RTC: Sorry, this is going to be a very short author's note, since I don't have time to write a decent one. Just one quick question: would you like/mind if Kai was paired up? Be honest! Now disclaimer please!

Kai: You all know this by now, I hope, Ray-Tiger-Cat does not own Beyblade.

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A Startling Announcement

Ray's POV

I'm so bored. I've been stuck in this hospital for a week and a half, not counting the days when I was still unconscious. The only good thing about being here is that I don't have to deal with my friends yet. I know they've been told, but I don't know how they'll react. I haven't even talked to anyone, not even Lizzie, who I'm sure is really worried by now. I haven't called to tell her that I'm getting out of here tomorrow and will be back in Tokyo the day after that.

Before I knew what was happening, I found myself on a Tokyo bound plane. My dad is taking a different plane home so he can look into Mom's disappearance. I didn't really expect him to stick around anyway, so I'm not disappointed. Mr. Dickenson met me at the airport.

"Ray, how are you? Feeling better?" he asked, but he looked distracted.

"Fine, I guess," I replied.

"Nervous? It must be stressful to worry about what your team mates think," ha said, guessing accurately as to what was bothering me.

"A little."

It seemed to me that time was moving much too quickly and I found my self on the doorstep before long. Mr. Dickenson rang the doorbell. Kai answered it and the next thing I knew, Lizzie had tackled me, knocked me off balance and had obscured my vision with her dark hair. She was sobbing hard and was practically suffocating me with her hug, but I hugged her back anyway.

"Lizzie, relax," I told her.

"You scared the living daylights out of me!" she exclaimed.

"Sorry. Did you know I was coming?"

"Yeah, Dad called a few hours ago and told me. I've been waiting by the door ever since." She let go of me and stepped back. The others look anxious or afraid and they were all staring intently.

"You look so different," Daichi said and Hilary hit him.

"I know," I mumbled. I knew that he was the only one being honest right then. I'd lost a lot of weight which made me look like a skeleton, my eyes had dark bags under them, my hair was a mess and it was cut shorter and I could only imagine how bad the scrapes and cuts looked to them. I resembled Frankenstein. Well, okay, maybe I wasn't that bad, but still.

"Cheer up. At least you're put of the hospital," said Max.

"Max, when did you get out of the hospital?" I asked. I hadn't noticed that he was there.

"Two days ago and I'm so glad to be out of there!"

"Well, why are we all standing here?" asked Mr. Dickenson. "Let's go and sit down." So we all settled in the living room.

"So, Ray?" asked Tyson, squirming.

"Yeah, what?"

"Why did you keep it a secret? We would have understood, you know." Finally, someone had asked the dreaded question. It was almost a relief.

"I think you already know. I didn't want you guys to worry or act differently around me. I know you said you would have understood, but it's not that easy. The White Tigers freaked out a bit when I got sick and they stopped confiding things in me because they thought I didn't need to worry so much. It wasn't until after Lee freaked at the Championships did things go back to normal," I explained and everyone looked around awkwardly. Mr. Dickenson broke the silence.

"I have an announcement. There's another tournament that you should participate in," he announced. "It's in a month."

"What? But we won't be ready in time! Kai, Max and Ray can't compete so Kenny has to participate and he needs time to build himself a new blade and train!" Tyson yelled.

"There's more, I'm afraid. You have to be thirteen to enter so Daichi's out. And to make things worse, you need at least four members."

"But then what are we going to do?" asked Hilary.

"What? That's not fair!" Daichi screamed at the same time.

"Yes, I know. I think someone's out to keep you out of this tournament and I believe that Biovolt has something to do with his," Mr. Dickenson said. "Let me explain the format to you and then we'll deal with everything else. This is not just a beyblade tournament; you must participate in other sports too. All members on the team have to blade and one member has to do each of the following; a water event, track winter sport and the floor event, like dance or tumbling."

"Okay, we are so screwed now. Not only don't we have enough people, but how are we going to get people who can do those things," muttered Tyson.

"Well, I could participate," suggested Kari. "I'm good at skating, so that covers the winter sport."

"And I'll get myself ready on time," said Kenny.

"Um, maybe, um I could enter too," added Lizzie, squirming and blushing. She looked hopeful and sort of happy, something she hasn't been in so long.

"What? We don't need a little, anorexic ten year old amateur to take part! You're not even old enough!" Daichi yelled tactlessly, destroying the happiness. Lizzie went red. Slap! She hit him extremely hard across the face. Everyone stared in stunned silence and Daichi was gaping, at a lose for words.

"Don't you dare say that again!" she screamed and ran outside.

"What did I do?" Daichi asked, having finally found his voice.

I felt myself get angry. "Well, let's see. You called her an amateur, when she knows how to blade well, you accused her of being anorexic, which she's not; she can't help being so skinny and Lizzie is definitely not ten."

"Okay, fine, we don't need an eleven year old kid screwing things up," Daichi said, angrily.

"She's almost fourteen."

"What? She's so small though!"

"Gymnasts are generally small. And now I'd better go find her before she gets lost," I said, stifling a yawn.

"No, you'd better rest. I'll find her," Kai ordered. It made me mad that he was forcing me to stay put but I was really tired, so I didn't argue.

Kai's POV

I figured that Lizzie would have run off to the park, so I ran over there. Sure enough, there she was, sitting on a swing, all alone.

"Lizzie?" I said, sitting in a swing next to her.

"Go away." Her head was bent and her hair covered her face, but I could tell that she was crying.

"I can't leave you here. Your brother would kill me," I told her.

"I don't want to go back. I want to go home." The words were muffled and her shoulders heaved. She looked up. "I want to go home," she repeated.

"I know, but you have to remember, your home isn't the way it was when you left. Your mom won't be there and the town's probably freaking about her disappearance. And don't forget the press; they'll be after you for interviews and stuff," I said, thinking of what had happened after Mom and Dad died.

"That's true," she said slowly and stood up. "But what about Daichi and the team? They're probably all mad at me."

"I doubt that. If they are, I'll deal with them for you. Come on, you don't want Ray to worry, do you?" A little guilt usually does the trick. Lizzie was no exception. She stood on shaking legs. I got up too and she leaned on me for a few minutes.

"Kai, thank you for understanding. You remind me so much of this friend I had; her name was Suzi and she's like you in a lot of ways," Lizzie said, tears forming in her eyes. She surprised me by giving me a quick hug. I was bewildered; I thought Ray had said that she didn't have a lot of friends. And why did she say she had a friend, did they have a fight or something? I made a mental note to talk to Ray about her later. Ray isn't the only one in his family that's had secrets. Lizzie's hiding the truth, too. I was determined to find out what was going on.

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RTC: Sorry for the excessive use of the word 'what' but I couldn't think of anything else. Please review. See ya. BTW, I might write a bit better when my exams are done. Please bare with me till them.