations when Demetra noticed something problematic.

"Something doesn't look right..." She thought, narrowing her eyes on the old tree.

Deciding she'd better check out her hunch, Demetra slowed for a moment to scoop up a large rock, then shot put it as hard as she could. As expected, the rock hit it's mark and put a huge hole in the dead enter of the trunk.

"I knew it." She thought with a frown. "It's rotten."

Immediately, Demetra veered to the left to run along side the river. Looking up, she saw Tala retreating from the stones as well. Catching each other's eyes for a moment, they both looked away and began scanning the river. When they'd nearly met again in the middle, Demetra noticed something and trained her eyes on it. In the dead centre of the river, there was a narrow strip where the bottom of the river was clearly visible. Slowing to a jog to get a better view without having to stop, she was able to see that a collection of large boulders in the river had gathered in two haphazard parallel lines, allowing sand and small rocks to gather between them to form a sort of raised land bridge along the bottom.

"You've got to be kidding me." Demetra thought, half annoyed and half impressed. "If only we'd kept straight all along."

"Kinda makes you feel like an idiot for not noticing it at first, right?" Tala asked her when they were feet from each other and in front of the bridge.

"Yea.." Demetra replied wearily as they came out of the water and resumed running again. "I'll admit, that was clever. Why didn't you jump the rocks?"

"When I got close, I saw one move." Tala informed her. "I sized them all up and realized they were all kinda round. I'm sure you noticed the stones in the river are all little round river stones?"

Demetra nodded her head in confirmation and Tala continued.

"Yea well, that's why." Tala said bluntly. "First one I jumped on would have sent me down the river."

"That's probably true." Demetra replied absently. "Have you ever done this competition before?"

Tala lifted one shoulder for a careless shrug.

"Years ago, when I first started coming to this village, I used to compete every now and then." He informed her indifferently. "But I haven't competed in a while."

"Is it like you remember?" Demetra questioned curiously.

"It's always something different, but no; even considering that, none of the games I played before were ever this advanced."

Demetra opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off by the sound of the host's perky voice echoing around them.

"Alright competitors, time for your first question!" The cheery voice said excitedly. "There's a big wall coming up, and if you answer correctly, it'll disappear! But if you get it wrong, you have to stop for ten seconds! Get ready!"

Both partners frowned deeply at that.

"A ten second delay would cut our bey's spin speed in half..." Demetra pondered aloud, admittedly mildly concerned. "If this is the consequence of the first question, I think we're in for a challenge after all."

"Don't worry about it." Tala replied with boredom, and seemingly completely unbothered. "The first few questions are usually extremely easy, they're just there to weed out the terrible partners so they stop wasting everyone's time."

"If you say so." Demetra muttered, still not completely convinced.

Soon enough, the so called "big" wall rose out of the horizon, and the partners both balked at it. Where either of them had pictured a tall and wide wall to be sure, neither of them expected to see something resembling the Great Wall of China.

"Well I can't wait to see that disappear..." Demetra said bluntly.

"Alright, lovebirds!" The host's voice sounded again. "Ready for the first question? I hope so, cause here it is!"

Demetra held her breath in anticipation.

"What is your partner's favourite color?"

This time Demetra almost fell over. Tala had been right, the first one was super easy.

"Her favourite color is red." Tala replied without missing a beat. As soon as his last word was out, Demetra gave her answer.

"He doesn't have a favourite color." She said confidently. Though in her mind, she couldn't help but think about the fact that, although he seemed to try and hide it for some reason, she noticed Tala seemed to be partial to the color green.

"You're right." Demetra told her partner with a dull expression. "That was anti-climactic to say the least."

Tala chuckled, but didn't get the chance to reply, because in the next moment, there was a deafening rumbling sound, followed by the ground shaking. The two watched in amazement as the wall crumbled before them with a mighty roar.

"Another interesting facet of this challenge." Demetra thought, once again mildly impressed. "With all the chaos, and all the dust kicked up by the wall coming down, if one was too late in answering the question, they might be forced to stop and wait for the dust to settle... seeing as we answered so quickly, it should be settled enough before we reach it so as to not slow us down."

"Well done competitors!" The host cheered. "Now you get to choose your prize! Decide quickly!"

"I never really was one for taking the easy way out." Tala said with a smirk. Demetra smirked too.

"Agreed." She said simply. "So that only means one thing."

"Time cut." They said in unison.

"Alright! You chose time cut!" The host declared. "That means, say goodbye to the short cut! Good luck guys, hope you made the right choice!"

As they passed through the debris and rubble, the two noticed a small trail branching off just ahead, disappear behind a veil of mist. When the mist cleared the trail was gone, and there was only the main path ahead of them.

"I'm not gonna lie." Tala said bluntly. "That was actually impressive."

"That was impressive, but watching the Great Wall fall wasn't worth mentioning?"

Tala made a flippant gesture.

"Walls fall every day." He said nonchalantly. "But you'd never see that in the real world. So yea, Princess, it was kinda impressive."

After a brief internal debate, Demetra sighed.

"Touché." She conceded.

Demetra only had time to note that the path was getting steeper and faster before their second challenge rose before them. This time the challenge turned out to be a massive rockslide.

"Well, I suppose rockslides are probably fairly common on mountain trails." Demetra pondered aloud.

"Yea, but they're pretty inconvenient when you're in a hurry." Tala replied bluntly. "And by the looks of this one, we're not getting over, under or around it."

"Agreed." Demetra said. "I don't see a way around it either."

"We'd better figure it out quick." Tala said firmly. "We're pretty much there."

Demetra glanced at her partner for a moment, not entirely consciously, but she did a double-take when she noticed something she hadn't before.

"What's that on your side?" She asked in confusion.

Tala glanced down at his side, and immediately his brows furrowed, when he noticed the contraption clipped to his belt.

"What the..?" He muttered in confusion as he reached for the device. Unclipping it, he lifted it to eye level to size it up.

"Is that a grappling hook?" Demetra asked hopefully.

Turning it over in his hands, then looking up and over at her, Tala nodded.

"Yea, it is."

Both sets of eyes lifted then to scan the area.

"I don't see anywhere to use it though.." Demetra said with a frown as they both were forced to slow their pace.

"There!" Tala exclaimed suddenly. "That tree root sticking out of the side of the mountain!"

"It does look like it's the only way across." She conceded.

Tala looked over at the brunette with a teasing smirk.

"Well, what are you waiting for, Princess? Come on over."

Demetra felt the heat rising up her neck, knowing the crowd could see and hear them. Reluctantly, she veered to the left towards the redhead, watched him fire the grappling gun for a perfect hit, then tucked herself against his side while he wrapped an arm tightly around her and and jumped.

The sensation of soaring through the air was nothing compared to the feeling of being cradled so close to her Russian teammate, especially when his deliciously woodsy scent enveloped her.

Forcing herself to focus, Demetra shook her mind free of her troublesome thoughts and prepared for them to set down again. As soon as they did, they hit the ground running, and Tala released the gun, which promptly disappeared.

"Alright my little turtle doves!" The host's voice chimed cheerfully from the sky. "Here's your next question: Where exactly did you both first meet?"

Demetra released an amused snort and Tala grinned cockily.

"At the meet and greet of the American Tournament." They said in unison.

"Your answers match!" The MC cheered. "Congratulations! Name your prize competitors!"

After exchanging a look and a nod, the pair looked forward again to call out their answer.

"Time cut." They both agreed together again.

Once again, a little side path off to the side of the trail disappeared behind a misty veil.

The words were barely out of the pair's mouth when they noticed they'd come upon a steady brook flowing down the mountain. There were sheer cliffs on either side, and there didnt seem to be another way around. Apparently, the only way to continue on the path was to go up the brook.

"Something tells me that brook isn't as innocent as it seems.." Tala voiced aloud wearily.

"Agreed..." Demetra seconded, narrowing her eyes suspiciously. "It looks clear, and the rocks don't look like they'd cause much trouble... what do you think?"

"I think going up it looks like our only option." He said as they neared the thing in question. "Nothing for it, I guess, then to just go through and see what happens."

Agreeing again, Demetra followed the redhead up the gently sloping brook. Expecting an instant reaction, they both released their breaths when when nothing seemed to happen. In fact, they'd made it about halfway up, and could see the top, still at a gentle jog, when Tala spoke again.

"I'm not saying we should let our guards down.." Tala said thoughtfully. "But maybe this one was just meant to catch us off guard..."

Demetra didnt say anything, but she wasn't so sure she agreed this s time. Something in her gut told her something was about to happen, and it wans't going to be as easy as the previous challenges.

Seeing as they were both so deep in thought, the partners both jumped a little when the host's loud perky voice boomed in the sky again.

"Surprise!" She shouted cheerfully. "You guys thought this one was gonna be easy, huh?"

She made an annoying buzzer sound before speaking again.

"Sorry, but nope!" She sang bubbly. "Although there's good news and bad news! The good news is; for this challenge only, any affects to your beyblades on the outside will be temporarily suspended! Yay, right?! But the bad news is; you have to answer five questions correctly before you reach the top or it's game over! Ooooo!"

Demetra frowned.

"Of course there had to be more to it." She said aloud. Tala snorted in agreement but made no comment as he waited for the host to continue.

"What happens next will depend on if you get your answers right or wrong!" The greenette added. "If you get the answers right, the water flow will slow down. If you get it wrong, or dont know the answer, the flow will increase by twenty five percent speed and volume."

The competitors swallowed hard but continued to listen, this time with bated breath.

"Alright, here's your first question guys! Where was your partner born and raised?"

A cocky expression coming to his face now, Tala lifted his chin as he called out his answer confidently.

"She was born and raised in Helsinki, Finland."

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Demetra shot him a sharp look. Barely a second later, the MC made the annoying buzzer sound again.

"That answer is incorrect!"

Tala was stunned for a moment, and Demetra frowned deeply as she looked away from him and focused ahead of her.

"I don't know the answer to that.." She said just loud enough to be heard.

The moment Demetra had finished speaking, the water flow noticeably increased, which made Demetra sigh. After a few moments, she clenched her jaw a second before opening her mouth.

"I wasnt trying to hide it..." She said softly, this time just loud enough for Tala to hear. "You just never asked... besides, it's well known I'm not exactly the sharing kind..."

"It's OK..." Tala said softly as well, also avoiding her gaze. "I guess I shouldn't have assumed..."

There was an awkward tension for a moment, but it didnt have time to settle because immediately after, the host came back with the next question.

"What is your partner's mother's full maiden name?"

Again, this was an unknown question, and voicing the answer aloud made the water increase again. It was now waist-high, gushing forcefully, and extremely hard to walk in; jogging was out of the question. By the time they got the third question wrong; how their partner got their bitbeasts, the water was so strong it was up to their necks, and the only way they were able to remain on their feet was to hold on to the cliffs alongside them.

After watching Demetra nearly get swept off her feet a few times, Tala made a face and shook his head at her slight frame before thrusting out his arm towards her.

"Grab my hand!" He yelled over the roar of the water.

Looking to her left, Demetra noted Tala's outstretched hand. Hesitating a moment, she eventually reached out and, with some difficulty, clutched the fair fingers tightly.

"Next question! Come on guys, you got this, don't give up! OK here goes! Besides beyblade of course, what is your partner most skilled at?"

The answer was instantaneous, and once again in unison, as the two instantly spat it out.

"Shooting!"

The united answer made the two partners look at each other and chuckle. To their relief, they felt the water decrease considerably.

"Correct! Does your partner have a beyblade team, and if so, what are their teammates names?"

This one too was easy, and after giving the correct answers, they both sighed in relief when the water slowed yet again.

"Right again! Now, does your partner have any siblings, if so how many?"

"He has none!" Demetra spat automatically. For some reason, a sour and pained look crossed Tala's face, but he answered nonetheless.

"She has one brother and three sisters."

"That's right! Woo hoo, you guys are on a roll now! Just two more to go! This time I want you to tell me; besides beyblade again, what's your partner's favourite relaxing pass time?"

Tala chewed his cheek for a minute. Until that night, he'd thought he'd noticed and picked up on a lot about Demetra, and therefore knew her pretty well by now. But playing the stupid game made him realize he didnt know nearly as much about her as he thought after all; the questions were a joke for crying out loud! Still, it would kill him to get another question wrong, so he decided to go out on a limb and make a guess. Hoping he wouldn't be telling on himself, Tala decided to go for it.

"Swimming..." He muttered, earning him a suspicious and dirty look for it. He didnt need to be a mind reader to know Demetra was wondering how he knew that.

Tala pointedly avoided her gaze.

After a moment, Demetra turned forward again.

"I'm not going to lie, I never asked." She said teasingly with a smirk. "But if I know my partner at all, the answer he probably gave was training."

Tala smirked in amusement and the MCs voice came back again.

"That is correct! Just one more to go, guys! And here it is; what is your partner's worst, or least favourite, subject in school?"

Tala gave a snort of amusement at that while Demetra made a face.

"Her least favourite subject is math." Tala said teasingly, earning him a dirty look for it.

For a few long seconds, Demetra stubbornly remained silent until eventually, she was forced to make the admission. Heaving a heavy sigh, she shot the redhead another glare before finally opening her mouth.

"He has no worst subject..." She muttered grudgingly. The admission made Tala grin cockily.

"Ding, ding, ding! You got five right! You may proceed competitors, good job!"

To their complete and utter relief, the water stopped altogether now, and in their excited delight, they surged forward up the rest the incline as fast as their legs could carry them. It wasnt until they reached the top, and slowed their run to a pleasant jog again, that they realized they were still holding hands.

After a flustered ordeal, they both released each other and distanced them selves a fair distance for good measure.

Mostly out of desperation to change the subject, Tala made note of the expanse of heavy, thick forest rising out of the horizon this time. There was nothing but trees and foliage as far as the eye could see.

"That looks familiar." Tala said jokingly. "More if it had snow."

Raising an eyebrow, Demetra cocked her head to one side a little for a moment, then smirked.

"You're right, it does look a little like the woods by the cabin." She frowned afterwards and narrowed her eyes on the fast-approaching dark canopy of trees. "What do you think?"

After considering a moment, Tala stared into the darkness too while he replied.

"Doesn't seem to be a way around this time either, so not much choice but to just plow through and keep our guards up."

"Seems like everything is getting faster and steeper, much more quickly now." Demetra observed aloud.

"I noticed that too." Tala replied affirmatively. "We must be getting close to the end now. Like I said, keep your guard up."

Demetra smirked in amusement.

"Yes, sir." She replied sarcastically. Tala turned to give her a look for a second, then lifted his chin and smirked at her.

"Heh. Sir. I like that." He replied teasingly. "Especially from you, your Majesty."

Demetra rolled her eyes, but there was a smile tugging at the corner of her lips all the same.

Suddenly, the forest was upon them, and the partners held their breaths as they burst through the tree line, into the considerably darker scenery. Squinting from the sudden harsh change in lighting, Demetra once again marvelled at the life-like accuracy of the game as she blinked her sight back to normal.

For what felt like hour-long minutes, the two ran in a tense silence, both on edge waiting for something to happen. Finally, when Demetra thought for sure the combination of silence and anxiety was going to strangle her, Tala's voice disrupted the unnerving soundlessness.

"It's too quiet..." He said, and even though his tone was low, it sounded like a shout in the deafening noiseless surroundings.

Demetra furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. She knew Tala wasn't the type to hate the silence, she happened to know he had no problem whatsoever with the silence of solitude.

"What do you mean?" She asked in a low tone as well, looking towards her partner.

"I know it's just a game..." Tala began thoughtfully. "But it's a forest; it should be a bustling community of sounds; birds, bugs, branches cracking, leaves rustling, small animals scurrying through the bushes..."

Tala's polar blues narrowed and gave a quick sweep of the surroundings.

"The only time a forest is ever this quiet, is when the scent of danger is in the air."

Glancing towards Tala, Demetra studied his calculating expression before looking forward again. She only half-heartedly scanned the area, because mostly she was reminded of that night in the woods these reminded them so much of. And once again she was super impressed with the little, yet useful, things Tala knew.

"It has been unbelievably realistic up until now." Demetra agreed, recalling her own thoughts on the fact. "I can't see a fact like that being an acci-"

The end of her sentence was cut off by a deafening, savage roar that literally made their ears ring. Seconds later, a massive bear popped out some yards ahead of them and immediately began to charge.

Their eyes widening for a moment, both partner's brains reflexively kicked in, and as one they both branched off to opposite sides. Tala ran towards a massive tree nearly cracked off, while Demetra grabbed hold of a large branch on her way past and gave it a violent thrust to crack it off. She tested the strength of it as Tala jumped up on the tree.

Tala sped up the tree and executed a perfect flip over the end, just as Demetra dug the branch into the ground and hoisted herself into the air; the former turned precision maneuvers through the air, while the latter vaulted and soared, and both passed over the head of the bear to land flawlessly behind it, spring to their feet, then pick up where they left off without missing a beat.

Looking over their shoulders, the pair noted the bear was chasing them all out, which made them both frown before looking forwards.

"I dont understand." Demetra said in confusion. "What's the point of this? Is it a scare tactic? We obviously cant fight it while running, that's ridiculous. Are we supposed to outrun it, or is it going to chase us to the finish line to force us to use up our energy, see if we've got what it takes to make it or get eaten?"

She looked over her shoulder one more time and made a face at the massive creature barreling after them.

"It doesn't makes sense." She grumbled in frustration.

"I'm sure it's just another challenge like anything else." Tala assured her, almost absently as he seemed to be busy looking around. "It's obviously just another puzzle. There's got to be something we can use..."

Glancing towards her, again absently, Tala did a double-take when he noticed something that wasn't there before.

"Hey, now there's something on your belt..."

Demetra looked down to her hip and removed the strange looking contraption.

"What the-... is that a tiny piece of rope?" Tala asked incredulously. "What do they expect us to do, muzzle it?"

"It's an ancient-style sling shot." Demetra informed him.

Feeling Tala's gaze piercing her, she glanced over to see him giving her an amused look. Immediately Demetra felt the heat creeping up her neck.

"I happen to have an interest in the past, and relics from it." She said defensively. Now Tala's amused smirk widened.

"That explains so much." He teased playfully. Demetra's flush deepened.

"Hilarious..." She muttered in embarrassment.

"So can you use it?" Tala asked soberly now.

"I'm no slingshot sniper, but I'm fairly confident I can at least hit most any target." She said matter-of-factly. "But being able to hit something doesn't really help us when we've got nothing to hit..."

"How's that for a target?"

Demetra glanced at the redhead to see him pointing, and following his gesture, she looked up to see a large beehive hanging over the path several feet away. Realizing immediately what her partner was thinking, Demetra smiled.

"I'll see what I can do." She replied teasingly.

Bending to scoop up a few stones in the path, Demetra loaded the slingshot, then lifted it over her head and began whirling it around. Once it was whirling fast enough to make a sort of whistling sound, she released an end of the rope and watched the stone hurtle towards the nest.

Feeling a tiny pang of pride, Demetra watched as the stone struck the nest in just the right spot to sever it from the branch and send it to the ground. Just in time, the two competitors passed under the hive just before the nest hit the ground. Looking over their shoulders one last time, they watched as the nest exploded on impact, belching out an angry swarm of bees which promptly turned on the bear and chased it off the path into the woods.

Extremely pleased with the results, the two internally congratulated themselves, right after they closed the distance between each other to give their teammate a high five.

Slowing to a jog again now, the two breathed a sigh of relief when they broke through the tree line again, this time back into the sunlight. Heaving a heavy sigh of appreciation, they took the time to enjoy the leisurely pace for a few moments before eventually noticing something a short ways in the distance. As soon as they realized what it was, relieved and excited expressions appeared on their faces. It was the flag that signalled the top of the mountain, and therefor the end of the course.

"Looks like I was right." Tala almost crowed cockily. "We were nearly at the end."

"So you were." Demetra replied calmly. Then a mischievous smirk lit her face. "You were also right about something else."

When Tala gave her a questioning look, her smirk widened.

"Everyone knows I'm the fastest."

A wide grin split Tala's face at that.

"Yea? I guess there's only one way to find out, isn't there? Just promise me you won't cry, Princess, when I embarrass you in front of all those people."

This time Demetra scoffed.

"I may weep." She replied playfully. "But they'll be tears of victory!"

At that the two lift off with everything they had in them. Admittedly, Demetra was pulling ahead of the redhead, and Tala felt a grin creeping up his face from it. Say what you like about her personally, but damn could the woman haul ass.

"Woah! You guys sure are in a hurry see me again!"

The partners jumped a little at hearing the host's voice again, having been so caught up in their little competition.

"I better hurry and spit out the last question before it's too late!"

Just like that, Demetra's stomach dropped to her toes, and it made her stumble, making Tala jump towards her on reflex, but seeing as she kept running without missing a beat, he just frowned at her.

"You ok?' He asked in concern.

"Fine.." Demetra muttered dismissively.

"That question..." She thought with dread.

"What do you think is your partner's favourite thing about you?"

"My skills." Tala said aloud, sounding more than a little awkward for it. His answer was simultaneous with Demetra's.

"My looks."

Unable to look at each other now, they both avoided each other's gaze as the host replied. To their displeasure but not really surprised, the greenette made the annoying buzzer sound again.

"Awe you guys! Those answers are incorrect! And you guys were doing so good too! Too bad you didnt get this last one right, if you did you would have been instantly transported to the finish line. But since you got it wrong..."

Before she'd even finished speaking, the ground began to rumble and shake, and moments later, it gave way, taking the two partners with it into a horrifyingly deep chasm that suddenly opened up.

The urge to scream was powerful, but even if she wanted to, all sound was caught in Demetra's throat while she experienced one of the most unpleasant sensations she figured a human could be subjected to. The falling sensation seemed to drag on for a maddening length of time, and during that entire time, Demetra found herself paralyzed and unable to do a thing, except watch the cliffs fly by at a gut-wrenching speed.

Suddenly there was another gut-wrenching sensation, bittersweet this time, when her body came to a instant and jarring halt.

Taking a second to realize she had stopped falling, Demetra stared at the side of the cliff as she struggled to get her bearings back. Then she did something she shouldn't have; she looked down. Instantaneously, her stomach heaved and the bile rose violently in her throat. Forcing her body's betrayal back with great effort, she lifted her head again and forced herself to collect her bearings.

"Hey... you OK..?"

Finally, hearing her partner's voice, Demetra looked up to see him looking down at her with concern. It was only then she realized what had happened; Tala had snagged her arm on the way past, and was now gripping it tightly, while hers seemed to have reflexively latched a death grip onto his upper arm. But if her grip bothered him, he didnt show it; in fact if anything, Tala's face creased further with worry when he took in the look of his partner.

"You're white as a sheet..." He said with a deep frown. After studying her for a few moments, he spoke again. "Come here."

Pulling her up beside him, Tala almost smiled when Demetra reflexively reached out her own free hand to grip the cliff. Still holding her arm to keep her steady, Tala gave it a little squeeze as he studied her face again.

"Look at me..." He said quietly. When she did, he gave the brunette a soft expression. "This isn't real, OK? And we're almost done... And you won't fall, I swear."

Staring at him for a long moment, Demetra eventually closed her eyes and smiled a little, almost an embarrassed smile. When she opened them again, there was a genuinely sweet expression on her face and it made Tala's heart melt.

"Thank you, partner." She teased softly and playfully, almost a whisper. "...I suppose you've earned a little trust by now."

Giving him a smile that actually made her eyes sparkle a little, Demetra gave the redhead's arm a squeeze back.

"Let's win this."

Tala laughed and they both released each other to grip the cliff.

"I don't know about that." Tala replied jokingly. "After this major set-back, our time's probably not gonna be too hard to beat."

Before anything else could be said, the host's voice boomed through the air.

"Awe aren't you guys just the cutest?!" She said dreamily. "Seriously, we love you guys! That's why I hate to be the bearer of bad news yet again, but I have to, so here it is; you have to make it to the top before your beys stop spinning on the outside! Good luck you two!"

"Is that all?" Demetra muttered sarcastically. Heaving a heavy sigh, she spoke to her partner as she picked her way up the rocks. "You're impressively quick on your feet, so to speak."

"What do you mean?" Tala replied absently as he too made his way up the cliffs.

"You didn't seem bothered at all by the surprise drop." Demetra informed him.

That made the redhead smirk in amusement.

"It wasn't so bad." He said carelessly. "And no, that wasn't a dig at you; like I said, this is about as realistic as I can imagine something being, without actually being the real thing."

Turning her head, Demetra eyed him suspiciously for a moment, before eventually replying.

"You've done it before, haven't you?" She stated accusingly, rather than asked. "Fallen or jumped off, or out of, things."

Glancing over to see her expression, Tala chuckled and looked away again.

"Maybe once or twice." He teased playfully.

For a brief while there was small talk, until about the middle of the cliff, the pair began to feel the heavy toll on their bodies. At this point, both partners were finding breathing difficult, and conversation took much more effort.

"Our beys must be slowing down..." Demetra commented between breaths.

"Yea, feels like I'm slugging a stone mannequin up the side of the cliff." Tala agreed.

And that was all that was said for a long time, until the pair had nearly reached the top in fact. Looking up and seeing the edge of the cliff at last, Demetra forced herself to voice the question she was dying to know the answer to, and quickly before she had time to think better of it.

"So what was your answer?" She asked with some difficulty.

"Answer to what?" Tala replied between breaths.

"To the last question."

Tala was quiet for a while until eventually he replied.

"Your strength." He responded quietly.

That confession stunned Demetra, and her expression proved it when she looked over towards the redhead. Before she could manage to formulate a reply however, Tala spoke up again.

"I can't believe you thought I'd say looks." He said, sounding highly amused. "I mean, I guess you're not the worst looking thing I've ever seen, but come on, get over yourself."

Knowing he was joking, and appreciating the response immensely, Demetra couldn't help but crack a smile.

"You're right, how dare I make such an assumption." She replied teasingly.

"Your turn." Tala said then. "What kind of lie did you tell about me, huh?"

Demetra released a snort of amusement.

"Well it wasn't your skills, I'll tell you that."

Finally they'd reached the top and Tala clambered up as quickly as he could manage, then immediately turned to offer his partner a hand.

"So, you gonna tell me or not?" He asked, pulling her up when she gripped his hand.

Once she was on her feet, Demetra eyed the redhead for a few moments, then eventually a mischievous look came across her face.

"Not." She said impishly.

Lifting an eyebrow with a somewhat amused expression, Tala opened his mouth to argue, but before he could get the chance, the ground began to shake again.

"Again?" Demetra muttered with a deep frown.

Seeing something in his peripheral view, Tala glanced up and saw a slide of rocks rolling towards them. On reflex, he pulled Demetra close to him and leapt backwards, only to turn and note more rocks rolling their way.

"We're already at the top of the damn mountain!" He growled, leaping back again. "Where the hell are the rocks coming from?!"

Three more times this happened, and on the last time, Tala misstepped; causing them both to go down hard. Tala hit hard on his back with Demetra in his arms, and even though the wind was knocked out of him, his arms still managed to tangle tightly around her waist.

Demetra stared down at her partner in shock, still processing everything that had just happened in the last few seconds. Finally she snapped out of her stupor just as Tala was gaining his breath back.

"Are you OK?" He croaked painfully.

"Am I OK?" Demetra gave him an incredulous look.

She opened her mouth to say something else, but suddenly Tala's eyes widened, and Demetra's sentence was cut off with a sharp gasp when he suddenly jerked her down against him and rolled them over a few times. When they stopped, this time he was hovering over her, and when he realized the position they were in, a pink flush spread across the redhead's face.

"There was... a..." His face screwed up in an angry expression then. "Never mind!"

Pulling back from the brunette, Tala got to his feet and placed his hands on his hips, then closed his eyes with a sour expression.

"I definitely don't remember this stupid competition being this annoying!"

Getting to her feet as well, Demetra looked around, calculating. Nothing else seemed to be happening, so she turned back to her partner.

"Now what?" She questioned. "Do they expect us to go up and touch the flag or something?"

"No, the game is over." Tala replied irritably.

Heaving a heavy sigh, he finally opened his eyes to look back at Demetra again.

"You're good right?" He asked, almost boredly.

"I'm fine." Demetra confirmed. "What about you?"

"Irritated as hell, but otherwise..." Tala trailed off. After a few moments of silence, he released an angry growl.

"We reached the top." He growled irritably at the sky, knowing what their observers were hoping for. "Enough!"

Finally the VR faded, and the pair were immediately greeted with the sights of the stadium and the deafening applause of the crowd.

As soon as they were back to reality, Tala shot the host a savage look that made her yelp and cower in fright.

"Eep! I'm sorry I couldn't resist! You guys are just so darn cute!"

Giving her an extra glare for good measure, Tala eventually turned away from her with another sour expression as he reached up to remove his headgear. He tossed them to the greenette, which the girl barely caught after a good deal of fumbling, then turned and headed towards the stage lift.

"I'll meet you outside the changing rooms." He told Demetra over his shoulder.

"Uh-oh folks, I think he's mad at me.." The host teased playfully to ease the tension. When the crowd was good and riled again, she turned to Demetra and whispered to her behind her hand. "It's ok, you can go and get changed, do what you need to do. The results wont be given out until everyone has competed."

"Thanks." Demetra said softly.

Giving her a wink and a nod, the greenette turned away again to return to playing up the crowd. Demetra turned to head off after her partner.

Demetra's gaze was distant as she zipped up her boot, then lowered her leg to lift the other one. Her fingers paused on the zipper though, and her focus swam as sounds and images played out before her like a movie. Physically she was in a changing room, mentally she was taking a tour of her the memories of that night so far.

As her mind ran through and replayed every shared moment with the redhead that night, Demetra's pulse began to race, thumping painfully in her chest. In some ways, the remembered sounds and images were almost surreal; even though the memories were her own, and she'd experienced them first hand, it was still hard to put the Tala she'd come to know in those memories.

"I could get used to this Tala..." She thought longingly. "Though I know better..."

Shaking herself out of her thoughts, Demetra frowned deeply.

"It's just lust." She tried to convince herself. "He's attracted to me right now because of how I look tonight, and I'm attracted to him because he's a completely different person right now. Come tomorrow morning, when I look like I usually do, and he's back to his old self, everything will go back to normal, and none of this will matter!"

In defiance of her traitorous heart, Demetra yanked her boot zipper up forcefully, stomped her foot back down on the ground, then grabbed her coat and belongings and whirled around to leave.

-;-

From his spot leaning against the wall across from her dressing room, Tala looked up when Demetra emerged.

"Ready?" He asked simply, but noting the strange look on her face, he furrowed his brows and gave her a look of his own. "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing." Demetra said automatically, knowing he must be referring to the dark look on her face. "What now?"

Eyeing her for a minute or two, knowing there was something she wasn't telling him, Tala eventually decided to let it go.

"That's up to you." He replied simply. "Do you want to stay and watch the other competitors, or go do something else and come back later?"

"How many teams are left to compete?" Demetra questioned.

"Eight, last time I checked." Tala informed her.

Demetra calculated for a minute or two, considering, before eventually replying.

"We might as well stay and watch the rest." She decided. "Besides, it would be disrespectful not to watch our opponents."

Seeing as Tala was quiet, she glanced at him, screwing her face up when she noted his expression.

"What?" She asked; half defensive, half self-consciously.

Tala was looking at her with a small smile and a strange look in his eye.

"Nothing." He said a little too quickly. He then uncoiled himself from the wall and pushed off it. "Let's go."

Narrowing her eyes on the redhead, Demetra followed him nonetheless as he led them back down the hall towards the inner-stadium.

-;-

"I thought you said most of the village comes out to this thing." Demetra commented as they entered back into the main lobby. "There doesn't seem to be all that many people here; the stadium is only about two-thirds full."

Leading them down another hall that would take them right to the inner stadium doors, Tala answered the brunette without looking at her.

"It's a pretty small village, remember?" He reminded her. "Only a few hundred people live here year-round. Add another hundred or so during the warmer seasons, to account for the people who live here seasonally, and the occasional visitors, like yourself, and that's about it."

He glanced at her then.

"So basically, this is half the village."

"I see." Demetra replied, nodding in comprehension. "I suppose that makes sense then."

"Oh, hey! Tala and Demetra!"

Halting in their walks, just as they were reaching the doors to the stadium, the pair turned to see Natasha and her pint-sized teammate running towards them with huge grins.

"Great, she knows our names." Tala grumbled, only half playfully.

"We found you!" Natasha cheered enthusiastically as they drew near.

Once the little ones had reached them, they stopped and looked up at the teens with glowing expressions.

"You were so amazing!" The little blonde cheered. "You'll win for sure! No one will do better then that! You sure showed that nasty bully! Do you think he will cry when he looses? I hope so! Are you leaving? I hope you're not leaving! Are you leaving already?"

Demetra sweat-dropped at the little girl and her explosion of words. Once she'd taken it all in, she shook her head at her new friend.

"No, we're not leaving yet." She assured the blonde. "Actually, we were just on the way to the stadium to find seats and watch the rest of the competition.

"Oh! You can sit with us!" Natasha cheered. Demetra looked at her partner when she heard him groan softly and chuckled.

"Why not?" She told the blonde a moment later. While Natasha cheered, Tala sighed in annoyance.

"Yea, why not?" He muttered sarcastically. Demetra gave him a mischievous look as they followed the children.

"Look on the bright side, at least they adore you."

Tala snorted his opinion of that.

"Just what I always wanted."

-;-

"My suspicion about the short cuts were right." Demetra noted to her partner. "They only save you thirty seconds, and still spit you out right before the challenges."

"I noticed that too." Tala replied thoughtfully. "Time cut was definitely the best option. What do you think of these guys?"

With their heads together, Demetra and Tala had been fervently and intensely discussing the game and other players. It was somewhere near the end, when there was a pause in their conversation as they observed, that the two felt the burning sensation of being watched. Turning to their right, they startled when they noted Natasha and several of her friends around them were looking at them with silly and dopey grins.

Glancing at each other, the partners looked back at the children with confused expressions.

"Why are you looking at us like that?" Demetra asked, a little uneasily.

Realizing they'd been caught, the children began to giggle and snicker.

"You guys are the cutest in the whole world!" One of the little girls cooed dreamily.

"Da!" Natasha cooed agreeably. "It's too bad you're just friends, you would be the cutest couple in the world!"

Both of them flushing horribly, the children laughed again when the pair pointedly leaned away from each other. Not much else was said between them for the rest of the game.

Finally the end was in sight, and once all the competitors had cleared the stage, and there was a brief intermission for the scores to be tallied, the bubbly host appeared back onstage to close everything up.

"Are you guys pumped or what?!" She exclaimed wildly.

The crowd went wild, and once they'd calmed down enough to be heard, the host grinned and lifted a tablet in her hands.

"Are you ready folks?!" She hammed a bit. Receiving a positive reaction, she chuckled and looked to the screen in her hands. "Second runner-up, with an end time of ten minutes, fifty-seven seconds, we have; Jorge and Jean! Give it up everybody!"

The crowd cheered while that team went up and collected a medal and congratulations from the host. Once they'd received their applause and left the stage, the host spoke again.

"And the runner-up, with a total time of eight minutes, thirty-five seconds, is Sergio and Sqran!"

This time, the pleasantries seemed forced, and there was no extra teasing from the host as the pair grudgingly collected their second place prizes and left the stage.

"Alright sports fans! It's time for the moment you've all been waiting for! The Winnerrrrr!"

Once again the crowd went wild, and once they'd finally calmed down again, the host grinned wide and lifted her tablet once more.

"Your champions this month, of this totally awesometastic challenge of wits, strength and knowledge is; drumroll please!" Comically there was an actual drumroll, and as soon as it stopped, the host paused for dramatic effect before belting out the answer. "With a total end time of seven minutes exactly, the winners of this month's esteemed competition is... Tala and Demetra! Show them your love y'all!"

Instantly the stadium exploded in an eruption of applause and cheers.

Lifting her hand to tweak her ear in annoyance, Demetra looked to her partner when the host called them down to the stage.

"Shall we?" She asked teasingly.

"Might as well." Tala replied teasingly as well.

Getting to their feet, they wadded through the line of excited children and made their way to the stairs before descending it towards the stage.

Demetra wondered how conceited it was that she wasn't the least bit surprised about winning. She tried to convince herself she felt guilty for being so dismissive of it, but honestly, she really wasn't much bothered by it.

As soon as they topped the stage, a pair of gigantic doors off to the side of the stadium opened up. Just from their position on the stage, Demetra could see that the room was enormous, and that it seemed to be filled to overflowing with an unbelievable assortment of objects; games, electronics, sports equipment of all kinds, and likely an impressive array of other desirable things.

"OK you lucky lovebirds!" The host said. "Go claim your prizes!"

Demetra looked away from the room towards her partner.

"I've won enough prizes for one night." She said bluntly.

"Agreed." Tala replied. "I don't need any more junk I'll never use."

"What do you think we should do?" She asked theatrically. Tala smirked and crossed his arms.

"Your call, Princess." He said with a glint in his eye. Demetra returned the smirk.

Doing her best to ignore the collective dreamy coos from the host and crowd, Demetra turned back to the greenette.

"In that case..." She said with a straight face. "If it's possible, we'd like to give our prize to our new friends; Natasha and Peter."

There was a pair of excited squeals, and in a shockingly quick length of time, the little pair had joined them on stage. They took the time to say a quick thanks to Demetra and Tala before racing towards the open doors.

"Uh-oh, guys! Two little 'uns loose in a kids paradise!" The host teased playfully. "Well folks, we could be here a-"

Before she could finish, the children had reappeared and thrown themselves around the teen's legs, proceeding then to utter long strings of thanks at the pair.

"Well, I stand corrected!" The host said playfully. "Let's see what you guys picked!"

Pulling back from Tala and Demetra's legs, the children proudly held up a brand spanking new launcher each, shinning only half as much as their million-dollar smiles. Catching something in the corner of her eye, Demetra turned her head to see Sergio getting to his feet with a sour, livid expression, and leaving in a storm with his scrawny little lackey tripping and scurrying after him.

Smirking in satisfaction, Demetra turned forward as the host spoke again and held up two medals.

"Well, you guys do get something out of this too!" She teased. "Come collect your bling you darling little things you!"

Moving forward to do that, Demetra considered in amusement.

"Even without the medals." Demetra thought, remembering the look on a certain bully's face. "I still got a decent reward."

"Who knew you were such a softie, Princess." Tala teased as they exited the building. "Looks like the ice queen has a soft spot for little snot gobblers."

"You're one to talk." She countered immediately. "Don't think I didn't see that look on your face when they hugged your legs, when you saw how happy they were."

She gave him a mischievous smirk then.

"Maybe the big bad wolf isn't quite as bad as he likes everyone to believe."

Tala stopped then, forcing his partner to stop too, and turned to face her. The expression he gave her was like that of a starving big bad wolf, and it gave Demetra goosebumps.

"Maybe." He replied with a dark grin. "Or maybe I'm a whole lot bader..."

Lifting an eyebrow, Demetra was fully interested in exploring that notion, but yet again, the moment was interrupted by an outside force.

"Heeey! Don't leave yet!"

Tala sighed heavily upon recognition of the voice, while Demetra chuckled softly. Together they turned to see, as expected, Natasha and her little partner, Peter, running towards them again. However neither of them expected to see the crowd of children following close behind, and they both balked to see them. Once the half-pint crowd reached the teens, a majority of them extended little fists with objects clenched in them towards the two. It didnt' take a genius to realize they wanted the various objects signed.

Figuring they were after the infamous and ever-popular Tala Ivanov's autograph, Demetra smiled fondly and maneuvered her way through the crowd to the outside. As expected, the little ones surged around the redhead, and packed together around him. Crossing her arms, Demetra watched with a fond expression as Tala humoured the little ones' requests, even chatting them up while he signed, though she had no idea what he was saying to them.

One would think she'd be jealous the Russian Captain was getting all the attention, but fame and attention were never really things she'd cared much about. Besides, Demetra had enough self-awareness to know that with her personality, she didn't have the right to be upset about not being the crowd favourite.

Feeling a tug at her coat, Demetra looked down, and was surprised to see a little boy hold out a lovingly well-used launcher towards her, along with a permanent marker. He then began speaking to her, and even though Demetra didn't understand the words, it was obvious what he wanted.

Just to be sure, Demetra pointed to herself, then lifted her hands to pantomime writing on something, then pointed at the launcher, and immediately the little boy grinned an ear-splitting grin before nodding vigorously and lifting the objects further.

Staring in disbelief for a moment, Demetra eventually snapped out of it and gave the child a kind expression before reaching to take the objects. To her amusement, the little boy danced excitedly back and forth on his feet as she signed the launcher and handed him back his things. Accepting them, the little boy stared at her name proudly before looking back up at her again.

"Spasibo!" He said enthusiastically. That one Demetra knew.

"Dobro pozhalovat', drug."

He looked so happy and when he turned to run away, Demetra heard a little voice beside her. Looking to her left, she blinked, stunned to see several hands holding things out towards her. There were only a handful of children around her, nothing close to the swarm around Tala, but being completely unused to anyone who wasn't family wanting something so innocent from her, Demetra was completely speechless.

Finally pulling herself out of her stupor, Demetra shook her head and reached out for the first offering to start signing. In a way, she was glad she didn't understand their language, or that neither of them seemed to be able to speak to her, because she knew she didnt have anything memorable to say to them; she'd only disappoint them.

After signing the things presented to her, shaking a few tiny hands, and even giving a few comical high-fives, everybody seemed to be satisfied. Demetra was going to look back and see how her partner was doing when she felt a tug at her sleeve this time. Looking down at her side once more, she saw there was another little boy standing before her. When she looked at him, he spoke to her, but Demetra noted he wasn't holding anything to sign. Furrowing her brows in confusion, she lifted her hands to pantomime writing again, but the little boy shook his head and repeated the same words he said before.

"I'm sorry..." Demetra began. "I don't-"

"He wants a kiss."

Demetra's head snapped towards Tala to see him looking at her, and looking more amused then she could ever remember seeing on his face. Feeling uncomfortable, Demetra frowned before looking back down at the little boy.

"There's no way that's what he asked for..." She replied, unwilling to believe the redhead.

"It's true!" Suddenly Natasha was beside her, likely where she'd probably been for a while.

Tala said something to the little boy, gesturing towards his brunette companion with his chin and a mischievous grin. Demetra narrowed her eyes at him, then looked back at the little boy to see him nod vigorously and turn back towards him with a wide grin before puckering his lips. Appalled, Demetra shied away from him with a odd expression.

"What did you say to him?!" She demanded of the redhead.

"He told him you didn't understand." Natasha filled in. "And to show you what he wanted."

Looking back to see the still puckered lips, Demetra made a face while little pockets of snickers and laughter broke out around her.

"I know you're used to breaking hearts, Princess, but are you cruel enough to break such a tiny one."

Demetra sweat dropped and turned her face just enough to shoot the redhead a glare. To his credit, Tala merely lifted a challenging eyebrow while his grin widened. Turning away from him, Demetra stared at the little boy for a long moment before sighing heavily and leaning down. Giving a funny look to the still puckered lips, Demetra instead pressed a quick peck to this little chilled cheek.

Half expecting him to be disappointed, Demetra jumped back when he let out a loud whoop, before running around chanting something.

Amused, Demetra straightened and watched his antics for a minute before feeling eyes around her. She balked when she saw a dozen or more faces surrounding her with puckered lips.

Backing up a little, Demetra lifted her hands and waved them a little to fend the horde off.

"No, no!" She said firmly, taking a few more steps back. "No more!... Net! Net!"

Seeing as they were closing in on her, Demetra stopped her retreat and huffed in annoyance.

"I only give one kiss a night!" She said firmly, placing her hands on her hips. "And I'm afraid I already gave it away!"

Suddenly there was a loud and distressed gasp, and Demetra's head jerked towards Natasha to see the little blonde with wide eyes and hands to her mouth.

"What's wrong?" Demetra asked in slight alarm, noting that the pretty little thing looked on the verge of tears.

Instead of answering, a fierce expression took hold of Natasha's face before she turned to address the mini crowd crossly. After saying something that sounded rather urgent, and pointing towards Tala, there was a collective gasp form the group before they all turned back towards Demetra with a mixture of expressions. Shocking her, the little boy whose cheek she kissed approached her wringing his hat with a terribly guilty expression.

Bewildered, Demetra stared at them all wide-eyed.

"What did you say to them?" She asked Natasha, completely floored. She then looked towards the little boy before her when he said something softly to the little blonde.

"I told them that you only give one kiss a night, and he made you give it away, and it was supposed to be Mr. Tala's kiss, and now Mr. Tala wont get his kiss tonight, and now your date is ruined!... Oh and Mikael says he wants to give it back so you can give it to Mr. Tala."

Demetra choked when she heard what the little blonde had to say, and immediately she felt her entire body burn with the hottest mortification she'd ever felt - especially when she heard Tala explode into laughter the likes of which she'd never heard from him before, something that would normally have enthralled her.

"That's completely un-"

"Hey!" Tala suddenly exclaimed through his laughter. "I want my kiss back!"

Demetra clenched her teeth and shot him a wickedglare.

"You'll get something tonight..." She muttered threateningly, which only made him grin.

Turning back towards the same little boy, Demetra resisted a sigh, then leaned back towards him again and lifted a finger to tap her cheek.

The little boy stepped forward and pressed a quick kiss to her cheek, and Demetra couldn't deny the little gesture was sweet and heart-warming. Smiling warmly, she leaned back and gave him a kind look.

"Spasibo."

The little boy grinned wide again now and nodded enthusiastically while the crowd around them broke out into cheers and laughter.

After hamming around a bit, and a few more memorable theatrics, the children eventually bid goodbye to the teens, and all save Natasha and her partner broke off on their way again.

Having waited so patiently for so long, as soon as they were alone, Natasha turned towards Demetra with a look of total admiration

"You're so cool!" Natasha gushed at Demetra with starry eyes when everyone was gone. "I want to be just like you when I grow up!"

Demetra felt a pained pang at her heart at that, and the smile she gave was lop-sided.

"Trust me, you don't..."

"I do!" Natasha insisted, unfazed. "You were so great tonight! And I saw you on TV in America! You're the coolest!"

Feeling awkward again, Demetra forced herself to offer a grateful expression.

"Thank you..." She said a little awkwardly. Natasha nodded vigorously.

"Da. And thank you, Ms. Demetra!" She said enthusiastically. "We really wanted to play tonight, because I really needed a new launcher because mine is almost broken, and we have been trying to get this one for a whole year! And last time Sergio saw it, and we knew he would get it if he won this time, and then he broke Peter's bey, and we knew he would win this time, which he would have, but then you won instead, and you let us have the prize, and now I am going to tell everyone I know what you did, and that you are the greatest person I have ever known!"

Demetra blinked in a stunned silence at the little blonde after her colossal rant. When eventually everything had sunk in, she frowned as she thought about something.

"May I see your beyblade, Peter?" She asked softly.

Frowning sadly, the little boy reached into his pocket and extracted the pieces before depositing them into her hands and looking up at her with a forlorn expression.

Demetra lifted the pieces and sized them up carefully. Once she'd fully taken stock, she offered the bey back to its owner.

"Hold on to this for a sec." She instructed him.

Nodding obediently, the children watched in fascination as Demetra reached to her belt and removed her beyblade. Furrowing their brows in confusion, they watched her dismantle it, then gasped loudly as one when she reached out to take the pieces of Peter's's bey, and reconstructed it using her own attack ring.

"That should do it." She said shortly, placing the bey back in its owners hand again. "I'm sorry if you were attached to your old ring, but it isn't able to be repaired. That ring though, is one of the best ones currently available, to my knowledge."

She pointed to the base of his beyblade.

"I can fix the little crack here too if you bring it by the facility sometime." She told him kindly. "The rest is mostly cosmetic, but if you want me to, I can give it a check up. I'm confident I can repair any damage that animal did to it."

For a long time the little boy stared at his blade, and eventually Demetra began to regret what she'd done, wondering if she'd made a mistake, but to her surprise, Peter lifted his head to reveal huge dewy eyes before throwing himself forward and wrapping his arms around her legs.

Caught off guard, Demetra simply froze. After a moment though, she smiled and wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

"You really are the greatest!" Natasha whispered in awe with a huge grin, and big dewy eyes as well.

Completely overwhelmed by all the praise, Demetra struggled to get the attention off of herself. Then she thought of something.

"Well, if you want to thank me, there is something you can do for me."

Their eyes widening excitedly, the children nodded.

"Da! Yes! What is it?!"

Demetra smiled at them with a tender expression.

"Would you mind taking a picture with me?" She requested. "It's my sister's birthday, and since it's the first time we can't spend it together, I'm supposed to celebrate for us both, and take lots of pictures to show her in the morning."

She gave the little girl a lopsided smile then.

"I should have asked you for one at your stand earlier, but I'm afraid it slipped my mind."

Natasha's grin was a hundred watts.

"Da, of course!" She agreed enthusiastically. "We would love to take a picture with you!"

Pulling out her cell phone, Demetra leaned down to the children's levels and took a few pictures with them. When that was all over, the children spent some more time praising the teens, until eventually Demetra convinced them it was time to go. After some heartfelt farewells, the two children eventually turned and went on their own way too.

When Demetra looked towards her partner, she noted Tala giving her a strange look.

"What?" She asked defensively.

"Noting." He said, uncrossing his arms and wiping the expression from his face. "You just surprise me sometimes, your highness."

Demetra rolled her eyes, figuring he was making fun of her again. Ignoring Tala for the time being, she took a while to bask in the glow of the beautiful moment, before a thought struck her that both burst her bubble, and heated her insides to a sickening degree. Staring at the snow as she struggled internally, eventually Demetra turned towards her companion with an uncertain expression.

"I probably should have asked sooner..." She began, mumbling a little. "Seeing as you've been giving me the grand tour all night... after all, Tori made me promise I'd spend the night with someone, and if I don't have enough pictures to convince her you actually stuck around, I'll never hear the end of it. I did get pictures of everyone and virtually everything else, so I might as well take one with you too... Besides-"

"Gimme that."

Suddenly slipping the phone from her fingers, Tala lifted it and snapped a quick picture.

"There ya go, Princess, a picture with yours truly." He teased with a cheeky expression. "A man could die of boredom listening to you ramble on."

Demetra blinked in stunned surprise, then focused on the screen before them and frowned at the terrible picture of herself.

"I wasn't ready." She argued crossly, narrowing her eyes on her companion. "You know I wasn't. Victoria will never forgive me if that's the best I have to offer. You owe me a better one then that."

Tala chuckled.

"And who knew you were such a drama queen?" He teased impishly. "Maybe that's what I should be calling you instead of Princess, Queenie."

"Only if you have a death wish." Demetra replied in annoyance before reaching out for her cell. "Gimme that."

Grabbing the cell back, she gave the redhead the stink eye before turning the cell towards them both.

"Ready?" She asked flatly.

"Yea." Tala replied with a hint of amusement in his voice.

A little wearily, Demetra sighed, then forced a calm expression and snapped the picture. Pausing to look at it, she felt a tug at her heart when she took it in. The picture was beautiful; they both looked like two long-time friends enjoying a night out together, and from the look of their expressions, you'd never say they were barely able to tolerate each other most days.

"It's not bad." Demetra forced herself to say tonelessly. "But I'd better take one more just in case."

"Right. Just in case." Tala replied teasingly. "For your sister, of course."

Demetra felt her face flush hotly and looked away from the redhead.

"Obviously." She replied, avoiding making eye contact with him as her cheeks pinkened.

Turning the cell back towards them a second time, Demetra snapped the picture.

This time the picture literally stole Demetra's breath away. The expressions on both teens face was indescribably happy; they both looked like a pair of lovers spending the night together, and hoping to preserve the moment to look back on forever. There was a soft and peaceful expression on Tala's face, one she'd never seen him wear before, and Demetra couldn't recall a more beautiful sight.

"If you looked like that all the time, I'd never be able to resist your brazen advances..."

Figuring she'd better quit while she was ahead, Demetra lowered the cell.

"You're supposed to smile like that during the picture, Princess, not after."

Demetra looked to her left to see her partner grinning teasingly.

"I can't have photographic evidence of that." She replied good naturedly without missing a beat. "I have a reputation to protect."

Tala laughed at that, and the sound made Demetra's heart soar. Without realizing, another small smile lifted her lips.

"You know, you don't look half bad when you smile. " Tala teased. "It kinda helps make up for your lacking personality. You should do it more often, you might make a friend or two."

Demetra scoffed as they headed down the road away from the stadium.

"Why take the risk?" She countered sarcastically. "They might end up being just like you."

On point as always, Tala was quick to retort as well.

"You wish." He replied after a laugh. "Only one perfect specimen per person, you've already got your quota."

Cracking a grin at that, Demetra was unable to hold back a laugh as the pair made their way back towards the village.

"So when do I get my kiss?"

The only response the redhead got for that was a shove into the show bank.