"So, Silverwing, what do you have planned for us today," Ace asks. Shun sends him a glare from where he is chained to Mylene and Runo. Silverwing glances at him from the computer screen, where she is rapidly typing.

"If you want to know, you're gonna have to read," she replies. Runo sighs and glances at Spectra, who is leaning against the wall.

"Something tells me that this is going to be worse than when Spectra kidnapped me," she mutters. He glances at her.

"For the last time: I'm sorry!"

"Yeah, well, can't a girl hold a grudge for that?"

"Runo, I really don't think that you are in the right position to argue with him," Hydron says. She sends him daggers through her eyes and he takes a nervous step back. Gus and Mylene sigh while Shadow laughs like the hyena he is.

"Did you know that one of my friends is scared of you, Shadow," Silverwing asks. He blinks at her and stops laughing. "Your laugh freaks her out."

"Is that my fault," he asks. Silverwing swings at him with her golf club.

"Uh, just get reading before she kills him," Julie shouts frantically.

"Yeah, I think that that would be a good idea," Alice shouts over the sound of Silverwing's insane laughter as she chases Shadow with her golf club above her head.

"So, how do you think that we're gonna get outta this," Dan asked. Shun glanced at him while scanning the cell for an escape route yet again. Runo sighed while pulling against the chains that bound her to the wall.

"Just why did they chain me to the wall and not you guys," she asked, wincing as she strained against them.

"They did that so that we won't try to escape," Dan sighed.

"Even if we did find a way out of here, we wouldn't be able to take you with us," Shun said. "And then they would be holding you hostage."

"Sure, use the girl to get to everyone else," Runo growled. "Vestals are so sexist."

"Hey, not all of them," Dan pointed out.

"Yeah. Mira and Ace and Barron especially are not sexist," Ingram said. Runo rested her head against the wall.

"I guess."

"Well, well, well. Now that the tough little Brawlers have finished dwelling on escape," Mylene drawled, coming into the dungeon, "maybe we can actually have a conversation."

"What do you want, Mylene," Shun asked, grabbing the bars of the metal door. She sneered, Shadow and the others coming down behind her.

"You know what we want," Hydron said, coming forward. "Or at least what Spectra wants."

"I'm not giving you the Perfect Core," Dan shouted, remembering, nervously, how Drago had managed to transfer some of it to him. "I don't even have Drago to give it to you!"

"Don't try to fool us, little boy," Gus said.

"We know that he transferred it to you," Shadow laughed. Runo and Shun sent him worried glances. Dan cocked his head at them.

"That's impossible. No human or Vestal would be able to control the power of the Perfect Core," he said, while the mark on his back that pulsed with the Perfect Core Energy tingled. It linked him with Drago and the Six Ancient Warriors, as well as most of the other Bakugan. He only held a portion of the Perfect Core energy, a small amount that Drago had given him so that the Vexos wouldn't be able to get all at once. "It's impossible," he repeated. "Drago told me himself."

"We can tell that you're lying through your teeth, Dan Kuso," Spectra said, pushing through the others. "The cell that you are in can detect the power of the Perfect Core. We know that Drago transferred it to you, and now we are going to give you one chance to surrender it to us, peacefully."

"Like I'd ever do that," Dan shouted, knowing that the cat was out of the bag now. "If I do that, then New Vestroia will be converted back to the six attributed worlds, Pyrus, Ventus, Aquos, Darkus, Haos and Sub-Terra! Everything that we fought so hard for would be completely annihilated and it would be impossible for the Vestals to settle here at all!"

"Like we care," Hydron said. "My father just seeks revenge now, after you destroyed the Dimension Controllers! You Brawlers will pay for what you've done!" He was shouting now. Dan, Shun, and Runo all glared at them. Hydron turned to a guard that was sitting in the hallway. "Let the girl go."

The guard stood up and pressed a button, which caused the shackles to release Runo. She sank to her knees, rubbing her wrists. "Activate the Electrical Field," Hydron ordered and the Guard hit another button, causing the bars that Shun was hanging on to spark with electricity. Shun cried out and pulled his hand off of it. Dan narrowed his eyes at Hydron, knowing that there was some sort of repercussion about the shield. Dan didn't touch it for fear that it absorbed the Perfect Core Energy that he possessed.

"I sure hope that you reconsider, Dan," Gus said, stepping up beside Spectra. "That shield won't let anything in or out unless deactivated from the outside. No one is coming to help you, so you are stuck here until you surrender the Perfect Core to us."

"Gus, you better shut up, if you know what's good for ya," Dan threatened.

"Look at you, making threats," Lync laughed.

"I wouldn't be so cocky if I were you, Dan," Hydron said. "This shield will come closer to you every day, so after about a week you won't be able to move without having the energy extracted from you forcefully."

"So why are you so keen to wait," Shun asked.

"Just in case Dan wants to escape some of the pain and maybe just remain our hostage," Hydron answered.

"Like he'd do that," Runo shouted. "I know Dan, and he never gives in! Not when we're battling, not when he's held captive in the Doom Dimension. Not even when Masquerade sent Drago there. He thought that he would never see him again, so he jumped into the Doom Dimension after him. Dan is a fighter, and we will never give it to you, Vexos scum!"

"You have a lot of nerve, lecturing me, considering where you are right now," Hydron said, stepping forward threateningly. Runo didn't flinch. Dan and Shun stared at her in disbelief.

"Get lost," Runo told him. His eyes widened.

"You dare tell me what to do," he shrieked. "You stupid Earth girl! You have no idea what you have just done, do you! You will regret it." He took a deep breath and got a handle on his temper, then smirked. "Whatever, Brawlers. I have time, so I really don't care how long it takes for you to realize that surrendering it to me is the best thing to do. If you want to live, that is." He turned and walked out of the chamber, the rest of the Vexos following, leaving Dan and Shun to stare at Runo in shock.

"Runo, I'm sorry that I got you into this mess," Dan said as soon as the door clanged shut. Runo shook her head.

"You didn't. I came to New Vestroia on my own free will. It was even my idea," she said. "It was my choice to fight beside you and now I'm paying for it. If anyone should be apologizing, it's me. Now, the Vexos might get some of the Perfect Core and they might kill you in the process." Her eyes seemed shinier than usual. "Dan, don't you give up. Don't you dare surrender it to them because, if it doesn't kill you, I will!"

Dan and Shun stared at her, then burst into laughter. She blinked. "What's so funny?" When Dan finally stopped laughing, he smiled at her.

"I just think that I couldn't have picked a better girl to like." Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open a little bit.

"You mean it," she whispered, eyes sparkling.

"Yes, I mean it," he said, opening his arms. She blushed and ran to meet his embrace. The stood there, hugging, for a while. Shun smiled at them and turned his attention to disabling the machine from inside the cell. Then, he realized that the shield had shrank ever so slightly, so now he could see the bars of the shield separately.

"Uh, guys, I really hate to break this up," Shun started, "but I think the force-field is shrinking."

"What do you mean," Dan asked, letting go of Runo, who looked nervous.

"See this," Shun asked, pointing at the bars of their cell. "The electricity ran through them. Now, you can see it outside of the bar. It's getting smaller, Dan."

"Oh, snap, that means," he started.

"At this rate, it'll be closed around us in three days," Shun finished. Then, Runo got an idea.

"Hey, Dan," she asked. He looked at her. "Aren't you linked to the Perfect Core like Drago and the Six Ancients?"

"Yeah, why," he asked. Then, he and Shun gasped, grasping the meaning to her words.

"If you are linked to them, can't you contact them," she asked excitedly. He and Shun exchanged glances and Dan sat down on the floor.

"I dunno. I've never really tried," he said. He closed his eyes and imagined Apollonir and Drago, standing side by side. Then, he opening his eyes in shock. He found himself floating in a misty place. All around him was fog, although it wasn't humid at all. He looked around and then he heard his name.

"Dan!" Dan turned to see Drago standing behind him.

"Drago," he gasped. He reached out his hand and touched Drago's wing. "Oh my gosh, this is real," he realized. The fog cleared somewhat, revealing Apollonir and the other warrior Bakugan, as well as Masquerade, who was standing by Exedra.

"Dan, your call has been answered," Apollonir said. Dan gasped.

"What do you mean? I'm still in the cell, as far as I know," he said.

"No. You are in the realm at the center of New Vestroia, where the Perfect Core is kept," Exedra said.

"Dan," someone shouted. Dan turned to see Runo and Shun floating behind him.

"Runo! Shun," he gasped. He turned around again to face Apollonir and the rest of the Ancients and smiled. "Runo, c'mere," he said. She blinked and walked forward to his side. "Apollonir, Drago," he started, "I think that Runo deserves to hold some of the Perfect Core energy. This way, if we both get captured and held in the same type of cell as before, they won't be able to take all of it from me."

"Dan," Runo whispered, staring at him with wet eyes.

"She is not the only one that deserves a portion of the Core," Drago said. "Shun does, as well."

"Then, let us each release some of our Perfect Core Energies to you two," Apollonir said. He and Drago held their hands out to Runo and Shun, who both started glowing. Runo and Shun gasped, staring at their radiating hands. A mark blazed in between each of their shoulder blades, Shun's resembling Ingram's wings and Runo's resembling Tigrerra's blades. Dan's resembled Drago's wings. When the glow died down, Runo and Shun both stared at themselves in shock, as did Dan when he realized what the problem was. He and the others had traits of each of their Bakugan!

Dan had Drago's wings, except they were on his back, and he had a lizard tail, as well as a hidden green diamond on his chest like Drago had. Runo had Tigrerra's blue diamond and black and white tail, as well as the iron forearm plates and a pair of shorter fangs than Tigrerra's. Shun had Ingram's six wings and a few feathers on his lower back like Ingram's tail. "Are we..." Dan whispered in disbelief.

"Bakugan," Runo and Shun both said at the same time. Ingram and Tigrerra stared at their humans in shock, although they weren't really humans any more.

"Ingram, Drago, and Tigrerra," Lars Lion said. "Because your humans have evolved into partial Bakugan, you will also evolve into partial humans. This means that when you are outside of battle, you can remain in ball form, or in human form. When you are in human form, you will have some traits that mark you as who you are, like your hair color. Tigrerra, you might even continue to have fangs."

"But how is that possible," Tigrerra asked.

"When they became part Bakugan, part of their human DNA flowed into their Bakugan. This allows you to transform into partial humans if you choose to," Frosch said.

"Like Lars Lion said, you will retain some of your traits. I cannot tell just what you will retain some defining characteristics of yourselves," Oberus told them.

"The only time that you will not be able to shift into a human is when you are battling. It would be unwise and would put you in a state of vulnerability," Exedra said, "so we bound that ability."

"Dan, Runo, Shun, and Drago, you must all try your hardest to keep the Perfect Core from the Vexos. Because all of you have gotten stronger, you may travel to Earth with your energies and Bakugan," Clayf said. "However, you must keep your Bakugan traits hidden."

"But how," Runo asked, staring at her tail as she managed to flick it.

"Runo, you can hide your traits by thinking about being human. All of you can do that," Lars Lion said.

"If you are in danger of being caught by the Vexos, just think to us that you need to be hidden, and since we are all linked to the Perfect Core, we will hear you and hide your Bakugan traits," Apollonir said. Dan, Shun, and Runo nodded.

"Remember, you four, holding the Perfect Core is a very difficult task," Frosch said.

"We're counting on you," said Oberus. Five of the Six Ancient Warriors vanished into the fog again, while Masquerade and Exedra remained.

"I shall guide the four of you out and back to our friends. They are very worried about you," he said, turning and walking away through the fog. The others followed him quickly, wanting to leave this creepy place.

Shun stares at Silverwing in shock. "YOU MADE ME PART BAKUGAN!" Silverwing blinks and looks up from the computer screen, startled.

"Don't blame her, Shun," Julie says. "I asked the others and they agreed that it was a good idea!"

"You mean this is your fault?" Shun asks, stunned. Julie shrinks away in fear and Silverwing swings at him with her golf club. He jumps out of the way with his ninja skills and unfurls his wings. Dan and Runo sigh and make their Bakugan parts visible. Dan grabs Runo around the stomach and jumps into the air in pursuit of Shun.

"You idiot," Dan shouts. Suddenly, a force field is visible before the three Baku-humans. Shun and Dan gasp and struggle to pull out of their dives, but Dan drops Runo in the process. She shrieks until Shun grabs her. She slashes at his face with her hand and slaps him across the face.

"Ow!" he shouts, letting her go. Suddenly, Shadow is there, as well as Spectra. They shoot Shun with his tranquilizers.

"Aw, come on. I was just starting to have fun," Dan complains, landing beside Runo.

"Well, he would have gotten out of control and you know it," Shadow snaps. Spectra grabs Runo around the waist the same way he had when he kidnapped her the first time and she gasps as he jumps away with her.

"Let go, you feathered freak," she shouts. He drops her and falls over, laughing. She slaps him and that shuts him up. "That outta teach you, *******!"

He rubs his cheek and gets up, walking away. Alice and the others burst into laughter, Shadow howling the loudest.