Chapter 13

One week after the national tournament the new formed Japanese Beyblade team, the Bladebreakers, flew to China to participate in the Asian Championships. The tournament would take place in a secluded tower, simply called China Tower, which was particularly built for the Asian Championships. Since there wasn't any direct flight from Osaka to Chengdu, the nearest city with an airport, the Bladebreakers had to fly to Hong Kong first.

Ray, who lived in Hong Kong, had also a part-time job as a waiter in a restaurant, which was owned by one of his uncle's friends. Kai, in his real life working part-time in a café as well, had to smile inwardly about this stupid similarity. The last week was probably one of the most tiring weeks in his life and he only managed to survive by coming up with thousand different ways to kill Tyson. One week training was definitely too less to get this bunch of morons in shape, but it was all they had before they flew to China.

Ray awaited Tyson, Max and Kai already in Hong Kong and there they met Ray's former team the White Tigers, who they later had to fight in the Asian Championship finals.

After their short stopover in Hong Kong, the Bladebreakers arrived in Chengdu without incident and continued the journey via bus. All the Beyblade teams were accommodated at a special hotel just for the participating teams, so they had enough privacy to prepare for the competition. The media and of course the supporters weren't allowed to enter the hotel grounds.

The Bladebreakers didn't have any problems to make their way up to the finals, although Ray was kind of a problem child. First, he was torn between his new team and his former team, the White Tigers, who now viewed Ray as a traitor. Then, Ray lost his Bit Beast Driger because of losing his focus during a fight with his old friend Kevin, a member of the White Tigers. After that Mariah, Ray's childhood friend and secret love, tried to persuade him to come back, but Ray decided to stay a member of the Bladebreakers and didn't go back to his former team. Fortunately, Driger came back during Ray's battle in the quarter-finals, but just before the semi-final the Chinese hurt his ankle. Because of a slumping Tyson and Ray were almost too late for the match, but in the end they arrived in time and Tyson won the third battle.

The final fight against the White Tigers began with a loss. Max could only win the first battle against Gary and lost the other two. Ray began his match against Mariah with a loss as well, but fortunately he was able to win the remaining two. In the third round Lee, the team captain of the White Tigers, and Tyson had three fierce battles. Lee won the first, Tyson the second and the deciding third round ended in a draw. A decisive match took place. Lee participated for the White Tigers and Ray asked Tyson to be allowed to represent the Japanese team since it would be the chance for him to settle his dispute with his former team once and for all. Ray won and the Bladebreakers became the new Asian champions. The American Championships would start in around two weeks, so Tyson, Max and Kai flew back to Japan.

After appointed as the captain of the Bladebreakers, Kai hadn't met his grandfather and if he had his druthers it would have stayed this way. But Voltaire more or less summoned Kai and Denton, the Hiwataris' butler, was already waiting for him in front of his apartment in Osaka. He drove Kai all the way to the Hiwatari mansion in Iwakuni to make sure that his master would be able to talk to his grandson. In three days Kai would fly to America, so Voltaire wouldn't have much time to preach his dogmas. In the end they only talked once during diner.

"Kai, when you are in America search for Beyblades with Bit Beasts. Until now we don't have much information about any American Beyblader, so gather as much knowledge as possible. Always remember: Beyblade isn't a game. This is war. I count on you," Voltaire said to Kai who only answered with a short sarcastically, "Yes, sir," and left the room.

'Jesus, the old man really thinks I'm going to help him to achieve global dominance. He's in for a shock.' Back in his own room Kai's thoughts wandered to his new teammates. 'We only barely won the Asian Championships and although Tyson, Max and Ray got a lot stronger during the tournament they are still too weak. They still wouldn't stand a chance against the Demolition Boys … against Tala …' Kai's thoughts drifted off some more and when he fell asleep this night he did it with a satisfied smile on his lips.

On 30th June Tyson, Max and Kai finally flew to San Francisco, America. Ray awaited them already there because after the Asian Championships he went back to Hong Kong and from there he flew directly to America. Max was probably the one most looking forward to visiting San Francisco since his mother lived there. It turned out that Max mother, Judy Tate, was an important researcher of the BBA and at the same time the coach of the PPB All Stars, the top American Beyblade team and the favorites to win the American Championships. To be able to participate in the World Championships in Russia the Bladebreakers had to beat the Americans.

During a visit of the BBA research center Judy was able to complete the data of Max, Tyson and Ray that she would later use against them in the Championship. Only Kai wasn't persuaded to give away his true strength. Actually not even his own teammates knew about their captain's true power. Emily, a member of the PPB All Stars and probably their strongest Blader, was a smart young girl and only because of her good observation skills she could tell that Kai was hiding something and that made her dangerous.

Usually there were two possibilities Kai handled such situations when someone seemed to be a danger for his missions. The first was to kill the person and eliminate the threat or the second option: seducing the person. 'The eyes of love are blind' weren't just some random words, they spoke the truth. Killing was out of the way and seducing wouldn't really fit his current character, but when somebody knew his true identity…? The fact that Emily's curiosity grew with every day didn't make it any easier.

Before the actual tournament started, which would be held in the Glitter Dome in Las Vegas, a little charity event was organized in San Francisco. There three chosen youngsters had to beyblade against three famous citizens: the mayor of San Francisco, a popular boxer and a famous actress. Max and Emily were two of the selected Beybladers and the third was Mario, an American Blader who would also participate in the Championships with his team Spintensity. Since it was a three-against-three-match team spirit was an essential factor if you wanted to win. It turned out that Emily didn't have any team spirit and that gave Kai an idea. In the end Max, Emily and Mario won the charity tournament nonetheless and the Bladebreakers finally flew to Las Vegas the next day.

Emily stuck to her guns, so Kai decided to fight in the first match to show her that he wasn't afraid of her collecting data of Dranzer. Of course he knew that she wouldn't be able to gain any information anyway. Dranzer appeared so sudden and for such a short time that even the super computer of the PPB All Stars wasn't able to learn anything about Kai and his Phoenix. Emily and the PPB were none the wiser.

Still, Emily didn't stop bothering Kai, so for the rest of the tournament the bluenette decided to stay in the background and only gave advice when his teammates were about to lose. One exception happened during the semi-final, because Tyson ate too much the day before and was ill now. Again, Kai made the fight as short as necessary, so data-collection wouldn't be possible.

While Ray was kind of a problem child in China, this time it was Max. Due to his mother and her technology he began to doubt his own strength and Kenny suggested to not letting him participate in the finals. His argument: Max' mother knew him too well, so Kai should be the third Blader and this rubbed Kai the wrong way.

The finals were already on the next day, so there wasn't much time left to convince the others that Max was the right man for the match. And overall, Max seemed to have lost his confidence as well. This time Judy Tate was the one who rescued Kai from his misery. After a brief talk with her, Max decided to fight no matter what his teammates say and with his new found confidence nobody wanted to say no anymore.

That perfectly matched Kai's own plan for the night: his plan to seduce Emily. By now she had started to do some background research on Kai and the girl was anything but stupid. After her failed data gathering during Kai's first match, she had asked him if he was a relative of the famous Voltaire Hiwatari.

"Why do you want to know?" Kai had asked her back and that was when she admitted that she did some research and somehow she stumbled over the name Hiwatari. Before the national tournament in Japan Kai had requested Mr. Dickenson to not mention his family name anywhere. So most people only knew him as Kai. Even his own teammates seemed to have forgotten his family name, if he had ever mentioned his name to them. How did Emily find out? As far as Kai knew his family name was never brought up in newspapers or magazines and the only time it was mentioned on television was during the press conference when he was introduced as the heir of Hiwatari Enterprises. But at this time he had looked totally different from now.

"So you are?" Emily answered with another counter question.

"Would you go out with me if I were a Hiwatari?" Emily was surprised not having expected such a question in return from the introverted Kai and she blushed lightly. Before she could reply, Kai continued already, "And if I'm not a Hiwatari, would you still go out with me?"

"Ah … well … I'm …" It was the first time that somebody asked Emily for a date and she didn't know what to say.

"How about Saturday night?" Kai had to suppress a grin watching the still speechless Emily. 'Somehow she's kinda cute. A date might not be such a bad thing, at least when she's not talking about Beyblades the whole time. I wonder if I could get her to use her tongue not only for speaking, but for some other stuff as well.'

After a while Emily found her voice, "But what about the finals? They are on Sunday."

"Is this a problem? We are highly likely the two who won't have to fight."

The brown haired girl thought about this for a brief moment, then she nodded slowly.

"Okay. I'll pick you up at 8 p.m." Kai turned around and waved good-bye while walking away.

"Wait! I didn't …" but Emily's words fell on deaf ears. Kai was already out of sight.

Emily was dressed in a nice May green skirt that barely reached down to his knees, and a neat white blouse, which she wore, in Kai's opinion, too buttoned. Kai himself had also changed his typical Beyblade outfit with a simple pair of black jeans and a black muscle shirt. His usually spiky hair hung loosely down and it looked like he just got out of bed and hadn't even bothered to comb it.

Kai, who had been in Las Vegas before, abducted Emily to a tiny but neat restaurant in a murky narrow back alley. Since the restaurant was a real insider's tip, not many people were there. They didn't start talking until the waiter left with their orders, but Emily couldn't hold back any longer. "Kai, what…?"

The bluenette silenced her by pressing his index finger on her lips. "I know what you want to ask and what you want to know. So just listen. First, yes, you are right. My name is Hiwatari and I'm the grandson of the owner of Hiwatari Enterprises. And yes, I am his heir. But what I'll tell you now is a secret and Mr. Dickenson and I are the only two who know about it, yet. So don't tell anyone and I would appreciate it when you don't tell anyone who I am, either."

Emily thought about it for a moment, but when she noticed Kai's serious look she replied, "Okay. You can trust me."

'No, I can't trust you, but if I have to tell you, to stop you from prying into my history … I'll tell you everything', Kai thought, but he said out loud, "Even your boss Judy Tate. Don't tell her anything, at least not yet. I guess Mr. Dickenson will tell her soon enough, anyway." The brunette nodded to show Kai that she agreed and he continued, "My grandfather plans to conquer the world with the power of the Bit Beasts. He will put his plan into action during or shortly after the World Championship in Russia. The Russian Beyblade team is basically owned by him and the only way to stop him is to win the tournament."

"Okay, I get it, I guess," Emily said doubtfully and interrupted Kai. "And the Bladebreakers will be the team who'll fight against Voltaire? Do you really think they are strong enough?"

"I know they are good enough. Maybe not now, but they get better, fast. And maybe each one of them alone isn't that strong, but together Tyson, Max, Ray and their brain Kenny are tougher than you can imagine."

Before Kai could explain further, Emily interrupted him again, "And what about you? Aren't you a part of the Bladebreakers as well?"

"I'm just their captain to give them advice and help them when it gets too hairy. But don't worry. If the All Stars win tomorrow and your team is going to fight in the World Championships, Mr. Dickenson will enlighten Judy about Voltaire immediately and you'll be the one we will put our confidence in." Kai couldn't suppress a smile because Emily didn't look very delighted.

Before they could continue their talk, the waiter came with their food and they started to eat. It was so delicious that they stayed almost totally silent during their meal. After finishing they tried to do some small talk, but since both of them weren't very good in talking about trivial things they left the restaurant soon.

Wordlessly they walked side by side through a park, enjoying the silence around them. Emily was the first to talk again, "It's already past 11p.m. I should go now."

Kai stopped and turned to look at her when she stopped as well. He wanted to see her reaction when he replied, "You don't want to." It wasn't a question, it was a statement.

"No, I mean I want to go," Emily corrected herself, but Kai noticed a slight flush on her face.

"Liar." Nonetheless, Kai brought her back to her hotel. Before she went inside, he warned her again, "Don't talk to anybody about Voltaire's plan, not even Judy."

"I know. You can trust me," Emily answered turning around one last time. "And I won't tell anyone your name."

Kai stayed silent and watched her go until she entered the elevator. 'I have to tell Mr. Dickenson that Emily is now in the picture as well. I don't like that … I don't trust her, but at least she has something else on her mind now and won't do more research on me. At least I hope.'

Sunday, the final day of the American Championships, started with bright sunshine. Tyson seemed to be in peak form and fought out the first round against Steven from the PPB All Stars. He could win the first match without problems, then Steven cranked up. Tyson lost the second battle but won the third again, so the first point went to the Bladebreakers.

Ray, who fought in the second round, and, although he gave his best, didn't stand a chance against Eddie, lost. Eddie, the basketball freak of the PPB All Stars, won the first two matches without any difficulties.

The third round would decide who would go to Russia to participate in the World Championships. For the Bladebreakers Max was ready. The American team fielded Michael, who won the first battle and it looked like Max would never be able to beat him. The blond boy's self-confidence was almost totally destroyed, but fortunately he got his fighting spirit back and won the remaining two matches. His mother Judy had to admit that Beybattles were still won by humans and not by technology. Now the Bladebreakers were not only the Asian champions but the American champions as well.

The further plan was to fly to New York on the next day and enter a ship there. The ship would drive to St. Petersburg with a short stop in Southampton, England. From St. Petersburg they would take the train to Moscow where they had two weeks left to train before the World Championships would begin on the 20th of August.

But everything went wrong. When they landed in Southampton they disembarked to have breakfast somewhere in the city and when they came back their ship was nowhere in sight anymore. Ray had the brilliant idea to take a train to London, because the BBA had an office there. Unfortunately Mr. Dickenson wasn't approachable. In London the Bladebrakers made also contact with a Beyblade group named Dark Bladers, who followed them all the way to Paris, France. On top of the Eiffel Tower Tyson, Max, Ray and Kenny were attacked by them again. Kai, who was in a nearby park, noticed the presence of the Bit Beast and came to help them. Together they were able to beat the Dark Bladers once and for all. Oliver, a French Beyblader, had witnessed the whole battle and it turned out that the boy with green hair was one of the best Beybladers in Europe. Of course Tyson had to challenge him and surprisingly the match ended in a draw.

Already on the ship to St. Petersburg the Bladebreakers met an unnaturally strong European Blader named Robert, who easily won against Tyson. That was the main reason why they had decided to travel through Europe by train instead of flying directly to Moscow. So, they could meet Europes strongest Beybladers and what better training could they get before the World Championships?

After the battle with Oliver, the French boy suggested that the Bladebreakers should go to Rome and meet Enrique there. Enrique counted also to the best four European Bladers and Oliver himself said, the Italian was a lot stronger than himself.

It wasn't very difficult to find Enrique in the capital, but to get him to fight against Tyson was stressful. Finally, they faced each other, but Tyson lost miserably. Enrique's Bit Beast Amphilyon attacked the young Japanese Blader and only due to Dragoon's intervention Tyson was still in one piece. This incident had such an impact on Enrique that he granted Tyson a rematch. Tyson enhanced his Beyblade and improved his skills so much within a day that on the next day, when the rematch was held, he won against Enrique. Together with Dragoon he was able to turn Amphilyon power against itself and in the end Dragoon had to protect Enrique from his own Bit Beast.

Oliver, who had decided to visit his friend Enrique in Rome, had witnessed the Italian's defeat and invited the Bladebreakers to visit Europe's strongest Blader. It was not a big surprise that said Beyblader was Robert, the boy the Bladebreakers had met on the ship. But Robert wasn't alone; he had a visitor from Scotland, Johnny McGregor, and when Tyson wanted to battle Robert again, the Bladebreakers had to beat Johnny first.

Unfortunately Johnny chose Kai as his opponent and that got Kai into a catch-22 situation. The bluenette knew that he was able to defeat the Scotsman by using a higher power level than before. But when he would do this the gap between his power and the power of the rest of the team would be too great and especially Kenny would start to question how he got so strong all of a sudden. So the only option was to lose the battle. Not an easy decision because Johnny was a real loudmouth and an unpleasant contemporary.

Robert allowed the Bladebreakers to stay for the night, but in the end they stayed for two nights, because the Japanese team had challenged the four best European Beybladers to a team match. After Robert and the others had thought about and discussed this, they agreed. The tournament would be held in the Olympic Coliseum, Robert's new build private arena, and it would serve as the opening ceremony.

First Oliver fought against Ray and as a surprise for both the battle ended in a draw. Max had relinquished his chance to battle against a European Blader, so that Kai could face Johnny again. Since the first match ended in a draw, Kai's plan was to let this match and in a draw as well, but after Tyson intervened and gave him the advice to use the same tactic he had used in his battle against Enrique in Rome, Kai decided it would be okay to win this one with said strategy. Since Johnny was a loudmouth it was very satisfying to put him in his place.

Tyson challenged Robert in the third round and first it seemed that Tyson would lose again. Max and Ray wanted to help their friend, but this time Kai intervened. The bluenette considered that Tyson started to rely too much on his teammates, so Kai wanted him to fight this battle alone. Due to the strong bond between Tyson and his Bit Beast Dragoon they won against the European champion.

Now the Bladebreakers were able to continue their way to the World Championships, because Robert and the others had only accepted the team-match-challenge when the Bladebreakers would transfer their admission to participate in the World Championships after a loss.

After the tournament Mr. Dickenson showed up and it turned out that he had observed them the whole time in Europe. Meanwhile, Kai bothered more and more the closer he came to Moscow. What will happen when meeting Tala again? What will he do?

A/N: This chapter is boring. I hope it wasn't too boring to read. We are now already at the end of episode 39, but after a lot back and forth I decided to just sum up the events until the World Championship starts. That means Tala will be back in the next chapter :)

Although nothing is in this chapter, Kai is still oversexed and you will come to know what he did during travelling with the Bladebreakers in the next chapter.