Beyblade: The NinteySixth Dimension

by theunstoppable

When a mysterious book is passed around the town, people begin showing up dead. Ray, Tyson, Kai and Miranda (Max's sister) find that an old legend has come back to haunt them... but who is the culprit of the murders?

The Ninety-Sixth Dimension

  Beyblade Version

(Note: I do not own the characters in this story)

"Hey guys check this out!" A chubby, maroon eyed, dark blue haired Beyblader exclaimed, his baseball cap turned backward and pulling out a thick, dusty book.

He stepped down off the ladder and plonked the book onto one of the tables, the dust flying off it.  On the front, as the Beyblader wiped it away, it read 'La Novanta-Sesto Dimensione'.

"That's some old book, Tyson" Another Beyblader said, approaching him.  He was the same age, black hair, orange eyes, and sharp canines.

"It's creepy enough" Tyson coughed from the dust, "You open it, Ray"

Ray looked at him oddly, and then turned to see if anyone was watching.

"Well what does it mean? What does the title say?" He asked, and the both of them glanced over to one of their other friends, leaning on a chair in the corner of the room. 

He seemed older, tall blue spiky hair, dark red eyes, and two blue marks on either side of his cheeks.  When he noticed them staring he got up out of his chair and went to the window.

"Kai! Come look at this!" Tyson cried, but Kai just ignored them, "…Mr. Cranky Pants"

Ray opened the book slowly.  He read it softly to himself.

"Novanta-Sesto means Ninety-Six and Dimensione… Well obviously means Dimension"

"The Ninety-Sixth Dimension? So it's not in a different language?" Ty asked.

"No, it's definitely in English.  It's really old.  Dating back to 1572!"

"Whoa!"

"The first passage says this: A worship gathering just five hundred years ago.  A worship gathering of ninety-six million people to appease the god, Rajah, lord of the universe.  A mistake was made and they called upon the gods of evil instead.  The now possessed people turned on each other and killed each other one by one, until there was only one man left standing.  The ninety-five million, nine hundred thousand and ninety ninth person." Ray spoke on, and Kai at the window looked over, listening intently to what was being said, "That man is now known as Cinque Morties, or in English, Five Deaths.  This representing the amount of people declared dead in one killing by Morties.  He still exists to this very day.  Looking for more blood, waiting to feast on flesh and skin…"

"STOP!" Kai snapped, covering the part he was reading with his hand, 'Don't read on!"

"Why not?" Ray questioned.

 "Yeah! It was just getting gory!" Tyson chirped.

"I know this tale.  It's been told before.  But not this way"

"What do you mean?" Ray asked and Kai took the book from him, and slammed it shut.

"It won't tell you this in the book, because that's what they want.  They want you to fall into the trap"

Tyson and Ray glared at him and down at the book.

"My grandfather once told me that a man possessed with evil would hunt you down if you read an entire passage from a book with the same name as this.  The way I heard it, the story was not finished.  It is very, very stupid to finish reading it.  It is a trap. So many people in the world depend upon books as entertainment.  More of a reason to curse one.  I know it said that it was written in the fifteen hundreds, but that passage clearly said five-hundred years AGO."

Ray gasped.

"It did too! But to say that wouldn't it mean as if the story was written in the current future?"

"Yes.  The work of a curse.  If I hadn't have stopped you, you both would have been eaten alive by a maniac"

Tyson smiled and waved his hand, grabbing the book back in the process.

"You don't actually believe that do you?"

Kai stared at him and snatched the book back again.

"Yes, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered you"

Tyson leapt up and threw his arm around Kai's shoulder stupidly.

"Cause I know that you care about us!"

Kai snuffed a laugh and pulled him off.

"Actually, I wanted to save my own skin" He explained, taking the book with him as he left the room.

Ray sighed and shook his head.

"He has to learn to put up with us"

"Aww, leave him alone.  It's his fault if he doesn't want friends"

Ray laughed.

At that very moment a young girl, same age as Ray entered where Kai left.  Ray looked up, his face blushing brightly, and the stared back down at the table.

"Well, well, if it isn't the Bladebreaker kids" She smiled, putting the books she had in her arms down before sitting.

She had short spiked reddish brown hair, with flakes of blonde, bright blue eyes and a sort of star on her cheek.

"Hey… Melody" Ray mumbled, still staring at the table.

Melody was the nickname that the Bladebreakers had given her, even though her real name is Miranda.

"Why on earth are you here in the library?" She asked politely, and Tyson scratched his head.

"Studying previous Beyblade champions"

"Studying without my brother? I'm sure that Max would hate it anyway"

Miranda looked at Ray and he looked back at her.  She then glanced around the room.

"Where's Kai?"

"The sore ass just left a second ago.  I'm surprised you didn't see him"

Miranda leant over Tyson.

"Is he still cute?"

Ty shook his head.

"You're still crushin' on him?"

Miranda blushed and Ray frowned.  He suddenly realized why he hated Kai.

"What do you see in him?" Ray asked, rather annoyed.

She sighed and thought to herself.

"Everything that is good about him"
"I don't see anything good about him" Ray replied.

Miranda got up and gathered her books.  She put her hand on top of Ray's.

"Don't be jealous.  I know what you are trying to say"

She turned to leave, and Ray pouted to himself.

"I'm gonna go find him.  If I don't, I'm goin' home, kay? See yas!"

Tyson and Ray waved goodbye and she disappeared.  The room became empty. The fading light coming in the window was the only thing lighting the room enough to see.  Tyson pulled a book titled 'Beybladers of the 18th Century' written in gold letters on the front, to him and flipped through it silently.  Ray did the same thing.

"Do you believe that legend, Tyson?" He asked quietly, and Ty looked up.

"No, not really" He replied, "Seems a little difficult to believe to believe, don't you think?"

"Yes but sometimes it's not that simple"

"Kai's just trying to freak us out" Ty ended, just as Kai came back into the room.

"Speak of the … DEVIL" Ray said, emphasizing the word 'devil'.

Kai stopped and stared at him when he heard it.

"Got a problem, Ray" He demanded, "You afraid that Melody likes me too well?"

Ray growled and frowned back.

"It's not that at all!"

Tyson jumped up and blocked Kai and Ray's views of each other.

"Whoa! Guys! You're friends! Not enemies!"

Kai grunted and sat back in the chair in the corner.  Ray brushed his fingers through his fringe and went back to reading.

"Where'd you put the book, Kai?"

"I hid it.  No one should ever find it" He replied, not looking over to him, "Oh, and Ray, I ran into Melody… She said she wanted me more than ever"

Ray got up and slapped his hands down on the table.

"Kai, leave me the fuck alone!" He yelled the sound echoing around the library walls.

He left the room, Tyson in utter shock, and Kai still staring out the window.

"Wow …Language!" Tyson cried, "Ray, I never knew your vocabulary was so extended"

"Jealous bastard" Kai said, clearly out loud.

"LANGUAGE, PLEASE!"

Tyson came over to Kai and pulled his chair out.

"Why do you have to tease him?"

"I can't help it if I'm too hot for her" Kai explained, flexing his hands and smiling, "So she thinks I'm super sexy.  Not exactly my fault"

Tyson scratched his nose.

"Uhhhh, yeah…"

"Look," Kai began, "We need to win that three on three battle next week"

"I'm workin' on it!" Tyson retorted, pulling his blade out of his pocket.

"Tell Ray that if he wants to continue to be on this team that he's gonna' have to get over Melody"

There was a minute of silence.  Tyson stared down at Kai, and back at his blade.  He placed it back into his pocket and sighed.

"It's not going to be that easy" He mumbled, going back to his seat.

The following week, the crowds were packed early into the Sparks Stadium, due north of South Dakota, for the three on three Beyblade battles.  The best teams were collected from all over the world, and the Bladebreakers were the best in America.  Tyson had found Ray, and used the remaining time to practice as they could.  Kai on the other hand had disappeared, for he had promised to meet them at the stadium that day of the competition.  When Tyson and Ray stepped off the shuttle bus he was no-where to be seen.

"Aww! How could Kai do this to us!?" Tyson bellowed from the locker rooms and he threw his ripcord against the wall.

Ray came over; retrieving the cord and handing it back to him.

"Well if he doesn't show up soon you and me will have to go it alone"

Tyson grabbed his head.

"But we can't! We're up against the Mutants! They'll destroy us! Remember? Three… now on two!"

"Tyson, I've never seen you so worried about winning.  Why so tense?"

"I know exactly why he didn't show up! It's because of you! If you and he didn't have to start hating each other then maybe he would be here!"

"HEY! YOU HAVE NO-IDEA WHAT IT FEELS LIKE, TYSON! DON'T EVEN START ME OFF WITH YOU!" Ray barked back, and Ty held his hands out in front of him.

"Alright… But we can't start.  We need to think about how we are going to win"

"We have no choice but to go it alone" Ray explained, setting his Beyblade onto his launcher.

At that instant, Kai approached the door, but turned and continued down the corridor.  Tyson and Ray leapt up to catch him.

"Kai! Kai wait!" Tyson yelled, but he ignored him.

He continued walking as if the two of them weren't even walking next to him.

"Why don't you get over it and help us in the battle?" Ray ordered and Kai stopped.

"Look, Ray.  You seem to have a problem with me, so therefore I've backed out"

"WHAT!?" Tyson screamed, now angrier.

"You're fine on your own, Tyson… As for you…" He proceeded, obviously referring to Ray, even though his back was facing them, "… I'm looking for Melody.  I'm sure she's looking for me too"

Ray kept himself from jumping forward in rage, and squeezed his Beyblade in his fist.  Kai chuckled and continued walking, leaving the two behind.

"How dare he" Ray mumbled angrily.

Tyson looked in the direction of the stadium, as over the speakers the Bladebreakers were called up for their battle.

"We're screwed" Tyson whined, as he dragged his feet down and out into the stadium.

The crowds cheered and applauded as the two teams entered the arena.  Tyson and Ray passed the opposing team, The Mutants, and the team leader approached them.  He held out his hand to Ray.

"Bladebreakers! I'm Darius! The leader of the Mutants"

"Hey" Ray replied, unenthusiastically, while shaking his hand.

The leader was short and bulky, straight shoulder length blue hair, bright orange eyes, and pointy ears, looking much like an elf.

"Good luck" He said, and leant in closer to whisper, "Oh and watch out.  Cinque Morties is about…"

Tyson and Ray gasped from sudden fright.

"You heard it too… I mean what are you talking about?"

"Yeah?" Ray cut in, "What do you mean he's about?"

"Man, you've been in a closet the past week and a half! Didn't you hear? Morties has started again.  He's already killed five kids.  Found them in the South Dakota State Library on that Saturday night"

"A week ago? But that was the same day that we were there!"

Darius glared at him as if he were the one to kill them.

"Well then, you two better keep an eye out" Darius finished, before heading back to his teammates.

Tyson and Ray glanced at each other, and made their way across the stadium to the opposite side.

They stood there, now gazing around at the crowds.  The announcer popped up on the big screen, just above them, in the centre of the arena.  He flicked his headset microphone and began.

"WELCOME LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! BEYBLADERS ALIKE! THIS IS THE FIRST ROUND OF THE THREE ON THREE TOURNAMENTS!  TODAY WE WILL SEE THE TWO TOP TEAMS IN THE WORLD BATTLE IT OUT WITH ONLY THREE OF THEIR BEST BLADERS!"

The crowds screamed and cheered, and the announcer continued,

"THEY ARE THE MUTANTS AND THE BLADEBREAKERS!" He let the crowd applaud and cheer, "TEAMS CHOOSE YOUR BLADERS!"

Tyson stepped forward slightly, but Ray pulled him back.

"Let me go first"

"We really need Kai" Tyson replied, and Ray frowned angrily.

"Forget him.  We can do it alone"

The announcer dressed in all black, red and blue with a blue scarf wrapped tightly around his head stared down at the two of them and pointed.

"BLADEBREAKERS! WHERE'S YOUR THIRD PLAYER?!"

Tyson and Ray looked up at him on a railed balcony and shrugged hard.

"WELL, YOU HAVE A TWO AGAINST THREE CHANCE OF WINNING NOW! GOOD LUCK!"

"Yeah, luck…" Ray said quietly to himself and stepped up to the field.

The Mutants chose Darius as their first blader, and he also stepped up to the field.

"Watch out for Morties!" He yelled across at Ray, but he just scowled back.

The announcer cleared his cleared his throat and began again.

"WELL, IN THE TRADITION OF THE COUNTRY WE'RE IN, THERE HAS ALWAYS BEEN ONE PLACE WHERE RELAXING IS WORK! THAT IS HAWAII!! SO OUR FIRST BOWL IS THE HAWAII BOWL!"

The field opened up and revealed a very large scene, with sand, palm trees and jungle.  There in the middle was something that neither Ray nor the rest of the stadium expected.  Kai and Miranda were lying on the sand at the very edge of the bowl, and moving in a rhythmic fashion.  Ray and Tyson gasped.  The stadium fell deathly silent and the only thing that could be heard was Kai lying on top of Miranda and making awfully nauseous sounds.  Ray rubbed his eyes, but still stared.  The announcer dropped his microphone.  Mothers and fathers in the crowd were coving their children's eyes and dragging them away.  Tyson covered his eyes for a second, and uncovered them deliberately to watch.  The Mutants refused to watch, and rather, left the stadium, quite disgusted.

Ray was absolutely dumbstruck.  Tyson was the same.  Ray looked around at the crowds, the soundless crowds staring directly at the bowl in center of the room.

"NO!" Ray screamed the sound echoing off the walls.

He shook his head hard and ran into the corridor, out of the view of everyone. Tyson shook himself to life and followed Ray out.

He bolted after him on full pursuit, and Ray turned into one of the locker rooms.  The sound of locker doors slamming echoed as Tyson entered the room.  He watched as Ray unclipped his Beyblade from his launcher and tossed it at the far wall, followed by the ripcord and launcher.  They smashed to the floor, and Ray slid unhappily down the locker he was against.  He put his head between his knees and covered his head with his arms.

Tyson approached him carefully, reluctant to ask him to get up.  He knelt on the floor next to him and put his hand on Ray's shoulder.

"I thought teasing me was bad enough!" He said, his voice muffled, "But this?! It's…It's wrong! It's uncalled for! It…hurts…"

Tyson sighed and leant back on his feet.

"I have to admit, that was really wrong…" He stopped; the image of what he just saw still vaigley in his mind.  He shuddered and continued, "REALLY wrong!… But, but now you see how much of an asshole Kai really is… Kai's an asshole… that's where that came from…"

Ray looked up.

"I already knew that.  This is just worse.  He's gone too far this time!"

"What are you going to do?"

"Get him back" Ray replied, looking determined.

Tyson's face turned foul.

"You're not gonna do it too?!"

"No… I need to talk to her.  Give her a lecture about this.  But what I don't understand is how Kai made her do such a thing"

"He's pretty manipulative, I'll give him that" Tyson explained, and Ray got to his feet slowly.

He stared at his hand, his shaking hand and balled it into a fist.

"He'll pay.  He'll pay dearly!" He exclaimed, as one of the Mutants members came to the door.  It was Darius.

"Did you see that?!" He cried.

"How could we not? You could hear it too!" Tyson replied sarcastically.

"Well the tournament has been cancelled, and those two 'animals' were arrested for indecent exposure"

"HA!" Tyson chirped and looked at Ray, "Serves him right!"  Ray stared back at him, annoyed, "Oh…right…Melody"

"She was arrested?" He asked, as if ignoring Tyson.

"You knew that girl?" Darius questioned, looking him up and down, "Sorry dude"

"She wasn't my girlfriend… Well not anymore" He said, hanging his head in a sort of shame.

"Wait… Is that why the tournament was cancelled? Can't they just continue?" Tyson started.

"That's not why"

"Then why?" Ray asked intuitively.

"Cinque Morties has struck again"

Ray and Tyson gasped.

"When?" Tyson asked nervously.

"Must have been some time this morning.  They found the Majestics team murdered in the Green Room"

"Shit" Ray snapped, "That's no joke!"

"The entire team?"

"Yep.  All five of them"

Tyson and Ray gaped at Darius weirdly, but shocked.  Ray sat down on the bench, as Tyson watched him.

Darius shook his head and stretched his fore arm with his other.

"Well, I'm off.  My other blader, Alpha is a little lacking in the 'spinning her blade' department" He explained, making rabbits ears, "She has trouble realizing the difference between a blade that spins and one that doesn't… So that's why you've never heard of her before"

Darius chuckled and left them alone.

Tyson completely ignored what was just said as he glared down at Ray.

"She was arrested? She's going to jail?"

"What about the Majestics!?" Tyson snapped back, "This Morties dude sounds real close"

He sat down on the bench next to him, and leant over.

"I don't want him to kill me…" He whispered, and Ray smiled.

"Just don't read that book, Tyson"

Ty took a deep breath and sighed.  He wiped his forehead stupidly.

"Well, I'm glad the book is gone now…"

Ray looked up at the ceiling.

"Yeah, but it must be floating around here somewhere.  I wonder how the Majestics had anything to do with it in the first place?"

Tyson also stared at the ceiling as if there was a fly squashed flat there.

"The funny thing is that every time there is a murder, we had to have been in that very building on the day"

Their eyes widened and they glanced at each other.  Tyson gulped with fear.  Ray got up again, restlessly and retrieved his Beyblade, rip cord and launcher off the marble floor and inspected it.

"I hope that Melody is alright." Tyson insisted and Ray put his blade and ripcord back onto his launcher.

"Yeah, me too…"  

The weekend came quite quickly.  There was no more news on the Majestics Murder at the stadium, because they had stretched it out long enough over the four days.  The incident with Miranda and Kai was also reported, although not including such explicit scenes that the crowds had witnessed.  It was so bad that a counseling group was set up for the younger children present at the time.  Tyson found this funny, but Ray was embarrassed that one of them included Miranda, a girl he used to date.

When the tabloids had worn the event down to the last snippet of information, Ray had finally plucked up the courage to visit Miranda.  Not knowing whether she'd gotten bailed from jail yet, he still approached her front door and rang the bell.

Miranda's face appeared in the stained glass window that was shaped like a bird.  She looked both worried and upset.  Ray figured it was pure embarrassment.  She opened the door, but her face lit up when she saw Ray.  In a flash instant she suddenly realized what she had done and lowered her head without looking back up.

"Hey Melody" Ray said politely, trying to ignore her embarrassment.

She sighed and glanced up quickly.

"Hey… Ray…" She replied reluctantly.

"Listen, I want to talk to you" He began, and she directed him to her living room not able to look Ray in the eyes.  She plonked down into the armchair followed by Ray sitting down on the sofa.

"Ray… I'm… So, so sorry.  I feel like such and idiot"

Ray stared back at her.

"Why did you do it?" He asked, sounding upset.

Miranda shook her head.

"I don't know.  It was Kai…"

Ray nodded slowly as if to understand, but she knew he was mad.

"I told you about him… but …you still didn't answer my question… why did you do it?"

"Believe me Ray! I don't know! It was something he did!"

She finally looked at him, but his eye contact never broke.

"… Funny.  Apparently that's how those things always happen"

"No… I don't mean it like that.  I mean something came over me"

Ray got up from his seat, and headed to the door.

"Listen; if you're going to give me details then I should leave right now"

Miranda got up to stop him, and she pulled him up the staircase.  She pushed him into her room and slammed the door.

"Look!" She snapped, "Do you even remember who I am!?"

"What do you mean?" Ray asked, sitting slowly down on her bed.

"Do you really think that I would do that!? Ray! You know me! Can't you see that there's something odd about that?! For gods sake I have stuffed animals on my bed and in my cupboards! Not condoms in my drawers and porn on my computer!"

Ray looked around at the room.  She was right.  There was a pile of stuffed animals on the head of her bed, and all around the room was decorated with posters of unicorns and planets, and little ceramics that she would get from him every birthday and Christmas.

"I don't understand" He started, "Then why did you do it?"

"I've been trying to tell you, Ray.  Before I entered the stadium that day, Kai approached me and gave me this box of cookies.  What can I say? I love cookies! But the box was red and black with some sort of Chinese symbol on it.  You might have recognized it Ray, but to me it just looked cool.  He dragged me downstairs and told me to taste them.  Well yeah, that was all that I remembered.  When I snapped out of the thing that the cookies did to me, I was in jail, and Kai was sitting peacefully next to me on the bench.  I asked what happened and he told me that I had stripped naked and ran around the stadium shouting: 'BLADEBREAKERS!! BLADEBREAKERS!!'  He said that was why I was in there for Indecent Exposure."

"What did he say happened to him?" Ray asked intently, now blushing from the thought of what Kai had said.

"All he said was: 'Punched someone…'"

"Liar" He mumbled, "Fat ass liar!"

Miranda nodded slowly and sat down next to him.  She looked at him, and when he finally looked up he stared her in the eyes.

"Why would he do that to me Ray?" She said, sounding innocent.

Ray shook his head.  He remembered what Tyson said to him on that day.

"Kai's an asshole" He replied, repeating what he had said.

Miranda pouted, now looking awfully upset.

"I still don't understand why, how?"

"Oh, I think I know the 'how' part.  It sounds like he gave you trance cookies.  A kind of Chinese spell"

"So I was right?"

Ray nodded now, still wondering.

"I know Kai's an asshole, but I still couldn't imagine him wanting to hurt anyone"
"He didn't really… hurt me" Miranda confessed.

"I know, but those cookies can't be good for you"

Miranda gulped, beginning to feel sick.

Ray got up from the bed and began to pace the room.  His eyes wandered from corner to corner, decoration to decoration and then to her bookshelf which was against the front wall beside her sliding mirrored wardrobe.  He walked on over to it, searching for something important.

"Melody" He started, looking over the books with his index finger, "Do you still have that book about China used on your last assessment?"

Miranda pointed over there as he continued looking.

He passed at least twenty books until he stopped on a big, dark brown one.  He pulled it out.

"Why do you have this?" He demanded, slamming the Ninety-Sixth Dimension book down on the floor.

"I borrowed it from the library not long ago"
"You didn't read it did you?" Ray asked cautiously.

"Yes. Why?"

Ray's eyes widened, as he stared down at the ground.  He rubbed his cheek and his head and looked up at her finally.

"How much of it did you read?" He asked nervously.

"All of it.  Why Ray? What's wrong?"  She replied, getting up.

Ray closed his eyes and dropped his head, his fists shaking angrily.

"You… Idiot!" He barked, jumping over quickly and grabbing her by the shoulder, "Haven't you heard?"

"What's the matter?  I don't understand Ray"

He pushed her of the way and turned back to pick the book up.

"This is an evil book" He began, waving it in her face, "Kai told us that if anyone reads just one passage in the entire story that you'll be hunted down and killed!"

Miranda smiled and waved her hand.

"Oh, Ray! You still believe in all that hogwash?"

"No, Melody.  It's true.  Remember hearing about those kids murdered in the library?  What about the Majestics Murder?  They all have something to do with this legend, I know it"
"They can't be.  It's just a coincidence that they happened to be killed in the same place that we were in"

"No, it's not.  You've got to believe me"

He took Miranda by her arm and sat in the chair at her computer.  He typed in some information in the search engines on the web and a long list of newspaper headlines came up.

"What about this?  You read the book.  Didn't it say about five-hundred years ago?"

Miranda nodded.

"Yes, but…"

"Well look here," He interrupted, beginning to read the list, "'Five Murdered In Town Hall', 'Brutal Slaying Of Five Beybladers', 'Mother and Children of Five Slaughtered', 'Mother's Day Massacre', 'Cinque Morties Strikes Again', 'Five Found Dead In Schoolyard', 'Five Deaths Spark Controversy', 'Legends Tell Of Unavoidable Fate', 'Police Baffled By Morties Murders', 'State Of Alert For Cinque Morties Victims', 'Murder Count Believed Over 60', 'Another Five Slain', 'The World Is Put On Alert For Legend', 'Morties Bumps Off Another Five', 'Reward Put Out For Capture And Killing Of Cinque Morties', 'Assassination Of Adversaries At Glitter Bowl', 'Morties Believing To Be Impossible Target For Police', 'Link To Murders Unknown', 'Morties: The Invisible Grim Reaper', 'The Unstoppable Force Of Cinque Morties', 'Death Toll Tallied To Two-Thousand', 'US and World Government On High Panic', don't you get it?  These papers date back at least five-hundred years or so.  They even knew that it was Morties but couldn't do anything about it"

Miranda's face went pale.  Everything around her went dark.

"No, it's… It's not true…"

"They say it right there, Melody.  'Cinque Morties'"

She shook her head slowly.  Ray got up and looked at the book, now thinking.  He scratched his chin then glanced up at Miranda, who looked almost terrified.

"Now do you believe me?" He said nervously, taking her hand.

Miranda nodded slowly and glanced at the book on her bed.

"What am I going to do?"

"We have to find Tyson.  He can help us hide you for now"

Ray pulled her out of her room and they slammed the door behind them.

The mid morning sun blazed, high in the sky and a flock of birds burst out of one of the trees close by.  Ray and Miranda bolted around the corner and down the street due west.  They came to a sudden stop, Miranda puffing and panting.  Ray looked around him for a second, sized Miranda's hand and took off once more.

"Where are we going!?" Miranda yelped.

"To the stadium! Tyson will be there training!"

People on the street watched as the two kids fan as fast as they could down the sidewalk, almost knocking pedestrians over in the process.  They stopped at a crossing with the crowd when they saw Tyson on the other side, jumping up and down to get their attention.

"RAY! RAY!" He hollered, the crowd turning to look.

The light went green and the people crossed.  Ray and Miranda ran over to meet Tyson.

"Tyson! Something terrible has happened! Miranda has read…"

He was cut off by Tyson.

"No time for that! Come quick! There was an incident outside the Sparks Stadium in the park!"

"What? What kind of an accident?" Miranda asked cautiously.

"A murder"

"Another one!?" Ray snapped.

Tyson nodded and waved for them to follow.  Miranda looked at Ray nervously as he took her hand to pull her along with him.

The dull green park trees rustled.  Tyson headed in, followed by both Miranda and Ray.  The serenity was broken by flashing blue and red lights and a lot of commotion.  Ray stopped running and looked around.  There were five or six ambulances; four police cars and other government vehicles around the scene.  Miranda squeezed Ray's hand and he glanced at her.  Tyson waved them over to where he was standing and pointed to the ground, a sickly look on his face.

Five beds with white sheets over them were wheeled away, neither of them looked as if there was a full person under them.  On the ground, lying in the grass was a 30 foot flagpole, stained with blood.  The area of dark grass around the flagpole was spattered clearly with more blood. Police would pace, back and forth between the ambulances and the pole, trying to uncover clues as to who did it.

Miranda covered her mouth, looking as if she was going to be sick.  Just the thought of human blood made her queasy, but this was worse by far.  She turned her head in disgust, refusing to watch.  Ray didn't look or feel good either.  Tyson removed his gaze on the shocking scene and waved his hand to one of the policemen.

"Excuse me! Excuse me mister!"

The policeman looked up and came on over to him obligingly.

"What are you doing here?!" The man ordered, "Get outta here!"

"What happened?"

The policeman sighed and took a quick look at the small notebook in his hands.

"There's been another murder"

"Yeah, that's obvious, but how? When?"

"We found bits and pieces of victims threaded onto that flagpole there"

Miranda shook her head, upset and scared.

"Who were they?"

The policeman held up a plastic bag.  Inside were four Beyblades specked with crimson blood.

"We found these in the area"

Ray squinted to look and gasped.

"THE WHITE TIGERS!" He cried, and the policeman's eyes widened.

"What did you say? Did you know them?"

Ray looked at the ground.  He balled his fist and growled quietly.

"They used to be my teammates" He said sadly, and glanced at Miranda.

"Do you think that you could give me some information? What would they have been doing this morning?"

"I don't know" Ray began, and Miranda looked around the scene.

She left both Ray and Tyson, wandering around by herself, thinking about what she was supposed to do.

She stood at a hedge watching the crowd of ambulance workers and police take parts of the scenery and evidence away with them to study.  Shivers were sent down her spine as the crowd parted.

Standing there, also watching  what was going on was Kai.  She observed as he pulled the balled up, blood soaked BBA flag out from behind him, looked at it, smiled and tossed it onto the ground in front of him.

Miranda gasped, covering her mouth in shock of seeing this.

Kai lifted his foot and crushed the flag deliberately in his stride.  Miranda panicked, the sickness now creeping further up her stomach.  She continued watching as Kai pulled four different Beyblade launchers and ripcords out his pocket and tossed them to the ground with the flag.  He brushed off his hands and chuckled a little.  He then looked up and saw Miranda staring at him.  He smiled at her evilly.

Miranda gasped again and ran back to Ray and Tyson in sudden panic.  She tugged tightly on Ray's sleeve, whilst looking around her carefully.

"Ray," She said anxiously, "Ray, please can we go now?"

Ray ignored the policeman for a second and turned his attention to Miranda.

"Mel, what's wrong? Why do you want to go now?"

She wrung her wrists.

"The book… I… I just want to leave this place, now, I want to go!"

Ray tried to calm her down but she wouldn't.  Miranda looked at him, trying to tell him that she was terrified.

"Tyson," He said finally, "We gotta go.  Melody's not feeling good"

He and Tyson waved off the policeman and turned to leave.

"Who do you think did that?" Miranda snapped tensely.

"Morties" Tyson replied smarmily, and she stared at him strangely.

"Cinque Morties?" She questioned and Ray placed his hand on her shoulder.

Miranda looked up wide eyed.  Tyson and Ray watched her.  She shook her head, glanced back to the park, and ran off crying.

"MELODY! COME BACK!" Ray immediately cried, bolting after her followed closely by Tyson.

"WHAT'S HER PROBLEM?!" He yelled after him, but Ray ignored him.

They puffed and panted, Miranda was too far ahead for them to stay with her, so Ray decided to head back to her house.

"What does she know that I don't?" Ray asked himself, and skidded to halt in front her house.

The two of them watched as Miranda came running around the corner at the opposite end, straight at them.

Her face was red and white, as tears fell to the concrete while she ran.  Rather than coming to the boys, she turned into her front yard completely ignoring the both of them and heading to her door.  She took out her keys in a hurry and let herself in.  Ray and Tyson ran up the yard path to be met by the door slamming in their faces.

"MELODY!" Ray cried frantically, banging on the door, "MELODY! PLEASE OPEN THE DOOR! WE NEED TO HELP YOU! THE BOOK! REMEMBER!? OPEN THE DOOR!"

Nothing happened, no one answered.  Ray sighed and looked through the window in the door.  Miranda was sitting on the stairs watching them.

"MELODY! I WANT TO KNOW WHAT'S WRONG!" He bellowed.

"NOTHING! GO AWAY!"

Tyson struggled with the doorknob, and Miranda got up, her face now in the window.  She rubbed her eyes and looked at Ray.

"I don't want… You to be killed too" She sobbed, "Please, Ray. If you love me just leave"

Tyson shook his head.

"What does she mean?"

"Melody read the Ninety-Sixth Dimension"

"WHAT!?" Ty barked.

Ray leant in on door.

"Please, we won't be hurt, you won't be hurt, just open the door"

Miranda stared at him, tears still streaking down her face.  She turned around and walked away.  Ray became quite impatient, so he knocked on the glass, making her stop.

"MELODY, IF YOU DON'T LET US IN WE'LL LEAVE YOU HERE, BY YOURSELF SO THAT MORTIES CAN COME AND GET YOU, BY YOURSELF!"

There was a moment of silence.  Ray and Tyson glanced at each other, and back at the blurry image of Miranda inside.

She turned slowly, wiping a few tears from her eyes.  She looked over her shoulder and headed to the door.  It opened to let them both in, and Miranda slammed the door closed behind her.

"Why did you say that, Ray?  It wasn't funny" She asked, still upset.

"I had to resort to it Mel.  You're in trouble, we have to help you" He replied seriously.

Miranda nodded as if to understand, but lowered her head.

"It's too late" She whispered, her voice getting louder, "He's already started.  It's getting closer to me Ray! That murder was only two blocks away!"

Ray stared at her and looked around himself.

He spotted the phone on the hall table, and lifted the receiver to his ear.

"We should tell the cops"

"And what are you supposed to tell them? That a five hundred year old man is going to kill me any minute?" Tyson explained, "They won't believe you"

"Why not?"

At that moment there was a loud knock on the door.  There was no one in the door window, but Ray replaced the receiver and went to look.

Miranda stayed where she was as Ray breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh, it's only Kai"

Miranda's eyes widened, she bolted to the door as he opened it halfway and slammed it in Kai's face.  She pulled Ray halfway up the stairs, beginning to tremble.

"MELODY! What are you doing?! That's Kai!"

She shook her head nervously.  Kai tapped on the window and peered in.

"Come on" He said, "I won't hurt you.  I promise"

"Why are you all of a sudden afraid of Kai?" Tyson asked stupidly.

She bit her finger and shook her head hard.

"He's bad"

Ray took his gaze off the frightened Miranda, and noticed the Kai was gone.  He struggled out of her grip and trudged back down to the door.

"Where'd he go?" He wondered, pressing his face to the glass to look around.

Miranda's head darted around her, checking her surroundings.  Her trembling became worse.  Ray turned to see her, now seriously worried about her condition.

"Melody, explain"

She looked down at him.

"You won't believe me" She told him.

"I will" Tyson replied.

She slid down a step and watched them as she spoke.

"I know who Cinque Morties is"

Tyson jumped.

"Who!? Who!?"

"It's… It's… Kai"

Tyson glared at her, quite unimpressed, but Ray looked at her sincerely.

"Oh it's Kai?" Tyson asked sarcastically, and Ray shoosed him.

"Wait." He said, walking up to her, "Maybe she's right, I mean remember what he did to her at the stadium?"

Tyson cringed in disgust.

"Ummm…" He grumbled.

"Well he put a curse on her.  A darn rare one too"

"That doesn't mean that he's a killer"

Ray rubbed his head.

"It's true! I saw him at the park and he threw the BBA flag into the dirt, along with the White Tigers' launchers!"

"That can't be possible, Mel"

"Why not?"

"He's right" Ray said, "That sounds pretty impossible even with the Chinese curse"

Miranda started crying again.  Tyson entered the kitchen at the end of the hall.  Ray put his arm around her shoulders to comfort her as she cried.

"It's alright Mel.  I'm here for you"

From in the kitchen, Tyson could be heard rummaging through the fridge.

"Melody! Can I have the leftover pudding!?" He yelled.

"Yes" She replied croakily.

There was silence.  Knives and forks rattled and a drawer shut.  The silence broke as sound of a glass bowl shattering on the floor echoed from the back.

"Tyson, are you okay!?" Ray shouted, waiting for an answer, "…Tyson?..."

Miranda and Ray glanced at each other.  Miranda gasped nervously and Ray forced her to her feet.  They crept slowly down the hall and pushed the kitchen door open.

Standing there holding Tyson up against the wall, under his arms with a pair of sais, like small devil forks, was Kai.

Miranda hid behind Ray automatically and Tyson noticed them.

"KAI!" Ray bellowed and Kai yanked the sais out of the wall, causing Tyson to fall to his feet.

He turned abruptly, the sais twirling in his hands very craftily.

"What the!?" Ray continued, and the sais stopped spinning, now pointing at his chest.

"Ray, and… Miranda" He smiled evilly, as Miranda trembled behind her protector.

"I told you" She said softly.

Kai watched as Tyson joined them.

"Melody may not be right, but you certainly are a psycho!"

Kai edged forward, making the three of them flinch before retreating and laughing quite eerily.

"Now what, Kai? What's with the weapons?"    

Kai glanced at Miranda, noting her obvious terror.  He looked up and swung the sais down by his legs.

"You should have listened to Miranda, the both of you.  She's right you know"

"About what?"

"What do you think? Do you think that I would be here with a pair of sais, threatening to kill Tyson, when you know that Miranda read Ninety-Sixth Dimension, for absolutely no reason?"

Ray growled, and Tyson backed up.

"You know perfectly well that that book was written five hundred years ago" Ray explained.

"Was it?" Kai began, "Funny.  I always knew that you never listened to me"

Ray gasped as Kai slowly backed the three of them up into the hall.

"You know there are a lot of people in this world who think that I am dead.  How could I not be? I've been alive for over five hundred years, I'm assuming  I should be rotting in my grave by now, but I'm not.  Am I?"

"Then… how… how are you alive?"

"Oh that was simple.  It was pure hatred.  A curse.  In the year 1572 I went to see a fortune teller.  He was the most popular fortune teller of the times, not to mention the most powerful.  He told me everything about my future, but I hated it.  I got angry at him.  I swore and yelled at him, but that was a mistake.  For being so selfish he cursed me.  He handed me this book, and cursed me.  From then on, for eternity I would live to kill.  This book bound me to my fate.  Every time someone told this tale, every time someone read this first passage I would have to kill them.  Who ever said I wanted to?  When I kill, I am in a trance.  I can't help it.  But I'm telling you, by now my murder count is over five thousand"
"But you couldn't…"

"Don't you remember, Ray!?  Remember showing Miranda those newspaper articles? They dated back specifically to the year 1573! What about: 'Five Murdered In Town Hall', 'Brutal Slaying Of Five Beybladers', 'Mother and Children of Five Slaughtered', 'Cinque Morties Strikes Again'!  It wasn't passed down! I did it! I killed all seven thousand of them!  And right now Ray is the time when I feel good about what I've done.  It has finally gotten through.  I've now been killing as a result of my own will.  Believe me, living for up to five hundred years makes you see how useless human beings really are"

"Why did you join… I mean… Why did you become a Beyblader?" Tyson asked anxiously, Kai still backing them up very slowly.

"For publicity.  I've always been a blader.  It's my past time.  But traveling all over the world as one gave me access to other corners of the globe where I could begin again.  I traveled, the book traveled.

"Why did you kill the White Tigers so…" Ray began, and a tear streaked down his face, "…Brutally?"

"Because they insisted on telling each other the full Ninety-Sixth Dimension tale.  I did what I've been doing for the past five hundred  years.  I turned them into human kebabs"

Miranda covered her mouth in disgust and buried her face in the back of Ray's shoulder to cover her weeping.  Ray looked away trying not to let the others see him upset.  Tyson gulped and glared at Kai.  Ray looked up finally, the glint of the tears in the corner of his eyes.

Kai began laughing.

"How were you not caught?  Someone… anyone must have dobbed you in by now"

"HA! Hell no! That was the beauty of the curse.  It managed to erase any sign of my existence.  My government files and information gone.  To this world, I don't exist.  My fingerprints became neutral.  No records.  No clue.  That's why they blamed it on the so-called 'Cinque Morties'" He said , doing rabbits ears, "Someone read that book and told someone else the shortened version.  That's how word got out about Morties, but I was never caught.  They offered half a million dollars in the 1600's to find me a kill me.  That money was never claimed.  No one knows.  Anyone who does know dies"

Ray, Miranda and Tyson jumped.  They looked at each other, awfully terrified.  He knew what he meant.

"So that means …" Kai stopped and sighed, he looked down at the sais in his hands and stopped them in mid spin, "No, I don't know whether I have the heart to kill you.  I didn't manage to do it at the library that day"

"Well you'll find that that's a part of life, Kai" Tyson tried to say, but stopped.

Kai glared at him, the sais whizzed as he twirled them around his fingers at his waist.

"Really?" He asked him, staring eerily.

"Yeah, well no more friends for you…" Ray insisted bravely, and Kai smashed one of the sai down on the very edge of the hall table, causing the polished copper brown wood to split and fall to pieces.

He lifted the sais back up, Ray, Miranda and Tyson backed away from him.

"DON'T TELL ME THAT!" He growled like a bear, "I'VE HAD MORE FRIENDS THAN YOU COULD IMAGINE! AND EVERY SINGLE GROUP HAD NO IDEA THAT I WAS KILLING, SLAUGHTERING AND MURDERING! THAT IS UNTIL THEY REACHED THE SAME BRUTAL END!"

"YOU'RE A MONSTER!" Miranda screamed reluctantly.

Kai smirked at her maliciously.  Ray shoved her back and shielded her.

"I know what you're thinking! Try and get through me!"

Kai cocked his head and held up the sai his left hand.  He spun in once and laughed.

"Is that a challenge?"

Ray growled as Tyson and Miranda trembled behind him.

"Maybe…"

Kai flipped the sai.

"Well then… CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!"

He swung the weapon across in front of him, the sound of the air cutting, as Ray tried to leap backwards.

He flicked the other sai in the other direction quickly.  Ray stalled and the very tip of the sai sliced a thin slash across his face, just under his eyes.  He gasped in pain and nursed it, still keeping his gaze on Kai.  Kai laughed, the sais whirling around his fingers by his side.  Ray wiped the dripping blood away from his cheeks, trying to ignore the tight stinging sensation.

"Why didn't you kill me?" Ray muttered.

"I like to see you in pain before you die…" He said, his eyes fixed on Miranda, "Trust me.  Way before you die"

"THAT'S WHY YOU DID THAT!" Tyson barked, and Kai stopped spinning his blades again.

"Yes.  Miranda was the one weakness in you Ray.  So I utilized that weakness and hit you in a way that would have made an impact on you, and people all over the world for a very long time."

"But if you did it on purpose then how on earth did that jury find you innocent?" Ray asked carefully.

"I have ways of manipulation." He smiled back.

Ray shook his head angrily, a drop of blood fell off the tip of his nose and hit the polished wooden floor beneath him.

"How could you do this to us?!" He growled, now quite angry, "You pretended to be our friend! You were out team leader, and all of a sudden we find out that you were supposed to have died FIVE HUNDRED YEARS AGO!?"

Kai frowned, now getting impatient.  He raised the sais to Ray's chest.

"But here I am AND I'M STILL LIVING!"

He flicked one of the sais beside Ray's neck and the other the other side.  Ray tried hard to pull Kai's hands away from him.

Miranda was yelling, and Tyson just watched, frozen helplessly.

The scene was broken, from in the kitchen came Max, Miranda's brother.  He stopped singing the tune he was singing and stared flabbergasted at the scene.

"MAX!" Miranda cried, "HELP HIM, PLEASE!"

Kai's focus changed, he took the sais away from Ray's neck and turned swiftly on his heel.  Max had stepped forward.  The sais cut the air, and Kai slashed him in the face.  He pulled back, lodging one into his chest.  He seized Max's hair and pulled him backwards, drilling the second sai through and into his neck leisurely.  With his last final gasp and cough, Max fell lifelessly to the floor, blood now seeping from his wounds.

Miranda screamed.  Kai examined his weapons, which were now covered in crimson blood.  He smiled and turned back, wiping the blood carefully on his pants.

"Such a messy job." He chuckled.

Miranda started to cry.  Ray was shaking, looking down at Max's motionless and bloody body on the floor of the hall.  Tyson has his eyes covered.

"No…" Ray whispered.

"Now, where was I?" Kai continued coolly, "Oh, that's right I was going to finish you!"

Kai seized Ray's right arm, but he struggled.

"RUN MIRANDA! RUN TYSON!" He screamed.

Miranda reluctantly turned to run up the stairs, followed by Tyson.  Ray struggled with all his might, and was freed from Kai's grip.  He followed them up, and Kai stepped up to the bottom of the stairs.

"Why do they always go upstairs? Don't they realize they're trapped? How stereotypical." He mumbled, trudging slowly up.

Miranda was still crying.  Ray paced the room near the door, wiping his face clean.  He stopped suddenly.

"Where's Tyson?"

Miranda's eyes widened, more and more tears fell down her face.

There was a knock on the door.  Ray and Miranda looked at each other.

"Would that be Tyson?"

The door handle rattled, and a voice called out from the other side.

"Come on guys! Let me in!"

"It's Tyson!"

The door opened, but they didn't see what they expected to see.  Kai was standing there, holding up a very lifeless Tyson.  He held his fist in the air.  The blood was staining the white carpet.  Kai pulled the sai out of Tyson's back, dropping him carelessly to the floor.

Ray gasped and Miranda backed herself up into the corner of the room, absolutely terrified.

"I was never good at ventriloquism." Kai explained, pushing Tyson's body out of the way with his foot.

Ray looked around himself for a means of escape.