The World Beyblading Championship had finally come to an end two days ago. After months of struggle, hardwork and dedication, life of the Blade Breakers, the World Champions of Beyblading for the second time in a row, was finally returning back to normal. The atmosphere surrounding the dojo was cheerful and pleasant, everyone relieved that things were finally taking a turn towards the better. 

Ray had gotten up early, around four in the morning, had gone hiking on the hill behind Tyson's school. He had meditated for some time below one of the shallow waterfalls and had taken a long refreshing bath before preparing breakfast for the rest of the boys, at nine in the morning. 

Usually, this duty was taken up by Grandpa Granger. But Grandpa had to leave abruptly for some sort of family emergency and being the oldest member in the house, the responsibility of making sure everyone is fed fell on his shoulders. But he didn't mind though, for Ray loved cooking. 

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The two-time World Champion, Tyson Granger, had slept in after almost three months. He had begrudgingly woken up at nine, when Max had woken him up with the same amount of reluctance. Max was, without doubt, the only one who had the slimest chance to wake him up besides grandpa, and that too without resorting to unconventional means.

Apparently, Ray had warned Max that sudden relaxation after months of hard work could make a person sick. Hence, he two best friends had left the comforts of their bed to freshen up with just as much of reluctance.

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Within moments of serving breakfast, Ray was  helping Tyson with a second helping. Max mouth was still slightly open in disbelief as he took a moment to observe Tyson eat without a slightest regard for table manners, as though this would be the last time he would be having food in his life. Ray was quite sure that, apart from beyblading, there wasn't anything more important in Tyson's priority list than to sleep and eat. 

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Kenny, commonly known as Chief among the beybladers, was present in the veranda, working with Dizzy, Kenny's bit- beast who was embedded in a laptop. They two seemed to be the only two working on anything related to beyblading that day. They were repairing the beyblades that had sustained heavy damages by the end of the tournament.

Surprisingly, the worst weathered beyblade was not that of Tyson, who's dragoon had simultaneously battled Cerberus, Dranzer and Draziel at the final battle with Zeo preceding an intense battle against Gordo. It was Max's and Kai's, as both of them had had a face-off with Zeo and had their bitbeasts, Draziel and Dranzer respectively,  forcefully separated from their owners. 

Ray's bit beast, White Tiger, was the only one to pass through the tournament with the least damages, for he never had the chance to face Zeo. Kenny had fixed Ray's Blade first, for it only needed a few adjustments. Then he had fixed up Dranzer, who's owner wouldn't let him open the core of the beyblade, for Kai's gear system, which can spin in both directions at will, at times absorbing energy form the opponent's blade, was his own work of ingenuity.

Kenny had finally finished the repairs yesterday night, shortly after which Kai had left the dojo, and as of now, they still had no news of him. But it didn't worry anyone much anymore, for they were all used to Kai's working by then. Kai these days even left them small clues like washed up dishes, made up bed, etc to inform them he had been here when no one was around, mostly in the dead of night.

Kenny looked up as a sudden sound reverberated through the hall, panicking for a second. He had not been expecting any sort of trouble for the day, at least not after the championship was over. And Thank God, he was right.  

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Soon after breakfast, Tyson and Max started discussing which movie to watch for the day. Max was listing off a number of recent Hollywood movies, while Tyson tried persuading Max to try Japanese movies for once.

They had eventually resorted to a pillow fight on the sofa. The forgotten bowl of popcorn overturned between them, spilling it's contents on the floor. But both of them didn't seem bothered by it. Grandpa Granger wasn't in station, hence no one was going to be standing behind their back, the wooden sword in hand, ready to strike at them at the pettiest of misbehaviours. Somehow along the movie, their conversation had turned to the best ice cream flavours in the world.

"Just a little bit of mustard saus-" Max started, his addiction to his father's family recipe of sauce emerging. But Tyson cut him off irritated, "You can't think of adding that awful sauce of your father's to ice cream too, can you Maxy?!" his face looking quite nauseated. Kenny could feel his pain. Max continued as though it was the most normal thing in the world. "But it really tastes good, and you can't have chocolate for every dish created in the universe, can you Ty?" Max asked, looking just as nauseated with the idea as Tyson.

This must be the only major contrasting difference between Tyson and Max. Max loved his father's version of sauce with practically everything. He hated chocolate. Being in USA, where the bests chocolates were manufactured, Max had never tried one. When he arrived four months ago, reuniting the blade breakers, he had brought dozens of chocolates with him, all of them gifts from fans for his previous win. Max hadn't touched a single one of them and had given it all to Tyson and Kenny. Though Kenny could still find a few of them scattered here and there in his room, he was sure that Tyson had finished them all within three days of receiving.

Kenny and Tyson had been to Mr Tate's house once, and of course they had been encouraged to try their sauce with noodles. When Kenny had tasted the contents, he had liked it too. But he was sure that mustard wasn't the main ingredient in the sauce, it just looked like it was. But Tyson, who didn't like mustard, never tried it, and never understood Max's addiction to it.

"Well, chocolate tastes good." Tyson said stubbornly, leading the conversation to the one they would have at least thrice a week. Kenny sighed, these boys would never grow up, he thought returning back to his work.

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Ray washed the dishes and entered the hall. He settled himself in the garden at a place that had a clear view of the argument taking place on the sofa, amusing himself. But he wasn't much bothered the fight itself, not this one.

He knew that by lunchtime, they would once again be sitting together, telling each other of their time between tournaments. How they found that many new memories to amuse themselves every day, he wouldn't know, but their only difference would be long forgotten, and that's what mattered to him.

And he knew if there was a huge row  breaking out within the Blade Breakers, there would be no involvement of Max whatsoever. It usually centred around Tyson, for he lacked a brain-to-mouth filter. Max usually ended up as the fight-breaker. Most of the time, it would be with Hillary, who would have promptly told Tyson of how lazy or egoistic he was being, for which Tyson would retort back on how she was the stuck-up monitor of Class VIII, the know-it-all. He wasn't in the least worried about ending their fights either, for they always ended with Hillary smacking Tyson in the head, or hitting him with grandpa's wooden sword.

The arguments that really concerned Ray were the ones that broke out between Kai and Tyson. Thought they were few in number, as both (Tyson tried very hard, Kai never involved himself in our business voluntarily) tried staying out of the other's way as much as possible. Their team couldn't have had a much better pair of opposite personalities as their captain and co-captain, and they were expected to co-operate with each other from time to time. As though that would ever happen, scoffed Ray. These arguments escalated quickly, and if left unwarranted, both the parties wouldn't hesitate to draw out their beyblades.

But he had seen an improvement in Tyson's case, for he was trying very much to speak after thinking thoroughly. This had reduced the number of petty fights between him and Hillary considerably. Even if they had one, it sounded quite half-hearted, and they just ended up blushing and teasing each other.

The last time he had challenged Kai was when Kai had almost given up on beyblading, after losing Dranzer to Zeo in the semi-finals. Tyson had called him a coward for leaving after just one defeat, for not being there for the team, and Kai has simply walked away from the accusation.

He could sympathize with both of them at that moment. Ray had lost White Tiger, his most gifted possession before. And it was a grief like no other. It was as though a part of him had been taken away from him, you could almost lose the will to live if you aren't careful. And Kai has lost the will to beyblade at that moment, quite understandable.

On the other hand, Tyson had never been separated from his bit beast, and by God's graze, Ray hoped it never came to that, and hence he did not know how it felt to lose it. The day before the finals, when Max and Tyson were practicing hard to win against Zeo, to bring back Dranzer, when both were so scared (though Tyson would never admit it) after seeing their strongest member lose his bit-beast to Cerberus, they could have used all the support they could get. It was understandable of how Tyson felt betrayed that Kai was abandoning them in such a crucial time, a time when they were preparing to bring back his bit-beast.

Later Hillary had gone after Kai, and from what he guessed, brought some sense into his mind as she usually does with Tyson, and Kai had come back to support and prepare the two boys for the finals. That must have been the last time he had seen the girl, he was finding difficulty in remembering whether she was present at the final battles or not. He had seen her momentarily during the evening ceremony, he was sure that she had been with them in the morning, but during the match...

But why would she miss such an important event? He found himself thinking... I must have been too nervous to notice the people in the surroundings. He told himself, dismissing the other possibility without a second thought, for Hillary had just then joined them.

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Hillary was wearing a loose above-knee pale yellow skirt with a sky blue plain top. She had left her hair loose, but they didn't look as voluminous as usual. She was wearing her usual diamond-shaped pendent necklace, but other that that she wore no jewellery or make-up. She looked slightly paler than usual, but he didn't think too much of it, for she was a swimmer, and continues swimming in an indoor pool could remove whatever tan one had acquired till date.

"Hey Hillary." Ray greeted. He was the only one to do so, for neither Max or Tyson, who were busy in their pillow fight, nor Kenny, who was busy in repairing Max's bey-blade, had registered Hillary's arrival. She quickly smiled at Ray, before turning her attention to the wrestling boys on the sofa, her face betraying a fusion of irritation and amusement, but she controlled herself while snapping at them.

One thing Hillary had learnt by being with the boys was controlling her temper as much as she could, for she had a no-nonsense attitude, and usually had control over her surroundings, for she was a class monitor and a member of the student council. But she restrained herself from snapping at them all as she was witnessing just that. She closed her eyes for a moment, gathering her bearings, and sighed as she settled herself beside Kenny, observing how he worked on the bey-blade. Kenny noticed her then, and quickly greeted her, a bit embarrassed at not noticing her before. She just shrugged it off, and continued watching Kenny as he worked on the beyblade.

Ray tried engaging Hillary in a conversation yet again. "Where have you been?" he asked. She rolled her eyes at this, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world answered, "At home Ray, where else?"

"You weren't there on the day of the finals, we're you?" he questioned her. Hillary momentarily looked panicked, but her voice betrayed none. She chided him, " Of course I was there, don't you remember me greeting those boys-" she gestured at Tyson and Max "-all the best before leaving in the cab? I even talked with you during the early evening ceremony!!"

Ray frowned at her. He remembered them of course, but only them... What about lifting the cup just after the finals and why did she specify the 'early'...he thought. Hillary looked at him quite anxiously. That was when it clicked...

"You weren't there with us whenever the media was around us, we're you?" He eagerly asked, hoping his claim to be true. Her eyes were wide with fright, but she relaxed and uncertainly smiled. "I really didn't want to draw unwanted trouble with the media by just being with you guys." she said giving him a weak smile.

Ray laughed, not noticing how nervous she actually looked. He teased her. "Oh...I get it now! Miss Tachibana didn't want to be associated with the sports of 'Stupid Spinning Tops' in any way in front of the media, hm?'' he asked her. She once again shrugged, but didn't answer verbally.

This slightly concerned Ray. Hillary was being too silent for the day. But her attention had shifted to Kenny's working and the Tyson's pillow fighting, so he decided to leave the matters for now. He didn't want to appear too nagging.

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