"Thats it!" Boris yelled, dragging Kai out of the door. "Ive had enough of your behaviour Kai!"

"They started it!" Kai protested, pointing at a smirking team of Demolition Boys as they stood in the door way. "They..."

"I couldnt care less!" Boris interrupted, throwing the angry teenager onto the snow covered ground. "Frankly Kai, Ive had enough of your wondering off when you know that you are under strict orders not to leave the abbey. You did it today, during the finals of the tournament and countless other times. I thought all those beatings would knock some sense into you but they obviously have not."

"Gee, sorry," Kai said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "I didnt realise that this stupid abbey was a prison."

"Youve been a thorn in my side from the moment you were brought here," Boris growled, grabbing Kais white scarf and using it to drag him down the path. "Youve been acting like the emperor of China instead of the worthless brat that you really are! For the past eight years, Ive had the decency to feed you, cloth you, keep a ro..."

"Keep a roof over my head," Kai finished off this well known lecture and stood unflinching at the hardened stare that followed. "What are you going to do about it?"

"Easy," Boris said, using all his will power to keep his voice calm. "From this moment onwards, you are no longer a part of this abbey, Im disowning you as my student. Go where you want, I doubt there is anybody out there who really cares about you. Now get out."

"Someone cares for me!" Kai cried out, holding out his beyblade. "They must have if they gave me..."

"If they gave you Dranzer," Boris finished, snatching the beyblade from Kais hand and bringing it up to his face for closer inspection. "Get real Kai. You really think some voices in your head prove that there is someone who cares about you. You dont even know where to go."

"Yes I do," Kai cried out, trying to grab his beyblade back at the same time. "I remember something about Japan."

"Isnt that sweet boys," Boris cried out to the Demolition Boys. "Kai wants to go to Japan to find his family."

The low laughter that had started when Boris had taken Kais beyblade now turned into loud, mean hysterics. Kai gave up trying to grab his out of reach beyblade and stood still staring at the ground, using up all his strength trying not to cry.

"So, you want to go over to Japan to find your family?" Boris questioned. Kai raised his head to answer but was quickly pushed out of the tall iron gates and landed with a heavy thud on the hard concrete ground that was white with the falling snow. His beyblade landed with a clatter beside him as the gates slammed shut and were locked tight. Boris gave Kai one last taunting smirk before turning and going back inside while the Demolition Boys jeered and teased him until they were called inside.

Kai got up, placed his beyblade back into his pocket and started to walk. He didnt know or care where he went as long as he never saw the abbey again. The snow was coming down a lot heavier now and Kai gave a small shudder whenever a snowflake came into contact with his body.

On and on he walked as the streets slowly began to get darker and emptier. The snow had turned into a hard drizzle but Kai couldnt feel a thing against his now numb arms. Endless streets of almost identical brick houses with small and large gardens passed as well as great factories behind wire fences. He walked under a flickering street lamp which didnt seem to worry the night-watchmen who was snoozing by his post outside a distinguished warehouse. He easily slipped past and tried the back door in the hopes of staying the night, only to hear a groan coming from right underneath him. He realised that the porch was full of sleeping figures and fled.

He wondered on and on, ignoring the burning split in his side. He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he wasnt as careful as he usually was when passing a bleak black forest.

"Hey Leo," a tall burly man whispered sharply over to his partner who was stabbing a tree stump in boredom. "Check that out."

Leo looked up from his penknife in time to see a teenage boy pass, his form perfectly silhouetted in the moonlight.

"Aint that the missing kid everyones looking for?"

"Roger," his companion said. "I think youve finally got something. I hear his grandfather in Japan is rewarding ten million yen for that kid."

Roger looked over to Leo with an evil smirk. "You wanna..."

"Id love to," Leo replied, raising his net barrel gun.

Kai stood outside the old house again, resting his painted cheek against the cold iron bars of the gate. He could just make out the twinge of land where iced over water meet snowy ground in the middle of the largest driveway he had ever seen. The house looked even more mysterious in the moonlight, as did everything, but something about this house was haunting to him. But why? It was just a stupid house wasnt it? So why did his feet always lead him here? Why did he always feel sadness and loss whenever he came here? Why did an image of ink black wings and red eye slits invade his mind whenever he looked over to that lake?

"This is stupid!" Kai scolded himself as he tuned away. "Its only some house after all!"

Kai was about to leave when he saw two figures coming rapidly towards him. Had Boris sent some of his minions to get him back? There was no way he was ever going back there again.

Kai turned to run and heard a loud bang before something lashed past his cheek, leaving a sharp stinging sensation. Wire rope folded over his face and body, his legs tangled and he fell heavily to the ground, snarling and tearing in vain at the wire net that had caught him. The larger of the two men who had caught him held him down while the other quickly lashed ropes to his limbs, neck and body.

"This is it Lee!" He heard one of them cheer. "This kids going to make us rich!"

"Let me go!" Kai yelled in frustration. "Youve got the wrong guy!"

Tysons stomach rumbled loudly yet again. They had been searching for the boy Ray had seen all day but hadnt found any trace of him.

"I told you we wouldnt find him," Max groaned, dragging his aching feet along the ground so that a trail was made in the snow.

"At least we got some exercise," Ray said, trying to be a little optimistic. "Too bad Tyson, I guess youll have to rely on swiping Dickinsons credit card for that million dollar cheeseburger."

"Right now Id settle for a two cent cheeseburger," Tyson groaned, holding his complaining stomach. "Im starving. Maybe if we go back to the hotel right now we can still catch the dessert cart."

They walked along in silence until they finally broke out of the now dark forest.

"Listen to that," Kenny said, stopping suddenly. "Sounds like some kind of animal."

The rest of the team stopped to listen, hoping to hear the cries of an animal being brutally murdered by another but what they heard drifting down the road was no animal cry.

"Let me go!"

"Thats no animal!" Tyson cried, starting in a run towards the voice.

"Tyson!" Max called after him. "What do you think youre doing?"

"We cant just leave whoever it is!" Tyson yelled back. "Cmon!"

Ray and Max glanced at each other briefly before sprinting after Tyson, Kenny shakily following behind.

"Guys," Kenny called to his friends who were already way out in front. "I dont know about this."

The others either didnt hear or ignored Kenny as they kept on running and, within less then half a minute, they could clearly see what was causing the disturbance. Two men had a teenage boy trussed up in a net and were trying to carry him away but with great difficulty as the teenager was putting up one hell of a fight despite being tied up all over his body.

"Hey!" Ray cried out as recognised the blue hair and face markings. "Thats him. The boy I meet today."

"Hey you!" Tyson yelled. "Put him down!"

The men saw him and cursed loudly. The taller one thrust the struggling boy into the others arms and prepared to fire his net gun again.

"Go Draciel!" Max cried, quickly launching his beyblade at the gun, knocking it clearly out of his hands. Maxs Draciel then set to work attacking the mans feet, who was trying to step on it but with no luck.

"Go Driger!" Ray launched his own beyblade. "Attack the other one!"

His beyblade went for the other mans feet, knocking him off balance which in turn caused him to drop their hostage.

The first person managed to kick Draciel away and reach again for his net gun. The Blade Breakers were too caught up in the rescue to notice.

"All right Dragoon!" Tyson said, preparing to launch his beyblade. "Cut those ropes!"

Tyson tensed his hands to pull the launcher but was distracted by a loud bang and suddenly they were all on the floor. They had become entangled with one another and were now trapped underneath a sharp wire net.

"All right Leo!" His partner cried, kicking Rays beyblade so that it came to a halt next to Maxs. "What do you wanna do with them?"

"Hey! Let us go!" Ray yelled, struggling to untangle his feet but making it worse in the process.

"Yeah! And give us back our beyblades!" Max said straight afterwards.

"I would," the man called Leo said, snatching Tysons beyblade from his hands.

"Give that back!" Tyson yelled angrily as he watched Dragoon being tossed aside with the others.

"You know kids," Leo said, kneeling down and grabbing Tysons arm. "I would gladly let you and your beyblades go. But you decided to try and be heroes. We have a special treatment for heroes."

Tysons cry was stifled by his horror as Leo drew out his penknife and began to press it down on his wrist.