Chapter 10: Bakugan are People Too!

Cassie turned, fear glazing her bright blue eyes. The only thought racing through her mind: "I can't touch my best friend." Alex had been there for her for as long as she could remember. The last thing they did was fight, and then she ran away. She had to fix things between them, but she couldn't...not in this state anyway.

"What am I going to do now?" Cassie asked herself. She walked closer and reached for Alex's hand. Same outcome as last time, but she needed the thought at least that she was holding his warm hand. All of a sudden, there came a spiteful laugh from behind her. Cassie turned toward it. Out of all the people in the world; out of all the people in the universe; it had to be Sage.

"Well who would have guessed," He said, not really to Cassie, just in spite of her. "That she would fall for her best friend." He titled his head, smiling wickedly.

"Your gonna regret that!" She shouted at him, a scowl forming on her face. Cassie stood firmly for a second, facing him directly, then without a moments notice, she dashed toward him tackling him to the ground.

"What the heck did you do to me?"

She asked, pinning Sage against the grassy earth.

"Me?" He asked mockingly hurt. "I didn't do anything to you, sweetheart-"

"Why you-" Cassie raised her fist getting ready to punch Sage right in the face when he finished his sentence.

"But I bet your Bakugan can tell you what happened."

"My...Bakugan..." She reached for her pouch, where she kept Lumino, but he wasn't there. She felt a hand on her shoulder and jumped abruptly. Looking up, Cassie saw a boy, about her age with baby blue hair, and dark brown eyes. He wore a pair of goggles around his head, and his shirt was a darker shade of blue, with a round white oval in the middle, two small black circles and a orange triangle with rounded edges instead of pointed ones above the oval. His sleeves ended loosely at his knuckles at a point. They almost resembled...flippers!

Cassie stood up in disbelief, letting Sage go free. She didn't quite care at the moment, since her Bakugan was standing right in front of her as a human being.

"L-Lumin-" She stuttered.

The boy in front of her laughed, clutching his stomach.

"Oh, Cassie..." he started. "You did always have the oddest reactions to these sort of things..."

"Lumino!" Cassie smiled, hugging him tightly, a little shocked at first that she could do so.

"Cassie..." Lumino said almost choking. "You're. Crushing. Me-"

"Oh!" Cassie jumped back, completely letting him go. "I'm sorry!" She apologized.

"It's okay..." He brushed his shirt off, and smiled at Cassie. She paused a moment looking into his beautiful brown eyes and losing herself until she heard him clear his thought.

"Sorry..." She apologized again. "It's just...I'm not used to you being...you know...human..."

"I know..." Lumino admitted nodding his head. "It's because we're in between worlds."

"I-in between worlds?!" Cassie almost choked. "How is that even possible?!"

"Well," Lumino began, taking Cassie's hands into his-a feeling he would not soon forget-and sitting down with her. "When you, Jack, Sage, and Bailey were all battling, you activated a Reverse Substitution ability card, switching me out for Siege," He began.

"Yeah..." Cassie said, remembering every breath she took during that moment and the tears that trickled down her cheeks afterwards. Tears pricked at her eyes, but she choked them back, unwilling to cry in front of Lumino. "Go on..."

"Well..." Lumino said, studying Cassie's face, as he continued. "After Siege had been sucked into the Doom Dimension, the three dimensions present-yours, mine, and the Doom Dimension-became extremely unstable due to the ability card you used. It ruptured the realities of everyone inside the battlefield.

"Even the Bakugan's?" Cassie asked, trying to understand.

"Yep. The ruptured space was then split from reality and dimension because the field was closed while the dimensions were unstable, creating a sort of extra dimension."

"So is that why only you and Sage can see and speak to me? Because we're all in the same Dimension rip?"

"Yeah," Lumino said. "Bailey, Tempest, Serpena, Jack, and his Bakugan, Jagu too."

"Jagu?" Cassie asked thoughtfully. "I don't remember ever hearing about him..."

"He was supposed to be Jack's secret weapon...but things didn't exactly go as planned for him," Lumino sounded almost spiteful towards this 'Jagu', and Cassie couldn't help but hear it in Lumino's voice. "Anyway, the only way for us to get back to our dimension is to gather everyone you battled with and reverse this by opening another battlefield in this dimension, and having someone win without causing another dimension rip."

"Well," Cassie stood, sounding determined. "Let's track everyone down, and get back home!"

"That won't be a problem considering you've already found Tempest and I," Sage said from behind Cassie. She turned and made an attempt to kick him, but failed, seeing as he wasn't there anymore. She groaned looking up, seeing Sage who was smirking down at her from the tree he was perched in, along with another boy about Sage's age-putting him at about sixteen and a half to seventeen-that she had never seen before. Probably Tempest, she thought. He had rich brown hair and soft red eyes, with monkey ears and a tail.

"You're really going to help us?" Cassie asked unbelieving.

"Of course!" Tempest started. "Right, boss?" He turned to Sage smiling misceviously.

"Of course, Tempest," Sage didn't let the smirk down for a second. "After all, I wouldn't want my little girl to be upset for the rest of her life..."

Cassie had had it with his constant joking. She started to storm toward the tree trunk, about to make an attempt to climb up and show this two monkeys what she was made of, but Lumino knew her better, and wrapped his arms through her's, successfully restraining her.

"Lumino!" Cassie screamed, squirming against his grip. "Let me go! I can take them!"

"Sure you can, Cassie..." Lumino sighed, still holding onto her.