YO! So sorry for being late! I'm lacking inspiration and my life is hectic! But...know this that I'LL NEVER LEAVE THIS STORY! I always complete one story before moving on to another...never stop or discontinue any story of mine...so don't worry, I'm alive and still writing!
REPLIES TO GUEST REVIEWERS:
To Megan: Um...well...sorry miss Megan! Hope it wont happen again! My life just wont give me a break!What do you mean by how many am I planning to write? Do you mean stories? Or chapters of this story? And that's nice to know about Terrah. Haha, hold your doubts bout her royalty! XP
To Terrah111: Um...well MWAHAHAHAA for Alice...and oh yeah! LOLLIPOPS! XP
To natalia erica: Well...welcome to the story miss! Uh...sorry. I don't write romance...(though I'll try it some other time if I get any request...but not in this story.) and pairings...just ruin the plot for me. Glad to know you liked it! Enjoy!
Bakugan Baby Brawlers.
Chapter 6: Sleepy Memories.
"Oh no..." Keith lost his voice.
"What it? Where Alice?" Dan pulled Shun's hand.
The raven haired teen was staring at the messy bed in disbelief as he finally muttered, "Alice..."
…
An orange haired girl was constantly crying, present in a small, dark room.
"Master...she wont stop her bugging!"
"I know..." Wiseman trailed off, "It's all a part of the plan. Now we have to lure the others in our trap as well. But first..." He turned toward the barred door of the cell, "We need to shut her up."
"As you wish, sire."
And the crying came to an abrupt stop.
…
"Any plans Shun?"
Shun glanced at Keith warily, "It's obvious Wiseman is involved here. And he could be anywhere at the moment."
"Hm..." Keith nodded, "We have two options...we can either track him down via blue prints...or take advantage of his attributes..."
"But?" Shun looked up as the Darkus brawler trailed off.
"In any case...we'll have to wait until tomorrow...in the mean time, we can search for him." The blonde teen stood up from his spot, "I'm going in the control room..."
"Sure..." Shun mumbled as he held his head. An untimely migraine was all he needed right now.
"Shun..." Keith patted the teen's shoulder, "Everything is gonna be fine...we'll find her..."
"We have to..." Shun shuddered. Currently, the brawlers were in their most vulnerable state. Who knew what Wiseman was planning against them when they couldn't even defend themselves properly?!
…
Shun sighed as he escorted Runo and Julie to their respective rooms while Keith placed Marucho in his bed. Turning back, the Darkus brawler called, "Shun, tuck Dan in. I'll be in the control room."
Said teen exhaled deeply, "Fine..."
As Shun pulled the caramel colored blanket up to Dan's chin, the small boy grabbed his wrist, "Shun?"
"Yeah?" He looked at the brunette.
"Could you tell me a story?"
Shun was taken aback, "A story?"
"Yes..." Dan nodded, "Story...so I will sleep..."
"Um... I..." The Ventus brawler looked around helplessly.
"Please? You very good..." The child pouted.
"Okay..." Shun sighed in defeat, "Fine... Once... there were two best friends..."
FLASHBACK...
"Shun...where are you? Shun?" A raven haired woman called from the kitchen.
"Coming mom!"
"Shun..." The woman knelt in front of her son as he entered, "When was the last time you played with Dan, sweetie?"
"Um..." The boy frowned, "Yesterday evening I guess...in the park?", He pondered, "Yeah...in the park...and we ate chocolate chip cookies too."
"Hm..." Worry was etched on her face, "Shun...honey, there's something you have to know."
"What is it mom?"
"This morning, Dan left, saying he was going to show you his new drawing. But...he didn't come here...and Myoko can't find him anywhere."
Topaz eyes widened, "Wh-what?"
Shiori shook her head sadly, "He could be anywhere. Now...I need you to remember correctly where do you both like to play the most."
The young boy thought about it seriously. Park? No... Back yard? No... wait a second... The woods! The woods which stretched from his back yard towards the horizon!
"The woods!"
And before Shiori could stop her son, the raven haired boy had fled through the window -courtesy of his grandfather's ninja training- and had vanished in an instant.
"Oh Shun..." The woman could only whisper, "I hope you find him..."
…
"Lemme go!" A young brunette pleaded with tearful eyes, "I...I'm a good boy!"
"Did you guys hear that?" An older man mocked, "He's a good boy!"
The rest of the gang began to laugh, "Good boy!" The woods seemed to echo with their voices, "Good boy! Good boy! Very good!"
"I..." The child licked his dry lips, "You can't keep me here! Someone would come for me!"
"And who is this 'someone'?" The man bent at the tightly bound boy's level.
"Sh-Shun..." The boy thought over his words, "Shun will come for me! I know he will! And when he does, all of you will pay!"
"Oh really?", The man mused, "I don't think so, kid."
"Hey boss, why don't we shut him up for good?" Another man spoke up.
"Hm..." The man raised his hand to hit the young face...
The wind swished loudly.
And the man held his hand which was bent at a twisted angle as he whipped his head up to see what had happened...and all he saw were topaz eyes... flaring with suppressed rage as they glared at him hatefully.
"Wh-what?! How?" He stuttered.
Around the same age as the boy he had kidnapped, was another raven haired boy, standing in front of the brunette, glaring at the older angrily. When he spoke, his tone was icy cold, "Raise your hand at him and I'll make sure you have no hands."
The whole gang's eyes widened at the threat.
"What the hell? What's going on?! Who are you?" The man stood up slowly.
"I am Shun. And no one touches Dan while I'm around." That boy was the calm before a storm.
"So defiant...aren't you?" The leader smirked, "Spoiled brats..." He had no time to finish his sentence as a punch to his face sent him staggering back, clutching a bloodied, broken nose.
"Let's get the hell out of here, Boss! This kid's bad news!"
"Get off me!" The man shoved his minions back, "I'll deal with this pest." Something glinted in his hand as he brought it forward.
Shun eyed the sharp, blood stained blade of the pocket knife carefully. He had to get rid of these people, take Dan and go home.
Simple plans...but complex strategies.
The man lunged forward. The wind whistled shrilly. Shadows danced in mysterious flashes as the young boy lashed out.
"P-please..." present on the ground with the knife against his throat, the man began to tremble, "Please...I...I..."
The blade was pressed tighter. Topaz eyes held no emotion but anger and hatred.
"Shun...stop it, buddy...I'm alright..." The brunette finally got a grip on what was going on...what could happen, "Come on...look at me."
Reluctantly, the boy turned to regard his friend, getting off the older man.
"And you..." Reddish brown eyes turned toward the leader, "Run before he kills you."
The man along with his gang escaped, running like there was no tomorrow.
"Shun? You okay?" The brunette looked at his best friend as the knife began to cut through his bindings.
"D-Dan...I...I..." The boy stared at his hands. He had almost lost control.
"Shun..." Dan hugged him tightly, "Thanks for saving me. It's over. Let's go home now."
And the two best friends began to walk away from the dark void.
END FLASHBACK
Half asleep by now, Dan was listening with his full interest. Though maybe it was the fact that his mind was processing the story slower than usual due to drowsiness, he didn't notice the resemblance the names held.
"So...they home?"
Shun regarded the boy with a small smile, "Yeah..."
"And...and Dan no more in rope?"
"No...I fr-...I mean, Shun freed him." Shun caught himself. Dan was still taking it as a fictional story.
"It is good story. Me like it!" Dan glanced at the teen with half-closed eyes, "You very good to me. I happy!"
Shun blinked. He had just told a simple memory...had it really meant that much to Dan?, "Dan..."
"Night, night Shun. You sleep here."
The Ventus brawler was taken off guard once more, "What?!"
"You sleep here. And...and no bad dream come to me." The young brunette tried to explain in his limited vocabulary as he yawned.
"Dan...I..."
"Please!" Dan had said it with...authority...in a 'no nonsense' tone.
"Fine..." Shun resigned. It wasn't like he had anything better to do. Keith would've let him know if he had found something.
Dan happily pulled back his covers and patted the small space, "Here!"
Mentally groaning, Shun took off his jacket and lied down, not bothering to make more space for himself to avoid the risk of falling off the single bed in his sleep.
Soon, both occupants of the bed were fast asleep, with Dan's head nestled against Shun's shoulder.
…
"Hm...what's that?" Keith mused to himself as a few symbols appeared on the screen in front of him. Studying them more closely, he blinked, "Could it be..."
Finally having achieved the fruits of his endless researching, the teen had collected some data on Wiseman's whereabouts. Leaving his seat as his stiff neck popped, he went to tell the only other person who could be categorized as most sane in the place compared to a bunch of kids.
…
He searched everywhere for his ninja friend. Even outside. But found no sign of him. Thinking back to what they had been doing before, Keith finally remember that he had told Shun to tuck someone in. He decided to check in the bed rooms.
Room one...asleep forms of Runo and Julie...no sight of the Ventus brawler, room two...a drooling but sleeping Marucho...no glimpse of raven hair, room three...Alice's room...empty, room four...Dan sleeping peacefully...a taller someone asleep in the same bed of the same room, room five...wait...pause...reverse...play...room four...Dan sleeping peacefully...a taller someone asleep in the same bed of the same room...
"Jeez Shun...you're losing your coolness, man..." Keith muttered under his breath as he saw the two forms sleeping all comfy...with relaxed expressions on their faces.
Going over to the side of the bed, Keith shook the teen's shoulder gently, "Shun? Hey...?"
"Hm..." Topaz eyes opened tiredly as Shun took in his surroundings.
"I've found out where Wiseman is. Come on...get up. Let's go in the living room. I'll show you the map." Keith tapped his shoulder again.
The Ventus brawler sat up slowly, dazed by his fitful sleep. He had been so comfortable but someone had to ruin his moment!
Keith smirked from over the map he was holding as Shun trudged in the living room sleepily, one hand holding his jacket.
"Wake up, sleeping beauty!"
Shun glared at the snickering teen from his position, slumped on the couch tiredly. He just wanted to get a good few hours of rest. Sleep sounded so...welcoming.
"Okay...so I've marked the location. We'll have to walk for some distance too. This place has got a lot of caves. Wiseman could be in any one of them for all we know."
"Mhm..."
"And...we're still not sure about where he's keeping Alice. So there's a good chance they both are in separate places. But this is Wiseman, we're talking about. He could be in the same origin as Alice."
"Hm..."
"But there's also the fact that the brawlers depend on us currently. So we'll have to come up with a good plan to manage things. We can't leave them alone...but we can't take them with us either. It'll be too much. We wont be able to fight and baby sit at the same time."
"..."
"Plus...I was thinking... we still need to figure out how to...Shun? Shun?! Are you listening to me? Shun?!" Keith glanced over the map at the lack of response only to find the said teen fast asleep, using his jacket as a blanket and the arm-rest of the couch as the pillow, as he was sprawled over the said piece of furniture.
"The heck?! Here I am, working my head off for you and you're dozing off peacefully?!" Keith glared at the Ventus brawler but of course, it was wasted, seeing that he was fast asleep.
"Oh well..." Keith folded the map, putting it aside, "We'll be leaving in the morning any way."
And moon peeked from outside the window at the two teens inside, resting on opposite couches, fatigue evident on their youthful, handsome faces.
Um...well...sorry for being late! Lacking inspiration! But promise, next chap will have ACTION! MWAH MWAH!
Hope out!
Until next time!