Chapter 32------A Brother's Eyes

'This is it Levian. Don't let me down.' And the girl walked towards the bright light that opened into the stadium…

"WWWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" The crowd burst into a thunderstorm of cheers and howls when they saw the Bladebreakers enter the stadium. Camera lights flashed and the booming voice on the announcer rang throughout the arena. Mai watched as her team members, except Kai, bathed in the glory of their adoring fans. The crowd was HUGE! It was like twice the turnout than before, people were packed like sardines and it looked like a sea as they bobbed up and down. The team took their place in one of the stands situated at each end of the beystaduim.

"AND NOW LET'S GIVE A ROUND OF SOUND FOR TEAM FFFRRREEEEEEEEDOOOMMM!"

Once again, roaring voices filled her ears and Mai watched as her friends entered from the other side, Copellia was smiling and waving at the crowd. She let out a small laugh; it was so like her to do that, she always enjoyed the attention. The fan-girls screams intensified when Drex and Riya entered; Mai rolled her eyes at this, 'They give girls a bad reputation…'

"ONCE AGAIN WE WELCOME YOU TO THE ASIAN BEYBLADING TOURNAMENT FINALS!" The crowd began to silence as the announcer spoke, "AS YOU ALREADY KNOW, THE MATCH WILL CONSIST OF THREE ROUNDS AND THE BEST TWO OUTTA THREE WINS. TEAMS, CHOOSE YOUR FIRST REPRESENTATIVE!"

The Bladebreakers huddled together…

"So who's goin' first?"

"I dunno, -glances over at Riya's team- Who do you think they'll send out?"

"Never mind, I'll go." Rei's voice had this sense of determination in it which convinced the rest.

"Alright. Do you best buddy." Tyson placed a firm hand on the neko-jin's shoulder.

"Count on it." The boy flashed a smile and stepped up to the beydish.

"AND FROM THE BLADEBREAKERS WE HAVE CHINA'S VERY OWN REI KON! –crowd goes wild, Mariah: "DO YOUR BEST REI!"- AND GOING AGAINST HIM, THE LOVELY HASHIBA COPELLIA! –wolf whistles and cheers as Copellia stepped up to the beydish-"

"-grins- Wasn't expecting you to go first but oh well, -takes out purple blade and points it at Rei, eyes narrowed to a more competitive gaze- You're goin' down Rei!"

"You talk pretty big for a girl. –pulls out blade- Why don't you put your beyblade where your mouth is." But the maroon-haired one just smiled at the comment.

"BLADERS READY? AND 3, 2, 1! LET IT RRRRIIIIIPPPPP!"

-ZZZZZZZIIIIIIPPPP- The ripcords were pulled and the two blades plunged into the beydish. They began whizzing about, sifting in and out of the opponent's line of attack. Grey and purple blurs spiralled in the dish, so often emitting clashing sounds as they collided with each other…

-CLING-

-CLANG-

"That's it Drigger!"

-CLANG-

"AND THE BOTH OF THEM SEEM TO BE ON PAR WITH EACH OTHER! WHO WILL BE THE VICTOR?" the announcer spoke into the mike.

'We'll just have to change that now, won't we?' "AQUILA!" Copellia summoned and a jet of yellow light blasted from within the centre of her blade. A golden eagle with diamond-shaped patterns on its back rose from the beams and spread forth its wings, letting out a high-pitched cry. "DIVINE SCROLL!" The purple blade began circling Drigger, faster and faster it spun, as did the bit-beast around Drigger and soon, a yellow tornado sprouted from the circular motion with Drigger trapped in its vortex.

'Oh no! Drigger!' Rei found himself in a knot, he watched as the bird spun the golden scroll round and round, prohibiting Drigger's movement and fixing him up in a cocoon-like state. Copellia smirked, she could win this. "RAZOR WING!" the girl shouted and with a flap of its wings, Aquila sent hoards of sharp, pointed feathers ricocheting in the tiger's direction.

Drigger gave a roar of pain as the feathers pierced through the scroll and plunged into its flesh. "DRIGGER!" Rei couldn't stand this; he couldn't bear to see Drigger in so much pain. He had to do something! "C'MON DRIGGER!" The white beast struggled to stand up. Though some of the feathers were still lodged in its body, the tiger knew it had to push on. With that much fighting spirit from his master, he could take on anything.

"AQUILA!"

"DODGE IT DRIGGER!" Drigger leaped away from the eagle's attack, quickly came behind Aquila and used its paw to swipe it to the ground. The bird screeched and fluttered its wings in a fury as it tried to escape from under its captor's weight, "USE RAZOR WING AQUILA!"

The bird's wings closed around Drigger. "RRRAAAAWWWRRR!" Direct hit! The bit-beast cried out it pain as he took the full dose of the lethal attack.

-clang clackety clack-

'No…'

-At the bladebreakers' stand-

'Oh no…'

-Back to Rei-

"AND COPELLIA WINS!"

The boy just stood there, staring. The crowd was howling away but he didn't seem to hear it, all he heard was the very loud sound of his blade falling to the floor, the only sound that stood out from the rest. 'Drigger…' He approached his blade as would a child approach his beloved pet that had died and picked it up. He had lost. It was shocking. It still is…but he'd get over it… he'd feel disappointed, angry, disgraced…

The neko-jin returned to where his friends were waiting.

"Rei…"

"You did your best man."

Pitiful looks and comforting words were given to the boy but he smiled and shrugged it off. He didn't want his friends' sympathy, this just meant that he had a long way more to go, there were still others out there…others that were so much better than him.

Mai tightened her grip on her blade, 'If we don't' win the next one… then it's sayonara to ever winning the trophy.' "We have to win the next one, we must! Please!" Her eyes pleaded to the group for help. Kai stood up from his seat, "I'll battle."

"A SWEET VICTORY FOR TEAM FREEDOM! WHOA! AND IT'S RIYA GOING NEXT! WILL HE WIN THIS AND BAG THE COVETTED TROPHY?"

"No!"

Kai turned around, giving Mai a questioning look. "You can't battle Riya! You'll LOSE!"

"!" Lose? Those words hit the Russian hard. 'Lose? LOSE? I'm the best out of the whole group and she thinks I'll LOSE?' But the girl continued with an explanation. "Riya has Eden and if I can combine Eden's powers with Lev's then I think he can too."

"WHAT! YOU CAN COMBINE EDEN'S POMHFFFHPP" Max had clamped a hand over Tyson's mouth. "SHHH! Are you freaking mad? Don't yell everything out!" He rebuked the boy in whispered tone.

"That's why you can't win, not with the power you have now…" Mai saw that Kai looked offended but this was for the best. If he didn't want to have his blade trashed to smithereens then he'd better not go up against such power. "I should go." The girl walked up to the beydish despite her friends' shouts of disapproval and some encouragement. 'I want that trophy, not them…If it comes to this then I should be the one battling for it. I should battle for myself.'

Mai shook Riya's hand, "Good luck," the boy smiled and Mai felt obliged to return it. "No backing down?" Riya grinned, "Yeah, no backing down." That pleased Mai. He wouldn't treat her any different even if they were friends or engaged… he'd do his best and she would too.

-At both teams' stands-

"A battle against the one you love. Now that's tough." Drex nodded his head in agreement.

"Dizzi, make sure you record every second of this match. I wanna gather more data on Riya's bit-beast. –Dizzi: Gotcha!- " 'Eden versus Eden, it's gonna be an exciting match indeed.' The chief looked hopeful at the prospect of the match.

"ALRIGHT! 3,2,1! LET IT RIIIIIPP!"

-CLANG-

-CLASH-

-CLANG-

-CLANG-

Levian and the light blue blade rained attacks on each other, trying to push the other out of the dish. Mai looked up to look at Riya and he looked up to meet her gaze, 'What are you planning?' She wondered as Riya returned his attention to the battle.

-CLASH-

-ZZZZZRRRRRR-

-CLANG-

"LEVIAN! ARTIC FLARE!"

The great wolf emerged from within the blade and stood at a pouncing stance, blue embers burning at its feet. In a flash it leaped through the air and slammed down on Riya's blade. Both blades were inflamed as they spun round in the dish, Riya's blade trying very hard to fight off Lev's attack.

"Nice try Mai but not good enough! ALZEEEEAAAA!"

'Alzea? What the hell!' Mai gaped as she watched the legendary bit-beast soar into the sky. It was gorgeous, with soft light green wings, an elegant face and a long flowing tail. Her birthmark was no way near the real thing! 'And Riya has it? WHY?'

"GREY WIND!"

The phoenix suddenly became blurry, like a spoilt video tape, as it closed its wings around its body. And suddenly there were two of them! Both birds swooped down at Levian, criss-crossing their attacks and attacking him at every angle kind of like a double-team manoeuvre. 'Levian!'

"OOOOOH, WHAT AN ATTACK." The announcer faked a sense of pain in his voice.

Levian was still standing, snorting at his opponent with much distaste. He didn't like that attack very much. 'Yeah, that's it Lev. You can do this!' The wolf glanced at her and nodded his head. Mai nodded back, the both of them knew what they were doing. Both blades tackled each other, both bit-beasts snapped at each other throats, both bladers unwilling to surrender, all contributed to the tension which held between them.

-Back to BB stand-

"None of them seem to be giving in. They're gonna tire themselves out if this goes on too long." Tyson looked on with a worried face.

"Yeah, someone has to win…and it better be soon."

-Match-

"Give it up Riya! We can't go on like this forever!" Mai tried to psycho him into surrendering; she herself was starting to feel the brunt of the match.

"You give up first! There's no way I'm losing that jewel, –voice suddenly changes and eyes turn crimson for a split second- even if I have to kill you for it…"

"What?" His last words were barely audible but she knew he said something.

-Riya's POV-

Whhhaa—?

For a moment there I felt like I wasn't here… as if I had left my own body.

Strange…

"ALZEA ATTACK!"

I watched as my blade pushed Levian further out to the edge of the dish. That's it! Get him outta the dish!

Destroy him.

I shook my head. What the hell's goin' on with me?

I blinked hard and refocused my attention on the battle. This was taking too long, -looks up at Mai- Why is she trying so hard?

What does she want with the jewel?

Still, there's no way I'm letting her have it! I need it more than she does. I need –ba-dump-

I cringed a little. It was happening again, NO! The match! Concentrate on the match! I have to win! I have to— destroy

What the hell? -ba-dump- -ba-dump- I tucked my chin in as I tried to fight off the pain. –Ba-dump- -badump- ba-dump- It was taking my strength away, I had to –ba-dump –ba-dump- I had to…

-END OF POV-

-MAI'S POV-

"Riya?"

I watched as he sank further and further to the floor, clutching his head. I grew worried at the sight before me, oh my god! Is Riya in pain?

I rushed to his side, I didn't give a damn about what the announcer was saying; I didn't care if the battle was still going on, and to hell with the people who were staring! Riya was in pain!

"Riya! Riya what's wrong?" I shook him. His face was turned downwards and he was mumbling something. It all came out messy and I couldn't make it out. "What's wrong?" I turned him around and— -gasp- red eyes. He had red eyes. "Riya?"

The person in front of me tilted his head to the side and grinned— not in a nice way… not in a way I found safe.

"Hello brother." I took a step back, this wasn't Riya's voice. This was…I started to panic…This was… "Eden."

MERRY CHRISTMAS PEOPLE! AND HAPPY NEW YEAR! sorry for taking so long. Was kinda busy. Anyway! SUSPENSE SUSPENSE! FULL OF SUSPENSE! WAHAHA!

Betcha can't wait for the next one right? RIGHT?

haha, i'll post it up soon. Hopefully by the end of this week then school starts again...sigh. Oh wells, please review and thanks so much for supporting my story!