Emptiness
By: Black Dranzer
".." speaking and thinking
//..// Russian or other language translations (not jap tho)
++..++ speaking and thinking of non-human beings
~*~*~*~ Scene Change ~*~*~*~
~~flashback sequences~~
Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade. I only own any of the characters that you haven't seen in the original Beyblade series.
In the last chapter of Emptiness:
((A laugh came from the bushes and a large figure followed.
Kai's eyes widened not at the man's familiar abbey attire, but more so at the thing he was holding in his hands underneath his cloak..
"Get ready to run," Kai warned Changer as the stranger walked up to them with a smirk..))
((Putting a pale hand on his forehead, Tala gritted his teeth.
"Why did I come to this place?" he thought to himself, "Why did I just.."
But a sudden realization came to him.
His eyes widened as he noticed something he had never thought much about before.
"How did I end up at this abbey in the first place?" he searched his mind.
But all he came up with is a blank wall.
"I don't remember," he thought as he tackled all of the memories he had ever had.
But each time he tried to search for the reason he was at the abbey, the blank wall always blocked his path..))
Chapter ThirtyTwo: Compact
"Get ready to run," Kai warned.
"Run?" Changer asked. She hadn't yet seen the object under the stranger's cloak.
"You're sharp boy," the stranger said, "but that's expected from the master's grandson,"
Kai gave no reply and stepped in front of Changer, shielding her. The stranger gave Kai a quizzical look at his gesture.
"I know you're from the abbey," Kai said at the stranger's look, "so whatever you're here for, keep her out of it,"
The stranger smirked, "Ahh, being protective I see, but sadly, I am not to take any action yet,"
"Then what are you doing here?" Kai asked raising his beyblade threateningly.
The stranger looked as if he was not going to answer, but seemed to change his mind and replied, "Let's just say the master is interested in your movements,"
Kai growled at this and said, "Why would he be interested in me?"
"Come now, you know the answer yourself," the stranger said with a smirk.
"I do," Kai thought to himself, "it's because of the incident at the world tournament," But out loud, he scowled, "Tell him to leave the rest of my teammates and the others alone, and return Kyle and Johnny,"
"I'm not a messenger for you," the stranger said still smirking, "why don't you go and tell the master yourself?"
"I have no desire to see him ever again," Kai said, venom dripping from his words.
"So cold," the stranger laughed, "just like you were supposed to be before you ran away,"
"What's going on?" Changer thought in the background, "What are they talking about?"
"Kai.." she started, but the boy shot her a look that told her to keep quiet.
But the stranger had looked at Changer with interest.
"A 'friend' of yours I presume?" he sneered, "I never thought that you would ever gain any, but don't you worry, they'll be taken care of just as well as you would be. We've already taken care of two, I wonder how many more to go?"
A swooshing sound and a gasp followed.
The stranger clutched his cheek as Dranzer returned to Kai's hand.
When he removed his hand, he saw that there was blood where the blue beyblade had made a scar on his face.
"Don't you dare harm any more of them," he hissed with a glare that would have melted iron, "or you'll have to answer to me,"
The stranger seemed surprised that Kai had launched Dranzer, but slowly, a smile came across his face that turned into laughter.
"Ha! Answer to you?" he leered, "You get your wish!"
With that, the man took out the object hidden in his cloak, revealing a gun.
Changer's eyes widened at the weapon and at the stranger as he took aim at Kai.
The boy made a move to avoid the gun, but was surprised to see that the gun was being redirected.
In a split second, the new target was switched to Changer and a gunshot was heard followed by a cry of surprise and pain.
"Changer!" Kai shouted as he saw the girl fall to the ground.
He rushed over immediately to check on the girl's wounds and found that she had been shot in the arm.
Blood was trickling out of the wound and some from her mouth.
"How sweet," the man mocked as he advanced on the two teens.
"Back off," Kai growled and prepared to launch Dranzer again, but another gunshot followed and the launcher fell broken to the ground.
The man's smile widened, "You're nothing without your beyblade, so why not finish you off? I'm sure master Boris wouldn't mind,"
With a cruel laugh, the man raised the gun again and aimed at Kai.
"Get away Kai," Changer spoke up with much effort, "Just leave me here, you have to get away,"
"No way," Kai replied, "I'm not about to run and leave you here to die. Besides, that gun is faster than my feet,"
"Enough of this fluff," the man sneered, "Time to finish you off,"
A gunshot followed accompanied by the sound of something hitting the ground.
~*~*~*~
"Are you ready?" Boris asked Kazuki while typing codes into his computer.
Inside a test tube, the girl gave a weak nod. She had been dizzy ever since she had returned from her breakfast with Boris.
Boris smiled and entered a few more codes before pausing.
"Be warned Kazuki," he said, "The process may not be exactly comfortable, but sustain a clear mind at all times or the experiment won't be successful,"
"Understood," Kazuki replied and closed her eyes.
Keeping her mind clear, she heard the machine around her start up and felt cool liquid fill up her test tube.
At first, there wasn't much happening except the fact that she felt weird breathing in the liquid substance.
A few moments later, she felt a jolt in the back of her head and felt herself pulled into another place. Suddenly, she saw herself standing in a black space. Black covered every inch of the space so it looked as if she was floating in space except without the stars.
"Where is this?" she thought.
As if to answer her question, a bright light shone all around her, blinding her for a second.
When she reopened her eyes, she found herself standing in a corridor that stretched on into the shadows.
Along each side of the corridor were doors. Hundreds of them, lined up side by side.
Each door was made of metal with an engraving of a hand on its front.
Curious, Kazuki placed her hand in the imprint on the door closest her and watched as the heavy metal door swung open at her light touch.
Inside, she could only see darkness, but the second she stepped inside the room, she started to fall.
Closing her eyes, Kazuki waited for impact, but it surprisingly didn't come. Cracking open an eyelid, she peeked at her surroundings.
"This is.." she thought.
Around her, she could see a scene laid out from a long time ago.
"This is when mother was still alive," she finished her thought.
Indeed, Anna Balkov stood in front of Kazuki with her back facing the girl.
"Come here Kazuki," she called in her cheerful voice.
"Mother!" Kazuki called and ran towards the woman.
Unlike the nightmares she had had before, Anna did not fade away this time.
As Kazuki ran up to the woman, she threw her arms around her mother. But to her dismay and surprise, her arms went right through the woman's shoulders.
"What?" Kazuki gasped, "Mother? What's going on?" But the woman ignored Kazuki and instead, turned to someone behind her.
"Here my little girl," she called.
Kazuki turned around and her eyes widened to see a younger version of herself running happily into her mother's arms.
"A memory," she thought in disappointment, "Only a memory,"
She didn't want to stay in this room anymore. This happy but painful memory brought bitterness upon her.
On cue, a door appeared in front of her, the same as the doors in the corridor she had started to explore in. She opened the door and walked out, returning to the corridor. She closed her eyes and tried to compose herself.
"Why was I brought here?" she thought.
A sudden voice came into her mind, soft and gentle, ++Because there is a memory here that you need to remember,++
"Who's there?" Kazuki shouted suddenly alert.
++A friend,++ the voice replied.
"Friend?" Kazuki asked, not relaxing one bit, "Sorry, but I don't recall having 'friends'"
++Ahh,++ the voice replied with a bit of sadness, ++But I've been by your side since you were young,++
"Since I was young?" Kazuki wondered.
++Yes,++ the voice answered, ++Don't you remember me? Your guardian?++
"My guardian.." Kazuki whispered.
A sudden memory of someone's voice came back to her.
~~FLASHBACK~~
"Kazuki, from now on, she'll be your guardian.."
~~END FLASHBACK~~
++Don't you remember?++ the voice asked again.
"I-I sort of remember," Kazuki replied, "But who are you? Why can't I remember you properly?"
++I have been changed.++ the voice replied sadly, ++but you can't remember me because you've only seen me in my original form 8 years ago. Since then, you've seen me as something else.++
"Something else?" Kazuki asked suspiciously, "I don't trust you, show yourself!"
There was a pause and Kazuki thought the voice had disappeared, but when it spoke up, the voice seemed pained to reply.
++My other half will not allow me to see you,++ it said, ++I am bound to him as he is to me. You can say we are the shadow and light forever bound together..++
Hearing that, Kazuki looked away as she did not want to let the voice see, wherever it was, that she had felt pity for it.
++But there isn't much time,++ the voice said in a serious tone, ++this is the one chance for me to change the course of the prophecy. You must regain that memory and stop going in the wrong direction.++
"Prophecy?" Kazuki asked, then she hardened again and asked, "Still, why should I trust you? To me, you're just like a nonexistent being. There's no telling if you mean harm or not."
++Please, I know Anna would have wanted you to remember,++ the voice pleaded, ++plus, this is probably the only chance in your life you will ever get to grasp that memory.++
"How do you know my mother?" Kazuki asked distrustfully, "And what do you mean by 'this is probably the only chance in your life'? Where is this place anyways?"
++You are asking too much,++ the voice said fleetingly, ++there's not enough time! I can sense him coming! Please! Just follow my voice or it will be too late!++
Kazuki stayed stubbornly in place and crossed her arms, "I won't budge unless you answer my questions! And who's the 'he' that you were talking about?"
++Just follow my voice!++ the voice said quickly, then added, ++I'll answer your questions on the way there.++
"Fine!" Kazuki said and tried to locate the source of the sound. It seemed to be coming from in front of her, so she ran off into the dark halls.
~*~*~*~
"Hmph," the man growled, "Missed."
Kai was crouching on the ground, panting hard.
He had just avoided being hit by the bullet by a millisecond.
"Oh well," the man sneered, "I'll get you this time,"
With that, he redirected the gun at Kai's ankle and fired.
Kai jumped out of the way, but couldn't avoid the bullet's speed fast enough.
"Argh," he groaned as he saw a thin line of blood ooze out of the cut on his ankle grazed by the bullet.
"That'll slow you down for sure," the man said and walked over to Kai, who was clutching his ankle.
He reached down to Kai's shirt and lifted him up effortlessly by the collar.
Kai started to retaliate, but was forced to freeze as the cold rim of the gun was placed on his neck.
"I wouldn't move if I were you Kai," the man smirked, "Or you'll find your neck missing,"
"You," Kai started, but the gun pressed harder.
"Oh and did I mention don't talk?" the man added threateningly.
Kai just growled at him and looked away.
The man snorted and said, "Look at me boy,"
Kai still looked the opposite way.
A second later, he felt the gun leave his neck and heard the sound of a gunshot.
When he turned his head to look, the gun's rim was back on his neck, but it felt warm and he could smell the smoke from the rim.
His eyes widened to see that Changer was lying on the ground clutching her already bleeding arm with a bullet that has carved itself into the ground a mere centimeter away from her back.
"You," he growled, glaring daggers at the man.
"I see that got your attention," the man mocked, "Now I know how to make you look at me."
"Do what you want with me," Kai growled, "but leave her alone."
"So touching," the man said with false pity, "each wanting to sacrifice for the other to live,"
At that, Kai didn't care that he had a gun pressed to his neck anymore, he just let loose and punched the man in the face.
With a surprised yelp, the man dropped Kai and clutched his face with his freed hand.
"You little brat," he spat with malice, "you'll pay for that! Forget killing you with one shot, I'll make you suffer slowly and painfully,"
Kai leaped back as the man shot another bullet at him and prepared to dodge again, but saw the man instead point the gun at Changer.
"I said I'll make you suffer," the man laughed, "and this is how I plan on doing it,"
"No!" Kai shouted as he saw the bullet head towards Changer.
Suddenly, a large wind picked up and a sickle of energy cut the bullet in half.
"What the?" the man growled.
"Hey dude," a familiar voice said, "You shouldn't be playing around with those dangerous toys,"
The voice was followed by a blue-haired teen that grinned cheekily at Kai and Changer.
"Tyson," Kai muttered under his breath.
"Hey come on Kai," Tyson grinned, "Give me credit for saving your life at least."
"Whatever," Kai replied and turned to check on Changer's wound.
"Enough!" the man said loudly and pointed his gun at Tyson, "You shouldn't have interfered."
A gunshot followed his words, but Tyson just shouted, "Dragoon! Show this guy some manners!"
A mighty roar signaled the appearance of Tyson's dragon bit beast, Dragoon.
The wind picked up again, sending another few energy sickles at the man.
"Ahh!" the man cried as he was knocked back by some of them. The last sickle also knocked the gun out of the man's hands.
"Good work Dragoon," Tyson said and held his hand out for the beyblade to return.
The dragon gave another roar before disappearing inside its beyblade and returning to Tyson's hand.
"Back to where we were," Tyson said turning back to Kai, then, when he opened his mouth again, he was interrupted yet another time.
"Not so fast you brat!" the man said and lunged for the gun that lay a few meters behind him.
A flash of purple beat the man to the mechanical device however and crushed it into a thousand pieces.
"You shouldn't be so rude and wound a lady," another voice said.
Spinning on the ground was the purple beyblade and when the second voice spoke, the beyblade span back to its master.
"Griffolyon, return," Robert said as the beyblade jumped into his hand.
The man glared at the teens standing before him.
"I can't be overpowered by a few children!" he thought, "If I can take them by surprise, maybe.."
"Don't even think about moving mister!" a third person said as four more beyblades entered the scene, attack rings shining dangerously.
The four beyblades formed a circle around the man and kept in what was supposed to be a makeshift cage.
"You've caused enough damage here," said a forth.
"We won't let you hurt those two anymore," a fifth declared.
"Plus," a sixth started, but was cut off by a agitated Tyson.
"Would you guys let me finish my sentence?!" he shouted, making Enrique, Oliver, Max and Ray fall over.
"Fine, go ahead Tyson," Enrique said with his arms crossed.
Tyson seemed satisfied by this and turned to face Kai again.
"As I was saying, Kai," Tyson started, then he paused and was silent.
"What is keeping you?" Oliver asked with annoyance as he flipped his hair impatiently, "No one is interrupting now,"
"Erm," Tyson started as he turned back to face the other five boys, including Robert who were all glaring at him with annoyance, "I-I forgot what I was going to say.." He flashed them a toothy grin, which was returned with murderous glares.
"You made us keep waiting for you to say THAT?" Max asked with a pulsing temple, "Tyson you are soo.."
"Okay okay guys," Ray said, being the reasonable person he was, "Let's get back to the serious situation here, we need to get that girl to a hospital,"
At that, everyone stopped bickering and looked over at where Changer was laying beside Kai.
"Ray's right," Robert said as he went over to the girl and knelt down beside her.
"Are you alright miss?" Robert asked.
"I'm f-fine," the girl said with slight difficulty.
"Her wounds aren't very deep," Kai said as he lifted Changer up in his arms.
Robert nodded, but his eyes widened as he saw something around the girl's neck.
"Isn't that Jac-"he started, but Kai gave him a look that told him not to speak out loud and another look that told him he will explain later.
Robert nodded.
"Let's hurry," Kai said and started to walk away.
"Okay let's go guys," Enrique said and looked over at where his beyblade was supposed to be keeping the man at bay.
"Hey!" he shouted, "Where's that guy?"
Everyone turned back to look at what Enrique was talking about and, indeed, the man was not where he was supposed to be where he was trapped before.
"He must have escaped when we weren't paying attention!" Max realized.
"Then were is he now?" Oliver asked as he scanned the park around them.
"Here, boys," Everyone turned to the source of the voice and saw the man standing at the entrance to the park.
"I'm afraid I have to leave now," the man said.
When he finished his sentence, the sound of a helicopter sounded. In a matter of seconds, the large aircraft was hovering right above their heads.
"My ride's here," the man laughed as he caught the rope ladder that was given to him and jumped on.
The helicopter started to fly away.
"He's getting away!" Ray cried as he begun to launch Driger, but Robert's hand rested on the boy's arm.
"We should just get Jac- I mean, Changer to a hospital first," the older boy said.
Ray growled, but nodded and turned to follow the others.
"Oh, but I've left you all a parting gift," the man said in a falsely disappointed voice, "I wouldn't want you to just forget me,"
With that, the man took out a mechanical controller and pressed a red button.
BOOM!
The explosion of dynamite all around the boys made everything ignite at once, surrounding the teens in a circle of flaming inferno.
"Goodbye," the man laughed and the helicopter flew off into the night.
~~FINI~~
By: Black Dranzer
".." speaking and thinking
//..// Russian or other language translations (not jap tho)
++..++ speaking and thinking of non-human beings
~*~*~*~ Scene Change ~*~*~*~
~~flashback sequences~~
Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade. I only own any of the characters that you haven't seen in the original Beyblade series.
In the last chapter of Emptiness:
((A laugh came from the bushes and a large figure followed.
Kai's eyes widened not at the man's familiar abbey attire, but more so at the thing he was holding in his hands underneath his cloak..
"Get ready to run," Kai warned Changer as the stranger walked up to them with a smirk..))
((Putting a pale hand on his forehead, Tala gritted his teeth.
"Why did I come to this place?" he thought to himself, "Why did I just.."
But a sudden realization came to him.
His eyes widened as he noticed something he had never thought much about before.
"How did I end up at this abbey in the first place?" he searched his mind.
But all he came up with is a blank wall.
"I don't remember," he thought as he tackled all of the memories he had ever had.
But each time he tried to search for the reason he was at the abbey, the blank wall always blocked his path..))
Chapter ThirtyTwo: Compact
"Get ready to run," Kai warned.
"Run?" Changer asked. She hadn't yet seen the object under the stranger's cloak.
"You're sharp boy," the stranger said, "but that's expected from the master's grandson,"
Kai gave no reply and stepped in front of Changer, shielding her. The stranger gave Kai a quizzical look at his gesture.
"I know you're from the abbey," Kai said at the stranger's look, "so whatever you're here for, keep her out of it,"
The stranger smirked, "Ahh, being protective I see, but sadly, I am not to take any action yet,"
"Then what are you doing here?" Kai asked raising his beyblade threateningly.
The stranger looked as if he was not going to answer, but seemed to change his mind and replied, "Let's just say the master is interested in your movements,"
Kai growled at this and said, "Why would he be interested in me?"
"Come now, you know the answer yourself," the stranger said with a smirk.
"I do," Kai thought to himself, "it's because of the incident at the world tournament," But out loud, he scowled, "Tell him to leave the rest of my teammates and the others alone, and return Kyle and Johnny,"
"I'm not a messenger for you," the stranger said still smirking, "why don't you go and tell the master yourself?"
"I have no desire to see him ever again," Kai said, venom dripping from his words.
"So cold," the stranger laughed, "just like you were supposed to be before you ran away,"
"What's going on?" Changer thought in the background, "What are they talking about?"
"Kai.." she started, but the boy shot her a look that told her to keep quiet.
But the stranger had looked at Changer with interest.
"A 'friend' of yours I presume?" he sneered, "I never thought that you would ever gain any, but don't you worry, they'll be taken care of just as well as you would be. We've already taken care of two, I wonder how many more to go?"
A swooshing sound and a gasp followed.
The stranger clutched his cheek as Dranzer returned to Kai's hand.
When he removed his hand, he saw that there was blood where the blue beyblade had made a scar on his face.
"Don't you dare harm any more of them," he hissed with a glare that would have melted iron, "or you'll have to answer to me,"
The stranger seemed surprised that Kai had launched Dranzer, but slowly, a smile came across his face that turned into laughter.
"Ha! Answer to you?" he leered, "You get your wish!"
With that, the man took out the object hidden in his cloak, revealing a gun.
Changer's eyes widened at the weapon and at the stranger as he took aim at Kai.
The boy made a move to avoid the gun, but was surprised to see that the gun was being redirected.
In a split second, the new target was switched to Changer and a gunshot was heard followed by a cry of surprise and pain.
"Changer!" Kai shouted as he saw the girl fall to the ground.
He rushed over immediately to check on the girl's wounds and found that she had been shot in the arm.
Blood was trickling out of the wound and some from her mouth.
"How sweet," the man mocked as he advanced on the two teens.
"Back off," Kai growled and prepared to launch Dranzer again, but another gunshot followed and the launcher fell broken to the ground.
The man's smile widened, "You're nothing without your beyblade, so why not finish you off? I'm sure master Boris wouldn't mind,"
With a cruel laugh, the man raised the gun again and aimed at Kai.
"Get away Kai," Changer spoke up with much effort, "Just leave me here, you have to get away,"
"No way," Kai replied, "I'm not about to run and leave you here to die. Besides, that gun is faster than my feet,"
"Enough of this fluff," the man sneered, "Time to finish you off,"
A gunshot followed accompanied by the sound of something hitting the ground.
~*~*~*~
"Are you ready?" Boris asked Kazuki while typing codes into his computer.
Inside a test tube, the girl gave a weak nod. She had been dizzy ever since she had returned from her breakfast with Boris.
Boris smiled and entered a few more codes before pausing.
"Be warned Kazuki," he said, "The process may not be exactly comfortable, but sustain a clear mind at all times or the experiment won't be successful,"
"Understood," Kazuki replied and closed her eyes.
Keeping her mind clear, she heard the machine around her start up and felt cool liquid fill up her test tube.
At first, there wasn't much happening except the fact that she felt weird breathing in the liquid substance.
A few moments later, she felt a jolt in the back of her head and felt herself pulled into another place. Suddenly, she saw herself standing in a black space. Black covered every inch of the space so it looked as if she was floating in space except without the stars.
"Where is this?" she thought.
As if to answer her question, a bright light shone all around her, blinding her for a second.
When she reopened her eyes, she found herself standing in a corridor that stretched on into the shadows.
Along each side of the corridor were doors. Hundreds of them, lined up side by side.
Each door was made of metal with an engraving of a hand on its front.
Curious, Kazuki placed her hand in the imprint on the door closest her and watched as the heavy metal door swung open at her light touch.
Inside, she could only see darkness, but the second she stepped inside the room, she started to fall.
Closing her eyes, Kazuki waited for impact, but it surprisingly didn't come. Cracking open an eyelid, she peeked at her surroundings.
"This is.." she thought.
Around her, she could see a scene laid out from a long time ago.
"This is when mother was still alive," she finished her thought.
Indeed, Anna Balkov stood in front of Kazuki with her back facing the girl.
"Come here Kazuki," she called in her cheerful voice.
"Mother!" Kazuki called and ran towards the woman.
Unlike the nightmares she had had before, Anna did not fade away this time.
As Kazuki ran up to the woman, she threw her arms around her mother. But to her dismay and surprise, her arms went right through the woman's shoulders.
"What?" Kazuki gasped, "Mother? What's going on?" But the woman ignored Kazuki and instead, turned to someone behind her.
"Here my little girl," she called.
Kazuki turned around and her eyes widened to see a younger version of herself running happily into her mother's arms.
"A memory," she thought in disappointment, "Only a memory,"
She didn't want to stay in this room anymore. This happy but painful memory brought bitterness upon her.
On cue, a door appeared in front of her, the same as the doors in the corridor she had started to explore in. She opened the door and walked out, returning to the corridor. She closed her eyes and tried to compose herself.
"Why was I brought here?" she thought.
A sudden voice came into her mind, soft and gentle, ++Because there is a memory here that you need to remember,++
"Who's there?" Kazuki shouted suddenly alert.
++A friend,++ the voice replied.
"Friend?" Kazuki asked, not relaxing one bit, "Sorry, but I don't recall having 'friends'"
++Ahh,++ the voice replied with a bit of sadness, ++But I've been by your side since you were young,++
"Since I was young?" Kazuki wondered.
++Yes,++ the voice answered, ++Don't you remember me? Your guardian?++
"My guardian.." Kazuki whispered.
A sudden memory of someone's voice came back to her.
~~FLASHBACK~~
"Kazuki, from now on, she'll be your guardian.."
~~END FLASHBACK~~
++Don't you remember?++ the voice asked again.
"I-I sort of remember," Kazuki replied, "But who are you? Why can't I remember you properly?"
++I have been changed.++ the voice replied sadly, ++but you can't remember me because you've only seen me in my original form 8 years ago. Since then, you've seen me as something else.++
"Something else?" Kazuki asked suspiciously, "I don't trust you, show yourself!"
There was a pause and Kazuki thought the voice had disappeared, but when it spoke up, the voice seemed pained to reply.
++My other half will not allow me to see you,++ it said, ++I am bound to him as he is to me. You can say we are the shadow and light forever bound together..++
Hearing that, Kazuki looked away as she did not want to let the voice see, wherever it was, that she had felt pity for it.
++But there isn't much time,++ the voice said in a serious tone, ++this is the one chance for me to change the course of the prophecy. You must regain that memory and stop going in the wrong direction.++
"Prophecy?" Kazuki asked, then she hardened again and asked, "Still, why should I trust you? To me, you're just like a nonexistent being. There's no telling if you mean harm or not."
++Please, I know Anna would have wanted you to remember,++ the voice pleaded, ++plus, this is probably the only chance in your life you will ever get to grasp that memory.++
"How do you know my mother?" Kazuki asked distrustfully, "And what do you mean by 'this is probably the only chance in your life'? Where is this place anyways?"
++You are asking too much,++ the voice said fleetingly, ++there's not enough time! I can sense him coming! Please! Just follow my voice or it will be too late!++
Kazuki stayed stubbornly in place and crossed her arms, "I won't budge unless you answer my questions! And who's the 'he' that you were talking about?"
++Just follow my voice!++ the voice said quickly, then added, ++I'll answer your questions on the way there.++
"Fine!" Kazuki said and tried to locate the source of the sound. It seemed to be coming from in front of her, so she ran off into the dark halls.
~*~*~*~
"Hmph," the man growled, "Missed."
Kai was crouching on the ground, panting hard.
He had just avoided being hit by the bullet by a millisecond.
"Oh well," the man sneered, "I'll get you this time,"
With that, he redirected the gun at Kai's ankle and fired.
Kai jumped out of the way, but couldn't avoid the bullet's speed fast enough.
"Argh," he groaned as he saw a thin line of blood ooze out of the cut on his ankle grazed by the bullet.
"That'll slow you down for sure," the man said and walked over to Kai, who was clutching his ankle.
He reached down to Kai's shirt and lifted him up effortlessly by the collar.
Kai started to retaliate, but was forced to freeze as the cold rim of the gun was placed on his neck.
"I wouldn't move if I were you Kai," the man smirked, "Or you'll find your neck missing,"
"You," Kai started, but the gun pressed harder.
"Oh and did I mention don't talk?" the man added threateningly.
Kai just growled at him and looked away.
The man snorted and said, "Look at me boy,"
Kai still looked the opposite way.
A second later, he felt the gun leave his neck and heard the sound of a gunshot.
When he turned his head to look, the gun's rim was back on his neck, but it felt warm and he could smell the smoke from the rim.
His eyes widened to see that Changer was lying on the ground clutching her already bleeding arm with a bullet that has carved itself into the ground a mere centimeter away from her back.
"You," he growled, glaring daggers at the man.
"I see that got your attention," the man mocked, "Now I know how to make you look at me."
"Do what you want with me," Kai growled, "but leave her alone."
"So touching," the man said with false pity, "each wanting to sacrifice for the other to live,"
At that, Kai didn't care that he had a gun pressed to his neck anymore, he just let loose and punched the man in the face.
With a surprised yelp, the man dropped Kai and clutched his face with his freed hand.
"You little brat," he spat with malice, "you'll pay for that! Forget killing you with one shot, I'll make you suffer slowly and painfully,"
Kai leaped back as the man shot another bullet at him and prepared to dodge again, but saw the man instead point the gun at Changer.
"I said I'll make you suffer," the man laughed, "and this is how I plan on doing it,"
"No!" Kai shouted as he saw the bullet head towards Changer.
Suddenly, a large wind picked up and a sickle of energy cut the bullet in half.
"What the?" the man growled.
"Hey dude," a familiar voice said, "You shouldn't be playing around with those dangerous toys,"
The voice was followed by a blue-haired teen that grinned cheekily at Kai and Changer.
"Tyson," Kai muttered under his breath.
"Hey come on Kai," Tyson grinned, "Give me credit for saving your life at least."
"Whatever," Kai replied and turned to check on Changer's wound.
"Enough!" the man said loudly and pointed his gun at Tyson, "You shouldn't have interfered."
A gunshot followed his words, but Tyson just shouted, "Dragoon! Show this guy some manners!"
A mighty roar signaled the appearance of Tyson's dragon bit beast, Dragoon.
The wind picked up again, sending another few energy sickles at the man.
"Ahh!" the man cried as he was knocked back by some of them. The last sickle also knocked the gun out of the man's hands.
"Good work Dragoon," Tyson said and held his hand out for the beyblade to return.
The dragon gave another roar before disappearing inside its beyblade and returning to Tyson's hand.
"Back to where we were," Tyson said turning back to Kai, then, when he opened his mouth again, he was interrupted yet another time.
"Not so fast you brat!" the man said and lunged for the gun that lay a few meters behind him.
A flash of purple beat the man to the mechanical device however and crushed it into a thousand pieces.
"You shouldn't be so rude and wound a lady," another voice said.
Spinning on the ground was the purple beyblade and when the second voice spoke, the beyblade span back to its master.
"Griffolyon, return," Robert said as the beyblade jumped into his hand.
The man glared at the teens standing before him.
"I can't be overpowered by a few children!" he thought, "If I can take them by surprise, maybe.."
"Don't even think about moving mister!" a third person said as four more beyblades entered the scene, attack rings shining dangerously.
The four beyblades formed a circle around the man and kept in what was supposed to be a makeshift cage.
"You've caused enough damage here," said a forth.
"We won't let you hurt those two anymore," a fifth declared.
"Plus," a sixth started, but was cut off by a agitated Tyson.
"Would you guys let me finish my sentence?!" he shouted, making Enrique, Oliver, Max and Ray fall over.
"Fine, go ahead Tyson," Enrique said with his arms crossed.
Tyson seemed satisfied by this and turned to face Kai again.
"As I was saying, Kai," Tyson started, then he paused and was silent.
"What is keeping you?" Oliver asked with annoyance as he flipped his hair impatiently, "No one is interrupting now,"
"Erm," Tyson started as he turned back to face the other five boys, including Robert who were all glaring at him with annoyance, "I-I forgot what I was going to say.." He flashed them a toothy grin, which was returned with murderous glares.
"You made us keep waiting for you to say THAT?" Max asked with a pulsing temple, "Tyson you are soo.."
"Okay okay guys," Ray said, being the reasonable person he was, "Let's get back to the serious situation here, we need to get that girl to a hospital,"
At that, everyone stopped bickering and looked over at where Changer was laying beside Kai.
"Ray's right," Robert said as he went over to the girl and knelt down beside her.
"Are you alright miss?" Robert asked.
"I'm f-fine," the girl said with slight difficulty.
"Her wounds aren't very deep," Kai said as he lifted Changer up in his arms.
Robert nodded, but his eyes widened as he saw something around the girl's neck.
"Isn't that Jac-"he started, but Kai gave him a look that told him not to speak out loud and another look that told him he will explain later.
Robert nodded.
"Let's hurry," Kai said and started to walk away.
"Okay let's go guys," Enrique said and looked over at where his beyblade was supposed to be keeping the man at bay.
"Hey!" he shouted, "Where's that guy?"
Everyone turned back to look at what Enrique was talking about and, indeed, the man was not where he was supposed to be where he was trapped before.
"He must have escaped when we weren't paying attention!" Max realized.
"Then were is he now?" Oliver asked as he scanned the park around them.
"Here, boys," Everyone turned to the source of the voice and saw the man standing at the entrance to the park.
"I'm afraid I have to leave now," the man said.
When he finished his sentence, the sound of a helicopter sounded. In a matter of seconds, the large aircraft was hovering right above their heads.
"My ride's here," the man laughed as he caught the rope ladder that was given to him and jumped on.
The helicopter started to fly away.
"He's getting away!" Ray cried as he begun to launch Driger, but Robert's hand rested on the boy's arm.
"We should just get Jac- I mean, Changer to a hospital first," the older boy said.
Ray growled, but nodded and turned to follow the others.
"Oh, but I've left you all a parting gift," the man said in a falsely disappointed voice, "I wouldn't want you to just forget me,"
With that, the man took out a mechanical controller and pressed a red button.
BOOM!
The explosion of dynamite all around the boys made everything ignite at once, surrounding the teens in a circle of flaming inferno.
"Goodbye," the man laughed and the helicopter flew off into the night.
~~FINI~~