Title: Live and Let DYE

Summary: After finding a bottle of hair dye, Shadow uses it for an evil purpose of his…

Recipient: KurohimePhantomLord

Note: This is actually a request from one of my BFFs.. she's also a really good writer; check out her work! I was pondering on how did Spectra/Keith turned his hair blond and we talked about it for a bit… this is the result. It's pretty random. The title's inspired by a James Bond movie, by the way.

It all started with a discovery.

Shadow was assigned by Professor Clay to collect metal parts for a mechanical bakugan he was working on for Lync. Apparently, the place where the scientist usually bought material for his experiments was currently facing a strike from its workers, something about wanting more pay and demanding less work hours. The metal that was supposed to be delivered to him ended up delayed, since the strike made it harder to ship off their products (the rebels blocked off all roads and air connections). So until the strike was over, Professor Clay had no choice but to use whatever metal bits he could find and create them into new metal for the synthetic creation, no matter what kind of metal he ended up with.

So far, the Darkus brawler was carrying outdated computer circuitry, dented metal bottles, a few rusty gears, and a few malfunctioning spears from the palace guards. They were heavy to carry, but hey, he had worse. He would've just shoved the dirty work to Mylene, but he was promised by the professor that if he did this, he and the other Vexos will have their favourite ice-cream for dessert. And that was saying something since they could have any kind of ice-cream they wanted! Shadow would never turn down a sweet offer like that, so without a complaint, he did the task in hand. It wasn't actually that bad, and he got a lot of excess metal. He was just about to head back to the lab full of the heavy junk when he found a spare room with its door half-open. He went inside and found that it was full of empty boxes and excess nuts and bolts.

"Haha, score~!" He laughed victoriously; he just found some new scrap metal and a box to carry them in. This was a huge win for him. Finding an empty cardboard box to store the metallic trinkets in, he managed to hold it in ease, though it made his hands feel even fuller than before. Wobbling here and there as he took a step, he struggled to focus on the way back to the lab. Halfway to his destination, however, he spotted something gold sticking out the box he was carrying. He set the box down, took out the golden object, and examined it.

"It looks like it said 'Hair Dye'…" Shadow murmured to himself. And it wasn't just any hair dye; it was BLOND hair dye. How was it here, he doesn't know, but what was it doing here in the first place? There weren't many blondes around in the palace, except for Prince Hydron, but the dye colour looked wayyy lighter than the royal brat's blanched blonde. It actually reminded him of champagne or bottled sunlight..

"What the hell am I supposed to do with this?!" He then yelled at the bottle in his hand. It did nothing, but the colour kept catching his eye. Of course, Shadow had options; he could either 1. Return it to the spare room, 2. Carry it around with him, or 3….

His eyes then strayed towards the nearest door, which was a bathroom. Steam came out of the door, which meant that the newest leader, Spectra Phantom, was taking a shower. Suddenly, an evil, devious idea came out of the Darkus brawler's crazy mind… he laughed a quiet, insane laugh, his tongue wriggling out as he did so.

Spectra, otherwise known as Keith, was covering his chest and arms in soap, rinsing them with the hot water that came out of the shower. As the brand-new leader of the Vexos, even the most villainous of them all had to stay clean (unless otherwise, when drastic measures were needed). He was almost done cleansing himself though; he just needed to shampoo his hair.

Staring at his reflection shown in the metallic shower head, he was reminded of how much his hair had grown since he started the Vexos. It became about a few inches or two longer than his typical short-length, with his pink locks going straighter and how it had so much volume that he couldn't even flatten it with his comb. If everything, it just grew wilder and wilder, an unusual reaction. It felt strange at first, but he grew to tolerate it, heck, even to actually like it. He actually looked better with this kind of hair; mysterious and lethally alluring, but with an edge.

Running his peachy-pink hair with his fingers, he sighed quietly and grabbed for the shampoo bottle nearby on the shelf.

"Why does the shampoo look…. yellowish?" At first glance, Spectra thought he saw a golden-yellow sheen on the creamy substance on his palm. But then he realized it wasn't there anymore, as it was gone. "Ah, I must be imagining things then…."

He massaged and he laved, he rinsed and repeated, he thoroughly cleaned his head as well as he could. Too bad he didn't realize what just happened to it…

After stepping out of the shower stall, he briskly dried his entire being with a fluffy white towel. Just when he was about to hang the towel back up, he spotted something glistening on the damp fabric… pale gold streaks. Was he leaking gold?

He turned to the mirror; there he was, standing there in the middle of the bathroom with…. blond hair. BLOND HAIR?!

He just stared and stared at his now-blond state in the fogged-up mirror, his brow twitching slightly. But how did it happen? He was sure it was peach-pink earlier, so since when did he become a fake blond? He was sure he shampooed his hair correctly.. or did he? Retrieving for the 'shampoo' again, he opened the cap and sniffed at the contents; it was strong-smelling and as he took a quick look at it, he saw that it was a liquid gold colour.

Hair dye.

Spectra's shampoo was replaced by hair dye.

"Someone must pay…." The Pyrus brawler growled lowly.

But as he examined himself again, he realized that blond hair actually suited him. The way it gleamed in the fluorescent lights, the way it complimented his paling skin, and how it seemed warm and dazzling as the sun, but at the same time, cold and shocking like golden ice. A few stray drops of hot water made it slightly tousled, bringing out a sexier quality. It even looked better compared to his original pink (and that was saying something, since a few Vestals thought pink hair was unmanly) and combining that with his mask, he looked more menacing and deadlier than ever before.

Just when he was about to admire his reflection more, he heard a loud, cackling noise, with a raspberry here and there. It didn't take long for Spectra to put the two and two together.

Hair dye + cackling = SHADOW PROVE

So… it was SHADOW who did this. Even he does not want to get rid of one of the first Vexos yet, that doesn't mean he was forgiven. Yet. He wanted to give Shadow revenge…

"Oh, Helios~"

Sometime later, after the hairdryer was turned off, Spectra peeked out of the bathroom door to find Helios in his true form, chasing after Shadow angrily. He could see the Darkus brawler scream an unmanly scream, running away as fast as he could with bits of scrap metal in his hands.

Spectra just smirked and closed the door.