Lots of randomness in this chapter! Yeah! Fluffy, scary Martha-induced moments!!!



Rei smiled happily to himself as he heard Kai brushing his teeth. In truth, he had woken up before Kai and had been worried that the team captain would be pissed off with him to see them tangled together, but when Kai woke up and did nothing . . .

Next, Rei heard the sound of running water started and realized Kai must be taking a shower. So he got up and stretched, glad for the sunlight that helped wake him up fully. He walked the full inch or so to the other side of the room and pulled out some clothes from the dresser. He was just about to pull his t-shirt off and get dressed when there was a knock on the door and then Kenny and Max came in.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Rei asked, noting that they both looked quite worried about something. He hoped it wasn't anything like they had saw Martha downstairs or something to that effect.

"Tyson's got a cold or something," Max said, biting his lower lip. "He's awake, but he doesn't realize we're there or something. You have to come see what's wrong, please?"

"Oh sure, just a second," Rei said immediately, hoping nothing too bad had happened to Tyson. Chances were he just overate or something, but you could never be too sure.

He and Kenny and Max were just about to leave the room when Kai came out of the bathroom, only wearing a towel. He blinked at Kenny and Max, who both turned away, and then he turned to Rei. "Hey Rei, could you please throw me some clean clothes? I forgot to bring some in here."

Rei nodded and dug quickly through Kai's suitcase to hide the fact that he was blushing in a very adorable manner. He came up with a pair of jeans, a blue tank top and some boxers. He blushed even more at the fact that he would know what Kai was wearing underneath his pants. Forcing himself to look up, Rei handed the clothes to Kai.

"Thanks," Kai said shortly, and then frowned, "Are you getting sick? Your face is all red."

If it was at all possible, Rei's face got all the more red. Kenny quickly said, "Well, actually, Tyson is sick right now. Can you two come see?"

Kai nodded after a minute. "Just give me a moment to change," he said and went into the bathroom.

"Hey Rei, are you sure that you're not sick too?" Max asked innocently. He said this so innocently that Rei wasn't sure if he was joking or not. "Cause Kai's right; you look all red and stuff. Do you have a fever or something?" He held out his hand and put it against Rei's forehead. "No I don't think you have a fever. Hmmmm, then what could it be?"

Rei knew now that Max knew, so he scowled. "Just . . . a bit hot," he muttered.

Luckily, he was saved have having to say anything else (or have Max say anything to him) because at that moment Kai came out of the bathroom again, this time dressed. Rei blinked. He had never seen Kai wear a different tank top before. The blue one he now wore was just as tight as his black one, only it was cut in a 'v' fashion at the top, showing just a tiny bit of his muscled chest.

Rei realized he was almost drooling so he quickly said, "C'mon, let's go see Tyson now." He, Kenny and Max went out of the room, followed by Kai. No one saw Kai smirk in Rei's direction.

~~~

Once in Tyson's room, the four of them crowded around the bed (in the already crowded room). Tyson did not look well at all. He was moaning a little, and gazing at the ceiling with blank eyes.

"Tyson?" Max asked, cocking his head a little and trying to peer into Tyson's eyes. "Are you ok?"

"This doesn't look good," Kai muttered to Rei.

"What do you suspect?" Rei muttered back. They were as far away from the group as they could be in the small room now and though they were hardly two feet from the others, as long as they kept their voices down, they were fine.

"It might be . . . her . . ." Kai said, so quietly Rei could hardly hear him.

"I hope you're wrong," Rei said, "But how can we find out?"

"I don't know," Kai admitted, "But let's try."

So they rejoined Max and Kenny, who were now looking at Tyson with worried looks in their eyes. Kai somewhat pushed Max out of the way and stood in front of Tyson. "Tyson!" he said loudly.

Tyson finally looked, dazed, at Kai. He sat up in his bed and cocked his head, obviously not seeing Kai clearly. And then he opened his mouth and spoke. When he spoke, Kai's fears were confirmed. Tyson was talking in a dual voice; his and Martha's. "Hello. Kai. Rei." The dual voice said, turning to them in turn. "Oh, don't look surprised! I haven't taken over his body completely, but I just wanted to warn you. I'm going to get you Rei. You stopped me from taking over his body."

"Well, you have your body back," Kai spat, angrily. "Leave Rei alone." He blinked, wondering if he said that aloud. Everyone else sweat dropped, anime style. "Yeah, just leave us alone," Kai said finally.

"Yeah, what he said!" Rei said happily.

"You do not understand, do you?" Tyson continued in the dual voice. It was so weird to look at him and hear that. "My body is weak from me not being in it. It will soon die again. If I had kept Kai's body, I would have continued out my life. After a little operation, of course."

Kai's eyes widened, as did Rei's. Now, more than ever, Kai was happy that Martha had not taken him out of his body. Suddenly, he turned to Kenny and asked, "Hey, if Martha WAS to take over my body, where would my soul go?"

Everyone sweat dropped again, and Kai shrugged. Tyson beat his fists on the bed, angry that the attention wasn't on him. (Of course, Tyson wasn't really doing that; Martha was making him do that).

"I want a new body," Martha said, "And I'll get it. But now I need to kill someone to possess them properly. So watch out Rei . . . watch out . . ." Tyson then shuddered and his head rolled back.

Max immediately jumped on the small bed and shook Tyson. "Wake up Tyson!" He said, and Tyson slowly opened his eyes.

He blinked, "What's up with you guys? You all look so worried!"

"Ummm, Tyson," Kenny said, "I hate to have to say this, but Martha just possessed your body and was threatening Rei and Kai!" Kenny groaned, "And she sounded dead serious! You have no idea how scary it is to see the lady who can tell you the difference between having a rose in your flower vase as opposed to daises!"

Tyson shuddered, and then looked at Rei and Kai. Kai was holding the black haired boy rather possessively, and glaring. "Ummm, what's up with you two?"

"Like I said, Tyson," Kenny explained, "You were possessed by Martha and threatening them. She threatened to kill Rei!"

"No way!" Tyson said.

A thick air of silence hung around them as they all glanced worriedly at each other and then, quite suddenly, some cheesy mystery music started playing.

Everyone blinked.

"Dizzi! I told you not to play that file!" Kenny said.

Everyone fell down anime style (even Kai, and since he was holding onto Rei they ended up falling in a rather . . . interesting position. (Picture this, if you want a description. Rei is lying on the ground, and Kai is sitting right between his legs, squashed up by Max who fell on his back.)

When they had all finally stood up again and decided not to worry about Martha's threat too much (What could a woman who spends hours on end talking about rearranging furniture know about killing someone anyway??), and then went down for breakfast.

"Remember, the tournament begins in an hour," Kai said, "So eat quickly."

"Yes sir!" Max said, laughing.

Kai just glared, and said nothing. However, everyone finished eating in less than half an hour, so he had nothing to worry about as they all arrived at the tournament site half an hour before they needed to be there.

"Wow, this place is amazing," Kenny said as they walked up to the building. It was only a story high, but the stone walls were completely covered in intricate designs and whatnot. Even Kai looked openly impressed, to a degree, anyway.

"This building was built over two hundred years ago," Dizzi told them, "And the designs were carved by hand by fifteen artists and sculptors. It only took five days to complete all of the designs."

"You're kidding," Max said, in awe. They walked into the building. It was basically had a center room (where the Beyblading took place) with a hallway all around it (and all sorts of merchants and the like had set up booths and stalls to get people to buy stuff, of course).

"There's so many people here," Tyson muttered.

"Remember to watch your back, Rei," Kai told Rei. Rei nodded, pleased that Kai was worried about him.

They went into a side room to get copies of the tournament times to figure out when their match was. Their first match was actually the first of the entire competition, so they went to the center of the main room and sat down, discussing their strategy.

"Alright, then, let's discuss strategy," Rei said, which was a bit redundant since they already knew they were going to do that, but oh well. "We'll be up against a team called . . ." Rei paused, and said, "Now who in the world would name their team 'Team Trend?' I don't know about you, but that's just a bit of a weird name."

"Obviously, they would," Kai said, pointing to the other team that had just walked to the other bench. Three girls, all with long straight (obviously dyed) blonde hair, and matching black mini skirts and tank tops (in green, pink and blue) were sitting down and chatting about something.

"They don't look that tough," Max said uncertainly, "Are you sure they're the team we're going to be up against?"

"Don't get thrown off guard," Kai said sternly, glaring at the other team, "They only want you to think that they aren't that good. The moment you let down your guard you'll be beaten and I don't want any of you to lose." He continued to glare at the opposing team.

"Yeah, Kai is right!" Kenny said, "Dizzi and I are analyzing their blades and they're not going to be easy to beat. Our best bet is to send out our best, and get it over with. Tyson, may I see your blade?"

"Umm, sure Chief," Tyson said, pulling out his blade and handing it to Kenny. "What's up with it?"

"I think I should reconfigure the attack ring and strengthen the weight disk," Kenny explained, "Because you need some more force behind your blade for the tougher opponents."

"Ummm, sure," Tyson said again, "But chief, we're gonna be blading in less than ten minutes. You can't reconfigure my blade in then minutes! Can you?"

"No," Kenny shook his head, "But I really think I should do this. Kai, would you take Tyson's place, please because I really do need to do this."

Kai shrugged, which Kenny took to mean as a 'yes.' "Besides, Tyson," he added, "This way, it's like having a secret weapon!"

"Ok, I like the sound of that," Tyson said, smiling. "Secret weapon Tyson! Ok, Kenny, do your best to my blade! I have full faith in you."

Kenny grinned and pulled out his case of beyblade pieces. "Ok, Dizzi, let's get to work, shall we?"

"What's with this 'we' business?" Dizzi replied, "You're going to make me do all the work, aren't you?"

"Dizzi, I never make you do all the work!"

"What about that one time during the Asian tournament?"

"Ok, so there was that one time."

"And the time between then and the American tournament?"

"Ok so two times. . ."

"And the -"

"Alright, alright, I get the picture. Don't worry Dizzi, we'll work together on this, I promise."

Dizzi couldn't say anything back because then the lights dimmed and the tournament began! After a few glares from Kai, Max stepped up to the dish for the Bladebreakers first. The girl in the blue tank top came up to the dish as well. She tossed her hair back and pulled out her beyblade. Max blinked. It was quite small, and seemed quite simple.

"Heeey," said the girl, "My name is Tina! Are you, like, ready to, like, beyblade!?"

"Sure," Max said, wondering just what he had gotten himself into.

Then it was time to unveil the trick dish for the match. Max and Tina both stared at the ground as the dish was unveiled.

"You've GOT to be kidding me!" Max groaned, as he looked at the dish.

That's right; the dish consisted of the basic dish with a small, short vase and many flowers, both inside the vase and spread around the outside of the base.

"Ah, yes, the flower bowl," came a voice, but not a voice anyone was used to hearing. Yup, it was Martha, "The vase is a work of Grecian art and the flower arrangement is most magnificent . . . take a moment to notice how the peonies blend with the choice of greenery, ivy . . ."

Kai and Rei groaned.

"Oh, right," Martha said, "I'm here to commentate on the matches today! Well, first up is Max from the Bladebreakers versus Tina from Team Trend!"

Determined not to let Martha being there cost him his chance of winning, Max concentrated instead on the dish, trying to figure out the best plan of attack. The only problem was, there were so many flowers that his blade would have to dodge them all or they would screw him up.

"Three! Two! One! Let it rip!" called Martha.

Instantly, Tina and Max launched their beyblades towards the dish. Both of them landed on either side and began racing around the bowl, dodging flowers.

"You may think you can, like, win," giggled Tina, "But I'm, like, better than you would think!" She grinned, probably attempting for a smirk, but failing miserably. "Let's go, Tribetha!" She called out.

"Tribetha?" Max wondered to himself, "What kind of a name for a bitbeast is that?" He shook his head, not caring, and yelled back, "Draciel! Let her have it! Now!"

Back on the bench, Kai and Rei glanced at Max and Rei asked, "Do you think he can win?"

"Yeah, I'm sure he can," Kai said in an offhand sort of way, "It's just a matter of hoping that Martha doesn't do anything to you while you're Beyblading."

Rei smiled a little, "I'm glad to know you care, Kai," He said softly, but Kai heard him.

Kai refrained from saying some smartass reply, such as 'I'm only caring because without you we'd lose the tournament,' but for some reason, Kai just DIDN'T want to see Rei sad.

/And you know exactly why you don't want Rei to feel sad, don't you./

'Darn you, you stupid voice, why'd you have to come back?'

/I never left, you know. I'm always here. I just happen to like bugging you every now and then./

'Gee, make me feel loved, why don't you?'

/You are loved; Rei loved you/

'How would you know?'

/I just do./

'Quit acting so smug.'

Kai was still arguing with himself when once again Rei spoke up, "Hey Kai?"

Kai blinked a few time, getting out of the argument with himself and turning to Rei. "Yeah?"

"Should I go next, or do you want to?" Rei asked hesitantly, as if he knew that Kai was busily thinking (read: arguing).

"Ummm, doesn't matter to me. Whatever you want to do," Kai heard himself say, and then he quickly refrained from letting that annoying voice in his head tell him, /I told you so/

The voice told him anyway.

"I'd like to go next, if you don't mind," Rei said after a moment.

"Ok," Kai nodded. Suddenly, there was a burst of applause, which could only mean the beyblade match was over. Max had won.

"Good job Max!" Tyson said, giving his friend a hug.

"I think we over estimated them," Max said, giving everyone a 'v' sign as he grinned.

"We'll see about that," Rei muttered, nervously walking up to the bowl. He was now in the open, easy prey for Martha . . .

"Next up is Tracy from Team Trend! And Rei from the bladebreakers," Martha announced. There was a predatory way to the way she said Rei's name, and Rei involuntarily shuddered.

"Scared?" Tracy asked. She was wearing a pink tank top.

"Not of you," Rei replied.

"Really, is that any way to behave to a lady?" Tracy said, hands on hips. She pulled out her beyblade. It, too, was really small. Rei blinked. 'What's up with the small beyblades? Doesn't that make them weaker to attacks?"

"Three! Two! One! Let it rip!"

He launched his blade, as did Tracy. They started attacking each other right away, and Rei saw that Tracy's blade matched his blow for blow.

Kenny looked up from his laptop and Tyson's beyblade. "Rei is in trouble, you know." He said, "Tracy's beyblade is smaller, but it weighs a lot. That gives it an advantage since it's spinning twice as fast as Rei's blade. If he doesn't go in for the attack, he'll lose."

Up at the dish, Tracy smirked. "I'll bet you thought I was going to be just as easy to beat as Tina! Well, that's where you've made your first mistake!"

'Oh no,' Rei thought, 'Her blade is going so much faster than mine. With a speed advantage like that, what can I do? Her attacks are more likely to hit. . . .'

"Scared now, aren't you?" Tracy taunted.

"Not of you," came the same response as before, only this time, Kai had said it.

"Kai!" Rei said, turning to look at him.

"Listen Rei, she's got a faster beyblade than you, and you can't do anything about that. But with her weight disk taking up so much of her beyblade, she doesn't have a decent attack ring. You have to attack her faster than she can and you'll win!" Kai said quickly.

"But how can I?" Rei asked.

"That," Kai said, smirking, "You have to figure out on your own."

/Plus if you talk to him anymore you're going to want to hug and kiss him in front of everyone/ the annoying voice told him, and although Kai argued, 'No, I just want him to learn things on his own,' he really didn't disagree that much with his voice.

Rei glanced at Kai's retreating form, and then back to the match at hand.

"Ready to give up?" Tracy asked.

"Never," Rei said. Forgetting for a moment about Martha, he turned his attention fully to his beyblade. 'Only one attack will overpower her,' he thought, 'but I have to move faster than her!' "GO, DRIGGER!" he shouted, and his bitbeast lit up, as his blade charged at Tracy's.

"Wait, what are you doing?" she wailed, "Don't fail me now!" She called to her blade.

Rei grinned and his beyblade sped up, on collision course with Tracy's blade. The two collided, and there was a huge explosion. When the dust cleared, both blades were stopped right next to the vase. Suddenly, the vase cracked and pieces of glass shattered all around the bowl.

'Wow, that was so powerful!' thought Rei, and then, 'I can't believe I TIED!'

Dejectedly, he walked back to the bench. "Sorry, guys," He said.

"hey, you did your best!" Tyson said, and Max and Kenny nodded. Rei smiled, and then turned to Kai to see what he would do.

"Well, I had to agree, you did your best," Kai said, sighing, and standing up, "But your best didn't win, so we're going to have to practice, ok?" Rei nodded; he had expected that.

Kai started walking to the dish. He muttered to Rei as he past, "Good job, though. You did good."

Rei smiled.

Martha's voice then rang out, "And now for the final battle! Tiffany from Team Trend! Versus Kai from the bladebreakers." Although if you weren't looking for it, you wouldn't have heard it, Martha said Kai's name like it was a curse.

"C'mon Kai!" Rei cheered.

Tiffany, in her blue tank top, chewed on some gum and looked, bored, at Kai. "Can we just get this over with?"

"Three . . . two . . . one . . . let it rip!"

They both launched their blades, now having to avoid the glass from the vase as well as all of the flowers. Suddenly the two blades collided, and just like that, Tiffany's blade was knocked out.

"Happy?" smirked Kai. Tiffany's eyes got wide, and then she turned and stalked back to her bench, obviously crying. Kai rolled his eyes and turned back to the bench. "Alright then, we're set here. Kenny, how much longer will it take for you to finish Tyson's blade?"

Kenny shrugged, "I can't tell you exactly, to be perfectly honest, but I'm sure I'll be done by tonight."

Kai nodded. "We have one more match today. Same order."

The others nodded, and followed him out of the stadium to get lunch.

When they got outside, a woman was waiting for them.

"I knew you'd be out in a minute," Martha said, grinning.

"You. Get away from us," Kai said, and they continued walking.

"No." Martha said simply. She jumped up in front of Kai. "No." she repeated.

"And why not?" Kai asked, glaring. Tyson, Max and Kenny glared from either side of him, and Rei stood unconsciously closer to him.

"Because," Martha said, "Two reasons. One, I do need to kill Rei, and two, I think you're cute."

Kai blinked, as if he had just been smacked in the head by an easy bake oven. "You had BETTER be kidding, about BOTH of those," Kai said, narrowing his eyes. "You had BETTER be kidding."

"And if I'm not?" Martha asked, laughing.

"I'll kill you," Kai said, his words a deathly promise, and with that, he stalked off, the others following. Amazingly (ok, so just for the sake of the plot) Martha did not follow them.

"I'll kill her too," Rei said. He added to himself, 'Because Kai. Is. Mine."

He briefly considered buying a permanent marker and writing that on Kai's body while he slept.