A/N: WOOHOO!!! Hey, I'm back!! YAY!!!! Ok, I'm starting to scare myself….

Anyways, let's get down to business!! Just to let you guys know, I've really gotta s+tart making these chapters way longer, if I want to have less than 40 chapters for this fic!! SO that's what I'm gonna do, ok?? ^_^ Ahhhhh! Okay, I've talked too much. (Not really, but….) Let's start!

Disclaimer: I do NOT (I repeat, do NOT) own beyblade

Chapter 11: Out in the Wilderness

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * "Hey, when's the van gonna come?" Tyson complained. The Bladebreakers were standing by the curb of the hotel. "We've been waiting for ages!!"

"Um, sure Tyson." Kenny replied in an exasperated voice. "I guess 'ages' is close enough to five minutes."

"Hey! Patience, Tyson!" Max replied cheerfully. "I'm sure it'll come any minute!"

Tyson continued stomping around impatiently. "Forget it, Max." Kai told the blonde-haired boy in a bored tone. "It's not like he's gonna listen to you."

Starr gazed down the street. "I think our ride is almost here." she said at last, smiling.

"Finally!" Tyson said, stopping.

"Yeah!" Rei agreed. "I don't think I could have put up with Tyson's complaining for much longer."

Starr looked at them and grinned. "Yeah, I'm pretty impressed. You guys have had put up with him for this long and you're still on the team!" she joked.

"Actually, the rest of us were planning on leaving together some time soon! You're welcome to join us." Max replied, with a grin.

"Hey!" Tyson protested loudly.

"Ok, ok, cut it out guys!" Kenny said, though he seemed fairly amused himself.

"Fine." Starr replied, shrugging. "The van's here, anyways." she said, pointing down the street at the approaching vehicle. She started dragging some of the luggage towards the van. The others followed her.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

It was about five and a half hours into the ride to the training center and the Bladebreakers was beginning to become restless.

"Are we there yet?" Tyson asked the famous line once again. "I'm starved!"

Kenny shook his head. "You should have brought some food with you on the van. Everything we brought is in the trunk."

"Well, I forgot! And now I'm hungry! I'm hungry! I'm hungry!" Tyson chanted the words over and over.

Rei covered his ears. "Ok, ok! Stop with your belly-aching already!" he said in an irritated voice.

"No kidding!" Max replied. His ears were also covered.

"I can't!' Tyson replied. "Not when my belly's EMPTY!" He then continued his chant for food.

"Oh, come on!" Starr rolled her eyes and unzipped her backpack. Digging through it, she took out a bag of chips and threw it at Tyson, which hit the back of his head. "Here. Take it before everyone dies of annoyance."

"YES! I'm saved!" Tyson cried dramatically as he tore the bag open and stuffed his face. The others facefaulted and then ignored him.

"Wow!" Rei turned to Starr. "You've got everything in that backpack!"

"Yeah!" she replied, grinning.

"What else is in there?" Kenny asked curiously.

"That's for me to know and me to know." she answered coolly. The subject was dropped.

Max looked out the window of the moving van. "Hey, is that the place?" he asked, pointing at a wooden sign that was slowly coming closer. It read "BBA Wildness Training Camp".

"Yup, I think so." Starr answered. "This should be it!"

"Yay!" Tyson cheered. "Now I can go get some REAL food!"

"Oh, thanks for your undying gratitude." Starr replied sarcastically.

"No problem!" Tyson was apparently too excited to understand what she meant.

"Ok!" Max said. "Here we come!"

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Need a hand?" Starr asked Rei and Max, who were unloading the luggage from the van.

"Hey, thanks!" Max said gratefully, handing her a couple of bags.

"No prob. It's nice to see that at least some people appreciate me." Starr rolled her eyes in Tyson's direction good-naturedly, who was running off somewhere in excitement, then grinned. "Ok, I'll go put these off somewhere. See ya!" she turned to leave

"Wait!" Rei called. Starr turned around and looked at him, puzzled. "We're gonna come with you. This is the last of the luggage." he said, dragging a large suitcase behind him.

"Oh, ok!" she replied, shrugging. The van started to pull off.

"I'll be back in three days!" The driver yelled out the window.

"Sure, thanks!" Starr yelled back, as she and the others waved. The van left, leaving clouds of dust behind, and the three of them set off towards the camp.

"So, where are the others?" Max asked, after a while.

"I dunno." Rei answered. "My guess is that Kai is off somewhere by himself, Kenny is probably doing some kind of research and Tyson is goofing off somewhere near here."

"Yeah." Starr agreed. "That sounds about right." She paused. "If that kid isn't careful, he's gonna get into really hot water sometime soon." she said thoughtfully.

"Uh, Starr. He's already gotten into hot water tons of times." Max said, laughing. "Just wait, he'll-"

"ARRRHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" The threesome heard a loud thud nearby.

"What the heck was that?" Starr asked.

"Dunno." Rei replied. "Let's go find out!" The three dropped their bags and headed for the area where the voice came from as fast as they could. When they reached the spot they saw…

"Ow!" Tyson rubbed the side of his head. There was a bump there and it was swelling up rapidly by the second.

Everyone burst out laughing. "Oh my gosh, Tyson!" Starr exclaimed, as Rei helped him up. "What happened??"

Tyson dusted his pants and looked at them stubbornly. "Nothing," he replied casually. "I just….fell outta that tree. He pointed up at a nearby tree. Everyone started laughing again. "Well, it looked liked it'd be fun to climb!" he said defensively.

"Uh….ok, Tyson." Max said. "Do you wanna come with us? We're heading for the lodge right now."

"Ok!" Tyson said eagerly and bounced along with them, back to where they had dumped their luggage.

Max looked at the map that Kenny had given him earlier. "We just have to go straight that way." He said, pointing at the path up ahead and started walking. The others followed him until they reached a building. A moment of silence….

"Um….nice." Rei said finally. The others nodded silently. The building was made of brick and looked very new, though not completely finished and a bit small. It seemed to stand out from all the forest and trees.

"Where were you?" Kenny's head popped out of the door and demanded. "I've been looking for you guys all over the place!"

"Uh…we had a few difficulties." Max said weakly, looking at Tyson, who was trying his best to look as innocent as possible.

"Ok…." Kenny replied, deciding that it was best not to ask. "Well, come in."

"Care to show us around, Chief?" Rei asked, stepping in.

"Um…ok. Well, there are five rooms, kind of. This is the main room." The room had three couches and an armchair, a table a fireplace, and also red carpeting, all new! Kenny looked a bit embarrassed. "We'll still have to work out the rooming later." he said quickly, looking at Starr, who seemed unconcerned. Kenny then continued to lead the way. "There's a small storage room on your left. You can put your stuff there. In the back is a mini-kitchen. The bathroom is one your right, and-"

"Wow!" Tyson said with fascination, walking into the bathroom and inspecting everything. "The toilet can flush!"

"Um….that's great, Tyson." Starr said, pulling him out and dragging him on.

Kenny continued. "There is a smaller room back there that I figured I could use to work on my research…."

"Sure, Chief!" Max answered. "That's fine with us!" The others nodded.

"Thanks! Hey, where's Kai?"

Rei shrugged. "We don't know."

"Well then, you better go find him. I think we should have a team meeting to talk a couple of things over."

"We're on it, Chief!" Max saluted, grinning and they all split up to go look for Kai.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Half an hour later, they had finally found Kai (or Kai had found them) and were all sitting in the main room, facing each other. Kenny cleared his throat and opened his laptop. "Ok, here's the deal: Behind this building is a small training area. Right now, I'm trying to find some information on who may be at the tournament and their bitbeasts."

"You know, Starr could help with this." Rei said. "She probably knows most about other people's bitbeasts."

"Well, that would work too." Kenny replied sheepishly. "Um, Starr would you like to help us?"

"Sure!" she replied. "Just a sec." She got up and left the room. Everyone exchanged confused glances and shrugged. (A/N: I think by now you guys know that 'everyone' usually doesn't include Kai ^_^ Ok, I'll get back to the story, now)

About 30 seconds later she emerged with something under her arm…..a midnight-blue laptop.

"You've got a laptop?" asked Kenny incredulously.

"Yeah. You can't expect me to remember everything that I learn." She opened it. "Oh, yeah. My laptop doesn't talk, so don't be disappointed." She grinned at Kenny.

"Hey, remember! I can hear you just as well as I can talk!" Dizzi said. Everyone laughed.

"Okay," Starr started typing, then stopped and turned the screen around for everyone to see. "I've been to this tournament the last time they had it. I was 6, but I still remember it coz I had done research on some of the bitbeasts."

"Cool!" Tyson said.

"Yeah. But that was eight years ago. I doubt that anyone who was there will be there again. They're probably all old now or have stopped blading. But I betcha that some of those bitbeasts I saw might be there."

"Really?" Kenny was interested.

"Wait, but how does that work out?" Max asked.

Starr shrugged. "The bitbeasts may leave the bit." she answered simply. "Or more likely, the last owners of the bitbeasts passed them on to a friend, or a relative."

"Oh!" Rei said. "Like how I got my bitbeast!"

"Um, yeah." Starr said. She still didn't know any of their bitbeasts yet, but she had a weird feeling that now was not the time to ask. "Anyways," she continued typing. "This is probably gonna be the toughest tournament that you have ever been to. Every round is going to be a bitbeast to bitbeast head-on collision." She paused again and took a deep breath. "Even though not many people about the tournament, the bladers are the best there are. Period."

"Wait!" Rei interrupted. "What do you mean by 'not many people know about the tournament'?"

"Did you know about it before?" Starr asked slyly.

"Uh….no." Rei answered sheepishly.

"And that's the point." Starr replied. "This is a tournament that only the pros need to know about. The only spectators in the stands are usually close friends, relatives, judges, and workers for the BBA. If you're not any one of those, it's really hard to get tickets to see this, and you can only tape it is you get special permission from the BBA. It's actually really nice, since there aren't as much fans screaming and you can actually concentrate. Unless, of course the cheering helps you." she added. "But don't worry, you'll always have the rest of the team, of course!"

"Wow!!" Tyson said. "I feel so important now!"

"You are." Max assured him.

"Well then, do you have suggestions to how we can train for this?" Kenny asked.

Starr frowned and bit her lip thoughtfully. "I might…." she said slowly.

"Yeah?" Max asked.

"Well…."

"Yeah?" everyone asked.

"……"

"SAY IT ALREADY!!!!" Tyson yelled, blowing everyone off their seats. "I CAN'T STAND IT ANYMORE!"

Starr hastily got back up and wiped the dust off her pants. "Geez!" she said, hoisting herself back on the couch and looking around. She sighed. Everyone was looking at her, expecting an answer. "Tell you what." She said. "It's almost dinnertime. Why don't you put something together, while I work out a few things?? You don't mind if I use your little work room thingie, do you Chief? No? Ok, see you guys later!" She walked quickly out of the room. Everyone stared after her in disbelief. Tyson groaned loudly. "Aw, man! One of these days she's gonna drive me completely nuts!" he complained.

Rei looked at the rest of the group. "Um, should we start making dinner, then?" he asked uncertainly.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

As it turned out, the only person who actually helped cook dinner was Rei. Tyson and Max were goofing around outside. Kenny was moping around, upset because his claimed workspace was being occupied by someone else. Kai had been long gone, probably off somewhere in the woods to practice. Finally, at around 7:30 pm, everyone was gathered together, ready to eat. They ate in the main room, sitting on the couches and on the floor. Someone had started a fire in the fireplace and it was crackling merrily.

"Yum!" Tyson's muffled voice said. "You sure are a good cook, Rei!"

"Yeah, you are!" Starr agreed. "This is delicious!"

"Thanks." Rei replied, with a hint of pride in his voice. "My uncle is a chef, so I've learned a lot about cooking from him."

"Cool!" Max said.

"Starr, are you gonna tell us what ideas you've got for our training?" Kenny asked.

Starr shrugged. 'Why can't he get off my case?' she thought. "You'll find out tomorrow." She answered breezily. "Today, we're all gonna relax."

"Except for Kai, that is." Tyson answered. "I doubt he ever relaxes."

"Hmph" Kai replied, then said nothing more.

Starr noticed that Kenny was fidgeting in his seat. "By the way Chief, I don't need to use your room anymore. You can have it now." she told him.

Kenny looked relieved. "Thanks!" he said, gathering his laptop. "I've got a cool new idea for Tyson's attack ring!"

"Cool, Chief!" Tyson replied enthusiastically, taking his Dragoon out and removing the bit. He handed it to Kenny, who took it and started for the small room, then stopped and turned around suddenly as if remembering something important that he had forgotten.

"Hey Starr." he said. Starr looked up. "Would you mind if I took a look at one of your blades?" he asked hopefully. "It'd be really interesting, and I might even be able to improve it or something."

Starr slowly reached for her pocket, though her expression was doubtful. "Ok," she said, taking the bit off of the light blue beyblade she had taken out. "But I don't think you'll be able to improve anything. All my beyblade parts are custom-made."

"Cool!" Max said excitedly. "I wanna see those later!"

"Max's dad owns a hobby shop." Rei explained to Starr. "So he's really into beyblade parts."

Starr nodded and gave Allegra to Kenny. "Be careful with it. I mean, don't lose it or anything." Her voice sounded worried. "I've never trusted anyone with my blades before."

Kenny looked proud. "Don't worry." He assured her. "I'll be sure give it back to you tomorrow." Kenny turned and rushed out of the room.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Rei opened his eyes and heard the sound of birds chirping. He sat up and blinked, confused at where he was. Finally he remembered where he was and why. Looking around, he saw Tyson sprawled on the floor, snoring loudly. Max was on his left and Kai on the right. Both of them were also still asleep. Where were Starr and the Chief? Chief was probably still working on Tyson's blade, he remembered. Starr was probably off somewhere again. He got up, stretching and yawning. He remembered breakfast, and starter heading for the small kitchenette when he noticed a note on the table. From Starr, obviously. He reached over to grab it and unfolded it slowly 'Went out for a bit. Be back in a little while. Try to get everyone up, ok? -Starr.' Folding the note back up, Rei thought about what to do. He'd wake the Chief up first, then try everyone else. He headed for the small room, taking the note with him.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Hey, Chief! Wake up!" Kenny woke up. Someone was shaking him. Sleepily, he lifted his head. It was Rei.

"What? What time is it?" he asked in a tired voice.

Rei got a good look at Kenny's face, which was tired. His eyes were bloodshot and dark. "Whoa, you don't look too hot right now."

Kenny ignored his comment and rubbed his eyes. "What time is it?" he asked again.

Rei checked the clock hanging on the wall. "It's almost seven."

"WHAT?? Oh no…." Kenny cried, and started running around, pulling at his hair.

"Already? I still need to put some finishing touches on Tyson's blade!"

"You snooze, you loose!" Dizzi's voice said rather happily.

Rei silently handed him the note. "What's this?" Kenny asked.

"It's from Starr."

Kenny skimmed through it quickly, then set it down. "What should we do?"

Rei shrugged. "Try to wake everyone up?" he suggested.

"BUT I HAVEN'T FINISHED YET!" Kenny cried.

Rei sighed. "Tell you what. I'll go wake up Kai and Max. Then, while you finish your work, the rest of us will try to wake Tyson up."

Kenny looked relieved. "Ok. Thanks."

* * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

About half an hour later, Rei, Kai, Max, and Kenny were all sitting in the main room, awake, finished, ready and waiting. Tyson, who was currently the main attraction, was still asleep, drooling and snoring on the floor. (He had fallen off the night before. ^_^) "….cookies…." he mumbled. "….food….mmm….."

Max shook his head. "Wow." he exclaimed in amazement.

"Wow what?" a voice said coming from the doorway. Standing there was Starr, looking refreshed and ready.

"Wow that." Max rolled his eyes in direction of the drooling figure.

Starr stared at Tyson. "I'm guessing you couldn't wake him up." she said rather lamely.

"What do you think?" Kenny was starting to get annoyed at the sleeping Tyson. "Oh, and by the way, Starr, here's your beyblade."

'Thanks" she said, taking and pocketing the blade. "Have you guys eaten yet?"

"Yeah." Rei replied. "But Tyson obviously hasn't."

"I knew that." Starr said dryly. Then she perked up. "I know!" she said. Isn't there any food left?"

"Yeah." Rei pointed at the table.

"Why, are you hungry?" Max asked.

"No, but I betcha TYSON is." She grinned, and took a strip of bacon, and waved it in front of Tyson's face."

"Mmmmmmmm….yummy…." Tyson replied drowsily, reaching for the food, then slowly opened his eyes. As he saw what he had smelt, his eyes widened and he jumped up. "YUM! I'm starving!" he cried, pouncing on the table and chowing down. Everyone sweatdropped.

After a moment of pigging out, Tyson paused and looked at the group. "Hey everyone! What are all of you looking at me for?" he asked jumping off.

:"Nothing, Tyson." Max replied quickly.

"Oh. Ok!"

Kenny handed him his beyblade. "Here. I altered the attack ring a little and it should perform a bit better."

"COOL!! Thanks Kenny!" Tyson replied, taking the blade and snapping the bit back on. "Wow!"

"So what's the plan, Starr?" Rei asked.

"We're going to the training center outside. Don't bring your beyblades- Wait; bring them anyways, just in case." Max gave her an odd look, then looked at the others, who shrugged. Then they followed her outside.

* * * * * * * * *

"Ok, here's the deal." Starr told them when they reached the outdoor training area. It had four steel dishes and a bench area. "As you can probably tell, this place hasn't been entirely finished yet. But that's okay, coz we don't need any fancy equipment today."

"What are we gonna do, then?" Max asked her, while the others took out their blades.

"Put your blades away. You don't need them right now." she replied. Kai raised an eyebrow. What the heck was this girl up to? The others also had weird looks on their faces.

Starr noticed their confusion. "Hey, don't worry. I know what I'm doing." She assured them.

"Um….what kind of training are we supposed to be doing without a blade?" Max asked still confused.

"What do you mean without a blade?" Starr asked, grinning her know-it-all grin. "I've got the blades you're gonna use right here." She patted her backpack.

"What?" Kenny, Rei, Max, and Tyson said at the same time.

Starr dug through her backpack once again and this time pulled out a couple of blades and launchers and handed them to the others. "We're using these."

"They took them, inspecting them closely. The blades were completely white, and all identical. They were very basic and very plain. So were the launchers.

"That's right. Sometimes when you get a bitbeast, you begin to rely on the bitbeast only and ignore your own skills." she explained. "I think everyone with a beyblade will do that a bit at some point in their life. But you've gotta remember that your bitbeast is there, but your skill is almost just as important. It's meaningless for a blader to have a bitbeast if he's an amateur until he becomes better and improves."

"So, we already knew that. What's your point?" Tyson was starting to get bored.

"I know all of you already know. But many bladers tend to forget it anyways."

"She's got a point, you know…" Kenny said thoughtfully.

"So we're gonna practice today without anything at all. No bitbeasts, no special hi-tech blades or launchers-" Kenny blushed, a bit embarrassed. Starr continued "No anything. Just raw skill. This will be your advantage over many other bladers with bitbeasts. So let's see what you can get out of these crummy blades!"

"Hey, that actually makes sense!" Tyson said.

"That's a miracle. Nothing usually makes sense to Tyson!" Rei answered with a grin.

"Except for food, of course." Max teased.

"Hey!" Tyson protested.

"So that's what we're gonna do." Starr told them. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah!" Tyson and Max replied.

'This will be rather interesting.' Kenny thought, finding a seat on a bench and opening up his laptop while the rest of the team took their positions.

"LET….IT…..RIIIIIIIIIIP!!!!"

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Well, another chapter done. Sorry it took me a while to post this. Also sorry if this chapter's kinda confusing and really sucks, coz I haven't had a lot of time to work on it lately. HOMEWORK DIE!!!! *runs after homework with a knife* Oops, sorry. Got a bit carried away. ^_^;;

Well, next chapter is the real thing, the beginning of the tournament! YAY!!! ^_^ I'll start working on that ASAP.

Ok, so now you've read this, and you know the procedure. Yep, the second part of R+R!! Please review coz I'd like to get an idea of how many people are actually reading this right now.

Thanks!

STARWOLF ^_~