Johnny walked around the Russian stadium finally getting a chance to look at and appreciate everything about the stadium. As he wandered around the halls recalling the events of the past world championships he was actually glad that his team had not beaten the Bladebreakers and taken their place. He knew his team would not have been strong enough to beat the Demolition boys and he was glad that they had been able to help them be able to beat the team. Back to the stadium, the main dish was big enough, holding something stupid like half a million people or just a few thousand under. Then there were about twenty dressing rooms, ten on either side of the dish, and each one came equipped with a private gym and a bathroom for any competing teams. How big were the events here? I mean, yeah the world championships are big, but how big were the Russian competitions? Anybody would have thought all of Russia was dying to compete, which they probably were.

But he didn't want to think about the people of Russia, he knew they weren't all bad people or out to take over the world. But going from what he saw from Boris and Kai's completely insane grandfather he didn't think very much of the people of Russia. Now he wasn't a stupid person, so he knew not to judge an entire group of people by one, or in this case two's, stupid mistakes and ideas on how the world should be. It's like thinking all German's were horrible and wanted to kill all Jews and anybody that was different. And Johnny didn't judge any German's before he knew them. Heck, he was friends with Robert who was practically German royalty! He knew not to judge people and he didn't, it's just the Russian's he had met weren't exactly amazing.

Boris, Voltare, completely insane, and they really did need some serious help in the mental department and they were just sad lonely men at the end of the day. Then there was Kai, he never showed any emotion and it wasn't often that he showed any signs of actually living. And his attitude was always moody or annoyed, even after they won the world championships he didn't celebrate for any longer than the party two nights ago. And finally, there were the Demolition boys. All very serious and moody. They were like, if it's possible, even more serious versions of Kai but slightly less insane versions of Boris and Voltare. But from those seven Russian's, anybody could understand why he was still a little sceptical about still being in their country.

Alas, the Scottish blader didn't have a choice. His plane back to Scotland had been delayed due to a storm. The championships had been won by the Bladebreakers two days ago and that night there had been a massive party at the Bladebreakers hotel for everybody who had been supporting them adults too. Then his plane was supposed to take of the next afternoon whilst everybody else's took off in the morning meaning that they had all just missed the storm whilst his had been cancelled because the storm rolled in. They didn't think the storm would last for too long, but it wasn't enough for Johnny. They had said it should be clear by tomorrow, but he wanted to be back home in Scotland. He actually missed their cold temperatures. Scotland was cold, but it wasn't nearly as cold as Russia, especially when it's approaching winter! He was ready to go home.

And that is what had brought him back to the Russian stadium. He was bored and nobody else was around so he thought why not? After the entire stadium was now under BBA control and since he was a registered blader within the company, he could freely walk around and take a look. He knew that it was a classic building that had been redone for the new and extreme sport. And because of his wealthy background he had been taught how to appreciate thing from the past and especially things that were amazing, like the stadium. All of the original architecture around the inside had been kept and it was amazing. Everything had an intricate Russian pattern or old sayings in the strange and complicated language. And Johnny knew Robert and Oliver were going to be so jealous of him when they heard about his private trip.

But he was also a very impatient person and he didn't always appreciate things because he became so easily bored. So he decided that he should check out some of the changing rooms and other facilities back there, see if they really did live up to their impressive reputation. He was going to go and see the Bladebreakers, one, because theirs was rumoured to have had a mini fridge stocked with food and also because one of them had left something and he had promised Mr Dickinson he would look for it. So he set off for the changing rooms that the new world champions had occupied only days before.

After a surprisingly short walk, he found himself in front of a heavy oak door that had a sign with the word Bladebreakers on it. He didn't hesitate upon entering; he walked in as if it were any other room he had been into before. But he did stop to admire the room. There were benches and lockers, a T.V that showed whatever match was on in the main stadium and, true to the rumours, there was a mini fridge, but it was unplugged so there was no food he could sneak. He then saw two doors and guessed they were the gym and the bathroom. He noticed that the walls were a rather dark colour and they gave of the feel that something bad was going to happen no matter what you did to try to avoid it. He then spotted something on the bench and laughed. He knew that Max had left something behind that was important, but he didn't think that it was his launcher! He knew the kid was forgetful, but the only thing worse than forgetting that would be forgetting your blade itself!

But he knew Max was a good kid, despite his bad memory and strange addiction to sugar. And after all he had been a part of the team that had stopped two completely psychotic Russian's trying to take over the world using mutated teenagers and bitbeasts. He grabbed the blader and shoved it into his pocket so as to make sure he wouldn't forget it when he left the arena later. He then thought since nobody was around he would be fine to take a look at the Demolition boys old dressing room too. After all, it's not like their sponsors owned it anymore and he was well within his legal rights to do so. If Mr Dickinson didn't want him to go in there then he would have told him. So he wandered over to the other side of the arena.

The walk to the other dressing rooms was much longer. He had entered the hallway rather quickly, but the Demolition boys' dressing room seemed to be placed as far away from the dish as they could get. He knew they liked their privacy and that they didn't want anybody to find out about their tactics or how they were really treated but he was getting fed up. He had been walking for almost ten minutes, and he still hadn't see the door with their team name on it! But he was curious, and his curiosity always got the better of his annoyance, anger and even impatience. So he continued his search for the Russian's dressing room.

He then realized that as he got further into the building everything seemed to grow darker and all of the shadows were much larger than they should have been. The walls were a dark grey colour that seemed to reflect the darkness rather than the small amount of light that did light the hallway. This then caused the shadows hidden in the corners to close in if he kept his eyes open for to long. And as he spotted the last door, he made sure to blink twice as often as to make sure the shadows didn't engulf him when he wasn't looking.

He then spotted the door with the words The Demolition Boys on it and he did begin to feel worried about what he might find inside. After hearing the harsh ways in which the Russian team was trained, he was sure there was going to be something drastically wrong with the room. He then reached out and grabbed the door handle and felt an icy chill rush through his body from his hand. But, as it always did, his curiosity got the better of him and he continued to turn the handle and pull the door open, another icy chill hit his body. But he wasn't about to stop when he was practically in the room.

The room was pitch black and had Johnny on edge, he let go of the door and began feeling along the walls for the light switch. He felt around a bit and then he felt something wet and slightly sticky on the wall. He then let fear creep into his mind. He could handle almost anything, except blood. It was the one and only thing known to man that could make him gag and, in extreme cases, throw up. He the pulled his hand back and using the, dim, light of the hallway he saw that there was crimson liquid all over his palm and he felt his stomach do a flip and he almost threw up on the spot. But now that he had seen the blood, he knew that he couldn't just walk away without turning the light on and having a look around.

He placed his hand back on the wall, and back onto the blood, and quickly found the light switch, which was also covered in blood, and he flipped it down. The light flooded the room and seemed to push away all of the shadows from the hallway that had been creeping up on him whilst he was preoccupied with the blood he had found. Johnny had to step back and blink a few times before he could look back. The room was practically the same as the Bladebreakers except it had all of the teams past trophies and medals that they had won unfairly. There were benches, lockers, two doors a T.V and an even bigger fridge! Tyson was going to be jealous! And then he spotted something on the bathroom door that made his stomach do another flip, a bloody handprint. No doubt the same one that had turned off the lights.

And with that sight, Johnny was paralyzed. It was not all down to his fear it was also his curiosity. They were having a battle in his mind leaving his body to just stay ridged as he contemplated running back to his hotel room as fast as he could. Then all of his fear was pushed aside as he thought about what he would think if he saw himself. He would laugh for about a week. He was a McGregor after all, and they never walked away from anything unless there was the possibility of death, that was the one thing all McGregor's feared above all else. But this was not life or death, so he was going into that room, no matter how much blood there might be to go along with it.

And with all of his fears pushed from his mind, he stepped towards the bathroom door. It was painted a light blue and the soft colour made the slightly faded crimson blood stand out even more than it should have. But Johnny managed to keep his stomach from doing a flip as he placed his hand above the mark. He used the already bloody hand and knew that it wasn't going to look nice, and then a thought suddenly hit him. The blood was fresh, so fresh that it was as if somebody ran in only minutes before he had. So whoever had looked for refuge in the bathroom was most likely to still be there. But it still wasn't enough to stop him.

So with a deep breath he pushed the door open and carefully stepped in making sure he took in every detail of the room. It was white, or it was with a few splats of mud and maybe even blood. There was a bath, which was massive, there was a sink that looked like it was meant for washing baby animals, not washing a human beings face! There were three cabinets, now empty, a towel rack stacked full and a nice white toilet with Tala sat on it and…Tala?

Johnny looked at the redhead and couldn't help but be surprised.

"Tala?"