A/N: I'm back! And, a few minor changes have been made!

Chapter Nineteen

Street Fight

"Son of a bitch! How could I have lost that fucking battle!" Carmen banged her fists against the wall for the umpteenth time. She was on the War Path, and so none of The Demons dared calm her down.

"She's cursing and swearing more than ever.. Good thing her parents and brothers aren't home.." Alex whispered to Max.

"Yeah.. Really good thing.." he whispered back before jumping slightly from Carmen banging her fists again.

"Son of a fucking bitch I swear I had that match in the palm of my hand!" It had only been half an hour since she, Carmen Riley, proud leader of The Demons, had fallen to her knees in defeat of Rei Kon from The Bladebreakers. Sandra and Aaron looked at each other, possibly thinking the same thing.

"Damn it all!" Carmen shouted, clearly unaware that her team mates wanted to desperately run for the front door.

-X-

"Great show, Rei!" Hilary said happily.

"Thanks Hilary!" the Chinese boy smiled.

"That was out of luck, I'd say." muttered the Russian.

"Well, I'm not so sure on that one, Kai. Both Rei and Carmen are competitive, although Carmen has a whole other strategy of playing the game." Kenny said, almost sounding matter-of-factly.

"Oh really," Kai muttered while flicking a lock of hair out of his face, "how so?" Kai looked at Kenny.

"Well, she has her own style as does everyone else, and according to Rei's stories which he CONTINUES to forget telling them to us, Carmen has travelled the world learning different techniques as he did," Kenny began, then looked at Rei, "that is correct?"

Rei nodded, "Yeah, that's right. Carmen travelled the world as I did, and we both went to Rome, Italy together." The end of this statement was greeted by ohh's and awe's from Tyson and Max.

"Will you shut up with the oh's and awe's!" Kai snapped.

"Anyways, if I may continue. We both went to Rome, Italy together, just as I said. But, I was travelling the world to learn new moves as well as possibly meeting new people. Carmen, on the other hand, was travelling the world to do both what I was doing and learning different techniques. And Rome is where she learned to put two of her greatest talents together to form her technique." Rei explained. Once more, ohh... awe. Kai couldn't handle their childish behaviour any longer.

"SHUT UP!" Cheering had started outside at that moment.

"Probably just a bunch of fan-girls.." Tyson muttered.

"Then how come I can hear Mariah, Kevin, Lee and the rest of the White Tigers? And nobody else?" Rei asked. They all looked at each other before getting to their feet and running outside.

"REI! YOU BEAT THE BITCH!" Mariah yelled and threw her arms around Rei. Rei quickly threw his arms into the air, then stared at Mariah with a stunned look. If Carmen comes with her team then I'll REALLY be screwed, Rei thought. Unfortunately for Rei, The Demons were just on the opposite side of the street, all of them, because they had 'needed some fresh air'.

"GET OFF HIM YOU MOTHER FUCKER!" Carmen yelled. Rei looked up. The colour had drained from his face from fright.

"Oh... Shit...I'm screwed..." Rei muttered slightly as Mariah finally decided to let him breathe again.

"What did you just call me!" Mariah called.

"You heard me. MOTHER FUCKER!" Carmen yelled. Mariah's face twitched slightly, then again, and again before she made a run for Carmen.

"DON'T YOU DARE FUCKING CALL ME A MOTHER FUCKER!" she yelled while hitting Carmen.

"Shove off!" Carmen yelled, now taking her turn in kicking sissy girl ass. Mariah's going to get beat to a pulp if I don't do anything, Rei thought.

That was when it seemed that Rei was a lifeless plush toy being fought over by two sibling sisters jumped to life. He ran to the two girls and grabbed Mariah.

"Rei what're you doi--" Carmen was caught off as Rei pushed Mariah into a hard kiss. Her mouth dropped open in surprise and shock. An odd feeling cursed through the English Rebel Punk girl. R-R-Rei..., Carmen thought before grabbing at Mariah's pink hair and began to beat the living pink shit out of her.

"Carmen, stop!" Rei yelled, although it was useless, so he grabbed Mariah and ran.

Carmen stared after them, as if frozen to the pavement. Had time stopped? Or had life stopped? Something stopped, that much was for sure. It seemed to be the kind of moment when it feels like it's a foggy day and you can't even see your own hand if you held it out in front of you. That's the kind of moment it was. Unclear. Uncertain. Like a dirt trail that had washed away. Something you can't follow. Having that feeling that you're frozen to the pavement doesn't help either.

"Eat shit." Carmen said thoughtlessly.

-X-

"Rei?" Mariah asked. Although the pink-haired girl was confused, she was certain about one thing: Ray liked her again. The two stopped under a number of large oak trees.

"Mariah... WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO THAT FOR!" Rei yelled, turning to the girl. Mariah was shocked. He did love her, didn't he? Or… Did he?

"Rei.." Mariah whispered. The restless Chinese boy continued to yell at the Pink-haired girl.

"MARIAH! I DON'T LOVE YOU! STOP TRYING TO BREAK US UP! DAMN WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU! IF YOU CAN'T HAVE ME, NOBODY ELSE CAN! IS THAT IT! I DON'T LIKE YOU! GET THAT THROUGH YOUR HEAD!" Rei yelled, then took off. Mariah stared after him, as if, just like Carmen, she was rooted to the spot.

Carmen stood on the spot, immobile, just as she had since Rei grabbed Mariah and ran. Alex stared at her English Rebel Punk friend. Never in her life had she seen Carmen with such a shocked and pale face. She took a step toward her pale-faced friend before Aaron grabbed her arm.

"No, don't." he whispered. Alex nodded, then once again took her place amongst their team. A blurry figure appeared at the opposite end of the street; a moving figure. It was Rei. Carmen hadn't moved, even when Rei came back into sight.

"Carmen!" Rei yelled while running toward them. She didn't respond, still shocked about what he did, but only slightly. Rei stopped in front of her, leaned over and put his hands on his knees while trying to catch his breath. He looked up at her, then stood.

"Carmen?" Rei asked. Carmen's brow furrowed, then she slapped Rei upside the face.

"WHAT THE FUCK JUST FUCKING HAPPENED!" Carmen yelled for the first time.

"Carmen, I--" Rei tried to say.

"DON'T YOU BLOODY FUCKING SAY ANYTHING!" Carmen yelled, and with tears in her eyes, ran home. The Demons all gave Rei dirty looks, then ran after Carmen without a word. And now, it was Reis turn to feel glued to the sidewalk.

-X-

"Carmen!" Max yelled while walking into the Riley home.

"Riley, girl!" Alex called, running through the front hall and up the stairs. Alex squeezed past Max and slowly opened the bedroom door. Lying there on the bed was Carmen. She was shaking as she cried. Her face was hidden in the pillow.

"Carmen.." Alex said softly. She sat on the bed beside Carmen and looked at her as she placed a hand on her friend's back gingerly. Max, Sandra, Nick and Aaron all stood at the bedroom door.

"Oh Alex.." Carmen managed to say before crying again. Alex looked at her.

"Carmen, it's alright. We're here. Sandra, Max, Nick, Aaron and I. We're all here, don't worry." She told Carmen softly. Sandra slowly walked into the room, sitting down on the opposite side of the bed.

"Cheer up, girl. There'll be others." She tried. The boys stood in the doorway as the girls tried to cheer up their Captain.

-X-

Things weren't smooth sailing at Tyson's Dojo, either.

"Smooth move, kid.." Kai muttered.

"Shut up, Kai." Rei snapped.

"How could you do such a thing to Carmen, Rei! You loved her!" Hilary asked.

"I do love her, Hilary!" the Chinese boy protested.

"Well, you probably don't love her that much.." Tyson muttered.

"He was probably going to break up with her, anyway!" Dizzi suggested.

"GUYS! SHUT UP FOR THE LOVE OF THE BBA!" Rei yelled. The room suddenly became silent as all eyes fell to Rei.

"Guys, I do love her. I wasn't going to dump her at all! I only did that so that Carmen wouldn't beat the shit out of Mariah, and Mariah wouldn't attempt to beat the shit out of Carmen! Besides... Mariah's too big on the pink shit for my liking. I told Mariah off, and I tried to apologise to Carmen but she slapped me upside the face." he explained.