The next morning, Daichi woke up, seeing his team-mates already awake. He shook his head as he got out of bed, and walked out to the kitchen to see his friends putting their dishes and cups away after having eaten breakfast.
"Morning, dude," Tyson said to the red-haired blader. "Sleep well?"
"Sure did," Daichi replied. He then looked around, noticing that someone was missing. "Where's Kai?"
"He's waiting outside for us," Ray replied. "I guess that he really wants to get this tournament over with."
"Well, if anybody's got a beef with Boris, it's definitely him," Max said.
"I think that we all do by now," Tyson said. "But that's no reason to sleep in." He looked pointedly at Daichi.
"What? I'm still the youngest," Daichi defended, albeit rather poorly. "And besides, it was hard to sleep from the noises I heard last night."
"What noises?" Kenny asked, worried.
"Just a door opening and closing. It happened twice," Daichi said.
Hilary's eyes widened a bit as she froze. "You don't think that we were robbed, do you?"
The other members of the team immediately checked their pockets, breathing and sighing in relief as they discovered their beyblades, launchers, and rip-chords exactly where they should be, as well as Kenny still having his laptop, albeit closed down.
"Maybe it was a draft?" Daichi suggested.
"Or maybe it wasn't the main door to the room," Tyson added. "It was probably just someone needing the bathroom. I guess that's why Daichi couldn't sleep."
"Yeah... hey!" Daichi said, noticing his fellow Bladebreaker's light jab, smirking in reply.
"Sorry that we didn't wait for you before we had breakfast," Hilary said. "You'll just have to grab a snack before we leave."
"Eh, it's cool. I'm from the wild, remember? I can go for a while without food."
"Yet you can't wake up on time," Tyson chuckled. "Oh, to be young again."
"Come on, we'd better stop wasting time," Kenny said. "No doubt that Kai is getting tired of waiting, plus Mr. D is probably waiting in the limo right now."
The others nodded, and after Daichi grabbed a packet of sweets from the fridge, they all left, seeing Kai leaning back against the wall immediately to their left, his arms folded and his eyes closed.
Curiously, Tyson waved his face in front of Kai's face. "Dude?"
"If you're wondering about the noises last night," Kai spoke up, "it was me."
"I know you're nervous about the tournament, but that's something else," Daichi said with a light smile.
Kai grinned. "It's not the nerves. With Boris having the Barthez Battalion on his side now, we can't take any more chances. I went out late last night to get some training in, but then I found something that might be useful."
"First of all," Tyson started, "why did you go out late last night on your own? I thought your loner days were gone."
"They are," Kai said. "I just got restless was all."
Tyson continued as if his friend hadn't spoken. "Secondly, what did you find out that could help us?"
"It's best if we wait for Mr. D," Kai said, opening his eyes. "With all of us gathered including him, we could crack this down a lot more."
"Ah, so in going out very late at night to train, you just happened to come across some new info?" Max said.
"Hey, I didn't go out looking for it," Kai said, starting to get tired of the suspicion. "I was out training, and I heard what I heard. That's that."
"Sorry, dude..." Max replied.
"I think that Max didn't want you going out on your own again," Hilary said. "Remember, we're a team again. We understand that we need to be on our guard, but we can't go too crazy with it."
Kai nodded, then turned from the wall, walking down the hallway in a silent reply as the others followed, some of them shaking their heads in mild amusement at the blue-haired blader's typically stoic and quiet attitude.
Soon, they all made it outside, seeing the limousine door open for them already. The team stepped inside, pleasantly surprised to see Mr. Dickenson already in there, cup of tea and saucer in hand as he rested his cane on the seat next to him.
"Greetings, Bladebreakers," he said cheerfully. "I trust that you all slept well?"
"More or less," Daichi said through a loud yawn.
Dickenson smiled and took a sip of his tea before turning to Kenny. "Did you and Dizzi find anything new whatsoever about the Barthez Battalion since their return?"
"Absolutely nothing," Kenny replied. "I mean, I didn't want to go too crazy last night, but I did what I could."
"And we couldn't ask for more," said Max with a smile. "But there is someone else in here who got a new clue." He turned to face Kai.
"Ah. And what news do we have?" asked Mr. Dickenson in his usually polite tone.
"Last night, I was doing some training, and at the end of it, I heard some guys talking about needing computer parts for something," Kai replied. "I don't know what, but from what I know about Boris, he's got something planned."
Mr. Dickenson nodded. "Anything else?"
Kai nodded back. "Yeah, I managed to see the license plate of their vehicle, but I can't tell what it was in the darkness and stuff. Heck, I could barely make out the plate itself."
"What was it?" Tyson slightly urged.
"JAN 801," Kai said.
"I'll have some of my contacts in the police department look into it," the former Beyblade chairman replied. "This information may help us greatly."
"I'm hoping that it does," Kai said. "I'd hate to lose any more sleep over this."
The blue-haired blader then felt a reassuring hand on his shoulder, turning to see Ray. "We all want it over and done with as quickly as possible, dude."
"I just don't like that he's still up to something, but we don't have any clue what..." Kai said.
"Then we'll figure it out together," Max said. "In all honestly, your lone wolf shtick is getting kind of boring by now. You have us, remember?"
Kai smiled and nodded at his blonde friend as they continued the rest of the ride in silence, soon arriving back at the Beyblade stadium. As they stepped out of he limousine so that they could enter the building, they saw team Barthez walking on the path across the street from them.
"What do you think those guys are up to?" asked Hilary.
"It's probably best not to think too much about it," Tyson answered. "If we want to beat them, then we'll just do it in the tournament."
"I think there's more to it than that," Ray noted. "Looks like a big bunch of paparazzi are here too."
"Oh, goody. Cameras," Daichi said with heavy sarcasm. "It's not like those guys need any more publicity, but why not?"
Tyson chuckled and shook his head, and he continued to walk on with his friends until something in an alleyway caught his eye. He paused briefly, seeing a tinge of red and black hair hidden under a hooded cloak.
"It can't be..." said Tyson.
"What's wrong?" Max asked.
Instead of replying, the captain of the Bladebreakers took off down the alleyway, following after the figure, being followed closely by his friends whom were rushing more to catch up with him, running low on breath as a result.
"What did you see?" Hilary asked as they ran.
"I think it was Ozuma," Tyson replied bluntly.
"Didn't Boris capture him?" asked Max.
"Maybe he didn't get them all," suggested Kenny.
After a bit more running, the group came to a dead end, looking around more before Tyson took his hat off in anger, brushing a hand over his hair in an attempt to calm himself down from the frustration.
"I know that I saw him," he muttered, putting his hat back on. "I'm sure of it."
Max put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "I don't want to say it, but maybe the tournament is just getting to you a little is all. You can't let the stress get to your head."
"Then how do you explain Hiro?" Tyson asked. "Remember, I'm not the only one seeing him around."
"That's right," Ray said. "Kai caught a glimpse of him back in my village."
"Let's just let it go for now," Kai said. "It's not that I don't believe Tyson, but Max is right; we can't let the stress get to us."
Tyson nodded, lightly brushing past his friends to walk back out of the alleyway, closely followed by all the others as they picked up their pace a bit to make it to the stadium quicker, knowing that their little goose chase did more harm to their time than good.
Meanwhile, as they left, a pair of green eyes watched the Bladebreakers from afar, silently hopping from building to building to get a closer look at them, staying low and hidden very well before coming to a stop and pressing something in his ear.
"This is Ozuma. The Bladebreakers are here."
"Very good," came Boris' voice on the other end. "Did you plant the tracker?"
"I did. It's attached to the wheel of their limousine. Wherever they go, we'll be able to follow them."
"Excellent work," Boris replied, sounding pleased. "Report back to the laboratory immediately."
"Yes, sir," Ozuma said.
In Boris' lab...
"Ah... everything is going exactly as planned," Boris said to himself after Ozuma hung up.
Doctor K, smiling at the other Saint Shields in their containers, nodded in reply. "I'm just glad that my chips are working better now. Barthez's grunts really did do quite a good job."
"Speaking of which..." Barthez added, turning to see the men in question. "You two won't tell anyone of this, will you?"
"Hey, we're just here to get paid," said one of them. "And besides, we haven't told anyone before. You can trust us."
Boris nodded. "They're not wrong. They're just the muscle." He then reached into his pocket, stood up from his seat, and walked over to the two grunts, giving them at least $500 each for their work. "Just leave the thinking to us."
"Trust me, that won't be too hard," said the second grunt before they both walked away, being led out via some scientists who knew the way around better.
"You know, Barthez, I had to admit that I thought bribery would be a little too low, even for you," Boris said.
Barthez shrugged. "They were bouncers who were out of work and needed to pay their rents. I merely provided them with the means to do so." He grinned. "And you can't deny that the results have been substantial so far."
"True," Doctor K added. "All of the extra equipment they're bringing in is helping a lot more in our research."
"And they're still working the door as a cover-up for what they're actually doing," Boris finished. "Oh, how I love it when a plan comes together."
Barthez smiled, then looked at the cameras behind Boris. "It looks as though the audience is waiting on you."
The current Beyblade tournament show-runner smiled and turned around. "Well then, I'd best go and give them what they want."
"What of Ozuma?" asked Doctor K.
Boris smiled as a pair of henchmen walked in with the young boy in question, and without a word, they placed him in his containment tank with the other members of his team, locking it down and making sure none of the others could escape.
"You really did do quite a swell job with those chips, Doctor," Boris noted, turning around. "You know the next phase, so I expect both you and Barthez to get to work on it whilst I go upstairs and entertain the masses."
Boris smiled to himself as he stepped on a vaguely outlined square platform, railings appearing from all sides as an indicator for him to hold on to them while the platform lifted, several feet of thick steel pushing it up through a pillar of light that led to the Beyblade stadium, the noise of the restless crowd and the bright lights of the arena itself apparent before Boris reached the top.
"It's showtime..." he mumbled to himself before finally appearing in the main arena, his hands and arms raised as the crowd cheered.
And that's it for this one folks. Again, wasn't too much of an action one, but I wanted to lay a bit more story and dialogue than I normally do. I can only hope that it's going so well. But for those of you reading for the battles themselves, don't fret as the next four chapters will be pretty action-packed. Well, I'll try to make it so, at least. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, and I'll see you in the next one.