Chapter 2: Zeo to Hero?

Max glanced at his watch once more before reaching out for the glass bottle that sat on the table. A small ring of water was left behind when the bottle was lifted. Max popped off the cap and took a swig of the iced coffee while letting his eyes move around the crowded airport. As he suspected he was the first to arrive but he didn't expect to have a large window of time to wait in. He didn't want to go to the hotel by himself so he stopped by one of the available food shops around him and got something to drink while he waited and people watched.

No matter where he was or what he was doing he always ended up people watching. People fascinated him for reasons he still couldn't quite figure out. He enjoyed taking the time to make up stories as to where people were going and why they were in a rush. He always did it as a kid, even his parents joined in sometimes. But, for the most part, it was a game his mother had invented for him to play whenever she had to discuss things with his father.

He knew what that really meant so it didn't surprise him in the slightest when they got divorced a few years later. He accepted it but he was still upset about it, knowing that he wouldn't see his father for years at a time once he moved to Japan. Max sighed at the memory. Sometimes it was great being part of both nationalities but other times it was a major drag.

Max tipped his head back and finished his drink, setting it aside as he leaned back in his chair and stretched. The flight left his body slightly achy from sitting in one position for too long. He tried walking around but he was bombarded by people wanting his autograph or to take pictures that he had to hole himself up in a remote corner so no one would recognize him off the bat.

Not that he didn't like when people wanted his autograph or a photo with him. He knew it would easily make someone's day just to hold a normal conversation about the weather with a fan but it got to the point that he could hardly breath and couldn't see past camera flashes that he needed to get away for a little bit and recompose himself. He never knew how hard it was to be a celebrity until now when he got a tiny taste of it and couldn't help but wonder why, exactly, Tyson wanted to live that life.

Max laughed little at the very idea of Tyson on tv show after tv show giving interviews and explaining why he was (arguably) the best beyblader around. He would eat that lifestyle up in the beginning, Max thought, but at the end of the day he was sure his friend would get sick of the attention on him and not the sport or the exposure that he could bring.

Max leaned forward again and stretched his arms across the table, letting out a long sigh. "Geeze, how much longer do I have to wait?" He muttered, looking around the busy terminal once again. "I wonder if their plane was delayed or something. I made sure to time my flight so I got here about the same time as them."

"Heh…do you always talk to yourself out loud, Max?" A timid voice behind him asked.

Max's heart jumped into his throat. He's heard that voice in his dreams, mainly his nightmares, and he didn't think he'd ever forget it. But he had to be imagining it, right? Max placed an arm on the back of his chair and slowly turned around. He had to blink a few times to make sure he wasn't seeing anything but the figure remained where it was.

"Z-Zeo?" Max stuttered.

Zeo gave a very hesitant smile but nodded at Max in acknowledgement. "It's been a while, huh?" He asked, shoving his hands into his pockets and rocked back and forth on his feet lightly.

"Yeah," Max whispered, finally tearing his eyes away from the young boy.

"Look, um, may I sit down?" Zeo asked, moving back into Max's line of sight and motioning to the seat across from him. Max gave a noncommittal shrug and Zeo took that as an opportunity to stay down. Max merely stared at him. He didn't know how else to react. Inside he was burning with anger for what his so-called friend had done but on the outside he remained calm. "Max…I wanted to apologize," Zeo started.

"That's it?" Max asked. "That's all you wanted to say? You apologize?" He lifted his eyebrows. "How did you even know we're here? Are you following us or something?"

"No! No." Zeo shook his head for emphasis and Max couldn't help but notice that his aqua blue hair had been cut right at the base of his long braid. It was strange, to say the least, to see him without his long hair. "I'm here on vacation…with my dad. We're trying this…bonding thing," he explained with a small smile.

"That's nice," Max said quietly, looking out the window at the ocean in the distance. It reminded him of one of Draciel's attacks. He couldn't wait to get his beyblade spinning again.

"Max," Zeo said firmly, getting the blonde's attention. "I wanted to apologize…for taking Draciel from you. And Dranzer from Kai. You have to understand why I did it—"

"I don't…I don't care," Max replied, surprising even himself at how harsh he sounded. Zeo's eyes widened and he looked crestfallen at the same time. "Taking our bitbeasts…for what? Personal gain? Your father? To become more 'real'?" Max let out a breath and shook his head. "That's not right. You knew about Dr. K and the others who were trying to get our bitbeasts. You knew that we had to protect us but you turned on us for your own selfish personal gain. A friend wouldn't do that. No matter what."

"I know, I know," Zeo mumbled, looking down at the table briefly before up at him. "I regret everything that I did, truly. Please, Max, I…I want you to understand. I…I didn't know what else to do. I didn't know how you all would react to the truth that…that I'm…"

"A robot?" Max filled in for him, lifting his eyebrows. Zeo nodded his head. Max wanted to badly to be angry at the kid, to turn his back on him and not hear him out but he couldn't bring himself to be too angry. He knew, deep down, that he should give Zeo the benefit of the doubt but how could he be so sure that his apology was sincere? How did he know for sure that Zeo wouldn't just turn around and take their bitbeasts again in an effort to be the best? You just have to trust him, Max thought with a bit of resignation. "Look, Zeo, we wouldn't have cared if you were…half a horse. We asked you to be on the Bladebreaker team for a reason, you being what you are had nothing to do with it. I don't know why you thought we'd drop you after all that had happened. We're not like that, especially Tyson. We don't let just anyone on our team, y'know."

"I know," Zeo said, his voice barely above a whisper. "And…and I messed it all up. I…I just wanted my dad to be proud of me and see me as…as his son." He lifted his head and Max saw a little flicker of hope in his eyes. "That's why we're here now, to spend some time away from everything and…try to get to know each other I guess. It's a coincidence that we're here, honest. I won't tell my dad I ran into you, he won't have to know."

Max nodded a little. "I think we'd all appreciate that, thank you." Just then he heard some commotion behind him and a large smile formed on his face. There was only one person that could create such a ruckus without even trying too hard.

"I don't see what the big deal is, Hil."

"The big deal, Tyson, is that you made the stewardesses go out of their way just to make you pancakes and you hardly even thanked them for all their trouble!"

"I gave them an autographed picture. What more could they want?"

"I highly doubt any woman would want to hang your gigantic head on their wall."

"Says you!"

"Guys," Max laughed, breaking up the argument that Tyson and Hilary were having. "Please tell me you're not going to fight the entire time we're here," he begged, standing and walking over to greet his friends.

"I'll try not to but you never know about this one," Tyson said as he jerked his thumb over his shoulder and in Hilary's direction. She muttered a string of curse words under her breath as the navy haired blader hugged his blond friend. "Well you're a sight for sore eyes."

"You're one to talk," Max replied, lightly punching Tyson on the shoulder. "You never got that Skype thing working, did you?"

"My computer's as old as Grandpa, of course not. I'll try again when we get back."

"Please do. Whoa! Chief, you actually grew!" Max commented once he rested his eyes on the computer genius. He placed a hand on top of his head and then hovered it over Kenny's head. "You're as tall as I am! Who knew this day would come?"

"I'm sure he's been dreaming about it longer than he's been dreaming about getting a girlfriend," Tyson replied with a good-natured smile as he slapped Kenny's shoulder.

"Tyson, don't help," Crystal commented while shaking her head. The large floppy hat that covered her hair bent with every move.

"Are you on the run?" Max teased, flicking the brim of her hat.

"Have you been shopping with Michael?" She asked with raised eyebrows, lightly pinching the front of his green and orange jersey-like shirt. "I just tend to burn easily," she replied, lifting that hat off her head and then standing on her tiptoes to give him a hug.

"I never noticed 'till now but you do have fairer skin than the rest of the White Tigers," Hilary commented.

"Don't remind me," Crystal mumbled with an eye-roll. "Lee never passed up the opportunity to make fun of me for it."

"Of all the things to make fun of," Kai muttered from where he was leaning against a wall a few feet away.

Max chuckled at his friends' antics, suddenly hit wit a bit of jealous for not having been able to be with them and get in on their jokes but it wasn't as if he were being left out on purpose. Max was about to ask about Ray and the others when he heard Tyson's soft gasp. He blinked over at his navy haired friend and then suddenly remembered who it was that he was just talking to.

"Zeo," Tyson uttered after a few seconds of spluttering. "Wow…what…what are you doing here?" His eyes widened and blinked rapidly a couple of times, as if not believing what he was seeing in front of him. He quickly looked over his shoulder to see his friends' reactions and saw that they were all shocked as well, save for Crystal who was looking out the window at the beach.

"I'm, uh, I'm on vacation with my father," Zeo replied, a light blush from embarrassment dusted his cheeks.

Crystal then turned her eyes to him. "Wouldn't that be a waste of time considering you can't even get in the wa—ow!" She shrieked when Hilary elbowed her hard in the side. "What was that for?" She hissed under her breath.

"You have even worse tact than Tyson sometimes," she sighed.

"I was just wondering how the hell he can even enjoy this vacation if he can't even get in the dang water," Crystal grumbled, rubbing at her ribs. "Geeze, you didn't have to hit me that hard."

"Why don't you go find out when Ray's plane lands?" Hilary asked, widening her eyes in an obvious attempt to get Crystal to understand her subtle gesture. With a heavy sigh and a roll of her eyes Crystal went off to look for flight delays. Honestly! Hilary shook her head and turned to Zeo. "Sorry about her, she's new to our group," Hilary said with a small smile. It dropped almost as soon as she finished her sentence. "Zeo, what're you really doing out here?"

"Wh-what do you mean?" Zeo stammered.

"Oh come on! You just so happen to be out here on vacation with your father when we're here? That's too much of a coincidence," Hilary replied, crossing her arms over her chest and glared at him. "You want their bitbeasts again, right?"

Zeo's eyes widened and he took a step back. "No! Honest! I'm just here with my father on vacation!"

"A likely story! Where's your secret lab hidden? Huh? Under the island that you can only get to by a submarine?"

"Knock it off, Hil," Tyson said while keeping his eyes locked on Zeo.

"Uh…but Tyson, he could be plotting something," Hilary said.

Tyson shook his head and looked at Hilary with the familiar look of determination in his eyes. "No," he replied simply. "If he says that he's not then I believe him."

Zeo rushed forward and grabbed Tyson's hands and started to shake them vigorously. "Thank you, Tyson, thank you!" He gushed.

Tyson gave a little laugh and slapped him on the back. "Hey, we're buds! It's no problem at all. Hey, maybe you'd like to hang out with us. I mean, we're here to celebrate Ray's birthday but I'm sure he wouldn't mind."

"R-really?" Zeo's eyes widened and filled with hope. "I'd like that very much. I mean, only if you guys don't mind," he added quickly, looking at everyone else.

"Of course we don't mind," Tyson replied, ignoring the group behind him. "Do we?" He turned to see everyone's reactions, max, Hilary, and Kenny all muttered something under their breaths. "See? They don't mind. What about you Kai?" He looked across the room to where Kai was still leaning against the wall, perfectly still.

"Hmm…whatever," Kai muttered.

"In Kai speak, that's a sure," Tyson translated for Zeo. "This'll be the best vacation ever!"

"Tyson, don't you think you should've asked Ray first?" Kenny sighed. "After all it is his birthday."

"Ray won't mind," Tyson said with a wave of his hand.

"But Tyson—"

"There's nothing to worry about."

"Tyson—"

"Hey," Crystal interrupted them, rushing over to the group. She paused to push a braid back over her shoulder. "Their plane just landed. Come on!" She said eagerly.

Hilary caught her arm before she took off running, letting Max, Tyson, and Kenny rush ahead of them. "You know, you're surprisingly cheerful to see someone who you've barely said a full sentence to for the past couple of weeks," she noted.

"Hil, when are you going to drop this detective routine?" Crystal demanded, crossing her arms over her chest and walking with the slightly taller girl.

"When I finally get down to why you've been acting so strangely," Hilary replied. "Well, more strangely than usual." Crystal uttered a sarcastic laugh while Hilary smiled a little. "I saw him kiss her," she stated. Instead of looking at her out of the corner of her eye Crystal turned her head and gave Hilary her full attention. "I saw Ray kiss Mariah," she clarified just in case she wasn't being specific enough. "That's why you wanted to leave the Ball early, right? Because you saw them kiss? It'd make sense, why you don't want to talk to either of them."

"What makes sense?" Crystal demanded.

"That you like Ray," Hilary replied. She watched Crystal's face to try and figure out what was going on inside of her head. Her facial muscles wouldn't stick to one expression, however, so it was hard for the brunette to figure out what she was feeling.

"I don't like Ray," Crystal finally replied while shaking her head. Hilary made a sound of disagreement. "I don't," she stressed. "Besides, it's obvious he has some sort of feelings for Mariah."

"What if he doesn't?" Hilary asked.

The Chinese girl shrugged. "Doesn't change the fact that I don't like him. So please, would you drop it Hilary? I just want to relax and not do anything for the next seven days but soak up the sun and sleep."

"You're in denial," Hilary sing-songed.

"I am not because the Nile is in Egypt and I'm all the way here in paradise," Crystal replied with a small shake of her head. "And you, as my personal little rain cloud, cannot bring my mood down." Just then they had reached the gat where the White Tigers were supposed to get off their plane.

As soon as Tyson spotted even the slightest glimpse of Ray he jumped over a row of chairs that stood in his way and almost tackled the raven-haired blader to the ground from the force of his hug. Ray smiled good-naturedly and hugged his friend with equal enthusiasm.

"It's good to see you too, Tyson," Ray laughed while patting his friend on the back. "All of you. I know it's only been a couple of weeks but it felt so much longer," he continued, hugging his friends in turn. He went from Tyson to Max to Hilary to Crystal (whom he was surprised accepted his hug) and then to Kenny while the others greeted the rest of the White Tiger team. Kai stayed a few feet away watching the exchanges of greeting. "Wow! I see the weeks have done you some good," he added once he noticed Kenny. "I have to say I'm truly surprised. So, who's idea was this?"

"Oh, it was—" Max started but paused slightly for Crystal was cutting her hand across her throat and shaking her head while standing behind Ray. Max smiled and replied, "It was all my idea. I heard that you haven't been to an island before and we haven't had a proper vacation in a while so I figured, why not?"

"I really appreciate it, buddy," Ray said. "But all of this must cost a pretty penny."

"Don't worry about it. It's to celebrate your birthday! Just forget it."

"Well, okay."

"I can't believe we're here! I've always wanted to come to the Bahamas. It's so beautiful in person," Mariah gushed as she looked around. A very cat-like smile sat on her lips. "I don't know what I want to do first."

"I suggest checking into a hotel," Hilary replied while laughing. Her laugher quickly faded and was replaced with an expression of wonderment in her eyes. "Where are we staying anyway?"

.:OOO:.

"No way!" Hilary gasped as she stepped out of the limo and gazed up at the tall hotel that towered over her. "We're staying here? We're actually staying here?" She turned to see the others' reactions to make sure she wasn't seeing things. "We're staying at the Atlantis Hotel?"

"Isn't that supposed to be a lost city?" Tyson asked while scratching his head. "Why isn't that under water too?"

"The hotel's named after the lost city Tyson, it's not a part of it," Max corrected him. "Otherwise it'd be very old and we wouldn't be allowed to stay in it."

"Whoa…they have nice hotels in China but this is amazing," Kevin commented as he hopped out of the limo behind everyone else. He lifted his disposable camera to his eye and took a lot of pictures of the surrounding area.

"It's a good thing you have about twenty of those or else you'd run out of film before we even had a chance to do anything," Mariah said while placing a hand on his shoulder. "I can't believe we're staying here."

"Are you going to say that about everything we see and or do while you're here?" Crystal demanded while accepting her bag from the driver and slung it over her shoulder. "It's going to get old fast so I suggest getting the shock and awe over with now."

"Excuse me for not getting much a chance to see outside of China," Mariah grumbled, flicking the end of her ponytail over her shoulder. Her eyes had narrowed into slits and her fangs were bared. She was tired of the snide comments; she had to deal with them the entire ride from the airport to the hotel.

"You're making it seem like I was just granted the opportunity to travel around the world," Crystal snapped without turning around. "No need to be jealous of me about that."

"I'm not—"

"Don't start," Gary spoke up, his voice rumbling deep from within his chest. "We're on vacation. This should be fun. Everybody needs to smile and be happy."

"The big guy has a point," Lee said as he approached his sister. "Just cool it, okay? We're here for Ray."

"Come on, children," Kai grunted, leading the way into the luxurious hotel chain. The group scurried to follow him in. Their mouths fell open as they looked around the vast lobby. Kai went straight up to the check-in desk to get the rooms situated. Kevin scurried around the place taking pictures of anything within his reach.

"Do you guys want to go out to eat or do you want to order room service?" Crystal asked while looking over a menu. "I don't know about you but the jetlag is killing me and I'd rather order in."

"I want to go out," Tyson replied.

"Kai's paying for everything," Crystal reminded him.

"We'll stay in and order Chinese!"

"We're staying in the East Wing of the Royal Towers, 12th Floor," Kai announced, coming back to the group and tossed the other room keys carelessly. "I'm getting my own room. I don't care who rooms with whom but Grandpa advised me that he doesn't want to hear of anyone 'shaking it up and making babies'."

"Why didn't Grandpa come, Tyson?" Ray asked as he picked up a key.

"I asked him not to," Tyson replied. The others gave him shocked looks. "What? He would've embarrassed me around the island girls! I don't want him to ruin my reputation! He'll be fine. He doesn't like the beach anyway."

"Okay, so, it'll be Ray and Lee, Kevin and Gary, Max, Tyson, and Kenny, and the girls and I. Is that fine with everyone?" Hilary asked while picking up a key. She directed her question at the two girls who were looking anywhere but at each other however the other boys nodded to confirm the arrangements.

Without waiting, Kai took off for the elevator and managed to get inside and have the doors close before Tyson reached him. They took different elevators up to their floor and went into their rooms. While Hilary and Mariah oohed and awed over the lavish furniture and accessories Crystal went straight into the bedroom to claim a bed. She mentally screamed in frustration before choosing the larger bed by the window.

"Hey Hil, do you mind sharing?" Crystal asked while digging into her bag.

"No," Hilary yelled back. "Come out here and see the view! We can see the aquarium all the way down by the café!"

"I'll be there in a second," Crystal replied. She retreated her hand from her bag and pulled out a small book of phone numbers. She flipped a page to one that she had jotted down in her hurry to catch the plane and memorized it while reaching for the phone. She put the book back and dialed the number, waiting for the dial tone to sound in her ear. Finally someone picked up on the other end.

"Hello?" A tired and slightly gruff voice answered.

"It's me. We've made it to the island. Everyone's here," Crystal whispered, glancing at the door every now and then.

"Oh, good, you got arrived right on time then," the speaker said, sounding wide awake now. "Everything go well?"

"As planned. He doesn't suspect a thing."

"Good. Thank you. I'll see you in a few days. Thank you, once again. Goodbye."

"Goodbye, Mr. Hiwatari."

A/N: I didn't plan on taking this long to update but I had projects and papers shoved down my throat as soon as Spring Break ended, but here I am now. I'm trying something out with scene changes because adding a line in for a page break is starting to get on my nerves. The poll responses I have so far are interesting and making me consider changing what I had planned for Crystal. Thanks so much for being patient everyone. Please read and review.

~C.M.