Well here's chapter 2. I've had this written for awhile, and i ment to post it ages ago. oh well. Here ya go enjoy! don't forget to R&R.

The sun shone down on the five friends as the made theirway deeper into New York and away from the burned out orphanage. You could hear the horns honking on the distant streets, people yelling and talking, the general thrum of people and noise and activity that was NYC heartbeat.

As the entered into what seemed like their hunderedth alley-way, Joseph leaned against the side of a building, taking in huge gulps of air. "I need a break. My legs aren't as long as your guys'. I can't keep up."

Miriam looked back at her little brother a worried look coming over her face. "Why didn't you say something earlier, Joseph? We would have rested way before this."

He just smiled sheepishly as he sat down on the dirt and gravel covered ground. "I didn't want to slow you guys down, that's all." Miriam smiled as she took a seat next to her brother.

"Don't worry about it Joe, we could all use a bit of a rest anyway." Serez said as she stretched.

"Please don't call me that." He mumbled glaring up at the older Italian teen through green bangs.

Serez just waved her hand dismissively, "Okay, okay, I won't call you Joe any more."

"Good." The other three took seats of their own; either on the ground or the garbage bin that was situated against the wall. They sat there for about five minutes, resting weary feet, some wondering what they were going to do for shelter and food.

At the thought of food Serez's stomach growled loudly, causing everyone to turn and look at her, which caused Serez to blush. "What haven't you guys ever heard someone's stomach growl before?"

Joseph grinned and eyed the older girl mischievously, "Well yeah, just never that loud before." He broke into an uncontrollable laughing fit at the outraged look on Serez's face.

"Why you rotten little…." She hopped off the garbage bin landing next to Joseph. He paled slightly at the look on his older friends face. "What are you doing… Ack no stop, hehehe, cut it out." He dissolved into laughter as Serez tickled him mercilessly.

After a few minutes of tickling, Serez stopped and let Joseph breathe. She sat back and chuckled to herself at the indignant look on Joseph's face as he glared at her, trying to catch his breath. "Oh come on, squirt. You deserved it and you know it."

"Whatever. Okay I'm all rested, let's get going." The green-haired youth hopped to his feet and started making his way down the alley, they way they had been going before they stopped. The others blinked at his sudden enthusiasm and started to get up to follow him.

Before he had gone more than five steps a Beyblade whizzed over head and landed in front of Joseph, startling and causing to trip over his feet and land on his back. "What the heck?" He eyed the unknown red and black Beyblade as it spun in slow lazy circles.

"You're in Under-Ground territory. You better leave, while you still can," a mysterious voice called out threateningly. At the threat the Beyblade moved closer to Joseph. He scampered backwards until his back hit the wall. Enrique grabbed him underneath the arms and lifted onto the relative safety of the garbage bin Serez had been sitting on.

The others stood up and drew out there own blades, they looked around for the owner of the voice but found no one. Amaya never having been one for drawn out periods of suspense growled and stepped forward, raising her launcher as she did. "Why don't you come out and show yourself…or are you to scared?" She called out mockingly as she cast her eyes back and forth looking for any signs that someone had taken her bait.

"Ha! Why would we, members of Under-Ground, be scared of little pip-squeaks like you?" The voiced called out again.

Serez smirked and moved up to join her friend, while Enrique and Miriam moved in front of Joseph so they could defend him if any fighting broke out. Once she was even with Amaya she went back to back with the platinum haired girl and raised her own launcher, "Because there are more of us than there are of you."

"And that's supposed to scare us?" Another voice called from a different place than where the first one had been. That voice was followed by laughter, which belonged to yet another person.

"Shit," Serez and Amaya mumbled at the same time. They tightened their grip on their launcher's and ripcords.

"Not so confident now, are you?" Said the third voice, it sounded like it was getting closer, but none of them could hear the sound of footsteps.

Serez just scoffed and scanned the area from behind her sunglasses. "There's still five of us and only three of you. We have the advantage…unless you guys can't count?"

Enrique shot his cousin a look. "Are you trying to get us into trouble?" he hissed. "Keep you're smart-alecky comments to your self, Rez."

"Fine," she rolled her eyes at his worrying.

"You should listen to your friend. A big mouth like yours could get you into all kinds of trouble." It was the first voice again, this time it sounded like it was coming from Amaya's left; Serez's right.

Miriam growled as she moved to face where she thought the voice had come from. "What do you want from us anyway? We haven't done anything to you."

"We want you to leave. This is our territory and you're trespassing."

The sentence ended in something of a hiss, and Amaya realized why they couldn't hear their would-be attackers. She hurriedly whispered to Serez, "They're Neko-jinn's, cat-people. We are so screwed."

Serez cast nervous looks about the alley and muttered sarcastically "Greeeat, and I thought life couldn't get any better,"

"We've given you a chance to leave, and you've refused," It was the second voice and it too was moving closer.

Then the third voice was heard directly above them, "Now suffer the consequences." (a/n: yes that's corny...leave me be.)

Three kids about there own age suddenly surrounded the five friends. Two were Neko-jinn's, like Amaya had said. One had long raven-black hair tied back and wrapped; it seemed to move around of its own free will – like a tail. The second one was female and had waist length pink hair. They both had the golden eyes that their kind were known for; they reminded the five friends so much of Amaya's that they had to blink back their surprise. The third wasn't a Neko at all, but he was imposing nonetheless. He had ear length messy purple hair, and glaring Halloween orange eyes.

The pink haired girl had jumped from the roof and had landed on the garbage bin, just behind Joseph. He turned around slowly and was met with glaring cat-gold eyes. She snarled at him as she stood up and moved towards him. Joseph scooted backwards on his hands trying to get to the edge of the bin and away from the advancing girl. As he was about to fall the girls' hand shot out and grabbed the collar of his white shirt.

He yelped in surprise, which drew Miriam's attention to him. She glared at the girl who had her brother by his shirt. Without a second thought she aimed her launcher and shot it towards the girl, "Let go of my brother, you witch."

The blade flew true and sliced the hand that held Joseph. She let go with a hiss of surprise and turned to glare at Miriam. Joseph had landed on the bin safely, and he wasted no time jumping off and sitting up against it with his back pressed against the bin. Her reached into his pocket and pulled out his own launcher and Beyblade. He wasn't as good with it as his sister and his friend's, but it was better than being defenseless.

The pink-haired girl snarled and flipped off the bin, twisting in the air as she went so when she landed she would be facing the three that stood before the bin. She glared again at Miriam when she landed and wiped the blood that had welled on her hand off on her camouflage pants. "You're going to pay for that."

"Just try it."

The boy with the purple hair smirked and turned his back on Amaya, turning to face the still spinning blade that had been launched at Joseph. He held up his hand and it launched into it obediently. He turned back and fitted it back to his launcher and aimed it directly at Amaya. At the same time he reloaded his launcher Amaya heard a click come from behind her. The other Neko – the boy – had loaded his launcher and aimed it at Serez. She also heard Serez mumble under her breath, "Here, kitty, kitty, kitty." The boy obviously heard her as well because the next second he was growling.

"Cool it Rei. No need to loose your temper because of some chicks comment." The purple haired boy said as he smirked. He saw Serez stiffen at hiswordds over the platinum-haired girl's shoulder. He laughed at her obvious outrage, "What's wrong girl….didn't like my comment?"

She composed herself easily and smirked though he didn't see it. But the boy in front of her did, and he tilted his head slightly to the side in confusion. "Ha, why should I pay attention to the ramblings of little boys?"

"Little boys!"

Serez grin widened as she turned his earlier words back on him, "Aw, what's wrong…didn't like my comment?"

Amaya couldn't hold it in any longer; she burst out laughing at the boy's expression. It was a combination of looking like he'd just been slapped and like he'd just been beaten at his favourite game. She could barely keep her blade pointed at him she was laughing so hard. "Ah man, Rez. You should see his face. It's hilarious."

She smirked as her friend choked out her sentence between fits of laughter, "I can tell."

"Can we stop playing around Rei, Aubery? I want to grind these fools into blade dust." Spat the pink-haired girl as she glared at Miriam and Enrique's grinning faces.

"Alright Mariah. Let's do this so we can get back to the warehouse. We have other things to do tonight as well."

All laughing stopped immediately and the air was once again filled with pre-battle tension. Three simultaneous clicks were heard as the three attackers raised their launchers into attack position. They five friends did the same; Joseph a little unsteadily.

The attackers started the countdown, similar grins of triumph on their faces. Just before they would have attacked, another voice called from one of the roofs that surrounded the alley. "Hold it."

All gathered on the alley floor looked up to find the source of the voice. Looking over the edge of the roof was a guy much older than anyone there. He was probably in his late teens. The three who had been about to attack lowered their blades and grinned up at him.

Aubery put his blade and launcher back into his pocket and turned to face the teen, who was now making his way down from the roof using a conveniently placed rope ladder. "Hey boss-man. What's up?"

"Yeah Rick, why'd you tell us to stop?" Questioned Mariah as she moved from her spot in front of Miriam and Enrique, and moved over to where Rei and Aubery were in front of the teen.

He pushed back some of his silvery hair that had managed to escape the ponytail that was tied near the top of his head, his hair spiked out from the end of the tie. "Who are they?"

"Some trespassers, that were stupid enough to wander into our territory. Everyone knows this area of town belongs to Under-Ground."

"Well we didn't, and who, or what, the hell is Under-Ground?" Amaya demanded moving up behind their three attackers. "And another thing…who's the silver haired giant you all are worshipping?"

"Under-Ground is a Ring, my Ring to be more precise. I'm Rick Anderson. These are three of the member's of my Ring. Rei Kon one of my two Second's, and Aubery Spade and Mariah Wong. And who are you to be bad-mouthing us?"

"Name's Amaya Ryusumi, these guys with me are my family." She pointed to each in turn, "Enrique Giancarlo, Serez Spectro, and Joseph and Miriam Tashi."

"Family? You don't even have the same last names. How can you be a family?" Mariah asked eyeing the five friends strangely.

Joseph moved to stand in front so he could be seen. Before he could get to close Miriam clamped a hand on his shoulder. "We may not be family through blood, but where a family none-the-less." His normally placid and joy-filled emerald eyes were filled with anger, pain, and fear. But none of it was conveyed through his words.

Rick glared at the small youth willing the boy to back down. When he refused to even move an inch a small smile slowly spread across Rick's face. The smile turned into an appreciative and surprised chuckle.

Joseph growled softly and tugged at the grip that his sister had on his shoulder. "What's so funny, huh? Let go of me, Miriam."

"Calm down, Joseph. You're going to get yourself hurt." She told him gently, keeping her hand firmly on his shoulder, holding him in place.

Rick stopped laughing, but continued to grin down at the seven year-old. "Who ever said anything was funny?" Joseph just looked at him, puzzled. "I was just admiring your spunk. Are all of you like that, or is it just these two?"

Serez smirked, crossing her arms over her chest. "Usually we all are, but they said everything we wanted to say."

He laughed again, bringing confused looks to everyone's faces. "What do you think, Rei?"

"Well they got the right attitude, that's for sure. They didn't back down once even after we brought out our Beyblade's. They just brought out their own and got ready to defend themselves." Rei grinned turning slightly so he could see the group of five out of the corner of his eye.

"So you agree then?"

"Yeah, totally. But it's your call Rick, it's your Ring."

Rick nodded and moved forward so he could face the five newly freed orphans. "What do you guys say, want to become a part of my Ring?"

Serez eyed him suspiciously, as was her nature. "What's in it for us?"

"You'd have food and shelter for one thing."

"And are we going to be attacked by members of your little gang everywhere we go?" Enrique asked.

"No, and were not a gang, that's insulting." Mariah spat out, her golden eyes becoming cat like slits as she glared at him. "We're a Ring, it's…it's like a family."

Miriam looked intrigued by the idea. She said something and the others leaned in closer. "What do you guys think? Should we take the offer?"

Amaya shrugged, "I don't see why not. It's not like we have anything better to do, or any place to go."

Serez decided to add her bit. "Besides, it's not like we can't leave if it's not to our liking."

Joseph shook his head, "I don't know. There's something about these guys that I don't trust. Especially the big guy."

"Serez is right Joseph. We can always leave. And besides right now we have nowhere to go."

Enrique nodded, "So it's agreed. We go with them for now." The others nodded; Joseph nodded reluctantly, something about the whole situation bugged him.

Amaya stood from the huddle first and faced Rick and his Ring-mates. Rick raised a silver eyebrow, his arms were crossed over his chest, and he looked at the five friends expectantly. "Okay, we're in."