Chapter 2 - chapter 2

"Yes Kai, you know that you can't beat me, I'm always going to be one step ahead of you, no matter how hard you try!" A terrifying voice echoed all around him, chilling his lonely, empty heart to its' very core.
"Who's there?" His voice was creaky, dry, and it hurt to.
Where was he, not were he was a minute a go that was for sure. Alone… and in total darkness… but where, and how did he get to this darkened realm that somehow seemed to frighten Kai to pit of his stomach? But more importantly, where was that voice coming from, and who owned it? It somehow sounded familiar, if only he could find the source, and then his endless stream of questions would be dried up. But… there was nothing around him, just an endless cloud of black that seemed to tighten round his throat every time he took a wheezing breath. "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!" Even his mind was becoming cloudy; it felt like his brain was being taken over by some invisible force.

Something caught his eye, just to the side of him, there was something coming towards him. A figure, somehow giving off an unearthly glow, lighting up the area around it. As the indescribable shape came closer, Kai felt the burning anger that he only experienced around one person. The first ever person to beat him, to strip his title away from his grasps. No it… it couldn't be… he had run away from him! How did Tyson manage to find him?

"Grandson, what do you think your doing?" A voice boomed from behind him, seeming to shake the invisible walls around him. "What? Was that… who I thought it was?" Kai didn't know how that was possible… how could his Grandfather be here? He started looking franticly around him, trying to spot his childhood tormentor's face looming out of the endless darkness around him.

Kai felt his stomach twist into an every tightening knot. But there was nothing, not a sign of that wrinkled, aged face that haunted his dreams when he was but a small boy. "Kai!" Tyson's voice made him jump, the coldness in which he said his name, shook him to the very core of his soul. Why was he so afraid of him, what was it about Tyson that scared Kai so much? Was it his unbreakable beyblading spirit; was it how he always fitted in with everyone around him… or was it something else? Something… out of the world!
"You and me, right now, beybattle! Got it?" something-loomed out of Kai's blackened surrounding, a hand… pointing at… him! Then an arm, chest and neck. Legs and a lowered head were next to appear. But it was the face that freaked Kai out the most; it was scrunched up into a heart-stopping smile. An expression that Kai had never seen Tyson wear before now. A face that wore pure evil, a face that told Kai that he had lost before he had even started. "No Tyson… I… I can't…"
The alienated Tyson slowly raised his head, looked at him from under his red hat. "What's this I hear, some ones being a chicken... HA! I knew this day would come, someday I knew that the almighty Kai would finally come face to face with fear… and LOOSE"

Kai growled in anger, how dare he say something like that to him, nobody every spoke to him like that, ever! "I'll show you Tyson! No one mocks me! No one!" Kai shouted clenching his fists in pure rage. He roughly took his blue Dranzer out of his jean pocket, and slammed it against the launcher to connect. Reaching behind him, into the folds of his billowing scarf, Kai pulled out his ripcord, and slid it into the launcher.

"OK Tyson, you asked for it, now prepare to fight against the awesome power of my Dranzer. You don't stand a chance!" saying this, he steadied his arm out in front of him, gripping the ripcord tightly, staring Tyson down. But then Kai thought, what were they going to battle in! There was no beystadium, hole, or even a mud pit in sight! Tyson must have seen the confused look on his face, because he sneered. "Aww, don't worry Kai, this isn't going to be a stadium battle, it's every beyblade for its self! AN ALL TERAIN BATTLE!" He too took out his top-level beyblade, and prepared to launch. "Enough idle chit chat, we're here to battle aren't we, or are you just stalling for time?" Kai's sarcasm tried to make up for how nervous he felt, but without much luck!

"3… 2… 1… LET IT RIP!" Kai pulled the ripcord out of the launcher with such for force that golden sparks flew in every direction. Tyson launched his blade at the exact same time. Hitting the floor with amazing power; it came spinning at full power towards Kai.

But as soon as Kai's beyblade made contact with the ground it started to wobble uncontrollably… again!
"Come on Dranzer, show 'em what you can do!" Kai shouted at the top of his lungs, giving it all he had. But with no effect, no sooner had he said that, Dranzer stopped spinning all together, and lay lifeless between him and Tyson's roaring blade. Tyson laughed meaningfully as he caught his Dragoon in mid-air. "See, what did I tell you Kai! I didn't even have to try, and I won. You don't deserve to be on the G Revolutions team, and you never have! Now… GO!" Tyson again pointed a finger at Kai, and somehow, he seemed to drift away, being consumed by the blackness around him once more. Or was it the other way round; was it Kai who was drifting? This place had really started to mess with his head! But Kai didn't have chanced to think about that any longer. His Grandfathers booming had started to echo around him once more.

"Kai… you have let me down once more, I am ashamed to call you my Grandson." There was no source, it was coming from all around, was this his nightmare. Did this realm somehow contain a person's nightmare, which would haunt them until they finally lost it!
"But… but Grandfather… why are you here… what is this place?" Kai asked, looking all around him for a face to talk to.
"I came here to see you win Kai… not loose! I am very disappointed in you, I thought I brought you up with the moral 'Winning is everything!' … but it doesn't look like it has sunk in…" Those last words seemed to echo forever until they finally dies away. So he was… alone at last… in this darkened place, that seemed to hold all of his nightmares.

A small, insignificant sound caught Kai's ear; it seemed to be coming from in front of him. But Kai didn't exactly know, he had lost all sense of direction. Maybe the sound was a source of a way out of this darkened realm… or maybe… it could lead to more tormentors. Kai didn't care, as long as it meant he wasn't alone. He started to run desperately towards it, but no matter how far he ran the sound didn't get any closer. He stopped and listened… straining his ears for the slightest of sound. But there was nothing… just that same eerie silence, like the on he heard when first came here. Where had the mysterious sound gone? And why did it stop so abruptly? Then it came floating back into Kai's ears again, but this time it was closer. It sounded like… crackling fire… but why would there be fire here? Where was it coming from? "Is this some kind of stupid dream!" he asked himself, closing his eyes, in hoping that when he opened them again everything would be back to normal. "If it is…I've got to wake up… come on Kai! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up…!" Screaming at the top of his lungs, Kai thought that he had at last lost his mind.

"You are awake, erm… excuse me… come on! Hey you… Snap out of it!" It was that voice, the voice of that mysterious girl. But what was she doing here? Kai felt a hand swipe his face that made it sting painfully. He snapped his eyes open.

Kai's vision was blurred at first; black and white patches obscured it. But blinking a few times seemed to help, and his vision soon returned to him.

Kai was staring right into a pair of indescribable eyes, he didn't know what it was about them, but he couldn't look into their depths for a very long before a strange shiver came over him. But it wasn't a shiver of fear; it was more like… a shiver of warmth, somehow bringing all the life back into his dead body. He had looked into these strange eyes not so log ago. Kai didn't know how that was possible, but what he did know was that he had to look away, it sort of scared him.

In doing so, he saw that he was lying on a wooden floor on top of a white Japanese futon. Looking above eye view, Kai saw that he was in a wooden cabin. It didn't seem to have that much in it, but Kai wasn't sure because the corners were darkened. Not only that, but Kai felt an enormous amount of heat was coming from the other side of him, he looked to the other side of him, and saw a huge fireplace in which a roaring fire was burning. It made him feel comfortable, the warmth washing through him like waves at the beach.

"Hey… um… are you ok?" Kai looked above him again, and saw a girl, about his age, leaning over him, the same girl. "I heard you screaming… so I came in to see what the matter was. Did you have a bad dream or something?" Kai saw the same look of concern on the girls' face once more. He blinked. It was the girl who was in the quarry with him, but what was she doing here with him now, and where was here? "Who are you?" he asked the girl in a croaking voice, it felt like he hadn't used it for days. "Oh, I'm sorry, my names Tayo Lee," she smiled, "I saw you down in the quarry a few days ago and…"
"A few days?" Kai questioned. "What do you mean by a few days"
"Well… you have been asleep for over two whole days now you know. I didn't want to wake you, so I did try to be as quiet as I could…"
Kai frowned deeply, none of this made sense to him, he had suddenly woken up in an unfamiliar cabin, with this girl saying that he had been asleep for days. How did he get here? But more importantly, how was he going to get away?
"You're welcome to stay here as well as you like. I've tried to help your wounds heal up as best I could. You were hurt really badly. I heard a beyblade spinning in…"
"MY BEYBLADE!" Kai had suddenly come to his senses! That was what he had been doing before he lost consensus. He needed to complete his training as soon as possible! "Where's my blade?" Kai asked her rather rudely as he tried to get to his feet. A sudden crippling pain shot up the left side of his chest, he cried out in pain. Kai slumped back down onto the mattress and moaned. What was happening to him, and why did it hurt so much?

"Oh my! I'll get you some more medicine… just lie there for a second" the girl called Tayo ordered. She jumping up and dashing to the other side of the small room. In the opposite corner to Kai, was a small utility area. There was an old fashioned cooker, a rusty copper sink, and a few cupboards nailed scantily to the cabin wall.

Who was this girl, but more importantly, why did she so desperately want to help Kai get his strength back?

"What's the matter with me?" Kai raged to himself, " I'm letting this strange girl boss me around when I've got to get back to my training! I don't care what this so called 'Tayo' says to me, I'm getting out of here!" Kai lifted his head up, checking that the girl wasn't looking, she had her back to him, and was stirring something hot in a metal cooking pot. But then something caught his eye, they were blowing about on the washing line outside the window… they were his clothes! "So what am I wearing now then!" Kai asked himself. Looking down he saw his answer. He was wearing a pair of baggy white trousers, and that was it! His torso was wrapped carefully with soft, fluffy bandages, what had happened to him? Kai looked over to the corner were Tayo was stood still stirring a steaming liquid in the cooking pot.

"What have you done to me?" Kai raged eyeing both her and the bandages. Tayo looked sweetly at him over her shoulder, and said smiling "You were really hurt, you've broken two of your ribs you know, that's why it hurt so much when you tried to get up. But this medicine that I'm making now should help a bit"

Kai snorted rudely. "Thanks, but no thanks, I don't need your help, I'm fine on my own without you pampering to my every needs!" Tayo just brushed off his harsh comments without a word, and poured the mysterious contents of the cooking pot into a small, wooden beaker. Walking over to Kai she said "Please drink this, it'll help with the pain." She handed Kai the beaker, but he refused it.

"There's no way that I'm excepting anything off of you girl. For all I know it could be poisoned!" Kai spat turning painfully away from her, and resting his head in the crook of his arm. "Ok, fine, but it's here if you want it," Tayo sighed calmly as she placed the beaker of boiling substance beside him. She was just about to turn away from him, but it looked like she had thought better of it.

"I thought it would be rude to ask… but what are the blue markings on your face?" Tayo asked as she sat crossed legged down on the cold wooden floor next to the mattress. Kai hesitated to answer, and then said still with his back to her "You were right, it was rude to ask…"
"Oh, I thought so, I'm sorry forgive…"
"But I'll tell you anyway…" Kai interrupted. "What am I doing?" Kai asked his tired mind? Why should I tell this girl anything about myself…? But I suppose if she's the only one to talk to around here…" So he began his explanation for the 'markings' on his scratched face.

"I was once in a blading group called 'The blade sharks' a few years ago… and the blue lines on my face are the symbols of that group…" Kai waited for a reaction. "Oh…"
"Oh? What do you mean by that!" Kai questioned irritably turning slightly to look at her. She was looking at the floor, with a look a disappointment on her face.
"It's just that… the pattern bellow my eye is something that every member of my family has to have on the day of birth"
"Pattern bellow her eye, family, what the…?" Kai couldn't understand what she was talking about. Looking round at her, he suddenly saw what she meant.

Just below her eye was a simple paisley pattern coloured peachy pink. Kai was baffled just how plain pattern could make someone look so angelic. Her eyes alone where something to behold, but with the pattern added, it truly made an amazing sight to lay your eyes on. When Kai looked at Tayo more closely, he realised that there were a lot of things that he hadn't noticed on first sight.

Like the kind of clothes that she was wearing, they looked like martial artists' clothes! Kai couldn't understand how such a delicate girl could be a master in something such as martial arts! Thinking about it, Kai realised that style of clothes were a very similar design to which Ray wore, but in different colours. The collar rim was a similar colour to her face paint, and so were the sleeves of the top. The trousers she wore were as baggy as his own, but coloured a dull, musty pink. How could he have not noticed this much the first time he laid eyes on the girl? Kai thought back to what she said to him… "Every member of my family has to have on the day of birth…" He frowned, puzzled by what she meant by that. So he asked her. "What do you mean by 'every member of my family"

Tayo smiled when he asked her this. In reply, she said "Well you see, my home village is set deep in the mountains, about three kilometres from here I think. Not many people even know that we exist. The village isn't very big; it only consists of about six families. But each different family has their own pattern that they implant just below the eye on every member of their family the day they are born. As you can see, my family's pattern is the paisley, but there are many others like… a circle with a small star in the middle of it, and… another one is a spiral with a spear shape going through it! The reason we have them is that we believe that the shapes are the symbols of out Gods, and so if we have the God's symbol on our body, the God will be with us where ever we go!"

At first Kai was slightly taken a back by all that she said, but then he replied "I didn't need a whole essay you know…" He turned away from her once more and closed his eyes, starting to feel very sleepy. "Oh yeah... it was a bit long wasn't it!" she giggled. "Sorry about that… Anyway… I bet that you're a bit tired aren't you, I know that I would be if I had gone through everything you have… I'll leave you to get some rest… night." And with that, she slowly got up and walked to the other side of the cabin. There was a large wooden ottoman sitting in the corner by the small door. It had a very complex pattern of the side of it that seemed to match that of Tayo's. For a few moments she rummaged around inside of it, presumably looking for something. She seemed to have found, because she started to lift something heavy out of the mysterious wooden chest.

It seemed to be another futon, exactly the same to the one that Kai was lying on. Kai frowned in questioning as he watched her struggle with the large mattress. "What are you doing?" he asked, not doing anything to help her because his injuries disallowed him, but that didn't mean that he didn't want to help!

"Oh…" Tayo gasped as she peeped over the edge of the towering feathered bed. "The bed that your sleeping on is the one that I usually use, but seen as though your using it, I needed to get my spare one out! Sorry, I'll be done in a second…" she carried on to struggle with the bed like it was some untameable beast. When she had at last got the futon out, she dropped it heavily to the floor with a loud 'bang'. She bent down and dragged the mattress over to a few feet away from Kai. Laying it down, she flattened it out, and simply just led on it! Without any sheets!

"Aren't you missing something?" Kai asked raising a grey eyebrow. "Eh? Like what"
"A sheet for example!" This was starting to get hard work! "Oh no! I only have one you see and that's the one that you're using"

Kai's eyebrows went into a deep frown, thinking to himself "What? She's going to catch a cold! Why is she so caring? It's getting really annoying! Oh well….." He finally turned away from her saying, "Fine! It's your fault if you get sick you know…!" And with that he closed his eyes. The tiredness at last taking over him. Falling into a deep, restful sleep, Kai's breathing became slow and deep. Tayo smiled to herself.

"I know…," she said, knowing that she wasn't going to get an answer. And with that, she too closed her eyes, rapping her arms around herself for extra warmth. The room was filled with the sound of two completely different people, but somehow, when they were together… the atmosphere felt… right.

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