RTC: Why am I posting this? I really don't know why I bother sometimes. I feel like no one's paying attention to these author's notes! No one answered my question I their review; I had to ask you guys in the review responses! So, right now, it's four people for and one against. If you haven't voted do so now! Okay, my muses want to talk now. I'm outtie!

Kai: What's her problem?

Ray: She's mad because everyone is ignoring her and she's stressed about school. It's been like this for a few weeks now, but no one's noticed. That's why her author's notes have been so short lately and we weren't in them.

Tyson: She locked us up in the back of her mind! I don't like her mind. It's very twisted, more so when she's depressed.

Hilary: Enough insane chatter! No one ever reads it! Ray-Tiger-Cat does not own Beyblade.

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Preparing For Another Tournament

Kari's POV

Well, today is the first day of training. We decided to let Lizzie enter the tourny, even though Daichi was angry and Ray looked worried. He seriously worries too much. Daichi was mainly silenced by Ray. I'd never seen him get mad and judging by the others reactions, they hadn't either.

Kai's going to be training us, but he's still supposed to take it easy, Max and Ray will help him (they've both been taking frequent naps), Kenny will record and analyse the data as well as participate and Hilary will be the 'cheerleader'. She's been acting weird around Tyson lately. I think something finally happened between them!

I'm sort of nervous, since I've never been on any kind of a team before. Hopefully, I can handle this. We really need to win because if Boris and his cronies beat us, we're going to be dead or surrendering out bitbeasts.

I sighed and ran downstairs. Kai, Lizzie and Lynn were in the kitchen. Kai was drinking coffee and Lizzie was trying to get Lynn to eat her breakfast.

"Where's Ray?" I asked. "Still asleep?"

"No, he's out back. He already ate and then went outside because he needed time to think," Lizzie answered.

"Oh. Do you think he's okay? I'm sort of nervous, entering this tournament without most of the regular members," I confessed. I was surprised that I had openly admitted that. Well, Kai was bound to understand, Lynn didn't know what the big deal was and surprisingly, Lizzie was becoming a friend. At first I'd only taken her under my wing because Ray wasn't around and no one else would do it, but I realized that she was becoming close to me. Either that or I just need a girl to talk to since Hilary's been so spacey lately. There are way too many guys around here.

Pretty soon, Kai had dragged us out of the house and to the new BBA training facility which had a pool, rink, track and plenty of space to practise for a floor event. We still hadn't decided who was going to do what, but I assumed that I'd be skating. I pointed this out to my very distracted brother and he said he'd deal with it.

True to his word, as soon as we were assembled, he announced, "Who's going to participate in which event?"

"Well, I want to do track!" yelled Tyson.

"You know I want to skate," I added.

"I'd like the floor event," Lizzie said shyly.

"So, Kenny, you're swimming, okay?" asked Hilary.

"Sure."

"Since there are nine of us, each person will get a coach/partner and one person will watch Lynn," Kai instructed. The partners weren't really all that surprising; Hilary went with Tyson, probably so they could sneak a kiss or two, Max helped Chief, Ray went to help Lizzie and Kai was my coach, mainly because he was the only one who could skate well. (I was glad because this gave me the chance to grill him on why he was so distracted.) The only real surprise was that Daichi ended up baby sitting. I'm not sure who I should feel sorry for, Daichi or Lynn. I decided on the latter.

Hilary's POV

I'd finally gotten rid of the crutches, but I had a limp and couldn't keep up with Tyson, so I decided to time him. He ran ten laps and then he ran up to me and threw his arms around me.

"No more! Please!" he whined.

"Awe, come on. How are you going to compete in the tournament if you can't even do this? And you're supposed to be the World Champion," I teased.

Tyson grinned and said, "Will you let me off the hook if I do this?' Then he kissed me. Who would have thought we'd end up together?

"Maybe if you do it again," I said, smiling mischievously. He did.

"If Kai catches us, we're toast," he remarked.

"And Daichi would never let us hear the end of it," I added.

"So maybe we should get back to work," he suggested.

"I can't believe I heard Tyson Granger say that! And here I was, thinking he was too fun loving for work," I teased.

"Yeah, well, that Tyson grew up," Tyson said, very seriously. "We all have." I realized that he was right. Ever since this mess started, we've all grown up and become more serious. We were losing something; our childhoods. Well, I doubt that Kai ever had one of those to begin with. I meant that as a joke, but the more I thought of it, the closer that seemed to the truth. How sad.

Kai's POV

"So, what's with you?" Kari asked the second we were alone.

"Nothing."

"Sure, and I'm the Tooth Fairy," she replied sarcastically. "What's got you so stressed and distracted?"

"What makes you think I'm distracted?" I asked, hoping to convince her that I was fine.

"You're trying to put your glove on your foot."

"I knew that."

"Right. So what is it?"

"You're not going to leave me alone until I tell you, are you?"

"Nope."

"Fine. This tournament is too convenient for them. I get the feeling they set it all up. I mean, they've already put Ray, Max and I out of commission and I don't think they're going to stop there."

"You mean..."

"Yeah, I think they'll attack again. Now come on, you need to train," I said, changing the subject. I had a sneaking suspicion that they might attack at the tournament, but I don't want to alarm the others.

By the time training was done, everyone was tired. I decided to alternate days between blading and other training. When we got home, there was a message on the voice mail.

"Ray, Lizzie, Lynn. I'm sorry, but I have to return to work. We can't find Mom and it looks like we might never. Her kidnappers were through. Sorry kids," came their dad's voice. Ray looked stunned, Lizzie ran off to the den and Lynn cried. I took it as a bad sign.

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RTC: Guys, please review/vote soon. I'm tired, I have exams next week and I'm still doing this because I think you guys would like to see it. Okay, gotta run, bye.