Shitza: Brrr... From having been so wonderful suddenly the weather around is as boring as ever. Not to mention, this place is getting a bit colder, there hasn't been a blue sky here for a while. Just rain… brrr!

Anyway, thank you guys for the reviews, you broke the review record! I got five wonderful and funny reviews.

Speaking of funny, CN is weird. Yesterday they aired the episode with Ozuma fighting Tyson at the old Tivoli and today they jumped forward to the episode where Zeo called out Cerberus. Well, at least I have some more information now, this helped a lot. Especially about King and Queen.

Oh well, apart from this and the rumours or whatever they are. I am not sure if it a rumour so I am going to sort this out. It is irritating, but nothing is said on the news posts yet so the replies aren't forbidden. Sigh… as soon as that happens I'll probably have to remove my beautiful reviewers page. (Glooms)

Oh, and grab your jumpers. This chapter is f-f-f-freezing!

Shitza

Ps: This chapter is a lot shorter then the last… Come on, did you really think I would be able to keep it up with the super long chapters? You did…? My, I do seem to trick a lot of people.

Chapter 4 Frozen Solid

Ray and his sister spent the next day together, to get to know each other properly again. Ray thought about the wonderful time they once had had together and inside he hoped that it would return to those times. But somewhere deep inside he knew things would never be the same. He and Lin sat by the walls, listening to the sound of the wind and to the endless amount of marching coming from the many soldiers.

"Sis, why did dad bring you here?" Ray asked after some minutes of silence. Lin looked at Ray in the eyes. He didn't like it, but he found out he couldn't move away.

"Dad was called back for a war, and he wanted me to follow. He said that the White Tiger Village was too mild for us to grow up in. Mum complained so she got to keep you, but I had to follow."

She sighed. "At first I didn't want to come here, I was really scared. The training is so rough and I missed you so much! I always believed you would be a great blader, seeing what you did back then. And then the rumours travelled that you had inherited Driger, I was really proud. I remember the older fire Priestess though, she almost went to China to come and fetch you. She never believed you to be worthy of such a beast."

"The older Fire Priestess?"

"That thing hasn't been a priestess for long. Tradition in all villages allows only the best bladers of the two genders to become a Priest and Priestess. We get challenged quite often, for it is the highest post you can receive. When She and the rest of our Elites returned she took that position, flattening the old witch. In fact, that old witch never let the poor girl get cured either. I simply can't understand what they are up to?"

Ray sighed. He sure would have a lot of questions for Kim later. Problem was, he wondered if he would see her as a friend after this?

Meanwhile, Tyson and Hilary walked back to the Village of Fire to find Kim and question her about this. Max, Kai and Zeo stayed at the Lightning Village to see if they could get some decent training done. The rain was still pouring all though the thunder had ceased. They hurried to net get drenched, walking on the wrong roads now and then, typically enough.

After a hours walk they finally reached the volcano, carefully walking some hundred metres away from the black crack in the Earth they had heard too many stories off. They followed the road towards the gates of the Fire Village, only to find it…

"Locked? Why?" Hilary said leaning to Tyson.

The blunette sighed. It looks like we will have to get back some other time."

Hilary shook her head. "Wait a minute Tyson, perhaps we can talk with her through something else."

Tyson nodded understanding her point. "We'd like to speak to the Priestess of Fire!" He said out loud. There were marching footsteps from the walls, and a guard looked down at them.

"The Foreigners? You aren't allowed inside, however I can send words for her?" the guard answered from behind the stones.

"Do that!" Tyson said. He and Hilary went to find shelter under some sort of odd shaped cliffs. Five minutes later the doors opened and Kim, who looked really tired and was wearing a package over her shoulders, yawned.

"What?" she said, rain dripping down from her hair. She too hurried to the cliff they stood under, avoiding the rain as much as possible.

"We have to ask you something, why? Why not help a poor girl?" they both asked in unison.

Kim's smile faded and she looked guilty at the face of the hurt teens. "I… I'm sorry about that, all though it is really not my fault. You see, the healing lava that used to run here is befuddled. That is why I don't let anyone near at the moment, or why the older priestess never did. For the last ten years no one has taken some really good care of it, and in the end the crystal that floats in it, which is the source of healing, it's been poisoned by the darkness around. It absorbs the influences from the magic, and I can't say the magic has been any good for the last years have it, I mean with the demons getting back, there is no cure for that girl anymore."

"But can't you do anything about it?" Hilary asked.

Kim eyed her with a sharp look. "Things I decide and things I do is my business. Good day to you all! I must hurry before the sun sets for real and the demons awakes."

With that she left, dropping down the mountain like the White Tigers once had done, the same day Ray had tried to leave Bladebreakers during the Asian tour. When Hilary, who was not ready for anything like this, hurried to see how she was, she was gone. But below them there was just a slope down. How?

'Things are indeed getting more and more mysterious.' Tyson concluded. The rain had stopped and the two of them hurried to get back to the other village. They just made it before the sun disappeared and the demons awoke for new foul terms.

"And that is how it is!" Tyson told the others. "For some reason magic used affects the healing spring that would cure the little girl. But I wonder why no one is doing anything against it?"

Ray sighed. As brother the Village Priestess his status in the village had risen so high people called him a Lord. Ray neither liked nor disliked his newfound title. He simply nodded when people bowed to him. He didn't behave like a royalty, so he hoped that soon most of this would calm down.

"Where do you think they'll send us tomorrow?" Max asked.

"Well, we've been at the Villages of Earth, Fire, Wind and Lightning. Could be anywhere except for them, looks like they wants us to learn differences about them." Zeo said polishing the handle of his sword. The turquoise haired blader looked tired. Zeo was having flashbacks of his life when his father revealed that dreadful secret. He thought about the hard training, the day he summoned Cerberus, the task his father had made him do before they had left Scandinavia. Everything seemed so far away now. Here there were absolutely no rules to anything, not even to gravity.

"Go to sleep everyone!" Kai said from the corner of the room. The two-tone haired blader had removed the armour from his shoulders and was now leaning to the wall. Everyone else nodded. The captain was right; they probably had another long day tomorrow.

That night Zeo once more recalled the nightmares of his android life. It had been a thunder that day as well. He had tackled his father to know what was going on, and Zagart had told him. Told him everything.

He had been obsessed with getting the other guys bit beast, and yet he hadn't been able to claim them on his own. He had almost given up when that girl had entered the scene, using the ancient magic that roomed this Valley to help him? Why, was it because she too was part human at that time, Daichi had told them she had been struck by a curse that would eventually kill him? Yet then, why not help a young girl who needed help?"

Thousand of questions ran through his head and groaning he awoke again. The room was quiet; for once Tyson wasn't snoring like he usually did. Zeo sighed and got up. He needed some water and some time to be for himself. He missed his own team; he wasn't a Bladebreaker after all. He missed Gordo, King and Queen. The twins had of course been paid to join the team. That until they would be able to either convince them to join properly. "In a million years" Queen had answered by that. Or to find new players. It was difficult however to find decent bladers these days. Most bladers without teams were either withdrawn or simply too bad to be in any teams.

Zeo of course got lost as every room had at least ten doors that led anywhere. This Village people were very complex as the Neko Jins here loved to put traps for the unknown visitors and indeed they worked. He walked around in different corridors until he finally reach one of few actual rooms. But he hadn't return to the others.

A small bed stood in a corner, and in the bed May lay, twitching in her sleep. Zeo wondered what was happening. The girl was drenched in sweat and she was whispering something he could not understand. There was a wood bucket with water in a corner with a cloth dangling on the brim. Zeo picked it up, doing the thing that seemed right for the moment. He felt sympathy to this girl; she had a hard time, worse then anyone around. He drenched the cloth in water and slowly patted her forehead. It seemed to have an affect, the young girl was breathing slowly now, she had stopped twisting and she was now asleep in her bed. Zeo smiled, thinking that one day he might have a daughter of his own. It was, after all, possible.

The turquoise haired teen smiled before leaving, this time, he did find the way back, without getting lost once.

"Remind me where we're going?" Max asked dragging his feet after the others. The blonde haired teen wasn't in any particular good mood, as the people in the Village had used a rather rough awakening. They had sent electric sparks, nothing dangerous but highly shocking, if people dragged behind. Ray, Zeo and Kai had been awake when the sparks came so they hadn't been touched. Tyson had jumped at the shock, Hilary had followed him and Chief had sprinted out from the room in fear of a thunder. Max hadn't liked the effect at all and was now in a very sour mood.

Before they went they said good-bye to the priest and priestess, not to forget little May who was playing with some cats. The young girl happily hugged them; even Kai who to everyone's surprise didn't seem to mind. He didn't look disgusted to be hugged with someone who would be below his authority. Seems one little girl can win any cold-hearted guy's heart. But it would probably take a million years before and lonewolf admitted that.

"We are heading towards the Village of Ice." Hilary repeated for the hundredth time. The brown haired girl trembled as the cold winds never ceased to blow. They were walking upwards a spiralled mountain, where the endless stairs went like a spiral up to the top. Tyson was murmuring grabbing the fur of coat closer around him. Indeed they wondered how someone even could live at this sort of climate.

"7351… 7352… 7353… 7354…"

"Shut up Zeo, stop counting the steps," Hilary snapped, obviously in a very bad mood.

"Sorry Hilary, but I can't help it. I always count my steps whenever I need to stop thinking about things, for instance this cold."

Then he went back on counting. The others sweat dropped but didn't say anything. They just continued.

After a further 3000 steps they finally reached the top of the mountain, and to their surprise, or not surprise, the Village of Ice was situated at the same height that the ice they for some days ago, had been stranded on. Indeed it felt as if they had walked in hours, so it was afternoon when they finally reached the top, exhausted.

"I'll never climb another staircase!" Max said as they finally reached the gates. The walls were mad of solid ice and impossible to take down. The guards on the other hand didn't slide or anything as they walked, on ice roads, to come and fetch them. The seven teens noticed, to the villagers' amusement, they would have a hard time on the ice. Tyson fell twice, grumbling as he got up.

The seven friends did however manage to reach the temple, which was a temple completely made of ice. In fact, all houses were made of ice and snow, or so it seemed. Inside though everything was made of wood, so the ice and snow probably just covered the old houses, by hundreds of years old layers.

The Bladebreakers were invited to the Priest's office, where the white dressed man gave them some warm tea for their frozen fingers. Hilary, Kenny and Max all shivered and couldn't seem to stop. It became worse when Tyson started to talk about snowball fights.

"T-Tyson, h-h-how c-c-could you even s-start t-to think a-a-about t-that now?" Hilary asked stammering from the cold.

The old Bladebreakers laughed. Oh, most of them, except for Zeo, who after all had been rather unknown by that time, and Hilary, remembered the horror of coming out from the Hotel, only to receive a snowball in the face. There had been a team of tricky snowball fighters, Max, Tyson, Kevin and Michael, who loved this game. Most others didn't.

The Bladebreakers were showed to a small room again, it didn't seem that the Priestess of this village was keen on letting them in. They slept on mattresses, drenched in huge warm pelts from wolves. It was as they night slowly descended over them, they understood why. The moonlit night was filled with sad howls.

The next day they were taken towards a pond in the middle of the village where the servant who showed them there, suddenly decided to leave, sneaking of somewhere.

Everyone tried to look, but since they didn't know the place they got lost themselves and barely managed to get back. Each village had its own structure and was the other as different as it could be.

"If I can give my opinion about this place, it does feel like we are not welcome here." Tyson said as he sat down on the empty pond. "Come to think of it, why is there a pond in the middle of a village, with no use since water freezes here?"

"Wow Tyson, have you opened a book for once?" Hilary said teasing.

"It does seem strange." Max said.

"Yeah!" Ray agreed. Kai like always didn't say anything, but he mentally agreed with the others.

Suddenly out of nowhere, or so it seemed, came something blue. Tyson managed to move out of the way in time as a beyblade dropped into it. Seconds later another blade entered the scene. The blade battled for some minutes and then soared of, from the directions they had entered from. The guys looked at each other, reconsidered following but the bladers had probably run of already. They all sighed.

"Huh, guess that answers that question." Ray concluded. "But if so, to whom did those blades belong to?"

From the shadow of a house, the ice-cold priestess of Ice sighed. 'Do foreigners never stop asking questions?' she wondered.

(Somewhere closer to the water village)

"Sis? Sis, where are you?" a red haired teen said. He was carrying a backpack bigger then himself and had a walking stick in his hand. "Sis, where the hell are you? Stop playing with me, it isn't funny!"

Suddenly something gold streaked past him. The gold creature suddenly changed back into a young girl in her teenage years. She had dark brown eyes and shoulder length black hair.

"Sorry brother, but someone had to keep an eye on the situation."

"What do you mean?" the redhead asked.

"I mean, they are here!"

The redhead stumbled. "But Kim, how?"

"Don't know Daichi. Somehow they have streaked past every protective borders in this place. We better hurry, I really do need some answers."

Daichi stopped in his tracks. 'She doesn't mean that prophecy does she?'

"Sis, wait up!" he said running after her; the girl was already twenty metres before him.

"You are such a slowpoke!" Kim commented at her brothers pace. (Shitza: Okay, I did watch Pokémon when I was younger. Slowpoke also happens to be my brothers favourite.)

"Hurry up dear brother, the Angora doesn't wait forever!" she said. Daichi simply growled.

(Back to the others)

"You know guys, when those demon things first came here, I thought we would be up for a lot of action. But honestly, it's been a long time something has happened." Tyson complained leaning back towards the wall. The servant who had left them had returned to collect them, obviously having been punished for his bad behaviour.

"Don't say that. You never know what you ask for." Hilary said.

"Come on Hil, I know you believe in unnatural things but that is ridiculous." Her boyfriend commented kissing her cheek.

The room went quiet. The only sound they could hear was once again the howling of wolves and a cracking sound. Wait a second… cracking.

The seven teens hurried to the doors, for the most extraordinary sight. Indeed things were cracking… someone had put the place on fire. Or to say bombed them with fire. The villagers started to move, for being attacked they didn't seem to panic. The mothers took quiet children in rows towards some kind of underground safety rooms. The men all hurried towards the gates.

"What is going on? It is still day, why is this place getting attacked?" they all wondered. Hilary squealed as the fire almost hit the temple. Behind them the Priestess of Ice stood bowing to an altar, murmuring something in the most ancient language of this place.

They couldn't help overhearing one of the guards. "It has already begun." One of them said. "Soon, this whole place will be taken, and the world will never be what it once was."

"Yes" the other one said. "Because that is what the Prophecy says."

TBC

To Reviewers: Okay, this is shorter, but I hope you liked it, after all I think we needed some kind of cliffhanger. Hope you enjoyed. Here are the replies; so far hasn't said anything about them.

storm of insanity: I really didn't thought about it like that, but after all, it does suit them. All though the Village of Wind isn't really that food-obsessed as Tyson is. Though they have his stubbornness in battle. Guess why they are… sigh… the best after all.

Z Star the Hidden Dragon: Nah, Lin is Ray's sister who will constantly be fighting Kim, all though I guess I have to leave the real brutal fight scenes behind, this is T rated after all. I have to be kind to the younger readers. And familiar? Well, she did have a little background story in Ch 7; GoL. And about May, ah, you got that answer already. Hope you continue your story as well.

PhoenixDemonElite: 14 pages in word, my record is fifteen, which I did for one of the chapters in GoL. Don't remember which though. Anyway, don't bother finding a new compliment; just by receiving your reviews make much of my day.

Storms-winter: If you didn't understand the answer in the chapter then you can get a summary. The healing lava they were supposed to use has been poisoned, befuddled. I'll explain about good and bad later, okay? I mean, that is a subject that will show up, and also explain why the darkness is able to break out like this, for there is a reason having to do with someone in this fic.

Kendo Baby: Both? Now that is confusing. These two is rather unalike each other, aren't they? I mean, GoL is a tournament fic and this is a fantasy.

End Notes:

Maybe I should add some facts about our dub version in Sweden. After a little research about the English version, which I am trying to base this on. Oh well, here it goes.

Dizzi or Dizzara is in the Swedish version renamed into Virana, or as they call her Virran. I haven't been able to figure out why though?

Lupinex is also renamed to as I could hear, Luminex, which I am sorry I have confused anyone if I did for it never occurred to e till quite recently. I guess Lupinex came from lupine; Luminex I guess comes from the Latin word for Moon.

Also, till next chapter. What will happen?

Parts of the Prophecy will be revealed.

We will meet this mysterious Angora, whom actually isn't too new to the story.

There will be a visit in the water village.

That is, if they survive this combat.

Au Revoir!

Shitza