"F" as in Falcon

Hi everyone…. *hides behind Kai* I’m really SO sorry for being so slow on updating this!!! But as I said in the last chap, there’s no way I’m giving up on this, I swear!

Betad by the lovely Virpi-chan as always, THANK YOU!!!!

Warnings n disclaimer is in the first chap.

Thanks a billion to everyone that has reviewed, you’re what keeps me writing!!! A special thanks to Keba-kun since you picked me up at REAL low point!

R&R?


Chapter 10. The get-together.


Mr. Dickenson had just told them about the small tournament that was going to be held during the week. Then he and Ray had left for the airport to pick up Kai and fix some paperwork that had something to do with the fact that the two oldest teens on the Blade Breakers weren’t blading for their mother countries. Tyson hadn’t really paid attention, he knew that Chief did that for him.

They were all there; the White Tigers, who apparently had been allowed to move to Hong Kong now; the ever technique-loving All Starz; the proud and powerful Majestics, and then of course, the Blade Breakers. Well, the Majestics weren’t there physically right now, they had gone off to do some practise, but still they were there. Tyson frowned, he knew that there was something missing. He looked at Mariah as Dizzy tried to teach her how to e-mail when realization hit him.

“Hey Chief! Aren’t the Demolition Boys coming?”

“No. Mr. Dickenson said that they had something else to attend to.”

“Shame.”

“What do you mean "shame", Tyson?” Michael snarled.

“It would have been nice to see how they were doing.”

“You’re kidding me, right?”

“No… What’s the matter Michael?”

“I can’t believe you’re so naïve! We should be glad that they aren’t here. Do you want
to re-live the world finals? If it was up to me they wouldn’t even be allowed to stay on the tour!”

“We don’t know them Michael, maybe they were being forced to do what they did.”

“You don’t really believe that, do you? Look at Kai, he went there on his own free will and he left on his own accord too. If they hadn’t wanted to be there, then why didn’t they simply leave like he did?” Mariah said.

“But…”

“But what? Have you forgotten what they did to Max, what they did to Ray? Ray was almost killed by that freak. And he enjoyed hurting him!” Lee growled.

“That was Bryan, you can’t blame all of them for what one did...” Max said. He wasn’t sure if he agreed with Tyson, but he wasn’t going to desert his best friend.

“But they knew, Max!” Emily said.

“You can’t know that.”

“Of course they knew, Tyson. Or at least they understood pretty soon what was about to happen, and they didn’t even try to stop him!” Mariah snarled.

“But…”

“Listen, if it had been one of your teammates, if it had been Ray who had done those things, wouldn’t you have tried to stop him at least?” Michael asked.

“Maybe…”

“I’m sorry Tyson, but I think they're right. You would have done everything you just could to stop one of us from doing something like that. And we both know it.” Chief said.

“They did those things for fun. I’m not sure if I’ll trust even Kai completely ever again. And I’m not going to invite the Devil into my home, if you know what I mean.” Emily said.

“Max? What do you think?”

“To be honest, Tyson, I don’t know… You DO have a thing for trusting people a little bit too easy… They took my Draciel. You can’t expect me to forget that in a heartbeat… And I know that they would have taken Dragoon if Tala had won, remember that…”

Tyson felt confused, but maybe they were right…

All the things that had happened during the finals flashed by, Kai appearing on the other team… Kai on that lake… The way the Demolition Boys had crashed their bus and taken Draciel and… hurt Max. The faces of all the bladers who had lost their bit beasts.
And most of all, the way Bryan had hurt Ray.

He looked over the bladers in the room, they were his friends, they were here. If the Demolition Boys really had changed, wouldn’t they have been here too then? To prove themselves?

Michael was right, the Demos were no good! Tyson felt so angry, at them and at himself for allowing them to fool him.


Ray and Kai kept smiling at each other in the backseat, only half-listening to Mr. Dickenson's talk about the new rules. Ray couldn’t help but feel like they were a couple of school girls giggling behind the teacher's back. It was obvious that Kai tried to keep his usual cold posture up, and finally the Russian was staring out of the window to prevent himself from laughing out load. He tried to think up something to talk about…

“How come Max doesn’t need this paperwork, too?” He finally asked Mr. Dickenson.

“Well, that’s because he has a Japanese nationality as well as an American. We thought you had that too, Kai, but it turned out that your grandfather never applied one for you…”

Both Ray and Mr. Dickenson noticed the change in Kai's mood at the mention of his grandfather.

“ “He” is not my grandfather!”

All laughter was gone from the Russian teen and he didn’t say another word until he was alone with Ray in their shared hotel room. Actually it was Ray who started to talk.

“Are you ok Kai?”

“No.”

“Talk to me Kai, please?”

“I don’t know what to say… Mr. Dickenson knows, Ray… He knows what “he” did to Tala… How can he think I would ever want to call that pathetic excuse of a human being a relative of mine?!”

“Calm down Kai. I think he was trying to insult neither you or Tala… He didn’t think, that’s all. And does he even know the truth about you and Tala?”

“No… No he doesn’t. The only one outside the Demos who knows is you…”

“So… How are they? How is Tala? Did you manage to talk to him?”

“That’s a lot of questions at one time. They are ok… Tala is pretty much back to normal, still weak though, and he’s going crazy with Spencer’s fussing. And we’ve fixed things… We’re fine…”

“Oh, just fine?” Ray teased.
To his astonishment Kai blushed.
“Are you serious? Have you... you know...?”

Kai blushed deeper but nodded.

“Wow… You must really have gotten through to him if he allowed you to… You know…”

Kai threw himself on his bed and didn’t look at Ray as he said;

“It might have to do with the fact that I didn’t do anything to him…”

Ray let out a low laugh.

“So the great Kai actually subdues to some one, huh?”

“So? Is that really so hard to believe? I mean, we're talking about Tala here.”

“You’re right… What was that name Tyson used of him tonight… Captain evil?”

“Yeah… I think that was it. You know, I’d hope they would have gotten over the whole thing…”

“Give them some time. They don’t know the Demos, and they don’t know the truth about what really happened back there. Are you going to tell them?”

“No, we aren’t. The trials are going to be held behind locked doors, and they - we - don’t want any one to know. Not just yet, at least…”

“Why not? It might give them some understanding for all of you…”

“Maybe. They may also end up using it against us… Or even worse, they might pity us. We don’t want pity.”

“Then why did you trust me? I might have reacted that way too.”

“Yes. And don’t think for a second that that wasn’t what Bryan expected you to do. But he was so hysterical after your match that the only thing they could think of was to let him apologize. Listen Ray, as much as it might help the bladers who're here to know, it would hurt the Demos. To them - us - it’s like admitting you’re weak. And don’t you understand that with them knowing the truth about the Abbey, they’d come to know the truth about a lot of things. Bryan's fear of crowded places for example…”

“Well, at least he’s working on that one.”

“I know, it shows. But the only one he talks to about it is you. By the way, there must be a shortage of paper in both China and Russia by now. How many letters do you write in a week?!”

“A many as needed. By the way, last time he wrote he wrote something strange… He wrote that I didn’t have to write him, that he didn’t want to be a burden to me… Does he mean that he doesn’t want me to write any more?”

“The opposite I think. He lives for those letters Ray. So don’t you dare to stop.”

“No need to worry about that. By the way, care to teach me Russian?” Ray smiled.

“Sure.”