4. Attack of the Clones
Elvin sat on the bed watching TV and propping himself up with his arms. He watched the reporter point to various areas on the screen with disinterested eyes.
"And tomorrow's weather will be sunny but with cloudy periods and a high temperature of 27 degrees. That concludes your weather for this evening. And now back to the main desk." The man finished.
The camera panned to the main desk where three anchors sat. One shuffled his papers again with a grave look. "Thank you, and this just in, we've reports filing in from Russia. It turns out that a group of Beybladers has been attacking various Russian villages throughout the country..."
Suddenly Elvin's interest was caught. "Hey, guys! Come take a look at this!" Philemon stopped fiddling with his blade and moved to the edge of the bed at which Elvin sat, Eva put down the clothes she was sorting and crawled across the bed, and Sarah rushed from the bathroom to the TV, the toothbrush still hanging out of her mouth.
"Eyewitnesses have recounted that small villages have been totally devastated with no survivors. These attacks have been widespread, indicating that they have a quick mode of transportation..."
At this point, the four looked to each other, each with a concerned but confused look on their face.
"Eyewitnesses have also confirmed that there were only three, all looking around the age of fourteen. Some have even claimed the three to be the team of Vitality Extortion. The Beybladers Kuiper Varuna, Spica Hyakutake, and Telesto Cibaru were the mascot team for Goadbwa Enterprises, an international Beyblading manufacturer. However, these reports have been ignored as the team passed away during a battle last year with the Hilanovs of the Biovolt Corporation," he said, the screen flashing the pictures of the three as they were mentioned. "It is believed that they are searching for something, though people are unsure of what. If Russia doesn't hold what they are looking for, they would most likely move on to surrounding countries. If you see them, we would ask that you not approach them and alert authorities as soon as possible. They are marked as armed and extremely dangerous. We shall keep you updated as soon as new information comes in."
Elvin turned off the TV with the remote and turned to the others. "So what do you make of that?"
There was silence until Philemon spoke. "It's impossible. They're long dead. I don't see how it could be them."
Eva glanced thoughtfully around. "I don't know. You can clone bodies, right? So maybe it could be their bodies, but their minds are different."
The floor caught Elvin's interest. "I guess. But maybe they were never actually dead and made a miraculous recovery...Or they could be androids."
"Come on!" Philemon grumbled. "I doubt Kuiper could recover from decapitation. Eva's idea is more plausible than your androids as well. Goadbwa just doesn't have the technology to build androids."
"How do you know that?" Eva asked, not wanting to turn down Elvin's idea.
The three looked to Sarah, whose mouth still held the toothbrush. "Well? What about you, smartie?" Philemon asked sarcastically.
Sarah rushed to the bathroom, cleaned out her mouth, and hurried back. "Sorry... Anyway, I too, agree with Eva's idea."
Eva made a peace sign in front of Philemon's face and smiled.
"Remember how Kai took Spica's soul during the battle at Lake Baikal, yet when Goadbwa infiltrated Biovolt, Spica was her normal self again. Before she died, Spica told me about some sort of a soul-cloning machine that Goadbwa had developed. She said that when her soul was taken, they had created a clone of it and fed it back into her body. My assumption is that they made both soul clones and body clones of the three and they were brought back to life, theoretically."
There was silence until Elvin turned his head to Philemon and Eva. "That would make sense, and if Spica said that herself, then it must be true."
Philemon glanced suspiciously to Sarah. "I'm not so sure. So she just flat-out told you?"
She nodded. Eva shrugged. "It's the only logical explanation. Besides, does it really matter? We should just be careful and tell Mr. Dickenson and the Bladebreakers tomorrow morning."
"Right," came the reply.
"How are they doing this morning, Lori?" Dr. K asked as she strode across the room.
Lori whipped around, surprised to see her new boss suddenly turn up. She turned back to the monitor slowly. "You've seen the news reports haven't you?"
Dr. K folded her arms and grinned, her eyes glued to the destruction on the TV screen. "Yes, and I must say, I'm impressed. Those three really have potential..."
"Exactly why Gilepse hand chose them from hundreds of trainees."
"Yet they still haven't found the 'Hilanovs'?" Dr. K asked, annoyed.
"No, ma'am."
Dr. K turned to her angrily. "They should have at least found Kai! I know where he is for a fact. You mean to tell me that you didn't tell them about Kai?"
"I know what I'm doing, Dr. K."
"But since I'm president, I'm now calling the shots!"
Lori kept her eyes to the keyboard, still calm even though she was being yelled at. "Any one of the Hilanovs is practically harmless by themselves, which is why we're trying to locate Tala and Sarah. We know that Tala trains at Balkov Abbey, Biovolt's headquarters..."
"Then why isn't Vitality Extortion there?"
"That I don't know and am trying to find out."
"What about this Sarah?"
"We don't know about her. All we know is that her mother, Irina Langley, works as the operations director at Biovolt and that Irina lives in the Abbey, but Sarah doesn't live with her. Instead, she lives with her father—wherever he lives in the world."
Dr. K began tapping her foot. "There has to be an easier way to find them. But for now, just send Vitality Extortion to Balkov Abbey."
With that, she turned on her high-heel and left just as swiftly as she came.
"Yes, ma'am."
Tyson yawned and stretched his arms, almost knocking Hilary at his side. "Come on, Mr. D! Why'd you have to wake us up so early in the morning?"
"The early bird gets the worm," Kenny said, opening Dizzi to take down what Mr. Dickinson would have to say.
"Besides, the earlier you wake up, the more time you've got to eat breakfast," Hilary added.
Tyson stopped stretched and suddenly perked up. "Oh yeah, I forgot about that! So what did you want to say to us?"
Mr. Dickinson stood up from his desk, looked at the clock, shook his head, and strolled over to a TV set in the corner of his office. "I've something to show you. You may have seen this last night, but I feel I must bring it to your attention once more." Turning on the VCR, the Bladebreakers' eyes were glued to the screen.
"Thank you, and this just in, we've reports filing in from Russia. It turns out that a group of Beybladers has been attacking various Russian villages throughout the country..." the news anchor started.
Once the report was over and the Bladebreakers were clearly left dumbfounded, Kenny closed his laptop and stood up. "Mr. Dickinson, that cannot be Vitality Extortion."
"It's impossible!" Tyson agreed, leaping up—having recovered form his shock.
"What? Someone care to fill me in here?" Hilary asked, annoyed.
"I'm sorry, Hilary—we'll explain in a moment," Mr. Dickinson said sadly before locking serious eyes with the others. "Bladebreakers—I wish I could also talk to the Celestial Myriad—Sarah would probably be a big help to us right about now. She did seem to get the closest to Goadbwa, but in the meantime, Kai—would you happen to know anything about this at all?"
Kai leant back against the wall and folded his arms. "Sorry, Mr. Dickinson. I know just as much as you do. The only thing I can say is that I know for a fact that Vitality Extortion is dead. I didn't see Telesto's death, but I saw Kuiper's, and I definitely saw Spica's. As well, Gilepse and Voltaire are dead, so I've no idea who would be in control of Goadbwa, now, if in fact Goadbwa was still in charge of Vitality Extortion."
"Oh...That's right...You...killed Spica, didn't you?" Max asked hesitantly.
Kai replied with a stiff nod.
"The Celestial Myriad...That was the team we met yesterday, right?" Hilary asked, finally piecing this foreign tongue together. "The one with that stuck-up leader?"
"She's not stuck-up," Max began. He paused to think his words out. "Just...um...once you get to know her she's really nice..."
"She just doesn't warm up to new people easily," finished Kai.
Tyson winked at Hilary and grinned impishly. "Of course, Kai should know about her..."
"Leave him alone, Tyson, this is serious," Ray warned, having spoken up for the first time since they had entered.
Mr. Dickinson interrupted. "Um—You said something about seeing the Celestial Myriad yesterday? They're here in Japan?"
"Yeah," replied Tyson. "They came because they wanted to cheer Sarah up or something like that...But we saw them yesterday down by the river."
"Do you have any idea where they are now?"
"Not a clue..."
The door burst open.
"I do, now," Tyson said after turning around to see Eva standing in the doorway with the other three close behind her.
"Morning, Mr. Dickinson! Oh..." The smile disappeared when she saw the Bladebreakers staring back at her. "Hello, Bladebreakers!"
"Morning..." came the unenthusiastic reply.
Sarah squeezed past Eva. "Good morning, everyone. I'm sorry to say that I come here with bad news." She noticed Hilary glaring back at her. "And half of it is that Hilary's here..."
"Hey!" she protested, leaping up and shoving her face in Sarah's. "Some nerve! You know, Kai said that if—"
Sarah ignored her and continued to lock gaze with Mr. Dickinson. "As I was saying, Philemon, Elvin, Eva, and I saw a report on TV last night—"
"About some Vitality Extortion that was attacking Russia and you wanted to know what was going on," Hilary interrupted, smirking and folding her arms.
Sarah glowered at her in bewilderment. "Yes...That's right."
Mr. Dickinson shook his head and sat down at his desk again. "I'm sorry, my dear, but I only know as much as you do. I was hoping you could tell us something."
Philemon pushed past Eva, who was still standing in the doorway. "From what we can gather, our best guess is that Goadbwa made both soul and body clones of Spica, Kuiper, and Telesto before they died. They then fused both body and soul to 'revive' them, or so to speak."
"Soul clones?" Kenny repeated suspiciously.
Elvin finally pushed Eva to one side. "Yes, back at the battle at Lake Baikal, Spica's soul was taken by Kai, but she was just fine when they infiltrated Balkov Abbey. Goadbwa has developed some sort of machine to make the clones, from what Spica told Sarah, anyway."
"Maybe my Uncle knows something," Sarah suggested. "With him living in Russia and everything, and him being the focus of Goadbwa's wrath..."
Mr. Dickinson finally perked up. "Ah, yes, that's brilliant!"
Sarah stuck her tongue out at Hilary, who grumbled something and looked away. She sat down beside Kenny. "What's so great about her uncle?"
"Sarah's uncle is Boris Balkov, president of the Biovolt Corporation in Russia. Remember when Kai was talking about Gilepse? Well, Boris and Gilepse were old college buddies until they had a fight and started their own companies—Biovolt and Goadbwa. And that pretty much explains everything—Gilepse, Vitality Extortion, soul stealing, the Prophecy, the Hilanovs..."
"Prophecy?"
"Yes," he continued. "The Hilanov Prophecy was in a tomb under Balkov Abbey and it foretold that Kai, Tala, and Sarah would be the ones to overcome Goadbwa Enterprises, and they did. It had to do with their personalities, physical appearance, and blood lines. Their last names—Hiwatari, Langley and Romanov made up the name Hilanov."
"Hold on—Tala?"
"He lives at Balkov Abbey, which is where Mr. Dickinson is trying to call now. Don't worry, though—I'm sure you'll get your chance to meet him at this rate."
Mr. Dickinson had got through at last. "Ah, hello, Boris...Why thank you, but we've more pressing matters to discuss. Have you by any chance been visited by Vitality Extortion? ...Exactly what I said when I saw it...On TV of course...I saw a report last night that said Vitality Extortion had been massacring Russia, so I knew in an instant that they had been looking for you. But you say there has been no sign of activity yet?"
The Bladebreakers and Celestial Myriad waited patiently for him to finish the call.
"No, we haven't noticed anything that might hint towards Goadbwa, except for an incident two weeks ago..." Boris replied.
"What incident would this be?" Mr. Dickinson asked suspiciously, his voice staticky over the long distance phone line.
"We had two experiments going, and four teenagers dressed in black took one of them. They started a small fire in the Abbey and knocked some of us out, including Tala who managed to save the other one from being taken."
"What experiments were these?"
"Beyblading..." Boris answered somewhat hesitantly to try to cover up the lie. "But...nothing to really worry about..."
"My point of this conversation would be, 'Is Tala ready for battle?' I suppose," Mr. Dickinson continued.
"Of course he is, but why should I speak when you can talk to him? Let me just get him..." Boris put down the phone and walked to the door to use the intercom. "Irina?"
"Yes, sir?"
"I want you to find Tala and send him to my office right now, please."
"Right away, sir."
Boris went back and sat down at his desk, drumming his fingers and waiting for the boy to arrive.
Irina scanned the schedule as she hastened down the stone halls. "Let's see...1:00 PM to 3:00 PM...That would put the senior division in training today. Just as I thought."
She pushed the wooden door open with a single thrust and her high- heels clicked as she moved down the cobblestone steps of the courtyard. There were dozens of trainees standing in rows, each pulling rip chords in unison. As she approached Ilya, the one in charge of the Beyblade training, he turned to her and nodded. "Good afternoon, Irina."
"Yes, good afternoon. I need to borrow Tala for a minute. Boris would like a word with him."
Ilya was silent for a moment. "Sorry, Irina. I was hoping you knew where he was, because he certainly isn't here with me. Apparently he hasn't been seen since lunch yesterday. His roommates said that he wasn't in the dorm, so he isn't sick. We don't know where he is."
Irina's jaw dropped. "What? Why wasn't this announced sooner?!"
"We were hoping that he would turn up, but as you can see..."
Irina put her head in her hands and shook it. "Boris isn't going to like this..."
Mr. Dickinson had to hold the receiver away from his ear at the sudden yelling heard over the other end of the line. He eventually brought his head back as Boris spoke calmly once more. But what the man had to say made Mr. Dickinson gasp.
The others looked at each other warily as he continued to listen.
"Tala's missing?!" exclaimed Mr. Dickinson.
Sarah and Kai looked to each other with worried expressions.
"He ran away from the Abbey?! Oh...yes...yes, Boris...This is terrible! We can only pray...yes...Well, I would like you to come to Japan, anyway. We may have a use for you. Yes... Good day." With that, he sighed and put down the phone.
"Where's Tala?" questioned Max.
Mr. Dickinson shook his head. "No one knows. He's somewhere in Russia, we think, which means we can only hope that Vitality Extortion doesn't find him first. But that's not all—Boris also said that they were now missing two of their highly valuable Beyblading experiments. Goadbwa has one, and it is assumed that Tala has the other, wherever he is."
"Oh no..." was all they could murmur.
Mr. Dickinson raised his head and stood up, a determined face suddenly appearing. "Bladebreakers—Are Kane and Jim still around?"
They looked at each other. "They should be," said Kenny. "I can contact them easily if you want me to. What should I tell them?"
"Tell them all about the Hilanovs and the preceding war and that we would need their help in the upcoming one."
"Should I also tell them to talk to Goki and Salima?" Kenny asked as he opened Dizzi and began to type.
"Yes." Mr. Dickinson turned to Max, Ray, Hilary, Tyson, and Kai. "Do any of you know where the Saint Shields are?"
"I could find them," Ray offered. "I tell them the same thing, right?"
Mr. Dickinson nodded and focussed on Max. "Max, I want you to contact your mother in America and inform her of all that will be going on. Tell her we could use help. I'll provide a bail for Alan if we need to."
"You got it, Mr. D!"
"Now, I'll get Zaggart, Gordo and Zeo for help. I know that my old colleague will be willing. Then, that leaves King and Queen—"
"I'll handle them," Kai sighed, stepping forward.
"I want you to take care of your sister, Kai. Leave King and Queen to Tyson and Hilary," Mr. Dickinson replied sternly.
"I assume that you want my brother to help, too?" Sarah asked.
Mr. Dickinson nodded once more. "Now, there is much to do. All of you, you know your tasks and I would like you to get started on them. I shall call a meeting soon and prepare in the meantime," he finished, ushering them out of his office.
"Tala, I'm hungry..."
"Shh!"
Tatiana peered her head around the corner along with Tala, but he pushed her head back around and turned violently to her. "Look! We've go to be careful! I told you not to come. I never should've taken you in the first place..." he trailed off.
"What are you so worried about? We're outside of the Abbey!" Tatiana whispered back angrily.
Tala lowered his face to hers. "If I know Boris, he'll be sending guards after us to comb the city, so we've gotta get outta Moscow before we're caught!"
Tatiana closed her mouth and looked around, rather stunned. But Tala continued. "They'll drag us right back to the Abbey if they find us, and I've got some people to find!"
"So then..." Tatiana began, becoming serious about it. "How are we going to get out of Moscow? And who are these people that you've gotta find?"
Tala went back to surveying for Biovolt guards. "We're taking a plane to Japan—hopefully that's where he'll be, at least."
"Japan? Do you have the tickets? Who's 'he'?"
"No, we're stowing away. Come on," he said, grabbing her arm firmly without looking back and rushing out into the streets.
===========
Whew! Longer than I thought it would be! I had to cut out parts from my original plot so as not to make it too long. And goo news is that now, at least, Sonic has become an equal balance, so I'll be able to update more often (especially with the summer ----- IT'S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR! ). Please review! I want your opinion, flame or candy!
Elvin sat on the bed watching TV and propping himself up with his arms. He watched the reporter point to various areas on the screen with disinterested eyes.
"And tomorrow's weather will be sunny but with cloudy periods and a high temperature of 27 degrees. That concludes your weather for this evening. And now back to the main desk." The man finished.
The camera panned to the main desk where three anchors sat. One shuffled his papers again with a grave look. "Thank you, and this just in, we've reports filing in from Russia. It turns out that a group of Beybladers has been attacking various Russian villages throughout the country..."
Suddenly Elvin's interest was caught. "Hey, guys! Come take a look at this!" Philemon stopped fiddling with his blade and moved to the edge of the bed at which Elvin sat, Eva put down the clothes she was sorting and crawled across the bed, and Sarah rushed from the bathroom to the TV, the toothbrush still hanging out of her mouth.
"Eyewitnesses have recounted that small villages have been totally devastated with no survivors. These attacks have been widespread, indicating that they have a quick mode of transportation..."
At this point, the four looked to each other, each with a concerned but confused look on their face.
"Eyewitnesses have also confirmed that there were only three, all looking around the age of fourteen. Some have even claimed the three to be the team of Vitality Extortion. The Beybladers Kuiper Varuna, Spica Hyakutake, and Telesto Cibaru were the mascot team for Goadbwa Enterprises, an international Beyblading manufacturer. However, these reports have been ignored as the team passed away during a battle last year with the Hilanovs of the Biovolt Corporation," he said, the screen flashing the pictures of the three as they were mentioned. "It is believed that they are searching for something, though people are unsure of what. If Russia doesn't hold what they are looking for, they would most likely move on to surrounding countries. If you see them, we would ask that you not approach them and alert authorities as soon as possible. They are marked as armed and extremely dangerous. We shall keep you updated as soon as new information comes in."
Elvin turned off the TV with the remote and turned to the others. "So what do you make of that?"
There was silence until Philemon spoke. "It's impossible. They're long dead. I don't see how it could be them."
Eva glanced thoughtfully around. "I don't know. You can clone bodies, right? So maybe it could be their bodies, but their minds are different."
The floor caught Elvin's interest. "I guess. But maybe they were never actually dead and made a miraculous recovery...Or they could be androids."
"Come on!" Philemon grumbled. "I doubt Kuiper could recover from decapitation. Eva's idea is more plausible than your androids as well. Goadbwa just doesn't have the technology to build androids."
"How do you know that?" Eva asked, not wanting to turn down Elvin's idea.
The three looked to Sarah, whose mouth still held the toothbrush. "Well? What about you, smartie?" Philemon asked sarcastically.
Sarah rushed to the bathroom, cleaned out her mouth, and hurried back. "Sorry... Anyway, I too, agree with Eva's idea."
Eva made a peace sign in front of Philemon's face and smiled.
"Remember how Kai took Spica's soul during the battle at Lake Baikal, yet when Goadbwa infiltrated Biovolt, Spica was her normal self again. Before she died, Spica told me about some sort of a soul-cloning machine that Goadbwa had developed. She said that when her soul was taken, they had created a clone of it and fed it back into her body. My assumption is that they made both soul clones and body clones of the three and they were brought back to life, theoretically."
There was silence until Elvin turned his head to Philemon and Eva. "That would make sense, and if Spica said that herself, then it must be true."
Philemon glanced suspiciously to Sarah. "I'm not so sure. So she just flat-out told you?"
She nodded. Eva shrugged. "It's the only logical explanation. Besides, does it really matter? We should just be careful and tell Mr. Dickenson and the Bladebreakers tomorrow morning."
"Right," came the reply.
"How are they doing this morning, Lori?" Dr. K asked as she strode across the room.
Lori whipped around, surprised to see her new boss suddenly turn up. She turned back to the monitor slowly. "You've seen the news reports haven't you?"
Dr. K folded her arms and grinned, her eyes glued to the destruction on the TV screen. "Yes, and I must say, I'm impressed. Those three really have potential..."
"Exactly why Gilepse hand chose them from hundreds of trainees."
"Yet they still haven't found the 'Hilanovs'?" Dr. K asked, annoyed.
"No, ma'am."
Dr. K turned to her angrily. "They should have at least found Kai! I know where he is for a fact. You mean to tell me that you didn't tell them about Kai?"
"I know what I'm doing, Dr. K."
"But since I'm president, I'm now calling the shots!"
Lori kept her eyes to the keyboard, still calm even though she was being yelled at. "Any one of the Hilanovs is practically harmless by themselves, which is why we're trying to locate Tala and Sarah. We know that Tala trains at Balkov Abbey, Biovolt's headquarters..."
"Then why isn't Vitality Extortion there?"
"That I don't know and am trying to find out."
"What about this Sarah?"
"We don't know about her. All we know is that her mother, Irina Langley, works as the operations director at Biovolt and that Irina lives in the Abbey, but Sarah doesn't live with her. Instead, she lives with her father—wherever he lives in the world."
Dr. K began tapping her foot. "There has to be an easier way to find them. But for now, just send Vitality Extortion to Balkov Abbey."
With that, she turned on her high-heel and left just as swiftly as she came.
"Yes, ma'am."
Tyson yawned and stretched his arms, almost knocking Hilary at his side. "Come on, Mr. D! Why'd you have to wake us up so early in the morning?"
"The early bird gets the worm," Kenny said, opening Dizzi to take down what Mr. Dickinson would have to say.
"Besides, the earlier you wake up, the more time you've got to eat breakfast," Hilary added.
Tyson stopped stretched and suddenly perked up. "Oh yeah, I forgot about that! So what did you want to say to us?"
Mr. Dickinson stood up from his desk, looked at the clock, shook his head, and strolled over to a TV set in the corner of his office. "I've something to show you. You may have seen this last night, but I feel I must bring it to your attention once more." Turning on the VCR, the Bladebreakers' eyes were glued to the screen.
"Thank you, and this just in, we've reports filing in from Russia. It turns out that a group of Beybladers has been attacking various Russian villages throughout the country..." the news anchor started.
Once the report was over and the Bladebreakers were clearly left dumbfounded, Kenny closed his laptop and stood up. "Mr. Dickinson, that cannot be Vitality Extortion."
"It's impossible!" Tyson agreed, leaping up—having recovered form his shock.
"What? Someone care to fill me in here?" Hilary asked, annoyed.
"I'm sorry, Hilary—we'll explain in a moment," Mr. Dickinson said sadly before locking serious eyes with the others. "Bladebreakers—I wish I could also talk to the Celestial Myriad—Sarah would probably be a big help to us right about now. She did seem to get the closest to Goadbwa, but in the meantime, Kai—would you happen to know anything about this at all?"
Kai leant back against the wall and folded his arms. "Sorry, Mr. Dickinson. I know just as much as you do. The only thing I can say is that I know for a fact that Vitality Extortion is dead. I didn't see Telesto's death, but I saw Kuiper's, and I definitely saw Spica's. As well, Gilepse and Voltaire are dead, so I've no idea who would be in control of Goadbwa, now, if in fact Goadbwa was still in charge of Vitality Extortion."
"Oh...That's right...You...killed Spica, didn't you?" Max asked hesitantly.
Kai replied with a stiff nod.
"The Celestial Myriad...That was the team we met yesterday, right?" Hilary asked, finally piecing this foreign tongue together. "The one with that stuck-up leader?"
"She's not stuck-up," Max began. He paused to think his words out. "Just...um...once you get to know her she's really nice..."
"She just doesn't warm up to new people easily," finished Kai.
Tyson winked at Hilary and grinned impishly. "Of course, Kai should know about her..."
"Leave him alone, Tyson, this is serious," Ray warned, having spoken up for the first time since they had entered.
Mr. Dickinson interrupted. "Um—You said something about seeing the Celestial Myriad yesterday? They're here in Japan?"
"Yeah," replied Tyson. "They came because they wanted to cheer Sarah up or something like that...But we saw them yesterday down by the river."
"Do you have any idea where they are now?"
"Not a clue..."
The door burst open.
"I do, now," Tyson said after turning around to see Eva standing in the doorway with the other three close behind her.
"Morning, Mr. Dickinson! Oh..." The smile disappeared when she saw the Bladebreakers staring back at her. "Hello, Bladebreakers!"
"Morning..." came the unenthusiastic reply.
Sarah squeezed past Eva. "Good morning, everyone. I'm sorry to say that I come here with bad news." She noticed Hilary glaring back at her. "And half of it is that Hilary's here..."
"Hey!" she protested, leaping up and shoving her face in Sarah's. "Some nerve! You know, Kai said that if—"
Sarah ignored her and continued to lock gaze with Mr. Dickinson. "As I was saying, Philemon, Elvin, Eva, and I saw a report on TV last night—"
"About some Vitality Extortion that was attacking Russia and you wanted to know what was going on," Hilary interrupted, smirking and folding her arms.
Sarah glowered at her in bewilderment. "Yes...That's right."
Mr. Dickinson shook his head and sat down at his desk again. "I'm sorry, my dear, but I only know as much as you do. I was hoping you could tell us something."
Philemon pushed past Eva, who was still standing in the doorway. "From what we can gather, our best guess is that Goadbwa made both soul and body clones of Spica, Kuiper, and Telesto before they died. They then fused both body and soul to 'revive' them, or so to speak."
"Soul clones?" Kenny repeated suspiciously.
Elvin finally pushed Eva to one side. "Yes, back at the battle at Lake Baikal, Spica's soul was taken by Kai, but she was just fine when they infiltrated Balkov Abbey. Goadbwa has developed some sort of machine to make the clones, from what Spica told Sarah, anyway."
"Maybe my Uncle knows something," Sarah suggested. "With him living in Russia and everything, and him being the focus of Goadbwa's wrath..."
Mr. Dickinson finally perked up. "Ah, yes, that's brilliant!"
Sarah stuck her tongue out at Hilary, who grumbled something and looked away. She sat down beside Kenny. "What's so great about her uncle?"
"Sarah's uncle is Boris Balkov, president of the Biovolt Corporation in Russia. Remember when Kai was talking about Gilepse? Well, Boris and Gilepse were old college buddies until they had a fight and started their own companies—Biovolt and Goadbwa. And that pretty much explains everything—Gilepse, Vitality Extortion, soul stealing, the Prophecy, the Hilanovs..."
"Prophecy?"
"Yes," he continued. "The Hilanov Prophecy was in a tomb under Balkov Abbey and it foretold that Kai, Tala, and Sarah would be the ones to overcome Goadbwa Enterprises, and they did. It had to do with their personalities, physical appearance, and blood lines. Their last names—Hiwatari, Langley and Romanov made up the name Hilanov."
"Hold on—Tala?"
"He lives at Balkov Abbey, which is where Mr. Dickinson is trying to call now. Don't worry, though—I'm sure you'll get your chance to meet him at this rate."
Mr. Dickinson had got through at last. "Ah, hello, Boris...Why thank you, but we've more pressing matters to discuss. Have you by any chance been visited by Vitality Extortion? ...Exactly what I said when I saw it...On TV of course...I saw a report last night that said Vitality Extortion had been massacring Russia, so I knew in an instant that they had been looking for you. But you say there has been no sign of activity yet?"
The Bladebreakers and Celestial Myriad waited patiently for him to finish the call.
"No, we haven't noticed anything that might hint towards Goadbwa, except for an incident two weeks ago..." Boris replied.
"What incident would this be?" Mr. Dickinson asked suspiciously, his voice staticky over the long distance phone line.
"We had two experiments going, and four teenagers dressed in black took one of them. They started a small fire in the Abbey and knocked some of us out, including Tala who managed to save the other one from being taken."
"What experiments were these?"
"Beyblading..." Boris answered somewhat hesitantly to try to cover up the lie. "But...nothing to really worry about..."
"My point of this conversation would be, 'Is Tala ready for battle?' I suppose," Mr. Dickinson continued.
"Of course he is, but why should I speak when you can talk to him? Let me just get him..." Boris put down the phone and walked to the door to use the intercom. "Irina?"
"Yes, sir?"
"I want you to find Tala and send him to my office right now, please."
"Right away, sir."
Boris went back and sat down at his desk, drumming his fingers and waiting for the boy to arrive.
Irina scanned the schedule as she hastened down the stone halls. "Let's see...1:00 PM to 3:00 PM...That would put the senior division in training today. Just as I thought."
She pushed the wooden door open with a single thrust and her high- heels clicked as she moved down the cobblestone steps of the courtyard. There were dozens of trainees standing in rows, each pulling rip chords in unison. As she approached Ilya, the one in charge of the Beyblade training, he turned to her and nodded. "Good afternoon, Irina."
"Yes, good afternoon. I need to borrow Tala for a minute. Boris would like a word with him."
Ilya was silent for a moment. "Sorry, Irina. I was hoping you knew where he was, because he certainly isn't here with me. Apparently he hasn't been seen since lunch yesterday. His roommates said that he wasn't in the dorm, so he isn't sick. We don't know where he is."
Irina's jaw dropped. "What? Why wasn't this announced sooner?!"
"We were hoping that he would turn up, but as you can see..."
Irina put her head in her hands and shook it. "Boris isn't going to like this..."
Mr. Dickinson had to hold the receiver away from his ear at the sudden yelling heard over the other end of the line. He eventually brought his head back as Boris spoke calmly once more. But what the man had to say made Mr. Dickinson gasp.
The others looked at each other warily as he continued to listen.
"Tala's missing?!" exclaimed Mr. Dickinson.
Sarah and Kai looked to each other with worried expressions.
"He ran away from the Abbey?! Oh...yes...yes, Boris...This is terrible! We can only pray...yes...Well, I would like you to come to Japan, anyway. We may have a use for you. Yes... Good day." With that, he sighed and put down the phone.
"Where's Tala?" questioned Max.
Mr. Dickinson shook his head. "No one knows. He's somewhere in Russia, we think, which means we can only hope that Vitality Extortion doesn't find him first. But that's not all—Boris also said that they were now missing two of their highly valuable Beyblading experiments. Goadbwa has one, and it is assumed that Tala has the other, wherever he is."
"Oh no..." was all they could murmur.
Mr. Dickinson raised his head and stood up, a determined face suddenly appearing. "Bladebreakers—Are Kane and Jim still around?"
They looked at each other. "They should be," said Kenny. "I can contact them easily if you want me to. What should I tell them?"
"Tell them all about the Hilanovs and the preceding war and that we would need their help in the upcoming one."
"Should I also tell them to talk to Goki and Salima?" Kenny asked as he opened Dizzi and began to type.
"Yes." Mr. Dickinson turned to Max, Ray, Hilary, Tyson, and Kai. "Do any of you know where the Saint Shields are?"
"I could find them," Ray offered. "I tell them the same thing, right?"
Mr. Dickinson nodded and focussed on Max. "Max, I want you to contact your mother in America and inform her of all that will be going on. Tell her we could use help. I'll provide a bail for Alan if we need to."
"You got it, Mr. D!"
"Now, I'll get Zaggart, Gordo and Zeo for help. I know that my old colleague will be willing. Then, that leaves King and Queen—"
"I'll handle them," Kai sighed, stepping forward.
"I want you to take care of your sister, Kai. Leave King and Queen to Tyson and Hilary," Mr. Dickinson replied sternly.
"I assume that you want my brother to help, too?" Sarah asked.
Mr. Dickinson nodded once more. "Now, there is much to do. All of you, you know your tasks and I would like you to get started on them. I shall call a meeting soon and prepare in the meantime," he finished, ushering them out of his office.
"Tala, I'm hungry..."
"Shh!"
Tatiana peered her head around the corner along with Tala, but he pushed her head back around and turned violently to her. "Look! We've go to be careful! I told you not to come. I never should've taken you in the first place..." he trailed off.
"What are you so worried about? We're outside of the Abbey!" Tatiana whispered back angrily.
Tala lowered his face to hers. "If I know Boris, he'll be sending guards after us to comb the city, so we've gotta get outta Moscow before we're caught!"
Tatiana closed her mouth and looked around, rather stunned. But Tala continued. "They'll drag us right back to the Abbey if they find us, and I've got some people to find!"
"So then..." Tatiana began, becoming serious about it. "How are we going to get out of Moscow? And who are these people that you've gotta find?"
Tala went back to surveying for Biovolt guards. "We're taking a plane to Japan—hopefully that's where he'll be, at least."
"Japan? Do you have the tickets? Who's 'he'?"
"No, we're stowing away. Come on," he said, grabbing her arm firmly without looking back and rushing out into the streets.
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Whew! Longer than I thought it would be! I had to cut out parts from my original plot so as not to make it too long. And goo news is that now, at least, Sonic has become an equal balance, so I'll be able to update more often (especially with the summer ----- IT'S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR! ). Please review! I want your opinion, flame or candy!