Race for Kai
Hilary, Ray and Max pounded through the sodden streets. All knew it had been no ordinary storm that had appeared so suddenly. The clouds had now melted away leaving a distinctly chilly but clear summer night. They splashed swiftly through silver puddles dotting the pavement, reflecting and distorting the starry night sky and pearl moon that had risen. Breath rose in mist as the three panted to a halt, gazes falling to the lone figure plodding towards them from the end of the road. The boy stopped under a dreary street lamp. Hilary gasped. Tyson was white as a sheet, face gaunt, covered in a collection of bruises and cuts, eyes strangely darkened as though he had seen horrific things that he would never forget, midnight blue hair plastered wet to his face. "Tyson!" max started, Ray cut across him, amber eyes alight with worry "-where's Kai?" Tyson looked up swaying on the spot suddenly, looking exhausted from his battle. Max reached out to steady him. He leapt back as though he had been scalded. "Tyson you're freezing!" He exclaimed as Hilary stepped forward briskly and embraced him muttering, highly embarrassed that he shouldn't let himself get this cold and she was doing it solely for the purpose of warming him up. Tyson ignored her and carried on gazing bemused at Ray "Kai?" he murmured as though trying to remember. Hilary backed off. Silence settled for a few moments. The foliage in near by gardens dripped noisily to break it as an icy breeze passed down the avenue. Max, ray and Hilary shivered partly with cold but also the gut feeling of unease .The thought that something had gone horribly wrong flitted through each mind. "The river" Tyson spoke quietly "he fell in the river"
"WHAT?" Ray cried the colour draining from his face as he asked furiously "Didn't you try and get him out? Where did he fall in? Why did you leave him!" His last question was answered with a horrible grimace from the raven blue haired teen "because I lost" Tyson replied and began to walk on up the pavement. None of the others stopped him. Frozen with horror they could only stare as the one they thought was their best friend was swallowed in darkness having just left his team mate to drown. Ray snapped out of it first "we've got to…find Kai…" He said slowly his voice shaking with shock. They all turned and sprinted off silently towards the river.
It was late when they arrived. The sky, a velvety blue, was strewn with moon and stars gazing cold and indifferent at the plight of the three friends. All were now franticly searching the bank and scanning the still bloated river. "This is useless!" max conceded after a few fruitless minutes. Ray was forced to agree with him "Yeah, we would have seen him by now if he was around here. Maybe he got dragged down stream?" They were both interrupted in their musings when a panicked shout broke out "Oh my god! RAY? MAX! Come quickly!" They saw the silhouette of Hilary beckoning them wildly from down the bank and ran to her. She was crouched down sobbing by a very out of place pool that had some how formed from the rivers current. "It's K-Kai…" she managed to choke through her tears. Max and Ray stared thunderstruck at the pool separate from the river now the waters had receded. It was as though the liquid had turned to glass. They saw clearly the body of their old team mate who looked as though he had been carved from ice half floating, drifting grotesquely amongst the debris, pale against the dark bottom of compressed soil.
"We've got to get him out" Max whispered after a few moments a sickened, feverish feeling had settled like lead in his stomach, a churning mixture of anger and sorrow. Without allowing himself a second thought he approached the pool and began to wade in, sending shockwaves of ripples through the ghostly transparent surface. The freezing liquid weighed down his immersed shoes. The sides of the crater were steep. He slipped and was forced to dive straight into the centre. The relentless chill swept through him how could anyone survive long in this? Max thought desperately, trying to fight the tremendous urge to surface for air. He opened his eyes. Kai was right below him, eyes open and glazed... watching. He yelled in fright, an explosion of bubbles obscured his view. Terrified he swam back up to the surface "you okay?" Ray asked, worried. Max nodded shaking water from his vibrant blond hair, trying to regain his breath in the intense cold that was pushing it from his chest. He steeled himself and dived down again grabbing Kais wrist he tried to tug him towards the edge, avoiding the glazed gaze of his once proud but stoic friend. Kai was heavy and too late Max realized that he couldn't do it in one breath. He tried to let go but his muscles had frozen solid. His numbed hand couldn't let go. Max panicked, he had sunk to the bottom, the sticks and rubbish brushing creepily against his freezing skin. The water seemed so much colder here. He felt his heart beat thundering through his head. He needed AIR! He reached desperately up for the surface. Suddenly hands plunged into the water and grabbed his. Hilary and Ray hauled them both sopping wet and freezing from the water. "God… don't scare me like that again" Hilary exclaimed hugging the sopping wet max using the excuse that she was only warming him up once more. After his teeth had stopped chattering all three stood side by side gazing at Kai as he lay prone on the ground. "We've got to do something" Ray spoke at last "but… what can we do? He's been in there for at least an hour" Max trailed off. They stood in absolute quiet for a matter of minutes. All in shock that he was never coming back. Silent tears flowed freely from the trios eyes. Hilary couldn't believe it. He was dead. Gone, he would never be there again. The proud yet dependable presence of Kai she had grown so accustomed to had vanished, his body only a shell. The thing that hurt Hilary the most was that she never even got the chance to say good bye… Her mournful howling reached a peak and she flung herself down onto Kai locking her arms around his stiff white body she hugged him tightly laying her head beside his on the soaking, muddy ground. She wept harder than she had ever thought possible. Eventually Max and Ray had to prise her off him out of dignity, still wiping their eyes.
Voltaire smiled as he received yet more "good news" his grandson had just passed away. And Tyson was now out of the way. The operation was initiating phase two. No one could stop it now. One down, four to go he wasn't forgetting Hilary and Kenny. No one messed with Voltaire and got away with it. Not even family. He would have thought Kai would have known that after what happened to his parents. Still, some people never learned. Voltaire laced his fingers together, content. His little pawn among the blade breakers was doing his job quickly. No one had even suspected until now. Of course it would get harder and harder to pick the rest off. Still, Voltaire had managed to take out the two strongest the rest would die anyway... He was simply speeding up the natural process.
As she let go of him Hilary's hand brushed against Kais. She gasped. It felt… warm! The rest of his body was cold, frozen, but his hand. There was something in it. She gently twisted it lose. Dranzer. One last jolt of hope leapt through Hilary. "Ray give me your launcher" she said sharply, grabbing it as soon as she could she clicked Dranzer into place. Taken aback by her sudden change of manner Ray and Max didn't realize until Hilary stood, legs a shoulder width apart for balance and the launcher and ripcord firmly in her hands ready to fire, what she had found. Dranzer glinted at them from under the launcher. Simultaneously gaping they both stepped back. All remembered vividly the disastrous results of Hilary's last encounter with a Beyblade. Seconds passed. The world waited. Hilary glanced at them. Ray and max now stared solidly in return, faces set, ready for any thing. Hilary took a deep breath. It all depended on her. She tensed. Images of Kai flashed through her mind, whatever he had won, whenever he had lost Kai had always kept his feelings to himself but that was what drew her to him, mysterious and quiet but a fierce warrior and friend when the time arose but always thinking for himself not just following Tyson like the others. Tyson Hilary thought; his face shimmered before her in her minds eye, gloating and argumentative. How could he have done this! She thought suddenly filled with such fury she could hardly contain it. In an instant she understood how Kai had felt all these years, always dwarfed by Tyson, always out of the spot light, never getting the glory…The pent up rage erupted, barely realizing what she was doing Hilary launched the blade with a cry that echoed into the night "GO DRANZER!" A white light eclipsed the river bank exploding from Dranzer with such force it swept all three off their feet.
Max had been freezing cold, so cold he felt as if the entire world had slowed right down, his senses were one eternal haze of hopelessness and confusion. Shivering wracked his entire body. The hug from Hilary had done little to warm him up. He had been ecstatic when he felt her arms around him clasping him tight to her body; he had relaxed completely until she pulled away. Then the chill and utter despair had surged over him again leaving him in a colder world than before. Who was he kidding? He had no chance with Hilary...she was smitten with Kai, or Tyson, take your pick. They were both so much better than him. Another wave of insecurity struck the usually cheerful blond. He was on the verge of giving up hope all together. But now the warmth from the light spread through him giving him strength; and he felt another presence, through the light… Kai…He was there, his essence, calm, sensible. And underneath all that, the anger: hidden but always present towards his enemies. And when he chose to unleash it…unstoppable. Max breathed deeply. He wasn't about to throw in the towel yet!
Hilary felt as if she were falling in slow motion, blinded by the bright light she closed her eyes and hit the ground. It felt soft. A warm sensation gradually spread through her body as though a blanket had been placed round her. A gentle humming teased the air soothing her panic. She lost all sense of time. This tranquil state holding her for what seemed like forever but when it ended, only a second. The bright light steadily faded, and with it her senses returned.
The girl found herself staring at the stars, lying on freezing, wet mud. The night seemed twice as cold as before. She shivered and sat up. A horrible sound reached her ears. Someone was throwing up. She stood up feeling wobbly. Kai! Hilary suddenly remembered. Her limbs regained feeling and she rushed over to where a figure was writhing on the ground. Max and Ray were already there.
Kai lay sprawled on his side, his eyes wide open, pupils contracted, inhumanly small, staring unseeingly. Gasping and convulsing with every movement his body twisted grotesquely, muscles twitching, the cuts and bruises sustained in the battle standing out, dark welts on his skin. Tearing open again the fresh wounds bled crimson rivers down his pearly flesh as it rippled and spasmed, beaded with crystal droplets of sweat and water. "Oh… my… god…" Ray had never seen any thing like it, he felt sick. OK, Kai was alive great! But…how? And would he survive?
Once when Mariah had been bitten by a snake in the White Tiger Hills and had had to be air lifted to hospital because of the poison, she had never looked like this. When the doctors had said her situation was critical she never bled from old wounds. What the hell was this? A disease? Ray didn't know weather it was possible to survive it, if there was a cure. He shuddered. Whatever is going on we have to do something! He fought back the nausea, the immense relieve coupled with confusion that he had felt when he had realized Kai was alive, fading fast. Kneeling down Ray put his hand on Kai's shoulder. Speaking as clearly as he could he asked him his name, voice holding an ill hidden tremor of fear. Kai didn't respond but continued to shiver and shake. Quite suddenly Ray had to dive out of the way as he threw up again, spewing out black river water and small debris onto the mud. He heard Hilary make a repulsed noise behind him as Kai lay semi conscious in his own vomit.
We need to get him home Ray thought desperately, grabbing his team mate's arm and attempting to haul him onto his feet, they'll know what to do …some one has to know what to do! But as Max and Hilary came to his aid, Ray realized with panicked horror, that they didn't have a home to go to. His was in white tiger hills, miles away on a different continent, Max's was in a different town and Hilary's was on the other side of this one. The closest one by far was Tyson's, which was where they had come, from. But Ray didn't know weather any of them, especially Kai, could face seeing their former friend again so soon. They struggled to heave Kai upright. They managed to bring him onto his knees and stood supporting him while Ray explained the dilemma. At the end they all stood in silence thinking deeply. They really had no choice.
After a few hopeless moments of this Ray suddenly noticed that Kai had stopped moving. He now lay still in their arms, eyes half shut. Ray panicked yelling "Kai! Kai!" With a stupendous effort he pulled the older boy up onto his feet. With the others supporting him under the arms Ray shook him gently by the shoulders. Kais glazed eyes fluttered open; lashes sparkling with moisture. With a strange jolt in his stomach Ray realized it was tears… He's crying!. "Kai…" Ray murmured quietly backing off slightly giving him the choice to stand if he felt able. "Thanks" Kai said huskily, struggling to get on to his feet. Hilary and Max gasped as he pulled free from them and stood by him self, swaying slightly but unassisted none the less. "Thanks…" he repeated again "all three of you… I owe you my-" he broke off suddenly staring into space just above their heads. The trio instinctively turned. No one was there. They all whipped back round as Kai doubled over and puked up yet more of the foul black water. There was silence as Kai stared horrified at the dark, bitty liquid on the ground "life" he finished disgusted straightening up. This seemed to cost him a huge amount of effort. He swayed dangerously again but stayed standing. "You need to get some place warm" Ray told him sternly grabbing his icy arm and starting to march him up the bank. Kai didn't resist.
As they walked rays stomach churned. He had never been this close to kai before; their mysterious team captain had always kept to himself, he wondered if Kai had ever confided in any one. Has he always been alone? Kai stumbled on the wet grass up the rivers bank. Ray caught him, their faces intimately close. His heart leapt uncomfortably suddenly thinking how beautiful Kais dual coloured hair looked in the moonlight, still sparkling with water as bright and silvery as the stars above. A rustle behind him brought him sharply back to earth. The others blundered along behind him. Being a Neko-jin ray could see exceptionally well in the dark. Pushing his tangled emotions aside he led the way onto the street, the moon now shining so brightly they hardly needed the lamps hanging over them. Relief flooded through him; although they weren't much nearer helping Kai than they had been, human civilization was always a welcoming sight to see.
The group made their way painfully slowly through the deserted town, Kai only throwing up occasionally. His wounds were still bleeding heavily. Soon Ray's pristine white shirt was covered in a lattice work of deep crimson. As they neared their destination Kai's condition seemed to worsen, on the verge of passing out he was leaning practically all his weight on Ray, and being the shorter and weaker of the two Ray could hardly hold him up. Feeling him convulse again Ray winced as he felt sick splatter his jet black hair, running down the back of his neck. Helping Kai was taking its toll on his strength. He attempted to speed up sensing they were running out of time. With out warning Kai totally collapsed upon him. Ray staggered over and collided solidly with the wall just out side Tyson's home, Kai sprawled over him. Even through the world spinning around him in pain Ray found thoughts rush unbidden again through his mind this feels so comfortable. Kais body beside his, moulding perfectly, like they were made for each other. With no desire to get up, his mission forgotten; Ray lay partially stunned by the blow on the chilled, hard pavement; completely tuned out to Max and Hilary yelling at him to get up and save Kai.