Disclaimer: Yawn ...
A/N – So far, the longest chapter ) Three thousand, eight hundred and forty words.
As the Ice Breaks.
Part 14: Practice Starts.
– Day 3 –
## Dream ##
A young blue haired boy walked slowly through the hallway, his eyes downcast, as if he were a prisoner walking towards his execution chamber. In his arms were neatly folded sheets and blankets. Torches that were placed ten feet from each other were only light source of the dark gritty hallways. In front of him a guard dressed in Abbey attire trudged mechanically while watching him closely out of the corner of his eye.
The dank corridor seemed to go on forever. Kai didn't realize when the guard stopped and walked right into him.
"Idiot!" he roared and backhanded Kai.
His head whipped to the side. Kai looked back at him, holding his sore cheek while his eyes started to water. He barely managed to choke back a sob, when the guard opened the door they were standing in front of and shoved him in.
He fell to his knees as the door slammed behind him. Kai lifted his head and surveyed his surroundings. He was in a small room with a dim light bulb hanging in the middle. The dirty room was just about empty except for a cupboard and sink. Kai cringed when he saw a toilet bowl sitting conspicuously in the far corner of the room. There were two beds in the room, one on the left was empty, but the other one was currently occupied. Kai looked at the person sitting on the other bed, his knees pulled up to his chest, staring back at him with icy-blue eyes. They both stared at each other silently. This went on for quite a while before Kai spoke first.
"... Hi ..." he said uncertainly.
The boy kept quite for a few seconds before replying, "Hi."
"What's your name?" he picked up the sheets that were on the floor and placed them on his bed before taking seat opposite the boy.
"Tala ..." he said quietly, "what's your name?"
"Kai."
"Kai?" Tala nodded and leaned back against the wall, "Kai?" he said again.
Kai looked at him strangely when his voice started to change. He blinked a couple of times because the room was starting to spin wildly and bit-by-bit, the image faded, till it was all black.
Kai?
## End Dream ##
"Kai?" Mr. Dickinson stood over Kai, "Kai ... if you can hear me, squeeze my hand," He took hold of Kai's hand, "Kai?"
His face broke into a smile when he saw Kai's eyes open slowly.
Kai blinked a couple of times to focus his vision on the blurry blob that was standing over him. He opened his mouth to speak but found that he couldn't. After awhile, he could feel something in his throat, and whatever it was, was in both his nostrils too. He panicked and his heart started beat faster, sending the heart monitor beeping in frenzy. He tried to raise his arms to pull it out but found that they had been tied down. What's happening? his eyes looked around wildly, unable to focus, he panicked even more.
He could feel someone stroking his hair, but he didn't care. Someone, help me. He started to struggle; his head whipping around left and right. He gagged because of the foreign object that was itching at his throat, I can't breath. Why won't someone help me? ... Tala ...
--
"Relax, Kai," Mr. Dickinson tried to calm down the frantic boy, but to no avail. Whatever he said would not get through to Kai while he's in this condition, "SOMEBODY.... HELP!!" he shouted out. Soon, doctors and nurses came running towards him.
"What happened?" Dr. Olga ran into the room.
"I don't know. He was starting to wake up when he suddenly panicked." Mr. Dickinson looked at her anxiously.
"We need to sedate him." She turned to one of the nurses and took a syringe from her. She checked the measurement and injected it into IV line connected to Kai's left arm. A few minutes passed and he started to calm down.
--
Kai felt something warm flowing into his arm, soon he felt his body being drained of energy. What's happening? he looked up at the blob, which was starting to become clearer, Mr. Dickinson? He saw the blurry face of Mr. Dickinson coming closer to his, and he spoke something to him. Kai couldn't hear him very clearly, but he could make out something like tube ... throat ... breath ... relax.
Kai stopped his struggling against the thing in his throat, and found that he could breath a little better. In fact, he didn't have to do much, it was pumping oxygen into his lungs for him. As time passed, Kai could feel his eyelids getting heavier and soon he was unable to stop them from closing as he drifted off into peaceful slumber.
--
Mr. Dickinson exhaled loudly and let got of Kai's shoulders. "What happened?" he looked at Dr. Olga.
"I don't know," she walked over to Kai and took out her pen light, "I've never seen anyone react this way after waking up before," she pulled up Kai's eyelids and shone the light into them, "both his pupils are reacting normally ... amazing," she stepped back and looked at Mr. Dickinson, "from the looks of it, he should make a complete recovery in no time."
"Really." Mr. Dickinson looked joyous.
"I think it will be safe to extubate him," she spoke to one of the nurses and reached over to the tube that was coming out of Kai's mouth. The nurse switched off the respirator and unlatched the hose from the tube. Dr. Olga took off the strips of surgical tape from Kai's mouth and proceeded to pull out the tube from his throat. It was quite a long one, seeming to be about five inches. When the tube was out fully, she gave it to the nurse and checked him over again.
"When will he wake up?"
"Probably in an hour or two," she put an oxygen mask over Kai's mouth and nose, "I will be back to check on him later."
"Thank you, doctor," he said to the retreating form of the doctor. Mr. Dickinson looked back at Kai, smiling, not realizing that tears were slowly but steadily pouring down his face.
----
"LET IT RIP!!" Tyson shouted. He and Max launched their blades towards their opponents.
Michael, Robert and Lee were all gracious enough to volunteer to help Tyson and Max train for the upcoming tournament.
"Too slow, brat," Michael smirked and dodged Tyson's attack, "you'll need to do more than that if you want to beat me, Tyson," Michael's blade did a fast turn near the edge of the dish and rocketed towards Dragoon, "by the way, I want to correct what you said when we first met at the Blade park in Moscow ... you never beat me yet, loser."
"Shut up, Michael, or I'll – Whoa!" Tyson dodged out of the way when Dragoon got slammed by Gryfoliyon and flew past him before landing unceremoniously out of the dish.
"Always keep you concentration on the battle, Tyson," Robert looked curtly at him from his position next to Lee.
"Darn it," Tyson slammed his fist against the tree. They were practicing outside the house, which Mr. Dickinson had rented for all of them to stay while they were in Russia. Since there were so many of them, they moved out of the hotel and took one of the houses for rent that they had found. The All Starz, White Tigers and Magestics also were staying there.
Robert opened his mouth to say something, before he too had to dodge out of the way of an oncoming blade. He looked at the black blade as it slammed into a wall and fell to the ground with a clump. Robert and Tyson first looked towards Lee who was standing there, mouth gaping, realizing that he had been knocked out, then at Max who was grinning widely.
"W-wow, Max ..."
Max was so caught up in the match that he hear Tyson, "Draciel, defense," he grinned at Michael and Robert, "you aren't gonna defeat me that easily, guys."
Michael and Robert looked at each other and smirked, "we'll just have to see about that, Max. GRYFOLIYON!" Roberts bit started to glow, and out came the enormous Griffin bit-beast, "ATTACK!"
Michael looked at Roberts bit-beast in awe, a flash of envy passed through his eyes as he remembered his own lost bit. Trygle ... he inhaled slowly, and looked determinedly at Max, smirking, "Yo, Max," he shouted, "check this out, dude."
Max looked at Michael and then at his blade.
Michael's blade was headed straight for him, it seemed like a suicide attack, but just before it hit, his blade swerved to the left, hitting the side of the dish and somersaulting through the air before slamming the side of Draciel. Draciel lost its balance and wobbled a little. Everything happened so quickly that Max didn't have time to react.
"Wow!"
"Where'd you learn that move, Michael? It was sweet." Tyson's jaw dropped open.
"Just a little trick I picked up; thought I'd use it on you, Tyson," he smirked, "but hot windedness doesn't do well in matches, dude." Max rolled his eyes at the irony of what Michael just said.
Tyson narrowed his eyes at the laughing baseball star and grumbled, "Yeah right. Ever heard of the saying 'Pot calling the kettle black?' Egomaniac."
"At least I have talent to back myself up, unlike – HEY!!" he ducked as his blade flew past his face, missing it by just a few inches. He turned to the grinning Max who just shrugged his shoulders.
From beside him, Robert chuckled. "What have I said about not concentrating?"
"Shut up." Michael and Tyson grumbled, much to the amusement of Max and Lee.
"Shall we?" Robert turned to Max.
"Yes, we shall." Max called out Draciel.
Their match went on for a good ten minutes before a powerful impact of the two blades caused an outburst of light. When the light cleared, both blades were laying unmoving inside the dish.
"Excellent match, Max," Robert went to pick up his blade, "all you need is to learn to bond more with your bit-beast, share your energy with it. Once you have mastered it, and combined with your first-rate defense strategy, the both of you will be a forced to be reckoned with."
"Whoa, really?" Max sounded amazed.
"Great job, Max." Tyson ran over and slapped him hard on the back. Lee and Michael also walked over to congratulate him.
"And Tyson, at the rate this is going, I would say that Max has long since passed you," Robert looked disapprovingly at him. "You have to stop goofing off during matches, especially with the Demolition Boys as your next opponents. The fate of the entire world rests in your hands." He looked at both Max and Tyson.
Tyson nodded his head, been hit hard by Roberts words.
"And we'll be here to help you get through this." Lee walked over and clamped his hand on Tyson's shoulder.
"Ditto." Michael grinned.
"Ok, lets do it." Tyson punched the air, and air of resolution surrounding him. 'Do it for Kai ...' he added to himself.
----
Kai felt himself being pulled out by the comforting darkness that was surrounding him, he tried to resist, but to no avail. Soon, he could see bright light coming closer to him and he floated to the surface. It felt like he had been drowning for so long, and finally given the chance to break clear the surface.
He struggled to open his eyes, feeling like they weighed a ton. When he finally managed, a burst of light forced him to close them again. He felt a warm presence by his side that was speaking to him. Kai decided to give it one more try, this time slower. When he did, he found that the lights had been dimmed and didn't hurt his sensitive eyes very much. He took a deep breath, and found that the uncomfortable object had been removed, and he felt much better without it.
He blinked his eyes a couple of times to get them into focus, the first thing that caught his eye was the person leaning over him.
"Kai ..." Mr. Dickinson was relieved to look down at those red eyes that he hadn't seen open for quite sometime.
Kai looked at the delighted face of his team's manager. "Mr. ... Dickin ... son ..." his voice came out hoarse and barely a whisper.
But just the sound of his god-grandson's voice made him lose it. He reached over and embraced Kai in a fierce yet, gentle hug.
Kai seemed perplexed but didn't make a move to prevent him. He just let the kind old man let loose his worry and distress.
They both sat that way for a few minutes, until Mr. Dickinson slowly let go. "Do you know where you are, Kai?"
Kai shook his head slowly and opened his mouth to speak. "What ... happened?" The words came out with a struggle and Kai started to cough because of the dryness of his throat.
"Shush," Mr. Dickinson raised Kai a little and rubbed his back, "don't try to talk yet, Kai," when he stopped coughing, he continued, "You fell in Lake Baikal after you challenged the others and are currently in the hospital. You've been in a coma for three days now, on a ventilator, that's why your throat feels irritated." He fluffed Kai's pillow a bit and laid him back down.
Kai just lay there, breathing slowly while taking in everything Mr. Dickinson had just told him. "Others ..."
"The others are fine, don't worry."
"No ... practice ..."
Mr. Dickinson smiled at the strict captain of his team. "Yes, they are practicing," he patted Kai on his arm, "you just rest now, okay? No need to worry about the others, Judy is training them," Mr. Dickinson stood up, "I should call them, tell them you're awake. They've been very worried you know." He was just about to leave when he heard Kai's voice.
"I ..." he looked away, a pink tinge on his cheeks.
"What is it Kai?" Mr. Dickinson looked worried.
"I ..." he took a deep breath and said quietly with his hoarse voice, but Mr. Dickinson heard him.
He laughed. "What was I thinking? Of course you are, Kai, how awful of me for not realizing. I'll have the nurse bring you something, then we'll have the others come over, alright?"
He nodded, still not making eye contact with Mr. Dickinson.
"Now, Kai. No need to be embarrassed, one would expect you to feel hungry after not eating for three days."
----
Tyson fell backwards into the snow, breathing hard. Sweat was rolling down his face even though they were in the snow. "Phew!! I'm beat." He wiped his brow with the back of his hand.
"Me too," Max plopped onto the ground next to him, "that was some killer workout we've done. I think I've grown muscles, I swear." He flexed his arms mockingly.
Tyson and the others laughed at Max's antics. It was when his face turned serious and he said 'Hasta la vista, baby,' in a fake German accent that they rolled on the ground in fits of laughter.
"Max," Lee wiped his eyes, "you have been hanging around Tyson for too long."
"I think it best we get back now, it's getting late," Robert stood up, but was stopped short in his tracks as a loud rumbling noise was heard, "what the heavens was that?"
He looked to Lee and Michael who just glared at a rapidly blushing Tyson.
"Oops!" he grinned sheepishly.
"Perhaps we could stop over for something to eat. Tyson is obviously starving, and to be truthful, I am quite famished myself." He stepped back as Tyson was suddenly standing in front of him and looking at him with starry eyes.
"You are a Saint, Robert, you know that?"
"Yes, well ... Ahem!" he coughed and turned to walk away, his cheeks had turned a shade pinker.
"Let's go!!" Tyson bounced after Robert, much to the amusement of the other three.
"I say, this double cheeseburger is not half bad as I expected it to be." Robert munched on his lunch as the five of them walked out of Burger King.
"Don't tell me you've never had a burger before, Robert." Max chewed on his own Whopper Jr.
"Man, you guys have seriously been losing out on some killer munchies, Rob," Michael strolled casually up beside him, "ever had a American hot dog? With relish and hot mustard, man, that's good." he licked his lips.
Behind him, drool was already streaming down the side of Tyson's mouth.
"I have not, and it is not Rob, it's Robert." He finished the last bite of his burger and dropped the wrapping in the bin.
"Whatever you say, Robbie." Michael had his arms behind his head.
"Hey guys, wait up." Tyson ran up to them. They hadn't realized when he stopped to buy a few bags of chips.
"Tyson, have you not already eaten six whoppers and three double cheeseburgers?" Robert looked at Tyson with half-moon eyes.
"Hey," he looked offended, "I'm a growing boy."
"If you keep this up, Tyson, you're more likely to be growing horizontally instead of vertically." Lee mocked him.
"Haha, very funny, Captain Kai in the making." Tyson said sarcastically before realizing what he had said, and suddenly turned sullen.
Max sighed, "C'mon, Tyson. Kai's gonna be all right. You'll –" Max didn't realize and walked into another person. He fell backwards and dropped non-too-gracefully on his butt, "Ouch!"
"Ouch!" The other person said, rubbing his butt.
"You all right, dude?" Michael walked over and helped the person to his feet.
"Yeah. Sorry about that." He looked at Max apologetically.
"It's fine," Max smiled at him, "no harm done," he got to his feet with the help of Tyson, "I'm Max."
The person returned his smile, "I'm Sacha."
"Hey. I'm Michael," he pointed to the others, "Robert, Lee and that bottomless pit in the multicolored rags is Tyson." He smiled at the latter.
"Bite me, Mikey." Tyson he shoved Michael out of the way, "so, you're a blader too, huh?"
"How'd you know?"
Tyson pointed to his blade that had fallen to the ground.
"Ooh! ... Yeah. I blade," he went to pick up his blade when his eyes widened suddenly, like he had just realized something, "you're Tyson and Max from the BladeBreakers?! And Michael from the All Starz?! And Lee from the White Tigers?! And Robert the English beyblade champion?!" his jaw dropped to the ground.
"You sure know your beyblade info, don't you?" Max looked impressed, "I'm sure you and Kenny would get along great."
"Oh my god!!! This must be my lucky week!! Meeting famous beyblade celebrities twice in two days." He had a dreamy look on his face.
"Twice? Who's the other person?" Tyson asked, but wasn't heard.
"I like your hair." Max pointed to Sacha's flaming red-hair.
"Thanks," he smiled, "I just got it dyed this morning."
"Your parents let you dye your hair?" Robert asked, shocked.
"Umm ... well ... they don't exactly know ..." he grinned sheepishly.
"Looks sorta familiar ..." Michael looked at him.
"Really? That's good, I dyed it the same colour as my idol, Tala," he had stars shining in his eyes, "he's the greatest beyblader that ever lived, no offence to you guys."
"None taken."
Sacha nodded his head and continued his story, "It was the first time I saw him on TV, and he was so great –"
Lee smiled but inside, he was gritting his teeth at the mention of the Russian blader. Tyson however, was not as good at hiding his disdain for the Demolition Boy. His face had turned a bright red, and if you looked closer, you could see smoke coming out of his ears.
"Tyson, heel." Robert said sternly at him.
Sacha, conversely, was completely oblivious to the humongous wave of hate that was hovering in the air. He kept rambling on, "I just couldn't believe it; there he was. And he had given me pointers on how to win, I never would have won other wise. If only I had a camera on me at that time."
"You're saying you met Tala?" Max asked him, being the only one who had listened to his story. Michael and Lee were recalling the day they had lost their bit-beasts to the Demolition Boys, Tyson was recalling the day they had almost lost Kai to the Demolition Boys and Robert was trying to keep the peace.
At Max's question, they all turned their attention to them. Tyson spoke out first.
"You met TALA?! And you're still alive??" he had a bug-eyed look on his face.
"Yes ... and yes ..." he looked sideways at Tyson, "he was so cool and such a nice person."
"Wait a minute. Are we talking about the same Tala here? Tall, red hair, evil, bit-beast stealing Tala??"
"Yes, tall, red-headed and the greatest blader that ever lived!!" He looked crossly at Tyson.
Michael walked over and slapped Tyson on the back of his head, "Shut your mouth, twerp, the shrimp was talking."
"Who're you calling shrimp, hair-boy?"
Michael smiled dangerously, "why you!!" he stomped over to where Sacha was standing but was stopped by Robert and Lee, "no one, makes fun of 'my' hair."
"Go ahead, Sacha, you were saying about Tala. You met him?" Max asked.
"Yeah, yesterday. He said he was going to see his friend who was in the hospital."
Max gulped, "which hospital."
"Umm ... I didn't look, I mean, I was with Tala!! C'mon, it's not everyday you meet a Russian icon. It was about fifteen minutes away from the park though." He had his hand to his chin in thought.
"Did he happen to mention the name of his friend by any chance?" Robert spoke up for the first time.
"Uhh ... I don't think so," he looked at his watch, "Sorry guys, but I gotta go. My mom's going to kill me if I don't get back soon." He waved at them and ran off.
The five of them looked at each other worriedly. With an unspoken agreement, they all broke into a run in the direction of the hospital.
End Part 14.
Ok, you caught me. I am an ER fan ;D. And to all those that wanted Amnesia!Kai ... I have just one word for you: Patience. Also, Sacha's reaction to the questions is based on me. Muahahahaha!! Review XD
Thanks all (again names are simplified)
Hazel-Beka: Glomp is anime style jumping/hug thing P I suck at explanations.
Silly J: Ok, then )
Lychee: About that, Tala is Ivanov, and that Balcov thing will unfold soon.
Himeko: All the questions will be answered as we go on ... hehe!
Ellen: A) You're right with that one, B) ... hmm! ... P
NettikGirl: Ooh. Glad to have you )
Mrs. Sumpter: Not ... Jeremy Sumpter? Glad to have you aboard too. Welcomes
Moon Comix: Sorry, I didn't realize erased all the scene changers ... but it's back now.
Jirachi: Yes he is. And he looks uber cute too. I'll look for a picture to show you. But ... he gets hurt really bad and apparently ends up in a coma T.T ... poor Tala-kun. You haven't seen Kai's outfit in G-Rev? He looks ultra cool, cooler than the first season, and get this ... he changed the way he wears the scarf, now he has two tail-ends squeals so cool!! Actually, Tala's last name is Ivanov, Balcov is Boris' name –smirks- ...
Lefty: Aww –pats Lefty- ... Tala will come next chapter, kay?
x-Shadow-x : Jiminy stick? LOL!! My fave is one of the girls, with the two sticks, I can't remember her name ... I finished the arcade mode twice, the boss was strong ... and scary. Anyway, thanks for all the lovely reviews.
Grandsummon: Good luck on your exams and I can't wait for the next chappie )
Blader Fairy: Glad you liked ) Maybe I should make a love triangle between Max/Emily and Kenny, ne? What do you think?
Glomps all reviewers but pats Silly Jilly on the back