Disclaimer: … [[Glomp]] …
This chapter is pretty long, so I decided to cut it into two. Part two will be up in a few days.
As the Ice Breaks.
Part 18: Day Before 1.
– Day Six –
"DRIGER RUSH!!" Rei shouted and his blade flew at top speed in the direction of Lee's blade.
"GO!!"
Both blades crashed into each other with such force that the whole stadium shook from the impact. When the smoke and dust cleared, Galleon was left unmoving on the ground.
"Good match, Rei." They both walked up to each other and shook hands.
"The only reason I won this easily is because you didn't have Galleon." Rei quickly shut his mouth after realizing what he had said.
"It's all right, Rei," he started, sadly, "Galleon will return to me one day."
"Yes, I'm sure he will." Rei smiled and circled his arm around his long time friends' neck and they both started back towards the house.
A few moments after Rei and Lee disappeared into the house, three masked figures, dressed in all black ran into the yard and hid behind the trees.
"Monkey-bone to Flaming Eyeball and Don Juan. The coast it clear."
"Quit it with the stupid names already." Johnny said aloud through the walkie-talkie.
"Shut up, Johnny. I think it's cool." Enrique looked annoyed at him from behind a tree.
"You would. You're Don Juan, and I'm …" his eye twitched, "Flaming eyeball."
"I think it suits you." He snickered.
"Shut up, you two." Kevin's voice came out hushed from through the walkie-talkie. "You got the letter?" his question directed at Enrique.
"Yup."
"You know what to do?"
"Of course. Italians never forget." He said smugly and ran towards the house as quietly as he could.
"Big headed, Italiphants, you mean." Johnny added cynically.
==
Inside, Enrique crept through the house with as much stealth as he could muster. He made his way to the Bladebreakers room. When he reached his destination he reached into his pocket and pulled out a white envelope with the name Kenny written on the front in elegant writing.
"Emily is waiting for you in the forest, Kenny-poo." Enrique smirked and slid the paper under the door. He knocked on it once and ran towards the nearest corner. He hid behind it as the door opened and Kenny walked out. He looked left and right at the empty hallways and when he didn't see anything, went back inside.
"Don Juan to Monkey-Bone," he whispered into the walkie-talkie, "the cat is in the bag. I repeat, the cat is in the bag, over."
A static voice rang out from the device. "Roger that, Don Juan. Return to base, over."
"Right-o, over and out."
==
Kenny shook his head as he closed the door with a click. He was just about to return to his work when he noticed a white piece of paper on the ground.
"Hmm." He picked it up and inspected it thoroughly. After noticing it being addressed to him, he carefully undid the seal and pulled out the note from inside.
Kenny,
Meet me at the entrance of the forest, immediately.
Emily.
"I wonder what she wants?" he suddenly gripped the letter tightly and a grin began to spread over his face, and without a look back, he ran out the door heading towards the forest. In his excitement, he didn't realize that he had left Dizzi behind, so for once in his life … he was actually alone.
==
"Ready to go, Kai?" Mr. Dickinson called from the door.
"Yeah." Kai stood up from bed with a little effort.
"Do you need help?" Mr. Dickinson was just about to come to him but he just shook his head.
Kai held on to the edge of the bed for support. After being confined to the bed for almost a week, it does take a little effort to actually stand or walk again.
Tyson had come over earlier and brought him some clothes; since there was absolutely no way he would be walking out into the streets dressed in a hospital gown. Good thing Tyson has more sense of other people's clothes than he has for his own. Tyson had picked him a pair of black cargo pants, a plain black shirt and his spare scarf.
Tyson does actually have a brain after all. Kai thought, bemused. Glad to finally get out of this place. He looked around, hoping he didn't have to ever return to this place again.
"Give me a minute, okay, Kai. I just need to see Dr. Olga for a moment."
Kai just nodded his head and took a seat on the bed.
==
Dr. Olga was sitting at her desk, sipping a cup of coffee while reading over the brown file she had found a few days ago among her late fathers' documents.
Tala Balkov, she shook her head, seems so surreal. Boris … with a son?
A knock at the door interrupted her out of her thoughts.
"Did I interrupt something?" Mr. Dickinson poked his head in.
"No, no," she smiled and placed the file on her desk, "have a seat."
"That's all right. I just came to say thank you again, before we left."
"You didn't have to do that. The first fifty times have already sufficed," she smiled, "I understand how Kai feels, a boy his age should not be cooked up in a room for so long."
"I have to agree with you there," he laughed, "anyway, Kai and I should take our leave. The taxi is waiting."
"Alright." She stood up to shake Mr. Dickinson's outstretched hand.
"I'll see you in four days?"
"I don't think that's necessary." She smiled.
"What do you mean?"
"I feel that Kai is already fit enough to leave the hospital. I have already signed his release papers."
Mr. Dickinson looked like he could have hugged her right then and there. "Kai will be very happy to hear this."
"I trust he will." She rummaged through things looking for the release papers, but accidentally elbowed the cup of coffee and it spilled all over the file. "Damnit!"
Mr. Dickinson was quick in grabbing the brown file and shook the excess water off in time before the coffee soaked the contents. A piece of paper fell out from the folder and Mr. Dickinson bent over to pick it up.
"Thank you, Mr. Dickinson. How clumsy of me." She laughed at herself but stopped after noticing Mr. Dickinson looking intently at the piece of paper. "What's the matter?"
Mr. Dickinson turned the paper around and a pair of icy-blue orbs stared back intently at her. "Where did you get this?"
"This one? It's one of my late-father's files. I found it when I was cleaning out his desk."
"It says Tala Balkov!! I thought his name was Ivanov," Mr. Dickinson looked stunned at his latest discovery, "Balkov? That would mean he's –"
"Boris' son," Dr. Olga nodded her head sadly, "poor boy."
"B-But …" he looked from her back to the file, "it's not possible."
"Why not?"
Mr. Dickinson looked befuddle at her question. "Why not? Boris is an evil man. He couldn't possibly …" he shook his head in disbelief.
"But he is, Mr. Dickinson," she motioned for him to have a seat, "it's written right below his name. Mother: Svetlana Ivanov and father: Boris Balkov."
"This information must be wrong." He shook his head, refusing to believe that the captain of the Russian champions, Kai's friend, is the son of Boris Balkov, quite possibly the cruelest man in Russia.
"It isn't," she sighed, "my father wrote that report. He was the doctor who was assigned to treat Svetlana when a Yuriy Tala Balkov was born a healthy, seven pound baby boy."
Mr. Dickinson just took in the information, too shocked to speak. Never in a million years would he have expected this sudden turn of events. "And the boy knows this?"
"I seriously doubt that." She exhaled loudly. "He was also one of the doctors in charge of the well being of the boys at the Abbey," she took the file and flipped through a few pages, "right there," she pointed to a paragraph in the thick file, "Boris has done many things to those boys through the years that have been anything but legal."
"Why haven't you turned this info to the BBA or the police?"
"I have only now found out about it myself," a sad look flashed through her eyes, "I was looking for some … proof."
"Proof of what?"
"Proof that Boris Balkov had my father killed when he wanted to leave the Abbey."
==
Hmm, Sacha studied a fine blue paper that was spread over his bed. If I take this route, that'll be five minutes off of my time, he nodded his head approvingly. So now the problem is, how to get from the stairs to the door without being caught? He had his hand to his chin in deep concentration, his eyebrow creased in thought and he started to sweat. "ARGH!!" he grabbed his hair in frustration, "what am I going to do? No Tala?! Mom must be losing her mind!!"
He sighed dejectedly and fell back onto the bed, but in his absorption with the plan, he missed the bed and fell right on the floor with a loud thump. "Oww …" he rubbed his backside with one hand and his head with the other. His attention turned to the door as he heard a thundering of footsteps coming closer.
The door suddenly flung open and his mom rushed in. "What's the matter?" she took sight of him sitting crumpled on the floor rubbing his sore parts and sighed. "Too caught up in a plan, eh?"
"Wha – " his eyes widened in disbelief, "I am not – well … I wasn't planning anything – not implying that anything could be something because … something would mean I wasn't doing anything to make you believe I was planning something –"
"I'll stop you right there before you end up prosecuting yourself, okay?" she raised an eyebrow at him, "of course since I would assume that that something isn't anything … right?"
"Y-Yeah … nothing …" He laughed nervously.
His mom gave him another withering look and walked out, closing the door behind her.
"Ceh! Tala is something and I will be there tomorrow."
"WHAT WAS THAT, SACHA?!" her voice bellowed from the door.
"Nothing, mommy." He answered hurriedly. When he heard her footsteps lead away, he sighed and this time, making sure that the bed was behind him, fell ungracefully onto it.
"Tala …" he pouted and closed his eyes, "I need to be at that tournament tomorrow. Saturday … no school and this is my only chance – SATURDAY?!" his eyes widened suddenly and he jumped up off the bed and rushed down stairs. He grabbed the TV listings before rushing back up to his room and locking the door. Sacha flipped through the pages and when he came to the Saturdays' listing, he read it carefully. "YES!! Tomorrow is Soap Opera day from eight am till ten am," he pumped his fists into the air, "the tournament starts at NINE!! Yes!!"
He hopped around the room and did a little dance. "Go Sacha, go Sacha. It's your Birthday, it's your birthday," he had one fist high in the air, "Championships … here I come!"
==
I wonder where Emily is? Kenny looked around at his surroundings.
He did not notice when two masked figures sneak up from behind him and threw a sack over his head and carried him off into the forest, without giving him a chance to call for help.
==
"I am going to ask you how the experiment is turning out, and the answer I receive must be as I had expected, or else." He glared at the elderly man cowering from him.
"Y-Yes ... sir." He nodded hurriedly and led him to the room where Tala was being kept. "S-Sir, young Tala's reprogramming is going as scheduled. His eyesight, hearing, brain-function, muscle control and strength have been improved by one hundred percent."
"Good. And he will be fit to compete when the time comes?"
"Yes, sir."
"That is the kind of news I like to hear," Boris smirked, "and what about the Bit-beast?"
"Also going smoothly, sir."
"Very well, you may return to your work."
"Thank you, sir." He bowed and went back to the computers, where the other scientists were looking at him with worry.
A few minutes later, Boris left and as the door closes, the all started talking with each other.
"You didn't tell him?"
"Are you mad? He would have me killed."
"But …" one of them spoke up. He looked towards Tala, "the poor boy," he shook his head sadly, "does Boris not realize that if he overuses the power, it could easily kill him?"
"It doesn't even have to come to that. He need only use these powers and that alone will have a dramatic side-effect on his health."
"I believe he knows that fact, but doubt that he really cares. These poor boys," the other sighed, "I would leave this place, but … after what happened to Kyznetsov … I hate to believe what would happen to us."
The other scientists agreed with him and with one final sad looks at each other, while considering the dark future of the boys at the Abbey, they went back to their work.
==
Muffled sound were the only sound heard in the silence of the forest. Two masked figures walked pass the trees that lined up the path, a wriggling sack slung over their shoulders.
"Hey –" Johnny started.
"Shush!" Enrique clasped a hand over his mouth and motioned to the sack.
Johnny just nodded his head and they continued on their way.
After ten minutes of walking, they came to a secluded spot where Kevin had chosen. The snow was pretty thick so it made walking a bit difficult as the journeyed inwards.
Johnny looked around and nudged his head at Enrique as if asking where Kevin was. Enrique just shrugged and dropped Kenny unceremoniously to the ground and a light Oomph, was heard. Their attention was caught by a sound to their right. It sounded quite like … slurping.
Enrique pushed Johnny forward to check the cause of the noise. So he tiptoed his was over there, and peeked his head over the large boulder that was blocking their view. What he saw made him glare, and Enrique being curious as he was, followed as Johnny rounded the boulder.
"Kevin!" Enrique said as loud as he could without being heard by Kenny, whom they forgot was sitting in a sack on the wet and cold snow.
Kevin looked up to them indifferently. He slurped up the excess noodles that were hanging from his mouth down to his chin. "What?" he asked, noticing the glares that were currently being shot at him.
"We are out there, freezing our asses off, while hauling the annoying little shrimp back here like you said. And you're happily sitting back here with the blankets eating your stinkin' noodles!"
"Keep your voice down, Johnny," Enrique shushed him and turned to Kevin, "care to explain yourself?"
"Why should I?" Kevin narrowed his eyes in defiance, but recoiled after the two waves of anger directed at him almost knocked the bowl out of his hand. "Fine. But one thing, this (he held up the plastic recyclable cup) is not just an ordinary cup of noodles, if you must know. They are the famous Cantonese Instant Noodles. A recipe that has been passed down from generation to generation since my ancestors time."
"Yeah right." Enrique rolled his eyes, while Johnny continued with his glaring.
"Okay, fine. I bought a whole box full at the grocery store down the street from my house," he rolled his eyes, "like I'm going to eat something called Borscht," he stuck out his tongue, "and besides, the weather here is freezing. The refrigerator at the town's dining hall isn't as cold." He wrapped the blanket closer to his body and shuddered.
"Enough with the chit-chat," Johnny huffed, "Operation: Bean Spilling is waiting." He rubbed his hands together and smirked.
"Righty-o, my man." Enrique walked back towards Kenny while Johnny grabbed Kevin by the back of his collar and dragged him with them.
The three of them walked towards the sack menacingly. Kenny could probably sense their presence because the sack became still all of a sudden.
Enrique shared a look with Johnny and then nodded to Kevin. Kevin returned the nod and without warning, fell to the ground while moaning and groaning.
"Argh! I'm dying … I'm dying …"
"Kfefin?" Kenny's muffled voice came from inside the sack.
"Kenny …" Kevin said in a painful voice, "they got you too?"
"Thfey? Whose thfey?"
"The bad guys … arhh …" Kevin lay on the ground sideways, his head propped up by his right hand on the blanket he had spread on the ground and was now moaning nonchalantly.
Kenny silent peeps were heard, and Kevin motioned to the other two to release him from the sack.
They did, but blindfolded him so that he couldn't identify them.
Enrique cleared his voice and spoke in a low tone, while at the same time, sounding eerily like Boris. "So … you're the kid who stole our loot, eh?"
"Wh-What?! I didn't steal anything, I swear! Except for that one time on the first grade, but it was just a couple of naps in class!! I knew I shouldn't have, but the teacher assigned so much home work an –"
"SHUT UP!!" Johnny, not bothering to disguise his voice, shouted in his face. Kenny immediately closed his mouth.
"So … you didn't steal out loot, huh? So care to explain why your footprints were found at out hiding place?"
"How do you know its mi –"
"DON'T ASK, JUST ANSWER!!"
"Yes sir, Mr. Kidnapper, sir."
"Kenny," Kevin picked his teeth with his pinky finger, "just tell them what happened last night. If not … oww … we're going to get killed." He scratched his butt with his left hand and yawned.
"O-Okay … it was like this."
== Flashback ==
"Kenny. What are we going to do?" Emily looked around nervously.
"I-I don't know, Emily. Maybe we should – Dizzi!" he dropped to the ground and opened up his trusty laptop, but much to his disappointment, discovered that there was no coverage in the forest, and Dizzi wasn't there. "Our last hope." He dropped his head.
"Maybe we should find some shelter first, then think of a plan to get out of here."
Kenny sniffled and nodded his head.
So the both of them journeyed further into the forest looking for some kind of cave to stay for the night.
"I think this will do." Emily looked around at the empty cave approvingly.
"Yeah."
The both of them gathered a few leaves from the outside and made a bed for them to sleep in. Kenny on one side of the cave, and Emily opposite him."
== End Flashback ==
"… Then the next day, Mariah, Kevin and Gary came. And we were rescued."
"…" The three of them looked at Kenny silently while, unknown to him, glaring him all the way back to Japan.
"That's it?" Johnny asked in a monotone voice.
"I swear; we didn't go anywhere hear you loot or anything. Please don't kill us!" he cried franticly.
Enrique and Johnny turned a murderous glance to Kevin who raised his hands in defence and looked away, glowering, mumbling something about wasting time.
"Please, sir. Can we go now?" Kenny said timidly, eyes still blindfolded.
"Fine …" Johnny said gloomily, "but don't take off the blindfold."
"Y-Yes, sir. Thank you. I –" it seemed that being blindfolded didn't exactly help with Kenny's lost sense of direction. He didn't see the tree that was right beside him, and as he was about to turn to leave, knocked his head against the thick trunk and knocked himself out cold.
Enrique, Johnny and Kevin just looked at him with half-moon eyes.
"What're we going to do about him?"
End Part 18.
I just have to say one thing; the Original Soundtrack of G-Revolution is so great!!
Sorry, I'm too lazy and tired to thank you all personally. It's eleven, and I have just finished more than six thousand words for this chapter. But, you saying that you aren't bored by this story, really makes my day [[sniffles]] I love you all. And next chapter will be more interesting, and will be up in a few days. Till then …
I love you all SO much. You make me like writing even more. [[Hugs and kisses all round]]