"Hey Lee, wanna Beyblade?"

"What's the use? Now that you've got Driger, none of us can beat you"

"None of you could beat me anyways"

"Why, you-"

Lee pounced on Ray, but it was to no use. Ray easily rolled out of the way and Lee hit the ground. But Lee was persistent, and that was what Ray was counting on.

Ray jumped up and, without a thought, pulled out his launcher and rip chord. He clicked on his Beyblade and launched it straight a Lee.

Lee instinctively reached for his own gear and shot his new and improved Blade at Ray's in defense.

Ray smirked as the two Blades collided and hit the ground, instantly starting up a battle. Gary, who understood what Ray had just done, laughed. Mariah smiled, and a question mark appeared over Kevin's head.

Lee's jaw dropped.

"How did you- What…When-…Huh?"

Ray smiled as the black Blade went flying out of the stadium. But his smile suddenly disappeared as that Blade went crashing into Lee's stomach.

"Lee! Are you okay?" he yelled as his best friend collapsed to the ground, holding his stomach.

"Lee!"

"Are you okay, man?"

"Big brother!"

The rest of the White Tigers came rushing over as well.

Lee gave a pained smile.

"I'm okay" he said, "I've had worse. I'm just not used to it hitting my bare skin before"

Kevin, Gary, and Mariah looked at each other and shrugged. Ray gave a half smile and said,

"Sorry, man"

"I said it's okay"

"No you didn't, you said you're okay"

"Same goddamn thing"

"Watch you're language, young man!"

All of the White Tigers whipped around to see Lee's favorite of his grandfather's assistants, Gao Kong, along with Rai Chan, his least favorite.

Gao was strong, a born leader, and everything Lee wanted to be when he grew up. Rai was strict, picky about rule breaking, and everything opposite Lee.

Lee rolled his eyes and got up.

"Wassup? Gramps want me again?"

It had been a year since Ray had gotten Driger, and Lee had grown a bit of a disrespect for authority. Gary had never been, Mariah wasn't there yet, Ray only used it when he was with his friends, and Kevin had always had it.

"That's honored Grandfather to you, Lee!" Rai barked, "No wonder you weren't chosen for the Driger Bitbeast!"

Ray cringed, but Lee shrugged it off. He didn't truly care, he was just sick of Ray beating him so badly.

"Give up Rai" Gao said.

"Fine. Follow me, Lai-"

"My name is Lee" Lee growled.

Lee hated his name. He had from the minute he was born, to this day, and probably until he died he would. It wasn't until Mariah was born and called him "Lee" because she couldn't pronounce it right that he changed it.

Lee had encouraged Ray to do so as well, knowing Ray thought his name was girly at the time. Ray honestly hadn't cared, but, to shut Lee up, he had simply changed "Rei" to "Ray". He'd ended up falling in love with the kanji, and refused to write it any other way.

"Well, whoever you are, follow me"

Reluctantly, Lee did so, motioning for his team to follow him, scowling the whole way.

Now that he was in 'double digits', Lee was beginning to get his interest in how far he could go before the adults snapped. Slipping off his flat blue shoes, he raced ahead of the adults, sticking out his tongue and enjoying the breeze over his chest. Ray had given him a cool blue shirt with a red outline for his 10th birthday, and Lee loved that it was supposed to hang open.

Rai chased after him, but Lee was too fast. He vaulted himself over a tree stump and continued running.

The other White Tigers joined in the race. Mariah and Ray both tag-teamed and did a flip over the adults, and Gary sped up. Kevin raced up a tree and began to race and flip across the branches. Three more assistants caught sight of them and, with an "okay" nod from Gao and Rai, also chased the five children.

One assistant, a girl named Ming, managed to catch Mariah's pony-tail. Mariah shrieked and began to struggle. Lee heard and ran back, pulling Ming's hand off of Mariah, who took off. Unfortunately, this got Lee caught by Ming's hand, and he began to struggle even harder than Mariah had. Ray was just about to go help him when-

"STOP!"

Everything fell silent, including Lee's shrieks for freedom. Kevin, who had stopped running through the branches to watch the scene with Ming, fell out of the tree. Gary, who was being tailed by Gao, tripped and went rolling through the grass. Mariah slipped and went sliding through a puddle of mud. Ray turned around and Lee merely looked up.

It was the head elder himself, and Lee sank to the ground.

Scanning the situation, the elder sighed and motioned for them to follow him inside.

"We'll discuss this later, Lee" he said, "For now, there's something I want to give to you"

All the White Tigers shrugged, got up from their various positions, and followed him. Lee pulled himself out of Ming's grasp and did so as well.

Author's Notes: (Looking around her little area, everything is soaked with tears)... I PASSED! I LOVE YOU ALL! (Hugs all readers, and kisses all male reviewers on the cheeks, hi-fiving the girls) I GOT AN 89! I THOUGHT I WAS GONNA FAIL! HA HA HA! TAKE THAT MRS. JENNINGS! Okay, now that that's over, I want to apologize for how long it took to update this story, I was a little dry on ideas. Now I'm all filled up with at least three more chapters. Yay! Anyways, naughty, naughty Lee. I enjoy making him the little delinquent, it's quite fun. And yes, the characters are starting to mature, they look more like they do in the show now. Well, have a cookie, and see ya!