I'm depressed now, someone has deleted me from their author alert list...sob :'( I have finally figured out the next part! grins happily Can we have some drum rolls, please?

EXTREMELY LOUD DRUM ROLLS

Here is...

CHAPTER THIRTY! – Unbroken Bond

Zarine woke up to find herself lying partially on Xeora's thick fur coat. (She's still a tiger.)

"Xeora?" she said quietly, shaking the motionless tiger. When her bit-beast didn't answer, she called a little louder, "Xeora???" and shook her harder.

Still Xeora didn't answer her. Panicking, she wondered if her bit-beast is dead. (I'm not sure if that can happen...but who cares.) She groped for Xeora's energy and felt a weak pulse. She breathed a sigh of relieve. At least her bit-beast was still alive.

Then she felt the tiger stirring. Zarine's heart leapt for joy. "You're awake!" she said happily, hugging her only companion in the darkness.

"Zarine, I'm sorry I couldn't win against Shadow," Xeora said in her melodic voice.

"We'll find a way out. At least we're still together," Zarine said.

"Not for long," another voice said.

Zarine and Xeora looked up in search for the speaker. It was too dark, they couldn't see him, but they could feel his evil aura.

"Sorry to interrupt your heartwarming conversation just now," he said. "I'm afraid I have to separate the two of you."

Suddenly, ropes came out of nowhere and dragged the two of them apart. When they were about thirty feet away from each other, two cages came down from above and trapped them.

"What are you doing?" Zarine demanded, rattling her cage bars.

"I suggest you don't do that," he said. Zarine let out a gasp of pain as the bars grew hot in her hands. She quickly let go. "As I said before, I'm going to separate you," he repeated.

"Well, you already did that!" the silver haired girl scoffed.

"No, not quite," he said, smirking at the confused look on Zarine's face.

He snapped his fingers and a thick white tube of light appeared in the middle of the cages. Xeora knew what he wanted to do. He wanted to sever the connection between her and Zarine!

"Your bond is the strongest one I've seen by far," he said, clearly impressed. "But it doesn't matter, when the blade cuts it, it'll just be a memory."

"You can't do this!" Xeora said, fury filling her voice. "How dare you do this to my chosen one?"

Zarine's mind whirled. Chosen one? What does that mean? Why is he doing this?

The person laughed softly. "But I can, and I will." He clapped his hands sharply.

The blade came down slowly. Zarine and Xeora held onto each other's spirit as tightly as possible, but the blade was still stronger. It went down millimeter by millimeter. Zarine started to sob, it was hurting her so much. The pain only grew as the blade cut deeper.

"I meant it to be fast and clean. Just let go of each other and it would be over," the man said.

By the time the blade was halfway through, Zarine was lying on the ground, sobs raking through her body. Xeora desperately wanted to do something, but what could she do? She was trapped in that stupid cage.

Xeora couldn't bare Zarine's pain any longer. She said in defeat, "Just let me go."

Zarine only cling onto her bit-beast even tighter. "No, I won't! You're everything that I have!"

"Stubborn girl! You're just going to be punished after this is done!" The man suddenly laughed chillingly. "I'm going to enjoy breaking you."

In the meantime, Xeora wasn't going to let that happen if she could help it. She strengthened the connection between her and Zarine. The blade went down just a little farther before it stopped. The evil man was stunned.

He growled angrily, "Cut!" The blade started hacking the bond, but it was like trying to cut into stone. "I said cut!" he roared. The blade came down so hard, it spilt in half.

Zarine fell unconscious. All of her willpower had been spent. She was exhausted.

Driger unexpectedly leapt into sight and tackled the man down. He killed the man with one swipe of his claws. As the man's body disintegrated, so did the cages. As soon as Xeora was free, she ran over to Zarine. Driger approached her and said urgently, "Hurry! We have to help Ray before Shadow catches up to him!"

Xeora turned back into her true form, pick Zarine up and jumped onto Driger's back. "Let's go!" she said crisply. Driger ran at breakneck speed into the direction where Ray was.

"Where's your bit-beast?" someone asked from behind Ray. "I hope you haven't lost your kitty in the dark."

Ray grimly turned around, knowing there was no chance of escaping. He hoped Driger had managed to rescue Zarine by now.

"Don't tell me that pathetic tiger had gone to save Zarine and her bit- beast! Because he's probably too late!" Jordan said. "Shadow, go and kill him so I can have a laugh."

[Uh oh!] Ray thought. [I'm a goner...]

"Not so fast!" a feminine voice said sharply.

They turned and saw a woman on Driger's back. Ray and Jordan both stared, stunned at her beauty. Then, Ray noticed she was carrying Zarine. Now his attention was on the girl he loved. He hoped that she's fine. Driger walked to him. The woman jumped down from Driger's back and passed Zarine to him.

"Here, take her while Driger and I fight Shadow," she instructed. Noticing the worry on his face, she told him reassuringly, "Don't worry, Zarine will be fine."

"Xeora!" Shadow snarled.

Ray's head turned to look at the woman. She was Zarine's bit-beast? He remembered now! That's right! She looked like that when she was in her true form.

"What?" Xeora asked calmly.

"I see that my servant had failed break off the connection between you and the girl," Shadow said.

"Glad you noticed," the woman said dryly. Her eyes suddenly blazed. "You go too far, you pitiful creature. You know that Zarine and I can beat you once we've regained our strength, so you attempted to break us off from each other. I'll make you pay for that!"

"What can you do? The girl is weak. One blow from my claws and she's history," Shadow laughed.

"You will not touch her! You underestimate me," Xeora said softly, but menacingly. She shimmered and transformed into a tiger. "Driger, let's get rid of this annoying creature!"

Driger and Xeora jumped onto Shadow, biting and scratching him. Meanwhile, Jordan ran toward Ray like a mad bull. Ray jumped out of his way. There was no way he could fight with Zarine in his arms, so he gently put her on the ground, and turned to face Jordan. They were soon locked in a furious fight. Jordan punched Ray in the stomach and Ray fell down, winded. Jordan ran towards Zarine. As Shadow was thrown back by the two tigers, he shrieked, "Kill the girl!"

Driger and Xeora turned to Zarine. Too late, Jordan was already by her. He kneeled down and pulled Zarine up so she was leaning against his chest. He took a knife out and positioned it threateningly over her throat.

He warned, "Don't move, or she dies!"

"Just kill her!" Shadow screamed.

"No!" he said firmly. "I'm not killing her." Then he added, "Unless someone makes a wrong move."

The tigers didn't dare to move, in case he does kill Zarine. They looked at each other helplessly. Without warning, Jordan dropped his knife and fell onto the ground. Ray had snuck up from behind and punched him in the back of his head. Driger and Xeora didn't waste another moment. They attacked Shadow with everything they had. The black griffon began to disintegrate. "No!" he cried as his legs disappeared. "I can't be destroyed!"

The darkness in the stadium dissolved when Shadow disappeared. Ray blinked in the light. He was back in the stadium, but where was Zarine? He looked around him.

'She's safe in the dressing room where you left her. As soon as I'm back in her beyblade, she'll wake up,' Xeora said.

"The winner is Ray! The Bladebreakers win this tournament!" Jazzman shouted over the cheers of the spectators. The two tigers returned to his blade.

Ray looked at Jordan. He was kneeling on the ground, staring at his blade, unable to believe that he had lost. Since Shadow was destroyed, Will's mind was free from the Dark Force's control.

Will yelled, "Someone seize the Dark Force! They're criminals!"

"Kid, calm down!" Jazzman said.

"They killed my parents!" he yelled at him. "You should do something about that!"

The whole crowd fell into silence. The Dark Force panicked. They were about to fun away, but security guards were already filtering through the doors. They were hand cuffed and sent to the police station.

Ray ran down the hallway and into the dressing room. Will followed close behind, and behind Will, the Bladebreakesr. Ray held his beyblade out and a white light came out. It disappeared into Zarine's blade. He turned to Zarine, but Will was already kneeling beside her. Zarine stirred and opened her eyes.

"Hiya, lil' sis," Will said softly.

Zarine threw her arms around her brother and buried her face in his shirt. "I thought you had abandoned me!"

"I'm sorry! The Dark Force made me do that to you. I was being controlled by them," Will explained, hugging her tightly. "I promise I won't desert you, ever."

I wouldn't have Zarine killed! You think I'd have my favourite OC killed??? Now that the finals are over...the Bladebreakers deserves some explanations about the Dark Force's intention, etc. If you are confused about something, tell me in your reviews so I can include it in the next one or two chapters!