A/N: Rewrote this this as promised. At first I thought I'd just replace the chapters, but I remember that people all but stopped leaving reviews on any of my Bakugan fics so who the hell cares. Better let everyone know than let this story keel over itself and die in the throes of discontinuation...

If you haven't figured out by now that the owner of the Bakugan series will never resort to writing fanfiction of his/her own show... Then I pity you...

01. Network Hook Ups

-000-

Honestly.

Why he let himself get talked into doing this he would never know. It was just another one of Dan's ridiculous ideas to get him to socialize and he couldn't understand why he decided to humor him this time. The task was simple enough, get online and chat with whomever it was whose face popped up next to the brunette's. Hopefully it would be someone decent.

Or, at the very least, sane.

Soon enough, Shun felt the corner of his lips drop at the thought that the person might not be and that he'd end up getting himself caught in one of Dan's horribly concocted and badly humored jokes.

"Hey! Don't frown so much or you might scare them away!" So his best friend says. It was something that he found difficult to do. Shun was a perpetual frowner at heart and when he smiled then there had to be a good reason for it.

One that didn't usually involve getting reeled into one of Dan's absurd ideas.

"Come on man. Don't be such a downer! You haven't even met them yet!" Not a moment after the brunette had said that, someone had joined them. A small square frame popped up on his screen right next to Dan's. From that one glance that he took of her alone, Shun decided that this was definitely someone that he did not want to meet, or to associate with for that matter.

This someone happened to have tan skin with long white hair that was tied in a neat little ponytail wearing what looked like a pink sleeveless tracksuit that cut right above and bared her midriff … Too much of her midriff. Yup…

He guessed it.

"Hey Dan! How's it goin'!"

Foreigner and, judging from her poorly disguised accent, Australian. Not that he was xenophobic or anything, but still… A foreigner? Didn't he have enough of those around him?

Shun started grumbling, the frown on his face grew even more menacing when a telltale squeal told him that she had finally taken notice of him. "OMG! Is that him! Tell me that's him! He is so cute!"

Dan's hot-bloodedness he could put up with, but this, this he knew was going to be a lot of work. He didn't even know this girl, weren't from the same continent even! Cultural differences, and personal matters and conflicts, kept him away from most of the social world, so what was it that made Dan think that he'd want to 'get together' with someone that he didn't share any particular kind of similarities with? Not to mention that their differences would build itself a wall in between.

Was this even safe he wondered? Last time he heard that scandals and pornography became viral through these very means of communication…

…

Come to think of it… Hadn't Dan said before that he'd enjoy himself?

…

"Umm… Yeah? Like, he's so scaring me right now…"

"Dude! What are you scowling for? Just talk and make friends! There's more people coming soon-"

Dan's voice pulled him out of his own thoughts. Wait… More?

Oh shit.

"-don't want to have to tell them that you're being a grouch, which you are!"

"Like, yeah! Turn that big ol' frown upside down! I'm sure you'll make tons of friends if you do!" As if to emphasize, the girl smiled widely and started jumping around, causing the webcam that she was using to violently shake in a way that made Shun question how it had yet to topple over.

Somehow he felt something resembling dread pile up underneath his skin.

"…! Uhhhh… You're like, not looking too cute right now…"

…

…

"H-hey buddy… You okay? Your right eye's twitching…"

This was going to be one long night.

-000-

"O-kay. So maybe that wasn't such a good idea..."

"Oh, you think?" Shun replied, an irritated tone lacing his voice. He ran a hand through his hair, disheveled from his constant attempts to not tear his hair out during the whole ordeal and leaned back against his computer chair. He never wiped that glare off of his face that Dan started to wonder if it had become permanently plastered there.

"Well… I knew that it wasn't gonna work… But-!"

"But what? How many more of your so called e-friends are you going to introduce to me before you get it through your head that I don't want any of them?" So far he'd met a little blonde boy whose age didn't match his size, a blue haired girl who had issues with her temper, a guy who looked like he needed to get out and get under the sun more, and that girl he'd met first that busted his ear drums when she kept squealing about how cute everyone was and how well they were going to get along.

It had been torture.

"Don't do this to me again, Dan."

"Sure, sure… But I can't help but think I'm forgetting someone but… Yeah. It's pretty late so I guess I'll head on to bed." With a small beep, Dan's face disappeared from his screen, leaving Shun with a few more words to ponder on for the night. Forgetting someone?

All those people and he still thought that he forgot someone?

Typical Dan, so absentminded at times that it actually hurts.

He looked to the lower right hand corner of his computer screen to see that it was, in fact, late. Twenty-nine minutes before midnight to be exact. That was way past his scheduled sleeping hour. He leaned back against his computer chair, sighing and pinching the bridge of his nose before staring back at his still lit screen, mentally preparing himself to shut the computer down without throwing a fit due to the stress that he's built up over the course of time that Dan had taken to make him socialize over the internet; he was never doing this again, not with Dan at least. Call him old fashioned but he'd rather have to deal with people in person where body language could be taken seriously rather than in front of a screen in another part of the world.

His hand was just about to find its way back on top of the mouse when a sudden beep made him stop- No.

It was not that sound that made him stop.

It was what caused it that did.

"I'm sorry I'm a little late! I had to help my granf- Oh dear."

… Whoah.

There was another face in his monitor. A beautiful one.

For once in the course of that evening, Shun actually wanted to know who else it was that Dan had pulled into his little scheme. He blinked once, twice, before his jaw dropped in realization that, whoever she was, she was definitely not leaving his screen anytime soon. Wow, just wow. She looked a little too way out of Dan's league to even be connected to tonight's activities.

Which part of the world did Dan find her? Better yet, how'd Dan even met her in the first place?

"O-Oh. Are you- and everyone else-? N-never mind. I guess 'a little late' is not the right thing to say in this kind of situation..."

She was gorgeous; the way tipped her head innocently to the side followed by that nervous, yet angelic laugh made his heart beat loudly against his chest. Will she leave? She probably would considering the fact that didn't have what people would call a 'friendly face'. So he wouldn't be surprised if she just left out of fear… Or something along those lines.

"But…"

Wait, what? She was thinking about staying, this late at night?

"Since I'm here, I might as well introduce myself. I'm Alice Gehabich, it's a pleasure to meet you." That smile, god that smile. It was so bright and vibrant that all form of fatigue quickly left him. Screw sleep, it was Saturday tomorrow and this wasn't Japan, which meant no school for him. He could stay up for as long as he wants so long as he'd taken care of all of his schoolwork, which he had.

"Hm? Are you okay?" Oh, right. She introduced herself and it was customary that he did too. Shaking his mind free of any other silly thought and forgetting about his earlier distaste, he chuckled, making 'Alice' blush light pink.

He felt the corners of his mouth lift up into a smile.

"Shun Kazami. Pleasure's all mine."

-000-

-00-

-0-

End