SS-Let's just get into this quickly before I forget what I wanted to write. Same disclaimer as always, we don't own BB.
Tym-Why are you rushing through this?
SS-I don't know. I guess because there's nothing to say. Oh, but I do want to thank the reviewers. No matter how many stories you write, it's always nice to get reviews.
Tym-You're telling me. It makes the author happy and makes them write faster. Amazing lil inventions, aren't they?
Warning: On M-sen's request…I'm doing my best to add in bits of Kai/Rei here and there. I suppose I can change the ending to make it seem like they're more than friends as appose to my original concept of brotherly love/adoration. I'm not the best when it comes to the deep love stuff; but fluff and shmut (Pointless or not), I think I can do.
~*~*~*~
The Spirit Within Me
Chapter 4
~*~*~*~
(10:00 AM)
"Are we there yet?" The gang had been on the road for about half and hour now.
"No Tyson, we're not." And that boy's repetitive question was irritating everyone except Ray, who was sleeping.
"Are you sure, Kai?" Max leaned over to Rei and whispered to him,
"Is Kai ever wrong?" Rei shook his head.
"Yes I'm sure, Tyson!" The two sighed and tried to stay out of things.
"Ok." Kenny was in the front seat with Mr. Dickinson, plotting the course and giving him directions based on why Ray remembered. Tyson was sitting next to Max and Rei and his look-a-like were across from them. As for Kai, he was sitting behind the neko-jins…away from Tyson.
"How about we sing a song?"
"No." Kai said simply.
"Play 'I Spy'?"
"No."
"How about the license plate game?"
"NO!" The sudden outburst jolted the once sleeping Ray, who was now looking for the source of the disturbance.
"Who's shouting?"
"Him!" Tyson pointed to Kai while the captain motioned to him. She sighed.
"Are you ok, Ray?"
"I'm fine, I just didn't realize how long this trip was going to be. It seemed a lot faster last night.
"That's because you sprinted here with your unbelievable bitbeast speed! We can't match that unless we flew a jet there."
"…Why didn't we?" Kenny looked back.
"I don't think the BBA has a jet. And even if they did, it's easier to locate the abbey if we're on the ground."
"Argh…" She growled, which caught everyone's attention.
"That must come from the jaguar in you, because I've never heard Rei growl like that." Rei agreed with Kai.
"But we have heard him purr!" Max chimed in.
"Ok guys."
"And we've seen him bear him fangs!"
"She gets it guys."
"And I swear he hissed at an opponent once."
"Enough all ready!" Max and Tyson retreated to their seats.
"He probably got that from Ray."
"Or Kai." Kai glared at the other bluenette.
"OK…Rei gets growling from Ray and glaring from Kai."
"Yup." The Chinese blader and his captain sighed. It was going to be a long ride.
~*~
(11:30 AM)
"Are we there yet?"
"Yea, are we there yet?" Ray couldn't help but ask with Tyson. If she were running, she could have been there by now.
"I'm sorry kids, but finding this place is no easy task. Even with Dizzi's help." Everyone sighed.
'Yes, it has been a long time.' He checked his watch. They had been stuck in this van since 9:30 AM, which meant that Ray had been absorbing his teammate's energy for almost two hours and thirty minutes. 'We've hit the halfway mark. We have to get that preserver. We're running out of time.'
"Hey Kai?" Kai looked up from where he was starring and met two pairs of concerned, golden eyes. "You ok, man?"
"Yea, are you tired?" He couldn't get over how alike they were. He could hardly tell their voices apart.
"I'm fine. Just-" Rei finished his sentence.
"Thinking, right?" Kai smirked and nodded. Rei then turned to his double. "He does that a lot."
"I've noticed." They both ducked back into their seats and enjoyed the silence, slowly dozing off. Both Max and Tyson had fallen asleep from boredom about fifteen minutes ago, and the rest of the gang have been reveling in the peace ever since. Kai starred at the window again, thinking about their situation again.
'We should be arriving soon. When we get there, we should split up, it'll be easier to find the potion that way. But what do we do once Ray has taken it? Where will she go?' He was interrupted from his thoughts again when the engine started acting up. 'That can't be good.' With a few more clanks and stutter stops, the van came to an abrupt halt.
"Ah!" The sudden stop caused both Tyson and Max to crash into Mr. Dickinson's seat. Across from them, both neko-jins' quick reflexes prevented them from ramming into Kenny's seat. And of course, Kai had heard the sounds beforehand so he avoided the collision.
"Is everyone all right?"
"I'm ok."
"That's because you used me as a shield Chief."
"We're both ok."
"I'm fine."
"What about the two behind me? I heard them hit the seat." Rei looked over, they were rubbing their head but aside from that, they seemed all right.
"They're ok Mr. D. What happened?" Max got up and looked out the window.
"Yea, did we hit something?"
"No, we didn't. It sounds like the engine went dead."
"Then what are we gonna do?"
"I could call someone to pick us up-"
"No." Kai said, cutting Mr. Dickinson off. "That'll take too long. Dizzi, how much further is it?"
"By my calculation, about another mile or two."
"Then we'll walk." Tyson jumped out of his seat.
"Wait a minute, walk?! That'll take just as long!"
"Actually, it will be faster. It took us about two hours to get this far, and if we start now, we should reach the abbey in an hour."
"Yea, if we run all the way! Let's just call for-"
"There's no time!" Rei grabbed Kai's arm.
"Calm down Kai, what's the rush?" As much as he wanted to answer him and shut Tyson up, he didn't want to worry them. He just had to persuade them to walk. As if reading Kai's mind, Ray looked out the window.
"Hey guys, this place looks familiar."
"You mean we've been going in circles?!"
"No Max, I mean I think we're close to the abbey." They all starred at her. "I remember this circle of trees, we mustn't be too far away. I think we can walk there." Kai started to walk out of the van.
"Than it's settled, come on, let's go." Everyone started filing out of the broken down vehicle and began walking.
"Hey Mr. Dickinson, aren't you coming?"
"No Kenny, I think I'll stay here. You boys and girls go on ahead."
"Why?"
"When you all get back here, you'll need a way to get home. I'll wait for the car and drive to the abbey to wait for you."
"Well all right. Are you sure you don't want one of us to stay with you?"
"I'm a big boy Kenny, I'll be fine." Tyson threw his arm around the Chief's shoulder and smiled.
"Don't worry, Mr. D. can take care of himself. Come on, we better get going before Kai starts shouting at us."
"Ok."
"Good luck, and be careful." He waved and began dialing on his cell phone, watching as the team disappeared behind the brush.
~*~
(12:15 PM)
"Are we there yet?"
"Tyson…"
"Well I thought we were almost there ok?" Ray tried not to notice the boy's remarks, hoping that they don't realize that she had lied about recognizing the circle of trees before.
"Tyson's right, I thought we were pretty close."
"Well, I was running pretty fast, I'm not exactly sure how far I was from the abbey when I saw that clearing." Kenny checked his map.
"Oh don't worry, we're not too far, we'll make it there soon." Ray inwardly sighed, glad that Kenny was backing her up. The Chief was leading them through the forest, with Rei, his double, Max and Tyson close behind him. Kai was bringing up the rear. Making sure that nobody wandered off. The only time he had gone up was to ask Rei if he was getting tired about ten minutes ago, but he had replied saying that he felt fine.
"This is getting boring…" Ray said. "How about we play 'I Spy'?" Max, Rei, and Kenny agreed with her.
"Oh, when she suggests it everyone agrees…"
"Ok. Let's see." She looked around, trying to find something good. "All right, I spy with my golden eyes, something that's…red." The four BladeBreakers started searching for something red, calling out their answers when something caught their eye.
"A bird?"
"Nope."
"Rei's bandana?"
"No."
"Your bandana?"
"My bandana isn't red."
"Yes it is." She looked up to find that hers was red too. 'When did that happen?'
"Well, that's not it."
"Um…Kai's shirt has a red outline…"
"Nu uh. But you're getting warmer."
"So it's something Kai's wearing…" They all looked at Kai, who had just crossed his arms.
"What am I? A circus attraction?"
"Well, since you said it…" Kai's glare immediately silenced Tyson.
"His beyblade has red on it."
"That's a good guess, but I can't even see his blade." The others kept looking. And Kai kept glaring…and that's when Rei noticed it.
"Oh, I know! His eyes! Kai has red eyes!" Ray clapped.
"That's right! I guess we think alike, huh?"
"Aw…not fair."
"Ok Tyson, you can do the next one then."
He grinned.
Yea! Ok, I spy with my little
eye," He looked up while he walked, surprisingly not running into anything.
"Something that's blue-"
"The sky." Everyone stopped and looked at Kai.
"Hey, how'd you know?"
"It was obvious." Everyone laughed, except for Tyson, and they kept walking.
~*~
(12:40 PM)
They had given up on 'I Spy' a while ago when most of the things to spy were already done, and were now walking in silence, which Kai enjoyed. Ray, on the other hand, didn't like the silence too much.
"How about another game?" Max looked over.
"Like what?"
"Mm…" She snapped her fingers. "Telephone!" The others nodded, admitting that it was a good game and that they could play it while they were walking.
"But…we only have one cell phone with us." Ray learned to ignore Tyson's remarks and began to think of a starting subject.
"Ok. I got one." She ran over to Rei and whispered it into his ear. "Kai likes…" He raised his eyebrow. "Just go along with it! Oh, and don't forget to add something!"
"Ok…" He rubbed the back of his neck while he thought of something else to add on. Then he went over to Kenny and continued the sentence. "Kai likes…malls and…" Kenny thought for a while, and then walked back to Max and whispered his part.
"Kai likes malls and…uh…animals because…" Max hid a chuckle from the sentence fragment and went over to Tyson.
'He's going to get a kick out of this.' "Kai likes uh…what was it? Oh yea, claws and uh…" 'What animal did Kenny say?' "Uh…claws and tigers because…because they remind him of Rei and…" Tyson almost couldn't contain his laughter. This was perfect. He practically skipped over to Kai and told him the finished sentence.
"No way. I'm not joining this ridiculous game."
"Aw come on Kai, you'll love this one…"
"No. Thanks."
"Fine…I'll just say it out loud then." He cleared his throat. "Ok. Kai likes claws and tigers because they remind him of Rei…" He pointed to the BladeBreaker to clarify which person he was talking about. "And…uh…oh yea! And he thinks he's hot!" Rei slapped his forehead, Kenny hid his chuckle and himself behind his laptop and Ray scratched her cheek.
"That's not the way I thought it'd go…" Max laughed, and Tyson joined him.
"Tyson…" Kai said in a dangerously low voice.
"Uh oh!" He bolted, with Kai not too far behind him. "Why are you mad at me?! We all contributed to that sentence!"
"I know how the game works! You added in that last part!" Tyson rounded a tree and soon they were circling around the others.
"Do you think we should tell them that those weren't even the right words?"
"No way Chief, that's part of the game."
"You're only saying that Max because you're the one that told Tyson the wrong thing." He grinned sheepishly at Ray. Meanwhile, the chase continued.
"It's your fault!" He said, hiding behind Max.
"My fault?!"
"Yea! If you had joined in, you could have changed it!" Kai darted between everyone and headed for Tyson, but he sprinted away and ended up behind Rei.
"Tyson! Don't get me involved in this!"
"Stop hiding Tyson!"
"Come on Kai…it was all in good fun. And you wouldn't hurt Rei, would you?" Not wanting her double to get hurt by Kai's fury, Ray used her incredible speed to grab Rei and get out…leaving nothing but air between Kai and Tyson.
"Shoot…"
~*~
(1:00 PM)
It was quiet once again, as Tyson seemed to have learned his lesson. But Ray was still bored, so when Kai walked over to Kenny to see how much farther the abbey was; she motioned Rei and Max over.
"Since we're almost there, how about we play one last game?" Rei and Max nodded while Tyson tried to hear what they were saying.
"Did you say game? Can I play?"
"No. Kai will just hit you again."
"Aww…can I at least listen?"
"Fine."
"So what's the game?"
"Two line vocabulary (1)." The guys looked at each other, and then back to her.
"How do you play that?"
"I saw it on a show in Tyson's house. Here's how it works. We're going to engage in a conversation with Kai, but you and Max can only say two different sentences to him. Nothing else."
"What about you?"
"I can say whatever. That way I can
keep the conversation going." Max grinned.
"Sounds like fun." Rei smirked at him.
"You mean, sounds like a fun way to annoy Kai." Max nodded.
"Can I help too?" She looked at Tyson's pleading eyes.
"Um…a little, but don't give it away."
"Yea!"
"Hey!" They all looked over to Kai. "Come on, we found the way, we're almost there!"
"Ok!" She shouted back. "Ok…Max, you can only say…what's that, and you got to be kidding. And Rei, you can only say…is that a good thing, and uh…"
"I'm getting hungry!" They looked over at Tyson.
"Ok, fine. Let the games begin!" They all walked over to Kai, who eyed them suspiciously.
"What?"
"Nothing." They walked a little further, and Ray started. "So, Kai… what are you thinking about?"
"It's none of your concern, Ray."
"You got to be kidding."
"Why would I be kidding?"
"Is that a good thing?"
"What's a good thing?" Tyson stepped in to bring it home.
"That you're kidding." He didn't respond to that, he just walked faster. They exchanged glances, and Max went forward.
"What was that?"
"What was what?"
"I'm getting hungry." Kai turned to Rei.
"But we ate before we left."
"You got to be kidding!" He turned back to Max.
"Why would I be kidding? Uh…de ja vu."
"Is that a good thing?"
"Argh…" He stopped and looked at both of them. "I don't know what you two are up to but you had better stop it." Rei looked to Max and pointed at Kai.
"…Is that a good thing?"
"Argh!" He walked away and the two glanced back at Ray and Tyson. Max went up again. He kicked a rock into the neighboring bushes and gasped.
"What's that?!" He jumped and grabbed Kai's arm.
"Huh?" Rei grabbed Kai's other arm…pretending to be scared.
"…I'm getting hungry."
"You two get off of me! It was just a bug or something."
"You got to be kidding!"
"Is that a good thing?!" Tyson stepped up.
"I don't think so…" Ray kicked another rock into the bushes.
"Oh no…there's another one!"
"What WAS that?!" Max ran behind Kai, soon followed by Rei.
"Is that a-"
"No Rei, it's probably not a good thing!"
"You've got to-"
"No, I'm not kidding Max!" He faced them. "What's wrong with you two!?" They both shrugged.
"I'm sure it's nothing you guys." They turned to Ray. "If it's anything, it's probably a rabbit of a deer."
"What's that?!" He motioned to something near Kenny and ran over to him, grabbing his shoulder in the process. "You got to be kidding!" Ray and Tyson hid their laughter as Rei went up and grabbed Max's arm.
"…I'm getting hungry…" The blond looked shocked.
"You got to be kidding!"
"Is that a good thing?" Kai shook his head and headed for both of them. He didn't look happy.
"What's that?" Max asked. Kenny looked at them as if they were crazy.
"Guys…that's just Kai." Rei turned to Max.
"Is that a good thing?" He looked back.
"You got to be kidding!"
"You guys are driving me insane!"
"Eep!" They said in unison and ran off in different directions. He set after Max first, seeing as he was laughing so much he couldn't run too fast. "We'll stop, we'll stop!" After getting a hold of Max, he turned to look for Rei, and spotted him leaning against a tree, breathing heavily. Kai's anger vanished.
"Rei…" Max was still laughing, but he had to warn his partner in crime that the phoenix had seen him.
"Heh heh…Rei…get moving-ooff!" Kai pushed the hyper teen into Tyson's arms and ran over to Rei.
"Rei, Rei are you all right?" Said boy looked over at him.
"Yea, I'm fine. Just ran a little too much and laughed a little too hard." Kai didn't believe him for a second.
"Yea right. I've seen you dash across the street without losing your breath." He checked his watch. They only had about an hour and a half left. 'No wonder he's exhausted…and that little chase didn't help much.' "Come on Rei, we got to keep going."
"All right." They had calmed down eventually, and after a few minutes, Kenny stopped. Tyson looked around.
"What's up, Chief?" He turned to them.
"We're here guys." He pulled back some branches to reveal a small, stone building. It resembled a church, but something told them that nothing about it was holy. Ray shivered as they approached it.
"Yea, this is the place. Eh…I'm not too fond of it." Kai nodded.
"All the more reason to hasten our search. Come on." He ushered them to follow him into the creepy castle; they reluctantly followed. Rei shivered and he felt as if something passed through him.
'Why do I not have a good feeling about this?'
~*~*~*~
(1) It's a game on the show "Who's Line is it Anyway?" It's really funny ^_^ So I don't take credit for that either.
SS-There we go. After some wandering, laughing, and annoying Kai, they finally reached the abbey.
Tym-That was fast. The story's almost over!
SS-Well, I never planned on making this story long.
Tym-True.
SS-And if you're wondering why I keep putting the time up, it'll be explained soon. And…it will make sense. ~_^ Oh, and please review. It'd make me feel better.
Tym-And I wouldn't have to listen to her ask me 'do you think they like the story?' Ashes dudes and dudettes!