Disclaimer: We do not own Beyblade. It belongs to Nelvana and the company that created it in Japan. I do own Alex Cross, Daniel Von Brown, Ryujin, Megumi and Isis. This part of our series takes place after the episode 'Breaking the Ice' and will run through the rest of the entire first season.  If you have any questions please contact us at ericpaladin@hotmail.com or nekowingzero@yahoo.com.

The Lost Blader
By: David Knight and Wingzero

Part 2
The Strength of Friendship

About an hour later, Alex had his smile still on his face. He had seen the entire Beyblade battle go down from the window of the chopper. Kai had challenged his former team, and for a while it looked like he would have won and taken their Bit Beasts, but then their final member, Max, parachuted down and launched his blade at Black Dranzer. He was holding is own against Kai, who wasn't understanding why this was happening to him. He watched as Tyson let loose Kai's first blade, Dranzer, at its 'more powerful' counterpart and saw it kick its blade.

What Alex had not expected was for the ice to break, and Kai nearly drowning because he was too shocked to even move, the consequences of his own actions finally catching up to him. He was about to get out of the chopper when he saw Tyson stick his hand out and told Kai to take it.

Alex saw a bit of himself in Tyson. There was a boy with an innocence and belief in friendship to carry people through anything. Alex knew that if Kai was going to believe what he was trying to tell him, he had to see it for himself without him interfering. That his teammates were true friends, that they cared about him and that they would never betray him.

When Kai took Tyson's hand, Alex knew that he finally understood. For Alex, it was a great relief. He knew Kai wouldn't turn out like Daniel had and for the world, that was a very good thing.

He saw Kai walk towards the helicopter; his Dranzer in his right hand while Black Dranzer was pocketed away and then opened the door, "Inform Boris that I would like to speak to him when we return."

"Yes sir," the pilot said as the copper then started to lift off.

Kai watched through the window as his teammates became smaller and smaller until they disappeared out of sight. "So there might be something to this friendship stuff you're talking about."

Alex just kept his smile, "You know I almost went out there to get you before you drowned."

"Why didn't you?" Kai turned to face his companion. "I know you're strong and fast enough but why?"

"I was tempted to... but I knew your friends would save you. More importantly, you had to know that." Alex replied, "You had to know that your teammates are your friends and know that they would never betray you. You would have never believed that if I had interfered."

"I guess you're right," Kai forced himself to say. "I can't believe I allowed them to brainwash me into thinking that power is everything. Boris is going to pay dearly for this. I almost ended up like that traitor from your team. I..."

Alex put his hand over Kai's mouth and looked at him sternly, "Don't you even finish what you were going to say. You're nothing like Daniel." he took his hand off of Kai's mouth and relaxed back to the way he was sitting before, "You switched sides Kai because you were confused, vulnerable, and didn't know which way to go. Boris used that to his advantage when manipulating your options... he didn't have to do that with Daniel. Daniel knew from the beginning what he was doing when he sold us out. You're ten times the Blader and a thousand times the human being he is."

Kai let out the breath he was holding. "That means a lot, coming from you." He placed his face in his hands. "What will I tell them? Do you think they'll ever forgive me for betraying them? What if they don't accept me back? I don't think my grandfather will accept me with open arms after what I'm going to do."

"First off, forget your grandfather. After what he's done, the only thing he deserves is being locked up in an eight by twelve jail cell like a common criminal," Alex snorted but his face returned to normal, "But as to your friends Kai, I believe they will. You know they care about you and they won't betray you. And as far as what you can tell them, I think the truth would be best, don't you agree?"

"Yes," Kai said with fire in his eyes. "It's time that my grandfather and Boris be put out of commission once and for all. I won't allow another human to be corrupted by their dark souls. The Abbey is going down one way or another and I'll be there when it happens."

Alex looked at the young man for a bit before speaking, "Kai... if I didn't say it before in the Abbey, I'll say here now." he took a breath before saying it, "Thank you, for giving me the truth. For giving me back my life."

"What would you say if I there was more I could give back to you?" Kai asked slyly with a smirk.

"What?" Alex blinked in surprise, "What do you mean by that?"

"How would you like to pay back Boris and Biovolt for everything they have done using your Bit Beast?"

Alex's eyes went wide when he heard that, "My Bit Beast? He's... he's still alive?" his voice barely a whisper and shaking as if he dared beyond all hope that his Bit Beast was still in existence.

"Yes, your Bit Beast is still alive," Kai smirked. "He's being held within the walls of the Abbey's laboratory. I have only seen the record of it, but I have yet to see him in person."

The look on Alex's face was happiness with a smile on his face... a smile that became dark as he knew it was time to pay them back for all they had wronged him, Megumi and Isis, "Just what did you have in mind as far as payback was concerned?"

"Here's the plan," Kai explained his idea. "I'll be returning Black Dranzer as I have no use for him when I already have Dranzer. What Boris doesn't know is he'll be receiving this dark phoenix the hard way. While I'm distracting them, you will head to the laboratory and get your Bit Beast. I'll draw you a map as soon as we land. After you have finished your business with them, we'll high tail it out of there."

"Sounds perfect," Alex smiled, "Just going to need to find a Beyblade though."

"Taken care of," Kai said, digging through his pocket. He pulled out a Beyblade without a bit chip and tossed it towards Alex. "This was designed as target practice for Black Dranzer."

Alex looked to over and saw it was combination type blade, focusing on endurance but there were attack blades inserted along with defense. It was also the type of blade that Kai's Dranzer used. He held it in his hands for a bit, looking at the silver and blue colored blade and felt good enough for him. He looked back at Kai, "I don't think I've felt as nervous as I do right now... but when we land the only thing that I'll feel will be nothing except the desire to get my Bit Beast back."

Kai nodded his head. "I know how you feel." He took out his Beyblade with Dranzer on it. "I hope Dranzer forgives me for tossing her away." He fingered the blue blade in his hands, while staring intently at the fire phoenix on the bit chip. "Dranzer, if you can hear me, I'm truly sorry for leaving you. I don't know what I was thinking. Please, can you forgive me?"

"She can hear you. They all can," Alex said, "I can only hope mine can forgive me for what's happened to him. I can only hope that he'll speak to me."

"You once told me to tell the truth," Kai said without his usual coldness. "I'm telling you to do the same. Tell him the truth. You know the truth will set you free. I think it's going to set the both of us free."

Alex stared at him for several moments before a small smile formed on his face, "You're right Kai. You're absolute right. The truth will set both of us free... and it's going to bring Voltaire, Boris and all of their plans crashing down all around them."

Kai knew he found a friend who he could trust and relate to. A smile formed on his lips. _Boris you are going down and I'll be there to witness it._

* * *

As soon as they had landed, Kai would be the first one to enter the Abbey. Alex was to wait one full minute before entering. Making his way past the usual guards, he had no trouble as they thought he was on their side, but little did they know, he switched sides again. He saw the current Demolition Boys training hard and shook his head. They believed the lies Boris had told him, but there was something different about the current team captain. He didn't have enough time to think about it, but he placed that in the back of his mind.

Kai went over to the surveillance system and cut the feed for a full minute. Now it was up to Alex to get in and get his Bit Beast while he went to cause damage downstairs.

_I'm so going to enjoy this._ Kai smirked as started to make his way.

* * *

Alex saw the minute was up and ran as fast as he could across the property and made his way into the Abbey according to the map that Kai had drawn for him. After closing the door behind him and getting into a back room, he knew had some breathing space and went to consult the map again. "Okay, south gate entrance into the abbey. Take the hallway all the way down and go down to the first basement level. Kai will be down at the second level so when the explosions happen things are really going to heat up." he put the map away, knowing he had to hurry before Kai started the party without him.

Making it down the hallway wasn't exactly easy but he managed to make it down there. Once on the first basement level, he saw a pair of men in lab coats walking down to the left hall way. He stayed close to the wall and watched them walk down the hallway and then enter a room on the right. "Bingo."

What Alex saw there completely shocked him. A large number of tubes held bizarre looking creatures. Obviously, they had once been normal looking animals with lives of their own, but now they were a part of Boris' sick and twisted experiment. Bit chips were placed underneath the mutated Bit Beasts in order to contain them. Towards one side of the wall, there were several instruments and small test tubes. One could only guess that Boris had been experimenting on these poor animals to create powerful Bit Beasts. Off to the side in a dark corner, there was an unusual Bit Beast. It appeared to be normal and unchanged for who knew how long.

Alex went to it and saw it more clearly in the light, but when he did he recoiled in shock. The Bit Beast was like Tyson's Dragoon, in the fact that it was a dragon type, but this one was more like the mythical dragons that he seen so many times in movies and in books that he had read as a child. It glowed crimson red, golden eyes dimly glowing as it had felt contained for all of its long captivity, like its wings that had been restrained along with its hands and feet.

Tears came down the face of former captain of the Blade Knights, "Ryujin... what did they do to you..."

The Bit Beast, at the mere sound of Alex's voice, awakened from his trance and screamed out.

"Ryujin please!" Alex cried, "I'm sorry... I am so sorry for so many things... but if I had known that Daniel had betrayed us as he did, no force on the planet would have stopped me from finding you."

The Bit Beast stopped his screaming, but still did not look at his former master, for he could not understand why this had happened to him, yet why did he say that his best friend had betrayed him.

"I thought you had abandoned me all these years. That I had done something to offend you... but instead..." Alex then pulled it out, the thing that he hated the most for it reminded him of Daniel's betrayal; the fake bit chip of Ryujin.

Ryujin's response was a screech of outrage.

"He took you from me, gave you to them and they did horrible things to you," Alex cried, "But Ryujin. You know me. Look into my eyes and you will know that I had nothing to do with this. You're my friend... and I always protect my friends."

The Bit Beast looked Alex, looked into his eyes, into his soul and when their eyes locked, Ryujin saw the truth that was there in front of him.

'Forgive me... for ever doubting you Alexander.'

Alex just smiled, as his tears now were simply tears of joy, "Forget it buddy. We've been wronged long enough. It's time put things back together," the smile turned into a smirk, "So what do you say we cause some damage?" The Bit Beast roared loudly, as Alex then broke his container, setting him free. He took the bit chip and then inserted it into his blade. "Welcome back old friend."

Loud footsteps signaled the arrival the regular patrol. They were assigned to guard the laboratory, because this room held the key components for their world domination. As they rounded the corner, they noticed the opened door. The captain immediately ran towards the door and found Alex with one of 'their' stolen Bit Beasts.

"Hey you. Surrender the Bit Beast and no harm will come to you." _Yeah right, Boris is going to have a field day with him._

Alex however just smirked, "You know something, it's been a while since I've bladed, but I can take you monkeys on any day of the week."

"Is that so?" the guard captain sneered. He motioned for the rest of his men to come to him. "We'll see about that. I don't know who you are but you're definitely a pathetic little loser." The guards had readied their launchers.

Alex just smirked, as he knew things were a little uneven, but the thrill of it all was running through his veins.

That's when the first explosions started.

"What's that?!" one of the guards snapped.

"The beginning of Biovolt's destruction," Alex smirked, "So allow me to help speed it up... Let it rip!" _I have missed saying that!_ his Beyblade was launched and Alex wasted no time capitalizing, "Ryujin! Flare Breath Attack!"

The Dragon Bit Beast roared as it came to life, its spirit form showing and surprising the guards, who then had to deal with the beast breathing fire on them. They ran like wounded ducks but Ryujin also attacked them, knocking them unconscious.

"That takes care of them." Alex said satisfied, however he turned toward the mutated Bit Beasts in the tubes. His heart was heavy, but he knew it was what they would want. "Ryujin. Time to go... but after we give them peace."

The dragon turned around and nodded. Knowing what Alex meant, he began to power up.

"May you all find peace in heaven," Alex said solemnly before declaring his move, "Ryujin! Crimson Inferno!"

The Dragon let off a roar as his fire then erupted all over the room, destroying all of the containers that held the mutant Bit Beast and then destroying their bit chips.

"It's done. " Alex said as he ran out, collecting his blade after Ryujin went back in, "I hope Kai's having as much luck as I am."

* * *

Once he had delivered Black Dranzer back to Boris, Kai had to get out of there, because he was considered to be a traitor. He took the path he had taken to get there and nearly crashed into a certain red head coming out of the Demolition Boy's special training room.

"Watch where you're going!" Tala growled as he was nearly bowled over.

"I should be saying the same thing about you," Kai retorted.

"You have any idea what those explosions were all about, they came from the west wing," Tala asked him.

"I have no clue," Kai replied. _Good. That means Alex has Ryujin back and now I have to meet with him... but somehow I don't think Boris has completely corrupted Tala. There might be hope for him._ "The laboratory is in that wing. I suppose it's from one of their experiments or something."

"I know that... hey where were you coming from right now..." Tala questioned but as he looked at Kai's left side, he saw something that the boy should have had. "Wait a minute... that's your original blade! You gave to your loser former teammates... or is that teammates again...traitor!" he pulled out his blade at once and had it aimed right at Kai.

Kai turned around smirking the entire time. "Oh, is that so? Well now, do you think I betrayed the Abbey or the Abbey betrayed us?"

"What are you talking about?" Tala demanded.

"You don't understand it, Tala," Kai almost bursted into laughter. "I was once in your position. I only thought power and perfection mattered. Everything else was trivial. You know as well as I do, Boris trains us to think this way. If we don't, we are considered to be weak and pathetic." He closed his crimson eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again. "Then I found out it was all a lie, one huge lie. There is more to life than power or perfection."

Tala shook his head, not even believing what was coming out of Kai's mouth. _What kind of a game is he trying to pull? Just two days, all he talked about was having the power to defeat any opponent, and now he doesn't care about that at all._ He shook his head again, as if to clear his head, "And I thought I was the one that liked mind games. What are you trying to pull Kai?"

"I'm not pulling anything on you," Kai said, leaning against the wall. He showed no motion of getting his launcher ready. "Let's just say I have seen the light. My friends have shown me that it takes more than power to win battles. It takes friendship and loyalty. Something that Boris stands against. Friends are there to help you even though you don't want it. Friends are there to cover your back. Friends care enough to risk their life to save yours." Kai paused for a moment. "Tell me Tala, is there anyone who will stand beside you when you lose? Is there anyone who will risk their necks to save yours? Is there anyone who will help you even if you refuse their help?"

Tala just stood there taking all of that. He had no idea how to answer those questions. Not a single one. _I... I don't understand... I don't need friends... friends are a sign of weakness... I can take of myself! I don't need anyone!_ He glared at the traitor, "I'm the best Blader in the world Kai. No one can beat me... " But then he lowered his launcher, "... but we're not going to have a match now. Right now I am certain Boris is looking for you. I think I might enjoy what they do if they catch you, but to be fair to, I won't delay you." a smirk formed on his face, "Better get going before you get caught. I am certain Boris would do quite a few horrifying things to traitors."

"How generous of you to give me a head start," Kai said sarcastically. "When this is all over, you'll see Boris for what he really is, a power hungry monster who will use anyone to get what he wants and when he is through with you, he'll toss you aside like he did with the previous Demolition Boys. It makes you wonder where the former World Champions are. What do you think Boris does with them? I'll catch you at the tournament." With those final words, Kai took off before Tala could even respond.

_Boris wouldn't do that to me. Not after what he's done..._ Tala shook his head but still as he looked after where Kai had been, there had been a lingering thought, _... would he?_

* * *

Navigating through the halls was a piece of cake for Kai as he had grown up there for part of his life. He could find his way around here blind folded if forced to. When he reached the front doors, he rammed them down only to face several guards.

"Heh! Gotcha now punk." one of them sneered. However the sound of a horn blaring caused them all to turn around and saw a car rushing right at them. They all had to move out of the way before it hit them. The car pulled right up to Kai and he saw who was in the driver's seat.

"Get in now!" Alex shouted.

Kai wasted no time and jumped into the car as soon as the door was opened. He slammed it shut. "Let's get out of this dump!"

"Hold on!" Alex told him as he floored the accelerator and the car went roaring away from the abbey, making it past the security guards at the main gate. Even still Alex didn't take his foot of the accelerator, he wanted to put as much distance between them and the abbey as possible.

Holding onto the chair, Kai strapped his seatbelt onto him. He wanted to survive through this escape so that he could be there when Boris was taken down. "Let's find the Bladebreakers. I have to tell them the truth."

"Let's just hope there aren't any other surprises in store for us," Alex muttered, and then asked, "By the way, how did Boris react to your little gift?"

"Boris absolutely loved his gift," Kai said sarcastically. "Maybe next time, I should put a bow on it."

Alex laughed, "Oh man. I only wish I could have been there to see his face... of course its nothing to the look that would be on his face after he sees 'my' gift to him."

"And don't forget the bow," Kai chuckled. After all his training, he couldn't bring himself to laugh genuinely. In time, he would learn how to.

Both Bladers laughed as they could only imagine what was going Boris's mind at that moment.

* * *

Boris had seen a lot of things in his life. Both beautiful and horrible things. His Bit Beasts were among the beautiful.

This was among the latter of the two.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!!!" he roared as he stood in the ruined wing. "A quarter of our Bit Beasts have been annihilated!" he turned toward the burned guards that he had found when entering, "And you pathetic fools can't even tell me who did this to you!"

"We're sorry... sir..." was one of their groans.

Boris growled in disgust, snapping his fingers to the other, more useful guards, "Take them down to the infirmary and then have them punished severely for their stupidity."

"Yes sir... and sir."

"What?" Boris snapped.

"Mr. Voltaire is calling for you. He wants to know how well his grandson is doing."

Boris paled immediately once he heard that, _Is there any way that this day can get any worse?_ He clutched Black Dranzer in his hands then, _You made a mistake returning Black Dranzer with all of its stolen Bit Beasts to me Kai. That's going to be your undoing. You and your fellow Bladebreakers will be the ones that get broken. I promise you that._ He left the room then, going back to his office to contact Voltaire.

He already cringed as he thought of how he was going to react to the news.

* * *

Back in the car, Alex looked in the rear view mirror and let off a sigh of relief, "We aren't being followed. We're safe."

"That's a relief." Kai breathed.

"Thanks for helping me get back Ryujin," Alex said holding his Beyblade up with his free hand.

"After what you've done for me, it was the least I could do," Kai replied.

"But now that I've seen what Biovolt is doing, there's no way this is the end of my involvement. I won't stop until they've been brought to justice."

"There's no way Biovolt is going to continue with their dirty work. Do you have anything in mind?" Kai asked as he looked over towards his friend.

"Yeah. Act as your trump card."

"Hm... how are you going to pull it off when they know you raided the Abbey for your Bit Beast?" Kai asked with concern.

"I slashed the cameras with my Beyblade before I got seen and the guards didn't exactly recognize me," Alex said, "I think it's safe to say that I'm in the clear and Boris has absolutely no idea that I'm involved... you on the other hand he knows about and its fair to say he'll be looking to deliver some payback of his own.

"They'll be focusing their entire energy on me, leaving you alone," Kai said, understanding what Alex was getting at. "He won't know what will hit him until it is too late. Perfect."

"But first Ryujin and I have to go do some training," Alex told him, "We have some things to talk about and work through. We have to be at our best when we go up against Daniel."

"You haven't bladed for over five years; how do you expect to win against him?" Kai asked. He didn't want to see history repeat itself nor his newfound friend get sent to the hospital.

It was just then that the car stopped and they were right outside of the hotel where the Bladebreakers were staying at. Alex looked at Kai with a very determined look on his face, "When I bladed, I bladed from my heart. I never bladed because of some tricks I learned from a video or a teacher or some rulebook. For me, I taught myself how to blade. It's as easy as riding a bike. I've been off the bike for a while. Now's the time for me to get back on it."

"Of course, but still you should practice a bit before we challenge him," Kai said concerned. He looked towards the hotel. "Now, it's time to face my fears and grab destiny by the reigns."

"Good luck Kai," Alex said holding his hand out, which the Bladebreakers' captain took and gripped hard, "See you in two days at the finals of the tournament."

The stoic Blader gripped Alex's hand. "I'll see you then. Take care of yourself and don't get caught." When they had released their hands, Kai turned around to face his former team and hope that they would accept him.

Alex got back in the car and pulled away from the hotel just as Tyson came out and saw his friend, "Kai! You're back!" he then noticed the car pulling away, "Hey who's that? Did that guy drive you over here?"

"A friend," Kai replied as he was about to head inside the hotel. "Where are the others?" He wanted to tell all of them at once instead of one at a time.

"Inside come on everyone's waiting for you," Tyson said with a great big smile on his face.

"Let's go," Kai said in a serious voice. He knew what had to be done. "We still have the same room as before?"

"Yup," Tyson nodded. _Oh man, the look on his face is going to be priceless I just know it!_

"Good," Kai mentally cursed himself. He had given back the key to the room when he left the Bladebreakers. "I suppose you have a key."

Tyson nodded as he pulled out his key but also another one, "Figured you'd be needing this."

"Thanks," Kai said as he took the key from Tyson. They headed inside the elevator. Once the elevator made it to their floor, they walked out and then down to their room. Kai stuck the key in and opened the door, finding it very dark, "Why are the lights off?" He flipped up the light switch to turn on the lights and then...

"SURPRISE!"

Kai nearly fell over from shock. They were not only welcoming him back but they were also throwing him a surprise party. He would have broken down in tears, but his training prevented this. "You did this all for me? Even though I betrayed you and took away the Bit Beasts of two teams?"

Tyson would have laughed seeing the look on his face, but he knew that Kai didn't need to be laughed at. He needed support. He needed his friends, "Kai, how many times we gotta keep telling you? You're our friend and we don't give up on our friends."

"You said it Tyson," Max agreed, "We're just glad to have you back Kai."

Rei nodded his head to agree with his two other teammates. "It's good to see you back."

Needless to say, Kai was left speechless. He wanted to say something, anything, but his voice wouldn't cooperate with him. Never before had he witnessed such forgiveness and friendship.

"You don't need to say anything Kai," Tyson said putting his hand on his friend's shoulder, "Let's just enjoy this party. K?"

Despite his training, the stoic Blader managed a smile, "Sure," he knew he had to tell them about Biovolt and their plans. But just this once, even if it was just for five minutes, he wanted bask in this moment. This moment made possible by his friends.

It felt so good... and so right.

* * *

Alex parked the car in the wilderness miles away from Moscow. He had bought some supplies, a very heavy coat being among them, along with some food and new clothes from the money he pulled out of his trust fund set up by his grand parents after his father passed away. His mother was in a coma, never really sure if she would ever wake up, but her hospital bills kept on getting paid though by his wealthy grandparents. Grandpa wouldn't lose any of his family.

_He kept telling me that I should move on and forget the past_ Alex mused, _Well he was right about the moving on part, but not about forgetting the past. Especially with what I've learned._ Alex looked down at his blade with Ryujin in it, 'Its time to face the demons of our past and together Ryujin, we will bring justice to those that have escaped it for so long.'

He could hear his Bit Beast growl through the blade and that brought a smile to Alex's face. No longer would hear silence. Now he would hear the voice of his friend, his true friend.

"You've been through a lot Ryujin. Now's the time to cleanse you of the pain that Boris has inflicted upon you," Alex said to his blade softly, "Are you ready for it?"

The sound of a roar was all Alex needed to hear to know that his Bit Beast had given his approval.

* * *

The training was nothing short of grueling for both the Blader and Bit Beast. Alex did not sleep. He did not rest. For the next twenty-four hours he stayed out in the cold training, forcing himself to keep going when he would have stopped, to make himself remember what he had done when he had bladed.

He put Ryujin through runs that tested his endurance, strength, defense and speed. Every time he succeeded, Alex found a new way to increase the difficulty. For Ryujin to heal, Alex learned from trial and error early on that he needed to be challenged. To experience life fully and freely.

That was what both of them were doing in the ice-cold wilderness. For both Alex and Ryujin, they were healing from their wounds. For Alex it was Daniel's betrayal and for Ryujin the pain that Boris had inflicted upon him when trying to turn him into a mutated Bit Beast. Most of all, they had missed each other. For the Blader and his Bit Beast, they had always felt like two pieces of the same puzzle. Without the other, they were lost.

Now they had been found and nothing was ever going to tear them apart again. At the end of the day, Alex found that Ryujin had exceeded his expectations. They were ready... but first Alex needed to do one simple thing: get about twelve hours of sleep, which he took in the back seat of the car.

When he awakened, he knew it would be time to finish this.

* * *

Up in the mountains, a silver falcon felt the suffering of two souls. One like her and another human. She felt their pain from far away and knew they needed her help. Spreading her wings, she used her senses to follow the trail down to a parked car down below. There she saw a young man lying not so peacefully on the back seat of a car, yet held a blade firmly in his hands.

She felt the turmoil from their souls and knew that she would what she could for them. For now... and for later.

* * *

Alex dreamed once more of the day that he had lost the World Championships. The worst day of his life. But now it made things clearer to him, now that he knew about Daniel. He wanted to make him pay for what he had done. He had willingly allowed his own teammates to be injured so severely that they had to go the hospital, and made him think he was to blame in fact Daniel was the one responsible for their condition.

Rage, anger, hate, despair, doubt. So many emotions went through Alex's mind. Suddenly, he felt all of that melt away, as if not to worry so much about the past. The past was meaningless to worry about or concern himself about. All that mattered now was to make a brighter and better future. That was it.

Alex held on to that belief even as he woke up.

* * *

"Whoa... what a trippy dream..." Alex muttered as he got up. He suddenly realized that not one part of his entire body was aching. He couldn't even feel any pain from Ryujin at all.  Looking forward however, he saw something that wasn't in the car before.

A silver disk with the emblem of a falcon on it. Alex had never seen one like it. As he held it up, he just knew there was something special about it.

"I think I'll hold on to you for a while," Alex said pocketing the disk, "Thank you... for helping me."

Getting into the drivers seat, he turned on the gas and started to drive. He had only two hours left before the tournament finals.

One way or the other, it would all end very soon.

To Be Continued...