Chapter 1: New arrival and introductions.
Ray's POV: I never thought being an orphan was bad thing. I can still remember Ms. Swifts taking me to Bey City's adoption place. The building was huge with gray brick. It almost looked like a haunted house when I started walking up the steps to the door. "Wait here." She said to me as she went in. I stood still terrified of what my happen when I go in. Ms. Swifts came out with another young woman that motioned for me to come in. "Welcome Ray. Come with me to meet the other kids down the hall." She told me. I followed her nervous as heck as we went down a short hallway to the other kid's bedroom. I could hear other kids yelling and shouting down there. We opened a door and entered a large room. There were at least ten other kids in the room. Three girls were talking in a corner. One tall boy was up against the wall in another corner. One blonde haired kid was trying to wake a black haired kid because he was fast asleep. "Kids meet Ray; he's the new kid here for adoption. Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared blankly at me except for the tall kid in the corner who looked like he was also asleep and the black haired kid still asleep on the bed. (Note: there are 4 bunk beds in the room and two windows in the back). "Why don't you go and meet the others while I take care of some other business. She said and went back up the stairs.
I looked around at the other kids. "Um, hello." I said nervously. The blonde haired kid walked up to me. "Hi Ray. Nice to meet you. I'm Max!" Max said and held out his hand. I took it happily and shook it. Maybe being here won't be such a bad thing after all. "How many other kids are there here?" I asked. "Seven including you. Over there are the talkative girls: Hilary, Maggie, and Kayla." Max pointed his thumb to the three girls still talking. Then he pointed to the opposite corner to the tall duel haired kid who still looked asleep standing against the wall. "That's Kai. He's a loner. He never talks to anyone except Mrs. Deena."
"Lastly there's Tyson." (Nobody's POV) He said pointing to the bed where Tyson was still fast asleep. Max and Ray walked over to the bed and Max started pushing his legs. "C'mon Tyson wake up. There's a new kid." Max begged him to wake up. "Let me try something." Ray said and grabbed his long braid. He started wiggling Tyson's nose which made him sit up and sneeze. "What? What happened?" Tyson asked puzzled as if he had been sleeping for ten days. "You've been sleeping forever weirdo. Good thing Ray woke you up. Tyson looked around and then at Ray who was standing next to him. "Oh you're Ray. Nice to meet you." Tyson said cheerfully. Then he looked at the corner at Kai. "Did you try waking Kai up? He looks like he's half asleep." He asked Max. "No I'm not asleep I was just thinking." Everyone was startled when Kai started talking. "Thinking about what? Getting adopted tomorrow?" Tyson replied with a flat tone. "Tomorrow?" Ray suddenly asked confused." "Yeah tomorrow is the when all the new adults in Bey City come and see if they want to adopt us."
"I hope I get adopted tomorrow." Max said. "I don't. I just got here today and with Kai's attitude I don't think he'll get adopted tomorrow either." Ray responded. "Actually Kai has been here longer than all of us because none of the adults wanted him." Tyson responded. "That's kind of sad." Ray said.
Suddenly, Mrs. Deena opened the door. "Ok kids it's getting late. Time for all of you to go to bed." She said. The three girls got into their bunk beds. Ray watched as Max started climbing the short ladder on the side of the bed. "Ray you can sleep over in that bunk." Mrs. Deena said and Ray followed her gaze over to where Kai was climbing up the ladder to the top bunk. 'Great I get to sleep under the loner.' Ray thought and walked over and got into bed. He instantly fell asleep. "Get some sleep. Tomorrow's a big day." Mrs. Deena said and closed the door silently.
Chapter 2 Adoption Day 7 days until deadline
Dawn broke into the only two rooms in the room. Ray slowly opened his eyes to see someone standing by his bed. He blinked a few times and realized it was Kai. He slowly sat up and saw Kai's red eyes staring back at him. "Hi. What's up?" He asked tiredly. "Get up and get ready. Today's adoption day remember. Mrs. Deena doesn't want anyone of us to sleep in. Even Tyson was able to get up." Kai explained. "Right, sorry." Ray responded getting wearily out of bed. One hour later Ray was looking out of one of the windows. A few cars were parked in the parking lot across the street. C'mon. Let's go." Ray turned around to hear Kai behind him. The two of them started walking down the hallway. All five of the other kids were standing in a row including Max and Tyson who looked like he was about to fall over any minute.
Ray and Kai stood next to each other at the end of the line. "Remember what to do like last time and you might get adopted. Now go." Mrs. Deena instructed and everyone headed back down to their room. Ray whispered to Kai about what to do but he didn't answer. Everyone went about their business and Ray asked Max about what to do. "When Mrs. Deena gives us the signal we all come back out to the adults. If any of them thinks they want to adopt us then we get sent into a private room to talk about other boring stuff. I've done it before." Max explained. "Then how come you are still here now?" Ray asked. "You don't want to know." Max answered looking at the ground.
Then Mrs. Deena opened the door and signaled for the kids to come out. Everybody led by Hilary and Maggie came out and down the hallway. Nine adults were in the main room. Maggie and Hilary both stayed together and went to greet a young couple. Kai leaned up against the back wall and closed his eyes wanting nothing to do with it. Ray decided to stand next to him. Kai opened one eye and looked at him as he approached. "What?" Kai asked annoyed. "Nothing." Ray responded and turned away.
Later on Max and Tyson were trying to comfort Hilary because she upset that none of them except Maggie was getting adopted. Kai was still backed up against the wall thinking. Ray was sitting on his bed. Kai got up and walked over to Ray and sat down next to him. "I guess we are lucky that we didn't get adopted this time." Kai said to Ray who was looking down at the floor. "Didn't you want to get adopted today?" Ray looked at Kai confused. "Not really." He responded. "I kind of wanted to get to know you better and wait until next time." "Really? When's the next time?" Ray said. "Next week." Kai said looking at Ray. Maggie opened the door and walked over to Hilary and Max. Turns out she was getting adopted today. "Hope you enjoy living with your new family Maggie." Max said. "Thanks Max." She responded. Hilary hugged Maggie last time as the others said or waved their goodbyes to her. Then Maggie opened the door, waved to Ray and Kai over on the bed and closed the door behind her.
"I hope I get to see her again one day." Max said. "If both of you get adopted into a family here in Bey City, I'm pretty sure you two will see each other again." Ray said as he and Kai walked up to the group. "Well look what the cat dragged in. I thought you'd still be up against the wall 'thinking' again." Tyson said teasingly. "I guess Ray kind of lightened me up a bit." Kai said looking at Ray who was smiling. Everyone in the group stared at him except Max who was looking out the window. "Man time sure went fast today. It's already almost dark outside." He said. "Guess we should all get some sleep. Good night." Tyson said a flopped into bed. Hilary, Max, and Kayla all got into their beds. Kai climbed the small ladder to his bed as Ray looked at the top bunk thinking about if Kai ever got adopted one day he did not. Then what would happen? Ray tried not to worry about it and fell asleep.
Chapter 3 Walk in the park 6 days until deadline
Ray woke up to the sound of someone shouting and screaming. He got out of bed tiredly and followed the sound down the hallway. The shouting seemed to be coming from another hallway to the left in the breakfast room. Ray walked down and into a room with a small round table. Hilary and Kayla were chatting about something. Tyson was trying to get Max to eat a piece of bacon that was dipped in milk while Kai was just staring at them annoyed.
Ray walked over and sat down next to Kai. "Hi." He said when Kai looked at him. "Hi." Kai replied. "So what are you planning to do today?" he asked Ray. "Sleep." "Really? Wouldn't you want to go and walk around town?" Kai asked willingly. "We can really do that?" Ray was very surprised by his offer. "Sure. Mrs. Deena sometimes lets us go and walk around town because there's nothing else to do around here except sleep. Max and I just decided that all of us are going to head over to Winego Park. Want to come Ray?" Kai was looking straight in Ray's eyes when he asked. "Okay. Sounds like fun!" Ray exclaimed.
Their conversation was interrupted when Mrs. Deena entered the breakfast room with an unfamiliar redhead kid by her. "Who's that?" Max asked pointing at the redhead. "That must be the new kid Tala who came in late last night." Kayla answered as Tala came over sheepishly and sat next to her. He looked very shy.
A half an hour later everyone was ready to go and started walking down the sidewalk towards Winego Park. Ray looked behind him to see Tala keeping his distance from the group. He slowed down and caught up with Tala who looked at him scared. "Hi. I'm Ray. I'm new here too." He said to Tala who didn't say a word. He was distracted by Kayla walking in front of him. Max and Tyson started running down the sidewalk with Hilary yelling at them to slow down. Soon they had reached Winego Park. There was a big playground in the middle, a large skate park to the left and a forest behind and around the park.
Max, Kayla, and Tyson ran towards the playground. Kai leaned against a nearby tree. Tala just stood nearby nervous. And Ray looked around at what he should do. "Hey Ray! Come over here! I want to see if you can ride this thing." Tyson was standing on top of the bridge of the playground and pointed towards one of the parts of the playground. (The long one with the handle and you grab and slide down the rail.) Ray ran over to the rail and looked at Tyson. "What am I supposed to do?" Ray asked. "You run, jump, and grab the handle and slide down the rail." Tyson explained while Max and Hilary watched intently.
"Okay?" Ray backed up to the edge of the gravel and sprinted off. He jumped up and barely missed the handle, landing face first in the ground. "Ow." He said getting up. "Nice one. Now we know how not to do it next time." Tyson joked. "Try again Ray." Max said. Ray nodded and backed up again. This time he sprinted off, grabbed the handle and slid down fast. Max was waiting at the end. "Okay. That was scary." Ray jumped of and almost collapsed on the ground. "At least you made it to the end. C'mon let's go to the swings instead." Max jumped and ran over to the swings where Tala was swinging down at the end. Ray followed him.
Ray got on the swing and started pumping his legs. Max and Tala were already up in the air. It took Ray a while before he was almost as high as the tree Kai was standing by. Soon Max jumped off the swing and landed on the ground safely. "Try doing that Ray." Max called. "You want ME to jump down from this height!?" Ray screamed. "Try it. It's not that high up." Max responded calmly. Ray jumped off the swing and landed on his feet struggling to keep his balance. "That was cool!" Max exclaimed.
The rest of the day was fun for Ray. He, Max, and the others played a lot of games on the playground. Even Kai joined in the fun after Ray begged him to wake up because he fell asleep on the tree. Soon the sun started going down. "Guys. It's probably time to head back." Kai announced. "Mrs. Deena won't like it if we return home after dark." "Your right Kai. Let's go… hey where's Tyson?" Max said looking around. Hilary and Kayla were getting off the swing and Tala was sliding down the slide. "Max and Ray headed off into the woods about an hour ago." Hilary answered. "Why?" "What?! Are they both crazy?! The woods are dangerous especially at this time of night!" Max exclaimed. "Then we'd better go after them." Kai said as Max, Kai, and Tala ran off towards the entrance of the woods.
Chapter 4 Into the woods. 6 days until deadline
The moon was already out while Ray and Tyson were heading through the woods. "Man I can't believe the moon is already out. The sun was just setting when we came in here. Now we can't see anything out here." Tyson complained. "All the more reason to start heading back. Now which way back to the entrance Tyson?" Ray asked. "How should I know!? The last time I was here Kai had a map on how to get out." Tyson said. "Well if he's got the map he might come and find us. Let's try calling for him." Ray suggested. "If you say so." Ray knew that Tyson was scared.
Far away by the entrance of the forest, Kai, Max, and Tala had just headed into the thick forest. Luckily Tala brought along a flashlight and accidentally shined it in Max's eyes next to him. "Hey! What the heck Tala!" Max exclaimed covering his eyes. Tala quickly turned it off. "Be quiet you two. Tala, can you come over here with the flashlight so I can read this map?" Kai asked annoyed. Tala walked up and turned the flashlight toward the map Kai had in his hands. "Okay." Kai said closing the map. "Once we find Ray and Tyson which will hopefully be soon, we can follow the path back that way towards the entrance." Kai explained pointing back the way they came in.
"You sure you can read that map? I don't want to get lost like last time." Max asked concerned. "I can read a dumb map Max. Don't you remember Tyson had the map last time which got us lost?" Kai told him turning around. "Just checking Kai." Suddenly Kai heard his name from far in the trees. "That's Ray's voice! They must be close!" Max exclaimed as the three of them ran off towards the sound. Over by Ray who was trying to yell for Kai. Tyson was getting bored just standing there. "That's just a stupid idea Ray. I don't think Kai will be able to hear us all the way out here." He said. "It was worth a try at least." Ray replied. Just then Kai's voice rang over the trees. "Hey, did you hear that?" Ray was looking in the direction of his voice. "It's Kai! Maybe your useless yelling did help." Tyson joked. Ray glared at him. "Let's go!" Ray and Tyson sprinted off into the forest towards Kai's voice with Ray yelling back towards Kai.
Soon Tyson spotted a flashlight gleam off to the side. "Wait stop! I see a flashlight. It must be them!" Tyson called to Ray and they took off running the other way. Soon Kai, Max, and Tala saw them approaching. "Ray! You're okay!" Kai exclaimed running towards them. Kai actually hugged Ray when he approached him. Everyone just stared at the two amazed about Kai's action. He was blushing, realized what he did, and started backing away. "Okay I guess we should just get out of here. Tala, can I see the flashlight?" Kai started walking away not knowing the Ray was staring at him before something caught his attention behind him. "Hey what's that sound?" he said turning around.
Kai and Tala turned around from looking at the map. A white piece of fur was inching towards the group. A low growl sounded from it. "Um guys?! I think there's a WOLF in here!" Ray yelled and the white wolf started running towards them. "Oh jeez!" Max screamed and everyone took a run for it. Soon everyone reached the entrance with the wolf hot on their tails.
"What's wrong?" Hilary called. "Run for it! There's a wolf behind us!" Kai said passing them. The whole group including Kayla and Hilary ran for their life until they reached the street. The wolf saw the street light and ran away. "Man that was close." Tyson said panting. "You can say that again." Everyone soon stopped panting. "Finally. We'd better get home. Mrs. Deena is going to kill us." Hilary said as everyone started walking down the sidewalk back home.
Chapter 5: A new kid appears. Sunday (last was on Saturday) 5 days until deadline
'Last night was the worst night of my life.' Ray thought finally waking up before after going back to sleep for two hours. "Are you awake yet?" Kai asked hanging over the side of his bed. "Yes." Ray answered. "Good." Kai replied jumping down. "Mrs. Deena said that a new kid came in last night when we were running from the wolf so we should go and meet him." Ray and Kai started walking down the hallway where everyone else was chatting with the new kid. Tala was leaned against the wall, still very shy. The new kid had long white hair and crystal blue eyes. "Hey, you must be Kai and Ray that Hilary told me about. Hi, my name is Bryce." Bryce walked up to shake Ray's hand. "Nice to meet you Bryce." He didn't know why but Kai had a bad feeling about this new kid and started giving him bad looks. Then Bryce noticed Tala and walked over by him. "Hey are you Tala?" Tala nodded. "Cool name." Bryce complimented and Tala actually smiled.
"So what's our plan for today Kai?" Ray asked. "I don't know. Sleep?" Kai answered. "I'd rather go somewhere else around the city." "Well I happen to know a good place to go today." Max said coming up. "It better not be a restaurant. Knowing Tyson. He'll eat all the food there is." "No. It's Skate City. The indoor roller rink we've been to." Max said. "That roller rink? I told you I didn't want to go back there again." Kai responded crossing his arms. "It would be better than sleeping all day." Ray said "Alright fine."
"We're going to Skate City?" Tyson exclaimed overhearing. "Great! I can't wait to get out on the rink." He said. "I don't really know how to skate." Ray said. "That's okay. Kai can teach you. He's the master skater." Max replied. "Really? Can you Kai?" Ray pleaded. "Sure. It's better than teaching Tyson how to skate. That kid is the worst skater I have ever seen." Kai said looking at Ray. "No I'm not. You weren't a very good teacher." Tyson laughed. "Says who?" Kai barked. "Says me." Tyson barked and then the two of them glared at each other, both growling. "C'mon stop fighting both of you." Ray said. "Yeah if we are going to Skate City; We'd better go now before they close at three." Max said pushing the two of them apart. "Okay then let's go.
Fifteen minutes later Tyson, Kai, Ray, Hilary, Kayla, Max, Bryce, and Tala were on the underground train heading into the city. Tyson was looking out at the dark window, Hilary and Kayla were talking as usual, Kai was hanging onto the bar, head down, and was half asleep. Ray was poking him in the arm trying to get him to wake up with Max laughing at the faces Kai was giving him, and Bryce was reading a book on the bench with Tala looking over his shoulder.
"The next stop is our stop. Ray, you should try waking Kai." Kayla said. Ray started shaking the duel haired kid's head to get him to wake up. "What?!" Kai woke up startled and stared at the raven haired kid annoyed. "The next stop is ours and you wouldn't wake up." He said. "Well you didn't have to shake my head so hard!" "Stop fighting you two and let's get off this train!" Max said getting off the subway car with everyone else. Kai and Ray both ran for their lives off the car before the door closed on them. "Now that that's over with, let's get to Skate City." Max said as he led everyone outside of the station with Kai and Ray behind them. "Sorry about that." Ray apologized to the duel haired loner. "Its fine. Let's catch up to everyone." Kai said running off. Ray froze at Kai's action. He soon snapped back to reality running after him. 'Kai is amazing.' Ray thought happily.