Disclaimer: Bakugan ain't mine.

AN: Sorry this has taken so long to do. And the effects of some of the ability cards are probably wrong, since it's been a long time since I watched bakugan.

Chapter 3

Feathers in the wind

New Vestroia, Unknown time

Shun stared at the white card that Masquerade left when he vanished, perplexed. Ace sighed in irritation and snatched it back roughly.

"Its co-ordinates stupid." He snapped

"No need to snap" Shun replied snarkily

"I wasn't snapping!"

"Yes you were!"

"No I wasn't"

"Was!"

"Wasn't"

"Wa-Oof!" Shun cried as Mira shoved them both away, taking him by surprise.

"Stop arguing. We have much bigger problems." She said

"Yeah, like getting Baron to stop sulking" Nemus called out. The boy in question was curled up in a corner, rocking slowly, muttering to himself.

"No, Like Masquerade." Drago corrected.

"Humph. I got it covered" Shun grumbled

"Yeah! Let's go!" Dan cheered, knocking Drago from his shoulder.

"I hate to say it, but Dan is right..." Ace said, mildly annoyed "Masquerade never gave us a time, so we have to go as soon as..."

The various members of the bakugan resistance moved off to perform various tasks, apart from Baron, who seemed incapable or unwilling to move, and Shun, who stared out from the window, lost in thought.

New Vestroia, Co-Ordinates (35, 08), Unknown time

A blonde teen in a cape like coat and a plexiglass mask stood motionless in one of New Vestroia's many deserts. A small black bakugan rested on his right shoulder, its heads bobbing up and down as it spoke.

"Are you sure it'll work master?"

"Yes Hydranoid, I'm sure." Hydranoid did not speak after that, instead choosing to stare ahead, giving the pair the impression of being statues. After a few hours, a blob was visible on the otherwise flat horizon, growing steadily larger, until Masquerade could make out who it was- Shun, and some green haired kid riding pillion on a motorbike. Shun stopped the bike by skidding it to just a few centimetres from the blonde, who didn't flinch in the slightest. He simply held up a card, and whispered. "Field Open!"

Shun and Ace watched in silence as the white, seemingly endless space appeared, its multicoloured sky as beautiful as Shun remembered it.

"This...shouldn't be possible here..." Shun breathed. Then, recovering his composure somewhat, he drew a card. Masquerade mirrored him, as they threw them down

"Gate card set!"

Huge rectangles appeared, glowing green and purple respectively. Shun went first, launching Ingram onto his gate card. The masked blonde across the field smirked, and threw a bakugan onto the field. Skyress. She definitely looked different, darker green and black where it once was gold. She had a leather anklet on her leg, studded with small silver spikes, and she glared at her opponent with her red eyes. A female voice emitted from Shun's gauntlet.

"Storm Skyress at 450gs, Ingram at 400gs, Storm Skyress has 50g lead."

"Not for long," Shun began, holding up a card "Shadow Split!"

"Storm Skyress now at 350gs, Ingram at 600gs, Ingram has 250g lead."

The brawlers watched as Ingram went to attack Skyress, who, oddly, wasn't moving to dodge the attack. Only when Masquerade held up a hand did they finally understand.

"Gate Card, Open! Triple battle!"

"Alpha Hydranoid joins the battle" Shun's gauntlet said helpfully.

Hydranoid appeared alongside his ally, and smashed Ingram into the ground, before Skyress finished him off with a vicious stomp. Ingram was returned to Shun with a flash of green light. Shun seemed vaguely shell shocked to see his old guardian fighting against him, but then, it was probably some kind of trick, or, at least, he hoped so. The blonde threw a new gate card into the battle, then a darkus Mantris. The black praying mantis roared as Ingram appeared on his own card with a flash of green light. Masquerade smirked, and threw Hydranoid into battle with the ventus bakugan.

"Ingram at 400gs, Alpha Hydranoid at 550gs. Alpha Hydranoid has 150g lead."

Shun pulled out a card, and fitted it into his gauntlet. "Ability card activate! Continuous Dance, Phoenix position!"

"Alpha Hydranoid now at 250gs, Ingram at 400gs, Ingram has 150g lead."

Ingram flipped into his altered bird form, and began to spin, until he blurred into a green tornado. Hydranoid braced himself for the impact, and to his credit, he even managed to stop Ingram from spinning, but ultimately, when Ingram head butted his middle head, he was sent back to his master with a flash of green light. Ingram reopened, and floated by Shun's head.

"Who is this guy anyway?" he asked

"That," Shun pointed to the teen in his cape like coat "Is Masquerade, he was helping Naga to take over Earth and Vestroia, but in the end, he saved Dan, gave Hydranoid to Alice, then, we thought anyway, disappeared forever."

"Gate card set! Bakugan Brawl!" a gravelly voice disturbed the conversation. "Skyress stand!"

Shun stared up into the phoenix's crimson eyes, and she stared back, radiating hatred for the bakugan floating by her old brawler.

"Skyress...why?" Shun managed to get out, before choking out a strangled sob.

"Why?" She let out a laugh, "Why? Because of him, that's why."

"Because of...me?" Ingram said, sounding hurt.

"You replaced me, you gave me no thought, even after you saved me!"
"Skyress...you were a bronze statue for a long time, and you refused my offer, to stay here!" Shun yelled, grabbing Ingram and hurling him at Skyress. He appeared on the same card as the darkus Mantris.

"Marionette!"

Purple strings attached to the Mantris' scythes picked up Ingram effortlessly, and moved him to Skyress' card.

"Storm Skyress at 450gs, Ingram at 400gs, Storm Skyress has 50g lead."

The two ventus bakugan took to the air, smashing into each other, claws and fists colliding with each other's bodies. Ingram caught a dizzying blow to his head, making him drop a few feet in the air. From then on out, Skyress had the advantage, slowly pushing Ingram into the ground.

"Shun! Help me!" he cried out.

"Ability card activate! Wind Power, Soaring Strike Shot!"

"Ingram now at 600gs, Storm Skyress now at 250gs. Ingram has 400g lead."

Ingram punched Skyress. Hard. She recoiled sharply, and he followed up with another punch. Masquerade watched their fight with a smirk plastered to his face.

"Ability card activate! Doom Claw Strike!"

"Storm Skyress and Ingram both at 500gs"

"What is that? I swear Masquerade never had an ability card like that!" Shun cried, then let out a stream of filthy curses, and whispered to himself "If I lose Ingram, it's all over..."

Skyress' claws were covered in energy that looked suspiciously like dark fire. She reached out with her claws, looking for all the world like she was going to attack Ingram again, who dodged with extreme grace. However, she was not attacking Ingram, and a black tear mark lingered in the air, as if it had been ripped into the fabric of space itself. Then it expanded, and a forceful gust of wind swept Ingram into its inky darkness.

"INGRAM!" Shun screamed, collapsing onto the ground. He could vaguely hear Masquerade laughing manically, and snidely adding "Game Over..."as he disappeared in a shower of sparks. As the world faded back into existence, tears began dripping from Shun's cheeks.