Bakugan Battle Brawlers belong to Sega Toys and Spin Masters.

Once the pain ringing in her head died out and the light faded, Zoe looked around at the weird place they now found themselves in and came to a definite conclusion: she was either having a weird fever dream (which, honestly, wasn't a first for her) and was still sleeping safely back home or was knocked out cold when she fell onto that fountain.

Either way, that place was definitely not Earth. It was composed of a plain white floor, stretching towards unknown infinites everywhere she looked, and a multicolored sky, various hues, ranging from blues to reds to blacks and greens, moving gracefully like a living watercolor that would make any artist, herself included, dumbfounded at the sight.

The characteristic, loud laugh of her brother cut through her daydreaming (daydreaming inside a dream, what a novel thought) and caught her attention, making her whip around to face the now snickering boy. Alex, or perhaps dream-Alex, had a cheeky smile plastered on his face:

-You are pulled into another dimension and, instead of worrying, the first thing you do is sightsee. - He stated, incredulous –Only you could do this, sis.

Irritated, Zoe swatted his arm, which in turn caused dream-Alex to retaliate by ruffling his sister's hair, laughing as she tried to slap his hand away, annoyed expression on her face:

-Doofus. - He joked.

Jerk. She immediately signed in response.

-I hate to break the bonding moment over there, - Shuji's voice resonated, impatient – but are we brawling or not?!

That seemed to pull the siblings back to reality, turning to see Shuji's displeased face and Akira's restless frown, tapping his foot like a very impatient rabbit. Alex laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head, while Zoe's face morphed into a perfectly neutral mask. Ah, right, those two. If they were still there, then this couldn't be a dream. A nightmare, maybe, but not a dream:

-Oops, sorry 'bout that. - her brother apologized.

Alex then put both hands on his sister's shoulders, moving to stand behind her like those coaches that would cheer on fighters in wrestling matches:

-I know this is your first brawl, and the circumstances aren't that great, but big brother got you covered. - He said, earning a raised eyebrow from his sister – The game's really simple, so just follow my instructions and you'll be fine.

-First, pick a gate card. - He continued, backtracking when she pulled a random card from her pouch – No, that's an ability card. Gate cards are completely black, while ability cards have designs painted on them.

With that new information in mind, Zoe picked a card that filled her brother's description. Looking at the bullies on the other side, she noted that Shuji was also pulling out a similar card out of his pocket:

-Great! Now throw the card like this – Alex mimicked the movement of throwing the card forward – to the ground. Use Shuji as a reference, and throw the card in his direction.

Zoe couldn't for the life of her understand what kind of weird game were they playing, but decided she was far beyond the point of questioning. She threw the card, as instructed, and Shuji, on his side, did the same. The cards fell neatly across each other, and Zoe's eyes widened as she saw the card become enveloped by light, blue for hers, brown for Shuji's, and quickly grew larger, reaching nearly the size of the fountain plaza.

-Ladies first. - Shuji taunted with a flourish, smirk permanent on his insufferable face.

She glared at the bully, almost not noticing that her brother had taken a wristwatch and three of those marble spheres from her pouch:

-You might want to put this on. - he said, offering the watch with a stretched-out hand.

-Now you have to throw a Bakugan on one of the gate cards. - he explained as his sister fixed the watch on her wrist – Pick one of these and throw it at one of the cards.

Zoe looked thoughtfully at the three spheres in front of her: one of them was the red and golden marble from earlier that morning, but the other two were almost completely different, as one was a deep ocean blue with turquoise patterns, and the other was a vivid green with silver lines etched into it. Playing it safe, she picked the blue one and chucked it toward her card. Same color could serve as an advantage, right?

The small sphere slowly rolled to the card, the magnet triggering and, with a soft click, making it unfold into what appeared to be a toy representation of a tortoise, it's orange eyes contrasting with the rest of its body. Immediately after, a column of water shot out, making Zoe startle and fall back in surprise, caught safely by her brother. Ah, so that was why he stayed behind her.

The column grew in size, obscuring the massive shadow rising from inside its confines, and disappeared as the shadow roared with strength enough to shake the ground below. The monster was as big as a building, and large enough to almost take half of the entire card to itself. It was best described as some sort of tortoise, like the little toy that once stood in its place, with a giant blue shell and dark blue limbs and head, all of them jagged and dangerous.

It was in these sorts of moments that Zoe really wished she had a voice, so that she could yell in panic like a normal person instead of staring at the beast with a terrified expression, managing to only let out a hoarse, yet horrified pathetic little noise out of her throat. Behind her, she could hear her brother laughing:

-If it serves as comfort... - he consoled – I panicked the first time too.

She stared at him, incredulous and horrified at the same time. Was that really his best response to that madness? The wristwatch beeped to life, making the poor girl almost jump out of her skin. The screen of the device showed a simplified version of the place they were in, displaying the cards they had placed and the toy Zoe had thrown. On the opposing sides of the screen, portraits of Zoe and Shuji were displayed with three small, orange symbols. She also noticed that a picture of the monster was placed directly beneath her portrait.

What on Earth had her brother pulled her into?

-Juggernoid, eh? Not bad... - Shuji commented – You know what? Why not play fair?

From the fact that neither the bully nor his brother was screaming their lungs out, Zoe figured that giant monsters erupting from marble toys was fairly normal on that abomination of a game, and she had been the only one to react by panicking. She would've felt embarrassed if she hadn't decided that those boys, her brother included, were completely insane. Hypersensitive as she was now, she was once again startled by a shout:

-Bakugan, brawl! Stand, Subterra Juggernoid! - Shuji yelled.

Obscured by the massive beast, Zoe could only get a small glimpse of a tower of stone rising from the ground, similar to the previous torrent of water, and shattering with a roar. She honestly wondered if any of those rock fragments had hit the boy on the other side. Judging by the lack of reaction, probably not:

-Okay, this is where things get interesting. - Alex began – See these numbers below the Juggernoids' pictures? Your goal is to get your number above Shuji's. To do this...

He offered the card Zoe had first pulled out. Contrary to the gate card, it was greatly decorated, showing intricate patterns and details. After this madness was over, she had to try drawing one of those:

-...You have to use ability cards. - he finished.

She took the card out of his hand, examining it. There was a theme of throwing in this game, maybe she had to throw this one too? She chucked the small card towards the beast, Juggernoid, and prayed that it would work. She really didn't need a giant angry tortoise lunging at her because of a card stuck in its butt.

To her relief, the card disappeared into light before it could hit Juggernoid, the light seeping into the beast. Invigorated, it roared and charged at its enemy, tackling it and once again making the floor shake from impact. Now that the behemoth wasn't taking up most of her line of sight, Zoe could notice that the beast that appeared from that stone tower was basically a recolor of her own beast, beige and browns replacing the blues:

-Alright! You've got it! - Alex cheered.

-Bro, do something! - Akira shouted urgently

-Already on it. -Shuji exclaimed – Ability activate, Earth Power!

As if command, the enemy Juggernoid gathered itself from the impact and lunged back, headbutting its counterpart and further disturbing the stability of the ground. Zoe flailed around in search of stability, ignoring her brother's laughs. She would probably would die due to these earthquakes before she could find fun in this insanity.

Is this really what I'm supposed to do? She asked, fumbling to form the signs. Throw random cards and hope it does something?

Alex stared, pensive, before shrugging:

-Yeah, pretty much. - was his statement

Zoe turned to stare at the Juggernoids, both still locked in an intense battle of headbutting, Shuji impatiently urging her to make her move. She turned her gaze to the sky above, changing serenely, as if there wasn't a chaotic battle between two giant tortoises happening at that very moment. Zoe sighed, taking out a random ability card from her pouch.

She really, really wanted to scream right now.

That ridiculous game of back and forth seemed to have no end. After the initial terror of the giant monsters erupting from nowhere and fighting each other for no reason had faded away, what was left was a repetitive, frustrating and boring process: place a card, throw a Bakugan, big monster comes out, and throw cards at the monster until it beats the other monster. Wash, rinse, repeat. Zoe couldn't understand how someone as active as her brother could find interest in this.

It didn't help that the boys, all three of them, were all being hammy and dramatic at every single move. Not only did Zoe have to tolerate a stupid match that seemed to drag on for forever, she also had to tolerate three boys shouting at the top of their lungs as if this was an epic duel that would decide the fate of the world:

-Okay, sis... - Alex murmured – Both you and Shuji are at your last stock. Whoever wins this round wins the brawl.

'Thank god' she thought. The faster she finished this and returned to the park, the better. At that point, she really didn't care about anything anymore.

True to her brother's word, there was now only one card placed on the battlefield, still pristine white even after all that chaos. How, exactly, she had no idea. From what she saw until now, Bakugan made quite a mess:

-Alright, let's end this. - Shuji said, throwing one of his Bakugan towards the gate card- Go, Fear Ripper!

Just like before, the Bakugan landed on the card and, almost immediately after, began to unfold into a gigantic monster. Fear Ripper appeared to be Shuji's favorite, a humanoid Bakugan with gigantic clawed hands and a creepy, ever present, malicious grin. Determined to just end this and go home, Zoe decided to go with Serpenoid, the red and gold Bakugan. Serpenoid emerged from the flames in whisps of ruby red scales and glaring green eyes, immediately lunging at Fear Ripper and biting at its throat. It seemed the Bakugan were impatient as well:

-Ability activate! Slash 0!

-C'mon, Zoe, don't you dare lose!

-You can do it, Shuji!

The cacophony rose again as the Bakugan clawed and bit at each other, true animals fighting for the sake of nothing, and the boys started to shout again. To her credit, and Shuji's frustration, she had quickly learned that she was very good at countering attacks, being fond of the satisfaction of throwing everything he offered back at him with almost as much intensity and watching him scramble to recover.

Even so, Shuji definitely had experience under his belt, comfortable with his brutish style, seeking to overwhelm his opponents before they could react. Either that, or Zoe made for a very pathetic rookie.

At one point, she managed to deal out an effective ability card, seeing as Serpenoid managed to coil aroud Fear Ripper, the Bakugan struggling within its confines. Shuji let out a distressed noise as Alex almost jumped in excitement:

-That's it! - he cheered – Now's your chance! Finish him!

Allowing a smirk across her face, she once again picked an ability card, ready to deal the final blow that would end this disaster of a game. As she was ready to throw the card towards Serpenoid, a voice cut through the noise. Quiet, yet clear as day.

Zoe...

Pain shot through her as Zoe clutched her head, letting the card slip from her hand and slip to the floor. She could hear her brother's exclamations of worry, mixes of "Are you alright?' and 'Wait, guys, she's in pain!' as he held her kneeling, doubled over body close to him. Wait, when had she kneeled? She couldn't remember.

At that point, her head felt like it would split open. Tears startled to form in the corners of her eyes as her brother kept calling to her, trying to pull her towards reality. It was for naught, as his voice felt more and more like white noise, muffled as though they were underwater. Fear began to settle as the strange voice continued calling, calling, calling...

Perhaps it was due to her own panic, or perhaps it was an act of desperation, a futile attempt to get whatever thing causing that out of her, but nonetheless, she threw her head back, unaware that the sky no longer held those vivid and vibrant colors, but an ugly mix of purples and blacks. She pretended, for a second, that the ear-splitting sound of lightning were her own voice, before losing whatever semblance of consciousness she had was going smoothly until he reached the pocket dimension. The void was kind enough to still grant him access to the souls there residing. Even when he felt their intensity increasing, together with the curious spikes of power (power that, he later realized, was much similar to his own), his little beacon held strong, guiding him through the darkness.

This wasn't meant to happen...

Everything was going smoothly until he reached the pocket dimension. The void was kind enough to still grant him access to the souls there residing. Even when he felt their intensity increasing, together with the curious spikes of power (power that, he later realized, was much similar to his own), his little beacon held strong, guiding him through the darkness.

Things started to get more complicated as he became close, as their thoughts became clearer and clearer:

I'll crush this chump, I'm sure of it.

There's no way Shuji could lose!

Fight...Survive...Destroy...

Don't worry, Alex. Zoe's smart, she can win this.

And, lastly, his little beacon, repeating the same mantra over and over.

If I win this, I can go home.

At that point, he felt that he had somehow pierced the dimension's barrier, as he felt its power surrounding him, wrapping around him. It was suffocating. Soon, the sound of battle reached him, together with the high-pitched cheers of someone, probably the souls' owners, barely being heard.

As he descended, pain arising from the dimension's attempts of engulfing him began to strain his movements, turning his careful entry int an outright freefall. He felt his own soul constricting in and on itself. A futile attempt to stall the veil's advances. His form began to constrict into pure energy, and he felt his consciousness slowly fade.

No...

Below him, the voices had become cacophonous. His beacon held strong, a tiny feeling of pride rose and was meticulously locked back by it, slowly savoring an imminent triumph:

"C'mon, Zoe! Don't you dare lose!" One of the voices said.

Ah, so that was the beacon's name. Leonidas held onto it like a lifeline, already feeling the unconscious bond formed between them.

Zoe...

He stopped fighting, already too tired to resist, and let his soul descend into the battlefield, repeating his beacon's name in hopes that his voice could reach it. Relief washed over him when, in his last moments of consciousness, he felt as if his little beacon had taken his pain as his own.

Author's note: I must apologize, for I can't write action scenes for shit.