Kon'nichi wa!

Heh, heh, I haven't updated for a while, and I'm bored, so I might as well. I've been preoccupied doing other stuff...and schoolwork...

Anyway, I was meaning to say this in the last chapters, please read and review, especially if you liked it. Constructive criticism will be used to try to improve my writing. Flames will be used to roast marshmallows. Marshmallows for all! (Although, I'm not sure how to send them...I'll try my best!)

To Switch-on-97, Breezyfeather, JazzGirl123 (Jazzy-sensei!), dawnheart98, spyrodamon and black5trainer, you can have some cookies! And dango (" ) (") ( ") ('') (" ) ('')

Okay, I don't really have anything more to say right now, so here's the next chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Bakugan, but I do own the OCs and plot, (not the plot idea, because I'm not the first one to do a next generation fic).

A/N: Note to self, copy and paste disclaimers on each chapter, getting too lazy to type them out again...

Chapter 2-Realization

Kernthan entered the Master's domain and slowly made it to the centre room, to where the Master was sitting. The Master looked up from his throne.

'Well?' He asked expectantly. The Master drummed his fingers on the arm on the throne, 'Anything useful to report?'

Kernthan bowed down to him and presented him with a scroll. The Master unrolled it. The scroll was filled with illegible script. He sighed and read down the scroll. He scoffed and rolled his eyes.

'Good for nothing researcher…' the Master mumbled to himself. The information he sent to he was useless; just like all the other information he gave him. He had to remember to punish him later.

The Master scrolled down some more and found something of interest. It was Kaidanoid's character card. Well, well, the researcher did do something right, but he was still getting punishment for his lazy work.

The Master took the card and discarded the rest of the scroll over his shoulder, carelessly. Kernthan's thin face gave him a look of curiosity and puzzlement. The Master just smiled at him.

'Don't worry Kernthan. The scroll was not of use to me.' The Master reassured him. He waved the back of his hand at Kernthan. 'You may now leave.'

Kernthan nodded and left. The Master took a proper look at Kaidanoid's character card. High-level attack, standard G power, attribute Pyrus, it was all pretty ordinary for a dragonoid-type Bakugan. Perhaps that idiot of a researcher misinterpreted his message again. The Master checked the card. Nope, it was the right card.

The Master fingered the card. If she was so ordinary, then why was she able to activate to dimension portal? Usually any other Bakugan, other than Kernthan, would hit the wall and be punished. But then again, the Bakugan were so scared of him that most of them didn't dare try to escape. It was a shame though; he loved hearing the screams of pain and agony.

The Master placed the card down. He wanted answers and looking at this card was certainly not going to help him. He called Kernthan back and asked him to fetch Kaidanoid's mentor. After all, he did teach her everything she knew. If there were something unusual about her, he would surely know about it.

Runo lay awake on her bed. She just couldn't sleep. The thoughts in her mind kept bothering her. She looked over the photographs on her dresser and on the bedside table. A wave of nostalgia hit her.

Runo felt a tear slide down her cheek. She wiped it away in stubbornness. Since when was she so sentimental? She brought her arm to her forehead and sighed. She was probably tired. Maybe the stress was just finally getting to her.

She then heard a scream. It was coming for Lia's room. Runo got up and quickly ran towards her daughter's room.

Lia woke up with a start. She brought her hand up to her chest and breathed in and out heavily. She sighed; it was just a nightmare. She felt a hand stroke her cheek. Lia looked up; it was her mom. She had a worried look on her face.

'You okay?' she asked. 'I heard you scream.'

Lia ignored her mom's gaze and pretended to be interested in her bed sheets. She let her fringe cover her eyes. 'It was just a nightmare, Mom. Sorry if I woke you up.'

Runo pulled her fringe to the side and gently pulled her daughter into a hug and started caressing her hair. She still wasn't convinced, 'you sure?'

Lia nodded. She pulled away from her mom and grinned. 'No worries Mom!' She stood up on her bed to prove her point. 'See, I'm fine.'

Runo just shook her head in both disbelief and amusement. Yep, she took after her father all right. She sat Lia back down again and pulled her into a tight hug and started teasing her. Lia giggled and struggled against her mom's grip.

'Hey mom, let me go!' she said between laughs.

Runo laughed and let go. She got up from the side of her daughter's bed and headed out the door. 'Just take it easy today, okay?'

Lia nodded. Runo gently closed the door and left her daughter be by herself.

'Who is she?'

Lia jumped. She turned around to see Kaidanoid awake. Lia sighed in relief.

She gave Kaidanoid an annoyed look. 'Geez, don't scare me like that.'

'Who is she?' Kaidanoid asked again, completing ignoring what Lia had said.

Lia sighed. 'That's just my mom.'

'You two seem very close.'

'Of course we're close! She's my mom, after all.'

'You do not make any sense at all.'

Kaidanoid grabbed Lia sleeve and pulled her towards the bedroom door.

Lia pulled back her sleeve and looked at Kaidanoid weirdly. 'Why did you just pull me?'

'You and I have some training we need to attend to.' Kaidanoid then grabbed Lia's sleeve again.

Lia pulled back her arm before Kaidanoid could grab her sleeve again. 'Training?'

'Yes, training,' replied Kaidanoid. 'Now are you going to walk there on your own, or do you want me to drag you there?'

Lia sighed heavily and told Kaidanoid to wait until she got changed. There was no way she was going to go outside wearing her pyjamas.

'What is taking her so long?' said Kaidanoid impatiently. Lia had told her to wait outside Lia's room, but she was certainly was taking her sweet time. Surely it couldn't that long for humans to change.

Kaidanoid entered Lia's room, to see if had finished, but she wasn't there. Kaidanoid became confused and frustrated. Where was she? Didn't she say she was changing here?

Then Kaidanoid heard a sound coming from down the corridor. She went to see what it was. Apparently it was coming from another room. She went inside, but as she did, she was hit by a face full of hot water.

'ARGH! The water, it burns!'

Kaidanoid started to panic and jump around to try to cool off. Then the water suddenly stopped. Lia came out with a towel wrapped around her.

Kaidanoid felt irritated. 'Were you trying to obliterate me?!'

'I think you just came in at the wrong moment.'

'Then what was that?!'

'It's just the water tap.' Lia turned the water faucet on and off to show Kaidanoid how it worked.

Kaidanoid wasn't impressed. Lia tried to help by wrapping her in a hand towel. Kaidanoid rejected it and just shook the water off.

'Have you finishing 'changing' yet?' asked Kaidanoid.

Lia grabbed her clothes and started putting them on. 'Yeah, yeah, I will in just a sec…'

Kaidanoid sighed as she watched Lia struggling to put her clothes on quickly. At the rate she was going, they were probably never going to get time for training. She felt that her patience was wearing thin. She grabbed a piece of Lia's clothing and threw it at her. Lia caught it.

'What's your problem?' Lia asked, annoyed. 'If training's that important to you than why don't you go do it by yourself? What do you need me for?'

Kaidanoid sighed. She felt very tempted to leave by herself. Unfortunately, after finding out the hard way, she couldn't transform into her Bakugan form by herself, and she couldn't really train in ball form. And since Lia just happened to be the only person that could see or hear her, she reluctantly decided to let her be her training partner.

'I will explain everything later, now will you hurry up!' She responded. Not that she was going to go in specific detail, Dahlia still deemed to her as untrustworthy.

'Alright, alright! Geez...,' Lia grabbed her red ribbons and tied her hair into high ponytails. She put on her dad's goggles on her head and fixed them into place. 'There, now you don't have to-whoa!'

Upon seeing that Lia was done, Kaidanoid shoved Lia out the door, making her fall flat on her face. Lia got up and glared at Kaidanoid. Kaidanoid ignored her glare and pulled one of her ponytails.

'OWW!' Lia grabbed back her ponytail. 'Hey that hurts! If you want to pull me there, then don't pull the ponytails.'

Kaidanoid went to pull her by the goggles. Lia put her hands over her head protectively. 'Or the goggles'

Kaidanoid went to pull a piece of her clothing. Lia waved her arms around to stop Kaidanoid from pulling anything. 'Okay, just don't pull me at all.'

'Well then, be quick! You are taking too long.' Kaidanoid was about set off but then stopped as she remembered she didn't know where the exit was.

Lia giggled and beckoned for Kaidanoid to sit on her shoulder. 'Come on, I'll show you the way out. It's better than you pulling me anyway.'

Kaidanoid tentatively let her lead the way, but refused to sit on her shoulder. Oh, well, at least she wasn't ignoring her like before.

As usual, Lia passed the restaurant as she was going towards the exit. She noticed that her Mom wasn't there. That was strange; usually she was always cleaning the place up. It was probably for the best; there were times when Lia thought that Mom worked too hard and stressed out too much.

When they were outside, Lia hopped on her bike and asked, 'So, where are we going?'

'The park,' Kaidanoid replied, 'From what I've seen, it seems like the only place proper enough.'

'Alright then, hold on tight!' Lia gripped the handle bars and started pedaling fast.

At that moment her Mom appeared. She called out something to her, but Lia couldn't hear it, she had already sped off.

Runo sighed. Didn't that girl ever listen to what she said? She just hoped that she wouldn't do anything drastic, especially after what happen this morning.

Lia felt the adrenaline pumping in her veins as her pedaled faster. She had been riding a bike for as long as she could remember and loved everything about it. She liked the rush of air that she felt when she went fast and the thrill of riding down a steep hill. She also loved doing tricks and riding it to everywhere she went. But most of all, she liked the fact that her dad thought her how to ride a bike in the first place.

However, Kaidanoid thought differently. She was still uneasy from her previous experience and decided that this was just as bad, if not worse, than the hot water incident. Luckily Lia said that they had almost reached the park. Kaidanoid jumped off the bike as soon as Lia pulled over.

'Next time, remind me to travel here on a different mode of transport,' she stated.

'Well, you're going to have to get used to it.' Lia tied her bike to a bike rack. 'I ride my bike everywhere.'

'Why would I need to know that?' questioned Kaidanoid.

'Oh,' said Lia, trying to mask her disappointment. 'I just thought…'

'Thought what, Dahlia? You surely didn't think that I was planning to stay with you permanently? I only brought you along today, because there wasn't anyone else to ask.'

Lia looked away from Kaidanoid, feeling slightly hurt. For some reason, she felt a pang of sadness in her heart, as if she wanted Kaidanoid to stay. She couldn't explain it, but she felt some sort of bond between her and Kaidanoid, a bond of friendship. Lia wondered if Kaidanoid felt it too, but apparently, from what she was hearing, she was not.

Lia decided to change the subject. This matter was getting way too sensitive to talk about. 'So, what type training are we doing?'

'Standard training, I suppose.' Kaidanoid replied as if they never had the previous conversation. 'But first I need to get into my original form.'

'Can't you just train in this form?' asked Lia.

Kaidanoid shook her head. 'When out in the battlefield, a Bakugan must be in their original form to be able to use their abilities.'

'But we're not in a battle field.'

'Oh, we will be soon.'

'Huh?' Lia looked at Kaidanoid weirdly, did she just say that?

Kaidanoid felt confused. 'Why are you staring at me like that? I did not say anything.'

'Then who did?' Lia turned around, where did that voice come from?

'Up here!'

Lia and Kaidanoid looked up. The voice came from a stocky boy with dark brown hair with blonde highlights with his fringe gelled to the side and dark brown eyes. For some reason, Lia got the feeling that the boy was a bit of a jerk.

'Who are you?'

"The name's Tadao. He threw down a card at Lia. 'Here, catch!'

Lia fumbled with the falling card. She eventually caught it. Hisao laughed. Lia felt a bit insulted, what made this guy greater than her?

'Looks like you're a newbie.' Tadao held out the same type of card he gave Lia. 'Alright then, just follow my lead. Field open!'

Reluctantly, Lia held out the card and did the same. 'Field open!'

Lia felt a rush of air blow past her and then felt the world around her start to slow down. She closed her eyes and braced herself for what was going to happen next.

Then everything stopped. Lia open her eyes, wondering what just happened. Then her mind just got blown away.

'Whoa…' Lia exhaled as she had looked around the place.

Instead of the empty dark space she was expecting, she saw many different colours being bended and mixed together. She looked down at the ground and jumped back. It looked like standing on a black hole. She tapped at the ground to see if she would fall to the floor. Lia blinked twice and rubbed her eyes. Was this place for real?

'This place is incredible!' Lia heard Kaidanoid say.

Lia looked at Kaidanoid, confused. 'I thought you've been in one of these before?'

Kaidanoid shook her head. 'Not in this type of battlefield. Only the high-level Bakugan deemed worthy by the Master could enter this type of field.'

Lia cocked her head in puzzlement, 'The Master?'

Kaidanoid sighed. 'Yet another thing I should explain to you.'

Tadao cleared his throat. Lia and Kaidanoid looked over at him. He had his arms crossed and had an irritated look on his face.

'Are we going to battle or just look around at the scenery?'

'Sure! But how do we start?'

He sighed and held up the same card he used to open the field with. 'See this card here? Throw it out on the battlefield like this. Gate card set!'

Lia copied him. 'Okay…gate card set!'

Both cards were thrown out on the field. Upon touching the ground, the cards grew large.

'Now what?'

Tadao grabbed something from his pocket a then held it out.

Lia recognized it instantly. 'Hey, isn't that a Bakugan?'

'Sure is. Now get yours so we can start this thing.'

Lia looked at Kaidanoid then back at Tadao. 'But she's not really-'

'You're giving me excuses,' Tadao cut her off. Then he started to tease her. 'So are you going to battle or are you too chicken?'

Tadao started dancing around and clucking like a chicken, mocking her. At that moment, Lia clenched her fist. She felt the urge to punch this guy in the face. This guy was starting to annoy her like hell.

'Fine then,' she replied. She grabbed Kaidanoid before she could protest. If this guy wanted to battle then she was going to take him

Tadao smirk. 'I knew were up for it. Now throw the Bakugan on to the gate cards, like this.'

But Lia already started ahead she threw Kaidanoid on the field. 'Pyrus Kaidanoid stand!'

A ring of fire swirled around Kaidanoid as she transformed into her Bakugan Form. The flames burst as she broke out of the rapid fire with outstretched wings and her red scales glinting.

'Hey! Did I tell you to start ahead?' Tadao threw out his own Bakugan in frustration. 'Darkus Warius stand!"

A dark shadow shrouded around Warius as he transformed into his Bakugan. He jump out of the shadow and waved his mace around before finally setting it on to the ground. He stood in a fierce stance.

Lia gaped at the Bakugan. She never expected that the Bakugan would be so huge. She looked at Kaidanoid, she sure looked different. She looked more powerful and ferocious. No wonder she wait couldn't get to the park, her Bakugan form was awesome!

'Bakugan brawl!'

A voice interrupted her thoughts. Suddenly, she saw Warius took his mace a charged for Kaidanoid. Kaidanoid leapt up and dodged the attack.

'Hey!' Lia shouted at Tadao.

'Pay attention, airhead! Because from this here on your on your own.' He pulled out another card. Lia noticed it was different from his first card. 'Ability activate!'

Warius became covered fully with dark aura. His spikes on his mace became longer and sharper. And this time, when he charged and aimed his mace at Kaidanoid, he was able to hit the lower half of her body. Kaidanoid faltered slightly, but then hit back him with an attack of her own. The attack hit Warius dead centre. He fell to the ground.

'Alright!' Lia whooped, go Kaidanoid!

Tadao sneered. 'Like that little attack is going to help. Gate card open! Character!'

'Huh?' Lia watched in puzzlement as Warius stood back up again, looking as if he was stronger than before.

'That attack just doubled Warius's G power, making it more powerful than your Kaidanoid.'

Now Lia was even more confused. 'What do you mean by G power?'

Tadao just laughed at her. He pulled out another ability. 'Ability activate!'

Warius hit Kaidanoid full on with his mace at dead centre. Kaidanoid fell to the ground. She tried to get up but Warius's mace kept her pinned to the ground.

Tadao pulled out around ability and commanded for Warius to strike Kaidanoid hard. 'Let's see if you can get out of this.'

Lia felt herself panic and her heart rate go a hundred miles per hour. So what if she didn't know the first thing when it came to battling, it was just a minor detail. She remembered that she still had her gate card in play, so she decided to use it.

'Gate card open!' She called out.

Kaidanoid was surround by a red aura and she pushed back on Warius's attack. The two of them were trying to evade each other from attacking each other.

'Copycat,' Tadao sneered. 'But that's still not enough to help your Bakugan.'

'What do you mean?'

'You don't have any ability cards, do you? Because if you did, you'd be using them by now.'

'And your point is?'

Tadao smirked and pulled out one last ability card. 'You're going to get creamed. Ability activate!'

Warius overpowered Kaidanoid and knocked her down with a hard blow. He continued to batter her with his mace until Kaidanoid was barely able to move.

'You're done for, kid. There's no you can win.'

Lia clenched her fist. She looked at Tadao fiercely. Her face showed a look of determination and passion. 'So what if I don't have any ability cards? So what if your Warius is more powerful than Kaidanoid? Big deal! If you think I'm going to let you win my first battle, you've got another think coming, Tadao!'

A card then suddenly appeared in Lia's hand. Lia held it up in surprise; it was an ability card. She looked over at Kaidanoid who was barely doing anything to evade the enemy's attack.

Lia gripped the card tightly. She hoped this worked. 'Ability activate! Pyros Blitz!'

Kaidanoid began to stand up slowly. She was surround by red aura. She knocked Warius's mace out of his hand. She spread her wings and flew up high. Then her whole body lit on fire. The fire kept growing brighter and brighter until the entire field just became a bright flash. Both Lia and Tadao shielded their eyes from the light.

Lia opened her eyes. She looked around; they were back at the park now. It looked as if nothing had changed. She looked at the ground and saw that both Bakugan had turn back into ball form.

Tadao picked up both of the Bakugan and went over to Lia. 'Not bad, but next time you won't be so lucky.'

He shoved Kaidanoid and something that looked like a watch in her hand. Then he ran off.

'See you around,' he yelled, '…not!'

Lia stared at him go and sighed. She was right, apparently, Tadao was definitely a jerk. Lia looked down at what was in her hands. She put the watch like thing in her pocket; she could have a proper look at it later. She looked down at Kaidanoid and gently poke her. Kaidanoid stirred awake.

'Ugh,' groaned Kaidanoid groggily. 'That ability sure took a lot out of me.'

Lia grinned at Kaidanoid, glad that she was awake. 'Maybe, but it did make a good ending to the battle.'

Kaidanoid laughed. 'Yes, it was quite an impressive move, was it not?'

Lia smiled. She went over to a nearby bench and sat down. She beckoned for Kaidanoid to join her. Kaidanoid tentatively sat down beside her.

'Hey Kaidanoid?' Lia asked.

'Yes, Dahlia?'

'Can you tell me more about the Bakugan?'

Kaidanoid hesitated. Even though before she had told her that she would tell her everything, she never really thought about it. She stumbled at what to say. 'Well…I wouldn't know when to start, I mean, I've never told a human this so…'

Lia giggled. 'Just start with how you came here. You can tell me the rest some other time.'

Kaidanoid sighed. 'Alright, but it's a long story. But before I tell you, do you swear to keep this to yourself?'

Lia nodded. So Kaidanoid started to tell her. She started with how New Vestroia got invaded by the Master and was now making the lives of Bakugan a misery. She went on to how she wanted to save them and had impulsively tried to escape from her cell. And finally she ended with how she had nearly gotten caught by the Master and got transported to Earth.

When she finished, she noticed Lia staring into space.

'Did my story bore you?' she asked her.

Lia shook her head and smiled. 'Nah, I was just thinking. You sure went to some pretty rough times, didn't you?'

'I, suppose.'

Lia then suddenly stood up. 'I know! Why don't I help you save New Vestroia?'

Kaidanoid became shocked. This girl had no idea of what she just signed herself up for. 'Are you absolutely sure?'

Lia made a fist. 'Of course I'm sure!'

'Suit yourself.' Kaidanoid sighed, but she was slightly amused. Never once in her life she thought she would meet someone like Lia, never. 'You one very interesting character, Dahlia.'

Lia grinned. 'Guess that means we're partners then, right Kaida?'

'Perhaps,' said Kaidanoid vaguely. But on the inside she was smiling. She had a feeling that she and Lia were going to be stuck with each other. But she didn't mind. Although she could see that Lia was not the most reliable person, she was very determined and she certainly had passion. But what made her the happy the most was that she felt a strong bond of friendship with Lia, and she knew that Lia felt it too.

Ugh, I fail at writing battle scenes...hopefully it didn't turn out too bad. I hope...

Anyway, chara profiles:

Runo: (I forgot to introduce her in the last chapter, and yes I know, she's a canon character and is not mine.) Her appearance still remains the same, but she no longer has her signature ponytails. Her hair is let loose to frame her face and cut is to mid back length. She gets stressed a lot these days and works hard on the restaurant to get her mind of things. She often gets annoyed at her daughter, due to Lia taking after Dan, but loves her no matter what.

Tadao: A stocky boy dark brown hair, blonde highlights with his fringe gelled to the side and dark brown eyes (just in case you missed the description). He acts all tough and likes to tease people. He's also a bit up himself. Lia thinks he's a jerk.

Darkus Warius: An orge-like Bakugan wearing armor with a large mace covered with sharp spikes. He has spiky horns cover its head and shoulders. The armor covers its body and legs. (Not mine, borrowed him from season one.)

Piyou, I'm still pissed...so tempted to rewrite it...

- *Handcuffs author* No Na-chan pull back! Don't let your fingers control you!

You're not supposed to be here!

-*shrugs* well someone had to stop you

This isn't your chapter!

-So?

Go back to your own chapter!

-Why?

Just because!

-*Sulks* You're worse than Yuta...

I don't care, beat it!

-I'm not moving!

*points left* Hey look shiny thing!

-Really? I want to see it! *runs off to find shiny thing*

*Sighs* Piyou, glad that's over...anyway, yeah, review please!

Matte ne :3