Chapter Thirteen

I winced at the sunlight that streamed in through the cabin window and then groaned and pulled my pillow over my head when Mariah, Julia, and Mathilda started their excited chatter. Really, it's, like, six in the fucking morning. What do they have to be so happy about?

I tried to sit up but my abs were screaming in pain so I rolled over to try and push myself up with my good arm but even those muscles hurt. Grumbling under my breath I finally managed to sit up with one strong push only to curse when I smacked my head against the ceiling.

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed," Mathilda chuckled.

"Stuff it, ya fairy," I growled, jumping down from the top of the bed easily and rubbing my head. "Just be glad I can't use my good arm or I'd strangle you."

"Touchy, touchy," she mumbled, raising her hands as if to defend herself.

"What's gotten you so mad, sour puss? Someone ate your catnip?" Julia laughed.

"Why don't you go and pick on your brother?"

"Calm down, we're just having some fun," Mariah said as she put her hand on my shoulder. "What's really gotten you so annoyed?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe the fact that Boris the Bastard is trying to take over the world? The fact that I can't blade? Or the fact that I have to sit around and watch you guys have all the fun ripping the boys to shreds," I replied. "Take your pick."

"So…you're just going to sit around here and do nothing about it?" Julia asked, crossing her arms over her chest. "That doesn't sound like you."

"There's not much I can do when Ray's not on my back all the damn time," I replied, pulling down some clothes from the end of my bed. "Do this, do that. Blade this way, blade that way. No don't do that, do this. Gah! Sometimes I just wanna—"

"Kiss him?" Julia interrupted me.

"Ew, no! That's gross! I don't even like him."

"For someone who doesn't like him you sure complain about him a whole lot," Julia pointed out, sitting back on her bottom bunk and crossing one leg over the other. Her lips were curled in a sinister smirk. "Usted está en el amor, la novia," she added.

"What?" Mathilda, Mariah, Hilary, and I asked in unison.

Julia laughed. "I said that she's in love."

"Don't make me sick," I mumbled.

"The signs are all there. You can deny it all you want but soon your emotions will catch up to you. Now, if you want to feel useful get your clothes on and grab your blade. You're going to fight me," Julia ordered. I hesitated. "What?" Her smirk got wider if that were possible. "You have orders from Ray not to fight or something?"

I glared. "No way! Let's do it!" We quickly changed clothes, grabbed our blades, and left the cabin, heading towards the woods so as not to wake the guys. Not that we could, they slept like logs. Tyson sounded like a buzz saw when he slept, actually. We kept walking, trying to look for a place to battle with a decent amount of space. We finally came across what looked like a tree stump with a carved out beydish.

"Are you ready?" Julia asked.

"Born," I replied, loading my launcher. She did the same and we waited as Mariah counted down for us.

"Let it Rip!" Julia shouted as she and I launched our blades.

"C'mon Thunder Pegasus!" Julia called out. I watched closely as her blade got closer to Dricen. I let her attack him, waiting for the right chance to strike. The battle didn't last that long. Julia and I gave it everything we've got and it ended in a tie. I frowned before picking up my blade and staring intently at my bitchip. "Don't sweat it, it'll take some more time to get as good as me."

"Ha, ha ha. That's so funny I forgot to laugh," I quipped, putting Dricen back in my pocket.

Julia stuck out her tongue as Mathilda laughed. Mariah suddenly turned her eyes towards the path. I was about to ask her what she saw when I heard it as well. Footsteps. We waited and finally Max's crazy blond hair came over the horizon.

"What're you girls doing up so early?" He asked, slightly out of breath.

"We could ask you the same thing," Julia replied, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I always go out for and early jog," Max replied. "Helps clear my head and gives me good focus."

"Huh, now if only Tyson were like Max," Hilary commented, shaking her head. "He's still asleep, right?"

"Yeah," Max said with a little laugh. "All the guys are. Yesterday must've wiped them out. I think breakfast is almost ready. Let's get back. If we don't I'm afraid that Emily will try another 'experiment' on our food."

"Please, not again," I said as I held my stomach. "Her meatloaf still sits like a brick."

He laughed and led the way back to the camp area. Before we even got there we could hear Tyson complaining about wanting to eat. It was weird hearing him complain and not having Kai there to reprimand him. It was weird not having Kai around, period. Sure, I haven't known him for long, but I knew that he was a great member to the team. He was what held them all together.

I clenched my good hand into a fist as I thought about how Kai turned his back on them and how he didn't even really acknowledge my existence at all. It's not like I helped him find a way to keep on going through the pain that was being inflicted upon him but his own grandfather. That was sarcasm by the way. I blinked when a hand was waved in front of my face and saw Max looking at me in concern. "I'm fine," I told him.

"How'd you know what I was going to ask?" He questioned.

I shrugged. "It's the first thing that comes out of someone's mouth when they're around me. They think something's wrong just because I'm not talking much."

"Is something wrong."

"No." I shook my head. "Just thinking. I know it's a new concept for you guys but that happens when people have a brain, unlike Tyson."

Max laughed. "Hey, Tyson's not that bad. Sure, he gets himself into a lot of trouble but he finds his own way out of them."

"By charging at a wall blindly and hoping whatever comes out is a good thing."

Max laughed again. "But Tyson wouldn't nearly be as fun if he were serious like Kai all of the time." The smile instantly dropped from his mouth and his eyes when he mentioned the forbidden one's name. I rolled my eyes. They were worse than girls.

"C'mon Maxie. We should get in there before Tyson eats everything," I said as I patted him on the back.

"You're not doing a great job changing the subject," Max said as he lifted his eyebrows. "How's it feel not to blade?"

"Like someone ripped my arm out of it's socket," I replied honestly. "I hate not being able to do anything."

"Use it to your advantage."

"How?"

"Watch people. Watch their techniques. Watch what makes them tick. The best—"

"Offense is a good defense," I interrupted him.

"I say that a lot?"

"A little bit," I smirked. "I don't blame you though. You are right, the best way to defeat someone is to have a good offense and a good defense but no one puts as much faith into the defensive moves like you do, which has made you one of the best bladders out there."

"Thank you," he beamed.

"Which means, once this is all over, don't be surprised when I challenge you," I added. "I expect you to bring your A game and not go easy on me just because I'm a girl."

"I wouldn't dream of it," Max replied. "And you've got yourself a deal." He stuck out his hand I and I shook it, instantly amazed at how soft his hand was.

"Hey, you two are last, that means cleaning duty," Tyson called as soon as we walked through the door of the kitchen.

"Ugh. And Tyson eats like a hoover," I groaned.

"Don't worry, I know how to make cleaning fun," Max said as he lightly hit my shoulder and winked. I beamed.

Dinner was chaotic, but it didn't really surprise me. I just ate quietly, only talking when someone asked me a direct question. After dinner Max and I cleaned the dishes like we were supposed to, however we spent more time blowing the soap bubbles at each other than cleaning and when we weren't doing that we were trying to make bubble sculptures out of them while we talked about things that we wanted to see in New York. I always wanted to go FAOP Schwartz to play on that big piano. Max promised he'd take me one day.

Afterwards I went back to my bunk and the girls and I just sat in our bunks talking as I flipped through my notebook. A letter fell out and I knitted my eyebrows together as I stared at it, trying to remember when I got it. Oh yes, I got it two days ago. It was from Mei, telling me about the Village and how her marriage ceremony was coming up soon and that I had to come.

When I mentioned it to Mariah it got us into a big debate over whether or not we should be able to choose who we should marry or it be assigned for us. It was still going when I decided to go for a walk. I didn't ask anyone to go with me because I didn't expect Kaoru to just come and attack me when I was so close to the others.

I followed the river, kicking rocks in occasionally before I stopped and sat down, staring at the moonlight that reflected off of the still water. 'How did Beyblading ever turn to this? Whatever happened to the good old days?'

"Penny for your thoughts," Tyson said as he sat down next to me and lightly wrapped his arms around his knees.

"I'm just thinking about our battle with BEGA," I told him without looking over at him.

"You're worried about losing?" He asked. "Don't worry about it, we're going to beat Boris and BEGA for sure."

"That's not what I'm thinking about, exactly," I said as I shook my head. "I'm thinking more about how this happened. I mean, when we were younger all we had to think about was where to get the newest parts from and how we could get better. Once we did that we participated in tournaments to see who is better and who the most skilled blader is." I paused and shook my head again. "And then Boris came to try and change that. You defeated him and everything went back to normal. Then Zagart came and tried to get your bitbeasts just to turn a stupid robot into a human. And now Boris is back to change the whole beyblading sport all together. This shouldn't happen! Beyblading is about having fun and meeting new people and to bond over the love of the sport!"

"Which is why we have to stop Boris once and for all!" Tyson agreed with a nod. "If he changes the sport of Beyblade all together…then I'm going to stop Beyblading."

"What!?" I cried out as I finally turned to look at him. "Tyson, you can't do that!"

"You can't tell me what I can and can't do," Tyson said with a teasing grin. It slid off of his face as he continued. "I will do that only if BEGA wins. There would be no point in Beyblading anymore if he's just going to change the reason to why kids blade in the first place."

"I understand, but Tyson you love Beyblading. Beyblading is your life; you can't just give it up. I know you too well."

"Kind of like how I knew that, no matter what happened, you won't stop beyblading, even if you lost an arm. Which you almost did," he said as she nodded towards my sling. He clicked his tongue before asking, "Why is Kaoru after you?"

"I really don't know myself, but I do know that he wants to kill me and get Dricen. He can't have Dricen while I'm alive so he's going to have to kill me to get to him," I responded. "That's all I know. I don't know who he's working for or what he wants to do with Dricen. But I do know that, as long as I live, no one is going to get their hands on Dricen."

Tyson stayed quiet, although I could tell that he was thinking hard about what Boris was doing. I stayed silent and titled my head back so I was gazing up at the sky. A shooting star passed by and I closed my eyes as I quickly made a wish. I opened them to see Tyson looking at me in curiosity.

"What's up?" I questioned.

"I have two questions for you and I want your honest answers, ok?" Tyson asked as I nodded in understanding. "1) What did you do between the time you were in Japan and China. And 2) What's your history with Boris?"

I took in a long breath through my nose and let it out slowly. Why wouldn't they just drop it? I sighed again. Just telling them would be much easier than avoiding the topic, I suddenly found. Finding new ways to steer a conversation in a different direction was getting harder as the time went on and, frankly, I was getting tired of it.

Congrats, Tyson, you wore me down.

"Okay," I said. "After I left Japan I traveled on my own for a while, beyblading random competitors, staying in hotels or with some bladers I met. I taught some of them a couple of skills they could use and they taught me some skills also. I managed to find my way to the US by asking a lot of nice people for help, a place to stay here, some food there. There's a certain way you have to ask to get them to feel sorry for you." I swallowed the feeling of guilt that had crept up inside of me. Giving my head a little shake I continued. "Along the way I met a lot of different bladers. They were pretty impressive, a few even let me stay with them from then until I went back to White Tiger Hills a few months ago." A slow smile came to my lips. "Every day was like a new adventure. They taught me new ways to blade and new ways to look at a beybattle. That's what I love, learning new things about it."

I took a shaky breath and closed my eyes briefly as I tried to form words about Boris. Bad thoughts slammed into my head and started to make me sick as his evil laughter rang in my ears. I kept taking deep breaths to make sure I wouldn't throw up.

"Ok, it's like this. Back when I was about…seven I think? Well, age doesn't really matter. So, it was a normal night and I couldn't get to sleep, like usual. I'm a bit of an insomniac. Anyway I was up and I was looking for constellations, my father was into them, when I suddenly heard screaming." I cleared my throat. "I rushed out of my hut and saw that a couple of them were on fire. When I tried to help I was attacked by beyblades. Ray, Lee, and Mariah helped me defeat them as everyone else ran around trying to put out the fires but they only spread. Then I started to find my parents. I kept looking and looking until I found him with them. Boris." I let out a sharp breath and curled my fingers into fists. "He...killed them to get to me. He turned around and said something like 'Do you see this destruction? You caused all of this. Doesn't it feel good? To let your anger out? Join me and we can make sure you're never hurt again'."

"Never hurt again?" Tyson repeated.

"I didn't understand what he meant by that at the time," I continued with a nod. "But I wasn't going to give in so easily. I started to attack him but he sent one of his soldiers on me. He was too powerful. He left, laughing about the destruction and let the fires continue to burn. Once we put them out half the village burnt down and a total number of six people were killed. Someone saw me talking to Boris so automatically fingers were pointed in my direction and I was banned. I didn't know where I was going but I knew I had to leave. I was found and taken by this guy named Voltaire, that was before I went to Japan and met you. He took me to the Abbey in Russia and–"

"That's where you met Kai," Tyson interrupted.

I slowly shook my head. "If only I hadn't been so stupid and trusted everyone I met," I grumbled.

"It's all starting to make sense now."

"What is?" I questioned as I glanced at him.

"Why that Kaoru kid is after you. He's working for Boris and Boris wants our bitbeasts. And the only reason he's going after you is because you knew each of us—Max, Ray, Kai and I—at different points of time."

"I don't think Kaoru is working for Boris," I told him. "Kaoru is far stronger than any of Boris's soldiers. It took you, Max, Ray, and I to defeat him that one time. And, unless I want to kill myself in battle, I can take him on my own. But I'm not that desperate because Dricen would be his and I don't know what he has anything to do with this whole thing."

Tyson kept his mouth shut as silence stretched on between us. I just sat, glaring at the water as I clenched my hands into fists. Tyson placed a hand on my shoulder and that instantly calmed me down. Without a word, we both stood and walked back to our cabins in silence. I quietly slipped into mine and crawled into my bed, falling into a light sleep. I woke up the next morning to Tyson shouting about something to Kenny.

"What's up Chief?" I asked with a yawn as I walked over to him. He had a big smile on his face as he handed me a box. "What's this?" I asked before looking down at it.

"It's your new beyblade. I made it out of metal so I like to call it the Heavy Metal System," he commented as I opened it and took out the beyblade, which was surprisingly heavy.

"But Chief, it's smaller than a normal beyblade," Max pointed out as he looked at his.

"That's true, but this blade holds more power," Kenny said with a nod. "Starting now I want you to train with it so you can control it by the time the tournament rolls around."

"All right, let's try this bad boy out!" Tyson said as he attached his ne blade to his launcher. "LET IT RIP!" He shouted as he launched his blade. There was a small explosion sound as Tyson was thrown off his feet. He crashed into Ray and Rick and the three were sent flying back a couple of feet before they hit the ground.

"Everyone watch out!" I called out as I dove to the ground to make sure I didn't get hit by the next beyblade. It bounced off of some rocks before hitting the ground with another explosion. This time it created a huge crater in the ground as the blade smoked.

"This is definitely not going to be easy," Max said as he helped Tyson onto his feet.

"This may take a while," I said with a sigh as I ran a hand through my hair.