This chapter is wholly dedicated to rangerapprentice, who if she hadn't read the last chapter...well, let's just say I wouldn't have written this one this early. Thanks for the motivation!
Chapter 12
Joanne nearly dropped the grocery bags she was helping Grandpa carry. The Bladebreakers as well as Josephine were sitting in a tight circle-very quietly, very seriously.
"I wonder what's happened," she muttered.
Grandpa looked at the kiddos and shouted, "They are playing Dumb-Charades? Without me! Yo, kiddos!" He dropped the bags and ran towards them. With a sigh Joanne carried the load towards the dojo. Throwing it inside she ran back to the yard where the others were.
Grandpa was being, unceremoniously, pushed off from the group. Realising, that they were indeed not playing Dumb Charades, he let them be. Joanne was filled in with the details of what had happened after she pestered Josephine for information. Her advice, however, was very different from Josephine's, "That's great. Now you don't have to worry about training and everything. You can just lay back and enjoy the summer. I say, try next year and-"
"That's it!" Max interrupted, slapping his forehead. "She's one."
His teammates looked at Joanne with calculating expressions.
"Excuse me, I am what? And stop looking at me as if I am a contagious disease," Joanne spoke.
"Is she good?" Kai asked, hurriedly.
Max nodded, "Quite."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Tyson yelled. "Let's go to registration office."
"You are a good blader," Ray explained to Joanne, who was looking very confused indeed.
"I am? Wait a minute, are you thinking what I am thinking? No, no," Joanne groaned. "I am lazy."
"You are on the team and that's it," said Tyson. "Now, can we go?"
"We still need one more teammate," Kai commented slowly.
"Let's just go to the Office and-well, we'll think of something," Max said, brightly.
The six if them bundled in a passing taxi and told the driver to drive to the Office. Two hours later, they stood somewhere in the suburbs.
"Where are we?" asked Ray, clearly not happy with the situation.
"In the middle of nowhere," replied Josephine instantly.
The driver was nearly whimpering as Kai talked to him. He had clearly lost the way and had no idea of his whereabouts. Kai had shouted his head off but that just made the driver even more nervous. The driver whimpered, "I-I th-think I know this road. W-We are n-not far away."
"You better be right," Kai glared.
Two hours later, they were somewhere in the rural area and that was when they ditched their taxi to look for another.
"Where are we, now?" asked Ray, still not happy with the situation.
Josephine gestured at their surroundings-grazing land for cows, pig sheds and hen coops- or particularly the land, "Why! We are in the Land Of Poo. Cow poo, pig poo, horse poo, hen poo, the list is endless."
"My stoamch is dying of starvation," Tyson's stomach growled as if agreeing to his hypothesis.
They entered the nearest farmer's house where they were given food and one of the farm hands ran to the nearest taxi stand to call a taxi. This time they got a slightly better taxi driver who seemed to know where he was going. The journey back was a long one and most of them fell asleep in the car. Joanne smiled through her sleepy eyes when she saw Ray shoulder the sleeping Josephine's rolling head. She shifted her gaze and met Kai's full gaze. He continued to look at her expressionlessly until Joanne was forced to conclude that he must sleep with his eyes open. Creepy.
It was very late when they reached the BBA Office to register. They were hurried to a door outside which Mr. Dickenson himself stood pacing up and down the corridor with a worried expression, "Oh there you are m'boy. I thought you were never going to come. Its taken all my strength to make Marple wait for you. She felt it best to close the registry as soon as possible. Never mind that now. Kai, I think you can fill out the forms. Come, come. We must not waste time." He pulled Kai along with him into the room from where a high pitched could be heard mocking, "At last the champion graces this office. Took your time, didn't-"
The door closed with a click and the remaining children looked at each other in bewilderment. Ray was the first to speak, "How will he fill the form when we don't have a sixth member?"
"I doubt he knows anybody," Tyson commented sourly. "He being so anti-social."
"Its Kai," said Joanne brightly, "he'll think of something."
As everybody turned to her with strange expressions, Josephine shook her head in pity, "Don't worry, guys. Its the fangirl in her. She tends to come out sometimes. Anyway, think of someone who plays this stupid game. I thought there were more of you freaks-Sorry, Ray-in this world.
Inside the room, as Marple and Dickenson bickered over his head, quarreling over everything and anything, Kai wondered what to do as he held his pen over the blank marked 'Sixth member'. What to do? Maybe Mr. Dickenson could help. After all there were many good bladers in BBA. He decided to, against his pride and habit, ask him to help, "Mr. Dickenson, do you know-"
"Marple, is this all because-Another time, Kai m'boy-that! Unbelievable..."
Kai fumed and looked again at the form. He brought his pen to paper and with a determined look wrote the sixth member's name.
Outside his friends were still wondering who, what and why when Kai exitted the room and joined. He was, as you can imagine, bombed with questions. Tyson was the most vocal, "What did you do? Are we going to the Championship? Yes or no?"
Max was calmer but bordering on crazy, "Kai, are we going?"
Ray, the calm one, was not all calm now. Tearing at his hair he asked, "Whose name did you enter?"
Kai looked at them expressionlessly but had a loose smile tugging at the corner of his lips but continued to be quiet. Josephine lost her patience and jerked back the bit of blonde hair she had been tugging for the few last minutes, "Stop being a jerk! Why don't you just answer them instead of standing there smirking.
Kai scowled at her, "Shut up, idiot. Well, if you all must know yes, we are going." There was a cheer as the Bladebreakers went mad. Joanne caught Josephine's eye and shrugged. Josephine smiled and mouthed "Boys."
"And if any of you is interested in knowing who is the sixth member, its-"
Oh and do need to say this? Well, I will...:) :) REVIEW REVIEW coz REVIEW=Motivation! Any guesses about the sixth member?
