Look! I updated in a short time! Just a word of warning, the times between the breaks aren't all consistent with each other.

Gah. Again, this hasn't been beta'd. Damn e-mail…

Of Different Worlds

By Dark Ice Dragon

Free

'I can't believe it. He's nothing like the Kai that I've heard about.' Ben was walking quickly towards Judy's office. 'And there was me thinking that it was really Kai.' He shook his head slowly. 'Maybe that's why Judy stayed in there for so long. She knew that he wouldn't hurt her.' Ben also knew what her sense of curiosity was like; once she had found something that intrigued her, she wanted to know as much as possible on whatever it was. It was because of this that they had made a lot of their discoveries, but sometimes at the cost of Judy's health.

"Ben!" Startled, Ben pivoted to turn to face the person who had shouted out his name. He smiled nervously when he saw that it was Judy walking up to him. She probably wouldn't be pleased when she heard that he had gone to see Kai without telling anyone. Not that he was going to tell her.

"Hi, Judy." He waited for her to catch up and then continued to walk on with her.

"I was just going to get some lunch before I dissect any of the information that Kenny retrieved for me," she said with a small smile, probably relieved that he had come back unharmed.

Ben's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Kenny's back? I thought that he wasn't coming back until…" he worked out the dates in his head, "today…Oh."

Shaking her head in amusement, Judy asked, "What have you been doing?"

He wondered where to start. There hadn't been much to do but Ben had researched what could have happened to Kai. Once he had finally found a somewhat plausible explanation he had rushed off to see the blue-haired blader if it was right. Finding that Kai had a completely different personality from what he had expected was a surprise though. Ben was so shocked that he wanted to ask Judy what she thought about it. She'd talked to him and maybe she had her own theory about it. Okay, his exit may have seemed a little strange to Kai but…Ben stopped dead in his tracks.

Confused as to why her companion had stopped, Judy turned around to look at him. "Ben? What's wrong?"

Unfortunately, he didn't hear her. All that he could hear was the three words in his head that seemed to echo. 'Oh my God…'


:-:-:

"Muahahaha!"

A groan.

Thwack.

"Ow! Hey, that hurt!"

"You don't have to gloat just because you got the last pizza."

A laugh. "Yeah, it's not like the rest of us need it or anything."

"Ray, they're picking on me again!"

"Now, now, kids. What have I told you about picking on people less intelligent than you?"

"Ha, that's you told. Wait…Ray, how could you? You're insulting Tala!"

"Hmph. No one said a thing about me."

Tyson pouted and crossed his arms, looking at his friends. "If you're all done, can I eat this now?"

They all smiled and nodded their heads. Tyson's pout turned into a grin as he started to eat.

Tala averted his gaze from everyone and started to finger the strap on his pocket that made sure Wolborg didn't fall out of his pocket by accident. He had been feeling restless for the last couple of minutes and he couldn't explain why. It wasn't a feeling that he could describe easily either; it felt like he had too much energy and all he wanted to do was pace it off. There was also a sense of uneasiness but he didn't have a clue as to why.

He shot furtive glances to the others and saw that they were oblivious to what he was feeling. Troubled, he frowned and cupped his chin in his hand. 'Something's wrong. I know that, but what? Is it just me?' He stared at nothing for a moment, not thinking of anything. 'Maybe it has something to do with Kai.' Tala stopped his musings when he felt something warm on his thigh. He undid the strap and pulled out Wolborg, who by this time, the glow was already dying.

With Wolborg in his hand, he asked mentally, 'This is because of Kai, isn't it?'

Wolborg glowed in response.

"Tala, what's wrong?" He looked up to see the faces of his friends looking worried.

"I, don't know. But Wolborg says that it's got something to do with Kai."


:-:-:

'Well Dranzer, I can escape now but you don't want me to, do you?' Kai asked, knowing what the answer would be.

There was no response.

Or not. 'You…want me to escape?'

Dranzer glowed.

Kai could hear his clothes rustle as he shook his head ans snorted. 'Hmph. You should make up your mind. Or did you know that this was going to happen?'

No response.

Kai sighed as he sat up. 'Sometimes, I just don't understand you. First you want me to stay and now you want me to go.' He snorted again. 'Whatever.' Kai stood up, slipped his fingers through the small gap of the door and pulled it at it slowly. It opened without a squeak. He poked his head out into the corridor to check if it was empty; it was. 'Now, how do I get out of here?'


:-:-:

"What do you mean, it's got something to do with Kai?" Tyson demanded.

Tala bit his lip and replied. "I've just been having this weird feeling for the last five minutes and I didn't know what it was about. When my thoughts turned to Kai, Wolborg responded."

"I don't get it," Hilary said, frowing. "If something is happening to Kai, how would Wolborg know?"

Kenny's eyes widened in surprise. He had only developed the theory about bitbeasts being telepathic with each other only half-an-hour before and he was already finding some evidence that could support it. But… if that was the case, how come it was only Tala that felt something was wrong? Was he the only one with a strong enough bond with his bitbeast?

Tala shrugged. "Maybe it's because I've been with Kai for such a long time that Wolborg can tell when he's on the move."

"Or maybe, it's because Wolborg is following Black Dranzer's signature power," Kenny suggested.

They stared at him like he had grown another head.

Kenny flushed in embarrassment at the scrutiny. "What?"

"We didn't tell you, did we? The Kai that we've got here doesn't have Black Dranzer with him," Hilary explained.

"Well, he said that he gave Black Dranzer to Mr. Dickinson, didn't he?" Kenny reasoned. "That would be a good excuse as to why he doesn't have her."

Ray shook his head. "He doesn't have Black Dranzer with him but he does have Dranzer."

"What?" Kenny yelled.


:-:-:

'Heh. No one's about. Not even a guard.' Satisfied that he was alone, Kai slipped out of his cell and proceeded to backtrack to where he hoped was the exit.

After going around many corners, Kai had just turned at another corner when he heard someone following him from the corridor that he had just left. He cursed when he remembered that there were no shadows in the brightly-lit place to hide in. The only way he would be able to get by without being seen would be to run to the other end of the corridor and around the next corner. With nothing else coming to mind –he didn't know where to hide an unconscious body- he did just that.

As soon as he turned that corner, he was immediately faced with a set of double doors. Listening to the relative quiet around him, Kai scowled when he realised that whoever was in the corridor was still walking towards him and this time, he couldn't go anywhere apart from through the double doors.

He pushed them open and his eyes were greeted with the sight of a hospital ward. From what Kai could see, there were four people on the far side of the room linked up to different kinds of machines that made its own unique sound. They were also covered in bandages and more than one was sporting a cast.

Kai ignored them as he crouched by one of the empty beds nearest him. If his luck was really bad, he would end up being found by that person who he was running from. There was something wrong with the ward but Kai didn't waste any time thinking about it. A small breeze ruffled his hair.

'Oh, come on!'


:-:-:

"But that's impossible! Judy has Dranzer!" Kenny cried out.

Ray turned to his blue-haired friend. "Tyson?"

Shrugging, Tyson said, "I don't know. I didn't get a close enough look before I got burned."

"What are you talking about?" Kenny asked, feeling a little lost at the turn of conversation.

Tyson scratched the back of his head. "Well, we were talking to him when Tala noticed what was on his lap. Eh…he wasn't answering our questions so I decided to swipe Dranzer to see what he would do. I looked at her but before I saw the picture clearly she burned me. Or he booby-trapped her," he muttered under his breath.

Tala was starting to get a little annoyed. "Guys, as much as I would like to continue this conversation, we should go and check on Kai."

"But we can't," Max reminded them. "We promised my mom that we wouldn't go near Kai, remember?"

"Didn't we say that if we wanted to see Kai, we had to ask her first though?" Tyson asked.


:-:-:

Peter sighed as he pushed the trolley down the corridor. This was getting a little bit too much for him. It was now the second day that he had been serving Kai his food and the stress was starting to really build up in him.

He had heard the horror stories of what had happened the last time they were able to catch Kai. At that time, he hadn't joined them in their fight against Voltaire and the Demolition Boys. At that time, he had thought it was an elaborate joke when his kid had told him. Right, like someone could really take over the world using a toy. He had laughed, ruffled his hair and continued to play the playstation with him.

Oh, how wrong he was.

It was a couple of hours later when he saw the news bulletin. He had watched in open-mouthed shock as it showed the destruction that had been done by four kids.

Four kids.

And they were all less than half his age -the same age as his son. That was what had scared him the most.

He had shaken his head. How must have Voltaire felt? The poor man. How the hell did he end up making up a beyblade team that consisted of mentally unstable children with that amount of power without realising it? He had probably raised those kids from a young age and look at what they do. Those were some of the thoughts that had run through his mind when he first saw it. Peter had actually pitied him when he first saw it.

In the chaos, the Demolition Boys had somehow escaped without anyone know where- leaving their guardian to tell the authorities that he didn't have a clue that they were going to do that. It was only until Kai had sent them a letter (signed by the whole team) saying that the Abbey was just an orphanage and that the Bladebreakers were liars. The police bought it. No one questioned and so, the charges against Voltaire Hiwatari were dropped.

No one had asked why the Demoiltion Boys wanted their guardian cleared. No one had wondered why they had even bothered. They –especially Kai- were cold-blooded murderers, why should they care about one other person? Or was it because Voltaire was 'good' and they were 'evil'? If that was the case, again, why did they help him? It didn't make any sense but since no one ever thought about it properly, it didn't matter.

Peter had wanted to help somehow, but what could he do? He was only a qualified chef and that was it. Anyway, the proper authorities could handle it, couldn't they? That was what they had been trained to do.

And yet, here he was, working against Volitaire with what he had originally regarded as useless in fighting. If people didn't get proper nourishment, they wouldn't have energy, and if they didn't have energy they wouldn't be able to fight. So really, everyone was important, there wasn't a person who was completely independent of needing help.

Ironically, he had gone to Judy to help where he could against the Demolition Boys and now he was working with one of them. Not that he had actually worked with Tala; Peter had seen him walking down corridors, usually in a group that was made up of the rest of the Bladebreakers and Hilary but he sometimes wandered the corridors alone.

Peter had joined with them when Matt had died. Matt had only been thirteen-years-old when it had happened. Peter's wife had died when Matt was only five because of a drunk driver. She had been working late and she had decided to walk home. He didn't think that she even knew that it had happened. The paramedics had pronounced her head at the scene and said that it had happened instantly. Later, he's heard that the driver had committed suicide.

After the funeral, he moved house to get away from the haunting memories. He didn't want to raise Matt if all he could think about was Jen; it wouldn't be fair to him. Then, years later, he would lose another loved one. With no one else for him to care for, Peter decided that he didn't want other parents to know what it felt like to lose their child. He wanted to help, no matter how small the job was.

It had taken a few months before he found Judy. He had offered his services to her and she had accepted. He didn't know if it was Tala who had killed Matt but if it was, he wouldn't do anything anyway. Tala was with them because he wanted to be; he didn't agree with Hiwatari's morals and wanted to end it. The boy had enough guilt to live with (even though he didn't show it), Peter didn't want to add to it. Peter didn't know all of the reasons why Tala had joined them in secret but since they were on the same side, it would do no one any good if there were fights between themselves.

Peter stopped when he came to the right cell door. He was about to grab the keys that dangled from the trolley's side when his hand was grabbed by one of the guards. Before he could open his mouth, it was covered. When he made eye contact with the one who was holding him, the hand was taken away slowly and then pointed to the door.

That was slightly ajar.

Before Peter could react, the three men (they had never told him their names) slipped in, safety catches clicking off. They reappeared seconds later, one of them with a walkie-talkie in his hand that was already hissing static.

"Kai has escaped. I repeat; Kai has escaped."

Peter's eyes widened and he felt his legs shaking. 'No…'


:-:-:

The door swung shut on more time.

Kai watched from beneath the bed as the shoes clicked past. He saw them pause at the foot of each of the beds that were occupied before they disappeared through another door on the other side of the room.

He waited for a moment to make sure that the person didn't come straight out again. Kai slid himself out, glad that hospital beds were so high that it wasn't a problem getting underneath or out.

Once he was clear of the bed, he checked the door again. There wasn't a windowpane on the door nor were there any windows on the wall, which was surprising. So unless the person opened the door, he or she wouldn't know that Kai had even been there.

Not knowing when the person would come out, Kai slipped out as fast as he could.

When the beeps and wheezings of the machines reclaimed the otherwise silent room, it was broken once more by a body moving in one of the beds. The body then stopped moving and the machines continued to watch over them.


:-:-:

"You know, I didn't see mom in the cafeteria," Max pointed out worriedly.

Kenny shrugged. "I gave her some new information about bitbeasts that I'd found in Egypt. You know what she's like when she finds something new."

Max frowned as he thought about it but then shook his head. "I do know what she's like but she doesn't become so focused on it that she forgets to eat."

"Kenny, was there anything big in what you found?" Ray asked.

Kenny shook his head. "No. It was only little things that we already knew. Nothing to cause her to forget lunch."

"So why is she so late?" Max wondered.


:-:-:

Kai was back to sneaking down the corridors and this time, he was making sure that he listened for any indications that someone was approaching.

That was surprisingly easy.

For one, because of the tiled floor, it threw up nearly every sound that went on it unless you were wearing sneakers. That seemed to be the only shred of luck that Fate was willing to hand him. And the fact that everyone else seemed to be wearing formal shoes. For the second point, there was hardly anyone wandering the hallways anyway. It was just his bad luck that he had ended up in the hospital ward place with a doctor coming back from his lunch break. For such a large place, there wasn't a lot of people around. Or most of them were probably in a meeting in one room and sooner or later, Kai was going to stumble across it, knowing his luck at the moment.

One of the problems was that he had to keep in having to backtrack for every three corners that he came across because he kept on somehow finding dead-ends with a single door somewhere.

Kai paused when he reached another corner, he wasn't sure but he thought that he'd heard some voices speaking in low tones. A few more seconds but there was nothing more. Wait…was that a scuffing of a shoe? It sounded faint so Kai decided that the person was walking away.

He had taken all of three steps into the 'open' when a voice stopped him in his tracks.

"Kai!"

'Shit.'


:-:-:

"Maybe she's comin' down the corridor right now," Tyson said, trying to cheer up his friend.

Max sighed. "I think I should check on her. If she has forgotten the time then…"

"How about we all go?" Ray suggested. "That way, we can make sure that Judy's alright and we can ask if we can go to see if something's happened with Kai."

They nodded in agreement.

"Sounds great! C'mon you guys!" Tyson was already standing and looking back at them by the door.

"What? Aren't you going to finish your pizza first?" Hilary asked teasingly.

Tyson rolled his eyes. "I don't just eat ya know. I'm not obsessed with it," he groused.

"You could have fooled me," Tala joked.

"Well, I'm not hungry any more so the rest of you can shut up now."

Max grinned while Tala pretended to clutch his chest. "Tyson isn't hungry! It's -I don't know what to say. I never thought that I would see this day. I have to be dreaming."

Hilary had her hand covering her mouth, trying to not laugh out loud. It was rather unfortunate that he shoulders were visibly shaking. Max's grin had widened and Ray was chuckling.

"Oh, laugh it all up why don't ya," Tyson said while shaking a fist in Tala's direction. "Just you wait, I'm going to get you back for this one way another."

"Hey!" Tala protested. "How come you threaten me when I tease you once but you hardly do a thing when Hilary does it?"

"It's because he's scared of what I would so in return," Hilary said smugly.

Tala looked at her critically. "Maybe he doesn't because he likes you."

"I what?"


:-:-:

Judy was rubbing her temple in a desperate bid to stay away the headache that she knew would come in time.

"Did you know that I had to tell the Bladebreakers, Hilary and Tala not to go and see Kai without telling me yesterday? Now, I understand that I may have had to tell them that because they're impulsive kids. You, on the other hand, aren't a child. You should know better, especially when you know what Kai can do."

"But-" Ben was silenced by a sharp look.

"Not only do you go to Kai's cell without telling anyone, you leave the door open. Open. Not just unlocked but open."

Judy stopped speaking, waiting to see if he would say anything in his defense. When he didn't, the silence stretched uncomfortably.

Ben's face had already heated up some time ago and he was mostly avoiding Judy's gaze. He shuffled his feet, shifting his weird from one foot to the other. When he heard her sigh, he lifted his head to listen.

Judy's eyes then travelled to look at something behind him. "Kai!"

'What?' Ben spun around to face what he had unleashed in their base.

And 'tis done. : D I finished a chapter in a really short time!

Please review. If you see any mistakes, don't hesitate to tell me. I can reread this damn thing and still miss loads of things.