DISCLAIMER: I do not own any part of Beyblade, J.R.R. Tolkien's works, Inu Yasha, or Gene Roddenberry's works. I only own my own characters. Please ask me if you intend to use my characters.

CAUTION: Mild swearing and some violence and bloodshed.

NOTE: LOTS and LOTS of Tyson, Hilary, and Daichi bashing in ensuing chapters! YAY!

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Ch. 3: The Crowd (dedicated to my friend who has helped me think up various ideas for the story, thanks so much!)

"That's weird, Tanika said they'll be right behind me." Ray scratched his head, confused. Daichi yelled in his face, "You're thinking about that now! Haven't you noticed that we're stuck on top of a tall building!"

Ray grinned, "Oh yeah, that too." Kenny whimpered incoherently while Tyson stared down at the faraway ground while a sickly green tinged his face.

The gateway glowed brightly and Tanika stepped through, followed closely by Koguro, who had a very disgruntled look on his face. Hilary rolled her eyes in annoyance, "Finally, what took you two so long?" Max grinned in relief, "We thought you guys would never show up!"

Tanika brushed her long hair over her shoulder dismissively, "We had … business to take care of."

She looked around and walked over to the edge of the building and looked down at the ground. Koguro reached towards her but she shook her head and smiled, "Don't worry, I won't fall." Koguro stopped but his face still showed concern.

"Um... ex-excuse me… but what happened to your bitbeasts?" Tanika turned around and looked down at Kenny. "Our..? Oh! Loru and Raviamria stayed back, and they're not our bitbeasts, they are their own free selves… are you alright? You look a little green."

Kenny shook his head, "N-no, I'm fine." Tyson snickered, "He's just scared of heights, that's all."

Hilary put her hands on her hips and glared at Tyson, "Tyson, be nice!" Tyson stuck his tongue out, "And what if I don't want to?"

"Urgh! This is the last time, Tyson, why can't you just be civilized for once!" Hilary swung her fist at Tyson, who jumped backwards.

And landed on thin air.

Max and co. stared in horror as Tyson flailed for a split second, then vanished from their view. Tanika moaned, "Why, why!" She leaped off the roof of the mall. Koguro paled dramatically, "Tanika!"

Suddenly, something extremely heavy landed on Hilary, knocking her down.

"TYSON!" Hilary grabbed him in a bear hug and yelled, "Don't you ever dare do that to me again!" Tyson blinked dazedly, "Wha-?"

Tanika sat down heavily out of nowhere, "Goodness sakes, Tyson, how much do you weigh?" Koguro squatted down and glared at her, "I swear, if you keep doing things like that, you're going to give me a heart attack!"

Max and Ray ogled at the sight of Hilary almost strangling Tyson.

"Uh, Max… am I seeing what I think I'm seeing?" Ray stared fixedly at the sight before them. The shorter blond nodded slowly, "I think so, unless we're both dreaming. Look, even Kai is staring." Ray blinked and looked at Kai, who was staring with eyes wider than usual.

"Oh my god, Hilary's hugging Tyson!" Everyone flinched and glared at Daichi. Kai glared at Daichi, "You ruined the moment, Daichi." A fit of coughing brought their attention to Tyson. Max squatted beside Tyson and grinned, "Are you okay, Tyson?" Tyson blinked blearily at him, "Max? Aren't I supposed to be dead? What happened?"

Max shrugged, "Apparently not, Tyson. I think Tanika was the one that saved you, and Hilary-" Hilary snapped, "Shouldn't we be worried about where we are right now?" Kai raised an eyebrow, "And I thought your mind was only on Tyson the way you were hanging on to him like that."

Tanika watched Hilary with interest as the younger girl's face turned an unhealthy shade of red. 'This can't be healthy; it just can't be, especially for a human.' She turned as Ray scratched his head in wonder, "Wow, Tanika, you can fly?"

Tanika shrugged indifferently, "Of course I can fly, I'm a child of the dragons, after all." Koguro snickered, "Yes, and let me tell you about the time when we were twelve. Tanika here was-" Tanika punched him in the arm and hissed, "You're really into the business of making fun of me, aren't you?" Koguro grinned, "I'm just getting back at you for scaring me like that."

Kenny spoke up for the first time in a long while, "Um, is it my imagination, or are we in Australia?"

"WHAT!"

Eight pairs of eyes stared at Kenny in shock.

"You're joking, right?" Daichi shook Kenny's shoulders hard and wailed, "Tell me you're joking!"

"I-I'm n-not joking! Look, that's the Sydney Opera House right there! A-and stop s-shaking me!"

Kenny pointed in a random direction and everyone followed his finger to a building in the far distance. "Hey, I've always wanted to go to Australia!" Everyone glared at Max, who grinned sheepishly.

"How are we supposed to get back to Japan?"

"We're on top of a mall in a foreign country!"

"All this anxiety is making me hungry…"

"Shut up, Tyson!"

"I swear, Tanika, if you do this one more time, I will personally drag you back to Master Doriyeni!"

"Oh come on, Koguro, it's not like I'm going to die anytime soon."

"Hey guys," Ray waved everyone over to a medium sized cement block they had all missed in their mass confusion, "This door leads into the mall, I think."

"It's a trap door." Kai deadpanned.

"It's tiny." Tyson stated.

"It's dirty." Hilary glared at the door.

"It's our only way of getting down from this stupid building, and I cannot fly any of you down because I only learned to carry my own weight and a supply bag that's lighter than the lightest of you." Tanika folded her arms and nodded at the trap door, "so, who's first?"

"Um, none of us knows how to speak English…except for Max." Kenny voiced everyone's concern in a tiny voice. "Oh, right," Tanika sighed, "stand still and this won't get complicated. Max, move over."

Tanika held out her hand and chanted in a strange language. A circle formed around the small group of non-English speaking people and then disappeared, leaving a slight tingling sensation in the air.

"What was that?" Daichi asked. "It's a spell to let you speak the language of my choosing without learning it, which in this case, is English." Tanika nodded at the trap door, "Now can we go?" Everyone stared at each other, then all turned to Tyson.

"…What?" Tyson stared back at everyone in confusion. Koguro smiled at him in a dangerously friendly way, "Tyson, we're all waiting for you to go first. So are you going to go, or do you need some …encouragement?" Tyson blinked and understanding crept into his features like maimed snails.

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"Wow, there are so many things!" Tyson and co. stared at the foreign shops from the bench they currently occupied.

"Koguro, come here!" Koguro walked over to where Tanika was bending over a glass case in a nearby jewelry shop. "Koguro, can I get this bracelet? It looks beautiful!" Tanika pointed at an elegant silver bracelet. Koguro paled dramatically, "Tanika, have you seen the price tag on that thing! It's- it's- my parents are going to kill me!"

"Come on, Koguro, please? Look, I'll make it up to you, I promise." Tanika schooled her features into innocence, "Please?" Koguro growled, "Fine, but you have to promise to make it up to me!" Tanika nodded fervently, "Yes, I promise!"

Koguro sighed and waved a saleslady over. He switched to English and pointed at the bracelet, "I want this one, please." The saleslady beamed, "Oh, that's a really beautiful bracelet, is it for your sweetheart beside you? It'll go so nice with her. You have such good tastes, young man!"

Tanika snickered while Koguro turned a rather dark shade of red and pulled out his credit card, "She is not my… my sweetheart, and nor do I have one in the first place." The lady took his credit card and beamed again, "That's what they all say these days. Ah, men, so shy about such sweet matters." She beamed again and patted Koguro on the cheek, then left to register the purchase.

Koguro turned slowly and glared at Tanika, "You better make it up to me very nicely, or you'll truly regret it." Tanika smiled brightly, "Oh don't worry, Koguro, I will."

"Sure you will, that's what you always say." Koguro muttered under his breath when the saleslady came back with his credit card and the bracelet in a bag. "Come back soon!" The saleslady beamed and waved.

When they got back to the group, Hilary looked at Koguro questioningly, "Uh, why are you mumbling under your breath?" Koguro pierced her with a heated glare that would have rivaled the heat of the sun. Hilary back away, "Actually, I don't want to know."

Koguro gave the bag to Tanika and sat down on the bench and proceeded to give passerby dark glares. Tanika patted Koguro on the shoulder, "Oh come on, Koguro, the saleslady didn't mean it." When she didn't get an answer, Tanika shrugged and put on the bracelet.

"Isn't this nice?" Tanika smiled and showed everyone the bracelet on her wrist. Hilary's eyes widened, "Do you know how expensive this is?" Tanika shrugged, "Around two thousand or so."

Max smiled, "It looks really good on you!" At that, Koguro's mumbling turned to a low growl and he sunk lower down the bench. Daichi made a face, "What's wrong with him?" Tanika looked at Koguro uncertainly, "I don't think you want to know. A saleslady was getting on his nerves… the dangerous and fast way."

Suddenly, Koguro sat up straight and cocked his head, "What's that rumbling?" Ray looked around, "What rumbling… oh, we should… get out of the way!" They and several shoppers dived out of the way as a large group of middle-aged women stormed the place, screaming their heads off.

"What's going on!" Several shoppers and passerby voiced the same concern and shock.

Tanika looked around and suddenly saw herself surrounded by a continuous wall of the same middle-aged women that were still storming the area. What was disconcerting was that they were all fencing her in and didn't look very normal. The women closed in on her and Tanika felt their empty stares on her.

"Um, excuse me?" She smiled politely at the unresponsive women. 'Oh dear, I'm in trouble. Where's Koguro! Oh dear… alright, think, think!' Just as she was about to open her mouth, the women reached out and grabbed her in their cold, vice like grip.

"EEEEEEAAAAAGH!"

"Tanika!" Koguro's sense of dread heightened all the more at the scream. He barely took a step in the direction of the scream when he registered a baseball bat appearing in his line of vision and brilliant spots of grey and the tiled floor rushing up to him.

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Something wet was dripping on his face, something wet and cold. It was not a particularly pleasant feeling, now that he thought about it. He frowned at whatever was shaking his shoulders, making his pounding head feel like someone had put a large hammer to it. Or perhaps it was someone trying to take his skull apart.

He frowned again, this time at the ringing sound that was assaulting his ears. The shaking increased and the ringing turned into a voice heavy with concern. He forced his rather uncooperative eyelids to open and stared at the distorted face inches from his face. 'This isn't right,' he noted silently, 'a person's face shouldn't be distorted.' He suppressed the sudden urge to giggle.

"Finally, you're awake, that took you long enough, I was getting worried! ...Koguro, hey Koguro, say something!" Koguro groaned as his headache increased, "Shut up, will you? My head feels like it's about to explode." The face slowly became less distorted, "That's because you got hit on the head with a baseball bat."

Koguro squinted at the face, "What happened?" The face sighed, "Remember? We're in an Australian mall, and there was a stampede, and someone screamed, then I had to drag you out of there before you got trampled. It's hard to do when you're back in your wolf form and everyone was screaming. Very chaotic."

"Screaming…?" Koguro frowned, then understanding hit him like a stack of bricks, "Tanika, oh my god, where's Tanika!" He squinted at the face that finally came into focus, "Ray? Where's everyone else? And Tanika?" Ray pushed a struggling Koguro back down, "Look, I don't know where the rest are, but I'm sure they're ok."

Koguro stared wide eyed at Ray, "Ok? Ok! Have you gone insane! When you're with someone like Tanika, you're not going to be ok. Disaster strikes her like, like, a magnet to a refrigerator door! Do you know what will happen to me if she gets into trouble, or even dies!"

"For all we know, Tanika's already dead!" Koguro pushed Ray away and sat up, gasping as his vision exploded into tiny bright stars.

Ray sighed and grabbed Koguro's arm as he tried to stand, "Look, I'm sure they'll be ok. Kai can take care of them." Koguro glared at him and staggered over to the mirror and did a double take on what he saw.

Koguro stared at his disheveled and pale image. He slowly raised a hand and felt his head. Near his forehead was a very large, and angry looking bump. Koguro groaned in pain and splashed some water on his face, then tied his hair back into a ponytail.

"Let's go." Koguro stepped towards the washroom door and tensed as the room sharply tilted left. Ray opened his mouth, then closed it and sighed.

It had taken them almost ten minutes to reach the door, open it, and walk out into the bright mall. Ray forced Koguro into a bench and sat down beside him. "I wonder where they went?" Ray looked around the hallway, but all he saw were shoppers going about their business.

"They went to the left, down the hallway." Koguro and Ray stared at each other in surprise, then at an adjacent bench. An old woman was sitting on it and she smiled at them, "It's good to see another one of our kind, don't you think?" Koguro gasped and bowed his head as quickly as he could without another splitting headache, "Elder, I am honoured to meet you."

The old woman smiled and reached out a wrinkly hand to pat Koguro's hand, "Your family has taught you well, I see," she raised Koguro's head and examined his face, "ah, one of the northern ones, I see. I'm glad you're visiting Australia, my dear boy. I hope you like it here."

Koguro smiled nervously, "Actually, our coming here was an accident, we traveled by gateway." The elder nodded solemnly, "I see. Those gateways can be quite troublesome, can't they? Anyways, I should not prolong you in your search. Two of your friends just passed by five minutes ago, heading left."

"The dragon was quite worried, you know." The old woman continued, "She and another one. I believe his name is …Kai, is that not right? He seemed troubled." Ray spoke up, "You saw Tanika and Kai?"

The woman smiled gently, "Ah, a neko-jin. It's good to see one with a wolf, our two races should leave behind old prejudices and get on with life don't you think?" Ray smiled nervously, "Yes, it is… Please, you saw Tanika and Kai come by?"

The old woman nodded, "Yes, the dragon was an orange haired one, was she not? And the other one had blue hair, two blue triangles on each cheek? If you hurry, you can catch up to them." Ray smiled in relief and thanked the old woman, then helped Koguro get up.

Koguro bowed to the elder with difficulty and stumbled along after Ray, his old headache flaring up.

"Who was that?" Ray asked after he felt they were out of hearing range. Koguro blinked, "The elder? Oh, she's one of the elders of one of the packs here in Australia. She visited our pack in the north back then about something. That was when I met her."

Ray nodded and concentrated on holding Koguro up and looking for a sign of orange or blue hair.

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Tyson rubbed his back, "Ow, that hurt, Hilary!" Hilary glared at him, "Look, I said it already, I'm sorry, ok? It was an accident!" Tyson sniffed, "It didn't seem like an accident to me, the way you were stepping on me," he winced at the pain, "it felt like you were enjoying yourself."

Hilary's glare intensified, "I said I'm sorry already!" Kenny flailed his arms about, "Will you two please stop arguing? People are staring at us!" Hilary looked down at Kenny, "Oh, sorry Kenny. But you have to admit, it was Tyson's fault he fell down."

Tyson growled, "Hey, someone pushed me, and there was a big crowd too!"

Kenny sighed in exasperation as he followed the two arguing back and forth. Suddenly, he noticed bright red hair through a gap in the crowd and a very loud and familiar voice that carried a little too well, "Hey, Tyson! Do you always have to argue!"

The trio gasped, "Daichi? And Max, it's good to see you guys. What happened back there?" Max shrugged and grinned, "I'm not sure. I asked around the place, but no one else knows about the incident either. Apparently, that group of shoppers just appeared out of nowhere."

Hilary said, "Maybe we should ask around to see if anyone has seen the rest of our group." Daichi wailed, "What if those people come back again?" Tyson hit Daichi in the head, "Shut up, Daichi. Fine, this is what we'll do: we're not going to split up, so just ask some people and try and find the exit out of this place."

Hilary raised an eyebrow, "Wow, you've never been this clever before. Maybe that little trample really did you some good." Tyson stared at her weirdly, "I don't like that tone of voice, you know."

Max chuckled, "Come on guys, let's go and see if anyone has seen our friends."

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"Will you please stop looking behind you? No one's going to come after us."

Tanika shivered and wrapped her arms around herself, "Oh really, then how come thirty minutes ago, a group of mindless people tried to kidnap me!" Kai sighed in annoyance, something he rarely did, "Look, you are exaggerating; those shoppers were just in a hurry to get to some sale that was going on, and they are not mindless."

Tanika stomped her foot down, knowing she was acting childish, "They were trying to kidnap me, and you're right, they're not mindless, they're soulless! I could feel it, Kai, when they grabbed me! They were being controlled, I can tell!"

'Why do I bother!' Kai sighed again, 'I have to stop sighing.' He crossed his arms, "Look, this is what you're trying to telling me: A bunch of mind controlled zombies are out to get you." Tanika glared at him, "If you want to put it that way, yes!" Kai snorted and walked on, with Tanika closely following.

Little do they know, someone was watching them.

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Tyson and Co. are going to be in trouble very, very soon!

Well, I hope you liked it this far. It would mean a lot to me if you were to review. That would prompt me to type faster! Please tell me if anything is wrong or missing!