DISCLAIMER: I do not own any part of Beyblade, J.R.R. Tolkien's works, Inu Yasha, or Gene Roddenberry's works. I only own my own characters. Please ask me if you intend to use my characters.

CAUTION: Mild swearing and some violence and bloodshed.

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Chapter 2: Long Awaited Explanation

"KAAAAAIIIIIIIIIII!"

The former Bladebreakers' collective scream echoed in the musty warehouse. Tyson surged forward and leaped into the gateway before anyone could react, and Daichi dove into the gateway after him. Tanika stepped forward and gasped, "NO!"

The gateway glowed and white, crackling energy played across the rippling surface. Ray and Max nodded to each other in determination and both strode towards the gateway. The crackling energy sucked them in without hesitation.

The gateway glowed brighter and the energy became manic. Tanika spat out, "Damned idiotic humans!" and rushed the gateway, grabbing onto Hilary and Kenny, dragging them all in.

The energy ceased and the gateway stopped glowing.

Dead silence.

Birds flew in alarm as the warehouse blew up, raining twisted metal on houses.

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Tyson groaned and opened his eyes, only to close them again in pain as sunlight pierced his eyes. His head throbbed in pain as he sat up. Through the pounding in his head, he could hear several birds singing. "Aw, shut up, you're making it worse." He grumbled.

Someone moaned and Tyson turned his head painfully to look at Koguro. Koguro shook his head and stood up slowly, swaying on the spot. Tyson squinted at him painfully, "Yo, man, what happened?" Koguro rubbed the back of his head, "Shut up, kid. I need to think."

Tyson shrugged and crawled over to where Max and Ray lay. He shook Max and Ray, "Hey, Max, Ray, get up, guys." Ray cracked open one eye and aimed it at Tyson, "Tyson, what happened? All I remember is a blinding flash of light…" Beside him, Max groaned.

Ray sat up and shook Max, "Max, wake up!" Max groaned and opened his eyes. He looked around him and slowly whistled, "Where are we?..."

"You are in the fields of Uralkar. The gateway brought you here." Max, Tyson and Ray turned around to see Tanika, who was cradling her left arm gently. Before any of them could speak, Kai, Daichi, Kenny and Hilary stumbled over to them.

Daichi wailed, "Can somebody tell me where we are and how we got here!" Everyone winced at the noise level and Tanika snapped, "I told you! We're in the fields of Uralkar. The gateway brought us here."

Ray rubbed his head gingerly, "Say, this is just like the dream I had this morning!" Everyone looked at him in surprise. Tanika looked at him curiously, "You had a dream of this place?" Ray shook his head and winced again, "No, I had a dream about that gateway that you said we passed through. But when I touched the gateway in my dream, I woke up."

Everyone turned again as Koguro walked up to them with a dangerous looking bird in silver armour fit on his shoulder. Tanika nodded in relief, "Good, she found you."

Kenny stared at the raven curiously, "Why do you have a crow on your shoulder?" The raven rustled its wings and squawked, as if it understood Kenny's words. Koguro narrowed his eyes, annoyed, "For your information, she's a raven, not a crow."

Hilary looked confused, "But why is she wearing armour?" To their surprise, Koguro snorted and muttered something, then said, "Because she is Ianiyre." The raven rubbed her feathered head against Koguro's head.

Max raised his eyebrows, "And what is a …Ianiree?" Koguro winced and explained, "It's pronounced Ee-ahn-ee-yeer-ray. The Ianiyre are an extremely strong race that does not usually interact with any other races here in Lissësúl. But in the other world, they're called bitbeasts."

Ray's eyes widened in surprise, "You mean, that raven there …is a bitbeast? I thought bitbeasts can't leave their Beyblades for a long time!"

Tanika rubbed her left arm painfully and frowned, "That's in your world. You see, the Ianiyre originated in this world, and as long as this world lives, the Ianiyre will continue to live. Ah, explaining all this will take too long and my arm needs tending to. After we make camp, I and perhaps Koguro, if he's not occupied, will explain everything to you, since there is currently no way for you to get back."

Koguro said crisply, "Raviamria tells of a place, not too far from here, where we can make camp. She wants us to follow her." The raven cawed and took off, circling high over their heads once, then headed off toward the west.

Everyone turned and followed the raven.

After a while, they reached a small grove of thirty spacious trees. The raven landed on one of the branches and looked at everyone expectantly. Hilary placed her hands on her hips and frowned, "You're telling us that we're going to sleep here!" Koguro rolled his eyes, "What did you expect, a five star hotel with room service and cheap prices?" Hilary's face turned red.

Suddenly, a black horse with a white mane and tail and gold armour galloped up to Tanika and whickered softly. Tanika grinned and stroke the horse, "I see you found us. Did you find any trouble while we were gone?"

The horse flicked his tail and it seemed to the former Bladebreakers that it glared daggers at the raven perched on the branch. In response, the raven puffed up its feathers and turned its head away.

Tanika shook her head in amusement, "You two just keep going, do you not?" The horse whickered again and tossed his head. Tanika shook her head again and turned back to the others.

She looked them over and said, "Koguro, you and ...the neko-jin and you," she pointed at Kai, "will go to look for food, and the rest of you go look for firewood."

She noticed some of them started to open their mouths in complaint, and snapped, "Do it! Don't argue with me, because it's making my arm hurt worse than it already is!" Koguro took a step towards her, and she glared at him, "Loru will handle it, now leave!" Everyone split up and went off to fulfill their duties.

Tyson whined as he picked up a dead branch, "Aw jeez, why am I stuck with such a wimpy task!" Hilary stamped her feet, "I know! This is like, screwed! We can't sleep outside; we'll get eaten by crazy animals!" Max whispered loudly to Daichi and Kenny, who were next to him, "You know there's a problem when those two start agreeing all of a sudden."

Kenny and Daichi nodded in silent agreement. Hilary glared at them and they shrank under her heated glare. Kenny suggested fearfully, "I think we have enough firewood for the night… maybe we should go back now."

Tyson whooped, "Alright! I'm starving!" and ran off back to the direction they came from. Daichi called after him, "Hey, wait up, Tyson! Save some for me!" Hilary rolled her eyes and huffed, "He's such a dumbass. It's as if he can't live without being the first one to eat." Max grinned, and ran off after Daichi.

Kenny wailed, "Guys, wait up, don't leave us here alone! There could be… monsters out here!" Hilary groaned, "There is no such thing as monsters, Kenny. Can't you just…" she halted as a branch cracked not too far away. Kenny whimpered, "What was that?" Hilary shushed him and turned towards the sound.

"Hey guys, what's with the creeped out faces? Did you see a ghost or something?" Hilary and Kenny glared at Ray, who was grinning widely. "Come on, let's head back, Koguro and Kai caught a deer. We'll be having venison tonight. Camping out is great, don't you think?" Hilary and Kenny only glared more at him.

Koguro came up behind Ray with a deer over his shoulder and frowned at them, "What's with the staring contest? I thought we're supposed to get back to camp, not standing around staring at each other like you got nothing else to do. Get going, I'm not going to lug this deer around forever, you know."

Kenny's face paled dramatically when he saw the dead deer over Koguro's shoulder. He went even paler when he saw the smear of blood on Koguro's cheek. Kai walked up behind him and said with a hint of amusement, "You're not going to faint on us, are you?" Kenny squeaked and jumped into the air.

By the time Kenny recovered, the group was already disappearing behind a clump of trees. He squeaked again and ran off after them.

Tyson looked up from the fire Tanika had made and grinned, "Jeez, how slow are you guys? Hurry up, I'm starving!" Koguro dropped the deer in front of Tyson and went straight to Tanika, "Your arm?"

"Is fine now. You should prepare dinner; it's going to be nightfall soon." Tanika nodded towards the deer.

Koguro dragged the deer in front of the fireplace and pulled out a knife out of his right boot. "It's handy in cases like this," he explained to the confused audience in front of him, "also, you might want to look away if you don't want to lose your appetite." Almost everyone immediately looked away, except for Kai and Tanika.

A while later, the smell of roasted venison wafted up their noses. Tyson drooled, "Mmmm… I can't wait to eat!" Hilary rolled her eyes and grumbled, "Disgusting, greedy pig. It's like you got an endless pit for a stomach or something."

Tyson stuck out his tongue at Hilary, "Hey, at least I'm not some crazy control freak who likes to poke her nose into everyone else's business." Hilary's eyes widened in surprise and she crossed her arms protectively, "Well, a control freak is way better than some sloppy fat ass." Tyson glared at her, but thankfully, was distracted by the hot slice of meat that landed on his face.

"Shut up and eat, or else you're not getting anymore." Koguro directed to Tyson before he tore into his thick slice of bloody venison.

Max grinned, "Hey, I never knew venison tasted that good!" Everyone else nodded in agreement. Tanika looked at Kai quizzically, "Will you not eat?" Kai grunted and looked away into the little grove of trees.

Ray grinned assuringly at Tanika, "Don't worry, Kai's always like that." Tanika raised an eyebrow and looked back at Kai, "You should still eat. Tomorrow will be a long day. We will need to journey due west and it will be arduous work."

Kai turned from the grove and smirked at her, "Look, kid, I don't get tired. So quit getting on my back and go back to whatever you're doing."

A look of annoyance passed over Tanika's face and she returned with, "Do not expect me or Koguro or any of your friends to carry you across marshland tomorrow. If you fall, you will be left behind. The choice is yours." Kai just grunted again and turned away.

Kenny looked up, scared, "What do you mean we have to cross marshlands tomorrow!" Tanika glanced at Koguro and explained, "We need to journey west tomorrow, and the only way out of the Fields of Uralkar is to travel across the marshlands, which takes about half a day to cross, at the least."

"After that, we must cross a wide stream, but not as wide or deep as the river fencing the Fields off from the north and west." The former Bladebreakers looked shocked, and even Tyson forgot about his food for a while.

Ray blinked, "I think it's best if you explain the whole thing to us…" Tanika shook her orange head, "Nay, it is too difficult for someone even like me to explain. The process will take forever. There is a way, but only the power of the Ianiyre can incite this process." Tanika looked expectantly at the horse and the raven.

Koguro nodded, "Raviamria agrees to it." The horse stomped the ground and snorted. Tanika nodded gravely and turned to the humans (and neko-jin) and said, "Prepare yourselves."

Raviamria suddenly launched herself into the darkening sky and emitted a white painful bright light and it filled the area, causing everyone to squeeze their eyes shut.

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Everyone opened their eyes again and stared at the scene in front of them:

A giggle erupted from the crown of a tree in a quiet forest and a handsome young man of about 20 years of age gazed up into the tree. "Come now, Ravia, you do know that the purpose of the game of hide-and-seek is to hide from whoever's looking for you and keep quiet, right?"

The giggle subsided, only to start up again with a snort. The young man rolled his eyes impatiently, "It is time for dinner, Ravia. Come down, before Mother gets frustrated."

A girl of seven years of age dropped down from the crown of the tree and ran to catch up with the young man. She was considered extremely beautiful by today's terms and she had shining raven-dark hair and large eyes just as dark and pale skin.

"It's not my fault I can't hold my laughter very well, brother mine." The girl looked up at the young man and grinned. The young man, her brother, shook his head, "Come, I'll race you to the house." He then took off towards the house in the distance.

The young girl's laughter rang in the woods and she ran after him. To any being that may have been watching, the girl's feet seemed to not touch the ground as she ran to catch up with her brother.

A flash of blinding white, then:

"Ravia, I must leave for a few days at the least. Do you think you can handle everything while I'm gone?" A beautiful young woman gazed at the young man in front of her and she eyes held a worried look, "I can do it. But, be careful, I feel that something terrible will happen to you on your journey. Promise me, dear brother."

The young man nodded gravely, for the young woman sometimes had premonitions, and they were usually correct. "I promise you, little sister, that I will be careful. Now I must be off. Look out for me in a month or so." The woman hugged him and saw him to the edge of the forest where they lived, and he disappeared into the morning mists.

Weeks flew by and until one day:

The young woman sat on a branch beside her house, 'It has almost been two weeks, and still no sign of my brother. Should I search for him?' She hopped off the branch and gathered her skirts around her and walked back to her house.

When she arrived back at her house, she sat down on a bench and looked off into the forest. Suddenly, a hazy figure slowly materialized in the clearing in front of her and she gasped, for it was her brother, but badly injured. Someone appeared behind him and he cried out silently as a metal chain passed across his back.

The young woman opened her eyes and found herself lying prone on the ground. 'Brother…'

Another flash of blinding white, then:

The landscape was scorched and blackened by fire and war. The clang of metal on metal rang in the man's ears, but the eyes, now dull and lifeless, showed no emotion. Chains bound his hands and feet, and a metal collar dug into heavily scarred neck.

A grotesque creature snarled at him and cracked a metallic whip above the man's head. It received no reaction.

All around the man, many people were also dragging chains as they walked.

Heads turned as the main gate banged open and four creatures came in dragging a struggling figure. One of the bigger creatures turned around and snarled something into the figure's face, causing the figure to thrash about wildly. The creatures laughed harshly and threw the figure onto the ground and left, the heavy metal gate crashing to a close behind them.

The others turned away, but the man, out of long suppressed curiosity, walked up to the figure who by then had stood up. The person narrowed his eyes at the approaching man and crouched into a fighting position.

The newcomer's clothing, although somewhat damaged, revealed that he was a warrior. He had waist length blond hair and a slender and tall build. The man paused in his step and held up a hand, "I won't hurt you…Elf."

The newcomer just glared in response and slowly reached down into his right boot. The man continued, "As I said, I will not hurt you, and it would be unwise to continue what you are about to do. Others are watching." The Elf grudgingly obliged, but still held his fighting stance.

"Come to my shelter, it will be safer there," the man waited for a response, then sighed, "I don't think you want your fancy clothes to be ripped off by the inhabitants of this…place."

The man turned away and walked towards a small makeshift tent. After a while, a glimpse of green and gold appeared at the edge of his eye. The man smiled a smile that went unnoticed by all.

He opened a flap of his tent and went in. A moment later, the Elf followed and stood at the opening of the tent, looking about warily, as if expecting an ambush anytime soon.

The man sighed and ran a hand through his grimy, unkempt hair and said, "You might as well tell me your name, because you're going to be here for a long time." The Elf looked at him unconvincingly. The man sighed again and said, "My name is Lorugaild. I was captured five years ago and sent here to live out my life as a prisoner, a slave."

The Elf gazed at him and the man realized for the first time that he had unnerving blue, almost grey, eyes. He also had the feeling that the Elf was looking him over, looking for some sort of deceit.

Minutes passed, until the Elf said in a heavily accented, but clear, voice, "Ferin, a warrior." Lorugaild nodded and nodded at Ferin's left arm. "You should clean that, unless you want an infection."

Ferin looked down in surprise at his left arm and touched the wound gingerly. His slender fingers came away sticky and dark red with warm blood. A roll of surprisingly clean bandages dropped into his lap. "Here, use that." Ferin looked at Lorugaild suspiciously, then unrolled a length of cloth.

An explosion suddenly shook the ground.

Another flash of blinding white, then:

A bird's eye view of a foreign land came into focus, and numerous races were born, and died, all in a few seconds. The viewer was shown the awakening of Elves, children of dragons, wolves, and many more.

Soon after these were created, humans came. They were at first naïve, until the Elves taught them many things. After that, they became filled with greed, and started pillaging the land. They even tricked the children of dragons to believe the wolves had committed the worst crime possible.

The wolves were banished to another world, and the humans continued in what they did, until the other races held a council. Their subject of discussion: humans.

The war devastated the land and filled the creatures with sorrow and pain. But the deed was done. Human were driven out of Lissësúl and into the neighboring world.

Everything faded into white, then into the real world.

There was silence. Then Tyson said, "Uh… I don't get it. Can you guys tell us, like, in summary?" Raviamria, Tanika, and Koguro fell down (anime style) and Tanika groaned, "How thick is your skull!"

Koguro sat up and glared at them, "You guys are such idiots!" Tanika sighed heavily, "Fine, I'll summarize it." She rolled her eyes and started summarizing.

"Alright, first of all, there is a world called Lissësúl. That is this world. Lissësúl was the first world to be created. Then, came another world, which you humans live in and you call yours."

"In this world, the first creatures to awaken were the Ianiyre. They are also known as your so-called bitbeasts. And then there are Elves. Just as beautiful, and almost just as deadly. Dwarves came around shortly after. And, there are the children of the dragon. They consist mainly of spell casters and don't usually interact with other species. I am one of them."

"After that, came the wolves. They were the guardians of the children of dragons. Very loyal and brave, but sometimes just as foolhardy," Tanika swatted away the hard poke Koguro was about to give her, "They can choose to live in the shape of a wolf or in the shape of a person. They were banished by the dragon-children because the dragon-children were deceived by the neko-jin. Koguro is a wolf."

"The Neko-jin are a catlike race. Often very sly and they like to resort to trickery. But that is not the case for some of their tribes. They deceived the dragon-children into believing the wolves had committed the worst crime possible and had the wolves banished. But after 500 years, the tribes involved got found out and were also banished into the other world."

"After that, the land was peaceful…somewhat, until humans became filled with greed and suspicion. They started pillaging and provoking other races to wage wars against them. The situation became unbearable and the other races came together for a council."

"The council decided to band the races together and defeat the humans. But the wolves had left by then, and the neko-jin had problems of their own, so in reality, it was only the dragon-children and the Elves, since the dwarves didn't come out of the mountains. The Ianiyre did not come. And on the day of the great battle, the armies gathered together."

"The Elves and dragon-children battled the humans, and losses were drastic on all sides, but the ones that suffered the most were the Elves. More than two-thirds of their soldiers were lost. But the humans were banished into the other world."

Tyson snorted, "That sounds like some silly fairytale!" Daichi crossed his arms with a huff, "Yeah, how do we know that you aren't fooling us?" Koguro growled loudly and his teeth seemed to sharpen.

Ray looked at Tanika, "So, you're saying that my ancestors tricked your ancestors into banishing his ancestors to Earth?" Tanika nodded, then suddenly looked up at the sky and frowned, "It is late, and we must sleep. We have a long journey ahead of us."

Kenny whimpered, "We're going to sleep outside?" Tanika ignored him and continued, "Koguro will take first watch tonight, then I will. Now go to sleep before I knock you all unconscious!"

Tyson and company all either grumbled, whimpered, or whined as they tried to find a comfortable spot on the hard ground. A few minutes later, everyone settled down and the quiet night set in.

Near the sleeping group, a black and silver wolf raised his head and sniffed the air, then padded quietly around the group to a boulder and sat down on it, eyes gleaming in the darkness.

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The next day:

"Tyson, wake up!"

"Wake up, you fat selfish idiotic pig!"

"Come on, Tyson, wake up…"

""It's useless; the obese bastard will never wake up."

"I guess you're right, Kai, as usual."

Koguro sighed and left the boulder he was sitting on, "Here, let me do it…" 'The stupid fat human kid is such a pain in the ass…' Koguro stood beside Tyson and then, he suddenly disappeared. In his place was a black wolf streaked with silver fur. The group gasped but the wolf ignored them.

Snarling and growling filled the air and a bloodcurdling scream erupted from a certain teenaged boy with a red cap. Tyson had backed up against the trunk of a tree and was shivering ridiculously.

The wolf snapped at Tyson's feet, getting a frightened response from him, before the wolf sat down at cocked his head at Tyson with what looked almost like a triumphant grin on his face.

Tanika sighed and picked the wolf up by the scruff. "Seriously, Koguro, did you have to do that?" The wolf turned back into Koguro and grinned, "It's a nice way to start the day, you know."

He grinned at Tyson widely, showing all his teeth, "Plus, I needed to relieve tension from last night when I had to listen to this guy's snoring." Tanika sighed and shook her head, "See what I mean about foolhardiness?" Koguro rolled his eyes, "Well, someone had to wake him up!"

Just then, Raviamria flew in and shook her feathers until they were all puffy. Koguro raised his eyebrows, "Raviamria says that another gateway has opened, only about three kilometres west from here."

Tyson moaned, "Three kilometers! That's like, forever!" Kai rolled his eyes, "Shut up, Tyson. We should just go home as soon as possible and forget about this mess." The other boy glared at him and Koguro barked out a laugh, "Of all the humans I've met, you're the most idiotic and your friend over there is the smartest. But still, all of you are just lame."

Max smiled nervously and said, "Uh, why don't we just start walking…" Kenny nodded fervently and Ray just shook his head with a grin on his face.

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After what seems to be forever (but is actually two and a half hours):

The group spotted a faint glow and they sped up, and a familiar shape loomed up in front of them. Max grinned, "Hey, it's that same gateway again!" Tanika coughed, "Actually, it's a new gateway… quite young, if my studies have taught me any. The gateway we went through yesterday was very old and deteriorating."

"And so with the combined force of our bodies passing through it simultaneously, the old gateway was bound to self-destroy." Tyson and Co. stared at her, "Right….why don't we just like, go through?" Tanika nodded, "Fine, but go through it one at a time. And remember to see where you're- urgh, why won't you humans listen to me!"

Tyson, Daichi, and Hilary had stopped listening to Tanika and entered the gateway. Tanika groaned, "Not again…"

Kai suddenly frowned, "Where does this gateway lead to?" Tanika looked into the shimmery surface, "Some big city or something. It doesn't look like your home town. But doesn't matter, the faster you leave this world, the better. Now shove it!"

Tanika shoved Kai roughly into the gateway and before Kenny could speak, she pushed him in as well.

Max backed into Ray, who happened to be standing right behind him. Koguro looked at them with a devilish glint in his eyes. "So, who's up next?"

Max shook his head and grinned innocently, "Er... I'll pass, thanks, Why don't you get Ray to go first?" A hidden emotion crossed Koguro's eyes before disappearing, "No, I want you to go first, human."

Max laughed nervously, "I guess I don't have a choice, do I?" Koguro sneered, "No, you don't, human, now move it!"

While Max walked through the gateway, Tanika sighed, "Koguro, why can't you be nicer?"

Koguro grinned at her, " 'Cuz I don't want to." He motioned to Ray, "Hey, nek-…you, it's your turn." Ray frowned slightly, "What about you guys?" Tanika smiled, "We'll be right behind you."

Ray shrugged, "Well, if you say so." He walked towards the gateway.

Tendrils of magic licked Ray's bare arms as he neared the gateway. Then, the tendrils pulled him into the blinding whiteness.

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I hope I didn't bore any of you with the extremely long explanation of Lissësúl… Anyway, tell me what you think of the chapter and what I should improve on!

Thanks for reading, now review!