Tyra slowly began to walk up to the platform, it was like the death march for her. Besides the fact that her best friend and sibling were gone, she was on a team with an international ranked Beyblader, Mariah, who had been called up short moments ago. Upon stepping onto it she glanced up as she heard a friendly "Hi." across her, it was Mariah. The girl before her clad in nothing but pink, from head to toe.

"Hi." was Tyra's response.

A friendly smile was plastered upon her features, even Mariah's sunny hued orbs seemed to smile.

"Kai."

Again the voice over the loudspeaker called out.

Tyra's attention was caught by Kai's advance and the gentle motion of the scarf that trailed behind him. He shot a curt nod toward Mariah in response to her greeting and glanced at Tyra through frosty mahogany, his muted ferocity sending a chill up her spine. "Rei"

A faint smile appeared on Kai's face as Rei took his position beside Mariah, who was grinning widely. Rei smiled at Tyra and greeted her warmly. His clothes were similar in style to Mariah's but lacked the pink overkill.

"It's so good to see you Rei! And you too Kai." Exclaimed Mariah, beaming.

'Great, they all know each other.' Tyra thought bitterly, not only was she a rookie but she was on a team with the legendary Kai and Rei. Former members of the world famous Bladebreakers, and Mariah, one of the only female powers in Blading, formerly of The White Tigers. Tyra was paled in comparison to them, both in skill and experience.

"Long time since I last saw you Mariah." said Rei, obviously pleased with the team.

"I know, it's so great that we're on the same team!" Mariah replied, smiling fondly at Rei.

Kai merely stood there, ignoring everyone present before beginning to move off the platform. Tyra followed him, having nothing to do with the others conversations. Mariah smiled once again at Rei before hurrying to catch up with Tyra,

"Hi, Tyra?" She looked to her to see if she had gotten the name right, Tyra nodded. "We never introduced ourselves properly, my name's Mariah."

"Hey." She replied, maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

Rei also decided a proper introduction would help break the ice.

"I'm Rei, and that's Kai." He made a gesture in Kai's direction figuring he wouldn't introduce himself.

She looked over at Kai, expecting some type of acknowledgement of her existence but received only silence and the swaying of dual ivory as it trailed behind him. Kai hadn't even bothered to stop.

"That's Kai for you, he does that a lot." Rei informed her in an apologetic tone.

Even though she knew this was in Kai's nature it was hard for her not to feel hurt.

After they had all caught up with Kai, Mr. Dickenson appeared from behind a door and made his way over to them.

"Hello everyone, I hope that your all eager to learn where and when the first tournament will start."

Mariah nodded enthusiastically "I can't wait!"

"I'm so ready to get back out there and start blading!" Rei added, with equal enthusiasm.

"I'm glad to hear it!" he replied, a broad grin on his face.

"What about you Tyra, and Kai?" Tyra opened her mouth to speak but Kai cut it short. "I'm looking forward to the competition. And to take the title." he replied, a ghost of a smile starting to appear.

"I can't wait." Tyra replied, trying to hide the fact that she was daunted by her teammates.

"Best of luck to you all in Egypt!"

Both girls gawked at Mr. Dickenson in disbelief.

"Egypt?" Tyra managed to squeak. Her tone had risen sharply in excitement.

Rei kept his cool composure, but his excitement was apparent in his tone "Egypt huh? Sounds cool."

Kai kept the same look of indifference plastered on his face.

Mr. Dickenson chucked at their enthusiasm. "Yes, and your plane leaves tomorrow."

Mariah and Tyra exchanged glances while Mr. Dickenson informed them of departure and arrival times.

"If we're leaving tomorrow, that still leaves one thing," Rei stated, voicing his thoughts aloud as he watched the elderly man vanish into the crowd. "Where are we going to stay tonight?" pivoting back to face them his calm gold orbs scanned over each of his comrades, waiting for a response.

Mariah simply shrugged. Nothing worth hearing came to her mind. She glanced over at her female teammate, who was thinking of solutions to the dilemma at hand. Kai's famous unpredictability was reinstated by his solution to the short-lived question "We can stay at my house."

Rei nodded, he knew that Kai was sure in his decision to let them stay the night. Mariah on the other hand was always one to double check. "Are you sure?"

Kai gave her no response. He had already gone back to his typical position. Rei wore a slight smile as he concluded that they would stay at Kai's house, his longtime teammate's actions were typical and amusing to him. "Let's go then."

As they all began to depart Tyra held back, knowing she still needed to do something. Mariah noticed that Tyra wasn't beside her and glanced over her shoulder

"Are you coming Tyra?"

"Uhh... I think I'm going to go home."

Upon her statement a disgruntled Mariah stopped and turned towards her lagging teammate. "Why?"

"I've still got some things to take care of, like packing for one." Smog gray orbs scanned over Mariah's features before locking her gaze upon her warm gold ones.

"Oh. So I'll see you at the airport?"

Tyra smiled and nodded "Bright and early!"

"Alright, bye!" Mariah shot her teammate a reluctant smile before she took off after her male counterparts who had been observing this the whole time.