hi again

thank you all for the wonderful reviews!

oh, and Tala has come on the scene!

enjoy!

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Rei yawned as he awoke. He looked around somewhat confused. "Huh! We must have all fallen asleep during that boring movie last night." He said to himself.

Max stretched at stood up. "Morning everyone!"

Kenny looked at the clock. It was 9 am. "I'm surprised Kai didn't wake us up!"

"Well, you saw him last night. He looked exhausted, not to mention he was hurt! He deserves a good night's rest though." Rei said, looking over at the bedroom door.

Tyson moaned and sat up.

"Wow! He woke up on his own!" Kenny exclaimed.

"I smell....food!" He exclaimed, jumping to his feet.

Moments later, Mr. Dickinson walked it, carrying two boxes with steam coming out from the top.

Tyson ran over and grabbed the boxes from the elder.

"Hey! We want some too!" Max yelled and ran over with Rei and Kenny.

Mr. Dickinson chuckled as the boys fought over the food. "Good morning boys!"

The BladeBreakers muttered a hello through the commotion.

"When did you get back?" Kenny asked after he had claimed all his food.

"Around 7 last night. I came in to check on you, but you had already fallen asleep, and I didn't want to disturb you. Has Kai woken up yet?"

Everyone shook their heads.

"Haven't heard a word from him." Tyson said.

"You mean he didn't wake you up?!" Mr. Dickinson asked, somewhat amazed.

"Yeah, isn't that weird? We figured he must have been really tired." Rei replied.

"True...but he hasn't let that stop him before!" Kenny said.

Mr. Dickinson looked worried for a moment.

Rei finished his food and got up. "I'll go check on him."

The Chinese blader headed off toward the bedroom, and disappeared behind the door.

After a few moments, he burst back out, his face covered with worry.

"Mr. Dickinson! Kai's gone!" He exclaimed.

"WHAT!?"

Hilary yelped as she was thrown into a cage like cell. The guard slammed the barred door behind her and left. Hilary looked around her new surroundings. There was plenty of light from the outside coming in, but the cell was still dark in the back. She shivered slightly and snuggled deeper into Kai's coat.

Suddenly, she heard a noise from behind her. She snapped her head around to see a dark silhouette moving.

"Is that you Hilary?" The voice asked, carrying a Russian accent.

"Tala?!" She gasped.

The figure moved into the light. "Long time no see."

"Tala! It is you!" The brunette threw her arms around the red headed Russian.

"I heard your scream...are you alright?" He asked, worried.

"I'm fine...Kai busted in before he did anything." She replied.

"Great...so now he has Kai too....we're doomed." Tala sighed.

The brunette suddenly gasped. "Oh my gosh! Are you okay?" Hilary asked, touching a large bruise on the Russian's face.

"I just got in a little fight...nothing much." Tala tried to smile to reassure her.

"A little fight?! It looks like you went through a war!" She exclaimed, seeing that all his exposed skin was covered in cuts and bruises. His clothes were dirty and torn, and blood splotches were clearly visible all over!

"I'm fine! Don't be so concerned!" Tala replied.

A few minutes later, a guard came barging in. He bent down slightly, opening up the cell Hilary and Tala were in, and threw in another body before slamming the door again.

The figure groaned subconsciously as he hit the floor.

"Kai?!" Tala exclaimed.

"Kai? Kai! Wake up please!" Hilary pleaded, shaking her boyfriend's body. "He's not waking up Tala!" He looked calm and peaceful even though he was in apparent pain, almost like a little child.

The red head crawled over. "If Kai doesn't get up himself, he can be really hard to awake sometimes." He smiled, reassuring her.

"HIWATARI!" Tala suddenly yelled, slamming his foot down on the stone floor as hard as he could.

Kai's eyes opened slowly. "Who cares...." He muttered in Russian and turned over.

Hilary giggled. "You're just like Tyson!"

Hearing her, Kai's eyes opened again. He gasped and sat up. "Don't EVER say that again!" He yawned. "What happened? Is everyone okay?"

Hilary nodded.

"You're now a prisoner in your own house." Tala said, sitting down next to his friends.

"What happened to you?!" Kai exclaimed, seeing his friend.

"Don't worry, I'm fine." He smiled. "I've already healed myself, mostly, before Nikolai put this...thing on." He pulled at a metal collar around his neck.

Kai's fingers felt around his own neck, and sure enough, the same collar was there. "What the heck?!"

"It's supposed to oppress our powers."

"Sounds like this guy's been studying about us." Hilary said.

Kai scratched at his head, getting annoyed by the headband.

"So....now what do we do?" Tala asked.

"Well....we have to get out of here!" Kai replied as if he was stating the obvious.

"And how do you think we should manage that? He's changed this place, it's not how you remember." Tala said.

"It doesn't matter. I can only remember a few things about this place anyway." Kai stuck his head out of their cell, looking around the hallway. They were in a basement. There was a row of 5 prison cells across from them, and at the very end, a door. Windows also lined the very top of the basement, close to the ceiling.

"Well...this is new." Kai sighed as he pulled his head back in. "Do you know what else he's built?"

"I'm not quite sure, but he's build some sort of observation room...or something like that. He's also turned a couple of rooms into testing areas. That's all I know." Tala replied. "Nikolai is a brilliant man....I'm sorry to say. We're in serious trouble here."

"We'll have to get these collars and headbands off before we'll have any hope of escaping this place." Hilary said.

The two teenage boys nodded in agreement.

Mr. Dickinson charged into the room. Kai WAS gone! He rubbed his temples in frustration.

"What is wrong with that boy!"

"Look! This must have fallen out of his pocket!" Tyson said, picking up a folded piece of paper from the floor.

Mr. Dickinson took it and began to read the Russian writing.

"Well?" Max asked, wanting to know what the note said.

"Nikolai is at the last place Kai would expect...that's all it says!" Mr. Dickinson replied, sighing.

"Well, we'll just have to figure out where that would be!" Rei exclaimed.

"Yeah!" Everyone cheered.

Mr. Dickinson grabbed his coat and hat and headed for the door again. "I'm going to go check around town."

"We'll go too!" Tyson exclaimed as everyone got there coats and headed outside.

The rainstorm that had started earlier had now turned to snow, and was quickly blanketing the city.

"This doesn't look good." Kenny stated, looking up into the stormy clouds.

"Let's just hope it lets up soon!" Rei replied as everyone rushed down the street.

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don't forget to review!

this was a little shorter than I thought...but oh well...

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