The Fourth Tournament

Or

Hijacked by Astro V

Hey guys! So, fingers crossed, there should be some beybattling this chapter! Oh yes, and there's a wee bit of supernatural stuff, as well as some more info on the mysterious stallions!

… means Author's Note, btw.

Italic means a characters thoughts. Enjoy!

Chapter 9

The plane journey that Hiro and Ellie had just taken was anything but fun. Aside from Daichi yelling at tiniest bit of turbulence, Kenny continually trying to get onto the internet, Ray trying to meditate, Max just basically trying to lighten the mood and Hilary insisting on watching a movie on full volume, there had been Tyson. The seats they were sitting in were opposite each other and Hiro was pretty sure that Tyson had done nothing but glare at him for the entire journey. Hey, Hiro wasn't too impressed that he had to baby-sit his younger brother!

"There aren't enough seats in the car for all of us, you do realise that?" Ellie said as they collected their luggage. "One of us is going to have to stay behind."

"Aww… Can't we leave Tyson behind?" Hiro muttered, shouldering his black leather satchel. Ellie threw her bag at him, hitting him bang on his chest. "Oww!" He yelped, throwing it back.

"Do you want me to go, or will you be ok?"

"Nah. I'll be ok. You go get us a room, yeah?" Hiro kissed the top of Ellie's head and motioned for the Bladebreakers to follow him.

"Have fun!" Ellie chirruped as she staggered down the road, carting one of her bags behind her.

"Els, pass that bag over!" Hiro yelled. She groaned slightly, but threw it across the street, 'accidentally' hitting Tyson.

"That hurt!" Tyson screeched as he picked himself up. Ellie's only answer was to laugh as she ran down the road. Hiro shook his head and opened the car door. The rest of the Bladebreakers piled in, leaving Tyson to go in the passenger seat.

"I'm not that safe a driver," Hiro said, poking his head back. "So I'd advise you strap yourselves in!" Max and Ray looked at each other in alarm. Hiro pushed his phone into the handset and speed dialled Ellie's number.

"Hey Hiro! Have you even set off yet?" Ellie sounded remarkably cheery. Ray had to physically hold Daichi down to stop him looking around trying to find out where her voice was coming from.

"Nope, just double checking with you."

"Hit me."

"Tate's down by the river, right? Seen any fires?"

"Just got a call from Matt, actually. Says a kid wound Zoe up."

"Right. I'll avoid mainland then."

"Try not to crash, Hiro."

"Ok." Hiro switched off the phone and turned the ignition on. "Here goes! God protect me." He muttered under his breath.

As soon as they got into the countryside, Max knew something was wrong.

"Hiro, look!" He cried, pointing to the horizon, where flames flickered.

"By the blade!" Hiro muttered, pulling over so hard they went flying. "Tyson, speed dial three." Tyson scowled, but did as he'd been asked.

"Zoe Albus, what the hell do you want?"

"I want to know what the hell you've been doing Zoe!" Hiro yelled, his brown eyes wide with alarm.

"Don't you dare speak to me like that!"

"Listen, Zozo. You've set fire to the harbour! There are people down there!" But it was too late, as Zoe put the phone down. Hiro swore under his breath and began hoisting Max's bags out of the boot. "We're going on foot." He said, throwing some of the bags to Max. Max jumped, but caught the bag. Without warning, Hiro began to run. Max ran after him, the rest of the Bladebreakers following him. "ZOE! ZOE ALBUS!" Hiro yelled at the top of his voice.

"Hiro, over here!" Matt called, waving his hands about. "Dude!"

"So what happened?" Hiro asked, after shaking hands.

"Zoe and I finished delivering our lot – we had the Saint Shields – and we took a walk up here. It was quite cold, so she conjured up a little fire to keep us warm. Unfortunately, a kid, who must have been about thirteen, give or took a few years, saw it and went on about how weird it was. I told him to shut up, but he didn't listen and… well, this happened."

"Jeez! Is there anyone trying to calm her down?"

"There's a guy here, but it's not working." Matt scratched the back of his neck thoughtfully. "And I can't mend the grass until we get the fire out."

"It's times like this when you need Ellie." Hiro nibbled his lip. "I can try, but we're going to need water for it to work properly."

"Dad!" Max suddenly yelled. Hiro spun round. It was Max's dad that was trying to calm Zoe down. Both Hiro and Matt recognised the clenching of Zoe's fists and the narrowing of her eyes.

"Ring Ellie. NOW!" Hiro yelled and sprinted towards Zoe and Mr Tate. Ray held Max back as he tried to get to his dad.

"You can't do anything, Max. We're going to have to see if Hiro can calm her down." He said quietly.

"Huh!" They turned around to see Tyson, his arms folded, baseball cap pulled over his eyes. "If that's Hiro's plan. For all we know, Hiro could be going to help her trash the marina!" Ray caught Max as he fainted.

"We don't know that, Tyson." He said quietly. "And we're just going to have to pray that that's not the case. There's nothing else we can do."

"Come on!" Hiro muttered, almost there. But he saw it was too late. "NOW!" He screamed. At that moment, a gust of wind began to blow. Hiro was staring so hard at Mr Tate that his eyes were watering. He was putting all his energy into this, he could feel his limbs weakening. Eventually, the wind became so hard that Mr Tate toppled over, and he could hear Max yelling. Just in time, as the spot Mr Tate had been standing in had gone up in flames. Suddenly, there was a hissing sound and the fires around Zoe began to flicker and fade. Hiro breathed a sigh of relief. As one, Hiro and Zoe fell to their knees. Hiro felt the last of his strength go and he toppled backwards, seeing sparks of lightening fly across the clear night sky.

"Hey, come on." Someone was lifting him up, or trying to. He took deep breaths, clearing his head.

"Did it work?"

"Yes, you know it would, Jin of the Gale!" It was Ellie's teasing voice in his ear. As he sat up, he saw Zoe and Matt together. He wasn't sure, but he could have sworn that he saw a glimmer of water in Zoe's eye as she buried her head in Matt's shoulder. Apart from Wheels putting in the last couple of finishing touches to the place, the marina looked as good as new.

"Excuse me, sir!" She called across to Mr Tate. "Can you just check the electricity!" Mr Tate nodded and flicked a switch. Wheels nodded grimly. "That's the last of it." She said, flopping back in her chair.

"Hell of a welcoming committee." Matt said, supporting Zoe as he walked towards them.

"Sorry I caused all this trouble," she said in a mousy quiet voice. "I guess I should have listened." Hiro shrugged.

"Nothing seriously damaged, well, nothing that we haven't put right." He said as he struggled to get up. "Now I need to get the rest of the Bladebreakers home. See you guys at the hotel, right?" There were nods and murmurs of assent and Hiro staggered to the car. He tripped over his own foot and was only saved from falling when Ray grabbed his shoulder. "Cheers." He said with a grin, leaning against the car and taking deep breaths. "No matter how long I hang out with The Stallions, I can never keep up!"

"Was it you that conjured the wind?" Kenny wanted to know.

"Yeah. That gave the whole reasoning for the Jin of the Gale stuff when I first met you. And," "He hastily added, seeing Hilary's mouth open. "No, I didn't know the Stallions before that." Hiro put his phone in the holder, to be ready and all that. "I met Matt at an internet conference thingy and he asked me if I wanted to be in his team, then I met Ellie and the rest is history." Hiro flushed slightly before starting the car. "Ray, are you staying at Tyson's?" Ray nodded, and then realised Hiro couldn't see him as he was driving.

"Yeah. I am." He said clearly.

"Right! Damn it! One way street!" Hiro cursed as he tried to drive the car the wrong way up a one way street. Ray and Hilary collapsed with laughter. "Hey! I told you I'm not a very good driver!" Even Tyson couldn't help a smile spreading across his face, no matter how he tried to hide it. "Here we go! Granger residence!" Hiro said in a chauffeur type voice. "Whoops! Child locks on the door! You will not believe how many times Zoe and Matt have tried to jump out of the car when I'm driving!" Yet again, Tyson couldn't prevent a small smile. Since when had Hiro been funny? Hiro grabbed several of the bags out of the boot and trailed after Ray and the others.

"Tyson! My little homey! How was the dance? Was it hopping?" Tyson cringed as his grandpa catapulted out of a second storey window.

"Some bits were, grandpa!" He said with a grin. Hiro cleared his throat. "Oh yeah, put the bags straight in, Hiro." Mr Granger stiffened as he saw his eldest grandson. Hiro stood awkwardly, wilting under Mr Granger's stern gaze.

"I'd better be going." He said quietly. "Good luck in the tournament, you guys, although I'm sure the Stallions will beat you!"

"Bring it on!" Ray disagreed and Hiro walked down the path, shivering slightly.

"What was that all about, Tyson?" Mr Granger wanted to know.

"Hello and welcome to the annual beyblade tournament. I'm AJ Topper-"

"And I'm Brad Best. The stadium sure is buzzing here, AJ, with new teams dotted amongst the old. The Bladebreakers are back again, minus one grumpy face. I'm talking about Kai, of course!" At that moment, a bright blue beyblade whizzed into the window of the recording booth.

"Hey, I guess we forgot to tell you to watch out for violent bladers! Looks like beyblading duo King and Queen are back after a year off and, this year, they're joined by twins Julia and Raul to form Flying Stampede! And, of course, we have Blitzkrieg Omega back again after narrowly missing out last year – Will it be this year?"

"Not if the Bladebreakers have anything to do with it, AJ!"

"Hey, Brad, if Kai's with Blitzkrieg Omega, does that mean that they're friends?"

"Well, they aren't enemies! And look, there's Astro V, the team that's wowed the world before they even qualified!"

"And that's not forgetting their three nil defeat of Blitzkrieg Omega, on their home turf!"

"Every dog had its day, AJ, and I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking maybe Blitzkrieg Omega are past it!" A black beyblade smashed through the window.

"Ow! That was sharp! Maybe it's not best to air this while Blitzkrieg Omega can hear us, Brad!"

"Maybe indeed, AJ. And look, Hiro Granger's back with a whole new team! Ah yes, BBA Team Stallion will probably be the only team that will really stand in the way of The Bladebreakers this year, after the interesting display of fire last night, reportedly caused by the team! But there seems to be a bit of commotion down there, AJ!"

"Maybe you weren't right in saying Blitzkrieg aren't enemies, Brad!"

"I spent two years on the bench!" Bryan yelled. "Why in hell can't I compete?"

"Because Kasi is. I am the leader of this team, Kyznetsov, and if you don't like it, you can leave!" Kai was just a little bit fed up of Bryan.

"For god's sake Bryan!" Emma screamed. "Just let Kasi compete!"

Bryan stopped, his features hardened. Everyone in the stadium was looking at them, wondering what was going on. The look he passed his girlfriend was far from loving as he stormed out of the stadium.

Emma gave Bryan an hour to cool off before going after him. After sitting in stony silence for fifteen minutes, Kai swore under his breath.

"Ems," he said between curses. "Tell Bryan he's battling tomorrow." Emma nodded, but watched the exhibition matches for forty five minutes before daring to go after him. She found him around the side of the building, flicking a lighter over his fingers.

"Hey." Emma said quietly as she watched Lee and Ray go past. Bryan's only answer was to slap her around the face. She blinked. "Kai says you're blading tomorrow." Bryan shrugged and turned away again. Emma grabbed his arm. When realising he couldn't escape from it, he turned around, his lavender eyes boring a hole. He grasped her chin between his fingers.

"Hey! Leave her alone!" Ray yelled, running over.

"This is between me and her." Bryan growled.

"Well, it's everyone's business if your start mauling her!"

"Ray, leave it, man. Save it for the stadium." Lee tried to reason with him, but Ray ignored him.

"You shouldn't have done that. ! " Bryan snarled. "When we blade tomorrow, you are going to regret that."

"Looking forward to it." Ray tossed his bangs out of his eyes and stared back, defiant.

"Bryan." Emma said in an undertone. "Please don't do anything. Leave it for the stadium. Please." Her voice cracked. "You're becoming more and more like Boris everyday." Bryan froze. He glanced again at Emma.

"I'll see you in the stadium." He growled at Ray, and took off towards the camp.

"Grumpy doesn't even do him justice!" Tyson muttered and Emma shot him the gorgon glare she had been practising. From the way he backed away, it was almost as good as Bryan's. She cocked her head and walked off. If she was quick, maybe she'd be able to catch Bryan alone.

The next day

Kasi fiddled with the plait that hung down her back thoughtfully, watching Kai, Bryan and Tala begin their morning regime. It was six thirty in the morning and they all looked rather exhausted. Kasi, having been up since five, did not sympathise with them at all.

"Falborg! Attack!" Bryan yelled, pushing a strand of his lavender hair out of his eyes. Kasi smirked as Falborg narrowly missed colliding with a pyramid of cans, their target. Bryan glared at her and ordered his beyblade into attack again.

"Hello and welcome to the first round of the World Championships! I'm AJ Topper-"

"And I'm Brad Best. Today's match promises to be a good one today, AJ, as Blitzkrieg Omega face off against reigning champions the Bladebreakers!"

"And it looks like the line up is just as exciting, Brad! With Tala and Max facing off against each other in round one, then Bryan and Ray battling for revenge in the second-"

"It's reported there was a lot of controversy over this particular match, AJ! Apparently, the BBA were rather disturbed when Ray made a special request to blade against Bryan, especially after what happened last time!"

"That's right Brad! A true revenge match happening right here in Japan! Oh, it's as good as the wrestling!"

"Umm… Right AJ! And, of course, the third match promises to be a right firecracker, with the cheery and undefeated Tyson pitched against bitter and moody Kai!"

"Let's get down to the stadium with our very own DJ Jazzman!"

"Max? You ok?" Tyson looked as his best friend, who seemed rather nervous.

"Yeah. I'm fine, honest! It's just… I'm a little unnerved about going up against Tala, I mean, he's one of the best, you heard what Suzy said." Max nibbled at one of his blonde bangs, his blue eyes lost in thought.

"You'll beat him!" Ray said grinning widely. He seemed rather over confident for one that was going up against Bryan for the second time in four years.

"Don't be so sure!"

"Aw, chief! You always look on the bad side!"

"The stats I'm getting from Tala's match against Jess of Astro V are very impressive! Even though he was beaten in a matter of minutes, the power radiating from Wolborg just… blew the match away! As you know, Jess relies heavily on Sagittario's ability to absorb the strength of the other bladers attack. The attack that Sagittario gave was phenomenal, so the power that she took from Tala… I don't know, but I don't have a good feeling about this battle!"

"Gee… Thanks chief, now I feel so much better!" Max exclaimed with a nervous grin as he stepped up to the dish.

Battle 1 – Tala v Max

The red headed Russian that stepped up to the dish was a far cry from the cocky and confident blader of the past week. Tala was prepared to put anything on the line to win back the pride he once had. He knew the others didn't blame him as such (apart from Bryan) but he had caused them a lot of shame in the tournament, exaggerating his role as the joker and idiot. But a week of fasting and Jesus of Suburbia blaring in his ears had prepared him emotionally for this match. He clutched Wolborg tightly, the edges of the blade cutting into his hand, making Max gasp.

Seeing the pale blader so quiet was one thing, but watching blood drip down the said blader's white fingers was something else.

"Um… Ok…" Jazzman tapped his mike uneasily. Both bladers turned to him. He visibly quailed under Tala's icy blue glare. They turned away again. "3-2-1… LET IT RIP!"

"Wolborg!" Tala screamed, just wanting to get this match out the way with. "Go for the kill!" Max groaned and brought his hands up to protect himself.

"Draciel!" He yelled. But it wasn't his usual attack. For some reason, Draciel had formulated a new attack. Tala yelled as he was thrown against the stadium floor, Wolborg narrowly missing flying out of the dish.

"Wolborg!" Tala yelled as he struggled back up. "NOVAE ROG!" Max closed his eyes against the icy barrage of wind. When he opened them again, all was quiet. Both beyblades were still spinning.

"Draciel! Attack!" Yet again, the mysterious attack Draciel had formulated in mere seconds appeared. Tala appeared to mentally pacing himself, but even he was no match for the wall of strength. He screamed as both he and Wolborg were thrown to the stadium floor. Or not. A pair of gloved hands held Tala up.

"Я сударыня сожалеющий мой приятель,"Tala whispered. Max furrowed his brow. He knew those hands. And he knew the voice that answered.

"Don't worry. You bladed better than I could." Kai told him softly, swinging one of Tala's arms around his shoulders. Bryan appeared to help them, grabbing Tala's other arm and doing the same.

"Aaaaand…. Max wins!"

"Woo!" Tyson, Ray, Kenny, Daichi and Hilary cheered. "Go Maxy!" Max gave Ray a thumbs up as he headed to take his place. Ray grinned back confidently.

You have no idea how long I've waited to do this. How long I've wanted to get one over on you. How long I've wanted to punish you for what you did.

If I hadn't won, you would have taken over the world. And who says that isn't what you're doing now? Using Biovolt Psykick to take the suspicion off of you. Let everyone think you're good guys now. Well, let me tell you something, Bryan. A LEOPARD DOESN'T CHANGE ITS SPOTS.

With my new attack, you have no chance. I will be victorious this time, Bryan. And it's you that will be in pain.

And you fully deserve it.

Battle 2 – Bryan v Ray

Both bladers stared at each other, willing the other to back down. Lavender clashed with amber, Russian with Chinese, burly against lithe, emotionless against emotional. They'd been waiting for this day all their lives.

"Bryan!нота до не терять сердце!" Kai called suddenly. To Ray's surprise, the burly lavender haired boy's face split into a smile.

"нота до паника!" He replied, his eyes gleaming.

"You can do it Ray!" Mariah yelled suddenly from the audience. Ray smiled at her, flushing slightly.

"он воля толчок сокр легко!" Ian snickered. Bryan spun round.

"Don't be so sure!" He growled.

"Ok! Let's get this battle underway, yeah?" Jazzman looked at the bladers. Ray nodded, Bryan glared. "3-2-1…….. LET IT RIP!"

"You aren't going to win this time!" Bryan snarled angrily. "I'll make you pay for what you did to me, and for what you did yesterday!"

"What I did to you? Apart from crush your blade, I did nothing!" Ray sneered back.

"Bryan, нет!" Kasi cried out.

"You caused me pain. You made me lose!" Bryan's stare was getting a little too intense for Bryan.

"Well, Brad! This battle's getting interesting, but the blades haven't done anything yet!"

"SHUT UP!" Bryan and Ray yelled together.

"You're mad." Ray then proceeded to stammer. "You caused me pain."

"If that was pain for you… You are one lucky guy, Ray. Have you ever realised that?" Bryan suddenly ripped at the open necked shirt he wore, tearing it off. Ray gasped. Despite from the disconcerting facts that (a) Bryan's torso was far too pale and (b) his muscles were rather… developed for a guy of his age, there was one other thing that the spotlight showed up perfectly. Almost every inch of his body was scarred and, as Bryan straightened up, he could see several stab wounds, some that only looked like they'd been caused the day before. Most unnerving and disconcerting of all was the fact that there was one directly above his heart – or where his heart would have been if he had one. Bryan seemed impervious to the gasps and screams from the crowd as he faced Ray. "Now we understand each other, shall we get down to this battle?" Ray nodded and the two bladers turned their bodies towards the stadium again.

"Falborg! Stroblitz!" Bryan yelled, but Ray was ready for him.

"Driger! Counter attack!" Bryan staggered backwards, but otherwise remained resistant to Ray's attack. "I don't care what your deluded mind thinks I've done to you, but you're going down!"

"Course." Bryan scoffed. "I'll believe that when Ian learns to tap dance. Or maybe when he can reach the top of the fishbowl with no help. In other words: Not gonna happen." Ray chuckled softly.

"I've been working on this attack for ages. Since I last beat you. So no one could ever try and do what you did to me. And I want to tell you something, Bryan. A tiger never changes its stripes." Bryan's shoulders hunched. "A white tiger. DRIGER! CHANGE OF STRIPES!" Bryan screamed as the white tiger bore down on him. Bryan's old scars began to open again until he was lying in a sea of blood. And still Driger bore down. New scars began to appear. The pale Russian was a mass of blood. Suddenly, there was a screech. Ray covered his ears in pain. Falborg wrapped his wings around Bryan and gave another raucous screams. Driger began to dissolve back into its bit chip. The battle had been won.

But at what price?

Ray was shocked. How could Falborg have done that? Falborg was specially created for Bryan, wasn't he? Incapable of doing anything but following orders. Then, how could he have lost?

"Ray! Well done!" Mariah cried, throwing her arms around him. Ray wriggled out, then suddenly he was on the floor, blood pouring from his nose. Kai landed heavily on top of him, punching Ray's unprotected stomach. Ray hit Kai back, on the cheek. He had the satisfaction of knowing he had caused blood before Spencer pulled the blue haired Russian off, tucking him under his arm before dropping him on the other side of the stadium. It was weird to see Kai acting like a common street rat, and he looked far from his posh Russian status. He became aware of Lee staring at him.

"What's wrong?" Ray asked, trying to make a joke of it. "Did Kai spoil my good looks?" Lee looked sickened and backhanded Ray. "What the-" he gasped, holding a hand to his stinging cheek.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Ray?" Lee yelled, his black hair swinging behind him. "I mean, sure, he injured you pretty bad, but compared to what you just did, he threw a snowball at you! That was sick."

"Lee, mate-" Ray grabbed his shoulder as he turned away.

"I'm not your mate, Ray. After what I saw today, I don't want to be. I thought I knew you, after you explained why you left the village. But it seems you changed more than I thought, and it wasn't for the better!" Kevin nodded his agreement and the two of them walked off.

"What?" Ray snapped at Tyson and Max, who'd come up to see what was all the commotion. "Do you agree with him as well?"

"Well, the thing is… I kind of do, Ray," Max, said, looking at his feet. "I just think… well, don't be surprised if Boris comes up to you with a job offer." Ray caught Tala staring at him and had an uncanny feeling the red head had heard every word. Tala smirked, proving the thought.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" Jazzman yelled into his microphone, looking around. "After that ground shaking match that just happened, it had emerged that the dish will stand no more pressure. Therefore, we are postponing the final match, which will total who wins and who loses. The last match will take place tomorrow, at no extra cost to those who have purchased tickets for todays!"

Bryan splashed his face with water. To his disgust, his hands were shaking, though whether from pain or otherwise, he couldn't tell. He caught sight of himself in the mirror and looked away again. His pale face was marred with angry red welts and his lavender eyes were blurry and unfocused.

"Ouch." Said a familiar voice behind him. "I can safely say that that's the worst injuries I've ever come across in my entire blading career." Bryan spun round.

Garland was leaning on the doorframe.

"Relax!" Garland said, holding out his hands in a surrender motion.

"What do you want?" Bryan growled, turning back to the sink.

"I'm not a bad guy now, you of all people should know that. I work for the BBA."

"Yeah, well so did the guy that did this to me!"

"God's struth!" Garland muttered under his breath. "I was sent by Mr Dickinson to check you were ok. Honest." Bryan glared at him before splashing his face again, wincing as the sharp water hit his cuts.

"I'm fine. Now will you go?"

"For God's sake, Bryan! You aren't the only one who's come out from under Boris! Although I never suffered as much as you did, I can see very well that you aren't fine!"

"OK! I'm not fine! My hands won't stop shaking, my face is covered with scars caused by a bit beast, I have a splitting headache and… and… I'm scared." Bryan covered his face with his hands. "I'm scared, ok? I don't know what happened out there! And I'm worried it could happen again…" He whispered, a single tear tracking down his cheek. Garland looked disturbed.

"Ok, I asked you if you were fine, but I didn't expect you to do a full emotional u-turn and act like this! God, I've been hanging around Marcus too much!" Bryan stared at him and punched him on the arm. "That was a friendly punch, right?" Garland asked as the door opened. Bryan shrugged.

"That's usually how I hit Kai." He said thoughtfully. "I don't know if there's anything that qualifies as a 'friendly' punch, especially with me involved!" Garland smirked.

"How true." Ray said, getting a bottle of water from the vending machine. Bryan growled. Garland took one look at Bryan and stepped clearly out the way, turning his back, so he couldn't actually say he'd seen what was about to happen. The door opened again and Lee walked in.

Bryan grabbed Ray by his shirt, shoving him up against the wall. The mocking hatred in Ray's eyes quickly turned to fear. Bryan turned away.

"Garland!" He called. "I know you aren't looking, but could you pass me my bag? It's the black one, with the 'B' and the 'K' on it." Garland nodded and threw him the rucksack.

"Out of interest, what does the 'K' stand for?" Garland asked as Bryan balanced it on his knee.

"Lighter, no, rope, no, how to make nuclear weapons, no, fluffy bunny, no," He muttered, chucking things out of his backpack. Ray swallowed at the content that was spilling over the floor. "Huh? The 'K'? Stands for kills, or course!" Ray uttered a little cry, looking more than a little terrified. "Just kidding. My last name, Kyznetsov." Garland exchanged a look with Lee. "Ah ha! Bingo!" Bryan murmured, bringing out a gleaming and well polished knife. He pressed it against his thumb and a bright drop of blood dripped down his hand. "I knew I should have sharpened it before I left. It's not nearly sharp enough. Oh well." He pressed the knife against Ray's neck.

"Hey-" Garland began. Lee held out an arm.

"He knows what he's doing. He needs his revenge." He said quietly, turning his dark eyes on Garland. He stopped, but nodded.

"Tell me, Ray. Have you ever known fear?" Bryan hissed in Ray's ear, pressing the knife down gently. "Ever known true fear? Desperation? Pain? Ever known anything aside from what goes on in your happy go lucky life? No? Well, it seems I'm going to have to teach you…" Garland made a move to stop Bryan, but Lee pointed to one of the books on the floor. It was a biology book, plotting of where major blood vessels and organs etc. Bryan knew what he was doing. He trailed the knife down lower. Suddenly, he got to Ray's calf. Automatically, both Garland and Lee knew what he was going to do. Bryan plunged the knife into Ray's leg, delighting in the scream that Ray gave as he collapsed in a heap on the floor.

For a moment, Garland and Lee saw the true monster within Bryan, the one that Boris had created. And then he was back to being the same person they knew, throwing things back into his bag and walked towards the door.

Lee grabbed his arm suddenly and Bryan spun around. A tense moment followed, where they looked at each other.

"Good on you, mate." Lee said quietly. Bryan nodded and walked out, looking to all the world like a normal schoolboy.

But later, when Lee was alone, he remembered that look, when he had seen into Bryan's soul. When he'd seen the true Bryan. It was nothing like anything anyone had ever told him.

The true Bryan was very scared.

The true Bryan was a young boy.

Wahoo! Ten pages! That was great fun to write, I hope you enjoyed it. The Russian translations are as followed:

When Tala talks to Kai, it's 'I am sorry, my friend. Kai yells 'Don't lose heart' to Bryan, who replies 'Don't panic'. Ian then says that Ray will beat Bryan easily, and the last piece of Russian is Kasi yelling no… at least I think that's right!