Disclaimer: Nope. Still own nothing.
So you guys, almost, almost didn't get this chapter today...as it's 3am and I have a shitton of things to do this week. I can honestly say I have no idea when I can update next. Life is getting hectic. But believe me, if I can find the time, I will update. A huge thank-you to Little A Granger, Tyka's Flower, adbhut, miniJkitty, Angel Devastation and chibiduo for reviewing, you guys give me so much strength to keep going on with this (and write at 3am)
I hope you enjoy!
When morning came Kai wasted no time as he studied the riddle before him, trying to break it down into something that made more sense. "A hord of gold, so many treasures hold. No guards, no wards, prised by bards. But no merchant will accept it, cause as payment it doesn't fit. But still Chautea refills me every year, now the answer is clear!"
He rubbed his temples, wishing he had coffee to help him process this better. This was day number three without coffee and exhausted didn't even begin to explain what he was feeling. He really just wanted to return to civilization. Ugh, since when had he become so dependant ton the brown liquid to function?Taking a swig of water, he refocused his tired mind on the words.
Well a bard is a poet. It's a gold that's worthless to merchants, thus not needing any guards...it's filled every year...and we're in a forest. He thought logically. A tree gets its leaves every year, poets see its true value as a muse. A hord of worthless gold? Perhaps that's a reference to the kind of tree – since we're in a fucking forest. C'mon brain, WORK! Unconsciously he left hand had wondered to the sleeping teen beside him, calloused fingers playing with the celestial locks. Worthless golden trees...trees that were golden...He stopped his ministrations as the answer came to him. It's fucking obvious...trees with yellow or golden leaves. He glared at the riddle. Fucking Dickenson. He turned and shook the sleeping boy beside him. "We're leaving, I've figured out the next riddle."
Tyson pulled the covers further over his head. "5 more minutes, Grandpa." he moaned.
Smirking mischievously, the Russian yanked the blankets off and the bluenette shivered, a tan hand reaching blindly for the warm cloth. "Kinomiya, up. Now."
Now any sane person would pale at the dangerous tone and do what was commanded without a second thought. This brat however just rolled over and curled his body around the Phoenix-Master and whined, "But Kaaaai! I saved you from the beeee! Don't I get some kind of reward for all my hard-work?"
Rolling his eyes at the childish antics, the man pride himself away from the child. "You not having to solve the rest of the riddles by yourself. We're leaving."
The boy grumbled and got out of bed, yawning loudly. "Can we scrounge up some breakfast? I'm starving!"
"Get your shit together and maybe. Do you know where any yellow-leaved trees are?"
Tyson brightened. "Yeah, there's a huge one pretty close to here, why? Is that where the riddle said to go?"
"Yeah."
"Ok! Let's go!" A sudden noise, that could be compared to a growling bear filled the tent. "After we get some grub!"
Luckily for Tyson, the path they were walking on was rich with berries and fruits, and Kai, being Mr. Know-it-all, knew exactly which ones were safe to eat.
Before long, they came to a massive tree with golden leaves and high in the branches was the envelope they were seeking. "I got this one!" proclaimed the World Champion, but just as his feet were about to leave the ground, Kai grabbed his arm.
"You'll be seen." he hissed.
"So? I don't exactly keep my powers a secret. Besides everyone saw me fly with my battle with Brooklyn. I don't see what the big deal is."
"It's not bladers I'm concerned about, it's them!" Kai pointed to the sky where a helicopter was flying overhead. "If they see anything out of the ordinary, it might cause unwanted attention."
Tyson's eyes widened. "Oh." He looked at the letter and closed his eyes for a moment, the wind shifted and he opened his eyes and tilted his neck to the side. The envelope was detached from the tree and fluttered down into the Wind-Master's hands. "There, happy?"
"Whatever." But Kai was impressed at Tyson's control.
Tyson pulled out gold star and put it beside the number 5 before reading out the last riddle. "I am an animal of three letters. My first 2 letters indicates an element and the last 2 indicates a preposition. What am I?" he looked helplessly at the puzzle solver. "Kai, any ideas?"
"The only animals with 3 letters that I know of are ; a dog, cat and a emu. The first two letters of cat is Ca, short for calcium, so we're looking for a cat."
"Great. Any idea where we could find a cat in a freaking forest?"
"And your asking me why?"
"Because you're the cat expert."
The cat-owner sighed. "C'mon, let's head back to base."
"What?! Why?!"
"Because chances are the cat they brought has been domesticated and it will stay close to food and shelter." Kai sighed, exasperated.
Tyson only grinned. "Awesome, way to go buddy. C'mon! Base is that way!"
Kai eyed Tyson suspiciously. "How haven't you gotten us lost yet?"
Tyson scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "I kinda got lost a few times when I was here with Daichi. Thanks to him, I got to know this forest like the back of my hand."
"I see."
"So, c'mon! This trail should lead us back to base!" Tyson looked to the envelope that was still in his hand. "But first," he used the wind to guide the envelope back up the tree, and reattached it. "Ok, now we can go!"
It was nighttime before they made it back to base, unfortunately a group had made it before they had. "K-K-Kenny?!" exclaimed Tyson, his and Kai's eyes were wide in disbelief. "H-How did you beat US?!"
"Oh it was easy! I used my extensive knowledge to figure out the riddles, so we just stayed here at camp!"
Tyson smirked. "Nice try Chief, but you actually had to go to every location and get stickers."
"What?!" Screamed Kenny and Eddy in unison. Tyson held up their sheet with the different coloured stars as evidence. Kenny sunk to his knees. "Darn it, I was so close!"
Tyson chuckled and turned back around, blinking twice when he noticed Kai had a tiny kitten in his right hand, its' fur as white as the scarf around the Russian's neck, and a miniscule white envelope in his other hand. Tyson took the envelope and pulled out a single silver star before sticking it next to the number 6.
"CONGRATULATIONS LITTLE DUDES!" came Gramps' voice as he burst through the doors of the building. "You've won the scavenger hunt!"
"And as your reward, you guys get an extra strike for the tournament, starting at 4 strikes each." said Judy, walking out of the building.
Kai and Tyson shared a look, Tyson's eyes pleading and Kai finally nodding his head in agreement. "Actually, is it possible to give up our strikes to a group of our choosing?"
The woman blinked and rubbed her chin in thought. "I guess that's okay, but who do you have in mind?"
As if right on cue, Max and Ray came running out of the woods, followed closely by Tala and Daichi. "Ray and Max were a huge help to us, and we wanted to say 'Thank-you'." explained Tyson.
At this point the rest of the adult supervisors had come outside, plus Hilary. Judy explained the situation and they all discussed it for a moment, before the blonde woman walked up to her son and his partner. "Maxie, Ray. Tyson and Kai want to give their extra strike to you."
Bewildered, the pair looked at each other and then to their former teammates. "Really guys?" asked Max.
"Yeah, you won the prize, fair and square." added Ray.
"Yeah, but you guys helped us get our stuff back, and its not like Kai and I need it anyways." explained Tyson. "Besides, we still get bragging rights and that's all that really matters here."
Ray and Max looked at each other and grinned. "Then, yes. We'll gladly accept the extra strike." they said in unison. All four boys shared a look.
Hilary stepped forward. "Alright! Who's hungry!"
Tyson, Max and Daichi's eyes lit up at the thought of real food and made a mad dash for the dinner table. Ray chuckled. "Somethings never change."
Kai, Tala, Eddy and Kenny all nodded in agreement and they followed the others inside.
Slowly, the other teams trickled their way in. All was peaceful until Ian and Johnny walked in. Several teams had been victims of their thieving and they were out for blood, figuring if the pair hadn't swindled them, they would've made it back first. That was, until Tyson stepped in and revealed that their stuff had also been stolen and they had STILL beaten everyone. But with so many hot-heads in the same room, it was inevitable that a beybattle would break out, luckily Tyson had made everyone chase him outside before it got out of hand. He then promptly shocked everyone and knocked their blades out of the arena.
Kai watched the following friendly matches with vast interest. Taking note of new blades, new moves, players stances, all the while sneaking fond glances at Tyson. It was truly astonishing how one person's love for the game could bring so many people together from around the world.
Tyson had changed the world of blading, and Kai was proud to call him his friend. The air suddenly turned frigid as the Dranzer-holder felt a presence next to him. "So how was the monkey-boy?" he asked.
"Went surprisingly well, he's a little more energetic than what I'm used to, but he wasn't completely incompetent. Though..." Kai turned to look at the red-head and was shocked to see violet blood-shot eyes with heavy bags underneath. "How did you manage to sleep through all the snoring WITH NO COFFEE?!"
Oh God, Tala was a zombie that was just about to snap and kill everyone.
"I got used to it." Kai deadpanned. "Go to bed. You look like shit."
"Bryan's not back yet."
Kai sighed in understanding. If he was in Tala's shoes, he wouldn't sleep either. "Go get us some coffee then."
Understanding that 'us' meant that Kai would wait up with him, the red-haired Russian stood in shock for a moment before getting some coffee from the kitchen.
It was 1:00 in the morning when the beybattles finally ceased and everyone was turning in for the night. God only knew what time their crazy supervisors would get them up in the morning for more training. Before Tyson went inside, he saw Tala and Kai sitting silently, sipping what he assumed to be coffee. Curious, he walked over to the Russian's. "Hey guys, what's up?"
"None of your business." snapped Tala, in a tone that would send most people running. Unfortunately, Tyson was much used to this treatment from Kai and didn't scare easily. Instead he crossed his arms and scoffed.
"Fine, be that way. I was only trying to be friendly." the bluenette took a second look and noticed their gaze was on the tree-line. Putting two-and-two together he said gently. "Y'know, probably whomever you're waiting for went to bed hours ago, when the sun went down. They'll probably show-up sometime tomorrow."
Tala stiffened and Kai turned to his friend. "Tala, he's right for a change. Let's turn in. They'll show up eventually." With no other option, the violet-eyed man looked at the forest one last time before he followed his friends to bed.
The following morning's breakfast made chaotic seem peaceful. Everyone had made a mad dash to the food before Tyson or Daichi could beat them to it. Then Lee and Micheal started an argument on whether sausage or bacon was better, while Max tried to make everyone try mustard. Well, almost everyone. The ice-cold warning glares of Kai and Tala made the American retreat silently to go bother someone else.
By noon, it was determined only 3 teams were missing; Claude and Bryan, Mystel and Enrique, Oliver and Spencer, and they had until 3 before a search party was going to be sent out to look for them. Tala became more and more tense with each passing minute. At 2:30 Mystel and Enrique came out of the forest with Enrique shouting. "Hey! Is that damn cat over here?!"
Said cat, was perched on Kai's shoulder and had barely left the dual-haired man's side since they met.
Lee laughed. "Yeah! Kai and Tyson beat us all here!"
Enrique glared at his partner. "See? I told you that it would probably be here." Mystel only laughed an jumped away.
15 minutes later, Spencer came out of the forest with an unconscious Jim on his back. "Little guy ended up falling out of the tree on the last challenge and broke his leg. Right now he's dosed up on morphine." Explained the Russian urgently.
At once the injured boy was ushered inside, the former team Psyik surrounded their friend as Judy slowly lifted up the pant leg. Everyone visibly paled. The bone had pierced right through the skin. "We need to get him to a hospital!" Judy said calmly, but sternly.
Robert pulled out his cellphone and requested a helicopter to pick them up ASAP. 30 minutes later a huge helicopter picked up the team and Mr. Tate.
It was now 3:00 and after the incident that just happened, Tala was edgy and Kai was sick of waiting around. "Tala, Tyson, Ray, The White Tigers, Mystel and myself will go look for Bryan and Claude."
Hiro and Miguel immediately protested.
"Claude is MY teammate, I should be out there with you!" said Miguel.
"I know this forest better than anyone. I'm coming!" declared Hiro.
Feeling a headache coming on and so not in the mood to argue, Kai grunted. "Whatever." He looked down and Kenny was suddenly before him.
"I made more of my communication devices, so you guys can figure out which part of the forest you're covering. They include tracking devices so we can talk and keep an eye on you guys from here."
Deciding that Kenny was the most useful person here, Kai accepted the devices and nodded his head in thanks. Giving them to Tyson to distribute among the rescue party, he quickly explained how they worked. "Alright, it's a large area that we have to cover, there are 10 of us so everyone stay within a kilometre of each other. Bryan is a survivalist, so look for smoke signals, flares, listen for tapping especially." He turned to the rest of the bladers. "When was the last time any of you saw Bryan or Claude?"
Rick was the first to speak up. "I saw them 2 days ago near the beehive."
Miguel gasped and everyone looked at him. "Anything you want to clue us in on?"
"I-It's just, Claude is allergic to bees."
You could hear a pin drop.
"Ok, everyone move out!" Barked Kai and at once Hiro, the nekojins and Mystel started leaping through the trees, Miguel, Tyson and Tala running through the forest. Meanwhile Kai quickly ran inside to grab a medical kit, then entered the forest.
As soon as the Rescue Squad was gone, Kenny went inside with Judy and Emily hot on his heels, turning on his laptop so they could keep everyone on course.
It was over 3 hours before Mariah's shaky voice came over the radio waves. "I-I just found Bryan's jacket...i-it doesn't look good guys."
Three kilometres away, Tala's heart stopped. "What do you mean by that?"
"T-The vest is shredded and there'sbloodonit!" she sobbed.
Tala froze. He couldn't. Bryan couldn't.
"Mariah, stay where you are, everyone go to her location. We don't know anything for sure yet." came Kai's smoky voice, giving something Tala desperately needed – hope.
"Alright. I'm right near the yellow-leafed tree."
Running as fast as his feet could carry him, Tala ran to the location, only to freeze when he saw the pink-haired girl holding the shredded, bloody pieces of cloth that was once his lover's jacket. Her eyes shone with tears. "I-I'm so sorry Tala." she sniffed, surrendering the garment to the Blitzkrieg Captain.
Kai appeared a moment later with Tyson closely behind. "Let me see that." Shakily the broken man gave the soiled garment to Kai who closely inspected it.
"There's a chance he's still alive." Everyone looked at the Dranzer wielder. "The colour of the blood is still fairly dark and some parts are damp. This didn't occur long ago." Everyone let out a sigh of relief. Ruby eyes saw several droplets of crimson and noticed the foot-prints in the dirt. His stomach lurched. "This way!"
The others followed closely behind the tracker as he lead them off the trail and into the bush, only Tyson took the time to see what caused the panic in the tough blader's eyes. What he saw next made his own heart sink. There, in the dirt, was the unmistakable paw print of a bear.
See? I'm really not happy unless there is some kind of chaos. Poor Tala... You guys should really start reading this with tissues close by, even I'm getting a little teary-eyed and sick reading it...
Please leave a review to tell me what you thought! I'll update as soon as I can, I promise!
