Hello all! Now, I know you're all wondering 'what the heck is she updating so fast for?' Well, I was struck with a big lightning bolt, ya see! A lightning bolt of inspiration! I doubt that any of you will be upset with the super speedy update. As it is, because I've updated so fast, nothing really interesting had happened in my life so I guess that that means that I won't be blabbing at you guys as much today! Yay!

Also, if any of you would like to print out my story, you can. I am giving you full permission as the authoress! A few people asked about that, so I'm just letting you know.

Disclaimer: Don't own nothin' but my OCs.

Quote of the Update: I just want to pop that inflatable bitch and watch her fly around the room!—That 70's Show

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Tyson and the others were sitting in the living room when the back screen-door suddenly was opened and shut loudly and a very angry-looking Kai came storming in.

Tyson practically jumped off the couch and sprinted over to him. "Kai, what is it?"

Kai didn't seem to acknowledge his presence and continued walking hurriedly until he was out the door and halfway down the street. Tyson stood there, scratching his head. The other also got up and walked over to where he was standing.

"Well," started Max, "that was weird."

Tyson nodded. "It sure was. What do you think happened?"

They all shrugged. "Hey, didn't Rei go out on the porch earlier to talk to Kai? Do you think that's why he was so angry?" Stephania inquired.

Kenny nodded. "It could be. We all know how Kai gets when people bother him about things that he doesn't want to talk about. We should go ask Rei what happened."

So, they all walked out on the back porch to find Rei leaning on the porch railing, a grim look on his face.

"Rei?" asked Tyson. "Do you know what's wrong with Kai?"

Rei threw his hands in the air. "What isn't wrong with him! God, he's always so difficult!" And with that Rei stormed into the dojo in Kai's footsteps, leaving the others behind him with puzzled looks on their faces.

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Kai walked angrily down the street, his hands in his pockets. The sun had already gone down, but he didn't care. He preferred to stay in the shadows when he could, away from all the crowds and attention. He was still fuming from what Rei had said. Ok, sure, maybe he had been right, but that still didn't give him any right to stick his nose in other people's business! There were some things that he would just rather keep to himself, and he thought that Rei, of all people, would understand.

Kai was already frustrated to begin with. Because of that stupid run in with Voltaire, he had shown weakness in front of the very people he had sworn not to. He had been to the hospital numerous times, and his health couldn't decide which direction it wanted to go. He was sick of it all. Sick of all the hospital visits, sick of all the questioning, and sick of that damn cast on his arm! Because of that, he couldn't participate in the tournament. And because of that, he might never be able to beyblade the way he used to ever again.

Kai absentmindedly pulled Dranzer out of his pocket. The blue blade shined in the moonlight. He wished he knew what was happening to him and why. But more so, he wished it all would stop.

Kai was so preoccupied with his thoughts that he didn't even notice the person walking swiftly toward him and collided head on with him. Both of them fell unceremoniously onto the ground. Once Kai was finished with muttering Russian curses under his breath, his crimson eyes flashed up to meet the person who had ran into him. What he saw caused his breath to catch in his throat.

There, sitting on the pavement in front of him, was Tala. Tala's eyes traveled up to meet Kai's as well. The same shocked look crossed his face.

"Kai!"

"Tala!"

"What are you doing here!" they both yelled in unison.

"What do you mean what am I doing here!" demanded Kai while scrambling to his feet. "I think I have just a little more cause to be here than you do!"

Tala also scrambled to his feet. "I know, I know. I was just expecting to see you at the dojo, that's all."

"What are you even doing here! Aren't you supposed to be in Russia with Voltaire?" Kai asked with a sneer.

"Don't start that, ok? You should know by now that I wouldn't leave you guys to join your loony bin of a grandfather and his cronies."

"Will you just answer my question, Tala?"

Tala sighed. "Ok, but I have to be quick. You wouldn't believe how hard it was to get here, and there's no way that I made it this far without someone at BioVolt finding out." Tala looked around, as if scanning the area to make sure that no one was watching. "I came here to warn you," he said in a low voice.

"Warn me?"

"Yeah, I already told Suki most of what I know—

"Why the hell would you—

"—but things are getting really bad back in Russia, and there was no way I could warn you guys in any other way but to just come here myself. It's Voltaire. He's planning something big, Kai, something that none of us may live through. I can't tell you why, exactly, but you and Rei need to be extremely careful."

"Why just Rei and I?"

"Well, everyone needs to watch their backs, but you two most of all. Stay out of danger as much as possible. Don't let yourselves get injured in any way."

"But why—

"I already told you, I can't tell you everything! You're just going to have to trust me."

Kai nodded. He may not know all the details, but he trusted Tala. If anyone had even the slightest clue as to what Voltaire was planning, it would be him.

Tala's head suddenly whipped to the side. "I have to go," he said urgently. Then, he ran off in the other direction.

"Tala, wait!" Kai yelled, running after him.

"Don't follow me, Kai!"

"But Tala—

Just then two giant arms wrapped themselves around Kai and a massive hand covered his mouth preventing him from speaking. Tala stopped running and turned to face him, his eyes wide. "Kai!" Tala attempted to run after him, but a large, dark form behind him grabbed him as well and began to drag him backwards.

Kai, seeing that his friend was in danger, bit the hand that was covering his mouth as hard as he could. The man loosened his hold and Kai broke free and began running towards Tala. A sudden pain shot up his neck as he did so, but Kai ignored it and punched the man that was holding Tala hard in the face. Tala was released.

"Kai, listen to me! Run away!"

"I'm not leaving you here, Tala!"

"You have to!" Tala insisted. "If they take you the whole world will be in danger!" Tala opened his mouth to say more but a large foot kicked him hard in the stomach, rendering him unconscious.

"Tala!" Another pain shot up Kai's neck. He knew it must have been a sedative, but he didn't care. He lunged at the man that was bending over to pick up Tala's unconscious form, wrapping his arms around the man's massive neck. The man struggled to pull him off, but to no avail. Kai's death grip never faltered.

The man became irritated and slammed Kai into a nearby wall. Kai might have been able to hold on if his head hadn't crashed into the wall as well. Flashes of light obscured his vision as he found to gain control of the situation, but it was too late. The man took advantage of Kai's lapse of weakness to turn him around and latch onto the boy's neck. His oxygen supply was completely shut off. Darkness licked at his vision.

Though all the pain he could hear a distant voice. "Let him go, Dmitri, you'll kill him! Voltaire said to bring the Ivanhov boy, and no one else. We will have are way with him in due time, but that won't happen if you suffocate him."

That was the last thing he heard before falling into darkness.

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"Kai!"

Tyson, Max, Rei, Kenny, and the girls, along with Bruce and Judy, wandered the streets, looking for any sign of their missing friend and calling his name. He had been gone for four and a half hours, and they were getting worried. It wasn't unlike Kai to go missing for hours at a time, but it was going on 2:00 in the morning. And considering his current health condition, it was likely that something could have happened to him.

They had been walking for five straight miles, and were beginning to lose hope. "Maybe we should just give up. You know how Kai is when he wants to be alone. If he wants to stay hidden, then he'll stay hidden."

"We know that, Tyson, but if there's a chance that something could have happened to him, we should keep looking. And there's a big chance," Bruce pointed out.

Walking next to Tyson, Rei silently mused about his fight with Kai. Rei was still angry at him for the things that were said, but he didn't want anything bad to happen to him either.

Just then Max gasped and pointed ahead. "Look guys!"

There, lying motionless on the ground, was Kai.

"Kai!" someone yelled. They all ran over to the unconscious form of their friend. Rei was the first to get there. He knelt down beside Kai, assessing the damage. He was lying on his stomach, his breath coming in short, desperate gasps. Numerous bruises covered his body. Rei checked his pulse. It was sluggish under his fingertips. That was odd. There didn't seem to be anything wrong except for some bruises, so why wasn't he breathing regularly?

Rei flipped Kai over to assess him further. There he found his answers. Kai's neck had ugly black and blue marks shaped in the form of two hands. Someone had tried to strangle him. Rei's breath caught in his throat at the sight, as did everyone else's as they watched Rei. Rei felt along Kai's ribcage as well. When his hands came across three nubs of bone poking up under his skin, Kai gasped unconsciously in pain. Rei removed his hand. Who had done this?

Stephania broke through the circle of worried friends to kneel beside Rei. "Is he going to be alright?" she asked with concern.

Rei nodded. "I think so. It doesn't look too bad." Bruce knelt down beside the two also, lifting Kai carefully into his arms.

"Come on," he urged. "We'd better get him back to the dojo." Without so much as a lingering glance Bruce raced back toward the direction of the dojo.

The others, not needing to be told a second time, followed him.

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Kai woke up to see many anxious faces hovering over him. When he realized what must have happened, he groaned. He was practically throwing himself into these pathetic situations lately.

Kai sat up on what appeared to be the living room couch, earning protests of concern from everyone in the room. "Kai, you shouldn't be moving!" argued Suki loudly. "We found you unconscious in the street, you know!"

Kai sneered. "I'm fine, Suki."

"No you're not!"

"Yes I am!"

Rei stepped up. "When we found you, you had three broken ribs and severe bruising. You're not fine!"

"Yes I am, Rei!"

"Don't lie to me, Kai!"

"I'm not lying!" And he wasn't. Kai felt perfectly fine, like he hadn't even been injured at all. To prove his point, he stood up and folded his arms over his chest.

"You're not?"

"No, look for yourself." Kai pulled down his scarf to show them his neck. There were no signs of the bruising that had been there before. Rei looked down at Kai's ribs. His abdomen was flat, and no signs of the broken ribs could be seen.

"But how…why…who…?" Rei stammered.

"Kai, when we found you, you had been injured. How can you be completely healed? It's only been a few hours." Bruce pointed out.

"Hell if I know, or care." Kai began to walk out of the room when Tyson asked. "What happened out there, Kai?"

Kai stopped dead in his tracks. The memory of Tala and the BioVolt cronies flashed through his mind. Now he remembered. The warning that Tala had traveled hundreds of miles to give him, the vicious battle, all of it was vivid in his mind.

"Tala," he whispered.

"Tala?" asked Stephania. "What does Tala have to do with anything?"

Kai was about to tell them what happened, then decided against it. He didn't want to get them any more involved in this than they already were. "Nothing," he replied stoically.

"Then what happened?"

Kai shrugged. "None of your business."

"None of our business! But Kai—

"Don't we have a beybattle against the Majestics tomorrow?" asked Kai, changing the subject. Puzzled faces resulted from the quick change.

"Uh…yeah…," replied Tyson.

"Then all of us need to get in bed, now. We're beyblading tomorrow and I'm competing."

"But Kai, your arm…," protested Judy.

"Don't worry about it! No one needs to worry about that but me! Now, I'm competing tomorrow, and we're going to bed now!" And with that, Kai stormed out of the house and into the backyard.

Tyson sighed. "By 'we', I'm guessing he means us, and not him."

Max nodded. "At least he didn't go running off again."

"He was right, though, Tyson. It's going on 4:00 in the morning. You and everyone else need to get to bed," said Bruce.

"But dad, what about Kai—

"Don't worry about him; he's been through a lot lately. Just worry about yourself."

Tyson was about to object when Bruce gave him a stern look.

"Fine!" He turned around and marched down the hall, the others in tow.

Bruce and Judy stole a glance at the back door, then heading off to their rooms.

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The next morning began with Kai turning on every light in the house and ripping off everyone's blankets, while yelling at them to get their lazy asses out of bed. Groans and protests followed, but Kai would hear none of it. In less than an hour they were piling themselves into a BBA van.

When they made it to the stadium, they found that it was strangely empty. There were cars parked outside, but there was no sign of any living thing around.

"That's strange," commented Judy as they walked toward the massive building. "Usually this place is so crowded that you can't even find the entrance."

Bruce nodded. "This defiantly is weird."

Suki and Kai thought back to Tala's warnings. Even though Tala had warned them each in a different way, the message had been clear: Watch your backs and keep an eye out for anything suspicious. And this was defiantly suspicious.

When they finally made it inside the stadium, it was pitch black. "Hey, why aren't any of the lights on!" yelled Tyson.

As if Tyson had said some magic word, every light in the stadium flashed on. And standing in the center of the ring, was Voltaire. He merely grinned at them.

"Hello Kai."

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Ha ha! Cliffhanger! (dodges rotten tomatoes) Ok, ok, I know, that was totally evil. But don't worry! All will become clear in the next chapter! Also, I apologize 'cause this chapter was a bit short, but I packed it full of action, so I hope that makes up for the shortness a little…maybe…oh well. Anyway, see ya later!