Chapter Two: Thrown in at the deep end
When they found the others, Rei and Kai were about to give them an account of the strange man they'd met, but it turned out that their bus was leaving in five minutes and they all had to run to catch it. The Blade-Breakers did a lot of touring around in their mini-bus - but they also had an exceptionally nasty habit of missing it. So they grabbed their stuff and raced towards the airport parking lot where Mr Dickinson and Mr Granger were waiting.
"Hey, Grandpa! I bought a new game! Cool huh?" cried Tyson, racing up to the bus as the engine revved.
"Boys, hurry! Why are you always so late?" queried Mr Dickinson, leaning out from a window in the bus. Max laughed, his cheeks reddening because of the cold weather.
"I guess it's tradition now, Mr Dickinson! We're here, aren't we? I wouldn't complain!"
Mr Dickinson chuckled and pulled his head inside the window, and the doors opened. The five kids piled on messily (well, Kai waited till the scramble was over - he wouldn't involve himself in any childish activity of any sort) and took their seats. They were all panting and out of breath, and they were all flushed with the cold.
"Chilly out there, huh?" grinned Rei, his ears and nose beginning to glow he was so cold. The Chief laughed. "So, where now, Mr Dickinson?"
Mr Dickinson, who had removed his hat, leaned forward. "Well, now we go to our hotel, the rest of today and tomorrow are for training, and then you have a free day, and then after that the tournament begins. So you have around two and a half to three days to practise,"
"That's plenty of time for us to get into shape," said Tyson enthusiastically, his passion for Beyblading showing in his eyes, which shone brightly, eagerly, "It's been a while since we got in any good practise,"
The bus chugged and then began to move off slowly. The guys sat and chattered about the tournaments they had been in before, and the battles they'd both won and lost, but Kai sat alone at the back. In his hand was the piece of paper he'd picked up. He looked at it once more.
"Kai, you want some nachos?"
Kai was disturbed from his thoughts by Tyson's loud yell. He glared at the grinning Tyson, who was beaming from ear to ear cheesily and holding up a bag of nachos.
"I'm sure you'd enjoy 'em more, Tyson. Just leave me alone."
Tyson rolled his eyes and shrugged. He looked at the nachos. "Just leave me alone . . . what a jerk."
Rei's attention had been caught. "Hey Kai? You never explained why we hightailed it out of that shop so fast. How about telling us what happened?"
Kai looked up at him as Tyson sat back down. Mr Dickinson and Gramps seemed to be interested too.
"Rei, didn't you notice something strange about that guy?"
Rei thought for a moment. "Well, he was a little creepy, with his dark little store and all, but . . . "
"No Rei. Are you blind?" Kai interrupted impatiently, "He knew your name, Rei. Mine too. But we never introduced ourselves! And he wasn't even sure which team we were on! So how could he know?"
Rei was stunned into silence as things clicked into place in his mind. He was a sharp boy himself, but this had escaped him. Tyson, Max and Kenny all stared. Kai made his way to the front of the bus (he usually took a solitary seat at the back) and waved the sheet at Rei.
"And here's what I found in his Bit-Beast book. Take a look."
He handed the piece of paper to Rei and Rei scanned over it, his yellowish eyes flashing along it. They suddenly widened.
"What?" Tyson and Max tried to peer over Rei's shoulder and Max fell off the seat. He clutched at his rear end and grimaced.
"What is it, Rei?" he said, rubbing his butt and wincing. Rei, looking very troubled and apprehensive, handed the sheet to Max, who stared at it intently. "No way!"
Tyson and the Chief were desperate to see what it was all about - so they clambered down on the floor beside Max and saw the sheet paper. When they had read it, they looked at Kai, tense expressions masking their features.
"What . . . do you make of this?"
Kai shrugged. "Not sure. But it's serious. He's after something."
"No kidding," mumbled Rei, looking at the paper once again. On the sheet (which was oddly white compared to the books in the store) was a photograph of the Blade-Breakers from when they'd been in the newspapers after winning a tournament. Each of the smiling Blade-Breaker's heads was circled in red, and each circle was numbered. At the bottom right of the page was the name of each of their Bit-Beasts, in scrawled, child-like handwriting, also in a deep, scarlet red. At the bottom left of the page was 'Apophis' in bolder writing, with a wiggly underline under it.
Mr Dickinson peered over. "Oh, dear. Boys, it may not have been such a good idea to come here . . . "
"We're not going back now!" said Tyson, standing up (but nearly falling over again as the bus moved violently), "We can't let a weird old man scare us off!"
"Tyson's right!" said Max, joining Tyson and clenching his fist, "This tournament's going to be great! We can't leave it now! We've come too far!"
"But what does the note mean?" said Kenny, opening Dizzi up and letting her analyse the paper, "Surely we should at least be on our guard!"
"That's right, my man," said Tyson's grandfather, "This dude looks like he's a little round the twist. Keep your little eyes peeled at all times, you dig, my homies?"
"I do wish you'd talk in English," said Mr Dickinson, scratching his head. Tyson laughed. "He's just saying we should watch out, that's all."
"This tournament's gonna be pretty interesting, huh?" said Rei, watching Dizzi's screen from above Kenny's head. Dizzi bleeped, her screen reeling digits.
"Sure. Whatever turns you on, Rei."
********
The Blade-Breakers arrived at their hotel about an hour later. It had been a pleasant enough drive, and once the scare of the letter had died down the boys relaxed. While they were on the bus it had begun to snow quite heavily outside and the windows began to frost up. When the boys got off the bus, they didn't expect it to be so cold and windy. The hotel was a tall, reddish building with ivy growing up one of the front walls. The windows were a little bit dirty and dusty and the front door had something wrong with its handle, so it was difficult to open.
"Well," said Tyson, clutching at his jacket, which was blowing in the rather chilly wind, "this is it. What do you think?"
Max rubbed his nose. "Um . . . it's big . . . "
Rei put his hands on his hips. "Yeah . . . big, and um . . . it has a roof . . . "
The Chief sighed. "It's a bit of a rat trap if you ask me."
Mr Granger was fumbling through his pockets, looking for an info sheet on the area. He looked up the name of their hotel. Underneath all of the information was a beautiful picture of a four star hotel, complete with clean windows and a workable door. Gramps looked up at the atrocity they were faced with.
"It looks a lot better in the picture."
Mr Dickinson shook his head. "Well, you'll have to make do. It won't be so bad, boys."
Tyson gave him a sceptical look. "Yeah, right. You're not the one stayin' there!"
"Stop dissin' the place, T," said Gramps, "We haven't seen inside yet!"
Max nodded. "Yeah," he said, striding up the grey steps to the hotel door, "I'm sure it's . . . "
He pulled at the door handle and the door came right off its hinges and fell into the house, creating a huge cloud of dust.
" . . . great . . . ?"Max finished, staring at the door and almost forgetting to close his mouth after he finished speaking he was so appalled. They could now see the inside of the hotel. There was a murky brown reception desk with cobwebs on the corners, and one of the windows at the back was boarded up. There were old-fashioned chandeliers on the ceilings, which were also cobwebbed. To the left of the 'reception hall' they could see a small room, which was presumably made for eating in. The whole place was covered in a thick layer of dust, and there were no hotel staff to be seen anywhere.
"He . . . Hello?" called Tyson cautiously, stepping over the door and into the hotel. Kai shook his head.
"This place is a dump. What a waste of time."
"Now, Kai, hush," said Mr Dickinson, though he had a feeling Kai was right, "Just wait."
The Blade-Breakers all entered the hotel and looked around. "Is anybody there?" called the Chief. Suddenly, there was a noise from upstairs and a woman of about fifty came bounding down the creaky, unstable looking stairs.
"Sorry, sorry, I'm late, I know!" she cried as she jumped off the bottom stair. She was strangely active for such an old woman. She was round and plump, with a rosy face. Her hair was grey and curly and she wore miniature glasses on her nose. She was wearing a black and white outfit with an apron on too, and little black heeled shoes that seemed far too tight for her feet.
"Oh, are you the Blade-breakers?" she said piercingly and at full volume as she reached the ground, "Oh it's wonderful to meet you. I hope you enjoy your stay here!"
"Thank you," said Mr Dickinson, "but we're leaving now, Mr Granger and I. We have a plane to catch. We're not allowed to stay with you, boys. We get to fly out again in three days time to watch you in the tournament. Till then, good luck! Everything is paid for, including transport and food. Enjoy yourselves!"
"And keep your eyes open, little dudes. You dig what I'm layin' down? If anythin' even the slightest bit wiggy happens, call me."
Tyson nodded and said goodbye to his grandfather. He and Mr Dickinson left cheerily, stepping over the broken door in the process. When they were gone, the woman then noticed the door.
"Oh no, my door!"
She rushed to it and bent down, looking at the broken hinges. Then she called out "Ronald!!!"
A young, scrawny man of about twenty galloped down the stairs, nearly tripping over one of them with a crack in it. He leaped past the Blade- Breakers, who were watching in astonishment, and began to fiddle with the door. He had a big, hooked nose and boggy eyes and looked rather like a frog in a black suit.
"Thank you, Ronald," the woman said as she stood up and turned to the Blade-Breakers. She spoke to them kindly.
"Well, dears, Ronald here will show you to your rooms in a moment. You'll love it here! By the way, I'm Mrs Riley - or Mary, whichever you prefer. If you'll just drop your bags, I'll give you a quick tour of the hotel . . . "
The Blade-Breakers put their bags in the hallway reluctantly, not wanting dust all over them, and followed Mrs Riley around. She showed them the breakfast room (filthy); the lounge (filthy); the downstairs bathroom (filthy); the upstairs bathroom (urghh); and then she led them to their room.
There were five flat beds squashed into the small, murky room. The light was broken and a bare bulb hung from a cord on the ceiling. The window was boarded at one point, so there wasn't much light, and rest of the glass in the windows looked like it was about to smash at any moment. The floor was wooden and dirty, and there was a spider in one corner. Cobwebs were everywhere - even on the beds - which only had a sort of board for a mattress, a cloth pillow, and a thick knitted blanket over them. There wasn't even a closet for them to put their clothes in. There was a strange sort of smell in there, too.
"Well, what do you think, dears?"
Tyson was about to speak his mind, as usual, but the Chief interrupted. "It's perfect. Thank you very much."
The woman beamed at them and then waddled out of the room, and Ronald, after a quick, silent entrance with their bags, left and shut the door behind them.
Tyson picked up his bag and brushed the dust off it in silence, and the others followed.
"What a rip," said Max as he finished cleaning his bag, flung it onto one of the beds, and it got covered in dust again. "This place is disgusting."
"How can they even live in here?" asked Tyson, sitting down on a bed and nearly breaking it because it was so unstable. Rei shrugged.
"No point complaining now. Let's just get on with it."
"We should think about the tournament," offered the Chief, opening Dizzi up once again.
"Hey Chief. Nice digs - that is, if you're going for that run down, filthy hobo look."
"Be quiet Dizzi, that's not nice."
"But it's true though,"
Kenny sighed. "Dizzi, have you planned a training schedule for us?"
Dizzi bleeped. "Yes. Here it is."
A list appeared on her screen and Kenny read it intently. In the meantime, the others sat down on their beds (Max's splitting underneath) and talked.
When Kenny had finished sorting out the schedule, he told each of the Blade-Breakers what they had to do. "Ok, Tyson. First of all, you need to practise your defensive manoeuvres, because you have barely any. Then you should try to strengthen your attack. Max, you need an attack. Your defensive moves are top notch, but you attack is quite weak. I know that's your style, but we need a good, all round Beyblade here. Rei, you should work on your Tiger Claw attack. Your normal attacks are just perfect, but the Tiger Claw's power seems to be having little effect on the other players so you need to juice it up. Kai, you should work on your balance. Attack and defence is perfect, but your balance is slightly off, so you should fix that."
The four kids nodded. Kenny continued. "Then, to get in top physical condition, we all need to do some workouts. Tyson, it's jogging for you, to get those legs pumping and to calm you down. Max, it's off to the weights room. Those skinny arms need some pumping! Rei, you could jog, or maybe practise some martial arts - I know you like that. Kai, you can do manual work, like lifting things, moving things, and so on."
"Uh, Kenny?" interrupted Max, "One problem. There is no weights room. There's no gym or training area. You've planned this out, but we don't have the facilities to do any of this!"
The Chief blushed. "Oh yeah."
"So we don't train?" asked Tyson (a little too enthusiastically). Kai scoffed.
"Yeah right. There's a big, wide, cold world out there. We can get in some great training in the snow. It's practically impossible to manoeuvre a blade through snow. Let's see how well you do with that."
He stood up and walked out of the room, and the others followed, knowing that there was not much other training that they could do.
********
Once they were outside they explored a little, and Rei came across a frozen over lake with some snowy mounds near it. The weather was cold and a frosty wind blew. They were all wrapped up in warm coats, but that did little to keep them warm.
"Are you sure about this, Kai?" asked Kenny, shivering and clutching Dizzi to his chest, hoping to keep himself warm. Kai nodded.
"It's perfect,"
They all slid down to beside the lake and each of them took out their Beyblades; Tyson the grey and red Dragoon blade, Max the green Draciel, Rei the grey Driger, and Kai the blue and red Dranzer. They hooked up their launchers.
"Let it rip!" yelled Kenny from the sidelines, opening Dizzi so she could analyse the battles. The four players launched, and their blades hit the ice. It was thick and solid so there was no danger of losing a blade. They spun around the edge for a little, as there was little grip and the blades found it difficult to move as they usually would.
"Come on out, Dragoon! You'll like it here!" cried Tyson, and the bright blue dragon emerged from his blade. It roared, it's scales glinting. The other Bit-Beasts emerged too, Draciel with a beautiful purplish hue, Drigger in green with a mighty roar, and the majestic Dranzer, wreathed in red flame. The Bit-Beasts, the legendary spirits, roared at each other. Then, the blades powered up and they all flew into the middle and engaged in a head on attack.
"This exercise is to improve stamina. Whoever lasts the longest is the winner," Kenny explained to Dizzi, who bleeped.
"It should be Dranzer. He's definitely got the highest spin rate."
True, Dranzer did win. Max went down first, followed by Rei and Tyson together.
"Good training, guys. Now lets test our attacks!" grinned Kenny, thoroughly enjoying himself.
The blades were launched again, and the Bit-beasts emerged. Then they all laid into each other with some cool powerful attacks. This time Kai's was the first to be knocked out - the cold weather almost doused his Dranzer's Fire Arrow attack. Next Rei's Beyblade stopped spinning, and then Max's. Dragoon's Storm attack was ripping it up.
"Good, Tyson. And Max, your defence is looking very sharp, and your attack was a lot better this time. Great!"
Dizzi bleeped. "We should try and think of some new training, Chief."
Kenny nodded. "Let's try them out in the snow, Dizzi."
The four participating members trudged back up the slope from the frozen lake and stood in the snow shivering. Kai grit his teeth.
"Come on, we have to keep training. If you wanna get warm move around some more."
Tyson growled tetchily - his fingers were beginning to go blue - or so he thought. His teeth were chattering and he was sure that Rei and Max felt exactly the same - like going inside and snuggling up with a hot water bottle. Kai seemed to enjoy the cold.
"Not surprising," thought Tyson, amusing himself, "He's like an snow- man or something. I bet if I touched him I'd turn into an ice-block!"
"Tyson, pay attention!"
Tyson woke up from his little daydream to Kenny's shrill yelling. "Huh?"
"You versus Max, in this patch of snow here. Let's see how you do."
There was no dish - but it wasn't necessary. They could blade on the flats - and the snow proved to be a test. As soon as both Max and Tyson launched their Beyblades they rotated extremely slowly, kicking up cascades of white snow where their edges skimmed the icy ground.
"Attack, Dragoon!" yelled Tyson, and his Beyblade slowly advanced, the glittering blue dragon emerging in a bright glow of radiance. Max growled.
"Come on out, Draciel!" he instructed, and his purple Draciel appeared, impressive in it's lavish colouring and roaring, and it met Tyson's Dragoon confidently. They locked heads, snapping at each other with angry jaws. But it was Max's Draciel who had the advantage - Tyson's Beyblade needed fast momentum to attack properly and the snow mired it, while all Max needed to do was stay in one place, which made it easy for him. Max won the match.
"You got lucky!" grinned Tyson good-naturedly as Dragoon spun back into his fingers. Max smiled. "I just thought tactically, that's all! Nothing to it!"
"Next is Rei versus Kai, on this bit of snow."
Rei and Kai got ready to launch. Max's eyes widened in anticipation. "I always wanted to see this battle!"
Tyson nodded. "Yeah, me too!"
Kenny gave the countdown and the order, and then both Kai and Rei pulled similarly incredible launches with instant, powerful movements of the arms. But this didn't seem to help, as the snow was so heavy that the blades just slowed straight back down.
Rei was quick on the aggressive. "Come on Driger! Show him your stuff!"
Driger emerged, looking very hard-hitting in its bright green glow. It roared, baring its fangs like it was king of the hill. Rei smiled.
"Well Kai?"
Kai did nothing. He just folded his arms and watched. Rei smiled guardedly. "Try'na scare me, huh? Nah, your tricks don't work on me, Kai. You don't scare me! You can stay silent all you like, if it makes you feel any better about losing. But I'm gonna blow you away!" ("Isn't that my line?" said Tyson, referring to his Bit-Beast's favourite attack, the Storm attack, but no-one was listening.)
Driger swept forward with as much motion as it could get. But before it could even get near Dranzer, Kai spoke.
"Fire Arrow, Dranzer. Downwards."
Rei was confused and his Driger hesitated. Rei watched as Dranzer the phoenix emerged, sparkling rouge, as majestic as ever, and performed an inverted Fire Arrow attack.
"What's he up to now?" asked Tyson, bewildered as fire engulfed the Dranzer blade. Max shrugged. "He always has something up his sleeve - even though his top is sleeveless."
Tyson almost grinned at Max's cheap joke and watched Dranzer closely. Then the Chief shouted out.
"I get it! Look at the snow around Kai's blade!"
Tyson peered closer and saw that the icy snow, so thick and white before, was melting rapidly and turning a shadowy colour. Dranzer's Fire Arrow flame had melted it! Soon, the snow was gone and Dranzer was spinning on common ground. The snow was thick but Kai's blade could just about be seen, spinning on some rocky surface.
Rei realised what was coming, and he tried to send Driger forward in a desperate attack. But he was too late. Now that Kai had his Beyblade on good ground again, he could increase its spin speed to its Maximum. Once it was whirring, Kai grinned at Rei.
"Scared now, Rei?"
Rei's eyes narrowed. "No way!"
"Fire Arrow!"
Dranzer flew into the air, encircled in flame, and smashed down on Rei's Driger, chipped the end of it, and sent it flying to Rei's feet. Rei picked it up enviously, admitting defeat decently.
"Good battle, Kai."
Kai folded his arms after replacing his Beyblade in his pocket. "You have to take so many things into account in Beyblading, Rei, that it's easy to forget one or two. But never forget to check out the area you're Beyblading in. In this case, you thought of the disadvantages, knowing that your blade was spinning slowly. But did you think of the advantages? Your Driger could've melted that snow, or at least parted it up with its Tiger Claw attack. The dish always has hidden advantages. All of you need to remember that."
Rei was silent. Dizzi bleeped. "Well look who's Mr Know-It-All!"
There was a short silence. All of the Blade-Breakers, whether they won or lost, felt that they had improved during their tough training.
"Well," said Kenny brightly, breaking the silence and turning Dizzi off, "it's time for some work outs. Um, Tyson, you and Rei can both do some jogging. Round the lake. Twenty times."
Tyson groaned. "Chief! My pants are freezin' off here! Just a little break?"
"You'll only get cold. Jogging will warm you up. Go on!"
Tyson and Rei set off reluctantly, Tyson muttering something about how he didn't see Kenny doing laps. The Chief laughed, and then turned to Kai and Max.
"You two can . . . well, there's not much else to do."
Max turned and spotted a pile of logs nearby, that had been chopped and were ready to take in - presumably to the 'hotel', it was the only building around for miles. "How about we do somethin' with those logs, Chief? We don't wanna jog!"
The Chief turned from watching Tyson fall over in some icy snow. "Yeah, ok. You two can lift and carry logs. A couple at a time will really test those muscles! Walk for a while, put them down, and then come back for more."
Max and Kai made towards the logs. Kenny opened Dizzi up and she watched Rei and Tyson run around the frozen over lake.
"Hilarious."
"I know, but it'll get them into great shape Dizzi."
Dizzi then bleeped at Max and Kai. "Poor Max will find it difficult. He isn't built for carrying."
"That's why he's doing it. It'll test his endurance."
"Yeah, and his patience. I wouldn't wanna work with the Ice man over there."
Kenny stifled a laugh and went back to watching Rei and Tyson. Tyson was now goofing off on the ice, trying to act like a pro skater and landing on his butt every now and then. Rei stood at the side, his hands on his hips.
"Yo Tyson! You're not graceful enough to be a figure skater. Let me try!"
Rei slid onto the ice - and immediately slipped and fell on his butt too. Tyson laughed, because both of them were sitting on the cold ice, freezing their behinds off.
"Man, we should stick to Beyblading!" Tyson said good-humouredly as Rei stood up wonkily and brushed the snow off himself. He held out a hand to Tyson.
"We should get back to jogging. Kenny won't be pleased!"
"Yeah, get back to it!" shouted Dizzi, thoroughly enjoying the show. But Kenny squinted at them. "You'd better, or else, Tyson!"
Tyson took Rei's hand to heave himself up. "Yeah, well, what's to be mad about? We were still exerc- "
"STOP! Don't move, Tyson!"
Tyson stood still, instantaneously paralysed by Rei's sharp command. He looked apprehensively about himself; his striking eyes darting from side to side to avoid movement of the head. Rei had half pulled him up, and it wasn't an easy position to hold, especially on the ice. He tensed his muscles so they were taut and he was barely moving.
"Um, Rei?" he almost whispered, barely daring to open his mouth.
"The ice around us has cracked completely! Don't move!"
Kenny sensed that something was wrong. "You guys ok?"
Before Tyson could answer, the ice beneath his feet moved and he slipped. Under him the ice splintered and extended to around both him and Rei, and it suddenly broke into thousands of tiny shards, floating in the lake water. Rei and Tyson plunged in with two brief cries that sliced the atmosphere before being choked nastily by the cruel water.
"Rei! Tyson!" yelled Kenny, hurling Dizzi to one side and running down towards the lake. Max and Kai heard and were next to him in a shot.
"Where are they?" Kai asked quickly. Kenny panicked.
"They . . . they fell in!"
"What?" Max's eyes widened, and he and Kai began to slide down the undulating embankment surrounding the solid lake. They reached the lake and saw the place where the ice had cracked, and Kai, followed by a hesitant Max, slid over to it.
"Wait!" the Chief cried, following them hurriedly. He looked at the lake. "Wait a minute! It isn't a lake! It's an estuary!" He saw a small part of the lake leading off down-stream into a frozen river that he had not perceived before.
His tone was one of horror, but Max and Kai didn't have a clue what Kenny's point was. They didn't even know what an estuary was. Kenny shook his head in exasperation. "It leads into a river! They'll be swept away! Currents under there will be rapid! They'll be further down!"
Kai knelt down by the hole. After pulling away a minuscule, synthetic object from underneath the ice and putting it in his pocket, he plunged his head promptly in to see what he could see. Nothing could be viewed from the surface of the 'lake', as the ice was frosty. He pulled his head out after a minute, freezing cold water dripping off his face in little globules.
"I think I might have seen them, but it's difficult to tell down there. It's murky. They'll be cold - it's freezing down there."
He put his head in again, and this time he brought it out quickly. "It's them. They're clinging to something - weeds, I guess, but you can see that the current under there is strong and they can't swim back up."
He began to unravel the long, cream scarf he always wore around his neck. The Chief was in near hysteria. "What do we do?" he wailed.
"Stay calm, Kenny!" said Max, though he was close to panic himself. He turned and saw Kai looking at him.
"Max, get Draciel out. You need it to attack the ice down there. That's just above where they are."
He pointed to a spot about six or seven metres away, and Max immediately launched his powerful Draciel. It sped towards the spot, the slippery ice giving it extra speed, and it crashed into the ice with a new and improved attack. It spun back into Max's hands and left a neat, large hole in the ice. It was an almost absolute circle, with about a one-metre diameter.
Kai ran to the hole - he and Max had good balance on the ice. Kenny followed them uncertainly, and watched Kai tie his long scarf around his waist.
"They're not too far under, so I should be able to reach them. Max, Kenny, you guys hold this tight, and don't let go, or we'll be stuck under there. When you feel me tug on this thing, pull as hard as you can. Got it?" He quickly unclasped the red metal wristbands that glinted along his forearms and threw them onto the sodden floor. Max took the other end of the scarf in his hands with a resilient nod. "Got it, Kai."
Kenny grasped it tight. "You're going down there?"
"Do you have a better plan?" asked Kai as he jumped into the water.
When they found the others, Rei and Kai were about to give them an account of the strange man they'd met, but it turned out that their bus was leaving in five minutes and they all had to run to catch it. The Blade-Breakers did a lot of touring around in their mini-bus - but they also had an exceptionally nasty habit of missing it. So they grabbed their stuff and raced towards the airport parking lot where Mr Dickinson and Mr Granger were waiting.
"Hey, Grandpa! I bought a new game! Cool huh?" cried Tyson, racing up to the bus as the engine revved.
"Boys, hurry! Why are you always so late?" queried Mr Dickinson, leaning out from a window in the bus. Max laughed, his cheeks reddening because of the cold weather.
"I guess it's tradition now, Mr Dickinson! We're here, aren't we? I wouldn't complain!"
Mr Dickinson chuckled and pulled his head inside the window, and the doors opened. The five kids piled on messily (well, Kai waited till the scramble was over - he wouldn't involve himself in any childish activity of any sort) and took their seats. They were all panting and out of breath, and they were all flushed with the cold.
"Chilly out there, huh?" grinned Rei, his ears and nose beginning to glow he was so cold. The Chief laughed. "So, where now, Mr Dickinson?"
Mr Dickinson, who had removed his hat, leaned forward. "Well, now we go to our hotel, the rest of today and tomorrow are for training, and then you have a free day, and then after that the tournament begins. So you have around two and a half to three days to practise,"
"That's plenty of time for us to get into shape," said Tyson enthusiastically, his passion for Beyblading showing in his eyes, which shone brightly, eagerly, "It's been a while since we got in any good practise,"
The bus chugged and then began to move off slowly. The guys sat and chattered about the tournaments they had been in before, and the battles they'd both won and lost, but Kai sat alone at the back. In his hand was the piece of paper he'd picked up. He looked at it once more.
"Kai, you want some nachos?"
Kai was disturbed from his thoughts by Tyson's loud yell. He glared at the grinning Tyson, who was beaming from ear to ear cheesily and holding up a bag of nachos.
"I'm sure you'd enjoy 'em more, Tyson. Just leave me alone."
Tyson rolled his eyes and shrugged. He looked at the nachos. "Just leave me alone . . . what a jerk."
Rei's attention had been caught. "Hey Kai? You never explained why we hightailed it out of that shop so fast. How about telling us what happened?"
Kai looked up at him as Tyson sat back down. Mr Dickinson and Gramps seemed to be interested too.
"Rei, didn't you notice something strange about that guy?"
Rei thought for a moment. "Well, he was a little creepy, with his dark little store and all, but . . . "
"No Rei. Are you blind?" Kai interrupted impatiently, "He knew your name, Rei. Mine too. But we never introduced ourselves! And he wasn't even sure which team we were on! So how could he know?"
Rei was stunned into silence as things clicked into place in his mind. He was a sharp boy himself, but this had escaped him. Tyson, Max and Kenny all stared. Kai made his way to the front of the bus (he usually took a solitary seat at the back) and waved the sheet at Rei.
"And here's what I found in his Bit-Beast book. Take a look."
He handed the piece of paper to Rei and Rei scanned over it, his yellowish eyes flashing along it. They suddenly widened.
"What?" Tyson and Max tried to peer over Rei's shoulder and Max fell off the seat. He clutched at his rear end and grimaced.
"What is it, Rei?" he said, rubbing his butt and wincing. Rei, looking very troubled and apprehensive, handed the sheet to Max, who stared at it intently. "No way!"
Tyson and the Chief were desperate to see what it was all about - so they clambered down on the floor beside Max and saw the sheet paper. When they had read it, they looked at Kai, tense expressions masking their features.
"What . . . do you make of this?"
Kai shrugged. "Not sure. But it's serious. He's after something."
"No kidding," mumbled Rei, looking at the paper once again. On the sheet (which was oddly white compared to the books in the store) was a photograph of the Blade-Breakers from when they'd been in the newspapers after winning a tournament. Each of the smiling Blade-Breaker's heads was circled in red, and each circle was numbered. At the bottom right of the page was the name of each of their Bit-Beasts, in scrawled, child-like handwriting, also in a deep, scarlet red. At the bottom left of the page was 'Apophis' in bolder writing, with a wiggly underline under it.
Mr Dickinson peered over. "Oh, dear. Boys, it may not have been such a good idea to come here . . . "
"We're not going back now!" said Tyson, standing up (but nearly falling over again as the bus moved violently), "We can't let a weird old man scare us off!"
"Tyson's right!" said Max, joining Tyson and clenching his fist, "This tournament's going to be great! We can't leave it now! We've come too far!"
"But what does the note mean?" said Kenny, opening Dizzi up and letting her analyse the paper, "Surely we should at least be on our guard!"
"That's right, my man," said Tyson's grandfather, "This dude looks like he's a little round the twist. Keep your little eyes peeled at all times, you dig, my homies?"
"I do wish you'd talk in English," said Mr Dickinson, scratching his head. Tyson laughed. "He's just saying we should watch out, that's all."
"This tournament's gonna be pretty interesting, huh?" said Rei, watching Dizzi's screen from above Kenny's head. Dizzi bleeped, her screen reeling digits.
"Sure. Whatever turns you on, Rei."
********
The Blade-Breakers arrived at their hotel about an hour later. It had been a pleasant enough drive, and once the scare of the letter had died down the boys relaxed. While they were on the bus it had begun to snow quite heavily outside and the windows began to frost up. When the boys got off the bus, they didn't expect it to be so cold and windy. The hotel was a tall, reddish building with ivy growing up one of the front walls. The windows were a little bit dirty and dusty and the front door had something wrong with its handle, so it was difficult to open.
"Well," said Tyson, clutching at his jacket, which was blowing in the rather chilly wind, "this is it. What do you think?"
Max rubbed his nose. "Um . . . it's big . . . "
Rei put his hands on his hips. "Yeah . . . big, and um . . . it has a roof . . . "
The Chief sighed. "It's a bit of a rat trap if you ask me."
Mr Granger was fumbling through his pockets, looking for an info sheet on the area. He looked up the name of their hotel. Underneath all of the information was a beautiful picture of a four star hotel, complete with clean windows and a workable door. Gramps looked up at the atrocity they were faced with.
"It looks a lot better in the picture."
Mr Dickinson shook his head. "Well, you'll have to make do. It won't be so bad, boys."
Tyson gave him a sceptical look. "Yeah, right. You're not the one stayin' there!"
"Stop dissin' the place, T," said Gramps, "We haven't seen inside yet!"
Max nodded. "Yeah," he said, striding up the grey steps to the hotel door, "I'm sure it's . . . "
He pulled at the door handle and the door came right off its hinges and fell into the house, creating a huge cloud of dust.
" . . . great . . . ?"Max finished, staring at the door and almost forgetting to close his mouth after he finished speaking he was so appalled. They could now see the inside of the hotel. There was a murky brown reception desk with cobwebs on the corners, and one of the windows at the back was boarded up. There were old-fashioned chandeliers on the ceilings, which were also cobwebbed. To the left of the 'reception hall' they could see a small room, which was presumably made for eating in. The whole place was covered in a thick layer of dust, and there were no hotel staff to be seen anywhere.
"He . . . Hello?" called Tyson cautiously, stepping over the door and into the hotel. Kai shook his head.
"This place is a dump. What a waste of time."
"Now, Kai, hush," said Mr Dickinson, though he had a feeling Kai was right, "Just wait."
The Blade-Breakers all entered the hotel and looked around. "Is anybody there?" called the Chief. Suddenly, there was a noise from upstairs and a woman of about fifty came bounding down the creaky, unstable looking stairs.
"Sorry, sorry, I'm late, I know!" she cried as she jumped off the bottom stair. She was strangely active for such an old woman. She was round and plump, with a rosy face. Her hair was grey and curly and she wore miniature glasses on her nose. She was wearing a black and white outfit with an apron on too, and little black heeled shoes that seemed far too tight for her feet.
"Oh, are you the Blade-breakers?" she said piercingly and at full volume as she reached the ground, "Oh it's wonderful to meet you. I hope you enjoy your stay here!"
"Thank you," said Mr Dickinson, "but we're leaving now, Mr Granger and I. We have a plane to catch. We're not allowed to stay with you, boys. We get to fly out again in three days time to watch you in the tournament. Till then, good luck! Everything is paid for, including transport and food. Enjoy yourselves!"
"And keep your eyes open, little dudes. You dig what I'm layin' down? If anythin' even the slightest bit wiggy happens, call me."
Tyson nodded and said goodbye to his grandfather. He and Mr Dickinson left cheerily, stepping over the broken door in the process. When they were gone, the woman then noticed the door.
"Oh no, my door!"
She rushed to it and bent down, looking at the broken hinges. Then she called out "Ronald!!!"
A young, scrawny man of about twenty galloped down the stairs, nearly tripping over one of them with a crack in it. He leaped past the Blade- Breakers, who were watching in astonishment, and began to fiddle with the door. He had a big, hooked nose and boggy eyes and looked rather like a frog in a black suit.
"Thank you, Ronald," the woman said as she stood up and turned to the Blade-Breakers. She spoke to them kindly.
"Well, dears, Ronald here will show you to your rooms in a moment. You'll love it here! By the way, I'm Mrs Riley - or Mary, whichever you prefer. If you'll just drop your bags, I'll give you a quick tour of the hotel . . . "
The Blade-Breakers put their bags in the hallway reluctantly, not wanting dust all over them, and followed Mrs Riley around. She showed them the breakfast room (filthy); the lounge (filthy); the downstairs bathroom (filthy); the upstairs bathroom (urghh); and then she led them to their room.
There were five flat beds squashed into the small, murky room. The light was broken and a bare bulb hung from a cord on the ceiling. The window was boarded at one point, so there wasn't much light, and rest of the glass in the windows looked like it was about to smash at any moment. The floor was wooden and dirty, and there was a spider in one corner. Cobwebs were everywhere - even on the beds - which only had a sort of board for a mattress, a cloth pillow, and a thick knitted blanket over them. There wasn't even a closet for them to put their clothes in. There was a strange sort of smell in there, too.
"Well, what do you think, dears?"
Tyson was about to speak his mind, as usual, but the Chief interrupted. "It's perfect. Thank you very much."
The woman beamed at them and then waddled out of the room, and Ronald, after a quick, silent entrance with their bags, left and shut the door behind them.
Tyson picked up his bag and brushed the dust off it in silence, and the others followed.
"What a rip," said Max as he finished cleaning his bag, flung it onto one of the beds, and it got covered in dust again. "This place is disgusting."
"How can they even live in here?" asked Tyson, sitting down on a bed and nearly breaking it because it was so unstable. Rei shrugged.
"No point complaining now. Let's just get on with it."
"We should think about the tournament," offered the Chief, opening Dizzi up once again.
"Hey Chief. Nice digs - that is, if you're going for that run down, filthy hobo look."
"Be quiet Dizzi, that's not nice."
"But it's true though,"
Kenny sighed. "Dizzi, have you planned a training schedule for us?"
Dizzi bleeped. "Yes. Here it is."
A list appeared on her screen and Kenny read it intently. In the meantime, the others sat down on their beds (Max's splitting underneath) and talked.
When Kenny had finished sorting out the schedule, he told each of the Blade-Breakers what they had to do. "Ok, Tyson. First of all, you need to practise your defensive manoeuvres, because you have barely any. Then you should try to strengthen your attack. Max, you need an attack. Your defensive moves are top notch, but you attack is quite weak. I know that's your style, but we need a good, all round Beyblade here. Rei, you should work on your Tiger Claw attack. Your normal attacks are just perfect, but the Tiger Claw's power seems to be having little effect on the other players so you need to juice it up. Kai, you should work on your balance. Attack and defence is perfect, but your balance is slightly off, so you should fix that."
The four kids nodded. Kenny continued. "Then, to get in top physical condition, we all need to do some workouts. Tyson, it's jogging for you, to get those legs pumping and to calm you down. Max, it's off to the weights room. Those skinny arms need some pumping! Rei, you could jog, or maybe practise some martial arts - I know you like that. Kai, you can do manual work, like lifting things, moving things, and so on."
"Uh, Kenny?" interrupted Max, "One problem. There is no weights room. There's no gym or training area. You've planned this out, but we don't have the facilities to do any of this!"
The Chief blushed. "Oh yeah."
"So we don't train?" asked Tyson (a little too enthusiastically). Kai scoffed.
"Yeah right. There's a big, wide, cold world out there. We can get in some great training in the snow. It's practically impossible to manoeuvre a blade through snow. Let's see how well you do with that."
He stood up and walked out of the room, and the others followed, knowing that there was not much other training that they could do.
********
Once they were outside they explored a little, and Rei came across a frozen over lake with some snowy mounds near it. The weather was cold and a frosty wind blew. They were all wrapped up in warm coats, but that did little to keep them warm.
"Are you sure about this, Kai?" asked Kenny, shivering and clutching Dizzi to his chest, hoping to keep himself warm. Kai nodded.
"It's perfect,"
They all slid down to beside the lake and each of them took out their Beyblades; Tyson the grey and red Dragoon blade, Max the green Draciel, Rei the grey Driger, and Kai the blue and red Dranzer. They hooked up their launchers.
"Let it rip!" yelled Kenny from the sidelines, opening Dizzi so she could analyse the battles. The four players launched, and their blades hit the ice. It was thick and solid so there was no danger of losing a blade. They spun around the edge for a little, as there was little grip and the blades found it difficult to move as they usually would.
"Come on out, Dragoon! You'll like it here!" cried Tyson, and the bright blue dragon emerged from his blade. It roared, it's scales glinting. The other Bit-Beasts emerged too, Draciel with a beautiful purplish hue, Drigger in green with a mighty roar, and the majestic Dranzer, wreathed in red flame. The Bit-Beasts, the legendary spirits, roared at each other. Then, the blades powered up and they all flew into the middle and engaged in a head on attack.
"This exercise is to improve stamina. Whoever lasts the longest is the winner," Kenny explained to Dizzi, who bleeped.
"It should be Dranzer. He's definitely got the highest spin rate."
True, Dranzer did win. Max went down first, followed by Rei and Tyson together.
"Good training, guys. Now lets test our attacks!" grinned Kenny, thoroughly enjoying himself.
The blades were launched again, and the Bit-beasts emerged. Then they all laid into each other with some cool powerful attacks. This time Kai's was the first to be knocked out - the cold weather almost doused his Dranzer's Fire Arrow attack. Next Rei's Beyblade stopped spinning, and then Max's. Dragoon's Storm attack was ripping it up.
"Good, Tyson. And Max, your defence is looking very sharp, and your attack was a lot better this time. Great!"
Dizzi bleeped. "We should try and think of some new training, Chief."
Kenny nodded. "Let's try them out in the snow, Dizzi."
The four participating members trudged back up the slope from the frozen lake and stood in the snow shivering. Kai grit his teeth.
"Come on, we have to keep training. If you wanna get warm move around some more."
Tyson growled tetchily - his fingers were beginning to go blue - or so he thought. His teeth were chattering and he was sure that Rei and Max felt exactly the same - like going inside and snuggling up with a hot water bottle. Kai seemed to enjoy the cold.
"Not surprising," thought Tyson, amusing himself, "He's like an snow- man or something. I bet if I touched him I'd turn into an ice-block!"
"Tyson, pay attention!"
Tyson woke up from his little daydream to Kenny's shrill yelling. "Huh?"
"You versus Max, in this patch of snow here. Let's see how you do."
There was no dish - but it wasn't necessary. They could blade on the flats - and the snow proved to be a test. As soon as both Max and Tyson launched their Beyblades they rotated extremely slowly, kicking up cascades of white snow where their edges skimmed the icy ground.
"Attack, Dragoon!" yelled Tyson, and his Beyblade slowly advanced, the glittering blue dragon emerging in a bright glow of radiance. Max growled.
"Come on out, Draciel!" he instructed, and his purple Draciel appeared, impressive in it's lavish colouring and roaring, and it met Tyson's Dragoon confidently. They locked heads, snapping at each other with angry jaws. But it was Max's Draciel who had the advantage - Tyson's Beyblade needed fast momentum to attack properly and the snow mired it, while all Max needed to do was stay in one place, which made it easy for him. Max won the match.
"You got lucky!" grinned Tyson good-naturedly as Dragoon spun back into his fingers. Max smiled. "I just thought tactically, that's all! Nothing to it!"
"Next is Rei versus Kai, on this bit of snow."
Rei and Kai got ready to launch. Max's eyes widened in anticipation. "I always wanted to see this battle!"
Tyson nodded. "Yeah, me too!"
Kenny gave the countdown and the order, and then both Kai and Rei pulled similarly incredible launches with instant, powerful movements of the arms. But this didn't seem to help, as the snow was so heavy that the blades just slowed straight back down.
Rei was quick on the aggressive. "Come on Driger! Show him your stuff!"
Driger emerged, looking very hard-hitting in its bright green glow. It roared, baring its fangs like it was king of the hill. Rei smiled.
"Well Kai?"
Kai did nothing. He just folded his arms and watched. Rei smiled guardedly. "Try'na scare me, huh? Nah, your tricks don't work on me, Kai. You don't scare me! You can stay silent all you like, if it makes you feel any better about losing. But I'm gonna blow you away!" ("Isn't that my line?" said Tyson, referring to his Bit-Beast's favourite attack, the Storm attack, but no-one was listening.)
Driger swept forward with as much motion as it could get. But before it could even get near Dranzer, Kai spoke.
"Fire Arrow, Dranzer. Downwards."
Rei was confused and his Driger hesitated. Rei watched as Dranzer the phoenix emerged, sparkling rouge, as majestic as ever, and performed an inverted Fire Arrow attack.
"What's he up to now?" asked Tyson, bewildered as fire engulfed the Dranzer blade. Max shrugged. "He always has something up his sleeve - even though his top is sleeveless."
Tyson almost grinned at Max's cheap joke and watched Dranzer closely. Then the Chief shouted out.
"I get it! Look at the snow around Kai's blade!"
Tyson peered closer and saw that the icy snow, so thick and white before, was melting rapidly and turning a shadowy colour. Dranzer's Fire Arrow flame had melted it! Soon, the snow was gone and Dranzer was spinning on common ground. The snow was thick but Kai's blade could just about be seen, spinning on some rocky surface.
Rei realised what was coming, and he tried to send Driger forward in a desperate attack. But he was too late. Now that Kai had his Beyblade on good ground again, he could increase its spin speed to its Maximum. Once it was whirring, Kai grinned at Rei.
"Scared now, Rei?"
Rei's eyes narrowed. "No way!"
"Fire Arrow!"
Dranzer flew into the air, encircled in flame, and smashed down on Rei's Driger, chipped the end of it, and sent it flying to Rei's feet. Rei picked it up enviously, admitting defeat decently.
"Good battle, Kai."
Kai folded his arms after replacing his Beyblade in his pocket. "You have to take so many things into account in Beyblading, Rei, that it's easy to forget one or two. But never forget to check out the area you're Beyblading in. In this case, you thought of the disadvantages, knowing that your blade was spinning slowly. But did you think of the advantages? Your Driger could've melted that snow, or at least parted it up with its Tiger Claw attack. The dish always has hidden advantages. All of you need to remember that."
Rei was silent. Dizzi bleeped. "Well look who's Mr Know-It-All!"
There was a short silence. All of the Blade-Breakers, whether they won or lost, felt that they had improved during their tough training.
"Well," said Kenny brightly, breaking the silence and turning Dizzi off, "it's time for some work outs. Um, Tyson, you and Rei can both do some jogging. Round the lake. Twenty times."
Tyson groaned. "Chief! My pants are freezin' off here! Just a little break?"
"You'll only get cold. Jogging will warm you up. Go on!"
Tyson and Rei set off reluctantly, Tyson muttering something about how he didn't see Kenny doing laps. The Chief laughed, and then turned to Kai and Max.
"You two can . . . well, there's not much else to do."
Max turned and spotted a pile of logs nearby, that had been chopped and were ready to take in - presumably to the 'hotel', it was the only building around for miles. "How about we do somethin' with those logs, Chief? We don't wanna jog!"
The Chief turned from watching Tyson fall over in some icy snow. "Yeah, ok. You two can lift and carry logs. A couple at a time will really test those muscles! Walk for a while, put them down, and then come back for more."
Max and Kai made towards the logs. Kenny opened Dizzi up and she watched Rei and Tyson run around the frozen over lake.
"Hilarious."
"I know, but it'll get them into great shape Dizzi."
Dizzi then bleeped at Max and Kai. "Poor Max will find it difficult. He isn't built for carrying."
"That's why he's doing it. It'll test his endurance."
"Yeah, and his patience. I wouldn't wanna work with the Ice man over there."
Kenny stifled a laugh and went back to watching Rei and Tyson. Tyson was now goofing off on the ice, trying to act like a pro skater and landing on his butt every now and then. Rei stood at the side, his hands on his hips.
"Yo Tyson! You're not graceful enough to be a figure skater. Let me try!"
Rei slid onto the ice - and immediately slipped and fell on his butt too. Tyson laughed, because both of them were sitting on the cold ice, freezing their behinds off.
"Man, we should stick to Beyblading!" Tyson said good-humouredly as Rei stood up wonkily and brushed the snow off himself. He held out a hand to Tyson.
"We should get back to jogging. Kenny won't be pleased!"
"Yeah, get back to it!" shouted Dizzi, thoroughly enjoying the show. But Kenny squinted at them. "You'd better, or else, Tyson!"
Tyson took Rei's hand to heave himself up. "Yeah, well, what's to be mad about? We were still exerc- "
"STOP! Don't move, Tyson!"
Tyson stood still, instantaneously paralysed by Rei's sharp command. He looked apprehensively about himself; his striking eyes darting from side to side to avoid movement of the head. Rei had half pulled him up, and it wasn't an easy position to hold, especially on the ice. He tensed his muscles so they were taut and he was barely moving.
"Um, Rei?" he almost whispered, barely daring to open his mouth.
"The ice around us has cracked completely! Don't move!"
Kenny sensed that something was wrong. "You guys ok?"
Before Tyson could answer, the ice beneath his feet moved and he slipped. Under him the ice splintered and extended to around both him and Rei, and it suddenly broke into thousands of tiny shards, floating in the lake water. Rei and Tyson plunged in with two brief cries that sliced the atmosphere before being choked nastily by the cruel water.
"Rei! Tyson!" yelled Kenny, hurling Dizzi to one side and running down towards the lake. Max and Kai heard and were next to him in a shot.
"Where are they?" Kai asked quickly. Kenny panicked.
"They . . . they fell in!"
"What?" Max's eyes widened, and he and Kai began to slide down the undulating embankment surrounding the solid lake. They reached the lake and saw the place where the ice had cracked, and Kai, followed by a hesitant Max, slid over to it.
"Wait!" the Chief cried, following them hurriedly. He looked at the lake. "Wait a minute! It isn't a lake! It's an estuary!" He saw a small part of the lake leading off down-stream into a frozen river that he had not perceived before.
His tone was one of horror, but Max and Kai didn't have a clue what Kenny's point was. They didn't even know what an estuary was. Kenny shook his head in exasperation. "It leads into a river! They'll be swept away! Currents under there will be rapid! They'll be further down!"
Kai knelt down by the hole. After pulling away a minuscule, synthetic object from underneath the ice and putting it in his pocket, he plunged his head promptly in to see what he could see. Nothing could be viewed from the surface of the 'lake', as the ice was frosty. He pulled his head out after a minute, freezing cold water dripping off his face in little globules.
"I think I might have seen them, but it's difficult to tell down there. It's murky. They'll be cold - it's freezing down there."
He put his head in again, and this time he brought it out quickly. "It's them. They're clinging to something - weeds, I guess, but you can see that the current under there is strong and they can't swim back up."
He began to unravel the long, cream scarf he always wore around his neck. The Chief was in near hysteria. "What do we do?" he wailed.
"Stay calm, Kenny!" said Max, though he was close to panic himself. He turned and saw Kai looking at him.
"Max, get Draciel out. You need it to attack the ice down there. That's just above where they are."
He pointed to a spot about six or seven metres away, and Max immediately launched his powerful Draciel. It sped towards the spot, the slippery ice giving it extra speed, and it crashed into the ice with a new and improved attack. It spun back into Max's hands and left a neat, large hole in the ice. It was an almost absolute circle, with about a one-metre diameter.
Kai ran to the hole - he and Max had good balance on the ice. Kenny followed them uncertainly, and watched Kai tie his long scarf around his waist.
"They're not too far under, so I should be able to reach them. Max, Kenny, you guys hold this tight, and don't let go, or we'll be stuck under there. When you feel me tug on this thing, pull as hard as you can. Got it?" He quickly unclasped the red metal wristbands that glinted along his forearms and threw them onto the sodden floor. Max took the other end of the scarf in his hands with a resilient nod. "Got it, Kai."
Kenny grasped it tight. "You're going down there?"
"Do you have a better plan?" asked Kai as he jumped into the water.
