Hello! I'm actually updating! ...amazing...

I have been so out of it lately...I starting writing this, and felt that I was horribly out of practice...

Things definately didn't turn out the way I originally intended for them to in this chapter. I ended up combining two of them, and took out a bunch of scenes...which were boring anyway...but now, I feel it's rushed. And it really isn't as long as I thought it would be...

Well...even if it is, that just means I'll be getting to the main action soon! I suppose that's a good thing...

So yeah...


Enjoy if possible...

----------------------------------------------------

Chapter IV: The Island

Darkness was all she could remember. After feeling the sensation of hitting the cold ocean's surface, she vaguely remembered floating, drifting further down toward the unknown depths. She had been so cold, so cold that she was sure death had grasped her.

But somewhere in that darkness, she remembered two piercing red eyes, the eyes that belonged to the fire that had saved her.

With a gasp, she was brought back into consciousness. The first thing she saw was sand, directly in front of her face. The sounds of waves were clear in her head, and seagulls squawked away in the clear skies above.

"A…beach?" That couldn't be right…she had died in the ocean, right?

Suddenly, a burning pain in her chest caused her to go into a coughing fit, salt water pouring out of her mouth.

After expelling the unwanted water from her lungs, she pushed herself to her knees in an exhausted state, rolling over to sit and stare out into the ocean.

Nothing remained of the giant ship that she had been aboard the previous day. In fact, the ocean seemed at peace, as though nothing had happened to upset it. The sky was a brilliant blue, with birds flying out around the clouds.

"The guys!" She gasped, remembering her friends.

Jumping to her feet, she ran down the shoreline, calling her friends' names as she went. It wasn't long before she found one of them…Max, laying motionlessly along with a huge piece of driftwood.

"Max!" Hilary exclaimed, dropping beside her friend and shaking his body as hard as she could. "Wake up Max!"

The blonde moaned after a while, and his clear blue eyes began to open slowly.

The brunette let out a sigh of relief, seeing signs of life from her friend easing her fears.

Max pulled himself into a sitting position with a groggy moan, holding his head as he fought the last remaining fog of unconsciousness. "Wha...what happened?" He looked around in a disoriented state similar to Hilary's.

"I...We somehow survived...I think..." The brunette collapsed next to her friend and stared into the calm ocean waves, gently lapping closer and closer to their bare feet. Hilary's backpack managed to stay attached to her shoulders, but her shoes had vanished, along with some pieces of her pajamas from the night before.

Max was in his nightwear too, but all he managed to grab was his belt, containing pockets that held his beyblade and launcher.

After a quick check of their belongings, Max spoke. "Hey...don't you think we should look for the others?"

Hilary nodded, getting slowly to her feet. She brushed off the sand that stuck to her wet clothes and skin, but was unable to remove it all, to her great annoyance. "I hope they made it to the same island..."

Of course, there was no other island floating in the outstretched sea, so if they didn't make it to this one, they were somewhere, bobbing in the ocean's waves, and probably dead...but neither teen wanting to think of such things.

Max and Hilary started their trek across the beach, but were stopped only a few feet away.

"Did you hear that?" The blonde asked, staring behind his shoulder with wide eyes.

"Wha...what was it?" Hilary retreated a few steps. "You...you don't think there are...tigers, or something?" She gasped, a new thought appearing in her head. "What if it's those creatures that attacked the ship!"

The idea wasn't too far fetched...after all, the beach was surrounded by a jungle-like forest, and God knew what animals were hiding in it's depths.

A chill ran down Max's spine, his mind playing back images of strange animals bounding out of the bushes and attacking them. He saw what destruction that one winged creature caused to the ship...maybe he had found them again, and was going to make sure no person survived.

The foliage rustled suddenly, startling the two teens yet again. With a shaky hand, Max fumbled for his beyblade, but was unable to clasp his fingers around the launcher.

"Hey!" A familiar voice stopped him.

The two teens blinked for a moment, watching as a puff of black hair appeared from the bush.

"Rei!" Hilary and Max rushed for their friend, ecstatic to see him alive.

Tyson appeared a few seconds later, growling at the sticks and leaves that had nestled in his navy hair.

"You're alright!" Hilary exclaimed, throwing her arms around the both of them.

Rei chuckled. "We washed up down the shore, along with these..." He pointed to his bag, resting on his shoulder.

"Thank God too...I had a spare change of clothes in there!" Tyson had finished combing his hair with his fingers and shoved his hat firmly on his head.

"Aww...no fair!" Max whined.

"Don't worry Maxie! We have yours too!" The navy haired teen tossed a forest green bag at his friend.

The American's blue eyes widened drastically, as if being inside the world's largest candy shop.
"Awesome!"

"Let's go back camp, and dry off our stuff." Rei stated, earning nods from everyone.

"Camp?"

---

The teens trekked through the jungle for a few moments before arriving at a clearing. A large tent had been erected, made completely out of timber and leaves. About five feet away was a fire pit, already burning brightly with a long vine running a couple feet over it. Wet clothing hung from the vine, where the heat of the fire slowly dried them.

"We found them!" Tyson suddenly yelled, startling his friends.

Suddenly, a figure appeared from the tent with a loud gasp. "Hilary! Max!" It was Kenny!

Hours had passed since the bladers all reunited. Their clothes had been dried completely now, and had all dressed in them so their other clothing could be dried as well.

"Is Dizzi working yet Chief?"

The small brunette shook his head sadly. The laptop was water-resistant, and had not received much damage from being in the ocean. "There is no signal here!" He wailed desperately.

"Hey...guys?" Hilary started, her voice quiet.

The four boys looked up from the fire and gave her their attention.

"Don't you think it's strange...how we all ended up here...with almost all of our stuff?" No one had seemed to think that, and the words caused their brains to start pondering ideas. "And we all found each other within minutes of waking up on the beach! It just doesn't seem probable..."

Kenny nodded. "You're right...it isn't. But there isn't anyone around to help us!"

"We just got lucky, that's all!" Tyson exclaimed.

Hilary's gaze fell back to the fire in concentration, those crimson eyes still alive in her mind. Whatever that creature was...it helped them get away...maybe it had also helped them survived the ocean's current...

Night was quickly approaching now, and the teen's bellies began to rumble with hunger. Tyson, of course, reminded everyone constantly that they hadn't had anything to eat since the previous night. They were going to have to search for something to eat on the island...

Agreeing that Hilary and Kenny would stay behind to watch the camp, Tyson, Rei, and Max went out to find food. The three decided not to stray too far from the camp, seeing as the darkening sky was also causing the jungle to become even darker, and it would be impossible to find their way back when the sun completely set.

Hilary sighed as she picked up another piece of wood and threw it into the dwindling flames. Her eyes followed the smoke trail as in snaked up into the evening sky. She wished someone would see it, and call for help...

Suddenly, a twig snapped somewhere in the jungle, bringing the girl out of her thoughts.

"Kenny?" She asked, but received no reply. The small teen had retired to the tent, being exhausted from the day's events. "Rei? Max?" She got to her feet, her eyes darting back and forth. "This isn't funny Tyson!" She growled, knowing that it was like him to pull pranks in the middle of a crisis.

She paused for a moment, waiting for another sound. With a sigh, she gave up, figuring it was her imagination playing tricks on her, and turned around to sit back down.

The second her turned, she was greeted by a strange silhouette, standing silently by the trees, two large shadows protruding from his back.

She screamed in fright and stumped backward, falling to the ground. Hilary's ruby eyes wide with terror, and panic washed over her like the ocean's waves.

The figure stepped closer to her, the dim light now able to illuminate its features.

"Who…who are you!"

Hilary let out a gasp as the large shadows behind him turned into rusty brown colored wings. He wore what appeared to be some sort of armor around his arms and chest, with sandy brown hair and glowing green eyes. The man was much older than her, probably old enough to be her father, or maybe even older!

Suddenly, he collapsed to one knee, his right arm crossing his chest where a fist landed against his heart.

"My Lady…I have finally found you!" His voice was cool, almost relieved.

"Wha…" The brunette blinked, retreating back into a tree trunk. "Who…"

"My name is Kobold. You must come with me…you are in great danger out here." He took a few steps for her, his hand extended.

"Hey! Just one second here! What the heck are you! Why should I come with you? And what about my friends!"

There was a loud crack from somewhere deep inside the forest.

Kobold muttered a strange word that sounded suspiciously like a curse. "There is no time! I will explain everything once we are safe."

With that, he jumped for her, scooping the girl up in his arms and leaping into the air. His brown wings flapped a few times before holding him steady in the air, soaring through the midnight sky at an incredibly fast rate.

Hilary let out a loud scream. "Put me down! Help! Tyson! Rei! SOMEBODY HELP ME!"

--------------------

Okay...the chapter is finally over!


I appologize for it's...horrible-ness...As I've said, I'm out of practice, and I'm really tired of everything...I actually feel like quitting, and disappearing...but no. I'll be finishing everything I've started...good or bad...(sigh)

I will go into more details about Kobold later...he'll be interesting for me to try and deal with...but he actually does have an important role in this story...but you'll have to find out about that later!


Please review, if you aren't dead of boredom already...