SR: Hey all. This is going to be a good chapter (hopefully). Thanks for all your reviews and please don't stop sending them. I enjoy hearing your opinions ^^.

Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblade or any of its components. ~

~

~

~

~

~ Oh brother. ~

~

~

~ Kai sat on the edge of his bed nursing a newly formed welt on the side of his cheek. He had never realized that his father held Tala in such high regard. He shut his eyes and replayed the scene in his head in an attempt to understand it this time.

//FLASHBACK//

Kai was standing in front of his fathers chamber door. Large and impressively decorated the door did not capture Kai's interest as it normally did. His was too curious and confused to really marvel at the pictures of the door. His father had sent a messenger to come and fetch his eldest son. Kai had been told that his father wanted to see him and that it was urgent. Naturally, as was expected, Kai had stopped applying his war paint and made haste to his fathers chamber. Now, he was here and feeling a little apprehensive about knocking on the magnificent oaken barrier that stood between himself and his father. Taking a deep breath he rapped twice on it and then waited.

"Come in." A voice snapped from inside. Kai's forehead frowned in confusion. The voice sounded irritated and more then a little frightening. Kai reached down and grasped the bronze handle, took another deep breath and opened the door to reveal a very angry looking father. Kai hid his growing worry and shut the door behind him and stood smartly at attention.

"Sir. You sent a messenger for me?" The question was more of a fact then anything.

"Yes. Yes, I did. Care to explain to me why Chief Captain Tala was seen storming out the gates? How about why he didn't have on his badge?" At the very moment Kai felt the blood drain out of his face making his, still wet, face markings stand out even more. He licked his lips nervously and refrained from answering his father. It would only make things worse.

"Answer me!" His father roared and Kai was sure that if the door hadn't been so well hinged to the wall that it would probably have flown clear off. He began babbling out an explanation so quickly that the King had a hard time understanding half of it.

"Stop! I'm not sure if I fully understand what you just said but I already know what happened. Captain Tala dismissed himself. Correct?" Kai nodded numbly. In a situation like this it was normally best to just agree with whatever his father was saying. "And it is your fault. Correct?" Kai began to nod once again but then stopped, frowned and then shook his head.

"Tala dismissed himself. I did not force him to leave. He chose to of his own free will." Kai stated. His father regarded him with an inquiring look and then moved closer to him. Kai wasn't entirely sure what happened next but whatever it was had really hurt. He was lying on his side, cheek resting against the floor and his other cheek burning with the fire of pain. His father towered over him and had another hand raised, ready to strike. Kai lifted one hand in a meek attempt to protect himself. The King wrenched Kai's hand out of the way and delivered another blow to his son's face.

Pain was no stranger to Kai and he kept firm control over any cries that wished to make themselves heard. Anger flared through him like a thousand firecrackers going off at once. He hadn't done anything wrong, that damn Tala had just walked of. Before he knew what he was doing, Kai sent his father a scowl and one of his best glares. This earned him yet another blow to the face, this time delivered by his father's foot.

"Are you angry Kai? You don't enjoy this? Well that's your own damned luck. I'm not sure what you were thinking when you let Tala just walk off but I have already sent out soldiers to recollect him and try to convince to return to his post as Chief Captain. He will return Kai; I have no doubt over that. Whether he chooses to do so on his own free will or if I have to force him, he will be Chief Captain once again. When he returns Kai you will make a complete and formal apology to him and I hereby strip you of any authority you have over him. You and he will stand as equals."

//END FLASHBACK//

Kai shook his head. It still didn't make much sense. He looked over at a semi-conscious Ray whose head had lolled forward. On a spur of anger Kai reached out, grabbed whatever came close at hand, which happened to be a rather large book and threw it with energy born of rage at Ray. Ray's hand shot up and caught the book causing Kai to jump slightly. He hadn't thought Ray would have the time or energy to stop the offending book. Twin pools of amber locked with crimson orbs. Ray's eyes flashed with anger and hate. Ray himself seemed to generate the negative energy. Kai was sure that if he could have seen Ray's aura it would be crackling with danger and rage born of deep-rooted hate. The next thing Kai knew a book was hurtling at him and struck him clean between the eyes. The young noble fell backwards on impact and landed on his soft mattress. He slowly sat up trying to calm the throbbing protests in his head. Looking over at Ray, the young thief had a satisfied smirk playing on his features. For a moment the prince considered going over and beating the hell out of the chained up Ray but quickly he dismissed the idea. Tempting as it was, beating on Ray would only cause the thief to be more aware of what had happened. Kai snorted at Ray and left the room muttering curses under his breath.

Ray watched the young noble go and couldn't help but feel somewhat satisfied. His master would have one hell of a headache soon enough. Ray shut his eyes and reopened them. 'No matter how hard you beat me and no matter how much you insult me Kai, you will never have my surrender. That is my promise.' Ray shook his head slightly. Tala should not have quit, in a way it was surrendering. Ray's features then hardened and he whispered aloud to himself.

"Let the games begin." ~

~

~

~

~ SR: Y'all are lucky. I was going to end it here but since my previous chapter was so ill formed I decided I'd add more to this one. You had better all show me you appreciate this and review ^^ ~ ~

~

~

~ Somewhere outside the castle.

Tala watched a troop of guards walk by the tree he was sitting in. They were looking for him, he knew. The King wanted him back to Chief Captain and would not be taking no for an answer. Well, they wouldn't find him unless he wanted them to or he was incredibly careless. Years of training had sharpened the Ex-Captains skills and he could easily out-fight or outwit anyone of the troops sent to collect him. He however, preferred to keep a low profile for the moment. Taking a bite out of an apple he turned and jumped out of the tree and began making his way to the forest. Having taken a page out of Ray's book he had soon found the forest to be an ideal hiding spot. Full of animals and fruit he had no worries on starving and there were plenty of clear water brooks to drink from. As long as he kept clear of the dirt road that separated the forest in two, he was fine.

On this particular occasion though, Tala was deliberately making his way towards it. His days were long and rather boring for the most part. Perhaps he would see something of interest. He perched in a large maple tree that hung slightly over the road, thus making it an ideal vantage point.

A small regiment of guards bearing the crest of some royal family was making their way down the road. They were encircling something and seemed ready to fight at a moment's notice. 'Probably some prince.' Tala thought. 'Wonder what they're here for though?' Tala climbed a little higher taking care not to cause much rustling less he attract the notice of the fast- approaching guards.

As the passed by him, Tala failed to get a good view of the encircled person. However, when he climbed down a little to try and glimpse the likely-prince he saw a very familiar head of black hair and an even more familiar long black ponytail. 'Ray!' He thought. 'It makes no sense. He must have tried to escape and gotten caught.' Tala jumped out of the tree landing on the dirt road and causing enough noise to attract the notice of the guards. 'I've got to get Ray out of there. It's the best chance I'll ever have.' Without thinking Tala bolted for the ring of guards crashing through them with a fair amount of ease and grabbed Ray's arm and began pulling him off into the woods.

"C'mon Ray. You're getting away from these guys." All the sudden Ray jerked his arm from Tala's grasp.

"Excuse me? The 'guys' as you put it, are my guards assigned to me by my parents." This caused Tala to turn around and face Ray only to find that it wasn't Ray. The similarity was there and though the eyes had the same feline shape they were a purplish color.

"W-what?" Tala backed away. Then he felt a hard knock on the back of his head and the world went black. ~

~

~

~

~

~SR: Hola. Who is our new purple-eyed friend? What's going to happen to Tala? Is Ray just feigning his weakness and plotting his escape? Does the authoress know where she's going with all this? All right, go and review if you want another chapter tomorrow. * Shoos you off to the review button. *