A/N: Wow it's been a long time since I updated this! Hope someone's still reading it after all this time. Here's Chapter 4, finally.

Disclaimer: I don't own bakugan.

"What?!" Mira shrieked and her face was full of horror. Was that why she hadn't been able to find her brother?

"I don't have all day to stand around explaining things to you. Your brother Keith Clay is a prisoner of the Vexos, and unless you cooperate flawlessly, I will kill him. Now would you like to reconsider your answer?" Spectra tapped his wrist impatiently, which although it had a gauntlet and not a watch, still made Mira anxious.

"I'll go with you! Just don't hurt Keith!" she yelled, lunging forward to grab him by the arm in a pleading gesture.

"Let go of me!" he snapped and shook her off, then felt slightly guilty at her wounded expression. Honestly she could be so childish at times.

He ran a hand through his hair and looked around for a moment. It wouldn't be a good idea to stand around too much longer. For all he knew the buffoon with the purple hair might come back and interfere, or worse he could run into a past version of himself. If that were possible, since he still didn't understand the whole time travel operation.

But if that were the case why hadn't he run into his past self in the throne room earlier? There were a lot of confusing aspects to time travel, it would seem.

Although Spectra wasn't going to run into his past self, Baron was an entirely different story.

"Oh my gosh! There I am!" Baron exclaimed when he saw a very familiar face.

"Huh?" past Baron looked up when he heard a voice that was strangely recognizable and saw himself.

"Whoa! What's going on here?" he tugged on Dan's sleeve to stop him from walking ahead, "Master Dan! Did we enter that house of mirrors you were talking about without you telling me?"

"What are you talking about, Baron? We're going to the rollercoaster, obviously."

"But look! It's me!" Baron kept tugging with one hand and pointed frantically with the other, "Look, Master Dan!"

Dan finally turned to see what Baron was panicking about and saw that there was two of the Haos brawler.

"Alright, whose idea was this? I know one of you is trying to play a joke on me, but I'm not that stupid!" Dan said, looking at their friends who had come back to see why they had stopped.

"Actually, you really are, Dan. But we didn't do this. At least I didn't," Runo replied, coming to a stop beside him.

"Hey, dude, who are you?" Past Baron was staring himself in the face with a mixture of bewilderment and fascination.

"I'm you, from the future!" Future Baron said enthusiastically.

"Well how did you get here?" Past Baron asked, totally unfazed by the strange occurrence.

"We were having dinner at Mira's when Spectra ran out and used a time machine. I got dragged along too, but then the time machine broke and he tried to kill me, so I ran away. Then I met you!"

"You expect us to believe you come from the future?" Runo looked skeptical.

"Yeah, 'cus I did."

"Maybe he's telling the truth. Like, how else do you explain there being two of him?" Julie asked.

"Prove you're from the future. Tell us what happens!" Dan demanded.

"Uh, Dan? Are you sure that's such a good idea? Couldn't it mess with our future if our past selves know about our future in the past?"

"I didn't understand any of that, Runo, but finding out the future can't be a bad thing! That's why they have fortune tellers!"

While the rest of the group stewed over Dan's questionable logic, Baron, eager to obey his idol, began to recount the tale of how they'd saved New Vestroia.

"Awesome! So we don't even have to do anything, right? It's like we already won!" Dan shouted triumphantly.

Runo rolled her eyes and bonked him on the head, "No, you idiot. We did that in the future. Which means it hasn't happened yet, and it won't if you don't do it now in the past."

"But-"

"That's how it works, Dan."

"Fine. But he can tell us exactly what to do so we win, and it'll be totally easy!" Dan pointed at Future Baron and pumped his fist in the air.

"I don't know if I remember everything that happened exactly…" Future Baron trailed off.

"That's okay, just tell me the important parts," Dan encouraged, patting him on the back.

Half an hour later Runo, Dan, Julie, Alice, and two Barons sat in a café talking.

"I guess we have no choice but to believe him," Runo sighed, "The question is, though, what should we do now?"

"We have to go find Spectra and get that time machine!" Dan announced, knocking over half the drinks on the table when he jumped up.

"First you need to clean up this mess!" shouted the irate waitress, who had returned with their bill.

"That's no fun," Dan sulked and reluctantly took the paper towels the waitress handed him.

"This place is huge," Mira's eyes were wide as she followed Spectra through the halls of the ship.

"Exactly. So don't get any stupid ideas about running off. All you'll do is get lost, and I can't guarantee your safety if you run into any of the other Vexos alone. I work with a bunch of nutjobs," Spectra muttered the last part.

"So you'll take me to see my brother now?"

"That isn't part of the arrangement," he said quickly.

Mira stopped walking and crossed her arms defiantly. Spectra turned around and suppressed a groan. Of course, she had to make this difficult.

"I'm not doing anything until you let me see Keith."

"I'll let you see his corpse if you don't stop this foolishness," Spectra hissed, hoping against hope he could talk her down. If she wanted to see Keith it could make keeping up the ruse problematic.

"If you kill him you won't have anything to hold over me," Mira smiled smugly, having realized the flaw in his plan.

"I don't need to kill him. I'll simply torture him until you agree to comply. You'll find I can be very persuasive."

Mira scowled, trying to figure out a way to outsmart him. If only she knew the truth, that her brother was as safe as could be, standing next to her in the hallway. But what fun would that be?

She tried a different tactic, "Please, I'm begging you, let me see him," she made her eyes big and pouted adorably.

"If you think puppy-dog eyes will convince me of anything you are sadly mistaken."

Then she tried another tactic entirely. "Spectra," she edged closer to him and stood on tiptoe so her face was close to his, fluttering her eyelashes dramatically.

"Get away from me," he said stonily, and put his hand over her face to quickly shove her back.

Mira of course had no idea Spectra was her brother, and was both annoyed at her failure and offended at the ardent rejection. Was he trying to imply she was ugly or something? she wondered.

"Just let me see him! It would be a lot easier for all of us!" she screamed, frustrated at this point.

"If I let you see him once you'll get it into that thick skull of yours that you should be allowed to see him whenever you want."

She sensed a weakening and pleaded more fervently, "Please! Just let me see him once so I know he's okay! I won't ask you ever again, I swear!"

I have decided this is all Gus's fault. If he hadn't been behaving so inappropriately at dinner I never would have stormed off and I wouldn't be here right now. And come to think of it, I wouldn't have been in the ship to find the time machine if he hadn't insisted we check on it today. When I get back, Gus is a dead man. Oh, wait. I might not get back. The time machine is broken. Plus I have to find a way to deal with my past self. This is going to be absolutely great. I should have brought some aspirin…Well I guess I can get it from my room. Wait, did I buy it yet? Or is it next week I buy it? Ugh, my headache's just getting worse.

When he turned around again, finding his composure, he saw that she was gone. Of course.

"Gus!" he shouted down the hall.

"Yes, Master Spectra?" Gus came racing around the corner.

"I need a wig that looks like my natural hair, some other clothes, and some costume make-up."

"That isn't your natural hair?" Gus looked bewildered.

"No, Gus, it isn't."

"Why do you need-?"

"I'll need bruises, some fake-blood…"

"Um…alright."

There was a void of awkward silence before Gus realized there were no further orders and scurried off to comply with his friend's strange request.

"Hey, Spectra! Get over here! I want a word with you."

"What now?" Spectra groaned as he turned to face the new problem.

A/N: Who wants what with Spectra? How will this affect his plans? Will Mira be fooled by his Keith costume? All will be revealed in the next chapter…possibly. Review and let me know what you thought of this chapter! …Please?