Chapter 5: Making a run for it
"Okay. Let's see… How many of us are there again? Nine of us… but Mr. Dickenson and Kai don't want any… so…."
"Hi, how may I help you?" one of the staff from the ice cream specialty shop questioned Max courteously.
"Four hot fudge sundaes, three strawberry sundaes and two chocolate caramel sundaes," the cheerful blonde blurted out. "Serve it to table twenty-one please."
Several minutes later, at table twenty-one, arrived two trays with everyone's frosty treats. "COOL!!! I get them all!!! THA—"
"They're not all for you, Tyson," Max scolded. "We are all sharing equally—one sundae for each of us."
"Yeah yeah yeah," Tyson miserably agreed before all the kids pulled their sundaes away from him.
Mr. Dickenson let out a few laughs before addressing Tyson, "You may have mine also Tyson."
Tyson's eyes lit up when he heard Mr. Dickenson's words. Hastily and greedily Tyson snatched Mr. Dickenson's creamy offer.
"Hey, how come you're not eating yours, Kai?" Ray, sitting beside the phoenix-holder, asked worriedly. "You're not allergic to lactose are ya?"
"Of course he isn't, he's just allergic to her," Tyson bitterly remarked before spooning down on both sundaes.
"HEY!" Mai exclaimed angrily. "Take that back!"
Tyson stuck his whitish tongue out at Mai and she did the same back at him. Childishly both of them made faces at each other.
Sighing Kai mumbled, "Here, Ray, have mine also."
"Huh?" Ray responded, dumbfounded.
"Alright you two, sit up straight and eat your sundaes good-mannerly," Max said sternly, "So all of us can enjoy ourselves and return home as promptly as possible."
Mai and Tyson took one last growl and glare at each other before retrieving into more peaceful modes. "You sure you don't want the ice cream, Kai?" Max questioned, searching deep into his friend's dark brown eyes.
"Do I need to repeat myself? Hn. I'm going to grab myself something else and meet all of you back here in two hours. Two hours should be enough for the girls to shop," Kai explained firmly and then looked towards Mai, "I'll be ALONE until we all meet up in two hours."
"But—" Mai started to protest before getting cut off by Ray and Max shaking their heads.
With no intention of waiting for his team's approval, the lone-wolf blader instantly departed from them before Mai could pout.
"Here, Mai, have Kai's sundae," Ray offered as he placed it in front of Mai.
With sad eyes and a solemn voice, Mai declined. "Let the pig have it."
"What pig?" Tyson asked with milky liquid smeared across his lower mouth area.
"ER. A dense pig; have it, Tyson," Mai bitterly insulted, and a clueless Tyson impulsively accepted the offer of the treat, gulping it down wildly.
* * *
"So, did you find her?!" a worried motherly voice exclaimed among her group of four teenage kids. All of them shook their heads despairingly.
The phoenix holder being nearby coincidently overheard their exchange of words in their search of a lost little girl. Kai was not affected by their situation until a realization came over him like a bolt of lightning striking a tall tree. Perhaps the little girl they were looking for was Mai. Perhaps this family was hers. Perhaps he could get rid of her… finally.
A disturbing smirk found its way onto Kai's face as a villainous laughter echoed within his mind.
"What's the name of the child you've lost?" Kai asked them.
When all of them turned to face him, Kai finally saw their faces. Worried looks, watery eyes… he was almost taken back by their genuine display of emotions.
"Her—her—" the mother uttered before breaking down and falling to her knees with new tears leaking from her eyes.
"Her name's Mai," one of the teenager answered Kai.
"Brown hair, purple eyes, a real angelic sister," another added.
'Angelic?! That lil' squirt? Ha!' Kai thought, recalling Mai's misbehaviours as the teenagers gave their descriptions to him. Too bad Kai wasn't really paying attention to them until one of them pinched him back to reality.
"Watch it there, Kid," Kai scolded as he inwardly moaned about the momentary pain. "I think I may know where she is. She should be meeting back with my group by the ice-cream shop in the next five minutes."
"YOU KIDNAPPED HER?!!!!!" the mother with fiery wide-opened eyes exclaimed. With her words she got back up ready to strike at Kai.
"Of course not, Lady," Kai calmly replied. 'Why would I want to kidnap her and bring hell loose upon myself?'
"Then how come she's with your group?!" one of the teen questioned.
"She wanted ice-cream," Kai answered.
"She did?" the mother now cooling down mumbled with a confused expression.
"Anyway, come with me to take her back," Kai plainly stated, and they followed him without further delay in hopes of recovering their lost family member.
* * *
Upon reaching the ice-cream shop, a closed ice-cream shop, one of them impatiently demanded Kai of Mai's whereabouts. "I thought you said she would be here with your group of buddies. WHERE IS SHE NOW?!"
"Hn. If you could be silent for even a second, I would have told you that one of my friends over there would be able to tell us that," Kai bitterly stated as he pointed to Kenny, who seemed to be searching for something.
Just then, Kenny's head lifted up to notice Kai and his new 'friends'. "What's the matter, Kenny? Where are the others?" Kai queried curiously as Kenny approached them.
"Mai's MISSING!!!"
"We know that!" one of the teenagers Kai met commented.
"Where's my lil' sweetheart?" the mother complained, her eyes tearing up again.
"Now, now, mother, don't weep. Your body's gonna dry up if you don't stop," one of her children remarked.
Kenny's head tilted slightly before questioning Kai what was going on. Kai told him that they were Mai's family.
"How could that be possible? Mai's an orphan!" Kenny brought up intelligently in a whisper to Kai.
'Kai, you idiot! What were you thinking?! The little runt came from an orphanage,' Kai mentally slapped himself.
"How could you have forgotten about this important detail?"
'I dunno… maybe because I really wanted to get rid of her?' Kai replied in his mind. "Hold on a sec. Did you just say that you lost the little runt?"
Kenny nodded sadly, but Kai rejoiced happily. 'YES!!!! She's GONE!'
"Why are you smiling?" the mother questioned Kai.
"Oh look, mother… Mai's back!!!" one of her children joyfully shouted, and pointed towards a small, short figure emerging from a shadowed gap.
Kai fearfully watched as the figure came into the light. Before the figure fully revealed itself, Kai closed his eyes. He wanted it to be her, and yet he didn't want it to be her. The guy was confused. First of all, he wanted it to be the same Mai so that she could be returned to her family, and never bother him again; but then the Mai he met was an orphan girl, so it wasn't the same Mai, and he won't have been able to lose her that easily. He didn't want it to be the lil' Mai that broke his mug because he just didn't want her running to hug him at the moment, or at any moment.
Hearing shrill screams and annoying laughter, Kai slowly and cautiously opened his eyes. In front of him was the little girl the family was seeking. Indeed her hair was brown, and indeed her eyes were purple, but her brown hair was long and curly while her purple eyes were behind a pair of thin-framed glasses. "That's her?"
"Yup! Thanks for helping us find her. If you didn't drag us here, we won't have found her," the mother thanked sincerely before giving Kai a hug.
"Yes, thanks, Kid," her teenaged kids uttered before giving Kai and Kenny hugs.
While Kai groaned silently, the little girl with a confused look posed, "I dunno them. Why were you hugging them, Mommy?"
Kenny laughed nervously as he answered, "Little kids… they're sooo forgetful… Go on now, she should be in bed. Go on now."
"Okay—" the family managed to reply before being ushered away forcibly by Kenny.
"Now, Kai, help us find Mai before the mall closes."
"Is that an order?"
"You betcha. We lost her about an hour ago in the clothing—"
"Who was with her?" Kai questioned, interrupting Kenny.
"Um… Tyson, Ray, Mariah and Emily—"
"Where was Max? I thought she was in his care," Kai commented.
"She was until he had to go to the men's room. Anyway—"
"The others are back," Kai interrupted when everyone but Mai rejoined themselves at the front of the closed ice-cream shop.
"No luck?" Kenny questioned his approaching friends who in return shook their heads.
"Where could she be? A child as young as her shouldn't be left alone in this huge place," Emily expressed concernedly.
"Should we resume our search?" Ray said, "Until the mall closes?"
Before his friends could answer, Kenny opened his laptop, and Dizzi spoke out, "Fellows, maybe you should send Mr. Dickenson home; he seemed tired."
"Non—" Mr. Dickenson barely managed before yawning.
"C'mon, Mr. Dickenson, stop fighting it. You need your rest; how else are you going to be able to take care of the BBA? You should go back and sleep; all of us can handle finding one little brat—I mean girl," Emily urged before Mr. Dickenson started sneezing.
"I think Mr. Dickenson caught the flu," Mariah stated as he continued to sneeze.
Kai quietly called Mr. Dickenson's driver to take the ill president of the BBA back to his house to rest. However, he used up the last of his cellular phone's batteries.
"Let's sit down and rest up before looking for Mai again," Max said.
"Maybe she'll find her way and come back here for us," Dizzi added optimistically.
It wasn't long before the driver arrived to pick up Mr. Dickenson to drive him back to his mansion. And soon the young bladers found themselves searching for the lost little Mai. They had split up once more, assigned to different areas of the mall while one of them, namely Tyson, remained in front of the ice-cream shop in case she remembered to meet them there. It was a bad idea to assign Tyson to that area for he couldn't keep his eyes off of the graphic menu… all those different kinds of ice-creams….
Suddenly, there was an announcement warning everyone in the mall that the mall would be automatically closed in the next ten minutes. It urged everyone to hurry up with their shopping for the night and come back the next night to shop again.
"Argh," all of the young bladers replied, their teeth slightly grinding, in their momentary pause to listen to the voice on the speakers.
For the next five minutes all of them went to mall's management and complained that Mai was still missing and they mustn't shut the mall down until she is found. However, one of the staff replied that there was no choice because the doors of the mall were set to close in the next five minutes unless someone from the control station changes it in the morning. They apologized to the kids before sending them away and getting ready themselves to leave.
"Should we continue searching for the little critter?" Emily questioned.
"OF COURSE, she's probably crying somewhere in this mall, lost and alone," Max replied with an unbroken spirit. "I'm gonna stay until I find her. You guys can go back to the house and see if someone helped her home."
'Helped her home?! Is he talking about the same house we're living in? Or her OWN home before she came crawling to us for help?!' Kai contemplated.
"Don't be so upset, Max. We'll help you find her even if we have to stay here over night to look for her—"
"Don't jinx us, Ray. Let's not waste any more time. We still have less than four minutes to find her. Maybe she'll pop up in the last few minutes before closing…. I'm sure she heard the announcement about the mall locking up, so she's bound to come out and return to us," Mariah explained thoughtfully.
"Right!" all of them, except of Kai, agreed loudly.
Again, they separated and went looking for Mai. This time, they should find her… How hard is it to find one little girl near closing time? All they need to do is to send one of them to guard the exits in case she leaves.
Two minutes left to go. 'Where could the little squirt be?!' Kai mulled over. A little voice, more childish, answered him: 'Is she buying us back the mug?' Kai shook his head. 'Nonsense. The stores have closed already. Err… I'll give it a try though since I'm going that way,' he told himself.
'There she is!' Kai, eyes wide-opened in bewilderment, told himself when his eyes sighted the little dove-spirit holder bracing her seated body against the store's glass window.
Her head lifted and turned. She forced a weak smile on her face as she stared at Kai, the reason why she was still here. "KAI!!!" she screamed happily to see him, as she sprang up dashing to hug him tightly.
A grunt escape Kai's mouth before he uttered: "Let's get out of here before the doors lock us in."
Kai held her hand, pulling her forward as he started running to the nearest exit.
"What about the others?"
"We'll be passing them by before we get to the main exits," Kai answered; both of them were breathing faster, trying hard to breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide as they made a run for it.
"I can't run as fast as you, Kai," Mai complained as her legs ached.
Without warning, Kai halted, making Mai to stop also. He lowered his body and told Mai to hop onto his back. Mai gleefully did so, and Kai resumed his race against time.
"Thirty seconds before closing. All personnel, shoppers, and anyone in the mall, you have less than thirty seconds to leave before the doors lock themselves," a monotonous voice echoed.
"FASTER, Kai! FASTER!!" Mai commanded excitingly.
'Shut up, Kid. I'm going as fast as I can! I'm not your pony, you know—' Kai retorted mentally before his thoughts were interrupted by all of his friends shouting to him and Mai.
Now, all of them were hurrying towards the same large exit. Obviously Tyson wanted to return home and raid his own fridge since that's the only storage of food that he could open and he won't have to pay a single cent.
"Just a few more steps, Kai! I think we're gonna make it after all! Faster, Kai! FASTER!"
"Five… four…."
'GR! Why won't she keep quiet?! She's gonna make me lose my concentration!' Kai thought furiously before glimpsing right and left at his friends who were running with him.
"Three…."
Tyson, who was slightly ahead of everyone, snickered at his slight advantage. 'I'm gonna win! I'm gonna make it. YAY!'
Unfortunately for Tyson, Fate had other plans.
A large bang echoed when Tyson collided with the doors that became locked a second or two before he could escape. Seeing clearly what happened to Tyson, everyone else slowed down carefully to a halt.
Uh-oh, they were all locked in! How will and can they survive with Mai and Tyson both in the same open area? Shopping hours ended, but the hours of madness can only end with the trouble-makers sleeping quietly. Hopefully for Kai and the rest of the gang, Mai and Tyson would be too tired to bicker, and they would be able to sleep in the mall until the doors opened in the morning. Hopefully, they'll be able to survive and return home with their sanity.
To all readers/reviewers:
Okay, sorry about the late update… hope you enjoyed the chapter… thanks for reading and reviewing… Happy Holidays!!
Disclaimer: Beyblade does not belong to me…. Not even for the holidays.