Me: What's up, everyone? Welcome to the fourth chapter of my fanfic!
Shi: Yes, yes, what's up, y'all? Now, Aibou has tried her best to describe things, so bear with us. Those of you who've seen the Matrix, you should know what she's talking about, but if any of you haven't –
Bob: – WATCH IT!
Shi: Shut up, Bob, and do the disclaiming.
Bob: Yeah, yeah. None of us own Beyblade or the Matrix, but we all think it rocks!
Chapter Four
The Helm
Kai suddenly jumped up, and then landed flat on his face on the floor. Somewhere off to his right, he heard laughter, and automatically stood up to find that it was Ray. Both were in a small room with two beds on either side. Kai had just fallen out of his, and Ray was seated Indian-style at the foot of his own. Both boys were wearing odd clothing that didn't belong to them – long-sleeved shirts and pants, made of what looked to be wool.
"Ray – your hair!" exclaimed Kai. Ray's hair had disappeared – it was completely gone – his bangs, his ponytail... But Kai didn't yet realize that the same thing had happened to him. "Your hair's gone!"
"Ah, look in a mirror, Kai," replied the Chinese boy.
Kai ran his fingers over his head, which was now bald, and fainted.
"What a baby," Ray said, and heard a knock on his door. "Who is it?"
"It's me," replied Kenny's voice. "Can I come in?"
Ray called out an affirmative answer, and Kenny walked in. He was wearing clothes like the boys were, and he still had hair. Seeing Kai on the floor, Kenny began to laugh. "Yeah," Ray told him. "When he found out his hair was gone, he fainted."
Kenny shook his head. "Tut, tut... did you freak out when you found out?"
Ray replied, "Nope. I've been meaning to chop it off anyway."
"Sure," the younger of the two said, sarcasm dripping from his voice as he went over to Kai. He bent down, and into the unconscious boy's ear yelled, "GET UP!"
Hiwatari jumped up immediately and almost rang Kenny's neck. "Don't do that again. How come you still have hair?"
"Because I've been ejected from your world for a year. Now, come with me, we have a meeting to attend. Oh, yeah, and put these on." Kenny tossed each boy a winter-style cap before he led the two teens out of the room and down a metal hallway. "Max and Tyson are already up, and Em's getting Hilary."
"I wonder how Hilary's going to rea –" Ray began, but was cut off by a loud, high-pitched screech that echoed through the halls. "Guess we found out. Nice knowing you, Kenny." He patted the 16-year-old on the shoulder.
Kenny nodded. "Max is still mourning the loss of his hair, and Tyson... when Ty found out, he fainted. A minute later, he woke up, felt his head, and fainted again. This process continued for about ten or fifteen minutes, until we managed to convince him he looked better without it."
Just as they went around a corner, they halted, as the old man blocked their way. His head still seemed to be shaved, but he was wearing a hat like Ray and Kai. "Good morning kids. How'd they take it, Kenny?"
"Not too bad," replied the boy. "Is everyone else up?"
He shook his head. "Nah, not everybody. Shall I go and tell the awakened ones to stop stuffing their faces and come greet our guests?"
"Yeah," replied Chief, as the man walked off. "Let's go see if Tyson and Max are on the verge of blowing up the ship yet."
Kai questioned, "Ship?"
He nodded. "The Helm. It's a... hovercraft." They walked along, all silent, until soon they came to a fair-sized room, with two dozen computer chairs – but no computers. Tyson and Max, who'd been in the room waiting, jumped up when they arrived.
"Ray! Kai! You're here!" said Tyson.
"My hair... my poor hair... my poor, poor hair..." whined Max.
Kai looked upset. "Shut up, Max."
"KENNY!" a voice screamed. All the boys covered their ears as it came closer. "KENNY, YOU LITTLE FRIGGER!"
They heard laughter coming from several of the halls as the voice came ever closer.
"I SWEAR I'LL KILL YOU! WHAT THE HECK DID YOU DO TO ME?!"
"D-e-a-d," Ray spelt to Kenny as a bald (but hatted) Hilary walked into the room. She ran up to Kenny and wrapped her hands around his neck. Kenny calmly took them off, and then she slapped him before Emily managed to drag her away from him.
"Morning, boys," Emily greeted the Blade Breakers.
"Good morning," replied both Ray and Max.
The middle-aged man walked into the room. "I see you're all awake."
"Where is everyone?" inquired Chief.
He shrugged. "I went to get them, but it seems they were finished eating. Listen, why don't you and Emily go grab a bite for the kids, and I'll try to explain some stuff to them."
Emily looked at her friends. "You guys aren't going to die if we leave your sides for a few minutes, are you?"
They all shook their heads. Kenny and Emily walked out through the door the man had just entered through. "It's good to meet you. Kenny's told us lots about you all. I'm Cire, by the way."
"So, exactly how many people are one this ship?" Kai inquired.
"Fifteen – that's including everyone but you guys," replied Cire.
Hilary looked shock. "Whoa..." she said, dazed. "Is it really a hovercraft?"
"Yes," replied he.
Kai shook his head in disbelief. "That's impossible. Hovercrafts haven't been invented yet."
"Really?" asked Cire, resulting in a nod of Kai's head. "Oh, okay. Remind me what year it is again?"
"Man, even I'm not that stupid," Tyson stated. "It's the year two thousand."
The adult leaned his head to the side questioningly. "Huh... gee, and to think I thought it was about the year twenty-two hundred."
"Well, aren't you stupid," replied Ty. "Why would you think that?"
A voice broke into the conversation. "Because it is."
"Who's there?!" exclaimed Kai, looking around. Nobody answered, and Cire was smiling slightly. "What's with you, old fart?"
He shook his head, as if to say 'nothing'. As he did this, Kenny and Emily returned with a cart, which was equipped with five identical trays of weird- looking food. The children all walked over, and each of the boys grabbed a tray. Hilary, however, latched on to Kenny's arm and started repeating the phrase, "This isn't happening... the isn't happening..."
Kenny looked down at the girl, shocked. "What did you do?"
"I think she's still in shock over her hair," the old man suggested. "How bad did they take it, anyway?"
Emily put in, "Not too bad. Hilary ad Tyson were the worst, but they took it pretty well."
"Yeah... I guess nobody could have taken it as bad as you two, eh?"
There was a sudden burst of "You two?", "How did you guys take it?", and "What did you do?", along with some other similar questions.
"Ah, that's a story for another time," Kenny said, not wanting to relieve the horror of what had happened when Emily and he found out. "So, do you guys believe anything Cire's told you?"
As the teenagers shrugged their shoulders, Cire addressed Emily and Kenny. "They look like people who believe what they hear because they are expecting to wake up from a dream." Turning towards the others, he continued. "But this is the truth. No matter how unbelievable it sounds, it is true. You must believe us."
"Whatever," Kai said, grabbing a glass and leaning back in his chair. He didn't seem to believe what Cire was telling them. In fact, no one did. "This is all a load of bullshit anyway."
"Bullshit?!" Emily freaked. "You think this is all BULLSHIT?!"
Kai inclined his head several times, slowly. "Yeah, I do."
"Calm down, Emily. In time, they will understand," Cire told her. He rolled up one of the sleeves of his shirt to his elbow, and showed the assembly something coming out of his arm. There was something black there, and it was going into his arm, almost as if you could stick a needle or something in it. "You see this?" he asked. "Every one of you has it. Many of them, actually, all over your body."
They each instinctively hauled up their sleeves curiously, and Cire was proven correct. Hilary fainted, as did Tyson, but Kai, however, completely freaked out.
"What the fuck is this?! What have you people done to us?!" he yelled. He went over to Kenny, grabbed the front of his shirt, lifted him off his feet, and slammed his into a wall. "You son of a bitch, what the fuck is going on?!"
Emily ran up, grabbed one of Kai's arms, and attempted to haul it away from Kenny. He did take his hand off him, but only to send Emily sailing across the room.
"Kai, listen to me! Put me down! I do not want to hurt you, all right?" pleaded Kenny.
Kai shook his head, but his strength began to fail him. He fell back, releasing the boy. On the floor, Hiwatari repeatedly shook his head, placing his hands on his woolen cap in frustration.
"Emily!" Kenny said, running over to the chair she'd landed in. "Are you okay?"
She smiled, and nodded. "He's not that strong. And besides, the chairs are nice and soft. Cire, sir, maybe that wasn't sure a good idea."
"Yeah, I know," the old man said. Then, turning to Ray and Max, he asked, "What do you think now?"
"I think," Ray said slowly, "that I want to know what the hell this is."
Cire smiled faintly, and seated Ty in one of the chairs. Emily did the same with Hil, and Kai went over and sat down as well. "You believe it is the year two thousand, when, in fact, it is nearer to the year two thousand two hundred. Nobody knows the exact year."
Hilary blinked, yawned, and sat back in her seat. Tyson awaken as well, and asked, "What the hell are we talking about?"
"Shut it, Granger, and listen," Kai ordered. Then, turning to the old man, he asked, "How come nobody knows the exact date?"
The grown-up smiled. "Because we don't. It's as simple as that. But we know that some time early in the twenty-first century, everyone was united in celebration as we created Artificial Intelligence."
"AI? Robots?" a shocked Maxie asked.
Emily nodded. "Yuppers. And this gave way to a total race of machines. No, Tyson, not the kind of machines that make bread or cook lasagna. These machines were evil, and a war began. No one knows who struck first – the humans or them. However, we do know that it was us that seared the sky."
"'Seared the sky'?" inquired Ray.
"Yes. If you were to go to the surface and see the sky, it is always covered with blackened clouds, with constant thunder and lightning. We did this because, at that point, they needed solar power to live," Cire explained. "Everybody thought they couldn't survive without a source of energy as opulent as the Sun. And throughout all of human history, we have been dependant on machines, too."
Kai smiled. "It seems fate goes hand in hand with irony."
"Yes," Kenny agreed. "Yes indeed. So Kai, you no longer think this bullshit?"
"Oh, I still think it bull. I just like hearing a good story every now and then," he told them, before continuing in a mock voice. "So, Ken, what happened to those evil machines?"
The boy Kai had addressed seemed to be frustrated. "Goddamn, Kai, why won't you believe us?!"
Kai shrugged. "Because it's not possible."
The adult smiled. "I suppose there is nothing I can say that will make you believe, huh, Kai?"
"Nope. Nada," replied the boy.
A small laugh escaped Cire's mouth. "Oh, well. The others will be along soon anyway."
"Others?" inquired Tyson.
Emily nodded. "What, did you think we were the only ones on this ship?"
Granger nodded. "How many more are there?"
"I think there's twelve... not counting anyone in this room," Kenny told him.
Making the ones new to the Helm jump, music started blaring through the halls and in most of the rooms. It was 'Charge!' music, and it only played for about thirty seconds before shutting off. It was replaced by a girl's voice. "All right, you lazy bums, get your asses outta bed, quit stuffing your faces, and for God's sake, stop beating the living crap out of each other! Everyone should now go to the meeting room before kill you all! MWAHAHAHAHA!"
"What the fuck was that?!" Kai spoke.
Emily smiled. "Oh, that was our Operator."
"Um, where's the meeting room?" inquired Tyson stupidly. "I'm too beautiful to die!"
Kenny shook his head. "Idiot... we're in the meeting room. And besides, she's a sweet girl, she wouldn't hurt us... much."
"...much?" Hilary asked.
Quiet, echoing laughter began to come from somewhere. Kai and Ray looked around, trying to find the source. They couldn't find it, but it seemed to be getting louder. All of a sudden, an upside-down head came down from the rafters and uttered, "Boo."
This made Hilary scream and fall back on her butt. Tyson hid behind Max, who was slowly backing away. The other two just looked at it oddly.
"It... it's human!" Maxie told everyone. And his speculation was true – it was quite a small person, and younger than Daichi, that was hanging by the knees from a rafter in the ceiling. In one quick moment, Kai took hold of the blonde hair that was hanging down, and yanked down the youngster, making the child slam onto the floor. A second later, the tables turned, and Kai's feet were dangling a few inches above the ground, with Cire's hand around his neck.
"Let him down!" exclaimed Hilary,
Cire let Kai's feet touch the flooring, and released him before turning around to check on the child. The child – a girl – stood up, and was only about five feet and a couple inches tall. "Hi there," she said brightly, going over to the group. "Sorry if I startled ya. The name's Devi."
"Nice to meet you," Ray said. "But shouldn't you be playing with dolls or something instead of climbing around? You could hurt yourself, you know."
"Dolls? Why would I wanna play with dolls?" inquired Devi. "Jeez, I'm thirteen, not two." With that, she went over to one of the chairs and sat down, just as a swarm of people entered the room. In the midst of all this, Cire was talking with Kai.
"I apologize for what I did," the adult said.
Kai nodded. "You should. And I'm sorry for getting the runt down."
Cire smiled. "Good. But if you ever harm any of the people on this ship again, I won't let go."
As everyone got seated, a girl of about sixteen stood up in front next to the old man. She had black hair stopping level with her chin, and baby blue eyes that demanded respect. Her skin was slightly dark, and she reached about 5'5" in height. "All right, guys, shut up and sit your asses down, as Dee would say!" she yelled. Quickly, the chatter that had come from the swarm of people died down, and they all took a seat.
"Thank you," Cire said in a pleasant tone. "Everyone, I believe you all know why we're here." The people, save for the newcomers, all nodded in agreement. "Good. Now, these five here in the front were brought in yesterday – as you all know – and are good friends with Kenny and Emily. If you guys would please come here for a moment..."
Ray, Kai, Max, and Tyson, as well as a shaking Hilary, stood up, walked over to Cire, and faced the crowd. They quickly noticed that all of the people were teenagers. The adult pointed to each one of them individually and announced their name.
"It's great to meet you," the dark-skinned girl standing in the front said to the new ones, shaking their hands. The boys noticed that when she wasn't shouting, her voice was very soft and sweet, like an angel's. "I'm Omni. I am the Captain of this ship."
"It is an honor to meet you as well," Max said.
She smiled. "Thanks." She turned to the seated ones. "Now guys, if you'll all stand up when I call your name, that'll be nice." They nodded, and Omni began to introduce the others on the ship. "That's Strife there –" the girl they'd known as 'Raven' stood up "– and that's Geichu –" the male from the Punishers rose "– and the girl next to him is Kimmy." The third to get up was not someone they'd previously met. "And you've already met Blaze and Dea, although you were introduced to them as Dominique and Nikki –" the two girls rose from their seats "– and I think you may have met Devi as well." The youngest in the room jumped up and landed on Geichu's shoulders. "That there is Cadin, and then KC, next to him is Tochi, and his little brother Phantom."
"Oh, and I suppose I'm not important enough to introduce, am I?" a voice spoke up, as a girl about the same age as Omni arose.
Omni shook her head. "I was just about to get to you. That girl is our beloved Operator, Dee. She's been here longer than any of us, except for Cire."
"Question," Hilary said. "What the hell is an operator?"
Dee strode forward, towards Cire. "They don't believe it, do they?" she inquired, causing the adult to shake his head. "Should we jack them in? Show 'em the truth?"
"Yes. I do think that is what we should do," agreed Cire. He faced the crowd and began to speak to them. "All right, meeting adjourned. Everyone get back to whatever you were doing. Kenny, Emily, Omni, Dee, stay here, please."
Everybody nodded, and some of the people of the exited. "What's going on?" inquired Emily.
"What do you think?" Dee spoke, her voice dripped with sarcasm. "We're going to show them everything."
Remembering how Kai had freaked out last time, Kenny asked Cire, "You sure?"
"Yes. They have to know, Kenny. This is the only way they will believe," the man informed him. Turning to the Blade Breakers, he inquired, "Are you all finished eating?"
The new ones nodded, kind of worried about what Dee meant by 'jack them in'. Omni motioned for everybody to follow her, which they did, through the steel hallways of the Helm. Pretty soon, the group came to a room laden with many computers, and many chairs, somewhat like the ones you would see in a dentist's office, hooked up to machines. The 'Operator' sat in a normal chair in front of several monitors.
"Alright, you guys," Omni said. "Sit in one of the chairs, please."
Slowly, each of the beybladers made their way to a chair, and laid down. Omni and Cire did the same; Emily and Kenny however, made their way to their friends. Emily had gone to Hilary, and Kenny went over to Ray.
Emily had picked up a device that looked like it would be plugged into something, and Hil immediately jumped up and said, "What the hell are you going to do with that?!"
"Calm down," said Em as she pushed the girl gently back into the chair. "This will feel a little weird, okay?" With that, she drove the device into the plug on the back of Hilary's neck. The girl freaked out as this happened; her body jumped up, but it was useless, as it then went completely limp, and her eyes closed.
Tyson, who'd been watching the girls, went nuts at this point. "What the hell?! You just killed her!"
"No, Tyson," Kenny said reassuringly, and went over to the boy after 'plugging' Ray in. "Just stay calm, and don't fidget. I swear on my Mom's soul that she's alive."
Ty sighed, nodded, and laid back to let Kenny do what he had to do.
Emily had gone to see the Captain. "Are you sure you don't want us to come with you? I mean, Kai is totally unpredictable, and Tyson –"
"Don't worry about it, kid. We can handle ourselves in there. And besides, I've got the old fart with me," replied Omni. Turning to the 'Operator', she added, "Hook us up with the Construct, a'right, Dee?"
Me: Just a little side note here on pronunciation of the names. Here we go:
Cire – seer
Omni – om(like in mom)-knee
Devi – deh-V
Dee – ... D
Geichu – guy-choo
Kimmy – Kimmy
Tochi – toe-chee
KC – Kay-see
Phantom – fan-tum
Cadin – Kay-din
Blaze – blaze
Strife – strife
Dea – D-ah
Shi: Yes, yes, what's up, y'all? Now, Aibou has tried her best to describe things, so bear with us. Those of you who've seen the Matrix, you should know what she's talking about, but if any of you haven't –
Bob: – WATCH IT!
Shi: Shut up, Bob, and do the disclaiming.
Bob: Yeah, yeah. None of us own Beyblade or the Matrix, but we all think it rocks!
Chapter Four
The Helm
Kai suddenly jumped up, and then landed flat on his face on the floor. Somewhere off to his right, he heard laughter, and automatically stood up to find that it was Ray. Both were in a small room with two beds on either side. Kai had just fallen out of his, and Ray was seated Indian-style at the foot of his own. Both boys were wearing odd clothing that didn't belong to them – long-sleeved shirts and pants, made of what looked to be wool.
"Ray – your hair!" exclaimed Kai. Ray's hair had disappeared – it was completely gone – his bangs, his ponytail... But Kai didn't yet realize that the same thing had happened to him. "Your hair's gone!"
"Ah, look in a mirror, Kai," replied the Chinese boy.
Kai ran his fingers over his head, which was now bald, and fainted.
"What a baby," Ray said, and heard a knock on his door. "Who is it?"
"It's me," replied Kenny's voice. "Can I come in?"
Ray called out an affirmative answer, and Kenny walked in. He was wearing clothes like the boys were, and he still had hair. Seeing Kai on the floor, Kenny began to laugh. "Yeah," Ray told him. "When he found out his hair was gone, he fainted."
Kenny shook his head. "Tut, tut... did you freak out when you found out?"
Ray replied, "Nope. I've been meaning to chop it off anyway."
"Sure," the younger of the two said, sarcasm dripping from his voice as he went over to Kai. He bent down, and into the unconscious boy's ear yelled, "GET UP!"
Hiwatari jumped up immediately and almost rang Kenny's neck. "Don't do that again. How come you still have hair?"
"Because I've been ejected from your world for a year. Now, come with me, we have a meeting to attend. Oh, yeah, and put these on." Kenny tossed each boy a winter-style cap before he led the two teens out of the room and down a metal hallway. "Max and Tyson are already up, and Em's getting Hilary."
"I wonder how Hilary's going to rea –" Ray began, but was cut off by a loud, high-pitched screech that echoed through the halls. "Guess we found out. Nice knowing you, Kenny." He patted the 16-year-old on the shoulder.
Kenny nodded. "Max is still mourning the loss of his hair, and Tyson... when Ty found out, he fainted. A minute later, he woke up, felt his head, and fainted again. This process continued for about ten or fifteen minutes, until we managed to convince him he looked better without it."
Just as they went around a corner, they halted, as the old man blocked their way. His head still seemed to be shaved, but he was wearing a hat like Ray and Kai. "Good morning kids. How'd they take it, Kenny?"
"Not too bad," replied the boy. "Is everyone else up?"
He shook his head. "Nah, not everybody. Shall I go and tell the awakened ones to stop stuffing their faces and come greet our guests?"
"Yeah," replied Chief, as the man walked off. "Let's go see if Tyson and Max are on the verge of blowing up the ship yet."
Kai questioned, "Ship?"
He nodded. "The Helm. It's a... hovercraft." They walked along, all silent, until soon they came to a fair-sized room, with two dozen computer chairs – but no computers. Tyson and Max, who'd been in the room waiting, jumped up when they arrived.
"Ray! Kai! You're here!" said Tyson.
"My hair... my poor hair... my poor, poor hair..." whined Max.
Kai looked upset. "Shut up, Max."
"KENNY!" a voice screamed. All the boys covered their ears as it came closer. "KENNY, YOU LITTLE FRIGGER!"
They heard laughter coming from several of the halls as the voice came ever closer.
"I SWEAR I'LL KILL YOU! WHAT THE HECK DID YOU DO TO ME?!"
"D-e-a-d," Ray spelt to Kenny as a bald (but hatted) Hilary walked into the room. She ran up to Kenny and wrapped her hands around his neck. Kenny calmly took them off, and then she slapped him before Emily managed to drag her away from him.
"Morning, boys," Emily greeted the Blade Breakers.
"Good morning," replied both Ray and Max.
The middle-aged man walked into the room. "I see you're all awake."
"Where is everyone?" inquired Chief.
He shrugged. "I went to get them, but it seems they were finished eating. Listen, why don't you and Emily go grab a bite for the kids, and I'll try to explain some stuff to them."
Emily looked at her friends. "You guys aren't going to die if we leave your sides for a few minutes, are you?"
They all shook their heads. Kenny and Emily walked out through the door the man had just entered through. "It's good to meet you. Kenny's told us lots about you all. I'm Cire, by the way."
"So, exactly how many people are one this ship?" Kai inquired.
"Fifteen – that's including everyone but you guys," replied Cire.
Hilary looked shock. "Whoa..." she said, dazed. "Is it really a hovercraft?"
"Yes," replied he.
Kai shook his head in disbelief. "That's impossible. Hovercrafts haven't been invented yet."
"Really?" asked Cire, resulting in a nod of Kai's head. "Oh, okay. Remind me what year it is again?"
"Man, even I'm not that stupid," Tyson stated. "It's the year two thousand."
The adult leaned his head to the side questioningly. "Huh... gee, and to think I thought it was about the year twenty-two hundred."
"Well, aren't you stupid," replied Ty. "Why would you think that?"
A voice broke into the conversation. "Because it is."
"Who's there?!" exclaimed Kai, looking around. Nobody answered, and Cire was smiling slightly. "What's with you, old fart?"
He shook his head, as if to say 'nothing'. As he did this, Kenny and Emily returned with a cart, which was equipped with five identical trays of weird- looking food. The children all walked over, and each of the boys grabbed a tray. Hilary, however, latched on to Kenny's arm and started repeating the phrase, "This isn't happening... the isn't happening..."
Kenny looked down at the girl, shocked. "What did you do?"
"I think she's still in shock over her hair," the old man suggested. "How bad did they take it, anyway?"
Emily put in, "Not too bad. Hilary ad Tyson were the worst, but they took it pretty well."
"Yeah... I guess nobody could have taken it as bad as you two, eh?"
There was a sudden burst of "You two?", "How did you guys take it?", and "What did you do?", along with some other similar questions.
"Ah, that's a story for another time," Kenny said, not wanting to relieve the horror of what had happened when Emily and he found out. "So, do you guys believe anything Cire's told you?"
As the teenagers shrugged their shoulders, Cire addressed Emily and Kenny. "They look like people who believe what they hear because they are expecting to wake up from a dream." Turning towards the others, he continued. "But this is the truth. No matter how unbelievable it sounds, it is true. You must believe us."
"Whatever," Kai said, grabbing a glass and leaning back in his chair. He didn't seem to believe what Cire was telling them. In fact, no one did. "This is all a load of bullshit anyway."
"Bullshit?!" Emily freaked. "You think this is all BULLSHIT?!"
Kai inclined his head several times, slowly. "Yeah, I do."
"Calm down, Emily. In time, they will understand," Cire told her. He rolled up one of the sleeves of his shirt to his elbow, and showed the assembly something coming out of his arm. There was something black there, and it was going into his arm, almost as if you could stick a needle or something in it. "You see this?" he asked. "Every one of you has it. Many of them, actually, all over your body."
They each instinctively hauled up their sleeves curiously, and Cire was proven correct. Hilary fainted, as did Tyson, but Kai, however, completely freaked out.
"What the fuck is this?! What have you people done to us?!" he yelled. He went over to Kenny, grabbed the front of his shirt, lifted him off his feet, and slammed his into a wall. "You son of a bitch, what the fuck is going on?!"
Emily ran up, grabbed one of Kai's arms, and attempted to haul it away from Kenny. He did take his hand off him, but only to send Emily sailing across the room.
"Kai, listen to me! Put me down! I do not want to hurt you, all right?" pleaded Kenny.
Kai shook his head, but his strength began to fail him. He fell back, releasing the boy. On the floor, Hiwatari repeatedly shook his head, placing his hands on his woolen cap in frustration.
"Emily!" Kenny said, running over to the chair she'd landed in. "Are you okay?"
She smiled, and nodded. "He's not that strong. And besides, the chairs are nice and soft. Cire, sir, maybe that wasn't sure a good idea."
"Yeah, I know," the old man said. Then, turning to Ray and Max, he asked, "What do you think now?"
"I think," Ray said slowly, "that I want to know what the hell this is."
Cire smiled faintly, and seated Ty in one of the chairs. Emily did the same with Hil, and Kai went over and sat down as well. "You believe it is the year two thousand, when, in fact, it is nearer to the year two thousand two hundred. Nobody knows the exact year."
Hilary blinked, yawned, and sat back in her seat. Tyson awaken as well, and asked, "What the hell are we talking about?"
"Shut it, Granger, and listen," Kai ordered. Then, turning to the old man, he asked, "How come nobody knows the exact date?"
The grown-up smiled. "Because we don't. It's as simple as that. But we know that some time early in the twenty-first century, everyone was united in celebration as we created Artificial Intelligence."
"AI? Robots?" a shocked Maxie asked.
Emily nodded. "Yuppers. And this gave way to a total race of machines. No, Tyson, not the kind of machines that make bread or cook lasagna. These machines were evil, and a war began. No one knows who struck first – the humans or them. However, we do know that it was us that seared the sky."
"'Seared the sky'?" inquired Ray.
"Yes. If you were to go to the surface and see the sky, it is always covered with blackened clouds, with constant thunder and lightning. We did this because, at that point, they needed solar power to live," Cire explained. "Everybody thought they couldn't survive without a source of energy as opulent as the Sun. And throughout all of human history, we have been dependant on machines, too."
Kai smiled. "It seems fate goes hand in hand with irony."
"Yes," Kenny agreed. "Yes indeed. So Kai, you no longer think this bullshit?"
"Oh, I still think it bull. I just like hearing a good story every now and then," he told them, before continuing in a mock voice. "So, Ken, what happened to those evil machines?"
The boy Kai had addressed seemed to be frustrated. "Goddamn, Kai, why won't you believe us?!"
Kai shrugged. "Because it's not possible."
The adult smiled. "I suppose there is nothing I can say that will make you believe, huh, Kai?"
"Nope. Nada," replied the boy.
A small laugh escaped Cire's mouth. "Oh, well. The others will be along soon anyway."
"Others?" inquired Tyson.
Emily nodded. "What, did you think we were the only ones on this ship?"
Granger nodded. "How many more are there?"
"I think there's twelve... not counting anyone in this room," Kenny told him.
Making the ones new to the Helm jump, music started blaring through the halls and in most of the rooms. It was 'Charge!' music, and it only played for about thirty seconds before shutting off. It was replaced by a girl's voice. "All right, you lazy bums, get your asses outta bed, quit stuffing your faces, and for God's sake, stop beating the living crap out of each other! Everyone should now go to the meeting room before kill you all! MWAHAHAHAHA!"
"What the fuck was that?!" Kai spoke.
Emily smiled. "Oh, that was our Operator."
"Um, where's the meeting room?" inquired Tyson stupidly. "I'm too beautiful to die!"
Kenny shook his head. "Idiot... we're in the meeting room. And besides, she's a sweet girl, she wouldn't hurt us... much."
"...much?" Hilary asked.
Quiet, echoing laughter began to come from somewhere. Kai and Ray looked around, trying to find the source. They couldn't find it, but it seemed to be getting louder. All of a sudden, an upside-down head came down from the rafters and uttered, "Boo."
This made Hilary scream and fall back on her butt. Tyson hid behind Max, who was slowly backing away. The other two just looked at it oddly.
"It... it's human!" Maxie told everyone. And his speculation was true – it was quite a small person, and younger than Daichi, that was hanging by the knees from a rafter in the ceiling. In one quick moment, Kai took hold of the blonde hair that was hanging down, and yanked down the youngster, making the child slam onto the floor. A second later, the tables turned, and Kai's feet were dangling a few inches above the ground, with Cire's hand around his neck.
"Let him down!" exclaimed Hilary,
Cire let Kai's feet touch the flooring, and released him before turning around to check on the child. The child – a girl – stood up, and was only about five feet and a couple inches tall. "Hi there," she said brightly, going over to the group. "Sorry if I startled ya. The name's Devi."
"Nice to meet you," Ray said. "But shouldn't you be playing with dolls or something instead of climbing around? You could hurt yourself, you know."
"Dolls? Why would I wanna play with dolls?" inquired Devi. "Jeez, I'm thirteen, not two." With that, she went over to one of the chairs and sat down, just as a swarm of people entered the room. In the midst of all this, Cire was talking with Kai.
"I apologize for what I did," the adult said.
Kai nodded. "You should. And I'm sorry for getting the runt down."
Cire smiled. "Good. But if you ever harm any of the people on this ship again, I won't let go."
As everyone got seated, a girl of about sixteen stood up in front next to the old man. She had black hair stopping level with her chin, and baby blue eyes that demanded respect. Her skin was slightly dark, and she reached about 5'5" in height. "All right, guys, shut up and sit your asses down, as Dee would say!" she yelled. Quickly, the chatter that had come from the swarm of people died down, and they all took a seat.
"Thank you," Cire said in a pleasant tone. "Everyone, I believe you all know why we're here." The people, save for the newcomers, all nodded in agreement. "Good. Now, these five here in the front were brought in yesterday – as you all know – and are good friends with Kenny and Emily. If you guys would please come here for a moment..."
Ray, Kai, Max, and Tyson, as well as a shaking Hilary, stood up, walked over to Cire, and faced the crowd. They quickly noticed that all of the people were teenagers. The adult pointed to each one of them individually and announced their name.
"It's great to meet you," the dark-skinned girl standing in the front said to the new ones, shaking their hands. The boys noticed that when she wasn't shouting, her voice was very soft and sweet, like an angel's. "I'm Omni. I am the Captain of this ship."
"It is an honor to meet you as well," Max said.
She smiled. "Thanks." She turned to the seated ones. "Now guys, if you'll all stand up when I call your name, that'll be nice." They nodded, and Omni began to introduce the others on the ship. "That's Strife there –" the girl they'd known as 'Raven' stood up "– and that's Geichu –" the male from the Punishers rose "– and the girl next to him is Kimmy." The third to get up was not someone they'd previously met. "And you've already met Blaze and Dea, although you were introduced to them as Dominique and Nikki –" the two girls rose from their seats "– and I think you may have met Devi as well." The youngest in the room jumped up and landed on Geichu's shoulders. "That there is Cadin, and then KC, next to him is Tochi, and his little brother Phantom."
"Oh, and I suppose I'm not important enough to introduce, am I?" a voice spoke up, as a girl about the same age as Omni arose.
Omni shook her head. "I was just about to get to you. That girl is our beloved Operator, Dee. She's been here longer than any of us, except for Cire."
"Question," Hilary said. "What the hell is an operator?"
Dee strode forward, towards Cire. "They don't believe it, do they?" she inquired, causing the adult to shake his head. "Should we jack them in? Show 'em the truth?"
"Yes. I do think that is what we should do," agreed Cire. He faced the crowd and began to speak to them. "All right, meeting adjourned. Everyone get back to whatever you were doing. Kenny, Emily, Omni, Dee, stay here, please."
Everybody nodded, and some of the people of the exited. "What's going on?" inquired Emily.
"What do you think?" Dee spoke, her voice dripped with sarcasm. "We're going to show them everything."
Remembering how Kai had freaked out last time, Kenny asked Cire, "You sure?"
"Yes. They have to know, Kenny. This is the only way they will believe," the man informed him. Turning to the Blade Breakers, he inquired, "Are you all finished eating?"
The new ones nodded, kind of worried about what Dee meant by 'jack them in'. Omni motioned for everybody to follow her, which they did, through the steel hallways of the Helm. Pretty soon, the group came to a room laden with many computers, and many chairs, somewhat like the ones you would see in a dentist's office, hooked up to machines. The 'Operator' sat in a normal chair in front of several monitors.
"Alright, you guys," Omni said. "Sit in one of the chairs, please."
Slowly, each of the beybladers made their way to a chair, and laid down. Omni and Cire did the same; Emily and Kenny however, made their way to their friends. Emily had gone to Hilary, and Kenny went over to Ray.
Emily had picked up a device that looked like it would be plugged into something, and Hil immediately jumped up and said, "What the hell are you going to do with that?!"
"Calm down," said Em as she pushed the girl gently back into the chair. "This will feel a little weird, okay?" With that, she drove the device into the plug on the back of Hilary's neck. The girl freaked out as this happened; her body jumped up, but it was useless, as it then went completely limp, and her eyes closed.
Tyson, who'd been watching the girls, went nuts at this point. "What the hell?! You just killed her!"
"No, Tyson," Kenny said reassuringly, and went over to the boy after 'plugging' Ray in. "Just stay calm, and don't fidget. I swear on my Mom's soul that she's alive."
Ty sighed, nodded, and laid back to let Kenny do what he had to do.
Emily had gone to see the Captain. "Are you sure you don't want us to come with you? I mean, Kai is totally unpredictable, and Tyson –"
"Don't worry about it, kid. We can handle ourselves in there. And besides, I've got the old fart with me," replied Omni. Turning to the 'Operator', she added, "Hook us up with the Construct, a'right, Dee?"
Me: Just a little side note here on pronunciation of the names. Here we go:
Cire – seer
Omni – om(like in mom)-knee
Devi – deh-V
Dee – ... D
Geichu – guy-choo
Kimmy – Kimmy
Tochi – toe-chee
KC – Kay-see
Phantom – fan-tum
Cadin – Kay-din
Blaze – blaze
Strife – strife
Dea – D-ah