Far From Here
A/N: *singing* Yayness! Beyblade won! Sorry, YTV had a poll type thing on whether to have the voice actors from either Transformers Armada, Beyblade or Hamtaro. BEYBLADE WON!!! They had the voice actors for Kenny, Kai and Max there. DUDE! Kai's voice actor dude was HOT! David something, I think. 18, too! *starts dancing* Kai, Kai, Kai, Kai, Kai, Kai, Kai, Kai, Kai, Kai, Kai, Kai, Kai, Kai, Kai, Kai, Kai, Kai, Kai, Kai, Kai, Kai, Kai… FONDUE! ^-^ YAYNESS! New season-ness!
DISCLAIMER: I own only… jeez, why am I still saying this? I've been telling you for five chapters now! Sheesh…
CHAPTER 6: LOSING GRIP
"Thought you'd never leave, traitor."
Kai whipped around. "Alec!"
There, standing in front of him, was someone who, to the unknowing eye, would appear to be Rei. But Kai knew better. This particular black-haired, golden-eyed Blader was pretty ticked off, something Rei never was. He had grown up with Alexei Yvan. He tolerated Rei Kon for a year, until Mr. Dickenson announced that the agreement papers they had signed the year before were non-retractable. Meaning Kai had been duped a good one and was now stuck with this juvenile morons for a loooooong time.
"You're a traitor, you know that, right?" Alec snapped.
"Never said otherwise," Kai snapped right back. "Now can we get the heck out of here before they catch us?"
"Thought you'd never ask." Alec responded and jumped onto the sturdy branch of a nearby tree. "Get up, traitor."
"Kai!" Julien yelled uselessly as he ran a dismayed hand through his hair. "You idiot! I'm going to KILL you when I find you!" Grumbling incoherently, he finally muttered, "What'd I ever do to deserve a nephew like him… Pam, we have a KROA. Headed north-northeast about five minutes ago." He spoke into his walkie-talkie. An irritated female voice responded, "Gotcha, Julien. I'll head after him. And next time, for Heaven's sake bug him."
"I'll think it over, Pam," Julien dutifully responded and looked up at Rei, Dak and Laili, who were looking pretty confused.
"What's KROA?" Rei finally asked, breaking the awkward silence.
"Kai's Run Off Again." Julien responded, a ghost of a smile appearing. "My field investigator is getting tired of tracking him down. In case you couldn't tell."
"Julien," Laili finally spoke up. "Tell me the truth. Was that my son?"
Julien hesitated only for a moment before responding, "Yes."
It was like the crack that caused the dam to explode. Both Dak and Laili started yelling at Julien at once, until finally he hollered, "SHUT IT FOR A SECOND AND I'LL EXPLAIN!!"
Abashed, Dak and Laili's jeremiad subsided and Julien sighed.
"Your initial suspicion was right, Laili. Father and Sebastien did kidnap them." He paused only for a moment before continuing.
"Originally, their intention was just to take Kai for a couple of weeks or a month or something, just to try and prove that they still have power over you, but, and I'm not sure on how this happened, but the plan got changed. I'm still clueless as to why they took Alexei, but my best guess is as good as yours.
"After they had captured the two, Uncle Maximilian pointed out that they were all too obvious as targets. So Sebastien had this crazy idea that they could hide the boys away in Balkoff Abbey, a Beyblade training abbey in Russia. This one was run by Boris Balkoff, an acquaintance of Father's, I'm sure you've met him, Rei."
Rei shuddered. "Don't remind me."
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of jumping from tree to tree, they found a cave to stop over in for the night. Unlike Kai, Alec had come prepared for a night outside. Now he tossed a fleece blanket over to Kai, who caught it easily and rubbed his arms.
"So, traitor," Alec said grumpily, "Mind explaining why you abandoned me? Why you abandoned us? And joined up with a team of kids, no less."
"Listen, it wasn't my idea to do that!" Kai snapped. "Head of the BBA forced me into it."
"Teams created by the BBA only last a year." Alec pointed out, poking the slowly growing fire with a stick.
"Not this one," Kai griped. "They pulled a fast one on me. Somewhere in there was the hidden fact that the agreement papers were non-retractable."
Alec turned to face his old friend, a lost look in his eye. "So you're stuck?"
"Oh, you bet I am." Kai grumbled. "And I don't like it one little bit."
"Listen, kid, if that cherished Dak of yours even cared what happened to you, he wouldn't be ignoring your absence. Look," Sebastien pushed a key and on the screen appeared a video of the Camden cabin, where Dak was locking the door to Kai's bedroom and smiling as Laili held up a frilled baby dress, most likely for the baby sister Kai was supposed to be getting in February.
"Dak!" Kai screamed, trying to reach past the screen. "Mommy! Come get me!"
Sebastien snapped the picture from the screen and smacked the small boy across the face. "Shut it, you b******! Don't you hear me? They Don't Care!"
"No!" Kai continued to scream, struggling even as the two teenage boys in the shadows emerged and restrained him to a chair. "Dak! Mommy! Dak! Mommy!"
Breathing hard, Kai's eyes flew open and he lay there, staring at the stone ceiling.
Where had that come from? Sighing, Kai rolled over and closed his eyes again, falling back into his uneasy slumber.
Sebastien released him and prompted, "So? Do they care about you?"
"No, sir," Kai replied monotonously, eyes slightly unfocused.
"Who cares about you?"
"Nobody, sir."
"Are you going to cause Sir any difficulties?"
"No, sir."
"Good boy. Now go back to your dormitory."
"Yes, sir."
"Hey, Kai," Alec hissed. "Wakey wakey." He poked Kai in the side, which then caused him to bolt right up and sock Alec.
"Hey!" Alec whined, rubbing his hit cheek. "You pack quite a punch now."
"Sorry, Alec." Kai groaned as he sat up, clutching at his temples. "I'm a little on edge. Julien's probably sent Pam after me by now."
"Yes he did," a definitely irritated female voice announced from the cave's opening.
"Julien?" Pam's voice came from over the walkie-talkie. "I have both of them in custody now. Want me to bring 'em in?"
"Sure, thanks, Pam." Julien said sleepily.
"Running after my boss' delinquent runaway nephew was not part of the job description." Pam responded grouchily and signed out.
Stretching, Julien got up and tried not to step on any Beybladers during the attempt. Rather than fight over who got the master bedroom (the other room was locked), all four boys had just sprawled out with pillows and blankets they had brought from home on the floor.
Just as he was opening the door, an exceptionally cold blast of air hit him. Unfortunately, he didn't close the door fast enough and all four boys were awake and clamoring for information.
"Did you find him?" seemed to be the general question.
Julien sighed. "Yes, I did. Now, if you don't mind, I have to go inform Dak and Laili. And I'm sure Glen and Isobel will want to know as well."
Just as they all left the cabin, a government car pulled up and an irate woman of Hispanic origin emerged, followed by two arguing teen boys.
Kai would've laughed when Rei and Alec set eyes on each other, yelling about doppelgangers, if the situation hadn't been so serious and his head hadn't felt like it was going to explode. Grumbling curses upon Biovolt and all members of his family, he took a seat on the armchair in the living room of the cabin, one hand gripping his head strenuously.
"Kai?" Alec asked, finally tearing his eyes away from Rei. "What's wr— oh, no. Not now."
Kai didn't answer, because all of his strength was now being used to keep from screaming in pain.
"Kai?" Rei asked tentatively. "You all right?"
"Kai?" Tyson input, watching his captain with concern. "Hey, buddy, you okay?"
The door slammed open and the adults entered. Julien immediately said, "What's going on?"
"We don't know," the Bladebreakers said in unison. Alec looked up and almost immediately, Julien's eyes betrayed an understanding. Striding over, he caught his nephew roughly by the arm. "Come on, Kai."
Kai mumbled something incoherent and fought against the iron grip.
"Honestly, Kai, stop it!" Julien snapped. Kai glowered at him a moment longer before wrenching his arm out of Julien's grip.
"I don't need it," Kai hissed. "What do you figure I am, a kid?"
"Compared to me, you are," Julien responded bluntly. "And don't start giving me the 'nerves-of-steel' thing. I trust you have your laptop with you? Because I would hate to prolong this for a couple of days while we attempt to download the program onto his," he gestured towards Chief, who was looking utterly perplexed, "provided that it doesn't explode first."
Kai sneered at him for a second before producing the computer and reseating himself on the couch, with the signature look of 'I could be in the middle of my painful death and I would never admit it' look. You know, the stone mask?
"Good boy," Julien said and opened the computer. "A couple of seconds. Pam, go get the bag."