Survival Skills

A/N: Okay, you're probably all mucho confused. Knowing my Beyblade stories, which don't always make a lot of sense, you most definitely are. So, call this the 'explanation chapter', if you will. It takes place 10 years earlier, in 1992, and may cause some more questions, but they'll be answered in the next chapters. Ahem. And let me say that there is NO yaoi in this story. Nor in any of my stories.

DISCLAIMER: I own nobody. Duh.

Chapter 3: Liberty Island - Ten Years Earlier

                "Hey, boys. Come on, boys, wake up. Kai, get up, buddy."

                "Wha's goin' on?" 4-year-old Kai yawned, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. "Are we there yet?"

                "Yes, Kai, we're there. Now, come quickly. Take your bag and wait with Seth." 19-year-old Kristian said quickly, gently pushing Kai out onto the floor and standing up himself.

                "But, Kris, aren't you coming with me?" Kai asked, pausing at the door.

                "Yes, I'll come in a minute, I promise." Kris said in a clipped tone. "Boys, wake up. Alexei[1], Taras, Tala, Bryan, come on."

                "Are we there yet?" Taras moaned, tumbling out of the next hammock over as his twin brother Tala stretched and pushed him out. "Ow! Tala!"

                "Sorry, Taras." Tala mumbled. He climbed out. "What's going on, Kris?"

                "We've arrived. Take your bags and go wait with Seth. Now, Kai."

                "All right." All three boys said as they trudged out.

                "Bryan, Alexei, get up now." Kris ordered, dumping the hammock on the other side of Taras and Tala's and two tousled heads, one with lavender hair and the other with jet-black hair, blinked sleepily up at Kris from the tangles of their shared blanket.

                "Is it time to go?" Alexei asked as he sat up.

                "Yes," Kris said tiredly. "Now take your bags and go wait with Seth."

                Meanwhile, outside, the other three boys were leaning over the railing as far as they could go with 19-year-old Seth watching within arm's reach.

                "Looks deep." Taras commented gravely.

                "It is deep to shrimps like you guys," Seth said. "Don't fall in, because I'm not coming in after you."

                "We won't." All three chorused in unison.

                "Lookit." Tala said, pointing at a far shape in the water. A triangular shape was visible in the distance. "A shark!"

                "Cool!" Kai and Taras said. Taras leaned farther to catch a glimpse and tumbled over the edge.

"Yi!" Taras yelped as his head broke the surface.

"Taras!" Kai and Tala both yelled. Seth jumped to the railing to grab the collar of Taras' coat and haul him back up through the railing.

"Told you I wasn't coming in there after you." Seth told him gruffly.

Taras sniffled. "Sorry, Seth. I didn' mean it. I slipped, that's all." His shaking hand snaked its way into his pocket, then his eyes widened and he dove for the water again. "Tsvi! I lost Tsvi in the water! Seth, you have to go get him!" Taras was nearly in tears by this time.

"Taras, I am not going into that godforsaken water to get your Beyblade!" Seth snapped, holding the struggling boy by the arm. "You lost it, end of story."

"I want Tsvi back," Taras whispered, bottom lip trembling. Tala, eyes wide, put an arm around him, but Taras pulled away.

"Oh, great, kid, don't cry!" Seth groaned. "You know I hate when you guys cry."

"What's going on?" Kris asked as he emerged hauling two large knapsacks and herding Bryan and Alexei ahead of him. "Here, Seth, take a bag. Hey, Taras, what's the matter? You're all wet."

"Seth won't go get Tsvi for me," Taras whimpered. "It fell out of my pocket when I fell in the water."

"Well, Taras, Tsvi's just a small Beyblade." Kris said. "The current's probably carried him off to sea by now."

"I want Tsvi!" Taras wailed.

"You can have Wolborg," Tala offered his own Beyblade to his brother.

"But I don't want Wolborg!" Taras sobbed. "I want Tsvi back!"

"Good," Tala said dejectedly. "I didn' really want to give him to you any way."

"Boys, we can't stay here mourning the loss of Tsvi all night," Kris interjected, just as Kai was about to open his mouth to say he would go look for it. "Take your bags and let's go. Seth, you go ahead, drop your bag and start hauling kids. The water's still too high for them. I'll go last and take my bag and Kai."

"Gotcha, Kris." Seth nodded and dove in, swam to shore and returned without his bag to grab both Tala and Taras and leave them on shore with a stern order to stay put. He returned once more to transport Bryan and Alexei, who protested loudly at having to go in the cold water. Once Seth had reached the beach, Kris lifted up the anchor from the water, slid into the water with Kai kicking to get free and gave the boat an enormous hole in its side as it drifted away and finally sunk somewhere far from shore.

"Kris, I can swim myself!" Kai said indignantly, bringing Kris back to present. In response, Kris just gripped Kai tighter around the waist and began to swim to shore as the triangle above the water came closer…

"Okay, are we all here?" Seth asked as Kris dumped Kai onto the beach and sprawled on the sand with exhaustion. While Tala and Taras were sitting on the sand looking bored, Bryan was whining about having to get wet and Alexei had fallen asleep again. "Lemme see… got two of the same kid, a kid that has yet to quit whining because he had to get wet, a kid who seems to have fallen asleep right here and an obnoxious brat. Yep, we're all here."

"Careful how you refer to my brother." Kris warned as he sat up. "All right. Let's camp here for the night and we'll keep going in the morning."

"Sounds good to me." Seth agreed. He opened the waterproofed bag again and pulled out a few blankets. Taking the ones used as the hammocks on the boat, Kris and Seth quickly spread them out on the sand and ushered the sleepy little boys onto them. Kris took the other blankets out of his own bag and added them together to create one huge cover.

But neither teen could sleep that night. Seth lay awake, mind racing with the fear that Boris would somehow find them here. Kris finally got up and paced back and forth the remainder of the night, continuously glancing out at the calm seas and up in the cloudless sky.

The smallest of the fugitives, however, found no fear in their peaceful slumber. While Alexei tossed and turned naturally in his sleep, Bryan desperately tried to kick him off. Tala and Taras were back-to-back, in deep sleep. And Kai's silky navy blue hair fell over his face and made him shift his head slightly.

Finally, probably about 5 AM, Seth managed to drop off but Kris continued to remain wide awake, a throbbing pain in his left shoulder blade. Then he swore loudly.


[1] Yes, Alexei is in this one too. Once again, please recall that his history changes with every story, just like just about everybody else's.