Response to reviews:

ploiuiu: 3 AM? Wow, you must really be excited about this story XD / Yeah, overprotective!shun just happened to come about, but I was afraid that some people would interpret it as a Dan x Shun story when I was trying to make it a Dan x Runo (or Kusaki, whatever you prefer) story (as you will see later). / Screaming? Do you just really like my story? If so, then thanks! / That's a lot of "omg"s XD (That's not a jab, just an observation) / Wow, you left a review in the middle of reading? / No need to apologize! It's good to see someone who's really invested in this story!


"Why did you leave?"

Dan started slightly, turning with a raised eyebrow towards a certain blue-haired girl. Runo was leaning in her seat on the bench, gazing at him with an inscrutable expression that unsettled him. He could take angry Runo, exasperated Runo, even enraged Runo (now that was a scary one).

But unreadable Runo?

Now that he didn't know how to deal with.

For a moment the two just stared at each other; Dan, who was a couple feet away from the park bench, and Runo, who had risen from the bench and was now crossing her arms, silently awaiting his response. Drago, for once, was silent, as if thinking that the two former. . . what? Former lovers? That didn't sound right to Dan. The terms felt foreign.

Hmm, maybe friends? Friends. That's a lot safer, for him at least. Maybe Drago thought that they could hash this out by themselves?

But Dan didn't want to deal with anyone, least of all Runo; he just wanted to be left alone. When the Pyrus brawler had snuck out of the infirmary, he took quite a bit of pain in covering up his tracks.

Apparently, it wasn't good enough.

As he gazed into her green eyes, he found himself at a loss for words. How could he tell her? How could he put into words the overwhelming sense of failure, not just as a brawler, but as a friend? As a team member? How could he talk about his inability to consider the consequences before he acted, putting everyone he cared about in danger?

He couldn't.

So he didn't.

"Worried, much?" His voice sounded hollow, even to himself. "Why don't you go take care of Jaxon?"

As soon as he said it, he immediately wished he could take it back.

Runo's eyes flashed dangerously, but her voice remained eerily calm. "He's being interrogated by Shun and Marucho right now." She paused. "What Kurgo is claiming is a serious charge."

"Oh," was all Dan could muster.

She uncrossed her arms and pushed herself upright. "Now answer my question." Her eyes felt as though they were boring into Dan's soul. "Why did you leave?"

Again, Dan had nothing to say in answer to her probing question.

He turned away wordlessly, beginning to walk away from the Haos brawler. Before he knew it, a hand slammed onto his shoulder (pain shot through him as a claw dug into his shoulder) and a voice screeched, "Oh, no you don't!" before he was whirled around, forcing him to stare into enraged emerald eyes.

There's the Runo I know.

Still, his mind superimposed a face, twisted with sadistic intent, his mouth twisted in a sneer but his eyes as cold and as furious as Runo's.

Unconsciously he flinched away from Runo, turning his head to the side and squeezing his eyes shut in an attempt to make the images go away, just go away!

But without Runo's face eclipsing the image, it revealed itself in its full glory, gloating at Dan.

I'm not that easy to get rid of, the face said, its expression forever twisted into that same look that would haunt him to the end of his life.

"Dan?" Now Runo's voice took on a concerned tone. "Are you. . . are you alright?"

At her voice, Dan snapped his eyes open, willing the mask of impassiveness to meld with his features, leaving nothing on his face. "I'm fine," he replied monotonously, which made him cringe internally. If anything, that would be a dead giveaway that he was lying.

Screw his lying skills.

Now Runo was gazing at him with narrowed eyes. For a moment, Dan wondered if Runo was going to scream at him, hit him, do something. He cringed away from her, just waiting for her to explode.

"Kuso," she said slowly, "you are a terrible liar."

Well, she wasn't wrong.

Drago suddenly rolled out, popping to life on Dan's shoulder. The red-eyed man nearly jumped; he'd forgotten that Drago was even present, with how unusually quiet the Bakugan had been. "Is it happening again?"

Runo glanced between the two, her eyes gradually narrowing. Oh no. Dan could practically see her mind trying to work out what they were talking about.

"What is this 'it' you're talking about, Drago?"

Before the Bakugan could say anything, a throat cleared from behind. Dan whirled around, nearly knocking Runo away and eliciting a "Hey!" from the girl.

But it didn't matter.

The Haos brawler he had battle before, along with someone new: a brown-haired teen dressed in a gold-colored leather jacket with a black shirt underneath, white sweatpants, and sneakers. A baseball cap hung casually on his head.

The light glinted in the teen's eyes, and Dan sucked in a breath. They were an unnatural gold that only seemed to accentuate the teen's sharp, almost cruel features. They were hard with determination and a sadism that was all-too familiar, sending shivers down the Pyrus brawler's spine.

The Haos brawler spoke next, his voice a rumble. "We've a score to settle with you, Daniel Kuso." His lips curled in a sneer. "Why don't you and your girlfriend brawl me and Chrysos?" He jerked his head towards the cruel-eyed teen.

"Yes," the other teen agreed; his tone sent shivers down Dan's back. "Why don't we? I would be. . . interested to get to know that fine young lady over there." Chrysos leveled a gaze towards Runo, which sparked with some sort of. . . hunger.

Immediately, Dan's senses were on high alert. All his instincts screamed at him to end the teen, here and now, with the battle and rip Chrysos apart for trying to make a pass at Runo. But the calm, collected voice of reason, the utterance of logic and sense shouted at his other instincts to quiet down.

Dan complied, shoving down the chaotic firestorm of emotions that were raging in him, to just think for a moment.

Should he engage in the brawl? He had this feeling that they were trying to bait them into doing something. . .

But what?

"What do you think we should do?" Drago asked quietly, his plastic head pointed towards the brawlers but his words directed at his partner. "For some reason, they make me. . . uneasy."

"Yeah," Dan muttered. He studied the brawlers. If he could figure out what they were trying to plan -

His thought train was cut short when Runo pulled out her own Bakugan, her eyes narrowed in anger. Panic welled in his throat at the fire in her eyes. Of course Runo was going to be aggravated about the challenge, as well as (potentially) Chrysos acting like a creep; what else should he have expected?

"Who're you looking at?" Runo shot at the gold-dressed brawler, who was still staring at her with his creepy smile. "Dan and I can take you on!"

Dan gazed at her, eyes wide with panic. There were a million thoughts of protest that ran through his head. We didn't even talk about engaging in this battle! And yet Runo was already speaking so confidently, as if they've mutually agreed to take them on.

Runo shot him a narrowed-eyed glare (which she seemed to be doing quite recently). "Kuso, we. Are. Battling. Are you gonna help me or not?"

His body was on autopilot now. Dan watched helplessly as his fingers automatically pulled Drago out of his pocket, felt his arm muscles flex and contract as he thrust it into the sky, tasted the words "Bakugan brawl!" as they left his mouth.

He supposed that when all else fails, brawling instincts have immediately taken control.

Sadly, he hasn't been proven wrong yet.

The iridescent dome billowed around them, pushing innocent bystanders out of their battlefield and leaving only the four of them in the area. Two against two.

"I'll start," the Haos brawler sneered from across from Dan. "Bakugan, brawl!

"Eenoch, stand!"

A brilliant flash of white, and the gargoyle-like creature arose in with a roar that shook nearby buildings.

Runo smirked, flicking her Bakugan into the air. "You call that a throw?" she scoffed. Her dismissive tone sent a warning shiver down Dan's back, but before he could say anything Runo was already reeling her hand back. "Bakugan brawl!"

Her partner rolled out onto a hexagonal BakuCore. "Sairus, stand!"

A flash of brilliant light, and the angelic dragon-like Bakugan rose. "Ready when you are, milady!"

"Battle begins," Dan's BakuPod droned. "Haos Eenoch Ultra: 800 B-power. Haos Sairus Ultra: 1000 B-power."

Runo's eyes flashed with a look that Dan didn't like; they were filled with a confidence bordering on arrogant, a look that said she believed she could take her opponent out with ease. A look that betrayed the belief that the battle was won before it had begun.

It was a look that Dan had seen so many times when he gazed at himself in the mirror.

It was a look Dan feared.

The Haos opponent snickered, drawing Dan's attention to him. "You think you're gonna win that easily?" He flicked out his card. "Quaeso and I can take you and your little Sairus with ease."

Dan started at the name. At the same time, Drago floated next Dan's head. "Did he say - ?"

" 'Quaeso.' And I'm guessing," Dan added as he observed the Haos Eenoch roar in agreement with the opponent's words, "that it's his name." He pointed at the gargoyle-like Bakugan as he spoke.

Drago grunted in agreement. "I wonder what his name is." He bobbed his plastic head towards the Haos brawler.

Meanwhile, the brawler sliced his card through the air. "Ability activate!" he growled. "Holy Plasma!"

Once the command was shouted, the Haos Eenoch's wings began to glow. Quaeso arched his back, throwing his wings behind him, before throwing them forward again. The glow of the wings appeared to have been flung off, and the two glowing spheres came together to form one massive ball of pulsing energy, which shot towards Runo's Sairus.

"Eenoch Ultra now at: 1200 B-power."

Dan opened his mouth in warning when Runo whipped out a card of her own. "Oh, no you don't!" she hissed. "Ability activate!

"Haos Deflection!"

A blue forcefield-like projection formed in front of the angelic Bakugan. "Haos Sairus now at: 1400 B-power."

When the plasma sphere hit, an overwhelming boom! filled the air. Dust billowed out, obscuring the battlefield.

Dan shielded his face as the strong winds from the explosion tore at him, whipping his clothes and swirling up dust. Even with the protection positioned in front of his face, his eyes watered at the sheer force of the gale.

When the dust settled, both the Haos Bakugan stayed standing, facing each other with fire in their eyes and passion in their soul to win for their partners.

"Not bad," the Haos Eenoch rumbled. His voice was low and gravely, filled with a coldness that sent chills down Dan's back. The Bakugan's unusual tone washed over the Pyrus brawler, filling his insides with ice.

Who knew that a Haos Bakugan could sound as dark as the night itself?

"You're not too shabby yourself," Sairus shot back. In contrast, her voice was melodic, a soothing calmness that was able to ease Dan's mind, bring back the pieces of his shattered mind back into a wholeness he hadn't experienced ever since the battle against the Mechtogan.

Scratch that, ever since the battle with Naga.

He almost felt like his old self again; the days where he was young, oblivious to the cruelness of this world. The days where his and his friends' next worries were what chores their parents would make them do once they came back home.

The days where he felt like they could all live forever.

The Haos opponent cast his eyes down, but Dan noted that the man's lips quirked into a small, cold smile. "Impressive," he remarked. His eyes darted up to (Dan assumed) Runo. "You truly did catch me off-guard."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Dan realized what the Haos brawler was trying to do to the blue-haired girl; he was trying to rile her up so that when she attacks, it'll be out of rage, not strategy.

Which will mean she'll lose.

Drago apparently thought so too. "Runo," he warned, "don't let him get to you."

Runo shot the dragonoid an incredulous look before turning to face her opponent. "Why?" she challenged, her face twisted with fury. "Because I'm a girl?"

The Haos brawler examined the cards in his hands casually. Too casually, in Dan's opinion. "Well, I'm just saying. . ."

"Now now, Artemas," Chrysos chided, although he wore a crazed, wicked grin on his face, his eyes glinting with a gleam that Dan didn't like. "I'm sure that she's excellent at battling for a girl, even if she isn't as good as -" At that point, Chrysos turned to look at the Pyrus brawler. "- the master of brawling himself, Kuso."

Oh no. Dan finally realized what they were trying to do; they were trying to rile Runo up by comparing her with him and putting her out for her gender. And if there's something Dan knew, it's that Runo hated being in the shadow of others, and she despised being put down because of her gender.

Runo brandished her Bakugan, her eyes ablaze with fury. "You wanna see just how 'excellent' I can be?" she snarled.

To Dan's dismay, the Haos brawler's - Artemas' - eyes gleamed with triumph. "I'd like to see you try," he taunted.

Dan grabbed Runo's arm as she was about to fling Sairus back into the battle. "Runo," he pleaded, "just stop and listen for a second!"

Runo shot him a heated glare that startled even him; his grasp on her arm slackened, just for a moment.

That moment was all she needed; she shoved him away. "Get out of the way, Kuso!" she growled.

"Bakugan," both she and Artemas shouted, "brawl!"

"Sairus -"

"Quaeso -"

"- stand!"

At the simultaneously-shouted command, two flashes of white light erupted from the BakuCores, and the Bakugan rose, facing each other with eyes hardened with determination.

"Bakugan brawl!" Dan snapped his head towards the source of the command, and he watched in horror as Chrysos flung a brown-and-orange Bakugan onto a BakuCore. "Gorthion, stand!"

A flash of orange light, and a gorilla-like creature towered over the battlefield.

"Battle begins. Haos Eenoch Ultra: 750 B-power. Subterra Gorthion Ultra: 500 B-power. Haos Sairus Ultra: 800 B-power."

Dan quickly did the math in his head: if the two opponents were working together (which was almost guaranteed), then the battle sees a 1250 B-power against a measly 800 B-power.

Runo has no chance against that! Besides, this was a tag-team brawl; if Runo wanted to stand up against a tag-team, she has to tag-team along with him.

No matter how much she despises it.

"Bakugan brawl!" Dan could see Runo's head snap towards him, could see the flash of anger pass through her eyes. He kept his gaze on his partner as the Bakugan soared through the air, clattering to a stop on a BakuCore. "Drago, stand!"

Drago rose from the BakuCore in a flash of red light. He threw his head back and let loose a roar, shaking the entire battlefield.

"What are you thinking?!" A hand grasped the front of Dan's shirt and pulled, spinning him around to face Runo's fiery eyes. "I have this!"

"Sure, you have this battle facing off against a tag team whose B-power combined is far greater than yours," Dan couldn't help but retort. Runo's hand went lax around Dan's shirt, allowing the Pyrus brawler to pull free from his human partner's grip. Still, she continued to glare at him.

"A wise decision, Dan," a melodic voice called from the battlefield. Both of them jumped and turned towards Sairus. A moment later, when Dan registered what the Bakugan had said, he peered at the Bakugan in shock.

"You think so?"

"Yes. As much as I would hate to admit it, I cannot take those two -" She gestured towards Subterra Gorthion and Haos Eenoch. "- alone."

Dan swiftly glanced at Runo. He half expected her to snap at her partner, to yell at him again for "intruding" on her brawl (even though it was supposed to be a tag-team brawl, but he doesn't blame her for hating him; who wouldn't?).

To his surprise, Runo merely nodded, though she still didn't look happy. "If you're okay with it, Sairus, then I'm okay with it."

"Is this a brawl, or a snoozefest?" came a jeering voice from their opponents. Dan turned to see Chrysos sneering at them. "Or should I say, lovefest?" he mocked.

"That's not what this is!" Runo screeched. Dan couldn't help the twist in his heart at her words, though he quickly squashed it down and wiped off any trace of it if it were lurking in his facial features.

He deserved it, after all.

"Ooh, that's gotta hurt, Kuso." Chrysos grinned at Dan. Dan wanted to rip that smug smile right off of the Subterra brawler's face; it was just begging for an eruption in Dan's temper. "Weren't you once. . . close with her?"

I know what you're doing, Dan snarled at Chrysos in his mind, and it won't work! Even so, he couldn't stop the pang in his chest at the gold-clad brawler's words.

"Enough chit-chat!" Artemas gruffly commanded. Chrysos fell silent at once, although he kept shooting the Pyrus brawler smug looks. Dan gritted his teeth, willing his hackles to relax. "We've a battle to attend to, unless you've forgotten."

"Fine," Chrysos huffed.

"Ability activate!" Artemas held out a card. "Cycling Light!"

Eenoch shot into the air. He came to a halt, hovering for a moment, before spinning rapidly. With his action, he left a trail of light that spiraled down towards Drago and Sairus.

"Oh, no you don't!" Runo flicked out a card of her own. "Ability activate! Prism Blast!"

Sairus stretched both her arms upwards, her claw uncurled. Dan watched, awed, as two beams of white light shimmering with other colors converged together into one powerful beam that shot upwards, meeting Eenoch's own power.

Dan glanced at his BakuPod. To his relief, Quaeso's power level dropped from the boost the Bakugan got back down to the Eenoch's base power level. "Sairus Ultra now at: 900 B-power."

"Sairus, if we are to win this, we must work together!" At Drago's words, Dan turned to Runo expectantly. Runo started, looking at him, confused.

Dan extended his hand. He knew what it meant, and she knew what it meant. A simple thing, a handshake was, yet it contained so much meaning: an agreement to put aside past feuds in order to work together to accomplish a common goal.

Right now, that goal was defeating those two brawlers.

After a moment, Runo's eyes hardened, though not at Dan; rather, they were filled with determination to win.

She grasped Dan's hand and nodded, her emerald-green eyes filled with a fiery determination not unlike the times where Dan and she fought against Naga and Masquerade. Dan observed her wistfully; it was expressions like this that only seemed to accentuate her beauty, in his opinion. Seeing it on her again made him desperately miss those times, when it was just him, her, and a battle to decide the fate of the world.

When it was just them against the entire world.

"Agreed," Sairus answered.

"Well?" Runo offered Dan a smirk that made his heart somersault in his chest. "Shall we pummel them?"

Dan grinned wolfishly back. "You bet." He flicked out a card.

"Ability activate!" Chrysos and Dan both shouted at the same time.

"Subterra Body Slam!"

"Inferno Cannon!"

The gorilla-like Bakugan shot into the air at the same time flames burst from the core in Drago's chest in a whirlwind of fire, which the dragonoid aimed towards the Gorthion. As soon as the flames made contact, they slammed the gorilla backwards. There was a howl of agony as the flames ceased, revealing the gorilla falling back.

"Alright!" Dan couldn't help but cheer. He flashed a thumbs-up towards his partner. "Way to go, Drago!"

"Sairus, you're up!"

"On it! Ability activate!" Runo shouted. "Haos Control!"

Sairus shot into the air. At the same time, the sun seemed to pierce through the thick smoke onto Sairus' outstretched claw. She flung her other claw towards the Subterra Bakugan, and a beam of light erupted from her other claw towards the Bakugan, hitting him full-on. Amidst the brilliant beam of light, Dan saw a flash of orange. When Sairus finally relented on her attack, the gorilla was nowhere to be seen.

"Subterra Gorthion eliminated from battle."

"Yes!" Dan and Runo high-fived each other. He was ecstatic; finally, they were working together, just like in the old days!

One down, one more to go! Dan turned to see Artemas yelling at Chrysos, who was looking equally ticked about the turn of events.

"Let's finish this, Dan!"

"I'm ready to end this, milady!"

Runo glanced over at Dan, mischief dancing in her eyes. Just seeing that look in her eyes brought a wave of nostalgia and yearning in him. "May I?"

Dan mockingly bowed, gesturing towards their remaining opponent. "But of course."

Runo flicked out a card. "Ability activate! Sting Laser!"

Sairus shot into the air and opened her jaw. Out shot a pure-white light that hit the Haos Eenoch straight in the middle of his chest, right where his core circle rested.

"Aargh!"

Artemas' head shot up. The Haos brawler's eyes widened in fury. "WHAT?" He fumbled for a card, but before he could, Dan beat him to it.

"Ability activate!" Dan pointed his card towards Drago. "Pyruscorch!"

Drago shot into the air and started hovering. His eyes began glowing a fiery orange. He threw his head back before flinging it forward again. Two beams of fire shot out of his eyes, colliding with Quaeso and pushing him back. The Haos Eenoch threw his arms up in a feeble attempt to stave off the heat. "Aaaaaugh!"

"Quaeso!"

With a final roar of pain that shook the battlefield, the Haos Bakugan disappeared in a flash of light. The white ball clattered to a stop in front of Artemas, who picked up his Bakugan with an inscrutable expression.

"Yeah! Dan, we did it!" Dan turned just as Runo flung her arms around him. Dan stiffened at the unexpected contact, unsure of how to respond.

Perhaps sensing Dan going rigid, Runo suddenly recoiled from him. "I - I'm sorry," she stammered. "I wasn't thinking. . ."

Dan swallowed against the painful lump in his throat, trying his best to flash Runo a reassuring smile. "It's fine," he replied, although something in him screamed that it wasn't, something that yearned for the closeness in that fleeting moment again.

Runo, looking uncertain, opened her mouth again, but right then there was slow clapping from the other side of the battlefield. Dan turned to see Artemas slowly lowered his hands to his side, his face devoid of any emotion. "Congratulations, Dan Kuso." The Pyrus brawler couldn't help the shiver that ran through him. The way Artemas said his name sent alarm bells ringing in Dan's head.

"I s'pose you beat us today," Artemas uttered tonelessly, his face (blank, blank, blank) still carefully impassive. "But mark my words, Kuso." A note of threat entered his voice. "The next time we meet again, you will not escape as easily as you had today."

With those words, both he and Chrysos turned and walked away. Dan shivered unconsciously, his hand brushing against his left arm, where a scar marked his skin underneath the cloth.

Whatever they meant, Dan thought with a foreboding dread, it didn't sound good.


"You never answered my question."

Dan paused at the set of doors that lead back into the base, shooting Runo a quizzical look. He couldn't recall any questions she had asked; his mind was brimming with the vague threat that Artemas had delivered. "What question?"

Runo rolled her eyes, although her lips twitched just the slightest. "Why did you leave?"

Immediately the amused mood vanished just as quickly as it had come. As if sensing it, Runo dropped her gaze to her shoes, while Dan bit his lip. He struggled to come up with even a vaguely coherent statement to give in answer to Runo's question. Finally, he just gave up and turned back towards the doors.

"It's not important."

Immediately, Dan realized he made a grave mistake.

Runo's hand landed on Dan's shoulder and forcefully turned him around, leaving him to stare into Runo's ignited eyes. "That's not an answer!"

The camaraderie had all but completely vanished now. Runo's eyes narrowed angrily towards Dan. "We battled together," Runo snarled, "so we're a team now, whether you like it or not. The least you can do is tell me why you left!"

Though her anger unsettled him, Dan wiped the emotions right off his face, and he stared back impassively. "Just because we're a team," he responded monotonously, "doesn't mean I'm obligated to tell you any of my secrets, nor are you obligated to tell me your secrets."

Runo looked scandalized, but before she could object, Dan held up his hand. He didn't want to drag this out unnecessarily. "Now, if you excuse me, I should go get some sleep." He eyed her critically. "And I think you should too."

Runo snarled at him. "You don't get to tell me what to do."

"No," Dan agreed. He was so tired; why couldn't Runo see that? He didn't have the strength to deal with his emotions right at this moment. "But the same goes for you to me." With those words, he marched through the doors and away from the blue-haired girl, the girl who stole his heart when they were younger, the girl whom he abandoned when he left, the girl who was now twisting his emotions into a tangle of webs that even he had a hard time trying to untangle.

His feet slowed when he approached his room; he had been so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't notice his feet had carried him all the way to his room. That's when Drago popped out of his form. "Dan?"

Dan shook himself out of his thoughts. "Yeah, Drago?"

"Are you alright?"

Dan paused for a moment, slowly trying to collect his thoughts. What should he tell his partner; he knew Drago probably witnessed the whole thing go down, but how should he answer? Should he tell Drago about the confusing emotions running through his head? Probably not, since he wasn't sure that Drago could help much in that aspect.

So he just settled for a, "Fine."

Still, as he entered his bedroom, he couldn't help but wonder, When did this all go wrong?


A/N So, this ending came about way differently than I thought it would. . .

Oh, well.

By the way, has anyone seen the reboot? I'm starting to watch more of it than the original series, and it's actually pretty good, in my opinion. But don't worry, I'll be brushing up on the original series in order to continue writing this story!

(don't look at me like that!)

RTQC: Which season of the original series is your favorite?

Even though I just watched the first and part of the second series, I really enjoy the first season better, because it's more localized to Earth and Vestroia instead of the characters investigating other planets and aliens XD Also, there are way more DanxRuno moments in the first season.

So. . . constructive criticism and reviews appreciated!