Emery sat on a chair that was inside the locker room, her legs were swinging back and forth as she watched her team get ready. They were experts and knew exactly what to do, so she decided to wait until Tala or Kai told her what to do. She sighed when she remembered the morning events. She woke up a nervous wreck. She couldn't find her beyblade (which was under her pillow), she burned breakfast (that never happened), and she used all the hot water when she took her shower (the effects from that were a very angry Tala). In other words, her morning was horrible.

On the ride to the stadium, she was still nervous and it was obvious. Her hands were shaking, even though she was gripping her knees. She gasped when she felt Kai's hand touch the top of he head, lightly ruffling her hair. A light dust of pink adorned Emery's cheeks as she smiled shyly. His hands were cold.

'…but his heart is always warm.' [1]

The girl felt her cheeks burning when she thought of that. "Are you alright? Your face is red. Is it a fever?" Tala asked. She guessed why he would thing that, with her weary eyes and pale skin, she gave off the impression of a weak and sickly girl. But by now, he shouldn't really be surprised. He touched her forehead and then her cheek with the back of his hand, his face full of concern. Her face burned even more.

"I- I…" She stuttered out. Having her captain so close made her feel weird.

"Stop embarrassing her." The blue haired blader mumbled as he stood up from one of the benches. Just as he said that DJ Jazzman's loud voice was heard on the speakers telling all of the bladders to meet at the main stadium.

"Well, let's go." Tala said as he exited the door, Spencer and Brian at his heels. Emery was about to follow them when Kai stopped her.

"Emery, wait." Kai grabbed her by the arm. "Listen, don't show anyone your true power. Not until we're facing stronger opponents. So you better make it." Emery mentally sighed; she was hoping he would at least say good luck. "And, I know you're gonna do great out there." They both smiled at each other and then proceeded to join the others.

All of the beybladers were lined up in alphabetical order. She ignored DJ Jazzman's inane ranting as she glanced around the bladers; there were at least 50 of them. Was she the only girl? She took another quick look, she was the only girl. 'Great. Just great.' She groaned. Then she glanced around the stadium. It was packed. Her eyes stopped on two particular people. Isadora and Sonora. They were both wearing t-shirts with Emery's face on it and holding a big sign that said 'EMERY IS #1'.

Emery swerdropped, 'No way.

That's just too embarrassing.'

"Alright! Here are the block line ups!" Emery looked up at the big screen, her eyes scanning for her face. She was on block B. Kai was in A. She was about to sighed in relive when she remembered that Kai wasn't her only challenge, Tala was too. She looked at block B line up, hoping Tala's picture would not be there, but to her disappointment, it was. "Alright bladders, get ready!"

All of the bladers dispersed throughout the stadium. Kai and other bladers, who were some of the first matches, moved to the blading dishes.

•• Somewhere in Japan ••

Kenny ran down the street as fast as he could. 'Tyson has to see this!' He took a sharp turn at the entrance of Grandpa's Dojo and almost fell down. "Tyson! Tyson!"

"What's the rush, little dude?" Grandpa asked as he stepped out his house.

"He has to…" Kenny paused to gasp for air. "On TV… Kai."

Tyson only heard the last few words before he ran back into the house to turn on the TV. Sure enough, Kai was there winning what seemed to be his first match of the day. Tyson balled his hands. He wasn't sure if he was angry or happy that Kai had returned. He took a seat next to the table and glared at the television. Kenny and Daichi joined him and they all watched in silence.

"So, what do you think?"

Tyson looked at Kenny with a serious face, "I don't know. He's been missing ever since our fight with BEGA."

"Humph! Well, it doesn't matter. I'm still going to beat him!" Daichi jumped up and down.

Tyson glared at Daichi, "Keep dreaming, Kai would never lose to you!"

•• Back in Russia ••

Emery trailed behind a large group of bladers. This was going to be intense. She had to fight a lot of matches in just one day. As she kept walking she didn't notice Tala leaning against the wall.

"Hey, Emery." He pushed himself off the wall.

"...Tala."

He looked at her with stone-cold face. "Look, I don't care what Kai says or if he thinks you're his 'ticket' to the finals. If you want to be part of this team you're gonna have to get through me." Emery analyzed his serious face. He meant what he said, and if he saw the chance to defeat her, he would defiantly take it. Then he smiled softly, "So, you better make it to the finals, because I will." She smiled back at him a nodded. She would make it to the final, just to fight Tala. Here, they wouldn't have to hold back like they did when they were training. Here, they would find out who the better blader was. "Oh, and don't hold back."

"Whoa, Brad, those matches were iiin-tense!"

"Yeah, did you see the way Kai bladed out there? I guess after being missing in action for a year, you come back with a vengeance." Brad said as Emery and the other bladers took their place on either side of the dishes. "And this year we have new faces, like Emery Keiji!" An image with a picture of her and her stats popped up on the big screen.

The girl turned her attention to her opponent, a brown haired boy by the name of Ross. She made sure to remember him; he was gonna be his first match after all. "So, you're new huh?" Ross asked. Emery nodded and smiled cutely at him, making him blush.

"Bladers, ready!" DJ Jazzman yelled as he threw his hand up. All of the beybladers around the dishes got ready. Emery pulled out her black launcher, slid the cord through the launcher and finally attached her Beyblade. "3... 2... 1..."

Her left hand gripped her handle, making her glove-covered knuckles turn white. "Let it rip!"

Her Beyblade landed on the center of the dish and Ross' kept circling hers.

"Emery, Emery! She's the best! So good, she'll kick your ass!"

"What the…?" Emery slowly turned to look at the twins as they kept singing and dancing the tune they had just made up. 'They're so embarrassing.'

"Hey! You're suppose to be fighting me!" Ross yelled. His beyblade attacked Emery's slowly pushing it to the edge of the dish.

Emery raised her eyebrows as the beyblade continued to push her own. "You're actually pretty good." She smiled. "Kinshin, go." With that her beyblade started pushing back Ross's. She extended her atm and Kinshin hit the other blade making it fly out of the dish and in front of the boy's feet. The winning blade circled the dish once more and flew back to Emery's hand.

"And the first winner of block B is Emery!" DJ declared.

The rest of Emery's matches went the same. Win after win, she seemed to capture the heart of her adversaries and soon they also cheered on for her with Isadora and Sonora..

••Some where in White Tiger Hills••

Ray and the rest of his team were sitting around a small TV watching Russia's Block A and B Finals. Everyone was surprise when they saw Kai and the Blitzkrieg Boys there. Ray wondered if Tyson had seen it and how did he take it. But now, that was the least of his worries, he was sure that the new girl, Emery, had something to do with Kai and his absence. Not to mention that her abilities were beyond phenomenal.

White Tiger X watched in awe as the white haired girl and Brian bladed. He was making little damage to her blade. But soon, with a wave of her hand, the match ended, and Brian's blade stopped spinning. Mariah was the first one to cheer, she was happy that a girl had beaten so many guys. Gary and Kevin started making bets on her final match agaist Tala.

"Hn, there's no way that new girl could beat Tala." Lee said as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Why do you think that, Lee?" Ray turned to look at his friend.

"Just look at her!" Lee pointed to the TV. "There's no way she has enough stamina to go against him, not to mention that she looks weak."

"Well, she's made this far-"

"Yeah, because she's lucky!"

"Even so, luck can only get you so far. She's a good blader. She has a fighting chance." Ray said his eyes glued to the TV as Wolborg knocked the other blade out of the dish.

"So, do you think she can win, Ray?" Mariah asked looking at him.

"I don't know. Tala is pretty strong too."


And so I end this chapter. =]
I realized Max wasn't on this chapter as I was reading it for the last time, haha. But not to worry, dear ol' Max will be in the next one.

EDIT: June 2, 2010
I was looking back and saw typos and a few things I wanted to change. I started writing this with no plot-line so I don't know where it's heading. I think I should write one…
[1] With this I'm trying to show how close Emery and Kai actually are (that's why Kai may seem a little OCC when it comes to Emery). The rest of the team sees her as a little sister.
*sigh*
Feedback, pleasee!