Lady obsessed: Hee hee. Looks like I'm doing well with this story. You may not think 3 reviews is anything to boast about but to me it's a real achievement, especially as all of them like my story so yippee! I think I should have sorted out all the layout with my text by now (it's been all over the place) so fingers crossed it comes out right. Bare in mind it's uploaded as a Word Document so that might be why it gets a little messed up. Oh, and seems to be a serious lack on the romance. Hopefully some will appear soon.

Disclaimer: I don't own beyblade. Appolene on the other hand is MINE!!!

A Little Tour and a Little Training

Though it had been dark when the Bladebreakers had arrived the night before, they thought they had had a pretty good idea of the size of the site. It turned out that they were way off. It was enormous, stretching as far as they could see and still going. Tyson dragged his feet along the path, head bowed.

"How long have we been walking?" he asked Kenny.

"About an hour. We've still got quite a bit to see though. Julia has only shown us about half the site and there's still the stadium."

Tyson groaned but trudged on. Kenny hurried ahead to walk with Julia and ask her more questions regarding the tournament. Kai was walking a little way behind everyone else, not really interested in anything. He wasn't bothered about looking at the site either. He strode along, hands behind his head and staring at the sky. He then became vaguely aware that someone had fallen into step beside him. Glancing to his right he saw the bright bandana that held Appolene's hair in place. His gaze returned to the sky.

"What do you think?"

"Hn?" His gaze did not change but Appolene didn't seem to mind. Instead she just repeated her question.

"What do you think of the site?"

Kai grunted, not wanting to give his opinion. Appolene laughed.

"Is that so? It's not that bad is it?"

"I've seen better," he retorted.

"Really? Well I guess you do have a lot to compare it to, don't you?"

Kai shrugged but glancing briefly to his right again he saw that Appolene was smiling. Her head tilted back slightly so that she was looking at the sky then she rolled it to the left so that she was staring up at him. His eyes immediately returned to the sky.

"Must be nice, travelling all over the world," Appolene continued. "I'd love to do it one day. Maybe when I win this tournament I'll get a team together and we could go for the World Championship. Whatcha think?"

Kai smirked and raised his eyebrows but still didn't look at her.

"What makes you so sure you're going to win?" He enquired.

Appolene grinned and nodded her head at Tyson and the others who were ahead of them.

"I'm not saying I will but I can dream can't I? I've got some tough competition and if I did win, I'd be famous. I'd be beating the World Champions." She looked sideways at Kai. "So are you entering or not?"

He pretended not to hear her question. She shook her head.

"Well, let me know if you change your mind. It'd be no fun if I can't beat all the World Champions."

She beamed and then hurried off to catch up with the others. Kai frowned and lowered his gaze to watch her go. She seemed quite confident in her abilities. He didn't blame her. After all, he had watched her battle and she was good but not necessarily good enough to beat his team.

"Wow..." The Bladebreakers' voices echoed around the stadium as they admired it. Julia smiled.

"It took quite some time to build," she said proudly. "Seats a good fifty thousand people and the tournament has been sold out for ages. We have a block sectioned off for the families of all those competing and of course there's the VIP box where the head of the BBA, myself and my husband and of course, you, will be."

"Excellent!" Tyson said, rubbing his hands together. "Will there be a buffet table?"

"Of course. There always is," Julia nodded. "People in the stands can buy food from the vendors or bring their own. We also provide food for all of those participating."

Tyson grinned gleefully. Hilary smirked

"Better make sure that buffet table is extra big. Tyson will eat it all if you're not careful."

"What did you say?!"

"I was only making a statement," Hilary snapped.

"Not again," Max sighed, hurrying over to break them up.

"Are they always like this?" Julia enquired to Ray.

"All the time. We think they like scoring points off each other," Ray grinned.

"Can't say I blame that girl. What was her name? Oh yeah, Hilary. Tyson is a really annoying person," Appolene said, head tilted on one side as she watched Tyson being dragged away from Hilary by Max.

"You've only just met him though, dear," Julia said.

"Yeah and in that short space of time he has called me a hippie and weird. Therefore he is annoying."

"Whatever you say dear," Julia said, her head shaking. "Okay, as I was saying, the tournament is due to start on Saturday so there are a couple of days for practice. All participants must register or they will not be allowed to enter. We have to know who is who and that they did win their regional tournament. Contestants have until noon on Friday to sign up and then there will be a final meeting to explain how the tournament actually works. All right?"

"That's okay with us," Tyson said, pulling free from Max's grip. "Where do we sign up?"

"At the registry office."

"And that would be where?"

"Tyson, we past it on the way here. It's only about a mile back the way we came," Kenny said.

"WHAT?! You mean I have to walk some more?"

"'Fraid so."

Tyson grimaced and then his face put on a determined look.

"No problem. I'll go right now. You guys coming?" He asked, looking at Max and Ray.

"Absolutely," they replied, hurrying off after him.

"But wait! It's not open until tomorrow," Julia called but they didn't hear her.

"I'll go tell them," Appolene said and headed after Tyson, Max and Ray.

"Ok, Sweetie," Julia smiled. She turned to the others. "Come on, I'll give you a full tour of the stadium."

Kenny and Hilary followed her eagerly but Kai stayed leaning against the stadium wall for a little while longer. He could just see Appolene's bright clothing disappearing over the little hill and he frowned.

The registry office was a pokey little building in the centre of the site. Julia said it had been built there so that it was easily accessible to everyone. When they reached it, it was surrounded by a crowd of people.

"What's the hold up?" Tyson demanded to the boy nearest to him.

"Dunno. Too far away to tell. You'll have to ask someone up front."

Tyson grumbled and pushed past him.

"Hey! No cutting!" Someone else yelled.

"I'm not cutting. I'm going to see what the hold up is," Tyson shouted back, squeezing between two more people. "Excuse me. Coming through. Pardon me."

The crowd of people shouted irritably at him but he ignored them.

"Tyson! Get back here!" Max shouted from the other side of the throng of people.

"In a minute Max!"

"Did they say Tyson?"

"Tyson's here."

"You mean the world champion beyblader is here? At this tournament? No way!"

"There he is!" Someone in the centre of the crowd shouted.

The crowd immediately stepped back so that Tyson was surrounded by them.

"WOW! It really is Tyson! This is so cool!"

"Hey Tyson! Will you sign my beyblade?"

Tyson grinned. He loved getting all the attention.

"Sure. Here ya go."

Ray and Max just stared.

"Is it me, or is Tyson's head getting bigger by the second?" Ray asked Max.

"It's not just you. I swear it is swelling. If he ain't careful, it's gonna burst," Max laughed.

"Hey look! It's Ray and Max too!"

"Really? Where?!"

Next thing they knew, Ray and Max were being pulled inside the circle of people as well.

"Hey! Please don't do that!" Ray protested as a whole crowd of screaming girls threw themselves on him shouting about how much they loved him and begging him to sign their t-shirts.

"I think it's a good thing Kai isn't here too," Ray said to Max when he was able to pull himself free. "I'd hate to see his reaction to all this."

"Me too. It'd be scary," Max nodded as he fended off more fans.

"There you are! I've been looking for you. You sure are popular aren't you?"

They both looked around to see Appolene pushing through two overexcited fans.

"The office doesn't open 'til tomorrow."

"It doesn't?"

"So there was a hold up just because it was closed?" Max enquired.

Appolene nodded. Then she looked about.

"What happened to Tyson?"

"He's over there," Ray remarked, nodding to the centre of the crowd. Tyson was posing for a photograph, grinning smugly. "I think we'll leave him to it. His ego is gonna keep him there for some time."

Kai had disappeared again. He had slipped off when he, Kenny and Hilary had got back to the lodge. Julia had left them halfway back as she had to go into the office. He was going to get some training done. Not for the tournament. He was still not going to enter it. This was just formality. He found that training let Dranzer know that he was in charge. That phoenix had always tried to influence him as a kid but Kai soon realised that it could be overcome. A good couple of hours of solid training always did it. It also helped when he did it alone. Interruptions, usually caused by Tyson, were very off-putting and he often ended up starting over.

He glanced briefly up at the sun. From its position he decided it was about noon. Ah well, he wasn't bothered about lunch even though he had missed breakfast. He'd get something to eat later but only after his training was finished. He loaded Dranzer into his launcher and took aim at a tree. First part of his training; perfecting the launch.

He counted silently under his breath.

"Let it rip!"

He launched Dranzer with a great amount of power and speed. It shot straight at the tree like a bullet fired from a gun and hit it with incredible force. It shot back into Kai's hand. Looking up at the tree, he saw he had made quite a prominent mark in its trunk. He loaded Dranzer again and focused on that mark. Frowning it concentration, he launched Dranzer for a second time. This time, there was a lot more power behind it and the speed had increased by more than half. It hit its target, dead centre and hurtled back. Kai moved aside and allowed it to hit the tree behind before catching it in his hand again.

"Piece of cake," he smirked.

He loaded Dranzer for the third time. This time, he closed his eyes and took aim. This was a useful drill. You never know where you could get pulled into a beybattle and Kai found it necessary to practice without being able to see his blade. He was relying on instinct and control, not sight.

"Three, two, one! Let it rip!"

He fired Dranzer blindly in the direction he knew the tree was in. He concentrated and saw his target through his bitbeast. He hit it, bounced off and hit the second target. It rebounded again and hit the first mark once more. Kai opened his palm and caught Dranzer as it made for the second mark. He opened his eyes and grinned smugly. Perfect.

"Kai's missing his meals again?" Tyson enquired as Ray served up dinner.

There were only five plates set out on the table.

"I believe so. I think he's out training. He missed lunch as well."

"Didn't he do that this morning?" Max said, forking some food into his mouth.

"No," Tyson replied. "When I found him, he was just standing there. His blade was out though so I think he was about to begin it."

Ray took his seat opposite Tyson and began eating his own dinner.

"By the way, the office wasn't actually open. That's why there was a big crowd."

"It wasn't?" Tyson said, looking surprised. "Ah well. I wasn't able to get to it anyway so that doesn't matter."

"Couldn't your big head get through the door then?" Hilary enquired, shooting a glance at Tyson.

"No! I was just caught up with all my fans, that's all. Anyway, you can't talk about big heads. Your mouth is too big as it is!"

"What was that?!" Hilary stood up, slamming her palms on the table.

"I said you had a big mouth!" Tyson shouted, jabbing his fork at her to indicate her mouth.

"Don't start again," Kenny pleaded, pulling Hilary back into her seat. "Can't we get through dinner without an argument? Please?"

Hilary huffed but took a deep breath and went back to eating her dinner. Tyson went back to his too. He finished it a few seconds later and asked Ray if he could get another. That was gone only shortly after Ray gave it to him. The others waited patiently for him to finish so that they could get their dessert, of which Tyson eventually had three helpings.

Dusk was rolling in. Kai was just finishing up his training.

"Go Dranzer!"

The beyblade zipped amongst the trees, dodging at the last second. Training in the forest had definite upsides. It darted into the shadows and veered back round again. Kai then watched it as it ran up the trunks of the trees, spraying bark right and left.

"Okay. That's enough."

Dranzer flew off the branch it was currently speeding along and Kai caught it deftly in his hand. He smirked and put Dranzer away. Satisfied, he headed back to the lodge.

As he disappeared into the shadows of the forest, Appolene smiled happily and leant on the tree she had been standing behind. It was great to watch him blade again. Just like when she had met him. Back then it had taken a great deal persuasion to get him to show her. He'd improved a lot but that wasn't really surprising.

"Shame he won't join the tournament. I've wanted to blade with him ever since he gave me Dalcyn," she mused, squeezing her blue beyblade tightly in her palm.

She turned away and headed off in the opposite direction, to her own lodge. Just before she vanished into the shadows herself, she glanced back at the clearing where Kai had been.

"I'll see if I can change his mind," she whispered and then hurried on her way.

Lady obsessed: Okay, to anyone who has just read this, what do you think? Is it getting any better? Is it moving too fast? Too slow? Please tell me. I want to write a really good fan fiction and without people telling me where it's going wrong I can't do it. Or saying that you like it is good too. I love reviews. Ooh, I always get so worked up in this little bit don't I? I'll stop that now. Anyway, that chapter seemed to have Hilary and Tyson fighting quite a bit didn't it? And as I said before, there doesn't seem to be any romance yet. Hopefully some will begin to show in the next couple of chapters.