It was a sunny and fine weather again in Bey city, Japan. Everything was going like any other normal day in the Granger dojo. Tyson Granger and Max Tate were in the backyard of the house, training away their time. The Chief sat on the engawa with his laptop, Dizzi, recording the data he got from the match going on in front of him. Raymond Kon sat a few feets away from him on the engawa, meditating. And as usual Kai Hiwatari, the team captain, was nowhere to be seen. Everything was normal. Almost. What was different was the only female member of the Bladebreakers team. Hilary Tachibana. She hadn't shown up at the dojo this morning.
Now it was worrying. For Hilary to not turn up at the dojo for three days in a row is very unusual. Even Tyson was getting worried. The Tyson Granger who never wanted Hilary to be around in the first place. That Tyson Granger! Kai hadn't shown up yet either. But that wasn't worrying them the least because they knew Kai was capable of taking care of himself. He can pull through all kinds of situations.
But Ray was concerned for both of them and wasn't at the same time. He knew they were together. After all he was the one to have sent Kai to find Hilary. Kai would be fine. No matter what. And if Hilary was with him she would be fine as well. But what if she wasn't? That was what worried him. What if Hilary wasn't found out by Kai? What if she was in danger as well as Kai? He couldn't settle on whether to start looking for them or not. And all the disturbing thoughts forbid him from his few minutes of peaceful meditation.
Frustrated at his lack of concentration, Ray got up from his position on the patio floor. And that's when he spotted him. A guy lurking at the gates of the dojo, comprehending whether he should come in. Ray found his appearance awfully similar to someone he knew. Two someones that is. Only he couldn't put his finger quite at who the person was. He racked his brain a bit more and then it came to him. Yes! He was wearing Kai's clothes. It didn't just look like it. Those were Kai's clothes. But why on earth would he wear Kai's clothes? Then looking at his face he concluded he looked like Hilary. His hair was the same too. The same face, hair, height. Only looking at his chest he knew it wasn't her. Now Ray was well and truly confused. This guy looked like Hilary and wore Kai's clothes. Why on earth was that?
He decided he needed to know. And to know the whole story he'd have to ask the mystery guy. And so he did.
"Hey, who're you? And what are you doing here?"
The stranger, startled at the sudden appearance of Ray, stumbled backwards and ended up falling down.
Ray saw the flustered look on his face.
"Hey, uh, I didn't mean to scare you. Are you okay?" Ray apologized while stretching his hand out for him to take it and get back up.
The guy eyes the hand a bit uncertainly and after a moment he hesitantly took it and helped himself up.
"So tell me. Who are you?" Ray tried again, this time a little softer so as not to scare the everything out of the guy again.
"I'm, uh..." He hesitated. "Promise that you won't laugh or freak out if tell you."He said after a bit of thinking.
Ray nodded a yes.
"I'm Hilary."
Ray blinked once. Twice. And again.
"What?"
Hilary took a deep breath and,
"I'm Hilary Tachibana. Your friend."
"Are you sure you're not kidding me?"
"Positive."
Ray still looked a bit uncertain about everything. Then he spotted a guy on the road heading their way. He wore outfits similar to that of the guy claiming himself to be Hilary wore. And he had slate hair. Kai Hiwatari. The Bladebreakers captain.
"Kai!" Ray called out for him. Kai entered the dojo gates and stood beside Hilary. Ray was about to start when Kai cut in.
"I know what you're thinking. And I have all answers to your unspoken questions. I told you that night about what had happened with Hilary's mother. Well, after that I took her with me to my mansion because she was in no form to stay on her own. The problem began the following morning, i.e. yesterday. The Blitzkrieg Boys arrived at my doorstep. And surprisingly enough they knew where to find me. This time even Ian was with them. And he was the cause of all this." Kai paused and looked at Hilary. She was facing down but he could clearly see she wasn't happy in the slightest. He began again with the story.
"You must already know that Ian loves his experiments. Chemicals and labs are his life. And everytime he does a kind of experiment he creates trouble. This time was no exception either." He paused and, by the look on his face, seemed to be thinking hard about something. In vain. "I forgot what he was saying he did. All in all he mixed some chemical with another that for some reason turned Hilary into a boy."
Ray was quiet for a while. He blinked once. Twice. And then a chuckle escaped his lips.
"Wow Kai. This is more than what you said in the whole past year combined. You seem to have improved."
One infamous Hiwatari death glade seemed to shut up the amused white tiger.
"Anyway" Kai continued. "Ian is working on how to turn Hilary back into a girl. Talk is personally making sure of it."
"I'm not surprised he is." Hilary spoke up. "Next to you, he was the most furious in the house at Ian's deeds." She sounded kind of amused.
"True. We have to look out for our sister-in-law to-be, now don't we?" The familiar voice of a husky falcon blader could be heard as the Russian teen entered through the gates of the Granger dojo.
"Why are you here?" Kai asked, certainly not pleased by Bryan's little visit.
"You could be more polite than that Kaisy." He suggested, a perfect smirk plastered on his face.
"Hello Bryan." Ray greeted. Bryan returned the greeting with a nod of his. The Russians weren't much for talk, but their gestures talked their heart.
"To answer your question Kai, Tala sent me here to make sure that endless pit of stomach doesn't utter something inappropriate. If he does, I have orders to beat him up into a bloody pulp." He said the last part in a sing-song way.
Kai snorted. Hilary let out a Merry bubble of laugh. Ray merely stood there. Unblinking. Then a light bulb went off over his head and it all started to make sense to him. He got it. Finally. Bryan was talking about Tyson there. Yeah.
"Has he showed up yet? The stomach on two legs I mean?" Bryan asked, again referring to Tyson the Granger boy.
"No. And I don't plan on seeing him yet either." Answered Kai monotonously. Then he turned to Ray. "Kon, what I told you over phone that night, relay the message. It was true. But don't breathe a word of what happened yesterday to a single soul. Got it?" There was a hint of warning in his voice. Ray made a motion with his hands that resembled zipping up. Horizontally.
"See you later Ray." The three of them said their goodbyes and left for Kai's mansion, in hopes that Ian might have found some way to turn Hilary back to normal.
Half way through the mansion, when Hilary was out of earshot, Bryan whispered something in Kai's ears. The first reaction to be seen on Kai's face was horror. Then it turned to fury. The next thing anyone knew was Kai chasing a maliciously smirking Bryan with a look of utmost rage on his own face. Spencer had to physically restraint the both of them while Ian rolled on the floor hauling with laughter. And Tala just stood there pinching the bridge of his nose to ease some of the headache that was coming soon. Things were always going to be this way with the Blitzkrieg Boys.
A/N - I hope you all enjoyed it. Let me know how you felt about this chapter. Please read and review!