Valt Aoi: The Battle for the Lost (Book 3!)

Ep 5: The Homecoming

The next morning the blizzard had settled down and now it was flurrying outside. After checking out of the hotel the boys made their way back to the airport.

Luckily everyone got to sleep in and by the time they made it to their plane they were well rested.

The plane trip back to BC Sol took up most of the day and by the time the boys made it back to BC Sol it was late afternoon.

Two men stood outside the front entryway, after Valt talked to them they let the boys in.

After the bus dropped them off the boys took a look around.

"Wow I've never been here before this place is awesome!"

"Yeah just wait til you guys see the gym." Valt gave everyone a tour showing them the dorms, stadiums, and dining room.

But as they walked around it seemed quiet, too quiet. This was exactly what Valt was secretly afraid of.

After dropping off their luggage and getting a bunk room partner. They went back over to the gym.

Most of the bladers were in the gym practicing their launches or battling.

"Valt! You're back!"

Rantaro pushed his way through the crowd running over to Valt. Everyone stopped what they were doing and walked over to Valt.

"Hey where's Cuza?"

"And Kit?"

"And Fubuki?"

Valt was quiet and everyone was looking to him for the answer.

"They're gone."

"What do you mean by gone?"

"Are they missing?"

"Where are they?"

The room erupted into chatter and arguements.

"HEY EVERYONE ZIP IT AND LET VALT TALK OK?"

Everyone quieted down from Rantaro's comment.

"Theodore Glass and Phi have them, Aiger, Vincent, Hyde and I all went to the Dread Tower thinking we could defeat him. Fubuki, Kit, and I were all at the tournament. But this was no ordinary tournament Theodore and Phi were using it as a cover up to kidnap bladers."

Many of the bladers in the crowd gasped.

"They're building an army, an army of corrupted bladers. Whoever would lose their match would be sent down a trapdoor. But some bladers were able to escape by dodging the trap door. That's why Drum's here."

"But what about the other missing bladers like Cuza?"

"Besides the bladers at the tournament Theodore and Phi have been capturing bladers, turning them and making them join their army. Free and Cuza are many of the victims. Eventually in the tournament it was down to Aiger, Fubuki and I. Phi said one of us could challenge him."

"What happened to Fubuki?"

"After challenging Phi and winning everything was back to normal until Theodore and Phi unleashed their army. They tried to get us but Fubuki stayed back to hold back the doors. He sacrificed himself for us."

The chatter started up again, Sasha got up and asked "What do we do now?"

Everyone quieted back down looking over at Valt.

"Well if Theodores building an army then we need to do the same. We need to gather any other remaining bladers that are left. Even those who aren't professionals. We need all the help we can get."

Everyone cheered making Valt smile.

"Silas, Sasha, Drum, Rantaro I need you guys to come with me. Everyone else go back to what you were doing."

The four Bladers stepped out of the crowd along with Count Nightfell and Wakiya.

"Wakiya and Count Nightfell? What are you two doing here."

"Well it certainly didn't take that long for me to figure out something was up with Phi and Theodore so I came here as soon as I could."

"And the Count?"

"You said you needed everyone's help? Well here I am!"

"Still cannot believe he's related to Zac." Wakiya whispered to Rantaro.

"Alright I'm going to need your guys help, like I said we need more bladers. So we're going to have to split up."

"Split up? What if Theodore gets us?" Aiger asked.

"He won't if we stick together, and we'll be able cover more ground. Count Nightfell, Wakiya, Rantaro and Silas. I need you guys to keep an eye on BC Sol in case Theodore and Phi get any ideas. I also need you guys to help make sure everyone is training for the tournament and keeping on task."

"What about the rest of us?" Drum asked.

"The rest of us are going to pick up the remaining bladers."

"Aiger and Drum will go to New York to pick up Joshua, Clio and Shu."

Aiger and Drum high fived.

"The last group will be Sasha and I. We'll be going straight to Begioma to find Hoji, Nika, Ben and finally Lui."

Sasha gave Valt a thumbs up and he did the same.

"And if you guys run into any other bladers be sure to ask them to join us too like Jin, Akira, or Orchi. I don't want to risk anyone else if we don't have to but I do know this is going to be hard and Theodore isn't backing down from a fight."

"When do we leave?" Sasha asked.

"Tomorrow morning, everyone get some sleep, things are going to get interesting."

Everyone walked off talking it made Valt happy seeing Aiger and Drum getting along.

"Nice leadership skills Valt." Sasha said.

"Thanks Sasha, I just hope this goes smoothly. The last thing we need is something else to be wrong."

After the meeting things began to settle down and everyone started going to bed. Everyone except for Valt.

Every time he would try to get comfortable his eyes would just pop open. He just couldn't relax. Getting up he looked over at his alarm clock.

It was a little over an hour before they would have to get up and leave again.

Valt got up since he couldn't go back to sleep. Getting dressed he quietly opened the door and closed it.

The hallway was eerily quiet this time of morning no one dared to get up. No one except for Free.

Free had been on Valt's mind a lot lately he wondered what horrible things Theodore was doing to him. If it was anything like the Snake Pit it was probably worse with Phi around.

Walking out of the dorms Valt headed into the woods. It was not long before he found Free's old deer. It turned its head and Valt did the same.

Valt followed the deer to the old stadium in the forest. It was still standing but vines were starting to take over. The only thing new about it was the stadium in the center.

Sitting on the steps Valt sat in silence for a long time.

Stepping out of the bushes was Sasha. She had a couple of twigs in her hair.

"Valt what are you doing here?"

"I can't sleep."

"Me too, I miss him."

"Same here, I hope we can get him back. I just hope he's not too gone."