Burning

By PandaPjays

There were two things in this world Kai hated more than he could express in mere words. The first was untidiness in all its nefarious forms and the second was frogs. Thankfully, he didn't have to deal with the second very often (he avoided any creeks and lakes on principle) but he was quickly spiralling into a world full of the first.

And it was all Tala's fault. Tala and his stupid idea to revive beyblade. An idea that apparently hadn't gotten further than 'Bring teams to squat in Kai's mansion in order to send him insane with upmost rapidity'.

At least he still had his apartment where he could hide and try to pretend that his life wasn't falling apart around him. That was something, at least.

He caught sight of the flowers that were quickly overtaking his table.

Oh, Yeah.

Kai snarled to himself and found his blackberry and keys, pocketing them before grabbing his jacket and marching towards the door. Even his apartment wasn't safe anymore. He opened the door and stopped short.

Tyson stood outside the door with his hand raised, about to knock. It took him a few seconds of blinking dumbly at Kai before his face relaxed into an easy smile. "Hey! Tala said I'd probably find you here."

"Congratulations," Kai said grumpily, seeing his plans for a nice walk to clear his head going up in smoke.

"Oh, Grumblebutt, How I've missed you." Tyson said, ducking underneath Kai's arm to enter his apartment. "Nice digs."

"What are you doing here?" Kai asked, allowing the door to shut as he turned to regard his former teammate. "There was a reason I didn't let anyone know where I lived."

Tyson screwed up his face, "Yeah, Tala said something to that effect." His voice dropped to a conspirational whisper, "To be honest, all I heard was 'blah blah privacy blah blah I have a stick wedged firmly up my ass.' Hey what's that?" Seeing Kai's table of flora, Tyson went to investigate. "Never picked you for a flowers man."

"Why are you here, Tyson?" Kai repeated wearily. Long experience with Tyson had taught him that trying to follow any thread of conversation with Tyson only lead to headaches and... more headaches.

"Aren't I allowed to come visit my captain?" Tyson asked airily, poking the large brown face of the sunflower. "They're so colourful!"

"They're flowers, Tyson. They're supposed to be that way." Kai said, suppressing the need to roll his eyes as he grabbed the other's arm and gently, but firmly, took it away from his flowers. "You could have called, or arranged to see me at the office."

"But you weren't there," said Tyson with a shrug, putting his hands safely in his pockets. "And you weren't answering your phone— not that Tala left the lines free long enough for me to call you."

"And it didn't occur to you that I might have wanted to be left alone?" Kai asked peevishly.

"Come for a walk with me," Tyson said suddenly.

Kai blinked. "...What?" he asked.

"Walk. You. Me. Yes? Good." Tyson said slowly, like he was talking to a young child. "Go grab your coat."

Kai stayed where he was, he was feeling a bit off balance due to Tyson's onslaught but he wasn't as far gone as to start taking orders from him. "Why?"

"Because if you don't you'll spend the rest of the day shut in here glowering at the wall and I'll have to return to Tala and tell him that I failed and then I'll owe him ten bucks," Tyson said patiently. "And, between you and me, you pay Red a ridiculous amount of money to stand around and look pretty. He doesn't need any of my hard-earned cash." He gave Kai a well-meaning shove. "Go get your jacket."

Kai sighed, realising that he wasn't going to win. "Only a short walk," he conceded. "Then you're going to leave me alone," He said, walking to the door and picking his jacket up off the floor where he'd dropped it in the wake of Cyclone Tyson.

"Never," Tyson said cheerfully. "Oh! And grab Dranzer while you're at it. I want to show you something."

Kai bit his lip in an effort not to tell Tyson where exactly he could shove his something. He marched into his room and pulled open his bedside draw. After a few seconds of rummaging (another mess to clean up— Tala was going to pay in blood) he dug out his somewhat dusty beyblade and an old launcher he'd stowed with it.

"Geez, man. When was the last time that saw the light of day?" Tyson asked as he watched Kai from his bedroom door.

"Are we walking or what?" Kai asked moodily grabbing his scarf from its position on his dresser and winding it around his neck as he swept past Tyson.

"Yes, Mon Capitan," Tyson said with a mock salute as he followed Kai out of the apartment.

-o-

"What have you been doing for the past few years?" Kai asked, his hands shoved firmly in his pockets. They'd been walking seemingly without aim for the past half hour. Tyson had seemed content to carry the majority of the conversation, prompted by Kai's polite, if bored, questions.

Tyson shrugged. "A bit of this and that—Gramps finally retired and left running the dojo to me and I've been helping Hiro and my dad in my spare time with their projects."

"Sounds thrilling."

"If it was, would I be here?" Tyson asked pointedly, linking his hands and putting them behind his head. "I enjoy myself but sometimes I feel like I could be doing something more, you know? Like, when we were kids we were literally on top of the world and now... we don't even really qualify for one of those cheesy 'Where are the Now?' shows."

"Is that why you're here?" Kai asked as they rounded a corner and the entrance to a large park came into view. "You want to be famous again?"

Tyson laughed. "Nah. Been there, done that. I even have a few T-shirts to prove it."

"Then what?" Kai asked as Tyson led them into the park.

"I just want to do something that matters, you know?" Tyson asked. "I mean, here you are, leader of a big company set to rule a majority share of the world and I'm chasing some ungrateful kids around with a broomstick." Tyson sucked on his bottom lip. "That didn't come out right, I mean—"

"—You want to be part of something big again?" Kai asked, looking over at his former teammate.

"...Yeah." Tyson said eventually. "Oh! Here's the thing I wanted to show you!" He pulled Kai to a railing overlooking a large flat stretch of ground covered with snow.

"What am I looking at?" Kai asked.

"You don't remember, do you?" Tyson asked, pointing to the ground below them. "The snow's filled them in now but those used to be beydishes."

Kai looked at the snow with renewed interest. If he squinted and used a hefty amount of imagination he could almost see them, evenly spaced divots in the snow.

"We came here during our first World Championships, remember?" Tyson asked, grabbing Kai's arm and pulling him towards stairs leading down to the graveyard of beydishes. "Remember how there were hundreds of kids playing here? Remember how excited they were that their country was hosting the finals?"

"Uh Tyson? I don't think we should be going down these stairs—" Kai said as he was pulled along.

Somehow they navigated the stairs without any broken limbs. Tyson stopped at the bottom, squinting at the ground with more concentration than Kai had ever seen in his eyes. After a few seconds, he began to walk forward, gingerly testing each step before committing to it. After a few seconds his leg sank down into the snow and he let out and 'Aha!' He bent down to begin digging. "Kai! Come and help me!"

Kai sighed a long-suffering sigh before wading through the snow, careful to follow Tyson's path. He didn't want to accidently step into a hidden dish and break his leg. By the time he reached his former teammate, the dish he was excavating was already half clear.

"Come and help me, Grumbleguts!" Tyson said with a grin, flicking some snow at him.

"Or what?" Kai asked, brushing the snow off his clothes with what he hoped was quiet dignity.

"Or I'll tell Johnny your home address."

Kai stooped to begin clearing the section of dish closest to him.

After some concerted effort, they had a beydish, clear of any snow and debris. Tyson grinned as he flopped down beside it, his face red with effort. "Do you remember what it was like, Kai?"

"Remember what what was like?"

Tyson gestured to the dish and to the abandoned park at large. "Everything." He sighed and looked over at his former captain. "Wouldn't it be nice to bring this back?"

Kai snorted and stood, brushing the snow off his pants and trying not to make a face as he felt the wet begin seeping through the fabric. "Things don't happen like that, Tyson. Tala's scheme might help with rebranding beyblades and selling it to a younger generation but the past is the past. There's no point trying to reclaim it."

"That's gloomy," Tyson said, sitting up and looking at Kai.

"That's life," Kai countered. "Now, I'm getting cold. Can we go back inside?"

"Beybattle me."

Kai looked at Tyson sharply, gauging the seriousness of the other. All hint of jokes and smiles had disappeared from his face. "What? No." He scoffed. "I'm going." He turned to leave.

"Kai." Tyson said in the same voice Kai had perfected when he had been team captain. A voice that brokered no argument.

"Why, Tyson?"

"Please?"

Kai sighed, "I haven't even launched my beyblade in years."

"Dranzer."

Kai scowled, "What?"

"Her name is Dranzer. And I know. Beybattle me." Tyson stood and dusted the snow off the seat of his pants. "We went through all that effort to clear the dish, may as well get some use out of it before the next snowstorm."

Kai sighed, sensing that this was another battle he wasn't going to win. Oh, he knew he could walk away and just ignore Tyson. He even knew that if he wanted to he could simply walk away and let Tala deal with his own mess. But there was something in him, maybe a small vestige of pride or, more likely, a thread of insanity inherited from his grandfather, that made him set his shoulders and turn around to regard Tyson. "What could you possibly hope to gain from battling me?"

Tyson shrugged. "Maybe nothing. Maybe some nostalgia. Maybe something else, who knows? Come on, Kai. We spent years training and perfecting our technique for this game. You can't tell me that after all of that you're content to just walk away."

"Actually, yes, Tyson. I really am."

"That's not what Tala says."

"Tala's wrong," Kai said, his eyes narrowing.

"Prove it. Beybattle me."

Kai felt a frustrated snarl bubble up within him. He pushed it down with everything in him. "Fine. Then you're going to leave me alone and you're going to instruct," he held up his hand when Tyson opened up his mouth, "instruct everyone, and that includes Tala, to leave me out of your nostalgia-filled powwow circle of love and trust. I don't want any part of it."

"Take out Dranzer." Tyson said, a coolness in his voice Kai had never heard before. It looked like Tyson had learned to master his temper in the years since they'd last been in contact. "You know, Kai. I wish the Kai I used to know could hear you."

"Shut up." Kai said, digging into his pocket and pulling out Dranzer and his launcher. He threaded the ripcord through it and attached his blade with a smoothness that spoke of years of practice. He looked up to see Tyson already standing on the opposite side of the dish, holding his launcher up.

"Let's get this over with," Kai muttered, feeling ridiculous. He felt like he was fifteen again, with all the awkwardness that entailed. Years had passed and he was still here? He was still facing Tyson and they were still battling it out like no time had passed.

"Three," Tyson counted, "Two, One, LET IT RIP"

They launched their blades in unison. The beyblades landed in the dish and began circling each other. Kai's eyes narrowed when he saw a slight wobble in Dranzer's rotation. He was out of practice. He looked up to see Tyson regarding him coolly, not paying any attention to his blade circling the dish. Kai had once had that amount of skill, to be able to trust that his blade would be fine without his full attention. Not anymore. His eyes and concentration darted back to Dranzer.

"Dragoon!" Tyson yelled.

Answering his call, the blue dragon began to emerge from his bitchip.

Not one to be left behind, Kai called to his own bitbeast, "Dranzer!"

And that was all he knew before his world became a haze of pain.

-o-

"Shit! Kai! Kai! Come on, buddy. Wake up!"

Kai groaned as his brain registered that, yes, he was still alive and, yes, he would be quite happy if he wasn't think you very much. "What happened?" He asked, opening his eyes and sitting up. Surprised to find that he wasn't on fire. He peeled off his gloves and stared at his unblemished skin. He could have sworn— He looked up at Tyson. "What the hell just happened?" He demanded.

He could remember calling out Dranzer and then... fire. His whole body had been consumed by it and all he could do was scream at the agony of it. He had tried to fight but that had only angered the fire, making it burn brighter and hotter. Somewhere in his mind he registered that it had to stop hurting eventually. There was a limit to the amount of pain one person could feel before they died.

He was wrong.

Tyson knelt beside him, a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Breathe," he commanded."You're okay now."

Now? Now when he could still feel the horrifying pain all over her body, both dull and sharp at the same time? Now when he could still feel the exact moment when his vocal chords had burnt and he couldn't even scream anymore? Now he was okay?

"What the fuck just happened?" Kai demanded, trying to force those memories down. He was fine. It hadn't happened. Not really. He was fine.

"I don't know!" Tyson said, a note of panic in his voice. "One minute you were fine and the next you were off your feet and you were screaming." He shuddered. "I've never heard anyone scream like that before."

"Dranzer" Kai said, struggling to his knees and scrabbling around for his beyblade. His searching fingers found the sharp edges of his blade and closed around it. He flinched, expecting to have a repeat of the fire. But— it was cold. Too cold.

He examined it and gasped when he saw the blank bit chip. Dranzer was gone. "Where is she?" He asked, looking at Tyson.

The other shook his head wordlessly. "After you fell there was like this flash of light and she was there for a moment before she... went."

"What do you mean went?" Kai asked, his eyes darting around the area, trying to make sense of what had just happened. She had been so angry, And now he couldn't feel her at all. Always, even during those long years when she'd been shoved in a drawer, he had been able to feel her. But now—

Now she wasn't there.

She was alive. Kai knew that much. But he wasn't her master anymore.

He turned to Tyson. "What did you do?" he asked, venom thick in his voice. "You were the one who goaded me into this. What did you do?"

"Nothing!" Tyson said after a brief hesitation.

Kai heard the pause and snarled. "I don't believe you. What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything! It's just—"

"Just what, Tyson?"

Tyson bit his lip, refusing to meet Kai's eyes. "It's nothing. Just...One of the things that Hiro and Dad have been looking into. They've found some stories about neglected bit beasts. They... it wasn't pretty what happened, Kai" Tyson said. "But it was just a story!"

"You knew?" Kai asked. "You knew and you made me call out Dranzer like that?"

"No, Kai. God! It was just a story among a whole heap of others they found! They found it next to one about a bitbeast that made all the rainbows disappear when it was defeated, for God's sake! How was I supposed to know it wasn't just a story?" He reached out to touch Kai's arm.

Kai snatched it away from him "Don't touch me," he hissed, standing and turning. "You did this."

"Kai! You know I wouldn't do anything like that on purpose! I thought it was just a story! I know how much Dranzer means to you! Kai!"

Kai walked away, ignoring him.

-o-

Kai yelled as he woke up, his body shivering uncontrollably. He could still feel it, could still feel the fire licking its way along his body and the helplessness as he tried and failed to escape it. He sat up and bunched his hand in his sheet, trying to calm himself.

He didn't know what he was supposed to feel. Betrayal? Sure. Anger? Most definitely.

But surely not the overwhelming fear that engulfed him. That wasn't supposed to happen. He'd felt it as Dranzer slipped from his grasp. After years of ignoring her, she refused to obey him. It was like Black Dranzer all over again. He hadn't been powerful enough and now—

She was free. Dranzer was out there somewhere and that terrified Kai.

He kicked his sheets off and swung his legs off the bed, standing with some difficulty. He walked to the kitchen and blinked when he saw a vase sitting in the middle with a purple hyacinth sitting in it. Next to the vase was a note scribbled in Tala's handwriting.

I let myself in but didn't want to disturb you. Tyson said something happened with Dranzer? He was too shaken up to explain. Call me when you get this—I don't care what time.

Oh, the flower's from Tyson, by the way. He says he's sorry.

-Tala

TBC

This chapter was written by PandaPjays for the Beyblade Community Project.

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