SS-Back. I figure, even though not too many people read this, it's for M-sen and as long as she's happy then I'll continue.
Tym-You mean…if you don't she'll nag you, right?
SS-Correct. Can you do me a favor? If she asks me to do a story for her again…hit me…really hard.
Tym-*grabs a mallet* My pleasure.
~*~*~*~
The Spirit Within Me
Chapter 3
"Hey!" They both looked over to the rest of the gang. Rei stepped forward. "What's going on here?"
"Well, first off, Ray isn't human…at least…she wasn't." He raised his hand, telling them to not ask anything until he was done. "Tyson, remember when you came to talk to me in the abbey? When I gave you Dranzer?" The boy nodded. "In the room, you noticed all those glass tubes right? The ones with animals in them?" Another nod. "That's where Ray came from. She was one of those animals, one of the ones whose spirits were being harnessed for Biovolt."
"But wait a minute Kai…you demolished Biovolt remember?" The others agreed with Tyson, he had indeed destroyed the abbey with Black Dranzer after returning to his team. Well, not completely, but he had made his mark.
"It must have been one of the other abbeys then." He turned to Ray. "One of the smaller ones that are only there for experiments, right?"
"I suppose. I didn't know there was more than one of those atrocious places…but the one I escaped from wasn't too far from here."
"As I expected. They were so bent on creating more mutant bitbeats that they had to open more areas so that they could gather more spirits."
"Hey, I'm not a mutant." Kai shrugged it off.
"Man…I thought that after the championships we wouldn't here about all this for a while." The others nodded in agreement.
"Well Tyson, I hope you didn't think that all of it was over."
"No, but-"
"Good. We should go back to the abbey then to get a preserver (1) for her then."
"What's a…preserver?"
"It'll stabilize Ray. You see, once a spirit escapes, it's unstable… especially if they were in the middle of testing. She's not a bitbeast yet, nor is she an animal. She lacks a physical form."
"But we can feel her. She seems real to me."
"True, but that's because she's absorbing Rei's energy Max. That's how she can take a human form. Though…" He turned to the girl. "I'm amazed you were able to run so far and spend the night here before assimilating someone." She crossed her arms.
"Well I wasn't about to take on one of those despicable men. When you put your mind to something, you'll be amazed at what you can do."
"Yea."
"So basically…she's feeding off of Rei?"
"To put it simply, yes." Max shivered.
"Ugh…you make it sound like she's a vampire or a leech or something."
"Hey!"
"Essentially that is what she is. She needs Rei's energy to stay human. But she can't help it, Ray can't stop absorbing him."
"Yea…I'm sorry Rei. But I won't drain you or anything."
'At least you don't think you will…' "That's also why she looks like him, talks like him, and sounds like him. The longer she absorbs him, the more a like they'll become. So don't be surprised if you can't tell them a part soon." Tyson stepped up to them and took a good look at each one.
"Hm…that's really creepy, two Reis."
"So the preserver will cause Ray to stop assimilating our Rei, right Kai?"
"That's right Kenny. It'll stabilize her and she'll start becoming her own person. Her hair, eyes, voice, they'll all change…unless she actually looks that way." Everyone nodded, finally understanding the situation. "So we better find a way back to that abbey right away-"
"What's the hurry? I don't know about you guys, but I wanna learn more about Ray." Max agreed with his equally energetic friend.
"Yea, it's kind of cool to have a girl around. Especially since she's just like our Rei."
"You don't mind, do you Kai?"
"Well, no. But it's best if we get there first though-"
"Well, if you don't mind Kai…I am kind of hungry." Tyson cheered.
"All right! Something else we have in common! Come on Ray, let me introduce you to the kitchen!" He grabbed her wrist and pulled her inside, with Max and Kenny in tow. Which left Kai and Rei in the yard.
"We really should be heading to the abbey. They can eat and play games after she's stable." Rei nudged him.
"Come on Kai, she hungry. And no doubt Tyson wouldn't mind snacking either." He began walking in. "It won't take long, and I don't mind the absorbing thing. I mean, it doesn't hurt, and it's not like she'll drain me dry." With that, he entered the house, leaving Kai alone.
'That's what you think.' He checked his watch. That whole encounter had only been a few minutes, Rei was right, they had plenty of time. But he didn't want to risk anything. Especially when Rei was the one in danger. 'I'll just have to push them along like I always do. Hmph…nothing out of the ordinary.' And he walked in, closing the door firmly behind him.
~*~
"Oh man…I'm stuffed." Ray stated as she put her napkin down and took a sip of her tea. "But I guess that's a good thing."
"You bet it is!" Tyson exclaimed. He was still eating some of the chips that Rei had brought, but overall, he was done.
"Now that you guys are done stuffing your faces, can we think about getting the preserver?" Max swallowed the muffin he was chewing and thought about that.
"But…we don't even know where the abbey is?" Kai glanced at Ray.
"That's where she comes in." The girl held her cup close to her mouth as she tried to remember what she wanted to forget.
"You do remember where the abbey is, right?" She turned to the boy next to her, still thinking.
"I'm pretty sure I do Rei. I mean, if we passed by the area I could probably lead you there."
"You don't know the exact location?" Ray looked at Kenny, who was ready and waiting for directions.
"Well, it was so dark, and I was running so fast, I'm afraid I can't recall…the precise spot." He glanced at the keyboard.
"That's ok. It can't be too far." He began typing. "And it's probably well hidden, among trees or something."
"I definitely remember trees."
"That's a start."
"But still, it could be pretty far away."
"How could it be Kai? She can't run that far."
"You're forgetting what she is Tyson. Her spirit is a jaguar, it would probably be no trouble for her to sprint through a forest without losing her breath." She nodded and placed her cup on the table.
"He's right. The abbey could be miles away. I should have paid attention to where I was going." Rei put his hand on her shoulder.
"Don't worry about it. If the abbey is around here, I'm sure Dizzi can find it. And no one's blaming you. I mean you wanted to get away from that horrible place as quick as you could, and you had no idea you'd ever need to go back. So don't beat yourself up over it." She smiled, and started thinking again, straining her mind for anything specific.
"Hm…"
"It's no big deal Ray, Dizzi will find it." Tyson said and continued to scarf down the rest of the chips.
"I thought you said you were full."
"I never said that Kai." The captain sighed and shook his head.
"…You'd give an arm and a leg for a bag of chips, wouldn't you?"
'Leg?' Ray glanced at her ankle and saw that there was a noticeable, red, gash above it. A spark went off in her head. "That's it!" Everyone looked at her.
"What's it, Ray?"
"Leg! My leg! I remember last night I tripped over a really sharp rock and scraped my ankle!"
"Ok…but there are hundreds of sharp rocks."
"No, no…that's not it Max! Because I tripped, I crashed into a sign. The words were smudgy, but I remember most of it. At the very top was the word "haunted"…it looked as if it was written by someone. Under that was some word that was crossed out, but it started with a 'm'. And the word below that was 'woods'." They thought about it as Kenny typed. "Does…does that help?"
"Maybe. I'm searching for any forests or clearings that begin with a 'm', hold on."
"So…it's not the 'haunted woods'?" Rei shook his head.
"If you're right, one of the Biovolt workers must have written that to scare kids away."
"Oh."
"I've got it Chief! The 'Midori (2) Woods'."
"Good job Dizzi. Now we just need to find it…there! All right, it's not too far from here, but it'll take too long if we walk…"
"Which means we need a ride!"
"Brilliant deduction Sherlock…"
"Ok, ok, I'll call Mr. Dickinson and arrange a ride." He went over to the phone and dialed the number.
"All right, we got a plan…and until he comes…we can eat!"
"Yea and play video games!" With that, Max and Tyson ran off, snagging a bag of popcorn on their way to his room.
"But we still have to find out where in the woods is the abbey." Rei smiled and patted Kai's arm reassuringly.
"Don't worry about it pal, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Kai couldn't help but smile…a little. He had to admire his optimism; after all, it's what made him who he was.
"Yea, why worry about it now? Just relax Kai, you worry too much." His smile broadened a bit more.
'I guess it's not too bad having two neko-jins around. So it's a good thing Rei was late and that Tyson was actually on time. Ugh…thank goodness she didn't assimilate Tyson.' He didn't want to think about it, so he relaxed, for now.
~*~
It had been about fifteen minutes or so since Kenny had called Mr. Dickinson, who had obviously run into some trouble, but the gang didn't seem to notice. Tyson and Max were still playing video games, Ray was helping Kenny locate the abbey on Kai's request, and the captain was sitting across from them.
'We're losing time…we have to hurry up.'
"Kai?" The phoenix looked over to see Rei take a seat next to him. "Deep in thought?"
"Yea."
"About what?" He debated whether or not he should tell him, and decided against it.
"Nothing that would concern you Rei." A small frown appeared on his once neutral features, Kai sighed inwardly. "Rei…listen."
"…Yea?"
"I can't tell you everything, but you should know that our timing is very important."
"Uh…you lost me there Kai."
"Ok…forget about that. Rei, you know that things are going to get a little dangerous, right?"
"Of course. I mean, it seems like everything we do puts us in danger."
"Well, you're in more danger then the rest of us because your energy is supporting you and Ray. So it's important that you tell me when you feel tired, ok?"
"Tell you when I'm tired?" He knew it sounded odd…very odd…but the stern look in his captain's eyes told him that this obviously meant something to him. "Ok. If it means that much to you." Kai nodded in gratitude. It did mean a lot to him to know that even though the tournaments were all over, Rei still respected him and took his orders seriously.
"All right!" Both of the BladeBreakers looked over to Kenny.
"What is it?" Ray smiled wide enough to show her fangs.
"We found it! We think we've found the precise spot. Now all we need is some transportation." As if on cue, they heard the familiar horn of the van from outside. Rei grinned.
"Right on time." He, his double, and Kenny went out to greet Mr. Dickinson, leaving Kai the responsibility to get the other two members of his team.
"Tyson! Max! Come on, Mr. Dickinson is here! Let's go!" Hearing no response, he sighed and went inside. Meanwhile, the others were calling seats and filling in Mr. D. on the situation.
"And you're telling me that this young lady is an actual bitbeast?" Kenny shook his head.
"Um…no. She's not a bitbeast."
"Well you can't expect me to believe that she's a jaguar."
"She's not." Said Rei.
"Yea actually, I'm kind of in the middle. Not an animal, but not yet a bitbeast. Or at least, that's the way Kai put it." He nodded, satisfied with that answer.
"All right then. Say, speaking of Kai…where is he?" The three looked around until they spotted their blue-haired captain dragging the two energetic teenagers behind him.
"Let me go!" Shouted Tyson. "I can walk on my own."
"I'm sure you can, but probably not fast enough."
"Well I can walk faster than him, let me go instead!"
"We're here anyway, so get in." He practically threw the two in, closing the door behind him. "Ok, lets go." They decided not to argue and took a seat. The engine started again and they were finally on their way.
~*~*~*~
(1) How original, right?
(2) 'Green Woods' Not too fancy, but it'll do.
SS-*Tym hits SS with the mallet* NOT YET!
Tym-…it was a practice shot.
SS-Argh…
Tym-Uh…RnR plz! *runs away*