Hi! So, I just had the funniest idea. Do you know Screen Junkies? Search 'em up on YouTube. They do this thing called Honest Trailers, and I want to try my hand at one right now.

From the author, of nothing you have ever heard of, comes a story, about teenaged kids competing and playing with their magic balls. Join Erin, a whiny, desperate, and slightly annoying brawler; Lync, a whiny, desperate and slightly annoying brawler; and Hydron, a super whiny, super desperate, and super-duper annoying brawler, in their quest to... wait, what are they doing?

Wow, such a great plot.

Starring:

Erin

Lync the Dynk

Hydron the mop head

Shadow Prove the pervy looking guy who probably has a white van parked outside the palace

Mylene the scary girl who can fly for whatever reason

Volt the emo dude

And that man everybody seems to hate.

LOL

ENJOY!


Erin's POV:

The next day, I found Lync eating breakfast in the Vexos' common room, along with Volt and Mylene. I slumped into a chair next to Lync. "G'morning."

"Yeah," was all Mylene said. Lync and Volt were in the middle of a conversation. "How was your sleep, newbie?"

The Aquos brawler didn't actually look interested, so I just shrugged.

As the minutes ticked by, Volt left, and a scruffy looking Shadow Prove took his spot. "Hey, newbie. What was it like spending a night out with those two dweebs?"

I shrugged, taking a bite of my food. "It was cold. Need I say more?"

Shadow giggled. "Was Lync trying to, I don't know, maybe, watch you sleep?"

Lync dropped his spoon, mouth open. "Shadow! Of course I didn't!" His impish face was getting redder by the second. "What's your problem?"

Shadow laughed. Mylene sighed, pushing her way past her annoying partner. "Imbeciles," she muttered. She made her way to the door of the room and shut it with a loud bang. Shadow and Lync scuffled for a little longer, until Lync punched Shadow in the gut.

Shadow made a sound between a howl of pain and a cackle before leaving the room, calling for Mylene.

Lync hopped back onto his chair awkwardly. "He was lying, I swear it!"

I took another bite of my food. "And I'm supposed to believe you because…?"

Lync blushed a deeper shade of red. "Because… I'm your friend?" his voice was an octave higher than usual.

"It didn't sound like you were my friend yesterday." I muttered, wanting to go back to my food.

Lync grumbled something about females and being stubborn before taking a bite of his own food. "You're like that other Resistance Brawler girl." His tone was no longer high-pitched. "Alice."

Right… He knows Alice. "What was she like?"

"You never met her?" Lync questioned in surprise. "You lot seem like the kind to throw parties together all the time. Being chummy and everything."

"… Yeah, well… I was a special case." I coughed awkwardly. "Don't ask."

"Alice was…" he paused for a while. I stared at the boy in surprise. "She was… um… nice. And… good. And… she made me food."

I snorted. "She was good. She made you food. What a charmer you are, Lync Volan." I said dryly.

"… she was… pretty." I registered a melancholic look in his eyes, but then he looked away.

"…"

Lync returned his attention to his breakfast, his face and expression masked by his pink bangs. I peered at him for a moment longer, before Hydron entered the room.

How odd… does he… miss Alice?

"He likes her," Shadowheart whispered to me softly. Oh, well that made more sense.

"So are we looking through the archives today?" I asked softly, still pondering the thought of Lync liking Alice.

"I mean, yeah." Lync said sullenly. "We're confined to this place for a month. This sucks, but we have a lot of time to figure out the Dryoid problem."

"Yeah, sure." Hydron shrugged, joining us with a plate of breakfast.

A beat; then we all let out a long sigh.


"Whoa, for such a high-tech king, these are a lot of books. What happened to digital reading?" I asked. This was crazy.

'The Archives' were in the basement of the palace, right next to the dungeons (let's just ignore the screams of the damned and tortured…).

The room was carved of stone, giving it that enclosed cold vibe. The bookshelves reached from floor to ceiling, and there were like ten of them.

Lync made a little gasping sound. "What – too – much – books…" he stuttered off a few more words. "I just want you guys to know that I'm going to miss you…"

Hydron was the only one who didn't look fazed. "Will Shadowheart help?"

"If you respect my partner and watch your mouth." Shadowheart said sharply.

Lync, who already looked glassy-eyed, nodded at Hydron. "We're going to need his help. Just abide by his terms, ok?"

"For sure." Hydron muttered.

"My friends, you have just witnessed the first time in Vestal history Hydron willingly agreed with Lync. Let us all take a moment to let the notion sink in." I said in my best announcer's voice.

Hydron blushed. Lync laughed his squeaky, awkward laugh. "Ok, Lync, you can stop giggling like a school girl." Hyrdon said in annoyance.

Lync pouted. "I don't sound like a school girl!"

"Yeah yeah," Hydron said in that annoying tone of voice. He clearly believed that Lync had a school girl laugh. "I figured we need to divide this place into sections. There are four shelves." He pointed to each, huge shelf, filled to the brim with books. "And four of us. Pretty self-explanatory."

"What, these books aren't organized?" Shadowheart asked. "I've never been to a library not organized."

Lync scratched his head. "Well-"

Suddenly, the sound of the door opening resonated through the room. Professor Clay came in, nodding at us. "You three have been assigned a task from Zenoheld."

"Hey, don't forget me!" Shadowheart muttered. "There's a fifth person in this room."

The Professor sneered at the Bakugan. "Zenoheld told me to tell you… four that you're punishment, along with being confined to the palace, is to sort through the archives and organize them."

I groaned. "Sort this? How on Vestal are we supposed to do that?"

Clay shrugged. "Just do as you're told, or receive more punishment from your master."

Lync grumbled some curse words as Clay left the room. "He's gotta be kidding! Sort the archives? No!" He punched a bookshelf, face red.

I ran a hand through my short hair. "But there's nothing else we can do."

We all sighed in defeat. "First, we find out the myth." Hydron said. "Cool?"

"Yeah, sure…" Lync muttered. Shadowheart and I just nodded.

"You take this shelf…"

"… I've got this one…"

"Dibs on this shelf…"

"Ugh. I'll take this one…"

And so the sorting began.

I stared at the huge shelf I was assigned. This is going to be really boring…

I counted each individual shelf. 10… by… 12… 120. 120 subsections on one shelf! Who collected this many books? Oh yeah, the king who's scientists made so many technological advances that there's no need for books… Obviously.

I clucked my tongue in annoyance. First shelf. Yes, search the bottom row of the shelf… then the second, then third, until you reach the top… yeah. That's a good plan.

I scanned the titles on the book spines, ready to pass out from boredom.

I was not expecting this when I planned on joining the Vexos. Getting punished? I was ready for that. But… sorting books? Oh hell no.

From time to time, I could hear a groan, or a curse, being issued from either Lync or Hydron's mouth. The sounds of Shadowheart humming softly carried through the room.

"Not this book… not this… wait… what's this?" I whispered to myself. I pulled out a cerulean blue bound book, with fancy gold carved across the spine. The thick book gave off that old, mystic vibe. I cracked it open, and dust flew out.

The ink was very light, I could barely read it. I tried focusing on whatever the title read… "Fairy Tales."

Fairy tales.

Such a thick book and all that was in it was fairy tales? I rolled my eyes, but took the book over to a large desk at the back of the room. If Spectra told that Bakugan tale, it had to be originated from somewhere, right? What better than a fairy tale book?

I coughed as the dust flew around. "I can see why these archives have been abandoned." The now-familiar voice of Lync called from over my shoulder. A gloved hand was placed on said shoulder, sending shivers down my spine.

"Geez, Lync. Let's not get all stalker-y." I muttered, watching as the pink-haired boy slunk into a rickety chair next to me. He held a leather-covered book, just as thick as mine.

"Stalker-y isn't even a word. So, I don't see how I can get all, 'stalker-y.' So why don't you just let me be?" his tone was practically smirking. An image of Shun popped into my head – trying to act cool, and only succeeding a little. Just a little.

I rolled my eyes. "Why don't you go and flip through your damn book before I flip you off?"

The Ventus brawler made a big show of removing his gloves and stretching his fingers. "You bet I'll flip through this 'damn book.'"

I raised an eyebrow, putting on my innocent face. "Did you say you wanted to bet?"

The gleam in his eyes intensified. "A bet? Ok, last person to find it…"

"Has to sort one whole row of the winner's shelf, plus their own." I said boldly.

For what felt like the hundredth time in my stay with the Vexos, Lync Volan and I shook hands.


Lync's POV:

"FOUND IT!" We both yelled simultaneously.

Erin looked at me dubiously. "Hey, I shouted it first!"

I slammed my hand down on the table, matching her tone. "No, I did! See, it's on this page!" I pointed at the page.

"Oh yeah? I think you're blind, because it's right here, on my book!" she exclaimed. There was a competitive gleam in her eye, something I was just starting to get used to seeing.

I tried not to flinch under her gaze. There was another Vexos trait she seemed to have built in to her – her strong gaze, her steady composure. I almost envied this trait… even though I had it myself.

Wait… did I?

Hydron, who had shedded his thin brown coat, came up to our table. "So I hear that the both of you have found something supposedly useful?"

Erin laughed. "No, it was just me."

I shoved her. "No! I did! Take a look at this, Hydron!"

I grabbed my book and showed it to him. It took him a solid minute to comprehend the text on the brittle paper, but comprehend he did. His violet pupils widened to the size of saucers. "I-it's… it's all true."

I felt all the competiveness dissipate from the room. The snobbish boy was now close to tears. "T-there's something wrong with… it… no… me…" His long fingers moved to grab the table as he suddenly pitched forward.

Erin and I each grabbed an arm and settled him into the nearest chair. Its rickety legs creaked under the sudden weight, but otherwise held.

"You're going to be… fine." Erin tried to console desperately. "I mean, like we said before. You're still breathing."

"Water," I interrupted, already making for the door. "I'll get you a glass of water."

Late that night, I stayed up in the library with Hydron, Erin and Shadowheart.

The silence was deafening, but by some unspoken truce, the three – no, the four – of us were going to truly figure out what was going on.

We had split into partners: Hydron and Shadowheart scouring all four massive bookshelves in an attempt to find any other clues, interpretations, or meanings to cross-reference with our two fairy tale books. Erin and I were scanning through the already found books, looking for loopholes and exceptions.

I found that my breath was coming out ragged; in short breaths. Every few seconds, I caught Erin's eyes darting nervously. She had a habit of running her left hand through her hair, and I noticed her doing that a lot too.

We were all nervous.

The silence roared in my ears, and I felt some bit of my claustrophobia start to take a hold on me.

"We're getting nowhere." I finally said. "Maybe… maybe all four of us should call it a night."

Hydron made his way over to our seat. "No – we can't… I-" He paused to yawn.

Shadowheart flew (so apparently he can fly?) over, landing on Erin's right shoulder. Erin didn't at all seem surprised, or shocked. Shadowheart flying and using her as a perch must have been the norm for her.

"Hydron," The Darkus Bakugan began. "We're all tired – you are too. Let's all rest."

Surprise: He didn't put up much of a fight. "Yeah… I guess."

The violet-eyed boy started making his way to the door. Erin watched him in disbelief. "… AHEM!" she called, catching his attention.

Hydron turned. "Oh! Yeah! Goodnight." Then he opened the door and slipped away from the archives.

I shook my head. "He was never going to say 'thank you.' Just… don't bother with him when we're not in the archives. That's what I'd do if I were you."

Erin looked away, clearly displeased. "I don't suppose you could remind me where I'm supposed to be sleeping?" She asked quietly.

I shrugged, trying to keep my expression blank, when on the inside I felt like I was burning up. "Yeah, whatever." I stood up, made sure Aluze was in my pocket, and raced to the door so I could open it for her. If Hydron won't be a gentleman, I suppose I will.

Erin smiled, mirth twinkling in her eyes. "What a charmer."

As we made our way out of the basement, Erin tried to start hushed conversation. "Still haven't told, right?"

I nodded. "Of course… we start training tomorrow." I pointed at the door beside mine. "Here's your room."

Erin sighed, leaning against the wall. "Thank you. And sure, we'll start brawling."

I felt like I wanted to talk more. But all I could manage was a goodnight.

She nodded, still leaning in the doorway as I slipped into my sleeping quarters.