Taiy-Chan: I know, I know! It's been what, two months now? Sorry. I DO have an excuse though! Not only was I finishing Never Forget, but I had my graduation and also the end of the year trip. But fear not! School is over and Never Forget is too! So that means I'm going to be putting all of my work into this until it's finished!

On with the chapter that you've waited for for so long!

Chapter 5

Walking

"Going back to my village's going to be hard.. So many things happened there. And I'm sure that they'd want to see my old home... What if... No, I can't think like that. It's different now... I'm not alone anymore."

"How much further? We've been walking for hours!" Tyson yelled as he collapsed onto a near by rock.

Taiy looked back at the rest of his team, who were desperately trying to keep up. That morning, they had decided to use the free time in between matches to go and visit Ray's village. They had taken the bus halfway there, to the mountains. But the rest had to be done on foot.

"We're almost there, Tyson. It's just about a twenty minute walk away." Taiy said.

Tyson groaned loudly.

"'Just' you say? 'JUST'? I can't walk another second! Let alone a whole twenty minutes!" he whined.

Max sighed and grinned, grabbing Tyson's hand and hauling the boy to his feet.

"Come on Tyson. It's not like you're the only one walking here. Look, Taiy's not complaining." the blond pointed out, nodding over to the raven haired boy a couple of feet away.

Tyson snorted.

"Well, he has three people in him. I only have one. There you go." Max rolled his eyes and proceeded to drag the unwilling boy behind him.

Hilary shook her head.

"They never change." she said, walking along side Kenny. The small boy nodded, taking deep breaths.

"Even so, I have to agree with Tyson on this one. I feel like I'm going to faint!" he cried.

Taiy sighed and turned around.

"Fine, we take a break. But that's only because Ray won't shut up about how you guys aren't as fit as we are." he said, glaring at them.

"There is a God!" Tyson said as he slumped to the ground. Max followed suit, sitting beside him.

Hilary sat down on the side of the pathway, crossing her legs neatly under her. Kenny all but collapsed to the ground, landing in a heap on the sandy floor.

Taiy shook his head, smiling slightly.

"You have five minutes." he said over his shoulder, turning and walking down the path.

"Hey wait!" Tyson shouted, not bothering to get up. "Where are you going!"

"I won't leave you, don't worry!" Taiy answered, waving.

Tyson shrugged and relaxed best he could on the ground.

Before they stopped, the Bladebreakers had been making their way up a rocky mountain, following a path littered with rocks and dust. It was wide enough for cattle to walk through, and the footing wasn't hard to travel on. They were nearly at the top, where they'd be able to see the village.

Below them, a large, lush forest could be seen. Birds flying through the air and a large river flowing right through it. It was like a valley, the mountains surrounding the forest at nearly all the sides. It was cut of from the rest of the world, no cars nor pollution had ever tainted this sacred place..

The road that the Bladebreakers had been following lead back down the mountain and into the forest, where it turned into a dirt path. They would keep going until the road ended at Ray's village.

Taiy came to a stop by a lookout point, some flat rock that was a little ways from the path, giving anyone a great view of their surroundings.

Taiy sighed as the wind played with his hair, pushing some raven locks behind his ear, he smiled as he watched an eagle fly over the forest.

"Beautiful..."

"Sure is. Wow, Ray. You're so lucky to have grown up here."

"It's not that great you guys! I mean, you two grew up in Russia! With all that snow! It barely snows here."

"Russia is beautiful in its own way. But we never really saw the snow when we were young."

His thought held a tint of sadness.

"What do you mean?"

"We were rarely allowed outside at the Abby."

"Just how young were you when you started to go there!"

"Six."

"Wow..."

"It's not something to be proud of."

"I know."

Taiy looked down at his watch. Five minutes had definitely pasted. He turned and made his way back to his group, stealing one last glance back at the valley before he left.

When he returned, they were exactly as he left them, other than the fact that Tyson was sprawled out on the ground snoring his head off.

Taiy groaned. Great. Now they had to wake him up.

"Hey Taiy." Kenny greeted cheerfully, having had enough rest to keep on going.

"I see Tyson made good use of the break." Taiy said, sweatdropping.

Max laughed.

"I can't believe how quickly and easily he falls asleep!" he exclaimed.

"Then you obviously don't know Tyson very well."

"Why don't we just leave him and see how long it takes for him to wake up and find his way to the village." Hilary suggested, cracking her knuckles.

Taiy shook his head, smiling.

"He'd kill us."

He tapped his chin thoughtfully.

"Now, how shall we wake him up..." he muttered.

"Dangle him off the cliff?"

"I'm all for that!"

"No you guys, what if we drop him?"

"So?"

"He might fall."

"And your point is..."

"Oh come on! Don't be so mean, Kai!"

"I'm all for the dangling."

"Same."

"Sorry Ray, but it looks like you're over-ruled this time."

"Whatever, but if anything happens, I'm blaming it on you!"

"Ooooh, this is gonna be great."

Taiy rubbed his hands together and walked over to the sleeping boy, his friends watching him with curiosity.

Taiy grabbed Tyson and yanked him up, holding him under his arms.

"Uhhh, Taiy?" Max squeaked, a little freaked out. "What exactly are you doing?"

Taiy just grinned, which, by the way, is not a good sign.

Strolling over to the edge of the cliff, Taiy held Tyson right over it, so that if he just happened to let go... Buh bye Tyson.

"Taiy!" Kenny cried, slowly backing away. "You're not going to kill him, are you!"

Taiy laughed, deciding not to answer the small boy. This only made things worse.

"TAIY! STOP IT! WHAT ARE YOU THINKING!" Kenny screamed. "RAY! IF YOU ARE IN THERE, STOP HIM!" He was going completely hysterical, and all his screaming and carrying on woke Tyson up.

"What's all the ruckus about?" Tyson muttered, reaching up to rub the sleep from his eyes. It was then that he noticed that he was not on the ground anymore, and was staring into the face of a very evil Taiy. "Taiy...? What?" ...

Then he looked down.

Five minutes later, the Bladebreakers found themselves down the mountain, face first on the ground and covered with dirt and twigs.

Taiy laughed, getting to his feet and brushing his clothes off.

"Well, that sure cut some time of our hike to the village." he said cheerfully.

Tyson growled, jumping up from the bush he had been tangled in.

"If you hadn't gone and dangled me from that cliff, this might not have happened!" he said, pointing an accusing finger at the black haired boy.

"If you hadn't gone and had such a spaz attack, I wouldn't had dropped you and then you wouldn't have grabbed me which lead to me grabbing Max, etcetera, etcetera." Taiy retorted.

Tyson grumbled to himself as Max, Kenny and Hilary picked themselves up from the ground.

"Well, things sure are more interesting now that we have Tala around." Max laughed.

Taiy frowned.

"Hey! I wasn't just my idea!"

"Yes it was."

"Kai was a part of it too!"

"Hey! I just said I wouldn't mind!"

"So there." Taiy finished, pouting and stomping his foot.

"Baby."

"Shut it!"

"Anyways," Taiy said brightly, smiling at them. "The village is only a five minute walk from here! Let's get going!" with that, he turned and headed down the path.

"Say... How are they going to recognize you, Ray?"

"Dunno."

"Why don't we just, like, you know..."

"Actually, I don't know."

"Shut up and let me finish!"

"Sheesh! And they call me a spaz."

"Anyways, why don't we just pull back... If you know what I mean. Like, let Ray take over so that his characteristics stand out the most!"

"Wow... That's actually pretty smart! Ok."

"Why thank you... I think..."

"So, you guys gonna do it or what?"

"Do it? Ray, I know Kai's hot and all, but I really don't think that-"

"I didn't mean it that way you pervert!"

"Very childish, Tala."

"You never know what Ray could have been suggesting."

"I'm not like that."

"That's what they all say."

"Riiiiiight."

Taiy closed his eyes and stopped walking as Kai and Tala pulled back settling deeper into their shared mind.

When Taiy opened his eyes again, they were Ray's feline golden ones. The red streaks in his hair had dulled to a deeper red that was harder to see and his facial features had softened. The marks on his checks turned black and a bit fainter.

He turned to the others.

"Come on you guys!" he called, his voice exactly like Ray's, if only slightly deeper. "We're almost there!"

The others nodded and picked up the pace as Taiy ran ahead of them.

Taiy-Chan: SORRY IT'S SO SHORT! But I've decided to end it there, but don't worry! I have 5 pages of the next chap and it'll be done soon!

So, don't tell me it's short or anything(because I already know that!), cause the next chapter will be a lot more serious and better!

I just wanted this to be up sooner cause you guys have waited for oh so long! See you in the next chap!