(Sighs) Yeeah, long time updating. Again. I may as well just quit with the promises with quick updates for this fic. I find a shiny new plot and go with that and leave this in the dust for a couple 'nother of months. Not to mention none of the people in the recent updates have really liked talking so it's like making a brick talk to you.
Short chapter but you can probably guess why.
I need to find transcriptions for the beyblade episodes; I can't remember at all how the Saint Shields act.
Edited the previous chapters.
Done of my whinning? So go enjoy the short chapter now. : )
Of Different Worlds
By Dark Ice Dragon
Waking
Kai took a deep breath when he realised that he was awake. Where was he? He was on a bed; that much was obvious. But where? Where was he? With his eyes still closed, Kai listened to his surroundings.
The rasp of a medical ventilator.
The continuing beep of heart monitors.
Another deep breath; Kai would smell the disinfectant that was on the floor. So, he was in some sort of hospital.
Why?
Kai twitched as a flurry of images flickered behind his closed eyes. They went too fast to track properly but Kai could somehow understand all that happened in the one second that he saw it. He heard all the conversations and remembered the thoughts that came with each 'picture'.
When the barrage of images stopped, Kai slowly opened his eyes and looked towards 'his' bedside table. Dranzer was there -'along with another one,' his mind reminded him. Her bitpiece was even facing him. The bitpiece then started to glow softly, knowing that her blader was awake.
Pulling himself into a sitting position, Kai then reached over and put Dranzer into his pocket without a word.
So should he wait for someone to check up on him or should he leave and try to find someone?
Kai snorted as he shifted under the covers to get more comfortable. As if that question really needed answered.
Ozuma crossed his arms, his eyebrows raised in disbelief. "You cannot be serious." He saw his teammates nodding in agreement from the corner of his eyes.
Judy sighed as she heard the remark. "I assure you, what I've said tonight is all true. Every single sentence, every single word is the truth," she said quietly. She didn't continue on, knowing that there was no point in arguing with them once they had become stubborn. She could only wait for them to realise the truth and that would take time. It wasn't something that she could convince them with with only words. She could also (eventually) introduce them properly to Kai; if or when she was sure that they wouldn't attempt to hurt or kill him.
"Hmph." Joseph looked away from her. "That's you only explanation for this? That's it?"
Mariam pursed her lips while her narrowed eyes were fixed on Judy. Her arms were folded across her chest as well. "When will we get to speak to this Kai when he's awake?"
Judy looked worriedly at the teenagers in front of her. They had listened to her but when the topic of Kai came up, their reaction was always rage-filled with whatever was being said -not that she could blame them really. "How do I know that you won't harm him if or when you meet him?"
The three teenagers glanced at each other, waiting for some sort of signal.
"We won't attack him," Ozuma said with certainty, talking for all of them. "But if we think he's a threat..." He trailed off, not needing to continue.
A swish of a door opening and swinging shut. Kai jerked at the sound. Footsteps. He had gotten so used to the mechanical sounds around him that any foreign sound was instantly noticed. Had he fallen asleep again? Or did he just go into some sort of trance?
It wasn't as if there was anything else to do. But the difference between the two wasn't that important was it? They were just two different (similar) things to pass the time.
The footsteps paused at the foot of each bed (Kai assumed) for a few seconds before moving onto the next bed. The ritual was vaguely familiar to Kai, not that he could remember where from. Or that he couldn't remember everything at that particular moment. Thinking over it for a few seconds, he concluded that it must have been the first time that he'd been in the ward. Unless everyone was in the habit of doing that, but Kai doubted that. The curtains that had been partially pulled around Kai's bed meant that he couldn't see who it was that was coming.
There was a small pause before the footsteps started to head towards Kai's bed. This time Kai noticed, they were moving slower, more hesitant.
Ah, so that's who it was. It was the doctor. Something Kai realised that he really should have known but it felt like there was something in his head that meant he couldn't think as clearly or quickly as he used to. And they seemed to be a little shorter than normal as well.
The doctor's eyes had widened in surprise when he had seen Kai. It couldn't have been because he'd never seen Kai before so it had to be because he was awake.
So maybe there was more to Kai's current thinking speed than he thought.
"Kai?" the doctor said gently, almost as if he would wake the other patients as he walked up to him.
All he did was raise an eyebrow for an answer, playing along with trying to keep quiet.
"What are you -how did you, ah..." the doctor struggled with the question that he wanted to ask Kai.
Kai didn't try to help him; he merely watched as the man floundered with the words. Well, he didn't know what he wanted to ask anyway so he couldn't help even if he wanted to.
The doctor seemed to sort out what he wanted to say. "How are you feeling?" That was all he was trying to say?
"Fine."
"Not sleepy?"
"No."
"Hmm." The doctor was looking at him puzzledly.
Kai watched the doctor until he started to squirm. "...What?"
The doctor shook his head. "Hm? Oh, it's nothing. It doesn't matter."
Kai gave him a flat look. "Right."
The two of them looked up when they heard the swish of doors opening. The doctor gave Kai a doubtful look when he thought that Kai couldn't see him before he started to leave Kai's side to see who it was.
From what Kai could hear, it was a group of people so it was probably the rest of the Bladebreakers. But then why was there no one talking? Because they also thought that he was asleep?
"Leo," he heard Judy called out, "how's-" She momentarily paused when she saw that Kai was awake. "Kai, how are you feeling?" she asked him.
Kai heard someone hiss and the curtain that hid the rest of the group was wrenched away to reveal three teenagers that Kai had never seen before. They were glaring at him with distrust and anger.
Kai ignored them and turned to Judy. "I'm fine," he insisted. "Just because I fainted it doesn't mean I'm fragile." From the corner of his eyes, Kai saw the red-and-black haired boy send the doctor (Leo?) an accusatory glare. Leo shrugged helplessly in response.
"But it does mean that you have to recuperate. You haven't rested that much since it happened." Judy frowned in what Kai thought was worry. He snorted at that. Hearing that, Judy's frown deepened. "It's only been five hours."
Kai shrugged at the statement. "It happened because of lack of energy. The amount of time that I've slept today is near enough to what I normally sleep at night."
Hearing this, Judy sighed and rubbed her forehead with a hand. "You just have to be stubborn don't you?"
"And who would I be if I wasn't?" Kai smirked. The smirk slipped a little when he felt a pulse in his pocket. It couldn't be because of Judy so it had to have something to do with the teenagers. It could be because they had bitbeasts but then why would she wait so long to tell him? Huh, maybe bitbeasts slept as well. Or the other bitbeasts could hide their presence; something like that.
He saw the red-and-black-haired boy twitch slightly. So it was probably his bitbeast that Dranzer was reacting to and vice-versa. He then saw the other two react in a similar way.
An entire team with bitbeasts. Well, that wasn't exactly uncommon but how was it that it was only now that they appeared and not at the World Championships?
'Or maybe they had here,' his mind said, reminding him that he didn't belong there.
Judy noticed the rising tension and the looks that were being exchanged but didn't say anything about it. The silence stretched on; seemingly, neither 'side' wanted to break it first.
"Well, I suppose an introduction is in order." Kai's eyes flicked to Judy. She indicated the red-and-black-haired boy, "This is Ozuma," the blue-haired girl, "Mariam," and the green-haired boy, "and Joseph." She dropped her hand and continued. "Dunga isn't here at the moment but together they made the Saint Shields." She turned to the three teenagers. "This is Kai Hiwitari."
"We know," Ozuma stated coldly, his eyes not leaving Kai's.
To be fairly honest, Kai felt a little weirded out by the fact that none of the Saint Shields had pupils. He knew that they couldn't be blind -you would have to be either very skilled, have an extremely strong bond with your bitbeast or bother to beyblade- so it could be some sort of birth defect. Or you had to have no pupils to be part of the team.
Kai sighed as he focused completely on Judy. "Is there a reason why you came? I'm assuming that it had nothing to do with me." He settled against the backboard as he slipped one hand into his pocket to Dranzer; the first movement masking the second.
Judy looked between the two 'sides' again and decided that she couldn't do anything to resolve the rising hostility (mainly on the Saint Shields side) herself and it was up to them to deal with it. Hopefully it wouldn't end with more people in the ward. "Actually, it did. I came to check up on you too see when you might wake up because the Saint Shields wanted to talk to you."
Kai raised an eyebrow as he crossed his arms, Dranzer hidden in his right hand. "Because I was drugged."
"No you were-"
"Yes, I was," Kai interrupted her. "I saw your reactions; you were both surprised that I was awake when you came and I wasn't even sleepy just before I had," he paused, then shook his head a little angrily, "food." He was annoyed at the fact that he didn't know how long he had been out for, or what the time was. The ward obviously didn't have any windows for him to look out of.
"There was a reason for that," Leo said quietly, finally rejoining the conversation. "You may have thought that you were fine," a small frown formed on his face, "but I'd rather not have you pushing your body beyond its limits when you could be resting instead."
"Hmph." It was understandable from the doctor's point of view but Kai guessed that there was another reason behind it. It was the assumption that since 'their' Kai had ended up being the way that he was, there was a chance that he would too so they would have to take precautions. Were they that alike or would they just never trust him completely?
Ozuma turned his head to look up at Judy. "Now that we know that Kai's awake, can we talk to him?" The way that he said it was not as a question but as a demand.
Judy eyed Ozuma warily and then his teammates. Her eyes then flicked to Kai but she looked away again before he could tell what she was feeling. She chewed her bottom lip while she tried to make her decision; it didn't take her long. Slowly, she nodded and stopped biting on her lip. "Yes, you can but he had better not be hurt in any kind of way when I get back. Understood?"
The three teenagers nodded for their answer, not looking at her.
Judy seemed to find this acceptable. She cast another look at Kai before indicating with her head to Leo to leave as she turned to leave the four of them in peace. Leo hurried after her. Huh, maybe they trusted him after all if they were willing to leave him alone with a room with other people.
"So," Ozuma started when they heard the swish of the doors, "you're from some parallel world where all that's happened here from a certain point didn't." His voice dripped with an ironic tone while his crossed arms and tilted head yelled at Kai to contradict him.
Kai matched the superior look and sent it back. "That's what I was told. You think I can believe this? From what I know of this world, it would seem that me being from a parallel world is the other answer that fits. Not that I've been given a lot of time to think about this," he added.
Joseph, being the closest one to Kai -not that was much since they were still standing at the foot of his bed- asked, "Do you have Dranzer with you?"
Kai looked at him, held his gaze and then raised an eyebrow. "Why are you asking when you already know the answer?" Then pushed himself up higher on the bed.
"Would you believe me if I said that I was being polite?"
Mariam snorted; Joseph turned and glared at her.
Ignoring them, Kai looked back to their team leader. "I have a feeling that you've already seen Dranzer."
Ozuma shook his head, his jaw clenched. "We haven't. Dunga, on the other hand, has. And that's the reason why he isn't here. He battled against the 'other you' and lost."
Kai shrugged. "And? I'm not the one who did it so if you're trying to blame me for it-"
"We're not," Ozuma interrupted him. "We want to make sure that you don't become the same at the 'other you'." He tilted his head again, and Kai could see the challenge in his eyes. "So how about a beybattle?"
Sooo, see you people again in about five months time again?