Survival Skills

A/N: Wow! People actually like the story! *starts blubbering like a bloody baby* And it's even on a favourites list! ^________________^ So here's the next chapter for you, Bricabee!! Ye who saved this fanfiction!

DISCLAIMER: I own virtually nobody. Kris and Seth and Taras and Alexei and Doctor Resven.

Chapter 4: A Scary Encounter

Kai awoke with a start. It was completely silent in the boat, except for the constant pounding of rain and cracks of thunder, which seemed to be directly over top of them. He frowned.

"Something bugging you, Kai?" Tyson asked from his hammock at the opposite end of the boat. He and Max were the only ones who were actually sleeping in hammocks: Rei, Chief and Kai had been caught in a freak storm that seemed to be horribly common wherever it was they were. Those three boys were scattered across the floor of boat-cabin-type-thing, trying to sleep while at the same time trying to dry out their blankets. It wasn't working.

They had been here nearly three weeks now, and there was still no sign of rescue. Kai had finally been forced to recount to his teammates what had really happened. In reality, they were probably way off-course from Brazil. In fact, there probably was no Brazilian tournament. They had been duped a good one by most likely an old adherent of Biovolt, looking to do away with those who had busted them.

"Kai." Tyson repeated. "Earth to Kai. Come in, please."

"Hmm?" Kai asked, looking up.

"Nightmare or something?" Tyson asked. "You woke up pretty quickly."

"Hmph."

"Come on, Kai, don't do the Ice-Man thing with us," Tyson persisted. "Now do I have to beat it out of you or are you going to tell me willingly?"

"You really think you could lay a hand on me?" Kai asked easily.

"Challenge accepted." Tyson threw back as he dove out of his hammock.

"OW!" Rei howled as Tyson skidded across the floor, effectively pulling Rei's hair along with him. "Tyson!"

"Huh?" Max said, awaking and tumbling from his hammock, landing on Chief, who wailed.

"Now see what you did, Tyson?" Kai asked, still perched on the entrance as the other three boys advanced menacingly toward Tyson, who was wearing his signature 'Who, me?' expression. "Later, boys."

Then he slipped out into the rain, rubbing his left shoulder as he went.

As he disappeared into the trees, Max commented, "His shoulder seems to be hurting him a lot."

"His shoulder always looks like it hurts in the rain." Rei said. "Not a clue why. Come on, guys, before he gets lost in there or something."

"But it's raining!" Tyson whined.

"You're getting out first, Tyson." Rei told him. "YOU were the one who woke us all up."

"But I didn't mean to!" he wailed as his friends pushed him out onto the wet sand. "It's wet out here!"

Before Tyson even reached the forest, however, Kai reemerged and told Tyson off for coming out after him.

"But… but… but…" Tyson sputtered as Kai shoved him back inside. Kai jumped back in and closed the door just as another thunder clap rattled the boat. Then he winced as his left shoulder fell back against the wall.

"What's wrong with your shoulder, Kai?" Rei asked quietly.

"Nothing," Kai snapped, though not very forcefully. "Call it a souvenir of Balkoff Abbey."

"What's wrong with your shoulder?" Max asked again.

"Stop it, all of you," Kai said. "Go back to sleep."

"No chance of that, dude." Rei moaned, rubbing the back of his head. "I'm awake."

The storm finally ceased about midday and the younger three boys insisted on swimming. "Come on, Kai, please? Please? Pretty please with pocky on top?"

"No." Kai answered.

"Oh, wait, that's right, you don't like pocky, do you?" Tyson muttered. "Well, how about pretty pretty please with… raspberries and blueberries on top?" Every Bladebreaker knew the way to Kai's heart was through raspberries, with blueberries as a close second, since raspberries were getting harder to find.

"Kris, Kris, we want to go swimming!" Kai whined, tugging at his brother's sleeve. Kris sighed and stood up.

"All right. We can go down to the beach for a little while."

All five children cheered and dashed away towards the beach.

"Oh fine." Kai relented, stepping aside as Tyson, Max and Chief all scrambled to be first out of the boat. Rei laughed.

"I knew you would agree." He teased. Kai made a face at him as the two oldest Bladebreakers departed after the rapidly disappearing trio.

As Kai stayed on the shore, watching his teammates splash in the water, he noted an oddly shaped rock out of the corner of his eye.

Standing up, he walked the short distance then picked up the arm-length rock, the inscription in Russian reading:

Alexei Edik Tchaikov

December 31, 1987 - July 2, 1992

Kai dropped the rock like a hot coal. He stood there, in a sickening realization, until somebody's soaking wet shirt hit him in the back. Yelling, he whirled around to see Rei, Max and Chief laughing as Tyson waved energetically.

"Kai! Quit being such a wet blanket! Come swimming with us!"

Sighing, Kai stripped off his shirt and scarf and dove in.

"Oh, I'm going to kill you for that, Tyson!" Rei yelled, jumping towards him. The two were soon engaged in a fierce water splashing contest that slowly edged towards shore somehow. Chief had climbed out a while back, but Max and Kai were still out in the water. All five were unaware of the danger that came near…

It was a few minutes before Rei yelled, "Hey, look out there!"

Max and Kai both whirled around and Max let out a strangled sort of yelp. Kai's eyes widened as the triangular shape above the water started to move quickly towards Max.

"Boys, come out of the water!" Seth called suddenly, an urgent tone in his voice.

"Max, start swimming towards shore," Kai said slowly.

"I think it's gonna catch me any way." Max whimpered even as he about-faced and started swimming towards shore at a frantic pace. Rei, Tyson and Chief were watching in horrified fascination.

"Alexei! Kai!" Kris yelled as the last boys were slower to get out, being farther out in the water than the others. "Pick it up a notch!"

Tala, Taras and Bryan, from their spots on the beach, watched as Kai pulled ahead of Alexei, but then turned around as Alexei let out a terrified scream.

"Kai!" all four boys yelled as Kai disappeared beneath the surface. Max screamed again as the shark came threateningly close. The adrenaline kicked in and he clambered out of the water, taking his towel that Tyson was holding out and wrapping it around himself, shaking. "Come on, Kai, this isn't funny!" Tyson yelled again.

Kai's head broke the surface at that point for a moment, yelling something in Russian, evidently at the shark, probably along the lines of "Get Lost". And in that moment, all four on shore understood the seriousness of the scene. Kai never used Russian unless he was distracted or angry. Or, in this case, being eaten by a blood-thirsty shark.

"It's got him." Rei said softly.

The struggle continued for pretty close to ten minutes, with Kai reemerging every few minutes and disappearing again. Just as even Max was ready to admit that Kai must've been dead by then, Kai reappeared close to shore. They all dragged him back up onto the beach before the shark decided to finish its little Kai-snack.

"Kai!" Rei said, gently slapping the team leader's face. Meanwhile, Chief had noticed the black object Kai had dragged out with him.

"DIZZI!" Chief yelled, diving for the laptop. He opened the laptop, and Dizzi's voice, waterlogged but audible, snapped, You got lucky this time. Next time, don't leave me behind!

"Sorry, Dizzi." Chief said apologetically.

Kai coughed weakly and immediately, all attention was back on him. Feeling like an animal in a zoo, he muttered, "Ducklings," in Russian. "That's what they are. Ducklings. I'm fine," he added loudly in Japanese.

"Kai, take a look at your leg and your arm." Rei told him frankly. "You are far from fine. Now sit up and shut up."

Kai reluctantly did as he was told for once. He grimaced as he sat up.

"Kai?" Rei asked.

"Yes?" Kai responded.

"What's on your shoulder?"

"What, the round shiny red thing?"

"Yeah."

"That's a ruby."

"Why do you have a ruby in your shoulder?"

"Because Boris put it there."

"Why did Boris put a ruby in your shoulder?"

"Don'… look … me, I… not … crim… mas… mind." Kai mumbled before blacking out. (A/N: Translation – Don't look at me, I'm not the criminal mastermind.)

Kai was startled awake the night they arrived on the island, by the sounds of his brother swearing.

"What?" Seth yelped.

"The trackers! I forgot about the trackers!"

"YOU FORGOT ABOUT THE TRACKERS?!" Seth howled, standing up and digging in his bag.

"Crackers? Where?" the always-hungry Tala asked, sitting up.

"No, not crackers!" Kris groaned. "Go back to sleep, Tala. Kai, come here and take off your shirt."

"Why?" Kai asked suspiciously.

"I need to see something for a moment. Seth, I need you to take out the trackers."

"Man, the best we got is tweezers." Seth answered.

Kris whimpered slightly. "We'll have to do it that way then." He peeled off his shirt, then clenched his teeth as Seth managed to grasp the ruby on his left shoulder firmly between the pincers and started to tug gently. "Seth, just rip it off. Don't prolong the agony."

"It's not as easy as that." Seth snapped. "It's implanted pretty deep."

It took five minutes of painful and strategic placing and pulling before Seth finally successfully tore the ruby from Kris' shoulder. Then, after a small Band-Aid was placed over the wound, Kris took the bloodied gem to a nearby boulder, and smashed it into a thousand tiny splinters using another rock.

"All right." Seth said, wiping the tweezers on a corner of his shirt. "Kid's turn."

Kai's eyes widened as he realized what was going to be done, and he struggled against Kris' iron-tight grip. "No! No, Kris, no!" he cried as Kris caught his wrists together and managed to pin his legs down.

"All right, Seth," he said grimly. "Go now, before he really starts panicking."

"That's not panicking?" Seth muttered as he started the scene all over again, this time with Kai screaming and pleading and struggling and crying. When the jewel was dislodged, Seth went to smash that one while Kris tried futilely to comfort Kai, who was still in tears.

At this point, the other four boys had awakened. Clamoring for information, they finally gave up and fell asleep again when both Kris and Seth refused to answer. Seth climbed back under the covers and fell asleep.

Still hiccuping and sniffling, Kai refused to look at Kris, with an air of betrayal.

"I'm sorry, Kai," Kris whispered as he lifted his baby brother into his arms. "I know it hurts. But we had to do it. Someday you'll understand."

Kai awoke to a burning sensation in his right arm and left leg. Yelling with pain before he could stop himself, he suddenly had all four other Bladebreakers at his side. Somehow, they had gotten him back to the boat.

"Oh, you are alive." Tyson said, acting the I-could-care-less.

Kai, after a brief glare at Tyson, attempted to stand up again, but was pushed back down by Rei, who was the only one anywhere near strong enough to keep Kai in check.

"No, Kai." He told him sternly. "You are on… bed rest… of sorts until we say you can get up. You've been taking care of us ever since we first met, now it's our turn to take care of you."

"That's right," Max and Chief added together. "You're the one who bailed us out of the tight spots. You're the one who gave us hints about how to beat our opponents."

"They acknowledge my greatness. All right, who drank sea water?"