The Blade Breakers were seated in the backstage excitedly waiting for for The Talk Show to begin, which wasn't for another half an hour. Tyson was jumping with excitement, while Kai sat expressionless on the armchair opposite him, Ray and Max were talking casually. Tyson's attention fell on Kenny, who looked like he was going to be sick with nerves. "Don't worry Chief, you'll be great at the show, I'm sure there is no question ever created in this world that can't be answered by you. Anyway, you'll always have Dizzy to help you out.."

Kenny chuckles. "Thanks Ty."

Tyson winks saying, "No problem!!" but his expression suddenly changed, "Oh-noo, how could I forget....talk to you later Chief. Gotta go!"

He roamed the studio looking around to find the show's host, Ms Tory. A woman in her thirties was adjusting her hair busy in her own thoughts when Tyson tap her shoulder, jerking her back to reality. "Argh...What do you want now?!! Oh... I'm sorry Mr. Granger!!, I didn't notice you coming."

"Hey, it's no big deal. I was the one who scared the life out of you!!" he says smiling goofily.

"So nice of you.... How can I help you Mr Granger?"

"Could you please not ask Kai anything more than two questions and that too nothing outside beyblading?"

She looked cross at the request, and tried explaining its importance to him, "But it's his first time and he is the center of attraction for today's show..."

"It's kinda a deal we made to bring him here. Otherwise, he'll just walk out of the stage mid-show and we definitely don't want that to happen, do we? "

"Oh... (her smile fades) OK then I'll see to it that I don't ask him too many questions." she accepted his stance, though looking very unhappy with it.

Tyson added. "And make sure he isn't the center of attraction either... he kind of wants it to be that way."

"Yeah. I forgot about that.." said Mr. Dickenson, entering our conversation.

"OK Mr Dikenson I'll see to it." she said smiling brightly on seeing the chairman of BBA.

"Thank you ma'am." he replies cordially. Ms Tory leaves the two of them, heading to start the show. Tyson turns to Mr Dickenson. "Hello Mr D, what brings you to the backstage?"

"Well the show managers did not look after the 'CHECK-IN SECURITY MEASURES' properly due to the large number of audience. So, I thought of informing Kai beforehand..."

"We aren't leaving, are we?" Tyson asks, a bit worried about the news.

"No... That's what surprised me too. He just gave me his standard 'Hn' ."

"Well that's..... I don't even know what you could call it in Kai's case. Anyway, Bye Mr D."

"Bye my boy, and Tyson, I'm leaving for New York now. See you soon."

******

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen I'm Mrs Tory and I'm going to be your host for the day. Today, for The Grand Finale, we have the most awaited, Two-Time World Champions of Beyblade, 'The Blade Breakers'!!"

The four of them came from the opposite sides of the stage. Max and Tyson from the left while Ray and Kai came from the right. Kenny decided at the last moment not to take part at all. All of them were gracefully accepting their admirers' best wishes in their own style. Tyson was a bit too jumpy with excitement while Kai just gave a nod to a few of them.

"It's an honor to have the most sought out faces of beyblade on our show together. " started Mrs Tory started with a broad smile.

"The honor is all ours to be at The Japan's Most Famous Talk-Show at such a young age." Ray tactically answered earning himself a round of applause at the very beginning.
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"So tell me Max, Who are you the closest to, like your best friend, among your team members?"

"It's easily Tyson. We both are outgoing and carefree. And being the youngest member of the team, it obviously becomes easier to hang out with the second youngest member.

No doubt, we're all really close when it comes to beyblading and all, but to hang know out at a party like normal teens do, I would prefer Tyson. Ray and Kai are a bit too serious for my tastes though our tastes are surely are rubbing on Ray. And well, Kai rarely puts up with our 'stupidity' outside training and we surely don't want to put up with a hundred extra push-ups just because we teased him!!" said Max earning himself a good number of giggles.
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"We have a really unique question or rather questions for you Tyson... But it's more of a challenge. Is the World Champion ready for it?" Mrs Tory tauntingly asked.

Tyson, who never knew to back off from a challenge, beyblading or otherwise, answered "Of course I'm! Let's get started!"

"It's a rapid fire round.. So answer the asked question within 3 seconds."

"Okay!!"

"Favorite thing about beyblade."

"Dragoon"

"Favorite thing other than beyblade?"

"Food!"

"Best place to visit "

"Australia"

"Why?"

"They have cute kangaroos." Tyson answered with his goofy grin earning himself a few giggles.

"Best rival faced till date?"

"Tala!" A few claps could be heard from the audience.

"Best rival-friend you have faced till date."

"Zeo." Gasps could be heard throughout the studio as not many knew of the friendship between the Blade Breakers and the this year's finalists.

"One who you don't want to have a face off with."

"Hmm... Max."

"Why?!"

"Who wants to have a fight with their best friend?!" Tyson questions back. Many people from the audience nod in understanding, Mrs Tory moves onto the next question.

"Most awaited match of your life."

Tyson's smile slightly wavered at this, but he nonetheless answers, " A bey-battle with Kai."

The wolf whistles could be heard from the audience for his answers now.

"Have you ever went on a date?"

"Nah."

"Do you have a crush?"

"Yes"

"Who is it? "

"Hil(not heard by any of the audience) .....what NO!! No...ahh it's nothing! Let's stop it please.." Tyson's face was highly flustered. The whistling, and laughing was deafening from the audience's side now. Even Tyson was laughing along with the crowd.

Ray and Max were trying very hard not to laugh out loud, while the audience were having sly smiles on their faces. Even Kai was having trouble in keeping up with his poker face at Tyson's stupidity...

"Of course, we understand the need for privacy... But still, who is that lucky girl?" asked Mrs Tory, her face reflecting the sly smiles Tyson was receiving from the audience.

"Hey, she may surely not consider herself as lucky as you make it sound, because she has absolutely NO interest in beyblading. I don't see a problem by telling her name here but when she herself doesn't know, it would be unfair for us. I want to tell her myself and not from the media. Secondly, she hates media attention for such gossips soo.. I really don't want to die so young and handsome!!" he says smiling goofily as the audience once again erupted into fits of laughter.

"I didn't know you were so understanding Ty...." Ray said teasingly.

"Ray! do you want yours to get out now?!" Tyson warned giving him a threatening sly smile.

"Hey no! I was just teasing! And...you know what? Don't you dare!!" Now it was Max and Tyson's turn at laughing and exchanging a high-five with a flustered Ray as their target.
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What's your experience in the Japanese team Ray when you having no Japanese origin?"

"Well, it doesn't divide us in any way..... To be frank, I had completely forgotten about it. We are quite different from one another other than just nationality. We all have diverse backgrounds too. I actually ran away from my village a few years ago as they refused to use technology to train in beyblading and I also wanted to explore the world other than just China.

Mr D and I met a few days before the 'Japan Qualifier Round' two years ago and asked me if I would join the Nationals Qualifier Team and well..... the rest is history."

"Quite an inspiring story to follow our heart.." the Anchor said in understanding.
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"We are really honoured, as well a bit surprised to have you with us, Kai. You had made sure not to attend even a single interview nor a single appearance to your admirers till date outside tournaments even when you were a champion yourself. And yet, you have one of the biggest fan base in the world. What's the secret? Why such a distant approach with the media? And is there a change today that made you give media a chance?"

"My admirers do not need me putting up with interviews and news every now and then for publicity. That is exactly what they hate. They understand the way I function and I find no need to change it.

I manage to entertain them to the best of my abilities during the championships and that is exactly what they want .

There is no change in the world of media, I STILL HATE IT. The reasons I am here is because the Producers wanted ALL the Blade Breakers to be present to increase their TRP and a frie... peer of mine stood against me, questioning me whether I couldn't just sit and talk a few lines about the sport of my life, if it could bring a smile on a few extra hundreds of orphans as, you know, 85% of the profit made today goes to an orphanage, which actually makes sense." After speaking in his monotone voice, he laid back in his sofa with his eyes closed as though he had not spoken at all......
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PIN DROP SILENCE

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The room bursts into a wild applause for Kai's genuine answer .

Even his own team members were clapping with a sincere and surprised smile plastered on their faces. Mrs Tory recovers from her shock and continues, "That's really a wonderful reason to be here, Kai. I'm really sure that your friend.... I mean peer is really proud of you today."

"Hn"

"We'll be right back to continue our talk after a short break. Keep watchingd as Mr. Hiwatari said here, each vote is a ray of sunshine in an orphan's life and let us do our part in helping them. If anyone would like to do extra donations, please contact our managers through the phone number displayed on the screen. Until then, Mi tsudzukeru 'Japan's Talk Show.'

As the live streaming stopped, Tyson, who never understood when to keep his mouth shut announced, "Hey everyone, I think Kai should really receive a standing ovation for speaking one forty seven words in a single conversation!!" with his usual glee.

"Which had never crossed a hundred with his own teammates in two years!" Max added.

This wins them many suppressed giggles from the audience as they did not want to offend Kai... And a few of them start standing too. He waved his hand in a dismissive way, his eyes on Tyson, his posture calm. "Reserve the standing ovation when I defeat a world champion again guys... The applause was enough for the day." though he addressed the whole crowd, they all knew to whom it was really addressed to.

Though Tyson's face remained neutral, there was a swirl of emotions in his eyes. From irritation to anger  to sadness to determination. They had the most intense glare contest till date, with not a single person in the studio making a noise. But before either of them could break their gaze, before Tyson could come have a comeback and before their argument escalated, Max placed a hand on Tyson's shoulder, hence, successfully stopping him as the audience broke the silence into hasty whisperings. The crew was preparing for the Final Showdown when Mrs Tory approached Tyson about the episode.

"I suspect you both are not on good terms... is it true?"

Tyson hesitated for a second before answering "He was a bit sour as he wanted to battle me at the finals this year but lost in the semi-finals. But to be frank, you never know on what terms you are with Kai. He may still be angry with his loss or might have just felt the standing ovation was too much. We get into quite a lot of arguments everyday. I was actually avoiding him as much as I could, but I guess I got carried away and he leveled our score from the day before's argument." he uttered, frustration evident in his face.

A crew member approaches Mrs Tory and whispered in her ear. She nodded, "Oh... Get ready for the final part of the show. We will be thanking you all and giving you a few gift hampers...that's it"

" okay.."

******

Kai had excused himself (if you could call 'walking out without informing' as excusing) as Ms Tory steered Tyson away from the stage, doing a very good job at engaging him at a conversation.

Max took a sip of water from a bottle on the table in front of him, when he asked Ray, "When do you think will they get their battle?"

"Who? Oh....you mean Tyson and Kai?"Ray asked, stirred from his thoughts. He nodded.

"I don't know...it could very well be the next year or the year after but..." he looked hesitant to complete his thought, which was completely new to me. Ray was never hesitant. He spoke the truth in the politest way possible, but he was never tongue tied.

"But, what Ray?"

He took a deep breath before answering, "Max, you do know that to battle a player officially at a tournament, you have to be against the player?"

"That's obvious Ray. Its the same in all games, not only beyblading. So what, it's no big.... Oh wait!" dread filled his heart on seeing Ray's solemn expression. "Do you mean to say...."

"Yeah... That's what's keeping Tyson and Kai on the edge for some time now." Ray said, confirming one of Max's greatest fears. Max asked flabbergasted, "How come I never noticed this!! All the while I thought they just hated each others guts!"

Ray sympathized with him, "I thought the same too... before I overheard one of their arguments. They have been highly secretive about it. Tyson wanted to keep their rift silent from us, especially from you and Kenny, until they come to an understanding which is almost.."

"Impossible. Yeah, I know." Max said dryly.

Ray's lips twitched at the comment. He continued, "Hn... Our lucky stars shined, the World Championship became tag-team battles, allowing official battles among members of the same team. Unless a similar miracle takes place the next year, we may not be what we are today..."

But Max didn't want to accept the possibility. "Be serious, Ray. He can't just leave us! He does care about us, even if he isn't much expressive about it..."

But Ray was ready for a counterargument beforehand. "Tell me Max, what stopped him the last time?"

Max continued defending Kai, even though the justifications sounded feeble to his own ears. "You can't hold that against him! We made a pact not to talk about it again!!"

Ray held up his hand in finality and sternly said. "I'm being practical, Max and so is he. And I advise you to be too. If he chooses to leave, there is nothing we can do to stop him. About him caring for us, our team, I don't know... But tell me Max, what other possible ways are there to become the Next World Champion? That seems to be the only way for the three of us, and if he chooses it, then Tyson should accept it."

Max crosses his hands stubbornly against his chest, not ready to accept Ray's words. They sat in silence for some time before Max gathered up all his courage and not looking into Ray's eyes, asked, "Are you planning on leaving too, Ray?"

"I don't kn-"

"So you might be."

"I have been running away from my past, my identity, my family for years now, Max. I have had my fun and explored the world. I have to take up the responsibilities I had left behind, I have to stop and embrace my past at some point, isn't it?" he looked at me expectantly, waiting for me to answer the unspoken question.

"I-I really haven't thought about it... But leaving The Blade Breakers, my first team, my first identity... leaving Tyson, my best friend and the first person to actually trust me when my mom herself didn't... I... Let's drop the subject, Ray."

"Okay... But do remember that the day to decide isn't as far as we think it is..." and as one of those rare moments, Ray's face was way more expressionless than that of Kai's.

"The show will start again in a minute from now. Please be prepared." the Anchor announced and took her seat. Kai had returned. As the studio prepared itself, Max was lost in thought. 'What Will I Choose? My Dream or The Person Who Helped Me Believe Myself To Be Capable Of It?'

******

Words : 2797

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