Disclaimer: As much as I'd like to, I don't own Bakugan.
Chapter 7
Although I'd had more than my fair share of surprises for a day, it didn't make the shock set in as I might've preferred. It would have been better than feeling every emotion so acutely and knowing that anything I might throw their way would only have the same effect. Each one of us—and most recently me—was all too aware of the reality than so few adults knew. And still, there were more unknowns that, much to my dislike, centered on me. That is what the crew around me wished to solve: the mysteries that I'd brought upon them.
Most everyone followed Dan's lead when he sat on the white couch, except Shun. He opted to stand indifferently by one of the large windows. They waited expectantly to hear my side of the weird happenings. I wasn't exactly sure where to begin. Should I start from the beginning when I'd first decided to come to Wardington? It'd probably be better to tell them of my power before that, though. And how much was I willing to tell? Did I want them to know about him?
"So, let's hear it," Dan prompted, eager as usual. He didn't concern them, but it had to do with Bakugan.
"Oh, I can't wait for it. I just love a good story," commented a giddy Preyas.
"Please Preyas, she isn't going to continue unless we're quiet," chided Marucho.
"Oh, sorry." He replied, still jumping anxiously on the boy's shoulder.
I cleared my throat to buy me some time to get my thoughts together. No, they wouldn't know about him. I started off vague to gauge their reactions. "First, I think you should know about me. I'm not normal."
"Big deal. What is normal, anyway?" Runo commented, giving me a friendly smile. Okay, so no one here could be described as ordinary, but compared to them I was a freak. And I told them so with a wry smile.
This earned me a mixed looks of surprise, sympathy, and confusion. It was Julie that spoke up first. "Oh, don't say that. Everyone has things that make them different. So what if you have a power source from another dimension? It's perfectly normal—" She didn't finish the sentence, realizing that she wasn't helping.
"You don't understand. It's the truth when I say that. Ever since I can remember, I've had an ability that has set me apart from everyone else. I don't know if there are others like me, but I know it shouldn't be this way." I paused, hoping that Zora wouldn't decide to put in her two cents. "Up until a couple days ago, I could sense things before they'd happen."
"You could see the future?" Shun asked with obvious skepticism.
"Wow, could you tell me my fortune?" Julie asked, ecstatic.
"No, and no." I answered, a bit irritated with her scatterbrained personality. "I couldn't actually see anything. It was more like a premonition—I felt something before it happened." Everyone stared, a confused look on their faces.
Fortunately, Joe's eyes lit up with understanding. "Oh, so it was kind of like a gut feeling that happened fairly often."
I nodded with excitement. "Yeah, it was exactly like that! And it happened all the time. I couldn't control when I was going to get these impulses."
"Although that is interesting, I still don't understand why this would have anything to do with us," stated Tigrerra.
"Yes, and that still does not explain why the core chose to go to her," Gorem added.
"I'm not sure why myself, but—"I began before Zora interrupted me.
"Of course you wouldn't know, so why don't you let me explain." she asked with carefully guarded menace that no one would detect unless they were really looking for it.
"Alright, go ahead," I answered with just as much restraint.
"Even before she held the core, Nicole had an obvious Vestroia-like energy about her. That's probably what led you to her in the first place."
I did? How come I didn't know about this? It figures that she kept the most important facts from me, as always. If she'd told me that in the first place, I might've listened to her and stayed on the docks.
"I still don't understand," remarked Skyress.
"She didn't know that she was giving off this energy, but Bakugan did. Not only that, but the energy seemed to spike every time she sensed something," Zora continued.
Again, why hadn't Zora told me anything in the time we'd known each other? Would I not understand? Had it just not been worth mentioning? I made a mental note to myself to call Zora out on this one later.
"Yes, there were sudden bursts of energy coming from her in the alley. It seemed to overwhelm the entire vicinity," Drago realized.
"That would mean that her energy would have been temporarily more powerful than that of any of you Bakugan," Marucho deduced.
"Yes, the power resembled that of the Silent Core," Wayvern added. I felt cold set into my bones. "That would have been why the core chose to go to you. Your energy overcame mine."
"It's strange for a human to mimic this energy. Do you know why it happens?" Skyress asked curiously. Even her partner turned to me for an answer. Too bad I didn't have one.
"I'm sorry. I don't know myself. Like I said, I've always been like this."
"Okay, so one mystery down, or at least half," Joe said cheerfully. Then he looked thoughtfully at me. "So Drago mentioned earlier that your energy spiked again. Do you mind telling us what you felt?"
"I felt anxiety and loneliness," I replied automatically.
"No, I meant what your hunch was." He clarified, still grinning amiably. Man, that was creeping me out.
"Oh I'm sorry. I just assumed…" I trailed off, embarrassed. I quickly shook that off as my face turned bright red. "Well, that's the next thing I wanted to tell you guys about."
"Go on," Runo encouraged.
"Yeah, this keeps getting better by the minute!" exclaimed Diablo.
"Well, ever since the…the core"—it felt awkward referring since it was within me—"I haven't sensed things anymore."
"But what about the spike that Drago was talking about?" asked Dan, confused.
I held up a hand to stop him. "Let me finish. I haven't sensed things. Instead I-I've been seeing things."
"Hallucinating?" Shun asked a bit cynically.
As much as it would have made my day to answer with my own snide comment, I couldn't muster the courage to do so. Instead, I refused to meet his gaze and calmly said, "No, I've actually been seeing things. And I saw you telling me about this whole mess, except that it didn't go exactly as I had seen it." In the vision, Dan had been begging me to believe him, I now realized, but it hadn't happened that way for some reason.
I debated whether or not to tell them about the most recent vision. I don't think it would be pertinent, considering that Zora would probably hate me even more if she knew I'd seen him in my future.
I continued without mentioning it. "It seems like every time I feel a strong emotion, I see something related to it."
"So you saw something when the energy spiked?" Drago clarified. I nodded. "That is odd indeed. With the core, your usual ability has disappeared and manifested itself in visions."
A silence settled over us, everyone seemingly consumed in their own thoughts. I couldn't really say that I was looking forward to this face off against Naga. My power to see the future hadn't shown me anything particularly enticing as of yet. And from what I'd gathered, Naga was ruthless and even after his sister. The energy I supposedly emitted wasn't more powerful than Wayvern's all the time, so how could I promise to keep the core safe? Another concern was that everyone else appeared to have a strong bond with their Bakugan as opposed to Zora and me. Worry.
A map was portrayed on the screen in the extravagant room. It was Wardington and some triangles headed toward the tower from all directions. A creeping anxiety washed over me, and the picture zoomed in on the shapes, showing what appeared to be Bakugan. They were different from any I'd ever seen, and they had twisted grins on their faces. They were coming for me.
"Are you alright, Nicole?" asked a concerned Marucho.
"She has seen something again," announced Tigrerra.
I stared back blankly at him, my thoughts on the scene that had played out before me. With growing apprehension, I decided to ask about it. "How far away is the tower?"
With a confused expression, Joe answered, "It isn't too far, just a couple of blocks from here."
"Those Bakugan were loose on the streets, heading this way!" I blurted out.
"What Bakugan?" questioned Dan fiercely. I gasped and met everyone's gaze at least once.
"They aren't supposed to be moving freely in this dimension are they?" I realized with dread.
"No, but since the merge of our two worlds, many things have gone wrong. We Bakugan should not be here in the first place," informed Skyress.
I sighed. "This is insane," I admitted quietly, then added more loudly, "But there's nothing I can do to change any of this now. In the vision, I was looking at a map of the city and there were some strange Bakugan heading toward the tower. Two of the Bakugan were green and blue and coming from the ocean, while another two were orange and brown heading here from land."
"That sounds like Hairadee and Taygen!" shouted Shun.
"Yeah, and Tricloid and Rebeeder!" added Runo.
"You know who they are?" I asked surprised. Nobody bothered to answer my question since Marucho motioned for everyone to follow him. He led the way up to a large high-tech presumably the one from my vision. He pulled up a map that showed the city and all its surroundings in perfect detail. Sure enough, the ones known as Rebeeder, Tricloid, Hairadee, and Taygen popped up on the screen. Of course, I had no idea which was which, but they all seemed equally angry.
"We have to get to the tower. From there we can see everything that is going on and plan our next moves better." Dan decided firmly. His group their Bakugan nodded with the same determination.
I laughed nervously. "Go? Out there?"
So….please review! Tell me how to improve my writing or any suggestions you have. It'd be really helpful!!
