Okay, so here's my sequel to 'Going through Hell to get to Heaven'. This one is much longer, but it ties up one loose end, which is mentioned in the very first paragraph.

A lot of flashbacks take place before the time of the original Bakugan series. My guess is that Alpha, Beta, and Delta cities were already established, and that they were moved when New Vestroia was colonized, so everything inside the cities was the same, geographically speaking.

Here are some review replies:

LusciousRaspberries: Well, now you don't have to wait any longer.

Unlisted: Aw, I never thought I'd actually make anyone cry.

Lou: Trust me, your wish might come true! :)

Lollipop!~: I totally agree with you. I tried searching for some, but there wasn't even a page's worth!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Bakugan, or any of its characters. But I do own Jayme (pronounced: Jamie), Kiera, Doyle, Miranda, Schuyler, Brandon, and Kyli. Pretty much all of Ace's family, old friends, and one of the people he loathes and despises.

WORD COUNT: 1706

Why? That was the question Ace had been asking himself since he woke up in the hospital. Why did he have to go through this hell? Sure, he'd broken into a government laboratory, but it was a corrupt government. And even though he knew the security guards didn't see it that way, there was no reason for that one to beat him within an inch of his life.

He'd kept asking that over and over again in his mind. Why, why, why? He never brought this up with anyone, but he knew some of them, if not all of them, were wondering the same thing, too. They only talked about it when he was asleep, or when they thought he was asleep. No one could come up with an answer, besides the fact that the guard in question was a sadist. That one did make sense, as Ace had a broken arm, broken leg, broken ribs, two crushed hands, three missing teeth, and a pair of black eyes to prove it. The only thing everyone did admit to him was that his survival was nothing short of a miracle.

A week later, the arm was the only thing that hadn't healed. While his other bones had only been cracked, that one had been snapped completely in half. That, and of course his teeth weren't going to grow back. After this had all passed, they would probably be the brunt of Dan's bad jokes, though at least they'd all been back teeth, so their absence wasn't obvious. Ace was currently in bed right now, trying to get to sleep. His pain medication was slowly making him drowsy, but it still took forever. Shun said the incident had probably made him too paranoid to sleep with both eyes shut. In truth, Ace was a little scared. The entire hour of torture revisited him in his dreams every time. Worst of all was the sound of breaking glass. With that noise came the memory of the first injury he'd received that day (getting shoved through a window), and that triggered memories of the later, much worse ones.

He heard the door open, but didn't bother to open his eyes. It was just probably one of his teammates, coming in to check up on him. Ever since he'd gotten out of the hospital, they had been constantly checking to make sure he was all right.

"Ace?" Sure enough, Mira was in the room. He'd know her soft voice anywhere. "Ace, you... um... have a couple visitors."

Slowly, Ace opened his eyes, and immediately wished he hadn't. Standing there with Mira was the last person he wanted to see. "What do you want, Jayme?" he muttered bitterly.

His brother glared back at him. "What?" he replied, "Can't a guy visit his little brother when he's in pain?"

"You're enjoying this. I know you are."

"Ace!" His second guest, so small he hadn't noticed her before, ran up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. Ace couldn't help but smile. This was the one person he'd regretted leaving behind.

"Kiera!" His little sister looked at him with her hopeful grey eyes. "Hey, I missed you." A sudden wave of dizziness came over him as he sat up, and he groaned involuntarily. Kiera's smile vanished.

"What's wrong?"

"It's okay. I'm just a little tired. You don't have to worry about me."

Kiera noticed his cast. "What happened to your arm?"

"Uh... I just fell. It'll be fine." As his head started spinning, Ace was forced to lie down again.

"He needs rest right now," he heard Mira telling Jayme and Kiera, "We should probably let him sleep."

That was all he heard before drifting into his nightmare.

The sound of shattering glass was the first thing that told him he was asleep. It just wouldn't stop. He saw it again; something coming at his right side out of the corner of his eye, slamming into him and hurling him through the glass wall. Everything was in slow motion. The jagged shards flew by him, some embedding themselves in his body. He kept falling, down, down, down. The rest of the Resistance were floating in mid-air as he plummeted past them. Each of them reached out to catch him, but they vanished into the darkness before he could grasp their hands. Then the blood-spattered floor of the interrogation room became visible below him, getting closer and closer until...

He woke up in a cold sweat that stuck his t-shirt to his chest. Looking around, he pinched himself to be sure that he was awake. Ow. He was. Outside his window, the sun had moved a considerable distance. It was around sunset, now.

Slowly, Ace got out of bed and left his room. He was still exhausted, but he would rather deal with that than go through another nightmare.

Dan, Shun, Marucho, Mira, and Baron were all outside, eating supper. Ace was disgusted to see that Jayme was with them, too. Kiera, who was sitting next to her eldest brother, was the first to notice him. She got up, ran over, and hugged his legs, the highest she could reach. "Did ya sleep good?" she asked him.

"Mm-hm," he lied, "But I'm glad you're still here." He knelt down and put her in a playful headlock with his good arm. "I missed having you around."

"Me, too."

"I survived fine, thanks for asking," Jayme's rough voice interrupted them. Ace glared at him. "Little bro, we need to talk."

Ace reluctantly let go of Kiera and followed his brother into the transport. They stopped in the hallway, and Jayme leaned up against the wall.

"Okay, so what's this all about?" Ace snapped. Not that he didn't appreciate seeing his little sister again, but Jayme was a completely different story. They'd never quite gotten along as kids, and his indifference to the Bakugans' plight had been the last straw. "I know you're not worried about me. Why are you really here?"

"You always did know me too well. Look, I'm not here because of your little accident, but-"

"I wouldn't call it an accident. Or little, for that matter." Ace gestured to his arm in its sling. "This is barely the tip of the iceberg."

"Whatever. It's not the reason I'm here. Yesterday, I got an e-mail from some guy who said he knew Mom and Dad." Ace's eyes widened. The brothers hadn't mentioned their parents in a long time. Well they answered whenever Kiera had questions about them, but never discussed Mom and Dad with each other. "He told me where to find you, and that if you know what's good for you, you'll leave the Resistance."

"What? No! There is no way I'm abandoning my friends."

"I knew you'd say that. And so did the guy who e-mailed me. He said he has info on what happened to Mom and Dad. If you don't go through with this, we'll never find out. Ever. Oh, and he said the rest of your little team can't know anything about this."

Ace sighed, closing his eyes and leaning against the wall. What to do? Family or friends? Mom and Dad or Mira and the Resistance? "I don't know."

"Well, you'd better decide soon. I've got only a few minutes to send back a reply."

Ace's eyes snapped open. "So you wait until now to tell me this?"

"Hey, I'm not the one who decided to take a three-hour nap. Look, just make up your mind."

Five minutes later, Ace had packed everything he could, and headed for Jayme's car, which was parked right outside the transport. "Hey, Ace!" Dan called to him, "Where ya going?"

Ace sighed. "I'm leaving the Resistance," he replied regretfully.

"WHAT?" The others immediately stood up and ran over. "Why?!"

"I can't say why, it's a family thing, but I don't have a choice. Believe me, guys, this is the last thing I want to do. But I have to go home."

Dan, Marucho, and Baron stared at him in shock, Shun's expression was unreadable, and Mira... Mira looked like she was about to cry at any minute. She took him by the hand gently. "Okay," she whispered, "We'll miss you." Ace felt a deep, stabbing pain in his heart. Mira was the last person he wanted to leave behind.

"I'll miss you, too." Mira hugged him one last time before letting him climb into the passenger seat of the car. Jayme was already behind the wheel, and Kiera was in the back. Jayme started up the car, and Ace stared at his friends in the mirror as they disappeared behind him.

Dan angrily kicked at the table, regretting it when he stubbed his toe. "How could Ace leave us like that?" he cried, hopping on one foot.

"Calm down, Master Dan," Baron advised him, "You heard what he said. He doesn't have a choice, and he can't tell us why."

"But it's just so sudden! It probably has something to do with whatever Jayme had to say to him."

"Obviously," Shun agreed, "Ace did say it was family stuff. He wouldn't go unless it was something so important he couldn't say no. We just have to hope he'll be able to come back someday."

"Yeah, but who knows when that'll be? Tomorrow, next week, next year? We can't wait forever!"

"Look," Mira's commanding tone silenced everyone around her, "Even though we're down one member, it doesn't mean our objective has changed. It's just going to be a little trickier. What we need to do now is try to figure out a new plan to take down the Beta City Dimension controller." She turned and walked back into the transport, not saying another word.

I've been working on this for ages, and since my other stories are kind of going nowhere (or at least the one that should've been published last Saturday but isn't even finished) I figured I would put this much up.