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Warnings: Yaoi, Lemon(s), language, angst, violence, etc. and that cavity warning I mentioned before. Rated R. This chapter: Creepiness factor…I guess. *shrugs*

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Kali: You know, guys, this whole battle scene has given me a nasty headache. @_@

Tyson: I'll get some Advil!

Kai: I'll go with him!

Dryad: I don't think you'll get that Advil anytime soon, Kali. watches them leave.

Kali: sighs. No. I don't either. Oh well.

Dryad: Why'd you get a headache from writing this anyway?

Kali: Because I don't know enough about the game to write a full out battle. scowls and holds up deck of cards. I'm a duelist at heart. Which is why you, Dryad, don't battle other bit-beasts.

Dryad: sticks nose in air. I'd cream them anyway.

Kali: -_-" And you're so modest, too. heavy sarcasm.

*FIVE HOURS LATER*

Tyson: We're back! Here's your Advil! hands it over looking rumpled.

Kai: Sorry it took so long. Did you start yet?

Kali & Dryad: -_-" NO!

Tyson: Cool! Let's do the disclaimer, Kai!

Kai: Kali doesn't own Beyblade. If she did, she'd retire and write fics for the rest of her life.

Kali: O_o That's a daunting thought…

Authoress' Note: Just a word on the naming of the bad guys - and their bit-beasts. I'm making them up, and for the creatures I end up using, ignore the myths and whatnot they come from, okay? I'm just borrowing them. For the most part, all they're retaining in my fic is their appearances…with a few modifications by me, the Goddess *coughs* I mean Authoress.

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Pairs: Tyson/Kai, Rei/Max, others to be decided.

FYI: {telepathy}, //bit-beast speech aloud//, thoughts, normal speech

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Chapter 15

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"What the hell is going on?" Mariah demanded, hands on hips and glaring hotly at the remaining four Bladebreakers.

"Good question." Oliver agreed.

Everyone was looking at them, expecting an answer. Kai, Tyson, Rei and Kenny exchanged glances. Kai shrugged and looked back at Max and the spooky hooded blader. "We don't have time to explain it all right now. Maybe later." He said firmly. Tyson nodded and stepped up beside him. "Kenny." Kai suggested. "Keep track of this battle. You and Dizzi can probably pick up a lot from this guy that will give us some sort of strategy we could use in future battles."

"On it." Kenny flipped open his laptop. "Recording."

"Rei, be ready to back Max up if he needs it." Kai took out his blade and launcher preparing them - just in case. Tyson and Rei did the same.

"Kai, I think we should all move back a bit and give them some space." Kenny frowned at his screen. "Max's power is rising and so is that other guy's."

Max ignored them all, listening to Draciel and focusing all his attention on his opponent.

{Are you ready, Draciel? I don't know what to expect or what he might throw at us…}

{One never knows what to expect, Max. But we do our best and that's all we can expect of ourselves. I am ready.}

{Well, I know one thing. I'm not showing him my power until I have an idea of what he's capable of. Let's see what he can do.} Max stared down the length of his launcher at his opponent. "Okay. Let's get on with it. Before we do, though, tell me your name. I like to know who I'm battling."

"My name doesn't matter, young Guardian. But if you really must know, it is…Jael."

"Okay then. 3…"

"2…"

"1…"

"LET IT RIP!" They shouted together as they launched their blades.

At first the battle went along fairly normally, with neither blader taking any risks and basically only testing one another's capabilities. Neither of them appeared to gain the upper hand, either - they were fairly evenly matched.

That is, until Jael suddenly called, "Thanatos! Come forth!"

An eerie, inky grey fog rose up from Jael's blade and the hideous creature that appeared had everyone, including Max, take a step back.

"Gods! What is that?" Ian shook his head as if to clear it.

"Ugly." Was Gary's thought.

"It…looks like a minotaur." Enrique observed, staring in horror at the bit-beast. "But…there's no colour. It's hard to tell exactly what it is."

"Kenny!" Tyson asked, urgently. "What's Dizzi say?"

"I say we're in trouble." The computer replied. "Enrique was correct. It's a minotaur. But there's something strange about it."

"Besides the fact that it's a minotaur?" Rei stated, sarcastically. He was really beginning to worry about his mate now.

Max stared at it, not really sure what to do. So he asked a question. "Why are you all grey? Why is there no colour to you or your bit-beast, Jael?"

"Where I come from, there is no light - nor darkness. Therefore there is no colour. We haven't the ability to produce colour ourselves, either." Jael stared at Max unblinking, emotionless and spoke without any inflection whatsoever.

"That's just…creepy." Tyson shivered. Kai slid an arm around his waist.

There was a horrified gasp from Kenny's laptop. "Dizzi? What's wrong?" Kenny asked her, sounding close to panicking.

The rest of the team could feel their bit-beasts' sudden horror.

{Driger?}

{Dragoon?}

{Dranzer? Drisana?}

But none of the spirits would - or could - say anything. Max frowned, aiming a question at Draciel. {What's wrong, Draciel?}

{I…I can't explain right now.} Draciel replied urgently. {Just destroy that beyblade! If we do that, we'll get rid of that…monstrosity.}

{It's the source of his power?}

{In short, yes. Max, you must know, what you see before you is not the real Jael…it is a form he has taken in order to appear in this realm.}

While Max puzzled over this, Jael went on the offensive once again. I'll figure this out later. Max decided. Right now, I need to end this battle. He and Draciel manoeuvred, defended, and waited patiently for an opening.

When the time came, Max called out his Sacred Spirit. "Draciel! Finish it! Heavy Viper Wall!" His blade spun madly, a wall of pure force created by its momentum, and it went crashing into Jael's blade, smashing it into shards of broken metal and plastic.

"NO!" Jael exclaimed. "You will not defeat me so easily! I don't need my blade to destroy you and claim the Water Elemental for my Master!"

To everyone's shock and sudden terror, the minotaur did not disappear when Jael's blade was destroyed, as bit-beasts usually did. Instead, it went for Max.

"Max! NO!" Rei cried. His need to protect, his love for the blonde, called to his power and it responded. Rei's golden eyes flashed, and a bright green aura surrounded him, pulsing with his anger. He took a step forward, before Tyson or Kai could stop him, and the ground shook beneath their feet. "Max! Don't give up! You can do this!"

Jael pointed at Max, and in his dull, monotonous voice commanded, "Destroy him, Thanatos!"

"I don't think so." Max's voice was cold as the Arctic sea. He didn't know how, really, but somehow he knew what he had to do. His power came to him, and as he was surrounded by it, a deep purple light consuming him, he raised a hand, palm out, towards the minotaur and Jael. The ocean at his back responded, a wall of sea water rising up and crashing down between the two bladers.

Tyson and the others turned and ducked, getting sopping wet by the sudden wave of cold water. Kenny shielded his computer with his body, giving a panicked yelp (after all, water and electronics don't mix).

"Show me." Max said, his voice gone resonant and deep as the ocean itself, flowing through the air as liquid as the sea. "This form you take is a fragile one. Once revealed, you haven't the power to remain in this realm." Jael stared at him, shaking his head as if to deny Max's words.

"No. How can you know such things?" He asked, backing away in retreat. "It is not possible."

"Water can act as a mirror." Max continued, ignoring the question. "It can reflect the truth. Look, minion of Evil. Look into my mirror and let its truth wash away your flimsy illusion."

Helpless, Jael stared at the wall of water. No one knew what he saw there, but whatever it was, he screamed, closing his eyes in pain and dropping to the sand, twitching and writhing. His bit-beast, Thanatos, turned towards him and stomped over. With a bellow that sent chills down everyone's spines, it picked up Jael and disappeared, fading away into nothing - as if neither of them had ever been there.

Max let his arm drop to his side and the wall of water collapsed, washing the beach clean of any sign of the battle. His blade spun away at his feet and Max heaved a huge sigh, dropping to his knees in exhaustion and picking up his blade, which he clung to gratefully.

{Thank you, Draciel. What you'd told me allowed me to figure out how to defeat him.} He said in a tired voice.

{No, my Guardian. It is you whom I must thank. You've protected me - and yourself - this day. It is a battle well won.}

Rei rushed over, dropping down next to Max and enfolding him in his arms. Max shivered, burying his face in Rei's neck and clinging.

"Gods, Max! You scared the shit out of me! Don't ever do that again!" Rei scolded, rubbing his cheek against Max's and purring like a freight train. "Great job, my love. You did just fine."

"Thank you, Rei." Max pulled away and stared into his mate's golden feline eyes. Although Rei wasn't glowing green anymore, his eyes were still shining like glistening gold beacons. "I love you."

Rei grinned, his fangs flashing. "I love you, too." He cuddled Max close and the blonde sighed contentedly, resting his head on the neko-jin's shoulder.

Kai, Tyson, and Kenny came over as Rei stood up, Max in his arms. "Way to go, Max!" Tyson grinned at his friend, rocking back and forth excitedly on his feet. "That was an awesome battle!"

"How are you doing, Max?" Kai asked in concern. "You're not injured are you?"

"No. I'm fine, guys. I'm just really, really tired." Max reassured them. "Did you gather any useful data, Chief?"

"It's too soon to tell. Dizzi and I will have to go over it all and do some serious analysis." Kenny patted his laptop affectionately. "Don't worry though. I'm sure we'll come up with something useful."

"Of course you will, Kenny!" Tyson clapped him on the back and Kenny stumbled a bit. "That's why you're the Chief!"

Kenny blushed and dropped his eyes to the sand.

The other teams came up hesitantly, eyeing the Bladebreakers with a mixture of awe, fear, curiosity, and just plain confusion.

"Alright. That's it!" Lee finally spoke up. "What the hell is going on?"

"Well…we don't know ourselves, really." Tyson replied, running a hand through his damp hair and shifting uncomfortably in his wet clothes.

Kai took his hand and laced their fingers together. "All we know is that there's someone who wants our bit-beasts and that they're coming after us now to try and destroy us and claim them."

"All of us?" Mariah clutched her blade protectively.

"No, Mariah. Just ours." Rei shook his head. "We aren't really sure why yet."

Robert crossed his arms and looked thoughtful. "And that power Rei and Max displayed?"

"Yeah!" Eddie exclaimed. "What's up with that?"

"It just happened recently." Kai told them, giving this teammates warning looks. He didn't think the others needed to know the whole story. "We're still learning about those, too, so don't expect any answers."

"You must have some sort of theory." Tala interjected.

Emily sneezed. "Can it wait? They said they haven't figured it all out yet, guys. Give them some time to work on it, okay?" She sneezed again. "I want dry clothes."

Michael nodded, his soaked ball cap in one hand. "Let's head back and change, everyone. It's nearly time for us to head to the airport anyway."

There was a murmur of agreement and all five teams trooped back to the hotel.

Once everyone had changed, the Bladebreakers said goodbye to their friends and the BBA van took them back to the dojo.

"Okay, guys. We'll have to get together and discuss all this as soon as possible, in case the enemy sends someone else to take us on." Kai leaned against the wall of the front gate outside the dojo. "After school tomorrow we'll come over here and work on it, all right?"

There was a chorus of agreement.

"Hey, Chief! I'm taking Max home. You want to come with us?" Rei asked, his arm around his lover's waist, practically holding the wary blonde up.

"Okay. Give me his bag." Kenny took it and hefted his own.

"See you two tomorrow!" Rei waved, guiding Max down the street, Kenny at his side.

"Let's go in and find something to eat, Kai." Tyson tugged on Kai's arm, pulling him to the door. "I'm starving!"

"Sure. I could go for something."

They took off their shoes and walked towards the kitchen. Kai took Tyson's bag from him and headed off down the hall to their room. "I'll just put our stuff away, Ty-love. Go find us something to eat!"

Shrugging, the bluenette disappeared into the kitchen. Kai went into their room and dropped off the bags on the floor.

A wide smile spread as he took note of the room. Things had moved around a bit - to accommodate a new piece of furniture.

"Excellent." He said to himself. "I'd hoped it would get here before we got back." He made a mental note to get Gramps a really nice gift as a thank you for overseeing things while he was gone.

With a final glance of approval, Kai left the bedroom and went to the kitchen, finding Tyson regaling his grandfather with the events of the weekend while Gramps bustled around the room fixing sandwiches for them.

When Tyson finished, he grabbed a sandwich and stuffed it in his mouth, waiting for his grandfather to comment. Kai sat beside him, polishing off his own sandwich and reaching for another.

"Well, homies. It sounds like you're hip deep in some serious voodoo." Gramps tapped his fingers on the counter. "You both better promise this old dog you'll keep your peepers peeled and be careful, you dig?"

Tyson smiled around his mouthful of sandwich. "Don't worry, Grandpa. We will!"

Kai just nodded.

With a final penetrating look, Gramps left to go do some chores out back in the dojo's garden before it got dark.

"You done, Kai?" Tyson asked. "We have time to watch a movie before bed." He added in a hopeful voice.

"Yeah. What do you want to watch?" Kai followed him to the living room.

"How about 'Indiana Jones & The Raiders of the Lost Ark'?" Tyson suggested, digging through the cabinet that contained his extensive DVD collection.

"Sounds good."

Tyson stuck it in and got comfortable on the couch, lying lengthwise with his back to the couch's back. Kai stretched out beside him, his back to Tyson. The Dragon draped an arm over Kai's waist and drew him backwards, spooning his lover with his body. Kai released a sigh and glanced over his shoulder at Tyson.

"Start it up, Ty! And for Heaven's sake don't fall asleep."

Tyson grinned and hit the play button on the remote. "No worries, my love. There's too much action going on in this one for me to fall asleep."

"That's what you said last time." Kai muttered. "10 minutes into the last one and you were snoring."

Tyson swatted him playfully on the hip. "It was too slow to get into it and I was tired after watching three movies before that, remember?"

"Wuss."

"Shh! Shut up and watch, lover."

The movie was nearly over when Gramps stuck his head into the room and said good night. When it finished, Tyson turned off the TV and stretched lazily.

"I'm ready for bed." He yawned. "I think I could sleep for a week."

"You don't have a week, though." Kai pointed out, taking Tyson's hands in his own and pulling him down the hall to their room. He stopped outside the closed door. "I've got a surprise for you, Tyson. Close your eyes and don't peek!"

The younger teen obediently closed his eyes. "A surprise? What'd you do?"

Kai opened the door and guided him into the room, nudging their bags out of their path with his foot, and closing the door behind them, flicking on the lights.

"Okay, lover. Open your eyes."

Tyson blinked in shock. "Holy shit! Check out that gigantic bed!" He went over and crawled onto it, sprawling across the mattress on his back and sighing. "Wow, Kai! It's like floating on a cloud! This thing is way more comfortable than our beds were."

"I know. You like?" Kai inquired, a little anxiously. He really wanted Tyson to like his choice.

"Oh yeah. You've got excellent taste, lover." Tyson studied the headboard. "Hey! It's a Dragon and a Phoenix! Cool!"

"I kind of liked it." Kai smiled, walking over and sitting on the edge of the bed. "It's on the footboard, too. And the wood is English Oak, so it's really strong and should last forever."

Tyson sat up and wrapped both arms around Kai, pulling him back against his chest. "That's good, since I intend to spend about that long with you." He nuzzled Kai's neck, softly kissing the sensitive skin above Kai's scarf.

Kai's eyes closed and he shivered, Tyson's words making his heart pound and pure joy race through his veins. "That's pretty much what I was thinking, Ty." He turned in Tyson's arms and pressed his mouth to the Dragon's for a long, passionate kiss. "My God. I love you, Tyson."

"And I love you." Tyson returned, sliding his hands under Kai's shirt to roam over his bare back. "Forever."

"Forever and more." Kai's arms banded around Tyson and they held each other for a while, just holding.

Reluctantly, they broke apart and Kai raised an eyebrow at the wicked gleam that suddenly lit up Tyson's midnight blue eyes. "What are you thinking?"

"Oh…just that we ought to break this baby in." Tyson patted the mattress, giving Kai a hot, suggestive look.

Kai laughed, tugging off his scarf and tossing it over his shoulder, where it landed on Tyson's desk. "Now there's an idea I can get behind." He tugged off his socks, watching Tyson tear his shirt off over his head and go for his own socks.

In a flurry of flying, discarded clothing, the two teens dove for one another, hands seeking bare skin and mouths latching on to one another in frantic lust.

Their moans and cries filled the room and both had a moment where they were profoundly grateful for the soundproof walls and door, which had been part of the dojo residence's design.

It goes without saying that their new bed was inaugurated that night - several times.

And English Oak is really, really strong.

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Kali: O_O Ha! There. I did it!

Dryad: Not bad.

Tyson: blushing. What a bed!

Kai: smug. If it can withstand us, it has to be pretty good.

Kali: rolls eyes. Get over yourself.

Dryad: snickers. I want to know more about that Jael guy.

Kali: It's coming! More to be revealed…

Tyson: So R/R!

Kai: What he said.