Chapter Three: Crash And Burn

The rain patters softly against cold glass, the sound of silverware hitting plates and bowls can be heard that morning, the florescent lights are the only source of light in this small building. Tyson finishes down his bacon, "Man, why do the diners always have the best food?" he digs his fork into the eggs, Hilary shakes her head before mumbling "Your always hungry, thats why." Tyson blinked, fork still in mouth before pulling it out, "I'm a growing boy, can you blame me?" he puts the fork back in, the sound of "You stopped growing on your sixteenth birthday!" was heard from Hilary, but it all seemed so far away from him.

Kai has not touched his breakfast, the oatmeal remained intact on the table, the raisins dotted the top of it like a pair of eyes and a smile, obviously the waitress had done this just to see the russian smile but had failed. Kai's crimson eyes trail to the rain streaked windows, the neon sign out a few feet in the parking lot was shorting out due to the cold rainfall, his crimson eyes seem so much more lifeless. He felt like he was drowning and he probably was, they had reached Louisiana and were going to be stopping by a hotel later, Mexico was still a few days if not weeks a way.

Mr. Dickenson was sipping at his coffee, suppressing a small chuckle, there was never a dull moment with this team. "The doofus is a giant already so of course he's going to eat!" Daichi piped up, his cereal remained in front of him, Tyson stopped eating long enough to cast the red head a very dangerous look, Daichi grins evilly, "Aw did I hurt your feelings?" he taunted before emitting a cackle, Tyson grabbed the cup of tea Rei had been drinking without much notice and flung it at Daichi, the cup hit Daichi upside the head, the cold liquid and ice got into his sleeveless blue shirt, Daichi's green eyes shot wide.

A scream was heard from inside the diner as Daichi fell from the booth screaming from the cold, trying to get the ice out of his shirt, his small body spinning across the floor gaining some odd looks from some of the people there. Hilary casted Tyson a very annoyed look as Tyson only shrugged it off and took a sip of his orange juice. Daichi rose up giving Tyson a very dirty look, "This isn't over."

Kai taps a finger against the table, tuning everyone out or at least trying to, his gaze was locked on the parking lot and for a moment he swore he saw that black cloaked figure standing out there, the figure was turned to him with hollow eyes staring out from under the hood, the stare pierced through Kai like a knife, paralyzing to a point, he felt chills going down his spine. "Hey Kai, why haven't you eaten?" Hilary's worried voice cut through his thoughts, he blinked and looked to Hilary for a moment and looked back to the window, the figure was gone.

"Hello, Earth to Kai, The witch of the eighth grade just asked you a question," Kai looked up again before shaking his head. "I'm not hungry," was all he said and stood up feeling the burning inside him again, he knew what it was but didn't say anything. "Kai, where are you going?" Hilary asked, about ready to stand up from her chair but only got the cold response of "Out." and Kai walked away, Hilary sunk back into her chair feeling a bit numb, sure Kai was cold, but he had never sounded that cold before, not to anyone except maybe his team when he first became captain.

"He just likes being alone," Rei said shrugging taking a sip of his iced tea, the waitress had brought out another glass. Hilary shook her head and turned back to look towards the glass double doors before turning to the rest of the team. "There was something strange about him," Hilary mused, Tyson grinned gulping down some orange juice. "So what? Everything is strange about that guy." He took his fork cutting into the stack of pancakes he order, Hilary shook her head, "I'm serious, there was a weird look in his eyes, as if he was hiding something that was dangerous..." Hilary mumbled, toying with a napkin.

"Hilary might be right," Max spoke up glancing towards the window. "The other day he seemed more distant than usual, I wonder what's up." Tyson finished swallowing some of his pancakes, "There's nothing up, He's just a sourpuss."

"How many orders are you going to eat? That was the sixth order of breakfast!" Hilary shouted only to get a grin from the beyblade champion, "Then bring on the seventh."

--

The is freezing and bitter, the rain is still falling fast, Kai had exited a few moments ago. His white scarf whips around him as the cold air nips at his exposed flesh, something was bothering him, crimson eyes dart around uneasily. That figure was out here a few minutes ago, he knew it, and he wanted answers. This had been going on ever since he first caught sight of the hooded person in that forest back in Japan, but he didn't know who it was. Black Dranzer was hidden in his pocket, none of his team was aware that the dark bit beast had even returned.

"It's only a matter of time..."

The dark and demonic voice echos in his head, he tries to ignore it but the headache is coming back as well as the over whelming dizziness. "No...I can't betray them..." he feels beads of sweat forming, half of him was fighting the fate that was to happen but was failing. "You will betray them..."

The dark voice was still there, his headache is growing worse, the pounding sensation is back. "No...I can't...I won't... I won't do it..." Kai feels his legs buckling, the sadistic cackle echos through his mind once more, Black Dranzer was doing this to him, he felt his physical strength draining rapidly as his body felt a hundred times heavier than before, the parking lot is spinning as his legs collapse out from under him onto the cold concrete. "They'll never see it coming."

The sadistic cackle echos through his head once more, he wants to fight it but he can't, he knew that it was against his nature to ever give into weakness, he had wanted perfection but it was never going to be any closer, Black Dranzer was created as perfect, the memories of the abbey are still in his mind, he had craved the perfection and now he had it in his hands, but his physical strength seemed to be draining quicker than before. "No...can't let this happen..." Kai whispers, his body convulses violently, almost like he was having seizures. He let out a hollow, choked scream into the cold air.

"But it will Kai, you wanted perfection and now you got it!" The sadistic cackle returns to his mind, Kai is unable to control the waves of nausea crashing through his system, the sour taste has returned again along with the urge to throw up, his vision is blurred by unshed tears, he didn't want to believe that he was becoming this weak, falling before a bit beast, he chokes feeling like he's drowning again, "No..." was the last thing uttered before his body stopped convulsing all together and collapsed fully onto the pavement, his chest is heaving slightly feeling his breathing growing ragged once more.

Just before everything faded to black.

--

"So, who is going to be at the tournament?" Tyson asked, wiping his mouth off with the napkin, he had went through ten orders of pancakes, bacon, eggs, oatmeal and everything else that could be eaten for breakfast. "Well from what I heard, the Majestics, Blitzkrieg Boys, Saint Shields, White Tigers, All Starz, BEGA and others will be participating in the tournament," Mr. Dickenson mused, remembering finding out about the tournament before hand. "Well I guess while we wait for Kai, it'll be time for a eleventh round," Tyson mused picking up the menu, Hilary heaved a sigh. "Don't you think you had enough?" Tyson shook his head before mumbling "Are you kidding me? This only the beginning."

Only to get a chorus of groans from his team. Kenny was typing away on his laptop, his expression hardening even to the point of showing some nervousness. "Hey, Chief, What did you find?" Tyson asked, Kenny frowned as he tapped one of the keys idly. "I don't know, but Dizzi is getting some negative readings, there's some kind of dark energy present." Kenny's voice was shaky, nervous, Rei looked slightly concerned. "What do you think it is?"

Tyson toyed with a napkin as if he was oblivious to all of this, "I don't know, but it smells like an adventure!" Tyson grinned tossing the crumpled napkin onto the table, Hilary grabbed his arm "Not now Tyson, we'll be late if you decide to go on some investigation." Rei nodded as Mr. Dickenson looked at his watch, Kai was still not back, however that wasn't unusual for the Hiwatari, it was just if he didn't show up soon, he'd end up left here or they wouldn't make it to the tournament on time. Max blinked hazily while sipping at his apple juice before catching sight of a lone being outside the rain streaked window.

"Hey, guys?" Max asked, voice softer than usual, the team looked in his direction. "Yeah, Max?" Tyson piped up, Daichi remained in his seat with arms crossed and scowl on his face. "Who is that?" Max asked, pointing a finger towards the being in the parking lot. The view of it was blurry but not enough to make out the shape of a human. "Wait a minute..." Rei mumbled leaning closer, golden eyes narrowed for a few moments before they shot open wide. "I know who that is..."

"Who?" the group asked, Rei's mouth fell slack before he turned to look at the rest of the team.

"Kai!"

--

'Why did it start back now?'

The black hood falls back and cold, violet eyes stare at the cold metal of a broken down car, Tala Valkov let out a low groan as he shifted his weight from leg to leg, he had no idea why he had come back to all of this. The ordeal with the abbey, Voltaire, Boris and everything else was dead, though for some unknown reason he had dropped the evil bit beast, Black Dranzer into Kai's possession once more. His team was still together but they had pretty much disappeared from the media, and the beyblading world it seemed, he stays silent for a moment.

"Black Dranzer told me to do this, so why do I feel so... guilty?" Tala mumbles and shudders at the final word, he usually didn't even know the meaning of that word, but for some reason that feeling was there, yes he was ruining someone's life and yes he was breaking up the team one way or another but he failed to understand why he was doing it but part of him felt the need to harm and cause pain, it could of easily been a result of the abbey, very easily. "Argh... why can't I get this feeling out of me!?"

He slams his foot against the tire, pain shoots through his leg but he ignores it, the car creaks eeriely and falls straight onto the ground, the rickety old thing was nothing but junk anyway. He hears the sound of thunder in the sky and scowls, along with voices. Voices...

He recognized them, the Blade Breakers, but where were the voices coming from? He quickly ran to the bushes and peered past them hidden, he could see them running towards the fallen Kai that laid motionless in the parking lot. He knew what had caused it and now that same feeling was back again. "Lord, forgive me..."

He thought bitterly before pulling up his hood again and ran off into the ever growing fog.

--

"Kai? KAI!"

His head is pounding and he groans, shifting slightly, crimson eyes open to reveal a blurred vision of his team and the BBA chairman, Mr. Dickenson standing over him, the rain is still falling. "Kai are you alright!?"

Hilary.

Kai coughs and sits up, vision clearing, no one had noticed the blade clasped in his hand. "What happened?" Hilary asked, worry in her ruby eyes as Kai blinked hazily, unable to focus on anything but the pounding of his head, the voices seem so much farther away than before, he still hears the cold, mocking words in his head.

'You will betray them...'

The churning nausea is back, "Yeah, I'm fine." Kai snaps, Hilary nods a little weary as his team looks a little relieved except for Daichi who was shooting very dangerous looks to Tyson. "Well we better get going and get a hotel before lunch," Mr. Dickenson looks at his watch and gestures for the bus.

As everyone starts to walk away, Kai stands up and only stands there for a bleak moment, before Tyson turned back to him. "Hurry up, Kai! We don't need a wet dog smell in the bus!" and Tyson cracked a grin at his own joke before speeding towards the bus, Kai would normally say something but didn't, all he could feel was the pounding headache and the nausea.

"This'll probably be the last time I get to spend with my team..."

Kai thought numbly and walked off towards the bus.