Thanks for the reviews! Sorry if the last chapter was a little short. BTW I
try to make all characters have important parts in this story!
And yes suggestions are always welcome! Of course I might not use all of them, but yeah I'd like to know your ideas! I try to keep the characters as close as I can to how they really are.
I own nothing except for my story. R+R!
^^^^^
Twisted Fate
Chapter 10: Exhaustion
Tyson's stomach churned as he stared at the fresh blood upon his beyblade. He had won his battle, and now Kenny would be free to go. But Rei. 'If only I had trained harder... or let someone else do it! Kai would never have fallen into that obvious trap. I should have seen it coming...' Tyson's thoughts kept coming as he stared at Dragoon.
"Quick, we need something to bandage the wound," Kai commanded. He frowned at the immense amount of blood pouring from his friend's arm; Rei was getting weak from blood loss. Max looked queasy at the sight, and Hilary stared in horror.
"Kenny's tie!" Tyson shouted. The others stared at him weirdly, then walked over to Kenny. Kenny had been released from the man's firm grip, only to faint at the highly disturbing display of blood.
Max carefully undid Kenny's green tie from his neck, then threw it over to Kai. Max knew Kai would be the only one that had the guts to handle the blood.
Rei winced in pain and gritted his teeth as Kai bandaged his wounded arm. One amber eye opened, showing extreme pain.
Rei slowly got to his knees; his left arm now bandaged neatly with Kenny's tie. "Over. there." he gestured, his voice full of pain. The Bladebreakers turned to see the scientist on the screen.
"You sick-minded freak!" Tyson yelled. "That was deliberate!"
"Of course it was, Tyson," his icy voice laughed. "Now you see just how dangerous I can be and how far I'm willing to go. I suggest you surrender your bit-beasts now."
"No way," Tyson glared. "Now we had a deal."
"Yes, yes. As promised, your little friend here gets to go home. He is of no importance, anyway."
"That's not true," Max cried out. "He's a part of our team!"
"Shut up, Maxie," Tyson nudged. "He better get home safely, it was a deal!"
"Yes, of course. I do keep promises, young one. And I promise that you WILL surrender your bit-beasts soon enough," he laughed cruelly.
"As if," Hilary retorted. "We're not giving up without a fight!"
"So be it," he said with a smirk. That smirk sent shivers through them. "I expected such. Good luck," he said with a devilish look. "You'll need it," he whispered, and the connection was lost. As the screen went blank, the ship stopped. They had been so absorbed in the battle they hadn't realised the ship had been bringing them further out to sea.
Before they knew it, Tyson, Max, Rei, Kai and Hilary were thrown overboard into the deep sea. Being caught off guard, they continued to fall under the salty waves. Struggling and thrashing about, they made their way back up to the surface. Coughing and spluttering up water, they finally caught their breath, only to see the ship driving away.
"Don't worry! Help is on its way." Kenny's barely audible voice trailed off in the distance as the ship disappeared in the horizon.
"Rei!" Kai exclaimed, as he saw Rei slip under the waves. He caught him just before he disappeared out of sight. Rei coughed violently, after taking in water.
"I'm sorry... but I just don't think I can swim right now," Rei said feebly, his voice slightly hoarse. Kai could feel him breathing shakily.
"No, you can't," Kai agreed, mounting him on his own back. "There's land up ahead," he started to swim towards a dim, faint speck way in the distance. The others followed his lead. 'Hang in there, Rei,' Kai thought to himself.
Determined, the Bladebreakers swam steadily towards the almost unreachable goal of land. Kai had powerful, quick strokes, even while supporting Rei. He was determined to make it. Tyson and Max swam as if in a race, in an attempt to have as much fun as drowning could be. "Don't tire yourselves out, guys," Hilary called. She had quick, light strokes and swam with ease. She was really good, which surprised the guys. Not that they hadn't known she could swim, but her skill was incredible.
Rei felt sort of badly as he was dragging Kai down. It wasn't his fault, of course, but all the same he could feel Kai's breathing become heavy and his body struggling to support the weight, and Rei couldn't do anything. Glancing at his arm bandaged with Kenny's now soaked tie, he wondered if that was the last they would ever see of Kenny. Rei quickly dropped the thought; he was sure that they would be reunited.
^^^^^
(Kenny's POV)
I must have fallen asleep. I have no idea how long it took, but I was stuffed in a closet for at least a few hours, until we reached home. They dropped me off at the harbour, and I ran home. First to eat a decent meal, then get a new tie...
"KENNY!" my mom screamed and ran towards me and nearly suffocated me in a hug. "Oh my goodness. what ever happened to you?"
"Long story mom, I'll explain later," I said, and ran up to my room.
"Okay, I'll inform the police that you're safe," I heard her say.
As I put on another green tie, there was a painful reminder that my friends were still out there, and Rei was injured badly. I had only seen a glimpse, but that was enough. He wouldn't be able to swim... I panicked for them. It was highly unlikely that they could reach land, and there was no way they could swim with Rei injured!
I sat down on my bed, only to be interrupted by my mother. "Kenny, dear, I know you're tired but there's something here for you," she called. I sighed and ran downstairs to see a package - for me. I hastily opened it and saw... DIZZI! I opened the lid of my beloved laptop and saw she was working perfectly! I shouted for joy, but stopped as everyone stared at me.
"Glad you're happy to see me, chief," Dizzi's digital voice came. How I had missed it!
"We gotta go to Mr. Dickenson's office now!" I said, and ran out the door with my laptop under my arm once again.
^^^^^
(Normal POV)
The land was close, but seemed to be getting further away as the Bladebreakers rapidly tired out. "We've been swimming for over half an hour," Tyson said between sharp breaths.
"Yeah," Max managed to say, gasping for air. He was glad he had swum a lot when he was younger; he would have drowned long ago. "Hey, Hilary, you're really good at swimming!"
"Thanks, Max! Yeah, I like to swim. Well, not usually in this type of situation, mind you," she smiled grimly as she continued to tear through the waves. "But you guys are doing awesome!" Despite her exhaustion and worry, Hilary tried to be as cheerful as possible.
"I sure hope so," Tyson muttered worriedly, glancing nervously at Kai. He couldn't believe Kai could even swim while supporting Rei, let alone for this long. He would offer to support Rei for a bit, but he knew for a fact that he wouldn't be able to, despite his best efforts. He could barely keep swimming on his own!
Rei clung on as best he could, but it was excruciatingly painful. He slowly opened his amber eyes and fixed his gaze upon his wounded arm. The salt water stung Rei's wound and he could barely resist crying out in pain. The deep forest green tie was soaked through and stained with a deep red, which continued to flow through the open wound. It was definitely a bad sign; Rei continued to lose blood rapidly, as he had been for over half an hour. He felt extremely dizzy and light headed, just barely staying conscious by the waves of pain and his own will.
Kai could feel his body giving way to exhaustion. His breaths were sharp and shallow, and it was extremely difficult to even breathe. Even though powerful, Rei's full weight was intense on Kai's slim body and keeping up to his friends was almost more than he could bear. It also didn't help that he hadn't had anything to eat, and hadn't slept at all that night. The temptation to just fall and let the water overcome him was intense.
'Remember, Kai. Love, trust, honesty. they mean nothing. The truly powerful work alone,' Voltaire's voice echoed inside Kai's mind. 'Friends are for the weak. They will only bring you down.'
'You're wrong,' Kai said viciously in his mind. 'And I'm going to prove it.'
^^^^^
Kenny raced through the familiar BBA building in search of Mr. Dickenson. He almost wished that it wasn't so familiar, since many of the times he had been there was on account of bad news. "Mr. Dickenson!" He shouted as he saw the stout man around the corner.
"Kenny! Oh, am I ever glad to see you," he said from behind his moustache, and they started to walk into a room. "Come, sit down," he said, gesturing towards a green couch. It would be a long talk.
^^^^^
Collapsing as soon as they reached the sand, the Bladebreakers had made it to land. They all fell face first into the welcoming, wet sand licked by the shallow waves of the ocean; they had never been so glad to see land. They coughed up water and took deep breaths of the air that now came so easily.
Max smiled, happy for life that had been so close to slipping away. The smile quickly faded as he turned to see Rei, unconscious on the sand, face contorted with pain. Kai lay seemingly asleep beside him, although he looked calm and peaceful; he had finally given in to exhaustion. His breathing was still heavy and he looked completely worn out. 'Wow, he really is a great friend,' Max thought, in awe of Kai's determination and strength.
Tyson and Hilary lay beside him in the sand. They were both conscious and taking in deep breaths, to both get much needed oxygen and to calm themselves. "Well, we made it," Max sighed, a smile once again on his face.
"Yeah," they said simultaneously, and tried to smile although completely drained of energy.
"Oh my gosh Rei!" Hilary cried out, suddenly realising the state their friend was in and running to his side. She carefully undid Kenny's scarily blood stained tie from Rei's arm, and nearly fainted at the sight. A dangerously deep gash ran down his arm, and was STILL bleeding, although slightly. Rei was dangerously pale, contrasting sharply with his raven locks. His face was drained of all colour and health.
"Tyson! Go clean this," Hilary commanded weakly, handing him the tie. She wondered if Tyson noticed her hands trembling as she passed it to him.
"Sure thing," he said quietly, heading back to the water.
"Max, help me drag these two further up the beach. Carefully!" Hilary said, and Max nodded. They started to slowly pull their friends away from the water they had definitely seen too much of for that day. "Uh. Tyson?" Hilary snapped him back to reality as he had been staring out into the ocean for quite some time now.
"Oh, here, Hil. It's not gonna." Tyson started, but didn't have to finish as he handed Hilary the stained tie.
"Yeah. Give me a hand, will you?" Hilary asked the two boys. "I need to tie up Rei's arm. no pun intended," she added with a slight laugh, as she saw Tyson and Max crack a smile.
^^^^^
"That's outrageous!" Mr. Dickenson's voice was heard from outside the room.
"It's true, sir," Kenny assured. "Kai was deadly ill after falling through the ice. We weren't sure he would make it, let alone recover fully."
"I can't believe that was allowed to happen. under my watch, too. I had been informed that he was ill, although a few days later. I was under the assumption that he had a common cold, or less!" Stanley Dickenson shook his head with grief and disappointment. "I had a helicopter sent just in case with a complete care package, although I was SURE nothing would happen."
"What? A helicopter? A complete care package?" Kenny was confused. "We only received a blanket, a small tent, a small dose of medicine and meagre amounts of food..."
Mr. Dickenson frowned. "You mean the stations weren't set up?"
"Stations? Well, there was a small amount of food left for us every few days."
"Every few days?" Mr. Dickenson looked aghast. "I had arranged so that stations were placed for every few hours of traveling. They would have plenty of good food and drink, large tents with sleeping bags and pillows, hygienic needs satisfied and of course a phone and first aid kit in case of emergency. What on Earth happened?"
^^^^^
"Tyson?" Hilary approached the blader, his navy hair rustling in the cool air of night. She had been just about to drift off to sleep as the others had when she noticed him standing there. He was staring off into the horizon, as he had quite often lately.
"Oh, hey, Hilary." He didn't face her, his gaze remaining on the deep sky reflecting and sparkling in the ripples of the sea.
"Tyson, look at me when I'm speaking to you," her voice was firm yet gentle at the same time. She put her hands softly on his shoulders as he broke his stare from the landscape. "It's not your fault. None of this is." Her voice had lost its usual sharp, annoyed tone.
Tyson shook his head. "But it is my fault. just look at Rei!" They both turned to see Rei's pale form shaking slightly, his face showing obvious pain. "It was MY beyblade that did that to him."
"Look, Tyson," Hilary stared straight into Tyson's deep brown eyes. "It was unavoidable. And, really, it's already happened, you can't change the past. I know Rei doesn't blame you, and doesn't want you to be upset, so don't be. You fought and won, saving Kenny's life! You should be proud of yourself. And even if you aren't. I'm proud of you, Tyson." Hilary smiled, and blushed slightly as Tyson pulled her into a hug. She put her arms around his and returned the favour.
"Thanks, Hil," he said, slowly pulling out of the embrace. He gave her a sincere smile, which she hadn't seen for a long time.
The two headed off to where the others were sleeping. They lay down and fell asleep with ease, smiling with the comforting warmth of the lasting hug.
^^^^^
Max woke up to the blazing sun overhead. He groaned and forced himself up, as he knew it was already the afternoon. Laughing softly, he realised he had way overslept. He had fallen asleep before nightfall, and had woken in the afternoon!
He looked over at his sleeping friends. Kai and Rei had been sleeping a whole day, now. Tyson and Hilary were deeply asleep, and looked as if they could sleep another day; Tyson was snoring loudly, and Hilary looked almost on a level of unconsciousness.
Max suddenly remembered the night before he had heard voices, extremely late at night. Kai, Rei, Tyson and Hilary's voices! No wonder they were so exhausted; they hadn't slept at all the night before! He wondered how they had managed to swim at all, and why hadn't they slept? 'Guess I'll ask them when they wake. Which'll be quite some time,' he thought to himself.
Since his friends wouldn't be up for a long time, Max figured he would take a walk around the island. Yes, they were stranded on another island. As he walked along the shore, he noticed that there were steep cliffs of rock, preventing him from walking anywhere but the shore. In fact, the whole island seemed to be covered by a mountain. Not so steep that it was miles high, but steep enough to prevent them from seeing or climbing over.
After about an hour of walking aimlessly along the sandy shore, he noticed a small entrance to a cave in the rock. Max put his hand to his forehead. "Great. A maze," he said out loud. His voice sounded awkward amongst the silence. Max sighed, and started to sprint back to where his friends were.
^^^^^
"Hey, Kai, wake up!" Kai's body felt like lead and he felt he couldn't open his eyes. "Kai!" Exhausted, his grey eyes opened, and he forced himself to sit up. He ached all over; any movement was painful.
"What is it, Max," Kai asked wearily. Kai's voice never showed any trace of emotion! Max knew he must be extremely exhausted.
"Uh, sorry, Kai," Max apologised. He really felt bad for waking him. "I just wanted to let you know I explored this island a bit. and found out that it's all one gigantic maze!"
Kai looked across the island and narrowed his eyes as he it was true. Tyson and Hilary were already sitting up and had already been told. They looked completely drained as well. Kai cast a glance at Rei, who was still in a fitful sleep. Sweat beaded on his ghastly pale face.
He walked over to his dormant friend. "Rei," he said, his voice firm yet showed concern. The others came quickly. Kai noticed Tyson was walking with his head down, his hair shadowing his eyes.
"Oh, Rei." Hilary whispered, placing a gentle hand on his face and trembling slightly at the touch.
Rei responded with an unexpected moan, and slowly opened his deep amber eyes. Hilary and Max gently helped him to sit up. He felt completely dizzy and disoriented, and flooded with pain. "Hey. thanks so much," he said, eyes flickering over to Kai.
"How are you doing, Rei?" Tyson asked, anxiously.
"I'm okay," Rei said instinctively, getting doubtful looks, as he obviously was not. "I'm not feeling great, but, yeah I'm fine." A slight, reassuring smile appeared on his pale, yet fevered face.
Hilary placed her hand gently on his face again. "Are you sure?" she asked, frowning as she felt his clammy skin.
He gave a curt nod and put his good hand to the ground to lift himself up. He stood up and almost collapsed with dizziness, gaining panicked expressions from his friends. "Come on, let's go," he beckoned to his friends and started to walk towards the cave.
^^^^^
"Kai went a whole week without eating? Oh my goodness." a genuinely aghast Mr. Dickenson gripped the armrests of his chair tightly. His face had turned pale, as Kenny continued to share events that had happened. "Speaking of which, would you like more to eat? More to drink?"
"Er. it's okay," Kenny said, glancing at the pile of candy wrappers and empty bottles beside him. "But yeah, and Hilary too went without food for quite a few days!"
"Oh my! That's awful!" Mr. Dickenson sighed.
"Well, actually we all went for long periods without food. Less than once a day," Kenny mentioned.
Mr. Dickenson raised his eyebrows in shock. He was a large man himself, and couldn't help but wonder how they managed to survive. "Here," he said, absentmindedly throwing another bag of chips at Kenny. He gripped the armrests even tighter until his hands were nearly white and continued to stare straight ahead. "Oh, I hope they're okay."
^^^^^
"How much further? We've been walking for like two hours!" Tyson complained.
"Like I said, Tyson, it's right around here. It took me about an hour to get there, and we've. taken it a bit slower," Max said carefully.
"Yeah, I know. Sorry," Tyson glanced over at Rei. He was really pale and looked sick. They had been walking slowly, since Rei was close to collapsing. A pained expression remained on his face. 'Hang in there, buddy,' he said in his mind.
"We need food. Our energy is dying," Hilary said. "After all the stuff we've been through since those pancakes yesterday. it's a good thing we all had some!"
"Yeah!" Tyson smiled. "Oh, wait. Max, you didn't have any, did you," Tyson looked worried.
"Uh, no," Max said. "But-"
"And neither did you, Kai! Oh man. and I thought I had it bad!" Tyson laughed, but was really concerned.
"Hey, you okay?" Max suddenly asked Rei. He had suddenly stopped.
"Have been better," Rei said, through gritting his teeth. His arm was now throbbing with pain and it took all he had to keep from crying out. He fell to his knees, clutching his wounded arm.
The others stopped now, and felt helpless as they watched their friend suffer. "I'm really sorry-" Tyson started.
"The entrance to the cave is over there," Kai suddenly said.
Rei struggled to his feet and winced in pain. "Let's go," he said with a determined tone. The teens stepped into the cave together and were surrounded by darkness.
^^^^^
END OF CHAPTER!!! Review PLEASE!!!
~ Penguin Pop
And yes suggestions are always welcome! Of course I might not use all of them, but yeah I'd like to know your ideas! I try to keep the characters as close as I can to how they really are.
I own nothing except for my story. R+R!
^^^^^
Twisted Fate
Chapter 10: Exhaustion
Tyson's stomach churned as he stared at the fresh blood upon his beyblade. He had won his battle, and now Kenny would be free to go. But Rei. 'If only I had trained harder... or let someone else do it! Kai would never have fallen into that obvious trap. I should have seen it coming...' Tyson's thoughts kept coming as he stared at Dragoon.
"Quick, we need something to bandage the wound," Kai commanded. He frowned at the immense amount of blood pouring from his friend's arm; Rei was getting weak from blood loss. Max looked queasy at the sight, and Hilary stared in horror.
"Kenny's tie!" Tyson shouted. The others stared at him weirdly, then walked over to Kenny. Kenny had been released from the man's firm grip, only to faint at the highly disturbing display of blood.
Max carefully undid Kenny's green tie from his neck, then threw it over to Kai. Max knew Kai would be the only one that had the guts to handle the blood.
Rei winced in pain and gritted his teeth as Kai bandaged his wounded arm. One amber eye opened, showing extreme pain.
Rei slowly got to his knees; his left arm now bandaged neatly with Kenny's tie. "Over. there." he gestured, his voice full of pain. The Bladebreakers turned to see the scientist on the screen.
"You sick-minded freak!" Tyson yelled. "That was deliberate!"
"Of course it was, Tyson," his icy voice laughed. "Now you see just how dangerous I can be and how far I'm willing to go. I suggest you surrender your bit-beasts now."
"No way," Tyson glared. "Now we had a deal."
"Yes, yes. As promised, your little friend here gets to go home. He is of no importance, anyway."
"That's not true," Max cried out. "He's a part of our team!"
"Shut up, Maxie," Tyson nudged. "He better get home safely, it was a deal!"
"Yes, of course. I do keep promises, young one. And I promise that you WILL surrender your bit-beasts soon enough," he laughed cruelly.
"As if," Hilary retorted. "We're not giving up without a fight!"
"So be it," he said with a smirk. That smirk sent shivers through them. "I expected such. Good luck," he said with a devilish look. "You'll need it," he whispered, and the connection was lost. As the screen went blank, the ship stopped. They had been so absorbed in the battle they hadn't realised the ship had been bringing them further out to sea.
Before they knew it, Tyson, Max, Rei, Kai and Hilary were thrown overboard into the deep sea. Being caught off guard, they continued to fall under the salty waves. Struggling and thrashing about, they made their way back up to the surface. Coughing and spluttering up water, they finally caught their breath, only to see the ship driving away.
"Don't worry! Help is on its way." Kenny's barely audible voice trailed off in the distance as the ship disappeared in the horizon.
"Rei!" Kai exclaimed, as he saw Rei slip under the waves. He caught him just before he disappeared out of sight. Rei coughed violently, after taking in water.
"I'm sorry... but I just don't think I can swim right now," Rei said feebly, his voice slightly hoarse. Kai could feel him breathing shakily.
"No, you can't," Kai agreed, mounting him on his own back. "There's land up ahead," he started to swim towards a dim, faint speck way in the distance. The others followed his lead. 'Hang in there, Rei,' Kai thought to himself.
Determined, the Bladebreakers swam steadily towards the almost unreachable goal of land. Kai had powerful, quick strokes, even while supporting Rei. He was determined to make it. Tyson and Max swam as if in a race, in an attempt to have as much fun as drowning could be. "Don't tire yourselves out, guys," Hilary called. She had quick, light strokes and swam with ease. She was really good, which surprised the guys. Not that they hadn't known she could swim, but her skill was incredible.
Rei felt sort of badly as he was dragging Kai down. It wasn't his fault, of course, but all the same he could feel Kai's breathing become heavy and his body struggling to support the weight, and Rei couldn't do anything. Glancing at his arm bandaged with Kenny's now soaked tie, he wondered if that was the last they would ever see of Kenny. Rei quickly dropped the thought; he was sure that they would be reunited.
^^^^^
(Kenny's POV)
I must have fallen asleep. I have no idea how long it took, but I was stuffed in a closet for at least a few hours, until we reached home. They dropped me off at the harbour, and I ran home. First to eat a decent meal, then get a new tie...
"KENNY!" my mom screamed and ran towards me and nearly suffocated me in a hug. "Oh my goodness. what ever happened to you?"
"Long story mom, I'll explain later," I said, and ran up to my room.
"Okay, I'll inform the police that you're safe," I heard her say.
As I put on another green tie, there was a painful reminder that my friends were still out there, and Rei was injured badly. I had only seen a glimpse, but that was enough. He wouldn't be able to swim... I panicked for them. It was highly unlikely that they could reach land, and there was no way they could swim with Rei injured!
I sat down on my bed, only to be interrupted by my mother. "Kenny, dear, I know you're tired but there's something here for you," she called. I sighed and ran downstairs to see a package - for me. I hastily opened it and saw... DIZZI! I opened the lid of my beloved laptop and saw she was working perfectly! I shouted for joy, but stopped as everyone stared at me.
"Glad you're happy to see me, chief," Dizzi's digital voice came. How I had missed it!
"We gotta go to Mr. Dickenson's office now!" I said, and ran out the door with my laptop under my arm once again.
^^^^^
(Normal POV)
The land was close, but seemed to be getting further away as the Bladebreakers rapidly tired out. "We've been swimming for over half an hour," Tyson said between sharp breaths.
"Yeah," Max managed to say, gasping for air. He was glad he had swum a lot when he was younger; he would have drowned long ago. "Hey, Hilary, you're really good at swimming!"
"Thanks, Max! Yeah, I like to swim. Well, not usually in this type of situation, mind you," she smiled grimly as she continued to tear through the waves. "But you guys are doing awesome!" Despite her exhaustion and worry, Hilary tried to be as cheerful as possible.
"I sure hope so," Tyson muttered worriedly, glancing nervously at Kai. He couldn't believe Kai could even swim while supporting Rei, let alone for this long. He would offer to support Rei for a bit, but he knew for a fact that he wouldn't be able to, despite his best efforts. He could barely keep swimming on his own!
Rei clung on as best he could, but it was excruciatingly painful. He slowly opened his amber eyes and fixed his gaze upon his wounded arm. The salt water stung Rei's wound and he could barely resist crying out in pain. The deep forest green tie was soaked through and stained with a deep red, which continued to flow through the open wound. It was definitely a bad sign; Rei continued to lose blood rapidly, as he had been for over half an hour. He felt extremely dizzy and light headed, just barely staying conscious by the waves of pain and his own will.
Kai could feel his body giving way to exhaustion. His breaths were sharp and shallow, and it was extremely difficult to even breathe. Even though powerful, Rei's full weight was intense on Kai's slim body and keeping up to his friends was almost more than he could bear. It also didn't help that he hadn't had anything to eat, and hadn't slept at all that night. The temptation to just fall and let the water overcome him was intense.
'Remember, Kai. Love, trust, honesty. they mean nothing. The truly powerful work alone,' Voltaire's voice echoed inside Kai's mind. 'Friends are for the weak. They will only bring you down.'
'You're wrong,' Kai said viciously in his mind. 'And I'm going to prove it.'
^^^^^
Kenny raced through the familiar BBA building in search of Mr. Dickenson. He almost wished that it wasn't so familiar, since many of the times he had been there was on account of bad news. "Mr. Dickenson!" He shouted as he saw the stout man around the corner.
"Kenny! Oh, am I ever glad to see you," he said from behind his moustache, and they started to walk into a room. "Come, sit down," he said, gesturing towards a green couch. It would be a long talk.
^^^^^
Collapsing as soon as they reached the sand, the Bladebreakers had made it to land. They all fell face first into the welcoming, wet sand licked by the shallow waves of the ocean; they had never been so glad to see land. They coughed up water and took deep breaths of the air that now came so easily.
Max smiled, happy for life that had been so close to slipping away. The smile quickly faded as he turned to see Rei, unconscious on the sand, face contorted with pain. Kai lay seemingly asleep beside him, although he looked calm and peaceful; he had finally given in to exhaustion. His breathing was still heavy and he looked completely worn out. 'Wow, he really is a great friend,' Max thought, in awe of Kai's determination and strength.
Tyson and Hilary lay beside him in the sand. They were both conscious and taking in deep breaths, to both get much needed oxygen and to calm themselves. "Well, we made it," Max sighed, a smile once again on his face.
"Yeah," they said simultaneously, and tried to smile although completely drained of energy.
"Oh my gosh Rei!" Hilary cried out, suddenly realising the state their friend was in and running to his side. She carefully undid Kenny's scarily blood stained tie from Rei's arm, and nearly fainted at the sight. A dangerously deep gash ran down his arm, and was STILL bleeding, although slightly. Rei was dangerously pale, contrasting sharply with his raven locks. His face was drained of all colour and health.
"Tyson! Go clean this," Hilary commanded weakly, handing him the tie. She wondered if Tyson noticed her hands trembling as she passed it to him.
"Sure thing," he said quietly, heading back to the water.
"Max, help me drag these two further up the beach. Carefully!" Hilary said, and Max nodded. They started to slowly pull their friends away from the water they had definitely seen too much of for that day. "Uh. Tyson?" Hilary snapped him back to reality as he had been staring out into the ocean for quite some time now.
"Oh, here, Hil. It's not gonna." Tyson started, but didn't have to finish as he handed Hilary the stained tie.
"Yeah. Give me a hand, will you?" Hilary asked the two boys. "I need to tie up Rei's arm. no pun intended," she added with a slight laugh, as she saw Tyson and Max crack a smile.
^^^^^
"That's outrageous!" Mr. Dickenson's voice was heard from outside the room.
"It's true, sir," Kenny assured. "Kai was deadly ill after falling through the ice. We weren't sure he would make it, let alone recover fully."
"I can't believe that was allowed to happen. under my watch, too. I had been informed that he was ill, although a few days later. I was under the assumption that he had a common cold, or less!" Stanley Dickenson shook his head with grief and disappointment. "I had a helicopter sent just in case with a complete care package, although I was SURE nothing would happen."
"What? A helicopter? A complete care package?" Kenny was confused. "We only received a blanket, a small tent, a small dose of medicine and meagre amounts of food..."
Mr. Dickenson frowned. "You mean the stations weren't set up?"
"Stations? Well, there was a small amount of food left for us every few days."
"Every few days?" Mr. Dickenson looked aghast. "I had arranged so that stations were placed for every few hours of traveling. They would have plenty of good food and drink, large tents with sleeping bags and pillows, hygienic needs satisfied and of course a phone and first aid kit in case of emergency. What on Earth happened?"
^^^^^
"Tyson?" Hilary approached the blader, his navy hair rustling in the cool air of night. She had been just about to drift off to sleep as the others had when she noticed him standing there. He was staring off into the horizon, as he had quite often lately.
"Oh, hey, Hilary." He didn't face her, his gaze remaining on the deep sky reflecting and sparkling in the ripples of the sea.
"Tyson, look at me when I'm speaking to you," her voice was firm yet gentle at the same time. She put her hands softly on his shoulders as he broke his stare from the landscape. "It's not your fault. None of this is." Her voice had lost its usual sharp, annoyed tone.
Tyson shook his head. "But it is my fault. just look at Rei!" They both turned to see Rei's pale form shaking slightly, his face showing obvious pain. "It was MY beyblade that did that to him."
"Look, Tyson," Hilary stared straight into Tyson's deep brown eyes. "It was unavoidable. And, really, it's already happened, you can't change the past. I know Rei doesn't blame you, and doesn't want you to be upset, so don't be. You fought and won, saving Kenny's life! You should be proud of yourself. And even if you aren't. I'm proud of you, Tyson." Hilary smiled, and blushed slightly as Tyson pulled her into a hug. She put her arms around his and returned the favour.
"Thanks, Hil," he said, slowly pulling out of the embrace. He gave her a sincere smile, which she hadn't seen for a long time.
The two headed off to where the others were sleeping. They lay down and fell asleep with ease, smiling with the comforting warmth of the lasting hug.
^^^^^
Max woke up to the blazing sun overhead. He groaned and forced himself up, as he knew it was already the afternoon. Laughing softly, he realised he had way overslept. He had fallen asleep before nightfall, and had woken in the afternoon!
He looked over at his sleeping friends. Kai and Rei had been sleeping a whole day, now. Tyson and Hilary were deeply asleep, and looked as if they could sleep another day; Tyson was snoring loudly, and Hilary looked almost on a level of unconsciousness.
Max suddenly remembered the night before he had heard voices, extremely late at night. Kai, Rei, Tyson and Hilary's voices! No wonder they were so exhausted; they hadn't slept at all the night before! He wondered how they had managed to swim at all, and why hadn't they slept? 'Guess I'll ask them when they wake. Which'll be quite some time,' he thought to himself.
Since his friends wouldn't be up for a long time, Max figured he would take a walk around the island. Yes, they were stranded on another island. As he walked along the shore, he noticed that there were steep cliffs of rock, preventing him from walking anywhere but the shore. In fact, the whole island seemed to be covered by a mountain. Not so steep that it was miles high, but steep enough to prevent them from seeing or climbing over.
After about an hour of walking aimlessly along the sandy shore, he noticed a small entrance to a cave in the rock. Max put his hand to his forehead. "Great. A maze," he said out loud. His voice sounded awkward amongst the silence. Max sighed, and started to sprint back to where his friends were.
^^^^^
"Hey, Kai, wake up!" Kai's body felt like lead and he felt he couldn't open his eyes. "Kai!" Exhausted, his grey eyes opened, and he forced himself to sit up. He ached all over; any movement was painful.
"What is it, Max," Kai asked wearily. Kai's voice never showed any trace of emotion! Max knew he must be extremely exhausted.
"Uh, sorry, Kai," Max apologised. He really felt bad for waking him. "I just wanted to let you know I explored this island a bit. and found out that it's all one gigantic maze!"
Kai looked across the island and narrowed his eyes as he it was true. Tyson and Hilary were already sitting up and had already been told. They looked completely drained as well. Kai cast a glance at Rei, who was still in a fitful sleep. Sweat beaded on his ghastly pale face.
He walked over to his dormant friend. "Rei," he said, his voice firm yet showed concern. The others came quickly. Kai noticed Tyson was walking with his head down, his hair shadowing his eyes.
"Oh, Rei." Hilary whispered, placing a gentle hand on his face and trembling slightly at the touch.
Rei responded with an unexpected moan, and slowly opened his deep amber eyes. Hilary and Max gently helped him to sit up. He felt completely dizzy and disoriented, and flooded with pain. "Hey. thanks so much," he said, eyes flickering over to Kai.
"How are you doing, Rei?" Tyson asked, anxiously.
"I'm okay," Rei said instinctively, getting doubtful looks, as he obviously was not. "I'm not feeling great, but, yeah I'm fine." A slight, reassuring smile appeared on his pale, yet fevered face.
Hilary placed her hand gently on his face again. "Are you sure?" she asked, frowning as she felt his clammy skin.
He gave a curt nod and put his good hand to the ground to lift himself up. He stood up and almost collapsed with dizziness, gaining panicked expressions from his friends. "Come on, let's go," he beckoned to his friends and started to walk towards the cave.
^^^^^
"Kai went a whole week without eating? Oh my goodness." a genuinely aghast Mr. Dickenson gripped the armrests of his chair tightly. His face had turned pale, as Kenny continued to share events that had happened. "Speaking of which, would you like more to eat? More to drink?"
"Er. it's okay," Kenny said, glancing at the pile of candy wrappers and empty bottles beside him. "But yeah, and Hilary too went without food for quite a few days!"
"Oh my! That's awful!" Mr. Dickenson sighed.
"Well, actually we all went for long periods without food. Less than once a day," Kenny mentioned.
Mr. Dickenson raised his eyebrows in shock. He was a large man himself, and couldn't help but wonder how they managed to survive. "Here," he said, absentmindedly throwing another bag of chips at Kenny. He gripped the armrests even tighter until his hands were nearly white and continued to stare straight ahead. "Oh, I hope they're okay."
^^^^^
"How much further? We've been walking for like two hours!" Tyson complained.
"Like I said, Tyson, it's right around here. It took me about an hour to get there, and we've. taken it a bit slower," Max said carefully.
"Yeah, I know. Sorry," Tyson glanced over at Rei. He was really pale and looked sick. They had been walking slowly, since Rei was close to collapsing. A pained expression remained on his face. 'Hang in there, buddy,' he said in his mind.
"We need food. Our energy is dying," Hilary said. "After all the stuff we've been through since those pancakes yesterday. it's a good thing we all had some!"
"Yeah!" Tyson smiled. "Oh, wait. Max, you didn't have any, did you," Tyson looked worried.
"Uh, no," Max said. "But-"
"And neither did you, Kai! Oh man. and I thought I had it bad!" Tyson laughed, but was really concerned.
"Hey, you okay?" Max suddenly asked Rei. He had suddenly stopped.
"Have been better," Rei said, through gritting his teeth. His arm was now throbbing with pain and it took all he had to keep from crying out. He fell to his knees, clutching his wounded arm.
The others stopped now, and felt helpless as they watched their friend suffer. "I'm really sorry-" Tyson started.
"The entrance to the cave is over there," Kai suddenly said.
Rei struggled to his feet and winced in pain. "Let's go," he said with a determined tone. The teens stepped into the cave together and were surrounded by darkness.
^^^^^
END OF CHAPTER!!! Review PLEASE!!!
~ Penguin Pop