Boris chuckled as he watched over the Blitzkrieg Boys getting defeated by the Barthez Battalion, smiling as he watched his former pupils lose so easily. He smiled even more as he watched poor Bryan's Falborg beyblade get shattered to pieces.

"Ah, all of them did so well," he heard a feminine voice say.

"Doctor K, the only reason they did so well is because you programmed them as such," Boris replied.

Doctor K smiled. "Well, it's not programming unless they have something programmable. Were it not for your input, then we wouldn't be here right now."

Boris shrugged. "I merely was an instructor." He turned around to face Doctor K more directly, having paused his watching of the footage. "You were the worker. You and your team of scientists designed those chips very well, and the design idea was a stroke of genius."

The doctor chuckled. "Did you find anything new in your research?" she asked, gesturing to the footage.

Boris shook his head. "Not that I can see. It looks as though your chips worked out perfectly just in time."

"It does help that they're battling against actual teams now, and not just runts on the street who play because it's 'fun'."

He chuckled. "But it is fun, my sweet doctor. It's always fun to see my enemies scratching their heads as they pick up the pieces of what they once were..."

Doctor K then sighed a bit. "Remind me again why we need Barthez?"

"He has a silver tongue, and he was rather instrumental in getting our new soldiers, even though he didn't exactly talk them into it."

"Yeah, I think drugging them or knocking them out doesn't count as them being talked into it," K replied, smiling. "But it does prove that he has his uses."

"That was something he already proved when he put his team together in the first place. Unfortunately, he knew nothing about winning fairly."

Doctor K's brows rose a bit. "Isn't that what we're doing? Kind of cheating?"

"Not exactly. We've merely enhanced the team's abilities thanks to some research and adding a necessary component or two." Boris grinned. "Is that not what the heroes generally do?"

After Boris had finished speaking, Barthez managed to find his way over to the other two villains, having finished checking over some research on his former team with the other scientists.

"What should we do about the Saint Shields?" he asked.

"Hmm... we'll save them for later," K replied. "They're not as obedient as your Battalion was, not to mention their bit-beasts..."

"What about them?" Boris inquired.

"Well, they're difficult to detect, for one thing. The chips I designed for them are barely working, but they are holding up."

"I guess they have stronger wills than my own bladers," Barthez said. "But perhaps our lack of knowledge on the Saint Shields in general could have something to do with it?"

"Possibly," Doctor K said. "I have the most experience in dealing with them, but I don't know anything about them. All I do know is that Max had a crush on Mariam, and Tyson and Ozuma had a very tense rivalry for a long time."

Boris chuckled a bit. "Then, why don't we see if love can really conquer all?"

"Are you sure?" Barthez asked. "It may be too early, and as Doctor K pointed out, their chips aren't responding as well."

"Then I'll do some last minute tweaks," the female doctor replied, smirking. "And besides, they should be at the right level so I can make them believe whatever I tell them. Although, they may take more convincing than your team, Barthez."

"What do you mean?" asked Barthez.

"Well, the chips work on a current that is directly linked to the brain's more emotional parts," K explained. "It was easier to get your former team to obey them, but that was mostly due to your help in capturing them in the first place."

"And it's different for the Saint Shields because their wavelength isn't the same," Boris added.

Barthez nodded. "Ah, I see what you mean." He then had a small thought. "Hmm... maybe that bespectacled fellow from the Bladebreakers will have something?"

"He's our enemy," Doctor K said. "What could he have to offer us?"

"That laptop of his. He always carries it around. Maybe there is something in there that we can use?"

"Perhaps," Boris said, "but it is getting rather late. And I need to rest my voice for tomorrow."

The other two nodded, and all three soon turned to leave, followed closely by their scientists after they had made sure the captured bladers weren't going anywhere. Of course, they were locked in containment tanks with bedding and various things attached to their bodies to help not only to analyse them better, but to keep them sleeping.

"Good work as always," Boris said as he closed the door behind him, looking over the comatose bladers. "Remember to sleep well. Tomorrow is another day, after all..."

Back at the hotel with the Bladebreakers...

Tyson sat up in his bed, rubbing his eyes tiredly as he looked around to see that it was still night-time. He turned to the clock to see it at 2:00 am, before then turning his head back around to see Hilary sleeping and snoring lightly next to him.

Smiling, he bent down and planted a gentle kiss on her cheek before getting out of the bed silently, going to the nearby kitchen and looking in the fridge for some milk to help him get back to sleep. Soon, he found the bottle, and as he began pouring the milk, he was interrupted by someone clearing their throat.

Tyson looked a bit shocked. "Jeez... you scared the crap out of me, Max."

The blonde-haired blader chuckled. "Sorry about that, dude." He then sighed. "So, you couldn't sleep either, huh?"

"Yeah. It's just this whole Barthez thing. Why did he come back?"

"If I had the answers, I'd tell you," Max replied, answering his friend's question. "Tyson, you and me have been friends for a long time. So, if you have any problems, you can tell me."

"I know, dude." Tyson took a sip of his milk. "What about you? What's keeping you up?"

"Mostly thinking of Mariam. In fact, she was the main reason I wanted to get back in the game in the first place."

"What do you mean? Were there any issues or anything when she was still around?"

"No, things were great," Max said happily. "But then she just up and left. I thought I did something wrong, but I was kind of relieved to find out that she's still around. I just wish it wasn't with Boris."

"Me too," Tyson said. "But I know that we'll save her, dude. And the rest of the Saint Shields."

Max nodded. "What are you expecting for tomorrow?"

"Well, it depends. All the teams we have left are quite tough, but I'm more hoping we fight the Barthez Battalion. They're definitely our best bet for finding our other friends, not to mention that we might be able to beat some sense into them."

"I don't know," Max doubted. "The only reason we got them to be our friends last time was from you talking to them. Maybe you could try that again?"

"I could, but I don't think that would work. When I saw them blading, their eyes looked almost... empty. Almost like they didn't want to be there, but their smiles and confidence threw it off."

"I think that I get what you're saying," Max agreed. "They had big grins all around, especially when they won, but when they turned to head back to their locker room, they seemed out of it. Maybe they don't have the energy that we thought they had since coming back?"

Tyson shrugged. "Who knows?" He then drank more of his milk. "Anyway, we'd best get to sleep. My head's hurting from all this thinking..."

"Thinking never was your strong suit," Max said.

"You're lucky that I'm too tired to argue. And that I like you," Tyson chuckled.

Max smiled, and as the two bladers turned the kitchen light off to go back to bed, they failed to notice another of their team-mates waking up and swiftly exiting his bed, using the room key to silently open the door and exit the room before closing it behind him.

Kai then pulled his scarf up to cover his face as he dashed towards a nearby set of ladders that lead to the rooftop. Luckily, the hotel didn't keep it locked as they didn't feel the need to, so Kai climbed the ladder and made it to the roof, walking near the edge and looking down before scaling a nearby pipe, sliding down it and landing on the side of the building before pressing his feet against the wall, using his athleticism to push himself into a high jump, landing on the next roof across and rolling into a run.

He stopped himself just before he found a lower section of the building, diving down onto it and running once more, jumping over the edge and landing on a small balcony below, using his grip to catch the edge of it before shimmying to the next one over, letting go and dropping down as he was now safe from fall damage.

He turned into a long, wide alleyway, pulled out his beyblade and launcher, attached his beyblade, then fired it onto the ground. As it spun around, Kai took a deep breath as he looked up and down the wide alleyway, seeing a few objects popping up slightly. The blue-haired blader smiled to himself and ran forward, hopping over a wooden box as his beyblade followed.

There were several other objects in the way, but Kai kept his pace, never stopping as he slid under a wooden plank while his beyblade hopped over it before then approaching several trash-cans. Luckily, Dranzer blasted right through them while Kai kept on running, his beyblade soon catching up with him.

The two continued their miniature obstacle course, avoiding all sorts of simple things together. But the reason why was simple for Kai; he knew that he needed to be at his peak at all possible times, and that was now more true than ever with the return of Barthez and the more apparent reality of having to face off against more than just their old villains.

'I can't let up..." he said in his head. 'Boris, Barthez, Doctor K... they're all responsible for what has happened to our friends. The Saint Shields, the Barthez Battalion, the Blitzkrieg Boys losing... I can't just stop. Not until we win...'

As Kai kept up his thoughts, he soon reached the end of the alleyway, calling his beyblade into his hand just before reaching it. Before he took any steps further, he heard a couple of voices speaking up.

"So, why would they want those Barthez guys?" said one voice.

"Beats me," said the other. "Come on. Let's finish getting the rest of this stuff into the truck. We need to take it back to Boris."

"It's just a bunch of computer parts. Doesn't seem that important to me."

"And that right there is why we're the grunts. And also why we get paid less."

Kai's eyes widened a bit as he heard this news, but he kept himself quiet. He turned around, almost tripping over something that caused a light clanging noise. Kai cursed under his breath and quickly hid behind some nearby crates.

"What was that noise?" asked voice one.

"Probably just a rat. Come on, we have no time to waste."

Kai listened on as the two thugs, whoever they were, got into their vehicle and drove away, allowing the blue-haired Bladebreaker to take a deep breath of relief. As soon as he was sure that he was safe enough, Kai popped his head out from where he was, seeing the truck driving off and squinting to try and catch the license plate.

'J... A... N... 8... 0... 1...' Kai read in his head.

After repeating it a few times to himself in silence, he turned around, making his way back to the hotel as quickly as he could. Using his stealth skills and athleticism, he soon made it back, opening the door to his team's room and entering as swiftly and silently as he had exited it earlier, putting the keys next to the bowl and changing back into his pyjamas before getting to his bed, closing his eyes and going to sleep.

And that's it for this chapter, folks. I know that it was kind of a short one, but it would have been a lot shorter if I didn't add the stuff with Kai, and I wanted to add a bit more story to it. I can only hope that I pulled it off. Anyway, thanks to all of those who still read this story for supporting it. More action is coming soon, I promise. And if I don't see you before then, Happy Halloween. Take care!