Okay, here's the second-to-last chapter! I can't believe this is ending so soon! *Sobs* On the other hand, Scars is currently my most reviewed story, with 25 review and more to come (hint hint)!
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Bakugan: New Vestroia or any of its characters. I do own Jayme, Miranda, Schuyler, Kiera, Doyle, Kyli, and Brandon.
WORD COUNT: 1986
"Let me GO!" Mira kicked hard, right between where the soldier's legs met. The man cried out in pain and whimpered as he collapsed to the floor, clutching at where it hurt. She jammed her elbow into the other man's stomach and rammed her heel onto his toe, and then took off as soon as he yelped in pain and let go.
She made it out the door – thankfully, she'd made her move before they'd had a chance to lock it – and raced through the hallway. She ran past several guards who were lying unconscious off to the sides. Someone else had been there, and they'd been busy. Her biggest worry was the gunshot she'd heard just a minute earlier. Was anyone hurt? Who? Was it one of her friends? Could it have been Ace? Mira felt a lump forming in her throat at the thought. She couldn't lose him, she just couldn't.
She rounded a corner and nearly tripped over another guard lying on the floor, but slowed to a stop as she registered the small crimson puddle near him. Mira turned around to see that he had a small hole right over his heart, with blood streaming from it. It was Doyle. So he was the shooting victim. But who had fired the shot? Mira looked around. It had been only a minute or so ago, so the shooter could easily be nearby. She continued on again, this time keeping her footsteps quieter and peeking around corners to check if the coast was clear. She only found more guards, out cold but still alive, as far as she could tell.
Another distant boom could be heard up ahead. It had to be a Bakugan Battle. More than likely, the others were taking on the Vexos right now, and hopefully they'd be able to destroy the Dimension Controller. That was, after all, the Resistance's overall mission.
"I'm telling you, we have to find Dan and Baron after we find Mira!"
The sound of voices just up the hall set Mira on edge. She stopped and peeked around the corner to see who it was.
It was Shun, Jayme, and Ace!
"Guys!" she cried, running out to meet them. To her surprise, Jayme whipped around and pointed a gun in her direction. He looked like he was about to fire when Ace and Shun each grabbed his arms from either side and stopped him.
"Relax, bro, it's Mira!" Ace shouted. Jayme, who'd initially struggled against them, immediately stopped when he looked at her again and recognised her. As soon as it was clear that his brother wasn't going to shoot, Ace let go and raced towards Mira. He slammed into her with a force that almost knocked her down. "Mira! You're okay!" Mira felt him wrap his good arm around her and press his lips against hers.
She felt like she was in heaven. Ace was kissing her! She'd always thought he didn't think of her in the same way she thought of him, but clearly this wasn't the case. She returned the kiss, overjoyed that he was in one piece, too. She'd been so worried about him over the past week, and with all that had been happening, she felt she had every reason to worry that something else might harm him, physically and/or emotionally.
Eventually, after a cough from Jayme, the two pulled apart, but still held on to each other. "I thought for sure they would've done something to you," Ace whispered, "Like what they did to me. I was so scared that I'd never see you again."
Mira had to admit to herself that that had never crossed her mind. She'd been too focused on the danger Ace might be in that her own safety was never even considered. Yet he seemed to be more concerned about her.
"I was afraid they'd do something more to you," Mira admitted, "I'm so glad you're all right."
"I almost wasn't. Doyle nearly got me, but Jayme took care of him." Mira remembered seeing Doyle's body further back. It took her brain a second or two to connect that to the fact that Jayme had a gun.
"Oh. I saw... back there..." The boys bit their lips and looked at her with a gaze that told her they knew what she was talking about.
"We should meet up with the others," Shun stated, out of the blue, "Dan and Baron are taking on Shadow and Mylene right now, and Brandon's getting Ace and Jayme's parents out."
"Like I was saying earlier, we should head to the battle," Ace insisted, apparently continuing the argument they'd been having before she interrupted, "Shadow's probably still got my Bakugan with him. Going back to the base would make no sense! We're all in one piece, the next thing to do would be to get Percival and Falconfly back!"
"It's too risky!" Jayme argued back, "Every second we spend in this building, we run the risk of getting captured again!"
"Well, every second you two stand there arguing," Shun interrupted, "We run that risk anyway, so could you just agree on something already?"
"It was a risk coming here in the first place, already," Ace declared, "We came here completely aware of the danger, so there's no reason we should just back off now. I don't care if you want to go back to the base, but I'm getting my Bakugan back, even if I have to go alone!" With that, he turned and strode off down the hall. Mira immediately followed him and grasped his hand.
"You're not," she insisted, "Because I'm coming with you."
She heard Jayme give a resigned sigh behind her. "Fine, I'm coming, too. I've got your back, Squirt." Mira was a little surprised when Ace turned and gave his brother a small smile. The last time she'd seen the two of them together, they'd practically hated each other's guts!
"Uh, what'd I miss?" she quietly asked Shun, who of course only responded with a non-committal grunt and a shrug. Mira supposed she'd have to ask about it later. Right now, they had a mission to complete.
So, as if on some sort of invisible signal, all four of them set off down the hall.
"ABILITY ACTIVATE! BURNING TORNADO!" Drago dove at Elico, who, as it turned out, could switch attributes like Preyas and Elfin. His whole body became surrounded with flames, which engulfed the now Subterra-attributed Bakugan. Mylene's life gauge dropped to zero as her Bakugan landed at her feet.
"NO!" she shouted, "That's impossible!" Judging from Dan's previous impressions of her – which weren't much, as this was the first time he'd seen her in action (as by the time he'd arrived at her battle against Marucho, the match had been over, and Mylene had just lost to a mysterious hooded brawler that actually turned out to be Shun) – she didn't taking losing very well. Then again, the Vexos seemed to be notorious for that sort of attitude, like they thought they were superior and their place on the Vexos team had elevated them to a god-like status. That was one of the many reasons Dan couldn't stand them.
Of course, that made rubbing Mylene's loss in her face just a little more fun, to bring her down one peg further.
"So, where's that perfect Bakugan you were going on about?" he remarked, "Doesn't seem like you've played him yet, since your Elico was so easy to beat."
"Shut up!" the Vexos woman shouted, "Shadow, you'd better win this!"
The evil Darkus Brawler just laughed that freaky laugh of his. "No problem!" he said, "I'm gonna squash these little twerps into Brawler juice!"
"You think so?" Baron challenged, "ABILITY ACTIVATE! BOLTING ARROW!" The attack knocked Falconfly out of the battlefield, with enough power level difference to send the Trap Bakugan shooting into Baron's hand. "Yes! Check it out, Master Dan! We've got Falconfly back!"
"All right, Baron!" Dan congratulated his teammate, "Now let's get Percival!"
Shadow looked very confused right now. "What? When? Where? How?!"
"Oh, shut up and pay attention!" Mylene snapped.
"You ready buddy?" Dan asked Drago.
"Let's do this!" his partner declared.
"ABILITY ACTIVATE! BURNING DRAGON!"
"ABILITY ACTIVATE!" Baron shouted, "RAVEN LORE!"
Both attacks barrelled forward and struck Percival right in the chest. "Come back to us, Percival!" Dan screamed. With a flash of purple, the Darkus Bakugan returned to ball form and soared into Dan's waiting hand as Shadow's life gauge dropped to zero. "All right! We did it!"
"NOOOOOOOOOO!" Shadow wailed dramatically, "This is so not fair! I wanna rematch!"
Any response to his whining was interrupted by a loud rumbling sound from above. Over their heads, chunks of plaster were crumbling away from the ceiling, and the whole building was starting to shake.
"Whoa!" Dan exclaimed as he tried to keep his balance, "What's happening?"
"The Dimension Controller!" Mylene gasped, "It's part of the building structure! Now that it's smashed, this whole place is coming down!"
"Let's get out of here!" Dan turned on his heels and ran for the exit. He thanked his lucky stars that the room they were in was big enough to fit Drago, Percival, and Nemus as they suddenly grew to their natural sizes. Drago suddenly stopped and put out a clawed hand to block Dan's path just in time to keep a huge portion of the ceiling from crushing him. Looking up, Dan saw that there was now a very large hole through which he could see the afternoon sky. "That's our way out!" he cried, jumping into Drago's hand.
When they came up out into the fresh air, Dan looked around and saw Nemus – with Baron perched on his shoulder – and Percival flying out behind them.
"I hope everyone else got out okay!" Baron called.
"Yeah," Dan agreed, "At least only the building was destroyed, and not the entire city. That would be a disaster!"
"DAN! BARON!" Dan whipped around, almost falling off, to see Wilda and Ingram soaring towards them. The latter had Shun standing on his head while the former carried Mira, Ace, and Jayme.
"Hey, guys!" Baron replied excitedly, "Glad to see ya!"
"Percival!" Ace shouted as he recognised his Bakugan. Percival flew over beside Wilda to be with his partner again.
Dan turned from the reunion to talk to Shun. "Where's Brandon?"
"He took Ace's parents back to the base. What about Marucho?"
"Volt and Lync ambushed the transport, so he went to help Kyli defend it. If Brandon's there now, that should give them a better chance at winning. Those Vexos have probably been taken care of." Shun nodded in agreement. "Okay, guys, let's head home!"
"Ace!" Ace bent down and caught his little sister as she came barrelling towards him. "I missed you! Guess what! Guess-what-guess-what-guess-what!"
Ace laughed. "What, Kiera?"
"While you were gone, Mommy and Daddy came back! I didn't know them when Brandon brought them, but then he and Kyli said they were our Mommy and Daddy! Can you believe it, Ace?! Can you?!"
"You bet I can, who do you think sent Brandon to bring them back here?"
Kiera squealed and hugged him tighter.
Mom and Dad rushed forward and joined the group hug, and so did Jayme. "This is like a dream," Mom whispered, "All five of us, together again, and this time for good."
Ace bit his lip. He knew his parents were planning on moving back into their old home in Beta City, but there was still the issue of the Vexos in Gamma City. The rest of the Resistance – now including the Jarvis siblings – were in town right now, explaining to the people the truth of the Bakugan, but they would soon be moving on. The only thing he wasn't sure of was whether or not he'd be going with them or staying with his family.
Annnnnnnnnnyway, just one more chapter left! Coming... (drum roll, please) TOMORROW! Yes, you read right, TOMORROW! Then next week I'll be posting a new chapter of an old Digimon story. If that doesn't interest you, coming this fall or winter (maybe even next spring, I can't be certain) is my next Bakugan story, Bite Me, which takes place as if New Vestroia and Gundalian Invaders never happened, just because I started writing it before New Vestroia came out.
Read and Review Please, and tell me what you think!
