Thirty-Six

Two weeks later…

"Wow, I didn't know so much went into a Chinese wedding."

Max dropped straws into the two glasses of lemonade that sat on the counter and made sure there was an even amount of lemons in each (he didn't like when things were uneven and his friends got more of something than he did) before picking them up and carrying them over to the table Crystal was sitting. A large cake was sitting in the middle of the table with Chinese writing on the top tier. It had been dropped on this doorstep that morning. He almost didn't get a chance to see what it was for Daichi (who had somehow shacked himself up in his home) almost attacked it with a Tyson-like hunger.

He tried to figure out what the characters were saying for her could read enough Japanese to get by and he thought it was the same but, sadly, it wasn't. He had called over to Tyson's dojo for Crystal's help. He would've asked Ray but he was mysteriously missing that morning so Crystal came over to help instead.

Ever since the Beyblade Ball things slowly got back to normal. The city was repairing itself after Brooklyn's power destroyed some buildings in the nearby area and currently the BBA was starting to get back on its feet with the help of the Bladebreakers/BBA Revolution/G Revolutions (they still couldn't decide on keeping their old name or using their new one). They attended every event the BBA had, passed out flyers, and spread the word about the association and how it benefited them and got them to be at their current level. He was taking some time before meeting down at the river for a few lessons they decided to conduct, Mr. Dickenson's idea to get more kids interested in the sport.

"Yup," Crystal replied with a nod of her head, her long ponytail bouncing. "They're very intricate and complex celebrations of joining ones families together. See, they send out these cakes with the invitation. It's kind of like a bribe to get someone to come, some would say. It's called a XiBing or Double Happiness Cake."

"Oh?" Max's eyebrows rose at the name of the cake. "Why's that?"

Crystal paused to take a sip of her lemonade. She smacked her lips and smiled at the taste, wiping at her mouth with the back of her hand before continuing. "Because they're adorned with the Double Happiness sign of good fortune and, well, happiness." She pointed at the symbol that sat on top of the cake. Max nodded. "They can also be called Dragon & Phoenix cakes."

"That's so cool. But why was I given one? I don't really know anything about your friend Mei or who she's marrying," Max pointed out while fishing his lemon out of his glass with a spoon. Unlike most people, Max loved lemons. He liked the tart taste to them and how it made his lips pucker up like a fish. It was part of a game he and his mom used to play, the one who kept their face the same the longest wins.

"I have a hand in that one," Crystal said with a grin that revealed her upper canines. "Y'see, Mei wants this wedding to be one that she'll remember forever and that was filled with as much good luck and good vibes as possible. I mentioned to her that not only do the Bladebreakers have the bitbeasts of the four gods of Chinese mythology but two of them are a dragon and a phoenix, two of the most popular creatures of mythology and luck in China."

Max gave her a confused look. "I don't follow."

Crystal lifted a finger, much like Kenny did whenever he was about to explain something. "Y'see, the Chinese consider the dragon and phoenix symbolic of blissful relations between husband and wife, another common yin and yang metaphor. Mei thought if the two holders of the dragon and phoenix bits were there her wedding will be blessed. Its part of the reason why it's being held near the dragon boat festival." She lowered her finger and shrugged. "That and I figured you boys needed a chance to see China for how Ray and I see it and get a culture lesson at the same time."

Max leaned back in his chair and tapped his fingers against the cool glass that was slowly, over time, dripping with condensation. Crystal turned her attention back to her drink and didn't notice the way Max was looking at her. He was a little shocked to hear 'the R word', as she put it, come out of her mouth. She hadn't spoken to or of Ray roughly since the Ball; doing everything she could to avoid him. She's been spending most of her time at his place hanging out with him instead of at the dojo with Hilary or Tyson. Not that he minded for she was great company but he didn't like seeing a friendship that was starting to become strong again fall apart once more.

The blond had a thousand questions running through his mind since that night but he knew better than to ask them. Crystal may be a sweet and charming girl but her mood could easily shift as if a change in tide and he didn't look forward to being on the other end of one of her glares (they didn't compare to Kai's—nothing ever could—but hers were intimidating in their own right). But if she brought it up it should be safe territory.

"So, are there any new developments with…the birthday plan?" Max asked, carefully choosing his words incase her mood did a complete 180.

"Mmm!" Crystal's eyes widened and she set down her glass. "Thanks for reminding me. Kai came through with the money so I got the flight and the hotel booked for all of us for the week. Now all we have to do is get him there without figuring out what we're trying to do."

Max let out a breath he didn't know that he had been holding. He put a smile on his face and said, "As long as we don't tell Tyson we should be fine. He can't keep his mouth shut about anything."

"I know, right?" She let out a little laugh. "Hey, we should get going! Mr. Dickenson wanted us there early."

Max turned in his seat and looked at the clock on the wall. "Yeah, you're right. Let's go."

"Tyson! The point of this whole thing is to teach kids how to blade! Not to keep knocking them out before they even had a chance to do anything!" Hilary scolded while placing her hands on her hips. She had been quiet for the past few minutes as kid after kid lined up to take on the world champion but she just couldn't hold her tongue anymore.

He wasn't giving anyone a chance to even lay a hit on him. How were they supposed to get better if they were only going to get knocked out of the ring in five seconds flat? The kids didn't seem to care for they were standing in front of the World Champion and were actually beyblading with him, but still, it was the principal of the matter. And Tyson needed his ego to be deflated a couple of notches.

"Hey, how are these kids going to get any better if they don't challenge me when I'm at my full potential?" Tyson asked while rubbing beneath his nose and gave a hearty laugh.

"For once Tyson has a point," Kenny commented from where he was sitting nearby, his laptop was open and powered up on his lap with the camera recording every battle. "These kids won't get better if Tyson is holding back."

"Ha ha. See, Hil? I can be right sometimes," Tyson said gleefully. "Alright, who's going to be my next victim?"

"Tyson!"

"Oh, relax Hilary. Tyson's just being his overconfident self. One of these kids is going to knock his head back to size sometime soon," Ray said with a laugh at his friend's expense. He threw her a gentle smile so as not to make her nerves skyrocket and change her crosshairs, which were almost always permanently set on Tyson, to him. He wasn't afraid of her but she could be intimidating when she was angry, he'll admit.

"That moment can't come too soon," she muttered while crossing her arms over her chest.

"Oh I'm sure you'd love to have the honors," Ray said with a teasing smile.

"You know me too well."

"Well, considering you even yell out Tyson's name in your sleep and attack your pillow as if it were him, I'd say Ray's assumption is a safe bet," Dizzi quipped from the laptop.

"Well, gee, Hilary, I didn't know you dreamed about me," Tyson said with a large grin. He turned his attention away from his white beyblade right as it knocked another plastic bound one out of the dish with barely a bat of an eyelash. "Good dreams, I hope."

"Oh they're wonderful once you're dead and buried six feet under," Hilary said pleasantly.

Tyson's good humored smile fell off his face. "Gee, thanks a lot, friend."

Hilary shrugged and gave an innocent smile. "So Ray, what're you going to do now that all the excitement is dying down?" She inquired.

"Now that you mention it there was something I wanted to say but I wanted to wait for everyone to get here," Ray replied, placing a hand on his waist. "Hmmm," he mused while scanning the area. "Where's Kai?"

"Off brooding and practicing being anti-social somewhere," Tyson replied with a wave of his hand, turning back to the dish to see Dragoon spinning in place smack dab in the middle. "Aw, c'mon. No more takers? No one else wants to battle the World Champ?" He asked once he noticed the line had dwindled down.

"I think the novelty wore off," Dizzi commented.

"Took 'em long enough," Hilary muttered.

Tyson chose to ignore her comment. "Max should be here soon. He said he was held up by a cake showing up at his door or something." He placed a hand on his growling stomach. "I hope he left some for me."

"A cake?" Ray repeated, not fully understanding Tyson's words. "Max's birthday already passed. Why'd he get a cake?"

"Dunno. He said that there was something written on it in Chinese," Tyson replied, catching his beyblade and then turned to look at his friends. "So he called over asking for your help to read it but you weren't around so Crys went over instead. She's been there with him all morning."

Ray's eyebrows lifted and he brought up a hand to rub at his chin while thinking. "Oh yeah? Sounds like a wedding invitation to me, if memory serves me right."

"Are his parents getting married again?" Tyson asked while scratching at his head. "I mean, they're not that old. I'm sure his mom would still look good in a wedding dress—ouch! What'd you do that for?" Her growled while rubbing the back of his head.

Hilary lowered the fist she used to punch Tyson. "Would you please have some tact for once?"

"I have plenty of tact!" The expression on Tyson's face changed as he learned closer to Ray's ear. "Psst. Hey Ray, what's tact?"

"If you even have to ask you don't have any!"

"You take that back!"

"Make me!"

"Ah, there go the lovebirds," Dizzi quipped, her teasing voice coming out of the speakers. The children around them didn't seem to notice anything wrong as they continued to blade and run around in the river.

"Sssh! Quiet Dizzi. Hilary might punch you as well and I would love it if I didn't have to pay for another screen tune-up," Kenny whispered.

Ray laughed at his friends' antics and looked up when he heard the sound of a bell. Max parked his bike at the top of the hill overlooking the river and he seemed to be arguing with Crystal about something. He paused while she put down the kickstand on the bike she was using and the two bickered over something while walking down to the group of friends.

"…And I'm telling you that I won and you owe me $10!" Crystal said with a little roll of her neck.

Max let out a sigh of defeat. "Fine. I'll give you the money when I can."

She patted his arm. "See, that wasn't so hard now was it?"

"Yeah yeah." Max looked around and then gave his friends a smile. "Hey guys! This turn out is great! There are a lot more bladers here than I thought would show up."

"Hiya Maxie! Hey Crys!" Tyson said, suddenly enthusiastic and abandoning the argument he was having with Hilary. "Crys, do you want to battle me?" He asked while holding out Dragoon. "C'mon, I'll even give you a delayed launch."

Crystal looked between his 'blade and his face for a couple of seconds before shaking her head. "No. But thanks for asking."

Tyson faltered slightly. She never turned down a beybattle with him so why now? "W-Waddya mean no?" He stuttered. "Are you scared?"

"Hardly," Crystal replied with a roll of her eyes. "If you win you'll be a sore winner and when you lose you'll be a sore loser. I'd rather not get into it," she explained, punctuating the end of her sentence with a dismissive wave of her hand. Tyson crossed his arms over his chest and pouted as she shrugged and said something about it not being "personal".

"Ray, what is that you wanted to tell us?" Hilary asked him.

Everyone's eyes turned to him and he let out a little breath. "It's nothing huge," he replied. "I just wanted to say that I was going to go back to China for a while and be with my team." Tyson's jaw dropped and he continued before Tyson could say anything. "Don't take it the wrong way. I mean, the tournament is over and we don't know when the next one will be. While I love staying here with you, Tyson, I want to go back home and get some work done there and so more training and spend time with my family and friends."

"But…but the team," Tyson said quietly.

"Ray has a point, Tys," Max quietly spoke up. "I wanted to take some time and go home to America to see my mom. It's nothing personal, Tyson, really. We just want to see our family and relax at home for a while. Who knows when the BBA will be ready to hold another one? I don't think I want to hold my breath about it."

Tyson sucked in his breath and Max and Ray waited in a tense position, as if expecting him to explode at him. He slowly let it out and let his eyes move over to Crystal who was standing nearby, staying quiet. "Are you going back with Ray?" He asked.

Crystal shook her head almost automatically. "Nope, I'm staying here. Hilary's going to need some back up dealing with you all summer," she replied. "Besides, I'm still waiting on my acceptance letter."

"Acceptance letter for what?" Ray asked, his voice laced with confusion. The others didn't seem as confused as he was. He frowned a little, hating that he was being left out of the know but he didn't expect anything different. This was the most she's talked to him in about two weeks.

"For school," Crystal replied. "I applied to go to school with Tyson and Hilary and Kenny. I've already traveled around the world, might as well stay put for a while and try something new."

Ray looked like he was about to argue with her but he held his tongue. "Where's Daichi?" Ray asked.

"Oh yeah. I knew it was too quiet around here," Tyson said while looking around. "He must be too afraid to face me in the dish again. Ha ha ha ha! Who can blame him?"

"Erm…" Max stretched the word and glanced at Crystal the same time she stretched the word "Uhh." Soon the two looked at Tyson and both held apprehensive looks on their faces.

"What? I was just joking," Tyson said.

"We know." Max reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. Before heading out to meet everyone at the river Max had gone upstairs to see if Daichi wanted to tag along. He didn't find the small energetic boy. Instead he found the note that he had left behind.

"What's this?" Tyson asked while taking the letter. He unfolded it and read aloud. "'Dear Tyson, being on the Championship blading team was a dream come true. But it wasn't my full dream. I have to leave. I know you'll understand. I have to do this to be the best beyblader ever. I want to make you proud of me. Daichi'." He looked at the paper for a few moments before crushing it beneath his fist. "Well, that's it then? We're splitting up?" He asked.

"Just for a little while, buddy," Ray tried to reassure him.

Tyson let out a growl of frustration. "How do you know it's for a little while? What if when the tournament comes back around and you stick with The White Tigers, Ray?" Tyson turned to Max. "Or the All Starz?"

"We'll just cross that bridge when we get to it, Ty," Crystal said while putting a hand on his shoulder. His tense shoulders relaxed under her touch. "Just 'cause they want to go home for a little while doesn't mean the team is completely finished. We don't know the format of the next tournament, or when it will be. Just focus on the here and now and worry about that stuff later."

"She has a point," Hilary agreed. "No use worrying about the future. There are a bunch of kids waiting to get lessons from the World Champions. So get over there and teach them how to let it rip!"

"Remember, Tyson, even we need some time to ourselves to help our skills improve." Everyone turned their heads around to see that Kai had appeared and was standing at the top of the staircase. "The team is only as strong as each component."

"Truer words have never been spoken," Ray commented. He lightly elbowed Tyson in the side. "Come on, you know it's true."

"Yeah yeah," Tyson said with a dismissive wave of his hand. The frown on his face was suddenly replaced with a large grin. "C'mon Maxie, let's show these armatures what we can do!"

"You said it, buddy!" Max said energetically before rushing off with his friend towards an empty dish.

"Hey! Wait for me, guys!" Hilary called while chasing after the two. Kenny closed his laptop and chased after her as well.

Ray watched them with a small smile on his face before turning to Crystal who had waited, as if sensing he had something he wanted to say. "I wish you'd reconsider and come back with me," he said as he studied her face for any changes in the placid look.

She shrugged. "I feel like I have better opportunities here. That's all. And China will always be there. Besides, I need to know if what Kaoru said about Dricen was true." She bit her tongue to keep back the words she wanted to yell at him. He wouldn't understand the confusing feelings that were bouncing around in her stomach and she didn't want to say anything until she was 100% sure she knew what they meant herself.

Ray nodded slowly. "I guess I can understand that." How couldn't he? He left for almost the exact same reason, though not for the same result. He always knew, deep down, that there was something about her that didn't let her fit in the village as well as the rest of them but he hoped that her heart still belonged there. It was hard to tell. Sadly, he didn't know her as much as he thought that he did and it dawned on him that he had to learn all over again. He began to turn away but stopped and said, "But when you do come back, please promise me that you'll practice and bring all you've got when we battle next. I expect you to beat me sometime in the future, but I'm not going to hold my breath about it."

"Fine, sure," she said in a defeated tone as she held up her hands. A few seconds later it dawned on her what she said and she let out an aggravated growl and started yelling at his retreated back.

"Hey! Kon! Come back here right now! Don't you walk away from me when I'm yelling at you! I'm going to kill you, Kon! KON!"

Growling obscenities under her breath, she stomped over to where Tyson and Max were locked in fierce battle. Soon her shoulders relaxed followed by the rest of her body. She even began cheering for two of her friends before taking the time to look around at the new group of friends she had managed to acquire over the past couple of months. Reaching into her pocket she glanced at her bitchip and swore, in the back of her mind, that she heard Dricen's familiar roar.

Everything that she's been through—all the trials and tribulations that lead up to this moment—she finally realized was worth it.

While her future was unknown she knew one thing for a fact: that she wouldn't trade her life for the world. She was still a crouching tiger, ready to escape if need be. Her muscles were still tense and her claws were unsheathed. One day, she hoped, she'd finally be able to relax her muscles and find where she truly belonged.

To be continued...

A/N: Whew. I've had this story sitting around in my mind for ages. I've even had a version of it up on the site before taking it down for a while to re-edit the plot and my character to make sure she wasn't a Mary-Sue and well liked and here is the final product. It took me three years longer than I expected to get it done, however I don't feel like stories should be rushed to fit a certain "deadline". That was a part of my thought process, the other was that I got in and out of beyblade and that life got in the way but I finally hunkered down and finished part 1 of Crystal's story.

That's right, it isn't finished yet. This was just a glimpse into her and her life. The next story in the Crouching Tiger series is Crouching Tiger: Summer Paradise, a sort of OVA fanfic about how BBA Revolution and White Tiger X celebrate Ray's seventeenth birthday with a week of fun in the sun. But, of course, being in the vicinity of the World Champions, things don't go as planned.

With that story you can look forward to a few more questions being answered (or close to being answered) such as who Hilary ends up with (Kai or Tyson), a little bit more information about Dricen's origins, Crystal's feelings for Ray (and Max?), what's the story with Kaoru and who he's working for (is he? And who with if he is?), why Kai is suddenly becoming more open with his "friends", and bring forth the facets of a Chinese wedding and all that goes along with it which will segue into Crouching Tiger II: Yin and Yang (tentative title). I'm already working on ideas and an outline for Summer Paradise so that one should be up fairly soon.

For now I would like to take the time to thank my reviewers (I'm not going to thank every individually since there are so many).

Aldamonburst: Thanks so much, dude, for sticking with this story after the deleting and the re-posting. Thanks for being really patient and staying curious about the story. As a faithful reviewer I have to say that you are a part of why this story kept going, even during my down times, for you were always there with a kind review that gave me the motivation to keep going when there were those small moments in time when I wanted to give up on this story. The fact that someone was there to see it through the end is very humbling. Thank you.

Shiningheart of ThunderClan: I love your reviews, they always make me smile and make me want to update more and faster so you don't go crazy with the wait, haha. Your reviews always helped me think of plot twists and give answers to questions that you've asked so that the others weren't confused. Your thoughts and enthusiasm in your reviews always kept me wanting to update just to see how you'd react. I'm glad my story leaves you on the edge of your seat in some moments or makes you feel concerned for the characters.

Jupsi: My grammar Nazi, thanks for sticking around and pointing out all the grammar, spelling, punctuation etc. mistakes that I have made in the pat chapters. If it weren't for your watchful eye I would've never noticed them. (I still have yet to go back and fix some of 'em but I will thanks to your reviews pointing them out). Thanks for taking the time to comb through the chapters, I really appreciate it.

Silverwolfgurl87: Thank you so much for your reviews and your enthusiasm with the story. I'm glad that you're connecting with it and the characters. Your reviews always make me smile and I greatly appreciate that you've stuck around with me and this story.

To all the other signed and unsigned reviewers and the silent readers, I thank you all. I thank you for giving this story and my character a chance. I thank you for helping bring this story to life and helped keep it going. Thanks to you, all of you, every reviewer and every reader I found the inspiration and motivation to expand this story and finish the Crouching Tiger saga.

Once again, thank you all.

Be on the lookout for Crouching Tiger: Summer Paradise coming at you soon.

Peace.

~C.M.

P.S. Quick thing, I'm very surprised none of you mentioned anything about Ray and Mariah kissing in the last chapter. I figured at least one of you would've said something about it, haha. Oh, and switching to third person for the final chapter was on purpose. It's an epilogue of sorts so I decided to write it in a different way.