The Echo Effect
Kai slowly opened his bleary eyes and stared at the ceiling in a daze. Where am I? What just happened? He thought. There was a sound from the other side of the room, a slight mumbling noise. Kai sat up. He shook his head slightly, trying to clear away the light-headed feeling. For some reason he felt strangely empty inside.
'What happened?' He said aloud to no one in particular. A small familiar voice answered him from across the room.
'I dunno.' Kai looked around in surprise.
Then he fainted again.
Tyson was busily sweeping up broken plates in the kitchen when something made him look up. He found himself staring into large grey eyes.
'Err…hi?' he gulped. Chibi Kai pouted back at him.
'Who're you?' he asked innocently. Tyson shook his head in disbelief.
'I'm Tyson. Is uh…is the older Kai awake?' Chibi Kai looked down at the floor, scratching his nose thoughtfully.
'You mean the other person in there who looks like me?' He asked. Tyson nodded, frowning. 'He's silly. He went back asleep and I couldn't wake him up!'
Kai re awoke to the sight of Tyson and the kid staring down at him. There was a low growl and Tyson tried to jump back, startled.
With a snakelike movement, Kai's arm shot out and he grabbed the unfortunate Tyson by the front of his shirt, pulling him close.
Kai had a dangerous scowl on his face.
'Tyson,' He growled. 'Why do I get the feeling that this is your doing?' He glared fiercely at the quivering boy, shooting uneasy glances at the younger version of himself. If he looked the kid for long enough it made him feel queasy.
Tyson tried to defend himself,
'I didn't know this would happen, it was meant to be funny and then it just…' Kai interrupted him.
'Forget I asked.' He swung his legs off the bed and stood up. 'Where are the others?' Tyson looked at him uneasily.
'Uh…well Kenny's in the sitting room…um…' luckily for him he didn't have to explain as Kai strode out of the room with Chibi Kai following happily after.
Kenny looked up from Dizzy as Kai strode in. He gulped as Chibi Kai skipped happily in behind him. Kenny smiled uncertainly.
'So. You're both awake. How do you feel Kai?' he asked. Kai looked down at the younger version of himself, frowning slightly.
'I've been better.' He answered. 'Where are the others?' Kenny looked uncomfortable.
'Err…didn't Tyson tell you?' Kai shook his head. 'Well…um, Rei kind of broke a few ribs and had to go to hospital. Max went with him.'
'What?!' Kai sat down next to Kenny and pointed to Dizzy. 'Do you have a video of what happened?' Kenny nodded. 'Show me.' Kenny sighed and started up the video. Chibi Kai jumped up onto the couch and peered curiously over Kenny's shoulder.
There was a silence as the video played out, broken only by a sharp intake of breath as Rei smacked into the wall. Once the film had ended, Kenny and Tyson waited in silence as Kai thought. Unnoticed by all, Chibi Kai slid off the sofa and wandered off to explore the house.
'How did it happen?' asked Kai, frowning at Tyson. Kenny answered.
'Tyson wanted to get revenge on you for waking him up repeatedly with a bucket of ice and he believed it would be fun to slip you some drugs. Unfortunately whatever it was that he got hold of, created a Chibi Kai.' Kai sighed with a resigned disgust at Tyson's stupidity.
'I guess you don't know how to reverse the effects, do you?' Kenny shook his head.
'Where is the kid anyway?' He said looking around. 'We should probably find him before any one else sees him.' They all got up and walked into the kitchen. He wasn't there. Nor was he in any of the bedrooms.
'Maybe we should split up?' suggested Tyson. The others nodded in agreement. They were about to continue when suddenly Kai flinched and stopped. They turned to him.
'Are you okay Kai?' Kai frowned, shaking himself slightly.
'I…' He gasped suddenly and clutched at his throat. His face went pale and his eyes widened as he struggled to breathe.
'Kai, what's wrong?' asked Tyson in alarm. Kai could only manage a few words before sinking to his knees.
'The pond…quickly…' Tyson was about to try and help him when Kenny grabbed his arm and started dragging him away.
'But Kenny…wait!' panted Tyson.
'No time, come on.'
They raced out into the garden and shot around the corner to the pond. There, floundering and splashing desperately about, was Chibi Kai. As they ran towards him, he went under and didn't resurface. There was a loud splash as Tyson jumped in, wading quickly out before plunging into the water. He came up gasping. In his arms was the unconscious Chibi Kai. He had soon managed to carry the young boy out of the water, laying him gently on the grass before the anxiously waiting Kenny.
