Web of feelings

It had been two weeks since that evening in Mr. Dickensen’s office and the revelation that Boris had escaped from prison and was out to inflict his unwanted presence once more upon Tala, Bryan and Kai. And the rest of the Bladebreakers. Two weeks since Tyson had come up with a plan to protect his friends and to finally get rid of the dangerous man for good.

Two long weeks with each of them feeling ridicoulus for jumping at unexpected noises and looking suspiciously at strangers. The teens’ nerves had been strung tight, because they didn’t know when Boris would make his move. And whom of them he would go after first. Each of the friends feared for the others - Kai, Tala and Bryan more so because they knew better than the rest of their group what to expect from the maniac. But Tyson, Ray, Max and Kenny could also see the trepidation for themselves in the eyes of the three older teens at those memories.

So it was with a mixture of exasperation at his bout of bad luck and relief that it was him that had been caught and none of his friends, that Tyson was now coming back to his senses. Waking up was not a pleasurable experience after being hit over the head some unknown time ago, but the bluenette instinctively bit down on his lip to hold back a pained moan. He could feel a bump on his skull and a headache building behind his eyes.

Tyson stayed like he was and reached out with his senses to come more aware of his surroundings without opening his eyes. He realized he was lying on his side on a really cold and uncomfortable surface. Water dripped somewhere and the air was a bit chilly.

His hands were bound together in front of him with a rope, slightly cutting into his skin. But he could move them and, straining his ears to hear something, Tyson carefully opened his eyes an inch, blinking through his lashes to see his surrondings. Darkness enclosed him with only some dim lights somewhere to his left side and for a moment fear gripped his heart, but Tyson pushed that feeling away. Now was really not the time to be frightened. He had to find out where Boris' men had brought him to.

As if the thought had called them, Tyson could see brighter lights coming nearer and a raspy voice complained: "The little bastard nearly broke my nose! I would like to do something really nasty to him in response…do you think I will get the chance when Boris is done with him?"

Tyson lifted an eyebrow at that comment and remembered the man, who had been the unfortunate one to come into contact with one of the defensive moves Gramps had taught him during their kendo lessons. Now the bluenette was grateful for his grandfather's relentless training in the martial arts, because the teen knew he could hold his own against a physical attack - he had proven it when Boris' men jumped on him hours ago. Even if they had succeded in the end, it had been partially to the fact that Tyson had allowed them to capture him by not fighting with his whole strength and martial arts knowledge.

'If you call me bastard because I've almost broken your nose, buddy…what would you think if you knew I could have easily done something even more painful to you?', Tyson thought with wry humor. 'If you really get that chance to try to do something to me, you will be surprised.'

Hearing the men coming nearer, Tyson moved his hands quickly up to where his dragon-shaped medallion hung and pressed the little button on the backside of it to open the one-sided communication, so that his friends could hear everything that was said from this moment on. Each of the seven teens now wore such a medallion, which Kenny had rigged with a communication device. That was a part of Tyson’s plan, like the fact that when it was activated the device would allow the wearer to be tracked down by the GPS chip Kenny had also installed. Having done that and hiding the medaillon under his shirt once more, the bluenette closed his eyes and pretended to be still oblivious to the world.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

In the meantime the atmosphere in Mr. Dickensen's office was far from being relaxed. On the contrary, it crackled with uneasiness, fear, worry and silent prayers for Tyson's health. Mr. Dickensen and Tyson’s friends were waiting here for any news on the bluenette since Gramps had tersely informed them, that his grandson hadn’t come back from his trip to the grocery shop this Saturday morning.

Max was sitting in a chair, his normally exuberant and cheerful personality for once absent, as the blonde teen restlessly wrung his hands in his lap in fear for his best friend. Ray paced the room, angry with himself at not being able to help his blue-haired teammate right now. Kenny clutched his laptop close to himself and had closed his eyes, praying silently that Tyson wouldn’t be hurt.

Kai and Tala were standing still, Kai leaning like always against one wall while the redhead sat like Max in a chair and tried to control the fear that was raging inside him. He knew better than any of the other persons present how dangerous Boris could be – and to have someone precious to his heart like Tyson in that man's grip made him want to destroy something.

Looking at Kai, who at first seemed to be his usual cool and collected self, Tala quickly noticed that the dual-haired teen was as affected by the situation as he was. Kai's body was trembling slightly with uneasiness; his whole body language screamed tenseness. The stress the teamcaptain of the Bladebreakers felt at knowing Tyson in Boris' clutches was visible on his face – in the tight line of his mouth, the frown marring his forehead.

Kai had crossed his arms in front of his chest to hold himself unmoving, but his fingers dug into his arms almost painfully, as he mentally urged Tyson to do something, to let them know he was ok. 'Tyson, that was your damned stupid plan…so say something to let us know it worked and you are alright! Say something…please', Kai silently vented his uneasiness and fear for his blue-haired friend.

It was so sudden, that his wish was granted that Kai almost jumped a foot in surprise. The speakers of the device, which Kenny had manipulated to receive transmissions sent by any of the medallions the seven teens wore, crackled shortly and then a voice came over the line which made all those present freeze. Then Kai's dark crimson eyes flashed murderously and he looked at the innocent technical equipment as if he would like to burn it with his look. Max, Ray and Kenny exchanged a look, which was part relief that Tyson was obviously well enough to activate his medallion and part worried fear because of the company their beloved friend was now in.

Boris.

"My, my, my…see who we have here", the ex-minion of Voltaire said in his cold voice. "Tyson…what a pleasure to meet you again. I am glad you decided to follow my invitation."

"Boris", Tyson's voice answered – a careful mix of apparent surprise at seeing the man and an emotion, as if Tyson only now realized who had sent the men who had attacked him before. Then the bluenette retorted: "Do you always have to be so annoyingly unsensible? If you wanted to meet with me, a written invitation would have done the trick, you know?" Annoyance had seeped into Tyson's voice, who carefully feigned his reactions to get the answers he wanted to know.

"Tyson, don't provoke him", Max whispered as if his friend could hear him. Ray who had taken a seat next to the blonde as the friends crowded around the speakers, laid a hand on Max' arm to calm him. "He knows what he's doing", the neko-jin said soothingly, even as he trembled slightly with fear himself.

Boris merely laughed amusedly…a chilling sound, which made Tyson inwardly shudder. But he had gotten the desired reaction and continued to play the role he wanted to present to his enemy. Schooling his features into a questioning expression, he asked: "What do want from me, Boris? And…", he added as if he remembered this fact only now, "what are you doing here in Japan? Shouldn't you rot in a prison cell for your crimes?"

The man whom Tyson had injured during the attack on himself, hissed in anger and started to go forwards. But Boris' voice held him back: "Stop, Martigan. Don't let your anger get the best of you. This boy was always intringuing in his behaviour, so very emotional."

Then he focused on Tyson's face who returned the look without blinking. "Brave as always, aren't we?", Boris stated.

Tyson shrugged and answered: "One of my more endearing qualities, I've been told."

"We will see." Boris' eyes swept over the young teen who still sat on the cold surface of the cell, his hands bound tightly with the rope. But the bluenette didn't seem frightened of the situation he found himself in. That showed that he was either really brave or stupid. Or both.

Boris decided to make Tyson's situation even more uncomfortable to see how the teen would react. Therefore he said with false remorse: "Oh, I see my men weren't really all that nice to you, Tyson. Binding you with a rope and then make you sit on the cold floor - I apologize for that. But you have to realize that these days it's very hard to get good personnel. You sure are not comfortable enough to have a long, nice chat with me, aren't you?", he added with apparent sweetness.

"You are really perceptive", Tyson replied wryly, mentally scowling at Boris. As if the madman didn't know why the teen was in that uncomfortable position! Tyson was sure he had given the orders to do that.

"Then we should do something to give you more comfort and then I'd like to share some stories with you, my boy", Boris said.

His smile gave Tyson a queasy feeling in his stomach, but outwards he remained calm and opted to look curious. As Boris gave the man next to Martigan a nod, the man silently came over to Tyson, grabbed him roughly and lifted him from the floor. The bluenette openly scowled and said: "I can move on my own, you know? Really…", he huffed in obvious annoyance. Then Tyson trailed off, as the man shoved him without a word to a nearby wall and his eyes narrowed. Seconds later he leaned against said wall and felt like he was participating in an old movie.

Rattling experimentally with the chains bound around his wrists and ankles, he tilted his head at Boris. "Nice", he commented, his voice laced with sarcasm. "I feel so much better now."

Boris grinned deviously and a spark of fear laced through Tyson at seeing the insane glint in the man's eyes. He could feel the crazyness emanating from the violet-haired man and steeled his resolve, before opting to lean casually against the wall behind him, ignoring the wet coldness seeping into his clothes.

"Now that you are more comfortable we can start our little chat", Boris began speaking once more.

"And what do you want to discuss?", Tyson asked, lifting an eyebrow in question.

"Oh, let's see", Boris answered, giving himself an expression of thoughtfulness. Then he brightened and said: "How about Kai? Or Tala and Bryan? I have come to know, the latter ones are now living in this town, too. That's really fine with me, so I don’t have to go searching for them…I want to talk to them - you know, about the good old times. I miss these days…", Boris trailed off.

Tyson felt burning anger bubbling inside him, but controlled his outward reactions with an iron grip. This man was obviously dangerous, wandering the thin line to complete madness. The insane glint had gotten stronger with the mentioning of the names of Tyson's friends and the bluenette knew he had to be very careful with what he said and did. He had to protect his three friends from the evil the violet-haired man represented, but he also had to find a way to coax some informations about his location and the plan Boris pursued out of him.

Blinking as if totally surprised and giving himself the air of simple-mindedness, Tyson replied: "Oh, really? But I don't think that they want to meet you again."

Boris' eyes narrowed and anger flashed through them, before he said: "I don't care what they want. There's something that has to be made clear to all of them! And when Kai will hear that you are my guest, I think he will be really eager to speak with me! I am looking forward to his face when he realizes that I am free again…that thought was something to hold onto the time I sat in prison because of him - and you…", a cold look from madly glinting eyes was directed at Tyson, whose face held nothing but feigned confusion.

"Why do you think Kai is responsible for your arrest?", he asked stupidly.

"Because he left us…betrayed us - after all those years of careful preparation. Voltaire even gave him Black Dranzer, the most powerful Bit-Biest that ever existed", Boris ground out in anger. His eyes held a furious look as the man added: "And Tala did the same…leaving without any gratitude for what I have done for him…and Bryan following him like a mindless puppet!"

'Whom do you call a mindless puppet? Be careful how you talk about my friends! Kai and Tala did what was right and good for them, leaving you crazy lunatic as fast as they could', Tyson mentally fumed, holding only barely onto his temper. Fortunately the room they were in was dark, so none of the three men saw his deep blue eyes flashing dangerously. 'Dare you say to me that they have to be grateful for all the awful things you did to them! As if they should show you gratitude for having had to live a life without any warmth or friends, happiness and joy!', the bluenette ranted in his mind.

Boris vented a breath and calmed himself. Then he looked at the teen chained to the wall and smiled evilly. "Yes, I think I will enjoy it greatly to tell Kai that you are here. He has to learn whom he has to follow without complaint." Tyson's eyes glowed angrily at that statement and his hands clenched, but he forced himself to stay silent to not destroy his carefully created appearance of being a little bit slow.

"In the meantime I have some plans with you, Tyson", Boris' malicious voice aroused the bluenette's attention then once more.

"You are the World Champion after all…beating Tala in the finals should have been impossible for anyone after all the experiments I made with him to improve his skills. That means there has to be something about you…something, that allowed you to win in spite of that. I want to know what it is that makes you special."

At the word 'experiments' Tyson had stiffened and his thoughts flew to his red-haired friend. He couldn't help but feeling furious on Tala's behalf and trembled slightly with the magnitude of emotions battling inside him, desperate to come out. The bluenette closed his eyes for a moment and calmed himself with thinking back to the evenings with Tala on the river, speaking to the older teen, making him laugh and enjoy life in general. The image of Tala's ice-blue eyes alight with warmth while looking at him appeared before his inner eye and soothed Tyson's raging fury. And steeled his silent promise to protect his friend from a reocurrence of the horrors he had to endure in his childhood.

Breathing slowly, Tyson opened his eyes again und answered: "I don't think I like what you suggest, Boris. The match between Tala and me was a good one, even as he had to use the stolen Bit-Biests. But with the help of our friends Dragoon was stronger than Wolborg."

"Ah…yes. Dragoon. The legendary storm dragon", Boris interrupted Tyson. "A really interesting fact, that you have such a Bit-Biest…do you really understand what power you control, boy? Dragon-Bit-Biests are said to be among the mightiest creatures - and they are rare. So rare, that since millennias nobody has seen one…and you not only have a dragon, but a storm-dragon. The masters of air…", Boris rambled on.

Tyson felt his insides turn cold as he realized what was to come. Now his Bit-Biest was in danger - his friend, his partner in every beyblade-match he had fought. When he saw Boris give Martigan an authoritative wink and heard him say: "Get me his blade", Tyson’s whole body tensed. His demeanor changed instantly to a defensive one to do everything to protect Dragoon. Nobody would take away his Bit-Biest.

Martigan came over with a nasty expression on his face to search for the blade, but when he saw the changed expression on the blue-haired teen's face he visibly slowed down. The man didn't know why, but the young one suddenly made his insides freeze without really doing anything other than look at him. But those eyes spoke louder than any warning Martigan had ever gotten before.

Deep blue eyes had turned into crystal shades of sharp ice and sent him a bone-chilling look which clearly said: 'Touch my blade and die'.

If anybody had told him that he would someday be frightened by a teenager, Martigan would have laughed. But now he couldn't help the feeling of looming danger. Tyson's icy look dared him to try and steal his Dragoon. The man had never felt so threatened before and slowly stepped back and away from the silent teen.

Boris watched Martigan with obvious annoyance and opened his mouth to scold his useless minion, but then Tyson switched his gaze towards him. And even Boris reeled at the furious power Tyson's eyes held at the prospect of somebody endangering his beloved Bit-Biest.

Then the bluenette spoke quietly: "Dragoon has chosen me to be his guardian, Boris. Nobody but me will ever be his partner, so bury the thought you obviously had. Bury it deep, very deep." Power suddenly crackled in the air, making Boris' hairs stand on his arms and shivers ran down the spines of all three men. They realized that the idea of taking away his blade from Tyson could cost them a limb.

'Huh? What's with him now?', Tyson had thought incrediously, his fury at the prospect of losing Dragoon receding a bit when he noticed Martigan backing away from him with an expression of slight fear on his face. Switching his gaze to Boris because the bluenette expected the violet-haired man to shout at his minion for not doing what he had been told, he centered his eyes on the face of the evil man. Boris really seemed to want to scold Martigan, but then stopped as he felt Tyson's look on him.

When their gazes locked, Boris couldn't help his reaction - and the next moment Tyson mentally blinked at the almost unnoticable flinch of the older man. Then he smiled inwardly. 'It seems as if I have learned to use Kai's famous 'death-glare' quite well', the bluenette mused silently. 'I am so angry that they wanted to take my Dragoon away from me, that I was able to frighten them with a mere look…cool. I wish my friends could have seen that… even Boris wasn't able to mask his reaction wholly. Who would have thought - I threatened Boris without really trying to. Hell just froze over.'

Feeling more sure of himself because of his revelation, Tyson steadily looked at Boris, who returned his gaze with a curious and surprised one. The older man pondered what had happened a moment ago and was regarding the teen in front of him in a whole new light. The bluenette had surprised him once more - the power he had exuded with a mere look from his oceanblue eyes had been incredible.

Before he seemed to be a normal young man, not overly bright or powerful. What Boris couldn't know was that he had fallen victim to the image Tyson had carefully created…the bluenette knew that if he played a bit dumb and simple-minded, then the man wouldn't think about what he said. And by that would reveal more than he knew about his plans.

Boris was not the first person to underestimate Tyson's clever mind and strategic thinking. The blue-haired teen had often made good use of his cheerful, likable appearance before to mask his sharp intelligence and therefore had more than once been able to surprise his contrahents in a beyblade-match by suddenly turning the tables on them.

Now Boris had eagerly fallen into his trap and Tyson mentally rolled his eyes in half-annoyance. How easy some people fell to his disguise, eager to believe themselves to be more intelligent and better than everybode else. But he would use this thinking to his advantage.

Then a slow evil smile appeared on Boris' face and Tyson came to attention once more. He straightened slightly, steeling himself for whatever his enemy had in stow for him now. The bluenette realized that Boris had a new plan – the man seemed intringued by the events that had taken place as he wanted Tyson's Bit-Biest.

"Impressive", Boris slowly confessed. "You are quite protective of your Dragoon, Tyson. I knew that…but what I didn't know was the amount of power you really possess. Interesting…and it changes everything."

Boris thought for a moment, then said: "I have something for you to think about, Tyson. With that power you have inside, you are able to do almost everything you want. Have you ever thought about using it? You could take what you want, without caring for the consequences - you could be great! I have always wanted to have somebody like you at my side…with a power to almost match my own. Your great power and my sharp mind together - we could be unstoppable! What do you think?"

Boris had worked up quite an enthusiasm, silently smiling to himself. He thought about the advantage the teen's power would give him. The bluenette had control over one of the mightiest creatures, a storm dragon - aside from his own intringuing strength. And because of his naïve mind he could be used for Boris' plans. The crazy man would have liked to rub his hands in glee at the prospect of having the teen under his 'care' – Tyson would be an even better marionette than Kai, Tala and Bryan had been in the past. More powerful without the quick mind to realize it. Wonderful. A piece of puzzle Boris hadn't anticipated, but decided to use for his goals.

"What do you think about becoming my right hand man, Tyson?", he then repeated his offer eagerly.

This time Tyson didn't have to feign his reaction. Blinking in open astonishment, he said: "Run that by me again?"

tbc…