Nisa-chan666: Hello again! Right to recap, the Bladebreakers had been suffering from strange symptoms (insomnia, hallucinating etc.) And Garnet had felt a strange pull, and collapsed at the end of the chapter. Any questions?
Garnet: Just one.
Nisa-chan: Fire away.
Garnet: WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO US?
Nisa-chan: Calm down, that was only one chapter! Michael, could you do the disclaimer? I've got Garnet here trying to kill me.
Michael: Nisa-chan666 does not own Beyblade, but she does own me and Garnet. Okay, done. Excuse me while I try to kill the authoress. On with the story.
Chapter 2: The gifts.
Garnet opened her eyes and looked blearily at the canopy of leaves above her. What happened? She sat up, rubbing her eyes wearily. She paused for a moment. She peered at her hands. Something about them wasn't right. They looked okay, but it was dark and she couldn't see much. The moon moved above a gap in the trees, and her hand was bathed in ethereal silver light. She gasped. Now she knew what was wrong. Her hands were made of bark. She held them up to the moonlight, still trying to tell herself that it wasn't what it seemed. But it was what it seemed. Her hands were made of bark. A flash of moonlight on water's surface alerted her to the river flowing by the clearing. That was weird. Wasn't the river on the other side of town? She shook her head and crept to the water's edge. She suppressed a scream as she looked at her reflection. She was wearing a long red dress with vines of dark pink roses embroidered up the skirt. Her hair had grown down to the middle of her back and a crown of entwined rosebuds was nestled on the top of her head. A long coiled whip of thorns was attached to the belt around her hips. And her skin was a pale green. Something definitely wasn't right.
"Oh my god. I look like an overgrown rose-bush," she whispered, lightly touching her cheek.
Her other hand started to rise, but was pricked by one of the thorns on her whip. She grasped it tightly to her chest, wincing slightly. It had made her bleed, a sticky amber liquid that slowly oozed from the wound.
Kenny woke up to find himself entangled in a tree. How, he had no idea, because his arms and legs weren't caught in anything, and nothing seemed to be latched onto his head. Maybe it was something on his back. He turned... and blanched. 2 large black wings were protruding from his back. They definitely were not there the last time he had checked. He started to panic, thrashing about from side to side.
"I wouldn't bother if I were you," a female voice whispered.
"Who's there?" he squeaked, peering about for the mystery voice.
"What do you mean, who's there? Don't you recognise me?" she replied, annoyance turning the voice into one he knew all too well.
"Dizzi?" he asked.
"Yay, he gets it. Like I said, I wouldn't bother thrashing about like that," Dizzi whooped sarcastically.
"It's not as if you've ever been in a predicament like this before," Kenny grumbled, feet dangling in the air.
"Excuse me! I'll have you know that I have been in this kind of tight spot loads of times! Before I got stuck in your lap-top, I was a harpy, you know," Dizzi snapped. "Looks like you've taken on some of my characteristics."
"A harpy? Wait a second... harpies are all female! Please tell me I'm not a girl!" he yelped, looking down at himself.
"Nope, I would be laughing if you were," Dizzi giggled.
Kenny had stopped listening. He was staring at his hands, which had grown in length, with sharp, pointed talons. He looked himself over again, not quite believing what he saw. He was wearing long grey trousers ripped at the knees, and a brown leather belt. He wasn't wearing a shirt, which explained why he'd been shivering for the last 5 minutes.
"Do you really fly around everywhere with no shirt on?" he asked through chattering teeth.
"Yes, you get used to it. But that's not the point! Right now we need to concentrate on getting you down from that tree," Dizzi snapped. "Focus on moving your wings away from the branches. When you do, just let instinct take over."
He frowned disbelievingly, but did as he was told. He felt the tiny individual bones grate together as he flexed his wings experimentally. He smiled. It was actually working! And it was almost second nature. After a couple minutes of manoeuvring his wings, he dropped from the tree's grasp. With a sound like ripping cloth, his wings gave a huge flap, and he was soaring above the trees into the endless night sky.
Rei opened his eyes, strangely alert and awake. He uncurled himself from the tight ball he was in on the ground. He jumped to his feet, feeling quicker and more energetic than he had in weeks. He felt something tickling his cheek with a light feathery touch. He grabbed and tugged it in view of his face. It was a furry white tail with a pale gold sheen. A tail must lead to an animal, Rei reasoned. He followed it down to... himself.
"That cannot be right," he muttered in shock, walking up to the reflective surface of the nearby river.
Mirrored in the water's surface was Rei, but not as he knew himself. Though cat-like normally, his eyes seemed to be glowing slightly and the pupil was a thin black slit. Protruding slightly over his lip, were two sharp canine teeth. He was wearing a black ninja-style outfit, a long sword strapped to his back. His hands were longer and more elegant, ending in short, sharp claws. But the biggest change was the long white tail, and two large furry cat ears. He grinned.
"Looking good," he purred, and then stopped. "Did I just purr?"
"Yes, young master," a deep masculine voice purred.
"What the hell?" Rei yelled, twisting his torso round in surprise.
This sudden movement caused him to overbalance, toppling head first into the river. He thrashed wildly before realising that it was only knee-height. He crawled out, and sat sulkily on the river bank.
"I hate water," he mumbled, shaking the water from his hair.
"Quite," the voice agreed uncertainly.
"Who are you?" Rei asked, still annoyed at the voice for getting him wet.
"I am sorry, Master Rei. I am the being you call Driger," the voice rumbled apologetically.
"Driger? How is that?" Rei asked amazed.
"It seems that when young Mistress Garnet fainted, the magic that had built up inside her sent us all to an alternate universe and fused us together," Driger replied.
"Okay, I think I get the part about us fusing together. It explains the ears anyway," Rei murmured, scratching behind his ear.
"Quite, Master Rei," Driger rumbled.
"Time to find the others, I think," Rei said, stretching. "Oh, and could you stop calling Master Rei? It makes it sound like you're my servant instead of my partner."
"If you wish," Driger replied, not sounding all that sure, as Rei sprinted into the trees.
Kai woke up to find himself nestled in the uppermost branches of a tree. He ached all over, and felt sick to his stomach. He turned slightly and fell through a gap in the branches, and fell to the dusty ground below. For a moment he just laid there, half-conscious, his breathing short and ragged. The sound of a fire crackling nearby brought him to his senses. A voice echoed in his head.
"You cannot hope to survive without shedding your hold onto the real world. The fire is your only hope," it whispered.
With great effort, he pulled himself to his feet, and despite his best judgement, complied with the voice and stepped into the fire. It just felt like the right thing to do. He stood for a moment, eyes tightly shut, before he realised that the flames weren't actually hurting him. Instead, they seemed to be healing him. He felt his bone-deep weariness leave him, and a change came over him. Two huge scarlet wings burst from his back. His eyes become sharp and piercing, like a hawk's. He felt the fire around him lick at his skin, and he brought it together and cupped it in his hands. He grinned. Wielding the flames seemed totally natural.
"Great, I'm becoming a pyromaniac," he muttered sarcastically.
"You have mastered my powers quickly. I am impressed," the voice said, in an arrogant, powerful purr.
Kai frowned. He knew who the voice was; he had done since the fire had first touched him. But for some reason, he still didn't quite trust Dranzer like this. Dranzer had the voice of a young woman, the kind that graciously invites you to dinner, then plans your murder when you slight her, no matter how small or unintentional the insult.
"Dranzer, I wouldn't underestimate my abilities if I were you. Who else could control you like I do?" Kai replied curtly.
"Yes, you did a very good job of that," she muttered sulkily. "You've managed to have me stolen twice already."
"That isn't the point. I still wouldn't underestimate my skills. Some people have made that mistake before. They weren't quite the same afterwards," Kai commented in a quiet, murderous voice.
"Oh, I know what you mean. I remember those battles. They were fun. How come you never let me loose more often?" Dranzer reminisced with an evil laugh.
Kai didn't reply. He was busy trying to tug down his tunic. He was wearing a blue tunic, with black trousers and metal boots to his knees.
"Leave it. You shouldn't hide your legs, they're quite nice," Dranzer remarked in a voice that brought a pink blush to his cheeks.
"Don't go there," Kai muttered, setting off into the dark trees.
Max opened his eyes to see the huge expansive midnight-blue of the sky, the moon a fat bloated orb casting a pale silver sheen. He was drifting along, a happy little tune wafting through his head. He leant his head back a little, and the water of the river splashed over his face as his head submerged. A tiny message of shock registered in his brain before he was totally underwater. He paddled for a moment, taking huge gulping breaths from shock.
"Hang on a sec! I'm breathing underwater?" he thought, bewildered.
"Of course you are! You didn't expect to drown did you?" a little boy's voice giggled in his head.
"What is happening? And who are you?" Max asked, still totally shocked.
"Check your neck around the jaw-line, and I'm Draciel. Didn't you guess?" the little boy pouted.
Max lifted his hand to the place his bit-beast had specified, and found beneath his fingers, a set of gills down the side of his neck. He brought his hand away in shock and found that it was now webbed, with long pointed black nails. A fish swam past him, rubbing his back as it went by. He didn't feel it at all. He ran a hand over his back to find that it was, in essence, armour plated like a turtles shell. He grinned and did a little flip in his patch of water. He turned his watery blue eyes to the water's surface. Everything above him looked cool and shimmery, like he was looking at the world from above the water instead of below it.
"Nice isn't it?" Draciel asked, in a voice that sounded like he had seen this many times before, but never ceased to tire of it.
"Yeah," Max agreed, before swimming to the surface in search of his friends.
Hilary came around to find herself in a forest clearing filled with hundreds of fireflies nestled on the various branches in the trees around her. She stood up, rubbing her head from where she had hit it when she'd fainted. Everything seemed much louder all of a sudden, almost to a painful intensity. Probably from where she'd hit her head, she reasoned. Her hand moved to the side of her head, trying to dislodge the pieces of grass that had gotten stuck in her hair. She stopped a moment. She could feel the tip of her ear against the side of her hand. But her ears would have had to be about... twice their normal length. She giggled nervously as she moved her hand to the base of her ear and followed the skin. Normal length... still going... she stopped at the pointy tips, not quite believing what was happening. She brought her hands together and clutched them together, suddenly very frightened. She was somewhere she didn't know, she had lost her friends and now, to top everything off, it looked like she had turned into an elf. She stared at her shaking hands, noticing the porcelain quality they now had. She was wearing a knee-length dark green dress, tied at the waist with a makeshift leather belt. A quiver of arrows rested lightly on one of her bare shoulders, the bow lying on the ground by her feet. She picked it up, tightening her grasp with a determined smile. She could look after herself.
Tyson cracked open his eyes to see himself lying on an exposed rock above the river. The wind blew through his hair as if trying to grasp it and pull him to his doom in the river below. He sat up, stretching and yawning. He caught sight of two fangs glinting in his mouth as he leant over the rock. That didn't surprise him half as much as the red eyes, armoured claws and tail did though. He jumped back, a yell bursting from his lips. He landed on his back, staring at the moonlit sky.
"Why does this surprise you?" a voice he hadn't heard since his first world tournament asked.
"Shut up Dragoon. I really don't need questions like that right now," Tyson replied snappily.
"As you wish. I have just one more thing to say," Dragoon answered in his strong, patient voice.
"What?" Tyson asked wearily.
"Although you wield my powers well, this time you haven't got me as a channel to help the strain. I advise you to be careful," Dragoon uttered quietly, but clearly.
"I understand you, Dragoon. But right now, I'd say my main concern would be finding my friends, not learning how to fully master your powers. Once I find my friends, these things will make themselves clear," Tyson muttered back.
He stood up and stared out at the river as it made its way across the landscape, like a silver ribbon in a mass of blackness.
"Wait for me, Kai. I will find you out there," he muttered, exploring the rip that had been made inside him when he had been separated from the one he most cared about.
He turned and walked into the mass of shadowy trees that marked the edge of the forest.
The boy looked away from the misty surface of the looking-glass, Tyson's face fading from it. He bowed to the shining silver woman behind him.
"My lady, they have arrived. The heroes of legend have arrived," he muttered from where he knelt on the floor.
"Good. Then be sure to welcome them," the woman replied, in a sweet, ringing voice, like a bell.
"As you wish, my lady," the boy answered, straightening.
"Oh, and Michael... their lives are in your charge. Do not let them come to harm," she called as he turned to leave.
"I can assure you, they will not be harmed. After all these years, I think I know what I'm doing," Michael replied, the silver light emanating from the deity reflected in his sorrowful grey eyes.
Nisa-chan666: Second chapter over! I'm glad I survived Garnet and Michael here to actually write it.
Michael: Did we say we were trying to kill you? Sorry... we meant injure or maim, not as far as kill. Our creator didn't give us much stomach for blood (glares at authoress).
Nisa-chan: Sorry, sub-conscious decision there. So, guys, what did you think of the chapter?
Kai: You almost killed me! Do you hate me or something?
Nisa-chan: Nope, that's Shazy's job. You're my favourite character from Beyblade actually.
Max: O.O That's what you do to your favourite character? (Turns to other characters.) We're basically screwed then, aren't we?
Nisa-chan: Not necessarily. Kai's just an easy character to hurt. He can take it.
Kai: Nice to know I'm loved.
Nisa-chan: Shut up or I will kill you.
Kai: Shutting up.
Nisa-chan: As I was saying, what did you think? Please review and tell me what I need to improve. Please review, I've only had 1 so far. TT.TT