Yo! Back already! Know why I'm updating today? Guess what?! Guess what?! TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY! ^^

Replies to GUEST reviewers:-

To MANA: Hi there! Welcome to the story! I'm glad you're enjoying it...stay tuned for more!

To TERRAH111: Haha, well, thanks for reviewing! And yep...I just can't keep writing without spicing up the things by pushing my characters off the cliffs! XP

To GUEST: Uh...yo! Eh? The relation misjudged? Care to elaborate, sir/miss? I assure you there's no...well...ugh! I can't say the word...! Dan and Shun are just very good friends...and now that Dan needs help, Shun is helping him! If you're referring to the parts where they slept in same bed...it was nothing dirty! Dan is a three year old toddler, for heaven's sake! There's no assault thing going on! And as for Wiseman...they did plan...but I'm picturing Shun as a bit head-strong while Keith is more organized, compared to him. And as for the murder plan...the brawlers are not murderers. They try not to kill. Hope I'm clear...enjoy!

Moving on...

Bakugan Baby Brawler.

Chapter 8: Hell Fire, Dark Fire.

WARNING: Violence.

"What the heck?!" Keith jumped off his chair.

"What?! What wrong?" Dan, who was sitting beside the Darkus brawler jumped as well.

"I've lost Shun's signal..." Keith bit his lip, frowning, "This can't be good..."

"Why you not take care of...of...single?!" Dan accused the teen, "It your fault! Where Shun?!"

"Dan!" Keith glared at the young brunette before taking a deep breath, "Let me concentrate..."

"WHERE SHUN?!" Reddish brown eyes became tearful, "HE DEAD?!"

"NO!" Keith face-palmed, "Go, get me a glass of water please, will you?"

Dan pouted before getting off his seat and leaving. Keith turned back to the screen and exhaled in exasperation. It seemed like he would have to use his backup plan after all.

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Topaz eyes opened slowly to register their surroundings. Shun blinked as he tried to move but found himself unable to do so. Much to his dismay, he realized that he was blind-folded. Taking a deep breathe to calm the panic, rising inside him, he concentrated on his other senses which were running on hyper alert. His hands were tied behind him by something rough...and so were his ankles. There was some kind of...tape on his mouth, preventing him from producing any sort of sound. Whatever that electric shock had done to him had taken its toll on the ninja's metabolism...making his movements slow and his mind processing ability sluggish.

Shun exhaled roughly as he felt the bitter taste of the tape's sticky glue on his tongue. Even though his vision was nothing but black, he could still sense that there was another occupant in the room. But the even breathing proved that they were asleep.

The raven haired teen tried to shuffle around a bit in an attempt to rouse his cell-mate from their nap. He tried tapping his tightly bound feet on the ground, tried clearing his throat, balled his fists and hit the wall behind him...but all the struggling went in vain as the other person remained asleep.

Shun felt suffocated. He couldn't see anything. All he could hear was drip-drop of water leakage somewhere in a corner. The one person who could possible help him regain his bearings was sleeping soundly. Finally, as a last act of desperation, the teen threw his weight at the wall behind him. He felt his head bang on the cold surface hard.

A small gasp emitted from the peacefully sleeping figure not too far away. Shun wanted to say, 'About time'...but he knew that all that would come out of his mouth would be a muffled retort so he opted for silence.

He sensed the person moving but by the sounds of it, it didn't seem like they were an adult. Small steps padded softly and somewhat cautiously as the figure approached him. He felt small hands wrap around the strip of cloth tied around his eyes. The gentle hands tried to untie the tight knot in the cloth behind his head but failed. Then their owner seemed to get another idea. Hooking two fingers in the thick strip's upper edge around his temples, the hands pushed it down gently till the cloth slid down, forming a loose ring around his neck.

Topaz eyes closed on their own accord as light entered his vision after what seemed like an eternity. Slowly opening them after a few moments, Shun was greeted by orange hair and wide, brown eyes.

"Mmuhm?" Shun mentally slapped himself at the genius attempt of saying, 'Alice?'

"Sh-Shun?" The girl licked her dry lips nervously.

Shun nodded impassively as he studied her. She had a few scratches on her arms...but what enraged the teen was the mark of bruising caused by a hard slap on her left cheek.

Alice tried to undo the bindings of his wrists. But it seemed like the knots were too tight for her fragile strength to untie so she opted for pulling off the tape from the Ventus brawler's mouth...albeit the fact that she did it a little too fast.

Shun refrained from emitting any sound at the sudden pain. He settled for staring at the girl.

"Are...are you alright?" She looked down while asking in a small voice.

"I'm fine." Shun sighed, "What about you?"

"I...I..." All of a sudden, brown eyes were filled with tears. Alice threw herself at Shun, sobbing uncontrollably.

"Alice?" Shun blinked.

The girl just hiccuped in response, bawling her eyes out, "I wanna go home...I don't...I don't like it here...that man...he's scary...he hit me...and...and it hurt..."

Her hysteric rambling was punctuated by hitching, ragged breaths. Yet each and every word still stabbed the teen's heart. Shun gritted his teeth as anger flashed in topaz eyes.

But before any of them could say something else, heavy footsteps echoed outside the cell. Alice tried to muffle her sobs into Shun's jacket as her small frame trembled with fear and terror of the shadow that lurked around in that place.

"Well, well, well..." The masked figure clapped mockingly "Look who decided to wake up."

"Wiseman..." Shun glared at the man hatefully.

"Hello, dear Shun...enjoying your stay?" Wiseman smirked venomously, "I hope your little...host didn't cause you any trouble."

"N-no...I..."

Shun stopped Alice from speaking any further by nudging her lightly.

"Denying me...again?" Wiseman turned towards the girl who was now shaking like a leaf, "You're still a bit feisty, aren't you? Maybe I'll have to fix it up before proceeding any further...-"

"Just shut up!"

Wiseman turned towards the raven haired teen who had just snapped at him, "Don't consider yourself any lucky, Shun. You're walking on a shattered mirror here. I can do things...unspeakable...unforgivable things...that would have you begging me for mercy."

Shun's tone was chilled as he spoke coldly, "Try me."

He was instantly slammed back into the rough wall with a knee crushing his ribs. The teen coughed hoarsely as he took a shuddering breath and a few specks of crimson escaped his system.

Wiseman leaned forward as he whispered, "You know what they say...try, try again...unless you succeed..."

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"Please Keet?! Please take me...I promise I be good! Please...!" Reddish brown eyes were wide and pleading.

"No Dan...you're going to stay with the others...like the good boy you are." Keith's patience was running thin.

"But Shun need me." Dan grabbed the teen's arm, "He need him friend."

"I'm his friend too, you know? And as his friend, I'm going after him." Keith reminded the boy.

"Take more friends." Dan stomped on the floor stubbornly, "Him need help."

"Dan..."

"No!" To Keith's surprise, the young boy's eyes were tearful now as he argued, "I wanna be a bawler too! Just like Shun! Him say bawler help people! I be the hero! I gonna proud Shun!"

"You're going to make Shun proud of you by holding down the fort while we're away." Keith knelt down in front of the boy, "You can do that too, can't you?"

"Fine then!" Dan turned to leave, "I go myself!"

"What?" Keith frowned as he too stood up.

"I not scared." Dan huffed as he attempted to reach the door's handle.

Keith sighed as he approached the boy and plucked him off the floor by his waist, "Dan...listen to me..."

"No, you listen!" The child kicked around helplessly, "Shun do so many things for me! I do same for him! Him me friend!"

"Dan..."

"No! I go to Shun! Him good than you!"

"Dan..."

"Shun me friend! I no good if I no help!"

"Daniel..."

"And Shun promised! HIM PROMISED HIM BE BACK!"

"DANIEL KUSO!"

"..."

"Dan..." Keith sighed in defeat, "Fine...you're coming along with me. But if you annoy me...or get on my nerves...or be a naughty and bad boy...I'll send you back."

"Yay!" And off, the boy skipped.

"We'll be leaving tomorrow. Go pack up." The blonde teen ordered.

"Okay!" Dan hopped away before pausing, "Um...Keet?"

"Yes?"

"How do me pack?"

"Sigh...You're unbelievable sometimes, you know that?!"

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Shun felt the bitter coppery taste in his mouth as he was pulled out of the realm of darkness. Turning his head to a side, the ninja coughed and spat. To his horror, he saw crimson flecks tainting the stony ground. He hadn't realized he was hurt this bad. All he could remember was Wiseman kicking him in stomach. He expected bruised (or maybe broken) ribs, but he didn't expect the essence of his life that now stained the floor.

Straightening up as best as he could manage in his tied posture, the teen looked around for a certain orange-haired girl.

"Looking for someone?"

He snapped his head up at the venomous tone. In front of him stood none other than the villain of the scene. But what shook him more was the certain young girl present in the hold of the said man.

"Let her go, Wiseman! You already have me..." Shun trailed off as his ribs screamed in pain at the effort. The teen coughed hoarsely.

"I wouldn't bother if I were you, Shun..." Wiseman smirked as he cruelly tightened his grip on the squirming girl.

"Shun..." Tears welled up in warm brown eyes, "Help..."

"Alice..." Shun glared at the man, "Just what do you want?"

"What do I want?" Wiseman let out a menacing laugh, "What I was is you...and the brawlers to perish. What I want is the world to spin in my hands." Wiseman brought out something from his pocket, "So you see Shun...in order to achieve my goal, I had to get rid of the thorns of my path. The most bothersome of these thorns...was the existence of the battle brawlers."

Shun stared at him coldly, "And I care because?"

Wiseman ignored him, "So I decided to send the brawlers back in their pasts and then destroy the machine. That way, the brawlers would've stayed in the prison of time, never to be freed. But you...you ruined my plan!" He was yelling now, "You and that damned dragon crushed it all! And now, look at the mess! If you had just let me do what I was doing, these devils wouldn't have been around to annoy me!"

"These devils...ARE MY FRIENDS!"

Wiseman stepped back at the furious voice.

"AND I'D GIVE MY LIFE TO PROTECT THEM!" Topaz eyes were blazing in anger.

All of a sudden, he couldn't breathe. A hand was wrapped around his neck, choking him as their owner pressed him farther into the wall, "So be it..."

Adrenaline kicking in, the teen brought his -still tied- legs up and kicked the man square in the stomach. As he staggered back at the painful blow, Shun skidded to a side. Wiseman tried to land a solid punch on him but he dodged at the last moment and swung his legs, tripping Wiseman as a result. However, the ninja soon regretted his decision as the man fell right over him, knocking the air out of him.

Staring above in a dazed state, the raven haired teen's breath hitched as the cold metal of a sleek black pistol was pressed against his heart...

TBC!

MWAHAHAHA! Another cliffie! I'm addicted to cliff-hangers whether I'm their writer or reader!

Hope out!

Until next time!