"Talking"

'Writing'

'Thinking'

"Person on other side of phone"

/Bitbeast talk/

/Bladers talking to bitbeasts/

"Russian"

"Italian"

Ages:

Spencer - 18

Bryan, Robert - 17

Tyson, Max, Hilary, Tala, Julia, Enrique - 16

Kenny, Ian, Raul, Oliver - 15

Kai, Ray - 6

Johnny - 5

Kimmy belongs to kimmyHiwatari.

There are no set pairings, so if you had any, I wouldn't mind hearing them. (My favorite are Miguel/Kai and Bryan/Johnny but that's just my opinion. Let me know yours.)

Chapter 9 - Day 9

"... the man will tell Tala everything he needs to know." - Spencer

"Why?" - Max

"His reputation." - Bryan

Tala stared down at the younger redhead who was sitting in Bryan's lap. Surprisingly, the two got on well after their first encounter. They seemed to be impressed with eachother. Johnny leaned back against Bryan, liking the warmth that emitted from the older boy.

"How old are you, McGregor?" The Scottish boy smirked at him.

"Five." Mariah, who was sitting close by heard and stared at him in surprise.

"I thought you were four!"

A pink tinge formed across Johnny's cheeks and the bridge of his nose. Most of the girls in the room either giggled or said "aww, he's so cute." or both.

Bryan chuckled quietly so only his teammates and Johnny could hear. He held the redhead closer to him in a gentle hold, his arm around the boy's waist. As much as he hated to admit it, he was beginning to like the boy.

No one questioned him as to why he was content with letting Johnny sit in his lap, they were too afraid to.

Tala chuckled and reached over, ruffling the boy's hair. This caused many locks of hair to fall into his face as the bandana still hung loosely around his neck.

No one asked him why he just didn't put it on like he did when he was older, knowing he could get mad and attack them. If
he had the guts and strength to force Bryan to drop him, then why wouldn't he be able to hurt them?

"Don't bother him like that." Tala said, ignoring the surprised looks he received from the others in the room. His team just smirked, knowing why he was acting the way he was.

Tala grinned a wolfish grin at Johnny.

"Us redheads have to stick together, there's not many of us around." He winked and Johnny gave a weak, nervous smile in return. Which just made him look even cuter, many of the girls were eager to admit.

All the teenagers looked up when Judy and Mr. Dickinson entered the room.

"Would all the teenagers please follow me. We need to speak with you." Judy said and Johnny carefully slid off of Bryan's lap and stepped away so the older boy could stand. When he did, Bryan lifted Johnny up and placed him on the chair.

"Be right back." He whispered. Tala winked at him again before they all left.

No one noticed the two pairs of eyes watching and how one of them narrowed in anger.

"Nothing. We could get nothing out of him." Mr. Dickinson sounded frustrated.

'And he has good reason to. He wants to find out what to do to protect all the bladers.' Tala thought, as he watched the man put down his phone. At the table many teenagers groaned. They all wanted to find out what was going on.

"Let me try." Stanley looked up and stared at the redhead, as did many of the people around the large table.

"What?" Tala scoffed slightly.

"Let me get the information out of the guy." Bryan, Ian and Spencer smirked but Stanley hesitated, eyes narrowing slightly.

"BBA's best interrogator just failed, are you sure you can do it?" Tala nodded without hesitation. Stanley sighed and nodded.

"Alright, but I want to know what you find out immediately." Tala nodded again and left the room.

"How is he going to get info out of the guy when the BBA couldn't? He's not going to threaten him, is he?" Max asked, slightly fearfully. Spencer shook his head.

"No, but the man will tell Tala everything he needs to know." Now everyone besides his teammates were looking at him curiously.

"Why?" At this, Bryan's smirk grew.

"His reputation." No other questions were asked, no one liking the looks of amusement and pity on the Blitzkrieg Boys' faces.

"Dammit, are you saying they have Pavel? How much does he know?" Boris slammed his hands down onto the table and the man flinched.

"I... I don't know, sir. He could have overheard things or someone could have told him something. There's no way of telling." Boris sighed before glaring darkly at him.

"You are dismissed. Now, I have to call Hiwatari and tell him the bad news." The man nodded and hurried out of the room.

"Those damn brats..." Boris cursed under his breath.

"Well? You going to tell me what you know, or does this have to get worse for you?"

The man squirmed uncomfortably in his seat, his handcuffed wrists resting on the metal table in front of him. His fingers tapped quickly and nervously on the metal, making light noises that echoed around the near silent room.

There was a long, exaggerated sigh and a chair scraping back against the floor. The man winced, brown eyes darting around the room in hopes of finding someone to save him from this very frightening person in front of him. His brown hair glinted in the dim lighting and he shook his head, trying in vain to calm himself.

When he looked up his eyes locked onto cool, icy blue orbs and he swallowed thickly. He mentally berated himself. Why should he be afraid of this kid? After all, he was just a kid... but he remembered the boy from the past, had seen how dangerous he had proved himself to be. He didn't know all of what this kid was capable of and that's what frightened him the most.

"Well, Mr. Pavel?" The redhead asked coolly, never for one moment losing his calmness. The man again opened his mouth before snapping it shut.

"I... I ..." Pavel's hands clenched into fists on the tabletop and he stared at them blankly. What should he tell him? Should he tell the truth? He took in a deep breath.

"Balkov never told me specifically why he needed McGregor." He finally said and Tala raised an eyebrow as he casually sat down in the chair across from him.

"But what did he tell you?" Tala leaned forward slightly and in response the man leaned back.

"He said that... that McGregor knew why, that... that he should have known better. He and his father should have known better then to interfere with Biovolt proceedings." Tala frowned.

"How did they get involved with Biovolt? And why?" Pavel shrugged.

"No one at the Abbey knows except Hiwatari and Balkov. You're best bet would be to ask one of the McGregor's." Tala sighed heavily before staring at him.

"I suppose you want to go into protective custody until we catch them." He nodded and Tala stood up. "Alright, I'll leave you to it then." He headed to the door.

"Mr. Valkov, wait. Balkov said something else." Tala paused and turned slightly, indicating he had his attention.

"He said.. He said he didn't know what the drug he injected into Hiwatari, Kon and McGregor did. He had tested it out on... other subjects, but none of them had a bitbeast or a powerful one atleast. The results weren't good, none of the test subjects survived." Tala's hand clenched into a fist, but that was the only noticeable reaction. He nodded stiffly and left the room.

Once outside, Tala took two long, calming breaths and then motioned to the guard that he was done. The guard nodded and said something into his radio, watching as the redhead left.

Everyone looked up as Tala entered and immediately winced at the look on his face. Stanley straightened up.

"Did you find out anything?" Tala nodded as he took a seat between Bryan and Julia.

"Apparently, McGregor is more involved with Biovolt than we thought." A shocked silence passed through the room.

"What?!" The elderly man frowned, Judy put her hand comfortingly on her son's shoulder.

"Explain." Mr. Dickinson commanded and even though Tala frowned at him, he did.

"According to Pavel, McGregor and his father were involved with Biovolt and tried to interfere with its proceedings. We still don't know how they interfered, apparently only the McGregor's, Balkov and Hiwatari know." Stanley sighed heavily and rubbed his head.

"I suppose I should try and get a hold of Mr. McGregor then." Teenagers started to get up but Mr. Dickinson stopped them.

"For the moment, I want none of you talking to the three children about this and do not treat Jonathan any differently." They nodded and quickly left the room. The Blitzkrieg Boys stayed.

"There's more." Stanley stated and Tala nodded.

"He also told me that Balkov was unsure about what the drug would do to Kai, Kon and McGregor. There had been earlier test subjects but they either didn't have a bitbeast or had a weak one." Tala's eyes briefly closed and Stanley forced the question out of his mouth, not sure if he wanted to know the answer.

"And?" Tala sighed heavily.

"None of them survived." Stanley's eyes closed.

"I think, Mr. Valkov, that I need to make that phone call right away."

Tala stood outside with his team and he sighed, shaking his head.

"I really hate to ask this..." He muttered but his friends just smiled and shook their heads.

"Tal, we stand by you." Ian said, looking up at him with young, ruby eyes. Tala smiled softly.

"Alright, Ian, I want you and Spencer to do some spying. Find out what Balkov and Hiwatari are up to. Bryan, I think we need some more information. Can you do it?" Bryan smirked.

"Do you even have to ask?"

Soon, they all left, heading their separate ways.

Julia looked up as the redhead sat down heavily in the seat across from her. She raised an eyebrow but pushed a cup of steaming, hot coffee over to him. He accepted it with a small nod in thanks and Julia gave a half smile.

"So," She started and he looked up at her. "What was the other news you stayed behind to tell Mr. Dickinson?" Tala took a long gulp of his drink, ignoring the way the scalding liquid burned down his throat.

"There were test subjects before Kai and the others. None of them made it." Julia's eyes widened and she took in a sharp breath.

"What was the difference?" She asked, as soon as she calmed herself down. Tala sighed.

"They had either a weak bitbeast or didn't have one." Julia sighed as well, before she thought of something.

"I guess people can't call Salamulyon weak." She stated, absentmindedly brushing her hair over her shoulder. Tala smirked.

"That's right, not just any normal bitbeast could communicate on the level Salamulyon does." Julia looked at him questioningly.

"When we asked why he wasn't surprised that Enrique was suddenly a lot older then him, Johnny said that something must have caused Salamulyon to be grumpy." She felt her eyes widen again.

"I didn't even notice that." She said quietly, looking down into her own cup of coffee. She frowned.

"He's pretty young to be able to know Salamulyon was acting differently." Tala nodded.

"I have a feeling McGregor's got a stronger bond then people assume."

"Woah." There was a snort.

"Yeah, who woulda thought that they'd twy to keep that info fwom us?" The blue haired boy shrugged.

"Guess they thought we wouldn't undwer... undewstwand." Ray nodded and shrugged, reaching into his pocket to pull out his beyblade.

"I still can't bewieve they let us keep ouwer bwades." The black haired boy commented, looking appreciatively down at his blade. Kai nodded.

"So, do we tweat Johnny the same?" He asked and Ray looked thoughtful.

"I guess. He hasn't done anythingy wong." Kai sighed and glanced away.

"He met my gwandfather. I know it." Ray shrugged.

"Oh well. Let's go pway now, Kai. Spwying is borewing." Kai nodded and the two snuck away.

"So, what pwank shall we pull next?"

"And on who?"

Johnny yawned and watched boredly as Enrique leaned against the wall as he chatted with a girl. He tapped his fingers on the armrest, a tune only he could hear. He sighed and shook his head, bangs fell into his face and he frowned at them before brushing them out of his way.

The redhead looked around the room. Most of the furniture had been removed as most of it had been destroyed by Kai and Ray when they pulled their prank. Johnny frowned thoughtfully. If he had pulled a stunt like that, he would have been in a lot of trouble. He sighed and dully watched as the girl stormed away from the blonde, who was absentmindedly rubbing his now red cheek as he stared at the girl's behind.

'Why am I here? What happened that caused all these people to avoid me? What did I do? Since no one's talking to me or playing with me, I have nothing to do.' Johnny felt like pouting. Ever since they had all come back from that meeting, people avoided looking at him and talking to him was just out of the question.

He yawned again and stood up, brushing any dust off his pants before walking out the door. No one noticed him leave. For some reason, that made something inside him pang painfully.

"How 'bout we pway matchmaker?"

"Nah, we don't know who alweady has a pawtner and that's bowing."

"Yeah, that's twue. Hmm, we could put a bucket on the door so when they opwen it they get wet."

"That's too overwused. What about filling bawoons with flouwer and gwue and then dwopping them on people's heads?"

"Where would we get the bawoons and flouwer and gwue?"

"Oh yeah...we could-"

"Are you two planning to prank other people?" The two children turned to see the small, redheaded child standing across from them. Kai frowned immediately.

"What's it to wou?" Johnny looked startled for a moment before he regained his composure.

"I was just wondering..." He trailed off when Kai glared at him.

"Why awe you bein' a meany to him, Kai?" Ray asked, looking confusedly from Johnny to Kai.

"He attwacting Talwa's attention away fwom me." Johnny frowned.

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize I was." Kai scowled at him.

"Nuh uh! You doin' it on purrpwuse!" He accused and the redhead sighed.

"No. Why don't you go talk to him about that?" The Russian turned his back to him.

"After what we heawd when we listned in on theiw meetin', I refwuse to take any advice fwom wou! Come on, Way, let's go alweady." He began walking away quickly and Ray hesitated enough to smile apologetically at Johnny before following him.

Johnny sighed and his shoulders slumped. 'What did they hear that was so bad? I must have done something wrong... but what? It's not like I can ask anyone around here, they're all avoiding me. Hah, they probably didn't even notice that I'm gone...'

The redhead shoved his hands into his pockets and walked for awhile down the quiet hall before stopping by a large door. He shoved it open and stepped through. Johnny stopped to take in the sight.

It looked to be a courtyard with many lush plants of all kinds and colours growing and a large water fountain in the middle. He walked over to where a large tree was growing and sat down underneath it. From where he was he could see both entrances on either side but they wouldn't be able to see him because of all the surrounding bushes.

Sunlight leaked through the cracks between leaves and shined softly on Johnny's skin, making his tanned skin look golden. Johnny leaned against the hard bark of the tree and pulled his legs to his chest, gazing blankly at the beautiful fountain where the water glistened from the sun's rays.

He sighed. 'What did I do wrong now?'

"Don't you think you wewe a little hawsh, Kai?" Ray asked quietly as he followed the other boy slowly. Kai's hands clenched into fists and he whirled around to pin Ray with a dark glare.

"No! I told wou, he met my gwandfather. He's been to the abbey and... and he's twyin' to twake Talwa away fwom me!" Ray blinked and flinched away from the other boy. His eyes watered.

"I sorwy, Kai." He sniffled. " I didn't mean to make you upswet. I just thought Johnny didn't deswerve the way wou acted..." Ray trailed off before he turned and ran down the hall, in the direction they had come from. He disappeared from sight within a minute.

"Way!" Kai called, reaching out a hand as if to grab him. His hand fell to hang limply by his side as he stared at the now empty hallway.

"I didn't mean to well at wou..." The small boy slowly shook his head and walked away. In the opposite direction Ray had gone.

'When did evewythin' 'come so compwicated?'

"Where are the kids?" Silence was her answer and she sighed heavily.

"Last I saw, McGregor was sitting over there." Emily said, pointing at a blank wall on the opposite side of the room. Judy quietly noted that no one was standing near it.

"And no one was watching him?" Everyone shook their heads.

"Why should we look after some Biovolt lackey?" Michael asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"He's not a Biovolt lackey." They turned to see Tala leaning casually on the doorframe. Rick snorted.

"You're the one who told us he was! Don't try to change you're information!" He said and Tala's sharp eyes locked onto his. Rick stiffened and carefully refused to flinch at the emotionless eyes.

"I said he tried to interfere with Biovolt, not that he worked with them." There was silence around the room and Tala scoffed.

"Typical. You don't listen to all the facts so you can put the blame on someone and not have to worry about the problem anymore." Behind him, Julia chuckled.

"As usual, everyone jumps to conclusions." She said, looking around the room. "Did anyone notice Johnny leave the room?" Everyone shook their heads and Julia sighed.

"Then we better start looking for him, he probably thinks he did something wrong now." At this, most of the bladers in the room wince, feeling guilty. As they started to file out of the room, Tala turned to Julia.

"Well," He said, looking unamused. "Let's go kid hunting." Julia rolled her eyes but followed him out of the room.

"Yeah, and we have to find Kai and Ray as well." Tala chuckled lightly.

"This'll be fun."

"Yes, this is Stanley Dickinson. I would like to speak to Mr. McGregor. It's a matter of emergency. Tell him it's about Biovolt." Stanley sat at his desk, phone grasped in his hand. He looked up when Judy entered the room. She sat down in one of the chairs.

"The kids have gone missing, the teenagers are looking for them now." Stanley nodded and quickly placed the phone on speaker.

"This is Donald McGregor, what did you want to speak to me about, Mr. Dickinson?"

"Please call me Stanley, Mr. McGregor." He said and there was a quick pause on the other side.

"Then call me Don, Stanley. Now, you said this was a matter of emergency. That it has to do with Biovolt. What is it?" Judy frowned, this man obviously didn't care for small talk. Stanley sighed.

"Ten days ago, Max Tate and Tyson Granger found their teammates Ray Kon and Kai Hiwatari as six year old children with no explanation as to why. We had found no evidence to figure this out and yesterday..." Stanley rubbed his forehead, feeling a headache coming.

"What happened yesterday?"

"Yesterday your son was attacked by Boris Balkov and two of his men." There was a sharp intake of breath on the other side of the phone.

"Is he alright?" Seeing as Stanley was looking more tired by the second, Judy decided to take over.

"Mr. McGregor, this is Judy Tate. When your son was attacked, their was a witness who told us what happened. Balkov told your son that he knew exactly why he was being targeted. We questioned one of Boris' men, he told us that you and your son tried to interfere with Biovolt. We need to know why and how you did, so we can figure out what's going on." There was a long silence before the Scottish man spoke.

"I am sorry to disappoint you both, Stanley and Mrs. Tate. I'm afraid I can't tell you anything until I find out what happened to my son." Judy and Stanley frowned.

"Your son is fine, Mr. McGregor. Other than the fact that he is now five years old and is therefore unable to answer these questions for us." Don started chuckling quietly and when he spoke, he sounded amused.

"So Balkov actually tried it on my son. He is a fool. I apologize in advance for any problems my son will give you but I also can not give you the information you seek." Stanley's eyes narrowed.

"Is that because you don't have it or you wont give it to us?" Don sighed.

"I have it, but that does not mean I will give it to you. When you find my son, have him call me. He knows my number." Just like that, the line went dead, leaving both of the adults staring at the phone in disbelief.

"What kind of a man is he?" Judy asked, anger evident in her voice. Stanley frowned.

"I think this is more serious than we first thought." Judy nodded and made to stand up when she froze.

"How did he know we can't find Jonathan?"

Johnny curled into himself even more as a chilling breeze went past him and through his clothes. He shivered, the sun was going down, it was already behind the building. There was little lighting in the courtyard besides the dim rays from the sun but Johnny didn't mind. He would rather be out here in the dark and the cold, than go back inside and be purposely ignored even more. Being forced to watch them whisper behind his back and glance at him every now and then when they thought he wasn't looking.

Reaching up, he pulled the necklace he wore out from under his shirt and stared at it. His hand brushed over the pendant, it felt warm against his skin.

"Salamulyon, what did I do wrong?" He whispered and it flew away with the wind. The pendant seemed to gleam as the last rays peaked over the building. It grew warmer in his hand and Johnny clutched it tightly as the feeling of warmth and comfort flowed through him.

"Where is he?" Bryan growled, glaring down at the teen he held by the collar of his shirt. Tyson flinched, looking terrified.

"I... we don't know! One minute he was sitting where you left him and the next he was gone!" He explained, eyes wide.

"Don't lie, Granger." They both turned their heads to see Tala. Tyson swallowed thickly as Bryan's gaze turned back to him, eyes narrowing further. When Tyson didn't spit out the needed information, Julia who had been behind Tala, decided to help.

"When Tala told the others about how Johnny was involved, they all ignored the rest of the info and thought that he was a lackey of Biovolt. They ignored him and payed no attention to him. Johnny must have left the room before any of us got back because no one noticed him leave. We searched for him but no one's been able to find him." She explained and Bryan dropped Tyson and sent him a dark glare.

"Why didn't Raul and the others who actually don't think like that, talk to him?" He asked and Julia sighed.

"Raul, Matilda, Aaron, Miguel, Claude, Hilary, Mariah, Lee and Max went out to a restaurant they didn't get back until after Judy asked where Johnny, Kai and Ray are." Bryan sighed and started walking out the door.

"Where are you going? It's almost dark out!" Julia called and Bryan didn't even stop walking.

"To find Johnny! I'm not coming back until I find him."

Kai frowned as he stared at his beyblade. Dranzer flashed and he felt the warmth and comfort she was desperate to send to him. He smiled softly.

"At least wou still wike me." He said quietly and Dranzer glinted again.

"Who said anyone didn't like you?" Kai's head jerked up and his eyes widened.

"Talwa!" Tala was leaning against the doorframe watching him. Kai lowered his eyes to the ground.

"I sorwy, Red. I messed up." Tala pushed off the frame and came and sat down beside him.

"Why do think that?" Kai looked down at Dranzer again.

"Ever... ever since Johnny came hewe, wou've been pawing mowe attention to him. I got.. Gel...

Gelwous of him. I told him off and... and then I welled at Way when he twied to tell me Johnny didn't deswerve it. Then... then Way wan off and I don't know where they awe." Kai sniffled and guiltily refused to look Tala in the eyes. Tala sighed and lifted the boy into his arms, he stiffened.

Kai looked up when the redhead deposited him into his lap.

"Kai... I'm sorry, alright?" Kai's eyes widened and he shook his head.

"No! Wou don't have to be one sorwy, I-" Tala cut him off.

"No, Kai. I do. Johnny was acting shy around everyone. I thought he might need some comfort. I didn't realize I was ignoring you. I made it seem like I was more interested in him then you. I'm sorry." Kai snuggled up close, still clutching his blade.

"I sorwy too. Fow acting gelwous." Tala smiled.

"Now that, that is over do you want to meet up with the others?" Kai shook his head and Tala tilted his head to the side.

"Why not?" Kai smiled up at him.

"We still have to find Way and Johnny." Tala laughed and nodded as Kai scooted off his lap, standing up.

"You're right." Tala stood up and together the two left through the door.

The redhead smiled softly as he leaned against the trunk of the tree more heavily. He knew that the others would not find him, if they were even looking for him. They wouldn't look hard enough, that much he knew for sure.

He closed his eyes and with the light from the moon caressing his skin, he fell into a gentle, dreamless sleep.

Hey there, hoped you liked this chapter. I've been trying to make them longer without giving away too much. Sorry for the lateness. Please review! Hopefully I'll have the next chapter up soon, now that my provincials are over.

Later,
W.S. Phoenix