Xantcha: I'm posting up two chaps because I don't wanna put up one huge one. :P

Tyson: ... I'm sure that's okay with evreyone, right? -waves at readers-

Kai: -- Right. Either way, just start the fic.

Xantcha: ...Mleh, you're moody. Lighten up! ;

Tyson: Xantcha doesn't own anything but her character, her necklaces and her bit beast!!

Open your Soul, Open your Mind

Chapter 3, Part one: Sing it, Girls!!!

The three teams were led back into the mansion by Xantcha and Acirimik as Riyo took her bike to one of Mr. Dickonson's garages. Acirimik told the teams to get comfortable because she, with Xantcha, were going to explain some things about Gaea. Xantcha sighed as she began. "Well, first of all, I need to tell you all that even though it is just a simulator, don't be fooled. It is and will be quite real. Have any of you heard of the game Final Fantasy?" Tyson shot his hand up and a few others slowly put up theirs. "Alright, this is going to be harder than I thought. Acirmik?" Kivanov nodded as she took out a DVD out of it's case. "Here, watch this and you'll understand." Placing it carefully in the player, she stood back to the side to allow the teams to take a look at what Gaea had to offer.

The D.B. Captain slowly walked up to Acirimik and sighed. "We've already heard about it. What's so interesting about seeing it? Let's just go there for a demonstra-..." He cut himself short as the screen showed Acirimik's golden wolf, Triashie, in 'solid' form. Jaws dropped and eyes widened as the screen continued on to show Tiamut, the two fighting. Tyson looked upset so he complained. "Why are they fighting? Shouldn't they be friends if you guys are friends?" Xantcha laughed. "It's like beyblading...well, almost. You see, we were training. Gaea trains your physical as well as your mental self." Kai looked particularly interested and closed his eyes. "Hmmmm...So you are saying that we will be using weapons, such as swords, to spar with each other." Acirimik nodded. "Kinda. There ARE monsters in there. For instance," The screen flashed as a large leopard came flying at Tiamut, only to be destroyed by a dark firey blast. The leopard suddenly disintegrated before the viewers eyes. "that guy is a cheerni. Very hard to beat, because he is at level 27. Right now, Xantcha, Riyo and I are at level 38, 35, and 38, respectively."

Spencer showed confusion. "Why is Taka-ichi at a lower level?" Xantcha smiled at the short blader. "She joined later than we did. Considering we made the game though..." The silver haired blader laughed and pressed the stop button on the DVD player. "Now, before I start ranting, we only have an hour to get ready for that banquet. But, when Mr. D tries to explain to you what Gaea is, just pretend you didn't know some of those things. He was looking forward to talking to everyone about Gaea. Alright..." Xantcha and Acirimik glanced at each other and smirked. "Dismissed." The teenagers all got up and walked to their respective rooms.

Almost as soon as Tala got into his room, he noticed that Acirimik wasn't in there. "Where did she go? ... I saw her walk upstairs..." Turning around to look for her, he suddenly stopped as he looked through the burtains to the balcony. She was standing with her eyes closed and looked like she was thinking pretty deep. As he opened the glass door, the purple haired blader turned around to look at the team captain. "What do you want?" Tala just shook his head while he walked forward. "Just wondered where you were." She was taken aback slightly by this and furrowed her brow. "Why?" Tala considered this for a moment and almost smiled. "Just curious, I guess." The teen girl nodded slowly as the two looked out at the sky. "Are you sure that Gaea is full proof? I mean, hackers might be able to get in." Acirimik laughed. "Well, with the best computer technicians running around the clock, that would be kinda hard." Tala just smirked as he turned to walk back in. "Well, alright. Anyways, you had best get ready." Acirimik basically ignored him as he walked back in and shut the door.

At that same moment, Xantcha was still tormenting Kai. "I will get you back for that, you know it too. I HATE cold water." The Bladebreaker's captain just sighed. "Could you just drop it?" The girl frowned and walked over to her closet. "Fine. Now, let's see... Yeah, this definetly won't do." She slowly walked out of the room and stopped just as she heard Kai call out to her. "Where are you going?" Xantcha glared at him. "Why would you care?" His eyes widened as he just stood there. watching the door close. "Great, this is going to be really difficult when I'm on bad terms with her." Ray was walking by when he heard his captain, so he looked in. "You two are still mad at each other? Well... she's a girl. Get her present." "Yeah, right. Like that would work." The chinese boy laughed. "It will. Tala's getting Acirimik one as a 'peace offering'." The gray-blue haired boy suddenly became interested. "Actually, then it might work..." Ray grinned as he began to walk out. "...Thanks." The charcoal haired blader went wide eyed as he walked down the hall. 'He said...thanks...maybe she might be good for him, who knows....'

Almost exactly 40 minutes later, the teams gathered in the spacious living room. Riyo, in a dark green dress, went up to the 'garbage disposal' to ask a question. "Hey Tyson...Where's Xantcha, Acirimik and Tala? All of 'em are missing." Tyson had a blue tux on and Max had a green one, although Max wasn't nearly as uncomfortable as the Dragoon holder. Ray had recieved black. "Uhhh, didn't they go out shopping or something? Ugh, stupid suit." He continued to pull at the cuffs as Riyo walked up to Ray. "Hey, Ray! Where's your Acirimik and Xantch? Oh, Tala is missing too." Ray sort of laughed as he walked over to Riyo. "They've gone out. They'll meet us later at the banquet. Kai said that too, he's in his room." The group suddenly heard a honk at the door and Brian stood up and walked out the door. The rest followed suit to their respective team limos.

About 5 minutes after everyone arrived, Tala came through the door with a black tux on and a gift in his hand. "Don't you dare ask, Ian. Unless you want your blade permantly dismantled." Ian gulped and turned back to his food as Kai walked in the door, in a dark blue tux and, similar to Tala, with a gift in his hand. He was more precise about hiding it though, so he placed the small box in his right pocket. Walking over to his team's table, he sat down as far away from Tyson as possible, to avoid interrogations. "Hey! Where were you guys!" Mariah had not noticed the team captains arrivals, but she spotted Xantcha and Acirmik walking in. Xantcha had a black dress that went to her ankles, with the back cut out in the form of Dranzer, the phoenix The crystal key she usually wore shone brightly against the black dress. She walked over to the Bladebreaker's table as Kai stopped and stared for a split second before immediately standing up to get some food. Acirimik came wearing a ice blue velvet dress. She too walked over to her table and sat down. Tala was a little....well, almost embarassed as he snuck the gift under the table into his team mate's hands. She looked up in confusion and waited until everyone was in deep conversation.

"What is it?" Tala just smirked. "Consider it a welcome present." The female blader looked down into her hands and blinked twice. "Could I open it?" Pretending he hadn't noticed her yet, he muttered. "Yeah, go ahead." She opened it and grinned. "I suppose I should thank you, ne?" Tala smirked. "Depends on if you like it or not." The present he had given her? It was a pair of armlets with wolves on. The armlets were colored gold, and the wolves has ruby eyes. "Actually, it's really nice." The captain nodded. "Good. We had best get some food before Ian and Tyson eat it all." The two got up and strolled over to the buffet table.

Back at the Bladebreaker's table, everyone had already gotten their food, except for Tyson. He had already gone four times for food in the last 10 minutes. The blader seemed to be having a race to see who could eat the most. That is, until Kai and Tala glanced at each other. Tala nodded as the two captains looked at their team members. Glaring at Tyson, Kai smirked as he choked on some food, and Tala glared at Ian until he sunk in his seat. Xantcha laughed as she took a bite of her roast beef. "Really, you are going to get a stomach ache, Tyson. Lighten up on the load before you need to take some medicine." Tyson slowly picked up bits of food and placed them in his mouth, trying to avoid his captain's icy glare.

Mr. Dickonson then walked up to the stage. Calling upon the teenagers attention, he tapped the mic. "Alright everyone! I've heard from Riyo that you have already been told about Gaea, so I've decided to arrange something fun." Tala nearly choked as Acirimik and Xantcha growled. 'Riyo....' Riyo grinned sheepishly as she whispered to the Bladebreaker's table, the closest one to the White Tiger's. "I'm sorry, but I couldn't lie when he asked if you walked about it or not..." Xantcha nodded and smiled sadly. Whispering back, she half-laughed. "Don't worry about it, Riyo. Mr. D would know sooner or later." The two turned their attention back to Mr. Dickonson as he continued to speak. "I thought that I might be able to get Ojanen, along with Kivanov and Taka-ichi, to come up here and perform a few songs live." Kai turned and looked at Xantcha with a startled expression. "You sing?" Xantcha grinned as she stood up. "Hai, I do. Now," She glanced over to Riyo, then Acirimik. "should we guys?" Acirimik nodded and Riyo nearly flew up to the stage, grabbing her electric guitar. Acirmik walked over to the drums, and Xantcha picked up the bass guitar. "What song?" The three looked at each other and Riyo grinned. "How about 'Broken'? We'll need a male singer though."

Back at the Bladebreaker's table, Ray poked Kai. "I've heard you sing. Get up there, you know this song!" Kai glared at him and looked away. "Oi! I heard that Kon!! Sooo...You sing, ne Hiwatari-kun?" Riyo jumped up. "Well get up here!! We need someone to sing with Xantch!" Xantcha looked back. "Wait, you want me to sing with him? I thought that you or Acirimik were singing..." Riyo laughed. "Yeah, well she can sing the next song, and I'll sing the next. C'mon, 'breaker captain!" Kai looked less than amused until Xantcha commented. 'This'll bug him.' "Tch, figures. He acts like he is not afraid of anything, then he gets embarassed about singing in front of a crowd." That made Kai twitch and he walked up onto the stage. "Fine." Sitting down on a stool, Xantcha prepared to sing. Kai in turn grabbed the bass guitar from her and tuned it, much to the singer's shock. Kai began to play the guitar as Acirimik got ready to play the drums.

Kai:
I wanted you to know,
That I love the way you laugh.
I wanna hold you high
and steal your pain away.

I keep your photograph,
and I know it serves me well.
I wanna hold you high
and steal your pain.


Kai and Xantcha:
Because I'm broken
When I'm lonesome.
And I don't feel right,
When you're gone away.


Kai:
You've gone away....
You don't feel me here...
Anymore.


Xantcha:
The worst is over now,
and we can breathe again.
I wanna hold you high
you steal my pain
(both)away.


There's so much left to learn,
and no one left to fight.
I wanna hold you high
and steal your pain.


Kai and Xantcha:
Because I'm broken
When I am open.
And I don't feel like,
I am strong enough.

Because I'm broken
When I'm lonesome.
And I don't feel right,
When you're gone away.


Because I'm broken
When I'm open.
And I don't feel right,
now I'm strong enough.


Because I'm broken
When I'm lonesome.
And I don't feel right,
When you're gone away.

Because I'm broken
When I'm lonesome.
And I don't feel right,
When you're gone away.


You've gone away...

Kai:
You don't feel me here...
Anymore.


Everyone cheered and clapped as Kai smirked and Xantcha smiled softly. "How'd you know the song?" Kai thought for a moment and smiled. "It reminds me of my pas-...Ah, it's just a good song." Xantcha smiled. "Thanks." Kai nodded to her as Riyo stepped in. "Kivanov's turn!" Ray slapped his head as Xantcha and Kai both looked away from each other, both slightly flustered. 'Dammit!' Ray felt like banging his arm on the table. 'Oh well...' The three girls thought about a song. "Now, which one?" Xantcha smiled. "How about..." Acirimik jumped in. "Bring me to life." Xantcha looked taken aback as she recieved her guitar from Kai. "Why?" "Because it's a good song. Hurry up and get ready." Riyo grinned widely and moved to the center of the stage. "Xantcha, let's help with the back-up singing...." Xantcha nodded then grinned as Kai began to walk off stage. "Oooooh No you don't Hiwatari. We need a guy to sing these parts too...But then again..." The crimson eyed girl looked over at the Demolition Boys table. 'To each their own. "Nevermind, keep going. Oi, Tala!" The 'carrot top' looked up from his drink, startled and confused. "Get up here! We need a guy to sing! Do you know this song?" He nearly dropped his glass.

'...' Spencer then proceeded to poke him. "C'mon, I heard you talking the lyrics to yourself the other day!" Bryan smirked as Tala glared at the midget, but was shocked at what their 'instructor' had to say.. "Too bad. I thought you said fear wasn't in your vocabulary." The captain looked about ready to pass out as Acirimik spoke and hit the front drum a few times. "So? Or are you a chicken?" Tala twitched and walked up to the stage, grabbing the mic from Xantcha. "Never. Start the song." The two smirked at each other as everyone silently laughed, with the exception of Tyson and Spencer. Xantcha nodded and began to play.

Xantcha: ...Chapter 3 Part Two is next!

Kai: Two in one day?

Tyson: Why? ?

Xantcha: Because there is no way I'm putting this in as one chapter. It's too long, as far as I'm concerned. Oh well! -shrugs-

Tyson: Review Please!!!!!