ME: SO KEITH,

SPECTRA: IT'S SPECTRA.

ME: WHATEVER. YOU'RE STILL KEITH, SPECTRA, THE BIRD MAN, FEATHER FREAK, NOTHING'S GOING TO CHANGE.

GUS: HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO MASTER SPECTRA LIKE THAT!

HELIOS: THIS MERE HUMAN DOESN'T OWN BAKUGAN. ONLY THE RED HAIRED, HER BAKUGAN, THE BLACK HAIRED GIRL AND HER BAKUGAN.

NORMAL POV

Spectra had honored his part of the deal and took the brawlers to the Mother Palace. Once his ship arrived outside the palace, everyone was teleported to the surface.

'So this is the place, huh Spectra?' asked Dan.

'This definitely looks like the place.' Said Ace.

'I've heard rumors about how big this place is, but I never thought I'd see it with my own eyes.' Said Baron.

'It's certainly heavily fortified.' Said Mira.

'It's a little too quiet if you ask me.' Said Drago.

'We should start looking for the BT System before the Vexos realize we're here.' Said Shun.

'But we don't even know where to start.' Said Arri.

'Hey Spectra, how about a little help? Taking down Zenoheld is a good thing for both of us.' Said Dan.

'The bet was to bring you to the Mother Palace, not to do your dirty work. We've honored our part of the deal so we don't owe you anything now.' Replied Spectra.

'What? Come on Spectra.'

'You act like we're partners, but let me assure you, we are not.'

'Spectra-sama has honored his part of the bargain, so get lost!'

'What? But I thought we were in this together!' cried Dan.

'You're a fool to think that we'd ever be united in anything.' Spectra turned to Gus. 'Let's go.' The two teleported away.

'Man those guys are real jerks!' cried Baron.

'What do you expect? Spectra doesn't do anything that doesn't involve his own interests.' Said Ace.

'We should start our search. The Vexos could discover us at any minute.' Said Mira.

The all began walking through the forest of buildings but got no closer to their goal.

'Man, it's got to be around here somewhere!' cried Dan.

'Dan, we can't just keep wandering aimlessly like this.' Said Drago.

'We're too exposed out here, we could easily get caught.' Said Ace.

'They're right, we need to devise a better search plan.' Said Mira.

'If we were King Zenoheld, where would we hide the BT System?' asked Shun.

'How about up there?' asked Arri, pointing up to the tallest tower in the middle of the palace.

'It would be pretty hard to get at up there.' Said Baron.

'Let's use that!' said Mira, pointing to a nearby cab.

Dan, Marucho and Mira sat up in front while Shun, Arri, Baron and Ace piled in in the back.

'Input Destination please.' Said the robot driver.

'Take us to the BT System.' Said Dan.

'I'm sorry, but that destination is for authorized personnel only.'

'Of course it is…'

'Here let me try something…' said Mira, pressing buttons.

'Alert! Alert! Intruder Alert!' started the robot.

'Oh great, you set off the alarm system!' cried Dan.

'I can't shut it off!' cried Mira.

Arri suddenly kicked the robot in the head from behind. 'No offense, Mira, you may be smart, but you know diddly squat about computers.' Arri began fiddling with the robot's back panel and the alarm shut off. 'There, try it now. It's the best I can do.'

'Cool, take us to the BT System.' Said Dan.

'Buckle up because here we go!' The cab immediately took off and zoomed towards the tower.

'We're almost there.' Said Dan.

'I can't wait to smash that BT System.' Said Ace.

'You and me both.' Said Baron.

'This is wrong…' said Thunderbird.

'What do you mean?' asked Drago.

'He's right, it's too quiet.' Said Shun.

'It's true, we've been zooming around for a while now and we haven't run into a single guard.' Said Mira.

NORMAL POV

'Um…I don't think we have to worry about that anymore.' Dan said pointing ahead of them.

As the cab came closer to a hangar bay, we saw a huge crowd of the palace guards.

'That explains why we haven't seen anyone.' Said Shun.

'It's an ambush!' cried Marucho.

Ace suddenly opened the doors to the cab. 'What are you doing?' Shun cried.

'We have to bail before they see us, get ready to jump!' he replied.

'Are you crazy?' Arri asked.

'At this speed? There's got to be a better way!' cried Marucho.

'It's the only way!' Ace grabbed Marucho who grabbed Arri and jumped out of the cab. He held us in his arms and rolled along the ground to safety.

Once they rolled to a safe stop, They saw that Shun and Baron had jumped out after us. But there was no sign of Dan and Mira. Just then they heard a crash sound form within the hangar.

'Oh no!' cried Baron.

'Mira!' Ace began running to the hangar, while they followed closely behind.

Once we got close to the car, Marucho, Ace and Baron checked inside for Dan and Mira.

'They're not here.' Said Baron.

'Maybe they jumped off before it crashed.' Arri said.

'All right, let's find the BT System before the Vexos find us.' Said Shun.

'But we can't just leave them!' shouted Ace.

'Ace, Dan and Mira are tough, a little car crash wouldn't stop them.' Marucho said, trying to calm him down. He always went into a slight rage whenever he felt Mira was in danger. It was kinda cute, Arri thought.

'She's right, we should focus on finding and destroying the BT System!' cried Shun.

Oh great, thought Marucho. Shun and Ace were fighting. This might be a long day.

'I'm going to find Mira.' Said Ace, determined not to change his mind.

'I'll go too, I want to know that Dan's all right.' Said Marucho.

'Fine, we'll meet up with you guys later.' Said Shun.

'Shun-senpai and I will go look for the BT System while you guys look for Dan-senpai and Mira.' Said Baron, running off in one direction.

'Ok, let's go.' Said Ace, who ran off in another direction, followed by Marucho.

SHUN'S POV

I was walking down the corridor with Baron. We didn't talk much. Until Ingram brought up a convesation.

'You still haven't told me why did you kiss—'

I quickly stuffed Ingram into my pocket because I knew next to me, Baron was listening.

'You kissed who? Tell me Shun-sempai! Tell me! Tell me!'

He kept on going on and on about it until,

'Alright! I kiss Rin!' I quickly stopped and replayed what I said.

'You what! When?'

'When I was in Vestal. You do not tell Dan.'

'Why.'

'You just don't.'

'Okay Shun-sempai!'

'Good, now let's find that BT System.'

Baron and I continued down the hallway until we reached an elevator. We stepped in and it took us up to an open field.

'What is this place? It looks like a battle field.' Said Baron.

'You are correct.'

'Who's there?' I asked.

On the other side of the field appeared Volt and Mylene.

'Looks like you guys took a wrong turn.' Said Volt.

'Now why don't you cooperate and hand us the Ventus energy.' Said Mylene.

MARUCHO'S POV

Ace, Arri and I entered a room. The door suddenly closed behind us.

'Great, I've just about had it with this place!' said Ace.

'Dan? Mira? Can you guys hear me?' I asked.

'Yeah I can hear you!' Shadow jumped down a few feet away from us.

'Sorry, but this is the end of the line for you three.' Said Lync.

'Get out of our way, we have to find our friends!' I cried desperate to find Dan.

Shadow stuck out his tongue at us. 'Oh yeah? You're gonna stop us?'

A battle immediately started and we all summoned our Bakugan on the field while Elfin changed to a Ventus attribute.

'Dora Cannon!' Aluze fired green bullets at Elfin.

'Sky Hearty!' Elfin sprayed a green dust that reflected the attack back at Aluze.

'Spider Net!' MAC Spider fired a purple net that wrapped tightly around Percival and Thunderbird.

'Thunderbird!'

'Percival! Thunder Sword!' Percival sword appeared above him and sliced through the web. He picked up the sword and freed Thunderbird from the web as well. 'Fusion Ability Deathly Karbia!'

'Green Wind Strom!' Percival and Thunderbird attacked MAC Spider, causing an explosion that covered their side of the field with dust.

The dust cleared and MAC Spider didn't look so good.

'Wing Harrier!' The wings on Elfin's shoulders and waist grew and she sliced through Aluze.

'Looks like we did it!' I jumped for joy.

'How'd you like that?' taunted Ace.

The floor suddenly lit up, as MAC Spider and Aluze got back up.

'Um…that doesn't look good…' Arri said.

'What was that?' asked Ace.

Marucho checked his Gauntlet. 'Our power levels just went back to the base level!'

Lync began laughing. 'Mega Bind!' Aluze fired a green bolt at Elfin. She returned to ball form and fell to my feet.

'Aw, I bet you thought you won that. Blaster Needle!' MAC Spider fired purple pellets at Percival and Thunderbird.

'What just happened?' Arri asked.

'I don't know, but we can't give up!' I said. 'Gate Card set!' We all brought our Bakugan back on the field and I opened my gate card.

'All right, with this, we've got victory in the bag.' Said Ace. 'Geor Gunner!'

Personally, I wasn't so sure about that. The Vexos were up to something sneaky and something was telling me we wouldn't be able to keep Darkus Energy safe this time.

My suspicion was proved correct when Ace's attack barely fazed MAC Spider and Aluze and our power levels went back down.

'I feel so weak…' said Thunderbird.

'It feels like all the energy is being drained from my body.' Said Percival, falling to his knees.

'I know what you mean, I've got nothing left either.' Said Elfin.

'I demand to know what's going on!' shouted Ace.

'Haha you mean you still haven't figured it out?' asked Shadow.

'Do you guys even realize where you are?' asked Lync.

'Of course, we're in the Mother Palace.' Said Marucho.

We all suddenly looked at each other with realization across our faces. I should've known, the Vexos wouldn't battle fair on their turf unless they had a secret…I hope Shun and Baron didn't get into trouble.

'Did you guys honestly think that we wouldn't have a back up plan incase you guys came calling?' asked Lync.

'It's a trick field! That's explains why our power levels went down and theirs went up whenever we were winning.' I said.

'So that means the Bakugan's base level is our only power.' Said Ace.

'And our base levels aren't as high as the mechanical Bakugan!' said Arri.

'Which means you'll never win! Go MAC Spider!'

'Aluze!'

MAC Spider and Aluze easily took Percival, Elfin and Thunderbird down. I could see a purple glow from Percival's body slowly leave him.

'That's doesn't look good.' I said.

'That Darkus energy!' cried Ace. But it was too late. Percival's Darkus energy was already gone. 'No…'

'We didn't even get a chance to fight back…' said Arri.

'I don't think it would have made a difference.' I said.

Shun's POV

'Time for a rematch Shun. Prometheus Cannon!' Said Volt.

I wasn't going to go down that easily. I brought Shadow Wing out and he merged with Ingram. 'Twin Fangs, Great Divine Wind!' Ingram blew the yellow bullets away with a single beat of his wings.

Ingram flew in for another attack and sliced at Boriates and Macubass, causing a huge explosion. I smiled, thinking we had won this battle, but the floor suddenly lit up. I checked my Gauntlet and saw Ingram and Macubass' power levels return to their base.

'I don't understand…Ingram's power level just dropped.' I said.

'And it looks like their power level is rising instead.' Said Baron.

The dust from the explosion cleared and Boriates and Macubass stood as if Ingram's attack didn't faze them.

'Gate Card open! Phantasmorphic!' said Mylene.

Light from the Gate Card surrounded Ingram and Nemus' lower legs and they turned to stone.

'Now Volt!'

'Don't tell me what to do! I'm going to enjoy this Shun. Fusion Ability Buster Megabarrel!' Boriates fired his cannon at Ingram.

'Hm, one down, one to go. Radiant Claw!' Macubass slashed his claws at Nemus.

'How are they able to do that? I could've sworn we had the upper hand!' cried Baron.

'I don't know, but we'd better find a solution soon. Gate card set!'

We all summoned our Bakugan again but hopefully the battle would go in our favor. I didn't understand it. How did they manage to raise their power level and lower ours without activating any abilities?

'Glimmering Shadow Slash!'

'Sparkly Arrow!'

Ingram flew in and slashed Macubass while Nemus fired a golden light at Boriates.

'Big deal…' said Mylene.

The floor suddenly lit up again and Boriates and Macubass appeared more powerful then ever. This was just like earlier. I quickly checked my Gauntlet and saw our power level go down as their went back up.

'Not again!' I cried.

'Why do our power levels go down and theirs go up?' asked Baron. I wish I knew.

'Let me explain,' started Mylene, 'no matter how much an opponent tries to decrease the power level of a mechanical Bakugan it's energy will refuel automatically and it's power level will return to the base level. But if you try to increase the power of a living Bakugan, the field will absorb that power and they will revert to their base level.

'What? Are you serious?' asked Baron.

'Then the field itself was a trap!' I wonder if Ace and the others were all right.

'The only thing that decides the battle will be the Bakugan original base level.' Said Volt. 'Element Glow plus Bolt Shooter!'

Boriates shot Ingram and Nemus, easily taking them down. I could see a green glow from Ingram's body slowly disappear. The Ventus Energy!

'You put up a good fight, but close only counts in horseshoes. You were foolish to ever challenge us in our domain.' Said Mylene. She and Volt teleported away.

Normal POV

Having lost the Darkus energy, Ace, Arri and Marucho retreated to regroup with Shun and Baron.

'There they are!' cried Marucho.

'Shun, Baron.' Said Ace, causing them to look their way.

'Guys, we've got some bad news…' started Baron.

'So do we.' Said Marucho.

'They got the Darkus energy.' Said Arri.

'And I'm guessing from the look on your faces that they got the Ventus energy too.' Said Ace.

'That's terrible!' cried Baron.

'That means that the only attribute left is Drago's Pyrus energy.' Said Shun.

'We have to find them before they get tricked into battling!' cried Marucho.