14. Infiltrate, Annihilate

"Are you sure we should carry out with these plans to infiltrate Goadbwa, sir?" Lutka asked, shifting through papers.

"I don't see why not," Boris replied simply. He continued to stare at the sky above the Abbey courtyard. Rain pattered against the window, emanating from a blood-red sky, as if it had absorbed the crimson liquid that had been shed throughout the day.

"I think what Lutka means to say is that their injuries may not heal in time," Nigel said.

Boris turned away from the window of the infirmary and to the beds where his deploy warriors lay. He didn't reply.

He watched as Emily undressed a gash on Kai's hand and turned to Kenny, who was standing behind her with Dizzi open. Kenny made Dizzi take a digital picture of the laceration and then examine it.

"Quite a nasty one, Chief." Reported the laptop. "But I have good news, despite that."

Kenny beamed. "Okay, then. Let's hear it, Dizzi."

"However, I also have bad news."

Emily glanced downward at Kenny, a worried look on her features. "It can't be that bad..."

"I'll start with the bad news first. Kai's lesions along with Tala and Sarah's are very serious and life threatening. It would be unlikely that they'd survive, since such deep gashes excreted so much blood. However, for some reason that I don't know the answer to, nor can I figure out, their wounds are healing much faster than that of the average human. They're taking about one third of the normal time it would take. Maybe even a quarter!"

Emily glanced at Kai and then back at Dizzi's monitor. "And you're saying you have no reasonable explanation for this?"

"Unless you do."

Emily examined Kai's wound a little closer and then took her head away.

"Another strange thing is that they seem to have an infinite amount of blood."

Emily and Kenny looked at Rhea, who sat at Kai's bedside, bandaging a laceration to his upper arm. Emily had barely noticed her there while fiddling with Kai's forearm-she had been so still and quiet.

"An infinite amount of blood?" Kenny repeated questionably.

Rhea cast her gaze down to her sleeping brother. "Yes, that's right. Haven't you noticed that they've been losing so much of it, and they're still not dead? Their blood levels have stayed roughly the same."

"Rhea's right. They've lost more than half of their full blood supply since the bleeding began," Emily said.

"Kenny, Emily-"

The two turned to see Boris approaching them. "I would like you two to start reconstruction of all blades and shooters right away. Go see Mr. Tate-he'll help you."

Kenny closed his laptop. "Yes, sir." The two chanted before rushing out of the infirmary and into the control room.

"Oh my poor brother..."

Samson raised his head to see Anya fussing over Tala. "Look at all the wounds he's suffering from..." she whimpered.

Samson rolled his eyes and continued to hold a compress to Sarah's head. That's when Anya looked up and saw the action. "Samson! Dare you show disrespect for my brother?"

Samson glared back at her with a bored and disgusted look on his face. "You show disrespect for him. Goodness knows how much he gets of that."

Anya stroked Tala's forehead lovingly. "But of course, I'm allowed to do that. I'm his relative."

Samson scowled at her. "Yeah? Well no matter how many injuries Tala's suffering from, he wasn't found unconscious and in a pool of blood, probably mutilated by some unknown assassins."

Anya huffed. She couldn't counter that without being absolutely hurtful. Instead, she changed the subject so that they could bicker about something else.

Boris ignored the two yelling at each other from across the room. And if it bothered the others in the room that much, they'd stop them. He saw Kieran pass by in the hallway outside the control room. "Kieran!"

Kieran, who had disappeared from view, reappeared, poking his head around the corner. "Yes, sir?"

"Have you finished cleaning the Abbey yet?"

Kieran moved so that he stood in full view. "No, sir. All of them are just taking a little break to recover. Mariah, Michael, Enrique and Kevin say they're feeling queasy and a lot of the others are getting dizzy."

"Very well, then. What have you done with the bodies?"

"We've just moved them inside and to sheets in the main hall. Otherwise, nothing really. What do you want us to do with them?"

"Take any Biovolt members to the basement cryogenation chambers. Throw any Goadbwa members in the river."

"You mean the Volga? But what if Goadbwa wants the corpses?"

Boris turned away and sighed. "Fine. But it'll be up to you to call them. I'll leave that decision to you."

"Why can't we throw them in the pond?"

Boris turned again. "I don't want their bodies in the pond."

"They're not going to come alive and haunt you, Mr, Balkov."

"I don't want them in the pond," Boris repeated, irritated and giving no further reason.

Kieran could hear the anger in his tone of voice and pushed no further. "Yes, sir." He turned and left down the hall.

Boris turned away once more and growled. "Goadbwa...Gilepse..." He stepped over to the infirmary room when he heard Kenny call him. He pivoted to turn the brown-haired boy.

"Sarah's Beyblade isn't with the rest of them."

Boris glanced inside the infirmary and glanced back at Kenny. He opened his mouth to speak then did a double take. Without replying to the boy, he dashed inside the infirmary and to Sarah's bed, where a crowd had gathered. Boris pushed his way through to get a front row seat.

"Yes, Sarah...Speak to me!" Samson was saying softly as he held his sister's hand gently.

Sarah screwed up her eyes as if in pain and raised her free hand in the air. "G-give it back...that's mine...Leave...leave the..."

Samson leaned in closer. "What is it? What is it, Sarah? Who are you talking to?"

Sarah kept her eyes shut and resumed talking to the fantasy people in her reverie. "Leave the Abbey and give it back!"

"Give what back? Sarah? Wake up!" Samson pressed, jerking her slightly.

Sarah lowered her hand to place it on her forehead and paused. "V- Vitality...Extortion..."

"Vitality Extortion?!" Samson exclaimed. He turned to Judy who stood just behind him. "Are they still in the Abbey?"

She shook her head. "No. We've scanned the Abbey three times and found nothing. They've all left."

Samson lowered his head again to his sister. "Sarah...What did Vitality Extortion do?"

As if she had heard him this time, she answered, "No...They took Fovular..."

A gasp ran through the room to all who were listening. Tala's eyes flitted open at that moment. He sat up in the bed and observed the scene groggily. He saw the crowd, Anya on his right onlooking with surprise and the two Hiwataris on his right, blank of expression. He turned to Anya again. "What happened?"

Anya cast a quick glance at him. "Oh! You're awake!" She exclaimed, throwing out her arms and grasping Tala tightly. "You're not dead!"

Tala didn't move or try to free himself from her vice-like grasp-he was too weak and his head throbbed. "You sound so fake-don't let mom hear you."

"I'm not being a fake! I really am happy that you're alive!" Anya cried.

Tala rolled his eyes and they landed on Kai, who was now staring at him. Tala blushed and quickly looked away. He flinched from the pain of Anya's grasp. 'If only Sarah would hug me this tightly...'

As if Kai had read Tala's mind, he replied to his comment. "Hah! I'd doubt that."

Tala turned to Kai in disgust, now trying to break away from his sister. "Why?"

Kai, who had turned his head to the throng looked back at Tala with a mischievous smirk. "Are you talking to me?"

"Yeah."

"Because."

"What's that suppose to mean?"

"You asked 'why', and the answer is because."

Tala was beginning to find Kai incomprehensible. "What? You're making no sense."

Kai turned back to the throng. "Because she's just woken up and she wouldn't do a thing like that."

Tala scowled at him. "Hmph. Shows how much you know about her!" he almost yelled in an irritation-potent tone. He was referring to what had happened in the hall a while back-when Kai hadn't been around.

Kai didn't reply and Tala went quiet as he heard his name being said.

"Tala...and...Kai...They're...coming..."

Derek Granger looked puzzled. "Wow...How could she have known that if she was unconscious at the time?"

Boris adjusted his glasses. "I don't know. The world works in mysterious ways. This must be one of them."

Rhea felt her eyes narrow as she stared at Sarah through the gap in the crowd. 'She must be clairvoyant...What if she's possessed, too? Like Kieran and I? If she is, my brother and Romanov's had better look out for her or they'll find themselves heartbroken sooner than either one may think. '

The next day all three Hilanovs had recovered and were up and about the Abbey, though they were still bandaged in certain areas. Kai had been wandering around a lot, not knowing what to do with his time. Normally he would have spent it training, but his Beyblade had been confiscated for reconfiguration. He didn't want to hang out with the Bladebreakers or any other team, in fact he wanted to have a heart-to-heart talk with Rhea. Unfortunately for him, Rhea wasn't very talkative, neither was she very open. He couldn't blame her-he wasn't like that, either. The two definitely hadn't earned the sociable and bubbly trait of their mother, from what he could gather about his parents' personalities.

That was exactly what he wanted to talk about. His parents. Rhea would have known them better than he would since she had been older, around 8 years old at the time, while he was only 3-hardly old enough to have a full conscious understanding of what was going on around him. He didn't even know what his parents looked like. He had never seen a picture of them, and Rhea nor anyone else at the Abbey hadn't talked about them.

As Kai walked down the corridor to the security and maintenance control room, he saw a door in the wall slowly creak open. It was wooden, and as he remembered, the door was in the exact location of the entrance to the Hilanov Tomb. The stone wall must have been replaced with the regular door that stood there now. He heard a voice whimpering, one he couldn't make out who it belonged to. He stared at it in wariness for a moment, afraid of what might be down there since the door had opened by itself. "Who would be down there?" he said quietly to himself as he took a few steps forward. He placed his hand on the door and opened it just enough for him to squeeze through.

Kai squeezed through the crack he had made in the doorway and closed it slowly behind him. He glanced down the staircase and could still hear the whimpers. He glanced at the torches that hung in holders along the wall of the staircase and began down the steps. He stopped halfway down the staircase and looked towards the narrow corridor that led to the tomb. "Hello? Is anyone there?"

No one answered, and the whimpers continued. The voice sounded vaguely like Tala's, though if indeed it was he, he doing it with a slight falsetto. And if it wasn't Tala, it could have been Sarah, but why would she be down here? And why would she be supposedly crying? She always seemed to have such a perfect, pleasant life.

"Tala?" Kai called, his voice echoing around the chamber.

The whimpering continued with no reply. Kai decided to continue down. He made it to the bottom of the stairs, and gaited the 5 metres to the entrance to the corridor. He scrutinized the dimly lit hall. It was slightly dark where he was, but at the end where the tomb was he saw lights. There were more torches on holders embedded in the walls. Sitting on the coffin he saw someone - hunched over and shaking slightly, sobbing.

Kai couldn't quite make out who it was because of the meagre light, but he could tell that it definitely wasn't Tala. It looked more like a girl. "Who's there?"

With the lack of reply, he moved forward to advance on the figure. As he stepped forward and into the threshold of the corridor, something rushed out and right past him. It flashed past him so fast and caught him by surprise, almost knocking him to the ground. He quickly turned his head to see the white ghostly silhouette zip up the staircase and out through the door at the top into the hallway. A cold breeze blew by him, chilling him to the bone, and he heard the pleased giggling of a young girl as the figure flashed past and disappeared. "What was that...?" he whispered.

Kai kept his eyes fixed on where the figure had exited for a minute before turning back to the weeping figure. He commenced to take a step forward again, nothing blocking him this time. As he stepped closer to the girl, he recognized it as Sarah. Kai came up behind her silently and didn't say anything for a moment, staring with a compassionate and worried look at her. He gulped and then spoke. "Sarah?"

"Go away! I don't want to hear you anymore!" she yelled, covering her ears and keeping her back to him.

Kai swallowed again. "Why?"

Sarah sniffed and shook her head. "I don't want to hear it! Haven't you pained me enough, already?"

Kai observed the area around her. She sat on the Hilanov coffin. It was made of a whitish-grey stone, but now had red areas that glistened in the light-blood. Scattered over the stone were used, bloodstained cloth bandages. Kai could see the gashes on Sarah's arms where they must have been. He could hear her starting to cry again, drawing sharp breaths.

"Why aren't you leaving? Leave me alone, Crucis!" Sarah cried.

Kai let out a small sigh of relief. It wasn't him she hated. "There's a misunderstanding. I'm not Crucis." ' Whoever that is... '

Sarah took her hands away from her ears and stared straight at the wall in front of her blankly. "Kai?" She turned around. Kai could see the tears that had streamed down her cheeks and the glistening in her greenish- brown eyes.

"Yes...It's me, Kai..."

She sighed and turned back around, her face still showing extreme displeasure and sadness. "Oh...I'm sorry about that. I thought you were..."

"Crucis, I know. Who is that, anyway?"

She turned back around. "I don't really know. She said that she was a spirit, one that had left the body before it died."

Kai gasped.

She turned to him quickly. "What is it?"

Kai stared at her in fear and then glanced around nervously. "You're sure it was Crucis, right?"

"Yes..." Sarah affirmed, narrowing her eyes and cocking her head to one side slightly.

"Don't you remember Boris telling us about that type of soul? How some often came back to possess others? Don't you recall him saying that the 'Crucis' ghost was out for the Hiwatari family?"

Sarah stared at him for a moment in confusion and then displayed a dawning expression on her face. "Oh, yeah! Now I remember! Wait-that would mean-Kai?!"

Kai understood her alarm right away. "No, no, I'm not possessed and I can tell you that truthfully."

Sarah took no heed of his denial. "But if Crucis left, since I don't see her anywhere around here, she took off down that way," She exclaimed as she pointed in the direction of the staircase. "And since that's the only way in, you came through there, too. She obviously met up with you, how do I know she's wasn't returning to you?"

Kai remained calm despite the accusation he was receiving. "Don't you trust me?"

Sarah glared at him a moment, hesitating. Then she turned away, not wanting to answer.

Now Kai felt the anger rush to him. "So you're accusing me now just because of a mere piece of evidence which is completely discriminating? What if I was Tala Romanov , not Kai Hiwatari , and you had thought that Crucis left through the corridor to meet up with her possess-ee? Then what?"

Sarah kept her eyes fixed on the ground. She mumbled something that Kai couldn't make out.

"What?"

"I said, 'I don't know.'" She replied with annoyance in her tone.

Kai narrowed his infuriated eyes. "Why are you giving me attitude when I'm the one that's being accused? You wouldn't know what a life I face everyday. You have actual friends, happiness and power! You have parents! What do you think happened to mine? They were killed in a car crash when I was little over 3-years-old, so that I barely even knew them! You had your parents to help you through life-I didn't- and look where I am today relative to you! You think you're so great with all your accomplishments, but look where I am and without the help of others! You wouldn't know how my life has been hardened by all around me! You wouldn't know!"

Sarah, who had calmed down to this point, was regaining her woe. Kai saw the tears glisten in her eyes once again. He realized the insensitivity of his actions and stepped forward. His scowl softened up as he sat down beside her on the coffin. "I'm sorry...I...just..."

Sarah continued to stare at the floor, tears rolling down and off her cheeks. One landed on Kai's pants, creating a damp, darkened spot. He looked at it for a moment, feeling the warmth seep through the fabric and onto his leg. He felt something enclose around his hand and looked up at Sarah, who was looking at him. "No, Kai. It's my fault. I shouldn't have accused you like that when it's Rhea that's possessed..."

Kai gave her a surprised expression. "What? How do you know that?"

She turned her head away from him. "I feel a strange aura when I'm around her. And...I was also told..."

"By who?"

"S-someone...They can definitely sense it and told me. It's someone that's gone now...maybe forever," she said as she turned back around and made direct eye contact with Kai.

"Who's that?" Kai asked, sympathy in his dark brown eyes.

"Fovular...Who knows what they're doing to her at Goadbwa. I miss her so much..."

Kai extricated his hand from her tightening gloved grasp. He reached out his arms and embraced her like an old, comforting friend. She leant into him, though reluctantly until ha forced it upon her. "That's okay. Don't worry-we'll get her back. If I know Boris, he won't let a creation as powerful as Fovular slip out of his grip that easily. And from what I can gather, he isn't about to roll over and admit defeat to Goadbwa, either."

After holding her in silence for a minute or two, which felt rather awkward for him, he felt her arms reach out and encircle his neck. She lifted her head from being hunched over and buried in his chest to over his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Kai..." she whispered in his ear. "I feel for you, I really do, and I want to help you through life-with or without your parents."

The comment made something trigger in his mind. He immediately began to do something he had never really done before-cry. Without him really realizing it, tears welled up in his eyes and soon commenced flowing down his cheeks and onto Sarah's back. That only made him hold her tighter to make it stop. So here was the goodbye hug he'd missed for six years.

"Here are your goals: 1, find out what Goadbwa's up to, 2, find Gilepse and bring him to me-alive, 3, retrieve Fovular, and 4, don't die." Boris instructed the Biovolt deploys within the helicopter boarding platform room. "I don't have any technology advanced contrivances for you like Goadbwa does for Vitality Extortion, but you do have state-of-the-art weaponry and Beyblades. Since you lack the digital map that Vitality Extortion had in their eyepieces, you have been given paper floor plans of Goadbwa HQ, or Galsky Castle." Boris turned to Tala and the Blade Sovereign. "If Biovolt needs to get something to you, we'll make contact through you five. It'll then be your job to find the others and tell them."

The five nodded their heads slightly. Boris turned back to the rest of the group. "Right, then, we're almost there." He rotated on his heel and entered the cockpit where Leon was piloting.

The deploys were silent for the duration of the trip. If one or two did happen to talk, it was in a dead whisper. Once the chopper had landed, Boris came into the loading room and told everyone to stand up from their seats along the sides of the room. They filed out one by one, exiting trough the cockpit and jumping onto the stone platform outside the headquarters.

Once everyone had departed, Boris came to the door and stood poised to close it. "There you are. Infiltrate and annihilate. Don't dishonour the Biovolt Corporation!" With that, he slammed the cockpit door shut. The chopper took off from the ground and headed east to and back to Balkov Abbey.

They all gawked up at the looming castle. To the right of the stone grey castle was a river. They could hear the rushing water as it flowed eastward. It had a width of about several metres and on the other side was land with lush, green grass. They observed everything from the fifty-foot castle to the intricate patterning of the stones on the ground beneath them. The stone bricks stretched about five metres around the sides and back of the castle and extended some thirty metres in front of the castle to where it made an abrupt stop where it met the grass. The castle's walls were made of a grey stone. There was a large wooden door at the front with a metal doorframe and handles. There were four towers that rose above the actual building. They each pointed in a different direction of the compass. There were spires upon the top of each tower.

"Are we going to go inside or stand and gawk at it all day?" Kai asked sarcastically. Without waiting for a reply, he took a few steps forward. Everyone followed him to the door soon after.

"How are we supposed to get in?" Tyson questioned innocently.

"Stand back!" Crash! They all stared at the gaping hole in the door. They turned to Robert, who stood with his blackjack and a grim expression on his face. "This is what's called infiltrating," he replied simply as he stepped inside.

They followed inside and turned their heads, taking in everything of the entrance hall. The circular room was rather plain, except for a large tapestry that hung on both walls, left and right of either door. Across from the entrance door there was another set of doors that probably led to the rest of the castle. They were closed right now.

"It's weird. Wouldn't they have a security system, considering that they're supposed to be more advanced in technology than Biovolt?" Max pondered as he walked through the room.

"Not if they have the security system off, I guess..." Ray trailed off.

"Come on, guys! We'd better hurry or we'll be caught!" Kevin exclaimed, trying to pry open the door, but to no avail.

Gary sauntered over slowly and placed one hand on the right door's handle, the one that Kevin was still clinging to. He jerked his hand slightly and the door opened almost effortlessly. Kevin let go and took his feet down from the door. He laughed dryly.

Kevin waited as two or three of the others went through and then scurried through himself. They stood in the main hall and glanced around. There were three ways to go; left, right, and straight ahead. Mysteriously, inside these halls the walling was different. There were no more grey stone brick walls, but sandstone ones. It seemed a lot cleaner and modern than Biovolt with them.

"We should split up," Johnny suggested. "We'll accomplish things a lot faster than travelling as a group."

"Are you sure that's what you mean and it's not just that you don't like teamwork?" Enrique mused.

Johnny narrowed his eyes at the blonde and growled.

"Or maybe it's because he wants me to come looking for him if I get a message from Biovolt. You know how huge this place is? And finding a little kid like Johnny?" Anya protested, pointing to the transmitters that were stationed as hair clips, holding her half-pigtails. The transmitters were on the sides of their heads on the other three. They were positioned halfway between their ears and the tops of their heads.

"A little kid?!" Johnny exclaimed. "I'll have you know-"

"Stop fighting, you two!" Samson cried, placing his hands in either one's face. "We can go in groups- one with Biovolt contacts in each."

"But we don't have a number divisible by five," mentioned Elvin.

Samson looked around, seeing this true.

"If the three Hilanovs can go together, there will be 24 of us left. There'd be four left with transmitters, and we could take five of them each," Rhea voiced.

Samson stared at her blankly for a moment and then withdrew his hands. "Sure. Works for me. What say you two?"

Kieran nodded as Anya folded her arms and scowled. "As long as I don't get Johnny."

"Uh...sure...whatever...Sarah, Kai, Tala-why don't you go ahead of us? I think we're going to be a while. There's no point in you waiting for us, anyway."

"Okay," Sarah replied as she turned. She was being unusually quiet and wanful-like Rhea. Tala and Kai glanced at her a moment before following her down the corridor on the left.

"This map is so confusing!" Tala cried in frustration, turning it this way and that, trying to figure it out.

"Will you keep your voice down?" Kai whispered. "They may have their system off, or they may have none at all, but that doesn't mean they're deaf or blind!"

Tala folded the map and scowled murderously at Kai as they continued walking, following Sarah. They walked down the sanitary corridor for a bout a minute longer before they came to a turn. Sarah rounded it first and then threw herself against the wall. She glared towards the two boys and motioned for them to mimic the action. They did so, Kai throwing himself beside her.

"What is it?" he questioned in a whisper that she could barely hear.

Sarah pointed to the entrance to the room that was about a metre away from them on the wall. Light was emanating from it and they could hear voices. "We could be seen. There are people in there. Be quiet-I'm going to try to listen."

She edged along the wall, closer to the entrance. Placing her head closer to the doorway, she could clearly hear what they were saying.

"Yes. I've told him of the field. I even gave him a picture so that he could show the deploys. They should be training, unless he's planning a surprise attack," she heard a familiar voice say. It sounded like Gilepse.

"Well, you know him. He never takes defeat easily. Neither did you, for that matter. Your ruthlessness must have rubbed off on each other." What sounded like a female voice said. Sarah didn't recognize the voice.

"Who's that?" Kai whispered in her ear.

She whirled around and threw a finger to her mouth to silence him.

Gilepse cast a glance toward the doorway. He turned to Ophelia. "Is Spica ready?" he asked in a lower tone.

Ophelia nodded.

"Keep talking," Gilepse instructed and he took a walkie-talkie out of his jacket pocket. "Spica-get ready. You can commence the operation whenever you're ready." He spoke into the walkie-talkie quietly.

"Yes, sir." Came the reply.

Ophelia began talking again, raising her voice purposely. "Do you really think that he'll plan a surprise attack, Marduk?"

A man sitting in the chair beside Gilepse answered. He wore the black uniform that the Goadbwa deploys wore. "No, Boris wouldn't do that. He doesn't have the technology to plan it!" he exclaimed and burst out laughing. The other two began to laugh, too.

"Yeah-that's right! His technology is from way back when the Abbey was first built!" Ophelia added.

Gilepse leaned forward. "When was that? 1000 BC?" The three burst out in laughter again. This wasn't real laughter, though. They were just trying to mock the three Biovolt deploys outside the door.

Sarah scowled for a moment at their incessant laughter and then drew back from the door quickly as she heard someone get up. She motioned for the two boys to move further down the hall and followed them to hide with them around the corner. She noticed Ophelia walk out of the lounge room and in the other direction, still howling with laughter in her low, crackling voice.

"Let's go. We don't have time to waste here," Kai whispered in her ear once more.

She nodded and followed him down the corridor the way they had come. The two boys were in the lead, Kai studying the map and Tala glancing over his shoulder, asking a question every so often. When they came to the first junction, they heard a pair of footsteps stop. The two looked at each other, stopped themselves and turned around. It had been Sarah that had stopped, and she now stood there two metres back and staring blankly at the ground in front of her.

Kai and Tala turned to each other once more and then Tala took a step forward. "Sarah? What is it?"

It was like he hadn't even said anything. She made no acknowledgement what so ever.

"Sarah?" Kai asked. "Is something wrong?"

No response.

Tala strode up to her and placed both hands on her shoulders, holding her at arm's length. She kept her head down. "Sarah? Say something!"

All of a sudden, her head jerked up. Tala tried to step back in surprise but couldn't. She had been too fast and had grabbed him by the waist. She had a firm grip on the two belts that hung as he tried to pull away. She unhooked one and used it as a whip against him. Tala could now move away and shielded himself, since she had released him.

Kai watched in horror as Tala tried to back away but she kept advancing on him. Kai saw the odd look in her eyes flash. They seemed cloudy, as if she was blind. Her actions didn't seem all that human, either. They were rather fast, faster than he had seen her normally move before in such circumstances. As she dealt a forceful blow to Tala's head with the metal clasp of the belt, Kai lunged forward and knocked her out of Tala's way and against the wall. He pinned both of her arms down so that she couldn't flail the belt about and held her there as she struggled to get free.

"What's gotten into you?" Kai demanded.

"Let me go," came the surprisingly calm reply for one who was trying with all their might to escape.

"Why'd you attack Tala like that?" Kai asked again almost in a yell.

"Let me go," she repeated.

Kai took both of her arms and held them vertically across his chest so that she couldn't move and reached into his belt to pull out a long, glimmering object. He raised it high above his head, poised to bring it down. "Stop struggling."

"What are you doing?!" Tala exclaimed as he ran over to Kai and grabbed Kai's wrist suspended in the air. "She may have attacked me, but there's no reason to kill her for it!"

Kai glanced back at him. "I'm not going to kill her, just intimidate her."

Tala glared at him with suspicion and worry for a moment before letting go. Kai turned back to Sarah. "Now, let's try this again. Stop struggling."

She disobeyed the comment and kept on fighting his grip. She began to wriggle her hands up and out of the grasp on his chest to his neck. She wrapped her hands around his neck and tightened the grip. Kai couldn't breathe as easily anymore. He gasped for air as he brought down the dagger in his right hand. He aimed for her chest and was surprised to feel it hit something hard before hitting her body and then ricocheting off her chest. The force flung it out of his hand and landed, quivering in the opposing wall.

Kai could barely breathe anymore, then suddenly, he felt relief. Tala had barrelled between the two and freed Kai's hold on her, in turn granting Kai the liberty of his neck. Kai rubbed his sore neck for a moment or two before turning to Tala. "Run, Tala! Get out of here!"

"But-"

"Go!"

Tala faltered a moment before taking off down the corridor on the left. Kai hurried over to the opposing wall and jumped, catching a hold of his dagger and pulling it down. He surveyed Sarah who sat on the floor recovering an instant and then pursued Tala down the left corridor.

"I-I think we've lost her..." Tala panted as he leaned against a wall.

Kai glanced around the corner of the 3-way junction and saw nothing but the bend. "I don't know what's gotten into her..."

"Do you have the map?" Tala asked.

Kai glanced at him in confusion. "Yes. Why?"

"If she has it, she could find her way around easily while the two of us could land ourselves in some weird trap!"

Kai glanced back around the corner anxiously. He turned back to Tala. "I don't think we should take the time to rest yet. We should keep running."

Tala appeared annoyed and confused. "Oh, fine then. Down here!" He stepped away from the wall he was leaning against and headed down the corridor perpendicular to the one they had come through.

Kai took off right after him, still looking back at the previous corridor but then froze and looked down as he heard a yell, gurgling, and then two splashes. Two feet away from his feet was a large square hole-with Tala holding onto the edge for dear life. From the pit rose immense heat and that was fully understandable as Kai could see what looked like boiling lava a good several metres down. "Tala!" Kai yelled as he knelt down and grabbed a hold of the red-haired boy's arms.

"Well, well, well...if it isn't Kai and Tala-two of the prophesied ones! Tell me- where's the third egomaniac?"

Kai looked up and Tala tried to turn his head but stopped mid-way for fear of losing his grip. There stood Kuiper and Telesto in their uniforms. "What are you two doing here?" Kai grilled angrily.

The brown-haired boy straightened up and curled his lip in disgust. "I don't know, Kuiper. What are we doing here?"

Kuiper folded his arms and laid a smug look on his face. "Gee, maybe it's 'cause we're from Goadbwa and this is the main headquarters?"

Telesto folded his arms, too. "Oh yeah-that's right. Now we've told you, Hiwatari. We should ask you what you're doing here."

Kai narrowed his eyes and lowered his head but didn't reply.

"Look, Telesto! There's the third trespasser, now!" Kuiper said calmly, pointing to the previous corridor.

Kai turned to see Sarah standing there with the same blank expression on her face. "Oh great...she's here."

Kuiper and Telesto turned to leave. Kuiper paused and turned. "We'll just leave you three to your business, now."

"Yeah. They need some alone time-together," Telesto added. They both turned and snickered as they sauntered down the hall but then whirled around as they heard Kai finally speak.

"Hey! Cibaru! Varuna! Where's your third lackey?"

The two boys looked at each other and smirked. "Not here," they replied as they burst into laughter and continued down the corridor.

Kai growled as he eyed them. "Look out!" he heard Tala yell.

Kai whipped around to see Sarah make a swing with the belt at his head. Kai ducked and dodged it. He reached out his foot and thrust it at her, knocking her off her feet and to the ground.

Tala was flinching, preparing to fall. He was sure that Kai would lose his grip. He decided to flash a quick glance upward to see Kai glaring with determination down at him. "Hey Kai-you wouldn't let go of me now, would you? I'd say sorry for everything I've ever done to you."

"Heh-don't worry, Tala. I've got you," he consoled as he pulled Tala up and out of the pit. Tala landed on the hard stone floor and glanced up at Sarah, who made a thrust forward to push him back into the pit. She was pushed out of the way by Kai once more and was flung against the wall like a broken rag doll.

Kai leapt up and grabbed Tala's arm, pulling him to his feet. "Come on, Tala! Let's go!"

Tala hastened to his feet and ran after Kai down the corridor. The two met up with Kuiper and Telesto, who had been innocently walking. The two Goadbwa boys whirled around to see the other two Biovolt boys charging at them. Kai grabbed Kuiper as Tala grabbed Telesto. Tala flung Telesto against the wall and drew his gun from his belt. He held Telesto there with his body, digging his shoulder into Telesto's chest and holding the gun to his heart, finger on the trigger,

Kai had also thrown Kuiper against the wall, but held him there with his arms like he had Sarah. Neither one of the Goadbwa deploys struggled, too paralyzed with fear to do so.

"Okay. Now make this easy and we won't hurt you," Tala said, pressing the gun more firmly into Telesto's chest.

"What have you done to Sarah? Where exactly is your third teammate, Spica? And where are you keeping Fovular?" Kai pressed.

"First of all, we didn't do anything to Sarah," Kuiper stated.

"Yeah-that's right. That's what Gilepse's doing," Telesto added matter-of-factly.

"Second, we aren't even sure where Spica is, just that she's doing something important." Kuiper continued.

"And as for Fovular..." Telesto paused for effect, feeling everyone else's eyes on him. "She's...somewhere in the castle. But that's all I'm telling you. This is Biovolt's hide-and-seek game, not Goadbwa's."

Tala let Telesto go rather forcefully, throwing him to the ground and placing his gun back in his belt.

Kai was about to let Kuiper off lightly, with no violent action whatsoever, but Kuiper struck the first move by throwing a jab at Kai's face. Kai tried to move his head out of the way, but Kuiper's fist met his ear. Kai threw a hand to it and retracted his other one from his hold on Kuiper. Kuiper took out his knife and went for Kai, but Kai knocked it out of the boy's arm with his free hand. He lurched at Kuiper and seized his waist, hurling him to the ground like Tala had Telesto. Kai stood looming over the boy. Kuiper leapt to his feet after a moment of wondering what had happened and threw Kai to the wall.

The two commenced throwing punches, jabs and kicks at each other, the two missing almost every opposing hit. The two were both moving so quickly around each other that their limbs had become a blur to the two other boys watching the scene, who were gawking in amazement.

Finally, after matching each other hit for hit, Kai struck the final devastating blow: a punch between both eyes. It knocked Kuiper out, sending him to the floor once Kai had let go of his collar. Telesto and Tala had their mouths and eyes wide open, staring at Kuiper's bruised body in trepidation. Kai clapped his hands together and dusted himself off. "Well...that was easy. Come on, Tala. Let's go." He strode off down the corridor, swinging his arms with pride, as if nothing had happened.

The two other boys stared at each other with surprised looks before they shook it off and shrugged their shoulders. Tala hurried off after Kai as Telesto knelt down to deal with his unconscious teammate.

"Ugh! Let us go!" Tyson yelled as he struggled within the shackles that bound to the stone wall.

"Give me one reason to do so," replied one of the Goadbwa deploys that stood guard of Samson's group. Unlike the other deploys, this deploy was female, her name Phoebe, and her being Vitality Extortion's nurse as they had grown up. She wore the same outfit as the other deploys wore, except that she had longer hair that stuck out of the hat. Her dark red Emily-style hair made a deep contrast to the black uniform.

"Don't waste your energy, Tyson," Robert advised.

"Yeah. You may need it later more than you need it now," agreed Lee.

Philemon glanced at the others with an annoyed look. "I don't think Tyson ever runs out of energy. Not with all the food he eats."

"I do so run out of energy!" Tyson protested. "Just not very often..."

"I sure hope they can get us out of here before they go home. Huh! Knowing Anya, she'll probably make everyone forget about me," Samson mused to himself.

Phoebe turned and glared at Samson through her sunglasses. "I wouldn't count on them rescuing you. Even if they have maps, this testing room isn't on any maps we've given out to the public."

"But we don't have maps that you get from the public," Philemon started. He stopped right away as Spencer kicked him and shook his head.

Phoebe advanced on Philemon. She held her rifle to his neck. "What do you mean by that, kid?"

Philemon lifted his head slightly and gulped as he stared down defiantly at the woman. He could feel sweat trickle down his cheek. "I can't talk with a firearm at my throat," he said rather calmly.

Phoebe took the rifle away slowly. "There. How about now?"

Philemon scowled and then looked up as he heard footsteps coming from the hall.

"Jailbreak! And you guys are free!" Anya screeched from her position in the doorway. She had one hand on the doorframe and the other hand pointing to the six boys shackled to the wall. Johnny, Ray, Mariah, Eddy and Steve ran into the room, taking down the two Goadbwa deploys first, while the other three set about to finding a way to liberate their friends.

Anya strode over to Samson slowly, as if trying to prolong his escape. She extended her hand out behind her and a set of keys flew into it, thrown by Mariah, who had Phoebe pinned to the ground. Anya inserted the key into the shackle on Samson's right wrist. It opened and Samson took his hand away from the wall, staring at the red mark that had been left there. He glanced up at Anya. "Thank you. I didn't think...I thought you would have left without me..."

"You thought wrong, then," Anya replied as she unlocked the other three shackles. "As always, Samson."

Samson stepped onto the floor and scowled at the Romanov girl who smirked complacently back at him. "Hey, Anya! Would you mind snapping out of your daydream and handing me the keys?"

"Yeah, some of us are still bound to the wall, here!"

Anya turned to the left to see Johnny and Tyson, Johnny glowering murderously. "Calm down, kid. Here you go," she said, throwing Johnny the key chain.

He caught them and freed Tyson from the shackles. Samson and Anya watched as the keys were passed down the line. "I still can't believe you agreed to take Johnny," Samson muttered to her.

Anya shifted her weight to the other foot. "Neither can I."

"Anya! What should we do with them?" Mariah called from the floor in the middle of the room. She was trying to keep Phoebe pinned to the floor, but was struggling along with Ray, who was trying to hold the man down.

Anya marched over to the two Goadbwa deploys and loomed over them with her hands on her hips and evil smile on her face. "I don't know. What do you think they deserve?"

"Tala! Can you hear me?"

Tala froze in mid-step and concentrated on listening to the voices in his head. "Yes, Boris?"

Kai heard Tala speak and whirled around. "What is it?"

Tala threw a finger to his lip in a gesture for Kai to be quiet. Boris continued to speak. "Something has happened to Sarah, hasn't it?"

"Yes," Tala replied, "Though we don't know what."

"We're aren't exactly sure, either, but since you three have already split up, I need the two of you to split up. Kai-you try to find and confront Sarah. Tala- you retrieve Fovular."

"But I don't know where it is," protested Tala.

"Tell Kai what he has to do while I send you a virtual map of the castle."

Tala looked up at Kai. "Okay...Boris wants us to split up. I'm going to go look for Fovular, while you go look for Sarah and try to confront her."

All of a sudden, Tala saw a hologram map appear in front of his left eye. He jumped a little.

"What is it?" Kai pressed again.

"N-nothing... You go and look for Sarah."

"Right!" Kai assured as he ran in the direction back down the corridor that they had come from.

Tala observed him disappear into the darkness and then turned his gaze to the map. There were eight dots; purple, green, blue, orange, yellow, red, black, and white. The white dot was moving slowly in one direction on the first level, while the black was moving around on the second level. The orange and green dots were together in a room. The blue dot was rapidly moving away from the red, which stood still on the first level. The blue dot was moving in the direction of the purple one, which was also standing still. The yellow dot was remaining motionless in the tenth level of the north tower.

Tala analyzed it for a moment, but could make no sense of it. "It doesn't make any sense, Boris."

"This shows the locations of everyone from Biovolt. The blue dot is Kai, the red dot is you, the purple dot is Sarah, the orange dot is Anya, the green Samson, the white Rhea, the black Kieran, and the yellow Fovular. This should help you to navigate better around the Castle."

"Okay, thank you, Boris..."

"What are you waiting for? Get going, now!" Boris commanded.

Tala slapped his arms to his side and stood erect, though he wasn't sure to who, since there was no physical being in front of him. "Yes, sir!" He took off towards the north tower.