Disclaimer: I do not own beyblade!

A/N: Sorry to anyone who read that last monstrosity. I have (almost) completely re-written this chapter but I kept some of the important bits from the previous write up so some of it may look (or be) familiar. My inner ramblings just got too out of hand. Probably because I was overly tired but I should have considered that before posting it. And sorry if anyone actually liked it. The perfectionist in me just couldn't leave it the way it was. It was driving me crazy… XD Thanks!

Chapter 11: You Break It, You Buy It

"I see you guys got lucky," Sarah approaches our table at breakfast. Her posse isn't with her this time but she isn't any less menacing without them.

"Luck has nothing to do with it!" Tyson protests.

"It may have a little…" Max considers it. It was true, we couldn't really say that the rain was something we controlled.

Tyson stands up indignantly, not accepting it.

"And don't even think about trying something now!" he growls at her. "That would just be poor tastes and proof that you can't handle us. Accept your fate!"

She doesn't waver at all.

"If you think 'fate' will help you, you picked the wrong summer camp." She walks away.

Tyson sits back down in frustration.

"She makes my blood boil!" he gripes.

"Calm down, Tys. That's probably what she wants," Max talks him down.

"Yeah, Tys. If you let your anger cloud your mind she has already won," I back Max up. Tyson sighs and settles down a bit.

"I can't help it. I just want to smash that stupid smile right off her face." This gets a few wary looks and I smile at their sources to try and reassure them that he is just kidding. They seem to buy it and resume their food eating without further concern.

"I know how you feel." I send a glance in Kai's direction. "But actually doing it won't get you anything but locked up again." Kai smirks as if that wouldn't be such a bad thing.

He hadn't said much at all since yesterday and it was starting to make me a little uneasy. Especially since he didn't seem angry with me. If he was, he hid it well. There was something else that he was displaying instead. I just hadn't quite put my finger on what it was.

"They still have the advantage here. I don't think this will end how you want it to," Kai finally speaks. All three of us turn to him.

Why do I get the sudden feeling that this isn't JUST about the game?

"Way to be a poor sport, Kai. Whose side are you on?" Tyson disapproves of the insinuation.

"If you have to ask, you aren't listening," Kai goes on. Tyson huffs but his interest is peaked.

"So what are you suggesting?" he asks curiously.

"Instead of going for the most obvious solution, you might want to try a different method of obtaining your goal. You want to win. There is more than one way to do this." He looks directly at me. "Don't underestimate them." His eyes shift back to them. "You are still following the rules. They aren't. But they do have weaknesses."

Rules? We had never established rules. Did we? And what is this weakness? There had been no indication that one of those existed. So if he is letting me know that one does, what would it be?

"He's too confident…" I mutter to myself. Tyson looks at me confused and Max frowns.

"What are you talking about, Ray?" Tyson scratches his head. I look at them as a sudden realization comes to mind.

"Confidence. It only works if they are faced directly with you. The way to beat them is not to engage them. They don't have any power if they don't have anybody to control," I explain.

I look back at Kai as Tyson mulls over this new bit of information. He meets my gaze with one of his own and somehow looks satisfied. How can he be satisfied if he has just shared some obscure secret with me that could potentially be used against him later? Or was he implying that he wants me to leave him alone? No, that can't be it. If he had wanted that he wouldn't have taken this so far.

"I guess that makes sense. But how do we win if we don't engage them?"

"Maybe that's the 'other methods' Kai is talking about. The object of the game is to retrieve the flag and return to home base. We don't have to run into them at all to do this. We just need to distract them so somebody else can get the flag. We need them!" Max indicates the rest of the boys in the room.

Having a new set of goals, they start articulating a new plan, getting the other boys involved but keeping it quiet as to not attract the attention of any of the girls. Kai and I are forgotten. He is studying me carefully and I lean over the table a bit so I don't alert the others.

"I'm not trying to fight you," I tell him curtly. He shrugs it off and crosses his arms apathetically.

"Coulda fooled me." Short, but not angry.

End of conversation. This was maddening.

If Kai was serious, he should understand what I was doing. He knows that I don't hold his past experiences against him, we were a 'forgive and forget' bunch after all, but I couldn't just ignore it either. Kai is an opportunist. He sees what's good and goes for what's better. There is no way of knowing that this little game wouldn't get old for him and that after he got what he wanted, he would move on. I am protecting myself. Yeah, that's it. I'm just…protecting myself.

He had said that I should stop running. That I needed to be honest with myself. Was I capable of that in this situation? It was true that it wasn't normally in my nature to run. But I was still struggling to find 'normal' again. In the past few months, running had become something that I grasped quite easily. It had become my 'normal'. And I am a creature of habit. I like a good challenge as much as the next guy but everyone has lines that they don't want to cross.

I suppose thoughts like that are the reason he has the upper hand in this. In theory I should be able to overcome the obstacles, even the ones I had placed myself…but when faced with an actual situation I became nothing more than a bunch of nerves. A good competitor knows that nerves are not an excuse not to do your best. But I had let it become a crutch and accepted it without questioning it. Would it be different now that we were on an even playing field? I mean, it was no longer a guessing game of how he would take it or if he would turn me away. That could have been what he was after throughout this whole thing. Maybe he had similar insecurities to mine but was choosing not to struggle with them the way I was. He was the type of person who ALWAYS had to be in control. Anything else was just…not him. And as far as I knew, he had no lines.

The bell ending breakfast rings and everyone starts to get up.

"Alright! Let's go beat some girls!" Despite how completely wrong that sounded, on many levels, everyone gets pumped.

But…

Even with a solid plan we weren't prepared for what actually happened.

After changing into clothes that would help us blend in with the trees, painting our faces, and preparing ourselves for a battle, we had all gone out to the meeting place with enthusiasm.

The rules had been pretty clear. The camp was divided into two sides, the boys and the girls. The sections were clearly marked with painted lines and corner markers. You could only attack the opposing team if they were either in your territory or in possession of your flag. If a member crossed over and did not have the flag, they could return to their own territory and be safe. Anyone who went out of bounds was automatically considered out of the game.

Attacks were only allowed to be made by the use of water balloons. No physical contact between the two teams was permitted, except whatever minimal exchange would happen when a flag was returned to its owner. Big surprise huh? The water balloons were provided in random, various places all throughout both territories in buckets placed on the ground. The buckets were not allowed to be moved and each person was only allowed to carry around 2 balloons at any time.

Once hit, a person was considered 'captured' and had to stay where they were without moving until one of their own team members 'freed' them. Any person captured again after being freed once was out for good. If the balloons happened to run out, nobody else could be captured unless a flag was in play. In which case, the flag would merely switch hands and the person carrying it would be considered captured.

Freedom was gained by a team member coming in contact with you, by touching an arm or foot or holding a hand or something like that, and counting to three. If they didn't make it to three or were captured in the process, they were not freed.

The end of the game was announced either by having possession of both flags within the 'base' on your own team's side or by the end of the time period that was designated. We had 2 hours and a foghorn would sound when it was up. If time ran out and the flags were not together, the winner was decided by the amount of prisoners still frozen or out of the game. Whichever team had the most would then be decided the winner.

The flags had to remain in a place that was visible at eye level at all times. The starting position determined where the 'base' was and had to be clearly marked so that the end positions could be easily identified, and also had to remain in a place that was noticeable. An adult was placed near each base as a monitor for announcing a winner but was not to participate in any way. We were allowed to leave one person to guard the base but that one person was not allowed to move the flag unless stealing it back from the other team after they had obtained it.

Sounds simple enough right?

Kai had been right about them not following the rules.

Within the first ten minutes of the whistle announcing the start of the game, seven of the guys purposely walked out of bounds so that they were disqualified. Some of them made it clear that they had either been injured in past games and hadn't wanted to repeat it, or that the girls had influenced them some way into making that decision.

Two more had been 'accidentally' rolled down a hill and fallen out of bounds; one had tripped on something that still hasn't been identified and cut his leg deep enough that he had to be sent to the nurses cabin; and three more had unexplainably ended up in the lake, which, being a rule on its own that we weren't allowed in the water, had also been disqualified from the game.

After that, the girls had managed to create the perfect horror movie. I could hear things around me but didn't know what they were or which direction they were really coming from. Every now and then I would hear somebody scream. And I was completely alone. To be honest I wasn't even sure which side of the border I was on. These woods all looked the same to me.

In the beginning, after we had designated our guard, me, the remaining boys had broken up into groups of three and four to stop the girl's advance at the border while one person, Kai, went in search for the location of their flag. Once the flag had been spotted, we were meant to regroup and decide on a way of obtaining it without coming into contact with them. The groups that weren't watching the border were set up in various places so that if the girls did manage to get close to where I was that they wouldn't be able to get to me without being ambushed. However, they seemed to know some secret way of getting past us because we had only managed to capture four of them.

So by now you are probably asking me why I am wandering out here alone and not guarding our flag? Yeah, about that…

I had been prepared, listening carefully to anyone who may or may not approach. I had taken down two girls with one water balloon, one of which started crying. But I wasn't falling for that one. No, I fell for what was next instead. Two girls came up behind me at the same time that six came around the front.

I only had one shot left in possession so I had to make a choice.

I chose the six, only managing to hit three, while the two girls behind me made off with the flag. The three girls I had missed, hid and while I was trying to decide which to be more concerned with, I lost sight of all of them. After finally deciding whether to baby sit the girls I had captured or to go after the flag, I opted to go after the flag. It was my responsibility after all, and we were already outnumbered by quite a lot. I wasn't even sure how the heck they had made it that far in such a large group anyway…unless of course they had all entered in one large group to begin with. If they had ALL entered at the same time and stuck together, I could see how some of them would have made it past the line we had set up. It was genius actually. I suppose now is not the time to be admiring them though.

I had a flag to find. And quick.

"You lost again?" So of course it's the perfect time to run into Kai. Although I probably wouldn't have seen him at all if it weren't for the bright orange flag he was holding. I'm not surprised. He always had a way of making things seem easy.

"What are you doing over here? The base is back that…" I turn around and try to grasp sight of anything that looks familiar that would let me know where I was. The trees were so thick in this part of camp that it was hard to see anything distinguishing at all. You would think that coming from a village like mine I would be awesome at this, but man do I hate trees for all looking the same right now.

"Hn." His thoughts of me being lost are confirmed and he doesn't hide his amusement in that. The vibe he had been sending out all day still has that mystery around it and I try harder to figure out what it is. He walks over to me. "I did my part." He shoves the flag into my chest and I take it as he lets it go. "Now you have to do yours." He goes to walk away but I grab his arm. I finally put a word to his actions. He was being indifferent. Putting a distance between us as if he no longer cared what happened. After coming so far with him, I couldn't just stand there and allow him to go back.

"Wait," I catch his eye.

A shuffling of leaves nearby make us both freeze and he immediately pulls me towards him so that his body is hiding the color of the flag and the trees and bushes are providing us with the camouflage not to be seen. My breath catches in my chest as he holds me in my position and waits for the shuffling to move away. He looks down at me in my slouched and uncomfortable stance and smirks.

"It's okay to breathe, Ray," he says close to my face. It wasn't a complete whisper but it was quiet enough that nobody else would hear it. I can feel the tension already building up between us as my whole body is drawn to his.

"It's better if we stick together," I breathe out quietly, pushing away from him. My heart is already betraying my actions with its increased speed and I try my best to quiet it. These are the things that I had come to be used to when I brushed close to him like that.

"Do you know where they went?" He crosses his arms.

"No, but they can't win without this anyway." I hold up the flag. "And I don't think we are supposed to hide it." He makes a sound of disbelief.

"They only said it had to be visible at eye level. They never said it couldn't be blocked from view." I can't argue with him. He had made it this far without being detected. If anyone could win this game, it was probably him. "Just stay behind me." He guides me into his shadow and starts to lead. "If they go back to their base, I already know where it is. Just don't let them see that you have theirs."

"Thanks…" I suddenly feel as if I would always be behind him. "Oh second thought, I got myself into this, maybe I should just go myself." He turns back to me and eyes my curiously.

"There isn't time for second thoughts. If we just stand here discussing…"

"I'll go myself," I interrupt him. I shove the flag back at him and walk ahead of him.

"Do you even know where you are going?" He watches me go, making no move to follow.

"It doesn't matter. You just make sure they don't get that back." I send him a stern look. He nods, but hesitates before finally leaving me. I take a deep breath. Just how was I going to get myself out of this one? They probably had the base swarming with traps. Knowing them, I wouldn't be surprised if they were real traps. But, being alone had its advantages. And being me did as well. They would never hear me coming. I just had to figure out which way was the right way.

Okay, focus. I can find my way out of a maze in the dark. This should be cake.

I sneak my way through the trees, avoiding places where I could detect anyone's presence, until I catch sight up the brightly colored flag as it flashed across my peripheral vision. I turn towards the direction I had seen it and spot them. The Tyrannical Trio. I crouch down behind a tree and make sure that I don't hear any other girls nearby. The flag is dangling from Sarah's arm with a clothespin and they appear to be fighting. I move towards them, making sure to stay as quiet as possible. I am so happy that being quiet is one of my best skills. It is something that I don't think Tyson could ever master so in games like this, he was probably going crazy.

"How could you let them take it? I gave you one thing to do, one thing!" Sarah is waving angrily. The girl whose name I didn't know looks down as if Sarah's words were like knives being thrown at her. Nicole steps between them.

"Calm down. We'll get it back. There's no way they will come back over here and get away again." I spot a row of bushes near them and crawl my way around to them to see if I can get close enough to take the flag while they are distracted without them noticing. All I had to do was pull if free quickly, and then run as fast as I could. I could do that.

I inch my way closer, staying low to the ground and well hidden by the bushes. I start to reach through the bush to grab it, when Sarah roughly turns. She unclips the flag from her arm and hands it to Nicole.

I withdraw and move back a little, staying out of their line of sight.

"They better not." She snarls. "I'm going to makes sure those freaks know that that flag is mine." She leaves the other two girls where they are and stalks off. The unknown girl sighs, annoyed.

"We better hide this," Nicole says, searching for a spot. It's then that I wish I had grabbed another water balloon before coming over here. Sometimes thinking ahead came in handy…

I survey the ground for any sign of a bucket.

Splash!

I turn back to the girls as some stray water hits my skin. Nicole looks absolutely horrified and the other girl can't even open her eyes because she's too busy hyperventilating. I look for the source of the raid and spot…Tyson?

"Got ya!" he rejoices. "Now hand it over!"

Splash, splash, splash

Tyson is immediately drenched from behind. I knew he wasn't built for the stealth games…

"Hey, no fair! They still have to give it up! It's a rule!"

I eye my surroundings and ask myself….what's the worst that could happen? I jump up, snatch the flag in one quick movement and, anticipating the onslaught of balloons, I dart past Tyson as fast as my feet will move.

"Thanks buddy," I wink at him as I run by and I don't stop running, managing to dodge all the girls and their balloon barrage until I get back to our side and…

Splash!

I close my eyes and swallow. I had been so close. Just a few more yards and I would have…

"Wait, does that count if he's on our team? Sorry, Ray…" I open my eyes to find Max standing there, looking ashamed. You're telling me that I was captured by my own team? What…the…hell…? It's a wonder we even made it this far…

"I think it's a little late to ask now…" a boy that is with him says with a smile. I shake my head and usher them over emphatically.

"Stop talking. Just take the flag and find Kai," I urge. "Don't look back, just go!"

"Right!" Max grabs the flag just as the group of girls that had been behind me finally catch up and gets ready to throw all that they've got. Max spins around and runs, the other boy blocking his back from anything that might get close to him. I collapse to the ground in exhaustion, leaning up against a tree. At least I didn't feel like a complete failure now. In fact, I felt pretty good. A whistle sounds, ending the game, and I can only assume that they had made it. I didn't think it was possible but we did it.

I stand up and go to find the others.

"I still can't believe you did that!" Tyson clamps onto my shoulders. "You could have at least saved me too! I thought I was going to die back there!"

"Yeah, sorry about that…" I shake him off and half-smile.

"You should have seen the looks on their faces when that whistle blew! I haven't even seen that Sarah girl around. I wonder if she was so angry that she self-destructed." He laughs. My half-smile turns into a full smile.

"It isn't true! It can't be." Tyson's dreams are not granted as the shrill voice comes vibrating through the trees. We come up on the rest of the group and Max comes running over to us. She makes a few more cries of protest and then huffs off, wiping water from her face.

"We did it! You should have seen Kai! She was coming up to attack me and Kai got her right in the face!" He cries out enthusiastically. Everyone shares in his giddy excitement.

"Sorry I missed that!" Tyson throws him a high five. I scan the group.

"Where's Kai now?" I ask when I don't spot him.

"I dunno, he handed the flags over and disappeared. But you know Kai, he'll be back!" I nod and slip away from them, not feeling as joyous as I should. Somehow it didn't seem much like a victory if I wasn't sharing it with Kai. A lot of things seemed different when he wasn't around. I didn't want to be angry with him. And I didn't want him to be angry with me. I had been worried about things not being normal but the truth was, things weren't normal if Kai wasn't there beside me.