Disclaimer: See previous chapters.

Bonus Content

To my lovely readers:

Almost to the day it has been three years since I uploaded the first chapter of this story and embarked on this adventure. And what an adventure this was. The way this story developed and changed was fascinating. As I was writing I constantly bumped into new problems and thus I re-wrote my outline for this story more times than I can count. And so, some scenes I'd already written no longer fit. But some of them I liked to much to delete and that's why we have this chapter now!

Meet Kai

[A scene at the hospital, shortly after Kai woke up. I cut it because I wanted to shift the focus more on my three musketeers.]

"Hi there!"

At the sound of Hilary' voice Tyson turned around and saw her and Kenny walking towards them.

"Oh, hi you guys," Tyson replied.

"Is he asleep?"

"No, we just really enjoy standing in the hallway," Tala drawled.

Hilary frowned at him.

"Hilarious. So… do we wait, or should we go in?"

"And miss out on the joyous experience of standing in a hospital hallway?"

"I'll check on Kai. Maybe he woke up," she said.

In the blink of an eye Hilary was at the door and peeked into the room.

"Kai? Are you awake?"

Tala did something Tyson had never seen him do before, and honestly never thought he'd see him do: Tala face-palmed.

"Oh look, he's awake!" Hilary said, shooting Tala a triumphant look over her shoulder.

"Well wonders never cease," Tala growled.

And Tyson walked over to Hilary, flicked his finger against her forehead and said, "For someone so smart you can be very dense."

Then he pushed past Hilary to take his seat by the window. He watched how Kai slowly and with a lot of effort, sat up.

He waited for Kai to settle himself, then said, "Kai, I'd like you to meet someone. This is Hilary and Kenny. They are friends of yours. Guys, um, meet Kai?"

Kai meets Ray

[This scene is set around Christmas. I originally wanted to make the Christmas party a lot bigger, but then I reconsidered because there would have been so many things to consider logic-wise like flights, accomodation, interaction between the teams and everyone with Kai, what could be said to him ... plus, writing a scene with that many people in it is SO difficult xD So I took some of my reasoning and made Tala say that to Tyson. But at that point I had already written this scene, and it was one of those were I could practically 'see' it.

Tala described Ray to Kai as follows:

Over Christmas, Tyson invited a lot of their Beyblade friends. Among the first to arrive were the White Tiger X. Tyson greeted them at the door, while Tala and Kai waited in the living room. Kai was especially looking forward to meeting Ray. He had heard a lot about him, and Tala had given him a description of Ray, so he'd be sure to find him

"Oh, don't worry you'll know him when you see him," Tala had said. "He's the guy with the cat eyes and the long black hair. Unmistakable!"

Crimson eyes were fixated on the door. Finally, a young man walked it. Recognition flickered through the crimson eyes. Kai walked towards him to greet him.

He smiled and said, "Tyson has told me so much about you. It's good to meet you, Ray."

"Wicked," Lee said in awe and eyed Kai, who was smiling at him and holding his hand out to greet him. "I know Ray said amnesia, but this is crazy. He doesn't know a thing!"

Kai's smile faded and he sent a confused look to Tala.

Tala pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I can see how my description, though absolutely foolproof under normal circumstances, can be misleading when the whole White Tiger X shows up."

He turned to Kai.

"Kai, this isn't Ray, this is Lee, another member of the White Tiger X."

Kai and Lee shook hands.

"Oh, well, in that case it is nice to meet you, Lee!"

"Likewise, man."

Another person with golden cat eyes and long dark hair entered the room. He was dressed in traditional Chinese clothing and a red bandana around his head held back his black hair.

"Kai, this is Ray," Tala said.

Ray gave Kai a warm smile and shook his hand.

"Hello Kai! I can't tell you how happy I am to see you up and about."

Tala's Confession

[So, for the first chapters I was debating Tala's role in all of this: should I go for a love-triangle, or should Tala be loyal friend, almost brother. I decided to go with the latter, because I felt like Kai would need someone to lean on, a reliable source of information. Someone else could have taken on that role, but then I'd have to pull in a fourth character and I liked how the interaction between the three of them developed. But I'd already had this scene written. So here it is.]

The night air was cold and clear. The moon was reflected in the pond, its light softly illuminating two figures standing by the water.

Tyson quickly stepped back inside and hid behind the door. He hadn't thought Tala would go through with it. Apparently he had though. Tyson didn't like it, but he'd never bust in on his confession. Rivals in love and Beyblade, but at the end of the day, Tala was still his friends and there were things friends just didn't do. Like barge in on the other one's love confession. But that didn't mean he couldn't listen in on it, right?

The light night breeze carried over a fragment of conversation.

"You're too soft for me now anyway," Tala said.

His voice sounded as if he was smiling, but nonetheless sad. So he'd been rejected. Part of Tyson was glad – the part that was in love with Kai. The other part, the part that was Tala's friend, however, ached. The friend-part in him wished Tala nothing but happiness.

The sound of footsteps reached his ears and before Tyson could react, Tala stood next to him. He didn't look to surprised to see Tyson standing there.

"So, I've been rejected."

Tala sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.

"It's your turn to get dumped now. And then, once the old Kai is back, the battle will be back on, Granger! If we survive for long enough that is. Kai might very well kill us for this."

Tyson gave him a weak smile.

Tala nodded, then turned away and left.

[Tala would need some time to heal his broken heart. But he wouldn't show it - for Kai, and because it's not his style. I pictured him joking about it in the end, like suggesting a threesome to Tyson, and Tyson telling him to bugger off. So Tala would eventually end up in the friend/brother role, too.]

Result Day

[A scene somewhere between the last chapter and the epilogue. Life would go back to normal . But 'normal' the Granger way.]

"Yo, what's up."

Kai looked up to see Tala approach him. He placed a bookmark between the pages and put down the book. It was a sunny day, and spring hung in the air, so Kai had taken a seat in the outer corridor to read in peace in quiet.

Speaking of which:

"TYSOOOOON!" Grandpa Granger's voice boomed from somewhere inside the house.

A door slid open and Tyson stormed out.

As he wizzed past them he yelled over his shoulder, "I only promised to take them!"

Only a split second later Ryuu ran past them, swinging his kendo sword at Tyson.

Tala raised brow.

"There was mail for Tyson," Kai said.

He still wasn't a man of many words and figured this was plenty for Tala to go on. Judging by the grin that now spread across Tala's face he was right.

"Aah, I see. Exam results. Wow, he must have fucked up royally."

And with a low chuckle he sat down next to Kai and made himself comfortable - knowing Grandpa Granger, the show was far from over!

Telling Max

[This scene is also set somewhere betweent he last chapter and the epilogue. I wanted to write one scene where Tyson comes out of the closet. And it ended up being to Max, because I wanted it to be someone very important to him and Grandpa Granger already knew something was going on, so that wouold have been like: "Grandpa, I'm dating Kai." "Homeboy, I may be old, but I ain't stupid."]

"Hey Tyson! How have you been, buddy?" Max said as he picked up the phone.

"Hi Maxi," Tyson said. He tried to smile into the phone. Someone had told him one could hear a smile in the tone of a person's voice. The smile didn't really want to stick. He was nervous, so nervous he felt nauseous. There was something he wanted to tell Max - they were good friends and it was only right he told him before he found out otherwise. About him. And Kai. About them.

Oh Dragoon, lend me strength, he thought.

"I've been good," he then said.

He took a deep breath. Just out with it.

He continued, "Kai's been good too. Everything's good. We um, we've been good.

Max laughed.

"That's good then."

Tyson could see the sparkle in Max' big blue eyes in front of his inner eye.

After about ten seconds of Tyson gnawing on his lower lip, Max said, "C'mon Tyson, spit it out already."

"I-... what do you mean?"

"Oh please, you obviously have something on your mind."

Damn, he was good! Maybe he really should just spit it out. He took one more deep breath. Then-

"I like Kai!"

The words that followed practically poured out of his mouth, "As in like-like Kai - I love Kai. Romantically. He loves me back, at least that's what he told me. He was very believable, so I really think he loves me. We've started going out. As in dating. We're dating. I'm dating Kai. And we're good and-... and that's it."

There was silence for a bit. Then Max began to laugh.

"You're laughing?! Why would you laugh?! I'm totally serious here," Tyson said.

"I'm sorry Tyson," Max chuckled. "The way you said it was adorable."

Tyson growled.

"And?"

"And I already knew."

"What!"

"Ray is really bad at hiding excitement. But thanks for telling me too - I'm really happy for you guys!"

Tyson tried to be mad at Max for pulling this little stunt on him, but he couldn't. First, he was Max, and second, now all of Tysons closest friends knew and they had all wished them well. There was no way he could be mad right now - just happy!

Finally, I said I'd answer the questions you still had regarding this story. Some of them were already answered by the epilogue and the 'deleted scenes' section, I think.

Like, Q: did Kai keep his pinky promise, did he go to Tyson's graduation? For the longest time, this scene has been the ending I envisioned. First off, cherry blossom season always makes for a great scenery. Also, graduation marks the end of one era and the beginning of a new. I thought it was very fitting here. Kai's struggle coming to an end, Tyson's struggle with Kai's struggle (and school) as well, both of them embarking on a new adventure together.

Q: How will everyone react to their relationship?

I guess this one is mostly answered, too. I like to think the reaction's will be mostly positive. I like to think of the Beyblade characters as an open-minded bunch. They'll never hear the end of it from Bryan! He'd be totally fine with it, but tease them endlessly, like the reignign king of chaos that he is (maybe I should devote a story to the 'reigning kign of chaos' someday. It has a nice ring to it, doesn't it). Spencer will be sweet and supportive, and try to cancel out Bryan. On Tyson's side, Hilary and Kenny are okay with it. I can see Kenny being embarrassed at first, to see them kiss or something. But he'd react that way if it were Kai and Hilary too. Just very bashful. Tala will have a fieldtrip with that - first in line to the throne, right after Bryan. If I'd have to make someone the bad guy to disapprove it would be Tyson's brother. Because I don't like him, and because he'd already the bad guy. I originally planned to give him a short appearance, but it just didn't happen in the end. Also, Kai's grandfather wouldn't be thrilled. But Kai has his old snarkiness back, he can handle it.

Q: What are they planning to do now?

Let it rip forever. But they also grow up. After a gap year I can see Kai go to university. He'll major in business, but study history on the side, because deep down he's a nerd. Under Kai's good influence, Tyson will retake the entrance exams and actually pass this time. Barely, but he will. Tyson will consider majoring in history, because all the documentaries he watched with Kai sparked his interest, and he is curious about the bitbeasts. Then he learns about the amount of reading and reconsiders - he will major in sports and continue to Beyblade.

Tala moves back to Russia. It is his home after all and his team needs him. He asked them to come and stay with them over the summer. He will visit often and always stay at the dojo when he does. Tala and Grandpa Granger will become penpals. Grandpa Granger continues to be Grandpa Granger. He now cheers for Tyson, Kai and Tala.

Q: Finally, I was asked if I have a new story in mind. I do. It's also a romance/drama, and it starts out darker and is probably emotionally more complex. A preview of the first chapter is on my Tumblr somewhere (it's called "The Life After"). I wrote about three chapters of it and have a rough idea of where I want it to go. I'll start uploading it once I have it figured out more - don't wanna give you something I will never finish.

And now - as the Germans say - with one crying and one laughing eye I'll take my last bow.

You were so wonderful! Thank you very, very much!

~Bird