Echo

Notes: I was gonna make this fic a Re/Ka. I think I"ll make it Ty/Ka now. Don't ask me why. But there is a Re/Ka moment inherant in this portion of the fic.

Chapter 2

"YOU WENT WHERE???" Kai demanded, red faced, of Rei.

"To the Stalingrad Café, why?"

"Because the Stalingrad Café is the stomping ground of most of the Abbey Journeymen and Bladers when they're off duty!" Kai ranted. "You could have been hurt! Beaten up! Mugged! Mauled!"

"But I wasn't…" Rei protested, remembering the looks that had been shot at him upon entering the café. If looks could kill Rei would have been shot on sight.

"Just promise me that you won't go there alone ever again!" Kai growled. "I don't want anybody to get hurt this close to the championships. You have no idea how much is at stake here."

"Sure we do Kai." Tyson grinned. He had a chocolate chip cookie dangling from his mouth and the most adorable expression on his face. "That's why Rei won't go there alone again, right Rei?"

"I'll bring Max with me." Rei said with a nod.

"Uh, Me? Uh-uh! I'm not going anywhere! Not after the Demolition Boys took Draciel. Rei going there you're playing with fire."

"The people at the abbey aren't the real enemy." Rei argued. "The real enemy is Voltaire. We should feel sorry for the children there, not afraid of them."

"And what if some of them agree with Voltaire?" Kenny asked. "If they're loyal to him and are willing to follow him?"

"There will always be people like that." Tyson gulped down the last bite of his cookie, joining in Rei's argument. "But most of the kids there are just that, kids like us. We should have pity on Tala and his thugs and not hate them."

"And Tala would accept your pity?" Kai asked with a smirk. "I knew Tala ages before he came to the abbey. He would rather die than be pitied. Tyson, Rei, your compassion is good, but this is soooo not the time or the place for it."

"Kai what is WRONG with you?" Rei demanded.

"And what's wrong with you Rei? Me, I want to make sure that we survive the championships without losing either our bit beasts or our LIVES. Voltaire… my grandfather… he's willing to kill to get what he wants, control of the entire world!"

"But they can't ALL be like Voltaire!" Protested Rei. "That would be like saying all blondes are stupid, or that all black people like basketball. It's a stereotype. But I saw… I met somebody who goes beyond the stereotypes today, and she's FROM the abbey!"

"What's her name?" Kai asked with a resigned sigh.

"Diana."

"AHHHH!" Kai grinned evilly. "Diana Giancarlo, the Abbey Sparrow. She's related to Robert, which probably explains why she doesn't meet the typical abbey stereotype."

"No way. Robert has relatives at the abbey?" Tyson asked. "Are they as obsessed with telling long drawn out fish tales that never really happened as Robert is or are we just lucky?"

"She's obsessed with music as much as Robert is obsessed with storytelling and family history." Kai responded. "But that's neither here nor there. And she's to be initiated into a team soon, which means that pretty soon she'll be our enemy as much as Tala is."

"But she seemed so nice…" Rei sighed, looking disconsolately out the window.

"She is, but that doesn't matter Rei. What matters is what has to be done." Max said, putting a consoling hand on Rei's back. "It's okay. All we have to do is beat the Demolition Boys and the people in the Abbey are free to go on their way."

"I really wish it didn't have to be that way." Rei said, as he looked out the window.

Meanwhile, little did Rei know that Mr. Dickinson was thinking along the same lines. Voltaire knocked on his door. "Come in." The president of the BBA sighed.

Voltaire marched in, steering four girls ahead of him. "Mr. Dickinson, how nice to see you." He said with pleasant poison. "I wanted to register a second team to the Abbey. May I introduce their captain and my Granddaughter Nyassa."

Nyassa, smiling warmly at Mr. Dickinson. "Pleased to meet you Mr. D." She said cheerfully.

That was when Mr. Dickinson got a good look at Nyassa and her team mates. Nyassa looked about a year younger than Kai, but other than that she looked exactly like a female version of Kai!

The tallest Mr. Dickinson recognized by word of mouth as Diana Giancarlo, Robert's older sister. The family resemblance was plain in hair and eye color. She had a narrower nose than Robert did, and her hairstyle was like his, only in a long, low ponytail similar to the style Voltaire usually wore.

The third girl, about a year older than Kai, was dressed in a blue version of the Saint Shield Uniform. She wore her hair exactly like the Saint Shield's captain, Ozuma, only instead of the streak of red, she had a streak of sapphire blue. But it was her eyes that gave her lineage away, they were the bright green of somebody who was born and bred a Saint Shield.

The final girl, who had her blue eyes focused on the floor and a melancholy mien on her face, had rust red hair kept in place by a New York Yankees hat and wore a Micky Mantle Jersey. She was dressed in a blue baseball uniform from head to toe, she EVEN wore cleats.

By my life! Mr. Dickinson thought. This could be trouble, for the girls at least. I know Diana, she won't be a problem, but that last girl easily looks like she could be Michael's Clone. "Welcome to the BBA Nyassa." Mr. Dickinson extended a hand to her. "We'll schedule your initiation into the BBA for the night before Kai's match with Spencer, that acceptable?" He asked Voltaire coldly.

"Perfect." Voltaire smiled his evil icy smile.

Nyassa sneered right back at Voltaire, even though she hadn't been the object of the villain's scrutiny. This could indeed be trouble. Mr. Dickinson entertained the idea that not all of Voltaire's pawns were loyal to him. It would make more sense, and would be less frightening to think of than the idea of a whole army of youngsters brainwashed to Voltaire's evil ways.

"Thank you Mr. Dickinson. I am proud to be a member of the BBA." Nyassa shot Voltaire a look, like she was prouder of that membership than she was at being a member of the Abbey. Considering the treatment that Kai reported during his time at the abbey, that was very likely. But there was a way this girl carried herself, aloof, a pride to her stance, and a startling depth into her crimson eyes that reminded Mr. Dickinson of the way Kai had looked when he'd first met him.

And there was hope! There was a power behind her gaze that made the president of the BBA's heart swell in hope, both for the world and the game that he had made his life's work.

The girl who resembled Michael sighed, dejectedly, leaning back in the chair that he'd offered the girls. "If only my brother weren't on the other side…" Mr. Dickinson heard, or thought he heard her whisper. But like a great many things that an adult doesn't understand, he forgot he'd ever heard that remark.

Later, much later, Mr. Dickinson would have wished that he HAD remembered. But by then it was too late for him to stop disaster.