Of course I have some sort of plan for this fan fiction... really, I think. Anyway, I'm glad that people like this weird fan fiction
Thanks for reviews: Devlinn Reiko-sama, black dragon, Enelya Aldarion, TigerRain, Platinum Rei, Xaphien, Sarcasmcat, Reis#1gurl, Sakin.
Disclaimer: I don't own beyblade.
Chapter V - More Cat Than Human
Kai sat quietly, flinching slightly each time he started to clench his hands into fists by habit. So far, Kenny had been mostly unsuccessful contacting the BBA chairman and the rest of the team didn't know what to do about Ray.
"We can't go on like this." Kenny spoke up through the silence. "We have to figure something out soon or more of us will get hurt!"
"It's been about an hour and a half and I'm sure my grandpa is gonna come outside and wonder what's going on..." Tyson muttered, scratching the back of his head.
"What are we gonna do about Ray?" Max asked, looking at the said person. "He has claws and everything..."
"What we know so far is that Ray, or whoever is causing this to happen, is after Dragoon, making Tyson the target..." Kai said calmly. "Each time this happens, something else changes and he is becoming more violent..."
"We're out of our league..." Max said quietly.
"Not quite..." Kai answered as he closed his eyes.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Kenny questioned as he looked up from his laptop.
"Think about it... It has something to do with Driger... You said so yourself, Kenny. Driger has a power boost and somehow Ray is benefiting from it... So to speak, anyway..." Kai paused for a moment, thinking. "There are a lot of things about the bit beasts that we don't know about and for all we know, many of them could have been strong rivals..."
"But... Ray and I aren't enemies." Tyson argued. "We've all been friends since I can remember!"
"I know, just cool it..." Kai once again sighed. "We need to make a plan... First of all, Kenny will have to get in contact with Mister Dickenson... Not that he has any idea of what's going on. From there, I think it's time for us to pay a visit to-"
"Ugh... I'm starving..." Ray muttered as he sat up, stretching.
Max, Tyson, Kenny and even Kai stared at the Chinese beyblader as the other started to stand and stopped midway, looking back at the others as he crouched.
Tyson spoke quietly through his teeth. "I thought you said he'd be out for a good while..."
"I did..." Kai watched the humanoid cat warily.
"What's up, guys?" Ray blinked, scratching his head a bit before noticing Kai's hands. "Kai, what happened to you?"
Kai opened his mouth to answer but stopped as Ray did something completely unexpected. He promptly licked the back of his hand with his tongue and rubbed the top of his hair, almost like a cat trying to clean its fur on the top of its head. Kenny nearly dropped his laptop to the ground as Ray did the same thing again, seeming to purr contently. Ray was actually purring like a happy cat.
"I... uh..." Kai was speechless and couldn't even put a proper sentence together.
"W... W... What... is he doing...?" Max stuttered, his eyes glued on Ray.
The other members of the Blade Breakers were speechless as Ray started licking the back of his other hand, brushing the top of his head. As each moment passed, it was looking more cat-like and well...
"This is freaky..." Tyson hand hung in the air, meekly pointing at the other boy. "Yo, dude... Ray!"
"Eh?" Ray stopped mid-action of licking his hand again, finding the others staring at him. "... What's wrong? It's like you guys have seen a ghost or something..."
"You... You... You just..." Max tried explaining but just shut his mouth.
"Do you have any idea... of what you just did a moment ago..." Kai asked slowly, managing to speak again.
"What? What'd I do?" Ray blinked a few times at the others, resting his hand on his knee.
"... Dizzi, you recorded that... Right?" Kenny asked, looking back down at his laptop.
"You bet! Along with the other weird things Ray's done for the past few days." The laptop spoke uneasily. "Here you go, chief."
The team gathered around the laptop as the recording of Ray's recent behavior was played back at them. Ray leaned in so his nose was almost touching the screen, blinking in almost pure curiosity.
"Hey! Not so close, big guy! You're fogging up my monitor!" Dizzi protested.
"Ray, don't go so close, you'll ruin your eyes." Kenny said nervously as Ray tried to get a better look at the screen.
The recording ended and a new one started up when Ray's hand accidentally hit a few keys. It showed the beybattle between Ray and Kai from the previous morning. Ray blinked again as the recording played the beyblades zooming towards each other, the bit beasts doing the same before there was a blinding flash of light.
"AHH!" Ray's cat-like pupils constricted into very thin slits before he fell back, covering his eyes as his yell sounded more like a cat-like yowl. "DAMN IT!"
He frantically rubbed his eyes, trying to edge away the burning bright light that nearly blinded him. Snarling curse words, he took one hand away from his eyes and tried slamming a fist on the laptop. Kenny nervously yanked the laptop away before it was struck and he held out it of reach.
"H-hey!" He said, his glasses nearly falling off. "What do you think you're doing?!"
"Nngh! My eyes!" Ray whimpered, trying to get his eyes to focus as he looked through the spaces of his fingers.
"... Did you take in anything at all from that playback?" Kai asked, trusting his doubts.
Ray continued his whimpering, his sight returning bit by bit as he lowered his hands from his eyes. He blinked once... twice... everything coming back into focus. He growled at the laptop, baring his fangs slightly as Kenny shifted back a few feet, hiding the targeted object behind his back.
"Take it easy, man. It's no big deal." Tyson reassured him, stepping into Ray's view. "Besides, we all haven't had breakfast... so its chowtime!"
Ray perked up at the sound of food. "Alright!"
Kai's question was left unanswered as the Blade Breakers made their way into Tyson's home, finding Tyson's grandfather already preparing food.
"Hey there, little dudes! I was wonderin why y'all left in such a hurry! Can't let this chow go to waste now!" He said then he noticed the Chinese beyblader acting strangely.
Ray sat at the table, looking at an apple carefully as he slowly started peeling it with one of his claws. He was trying very hard not to break the apple peel as the others stared at him in disbelief again.
"Yo... What's up with Ray? Is he tryin a new style or somethin?" Grandpa Granger asked.
"Uh... Yeah! That's it!" Tyson said nervously, pushing his grandpa back into the kitchen. "We're all starving, grandpa!"
"I guess... you don't need a knife... huh..." Max said slowly, watching his friend use his claws.
After the apple was skinned completely, Ray did another surprising thing that the others thought only Tyson would do in that situation... He shoved the whole apple in his mouth and ate it rather quickly, almost making it looked like he had swallowed the apple whole. He licked his fangs and lips approvingly and grabbed another apple hungrily, starting to peel it in the same fashion. By the time Tyson and his grandfather brought in the food, Ray had finished off at least half a dozen apples, peelings and all.
"Whoa, little dude! You must have been mighty hungry to eat most of those! Do you have any room for breakfast?" Grandpa Granger asked as he started setting the bowls and plates down.
"Do I ever!" Ray exclaimed, sitting up.
As breakfast started, it seemed to be an eating competition between Tyson and Ray. Max ate quietly as he flicked his gaze between the two hungry boys, wondering if they'd eat so much to get themselves sick.
"Is it just me... or has anyone else noticed that Ray-" The said person's gaze made Kenny shut his mouth and stay quiet. He looked down at his laptop on the table, waiting for his search results as he kept his voice down. "Any luck, Dizzi?"
"Here you go, Chief." The laptop showed a window of statistics.
"No way..." Kenny looked at the monitor then back up at Ray, his glasses almost falling off. "This was just a suspicion... but... Ray, how hungry are you?"
Ray gulped down a mouthful of food before getting another helping. "I haven't eaten since yesterday, Chief and it feels like I haven't eaten for a week! How about that, huh?"
"Yeah... how about that..." Kenny readjusted his glasses nervously.
Kai ate his breakfast quietly and calmly as he thought to himself, wincing from time to time as his hands had spikes of pain. 'He didn't answer my question... I'm not sure if he didn't want to answer it or he didn't hear me... We're going to have to get the White Tigers in on this... Maybe they have more of an idea of what's going on with Driger and Ray...'
After several odd moments more, Tyson had his fair share of food, as well as the others... with the exception of Ray.
"... If I'm not mistaken... I think... Ray just ate more than Tyson..." Kenny said in disbelief.
"I think you're right." Max blinked a few times.
"Ray, that's enough." Kai said calmly, thankful that he had been somewhat able to eat his own food without someone feeding him.
He tensed immediately when Ray seemed to snarl and glare at Kai, his claws slightly digging into the table as his other hand fisted Kai's scarf tightly. Kai's icy glare met Ray's at they looked at each other in silence, daring each other to make a move. Thankfully for Tyson, his grandfather wasn't in the room and he kept an eye on the doorway in case he decided to come back. No one made a move since they didn't want to suddenly be the next target. Ray unexpectedly yawned and rubbed an eye drowsily with one fist. The others sighed in relief, being saved from Ray's overeating and making himself sleepy.
"Talk about timing!" Kenny exclaimed, reading over his newly received e-mail. "Mister Dickenson replied to my message and he said he'll be here in about half an hour or so!"
"Finally! It took him long enough! You'd think that he'd be up before me." Tyson muttered and looked at Ray. "Hey, dude. Don't fall asleep on the table. You can sleep on the couch if you want."
Ray nodded slightly and got up, walking towards the other room as the rest of the Blade Breakers watched him in silence. Kai sighed slowly and decided it was the best time to continue his thoughts from earlier.
"While he's taking a nap, I may as well tell you guys what the plan is for now. After Mister Dickenson gets here, we have to discuss about going to China as soon as possible..." He said, getting some confused looks.
"China? Why there? Tyson asked.
"Wouldn't that be dangerous? I mean... how Ray's acting and all..." Max trailed off a bit.
"Why else would you think I'm suggesting it... The White Tigers have to know something about this or at least know some way to prevent this from getting any worse than it already is. I know it's a risky thought but it would take too long if we make the White Tigers travel all the way here. We're just going to have to try our luck and be on full guard." Kai explained.
"I get it now! Good thinking, Kai." Kenny nodded. "I'm sure Mister Dickenson will understand our situation entirely! Or at least most of it, anyway..."
In the other room, Ray had sprawled himself across the couch, holding one of cushions to make it a more comfortable pillow. He could hear the rest of the team talking but he decided to tune it out completely, along with any other external noises.
The time draws nearer...
Ray muttered something under his breath in reply as he shifted a bit to get more comfortable.
The White Tiger hungers for blood... The dragon shall be struck down soon... If it is not carried out, thy failure shall seal thy demise...
Whoo hoo... finally updated this... Sorry for the lack of updates but I'm usually not in the writing mood for once type of story constantly. Oo; That and I have homework, track & field... and the dreaded Writer's Block xx Tis all evil... I know... and hopefully I didn't make this chapter too calm and boring with a hell of a lot of typos.