RTC: I'm back, with a new chapter! Yay! I honestly didn't think I'd finish it in time! You see, I've had way too much homework this past week and I haven't had time for sleeping, let alone writing this fic. But I got some done on my lunch hour and some right after school when I was checking my email. And I guess it all added up. This isn't the most exciting chapter, I know the past few have been kind of dull, and I'm really sorry. I'm doing this for a few reasons-one, to explain some stuff, two to build up the suspense before the final chapter and three, because I'm tired and am not up to writing something very action packed at the moment. I hope you guys understand.
Kai: Please stop talking, you're voice is really starting to bug me.
Ray: (Smirks.) Are you sure it's her voice and not the fact that you know how badly she's going to torture you?
Kai: Shut up.
Max: (In a sing-song voice.) Or the fact that she's making Lizzie your girlfriend?
Ray: What? Excuse me; I can't have heard that right!
Max: She's making your sister go out with Kai!
RTC: What's so bad about that? Your cousin is with Hiro and Hilary and Tyson are together.
Ray: This is my SISTER we're talking about! (Freaks out.)
Hilary: Calm down, it's just a fic. As if Tyson and I would go out in real life.
Max: So why did I find you two making out in that small part of RTC's brain that's the romantic sap?
RTC: Hey! I'm not a romantic sap!
Hilary: (Blushing.) I can't believe you were spying on us! (Also freaks out.)
RTC: Great, now I've got two muses freaking out and one that's insanly hyper. (Sigh.)
Kai: Shut up! You're all giving me a headache. (Everyone keeps on doing what they're doing.) Fine then. (Grabs all of them and hauls them off to goodness knows where.)
Kari: And now you don't.
RTC: (Sweatdrops.) Well, I suppose that's one way of dealing with the problem. Disclaimer please!
Kari: Ray-Tiger-Cat only dreams she owned Beyblade. In reality she owns almost nothing.
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A Twist On Things
Kai's POV
"So, what do we do now?" Kari asked me. It had been two and a half weeks since Tala and I shared our plan with her and she was growing more anxious by the day.
"Calm down," Tala advised, "And stop pacing, you're going to make yourself dizzy."
"No, I won't."
"Well, you're making me dizzy." Ever since that day, Tala and Kari have been acting odd. I'd pin it on the fact that they were upset over the fight, but it's got to be something more, judging by their behaviour. I think all this tension is being noticed by the others too. Just last week, Lizzie grilled me on what's been happening.
Flashback
"What are you doing here?" she asked. "I thought I said that I wanted to be alone."
"Hn. That's a nice greeting," I replied.
"Come on Kai, what do you want?"
"Do I have to have a reason? Can't I just want to be here right now?"
"Cut the sarcasm and get to the point. How did Ray force to be here?"
I groaned. That girl was too much sometimes. "Okay, fine, Ray did tell me to be here. He thought that you needed support while you go through the bone marrow transplant and since he obviously couldn't be here, he told me to stick around."
"I thought as much. Why does everyone think I'm some little kid who can't be left alone?"
"It's not bad to need help now and again."
"Look who's talking," she shot back. "You don't confide in anyone."
This was the reason I hated being alone with her-she could figure out emotions far too easily. "What makes you think I have something to share with everyone?"
"Give me a break, Kai. I'm not that ignorant. You, Kari and Tala have been acting a bit odd. Tell me what's going on."
"Hn."
"Okay, fine, just answer me this-why hasn't Voltaire killed you guys yet? Not that I want him to, but he has had you in his clutches. Why didn't he just end it then?"
"Because he's a sick, twisted, power hungry tyrant. He wants to see us beg for mercy, to see our pain and watch as he breaks our sprits. And that won't come until hell freezes over. I won't let him win and neither will the others." She really got me riled up.
Fortunately, a nurse came in and stuck the I.V. full of Ray's bone marrow and told Lizzie to relax.
End flashback
I think she forgot about that conversation, at least I really hope she has. Ray's been spending almost all of his time at the hospital now, he's hardly ever home. I think I know what's going on with him, though I doubt anyone else has caught on. From what Lizzie told us, the second time she relapsed, Ray wasn't around to do the marrow transplant and he feels that he has to make it up to her somehow. He also wasn't there when her one of her friends died. But I don't think hanging around together so much is doing either of them much good.
Hilary's POV
It feels like things are falling apart. The team works much too hard, especially Kai. Lizzie's out sick, Ray's never home and we've spent more time with poor, confused Lynn in the past few weeks than Ray. Not that we mind watching her, but she does need her family. Tyson and I haven't had any time alone either, not with all that training and frequent visits to the hospital, despite Lizzie's protests that she could be left alone. I heard Ray mention that would take Lizzie from three to six weeks to recover from the transplant. Right now, the guys and I are walking over to the BBA house, as it's come to be known, for-what else?-training. I really hope that things come to an end soon, because I don't know how much longer we can all keep it together.
Ray's POV
I woke up in the hospital waiting room. I guess I had been too tired and fallen alseep on the couch there last night. A lot of family members seem to do that, so the nurses don't wake anyone up. I slipped into Lizzie's room. She was still sound asleep. I feel as if this whole thing was my fault. I just wish I could've been there the last time she relapsed.
Instead, I arrived at home and found that my mother was pregnant and my sister bald and depressed from going through another round of chemotherapy and losing a friend. I didn't know how to take it then and I still feel like I let my sister down.
"Morning, Ray," she mumbles sleepily, jolting me out of my thoughts. "Did you actually go home last night?" she asked, after taking a closer look at me.
"Uh, well, um, no."
"Ray, I've told you a thousand times, if not more, that I'm fine and that you can leave and get some sleep. Good grief," she scolds.
"What can I say? I worry too much, I guess," I replied and she smiles.
"Got that right big bro. You're turning into Mom," she giggled. I groan and bite back a reply. The phone started ringing just then. "Hello?"
"Hi, Lizzie, is Ray there?" I could make out the voice. It was Hilary.
"Yeah, I'll give the phone to him."
"Hi, Hilary. What's up?" I asked.
"Ray, I'll be blunt. I think something is wrong. Tyson, Max, Kenny, Daichi and I have been outside for half an hour now, ringing your doorbell, but no one's answering. I think something might have happened to them." She sounded worried. "When was the last time you saw them?"
"I was home, um, yesterday morning. They were there and they were fine. Do you think they went out?"
"Without telling us? And Kai ditching training? Not likely."
"True. I'll be right there. Where are you calling from anyway?"
"I'm at Tyson's. The others decided to stay put just in case they came back. You have the key, right?"
"Yeah, got it. I'll run over there now, bye," I said hurriedly as I hung up. "Lizzie, I have to go home, okay? The others can't get inside because Kai, Kari and Tala aren't opening the door and they're worried."
"Alright," she replied, looking uneasy.
I ran the whole way home and found the others on the front porch. Hilary wasn't there, I presumed that she'd stayed put at Tyson's.
"Oh, good, you're home. I don't like the look of this one bit," Tyson said darkly. He looked upset, Max worried, and both Chief and Daichi were panicking.
"Well, there's only one way to find out what's happened, and that's opening the door," I said as I inserted the key in the lock and entered. Even though it was my home-for now anyway-I felt a chill go down my spine.
"Guys! Are you there?" Max called. There was no reply. Tyson gasped suddenly. "What is it?"
"Blood," he managed to choke out, pointing to a reddish-brown stain leading from the stairs to the back door. We all ran to the back yard and saw that there were marks of a struggle along to the side of the house and tire prints.
"They've probably been kidnapped," Kenny whispered.
"We'd better search the house. They might have left someone behind or some clues," I whispered, wondering what they could have done to my baby sister.
"Are you crazy!" Daichi yelled. "They could still be in there!"
"No, Ray's right," Tyson said. We started searching the house. I opened the door to the den and saw Lynn bound and gagged on the floor. I ran to her and untied her. She started screaming and crying.
"Mama! I want Mama!" she wailed along with some baby babble. "Bad people take Mama take Kai-Kai and Kawi!" she sobbed some more into my arms. (AN: Kai-Kai is Kai (duh!) and Kawi is Kari. Lynn can't prounouce the names right.)
"Wait, did she just say that the same guys that kidnapped the guys kidnapped your mom?" Kenny asked.
"Well, it most likely Biovolt that kidnapped Kai, Kari and Tala, but what would those guys want with your mom, Ray?" Max asked.
"I have no idea. Lynn are you sure that the people who took Mama , took Kai and Kari and Tala?" I asked. She nodded. "It could be possible, I mean since Mom was kidnapped right before she had something important to reveal. She works as a lawyer, but she does look into criminal back rounds and she could probably find some incriminating stuff on Biovolt. Plus she worked as a P.I. for a while, I think."
"True, and she could probably get a little evidence from when the original Biovolt Abbey was shut down and searched by the police, right? And then she could help us press charges or something, right? And put Voltaire away?" Kenny asked.
"Yeah, no problem. Mom has a degree in criminal law and if she can get evidence, then she could put them away for good. And she was awfully suspicious of those guys after the first world championships. In fact, she forbid me from ever coming in contact with Voltaire. She was being a bit paranoid."
"Now why would your mother-who has no idea about what Boris and Votaire did-do that? I mean wouldn't she be mad at the Tala, Bryan, Spencer and Ian? What does she know about Biovolt that we don't?" Kenny wondered.
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Kari: Hey where is everyone? Um, hello? (Spots RTC asleep.) Awe, I guess I should let her sleep.
Kai: Darn, I wanted to rant at her for having me kidnapped again.
Kari: Awe, come on, be nice for a change.
Kai: I don't do 'nice'.
Kari: (In an unbelieving way.) Sure you don't. Oh hey, there's a note from RTC here.
Kai: Great. Just read it so we can leave.
Kari: She's wondering if any of you guys picked up the clues in her fics and if you know what Diana has to do with all this. She say there's a clue in that sentence and a one dropped in a previous author's note. Read carfully. The answer will be revealed in about 2 or 3 chapters. (And no, she won't tell you what it is, that would defeat the whole point!) Anyway, that's it for now. Good luck and happy guessing. See you guys in a few weeks.