Author's note: Specialthanks to Hikari, SapphireSword, Emi-Chan and her 3 spirits, Roni, RayeBBG, grand admiral chelli and puppalupp2008 for your time to read and review my story. From the next chappies onwards, I'll respond to your reviews. R&R!


Chapter 28

Dragoon lunged at Draizer and missed. Frustrated, Tyson let out a growl and gave out another order to attack. Just as easily as before, Draizer evaded his attack. Its timing was impeccable and the moment Dragoon spun by, it moved into the offense, using the momentum Tyson's blade had build up to its attack.

"Argh!" Tyson yelled, watching both blades in the dish. "Come on, Dragoon. Shake her off."

"Tyson, she's creaming you, man." Max called from the sidelines.

"Don't you think I don't know that?" Tyson shot back.

Kenny was typing away at his laptop while Kai and Ray watched the battle with keen interest. The penthouse Mr. Dickenson had moved them to after Jade's return was awesome. It had two main bedrooms meaning they had to share. There was a heated indoor swimming pool as well as a training room that came with a Beystadium to serve their purpose and many other types of equipment.

"This is amazing!" Kenny exclaimed.

Ray, curious, looked at the brunette. "What's it, Chief?"

"Jade's Draizer has improved tremendously!" Kenny said, his fingers working furiously at the keyboard. "From the last time I analyzed it, Draizer has improved almost by 90 percent!"

"It's almost like a complete 360 degree turn-over." Dizzi agreed. "Its spin, its defense, its attack...everything has increased."

"That's impressive." Ray said. "What about Tyson?"

Kenny proceeded in typing more and when he found the data on Tyson, he swallowed. "I hate to say this but Tyson's Dragoon is not even close to matching the level Jade's Draizer has achieved. Maybe when they first met, he could have stood a chance against her but now I seriously doubt he could take her."

"That isn't all. Based on my data, I would say Draizer has more potential than what it's showing now. A lot more." Dizzi said.

Max turned away from the match for a moment. "Come on, guys. Tyson still has a chance. He just...needs to find the right moment."

Ray looked at Dizzi's screen. "Just curious, but how much exactly has Tyson improved?"

Kenny held up four fingers without taking his eyes and his other hand off the laptop. "40 percent."

Ray and Max sweatdropped. One need not ask to know that was almost half of 90.

"Go, Dragoon!" Tyson shouted, oblivious to everything except beating Jade.

Jade had her arms crossed in front of her in a bored manner as she had her blade evade Dragoon over and over again. She decided to humor him for awhile "Draizer, attack."

Her Beyblade made a move at Dragoon but it dodged.

"That's right, Dragoon! Keep it up!" Tyson egged.

Jade smiled to his confidence. "That's right, Tyson. Keep it up. At the rate you're going, this battle is mine for sure." she taunted.

"Hey!" Tyson snapped. "I ain't out yet."

"Jade!"

She glanced at Kai leaning casually against the wall in his usual posture.

"Quit toying with him." he said impatiently.

She chuckled, shaking her head. "You know me too well."

Tyson listened to their exchange and was shocked. "What? You were only playing?!"

"I can hear the gears in his head clinking." Dizzi said.

Jade switched her attention back to her blade spinning in the dish, patiently awaiting her command. "Draizer, attack now!"

With a sudden burst of speed, her blade rushed at Dragoon and attacked it repeatedly from all directions, giving Tyson absolutely no chance to counter it. With every hit, Dragoon slowed. Finally, with one final slam, Draizer sent Dragoon from the Beystadium and back into Tyson's hand. Then the blue blade circled the dish once and leapt back into Jade's palm.

"Hey, what gives?" Tyson demanded glaring at her. "I can't believe you did that! I demand a rematch!"

She sighed. "Don't be such a sore loser, Tyson. It was only training match. Besides..." she added with a mischievous grin. "You'll never beat me in a thousand years."

"Oh, yeah? Says who?" he snapped.

"Says me. Or maybe you weren't listening to what Kenny was saying." she retorted.

Tyson stomped over to where Max and Ray were watching Kenny analyze their current battle. "What's she crapping about?" he asked. "Well?"

Max and Ray shared a wary glance of someone not keen on being the bearer of bad news. "You tell him or shall I?" Ray asked.

Max sighed, placing it upon his shoulders to be the news bearer. "I'll do it."

Taking a deep breath, he told Tyson everything Kenny and Dizzi told them based on the data they had collected. When Max was done, he clamped his hands over his ears, preparing for the explosion.

Tyson didn't disappoint. "WHAT?! 40 PERCENT?! THAT'S HALF OF 90!"

Every occupant in the room winced from Tyson's out-burst. They were sure he had succeeded in waking up the whole hotel.

"How is that possible?" Tyson demanded, making a grab for Dizzi. But Kenny wretched the laptop away before Tyson could get his hands on it.

Tyson turned back to Jade. "Well?"

She or Kai was unfazed by his continues ranting. Calmly, Jade cocked an eyebrow at him and gave him a lazy smile. "I believe the answer is practice."

"Hey, I practice too." Tyson said defensively.

"Oh, really? How often?" Kai asked with challenging glint.

"Everyday!"

They looked on expectedly.

"Okay, maybe five times a week." Tyson started to crumble. When they didn't say anything, he gave it. "Okay. Fine. Three times a week not including Sundays."

Kai smirked triumphantly. "I rest my case."

"That's enough." Kenny cut in. "While we're here arguing, the Demolition Boys are probably training becoming stronger. So let's get moving. Max, Kai. You two are up next."

"Cool." Max stepped to the other side of the stadium while Kai took the other end.

On Kenny's count, they held up their launchers and released their Beyblades into the dish.

"Come on, Draciel! Stand your ground!"

"Attack him, Dranzer!"

Ray glanced at Kenny. "How are they doing?"

"Well." Kenny began slowly. "Max needs to work on his attack but his defense is good. Hm...I think I'll have to upgrade their blades later. But they've made improvement especially Kai."

"And just tell me how much have they improved?" Tyson wanted to know.

Dizzi spoke up before the Chief could. "I don't think you should tell him, Kenny."

Kenny sighed. "Max has improved by 52 percent. Ray, you have improved by 64 percent. I think you need to work on your defense."

Ray nodded, taking that into consideration. "Okay."

"What about Kai?" Tyson demanded.

Kenny cleared his throat. "Kai has improved by 70 percent."

"WHAT?!"

"Technically, in comparison to you, Tyson, Kai trains everyday even though you may not know it." Kenny informed him.

"I don't believe it." Tyson groaned.

"Do you mind keeping it down?" Max asked, breaking his attention from the battle. "It's kinda hard to concentrate here."

While Tyson grumbled something under his breath, Ray glanced around and realized Jade was gone.

The night air was crispy cold against her cheeks. She blew out and watched her breath fade away. Her gaze stared out at the endless darkness cast by the shadows of the Russian woods just outside Moscow. Where she knew somewhere out there was Balcov abbey. Where Tala and Alexis are right now.

"Hey"

She turned slightly. "Hey, Ray."

"It's getting dark." the Chinese blader said. "You should be coming in soon."

She nodded, touched by his concern. "I know. I was just thinking."

He joined her, leaning on the railings. "About what?"

"Stuffs." she shrugged. "The Championships."

"Oh." he sighed.

She looked at him. "Do you think we can beat them?"

Ray grinned. "Of course. Biovolt isn't the only ones with a secret weapon. We have our own secret weapon too."

"What? Kenny managed to come up with a nuclear bomb to bomb Biovolt?" she asked sarcastically.

He laughed. "No." Then his laughter creased and he grew serious. "You."

She had not been expected to hear this. "What?"

Ray rolled his shoulders as he explained. "According to Dizzi, she and Kenny analyzed your blade during training and she says that Draizer has lot more power than it's revealing now."

"Meaning?"

"Draizer's capable of more, Jade. But it's up to you, its master to harness that power." he said.

"But how?"

He shrugged. "That I have no idea. I'm not the genius in the field. Don't worry about it. We believe in you. I know Kai does too. We know you can do it when the time comes."

She smiled. "Yeah." and that's all I need.


Two more days, Voltaire thought as he climbed out of his limo. A guard bowed in his presence and led him to the abbey laboratory where Boris waited expectedly. Two more days and everything I worked to rebuild will bare fruit.

"Good evening, my lord. What a pleasant surprise." Boris said.

"I expect everything to be in order." Voltaire enquired.

"Yes, sir." Boris answered. "The team is ready. I've tested Alexis in the field and she has proven herself ready to face the Bladebreakers."

"I hope for your sake, Boris, Alexis will not turn out like Jade." Voltaire said, still remembering the young green-eyes girl Boris had brought to the abbey years ago. He recalled what he had said to Kai when Jade came to the abbey. They say big surprises come in little things.

How true...

"Of course there is another matter at hand." he continued. His grey eyes steeled on the Demolition Boys trainer. "My grandson."

"Ah, yes. Kai." Boris hid the scowl that wanted to form at his mouth. "He'll be taken care of, Lord Voltaire. For the tournament, young Tala will face him and take his Dranzer from him."

"I do not just want his Bitbeast, Boris." the elder Hiwatari said with tight anger. "I want my grandson where he belongs. By my side."

Boris smirked. "Hm...I'm afraid that's hard to achieve. Kai has already made it his point that he wants no part of Biovolt."

Voltaire shook his head. "Foolish boy. Can't he understand that he's a part of Biovolt? He belongs to Biovolt." To me. Foolish child. If only I hadn't given him Black Dranzer...Now the Bit is locked away somewhere in the BBA and there's no way for BioVolt to get it.

"Perhaps we could sway him." Boris suggested, his grin growing as an idea in his head formed. "Use Jade to make him ours again. It's plain to see that your grandson cares very much for her."

"Why, that's not such a bad idea." Voltaire said thoughtfully. "But how can we accomplish such a thing? You know how protective the Bladebreakers are of their teammate."

"Not to worry. I'll have Alexis strike her where they can't protect her. In the Beystadium. I'm sure Alexis will take great pleasure in doing so." Boris said calmly.

Voltaire nodded. "I see you have picked the team well, Boris. Just see that it does not fail like before."

Boris bowed. "Yes, milord."


Darkness was closing in on them, on her. Red eyes glimmered in the dark, seeking out something that belonged to her.

Draizer...

It surrounded her, trapping her...

Laughter...

She could hear laughter, sinister and cruel. A girl's laughter rang out. She recognized it well.

Alexis...

The Bit of the Beyblade in her hand started to glow, its light faint and weak as the darkness narrowed in on her. With a snarl, Draizer took form before her, prepared to protect its master from the threatening darkness. All at once, the dark form slidded around the wolf, holding it in its grasp.

She cried out to her Bitbeast as it struggled and trashed

Alexis's voice filled the empty void. "Yes. Take her Bitbeast!"

"No!" she cried as the darkness that was Alexis's demonic Bitbeast pulled Draizer into the darkness.

Draizer was loosing, struggling viciously to no avail. It let out one final howl-

"Draizer!" the name of her Bitbeast escaped her lips as she shot up in bed panting. She could hear her heart hammering against her ribcage loud against the stillness of the early morning. For some reason, her throat felt raw as if something had crawled inside her mouth and died. Her cheeks were damp when she touched them and she realized she had been crying.

Above all, she could still hear Alexis's maddened laughter ringing in her ears as an echo.

Fighting back a pained sob, she slipped out of bed and gazed around the room she shared with Kai and Ray. Somehow, she had not awakened them when she cried out in her sleep.

Good.

She pulled on her duster as she stepped from the room and quietly closed the door behind her.

Crimson eyes opened in the dark, listening attentively.

The first rays of morning shone through the sky, chasing away the darkness that reminded her of her nightmare. Morning stars winkled in the sky above her as the Russian cold kissed her skin, icy where her tears had landed.

She sucked in a breath of cold air and let it out. She pulled her duster tighter around her to keep out the cold as she stood in the hotel garden. In a distance, she could hear the rush of the river that ran through the town where the water was too fast moving to freeze over.

Her dream still played in her mind, fresh. She shivered.

Behind her, she heard someone approached her silently. She didn't have to turn to know it was Kai, knowing just by the movement of the air around them as he drew to her side. He didn't say anything. Just waited.

"Kai..." she said softly, turning to look into his eyes, willing and praying he would understand. "For the finals...I want to battle Alexis."

He looked at her, waiting for her explanation.

"This's important to me, Kai." she said. "Please."

"Why?"

She closed her eyes, turning away. "She was my friend, Kai. I have to be the one to defeat Alexis." and save her.

The memory of her time in the orphanage danced in her mind and she could see a younger, happier Alexis there, always so amazed by Draizer.

Next to her, she could hear Kai draw in air to speak, probably to reason with her. She knew what she was doing was risky but it has to be her and no one else to defeat Alexis.

The words that came from him weren't what she expected. With a hint of amusement in his voice, he smirked. "Tyson's going to be very disappointed."

Opening her eyes, she looked at him.

He sighed, knowing he would never be able to refuse her when she looked at him with those green eyes filled with gratitude and love. "But...I hope you know what you're doing. Because you're risking a lot here."

"I know." she muttered. When Kai drew her into his arms, she surrendered willingly, assured by his presence. Resting her head on his chest, she sighed softly as his lips brushed the crown of her hair. "Thank you, Kai."