As everyone rested in the various houses dotted around China, Ray and Mariah stayed up together as everyone else slept. They had just finished making love, which was an act they were familiar with, but all the more meaningful given that Ray was away for a while and they had just gotten engaged. Mariah's head lay on Ray's chest as they both smiled in content.
"It looks so beautiful," Ray said as he lifted Mariah's left hand to look closer at the ring he gave her.
"It truly is...but not as beautiful or meaningful as this moment. Everything feels right. It's a shame you can't stay," Mariah said.
"Please, don't remind me. I just wanna lay back and enjoy being with you before heading out tomorrow," Ray said, making his girlfriend smile.
"I like the sound of that," Mariah replied as she curled up on Ray as Ray wrapped her in his arms.
As soon as they closed their eyes, Mariah smelled something strange.
"You smell that, Ray?" Mariah asked her fiance.
"I do," the former White Tiger said. He leaped out of his bed and put his pajamas on, offering Mariah her own clothes to put on. As soon as they were dressed, they dashed out of the house and looked around to see Tyson and Lee staring over a fence in pure awe. Ray and Mariah followed their lead and saw what was happening: a house was on fire.
"Where's Max when you need him?" Tyson asked.
"Right here," Max replied, still in his pajamas.
"Oh. Good. Anyway, the damn forest is on fire. We gotta put it out!" Tyson said.
"We should split into groups. The fire seems to be spreading in a wide circle. Kai and I will take the east section of the forest. Ray, you and Kevin take the west. Tyson and Max get the north, and Gary, Mariah and Daichi will take the south. Sound good?" Lee asked.
"No argument here. Let's go!" Tyson bellowed.
Within moments they reached the forest, as it wasn't too far off from the village. Everyone used their blades to put the fire out, but the flames only grew stronger no matter what they did. Then, Kai heard a child crying.
"Dammit! I'm gonna head in there," Kai said.
"Are you freaking nuts?!" Lee asked.
"Just a little bit. Dranzer, return!" Kai yelled as his beyblade returned to his hands, Kai catching it on the way as he dashed through the fire, covering his face with his scarf so he didn't choke on the flames.
Within the center of the forest, Kai vaguely made out a shadowy figure on their knees. He thought it was the kid that he heard crying, but on closer inspection he saw it was someone else. It was Hiro, Tyson's brother, but he was wearing his Jin of The Gale outfit.
"Hiro? What are you doing here?" Kai asked. He saw Jin turn around and noticed he was holding the crying child, which was a boy, in his arms.
"You can't save everyone," Hiro said, then he just vanished the next second. Then, the flames went down, and Kai could see the boy in the middle of the forest again.
"Kai!" Tyson yelled.
"What the hell happened?" Max asked.
"I saw Hiro. He was here, but he just vanished," Kai answered.
"That's impossible. He was captured by Boris, right?" Max asked to no one in particular.
"Right. It was probably just an illusion or something," Tyson answered. He then saw Kai walk over to the boy and pick him up from the ground.
"He's conscious, but he breathed in a fair amount of smoke," Kai said.
"Let me take him. I'll see if the village elder can help him," Mariah said, walking to the others with Gary and Daichi at her left and right sides, respectively. She leaned down and picked up the boy, seeing his face partially blackened due to the fire.
"Okay, everyone back to bed. We still have an appointment tomorrow, remember?" Mr. Dickenson said. He wore pajamas like everyone else, but they looked more suit-like in comparison to the others' clothing. Everyone headed back to bed.
The next morning...
"Why do you have to go to Brazil?" Mariah asked, now in her normal clothes again.
"I told you, Miguel could have some information in relation to who else might have gotten stolen, and with the supposed return of Hiro, we need answers now more than ever," Ray answered, also dressed fully.
"But I don't want you to leave. Not after last night," she said with a saddened tone, softly looking downwards.
Ray walked over to her.
"Hey, look at me," he said, tilting her face up so she could see him. "I will never forget last night. I promise, after all this is over, we'll return to the village, we'll get married, we'll have the rest of our lives to spend together," Ray said, pecking a kiss on her cheek.
"Cross your heart and hope to die?" Mariah asked. Ray stood back and crossed an X shape over his heart with his right hand, smirking as he did so. Then they heard someone knocking at their door.
"Come on guys! The helicopter's about to take off!" said Kenny from the opposite side of the door.
"I guess that's your cue," Mariah said. Ray simply nodded, then walked up to her and captured her lips in a sweet, short kiss.
"I promise, I'll come back as soon as I can, safe and sound," Ray said.
"I can take care of myself, tiger. Now go!" Ray dashed out of the door and hopped in the helicopter, waving goodbye to his village and his love just before he sat down between Max and Daichi.
"We'll come back Ray. Oh, and before I forget, congratulations," Tyson said.
"Thanks, dude. Who wants to be the best man?" Ray asked jokingly.
"I think it's a little early yet," Tyson replied sarcastically as the helicopter left the ground. They all noticed that Kai, who was sat by the window, was focusing solely and what was outside of the chopper.
"Kai?" Max asked.
"You okay, there?" Hilary followed. She had sat between Kai and Tyson.
"I'm fine. It's just..." Kai trailed off.
"What's up?" Hilary asked.
"It's what Hiro, or whoever that guy was, said. He said 'you can't save everyone'," Kai answered.
"What do you think he meant by that?" Kenny asked.
"Maybe he means that some of the people that got caught by Boris are becoming brainwashed. I'm betting that's what's happened to Hiro," Daichi said, snapping his fingers at the end as if he figured something out.
"You're wrong, Daichi," Tyson said.
"Oh? And what makes you say that?" Daichi demanded.
"Well, Hiro's my big brother. He's strong, fast, and smart enough to not be brainwashed, especially by Boris. And even if he was brainwashed, and he meant what he said, well I say screw that. We're gonna save all those people, no matter the cost," Tyson said. "Does that answer your question, Daichi?" he continued, turning to the red-haired blader.
"Um... yeah. That pretty much fills the gaps," Daichi answered.
"I am so hot for you right now," Hilary whispered into Tyson's ear, making the Beyblading champion's mouth turn up at one side. Hilary then started kissing his cheek before Tyson turned to her to kiss her lips.
"Get a room, you two," Max joked, making Hilary and Tyson stop their kissing.
"It's nice to see you two are so happy together. It's almost hard to believe how much you used to hate each other," Max commented.
"Thanks. How were things with Mariam? You know, before she got kidnapped and all?" Tyson asked.
"Oh, things are great! I can't wait to save her from Boris' clutches, I'll tell you that much," Max answered, making everyone, even Kai, laugh.
"What about you, Kenny? How are things with Emily?" Ray asked.
"Well, we're not ready to get married quite like you and Mariah, but things are going well between us," Kenny replied.
"That just leaves Kai and Daichi," Tyson said.
"Well, there is a girl I kinda like back where I live, but she has a boyfriend. Plus, I rarely see much of her since I'm out and blading and training," Daichi said.
"What about you, Kai?" Tyson asked.
"Ah, he'll never talk when it comes to girls. Always keeping himself to himself," Max teased.
"Actually, there is someone I like. I just don't know where she is," Kai said.
"Who is it?" Ray asked.
"...I don't want to talk about it," Kai said.
"Someone we know?" Kenny asked.
"Kind of. But like I said, I don't want to talk about it," Kai repeated, a bit louder than he needed to.
"But what about-" Tyson started, before Hilary cut him off.
"Tyson, leave him be. If he doesn't want to talk about it, then let him keep it to himself," Hilary said lowly so only Tyson could hear her.
"Fine," Tyson said.
"We're here!" Mr. Dickenson said over the intercom.
"That didn't take as long as I thought it would," Max said.
"Yeah, this helicopter moves around at astonishing speeds. I should know; I helped design it myself," Kenny said. Tyson smirked at his friend before they all hopped off the helicopter, seeing a familiar face.
"Tyson, guys, good to see you!" said Miguel with a smile.
"Miguel, it's been a while," Tyson said, walking up to the captain of the Barthez Battalion and giving him a firm handshake.
"Where are the rest of your team?" Max asked.
"That's what I need to tell you. Follow me," Miguel said. They followed him through the streets, looking around and taking in the beauty of the city around them.
"Things have improved around here," Tyson said.
"Yeah. Me and the others have been helping to rebuild it ever since Boris left his mark. We've been trying to erase it ever since, but it's grown back, as I'm sure you've heard," Miguel said.
"Of course we've heard. That's why you called us here, isn't it?" Max asked.
"Yeah. That's one reason. The other is this," Miguel said, pulling a small phone from his pocket. He typed a few buttons in before a voice message played.
"Miguel, this is Mathilda. Aaron and Claude tried keeping me safe from Boris, but they were captured. I don't have a lot of time left. I have to go. If you get this, please, send help."
Kai grunted lowly and looked down. Hilary took slight notice of this, but given the circumstances, she decided not to press him on the issue.
"It took a few weeks for that message to be re-recorded properly. Our guess is Boris has some serious electronic equipment over at his base, the location of which we're still shaky on. We know it's something to do with this Beyblade tournament Boris is setting up," Miguel said.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Come on, Miguel!" Tyson said, making a dash for the door.
"No..." Miguel said. Tyson stopped in his tracks.
"I've retired," Miguel added.
"How can you be retired at 24 years old?" Max asked, somewhat sarcastically, but with a fairly serious tone.
"Because I don't want to go back there. Barthez is working closely with Boris, and if I get near Barthez again, I won't be able to escape his influence like last time," Miguel said.
"That's no excuse!" Tyson yelled.
"Tyson, calm down," Kenny said.
"No way, Chief. Miguel, you don't quit just because you're scared your old coach might try to get you to join his side again. You were strong enough to overcome him once, you can do it again," Tyson said.
"I'm not that strong. Overcoming his influence didn't come easy; it took you to knock some sense into me. Honestly, it felt good to blade without having to use any dirty tricks or propaganda to win people over. But if I do this, I won't be able to keep that feeling, help or no help," Miguel said.
"Fine. When we rescue your teammates, we'll be sure to drop a word about how much of a coward you are. Let's go, guys," Tyson said. They all hopped back onto the helicopter, with Miguel walking out with them. Tyson looked out of the window as the chopper took to the air, his gaze fixed on Miguel.
"Do you think he'll be okay?" Max asked to no one in particular.
"He'll be fine," Ray answered.
Thanks for sticking with me so far! Next chapter will be up soon. You all rock.