Kai: "We're here guys, Moscow!"

Mariah: "Finally."

Kenny: "It's been a long 3 months."

Max: "But it must be worth it, I'm exhausted!"

Mariah: "First things first, we have to find Ray."

Moscow was no longer the beautiful city it had been when they first arrived for the world championships nearly 3 years ago. You couldn't look anywhere without seeing a big pile of rubble. The only buildings that were still standing where those which were important to Voiltaire. They managed to find the abbey. Kai shivered when he saw it, many horrible memories came flooding back to him. But he had to forget those now. Right now he had to concentrate on getting Ray out of there. The four of them hid in the bushes in front of the abbey.

Max: "OK, so what's our plan of action?"

Kenny: "Hold on, first I'll hack into the abbey's computer network again. If we know what room he's in it could help us." He spent the next few minutes furiously typing. The others were incredibly tense as they waited. "That's strange, he's not here."

Mariah: "What do you mean?"

Kenny: "He's not listed in the abbey's data base. Wait hold on.......... According to this he managed to escape just yesterday."

Max: "He's already escaped? That's great news! Isn't it?"

Kenny: "Not really. Now we don't know where in the world he is." Mariah looked really disappointed by the last remark.

Kenny: "Wait, apparently he was last seen heading north East of here, probably to a town called Zagorsk."

Mariah: "So should we go there?"

Kenny: "I don't know, we don't even know if he's there or not!"

Kai: "It's better then hanging around here. If we head in that direction we're likely to find him."

Mariah: " I think so too, let's go!"

Mariah: "Kai, I don't think I can go on much further."

Kenny: "Me neither, and Zagorsk is still nearly 10 miles away."

Mariah: '10 miles, I can't manage that!"

By now it was night time and very dark as the 4 teenagers walked through the open countryside. Max was so tired he had fallen asleep and now Kai was carrying him. Kai could see that Kenny and Mariah could collapse from exhaustion from any minute, and he wasn't that well off himself.

Kai: "We'd better stop for the night."

Mariah: "But it's freezing and I think there might be rain soon!"

Kenny: "There's a soup kitchen about a mile up ahead, we can get some food and shelter there."

Kai: "Think you can manage just one more mile?"

Mariah: "Yes, I'll try."

Max (in sleep): "No! The evil clowns are attacking again!"

Mariah: "That kid has disturbing dreams."

Kai: "He is half American, I think you can cut him some slack!" (No offence to Americans)

They finally reached the soup kitchen. There were already a lot of hungry kids there in the que for soup. Kai woke up Max (if you could call it waking) and they too joined the que. Max was still groggy and sleepy eyed as he got his soup and made his way towards a table.

Kid: "Hey, watch it!"

Max didn't see the older, bigger kid in front of him. They crashed into each other and Max fell to the ground. His bowl shattered and the soup and chunks of bread fell over the grass. Suddenly, all order in the que was lost.

War does strange things to young minds. As soon as the hungry children saw the food on the ground about a hundred of them dove for it. Soon it was a huge, mad scramble.

Kai realised with horror that Max was on the bottom of it all. He ran into the mad scramble, pushing and shoving kids aside. Finally he found Max still lying on the floor, covering his head. Kai pulled him up and dragged him out of it.

Mariah had gotten herself in the middle of the scramble as well. She didn't know whether she wanted to help Max or get some food herself. But someone stood on her hair and she was pinned to the ground. She tried to get herself up but only managed to grab a hand. For some reason she kept tight hold of the hand, as if her life depended on it.

Finaly the scramble broke up and order was restored again. There was not a single trace of food left on the ground.

Max was still pretty shaken. He had been trampled on by a lot of kids so he sat down. Another bowl of soup was placed in his hands. Kai scanned the place to see where Kenny had been in all this. Thankfully he had been standing well back, holding Galux.

Mariah's hair was finally realised so she got up from the ground onto her knees. She still had firm hold of the hand she had grabbed. She looked up to see who's hand it was. It was Ray's!!!!!

Max: "I don't like this carriage, it jolts too much!"

Kenny: "Every jolt takes us closer to Switzerland. Think of it that way and it's not so bad."

Kai: "Rest your head against me and go to sleep. That's it, but no more sleep talking!"

They had made their way back to Moscow to catch a train. They were now on their way to Berlin in Germany. Once they got there they would walk the rest of the way to Switzerland, their promised land.

Kai looked over to where Ray was sitting and staring out the window. Mariah was sitting with him. He hadnt moved much since the beginning of the journey and had hardly talked since the soup kitchen. Kai hadnt seen him for nearly a year but he had changed a lot. His face was thinner and pale. His eyes were unnaturally bright, like Mariahs had been when Tyson had first seen her again.

Max moved and murmured something in his sleep. It didnt take Kai three guesses to guess what he was dreaming about. He thought about what he had done for the group throughout the whole ordeal. Without Tyson around to cheer everyone up and raise their spirits the job had been left to Max, and he did it well. As soon as their spirits as much as cracked he would play a song on his guitar to make them smile. And one look of Tysons Dragoon was enough to spur them on when they felt like giving up. Max was trying his hardest all the time, but everyone knew he was only doing it because he missed his mom like crazy.

Kai looked opposite him to where Kenny had now drifted off to sleep. His computer skills were coming in very handy, just like before. Without him theyd never had found Ray or even left their bombed shelter. Kennys attitude had changed a lot too. He was no longer the scared cowardly nerd he had been, he was much braver and was taking more risks. Out here you needed to take a lot of risks to get somewhere in life.

Kai looked over at Mariah and Ray again. It had been useful having a female voice of reason with them. Mariah was tough as well, but also sensitive.

It was good to have Ray back with them again. Kai hoped his bravery and loyalty would help them once again. But he was rather sick and kept coughing all the time. Kai hoped this wouldnt slow them down too much once they got to Berlin.

Then Kai thought about all the things he had been doing for the others along the way. When he had first joined the Bladebreakers he would never have done everything in his power to keep the others safe and warm. Yet here he was sitting on a train to Berlin, with Max sleeping against him, to find someone whom he had once fantasised about killing him with Chinese throwing stars.

As the night went on a fire was lit in their carriage and more teenagers, in more or less the same situation as them, gathered round it. Kai listened from the other side of the carriage to the stories they were telling each other.

A kid had just finished telling the story of how he had escaped from one of Biovolts army trucks.

Ray: "I can tell a better story then that, no problem."

Everyone in the carriage looked at him as it was the first time he had spoken that night.

Kid: "Oh yeah? Youve been sitting there all night without saying a word. No way is your story better then mine!"

Ray: "Ill tell it to you then. But only if you give me a place by that fire. As well as Mariah, and my friends over there."

A space by the fire was made for them while Kai woke Max and Kenny up. They sat down and some bread was rolled over to them as well as some cheese for Galux. They started devouring the bread while Ray cleared his throat and began:

Ray: "About a year ago I was kidnapped by Voiltaires army and locked in a concentration camp. It was awful there. I had to pull big loads of steel from one point to another, all day long. We were fed hardly anything and the room I slept in was full of fleas. One day I tried to use my beyblade to escape but I was caught. They took me to Moscow and locked me up in the abbey. Boris had seen my beyblading skills before and forced me to join the Demolition boys. Of coarse I would never join their side so I escaped from there. I was going to escape right away but I got sick in the winter so I couldnt pull it off."

Kid: "You dont look like youve fully recovered yet." Another blanket was given to Ray.

Ray: " I ran from the abbey as fast as I could. Eventually I collapsed and slept out in the open. The next day I woke up and just wandered around. I didnt actually know which way I was going. That night I stopped at the soup kitchen and thats where I found Mariah and my old friends again."

Kid: "Great story!"

Kid 2: "Hes earned a place by the fire."

Kid: "Come on, someone tell another one!"

Kid 2: "And put some romance in it."

The stories came and went throughout the night. Max entertained everyone with 'Embarrassing things me and my family have done. (Thanks Dragonheart! Shes my sister and shes always stealing my stuff so I get to steal her ideas!")

The fire burned down and everyone fell asleep. Ray couldnt seem to get to sleep, he stared out the window again.

Mariah: "Hey, was that story really true Ray?"

Ray: "Yes it was, all of it." He felt Mariahs hand slip into his. She squeezed it tight.

Mariah: "Ill make sure nothing like that ever happens to you again."

Ray and Mariah stared into each others eyes. Their faces moved closer to each other..............