Disclaimer: I don't own bakugan, and you all know it XD Love you all, and I missed you so much! Well, instead of blabbing, let's go!
Ch. 29
ALICE POV
Shun hissed, jerking away from the contact. The lacerations that Drago had attacked him with were deep. When he and Marucho described what had happened, they hadn't truly believed it. Could Dan and Drago actually have done something like that?
Dan was upstairs in bed. It seemed like this was becoming a regular event. After the ill week, things just seemed to hit the group again and again before their teammates could recover.
Mira, Keith, and Baron were currently waiting on Ace in his room, while the original brawlers as well as Jake, Ren and Fabia were in Dan's room. Shun had just come into the silent room. "Is he up yet?"
"No."
Runo faced Shun, frowning at his injuries. "What exactly have you been up to? You have cuts and scrapes everywhere."
"I haven't been up to anything, it's just a couple of bruises from battling. Calm down Runo."
Runo sighed, but didn't say anymore. It was bugging Alice too much. Though this new development that decided to reveal itself was more important, Shun and Dan's secret was getting on Alice's nerves.
Shun noticed her slight quiver, "Is something wrong Alice?" he asked.
She looked at him, her eyes skimming over his features, "Why are you and Dan being so secretive?" she paused, "I mean, not that it's bad, I didn't mean it like that, but why is it so hard for you two to tell us?"
He looked away, "It's just something from the past that shouldn't have come up. Dan just brought it up at the wrong time. It's nothing."
"Fine, don't tell us. At least give us a hint?" Julie pleaded, her curiosity peaking.
He gave the sleeping Dan a glance, "We used to have another friend in our group. One day, she just stopped coming over. We never really figured out why. That's all I'm going to tell you guys."
They were quiet. Marucho looked at Shun, "Should we just try and wake him up?" he asked to ease the tension.
Shun smirked, "If you guys want to."
Runo huffed, "Might as well. We're not getting anywhere with him sleeping. He's just going to sulk when he gets up anyway."
They four watched as Shun got up, and pushed his best friend off the bed. Dan spluttered as he sat up, surprised. Shun stood in front of his friend, "Getting up?"
"What was that for?" Dan yelled.
"You were taking too long."
I pulled myself from the memory to listen to the new plan that our group was forming. "So, we know that even his lackeys are beginning to get suspicious of him," Ace stated.
"I still can't believe that you went without us! You're so lucky Ace!" Baron whined.
Mira hit him in the back of the head, "He got chewed after. I'm not sure he thinks it's worth it…" she said, looking at Ace. He was looking anywhere but her.
"What's the plan?" Jake asked, by reflex glancing at Dan. The pyrus brawler was thinking this through. Personally, after all that happened, I wouldn't have been too shocked if Dan quit being so hyper and enthusiastic about everything.
Marucho spoke up, "Well, if we want to get this done faster, we should split up. Get into groups and try and find the lackeys. Maybe we can get something more out of them."
"I'm guessing we should probably try and find Soon and Chris," Shun said, his face clearly showing irritation at their names.
"It looks like we found someone that's hated almost as much as Brooke," Hydranoid whispered in my ear. I hushed my bakugan, though I was thinking the exact same thing.
MIRA POV
This is just great. Of all the stupid minions, we end up meeting him. I stared at the hulking figure of Ben. I saw the other one, Noah I think it was, look at Dan like he was extremely disappointed in him.
"So, you decided to finally come back. Not get your butt whooped enough by Anubias?" he taunted. Dan was already gritting his teeth.
"If it keeps going like this, we're not going to get anywhere," Runo said to me, muttering quietly.
Tigrerra growled softly, "Milady, at this rate, Dan is going to burn up Interspace."
I could see what the tigress meant. Dan's anger mixed in with his stress only meant harm to everyone surrounding him. Which, right now, was a lot of people.
"Shut up Ben."
"Oh, so strong. That's definitely scary Kuso."
Oh, this was not looking good.
BARON POV
I expected some sort of awkwardness when being in this group. Master Shun was a little, silent. And I didn't know Alice all that well. But, that wasn't at all the case. Alice gladly chatted with me, and she even got Shun to join in here and there.
"Is it just me, or does Shun seem a lot nicer around Alice?" Nemus asked.
"It must be just you. Master Shun is always like that," I answered. I can see what he means. Master Shun is always so quiet, unless he's angry or frustrated. Right now, he just looks calm. Alice really does bring out the best in people.
"Shun!" a voice called. He flinched suddenly. I looked around for that weird girl that seemed to follow Shun everywhere. Instead, I saw a redhead and a blonde. They walked calmly up to Shun.
The redhead looked at Alice and me. "Oh, hello. You must be new around here, I've never seen you in Interspace. I'm Soon." She seemed friendly enough.
Alice stepped up, "Hello, I'm Alice, and this is Baron."
Soon nodded, "My friend here is Chris."
"Hi," her voice wasn't the nicest and her response was very clipped.
Soon turned toward Master Shun, "Shun, Mistress Sellon has been meaning to talk to you." That meant that they were Sellon's minions.
"No."
"But-"
"No," Master Shun answered again. He clearly did not want to be around these two.
Chris huffed, "See Soon? I told you this was a waste of our t-" she was shoved out of the way by Brooke. Even Alice, who was the nicest person ever, looked like she wanted to disappear as quickly as she could from there.
"Hi Shun!" she said brightly, "How have you been? Are you free now?" she looked at Soon, and then Alice. "Hm, can I talk to you about something?" she asked innocently.
Before Shun could respond, Chris shoved Brooke, "Watch it! I was here first!"
"Excuse me? I was talking to Shun! How rude!"
"Well, you can go all fangirl later! My friend and I are on important business!"
Alice and I looked at Shun, whose face looked a bit…murderous. This was not going to bode well.
MARUCHO POV
We found Jack almost immediately, watching a battle and cackling. He saw us and jumped off, walking over to us coolly. "What do you guys want? Anubias doesn't like has-beens."
Julie's eyes narrowed, "Has-beens? Excuse me?"
Jack looked at her like he saw her for the first time, "You're pretty," he stated.
"Oh, thank you!" she said, all her anger diffused. Ace shook his head in exasperation. Julie is so changeable sometimes…
Jack looked at me again, "What do you want?"
Ace got right down to it, "What do you know about Anubias?"
"Why? He's a good brawler, that's all I need."
Preyas jumped up and down on my shoulder, "Well, for all you know, he could be a killer then!"
Jack's eyes went wide, "Whoa! A talking bakugan!"
"So, the real ones can talk," Julie piped up, holding out Gorem.
"I want a battle. Now," Jack demanded, looking at Julie.
Ace looked at Julie. Her face was determined. "Let's do it."
KEITH POV
According to Ace, this guy is the nice one. Fabia smiled at Robin, "Hello."
We were the only group without one of the three, so we had a bit more trouble looking around for this guy. When we found him though, he was easily swayed by Fabia. We had absolutely no trouble getting him to talk to us, but he shut up immediately when we mentioned Anubias.
"Why do you want to know about Anubias?"
"It's just, we never see the guy that often out of battle. We were just wondering where we have to go to get autographs," Fabia lied.
Robin grinned, "Fine. I'm not sure where the guy goes. He just kinda disappears whenever he wants. I don't question it."
That was all he could say. Leaving him, Ren mentioned, "Ace was right. He is polite."
"I thought the dude was a bit weird," Jake said.
"I wonder if it was as easy for everyone else," Fabia commented.
Helios said in my ear, "Why do I doubt that?"
RUNO POV
He did not just say that! My face probably looked just as furious as Mira's did. Ben smirked at me, "What's wrong princess?" he asked.
"That's it! Battle me! Now!" I growled right back in the guy's face. He just messed with the wrong girl, and he was about to see the consequences.
Dan was behind me, and I could tell that he was fine with me taking over. Good, he's learning…This idiot is going to learn a lesson today.
"Bakugan stand!"
I threw Tig in the air and caught her, "That's how a girl plays."
Ben stared at me. He HAD been beaten pretty badly. Mira was proudly smiling next to me, "Nicely done!"
"Thank you!"
Ben recovered pretty quickly, "Wow, Kuso, your girlfriend's more powerful than you. How sad is that?"
Dan turned around, "What did you just say?"
I grabbed him, "Mira, grab his other arm!"
She complied, and together we dragged my boyfriend out.
ALICE POV
This has got to be horrible for Shun. He was currently being forced to hold back Brooke as Soon tried to calm Chris down. Shun was trying to keep a grip on Brooke, and it was clear he was very irritated by this.
"Master Shun, maybe you should just let go," Baron offered.
I put a hand on Shun's shoulder, "Maybe that's best. We could just leave." Shun's eyebrows rose. I guess he was a bit surprised since it was me that said it, but Brooke just rubbed me the wrong way. And she seems to be getting a bit comfortable in Shun's arms.
He let go of Brooke, who stumbled, and then began to walk off, "Let's go!"
Baron and I followed. This had been a complete waste of time, but at least we got away from Brooke. That, sadly didn't last long.
"Shun!" she yelled.
Shun groaned, "So close…"
"Please, I really just want to talk!" she fluttered her eyelashes in a way that said she did NOT want to just talk.
He spun around, "Brooke. For the last time, go away! I don't like you, I don't care for you, and I will not talk to you!"
Brooke sniffed, "What's the problem Shun? Do you like someone else? Is that it?"
I really did not want to spend any more time around her, so I decided to take a leaf out of Julie's book, "Maybe he does. What does it matter to you? He doesn't like you Brooke, so please, back off."
I can't believe I just did that…
I'm not sure if it was the 'taking a leaf out of Julie's book' or being angry or my feelings towards Shun, but I grabbed his and Baron's hand and dragged them off.
"Uh, Alice," Baron began, "Can you please let go?"
"Oh, I'm so sorry Baron!" I let go of his hand, unaware as to why my other hand still felt warm.
"Mine too," Shun said. I could hear the slight smirk in his voice, and I quickly dropped his wrist. "That was definitely worth seeing," he stated, "I never thought I would see you of all people get angry Alice."
"Well-"
"Guys! Over here, it's Shun!"
Shun closed his eyes, "You have got to be kidding me."
JULIE POV
Beating Jack was actually pretty easy. For a guy who talks that much, he wasn't very good. On the way back, I spotted a food stand. Usually, I'm really strict about this stuff. I mean, there's only so much a person should be allowed to eat.
"Can we please get some?" I asked Marucho and Ace to stop.
"Why?" Ace questioned.
"It's ice cream!" I chirped, and went off to get some regardless. I need a break anyway…
DAN POV
We all met up pretty easily. We got back first, but that might have been because Runo and Mira dragged me past all the food stands. Man, I'm hungry…
I watched glumly as the other groups began to come in. The Group dubbed Team D, came in next, and they had nothing new to tell. Apparently, Ren and Fabia had checked in with Paige and Rafe, and all was well on both planets.
Team C's Julie happily came in, holding a small cone of ice cream, "The stuff here is amazing! It tastes so good!" Thank you for rubbing it in Julie…No, really, thanks. She was followed by Ace and Marucho, who were also holding ice cream or the like.
Now, we were just waiting on Shun's groups, Team B. Just as the words left my lips, they walked in. Well, Baron ran in, huffing like crazy. He was followed by Alice, who had red cheeks, and a calm Shun.
Mira looked at the heaving figure, "What happened to you guys?" she asked incredulously.
Alice looked at the group, taking her seat, "Shun's fans kinda…"
I burst into laughter, "Shun, even here people like Brooke follow you…" Shun didn't look too pleased, but it was worth the hit on the head I was going to get.
Marucho glanced at Shun, "I'm guessing you guys didn't get any information out of Soon and Chris."
"No."
Baron looked up, "Brooke interrupted us, and then she and Chris got into a fight. So, we ditched them, but then some of Shun's fangirls found us."
I decided not to comment.
Keith spoke up, "So we don't really have much. Apparently, Anubias and Sellon have been meeting frequently. To the fans, it doesn't seem like much, for two of four top brawlers to be talking to each other. Anubias is blowing off time with his lackeys a lot recently as well."
Shun put in, "When Soon came to talk to me, she and Chris did look pretty upset. It might have to do with the same thing."
"So, that means they're planning something," Fabia put in.
"So, we better move fast then!" Jake said.
They got all the pieces together, but I wanted action. "Let's do this guys!" I cheered.
Shun put me down pretty quickly, "We still need a plan Dan. We can't just barge in. We still don't know about their relationship with Mag-Mel."
"We'll get to that later!" I said.
"You're impossible," Runo said, shaking her head.
Jazz here! I'm back! I missed you all so freaking much, it drove me crazy. But I have to say that I did get a lot done. I have the rest of this story planned out, another story ready to be started, and about ten little chapters of other stories!
See you all next time! For those who have already started school, Good Luck to you all! For those you're enjoying summer, Have Fun!
