S-E: Back with yet another chapter for your enjoyment

Tala: How do you know they enjoy it?

S-E: I…

Tala: You don't do you?

S-E: T-T Thank you Tala.

Tala: For what?

S-E: Completing destroying my self confidence.

Tala: Oh…no problem.


She was roused at six am the next morning by the shrill siren like bell. She groggily lifted her head from the pillow, and the dropped it back down, pulling the cover over her head and burying herself in the warm blankets.

A sharp rapping on her door and a loud voice. "Get out of that bed now! Lay bouts don't get any breakfast!"

She shot up in her bed, she could hear the unknown person's footsteps fading away as he got further and further down the corridor.

'How the hell did he…oh never mind' She ignored such thoughts as she scrambled out of the warm bed, jumping a little as her feet came into contact with the stone cold floor. The thick red rug slid along the floor as soon as she placed one foot on it. She lost her footing and crashed to the floor, her face screwed up into a look of pain as she rubbed her hip ruefully.

She hobbled into the bathroom to grab a quick shower before breakfast. She was in a hurry so she stepped right in, getting scolded by the hot water. She stepped out again quickly, adding more cold water before hopping in again, avoiding burning herself again.

Around twenty minutes later, the dark haired girl stumbled out of her bathroom, dressed in a pair of dark jeans and a black tank top, one combat boot was on her left foot, the laces flying around as she ran through the room, desperately searching for the other one.

She finally found it, right against the wall underneath her large bed. Rolling her eyes she lay on her stomach and pulled herself under the bed, the coldness of the stone floor seeping through her clothes and chilling her skin.

The door clicked softly open, and a tall teen with red hair and blue eyes walked quietly into the room. His eyes scanned the room a few times before coming to rest on the pair of feet stuck out from underneath the large bed. One booted, one showing just a stripy sock.

A wave of confusing passed over the Russian boy's face as he padded slowly across the room, his booted feet making no noise on the thick pile rug.

He watched the pair of feet twitch for a moment, trying to work out what the hell she was doing.

"Ugh...Hannah?" He said loudly, trying to get her attention.

The feet jumped suddenly and a loud thud was heard from under the bed. After a few seconds a rather ruffled looking girl wriggled out from under the bed, one hand held against her forehead, the other clutching a boot. She glared heatedly at the red haired teen.

Tala's eyes widened ever so slightly at the sight of the girl's death glare, but she soon broke it off and stomped off back into the bathroom, dropping the heavy boot outside the door.

He wandered over to the door and peered through as he watched the dark haired girl peer at her reflection, poking at the bruise farming on her head, wincing each time she prodded it.

"Sorry…" He said shortly, she just swung her head around to glare at him. She then just rolled her eyes and swung her gaze back around to the mirror, continuing to poke at the forming bruise. It had split the skin and blood was starting to show.

A sudden grip on her wrist ripped her attention to the Russian teen stood beside her. She stared at him questioningly.

"Stop that, it won't help"

She shook her wrist, trying to shake off his grasp but he only held tightly.

"Nuh uh." He shot her a warning look, "I caused it, I'm gonna fix it, so hold still"

With a scowl on her face she pushed herself up onto the counter, leaning her back against the mirror as she watched the Russian teen rummage about in the cupboard, looking for something.

He stood up again, a bottle or something clutched in his hand, some cotton wool in the other.

Putting the bottle down next to her, he unscrewed the cap and put some of it on the cotton wool. Hannah glanced to side, reading the label on the bottle. Antiseptic…ouch.

She pulled back as he moved the cotton towards her head, flinching and knocking the back of her head on the mirror. This was definitely not her day.

"Stop moving" He said warningly, frowning as she flinched again. "It won't hurt for long" He said in a softer voice, pressing the antiseptic against the cut.

She winced, it stung, but that soon faded away, she watched his face, he didn't seem to notice.

Her eyes drew to the swollen lip, the aftermath of what happened yesterday, it looked sore.

"There, see it didn't hurt did it?" He screwed the cap back onto the bottle.

Before he could turn away, she quickly raised one hand and placed two fingers gently on the swollen lip, he flinched visibly, but he didn't pull back.

She studied the bruise for a moment, running one finger along it before turning her head up and smiling at him.

"You're welcome…" He smiled back at her; she quickly removed her hand, jumping down off the counter. She got almost tripped over the scattered laces of her boot, but caught herself on the door frame.

She stooped down and picked up the other boot, swiftly lacing it up. When she was done, she grabbed a black sweater from the end of her bed and looked at Tala, who was leaning against the door of the bathroom.

She scanned the room, looking for her notepad. Finally seeing it on her desk she scribbled something down in it, ripping the page out and thrusting into the red haired teen's hand.

Tala's eyes scanned the words. 'What are you even doing here?'

"Ah well…" He began, "I just came to tell you…well was sent to tell you…that you are to go to the main battle hall at 7.30, you'll meet your opponent there" He turned towards the door. "Oh yeah." He turned back again and pushed his hand into a hidden pocket. "You missed breakfast" He said simply, and produced an apple from his pocket, he threw it at her. She caught it neatly, watching him leave the room.

'You mean it's not you I'm battling?' She thought, she had fully expected it to be Tala she was fighting today. She bit a chunk out of the apple and glanced at her wrist watch.

'Shit!' She screamed in her mind. It was 7.25…she had five minutes to get down to the main battle hall. She raced out into the corridor, slamming her door shut behind her. Running in the direction that Tala had disappeared.

Wait…where the hell was the main battle hall!


At 7.30, Boris was sat a high spot in the main battle hall, he could see everything from there. But no girl.

He hissed to himself, what did Voltaire see in this girl! She couldn't even make it to a battle on time! What made her so special? Tala had only waltzed through the door about a moment ago, just lining up with his team mates now.

"Where have you been? Boris is gonna blow if she doesn't get here soon!" Bryan said in hushed tones to the red haired teen.

"Calm down, she's coming" A smirk played on his face as he stared straight ahead. Bryan looked at him out of the corner of his eyes, giving him a strange look.

As if on cue, the dark haired girl burst through the double doors, clearly out of breath, a black blade clutched tightly in her right fist. Taking a few deep breaths, she walked over to the rest of her new team, lining up next to Tala.

"Glad you finally decided to join us, Miss Jackson" Boris's voice sneered through a microphone, emanating from all around the room, echoing slightly.

Hannah just gritted her teeth and stared dead ahead of her. Today was not her day. Being battered, bruised, scalded and aching on top of being late had done nothing to improve her mood.

"Now that we're all here" Boris's voice echoed tinnily around the huge stone room, "Hannah. Step up to the dish"

Doing as she was told, the brunette walked up the steps, standing at the edge of the huge silver dish which sunk down into the floor.

"Ian" His voice rang out through room again, and the smirking little twerp sauntered up the stone steps like he was God's gift. He was carrying…a bazooka! It was almost as big as him!

"Commence Battle" The goggled man up above said icily, and the small purple haired teen dropped onto one knee, resting the long green bazooka on his shoulder, pulling a part of it back towards him, making a satisfying 'lock and load' sound.

Still smirking, Ian had one of those 'I'm going to enjoy this' sort of looks plastered all over his smug little face.

Snapping the small black blade onto her launcher, she held it out in front of her, waiting.

The lights lit up one by one on either side of each blader, a metallic sounding female voice echoed around the room.

"3…2…1…Launch"

Pulling her hand backwards, Hannah tore the ripcord out of the launcher, sending her small black blade spinning out into the stadium. It immediately homed in on the centre of the dish, spinning solitary.

With a low bang, a purple Beyblade shot out of the end of the bazooka, zipping around the dish.

The purple blade lazily circled its smaller black opponent, edging closer, only to spin quickly out of the way, it was almost taunting.

Hannah bared her teeth at the other blader, he only smirked in reply. His blade slammed into hers repeatedly, pushing her away from the centre, only to move back into it as soon as he pulled away. He actually thought he could win.

He kept up the relentless assault, Hannah knew that her blade couldn't withstand much more of this, she just had to wait for the right moment. Everything else had gone wrong this morning and she'd be damned if she was about to let this go wrong too!

She was neither attacking nor defending, just taking every hit as it came. No emotions showed on her face as her blade was basically getting hammered in the stadium, she just stared unseeing ahead of her.

Ian's eyes darted about, following his blade through the dish. "What's the matter with you!" He hissed at the girl opposite. "Fight back!"

Hannah didn't move at all. She didn't even twitch.

"Fight back!" He yelled, raising his voice. He ordered his blade to attack again, raining another assault down on the black blade.

High up in the box, the purple haired man was growing more and more frustrated with every passing second. He muttered incoherently under his breath, mostly curses and unheard threats.

He gritted his teeth together in anger, eyes narrowing and glaring intensely at the motionless girl from behind the red lenses.

"Why isn't she doing anything?" Bryan whispered hurriedly to the red haired teen beside him, "Her place here is at stake! I didn't think she wanted to risk that!"

Tala couldn't answer though, he was just as confused as his team mates.

Though her head was bowed and her hair hung forwards, obscuring her eyes, she could tell that the other teen was wearing down. He tried not to show it, but she could tell.

His eyes kept darting up to the box in which Boris was sat, clearly distressed, his eyes flicked between the older man and herself.

His breathing was heavier, his blade was spinning with a slight tilt. Now was the time.

Pushing one arm out in front of her, she paused. Ian's eyes widened slightly at her sudden movement after a while. He twitched visible when she flexed one finger. Slowly she tilted her head upwards, until she was on eye level with the smaller teen, the sinister grin that had been hidden behind a curtain of dark hair was finally revealed.

Ian stared at her in bewilderment as she moved her arm upwards, so that it was held in front of her eyes, bent at the elbow, obscuring her view of the room.

Swinging her arm outwards, away from her face, the black blade in the dish spun into life. It span so fast the connection between it and the material of the dish beneath it caused friction, making the blade spark, looking like a small firework.

Without any build up. The black blue shot across the dish and slammed mercilessly into the Russian teen's blade without warning. The purple blade reacted by flying backwards, clearing the dish completely and skittering along the floor to rest at the purple haired boy's feet. It looked slightly charred on one side, and thin wisps of smoke the coiling upwards into the air.

Ian stared down at his blade in shock, how…? It had happened so fast he'd barely seen it! Crouching down, he scooped the smoking blade up into the palm of his hand, it was still warm.

Turning it over in his palm, he surveyed the damage. It was quite extensive, the metal parts were half melted, looking like purple water droplets running over the rest of the blade. It was quite bad but at least the blade was salvageable and the bit chip still in tact.

Raising his head, he looked over at the other side of the dish in wonder, only to find the dark haired girl was already gone.

A slamming sound behind him, made him spin his head around the catch the sight of the door closing harshly and the sound echoing through the large room. Swinging his gaze upwards, he looked at the purple haired man in the viewing box.

Boris's mouth was set in a thin line, his hands clasped together.

"Excellent, I have my line up for the tournament"


S-E: Hey Hey Hey

Tala: You made me nice…

S-E: It's nice to think of you as nice, especially because you aren't nice in real life!

Tala: Was that sarcasm?

S-E: -glares- No, no it wasn't. Review Please!