Stick a fork in me, because this chapter is finally done… don't kill me for taking so long! -Big teary anime-esque eyes- I don't own Beyblade yet, but I'm planning to make it my first acquisition when I conquer the world. You know whom I own...

You have no idea how hard it was to write this chapter and attempt to keep everyone in character... this story really is becoming a healthy mix of romance/action/adventure/angst/fantasy, now that I come to think of it...

Warning: This chapter has some rather graphic descriptions of mutilation/torture and the end, so if that stuff isn't your cup of tea, please be aware. It isn't too bad; I just don't want you to be surprised/shocked/disgusted when you read it.

-x-

'Trin!'

Golden eyes opened slowly and immediately shut again, squinting against the neon light.

"Hello, Trin. Didn't expect you to get caught, after they came after us in all..." Kirra said, rolling her eyes, "I thought even someone with your limited intelligence could sense a pattern emerging."

"Interesting position that they've put you two in," Marth commented, his pupils forced into the very corners of his eye sockets to see his sisters. Trinity had been haphazardly thrown into the reinforced metal room two days ago, and had landed in a rather compromising position, on her sister's chest.

"They probably consider this hard-core lesbian porn. It must get pretty boring out here, on those long, cold nights..." Kirra started, but was interrupted by her sister.

"... I thought you were dead..."

"To be honest, I thought we'd be as good as it as soon as we got here," Marth said, the serious edge returning to his voice. "Since I've been here, I've only ever seen one person, though."

"Who?"

"The girl who comes in every so often to drug us up," Kirra said dryly.

"Girl?" Trinity seemed to be waking up a little more now and her words sounded like more than drunken slur.

"Human. Blonde, tall. Marthie gets to see right up her skirt when she shoots him up," Kirra snickered.

"Shut. UP," Marth hissed at his sister.

"Oh, sorry Marth. I forgot that Tasha would be jealous..."

"Both of you shut up," Trinity snarled at her siblings. She had no idea why, but it was amazingly comforting to be able to keep control over them again.

"Well, it is true!" Kirra said earnestly.

"I honestly don't care about my little brother's love life at the moment, thanks Kirra... and frankly I could make some interesting comments about your love life at the current time, too." Marth gave what sounded like a triumphant snort as Trin said this. "What I'm interested in is getting out of here."

"I'm not liking your chances, Trin," Marth said.

"Kintora? If we..." Trinity questioned, but was interrupted mid-sentence by her sister.

"When we change into Kintora there's a tiny little niggle with what we leave behind."

"Our human bodies?" Marth questioned.

"Precisely," Kirra answered evenly.

"I knew the three of you would conspire if we put you together."

Marth's eyes swivelled in their sockets until they were looking so far up they were watering, and saw the younger human girl standing there. Her eyes were still blank, but there was a slight twitch in the muscles in her right cheek that made Marth think that their control over her couldn't be a total as it could be. But then the twitching stopped and her face was once again blank as that of a doll's.

"Humans... so pitiful... the cancer of this very planet. Yet humans are the reason I exist. I suppose I owe your race something..." the girl suppressed a low snigger, "But then again, who could call what you are human? You three are truly stuck in the middle, aren't you?"

Neither Trinity, Marth nor Kirra replied to this question. This seemed to fuel desire for more baiting, and the girl continued.

"Don't you three even know why you were the children chosen to inherit bit beast powers?"

"Cram it up your ass," Kirra finally snapped, her eyes firmly fixed on the blonde. Marth inwardly rolled his eyes. "You know all this. We are what we are because of powers bestowed upon our parents' descendants by the dead counterpart of Driger. We are the first generation born to both the blessed families after the families' bloodlines grew far enough apart, and our parents were able to screw each other until their eyes rolled and not be worried about us being born with eleven toes. Whenever any of the descendants of the man who originally had Driger inherit the same bit beast, they fall in love with the woman who inherits Galux and create Kintora."

"You have a very slim view on what this really means, Kintora."

"Fine, enlighten us, then!" Kirra exclaimed, sounding slightly hysterical. "You tell us why we're different."

The girl was silent for a moment, and stood there like a realistic mannequin. Whoever was controlling her was obviously thinking through telling them what he or she knew about their strength.

"It's true that you were born through a genetic anomaly, inherited from both your parents. It seems that when a woman and man with this irregularity have children, it has always resulted in the next Kintora being born. Driger and Galux apparently make this abnormality form when someone inherits their power. But what you don't see is what you three having children may actually mean."

The girl paused for a moment, and then took a short breath and continued.

"No other human/Kintora hybrid ever had children. The Driger and Galux bits went to the nearest relatives of him or her, and the bloodlines between the two original bearers of those two particular Holy Beings grew farther apart. I'm surprised the link still exists. But I suppose it's possible; you do come from a rather close-knit community."

"Do you know our shoe sizes too?" Kirra snapped. The girl, who had once again frozen like some life-sized doll, ignored this.

"You three are human. More human, at least, as compared to the other Kintoras. You seem to see humans as a race apart from yourselves, yet you learned to see them as the species closest to what you are, and learned to accept them for who they were... imperfect, at least compared to yourselves. As humans, you may be imperfect... in many ways," the girl added with a little extra scorn, the scathingly cold words reflecting the slight emotion on her face, "But as Kintora, as a powerful spirit... Holy Beings are possibly the closest to perfection any race is likely to get."

"The other Kintoras never felt love for any members of the human race, even their own parents. You do, albeit hesitantly so first off... you had children by a perfectly normal human male," the blonde continued, nodding towards Trinity, who simply stared her down with her one visible eye, refusing to blink.

"Those children aren't normal. However the man in question does have a bit beast, the red phoenix, unless I'm mistaken. This may have something to do with it... after all... obtaining Driger and Galux had an effect on your parents' feelings and even their DNA. We could only be sure if any of you had children by normal people, without any links to bit beasts. Currently..." the woman emitted a small sneering sound as though she wanted to add a 'but not for long' to the sentence, "None of you are."

"Wait a minute," Kirra interrupted. The girl inclined her head slightly, smirked, and nodded for Kirra to continue.

"Kamali has nothing to do with the Holy Beings. If we had children, you'd be getting what you wanted," Kirra snarled, glaring at her siblings who, despite the situation, seemed to be humouring themselves over the thought of Kamali and their sister having children.

Blank blue eyes narrowed, and the smirk became even more prominent on the young face, making the girl look years older.

"You're a fool," she stated, her pupil-less gaze still piercing into Kirra, "It's amazing, the degree of ignorance some people have... assuming you're aware that he too is Chinese?" The answering glare was taken as a yes. "And assuming you know you're from the clan of the White Tiger?" Another glare, this time accompanied by a sarcastic snort. "What makes you think there aren't clans for the other four seasonal Holy Beings?"

"Your point being?" Kirra questioned, feeling her patience wearing paper-thin.

"Xao Kamali was from the clan of the Blue Dragon." All three pairs of golden eyes widened, and Kirra's mouth dropped open to form a perfect 'o'. This was obviously the desired effect, so their captor spoke again through the girl, "There are very few true members of that particular Clan left. They've been rapidly losing power ever since they submitted their Holy Being to two rather willing Japanese archaeologists..."

'Tyson's father and brother,' Trin whispered mentally to her brother and sister, whose eyes flickered towards their eldest sister, but they said nothing.

"Yes, Kinomiya's father and brother," said the younger voice, and if Trinity had been able to move she would have jumped through the roof out of shock. "We've been watching all the children from all the clans, including yours, from a very early age. None except children from your village showed any abnormal powers. I really didn't see the Blue Dragon clan's philosophy... killing two true clan members for producing another true descendant of the clan, and then offloading the orphaned child to two outsiders..."

Marth had absolutely no idea what she was talking about, but immediately knew they were referring to Kamali because Kirra hissed angrily and started throwing completely random and jumbled insults at the blonde girl, who smirked.

"Now, now... language," the teen mused as Kirra used the word 'fuck' three times in the same sentence, as a noun, verb and adjective. "You're being so rude, after I bothered to tell you what you didn't bother finding out about yourself and your lover."

Scared that Kirra would let loose with another string of colourful language, Marth asked, "What about Tasha?"

"Tasha Reeves?" the girl asked blankly, and Marth answered with a stare. "Not much is known about her... we mainly focused on the Chinese children as they grew up, so we aren't very knowledgeable about foreign children's links to their bit beasts... other branches of our organization take care of that. Except we know her link to her bit beast Keturah is powerful; this is possibly the only reason our main HQ told us about her when she came to China to join your parents' little group of unfortunates. The bond between Tasha and Keturah is strong, even by your standards, Kintora. Such a bond between a normal human and a Holy Being is unusual; I'll admit that... other than that, she has no links to the Holy Being world. She's not from China; she has no Clan links to the Holy Beings. However, it would be interesting to see children between yourself and Tasha would be like..." the blonde continued, while a red colour that would have put Dranzer to shame rose to Marth's cheeks.

"Children between Kintora and the holder of the Phoenix of the south, one of the most powerful Holy Beings. Children between Kintora and a person who has no Holy Being but a strong blood link to one of the other seasonal Holy Being clans, and children between Kintora and the holder of a non-seasonal Holy Being... it would have interesting to see, but of course, if we were really that interested we could have had them brought back here and extracted their DNA..." the girl's voice faded away momentarily, like she was considering going on. Instead, she chose a new topic of conversation. "The objects of your affections' really do love you all deeply... no doubt they would have taken great pleasure and pride in giving you children... or raising the ones you already had," she finished, nodding towards Trinity.

"They'll come for us," Trin snarled, and Kirra and Marth obviously agreed, judging by the looks on their faces.

"No doubt... but by the time they arrive here, it will already be too late to save you, and we will have other uses for them... and rest assured, we will find your children and dispose of them as well... once we have no more use for then in our labs, that is..." Trinity let out a strangled cry in reply to this statement and started throwing threats in exactly the same way Kirra had been shouting insults before.

At this point, Marth felt his finger twitch. He tried to keep the expression on his face exactly the same, but it was too late, the girl had already seen it. Smirking and brushing a loose strand of dirty blonde hair out of her face, she retrieved a syringe from her pocket, and the bottle of clear fluid that immobilized the three Kon children. She filled the syringe to its full capacity, and quickly injected a third of the liquid into the side of each adult's neck, not bothering to change the needle of the syringe in between.

"I'll be back soon... never fear," she sneered, and slipped out of the room silently, leaving Marth, Kirra and Trin feeling vulnerable and, although they were in each other's company, completely alone. Fear invaded every muscle of their bodies as the drug once again took hold of them; fear for Kai, Kamali and Tasha, fear for their parents, fear for Kurai and Lita. But, as selfish as it may sound, fear for themselves and each other ran rampant through their minds, knowing that until whoever-it-was was finished with them, those they loved would at least be safe to a certain degree. But what would happen after they were gone?

'If anything happened to Kai, Kurai or Lita, I would never forgive myself,' thought to herself. 'It would be my fault... if anything happened to any of the people we love, it would be on my head, and I wouldn't be able to cope with it, regardless of whether I was alive or dead...'

-x-

Kai Hiwatari was at this point, still drifting between unconsciousness and sleep, and was having very strange, fleeting dreams that only lasted for the smallest of times, but were still powerful enough to make him feel uneasy. At first, he only saw shadowed figures wandering and murmuring in the corners of his mind, until the visions became clearer and he was able to make out ten separate people... but were they people? The only two he could see with some form of clarity definitely looked human, but their movements were fluid, graceful... easily more so than a human's natural way of moving or standing... almost like they were suspended on thin air...

Now... now he could hear what they were saying more clearly... he strained his ears to listen to the faint murmuring coming from these people.

"... And we still wait for the assistance of the other eight... they are still some time away, however. Currently, we can rely on no-one but ourselves."

"We need help from a different source... we are still awaiting the arrival of our companions and our power..."

"Soon, soon... the Star is not far away now... and once it arrives the absence of our comrades will not be such a depletion to our potency."

"I know that, brother."

Brother...?

Two pairs of eyes turned on Kai, and he flinched. This was a dream... they could not really see him...

"Why did you come here?" the more feminine of the two voices whispered. "You should be out saving her... she means so much to us..."

"They are waiting for you to save them... they do not have much time... if you wait for much longer, it will be too late and it will be up to us to decide their fates. And we may not be able to save them this time," the other voice whispered, and Kai decided it was definitely a male voice. The two figures moved closer together and their eyes shone in the light for a brief moment... but not brief enough for Kai to miss it. Mahogany and bright gold...

No, it couldn't be...

"Please... save them..." the girl whispered again, before they both raised their hands towards Kai and said, in perfect sync, "Go."

-x-

Kai sat bolt upright, gasping for breath, and immediately regretted it, as he felt searing pain race across his forehead and down the left side of his body. He fell back down limply, still gasping for breath.

"He's awake."

Kai forced his head to the left and saw a dark-haired girl sitting by the camping bed he had been placed upon. He immediately recognised her from the files he and Trin kept on the squadrons; she was Tasha Reeves from Marth's little gang of rule breakers. Kamali Xao then poked his head into the tent and nodded at Tasha, who stood up and stretched her limbs, before edging past Kamali and to the outside of the tent. Kamali then ducked into the tent and took up Tasha's position of sitting at Kai's bedside.

Kai's head moved from side-to-side, eyes darting about, unsure of what had happened or how he'd even come to be where he was.

"If you're looking for Trinity, she's been taken by the youma," Kamali stated evenly, seemingly transfixed on the front of the tent, intent not to meet Kai's gaze. "She got taken at the same time you were injured. To the same place Marth and Kirra were taken to, presumably." Kamali's voice trembled so slightly it was barely noticeable as he said Kirra's name, and Kai watched Kamali take a small piece of white paper out of his pocket and start to fiddle with it between his fingers.

"Well... why are we just sitting here, in that case?" Kai asked blankly.

"Do you have any idea where they would have taken them, anyway?" Kamali asked just as blankly.

Kai was silent for a few seconds, so Kamali nodded. "I thought not."

"That's no excuse to give them up for dead," Kai spat angrily.

"If our positions were reversed, they may have been able to save us. After all, they are stronger than we could ever possibly be."

"Is that the way you look at it?" Kai snickered. "Well, if you want to look at it that way... Kirra sure as Hell wouldn't have given up on you."

Kamali flinched and Kai grinned maliciously. If they thought he was dead, or was going to leave Trin for dead, they were sadly mistaken.

'Dranzer!'

After a few seconds, the phoenix answered its master. 'Yes, Kai?'

'Where is Kintora?'

'Even now I know they are very far away,' the phoenix said doubtfully, 'I cannot feel their presence from here.'

'Can you tell which direction from my current location they are?'

Dranzer paused once again, this time for about three minutes. Kai thought he had lost the mental connection with his bit beast until he felt the warming presence of the phoenix again, who seemed to feeling rather triumphant. 'Northwest. I had to fly around for a small amount of time to get a better feel of it.'

'Thank you, Dranzer. Please return to me soon... I'll need your help. Tell the three Mystics to come, too.'

'As you wish, Kai,' Dranzer said, and the phoenix left its master's mind.

"What if they're gone?"

Kai's pupils moved to look at Kamali, but his head stayed still. The younger man sighed and irritably brushed at his fringe with his hand, although it was barely anywhere near his face.

"I don't think I could live with myself, knowing that I'd just sat here on my worthless ass while my best friend was being killed," Kamali mumbled, his fists clenching and his teeth gritting so hard that Kai could hear them squeak against the friction. "But if I got there, and we were already too late to save them... if I was too late to save her, I don't know what I'd do with myself then, either..."

"The only way to actually find out is to try," Kai said wryly. "And they're not dead yet. I asked Dranzer."

Kamali nodded, and Tasha ducked through the door of the tent.

"So, will you be joining us on our little quest, Reeves?"

"Why does it have anything to do with me?" Tasha questioned cynically, raising one eyebrow at Kai, immediately guessing what Kai was talking about.

"He's your squadron leader, disbanded or no. You have a loyalty to your squadron," Kai stated.

"Plus everyone saw how you tried to save him..." Kamali muttered, grinning at Tasha's reaction.

"There's nothing going on between me and Kon," Tasha snapped, praying that her face wasn't colouring.

"I doubt it. Even his own family thinks Marth is gay," Kai snickered in his usual shit-stirring manor.

"Ever considered that he mightn't have found the right person?" Kamali questioned, scratching the back of his head idly. "Just because I hadn't been in a relationship with anyone before I met Kirra doesn't mean I'mgay."

"Can we get off the topic of Marth being gay?" Tasha snorted, trying to sound as unconcerned as possible.

"She just doesn't want to believe it..." Kai said, shaking his head in mock-pity.

"Shut up, Hiwatari," Tasha hissed tensely.

"Hey, we're on the same side, remember?" Kamali said, trying to break the glaring competition between Kai and Tasha. Tasha blinked, and looked at Kamali.

"I know that. I'm just worried about them, is all."

"You're worried about Marth," Kamali corrected her. "You'd never met Trinity and you're not all that friendly with Kirra..."

Tasha shrugged, not denying it.

"I didn't know him at all. But I knew him the best of the three of them."

"So you'll be coming with us, Reeves?" Kai asked.

"Bet on it, Hiwatari," Tasha replied instantaneously. The look of satisfaction on Kai's face was driving her mental.

"Very well. Now all we have to wait for is Dranzer and the Mystics. After that, we'll be getting on our way."

-x-

(The present)

Mariah sat at the kitchen table, watching her three children and nonchalantly sipping her third cup of espresso coffee. She noticed that, lately, the three kids were looking particularly drained and exhausted; Trin had heavy dark rings around her eyes, Kirra kept blinking and stifling yawns that continually threatened to escape her lips, and Marth seemed unusually twitchy and nervous. He held his cup of milk with two trembling hands and sipped it quickly, raising the glass to his lips violently and taking just enough to moisten his throat, and then slamming it back onto the table with a clink. Mariah watched him for a few minutes, until she heard someone else enter the room.

Hiromi walked into the well-lit room, stretched luxuriously, and slunk over to the table, grabbing a mug and turning the kettle on the bench on to boil.

"And how are we all this morning?" she chirruped.

Mariah gave her a 'shut up' look and Marth's hands trembled a little more severely. Neither Trin nor Kirra acknowledged Hiromi's existence.

Tyson suddenly entered the room, looking extremely perplexed. Hiromi noticed, and grinned at him. He made some sort of strangled, gargling sound in reply. The kettle boiled, Hiromi filled her teacup with water, dumped in three tablespoons of sugar and sidled out of the room, passing Tyson and running her index finger down his arm.

Tyson heard his bedroom door slam, and he rushed over to the table, sloppily poured himself a large cup of coffee, and began drinking it, his hand's shaking worse than Marth's.

"What the Hell is wrong with that woman? She's like some sort of dominatrix Barbie..."

Mariah grinned. However, her momentary amusement dissipated when she saw Ray walk calmly into the room, avoiding eye contact with her and indeed everyone else at the table. Mariah kept a glare fixated on him as he jadedly made himself tea, downed the entire cup of liquid in a few gulps, and walked out of the room again, exiting the way he came. He passed Lee on the way back, and his old friend stared at his brother-in-law, unable to remember a time when he'd looked that frustrated or upset.

"Good morning," Lee greeted his sister as he reached the table. Mariah grunted in reply, and he smirked.

"Bad night, huh?"

"You could say that."

"What made it so bad? Never thought you'd be in a bad mood with Ray next to you in bed," Lee snorted.

"He found out about the little secret," Mariah snarled, mentally punching herself in the gut.

"The next of his spawn?" Lee sounded genuinely unconcerned about this.

"Yes. He didn't take it as well as I thought he would."

"I thought he'd be upset about you keeping it from him, but not about the kid itself."

"Yeah, well, he is," Mariah hissed, violently snatching a piece of toast and tearing a large chunk off it, chewing angrily to keep herself from letting out a string of insults, mainly about her husband.

"Don't be so mad at him. Give him time to come around. He'll get over it in a while. You've already got three, one more won't make a difference," Lee said, stretching felinely and yawning.

"I know that he needs some time to consider it. But... it's just that he was so openly supportive of me the last three times. What's made him so anxious about this time?"

"Mari, I don't have the answers to your questions. There's only one person in this household that can answer your questions, and I'll be he's back in your room, despairing over the answers to the questions you want to ask at this very moment."

"Stuff him," Mariah sniffed, and Lee grinned, "That ratfink can despair a little longer."

Lee shook his head, but he was still grinning at his sister's open display of discontent on Ray's less-than-thrilling reaction to her pregnancy.

At this time, Ray wandered out of the corridor, looking slightly nervous and apprehensive. Mariah glared at him and once again bit violently into her piece of toast.

"What do you want?"

Ray raised an eyebrow, but spoke calmly. "I just thought you'd like to know that Kurai and Lita are gone."

-x-

The next few hours in the cell were tense. None of the three Kon children dared to even breathe loudly; seemingly afraid that doing anything out of the ordinary, even talking to each other, would determine the enemy's next move.

Marth lay on his back, staring vacantly at the ceiling and thinking about all he had back home, with the people he cared for and the people who cared for him in return. He worried for his parents, his sisters, Artemis, Kurai, Lita, Tasha... everyone whom he had ever cared about in his entire life trickled through his mind. Slowly, painfully...

He thought of his parents, who had lost everything they loved, their hometown, their families, and their friends... and yet, everything that had been important to them had paled in comparison to the priority they had always given to his sisters and his personal happiness.

His sisters, caught in the same situation, both of them having people in their lives that would undoubtedly die for them if the need arose.

Artemis, injured and sick, back at the main base. What would happen to her if the youma ever managed to reach the base, let alone all the other people there?

Kurai and Lita, the closest things he'd ever had to younger siblings. In fact, they were more like a little brother and sister to him than a nephew a niece, being so close to them during their upbringing. Were they really safe in the past? Somehow, he doubted it, and he didn't want to think of what would happen if any dire situation arose in the past. Two seven year olds and a handful of holy beings against an army of youma? They would all be killed...

And Tasha... what had happened to her after he had been taken? He wasn't dead, he's learned that much for Keturah, however... physical wounds were only a part of it. Emotions and mentality could be scarred easier than flesh. Somehow he doubted she'd show it, even if she was scarred underneath it all. And more importantly... why the Hell did she kiss him back if she didn't care for him at all?

Marth was suddenly distracted by the smooth, metallic sliding sound of the cell door opening. He saw the pale, too-slender legs of their usual drug-administering girl, but also, the mangled limbs of two youma, their uneven metal claws screeching along the steel floor as they shifted their feet.

Some time passed before anyone made a sound, but the next voice was utterly clear in its orders.

"The male first."

In the blink of an eye, sharp pain scalded across the back of Marth's neck. He heard his own strangled cry, heard Trin's sharp intake of breath, and heard Kirra scream piercingly...

But after that, he saw and heard nothing...

-x-

Tasha, by this time, had fallen into a haunted and weary sleep. She continually tossed and turned, and considering that she usually slept quite heavily, she was jumpy and nervous about anything that crossed her mind. It was doing nothing to help he get to sleep, but it was better than continually worrying about Marth.

But how was it possible to not think about him? He'd kissed her and disappeared before she even had time to consider what to think about the whole ordeal. He seemed like a nice enough person, but he was so...

She didn't actually know.

He and Artemis had tried to reach out to her, and she had eschewed them, thinking that they were doing the wrong thing by looking out for those they were concerned about, or loved. But now she realized that she had been wrong. She didn't know how it had occurred to her; perhaps it was the short amount of time she had spent with Marth that had made her realize that emotions were more important than actions. Perhaps it was the way she had seen Squadron A become so close to each other, and enjoyed each other's company. Heck, she'd even begun to feel a soft spot for Kamali and his squeeze. But regardless of what she felt for Marth, she doubted she could ever fully tolerate Kirralee, even though now she could probably stand the sight of her.

Tasha's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a soft hand touching her shoulder. Her immediate thoughts were that it was Kamali or Kai, but why the Hell would they be touching her like that? Gathering her courage, she opened her eyes and rolled over, and her gaze immediately locked with someone else's. The golden gaze shocked, and she sat bolt upright and suppressed a scream.

"Marth?"

-x-

Kai heard whispers, utterly unintelligible mutterings, coming from behind him, so he sat up, and forced his eyelids to open enough to allow him to see properly. He knew he was physically awake... but he still felt sleepy, drifting in and out of exhaustion. It was a strange sensation, like someone had put him into a trance with a heavy blow to the head. He could make our two blurred figures in the distance, so he rubbed his eyes vigorously and focused all his strength into seeing who they were.

It was the same two young people, the man and the woman, that he had seen earlier in the day, when he had been unconscious. The woman's slate hair rustled over her bare shoulders with an unearthly shine and slickness to it, and the man's eyes darkened as he listened to her whisper.

"It seems everything in is order, then," he commented, flicking his hair back over his shoulder in suppressed triumph. "All they need is a little encouragement, a little 'push out the door', if you will..."

"They care about them, regardless of whether they chose to act or not... brother, I feel guilty for doing this, but we need them back, we need their strength..."

"And we shall have it, once we have completed this task. Now go, sister, and let's hope luck is with us both."

In the blink of an eye, the two people were gone, and Kai felt himself being unwillingly pulled back into nothingness, into darkness..."

-x-

"This is a dream," Kamali whispered, having woken up to feel a familiar weight resting on his lap... and Kirralee looking directly into his eyes.

"And how could it be a dream, if you're awake?"

"You're not her. You're not the Kirralee that I know," Kamali muttered uncomfortably, trying unsuccessfully to push the pink-haired woman off his knees.

After a long pause, the image of Kirra seemed to hesitate, and she finally spoke, "You know her better than I expected you would."

"When you care that much for someone..." Kamali hesitated, then continued, "You know what they're like in every aspect. Their characteristics, their touch, their feel..."

"Then in that case, you are indeed worthy of knowing that I am not her," the figure grinned, and Kamali felt a pang of recognition and loss. "However, I speak on behalf of her."

"Then speak," he grunted shortly, crossing his arms over his chest and looking impatient.

"... She's in great danger. They all are. If you don't save them, soon they'll all be dead and there will be no hope for the future of my kin or myself."

"Tell me something I don't know," he snapped. He was getting tired and frustrated, and seeing a fake figure of Kirra, the one person he may truly ever love, he felt ridiculously over-emotional, too.

"You have no idea what they're doing to her, do you?"

Kamali became watchful of the woman, and shook his head.

"They wanted all three of them for... experiments. I think their eventual goal will be force-growing their crossbred children. They're testing the strength of Kintora, and we do not appreciate having our power probed in such a way. They also want samples of their body tissue, readings of their brainwaves... anything they think will bring them one step closer to finding the genetic pattern that creates beings like us. Already they have attacked our home, but we managed to hide the source of our power in a place we know is safe, at least for now. But, if the bit beast world loses its power totally, they won't survive. None of us will."

Kamali nodded slowly, twice, to show his understanding, and said, "I'll use every ounce of my strength to make sure they're kept alive."

"You're a good person, Xao Kamali. And to think Kirralee held you back all those times..."

"How do you know about that?" Kamali questioned abruptly.

'Kirralee' just grinned. "Help them."

And with a single blinding flash of light, she was gone.

-x-

He felt the same... looked the same... tasted the same way as he had when he had kissed her the first time. He had his arms around her back, one hand resting on her shoulder blades and the other on her thigh, holding her with such gentleness, as if he thought she would break in two.

And yet, Tasha knew this couldn't be real...

This wasn't really Marth...

Unexpectedly, she pulled away from him and gasped for air, and when he took a step closer to her once again, her eyes were vigilant.

"You tricked me."

"I am only doing what Marth would do, if he was here instead of me. I know his innermost thoughts, feelings, wishes... and he would have acted in the same way."

"Regardless, you're not Martheo Kon," Tasha hissed.

"I don't deny it. However, you must know why I did this..."

"I'm waiting with baited breath."

"Martheo Kon could be dead, soon," the man stated simply, "So could Trinity and Kirralee. His last, dying wish would have been to see the ones he loved again, happy. His family, his friends... and you. He wants to see you happy, not lost, like you're trying to find a corner in a circular room." A grin, a painfully familiar grin that brought memories of Marth grinning at her after their first kiss flooding back to her. "And unless you confront your fear for him, you'll never be able to save his life."

"I don't know where to go, what to do..." Tasha felt anxiousness fill her chest, cramping, warm and uncomfortable.

"As long as they don't die, Keturah will always be able to sense their presence. The three Mystics and Dranzer are on their way too, and they undoubtedly will help you."

"I don't know how I'll ever be able to look him in the eye again, after I shunned him, and let those things take him."

"None of that matters to him. All that matters to him is your safety, and your feelings for him." With that, he leaned forward and kissed her, and Tasha felt the warmth from the contact rush through her body, as though someone had just enveloped her in a comforting embrace. It was not Marth... and yet... she knew that this person was here on his behalf, and she prayed that wherever he was, Marth was dreaming of her, as she was of him.

"Take care, Tasha Reeves."

A blinding beam of light shot from 'Marth's body, and Tasha rose both her palms over her eyes to shield herself. When she next looked up, he was gone, and she was back in the tent with Kamali and Kai, who were also wide awake and staring around wildly, looking bemused.

-x-

After rushing around the village madly for twenty minutes, Mariah finally found Kurai and Lita sitting calmly in their temporary room, gazes locked upon each other, concentrating so hard there were veins visible on their foreheads.

"Kurai?" Mariah asked uncertainly, and the navy-haired boy's head snapped around, and his expression returned to normal.

"Yes?"

"... Where were you? Ray... 'Your grandfather', checked to see if you were in here half an hour ago!"

"We were sitting here the whole time. We don't wander around by ourselves, we're not allowed," Lita said, pouting slightly at her mother and father's strict rules.

"Please tell us where you are next time, then. And put a jumper on, both of you, it's freezing," Mariah said, grabbing the said clothing item from the twins' small bags of belongings, and walking over to tug them over their heads.

"You sound like my mother," Kurai snorted. "I thought we were coming here to get away from her."

Mariah pulled the maroon coloured jumper over Kurai's head, and could feel that his skin was freezing, and the back of his neck was slick with cold sweat. When she reached over to pull Lita's jumper on, she felt that her skin was damp too, but instead of being chilly and clammy like her brother's, her skin was boiling hot, far too warm for a normal human to be.

"Are you two feeling alright?" Mariah asked uncertainly.

"We're fine," the twins said; they sounded synchronized, robotic, and shockingly calm.

"If you're sure... please don't scare us like that again. We'd hate to have to tell your Mum and Dad that we lost you," Mariah grinned weakly, and walked calmly out of the door. However, when she rounded the corner, she broke into a run, trying to find Lee, Ray, anyone... and tell them the way she had just seen Kurai and Lita acting.

-x-

Kirra's shallow sobs were the only thing that broke the silence of the echoing, metallic room where she and Trin were still being kept.

They had no idea what was happening to Marth. They only thing they could do was feel his terror, his pain, and wonder what was going to be in store for him, and themselves.

Suddenly, the echoes of terror reflecting in their minds stopped, and they felt no presence in their minds that resembled their little brother at all. Kirra continued to sob, and Trinity bit down on her lip hard, until she experienced the familiar, metallic taste of blood over her tongue, in a desperate attempt to stop herself from screaming.

The door swung open, and Marth's body was thrown into the room, leaving a smear of blood across the metal floor where he had skidded for about half a metre. This time, Trin did scream, and she was aware that sound had escaped her throat, but she couldn't hear the echoes of her own cry. She could hear nothing at all, and see nothing but her little brother.

Marth was completely naked, and scarred horrendously across his back, his chest, his stomach, his head... his hair was matted with blood, and his entire body was smeared with it. Trin could see the beginning of the rough stitching where they had sewn him up after they were finished... oh god, she couldn't bring herself to think what they had done to him. His eyes were glassy, unseeing, his breathing very shallow, the gurgle of blood and saliva in every breath.

"Don't worry. He's not dead... yet."

The blonde-haired girl was back, and this time her grin was triumphant. Her usually spotless white lab coat was smeared with blood, their little brother's blood...

"Bitch! What did you do to him?" Kirra yelped.

"Don't worry about your darling little brother... we won't let him die. We won't let any of you die, you're much too valuable for that. All we did was simply take some of the elements we needed from the male side of your little Kintora trio from him, and run some tests..."

"Whore," Kirra hissed, her eyes flaring angrily at rhe woman, whose thin lips curved into a brutal smile.

"Now, now... at least he's the most of your worries... we only have to run half as many tests on you, because there's two of you."

"Oh my God," Trin whispered, her voice shaking. A sharp jab in the back of her neck made her gag in surprise, she felt her own limbs flailing violently of their own accord, and finally, she heard a mixture of her sister's scream, and another of Marth gurgling, laboured breaths...

And after that, only darkness loomed in her mind, for as far as she could reach...

-x-

A soft peck at Kai's cheek woke him, and he waved his hand irritably, brushing the offending object away. A harder peck this time, and Kai's arm flung out and made contact with something hard and smooth... one last, violent peck to his back and Kai sat up, scowling. It was only then, that he noticed the elegant red phoenix poking its head discontentedly through the tent.

"Dranzer!"

'I am here, Kai. So are Mysticala, Mysticisia and Mystellara. Keturah is also with us, waiting for Tasha to wake.'

Kai sprang into action immediately, throwing both his pillows at Kamali, causing the younger man to grunt and sit up, bleary-eyed and exhausted.

"Xao, the bit beasts are here! We can leave now!"

Kamali's eyes widened in understanding, and he stood up, and started yanking his clothes on. (AN: He wasn't naked . He was in his underwear. I can read your minds...)

"Reeves!" Kai hissed at the dark-haired girl. She sat up slowly; she had obviously already been partly awake when he'd called her.

"What is it, Hiwatari?"

"The Holy Beings have just arrived. We're leaving immediately, going to find Trin, Kirra and Marth with their help."

"If you needed a bit beast, why didn't you just ask me to ask Keturah?" Tasha wondered out loud.

"I wanted to make sure we had enough firepower to at least stand a chance. The security won't be light where we're headed."

Tasha nodded, packed all her belongings, including her currently bit-less beyblade into her duffel bag, and walked outside to help Kamali kick the tent pegs out of the ground. Kai packed his own, Trin's, Kirra's and Marth's belongings hurriedly, and dragged the heavy items out of the tent, just in time to see it collapse without the added support of the pegs.

The Holy Beings stood nearby, eyes watching the humans with some amusement. They were in their human forms, with the exception of Dranzer and Keturah.

"We shall carry Kintora's and your own belongings, and try to keep up," Mystellara said, gesturing slowly to herself and Mysticisia, a low mewling sound to her voice. "You shall ride with your own partners."

"Ehn... I don't have a bit beast," Kamali muttered sheepishly.

In an instant, Mysticala had returned to its beast form, and was grinning a feline grin at Kamali.

'My mistress cares about you very much, Xao Kamali, and it would be my honour to have you as my burden,' Mysticala stated, grinning even more widely when Kamali jumped at the sudden voice echoing in his mind.

Kai was already climbing onto Dranzer's back, gripping onto its glossy, slippery feathers and its oddly shaped shoulder joints.

Tasha got the gist, and slid onto Keturah's back, wrapping her arms as far around the black dragon's neck as they would go.

Kamali looked uncertain, but eventually climbed onto Mysticala's back and gripped large handfuls of its fur to keep balance. Mystellara and Mysticisia picked up the heavy bags with ease, and began to sprint to get a head start on their flying counterparts.

Dranzer suddenly took flight, its wings flapping with a slightly odd rhythm for a moment, before it got used to the added burden and began to glide with grandiose movements. Keturah followed suit, slithering into the air elegantly and dashing like a bullet through the air, stretched perfectly straight, the wind against its face. Mysticala leapt into the sky, and seemingly began to run mid-air. Kai felt the wind rush against his face, looked at his two travelling companions, and realized they were all thinking the same thing.

'Hold on, and be strong for us... for we're coming for you.'

-x-

Finally done! This fic will be coming to a close soon, with 16 chapters at the very most, I think. But don't worry, it was already longer than Future Hope before this chapter, so don't think I'm being unfair.