A/N: Hi all! So sorry for the long wait for this chapter. See note at the end for an explanation.

I wanna say a HUGE thank you to everyone who has reviewed! I got 27 reviews for the last chapter! That's the most I've ever received for one chapter.

Thanks to: Fire Lady Ursa, -izza-x23-, AquilaTempestas, Dark Shadowed Dragon, Mashy-Gaara4life, ForeverFalling86, PWN3D, Ms Controversy, mimic shalle, GabZ, , Rapunzelle, The Swordsman, .Out, A Neverending Dream of Flight, xflightofthephoenix, FlamingIce94, ILoveKaiHiwatari, Taijia Mizu, SouthernDragon, NightShroud, marishka91, Petalwhisker X Fireheart, Ludovikka, Darial Kuznetsova, lilsilverphoenix and Zodiac10001.

Tears Aren't Made to Fall

DancerInTheDark101

Chapter 8

"WHY DID WE WANT HIM AS COACH AGAIN!"

And so started the continuous moaning from none other than Tyson Granger, the current world champion. Kai had wasted no time in figuring out their current abilities and weaknesses, so after letting them have a few hours for lunch, he took them to a nearby park and had them running laps.

"Shut it, Tyson!" the slate-haired youth barked at the younger boy as he passed him again. Kai looked down at the piece of paper in his hand. So far, they had been running for approximately half an hour. Ray had managed to do sixteen laps around the field, while Max had done twelve. Tyson however... he had only managed to complete eight and he was struggling.

Sighing, the newly instated coach picked up the pen and noted down his observations. After reading over his notes, he determined that Tyson was in need of some serious endurance training. And who better to teach him than an ex-blader who excelled in endurance?

He called the three panting teens to a halt and they grudgingly made their way over to him. He let them have a drink before revealing to them what the next plan of attack was.

When they were finished, Kai stood in front of them. He reached up and took the dark sunglasses off and glared at the three, not missing the wince as they caught sight of his discoloured eye. "Right," he stated. "Your endurance needs a little work." Shooting a look at Tyson, who swallowed nervously at the gesture, Kai continued. "But we can work on that later. Right now, I want you have a three-way battle. And don't hold anything back."

There was no response from the startled bladers except for an open-mouthed stare. Sighing, the crimson-eyed coach struggled to hold his impatience back and not yell a rather large string of cure words at the three.

"Did you not hear what I just said?" he asked, knowing full well that they did. Kai didn't know what the problem was. There was no problem with having a three way battle, was there? And he needed them to go all out so he could figure out what their weaknesses and strengths now were.

"Hey, just wait a minute!" Tyson yelled, his dark blue eyes narrowing suspiciously. Kai frowned. What the hell was he suspicious about? "Why do you want us to have an all-out battle?"

"Do I really have to explain everything out to you, Tyson?" When there was no reply, just more dumbfounded looks, Kai groaned and ran a hand through his hair in exasperation. Just why had he decided to coach them again?

"If you really must know, Tyson, it's so that I can find out just how much you suck." Of course, that wasn't the real answer, but Kai figured that getting Tyson riled up was the easiest way for the world champ to listen to what he was telling them to do.

And it worked spectacularly as Tyson's eyes narrowed even more in anger and his fists clenched at his sides. "Fine!" the Japanese teen growled. "Max, Ray, c'mon. Let's show the Ice Cube here just how much we don't suck!"

Kai glanced over at the other two, who were glaring at him as well. The Russian teen rolled his eyes, expertly hiding a wince as a painful throb made itself known. It would be an interesting battle, especially when they were so angered. Would their anger over something (or in this case someone) that wasn't even apart of the battle hinder their skills at all?

Watching the three get ready at the beydish that had been set up, Kai thought about what Tala and Bryan, and what they would be doing back in Russia. He knew that they would almost be beginning their training for the next circuit, even though the first competition was at least five weeks away.

It seemed that the way the world championships were being run had changed very little since the last time he had competed. Each region began with their own, well, regionals which the winner then went on to represent that region in a national competition. After that, the world championships began with several matches played all across the world, each team gaining points if they won or lost. A win was worth five points while a loss was two. If a draw was the outcome, three points were awarded to each team.

When the lead-up matches were finished, the points were tallied and the top eight teams were matched up so that there were four battles. The winners from those battles then faced each other in another two battles, until there were only two teams left.

However, this year they had added in an extra feature. When the points rounds were being played, there was to be an extra points system running – an individual points tally. The same rules applied as the teams points; five for a win, two for a loss, three for a draw.

With this running as well, it gave contestants whose teams didn't make the final six cut to still have a chance at the world individual title. Kai liked this rule the best. It could mean that if Tyson did really badly in the points rounds, but Max and Ray did well and the team still made it through, Tyson may not be through for the individual championship, but would be for the teams.

It made it that much tougher for the competitors and added a little extra tension to the teams, as one member could make it through to the individual finals, but the team might not make it to the team finals.

This years World Championships were going to be very, very interesting. And the fun thing was – Kai wasn't going to tell Tyson and the others about the new rules until after the national competition. There was no point telling them if they never made it to the world champs, was there?

But he had told Tala and Bryan the new rules, which was going to give them an advantage over the Bladebreakers immediately. But that's how Kai wanted it. He wanted Tyson to have to actually fight for his title this year. And if he came out on top, it meant that he had earned it fair and square. And if he didn't... well, it just meant that he hadn't worked hard enough.

Noticing that the three were ready to begin the battle, Kai nodded to Kenny, who was not participating in this match and was sitting a safe distance away, his laptop out and ready to record any and all data.

"Three, two, one... Let it rip!"

The three blades were launched at once, gaining speed before being slammed into the dish at different points of impact. Kai immediately noticed that all the launches were slightly off. To the untrained eye, they looked perfect. But the Russian, who had been virtually brought up around beyblading, saw that Dragoon had landed slightly on a tilt to the right, which seriously decreased its speed as it entered. Kai quickly wrote under Tyson's column on the paper he held in his hand –launch.

Both Max's and Ray's launches weren't too bad, but Max's posture upon launching was going to need to change. At the present time, the way he held the launcher kept him from maximizing the speed of the launch and with his heavier blade, could become a sever handicap in future battles.

Under the Max column, he scribbled launch, posture.

The grey, white and green beyblades circled each other mercilessly, sparks flying from where the metal parts were grinding together. A frown settled upon Kai's features as he made a note to talk to Kenny about streamlining their blades to reduce friction.

"Dragoon! ATTACK!" Tyson called upon his bitbeast first, which was something Kai knew he would do. Even after he had told him that he relied far too much on the power of his bitbeast, he still went ahead and used it without thinking. Dragoon obeyed immediately and rushed towards Draciel, who was spinning in the same spot, just off the centre of the dish.

That was something Max was going to have to work on. Just as Tyson relied too heavily on his bitbeast's power, Max relied too much on his defence and Ray relied too much on his agility. That was the main downfall of this team.

When Kai was still apart of the Bladebreakers, each of them had specialized in a different area. Max had been defence, Ray's was agility, Tyson's had been the power of attacking and he had specialized in endurance.

Together, they were the perfect team and with the right planning, they were able to take on any opposing team and win. However, now that Kai was gone (well, not gone. Just not competing), the team was off-balance. And with the individual points co-existing with the team points, they had to master all areas of blading to be able to win convincingly.

"Draciel! Evade!" In an instant, the heavy green beyblade moved out of the way of the rushing Dragoon. He barely made it away in time before Ray was moving in for the kill while Max was distracted with Tyson. "Drigger, let's do it!" came the command from the black-haired teen.

A shining green light erupted from the grey beyblade and moments later a magnificent White Tiger with piercing green eyes hovered above, a loud roar ripping through the air, announcing his arrival.

Drigger shot towards Draciel at an astounding pace. Kai was shocked to see how powerful Ray still was, but then something caught his eye and a smirk formed. At first glance, Ray looked powerful. His speed was incredible and just to look at the Tiger sent back shockwaves of power. But when you looked closely at both beyblade and blader, you could see that at the speed the blade was travelling, Ray was having a hard time controlling it fully.

The White Tiger was unstable at that speed, Ray obviously pushing it too hard for what it was able to handle in a bid to impress him. Kai bit back a laugh as he looked around at the three boy's faces. It looked like they were all trying to impress him. So much for the anger that they had so clearly displayed earlier.

Moments after Drigger appeared, so did Dragoon and Draciel. Kai could feel the raw power emanating from the three beasts and knew that if they came to head there would be damage on an unimaginable scale. The bladers didn't have enough control over the power of their bitbeasts yet. It was a miracle that no one had been seriously hurt.

He needed to stop that happening. He knew that he had told them to not hold anything back, but that was before he realised just how little control they had. "STOP!" he yelled at the three, but they ignored him, intent on the final clash that was about to happen. Shit, he needed to stop it and fast.

Kai started towards the beydish, pulling Dranzer out as he did. He didn't know what he could do, since he didn't have a launcher, but he couldn't do nothing. However, he was too late. Just as he reached the side of the dish, amidst the swirling air of Dragoon's Hurricane Storm attack, the three bitbeasts finally clashed.

A huge shockwave erupted from the centre of the beydish, knocking Kai and the others off their feet. Kai's head smacked into the ground hard and he blinked, seeing stars. The world swam in and out of focus before eventually settling and as soon as it did, he sat up slowly, hiding a wince.

Surveying the damage before him, the Russian teen decided that until they could control their beyblades, Tyson, Max and Ray would be training without their bitbeasts. If they couldn't control a simple spinning top, then what chance did they have in controlling the huge powers of their ancient beasts?

The answer?

None.

That night...

The pain that flowed through his veins set his body on fire, like liquid nitrogen invading a substance and ripping it apart molecule by molecule. There was heat, coming from an unknown source, flames licking at his body and scorching his skin.

Screams echoed in the distance, unsure of whom or what they belonged to. Nothing was clear anymore. Everything blurred into each other; the twisted frame of what used to be a car, the night sky littered with flickering stars; even the white-hot flames dancing the dance of death merged into the metalwork.

He could hear voices talking to him, as if they were standing right next to his ear, whispering their strange words with an accent he couldn't place. There was a blinding light and then the pain erupted like molten lava over his face, the epicentre through his right eye. He screamed. At least he thought it did. It was hard to hear anything above the immense cackle of flames or the screaming of twisted metal.

Since when were inanimate objects able to scream?

Moments later, all sound disappeared and looking up, he could see more flames. Although, these ones didn't seem to be burning as hot as the others, but were just as bright. Unable to see out of his right eye and his left was watering so much he could barely see, but he could make out the outline of strange animal – one he had never seen before. It was being devoured by the same flames that were eating at the metal cage he was trapped in.

Another light burst through the fire encased metal cage. This time it was a blue light that kept flickering on and off at regular intervals. Somehow, it was soothing. The melody of flickering lights; those from the stars, the flames and the unnameable blue light, calmed him and soothed his senses.

The sounds from the carnage around him quietened and he could finally hear the slow pounding of his own heart, the wet gurgles of his own exhales; the sound of his own death. And then, everything faded into oblivion as one last scream echoed through the night air.

Kai shot up in bed, gasping for breath as sweat trickled down his face, falling into his eyes before he brushed a hand across them. God, that was one of the strangest dreams he had ever had. He knew it was about the accident, but it was so different to any he had ever had – so vivid. But why now? Why this dream? None of it had made any sense. That's not what had happened... so why?

After his car had collided with the truck, he had passed out fairly quickly and there had been no way in hell he would have been able to see anything.

Letting out a low groan, the confused teen looked over to the clock situated on his nightstand and blinked as he saw the time. 11.49 PM. Shit, he hadn't even been asleep for half an hour. Maybe he was just stressed?

The day had been a nightmare. After testing the Bladebreaker's on their skills and being completely baffled by their obvious lack of said skills, he had informed them that for the next consecutive week of training, they would be without their bitbeasts. Of course, that statement had been met with about as much enthusiasm as Japan had when Hiroshima had been bombed.

After telling the shocked bladers that they weren't going to die without their bitbeasts for an entire week, he had called off practise for the rest of the day and gone home to go over his notes and see what on earth he could possibly do to help the Bladebreakers. It was going to take a lot of work.

Sighing, Kai flicked on the light next to the bed and slipped the blankets off before getting out. He padded across the room and into the adjoining en-suite and also flicked on that light. Looking into the mirror, he could see clearly the discolouration of his right eye, the result from it being damaged in the accident.

He reached into the cabinet and pulled out a much-used bottle of eye-drops. After releasing a few drops into the partially-blinded eye, he blinked and distributed the clear substance in a film across the surface. Then, in a random act of... he didn't know what, he lifted his left hand and covered his left eye.

It wasn't something he had ever done before, probably because he didn't really want to know just how bad his eyesight was in his right eye, but after that dream...

Kai had closed his eyes just as he covered his left, but seconds after, he slowly opened his right eye and couldn't help but sigh. He could barely see anything, just a blurry outline in the mirror. It wasn't that noticeable when he was using both eyes, but using only his right eye...

The doctors were right; he was probably going to need more surgery to fix the almost-gone sight. Shit. That was the last thing he needed. He was so sick and tired of doctors and damn surgeries to fix things that might never be able to be fixed. God, maybe he should just resign to the fact that for the rest of his life he was going to be half blind...

Taking his hand away, Kai blinked until the vision in his left eye fixed itself before heading back into the bedroom, dry-swallowing a few headache pills before dropping back into bed. Maybe he should go back to his doctor; because the headache-prevention pills he had been given weren't doing shit to stop the headaches.

He lay back against the headboard before turning off the light and drifting into a somewhat peaceful slumber, hoping that he wasn't going to have anymore strange dreams about the stupid accident.

Because that day, he was about to start re-training the Bladebreakers and he was going to need every ounce of sleep and patience he could get.

TBC

A/N: Well, it's a bit shorter than any other chapter, but I really wanted to get this one out. I guess I owe you an explanation as to why it's been so long since I last updated, huh?

The quick version: the last few months have sucked royally. First, my flatmates had a party when I wasn't there and my house got trashed, then their friends ended up stealing my TV and wall bracket that it was attached too. I kicked them out and it got ugly and they ended up being trespassed from the property. Then, to top it all off, my cat of 10 years died suddenly.

So I wasn't really in the mood to write. But everything's slowly getting better now :) Haven't heard from the police about my stolen TV, but I ended up getting a better (and bigger) one anyways hehe.

I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! I hope that it won't take as long to finish the next one.

Sorry if I didn't reply to your review. I forgot who I had replied to and who I hadn't...

See you next time! Thanks for reading.