Chapter 8: Freeze Frame

"Wait. So you're telling me we're just going to sit here, doing nothing, and wait for them to come and attack us again?" Tyson asked incredulously.

No one answered him right away; they were all busy chewing on their Chinese food that room service had just brought up ("It's not as good as the real thing," Mariah commented). No one thought that it was a particularly good idea to eat in such a public place with the bladers out there waiting for them.

Now they were spread throughout Kai's suite, to his chagrin but of course he didn't say a thing about it. He just glared as Tyson barged through the door, a box of Chinese takeout in his hands. Removing himself from the group as always he sat as far away from them as the suite would allow ("Why does he need such a big suite all to himself?" Tyson asked aloud, but of course got no answer).

"Yes," Kenny responded.

"That's just lame," Crystal spoke up, pulling a face. Tyson made a noise of agreement and they high fived. "I mean, we're hiding from them, like sitting ducks, waiting for them to decide to come barging through the window? I'm sorry but I fail to see how that is going to be effective."

"We can't risk your blades behind thrashed or, worse, destroyed by these bladers. We don't fully understand their capabilities. Dizzi and I are stumped and until we know what we're up against we both feel that it is safer for us to lay low."

Mariah hummed, grabbing everyone's attention. "But that's not very fair to Ray, is it?" She asked, looking at him out of the corner of her eye. He lowered his head to take a bite of his lo mein. "I mean, we did come to celebrate his birthday by doing activities and such, not sit around a hotel room all day." She ignored Crystal's comment about not having seen any dolphins yet. "This is probably what they want."

"Good to know one of you don't walk away with your tails between your legs!" Tyson commented, jabbing his fork into his food.

"Watch it, Granger," Lee growled through clenched teeth, his amber eyes darkening.

"We understand your concerns, but Chief has a point," Max spoke up.

"I must be hearing things. Maxie, did you just agree with them?" Tyson demanded.

Max nodded. "Mhm." Tyson scoffed. "I'm sorry Tyson, but he's right. We don't know what they're capable of. Something about them, whenever we're around them, has our bitbeasts acting weird. It can't be that much of a coincidence that when Ray battled them a sudden storm came out of nowhere and when you battled them a cyclone occurred. They're doing something to our bitbeasts, making them lose power. We just don't know how so it's better to try and figure it out than to let ourselves get beaten up over something we can't defeat."

"Thanks for that vote of confidence, pal."

"Oh, knock it off, Tyson!" Hilary snapped, shoving her chopsticks into her takeaway box and slammed it onto the table. "We're trying to find ways to keep yourselves out of trouble while trying to figure out what it is that they're doing to make your bitbeasts go haywire! If we have to hide to do it, so be it!"

Tyson yanked his cap off of his head and ran his hands through his hair at a frantic pace, letting out growls every now and then. "How can you even have a say in what's going on?" He demanded, his eyes set in a hard glare. "You have nothing to do with this! You're useless!"

"Useless!?" Hilary gasped, eyes widening.

"Oh no," Crystal groaned, lightly slapping her face with her palm and shook her head.

"How many feet has he shoved in his mouth now?" Mariah sighed.

"Too many," Ray sighed.

Hilary jumped to her feet, a fire in her eyes. Her hands clenched into fists and her teeth were clenched together. "I have proven many times that I am not useless! I'm just as important to this team as the rest of you are, even if I don't beyblade! You wouldn't be here without the time and help I've put into this team!"

Now Tyson jumped up, his hands also clenched into fists. He stood so close to her that their noses almost touched. "I did perfectly well starting out without you here and without your opinions! You're just a glorified cheerleader who likes to boss the rest of us around on your little power trip when you know nothing!"

Silence.

Hilary stood stock still, her eyes wide. Shock written all over her face. Tyson's chest heaved as he breathed heavily, casting his eyes down to his shoes. Everyone else was staring at him, mouths agape as if they hadn't believed a word that he had just said. He had even managed to get Kai's attention. The quiet blader had opened one eye and swiveled it in Tyson's direction.

Tyson growled. "Forget it!" He snapped, turned on his heel, and stomped off. He yanked open the door and slammed it shut behind him. The mirror by the door rattled against the wall and then sat still, making the entire room fall into thick silence once more. It was quickly broken by the sound of Gary's stomach growling.

"Oh, Gary," Mariah groaned, lightly pushing at him.

"Do we have any fortune cookies around here?" He asked in a slow drawl.

"I can't believe you're thinking about food at a time like this!" She cried out. She shifted her sitting position so she was facing Ray. "I'm sorry about this," she stated. Ray gave her a confused look. "This was supposed to be a fun vacation but all we're doing is fighting with each other."

"It's not as if you caused this, Mariah," Ray pointed out. "You don't need to apologize for anything, really." He let out a breath. "Frankly we should be expecting this for the rest of our lives, right?" He looked at Max and Kai before continuing. "We have the four Sacred Spirits. People are always going to want them and people will always try to find a way to get it. It's inevitable as long as there are good and bad people in the world. We just have to adjust to any threat that comes our way. And in this case we don't have many options left."

He leaned forward to look at Hilary, taking her hand. She had finally managed to make her legs move so she was sitting down again. She looked over at him with tears lining her bottom eyelids. "He's frustrated. By no means and I'm trying to downplay what he said, he was way out of line, but he doesn't like not having options. He's a very passionate person, in the best and worst of ways and that's all that this is. He can't stand not knowing what's going on with his bitbeast, none of us can. I hope you accept my apology on his behalf."

Hilary gave his hand a squeeze and wiped at her eye, a tiny smile on her face. "Of course," she uttered. "I understand it's hard on all of you. I really do. I may not be a beyblader but I understand."

"And contrary to what he says you are an important asset to the team, so don't think otherwise," Max added.

Lee poked around at his food for a few moments and finally spoke up. "It makes me wonder," he started. "What it is that they're doing that is making your bitbeasts go haywire. They don't have beasts as far as I can tell. They have normal blades but they're stronger than us. Not that I'm saying it's not possible for them to be strong without a bitbeast but it is very unusual."

"Sad as it is to say, I haven't been able to crack it just yet," Kenny spoke up. "It may not even be what they're doing."

"Are you suggesting that our bitbeasts are going crazy on their own?" Max asked.

"It's a possibility, Max. We'll never know for sure unless I can get a good reading on their blades."

"But you won't be able to do that if we just sit here," Crystal spoke up, poking at her food. "So, here's my idea. We attack them before they attack us. We track them down and give them a taste of their own medicine." She patted Kevin's head, who was sitting next to her. "We can use Kevin to find them."

"We're not sending Kevin out and we're not going anywhere," Ray said firmly.

"Oh come on. You know that he can do it. He's so sneaky he could steal your underwear right from your pants. It'd work; we could get the jump on them."

"We're not going to stoop to their level just to run in and battle them without being prepared." Ray's voice was hard. It was a universal tone that would let anyone know that one's mind would not be changed. "It's immoral."

"So it's perfectly fine for them to do the same to us?" She never got an answer. A sound of disbelief fell from her mouth and she set her takeout container down on the coffee table she was sitting near. "I understand that you want to know what you're getting into but sitting here like a bunch of scaredy-cats isn't going to help us learn a single thing."

Like Tyson she got up and walked out of the room, only she didn't slam the door behind her. To her it was a difference in opinions, not something to get too upset over. Besides, she felt he could have any opinion he wanted. It was the action, or the non action, that was the difference between getting things done.

"Are you okay, Hil?"

Hilary looked up from the book she was reading to give her pink haired friend her full attention. Mariah looked over at her while pulling her pillows off of the bed and pushed back the covers. Hilary's eyes shifted around the room for a few moments and then she shrugged.

"Yeah, 'm fine," Hilary responded, tucking her hair behind her ear. Her hair was pulled back into a high ponytail but a few strands continued to fall out of her scrunchie.

"Are you sure?" She plopped down on her bed, resting a pillow beneath her arms and kicked her legs out behind her. "Tyson said some mean stuff."

Hilary shrugged. "That's Tyson," she stated simply. "You learn that when it comes to him he doesn't think when he's annoyed or frustrated. He just says the first thing that comes to his mind."

"And you're not taking it seriously?" Mariah asked, astonished.

"Well…" Hilary dragged out the end of her word. Sighing she stuck her finger in-between the pages of her book and closed it, leaning back against the pillows. She pursed her lips slightly and then continued, "Sometimes what he says hurts, I'll admit. But then I remember that the good times we have outweigh the bad. Yes, we argue sometimes and sometimes we cross the line with one another but, at the root of it all, he's become one of my closest friends. I can guarantee to get the truth from him and I know he'll always be there for me. That's why I can look past it."

The pink haired girl slowly shook her head. "I don't know if that makes you brave or hopelessly in love," Mariah said with a laugh.

"I'm not in love with him."

"Girl, you can't even fool me with that." Picking up her pillow she tossed it across the room. Hilary easily caught it and tossed it back. Mariah said with a giggle, "You have a soft spot for him."

"Tyson's different now. More mature," Hilary said nonchalantly, shrugging off Mariah's comments. "We get along better than we had before, that's all. It was bound to happen sooner or later, don't you think? No guy can be that immature without learning something or growing at least a little."

Mariah opened her mouth to shoot something back when a knock sounded on the door. The girls exchanged a look on confusion and waited. A moment later there was another knock on the door, this one with a more urgent tone to it.

Mariah rolled off of her bed and quickly headed to the front door, passing by the living room and the kitchen to get to the front door. The knock sounded again, but briefly this time as Mariah had gotten the door open. Her stomach dropped slightly at the sight of Ray standing in the doorway as if he were just about to get ready for bed. Her eyes flickered down to his bare chest for a moment but she caught herself and looked up at his face, just then noticing the worry.

"What's wrong?" She asked, alarm suddenly attaching itself to her words. "Is it Lee?"

"No, it's Kevin," Ray replied.

"Kevin?" Mariah repeated in confusion.

"We don't know where he is. He's all but disappeared. He isn't in there with you, is he?" Ray looked above Mariah's head and peered into the room. Mariah glanced over her shoulder as Hilary came out of the bedroom.

"No, we haven't seen him since dinner," Mariah responded. "Did you check the game room? He loves those."

Ray nodded. "And the theater and the computer room. No one's seen him."

Mariah's heart started to rev in her chest. Her breath came out all at once, as if she had just gotten hit in the stomach. It wasn't possible for the mysterious bladers to have grabbed him, was it? She couldn't even bear the thought. "I'm sure he hasn't gotten far," she said with as much confidence as possible.

"We'll help you look for him," Hilary added.

Ray nodded. "Thanks."

He stepped back and waited for the girls to get their shoes on and leave the room. "We have the hotel staff on the lookout just in case he comes back while we're out. Gary's also staying by the room."

"Is this the first time Kevin's up and left in the middle of the night?" Hilary asked.

"No," Mariah said sadly. "He's done it before." Her cheeks flushed at the mere memory of the Asian Tournament a few years prior.

Kevin had snuck out then to try and get information on Ray and his team. She remembered how annoyed she felt, learning that Kevin thought he was doing the right thing for his team by stealing something that belonged to their old friend. She had been so torn back then. On one hand she had missed Ray like crazy but on the other she was hurt, like the rest of the village, when he up and left with the Driger bit.

"I'm sure he'll be fine," Hilary said, rubbing Mariah's shoulder. "You all are tough, he can handle himself."

"Yeah," Mariah sighed. But Kevin just getting up in the middle of the night and disappearing wasn't the issue. It was bigger than that, she could feel it. Something was off between the White Tiger team and it shook her to her core. Not only were they teammates they were friends, family even.

And she couldn't bear to see their family slowly drifting apart.

A small figure bounded from rooftop to rooftop, moving swiftly, using the random clouds as cover once it blocked out the moon. Its footsteps were light as it moved rapidly across the roof, making little tapping sounds as it moved on tiptoes. Wind rushed in its ears and ruffled its clothes. With a mighty leap the figure bounded over a particularly large gap between buildings and landed lightly on its feet.

The moon slid out from behind a cloud and slowly bathed the island in a silvery glow. Another figure stepped out from behind a sloped portion of the roof next to a window. The smaller figure approached the larger one.

"Did you find anything?" Crystal asked, tucking her hair behind her ear. The island breeze made the flyaway hairs flutter around her face while tugging at her clothes.

"Nothing," Kevin responded. "It's like they're invisible or something. I couldn't get any sort of trace."

She cursed under her breath and snapped her fingers. "I was sure you'd be able to find them. What, do they have trackers on us or something?" Crossing her arms over her chest she uttered a sigh and looked out into the distance. "God, this was supposed to work. How did this mess up? It's not that big of an island!"

"Should we be looking for people that want your bitbeasts?" Kevin asked. "There's something weird with them. The strange weather patterns occurring while we're here…I feel it's too much of a coincidence."

"That's the point, Kev. We go and find these people, figure out what they're doing, how they're doing it, defeat them, and it'll prove that—" As if she realized she was speaking too much Crystal pressed her lips together, stopping the flow of her words. "Anyway, I don't know about you but I plan on actually relaxing the rest of his vacation. I don't want to have to battle any more people if I can put a stop to it now. And since no one else will, I'm the one who has to do it."

"Maybe we should get the others to help," Kevin suggested.

"I don't need their help."

"Come on. I haven't even found where they are. If we got Lee or Ray—"

"No!" Crystal said firmly. "We are not going to anyone for help. Especially Ray, got it?" Her words were firm and she had a look in her eye that shook him to the core. It was of wild abandon, as if she wouldn't ever stop until she got what she wanted. But what was it?

Kevin released a sigh and looked away from the older girl's intense gaze. "Got it," he whispered.

"Good."

Silence settled over the two as they stood around, straining to hear something. Anything. Kevin bit down on his thumbnail as his eyes swiveled around, waiting to catch something move. But everything stood still. The only movement came from the wind blow their clothing and the waves crashing onto the beach in the distance.

Finally he heard something. He stopped and trained his ears to listen to the sound. It was very faint but noticeable when the wind stopped blowing.

People talking.

"That's them," Crystal stated. "I can hear Thunder's voice." He could hear excitement and apprehension in her voice. She wiped her palms onto her shorts and checked her pockets for her beyblade. "Okay, I'm going to go down there. You can go back if you want. But do not say a word about where I am. Say you went for a walk or something. Okay?"

"Crys, I don't think—"

"Promise me, Kevin." She took him by the shoulders and looked him in the eye. "Promise that you won't say a word to anyone of where I am."

"But what if you get hurt?"

"Promise me, Kevin."

Removing a hand from his shoulder she held out her pinky finger and lifted her eyebrows. He bit down on his bottom lip and looked in every direction but right at her. Releasing a soft sigh he loosely locked his pinky finger with hers. "I promise," he stated.

"Good." She stood straight up, gave him one last look, and started towards the edge of the roof. "Don't worry about me, Kev. I know what I'm doing." She extended her arm, showing him a thumbs up sign and then took a step off of the ledge.

Wind rushed in her ears as she fell, her stomach dropping in a way that she momentarily felt nauseous. A few seconds later she finally touched down on the ground, landing on her feet gracefully. It took a moment for stomach to catch up to her but once it did she was off, searching for the source of their voices.

"We can take them, Drice'," she whispered, reaching into her pocket and rubbed her thumb against his bit. "We've done a lot of training for this moment. Let's show 'em what we're made of."

Removing her hand from her pocket she followed the voices. The closer she got to them the louder they became. Her heart pounded hard against her chest. She took a few deep breaths, feeling her heart rate slowly go back to normal and pressed on. Finally she paused and pressed her back flat against a brick wall, listening to their hushed conversation.

"For World Champions they're a bunch of chumps," Alicia commented. "Aren't they supposed to be the best?"

"Their wins must have been flukes," Thunder added.

"Or we're just that good," Kaoru added.

"We haven't even gone after all of them yet," a new voice broke in. Crystal recognized that to the blader that took on Tyson earlier that day.

"Is there a point anymore?" Thunder asked. "We've seen what we need to see so far. The extra boost in power from the rock and our new little friend is all that we need. One more battle and their names will be knocked out of beyblade history. Imagine that, amateurs coming in and beating the reigning World Champions." He laughed.

Crystal's eyebrows came together in confusion. Rock? New power? What do they have that we don't?

"Easy for you to say. You're already a sellout," Alicia pointed out. By her tone it seemed as if she were rolling her eyes.

"I can't help that my face would help sell parts—oh stop laughing, Alex."

"I can't help it. You sound so stupid!"

"Please. At least I don't sound like that Zeo kid," Thunder sneered. "He's so fucking eager to join us he's blind to what's going on under his nose. Makes our job easier but he's beginning to be a pain in the neck. Good thing he shuts down after we're done with him. Who knew his power reserves would come in handy? As long as we have him on our side with that much power we're invincible."

"I kinda feel bad for the kid," Alicia commented.

"Why?" Alex demanded. "He's the one who's willing to put his life on the line just to prove something. As far as I'm concerned it's his fault. We're not holding a gun to his head." He laughed. "If only Tyson and the others knew how strong he really was, they could have taken advantage of his power instead of handing him to us."

"Sssh," Kaoru suddenly shushed. "Here he comes."

Crystal peered around the corner and saw that Zeo, indeed, was approaching the group. His eyes were bright and he had a large smile on his face as he waved. "Hey guys!" He greeted them. "Sorry I'm late. Father wants to spend a lot of time together." He laughed. "While I appreciate the sentiment I do need some time away from him."

"Yeah, parents can be a real drag sometimes," Thunder said with a strained sort of smile. Zeo didn't seem to notice it.

"Let's get on with it," Alicia sighed, filing her nails. "I have a spa treatment to get to."

"Who's up next?" Thunder asked.

"I am," Kaoru replied. "It's Max's turn for payback."

"Um, do you think I can take him on?" Zeo spoke up. He twisted his hands together. "I've been practicing and I've beaten him before. I can do it."

"You'll get your chance in due time," Alex interrupted him, his tone cold. "For now we'll need your help. So if you don't mind…" He waved his hand in a way to signal for Zeo to proceed.

Sighing Zeo slowly unbuttoned his shirt. Once it was unbuttoned all the way he reached up to his chest. Crystal's eyes widened in horror when he griped a section of his chest and it popped open on a hinge, revealing the wiring and electrodes that sat inside of his chest cavity.

"Excellent," Alex said with a grin, taking his blade out of his pocket. He reached forward and inserted it into Zeo's chest cavity, where it was nestled in wires. All of a sudden it got surrounded in a blue-ish light that lit up the dark alley way. "I hope you've charged your batteries enough this time. We can't afford a loss." He laughed. "Not that we'd ever lose with you around. Combining the powers of the rock with a cyborg was a brilliant idea."

"You all seem so smart," Crystal commented, coming out of hiding and standing tall underneath their shocked expressions. "But you don't even check to see if anyone's listening." She slowly shook her head. "So cheating is the only way for you losers to get any sort of notoriety. That's low, even for you all." Her eyes moved over to Zeo. "Especially you. How d'you think Tyson's going to feel once he finds out?"

"Shut up!" Zeo roared. "You don't know anything! And don't you dare bring up his name around me! He deserves this for replacing me! For forgetting about me! You all do. You deserve this."

"You're pathetic," Crystal sighed, shaking her head. "All of you are. Using underhand tactics just to get your fifteen minutes of fame. It's disgusting."

"Let me guess, you're the one who's going to show us the error of our ways right?" Alicia asked dryly, wiggling her fingers and studying her filing job. "Can one of you get rid of her please? She's giving me frown lines."

"I have to say I missed seeing that face, Kitten," Kaoru commented with a smirk, approaching her. "It makes me feel good destroying that look of determination."

"You haven't done so yet," Crystal noted.

"But I will now that you don't have your bodyguards hanging around."

"I don't need them to defeat you. I've done it before, remember?"

"It was a fluke."

"We'll see about that. Battle me then, unless you need a little pick me up to feel good about yourself."

In a split second both of them had loaded their beyblades and launched them with as much strength and precision as they could. Their two blades landed on the ground and immediately went on the attack. Dricen dodged here and there, alternatively changing between attack and evasion while Hadenix hit anytime he had the opportunity.

"Can you please hurry this up?" Alicia asked.

"No," Kaoru replied, a sinister smile on his face. It made Crystal's stomach flip-flop but she swallowed thickly and continued to concentrate on the battle in front of her. "I want her to suffer."

"Do whatever you need to, Kaoru," Alex said from where he stood, watching the flickering light that surrounded his beyblade.

Crystal bit her lip as her eyes shifted between Zeo and Kaoru. Her eyes bounced back and forth a few moments before she sighed and pressed her lips together. "Get 'em, Dricen!" She ordered. Dricen shot to the side and started to spin against the wall, heading straight for Zeo. "Come on, you can do it!"

"Not so fast!" Kaoru laughed.

Hadenix changed directions and shot at Dricen with much more speed than Crystal remembered. She gritted her teeth when Hadenix knocked Dricen back down to the ground. Dricen flipped over a few times but managed to get back its balance.

"Dricen, Frozen Tundra!" Crystal ordered.

A bright blue light shot out of her blade, illuminating the sky, but a moment later it thinned out and disappeared, shooting back into her blade. She gritted her teeth and ordered Dricen up again but, again he didn't come out. Rats! This same thing happened to the others. Something about the rock or Zeo's power is making it so our bitbeasts can't come out. So we have to find a way to dislodge the rock pieces. But how?

"Ready to give up?" Kaoru asked.

"Not on your life!" Crystal hissed.

He laughed. "But on yours then, right?"

Crystal faltered. What did he mean by that? A moment later she got her answer in the sound of a large crack. She looked around to find what the source of the noise was but it didn't come to her eye, not until she tried to move. She found that her feet were stuck to the ground, no matter how hard she trained.

What?

Glancing down, the sight made Crystal gasp aloud. Ice slowly started to form over her shoes and slowly crawled up the laces, climbing to her ankles, effectively chilling her skin and caused gooseflesh to erupt on the surface. Straining she tried with all her might to lift her feet off of the ground but, to no avail.

Her heart dropped.

She was slowly being frozen alive.

A/N: And the plot thickens! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Once again, thanks to all of the readers who take time to look at my story and thanks to those that have it on their favorites list and their alert list.

Onto the reviews.

Shiningheart of ThunderClan - I love fluff of anykind but there's something about TyHil fluff that I really like. I enjoy their subtleties. I hope this chapter answered your question about who created the cyclone, and if not, there's always the next one! Thanks for your review as always!

Cat - Thanks for the review! Yep, this series isn't going to be over for a bit. I have a lot of ideas for our favorite beybladers.