This one is just a half-assed continuation of the revious chapter, in which I thought 'You know, what if Tala and Tyson had more unshown interactions between-the-scenes?" And so this was born. When I say half-assed, I mean it. They're kinda OOC. So it's not really up to my usual speed, but I figured, hey, I typed this thing up late one night while high on Hot milo, so why not share it with the world and my fellow (and few) TalaTyson lovers?

Takes place right after Tyson manages to break in alone and has recieved that stupid speech from Boris, who is now leading Tyson out.

Enjoy...

Boris watched Tyson's deep blue hair bounce from behind as the boy walked, unable to keep the victorious smirk off his face. Hopefully now the boy would see that there was no getting Kai back, and give up. Still, Boris had to give the boy grudging respect for his determination and guts. He had been exceedingly lenient with the boy on the grounds of breaking, entering, trespassing and insulting, on top of that, but it was only so Tyson could experience crushing defeat at Kai's own hands in the upcoming match.

Tyson was staying stubbornly quiet, but Boris could feel the sadness leaking from his aura in uncontrollable waves, and fought the urge to scoff. With a few quickened strides, he gained pace by Tyson's side and placed a heavy, patronizing hand on his shoulder.

'Did you really think you could save him?' he sneered happily, not retaliating when Tyson sharply smacked his hand from his shoulder without looking around. 'You never even had a chance in the first place, little boy.'

Again, Tyson remained silent, even though Boris could basically hear every single insult the boy wanted to throw at him. Maybe he had finally realized it was hopeless. Good.

They rounded a corner in the dank corridor that would gradually lead them to the surface, and Boris found himself looking at Tala, who, leaning against the wall silently, looked just as in control and intimidating as he always did. And he was watching the Bladebreaker kid with a smirk.

'Boris, let me take the kid back up. No doubt you have some dumbass cronies who need your direction right now.'

Boris raised a small eyebrow, choosing to let Tala's comment slide. It was, however, no different from his normal offhand insults. But… Tala never offered to do any kind of favors, or work out of his comfort zone. His preferred style was to perform his own duties quickly and efficiently before slinking off into the shadows to reap the benefits. So the only alternative was that… possibly, he was interested in the kid? Now this could get interesting…

'Of course,' he replied smoothly, being sure to curb his own visible curiosity. 'Anything to get the brat off my hands. Make sure he doesn't get side-tracked, and take him straight up.' He shoved Tyson forward, who swung and growled at him openly, prompting the purple-haired dictator to laugh.

'Have fun,' all he said as he turned with a dramatic rustle of his cloak and stalked back the way he came.

Tala wasted no time in grabbing Tyson's arm and dragging him forward. Tyson gave a yelp of surprise as he felt his entire body jerk after the fiery-haired teen. They got exactly four meters before Tyson was able to dig in his heels long enough to slow and stop Tala.

He snatched his hand back, rubbing at it while glaring. 'I can walk myself, thank you very much,' he snapped, the events of the day finally catching up to him as tinges of exhaustion and sadness crept into his voice. 'And I don't need a stupid escort. I know where the exit is, and there's no way I wanna stay in this damn place any longer than I have to.'

He scowled at Tala in afterthought, as if it was Tala's fault. 'Not if Kai's not coming.'

Tala rolled his eyes, and deftly grabbed Tyson's arm again, dragging the smaller boy along without much trouble. 'Shut up,' he said lazily, continuing to drag the protesting boy down the tunnel-like corridor. 'You talk too much.'

'I will talk as much as I want, and I will—'

Tala felt a grin coming on, and didn't stop it. 'Damn, you are so easy to rile up. It's almost not even worth it.'

He glanced back, at Tyson's sour look and his stubbornly braced body, feeling smug. 'Almost.'

The corridor rose slightly in aptitude, and as the exiting hall that conjoined to the ground level building came up, Tala swerved and hauled Tyson down another corridor. This one rose like the other, but much more sharply, before turning at an odd angle. Tala dragged him as he struggled around the bend, and soon they were out of sight of the main corridor. This made Tyson feel so much safer.

'Wait, where are you taking me?' he demanded, struggling harder against Tala's death grip. 'The exit's back there! Hello! Hey, you—'

He didn't have much time to finish his question, as Tala suddenly whirled around, grabbed both of his wrists and twisted his body in order to throw Tyson against the wall. He moved like a cracking whip, and before Tyson knew it, he was smashing into the dusty bricks, gasping as pain shot through his skull. Slightly dazed, Tyson struggled not to fall, only managing when the same hands that hurt him hoisted him up by the waist and a body pressed against him, holding him against the wall. His wrists were snagged before he could think about punching the Demolition boy in the face, and shoved against the wall, too, on either side of his face.

He blinked in confusion, before noticing Tala. And how close he was. And the positions they were in. He blanched, openly cursing his terrible luck.

'What the hell do you think you're doing, buddy?' Tyson hissed, kicking his leg out. Tala deftly stepped back, avoiding the leg, before shoving Tyson again and entangling Tyson's legs tight against the wall with his own. Frowning, he glanced over his shoulder.

'Did you wanna be caught on camera?' he questioned. 'The whole place is full of them. Only a few places like this deadend hallway are free.'

Tyson slowed in his desperate attempts to escape for a few moments before glancing up at Tala's face to process the information. 'Oh… kay…' he said slowly, an obvious hint of frustration and anger building up behind his words. 'What does that have to do with this?'

As he said it, he could feel his cheeks heating up, and his body press back against the wall as Tala shifted, looking completely comfortable. He internally groaned. Was every time he faced Tala going to happen like this? With him, trapped against the wall? He did a quick summary of the other boy and his personality, before coming to a quick conclusion; yep. Probably.

'Oh, that,' Tala answered with false cheerfulness, as if they were having a pleasant conversation. 'Thing is, Tyson, you simply fascinate me.'

It was said so normally that Tyson's movements stopped altogether, and he gaped like a fish. Tala took that opportunity to move in and support Tyson against the wall, their bodies fully touching.

'Wha…wha…wa?' Tyson's face turned fully red, and for a moment it matched Tala's hair. Tala noticed this, and chuckled.

'I said—'

'I heard!' Tyson squealed, his voice unnaturally high. 'I meant, why!'

'Why?' Tala asked nonchalantly. 'I don't really know.'

Tyson squeaked again, bucking slightly. His usual bravo abandoned him here, mostly because he had never been in a situation like this before, and it was disturbing him immensely. 'Get off me, now!'

'Where's the rush?' Tala as quick to adjust his body to Tyson's movements. He leant forwards, smiling in cool excitement. 'I guess it's because you're such a mystery. And so weird. I mean, why would you go so far for Kai? What's he to you?'

Tyson's face flushed more than it already had, and his innocent blue eyes widened like saucers. Tala's mouth opened slightly as the extremely intelligent light bulb went off in his head, and he actually jerked back. What made it even worse was Tyson's guilty look and shifting blue eyes that kept darting to the ground in their vain attempts to strive off Tala and any suspicion.

'No… way…' he breathed, before smirking madly. 'You and …Kai…? Really?'

'No!' The other was quick to snap, looking furious. For all his protests, he might as well have spray painted "GUILTY" across his chest in red. AND gotten his hand stuck in the cookie jar.

Tala, for one of the first times in his life, was sent mentally reeling. He had guessed on a hunch, sure, but didn't really consider the variables of it actually being real. Now, it seemed too good to be true. Tala naturally wanted things he couldn't have, and by damn, now he was even more excited than he had been.

'Well, this is unexpected, but at the same time completely expected,' Tala muttered gleefully to himself.

'Little shit,' Boris growled as he watched on the monitors as Tala dragged the Bladebreaker kid into one of the few small maintenance tunnels that had been out ruled for need of a camera, something he knew Tala would have noticed. Again, he wondered where Tala's interest for the kid came from, before the kid's sad face at Kai's departure popped into his head, and the small flinch in Kai's eyes as he saw the kid for the first time after obtaining Black Dranzer.

Boris chuckled. Tala was extremely intelligent- and he should know, because he was the one that raised Tala to be the smart, efficient killing machine he was today- and figured this had some connection to Kai, especially from Tala's unsavory reaction to Kai after the Allstarz's defeat that day. Boris didn't really want to favor Kai, but with Black Dranzer ready to destroy in Kai's hands, he didn't really have a choice.

He grinned suddenly, leaning over the shoulder of one of the techies in order to access the internal intercom. He dialed in a number and waited, not at all surprised when Kai's aggressive and bland 'What do you want?' crackled from the speaker.

'Kai, we have a bit of an intruder problem in Corridor B2, near the entrance to Ground level. I have sent Tala to take care of it, but he is experiencing difficulties. No doubt you can pick up the slack?'

Boris waited for a few moments, assured in his evaluation of what Kai's reaction would be. No doubt Kai would pounce at the opportunity to prove his superiority to Tala, as well as the need for something to do. After all, the power of Black Dranzer provided one with an immeasurable amount of excess damaging energy. It was interesting watching how Kai handled all of it by mostly channeling it into anger.

'Tell Tala to give up,' was all that Kai gave as an answer before the speaker's crackling signal was cut out and they fell silent. A moment later Kai was seen curtly exiting his room in the West Wing. Boris smirked, stepping back and folding his arms regally behind his back.

Just as he expected. As usual.

'Are you planning on letting go of me anytime soon, or are you just going to keep staring at me like a creep?' Tyson snapped, his voice much more pissed than before. He didn't even struggle this time, just leant against the wall in defeat, propped up by Tala, who smirked, his ice-blue eyes glinting at Tyson's apparent aggravation. 'I have friends who are waiting up there for me!'

'I'm not staring,' he casually said, almost chidingly. 'I'm studying. Getting to know my opponent…'

'Shut up,' Tyson snapped again, turning his head to the side. Tala grinned.

'When did you and Kai first get it on?' he asked, still in his casual tone. Deliberately provocative.

He received no reply, and tried again (Tala had to admit to himself, this time he really was just curious). 'Have you been sweethearts long? Did you promise yourself to him? That sort of lovey-dovey shit?'

Tyson scowled and opened his mouth, ready to let out some good old fashioned abuse, but he was interrupted.

Before either of them could do anything there was a sudden jagged ripping sound, and Tala leapt back instantly, his senses alight with warning. He was too late to avoid the worst of it, though, and as he flew backwards through the air blood spurted from the thin line across his cheek, spraying out in a brilliant read arc.

A drop landed on Tyson's cheek, and his eyes widened as the same thing that had injured Tala bounced past in before flying back aggressively into the hand of its master. It was Black Dranzer.

Tala danced back, his own blade in his hand before he realized it himself as he let out an angry hiss at the figure that appeared at the end of the hallway. What in the hell was Kai doing here?

He noted with thick satisfaction that the normal smug smirk on Kai's face was absent, instead replaced with an outraged look of confusion as he took in the scene he had interrupted. Especially when Kai's gaze landed on Tyson's glaring face. He could basically hear the wheels turning in Kai's head.

Score for him.

Kai's hard stare wouldn't leave Tyson's, and Tyson glared back with just as much ferocity.

'What are you doing here?' Kai asked coolly, sounding deliberately calm. When Tyson didn't answer, his gaze transferred to Tala. Not even bothering with a question, he just snapped; 'Get lost.'

A cold smile overtook Tala's face, and he leant casually against Tyson. 'Make me,' he answered. Tyson uncomfortably tried to shove Tala off, but most of his attention was on Kai, so he wasn't too succesful.

Kai's eyes narrowed and he gripped Black Dranzer tight. 'Get out of here,' He snarled to Tala.

Tala raised a delicate eyebrow.

There was no way Tala was going to move, and at first it was because he was a stubborn Russian that did NOT take orders from Kai (especially when he had finally found a way to piss Kai off), but as Kai's gaze moved past him and landed on Tyson and he saw caught sight of the extremely aggressive predatory glint in them as they landed on the other blader, Tala knew there was NO WAY he was moving… and for a completely different reason.

He was all for tormenting his enemies in the most painful ways, but there was something in Kai's gaze that was wrong. Like something crucial inside of him had cracked, and Tala suddenly knew there was no way he was going to leave Tyson with that. Who knew what Kai would do.

He slowly slid off Tyson, who gasped in relief and immediately faced Kai alongside Tala, his gaze hard. 'Listen,' Tala hissed to Tyson, not really caring weather Kai heard or not. 'As soon as he attacks, get out of here. I'll cover you.'

Tyson's shock was visible, but none so more than Kai's. 'I'm not going to ask you again, Tala,' he hissed. 'Are you really going to make me hurt you?'Tala snorted, and planting both his feet, drew his own blade. 'No,' he ground out in a deadly low tone. 'I'm going to make you regret ever threatening me.'

And then, even to Tala's surprise, Kai scoffed, although it was twisted, harsh, and terrifying. 'So be it.'

Tala smiled, somewhat grimly. He had kind of been waiting for the chance to put Kai forcefully in his place.

But before he could even release, something blue rushed past him, and before he could even comphrehend what was happening, Tyson's fist smacked solidly into Kai's face with an echoing thwak.

Later Tala would wonder whether there had simply been no time for Tyson to draw Dragoon or if he actually physically wanted to hurt Kai, but for now, he just stood there and stared, mouth slightly agape. Kai flew backwards, his face contorted into a shocked and hurt grimace before he hit the floor and Black Dranzer went flying.

Tyson stood over him, panting heavily, his entire face shut down like a dead machine. The two Bladebreaker's eyes met, but not for long.

Tyson turned away quickly, and retrieved Black Dranzer from the floor. Without pausing he threw it at Tala, who just barely managed to snap himself back into reality to catch it in time. He raised his eyebrows at Tyson, still wondering what had happened to stop his would-be awesome death match with Kai.

'Give it to him later,' Tyson said to him, his voice sounding empty and cold. Tala found himself slightly excited at the dramatic sudden change in Tyson's tone, but moreso slightly… fearful. 'I just don't want to see it in his hands right now.'

Tala narrowed his eyes slightly, staring at Tyson, before he inclined his head slightly, with respect. Tyson seemed to process this, then nodded once at him before turning and walking toward the end of the corridor. Just like that. He held his head high, completely ignoring the frozen older boy on the floor.

Just before he reached the end of the corridor, the Bladebreaker stopped. Without turning, his jagged voice echoed throughout the quiet corridor. 'I'll see you tomorrow, Kai.'

Kai's face contorted, and he stuggled up. 'Soon Dragoon will be mine,' he hissed from the ground, even though he made no further threatening moves. Tyson gave no indication he heard, although Tala noticed his body tense. Then he was gone.

Both Tala and Kai watched him go, one with newfound respect, and the other pure insane hated. Tala's gaze slowly trailed down to Black Dranzer in his hand, and he sneered in disgust. He immediately dropped Black Dranzer none too gently on the floor and watched it bounce against the cold stone floor before stepping over it and past Kai himself, not once looking back, even when he heard Kai get up with Black Dranzer, even though Kai could have easily run him through the back with Black Dranzer.

He almost hoped the other blader would, because then he wouldn't have to face Tyson and the Bladebreakers in the finals. Then he wouldn't again have to play servant to Kai. But he knew that was just wishful thinking now. What he really couldn't wait for now was for Tyson to finally beat Kai, and shove it in his face. There was no doubt that if anyone were to do it, it would be Tyson. And Tala just wanted to make sure he had a front row seat.

Yays, finished! Sorry for any spelling mistakes, this really was just a drowsy mini self project I felt like finishing.