blitzkreig50889: well, here's the next chapter of the fic for you! I'm so glad you guys have liked this fic.

Tala: yeah! You've totally made this fic the number one of number ones!

blitzkreig50889: wow Tala! If I didn't know any better I'd say you were giving the crowd a huge Blitzkrieg Boy style thank you.

Tala: that's exactly what I was doing (grins).

blitzkreig50889: OK. Maybe I don't know you half as well as I thought I did.

Tala: (is still grinning).

blitzkreig50889: well, anyway, here's chapter 9 for you. Tala's not escaping yet, but I figured you might like a little prelude as to how he's going to escape.

Tala: and trust me when I say Ian made sure my escape route was a major pain in the ass, yet hilarious at the same time.

blitzkreig50889: hey! Don't go and give things away Tala!

Tala: oops! Sorry!

blitzkreig50889: that's OK. Oh, and by the way, where's Ian?

Tala: oh, just doing his chores…

blitzkreig50889: oh. Well, I guess we'll just start without him. So, enjoy the chapter everyone! I hope it brightens up your day (or night if you're reading this at night)!

Tala: Hey! Wait! I have to do the disclaimer first!

blitzkreig50889: oops! Sorry Tala. Go ahead and say it then.

Tala: (nods before saying disclaimer). blitzkreig50889 does not own beyblade or any of its characters. She just owns her ideas she comes up with and her OC's which for this chapter happens to be Cass and later Ashley and Sierra. Enjoy the chapter everyone!

blitzkreig50889: thanks Tala. Now on to the chapter! Oh and thanks to all who reviewed the last chapter!

Chapter 9—Humor, Dreams, and Honor

(Johnny's P.O.V.)

I wanted to scream. Ian was driving me absolutely insane!

"Oh, c'mon Johnny, lighten up! You're supposed to be enjoying this. After all, you are going to be kicking Biovolt's guard's asses and that should be fun," Ian said in his rather irritating, extremely arrogant, offensive, voice. Did I mention arrogant? Well, either way I think you get the point.

"Ian, if you don't shut up in five seconds I'm going to tie you to the roof of this car, make sure you've got your face facing the direction this car is going so you get a billion bugs in your face, and put a sock in your mouth before I cut off your…" I was unable to finish my threat as Cass jumped in and covered my mouth with her hand.

"Johnny, knock it off. Can't you tell Ian's only doing this to annoy you on purpose and keep himself from worrying about his teammates?"

I sent her an apologetic look. I hadn't thought about what Ian was going through. I had only thought about what he was making me go through to save his teammate Tala.

"You're right, Cass," I told her after a moment. "Sorry about that Ian."

"What are you sorry about? You're only being yourself after all. That's something I wish I had the guts to do."

Ian's answer to my apology confused me. Now he was being sappy on me and if there's one thing I can't stand its people suddenly turning from annoying but at least able to be handled to sappy and likely to fall apart on you and start crying. I don't handle tears well; they bother me. I'm not sure why they do, but they bother me.

However, I was unable to dwell on Ian's sudden change in demeanor for he suddenly changed again. This time he was more like himself as he pulled out a particularly large stink bomb, seventeen different types of what I had come to learn were fake grenades, and two very life like, but fake skunks. Too bad they smelled like the actual creature or I might have found them funny.

Ian, deciding to be a pain in the ass like usual, threw the stink bomb, grenades, and skunks at me, expecting me to flinch away from them like I usually did. And yes, I said flinch. That's another thing I don't like to do but…Well, it certainly would've been a good thing to do this time!

"Hey, Johnny, catch!" Ian said with a particularly nerve wracking grin on his face. Nerve wracking for me, but not for him. I ended up catching the skunks, but well, the grenades and stink bomb went off and a stink far stronger than a skunk's stink filled the room. Add to that the actual skunk spray and you've to yourself one wicked smelling concoction. It took all I had not to retch from the smell. Cass didn't fare quite so well.

"Ian!" Cass yelled. In fact she yelled it so loud I was temporarily deafened by her voice. Ian was too thankfully, because part of me figured he wouldn't hold out too well against her very angry voice and vicious temper. And to think, you probably thought my temper was bad didn't you?

Sighing, I watched Cass chase the smaller and faster Ian around the hotel room we had stopped at for the night. Ian was jumping over couches, small chairs, the kitchen table, and the beds as if they were his only chance for survival, while at the same time singing a very weird song that sounded like it dealt with drunken monkey's touching people asses. I don't know about you, but that is not a pretty nice image if you get my point. Especially since Ian's only 9 and smarter than the average beyblader or spy for that matter.

I sighed again and sat down in the nearest chair that looked like it would be safe from Ian's jumping over it. It looked like it was going to be awhile before things settled down and there was no way in hell I was going to stand through all of this mess. Too bad I smelled like a skunk still.

(Same time but at the Abbey…Tala's P.O.V.)

I wanted to scream! I was being beaten again, but then again it was partially my fault for not listening to Kai and joining him and Savannah in the spot he was absolutely positive Boris and Voltaire, Kai's grandfather, knew nothing about.

"Maybe you should've listened to Kai, Tala. After all, he was just trying to save you," Wolborg said softly in my mind. He was being punished just as severely as I was yet he refused to give in to Boris' demands that he leave me behind and find another blader. Too bad Boris didn't know that no matter how much he tried he wasn't going to be able to change Wolborg's mind. Actually, now that I think about it, that's a good thing that he didn't know. Still, things would definitely have been easier if I wasn't getting the skin on my back ripped off.

"Wolborg, help!" I gasped out, the pain becoming nearly unbearable for me to handle. If this didn't stop soon I was definitely not going to live till July. Nope, no turning twelve for me.

"I'm trying to help you Tala but your pain is so strongly felt it's giving me difficulty to try and suppress. I've never felt such a high pain level," Wolborg answered me after his own howl of pain and anger.

"Then call for help Wolborg! This has got to stop or they'll kill me!"

"I'll see what I can do Tala, but don't expect too much. I'm not sure if I can get anyone to come down here."

"Please try Wolborg. Surely Ashley or Sierra will be able to help."

Wolborg sighed before saying, "I'm reaching out for them now. All we can hope for now is that they can hear me."

I let out a scream as the blades continued to tear away the skin on my back. Yeah, you heard me, blades. I was being tortured by a machine, and at the rate the machine was eating the skin on my back, there would be nothing left of me in a matter of minutes unless I got some major help.

(Back at the hotel in Russia where Johnny, Cass, and Ian are…Johnny's P.O.V.)

"Ian, you have got to be kidding me! There is absolutely no way that idea of yours is going to work," I attempted to explain to Ian.

"It'll work! Tala's tall, but he's light. He'll easily be able to use this to escape. After all, all he has to do is…" I tuned Ian out. He had already explained his idea to me once, but it still didn't really look like it would work.

"Ian, are you absolutely sure Tala will be able to crawl through that tube and over the oil you want to use? The tube looks a little small if you ask me," Cass remarked with a much calmer voice than the one she had used for nearly two hours earlier. She had eventually caught Ian and as punishment for causing her to retch had glued him to the nearest wall so that if he were to move he'd end up tearing a hole in his pants. Needless to say, Ian tried to move and was now standing in the kitchen attempting to mend his pants while doing a jig. Yes, a jig. Don't ask me why, but that's what he was doing.

"Ian, will you please stand still? You're hard to talk to when you're jumping around like a Mexican jumping bean," I growled, even though I wasn't sure if there really was such a thing as a Mexican jumping bean.

"How do you expect me to stand still when there's a hole in my pants that I'm attempting to mend and it's freezing in here?" Ian growled back, obviously annoyed with me. I grinned, glad I was finally able to annoy him for once.

"Well, you could just go and change into another pair of pants until you get those ones mended. After all, you will need them later and I'd rather not have to deal with watching you scare the crap out of everyone with your boxers. That would take away the fun," I said, attempting to use humor but not really sure if I was succeeding at it.

"Ha ha. Very funny. I doubt you'd be saying that if you had to deal with a Russian winter," Ian grumbled before mumbling something else that I didn't catch but made Cass laugh.

"You got a point there Ian," Cass said with a grin. "However, I think you managed to do something else too."

Ian sent her one of the weirdest looks I'd ever seen him give anyone. The weirdest look being aimed at an airplane attendant and looking much like that of a psychotic person attempting to do yoga but being too fat too manage the moves (blitzkreig50889: and that part is for humor only! If you feel I should remove that sentence from the chapter please let me know immediately for I did not intend to offend anyone).

I sighed and then walked over to Ian. "All right then. Let's see if we can get this dumb mess of an escape plan of yours set up and ready."

Ian gaped at me as if I had just said I was going to strip down and start dancing the hula and mix it with the Macarena.

"Ok, then…"Ian murmured before walking over to the tube that he wanted Tala to crawl through. "Well, maybe we'd do better if we actually tested this first. After all I guess the tube could break if a guard should catch up to Tala as he's escaping."

I let out a sigh of frustration. Ian could be so weird at times.

"Well, let's go then, Ian. I'm not standing here all day waiting to see if anything is going to happen to a human less tube that isn't likely to hold Tala," I growled, frustration starting to get the better of me and really beginning to take its toll on the very little patience I had.

Ian grinned before saying, "You'd be surprised at how light Tala is. He's definitely lighter than you think he is. But enough of that. Let's go set this mess up and get it ready for a test run!"

With that comment Ian ran for the door, still in his boxers without any pants covering them. He opened the door and walked out it about three steps before realizing he was missing his pants.

"Oops!"Ian gasped before running back into the room and slamming the door shut behind him and then running down the hallway to his room to get the spare set of pants he had. Cass and I were too busy giggling, or laughing in my case, to be of much help at relieving him of his embarrassment. We were still laughing when he walked out of his room two minutes later with a very red face.

"That was not funny," he growled before striding past us and back out the door. We followed him, still laughing a little and prepared ourselves to handle the cold Russian air.

(At the testing area for Ian's plan…Ian's P.O.V.)

I examined my idea. It looked pretty good, especially since it was all set up now. Now I just had to come up with a way of getting information to Tala on how to get out and I'd be good. Sadly, the only way I could think of getting any information to Tala was to have Johnny or Cass go undercover and reach him. Too bad neither of them had ever been in Biovolt before or the idea might have worked out pretty good. As it was, Cass had yet to return and both Johnny and I were getting worried.

"Ian, are you sure it was safe for her to go in there?" Johnny asked me for the twentieth time. I sighed and just nodded my head. I didn't want him to see I was just as worried about Cass as he was.

Suddenly I heard footsteps. Cass was running back to our hidden trap with a frown on her face. I began to worry instantly about Tala and the others. Had something happened to them that Cass was so worried?

"Ian, you're not going to like this. Tala's been severely tortured by Boris through a machine and there is literally no skin left on his back. I'm not sure you'll be able to get him out this way, but trust me when I say he knows you're here and is ready to do whatever you ask to get out," Cass gasped out when she finally got back to us. How she managed to say all of that without panting is beyond me, but she did it.

I dropped to the ground in shock. It looked like my tube idea was not going to work now, especially since Tala was injured. However, that didn't mean I didn't already have another idea in store and it was about to be implemented with my tube idea.

"Ian, why do I have the feeling I shouldn't like the look I'm seeing on your face?" Johnny queried, obviously a little freaked out by my sudden psychotic grin and the fact that I was taking Cass's news as calmly as I was.

"Because you shouldn't," I replied. "I've just came up with an even nastier plan than this one and all I need you two to do is to lead the guards directly into it."

Cass and Johnny exchanged looks before asking simultaneously, "And how are we going to do that?"

I grinned. Johnny's eyes went wide and Cass's jaw dropped.

"Please tell me you're kidding," Cass pleaded.

"Sorry, Cass, but I'm not. You are both going to take real life skunks into that abbey and you're also going to let Salamolyon and Salamandrite out of their blades to kick some serious guard ass. Think you can do it?"

Neither blader had time to answer because Salamolyon and Salamandrite answered for them.

"We're for the idea. Besides, this will probably be the only action we manage to get today if you're going to be taking care of Boris and Voltaire," Salamolyon said softly until he reached Boris and Voltaire's names. Then he snarled.

"We'll be careful too," Salamandrite added to try and relieve the worry.

"Well, I guess we're out numbered, aren't we Cass?" Johnny remarked to Cass before turning to me. "So, Ian, where are those skunks? And for that matter, am I allowed to skewer a few people since I wasn't allowed to skewer you?"

I laughed. "Yeah, you can skewer the guards if you want."

Johnny let out a loud "Yes!"

"Oh, Lord," Cass sighed while shaking her head. "This is going to get messy. Did anyone ever tell you two that you have very graphic imaginations?"

Johnny and I both grinned before saying simultaneously, "Yes."

Cass just shook her head before saying, "Well, let's go then already!"

I laughed as Johnny grinned. It finally looked as if we might be able to work as a team. Now all we had to do was get in the building, and we'd be good. Too bad that's easier said than done.

Blitzkreig50889: well, what do you think? I tried to make this one pretty hilarious.

Tala: yeah I know. I didn't even know Johnny had a sense of humor.

Blitzkreig50889: he does. He just never lets anyone know he has one that's all.

Tala: hmmm…

Blitzkreig50889: well, anyway, hoped you enjoyed the chapter and sorry none of the others were with me today. They should all be back for the next chapter where Ian's entire escape plan will be unveiled.

Tala: and trust me when I say it's going to be hilarious!

Blitzkreig50889: he's right. Anyway, hoped you enjoyed the chapter and please remember to review! I would like more than one review before I put up the first of the last 3 chapters (or at least that's how many I think are left).

Tala: yes, please review and see ya'll next time!

Blitzkreig50889: boy are you in a hurry or something?

Tala: uh…

Blitzkreig50889: Well, get out of here then. And like Tala said see ya next time! (Leaves with Tala to prepare for the next chapter.