Thanks to NorthernShinigami, Thundergirl7 and Minekoanime for reviewing. We've passed the fifty-review-milestone.

Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade, but I do own the Slashers.

Chapter 20: Friend in Need

Bryan sighed. He knew that the Slashers were planning something, but he didn't know what. They were keen on making sure that he stayed ignorant of everything.

He flinched when he heard a familiar sound. It made him sick. He placed his hands over his ears to relieve himself from that disgusting sound.

Nate was sharpening his knives.

He knew that they were now beyond serious. Nate usually only used one knife, but now, he was sharpening all of them. And he had twelve.

He jumped when his cell was opened, and he removed his hands from the sides of his head.

The other three entered his cell, grinning maliciously.

"A beautiful sound, isn't it?" Natalia said. "Nate's really excited for this."

"Something tells me you're not here to chat," Bryan said, glaring at Yuri and Dimitri.

"You're right," she said.

Yuri stepped forward, and Bryan backed up as far as he could. When Yuri grabbed his uninjured wrist, Bryan lashed out with his legs, trying to kick the larger male away from him. This failed when Yuri twisted his arm around, locking his arm. He winced when he felt something crack.

"We can't have you trying to get out as soon as your friends arrive," Natalia said, as Dimitri approached him, a cloth in his hands.

Bryan tried to struggle, but Yuri had him tightly restrained. When the cloth was pressed against his mouth and nose, preventing him from breathing, Bryan caught the scent of something sickeningly sweet.

Chloroform.

As the world became dark, the last sight he saw was Dimitri and Natalia, smirking viciously. He didn't know what the reasoning behind this was, but he knew that whatever they were thinking, it wasn't good.

…..

Tala jumped when he felt a vibration in his pocket. He ignored everyone's questioning looks when he withdrew the item. Once he saw what the problem was, his eyes widened.

Wolborg.

Seeing what Tala had in his hand, Ian and Spencer also withdrew their beyblades, seeing the bit chip glowing.

"Something's happening with Bryan," Tala said. "Wolborg's getting worried."

"We need to get him out of there," Ian said. "Who knows what they're doing to him."

"I thought they wanted him alive?" Kevin asked.

"They do," Tala said. "But that doesn't mean they won't hurt him."

"You okay with staying here?" Kai asked, looking around at those who'd be staying behind.

"We'll be fine," Ray said. "Go on. Bryan needs your help right now."

They nodded, before following Robert to the tunnel that would lead to the dungeon, leaving Max, Kenny, Ray, Oliver and Kevin behind, hoping that their friends would be okay.

…..

Bryan groaned as he opened his eyes. He knew that he couldn't have been asleep for long. Thanks to his training with Biovolt, he was used to anaesthesia and would wake up not long after being unconscious.

The first thing he noticed was that he couldn't see. They had blindfolded him and, judging by the sensation near his mouth, he was gagged as well.

The second thing he noticed was that he couldn't move. Whenever he tried, he would either experience pain in his legs, pain in his arms, or a strangling feeling at his neck. Whatever they bound him with, it was effective.

"Are you ready, Nate?" he heard Natalia ask.

'Okay, hopefully they don't know I'm awake,' Bryan thought.

"No problem," Nate's voice responded.

"Excellent. If our theory is correct, then their weakest links would be somewhere in a safe place. Possibly one of the bedrooms. Think you can find them?"

"This would be too easy. And while one group will be trying to save their friend, the other group will be trying to stay out of the way of my knives."

Bryan felt his eyes widen. So, that was their plan. Divide and conquer.

He knew that at least Ray and Oliver would be out of harm's way. At least, until Nate found them. And who knows how long that would take?

Now he knew why he was in this situation. This was so that he wouldn't be able to help in any way, whether it be by actively trying to help, or at least tell them about Nate. This was clever. He didn't like it.

…..

"We're almost there," Robert said, his voice low.

They were going down the tunnel, with Robert and Ian leading the way. They were nervous. They knew that at least one of the Slashers were comfortable with a gun, and in this narrow space, they were easy targets.

Spencer was carrying both his and Bryan's launchers. If they could just get the launcher to Bryan, then he'd be able to help. They needed Falborg's Stroblitz when dealing with the Slashers.

"I just thought of something," Tyson said. "What exactly are we going to do about the Slashers?"

Tala sighed.

"We need to get them restrained," Tala said. "Either that, or we'd be forced to kill them. Like I said, they don't have implants. They are naturally insane, and they need to be either put away or down."

There was silence for a while, as the implications of Tala's words sunk in. There was a chance that they needed to kill the other teens. And the only ones that seemed unbothered by this fact were Ian, Tala, Spencer and Kai.

"Sorry I asked," Tyson mumbled.

"Mariah, Gary," Lee whispered. "You need to get ready. If we need to, we should use these amulets."

"Right," Mariah said.

"Something tells me that no amount of preparation will be able to help us," Johnny said.

"Well, you may need to get ready," Robert said. "Because we're here."

…..

Everyone was silent when they entered the dungeon. No one dared to speak. No one knew what waited for them.

The dungeon was dark. There was not a single source of light. And yet, everything was clear. The walls were made from a light stone, and the bars on each cell were gleaming silver. And on several people's minds, only one question struck.

"Why does it look so clean?" Lee whispered.

"Just because it's not used, doesn't mean it should fall into disarray," Robert whispered. "Plus, it creates the illusion that it's still in use."

Several members of the group gave him odd looks, but he ignored it, and so did Ian, who was searching through the cells, searching for Bryan's.

"Be careful," Spencer whispered.

Ian nodded, saying that he heard, and he made his way quietly. Finally, he stopped.

"Found him," he said.

They approached the younger boy, and as they got near, they saw why he was just standing there.

Bryan seemed to be tightly restrained. He was blindfolded and gagged. His legs were in a kneeling position, with the ankles tied together. His wrists were tied behind his back with a short chain connecting his wrist and ankles. There was also a cuff around his neck which was connected by a chain to his wrists, and another to the wall. He was breathing raggedly, and he made a few muffled sounds.

"Looks like they wanted to make sure he doesn't escape," Kai commented.

"Where's the key?" Tala asked, looking at Robert.

"It's around the corner," Robert said, moving towards the corner that led to the torture chamber.

"It looks like they wanted to restrain him in as painful a way as possible," Tala commented.

As they were speaking, Bryan's muffled protests became louder. Some of them became worried.

"Something tells me that we're in trouble," Tyson said.

"What was your first clue?" a girl's voice interrupted.

They turned to the direction of the torture chamber, where a redheaded girl stepped out of the shadows, followed by a blonde boy.

"Natalia!" Tala snarled. "Dimitri!"

The girl, Natalia, smirked.

"Hello, Tal," she said, smiling evilly. "Long time, no see."

A few members of the group stepped back, which caused a chuckle to escape the redhead's lips.

"Where do you think you'll be going?" she taunted.

Everyone, except for Tala and Ian, looked behind them to see a large man blocking their escape route. It was Spencer's turn to snarl.

"Yuri," he spat.

The big guy, Yuri, chuckled, and stepped closer. The beybladers were fully aware of the fact that they were trapped.

"Nowhere to run to," he said, cracking his knuckles.

"Lee," Tala whispered, "if you're going to get claws, now would be a good time."

"I couldn't agree more," Lee whispered.

"Wait," Kai said, "something's wrong."

"Kai's right," Ian said. "Where's Nate?"

Dimitri chuckled.

"If you thought the others were safe," he said, "you were wrong. A chain's as strong as its weakest links, and yours are unguarded."

Those who didn't let out startled gasps felt their eyes widen. Some of them exchanged glances, all of them getting ready.

"If anything happens to them…" Kai hissed.

"If I were you," Dimitri said in a low voice, raising a gun, "I'd be more worried about yourselves. You're not leaving here. Now, are you going to die quietly, or will you try to fight?"

…..

Nate was walking through the castle, searching for any signs of life. He knew the weaker members of the group were somewhere, but not being very familiar with the castle proved to be a bit of a challenge.

"This sucks!" a voice exclaimed, making Nate stop to listen. "I can't believe they told us to stay put."

"Well, it makes sense," another voice said. "I mean, you were shot, Kevin, and Max and I can't fight, and Ray and Oliver are still affected by Phantom Driger."

"Yeah, yeah," the first voice said. "I know. But still. I get a bad feeling about all of this."

"I know what you mean," a third voice said.

Nate smirked. They had no idea.