Well here's chapter 3. come on ppl review. i don't care if it's a flame or praise or whatever. i want critique. cuss me out (okay maybe not that one) tell, me my fic sucks/rocks, give me a reason why it rocks/sucks. anything. Come on give me something. i've noticed that some ppl who have you as a favourite author or on your author alert list thingy, comment on one fic... but when you post a diferent one they don't comment on it at all? why is that. i'm not pointing fingers, 'cause i'm guilty of it as well. i'm trying to get out of it. if i find a story i like, i comment then go look at the authors page to see if they have anything else that catches my interest. if it does i read. sometimes i leave comments if i like it or don't, but if i really can't thik of anyhting helpful, nice, or stuff like that i don't comment, cause i might come off as rude, and i don't want that.

Yeah U sorry i had to get that off my chest. thank you for reading my little rant...ignore it if you want.

Please R&R

Demons Rising:

Chapter 3

Light filtered in through the large windows that ran around the whole lower level of the building, lighting up the interior; making the lights that hung from the ceiling kind of unnecessary. Cars honked outside, people shouted, laughed, and talked. The door to the buildings swung inwards automatically as people walked by.

Three boys walked in through the doors and made their way through the lobby of the Bey-City Dome, heading toward the stadium to watch the tournament, which had started not too long ago. One had ankle length raven-black hair tied back in a ponytail, and wrapped up, so it looked like a tail. He was dressed in a traditional looking Chinese Martial arts outfit of red white and black.

The second was a few inches shorter than the raven-haired boy; he wore a red jacket with the sleeves rolled up, over a yellow shirt, blue jeans, and a backwards red, white, and blue baseball cap, his shoulder length blue hair was pulled back from his face, and his bangs stuck out wildly from underneath the cap. He turned at and looked at the third member of their party. "What's up Max? You seem depressed or something."

The boy glanced up at his two friends who looked at him worriedly. He lifted one side of his blue shirt up so he could reach into the pocket of his gray pants. He pulled out an envelope and handed it to the blue-haired boy. "This is what's bothering me, Tyson." He ran a hand through his messy blonde hair worriedly. "I got this letter yesterday from Emily. Aubery's gone missing. His sister, Kara, said she saw him leave for school, but according to his teachers he never showed up for any of his classes."

The dark haired boy pointed at the date on the top of the letter. "Max this was sent awhile ago…"

"I know Rei…. he's been missing for four weeks. His family's worried sick. I don't know what to do; I want to help my friend. But I can't because I'm stuck here in Japan!" Max kicked the ground in frustration.

"Take it easy bud. They'll find him."

"Yeah, Max. Don't beat yourself up about this. It'll work out in the end."

"Maybe. Thanks guys. Come on lets go watch the match. That's what we came here to do anyway." Max said, grinning thankfully at his two best friends.


They entered the Stadium to see one battle already underway. Both kids were grinning and seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely. Max seemed to cheer-up just watching the kids' blade. His grin widened, and he whistled loudly, joining in the cheering the crowd was doing. Tyson and Rei whooped beside him, cheering on the two combatants.

A scream came from somewhere in the upper seats, and it wasn't a scream of someone enjoying a good beyblade match. The three friends whirled around to see what the screaming was about. People were scrambling over the back of seats trying to get to the stairs; others were jumping over railings to get to the lower level of the stadium.

Looking past the screaming people, Rei saw shadows covering the seats, stairs, and railings. It pulsated, sometimes creeping slowly; hardly moving, other time's jumping feet from where it had been previously. He let his golden gaze slide further along the shadow's looking for its source.

"Max, Tyson. Look!" He pointed at a figure standing at the base of where the shadows started. The shadow's circled around leaving a bare bit of floor where they were standing.

Max's blue eyes widened when he finally figured out who the person was. "Aubery!"

"What?" Tyson and Rei blinked in confusion.

"But Max, I thought you said he want missing in New York?"

"Tell that to him." Rei said.

The darkness had reached a few of the kids already, the ones who hadn't noticed right away. It oozed over one kids leg. She screamed in pain and pulled her foot out. Another kid reached back and pulled her over to the railing, where they both jumped down to the lower level.

"Tyson, do you think Dragoon's wind can slow down the shadows enough for the people to get out of the high stands?"

"Don't know, but it's worth a shot." He pulled out his launcher and beyblade from his jacket pockets. He attached his blade to the launcher and aimed it at the shadows. "Let it rip!" The blade shot from the launcher and skittered up the railings that hadn't been consumed yet. It jumped from the railing and landed on the backs of one of the seats, spinning steadily. "All right Dragoon, Galaxy Storm!"

Tyson's gray blade rapidly picked up speed; it's spin increasing dramatically. The still air in the stadium started to be drawn in towards the blade, surrounding it and forming a giant tornado. The three boys grabbed onto the railing behind them to keep from being dragged forward. "Okay Dragoon, now! Push the shadow's back away from the people." A blue light shot out from Tyson's blade and a large wingless, serpentine like dragon, with large front and back claws, and storm gray eyes, emerged from the light. It roared loudly, causing the rafters to shake with the sound. The tornado slowly moved forward pushing against the shadows with all the force contained within it. The shadows slowly moved back, inch by inch.

"Max," Tyson shouted, his free hand holding his cap on top of his head. "Try talking to Aubery. Find out what's wrong."

Max nodded, and moved forward, so he could see Aubery around Dragoon's attack. "Aubery! What's wrong? Why are you doing this, I don't understand?"

Aubery turned at the sound of Max's voice. He looked down from where he stood, orange eyes filled with sadness and pain. "I'm sorry Max. I can't help it. I don't want to do this. But I…." His words trailed off into an anguished scream. He bent over double, hands going to his head, clutching it till his knuckles were white, as he continued to scream.

"Aubery!"

Aubery straightened up slowly, an odd grin on his face. Max gazed at him in confusion, that look wasn't one he'd usually see on his friend's face, ever. "Sorry boys, but Aubery's a little preoccupied right now." He said in a voice that definitely wasn't his. "If you leave him a message, I'll make sure he gets it."

"Who the heck are you?" Max demanded, holding on tightly to the railing as Dragoon strengthened his attack. "What have you done to my friend?"

"Nothing really…just taken him over mind, body, and soul. Much like I'm about to do to your friend here." He waved his hands in Tyson's direction.

They all looked at "Aubery" in confusion. Anger flashed across his face before it was replaced with pain. Aubery clutched his chest, gasping for air. "Bit-beast… he does it through the Bit…ahhhhhh!"

The shadows started to push back against Dragoon's attack, making their way back towards the Bit-beast.

"Tyson! Call off Dragoon!" Rei shouted hopping over the railing to the stadium floor. "Come on we have to get out of here, now."

Tyson nodded and held out his hand. "Dragoon, time t' go!" The attack slowly dissipated, the wind it had gathered going back to where it had come from; the gray blade flew back to Tyson's hand. "Come on Max, we got to go!"

"I can't just leave him here, Tyson. He's my friend." Max stared up at his purple haired friend, who was once again doubled over and howling in pain.

"I know Max… but if you get caught by those shadow's, you won't be able to help anybody." Rei called from the floor. "If we leave now, we might be able to find a way to help him better." He tried to reason with the distraught blonde.

"Please Max…we don't want to loose you too."

Max dropped his head to his chest, gripping the railing in a knuckle-whitening grip. "Damn it!" He turned away from Aubery and his screams and vaulted over the railing to join Tyson and Rei on the stadium floor. He ran passed them, eyes squeezed shut, trying to slow the tears that fell down his face.

The shadows surged forth suddenly, the power that had been being held back by Dragoon unleashed finally. It spilled over the last bit of the upper stadium, and started to consume the lower half, speeding towards the three boys. They ran around the dish, loosing a few of the precious seconds they needed to escape.

Two of the stadium officials held the doors open for them, and were motioning them to speed up. They risked a glance behind them. What they saw gave them a final burst of speed that only pure terror can do. Tyson dove through the door and slid down the hall a few feet, and Rei and Max sped past the two officials. As soon as they were in, they slammed the doors, then backed away, just incase any seeped through the cracks in the door.

"We shouldn't stay here. If it comes through the door, we're as good as caught, not as much space to swallow up in this cramped hallway as there was inside the stadium." Rei pointed out as he set off at a quick jog down the hall.

Tyson pushed himself to his feet and started to follow his teammate. He looked back to see if Max was coming. He stopped when he saw his blonde friend just standing there, his head against his chest, arms hanging loosely at his sides. "Come on Max, lets get out of here. We'll try and figure out a way to help Aubery, I promise. But right now we gotta help ourselves first."

He just stood there for a few seconds then nodded numbly and jogged past Tyson, following the way Rei and the two officials had gone, not looking at Tyson as he passed. Tyson looked at his friend, noticing the tear tracks on his face. Tyson glared at the door to the stadium, determination reflected in his sapphire eyes. We'll find a way to help Aubery. I swear. Tyson vowed silently as he too picked up his feet and ran to catch up with his friends.

Once they reached the outside of the stadium, and safety, everyone collapsed finding things to lean against or to sit on and catch their breaths. "Man that was freaky." One of the kids whispered, between breaths of air.

"What do you think it was?" Asked another. Other questions floated around, mostly the same thing; "What was it?" and "What do you think the BBA are going to do about it?"

Tyson opened his mouth to say something to Max and Rei, when a familiar voice shouting, interrupted him. "Hey guys. You won't believe who I got mail from, and what it says?"

Tyson and Rei turned to look at the new arrival. The person who yelled was a short boy who was about Tyson's age. He had short brown hair that covered his eyes, glasses sat on top of his head, he wore a white shirt with a red vest over top, a green tie, and brown shorts and shoes.

"Huh… what's up Chief?"


At Tyson's Dojo

Once they had reached Tyson's place, Kenny had immediately launched into the e-mail he had gotten. It was from Amaya and Katsu, explaining a problem that had occurred yesterday.

They all sat on the floor of the Dojo, as they discussed what Kenny had told them. Kenny sat with his computer in his lap as he typed in a reply to the twins. Rei and Tyson sat across from him their backs against the wall, still recovering from their ordeal. Max sat in the window just above from where Rei and Tyson were sitting, he gazed out the window, not really paying attention to the conversation.

"So this has happened already." Rei mumbled softly to himself, golden eyes holding a calculating look as he tried to figure out just what the heck was going on.

"And the Kyoto BBA didn't do anything about it?" Tyson shouted outraged, slamming his hands down in front of him.

"Nope, not a thing. Katsu said that the President there didn't believe a word they said, and went as far as to accuse them of being the ones doing it…if any of it was true that is."

"They accused the twins of making it all up?"

"Yup."

"But why…most people in the Kyoto BBA know them. The rarely agree on anything, that they agreed on this should have been a big hint that it was true."

"New management I think. The old president retired, and they had to hire someone new."

"Yeah, well the new guy turned out to be an ass, didn't he."

"Tyson."

"What it's true." He huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "I mean if he had taken them seriously to begin with, we might have been more prepared for what happened at the Bey-Stadium this morning."

"What do you mean?" Asked Kenny, looking back and forth between his two friends in confusion.

Tyson and Rei looked glanced at each other, the looks on their faces clearing saying 'Do you want to explain, or should I?' Between the two of them they told Kenny what happened to them. Max didn't offer any bits of information, just shuffled around a bit when they came to the parts about Aubery.

After he had recorded all of the information and stored it in his laptop he spoke up, "We should write Aya, and Katsu back right away, telling them what happened here, then go see Mr. Dickenson."

"Do you think we should send an e-mail to the All-Starz telling them about Aubery?" Asked Rei, as he got to his feet and stretched, arching his back like a cat and going up on tiptoe.

Max slid off the windowsill and started to make for the door of the Dojo, he spoke for the first time since leaving the Dome. "I'll do it. I have to e-mail my Mom about some things anyway."

The three remaining Blade Breakers watched as their friend left, not knowing anything that they could do or say that would make the usually happy blonde feel better.


Max sat at the back of the bus, looking dejectedly out the window. He watched the streets, and the bus stops go by, waiting for the one he wanted to get off at. He drummed his fingers against is seat, impatiently. He wanted to talk to Emily, tell her that Aubery was more or less okay…just a little possessed at the moment. He also wanted to ask her if she had any data on anything like this happening before. Though he doubted she did.

I don't know how to help Aubery. I want to, but I don't know what there is I can do for him. He thought silently to himself, as he continued to stare out the window, the drumming of his fingers getting more and more impatient. Every time he tried to tell us something that might help us, whatever had him possessed would control him again, or cause him a lot of pain.

After a few more moments of silent pondering Max couldn't take it any more and yelled. "IT'S NOT FAIR!" He pounded his fist into the cushioned seat trying to relieve himself of some of his pent up frustrations.

Some people that were sitting in the seats across from the upset blonde, eyed him warily, and quickly moved to some vacant seats further up the bus.

Max mumbled an apology, before going back to staring out the window. He closed his eyes, and searched for a familiar presence in his mind. /Draciel what can I do to help my friend/

I'm not sure Max. Came the reply. It was a soft feminine voice that held the oceans tranquility. Trying to find a way to break this mysterious person's control over Aubery, seems like a good place to start.

/I know that Draciel, but how? He's controlling him through Harlequin. That's gonna be a tough connection to break. /

This is true. But you'll find a way. Your teammates will help you. They want Aubery safe, just as much as you Max.

/I know. And it's not just Aubery. You heard what Kenny told us, right/

Yes.

/How are we gonna help all those people/

One at a time Max, one at a time. That's the only way you can accomplish anything. If you try to take on too many things at once, you'll get overwhelmed, and not accomplish anything. And in a situation like this getting overwhelmed could mean getting caught.


Well there's Chapter 3. A little Angsty, and yes i realize that Max is OOC, but he's deeply worried about his friend. You would be too, i know i would be.

What did you think. like it? hate it? tell me please. okay enouhg begging. even if you guys don't review, i'm still gonna post this story.