Chapter 36: The Swamp Lands

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(A Few Weeks Before the Storm Zone)

Tez sat in the control room of the lab as he continued to study the holographic portal that slowly spun around. The list of Ex Bladers he could use had dwindled down after only a few portals had opened up; he glanced down at the list of bladers he currently had to use, "Brain Kadeem, Dresden, Midori, Midnight, and Banjee Castillo. It's not much but they are some of the best Ex Bladers we have right now." He glanced at the list of bladers that had already been either lost or killed on the Ex Tracks. "We've already lost three bladers to these tracks. Each loss more horrible than the lost, I need to finish the Emergency Return Button. If I can then we can reduce the number of bladers lost." The teen's concentration was broken when the smallest ring of the giant golden ring began to spin around, he quickly grabbed his head set and activated it before speaking into it. He looked up to see Midnight running into the control room to grab her Ex Gear which had been fixed after its last race. "The following bladers will enter the Ex Track, Kadeem, Midori, Banjee Castillo, and Midnight." He looked up once again to see the middle ring begin to start spinning; the biggest ring began spinning moments later when the smallest ring began to slow down. The teen studied the symbols closely trying to figure out which one it was going to stop on.

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(Silencerz HQ)

The purple portal of the Silencerz immediately stopped on the symbol of the Ex Track the team was going to race on, the symbol all three rings had stopped on was a side was three symbol looking almost like a vine. Aermos jumped into the air with his Ex Gear flying after him, it quickly attached itself to his feet as the teen floated in the air slightly. Jack walked over to the teen wearing his Silencerz suit and had his helmet on, once Aermos noticed this he quickly put his helmet on so he could hear Jack. "Make sure you bring us back another blader."

"I've got this, you don't have to worry. I'm ready to test this Ex Gear out and I intend to, now go make sure Tech is ready. I want to make sure I have at least one person going onto this Ex Track with me."

"You guys only have thirty minutes before the Ex Gears will bring you back whether or not you've found someone or not. If you can get to the exit portal that's good, if not then focus on getting another blader to join us." Aermos quickly sped off down the empty lab and through the giant door that lead to the purple portal. He looked over his shoulder to see Tech following him; he smiled and flew into the portal disappearing just as he reached it. Tech followed right behind him as he checked to make sure everything was working right.

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Midnight was the first blader to pass through the giant speed booster; she took off down the Ex Track with Midori following right behind her. The two teens could see Kadeem grabbing his Ex Gear and fueling it back up with nitro fuel, glancing to the left they could see Banjee entering the Ex Track from the other speed boosters. He could be heard shouting "Weeeepa!" Not too long after that Kadeem passed through the speed boosters, he quickly caught up to the teens as they rounded the final turn. Midnight drifted around the final turn and passed through the speed boosters, her Ex Gear reached three hundred miles an hour as she flew through the air and into the blue portal that had appeared inside of the three rings. Midori smiled a bit as she passed through the speed booster not long after Midnight had. Banjee followed right behind her and looked over his shoulder to see Kadeem on his tail. "Last one to the portal buys the first round of guava juice when we get back."

"Good, because I'm beating you to the exit portal, so don't complain when you have to buy the first round!"

"In your dreams." These were Banjee's last words as he disappeared inside of the blue orb; Kadeem shook his head as he passed through the speed boosters. His Ex Gear reached three hundred miles an hour as he disappeared inside of the blue orb.

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(Swamp Lands)

Large moss covered trees covered vast amounts of the Swamp Lands Ex Track, along with vines swampy waters and any other kind of creature you might expect to find in a swamp. The downside to this track, the Ex Track is covered with greens moss making it difficult to race or battle on, but that's the least of your problems. The real dangers of this Ex Track are the creatures living in side of it; mutant worms, swamp monsters and giant mosquitos hide in the swampy land scape just waiting to attack their next meal or victim. Just above a few moss covered trees the blue portal opened up with Midnight and Midori flying out of it, the two teens landed onto the moss covered track nearly slipping right off the edge. "Damn, Midori are you alright?"

"Yeah. Banjee, Kadeem, watch the Ex Track when you land on it. It's got something green on it." The two teens drifted around a corner but Midori's gear began letting out a high pitched sound as she drifted onto the green moss by accident. "Midnight, I think something's wrong with my AHHHHHHHHH!" The teen yelled out for helped as her Ex Gear flew off the Ex Track with her on it, Midnight tried to turn around by could see a few shadow warriors turning around to battle her.

"Sorry Midori you're on your own." At the very beginning of the Ex Track the last two bladers came flying out of the blue portal. Banjee landed onto the track and began drifting to the side on accident due to the moss, Kadeem just laughed at his friend as he stuck to the middle of the track which had less moss on it. The Egyptian teen just smiled as he sped off after Midnight who was having trouble fending off the three shadow warriors that were attacking her. Banjee could see Midori grinding down a tree trying to land back onto the Ex Track; he shook his head and hit the NO2 button on his Ex Gear causing him to fly off the track after her. He dove down after her only to be grabbed by a giant mosquito.

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Midori slid down the moss covered tree and managed to land onto the Ex Track without any other problems. She sighed as she hit the boost button on her Ex Gear causing her to fly forward at three hundred miles an hour. The teen smiled as she managed to drift around a turn and finally get back onto the main Ex Track, she looked shocked when she saw how vast the swamp was. She shook her head and focused on the Ex Track hoping to meet up with her friends eventually. "I don't like this place." Explosions could be heard off in the distance, she assumed it was Kadeem and Midnight fighting off the shadow warriors. "Come on Midori; let's show them what you've got!" She hit the NO2 button on her Ex Gear once again and quickly sped down the Ex Track getting closer to the loud explosions.

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"Váyase usted mosquito loco." Banjee spoke in his native language as he tried to find a way to get rid of the giant mosquito taking him away from the Ex Track. The teen glanced down and smiled when he saw the button labeled "Saw Blade." He pressed the button and a giant saw blade stuck out of his gear causing the mosquito to let him go in an attempt to avoid being hurt by the spinning blade. "YEAH! Now get lost, nobody likes you!" Laughing slightly the teen realized he was falling to his death now that his flying friend had let go of him. "Not today, I'm not going down like this!" Quickly pulling a hidden lever on his Ex Gear, the teen's gear let out a parachute from the back part of the metal frame, he grabbed onto his gear letting out a sigh of relief. A few moments passed before he landed back onto the Ex Track, the parachute retracted back into the Ex Gear allowing Banjee to continued racing on the track. He jumped back onto his Gear and quickly hit the NO2 button causing him to speed off down the track leaving a trail of fire behind him. "WEEEEPAH! Man I never get tired of this!" His Ex Gear reached two hundred and fifty miles an hour before the teen had to drift around a corner, he could hear explosions not far ahead of him which made him realize he could catch up to the others in no time flat.

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Swerving to left and right, Midori avoided three shadow warriors that had ambushed her on the track. She smiled and gabbed ahold of one of the vines hanging down from the trees, she flew into the air while letting go of the vine. The girl did a flip in the air as she landed onto an Ex Track that was above the once she had been on, she didn't stay on it long as she jumped off of it and dove towards the three shadow warriors. "LET IT RIP! Musical Mayhem!" Her bey spirit soon appeared and destroyed all three shadow warriors with ease, the teen soon landed onto the Ex Track; she caught her bey and sped off down the Ex Track. Glancing over her shoulder the teen could see a giant mosquito following her; she sighed and sped off down the track trying to avoid being caught by the overgrown creature. "Come on can't we talk about this?" The mosquito answered this question by diving towards the girl trying to grab ahold of the Ex Gear she was using, Midori drifted to the side slightly in order to avoid being hit by the mosquito. "I warned you but have it your way, which is my way. The rock and roll way!" The girl grabbed her guitar which had been strapped to her back; she smiled and looked down to see it was plugged into her Ex Gear speakers. Raising her hand up she quickly moved it back down and began strumming really fast to create a lovely tune. "Now fly away, fly away before the thunderstorm!" She sang a bit as the sound waves from the Ex Gear chased the giant mosquito away. "Now feel the pain of a lifetime's loss!" The teen smiled a bit as she paraphrased one of her favorite songs; she continued strumming in order to keep any other mosquitos away from her. The teen hit a button on her Ex Gear causing it to start playing old video game console versions of the notes she was playing. "Hell yeah now this is how you rock out old school style! NO wait, RETRO style!"

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Kadeem's bey collided with the shadow warriors causing yet another explosion to erupt, Midnight grabbed Kadeem's arm and spun him around trying to help build up their speed so they could jump onto the Ex Track not far from them. Eventually the two teens built up enough speed that they flew off of the Ex Track and onto the one that had begun branching away from the shadow warriors. "Those shadow warriors are really starting to get on my nerves!"

"You and me both Midnight, I'm taking the fork on the right." Kadeem pointed to a track the branched off from the one they were and quickly left Midnight in the dust as she took the one he hadn't chosen.

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Silence was all that could be heard around the seemingly empty Ex Track that twisted around a giant tree. That's the way it seemed though, unknown to any other blader there was really camoflauge keeping the blader hidden. "Heheh you gotta love this camoflauge." Aermos smiled as he saw two Ex Track close to each other, he looked at it for a moment and quickly spun his Ex Gear around as his Ex Gear reached two hundred and fifty miles an hour. "YEAH! I am LOVING this SPEED! WHOOOOOOA!" The teen managed to fly off of the Ex Track and land onto the one not far from him, any regular Ex Blader would have fallen half way through the jump but this was no ordinary blader. "Let's try this again shall we?" The teen began spinning once again dodging a few mutant worms that worm trying to attack him. He had a smug smile on his face as he reached two hundred sixty miles an hour while spinning. "YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" The mutant worms tried attacking the teen but due to his speed he managed to spin and weave his way out of the worm's attacks. He shook his head as he eventually straightened out and continued racing without spinning. "These guys can't catch me; I'm too fast for them."

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Banjee sped down the Ex Track trying to find a way back to his friends who, unknown to him, had found a different Ex Track to take. He sighed and drifted around a corner only to find a giant leg blocking his path; the teen tried drifting around it but was knocked away by the swamp beast's giant fist. Banjee's vision was blurred after being hit by the giant fist, he tried desperately to see where he was going but all of the trees and Ex Tracks blurred together making it nearly impossible for him to see where he was going. A few moments later he collided with a tree causing him to plummet down to the Ex Track below him, the teen hit the track with a thud only to fall off the edge of the Ex Track and into the swamp waters below. His body floated on top of his Ex Gear which was slowly starting to become covered in moss. He lifted his head up ever so slightly and soon noticed his headset was no longer attached to his ear, the blader laid his head down on his Ex Gear slowly drifting off into an unconscious sleep.

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Tech narrowed his eyes and could see two bladers battling each other on the Ex Track above him; due to his camoflauge the two bladers wouldn't notice him. He looked at his prototype device that would transport a blader back to their original portal but knew he wouldn't be able to use them more than once. Counting up how many he made he counted five in his hand, he had just enough to get the other bladers back to their portal if anything happened. "Let's see if these magnetic thrusters work." His Ex Gear slowly began to fly into the air; he flew above the other Ex Track and managed to land next to Midnight without making his presence known. He bent over and stuck the camoflauge device onto the teens Ex Gear and took another Ex Track before anyone could notice him. "Now for," the teen pulled up the list of bladers still had at the lab. "Midori, Banjee, and Kadeem, this should be fun. I only have five minutes left though….. I better make this count then!" He picked up his pace and drifted into a part of the track that had lots of vines surrounding the Ex Track.

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Kadeem sped down the Ex Track not getting any closer to the exit portal that would never be found. He had fought off several shadow warriors and giant mosquitos but the Ex Track seemed to lead to nowhere but more Ex Tracks. Glancing over his shoulder the teen could see a few more shadow warriors chasing him; he sighed and shook his head before launching his bey at the warriors chasing him. His bey landed on the track and sped off after the opposing beys while Kadeem spun around to face his opponents. The teen hadn't noticed that the whole time he was fighting off these shadow warriors a blader that had been camoflauge had attached a device to his Ex Gear, and before he could even realize it the blader was gone in an instant. "These guys are not giving me much of a choice; I'm going to have to take another Ex Track." The next thing he knew, he was ambushed by more shadow warriors. He was quickly knocked off the track and sent plummeting into a tree, just before impact he disappeared but his Ex Gear was left behind.

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Back inside the lab, Tez watched as the Ex Gear exploded and lost connection to the control room. He shook his head and hadn't the thought of losing Kadeem, the teen was relieved to see his friend come flying out of the blue orb seemingly unhurt. This changed over when Kadeem hit the floor causing him a lot of pain. "Hang on Kadeem I'm coming to get you." Tez ran out of the control and down the metal stairs, he managed to lift his friend up and take him to the infirmary.

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Midori smiled when she scared off another giant mosquito, she had encountered a few more of them but her guitar skills were more them enough to drive them away. She drifted around another turn not aware she was being followed by someone.

"I've got only a few seconds left, I need to makes this count." Tech sped up as he continued to get closer to Midori who was now speeding up as well. She swerved side to side not really dodging anything but was doing some sort of dance while she played her guitar. The male balder sighed and tried placing the device onto her Ex Gear but every time he made a move she would make the same one only going in the opposite direction. "Stand still you guitar playing nerd." After saying this Midori spun around with one of her legs out, this caused the teen to duck down just barely missing the kick. "Even if she can't hear me she's attacking me like she can hear me!" He looked down at the time he had left and quickly tried placing the device onto her gear once again only to be almost punched in the face. The female blader spun around again and this time almost hit the male teen with the end of her guitar. Tech dodged the guitar and managed to place the device onto the girls Ex Gear just before he disappeared.

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(Silenzer HQ)

The portal had forcibly thrown Tech and Aermos out before they had a chance to find the exit portal. Aermos didn't seem to care seeing as all he was doing was trying to see how fast he could go. Jack had a frown on his face noticing that they hadn't brought anyone back yet. "Am I to assume you two didn't do a good a job as I had hoped?"

"Hey that was our first time on one of the Ex Tracks. Calm down, next time we have the chance there's someone we can get. Until then you can wait." Jack shook his head not believing the disrespect he was getting from Aermos, he handed him a file and waited for the teen to open it. What Aermos saw in the file was the picture of a Chinese girl that seemed to be about the same age as the other people he had seen in the other file. "Her name is Jazmine. We want you to go and find her, and bring her back so she can apart of this team."

"I thought you said I was the one doing the recruiting for the team?"

"Trust me; you're going to like this one." You guys are heading for China now, go pack your stuff and don't contact us until you find her.

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Everyone sat in the conference room badly beaten after being sent flying out of the blue orb for some strange reason. Tez couldn't figure out why the teens were in front of him now, he didn't have anyone's Ex Gear since they had been left behind on the Ex Track. The good news was that no one had completed the Ex Track so no bey part had been earned, although the others didn't know about the bey parts yet since no one had won a single part yet. Banjee was the only member of the team that was no longer there with them; Midori tried to find him but had been knocked off the Ex Track due to a swamp monster kicking her. "With Banjee gone were down to even less people. I'm working on getting more people to help us out but as of right now they are hard to get into contact with. When the next portal opens were not going to enter, the best thing for us to do right now is to get more people to help and then go into the Ex Tracks." Tez sat down and showed them some of the bladers he was trying to get ahold of. A few of them were recognized since they were in the World Race, some of them weren't as well known since they weren't great Ex Bladers. Midori leaned back in her chair while cleaning some moss off of her guitar.

"It's a good idea to stay back but if we don't keep entering these Ex Tracks, that gives the shadow warriors the chance to complete it. And this rocker isn't going to let them win another Ex Track without a fight."

"I admire your enthusiasm but if you go into those places without others to help, you're going to die." Midori shook her head and continued to listen to Tez talk. She strummed her guitar a few times to make sure she had gotten all of the moss off of the strings, once she could hear the soothing melody of her guitar she set it down and paid him her full attention.

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(China at Night)

Fireworks exploded in the sky for some celebration that the two Silencerz didn't know about. They didn't really care to much either since they had to find someone anyway; Aermos figured he could party once they had finished finding this person. Tech sat on top of a roof looking around to see if he could find out where this person was at. The teen sighed and leaned back against the roof in defeat. "It's like trying to find a needle in a giant haystack. Whoever this person is can't be worth the trouble were going through to find her."

"Either we find her or we go home and say bye to free Ex Gear parts. I for one am not going to give up just yet. Tell you what, let's make a bet. If I find her first you buy me some rice before we go. And if you win I'll buy you a fancy new Ex Gear."

"Deal." They shook hands and Tech continued to lie on his back thinking they weren't going to find one girl in the entire town. A few moments later and Aermos tapped Tech's shoulder and pointed at someone in the crowd. "You bastard you knew she was there didn't you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." As the teen said this Aermos took Tech's wallet and began counting his money to see if he had enough to afford some rice. Tech quickly snatched it back and stood up; they were soon running across the roof tops unnoticed by the crowd. A few roof tops later and they were right above the girl, she hadn't noticed them yet and began running down the street. "This is going to be a fun day for us." Tech sighed as they began jumping from roof top to roof top, fireworks continued to explode in the air and light up the night sky. Aermos had jumped onto another building and began running away from Tech which confused him but he figured it was for a good reason. He kept his eyes on the girl and jumped onto another roof top, his foot slipped causing him to fall off of the roof and land on a few crates that happened to be below him. The teen groaned a bit as he rolled off of the broken crates; he stood up and quickly ran off to find the girl which had now disappeared from sight.

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Aermos caught sight of the girl again and eventually followed her into a fireworks factory. He had managed to climb through a second story window to keep his presence unknown. Walking slowly through the factory he had a hard time telling where the girl had run off to due to the lights being turned off. Not much time had passed before the dim lights had been turned on, it was still dark but it was easier to see now. Looking over the metal guard rail Aermos could see Tech talking away from the light switch wondering where the girl had gone to. The teen was eventually joined by his friend who looked like he was in pain. "What happened to you?"

"I fell off of the roof and hit some crates." Tech winced in pain a bit and continued walking next to Aermos hoping they hadn't lost the girl. Eventually they came to a door that led outside; they opened it and could see someone standing their waiting for them. They ran over to her only to have a fist slammed into both of their guts. "You go high, I'll go low." Aermos punched the girl in the face only to by head-butted, she pushed Tech back slightly and kicked him in his leg causing him to almost fall over. The silver haired teen brought both his fist up and tried jabbing at the girl once only to miss his target. On the second jab the girl grabbed his arm and twisted it around his back, she pushed up on his arm just a bit to cause him a lot of pain. She let go of his arm knowing he would swing his free fist at her, when Aermos spun around trying to hit her she ducked and laughed when the teen lost his balance and hit Tech in the face.

"This is too easy." The girl jumped up and slammed her fist into Tech's face causing him to fall over, Aermos tried kicking her but she jumped into the air and slammed both of her feet in his stomach. The teen quickly sprang back up and tried punching the girl again only to have his attacked stopped by the girl shoving her fore arm in the bend of his arm. He swung his other fist at her only to have it blocked the same way; she quickly grabbed both of his arms and fell back. Once she was on her back she used her legs and kicked Aermos into the air. The girl stood back up with her back turned towards Tech, he took this a sign to hit her but was flipped on his back when she countered his attack. The next thing Tech knew his friend had just landed on top of him knocking the wind out of both of them. Smiling a bit the girl jumped into the arm slamming her elbow on both teens.

"Enough. Don't hurt us anymore!" Aermos rolled off of Tech as he said this and slowly pulled out a file, he slid it over to her and she quickly picked it up. The girl read it and smiled, she helped the two teens up and handed Aermos the file back.

"Sure I'll join your team but first," she jumped into the air once again and kicked both teens in the stomach causing them to fall onto the floor again. "Don't ever chase me like that again. I'll go to my house and pick up a few things before I go. Oh and even if you two don't know already, I'm Jazmine." The girl started walking down some stairs not even caring that the two teens were still in pain.

"Tech, what just happened?"

"We got our asses kicked by a girl that knows Kung Fu."

"Nobody has to know about this." Aermos slowly stood up and helped his friend up, they brushed off some dust that was on their jackets and ran off to find Jazmine who had disappeared once again.

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Another chapter done and a new member joined the Silencerz. Remember, nobody has to know about them getting beat up. So to recap, Midnight once said that the Storm Zone couldn't be re-opened after it had closed, the reason why the Swamp Lands opens up twice, is because the bey part wasn't won. Now when that track opens up again it's still at random so it may not open again for a while, make sense? I hope so, if not just let me know and I can explain further.

Next Chapter: The Dense Fog