Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade or any of its characters. Anywho, all unrecognized characters are mine!

Anywho, heyo everyone, I'm back! Before I forget, nice title eh? Anywho, finally, projects and exams are over YEA! And I would've updated earlier (so you guys wouldn't kill me for the cliffie) but my sister said my seventeen pager thirteenth chapter really sucked. It is surprisingly hard to rewrite chapters. Hopefully, this one sucks less! Anywho, I'm trying to teach myself some "blogging" html stuff, but until I do learn (which won't be until the next millennium at the rate I'm going at) all authors notes will be written on my profile page. Basically I decided to put these long blurbs there because they are long, and I don't want to take away precious reading time. There will be a lot of useful info there cough cough hint hint, especially for the upcoming chapter fourteen.

Yes, well on with the story! We left off on the Christmas cliffie if anyone forgot. There is going to be a lot of foreshowing and references to hints from previous chapters in the story to come, so be aware! Haha, I'm such a weirdo!

Ohyes, a happy (early) b-day to AznFactor!

Last note: For all those people who don't have an account on Fanfic which offers those crazy update emails, I DO email my own updates to people who leave an email address. (Take advantage of it) I'm finally getting my own room, so my goal is to UPDATE often! Thanks to all you nagging reviewers out there, it's the motivation I need! Ohyes, Happy Canada Day!


"" For speaking

'' For thinking

Italics just for the fun of it!


She's Going Where?!

Chapter 13- Back From Vaca!

Written by Euphrosyne


Rolling onto her back, eyes glued to the certified cheque in her hands, Riley let out a deep sigh, letting her mind wonder in her comfortable position on the bed.

A gentle knock on the door sounded the room as Mariah and Chloe stepped in.

"I see you decided on making that generous donation after all…" Chloe sat down on the soft bed next to her friend.

"Like really, what are the chances the school would suddenly have financial problems?" The pink-haired girl joined her friends on the bed. "Are you sure Kai's team's the one that's gonna get cut? More importantly, are you sure you're better off not telling Kai you're helping him?"

The raven-haired girl sat up to face her friends, "Honesty Mariah, I do believe Kai's going to be the team that gets the boot, but don't get me wrong, Kai's team is great. It's just…well…Mr Gonsalvis had been somewhat hinting that he was leaning towards keeping all the academic competitions in that email he sent to the captains. Since the school has two blading teams, using common sense, Johnny or Kai's team would most likely be illuminated…"

"Isn't there a possibility that Prissy's 'spirit' squad being kicked off are pretty high too? Like seriously, isn't it a team of twenty?!"

"Hey!" Mariah faked a glare at the blonde.

"Possible, but I'm pretty sure daddy DeCourte will come to the rescue…"

There was a pause before Riley spoke again. "Since I talked Tai into signing that cheque under the company name, if we don't tell Kai, he will never find out where the money came from…"

Mariah shook her head, "Wow, sometimes, your logic even scares me…"

The blonde laughed at the other girl's comment to be interrupted by the red-eyed girl.

"Actually, speaking of logic, what are you doing here so early in the morning? What is this? A change of character? Planning to walk me to school?"

The pink-haired girl stuck her tongue out at her raven-haired friend's questions before replying.

"Well, actually, yes. I selflessly woke up earlier to walk you to school as a thank you for inviting Ray and myself with you guys on your Christmas vacation. We really appreciated it, and well…" There was a brief pause. "The pictures I took turned out really well and I just had to show them to you!"

"…Should have guessed, selfless indeed, Mariah…"

"Hey, keep in mind I had to fight off both Kai AND Tala to walk you to school. So my effort does count for something!"

"Girl, you did not just bring that up again!"

Trying her best to keep a straight face, Mariah spoke between breaks of her laughter. "You saw their faces, it was hilarious!"

Riley crossed her arms at the memory…

Flashback

"Hey Riley! Come on, where's your Christmas spirit? There's mistletoe right above your head! You know the rules!" Mariah winked at her discovery.

Kai was frozen in place; trying to snap himself out of the awkward position he had gotten himself into. Tala resembled a deer caught in the headlights, thinking that if he didn't move, nobody would be able to see him.

…Stupid Mariah and her stupid timing…

As if an angel had heard the raven-haired girl's prayers at the current moment, a clicking sound of a cane making contact with the hardwood floor began closing in.

George made his way over towards the crowd, mumbling quietly to himself.

"…All the youthful ones ditched me, leaving me trapped in a room with my seventy year old wife and her mangy group of girlfriends…"

Before the senior could even finish his sentence, Riley did the first thing that came to mind.

Placing a hand on either side of the old' man's face, the red-eyed girl planted a big kiss on George's cheek.

To say the least, George wasn't the only one looking surprised.

Kai broke into a small smile while Tala suppressed himself from laughing at the turnout of the whole situation.

George shrugged. "Boys, accept the fact that some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue…" With that, he grabbed a carrot off one of the platters and clicked his way out of the room. He paused to dust some dust of his shoulder. "What can I say, I've still got it going on…"

Laughing, Mariah walked over to her blushing pal, patting her on the shoulder while whispering into her ear. "Nice save, Rye."

Riley too, couldn't help but laugh at what she did, covering her face with one hand from the embarrassment. Finally regaining her position, she picked up both gifts and proceeded to return them to their original owners. Both boys seemed to have taken advantage of the girl's quick save and had used it to ease the tension; they were speaking to each other on laughing terms.

Hopefully, this was going to be the easy part…

End Flashback

"BWAHAHAHA…!" By now, Mariah had somehow laughed herself off the bed at the flashback.

Riley rolled her eyes, shoving the cheque into her knapsack while picking her friend up by the arm as she attempted to drag her out of the room. "Come on, we don' want to be late on our first day back."

The blonde followed behind as the two girls made their way down the stairs towards the door. Chloe shook her head at the scene.

"Remember Rye, if those two boys do cause you trouble, you can always take up your mom's offer of returning back to Gen-X!"

There was an unattended silence.

"WHAT?!"

"Ha, that was almost too easy!"

Walking down the empty hallway, Vivinne snickered gleefully to herself. Originally, Mr. Gonsalvis had decided to cut the cheerleaders from the trip, since it was a cost of four versus a cost of well…a lot; but with a little persuasion from daddy and a very generous donation, the spirit squad was back in the game!

Sadly, that meant Kai's little Beyblading team was going to take the blow.

Second year in a row they didn't make it…

Vivinne almost felt bad…

…If only she cared.

Normally, the blonde would go rushing to Kai's aid if he needed anything, but since Kon was on his team…

Ugh! The constant reminders of the humiliation during her Christmas bash were starting to get to her!

In all honesty though, Viv doubted Kai would even need her help. With the successful corporation his grandfather ran, the blue-haired boy had quite a lot of dough himself. Even though family members weren't allowed to contribute money, since it would appear like bribing; businesses, companies, or any form of corporation could easily sign a cheque, making it appear to be a donation.

"Local business donates money to school system in hopes of promoting achievements in all areas of academics, athletics, and leadership."

Ohyeah! It would totally make daddy's company look great! A definite front pager!

Turning the corner, Vivinne made out a familiar sexy body down the hall.

Kai was opening his locker, chatting with that irritating bastard, Tala.

Pausing a second to decide whether she should bless them with her presence, she went against her intuition, having more important duties to attend to.

You know, this face didn't come beautiful like this. It took a lot of hard work and dozens of specially imported cosmetics to have the perfect appearance she did.

…Though Vivinne had to say, that plastic surgeon from Taiwan DID work miracles!

Swinging the door open, Viv made a turn for the ladies room.

Opening her makeup case, she began rummaging through her supplies.

"…Okay, lets start with the base. Where's my Estee Lauder #336 concealer in honey…?"


"You mean you didn't bring the bracelet to return?!"

For the last time, the blue-haired boy tried to explain. "I already told you Tala, you never told me about this after school trip to the mall! It's not every day I bring rejected gifts with me to school!"

The redhead made a fake sobbing sound, bringing one hand to his forehead in an exaggerated stance. "Ohgod, it's not everyday BOTH of us get rejected…and by the same girl!"

Kai rolled he eyes at his friend while pulling him over to the department store. "Come on, let's make this fast so it's less embarrassing than it already is."

"Yeah yeah yeah, don't be bitter just because you had a lousy day!"

"Lousy?! Falling off a cliff is lousy! Getting hit by a car is lousy! Finding out that your best friend likes the same girl as yourself and somehow ends up giving the same Christmas gift at the same time is lousy! Having an evil grandfather who's job is to make your life a living hell however, it just downright wrong!"

Hands in the air in an alarmed manner, Tala backed off. "Okay, sorry, man! Maybe Robert is right, I should read a thesaurus…"

Kai rubbed his temples to calm his nerves.

Flashback

That morning, like every other morning, Kai had woken up, skipped breakfast, and hurried out the door to meet Tala to whom he was getting a ride from. His car and computer privileges had been taken away from him, and in replace of it, was a huge lecture from his oh-so-admired grandfather.

How he hated that old man.

Truthfully, Kai didn't mind not having a car. Though it was inconvenient at times, waking up an hour earlier would definitely prepare him for those long and early training sessions with the team.

That and the fact that he hated the feeling of owing his grandfather something. Just because the car had been bought under the Hiwatari name, the car rightfully belonged to Voltaire.

There was always a price behind everything revolving around his grandfather.

Who knew what Voltaire had in store for him? Maybe force him to leave Middleton since he was always complaining about public schools and how it was injustice of someone of such status to mingle with the peasants. Or maybe, he would force him to drop out of school all together, work for the company on that 'Biovolt project' the old man was always chattering about.

Whatever consequences he had ahead of him, he would take it like a man. As long as that bastard didn't get his family or friends involved, any punishment was fine to him.

Drop the car, walk to school, and there would be no problems, right?

Nevertheless, this morning's unattended encounter with his grandfather had been different from the ones before.

Well, first of all, the old man had appeared to be someone on the lit side.

Bad sign, definitely a bad sign!

Having spent the whole break training for the competition, Kai was unprepared for the news his grandfather announced.

Walking down the staircase with a knowing glint in his eyes was the towering figure himself, Voltaire. Tala was leaning against the wall waiting for his friend to finish packing all his school junk, but at the sight of the man, he straightened himself out.

Voltaire directed a quick glance towards the redhead, but overall, made no real attempt to notice him.

He was not the one he wanted to talk to.

Tala's eyes darkened as the old man walked over to the two boys, his black velvet cloak trailing itself after him.

The wealthy, well-known corp owner grunted before speaking. "Well Kai, heading to school are we?" Once again, he glanced towards Tala, making no attempt to hide his distaste. "So, you're the co-captain of Kai's team that I've been hearing so much about?"

Hearing so much about? Oh puh-leez!

Voltaire, this time, scanned the redhead's frame with his eyes, seeming to approve of what he saw.

"What's your point grandfather dear?" Kai's voice dripped with sarcasm. The boy made no attempt of facing the old man. Kai continued buttoning his jacket, proceeding to shove one last textbook into his schoolbag. "If you want something, get to the point, else I'm leaving for school."

The old man chuckled, it seemed Kai did have some Hiwatari in him. "Simple, child. You may be unaware, since your privileges have somewhat been placed on hold, but it appears that your little school is suffering from some budget problem…"

Kai stopped in his tracks, hands still resting on the top button of his jacket. "Budget problem? That means…"

"That's correct child. Your little Beyblading team will most likely get cut."

The bluenette laughed off the worry, swinging his bag across his shoulder. "There are four other teams grandfather, a 20% chance-"

"From my perspective, your team is most likely the group to be eliminated. I am not saying your team lacks skill, you are a Hiwatari, but compare to the Majestics as they call themselves, they've got you beat when it comes to experience. You're up against two academic clubs now, and if I'm not correct, isn't DeCourte's daughter captain of that pathetic cheerleading squad…?"

Kai clutched his fists by his sides.

He hated when the old man was right…

"Now, here I am, standing here ready to offer you the proposition of a lifetime…" Voltaire handed his grandson a manila folder, sheets of orderly stacked documents ready for the captain to sign.

Tala raised an eyebrow.

Families weren't suppose to function this way, were they?

"I have so generously decided to sponsor your little team to that World States Competitions you've been so eagerly talking about. The documents before you are the basic rules, guidelines, and expectations I expect from you…and don't worry, I have nothing but the best of the best for my grandson and his precious little friends…"

The mahogany-eyed boy glanced up, a curious look on his face. "What's the catch?" he asked a matter-of-factly.

His grandfather gave a coy smile. "My boy, you know me well, so I will cut to the chase…"

Walking over to his grandson, Voltaire flipped a few pages ahead to the middle portion of the agreement. He signalled the boys to take a look. "Starting here is a summarized version of Project Biovolt. For over six years, my company has been working day and night on this piece of art, and basically, I am giving you boys the first and only chance to be apart of my masterpiece." Voltaire grinned, a proud look on his face. "Within the last few years, our company has successfully managed to clone and draw out the spirits from animals to create indestructible bitbeasts. You, my boy, and your team, have been specially handpicked by no other than myself to yield these all mighty creatures. However, instead of representing Middleton, your team will be registered under Biovolt-"

"-That's enough grandfather," Kai thrusted the crisp stacks of paper back into the folder. "I've heard enough." The blue-haired boy careless shoved the documents back into his grandfather's hands. "Clearly, you don't understand how I work. I'm not some experiment you can examine. I'm not some puppet you can just control, and my friends for one, will not be pulled into any of your inventive crap-!"

"You're making a huge mistake Kai! Do you know how much other people are willing to give up just to take a glimpse at Project Biovolt?! Do you know how much people are willing to sacrifice to be a part of this elite team?!-"

"-I don't know and I don't care. Just leave me out of it!"

Grabbing Tala by the arm, Kai flew out of the door, eyes focused straight ahead.

"You have no idea what you are getting yourself into Kai. I've studied all the teams at the World State's for years, and you are nowhere near the skills of the top-level bladders! It is one thing to lose, but to bring shame upon the Hiwatari name and disgrace my title-"

End Flashback

"Yeah, sorry mame, it just turned out the bracelet didn't fit my girlfriend's wrist…"

The sales lady held an end of the charm bracelet in each hand, holding it in front of the redhead's face. She raised en eyebrow. "Sir, you do realize that this bracelet is made to fit all wrist sizes simply by adjusting the hook and loop device here…"

Tala stood his ground, an unmoved look on his face. "I'm aware…"

There was a period of silence as the sales lady stood staring down the two boys. Seeing neither of them breaking under the pressure of her gaze, she finally lead the two over to another counter, seemng to shake a disturbed image out of her head. "The lady over here will make the refund arrangements…"

Kai raised an eyebrow, following the woman's lead. "It didn't fit?! Like serious Tala, you couldn't think of anything better?"

The redhead shrugged, "Hey, she fell for it…!"

As the two boys waited for the woman to finish signing the receipts, Kai glanced over at his best friend who was patiently waiting, an arm resting on the glass surface. "Hey, Tala…"

Tala lifted his head.

"…Are we alright with the whole Riley thing?"

The redhead smiled. "We're alright Kai. What ever happens, happens for a reason. A wise monkey, never monkeys, with another monkey's monkey."

In his own little way, Tala made sense.

Kai felt lucky for having such a friend.

"So, after detention tomorrow, you need me to come with you to return your bracelet?"

"Right Tala, my girlfriend's elephant arms didn't fit the ten inch long charm bracelet either…"

"You're going to hold this against me, aren't you?"


Well, hope you guys liked this chapter! I know, it was a long wait…

Ep! I can't wait to upload the next chapter!!! You people are going to freak!!!

Anywho, love you all, and please review!