The next day Kai awoke early as usual and brewed a large pot of coffee for himself and the Blitzkrieg Boys. They were all still asleep but that was to be expected, Kai always woke up before everyone else. The previous day Ray and Kai had eaten dinner in the hotel restaurant and then soon after the White Tigers had turned up. Mariah seemed to be ready to start an argument with Ray and so Kai had excused himself and slouched off back to his room. He didn't see The Blitzkrieg Boys anywhere, but he knew that Bryan and Spencer must have been in Tala's room as he could hear muffled voices through the wall. He couldn't make out what they were saying but their tones sounded anguished and Kai assumed that they were still talking about the abbey. He too kept going over everything in his head and eventually he fell into a disturbed and fitful sleep.

The journey to the stadium that morning was filled with excited chatter about the tournament. Kai did not join in, instead he was engrossed in a newspaper that again had been placed on the side table in his hotel hallway by housekeeping. He grimaced at as he scanned the article, the title on the front page reading 'BALKOV ABBEY - BIOVOLT STRONGHOLD BURNED TO GROUND AMIDST HIWATARI ARREST'

By the time they had battled their way through the paparazzi (Hilary had not yet managed to arrange an alternative) their match was a mere hour away. They were all sat in their team room and Ray, Max and Daichi (who was still in his pyjamas) and were eagerly discussing who was going to win the tournament. They were all convinced that the finals would be between them and the Justice 5. It was a solid assumption to make, seeing as they were still their toughest opponents to date.

Kai had absolutely no desire to go up against Brooklyn again. After all, he had almost died last time and, more importantly in his opinion, he had almost lost Dranzer. Luckily he was fully recovered now, although one of his ribs still twinged when he moved a certain way. Plus there was the fact that Brooklyn still seemed to hate him and Kai thought that pursuing another battle would simply be tempting fate. Maybe he could get Tyson to do it instead.

There was a knock at the door and Mr. Dickinson strode into the room. "Hello boys, and Hilary of course!" he noted, giving a happy nod in her direction. "How are you all feeling today, did you get a good nights rest?" At this, Kai became acutely aware of how groggy he was. He had tossed and turned for most of the night.

"Yeah Mr. Dickinson, we went to bed early," Max replied. Kai couldn't help but notice two very strained faces that were being pulled by both Tyson and Hilary and gave them a suspicious look.

"I am so stoked to find out who we'll be battling first!" said Ray, sitting down on the sofa, clutching his Driger blade. He seemed much happier than he had the previous day, maybe he had sorted through some things with Mariah after Kai had left.

"Oh it wont be long now Ray!" Mr Dickinson replied enthusiastically, "have you decided who will be blading today?"

"Obviously, ME!" Tyson grinned. Everyone ignored him.

"I wanna test out my new blade!" said Max excitedly thrusting his blade into the face of Mr. Dickinson who, although slightly alarmed, beamed at the sight of the new BBA defence ring.

"Oh my, a new blade, how very exciting Max! Clearly you will do us proud in todays match!"

"Its settled then- I'm blading in the first round!" Max skipped around the room.

"Uhhhh," everyone turned to face a very downtrodden looking world champion, "so how come Max gets a new blade before us? The tournament starts… uh, IN AN HOUR KENNY!" he whined. Kai rolled his eyes.

"Oh Tyson, don't complain!" grumbled Kenny, "I'll have your brand new Dragoon up and running in no time, its just been difficult to get new parts since BEGA and the first parts that were released were most suitable for Max's defensive style!" the Chief yawned.

"Oh… right, I guess that's alright then," Tyson said turning to look out the window, arms folded. Kai was quite sure that Tyson thought it was clearly not all right.

"I wouldn't mind blading toda-" Ray began, but he was quickly cut across by Daichi, who had been too busy peering out of the door at a doughnut stand to notice the conversation until then.

"I'M BLADING SECOND, AND TYSON'S THIRD!" Ray sighed and resigned himself to his seat, shaking his head slightly. Kai caught his eye and Ray seemed to shrug his shoulders in a defeated way. "YAHOOOOO!" Daichi jumped up into the air, "I AM GONNA BEAT THEM SO BAD, I CAN'T WAIT, I'LL SHOW THEM WHO'S A TRUE CHAMP!"

Kai sighed. "So I guess Ray and I will just sit and observe," there was an unmistakable twinge of annoyance in his voice.

"Aw come on Kai, you'll be able to blade in the next match!" Tyson said through a mouthful of burger.

"Wh-Where did you get that?" Hilary asked, rushing over to Tyson as she began to try and prize the burger out of his hand. Tyson, who had grown a good foot taller over the summer, ignored her and held the burger up in the air where she couldn't reach.

"Yea, if you manage to make it through of course," Kai added snarkily, jumping up from the sofa and heading for the door.

Tyson growled, "can you ever just not be a dick?" he said in disbelief, thrusting his free hand into a bag of French fries and stuffing them into his mouth furiously, burger still elevated into the air out of Hilary's prying hands.

Kai ignored him and strolled out of the door and into the hallway.

"Seriously, where did you get a burger and chips, Tyson?" Hilary asked, completely bewildered, snatching up the paper bag.

Tyson ignored her. "I'm Kai. I enjoy being a massive jerk and I have a major superiority complex too!" he mocked, crossing his arms and assuming a mock stern face.

Kai paused a few steps down the hallway, "watch it Tyson, I'll stuff that blade of yours down your throat!" he heard the words echo down the hallway and back into the silent room.

"Ahh crap!" clearly Tyson hadn't realised that Kai would hear him.

"Now, now boys, that's enough squabbling, your match is in one hour!" said Mr. Dickinson leaning out of the door to catch Kai's eye, beckoning him to listen.

"Hnnnnn." Kai threw himself back against the hallway wall and waited.

"I must hurry off but before I go," said Mr. Dickinson, peering out of the door again to make sure Kai was still there, Kai didn't even bother looking at him and stared ahead at the floor. "I just came by to wish you all good luck!"

"Thanks Mr D!" they all chanted sycophantically as Kai remained silent.

"Wonderful! I'll be seeing you at the match then, good luck!" and with that he left the room, walking stick in tow.

"Oh Kai!" Kai stiffened as the old man turned around and lowered his voice, "I do hope you're doing ok after everything that happened yesterday?" he asked quietly.

"I'm fine." He said quietly.

"Hmmm.." Mr Dickinson gave him an appraising looking, "well, if you say so." Although he didn't seem convinced and when Kai said nothing he continued, "do try to get on with your teammates, you'll need their support!"

"Yeah, whatever." Kai said.

"Hmm," Mr Dickinson said again although he did not elaborate, "well I must be off, see you in an hour!"

"Hnn." Kai growled as he watched him go. You'll need their support! What was that supposed to mean? Kai rubbed his eyes irritatedly. He didn't need support! He could deal with everything alone. It wasn't exactly like he hadn't done it before. Voltaire being arrested wasn't exactly a new phenomenon. He aimlessly kicked a wall and instantly regretted it as pain seared through his foot.

Kai set off and completed a slow lap of the stadium, he wasn't paying attention to where he was going and his mind was certainly not on the match. After all, he wasn't blading, therefore he didn't care. He climbed the stairs to the top of the stands to survey the arena; it was already full of screaming fans, he was surprised to see that there were both young and old in the crowd. His eyes settled on a group of children in front of him, they were all excitedly chattering and waving banners emblazoned with their favourite team names. Some were even showing off their beyblades to their peers, faces full with glee. Kai wasn't sure how to feel about it, he couldn't remember ever being that happy and excited at their age. In fact, he couldn't remember being their age at all.

There he was again, back on the Abbey. He had thought about it all night whilst he tried to sleep. He turned and descended the stairs back into the auditorium. The large screen that had showed the video of Voltaire being arrested the previous day was now flashing the teams and the blocks they had been assigned to. "Finally!" he muttered, getting closer and assigning the two lists to memory.

BLOCK A

BLADEBREAKERS

THE MYSTICS (formerly TEAM PSYKICK)

BLADESURFERS

F-DYNASTY

PPB ALL STARZ

WHITE TIGER X

BLOCK B

THE BLITZKRIEG BOYS

DUALITY

MAJESTICS

JUSTICE 5

SPINSNAKES

THE BATTALION (formerly BARTHEZ BATTALION)

That's interesting… he thought, noting that there were a few names he had never seen before. The Bladesurfers and Spinsnakes were complete unknowns and he only knew of Duality because Max had told him their name the previous day.

Kai was a bit disappointed by the lineup. Block A seemed mediocre and repetitive; All Starz, White Tigers, F-Dynasty; Kai knew he could beat them. Plus it didn't help that all of their best bladers had left to create possibly the most powerful team in the league. It seemed as if this was going to be a fast track to the championship.

His eyes slid back to block B and he noted that it looked far more interesting. It would be good to see how The Battalion fared without Barthez puppeteering them around. Plus the Justice 5 VS The Blitzkrieg Boys; that would be interesting… Kai knew Tala would be reeling at the chance to get one over on them.

He made mental note to go and watch as much as Block B as possible as he turned on his heel to head back to the team room and give them the news.

Half an hour later, they were all sat in the arena on the team bench, gazing up at the screen above them that would soon divulge the name of the team they were about to face.

"HEEEEEELLLOOO TYSONNNNNN!" a voice boomed around the room, the entire team looked up in surprise to see a familiar face. Stood there on a small platform was the one and only DJ Jazzman, the official referee for the past four years. He beamed down at them, red bandanna tied tightly around his head.

"JAZZMAN!" Tyson jumped up excitedly, "WHATS UP?"

Jazzman gave them a wink, "IT LOOKS LIKE THE BLADEBREAKERS HAVE ARRIVED, WELCOMING BACK THE REIGNING CHAMPIONS TYSON ANNNNNND DAICHIIIIIII- not of course forgetting their teammates, who just so happen to have rejoined their old team for this years tournament, MAX, RAY ANDDD THE ONE AND ONLY, KAIIIIII!" the crowd erupted into applause, screaming and stamping. They all grinned at the crowd sheepishly apart from Kai who folded his arms and looked away.

"Wow, this is more intense than ususal!" Max said in disbelief, jumping up and gasping at the crowd. Tyson grabbed Max's hand and hoisted it into the air making him wave back at everyone.

Tyson then began shouting, "thank you, thank you my loyal followers!"

"I think you mean MY LOYAL FOLLOWERS-" Daichi pushed in front of him and started jumping up and down.

Hilary and Kenny were grinning from the sidelines and Ray said, "well, I think they still like us!" as he made his way back to the bench.

"NOW, lets find out todays opponents!" Jazzman announced looking towards the giant screen on the wall which was currently showing a photo of the Bladebreakers on one side, leaving the right side blank. There was a loud drumroll and photos began to flicker between the different teams in block A until finally, it landed on one of the teams that Kai didn't recognize. He lifted his head slightly to pay more attention. "THE BLADESURFERS!" The Bladesurfers, oh great. Kai thought, having never heard of them apart from seeing their name on the block lists earlier. He racked his brain for more information but none came, and as they appeared, Kai sighed, they looked like idiots.

They were the epitome of clichéd surfer dudes; tanned, tousled hair that had been highlighted by the sun, swimming trunks that should only be worn during surfing (and not blading- Kai noted), and of course, they were shirtless. Kai had always considered being shirtless anywhere where it was unnecessary to be shirtless was the number one indication that someone was a nob.

To the right of him he heard a slight swoon from Hilary and turned to look at her in disgust, "seriously?" he asked.

"Heheh… sorry Kai, but look at those muscles!" she said gleefully leaning forward on the bench in an attempt to get a better view.

Kai raised an eyebrow.

"Awww, no way!" Tyson exclaimed loudly, "they're not so hot!" and then he lifted up his shirt to show Hilary a somewhat unimpressive stomach.

"Oh Tyson! Put that away!" Hilary blushed, pulling his top down and giving him a playful kick. It must have hurt like hell as Tyson let out a startled yelp and Hilary skipped back to the bench with a rather pleased look on her face.

"Come on Max, you're up first! GO MAX!" Hilary cheered encouragingly.

Kai watched as Max eagerly made his way up the steps to the beydish to face his opponent. "THE FIRST MATCH WILL BE MAX OF THE BLADEBREAKERS VERSUS JORDY OF THE BLADESURFERS!" announced Jazzman. Max pulled out his launcher and attached it his blade, he looked very much like he might fall over with nervous excitement. Kai watched as Jordy got his surfboard, which turned out to be a launcher (Kai shook his head in derision) and pointed it towards the dish.

"They just keep getting more and more ridiculous.." Kai nodded in the direction of the surfboard as Jazzman shouted his famous LET IT RIP!

Ray chuckled, "yeah… I don't see what's wrong with a regular launcher, I guess some people want to be individual."

"Individual indismidual!" Daichi said "my launchers the best!"

Everyone ignored him.

"COME ON MAX YOU CAN DO THIS!" Tyson shouted.

Max was using his new defensive power at full force; no matter how much Jordy used his Wave Attack it didn't seem to make a scratch on Draciel. "Ha! Ha! You're going to have to do better than that Jordy!" Max shouted at his opponent.

"Just you wait and see my ULTIMATE WAVE ATTACK!" Jordy roared.

"Ultimate wave attack?" Max said, placing his hand on his chin mockingly, "well then. Clearly, I better pull my socks up! ALRIGHT DRACILE COME ON THIS IS IT, FULL FORCE ATTACK!" Draciel sped up immediately and with great ease, knocked the other blade right from the dish.

"Nooooo!" shouted Jordy falling to the floor dramatically.

"Aw I'm sorry Jordy, that was a great battle, hopefully we'll get to blade again soon!" said Max holding out his hand.

Even Kai was shocked by how quickly the match was over, "they're awful.." Kai muttered from the bench, but no one seemed to hear him as the rest of the team all jumped to their feet in celebration.

"THAT'S OUR MAXXIE!" Tyson shouted and he flung his arms around his teammate.

"Way to go, man!" Ray clapped Max on the shoulder and grinned, "knew you could do it!"

Kai couldn't believe they were so impressed by such a one sided battle, it was obvious Max was going to win as soon as his beyblade hit the dish. It was also probable that Daichi's match would be over in seconds and Tysons would be just a formality.

Naturally, fifteen minutes later, Tyson knocked the third surfer dudes blade from the dish and waved up at the stands to roaring applause, Kai arose from the bench with an extremely bored expression. "Are you done yet?" he asked the rest of his team who were gleefully celebrating their first victory. The Bladesurfers had retreated back to their bench looking deflated; Kai wondered how they had even made it this far. He shoved his hands into his pockets and began to stroll lazily out of the arena. He could hear the rest of the team following slowly behind, waving and shouting up at the crowd.

"Come and celebrate with us, Kai!" he heard as someone grabbed his wrist, trying to pull him back to the rest of the team, it was Hilary. Kai flinched and yanked his arm away.

"No, I wanna watch the block B match.." He said honestly.

"Oh, we'll come with you!" Hilary smiled and linked her arm through Tyson's. Tyson stared down at the action as if he was surprised to that he even had an arm in the first place and then he gazed almost breathlessly up at Hilary. She however, did not notice this as she was now asking Ray if he wanted to come watch block B too. Kai noticed a pink flush spread over Tyson's face.

Kai smirked and Tyson caught Kai's eye. He quickly mouthed, 'oh shut up!' but then grinned nervously and turned away. Kai wondered if this year would finally be the year that Hilary and Tyson really did manage to get together.

"Alright, lets go find some decent seats," Kai said as the rest of the team followed him out of the stadium and up the stairs, Kenny rushing along in their wake.

"Hey! Wait for me!"

Yaaay another update! This is probably the least edited chapter from the ones I posted previously, gotta get that first match out of the way! Thanks so much SierrA 0220 for the review, I too cannot wait to see Kai become a complete disaster mehehehe!