Shitza: Oh god, I am tired!

Ray: Two exams in two days… understand you!

Shitza: And at least four to go before Easter break.

Max: In three weeks progress…

Shitza: Don't remind me. I better start typing this down then, and then start working again. No time to rest.

Kai: Whatever!

Shitza. Could you kindly do the disclaimer?

Kai: (walks away)

Shitza: Okay then, as you want it sourpuss. Max, could you…

Max: YYAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYY! SHITZA DON'T OWN BEYBLADE OR US. BUT SHE OWNS A NEW COMPUTOR SCREEN!

Shitza: (sweat drops) Talk about maximised hyper happiness. Anyway, let's continue were it all ended. Also, this is a loooooooooooong chapter, you have been warned.

Chapter 11 Slashing Win

Zeo lay on the couch when he finally woke up. His hand was bandaged and cleaned so the blood was barely visible. He remembered he had exhausted fallen asleep on that bench, but how had he returned to the hotel room?

He looked around, the room looked like usual, except for one thing. His whole team lay in one big pile of cushions and mattresses on the floor. Gordo lay on Queen's feet, King had his left feet over a chair and Queen used her brother as a pillow. Zeo couldn't help laughing.

Smiling he did his best to silently walk past them. He walked towards his room and found to his surprise his father lying on his bed. He smiled even broader and walked over to him.

Zeo was human now, pure human with blood and flesh. He couldn't help feelings as happy as he was. He walked silently over to the wardrobe and too out some clean clothes to change and sneaked out of the room, silently closing the door as he left. He changed in the bathroom before scribbling down a note for them to find when they would wake up. Telling them he had gone downstairs to eat.

As he walked down he saw a pair of amateurs bladers hurry of to one direction, whispering excitedly. "Have you heard, that fiery lady from Team Elementals is training outside, you know, the one with fire powers.

'Fire powers, the one who beat King in our match?'

He hurried after the two kids who had been running to get outside. He followed them to some trees in a park where indeed he found the same girl with her blade ready to launch. She aimed for a really thick oak. The knife, which was her launcher, wobbled as it hit the oak and her blade, which had been released by the toss, zigzagged up the trunk.

"Avez, cut the branches!" she said. Her blade glowed red and snapped branch after branch in half.

"Oh this is taking too long, Avez… Fox Bite!"

Zeo watched in secret as her blade sped up and rammed into thicker branches, cutting them as if they had been made of paper. He gasped shocked by her outstanding powers. In her match against King, she hadn't been this strong.

The two kids ran up to her. "Could we have you autograph?" they asked like usual fans do. She glared at them menacingly

"Get out from here before I decide to do something really nasty!" she said taking a second knife from her belt. The first one still sat deep in the trunk of the oak.

The two kids looked frightened and ran away. Zeo stared at her as she walked away, calling her blade back. The knife she had used was even more mysterious as it withered away into nothing.

Zeo crawled out from his hiding and hurried back to the hotel. He still couldn't drop his thoughts about the strange girl. He thought he had been strange as he had been a robot, but this girl couldn't be human either. He wondered then, what she was.

At the hotel his team had awoken and found the note he had left. But as he had left the hotel area they couldn't find him anywhere. When he showed up there was a sigh of relief coming from the staff, as queen had done everything to make them look for him, and with everything it meant everything that was far from nice.

His father quickly got the news and was summoned down. The older man was so happy to see his son well and awoken that he couldn't help giving him a hug that could surely make Zeo's ribs crack.

"How did his happen?" Zagart asked holding his bandaged hand. Zeo sighed. "To be honest father I have no clue. The girl, who happened to be Daichi Sumeragi's sister, gave me some weird drink that made me fall asleep. I remember pain though, so I am quite happy they did that. Whatever they did, it must have been painful if I still can remember that."

Zagart nodded. Even if he wouldn't be allowed to find out more about this miracle he was happy it had worked and he was happy that whomever this girl had been, that she had been gently enough to let his son feel as less pain as possible.

Zeo looked away, his eyes close to tears. "I didn't even have time to thank her. She left before I managed to…"

He sighed.

"Before I managed to say how much this meant to me, I think she would have needed that. After all, from what I heard she is dying, or something like that. She speaks like her time is coming soon."

Not able to say anything more he walked back to the room and lay down on his bed. There he couldn't keep the tears from falling. In his life he had learnt to appreciate the little he had, but having seen her made you feel like she was giving up everything she had. He didn't know much about her; he couldn't believe what he had heard them talk about either.

In the other room his team switched on the TV to see the match between Bladebreakers and White Tigers. As soon as that match was over they would be driven to the stadium in order to prepare their match against the Bladebreakers. Zeo was really looking forward to this match; after all it would be fun to fight Tyson once more.

In Copenhagen the Bladebreakers sat in the changing room trying to figure out who would be battling whom? Kenny was typing madly on Dizzy, who kept complaining about his spelling. Tyson sat talking silently with Hilary and Daichi about strategies. Ray walked nervously back and forth trying to concentrate, but as Chief had told him he would have to battle Mariah he couldn't relax. Max shook his head fully understanding Ray's feelings. Was it such a secret that he had had a crush on Mariah for years now?

Kai stood by the wall, thinking of the meeting with Ana. The girl had been the same as she always were, cheerful, happy and still she had gotten unlucky enough to be caught in this web of disasters. He remembered how that girl, paired up with Ian had almost managed to get thrown out because of tricking Boris out of bed, two in the middle of the night. Unfortunately the guards had seen them and reported them as well. Both had received serious beatings, but Ian had continued pranking and Ana had continued smiling. The two jokers had almost given back everything to all the boys who lived there, all until that faithful day Boris decided to split the team and seal their fate forever.

Even now, with his friends surrounded Kai found it particularly hard to smile. Not that he could but he had forgotten most of the joy in life. Beyblading was his life, but beyond that he didn't know. He had never had a real life until he had become captain of the Bladebreakers. Tyson, Ray, Max, Hilary and Kenny were his friends, as well as Tala and the Blitzkrieg Boys. But he didn't have many more friends then them. Wyatt still lay in the Mental Hospital since his obstacle with Cyber Dranzer. If Kai hadn't won over Goki in that Battle tower, then he didn't know exactly how he would have felt for that kid. Probably ashamed to meet him, his win had been because he knew Wyatt had faith in him.

Kenny jumped up from the bench excitedly. "Finished!" he cheered while putting Dizzy down so that everyone could see what he had written. Apart from about a thousand codes and weird calculations there was also scanned material, clips from battles, analyses from matches and the results.

"Can you translate all this?" Tyson asked staring stupidly at the screen.

"Of course!" Chief said happily while Dizzy sighed and murmured about him taking all the credits. "Now listen carefully…"

"WELCOME BLADERS AND FANS TO THE FIFTH PART OF THE ELITE TOURNAMENT! TODAY'S MATCH IS BETWEEN THE ROARING WHITE TIGERS AND THE RULING CHAMPIONS BLADEBREAKERS! BE PREPARED FOLKS FOR ASTONASHING MOVES AS WE WILL IN JUST SOME MINUTES INTRODUCE OUR PLAYERS AND THE NEWLY DESIGNED DISH!"

Jazzman's voice boomed over the stadium. The spectators roared wildly showing their support as two of Asia's best teams walked out on the grass area.

Daichi walked towards the dish, looking determined.

On the other side Gary got up, looking determined as well. "Go out there and do your job, Gary!" Lee said. Mariah patted him on the back smiling, Kevin, who had as nimble and small as he was been sitting on his shoulder, jumped down. "Good luck pal!" he said.

Chiko, the new girl smiled and kissed him on the cheek. "You'll beat that shrimp no time at all!"

Clearly the Tigers had victory in mind, but Daichi had something else. He had the information Chief had given him.

-Flashback-

"Daichi, you're up against Gary. I believe that is the only way for us, you are quick, nimble and flexible and could easily confuse him. Also your attack power is high though your defence is quite weak at the moment. But you are a tricky blader for the ones who met you the first time and I am sure you have at least one more trick up your sleeve. What do you say?"

He didn't know what to say, but nodded.

"Watch out for Gary though!" Max warned him. "I bladed him in the Asian Tournament and once that guy is angered he is unstoppable."

-End Flashback-

Daichi would think about that, he didn't want to risk his blade getting beaten into dust. Instead he hurried of to the dish and got ready to blade.

In a whip of smoke the dish was introduced, which came as a surprise. It was a dessert, but where in the world could you find desserts like this? In the middle was something that looked like a church tower.

Over by the Bladebreakers Kenny told them about history. Tillsandade Kirken, as it was called or the Sand-Overflowed Church as it would be translated had been an original church until all the sand had taken over, flooding everything inside except for the church tower, which could be seen. It lay in a cold dessert in Denmark, which surprised everyone even more.

Daichi bent down to examine the sand and to his liking it wasn't too soft but packed hard enough to let his beyblade spin without trouble. He smiled, he had heard of Gary's attacks, which needed a lot of powers. But if that guy would use them the battle would be over for his part. He would be stuck in the sand and loose the match.

Daichi smiled as Jazzman counted down. This match was going to be an easy one. With his beyblade and his bit beast's power over earth how wouldn't he be able to win?

"THREE… TWO… ONE… LET IT RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP!"

The two bladers launched into the dish. Gary's blade landed on the rooftop of the church while Daichi landed in the sand and stayed spinning. To not to risk too much spin, he decided to stay and let Gary take the first move.

Indeed he did. The blade jumped down and would have crashed into Strata Dragoon if Daichi hadn't moved away from the spot. Gary growled and Daichi smiled. His blade was a lot lighter then his opponent giving him the advantage.

"Strata Dragoon! Crush Hole!"

The yellow blade rose and slammed down right beside Gary's red one. It then jumped back into its old position while Galtzy fought to get back. But it wasn't easy as the sand threatened to drown it completely.

"Way to go Daichi!" his team cheered one. Tyson and Max kept on cheering him up, Kai smiled and Ray gave a victory sign.

As Galtzy finally managed to get back up Strata Dragoon attacked again. Daichi had easily dominated this battle and the White Tigers were getting really nervous. Mariah kept shouting to him and Lee felt drops of sweat down his forehead.

"Here is a goodbye from us. Gaia Dragoon emerge, fuse into Serpera!"

Now, the thing that was meant to be spared into the final ended up as a last attack. The yellow land snake attacked violently giving the bear no time to defend itself. In two seconds Galtzy was thrown out of the dish.

The super bit beast disappeared and the blade returned to Daichi's hand. He hummed happily as he returned to his friends.

Tyson and ray came to meet him. Both asking why he did have to wait so long to flash his double beast spirit. Kai on the other hand had other opinions. 'His sister is not going to take this lightly next time, sweet or not, Ana has temperament."

After all, he was supposed to have waited to the finals.

Daichi sat down, with a smile on his lips. On the other side Gary felt shattered as he walked back to his team, to ask them to forgive him for loosing. He sat down on the bench, tears trickling down his face. Chiko tried to say something nice but nothing seemed to work. 'Poor guy he must really feel broken' she thought.

Kevin had other thoughts in mind. "You don't have a thing for Gary do you cousin, I mean first the hug and now this?"

Chiko's face reddened with anger. "You are such a monkey. Now go out there and beat that blader or I'll find myself a new cousin.

Kevin saluted and walked of. On the other side Tyson got up to battle.

-Flashback-

"Tyson, are you listening?" Kenny asked.

"Yeah Chief, so who am I up against. Lee maybe, or perhaps Gary?"

"No, you haven't been listening. Okay, you are up against Kevin. And hear the details before you complain. I have already teamed up everyone else. Besides you should really not underestimate Kevin before your match, I mean he was the only one of them to beat an Elemental and those are even tougher."

"Okay, I get it Chief. Now what should I do then?"

"Play fair like always, and be on your alert. Kevin is quick on his moves and his new attack is so dangerous you will probably be thrown out before you can attack. Act fast easily."

-End Flashback-

'Act fast.' The words ringed like a bell in his ear. But how fast, as soon as he had launched his blade or should he wait until after some minutes before he attacked, until the right moment? The chief hadn't said when.

Jazzman counted down and the two bladers launched. Kevin's purple blade landed neatly on top of the dish, which once more had been water, except that this time the Scandinavian sculptors had had fun copying of one of the most famous sculptures, the little mermaid. Kevin's blade landed on the head, Tyson's on the fin. The battle had started.

"Galmon attack!" Kevin said. The purple blade went down and nearly managed to knock his blade out. Tyson growled and gritted his teeth. Kevin laughed manically while jumping up and down like a monkey. 'And I thought Daichi was monkey like' Tyson thought as Kevin almost started dancing, something that will not be further described.

"You haven't beaten me yet, Dragoon Hurricane Disaster!"

A tremendous hurricane rose, but Kevin told Galmon to move to the other side of the statue. As the wind slowly died nothing had happened, except for that both Tyson and Dragoon were tired.

"This is not good, he should have attacked by the launch!" the Chief said typing furiously on Dizzy.

"If you ask me, he doesn't stand a chance." Dizzy responded.

At the match Kevin grinned. "Galmon, Crazy Monkey Improvise!"

Once more the whole dish was covered in illusion blades and all of the fitted perfectly in the picture. Tyson tried to attack again and again but whatever he did he couldn't find him.

"Now, attack!" Kevin said. Dragoon was rammed out of the dish by a purple blur and the match ended. Now it was a draw and Tyson had suffered his second loose.

"That's it!" he said, "if this loosing strike continues I'll just quit!"

He sat with his friend again and had been punching into the wall for minutes after his lost. Everyone stared at him, most unsure of what to say. Hilary tried to comfort him, but it didn't help. Soon she gave up.

"I'm sorry Hilary, but I just don't have the energy to continue. What's the meaning of it when I loose all the time?"

Daichi, who had been sitting listening mostly said. "I'll tell you why. WE aren't winning for ourselves but for our friends. Tyson, are you really going to abandon the whole team because of some ridiculous looses. I mean, we lost plenty of times last year and still we became champions. I am sure either Kai, Max or Ray can pull out the victory. After all we are champions. Instead of howling you should be training."

Kai nodded. "For once you said something wise!"

"I've heard the same over and over again from one of the wise women in the village. They have tons of stuff like this."

Everyone nodded and Kai got up for his match. He would be facing…

-Flashback-

"Lee, I want you to battle Lee, Kai!"

Kai nodded without saying anything, but Kenny continued.

"Lee has gained some outstanding potentials during this tour and Ray, why did you have to train them as you did? They are almost unstoppable. Anyway, I have some records of some of his attacks this tour and if you analyse it and compare it with Dranzer, Kai be careful okay."

"Whatever!" Kai said.

"Kai, this isn't whatever, this can be the decision if we are going to win this tour or not. After all one battle can decide and here you act like it doesn't matter!"

Kenny was roaring himself harsh.

"Please try and win, even if you are strong and your attack and endurance is by the top, Lee can pull you off."

-End Flashback-

Now things where different, as they had lost a match it was better to secure with one more win. All though Tyson needed his lesson, he always had to steal the fame while Kai was left with a bunch of cheering fan girls who ripped your clothes of if you weren't too careful.

The dish was very like the one he had battled in that day he had battled Spencer in the world Tournament in Russia years back. It was almost identical, except that it was another dish.

"Lee smiled as he got up to the dish. As it was Captain versus Captain they began with a handshake.

"May the best blader win!" Lee said smiling.

Kai nodded, but didn't say anything. The two bladers got into position, Jazzman counted down and they launched. The blades landed by the houses and the battle was on.

"Galleon, Lion Rage!" Lee commanded. The black blade rammed into Dranzer, which didn't move.

"Not impressive!" Kai said. "Dranzer! Attack, throw him into the water!"

The blue blade pushed galleon towards the brim of defeat, if one blade would land into the water it all would surely be over. Dranzer had no strength over water and Galleon was just Galleon. Lee sweated and with one smart blow he managed to push Dranzer back and escape.

"Humph!" was all Kai said as Dranzer followed after.

Lee felt dizzy; whatever he did Dranzer kept following. He needed time and by that he decided to do something daring. Hesitating he commanded Galleon to jump from boat to boat. To his relief it worked.

"Galleon, Lightning Strike!" he said. Black lightning erupted and caught Dranzer into a dangerous web of destruction. Kai growled, this had not been according to plan.

For a short moment his eyes glowed bright red and heat seemed to rise within him. Jealousy burned in his mind, jealousy for what others had accomplished and for what Lee was stealing from him, his victory.

He couldn't explain it, but as the temper rose within him Dranzer started burning brightly.

"Dranzer… Firewheel Jealousy!" he said.

Dranzer shone brightly in light and fire and a ring of fire emerged cutting of the web that had been created to take him down. The fire continued until it slashed through the dish, creating one round marked burn.

Lee was stunned, but galleon was still spinning. He thought… 'I can't loose, the White tigers are depending on me.' Sighing he called up on another new attack, Kai wasn't the only one who could play today.

"Galleon. Glorious Fight and Destruction!" he said. His black blade glowed and sparks flew out rampaging the whole area. Kai watched as the sparks flew, on hitting Dranzer knocking it out.

Both Kai and Lee couldn't believe it. Lee couldn't believe his win. Kai couldn't believe his lost.

The White Tigers ran over to congratulate their captain for this miraculous win. But before either of the bladers turned back the shook hands once more.

"Truth to be told you deserved it!" Kai said before he went back. Lee nodded.

Tyson and Ray met him on the way. "At least I wasn't the only one to loose." Tyson said. Ray nudged him in the ribs quieting him. Kai didn't say anything but continued back and sat down, even quieter then usual.

"Kai, are you okay?" Max asked.

"Don't mind Max, a lost is a lost and now we are in serious trouble. Wow, never could believe I would become the top blader of this team and…"

Daichi was never allowed to finish his sentence before Kai punched him on the face. Not hard, but enough to silence him. Daichi rubbed his aching face as Kai spoke.

"Nothing is certain. There is a slight chance that Max and Ray may win their battles. After all, Max's opponent is easy to beat; it will probably be Ray who will finish. I just hope he won't let Mariah confuse him too much."

"Please, I thought that was history!" Ray moaned.

"That will remain until the day you can control your feelings for that girl. It also stands out on Salima, you should stop flirting you know!" Max said.

"Who said I liked Salima?" Ray asked.

"That wasn't a theory, that was a statement. We did see you, you know!" The American teenager said. Ray made an attempt to hit him on the shoulder to keep him quiet, but he ducked and laughed. Kai broke the fight, saying there was no time to fight. Max had a match he really needed to concentrate on.

-Flashback-

"Max, could you please stand still for one moment?" Kenny said angrily.

Max had stupidly enough been given a can of coke only a minute previously, which affected him deeply. For being as hyper happy as he usually was, he had gotten madly happy jumping up and down. His whole team sweat dropped and Tyson tried his best to restrain him. But it was no use.

After an hour, when Kenny had talked to the other Bladebreakers about their opponents Max had finally calmed down, the sugar-rush worn out. He was finally allowed to hear about his opponent.

"You're up against Chiko, Kevin's cousin. And according to my data Chiko has had no wins so far and less luck in her battles. She uses a lynx bit beast called Gallin. Her attack skills are good, but if you look at her endurance I have never seen anything weaker since you guys were amateurs. She hasn't gotten far in her powers."

Max nodded and took out his blade. Kenny, or Chief, continued.

"I believe Draciel has no worries against her, your defence powers have increased miraculously at the last months of training and if we scan all that and put it up in a visual battle, Draciel will win this. That unless she has gained some new surprise. Don't trust the Tigers Max."

"Don't worry Chief, me and Draciel won't fail the team. Besides, does anyone have some more coke or something, my throat is dry as sand paper."

Kai smirked as Ray took out a bottle of water. After Max's sugar hysteria Ray had fetched a bottle of water. A hyper Max was fun some times, but before a match like this, dreadful.

"Until tonight, keep yourself to water Max." he said handing him the bottle. Max looked puzzled; he had never thought about how much more hyper he became with sugar.

-End Flashback-

Max stood by the dish, a new launcher prepared. The launcher had been a sent gift from his mother, who after the close defeat by the Majestics, returned back to America. All though Max knew he would see her and the team in about a week at the final, he still missed her a lot. He missed his mother when she wasn't there and his father when he stayed with his mother. Why did parents even have to get divorced?

On the other side the crazy little blader Chiko ran over to the dish, closely being followed by her cousin Kevin. Kevin panted trying to catch up with her, but the lynx was in this case faster then the monkey. Jazzman had already started to count down, as the match would begin.

The dish was a copy from any kind of map, as the country itself. It was a flat land with sea surrounding it. There wasn't much more, yet the dish was perfect designed for him. He wondered how long it would take before he would be able to wash this match away.

"Three…"

They readied their launchers…

"Two…"

Max looked at Chiko, who was trembling nervously…

"One…"

Max smiled, this, he knew he had already won this match…

"LET IT RIIIIP!"

The two bladers launched. Draciel landed in on the land on one of the islands while Gallin almost landed in the water. Max smiled, what an amateur.

Gallin started to attack, over and over again. Max waited letting Draciel taking many brutal beatings, or so it seemed. In reality Draciel had taken very little pain, the blade was still spinning stable and Max hadn't even called forward Draciel. Max waited, as Gallin grew more and more tired for every minute that went. The spectators stared confused at Max, who just kept glaring on the match not moving an inch.

"Gallin, Cat Swipe!" she said. The purple and violet blade crashed into Max's green one. The blader just smiled.

"Is that really all you got, then you should know this is over in a minute. Draciel, Heavy Tsunami Wave!"

The black turtle was summoned together with a tremendous wave. Chiko stared at it before her blade was washed away. Max smiled as the water hit him, he had gotten used to this tremendous amount of powers.

If the Saint Shields had been there watching them, then they would probably have given up all thoughts of retrieving their bit beasts. Max had full control over Draciel and knew his bit beast so well he enjoyed getting hit by the wave. Everyone else stared in shock at it, people still hadn't gotten used to the attack even if it wasn't old. The Tsunami Wave attack had shocked people greatly, but the improved attack made some even faint.

Max called Draciel back and happily went back to his team. On the other side Chiko fell down, crying. She felt ashamed of herself, having lost once more.

By the Bladebreakers Tyson and Kenny went over to congratulate him. Kenny had even taken time control on his match and said the defences had been holding for five minutes and could continue like that for a long time. The attack however had finished it off surprisingly fast. Max smiled and telepathically thanked Draciel for the help. The bit chip glowed in respond.

Kai nodded as Max sat down. At least one person had won, now it was all up for Ray to decide. However, that would be probably the most thrilling match thinking off.

Ray stood up getting ready for the match. On the other side the White Tigers were doing their best to calm down Chiko, who had completely broken down for her disastrous loose. The five heads now turned to face Ray, each one of them showing the same sort of emotion of glares. Not nice glares, not that nice. Because when Ray had rejoined the Bladebreakers and even competed with them for this far they didn't know if they should count him as a Tiger or not. But how could you split the Bladebreakers? That seemed to be impossible.

Mariah was the last blader from the White Tigers. She was using an upgraded blade of her old Galux. The blade was called Metal-Rose Galux and had been upgraded to store more powers, more speed and of course more Cat claws.

Before Ray was able to leave, Daichi gave him something that looked like a small splinter of a green crystal. The splinter hung on a chain that could be worn around the neck.

"It's not much, but when you're not friend with the Tigers in the place I was born then you cannot take more without getting caught. This is just a small splinter of the Lightning priest's stone, the ultimate power for bit beasts like Driger."

Ray looked puzzled at first, but then he thought of Lee's grandfather and Tao who had told him about Elemental stones once, long time ago. Not to count his father and sister had known the legend as well. Indeed there had been ten stones in all, said to have splintered from one whole, which possessed incredible strength.

Ray took the splinter and hung it around his neck. What else could he do? If this indeed was one of those magical stones then Daichi was a jewel. But how then had he gotten his hands on one of these shards, which hadn't been sighted for two hundred years at least? Daichi had started to become a real mystery, as well for her sister.

Ray walked up to the dish. Mariah smiled as she walked towards him. 'Snap out of it' he thought becoming magically distracted by her. 'Think of what Chief told me!'

-Flashback-

"Ray, you are up against Mariah…"

"What!" Tyson and Daichi had chorused.

"Why Chief, why her? You know what the outcome will be… I can't battle her and y-you know why…"

"Ray, you did beat her last time, and I believe you can do it again. End of discussion. You know her moves, her strategy, what do you have to loose?"

'Her heart' he thought sighing.

Kai who had been standing by the wall sighed and said. "Follow the team spirit this time, don't listen to your heart. We all know about your feelings for the girl since last time but you have to remember that if you loose, you'll be kicked out of this team once everything is over."

Ray stared at him, then clenched his fist and said. "I will not loose, I will win for the team."

Tyson stared at his captain. "You can't…"

He was never allowed to finish before Daichi put his hand over his mouth. "Idiot" he whispered.

"Huh?"

"Kai's not gonna kick him up, just encourage him to win. He didn't have a motivation to win since all odds were against him, but now he has. He still wants his place on the team so shut up!" he continued whispering so only Tyson and himself heard. Tyson nodded and kept his mouth shut until he was allowed to speak more intellectual things.

Ray sighed and nodded willingly, all though he thought he would hate every single moment of that battle.

-End Flashback-

Jazzman counted down the fight to start; the dish had changed again from having been a flat country to look like a village from the Stone- or Bronze Age. The houses were long, built in hay and clay. In the middle of the village was a huge burning fire and surrounding it was a low wall made of wood.

"Three… two… one… LET IT RIIIIIIIIIIIPPPPP!"

The two bladers launched and the blades landed perfectly neat in the dish on top of two of the buildings. None started to attack at once, Mariah was busy thinking out a good strategy to use and ray tried as best to shut Mariah out of the picture. The battle continued in the dish where neither Galux nor Driger wanted to give up.

Mariah was first to move and commanded Galux to use her magnificent Cat scratch attack. Too late Ray reacted and as the house his blade was spinning on got cut in half, Driger fell to the ground, but it continued spinning much to his relief.

"Come on, you can do better then that!" she said.

"I will try!" he said telling Driger to use Lightning Claw. He missed with several centimetres.

Galux hit him from the side and it was for a moment a battle between powers. Sparks flew from the two blades and people gasped seeing the two powerful blades work. Ray tried to fight back, which wasn't easy when as soon as he just looked up on Mariah's face his defences broke and he had to admit to everything that he loved her deeply. But now, he had a battle he had to win. But how? That was still a question.

"Ray, please at least try to fight, you know I dislike to win like this. It's not right, I know you can beat me if you really want to." Mariah said angrily.

"But I never wanted to win over you and you know that." Ray said. 'So many things have changed between us. The feelings I have for you, I don't know how to express them.'

"But what about you team?" Mariah said. 'Ray, I love you and always will, but I don't believe we Tigers have what it takes to win this.'

"Mariah, please I just wish you could understand how hard this is for me." He said. 'I just wish I could tell you that I love you, but I'm a mouse, a coward. Sometimes I do wonder how a coward like me could even get Driger.'

/Master, be brave/ Driger said in his head. He smiled to the White Tiger who fought so bravely as he did.

"Ray, please try to fight, Do it for me, your team and the White Tigers." 'Do it because that I love you.'

'I love you' the two thought.

"Ray" Kai said. "I can understand that it is hard to fight her, but understand that the team and I are counting on you. And if you don't win it's time then to find you a ticket back."

Ray shook awoke from his thoughts. Kai, Mariah and everyone around were right. He just had been blind, but now his eyes were reopened and they burned with newfound spirit.

His blade broke away from the struggle and was thrown into the fireplace. Everyone around gasped as his blade wasn't destroyed instead it found strength in the fire.

"Impressive!" Kai said.

"What is he doing?" Kevin wondered.

"Driger, Thunder Growl!"

"Galux, Cat Grace Scratch!"

The two blades collapsed into one last blow and a blinding light engulfed the whole stadium. People had to close their eyes and when it was safe to open them, people wondered what had happened? Who had won?

The two blades were still spinning, but Driger was wobbling violently. Galux still stood, but Mariah was severe beaten from the blow. With a sigh she fell to the ground and Galux with her. One moment after, Driger stopped spinning too.

Ray hurried to her. Tiredly she looked him in the eyes. Ray felt his heart shatter and he did the only thing that seemed to be the best. He bent over and gave her a light kiss on the lips.

Mariah was shocked but smiled and deepened the kiss, surprising both herself and him. Ray smiled as they finally broke apart, to get some air. Then he kissed her again.

From the White Tigers everyone had a hard time to believe this. But then a moment later Kevin and Chiko started cat calling, Lee looked ready to explode, but inside he was happy for the two of them.

From the Bladebreakers the team, not including Kai, was cheering. Daichi even managed to get the whole stands to cheer. Kai simply smiled wondering why he didn't seem to care so much as he had believed himself to.

Mariah laughed silently; no one said anything to each other as they left. But the passion on the kiss still burned on their lips. Mariah walked past her own team, still thinking of what had happened. In her mind no words could describe what had happened. For Ray's part he was just so happy. His team went to congratulate him, both for winning and for having conquered Mariah's heart, probably for good.

"Uhm, Ray…" Daichi said.

"What?" Ray said getting abruptly shaken from his daydreaming.

"The shard, could you please give it back?"

"Oh, of course!" he said taking of the chain necklace. Daichi took the shard and took out a small box in his pocket. Inside were seven more shards in different colours. To their astonishment there also lay a whole yellow stone inside.

"Wow, where on Earth did you get those?" Tyson asked.

Daichi smiled. "Took them, or most of them. Yet the stone was my mothers and she gave it to me before she disappeared."

He closed the lid to the box and turned to Ray. "I knew you wouldn't use the shard, so I am happy you took care of it."

"What do you mean?" Ray asked.

Daichi chose to ignore the question. Instead he stood up and walked away. The team stare after him, but then followed suit. They had a plane to catch. They were supposed to be in Sweden in three hours for the next match.

Ray sighed as he left. He wouldn't see Mariah for some time, she had her battles and he had his. But once the day would be over he would call her, maybe they would be allowed to have some time of their own soon. He deeply wished to see her again, now that they finally had found each other.

The Bladebreakers hurried to the airport and got on to the plane. The white Tigers had their next match in the same Stadium so they were staying. Even if the countries lay close, Ray felt as if he had left parts of his heart there.

The doors closed behind them, the plane lifted. The time went. Mariah stood by the hotel window, completely ignoring Kevin and his annoying cousin. "Be careful ray!" she whispered towards the sky.

Ray sat by the window of the plane and looked down onto the green blur of Denmark. "Wo ai ni, Mariah!" he said in Chinese.

Zeo sat on the changing room, waiting for the people at the stadium to tell them that the Bladebreakers had landed. He took out his blade and launched it towards the wall. From the change to his delight he had found that his bond with his bit beast had extended and his strength had widened to a length were few would be able to defeat him.

Burning Cerberus rose and with one crash he almost crumbled the wall into dust. His team stared at the wall and then turned to him, smiling. His sudden change had been a real progress and now all hopes had changed. They knew they could win this, and their fire to avenge the Elementals for their defeat burned brighter and clearer then ever.

Give it all you got Bladebreakers, because we will defeat you!

TBC

To Reviewers:

broken child of writing: Hi again, you kind of confused me with your review, maybe because I'm used to see you other name. Anyway, I am so sorry that this chapter took as long time as it took, but it's probably the longest yet and also one of the best. Oh, just saying that because I like the White Tigers. I'll try to update sooner, but these chapters are long and detailed, hmm maybe even to long. Oh well, I'll try to update again soon, as soon as I have time. You know, (sigh) exams…

shadowgirl/ashleigh: Thanks, and sorry this update took time. But hope you liked it.

To Reviewers for other chapters:

KittyKittyHunter: Thank you for your LONG review and for all those great tips. I was anyway thinking of rewriting the prologue, but haven't found time to do it. I have a lot of rewrites to make on both this and other stories.

I know I changed the headline, but then the character, which is this Guardian, has some thing in common as another character that will come in a sequel. For as I have planned there are at least three sequels to this. Hard to understand, I can understand that.

And, I know I am updating very often, but that's how I work. It's not like I don't have other things to do, but I really like writing. All though I have other writing plans in the future, so we'll see what happens with the updates then. For now, I am following an update plan thinking of what is easy to make. I have found writing this story is a rather easy, compared to others. That's why the updates come and go.

You are always welcome back to read, please forgive my terrible grammar and spelling. I still have a lot to improve on those things.

End Notes:

Shitza: Seventeen chapters this time, and I do wonder if I will be able to break the record once more?

Tyson: seventeen, man, didn't you say you had an exam tomorrow?

Shitza: Well, yes, but how on earth do you study to a math exam? It's not like history or Geography where you just read. You never know what lands into the test.

Zeo: She's got a point.

Shitza: Anyway, hope that this is enough for a while, I have other stories to update and if I don't do that then people will start flaming me. I've been a bit lazy with one, so better go.

Max: Does she ever stay in one place?

Zeo: Not as far as I have noticed.

Kenny. Oh well, let's take and post this. Hope you guys reading this are happy; please review once you've read this.