Formerly titled "Of Wedlock"
After doing what every fan of anything would have eventually done (that is, creating the offspring of my characters and their romance interests/namely the next generation of Brawlers who can all be viewed on my deviantart with links on my profile), I thought about writing a story about them. The problem was, what kind of story?
And a while later, a movie that I personally enjoyed popped up on the television: "What a Girl Wants" with Amanda Bynes. You can say what you want about that movie, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, plus I have a soft spot for Amanda Bynes because I sort of grew up on her. So this movie was largely the inspiration for this fanfiction.
So, just a little background information: All the Brawlers are adults and have kids, etc. The events of Gundalian Invaders happens like it did in the official series and unlike my fanfiction "Spread Your Wings," Sora does not join the Brawlers in going to Neathia to fight. As such, she and Ren never made up. Also, Gundalian Invaders takes place when they're about in their 20s. Also, here's some background info on my characters. I'm sure most of you are already familiar with Ayden and Sora so I won't have to talk about them.
Soren Minamoto/Krawler: Sora's half-Human half-Gundalian, 13 year old son. He is a Darkus battler, but has no Guardian Bakugan. He is best friends with Shin and Chichi. He runs away from home to search for the father he's never known: Ren Krawler.
Daniel "DJ" Kuso Jr.: Son of Dan and Runo, DJ is the 12 year old leader of the Brawlers next gen. He is a Pyrus battler and is partnered with Drago. He is hotheaded like his father and stubborn like his mother. His best friends are Shin and Chichi and he is completely oblivious to Bailey's crush on him.
Shuichi "Chichi" Marukura: Shuichi, commonly referred to by his friends as "Chichi," is Marucho's 11 year old nephew. Chichi is a tactical genius and an Aquos battler partnered with Preyas. He is usually the one to come up with plans and strategies.
Bailey Gilbert: Daughter of Billy and Julie, Bailey is a 12 year old party cowgirl and Subterra battler partnered with Hammer Gorem. She is all about having a great time and is very optimistic. She has a huge crush on DJ.
Shin Kazami: Shin is the 13 year old half-Human half-Vestal son of Shun and Ayden and a trained ninja. He acts much like his father but is more than willing to help his friends. He is particularly close with DJ and Soren. He is a Ventus battler partnered with Taylean and approaches the game with caution, analyzing his opponents before striking. He is often left to babysit his little sisters and although he voices his displeasure, he loves his sisters dearly and will do anything to protect them.
Shiori and Shizuka Kazami: Commonly referred to as "the twins," Shiori and Shizuka are the half-Human half-Vestal, 9 year old twin daughters of Shun and Ayden and are named after their grandmothers. Shiori, the more confident and outgoing twin, is a Ventus battler and uses Master Ingram and Shadow Wing while Shizuka, the quiet and shyer twin, is a Haos battler and uses Beast King Azreal and Maelstrom. The twins rarely fight on their own and are nearly unstoppable as a tag team. They love tagging along with their brother Shin and playing with him. Aside from Shin, the twins are very close with Soren, both due to their mothers' friendship and the fact that they are all half alien.
So, knowledge about the above characters is not required as this story is mostly about Ren, Sora and Soren, but I thought it would be nice if you guys had a little bg info on them before reading this story. Pictures on deviantart.
Also, should I throw in the political stuff that was in the movie? If you don't know, in the movie, Amanda Bynes' character (Daphne)'s dad is like a British noble running for office and is engaged to a stuck up woman (with an equally stuck up daughter) who both try to get with of Daphne and ruin her chances of bonding with her dad. Should I also do something like that? Because without it, I find that this story will be stuck very quickly. Let me know what you think.
I do not own Bakugan, only Sora, Soren, Lex, Nessie and the Next Gen Brawlers. This fic is not associated with Bakugan.
Soren's POV
My name is Soren Minamoto. I'm a Gundalian, well, only half Gundalian really. I'm also half human. My real appearance is my Gundalian form, but I can disguise myself to look like a human. My mom and her friends are always reminding me that people still don't know about other aliens like Vestals, Gundalians and Neathians so I have to stay in my human form when we're out in public. But I can be in my real form whenever we're alone or among family and friends. It's honestly more refreshing to be in my true form. I don't like having to hide my real appearance.
My friend Shin and his little sisters are so lucky. They're all half Vestal. But since Vestals are so similar looking to humans, nobody can tell that they're half aliens.
All my life, my mom was the only family I knew. That is, if you don't count the incredibly close knit-ness of the Brawlers. My mom was a member back in the day, but she doesn't battle anymore. The Brawlers are still really close with each other and as a result, so are their kids, myself included.
But back to my story…Ever since I was born, it's just been me and my mom, Sora. We live close to the city and near her friends above an old, failed Italian restaurant, which my mom also bought and turned into a music store/cafe. She sells all sorts of things: CDs, instruments, pretty much anything related to music, plus she bakes all sorts of pastries and coffee. From what I know, music was another passion of hers, aside from Bakugan. She would've made it big in the music industry…but something prevented her from doing so.
Mom was a tough lady…she always put up a strong exterior, but I could see that she was depressed. It wasn't because she hated me. Mom loved me more than anything, something she made very clear to me just about every day. She thought she was hiding her unhappiness from me well, but I could see what was really going on. But I could never figure out what the cause of it was.
Maybe it had something to do with my dad. I had asked about him a couple times, but it seemed like she didn't want to talk about him. Every time I brought him up, she'd cast her eyes down sadly and tell me that she had a headache and needed to lie down. The first time I asked about him, she locked herself in her room for the rest of the night. I thought I should leave her alone, but when I went to check on her, I pressed my ear to her door and I could've sworn I heard her crying. I could see that it pained her to even think about it, so I just dropped the issue. Mom had enough to worry about and I didn't want to unnecessarily add to it.
"Soren! Hurry up, or you'll be late for school!" I looked up from my bowl of cereal and saw Plezira, one of my mom's Guardian Bakugan. Most of my friends got their Bakugan from their parents and Mom often offered to pass Leviathan and/or Plezira down to me. But I declined; to be honest I didn't really feel like an Aquos battler…
"Sorry, Nessie. I was just distracted," I replied, finishing up my cereal.
"Better hurry up kid, Shin's outside so don't keep him waiting," said Leviathan, Mom's other Guardian Bakugan.
"Thanks, Lex." I dumped my spoon and empty bowl into the sink and grabbed my school bag. As I raced down the stairs, I changed into my human appearance. "Bye, Mom!" I waved, racing out of her music store.
"Have a great day at school, Soren! I'll see you when you get back," she yelled back.
"Morning, Shin. Morning, girls," I greeted to Shin and his sisters. Shin and his sisters, Shizuka and Shiori, were Shun and Ayden Kazami's kids. Ayden was from Vestal but she moved here to be with Shun. Shin and I were both 13, the eldest of the Brawlers, but he was a couple months younger than me while his sisters were 9 years old. Shin has green hair like his mom and orange eyes like his dad. The twins on the other hand have black hair. Shiori has green eyes while Shizuka has silver eyes. It was honestly the only way to tell them apart. All three of them had the signature 'hair antenna' that Mr. Kazami had.
"Morning Soren," greeted Shin and the twins.
"Come on, I've made us late enough already," I said. We started walking towards school, the girls running on ahead of us.
"Were you asking about your dad again?" asked Shin.
"No, just thinking about him today," I replied. "I see the way it hurts Mom whenever I bring him up."
"Hey! Don't wander too far ahead! I want you to stay in my line of sight!" shouted Shin to the girls as they ran ahead of us. "Man, those two are always getting into trouble. And guess who has to get them out of it?" he asked in annoyance.
I chuckled. "You should count yourself lucky, Shin. I'd kill to have siblings. It sucks being an only child."
"That's what my dad always says. I think that's why he always wanted a lot of kids," said Shin. "But I guess you're right. Being an only child would be pretty lonely and as annoying as they are, I do love those girls," smiled Shin with pride.
"So is your dad coming to 'Career Day'?" I asked, trying to change the subject.
"Yeah, it's going to be so cool! He's going to show off all his ninja skills!" exclaimed Shin, doing some punches. Mr. Kazami was a ninja and he even started training Shin and the girls.
I looked down sadly. I was honestly really jealous of Shin and my other friends, DJ, Bailey and Shuichi, but we call him Chichi. We were all really close friends since our parents were the Battle Brawlers. They all had something I longed for…a father. I never knew my dad. I didn't even know his real name! I asked Uncle Dan, Shun and Marucho about him, but they said they promised Mom that they wouldn't tell me.
But I had a right to now, right? He was my father and I was his son, so I should get to know who he is! I should at least get to know his name and what he looked like!
"Dude, you ok?" asked Shin. He saw my sad expression and quickly added, "Oh Soren, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"
"No, it's ok. Don't worry about it."
"Well, can't your mom come?" Shin asked.
"Nah, she's got to run the store. But it's fine. I don't expect her to cut work just for 'Career Day'," replied Soren.
We finally made it to school where I tried to figure out what to do. Ask Mom about my dad one last time? Or leave her to her pain and never know?
So, how was that for a first chapter? I wrote this a couple months ago but didn't want to publish it because it would add yet another story on my list to work on. So I waited until I finished a story before publishing this.
Please tell me what you guys think! I really put a lot of work into this!
Review! ~ZP