WOW! Let me say it again:WOW!

Five reviews for one chapter in only one week: that's a record for me! I feel (sniff, sniff) so (sniff) LOVED….

Thanks very much to the following reviewers:

Rabid Kai Fan: Isn't Kaiba just huggably adorable? I like that beginning too.

Galux Kitty: I just meant overall there's not that many Ray/Mariah stories, or I just can't seem to find them-sorry for the confusion. Also, hehe-I uploaded one of the pictures on your website to my background! The one where Ray and Mariah are hugging each other and Ray is leaning on the crutch-I still haven't seen that episode! Dang.

Starwave: Thank you so much!

Lethal Darkness: Thanks! I wanted it to sound official. Yeah, I know character personalities right now pretty much suck, but I'll get it right some time-I promise.

Ice Archer Girl: For your personal satisfaction, there will be a little ditto between Johnny and Frankie, from Spintencity (sp?) later in this story. Thank you for the suggestion!

My Observance for the Day: We know where Ray and Kai grew up. So where the heck did everyone else grow up? Japan? For the sake of Russian/Chinese/Japanese/unknown origins, I'm just going to make everyone speak English. Bonus spotlight if you can spot the ironic statement concerning this in the story below!

*NEW* My Naïve Corner: Where are Rays parents? Is there any proof or mention of them? If you know the answer to my naïve question, please tell me!

Authors Note: Sorry for the delay-I was out of town for the past couple of weeks. It's not real exciting at the moment-just boring introductions and the like. Also, a few more love tangles are to be expected before the actual couples get together-be patient!

Disclaimer: Any misspellings, confused references or mixed up teammates are purely accidental and are a result of the author's new innocent fascination with the world of beyblading. Up until now, I did not like OC's in Beyblade fics. However, I need them to make this plot work. So tough. Kira Ocelet, Mobekai Tart, Danika Woods, Colby Peterson and Trish ???, five future OC's, belong to me (duh!). Um, I do know Trish's last name-I don't want you to know yet.

Italics are thoughts.

Bold Letters are songs.

*SecretQuill*: Do you love me Ray?

*Ray*: New topic please!

*Max*: Anyone seen Tyson?

*SecretQuill*: I ate him.

*Max*: Uh….Seriously?

*SecretQuill*: No, I threw him up. He doesn't taste very good.

*Max*: I'm thinking weird….and very disturbed.

*SecretQuill*: Watch it! I can be VERY serious when I want to.

*Ray*: Now would be a great time.

*SecretQuill*: I'll tell you where he is, Ray.

*Ray*: Only me?

*SecretQuill*: No, Bubba too. Of course only you. This way…this way…

*Ray*: If I'm not back in ten minutes, Max, call for help, kay?

WATCH THIS!

Chapter 2: New Enemy

"Attention all Beybladers! If you have not registered at any registration booth, please proceed to one now. Again, all competing teams should be signed up at this point," a loud voice echoed throughout the park.

Lee couldn't find it in him to yell at Mariah and Kevin. He was too angry and ashamed to believe his teammates had tried to mess with BBA records. It was still very possible they might not be able to compete in the upcoming European Tournament.

"And all of the blame will be on my head because I'm the captain…" Lee muttered resentfully as they approached the registration desk, which was now completely open as everyone had already registered.

The Italian woman looked mildly surprised at their arrival and asked, in slaughtered English,

"May need you help---er, registration?"

"No, we're here to report some missing records," Lee pronounced each word slowly and articulately.

"Ah," her face showed understanding as she held up her index finger, "Un minute…"

She walked around the booth and disappeared into the crowd.

"I'm sorry," Mariah whispered quietly at his side, "I was just trying to help."

"Well, it's too late to do anything else about it," Lee replied indifferently.

"We better hope the All Stars don't ask for our disqualification," Kevin added sheepishly.

"Yes, we better."

The Italian woman returned at that point, accompanied by an older looking Japanese man who spoke perfect English,

"I've been told you have information on missing BBA records. Is that accurate?"

"Yes, sir."

"Call me Mr. Hitoshi. And you are…?"

"The White Tigers, sir. Some members of my team have managed to erase file records for the All Stars."

Mr. Hitoshi must have been expecting Lee to say something more important about missing BBA files because his face suddenly fell in slight disappointment.

"Oh, yes. We were informed of those missing files earlier. They are currently being restored as we speak."

Lee tried not to look enthusiastic,

"Great. That's great!"

"I'm afraid under normal circumstances, you would have been disqualified," Mr. Hitoshi continued as if uninterrupted while Lees face tightened, "However, no serious damage has been assessed, so we will allow your entry, but you will have to stay behind with the All Stars as Beginners."

"But that's not--" Mariah jumped forward.

"That's fine," Lee declared stubbornly.

Mariah moaned bitterly as Mr. Hitoshi nodded,

"You can retrieve information about your first match at the Beginners booth."

"Thank you," Lee nodded.

Good luck!"

Mr. Hitoshi walked back into the crowd. The Italian woman who had been staring avidly at them, now pretended to be cleaning her nails.

"I can't believe we have to start as beginners," Kevin griped aloud as they made their way back to the Beginners booth.

Lee took a couple of packets from a Spanish woman, who finally understood that they were trying to say, 'White Tigers'.

"Thanks."

"De Nada. Hasta Luego!" She grinned.

Lee glanced around,

"C'mon, we've got to go tell the All Stars."

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"Chicken? No? Okay, how about some Turkey? Hotdogs? Hamburger?!"

Again, the only lady available at the food stand shook her head.

Tyson moaned,

"Do you have anything that's edible?"

"Woui. Croissants a et sandwiches a et Baguettes a et Fries-"

"Is there anything here not French?" Tyson asked again.

"Non. Non, vous alloz au café."

"Huh?"

Max suddenly stepped forward,

"Merci."

"D'accord. Au Revoir."

"Au Revoir." Max waved, "C'mon guys."

He began to walk rapidly and confidently away from the stand.

"Wait-what'd she say?" Tyson stammered.

"I didn't know you could speak French," Ray began to walk in step with Max.

"Yeah-mom taught me."

"Where are we going Max?" Kenny asked, "I'm really hungry."

"Same here." Tyson's stomach growled audibly.

"The café. We should be able to get some burgers or dogs there."

Kai stopped a short distance behind them,

"I'm not that hungry. I think I'll go check in."

"You sure?" Ray asked.

"I'm fine. Go ahead."

"All right. We'll catch you later!" Max waved.

Kai headed in the opposite direction, toward the Hotel del fleur. Mr. Dickinson had booked the hotel in advance. Kai felt sick, but the reason he left wasn't because he didn't have an appetite. On the contrary, he was starving. It was the fact that he could still feel a pair of eyes following the back of his head all the way to the hotel entrance.

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"Time to show off your skills, Colby," Danika edged on, flicking her dark red hair behind her shoulders.

The brunette nodded confidently and waited patiently, tightening her grip on her beyblade.

"C'mon! Any takers?" The boy yelled once more, "You all su-"

"I'll do it!" She stepped forward, toward the middle of the square. He surveyed her closely,

"Who are you?"

"Colby Peterson. You can drop that attitude of yours, cause you won't be needing it any longer."

"I'm Michael and I'm a member of the All Stars. You know, the runner-up in the American Tournament. And your background is….?"

She gestured lightly behind her,

"The Eiffel Tower. Lovely day, isn't it?"

"Lose the sarcasm, sweetie. Let's get this over with."

He held up his mitt, glove-covered beyblade and all. She followed suit. Someone from the gathering crowd shouted,

"3…2…1…GO!"

She yanked her rip-chord hard into the air, letting lose her beyblade. She decided she was going to play defense for a while and see what he was capable of doing. He launched a fast ball attack on her blade quickly. Colby wasn't surprised-he probably thought she wasn't good. It worked out perfectly to her advantage.

"I'll show you what I can really do!" she shouted.

The battle wasn't official-they were only playing on a flat black street, but sometimes, those conditions proved to be the most difficult blading grounds with nowhere to go but forward.

His blade went immediately toward hers, front piece down just a bit. She knew he was going to try blocking her from going anywhere by causing friction between his blade and hers, just like two magnets being pushed together. She decided to apply this object and stay in defensive mode until he wore himself out and pushed away. When he decided to pull apart, she would be ready to attack.

And he did exactly that. She began to laugh quietly, triumphantly, as he pressed harder and harder into her blade, until he finally shouted,

"What's so funny?!"

"Whoever said you were good?" She challenged.

"If you haven't noticed, I'm winning!"

"Just watch…"

"Colby," she heard Kira ask quietly, "What do you think you're doing?"

Colby didn't respond. She waited patiently, her blade still spinning just as furiously, when Michael finally pulled his beyblade away from hers. That was her queue.

She came up furiously against his blade, but he veered to the side and she missed him by a couple of inches.

She swore loudly and hung back a couple of inches till she was behind him again. He laughed quietly,

"Oh, come on. I'm not that easy."

"We'll see…"

She plunged in again, but instead of seeing him swerve or pull away, she saw him launch against her with just as much force.

"Trygle, attack now!" He called.

No! He had a bit-beast! The blades collided violently, but it was quite clear Michael had won when her blade flew to the pavement in front of her, finally coming to an abrupt stop.

Cheers emitted from the crowd. Michael looked quite pleased,

"Maybe next time."

"Yeah…" Colby's knuckles clenched as she picked up her beyblade, and turned to face her teammates. Danika shook her head,

"You did pretty good."

"I could have done better."

"And I'm sure you will." Danika sneered.

Colby grinned.

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"Emily, did you pick all that up?" Dr. Judy asked quietly as soon as Michael had beaten Colby. Emily was typing furious battle statistics into her computer.

"Yes. Who is that?"

"I'm not quite sure, but I have a feeling we better keep an eye on them."

"She's certainly got an attitude."

"Just like every other beyblader. Now, where did Steve go?"

Emily looked up briefly,

"He's probably perusing shops. We do have three more days before we have to worry about battling."

"We should be gathering as much information as possible during that time, though. We have a lot of work ahead of us," Dr. Judy watched thoughtfully as a new boy stepped forward to challenge Michael as well.

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"And Tai-Ken will probably--" Mr. Dickinson broke off from his phone conversation upon Kai's arrival in the room.

"I'll call you back later, Llewellyn."

"Hey," Kai said gruffly as he fell down in the sofa chair.

"Hi Kai. You're back early," Mr. Dickinson stood back to look at him, "Where're the rest of your teammates?"

"Eating."

"Aren't you hungry?"

"Not really."

"You really should get some meat in your stomach. You've got a long day ahead of you tomorrow."

"I don't feel like it."

"Cheer up a bit, boy. You sound like you've bitten a porcupine."

"I'm not really in the mood to talk, Mr. Dickinson. If you don't mind."

"Course not. I'm feeling a little hungry myself," he gripped the hotel knob but turned around once more to face Kai, "You sure you don't want to come?"

Kai shook his head,

"Go ahead. I'm a little tired."

As soon as Mr. Dickinson disappeared, Kai began to study the beyblade he held in his hands. He felt even more of an attachment to his bit-beast Dranzer because of his short parting with it to pursue a relationship with Black Dranzer, a bit-beast he had practiced with as a boy.

He heard the knocking then, but assumed it was just an odd creak in the walls or the headboard of the hotel beds. As he was adjusting his rip-chord, he heard it with much more clarity. Reluctantly, he strolled across the room and opened the hotel door, expecting to see Mr. Dickinson once again. To his surprise, it was a girl he'd never met before. She had long orange hair and dark brown eyes.

"Are you Kai?"

"Depends on who's asking."

"Well, I'm looking for him. Is he here?"

Kai opened the door for her to see the room,

"Does it look like there's anybody else here?"

"Oh, well, can you tell him I wanted to talk to him? My name is Trish, kay?"

"Where should I tell him to find you?"

"Oh, he'll see me around more often."

"Really? Are you in this competition?"

"Just tell him, all right? I've got to go." She glanced around, before turning to leave.

"Bye to you too!" Kai called sarcastically.

She waved a long arm in the air as she raced down the hallway.

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"Hang in there Mobekai!" Colby yelled desperately at their only boy companion.

Mobekai's blade was taking a fierce beating from Michael, who was still challenging street beginners. Mobekai tried to pull away every so often, but Michael trailed him, before making fierce contact with his blade again.

"ENOUGH!" Mobekai shouted angrily, "WHITE FALCON ATTACK!"

A magnificently large white falcon with sharp claws appeared in full glory above Mobekai's beyblade.

"TRYGLE! FAST BALL ATTACK!" Michael reacted quickly.

"TALON CLAW STRIKE!" Mobekai shouted.

Trygle sped forward threateningly, but Mobekai's blade hit the sidewalk curb and flew over Michael's beyblade. No longer cornered, Mobekai flew hard at Michael's beyblade, now cornered against the sidewalk. The force pushed Michael's blade against the sidewalk, instantly slowing and stopping it.

The crowd stared in amazement. Danika grinned behind Mobekai,

"Way to go Mo!"

Michael gaped,

"That's….impossible. How did you do that?"

Mobekai picked up his bit-beast and walked back to where his companions were now cheering excitedly for him.

Behind Michael, Emily gaped openly at Mobekai, laptop forgotten. Dr. Judy frowned curiously.

"Any other takers?" Mobekai smirked at the surrounding crowd.

"Yes. I'll do it!" a female voice shouted from the crowd.

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Final Note: I bet you don't have any idea how many freaking times I've had to write and rewrite this part of this story-it was quite hard to put together. At least I hope it was worth your time. Did you like my cliffhanger? It's actually a no brainer, but at least its something. Please read/review for me!