The match that day had gone well, very well. The Bladebreakers had won their match today, and at the rate they were going it looked like they would win this tournament with no problem. It was the afternoon and the bladebreakers were celebrating with a huge lunch.

All with the exception of Kai of course, who had claimed that he wasn't hungry.

"Kai, are you sure you don't want anything to eat?"

"Ray" Kai said in a monotone voice. "You've asked me that five times already, I'm not hungry".

"How can you not be hungry?" Tyson asked his mouth still full of food.

Kai raised an eyebrow, his face registering disgust at the gruesome sight.

"Tyson does have a point Kai, you didn't have any breakfast either." Kenny continued talking while typing on his laptop at the same time. "The human body does have its limits you know, food is needed for life. You could be starving to death as we speak, it's not healthy."

"I'm just fine, besides it takes days to die from starvation. I'll eat when I'm hungry."

"At least tell us what's causing you to have freaky nightmares then" Max piped up, ignoring the option to be subtle.

"You told them!" Kai turned on Ray, who very bravely stared him back down.

"There are no secrets between friends Kai. We just want to help, now spill."

Kai looked around, suddenly realising that the seating arrangement meant that there was no escape. On one side of him was a wall; while on the other was Ray.

'Damn' he thought. 'They're all ganging up on me'.

He looked up, seeing that all the team were staring at him expectantly. "Its just a dream that's been bugging me" he said calmly, not wanting to explain it. Not wanting to see her eyes, the shot, and the blood.

"And" Ray encouraged, with his food done his full attention was now on Kai.

"What?"

"What's in it?" Max tried.

"In what?" Kai said trying to keep a smile off his face, if he kept them going for long enough maybe they'll just give up.

"The dream." There was clear annoyance in Ray's voice.

"Which dream?" Now Kai was going over the top, but he didn't want to talk about it. He had done this a lot when he was a small kid when he didn't want to answer a question. This was actually kind of fun.

"The dream you were just talking to us about" Max voiced, sounding as if he were crying to the heavens.

"That dream? Nothing much." Kai examined them all, so that was why he stopped playing this game so much. They all looked like they wanted to hurt him real bad. He hadn't had many people to wind up until the bladebreakers that wouldn't hesitate to beat him till the point of unconsciousness.

"If you guys are done we better head back to the hotel." He wouldn't admit it, but seeing them so angry with him made him feel uneasy somehow.

Ray growled, but he let him past. Then they all headed back, through the alleyways.

"You're going to have to tell us eventually Kai" Ray warned as he walked next to their leader.

"I know" Kai assured him. That was enough to calm the team down; thankfully the feeling of uneasiness went with their anger. For a minute there Kai had almost been afraid of them, they being angry at him had scared him deep down. Of course since he'd been brought up being used as a punching bag, it wasn't very surprising that he still felt wary of his teammates from time to time.

A heat from his pocket made him stop in his tracks. Seeing as the others had been following him they halted too.

Kai reached into the pocket and pulled out his blade. Dranzer glowed violently in his hand. He couldn't understand what she was trying to tell him.

"Hey what's up with Dranzer?" Max said curiously staring at the blade.

"I don't know" Kai answered sounding surprised.

At that moment a girl ran around the corner ahead as if she were being chased by someone. She skidded to an abrupt halt just in front of them, narrowly missing colliding with them. She just stared at them like they were from a different planet; she wasn't even out of breath.

"Um, can we help you?" Ray asked nervously, hoping that this wasn't some crazed fan girl.

The girl completely ignored him, and walked up to Kai as if the others didn't exist.

"Do you remember me Kai?" her voice sounded desperate, torn up and exhausted.

Kai looked at her, she seemed familiar. She was around his height, only a little bit shorter. Her trainers were so worn and torn up that it was impossible to tell what colour they originally had been; now they were just a dusty shade of grey.

Her jeans had faded in colour too and sported a rip on one of her knees and were practically shredded around her ankles, you could see that she wasn't wearing any socks. A baggy red t-shirt was worn under her ripped jean jacket. All her clothes bore mysterious stains that could be taken for blood. One of the arms of her jacket was ripped almost completely off.

Her age looked to be around fourteen. Her face was pale like Kai's. Her hair was one of the most shocking aspects of her; it was a coal black and had been cut short unevenly. It stuck up at odd angles, and appeared to be growing out of a strange hack job that had been done to it. The part that could be called a fringe flopped forward. Yet it did not cover her eyes that stared at him intensely as if he were her last hope.

They were a blue green in colour, and they flashed with emotion as he considered her. He knew those eyes.

"K…Kay?" he said slowly, his voice sounding so nervous and disbelieving.

"So that's who Kay is," Tyson said loudly, remembering what Ray had told them about Kai calling out Kay just before he woke up. Max firmly slapped Tyson around the head for being so rude and shushed him. Then the team got back to watching their team captain portray emotions that they had not thought he could express, all the while with Tyson sulkily rubbing his head.

The girl bit her lip nervously as she gave a small nod in answer to Kai's question.

"But I don't go by that name any more" she added, cautiously nearing Kai while analysing the changes in him.

"So you're Rage?" he asked as he unconsciously took a small step forward.

She nodded shyly, glad that he remembered her nickname. Her shoulders suddenly began shaking with suppressed emotion. It had been so long, she had gone through so much to be here at this moment.

"They…" she started, her voice shaking uncontrollably. "They told me that you had amnesia, that you wouldn't remember me."

"I did." He said simply, examining her face. She was hurting and he wanted to comfort her, but he couldn't remember how to. "But I got all my memories back recently."

"That sucks" Rage commented dryly.

"Yeah" he agreed with a half smile, this was his old friend all right. But that wasn't possible; he reached up his hand slowly to touch her cheek. His eyes widened slightly as his fingers felt the warm skin underneath them.

"Checking if I'm solid?" she inquired with a knowing smile.

"This isn't possible!" Kai stated angrily, his hand falling back against his side.

The others were taken aback by the sudden change of attitude on Kai's part. Kenny was using Dizzi to record the meeting as he felt he would need to decode it after. This was all so confusing, how did Kai know that girl?

"You're dead, I saw you die!" He turned his head to force away the tears that were threatening to come. His shoulders slumped slightly, as his mind reeled with all the conflicting memories.

Rage's look of confusion was replaced with one of understanding as the truth dawned on her. All this time she had been worried about Kai not remembering her. When in actual fact, the problem was that he did remember her. He remembered her being shot.

"Kai" she said softly reaching out to touch his arm. He flinched from her hand, and then raised his head to look at her. His crimson eyes were filled with doubt and confusion, he didn't know what to believe any more.

"Did you really think that a bullet could kill me?" her voice still shook slightly, even through her trembling smile. "Besides" she added "Tasmine would never let me die."

Kai gave an uncertain smile at the mention of her bitbeast. That sounded right, it kind of made sense now.

"You're really here?" he asked seriously, his mind only just beginning to digest this information.

"Yes Kai, I'm really here," she answered reassuringly. Before wrapping her arms around him possessively, quickly before she could change her mind. To see him again was the greatest moment of her life. She did not care for hugs much, but she still clung to him tight as if he might leave again at any time.

Kai's face was a picture of surprise, and then his eyes softened and he placed his hands gently on her back. He frowned slightly as he felt an odd texture on her jacket, he knew what it was. Dried blood, fresh blood appeared to be trying to escape through the material of her jacket as well. The movements of her left arm were stiff, and he felt a deep sorrow in his heart as he realised that she hadn't managed to escape from her torture when he had.

The sound of someone clearing their throat jerked him out of his train of thought. He looked up to see Ray and the other blader's staring at him amused. He gently backed away from the hug and considered their expressions. Half of him wanted to glare at them to make them quit staring, but he couldn't stop a very small but very genuine smile from spreading across his face.

Rage tilted her head, seeing them for the first time. "Is this your team?" she asked Kai curiously, her eyes wide with wonder.

Kai nodded, still unable to rid himself of the smile. If Volitaire or Boris could see him now they'd be shocked.

"This is Max, Tyson, Ray and the chief" each person gave a small wave or nod as they were introduced.

"Guys" Kai continued, with never heard before warmth to his voice. "This is Rage, she's a old friend."

Kai avoided the million questions sent his way and instead suggested that they head for the hotel. Since it was desperately cold outside the others readily agreed.

"So" Kai turned to Rage the smile gone from his face. "How badly are you hurt?"

Rage's eyes widened with surprise at him noticing, she composed herself before answering. "The usual" she replied quietly, her gaze fixed on the floor.

"I know what that means Rage" his stern expression faded as he offered her a hand.

She stared at him, confused. It was uncanny at how he could act so much the same, and yet so different at the same time.

"You come with us to the hotel, and I'll fix you up."

She brightened immediately at the offer; well it was more like an order in reality. Her eyes held so much hope that it was almost painful to look at.

"Alright" she confirmed, slipping her hand into his. She gave him an uncertain smile; this was just like when they were children.

"Well isn't this sweet."

The sinister voice ripped through their consciousness, making the teens raise their heads to see who had come out of the alley ahead of them. A man with the build of a bear stepped toward them, with a curious amount of grace in his step. He towered over the teenagers sneering at them. To make matters worse ten well-built men followed him, they looked very much like Biovolt's guards.

A flicker of fear over took Kai's expression, before he resumed his former emotionless mask. He stepped in front of Rage, subconsciously shielding the terrified girl from a man that they both hated and feared.

"Bathos" he hissed, speaking his opponent's name like it was something to be despised. His mind over flowed with memories of the abbeys most inventive torturer.

Kai realised that the men were coming closer; he turned around to his team to see that Kenny was already a fair distance behind him. But they were all just standing there, confused.

"Kenny!" He yelled to the youngest member "run and get help, quick!" he ordered. Kenny remained frozen for a moment, then swallowed nervously and ran.

The ten men rushed forward to try and stop him, but the bladebreakers seemed to have gained enough wits to put up a fight to make them think twice.

Tyson's kendo skills came in handy as he used a stick he had picked up to ward the guards away. Max was luckily high on sugar and was bouncing from guard to guard in an attempt to keep them busy. Ray had already dazed one guard and was fighting a second. While Kai was standing over an unconscious guard with a mildly proud look on his face.

Finally however, the five teenagers were no match for the ten guards. The numbers had been decreased at least, now there were only seven conscious guards. Kai had knocked two out. While the third surprisingly enough had been knocked unconscious by the joint effort of Tyson and Max. Max had distracted the guy by jumping on his head, when Tyson had come and bashed the guy's head in with his stick.

Tyson, Ray and Max were each being held by a guard. Bathos had ordered the remaining four guards to stand behind Kai and Rage. Blocking the route that Kenny had taken. Now the only way out was through Bathos, and by the way he was grinning at him that's how he liked it.

Kai stood stubbornly in front of Rage, his eyes glaring at Bathos as he neared. The slate haired teenager was barley able to suppress the shudder of utter revulsion and fear he felt when studying Bathos.

"I'm glad to see that you remember me Kai, it's been a while."

Kai growled in response, glancing at his captured friends quickly before returning his glare to Bathos.

"Let them go" he ordered, his crimson eyes flashing dangerously. "They have nothing to do with this."

"Nor do you Kai" Bathos answered reasonably "I just want my daughter back, no one else has to be involved."


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