"Pass me the salt, young man." grunted his  Ryu Granger, shoving food into his mouth like Tyson normally would. Tyson did so grumpily.

It was the Saturday before the new school term stated. The dining table at the Granger's dojo felt gloomily quite after a very long time. Max had gone back to his father's place to pack up for tomorrow's flight. Ray had been staying with a maternal aunt of his girlfriend Mariah, who was also a distant relative of Ray, about whom Ray had no knowledge about until last week. Both of them were leaving to their respective countries tomorrow. That completely explained Tyson's moodiness.

But that didn't mean that it was the family alone at the dining table. Kai sat opposite to Tyson, quietly having his dinner. For a guy who was shot not twenty days ago, Kai was in a pretty good shape. He still had a thick bandage around his chest, but now he wore his usual clothes on top of them, hiding them from direct sight. He was thinner than usual, but he no longer looked like a ghost. His skin had returned to its usual shade of albino white, which never seemed to tan how much ever it was exposed to the sun. The only indication of his fragile health condition was his slightly sluggish and slower movements, but Tyson knew better that to point that out to his already ticked-off captain.

Mr Dickenson had asked Grandpa if Kai could stay at the dojo for a few more days, before he recovered to his full health, for which grandpa had agreed without a moment's hesitation. And despite several silent protests and death glares directed at Mr D, Kai had been forced to stay.

As though he had a choice to stay somewhere else, Tyson had voiced out aloud that day. He had only meant it in a way like 'he knew no one else in Japan' and not like 'your grandpa doesn't care for you' but all he was met with was disapproving glares. But that meaning also held true in this context. I mean, which grandpa, however busy he may be, would not even come to see his grandson, his only family, when he had almost died? But Tyson had smartly kept these thoughts to himself.

Kai hadn't given much heed to his words, as usual, but Tyson could swear that he had purposely refused to take Hero's or anyone else's room in the house except his, even though his room was in the first floor. And much his annoyance, both Ray and grandpa had agreed to his terms. Hence, Tyson had to temporarily shift to Hero's room. 

It was then that Tyson realized that he couldn't remember a single time Kai had had dinner with them all at the dojo. It was usual for Kenny and Hillary, who had their own families to be with. Even Max would leave for the weekends to be with his father. But Kai, he never stayed at the dojo longer than he was needed, and that was mostly during practice sessions.

This was the third night Kai had joined the two of them at dinner. Grandpa had tentatively tried to make polite conversation with Kai, as he had heard all about the reserve and condensing attitude of their captain through Tyson and Max's whining. And much to Tyson's surprise, Kai had responded with a neutral tone, coming up with complete-sentenced answers a good number of times.

 That was all the leniency his Grandpa had needed to get chatty. He asked Kai a variety of questions, ranging from his studies to discussing world news, like the recent Plane Crash in Russia. Mind you, most of his answers were still a 'hmm' or 'uhmm' or within two sentences. Most of the talking was still done by grandpa.

But Kai did tell a good deal about himself, though mostly bits and pieces, and that too without much hesitance evident in his voice. Sure, Tyson didn't know how much truth lay in his answers, as he had answered questions about his grandfather without missing a beat, but now he knew something at least. 

But mostly Kai listened. Kai was an excellent listener. He could sit through grandpa droning on and on about some silly topic for hours, showing what Tyson assumed to be only polite interest.

Today though, halfway through the dinner, grandpa had run out of topics to speak about and they finished their dinner in silence. After dinner, Tyson washed the dishes and made his way to his temporary room, where he directly crashed into the bed. 

Believe him when he says this, Tyson was very excited to be starting high school, whatever his mood swings suggested lately. To make new friends, to find himself between admirers new and old, to grow just as popular, or maybe even more than he was in his middle school. But the fact that his team, the Blade Breakers, were breaking apart yet again, dampened his mood significant . His best friends in the entire world, Max and Ray were leaving for their respective countries tomorrow morning.

Sure, he knew this day would come. Heck, he knew it since the day they had come back to Japan and the blade breakers reunited, but that didn't mean that it didn't suck less.

They hadn't even left yet but he was missing them already. He missed the noisy dinners, where Ray and grandpa would exchange recipes and healthy lifestyle tips. He missed the whispered commentary Max used to give him about the happenings around the table, he missed snickering with Max out of no where, after terribly failing to control their laughs, he missed Ray's signature 'unamused' look they were the recipient of at least twice a day.

And beyblading... The practices were never the same without having at least one of them to battle with. Sure, he could find some other beybladers to practice with, but the feel was never the same. And without his teammates to stand sternly behind him, he would grow terribly lazy. So lazy and out of practice like last year, that he couldn't even summon dragoon without passing out the first time.

But more than sad, he was pissed off about his friends. the last time he had seen the was three days ago, the day Kai came back home. Not once had either of them contacted him, too busy with their girlfriends.(He wasn't too sure of Max's reason, but he was good looking and flirty enough to have a secret girlfriend.) And tomorrow, he had to happily go and bid them goodbye! Life couldn't be any more cruel.

Not goodbye, he reminded himself for the nth time that week. Just another, 'till we meet again'.

He had half a mind to not go at all, because he couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't turn snappy and grumpy and end things with an argument like he had done the last time. And that was the last conscious thought he could remember of as sleep overtook him, an un-set alarm clock slowly ticking on his bedside table. 

******

"Surprise, surprise!!"

When Max arrived home, he wasn't expecting guests, American or not. But he was nonetheless escastic. The first one to greet him was Alan, who enveloped him in a bear hug, nearly choking him and bursting his right eardrum with a "congratulations!!" screamed into his ear.

He was then welcomed into his own party by an excited hug, followed by a peck on the cheek, by Emily, who couldn't wait to tell him about her latest thesis on 'resistance mechanisms' of a bit-beast incorporated beyblade after the party. The other All Starz members stood a bit behind, not completely sure if they really were supposed to be there or not.

But the atmosphere of awkwardness soon melted. Alan's excitement was too contagious. Soon, everyone had a broad smile on their faces. Eddy, who was at least two foot taller than Max, head-locked him, ruffling his already messy mop of hair as he sarcastically congratulated him for his second 'Lucky' shot at being the World Champion. Max pointedly ignored the sarcasm and focussed on the giddy grin on his face.

Michael, the captain of the All Starz team, gave him a casual handshake and pat on his back as he congratulated him. The gesture might have been quite simple, but the sincerity and the happy gleam in his eyes could never be faked. Steven, whose leg was in a cast, offhandedly informed him that he had met with an injury two days ago, during a test match as he congratulated him. That was hardly news, as Steven had a real knack for getting himself injured just before any important event, for as long as Max could remember.

Soon, his father brought in a medium-sized circular cake with yellow and blue frosting. On closer inspection, Max was awed to find out that it was a scene of a beach, a family of turtles making their way into the ocean. Max didn't want to be seen as kiddish among the older teens, especially the teens whom he had considered to be idols before starting on his own beyblading journey, but he could hardly control his excitement as he threw his hands around his dad's neck, almost threatening the cake into falling face-first into the ground. His father hugged him just as tightly, congratulating him and telling him how proud he was for the hundredth time since the finals.

His mum tried staying a bit behind, smiling nostalgically at the scene in front of her, but Max was having none of it. He hadn't talked to her much since the call almost twenty days ago, and neither had tried changing it. He was tired of the constant difference of opinion between them and wanted to have his whole family back, even if it was for only one night. He pulled her into the group hug. His mum was startled from her place with a surprised 'oh', but she was soon contributing to the hug, her eyes slightly moist.

Once Max cut the cake, he was relieved to find it to be pineapple flavored. Streamers were bursted, balloons were popped, confetti was all over the living area. Max's head was a jumble of sparkling shimmers and lemon blond hair, becoming the Party's living disco ball. Soon the cake was distributed, his mum brought in some snacks, and the celebration was in full motion.

His parents excused themselves from the party after sometime, letting the teenagers enjoy the party themselves. Since majority of them were of age, Eddy tried suggesting to bring in some alcohol to the mix, but Max was having none of it. Soon, the older members relented as it was 'The kid's ' party after all. But other than that, the party was great. Ridiculous games were played, innumerable dares were completed. The Americans did know how to throw wonderful parties with the barest of resources and limited time.

It was one in the morning Michael and the others fell asleep did the conversations finally shifted to the current situation. Emily, Alan and Max were the only ones awake. Emily and Alan filled him in on the world news as he didn't have much time to do so himself in the last few days.

The shoot-n-run at the talk show, now widely known as 'The Talk Show fiasco', had been on the trending world news for ten whole days, though not much of details had been leaked to the public. Especially nothing about the original target, nor of the second attack, and Max was grateful for that. 

The Japanese police department had suffered immense world-wide back-lash, but had refused to give away any more details about the incident. Hundred thousands of fans had wished Kai a speedy recovery and prayed for the team's safety. 

Mr Dickenson had arranged for another press conference, where he had confirmed that Kai would make a complete recovery in a few months and thanked all the admirers for their well wishes, but he also had refrained from giving away any more details of the investigation. Max could only marvel at their resilience.

Max told them all about the actual happenings and the details of the investigation he knew of, which wasn't much.  Alan, unlike Emily was a wonderful listener who wouldn't keep interrupting him like Emily would. Emily was disappointed that she wouldn't know if the report she had sent Max on the recent happenings of Marcus University before it burned to the ground was useful or not. Alan and Max shared an exasperated glance. Max hadn't had the patience to go through the eighty-six pages folder, but he nodded along whenever Emily made a reference to it. Even she looked surprised when Max told her that the case had been transferred to a higher organization. 

The conversation finally shifted to normal topics when Max thanked the two of them for the party. "It was completely Alan's idea," Emily confirmed,  "we just helped him along." 

Alan protested weakly. "That's not true, without these guys, especially Emily, this wouldn't have happened at all. And Michael helped by getting permission from the chairman to extend the team's stay by a week. The others-"

Whatever Alan planned to say,  it was cut short by Max as he enveloped the two of them in a group hug, tears of joy shining in his eyes. He truly felt blessed to have such wonderful friends, both American and Japanese. And this was the sole reason he didn't like to choose between them. Alan hugged him back with just as much emotion while Emily just patted his back awkwardly. Max immediately wiped away his tears on releasing them. "You really have made up your mind haven't you?" Emily gently asked. Not trusting himself to speak, he just nodded. The three of them sat in silence for a long time, letting the sentence sink in, each of them holding the hand of the other two.  

"Hey, I forgot to mention, Kenny says hi." Max cheekily added after sometime. Emily's cheeks slightly reddened, but she maintained her cool. "Why are you telling me this? Any I'm quite sure that he can speak for himself."

"Of course he can, but his genius brain fails him whenever you are close by. Though highly inconveniencing, I've promised to take some time off beyblading to be your match-maker." he said, his his tone mocking, his smile broad.

Emily played along. "And from when did you start this business, Mr Tate?" She hauntily asked.

"I've been in this business forever, Ms (Chase)" he mockingly swore. "Then you must be doing a shoddy job at it if we are your first clients, don't you think?" She asked, quite sure that she had won the delirious exchange.

Max smile, which had started wavering due to a lack of a comeback, quickly lit up again. "See, the magic's already working! From when did you start thinking of yourself and Kenny as a we, huh?" He asked, wiggling his eyebrows questioningly. Alan,  who had been watching their exchange with rapt attention, eyes darting back and forth between him and Emily like following a tennis match which he must had have some experience doing, since it was Emily's speciality skill, burst out laughing. He and Max exchanged a high-five too.

This time though, Emily's face did turn a soft shade of pink, caused by both fluster and embarrassment. She quickly chucked a rolled newspaper at Max, which he unfortunately didn't miss, before turning the other side, waking the others up at a ripe time of three in the morning. "We all should leave now, you boys have luggages to pack." she stated. All the boys mumbled a few choice words at their 'beauty-sleep-disturber' but got up and going anyway, all of them half-heartedly uttering another congratulations before leaving.

Only when Max was about to close the door did he realise that Michael had stayed back, picking up the empty bottles and throwing it to the trash bin. "You don't have to do it, I'll manage." Max said, as he started dusting off the streamers and shimmering confetti from the sofa and bean bags.

"Nonsense, those th... no-four of them are absolute buffoons. You don't make the party boy clean up after the party," he said, and after a quick glance at him, he added, "At least not alone."

Max slightly chuckled at this. A comfortable silence settled after this. Max no longer felt as intimated as he would have felt when being left alone with the All Starz Captain two years ago.

Max had outgrown his childishness when he had abruptly left the US without informing anyone. And since the time he had defeated Michael at the American tournament, he had outgrown his admiration of the All Starz captain, and inturn his own insecurities.

Within twenty minutes, the living room looked just as it did before the party commenced. "Life takes unexpected turns, doesn't it? One moment I was staring at an awe-struck, annoying pup who would nod at anything and everything I say, that charismatic grin of his never leaving his face. The next moment, you stand facing the very same kid at the bey-dish, having lost my very first battle as a captain." Micheal abruptly said.

 Max wasn't sure whether he was still bitter about the loss. The topic had been heavily avoided everytime they were all together. This was what Max was worried about when he had contemplated being alone with the captain. He has no idea what to say. Max scratched his head, slightly embarrassed, slightly perplexed, looking at anywhere but him. "Er- Right."

But for once, the captain was just as nervous as him. Micheal hastily thrust an envelope into his hand. 

It was a plain white envelope,  addressed to him. With confusion evident in his eyes, he started "Wh-" before Michael himself told him. "I received it today morning. It's from (Douglas)."

******

Words:3089

****** 

A/N: hey guys!! It's feels like so long though only a month ago since I last talked to you guys. It's really felt good to be writing something new today, thank just editing stuff.

So tell me, how was the chapter? Did you enjoy it? Vote and comment please!!

PS: 1st of September marks my first year anniversary of joining watt pad. It truly was a life changing day. So I desperately wanted to post it today itself.

PS: You'll most likely get the second chapter by 10th September.