A Phoenix Within

Disclaimer: see chapter 1

WARNINGS: See chapter 1

thoughts

Chapter 2: First Encounter

Kenny asked again and again and again, but received no answer save for Kai's usually grunt, sigh or 'hn'. After Kenny had given up in desperation, Kai got to his feet.

"We had better be going, now," he said to the group.

"Why?" they all, minus Kenny who wasn't really listening, asked in chorus.

Kai snorted in reply and turned, making his way into the forest. Quickly though, Rei, Tyson, max and Kenny caught up with him. Between the four of them, they tried to guess why Kai suddenly seemed so urgent on leaving. Though, they never would've guessed that Kai's sharpened sense of hearing had detected a demon or two stalking towards them. Max noticed that Kai had an iron grip on the flute he had been playing to open the portal.

"Uh, Kai, why do you have- you know- that flute?" he asked quietly.

Kai seemed slightly irritated by the question and, looking over his shoulder replied gruffly, "Because." They ended up walking for about an hour or two and Tyson had begun to complain within the first ten minutes.

"My feet hurt. I'm hungry. I'm sweating. I'm huuungryyyy. I'm tired. I'm hungry!" he continued as they trudged along.

Though the four 'newcomers' were weary and panting hard, Kai seemed to glide through the forest. Rei noticed, as they stumbled over every twig and fallen log and root, Kai easily avoided them as if he were one with the forest.

"Weird…" Rei muttered as they continued.

Finally though, Kai stopped on the edge of a clearing. The complaining Tyson nearly ran into him.

"We can rest here," Kai said coldly, clearly unhappy about the progress they'd made.

Tyson cheered and suddenly seemed to be full of energy again. He leapt forwards and dove onto a pile of moss, sinking in with a deep sigh of happiness. The others quickly joined him.

Suddenly, they heard Kai hiss a warning, "Quick. Get down and shut up!"

He drew the dagger from his belt and, still on the edge of the clearing and easily blending into the shadows, stalked around it and set his flute down quietly- then dove into the woods.

They heard a muffled thud and a cry that sounded quite human. It was quickly followed by a surprised gasp.

"Tala?"

A few seconds later, Kai appeared from the woods, followed by a familiar redhead who was dusting himself off and was also in new attire.

Tala was wearing long, black pants and a red, long-sleeved shirt. He had a white belt that had a long sheath tied to it- the handle of his sword could be seen sticking out from it. His eyes were ice blue and his skin still fair and pale, outlined by his fiery red hair. Tala, just like Kai, was barefoot.

"Tala," Kai said again, "you should be more on guard. I would expect more of a fight from an Elite-In-Training."

An angry flash of blush absorbed Tala's cheeks for a moment before replying, "So what. My master's up and gone on me, I'll never complete my training."

Kai picked up his flute and flicked a bit of dirt from it, "With skills like that, I'm amazed you're still alive."

"Well," Tala snorted- but then he noticed the others, "Kai… What in Wolborg's Name Are They Doing Here?" he cried furiously, turning to Kai for an answer.

Kai sighed unhappily, "I was careless and they followed me."

Tala growled and muttered something under his breath, but followed Kai as the shorter Russian walked back to the four. Slowly, the group got a fire going and sat around it, thoughts of food drifting through their minds. The firelight cast strange light on Kai and Tala's already white faces, making them look like creatures from beyond the grave. Tyson shivered and drew closer to max and Rei- who were already becoming phobic of hugs thanks to Kenny's frightened state.

Finally, though, the four Bladebreakers fell asleep- hoping they would wake up in their warm hotel room under the blankets. As soon as they were asleep, Kai turned to Tala.

"Tala, what brings you to this area?"

"Wolborg was acting strange as soon as I got here, and so I let him lead me down this way and I ran into you. I think that's what he wanted though," Tala shrugged lightly. Kai sighed and tried to plan where he should get the others back to their dimension, the nearest Transportational Portal was too far away to sense.

Kai tilted his head back and looked to the bright stars above him. He suddenly remembered how laone he was in the world and turned away quickly- gazing out into the woods. Tala could sense how his friend felt, but he had no way of comforting the other, so he stayed quiet. In her totem, Dranzer stirred. She longed to stretch her wings and comfort her master, but she had no physical form and so it would not help if she even could be released from the rock. After some time of silence, Tala got to his feet and wandered over to the four slumbering Bladebeakers and fell asleep. Kai remained by the fire until it died and then, he too went to sleep.

Haha, this chapter was getting too longx.x so I had to shorten it- the next one will be coming up right away though

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Geeze… NO REVIEWERS? Man, I thought… well, okay, then I'll do this for myself D someone'll notice it eventually. THEN I'll get reviewrs!

Thanks to those who have already reviewed!

Demenior