"Talking"

'Writing'

'Thinking'

"Person on other side of phone"

/Bitbeast talk/

/Bladers talking to bitbeasts/

"Russian"

"Italian"

Kimmy belongs to kimmyHiwatari.

Chapter 16- Day 16

"They don't know, do they?"- Javier

"No. And I don't want them to." - Tala

Sitting up quickly, he looked around. His eyes were slow to adjust to the darkness and instantly locked on the glowing red numbers that seemed to float in mid-air. 10:43. He blinked, comprehending in a few moments what had happened. He had slept all day, how had he managed that? Back at the Abbey, he could never-. Violently shaking his head, he continued examining his surroundings.

The last thing the boy remembered was laying on the bed with the small redheaded child, and then, he must have fallen asleep. Bryan looked down, Johnny lay curled into a tight ball next to him, shivering softly at the cold air that brushed against his skin since the covers had been pulled off of him.

Carefully, the Russian tugged the blankets back up, warming the child up considerably. A smile found it's way to his mouth when he heard the boy give out a small sigh and relax, mumbling under his breath.

Bryan slipped out of the bed and stood, stretching before he made sure that the blankets had not fallen from their position. He wandered to the bathroom, closing the door quietly behind him. Tiredly, he ran a hand through his hair and happened upon a chance look in the mirror and held back a laugh.

He looked terrible. His hair mussed from sleep, dark, smudged bags under his eyes and his paler than usual skin. Bryan knew he had been worried about the kid, but never had he ever gone this far. Wait, that was not true, there was that one time before-. Once again shaking his head to clear that thought from his mind, he headed back out into the room when he heard a hacking cough.

Johnny was curled on his side, the blankets huddled at the end of the bed and his eyes were squeezed shut with his small arms wrapped across his abdomen. "Johnny?" Bryan asked gruffly, gently resting a hand on the boy's head, rubbing in a soothing motion. The small boy whimpered softly and leaned towards him.

"Bry-." His voice cracked and he coughed again. "Bryan... it hurts." Before the Russian could say anything the small Scotsman broke out into a coughing fit, not stopping for several minutes. When he did, he collapsed into Bryan's arms utterly exhausted and shaking. Bryan cursed under his breath. What did he do now?

Raul looked around him. Nothing. He frowned, brushing a strand out of his emerald eyes.

"Hello?" He called again, "Who's there?"

"Rawul?" He turned, startled, at the sudden voicing of his name.

"Ray! Kai! There you two are! Do you know how long I've been looking for you?!" The two small boys looked at each other, then at the teen, and shrugged. "Too long." He said, "Too long." Raul shook his head slightly. "What were you two doing?" Again, they shrugged but Raul had a sudden thought.

He sighed, crossing his arms over his chest. "You guys just set up a prank, didn't you?" Grinning, the two nodded, pleased with themselves. A smile played across Raul's lips but he struggled to look angry, knowing he shouldn't encourage this behavior, but the two children saw right through it.

As Raul was about to reprimand them, a loud crash sounded from their right and all three turned as one to investigate the sudden noise. The redhead ushered the two youngsters behind him and quietly snuck down the hall, peaking around the corner. He straightened up, flattening himself against the wall and he motioned for the other two to keep quiet.

A man stomped by, not even bothering to glance down the hall as he continued marching on, completely missing the sight of the teenager and two kids huddled against the wall. When he was gone, they relaxed and Raul breathed out a sigh of relief. He turned to the two younger kids.

"Did you two recognise him?" They shook their heads and he sighed once again, this time, a little nervous.

'Just what is going on around here?'


Ian and Spencer looked at each other before turning to stare at Julia. There was a frown on each of their faces and silence reigned until Julia had, had enough.

"Well?!" Spencer sighed and straightened, leaning closer to Julia as if to keep the words he spoke between them.

"Tala didn't... exactly lie to you... he just told you the basics." Julia bit her lip and sat back, staring at the two Russians.

Finally, she spoke quietly. "What does that article say?"

The blonde looked down at the article he now held carefully, scanning it's contents once more. "It was true when he said that Mr. McGregor and Voltaire Hiwatari argued and McGregor did protest all of Biovolt's ideas, but... there's more than that. This article is proclaiming a meeting between the two that caused concern throughout the general public."

"Why would that cause concern?" Julia asked, frowning.

"At the time, both the McGregor and the Hiwatari families were, and still are, very rich. They owned some of the world's largest companies and were always competing with one another. A meeting between the two meant that something was going to happen, something big, especially with both of them involved." Spencer explained.

"Not to mention those two are very powerful individuals capable of causing a lot of problems in the world." Ian continued.

"They both fought with each other through political means and no one wanted to get in their way."

"These two have hated each other since before I was even born!" Ian interjected.

"But why?" Julia asked and Ian shrugged.

"We have no idea," Spencer said, "All we know is that it started prior to Kai's birth."

"Oh," Julia sighed, "was that all that was in the article?" Spencer nodded.

"It is, however, I do remember an event that coincides with the date of it." He commented, "At around that time there was a bombing." Her eyes widened.

"A bombing?" This time, it was both Julia and Ian who questioned it. Spencer grimaced.

"A limo blew up and the police found it to be the result of a small bomb that had been placed underneath it. The driver and the two other occupants were killed in the explosion. No one ever found the person, or group, responsible for it."

"But, what does that have to do with the Hiwatari's and McGregor's?" Ian inquired and Spencer looked up.

"Before they got the limo it was signed out to Voltaire Hiwatari and, if I remember correctly it was the same night that he and McGregor had been spotted together." There was a silence that surrounded them as the two soaked up the information they had received.

"So, you're saying Voltaire Hiwatari and Johnny's dad met up with each other and later on, a limo they were supposed to be in was targeted." Julia said slowly.

"Which would either mean it was planned by either McGregor or Hiwatari," Ian concluded, "Or there's a third party." The other two nodded in agreement.

"We need to know why they were meeting, is there any info on that?" Julia asked.

"'Both Mr. Hiwatari and Mr. McGregor are unavailable for enquiries.'" Spencer quoted. They all sighed, a dead end.

"Wait, how old would Kai and Johnny be when this happened?" Julia wondered and Spencer looked thoughtful.

"Around nine, I think."

"As soon as they are back to normal, we need to ask them about this." Ian stated boldly and the they nodded. "Hey, what about Kimmy? Wouldn't she know?"

"It's possible," Spencer agreed, "But we have no idea where she is or how to contact her."

"Oh yeah..." Ian muttered disappointedly.

Julia looked out the window. 'Why would Tala lie about this to me? What's so important about this incident that he kept it from me..?' Her head shot up and her eyes widened. She stood up quickly and the two boys looked at her.

"Julia? What is it?" Spencer asked and she grinned.

"When did Kai meet Tala?" She asked, ignoring his question.

"When they were about four or five." The blonde said, realization dawning on him.

Ian looked confused. "What? What is it? Tell me!" He whined.

"Tala should know all about that incident." Julia explained.

"Which means he knows the true reason for that meeting, judging by the way he lied to Julia." Spencer continued.

"Oh." Ian said, still perplexed. "What do we do about that?"

"We ask Tala about it, convince him to tell us the truth this time." Julia muttered the last part somewhat bitterly.

"Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's find Tala!"

"I can help." He said quietly.

"Oh? And, how might that be?" The other man asked, his voice carrying a thick, Scottish brogue and he looked up at him.

"I was there, at their hideout, I saw him." This caused the other man to pause.

"You saw him? Was he all right? What about-" He raised a hand to stop the other man's questions.

"He's alive," he said vaguely, "apparently he tried escaping again, so they have him sedated almost all the time." At this, the doctor in him reared it's head. "We need to get him out of there, keeping his drugged up like that is very unhealthy."

"Do you know where this hideout is?" He nodded and the other man looked thoughtful.

"What'd you say you're name was again?"

"Mikhail Stanaslov."

His phone rang once and he immediately answered it. "What do you have?"

"Not much. I've got Kimmy though, she agreed to come after I explained a few things to her."

"Is she all right?"

"Tal," the other said, "She's fine, quit worrying about her. What about Kai, Ray and Johnny?"

"Kai and Ray are fine, pulling pranks again, if I go by the missing supplies being reported."

"And Johnny?" He hesitated and the voice came again. "Tala? Is he all right?" The voice almost pleaded.

"Yeah... yeah, he's... he'll be fine. Bryan's been watching over him." The other laughed.

"Who would've thought of those two? Wonder what's going to happen when Johnny's normal again..."

"Javier," Tala sighed, "Julia found that article. The one about the building on fire." There was a brief silence and a muttered curse.

"Oh, what did you tell her?"

"Just that the Hiwatari's and McGregor's argued."

"And?" Javier knew there was more or the redhead wouldn't have mentioned it.

"And I don't think she really bought it. If I know her the way I think I do, she's going to go ask Ian and Spencer."

"They don't know, do they?" Javier asked quietly.

"No," Tala said firmly. "And I don't want them to."

"But-" Javier protested.

"They do not need to know about what Johnny and Kai went through." He stated coldly and he heard a sigh from the line.

"Yeah. I hear you. But, you know they are probably going to find out on their own."

"Probably." Tala conceded, sighing and rubbing a hand over his eye.

"Look, I got to go, if my overly uptight captain finds out I'm not training..." Javier trailed off and Tala smirked.

"And you need it." He could almost hear the scowl through the phone.

"Whatever. Bye." The dismissal was muttered but Tala knew the other wasn't mad at him. He closed his phone and sat back, thinking. Any minute now, Julia was going to burst through those doors and confront him about that article.

He pulled out his beyblade, staring at the glistening chip that was settled in the middle. The imprint of the large, yet graceful wolf stared back at him and he felt an overwhelming cool breeze pass through the room.

Tala relaxed, closing his eyes and listening to the reassuring sounds of his wolf howling in the distance, that only he could hear.

Tyson stumbled through the hall, mumbling tiredly. His stomach rumbled loudly and he moaned, determined to get to the kitchen before he died of starvation. A rubbed a hand across his stomach, his vision blurred from lack of wakeful-ness.

He passed through a doorway and yelled as he ran into something both hard and smooth. He blundered backwards and bashed his head against the wall. Tyson groaned and his hat fell off. He looked at the threshold, confused. He leaned over and scooped up his hat, almost falling over as he did, and dropped it carelessly onto his head.

Determinedly, Tyson stalked forward and made to bash though the doorway, only to once again hit something, but this time, it loosened and he fell forward in surprise at the sudden weight shift, taking it down with him.

Once again, his hat tumbled off and landed a few feet in front of him and he face planted into floor. Groggily, he realised the object that had stopped him was a sheet of plastic that had been stapled over the threshold. He moaned again and let his eyes close. He was still very dizzy.

Just then he heard footsteps. Tyson forced his head up and looked, with half-closed lids, at the man that stood in front of him.

"Who're you?" He slurred, the mix of hunger, exhaustion and banging his head twice, effecting him greatly. The man leaned down and said something into a radio he held in one hand.

"Ya know," Tyson mumbled, "You sound a lot like Kai, d'you know him?" There was a reply from the radio, but again, it was unintelligible to the blue haired boy, and the man grinned down at him.

Suddenly, the dragon wielding beyblader felt dread overcome him. This couldn't be good.