Hola…

Since I finished with chapter nine, and FF.N is being :string of curse words: I figured I'd do chapter 10 while I was waiting…

Note: while I was planning on making this a full-fledged story, I was not expecting it to be this long…oh well…

ENJOY!

One more thing: THANKS TO ALL WHO REVIEWED!

ACK!...never mind…I thought I had forgotten Mariah...ahem, on with the story…

-x-x-x-x-

"…something is wrong…" Hilary muttered; she could sense it now too. A faint nod was her reply as her companion eye's warily scanned the clearing.

"A cover…" The other girl stated, tensing, as though about to spring.

Dark grey storm clouds quickly formed in the sky, blocking out the sun as the wind began to howl eerily. Not much later, a fog rolled in…a thick, sound muffling, fog…

"Not good," Kira murmured, more to herself than Hilary. It was then Hilary began to see the outline of forms in the fog.

"W-what…" She stuttered. What came into sight made her scream.

-x-x-x-x-

"…I called Mr. Dickenson…" All eyes were now riveted on the smirking captain.

"And," Ming Ming asked in a voice barely above a whisper. Garland waited a few minutes just to prolong the agony before he sighed and informed them.

"He's sending us to the Granger Dojo to try and help cheer Tyson up…"

"He is," Brooklyn's soft voice questioned.

"Yep…apparently someone else is already there to extend their support to what's left of the Bladebreakers…"

"Who," Crusher finally spoke.

"Mariah," Garland replied.

"…hadn't we better get packing?" Ming Ming suggested timidly.

There was a flurry of motion as everyone ran towards the hallway where their rooms were. Brooklyn sighed and allowed himself a small smile as he followed behind his panicking teammates.

-x-x-x-x-

"Mariah? Mariah!" A voice called through the darkness.

'Whoever it is…they sound really worried…time to…wake UP…' With a bit of effort, Mariah dragged herself back to consciousness to see a panicked Rei sitting by her side. Looking around, she found that she was back in the bed she had woken up in.

"Mariah!" Rei's shaky voice brought her back to the present. It was then she noticed Rei was pale and shaking.

"Rei, are you okay?" She gazed at him imploringly.

"I-I'm fine…" He returned, looking away to avoid her eyes.

"Rei…" Mariah begged, placing a hand on Rei's shoulder. When she found the muscles underneath her hand shaking and tense at the same time, she knew something was up. "Did something happen when I was asleep?" Him shaking his head no only made her worry more. "What is it then?" His gaze fell to the floor. "Rei?"

"…you scared me, you know…" His voice sounded tired, but it was filled with emotion nonetheless.

"Scared you…you mean when I fainted?" He nodded. "I'm sorry Rei…" She paused to think for a moment and grinned. "You scared me first," she accused jokingly.

The melancholy look on his face told her he had missed her kidding tone.

"Rei, I was only kidding…"

"…you scared me…" He murmured, his golden eyes bright with unshed tears.

"Rei…oh crap! It's NMS…Rei, just calm down…" Said neko-jin complied by resting his head on her shoulder, the melancholy look still present on his face. "Relax…just relax…" She murmured, wrapping an arm around him and resting her head on top of his.

-x-x-x-x-

Someone tapped him on his shoulder. Knowing exactly who it was, he ignored them and continued happily listening to his song.

'Ignorance is bliss,' he reflected silently as he watched mile after mile of ocean pass under his window. 'Almost there!' He cheered mentally upon sighting a thin strip of land that was growing slightly bigger as the minutes passed.

-x-x-x-x-

Meanwhile, our Russian friend was currently working on plans to find Hilary…although apologizing wasn't quite what he had in mind…

Or was it?

-x-x-x-x-

"Is that everything," Garland checked as he looked at the six bags piled up by the door.

"I believe so…" Brooklyn commented from his usual perch on the couch.

'Something tells me this trip isn't just for Tyson's benefit…' Mystel figured.

'Hopefully Brooklyn and Tyson will be able to snap both of them back to their former selves…' Garland theorized. 'I don't know what the heck to do if not!'

'Hm…I have my cute pink outfit…and my matching blue sundress…and my make up…' While everyone else was thinking about the trip and what lay ahead, Ming Ming was doing a mental check list to make sure she forgot nothing. 'Yep, I'm ready!'

'How am I supposed to help Tyson when I can't even help myself…?' Brooklyn wondered as he and his teammates picked up their bags. The group headed out down the stairs, out the door and into the crowded street below. 'Why can't I…' His thoughts were interrupted by people who were passing skirting around him and whispering. 'That's why…'

"Ignore them," a familiar voice whispered. He turned, and to his surprise, it was Ming Ming. "They're just jerks…they don't know what we went through…what you went through…just hold your head high and ignore them…"

"Thanks Ming Ming…but I don't think I can pull that off…" He replied while looking down. Someone walking past banged into him.

"Watch where you're going, freak," the person hissed and glared at him. Brooklyn took off down the street, leaving the man to deal with four very angry teens…all of whom were capable of doing some serious damage to the man.

Just as Garland was about to start forward, Ming Ming leapt forward and slammed a fist into the man's face.

"Take that!" She yelled as he fell to the ground, nursing a bloody nose. "And the one who's a freak is you!" The infuriated girl stormed after Brooklyn, making sure to stomp on the man's fingers as she passed. (1)

-x-x-x-x-

'Oh my god…' Hilary thought as she watched the things approach. "What the hell are they!" She cried aloud.

"Zombies," Kira replied grimly and backed up a bit.

"Hello little girls…" The first one said, leering at them with a mouth that was either missing teeth or had rotten ones. "You are going to join us…" All the others leered at the girls as well.

'Crap…' Kira thought as she scrambled up a tree. Hilary was frozen. She had no idea what to do and the only person who might have been her ally had abandoned her.

'I'm doomed,' she panicked, backing up slightly as the undead beings advanced upon her.

The next thing she knew, something had leapt down from the tree with a yell of "HIYAH!" Standing in front of her was Kira, a huge branch in her hands.

"Then again, a big branch does wonders…" Kira smirked; Hilary mutely nodded. Despite Kira's best efforts, she couldn't quite keep the zombies at bay. "Launch your blade."

Hilary stared at her, too frozen to respond.

The zombies started to overwhelm Kira, and forced her to draw away from the defenseless Hilary.

"Launch your blade!" Kira shouted at her, now a few feet away. The zombies were wasting no time, and hurried forward at Hilary. "LAUNCH YOUR BLADE HILARY TACHIBANA!"

At the sound of her shout, Hilary was unfrozen; she almost screamed, but hurriedly pulled out her blade and launched it.

Without a word of direction, Black Dranzer demolished all the zombies. That, however, didn't prevent Kira from continuing to take swipes at the ones that were nearby.

Feeling her job done, Black Dranzer hopped back into Hilary's hand, startling her mistress out of her train of thought.

"Shall we?" Hilary stared at the girl who calmly threw her stick at a pile of zombies, causing a sickening crack

"Hang on a second…didn't you say you had a blade?" A scowl from the brunette made her sigh.

"I do…but I'm…physically unable…to use my blade…"

"Let me get this straight…you live on your own, and yet you're physically unable to blade?" Hilary's disbelieving look almost made her smile.

"Do you remember the battle Kai had with Brooklyn?" Her reply was a nod. "Battles almost as violent as that have been springing up all over the world…and I cannot handle the physical strain."

"Behind you!" Hilary shouted as a zombie both Black Dranzer and Kira had apparently missed popped up.

Kira was completely paralyzed.

'Argh…I can't move,' she growled mentally as she fought vainly to regain control over her limbs. 'Must be…some sort of…spell…' She mumbled as she fought to move. The smirking zombie slashed abnormally long fingernails across the immobile girl's shoulder, and sent her flying into a tree.

A trail of blood marked the path where she flew through the air until she met the tree.

Hilary pulled out her blade and was about to launch it at the thing, almost completely consumed by anger, but something darted out of nowhere and sliced the zombie to zombie sushi.

A glowing white dragon flew over to the stationary Kira. Panic stricken , Hilary rushed over as well.

'I haven't known her for long…but I wouldn't want her to leave…' She realized as she ran to someone she felt she could honestly call her friend's side. "Are you okay!" A small nod was her answer. "Do…do you need some help bandaging it?"

"No," replied Kira slowly. "I think I can manage…" The glowing white dragon dropped a bag in the blonde's lap before soaring off and vanishing into the trees. As Kira began the tedious task of cleaning out and bandaging her cut, Hilary mulled something over.

"Ano…what was that…?" A frazzled Hilary wondered aloud.

"My bitbeast," a voice tight with pain replied tersely.

"Bitbeast?"

"Aa…even though I'm physically unfit to blade, and can't summon her, she still managed to come to my rescue…Thank you, Immi…" She murmured the last part more to the presence she still sensed nearby than Hilary.

"Immi?"

"The Immortal White Dragon…Immi for short…" Biting her lip, Kira tied the knot on her bandages and stood shakily. "What do you say…"

"We get out of here?" Hilary finished; Kira nodded. "Way ahead of ya!" Grabbing the girl's uninjured arm, she tugged and both ran out of the clearing.

A pair of glowing blue eyes watched them leave the clearing and followed. It wasn't quite sure they were out of danger…yet.

-x-x-x-x-

Brooklyn ran until his lungs felt like they were on fire. Gasping for air, he threw himself down on the ground, completely disoriented.

A soft moaning sound made him look up.

'What the hell!' He screamed mentally as a misshapen, decayed hand reached for him. Hurriedly, he backed away with wide, frightened eyes…to run right into Ming Ming, who was followed by the rest of his team.

Panicked, he tried to tell his teammates what he saw, but he went hysterical instead.

"…any ideas?" Garland asked after Brooklyn had gone into complete overload and had collapsed.

"No…but…that does sound…" Ming Ming began.

"Insane," Crusher finished bluntly.

"Brooklyn's sanity isn't in question here…" Mystel finally spoke up.

"It isn't?" Garland inquired. Without a word, Mystel gestured to a long dead, rotting arm hanging from a tree branch directly overhead.

-x-x-x-x-

Tyson walked into Rei's room to find Rei asleep on Mariah's shoulder.

"What happened," the dumbfounded boy questioned.

"I'd like to explain…but I'll need Rei's help to, so it'll have to wait until he wakes up…" Mariah shifted slightly, although she was careful not to jostle Rei.

"Oh…kay…" Tyson's "okay then" expression made her smile wryly.

"That was my reaction to the whole thing when it was explained to me…"

"Should I get Kenny?" The boy started towards the door after Mariah's nod. Silently wondering about something other than food for once, the puzzled boy started to comb the dojo for his other friend. (2)

-x-x-x-x-

(1)- :sheepish laugh: everyone gets mad sooner or later…for Ming Ming, it was sooner ''''''

(2)- I'm not trying to pick on Tyson here…although that might just be true…XD kidding…Tyson thinks about blading and his friends too!

And so it commences…

Sorry, I got tired of say "the end" and everything synonymous with "the end"…yeah, I end up bored entirely too easily…

I'm too annoyed at the moment to even be thinking ahead, so please don't fault me…I was just trying to upload chapter 9, so I could post it, and it wouldn't let me…I tried over ten different times…

At this rate…I'll say "SCREW IT" and go back to the other on-line site where you actually can upload stories…it seems quite tempting at the moment, let me tell you…

Oh well…

And for the record, there were some hints about the plot twists concerning my OC…last chapter, at least, if not this chapter…

Your Frustrated Authoress
Emma

Ps: GOT IT TO UPLOAD! Thank you, Notepad!

Pss: Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblade…if I did, there would be a lot more plot, a lot less blading, Dranzer wouldn't have been destroyed and Hilary would blade too…