They drove slowly, the traffic crawling, back to All-Starz 'house' as Judy called it. Max whispered "Try mansion" and as soon as they got there she understood why.

Ahead of her was the biggest 'house' she had ever seen. It had four visible floors and was the size of a football field. The gate they had driven through had been iron and had been opened by attendants.

Max noticed Kaie gawking and said in a whisper "Wait till you see inside. And remember this is where we live when we are training and in the summer. The rest of the time we are at that boarding school."

Kaie was just as impressed inside as she was of the outside. She stepped into a huge entrance hall and was in awe of the marble floors and high ceilings.

"Max, why don't you show Kaie around? She is in the room next to yours, and just explain to her the rules, get yourselves settled in and then come downstairs and you will be introduced to the team." Said Judy

Max nodded and led her up one of the huge staircases to the rooms. Luckily there were no confusing passages; it was just a long hallway.

Max was counting the doors under his breath "5...,6...,7" and then "8, this is my room" he said to the eighth door then pointed across the hall.

"That is your room". Kaie nodded and then reached for the handle.

But there wasn't one. She heard Max snickering behind her and she turned to face him, her green eyes shooting daggers.

Laughing he said, "There is a panel on the wall to your right. Touch it and you are in. Oh yeah I'm supposed to tell you the rules. O.K. here goes...

Electricity is turned off at 1 am until 5am, basically so that Em will sleep. She always is on her computer and will forget what time it is. If you need to go to the bathroom just know that the light will last only ninety seconds so make it quick.

All invited friends must be passed through my mom

No trashing your room, and it must be clean on Fridays for the housekeeper

No blading in your room

And that is it ... Just unpack a bit and then I'll knock on your door and we will go downstairs and you will meet the rest of the team" and with that Max scanned in and disappeared into his room.

Kaie placed her palm on the scanner and the door slid open to reveal her huge room.

In the corner there was a king-sized bed, its covers a deep royal blue, with at least six pillows. At the end of the bed there was an oak desk, pencils and paper piled neatly on top. To her left there was another desk, this one with a computer atop it. Kaie was no computer genius, but the computer looked more than state-of-the-arc to her.

An oak dresser was placed along the same wall as the desk, next to what looked to be a closet. Kaie headed for that to unload the few clothes that she had.

Max, Mr. D, and herself had borrowed, pinched and stole from mostly Max's and Hillary's collection of clothing, with Hillary being a main contributor. Hillary said she had too many clothes and so she gave three shirts and three pairs of pants to the cause.

In total she had four pairs of pants, four shirts, three hoodies, one of Kai's scarves (he had ten!), and one bandanna. Max's mom said that they would do some major shopping once she was here, and not to worry. Kaie was planning to give all the clothing back once she had her own.

The closet was the size of normal room, it's hangers all empty. Kaie noted the other door in the room and found it to be a giant bathroom. It was big enough to have twenty people in at one time.

There was a knock on the door, that Kaie answered, and she found it to be Max. They both walked back down the long hall together and into the kitchen where Judy, Michael, and Emily greeted her, along with another face she didn't know. Judy noticed the pointed look that she was giving the other kid and so she said,

"That is Joel. He is our spare and will also help out Emily with her research." Kaie nodded and shook his hand and they all sat down to a mug of hot chocolate and cookies.

Judy waited for everyone to be silent before she spoke. "Today is Monday. School starts in one week. You will be at school till Christmas, boarding, then we will immediately begin training for the American tournament, this year being hosted by the Blood Knights, to take place in February.

The Blood Knights are a new team, but they are rumored to be powerful. No one has ever faced them, but ... what I mean is that on record they have never faced them. We are still trying to find out about them. Any questions?"

She was answered with silence so she continued. "Emily, Joel and I have managed to get the computer system up and running, and the database is current, with videos and stats."

The whole team nodded then Michael said "I challenge Max to a Bey-battle. Do you except my challenge?" Max nodded and the two of them led the way to the training room.

Max muttered to Kaie "arena, not room" and they entered a full sized blading arena. There were the four smaller dishes stationed around the central dish, which was regulation size.

The two of them took their places and waited of the signal. 3-2-1 Let it rip!!!!!!

Both blades flew through the air, landing in the dish, both wasting no time to attack. The first battle ended in Michael's favour, the second in Max's favour and the third in a Draw.

Then Michael approached Kaie and said "I challenge you to a Bey-battle. Do you except?" Kaie nodded and stepped up to the dish.

Kaie smiled. Michael was in for it.

Big time.

They took their places...