RTC: Um, hi. Remember me? Please don't kill me for not updating in (checks published date) four weeks! It wasn't all my fault; I had writer's block and I do have another fic to work on.

Kai: Kill, her kill her, kill her.

RTC: Don't pay any attention to my muse here. He's just mad at me for posting this fic in the first place. This chapter may seem a bit pointless, but trust me, it will affect future chapters, k? Well, I won't waste your time rambling on and on, so do the disclaimer.

Kari: I think it's obvious that Ray-Tiger-Cat still does not own Beyblade.

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New Places, New Faces

"Flight 204 is now boarding at the south east terminal. Will all passengers make their way there and board, please?" said a woman over the intercom.

"Remember, you tell our secrets, you die," hissed Boris. Alex, Ryan and some follow trainees were leaving for Tokyo that day. Once they were safely settled in the plane, Alex and Ryan began plotting ways to escape the abbey for good.

Once they got off the plane, a man named Stanley Dickenson greeted them. He was young with thick brown hair and was wearing training clothes-sweatshirt and jeans.

"Welcome to Tokyo, boys. We'll be heading straight for the training facility." The ride there was long and uneventful. When they first saw the facility, the boys were in awe.

"It's so big!" exclaimed Ryan.

"Yes, come on. We'll get you settled in and begin training tomorrow morning, at ten o'clock sharp," Stanley said and Alex gasped. "Is that too early for you kids?" Stanley asked, alarmed.

"No, it's perfect. Don't mind me," Alex said, quickly covering up his shock. He couldn't believe that he could sleep so late, at the abbey, they were training by six. He, Ryan, and the two other boys, who were named Scott and Athrun all unpacked their meagre possessions.

"Can you believe this?" asked Ryan.

"No, it's all so unbelievable. We're out of the abbey, aren't being forced to train and I'm free from my father!" Alex said.

"Shh! Remember what Boris said? He said not to say anything about the abbey," said Athrun. "I think we should just enjoy these next few weeks while they last."

"Yeah, so let's start by getting a decent night's sleep!" Ryan agreed. Soon all four kids were sound asleep.

When they woke up the next morning, it was still rather early. They quickly got dressed and walked down to the dining area. There were only a few people awake, including Stanley.

"Good morning. My, aren't you boys up early. I would have thought you would have wanted to sleep in, especially with the time difference. When do you wake up and start training at Balkov Abbey?" he asked.

"We, um, we were too excited to sleep," Ryan lied. "We don't normally start training till about 8."

"Yes, well, you eat breakfast and then meet me out on the track. You'll meet your other team mates then. They've also come from far away for training here."

"Yes, sir."

"You can call me Stanley. No need for the formality," replied Stanley. "We're not in the army."

When the boys finished eating, they went out. They found Stanley with three other kids. Stanley looked perky, but two of the kids were half asleep. The last kid was just standing there, emotionless.

"Well, this is Josh, Andrew and Dylan," Stanley said and then introduced the abbey kids to the others. Alex looked around and saw how different they all looked. He was pale with silver-grey hair and grey eyes, Ryan had a tan, was blonde with brown eyes, Scott was a brunette with brown eyes, Athrun was black haired with green eyes, Josh was also dark haired but had bright blue eyes, Andrew was a dirty blonde with hazel eyes and Dylan was black haired with golden eyes. Both Dylan and Scott were short for their age and all the abbey kids were very thin. Everyone other than Dylan was wearing sweat shirts and comfortable pants. Dylan was wearing black jeans and a bulky black coat. Stanley noticed this.

"Dylan, perhaps you want to go change in to something more comfortable," Stanley suggested. "It's awfully warm. You don't need that coat."

"Sorry, sir, but I haven't had the chance to unpack yet. Besides, I live in a tropical climate, so it feels cold to me. And please call me Dy," Dy said.

"Well, alright then."

"That kid is so weird! He barely said two words when he arrived," whispered Josh. "He didn't say a thing about himself." Alex hoped they wouldn't ask too many questions. He didn't want to try and create too many lies.

Unfortunately for him, they did ask a lot of question; where are you from? Does your school do as much training as they do here? What's life like at Balkov Abbey? On and on they went; after a while Alex was starting to see why Dy kept to himself. In fact, Alex was experiencing a new emotion; pity. He actually felt sorry for Dy because he was such a loner. Alex knew firsthand that you usually keep to yourself if you have something to hide.

That night, they were each moved into smaller, individual bedroom. Alex felt so alone; he was used to having Ryan in the room, snoring away.

However, Alex heard a different sound that night' sobbing. He didn't know who it was, but it was a safe bet that it wasn't one of the abbey kids. He decided to leave whoever be because he didn't think they'd appreciate him, a total stranger, coming into their room in the middle of the night. Besides, maybe he was wrong, maybe it was nothing.

Things fell into a routine pretty quickly. They ended up staying in Tokyo longer than they had originally planned and no one complained. Before they knew it, it was time to go home.

"Remember to write," said Josh.

"We will, every week," lied Athrun. They all knew that once they were back at the abbey, communication with the outside world would be prevented. The abbey kids found themselves dreading their return more than ever, after spending 6 weeks out of Boris' clutches. Alex was shocked that his father would allow him to leave the abbey for so long, but maybe things were changing.

That night, they all went to the airport and the Russia bound plane was the first one departing. Josh and Andrew waved hood bye cheerfully, but Dy was just standing in the terminal alone, ignoring everybody.

"Back to Hellhole," remarked Athrun, glad to stop pretending that he liked the abbey.

"Yippee," Alex mumbled sarcastically.

"Well, things couldn't get any worse, could they?" asked Ryan, knowing the answer would be yes.

"You never know." That's the problem; Alex thought angrily, we just never know what will happen to us.

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RTC: Did anyone else feel weird thinking of Mr. Dickenson as Stanley? I kept wanting to write Mr. D instead of Stanley! Anyway, there is a point to this chapter, you'll see later on. Next chapter will be back in the abbey with more torture! Yay! I love torture! Thanks so much to my reviewers, please don't give up on me because of this incredibly long wait. It should go faster after this. Oh and please review, you guys really make my day when you write nice reviews. (And that'll make my updating speed faster. Hint, hint. Hopefully, I'll have the next chapter up in 2 weeks. If I don't, feel free to PM me and tell me to get a move on.) See ya, RTC.