Chapter two

Kai stood dripping wet in the courtyard amongst his old team, his face unreadable as he stared at each Blitzkrieg Boy with his arms crossed over his chest and looking entirely cool as he plopped himself against the nearest pillar. Tala was opposite him matching his actions except with his hands buried into his wet pockets. The others stood around them looking serious and ready to hear Kai's point of view on Voltaire's escape.

"He's Voltaire…" Kai's voice was gruff and unemotional as it normally was but his eyes betrayed everything. The mahogany depths were angry and there was this manic look, that although Tala was used to Kai's odd spot for revenge made him shiver in fear and excitement. "He's obviously back for world domination and he's going to do it using any means. He'll try to persuade us to join him…or kidnap us…he'll use any means necessary."

Bryan glowered at the ground, his hands clenching and unclenching into fists by his side. "Is there a reason we're standing in the rain?" Ian asked impatiently. Bryan was just about ready to punch the younger boy for his stupidity at a grave time such as this and that he even dared to test their patience. Ian took a step back instinctively at the annoyed looks that were sent his way. "Yea…don't answer that…"

"Any means…Voltaire likes to create something big. He knows that we know that he's escaped and that people are after him. Despite him being old, the way he thinks hasn't changed." Tala sleeked back his bangs and breathed in sharply, the cold air getting to him.

"Something big can be anything." Spencer mumbled rubbing his hands against each other to warm up.

"Voltaire and something big usually means killing, kidnapping, manipulating or…bombing." Tala rubbed at his eyes and stared at Kai, "we can't get ahead of him without him making the first move." Kai frowned deep in thought as it was the only way they could solve their problem, Tala was right. If Voltaire made the first move then they would make up the second and then from there branch out into other possibilities to stay ahead of his demonic grandfather.

He smiled wryly. He and the Blitzkrieg Boys only knew each other to use each other for their own gain; they didn't sit around planning but were, despite what others thought, spontaneous. This was the first time in a few years they actually worked together for the same belief. That Voltaire should be stopped and the Abbey should never be opened again. They weren't going to allow their childhood nightmares be experienced by anyone else, no innocent orphan was going to be taken in to become a soldier. It's what they vowed.

"So we wait…" After a few seconds of silence Kai pushed himself off the pillar and walked silently through the rain towards the hotel building. Tala followed taking their brief meeting as finished.

Naturally the others followed but Bryan's gaze travelled from the back of Tala's beacon of hair to a short figure that was standing hunched, her face illuminated by an orange glow. He didn't know who she was but he thought of her ridiculously stupid for training in Russia's godforsaken weather.

The door banged shut behind them as they made their soggy way towards the elevators. The receptionist glared heavily at them and the janitor threw down his mop in anger as wet puddles marked his once spotless floor. They walked with an air of ignorance as usual and confidence emitted from them that just called out to others, drawing the other people in the reception to watch them curiously. Girls sighed, delighted that some of the most attractive males had just walked past and boys and beybladers watched unimpressed.

Tala stared at the fire exit on one of the floors and noticed the girl from the meeting who had completed the rubix cube. She was hunched over and trying desperately to gain their attention, banging on the door and her voice calling towards them but obviously muffled by the wind and glass pane. An object was cradled underneath her jacket, her arms wrapped tightly around her abdomen.

His gaze travelled from her stricken face to the water logged shoe that was opposite the side of the door from the girl. He shoved Ian none to delicately in the back and nodded his head at the door, he smirked as the shorter boy laughed wickedly. They could hear her screaming but pretended not to take any notice, instead walking down the corridor to their room.

The corridor was full of noise and undecipherable sounds as each room, housing each beyblade team, had their own unique racket. The Bladebreakers housed a lot of arguing and laughter whilst the all girls' team was silent. A fight was ensuring in one of the other rooms and music was blaring from another. Tala pitied, not only Kai whom was living with the Bladebreakers but the other residents of the hotel and of course Spencer and Bryan's sanity. Neither boy liked noise.

They spent the next few days either in their hotel room or travelling through the recognisable Russian streets. Waiting for Voltaire to make the first move was slowly stressing them out and creating very grumpy and impatient boys whom had the problem of snapping at anyone that got on their bad side. This alone made many people shy away from them and those that had to talk to them did so hesitantly. Even the media were careful and played incognito to gain information.

The Blitzkrieg Boys plus Kai sat quietly in the hotel restaurant. It was very late but the café was still open and although not hungry each boy had at least two slices of cake and coffee. Each of them knew it was futile to go to sleep that night with all the caffeine coursing through their body. The doors opened softly and the black haired girl from the fire escape and another girl with silvery hair entered both in their pyjamas. Notably, the black haired girl in a silk, red nightgown and the other in a tank top and silk boxers.

"Ah good it's still open," Zuri mumbled, rubbing her hands together and sniffing slightly. "I'm never going to get over this cold. That night's worth of rain really got to me." She-Ying rolled her eyes and nodded to a table that was on the opposite side from the other occupants. "I can't even sing anymore," her voice was nasally and her blue eyes watered slightly as she felt the usual ticklish sensation in her nose, warning her of an oncoming sneeze.

"You weren't a great singer to begin with," the Asian girl replied sitting down and glancing at the menu.

"Oh, harsh," Zuri deadpanned.

They ordered their light meal which consisted of hot chocolate and cake and hardly talking as they waited for it to arrive. She-Ying fidgeted slightly even though she and Zuri had shared their number of late night escapades to the kitchens and having sharing a room with the other, it was always still so awkward. They respected each other dearly, Zuri understood She-Ying's fear of crowds and the silver haired girl was grateful for it.

"I've finished upgrading your beyblade," Zuri mumbled, "I've got it on me. Want to take a look? I mean, it's not finalised or anything and I need you to test it before you actually decide to use it. I just want to make sure-"

"I'm sure that Zuri Alice; a BBA qualified technician has done a fine job." Zuri's astonished look made her smile softly, "but I wouldn't mind looking at it."

Zuri shuffled in the pockets of her jacket and pulled out a white and blue beyblade. It gleamed in the little light of the restaurant and even though it looked the same as She remembered it, it felt completely different. It was lighter and shinier that before and all the scratches that were inflicted were gone. She noticed the different shaped weight disk and then lifted it to the light, her eyes widened when she realised what her friend did.

"You've put new parts in, not regulatory parts though."

"No, they're confirmed parts. Mr Dickinson knows me and he knew my projects. After all, I updated him on them and he's allowed me to use them in the tournament so long as they don't cause trouble."

"Because we all know what happened last time-"

"I was still learning then!"

Kai's ears strained to hear their conversation and he smirked triumphantly having caught the major gist of it. Kenny wasn't even a BBA qualified technician so he knew that the girls would be a major threat if the tournament were to continue. Tala looked disinterested and was staring blankly at his coffee, stirring with his spoon. They all knew better though, each one of them were secretly listening in on the girls' conversations.

"That's the girl we left on the fire escape," Ian whispered his eyes wide.

"It seems so," Tala replied, turning in his seat to take a glance at the girls.

He too experienced the same thing as Kai did. His heart raced and his breathing became shallow when he caught her eyes in as brief gaze. The coffee in his hands wobbled slightly, sloshing the liquid onto the tiled floor. He saw the pink lips tilt upwards and the small hands go to her lips to hide her laughter. Blue eyes crinkled up in delight but a faint tint of red crossed her cheeks and over her nose and he couldn't describe the sudden feeling.

Two other people entered the restaurant bringing Tala's attention from the girl to the new comers. Both were tall but their small, young features made them seem younger than they really were, astonishingly they were complete opposites.

The boy was relaxed with his hands deep in his pockets and his hard, golden eyes brightened considerable as the smell of coffee and cake reached his nose. His hair was white and black, messy around his masculine face. His skin colour was considerably tanned and although he was muscular it was somewhat out of place beside the girl whom was thin and fair skinned.

She stood regally with her black hair in a ponytail and her white fringe covering her soft, golden eyes. She cast a quick glance at everyone in the room, although disheartened that people were actually using the restaurant so late at night. She took up a seat far from the other occupants. Draco thanked the waiter and ran a finger down the menu, "I think I'll just go for some ice cream." He mumbled ignoring his sister's hard gaze.

"You were supposed to be there Big Brother." Phoenix let loose her hair from its confines and ran a pale hand through its long lengths.

"What happened?" he asked taking notice of the other teenagers and studying them with interest.

"Some man Voltaire escaped and they want us to capture him on cue. Funny that no adults play but all the insane people do." Her voice was indifferent and she sipped at his hot chocolate idly, watching her brother as he took a giant scoop of ice cream to his mouth.

Draco sighed and stared at his beyblade, he was trying to think of something to say but could hardly think of anything. "So are we going to go after him?" he asked finally.

"If we must," Phoenix rested her head on the palm of her hand and stared at the silver haired girl.

She-Ying turned around, her red eyes taking in the room when they finally landed on the new girl. She shivered involuntarily but returned the look with one of her own bored ones; she wasn't going to allow people to intimidate her. Zuri was going on about the improved beyblade often adding in little tales of her family and ex-boyfriend Kane whom she was still in love with.

She-Ying hardly minded; Zuri's life was far more interesting than hers which was of typical school girl types just with more insanity and her phobia of large crowds. She was glad that she had people who she wasn't afraid of and could trust. Although Lex and Diana had the energy of a crowd at a rock concert they weren't really bad people. They became a team at a young age although they had never entered any competitions until this very year. Zuri had suffered hardships and they had to wait at least a year or so until they had their technician back.

They met in the school library, each of them having to stay after school. Lex had detention and Diana had to wait for her brother to pick her up, Zuri was stacking books and She-Ying was doing homework. She-Ying needed a book desperately and had asked for help in which Zuri was commenting on the subject she was studying. Lex was helping Zuri stack the books for her detention and Diana was sitting at the same table as She-Ying.

It was coincidental but each of them were drawn to each other.

"You're the school's prodigy." Lex said a large smile on her face as she shook hands with Zuri.

"Something like that," Zuri replied.

"I heard you can skip ahead to year twelve."

"I can."

"Why don't you? You're in my year level and you haven't skipped ahead. Are you crazy?" Zuri chuckled and shook her head.

"Non, I just don't want to skip ahead when in fact I'm technically a year ten student."

"Can you help me?" A soft but hard voice was heard from behind them and both girls turned around to acknowledge the younger, smaller girl.

"Sure thing," Zuri replied, "what do you need help with?"

"I want this book and I can't find it," She-Ying held up her assignment sheet and pointed to one of the dot points.

"Well all the books have been borrowed already but how about I help you with the assignment? I can tell you what's in the book already." The black haired girl smiled softly and then ushered her to her table, Lex following behind her.

Diana looked up from her magazine and watched the three girls heading her way, she knew the younger girl who was a year seven was sitting opposite her but she didn't know the other two, though she recognised them. "Hey Diana," Lex gave a light wave and seated herself beside the blonde.

"You are…"

The introductions started, Lex, Diana and Zuri became surrogate sisters to She-Ying though the younger child always assumed she to be more mature than the first two. She had been there to see the girls experience love, which actually went astray and Zuri's love life…just became entirely complicated. Zuri was now a university student who had her life figured out and was already an official employer at the BBA and other firms, doing behind-the-scenes work. Diana and Lex were still completing year twelve and were tutors to She-Ying considering it took a lot of effort for each ofthem to get out of school for the tournament. They weren't a perfect team but they were only in it for the fun. At least that's what Zuri drilled into their heads.

A loud bang resounded outside the building. It shook the walls and made the windows crack. Screaming and shouts began ensuring that alerted each of them in the restaurant to stand in panic and alarm. The boys, Zuri noted suddenly paled, "Voltaire finally made a move…"

Ok! Thanks to those that reviewed, especially those from the forum. Here's chapter two and yea…it was difficult to write cause I had to incorporate everything and make it longer but I believe it's going pretty slow paced. I have, once again changed things such as Phoenix and Draco were supposed to be in their room talking and that the entire setting of a restaurant isn't even part of the plot. I just felt better writing that than something a bit more clichéd. I'm going to try and make it clichéd as less than possible, so what people predict will happen won't. Don't ask it's difficult. Some people will think that in the rush, Zuri or She-Ying are going to fall as they run through the restaurant, I'll see what I can change about that. : p

That is a cliff hanger and I'm going to not write anymore in this author note section. Just…

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It's love. I like love. And I like to feel loved.