"….." Speech '…..' Thought ….. Implied words
Disclaimer: I do not own this anime…..now if I had a penny for every time I've written that…..
Chapter Ten - Escape
Footsteps. Slow steady footsteps stirred Kai from his uneasy sleep.
He bolted up right, rushing to the door to place an ear to the hard wooden door.
They were coming for him, he knew it. They were coming to do God knows what to him. He had to escape but as he scanned his cell he could see no way out.
Kai edged away from the door as the sound f bolts being released and a key scraping through the lock reached his ears. Maybe if he made a dash for it……
The door opened and lights streamed in, blinding him with its brilliance. He ran blindly towards it, hoping he would somehow get out.
He felt something grab his shirt and suddenly he could not run anymore, he was being held fast.
"There's no escape for you," a voice rasped in the blinding light.
The heart monitor beeped once, then twice, then a third time. It continued beeping steadily with every heart beat coming from the boy attached.
The room was clean, disgustingly clean, and smelt of turpentine and antiseptic.
Ray and all that was left of the team sat in the waiting room. It was deathly silent. Max cleared his throat as if to say something but when Ray looked at him he turned his eyes down and stared at the floor.
"What are we going to do?" Kenny murmured but in the quiet atmosphere it was as if he had been shouting.
"What can we do?" Ray shook his head helplessly. "We can't do much for Tyson and as for Kai…..well, Biovolt is a huge place, we would not know where to find him."
"We have to do something," Max muttered almost inaudibly.
No one said anything after that.
In the small hospital room the monitor beeped. It was so lonely, painfully lonely in there. If only the doctors would allow them into the room instead of sitting out in the waiting room, Ray thought.
Nothing stirred in the little hospital room, just the constant beep of the monitor that could stop at anytime, just the beep…beep and nothing more.
Kai let them drag him through the cold corridors. The men were too big for him to struggle against anyway.
They led him into a room almost an exact copy of the one he had been in before he had lost his voice.
The machinery looked the same but now suspicious looking turbines lined the white room. Kai hated anything that was too white - it always reminded him of hospitals.
Boris was there along with a few scientists. Briefly, Kai wondered if he would be able to escape after the experiment. He had had many experiments done to him during his time in the abbey and had always came out human enough.
'What if this is different? What if I don't come back the way I was?' Kai shuddered at the thought, an image of something hairy with wings perhaps and long talons, flashed through his head but what scared him even more was the thought, 'What if I forget?'
Not to remember those times with his team, when they goofed off and almost had him laughing too, not to remember Tyson, those gentle caresses, how he looked, how he smiled…that was even more frightening than anything else he could think of.
"Are you ready, Kai?" Boris asked, Kai snarled at him.
"Sir, the machine has been prepared," one of the scientists said.
"Good," Boris nodded. "Strap him in," he commanded and the two men dragged Kai to the operating table.
Kai did not struggle, he would not let Boris have the pleasure of seeing him like that. He let them strap him to the operating table with cold, calm arrogance that he hoped would annoy Boris.
As scientists scurried around doing last minute checks Boris strode up to where Kai lay, leering down at him.
"Do you see these?" Boris held up a glass box of bitchips. "One of these happy fellows will be inside of you. A human-bitbeast, the perfect soldier! The body of a human, the abilities of a human but with the power of a bitbeast and it's blind sense of duty, which will make it obey its masters no matter what the order!"
Boris ignored the growls coming from the operating table. He selected a particularly appealing raven bitbeast and placed it into a wire cage. It was only a pity that Dranzer could not be found, now that would have been interesting.
"We're ready to begin," a scientist nodded. Boris nodded back.
Kai listened to the whirl of turbines, the pulse of electricity running through the cables and the bubbling of chemicals.
This was it. He wished Tyson were here with him, he hoped the blue eyed boy was okay.
There was no way out, in a few seconds he would be a mindless puppy-dog with no freewill and no ability to think for himself. Maybe he would be able to hold onto his memories, though they would become distant blurs they would still be there.
A jolt of pain flashed through his body, his eyes widened in shock then screwed shut, he gritted his teeth together and held on as he felt the change.
Boris was jumping from one foot to the other with glee, crying "Yes! Yes!"
'Don't concentrate on the pain just try to remember.'
The pain coursed through Kai's body, the feeling of change. He thought he saw images of the bitbeast realm, of what it felt to be summoned into what bitbeasts called the mortal realm, the thrill of battle. Kai could feel himself locked in battle with other bitbeasts, the cheer and the burning desire to please his master.
'Master? I have no master!'
Fighting against so many different bitbeasts, flying through the air, Kai felt it all.
Whatever bitbeast Boris had chosen, it had led a lonely life. It had never been fully bonded with a person but juggled from blader to blader like a useless toy, he shared the dreams that one day someone who truly cared would pick it up and together they would rise above the rest.
Kai felt its pain but even more so he felt their two beings merging together and the face he had tried to concentrate on was blurred and distorted.
He was beginning to forget.
'I won't forget!' he told himself. 'I refuse to forget!'
"I want to be bonded!"
Kai thought he was going mad when he heard a voice inside his head until he realised that it was the bitbeast. The experiment was almost complete.
'I can't be bonded, I'll forget!' Kai wanted to scream but he found he had no voice. 'I have to escape and get back to…..get back to where? There was someone I had to see.'
"I want to be bonded! I want a master!"
'Shut up!' No, he should get the bitbeast to work with him. That was it! 'I'll find you a master, someone who cares just get me out!'
The scientists were yelling and talking in loud voices, running up and down to check the turbines.
"What's going wrong this time?" Boris yelled angrily.
"I don't know sir, I think - "
A turbine exploding cut off the scientist's speech. The metal cage that held the bitbeast cracked open, something black circled the room then flew straight over the operating table.
Kai felt the presence of the bitbeasts draining away. He could remember the smiling faces of his team mates. The one with long raven black hair, that was Ray, Max was the hyper one, Kenny was the smart one and Tyson…..he was the angel with blue eyes.
Shaking himself back to reality, a sudden urgency pressed against him. He had to find his team! The restraints were cut and the scientists were flapping away in frenzy.
Kai grabbed the bitchip in the smoking metal cage and made a break for the door.
"Stop him!" he heard Boris yell. The sirens almost immediately began to wail but that only spurred Kai onwards.
"Get away!" Kai yelled before he realised what he was doing. His voice! It sounded so strange now. Perhaps the experiment had done something to bring back his voice.
However, he had no time to ponder it, he ran out of the room and down the cold corridors.
The sound of many footsteps were at his heels as Kai tore into the open grounds of Biovolt. People were shouting and the thunder of footsteps always seemed close by.
Kai climbed the gate with the raven clasped in one hand.
"There he is!" someone yelled but Kai did not stop to glance back at who had said it.
Kai ran and did not stop even when he felt as if he was going to collapse. He ran into the streets, barging his way through the crowds without a word of apology. The men followed, hot on his trail.
Kai turned into the alleys, a hopelessly impossible maze of wooden fences. After several sharp turns he allowed himself to stop and catch his breath, surely he had lost them now.
Yet another problem arose. In all of his frantic running he had gotten himself impossibly lost.
He was ready to hit himself for that. He had to find Tyson, even if it was the last thing he did and so his feet carried him along the alleys.
It was almost dark, the sun was beginning to set in the distant horizon before Kai saw the end of the alleys. The sight of shops and people were a relief to him and what was even more relieving was the sight of the hospital.
Kai gulped. Tyson would be in there after the bullet wound he had received but what state would he be in. There was only one way to find out.
Ray stretched and yawned. They had stayed in the hospital for hours. The doctor had allowed five minutes to see him but Ray did not think he could bring himself to go in that little room again.
Max and Kenny were yawning too. It had been a rough day and they were just about to leave…..
…..When Kai burst in.
Ray almost jumped. Kai was the last thing he expected to see, he had to rub his eyes just to make sure he was not imagining things.
"Kai!" Ray grinned. He was definitely there.
Kai held up a hand. "Where's Tyson?" he asked.
"Your voice!" Max gasped. The others crowded round him, asking if he was okay and how he had escaped but Kai cut through them all.
"Where' s Tyson?" he asked again.
"Room thirty but - "
Kai did not wait to hear what Ray had to say next, he was down the corridor in a flash.
His heart was knocking against his ribs. Room thirty, the critical ward…..Tyson…..if he was not all right Biovolt would pay, Boris would pay.
Kai felt his pace quicken until he was running. The room thirty came into view. Kai pushed the door open and ran into the room. He abruptly came to a stop by the bed and the heart monitor still beeping but faintly.
"Tyson," Kai whispered. Moving towards the blue haired boy, Kai lightly touched one arm. He felt so cold.
"We wanted to tell you," Kenny's voice emerged from the doorway, "he's been getting weaker and weaker by the minute. The doctor said that he might…..die."
"Tyson," Kai repeated the name.
Tyson's hair was down, almost past his shoulders like two blue angel wings. His eyes were closed in an almost serene expression. He looked as if he was just sleeping and that he would wake again and everything would be all right.
"Tyson, I can talk now, aren't you gonna wake up and tell me how great that is?"
There was no response.
Kai gently prodded him. "C'mon, Tyson," he almost begged. He could not believe that as soon as he had escaped only to find this waiting for him.
The raven bitbeast was clutched in one hand, Kai knew that Dranzer was safe in Tyson's dojo. Kai shook him again and this time the boy before him stirred.
"It's snowing," Kai heard Max murmur.
Snow. Like that very first day he had lost his voice.
"Kai?" a weak voice croaked.
"He's awake!" Max cried, he moved forward but Ray flung an arm out to stop him, shaking his head sadly. Max nodded and fell into the background.
"Hey, Tyson," Kai smiled, though the smile felt wrong on his face. "Listen, I got my voice back."
"That's great!" Tyson managed to grin.
"How are you feeling?"
"My stomach hurts!" Tyson complained. "I won't be able to eat in days!"
Kai's smile deepened but it was lined with worry. Did he know? Did Tyson know what could happen to him? Maybe now he had his voice he should…..
"Tyson, I - "
Tyson shook his head. "Don't bother, I know."
Kai stared but Tyson just smiled never knowing that it might be his very last smile.
Kai with his voice back? And I was beginning to really like a silent Kai. Will Tyson die? I have a whole chapter cooked up for if he dies but then again I also have another chapter for if he doesn't die. What should I do? The next chapter will be the last chapter.
