Hey guys! Did ya'll think I fell off the ends of the earth? I don't blame you! Well, I finally went and looked at the story, and I realize that there are a lot of corrections that need to be done, so I got discouraged. But then, I realized that there were people who were actually reading this, people who were happy when I put up a new chapter. So I said, "As long as there are people reviewing, then I'll keep posting!"
So there you have it! You guys are reading, and I'm posting! Hope you enjoy!
Oh, and I won't be answering my reviews this chapter, just because I got so behind, but a big e-hug goes out to all of ya'll, old and new! Now, on with the story!
Disclaimer: No, I still don't own Beyblade or any of its characters. The plot however is mine! MINE! Mwahahaha! cough, cough Sorry about that...
Tyson was mad. Mad and bored. So mad and bored, in fact, that not even a bowl of ice cream could cheer him up!
So now Dragoon's master was sulking about the house. He was mad because Chief yelled at him for asking a simple question, and he was bored because there was no one to talk to. After all, the other Bladebreakers had gone nuts!
When Tyson tried to talk to Max, Max had grunted something about world domination and butcher knives. Chief was still sobbing over the virus that he had downloaded into Dizzi. Kai, of course, was completely loony, and Tyson was afraid to even try and strike up a conversation with his captain. He had finally gone and tried to hunt down Rei, only to find the Chinese neko-jin.
So now Tyson was sitting at the kitchen counter, moping. He had thought about training, but decided that he should enjoy the break while it lasted. For a brief moment, he thought about calling Hilary and asking for her advice, but immediately scolded himself for such a stupid thought.
That's when the doorbell rang. Tyson jumped to his feet and managed to beat everyone to the door. He unlocked the door and pulled it open, only to find the most unlikely person standing there.
"Mariah?" he gasped.
The pink (and boy, do I mean PINK) girl nodded and smiled. "I just wanted to come see my little Rei! He must miss me so much!"
"Uh, well maybe it's not the greatest time for you to come..." Tyson began, but was ignored by Mariah who pushed herself in and went to search for Rei.
Before she could start, Kai barreled past and almost flattened both Tyson and Mariah. "He's gonna get me! Save me! Help! I'm gonna be KILLED! MURDERED!" the captain of the Baldebreakers screamed dramatically.
"What on-"Mariah began, before she was almost run over by a very angry Max. To make matters worse, it was a very angry Max with a butcher knife!
Tyson looked down the hall to make sure no one else would come charging through. He then gave the shocked Mariah an apologetic grin. She stared, horrified, in the direction at the direction that Kai and Max had taken.
"Too much sugar?" Tyson lied weakly. Mariah stared at him incredulously.
"I better find Rei before he goes crazy too!" she declared, and stalked off to search for him.
"Wait... oh, it's not like you would listen anyway..." Tyson sighed in exasperation.
The doorbell rang again. Tyson felt his bad mood rising, and he ripped open the door and snapped, "What do you want?"
A very angry Tala stood there, his face like thundercloud. Tyson realized instantly that it wasn't the wisest move on his part to scream at Tala, and instantly began sending hasty prayers that Tala wouldn't decide to kill him right then and there.
"Where is he?" Tala growled, his blue eyes seemingly made of ice.
"Who?" Tyson squeaked fearfully.
"Kai!" Tala snarled. "I want to see Kai right now!"
'Oh no! He's gonna kill me when he finds out what my smoothie did to Kai!' Tyson thought, terror gripping him.
"If you want to keep your arms, you'd better tell me where Hiwitari is, Granger!" Tala threatened.
"He's..." Tyson stammered. 'What do I say? What do I say? I really like my arms being attached to my body!' "... he's out." He finished lamely.
"Out?" Tala asked, knitting his brow in confusion.
"Yeah! In fact, he, uh, moved! Far away to... Jamaica! Yep! He's long gone, off to the Caribbean and all that, you know. He, uh... doesn't want to see anyone, you know... uh, so maybe you can come back later?" He finished with an unconvincing laugh.
Suddenly, Tyson found himself held up against the wall by the collar of his shirt. "Where is he?" Tala growled dangerously.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" came a terrified yell from upstairs.
"Kai?" Tala looked in the direction of the noise.
"That was him!" Tyson yelped. "Max is killing him with a butcher knife!"
"This place is an insane asylum!" the redhead yelled, before charging up the stairs to Kai's rescue.
"Tell me about it!" Tyson called after him, then decided to go check on Rei and Mariah.
It wasn't hard to find them. One could follow the sounds of highly over-exaggerated weeping and find your target rather quickly. When Tyson stepped into the room, Mariah was squeezing the breath out of Rei, sobbing about how she thought "those crazy people had killed her poor little Reisy-Weisy". Rei was trying to comfort her and detach her from his waist at the same time.
"Er... maybe I should leave..." Tyson said, blushing slightly.
"No!" Rei choked. "Help me!"
Tyson walked over to Rei and Mariah, and, with no little effort, pried Mariah from her death grip around Rei's waist. Rei looked a little pale, probably from Mariah's rib-crunching hug, but otherwise looked perfectly fine. Tyson couldn't see what Mariah had found so disturbing.
"I thought... I thought... I thought they killed my precious Rei!" she wailed.
"Mariah! I just fainted! Kai surprised me when he said Tala was coming over! I'm fine!" Rei insisted.
"No you're not! You looked DEAD! I was so worried that I had lost you! My poor, sweet, gentle, kind, caring Rei! What would I do without you?" Mariah threw herself back onto Rei and began to wail loudly. Tyson wondered how he would explain that a pink maniac had shattered all of the apartment's windows.
"MARIAH!" Rei bellowed. Tyson and Mariah both jumped, their hearts pounding, at the sudden outburst.
"What?" she asked, obviously a little miffed that Rei had yelled at her.
"We have to go check on Kai! We could be in serious danger!" Tyson broke in.
"What?! How? Tala? Oh man, I'm gonna kill that little redheaded-"Rei stormed towards the door, intent upon breaking the neck of the Demolition Boys' captain.
"No! Not Tala! Max!" Tyson yelled.
"Max?" Rei cried.
"I thought he was supposed to be nice." Mariah chimed in.
Rei glanced at her. "Long story."
"C'mon!" Tyson ordered, racing out the door. "Last time I saw them, Kai was running Max had a butcher knife!"
"Those idiots!" Rei cried. "What did Kai do?"
"How should I know? You were supposed to keep an eye on them!" Tyson snapped.
"Well, if it hadn't been for your accursed smoothie, none of this would have happened!" Rei snarled back, showing his neko-jin fangs.
The two teammates paused halfway up the stairs, completely forgetting about Kai and Max as their tempers flared.
"So this is my fault?" Tyson shrieked.
"Nah, Tyson," Rei retorted, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "After all, you can't help that your IQ is lower than your shoe size!"
"Well, if you had been doing your job, Kai wouldn't have answered the BLASTED phone in the first place!" Tyson yelled angrily, raising two clenched fists.
"YOU STARTED THIS INSANITY! IT'S ALL YOUR-"
An ear piercing cry cut Rei off, and the two teens turned abruptly to seek out the source of the noise. A frightened Max tore out of one of the rooms, blue eyes wide with terror, and flung himself to the ground just before a knife whizzed through the air and embedded itself in the wall, just where Max's head had been.
Max scrambled to his feet, and tried to escape down the stairs, but tripped in his haste and collided with Tyson. Tyson tried to grab the banister, making a frantic attempt at saving himself from falling. However, the crash was sudden and unexpected, and Tyson and Max went tumbling, head over heels, down the steps.
Fortunately, Tyson sat up and groaned, rubbing his head and looking as though he was in pain. Max, however, remained still, knocked out by the crash and resulting fall.
Rei stared down at them, and began to dash down the steps, when a low moan attracted his attention. He whirled, looking up to the top of the steps where Kai stood, one hand resting on the knife. The normally stoic boy had a disoriented look on his face, and his crimson eyes studied Rei in obvious confusion.
"What's happening?" Kai mumbled, and then sank slowly to the floor.
"Kai!" Rei cried, running to the unconscious teen.
"Kai just wrenched the knife out of Max's hand and tried to kill him! Weirdest thing I'd ever seen..." Tala remarked, coming from one of the rooms.
"What happened?" Rei asked.
"I'm not sure, to be honest." Tala admitted. "I guess that, once their minds and bodies were put under enough stress, their personalities reverted. But, was it permanent?" the red-haired blader studied Kai's face curiously.
"I guess that'll just have to wait until they wake up." Rei answered softly.
"Yeah." Tala said quietly. Then, he looked up, fixing his icy blue eyes on Rei's face. "Now, you have a lot of explaining to do, Kon."