Hey guys, so I know it's been awhile with this story. I won't get into why the update took so long as I've already got into that topic in some of my other stories. Point is, read the A/N at the end for an announcement of how things are gonna go for my stories from now on.

Now then, onto something kind of important. As I'm sure many of you know, for most of my stories the proof reader is my best friend Petrus-C-Visage, in face he's also the one who made the cover art for this story. Look, things have been happening with him that I'm not gonna get into because it's his business, just know that...he's gonna be gone for awhile. He needs time to himself and I don't know when he's gonna be back. But it's something he needs to do. And I can't burden him with proof reading anymore. So this might mean that there might be more errors in the chapters, but I'm gonna do my best to try and prevent them. Like I said Petrus needs to do this and I'm not gonna do anything to hold him back and I hope you can all respect and support his decision.

So with all that said, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Faults and all.

The sun was shining brightly as a limo was seen pulling up in front of a fancy mansion in the middle of the woods. When the vehicle stopped, a boy was seen exiting it and looking up at the mansion with a small smile on his face. "I must be doing something right, I never thought I'd be invited to a place like this." The boy was about 12-years-old and has long dirty blond hair and wore a hat with a black visor, white front, and red back. There was also a red lightning bolt symbol on the front. He had black fingerless gloves and wore an orange jacket with black highlights and white sleeves over a greenish-white shirt. He also had light grey pants and red and white sneakers. This boys named was Billy Gilbert.

"That's cause you got talent boss!" A loud boisterous voice said from Billy's shoulder. A subterra Bakugan could be seen sitting on him that resembled a cyclops with a white horn on his head. "You climbed up to the tenth place in the rankings in just a few days!"

Billy nodded confidentially after hearing that. That's right, this boy was considered to be the 10th best Bakugan player in the world. "You're right, I deserve this." With renewed confidence, Billy started to head up to the mansion. And when he opened the door, he saw he wasn't the first one here. Gulping, he saw other people were here for the same reason he was. For being one of the top ten Bakugan players. "Hey," Billy said as he raised his hand, settling on a casual greeting.

"Greetings, you must also be one of the top ten players," One of the people there said in a gentlemen-like voice. This man appeared to be about 18-years-old and wore some rather fancy cloths. He had very light blueish silver hair with light green eyes and wore a light purple tunic with an open blue collar that had yellow highlights and a white ascot as well as pure white pants and black boots.

"Uh, hey totally!" Billy said with a shaky smirk, trying not to lose his cool.

"Well it's nice to meet you then," The man said, giving Billy a respectful nod. "I am Klaus von Hertzen, and my rank is number two."

Billy gasped as he heard this. The 2nd best Bakugan player in the world was right in front of him. Before he had a chance to say anything, an Asian girl hanging out by the stairs spoke up. "My name is Chan Lee" Chan Lee was the same age as Billy and had black hair tied in a short ponytail along with brown eyes with pink mascara around them. She had a red and gold outfit resembling the Vietnamese Ao Dai along with a pink ribbon around her right arm. "My ranking is third place."

Next to speak up was a tall and muscular 18-year-old man with no hair on his head with yellow eyes. He has a white jacket with no sleeves and a sleeveless black shirt with a lightning bolt symbol in yellow as well as blue jeans and short brown boots. "My names Julio Satana," He introduced himself with a smirk. "I'm in fourth place."

Next to speak was an 11-year-old kid with a light yellow jacket with dark green highlights, light green overalls over a white hoodie, orange and white shoots, as well as a backwards green cap over his black hair. "I'm Komba O'Charlie," The boy properly introduced himself as he flipped from right side of the room to the center. "My ranking is fifth place."

"It's nice to meet ya," Billy said with a smile as he walked forward, getting ready to properly introduce himself. "And I've got the tenth-place spot!" He finished with a confident thumbs up.

Komba however wasn't impressed and smirked at Billy. "Ha, double-digits." The boy mocked, not finding Billy to impressive since he was at the very bottom of the top ten.

Billy glared at Kombo for this insult, but before he could say anything Klaus spoke up before any conflict could be created. "So that means that the first, and sixth to ninth ranked players aren't here yet." Klaus said as so far only half of the top ten were here. "I guess they're running late."

"So what's up?" Julio asked as he was starting to get bored. So far all he's done is stand around and wait for other people to show up. Not much of an event. "When will this so called party get started anyway?"

"Yeah, I don't see any decorations," Chun Lee pointed out as so far, this just seemed liked some dusty old mansion and not some big Bakugan party.

"Yeah you're right," Komba said as he looked at the invitation he and the others got for the event. "But according to the invitation we're in the right place."

Before anyone could question anything else about what was going on, or rather the lack of stuff going on, they all heard the doors to the mansion open up again. They all looked, expecting to see one of the missing top ten players, but were confused by who stepped in. They didn't recognize this guy at all and just watched as he walked into the mansion, hands in his pocket, and not sparring a single word. With a white mask covering half of his face, and wearing black on nearly every part of his body…

Was Marduk.

"Hey, who are you?" Chan Lee asked as she and the others there watched as Marduk walked forward, no sparing them even a look and just moving forward towards the staircase. Chan Lee got a bit annoyed at this emo kid ignoring them and lightly stomped her foot on the ground. "Hey, I asked you a question."

"Doesn't mean I have to answer it," Marduk finally gave a response in a rude tone, not even looking at Chan Lee as she gave him an angry glare. It is clear this guy wasn't exactly the friendliest.

"Hey I'd watch that attitude," Klaus lightly scolded the half masked boy with a disapproving look. "It's not very polite to talk to a lady like that."

"Hmph, no one asked you fancy boy," Marduk response, still continuing to walk forward.

Everyone in the room proceeded to glare at Marduk, already not liking him. They were hoping for a nice little party and gathering with the top players, but this guy was anything but polite and nice. But it also seemed he may not even be on the top 10 as a smirking Komba soon pointed out after checking his Bakupod. "Hey, I just checked the top ten rankings and this guy even isn't on the list," The youngest in the room pointed out as he got in front of Marduk, not intimidated by him at all. "So what's up? You just some punk that wanted to crash the party and see what it's like to be around actual big-shots like-GAH!"

However Komba was soon cut off Marduk harshly pushed Komba out of the way. Sending the kid to the floor on his back and knocking his hat off. "Hey!" Billy yelled as he stopped his foot on the ground. Yeah Komba was annoying but he wasn't gonna let this weird guy push any of them around. "What was that for?!"

"Yeah? You got some kind problem with us?" Julio said as he started walking up to Marduk, getting ready to throw this rude party crasher out on his butt. Julio then reached to grabbed Marduk's shoulder as he said, "Alright buddy, you can either leave the easy way the hard way."

CRACK!

"AH!" Julio whelped out in pain as everyone in the room gasped. They all watched as Marduk suddenly reached out at an alarming speed and grabbed Julio's fist in a vice-like grip, hard enough for some light cracking sounds to be heard and looked right into the 4th ranked players eyes. "W-W-What…"

"Now listen here and listen good," Marduk said with such intensity and venom in his face. Julio flinched as he looked into Marduk's eyes and saw only one thing. Hatred. "I don't need a ranking to know I could kick your ass." He then released Julio's wrist, pushing the muscular guy onto his butt, and started walking forward again. "I was invited here just like the rest of you, so if you don't like it then you can leave."

Everyone in the room glared at Marduk, but Klaus then smirked as he walked forward. An idea forming inside of his head. "Say, I think I know of a much better way for us to settle things." Klaus announced, getting everyone's attention including Marduk's. "How about a little battle? It's not everyday that some of the best Bakugan players in the world are under one roof. Would any of you be interested in a little game?"

This lifted everyone's spirit again as Chan Lee smirked and came down from the stairs. "I'm down for that." The girl said, eager to test her skills on such strong opponents.

"Count me in," Julio smiled as he rubbed his sore wrist. "I know you'd think I didn't have the skills if I tried to back out."

"Yeah," Komba nodded as he put his hat back on. "That sounds like fun to me."

Klaus then turned to Billy and asked, "And you?"

Billy didn't hesitate at all as he said, "I'm in! Let's do it!"

Klaus nodded and turned to Marduk. "What about you?" Klaus asked in a polite tone, not stooping down to the masked boy's level. "Will you join?"

"…Yeah sure, I'll join." Marduk smirked as he turned around and faced Klaus. "I could use a good warm up,"

"Well, well, someones certainly confident." Klaus said with his own smirk as he looked into Marduk's eyes. Not being intimidated at all despite seeing all the hate that Julio just witnessed. "Care to give us your name before we start?"

"It's Marduk," The masked boy finally introduced himself before taking out his field card. "Now how about we cut the chatter and get started." All the others in the room also took out their field card and in unison they all said.

"BAKUGAN FIELD OPEN!"

With Marduk's card glowing purple, Chan Lee's glowing red, Komba's glowing green, Klaus' glowing blue, Billy's glowing brown, and Julio's glowing yellow, the bakugan field opened around all six of the players, being even bigger than it usually is due to how many were participating.

"Since we're all in agreement, then this will be an exhibition match." Klaus said, trying to decide on the rules of a brawl with six people in it. "No wait, a speed play!"

"Huh? What's a speed play?" Julio asked, never hearing of that kind of play style before.

"Let's make it a Bakugan Battle Royale!" Billy chimed in, thinking that would be the best kind of battle for this situation. "Since we're all in agreement."

"Fine then," Marduk said as he took out a gate card. "Gate Card set!" Marduk then threw the card down, the card expanding way bigger than a gate card usually would since this would be the card all the players Bakugan would go on.

Billy smirked as he looked down at his hands, preparing to throw his partner Cycloid into the brawl. "Alright, the game is on!" Billy said enthusiastically. "You ready for this Cycloid?"

"Put me in boss!" Cycloid said, just as eager as his partner was. "I'm ready to lay down the smack down!"

Billy nodded as he rose his hands up high, preparing to throw Cycloid like a baseball. "Bakugan Brawl!" With his hat falling off in the process, Billy sent cycloid into the battle and was the first once to send his Bakugan out. "Cycloid Stand!" Right as Cycloid entered the battle, Billy was quick to play an ability card to show everyone the kind of power his partner was packing. "Ability Activate: Right Giaganti!"

Cycloid smirked as his right hand, as well as the giant stone hammer he was carrying in it, grew bigger as he raised it into the air, "Just try coming at me!" The cyclops bakugan said in a cocky tone. "I'll make you a member of my special club!"

"Heh, what a loud mouth," Komba smirked, not intimidated at all by the one eyed Bakugan as he proceeded to throw his own Bakugan into the mix. "Bakugan Brawl! Ventus Harpus stand!" Coming onto the field was a Bakugan smaller than Cycloid. She was a harpy-like Bakugan with dark green feathers covering her body and upper legs, had light green wings attached to her arms which hand gold bangles on them. Her nails were sharp and she had tribal-like clothing. She also had two visible fangs and pure purple eyes, messy green hair with yellow highlights, and a small pair of wings on her head.

Harpus let out a laugh as she entered the battle as Komba pulled out a card. "Ability Activate: Feather blast!" A torrent of wind kicked up around Harpus as she crossed her arms and launched a fierce wind blast at Cycloid who struggled to block it with his hammer. "Hah!"

"Ability activate!" Komba was caught off guard as suddenly Chun Lee activated an ability, the ventus user not realizing she had already thrown her Bakugan into the mix. "Face of Rage!" Everyone watched as Chun Lee's bakugan, a pyrus bakugan who had four faces, four arms, and four swords, and resembled the Indian God Brahma, Fourtress briefly covered its face. When it revealed its face again it switched to a face of pure rage. "You won't be able to beat my Bakugan's combination of beauty and strength!"

Before right as she said that, a powerful and bright light shined down on everyone, practically blinding them. The source coming from a large floating eye. The floating eyes color was purple and it had a bunch of white and yellow tentacle-like appendages around its rim. "Yeah!" Julio cheered at his bakugan immobilizing everyone elses. "Haos Tentaclears eye has got you! You can't move!"

But after Julio said this, he heard laughing coming from Klaus, one of the two not to have thrown down their Bakugan yet…supposedly. "Perfect, I didn't expect a battle with the top ranked players to be this much fun," The gentlemen said with a simple smile on his face.

"Heh, you sound confident Klaus," Chan Lee said as she turned to Klaus. "Where's your Bakugan? Or are you too afraid to get in the game?"

"Oh but don't you see?" Klaus asked with a smirk, "It's already in the battle!" Everyone, sans Marduk, gasped as Klaus pulled out an ability card. Ability Activate! Alright Sirenoid use your singing voice on them!" Suddenly the gate card rippled like water as an aquos bakugan emerged from it. This bakugan resembled a mermaid had long dark aqua colored hair, orange eyes, and wore a gold tiara-like crown. She also wielded, and started playing, a lyre as she started singing a haunting melody. As she sang, all the other bakugan were unable to control themselves as they came closer to her. No matter how much they struggled, the mermaid just pulled them closer. "Allow me to introduce my lovely aquos sirenoid!"

Meanwhile Marduk was silent as he watched all the supposed 'top' players release their bakugan and activate their abilities. After witnessing all of it…he wasn't impressed. "Tch, these are supposed to be the best battlers in the world?" Marduk questioned with the click of his tongue. "Please, give me a break." Marduk then reached into his pocket and pulled out a familiar look Bakugan. Vladitor. "So, you wanna go in?"

"Hmph, normally I wouldn't give weaklings like this a thought." Vladitor said, sharing Marduks opinion in these Bakugan and their battles to be nothing but pathetic and weak. "But…I could stand to do some stretching."

"Alright then," Everyone then turned to Marduk as he started chuckling, Sirenoid also ceasing her singing as the Bakugan turned to him. "So this is what the best battles in the world have to offer? Talk about a waste of my time," Everyone glared at Marduk for this statement, having enough of the guy…but watched as he began to get into a throwing position. "Lets end this quickly. Bakugan Brawl!"

"Vladitor stand."

Everyone was briefly blinded by the glow Vladitor let off as he came onto the battlefield. And when they saw the darkus bakugan for themselves…they were nearly speechless. "W-W-W-Woah…" Cycloid struggle to let out, feeling greatly intimidated by this bakugan for both his size and the aura he let off. "And I t-thought Gorem was big…"

"Pah-lease! He doesn't look so tough!" Harpus let out in a cocky tone, flying straight towards the warlord bakugan. "Besides the bigger they are the harder they fall!" But right as Harpus was right in front of Vladitor…the darkus bakugan effortlessly caught her with one hand.

"Keep your feathers off me!" Vladitor said as he raised Harpus up and-

SMASH!

Vladitor slammed Harpus on the ground with all of his might, creating a massive shock wave that nearly blew everyone but Marduk away. "HARPUS!" Komba cried out with concern for his partner. When the dust cleared, everyone watched as a now unconscious Harpus returned to ball form, landing at Komba's feet. "Harpus! Harpus are you ok?!"

"Hey! That was to far!" Chan Lee yelled at Marduk with venom in her voice. This was just supposed to be a fun game, not a slaughterfest! "Just who do you think you are?!"

"Someone who'll do whatever it takes to win," Marduk responded with as he took out an ability card. "Ability Activate: Magnus Dark-Storm!"

"You will all kneel before me!" Vladitor yelled as the ground began to shake. Electrical energy pulsated from Vladitors hands as he proceeded to fire dark lightning at Cycloid, Tentaclear, and Fourtress. With the exception of Tentaclear, the Bakugan all screamed in pain as they were assaulted by the ability, the attack making them hurt in places they didn't know they had. Vladitor kept up the assault for a good minute before ceasing his fire.

The three Bakugan all feel to the ground, charred and nearly unconscious and soon returned to ball form and landing at their respective brawlers feet. "He…beat them all." Billy said with fear in his voice. This bakugan being unlike any he's seen before. "With one attack…"

"Sirenoid!" Klaus called out to in concern, not wishing to see what Vladitor would do to his partner. "You've got to get outta there!"

"GAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" But Sirenoid wasn't quick enough. She was soon helpless as Vladitor grabbed her just like Harpus and started squeezing her tight, sending pain throughout her whole body.

"Hmph, I was told you were supposed to be strong." Vladitor mocked as he squeezed Sirenoid some more, cracking sounds being heard at this point. "You're all nothing but disappointments."

After Vladitor said this, the sky around the Vladitor went dark as storm clouds appeared. Purple lightning bolts raining down on the field as a figure could be seen. "Hey! Who are you?!" Klaus yelled, not wanting another unwanted guest like Marduk to show up. "Show yourself!"

The figure did so, descending from the sky revealing themselves to be, "My name is Masquerade!" It was none other the masked man himself, finally joining the party. Masquerade then looked down at Marduk and Vladitor and gave them an order. "Alright you two, you had your fun. Now it's my turn."

"…Hmph, fine," Marduk reluctantly went through, snapping his fingers to let Vladitor know it was time to ditch this popsicle stand. Vladitor growled a bit, but slammed Sirenoid down on the floor making her return to ball form at Klaus' feet. Vladitor then turned back into a ball himself with Marduk catching him. "Whatever, you have your way. We're out of here." And with a white flash of light, Marduk was gone.

"Huh? Hey where'd he go?!" Komba yelled, not willing to let that punk get away scott free.

"He is of no concern to any of you," Masquerade told all the top players. "Now then, I recommend you all look at your feet."

The players all rose their brows at this but did as the top ranked player told. When they looked, they were completely stunned with what they saw. The battlefield was completely gone and they seemed to be standing on air. Beneath all of them was some strange purple orb with dragon-like creature.

As they were all questioning where they were and demanding Masquerade take them back to their world…the dragon inside the orb spoke. "Humans!" He yelled, making them all look down at him as his eyes glowed purple. "Kneel before your new master!"

Before they knew it, they were all blinded by a bright light as a strange energy took a hold of them.

Back at the mansion, Marduk could be seen leaning against the door to a room, a scowl on his face as Vladitor stood on his shoulder. "Hmph, Naga must really be getting desperate for soldiers now," Vladitor mocked the five brawlers he and Maduk effortlessly crushed, the brawlers that were now under the influence of Naga and Masquerade. "It's pathetic."

"Luckily for us, we know the perfect person to try and push to our side." Maduk smirked as he took out a small disk and pressed on it. The disk created a small projection of both Lincoln and Leonidas. "If they play by our rules, they should be pretty decent generals for our army."

"Hehehe, quite," Vladitor evilly chuckled as Marduk pulled the disk away. "It's a shame Leonidas hasn't told his little friend about his true heritage, but once he does we just have to wait for them to get stronger and embrace the true power he possess."

"And then all Bakugan and humans will be at our mercy," Marduk followed up with a smirk before he started to walk off, disappearing in a white flash yet again.

ROYAL WOODS

Back in the good ole town of Royal Woods, we see Lincoln sitting on the couch enjoying the TV all to himself. As well as his partner Leonidas of course who was sitting on Lincoln's shoulder, Reaper was also there but chose to sit by himself on the table. "Hmph, I will never understand you humans form of entertainment," Despite Reaper's words, he never took his eyes off the TV. "Robots that turn in vehicles, it's absurd."

"Uh-huh, and balls that turn into giant monsters isn't?" Lincoln said with a small smirk on his face, finding Reaper's claims kinda funny. "Come on, learn to lighten up, things have been pretty calm for awhile now so let's just enjoy the peace and quiet while we can."

"Hmph, personally I'm craving some battles myself," Leonidas said as, while he enjoyed spending time with Lincoln like this, he couldn't help but wish they could finally start fighting some Masquerade goons again. "I don't wanna get rusty!

"Finally something we agree on," Reaper actually agreed with his fellow darkus bakugan for once. Wanting revenge on Masquerade as soon as possible.

"You guys are no fun," Lincoln said with a deadpanned tone. Here he was just wanting to enjoy the day with his bakugan friends, and they were just talking about wanting to get into brawls. Yeah Lincoln loved brawling to but not 24/7.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

"Not it," Leonidas and Reaper said at once after hearing someone knock on the door.

"Yeah like you guys could answer it anyway," Lincoln stated with an eye roll as he got off the couch and headed to the door. He wasn't expecting any of his friends to come over so he figured this was either one of his sisters friends or something for his parents. But he was wrong on both guesses as when he opened the door he saw a familiar red haired girl at door. "Oh, hey Alice. Wasn't expecting to see you today."

"I hope I'm not introducing." Alice politely said as Lincoln moved aside to allow Alice in. "I just needed someone to talk to,"

"It's no big deal, not much is happening today anyway." Lincoln told her after she went in, Lincoln closing the door afterwards. Considering how grumpy his bakugan were, having someone sweet like Alice around was more then welcome. "So what'd you want to talk about?"

"Well…" Alice seemed uncomfortable and tense as she tried explaining the situation to Lincoln. "It's…about something important. I originally wanted to tell Dan but…"

"He would either overreact or you wouldn't be able to focus because you have a crush on him?" Lincoln gave what he thought was the reason why Alice decided not to tell whatever it was to Dan.

Alice's face went red as she tried to use her hair to hide it. "…Yes." Was the only response she gave to that.

Lincoln chuckled a bit as he started heading up the stairs. "Well come up to my room and we can talk about it." Lincoln offered with a kind smile that got Alice to calm down a bit. Lincoln then looked down at Leonidas and Reaper before he went up further. "You two, don't kill each other while we're up here."

"No promises." They both said in unison before looking at each other. Lincoln rolled his eyes while Alice giggled as they two went upstairs.

Lincoln and Alice then made their way to Lincoln's room, sitting next to each other on the bed when they got there. Lincoln motioned for Alice to speak up about whatever she wanted to talk about. Alice looked at her lap for a moment, hesitating a bit before finally opening her mouth. "I really can't thank you enough for this," Alice said with a small but tense smile. "When I decided not to tell Dan I thought you were the best choice, your usually pretty calm and rational."

"Well I'm honored you think of me like that," Lincoln said with a smile before gaining a worried look. "But I'm guessing base on that this is something pretty serious."

"You…could say that…" Alice took a deep breath as she got ready to spill the beans to Lincoln. "You know that scientist Michael Gehabich? The one that Drago said was the one who gave Naga the power to get to the center of Vestroia?" Lincoln nodded, remembering every bit of the story Drago told them about Naga and Michael. "He's…my grandfather."

Lincoln's eyes widened after Alice laid down that bombshell. The person that allowed Naga to get to the silent and infinity cores and caused Vestroia to go all whack and out of control…was Alice's grandfather. Lincoln was certainly shocked to say the least but, for Alice's sake, he made sure to remain calm as he looked at her. "He's…your grandfather?" Lincoln asked, making sure he heard that right, "Seriously?"

"Uh-huh…" Alice nodded with a sad expression on her face. "That day when the bakugan and all the cards appeared, that was when my grandfather had disappeared. The one day about six months later he came back and he saw my bakugan card and seemed very surprised. But the strange thing is, that day where Dan met Drago my grandfather disappeared again. And I haven't heard a thing from him since."

"Oh…Oh wow…" Lincoln could see why this was so hard for Alice to tell everyone. Not only was her grandfather the one responsible for Naga, but it also seemed she was deeply worried about and missed him. "Alice…I'm so sorry."

"H-Huh?" Alice stuttered, not expecting Lincoln to say something like that. "What do you mean?"

"I mean I can see why this was so hard for you," Lincoln said with a sympathetic tone as he put a hand on Alice's shoulder. "I can only imaged how shocked you were when Drago said it was him who was the one who gave Naga the portal."

"…Yeah…" Alice said with a saddened tone as she held her arm. "I wish I knew why…"

Lincoln then gave a small smile to Alice and made an attempt to cheer her up, "Hey, I promise you we'll figure out why. And we'll find him too," Alice looked to Lincoln and smiled at his words, he was definitely the right person to turn towards about this. "But first, we gotta tell the others first. They can't be left in the dark about this."

Alice sighed, but nodded and agreed with Lincoln. "Yeah, you're right."

"Hey, don't worry. I'll have your back," Lincoln reassured her as he pulled out his phone and began making some text. "I'll tell the gang to meet up at Marucho's."

ONE HOUR LATER

And so, just like Lincoln said, the battle brawlers were all now gathered in Marucho's room with Julie and Shun on video chat on Marucho jumbotron. "And there you have it," Alice finished telling the same story she told Lincoln to everyone,

"You kept that a secret?" Dan asked in a…surprisingly calm tone. It didn't look like he was gonna rage out at all. Alice still flinched a bit, but when she looked at Dan she saw him giving her a small smile. "Thanks for telling us,"

"…Y-You're welcome…" Alice said with pink cheeks, a small smile on her face. She couldn't begin to express how happy she was for Dan acting so calm about it. "I'm sorry for not telling you it's just…"

"What? You'd think I'd overreact or something?" Dan asked with a raise brow as he put his hands on his hips.

"Well can't say I'm surprised," Runo said with a bit of a smirk on her face, "You did kinda rage out when that guy cut you in line at the game store."

"Hey he had no right to do that!" Dan yelled right at Runo's face, quickly ticking the girl off.

"And her point is proven," Haiku said with her usual tone as Kabukito sat on her shoulder.

"Alice, have you heard anything about the collapse of vestroia?" Drago asked, getting things back on topic.

"No, nothing," Alice told Drago with a small shake to her head. "But if all the stories we're hearing are true and my grandfather really did go to vestroia we may find something if we go to his laboratory. Unfortunately it's in Moscow."

"Well then we're literally gonna have to go to his lab," Lori said with a serious look on her face. If there were any leads that might lead them to Michael, then they needed to take it.

"Um, didn't you just hear Alice?" Runo asked Lori with a raised brow. "His lab is in Moscow."

"It's important we go," Shun pointed out, sharing the same opinion on following any sort of lead. "We can just use Marucho's aircraft to get there,"

"Yeah totally!" Marucho nodded with a big smile on his face. "I can get Kato to take us no problem!"

"Sounds like a plan," Lincoln smiled as he crossed his arms behind his back. "But if we're going all the way to Moscow then me and Lori better tell our folks."

Lori nodded as Haiku spoke up, "Same with me, but my parents should be ok with it."

"Alright then, how about this," Marucho suggested an idea. "We all tell our parents about this and we'll meet her at 10 AM tomorrow, I'll have Kato pick you guys up in a limo."

"Riding in a limo?" Runo asked with a smile on her face. "Count me in,"

"I'll talk with my grandfather," Shun said with a calm tone. Since Shun told his grandfather about how Lincoln was…sort of tolerating him now Tusguo seemed to have softened up a bit. Shun had a good feeling his grandfather would allow him to go with them.

"Hey don't forget about me too guys," Julie said with an enthusiastic smile. "You can pick me up after you visit the lab!"

Marucho nodded at Julie before he turned to everyone else around him. "Then it's settled, we'll all meet together tomorrow." Everyone nodded as they all headed out, or in Shun and Julie's case hung up, and go ready to tell their parents about the long trip they were making.

THE NEXT DAY

"Oh man, I can't believe we're literally doing this," Lori said in an excited yet nervous tone as she and her brother headed towards the limo parked in front of their house. Just like they said, Lincoln and Lori informed their parents about the trip they were taking. They were unsure at first, but eventually they agreed to let Lori and Lincoln go. "Kind of shocking…"

"Just relax dearie," Chrysopeon whispered to Lori while on her shoulder. "Everything will be fine, and I'll be by your side the whole time." Lori smiled at Chrysopeon and held onto the backpack she brought with her tightly.

"Man, can't believe we're actually going to Moscow," Lincoln, who was feeling far more enthusiastic then Lori about this. He's never been out of state before let alone out of country. While this was for a mission, he still couldn't help but have a little fun with it. "This is gonna be so cool!"

"Hmph, keep that enthusiasm under wraps human." Reaper growled in annoyance over Lincoln's attitude toward this whole thing. "This is a business trip, not a fun vacation. Be serious!"

"Heh, someone woke up on the wrong side of the pillow this morning," Leonidas mocked causing Reaper to turn towards him and growled. "Would you just chill out and let the kid enjoy himself? Besides I'm sure they'll be Masquerade goons to crush on the way."

"Better be…" Reaper muttered.

Meanwhile Lincoln and Lori's parents were present along with all their sisters, all standing in front of their house to say goodbye. "I'm still not sure this was the right thing to do," Rita said to her husband in a worried tone. She had been the one that was the most against her two kids taking a sudden trip all the way to Moscow. "I mean don't you find it a bit strange to why they are going?"

"Oh relax Rita, they'll be fine," Lynn Sr said in a more calm tone then his wife. "A little travel will do them wonders! Just like me,"

As Lincoln and Lori entered the limo, they gave one last wave to their family, "See ya guys later!" The two said in unison as their sisters and parents waved back.

"Man I can't believe those two get to go on a trip!" Lola complained with crossed arms. "This is so unfair!"

"Bring us back some souvenirs dudes!" Luna waved to them with a smile.

"Good luck…" Lynn said quietly, having a feel that they were leaving due to something involving Bakugan and Masquerade.

Kato then gave the Loud parents a bow as he reassured them, "I promise I'll make sure your children are safe," Marucho's butler told them in his usual polite tone, "You can put your trust in me,"

"Have fun you two!" Lynn Sr encouraged.

"But be safe!" Rita added as Kate went into the limo and drove off.

Inside the limo, Lori and Lincoln saw that Dan, Alice, and Runo were already there waiting for them. They were also impressed with the spread as there were various snacks, candy, drinks, and even a little tv inside of it. "Looks like we just need to pick up Haiku," Runo noted as the only one of the brawlers not in the limo, not counting Marucho, Shun, and Julie, was the goth girl.

"We should be approaching her house in about 5 minutes," Kato informed the group from the drivers seat, using a GPS locator to find Haiku's house. "In the meantime help yourselves to everything back there."

"Don't mind if I do," Dan licked his lips and eagerly reached for some chocolate. Alice giggled at the sights as she reached for a soda.

"I bet your excited she's coming along huh?" Lori said to Lincoln with a smirk.

Lincoln immediately blushed, knowing what Lori was implying with this and quickly turned away. "W-W-Well y-yeah, she's a v-valuable member of the team," Lincoln stuttered a bit as Lori snickered lightly. "I'm glad you're all going."

"Then why is your face all red~?" Now Runo joined in the teasing which just made Lincoln groan.

"Not you too…" Lincoln let out as he buried his head in his hands.

After about five minutes, just like Kato said, the group arrived at Haiku's house. Kato went out to go get the goth girl and tell her parents that she'll be safe under his watch. Meanwhile the group looked out the window and saw Haiku's house and noticed it was pretty average. The house was two stories and painted blue with a black roof with a mini-van parked out front.

The group watched as they saw Kato talking to Haiku's parents with Haiku herself standing next to them with a backpack and a wooden box in her hand. The parents looked happy as Kato bowed to them and they watched as him and Haiku headed towards the limo, looks like Haiku's parents were ok with her going to Moscow with them.

Soon Kato went back to his place in the driver's seat with Haiku coming into the limo and sitting next to Lincoln, "Hope I didn't keep you all too long." Haiku apologized as she set the backpack on the floor of the limo while opening up the wooden box and looked through its contents. "Just needed to make sure I had everything."

"It's alright Haiku," Lincoln reassured the goth girl, not being able to see what was in her wooden box. "You didn't keep us waiting,"

Haiku gave a tiny smile as her cheeks went a little pink. And as she was looking through her wooden box, everyone watched as a doll fell out of it…a doll that looked exactly like Dan. Everyone noticed this and started to get a little creeped out. "Um…Haiku…" Dan started in an uncomfortable tone. "What's…that?"

"Oh, it's one of my voodoo dolls," Haiku answered in her usual tone as she picked up and put it back in the box, closing it afterwards. "I wanted to make sure I brought them all."

"…You have one of Dan?" Alice asked in a creeped-out tone.

"I have one of all of you." Haiku told them all, making their eyes widened.

"I'm…not sure how we feel about that," Runo let out as she scooched as far back away from Haiku as possible.

"Don't worry about it," Haiku told them all as she looked at Dan, "In fact I just finished the one of you last night, wanted to get it done before we left. I even ended up seeing your death in my mind while I was sewing it together."

"Oh…." Dan sweat dropped as he started to scooch away as well. "I was kinda hoping it'd be a surprise…"

"It will be," Haiku said right into his eyes.

"…Let's just head to Marucho's." Lincoln said to break the tension.

"Agreed!" Everyone but Haiku said in unison.

After about a 20-minute drive, the group was once again at Marucho's house. When they got their Marucho and Kato let to them to a special underground area where a hovercraft, much bigger than the one used to go to Shun's place, was. Entering inside, everyone was completely blown away by the accommodations. There was a big couch that could easily sit their whole group including Shun and Julie when they were picked up.

There was also a big TV, and a kitchen in the next room as well as a few bedrooms with multiple beds for them to sleep in. "Well at least we'll be travelling in style," Lori commented as she set her backpack down on her bed. Once everyone was inside and seat, Kato headed over to the pilots seat and pressed a button on a remote. The ceiling of the underground area opened up, with water spilling out from the roof revealing this location to be under the lake, allowing Kato to fly the hovercraft into the sky and officially start their trip.

The group decided to start the first part of their trip just getting situated in their rooms. The girls all shared a room and made sure their beds were nice and comfy, with Haiku putting her box of voodoo dolls underneath her bed. Meanwhile Dan and Lincoln both shared a room and just laid down in bed for about a half an hour. Marucho had a room all to himself but was instead using his time to make some food for everybody.

And as they were flying, Kato's voice came from an intercom placed all over the vehicles. "Everyone, I'll be doing a fly over Master Shun's dojo now," Kato informed them all.

While most rose a brow at this, Dan and Lincoln looked at each other and rolled their eyes. Both boys knew what Shun was about to do and exited their room. Everyone else did the same as well and all looked out the window to see Shun standing on the top of his dojo with a small duffle bag over his shoulder. When Kato flew over the dojo, Shun took out a grappling hook and threw it right at the hover craft, successfully latching onto it and climbing up to the craft as it kept flying forward. "He's such a show off," Dan commented with the roll of his eyes.

"Tell me about it…" Lincoln muttered as Haiku put a hand on his shoulder.

The door to the hover craft then opened from the outside and everyone watched as Shun entered in, still carrying his duffle bag and pulling his grabbling hook inside with him as well, "Hey Shun!" Runo greeted with a friendly smile. "That was quite the show you put on there."

"I just didn't wanna slow us down is all," Shun answered simply, putting his grappling hook in his bag. Shun's eyes then turned towards Lincoln, the white head only giving the ninja a side glance. Needless to say things were still very much awkward between them and Shun was still feeling guilty about everything. "…Hey Lincoln, it's…good to see-"

But Lincoln didn't give Shun a chance to finish as Lincoln turned his back to Shun and walked towards the couch in the main room, deciding to keep to himself for the trip. Shun looked down and sighed, looked like he wasn't making any progress with Lincoln. The ninja then felt a hand on his shoulder and looked to see Lori giving him a small smile. "Hey, it's good seeing you Shun," Lori said in a friendly tone."

"Yeah, you too," Shun said with a saddened tone as he headed into the main room, making sure to sit far away from Lincoln and give the boy his space.

Lori let out a sigh as Runo crossed her arms, "Well, this is gonna be a long trip," Runo said before looking down at Marucho. "How long did you say this was gonna take again?"

"About 12 hours," Marucho told the group before smiling and trying to lighten the mood. "But there's still a lot of things to do here. There's plenty of food and drinks in the kitchen so help yourselves, the TV also has satellite and a DVD player with a wide selection of movies and shows."

"That sounds pretty fun," Alice smiled as she grabbed Dan's arm and started pulling him towards the main room. "Come on Dan let's go watch a movie."

"Uh, y-yeah ok," Dan said with his face a light pink, deciding to just let Alice drag him away.

And so everyone decided to just go about and do their whole thing. Runo was in the kitchen with Marucho, the two working together to make some dessert, Lincoln was on his laptop with headphones on while Alice and Dan were watching a movie together with Shun just keeping to himself on the far end of the couch with all the Bakugan sitting together on the table.

Meanwhile Haiku was mostly keeping to herself, similar to Shun, in her and the other girl's room. The goth girl was sitting on her bed as she reached under it and pulled out her wooden box of Voodoo dolls. Opening it up, Haiku made yet another check to see if all her dolls were there, specially a doll that she dressed up in blue pants, an orange shirt, and white hair. "Good, still here," Haiku smiled and blushed a bit before looking around and making sure no one else was around. Once she knew the coast was clear, she picked up the Lincoln doll and gave it a quick hug before putting it back in and shutting the box.

In the main room, Lincoln's eyes widened as he felt something…touching him. Taking off his headphones he looked to Dan and Alice who were the closest to him. "Hey did one of you guys grab me or something?"

"Um, no I don't believe so." Alice said in a confused tone.

"You doing alright there man?" Dan asked with a raise brow.

"Yeah…yeah," Lincoln said awkwardly before putting his headphones back on.

Back with Haiku, after giving her Lincoln doll a hug the goth girl quickly put her box of voodoo dolls under the bed again so no one would know what she just did. And just in time too as the door to the room entered with Lincoln's sister Lori stepping into the room and smiling as she saw Haiku in there. "Ah Haiku, good." Lori said as she closed the door and sat on her bed and faced Haiku. "I thought you were here,"

"Whats up?" Haiku asked with her usual tone, silently sighing in relief that Lori didn't come into the room a second earlier. "Is something wrong?"

"Nah, I was just hoping we could have some girl talk is all," Lori told the goth girl who raised her brow in confusion. Haiku figured she would be the last girl Lori would go to for girl talk. Runo and Alice seem more up Lori's league. "So I just have to ask…do you have a crush on my brother?"

Ok she took it back. This makes perfect sense now. "W-W-What?" Haiku's emotionless demeanor was broken by this question as her pale face started to turn red. "W-W-Well…I-I don't know…" Haiku couldn't even bring herself to try and deny it. She did.

"Oh is that so~?" Lori could see as clear as day that Haiku had a thing for her brother. All she had to do was give the goth girl a gentle push to finally ask out Lincoln. "Why's that?"

"I…I…I…UGH!" Haiku let out a loud groan as she fell onto her back on the bed. "It's…weird. I enjoy the darkness, vampires, dullness, quietness. And Lincoln is just…just…"

"Colorful, loud, happy, pretty much the exact opposite of the stuff you usually like?" Lori finished Haiku's sentence for her, earning another groan from the goth as she nodded her head. "You know they say opposites attract, maybe that's why."

"I guess…" Haiku said out as she circled her finger around the bed. Honestly, she did really like Lincoln, he was a great guy that wasn't creeped out by her. Outside of the guys in her club at school, there wasn't many like that. And the guys that were in her club…they may like many of the same things as her, but they weren't really boyfriend material in her eyes. But Lincoln on the other hand…she just couldn't deny it. "Wait, why are you asking about this? I thought you wanted him to be with Ronnie Anne? Your boyfriend's little sister."

Know Lori let out a sigh as she put on a bit of a guilty expression. "Ok…I used to want that," Lori explained to Haiku. She was hoping that the goth girl didn't know about that, but it looks like she does. "But after a while I realized that it's not what they want and I shouldn't try and force it. It would have just made them both unhappy."

"Wow…that's deep," Haiku said in an impressed tone. From what she heard from Lucy, Lori used to be extremely overbearing, controlling, and very prone to anger. But it looks like she's really mellowed out. "It's really cool how much you've changed, Lucy always used to tell me how…difficult you could be."

Lori chuckled about, knowing full well that difficult didn't even begin to describe how she used to be. "Trust me I'm aware of how I was," Lori reassured Haiku, making sure the goth knew that it was ok to described how she used to be before. "But I guess I started changing after the Bakugan cards fell."

"Bakugan?" Haiku questioned.

"Yeah when the Bakugan card fell I started spending a lot of time with my brother and his friends making the rules of the game," Lori began to explain her story to Haiku. "Before that I would have considered hanging out with my little brother and his friends lame but in that time I actually got to know them all really well. I guess back then I used to always prioritize my social status and making sure my siblings knew who was in charge that I forgot I used to be just like them. Hanging with Lincoln and his friend made me realize that and I just had a had a ton of fun. And it was Bakugan that brought us together."

Haiku was silent the entire time as she listened to Lori's story. When the oldest Loud child finished, Haiku finally spoke up. "Hey Lori…"

"Yeah?" Lori asked.

"You're a good sister." Haiku told Lori with a tiny smile.

Lori also smiled and light patted Haiku's leg as she got up. "And you're a really good friend." Lori told the goth girl as she headed towards the door. "And I think Lincoln and you would make a great and cute couple." And with that, Lori left. Leaving a smiling and blushing Haiku on the bed as she thought about her and Lincoln.

"Greetings everyone," On the table in the main room is where everyone put their Bakugan so they could mingle with each other. Since they would be staying and working together from this moment on, it's important they all get the chance to talk and be used to stay and working together. Currently Skyress was the one speaking since she was the newest Bakugan in the group other then Reaper who was keeping to himself in the corner of the table. "It's nice to properly meet all of you."

"Greetings Skyress, it's an honor to meet a bakugan as strong and as wise as you," Kabukito properly introduced herself to Skyress as she hopped forward and bowed down to the Ventus bakugan. "I hope we'll be able to work together in the coming future."

"At least I know you can pull your weight in a fight," Leonidas said to Shun's partner, knowing full well what a force to be reckoned with she was. "Hopefully we'll get to see which one of us is the strongest."

"My, you have an awfully competitive spirit Leonidas," Skyress complimented in an amused tone. "I must say I am looking forward to seeing you in more future brawls."

"Remember Leonidas, we're fighting the enemy not each other," Tigrerra reminded the darkus bakugan. The last thing the group needed was for everyone to try and one up each other and lose focus on the true goal. "Let's focus on Naga first,"

"Hmph, I can multi-task," Leonidas grunted as he looked away from Runo's bakugan.

"Aw come on Leo learn to live it up a little!" Preyas encouraged the darkus bakugan as he walked up to him. "Just think about it! We're going on a trip around the world! There are endless possibilities! We could discover what the meaning of art is, maybe discover who our one true soulmate are, or possibly find a way to bring world peace! Or maybe we'll just visit every tourist trap we can and buy a bunch of Knick knacks that we'll just horde in the basement. That works to."

"This isn't a leisure trip Preyas!" Drago scolded Preyas causing the aquos bakugan to flinch and step back. "We're trying to find out what happened to Michael and hopefully find any clues regarding him and Naga, Masquerade, and the infinity core. We don't have the pleasure of taking it easy." Drago then looked back at Reaper, keeping a sharp eye on Masquerades former bakugan. "And needless to say, we need to watch our backs."

"Oh Drago, you don't believe Reaper will backstab us do you?" Chrysopeon asked as she looked at Reaper herself, the lamia bakugan fully trusting Reaper. "After he was betrayed my Masquerade I don't believe he'd do that."

"I'm just saying this is a delicate mission and we can't afford for anything to go wrong," Drago explained to Chrysopeon, thinking the ventus bakugan was being far to trusting. "And after everything Reaper did can you confidentially say he won't try anything?"

"You heard him yourself, he wants to get back at Masquerade as much as we want to stop him," Chrysopeon countered Drago's argument. They needed to work together as a team, any distrust and they could fall apart like a house of cards. "The enemy of an enemy is a friend."

"While I can't say I like him, I do believe we can trust Reaper," Tigerra added her two sense into things. "It's like Chrysopeon said, our goals intertwine with one another. And we need as much help as we can get right now."

"…" Drago was silent before letting out a sigh, seeing everyones points. "I suppose you are all right, but I'm still keeping an eye on him just in case."

"You do what you feel is right Drago," Skyress reassure the pyrus bakugan, seeing the points in both sides of the argument regarding Reaper. "What's important is not losing sight of our goal."

"Agreed," Tigerra said.

"And crushing anyone in our way." Leonidas let out in an excited growl in finally getting into some real battles again.

"Yeah!" Preyas cheered…before looking to Leonidas with a nervous expression. "But…not me though right Leo?"

"…" Leonidas was silent as he turned to Preyas.

"Hehe, L-Leo old buddy, you're not gonna crush me…right…" Preyas asked but Leonidas reminded silent. Preyas then decided to play it safe and started backing away. "You know what…just gonna stand over here."

Meanwhile with Shun, the ventus ninja was still sitting on the far end of the cough on the main room. His arms were crossed, and he had one leg over the other and his eyes were closed. But occasionally Shun would open his eyes and glanced at Lincoln, watching the Loud boy on his laptop with his headphones and just not paying attention to anyone. Or as Shun thought, him. Shun knew Lincoln and knew he would usually love to spend a long flight talking with his friends and doing stuff.

But since Shun was there, the ninja knew that Lincoln wanted to lower any odds of him interacting with the white head. As such, Shun tried to push any thoughts of trying to talk to Lincoln to the back of his mind and ignore. 'He wants nothing to do with me…' Shun thought sadly as he looked at the floor. He couldn't help but remember all the good times they've had. Shun has pretty much known Lincoln since the loud boy was born as their mothers were friends long before they were born. And given how many sisters Lincoln had, he always looked to Shun as a brother. But now it has all been reduced to this.

"You know, you're probably gonna have to talk to him sooner or later," Runo's voice spoke up from right next to Shun. The ninja looked to see the blue haired girl standing next to him and holding a cup of tea out to him. "Here, this might help you relax."

"Oh, thanks." Shun said as he accepted the tea from Runo and gave it a sip. It was nice and hot, just like he liked it, and had a minty sweet flavor. "It's better if I don't."

"Better for who exactly?" Runo asked with puffed out cheeks and hands on her hips. Why were boys always so stubborn wen it came to this stuff? They should really just learn to hug and work it out already. "I remember the days when there was no splitting you two up. Whatever happened to that,"

Shun sighed as he held his head, taking deep breaths as he recalled everything. "…I didn't wanna hold him back," Shun answered Runo.

"Hold him back?" Runo repeated as she sat next to the ventus ninja. "What does that mean?"

"…My grandpa made he live under his rules. I wasn't allowed to play bakugan and I could rarely even leave the dojo unless it involved school," Shun explained further as his fist began tightening in anger. "All so I could focus on training to be a ninja and 'continue his legacy."

"Yeeeeeah, your grandpa wasn't exactly the nicest guy in the world," Runo sweat dropped, recalled her meeting the man not to long ago. "He threatened to beat Marucho and Preyas with a wooden stick."

"Hmph, sounds about right," Shun rolled his eyes at hearing his grandfather's behavior. "And I knew the whole time Lincoln was thinking about when he'd get to see me again. He even biked all the way to my house to see me. Can only imagine how hard that was. And…I didn't want him to go through something like that for me. He still had his whole life and freedom…it wouldn't have been to hold him back from that,"

"So you told him off?" Runo finished the story for Shun, who nodded in response. "Well…I guess I can understand what you did. Definitely won't say it was right though."

"Yeah…I know," Shun nodded again as he looked down in utter shame. If he could, he would go back to that moment and change what he did. But he couldn't, and now Lincoln hated him. "I was an idiot back then and let my emotions get the better of me…"

"Well look at you two now, you two are together again and you're outside the dojo." Runo pointed out with a stern tone, scolding Shun in a mother-like fashion. "So now it's up to you two to patch things between yourselves, for the sake of the team and yourselves. I know you both would be much happier like that."

Shun was silent at first, but then started to nodded his head. "Yeah, you're right." Shun agreed with Runo as he looked towards Lincoln.

"Yeah, I usually am," Runo boasted with a smirk as she patted Shun on the shoulder. "And if you ever need some help, you know where to find me." And with that, Runo went back into the kitchen.

12 HOURS LATER

It was a long and mostly uneventful flight, everyone turning in and going to sleep when the sun went down with Kato putting the vehicle in auto-pilot so he could get some shut eye as well. But when morning came, they had finally arrived at their destination. "We're entering Moscow airspace," Kato informed everyone through the intercom.

Everyone looked out the windows and noticed a large structure underneath them that Alice was quick to point out. "Look! Down there!" Alice said as she pointed at the structure. "That's my grandfather's laboratory!"

"Kato, can you land the plane down there?" Marucho asked politely.

"Of course sir," Kato said as he started to lower the vehicle. "No problem!" With hardly any difficulty, Kato was able to land on a clear spot in front of the lab.

Once they landed, the brawlers wasted no time in exiting the vehicle and heading towards the lab. Thankfully Alice was able to unlock the door for hem and when they entered, they saw a complete mess of a lab. Dust and cobwebs were everywhere, smashed bits of machinery and glass especially around the middle, and there was a strange smell in the air. "Yeesh, this place is a dump." Leonidas commented as the brawlers walked in with their bakugan on their shoulders.

"I know right, it could totally use a feminine touch," Preyas commented as everyone took a look around. "Some nice lamps, a soft and comfy rug, a paint job, a few posters, and a serious sweeping and dusting. Not to mention that weird feeling I'm getting, giving me a real case of the heebie jeebies."

"Yeah, I haven't been in here since…" Alice said sadly, knowing her last memory of her being in the lab being before her grandfather had disappeared. "Well, if there are any clues as to where my grandfather is they would be here."

"Let's split up and see what we can find," Runo said with all the brawlers scatting around while their Bakugan hopped off them an onto the floor.

"Drago, do you feel it?" Tigerra asked, knowing the kind of energy she was sensing in this room.

"Yes Tigerra, I do." Drago confirmed with a serious tone.

"Yeah! I've feeling it since we got here!" Preyas well as he started jumping up and down. "It's been making me feel really jumpy! Do you guys feel jumpy too? Because I sure do!"

"You're always jumpy you fool!" Reaper yelled in announce as Preyas let out a little scream as he started to jump away. "But yes, I feel it as well. The negative energy of the silent core." Reaper then turned towards Leonidas, "What about you Leonidas?"

"…No." Leonidas told his fellow Bakugan, taking them off guard. "I don't feel anything."

"Really?" Skyress asked, quite surprised that Leonidas couldn't feel the immense amount of negative energy in this room. "That's quite surprising."

"Hmmmm…" Reaper hummed as he continued starring at Leonidas.

Meanwhile as Preyas was jumping around, the aquos bakugan ended up jumping onto some large computer, landing right on a button. "Oopsie!" Preyas let out as the compute suddenly turned on as an image appeared on the screen. An image of Michael. "Yikes! What a face!"

"My grandfather!" Alice said as all the brawlers raced towards the computer.

"My name is Michael G, recording this from my research lab." It wasn't an image at all, but a video Michael made. All the brawlers were quiet so they could listen. "Extraordinary things have been happening. For the last few years I have been developing a dimension transporter system. This system is designed to transport something from one place to another place instantaneously."

"But one day while working in my lab, something very usual happened. A major accident occurred as I was conducting a routine experiment. Although I didn't know it at the time, I later learned that I had invertedly opened a gate to a different world. To a place called Vestroia, and as unbelievable as it sounds there were monster-like creatures living there."

"And there I was, face to face with the dragonoid called Naga."

"Soon after that encounter, I found myself back in the human world. But to my surprise, in our world, six months had passed by. I realized there that time moves at different speeds in our world. And in the world of vestroia, it is completely different as well. But even more surprising, the accident with the dimension transporter system caused the protons of the field energy to collapse and as a result these protons sub divided and fell to earth as card shaped energy bodies."

"During the six months I was gone, children had taken the cards that had scattered over earth and created the Bakugan game. I was alarmed when I realized that these bakugan were the living creatures that I saw in vestroia. These card shaped energy bodies were absorbing the living creatures in vestroia and then transporting them to our world and it seems that these creatures can only stay in the human world in the form of a ball. A truly ingenious transport system. It is only on the battlefield, that has the same dimensional structure as vestroia, that they can go back to their original forms."

"They have crossed over."

Everyone watched as Michael walked off screen and the screen went static. "Darn! Come on!" Dan let out in frustration at the video just cutting off like that. "Finish the story."

"Chill out would ya," Runo lightly scolded Dan. "At least we know that Michael did go to Vestroia. Everything Drago said, it's all true."

"But there's still a lot of unanswered questions." Lincoln pointed out as he held a hand to his chin. "Like where is he now? He said he returned to the human world, and it'd be weird for him to go back to Vestroia after all that so I don't think he's there."

"I'm sorry…" Alice apologized to everyone with a lower head.

"Alice, it's not your fault," Marucho reassured the red head. "You don't need to apologize."

Just then the screen started to glitch in front of them a bit as the video came back…but something was very different then before. "All hope is lost!" Everyone gasped as the video game back. Michael was on the screen again…but he was very different then before. He now had green skin and elf-like ears, purple hair, red sunglasses with yellow rims, and a black cloak with yellow highlights.

"G-Grandfather…" Alice let out as she covered her mouth

"My name is Hal-G!" The transformed Michael introduced himself under a new alias. "Vestroia and the human world will be destroyed by the great Naga! Ahahahah!"

And with that the video was cut off again, leaving everyone in a state of unease. "Ok, what the hell happened to him?" Lori asked with scared tone.

"Something…changed him." Haiku said in a serious tone.

"It's the affects of minus power!" Drago yelled to everyone.

"Minus power?" Dan questioned, the name sending shivers down his spine.

"Yes, when we all got here we all felt the affects of the minus power in the room," Tigerra explained to everyone.

"Hmph, at least most of us," Reaper pointed out as he looked to Leonidas who growled in return.

"Yeah! It makes me really jumpy!" Preyas well as he started to glow blue and jump up and down. "Look how jumpy I am! I can't stop jumping up and down!"

"Wow, that minus power is some crazy stuff." Runo commented in a creeped out tone, beginning to not like being in here."

"Do you feel it to?" Haiku asked her Bakugan.

"Yes my queen," Kabukito confirmed as she turned towards her partners face. "I can feel it coursing all throughout this room, I don't suggest we stay to much longer. Prolonged exposure can have devastating affects."

"Yes, minus power brings out the inner darkness in a bakugans heart," Skyress further explained what minus power does. "I suppose it's the same for humans as well."

"Hey everyone look at this!" Marucho called out as he rewinded the video to where Hal-G was talking. "I found something on the video screen." Everyone watched as Marucho zoomed the video in on the background. It was hard to make out due to the static, but they could see some sort of figure standing far behind Hal-G. Marucho then increased the resolution of the video and they all gasped at who they saw.

Masquerade.

"So, looks like Hal-G and Masquerade have been working together," Shun pointed out with a scowl on his face. "Guess Naga's got himself two pawns in his grand scheme."

"My grandfather…" Alice covered her face as she started to lightly cry over what her grandfather had become. Not to mention working with their worst enemy. "It can't be…"

"This is worse than I thought," Drago said with dread. "It's even more important now that we find the infinity core before they do or there will be dire consequences for both our worlds."

"But where is it?" Dan asked the question that was on everyone's mind.

"Hey wait a minute…I think I might know a place…" Lincoln said after thinking it over for a bit, everyone turning their heads to him. "The other day while we were talking, Julie told me where she found her Bakugan partner Gorem. Some caves near her house called Bakugan Valley."

"Bakugan Valley?" Drago questioned.

"She told me it's a place where you can catch lots of bakugan," Lincoln further explains as he pointed at the screen. "And if what Tigerra said about her seeing the infinity core being pulled through a portal was true, then its possible a bunch of bakugan got sucked up along with it which would explain why there's a bunch of bakugan in those caves, and the infinity core could be somewhere in there too deep within!"

"Hmmm…you might be onto something Lincoln," Drago said, thinking that Lincoln could be right about the infinity core being at this bakugan valley.

"Then we know where were going next," Shun said in a serious tone.

"Right, we don't have anytime to lose." Dan said with a raised fist. "You all with me?"

"Yeah!" No one hesitated as they all agreed to go along.

There quest was only just beginning, and the road would surely be bumpy, but there was no way they were gonna let the infinity core fall into the hands of Hal-G and Masquerade!

And there you have it, pretty basic chapter but still an important one with character interactions and really getting the story going. Trust me I got a lot planned for all this and there's a lot to look forward to.

Now then, about that important announcement. It's gonna be regarding the order of when fics are updated.

So as you all know I have quite the selection of stories and usually I just upload what I feel like. But, I'm actually coming out with a system now. It's not a schedule like when I'm gonna upload it and such, but more so telling you what fics are gonna be my focus during the time.

Right now the cycle is Louds vs the Forces of Evil and Bakugan Loud Brawlers. I already updated Louds Vs once and he cycle is gonna be each fic gets updated three times before moving onto the next cycle. Here's the current order of things...

Louds vs the Forces of Evil & Bakugan Loud Brawlers

Fairy Tail Z & ?

Loud 10 & RWBY Academia

Tornado Siblings & She-Ra and the War of Stupidity

So there you have it, after 2 more updates to Louds Vs and this story, the next cycle is gonna have a new story to go with FTZ. So from this moment on I will always have eight active stories to keep the cycle nice and balanced.

I really like this system and it gives all stories an even amount of time. I'll make sure to explain it in each story once so all my readers know what's up.

So there you have it everyone. Remember to fav, follow, and review and stay tuned for the next chapter...

"Duel in the Desert"