Sorry this chapter took sooo long... I've been obsessed with anything Sonic
the Hedgehog, so I've been busy playing Sonic Adventure DX Director's Cut,
Sonic Adventure 2 Battle, Sonic Heroes, Sonic Advance 2, and Sonic Battle.
Man, the time I sacrifice for story research!
3. We Meet Again
"Tally!"
Tala closed his mouth, which he had opened to speak, sighed, and turned around. "What do you want?"
"Come on, Tal—she can't be that bad, can she? Be a little more friendly," encouraged Ian.
Tala clenched his teeth to retort, but Tatiana interrupted.
"Let's eat lunch together!"
Tala looked to the other Demolition Boys, who were sitting at a table in front of him. Bryan and Spencer didn't answer, but Ian shrugged his shoulders. Tala sighed again. "I guess. Don't you have any friends your own age?"
"Boris told me to stay close to you." Tatiana replied innocently, the look in her eyes pleading.
"You can sit with us," Tala said begrudgingly, looking away and folding his arms.
Tatiana reached out and hugged his waist tightly before scurrying over to flop herself down beside Ian.
After lunch, Tatiana followed Tala out of the cafeteria, keeping close to his heels. "Tally! Where are we going, now?"
"'We're' not going anywhere, but you are going to class while I have Beyblading training."
Tatiana continued to bounce about him energetically. "But we have to stay together!"
Bryan watched the two walking slightly ahead as he kept up with Spencer and Ian. "Is it just me, or does Tatiana remind you quite a bit of Sarah?" he muttered to the two.
"Add more heaping teaspoons of sugar, and you get Tatiana," added Spencer.
"Yeah, and you remember how Sarah and Tala used to fight like this when they were young. Wonder if these two will turn out the same," Ian wondered aloud. "Not to the same extent, but they could become good friends."
"You guys are too good to me!" exclaimed Sarah, clasping her hands as she stepped off the plane.
"We know," Elvin groaned, dragging his luggage down the stairs.
Eva leapt off the last few steps and stretched her arms wide. "Fresh air! We can exercise now!"
Philemon stepped down from the staircase and glanced around the runway. "I don't know about you guys, but I've got the sudden urge to blade against some of these Japanese Beybladers."
Sarah flexed her arms. "I'll agree to that. Let's go find our hotel, first, though!"
Checking in at the airport, then taking a cab to their hotel, the Celestial Myriad found their room on the fifth level with no trouble. Philemon inserted the card key and opened the door to the suite.
There was a window balcony with a wonderful view of the harbour behind the hotel. There were two king-sized beds, a nighttable for each one, and a TV set within a mahogany cabinet.
Eva took a deep breath in. "Smell that? It's like summer flowers!"
"More like perfume," Sarah explained. "I heard that many fancy Japanese hotels have perfume wafting throughout their suites. I see that it's true!"
Elvin pushed past the three and dumped his luggage on the bed closest to the window. "This is my bed. You three can share the other. It should be just about big enough!"
Philemon also stepped forward and threw his baggage on the same bed. "How about we get the beds, and you get the floor?"
Sarah and Eva placed their bags on the other bed. "I vote for him to be outside the room," Eva said.
The Celestial Myriad unpacked their things and experimented with the appliances in their room for about an hour before heading outside, Philemon locking the door behind him.
Victoria led Dr. K through the halls wordlessly. When she came to the designated room, she reached out and unlocked the door with a key withdrawn from her pocket. She opened it and allowed for the doctor to enter first.
Dr. K stepped inside and surveyed the room, her eyes coming to rest on three tubes filled with green liquid in the corner. Suspended in them seemed to be ghost-like forms of human bodies. She stepped over to them cautiously, bringing her face close to the tube of each one.
"What are these?"
Victoria continued to stare at her back silently, a wanful and apathetic look on her face. She stood unmoving in the doorway, hands clasped in front of her.
On hearing no reply, Dr. K whirled around and glared back at the girl. "Well? Aren't you going to answer me, Victoria?"
Victoria shook her head slowly.
Dr. K advanced on her. "What do you mean you're not going to answer me? Are you deaf? Can you not hear me, or do you simply refuse to answer?"
"Go easy on Victoria, Dr. K. She's a mute."
Dr. K looked up to the doorway where Monica had the stolen tube in her arms. She watched as Monica moved around her and to another tube container just beside the three ghostly forms. "A mute?" Dr. K repeated suspiciously.
"Yes. She lost her tongue in the final battle. Hasn't been able to talk since—very hard on her. She used to be one of the most chatty trainees Goadbwa had," replied Monica, turning around and placing her hands on her hips.
Dr. K turned back to Victoria, who smiled as if laughing silently this time. "So what exactly is this thing you took from Biovolt, then?"
Monica turned to face the tubes. "A human experiment. Biovolt created two of them, one of them being a back up. We took their primary fighting weapon. It's time Biovolt got a taste of their own medicine."
"Then what about these ghostly figures?"
"They're souls," Monica said, a smirk creeping across her lips. "You see, while your father and his head scientist, Ophelia were alive, they developed a machine to clone souls. It did exactly what its name implied. But when Biovolt infiltrated during the final battle, they sabotaged the device, and our only blueprints of the machine were within Ophelia's head, and she's taken that secret to her grave. But before they died, clones of the souls of Vitality Extortion were made."
"But how is it possible to contain an energy body?"
"You do know about Bit Beasts, don't you?"
"Of course I do."
"Then how do you think they remain in their Beyblades? Each was soul was captured within a Bit Piece, so technically they're Bit Beasts."
"Where are their physical bodies?" Dr. K asked.
"In cryogenation chambers. But like their souls, we had to clone their bodies."
"Why couldn't you reuse their old bodies?"
Lori's voice interrupted and explained from behind. "A week or two after the final battle, we sent the Black Death out to retrieve all of the bodies. But we were unable to find the bodies of Ophelia nor Marduk. Gilepse's corpse was so badly rotted, it was hardly recognizable. It was impossible to pry from the impaling rock in one piece, so we had to leave him to that resting place. As for the bodies of Vitality Extortion, they were too badly damaged to be useful anymore. Like Gilepse, they were decaying and had the addition of many mortal wounds. Their uniforms also showed signs that they had been searched for something. We thought it best to just leave the bodies as someone might have implanted a heat-sensitive grenade, knowing that we would return on a scouting mission."
"But in Russia's cold climate, how could the bodies decompose that quickly?" grilled Dr. K.
Lori shrugged. "Why that is is anyone's guess. I agree with you that it doesn't make any sense, but what I report is true."
"So then, what exactly are you planning to do now?" questioned Monica.
Lori turned to leave the room again. "Monica, you did get the formula, right?"
Monica held up a bottle of some blue, transparent liquid. "Check, Lori."
"Very well, you know what to do with it." Lori took three Bit Chips out of her uniform pocket and whirled back around to the three tubes containing Vitality Extortion. Placing one Bit Chip each on the small pedestal in front of each tube, she pressed a button on the same pedestal and waited.
They watched as the three souls began to sink down through the bottom of the tube slowly, and then create their image in the middle of the Bit Piece on the pedestal. When this process was complete, Lori lifted the Bit Chips out again and dropped them in her pocket once more. "Dr. K, I would ask that you now follow me to the cryogenation chambers. You have a lot to learn about this company before it's fully yours."
"What happened to Zeo again?" Tyson asked carelessly as he walked, hands clasped behind his head.
"He said something about extra training at the Phoenix, I think..."Ray trailed off in reply.
It was sunset, and the Bladebreakers had been heading for their usual final training for the day beside the river. Often, they'd find dozens of kids ready and waiting there to battle them, just for a chance to see the world-famous Bladebreakers and test their skills against them. As the six crossed the bridge today, they heard yells and orders of Beybattles already in progress. This was normal, but the Beybladers weren't.
Tyson took his hands from behind his head and squinted at the bladers in the distance. "Hey! I've never seen those kids before. They're stealing our turf!"
Hilary moved up and squinted beside him. "They look like another Beyblading team to me, and they seem to be beating those kids as easily as you do."
Ray, Kai, Max, and Kenny joined them at the front lines. The look of recognition finally dawned on Kenny's face and he leapt up in excitement. "Come on, guys! Don't tell me you don't remember them?"
"Remember who?" Hilary asked innocently, turning around to face him.
"You wouldn't remember them, Hilary, but Tyson, Max, Ray, and Kai should."
The Bladebreakers turned around again to the team at the river's edge and then back to Kenny. "Sorry to say we don't," Max answered for them.
Kenny rushed down the hill. "They're the Celestial Myriad!"
They hurried after him and came to a stop just behind a kid who was battling Elvin. They observed the battle rage for a couple of seconds before the young kid's blade flew away and spun to a stop.
"This is too easy!" Elvin laughed, and then raised his head to the Bladebreakers. "Hello. Sorry, did I steal your amusement?"
He now wore a black T-shirt with a white hood and the same two strings dangling and white lining on his sleeve. He still had his blue moon belt and now he had blue shorts that reached down to his knees, white cloth wrapped around one leg of it. He wore white socks and blue and black running shoes. He had white armbands with blue lining at the wrist and elbow.
Rather stunned, Tyson glanced to each one in turn. Philemon stood behind and to the right of Elvin. He had a navy blue sweatshirt with a high neck and star zipper. His sleeves had been folded up to just below his elbows where the inside of his shirt was a lighter colour. He had his red moon belt and orange shorts that reached down to his knees. He wore blue boots that went three quarters of the way up his calves. Then on his left wrist was a red wristband.
Eva stood on Elvin's left. Her hair was now tied up with a green elastic and she wore a rainbow scarf that reached down to her knees, both ends of the scarf trailing down her front. Her trenchcoat was sleeveless and hoodless and now down to her ankles. She still wore the same white pants, but her green moon belt hung loosely on her hips. She had white cloth bandaged around her upper right arm and left wrist along with black trainers on her hands. Her running shoes were white.
Then, Tyson's eyes came to Sarah, standing stolidly beside Eva with folded arms and glaring intently at something behind him. She wore a white vest that went down to her ankles. It had the same high neck as before, but without the black halfway down. She now wore a black long-sleeved shirt underneath. On her arms were purple armbands, a silver wristband holding them in place from above her elbow to her wrist, where it became frilly. Her skirt was also black and came halfway down her thighs, a slit in the front where red became a part of it. Her vest parted at her waist where her purple moon belt was. She wore black boots that ended just above her ankles, white soles, a metal strip holding a parting together. Tyson noticed that she still wore the same star necklace and that her eyes seemed more grey than green.
"Well? Aren't any of you going to answer?" Philemon urged, following up the silence that Elvin's comment seemed to bring.
"Who are these guys?" Hilary asked, placing her hands on her hips and striding in front of the Bladebreakers. "Isn't anyone going to answer me?"
Eva stepped forward, extending her hand. "My name's Eva Temagami, who are you?"
She turned around and met with Eva's hand. "Hilary, grade eight class president. Pleased to meet you."
"This is Elvin Tremblay, Philemon Ivujivik, and our team leader, Sarah Langley. Our team is called the Celestial Myriad," Eva explained, gesturing to each in turn.
Hilary clasped her hands together and looked at the four hopefully. "Oh, you're a Beyblading team as well? Do you have any of those Bit Beasty- thingys? Are you any good at Beyblading? Have you won any championships?"
"Sounds like Hilary's a true blading fan, now," Max jested.
"But she can't blade for beans," Tyson added, refolding his arms behind his head.
"At least I'll have an actual job when I'm older, Tyson, because I'll have been on time for school!" Hilary retorted.
Elvin looked to Philemon. "They sure fight a lot like you and Sarah. Wonder if there's some sort of connection?"
Eva continued to speak. "Yeah, we all have Bit Beasts. Mine is a winged horse called Pegusar, Elvin's is a ram called Ariamar, Philemon's is a hare named Lephar, and Sarah's is a fox named Fovular. Each of our Bit Beasts is based on one of the constellations. Suiting for our team, don't you think? We're the Canadian champs, and we did win the Default International Tournament last year. Does that count for greatness?"
"I suppose you can't be picky when it comes to Beyblading, huh?" Hilary asked.
"Are you trying to defame the Celestial Myriad?" Sarah had finally spoke. She unfolded her arms and stepped forward.
"No, but if that's how you want to look at it."
"If you can't blade, I wouldn't exactly be scoffing at the moment. Take a look at who's holding the cards."
"You're good at being sarcastic. Do you practise at home?"
Sarah refolded her arms and wore a smug smirk. "Will your impression change if I say I like being spontaneous?"
Hilary mimicked the action. "Mustn't be good at schoolwork, then?"
"I'll have you know I hold consistent Honours of the top rank."
"You shouldn't judge a book by its cover, I guess."
"You'd only know if you'd read one, that is."
Hilary suddenly became frustrated, unable to think of a comeback. "What? What are you saying?!"
"All I'm saying is that you don't look too brainy yourself, so practise what you preach."
Tyson glanced at Kai, then at Sarah, then at Kai again. "Do you guys like, take lessons from each other or something?"
"Yeah, 'cause this is getting freaky since you two sound so alike..." added Ray.
Sarah and Kai locked eyes. "Good to see you," Sarah greeted with a stiff nod.
"Oh come on!" Elvin exclaimed, cutting between the two. "We know you want to share a more 'intimate' greeting than that!"
"Elvin..." Kai muttered with a scowl. "Don't push it..."
Tala looked at the closed door again and thought about what he was about to do, weighing the pros and cons in his mind. He would be leaving everything behind-all he had known his whole life. He was born at this Abbey, lived and breathed here for more than thirteen years. What about his few friends- The Demolition Boys. Boris-the man who had given him all the skills he had learned throughout his time here. What about his mother-Lutka-and his sister-Anya? Lutka was the only family he had left since Anya's death. And Anya had been buried within the Abbey and in the tomb of the Hilanovs.
Then there was Tatiana—he didn't know who her parents were, nor did he want to know. She was annoying, and that was all that mattered. Getting away from her would relieve a lot of his stress. Though her origins were also suspicious; she had Kai's determined eyes and Sarah's colours.
He would leave them all behind, he thought as he pushed on the heavy doors. If he lingered any longer, the new guards would arrive and he'd lose his chance for another twelve hours. The wooden doors creaked open, and he caught his first cold breaths of freedom. He shouldered his bag so that it was more stable as he held it in his right hand, slung over his shoulder. He moved and planted his first step across the threshold of the Abbey's doors when he flinched on hearing someone call out.
"Tally!"
Tala whipped around. "What do you want?"
"Where are you going?"
"Out," he replied as he took another step outside and turned around.
"Did Boris send you?"
Tala paused to think for a moment. "Yeah... Yeah-he did. He told me to go out, and never come back."
"Boris wouldn't say that."
"Yes he would, and I intend to obey the order. See ya."
"Take me with you!"
"No."
"Take me with you, Tally!" she repeated in an exasperated cry.
Tala felt a chill come over him and so he stepped back inside and closed the door. He knelt down so that he was at eye level with her. "Look, where I'm going is a dangerous trip-one that little girls such as yourself aren't apt for completing."
"But you'll get hurt if you go by yourself."
Tala scoffed. "Oh, and I suppose you'll protect me from the Baba-Yaga that we'll encounter in the woods?"
Tatiana hesitated and looked away from him, not knowing how to counter such a comment. "Well, I want to go with you because I need you."
Tala was surprised. "What do you mean by that?"
Tatiana swivelled her head back to him, angry tears welling up in her eyes. She lunged forward and threw her arms around him, knocking him off his squatting position and to the floor. "What will I do without you to help me around the Abbey? You're the one that scares off the bullies! They don't tease me when you're with me!"
Tala sat on the cold floor, propping himself up with his hands so that he wouldn't fall flat on his back as the girl sobbed into his shoulder. He stared at the wall as he had six years ago when Sarah had hugged him and cried in the same form of a goodbye. Now that he thought about it, Tatiana was a lot like Sarah in a lot of respects. But not enough for him to say yes.
He placed his hands just under her arms and pried her away from his body, holding her at arm's length and staring sympathetically into her moist eyes. He smiled a sad smile. "Listen to me, Tatiana. It will me safer if you were to stay here at the Abbey with Boris. If those boys are bullying you, then tell Boris. He'll sort them out, but I have to go."
"Where?"
"To see some old friends." Tala slid his legs from sprawled out on the floor in front of him and stood up, dusting himself off, all the while watching Tatiana's eyes water again.
She threw her head back in an all-out bawl. "TAKE ME WITH YOU!"
Tala covered his ears in surprise at the unexpected outburst. "No! I can't! Boris would kill me!"
"TALA WON'T TAKE ME WITH HIM!"
"No, you don't understand! STOP CRYING!"
That only made her scream even louder. Tala staggered about, covering his ears as much as he could, but she was too loud. "Oh, be quiet, be quiet, be quiet!"
Still, Tatiana continued to cry. Tala stopped moving around and sank to the ground in one spot. "Yargh! If you don't stop crying soon, I'm going to start!" he whined with a yell after.
"Down here!"
Tala took his hands away from his ears and looked down the darkened hall. He leapt up and clapped a hand over Tatiana's mouth. "Shh! Be quiet..."
He listened as footsteps neared down the hall, and voices of what sounded like the next guard shift approaching. He glanced at her and shook his head. He caught sight of her sad eyes, and he was instantly reminded of Sarah. Tatiana's greenish-blue eyes were like those of Sarah and reflected the same feeling that had been in Sarah's eyes before Tala and Sarah had experienced that intimate moment in the halls of Biovolt eight months ago. Just like Sarah's-would he say no to her?
"Fine! You can come, so long as you don't misbehave yourself!" he whispered, taking his hand away from her mouth slowly.
"Yay! I get to go with Tala! Don't worry-I'll be as good as gold!" she exclaimed.
"Then shush up, will you?" he whispered annoyedly again as he took her arm in one hand and snatched his bag in the other. Without another word, they squeezed out through the door and made their way across the Abbey courtyard to the large gates.
Tala pushed his weight against them when they wouldn't budge. "Come on, open, you stupid door!"
"The voices were coming from down this way!" exclaimed Victor as he rounded the corner and hurried down the corridor towards the main doors. Nikita followed closely behind.
"Someone left the door open!" Nikita exclaimed, for even though Victor had been ahead, Nikita had moved faster and had seen the small crack in the doorway first. He pushed it wide open and surveyed the courtyard. "But there's no one outside."
Nikita turned to Victor, who just shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe it was just the wind."
Lori stood with Dr. K in the room with the incubation tubes. They both watched as Monica, Amy, and Zachary wheeled in three cryogenation gurneys. Monica, Amy and Zachary all stepped out of the way as Lori and Dr. K moved forward to the steel cases.
Lori turned to Zachary. "Do you have the modified Bit Beasts?"
He reached into his pocket and gave the Bit Chips to her. She examined them in her hand as Dr. K peered over her shoulder to look at them. "What did you change about them?"
"These aren't the originals, but copies from the soul cloning machine that Gilepse left for us. The originals must be with the Hilanovs—but that's only a hypothesis for the moment as we're not positive. The originals were made of the souls of Xenia Hiwatari, Kaji Hiwatari, and Sergei Romanov. Xenia became Revenost—Spica's Bit Beast, Sergei became Poltost—Telesto's Bit Beast, and Kaji became Doppelgost—Kuiper's Bit Beast. Since Bit Beasts are souls, human and animal souls are interchangeable. Since our initial experiments on human Bit Beasts, we were able to record more powerful readings than with animal Bit Beasts, and therefore have continued to use them. Every soul become some form of a ghost if it doesn't die within the body, and we have used that to our advantage to create unique Bit Beasts," Lori explained.
"That explains a lot, but doesn't answer my question," Dr. K retorted.
Lori glared at her. "All in good time, ma'am. We've no need to rush just yet." Lori pushed a button on the side of each gurney and the top steel casing slid open to reveal Spica, Telesto, and Kuiper being thawed from their frozen sleep. Lori continued her explanation. "We've changed these Bit Beasts through soul fusion—a Biovolt innovation. This allows two souls to become one, therefore we've combined two different types of ghosts to create one stronger."
Lori took the first Chip and held it up to Spica's body. A purple light streaked out of the Bit and into Spica's body, then returned to the Bit. "For Spica, her Sacred Spirit is now Revebanost—a revenant banshee."
Amy moved to Lori's side and handed her a black Beyblade. Lori handed her the Bit and Amy fit it to the blade as Lori proceeded onto Telesto. The red light entered and exited the brown-haired boy's body. "Telesto receives Poltafrost—the poltergeist afreet."
Again, she handed the Bit to Amy and Amy placed it in a grey Beyblade. Kuiper was the last to receive his soul. The blue Bit Beast zipped out and back in, giving him back his cloned soul as the other two Beasts had done. "Last, but not least, Kuiper's new Bit Beast is Doppalost, the doppelganger alu."
As Amy put Kuiper's Bit back into his blader, Dr. K eyed the bodies curiously. "Goadbwa seems to know a lot about ghosts. What's an...afroo?"
"Afreet," Lori corrected. "It's an evil spirit of Arabic origin. It's the soul of a murdered man that is out for revenge. Rather suiting for Telesto, we found."
"And what about an...alu, I think you called it?"
Lori nodded. "You're right. It's an Assyrian human-like spirit that likes to hang around in caves, ruins, and abandoned buildings. It looks just like a regular human being but with missing body parts. Though I've never met one, they're said to consume the bodies and souls of people that stray close to them."
Dr. K shuddered at the thought. "Are you sure these kids should be handling these types of Bit Beasts, because if not, I know of this rock that-"
"They'll be fine. They always have, and always will be. Now, Amy, Monica, and Zachary, I would ask that you take their thawing bodies to the infirmary where we can run an analysis on the states of the bodies," interrupted Lori. She whipped to face Dr. K. "Now, I would ask for your first official orders. What do you want Vitality Extortion to do once they've woken up?"
Dr. K stared at her in confusion for a moment before she smirked. "I have a seek-and-destroy mission for them to fulfil..." she said smugly.
============
Again, sorry about how long it took to write, and if some things are out of sync with each other as if one event happened twice, etc., I'm also sorry. I've practically forgotten what I wrote and the plot for the story so I'm digging these things up again (good thing I wrote them down!)
3. We Meet Again
"Tally!"
Tala closed his mouth, which he had opened to speak, sighed, and turned around. "What do you want?"
"Come on, Tal—she can't be that bad, can she? Be a little more friendly," encouraged Ian.
Tala clenched his teeth to retort, but Tatiana interrupted.
"Let's eat lunch together!"
Tala looked to the other Demolition Boys, who were sitting at a table in front of him. Bryan and Spencer didn't answer, but Ian shrugged his shoulders. Tala sighed again. "I guess. Don't you have any friends your own age?"
"Boris told me to stay close to you." Tatiana replied innocently, the look in her eyes pleading.
"You can sit with us," Tala said begrudgingly, looking away and folding his arms.
Tatiana reached out and hugged his waist tightly before scurrying over to flop herself down beside Ian.
After lunch, Tatiana followed Tala out of the cafeteria, keeping close to his heels. "Tally! Where are we going, now?"
"'We're' not going anywhere, but you are going to class while I have Beyblading training."
Tatiana continued to bounce about him energetically. "But we have to stay together!"
Bryan watched the two walking slightly ahead as he kept up with Spencer and Ian. "Is it just me, or does Tatiana remind you quite a bit of Sarah?" he muttered to the two.
"Add more heaping teaspoons of sugar, and you get Tatiana," added Spencer.
"Yeah, and you remember how Sarah and Tala used to fight like this when they were young. Wonder if these two will turn out the same," Ian wondered aloud. "Not to the same extent, but they could become good friends."
"You guys are too good to me!" exclaimed Sarah, clasping her hands as she stepped off the plane.
"We know," Elvin groaned, dragging his luggage down the stairs.
Eva leapt off the last few steps and stretched her arms wide. "Fresh air! We can exercise now!"
Philemon stepped down from the staircase and glanced around the runway. "I don't know about you guys, but I've got the sudden urge to blade against some of these Japanese Beybladers."
Sarah flexed her arms. "I'll agree to that. Let's go find our hotel, first, though!"
Checking in at the airport, then taking a cab to their hotel, the Celestial Myriad found their room on the fifth level with no trouble. Philemon inserted the card key and opened the door to the suite.
There was a window balcony with a wonderful view of the harbour behind the hotel. There were two king-sized beds, a nighttable for each one, and a TV set within a mahogany cabinet.
Eva took a deep breath in. "Smell that? It's like summer flowers!"
"More like perfume," Sarah explained. "I heard that many fancy Japanese hotels have perfume wafting throughout their suites. I see that it's true!"
Elvin pushed past the three and dumped his luggage on the bed closest to the window. "This is my bed. You three can share the other. It should be just about big enough!"
Philemon also stepped forward and threw his baggage on the same bed. "How about we get the beds, and you get the floor?"
Sarah and Eva placed their bags on the other bed. "I vote for him to be outside the room," Eva said.
The Celestial Myriad unpacked their things and experimented with the appliances in their room for about an hour before heading outside, Philemon locking the door behind him.
Victoria led Dr. K through the halls wordlessly. When she came to the designated room, she reached out and unlocked the door with a key withdrawn from her pocket. She opened it and allowed for the doctor to enter first.
Dr. K stepped inside and surveyed the room, her eyes coming to rest on three tubes filled with green liquid in the corner. Suspended in them seemed to be ghost-like forms of human bodies. She stepped over to them cautiously, bringing her face close to the tube of each one.
"What are these?"
Victoria continued to stare at her back silently, a wanful and apathetic look on her face. She stood unmoving in the doorway, hands clasped in front of her.
On hearing no reply, Dr. K whirled around and glared back at the girl. "Well? Aren't you going to answer me, Victoria?"
Victoria shook her head slowly.
Dr. K advanced on her. "What do you mean you're not going to answer me? Are you deaf? Can you not hear me, or do you simply refuse to answer?"
"Go easy on Victoria, Dr. K. She's a mute."
Dr. K looked up to the doorway where Monica had the stolen tube in her arms. She watched as Monica moved around her and to another tube container just beside the three ghostly forms. "A mute?" Dr. K repeated suspiciously.
"Yes. She lost her tongue in the final battle. Hasn't been able to talk since—very hard on her. She used to be one of the most chatty trainees Goadbwa had," replied Monica, turning around and placing her hands on her hips.
Dr. K turned back to Victoria, who smiled as if laughing silently this time. "So what exactly is this thing you took from Biovolt, then?"
Monica turned to face the tubes. "A human experiment. Biovolt created two of them, one of them being a back up. We took their primary fighting weapon. It's time Biovolt got a taste of their own medicine."
"Then what about these ghostly figures?"
"They're souls," Monica said, a smirk creeping across her lips. "You see, while your father and his head scientist, Ophelia were alive, they developed a machine to clone souls. It did exactly what its name implied. But when Biovolt infiltrated during the final battle, they sabotaged the device, and our only blueprints of the machine were within Ophelia's head, and she's taken that secret to her grave. But before they died, clones of the souls of Vitality Extortion were made."
"But how is it possible to contain an energy body?"
"You do know about Bit Beasts, don't you?"
"Of course I do."
"Then how do you think they remain in their Beyblades? Each was soul was captured within a Bit Piece, so technically they're Bit Beasts."
"Where are their physical bodies?" Dr. K asked.
"In cryogenation chambers. But like their souls, we had to clone their bodies."
"Why couldn't you reuse their old bodies?"
Lori's voice interrupted and explained from behind. "A week or two after the final battle, we sent the Black Death out to retrieve all of the bodies. But we were unable to find the bodies of Ophelia nor Marduk. Gilepse's corpse was so badly rotted, it was hardly recognizable. It was impossible to pry from the impaling rock in one piece, so we had to leave him to that resting place. As for the bodies of Vitality Extortion, they were too badly damaged to be useful anymore. Like Gilepse, they were decaying and had the addition of many mortal wounds. Their uniforms also showed signs that they had been searched for something. We thought it best to just leave the bodies as someone might have implanted a heat-sensitive grenade, knowing that we would return on a scouting mission."
"But in Russia's cold climate, how could the bodies decompose that quickly?" grilled Dr. K.
Lori shrugged. "Why that is is anyone's guess. I agree with you that it doesn't make any sense, but what I report is true."
"So then, what exactly are you planning to do now?" questioned Monica.
Lori turned to leave the room again. "Monica, you did get the formula, right?"
Monica held up a bottle of some blue, transparent liquid. "Check, Lori."
"Very well, you know what to do with it." Lori took three Bit Chips out of her uniform pocket and whirled back around to the three tubes containing Vitality Extortion. Placing one Bit Chip each on the small pedestal in front of each tube, she pressed a button on the same pedestal and waited.
They watched as the three souls began to sink down through the bottom of the tube slowly, and then create their image in the middle of the Bit Piece on the pedestal. When this process was complete, Lori lifted the Bit Chips out again and dropped them in her pocket once more. "Dr. K, I would ask that you now follow me to the cryogenation chambers. You have a lot to learn about this company before it's fully yours."
"What happened to Zeo again?" Tyson asked carelessly as he walked, hands clasped behind his head.
"He said something about extra training at the Phoenix, I think..."Ray trailed off in reply.
It was sunset, and the Bladebreakers had been heading for their usual final training for the day beside the river. Often, they'd find dozens of kids ready and waiting there to battle them, just for a chance to see the world-famous Bladebreakers and test their skills against them. As the six crossed the bridge today, they heard yells and orders of Beybattles already in progress. This was normal, but the Beybladers weren't.
Tyson took his hands from behind his head and squinted at the bladers in the distance. "Hey! I've never seen those kids before. They're stealing our turf!"
Hilary moved up and squinted beside him. "They look like another Beyblading team to me, and they seem to be beating those kids as easily as you do."
Ray, Kai, Max, and Kenny joined them at the front lines. The look of recognition finally dawned on Kenny's face and he leapt up in excitement. "Come on, guys! Don't tell me you don't remember them?"
"Remember who?" Hilary asked innocently, turning around to face him.
"You wouldn't remember them, Hilary, but Tyson, Max, Ray, and Kai should."
The Bladebreakers turned around again to the team at the river's edge and then back to Kenny. "Sorry to say we don't," Max answered for them.
Kenny rushed down the hill. "They're the Celestial Myriad!"
They hurried after him and came to a stop just behind a kid who was battling Elvin. They observed the battle rage for a couple of seconds before the young kid's blade flew away and spun to a stop.
"This is too easy!" Elvin laughed, and then raised his head to the Bladebreakers. "Hello. Sorry, did I steal your amusement?"
He now wore a black T-shirt with a white hood and the same two strings dangling and white lining on his sleeve. He still had his blue moon belt and now he had blue shorts that reached down to his knees, white cloth wrapped around one leg of it. He wore white socks and blue and black running shoes. He had white armbands with blue lining at the wrist and elbow.
Rather stunned, Tyson glanced to each one in turn. Philemon stood behind and to the right of Elvin. He had a navy blue sweatshirt with a high neck and star zipper. His sleeves had been folded up to just below his elbows where the inside of his shirt was a lighter colour. He had his red moon belt and orange shorts that reached down to his knees. He wore blue boots that went three quarters of the way up his calves. Then on his left wrist was a red wristband.
Eva stood on Elvin's left. Her hair was now tied up with a green elastic and she wore a rainbow scarf that reached down to her knees, both ends of the scarf trailing down her front. Her trenchcoat was sleeveless and hoodless and now down to her ankles. She still wore the same white pants, but her green moon belt hung loosely on her hips. She had white cloth bandaged around her upper right arm and left wrist along with black trainers on her hands. Her running shoes were white.
Then, Tyson's eyes came to Sarah, standing stolidly beside Eva with folded arms and glaring intently at something behind him. She wore a white vest that went down to her ankles. It had the same high neck as before, but without the black halfway down. She now wore a black long-sleeved shirt underneath. On her arms were purple armbands, a silver wristband holding them in place from above her elbow to her wrist, where it became frilly. Her skirt was also black and came halfway down her thighs, a slit in the front where red became a part of it. Her vest parted at her waist where her purple moon belt was. She wore black boots that ended just above her ankles, white soles, a metal strip holding a parting together. Tyson noticed that she still wore the same star necklace and that her eyes seemed more grey than green.
"Well? Aren't any of you going to answer?" Philemon urged, following up the silence that Elvin's comment seemed to bring.
"Who are these guys?" Hilary asked, placing her hands on her hips and striding in front of the Bladebreakers. "Isn't anyone going to answer me?"
Eva stepped forward, extending her hand. "My name's Eva Temagami, who are you?"
She turned around and met with Eva's hand. "Hilary, grade eight class president. Pleased to meet you."
"This is Elvin Tremblay, Philemon Ivujivik, and our team leader, Sarah Langley. Our team is called the Celestial Myriad," Eva explained, gesturing to each in turn.
Hilary clasped her hands together and looked at the four hopefully. "Oh, you're a Beyblading team as well? Do you have any of those Bit Beasty- thingys? Are you any good at Beyblading? Have you won any championships?"
"Sounds like Hilary's a true blading fan, now," Max jested.
"But she can't blade for beans," Tyson added, refolding his arms behind his head.
"At least I'll have an actual job when I'm older, Tyson, because I'll have been on time for school!" Hilary retorted.
Elvin looked to Philemon. "They sure fight a lot like you and Sarah. Wonder if there's some sort of connection?"
Eva continued to speak. "Yeah, we all have Bit Beasts. Mine is a winged horse called Pegusar, Elvin's is a ram called Ariamar, Philemon's is a hare named Lephar, and Sarah's is a fox named Fovular. Each of our Bit Beasts is based on one of the constellations. Suiting for our team, don't you think? We're the Canadian champs, and we did win the Default International Tournament last year. Does that count for greatness?"
"I suppose you can't be picky when it comes to Beyblading, huh?" Hilary asked.
"Are you trying to defame the Celestial Myriad?" Sarah had finally spoke. She unfolded her arms and stepped forward.
"No, but if that's how you want to look at it."
"If you can't blade, I wouldn't exactly be scoffing at the moment. Take a look at who's holding the cards."
"You're good at being sarcastic. Do you practise at home?"
Sarah refolded her arms and wore a smug smirk. "Will your impression change if I say I like being spontaneous?"
Hilary mimicked the action. "Mustn't be good at schoolwork, then?"
"I'll have you know I hold consistent Honours of the top rank."
"You shouldn't judge a book by its cover, I guess."
"You'd only know if you'd read one, that is."
Hilary suddenly became frustrated, unable to think of a comeback. "What? What are you saying?!"
"All I'm saying is that you don't look too brainy yourself, so practise what you preach."
Tyson glanced at Kai, then at Sarah, then at Kai again. "Do you guys like, take lessons from each other or something?"
"Yeah, 'cause this is getting freaky since you two sound so alike..." added Ray.
Sarah and Kai locked eyes. "Good to see you," Sarah greeted with a stiff nod.
"Oh come on!" Elvin exclaimed, cutting between the two. "We know you want to share a more 'intimate' greeting than that!"
"Elvin..." Kai muttered with a scowl. "Don't push it..."
Tala looked at the closed door again and thought about what he was about to do, weighing the pros and cons in his mind. He would be leaving everything behind-all he had known his whole life. He was born at this Abbey, lived and breathed here for more than thirteen years. What about his few friends- The Demolition Boys. Boris-the man who had given him all the skills he had learned throughout his time here. What about his mother-Lutka-and his sister-Anya? Lutka was the only family he had left since Anya's death. And Anya had been buried within the Abbey and in the tomb of the Hilanovs.
Then there was Tatiana—he didn't know who her parents were, nor did he want to know. She was annoying, and that was all that mattered. Getting away from her would relieve a lot of his stress. Though her origins were also suspicious; she had Kai's determined eyes and Sarah's colours.
He would leave them all behind, he thought as he pushed on the heavy doors. If he lingered any longer, the new guards would arrive and he'd lose his chance for another twelve hours. The wooden doors creaked open, and he caught his first cold breaths of freedom. He shouldered his bag so that it was more stable as he held it in his right hand, slung over his shoulder. He moved and planted his first step across the threshold of the Abbey's doors when he flinched on hearing someone call out.
"Tally!"
Tala whipped around. "What do you want?"
"Where are you going?"
"Out," he replied as he took another step outside and turned around.
"Did Boris send you?"
Tala paused to think for a moment. "Yeah... Yeah-he did. He told me to go out, and never come back."
"Boris wouldn't say that."
"Yes he would, and I intend to obey the order. See ya."
"Take me with you!"
"No."
"Take me with you, Tally!" she repeated in an exasperated cry.
Tala felt a chill come over him and so he stepped back inside and closed the door. He knelt down so that he was at eye level with her. "Look, where I'm going is a dangerous trip-one that little girls such as yourself aren't apt for completing."
"But you'll get hurt if you go by yourself."
Tala scoffed. "Oh, and I suppose you'll protect me from the Baba-Yaga that we'll encounter in the woods?"
Tatiana hesitated and looked away from him, not knowing how to counter such a comment. "Well, I want to go with you because I need you."
Tala was surprised. "What do you mean by that?"
Tatiana swivelled her head back to him, angry tears welling up in her eyes. She lunged forward and threw her arms around him, knocking him off his squatting position and to the floor. "What will I do without you to help me around the Abbey? You're the one that scares off the bullies! They don't tease me when you're with me!"
Tala sat on the cold floor, propping himself up with his hands so that he wouldn't fall flat on his back as the girl sobbed into his shoulder. He stared at the wall as he had six years ago when Sarah had hugged him and cried in the same form of a goodbye. Now that he thought about it, Tatiana was a lot like Sarah in a lot of respects. But not enough for him to say yes.
He placed his hands just under her arms and pried her away from his body, holding her at arm's length and staring sympathetically into her moist eyes. He smiled a sad smile. "Listen to me, Tatiana. It will me safer if you were to stay here at the Abbey with Boris. If those boys are bullying you, then tell Boris. He'll sort them out, but I have to go."
"Where?"
"To see some old friends." Tala slid his legs from sprawled out on the floor in front of him and stood up, dusting himself off, all the while watching Tatiana's eyes water again.
She threw her head back in an all-out bawl. "TAKE ME WITH YOU!"
Tala covered his ears in surprise at the unexpected outburst. "No! I can't! Boris would kill me!"
"TALA WON'T TAKE ME WITH HIM!"
"No, you don't understand! STOP CRYING!"
That only made her scream even louder. Tala staggered about, covering his ears as much as he could, but she was too loud. "Oh, be quiet, be quiet, be quiet!"
Still, Tatiana continued to cry. Tala stopped moving around and sank to the ground in one spot. "Yargh! If you don't stop crying soon, I'm going to start!" he whined with a yell after.
"Down here!"
Tala took his hands away from his ears and looked down the darkened hall. He leapt up and clapped a hand over Tatiana's mouth. "Shh! Be quiet..."
He listened as footsteps neared down the hall, and voices of what sounded like the next guard shift approaching. He glanced at her and shook his head. He caught sight of her sad eyes, and he was instantly reminded of Sarah. Tatiana's greenish-blue eyes were like those of Sarah and reflected the same feeling that had been in Sarah's eyes before Tala and Sarah had experienced that intimate moment in the halls of Biovolt eight months ago. Just like Sarah's-would he say no to her?
"Fine! You can come, so long as you don't misbehave yourself!" he whispered, taking his hand away from her mouth slowly.
"Yay! I get to go with Tala! Don't worry-I'll be as good as gold!" she exclaimed.
"Then shush up, will you?" he whispered annoyedly again as he took her arm in one hand and snatched his bag in the other. Without another word, they squeezed out through the door and made their way across the Abbey courtyard to the large gates.
Tala pushed his weight against them when they wouldn't budge. "Come on, open, you stupid door!"
"The voices were coming from down this way!" exclaimed Victor as he rounded the corner and hurried down the corridor towards the main doors. Nikita followed closely behind.
"Someone left the door open!" Nikita exclaimed, for even though Victor had been ahead, Nikita had moved faster and had seen the small crack in the doorway first. He pushed it wide open and surveyed the courtyard. "But there's no one outside."
Nikita turned to Victor, who just shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe it was just the wind."
Lori stood with Dr. K in the room with the incubation tubes. They both watched as Monica, Amy, and Zachary wheeled in three cryogenation gurneys. Monica, Amy and Zachary all stepped out of the way as Lori and Dr. K moved forward to the steel cases.
Lori turned to Zachary. "Do you have the modified Bit Beasts?"
He reached into his pocket and gave the Bit Chips to her. She examined them in her hand as Dr. K peered over her shoulder to look at them. "What did you change about them?"
"These aren't the originals, but copies from the soul cloning machine that Gilepse left for us. The originals must be with the Hilanovs—but that's only a hypothesis for the moment as we're not positive. The originals were made of the souls of Xenia Hiwatari, Kaji Hiwatari, and Sergei Romanov. Xenia became Revenost—Spica's Bit Beast, Sergei became Poltost—Telesto's Bit Beast, and Kaji became Doppelgost—Kuiper's Bit Beast. Since Bit Beasts are souls, human and animal souls are interchangeable. Since our initial experiments on human Bit Beasts, we were able to record more powerful readings than with animal Bit Beasts, and therefore have continued to use them. Every soul become some form of a ghost if it doesn't die within the body, and we have used that to our advantage to create unique Bit Beasts," Lori explained.
"That explains a lot, but doesn't answer my question," Dr. K retorted.
Lori glared at her. "All in good time, ma'am. We've no need to rush just yet." Lori pushed a button on the side of each gurney and the top steel casing slid open to reveal Spica, Telesto, and Kuiper being thawed from their frozen sleep. Lori continued her explanation. "We've changed these Bit Beasts through soul fusion—a Biovolt innovation. This allows two souls to become one, therefore we've combined two different types of ghosts to create one stronger."
Lori took the first Chip and held it up to Spica's body. A purple light streaked out of the Bit and into Spica's body, then returned to the Bit. "For Spica, her Sacred Spirit is now Revebanost—a revenant banshee."
Amy moved to Lori's side and handed her a black Beyblade. Lori handed her the Bit and Amy fit it to the blade as Lori proceeded onto Telesto. The red light entered and exited the brown-haired boy's body. "Telesto receives Poltafrost—the poltergeist afreet."
Again, she handed the Bit to Amy and Amy placed it in a grey Beyblade. Kuiper was the last to receive his soul. The blue Bit Beast zipped out and back in, giving him back his cloned soul as the other two Beasts had done. "Last, but not least, Kuiper's new Bit Beast is Doppalost, the doppelganger alu."
As Amy put Kuiper's Bit back into his blader, Dr. K eyed the bodies curiously. "Goadbwa seems to know a lot about ghosts. What's an...afroo?"
"Afreet," Lori corrected. "It's an evil spirit of Arabic origin. It's the soul of a murdered man that is out for revenge. Rather suiting for Telesto, we found."
"And what about an...alu, I think you called it?"
Lori nodded. "You're right. It's an Assyrian human-like spirit that likes to hang around in caves, ruins, and abandoned buildings. It looks just like a regular human being but with missing body parts. Though I've never met one, they're said to consume the bodies and souls of people that stray close to them."
Dr. K shuddered at the thought. "Are you sure these kids should be handling these types of Bit Beasts, because if not, I know of this rock that-"
"They'll be fine. They always have, and always will be. Now, Amy, Monica, and Zachary, I would ask that you take their thawing bodies to the infirmary where we can run an analysis on the states of the bodies," interrupted Lori. She whipped to face Dr. K. "Now, I would ask for your first official orders. What do you want Vitality Extortion to do once they've woken up?"
Dr. K stared at her in confusion for a moment before she smirked. "I have a seek-and-destroy mission for them to fulfil..." she said smugly.
============
Again, sorry about how long it took to write, and if some things are out of sync with each other as if one event happened twice, etc., I'm also sorry. I've practically forgotten what I wrote and the plot for the story so I'm digging these things up again (good thing I wrote them down!)