Hey! I'm baaaaaaaaack! . . . OK, way too hyper.

I told you people I was starting on this chapter! smiles defensively And I actually have an idea for the ending of this story, believe it or not . . .

OK. On with this chapter!

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- Ray's POV -

I watched intently as Oliver moved gracefully, hoping I was doing the same. Just as I was matching his last move for the day, I saw two figures at the top of the hill, moving together quickly, like they were fighting. I recognized them as Kai and Derrick. Unlucky for me, I slipped on my own two feet and fell. When I looked up, I saw Oliver standing there shaking his head at me.

"Why did you mess up? You were almost done for the day!"

I shook my own head. "I'm sorry, Oliver. I just saw Kai and Derrick up on the hill fighting," I said, worried that Kai and Derrick were fist fighting over an argument or something. Although that didn't sound like the two.

Oliver's eyes widened. "Let's go check it out," he said grabbing my arm and pulling me to my feet.

We rushed over, causing glances from the others.

As we stopped at the top of the hill, I gasped as I saw the two figures moving so quickly, almost too quickly for my tiger trained eyes.

"Kai!" I called, hoping to get his attention. Unfortunately, my call fell on deaf ears.

- Kai's POV -

I moved rapidly, matching his moves almost perfectly. It wasn't this easy, was it?

As the thought crossed my mind a very well-aimed kick hit the side of my head sending me flying to the ground.

"Kai!" Derrick cried, placing his hands on his hips, giving me a glare.

I rubbed my head and stood up.

"Again!" he yelled launching at me at full throttle.

I just barely dodged a strong kick and kept my balance. He was definitely faster than me. I cried out as another kick hit my bruised shoulder, causing pain to be sent through my whole body.

"You OK?" he asked as I held my arm to my chest. It was on fire! It felt like those guys from earlier were still twisting my arm!

"Yeah," I breathed, rubbing my shoulder and standing up on wobbly legs.

"Woah!" I cried sidestepping to the right as a bare foot tried to make contact with my head. Rolling, I came up on one knee, fists ready for anything that came my way.

Derrick just stood there looking at something behind me. Turning my head, I finally saw that we had an audience. Ray, Oliver, Max, Zeo, Enrique, Johnny, a beat up Tyson, and Robert. Coming up the hill, of course always last, were Kenney and Hillary.

"What's going on you two? What's with all the fighting?" Hillary cried as she came to a stop, panting for breath.

I looked up at Derrick for any answer he had. Unfortunately, he started walking away. I stood and looked after him, confused. Usually he explained what was going on. He never used to do this.

"I didn't know you all were taking this spot. Please continue what you were doing, and accept my apology for distracting you. Come on, Kai. We have training to do."

"Derrick . . . ?"

"COME ON, KAI!" he yelled, causing me to flinch. Derrick never raised his voice to anyone, let alone me. I looked at Tyson and Ray who looked just as shocked as me, then followed my brother in confusion.

We were pretty far from the rest of the others when I grabbed his arm, forcing those icy blues to look straight into my own crimson.

"What the hell was that? You've never acted like that before! What is going on? Don't start blaming it on the pain from the snake, because I know it's not that!" I yelled.

He shook me off and kept walking.

"Hey!" I called but was stopped short as I felt my ears twitch suddenly, hearing a ripping sound, like a ripcord to a beyblade! "Derrick!" I cried pushing both of us down to the ground, avoiding a well-aimed launch.

"You OK?" I asked, my voice shaking slightly.

He looked up at me, nodding slightly. I got up slowly, watching the beyblade that spun before us with one eye and our surroundings with the other. Whoever shot at us was still here and ready for a battle. Derrick raised his head to watch the blade before him.

"Who's there?" I called.

I was answered by a harsh snicker. " 'Who's there?' Why don't you take a look?" a voice behind us called.

I swerved around and looked up into a tall tree where the voice was coming from. There sat a young boy about maybe a year younger than Derrick and me. He looked familiar. Very familiar. Behind him stood another boy, possibly three years older then us; five years for the boy. That boy was younger than Kenney, or maybe the same age?

"Who are you?" I asked as he pulled the younger boy closer to him, launcher in hand, cutting off his wind pipe.

"Don't you recognize your own childhood friends?" he asked.

I shook my head as Derrick stood up next to me.

"Cody?" he asked hesitantly. 'Cody!' I thought. 'It can't be!'

"C - Cody?" I repeated.

The younger boy replied with his eyes. They were definitely Cody's sleek greens. What was going on?

"Phoenix . . . Wolf . . ." he said softly only to be pulled back roughly by the neck.

"What's going on?" Derrick asked.

"Who are you, and why do you have Cody?" I called, my hands balled up into fists.

"I guess you don't remember your good 'ol buddy Jason, huh?" he said.

"J - Jason? But you - you died at Cobra's hands! How are you still alive? I saw you die with my own eyes!"

Flashback (Kai's POV) -

I looked up at the two that stood in front of me, Keith's still form laying in my arms.

"How could you?" Cobra yelled. "How could you kill my brother? You're my best friend! How could you? I trusted you. He trusted you!"

Cobra and Jason stood in front of me. Jason's tall figure looked eery in the fading light. Especially with the long dagger in his hand, dripping with blood.

Cobra's eyes stood teary, just like my own. I couldn't stop them. They kept coming as the truth kept hitting me every few seconds. Before anyone could even think, Cobra reached over to the dagger that rested in Jason's hand and grabbed it from him.

"With the same weapon that killed him, I revenge my brother's death that was at your hands!" With that, Cobra lunged the dagger into Jason's abdomen. The tall teen didn't say a word. Nothing but a smile. As Cobra pulled the long weapon, taking away the only thing that kept Jason up. He fell to his knees and then to the floor, his eyes unfocused and dull. He was gone in five seconds.

Cobra turned to me. "You're next, Kai, you brat! You were supposed to protect him! He was not only your partner, but your friend!"

Cody's small form rushed in front of me, as did Derrick's.

"Stop, Big Brother! Phoenix didn't do anything. He did all he could to protect Keith! Don't blame it on him!" Cody cried.

End Flashback -

Kai's POV (still. what? I like looking through my little phoenix's eyes! ) -

Jason smiled and looked over at Derrick. "Has the snake moved up to your neck yet? I would've thought it would go faster on you, since you like to tell everything to your brother here."

I looked at Derrick. He made my body shiver all over. If you've never seen a mad wolf then you have now. A very mad wolf.

I looked back at Jason, anger flowing through every fiber of my soul. How dare he! "You be quiet and tell us what you want!" I cried ignoring the fact that Derrick hadn't told me everything yet.

Jason snickered and jumped down from the tree, Cody still in his arms. "It's quite simple really. I have orders to take young Derrick here off your hands and to give you Cody here instead. Sound fair? I think so."

I stood dumbfounded. "What do you mean?" I asked.

He made a move toward us. "Listen, if you don't want to be injured, you'll do exactly what Cobra says. Got it? Now come over here, Wolf, so I can give little Phoenix here his good friend in return for being a good boy."

I made a move to him, ready to knock him off his high horse, but a hand on my elbow stopped me. I looked around to see my brother's face, contorted in worry. He shook his head.

"No. I'll be fine. They can't hurt me. You know that. Please, just take care of Cody. I'll see you when the fight starts." He looked at me full in the eyes. I nodded understandingly and watched with a heavy heart as the only family I had left walk away.

As soon as he stepped beside Jason, the so-called "dead" man took him and threw Cody over at me. I caught him just to see my brother and Jason disappear right before my eyes.

"Phoenix, I'm so sorry that you and your friends and family got into this. It wasn't meant to go this far," he said quietly, trying to back away from me.

I held onto him, as I had noticed he was very weak. "Hold on there, old friend. Let's get you to Tyson's house and get you rested and something to eat. Then you can tell me all you can."

He looked up at me with those innocent green eyes and nodded. With that we headed to the house, him leaning on me for support.

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Sorry if its not too good. I'm really running out of ideas for this story. I had one when I started, but it kinda left me.

R&R If you guys have any ideas or suggestions, I'd greatly appreciate them.