CHAPTER 7
Shun always maintained confidence in his ninja skills. Had he lived in the old days, he would have been able to sneak into the Shogun's palace or escape from the dungeons of a moated castle. Now, he just needed to get out of bed without waking up his two gorgeous companions who still lay dreaming by his sides.
The curtains had not been pulled together, and the radiance of a bright, cloudless morning was flooding his bedroom, reaching even the most distant corner.
In a feat of gymnastic prowess, Shun got out of bed without waking either Chris or Soon.
Let's get everything done, he thought.
The day before, he and Marucho had agreed to meet up at one of the Interspace's cafés to discuss developments. Shun would do that after taking the girls back. But first and foremost, he needed to take a shower. The previous night's activities had been quite intense; he could feel sweat sticking all over his body as if he had been dipped into glue.
He made his way to the bathroom just as quietly as he had gotten out of bed. He turned the taps in the shower cabin on and warm water descended down on him. The shower whispered around him like a small waterfall and light mist rose from the floor, blurring the transparent glass walls.
Shun closed his eyes. He had not done any meditation in quite some time and the moment felt right for it. He balanced his breaths and moments later his mind started drifting away from the Chaos Bakugan and Bakugan Interspace, from Dan and Team Anubias, from harems and threesomes…even from the shower cabin. His mind was floating, floating in the boundless planes that had no physical descriptions.
And then he felt it: a stinging but a pleasant one. It took him a second to realize that it was radiating from his left butt cheek. This probably meant one thing—he had been spanked.
Shun yanked his eyes open to see the door of the shower cabin open. There stood Chris, short and nude and petite.
"Chris," he said.
"Hey, Featherboy," the blonde gave him a look-over, grinning mischievously as she noticed his manhood spring up, "I woke up and felt like hitting the shower. Hope you don't mind me using it with you."
"Of course not," he responded, "Is Soon up?"
"Nah, still sleeping," she stepped inside the shower cabin and slid the door shut behind her.
The shower cabin at Shun's apartment was quite spacious; it easily fitted two people without a notion of a cramp.
"Besides, I feel like having some fun. Just the two of us," she made one more step towards him, winked, and kneeled.
Shun found not a single part of him that disagreed with that prospect. He smiled back at her naughtily.
Chris took the tip of his member into her mouth and Shun's chest hardened. Bit by bit, she was leaning closer, fitting in more of his manhood. The young man's hand slid down and found a place on the back of the blonde's head that was getting wetter due to the shower. He rocked his hips a few times as he pushed deeper into her mouth. Chris responded with grunts of approval.
His hand slid down again and hung as if it was numb. Chris pulled back, leaving his penis enveloped with drool that was being mixed with shower drops from above. Almost immediately, she took him in again and wrapped her tongue around his shaft. The shower's rain-like sprinkling blocked any slurping sounds the young woman was making as she was sucking him from reaching his ears. Shun's mind was slowly starting to drift away, this time due to pleasure not meditation. The shower was wet and warm, and it felt the same in the blonde's mouth.
This session continued for several minutes. But Shun wanted more and he knew she too wanted more.
"Perhaps it's time for the main event," he said.
Chris paused first before releasing him and standing up.
"In which position?" she asked.
Before she realized anything else, she got swirled and lifted off her feet. Holding her above the floor, Shun clasped the blonde to his body as his manhood penetrated her vagina. No longer feeling ground underneath, Chris wrapped her legs around his waist and her hands around his neck. Shun, in turn, made sure he had a firm grasp of her buttocks. Finding herself fucked practically in mid-air, the blonde resigned herself to moaning and panting in delight.
Though concentrated on the bodily sensations, Shun did not let the surroundings slide away from his attention. He could feel that the floor under him was wet, yet his training allowed him to avoid slipping as he enthusiastically pleasured her and himself. He even moved and pressed Chris against the wall. The blonde giggled as the cool tiles came in contact with her skin. He kept his pace as he continued shoving his shaft into her.
Chris was rather light in weight, yet holding her all the time was starting to become somewhat tiresome.
"Do you want to change positions, Featherboy?" she asked as though she had read his mind.
Shun did not respond; he just looked in those brown eyes and nodded in approval. He pulled out and gently placed her back on the ground.
"Let's do it from behind," she said and turned around.
She stretched her hands, placed her palms firmly against the wall, and stuck the lower part of her abdomen to him. Shun gripped her shoulder with one hand and use the other to guide his manhood into her eager vagina. His shower-time campaign continued.
"Oh yeah, Shun, that's it, keep fucking me," Chris whimpered.
Shun's gaze glided to the side, to a tub of body soap. It was within reaching distance, so the young man used it to advantage…
Moments later, he had a handful of it. He began to ladder Chris up, rubbing the thick substance over her back and stomach, her butt and breasts. She moaned in response and it was music to his ears.
There was no other place Shun would have preferred to be at in those moments. His only regret was the absence of Sellon and Soon in the same shower…
Hell, when and how did I become so kinky? The young man thought. This was something he had failed to notice in the frenzy of the last couple of days.
He felt tension building up in his tip. He intensified his thrusts, gasping louder as he did. In the end, he shot it all into Chris.
A couple of minutes later, the two team members, dry after wiping themselves with towels, exited the bathroom. Back in the bedroom, they came across the sight of a still sleeping Soon.
"Told you," the blonde smiled.
"Probably a sound sleeper," Shun said.
—
It was supposed to be just your typical café meet-up. He was sitting behind a table shared with Marucho as well as Rafe and Paige, the Neathean and Gundalian agents whom the Interspace administrator had invited to join them.
As always, the day in the virtual reality was sunny and warm. Sipping their milkshakes, smoothies, and bubble teas, they talked about the problems of the present and the recollections of the past. Dan's name was raised on a couple of occasions in relation to the recent events. But as the wise men in some East Asian countries say: 'speak of a tiger and the tiger will come along'. Before Shun had a chance to finish off his pineapple milkshake he caught eye of Dan running towards them from beyond the horizon.
And them the disturbing stuff really began. If Dan's recent path of destruction as well as his aggressive and irrational behavior had been the ingredients of the cake, then the things he started ranting about were the icing. As if he had not surprised him—and them all, for that matter, already—Dan spoke about his visions. He stood in front of them, theatrical and euphoric, as he rambled about the mysterious Mag Mel and his threats; some sort of Gate and Key; and of course his visions of vast fires and devastation that befell Gundalia.
None of it made any sense at first. And then it clicked in the ninja's head; he came to a conclusion. It was so obvious now: Dan had snapped under all the strain he had gone through. And as he lost his connection to reality, he developed hallucinations of a grand supernatural cosmology.
I think I understand how he sees it, Shun thought.
Mag Mel was supposed to be some Bakugan god that Dan now worshipped. Dan himself was supposed to be a herald through whom this Mag Mel spoke. The Gate and the Key were a cosmic symbol. And the fires of Gundalia were a prophecy that Mag Mel was to smite the Gundalians for their past transgressions.
Poor Dan, fall from grace really destroyed you, for the first time in many days Shun felt pity rather than anger towards his old friend.
"You're crazy," Paige finally called him out.
"You're calling me a liar!?" Dan shouted, his irises probably twice wide than usual, as he slammed his fists against the table. The ensuing shaking almost flipped the gang's drink cups.
"No," Paige stood up, "I'm calling you a crazy person!"
Paige might have been a girl, but she was quite a muscular one, so Dan was really risking to get knocked out or at least end up with a black eye. But before a proper fight could break out, the Gundalian's comlink rang.
"Gundalia is under attack!" Paige declared as she found out the message.
So Dan's visions are true, Shun thought. Who would have known?
The whole thing was starting to be even more disturbing.
—
Reckless, arrogant, filled with illusions of grandeur—those were the best words to describe the fugitive Shun was hunting at those moments. That was Dan Kuso.
The young ninja kept his eyes on his path as he drove in a Zoompha, a mobile upgrade he had received from Rafe and Paige. Infrastructure in Gundalia was inferior to that of Earth; there were no roads, yet the vehicle gave him an opportunity to smoothly traverse through the terrain of the grim world, rough and covered with dunes.
It had been an intense few hours. The five of them had traveled back to this world not to fight against its forces but alongside them. They had had a chance to meet up with their old acquaintances: Nurzak, Ren, and even Fabia, now Queen of Neathea. They had understood that Dan's visions were not mere hallucinations but were indeed grounded in reality. And of course Dan, predictably, had again put their lives in danger by falling into Mag Mel's trap and getting them caught in an ambush. Shun was surprised they had been able to repel that attack.
Like a stuntman on his motorbike on a reality show, Shun drove up to the top of a dune and flew of its edge. To a bystander, had there been one, it would have seemed just as reckless as the shows Dan had been pulling, but this was the quickest way to end this. He just hoped the brawler had the sanity to pull over.
Luckily, Dan did…just in time.
"Shun! Get out of the way!" Dan shouted at him.
The Ventus brawler did not respond.
Understanding that he was not getting his way, Dan got out of the vehicle in a sign that he was open to negotiations. Shun, in turn, jumped out of his Zoompha and made his way closer to him. A mere moment and they stood face-to-face.
"Let me pass, Shun," Dan said, "I and Drago need to get to Mag Mel and fight him."
"You were told to stay behind. Your link to Mag Mel puts us all at risk."
"I'm not staying behind as the world burns!"
"The decision was final!"
"And whose decision was it?" Dan screamed as if he did not know, "Marucho's?"
Again, Shun remained silent. There was nothing wrong with the verdict; had the decision been his, he would have done the same.
"And who gave him the authority to order me around?"
"He's not ordering you around. But he is the leader of the Battle Brawlers, so he has the right to make such decisions. Believe me, Dan, I would have done the same in his place. And so would have Runo or Julie or Alice…"
"He's not the leader!" Dan was triggered. This was one thing Shun should have avoided.
"And since when are you his enforcer? I heard you left the team," Dan called him out, "And it's nice that you still remember the others considering you betrayed the Battle Brawlers!" he ranted.
"I did quit the team, but that's not betrayal. Stop thinking in extremes!" Shun argued.
"You threw your lot with Team Sellon! How is that not betrayal?!"
"And it allowed me to bring some normality back to Bakugan Interspace. I didn't even want to, but, unfortunately, you left the team in a complete mess."
A grin, almost maniacal in appearance, spread over Dan's face.
"What mess? That's just an excuse you're telling other people!" Dan chuckled, "I bet you got bored of your meditation stuff and wanted to get under one of the skirts. Can't say I blame you. Soon has big boobs, Chris is so energetic she can probably go on and on and on, and Sellon, well, who wouldn't want to take her as a trophy home for the night."
Shun's inner balance was disrupted by the earthquake of anger that was rumbling in him in reaction to those words. His Bushido-style ethics taught him not to attack first…so he really, really hoped Dan was irate enough to start a fight between them. Then he would go full Jackie Chan on Kuso.
Yet the big fight was not destined to happen that day. Instead, fires began raining down o them. The deadly blazes did not ensnare the humans who managed to duck away, yet reduced their both of their transports to burning wrecks. Upon turning his head to the skies, Shun saw a squad of draconic figures hovering over them. Seconds later, Drago and Taylean too rose up in their full Bakugan forms.
As the vicious battle proceeded to rage all around them, Shun caught a somewhat outlandish sight with a glimpse of his eye: two figures stood on a distant dune, both tall and dark. One appeared to be a male Gundalian, the other—a female Neathean.
Indeed, weird times created weird alliances.
—
A day that started out so nice kept turning worse and worse as it was drawing to a close. As if battles and ambushes were not enough, they also experienced a steep fall and a battle with Mag Mel himself and his two minions. To make things even more dramatic, Razenoid, Mag Mel's scorpion-likened Bakugan, managed to snatch Drago's part of the Gate and Key just a moment before defeat, turning the Brawlers' triumph into a pyrrhic victory.
But once they got out of the portal that brought them back to Bakugan Interspace, it became obvious that their chain of bad luck was not yet finished.
The level of devastation that had befallen the virtual arena appeared even worse than what they had seen in Gundalia. It felt like the whole area had been firebombed by a flotilla of warplanes. That part that was supposed to resemble a city with high-rise buildings and futuristic architecture had mostly been reduced to ruins and debris.
They walked the streets littered with rubble, observing the scale of damage. What had been a bustling place had become a ghost town. The silence around them made the place incredibly eerie.
None of the five brawlers needed to be present to know what was the cause, but all of the hoped that there were no casualties.
"It appears that all the portals had been badly damaged and taken out of order. However, I can still catch one signal," Marucho said as he studied the system built into his bracelet.
"Do you think somebody might have been left stranded here," Rafe wondered.
"There might be, we'll need to scour around," Shun suggested.
Luckily for them, the first building they entered, a one-storey dome that probably served no purpose originally had become a refuge.
Their arrival was met by a series of shocked gasps which quickly turned into sighs of relief once the Bakugan fans recognized some of the faces. There were around two dozen of them in total, men and women, boys and girls, each looking tired and frightened and weary. He recognized four out of five members of Team Anubias: those who seemed tough just days before could not hide their misery.
"Shun!" he heard two jubilant voices. He turned aside and saw two very familiar figures sitting in the shades. However, once they caught his attention, both jumped up and ran up to him.
"Girls, thank goodness you're alright," Shun felt relieved. He had been worried for he had left them in Bakugan Interspace and had something happened to them, there would have been no forgiveness for him.
"What happened here?" Marucho asked loudly…as though it was not obvious.
"Soon after you left, a group of Chaos Bakugan returned and to wreck havoc across Bakugan Interspace," said some teen whose name was unknown to the ninja.
"Me and Chris tried to fight them off but our own Bakugan became uncontrollable and turned on us," Soon told, almost whispered, a small detail to Shun.
"Most of the people present managed to escape this place before those Chaos Bakugan destroyed all the portals," Ben said.
"Not all," Marucho said.
He explained that one was still operational and that the brawlers would lead them to it. And then Bakugan Interspace would be deleted in order to finish the threat of Chaos Bakugan.
"But what about Mistress Sellon," Soon spoke out, "she was supposed to be back here today. What if she's hiding somewhere in Bakugan Interspace?"
Shun sighed.
"I know!" Chris said, "I can use my comlink to transmit the coordinates to her, so if she's around, she'd be able to make her own way."
And so the course of action was agreed.
—
She stood on the roof of one the tall buildings that still remained after rampage the Chaos Army had gone around the cityscape.
She never denied that Bakugan Interspace had been a beautiful place in its own right. And as she observed the shadows of its glory that lingered among the ruins, she could not deny a twitch of sadness inside her. But such was Mag Mel's will and none could go against it.
She did not give even a quick look to Anubias, who was standing by her side just as soundless; she could not tell what impression the same scene left on him. And frankly, she did not care.
A quick beeping sound rang from her bracelet. Sellon brought her wrist closer in order to find out what the message was.
"Chris has just sent me the coordinates of the assembly point," she smiled, "wait here for awhile."
The brunette girl turned around.
"When I forward the coordinates to you, take the Chaos Bakugan, go there, and retrieve the Gate and Key," she grinned as gave him a look. She saw the expression on his face, just as angry as it was ninety per cent of the time.
"And try not to do anything stupid," she proceeded to walk away, much too Anubias' surprise.
"And what are you supposed to be doing? Where are you going?" Anubias called out.
"Making the plan failsafe."
—
Author's Note: This has taken long again. Anyway, the reason I've mostly skipped the action sequences in this chapter because they unfold the same way as they did in the show.
