Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblade. I only own my OCs, and the plot line.

Summary:The threat of higher level competition in the tournaments to come makes Mr. Dickenson assign Riley Phillips to help train the G Revolutions. Tyson knows her. She was the one who taught him to really beyblade. But how much does he know about the time between back then and now? And why is she singling Kai out?

To Turn The Tides

Chapter Ten: Championships, Here We Come!

Distant Storm

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He launched the beyblade again. So far, his ideas had paid off. "Dranzer, let's go!"

The phoenix emerged in an eerie array of light and color, releasing a fierce, piercing cry. He watched, smirking with satisfaction.

"Perfect."

Aren't I always?

He rolled his eyes. "Of course."

Good answer for someone who doesn't wish to become charcoal.

Recalling his beyblade, he quickly left the park, heading toward the B.B.A. building. He rushed into the chairman's office, seeing as they were leaving for Barcelona two days from the current one. It was time, he figured, to settle everything that had been started.

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She leaned back comfortably, obviously at peace. "It's just a warning, Rafe'. He got good fast."

The man looked unimpressed. "You say that, but how would you know?"

"I trained him."

"Traitor."

She had a cocky smirk on her face. Rafael always knew she was a brat."That's been established."

"Amanda's going to cream him."

"She's not in the tournament."

It was his turn to chuckle knowingly. He crossed his arms over the back of the chair, as he was sitting on it backwards. "Wrong."

A pair of crimson eyes grew huge. After a moment of shock, she pulled her laptop from her side to her lap, and turned it on. Within minutes she was in the B.B.A. database. "Late entry? What the frig? He had better have come up with a good attack. She'll call him out."

"For sure. Seeing as you defended the brat."

"He's not a brat."

Rafael shook his head. "Don't act so in love with him. If you want him to beat Amanda's team, you have to harden him up."

"For God's sake, he's an icicle!"

"Good. But you might want to make him sub zero, or at least test his abilities before he goes up against her. He's never battled an infinite as one himself."

"See, and I thought you'd be the guy to kill me for letting him in the 'inter-circle.'" His eyes hardened.

"It's only a matter of time before his team mates are ready. With the way you train people, they're probably a good match for any basic leveled infinite. The five founders, now that's a different story."

Riley rolled her eyes. "Well duh, we kick ass."

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Dickenson caught Kai staring out the window, absentmindedly stroking Dranzer's blade with his thumb. Ever since Riley had left, he'd become a lot less with it, phasing out, not focusing, the like. When he got caught, he shrugged it off, and the rest of the gang chalked it up to his usual distance.

"Well now," The chairman began, catching most of the group's attention, "A young woman, by the name of Amanda-" Kai's head snapped to attention on Dickenson- "recently entered herself as a late entry to the championships."

Kai, if he was surprised, he had to be floored. One could actually tell. His mouth, for probably the first time in his life, had fallen just a bit, to emphasize this fact. "She didn't."

Hiro eyed him suspiciously. "And what do you know about Amanda?" He demanded, rather viciously.

"That you don't want to get in her way," Kai retorted sourly.

Max gave him a curious glance. "Bad experience?"

"Something like that." Hiro glanced back at Kai. He needed answers. And he wasn't going to wait around for them. As soon as this meeting was over, he was going to have a talk with a certain Russian. Things needed to be settled.

"Anyway," Dickenson said, now that he had everyone's attention, "I'm sure Riley told you about the origins of infinity." The gang nodded. "Amanda is one of the original five. She is the leader of Seattle's toughest gang, the one Riley had a run in with a while back." He paused so they could collect the info. "She is one of the toughest beybladers you will ever face, and I want to advise you that if and when you come in contact with her, take great care. People have died fighting her." Kai's fists tightened.

After a few other pointers, reminders, and motivational speeches, the gang was dismissed. "Kai," The chairman called. "I want to talk to you."

Hiro pointedly glared at the captain before marching away with the rest of the group. "Yes?"

The chairman motioned for him to sit down, which he did, back in the seat he was previously in. "I've been talking to Riley a lot."

"And?" The boy wasn't quite sure what to expect here, but he'd have to be careful. He knew that she wouldn't say anything about his training. He'd get killed for it and so would she.

"She said that she thinks you'll beat Tyson, but he's not the one I'm worried about. Amanda-"

"Will want to fight me. I figured."

"That fight will not be clean, no matter which way you go about it."

"I know that too."

"If she tries anything-"

"No. I want to fight her."

"What?" The chairman looked aghast. "Are you insane? She could kill you!"

"I'm five times as strong as I was last year."

"And that still might not be enough. I know you've tried Omegacide, and you nearly killed Riley! You could kill yourself if you attempt it again." He appeared angry, while Kai tried his best to keep himself under control.

"Look, I know I can beat her. It might be tough, but I'll take that chance. Riley pushed me twice as hard as she ever pushed the others. I know her secret. And she knows mine."

Dickenson nodded knowingly. "She believes in you, I can tell. I just think you're getting ahead of yourselves. What about the regular infinites?"

"I'll deal with them when the time comes. When we're in Barcelona, you can assess just how much I've aquired from your daughter." He paused. "She told me that you asked her to take your last name."

His mouth opened and closed. "What else did she tell you?"

"Just about everything."

"When?"

"You know, I really don't have time for this." Kai got up and walked away. For as brilliant as Dickenson was, he was completely oblivious. "Some people never learn."

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"I'm Brad Best, coming to you live with AJ Topper, in the preliminary rounds of the World Championships, starting here, in Barcelona!"

"Yeah, AJ Topper here! This year's going to to be insane, isn't it Brad?"

"You can say that again."

"This year's going to be in-"

"Anyway, this time around, the competition doors have been opened to a new, higher rank of beybladers. If you thought that the Tyson versus Brooklyn of last year was intense, just wait. Have we got a show for you."

The two announcers sat high up, in their own press box, next to the enclosed one belonging to the B.B.A. Chairman. "This year, the infinite class of beybladers is going to let it rip just a little bit faster than most of our spectators are used to. So be careful. You don't want to get hit by one of those."

"Yeah, AJ, those are definitely lethal if you get hit by one. Sharper than diamonds."

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Kai's eyes scanned his opponents, none of whom seemed to pose much of a threat. Things were no different than usual, he figured. He'd go out, leave his spectators and opponent in awe and steal a quick victory. No one would wonder. It was his nature, was it not?

"Bladers to the dish!" Kai waited for his opponent, a boy with long green hair that ended around his mid back. He had a few freckles and dark brown eyes that watched him carefully. Jazzman looked to the two opponents, who each nodded to prove that they were indeed ready to begin.

From behind them, Kenny's fingers navigated their way around the keyboard as Dizzi rattled off stats to him, expressing the need for Kai to express caution, as the boy was indeed an infinite. He might be younger, but for sure, he was a force to be reconed with.

"Three... two... one-"

"Let it rip!" Kai drew his beyblade out in front of him, sparing the motions that were used by Riley for the time being. They would be picked up when it counted, but he did the mini-motion, as she called it, flipping the launcher over during launch and sending the blader out of the dish within seconds. He recalled Dranzer, received a standing ovation, and returned to the bench.

"Anyone who can beat their opponent faster than I beat mine, I'll give you twenty bucks."

The other four bladers, two techs, and one older brother's mouth dropped. Hiro glared at him. "What the hell did she teach you?"

"No one taught me anything. I've been training. If they trained as hard as I did, they could do that too."

Hiro stood over him, but whispered in Kai's ear, "You know her secret, and I know that launch was hers. Do not make me tell the others."

"I told you," Kai said, shoving him away, "I don't like you, and you don't like me. If you stay away from me, we'll all be fine. And as far as the launch goes, I've got my own way of running things. I don't need yours or anyone else's."

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"This isn't adding up," Kenny said to himself. Something was different. They were heading to Ottawa on the red-eye flight out of Barcelona. And in the process of their first infinite battles, Kai had hit the ground running. Or spinning, in this case. It didn't really add up. Tyson, dare the geek say it, really didn't have anything on Kai. The champ had actually lost a battle.

He had gone through the statistics almost a hundred times over. Kai had, over the course of their training, never been as strong as he currently was. The phoenix was one was to rise up to challenges, but not to such an extent that he had not landed a beyblade in the beydish the entire tournament. All of his battles- erm, victories, had lasted no longer than fifteen seconds- depending on the chatter.

The Chief looked over at the captain, whose eyes were shut, meaning that he was most likely asleep, or at least resting. He typed on to Dizzi, who seemed just as perplexed. Kai was always a mystery, but this one was the strangest yet. Since when did ol' sourpuss suddenly demonstrate infinite-leveled power that no one knew about? If he was that strong already, he would've taken out Tyson when given the chance. This meant that he got strong fast. And Kenny had no idea how. He hoped it would be the right way, a way to be revealed in time.

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Thanks for reading, and please review. I know this wasn't very good, but it's setting us up for what's to come! So until next time, all comments and alerts adds are appreciated(it's nice to get e-mails about reviews, but adds in the alerts and fave columns are great too)!

Love ya! Distant Storm