Author's Note: Oh man, it's been AGES since I've added to this o_o; Yeah, um, I changed Rhia's bitbeast from Amethyst to Ebonite, since there's already a cat on the team. So the only real changes to the other three chapters are the name and any descriptions of Ebbie. I've missed Beyblade . .;

Disclaimer: Don't own Beyblade, the concept of Beyblading, or any of the Beyblade characters. Alas, Rhia and Ebonite are my characters and Athena and Nocturna belong to a friend.

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Deadly Nightshade

Chapter Four

The Panther

Rhia awoke, but didn't open her eyes. She felt someone watching her. Immediately she opened her eyes. Emerald met crimson and a scream rang through the room.

"IAN! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" She was leaning up against the wall, glaring at the boy who stood by her bed, laughing his head off.

"You've got ten minutes before training starts. Better hurry up or face Tala's 'wrath' again," He turned to walk out the door, only to have Rhia yell at him again.

"NEVER do that AGAIN!"

"Ha, you don't got authority over us. And just for yelling at me, I'ma gonna wake you up like that EVERY morning!" With that, he ran out of the room before Rhia could kick him again.

"Oh, he is SO dead..." She still didn't understand what had happened the previous night. According to Tala, she had called out Ebonite, who proceeded to destroy the stadium. Totally ignoring Tala's orders, Rhia didn't bother to stop Ebonite. Until Tala knocked her down, breaking her concentration. She had nothing to explain, no idea what had caused Ebonite to act that way. Regardless of that fact, Tala didn't go any easier on her. No longer was she able to go ANYWHERE, without informing the proper authorities, and getting permission. Not even to training. Pulling her vest on, she spoke to the guard, "I'm going to training...is that all right?"

He merely nodded in response. The session passed silently. Only Tala's voice echoed through the giant, stone-walled room. Giving quick, sharp orders. Rhia regretted what happened, this silence was unsettling. It all passed, though. Ebonite was no longer summoned. The awkward silence faded away. All was like it was in the beginning. Until one morning when it all changed again.

She really couldn't help herself, the cold night air seemed to be calling to her. Rhia lied to the guard, telling him she was off to the bathroom. Instead, she ran for the closest door. After three weeks she was used to the abbey's layout, and found it easy to get around. As she stepped out, the frigid air hit her harder than she had expected. It was late September, which didn't mean warm weather. She ran down the road leading away from the cathedral-like building, the trees on either side blurring by. She found herself on the edge of the forest, an outdoor pub of sorts in front of her, its pale lamps shining onto the ground. The bartender stood behind the counter, facing away from her and cleaning some glasses with a rag. There was only one person sitting at the counter. A girl about her age. Her dark hair was long, and wrapped in a single braid. A thin blue streak was running through it. Her eyes were lazy, and didn't seem to be focused. Clasped in her hand was a small glass, half filled with a clear mahogany liquid, ice cubes floating below the surface. Rhia's attempt at approaching the bar unnoticed failed, and the girl turned her sapphire eyes towards her.

"What do YOU want?"

Rhia blinked a few times before responding, "Uh, nothing. Is it so wrong to try and sit down?"

The girl turned to face the glass again, "Guess not." there was a long, awkward pause after that, in which neither of the girls moved. Then the braided one spoke, "I'm Athena. I ran from that freaky church like building about a year ago," Rhia's eyebrow twitched slightly, the girl was obviously referring to the abbey, "Where'd you come from?" she eyed the chains and belts hanging off of Rhia, smirking, "some messed up bondage club?"

The red-haired girl coughed slightly, the chains jingled quietly, "No. And I really don't see where the hell you'd get such an idea." She finally walked up to the counter and sat down, the bartender continued to ignore the two girls, busying himself with the glasses, "Rhia. And are you drunk?"

"Just tipsy." Athena raised her glass a bit and sloshed around the contents. A glint of navy metal caught her eye as Rhia shifted her hand, revealing part of her Beyblade. "Blader, eh?"

Rhia hadn't realized that she had taken her Blade with her, but was glad for the conversation. She'd had enough of awkward silences. "Yeah. I take it you are as well?"

Athena fished around in her pocket for a few seconds, before finally pulling out a black and green Beyblade. "That I am. This is Nocturna. And I say we Battle." She stood up and walked a few steps away from the bar, already loading the Blade onto its launcher.

"Challenge accepted." Rhia also stood and clicked her Blade into position.

With both blades raised over the ground, the two teen girls started the match, "Three, two, one, LET IT RIIIP!" Spinning tops shot onto the ground and kicked up small clouds of dust. Nocturna jerked in a few directions, and stood in place. Ebonite automatically circled around and headed towards the black blur, which leaped sideways right before the navy Blade would've made contact. But Ebonite quickly recovered from the miss, and circled around again.

"Ebonite, Summon Ice Daggers!," As soon as the command left Rhia's lips, Ebonite tilted and shot towards Nocturna. Sparks flew out every-which-way as its sharpened attack ring repeatedly struck the other's base. Within seconds it was over and Nocturna was still, laying on the ground.

Athena stared at the Blade for a few seconds, "Heh heh heh, not too shabby now are we, eh?" She picked up her blade and ran her thumb over the Bit piece, "Nocturna, in the next round we'll show her what panthers are made of."

Ebonite flew back into Rhia's palm, "A panther bit, eh? Well in the first round the predator became the prey," Athena raised an eyebrow in question, "Raven bit."

The shorter girl nodded and raised her launcher once more. "Let's get this over with, the ice is melting in my drink."

Yet again the two Blades shot onto the ground. This time, Nocturna wasted no time standing in place, she circled around Ebonite, watching, waiting.

"Ebonite, come on, no use just standing there," Rhia's Blade slipped away from the other, but Nocturna gave chase.

"Can't get away from the kitty that easily. Nocturna! Eradication Flare!" Nocturna visibly gained spin speed as the green became less visible. Automatically she shot towards Ebonite, creating a groove in the ground. A small shower of sparks showed up as Ebonite was knocked into Rhia's hand. Nocturna slowed back to regular speed and spun in front of Athena. "Second round belongs to us."

Rhia looked at her with mild interest, "That it does. The tiebreaker's mine though."

"We'll see about that." Nocturna and Ebonite were launched for the third time, and circled around each other. But before either one one could make a move, a large snowstorm kicked up. This wasn't a regular snowstorm, though. It shot at them from the direction of the trees. The two blades were knocked off-balance and stopped.

"You just can't be trusted, can you, Rhia?" A male voice reached their ears.

Rhia moved the hand that covered her face from the snowy onslaught, "T-Tala?"

"Who else?" The blizzard died down and the pale boy stepped forward. "After that little incident I thought you would be smart not to pull a stunt like this again. Guess you weren't."

The tall girl crossed her arms over her chest, "I just wanted to go outside. It's so dull and stuffy inside that abbey." she looked up into his turquoise eyes, "Besides, I didn't think it would be such a big deal."

He sighed, "Well it was. We can't have you just running around telling people about what goes on inside the abbey."

"But I didn't..."

"Inside the abbey? You mean like all the Beyblader training and Bitbeast work?" Athena finally spoke up.

Tala's head jerked towards her, then back to Rhia. His voice sharpened, "Rhia!"

"She didn't say anything. I was there before. Aren't now. End of story." she walked back to the bar and sat down, her braid gently swishing in the breeze.

"We're going back. Now." He took hold of Rhia's arm and began pulling her in the direction of the abbey.

"But me and Athena haven't finished our match!" she kept her feet firmly planted on the ground, but couldn't hold up to the pulling for much longer, "Just let us finish the last round!"

"No way." He stopped pulling, "You run off like that again and the consequences will NOT be light. Now hurry up." Tala firmly grasped one of the chains that lay over her shoulder and proceeded to drag Rhia away.

"Bye bye dudette! We'll finish our match someday! Unless you wanna buy me a drink or something!" Athena waved to the two weakly, the glass in front of her now empty.

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As the two teens walked away from the drunken girl, a pair of eyes watched them from between the trees. Deep purple in color. With every step Rhia and Tala took towards the abbey, the eyes followed at the same pace. A tiny clearing between the trees allowed a sliver of moonlight to pass through, faintly illuminating the figure. The figure was a girl, her hair a dull black, while her bangs were a pale purple. Her clothing consisted of black and gray torn garments, each arm wrapped with a loose bandage. She was silent, her own breathing barely audible. In the quiet of the night she could be easily heard. She just followed, and would only stop once the pair reached the cathedral.

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Rhia and Tala walked through the forest in silence.

"Rhia, why'd you run off like that? You know that's disobeying orders. Boris isn't gonna be happy about this at all."

"Oh screw Boris. He shouldn't keep us locked in some cold building all our lives. It's not right. You have to admit that."

Tala looked at her out of the corner of his eye, "I suppose you do have a point. But we're there to train to become powerful Beybladers so we can assist Boris in his plans."

At this Rhia stopped walking. Arms crossed over her chest again she looked up at Tala, "What are his plans anyway? He keeps everything so secretive. It's unnerving."

"I've said too much already," he pulled on her arm again so they'd continue walking, "Boris' plans don't need to be spread around to everyone."

"You know what's going on in there, don't you? And so does that Athena girl."

Underneath their feet the twigs snapped and the leaves rustled. A squirred ran across the path in front of them.

"Who is she, anyway?" Tala ignored Rhia's question.

"I dunno. She was just sitting there when I showed up. She's a Blader, obviously. Has a Bitbeast as well."

The Russian boy's eyebrows jerked up, "She does, does she? What's it's name?"

"Noc-something. I don't remember."

"Nocturna?"

"That's it." She frowned, "How do you know?"

"I know all the Bitbeasts at Biovolt. There's a file on one that went missing about a year ago. Nocturna. Panther Bitbeast. I can easily assume it was her who stole it." The high walls of the abbey loomed in front of them. The outside was deserted, as usual. The two teens walked over to the nearest door, "Get in. And you'd be lucky if Boris didn't know about your little run out."

Rhia grumbled and followed Tala to her room. She flopped down on the bed as Tala walked back out. She had no time to think about the night's events, for within seconds she was out like a light.

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I think I've forgotten how to write well - -;

And I know it's short, but there's only so much you can put into a chapter before you end up starting another one o_O; And I don't think that made sense. It's just my sad excuse for not writing enough. Wrah, I'll attempt (and probably fail) to make the next one longer _ Review? Flames are accepted. Hell, I WANT to be flamed for once XD;