Chapter 4

A.N. Hi! sorry for the two month one thing I'm great at is procrastinating.

First, I want to thank Marchellv , Little A Granger and Rapid Puzzleshipper Saiko for their lovely reviews. Thanks guys!

This chapter is dedicated to lovely Little A Granger. She is always encouraging new writers like me and has a lot of love for this fandom. Love you girl!

Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade or any of it's characters.

Everyone just sat there stunned for a few minutes.

"No, that is not what I meant. Wait! Kaaii!"Tyson went after him after he recovered from the shock but he was too late. Kai had already left the cabin.

"Oh shit!" Tyson ran out barefoot. He spotted Kai at some distance.

"Kai! Wait up man!" But he seemed to not to have heard him and continued on his way. Tyson ran in full speed to catch up with him.

Kai was lost in his thoughts. Tyson crossed the line sometimes. Kai was this with the tiredness (though he never admits it) from training the whole day and being stuck in a forest and stress for the upcoming tournament, you get a recipe for disaster.

"Hey! Will you just stop and listen to me for a second?" Tyson said,a bit irritated.

"Hn" Kai just kept on walking.

"Look that is not what I meant okay? I was just being an idiot." Tyson said once he caught up.

"Give me one instance when you are not being an idiot." Kai said quietly.

"Alright alright. I get it. Now come, let's go back and practise."

Kai raised an eyebrow. Is he serious?

"What?" Tyson asked.

Kai snorted and continued walking. By the time others had caught up.

Kenny was panting, "Kai... You can't...can't be serious."He pleaded. But Kai was not in the mood to deal with all this.

Ray put a hand on Kai shoulder."You know we need you and Dranzer right? We're not complete without you. Cut out this attitude."

"Yeah Kai we're a team." Max added.

Great. They have to use that card. But he wouldn't fall for it. Not today. He has had enough.

Judging from the others' faces, they were waiting for his response. He just continued walking. Silent treatment works best here.(Everywhere actually, we're talking about Kai).

"Kaaaii" Kenny called out.

"Let him be alone for sometime Chief." Tyson said,"he'll come back after a while."

"But-" Max started.

"You saw what happened Max."Ray interrupted. "He wouldn't listen right him time to calm down. He'll be back barking orders at us by the night."

But that didn't happen.

The sun was set now and the first stars had begun to make their appearance. Still, Kai hadn't returned from his moody stroll.

"He is still brooding. He walks when he broods. Is it humanely possible for someone to walk this much? I'm telling you it's not. He is actually an alien from another galaxy on a secret mission to enslave our planet." Tyson joked. They were lazing around, sitting at the wooden steps that led to the house.

"...or he is just seriously thinking about resigning thanks to you." Kenny piped in.

That shut Tyson up. He held himself responsible for the drama. Though he wouldn't say it out loud, he respected and admired the team Captain. He hadn't played much since the formation of team: just once in the Asian tournament when he and Ray couldn't make it on time. But that was not needed. His silent presence lended them the strength that they needed during the matches. A reassurance, a sturdy support at time of need.

But seriously, the guy was a freak. Who runs around with dead-weights in the arm guards they wear? Or drape a scarf on them 24x7 even when the temperature doesn't justify it even remotely? Leave alone the ever-present blue triangles... And the red eyes. Tyson knew Kai didn't use contacts.( Max had asked him once and he had glared at them. Just when everyone thought he wouldn't answer, he grumbled a quite "No". And Kai never lies.) You have to leave the eyes out. Otherwise, you will highly suspect Kai to be a vampire (apart from beyblading,Tyson had a side interest for horror movies). Tyson had ruled that out considering that the sunlight did not burn the guy.( Or garlic didn't repel him. Tyson did not want to think about that incident)

He was arrogant and rude; smiled on the average of once a year; and considered having fun as his mortal enemy. His skill of shouting orders would make any Army General blush. The problem was that he bossed everyone around like he knew everything about beyblading which he actually did. This annoyed Tyson.

Okay, he has more experience but he doesn't have to rub it in. Tyson remembered the day in Hong-Kong in the hotel they were staying. Mr. Dickinson was explaining how the tournament works and Kai got up walked away saying he is not on the team with a bunch of kids. What was his problem?!

"Hey kiddos! You cool 'bout dinner by the bonfire. Last night in this old dude." Grandpa asked, thumping the walls of the cabin, interrupting Tyson's thoughts. It seems Grandpa had decided not to follow the horrible diet-chart after-all.

Oh, right. They'll be leaving tomorrow. Their training is not complete. Their mighty Captain is missing. And Drigger is still not ready. This leaves him and Max alone to face those weird lab-prepped bit-beasts. Oh joy.

They need Kai back.

Kai returned way after dark. Tyson, Max and Ray were about to go searching for him. Not that they feared he is lost or something, Kai probably had an in-built map of the whole place in his mind,Tyson thought. They had decided that it was not really a good idea to leave him alone with his thoughts for too long as he would perhaps ditch the team.

Tyson ran up to him. "Sooo?" He looked at him questioningly.

"Errr..." Tyson started," do you forgive me?"

Kai scoffed and sat down on one of the logs Max had laid around a bundle of branches with which, Kenny was trying and failing at starting a fire. The guy could work magic with all-things technology but remained baffled by other, everyday stuff that should be dead easy. Poor guy.

They had dinner in an uncomfortable silence. Tyson kept throwing stupid, expectant looks at Kai who was completely ignoring the existence of everyone around him. Max would share a look with ray everytime Tyson would huff, irritated by total absence of any response from Kai. Kenny was not good in handling this type of situation and pretended to be typing with one hand while eating with other. All the while feeling extremely awkward and mumbling mundane things.

Grandpa sensed that there was something wrong but decided to stay quiet. These boys were old enough to handle little quarrels among themselves.

Nothing interesting happened after dinner. Everyone just went to bed. Soon you could hear Tyson declaring his undying love for pizza in his sleep and Max's soft breathing. Chief was in the other room giving Drigger final touches. The other two team members slept noiselessly.

Or so it seemed. Kai lay awake. His body painfully straight. Tyson joked that Kai dreamt of being a soldier and so slept in attention position. But it was a habit actually, Kai didn't know when he picked it up, but went with it. It added to his image anyway.

He was thinking about all that had happened today. He never let his teammates' words; good or bad affect him. He did whatever he felt was best for the team. At first he felt like he was trapped with them. That these 'kids' were nowhere his level of expertise. But he couldn't deny that they were different. They didn't cling to him for power and fame, like the Blade Sharks. (Seriously, those guys would've probably licked his shoe if he asked them to.) They viewed him as an equal. As a friend.

Kai was overwhelmed and repulsive of their acceptance for him. Distrust and suspicion being his first instinct, he thought of them as inexperienced and childish for being so blindly trusting. He couldn't help but be amused by their love for the game and for their teammates. Heck. They even befriended rivals like it was the most normal thing to do.

He was shocked when he realised that he too cared for them. Not like friend or something but like a babysitter or some kind of parent.

Kai had gone to search for them in the research facility earlier when they took too long to return. Whole time that he was running through the corridors, all he could think of was what the heck is he doing?! And are these the feelings he is experiencing of...worry?

Yeah, Kai was probably the only team captain who was registered as a substitute player. He had his reasons. He didn't play as much as others because he knew they could handle the situations. Had it been dangerous of too difficult he would've gladly taken the lead.

But today shocked him. He couldn't believe he had resigned. He knew Tyson was just poking fun at him and never meant anything he said.(Does he ever? The kid would always talk first and then think) but Kai was a bit tired and was in a sour mood as the training was not going as he wished so he said he quit. He knew he would regret saying it later but he was too angry at that time. And the whole evening he just didn't understand why couldn't he tell Tyson that it is okay. That he wouldn't be leaving.

And maybe everyone thought that he had quit because when it looked like Tyson was about to yell at Kai or ask him to settle this with a beybattle, Ray had thrown Max a look and the blonde brought up the topic of Pokemon, everyone knows Tyson loved Pokemon and so the beybattle was forgotten. Argh. Why was it so hard to tell people what he was thinking? With all these thoughts still in his mind, he fell asleep.

Next day was the same. The whole ride back to their hotel was full of tense atmospheres, uncomfortable and strained conversations and confusion.

One good thing that happened was Drigger was back in action now with whole new blade. Kenny had done a great job with the attack ring so it's tiger claw attack was "better than perfect!"As Max has exclaimed happily. And the new launchers added to it's (already impressive) performance.

Once back in hotel, lots of things happened.1)Kai disappeared(again sigh...). 2)Mr. Dickinson and Grandpa got to know about the new developments,("I can't believe it! Please resolve the matter boys, we can't fall apart now" The team sponsor had said) 3)Tyson discovered that hot dogs are so much more tastier than any other form of edible substance, much to the stall owner's dismay.4) Max had the same enlightenment as Tyson, just add mustard sauce on top of the delicacy.

It was almost sun-down now and since Kai had not returned (nothing new here) they decided to go get him and get familiar with the whole city in process. Kenny had stayed back saying he'll inform them, should Kai return to the hotel using a pager. "Careful not to break it." He said as he handed it to them.

Max knew it around there so he led the way. They searched him at the Times Square, Statue of Liberty and a few other places they knew he would not be but used the excuse to visit the places. Soon, they were tired of sightseeing, the skies were dark and it looked like it would rain so they hastened the process of Kai-hunting and went straight to the places they highly suspected his presence - the alleys. Ray had suggested that they stick together instead of splitting up as only Max was vaguely familiar with the city.

It soon started to rain. And rain turned into a downpour. And within fifteen futile minutes of searching, they were lost. All the narrow passages, nooks and corners looked the same - dark,smelly(it totally "looked" smelly) and dangerous.

Tyson slipped on the wet floor."Woah" he fell with a thud.

"Careful guys, the place is slippery and uneven." Ray called out. After a while Max declared that they were going in circles as they had passed that graffiti-ed wall before.

"I think I can climb up one of these pipes and get to the rooftop. It will give us a better idea of where we are."Ray thought out loud.

"No buddy, that's too dangerous. If the pavements are slippery then think about the smooth metal pipes. And it all dark. I can't even see you guys clearly." Max said gravely, shaking his head like an adult. It was true, the alleys were pitch dark. Even the moon was behind the angry grey clouds.

"Great! Now we will remain trapped in this labyrinth of alleys for the rest of our lives while Kai must be eating hot-dogs right now." Tyson whined dramatically.

" I don't eat hot-dogs." Kai deep voice responded from behind them.

The three boys jumped. Grandpa, Mr. Dickinson, Chief and Kai were coming their way, with a flashlight in Chief's . Even they had not bothered to take an umbrella or put on a raincoat.

"What are you doing here?" Max asked.

"How did you find us?" Ray chided in.

Kenny chuckled, "As the rain got worse,we were worried about you all. Luckily I attach a GPS tracker to all my devices, including the pager I gave you..."

"Wait, why didn't you just uh... page us?" Ray interrupted.

" Well I , a million times about half an hour ago. There was no response. So either you guys have gone deaf or the pager is broken." Chief said.

Max took out the gadget from his pocket, it was wet and the screen was cracked. It probably broke when Tyson glomped Max near the ice-cream stall when Max said that next round was on him. Tyson had clung to him and he had lost his balance and fell hard on the floor.

Max rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly"heh heh, I guess Dizzi needs to find a way to make it shock proof."He said.

"And waterproof." Tyson added.

"And Tyson-proof." Ray said. "It was you who tackled Max to the floor."

Everyone laughed (except Kai of course) while Tyson pouted.

"Well it is good that you boys are unharmed. We were worried."Mr. Dickinson said.

"Yeah, now back to 'otel we go. Ya dudes are all soaked up."Grandpa boomed.

"I think we have company." Kai said so softly that they almost missed it in midst the noise the rain was making. He was standing with his arms crossed and eyes closed. God knows how the guy knows everything that is going on even when his eyes are shut.

"I was expecting a beybattle with the famous Bladebreakers before they left." A deep, rough voice with an annoying accent drawled. Everyone looked around but since it was dark and dramatically, the only flashlight's battery died just then(Tyson muttered something about this being a rip-off of a movie scene)

"Yeah, I was expecting we could get atleast two of their bit-beasts. I bet they'll get us a fortune." Another voice spoke through the darkness.

"Who's there?" Ray called out warningly, "and if you want a beybattle, meet us at the tournament. We don't accept challenges from every other person lurking in the alleys."

To add to the situation, moon came out from behind the guys came walking into sight. One was atleast 6 feet tall. He had crazy brown hair and muscles that screamed the guy loves gym. He looked about twenty. Other two were a bit shorter but still atleast a head taller than the boys. One of them wore a leathery jacket and had a big baseball bat in one hand. The other hand steadily resting on the shoulder of another boy who looked about their age...maybe a year or two older than Kai. All of them sported an abundance of piercings and tattoos. The ghostly moonlight shining on them added to the effects which made them look like villains from a cheap novel.

The six-foot-guy stepped ahead and grabbed Chief by one hand and lifted him a foot high in the air by the collar of his shirt.

Tyson, being the hot-headed, most impulsive one in team stormed towards them with a "why you-" but was promptly held back by Ray and Max.

"Put Kenny down!" He shouted in midst of struggling to free himself from the grasp of his friends"fight me if you have balls."

"Oh don't worry. We only took your friend into possession to make sure you do fight with us." The guy with the baseball bat hissed.

"Let's start with the Captain. Shall we?"The six-foot-guy said, taking out his beyblade.

Kai didn't make any movement to show that he had even heard the guy.

"I'm talking to you kid. You have the fire bird right? It will fetch us a good ten grands."

Kai opened his eyes and looked at him lazily. "I'm not on the team."He said cockily,"and I'm not interested in battling people beneath my level anyway."

The hooligans looked confused. Everyone else gaped at him.

"Forget Kai" Ray said shooting an annoyed glance at his possibly former captain."Fight Drigger instead." He held up his newly upgraded blade for their inspection.

Kai ignored them and leaned against the wall in his signature pose. From outside, it looked like he didn't care what goes on but on the inside, he was on high alert. He was watching their opponents' every movement ready to spring into action if things got out of hand.

"See that Mark? The blade looks pretty costly too. An extra bonus." The guy holding the bat said to the six-foot-guy whose name they now knew was Mark.

"Let's get the party started." Ray hissed as he loaded his blade on the launcher. The guy with the bat took out his blade got ready.

Max groaned,"oh man, this is Hong-Kong all over again."

Ray just ignored Max. "Ready when you are." He said to his opponent.

"Oh I am ready alright." The guy said.

Tyson looked really excited because he knew Ray had already won this one. The boy couldn't even hold the launcher properly, he didn't stand a chance against a pro like Ray.

He shouted,"3...2...1..Let it rip!"

A.N. I don't know how a pager works (does it even have a screen?!) but I figured they wouldn't have mobiles as this is set in the year 2000 and in those days, kids here were not given mobiles. So yeah... pagers. Apologies if anything is wrong there and I think I'm technologically challenged. :( Gosh! Kenny I need you.

Thanks for reading guys! The next chapter will be up next week positively.