Chapter 3: Surprises
Before they all went to bed, Marucho gave them a surprise gift.
"Are you ready, everyone?" Marucho asked with a smile and raised his fist
"Yeah!" everyone said. Marucho pressed a button from the panel and the door of the transporter opened. They all jaw dropped as 6 bakugans came out of the transporter
"GOREM!" Julie exclaimed and took Gorem in her hands "I missed you!"
"Me too, Julie. Me too"
"How are you, Shun"
"It's been a long time, Shun"
"S-S-Skyress... Ingrum..."Shun smiles "Never felt better in my life. This is Hawktor and Taylean"
"An honour to meet the fellow colleagues of Master Shun" they said in unison
"Alice..."
"Oh Hydranoid. I missed you so much" Alice said as she rubbed her cheeks together with Hydranoid.
"Yo! Marucho!"
"What''s up, Marucho?"
"Preyas! Elfin!" Marucho ran up to them "I'm fine thank you"
"You must be Preyas and Elfin"
"Marucho has told us a lot about you. I'm Akwimos, and he is Trister"
"Oh! How nice to meet you!" Elfin cheered
Runo smiled at them, it is nice to see old friends again but... someone's missing...
"It's great to see you guys again! But..." she started; everyone looked at her and raised their eyebrows. "Where's Tigrerra?"
"Oh yeah, Preyas, Elfin. Where's Tigrerra? Isn't she with you?" Marucho asked
"hehe, w-w-well... Tigrerra... is... well... shes-" Skyress cut him of
"I think it's best if I tell them what happened"
"W-w-what are you talking about? What's going on here?"Runo said sounding very worried
"Tigrerra... is now... Tigrerra turned into a star" Gasps were heard from the bakugans
"But... how? How could that be? It's not possible" Drago stuttered sounding disbelieved
"It's true Drago, Tigrerra is gone... and she's never coming back"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, WHOA!" Dan started "so what happens if a Bakugan turns into a star?"
"Dan, a Bakugan turns into a star if that Bakugan has... if that Bakugan has... has... p-passed away..." Gasps were heard once again
"What? Are you trying to say that Tigrerra is dead? How could that be? Tell us what happened!" Baron demanded
"While you were battling with Mag Mel, he was also sulking all the attribute's power from New Vestroia. Tigrerra wouldn't allow it, she was determined to stop him. She planned to destroy the system that Mag Mel used to suck the attributes but we got defeated by a powerful Bakugan. Tigrerra was left standing, all hope was lost when she thought of the only way to stop him. I said that it was suicide but she was determined, she used the most powerful ability in the history of Bakugan, Crisis core. She sacrificed her life to save us, but in the end you were the last person she could think of. Her last words were 'Sayonara... Runo... I am happy that I met you'" Skyress told them the story, all eyes were fixed on the girl who treated Tigrerra, like a sister.
"Runo..." Shun grabbed her shoulder but she stiffened. She pulled away, tears running down from her eyes
"NO!" she yelled "TIGRERRA'S NOT DEAD! YOU'RE LYING!"
With that, she ran out of the room, to who knows where
"Is... is Runo, going to be alright?" asked Mira in a very concerned tone.
"I... I don't know..." Alice replied, and all fell into an eerie silence
Runo kept on running, she doesn't have the slightest idea, where she is, she just kept on running. The same words repeated in her head
Tigrerra is dead...
Tigrerra is dead...
Tigrerra is dead...
She's never coming back
"Lady Runo! Look out!" Naga cried and Runo stopped running, she looked at her right and saw lights, bright lights...
SCREECH!
The car screeched through the road, with a loud stop. Runo opened her eyes... 'Am I dead?' she thought, she felt two strong arms held her, and as she cleared her vision. She was carried 'bridal style' by a boy with blonde hair, he was wearing orange glasses, a long cape-like brown sleeveless jacket, black long sleeved undershirt, black pants, V-cut white T-shirt with orange linings, black gloves, and a gold plate necklace.
The blonde jumped, he leaped from tree branch to tree branch (ninja style), Runo didn't pushed him nor talked to him, she was too depressed, the thought of Tigrerra being dead was too much for her. The boy stopped and landed near a cliff, he put her down. Runo stumbled a bit but got her balance.
"You okay?" asked the blonde-haired person. Runo did not respond, "Hey! I said, are you okay?"
Runo snapped back to reality, she realized that she wasn't at Marucho's villa anymore. "Wha... What am I doing here? Who are you? Who do you think you are?" she shouted
"Ha, I'm just the one who just saved your life!" he countered
"What?"
"If it weren't for me, you'd be a dead corpse lying in the middle of the road by now"
"Oh... I'm sorry..." she said with a very sad tone. "Thanks anyway" Runo started walking back to Marucho's house... only... she doesn't know how...
"You know you're going to get yourself lost, you don't know anything around here" The blonde warned, a vein popped from her shoulder
"For your information, I am 16 years old. I think I am old enough to take care of myself" the blonde smirked
"Yeah right, just like back there" he mentioned the road that nearly got her killed. Runo puffed her cheeks and turned with a loud 'Hmph!'
She was wandering in the middle of the forest, having no idea where to go. She was lost, it was already late at night and it was really dark. She started to feel frightened and cold, her vest wasn't enough to keep her warm from the cold breeze. While she was walking she heard a crack, she panicked and tripped her foot.
"Ow!" she yelped. She tried to stand up but she failed.
'Milady, are you alright?' asked Naga, somewhat very concerned
'No, I think I just twisted my ankle' she pointed to her left ankle that was red swollen
'Do you want me to turn into my original form so that I may fly you back to your friends?'
'Well... that's-'
"I told you, you'd get lost" her thoughts were interrupted as she saw the person with blonde hair once again, he was standing on one of the branches. He jumped down, took out his handkerchief and wrapped it around her ankle. "You didn't broke it, so don't worry. You're gonna be fine." He looked at Runo with a cheerful smile "You know, I expected something like this would happen, but this is better than I expected." He chuckled and Runo just gave him a sneer and looked away
"Hey, you got something in your ear" the blonde said, he held her left ear and snapped his fingers. Then suddenly, a red rose magically appeared. Runo was amazed; it was her first time to see an actual magic trick. She blushed when the boy gave her the rose. "Well, that might cheer you up"
"T-T-Thank you" she said while looking down to hide her red face as she held the rose.
"Where are you from?" he asked
"Uhmm... from the Marukura villa."
"Oh, so your friends with that kid, Marucho. Huh?"
"W-w-w-well yeah, how did you know?" the blonde just smirked, turned around and knelt one knee
"Come on, I know where that is. I'll take you there"
"Oh no thank you"
"Don't be stubborn, with that ankle twisted I think you won't be going anywhere" Runo thought for a moment "Hurry up, the night can be very dangerous"
She surrendered and wrapped her arms around his neck and the blonde held her legs. "Hold on tight" he warned her. Runo obeyed and the boy jumped very high, (more or at least 50 meters). He started jumping from tree to tree, and Runo could see the stars, it was beautiful. Her long azure hair flowed with the wind, and she could feel her heart beat fast.
'Whoa, Déjà vu' she thought. This scene was very familiar to her. Runo felt her eyelids heavy and soon fell into a deep sleep.
Meanwhile...
"Runo!" Julie cried out. "Where could she be? It's almost midnight"
"Did you guys find her?" asked Mira who entered the living room followed by Alice, Fabia, and Paige.
"Sorry"
"Nope"
"Not at all"
"I'm worried, it's very dark and it's raining heavily outside," said Alice
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have told her," Skyress confessed
"It's not your fault, Skyress. We'll find out sooner or later anyway" Percival tried to comfort her. Suddenly, Marucho ran to the living room, panting
"Guys! I got news!" he announced
"Did you find her?" asked Anubias
"No, but I heard that a while ago. After Runo left, there was a report that a car hit someone. I didn't want to think, but it could be that that person could be Runo," Marucho said, gaining his breath. Everyone was shocked, especially Ace. He was more alarmed, what if something bad happen to the person he treated like his own sister?
"I'LL BE RIGHT BACK!" he yelled. He dashed out to the main door and it suddenly flung open.
As the doors opened, it revealed. A blonde boy with a blue haired girl on his back. His jacket was wrapped around her, protecting her from the rain. The boy was soaking wet, and trying to catch his breath
"Uhmm... got your friend?"
Runo was sleeping on the couch and she still held the red rose given to her, everyone was there. They all stared at the person who just dried himself with a towel.
"Don't worry, I didn't do anything to her. In fact if it weren't for me, she'd be dead by now" the blonde began, feeling a bit awkward by their stares. Ace continued to glare at him. He looked at the bakugans who were on the table
"Bakugans? Are you guys the Bakugan brawlers?" he smirked
"Yes, we are. I'm Dan Kuso" Dan began and they all introduced themselves.
"Now, that you know us. Who might you be?" asked Volt
"My name doesn't concern you," he said and twirled his hair. The Vexos saw it and gave him a very suspicious look
"Hey, is it just me or this guy looks very familiar" Shadow whispered to the other Vexos
"No, I don't think so" Volt answered. They all looked at blonde who crossed his legs, twirled his hair, and looked at Runo
"Although... he does look familiar," Keith added. "Well then, If you don't mind. Could you at least remove your glasses?"
"Why? I feel comfortable with them on" he said while resting his head on his fingers
"Why not? We just want to see the person who saved our friend" Paige said, "It's not like you got something to hide"
The blonde held one side of his glasses; he was about to take his glasses off when he glanced at the window. The rain stopped, he stood up.
"Sorry, I gotta go" he said walking back, but he gazed at Runo and smiled. "Take good care of her" he opened the window and jumped. Dan, Shun, and Ace raced to him.
"Is he crazy?" Dan said "Jumping down from the third-storey?"
Shun scanned the area and saw a figure on the tree. "Look!" he said, they all saw him leaping from tree branch to tree branch. Ace smirked
"Ninja wannabe" he said, Shun shot a glare at him. Knowing that he used to tease him as 'ninja wannabe' "At least it's not you"
They returned to Runo who was still sleeping. In their thoughts remained a single question...
"Who is he?"
Runo fluttered her eyes open; she was in Marucho's villa now. She tried to stand up but felt a slight pain in her ankle. Then, she remembered what happened last night. She sat up and felt something fell from her hand; she looked down and saw the red rose. She held it up and blushed, remembering how she got it from... WAIT!
'Is there something wrong, Milady?' Naga asked through her mind
'Oh, uhmm... n-nothing, Naga...' she thought for a moment and finally found the words 'Naga, what happened last night'
'You were in a deep sleep my lady; the boy carried you all the way here to your friends, even though he is soaking wet. When he has reached here, they rested you in this room. They were asking questions to the boy about his name but failed; they want him to reveal his face but he escaped. That is all I know milady' Naga explained.
'Ohh... so they didn't caught his name huh? Too bad, thank you Naga' Runo sighed and she heard the door opened.
"Slept well?" Ren came in with a tray of food and placed it on the table
"Mmm hmm" Runo nodded.
"Well, go on. Dig in" he insisted
"Oh, well, thanks" she said and took a bite from her bread. Ren sat beside her,
"Does your ankle still hurt?"
"Oh, well, it hurts a bit but I think I'm okay"
"Good, we were all worried about you, you know" Runo raised her eyebrow at him after finishing her orange juice "When you ran away, we were all worried. We thought that you were the one who got hit by a car. Therefore, it was a great relief that it wasn't you."
"I'm sorry" Runo confessed while looking down. "I was just... so sad... I... I..." she was interrupted when she felt a hand pat her head
"It's alright, It is very sad when you lost someone dear to you. Don't worry, we all felt bad about what happened. But you have to remember that no matter what happens we are still your friends, and we'll always be there for you" Ren said, his eyes filled with concern
Runo giggled "Aww... that's so sweet, thanks Ren" she said smiling.
"Oh! Uhh... it... it was nothing..." Ren flustered with a tint of pink on his cheeks. "W-W-We better get going, the others are waiting"
Runo nodded and they went to outside together. Skyress continued to apologize about what happened but Runo said that it wasn't her fault. After a few days in Hawaii, the Bakugan Brawlers went back to Japan. She was looking forward on seeing him again but, she was out of luck. Before the Brawlers could return to Bayview, the stopped by Runo's cafe to say goodbye to her family as well. On the road she could see fire trucks and ambulances heading to the same direction as theirs. She was beginning to worry, 'I hope nothing bad happens to them' she prayed. As the doors of the limo opened all eyes were wide of shock. The Misaki cafe is on fire. Runo felt her knees weaken, she knelt down tears running down her cheeks
"AHHHHHH! MOM! DAD!" she screamed to the peaks of her throat. She stood up and ran towards the fire but felt someone stop her. She turned around and saw the person who treated her like a sister "Let me go!"
"No Runo! You're gonna kill yourself!"
"I don't care! MOM! DAD!" she kept on shouting her parents until she felt weak and everything went black.
The suspense is killing me! Sorry if some of the names mentioned aren't familiar to you. But they really are from Bakugan as well. Okay, I confess I did do some twists in the attitudes but It was worth it anyway. As for GracieSubterraBrawler's comment earlier (thank you by the way for the lovely people who reviewed my work), I was watching 'Harry Potter and the chamber of secrets' when I was making this story (but thanks for the suggestion). So, give me comments, suggestions and criticisms! I promise I'll work on the other chapters harder! So, see ya!