The Forgotten Days

"Jonouchi, you know that you shouldn\'t be doing this." Kai started to lecture his lover, his arms crossed over his powerful chest. It was his way of making his point, and that he had to be right. Not all the time, but in this situation this was one of them.



The blonde inu-jin sighed, shaking his head and felt his excitement replace with seriousness. "Kai, you know my team needs money to support themselves."



Kai nodded his head, but he wanted to support his lover in more ways than one. "Jonouchi let me help you. I can write out a check for you, or better yet, why not move back to Japan? Live with me," he encouraged.



"Kai…" Jonouchi\'s gaze on his koi softened, his brown eyes looking genuinely into the crimson depths. However, his lips curved into a sad smile. Matoko still held a grudge against the slate-haired Russian. He had promised him he\'d stay with his team, and not go back to Kai for now. If he went back to Kai again, it would strain his already fixed relationship with his team again, and he didn\'t want that on his shoulders again. "… I\'m sorry, but I can\'t."



There was tension in the air again, as those crimson eyes narrowed in anger. He knew Matoko didn\'t trust him after what he did in Russia three years ago. His love for the blonde was strong and passionate, wasn\'t that enough to make the larger inu-jin understand. \'Why can\'t Matoko just get over it?\' He thought bitterly.



Adam saw Jonouchi narrowing his eyes, oblivious to the past events that happened in those several years. However, he knew there was something not good, and he wanted to fix it. He walked over to Jonouchi, his hand reaching out to one of the sides of Jonouchi\'s dog ears. Having worked alongside an inu-jin in the past, his hand scratched that floppy ear playfully, but made sure the blonde inu-jin\'s messy mop of hair covered his ears.



Jonouchi felt Adam\'s scent when he touched him, tensing up a bit. However, he started to relax in a comical way. A part of him wondered how he knew found out about his ears. Oh well, he would ask questions later, and the canine part of him begged for his ears to be scratched. "Oh yeah, that\'s the stuff!" He sighed with content.



Takao grinned slightly at Jonouchi\'s reaction, and he was the only one that knew Hitoshi and Adam use to have an inu-jin as a teammate in the past. It quickly dawned on him that they were in public and cleared his throat. "So Jonouchi, you said something happened to you along the way to work."



The blond turned his gaze, remembering that he was going to tell his story before Kai interrupted. His brown eyes gazed at his lover, seeing he was tense when his former coach was scratching his lover\'s ears. The hand that scratched them stopped, smiling slightly and turned his gaze to everyone. "I\'ll tell it when we get to the dojo," he said







Soon everyone was at the dojo, everybody sitting around in the living room. The bladers\' eyes gazed at Jonouchi, waiting to hear his story. Jonouchi grinned inwardly, seeing the suspense was killing them, except his lover. "Okay, so along my way back to my home I hear this man talking to someone over his cell phone. Mind you, it was someone over his cell, and this guy was obviously a blader. Though not of our age, so he looked older than Kaiba," he explained. "He wasn\'t that old, but he looked like he was in his early 20\'s."



Takao was wondering who this mysterious blader was. "What was he doing following you? And what did he look like?" He asked.



"He said I was invited to a tournament held by someone named Jin. And this guy, he had blond hair, kind of like Max\'s and silver eyes," Jonouchi answered his friend. "Anyway, the guy had some nerve, begging me not to enter," he added. Whoever this blond man was, he would take him down in a physical fight or beyblade match.



Adam listened to every word of the young teen\'s story, but his body tensed and his blood ran cold when he heard about the man\'s description. He stood up, taking a deep breath. "I need to get some fresh air," he said, pardoning himself from the group.



Max\'s sweet face grew serious, his ocean blue eyes gazing at the raven haired teen. He stood up as well, not saying a word to the guys. The blond American knew what hit Adam. It was the description of the man that Jonouchi described to him, and he had to talk to Adam. He was a good friend to him since the first day he met him when Max was five and Adam was eight years old. He found Adam outside in front of the dojo, gazing up at the sky.



"Adam… Are you scared?" He asked his tone serious but there was concern in his words.

The midnight blue depths that came from the seventeen year old, gazed at the big ocean depths. He saw that Max was no longer the sweet and innocent five-year-old he knew, but a man in his own right.



"Max… You know the history between me and him… Slade\'s a good man, but his views on justice are black and white. I told my story to him, and he doesn\'t believe me. How can a four year old murder someone?" He said, shaking his head.



Max was surprised to hear this side from Adam, always knowing the older boy to be calm, clear-headed, and thoughtful. Being the most supportive and understanding member of his team, he wanted to hear Adam\'s side of the story. "Adam, tell me what happened. I don\'t know the whole story, but I would like to hear it from you. It would be better if I understood it and be the judge of it."



Adam was taken aback by Max\'s rational and open mind, starting to think he did miss something over the past several years. Collecting his thoughts of the events, he gazed at Max seriously. "Okay, it started back when I went to a daycare center in New York City. It was my first day there, and I wanted to show my new beyblade to everyone that I got on my 4th birthday from my Grandpa," he started to explain his story.







When Rei heard that Adam had to leave, and then saw Max follow him he turned his gaze to Jonouchi, gesturing him to follow him. He had called the inu-jin for a reason, and that was to find out about this Adam character. The fact that he was Hitoshi\'s friend, it put the Chinese blader on the edge. So he and Jonouchi pardoned themselves from Takao, Kai, and Kyouju, going to check on this raven haired stranger.



Jonouchi turned his brown eyes to Rei, placing a firm hand on his rival\'s shoulder. "Okay Kon, there\'s obviously something you’re not telling me," the blond started to speak. "So I want some answers."



Rei shook his head, not wanting to have their conversation outside right now. He pulled the hand that was on his shoulder, dragging the other with him. The taller blader and he leaned against one of the sides of the dojo, seeing Max and Adam talk.



"I don\'t trust this Adam guy. I feel like I can\'t tell my concerns to any of my teammates. I mean Takao knows him, Max trusts him, and whatever I would say to Kyouju would just be ignored. Normally I\'d go to Kai about my concerns, but the fact that Adam use to coach him… He\'s got all my resources. So I had to turn to someone who doesn\'t have a connection to him."



Jonouchi was surprised by Rei\'s suspicion on the new teen he met at the airport. Normally his raven haired rival was so cool and composed, but he never saw the neko-jin express any of his feelings to him. Still, the fact that this older guy trained Kai, it made him wonder as well. His eyes were focused on Max and Adam, talking about the raven haired boy\'s history with some guy named Slade, views of justice, his side of the story, and how Adam as a four year old was not capable of murder. \'Hmmm, I\'d like to hear this Adam\'s side of the story…I know kids can\'t murder, but something seems fishy,\' he thought.



Rei was thinking the same level as Jonouchi, curious on Max\'s past with Adam and the raven haired teen\'s past. When he heard Max ask Adam to explain his past, he expected the older teen to walk away. However, he watched him just sit there and start at the beginning. So far he got it was his first day at a daycare center in New York City. Adam explained how he was going to show Aster that he got on his 4th birthday from his grandpa.



\'Well, at least I know where Aster came from… Now that I think about it, Aster and Kuroiryu look a lot alike with a few minor differences,\' he thought. ‘But Jonouchi has had Kuroiryu since we first battled him in China. Maybe there’s a connection? He did say he had gotten it from his coach.’



Now that everyone was caught up to date, Adam was about to reveal the big secret. The one that would obviously link something into the past. "When I saw my mom leave, I instantly wanted to show my new friends my beyblade. That was interrupted when a group of men dressed in black and white uniforms walked in, and the teacher was one of them. The wall that held the chalkboard in place… It revealed a case of stairs, forcing us down into an underground prison," he explained, clenching his fists.



"With my own eyes, I saw other kids being forced into labor, beyblading against each other, lifting heavyweights to test or build their endurance."



Max\'s body tensed, thinking about the Abbey that was run by Borcloff three years ago. It was run by a criminal mastermind, using kids to beyblade against their will. Sure, Kai\'s grandfather was part of it, but the blond knew Borcloff was capable of many things to get what he wanted. He wanted to hear Adam\'s story though, thinking there was something larger back then he didn\'t know about.



"It turns out this place was called the Abbey, an underground prison and lab for scientists to test the children\'s limits. They found out I had a blade with me already, so I was forced into training with Aster at age four. It was hard, focusing on the training, but those brutal exercises helped me become a strong blader. I didn\'t believe in whatever the Abbey was planning, but I stuck by my Grandpa\'s beliefs when he told me about the rules of beyblade. He always said:



‘Have fun and it\'s just a game. Win or lose, always practice hard and you can win the next time. If not, keep trying and you\'ll get it.’ Those words stuck with me for four years. I also secretly respected my opponents and their beyblades, because my mom taught me better than that. Anyway, I\'ve been in the Abbey for four years. That was when an undercover agent, dressed as a guard for the Abbey, leaked information on its location and me and the kids from the daycare were saved," Adam finished his story.



Max took all of this in, and he started thinking Adam was put through hell. He knew Kai went through the same thing when he was younger. It never dawned on him that Kai and Adam were so much alike, but Adam had loved ones that gave him hope. He saw that the raven haired boy refused to give into despair, and that he would gain his freedom.



"I never knew that side about you Adam. I\'m real sorry about what happened to you. Our best friend Kai, he went through a similar experience like you. He was in a place called the Abbey as well, but it was in Moscow, Russia," he explained to Adam, thinking that no one should ever go through that experience. "I must know, this Abbey in New York… Was it run by a man named Borcloff? My teammates and I have dealt with him in the past, and we know what he\'s capable of."



Adam\'s eyes lit up with shock again, but nodded his head. "Yes, that\'s the man I saw come by once in awhile. He always invited me to his office on occasions, wanting me to see my demonstrations. However, the American Abbey was… run by my twisted uncle, Cameron Akatsuki, or simply known as Dr. Zero," he said, shaking slightly when he said his name.



Rei and Jonouchi heard the whole story, unable to believe there was an Abbey in New York City that they knew nothing about.



The blond inu-jin\'s body tensed, trying to contain himself. It felt like when Adam told his story, there was something else that was a part of it. He didn\'t know what it was, but that part that was calling out to him… Maybe he would find his answers in the tournament the silver eyed man warned him about. "Kon, I\'m starting to think there\'s fishy going on."



The neko-jin gazed up at Jonouchi, seeing the blader with a serious expression on his face. It was like the Russian bladers on Neo Borg, but harder. "Jonouchi…" His voice trailed off, but he saw Adam move his gaze when he heard some whispers. That expression, it was not the blader he had fought against before, not the rival that had finally defeated him in the last tournament.



Max quickly followed Adam, seeing Rei and Jonouchi on the side of the dojo and his body tensed. "You guys heard everything?" He asked.



Rei was surprised by the body language and the expression Max was presenting. It was natural when the blond needed to be serious, but he never saw him this serious. "Yes, because I wanted to relieve my suspicion on Adam," he answered. "The fact that he\'s friends with Hitoshi, the man that called me worthless…" He trailed off, knowing what to say, but he didn\'t want to cause an incident that would harm his relationship with Max, and the relationship the blond had with Adam.



"Rei, if you have something to say about Hitoshi, there\'s no need to… Like I said, the way I saw him use that tone of voice with Takao, that\'s not the Hitoshi I\'m friends with," Adam said, crossing his arms over his chest. "I disapprove of the way he\'s probably been training Takao, but the fact that he\'s back now… I don\'t want to lose him. But the way he\'s acting, it\'s like he\'s not the same and that someone else is in Hitoshi\'s skin."



"Adam, I\'m glad you understand," Rei said, his judgment on the raven haired teen slowly boiling down, but he felt there was more. "However, I need to know more about you."



Adam gazed into those golden cat-like eyes, wanting the truth. He knew he would be blowing his cover, but he trusted Max. Plus if Rei and Jonouchi were good in Max\'s book, he could trust them as well.



"Okay, but none of this gets out. Only the three of you can know of this." He said firmly. When he watched them nod their heads, he knew more serious.



"Five years ago, way back in 1999, Hitoshi snapped and went on a psychotic rampage when he fused with his old bitbeast Sabreman. He escaped with Dr. Zero, thinking he kidnapped and manipulated my best friend. I stopped beyblading as a blader in general, but then I heard some various equipment like gears of beyblades were being stolen. That day, I approached my grandpa to train me as a government agent.



\'The man that saved me from the Abbey, he was a good friend to my grandpa, and I wanted to learn everything. Turns out those activities were part of Dr. Zero\'s operations, and the government has been trying to track him down for five years… And I set myself out on a mission, to find Hitoshi and save him. When I saw him on TV a year ago, there was no need to find him now that he was back. The only thing that was on my mind was capturing Dr. Zero, and to stop whatever he was planning." He explained his mission to the two jins and his blond friend.



"Also, when I left the room, the same man Jonouchi described… Is Slade Archfield, we used to be good friends but our friendship took a turn for the worst. Every time I\'m at a location for one of the operations, he\'s there and somehow connected to Zero"



Rei heard Adam\'s secret, and his body tensed even more as the story went along. He hated Hitoshi even more now, whatever it was he did, but he understood that Adam was willing to do anything to find him. In the end, he sighed when he heard one of Borcloff\'s scientists was operating something. Like he and his teammates, they had firsthand experience with Borcloff and understood the Abbey. Now that he met Adam, he, Max, and Jonouchi had learned some more history about the Abbey\'s origins. "Alright, we\'ll help you on your mission."



Jonouchi felt that helping Adam\'s mission would benefit with finding out what was calling to him. And he would be at the tournament to participate to take down this Slade and his boss. Plus now he knew Adam better as a person. Here was someone he didn\'t know, who could be so open about revealing who he was, even if it meant trusting someone like the blond inu-jin. Also, the fact that he was in the Abbey for four years, and in New York City made him feel sympathy. He too had some experience in the monstrous underground dungeon in Russia. "Well, I suppose playing ‘James Bond’ will have its kicks," he quipped.



"Thanks, but we can\'t tell Takao, Kai, or Kyouju about this. I trust you three to keep this a secret," he said, watching all three heads nod. As much as he wanted to tell Takao, the young champion tended to have a psychological battle with stuff at times. Kyouju would be helpful later on with hacking into the security systems. Also, Kai had already been put through the ringer enough.







On the calm day of Moscow, Russia the hospital was running smoothly. There were some people who were recovering, leaving, or checking on their injuries. Things were running smoothly, and everyone froze when a cold presence walked in. The boy had a certain air to him, having red hair shaped with two devil-like horns on both sides, and piercing ice blue eyes. He wore a familiar orange and white jumpsuit, with purple straps on the shoulders, wrist cuffs, ankle cuffs, and black shoes with silver metal buckles. He walked over to the nurse\'s desk, gazing at her.



"I\'m here to see Patient DI," he stated firmly.



The nurse nodded her head, writing up a pass for the captain of the Neo Borg team. Yuriy took it, placing it into the black pouch to his left side. He entered the elevator, pressing the button to the 3rd floor. Once he reached the floor, he stepped out and walked down the hallway. He stopped at the end of the hall, pounding in a few numbers, and the door opened. The red-head Russian flipped the lights on, seeing a 20 year old man, hooked up to machines. He had the same hair style like Yuriy\'s, but his was much brighter, like the color of blood. Also, he stood about 5\'11", and his physique was toned but had very taut muscles.



"Hey bro thought I\'d drop by and see how you were doing," the 18 year old blader said. Unlike his stoic and fiery self, he dropped to a different tone. He was a little laid back and showed sincerity in his words. "Told my teammates I was going to practice by myself, but I stopped by to see you," he said, brushing the two front bangs identical to his out of his face. "I can\'t stay here for long… Boris gets cranky when I\'m not around. Anyway, please recover soon," he said softly, his gloved hand reaching over to his older brother\'s hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.



Parting ways, he opened the door and the first he came out, his cold features on his face returned. He refused anyone to see his pain, because Yuriy felt that no one would understand.



Inside, the room, the older boy\'s vitals were beating off the charts. What Yuriy didn\'t know, was that his older brother was seeing the world through Yuriy\'s eyes after the World Tournament in Russia three years ago. After that tournament, he broke out of Borcloff\'s corrupt prison called the Pitt, where he won a tournament called Bloody Mayhem. He fought for his freedom, and finally won.



Yuriy was on the outside, waiting for a reunion for his brother, until a blond 18 year old named Slade Archfield stood in the way. The older boy was sent to take out the older Ivanov, but Yuriy had gotten in his way. So Yuriy\'s brother shoved the younger brother out of harm\'s way, and took the stun bullet with an electric charge that put him in a coma. Since then, Yuriy had watched over him, and didn\'t enter any tournaments. That was until he saw through Yuriy\'s eyes, that his little brother wore his old uniform and wielded Wolborg.



From there, he saw the pain and sorrow Yuriy went through, and he wasn\'t there to hold and reassure his brother. \'Yuriy, I\'m sorry I wasn\'t there for you…After seeing you go through the pain, losing to some people…I will be caged no more!!!\' He screamed in his mind.



The beeps from the machines malfunctioned; a low growl emitted from the older boy\'s lips and bared sharp canines. His eyes shot open, revealing golden wolf-like eyes and emitted a feral snarl, and his ears became pointy like a wolf\'s. The nails turned into sharp claws, slashing the wires off of it, and yanked them off. He pulled the sheets off of him, slashing at the door like a wild animal.



Yuriy stopped midway in his steps, turning his gaze to hear banging behind his brother\'s door. The reason he had that kind of door around, is because he trusted a few doctors from his childhood, and would be the ones to check up on him. He saw two clawed hands pry open a hole in the door, and saw that his brother tore it open with great strength. \'Demitri…\' He thought his icy blue eyes wide in shock.



The older boy, Demitri Ivanov, burst the door down, and emitted a growl. He lifted up his arms, and yelled with might. "No one cages and prevents me from seeing my brother!!!!" He yelled, his golden eyes turning to gaze at Yuriy. He started to calm down, his wolf-like features returning to normal human features, and his gold eyes turned to an icy blue like Yuriy\'s.



"Yuriy… You don\'t look so bad in my old uniform."



Yuriy gazed at his older brother, a smirk crossing his lips and crossed his arms. "And you don\'t look so bad in a hospital gown," he quipped.



Demitri blinked, looking down to see what his little brother was getting it, and a blush crept up on his cheeks. He gazed up at Yuriy, his eyes on him. "Please tell me you left some clothes for me in the room," he said, seeing his brother point to the room and he went back in.



About a few minutes later, he came out wearing a new set of clothes. He wore a black sweatshirt with a metallic blue wolf face imprinted on it, a dark blue hooded wind breaker jacket, with silver markings on the top and a silver wolf marking on the back, baggy dark blue cargo pants zipper styled, matching white and red gloves with silver metal patches and buckles. The two brothers checked out of the hospital, and Demitri paid for the damaged door with money he used to earn back in his days of beyblading. "Yuriy, I\'m glad you\'re still alive."



Yuriy gazed up at his older brother. He remembered many years ago, Demitri use to wield Wolborg. It would only make sense that he entrusted his bitbeast to him. "Thank you Demitri, I\'m glad to see you back on your feet." He smiled softly, but heard his cell phone ring and groaned.



"It\'s probably Boris… He\'s my teammate," he explained, making a note to himself to introduce Demitri to the Neo Borg team. The red-head took out his cell phone. "Boris, what is it?" He asked, stopping as he walked and heard what his teammate was explaining to him over the line.



"I see… Alright, it would make sense that we enter. By the way, my brother just got of the hospital." He closed his cell phone, not wanting to hear the silver-haired Russian\'s nerdgasm for his favorite blader and idol.



"What was that about?" Demitri asked, not bothered by Boris\' admiration for him. He had a feeling his brother needed help, and wanted to lend a hand now that he was back in action.



"Boris got an envelope saying we were invited to a Beyblade Tournament hosted by Jin," Yuriy answered, and his icy blue eyes were on his brother. He was starting to wonder if the Bladebreakers were going to be in the tournament, they were bound to beyblade against them. However, they needed to train harder than ever, and win this time. "How would you like to join Neo Borg?" He offered, as he knew his brother needed to regain his sharp edge in blading back.



Demitri smirked at that, taking out a midnight blue beyblade, with purple markings on the finds and gold lines. "Why not? After all, it would be nice to take Borcloff\'s old pet project for a test drive," he said, gazing at the bitchip. On it was a wolf bitbeast, covered in dark blue and purple armor, with blue parts and gold trimming, and the eyes covered by a furnace-like visor.



This was Steelborg, a bitbeast that would allow blader electromagnetic manipulation. Back then Borcloff was going to have Yuriy wield Steelborg when he wanted to test out Neo Borg.



However, Demitri refused to see his own brother be genetically enhanced like him. So he took it under the purple haired man\'s nose, and was locked away in the Pitt with it. "I still have my edge, and focused my mind on mental training," he explained.



Yuriy\'s lips turned into a smile, seeing his brother was determined to help him. He had done everything for him in the past. Demitri had trained Yuriy personally, took care of him when it was just the two of them, being a parent to him, volunteered to be in Yuriy\'s place to be genetically enhanced, and all of that stuff.



"We\'re back in business," he said. Nothing would stop him from winning now, and he would see to it that their family name was restored to its pride and glory.