Title: The Light

Summery: Max Tate loved many things, among them Beyblading and Duel Monsters. When he's invited to go to a Duel Monsters tournament, the rest of the team goes with him. Little does everyone know, there's a lot more going on than a silly game.

AN: Hey there everyone! So I'm going to go ahead and apologize. I've taken a LONG (as in about 4 years) hiatus from and I'm kind of nervous about how this is going to go. But this idea came to me and I just can't get it out of my head. I know crossovers don't seem to do very well here, but I'm going to give it a shot!

Disclaimer: If I owned Yu-Gi-Oh or Beyblade, there would be a lot more yaoi going on. Since there isn't, I obviously don't own them :P

Chapter 1: The Beginning

Max was at a lost. The normally perky young man was currently watching his team captain, Kai, and Kai's rival, Tyson, battle each other in a Beyblade battle. Beyblade has quickly risen to be Japan's number two top game, only lagging behind the top game in all the world played by all ages. Duel Monsters. The card game that so many people loved...That was, except for Max's team.

Max knew how everyone on his team felt about Duel Monsters. Tyson hated it because of the strategy part of it, Kai hated it because it was a "waste of time" and "took away from training", and Ray was indifferent towards it. Max didn't know how Kenny or Hilary felt about the game. But Max loved it. Max loved Beyblading as well, and that's where lied the problem. Max had been one of the few people who was invited to join a Duel Monsters tournament that was being hosted in America. He had received the email after winning an online tournament with the deck that he had in real life. Well...One of the decks. Max had two. Okay, perhaps Duel Monsters was a bit more of an obsession than a game to him..

But Max knew that he shouldn't go. His team would kill him for missing practice. Max had thought about inviting his friends so that way they could still practice while Max did the tournament as well, but he had quickly seen the flaw in that. Kai would expect his attention to be solely on Beyblading. None of his friends knew that he loved the sport, and he only played it online so that way they wouldn't know.

"Is something wrong, Max?" Max jumped slightly at the voice behind him, having been so lost in thought and watching Tyson and Kai's match that he hadn't even noticed that Ray had sneaked up behind him.

"Yeah! Everything's a-okay!" Max said, trying his best to smile brightly at Ray and giving him a thumbs up sign. But Max could tell that Ray wasn't buying it, especially when Ray did nothing but raise an eyebrow at him. Max let out a deep sigh and shook his head. "Just...Just forget about it Ray. It's nothing serious, promise!" Max assured his friend. Ray seemed to want to interject something, before Tyson let out a frustrated yell and the two turned their attention back on Tyson and Kai. Kai's Dranzer had just knocked Tyson's Dragoon out of the dish, and Tyson wasn't taking the third loss to Kai today to well.

"This is bull!" Tyson whined before pointing an accusing finger at Kai. "You're cheating!" Tyson yelled and Kai merely raised an eyebrow.

"If someone has to cheat to beat you, then they should just quit the game." Kai didn't mean it of course. Tyson was an amazing Beyblader. But Kai would never say that out loud. Max giggled as he watched the two continue to insult one another. Kai, with his duel colored hair that was light blue-purple bangs and dark hair. His eyes were a surprising dark red color, which you don't see quite often. Tyson, on the other hand, had dark hair that reminded Max of the night time sky. He also had dark blue eyes, which were the opposite of Max's ocean blue eyes. Ray himself had quite the unique look. His cat-like eyes were slit like a cats and his long hair that was bound in a white wrap.

Max was brought out of his musings when Tyson stomped away from Kai with an agitated look on his face, while Kai's face remained looking as indifferent as ever. Max couldn't help but to smile at that. Despite their differences, he knew that Kai and Tyson cared for one another as friends. Everyone on the team respected one another...Although Max felt like him, Kai, and Ray had a special bond for one another. Max could sense that the other two cared for him as much as he cared for them...And he felt like they were constantly tip toeing around it for some reason. Max wanted to bring it up, to see if they could find a way to make it work or at least admit it to see if perhaps Max was just going crazy, but he didn't want to risk upsetting their friendships.

"Max, it's your turn to cook." Kai cooly said and Max nodded his head before hopping up. Max didn't mind cooking. Besides, him and Ray were the only ones who could cook decently. Anything Tyson made was poisonous (you'd think someone who ate as much as him would be a decent cook), Kenny and Hilary do so much already that no one wanted to trouble them, and Kai was to picky about everything they eat. So it was normally better to just let Ray and Max rotate.

As Max busied himself about the kitchen, he was surprised when he turned around and saw Kai. Kai normally disappeared from the house whenever Max or Ray started cooking, and only came back when someone texted him. "Hey Kai? Did you need me for something?" Max asked after he put the lid on the pan that was boiling the noddles, tilting his head to the side. Kai opened his mouth to say something, before seemingly thinking better and walking away. Max's large blue eyes trailed after Kai, a frown on his face. "I wonder what that was about..." Max said out loud before returning to dinner.

Ray was meditating as he normally did before dinner when someone knocked at his door. Ray blinked a bit in confusion. Most people knew that Ray detested being interrupted when he was meditating, so he figured this must be something pretty important. Ray opened the door and was even more surprised to see Kai standing there. The eldest member of the team was leaning against the doorframe as if he didn't have a care in the world.

"Kai?" Ray asked with a confused look on his face. "What do you need?"

Most of the time, Ray would make small talk before asking what the other needed. But Ray's been around Kai long enough to know how Kai was. Kai was blunt and forward. And he absolutely hated small talk.

"Max is planning to run away."

Ray blinked as he heard Kai's words. Surely he had heard wrong...

"What did you say?" Ray asked, his face showing nothing but pure confusion.

"Max is planning to run away. He has a bag packed in his room." Kai said, his face flashing with the first emotion Ray has seen from him today. Anger. Ray had thought that Kai was being extremely hard on them during practice earlier, especially Max. And then something hit him.

"What were you doing in Maxie's room?" Ray teased and couldn't help but to chuckle as he saw one of Kai's eyebrow twitch.

"I wasn't. I was making my way to the bathroom and saw a one of his bags packed and on his chair." Kai explained. To be truthful, Kai was nervous. Kai wasn't good with emotions and stuff, but he did know that he felt strongly towards the youngest team member of his. As well as Ray. Kai's mind was constantly battling with himself between the two. He wanted to be in a relationship with them, but he knew that the probability of that was extremely low. So it was best to try to get into a relationship with one. But no matter how hard Kai debated, he couldn't pick one over the other. And now, the thought of Max just up and leaving had Kai nervous as hell.

"I'm sure Max isn't doing anything drastic. Why don't we just ask him?" Ray asked and Kai shook his head.

"He'll just deny it." Kai pointed out and Ray sighed.

"Kai, has Max ever given us a reason to not trust him or his answers?" Ray asked with a raised eyebrow. Although, in his mind he was starting to get quite worried to. Max had seemed pretty distracted earlier...Was he planning on leaving? "Look...If it'll make you feel better, why don't we just look through the bag? He's cooking after all."

Ray was normally against snooping. Everyone was entitled to their privacy after all. But Kai's words had formed a sinking feeling in his stomach. So Kai and Ray made their way to Max's room and snuck in. Max's room was clean, although not as clean as Ray or Kai's who both were a bit OCD. Okay, Ray was a bit OCD. Kai was full on OCD. "Why don't you go through his bag, and I'll peek around the room?" Ray asked the older guy and Kai nodded his head. The two continued moving around Max's room quietly when Kai suddenly noticed something.

"Ray...Look." Ray noticed Kai standing up with an envelope in his hand. Ray walked towards Kai.

"What is it?" Ray asked and Kai shrugged before opening the already opened envelope and pulling out a piece of paper.

Congradulations Mr. Tate,

For winning the online Duel Monsters tournament you have been invited to come to a exclusive Duel Monsters tournament in the United States. It will have only the best of the best, so make sure to bring your A-game! Hope to see you there!

The two stood there in complete shock. They kept reading it over and over again, wondering if they were missing something. They weren't shocked out of it until they heard a voice in the doorway.

"What are you two doing in here?"

Both Kai and Ray tensed as they heard the voice, and turned around to see Max standing there. Max's eyes went wide as he saw the envelope, surprise clearly etched onto his face. "You guys went through my things?" Max asked.

"Max-" Ray began but was cut off.

"Get out." Both of the older boys reeled back by the surprisingly cold tone that Max had taken.

"Max-" Kai tried but once again was interrupted.

"I said OUT!" The normally happy-go-lucky boy yelled. The two quickly scrambled out of the room, Max slamming the door shut as he entered. "Dinner's ready." Max hissed before the door shut.

The two boy's stared at Max's door longingly before walking into the dining room. Tyson was there, already shoveling down pasta as if it would disappear if he didn't eat it fast enough. "Where's Hilary and Kenny?" Ray asked as he noticed the two of them not around.

"They went out to eat." Tyson spoke with his mouth full. "Apparently Kenny promised her a date." Tyson grinned before continuing to shovel down food while Kai looked on in disgust. The two sighed before getting their food and joining Tyson at the table.

"Did you know Max played Duel Monsters?" Ray asked Tyson and Tyson actually stopped eating for a moment to answer.

"Mhm! He's pretty good at it to. He tried explaining it to me, but it just ended up making my head hurt." Tyson said.

"Shocker there." Kai snorted while an agitated look came across Tyson's face.

"He got invited to go to a tournament in America, but said that he figured a certain captain wouldn't let him go without us and figured you guys wouldn't want to go." Tyson explained and Kai frowned.

Kai didn't like the game. Alright, so he hasn't necessarily played it. But it wasn't Beyblade, so he didn't like it. But he did like Max. And he didn't want Max to not be able to do the things he liked. Kai and Ray made eye contact for a moment before they heard footsteps coming down the hall and into the dinning room, Max making a point to not look in either of their directions.

"Pack your bags." Kai simply said and everyone gave him a odd look. "Max's been invited for a tournament. We're going to support him." Kai wasn't giving anyone an option. In true Kai fashion, it was more of an order. However, it was an order that everyone was happy to hear.