Sorry I havent updated in a while I've been really busy lately and i've just finished writing the next two chapters. Well here's the REAL chapter six so enjoy…least I hope you will.
LightInTheDarkTempest
Chapter Six: Darkened Hallways
"You ready for our battle?" Ray asked Kai as they headed for the entrance around the corner.
Kai cleared his head of his thoughts about Angel, "Hn." He replied.
"Hey chief how long till our battle?" Tyson asked.
"About twenty-five minutes!" Kenny said now hurrying to the locker room.
"Relax Kenny," Hilary began, " its not like it's a twenty minute walk to the arena."
Kenny blushed a bit and slowed his pace,
"Still we shouldn't be late. It'd be better if we were early so we'd have time to relax before the match."
"I guess Kenny has a point." Ray stated trying to help his little nerdy friend out.
"Yeah and its our turn to show Jessica and Angel our stuff!" Tyson said enthusiastically.
"By the way Kenny, which of us are going up first?" asked Max once they were putting their stuff away in their locker room.
"Well I think actually based on my stats, you and Tyson should battle this first team and Kai and Ray should take the second match later today thereby setting our order. You and Tyson being team one and Kai and Ray being team two."
"Let's do this then." Said Tyson leading the way to the arena.
It's needless to say that Tyson and Max won their matches, if they had lost I would've taken the time to tell you. But none-the-less, Jess cheered for her new friends while Angel sat next to her, deeply pensive in the throes of some thought.
While the match went on, Kai found himself unable to keep his eyes from finding their way back to Angel. What was going on? She was just some chic like all the rest. Weak, clingy, and a nuisance.
"Is that really what she's like?" a voice asked in his mind.
"Dranzer." Kai thought. He didn't want to think about Angel anymore.
"Is she?" the voice repeated.
Kai knew Dranzers' implication was right. Angel wasn't weak, atleast even if she was she made herself be strong which he couldn't deny made her different than a lot of other girls he'd known. She wasn't a nuisance either, he thought on, she seemed always to be silent. Preferring to listen to what was happening than to be a part of it. Clingy? That definitely didn't seem to be her. When she was terrified or scared, yes, who wouldn't be? She was a chic after all. She almost couldn't help it. But she seemed so independent, so ready to face anything even if that meant she stood alone. Was that why he felt that he had to stay with her last night? Was it that she actually needed him then? Kai shook his head deadening his thoughts. This was the most pathetic thing to ever happen to him. Why should he care? Forget it! He yelled to himself. With great difficulty he shoved his thoughts aside and ignored Dranzer as he watched Maxs' battle.
Angel sat next to an energetic and cheering Jess, deep in thought. No matter how hard she tried to watch Maxs' match, she kept finding herself staring at Kai. Why didn't he push her for answers? Why did he still protect her even when he knew nothing of what was going on? What am I thinking! She thought, it was one time. One! He probably only felt obligated because I'd saved him, but now that the debt's repaid he'll leave me to them. Just like all the rest.
"Jess didn't." Ryker reminded her in her mind.
"So. Kai isn't Jess." Angel replied defiantly.
"Come now, young mistress, do you really think Kai seems that sort of person?"
"I don't know." Angel replied to her bitbeast. Which she knew was the truth.
"Then I suggest you find out or atleast give him a chance."
Angel nodded her head to her bitbeast inconspicuously.
"I hope you're right Ryker." Angel muttered to herself.
Jess heard the statement but after knowing Angel for this long, she'd learned to ignore the seemingly random mutterings. Though sometimes it did make her wonder what she and Ryker were talking about.
Upon seeing Maxs' victoryhe going after Tyson who of course won. Jess ran down to congratulate them with angel in tow.
"Max! Tyson!" Jess screamed as she ran up to them giving each a congratulating hug. "Awesome job guys!"
"It was nothing." Tyson laughed smugly, " hey guys can we eat something now?"
"Tyson you ate an hour ago!" Hilary sighed.
"Well I think Angel and I were going to go get something to eat." Jess began.
Tyson looked at Angel and Jess hopefully.
"Would you guys like to join us?" Jess laughed noticing the anxious look in Tyson's' eyes.
"Yeah!" Tyson exclaimed following Jess with the rest of his team in tow.
As Jess and the bladebreakers continued eating and talking, Angel slipped away to take a walk and clear her mind. She found herself walking through a restricted doorway and into an empty, dimly lit hallway.
Angel didn't notice a group of bladers watching her from behind black shades. The leader of them smiled as he watched her go through the restricted doorway, this was going to be too easy, he thought.
"Do you have her in sight?" came a malicious voice through his earpiece.
"Yes sir." He replied inconspicuously.
"Good. You know what to do."
There was no need to reply as the leader stood up and led his team through the restricted doorway after the unsuspecting Angel.
When he had notice Angel slip away Kai had instinctively followed. He kept asking himself why he was following her as he watched her go through a restricted doorway and disappear from his sight. He was about to turn away when a strange conversation came to his ears. Kai had been trained at the abbey to hear such conversations and didnlt like what he heard. Kai turned around and noticed four guys stand up and go through the door Angel had just gone through. Without a second thought, Kai followed silently keeping a good distance between him and them. He was not going to allow them to hurt her.
Angel walked seemingly forever, lost in her thoughts when she heard footsteps behind her. She was being followed.
Angel didn't turn around to face her followers but kept walking. What was she going to do? She listened intently to the footsteps gaining on her. There were four of them, wait…five? Suddenyl a hand roughly turned her around to face him. She turned and came face to face with four thugs. Wait, only four? She thought. The one that gripped her shoulder had nut brown hair, gray eyes, and wore the uniform she had once worn.
"Well Angel, its taken a hwile to track you down." Sneered the leader who still gripped her shoulder, "Now our orders are to take you back. You can go willingly or we beat you into unconsciousness then take you back."
"I'll never go back!" Angel spat breaking free of his grip.
"Angel, Angel" laughed the leader patronizingly, " You don't really have a choice."
Angel tried to back away only to hit a wall. The four figures spread out cornering her. She was trapped! Angel was now angry and even though she'd never admit it, she was scared. She was too tired and sore to fight and they knew it. They started closing in on her, what could she do? Fight! Came the tenacious spirit within her. She was not going without a fight. Angel lunged at the four thugs desperately, but within a moment she was beaten to the ground easily. She was just too sore and tired to put up a good fight. The four bladers laughed at her pathetic escape attempt, when Angel caught the sound of footsteps running towards them. Distantly she heard a fight break out above her but didn't know what to think. Within minutes it was over and she could hear only the heavy breathing of one left standing. She felt herself gently turned over and to her surprise looked into the eyes of none other than…Kai!
"Kai?" Angel asked surprised and hiddenly relieved.
"You okay?" he asked.
Angel nodded he rhead tiredly.
Kai helped her sit up as she rubbed the back of her head where she had been hit by one of the thugs.
"Who are these guys?" he asked catching his breath as he looked at the four now unconscious figures.
Angel looked away, how could she tell him? Jess was the only other living person who knew and even she didn't know everything.
"Angel," Kai began softly" I want to know, I need to know." His eyes searched hers imploringly.
Angel looked away, she couldn't even seem to look at him now. He had saved her again, for no reason. But now he was actually pushing her a little bit for an answer she knew was more than fair for him to ask.
"I don think I an tell you everything." Angel said sadly. Still not meeting his gaze.
Kai lowered his head to make eye contact with her, "I don't need to know everything. I just need something, please Angel, anything."
Angel couldn't take it anymore; she nodded her head in defeat.
"Just not here."
"Okay." Kai said understandingly.
He stood up then reached down to help Angel to her feet. Involuntarily she fell against him, weakened by the few blows she'd received. Kai reached down to pick her up when she stopped him with her hand.
"I can walk." She insisted a bit more determinedly than anything else.
Kai simply nodded as he watched her calm herself before pushing off of him and starting off. He remained by her side, just in case till they came to a flight of stairs. As he opened the door for Angel he glanced at his watch. It was 10:15, he and Ray's match wasn't till noon he thought with relief. He looked out at the sunlight confusedly, why were they on the roof?
"I don't normally like talking about my past in the dark." Angel explained as if reading his mind as she walked over to a shaded part of the rooftop and sat down.
Kai joined her and both sat in silence each wondering what the other was going to say.
"SO what do you want to know?" Angel asked mentally preparing herself for what she might have to remember.
"Who were those guys and where were they trying to take you? Kai asked.
Angel took a deep breath before answering: they're bladers who, my guess is, are thugs for Genecite, which is where they were trying to take me, back to."
"What's Genecite?"
"It was a company or rather an organization that believed only in the genetic manipulation of bladers and their bitbeasts in order to make the 'perfect' bladers. I was one of their projects."
"You were on a team called the Celtic Dragons weren't you?"
Angel seemed to tense up at that memory and merely nodded.
"So did the Psycho that drugged you work for Genecite?"
"He was my coach." Angel answered nodding.
Kai felt a bit puzzled trying to tie all these facts together, but they all seemed so random compared to the mysteries that remained untouched.
"Angel can you tell me how you became involved with them?" Kai asked gently knowing it might be a hard question for her to answer.
Angel sighed trying to think back to the beginning without going over the torture that had been between 'then' and 'now'.
"It started when I was 8."Angel began distantly, "An older man along with another boy who was a few years older than me approached me one day, just out of the blue. They gave me a beyblade and told me to try it out, so I did. In fact, I found that I loved it. After my first time they told me about a boarding school they were running where I could learn even more about blading. When they were sure I was interested they talked my parents into sending me there. For awhile we kept in touch but then they suddenly stopped contacting me, and after awhile I stopped trying to contact them. I became a loner at the 'school' they had sent me to and yet I excelled with my blade, surpassing even my mentors. When I was 12, they sent me to a castle in another part of Wales, that's when it really began. My training became harder than I had even imagined and soon I realized that I was nothing more to them than a defective tool. I was beaten and over-worked, they were killing me off, but it didn't matter. I thought things couldn't get any worse, but I was wrong. At 13 , they started their new 'project'. I was chosen along with three others to be involved. They explained that we were the descendants of the greatest warlords of the Celtic races and thereby had the genetics needed to control the 'guardians of the Celts.' Then started the terrors." Angels' eyes started to grow misty as tears peaked out from them in pain.
Kai shocking himself put his arm around her as she struggled to continue, nearly unrestrainable tears trying to fall down her cheeks.
"They brought out our evil sides, and tried to turn us into mindless, merciless robots who did only as ordered. They even tried to make our bitbeasts evil. The horrors I watched them do, the evils, all that they destroyed, all that I allowed and all that I have done still haunts me today. When I was 15 I finally escaped though it cost me everything, and disappeared. Somehow I ran into Jess whom I'd grown up with and…others. I had friends again, but they found me and…"Angel couldn't finish the last part just hadn't healed enough yet to take away the bandage and reveal the wound.
Kai quieted her soothingly as she allowed him to in silence. He couldn't ask her to tell him what clearly she hadn't told anyone else. He now had the nearly complete summary of Angels' life and felt now more than ever that he wanted to help her, he wanted to protect her, he wanted to be there for her. He understood so many things now about her, why she was so attached to Jess and so scared for her.
"It seems were alike you and I." Kai stated distantly.
Angel looked up at him for awhile curiously before deciding to leave it for another time. For a long time they sat in silence, finding comfort and strength in eachothers' presence.
"Thanks Kai." Angel suddenly said looking at him.
Kai looked at her quizzically.
"For saving me back there."
"Hn" he replied meeting her gaze.
Both stared at eachother for awhile wondering why they seemed to…connect so easily. Angel found understanding in Kai, and protection? Her mind started wandering when it flashed back as her eyes noticed something red.
"You're bleeding." Angel stated worriedly reaching up to his brow.
Her hand lightly touched the cut, trying not to make it sting. It was still bleeding she noticed and she needed to stop it.
Angel took Kai's hands as he looked at her confusedly, "Come on." Angel said leading the way through the door.
He followed her amusedly as she led him down the stair and through the hallway to a small washroom. Angel wet a paper towel and turned back to face Kai.
"You mind sitting?" she said with a grin as Kai noticed for the first time that he was taller than she was.
He sat down on a bench against the wall as she lifted his head gently and dabbed the cut lightly.
Kai felt confused. Part of him wanted to push her away and tell her he didn't need any help, but the other side of him wanted to thank her. Not wanting to give in to either side Kai remained silent as did Angel.
After a few minutes Angel finally had got the bleeding to stop. She threw the towel away and turned around to see Kai already standing. He glanced at his watch, it was 11:40 now and if he didn't find his team soon they might start to wonder why he and Angel always seemed to disappear at the same time. He started walking for the door when a hand on his arm stopped him.
"Kai did those guys get a good look at you?" she asked pensively troubled.
Kai thought back he had moved quickly but there was no way they hadn't seen him, which Angel must know too. He nodded his head and instantly realized why she was worried.
"Don't worry about it." He stated calmly.
"But Kai what if they come after you? I don't want you getting hurt because of me. Not again."
Kai looked at her, Angel looked cool and calm but her eyes betrayed the worry raging inside her.
"It'll be okay. I'm not going to let them take you back."
Angel looked down at the floor sadly. "Kai do you know what you're getting yourself into?"
Kai wondered thought fully for a moment before he fun his answer.
Gently Angel felt her head lifted and her eyes locked with Kai's awaiting eyes.
"I know you're in trouble and that's all I need to." He said intensely.
Angel nodded though she still didn't get it. She found herself blushing and looked at Kais' watch so he wouldn't see it. It was 15 minutes till noon, didn't he have a match at noon?
"You have a match at noon don't you?"
Kai was a bit startled by the sudden change in subject, but let it go as he nodded.
"Well you'd better go before they start wondering where you are."
"Will you be alright?" Kai found himself asking.
Angel smiled at him patronizingly "I'm a tough kid, I can take care of myself for a while."
Kai smirked a bit before leading her out of the washroom and down the dark hallway before stopping at the door.
"I'll see you later." He muttered. This was too weird for him. Why the heck was he acting like this?
"Good luck today." Angel replied. "And Kai," she began stopping him from exiting, "please be careful."
Kai shot her a grin as he left, leaving Angel alone in the hallway. For awhile she waited before exiting and starting her search for Jess.
Sorry that was kinda a short and in my mind not my best chapter. But I dunno. I was gonna out chapters 6 and 7 together but I have a LOT of homework I still have to do so ill type up the rest probably tomorrow and post it. Well later and please review if you read my stuff. Later and peace out.
LightInTheDarkTempest