Hey guys it's me! I know, I know I'm a really slow updater. I blame the homework, and school and parents , um, my friends, and uh, the movie theater and everything else!! Well anyways, I've run out of things to blame, I've just hadn't had much time to do this lately so sorry!!! Ok, um, we'll just start now, ok?
Disclaimer: Same as always. Nothing has changed. Surprise, surprise!
Chapter 13: Live and Learn
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The next morning, everyone woke up early, eager for this new day to be a good one. They all gathered together by the café in the hotel. But there was one Bladebreaker missing……
"Sorry I'm late." Kenny apologized as he ran up to them, panting. "I've been doing some-"
"Research." Tyson filled in for him in a tone that implied that he couldn't have been doing a more boring thing. "We know." He then looked at his stomach pitifully. "But why did you have to do all that research now, Chief?? I'm starving!"
"Sorry." Kenny said again. "But I did find out some very interesting stuff about the Tournament."
Starr looked around. "Tell you what," she said. "Let's go into that café for breakfast and then Kenny can tell us whatever he learned."
"Great Idea!!" Tyson said wholeheartedly. "Hurry up! Let's go inside!!"
After they had settled down and the waiter had taken their orders, Rei stretched and said. "So what's all this cool info you were gonna tell us, Chief?"
"Right," Kenny said, opening up his laptop on the table. "Straight to it. Well, first of all there are the battle rules and styles."
"Ken-ny!!" Tyson whined, interrupting him. "We already know about the rules, and the styles are just different dishes and stuff like that. Nobody cares about stuff like that!"
Kenny looked peeved off.
"Actually, Tyson, these beyblading rules and styles are a lot more complicated and different than you think." Dizzi's voice said from the laptop.
"Really?? How??"
"Well," Kenny began in an over-controlled voice. "The battles in themselves are different."
"How?" Max asked eagerly.
"For starters, the battles aren't always one-on-one."
"Really? Then what are they?" asked Tyson.
"Yea, what?" echoed Max
"It all pretty much varies. Over the years there have been some records of double blading, or two bladers vs. two bladers."
"Cool!" Max said.
"Yea!" said Tyson
"That's really hard because bitbeast usually don't work with other bitbeasts very well so it takes a lot of work and talent."
"Why don't they get along?"
"Yeah, why not?"
Kenny finally looked at Max and Tyson exasperatedly. "Will you two stop interrupting me?" He asked his voice getting higher in pitch. Tyson snickered and Max grinned broadly, but they didn't say anything else.
Starr tried to hide her smile but instead exchanged slightly amused glances with Rei and Kai. She already knew this stuff, but still she listened.
"There is also team blading, where the whole team verses another team in a huge blading dish. But of course there has to be an equal number of bladers in each team." Kenny took a deep breath before continuing. "Also, bladers don't have to release bitbeasts if they don't want to during a battle. And then there are tests for skills, races and stuff like that. The team sends out their fastest blader the blader with the most endurance and they prove how strong the bitbeast is. You'll see when we actually start."
Just then, the food came. After eating a bit, Kenny continued. "Next, are the bladers themselves. I found a file on the past Tournaments….."
"-and broke through about two dozen security codes in the process." Dizzi announced.
"Wow!" Max said, awed.
"Anyways, the file was about the last Tournament of the Bitbeasts, which was 8 years ago. The name of the team who won was called the 'Shadow Raptors.' According to this file, the captain of the team was a 15 year old boy."
"Just like Kai!" Tyson pointed out gleefully.
"Yes, 15 like Kai, so he'd be 23 by now. Also there's another thing that makes him like Kai, he had a bird bitbeast. Actually all the members of his team had bird bitbeasts, or more specifically, raptors, or birds of prey. In this tournament you are allowed three match-losses before you're actually out -the tournament is that intense- but these guys didn't ever lose, not once. "
Kai didn't say anything.. He was looking at Starr, who had been looking down at her plate in silence ever since the Chief had mentioned the "last Tournament of the Bitbeasts". Rei had noticed this too and the two boys exchanged glances for a brief moment before turning back to the conversation.
"That's really cool!" Max was saying. He then turned to Starr. "You were at the last Tournament, right?"
"Huh?" Starr looked up and blinked twice. "What?"
"Are you ok??' Max asked, concerned. "I was just wondering if you saw the Shadow Raptors when you were at the tournament 8 years ago."
"Oh." Starr came back to reality. "Yea, of course I did." she said quickly. Rei noticed a hint of something in her voice, but couldn't quite place what it was. Was she lying??
"Awesome!!" Tyson had said.
By then, they had all finished eating and were full. They all got up and paid separately. ("I'm not paying for all that crap Tyson ate" Kai had said.) Starr walked out behind everyone else, still in a bit of a daze. Kai watched out the corner of eye as he saw her miss a turn that the others had made. If she doesn't starting looking she's gonna run into that guy-
"Ugh!" Starr exclaimed as she landed on her butt. Rubbing her head gingerly, she slowly looked up towards the person/thing she had collided with. He or she or it or whatever it was, was really tall!!! It was a guy.
"Are you ok?" The guy's voice asked her, full of concern. While he spoke, he held his hand down to her. She couldn't see him very well but he had dark hair that fell slightly over his face. She reached for it and stood up.
"Th-thanks" She managed to say. She inspected him closer. His hair was a dark brown, almost black with blue eyes. "I'm sorry about that." She said quickly.
"No problem." He replied. "I've got to go now. Bye!" He smiled at her gently before walking off.
Starr stared after him in disbelief.
By now the rest of the team has realized that she was behind and had gone back to her.
They all looked pretty amused, except for Kai, who was also gazing at the boy's retreating back, though with suspicion.
"I think she likes that guy!" Tyson said in a taunting voice.
"I think so too!" Rei grinned mischievously. "But was he so good that he was worth literally falling for? I mean, you've only just met him!" He teased.
To their surprise, instead of lunging at them, Starr continued to look in that direction, then looked at them sadly and shook her head. "No, that's not it." she finally said. "It's just that….he just seemed really familiar."
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A couple of hours later, Starr had finally returned to her own self. She, Rei, Tyson and Max were soon goofing around in their suite while Kai watched them boredly and Kenny continued with his research. The foursome had just started in on a pillow fight when Kenny finally said loudly in a shrill voice. "Will you guys be quiet for just a minute?" They quieted down, but Kenny knew that this would only be temporary. He spoke quickly before they started again. "I just got an e-mail." He announced. "It's from the BBA."
"Cool, Chief!" Tyson scrambled to the front of the laptop to see. "What's it say??"
"Well, according to the e-mail, the opening ceremony for the tournament is starting tomorrow!"
"AWESOME!!" Max exclaimed.
"It'll be really cool!" Starr said just as eagerly. "Last time they did it, it was really fun!"
"Sounds exciting!" Rei said.
"Yeah!! I can't wait!" Tyson added.
"Tomorrow," Starr said dreamily. "The tournament REALLY starts!"
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Well, there goes the end to another chapter. A short one, I know. But I figured I had to post it sooner or later. I promise next chappie will be longer, I probably have no choice in that.
NOTES AND THANKS TO REVIEWERS: (I know, I haven't done this in ages)
invader mya and her yami's- Other people's characters will be in the fic starting the next chapter. I hope that's ok with you
Bookie- Yea, non-yoai fics are getting kinda rare, aren't they?? I guess that part IS kinda confusing, sorry about that. I love your fic too!
Doped Out Bunny- Thanks you SOOOO much, like always. I'm sorry there wasn't a lot of max in this chapter, but then there wasn't a lot of anyone in this chapter since is was so short,
Kai-Dranzer-6- Wow!!!! We've already finished that too!! Just goes to show what a slow updater I am, at least for my own fics
nObOdY- I know, I'm probably the world's slowest updater. *smiles guiltily*
Paiku- I'm glad you liked my fic! Your fic rox too!!!
twilight knight- thanks so much for your review as always!!! I'm glad you enjoyed that chapter!
ShadowDragon22- thanks for the reviews and telling me about the chapter problem! I'm glad you liked the fic!
MidNight-Street-Fighter- Yep, the update is right here!! And thanks for the chars!
Once again, a BIG thanks to everyone!!! Well, I'm officially done for now!! *takes out a timer* Now let's see how long it takes for me to update THIS time!! Hopefully it'll be soon!! So why don't you try and get me to try harder by pressing the "review button" and telling me?? Hehe JK, but pleez, REVIEW ANYWAYS!!!!!!
Starwolf