Chapter 21: Teaser
Dan was now back in his room assorting his new stash of clothing provided by the military and specially made for him. The tailors had just finished his outfit that morning, but he had only received it fifteen minutes ago. The outfit consisted of a utility belt made of stretchy material and well laden in pockets, dark green cargo pants, combat boots, a very flexible black tank top that hugged him showing off his physique, and a large overcoat that was adorned with gray bands on his shoulders and on his back was the letters read out SBU.
"I heard you got to see your folks finally." Said a voice from behind the brunette.
Dan turned with a small smile on his face as he greeted the blonde.
"Hey, Keith, I haven't seen you in a while. Are they training you just as hard?" Dan asked as he started to change into the new clothes.
Keith shut the door behind him knowing Dan would appreciate it and sat on the bed. He smirked a little and then let out a heavy sigh.
"Pretty much." Keith admitted, "I got to see Mira and parents the other day as well."
"Oh?" Dan murmured as he paused with interest, "How are they? Did they take the offer to live in Bakugan city as well?"
"Yeah, Mira was mad though." Keith said laying on his back in the bed now staring up at the ceiling, "She doesn't like the fact that I chose this over them. My parents were fine with it and well, you know how my father is."
Dan nodded and pulled a the shirt over his head, "Yeah my dad was proud of me and my mom didn't seem too happy about it, but I just feel like that if I were to go live in Bakugan City with them, yeah life would return to some norms. However, it would be like living in captivity and sounds like a much better version of Hitler's concentration camps."
"You want to keep your freedom and be able to see the outside world? Is that it?" Keith finished for the brunette.
Dan paused with a frown, "Yep."
Keith let out a wry chuckle, "You and I, we're too much alike sometimes Kuso."
"Maybe in another life we're brothers." Dan mused.
"Or rivals." Keith teased before getting back up and stretching, "Well I won't keep you anymore. I'm going to go take a nap."
"Alright see ya later." Dan said to the blonde with a wave before grabbing the overcoat and heading out down the hallway.
He rounded a corner too fast and collided into another person. Papers went flying and Dan apologized profusely as he hurried to pick up the papers returning them to their owner. He gasped at the beauty now before him. Long red orange curls fell down small shoulders to a pale complexion and chestnut eyes pierced him hard.
"Don't worry about it." The girl snapped as she snatched the last of her papers from his hands, "Thank you."
She stormed off and Dan watched in awe as her lab coat billowed behind her like a cape.
"Kuso I would advise you to not stare. Might be unhealthy." Said a voice sternly.
Dan whipped his head around and nearly jumped at how close the ninja was to him.
"Shun, didn't see ya there buddy, what's up?" Dan quickly said as his embarrassment rang clear.
The ninja folded his arms and a sigh escaped from behind his mask. Only his hood was down this time and his jet black hair was revealed.
"Dan you may now be part of the team, but just so you know they are some ground rules about the women on this base." Shun hinted with a glare, "Like the girl you just met. Alice one of the top scientist into researching how Bakugan make use of the spores, is off limits."
"She's your girlfriend?" Dan asked a little dense.
The ninja was a little surprised by the instant nailing, but was quick to reposition his situation.
"Along certain lines." Shun replied coolly, "Look at her again like that and I'll tell Runo."
Dan winced a little at the blackmail and quickly gestured with his hands that it wasn't necessary.
"No sorry, I won't do it again and I'm not interested in her or Runo. I was just appreciating beauty as I see." Dan pleaded.
Shun gave a stiff nod before he began to walk away, "Just know this is your only warning."
Dan gulped and then went on to the room he was supposed to be debriefed in only to run into Volt who was outside of the door.
"Hey, Volt what's going on?" Dan asked a little confused as several officers were exiting the room.
The tall light red headed brute turned to face the lean brunette with a look of dissatisfaction.
"We've been reassigned to patrol duty." Volt informed him.
"Aw man I was looking forward to leaving the compound, but I guess orders are orders." Dan huffed folding his arms as he did so.
"Kuso, patrol duty is outside of the compound." Volt replied in aggravation.
"No, never mind." Dan fidgeted still in a huff.
"The good part of it is we don't have to wait, we can go now and finish early." Volt went on, "However we've got to stay in uniform."
"Yeah, yeah." Dan muttered a little disappointed.
Volt rolled his eyes and then grabbed the brunette by his collar lifting him easily off the ground.
"Hey!" Dan griped as he was being carried away.
"Quit your whining and let's get going." Volt mentioned as they went down several hallways before reaching an airlock door.
The guard greeted them with a slight nod and then asked for their identification. Volt pulled out his special id card and Dan did the same plucking it out of one of his utility belt pockets. The guard nodded and let them proceed without further hindrance. Once outside Dan gawked at the largeness of the place. Outside was spacious once you got to the outer wall and up the steps to the surveillance wall. Dan gawked once more as the view from up on the wall was of a woodland area to one side and the sea on the other.
"Where exactly is the place located?" Dan asked Volt as they continue on towards a man and a woman in uniform.
"It's currently located five hundred miles from Vexos Village if that's what you're thinking." Volt replied sternly.
Dan paused and looked out to the horizon once more, "So how far from Vestroia city is that?"
"A good enough distance." Volt answered as he nodded to the uniforms before him, "We're relieveing you for the next several hours."
"Oh good!" said the woman her voice a little bit too high pitched for Dan.
"Thank you. You Bakugan are very kind." The man replied and nodded to Dan.
Dan quickly took in their features as they were in uniform, but also wearing gas masks, but their hair escaped the masks' protection. The girl had light grey hair pulled into a ponytail while the male had light brown hair. Dan nodded back to them as they walked away silently.
"Not everyone on the base gets to meet us, so expect to be treated like a celebrity in some instances." Volt told the brunette as he surveyed the area outside of the wall.
Dan did the same, but felt silly as he didn't understand why.
"So what are we watching for then?" Dan asked as the wind gusted past them fiercely.
Even though it was supposed to be late spring early summer, sometimes in a day it would be chilly breezes.
"We're making sure we aren't attacked by rebels, people that fear the Bakugan deeply, and other Bakugan. The wild ones at least." Volt explained his eyes unwavering as he gazed out.
"Oh." Was all Dan could say as he leaned onto the wall and focused his gaze.
A hour passed by before Dan couldn't stand the complete silence between them anymore.
"Hey Volt." Dan murmured to the large man.
"Yes, Kuso." Volt replied unfazed.
"How old are you?" Dan asked straight out.
Volt frowned a little, "Twenty, almost twenty-one."
"So why can't we go to Vestroia city?" Dan asked another question, "That's the source of our problems so why not go there and fix it."
Volt was silent for a moment and then spoke, "Vestroia city is full of wild Bakugan and not only that, but it seems that whenever Shun tried to go there with the others from our original team they couldn't resist the calling and some of them wouldn't return so Shun had to leave them behind and comeback here."
"So you've mounted a team to attack before?" Dan asked turning to face Volt.
"It was a day before I joined also it was the immediate week after that their team was formed unofficially." Volt explained, "Meaning they were just a rogue group after justice, well some of them were, Shun just wanted to know why."
"That means Shun is team leader then?" Dan wondered aloud.
"Of course dummy." Volt grumbled, "You didn't figure that out until now?"
Dan shrugged and chuckled as Volt gave a dissatisfied grunt. They became silent for another twenty minutes before Dan spoke again.
"Volt, I've been wondering, how did this group get so well organized, I mean normally the military would be experimenting on us instead of treating us like equals." Dan asked once more.
Volt looked at the brunette unsure on how to answer him it seemed.
"Well from what I know, Shun has a very rich friend that kind of bought off the military from doing that kind of stuff especially since that friend has a high genius level." Volt finally replied, "Apparently if you are rich and a genius the world is your oyster."
"One way to put it, so do we ever get to meet Mr. Generous?" Dan commented.
Volt shook his head slowly, "I have yet to even know who exactly he is."
"Well I definitely owe him a big thank you." Dan mentioned as he scratched the back of his head.
"Same here." Volt added folding his arms.
So now we've met Alice, learned more about Shun, yes I'm implying AliceXShun. Now who is Mr. Generous? Find out and read the next chapter! RnR. Critiques are greatly appreciated if done correctly. Thank you, those who have reviewed so far! Even if they were just questions or concerns it doesn't hurt to let a authoress know that you care enough to type something.