A/N:

kd: Hi again, guys! Sorry for the wait but, here it is! And it's my second biggest chapter yet!

Masquerade: Alright, Alright, calm down. That's enough excitement for one A/N, don't you think?

Hydranoid: What was the biggest chapter, kd?

kd: It was the Christmas party one.

Hydranoid: Oh yeah…

Masquerade: *sighs* Ahhhhh, good times…good times…

Hydranoid: Oh, guess what! My new favorite hobby is now watching holiday speicals!

kd: O.O…That was random…

Masquerade: My favorite hobby is manipulating the brawlers.

kd: That's not creepy at all -.-;;…

Hydranoid: What's your favorite hobby, kd?

kd: Ahhh, (darn, now I don't have any time to think about it. Oh well, I'll say something about them) well, that would be writing about you two ^.^;;

Hydranoid: …

kd: …

Masquerade: Wow, she really doesn't have a life…

kd: Hey! T/T

That same afternoon…

"M-masquerade?" Alice asked in shock. The boy sat up in his beach chair.

"Alice? What are you doing here?" Masquerade asked in irritation.

"I'm here on vacation." Alice couldn't believe her eyes. Right in front of her was the real Masquerade…in swim trunks nonetheless. "Ummm, you know…you're beach house is right next to Marucho's…"

Masquerade sighed and muttered, "I knew something was up when Naga offered a beach house, he was using this to spy on the brawlers…"

"What was that?" Alice asked as she only caught 'Naga' and 'beach house'.

"Never mind." Masquerade said as he got up from the beach chair. Alice blushed as Masquerade took a step closer, crossing his arms. Luckily the orange sunset disallowed Masquerade from seeing the color in her cheeks. "Anyways, I've got something to do, and maybe you should, too, this is really your property…" Masquerade started to walk back toward his house after excusing himself but Alice called back at him.

"Wait! I need to ask you something!" Alice ran after him.

Masquerade sighed then turned around, "What?"

"Ummm," Alice twirled a strand of her long red hair between two fingers, "Can you take off your mask for me?"

"What!" Masquerade said in surprise.

"Please?" Alice begged, clenching her two hands together.

Masquerade gave her a mischievous grin, "Sure," He said as grabbed the lens of his mask and whipped it off.

Alice's mouth dropped wide open, "…you're wearing the sunglasses I gave you…"

"Yup."

"Under your mask…"

"…are you going to repeat everything you see? Yes, I get it I'm wearing your sunglasses, aren't you thankful I'm using your gift?"

"Not at the moment," Alice muttered as she crossed her arms and pouted childishly in disappointment.

Masquerade raised one of his eyebrows, she could now see them, in a look of warning. Alice guessed that maybe asking to see his face was asking too much and she could already see his cheeks and eyebrows, she should at least be happy for that much. So Alice took the chance to memorize as much of his face as she could. She noticed his more mature and sharper features, and she could already tell that he was more handsome than any of the other male brawlers. His slender eyebrows, a blonde matching his hair, where leveled in a look of impatience. "What are you staring at?" Masquerade brought Alice's train of thought. "Anyways, I'm going inside, the sun's already set and it's starting to get cold, you should go do what you came here for and be on your way." And with that lengthy good bye, Masquerade walked back into his beach house.

Alice just watched him go then started looking for the ball she was supposed to retrieve in the first place. When Alice climbed back over the rocks back to Marucho's beach she saw that no one was outside anymore. Great, just great, they didn't even wait for me! Alice thought disappointedly as she walked back toward the house. When she walked through the back door and poked her head through the door to the dining room she saw all the brawlers were already dressed and eating together.

"Hey guys, doesn't it seem like someone's missing?" Marucho asked those at the table. Alice sweat dropped at their forgetfulness but heard Shun sigh regretfully. At least he didn't forget, I wonder if he was worried about me. Alice then crept upstairs to get dressed for dinner.

Meanwhile in Masquerade's Evil lair (or summer home)…

After Masquerade got dressed into his normal attire he threw his black swim trunks onto the floor. He sighed when he saw a silver ball roll out from the bathing suit's pocket. The ball blindly searched for its master to help it. Masquerade grunted as he picked up the silvery ball, "Alright Hydranoid, since you've been a good boy, you can come out now." Masquerade started unraveling the silver duct tape which now revealed a dark bakugan.

Hydranoid made a noise as if he was gasping for sweet air, though bakugan probably don't breath in ball form, "Why are you so cruel, Master?"

Masquerade paused as if in deep thought about Hydranoid's question and then answered, "I was born that way." Though he knew he was lying, he defiantly didn't want to tell Hydranoid why he was evil (well, more like evil-acting).

"So when you were born…"

"Where are you going with this Hydranoid?"

"…you were a creepy, evil genius baby?"

Masquerade rolled his eyes, though it was undetectable, "Yes Hydranoid, I was born a creepy evil genius baby."

"Masquerade…"

Masquerade sighed when he hear the uncertainty in Hydranoid's voice, "Yes…Hydranoid?"

"Why are we the bad guys?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well…why do we agree to do bad things?"

"Well, I was born evil, so I have no problem with doing 'bad' things, but I don't know why you agree to, you've never told me."

"I'm…not sure," Hydranoid weirdly.

"Anyways…" Masquerade said trying to think of a way to change the subject.

"Oh, master! Putting sunglasses under your mask so Alice wouldn't see your face was brilliant! How did you know the brawlers were here?" Hydranoid babbled excitedly.

"It's all about planning ahead, Hydranoid." Masquerade said mysteriously and confidently. But the truth is that Masquerade had no idea about the brawlers being here beforehand, he just put the glasses under his mask because he thought he looked cool in them. And it just happened to bring a good opportunity to tease Alice. I'll lure her in with the promise of seeing my face, *evil mental chuckle*, she won't be able to stop thinking about me. Unfortunately, though, Masquerade was a lot more correct than he knew…

Back to the brawlers' boring lives…

"Where have you been, Alice?" Marucho called to her in surprise as she entered the room. Alice thought about making an angry remark about he didn't even notice her absence but instead just sighed and took a seat next to Shun, who was looking at her inquisitively.

"Sorry Shun," Alice apologized, "The neighbor was there and he caught me so we ended chatting for a bit." Shun nodded his acceptance of the apology and returned to his dinner.

Marucho looked curiously at Alice, "I didn't think I had a neighbor, what's he like?"

"Oh, ummm," Alice became very nervous in voice and body langue, "He's just a…a normal guy." Alice gave an unconvincing smile. Runo was immediately suspicious for Alice only smiled nervously like that when she was lying.

"Is he a brawler?" Runo asked with suspicion clear in her voice. Shun looked up at Runo when he heard her voice. The suspicion sounded very out of place in what was supposed to be a casual conversation. Shun looked up at Alice, who was wearing that nervous smile, the one she wears when she wants people to think everything's ok. "Comon' Alice, tell me. Is he a brawler or not?"

"Uh, well, like I said, he's just a normal guy!" Alice added a nervous giggle, "It's nothing, really."

Shun looked toward Alice with a suspicious look that matched Runo's voice, "So Alice, what would this guy be like if he wasn't normal?"

Alice started twirling her hair between her two fingers and the smile vanished to show the nervousness clear on her face. "W-what kind of question is that?"

Shun didn't like to see the nervousness in Alice and decided to drop the subject by shrugging, "I was just wondering."

"Geez, Shun. You ask the stupidest questions sometimes." Dan said as he had not caught the tension in the room. Leave it to an idiot to call the smart one the idiot. Shun just shrugged it off, not wanting to engage with Dan at this late hour. After dinner they washed their dishes and went to their respected rooms to get ready for bed.

Yay! Time to go back to Masky ;3…

"What?" Hydranoid yelled in surprise, "You're trying to make Alice one of your minions?"

Masquerade sighed, "Yeah, well, why not?"

"Here's a reason why not, she can't even BRAWL!"

"Well, yes, that can be a bit of a problem."

"A bit of a problem, Masquerade, you should at least try to make someone useful become another one of your minions."

"You don't understand…"

"Huh? What do you mean I don't understand?"

"I've been observing the brawlers, including Alice, and I saw some very interesting things within their interaction. Sometimes it takes an outsider to see how things really are."

"And? What so interesting about the brawler quarreling about what to have for dinner?"

"That's the very thing, for one, they're quite dysfunctional, always arguing about the pettiest of things. Only a few people can keep them in check, and it's defiantly not Dan, though he's thought of as the leader. I've found who the real leader is."

"Shun?"

"Closer but not quite…it's Alice."

"What! But how?"

"Whenever two of them are arguing she can calm them both down, no problem. None of the others have that kind of control over each other. She's simply a leader by being a peacemaker."

"Ok, I can see that, but you don't need a peacemaker for a minion." Hydranoid protested as he secretly didn't want anything bad to happen to the brawlers.

"Maybe not, but the brawlers need her much more than I do."

"You plan to take her away just so the brawlers can't use her?" asked Hydranoid in a rather grave tone of voice.

"She's also the entire moral support for the brawlers. The center for their emotional health. Whenever they have a problem, they go to Alice. They know she can keep a secret and that she'll support them no matter what. If Alice is taken away from them, they will mentally fall, as she is the center. There are more ways you can destroy your enemies than just physically. Yes, it will be fun to watch them try to carry on without their precious little Alice." Masquerade did an evil chuckle to lighten his mood but the entire time he knew he was lying to himself. To ruin the brawlers was a good reason, but not the main reason he wanted to make Alice his minion. When he thought of the way she watched him walk away from her, that puppy dog look of shallow loneliness and sadness, his insides boiled up. I'll show her, I'll teach her how things really work in this world…and she'll never forget the lesson I will teach her…

That night, while everyone was asleep…

"All he does is taunt you and use you, Masquerade! Why do you still follow him?" Alice said to Masquerade, tears in her eyes.

"He may be the only one in this world who understands me…"

"I understand you, and even better I care about you! That's something Naga could never feel for you."

"If you truly care about me you will accept the decisions I make."

"But the decisions you make will only hurt you. Maybe if you join the brawlers you and I could—"

"You and I could what…haven't you ever heard that saying about love?"

"What saying?"

"If you truly love something, set it free, and if it comes back to you, it's yours."

"But…I don't want to see you go…"

"Then you don't truly love me, it's just a petty crush." Masquerade said as he started to fade away.

"Wait! Don't go!" Alice said as she grabbed onto the collar of Masquerade's long, white coat. "Don't go, please. I'll do anything for you to stay! Just tell me what to do!"

"Alice…wake up."

"Huh?"

"Alice…wake…up." Masquerade said with a little more force in his voice.

"But I—"

"ALICE WAKE UP, ALREADY!" Alice opened her eyes and was surprised to see Runo's face.

"Oh…it was just a dream…"

"Well you must have liked it since you didn't want to wake up from it."

"Yeah…"

Runo got annoyed, "Seriously, Alice, you've been real spacy lately."

"Oh, it nothing! Please don't worry about me, Runo!"

Runo sighed at her lack of progress at trying to find out what was bothering Alice. "Whatever, just get dressed so we can have breakfast."

"Alright, I'll be down in a few." Alice called as Runo walked out the bedroom and down the stairs. As Runo was searching for some grub in the kitchen she heard some small voices coming from one of the cabinets. Runo walked closer to the noise, she could hear two people, probably two bakugan considering they were in a cabinet. She could hear them giggling and shushing each other as their conversation seemed rather personal. Runo thought it would probably be better to give people privatecy in these kinds of situation but decided against it and opened to cabinet to discover a horrifying sight.

"T-tigerra?"

"M-my lady!"

"And…HYDRANOID?"

"Shhhhh, keep it down, would ya?" Hydranoid said embarassed.

"What the heck are you doing here, Hydranoid! Or more importantly, what the heck are you doing with Tigrerra?"

"Hydranoid…now might be a good time to tell her…" Tigrerra said in a rather guilty tone, as if caught red-handed.

"Wait a minute…I thought we both agreed that we would tell our respective masters…"

"Well I changed my mind." Tigrerra said in a and-what-are-you-going-to-do-about-it kind of tone.

Hydranoid sighed, "Fine…Alright Runo, listen up. When a girl bakugan and a boy bakugan love each other very much—"

"NO! Not that one, Hydranoid. You've got the wrong speech; I'm talking about the one where you tell Runo we've been dating for the past three months."

"WHAT?" Runo yelled in a mixture of outrage and shock.

"Whatever you're angry about, milady, I just want to say…it's all Hydranoid's fault!"

"Hey! Don't dump the psycho on me!"

By now Runo's face was cherry red with built up anger. "Tigerra…" Runo's voice was horse with pure rage.

"Y-yes, milady?"

"I'm going to…"

"Y-y-y-yes?" Tigrerra said in a sound that was barely audible enough to be a squeak.

"I'm going to…KILL YOU!" Runo screamed as she pulled a kitchen knife from the drawer below her and raised it threateningly above Hydranoid and Tigrerra in a downward position, as if to stab them. Hydranoid and Tigrerra looked regrettably at each other and gazed into each other's eyes as if it would be the last time they would see each other. "Wait a minute…" Runo paused in a thoughtful tone. "If Hydranoid's here…OH MY GOSH!" Runo dropped the knife in shock and as it clattered on the floor she covered her face with her hands in horror. "Masquerade is here?"

"Milady, please don't alert anyone of this." Tigrerra pleaded.

"And why not?" Runo said in a challenging tone, face turned from white (from learning of Masquerade) back into red as she glared at Tigrerra.

"I…I want to be with Hydranoid just a bit longer…" Tigrerra said in an honestly heartbroken voice.

This must have warmed Runo's heart a bit because she said, "Fine then, but if I ever find you two—"

"Runo?" an innocent voice called out from the other side of the kitchen. "Why are you yelling at a cabinet?"

Runo slammed the cabinet closed and turned to Alice with a bad acting scene of 'everything's all right'. "You know…did I ever tell you how pretty your hair looks in the sunlight?" Runo said with an unconvincing smile, all while leaning on the cabinet she just closed, defiantly as if she was hiding something inside.

A big smile then spread across Alice's face, and she began to develop an idea of what Runo could be hiding inside the cabinet. She must be hiding my birthday present, Alice thought as today was her birthday. "All right then, have all the fun you want with the cabinet, but don't forget to take it out in time." Alice said with a little wink before skipping out the door.

Runo sweat-dropped as she had no idea what Alice was talking about. Runo sighed and looked into the other cabinets to find cereal.

December 6th After breakfast at Masquerade's part of the beach…

"Ahhhhh, I can't remember the last time I've felt this relaxed…" Masquerade said as if he was drifting away on his beach chair. "Isn't it great, Hydranoid, that we can take a break from the brawlers?" Masquerade asked his closest companion.

There was no reply.

"Hydranoid?"

Still no reply.

Masquerade sighed, "Alright, I know you're still angry at me for covering you in duct tape but can't you at least talk to me a little?"

Only the echo of the waves answered his call. Masquerade was incredibly pissed by then, and felt a little betrayed at Hydranoid's silence. He looked around for the unusually quiet black ball. Masquerade then quickly realized that Hydranoid wasn't even there. An anger mark appeared on Masquerade's head as he realized that Hydranoid must have went over to the brawlers' place, the very place he was avoiding. Masquerade tried to shrug it off by relaxing on the recliner again. Alright, Masquerade, just ignore the outside world, deep breaths, Masquerade tried to calm himself down. He was almost going to drift off to sleep until…

"You're up first, Shun!" squealed the voice that had become so familiar to him lately. He heard the swish of a flying stick and then the squish of whatever soft object the stick had hit, followed by an immediate applaud.

"Great, the game's already over!" Dan whined.

"Don't worry, Dan we've got plenty more where that came from, you can try, too." Alice said in a cheerful tone.

"Whoa! Did you see all those guts fly out?" Marucho said excitedly.

"Ew, all the juices got over my outfit." Runo complained.

"Awww, some of the pieces flew off the tarp and into the sand, I'm defiantly not eating that." Julie said with a girly 'ewwww' tone.

Masquerade would have thought that this sounded very suspicious if he hadn't known that they were smashing watermelon. (A/N: In case you didn't know what watermelon smashing is, it's a game played in Japan usually in the summer. One person is blindfolded and spun around, similar to a piñata, and tries to smash a watermelon with a wooden stick. People take turns until someone successfully smashes it open. I thought it appropriate because Bakugan is Japanese and they're on a beach. Obviously Shun's strong enough that the others didn't even get a chance ;P)

Masquerade started to get very annoyed and decided to walk inside so he wouldn't have to listen to them anymore. He opened the sliding glass doors in the back and grabbed the towel on the couch to dry off any sea spray he had gotten. That was the one thing he hated about the beach, getting wet. As he dried himself he walked to the large family room with a flat screen TV. He sat down on the couch opposite to the TV. His head flew up and rested on the top of the couch as he released a long groan.

"Glad you're enjoying your vacation," said a rather menacing and familiar voice. Masquerade looked to both his side until he realized it was coming from the TV.

When he saw who it was he quickly got off the couch and gave the TV a little bow, "Lord Naga…"

"I was expecting Hydranoid, is it possible that I can talk to him privately?"

Masquerade felt nervous and further betrayed when he heard this, Is Hydranoid keeping something from me? He thought. "Sure, I'll go get him," Masquerade said before remembering that Hydranoid was at the brawlers'. Darn it, Hydranoid, I can't anger Naga any further! Not until I execute my plan…

Back onto the brawlers' beach where they're smashing watermelon…

"No! Please! Let me try again!" Dan pleaded as he couldn't even find the watermelon. Blindfolding Dan, spinning him around three times, then giving him a stick to hit things with was probably not the best idea…

Alice sighed, "You've already had your turn, Dan. It's Julie's turn now."

Julie took the blindfold off of Dan and blindfolded herself close to the watermelon. She waited for someone to spin her and hand her the stick. Dan did just that, secretly spinning her for a fourth extra time so she wouldn't be able to hit it. Yet no one was surprised when Julie somehow grew 'watermelon radar' and was able to run strait at the watermelon and successfully smash it open in one hit.

"Whoa!" Most of the brawlers awed in unison.

"I see you're all having fun." Said an out-of-place voice.

All of the brawlers turned to the direction of this voice to see, "Masquerade!" Dan yelled in surprise. (A/N: Masky is now wearing normal clothing. He would feel very awkward showing up half-naked in front of all the brawlers, regardless of it being a beach.)

What is he doing here…more importantly how did he know we were here? Shun thought critically.

"Hey Masquerade! Wanna smash some watermelon? It's really fun!" Julie offered cheerfully.

"No, I don't." Masquerade said annoyed.

"What? Why not?" Julie asked surprised, "That's why you came here, isn't it, to smash watermelon with us!"

"Oh please, if I wanted to smash a melon I could've just hit Dan's head with the stick." Masquerade said with a slight grin, "Plus I'm not here for stupid games, I'm here on business."

"What kind of business?" Shun said while narrowing his eyes toward Masquerade.

"I'm simply here to collect Hydranoid." Masquerade said in an apathetic tone.

Marucho turned to Masquerade with a face full of surprise, "You mean…Hydranoid has been here the entire time?"

"For most of the day, at least." Masquerade said while checking his watch.

All the brawlers looked shocked, even Runo (though she was just acting for effect. "You're kidding!" Dan yelled.

"No, not really. I don't 'kid' about these kinds of thing. Oh, and, by the way, I would be very appreciative if one of you went inside and grabbed him for me. I don't really think you'd want me going into your house."

"What would give you that idea?" Shun said coldly. "It seems just like you to make a small bakugan breach enemy lines just to get him to gather information."

"Actually, Hydranoid came on his own…he's probably seeing Tigrerra." Masquerade said with a shrug, as he already guessed that Hydranoid was dating one of the brawlers' guardian bakugan.

Alice finally spoke up, "Why did Hydranoid go out of his way to see Tigrerra?"

Masquerade turned to her and shrugged, "My best guess is that he has a little crush…"

Runo got annoyed at his indifference of the issue and pointed her finger at him in accusation, "If you were a good master, you would have already known that Tigrerra and Hydranoid have been dating for three months!"

All the brawlers looked at Runo with widened eyes. Runo made an 'urk' face as she realized what she said.

"Wow, it's been going on for that long? You know, if you were a good friend perhaps you would've told the brawlers that a long time ago, perhaps three months ago." Masquerade was still the brawlers' arch-enemy but they were all thinking the same thing. Leave it to Masquerade to mess up the brawlers just by walking in. Even a blunt tongue can be more powerful than the sharpest of swords, Masquerade thought with satisfaction as he watched the brawlers starting to pick up their petty arguments. All of them were on top of each other, except for Alice, that is. Masquerade looked toward Alice in curiosity. She's so quiet sometimes…I have to admit, I don't know everything that goes on in her mind, not yet, anyways. Masquerade turned his head away before Alice could make eye contact with him. Even when we are not fighting each other through brawling, but rather a fight of wits, I still seem to always win. After listening to the chaos for a while, though, Masquerade started to get bored and directed their attention onto himself, again. "So are you guys going to get Hydranoid for me or what?"

"Fine." Shun said while crossing his arms across his chest. The rest of the brawlers gave him questioning looks with eyebrows raised. Shun decided to answer the unspoken questions, "Well, he's not going to leave until he gets what he came here for and I don't think any of us want Hydranoid snooping around the house any longer…" Shun then ran into the leaving Masquerade with the rest of the brawlers.

Shun did a general look around the first floor of the house to see if he would easily spot the out-of-place ball. After searching around for the third time, Shun got very frustrated. "Hydranoid…get your butt out here…" Shun had a small anger mark on his forehead. It was bad enough that Masquerade came in for a surprise visit but now he couldn't even find Hydranoid so he could get rid of them both.

A black and purple ball rolled out from under the couch, "Master?"

"No, it's Shun. Masquerade is waiting for you outside."

"Oh, sorry! I thought the anger in your voice was unmistakable…" Hydranoid apologized. "He always threatens me when I do things he doesn't like. The really sad thing is that he's not bluffing when he says such things. One time he even covered me completely in duct tape so I couldn't move, or talk, or even breath! And I was in there for hours. After he let me out he said, 'You can fix almost anything with duct tape, including an annoying bakugan'. Way to add insult to injury, right? But you guys don't mistreat bakugan let that, right...Shun?" Hydranoid started to babble but then noticed the dark expression on Shun's face.

Shun was tired of this…his patience has run thin, and if Hydranoid muttered one more word Shun was going to do something that Hydranoid would never forget. As you can tell Shun was in a pretty bad mood and for multiple reasons, too. Shun couldn't help but look back on all the things that were bothering him and connect them back to one person…Masquerade.

Alice was being all spacy and weird, and she hardly tried to talk to anyone anymore. (And it's probably because Masquerade did something weird to her at the Christmas party, that's when her strange behavior started.)

1. Masquerade suddenly shows up. (I don't think Shun needs to explain why this bothers him.)

2. He had to search for one of the most annoying bakugan in existence. (Because Masquerade wouldn't go away without him.)

3. He never got the chance to give Alice his present and show his true feelings for her. (Because Masquerade had to stroll in at that exact time.)

4. He got hit in the crotch with a wooden stick during watermelon smashing. (Because Masquerade…wait a minute that was Dan's fault…because Dan's a total idiot and shouldn't be trusted while blindfolded…)

5. But Dan was probably a total idiot because Shun once saw Masquerade hit him in the head with a rock. (Ok, by this point, Shun's starting to lose rational…)

It all had to do with him. At by now Shun was at his braking point. Shun would justify what he would do to Hydranoid next by claiming he was used to being mistreated. Shun roughly grabbed Hydranoid and ran to the back door. He ran toward Masquerade, clutching Hydranoid hard, and stopped five feet away from him.

"Well, are you going to give me Hydranoid or not?" Masquerade said more as a command than a question.

Shun just continued to coldly glare at Masquerade. Alice became aware of this and suddenly got nervous, backing away from the two.

"Well?" Masquerade demanded with a hint of impatience in his voice.

Shun's icy glare suddenly turned into a look of fiery rage. "Take him!" Shun yelled as he threw Hydranoid, point blank, at Masquerade's face. "Now get off my property…" Shun muttered while pointing to the end of the lot.

"Ummm, actually, Shun. It's kinda my property…" Marucho corrected. Runo quickly put her hand over Marucho's mouth, not wanting him to be involved in the upcoming crossfire. Hydranoid fell from Masquerade's face to reveal his bloody nose. Masquerade made no attempt to catch Hydranoid and so he hit the sand running, trying desperately to distance himself from the two raging brawlers, struggling in the resistant sand. Both Masquerade and Shun crouched into a fighting position and Shun realized that this would be the start of a real brawl…

A/N: Alright, readers. I need your help! I wanted this to be pure comedy but somehow it's become a romance with a love triangle! I need your opinion. Do you guys like the romance thingy or do you guys find it annoying? Do you have any other pairing to suggest? Should I go back to humor only? Should I keep it a simple humor act or add the plot line I've been coming up with (it has to do with Masky's past and explains why he's following Naga, why he's pursuing Alice, ect, ect)? Do you guys find Alice too annoying or too obsessed about Masquerade? Would it be better if I 'toned it down' a bit? Do you think Shun should get a chance at Alice once in a while instead of just trying to 'catch up' with the love triangle.

And if you have any questions to ask me then you can ask them in your reviews or PM me about one and (if you like) I'll answer them in the beginning A/N's. Alright then, thanks to everyone who has reviewed, alerted, favorite, and just plain read my story! It's thanks to you guys that this story has become so long! And special thanks to JetravenEx for keeping me super motivated. Jet, I can't tell if it's a blessing or a cure that you can nag me about the story in real life, but thanks anyways!