Thirteen

It doesn't matter what I want

It doesn't matter what I need

It doesn't matter if I cry

Don't matter if I bleed

You've been on a road

Don't know where it goes

Or where it leads

"My name is Tyson, and I'm not going to stand here and let you hurt my friend Kai anymore. You may be his father, but what kind of a father _are_ you if you're forcing your own son to give up his life so you can have a stab at carrying out _your_ father's plans? Well, I'm not going to let you get away with it. I may just be one Beyblader, and I may only have one Bit Beast, but I'm going to take you down! One way or another!" Tyson's opening speech even took Kai aback slightly, but Kai was more angry than delighted to see his friend. What the hell was Tyson _doing_ here?! Did he know he could be killed just for standing there?!

"Tyson!" Kai hissed, his voice had lost its usually sharp, bitter edge, and he just sounded frail and exhausted. Kai hated himself for opening his mouth while he was like this, but he had to get that idiot out of the way and out of his business. "Tyson get the hell out of here!"

"No Kai. You're in no state to be dishing out orders to someone who's here to save you, and I'm in no mood to be listening to you," Tyson replied sternly. Kai couldn't believe it. Though he admired Tyson's attitude, standing up to him like that, he was still slightly outraged that Tyson had even tried standing up to him. Was _he_ the team captain? No.

"Tyson, listen to me, this is no place for you to be right now--" Kai felt all the strength in his legs suddenly leave him and he crashed to the ground, only to have his numb arms grabbed by two of his father's strong guards. What a humiliating experience. Falling like a weak child in front of one of the people he'd put such a strong front up against.

"So…you're Tyson Granger, the World Beyblade Champion…" Hideaki sneered, looking up at Tyson.

"That's me, and I'm guessing you're Hideaki. Your little faker told us everything about your scheme," Tyson replied, his defiance holding firm.

"I had a feeling that the clone hadn't survived."

"Oh yeah, he's dead alright. I'll bring him in to you in a second, but where is your little lap dog Boris? I thought he'd be here."

"Boris? That idiot? He'd just screw the whole thing up! Look at how far I've come without Boris around, boy. Your dear friend Kai is ready to surrender himself to death, and I'm ready to take control of the world with my army of Bit Beasts. I do believe I've won."

"Oh no, Hideaki. You haven't won. Not yet." and with that Tyson leapt over the rail and down to where Hideaki, Kai and the other Beybladers were standing. The impact hurt his ankles a bit, but he was willing to ignore his pain if it meant saving Kai. Besides, the pain he was feeling had to be nothing compared to how Kai was feeling, and from the looks of things Kai felt pretty terrible. It was only down here, as close to Kai as he was, that Tyson could see the full extent of Kai's injuries. It looked as if his hands were in bad condition and his arm had several breaks in it. Blood stained his face, and he looked worn and wrecked. He must have endured something horrifying to come out looking this beaten in. Tyson's breath was taken away by the whole affair.

"Surprised, young Granger? Surprised to see what a father can do to his only son?" Tyson swallowed back his horror and reaffixed his gaze on the menacing Hideaki.

"No I'm not," Tyson replied. "After hearing what you did to Kai's mother, it doesn't surprise me at all that you'd do something so inhuman to your only son." the two guards pulled Kai away from Tyson and held him hard against a wall.

"Is the machine working now?!" Hideaki yelled to them.

"Yes sir," they replied in unison. And with that, a strange machine on Tyson's left side came to life, and started generating huge balls of pure energy and placing them in Blade Bits. The children gathered there ran forward to claim their new Beyblades and prepared themselves to fight Tyson. Kai felt his vision start to blur. Strange patches of darkness seemed to place themselves between himself and Tyson, and slowly but surely, names and faces became hushed whispers in Kai's memory, and eventually succumbed to the enveloping darkness. When Kai's vision focused, he didn't know where he was.

"Tyson!!" a familiar voice called out. Ray, Max, Kenny and the Demolition Boys had finally decided to make themselves known, but they were horrified by what they saw. A defeated, weakened Beyblader was restrained helplessly against a wall, strange metal components covering a great deal of his face a head. They couldn't believe Hideaki had eroded Kai down to this.

"Kai!!" Ray called out to his weak friend. Kai lifted his head, and uttered three words which would haunt their minds.

"…Who are you?"

They were stunned into silence. What was happening?!

"Kai, it's me, Tyson. And up there; up there its Ray, Max, Kenny, Tala, Bryan, Spencer and Ian. The dead guy in Tala's arms is that clone your father made of you," Tyson replied, a worried, pleading tone in his voice.

"I…don't know what you're talking about…I don't know any of you!" Kai replied, his gaze looking lost and dark.

"Kai…" Max said, unable to take in what Kai was saying. Had he forgotten them? What had happened? Hideaki was laughing.

"It's useless boys, he doesn't know you anymore," Hideaki sneered, and all attention focused on him. "I'm drawing the strength I need for my Bit Beasts from Kai's memories. All of his blocked feelings and emotions are linked to his memories, and that is merely one power source. I'm also draining all of Kai's life energy. He's going to get weaker and weaker, and eventually, he's going to forget everything, maybe even how to breathe!"

"You're sick Hideaki!" Ray growled.

"I wouldn't call myself sick," Hideaki looked up at Ray. "You must be Ray Kon. And your blonde friend must be little Max Tate, Judy's boy."

"How do you know my mom?!" Max asked angrily.

"She works for the BBA. I make it my business to know what I'm up against," Hideaki replied, a small smile creeping onto his sinister face.

"We know all about your plan Hideaki, so I suggest you just give it up now!" Kenny stated boldly.

"Who's going to make me? You, Kenny?" Hideaki sneered. "Besides, you all came just a tad too late. The moment that machine attached itself to Kai he was as good as mine. This process is irreversible, and now its underway, you're all powerless to save him!!"

"Oh no…" Tyson gasped in horror. He could tell from Kai's lost and dark expression that Hideaki was telling the truth. Was this seriously the end? Has he won now? The machine suddenly came to a stop, and the Bit Beasts were no longer being passed out to what Tyson would call "eager beaver young Beybladers". Hideaki was laughing again.

"Now my Bit Beast army is ready!!" he sneered, looking over to Tyson, as the Bladebreakers and the Demolition Boys came down to join him, the dead clone in the arms of Tala. "Under normal circumstances I would set my Beybladers against you…but these aren't normal circumstances…" with a click of his fingers, several armed guards stole the dead clone from Tala's arms and removed the Beyblade he had been carrying. He then proceeded in throwing the clone aside, as if he were nothing more than a broken toy with no further use now that he was broken. The Beyblade was pressed into Kai's hands, it being Dranzer, and his Beyblade after all. "For this special occasion, I'll set him onto you." Hideaki rested a heavy hand onto his son's shoulder.

"You…you must be joking!!" Tyson cried out.

"No I'm not," Hideaki replied, his dark smile playing still on his lips. "Kai," Hideaki then turned his attention to his void-looking son, shaking his shoulder viciously. "Kai, you are to attack these intruders. It is your mission to bring them down and take their Bit Beasts for me. Do you understand, my son?" there was a long pause before any kind of response came. The response was what no one was expecting, but it chilled their very blood to hear it spoken.

"Yes…father," came Kai's almost android response, as if he were programmed to say that. He lifted his gaze from the ground, an expression mixed with determination and anger emblazoned on his face. Tyson took a step back, unable to believe what he was seeing. Kai gripped his launcher, ignorant of the writhing agony it was causing him, and placed his Beyblade into it. With his other hand he tore the rip chord from the launcher and sent Dranzer flying towards his team mates. His former team mates. Even though Kai chose to ignore the pain inflicted by launching his Beyblade, everyone else could clearly see that it had to hurt. Fresh blood was spattered up Kai's already bloodied arm, and large quantities of it covered his launcher and the rip chord. Even Dranzer seemed to be stained with it. On impulse, the Demolition Boys and the Bladebreakers let rip their own Beyblades and sent them into the fray, but Tyson was hesitant.

"We can't fight Kai…" Tyson said slowly, almost as if he were entranced by Kai's anger. "We can't…he's still in there you guys…we can't hurt him…"

"Tyson wake up!!" Bryan yelled angrily. "Kai is gone!! We've lost him now!! You and I both know he would prefer for us to beat him down now before he causes any hurt to anyone else!!"

"No Bryan…no you're wrong…" Tyson said, his voice was paced slowly, he was still struggling to comprehend it all. "I can save Kai…I can reach him…"

"He's dead Tyson!!!" Tala yelled, fury settling alight in his icy eyes. "Give up all hope you had of being the hero here Tyson. Either way, Kai is dead now. His soul belongs to Hideaki now, as does his body and his mind!! We can't reach him now!! He's fallen to a place where no one can rescue him!!" Ray also seemed hesitant, as did Max. they watched on silently as the Demolition Boys set Falborg, Wolborg, Seaborg and Wyborg on Dranzer. Driger, Draciel and Dragoon stood at the sidelines and observed the battle, not participating due to their partner's hesitation.

"What are you guys waiting for, a written invitation!!?" Bryan screamed to the Bladebreakers. "He's going to steal your Bit Beasts!! You're not putting up much of a fight to save them!!"

"We…can't…" Ray replied meekly.

"We can't hurt Kai…" came Max's fearful reply.

"Are you guys serious?!!" Ian asked, disgusted that they weren't sticking up for their Bit Beasts. "He'll take them away from you _forever_!!! He's not the Kai you all thought was your friend anymore!! That Kai is dead!!"

"I won't…hurt Kai…" Tyson said, his tempo still slow, but his tone was firm and decided. "I can still get to him. I know I can. I just have to believe in myself, and in Kai. I _can_ rescue him. You guys won't understand, because you couldn't possibly know Kai as well as we do. He's an antisocial guy by nature, but we all know he considers us as his friends. He's been through so much in his life, I'm not giving up on him! Because he'd…never quit on me."

"Touching, very touching," Hideaki sneered. All attention diverted itself away from the battle and onto him.

"Why is it that Kai remembers you, but none of us?" Ray asked.

"Simple. I designed the machine. I placed my own programme into the machine mainframe to be imbedded into Kai's mind when his memories were gone. He now knows I am his father, but he's convinced he is a soldier for my will. Nice, isn't it?"

"That's pretty sick," Max replied, evidently angered by what Hideaki had said.

"Kai…son…" Hideaki began, turning to Kai. "I want you…to destroy their Beyblades, claim their Bit Beasts and, if you'd like, exterminate them."

"Yes father," came Kai's reply. He was totally under Hideaki's control now. Hideaki was pulling all of Kai's strings. It was hopeless now. They'd lost Kai to the darkness, were they going to lose themselves trying to save him?

Your idleness is amusing

I stand ready to fight

I'm here to crush your mind

Crush your spirit

Crush your faith

And all that you hold dear

Will begin to disappear

You cannot claim

That which is lost

And I've been lost all along

SN: Much thanks to Cold Heritage for the idea!! I'm gonna run with it! Stellar job!

By the by, reviewers, if you vote for the sad ending you are ultimately condemning someone to death, more likely than not Kai. Happy ending means no one will die, not Max, not Ray, not Tala, not Kai, nobody. So far, the happy ending is storming ahead. May continue to do so, now that I've put forth this lil piece of info. Who knows. The opening paragraph is from It Doesn't Matter by Alison Strauss and Union Station.

A quick note for Elcy Name: I am really not bothered that your reviews are long. Just shows you appreciate my work. Makes it all worthwhile when I hear how much people appreciate me. That goes for all of ya, you fantastical people you. I've been in and out of depression since I moved to Ireland from England, and it really lifts me up to know my work is liked by so many people. Bless ya all maaaaan!

OK now just review. That's good…yes it's the little button on the left. Click it…now! OK, now! Done it? Good reader…*hands out Chocolate biscuits*