SailorStar9: Chapter 4 goes up. This is Chapter 5.

Disclaimers: I do not own both the animes. However, I do own the pairing, I hope.

Chapter 5: Play Nice Runo

"So, where are we?" Runo asked.

"I'm not sure, but it looks like we're on our own." Tigrerra replied.

"Julie!" Runo called out. "Shun! Marucho! Dan! Anybody? Hello!"

"Welcome my child, to the Enchanted Forest of Testing." Lars Lions chuckled as she viewed through a crystal globe. "Understand, I can see into your mind, your thoughts, your dreams, your deepest, darkest secrets and I can see through your lies. You can hide nothing from me."

With that, she turned into an old woman, very much like the witch from Snow White.

"This place is creepy." Runo noted as a fog rolled in.

"Yes, it is rather peculiar." Tigrerra agreed.

"Hey wait." Runo started. "Maybe we're making a big deal about absolutely nothing. I say we pick a direction and see if we can find where the other Brawlers are hiding."

"Then, I suggest you lead the way, Runo." Tigrerra noted.

"Okay, now which way do you think we should go?" Runo asked, looking around.

Oh man, I really wish Dan were here. She mused. I sure bet he'll know what to do.

Then, she gasped when a younger version of Dan appeared through the clearing fog.

"Hey there, kiddo. How's it going?" the younger Dan asked.

"Oh wow. It can't be." Runo was stunned as a flashback came to her.

Flashback

The younger Runo had just moved into the neighborhood and she was sitting on the unopened crates and swinging her legs.

"Runo honey, what's the matter?" her father asked. "Why aren't you outside in the sunshine.

"Don't wanna." Runo replied.

"But why?" her father pressed.

"Because we just moved here and there's no one to play with." Runo whined. "That's how come."

"Well, you won't make any friends by just sitting inside." her father reminded her. "Trust me, Runo."

Taking her father's advice, Runo headed to the park.

Boy, I hate moving. Runo mused. I miss all my old friends so much.

"Penalty, penalty." a boy shouted, running after a ball.

"Get them, get them!" his teammate shouted.

I wish I was back at my old house. Runo sighed, sitting on the grass.

"And what's even worse." she added. "There's no one to talk to."

"Hey you, kid!" Dan shouted, as the ball he and his friends were playing with rolled beside Runo. "Chuck back my ball!"

"I have a name, you know!" Runo retorted.

"Yeah, tell someone who cares." Dan snorted.

"For your information, the name's Runo!" Runo tossed the ball back.

"Nice to meet you too." Dan winked. "Hey, why don't you come over and play, kid?"

"I said my name is Runo!" Runo fumed.

"Yeah, whatever." Dan replied. "Do you want to play?"

"I never played baseball before." Runo admitted.

"Oh, come on." Dan egged. "Throw the ball already."

"K!" Runo replied. "Here goes nothing!"

Dan hit the ball easily.

"Hey, show me your stuff!" Runo demanded when it was her turn to play hitter.

"Here it comes!" Dan tossed the ball.

Runo missed the ball, the momentum causing her to twirl around like a ballerina and land on her backside.

"Strike One!" Dan declared.

"Swing and a miss!" he declared after sometime, the game was still continuing. "Swing and a miss!"

"Well kid, you sure are feisty!" Dan joked at the fuming Runo.

"I said, my name is Runo!" Runo fumed.

"Right." Dan replied. "Well, give me a call when you learn to play."

"Later!" he beamed. "Nice meeting you, kid."

"My name is Runo!" Runo shouted after the running Dan. "Got that? Runo! Runo! Runo!"

Wait a sec. Runo was snapped out of her thoughts. He was the same kid from when I was little.

"My name is Runo, and if you ever call me kid again, you're so history!" she fumed.

"What's wrong, Runo?" Tigrerra asked.

"That kid." Runo replied. "It's him. He's a little creep, Tigrerra."

"See ya!" the younger Dan beamed and ran off.

"Hey! No, wait! Where are you going?" Runo shouted and took off after him.

"Now why, did he up and take off like that?" she panted for breath.

"What's wrong, Runo?" Tigrerra pressed. "And what's so important about this boy anyway?"

"Well, I'm not exactly so sure myself." Runo admitted.

"Are you being straight with me, young lady?" Tigrerra chided.

"Yeah, of course I am." Runo replied.

"Are you looking for someone, my dear?" the disguised Lars Lion asked.

"Hello?" Runo blinked.

"I overheard your conversation." the old woman replied.

"Why yes, I'm looking for my friends." Runo replied. "Altogether, there's four of them. And for whatever reason, I was sent out into this forest."

"I see." the old woman noted. "But are you sure it's your friends you're looking for and not someone else? Or maybe, it is a little boy whom you seek? Tell me, am I right?"

"Well, if I am right." she added, noting Runo's shocked expression. "Then, you'll find him in that shackle over there."

"Thanks a lot, lady." Runo replied. "Well, I guess I better get going now."

"What was that all about?" Tigrerra asked.

"No clue, Tigrerra." Runo replied and hurried over to the logged cottage.

Your soul is getting darker, my dear. Lars Lion mused. Very dark, indeed.

Okay, so where is he? Runo thought when she arrived.

"I don't know if I should say anything." Tigrerra voiced. "But, that old woman back there gives me the willings."

At Runo's gasp, she explained, "I detected a quality about her that not quite, well, human."

"It's just your imagination."Runo soothed. "She was just an old lady."

"Hey, it's you again." the younger Dan burst out of the cottage and saw Runo.

"Er, yeah..." Runo blinked.

"So, you want to battle?" Dan asked.

"What?" Tigrerra exclaimed, the two seeing the Haos Bakugan in Dan's hand.

"Didn't you follow me so you can battle?" Dan asked.

"Sorry, but er... I'm confused." Runo admitted

"You mean you don't remember me at all?" Dan muttered. "I'm Danny. But you can just all me Dan."

"Wha?" Runo gaped. "You're Dan? But you don't mean that you're..."

Flashback

"Yeah Dan." the younger Dan told the younger Runo. "That's me, live and in person. Good night, cutie."

"Hey then, the brat I met when I was a little girl was really Dan?" Runo realized.

"For real?" even Tigrerra was astonished.

"I know it sounds weird, Tigrerra." Runo nodded. "But a long time ago, I met this kid in the park. I never caught his name back then, but now it all makes sense. It was Dan."

"I can only guess that the Legendary Soldiers have brought him back to this place." Tigrerra surmised. "But why? Especially after all these years."

"My test." Runo realized.

"That's it!" Tigrerra beamed.

"Which means..." Runo trailed off, turning back to the younger Dan.

"I accept your challenge, Dan." she smiled.

"All right!" Dan beamed. "Let's get busy."

"You ready, Tigrerra?" Runo asked her partner. "Now's my chance for a little payback. And now that I know it's Dan, we've got to win. He was so rude to me back then."

"I'm in." Tigrerra replied.

"Sure Dan is my best friend." Runo frowned. "But he's also my rival. And I have to pass this stupid test."

"Are you ready?" she asked the younger Dan.

"Yeah." Dan replied.

"Gate Card, set!" the two chorused.

A/N: I'm skipping the Bakugan battle because I know you guys know what happen.

Finally, Runo realized her mistake, the sudden surge of power shielded Lars Lion's light arrow from the gravely injured Tigrerra. With that, the light arrows on Tigrerra's back disappeared as she evolved into Blade Tigrerra. Activating her Velocity Fang ability, blade Tigrerra took down her opponents, along with Lars Lion.

Back with Eva...

"Princess, you felt that?" Exedra asked when he sensed a surge of energy from Lars Lion's' domain.

"Yes." Eva nodded. "Only one more remain."

"Lars Lion has lost then." Exedra concluded after another sharp surge of energy.

"Yes." Lars Lion admitted, transporting back after a while.

"An interesting child, that one." she noted.

SailorStar9: Now that's done, read and review.