Johnny: Look Lia, there's been loads of reviews, can I PLEASE go now?
Lia: Hmm, well, since there have been so many nice reviews…No.
Johnny: But you said-
Lia: I know I said that you could go if we got lots of reviews, but if you look carefully, you'll see that most of them are from Yugi and Mai. When I said lots of reviews, I meant from different people. So it looks like your staying, YAY!!!
(Once again that weird condition known as Hearts-In-Eyes-Itous is affecting Lia)
Johnny: And what if I decide that I won't stay?
Lia: I'll start crying again.
Johnny: That doesn't actually bother me anymore.
Lia: Oh. Damn. So does this mean that you're leaving?
Johnny: Yep. BYE!! (Runs off screen)
Lia: Not again…Why does EVERY guy I meet always run away from me…?
Johnny: (Pokes head back round side of screen) Because you're an insane evil weirdo fangirl who no one likes!! Runs away again
Lia: ………(sniff!)……YOU MEANIE!!! Abandoning me like that…And at Christmas too…I think I'll go kill him…Enjoy the chapter guys…
DISCLAIMER: Contrary to popular belief, I don't own Beyblade or any other companies/songs/whatever that may appear in this chapter.
MENTIONS: Thank you to the ever-wonderful reviewers. I would like to say HELLO to Luff in this chapter! Oh, and I'd better mention S.Chensu too, seeing as she has also been reading and has finally reviewed!
(Kymeta's is made up by the way…)
Here's Chapter Four, and things are taking a turn for the weird down in Moscow…
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Part Four11:10 am, Kai Hiwatari's Hotel room
Kai was getting worried. The time was getting on, and there was still no sign of Ray.
'Where is he already? He said he'd be back by eleven. Ray's never late, I hope nothing's happened…Maybe I'm just being paranoid…' Kai checked his watch again, only two minutes had passed since he'd last looked at it. 'Definitely getting paranoid…but Ray doesn't know Moscow as well as I do, what if something's happened?'
Suddenly the door burst open, and Tyson stormed into Kai's room, obviously in a mood about something.
"It isn't a crime to knock at the door you know, Tyson."
But, as usual, Tyson ignored Kai's sarcasm. As was his nature, he burst straight into his point.
"What's your problem, Kai?" he asked angrily.
Kai, however, wasn't one to be easily intimidated, least of all by someone of a lesser talent than himself. Instead he replied in that cool, yet sarcastic tone of voice that he reserved for conversations with Tyson or Max.
"Well, if you don't count the fact that I'm surrounded by imbeciles such as yourself, Tyson, I'd say that there's no problem at all."
Tyson was getting steadily more aggravated by Kai's attitude. "Cut the crap, Kai, and stop being such a jerk towards Max."
"Oh, so that's what your little hissy fit is about, ickle Maxine. How amusing."
Tyson scowled at him. "You had no right to treat your team mate like that."
"Oh, well if this is about the team, Tyson, then there's one important fact that you're forgetting, and that's the fact that I'm the team captain. The Blade Breakers are practically mine, I can do what I want."
Kai could see that Tyson was clearly struggling to find a comeback. So, in true Granger style, Tyson gave up on the verbal and instead pulled out his launcher and Dragoon.
Kai sighed. "What do you think you're doing now, Granger?"
"I'm taking you down, Hiwatari, right here, right now. Bring it on!"
If it had been his style, Kai would have burst out laughing at Tyson's failing attempts at challenging him. Instead, choosing to leave the laughing to the readers, Kai just smirked at him.
Just then there was a convenient knock at the door. Convenient because I didn't know what else to write next.
'Now what?' Kai thought. 'I hope that's not Max again…' He went across the room and flung the door open, startling the hotel employee standing on the other side.
"Er, Mr. Hiwatari?" she asked nervously.
"Yeah, that's me. What do you want?"
"This just arrived at reception for you, sir." She handed him an envelope with his name typed on the front and hurried back down the corridor. 'Jeez, what a grouch.' She thought as she left.
Kai turned back to Tyson, holding the door adjar. "Do you want to use this whilst it's open?"
Tyson glared at him, standing his ground for a moment before exiting noisily, still in a bad mood.
Kai shut the door behind him and sat on the bed, tearing open the envelope…
Although the winter's morning sunshine was bright, there was still one cold alley filled with shadows. Two figures stand here in the snow, mid-way through a conversation.
"…So anyway, I sent him down to that shop, like you said," one is saying. "And your little message got dropped off too. It should be being read as we speak."
"Excellent work," his taller companion replies. "My plans are going just as I expected. Soon I will have things my way."
"Yeah, that's great," the first speaker sounds uninterested in the other's 'plans'. "But when am I gettin' paid? Only I've got a plane to be catching."
"Of course. Here-" An envelope is exchanged between the two. "And I added a little bonus for you. Think of it as a 'thank you' for your, invaluable services, Jonathan."
The other grimaced a little at the use of his full name. "I told you, call me Johnny, everyone else does. When they're not calling me the 'Gladiator of Glasgow', that is…"
The other just laughed. "Don't you have a plane to catch, young Jonathan?"
"Damn right, I'm gettin' out of here. Oh, but before I go, a word of advice. Don't underestimate Hiwatari. You may be able to beat him once, but believe me, he'll come back and knock you down. Trust me, you've got to keep your guard up with that one."
Kai stared at the typed note in front of him in shock and disbelief.
Hiwatari, (It read)
Missing something? Or someone?
Of course you are.
We have young Raymond in our, 'possession'.
What's on your Christmas List, Kai?
If young Raymond's safety is on your Wish List,
We suggest you meet us at Kymeta's Curiosity store before noon today.
Season's Greetings.
It was unsigned. Who was it from…?
It didn't matter; all that really mattered was that, whoever they were, they had Ray. And it was all Kai's fault…
FLASHBACK"I think I'll go and do some shopping this morning." Ray announced from across the breakfast table.
You're not thinking of going by yourself, are you?" Kai asked him.
"Yeah, well I can't have you guys peeking while I buy your pressies, can I?"
"Well, if you're sure, I mean, you might not know the town that well."
"So how about you suggest some good shops then?" Ray smiled at Kai, melting his icy resolve.
"OK…Did you see that Post Office we passed on the way here? There's a mall down the road from there, it's got some okay shops-not that I ever went shopping much…Um, Ray?"
"Yeah?"
"Just…just be careful, OK?"
Ray gave him that heart-meltingly-cute smile again. "Don't worry about me Kai, I'll be fine."
END FLASHBACK'I should've gone with him, or convinced him to stay here…Oh this is all my fault…Ray…What have I done?'
The note crumpled up in Kai's trembling fist. All his life, Kai had never allowed anything to get to him, but this was different, there was someone else involved in this mess. Ray Kon, the only person Kai had ever truly cared about, Ray was in danger. It was his fault. Kai had to find him; he had to set things right. He just had to get Ray back, because…
Because he loved him.
"I'm Kai," said Tyson, taking a piece of tinsel from a nearby tree and wrapping it around his neck, scarf styli.
"And I'm better than you," he continued, folding his arms in an over-exaggerated way. "I can do what I want to who I want,"
Max burst into a fit of giggles as Tyson continued taking the mick out of a certain person.
"For I am The Team Captain," Tyson announced, climbing onto a chair and throwing his arms out, yelling "Hail to the Captain, baby!!"
Max was practically crying with laughter. "That's brilliant," he said, wiping a tear of mirth from his eye. "Tyson, I swear, that was the most bang-on Kai impression I've ever heard!"
Now Tyson had started laughing too. "Yeah, it was pretty good, huh? I reckon-Arghh!!"
Whilst Tyson had been poncing around, Kai himself had come charging through the hotel reception, knocking Tyson off of the chair before running out of the revolving doors and into the morning snow.
"Tyson, are you okay?" Max asked as he helped his friend to his feet.
"Yeah, it's that jerk who's got the problem." Tyson glared out of the doors after Kai.
Before either of them had had time to wonder what the hell all that had been about, the doors swung round again, and a young woman with red hair, wearing a suit entered. She approached the two bladers and held out a hand.
"Hello, my name's Liana Romonov, I'm from the photo company in charge of your shoot. Is it just the two of you at this meeting then?"
Tyson and Max shot each other a nervous glance as they shook hands with this Liana. They had both just realised that, since both Kai and Ray had gone AWOL, they had to do something by themselves for once, and they didn't have a clue…
They both had the simultaneous thought: 'Uh-oh…We are in SOOO much trouble…'
Unknown to Kai, a pair of vivid eyes had been watching him as he ran through the snow-filled streets.
The owner of those sharp eyes pulls out a small mobile phone and dials. The voice that answers is the same one that had been speaking in that alley earlier that day.
"Has he taken the bait?" The voice asks.
"Just as planned, sir. He's almost at the meeting point."
"Excellent." The plan was going so perfectly. "Make sure you're there to give our latest guest his, 'welcome'. I want him here by the end of the day, use any means necessary, understood?"
"Understood, sir." The figure on the rooftops hangs up and continues to secretly follow Kai through the city.
'Kymeta's'. This was the place written on that note. Kai had never even heard of this place, and yet his running feet had lead him straight to it…Ray must be here.
Kai went to go inside the open doorway, his boots crunched on broken bead curtains that had apparently been torn down, now strewn across the floor with other random items that had probably once been on the dusty shelves that lined the dirty walls.
It was poorly lit inside; the only light came from the open doorway behind Kai. It looked as though someone had trashed the place before abandoning it, and even that would have been a long time ago, judging by the thick amounts of dust everywhere.
But fresh marks in the dust and grime on the floor suggested a recent struggle.
Something fluttering around the doorway caught Kai's attention. It was a piece of tattered material, snagged on the doorframe. Kai picked it up and gasped in recognition.
FLASHBACK
"Hello?" Ray called through the dimness in the shop. There seemed to be no one there, and the amount of dust and the empty shelves suggested to Ray that no one had been here for quite some time now…
Ray frowned. Johnny must've been mistaken; this shop looked closed, no, abandoned was a better word to describe this hovel. Or maybe Johnny had been playing some sort of stupid prank by making Ray come in here. He was probably standing outside laughing at him right now.
Ray turned to leave, and something shifted in the shadows behind him. Pain exploded behind Ray's eyes as something-someone-hit him hard on the back of his head.
Dizzy and confused from the surprise blow, he staggered forward, but a pair of arms grabbed him from behind, forcing his hands behind his back. A vicious kick to the back of his legs caused Ray to sink to his knees in pain.
In the little light around him, Ray could make out the outline of another frame. It grabbed Ray's hair with one hand, forcing his head back, and it held a dirty rag across his nose and mouth with the other. Ray struggled against his assailants' grasp as the sickly smell of chloroform seeped into his lungs.
Ray's struggles were becoming weaker as he felt fainter, and the room was spinning around him…
…The distant images of the shop became blurred, and they all merged into darkness…
END FLASHBACK
Kai looked at the red bandanna lying in his hand. He'd recognise that yin yang design anywhere, this was Ray's…That proved it. Ray must've been here; maybe his bandanna was torn off in a fight.
But now the place was empty. Whoever had sent that note, whoever they were, they were gone, and they had taken Ray with them.
Kai was furious at himself. This was entirely his fault. He had been duped into coming here so easily, when Ray was probably a thousand miles away by now, alone, confused, maybe scared…
Whoever it was who had got Ray, Kai was going to make sure that he got them.
A soft yet cruel laughter sounded behind Kai and a familiar voice that was colder than the snow around it spoke.
"Hello, Kai."
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Lia: Ooh, now who could that be speaking to Kai? Well, I'm afraid that you'll have to wait until next time to find out, my dear readers!
Things start getting interesting from now on, so please ignore the lameness of the first few chapters, I needed them for introduction purposes.
Right, any questions?
Random Member of Audience: Yeah, I have a question: What happened to Johnny? Did you kill him?
Lia: Um……No comment…All I'll say is that I might have a new guest in the next author note.
R.M.o.A: Erm, OK…Think I'll leave now, you scary…
Lia: Byesies! Don't forget to review! That goes for everyone else too, review in your comments on chapter four! Sorry about the long update etc, but I've had Mocks and stuff, but hopefully I'll have sorted out my time management by next chapter. See ya next time, peeps, R&R!