Haloid: I am going to get tired of all this back-and-forth-ing.

Dream: Aren't we all?

Yumeí: Between New Vestroia and Vestal, I am going to get tired of Portals.

Dream: Just portals?

Yumeí: Well what about you? Took you the whole summer to get around to this story. I feel very betrayed.

Tabitha: Let us not bicker now, shall we?

"Fudge, fudge, fudge," Yumeí mumbled to herself, crouching on the branch of a large pine. She was not happy that she had to babysit Alice. Until Chan Lee arrived, it would be her job to jump into the battle. Alice had to win. Otherwise...well, Code Adam hadn't explained that part yet.

Bad enough that she had to teach Spectra how to use that dang Nova Blazer X card for evolution. Even worse, she now had a big sister-and her annoying boss-checking in on her every two seconds.

Go away, she thought furiously when Tabitha's thoughts entered her head for the twenty-ninth time. I'm not three! I can look out for myself.

Strangely, the thoughts vanished without an articulate comment. But-of course-Chan Lee had to come walking through the trees at that exact moment. She looked so tense that Yumeí had to laugh out loud. Chan then jumped nearly a foot in the air, making Yumeí laugh harder and fall out of the tree.

"What are you doing here?!" Chan Lee demanded. It took a minute to respond, as Yumeí was still trying to regain her breath from both laughing and having the wind knocked out of her on impact with the ground.

"Klaus sent you, right?" Yumeí asked dizzily. Chan Lee nodded as Yumeí got to her feet. "Well, Alice being stalked by a Vexos can only end one way: brawling. So I brought this."

Yumeí reached into her backpack and pulled out a red gauntlet, fresh from Vestal. As Chan Lee examined it, Yumeí opened a side pocket and grabbed several cards and a bakugan. These too she offered to Chan Lee.

"Fortress!"

"I went to New Vestroia to get him," Yumeí explained. "Figured you'd want to battle with him over some random Pyrus."

The conversation did not progress any further: a loud cry from the nearby meadow. Both girls froze. Alice.

"Shoot," Yumeí muttered. "You better get over there."

"Why don't you come along?"

"Because," she answered. She didn't wait for the unavoidable, "Because why?" Instead, she leapt into the highest tree branch she could reach, and nearly fell off it. And then-Surprise, surprise-Tabitha was back.

Will you stop coming in uninvited?! Yumeí thought furiously.

It is not me. Sybelline is trying to ask the voice in your head something, but you keep forcing us out.

Keep getting rid of them, Code Adam added. If my sister wants to speak with me, then she can come into my home territory to do it. She did it with Eve.

I can hear you, a new voice whispered.

Go away, Sybelline.

No, all of you go away, Yumeí thought, as loud as she could. You're messing with my reality perception.

It was true: the world was spinning, fading with flashes of purple and white.

Adam, we will talk later, Sybelline said before retreating.

I will have a talk with you too, mister, Yumeí added.

I'll pencil you in, Code Adam promised, with an unusual amount of sarcasm. Then he fell silent.

The world back in it's rightful position, Yumeí continued her climb up the pine tree. Once at the top, she peered at the meadow where Alice should have been fighting Shadow Prove.

There was no battle, but there was plenty of evidence: Hades lay in pieces, trees were on fire, and large craters in the earth were smoking. Yumeí leaned over and squinted to get a better look and fell off the pine. She didn't bother screaming: she'd fallen off so many tall places that it was almost routine to open a portal underneath her point of impact and pop out the other side. After that, it was a simple matter to clean up Hades parts and stash them in the Doom Dimension.

Remind me why I need this stuff? Yumeí asked Code Adam. He stayed quiet. Adam?

I can't be sure. I think it's your decision-something I can't see clearly.

Yumeí shouldered her backpack.

So when were you going to tell me the Sybelline is your sister?

Don't even start that, Code Adam snapped. Yumeí rolled her eyes. Brothers. They were the same everywhere.

Tabitha: Wait...I think I missed something.

Dream:?

Tabitha: When did Yumeí have time to see Klaus in all this?

Yumeí: Well, you were out for a pretty long time...

Tabitha: And?

Yumeí: *quiet voice* Adam let me in.

Sybelline: He's doing this just to spite me, isn't he?

Dream: He did it so Yumeí could do her job and help out the Battle Brawlers. It wasn't anything personal.

Yumeí: Or was it? Mwahahaha!

Code Adam: Until the next post, please review.