YEAH! More reviews! I could kiss you people! Yuck! On second thought...
12. Third Time's The Charm
"Here it is. Lake Baikal," informed Boris as the helicopter began its descent.
With huge gusts of wind, the helicopter touched down on the ice and came to rest, its mighty blades still spinning and causing everyone's hair to be whipped about as they stepped out. Tala was first to jump out. He landed in a crouching position from the rather large leap and pushed himself to stand erect. Kai vaulted from the ledge in much the same way, landing beside the surveying Tala. Kai turned around and extended a hand to help Sarah down. She gave her hand to him and hopped down. All the others followed soon after.
Once the last person, Oliver, had exited the helicopter, Boris moved towards the edge of the ledge. He observed the area around the ice before turning to look down at the Biovolt deploys. They all stood in one rather large throng: Ray, Max, Mariah, Lee, Gary, Michael, Steve, Robert, Oliver, Johnny, Spencer, Ian, Elvin, Philemon, Eva, Tyson, Bryan, Kai, Tala, and Sarah. Boris glared at them a moment and then began to speak- for they were awaiting his orders. "Vitality Extortion should be here any minute now. You should have not too many fears of being injured extremely badly, for those suits you're wearing should protect you quite well."
They all looked down at their battle costumes (except for the Majestics, for they had their armoured battlecostumes), each of a different colour (with the exception of Kai, Tyson, Tala, Bryan, Sarah and Eva (you know their colours already)). Ray's was white with yellow striping. Max's main colour was turquoise with roan red striping. (The first colour will be the main colour and the second's the striping) Mariah's was pink and white, Lee's was dark blue with red, Gary's was yellow with turquoise, Michael's was orange with blue, Steve's was light green with black, Spencer's was gold with light green, Ian's was grey with light blue, Elvin's was black with light blue, and Philemon's was maroon with gold.
Boris placed his hand on the helicopter door, poised to slam it shut. "I have business to attend to at Biovolt now, but once the battle's over, we'll send the copter once again to come and pick you up."
He was about to close it when Michael intercepted him. "How will you know when that is, though?"
Kenny stood up from behind Boris, laptop clutched to his chest. "I can see on my laptop which projects the images from-"
"Now, now, don't let them know our little secret, Kenny," Boris warned. He glanced back at the Biovolt deploys. "Fight to win. Victory is light, defeat to your enemies. And remember, it's Kevin's, Enrique's, and Eddy's souls you're fighting for. You don't want to let them down, now do you?" With that, Boris slammed the door and the helicopter began to ascend into the endless blue sky.
All of them stared with blank looks as it disappeared into the distance.
"He's right...We're fighting for you, Kevin," Mariah mumbled.
"And Eddy," Michael added.
"We won't let you down, Enrique," Johnny vowed.
"I suggest that you reconsider your pledge, McGreggor. Their souls will come of more use to Goadbwa than them."
Johnny whipped around along with everyone else. There stood Vitality Extortion, black battlecostumes and all. And this time, they had brought reinforcements. There were about a dozen other Goadbwa deploys, all males with eyes in shadow from black sunglasses. They looked like a band of burglars, with their black toques, baggy long-sleeved shirts, baggy full- length pants, black boots, and trainers on their hands. They also had mini headsets, of course of the matching black.
Spica continued after an observation of each other from the opposing groups. "Nice costumes-I must compliment you again. I also see that you have a larger combat force than last time, Hilanovs."
"How does she know about the Prophecy?" Sarah whispered to Kai.
Kai turned his head to the left to look at her and then back at Vitality Extortion. "Gilepse must've told 'em."
"So what if we do? Is that against the rules or something? Because all's fair in love and war, and this is most definitely war!" Tala exclaimed.
Telesto's smirk only widened. "Oh it is, is it? Well, you may have won the last battle, but we'll win the war!"
Eva folded her arms. "We didn't win the last battle. It was a tie."
Telesto's face went blank.
"What's the matter, child? Cat got your tongue?"
Telesto regained his composure. "I'm not 'child' - Telesto Cibaru is my name."
"Look, have you come to battle or to flaunt what little intelligence you have?" Kai pressed, impatient. "'Cause I've got better things to do with my time than with your fatuous trio, Cibaru."
"What?!" Spica exclaimed in offence.
Kuiper placed his hand on Spica's angered shoulder. "Calm down." He turned to the Biovolt deploys. "Well, then Hiwatari...At least let us share our surnames. Wouldn't you want to know ours since we know yours?"
Kai narrowed his eyes as he glared at Kuiper. "Not really. It wouldn't concern me. Besides, we weren't the ones that told you our surnames."
Kuiper took his hand away from Spica. "Hmph. I'm telling you, anyway. Telesto Cibaru, Spica Hyakutake, and Kuiper Varuna."
"Who cares? It's time to take their souls! Just as Gilepse ordered!" Spica cried as she fired her blade that she had pulled out as Kuiper was speaking. She aimed it at Kai, who blocked himself as her blade ricocheted off the blue glove of his arm.
Kai immediately reached for his blade and shot it in the direction of where Spica's blade went. The blue and black blades took off in one direction as Spica and Kai chased after their battle across the ice.
Tala heard the sound of another blade spinning. He glanced down at his feet. A white blade spun there- a challenge from Kuiper. Tala looked up at him. The two locked eyes and glowered at each other as Tala reached for his pistol shooter. Tala shot the gun behind Kuiper as Kuiper turned in pursuit of it.
Telesto turned to Sarah. "That leaves you and me, then, doesn't it?"
Sarah scowled. "No it doesn't. I could battle any one of the other Goadbwa deploys and one of my friends could battle you."
Telesto folded his arms. "Now why would you want to do that? A person of your calibre and skill would gain nothing from battling them. They're inexperienced half-wits. Best leave them to your inexperienced friends, that way they stand a chance against each other. This may be the one battle that they actually win-without a handicap."
"Grr! That's it! Sarah, step aside! This is my fight. All right! It's you and me, Telesto!" Tyson yelled.
Max and Ray grabbed the struggling Tyson's arms. "Tyson! Cool it!" Ray shouted.
"Yeah! It's not worth it! You wouldn't stand a chance against Kuiper!" Max added.
Tyson ceased resisting. "Oh yeah? Well what was I doing the other day battling him?"
Ray put his hands up in a gesture of reason. "That was with the help of Kai, Tala, and Sarah. You weren't battling by yourself. And even then, you only tied by the skin of your teeth."
Tyson growled again. "Ugh... Teach him a lesson he won't forget, Sarah."
Sarah made a fist as she glanced back at him. "Right. Will do. Ah! Hey!"
Telesto hadn't waited for her to make her promises. He had fired his blade at her chest, aiming for her heart. His Beyblade flew away and to his side. Sarah swiftly threw her hand to her chest and pulled it away a moment or two later to reveal a small laceration to her uniform that was bloodstained.
The Biovolt and BBA deploys all made a small gasp. Sarah clenched her teeth and shifted her glower from her newly formed wound to Telesto's nonchalant face. She glanced at her purplish-red glove and made a determined fist once more. Blood. Something she had never seen before in this context - mostly because she had never been in an actual battle. You could tell from the looks on the others' faces that they had never seen such violence, either.
Taking her bloody hand, she reached for her shooter slowly. She pulled it up in front of her and pointed it straight at Telesto. "Okay, Cibaru. So that's how you want to play, eh? Adding gore and carnage is what you want to do. Well let me tell you: it won't be my blood changing the ice's colour."
With that, she pulled the winder with more will and purpose than she ever had before. It grazed Telesto's arm, shearing the tough fabric and his skin. He threw his right hand to his left arm and winced from the pain.
He took his hand away gradually and examined it. The crimson colour that poured from it coated his right hand. He looked back up at Sarah who stood there in determination. She glared at him with one hand on her hip and the other hanging loosely at her side. She looked daunting, almost oblivious now of the blood that trailed down her uniform. Telesto broke the silence. "Huh! Grr... You'll pay for this, Langley!"
Sarah raised her head and lowered her gaze to make direct eye contact with him. "Oh, I will, will I?"
Telesto stood up straight. "Oh yeah!" He ran after the two blades and the battle.
Sarah took a step forward and then stopped. She turned to face the Biovolt deploys. "Eva, Tyson, Bryan, Mariah, and Oliver- you're the backup if the others need help to fight the Goadbwa deploys. The rest of you, choose a Goadbwa deploy to battle!"
She turned again and ran in pursuit of Telesto. The Biovolt deploys didn't move. They were afraid after realizing the bloodshed that could possibly occur during the battle. Goadbwa meant business- playtime was over.
As if on cue, the black dressed Goadbwa deploys raised their arms with shooters and Beyblades fitted in to them. In synchronization, they all fired at the same time. Their Beyblades landed at the feet of Ray, Max, Lee, Gary, Michael, Steve, Johnny, Robert, Spencer, Ian, Elvin, and Philemon; the challenge.
Elvin raised his shooter and blade while the others hesitated to watch, still fearful. He shot the blade and took off after it across the ice, the man the Goadbwa blade belonged to following. "Remember our cause!" Elvin yelled as he fled to the edge of the ice.
They continued to stare at the blades at their feet before Robert took his blackjack in hand. "Elvin's right. I'm willing to die honourably, if it will aid our friends Enrique, Kevin, and Eddy."
He brought the blackjack down on the ground and his blade shot across the ice. Armour clanking, he sprinted across the frigid terrain along with the other man. Lee readied his blade and shot it in a different direction. "I agree with Robert and Elvin. Though we may not be included in the Prophecy, we can still play a part in the salvation of the world!" He made off quickly after his blade and the man.
Michael threw his baseball. "Yeah! Goadbwa's going down in flames!"
The rest of them studied their blades a moment before doing the same as Elvin, Robert, Lee, and Michael had. All except for Bryan, Tyson, Mariah, Eva, and Oliver, of course.
"Be careful, everyone!" Eva and Mariah called with worried looks.
"Especially you, Ray!" Mariah added. Eva glanced at her with a disgusted look.
"It ain't gonna work, Hiwatari! You're done for, again!" Spica taunted.
"How can you be so sure of yourself when you're the one who's wobbling-already? And why am I necessarily 'Hiwatari'? I have a sister, too, you know," Kai countered.
Spica straightened up. "Oh. You do, do you? Oh yes...of course...now I remember. Gilepse told us that. Her name's Rhea, isn't it? And it's Anya Romanov and Samson Langley. Am I right or am I right?"
Kai lowered his head but didn't answer.
"I am right, aren't I? Come on, admit it, boy."
Kai narrowed his eyes. "You're right."
Spica smirked heinously. "I knew I was. I'm never wrong, including when I say that I'll win this battle. Revenost, Return!"
Revenost used Return, restoring its full spin from a meagre wobble.
"Dranzer, Fire Arrow!" Kai commanded. Dranzer swiftly obeyed, and flew into the air, then came crashing down on top of Spica's blade, knocking it off balance once more. Spica ordered for Revenost to use Return once more, renewing the lost energy.
"Resistance is futile, my dear Kai. No matter how badly you damage my wobble, as long as I'm still spinning I can recover. And don't get any ideas about K.O.-ing me, 'cause you won't be able to do that. I'm just too strong for poor wittle Kai," she said cockily as she imitated a young child's voice. She cackled shrilly.
"Come on Dranzer, don't listen to that empty-headed fool. Attack with all you've got. You never let me down before and now's not the time to start!" Kai exclaimed.
Dranzer took a charge at Revenost, but Revenost spun out of the way and backlashed against it. Dranzer flew off to the side, wobbling violently. "No! Dranzer!" Kai cried.
"Moel-heal Dranzer with Charge."
A lightning bolt came out of seemingly nowhere and struck Kai's Dranzer. The yellow electric current surged around Dranzer for a moment or two and then dissipated. Dranzer spun as if it had just left the shooter. Kai and Spica looked upwards in surprise to see a helicopter descending to hover about 100 metres up. A rope ladder trailed from the copter which Rhea, Samson, Anya, and Kieran clung to.
Kai contemplated them with wonder. "The Blade Sovereign..." He noticed that they had uniforms, too, but their uniforms were different from everyone else's.
They had tight-fitting full-body suits as a basic layer. Each had black stripes under the arms, down the torso, around the wrists and down the outer sides of the legs. On Samson's, the rest of the suit was orchid purple. Anya's was a ruby red. Rhea's was of a cerulean blue while Kaoru's was a navy blue. On top of that they wore a black vest that had a high neck and went down to the bottom of their rib cage. It had a slit at the bottom, contouring the curves of their rib cages and exposing the stomachs of their suits. The black vests had lining along the shoulder holes, the bottom along the ribcage (except the indent) and the neck. Samson's was a bright green, Anya's was an orangy-yellow, Rhea's was white, and Kieran's was red. The vest, like the other uniforms had Kai's button style on the right and the Biovolt logo on the left. They had black belts with the silver buckle and two belts attached to it like the Demolition Boys' style. Samson's hanging belts were green, Anya's the orangy-yellow, Rhea's the white, and Kieran's the red. They also wore black knee-high boots.
The ladder hung just above the ice and Rhea, who had been at the bottom, let go and jumped on to the ice. She pointed to Spica. "My brother shall not lose to the likes of you. Not if I can help it." Even though someone in this situation should have been yelling with determination, Rhea wasn't doing that. As always, she lacked expression in her vocal and facial features. Her eyes were full of that same wan and daze.
"Rhea...?" Kai questioned quietly.
Rhea glanced downward with a slight scowl on her face. "Yes?"
Kai straightened up a little, feeling estranged from her. "Uh...Thanks..."
A minuscule smile crept ever so slowly across Rhea's lips. "No problem, little brother."
"You know-it's weird-I mean battling against a cyborg and all."
"No. I wouldn't," Tala quipped. He face was screwed up with a look of determination as he faced Kuiper.
Wolborg and Doppelgost came together in the middle with a collision that sent both flying backwards. Kuiper began to brag and distract again. "Of course you wouldn't - you're the cyborg."
"Don't you think I know that?" Tala growled.
Kuiper placed his hands akimbo and leant backwards a little. "So...How does it feel, my robotic friend?"
"Oh yeah...It fells great being a cyborg and all. Being controlled and given nutrition by means of prosthetic umbilical cord is just so cool! I have a whole arsenal of weaponry in this arm right here. Want to see?" Tala asked, voice potent with sarcasm as he held up his right arm.
Kuiper cocked his head to one side with a skeptical look. "Sure. Shoot me down right here."
Tala narrowed his eyes. "Sure. But why don't I let Wolborg demonstrate? Wolborg, Attack!"
"Team up with Wolborg, Molphin!"
Tala looked in surprise to his right. Once he saw the one that had made that high-pitched, irritating voice, his expression went from surprise to disgust and annoyance. "When did you get here?! Go away. I don't need your help."
"Now, now...That's no way to treat your favourite older sister, now is it, Tala?" Anya scolded with a look of mock innocence.
Tala sighed and rolled his eyes as Kuiper laughed. "What kind of a chosen, prophesied warrior has their sister to help them?"
Tala glanced at Anya again. He surveyed her uniform. It looked more interesting than his. He looked across the ice to see the rest of the Blade Sovereign. Rhea was helping Kai to fight Spica at the far edge. Kieran and Samson were running across the ice, probably searching for their sisters. Tala turned to Anya again and then to Kuiper. "I'm that kind of warrior."
Kuiper narrowed his eyes. "I'm sure you are, little Tala. That's why I have to teach you a lesson in Beyblading: I'm the best Beyblader around!"
"Huh! That's just what I said...before I was defeated by Tyson!" Tala exclaimed with a chuckle at the beginning. "And I believe that I'll play Tyson's role in this battle as the victor! Wolborg, full power attack!"
"It's two against one, is it? Well then, Doppelgost, Double-Go!" Kuiper cried.
"Hmm...Let's see if this will work."
"I can tell you that it won't, Lutka. Even if you can send out quality radio signals, how can you be sure that he'll pick them up?" Nigel said pessimistically.
Judy stepped closer to the monitor and keyboard that Lutka leant over, typing away. Judy folded her arms. "Well, you can be sure that if it does work, it will severely aid Biovolt and our warriors."
Irina moved to Judy's side, looking at the clipboard in her hands as she did so. "Yes. We won't have to wait here worrying how they're doing, and we can send reinforcements if needed."
Lutka stopped typing. She lifted the microphone from its stand on the counter. She hit enter on the keyboard and began to speak into the microphone. "Commence trial run."
Leon looked up from his seat at a monitor across the control room. "All systems go."
Irina, Judy, and Nigel put their headphones on. Lutka watched them do so and then adjusted her own. She turned back to the screen. "Do we have a visual of the battle?"
Leon typed something on the keyboard, and then an eye level view of Lake Baikal appeared on the screen in front of Lutka. It was an image of Kuiper standing, facing the monitor. Lutka leaned forward into the microphone and pressed a hand to her microphone. "Tala? Tala... Can you hear me?"
"Huh? That sounded like Mom... But where is she?" Tala questioned rhetorically, surveying the area.
Anya dismissed his comment with a wave of her hand. "Of course she's not here. She's all the way back at Biovolt in Moscow. You must be hearing things."
Tala cast one last suspicious glance around and then turned back to the battle. "Hm... You're right. Wolborg, full power attack!"
"Tala! I repeat! Can you hear me?"
Tala had a dumbfounded look as he stared into space. "Yeah... I can hear you, but I can't see you. I didn't think that anyone could clear their conscience this clearly."
"This isn't your conscience speaking. It's me, Lutka."
Anya and Kuiper were now staring at Tala with disgust and bewilderment. Anya waved a hand in front of his face. "Hello? You must have voices in your head or something. Tala!"
He ignored her and continued to listen to the voices that he was hearing in his head. "Lutka?
Lutka turned around to face the others. The beams on their faces matched her overjoyed one. She nodded and then turned back to the screen. "Yes, it's me, Tala, my son. I wanted to know how the battle is going."
Tala surveyed their frozen battleground. He saw Beyblades clashing and Bit Beasts making their appearances. He saw determination, pain, and fear. Then he saw the attempted bloodshed going on in one particular battle, making his eyes widen, heart skip a beat and breath become ragged. Despite that, he answered shakily, "F-fine..."
"It doesn't sound fine."
"W-well...it is. How can you hear me, anyway? And how can I hear you?"
"Tala! Who are you talking to? Lutka is nowhere near here! And what is it? What's so scary?" Anya pressed with frustration.
Tala ignored her once again. He listened to his mother's reply.
"When Boris had made you into a cyborg, he infused you with a radio transmitter/receiver system. At Biovolt we've been able to hook sets of microphones and headsets to the system, allowing us to communicate with you, but you only for now."
Tala didn't reply. He didn't know what to feel as he listened to his mother's words and watched the scene going on before his eyes.
"Doppelgost, knock 'im out while he's preoccupied!"
That brought Tala back to reality. He whipped around and to the battle to see Kuiper staring at the blades with Doppelgost charging at Wolborg.
"Molphin, knock it out!" Anya screeched.
Just as collision was about to occur, Molphin came crashing in from the side, hitting Doppelgost and rebounding it a few metres across the ice. Doppelgost wobbled a little and then regained its spin, zooming back towards the battle.
Tala stood there, staring with a dazed look.
"Come on, Tala! Wake up from your little daydreams and fight! Pretend you're fighting Tyson again! Remember how you, Bryan, and Spencer would do anything to win, including hurting the blader? Besides, what will Boris say if we lose this one?" Anya screamed at him.
Tala took a step back and then his petrified expression turned into one of persistence. "Wolborg, freeze that blade!"
With a quick flash of green light, Wolborg began to emerge from Tala's grey blade slowly. It howled a terrifying howl and then went for Doppelgost. Doppelgost made a mirror image action and the two met in the middle, Molphin on the sidelines, watching.
The two Bit Beasts crashed and moaned or howled with blue and green light being shot in all directions. Kuiper and Tala both covered their faces with their arms, so that Anya was the only one that saw what happened next. She watched in shock as Doppelgost passed right through Wolborg. A limp body of green light was held in Doppelgost's arms as it headed up into the sky. Meanwhile, Wolborg flickered and disappeared from its position above its Beyblade. Tala's Beyblade began to wobble.
Kuiper took his hands away from his face and was chuckling with an evil grin upon his face. "You're done for, Tala!"
Tala took his arms away slowly and looked at his Beyblade. "Huh? What happened?" He glanced behind him and into the sky. He gasped. "The thing Doppelgost's holding looks like Wolborg!"
Kuiper folded his arms. "Exactly. But don't worry, Doppelgost's just taking Wolborg to the Soul Realm-where Wolborg will be out of my way and yours. Now if you don't mind, I'll just be needing your soul for-hey!"
A red flash of light intercepted Doppelgost's ascent. It grabbed Wolborg from Doppelgost and flew back down towards Tala's Beyblade. It streaked into the Bit Piece, depositing Wolborg, and then sped back behind Kuiper. Tala's Beyblade Bit Piece flashed green light and then the blade regained its spin. Anya, Kuiper, and Tala turned their heads to see Kai and Rhea standing there. Kai held up his blade as the red light returned to it. He lowered his arm to examine his Beyblade. "So that's how it's done."
Rhea glanced solemnly down at him and then at Anya. "Yes, that's right, Kai."
Anya started to blush in anger. She clenched her fists at her sides, beginning to tremble. "Look, Hiwatari-I could've done that myself, so don't flaunt it, okay?"
Rhea paused and then replied. "Then why didn't you? There's no reason to take it out on my brother."
"I wasn't taking it out on your brother. I was taking it out on you!"
Rhea continued to stare, expression unfaltering.
There was a long pause as Kuiper, Tala, and Kai observed the verbal battle between their two female elders. Kuiper couldn't stand it anymore. "Uh...If you two are all done with your little teenage social problems, could we continue with the battle?"
Anya reached down and picked up her blade, not taking her fiery eyes off Rhea as if she would try to pull a surprise attack. "Sure. Continue."
"Thank you." Kuiper turned back to the battle, only to see his blade lying on the ice with no spin. "What?! What happened?!"
He cast his gazed upwards to Tala's face who stood there with the same smirk on his face that Kuiper had had before. Tala shrugged his shoulders and placed one hand on his hip. "It's the luck of the draw, Varuna. You can't spin forever."
Kuiper growled and turned in the direction of where Kai and Spica had been fighting. He saw a deserted Spica lying there, prone on the ice. "What did you do to her?!" he gasped. He whipped around to face Kai and advanced on him. He grabbed Kai's collar and pulled him closer. "Kai Hiwatari! Answer me, you ludicrous idiot!"
Kai narrowed his eyes and didn't struggle. "Nothing, really. She's just been relieved of her soul, that way it's out of my way and yours."
Kuiper let him go rather forcefully. His eyes were wide and watery as his shoulders sagged. Then he tightened up and made a fist. He brought it up to his chest area slowly, shakily, and then thrust it outward-straight at Kai.
With lightening speed, Kai brought his hand up and blocked Kuiper's hand. "You're so selfish. Didn't you think of how Tala would feel to losing Wolborg?"
Kuiper raised his head quickly and stared at Kai with fearful eyes. He took his hand away and let it rest at his side. "How would you know?"
Kai didn't reply but simply glared at him a moment before walking around him and towards Telesto and Sarah's battle. "Come on, Tala. I hope you've retrieved Eddy's soul?"
Tala shot a quick glance at Kuiper's blade and then back at Kai. "What do you mean?"
Kai stopped and turned to face him. "It's simple. Think that you're taking Bit Beasts once again."
Tala examined his blade and then held it out to point to Doppelgost. Wolborg glowed and then extracted the red ghostly form of Eddy.
"Give it back!" Kuiper yelled.
Tala closed his fingers around his blade and brought it close to his chest. He ignored Kuiper's whimpers and sauntered after Kai.
"Ahh!"
"Ow!"
"Someone...p-please..." Sarah whispered as she crouched down on the ice. Tears from her eyes dotted the ice, re-wetting the spots that were covered in her and Telesto's blood.
Telesto was in the same position. He held his arms across his chest and let out a yell. "Poltost!"
Poltost collided with Fovular, using what meagre strength it had left. The two Bit Beasts had now become wounded and weak after fighting each other for so long. Fovular fell to the ground as Poltost hovered over it, trying to rest.
"Please you two, stop. Nothing will come of this. If it's a forfeiture, we can call it a draw," Samson pleaded.
Telesto lifted his head and glared Samson in the eye. "Stay out of this, Langley #2! Your sister and I will stop at nothing to win. Even if it kills us!"
Samson drew back. "Langley #2?"
Telesto pointed an accusing finger at the pacifistic boy. "Don't think I don't know about your sister's cryogenation, Langley! I know all about your little family!"
Samson bit is lip and leaned in over Sarah. "Please, Sarah...Let me help you to fight! Or the both of you are going to die!"
Sarah kept quivering with her head down. "No, Samson. This is my fight. And as Telesto said, I'll fight to the death. It's the most honourable way to go."
"Not if you didn't gain anything from the experience!"
"What is the point in learning if you're dead?"
Samson withdrew to think a moment and then tried again. "That's the whole point! You don't want to die, that way you can survive to face many other opponents by learning from this experience!"
Sarah slowly lifted her head to stare into Samson's fearful and worried eyes. There was a long pause. "No! I won't let you help!"
With that, Sarah leapt up, but then threw a hand to her chest. She grasped the fabric tightly. She glared down at Telesto, who was still on the ice wincing and whimpering. "The strong...are the ones...that persevere...to defeat their enemy. So Fovular...let's show him how... total annihilation is done!" She cried between gasps for air.
Fovular rose from its blade and tackled Poltost. More blood gushed from Telesto's arm wound and then eased up again. It was over. Telesto's blade had stopped spinning and Telesto had fainted from the pain. Enrique's orange soul was siphoned out of Telesto's blade and into Sarah's. Sarah began to sway back and forth before her knees buckled and she headed for the ground. Samson reached out and grasped her fully in his arms. "Good fight. You okay?"
Sarah lifted her head and gazed into Samson's eyes again. "Yeah..." She glanced over his shoulder to see the Hiwataris and the Romanovs running towards them from the other edge of the lake. Samson turned around, too.
"Oh! Sarah! Are you okay?" Anya exclaimed as she came to a halt right behind Samson. She took one glance at Telesto and cringed at the gory sight.
Fovular wobbled and spun to a stop just as Rhea, Tala, and Kai made their way over. Tala and Kai stared in horror at the red ice before them. Tala knelt down beside Samson to examine Sarah. Tala reached out his quivering right hand and turned Sarah's head towards him. He glared with innocence and worry at the pain in her green eyes. He swallowed with some difficulty and then began to speak. "I knew you could win. Will you live?"
Samson lowered his eyelids. "Yes, of course she will. What happened to Kuiper and Spica?"
"We dealt with them," Kai answered. "Spica's soul is in the Soul Realm and Kuiper is moping around back there somewhere."
Samson shifted his gaze from Tala to Sarah. "How are the other battles going?"
"You stay here with Sarah, Samson. We'll go check and help out if we need to," Rhea proposed.
Samson nodded as the others ran in the other direction, except for Tala. He had taken his hand away but continued to kneel there. Samson glanced at him. "Aren't you going to help?"
Tala shook his head. "No, you go. You haven't fought today, so don't you want to try out your Beyblading skills against this ignominious Goadbwa lot?"
Samson stared in wonder for a moment or two and then the determination returned to his features. "Promise you'll take care of my sister." He waited for Tala to take Sarah in his arms the same way he had been doing and then took off after the others.
Sarah sat up straight so that she wasn't propped up by Tala anymore. "Thank you..."
Tala couldn't take his eyes off her chest and was too entranced to reply.
Sarah cocked her head to one side in confusion and suspicion. "What's so interesting about my chest, Tala?" She asked with a hint of annoyance in her tone.
Tala looked up into her eyes. "Oh...uh...it's the blood. You're bleeding, can't you feel or at least see it?"
Sarah glanced down at the left side of her chest. "Yes, of course. I can see it, that is. I can barely feel anything there. It feels numb."
Tala hesitated. "Oh. You had me worried back there in that battle with Telesto. I could see the pain on your faces and it didn't look pretty." He glanced at the ice again and curled his lip in disgust.
Sarah chuckled and closed her eyes on seeing Tala's expression. "Blood-squeamish, eh?"
Tala cast his gaze back to her. "Uh...yeah."
Sarah opened her eyes again and gazed longingly into Tala's blue eyes. "Well, you'd better cure that little quandary."
"Why?"
Sarah rested her head against Tala's shoulder gingerly and sighed in relief. "Because I have a feeling that we're going to be seeing more of it in upcoming battles. And a lot of it."
Tala let out a small gasp; half from her action and half from her statement.
"Monray, Prey!" Kieran yelled.
A red manta ray rose from Kieran's navy blue blade. It threw itself on top of the Goadbwa deploy's Beyblade. Monray enveloped the blade with its wide body for a few seconds and then withdrew back to its own blade, leaving behind a dead Beyblade. The Goadbwa deploy gasped while Kieran smirked.
Everyone then looked up into the sky as they heard the whirr of helicopter blades. Sure enough, they saw a black helicopter heading their way from the east-the direction of Moscow. But they noticed that it wasn't a Biovolt chopper. It was one of Goadbwa's.
On seeing this, Tyson surveyed the battlefield. He saw that most of the Goadbwa deploys including Vitality Extortion were out cold. "So that's why they were brought in helicopters."
The helicopter landed on the ice and the Biovolt deploys watched as the corpses were loaded into the chopper. Kuiper sauntered up the platform and turned around just as he was about to enter the cockpit. "You Biovolt deploys think you're so smart. Well, that'll all change next battle. I shall avenge the losses of my teammates and I!"
"You just keep telling yourself that. 'Cause it's not going to happen," snapped Philemon.
Kuiper shot a dagger glance at Philemon and then entered the cockpit with out another word. The helicopter's staircase was pulled up and it ascended into the air. A cheer arose from the Biovolt deploys. They had won their first battle.
"Oh yeah, no more failures for Biovolt or the BBA!" Steve cried.
"And we have Eddy's, Enrique's, and Kevin's souls back!" Oliver added optimistically.
"I don't care what Kuiper says. We're not going to lose the next battle, no matter what!" yelled Max.
"And look-here's comes the Biovolt copters!" Sarah exclaimed as she pointed a finger to the sky.
They all stared at her wound.
"What?" she questioned confusingly, unaware that that was what they were staring at.
Tala took one look at them and placed his hands akimbo. "Tyson, I know what you're thinking. No, she's not a zombie."
"She isn't now, but she was before," Elvin mused.
"She's hurt and you taunt her like that?!" Mariah cried. "Shame on you, Elvin."
Whatever comments came next were drowned out by the helicopter's drone. It touched down on the ice and everyone boarded. The helicopter headed back to Biovolt with a determined attitude in its passengers.
Nothing to say, except for READ & REVIEW!!!!!
12. Third Time's The Charm
"Here it is. Lake Baikal," informed Boris as the helicopter began its descent.
With huge gusts of wind, the helicopter touched down on the ice and came to rest, its mighty blades still spinning and causing everyone's hair to be whipped about as they stepped out. Tala was first to jump out. He landed in a crouching position from the rather large leap and pushed himself to stand erect. Kai vaulted from the ledge in much the same way, landing beside the surveying Tala. Kai turned around and extended a hand to help Sarah down. She gave her hand to him and hopped down. All the others followed soon after.
Once the last person, Oliver, had exited the helicopter, Boris moved towards the edge of the ledge. He observed the area around the ice before turning to look down at the Biovolt deploys. They all stood in one rather large throng: Ray, Max, Mariah, Lee, Gary, Michael, Steve, Robert, Oliver, Johnny, Spencer, Ian, Elvin, Philemon, Eva, Tyson, Bryan, Kai, Tala, and Sarah. Boris glared at them a moment and then began to speak- for they were awaiting his orders. "Vitality Extortion should be here any minute now. You should have not too many fears of being injured extremely badly, for those suits you're wearing should protect you quite well."
They all looked down at their battle costumes (except for the Majestics, for they had their armoured battlecostumes), each of a different colour (with the exception of Kai, Tyson, Tala, Bryan, Sarah and Eva (you know their colours already)). Ray's was white with yellow striping. Max's main colour was turquoise with roan red striping. (The first colour will be the main colour and the second's the striping) Mariah's was pink and white, Lee's was dark blue with red, Gary's was yellow with turquoise, Michael's was orange with blue, Steve's was light green with black, Spencer's was gold with light green, Ian's was grey with light blue, Elvin's was black with light blue, and Philemon's was maroon with gold.
Boris placed his hand on the helicopter door, poised to slam it shut. "I have business to attend to at Biovolt now, but once the battle's over, we'll send the copter once again to come and pick you up."
He was about to close it when Michael intercepted him. "How will you know when that is, though?"
Kenny stood up from behind Boris, laptop clutched to his chest. "I can see on my laptop which projects the images from-"
"Now, now, don't let them know our little secret, Kenny," Boris warned. He glanced back at the Biovolt deploys. "Fight to win. Victory is light, defeat to your enemies. And remember, it's Kevin's, Enrique's, and Eddy's souls you're fighting for. You don't want to let them down, now do you?" With that, Boris slammed the door and the helicopter began to ascend into the endless blue sky.
All of them stared with blank looks as it disappeared into the distance.
"He's right...We're fighting for you, Kevin," Mariah mumbled.
"And Eddy," Michael added.
"We won't let you down, Enrique," Johnny vowed.
"I suggest that you reconsider your pledge, McGreggor. Their souls will come of more use to Goadbwa than them."
Johnny whipped around along with everyone else. There stood Vitality Extortion, black battlecostumes and all. And this time, they had brought reinforcements. There were about a dozen other Goadbwa deploys, all males with eyes in shadow from black sunglasses. They looked like a band of burglars, with their black toques, baggy long-sleeved shirts, baggy full- length pants, black boots, and trainers on their hands. They also had mini headsets, of course of the matching black.
Spica continued after an observation of each other from the opposing groups. "Nice costumes-I must compliment you again. I also see that you have a larger combat force than last time, Hilanovs."
"How does she know about the Prophecy?" Sarah whispered to Kai.
Kai turned his head to the left to look at her and then back at Vitality Extortion. "Gilepse must've told 'em."
"So what if we do? Is that against the rules or something? Because all's fair in love and war, and this is most definitely war!" Tala exclaimed.
Telesto's smirk only widened. "Oh it is, is it? Well, you may have won the last battle, but we'll win the war!"
Eva folded her arms. "We didn't win the last battle. It was a tie."
Telesto's face went blank.
"What's the matter, child? Cat got your tongue?"
Telesto regained his composure. "I'm not 'child' - Telesto Cibaru is my name."
"Look, have you come to battle or to flaunt what little intelligence you have?" Kai pressed, impatient. "'Cause I've got better things to do with my time than with your fatuous trio, Cibaru."
"What?!" Spica exclaimed in offence.
Kuiper placed his hand on Spica's angered shoulder. "Calm down." He turned to the Biovolt deploys. "Well, then Hiwatari...At least let us share our surnames. Wouldn't you want to know ours since we know yours?"
Kai narrowed his eyes as he glared at Kuiper. "Not really. It wouldn't concern me. Besides, we weren't the ones that told you our surnames."
Kuiper took his hand away from Spica. "Hmph. I'm telling you, anyway. Telesto Cibaru, Spica Hyakutake, and Kuiper Varuna."
"Who cares? It's time to take their souls! Just as Gilepse ordered!" Spica cried as she fired her blade that she had pulled out as Kuiper was speaking. She aimed it at Kai, who blocked himself as her blade ricocheted off the blue glove of his arm.
Kai immediately reached for his blade and shot it in the direction of where Spica's blade went. The blue and black blades took off in one direction as Spica and Kai chased after their battle across the ice.
Tala heard the sound of another blade spinning. He glanced down at his feet. A white blade spun there- a challenge from Kuiper. Tala looked up at him. The two locked eyes and glowered at each other as Tala reached for his pistol shooter. Tala shot the gun behind Kuiper as Kuiper turned in pursuit of it.
Telesto turned to Sarah. "That leaves you and me, then, doesn't it?"
Sarah scowled. "No it doesn't. I could battle any one of the other Goadbwa deploys and one of my friends could battle you."
Telesto folded his arms. "Now why would you want to do that? A person of your calibre and skill would gain nothing from battling them. They're inexperienced half-wits. Best leave them to your inexperienced friends, that way they stand a chance against each other. This may be the one battle that they actually win-without a handicap."
"Grr! That's it! Sarah, step aside! This is my fight. All right! It's you and me, Telesto!" Tyson yelled.
Max and Ray grabbed the struggling Tyson's arms. "Tyson! Cool it!" Ray shouted.
"Yeah! It's not worth it! You wouldn't stand a chance against Kuiper!" Max added.
Tyson ceased resisting. "Oh yeah? Well what was I doing the other day battling him?"
Ray put his hands up in a gesture of reason. "That was with the help of Kai, Tala, and Sarah. You weren't battling by yourself. And even then, you only tied by the skin of your teeth."
Tyson growled again. "Ugh... Teach him a lesson he won't forget, Sarah."
Sarah made a fist as she glanced back at him. "Right. Will do. Ah! Hey!"
Telesto hadn't waited for her to make her promises. He had fired his blade at her chest, aiming for her heart. His Beyblade flew away and to his side. Sarah swiftly threw her hand to her chest and pulled it away a moment or two later to reveal a small laceration to her uniform that was bloodstained.
The Biovolt and BBA deploys all made a small gasp. Sarah clenched her teeth and shifted her glower from her newly formed wound to Telesto's nonchalant face. She glanced at her purplish-red glove and made a determined fist once more. Blood. Something she had never seen before in this context - mostly because she had never been in an actual battle. You could tell from the looks on the others' faces that they had never seen such violence, either.
Taking her bloody hand, she reached for her shooter slowly. She pulled it up in front of her and pointed it straight at Telesto. "Okay, Cibaru. So that's how you want to play, eh? Adding gore and carnage is what you want to do. Well let me tell you: it won't be my blood changing the ice's colour."
With that, she pulled the winder with more will and purpose than she ever had before. It grazed Telesto's arm, shearing the tough fabric and his skin. He threw his right hand to his left arm and winced from the pain.
He took his hand away gradually and examined it. The crimson colour that poured from it coated his right hand. He looked back up at Sarah who stood there in determination. She glared at him with one hand on her hip and the other hanging loosely at her side. She looked daunting, almost oblivious now of the blood that trailed down her uniform. Telesto broke the silence. "Huh! Grr... You'll pay for this, Langley!"
Sarah raised her head and lowered her gaze to make direct eye contact with him. "Oh, I will, will I?"
Telesto stood up straight. "Oh yeah!" He ran after the two blades and the battle.
Sarah took a step forward and then stopped. She turned to face the Biovolt deploys. "Eva, Tyson, Bryan, Mariah, and Oliver- you're the backup if the others need help to fight the Goadbwa deploys. The rest of you, choose a Goadbwa deploy to battle!"
She turned again and ran in pursuit of Telesto. The Biovolt deploys didn't move. They were afraid after realizing the bloodshed that could possibly occur during the battle. Goadbwa meant business- playtime was over.
As if on cue, the black dressed Goadbwa deploys raised their arms with shooters and Beyblades fitted in to them. In synchronization, they all fired at the same time. Their Beyblades landed at the feet of Ray, Max, Lee, Gary, Michael, Steve, Johnny, Robert, Spencer, Ian, Elvin, and Philemon; the challenge.
Elvin raised his shooter and blade while the others hesitated to watch, still fearful. He shot the blade and took off after it across the ice, the man the Goadbwa blade belonged to following. "Remember our cause!" Elvin yelled as he fled to the edge of the ice.
They continued to stare at the blades at their feet before Robert took his blackjack in hand. "Elvin's right. I'm willing to die honourably, if it will aid our friends Enrique, Kevin, and Eddy."
He brought the blackjack down on the ground and his blade shot across the ice. Armour clanking, he sprinted across the frigid terrain along with the other man. Lee readied his blade and shot it in a different direction. "I agree with Robert and Elvin. Though we may not be included in the Prophecy, we can still play a part in the salvation of the world!" He made off quickly after his blade and the man.
Michael threw his baseball. "Yeah! Goadbwa's going down in flames!"
The rest of them studied their blades a moment before doing the same as Elvin, Robert, Lee, and Michael had. All except for Bryan, Tyson, Mariah, Eva, and Oliver, of course.
"Be careful, everyone!" Eva and Mariah called with worried looks.
"Especially you, Ray!" Mariah added. Eva glanced at her with a disgusted look.
"It ain't gonna work, Hiwatari! You're done for, again!" Spica taunted.
"How can you be so sure of yourself when you're the one who's wobbling-already? And why am I necessarily 'Hiwatari'? I have a sister, too, you know," Kai countered.
Spica straightened up. "Oh. You do, do you? Oh yes...of course...now I remember. Gilepse told us that. Her name's Rhea, isn't it? And it's Anya Romanov and Samson Langley. Am I right or am I right?"
Kai lowered his head but didn't answer.
"I am right, aren't I? Come on, admit it, boy."
Kai narrowed his eyes. "You're right."
Spica smirked heinously. "I knew I was. I'm never wrong, including when I say that I'll win this battle. Revenost, Return!"
Revenost used Return, restoring its full spin from a meagre wobble.
"Dranzer, Fire Arrow!" Kai commanded. Dranzer swiftly obeyed, and flew into the air, then came crashing down on top of Spica's blade, knocking it off balance once more. Spica ordered for Revenost to use Return once more, renewing the lost energy.
"Resistance is futile, my dear Kai. No matter how badly you damage my wobble, as long as I'm still spinning I can recover. And don't get any ideas about K.O.-ing me, 'cause you won't be able to do that. I'm just too strong for poor wittle Kai," she said cockily as she imitated a young child's voice. She cackled shrilly.
"Come on Dranzer, don't listen to that empty-headed fool. Attack with all you've got. You never let me down before and now's not the time to start!" Kai exclaimed.
Dranzer took a charge at Revenost, but Revenost spun out of the way and backlashed against it. Dranzer flew off to the side, wobbling violently. "No! Dranzer!" Kai cried.
"Moel-heal Dranzer with Charge."
A lightning bolt came out of seemingly nowhere and struck Kai's Dranzer. The yellow electric current surged around Dranzer for a moment or two and then dissipated. Dranzer spun as if it had just left the shooter. Kai and Spica looked upwards in surprise to see a helicopter descending to hover about 100 metres up. A rope ladder trailed from the copter which Rhea, Samson, Anya, and Kieran clung to.
Kai contemplated them with wonder. "The Blade Sovereign..." He noticed that they had uniforms, too, but their uniforms were different from everyone else's.
They had tight-fitting full-body suits as a basic layer. Each had black stripes under the arms, down the torso, around the wrists and down the outer sides of the legs. On Samson's, the rest of the suit was orchid purple. Anya's was a ruby red. Rhea's was of a cerulean blue while Kaoru's was a navy blue. On top of that they wore a black vest that had a high neck and went down to the bottom of their rib cage. It had a slit at the bottom, contouring the curves of their rib cages and exposing the stomachs of their suits. The black vests had lining along the shoulder holes, the bottom along the ribcage (except the indent) and the neck. Samson's was a bright green, Anya's was an orangy-yellow, Rhea's was white, and Kieran's was red. The vest, like the other uniforms had Kai's button style on the right and the Biovolt logo on the left. They had black belts with the silver buckle and two belts attached to it like the Demolition Boys' style. Samson's hanging belts were green, Anya's the orangy-yellow, Rhea's the white, and Kieran's the red. They also wore black knee-high boots.
The ladder hung just above the ice and Rhea, who had been at the bottom, let go and jumped on to the ice. She pointed to Spica. "My brother shall not lose to the likes of you. Not if I can help it." Even though someone in this situation should have been yelling with determination, Rhea wasn't doing that. As always, she lacked expression in her vocal and facial features. Her eyes were full of that same wan and daze.
"Rhea...?" Kai questioned quietly.
Rhea glanced downward with a slight scowl on her face. "Yes?"
Kai straightened up a little, feeling estranged from her. "Uh...Thanks..."
A minuscule smile crept ever so slowly across Rhea's lips. "No problem, little brother."
"You know-it's weird-I mean battling against a cyborg and all."
"No. I wouldn't," Tala quipped. He face was screwed up with a look of determination as he faced Kuiper.
Wolborg and Doppelgost came together in the middle with a collision that sent both flying backwards. Kuiper began to brag and distract again. "Of course you wouldn't - you're the cyborg."
"Don't you think I know that?" Tala growled.
Kuiper placed his hands akimbo and leant backwards a little. "So...How does it feel, my robotic friend?"
"Oh yeah...It fells great being a cyborg and all. Being controlled and given nutrition by means of prosthetic umbilical cord is just so cool! I have a whole arsenal of weaponry in this arm right here. Want to see?" Tala asked, voice potent with sarcasm as he held up his right arm.
Kuiper cocked his head to one side with a skeptical look. "Sure. Shoot me down right here."
Tala narrowed his eyes. "Sure. But why don't I let Wolborg demonstrate? Wolborg, Attack!"
"Team up with Wolborg, Molphin!"
Tala looked in surprise to his right. Once he saw the one that had made that high-pitched, irritating voice, his expression went from surprise to disgust and annoyance. "When did you get here?! Go away. I don't need your help."
"Now, now...That's no way to treat your favourite older sister, now is it, Tala?" Anya scolded with a look of mock innocence.
Tala sighed and rolled his eyes as Kuiper laughed. "What kind of a chosen, prophesied warrior has their sister to help them?"
Tala glanced at Anya again. He surveyed her uniform. It looked more interesting than his. He looked across the ice to see the rest of the Blade Sovereign. Rhea was helping Kai to fight Spica at the far edge. Kieran and Samson were running across the ice, probably searching for their sisters. Tala turned to Anya again and then to Kuiper. "I'm that kind of warrior."
Kuiper narrowed his eyes. "I'm sure you are, little Tala. That's why I have to teach you a lesson in Beyblading: I'm the best Beyblader around!"
"Huh! That's just what I said...before I was defeated by Tyson!" Tala exclaimed with a chuckle at the beginning. "And I believe that I'll play Tyson's role in this battle as the victor! Wolborg, full power attack!"
"It's two against one, is it? Well then, Doppelgost, Double-Go!" Kuiper cried.
"Hmm...Let's see if this will work."
"I can tell you that it won't, Lutka. Even if you can send out quality radio signals, how can you be sure that he'll pick them up?" Nigel said pessimistically.
Judy stepped closer to the monitor and keyboard that Lutka leant over, typing away. Judy folded her arms. "Well, you can be sure that if it does work, it will severely aid Biovolt and our warriors."
Irina moved to Judy's side, looking at the clipboard in her hands as she did so. "Yes. We won't have to wait here worrying how they're doing, and we can send reinforcements if needed."
Lutka stopped typing. She lifted the microphone from its stand on the counter. She hit enter on the keyboard and began to speak into the microphone. "Commence trial run."
Leon looked up from his seat at a monitor across the control room. "All systems go."
Irina, Judy, and Nigel put their headphones on. Lutka watched them do so and then adjusted her own. She turned back to the screen. "Do we have a visual of the battle?"
Leon typed something on the keyboard, and then an eye level view of Lake Baikal appeared on the screen in front of Lutka. It was an image of Kuiper standing, facing the monitor. Lutka leaned forward into the microphone and pressed a hand to her microphone. "Tala? Tala... Can you hear me?"
"Huh? That sounded like Mom... But where is she?" Tala questioned rhetorically, surveying the area.
Anya dismissed his comment with a wave of her hand. "Of course she's not here. She's all the way back at Biovolt in Moscow. You must be hearing things."
Tala cast one last suspicious glance around and then turned back to the battle. "Hm... You're right. Wolborg, full power attack!"
"Tala! I repeat! Can you hear me?"
Tala had a dumbfounded look as he stared into space. "Yeah... I can hear you, but I can't see you. I didn't think that anyone could clear their conscience this clearly."
"This isn't your conscience speaking. It's me, Lutka."
Anya and Kuiper were now staring at Tala with disgust and bewilderment. Anya waved a hand in front of his face. "Hello? You must have voices in your head or something. Tala!"
He ignored her and continued to listen to the voices that he was hearing in his head. "Lutka?
Lutka turned around to face the others. The beams on their faces matched her overjoyed one. She nodded and then turned back to the screen. "Yes, it's me, Tala, my son. I wanted to know how the battle is going."
Tala surveyed their frozen battleground. He saw Beyblades clashing and Bit Beasts making their appearances. He saw determination, pain, and fear. Then he saw the attempted bloodshed going on in one particular battle, making his eyes widen, heart skip a beat and breath become ragged. Despite that, he answered shakily, "F-fine..."
"It doesn't sound fine."
"W-well...it is. How can you hear me, anyway? And how can I hear you?"
"Tala! Who are you talking to? Lutka is nowhere near here! And what is it? What's so scary?" Anya pressed with frustration.
Tala ignored her once again. He listened to his mother's reply.
"When Boris had made you into a cyborg, he infused you with a radio transmitter/receiver system. At Biovolt we've been able to hook sets of microphones and headsets to the system, allowing us to communicate with you, but you only for now."
Tala didn't reply. He didn't know what to feel as he listened to his mother's words and watched the scene going on before his eyes.
"Doppelgost, knock 'im out while he's preoccupied!"
That brought Tala back to reality. He whipped around and to the battle to see Kuiper staring at the blades with Doppelgost charging at Wolborg.
"Molphin, knock it out!" Anya screeched.
Just as collision was about to occur, Molphin came crashing in from the side, hitting Doppelgost and rebounding it a few metres across the ice. Doppelgost wobbled a little and then regained its spin, zooming back towards the battle.
Tala stood there, staring with a dazed look.
"Come on, Tala! Wake up from your little daydreams and fight! Pretend you're fighting Tyson again! Remember how you, Bryan, and Spencer would do anything to win, including hurting the blader? Besides, what will Boris say if we lose this one?" Anya screamed at him.
Tala took a step back and then his petrified expression turned into one of persistence. "Wolborg, freeze that blade!"
With a quick flash of green light, Wolborg began to emerge from Tala's grey blade slowly. It howled a terrifying howl and then went for Doppelgost. Doppelgost made a mirror image action and the two met in the middle, Molphin on the sidelines, watching.
The two Bit Beasts crashed and moaned or howled with blue and green light being shot in all directions. Kuiper and Tala both covered their faces with their arms, so that Anya was the only one that saw what happened next. She watched in shock as Doppelgost passed right through Wolborg. A limp body of green light was held in Doppelgost's arms as it headed up into the sky. Meanwhile, Wolborg flickered and disappeared from its position above its Beyblade. Tala's Beyblade began to wobble.
Kuiper took his hands away from his face and was chuckling with an evil grin upon his face. "You're done for, Tala!"
Tala took his arms away slowly and looked at his Beyblade. "Huh? What happened?" He glanced behind him and into the sky. He gasped. "The thing Doppelgost's holding looks like Wolborg!"
Kuiper folded his arms. "Exactly. But don't worry, Doppelgost's just taking Wolborg to the Soul Realm-where Wolborg will be out of my way and yours. Now if you don't mind, I'll just be needing your soul for-hey!"
A red flash of light intercepted Doppelgost's ascent. It grabbed Wolborg from Doppelgost and flew back down towards Tala's Beyblade. It streaked into the Bit Piece, depositing Wolborg, and then sped back behind Kuiper. Tala's Beyblade Bit Piece flashed green light and then the blade regained its spin. Anya, Kuiper, and Tala turned their heads to see Kai and Rhea standing there. Kai held up his blade as the red light returned to it. He lowered his arm to examine his Beyblade. "So that's how it's done."
Rhea glanced solemnly down at him and then at Anya. "Yes, that's right, Kai."
Anya started to blush in anger. She clenched her fists at her sides, beginning to tremble. "Look, Hiwatari-I could've done that myself, so don't flaunt it, okay?"
Rhea paused and then replied. "Then why didn't you? There's no reason to take it out on my brother."
"I wasn't taking it out on your brother. I was taking it out on you!"
Rhea continued to stare, expression unfaltering.
There was a long pause as Kuiper, Tala, and Kai observed the verbal battle between their two female elders. Kuiper couldn't stand it anymore. "Uh...If you two are all done with your little teenage social problems, could we continue with the battle?"
Anya reached down and picked up her blade, not taking her fiery eyes off Rhea as if she would try to pull a surprise attack. "Sure. Continue."
"Thank you." Kuiper turned back to the battle, only to see his blade lying on the ice with no spin. "What?! What happened?!"
He cast his gazed upwards to Tala's face who stood there with the same smirk on his face that Kuiper had had before. Tala shrugged his shoulders and placed one hand on his hip. "It's the luck of the draw, Varuna. You can't spin forever."
Kuiper growled and turned in the direction of where Kai and Spica had been fighting. He saw a deserted Spica lying there, prone on the ice. "What did you do to her?!" he gasped. He whipped around to face Kai and advanced on him. He grabbed Kai's collar and pulled him closer. "Kai Hiwatari! Answer me, you ludicrous idiot!"
Kai narrowed his eyes and didn't struggle. "Nothing, really. She's just been relieved of her soul, that way it's out of my way and yours."
Kuiper let him go rather forcefully. His eyes were wide and watery as his shoulders sagged. Then he tightened up and made a fist. He brought it up to his chest area slowly, shakily, and then thrust it outward-straight at Kai.
With lightening speed, Kai brought his hand up and blocked Kuiper's hand. "You're so selfish. Didn't you think of how Tala would feel to losing Wolborg?"
Kuiper raised his head quickly and stared at Kai with fearful eyes. He took his hand away and let it rest at his side. "How would you know?"
Kai didn't reply but simply glared at him a moment before walking around him and towards Telesto and Sarah's battle. "Come on, Tala. I hope you've retrieved Eddy's soul?"
Tala shot a quick glance at Kuiper's blade and then back at Kai. "What do you mean?"
Kai stopped and turned to face him. "It's simple. Think that you're taking Bit Beasts once again."
Tala examined his blade and then held it out to point to Doppelgost. Wolborg glowed and then extracted the red ghostly form of Eddy.
"Give it back!" Kuiper yelled.
Tala closed his fingers around his blade and brought it close to his chest. He ignored Kuiper's whimpers and sauntered after Kai.
"Ahh!"
"Ow!"
"Someone...p-please..." Sarah whispered as she crouched down on the ice. Tears from her eyes dotted the ice, re-wetting the spots that were covered in her and Telesto's blood.
Telesto was in the same position. He held his arms across his chest and let out a yell. "Poltost!"
Poltost collided with Fovular, using what meagre strength it had left. The two Bit Beasts had now become wounded and weak after fighting each other for so long. Fovular fell to the ground as Poltost hovered over it, trying to rest.
"Please you two, stop. Nothing will come of this. If it's a forfeiture, we can call it a draw," Samson pleaded.
Telesto lifted his head and glared Samson in the eye. "Stay out of this, Langley #2! Your sister and I will stop at nothing to win. Even if it kills us!"
Samson drew back. "Langley #2?"
Telesto pointed an accusing finger at the pacifistic boy. "Don't think I don't know about your sister's cryogenation, Langley! I know all about your little family!"
Samson bit is lip and leaned in over Sarah. "Please, Sarah...Let me help you to fight! Or the both of you are going to die!"
Sarah kept quivering with her head down. "No, Samson. This is my fight. And as Telesto said, I'll fight to the death. It's the most honourable way to go."
"Not if you didn't gain anything from the experience!"
"What is the point in learning if you're dead?"
Samson withdrew to think a moment and then tried again. "That's the whole point! You don't want to die, that way you can survive to face many other opponents by learning from this experience!"
Sarah slowly lifted her head to stare into Samson's fearful and worried eyes. There was a long pause. "No! I won't let you help!"
With that, Sarah leapt up, but then threw a hand to her chest. She grasped the fabric tightly. She glared down at Telesto, who was still on the ice wincing and whimpering. "The strong...are the ones...that persevere...to defeat their enemy. So Fovular...let's show him how... total annihilation is done!" She cried between gasps for air.
Fovular rose from its blade and tackled Poltost. More blood gushed from Telesto's arm wound and then eased up again. It was over. Telesto's blade had stopped spinning and Telesto had fainted from the pain. Enrique's orange soul was siphoned out of Telesto's blade and into Sarah's. Sarah began to sway back and forth before her knees buckled and she headed for the ground. Samson reached out and grasped her fully in his arms. "Good fight. You okay?"
Sarah lifted her head and gazed into Samson's eyes again. "Yeah..." She glanced over his shoulder to see the Hiwataris and the Romanovs running towards them from the other edge of the lake. Samson turned around, too.
"Oh! Sarah! Are you okay?" Anya exclaimed as she came to a halt right behind Samson. She took one glance at Telesto and cringed at the gory sight.
Fovular wobbled and spun to a stop just as Rhea, Tala, and Kai made their way over. Tala and Kai stared in horror at the red ice before them. Tala knelt down beside Samson to examine Sarah. Tala reached out his quivering right hand and turned Sarah's head towards him. He glared with innocence and worry at the pain in her green eyes. He swallowed with some difficulty and then began to speak. "I knew you could win. Will you live?"
Samson lowered his eyelids. "Yes, of course she will. What happened to Kuiper and Spica?"
"We dealt with them," Kai answered. "Spica's soul is in the Soul Realm and Kuiper is moping around back there somewhere."
Samson shifted his gaze from Tala to Sarah. "How are the other battles going?"
"You stay here with Sarah, Samson. We'll go check and help out if we need to," Rhea proposed.
Samson nodded as the others ran in the other direction, except for Tala. He had taken his hand away but continued to kneel there. Samson glanced at him. "Aren't you going to help?"
Tala shook his head. "No, you go. You haven't fought today, so don't you want to try out your Beyblading skills against this ignominious Goadbwa lot?"
Samson stared in wonder for a moment or two and then the determination returned to his features. "Promise you'll take care of my sister." He waited for Tala to take Sarah in his arms the same way he had been doing and then took off after the others.
Sarah sat up straight so that she wasn't propped up by Tala anymore. "Thank you..."
Tala couldn't take his eyes off her chest and was too entranced to reply.
Sarah cocked her head to one side in confusion and suspicion. "What's so interesting about my chest, Tala?" She asked with a hint of annoyance in her tone.
Tala looked up into her eyes. "Oh...uh...it's the blood. You're bleeding, can't you feel or at least see it?"
Sarah glanced down at the left side of her chest. "Yes, of course. I can see it, that is. I can barely feel anything there. It feels numb."
Tala hesitated. "Oh. You had me worried back there in that battle with Telesto. I could see the pain on your faces and it didn't look pretty." He glanced at the ice again and curled his lip in disgust.
Sarah chuckled and closed her eyes on seeing Tala's expression. "Blood-squeamish, eh?"
Tala cast his gaze back to her. "Uh...yeah."
Sarah opened her eyes again and gazed longingly into Tala's blue eyes. "Well, you'd better cure that little quandary."
"Why?"
Sarah rested her head against Tala's shoulder gingerly and sighed in relief. "Because I have a feeling that we're going to be seeing more of it in upcoming battles. And a lot of it."
Tala let out a small gasp; half from her action and half from her statement.
"Monray, Prey!" Kieran yelled.
A red manta ray rose from Kieran's navy blue blade. It threw itself on top of the Goadbwa deploy's Beyblade. Monray enveloped the blade with its wide body for a few seconds and then withdrew back to its own blade, leaving behind a dead Beyblade. The Goadbwa deploy gasped while Kieran smirked.
Everyone then looked up into the sky as they heard the whirr of helicopter blades. Sure enough, they saw a black helicopter heading their way from the east-the direction of Moscow. But they noticed that it wasn't a Biovolt chopper. It was one of Goadbwa's.
On seeing this, Tyson surveyed the battlefield. He saw that most of the Goadbwa deploys including Vitality Extortion were out cold. "So that's why they were brought in helicopters."
The helicopter landed on the ice and the Biovolt deploys watched as the corpses were loaded into the chopper. Kuiper sauntered up the platform and turned around just as he was about to enter the cockpit. "You Biovolt deploys think you're so smart. Well, that'll all change next battle. I shall avenge the losses of my teammates and I!"
"You just keep telling yourself that. 'Cause it's not going to happen," snapped Philemon.
Kuiper shot a dagger glance at Philemon and then entered the cockpit with out another word. The helicopter's staircase was pulled up and it ascended into the air. A cheer arose from the Biovolt deploys. They had won their first battle.
"Oh yeah, no more failures for Biovolt or the BBA!" Steve cried.
"And we have Eddy's, Enrique's, and Kevin's souls back!" Oliver added optimistically.
"I don't care what Kuiper says. We're not going to lose the next battle, no matter what!" yelled Max.
"And look-here's comes the Biovolt copters!" Sarah exclaimed as she pointed a finger to the sky.
They all stared at her wound.
"What?" she questioned confusingly, unaware that that was what they were staring at.
Tala took one look at them and placed his hands akimbo. "Tyson, I know what you're thinking. No, she's not a zombie."
"She isn't now, but she was before," Elvin mused.
"She's hurt and you taunt her like that?!" Mariah cried. "Shame on you, Elvin."
Whatever comments came next were drowned out by the helicopter's drone. It touched down on the ice and everyone boarded. The helicopter headed back to Biovolt with a determined attitude in its passengers.
Nothing to say, except for READ & REVIEW!!!!!
