Silvan Arrow: Well, it seems that the girls have all fled for their lives, thanks to you.

Michelle: I aim to please -grins evilly-.

Silvan Arrow: But now who am I going to get to do the disclaimer?

Tala: Uh…why don't you just do it yourself?

Silvan Arrow: -innocently- Tala! What great timing! Why don't YOU do the disclaimer?

Tala: -rolls eyes- Do I really have a choice?

Silvan Arrow: No, not really, unless you want to get assaulted by fangirls again. Remember what happened last time?

Tala: O.O -gulps- Oh yeah… Silvan Arrow does not own Beyblade or any of its characters, which means she doesn't own me. She just owns her OCs.

Silvan Arrow: Oh, how I wish I could buy Tala from whoever owns Beyblade. I'm sure the people in charge wouldn't mind parting with him. While I plot and scheme how to raise enough money to buy Tala, here's chapter 2!

Tala: She's crazy…

Chapter 2: Let the Fun Begin!

"Talking"

'Thinking'

Bit beast mind-chatting with master

"Ugh…I hate flying," Clara groaned for the twentieth time that hour. She leaned over, gripping her head in her hands, and tried to fight off another wave of nausea as the airplane hit some minor turbulence. Spencer, who was sitting beside her next to the window, rubbed her back soothingly, but it wasn't helping much.

Maybe you should ask the flight attendant for some medicine to settle your stomach, Delphinos' melodic, feminine voice suggested.

I'm not sure how much that will help, Delphinos, Clara replied as the airplane rocked to one side. She jumped out of her seat and ran to the bathroom, ignoring the flight attendants screaming at her to get back to her seat.

"Sheesh, what a wimp," Ian, who was sitting behind Spencer and Clara, muttered, earning him a slap on the head from Amy. "Ow! What was that for?"

"Don't talk mean about Clara!" Amy scolded. "She's always had a problem with airsickness."

"Don't make me make me throw you off this plane, Ian," Bryan warned dangerously from the aisle across from his teammates.

"Better yet, don't make me destroy this hunk of junk," Tammy added from her seat beside him.

"Just zip it, all of you," Tala ordered firmly. The bickering beybladers fell silent. He glanced down at Eri, who was leaning against his shoulder asleep. He was amazed that all the noise hadn't woken her up. 'She can sleep through anything.'

You haven't seen anything yet. Just try to wake her up in the mornings, Pyrix intervened jokingly.

Tala laughed silently at Pyrix's remark before returning his attention to his teammates. They simply had not been getting along lately. Back when they lived in fear of Boris, they stuck together like brothers and wouldn't let anything break the bonds of friendship that held the team together. But now, when life was peaceful, the team was falling apart. How much longer can we continue like this, Wolborg? Tala inquired of his bit beast. Everything that we've fought for will be meaningless if the team can't even stick together.

I don't know, Tala, Wolborg replied honestly. You and your teammates need to rediscover the unity that kept all of you alive while Boris was a threat. If you cannot accomplish that, then I fear the team will collapse completely. I think this vacation is just what all of you need.

I hope so. At least it might help take some of the stress off everybody, Tala added before ending the mental chat. The flight attendant then gave the order to prepare for landing. Tala leaned over and kissed Eri's forehead. "Hey, wake up," he whispered in her ear.

Eri groaned as she reluctantly opened her eyes and yawned. "Ugh…what's going on? Are we in Switzerland yet?"

"Yeah, we'll be landing shortly," Tala replied.

"Good," Eri said as she tried to stretch her cramped muscles. "I hate these long flights." Tala chuckled.

30 minutes later…

Tala led his team out of the luggage pick-up terminal and headed for the exit. "Now where were we supposed to meet…" he muttered to himself but was cut off when Eri took off running in the direction of an all-too-familiar blonde.

"BUDDY!" Eri cried as she grabbed Michelle in a giant bear hug.

"BUDDY!" Michelle cried as she hugged her best friend back. "Air…need…air."

"Hehehehe…sorry about that," Eri replied sheepishly as she pulled away. "How long have you guys been here? And where are the others?"

"We just got in about an hour ago. As for Tyson and them, they're at the food court. Last time I checked, Tyson had eaten all the food from one burger joint and was on his fourth hot fudge sundae," Michelle explained matter-of-factly.

"Holy cow, where does he put it all?" Eri asked in disbelief. She and Michelle continued talking a mile a minute as they left to go find the Bladebreakers, leaving Tala and the others just standing there.

"Great…now she probably expects me to carry her bags too," Tala muttered.

Meanwhile, Eri and Michelle found the Bladebreakers sitting around a table near the food court. Tyson was stuffing his face with obscene amounts of ice cream while Hilary scolded him about his table manners…or lack thereof. Rei, Max, and Kenny were finishing up their first course, while Kai was just leaning back in his chair looking bored with the whole scene. He spared a small smile for Michelle and Eri, and the others greeted the girls accordingly.

"Tyson, stop talking with your mouth full!" Hilary scolded.

"Sheesh, would you give it a rest, Hil?" Tyson shot back as he chewed and swallowed. Hilary began to question why she ever started dating him.

"Okay, now that you're done stuffing your face and the Blitzkrieg Boys have arrived, can we get going?" Kenny asked.

"Not just yet, Chief," Michelle cut in. "We're still waiting for a couple of people." Just then someone behind her called her name. She grinned and said, "Perfect timing. Here they are now." The Bladebreakers followed her gaze to see Mariah, Mariam, and Emily heading towards them.

"Mariah! What are you doing here?" Rei asked in a mixture of surprise and delight as he wrapped his arms around her waist and gave her a peck on the lips.

"Michelle invited us! She wanted it to be a surprise," Mariah explained.

"Maxie! I haven't seen you in forever!" Mariam exclaimed as she hugged her boyfriend.

"It's so good to see you again. I've missed you," Max replied as he hugged her back.

Kenny, on the other hand, still wasn't so eloquent when it came to talking to girls. "Oh! H-hi, Emily," he stammered.

"Sheesh, you need to learn to loosen up, Kenny," Emily chided lightly with a smile.

"Okay, now we're ready to go," Michelle announced once the happy reunions were out of the way. The large group of beybladers met up with the Blitzkrieg Boys and headed outside. A bus was already waiting, and soon they were on their way up the mountain.

Fifteen minutes later…

"Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall, ninety-nine bottles of beer…" Tyson started singing for the fifth time.

"TYSON, SHUT UP!" everyone else screamed.

"Sheesh, you guys always have to ruin my fun," Tyson pouted, slouching in his seat and crossing his arms.

Okay, enough of that…

"Whoa, is this where we're staying?" Rei asked in disbelief, staring at the massive ski lodge in front of the group. The bus had taken them into the mountain range where the ski resorts were located. At the moment, the entire group was standing in front of the bus gawking at a formidable wooden lodge set at the base of a snow-covered mountain.

"Yup, and we've got it all to ourselves for as long as we want," Michelle proclaimed proudly.

"Wow, that must have cost a lot of money," Kenny stated, crunching some numbers in his head.

"Oh, it didn't cost me a thing," Michelle replied slyly. "Sadly, I can't say the same for one unlucky person in this group."

Suddenly Kai's eyes widened and he pointed an accusing finger at Michelle. "So it was YOU who stole my credit card!" Michelle laughed and started running as Kai tried to catch her. Finally Tammy got sick of watching and casually stuck her foot out as Kai came near, effectively tripping him so he fell face-first into the snow. Everyone started laughing hysterically as Kai got up and dusted himself off, muttering curses in Russian under his breath. "Just you wait, Michelle. This isn't over," he grumbled.

"Oh, don't be such a grumpy grinch!" Eri chirped. "Come on, you sticks in the mud! We're here to have fun, so loosen up!" Michelle and Eri linked arms and skipped merrily up the driveway to the lodge. Kai and Tala just stood back and watched with sweat drops.

"Since when did Eri get so hyper?" Tala asked in amusement.

"Since Michelle gave her sugar," Kai replied matter-of-factly.

"Oh the horror…" Tala grumbled as he slapped his palm to his forehead. Then he noticed two untended piles of luggage sitting nearby. "Oh great, looks like they expect us to be the baggage boys again." Grumbling in Russian, he and Kai grabbed their girlfriends' bags and followed everyone else into the lodge.

Once inside, Michelle held up a piece of paper and announced, "Okay, here's a list of who each person is rooming with."

"And what if we don't like who we're rooming with? I don't remember electing you the boss," Ian protested.

"Just go along with it, shrimp," Spencer said. "It's better than getting on her bad side."

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A SHRIMP?" Ian yelled while trying to throttle Spencer. He held off the shorter blader with one hand and looked rather indifferent to the situation.

Okay, once THAT was resolved, everyone checked to see who they were rooming with. Here are the assignments:

Kai and Michelle

Tyson and Hilary

Rei and Mariah

Max and Mariam

Kenny and Emily

Tala and Eri

Spencer and Clara

Ian and Amy

And, saving the best for last, Tammy and Bryan

"Hey, what's the big idea? Why do I have to share a room with Bryan?" Tammy complained after looking at the list of roommates.

"Well, I figured the girls would want to room with their boyfriends, so I paired them up together," Michelle reasoned. "You and Bryan are the only ones not dating anyone, so I guess that's how it turned out. And no, there are no spare rooms."

"Urgh…" Tammy grumbled some more curses in Russian before grabbing her bags and stomping up the stairs to the room she would be sharing with Bryan.

On the other side of the foyer, one other person was having issues with the roommate assignments. "WHAT? I swear, Eri, you are such a COWARD! You are sharing a room with Tala and that's final!" Michelle exclaimed. (A/N: Yeah, Eri's shy about stuff like sharing a room with a guy. Go figure. This little aspect of her personality will come into play later.)

"But…but…" Eri stammered.

"No buts about it! Now march!" Michelle ordered, pointing up the stairs. Eri knew better than to argue and grabbed her bags and marched silently up the stairs. Tala wisely kept his trap shut during the whole exchange.

In Bryan and Tammy's room… (A/N: No, I haven't forgotten about them.)

Tammy entered the bedroom first and quickly surveyed her surroundings. It contained two single beds, a nightstand between them, two closets, a TV, and a window with a view of the ski slopes. She started unpacking her bags and organizing her belongings in one of the closets. Bryan came in a couple of minutes later and unpacked his own bags. He didn't want to disturb her, not to mention that he couldn't even make his vocal chords produce sound if his life depended on it. Tammy lay down on her bed, closed her eyes, and started blasting rock music through the headphones of her portable CD player. Bryan sat on his own bed and tried to think of something, anything, to say that would break the uneasy silence between them. He finally found his voice and started, "Uh…Tammy?"

Tammy opened her eyes, turned off her music, and sat up to face him. "Yeah? What is it?" she asked but not unkindly.

"If you don't want me in here, I can go somewhere else," Bryan said while looking away.

Tammy thought back to how she had complained earlier about sharing a room with him and immediately wished she could take it back. "Oh, it's not like that. I didn't mean to go off like that earlier. I really don't mind rooming with you, and I especially never meant to hurt your feelings," she replied reassuringly. Bryan met her gaze and managed a small smile. At least the ice was broken…for now.

Meanwhile…

All the girls were gathered in Michelle and Kai's bedroom for a secret meeting. "Okay, I'm sure you're all wondering why I asked all of you to come in here," Michelle began. "Well, I'm sure you all think you're just here for a vacation, but Eri and I had another motive for setting this up."

"You mean we're not really here for vacation?" Mariam asked.

"Oh, don't worry about that. This is still for fun," Eri replied. "But we need your help with something. You see, Tammy is the only girl among us without a boyfriend, and Bryan has had a crush on her for the longest time. That's where you girls come in."

"Oh, I get it! You want us to help you play matchmaker!" Mariah exclaimed.

"Exactly," Eri replied with a nod. "Kai and Tala are briefing the guys on this as we speak. This mission is gonna require everyone's help. I mean, come on, this is Bryan and Tammy we're talking about. Bryan's too chicken to admit his feelings, and Tammy has anger management issues. Those two need help. So…are you in?" All the girls gave her a thumbs-up. "Okay, here's the plan…"

End chapter 2

Author's Note: Well, I hope you guys enjoyed reading that! I know not much happened, but trust me, the fun is just beginning! I really appreciate all the support you guys gave me in your reviews for the last chapter. Your reviews keep me inspired and motivated to keep writing quality stories. I'm still open for schemes the other bladers can pull on Bryan and Tammy. Please review and tell me what you thought of the chapter!