As a part of my birthday celebration, I'm updating every one of my fanfictions. Not as many reviews this time, but thanks for it, the alerts and favs! So here's the next chapter! Exam week was tough but the end was worth it: Arkham City! So awesome! For those who have been on my dA page and seen what Soren looks like, I intentionally made him look like Ren, because I love Ren's GI appearance and I wanted him to look so much like Ren so as to remind Sora of him.

Soren, now knowing who is father is, is unsure of what to do. But with a little help from his friends, he may just take the next step in meeting the father he's never known.

Review Replies:

drake: Thanks, I'm really liking the fic too. It's unlike most of what I write (insertions), so I'm rather proud of this fic. Plus the canon characters are all adults, which is something new for me.

lilly: Thanks!

Alana: Thank you!

Shadow: You'll seeeee

sakura: Thanks, trust me, it gets better.

I do not own Bakugan, only Sora, Soren, Lex, Nessie and other OCs and the Next Gen Brawlers. This fanfiction is not associated with the official Bakugan series.


Soren's POV

"Soren please, think about this! You can't just leave all of a sudden! You're mother will worry her head off!" cried Nessie, fluttering around my head in a worried manner. If Nessie was reacting like this by my news to leave for Gundalia, I could only imagine how Mom would react. Thankfully, I wasn't going to be telling her.

I was up in my room packing some clothes and food into my backpack. I wasn't sure how long I'd be there, let alone how long it would take me to find him so I had to be prepared to rough it for a few days. I made sure to grab the photo album containing all the pictures of mom and me when I was growing up and the photo she gave me the other day. I was going to meet up with the others at the park so that Azreal could take me to Gundalia. We had always heard about Azreal and Drago's abilities to cross dimensions, but we've never seen them up close before. Either one of them could have taken me, I suppose, but Azreal did offer before Drago.

"There's no point in arguing with him, Nessie. Soren's made up his mind," added Lex. Lex seemed to be taking this news quite well despite his initial opposition to Azreal's offer.

"But-"

"Don't worry, Nessie. I'll be going with him," said Lex.

"What?" I cried. I had originally planned on going myself.

"You don't expect me to let you go off on your own, do you? You're mother would kill me! Besides, when you're mother's not around, you're my responsibility," he said, shaking one of his claws at me.

I stared at Lex. I guess it wouldn't be too bad if he came along. He did know my dad and could help me find him. "Ok," I agreed.

"I guess there's no changing your mind, Soren," Nessie sighed in defeat. "You really are growing up! I'll stay here and look after your mother. She'll be running around like a chicken with her head cut off with you gone," said Nessie.

"Thanks Nessie," I smiled. I looked at my watch. "I better get going. I'm meeting the others in a few minutes." I ran down the stairs and into the store. Mom asked me where I was going and I just said I was meeting the other at the park, which technically was the truth.

I rushed over to the park with seconds to spare where all my friends were waiting for me. Shin stood up and greeted me. "Soren, you sure you want to do this?"

"Positive. I need to meet him and this is the only way I'll be able to." I turned to Azreal. "Azreal, I just wanted to thank you again. This really means a lot to me."

"Don't mention it, Soren. I understand how much you want to do this. Just make sure to come back soon and not to worry your mother. Take care of him, Lex."

"I will," said Lex.

I bent down to Shizuka as she starred at me with a flushed face. "Thank you for letting my use Azreal, Shizuka. This really means a lot to me," I said with a smile.

She held her hands behind her back and twisted her body side to side casually. "You're welcome, Soren. I hope you find your dad," she replied with blush and smile. I patted her head and stood up.

"Now, you'll want to be careful. This is your first time traveling to another dimension and we've only heard that it's painless," said Chi-chi. He handed me a paper bag. "Just in case," he said.

I chuckled a little, accepting the bag from him. "Thanks, guys. I'm glad I've got such great friends like all of you!" I confessed, an embarrassing blush creeping on my face.

"Oh, darling! You're making me blush!" squealed Bailey.

"Yeah, dude. Just get going before we get all teary eyed!" cried DJ, wiping his eyes.

Azreal opened a dimensional gate and Lex and I jumped through. We came out to a desolate wasteland with a dark sky. The soil beneath my feet was dry and crumbled easily and the air was thick and hard to breath. "Is this Gundalia?" I asked. I sure hope it wasn't.

"No…" said Lex. Lex suddenly started falling and I quickly caught him in my hands.

"Lex! What's wrong? Are you ok?"

"This isn't Gundalia, it's the Doom Dimension, the graveyard of all Bakugan. Any living Bakugan unfortunate enough to find itself here slowly has all it's energy drained. That is what's happening to Lex," explained Azreal.

"Then why are you still ok?" I asked, confused.

"I was born here. I am unaffected. Come on, I'll open another gate to Gundalia, best to get Lex out of this place as soon as possible," he said, opening a gate.

"Thanks again, Azreal. Take care of Shizuka!" I shouted, jumping into the gate, leaving Azreal behind. We jumped out and landed in a small alleyway.

"Ah, much better," said Lex, flying out from my hands. "I hate what that place does to me. Azreal's a lucky bastard that he's unaffected. Sorry, language."

"So is this Gundalia?" I asked. I pulled my hood over my head before peering out of the alley to check. I had never seen any other Gundalian aside from myself. But…from the looks of it, everyone on the street looked a bit like me. They had grey skin with the blue-gray face markings and the bone-like horns growing from their heads.

"Yes, this is definitely Gundalia," said Lex. "But it looks a lot different than when I was last here."

"You've been here?" I asked. "You never mentioned that!"

"It's sort of a secret between myself and Nessie. After we found out about Ren and how he and his team were kidnapping kids from Interspace, it wasn't long until your mother became a victim as well."

"You mean?"

"Your mom, along with many other kids, were taken here and brainwashed to fight the Neathians. By the time Nessie and I broke free of their control, your father came to rescue her. He took her home and…asked us not to tell her that he saved her. And to this day we still honor that promise," he said, looking down sadly.

"So, Ren rescued Mom, but he never told her?"

"That's right. Honestly, I think if he had, your parents would be together. But come on, we're wasting time. Let's find your father."


I hope you liked it. More to come. Sorry the chapters are so short, but there's not a lot of action-packed scenes like in my other fics. I noticed when I was reading this that Soren is really unsure of himself. I intended that for his personality. He's rather lacking in confidence. Also, since the end of MS Arc 1 killed off Bakugan Interspace, and I wrote this fic before that, this fic is going under the assumption that Bakugan Interspace still exists. I might go back and edit it to the "Bakugan City" style.

Next chapter - New Friends: Soren learns that finding his father in such a huge city is no easy task and quickly loses hope, but he finds the help he needs in his new friends.

Who are his new friends? I'm sure you can guess ;)

Review! ~ZP