DISCLAIMER: Bakuten Shoot Beyblade belongs to its manga author, Aoki Takao.

I finally got reviews! Many thanks to freed gurl and Needle Point for reviewing! You guys encouraged me to go on, so now here is the next chapter! Hope you enjoy!

WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW CAN'T HURT YOU

ChApTeR 3

"I see you had already met Elijah." Chairman Daitenji stood next to Elijah at the park later. "Anyway, let me introduce you all formally."

Takao's dark eyes traveled at Elijah's profile from head to toe. This couldn't be the guy we will be helping out. He had half-expected that stranger to be somewhat taller than him or bearing an intimidating disposition, not a scrawny kid drowning in dark, loose clothes.

"Everyone, this is Elijah Parke. It is through him that I got the information about the Twelve Signs. Elijah, this is Takao Kinomiya."

Elijah extended his right hand. "Hey, thanks for helping me back there."

Takao shook it with his own, trying not to feel disappointed. "No problem." Elijah seemed nice enough but the wave of threat or challenge emanating from him was the kind Takao had felt with amateur beybladers. In fact, he doesn't even look the least bit strong. How can I consider him a challenge?

"Next to him is Rei Kon."

Rei shook hands with Elijah. "Nice finally meeting you, Elijah."

Elijah gave a friendly smile. "Me too."

"And then Kai Hiwatari."

Elijah approached Kai.

"You must be the strongest in this group. It's an honor to meet you, Hiwatari," he said, offering a hand to him.

Kai, on the other hand, didn't say a word or even move a muscle. Instead his arms remained crossed over his chest, mahogany eyes just staring at Elijah's extended hand.

Elijah seemed surprised as he withdrew his hand. Then for a few moments, he looked directly at Kai's face without a trace of expression on his own. Kai returned the gaze evenly.

"Well," Elijah spoke finally, the friendly smile returning again. "We don't have to shake hands if you don't want to." Strange, he didn't sound annoyed. If it had been other people, they would have already dismissed Kai Hiwatari as a complete snob in less than a second.

"Don't think of Kai like he hates you or anything," Rei told the American. "He may seem to be a little cold, but he's really good inside. Right, Kai?"

"Shut up."

Chairman Daitenji gestured to Max. "And his name is Max Mizuhara."

A frown crossed Max's features as Elijah took a few steps toward him. The guy was acting as though this was the first time they had come across each other instead of the reason why Max's temple was bleeding about more than twenty-four hours ago.

"Great to meet you." Elijah was smiling at him as he extended a hand.

Max, however, didn't shake it and instead took two steps backward. "You're that kid. You're the one who kept on stoning me just yesterday!"

"Eh?" Everyone else's, minus Kai's, eyes grew wide in surprise.

"You're the one Max was talking about?" An outraged Takao glared at Elijah. "Why did you hurt Max? What has he done to you?"

"Nothing and I didn't." Elijah seemed bewildered while lowering his hand. "What are you talking about?"

"I think you know perfectly well what I'm talking about." Max's voice was gaining strength. "You were there at the beach, and then you hurled stones at me for I don't know what reason. Why? I want to know why you did that to me."

"Beach? Stones? I don't get you." The searcher's forehead was creased. "This is the first time I've actually seen you up close. Besides, why would I do such a horrible thing to a famous beyblader like you? That would spell out trouble."

Now it was Max's turn to be confused. But it really is him. I know he's that guy! He could never forget the way those light brown locks were messy, the way his eyes flashed.

But most especially, he could never forget the way Elijah glared at him. You'd think I pushed his grandmother off the cliff on purpose or something.

"Max," Rei started slowly. "Are you sure you're not mistaking Elijah for that guy? Maybe they just happen to look like each other."

"…Maybe." Max took a closer look at Elijah. Their features were exact. Or almost. He had to admit to himself, this was also the first time he had seen Elijah up close. "Where were you yesterday noon and what were you doing?"

"Inside a library, doing a little research. You really think I was at the beach just to throw stones at you?"

Could I have been wrong? The blond studied Elijah's face. It was void of the anger that he had seen yesterday, only pure confusion that seemed to say Elijah was telling the truth. Suddenly Max felt like the world's biggest idiot. Rei was right.

"Mizuhara?"

"I'm so sorry for accusing you, Elijah," Max apologized, mentally kicking himself in the process for his unusual rash judgment. "I don't know what came over me. I guess I quickly assumed you were that person because you strongly resemble him." He hung his head, wondering about what he said.

"So Elijah really didn't hurt you?" Takao seemed confused.

The puzzled look on Elijah's features faded. "I see. Don't worry about it; things like this happen sometimes." He slightly raised his hand before Max. "So, we're cool, right?"

Are we? Max could not define what that sudden twinkle in Elijah's eye meant and why he suddenly felt uncomfortable. But other than that, Elijah seemed to be completely amiable.

"…Sure," he said finally, wondering why he felt uncertain as he accepted Elijah's hand with a shake. I shouldn't be like this. If I'm going to work with him, I have to get along with him just like what I do with everyone else. He knew it wasn't his nature to fight with anyone. Besides, if he managed to get along with Kai, why should this be a problem for him? The thought made him feel better.

"Well, I'm glad you two have ironed out your misunderstanding." Chairman Daitenji gestured to Kyouju. "And the last but not the least, Kyouju."

The two boys shook hands.

"I hadn't watched all the past tournaments but I can't recall seeing you compete, Kyouju."

"Kyouju isn't an official player but he's the one who fixes our beyblades and comes up with strategies and other stuff." Takao slapped the smaller boy's back proudly. "Without him, we may not have even entered the Russian Tournament."

Kyouju's face was turning red. "I can't take any credit for it."

"Come on, Kyouju! Stop being so modest and admit it!"

"Kyouju is the one who collects data and analyzes them," Max told Elijah. "I think he will be a big help in our search for the Twelve Signs."

"Speaking of which, I want to ask you questions about them, Elijah. Chairman had already told us that one of the twelve pieces is already in your possession. Can you tell us everything that you know?" Kyouju asked.

Elijah's gaze swept across each beyblader's faces. "Okay. Listen to me carefully." His hand dug inside the right pocket of his mud brown-cargo pants and pulled out something. "Do you know what this is?" He held it for them to see.

Max drew his face closer, trying to decipher the symbol—a figure that resembled a half of a bit sliced longitudinally with a line—engraved in a small glasslike piece between Elijah's fingers. He knew it was a zodiac sign but he had no idea what it was supposed to stand for. "I can't recall."

"This is the symbol for Libra. A woman gave it to me months ago. Why she did it? I can't figure that one out yet. Anyway, according to her, if a person who was given a starting piece—in this case, me—collects all the Signs, different kinds of abilities, including the ability to use the respective holy beasts, will be bestowed to my beyblade. When she got to that part, I turned her offer down."

"You actually did that?" Kyouju was astonished. "What made you do it? Anyone would have jumped at the chance."

Elijah shrugged. "Hey, what can you expect from someone who hadn't even heard of the term holy beast at that time? I thought she was just stretching things. I mean, if a total stranger appeared out of nowhere and told you something as far-fetched as being given the chance to make numerous sacred spirits obey you, would you believe him or her immediately? I don't think so. Just imagination gone crazy, don't you think?"

"I guess you're right," Rei agreed. "So what made you change your mind?"

"...Let's just say I discovered their existence by accident. I was fascinated about the whole thing, so I watched the intriguing American Tournament. Wow, I've never seen such powerful beings in my entire life!"

"Aha! So you too can see a holy beast!" Takao suddenly came back to life again. To Max, it was a good sign, especially after noticing how down Takao had seemed minutes ago. "Let me see how good you are, Elijah! I challenge you to a beybattle right now!"

"Right now? Takao, we hadn't even started looking for the Twelve Signs yet!" Kyouju protested.

Takao ignored him. "Well, what are you waiting for? Take out that beyblade of yours and fight me!"

"Can't."

"Why not?" he demanded.

Elijah crossed his arms over his chest. "Because."

"Argh! Quit being secretive and tell me why not!"

"Because it won't be fair. You have a holy beast while I don't. That's why."

"Then I won't use my holy beast. I can still beat you without it."

Elijah frowned. "Is it really that necessary for us to do this? Being the beyblade champion that you are, you know that I may not have the chance to stand up against you."

"Oh." Takao looked at the ground for a moment before looking up. "Well, I still want to battle with you but we'll put it off until we collect all the pieces. There, now you have no excuse to back out. Unless you're too chickened to go on, that is."

Whether or not Takao realized it, variations of that last line always pushed his opponent into accepting his challenge. Max had always been a witness to these.

Much to his surprise though, Elijah didn't take the bait. Well, not aggressively.

"Agreed," he stated simply.

"Good."

"Takao, you're not just against one holy beast," Rei reminded him. "Are you sure you can take them all?"

"After the tournament in Russia, I'd say this will be piece of cake," Takao declared. "Anyway, if it isn't, I'd say the more the merrier. Or should I say the better."

Elijah coughed to get their attention. "Anyway, we'll get to the question which probably is the most difficult to answer: How are we going to find the Twelve Signs if they are scattered all over the world?"

"I was wondering about that too." Kyouju frowned. "Don't tell me we have to go to each country."

"The good news is that we don't." Elijah pulled up the long sleeves of his black shirt to his shoulders and brought out his blood-red beyblade and his shooter from the pocket of his pants. "We use this."

"Eh?" The rest of the beybladers were puzzled. Well, it wasn't obvious in Kai's case.

"Not that I'm being rude or anything, but how can a beyblade be helpful in locating a Sign?" Max queried.

"Just wait. Chairman, did you bring it?"

"Here you go." Chairman Daitenji handed Elijah something that looked like a scroll.

"Thank you."

What's he planning to do? Max wondered as the brown-haired boy unrolled the large paper to reveal… "A map?"

"A world map." Elijah fixed it to the ground with rocks and placed the Libra piece on top of his bit chip. Then he stood before the map and positioned himself to launch the bey. "Watch."

The others huddled closer while Rei took a couple of steps closer next to Elijah. "What are you going to do?"

"Dowse." He launched the beyblade and kneeled down while the bey danced across the entire map, back and forth. After a few moments, it moved to one continent only and continued to spin all over it until the bey slowly centered itself at a specific point.

"Hey, look!" Takao knelt on one knee, inching his face closer to read the location. "It stopped at Mexico!"

Max could hardly believe it. The beyblade was used as a tracking device! It never left the spot!

"Amazing!" Kyouju exclaimed.

"Wait a minute. How can we be so sure that this is accurate?" Skepticism was written on the Japanese's face. "Are you sure you're not manipulating the directions?"

Elijah reached down to pick up his beyblade. "We can repeat this if you don't believe me." He repeated the process again but this time launching it at one corner of the map. Then he walked a few feet away, his back on his audience. "What happened?"

Max watched as the beyblade circled all over the map before stopping again at Mexico. "Still at Mexico!"

"…" Takao's eyes turned wide with amazement. "That—that was so cool! How did you come up with such a good idea?"

Elijah picked up his beyblade. "I didn't. The woman taught me so that it won't be much of a hassle. Well, that's what she told me."

"This woman, she seems to know a lot." Rei looked thoughtful. "What if you do it again without the Libra?"

Elijah removed the Libra piece and let his beyblade fly from his shooter. This time it just ran at random directions before straying out of the map. "It's not my beyblade that does the actual dowsing. The Libra is needed to track down the currently most powerful Sign it can feel. Probably this is why it was the first piece given."

"Let me look at it."

Max turned to see Kai walk over to Elijah, who handed it to him. Kai gazed steadily at the piece in his palm.

"We now know the ability of one of the Signs," he spoke after a while. "Now we need to find the rest."

"Not to mention the answers to our own questions," Kyouju added.

"Answers to our questions," Elijah repeated, almost as if to his self.

Rei looked at him. "Were you saying something?"

He blinked. "Uh, nothing."

"It's settled then!" Takao hit his fists together. "What are you guys waiting for? Pack all your stuff and prepare yourselves for the trip of your life. Tomorrow morning, we'll all head off for Mexico!"

"You want to see me, Chairman?" Takao was sitting on a chair in Chairman Daitenji's room. It had been almost a week since they got here in Mexico, and they had been staying in a hotel.

"Yes, Takao-kun." The old man sat across the boy. "While you were away, your father called me. He wants to see how you're doing."

"He did? I mean, he called?" Surprise was evident in the young beyblader's tone. "Did he say anything about why he didn't come to America last week?"

Would it be best if I tell him? At first the chairman wasn't sure. He had already told Takao's father that his son was just fine although a little disappointed after the exhibition match.

"I'm sure Takao would understand," Mr. Kinomiya had said after explaining the reason for his absence. "I could see why he was down but I know he'll get over it sooner or later. Please take care of him for me while I'm gone."

From the way they had their conversation, it had seemed as though Takao's father was really busy with his work. It wasn't as though his time had been completely occupied by archaeology but it didn't seem as though he wanted to take a break from it either. Which left Takao fatherless in the meantime.

But whatever the situation looked like, Takao still deserved to know the truth. "Your father is the head of the archaeologists he's working with. They found another discovery before the exhibition match and he couldn't just leave them."

"…" Some of the light in Takao's eyes died. Then his face stretched with a wide smile. "Hehe, my father is really hard-working, isn't he? His being busy is nothing new anyway." Putting his hands behind his head, he continued, "I'm glad he's okay."

Chairman Daitenji glanced at him. The casual expression Takao was wearing didn't fool him. But if the Japanese champion didn't want to express what he really felt, then the chairman couldn't do anything about it. It was time to change the subject. "I also want to hear the result of your scouting for the Twelve Signs today."

Takao shook his head. "Kyouju and I explored as far as we could but we couldn't find anything. The same thing goes for Max and Kai too. As for Rei and Elijah… what time is it anyway?"

The old man checked his watch. "Five-twenty. They should have been here twenty minutes ago."

"And here I thought we were the ones late." Takao got up. "That scouting made me hungrier than ever. I'll see you later, Chairman. Right now my stomach is very demanding." In less than seven seconds, he was already out of the room.

Chairman Daitenji stood as well and looked at the long box Elijah had left days ago.

Why haven't Rei-kun and Elijah returned yet?

Good question, Chairman. Read the next chapter if you wish to know...

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