Alrighty, here's the last chapter. Now, my next story, "The War of Yllauras" (W.i.t.c.h.) won't be up until Saturday after next, due to the fact that I will be on a camping trip (I am not going to miss out on a family tradition that's been going on since my mom was a baby, just because of one fic). Anyway, this story has been really hard to write, but it has also been fun, and I hoped you enjoyed it as much as I have. Have a safe and happy summer! Or winter, if you're on the other end of the world.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Beyblade, I think I've said that enough times already. I do own Carl, Elizabeth, and Lillie, yada yada yada.

WORD COUNT: 776
TOTAL: 5341

'What happened? Where am I? Man, my head hurts.' His eyes slowly opened, but he could only see black. 'Am I dead? No, don't be stupid, Ray. You're not dead.' He began to make out blurry shapes in the darkness. The most noticeable were two people-shaped figures on either side of him. One reached a fuzzy hand towards him and felt his forehead. The person wore rings; Ray could feel the cool, brassy metal on his skin.

"Ray, honey?" That voice. It was Mom's. "Ray, are you awake?"

"Mm…Mom?" He was so tired, even that exhausted him.

"Shh, just relax. It's okay, we're at Lillie's." Ray blearily looked around. Now that his eyes had adjusted to the darkness, he could see he was in the room he shared with Kai. His leader was in bed with his back to them, but Ray doubted he was really asleep. He glanced at the window. The sun had long since set.

He still couldn't remember how he got there. He remembered the hectic morning at the Beydome. But nothing else.

"What the heck happened?" he whispered.

"You blacked out after that Beyblading match." Beyblading match? Oh, yeah! They'd gotten into a Beybattle against some thugs, and won – barely. "Your friends told us what happened with that boy, Bryan. Honey, do you know why Lee and the others never said anything to us?"

Ray smiled a little. "Yeah, you worry too much. I just pushed myself too far during the last round, that's all."

"You still won, though." Another voice joined the conversation – Dad's. He glanced over at Mom. "Liz, can we have a moment alone?" Ray knew he really wanted her to leave, because that pet name was always reserved for extreme measures. Mom, of course, couldn't resist when he called her Liz, so she stood up.

"Of course. I should probably get some sleep, anyway." She gave each of them a kiss on the forehead before quietly slipping out.

Ray wondered what his father wanted. It wasn't like he'd forgotten last night; his eye still felt swollen. Dad shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Ray saw Kai turn over in bed, his eyes wide open and suspicious.

"Ray… Listen, I guess the first thing I should say is that I'm sorry. Today, I saw the way you kids fought, and it seemed so different than when you were a child. And I started to see why you love Beyblade so much. The way you four came together, and those creatures, I never knew all that could exist in a game."

"It's more than you expected, isn't it?" Ray knew his dad was apologising, but he couldn't help his bitterness. All those blows were still vivid in his mind.

"So much more. I thought you were just wasting your time, but after hearing about everything your team has done, and everything you've been through – your teammates told me about those competitors from Russia – I guess you can say I made a mistake."

"No argument there."

"I know you're mad at me, and I don't blame you in the slightest. I never should've hurt you." He looked Ray in the eyes, silently pleading for forgiveness. "Please, Ray. I'm sorry for what I did, and I just want to start over." The tears had started now. Dad wasn't all-out bawling, but it was just enough to make Ray give in.

He gave Dad a smile and slowly sat up, even though his headache worsened every second. "Yeah. I'd like that." Father and son shared in a hug.

"So you grip the launcher with your left hand here, and hold the rip chord like this, and…" Ray executed a prefect launch into the dish while his father watched. Kenny sat nearby, typing away and arguing with Dizzi as usual. Now that Driger had returned, he'd insisted on running some tests to be sure that Ray's blade still performed like it always had. Tyson and Max were who knows where, Lillie and Mrs. Kon had gone out shopping, and I watched as Ray tried to teach his father the basics of Beyblading. Mr. Kon had been a bit surprised to learn that the sport was just a little more complicated than simply yanking on the rip chord and watching the blades randomly spinning and whacking each other. He was having a tough time just figuring out how to launch.

I was glad that Ray and his father had made up. It would be a while before everything was completely fine between them – a problem like theirs won't go away just like that – but I was confident that the worst was over.

THE END

Okay, so I guess all good things come to an end. Personally, I think the happy ending was resolved all too quickly, but I couldn't think of anything else.