DISCLAIMER: I do not own the anime series Beyblade, it belong to its respective owner. I do however own the plot.

NOTE: Constructive criticism is appreciated.

WARNING:OOC, travelling in alternate reality, ghosts and other such things.

"Are you all right ?"

Max looked up at the owner of the hand, his water-blue eyes met with rosy-pink ones as rubbed his sore head.

"Hi…", was his intelligent reply as blinked at her dumbly after shaking his head a little, he took her hand it felt eerily wet and cold.

' weird cause her hand is not really wet'

It was very awkward as she hoisted him up considering he was wearing skates and he kept wobbling but he managed to retain his balance. Though he has to admit for a small girl, she sure has grip.

"Thanks "

"huh.. umm your welcome", she blushed a little.

Max chose to ignore that cause it would have been embarrassing the other way, he looked around at the cans that had spilled out of the bin after he crashed into it and then he caught the sight of the egg tray in her shopping bag as she was picking it. It must have cracked when he almost ran into her. Before he can apologize about it, the shopkeeper to whom the vending machine belong to came out and scolded him for spilling the cans. Max apologized to him and started to put them into the bin, soon he realize he wasn't doing it alone.

"You don't have to you know", he said as he looked at her. He noticed that her eyes has bags under them and she looked upset about something.

She shrugged her shoulders.

"But I want to", she replied without looking at him.

'Well.. that was nice of her', he thought.

After that they went to the city-park, more like Max bugged her to came to the park with him. His reasons it was still early in the morning and he would get bore on his own. They were sitting at a bench at the center-most part of the park, Max had ditched his skates and was sitting with his legs crossed, Mathilda on the other hand had put the shopping bag between them and was looking for the birds as they occasionally fly by them. There was a little awkwardness between them at first, but after a while they were talking like crazy.

"Wait so you all live together? I would've never guessed that.", Max said in amazement.

"Yeah….", She smiled a little, but it did not reach her eyes.

"Is something bothering you?", he finally asked her, she gave him a look, "Its fine if you don't want to tell me"

" Its Miguel, he is still in hospital", she sighed.

Oh

"I'm Sorry", now Max felt a little stupid for asking her that.

"I only got to know about him when i had reached home", she fiddled with her fingers, "I should've been there for him... , you know by the time i went to see him he was acting all crazy, I left him when he needed me", she sniffed.

Max was at a loss of words he didn't know what to say to comfort her, 'should I say its going to be alright, yeah, that's what people usually say, don't they?'

"What did the doctors said?", he asked, ' Okay Maxie where did you come up with that one?'

She shook her head, "Not anytime soon, maybe weeks or a month or two, they aren't sure" and with that she started crying. He imagined how he would feel if he was in her shoes. He put a comforting hand on her shoulder, "Hey...", she looked up at him with watery eyes, 'gosh' he gulped.

"He is going to be alright", he rubbed the back of his head, "You can always visit him to cheer him up and talk, before you know he'll be right as rain. Plus he was lucky to have you, as a friend I mean you know, you cared so much about him and all that, wish I had someone like that too.", he blushed a little, "Am I babbling?"

"maybe", She laughed at that," but it was cute", her nose and cheeks were pink, she rubbed her eyes with her hands.

"I guess I shouldn't have asked you huh?"

"Nah I'm glad that you asked, I felt better after letting it out. So, what is it with you these days?"

"Nothing as serious as you, its kind of silly, i was just being worked up by Tyson avoiding me", he said as he rubbed the back of his head.

"You're right its really silly", she laughed again.

"And here I thought you were my friend now", he pouted.

She stuck her tongue out at him and blushed, "I still am, but really If it had been somebody else I would say he is not worth it but you know how Tyson is"

"yeah..."

"he'll come around though"

He nodded in reply.

They sat in silence until Mathilda fetch her phone and clicked the power button, "We should go its already seven"

"Aww man its been like five minutes", Max groaned.

"thirty-five minutes, that's a lot. I don't want to be late, so Bye!", she grabbed the bag and waved at him as she started towards the gates.

"Hey wait! I'm coming too", he grabbed his skates and took after her.

Everyone in school is back to normal, Max wondered if the threat was hollow. There was no trace of panic in the students as if nothing had happened. He shrugged as he open his locker to put on the indoor shoes, its not like he wants somebody dead, something on the back of his mind told him there more to it than seen on the surface.

Suddenly he felt an arm on around his shoulders, " HEY MAX!", Tyson all but yelled on his ear, he cringed at the volume.

'that loudmouth'

"Dude seriously . . "

Tyson stuck a tongue out at him, "you are no fun", then he looked around and dragged him towards the class.

"I know how to walk Tyson"

"Pretend you are busy talking to me!", he whispered.

'one day he acts like i don't exist next day he is fine. What's up with Tyson'

"And why would I do that!", Max said raising an eyebrow.

He got his answer in the form of a brunette stomping in their direction with Kenny on her tail.

'It has not even been a week since the school had opened and Tyson has already managed to annoy a girl. Come to think of it I haven't seen her before'

"Oh no you don't !," Hillary said as she weaved through the crowd, " You can't escape me Tyson. I've got my eyes on you"

'Yikes is she a stalker', Max thought, "Who's she?", he asked

"No one important, come on", Tyson said and made a 'she's-crazy' gestures.

"Who's he? Your friend from that weird occult group?", she asked with hands on her hips scrutinizing in Max's direction.

Tyson face-palmed as he thought, 'leave it to Hillary to come-up with a weird theory that they are trying to take-over the world by making people believe in ghosts, seriously she should stop reading so many books, its getting into her head'

"Occult huh? you've got some serious probs here bro?", Max whispered to him with a highly amused expression on his face.

"You've no idea", Tyson replied.

"What are you two babbling among yourself?", she inquired.

"Oh nothing, I just asked Tys here why he never told me that he is friends with the cutest girl on school?", Max said nonchalantly.

"You did?"

"He did?", Kenny who's silent 'til now gawked at him. Hillary just stared at him.

"Of course I did", giving Tyson a disapproving look, "I'm Max, Max Tate", he said offering her his hand.

"Hillary, Hillary Tachibana. That was sweet of you Max", she said shyly as she shook his hand.

"Don't worry about him Hillary, he said that to literally every girl, even the weird ones", Kenny said correcting his glasses in the process.

"Oh really", she giggled softly.

'WAIT! WHAT?'

"What do you mean by the weird one?", Hillary growled as she grabbed the poor boy by collars and shook the daylights out of him.

Max sweat dropped and Tyson roared with laughter.

"I.. you.. i never said you'rer.. weird", he stuttered.

Suddenly Max felt like the air has gotten thick just like on the day Miguel was attacked.

"Shouldn't you four be in class"

They turned around to find a tall girl with two-toned hair giving them an annoying look, "Don't just stare at me. MOVE"

They muttered apologies as they went to their class, Max tuned around to look at the girl, she seems older than them. But something is off about her, he shook his head he'll think about it later with that he followed the others to the class.

Hillary made her way to the schools Gym room which currently booked by the schools Gymnastic group. It was after school hours when club activities took place, she was a member of schools newspaper club. Their school's Gymnastic Group has recently won a competition, so she's going to take an interview of their teams captain Julia Fernandez. She walk through the empty corridors and felt like being watched, she looked around.

'Nobody was here, I'm really tired lets just get over with it'

She started walking faster, soon she felt like someone was following her, she made an abrupt turn, "SHOW YOURSELF", she said as loudly as she can. Nobody came but wind started to pick up, her pulse rises.

'What if there really was a ghost? Nonsense!'

She ran all the way to the gyms door, pounding on it.

The door opened to show a bemused Julia, who raised an eyebrow at the way Hillary was panting.

"Sorry ... for that...", she showed her the ID card. Julia's green eyes shone with recognition as she let her in.

"Why did you ran all the way to here?", Julia asked. Hillary blushed and gave nervous laugh.

"Don't tell me you thought the ghost is going to get you?", Julia chuckled with amusement.

"No of course not. Can we start the interview already?", Hillary said flusteredly. Julia laughed at her pathetic attempt to change the subject.

"Sure", she motioned Hillary to follow her. They went to the girls dressing room, where they sat on benches facing each other. Just as Hillary was about ask her, they heard a scream.

"No, not again!", Julia exclaimed as she sprinted out of the room. It took Hillary a moment to recollect herself as she too made her way out of the room. She knew what it means, but she didn't want to believe her thoughts, she stared at the crowd in the gym room. She was debating whether or not she should go and see what happened, in the end curiosity gets the better of her, she pushed pass others to find Julia kneeling in front of a motionless girl. A rope was dangling through the ceiling, she felt a lump forming on her throat her heart was beating faster as every second passes.

Some of the students have started sobbing, Julia has color drained from her face and her hands were trembling, she moved a hand through her hairs and stared at the coach whose face was as drained as her, fear evident in their eyes.

Julia gulped," She's dead"

A sickening silence followed, Hillary felt like her heart has stopped beating, her knees gave out beneath her. That's when her eyes fall on the ground another message written on blood.

'The game has just begun'

Max came came to the class room as he packs his stuff on the backpack, it has been a heck-tick day on the pitch, he had just signed up for the baseball team. Just as he was moving some books to put his new uniform, he found a strange folder in bag.

'Weird I haven't put any file on the bag where did it came from'

He put it out and examined it, it seems pretty old, there was something written on the front.

BAKUTEN SENIOR HIGH

2008-2009

Student Record

Franky Paura

Second Year Student

It was weird how did he got this, he looked at the seal in the file maybe he should rip it and see whats inside. But what will he do seeing an old students record, shouldn't he return this, but he'll be asked where did he got this, might as well see what's inside. He didn't know why but he felt tempted to know the content of the file. He scratched the end of the seal with nail carefully grab the unglued portion and ripped it.

"Don't open it Max"

He jumped a foot in he seat, he swear his heart came out of his mouth. He turned to see Mathilda standing on the door she had her head down.

He sighed in relief, "Phew... Mathilda you'd scared the daylights out of me", turned to the file again.

"She didn't want you to open it. Max Don't open it", she continued in monotonous voice. Max felt a shiver run down his spine like the temperature in the room has dropped suddenly.

"You Okay Mathilda! Who is she?", Max asked as he looked around in search of the 'she'.

She looked up her usual rosey-pink eyes are pitch black now, Max gasped. The file dropped out of his hand, and a cold shiver ran down in his spine.

"Mathilda... so you bought contacts. "

She smiled at him, if it wasn't for the creepiness of the situation he would have given her one of his own. She walked towards him, his mind was telling him to move but he found himself rooted to the spot.

She grabbed his hand, it was cold and eerily wet.

"Who are you?", he was surprised he didn't stutter.

"Come with me", there was a tug in his mind it was really tired and he wanted to sleep.

The black mist oozed from Matilda and moved toward him, but there was something, an invisible barrier that kept the mist away from him. The contact caused a Shockwave in his mind bringing him back to his senses, he yanked his hand from her grasp and ran out as fast as he can.

He didn't known how much time it has been, since he started running. The corridor had become a never ending labyrinth of doors, no matter how fast he was or how many turns he take there was no way out.

He opened any door he could, hoping for an exit, but all he found was black mist slithering out like an anaconda hunting it's prey.

His vision was blurring with passing time, it's almost like somebody had locked him in a merry-go-round which will never stop.

Finally, a mist free room. He hesitated, it was dusty store room with all kind of bizzare things cramped in their. The floor was carpeted except at the center where someone had torn a circle, exposing a star like insignia drawn with red paint with a ancient language written along the border.
'seems too easy to be true. almost like a trap.'

OH it is a trap all right.

Max didn't know how to respond, the deep voice brought him out of his haze. There was rustling sound coming from the star, black sand rose from it like a tornado. But it was too thick and wet to be sand and was now taking a shape, he can see red lines on it forming a demonic face which was grinning at him.

His mouth fell open, he never thought he'll get to see something so straight out of horror movie. Frankly, he didn't wanted to either.

He felt someone pushed him and before he could react, he found himself pulled into the star. He grabbed the carpet but the old fabric ripped like dried hay, from his hands.

White hot pain rippled through his body, the moment he came in contact with the tornado. The last thing he saw was Mathilda looking at him and saying something he did not care about, then all that was left was black and red.

Embracing him.
Lulling him to a much welcoming sleep.

Hey there everyone I'm not dead I just returned from underworld !

Special thanks to the reviewers Cutetyhil, LuxahHeart, Ezabellaa, Neha, Fantasy Sword, AnnieJD29, Subha123Kai, The future legend(cool name), unnamed guest, MaChunXia and Rock rather road.

Thanks to all the readers! !