And the bonding between Max and Samurai begins!

Chapter 21: Hanging with Samurai

As the day continues on, Max hung around Samurai and they were engaging in some fun things Max always does with everyone else, including Arizona; such as hide-and-seek, tell jokes, play a couple of guessing games and held a staring contest where Max kept staring into Samurai's eyes without blinking and Samurai stared him back, thinking that he'll win this thing. Max kept staring at him for the longest time without giving up or blinking, but Samurai's chances of trying to beat Max was proven to be impossible as he was sweating a little and eventually trying to hold it off, but he was proven no match for the little cub and just blinked.

"Yeah! I won!" Max exclaimed.

Samurai lets out a deep sigh of frustration and exhaustion as he looked at Max's victory and asked, "How do you not lose?"

"I don't know. I guess it just happens." Max answered.

He looked at Max for a second and couldn't believe that at the age of nine, he actually won a staring contest and he said, "When do you not do anything impressive?"

"That's really hard to say." Max replied.

Samurai didn't like to lose to Max, but always knew when to honor his opponent for standing his ground and he commended Max for doing so and lets out his paw for a handshake, to which Max happily obliged. Samurai then came over to Max and gave him a super noogie to the head and all Max could do is just laugh and giggle while Samurai just laughed.

"I tip my hat off to you, Maximus." Samurai said, bowing to him.

Soon enough, they were hanging out in Samurai's room where Max is on one side of Samurai's belly and as he laid his head there, he hears Sam's heartbeat and he was surprised by how it sounded and Sam asked, "It's pretty big, isn't it?"

"Yeah, you must have a huge heart." Max stated.

"I do. It's one of the joys of being a panda; being big and having a huge heartbeat." Samurai replied.

Max turns to Samurai and just nuzzled his stomach while letting out a soft purr and Samurai just rubbed Max's head and Sam said, "You just may be the most awesome little tiger brother I ever had. You may not know this...but you kinda inspire me."

"I do?" Max asked.

"Yep. It's to always keep going and never stop, no matter what the odds are stacked up against you. I never thought I could actually learn something from you...but even big brothers have to follow a little brother's example. You're that one person that I would aspire to be in every day of my life. Everything you went through...it's like you see that as a way of making you stronger. But you never complain, get angry or let it eat you away. That's why I believe in rising above challenges and you're a huge example of that." Samurai answered.

"Even a bad experience can be a good one if you learn from it." Max added.

"I don't know why Tigress would have anything against you. You're kind, sweet, sensitive, caring, thoughtful, innocent, compassionate, strong and very enthusiastic. A can-do dude with a little tude. I like that about ya." Samurai said, with a smile.

Max chuckled at that and Samurai hugged him deeply and immediately playfully wrestled him while Max wrestled him back, both of them laughing so hard.

"Isn't that sweet? You two playing together."

Both of them turned around and saw Mako standing there and Samurai said, "Hey, dad."

"I'm really surprised that you and Max are spending some time together. But not that surprised because I had always hoped that you'd enjoy Max's company." Mako said, smiling.

"I've enjoyed every single second of it." Samurai stated.

"I'm happy for you two. It's almost time to get ready for the event at the Jade Palace, so you might as well get ready." Mako added.

Soon enough, Max got off of Samurai's back and he turned to him and said, "Thanks for giving me the best day ever."

"You too, little buddy." Samurai added.

They gave each other a fist bump and a hug before Max left the room and Samurai felt like he was deeply inspired by being a better person because of Max and he said, "That's gotta be on my new year's resoultion...try to be a better person. That and lose a few pounds."

And an awesome big brother moment. Stay tuned to see the event!