Hey every1! Fiction is back with a new chapter! Hope you'll like it! :D
Disclaimer: I do NOT own bakugan or any characters mentioned in any of the chapters published. (If I did, masky would still be broadcasted on every episode of all seasons!)
Now On With the Story! ^o^

Three Months Later:-

She didn't know how, when or why, but Alice found herself caught in an online debate with her new-found online friends and she clearly knew that she was losing. Of course she would, it was five against one! How could she probably think about trying to put her reasons forward, when she knew all five of them were EXTREMELY persistent?

Her friends, Runo, Daniel, Marucho, Shun and Julie, all wanted her to come to Japan and live with them, ever since they learned that she was living alone, which was yesterday.

"How can I come there, guys? A flight to Jap-"

the red head was cut off once again, in her failure of an attempt to protest.

"I told u Alice, I'll send u my own private jet. You don't have to worry about anything. And I'm sure my parents won't mind either. I think they'll be more than delighted!"

the ridiculously rich, blonde boy on her computer screen, Marucho, replied, giving her a reassuring smile.

"But I don't want to be a b-" she was cut off yet once again.

"Alice, c'mon, even I'll be going to Japan." The silver haired Australian, Julie, whined. "I'm just waiting for my stinking exams to end, and believe me, once it's over, I'll be there before you can even blink. Then maybe we can have girls' night out EVERYDAY and we can go shopping and do all those cool stuffs! It will be so much fun!" The girl squealed, nearly jumping out of her seat.

Alice frowned. "But ho-"

And then, it was the brunette leader, Dan's turn to cut off the poor girl. What's up with everyone cutting her off these days?

"I know that you may find it difficult to leave that house, since you have a lot of memories of your grandfather in there, but Alice, we need you here. You're the best strategist among us all and I don't know why you don't play bakugan, but if you did, I'm sure you'd have already beaten that Masquerade creep! Our team would definitely become stronger if you were here, Alice." Talk about persuasion…

Alice was slightly startled when the always quiet ninja boy, Shun, spoke up in second to Dan's little speech. She always thought that he never accepted her in the team.

"You do know the danger he poses Alice. All over the world, people are losing their bakugans to him. He defeated me, which means he's ranked # 1 now. I don't know what or why he's doing this, but I do know that he is a threat, to the whole game. "

"Exactly, Alice!" Her bluenette best friend slash Runo added. "We need you here pretty bad. I've brawled with him and believe me he is much trickier than you can imagine. Not to mention, I lost two of my strongest bakugan to that creeper!" Runo screeched, ready to punch her computer screen.

"Well…" the redhead blinked

For once, Alice didn't find any other reasons to counter with. She looked down at her palm and sighed. They were right. Masquerade undeniably was a growing threat; a dangerous one. He sent bakugan to the doom dimension, their ultimate hell. He definitely was a dangerous, growing threat that needed to be eliminated, and fast.

She sighed again and looked up to her computer screen, to find five anxious faces waiting for her reply.

"I-I guess you're right. Alright, I'll come."

Her answer made the five anxious faces go overboard in joy; Julie even did a victory dance!

Alice smiled as a trail of loud cheers erupted from her brawler friends. They needed her and she would never refuse an offer where the term 'need' was mentioned. She looked down again and closed her eyes as she sat in silence.

Now that she thought about it, she still hadn't told her friends anything about her past. The only thing they know is that she used to live with her grandfather, until the day he supposedly "disappeared". She wondered if they would still feel the same if they came to know that she was an orphan; an abandoned orphan. She cringed at the images of their expressions that appeared in her head. She only had her friends now and Alice definitely didn't want to lose them; she had already lost her family.

Grandfather… she opened her eyes. It has been three months. She felt tight in her chest as she thought about the days she spent without him. She missed him so much… A lone tear formed in her right eye, but she quickly wiped it away, leaving any signs of her being emotional. She was brought back to earth, when she heard Marucho speak.

"The next question on where you'll stay, I think it will be a good idea if you'd stay at my place. There are plenty of rooms and-" the youngest said, before he was abruptly cut short by a certain angry bluenette.

"What do you mean she'll stay with you? Of course she'll stay with me! I'm her best friend. Her grandfather 'disappeared', so the thing she needs the most now is to have a close 'girl' friend by her side. Besides, how can she live with a guy, right Alice?"

Alice raised an eyebrow at the last sentence.

"Exactly!"Julie seconded, before continuing.

"How did you think that we'll let a girl stay at a guy's place, when she clearly has an option to not to?" the girl ranted on, glaring daggers at the poor boy, mentally pulverizing him.

"Gee guys, I never meant anything lik-"

the blushing blonde boy tried to defend himself, only to be cut off.

"Yeah whatever!"

Runo said, folding her arms across her chest, frowning deeper.

"Uhh…"

Alice never knew what to say in these kinds of situations.

Before even she could come up with a reply, Runo jumped to a conclusion.

"Yup! That's it! Alice is staying with me. End of chapter. No more discussions! Tra-la-la-la-la~!" she sang, covering her ears and eyes, a smug smile clearly visible on her face.

Dan and Marucho sweat dropped, while Shun remained poker-faced.

-x-X-x-

After an hour or so, Alice finally managed to convince herself and her friends that she will go to Japan to live with them. Julie was the only other who didn't live in Japan, but that wasn't a problem, since she visits her home country on every summer vacation.

She let out a huge sigh as she crawled onto her bed, lying there deep in thought of the events that took place within the three months of her grandfather's absence. She couldn't bring herself to believe that he had 'died'. He couldn't and she knew it. She cried everyday for god knows how long, bawling, begging and almost ripping her hair out, for her grandfather to come back. She needed him. There were even times that she considered suicide as an option, but now she cringed at that thought.

It was only after a few weeks of continuous mourning, that she realized that crying cannot get her anywhere.

Maybe that huge metal thing in his lab teleported him somewhere! She jumped at that thought, a sudden flicker of hope relighting in her. She hoped that was the case. Anything. Anything other than him dying! She prayed that wherever he was, and with whoever he was, he would be safe and sound.

She didn't play bakugan simply because they appeared on the same day her grandfather disappeared; the raining cards, that eventually evolved into a game. Alice definitely knew that the two incidents were related. There was no doubt about it.

Although she was a little 'afraid' of that game, she was the best strategist among her friends, often giving them clever advices and tips that repeatedly came in handy to them. She didn't know how, but everything about bakugan came to her naturally and that sort of crept her out.

And then her next worry was none other than Masquerade.

She rolled onto her right side, resting her head on her arm, thinking about him.

Where had he come from? Who is he? What does he want? Why does he wear that weird mask? What's his real name? A million more questions popped up in her mind, just by thinking about his name.

She frowned and rolled onto her other side.

It frustrated her, how mysterious one person could be and at the same time, cause just as much destruction. She couldn't deny what Shun had said earlier; he is a threat to the whole game. Bakugan was supposed to be a fun game for children. It used to be, until that masked creep showed up and ruined everything. She even heard that some kids stopped playing the game altogether to prevent losing their bakugans to the doom dimension.

Even some of the Brawlers lost their bakugans to him and now, they were more than worried. They had to come up with a plan to take down this freak. As if what she had been through wasn't hell enough, he had to come and worsen everything.

She sighed as she felt her eyes slowly closing; all that thinking did make her sleepy. She took a final peep at the clock, before giving in to sleep.

-x-X-x-

A week and a half later:-

Alice was slowly beginning to adjust to her new household. Runo had a great family, and she was more than content that they had accepted her in. Her parents ran a small family restaurant with, of course, Runo being the waitress. Alice had offered to help in the kitchen, only to have the Misakis strongly refuse; they couldn't and wouldn't let a guest work! especially their daughter's best friend!

Guilty as she was, the red head wouldn't give up. She definitely didn't want to be a burden, so she offered more help, all of them being turned down, until they finally agreed on her being a waitress alongside Runo. But eventually, Alice helped with more than waiting tables and the Misakis had no choice, but to let her be, seeing how happy it made her.

They couldn't deny one fact though. The customers had visibly and noticeably tripled, ever since Alice had joined; majority of them being males. The Misakis knew that more than how much they wanted to grab a snack from the restaurant; they simply wanted to see Alice or maybe even get a chance to talk to her. Alice couldn't do much but reply small thank yous and polite refusals, to all their flirtations; as much as she was happy that the Misakis now had more customers, she was starting to feel a lot insecure, not to mention annoyed. But despite all that, Alice made sure to behave well in front of them; they were customers after all!

Today was a fine Sunday, if not beautiful! There were surprisingly lesser customers than usual and a certain red head was relieved. Alice stared out of the window, as she marveled at the sight outside; finally, it was summer. Runo had gone over to a friend's house for a school project about an hour ago, so she was practically alone and bored. She was about ask Runo's parents if she could go out and that was when, Mr. Misaki came down, requesting her to fetch a manila envelope from a friend, couple of houses down the block. He even told her to take the rest of the day off.

Finally!

She immediately set out, after nodding a small yes with a smile and with just 10 minutes of her departure, mission accomplished! She almost ran halfway back to the house, not forgetting to enjoy the sun. Oh boy was she excited! She waved a second goodbye to the Misakis as she set out again, on a much slower and comfortable walk to the park. She smiled and took a deep breath, looking at the sky. Beautiful day indeed! She smiled wider when she realized she had reached her destination, only to have it suddenly falter off into a shocked frown.

Masquerade!

Her eyes widened and somehow, her face turned pink due to reasons that she herself did not know or understand.

What was he doing here?

She found her answer, when she saw another boy, fall down onto his knees, crying out for his lost bakugans, while the masked blonde stood, towering over the crying boy in all his smirking glory. Alice gasped, and for a moment, she didn't know what in the world her arms and legs were doing. She regained her senses, only to have her eyes widen, when she found herself holding Masquerade's right arm, just as he transported himself somewhere, taking her along!

Masquerade looked at her as though she was insane. Was she? She was still holding his arm in the middle of a... forest? ... and had her eyes still widened and face pink. His lips curled into a frown and a smirk popped up from nowhere as he turned to look at her,yanking his hand away. But that action resulted in the still-shocked redhead being tugged forward, her face and body, clashing with the surprised blonde as they both fell.

The girls eyes widened further, if possible, and she froze, her face glowing pinker by every passing second, with a good reason to.

My first kiss…

Now, I know it's not really great or something, but I'd appreciate it a lot, if you'd review it and point out any flaws or mistakes, that I'd have made.

Constructive criticism much approved! :D