RTC: Hi! Another oneshot here! (Obviously!) And it's a Tala and Kai friendship fic! (Not yoai, sorry all of you who're here for that!)
Kai: Glad to know you aren't writing another romance with me!
RTC: Yeah, me too, I'm getting a little tired of romance with you. It's really hard! Now this is for Phoenix from the Flames 1978! She's just always been there for me and I really appreciate it! Disclaimer please!
Max: Ray-Tiger-Cat still does not own Beyblade!
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"Faster! Go faster, you brat!" the purple haired freak known as Boris was shouting at a badly beaten teenage boy.
"Oof," was all the boy said, as he felt a whip slice the skin on his back. "You bastard."
"Now, now, Kai. What have you learned?"
"I've learned nothing from you!" Kai spat back angrily.
Boris reached for Kai's throat and began squeezing it until Kai started to turn blue. "I'll repeat myself-what have you learned?!" he roared.
"I've learned... that you're a sadistic, goggle-wearing prick that works for an even more sadistic and freaky prick that dares call himself my grandfather." Defiance was evident in Kai's eyes.
"You worthless twerp!" Boris was fuming and although that was not a good thing, Kai smiled, if only to torment his abuser. Unfortunately, it resulted in getting hit in the head with a bit of metal piping, knocking Kai unconscious almost immediately.
"Throw him in the underground cell; I don't want him escaping!"
"But Sir, the glass in that cell is broken as well as the heating. That cell is freezing!" someone protested. "He'll surly die!"
"That he will," Boris said calmly, and fired a bullet into the protester's head. "Any other complaints? No? Well then, don't just stand there-put him in that cell! He shall pay for defying us! He'll wish he had never reclaimed Black Dranzer!"
'Cold. I'm so cold,' Kai thought, once he had awoken. Opening his eyes, he could see that he was in a small cell, on the frozen concrete floor. He spotted a small cot, presumably with a blanket, in the corner, but try as he might, he could not pick himself up and reach it. His body had suffered far too much. 'So this is how I die," he thought. 'And I promised my team... my friends that I'd make it back alright...' His mind drifted to his good bye.
Flashback
"But Ka-ai," Tyson whined, "It's not safe! Why do you have to go back there?"
"Just a few things I need to take care of. I'll be fine."
"No, Tyson is right, it isn't at all safe," Max argued. "Couldn't you just, I dunno, call them on the phone, or send a letter or something?"
Kai shook his head and grabbed his coat. "I'll be back soon, don't worry."
"Right, we'll just sit here, calm and happy, while you go and confront your grandfather, who wouldn't hesitate to hurt you," Ray added sarcastically, placing a hand on Kai's shoulder.
"Well it's not like you're in any shape to come," Kai responded, glancing at the crutch Ray was leaning on, "And none of you are trained enough to deal with them. I am. I can handle it."
"The statistics show that they have something bad planned for you," Kenny tried.
"I'm going and that's final."
"Just promise us you'll be safe then," Tyson said, knowing no amount of pleading could change their captain's mind.
"I promise."
End flashback
"Oh God, Kai, what did they do to you?" a voice asked. "Come on, you shouldn't be on the ground; it's freezing!" Kai felt a strong pair of arms lift him and move him onto the cot.
Opening his eyes, Kai found a pair of bright blue orbs staring back at him. "Tala? Why... Why are you helping me?"
"You really don't remember, do you?" Tala mused as he looked Kai over carefully. His own injured were pretty bad and definitely painful, but Kai looked like he had been put through the meat grinder.
"Remember what?" To most people, the voice would have sounded weak, but to Tala, they just reminded him of a much younger Kai.
"We were once friends, Kai. Back when we were kids. Boris told me that you'd lost most of you memories, but I didn't believe him until now."
Kai caught a glimpse of Tala's saddened expression, but could do nothing to comfort his former friend.
"Tala, you're hurt," Kai remarked, spotting the blood soaking the side of Tala's shirt.
"It's not that bad," he replied.
Kai tried to answer when he broke into a violent coughing fit. Tala responded by brushing Kai's bangs out of his face and feeling his forehead.
"Crap, you're burning up! We have to get you out of here," he muttered, just in case anyone else might hear.
"Can't. Too tired. Leave me alone," Kai moaned.
"Not on your life. Get some rest, Kai. We'll figure everything out in a bit." After tucking Kai in (damn motherly urges!), Tala too sat back and fell asleep.
Elsewhere, Tyson was ranting on and on about Kai.
"Guys, he's been gone for five days now! He said he'd be back in a few hours! Something must have happened! We have to do something!"
"Tyson, relax! Kenny is tracking down Dranzer's location as we speak!" Ray pointed out. "We can't do anything until we know where they're keeping Kai."
"I still say we just break into the abbey!"
Max sighed. "We've been over this-it's been abandoned. Kai isn't there!"
Before Tyson could come up with a retort, Kenny ran into the room screaming, "I've got the location! They're keeping him in an abandoned building owned by Voltaire out in the middle of nowhere!"
"What?! How do we get there?!" Tyson exploded, grabbing his winter clothing and one of the two backpacks they'd packed with supplies.
"It's pretty far out of town. We'd need to drive for about half an hour and then trek through about six kilometres of forest and then another half a kilometre to get there. But on the bright side, the building doesn't have as much security as the abbey."
"Oh boy."
"I'm calling Mr. Dickenson," Ray said, "He'll be able to provide us with a ride."
An hour later, the four of them were on the border of the forest.
"Ray, are you sure you want to come?" Max asked.
"No way am I missing this! And no offence, but you three don't know how to treat severe injuries and I'm willing to bet that Kai's hurt pretty badly." Ray had abandoned the crutch a few days ago, but was still recovering from the wounds from his battle against Bryan.
About two hours later, the Bladebreakers were staring at the building. 'This would be a lot easier if we had some kind of sign as to where Kai is,' they were thinking.
Meanwhile, both Kai and Tala had awoken from their naps.
"Stupid Boris!" Tala was ranting, along with some other phrase for their tormentor that really shouldn't be repeated around children. "He just had to put us in the one cell with a broken window and no heating! Of course the stupid glass can break, but every single bar is perfectly intact!"
"Not every bar," Kai remarked from the cot. "That one on the left end looks a bit rusted." Kai mentally thanked his lucky stars for his acute vision.
Tala leaned closer to inspect the bar Kai had described and received a blast of icy air to the face.
"Hm, yes. Well, these bars are ruining the view. So why don't we remove a few? If we could get one or two of those bars off, we could escape," Tala quickly realized. Both he and Kai were severely under-fed and consequently, very skinny. His plotting was cut off as he noticed Kai was struggling out of bed.
"Kai, what are you doing?" Tala asked sternly.
"Metal breaks when you hit it with extreme heat and then extreme cold," he replied, quite weakly, but still very determined. "Now is there anyone else we have to break out? Your team?"
"What? No, they were released."
Kai cocked an eyebrow as he put his blade into his launcher. "And why was that? Why are you the only one here?"
"I bargained with Boris. He could keep me and so whatever he wanted, so long as he let them go." Tala lifted his shirt and showed Kai the impressively sized wound. "Now let's get out of here before you collapse," he added, also attaching his blade to his launcher.
"Dranzer!"
"Wolborg!"
A few minutes later, a couple of bars were on the floor and Tala was struggling to get Kai through the opening. The out of nowhere, a few pairs of arms on the outside pulled as Tala pushed and Kai was out. Barely conscious, but out.
"Whoa Tala, man, didn't expect to see you here," Tyson said, offering a hand to help him out.
"We have to get away from here before they realize what's happened!" Tala exclaimed, not caring that perfect strangers were seeing him panic.
"Max, help Tala here!" Tyson ordered, while he bent down to scoop up the now unconscious captain.
"Run!" ray shouted, and with Tala leaning heavily on Max as his strength drained away, they ran. It looked like they might have gotten away, when bullets went sailing over their heads.
"Quick, the forest!" Kenny cried. Luckily, they dived into the thick foliage before anyone got hurt.
"It's a good thing Boris has really crappy aim for distances. Maybe he needs a new pair of goggles prescribed," Tala muttered sarcastically, and received shocked looks from Kai's team mates. "I'll explain later. Kai needs help now."
"Whoa, hold on," Max said and Tala tensed, expecting a lecture on why they didn't trust him. But to his amazement, Max just indicated his own wounds and told him to hold still for a bit.
"I'm really sorry," Tala mumbled as Max started to clean up some of the blood.
"We'll talk later," Ray cut him off. "Kai's a mess-injured and pretty sick too. I have a feeling a few weeks in the hospital is in his near future."
"But aren't you all mad at me?" Tala wondered.
"Dude, you were trying to get Kai out of that hell hole. That's all we really need to know for now," Tyson replied.
Tala glanced at Kai. His whole torso had been wrapped neatly in bandages, as well as his head and one arm. Tyson, Ray and Kenny were now trying to wrap him up in some blankets and winter wear that they had brought along.
"We're all set here," Kenny said, as he stood and brought an extra coat to Tala, who slipped it on without complaint.
"So let's go!" Max exclaimed.
After a few kilometres, Tala's head started throbbing and his legs were turning to jelly, but he kept going because he felt he couldn't be more of a burden on them all.
Unsurprisingly, he too collapsed a while later. He heard Max gasp, but then quickly grab him.
"It's okay, Tala, I've got you," he told the semi-conscious red head.
After what felt like an eternity, they spotted the BBA bus and ran to it.
"My boys! You've found Kai, I see!" Mr. Dickenson called, rushing over to help them. "Oh, who's this? Tala?"
"He was trapped in there as well," Ray informed their sponsor.
"He was trying to get Kai out," Kenny added.
They all quickly boarded the bus and perhaps it was the warmer temperature, or maybe the motion when Mr. D. told the driver to hurry, but Kai woke up, surrounded by his concerned team mates.
"How are you doing?" Tyson asked.
"Fine," Kai responded, hating himself for sounding so weak. "Tala?
"He's right over there," Max said, pointing at the pair of sets across the aisle.
"He saved my life," Kai told the, hoping they had been kind to his friend. Because that's what he was-a friend. Even though Kai only had jumbled, vague memories from the abbey days, he knew that Tala was a true friend. The Bladebreakers had found that the odd friendship between the two had been rekindled even before some of Kai's memories came back.
They walked into the hospital room the two shared two days later and found Tala sitting on the edge of Kai's bed, discussing some random, yet funny moments from the abbey. It seemed like the two had a knack for pranking Boris. The team stood silently at the door for a moment, as they didn't want to interrupt.
"Tala?"
"Yes, Kai?"
"Thank you." They were a simple two words. But with those two words, Kai conveyed his thoughts perfectly. Tala knew that Kai was thanking him for a lot more that helping him escape.
"You're welcome... Pigeon-head!" Tala grinned wickedly; using the nickname Kai had hated so much as a child.
"Yeah, well, at least my bitbeast isn't an overgrown puppy!" Kai retaliated and hit Tala with a pillow.
"You take that back!"
"No way! It's the truth!"
"Is not!"
"Is too!"
"Not!"
"Too!"
Pretty soon, the argument was drowned out by the Bladebreakers' laughter and both Kai and Tala were forced to join in.
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RTC: So, what did you think? Did I do the friendship justice? I certainly hope so, but I know sometimes my work is choppy. Now if you want to reads another Tala and Kai friendship fic that isn't so choppy, so look at Phoenix from the Flames 1978's fic 'Blades Will Be Drawn'! Yes, I am promoting it, please forgive me! Anyway, more randomness awaits, bye!