"Where am I?" Bella asked as she regained consiousness.
"Ah, you're awake now," Kali commented, ignoring the question. The two of them were alone in Kali's luxurious hotel room. Bella had been tied to a chair.
"What do you want from me?" Bella asked.
"Don't tell me you've forgotten already. Those drugs I used on you should've only made you sleepy, not forgetful." Kali said.
"I'm just not interested in joining your team, especially by force."
"Oh, but think of the possibilities. You haven't properly thought about it yet. Maybe you need a bit more persuation..."
Back at the stadium the Dark Angels were wondering where Bella was.
"I'm a little concerned about Bella at the moment," Sara said.
"She has been gone for a while." Kylie noted.
"True, but she's a tough girl, she can look after herself," Ling said.
"If you say so," Sara said with uncertainty.
Meanwhile the Bladebreakers had finished training for a while and were taking a rest before some more practise.
"Y'know, I was just thinking, wouldn't it be interesting if we got to battle the Dark Angels," Tyson thought out loud.
"Yes, it would be, but if we do I think that'll be later in the competition," Rei said.
"Yeah, they'd be the first opponent we've befriended beforehand."
"It would definitely be interesting either way," Kai said, "Anyway we should continue our training." With that, they all stood up and continued their exercises.
"How about we battle. If I win, you stay with me, if you win you have your freedom," Kali suggested.
"Sounds reasonable," Bella replied through gritted teeth, she was annoyed by the situation she was in.
The two girls positioned themselves at a nearby dish opposite each other.
"Let it rip!!" they called out as thet launched their blades.
"Let's see if I can get Bella to unleash her dark side," Kali thought. The two bladers battled hard while Kali silently probed Bella's mind.
"Something is not right about this battle," Bella thought, "There's no way it would be this difficult to beat someone."
"C'mon Bella, show your true self!" Kali thought.
"I feel a strain in my mind, I can't take this any longer!" Bella thought.
"Almost there..." Kali thought.
"Ahh!!" Bella screamed with rage, "I've had enough of this!!"
"Yes..." Kali silently cheered with her success.
Bella's blade smashed into Kali's blade causing it to fly out of the dish. Despite Bella's victory, Kali smiled.
"I've gained my freedom, but I've changed my mind about not joining your team," Bella said as though in a trance.
"Excellent," Kali said, "Let's battle."
The two girls got out their beyblades and launched them into the dish once again.
Meanwhile back at the stadium the second match for the day had already passed and still there was no sign of Bella. Even Ling was beginning to worry about their fellow team mate.
"Something is not right and I bet it has something to do with Kali," she thought as she clenched her hand in a fist, "I just hope Bella's alright."
"You seem distracted Ling," Kylie said, "I think by now even you would be concerned for Bella."
"We all are," Sara noted.
"We can't just stand around and do nothing. It won't help Bella in any way," Ling said with determination, "We've got to find her."
"How do we go about doing that?" Kylie asked.
"We've got to search for her, even if it means we've got to paint the town red," Ling replied, "Come, lets split up and look for her. It'll be faster that way."
"Roger that," Sara and Kylie said together.
The three of them went to the entrance and went their separate ways to find Bella.
"I just hope we're not too late," Ling thought.
Kai watched as his fellow team mates practised their beyblading against the All Starz members, apart from Steve, and felt that they had learnt a lot that day and he was proud of his team at that moment. However, as he watched the Bladebreakers battle his thoughts wandered off to other things as he flashbacked to his childhood at the Abbey...
--Flashback--
After his second beybattle with Kali Serkovsky, 5 year old Kai had become interested in the purple haired girl. He now acknowledged the fact that she could beybattle quite skilfully, that particular battle had proved that.
For many days during their training sessions Kai would often look in the direction of the girl. He wasn't the only one. Being the only girl of the many children at the Abbey, Kali attracted a lot of attention. However, it seemed that either Kali was unaware or too busy training to care.
Sometimes Kai could've sworn she had looked his way but he may have been mistaken. After all, why would the only girl at the Abbey pay attention to him?
One evening, after the training session Kai went exploring the Abbey. He wandered around mindlessly until he ended up outside beside the Abbey building. It was there that he heard the distinct sound of a beyblade spinning around. The sound was coming from behind the building and being the curious boy that he was, Kai went to investigate. As he turned the corner a beyblade flew into his direction. Luckily he dodged it before it reached him.
"Kai, what do you think you're doing?!" a female voice hissed.
"Kali?!"
"Yeah, it's me. Now answer my question!"
"I was just wandering around..."
"Don't you know the rules, if you get caught wandering around you'd get in deep trouble!" Kali told him.
"Then what are you doing out?" Kai questioned.
"I...um...ok...I sneak out even though we're not meant to. The training sessions are not nearly enough to develop any skills so I come out here to practise each evening," Kali confessed.
"Oh I see..."
"Um...Kai?"
"Yeah, what?" Kai asked.
"I was meaning to talk to you and now that you're here I wanted to say sorry for acting the way I did during our last battle."
"Eh, I deserved it. I never realised girls could beyblade until that day."
Kali then laughed, "Boys will be boys!" she exclaimed, "Anyway, lets call it truce."
"All right," Kai agreed. There was an awkward silence for a moment.
"So now what?" Kai asked.
"I dunno, maybe we could be friends or something..." Kali replied.
"But you know the rules!" Kai exclaimed. In the short time he had been at the Abbey he had learnt that forming friendships with other members was forbidden.
"I know, but being here for a while...it gets lonely, don't you agree?"
"Yeah, I guess so," Kai replied, "Ok, we can be friends but we've got to keep it secret, just between the two of us, got it?"
"Yes, Kai."
Suddenly from the corner of his eye Kai caught a glimpse of red hair but it soon disappeared around the corner.
"What's wrong Kai?" Kali asked.
"It's nothing," Kai said though he was sure he saw another kid. "He better not dob us in," he thought.
From that evening onwards the two of them met at the same spot behind the building and trained together each evening.
One of these evenings Kali suggested they do something to remember their friendship by.
"Like what?" Kai asked.
Kali then brought out a box with face paints in it. "I thought we could do something with these." The two of them then painted simple designs on each other's faces'. Kai had two blue triangles painted on each cheek while Kali had two purple lines painted diagonally across her right cheek.
--Flashback ends--
Kai touched his cheeks, 'So that's when I started painting my face,' he realised. Suddenly he heard the sound of someone running and panting. It was Ling.
"Hey, you guys!" Ling called out.
Everyone in the group stopped and started at the Chinese girl.
"Have any of you seen Bella and Kali?"
'Kali,' Kai thought, "What is Bella doing with Kali?" he asked.
"There's no time to explain," she replied.
"Sorry, I don't think any of us has seen them," Tyson stated.
"In that case I better go!" Ling said, then she ran off.
'Wonder what that was all about,' Kai wondered.
"At this rate I'll never find her," Ling thought with slight anger as she continued running in search for her friend. It was then that she heard the sound of beyblades spinning. She stood in front of a fancy hotel. 'That's strange, I wonder where that sound is coming from. It sounds very near," She looked around and noticed an alleyway. She went in and saw Bella beyblading against Kali. "Bella, finally I found you, lets go!"
There was no response from Bella, not even any acknowledgement.
"Something is not right..." Ling thought.
Kali then spoke up, "Your friend here has been in a trance-like state ever since she unleashed her dark side."
"What's this talk about her dark side?" Ling asked.
Kali laughed, "See for yourself, she's more powerful than ever!"
"Bella..." Ling said softly. She clenched her fists before taking out her beyblade and launcher, "Bella I challenge you to a battle!"
Bella turned around and smiled wickedly, "All right then..."