Tortured Soul

Chapter 2

Hilary watched the retreating figure of Tyson as he gradually got smaller. ‘What had that been about?’ she wondered. She’d come to the BBA building to bring Kenny his lunch and had been a witness to Tyson’s really weird behaviour. He’d never been like this before, he was always happy to beyblade, especially against Kai. Those two didn’t care what happened to them as long as they had a really good battle. She turned from watching Tyson and walked down the bank towards Kai and Daichi. Daichi looked up and saw the bag she was carrying and his stomach groaned.

“Food, I’m starving”, he whined.

“This isn’t for you Daichi, it’s for Kenny. He’s been so busy lately he hasn’t been eating properly”. Hillary lifted the bag out of the reach of the much shorter Daichi. He jumped around trying to reach it, but when he even got close to touching the bag Hillary slapped his hands away.

“Ow, you don’t need to be so mean” said Daichi, and then under his breath “even if you are a witch”.

“WHAT WAS THAT??”

Daichi spun around and saw Hillary’s cheeks rapidly turning red, he could have sworn he saw actual steam coming from her ears.

“Uh oh! I didn’t mean it, I’m sorry” Daichi ran as fast as he could in a direction that would take him far away from the angry girl who was flexing her fingers in anticipation of getting her hands around his throat.

After Daichi had disappeared in the distance, Hillary managed to calm herself enough to actually think. She turned to Kai and, remembering what she had wanted to ask said,
“What was wrong with Tyson? He seemed to be in a hurry to get somewhere”.

“He said he had to go help his grampa at the dojo. Where he was really running off to, I have no idea”. Kai replied tersely.

“Have you two had a fight or something? Usually he’s jumping at the chance to battle you”. Hillary asked the question carefully, knowing that one word said in the wrong way could make Kai angry.

“No, we haven’t had a fight and I don’t see what business it would be of yours if we had!” With this Kai turned and stalked away from the crowd of people that had gathered to listen to their conversation.

“OK” said Hillary, “obviously a bad question.” Hillary suddenly noticed the crowd that had gathered, “What are you lot looking at? Get back to training” she turned on her heal with a huff and headed into the BBA building to take Kenny his lunch.


Kai walked away from the group, lost in his thoughts. Why had Tyson run away like that? He knew he shouldn’t have been short with Hillary, after all she was only trying to look out for them. She was like the sister nobody would admit to liking, or to taking advice from. She seemed to be able to see into the heart of the problem and then she tried everything to fix it. It got a little annoying, but sometimes it could help. That question, had he and Tyson had a fight? He didn’t remember them fighting, the last time he’d really spoken with Tyson had been their rematch a month ago and they had got on fine.

What had happened between then and now to make Tyson act so strangely? He didn’t want to think about it anymore, he was getting a headache from thinking in circles. Next time he saw Tyson, he’d just ask him, and if Tyson didn’t want to answer him then he’d just force the issue with a beybattle.


Tyson stopped running when he realised nobody was following him. Why had he done that? Now Kai probably thought he hated him or something, which couldn’t be further from the truth. Surely he could still talk to Kai without feeling weird. After all, he knew Kai would never feel the same way and lots of people had secret crushes but still managed to act normal.

“God, I’m such a kid” Tyson said, disgusted with himself for being so weak. “I thought turning 16 was supposed to make me an adult”. He walked slowly towards the dojo, there were more than enough chores he could get on with to clear his mind. Plus, if he did them, grampa wouldn’t attack him again.

Tyson hummed to himself as he walked, he didn’t notice the black van that was following him. He didn’t see it when it slowed down and the back doors opened, or when it stopped and two guys in black suits got out. He didn’t see anything as he was hit across the back of the head. He felt the sensation of falling, he saw the stars dance across his vision and then everything went black.

“Get him in the van quick, he has an appointment to keep”. Said the driver with a sneer.

“Ok boss” came the quick reply from both men in black suits. They picked Tyson up and carried him to the van, dropping him unceremoniously into the back. They both climbed in, pulled the doors shut and the van disappeared.


Daichi was walking down the street when he realised he was near the dojo. ‘Maybe I’ll go see what Tyson’s up to’ he thought ‘see why he was acting so weird at the BBA’. He was about to turn down Tyson’s street when a black van flew past nearly knocking him over.

“Hey, why don’t you learn how to drive!” Daichi screamed after the van, but it had been going so fast that it was already out of sight.

“Idiots” Daichi breathed. He pulled himself together after his near miss and continued on to Tyson’s place. When he turned into Tyson’s garden he stopped. There was someone stood in front of him, it was Max.

“Daichi, what are you doing here? Have you seen Tyson?”

“What am I doing here? More like what are you doing here? I thought you were in America, training with the PPB All-stars. When did you get into town?” Daichi walked up to Max and stood next to him.

“I came to see dad for a few weeks. He’s helping Mr D organise something for the BBA and I thought I’d come and help. I got back yesterday but jet lag just floored me. All I did was sleep when I got back to dads. I thought I’d get out today and catch up with people but so far the only person I’ve found is you”. Max sat down on the steps of Tyson’s house. Daichi sat down next to him.

“I don’t know where Tyson is, he was at the BBA earlier but he was acting really weird. Well weirder than he usually does. We had a battle and he beat me, then Kai came over and Tyson started acting all strange. He turned down a battle with Kai saying he had to come and help grampa with something. He should have been back by now. Hillary and Kenny are at the BBA, Kenny’s glued to the computers there, he hardly ever leaves. Something about revolving beyblading, I forget what he called it”.

“I think you mean revolutionising beyblading,” laughed Max.

“Yeah, that was it, he said all the data he’d collected in our fights with Bega would really help” said Daichi.

“That sounds like the chief” said Max “well, since I know where he is I think I’ll go see him. You coming?” Max asked the red haired blader.

“Only if you protect me from Hillary. That girl is nuts!” Stated Daichi

Max laughed, some things never changed. He could always rely on his friends to keep life interesting.

“Ok, I’ll protect you from Hillary. You know, she’s not that bad if you get on her good side” Max said.

“She has a good side?” Came the innocent reply from Daichi.