While they unpacked, Tyson flopped onto Steph's new bed and told them about his time in America.
"It was awesome! Judy showed me the new beyblade designs the PPB are working on. And I got to hang out with the All Starz - Michael and Rick are going to be tough to beat at the next World Championships."
"My money is on Emily being tougher than both of them," Steph said. "Robert and Johnny were pretty impressive in the British Open last year."
"Don't let Johnny hear you say that," Becky said as she unceremoniously tossed some socks into the wardrobe. "It'll go straight to his head."
"Yeah but Robert is the best in Europe, I can't wait for a rematch with him either!" Tyson said. He jumped in surprise when Steph heaved her suitcase onto the bed next to him. "How was England, by the way?"
"Cold," she replied as she rummaged through the suitcase for her toiletries. "But it was good to spend some time with my dad."
Marcus Summers was a Law professor at Oxford University. He spent most of the year flying back and forth to Rome to see his daughters, so last year Steph had enrolled in a summer course at the University. She'd even met a boy there - not that she was going to tell Tyson about that!
Successfully locating the pink and blue makeup bag that contained her toothbrush and other personal items, she asked. "Which one was the bathroom again?"
"Third door on the left."
Mumbling her thanks, she headed downstairs, where Tyson had cleared a drawer for the two girls to share. On her way, a collection of frames on the wall caught her attention and she stopped to inspect them closer.
Grandpa had framed newspaper cuttings that dated back to the very beginnings of Tyson's beyblading career. The first frame was from the Japanese Nationals five years earlier, where Tyson had defeated Kai for the first time. In the picture, a twelve year old Tyson was holding a small trophy and wore a grin from ear to ear.
The following articles depicted each of the Bladebreakers achievements that followed in that year, their championship wins in China and America, their exhibition match against the Majestics and the World Championships in Russia. Newer articles and photos chronicled the BBA Revolution's journey around the world in their third Championship. She was just reading the article from the BEGA tournament when a door at the end of the hallway opened and Hiro Granger stepped out.
"I thought I heard a commotion over suitcases," he said, a hint of humor in his voice. "Am I being overly ambitious expecting Tyson and Becky to get along while living under the same roof?"
"Only if you don't adhere to the bathroom schedule," Steph advised him.
Hiro chuckled. "That might be easier said than done." He turned to the wall. "So you found Grandpa's Hall of Fame?" he said. He pointed to one of the frames. This frame was even older and dustier than the one from Nationals, and the newspaper was yellowed with age. The headline read; Small town teenager wins Japanese Beyblade Championships. The picture depicted a thirteen year old Hiro Granger, wearing the blue and white cap he'd handed down to Tyson. The year was dated 1997.
"This is mine," he said, and there was a hint of nostalgia in his voice. "Back then, the BBA was only a few years old, and we didn't make as many headlines as the Bladebreakers did. The WBBA didn't exist back then either, so there was no international competition."
"Really?" she asked, surprised. The World Beyblade Battle Association was the international governing body of Beyblading - they organised the World championships.
Hiro shook his head. "Nope," he said. "That was all Dickenson's doing in the coming years. He approached Secretary Douglas of the PPB and the heads of the European and Asian Leagues to create the WBBA."
"Was this the last year you competed?" she asked curiously.
He nodded, and his smile faded. "Mom died shortly after. I think Grandpa is still a bit disappointed I retired after that."
"Grandpa has always been our biggest fan," she reminded him. "Oh - this one is new."
The ink on the final article hadn't faded yet and it was dated a mere twelve months earlier following the exhibition match with BEGA. There was no trophy in this photo, but an older Tyson still wore that same grin from the first photo, his fist pumped triumphantly into the air. Max and Kenny stood with him as always, both of them smiling, but this time they were joined in a huddle by Ray and Steph. Beside them, Kai stood with his arm around Becky's shoulders. While Becky looked as ecstatic as her teammates, the Russian wore what Steph could only describe as a sad smile - he had lost Dranzer only hours earlier.
In the middle of the photo was a newcomer, clearly younger than the rest of the team, and, standing next to Steph, he barely reached her shoulder. The younger boy was Daichi Sumeragi - the only member of the former G Revolutions who hadn't accepted the scholarship to Bakuten Academy this year.
The smile on Hiro's face faded completely, and Steph wondered if his role as BEGA's coach was still a touchy subject for him. "Think we can do it all over again?" she asked, jabbing her thumb towards the photo.
"That is the idea," he said. Then he shrugged and changed the subject. "Now what do you say I bring that bookshelf up for you?"
It had taken a combined effort from all three Grangers to move the heavy bookshelf up from the garage. Steph arranged the small collection of books she had brought with her on the plane on the shelves and squeezed her clothes into the wardrobe while Becky's suitcases spilled out over the floor.
The rain set in around dinner time and Grandpa made ramen, one of Steph's favourites, along with an array of home made dumplings. Halfway through the meal, the conversation turned to the European Beyblade Championships - a conversation Steph had been keen to avoid if she could.
"We watched all of your matches," Tyson told Steph eagerly while they ate. "You really gave Enrique a hard time in the final, it was a shame you lost the last round."
Becky stabbed at the shoots of black fungus in her bowl. "Enrique got lucky," she said bluntly. "Steph had a much tougher draw than he did." There was a degree of truth to Becky's words. The two girls had faced off in the quarter-finals of the Chamnpionship. Steph had won the match by the skin of her teeth, only to have to face Oliver in the semi-finals.
"I had to do some last minute repairs to Seraphina after my match with Oliver," Steph explained. "Becky and I tweaked the attack ring a bit between matches. I thought the extra defense might work in my favour, but Amphyllion was too tough for me."
Becky's beyblade was built for endurance, whereas Steph used a slightly more balanced attack and stamina type beyblade, which gave her the slightest upper hand against her younger cousin. Enrique's beyblade, Amphyllion, was built purely for strength, and it's overwhelming attack power had proven challenging even for Tyson to defeat.
"It was a good strategy," Hiro commented. "You'll do better if you play to your strengths, but I think your nerves got the better of you the longer the match went on."
Steph poked at her noodles. "I've never actually beaten him before," she admitted. The loss had been her fourth championship loss to Enrique in as many years, and the sting of it hadn't worn off just yet.
"Well, we have the year ahead to plan for your rematch," Hiro offered. "And Becky, we can work on your defence; having an endurance style beyblade is no excuse for neglecting it."
"Don't take it personally," Tyson said when Becky looked offended. "Hiro thinks everyone has been slacking off since the last championships."
"I certainly haven't seen you out practicing much," Hiro reminded him.
Tyson stabbed at his dumpling rather violently and it toppled over the rim of the plate and onto the table. "I don't need to practice; I'm the world champion, remember?"
"The Under 18's is a much tougher competition than the Junior division," Hiro countered. "The team that won the championships last year did so by beating Kane and Salima of the Psykicks."
The dumpling Steph reached for slipped through her chopsticks. "I read about them. They were called the Shell Killers [1]. Do we know anything more about them?" she asked.
"Only that they're representing the JBO," Hiro answered.
"What's that?" Becky asked.
"The Japanese Beyblade Organisation," Steph explained. She'd googled them on the flight over. Apart from the BBA, there were a few other independant companies that produced beyblade equipment. Hiwatari Enterprises and Zagart Industries also produced beyblade parts on a small scale, but Steph hadn't even heard of the JBO before their team won last year's competition.
"The team was They've made some line up changes from last year though, so I don't know who the beybladers are. They'll be are main competition in the upcoming tournament."
"So what if they beat the Psykicks," Tyson said nonchalantly. "Kane is a good beyblader but I've already beaten him twice before. And I don't expect much of a challenge from a bunch of nobodies."
As though Grandpa could sense an argument between the two brother beginning to brew, he hastily changed the subject. "Let's not forget you're also here for school," he said. "Tyson tells me your sister is teaching at the Academy this year."
"English and Literature," Steph answered.
"Is she staying in the city?" Hiro asked. The mention of her older sister seemed to have distracted him from his argument with Tyson perfectly. Hiro and Daisy had met briefly in Italy for the European leg of the last World Championships.
Steph shook her head. "She has an apartment on campus. They even let her bring our dog."
The conversation drifted back to more neutral territory after that, but Steph could see that Grandpa was carefully to steer the conversation away from any mention of the tournament or training for the rest of the evening. Steph had a funny feeling it was something he'd had good practice at over the last few months.
"Was it just me, or did it get a little bit tense there between you and Hiro?" Steph asked while they did the dishes. "Are you two okay after…" she trailed off, unsure how to proceed.
Tyson shrugged. The water sloshed dangerously close to the rim as he piled more plates into the sink. "After he jumped ship to BEGA and helped Boris with his insane takeover?" The sound of cutlery scraping violently against the china plates suggested the animosity between the two brothers hadn't dissolved entirely.
"Yeah … that." Steph rescued the plates from his hands and loaded them into the dishwasher before one of them cracked.
"We're okay, I guess," he said, though there was a hesitation behind his words. "We haven't really talked about it to be honest."
"I'm sure he had his reasons," Steph said quietly. At least, that's what she'd been telling herself since Dickenson had reinstated Hiro as coach. She decided to change the subject. "Did Kai say much in his email?"
Tyson shrugged. "It's Kai - the email basically said, I'll see you at school. I'd figured if anyone was going to hear from him after he left it would be you or Bec."
Steph looked up to see Becky sitting on the couch next to Hiro while watching anime on the TV. Grandpa had made them chocolate ice cream for dessert. Months after his initial disappearance, Steph had received an email from Tala letting her know Kai had made his way to Russia and that the two of them were going to look for Kai's bitbeast, Dranzer.
"No," she said. "We haven't heard anything from him since he left for Russia." She sighed. "He said he needed time. Maybe he thought it'd be easier."
"Sounds like Kai," Tyson muttered, and it was only then that Steph realised how hard Kai's disappearance had been on the rest of her team. "Do you think they found her?" he asked. "Dranzer, I mean."
Steph shrugged. She didn't know if it was possible to find a bitbeast once it had been set free of its beyblade, but if it was she certainly didn't expect it to be an easy find.
[1] The Shell Killers is the Japanese name for Kai's original team, here Steph is alluding to the eventual reappearance of the Bladesharks