Bakugan: Incident N

It has been a year since the Bakugan and the brawlers parted ways after the defeat of Naga and Hal G and the restoration of balance to Vestroia. Since all of the Bakugan left, there was fear that the Brawler culture would die that day. However, Marucho's company quickly saw an opportunity in this vacuum and generated a simply made material version of this game with plastic figures and cards (One which you might be familiar with). It lacked the glitz and glam of the phenomenal cosmic powers that spawned the original game, but it was enough to keep the Brawler network going and of course was quite profitable for Marucho's company.

However, no one suspected that there were still sinister forces at work, or that their eyes had turned towards Earth once more...

*Wheeze*

*Wheeze*

"Please, conserve your strength, Master. I am sure our minions are gethering the necessary things as we speak."

*Wheeze* "And for what reason do you boast such confidence?" *Wheeze* " Our forces are so diminished they couldn't cover a welcome mat together even with adequate personal space." *Wheeze*

"Master, you musn't speak that way. We must have confidence to sustain us."

*Wheeze* "Anger..." *wheeze* Is the only thing that sustains me now...*Wheeze* I only hope what forces we do have will stay in line...this time"

"Fear not, master. With this new method, we need not worry about accidentally losing our forces."

Chapter 1:

It was a sunny weekend afternoon in the park. The weather was moderate and it was a good day to be outside. Such is the case of a group of youngsters who had gathered around a wooden picnic table to watch the unfolding match. Sitting at the table was a young man at least four years older than the others, with black hair, a white headband, and a stoic face. Across from him was his opponent, a chubby boy in a black shirt. With a grin, the younger one reached over and took up a red plastic ball and the metal card which lay underneath.

"Ha, that's two for me!" The chubby one said smugly, "Wow, you sure are bad at this for an older guy," He said, "You've only got one from that trick you did earlier, but I've got two! One more and I win! You should know Haos Bakugan are the weakest ones. Pyrus is the way to go!"

The older one didn't respond. He simply collected his losing bakugan and set it aside. Taking the last metal card in his hand, he set it face down across from his opponent's card for the next round while the other children watched on. However, unbeknownst to all of them, another presence was spectating on the match.

"Hmm" A feminine voice said, "This battle seems pretty ordinary. Maybe a bit better than some of the others, but not much...Still, I have no time. I'll have to pick somebody soon or I'll be in trouble and that would be bad! What am I gonna do?"

The voice hushed as the game continued. The older one took the last gray ball he had in his hand and rolled it along a warp in the wood, causing it to land on the card he'd just played. Suddenly, the ball sprang to life, revealing a dinosaur head and tail wearing a giant pair of shoulderpads.

"Haos Saurus, 330g's." The older one finally said.

"Ha!' The fat one said, "That's your weakest one yet! Well, I'll see you with my best!" He took a larger, red sphere and rolled it onto the same card. This one popped up into an ogre-beast wearing heavy armor. "Pyrus Warius, 590g's!" He said proudly as his best bakugan hit the table, "There's no way you can catch up to that with a puny 330!" A quick flip of the card revealed no stunning bonuses, "See? I told you, I win!" The kid then reached out for his final card. However, the older one's hand shot out and stopped him.

"Not so fast," he said.

"What?" The fat kid said.

"You actually lost this one."

"What? How? I can do math, buster!" The fat kid quipped.

"But this is a special card," The older one said, "It's called "Duck and Win". In this case, The weaker Bakugan wins, so being strong in this case is a bad thing."

The fat kid grumbled, sure that he had won, "Fine," he said, "But you can only use one of those cards! I'll win the next one!" He reached out for his bakugan, but was stopped once more. "What now?" he protested.

"I'm not done," The older one said, "I still need to play this card," From his hand, the older one produced a green paper card with the symbol of Haos clearly emblazoned on the front. A tigrerra was pictured pouncing forward from this symbol. "This is the Haos 2 card," he said, "Because your Warius was so much bigger and stronger than my Saurus, it means I can use this card to take one of your won gate cards and add it to mine."

"Wh-what?!" The cubby one said, "You can't do that! That's not fair!"

"Of course he can, stupid!' Another kid quipped in, "That's what you do with Haos 2!"

"So that means he went from one won gate card to three in one turn?" Another kid said, clasping her hands, "That was amazing!"

"Well, I guess I win the bet, " The older one said as he collected his things, "I managed to beat you with all weaker bakugan, so I get to keep my Sirenoid and you give him back his Dragonoid, okay? And don't play keepsies anymore."

Despite this being greek to most people, the kid understood, he begrudingly took the red sphere and forcefully threw it at a smaller kid who barely caught it. Grumbling sourly, the fat kid grabbed his things and left.

The younger kid took his prized Bakugan in his hand and looked to the taller, older, "Thanks, mister." he said.

"Meh, no prob." The older one replied as he put his backpack on and walked away,

Of course, a certain presence had witnessed the unfolding events.

"Hmm..." The voice said, "He's actually not too bad..." Quietly, the presence turned itself and followed after the young man.

* * * * *

Kirk sighed as he lay in bed. He was in that sort of stage everybody reaches in the morning where they're still too tired to open their eyes and get up, but too awake to fall back asleep. The schoolwork he'd had yesterday had been bad enough, but having to step in on a children's fight hadn't helped his mood much at all. His alarm hadn't gone off yet and he was trying to catch a few more minutes of sleep before he had to get up, but the light coming through his window was making that difficult.

Just as he was trying to decide whether to get up or not, Kirk felt something land on his chest. Too sluggish to to swat whatever it was away, Kirk reluctantly opened his eyes. His vision was still a bit blurry, but he could make out a small, round shape before him. However, his eyes would soon shoot wide open as though a cold bucket of water had been poured over his head.

The thing had clearly said "Hi!"

With a shout, Kirk shot upright, catapuling the thing away from him. It rolled into a familiar-looking sphere and landed at the foot of his bed. Upon landing, it popped open by itself. Was it a bakugan? It seemed to be, but it was in a configuration he hadn't seen before: a pair of arms had unfolded from the center that had been holding down a round ring that popped up and revealed a humanoid torso that folded up in front of it.

"It's about time you woke up!" The "Bakugan" said in a slightly ditzy feminine voice. Kirk simply watched motionlessly, mouth agape, "You wouldn't believe how hard it was to get in here when I'm like this! Anyway, I saw your match yesterday and can tell you're a pretty smooth player. My name is Rabeeder and... Hey! Wait! Where are you going?!" While she was talking Kirk had gotten out of bed and walked swiftly to the bathroom. The bakugan who had called itself Rabeeder bounced off the bed and bounded after him. It bounced onto the sink as Kirk turned on the tap, filling his hands with water.

"What are you doing? Why are you ignorning me?!" Rabeeder protested as Kirk splashed the water all over his face.

"You're clearly just a figment of my imagination," Kirk replied as he reached for a small towel to wipe his face, "I just need to splash some water on my face and eat breakfast and you'll go away."

"I'm not a Fig-Newton of anything!" Rabeeder whined, "I'm just saying I need someone like you to- Hey wait!" But it was too late. Kirk had left the bathroom and slammed the door shut behind him, closing Rabeeder inside.

Kirk let out a sigh as he finally tottered into the kitchen, the adrenaline from his sudden waking up finally wearing off. On the table sat a bowl of cereal, a piece of toast and a glass of orange juice waiting for him. There was also a note on the table. "Sorry, had to go into work, here's your breakfast. -Mom" had been quickly scrawled onto the paper. Kirk took a deep breath, crumpled up the paper and sat down to eat. Another breakfast spent alone in the quiet solitude of his house. Not that it bothered him much as he was pretty used to it by now. Kirk took a bite of toast and then reached over to take a sip of OJ.

The glass had just barely touched his lips when he suddenly heard "When are you going to listen to me?!" come at him from shockingly close. Kirk glanced upwards to see that same bakugan now perched on the top rim of his tilted glass. With another shout, Kirk quickly slammed down the glass onto the table.

"Woah, woah!" Rabeeder said as she tottered on the rim from the shock. However, she couldn't regain her balance and plunged into the juice. "Help! I'm drowning!" She yelled as her stubby arms flailed uselessly in the citrus beverage. At first Kirk only watched in stunned and annoyed silence as this miniature spectacle took place. Compared with this, the question of how she'd miraculously gotten out of the bathroom in the first place just didn't seem important. Finally, he grabbed the bakugan in his index finger and thumb and drew it out of the glass. It coughed even though it didn't seem to have a mouth. "Rrgh..." She weakly groaned, "I can't believe I'm cursed to be stuck in a form like this..."

"Frankly, I can't believe I'm talking to a piece of plastic," Kirk replied, standing up.

"Still," Rabeeder said as she dangled in the air, "Now that I finally have your attention, we can talk about what we have to d-blurgh!" Rabeeder again found herself interrupted, however this time it was because Kirk had placed her in the water coming from the kitchen sink faucet.

"What are you doing?!" She yelled as she was drawn back out.

"You don't want to be all sticky, do you?" Kirk asked. This time, it was Rabeeder's turn to sigh.

There was a brief pause. However, it was soon broken when Kirk looked at the clock.

"Woah," he said, "It's later than I thought, I need to get going," he then squished Rabeeder into her ball form and flicked her away. He'd deal with her later.

"Hey, wait!" Rabeeder yelled. But it was too late. In a flash, Kirk had changed his outfit, grabbed his things, put on his jacket, and headed out the door, making sure it was locked behind him. It was a temperate day outside, if a bit chilly. His proximity to his school meant he never had to take the bus. But the only sounds that joined him was the rustling of leaves and the gentle whoosh of the wind. Compared with how that morning had been, the walk to his high school was refreshingly quiet and free of ditzy voices-

"Hey, Kirk! There you are!"

-Until just then. Another girly voice soon broke the silence. Kirk turned to see the girl who sat to his right during Math class, the class he had right before lunch. Sure, they'd studied together a few times, but she often used that as an excuse to strike up conversation. Kirk grumbled in return. The girl giggled, as this was his usual response, "You've never been a morning person, have you?" She quipped, "But you seemed more alert today. Normally you don't even look up. Something wake you up early?"

"You could say that..." Kirk mumbled, a tad irked at being reminded of his predicament. Not that she had to know about it, though.

"We have that quiz today, don't we?" The girl said, fiddling with her wavy blonde hair, "Man, I hope I we do well on it."

"Speak for yourself, lady," Kirk said.

"You could call me by name you know. It's Stacy," The girl replied, "You know, you and I seem to be the only people who walk this way."

To my eternal chagrin, Kirk thought inwardly. He did wish there was someone else Stacy would talk to. She was the kind of girl you just couldn't shake no matter what you do. That trait seemed awfully familiar about now...

Kirk's ears somehow held together and he made it to school. The day dragged on at its usual pace and finally he ended up in math class. He was still somewhat distracted and the occasional irritated groan from Stacy right next to him didn't help at all. Out of habit, Kirk reached into his jacket pocket. To his surprise, there seemed to be something inside. Subconciously, Kirk fiddled with the object in an attempt to regain his concentration. It worked for a bit and he was finally getting into the groove of things when suddenly-

"Ahhhn! You coy beast!" A sultry and all-too-familiar voice said softly from his pocket. Now that he thought about it, what he was fondling in his pocket seemed awfully...spherical...and about the right size, too. With a jolt, Kirk wrenched his hand out of his pocket, leaving the object behind. How?! How had that blasted Bakugan followed him here! Why was she doing this and WHY did she have to talk like that?! All of these questions were simmering in his brain until he looked up and realized that a good portion of the class was looking at him from his sudden movement.

"You...okay?" Stacy asked.

Kirk quickly cleared his throat and regained his composure, "A...chill" he finally stuttered, "I just had a bit of a chill." Fortunately, the class accepted this excuse and continued working. Unfortunately for Kirk, however, the surprise had thrown off his concentration worse than it had been before and he struggled his way through the rest of the test. Soon enough, it was over and Kirk tossed his bag onto his shoulder and headed quickly towards the door.

"What's wrong?" Stacy asked as he got up, "Usually you finish those tests really fast. Did something happen?" But Kirk had already left. Practically running, Kirk dashed outside of school and went over to a nearby tree, hand stuffed tightly in his pocket. He looked around to see if anyone was watching, then pulled out the contents of his pocket. Yup, it was Rabeeder.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" Kirk asked, exasperated.

"What?" The bakugan responded in an equal tone as she unfolded, "I should be asking YOU! You were the one who was groping me for, like, twenty minutes!"

"I was not...sigh...Look, why are you here?" Kirk said, calming himself down as it was clearly pointless to argue with plastic.

"You never listened to what I had to say, so I HAD to follow you!" Rabeeder insisted, jumping up and down in Kirk's hand.

"Well?" Kirk said.

"Well what?"

"What do you need to say?"

"Huh?! Oh-" Rabeeder said, suddenly flustered, "Well... I... need a partner."

"Partner?"

"Yes! Someone who's really good at playing who will play lots and lots of games against lots and lots of people!"

"Look here, I just dabble in the game," Kirk replied as he sat down, "I don't take it too seriously."

"Your strategy yesterday says otherwise," Rabeeder said in a somewhat condescending tone, "I saw you yesterday and coming up with a plan like that means its more than a hobby,"

"That just means I found one good plan," Kirk said.

"Oh yeah?!" Rabeeder called. She then leapt from Kirk's hand and landed in his bag.

"What are you doing in there?!" Kirk complained as Rabeeder rooted around in his school things. Soon, she came out again, this time loaded down with a menagerie of both bakugan and cards.

"Then..." She grunted under the weight, "Why... do you carry...these everywhere...huh?!" No longer able to hold them, Rabeeder dropped Kirk's collection all over the ground.

"Ah! Don't do that!" Kirk said as he frantically scooped up each piece and dropped them into his bag. He zipped it up then slumped down again, "Okay, so maybe it's a little more than a hobby, but does that mean you think I'd help you?"

"Of course!" Rabeeder said optimistically, "Now, all we have to do is play, play, play! And after we're done with that, I can finally go home!"

"You mean you'd leave?" Kirk said.

"Yeah!" Rabeeder replied, "So, it's a deal! Believe me, you won't regret this! Let's go find someone to fight ASAP!!"

"Wait, I never agreed to anything!" Kirk blurted.

"See you later!" Rabeeder said, obviously ignoring him as she curled up and jumped into Kirk's bag.

Kirk sighed. What had he gotten himself into? Well, if what Rabeeder had said was right, he'd be rid of her soon enough. Kirk grabbed his backpack, stood up, and walked back to class. Not like there was anything he could do about it, now.