As they flew over the jungle, they took in every sight, sound and smell. The view of it from above was beautiful, and it made Hilary cuddle up to Tyson a bit. He smiled as she did. Sat across from Hilary was Kenny, with Dizzi in his hands. From left to right on the other side was Ray, Max, then Kai.
"So, Kai, anything happen while you were gone?" Tyson asked his rival, trying to get him to talk. Kai was always the enigma of the group; no one knew what went through his head, yet if they dared to dig deeper, they wouldn't get very far.
"I'm kinda of amazed you got on this quicker than the rest of us. We hadn't talked to you in eight whole years," Ray said.
"Boris is my business. I'm here for him, and him alone," Kai said. Although it did shock everyone else, they weren't surprised; Kai had always had an axe to grind when it came to Boris, and a pretty big one at that.
"It's good to see you again Kai," Max said, trying to make the situation a bit more lighthearted. But he kept looking out the window, causing yet more awkward silence.
"I'll bet he's glad on the inside to be back with his old friends," Tyson said. This made Kai smile, but once again it was brief. He really was happy to be reunited with them, but the first thing on Kai's mind was foiling whatever scheme Boris had planned.
"So, how much longer do you think it'll be before we get to Daichi?" Max asked.
"Um, Max...," Ray said, motioning over his blonde haired friend. Max peered over Ray's shoulder and saw a sandstorm brewing.
"Well, well, I wonder who that could be?" asked Dizzi sarcastically. This caused Max and Ray to emit brief chuckles. Tyson joined them, along with Hilary and Kenny, and saw the same thing that they saw.
"Think that's him?" Ray asked.
"I don't think so Ray. I know so," Tyson replied. He then walked to the front of the helicopter to talk to the pilot, telling him to follow the sandstorm. The pilot did as he did as he was told, and then they swooped down to a big enough patch of ground where the whole helicopter would fit without causing much damage to the jungle. They landed on the ground, and Tyson, Max, Kai, and Ray all jumped off the plane.
"You know, this feels like what we'd do to find Tyson if he ran away; just follow the trail of destruction," Ray said jokingly as they ran to the storm. Tyson laughed sarcastically before flipping Ray a bird. They all slowed down a bit as the sandstorm got stronger. They held their arms up to cover their faces. Well, except Kai. He pulled his scarf up.
"You're such a show-off sometimes Kai," Tyson said, getting an angry glare from Kai.
"There's only one way to get rid of this storm. Tyson!" Max said.
"I'm on it!" replied Tyson. He got his launcher and his cord from the pocket on the back off his jacket, and got his ever-trusty beyblade, Dragoon, from the pocket on his left shoulder, and got ready to launch Dragoon into action.
But before he could launch, the storm just died away on it's own, and at the center of it was a familiar looking purple beyblade, and not two feet behind it was a familiar looking figure. His spiky red hair and his green eyes looked outward to see his blade, Strata Dragoon, spinning around before turning and returning to his hands.
As Tyson and the others got closer, Daichi looked out as he saw them coming. He squinted his eyes a bit to try to help him see them a bit clearer. The moment he saw Tyson's face, he smiled. He had definitely matured; usually he would run up to Tyson and try go noogie him to death, or start up an argument with him. He sported his usual sleeveless blue shirt, along with light blues jeans with one leg torn up to the thigh. He wore blue and white shoes and a two read wristbands, one on leach wrist, and he held his launcher in his left hand. He had grown a few inches taller now too.
"Tyson, it's good to see you," Daichi said. His voice had broken in the last eight years.
"Okay... who are you and what have you done with Daichi?" Tyson asked, getting a laugh from the young blader.
"I'm still me, dude. I'm just a bit quieter," Daichi said.
"Quieter my ass! What was that sandstorm about?" Max said.
"I've been practicing. Gotta keep my strength up considering I'm a champion!" Daichi said.
"We've all still been training really hard, even though nothing big in Beyblading has come up in a while until this," Ray said offhandedly. Even though it was more of a thought, this still got everyone else to thinking.
"Enough of this. Come on Daichi, we gotta you on this chopper," Tyson said.
"First thing's first; I wanna battle," Daichi said.
"Okay, if you insist..." Tyson said, readying his launcher again.
"Not you Tyson. I want Kai!" Daichi said.
"We don't have time for this," Kai said frustratingly.
"Kai, I know you lost to me on purpose. We barely even launched before you let me kick Dranzer out!" Daichi said, showing some anger.
"I beat you once before, and in our second fight, yes, I lost on purpose. But only because I wanted to fight Tyson," Kai said.
"Best two out of three then!" Daichi said in a more demanding tone.
"I beat you once squirt, and I could have beaten you again. Consider yourself lucky that I chose to lose our second battle. Now shut up and get on this chopper," Kai said, clearly getting angry.
"Well then, I'll take Ray on!" Daichi said.
"What? Why me?" asked the former White Tiger.
"Because you and me haven't beybattled yet, and well, I really want to. So, what do you say?" Daichi asked.
"If it'll shut you up and get you on this plane with us," Ray said, grabbing his launcher from and his beyblade from his pockets, "then fine."
Daichi merely snarled and prepared his beyblade.
"Looks like we're calling this one," said Max to Tyson, who just nodded. They both started to countdown.
"3, 2, 1, let it rip!"
Ray and Daichi fired their beyblades simultaneously. There was no dish for them to fight in, so it was no holds barred; they had to either knock the other blade out, make it stop spinning, or destroy it. Daichi made the first move, getting Strata Dragoon to swerve and connect with Driger. Ray anticipated it however, and moved Driger to the side with such speed that Daichi's blade almost fell from that alone. Driger then slammed into Strata Dragoon, sending him careening deeper into the forest. Ray and Daichi wasted no time and ran after their blades, followed by Kai, Max and Tyson.
As soon as they got back to their beyblades, the battle resumed. Driger and Strata Dragoon ground against each other, causing sparks to fly and paint to chip. Strata Dragoon moved back for a fraction of a second, hoping to knock Ray's blade back. Once again, Ray saw it coming, and Driger swerved out of the way, once again crashing into Strata Dragoon. Daichi was getting angrier, and looked up for an answer. Eventually he found it; the trees. He was certain that Ray wouldn't catch him up there.
"Hey Ray, wanna see if cats can climb trees?" Daichi sneered, making his blade scale up a tree and into the branches. Ray followed suit, but not only did he command Driger to go up the tree, he himself jumped up. Daichi joined him later, but Ray's agility and lean build helped him get there quicker.
"You got this one Ray!" Tyson shouted.
"I've had enough of this. Daichi, you're a good kid, but I gotta end this one. Driger, Gatling Claw!" Ray screamed. A bolt of lightning came down and struck Ray's blade, causing it to glow a greenish aura. Driger caught up to Strata Dragoon, and Daichi's blade was attacked so fast it was like there were five copies of Driger.
"Finish him off Driger!" Ray screamed once again. His white tiger bit-beast rose from it's beyblade and both the beast and the blade charged for Strata Dragoon, colliding with him in a brilliant flash of light that sent Daichi's blade off the tree and spiraling down to the ground below, under the tree they still stood on. The branch under Daichi's feet started to snap, and Ray jumped down and waited as Daichi landed in his arms before he set him down on his feet.
"Thanks for the battle Ray. It was good to finally fight you," Daichi said, with a note of honesty. He really was much more humble nowadays. It made Ray smile.
"So, are you gonna come back with us?" Tyson asked as he appeared behind Ray, along with Kai and Max.
"Sure. Where are we headed?" Daichi asked.
"Germany. Which is good, because I wanna meet an old pal," Tyson said with a smirk. He thought about the previous beybattles he had with Robert.
"I think I can guess who it is," Max said, making Tyson laugh a bit as he scratched the back of his head.
"By the way, awesome fight you guys!" Tyson said as they started walking back to the helicopter.
"I thought so too. It was an honour to finally battle you Daichi," Ray said with a smile.
"It was nothing, really. Thanks for fighting me," Daichi replied.
Soon enough, they all got back to the helicopter. Daichi was pleased to see Kenny, Hilary and Mr. Dickenson there too.
"So, what's happening?" Daichi asked.
"Boris is setting up another Beyblade tournament, but we're gonna find out more about it when we get to wherever it is," Tyson said.
"I'm sure we'll know soon enough," Ray said.
"What do you mean Ray?" Tyson asked.
"Well, think about it. Dickenson has been aloof since the start. All he's brought up is the new tournament and the possibility that Boris has something up his sleeve. Then he said we had to get Daichi and now we're off to Germany," Ray said.
"That is strange indeed, Ray. But if I know Dickenson the way I think I do, he'll tell us more when the time comes," Kenny replied.
"Who knows? Maybe Robert has some information when we get to Germany," Tyson said offhandedly. Everyone agreed with him as they got ready to meet the leader of The Majestics.
"Remember the size of their bit-beasts?" Ray asked.
"Oh, yeah. They were huge!" Tyson replied.
"Were they really that big?" Daichi asked. Tyson simply nodded, and Daichi went "Awesome!"
They laughed the rest of the way to Germany. It was good to see that, despite the fact he was older and more humble, he was still their Daichi.
Well, that's another chapter in the bag! Just thought I'd say thank you so far, and good news! I now have a title for my sequel to "Fast Time At Mobius High". It will be called "Things Change" and I will be working on that along with this story. See you soon dudes!