Chapter Three

The Truth is Told

Carmen stared in disgust; her jaw hung open slightly.

"What're you trying to do, Carmen? Trying to collect dust in your mouth!" Rei laughed. Carmen snatched her blade out of the dish, and stalked away. Tyson, Max, Kai, Rei, Hilary, and Kenny were all celebrating their victory.

"Yeah! I knew you guys could beat her!" Hilary smiled.

"But now what? Since Carmen was defeated, she won't be able to join our team because she didn't beat us." Kenny pointed out.

"Ah well! Who cares! As long as she ain't on our team, I'm fine with it!" Tyson exclaimed.

"Tyson!" Hilary hissed.

"Well, that's another victory for us!" said Rei, triumphantly.

"Yeah..." Kai replied, relaxing.

They had stayed in the park for about fifteen minutes, then decided to have a celebration picnic by the river. They were all having a great time. Then, once the food had almost been ready, someone very familiar appeared.

"Hey," Max started, "isn't that Carmen!" Everyone looked at where Max was pointing to. Sure enough, it was Carmen, but she wasn't alone. She was with two other girls, and three boys.

"Well, well, well! Aren't those faces familiar!" Carmen said, not amused.

"I THOUGHT YOU SAID YOU DIDN'T HAVE A TEAM!" Tyson shouted.

"SHUT UP, BACK DOWN, AND BUT OUT!" Carmen yelled at him.

"MAKE ME!" Tyson yelled back.

"I WILL!"

"YEAH RIGHT!" Tyson shouted, with an I'd-like-to-see-you-try look on his face. Carmen was just about to walk up to Tyson, but a girl with red hair grabbed her arm.

"He's not worth it, Carmen." said the girl.

"NOT WORTH IT?" Tyson yelled.

"YEAH! NOT WORTH IT! YOU HEARD HER!" Carmen snapped.

Tyson was fuming, but Carmen ignored him.

"So, who are these people, Carmen?" Kai asked. Carmen looked at Kai.

"These people, are my team members. That's who they are." Carmen answered.

"I thought you said you didn't have a team?" Rei asked. Carmen and those around her laughed.

"And you fell for it!" said a boy with short sandy hair.

"Hook, line, and sinker!" cried a girl with long blonde hair, which was pulled back into a tight braid. The Bladebreakers looked around at each other. They were totally clueless that Carmen had lied. She lied?, Rei thought.

"So, if this isn't correct, please correct me. You only said that to see how good we are, and to see what you're up against, if you ever entered a Tournament, right?" Kai asked.

"Well, two quarters right. You see, we're in the Tournament. You just haven't seen us play yet." said a boy with short, spiked brown hair. Carmen and her so called 'team' left, and the Bladebreakers all went back to Tyson's dojo.

"SHE LIED!" Tyson yelled.

"Calm down Tyson." Kai hissed.

"But Kai! She lied to us!" Tyson partially whined.

"TYSON!" Kai warned. Tyson flinched slightly.

"Kenny, can't you look up Carmen?" Rei asked.

"Yeah, I can, why do you ask Ray?" Kenny answered.

"Because," Rei said, "I'd like to learn a bit on Carmen and her team. Being with you guys all the time leaves me with less knowledge of what she's been up to. Not that being around you guys all the time is bad, or anything." Rei added hastily. Kenny began to search for Carmen's beyblading profile.

"Here it is!" he said, once he had found it, handing Dizzi over to Rei. Rei began reading out loud.

"Name: Carmen Riley. Age: (insert Rei's age here). Birthplace: Manchester England… I never knew that! Bit Beast: Soulbreather. Team: The Demons. Here we go." Rei said, looking up Carmen's team. Everyone leaned behind Rei, watching what he was doing carefully. He waited for the page to load. Once the page had finally loaded, there were six pictures on the page: Three boys, and three girls, one of the girls was Carmen. Underneath each picture, was the name of the person.

"Riley, Carmen. Drzazga, Max. That's the one that said that we fell for Carmen's lie. Shaw, Alex. That's the red head. Javlonski, Aaron. Riccardo, Sandra. That's the 'Hook, line, and sinker' girl. Gagnier, Nick. Well then. That's her team." Rei said, leaning back slightly.

"A rather punkish looking team, wouldn't you say?" Dizzi piped up.

"Why did you want to look up her team, Rei?" Hilary asked.

"Huh? Oh, I was just curious." he answered.

"Well, we've certainly had some day! First having to deal with a four-on-one match, which ended in two out and two in against one. Second, finding out that Carmen actually had a team." Max said, getting up. Kai nodded, getting up also. Rei got up, and went outside.

Rei looked up at the sky, which was beginning to turn a pinkish orange. The sun was setting. Rei sighed.

"She surely has changed. But, she's still the same...in some ways." Rei said quietly. Kai stood behind Rei, but Rei didn't notice that he was there.

"Still the same. Still my Carmen." Rei said quietly, "Still my Carmen."

"Still your Carmen?" Kai asked. Rei spun around quickly. His face was going slightly red.

"K-K-Kai!" he stammered.

"Still your Carmen, Rei? What happened to Mariah?" Kai asked, curiously.

A/N: Max Drzazga's last name is pronounced how it used to be spelt; Drazazga. Thank you!

- Carmen.