Chapter Twelve

The whole scene was very much like a painting, if not a bit a grotesque. The background was a dark forest of gnarled trees, several scorched by flame, most stretching their arms out as if hoping to receive a gruesome embrace. In the foreground would be a carefully painted hole in the ground, etched out in a random fashion with its sides crumbling onto a figure deep in it; a figure nursing several broken bones and a bloodied forehead. On one edge would be a young man staring angrily through a pair of bottle-bottom glasses, held back by three taller and more muscular men who were grimacing. On the other side would be another figure with thick and unruly blue hair and muddied clothing with his three friends, one female, two male, stood just off centre watching the action from the trees. The painting was finished off with the distortion of heavy rain coating everybody in the picture. There was, however, one person yet to be painted in the unfolding scene.

Tyson decided he'd better explain himself after his sudden appearance. He studied Kenny who was stood across from him being forcibly restrained by the Mystical Warriors. Kenny tried to move but he couldn't escape: the Warriors had grabbed hold of his upper arms tightly and were not letting go. They were no longer afraid of Kenny and had plans of how to deal with him but first they wanted some explanation for the events of the previous weeks which only one person could give: Tyson.

'I would start from the beginning but that could be more confusing,' Tyson said, the rain battering down from on high and making it increasingly difficult for him to look at the people he was speaking too. 'I should really start from my death.'

There was a gasp from behind him as Saki realised what he could be saying. Hundreds of different ideas buzzed through her head: was he a ghost? Had he somehow been reincarnated? Was it not really Tyson but a fake? Her chest felt hollow and her heart was fluttering with apprehension. Tyson just smiled.

'Well I say my death. I never actually died. I'll take you back to that scene on the cliff edge where I was hanging off the edge well aware of my own mortality. I could see the smiling face of the leader above me Tyson grimaced as he said this part of the story and realised I had to do something else I would be following Kano and meeting my maker. I lifted myself up and grabbed hold of his cowl, trying to pull myself up. But I knew my muscles weren't strong enough and he had the advantage. I could feel myself slipping and, as I began to move backwards, I tugged once more on his cowl and the Opal Beyblade slipped into my hand as I fell.

'I didn't know what it was other than it being a Beyblade so I now prepared myself for death. But death didn't come.

'And of course by this point the leader had made his key mistake and shown me his identity. He thought I was going to die but by a series of chances I didn't. I fell back, the Opal Beyblade in hand, making a grab for Kenny's laptop as I did so. Then nothing.'

Aside from the tapping of rain on the ground and the occasional rumble of thunder, the whole area was struck down by a sense of awe at the picture that was being painted. And now another character was set to be added to the masterpiece.

'It was thanks to one person that I was saved. One person with a fantastic knowledge of the Opal Beyblades, trained ironically by the person who tried to kill me.

'As I fell Dizzi came online and somehow activated the Beyblade and sent me back in time but to me it was just entering a haze of whiteness. So really I've got Dizzi to thank.'

There were footsteps from behind Tyson and from out of the trees. Saki didn't recognise the figure that approached Tyson, and Ray and Max only had a slight inkling. It was only as the figure came to Tyson's side and as he introduced her whilst holding her hand did they all realise.

'May I present Dizzi.'

Dizzi stood there going slightly red with embarrassment, her free hand stuck awkwardly in one of her jeans pockets. Dizzi was just as attractive as she'd always been even when her shirt was drenched in the rain. Her long brown hair was still resting gently on her shoulders and her chest was moving in and out as she breathed. Tyson looked over to her and smiled, his whole demeanour suddenly becoming more light and airy. He was much happier when he was in her presence. It was probably something to do with love.

'Dizzi!' Kenny screamed, lunging forward with his chest but being unable to escape the grasp of the Mystical Warriors. The look of frustration was clearly apparent on his face. 'I did this all for you. You must know that.'

Dizzi didn't respond in words. Instead she bowed her head and looked awkwardly at the muddy ground. She squeezed Tyson's hand harder. Tyson just glared back at Kenny though this made him even angrier.

'But it's all your fault!' Kenny spat, his fist flailing, or at least attempting to move from the restriction of the Warriors. 'If you hadn't stolen her from me then none of this would have happened.'

Tyson bowed his head momentarily before lifting it back up. With his eyebrows raised and his mouth downturned, he sighed and spoke:

'Yes. To some extent that's true.'

'It's all true!' Kenny interrupted loudly. Tyson ignored him and just continued.

'I admit that I developed a crush on Dizzi and it's come to a point now where we know we should be together. I'm sorry if you feel like I've taken away your friend but we are in love.'

'Love. Pah!' scoffed Kenny, his anger bubbling over. 'You don't know what love is. You're blind to the truth. She's my friend and you stole her from me.'

Kenny then looked up, thinking. He'd had a change of mind.

'No,' he spluttered. 'She is more than my friend. She is my life. Without her I am nothing. Nothing!'

Kenny had been writhing even more now, trying to pull away, fury filling up every vein. He was speaking so furiously spit was flying everywhere, though it was getting lost in the driving rain, and his glasses were almost falling off his nose.

'I know that!' Tyson shouted, trying to be heard over the noise of the elements, 'But I can't help what I feel.'

Kenny exclaimed and realised the futility of his resistance and settled down. 'I don't care what you feel. Dizzi should be hear with me. At least you should say your peace and be gone. You should have died on that cliff edge then we'd all be happy.'

Kenny relented.

'Just get on with your story. I know you're dying to tell it.'

'Thanks. I will,' Tyson muttered before composing himself to continue the tale. 'I ended up a week earlier and in my Dojo, completely disorientated…'

Tyson had landed with a bump on the floor of his Dojo, his backside aching and his head spinning. In one hand he was clutching tight hold of the fifth Opal Beyblade; under his other arm was Kenny's laptop. Shaking his head and trying to gather his bearings, Tyson had got up onto his feet, placing the 'blade and laptop down on the wooden floor. Shafts of light through the windows lit the teenager up as he rubbed his bottom and made himself aware of just where he was and when he was. His line of sight had fallen on a calendar on the wall which revealed the date to be exactly one week previous to when he'd last been. Tyson's initially reaction was to bound over to the calendar, his hair bouncing about above his confused and pale face, and check it. Had he forgotten to move over the dates? No, he did that every morning without fail, ripping off another page as he brushed his teeth. But maybe then he'd died: maybe he'd been in limbo for a week and obviously hadn't had the chance to change the dates? No. That answer didn't seem right. There was something more to it. The realisation began to dawn on Tyson. There was only one explanation but Tyson realised that wasn't possible even with his knowledge of what had gone on over the previous weeks, even though it now seemed one week of that time had yet to happen. One voice decided to reveal all:

'Tyson. Over here.'

Tyson spun around, his pupils darting about as he tried to locate the source of those words. They had seemed to come from the laptop and only a confirmation of 'Yes, it's me' spurred Tyson into walking over the hard floor and to pick up the laptop. He lifted open the screen and studied the data. Dizzi's voice was unmistakable.

'I can explain what happened but first, I think we should talk person-to-person. It's not perfect – I'll explain later – but use the 'blade.'

Tyson was confused but shrugged and did what she asked. He placed the laptop on the floor and retrieved the Opal Beyblade, pointing it awkwardly at the screen. Suddenly, with no warning, a ray of light shot from the 'blade and illuminated the whole room to such an extent that the streaming light from the windows was extinguished for several seconds. Only as the pulse of light faded did the natural light return, lighting up a new figure in the centre of the room. Tyson didn't need to see her long flowing brown hair, her pretty smile or her curved body to know it was Dizzy. A strange feeling came over him and he rushed up to Dizzi. With no messing about the couple embraced and, with Tyson tilting his head slightly to the right, kissed, their lips interlocking and swells of happiness pulsating through their bodies. After about twenty seconds they pulled apart.

'I thought I'd never see you again,' Tyson mumbled as he stayed closely to her, his left hand stroking her shoulder as he gazed into her beautiful eyes. Dizzi nodded.

'I've missed you too… ever since that time we first met properly…'

There was an awed silence as the two looked into each others eyes and for one of the first times in their lives realised they were truly happy. But there was a more important matter in hand and soon they had moved across Tyson's dojo and sat down crossed-legged on the side to talk. Dizzi spent much of their conversation fiddling nervously with the ends of her hair; Tyson studying her face.

'I need to know what just happened.'

'I can tell you as much as I know but there might be gaps. Basically that Opal Beyblade they both looked nervously over to the small metallic object as she said this is more powerful than any of us know. It doesn't just have the power to send individuals back in time but to alter time. That's how this has all happened.

'After I saved you all from the Mystical Warrior, what seems far too long ago, Kenny became jealous of you after he realised we had grown close. He spent hours with me on the Internet researching into these Opal Beyblades, finding out practically everything about them. Whilst doing this research he stumbled across the existence of a fifth Opal Beyblade with amazing powers of time travel. Kenny realised that was the answer to his problem. I've never seen anyone like it… he was possessed to finding the answer, doing some very controversial hacking to get the information. He was soon onto the trail and found where it was hidden and went to look for it. And that's when the problems started.

'Already consumed by jealousy, an emotion alien to Kenny, the fifth Opal 'blade latched onto him as he retrieved it from its podium. It immediately locked onto his most inner fears and became him, sending him back in time several years and to the temple of the leader where, possessed by the Beyblade he killed the leader and took over his calling to take over the world by recruiting the four Mystical Warriors. This was the ambition of the Bit Beast in the Opal Beyblade: to take control of its own destiny and rule the world. It appeased Kenny – its host – by promising that as part of its mission it would destroy you, so the leader dispatched one of the later Warriors to capture up all your friends – including the past Kenny – and bring you to what he hoped would be your death. But he hadn't counted on me saving you.'

Tyson looked puzzled.

'But that's impossible. I only realised my feelings for you because of the involvement with the Mystical Warriors, but they couldn't have attacked me without having that reason to attack me. It doesn't make sense; it's not logical.'

Dizzi looked over to the Opal Beyblade once more.

'That's the most frightening thing about that Beyblade. As I said it's far cleverer than any of us predicted. It judged what would happen from its knowledge of all events, engineering fate so both possibilities could happen. It's illogical but that's what's the most frightening thing, which is why you must listen closely to what I'm about to say.

'Already the Bit Beast inside that Beyblade is feeding off your fears, your anxieties, your concerns and will be engineering all our futures. If we don't do something now then it could be creating an even worse future for us all. We have to sort out what it has done so far but we cannot use the time function on it more than is necessary else it will continue to live off you and take you over like it did Kenny.

'We have to work hard over the next week to train you up to take the leader on and stop what's been happening.'

'I understand. I know what we have to do.'

'And the best time to start is now.'

And so it began. For two weeks Tyson and Dizzi worked tirelessly side by side, training together in fighting and in Beyblade to make sure Tyson was fully prepared for anything the Leader – or Kenny as they now knew it to be – would throw at him. Tyson was fully aware of what could happen and was determined to prepare fully, being a determined student to Dizzi's teacher. He learned lots that week from Dizzi… especially her knowledge of Beyblade from years of gathering information inputted by Kenny which she analysed. On evenings they would relax and watch television, or go to the cinema, or just enjoy each others company and talk about everything in front of Tyson's warm fire. Quite often they would give into each other and share a passionate embrace by the fireside, their lips gently touching and their hands caressing each others body. They were both happy and realised that, even with the harsh consequences of their actions, it had been for the best. Both Tyson and Dizzi had felt more alive than they ever had and all their cares seemed to wash away. By the end of the seventh night they were ready for what would happen the next day, sealing their devotion to doing what was right, and to each other, by packing away all their Beyblade and training equipment and retiring together at midnight…

The next day came. Tyson and Dizzi got dressed and breakfasted together, not needing to say anything to each other. They had got wind of Tyson's funeral and, later in the day, had watched the ceremony from a safe distance, a tear coming to Tyson's eye as he realised that the people there – his family and friends – thought that they would never see him again and that upset him. They both saw Tyson's father's and Max's eulogies and then watched as Kai, Max and Ray walked across the graveyard before being joined by Saki.

'Who's that?' Dizzi had whispered to Tyson, not recognising the figure.

'A girl called Saki,' he replied. 'I know her from the village. I think she has a crush on me.'

Dizzi laughed awkwardly. She wasn't keen on the thought of someone 'having a crush' on Tyson when they were now so settled. Maybe it was because she was nervous of what could happen in the next six hours, or maybe it was the presence of the Opal Beyblade in the pocket of Tyson's jeans. She knew how dangerous it was and feared that any talk of another love interest could be already engineering problems for them down the line. Already Dizzi could feel time and fate shifting to create horrifying possibilities; or maybe it was just the nerves that were overtaking her body.

Soon Dizzi and Tyson left the spot and trailed their friends into the woods where they saw them bury the Opal Beyblades. They saw Saki joining them – only just avoiding being spotted by her as she rushed to meet them. Tyson accidentally stepping back on a twig which snapped, which was the first sound that Max had heard and not Saki as they later guessed. They then saw them enter the clearing and encounter Kenny and the battle between him and Kai that ensued. With the quick revelations of the missing Beyblade and Kenny's identity, Tyson knew he had to act. With a nod from Dizzy, a whisper of 'Good luck' and a squeeze of his hand, Tyson emerged from their observation spot and walked into the scene, shocking everyone there.

'And that just about brings us up to speed,' Tyson said, the story concluding as he looked over to Kenny as the rain continued to pour down. 'That's why I have to stop you Kenny.'

'You'll never stop me.'

Tyson had been waiting for his moment. He knew he would have to battle Kenny now and it was a task he knew would happen but something he wasn't looking forward to all the same. But something was about to happen that would relieve Tyson of that duty and would seal his fate. And it was triggered by just a few words from one of the Mystical Warriors.

'You mean,' Mamoru said bitterly, pulling tighter hold of the flesh on Kenny's arm, which made the captive exclaim sharply, 'We've been taking orders from a possessed devil?'

The other two Mystical Warriors Akira and Hisa turned to each other and muttered.

'Well then we've been played for fools! This will end now!'

Before Tyson could intervene or do anything, Mamoru took from his jacket a long knife that glinted in the moonlight, thrusting it straight into Kenny's chest and withdrawing it immediately. The three Mystical Warriors moved backwards, releasing Kenny from their grasp with a push, letting him fall forward and into the hole, rolling limply to the side of Kai who, because of his injuries, could do nothing to help. The knife soon followed, embedding blade down in the mud, a sick reminder of what had just happened. Kenny just lay there clutching his chest, his hands quickly becoming stained with blood, his face becoming paler and his eyelids drooping. He spoke with difficult, his chest moving up and down with difficult, stuttering.

'I'm sorry about this,' Kenny said, finally emerging from the possession of the Opal Beyblade as it shifted its loyalty. 'I never wanted any of this to happen. I just wanted Dizzi to myself as my best friend. Was that too much to ask?'

Tyson, who could only just hear Kenny's words, looked down at him with sadness ruling his face. His left hand was moving in his pocket, checking the fifth Beyblade was still there. Tyson was joined at his side by Dizzi, Saki, Max and Ray, all staring down at the two limp bodies in the pit: Kai with broken bones that would soon heal but Kenny with far more serious problems. Already he was choking, the rain thrashing down on him and chilling him to the bone. There were scuffles as the Mystical Warriors realised the consequence of their actions but were still not moved by the unfolding scene, only concerned about their own safety.

'Let's get out of here!' Mamoru said calmly to his two colleagues who would soon be running in opposite directions to him as the Mystical Warriors separated never to rejoin in this time zone. Akira and Hisa nodded and they all turned, running away and disappearing into the blackness never to be seen by anyone else in those woods again. Even throughout this the gaze of the five young people on the ground never moved. Kenny looked up at Dizzi as his eyesight began to fail, blurring her body into a series of coloured dots.

'I'm sorry about everything. I only wanted you to stay my friend.'

And with the last word dribbling from his mouth, his heart finally gave up and ceased, life draining from his body into the puddles round about, Kenny's eyes closing and his head drooping to the right. Saki let out a shocked gasp; Max and Ray looked down at their muddy shoes. Tyson was just dumbstruck; this was not how he'd imagined the evening panning out. A fight with Kenny, definitely. But not his death. It was only Dizzi grabbing him by his shoulders and turning round to face him that shook him from his out-of-body experience. Dizzi's face was etched with a seriousness that Tyson had not yet seen.

'There's only one thing you can do,' was all she said. Tyson blinked.

'What?'

'You have to use the Opal 'Blade and go back in time. Back to before this all happened. You have to overwrite everything the Beyblade has caused and take us back to how we were… before Kenny died, before Kai got injured, before Dranzer was murdered. And before we ever encountered the leader or the Mystical Warriors.'

'But that will mean…'

'Yes… we'll never meet probably, but there's more happening here than just me and you.'

'I understand,' was all Tyson could say but his heart was already deflating as his mind played what would happen.

'It's not Kenny's fault,' Dizzi said, looking down into the pit and closing her eyes before looking back into the eyes of Tyson and opening them again. She placed her hands firmly on his shoulders, squeezing them gently. 'His emotion was seized upon by the Beyblade and turned into a monster. The one who did this was not Kenny but the leader. They may have looked like the same person but they were anything but one and the same. I know it may not be what you want to hear but you have to save Kenny.'

Tyson nodded, his senses numb to the rain, to Saki, Max and Ray following Dizzi's every word, and even to the pain of Kai below; in fact everything but Dizzi.

'But I'll never see you again and, if I do change time, none of you will know any of this.'

'That's a good thing.'

'But you won't know what we had.'

'I know and I'm not liking it as much as you are but it has to be done. We all owe it to Kenny.'

Dizzi looked down into the pit and studied Kenny's body, his thick glasses gathering two small puddles of water and his clothes darkened with the rain. She sobbed.

'After all has been said and done Kenny needs me and I need Kenny and we all need the information we bring to the group.'

Tyson nodded again.

'It's the only way.'

Tyson looked around at Max, Ray and Saki and nodded. They all walked respectably away as he talked to Dizzi for what was likely to be the last time they would talk about their love for each other. Tyson turned back to Dizzi and smiled.

'I'm not sure what I'll do without you.'

'You'll manage,' Dizzi said before having to admit what she'd been denying to herself. 'I think you'll have someone else to keep you company.'

'What do you mean?'

'Just look at Saki.'

Tyson turned to look at what Dizzi was seeing. Saki was there looking at Tyson, a look of sadness of her face. She swallowed hard. Saki saw Tyson looking at her and immediately looked back to Ray and Max. Tyson returned his gaze to Dizzi but it was her that spoke.

'She clearly has feelings for you. Probably has had for a long time. I recognise the look.'

'I don't know. It's you I want to spend time with.'

'The Opal 'Blade has put paid to that.'

Tyson sighed and looked up at the dark clouds in the sky.

'I guess this is it then.'

'I guess it is.'

There was an awkward silence between the pair as they just listened to the sound of the rain and each others breathing and heartbeat. Then, for one last time, though the rain tried to drown their emotions, they moved close to each other and kissed, their lips meeting in an explosion of passion for one last time. They pulled apart far too quickly for Tyson's liking. He would have preferred to have stood there for eternity in the rain with Dizzi. She too was going to miss Tyson but knew that her heart lay with Kenny; he needed her more than Tyson even though it was killing her to make that decision. But at the end of the day they were doing what was right.

Tyson took the Opal Beyblade from his pocket, grasping it loosely in his hand as he considered throwing it down into the pit to lie dead with Kenny and do what he wanted and not what he felt he should do. But this selfishness soon passed and he knew what he had to do. Tyson nodded once more at Dizzi and then touched the Beyblade with his other hand.

A large bubble of light consumed Tyson before swallowing him whole, then it retracted, leaving a void where Tyson had once been.

'Good luck Tyson,' Dizzi said with sadness in her voice, tears welling up in her eyes. 'I did love you.'

To be continued…