o look an update

... I don't know, I feel like I should say more about the update, but nothing springs to mind. Except, I guess, 'thanks for the reviews'. So, thanks for the reviews. :3 LOVE YOU GUYS.

Oh, and lots of languages here. I believe we have English, Italian, and Russian. But you can handle it, you scholar you.

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Chapter eleven - Stepping Stones

The bridge was growing slick in the light rain. Each stone that made up it's structure gleamed lightly with the pale reflection of the sky, interrupted only when someone crossed between them. Suddenly, the gloss gave way as two feet slid over their surface, stepping thoughtlessly as their owner paced. Kai frowned impatiently across the river, eyes following the road no matter how his head turned.

"There's got to be a way across." He muttered. Behind him, he could hear Tyson and Johnny starting in on an argument. Wistfully, he closed his eyes and wished - no, prayed - for selective hearing; that, or a large stick. When he opened his eyes and turned around, the two offending individuals were leaning toward each other threateningly.

"You really think now is a good time to do this, Granger?" Johnny was saying in an uneven tone, struggling to remain calm. Tyson, indignantly, leaned in closer.

"You don't even care what happens. You didn't then and you don't now."

"I'm warning you-"

"What, that you'll fly away when it gets too scary?" Tyson mocked, in a tone that suggested he was talking to a toddler. He lifted closed fists to his eyes and rotated them, as if he were wiping away tears. Johnny's fist was retracting fast, preparing to swing into Tyson's face. Tyson made to punch him too, until a stern voice interrupted them.

"Essere tranquillo!"

Both heads turned, with some difficulty. Johnny's hand had wrapped around Tyson's shirt collar, and Tyson had snagged hold of the Scot's jacket while they were poising to punch one another. They looked steely toward Enrique, who crossed his arms over his chest with narrowed eyes.

"Tyson, we are here because we received a letter like you. Would you have come if you had not?" The Italian asked. His accent seemed thinner compared to Oliver's, but it still took Tyson a minute to think about what he meant. That, or he was truly shocked that the suggestion was even made.

"Of course I would! That prick got two of my friends shot, and then some!"

"'And then some'. Hn." Johnny growled, releasing Tyson slowly while his opponent did the same. They glared at each other venomously.

"You wouldn't have been at all motivated, Tyson." Max piped up. "If he hadn't blown us up, you wouldn't have believed it was really him."

Tyson twisted suddenly and looked over at Max with wide, slightly offended eyes. "That's not true!"

"Shh!"

"I would have totally taken it seriously!"

"Shut up!"

"I mean, if there's one thing I want to do more then anything else, its-"

"Tyson, for the love of god would you shut your mouth!" Kai barked, swooping in among them and forcing Johnny and Tyson apart. The group fell silent, startled by the force in Kai's words. The ensuing reticence seemed to still even the falling mist, as they all looked slowly toward the trees on the far end of the river. Eyes lifting to the sound of distant, muffled thrashing. It grew closer and closer, the trees shivering each time it sounded out.

No one dared to speak. Kenny, along with Hilary and Oliver, had unconsciously began to back up, but only by taking small steps at a time. Then, as quickly as it had started, the thrashing noises had stopped. Stillness returned quickly, and in the far distance Kai almost swore he could hear a dog barking. No one moved.

Nor did they have to. Suddenly, between two thick pine trees, two long metal legs shot forward out of the branches and smashed into the rocky river. Behind them, they seemed to pull out a large, flat steel body, circular and silver in the afternoon light. Five more legs followed as it advanced towards them with startling speed.

"Get back!" Kai cried. Turning and snagging hold of Johnny and Tyson, he shoving them down the bridge toward the road they had come in on. The mechanical monster stormed easily through the gray water before lifting up a leg and slamming it down onto the bridge where they had been, throwing chunks of wet rock flying. Stumbling, Kai skid to a halt and whipped out his blade thoughtlessly, loading and aiming his launcher. Before he had a chance to pull the rip cord, the rest of the group with the exception of Hilary and Kenny had done the same.

The uncertainty of the following situation engulfed all of them. And, possibly, the robot. The sudden release of energy from the fired blades, oncoming force of the machine, made the collision unnecessarily violent. The sound of crunching, tearing metal exploded along with sparks and the swirling lights of a few bitbeasts. As the initial numbing blast died away, and the blades retracted toward their owners, the robot stumbled awkwardly away from them. Its main body had been torn open, revealing a hollow cavity encased with eight inch steel walls. Inside was a mess of gears and wires, all twisting around some large heart-like structure. It had, before the attack, been pulsing a blue light, but as the machine fell still on three of its legs, and the bladers relaxed and stepped back, unaware of what was to come, the light faded.

The robot, easily ten feet tall, began to tilt backward from its perch on the edge of the bridge. The bladers watched uneasily as it fell faster and faster away from them before finally coming in contact with the other side of the bridge. It slide a little from that position, it's legs falling limp and splashing into the murky water, but it's body successfully spanned the bridge from end to end.

A long silence followed. Above their heads, in the trees, birds squeaked and fluttered and panicked. Slowly regaining a grip on the situation, Kai took stepped forward slowly, his launcher still firmly in both hands. When he reached the leg of the robot, and moved further onto the main body, the others did the same. None of them showed any sign of being calm, but the stillness was oddly unbearable.

Kai looked down into the body of the machine, eyes scanning everything as quickly as he could. He didn't want to be near it long, but it was slowly dawning on him that this was exactly Matherson's intention. He had wanted to meet them there, but not on his own. It was with this.

"Is it... dead?" Kenny asked, sliding up behind Kai and standing on his tiptoes. Despite his fear, he couldn't hide his fascination.

"No Kenny." Kai muttered, putting his blade away without moving his eyes off of the thing. "Robots aren't alive to being with."

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Bryan's arms ached.

Like, ached. He had been through worlds and worlds of pain before - galaxies of them, even. But this was just frustrating. He was cold and tired from holding onto the damn log, and the thing kept rolling in the fast moving water. He was, in fact, very slowly approaching the far bank of the river, and in the back of his mind he began thinking about actually getting out of the water. He had an incredible tolerance for temperatures, but this was getting old. He would have to dry off. Build a fire, maybe.

I can burn the ferns, he thought, with a bitter smirk on his face.

Despite these ponderings, Bryan's mind kept tracing back to Kevin. The kid seemed to know how to survive in the wilderness without much help, but mentally he was a wreck. And being lucid and even headed is the first key. So he was either screwed, screwed, or really screwed. Unless...

Bryan should have made more effort to get out of the water when he first fell in. But at the time, the current was too fast, the banks were far too steep, and he wasn't thinking about protecting the kid. He was thinking about that dog, and how much it deserved to drown. Bryan hated dogs.

"-you'd think someone-... -never really-..."

The echo of a voice snapped his to reality. His eyes focused to a point, and they shot up to scan anywhere and everywhere to figure out was the noise was.

"It's not like you... to be ready for it or any-...is all I'm saying."

It was getting louder. He heard another, of a different pitch, and he quickly realized that it was a group of people. As the log bobbed around the bend, the sounds grew much more crisp and clear.

"It's not like he would care."

Bryan's eyes finally settled on a bridge - a very makeshift bridge, but a bridge nontheless. There was a small group of people gathered on the far bank, looking like they had just crossed. He squinted at them for a moment before his thin lips swelled into a broad smile.

"Zdravstvujte!" He bellowed out in Russian, thrusting a hand into the air. After looking around in startled confusion, the faces turned toward him one by one. There was a pause, just in time for the log to bump up against the bank. Bryan finally let go of it, sinking into the cold murk before he pulled himself up onto the slippery rocks on shore. He was only a few yards from the base of the bridge, and in seconds he was scrambling up a pile of rocks to get to the group.

"Bryan?" One voice asked. It was bitter, surprised, and familiar.

"Kai! Kak požyivaješ?" He asked as he pulled himself over the ledge. A stupid smile pulled at his lips, and his back stretched out slowly. He stood about a foot and a half taller then all of them, expect for Robert. Bryan looked around breathlessly at everyone, a little surprised to see them all there.

"... What the hell are you doing here?!" Kai snapped. His anger startled Bryan and the taller Russian directed his attention back at him. For a moment he was quiet, his face blank, before he looked over his shoulder toward the water.

"Long story."

"I have time."

"He doesn't." Bryan muttered, pointing pathetically back upstream.

"Who?!"

"Malinkaya."

Kai looked at him hard for a long moment. "... Little one..." He started, translating slowly in his mind.

"What does that mean?" Tyson asked, stepping forward. "What does 'little one' mean?!"

Kai shushed him. His glare had darkened considerably, and Bryan took a half step back. Kai's teeth clenched and his shoulders lifted like a threatened hawk. The group around him seemed to sense this tension, and - despite their own confusion - stepped back and gave Kai room to make a very loud exclamation.

"Kevin is here?!"

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Bryan deserves a metal of some kind.