LITD: Howdy folks! This took a tad longer than I thought it would, but I got incredibly ill last week so sorry about that!

Also kept changing how this chapter would turn out like and I've had an idea where I would draw a scene with a quote highlighting what's happening at that moment.

QUESTION: Would you guys want to see that or would I just be wasting my time?

Anyhoo, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I only own my OCs, nothing else.


6am.

A very important time for the redheaded male and his two companions who sat in different spots around him and he certainly made that known before this all started twelve hours beforehand that it was important. He let his agitation known as his right index finger tapped furiously against the wood of the table while his other hand held his chin. His icy blue albeit tired eyes glaring holes through the innocent clock that sat on the wall opposite him as it indicated that the time was in fact 6:54am.

6am was the time they were meant to regroup and the fact that the pair missing were at least fifty-four minutes late made the redhead worry for the first time in a long time.

"Tala, would you give the tapping a rest already? You're driving me crazy and its not going to make Ian and Keira turn up any faster." Tala's lilac haired friend huffed, folding his arms in frustration and slumped back into his chair. "Might've just ran into a bit of trouble." He added under his breath.

That extra comment made Tala stand abruptly and stroll towards the window of their cabin as he thought about the indications, his frown of concentration adding a few years to his pale facial features. Usually everyone's bitbeasts were able to communicate with each other when doing the tasks that required them to split into smaller groups. A few hours ago the reports from Midna and Wyborg stopped meaning that they were busy doing the job they were sent to do.

But what had worried the Russians was that it definitely shouldn't have taken this long. Sure, every so often someone or a group would be late, but never without maintaining contact with the others. Both Keira and Ian hadn't reported back in the last 3 hours.

As the ice blue eyes lingered on the snow-covered trees out of the window in a thoughtful gaze, Tala heard one of his teammates rise from their seat, but didn't bother turning to see who it was until he spoke. "Do you think something's gone wrong at their end?" Came Spencer's voice tainted with uncertainty for his missing friends.

Their leader hesitated for a moment, biting his thumb as his glare at the fluttering snowflakes outside intensified. "I don't know." He finally said, a long tired exhale accompanied his reply. "But if they don't turn up soon then we-"

Tala's eyes narrowed as the calmness in the air around them suddenly dropped, causing the trio to hush immediately and ready their hands above their launchers as a precaution. Ever since they left the Abbey the paranoia never stopped and on a few occasions, it saved them.

Silence weighed heavily on them, no one moved incase it hampered their hearing as they listened for anything out of the ordinary. The captain risked a glance at Bryan and Spencer, their hardened eyes scanning the surroundings for the culprit that made the atmosphere feel uneasy.

Initially, nothing happened, but just as they were ready to drop their guard slightly a bright light sparked a split second before a large and very close explosion rocked the wooden house, smashing the window that Tala was originally standing in front of, but had dived away the moment the blast was noticed.

At first the redhead heard nothing by a high-pitched squeal, left slightly dazed on the floor after the shockwave pushed him back when he was trying to evade taking a hit. Slowly and cautiously, he rose to his knees when his senses began to return, muffled shouts getting louder as the seconds went passed. A wet substance trickled down from the left side of his head, but by then he had regained his composure enough to figure out what was happening.

"Tala! Are you alright?!" Spencer called out when he spotted the captain now behind him. The blond ran to Tala as he managed to get up to his feet. "Bryan's already outside. Its Biovolt, they caused that blast."

That comment made Tala's eyes narrow with suspicion. "But why didn't they target the building itself?"

It was at that moment they saw a familiar bitbeast shining through snow covered sky, but not Falborg as Bryan battled outside. It was in fact Wyborg, the snake's presence indicating that Ian was in the area.

Immediately, Tala and Spencer leaped out through the hole that used to be the window, the fresh snow crunching under the new pressure of the pair's feet. Bleeding, tired and extremely pissed off the leader of the Demolition Boys gestured for Spencer to stop and indicated to Bryan with a look to listen in to what he had to say. "Locate Ian and Keira and assist them," his piercing glare snapped forward at the band of soldiers that stood in front of them, "leave these peasants to me." he added with an intense amount of venom that left even Bryan a tad scared, the pair hurrying to find their troubled friends.

A strange, angry aura began to settle around the battlefield as Tala readied his beyblade, his inner wolf snarling in rage at these people for harming his teammates.

'Let's destroy them Wolborg. Time to try out our new move.'

It will be done. The moment the short conversation finished, a wicked smile played on his lips as the snowfall whipped up into a strong blizzard in mere seconds, rendering the enemies blind and anxious. They didn't even realise that the redhead had launched and was on the attack until it was already too late.

"Anyone who knows what Boris and Biovolt are up to, but are still willing to work for them don't deserve to live." His monotone voice echoed in the whiteout around the panicking men. Shouts of surprise turned into dying screams of agony as pillars of ice erupted from the ground beneath them, piercing their bodies in multiple places before they had a chance to dodge, some just lashed out randomly when the anxiety clouded their minds. The final thing every last one of them heard was the roar full of rage from Wolborg, the anger being fed to him in a large quantity from his master.

Thanks to blizzard blinding the foe therefore confusing and immobilizing them, it didn't take long before Tala was able to recall his beyblade leaving behind a bloody massacrer, some of the red substance splattered on his clothes while a noticeable amount dripped from Wolborg in his hand. He couldn't care less as he stormed away. In fact, since it was the first time he used his new attack after perfecting it, he was quite pleased with the results despite its deadly and messy qualities.

He just needs to control it a bit more when the World Championships comes around.

He managed to find Spencer and Bryan as they came running back with Ian, the blond Russian taking him straight back to the cabin in order to get him out of the harsh coldness that nature threw at them as his clothes were covered in tears, exposing his upper body to the elements. They may be used to the weather of Russia, but that doesn't mean they could survive it without the adequate protection.

When they all returned to the cabin, they instantly set to work trying to help their freezing teammate. Spencer set Ian down on the sofa while Bryan and Tala lifted the other one against the now non-existent window in order to stop most of the wind from entering. After adding a few extra things up with the furniture then covering the smaller holes with towels and whatever other fabrics they could find, they accepted the fact that there was going to be a draft until a completely new window was installed.

Still, it was better than having a massive gap in the wall.

Meanwhile, Spencer had taken off Ian's wet, near frozen jacket off and threw it to the side knowing it was useless judging by how damaged it was. The blond grabbed one of the covers from the nearest bedroom not noticing or caring who it belonged to and gently lay it on top of the small, shivering frame. Never before had the tallest member seen him like this. The smallest always joking with the others trying to lighten the mood, even when Kai was around, now he could be compared to a young child trying desperately to regain body heat by curling into a ball.

The trio's blood boiled witnessing Ian like this, his form hiding under the warm of the covers with his eyes clamped shut as the pain from being out in the cold for a lengthy period of time plus the injuries (though thankfully not as many as they thought).

Suddenly the purpled haired male gasped sharply and shot up, his eyes wild with fear and confusion. "No!" He shouted as hands held him back incase he hurt himself further though in his confusion he fought against the restraints thinking he was still running from his pursuers.

"Ian! Calm down! Your pursuers have been taken care of!" Hearing a familiar voice immediately halted him from struggling and his body fell back onto the sofa.

"What the hell happened to you Ian? And where's Keira?" Bryan didn't hesitate to ask knowing the other two wanted to find out where the girl was.

Tala felt his stomach drop instantly as he heard Ian utter through his clattering teeth. "T-t-they have h-her. B-Biovolt have K-Keira!" The shivering and injured mess that was their friend managed to say as he tried his best to remain conscious, but with the exhaustion consuming him quickly it wasn't long before his eyelids closed lulling the youngest into a deep albeit well needed sleep.

This was the first time in quite a long time where Tala felt like his emotions would burst out in an uncontrollable surge of fury. A swift punch shuddered the woodwork of the pillar that held the structure of the cabin. "Dammit!" The redhead snarled, his blood boiled in so much rage that he didn't register any pain in his knuckle. Instead, the energy ebbed out of his body and he exhaled loudly, letting his forehead thud against the pillar he just attack. "How could I have been so stupid?"

Silence greeted his rhetorical question, his teammates just watched their captain as he fought the inner struggle that this situation brought on them all.

"I need time to think." Came barely a whisper, unnatural for the male that spoke it. Before the pair found their voices, Tala stormed towards his bedroom and slammed the door behind him, leaving Bryan and Spencer to their own thoughts.

It was like he was in a trance-like state because before he knew it, Tala had stripped himself of his tainted, bloodstained clothes and a torrent of warm water stringing his cold skin.

The cascade of warmth soothed him, he was grateful for it because it allowed him to wash away the turmoil in his head until he was able to think clearly. His eyes remained closed as the water cleansed his body of the blood of the men he took down not to long ago, the liquid became tinted with a light crimson.

Many ideas came to mind, but none were good enough to escape with Keira, but what if she wasn't alive by the time they found her? If they found her? What would the rest of them do if one of their team was dead?

You can't think that way Master. A soft voice entered his mind.

The redhead huffed. 'I know Wolborg, I'm just preparing myself for any outcome.' He hated that he was thinking this way, but when a situation becomes so grave like this he couldn't afford to think that this was going to go according to whatever plan they come up with and they'd all go home happy.

Perhaps you're thinking outside of the box too much. You know as well as I do that we need another abled body for this.

That statement from the wolf, despite its cryptic simplicity, helped the idea he had been waiting for surface, hitting him like a freight train.

A slight grin appeared on Tala's face as his ice blue eyes finally opened. 'Thank you. I needed that.'

No problem. Besides, I'm not the only one that's missing the warmth in the atmosphere, am I? He ignored his bitbeast despite feeling his cheeky smile as Tala scrubbed the rest of the blood and dirt off of his skin.

Quickly throwing on a fresh set of clothes along with a new orange jacket, he pocketed Wolborg and emerged from his bedroom with a newfound determination. They had a mission and they had a close friend to save.

When Tala walked into the living room he noticed that the sofa which was occupied by Ian had been shifted so that it was close to the fireplace as it burned intensely.

Two pairs of eyes watched him almost cautiously as he moved towards his teammates who were seated on a chair at each end of

Spencer looked calm as usual while Bryan sat forward with his elbows leaning on his knees, his head propped up by his clasped hands as he scowled slightly at his returning captain. However, his mood immediately morphed to resemble happiness when he caught the better change in attitude of the redhead.

"Damn, for a moment there I thought we had lost you." Bryan's signature smirk beamed as he spoke.

"I guess that means you have a plan?" Spencer added, his own grin formed when he noticed the difference surrounding his returning friend.

Tala sat heavily in the unoccupied chair, sparing a glance at Ian. A softened smile played on his lips when he saw that the purple haired boy seemed at ease and comfortable, the only movement was each small breath he took as he rested next to the fire. "Yeah, I do. However, it means we'll need some help." He admitted, not that he liked it, but considering the circumstances he'd didn't care.

"Who?"

Their captain paused for a moment. "I need to make a phone call."


LITD: Wellllllll, how do ya like them apples? Did any of you guys recognise the deadlier version of Tala's 'new' move? Aaaaaaand who do ya think he's gonna call? ;)

Tbh, I found this chapter kinda hard to write because I kept finding that I'd make the boys a bit OOC which I didn't want at first, but remembered that I had to show their emotional development after they left Balkov Abbey. In other words, them being mildly OOC wouldn't be such a bad thing in the end.

Please give some feedback! I would like to know if you guys are enjoying the story so far and if you have any ideas/creative criticism then I'd be happy to hear it since I don't have a beta for this. If they are any mistakes/problems that I've missed PLEASE don't hesitate to tell me. I'll get it fixed asap!

FINALLY: I hope you all have an epic Christmas/New Year! Eat tons of chocolate and shit! :D

Until next time! x