A little chat with the reviewer(s):

Iridescent Wind – Please, take your time on whatever you're doing. I don't mind. I'm really happy to hear you love the way it's developing! Thank you… but I hope it doesn't get boring from here later.

I Love Beyblade

Chapter 6 – Her Choice

Ruby kept on walking and walking then she eventually entered the same city as Kai, but that was yesterday when she left the guys. She did not sleep last night. "I should have gone with them or something…" she sighed, depress. Her stomach growled and she rubbed it. "Bryan might have storm into a store and stole some food. …I want some…"

As she walked deeper in the city, she decided to take a little break and sat down on the ground by a little pond. There's no one around. She wanted to relax in a quiet place and she stared at the pond in front of her. Bird chirped and flew by her. She looked up at them with a warm smile. In all of her life she imagine herself in a size of a thump and riding on a bird. Flying feels great and the cool wind always feels really nice. Her thoughts lead her to Falborg and she hope to see the guys again.

"I see you, Ruuubbbbyyyy!" a boy's voice shouted happily.

Ruby looked to her left and a boy came running to her. He had red spiky hair, some bangs, and brown eyes. What he wore were big shorts that reached pass his knees and a big dark brown t-shirt. He then jumped towards her with his arms open. Ruby moved back and he missed her, slamming his face on the ground. "What are you, six-year-old kid?" she asked, giving him a dry look.

"No, sixteen-year-old!" he said, after lifting his head. He sat on the ground in front of her and leaned forward. He pulled a little bag of cookies and holds it above her. "I got cookies!"

She silently stared at it, remembering that she loved cookies. "Arg, I feel sick…" she rubbed her stomach, making a disgusted face.

He blinked at her. "What did you eat?" he asked.

"…Imaginary sweets."

The red haired guy looked offended. "But I thought you love sweets, Ruby!" he said, waving the bag back and forth close to her face.

She chuckled, "I'm not in the mood for them right now, Xue."

"Then you can keep this when you feel like eating it!" he smiled brightly land dropped it on her lap. "So, how did it go? Did you get it?"

"Yeah," she nodded. She took the chip out of her pocket and showed it to him. "This one, right?" she asked. He nodded. "Why do you want this so badly anyway?"

"I'm sorry for not telling you this before," Xue nervously smiled. "I'm working with the Silver Company. And everyone you had known from around the world, ever since you stop being a gang leader, they had helped you out a lot because they all work for the Silver Company… well, not Eve, she has nothing to do with them."

Ruby grabbed his shirt, furiously glaring at him and the both of them stood up. "What?" she asked. "So all this time, those friendly people who lend a hand me was just putting up an act?"

He waved his arms at her, begging for mercy. "I'm really sorry! We were ordered to! And I was ordered ask you to steal the chimera from them! They wanted to test your potential!"

"Who ordered you to?" she pushed him away. "Why did the people from the Silver Company act as if they didn't know me when I stole the chip?"

Xue rubbed the back of his head, smiling a bit. "It was part of the plan. But only some knew about it. The ones who knows are boss, some man name Goldman and some woman name Volt. There are couple of lower ranks knows about it too. Boss planned it like this to test you. Now that you were successful, you have to join!"

Ruby sighed heavily. "Well, forget about it! I'm not going to work for him. And why are you even working for them? You're too childish to join them!"

"I've been with them since ten," he said. She shot him a glare and sweats appeared on his face. "Hey, now you know! Anyway, the boss says if you have successfully stole the chimera, you can keep it."

"I don't know how to beyblade," she dryly told him.

Xue slapped her head with a wide smile. "Did you forget bit beasts have reached to another level of the game? You don't need blading anymore! Although, I miss blading very much but…"

She rubbed her head where he slapped her. "Keep the chimera… huh?" she sighed. "What else did your boss said to you?"

"He wants you to join him," he said, already know he had said that to her.

"No way," she quickly said.

Xue's tears fell down like a little kid. "B-But…!"

Ruby slapped his head this time, rather tired from this talk of the Silver Company. "I'm not going to be someone's cat and obey," she said, lightly glaring at him. "I don't like being use by anyone. I rely on myself, Xue. You know me."

"It's because I do…" he rubbed the spot where she hit him. "The boss had people capture Eve and if you don't join us, they'll torture her or something."

"…Eve?" she asked, eyes widen in shock. "So they took her as some kind of hostage so I can join them?!" she angrily asked. "Is that how they got you into become one of them too, Xue?!"

"No," he shook his head. "I joined them with my own free will. I have my reason back then."

Ruby growled and turned away, not wanting to look at him. "Why do they want me for? What can I do?" she formed her hands into fists. She's mad about Eve being imprisoned.

Xue silently looked at her, depress that he had to do this to his friend. "I don't know why, but orders are orders…" he said. She did not say a thing. He rubbed the back of his head and said, "Ruby, Eve's my friend too… but I can't do anything to stop them from using her to get to you. I'm sort of powerless."

"…What proof do you have that they took her as hostage?" she asked.

Xue laughed nervously. "Um… I don't have anything with me right now…" he said. "Actually, I don't know if they did take her because this is just what I was ordered to say. I have no clue if she's caught or not."

Ruby glanced at him with a question look on her face. "Then did your boss send you to ask me to do something?"

"Yeah," he nodded with a smile. "If you agree to come with me, we're to take Dranzer from Kai Hiwatari. I heard you met him back in…" he looked at Ruby, who looked frighten. "Um… Ruby…?"

"Why him…?" she asked. She did not want to hurt Kai in any way. She did not want to become an enemy to him at all. Why did this have to happen to her?

Xue rubbed his chin. "So far, from what I know, the boss really wants Dragoon, Driger, Draciel, and Dranzer. Before the boss formed the Empty Hearts, the teenagers are to take one of the four bit beasts back to base. Even though they happen to fail a few times now, at least they tried and have done other brilliant jobs on something else. Boss allowed some of them to become the Empty Hearts when he announced it five months ago. But if I remember correctly, a year ago they attacked the owners of Dragoon, Driger, and Draciel. It got rough later on…. And…"

"Are you done talking yet?" Ruby glared at him. "Shut up already." This is too sudden for her and hard to take it in.

Xue quiet down and looked at her with serious eyes. "I know what I'm doing seem wrong but I can't turn back anymore. I have to work for the Silver Company, Ruby. Right now, I'm doing this for Eve so she can return safely. She's our friend, right? You don't want to save her over a guy who owns Dranzer? Some guy who you just met not long ago?"

Ruby fell on her knees and sat on the ground. "Eve… she's been there for me ever since I was twelve…" she quietly told herself. "She's like an older sister to me."

"Then go and take Dranzer," Xue said, smiling again. "If we do that, they'll let Eve go and they won't bother her ever again! Now that's a good deal!"

She remained silent for a while and he waited for her to say something. She had to think of something to get Eve and not taking Dranzer. What can she do…? There's have to be something. Just something is good enough. "If only I have Eve… she might be able to think of something," she sighed. "Eve…?" She quickly stood up and her head hit Xue's chin. "Oooowwww!" she whined. "What the hell were you…?!" she trailed off. The pain on her head hurt her so much that she forgot what else she was going to say.

Xue rubbed his chin back and forth to lose the pain. Little tears were in his eyes. "You're the one who suddenly stood up! You're to blame!" he pointed at her, shouting.

They went on crying for a moment. "Okay…" she grabbed Xue's shirt. "I have a plan. If you go along with me, you won't have to work for them anymore. Is that what you want?"

"It sounds perfect!" he hugged her tightly. "Oh Ruby! What would I have done without you around! The Silver Company and the Empty Hearts are all so cold! I was wondering when I could escape from their evil clutches for years now!"

She laughed, happy to know he is still the same as always. She was afraid if he turned into some bad guy and unable to return to his childish side. "Ahem…" she pushed him away. "I have a question for you though…"

He nodded. "What is it?"

"Only the two of us are supposed to grab Dranzer, right?" she inquired.

"No," he said. "One of the members from the Empty Hearts is going to help us out too, just in case we fail."

"I see…" She nodded to herself and pulled him close. "Alright, this is my plan …" she said, intensely looking at him. "And you better remember it if we want to get Eve back safely."

Author's Note:

I'm sorry that this chapter only has non-Beyblade characters, but I didn't want to go on to the next scene either. I really wanted to write at least someone from Beyblade, but Ruby and Xue had a lot to talk about stuff… so yeah. Again, I'm sorry. (I'm apologizing because I'm afraid people who don't really like OCs probably won't like this very much. XD)

Another thing, Xue is pronounced as 'suu' or something. I had a friend that had that name and told me how to pronounce it.