MasterFranny: uhm, here we have chapter eight. I'm happy you all are still with me. Just read now, and don't forget to review! I'm happy now I can do smiles because when I used TXT it wasn't accepting them... --U I can't say how happy I am, for my three Tala/Kai fics I received so many reviews I think I will die of happiness by now! By the way, I'm at the ending of "Just say it..." and I'm going to put another fic after that. I've had in mind a nice Ozuma/Kai since no one wrote one, it's called "Leopard and Phoenix" and it's gonna have some kind of sequel. I've had in my mind another fic in which you can choose the pairings (I'll start with Tala/Kai/Rei triangle, but I'm open to other choices if it remains away from Kai/Tyson). If you want some particular fics (but they have to concern Kai mainly) you can ask me, if I like the idea I will do them happily!

Uhm... for you to know, I like better when the D-Boys are good. That's why they stand up against Boris, even if only in subtle ways. I think they are good to work with. All of them. I started to like the idea of Ian/Smart ass, Bryan/cold tempered Spencer/intelligent but silent. I like them a lot. D-Boys are better than BladeBreakers; I start to think this is where Kai really belongs. That's not a nice thought, let me tell you.

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Elves of the Moon: glad to hear you, but... you didn't answer me! Are you going to post new chapter?! TALAAAAAAAAA! WHATCH OUT FOR KAIIIII!

Reiven: oh, thanks for the review... can I ask you something? I DO sent you a mail to ask you to beta check for me, explaining my two ideas, but you never answered me. I know you surely would not want to beta read my fics, but you still could send a mail saying 'no thanks', maybe I offended you some way? They were no sobbing, they were just complaining about their sucking lives. Great difference. thanks for the nice review!

Phyrefly: who hoo! Thanks! It's nice to hear from you I'm great. My self esteem is huge now! But what about this one, was it boring? OO starts to freak out. eep.

Vampyre Neko: hee hee, he doesn't get in. But he will.

Wah-Keetcha & Distant Archer: wah, freaky review that was but thank you anyway!

Lefty: I knew you were MAx! just kidding. No I never liked killing him but that was the only way my mind came up with to how-to-get-rid-of-the-bad-chara. Sigh...

Babymar-mar: I know. But it's just because italian has different pronunces from english. Try talking in russian and then, come back to me. Thanks anyway, hope you like this as well.

Boys-on-boysenberry-hime: your name seems to get longer each day more. That's scary. OO just kidding, I love having reviews from you, my... my... muse! But I loved your OC, you know? They're lovely. And what about that wonderful fic called "Win Me Back"? Are you going to update it someday?

Renanimeangel: thanks... I think. That was a pretty confusing review but I liked it! Hope you like this one too!

Kammyh: thanks. I don't want to sound uncouth or worse, but I hate italian fics. Okay, some are good (Lucrezia-chan non è che sia male) but mainly they write stupid things in a stupid way and even yaoi is horrible. Lucrezia-chan came into that site but she wrote in italian (unica fic italiana sul sito) and no one reviewed. That's because she thought italian people would read italian fics here. She has to learn english can help better with reviews and feedback.

Spyrit Phoenix: thanks, nice to hear you like Kiya. I know, no that much male OC but I couldn't stand female OC that much, this is because they're always in a pairing and I don't like straight pairings anymore... Yaoi ruined my mind! Thanks you reviewed me, I feel honoured!

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RATING: still R... just wait...

DISCLAIMER: sigh. Just look back to prev chaps.

"talking"

'thinking'

" talking into other languages "

beatbeast language

""""""dreams sequences, flashbacks, memories""""""

BREATH OF LIGHT

CHAPTER 08 Unsure of what to Believe

From the start I knew

I was living in the wrong way:

But I just faked it was all okay,

I only wanted to become stronger;

All my need was for power,

Though I knew deep inside

Real power was not that.

Anything to keep me alive now,

When all the "power" turned against me,

And all the friends I managed to have,

Disappeared because of me.

Ray blinked tiredly, feeling really worn out, and managed to pull up into a sitting position. He was slightly confused: he didn't remember when he fell asleep the night before, plus he had a strange feeling.

Something was wrong, like he had to remember something but he couldn't... he was feeling like something was missing.

Stretching on the mattress he tried to beat the sleepiness he was still feeling and glanced at the bed near his own, expecting to see the form of his team leader under the blanket, but was met by an empty mattress. It wasn't unusual for him to find his captain already up before him, but this time it was a different matter. Kai usually left his bed re-done: instead now the sheets were scattered all over the floor.

And then, all the things that had happened the night before returned to his mind like a storm: waking up seeing the D-Boys kidnapping Kai... Bryan kissing him and then crying over his face... Ian's hypnotic eyes...

His mind stopped.

Kai.

Kai had been kidnapped.

For a moment the shock overwhelmed him totally, and he felt the room spin all around him as his mind took grasp of the awful fact. The Demolition Boys had kidnapped Kai.

And he fell asleep.

How could he?! They were taking away Kai, taking him back to the awful place that was the Abbey, and he simply fell asleep again?!

So it was all his fault if Kai was now back under Boris' claws.

He wasn't even tired when he woke up, the adrenaline helped him shake away the sleep... what the hell happened?!

Then he remembered Ian's eyes. They had turned half bronze when he locked them with Ray's own, and the two colours mixed and moved in a spiral, continuous circular motion and... he remembered the feeling that the two mixed colours were eating the space around him, the sensation of floating in midair, the calm and peace he found while looking into those orbs... hypnotic orbs.

But the mere thought of hypnotism to be the cause of him falling asleep again was ridiculous. So, what had happened? He didn't remember being sedated or drugged by anyone. He remembered very well Bryan holding him down on the bed, his sad tone when speaking, the tear and... the kiss... Bryan communicated so much desperation while their eyes met.

'You stupid!' his mind cried to him. 'Kai's being kidnapped, there's no time to lose thinking about this!'

He snapped out of his trance and headed in a rush towards the door that connected his room with Tyson's and bumped hard on it, knowing Max liked to keep it closed.

"MAX! CHIEF! TYSON! OPEN UP! PLEASE!" he yelled, feeling the urge to smash the door down if no one came right then. He felt tears build up in his eyes at the thought that it was completely his fault if his captain was to be tortured. It was all his fault if Kai was going to suffer.

There was some noise, then the sleepy face of Max appeared at the door, yawning.

"Ray, there's no need to yell that way, you know," he mumbled. It's ten o' clock for God's Sake..."

"Max, Kai's been kidnapped!" Ray whined, tears in his eyes.

It was his fault, it was his fault... his mind was processing only that line, over and over, in a continuous circle. How could he fall asleep while one of his friends was being taken away? But it wasn't the time for guilt.

Max's eyes shot open in a flash, the sleep disappearing from them, and paled.

Then he ran towards Tyson's snoring form and managed to get him up, who knows how. Chief wasn't anywhere to be found. Max ran into the bathroom, but he wasn't in there either. While slamming the door shut, no one noticed a small paper falling from the table under the bed...

"We need to go to Mr. Dickinson's room," urged Tyson, looking at Ray. "He will help us! And dad too!"

They nodded and left the rooms, still in their pyjamas, and stumbed through the corridor towards Mr. Dickinson's room.

"Mr. Dickinson!" Tyson and Ray bumped their fists on the door, but there was no reply.

No one was in there.

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The screen glowed before the dark face, hidden by a strange steely mask under which burnt two evil eyes. Said eyes were looking approvingly at the sight of the D-Boys coming back with Kai in their arms. They were taking him to his old room.

Boris smiled wickedly, really satisfied. He knew that the D-Boys were bound to take the Phoenix back with them, since he wasn't remembering a thing and needed to be back.

Glaring at the screen he mused about the rapidly fading effect of the serum on his prized possession, mildly wondering what could have happened if he had left the experimented one under the stupid chairman's care. Obviously, as Kai was a different matter, the consequences would be hardly bearable, but at the same time Boris couldn't help but smirk at the thought of the BBA's building falling down because of his power.

The other three experiments, which he had under control all these years, were considerably more handy since they weren't as strong as the first one was, and the last one, second creature of his infinite lust of power, was still there.

His eyes wandered on another screen, one that showed the wolf master unconscious in the same cage he had left him in after sedating him with the serum. Pressing down on a red button he ordered one of his special guards to take the Wolf back to his room. There was no need to keep him segregated now that his special arm was finally reunited.

Too bad the third experiment wasn't around anymore. He had been the strongest, after Experiment one, but he had to be suppressed: he was dangerous with his stupid care for the younger ones.

He turned back to the first screen as the three boys, now without Kai, headed towards their own rooms, each one with a strange down sided face.

Chuckling slightly, amused by the ghosts in their pasts, Boris turned away from the screens. Now that he had all he needed in his hands all that remained to do was to check the newly produced serum. The previous one led to not so pleasant consequences, like half the Abbey being destroyed and three of their best weapons out of play, two because of amnesia, one because of death. So all these years the scientists worked on a better version of it, a stronger serum; it had never been tested before since the cavy wasn't around, but he was positive it was going to work.

The director cracked his knuckles and stood up, ready to check on the last detail of his work: soon Voltaire would arrive, and soon the world would fall under their claws.

'Kai will soon understand why I'm so eager to have him back with us'.

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Lee yawned.

He was a morning person, living in a mountain village all his life, even if he was the only one of his team. So, after opening his eyes at the five o' clock AM, he knew he couldn't sleep anymore, and leaving his comfy and warm bed he headed to the kitchen for some early breakfast, already scheduling all the day to train and go around the city.

Looking around the kitchen he mentally cringed at the look of complete chaos the room was. Dishes and cups were all over the table, in the sink, on the counters. There were traces of milk and something that smelt like fish on the floor and who-knows-how it even got on the ceiling, while dirty piles of clothes and food were scattered in the most unbelievable of places.

It was a complete mess.

Three days, and the eating habits of Gary, the confusion of Kevin, the inaccuracy of Mariah and himself had changed the hotel's room upside down.

Sighing he decided that first, before training and sightseeing, the room needed some cleaning.

He was picking up a strange thing that looked -and smelt- horribly like Kevin's socks, when someone knocked on the door.

Cursing under his breath, obviously ashamed of the state of the room and worried since the visitor could be even Mr. Dickinson himself, Lee walked slowly towards the door, hiding the stinky socks under a cushion on the sofa and wishing (not for the first time) to have better teammates.

In the exact moment he turned the handle the door slammed open, hitting him on the nose and sending him on his back on the floor. Enraged he lifted his head, a trail of curses already coming out of his mouth, but stopped dead in his tracks when he found the three younger members of the BladeBreakers -namely Tyson, Ray and Max- standing there above him, their faces completely desperate and lost.

They were pale, scared and still in their pyjamas, since not one of them wasted time in dressing up.

"Hey guys, what's wrong?" by their actions, Lee knew something was deeply wrong.

What had happened?

Ray sniffed loudly, while his former team leader stood up from the floor and glanced at them worriedly. After finding out that both Mr. Dickinson and Bruce were nowhere to be found, and with no trace of Chief too, they felt really lost and it took them some time to catch up.

So they decided to go by themselves. Calling the police turned out to be a bad idea, since none of the police men they talked with believed them: Balkov Abbey, despite all the things with the Championship, had Boris and Voltaire who were too respected to be accused of kidnapping... especially if the kidnapped was none else than the grandson of the Abbey's owner, Kai Hiwatari.

They literally laughed their faces off.

Feeling completely lost and alone, Ray finally came up with the idea to ask his comrades to help; Max piped up that the All Stars could join too, and Tyson nodded saying the Majestics would be happy to help too. So they ran to the third floor of the hotel, room 350, where the White Tigers were staying.

"T-they kidnapped Kai," Ray stuttered. "We t-tried to c-call the police b-but...they tuned us out... and we don't know anyone else..."

It took a second for Lee to understand the meaning of those words. Kai had been... kidnapped?!

"Who? Where? When?" he asked, confused.

Tyson sniffed, on the verge of breakdown. "The Demolition Boys" he whispered. There was no need to say more, on Lee's face appeared a completely enraged expression.

He still hadn't forgotten how, under Biovolt's will, Kai had stolen his and his fellow's BitBeasts. He accepted so far that it wasn't Kai's fault but Boris', but hearing the same person who once tried to dominate the world had kidnapped the Captain of the BladeBreakers was enough to made him furious.

Looking down at the scared boys, Lee knew straightaway they were lost. Kai was the one who kept them focused, being the oldest of the group, and since he was the one missing the team was losing itself.

So, being the oldest of them, it was his duty to make them calm down again.

"Now, listen," he ordered. "I will not waste time waking up my mates... it would be pretty impossible," he glanced knowingly at Ray, who couldn't suppress a weak grin, "but now I want you to go and get dressed. I will run to the All Stars' room and warn Mrs. Tate and the American team... why didn't you call Mr. Dickinson?"

Max blinked, trying to suppress the urge to cry.

"He wasn't in his room," he whined.

Lee nodded, and rushing them out of his room he sprinted towards the fourth floor to the Americans' room.

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Michael twitched again; the loud snoring Steve was making had hit his nerves badly. He couldn't suppress a yawn; he remained awake all night because of it, would it ever end?

He thought, with jealousy, of the room Emily slept in, a personal room very far away from theirs, and how she slept well every night.

Not that the distance was that important. Eddie managed to get sleep in the same room as Steve, who knows how, and the two of them could actually have a night's rest, contrariwise of him who opted for some extra sleep during the day. He longed for the moment in which they would return to America, with separate rooms.

Curse Judy, she wasn't even there. She left a message saying she would be away for a little time, not saying where she went nor when she would be back.

Yawning again, Michael decided to get lost for the morning, hoping to find some rest in the nearby training facility the hotel kindly offered to all the tournament's participants.

He turned the knob and opened the door, and his face connected with a fist, sending the American boy to the floor.

Michael groaned in pain as he lifted himself up, really angry, but found himself staring into the red face of Lee from the White Tiger's team.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Michael screeched loudly, hearing in the background the snoring of Steve. Not being able to sleep and then being punched opening the door wasn't that nice of a way to start a day.

"I'm sorry Michael, I was going to knock but the door opened before I could." Lee looked at the taller boy, trying to suppress a light snicker seeing him rubbing his sore cheek, but straightaway got back his seriousness. "Don't stay there gaping, Michael, we're in deep shit".

Michael, still a little angry, glared at him but frowned hearing the last line.

"What does that mean?"

"Ray and the others came to me saying the D-Boys kidnapped Kai," Lee told him in a dark voice.

Michael, still sleepy, blinked twice, bewildered.

"What?!" He eeped. "Kidnapped?!"

Somehow he couldn't picture Kai being kidnapped. But then he remembered the D-Boys and suddenly found the picture much more easier to imagine.

"We need your help, and Judy's," continued Lee, looking around. "Where is she?"

Michael, now wide awake, shook his head. "I'm sorry, but Judy is gone and we don't know how to contact her, nor when she will be back."

Lee gritted his teeth, this was bad: none of the adults were available and Ray had said the police couldn't help; so that meant it was all in their hands.

"Come with me, we need to go to the Majestics," he ordered, not wasting time to call the other two, hearing too well the loud snoring -really similar to Gary's own-.

Michael nodded and, picking up his loyal Trygle, followed Lee out of the room.

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The first thing to return was his hearing.

He heard faint sounds around him, like soft breaths, but he still couldn't open his eyes, it seemed like they were heavier than stones. On his whole consciousness lingered a slight sleepiness and it felt really hard to concentrate on something, but his head wasn't hurting him that much.

His heart was beating softly, and for a moment he tried to concentrate on it to clear his mind. Then the feeling in his body came back. He was feeling really light-headed, but that wasn't the most important thing. The bed felt different.

Not as smooth as he seemed to remember.

Finally, after some vain attempts, his eyes opened carefully and were met by a soft light. He groaned slightly, still confused, and wondered briefly what happened; where he was, why he felt so damn... light-headed.

His body now felt really heavy, completely different to the sensation of minutes before, and it was hard for him to raise one hand to his head, rubbing his temple to soothe the tingle he felt.

He finally found back some of his strength and frowning he recalled something.

He remembered waking up, and a face before his eyes, he had panicked, then the shape hushed him in a familiar way, and...

He sat up on the bed in a flash, his memory flooding back: someone was in his room, and they drugged him.

Blinking twice he looked around, and saw he was into one of the Abbey's rooms, his own from when he betrayed the 'Breakers for the Russian team.

He had been kidnapped. He was back at the Abbey.

His eyes turned to the form near the bed and was surprised to see it was Ian. The short boy was looking at him with a calm expression on his face: giving away nothing, but his eyes revealed something more than his face. There was a deep trace of... concern? How could it be possible, concern wasn't a feeling the Russians had, along with caring, friendship and such. They were usually cold and emotionless, like himself...

And so, why Ian was now looking at him with almost reassuring eyes?

He needed to escape. Now. He didn't want to be there anymore, under Boris' claws.

" Move " he hissed towards the shorter teen, trying to leave the bed he was laying on.

But Ian remained still and shook his head calmly. The fact that he hadn't scared him surprised Kai slightly, but he decided that the boy had been put here to guard him by Boris, so the fear of being punished by the director was stronger than the fear of Kai himself.

He could understand it very well, but he cared nothing for it.

" What are you doing? " was Ian's calm question.

Kai frowned deeply and remained still, completely lost by the Snake's acting, but he answered however.

" I'm going to leave this place as fast as possible " he growled.

Ian blinked.

" Why? You're where you must be Kai " he replied quietly. " Welcome back home ".

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"So, do you think it's amusing to start playing chess in the early morning?" asked Johnny, scowling as his opponent Robert moved his rook, eating the English's pawn.

"..." Was all the reply he got from the stoic German.

Johnny scowled again.

Since both were suffering from insomnia, and Enrique and Oliver were having some time for themselves -note, going out together- there was nothing else left for the two Majestics to do than a good, nice, relaxing chess game.

And of course, like every time, Robert was winning.

Maybe it was just luck, but Johnny knew better: the German had simply more concentration, never looking away from the chessboard for the entire game. Instead Johnny used to lose both concentration and train of thought more than once in a game.

Johnny sighed and turned his eyes on the board, trying to find a way out of the situation he was in: his king was in a bad position, if he moved the wrong way Robert would easily checkmate him in less than two moves...

"Hey, anyone in there?!"

The loud voice of the captain of the American team echoed through the suite, and Robert flinched visibly. If there was something he did not like, it was loud people like the Americans. Michael and his team were the most uncouth people he had ever met, and they were so lousy...

"Robert? Johnny? Anyone?" there it was, the voice of the Chinese teamleader.

What were they doing at their front door this early?

Johnny frowned and walked towards the door, sensing something was wrong, and cautiously opened the door, stepping back when it slammed open and the two team leaders entered the room -without even asking the permission to do that, to Robert's displeasure- and looked at the two Europeans.

"Why are you two so distressed..." started Robert, plainly annoyed by the two's manners, but was cut off by Michael. "Kai's been kidnapped and we need your help".

Johnny was about to shout at the American since he had been so nasty to interrupt Robert while speaking, but then the meaning of his words hit him hard.

Kai? Kidnapped?

"We don't know how it happened, but the D-Boys went to Ray's and Kai's room and took away Kai," Lee explained. "Ray said the police laughed at them, so they need us to help Kai".

Despite his precedent attitude with the slate haired blader, Johnny was the first to react, picking up his Salamulyon and readying himself. It didn't matter if he and Kai always bickered when together, the English boy really respected the other, since he was such a good rival for him.

Robert nodded and picked up his BeyBlade too, moving to the door. Since he was the older now, it was normal for him to be on top, and Lee was glad let him control the situation.

"The BladeBreakers are in their room," Lee added.

Robert nodded curtly, and with the other three next to him, he headed towards the Japanese team's room.

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Robert wasn't expecting the situation to be this bad. When he, Johnny, Lee, and

Michael arrived at the 'Breakers room they were met by a picture of total desperation.

Tyson, Max and Ray were scattered all around their room, sitting on their beds and chairs, their faces downcast and sad, completely depressed.

"Here we are," Robert said, taking the lead. "Don't worry boys, Kai will be okay, I promise you." He looked each blader in the eyes, "but I need you now to tell me what happened."

Ray nodded warily and explained it all, from Kai's fainting in the bus to his kidnap, leaving out Bryan's kiss but telling them he was crying and his expression. Then he added that the D-Boys said Kai had to return with them because the Abbey was his only home.

He was uncertain to tell the others about Ian's eyes, but since Tyson already saw Kai's eyes turning gold, he thought it could be pretty important.

Johnny, Lee, Michael, and the 'Breakers then started talking all together, not wanting to waste time, trying to think a good plan to free their friend since they were lacking of the help of the adults. All the while Robert remained silent, musing over the things Ray and Tyson told them.

Eyes changing colour, the strange acting of both the D-Boys and Kai, Boris who caught Kai again... it was obvious that the Abbey's director did something strange to them and he was determined to know what.

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MasterFranny: nyah, lame chapter I know. Sorry to inform you that this story will be discontinued right now.

Did you believed it? Na, I was just kidding! I'll never ever discontinue a fic. Well, I'm displeased to tell you glares at readers who are going away that Mr. Dickinson, Bruce and Kenny will not appear anywhere soon. No explanations, not for now. Uhm, I love to leave things complicated, but I will start solving something as soon as possible. So please, READ AND REVIEW! I LOVE READING AND RECEIVING REVIEWS!!!!

PS now that it comes to me, do you remember in the first season when Kai fight against the All Stars and the White Tigers for their BitBeasts? Michael was easy to get rid of, but Lee was somewhat harder. Does that mean Lee is stronger than Michael? I like the Chinese more.

And, was the name of Johnny's bey spelt good?