"Blow out the candles, Mariah!" everyone cried out. It had been a little less then a year since Ray and Lee had gotten their gifts, and it was Mariah's ninth birthday.

So much had changed since Mariah's big birthday five years ago. Everyone seemed to have changed so much, too.

Lee was no longer a little kid, completely the victim of never-able-to-beat-Ray-idis. He was now a strong Blader, confident in his skills and those of his team members'. He was one heck of a troublemaker (and that's putting it mildly), but he could be serious at times, making him a great best friend. He was the perfect master of Galeon, who represented leadership.

Mariah was as pink as ever, but she'd grown. She was even more intelligent, and had (to Lee's horror) been bumped up to their grade, putting her two grades above her girlfriends, causing a whole lot of jealousy that had ended in Mariah finally ditching them and officially hanging out with the boys. This had actually decreased her pinkness by a bit, so now she wore a white outfit (she'd outgrown her pink jacket about four years ago). She was also a lot more mature (and in more ways than one, Ray thought to himself).

Gary was the oldest of the group, so naturally, he was the biggest, but he was actually huge for a twelve year old. He'd had a major growth spurt recently, and was now 5 foot eight. He was the big peacemaker of the group, mainly to settle disputes between Mariah and Kevin, whose differences had become a lot more profound lately.

Kevin hadn't grown much lately, and was probably permanently stuck as the short one of the group, aside from the fact that he was only seven. His Beyblading skills were definetly improving, but he was using cheating tactics more than ever, causing Lee and Ray to have to yell at him about three times a minute.

As for Ray himself, he was only getting better at Blading, but was also becoming Mariah's love interest (author snickers in the distance). But, being typical naïve Ray, he had no idea. He didn't enjoy being troublemaker as much as Lee, but helped whenever he could. He had certainly earned Driger, who symbolized friendship.

Just as Mariah was breathing in to blow out her candles, Kevin beat her to it. With one whiff of his breath, all the candles were extinguished. Mariah stood there in shock for a moment, before turning on Kevin.

"You little-" she was cut off by Ray and Lee cupping their hands over her mouth. Well, she does live with Lee, after all.

Kevin was laughing his butt off, but that was only until Gary pinned him down. Mariah grinned evilly and began to tickle him.

"Hah hah hah! Okay, okay! I give!" there were tears in Kevin's eyes when he finally said that, and Mariah and Gary jumped off of him.

As Kevin caught his breath, the other four headed into the living room to open presents.

"Wait, what about the cake?" Gary asked.

"Oh, I have plans for it" Mariah grinned sadistically, and everyone backed away from her.

The presents went by as usual, books (Lee cringed), money (Kevin's jaw dropped), and clothing (mostly pink). She did like the pink sneakers Ming-Ming (not what you think) and her teddy bear, Mr. Wuggles, gave her, though. But no one's gift even compared to her grandfather's.

It all started when there was a knock at the door. Mariah got up to open it and blinked when she saw her grandfather standing there. But she shrugged and let him in.

When his grandfather came in, Lee instinctively hid behind Ray, thinking he'd done something wrong (again).

But when he took out a small package, wrapped in blue ribbon, Lee came out in curiosity.

When Mariah pulled off the ribbon to reveal a little red velvet box, Ray and Lee looked at each other with wide eyes. Mariah, however, had no idea what it was, and opened it curiously.

Mariah froze. She nearly dropped the box, and her mouth began to bend into differently shaped O's.

Suddenly, she let out a high-pitched squeal of joy (all the boys covered their ears).

"Now I'm in league with Ray and Lee!" she yelled, and the boys nearly fell over.

"You-y-you-" Kevin couldn't finish his sentence, but Mariah answered it for him.

"Galux"

Author's Notes: I LOVE THAT ENDING! I'M SO SORRY IT TOOK ME SO LONG TO UPDATE THIS STORY, I GOT A C IN SOCIAL STUDIES AND MY PARENTS WOULDN'T LET ME ON THE INTERNET! (sobs in her little corner) Anyway, the winner, as you should know, is Mr. Wuggles. For the reviewers this chapter, you get a little figurine of Galux, along with a big hug from me and all of my apologies for being so late. I really hope this was a good chapter, and I should probably have a few more chapters done by the time I post this, so expect some frequent updates!