Threads to Life Chapter 18: Dudbears, a Prince of Tennis + Gakuen Alice Crossover fanfic

Hi! I am very sorry for last week. I was very busy and I barely write anything on Microsoft word. I'll try my best to update this story as possible. Once I've adjusted my schedule, I am back in business. I hope you are all still there… domo… ^^

About the title, it's actually 'Dudbears' not 'Dubbears'. Gomen for that mistakes. :P

sweetangel - Tee hee hee... yep, Ryoma sensed that it was not healthy at all... :P You will see and definitely more RyoSaku in the future too... yeah, seems like it... Well, you will also know about that first stone in the future...

tee hee hee... you'll know that too...

Yep, Youichi is really cute...

I'll try to update... thank you very much... This is the new chapter... ^^

P.s: Tee hee hee... I don't really know... I need more time to do it. :P

Chapter 18: Dudbears

Chapter Summary: They were learning it. There were trying to learn what it was but the thing was, they couldn't get it right… or so they thought.

They started to walk outside the lake a few minutes ago. Natsume informed them that he felt another presence of the stone nearby. After a few minutes of walking without being quiet of course, they reached a certain town which was pretty eerie yet at ease area.

Sakuno walked to a large board and read the greetings, "Welcome to the faeries' light, Lumina."

"Sounds interesting ei?" Fuji commented and looked around. The others did the same thing as well. It seemed that the place was filled with lights which were odd from what they usually had. The town was awfully quiet and they thought that it felt odd.

"Something is off in this village?" Momo voiced out as he observed the place.

"Where are the people in this area?" Mikan said as she walked to place.

Ryoma, Natsume and Ruka began exploring the place either. Hotaru touched some artifacts that she could see on the ground. Tsubasa was getting suspicious of the place while Kokoroyomi was surprisingly quiet as they entered there. Eiji tried to look for a person wherever he went but no to avail. Sakuno was a little worried because they couldn't find anyone except…

"Dub!"

Momo looked to his side and blinked twice, "E?"

"Dub!"

"Dub?" Momo mimicked, sweat dropping in the process.

"What's that?" Eiji pointed out the creature that Momo was talking with.

"It's a teddy bear!" Sakuno exclaimed then later on frowned, "a talking teddy bear?"

The bear was carrying a lamp and was wearing something decent like a person. The bear was half the size of an average person.

"Dada Dadda?"

Momo sweat dropped as he was trying to know what the bear was saying.

"Dadda Dud Ba." The bear said.

"I can't understand a thing you say," Momo said and then looked at Ryoma, "Help me out here."

"I don't speak bear." Ryoma said ignoring him which the others sweat drop in the process.

"I missed bear," Mikan suddenly commented, "Bear doesn't talk but he can move."

Sakuno and Eiji were confused about Mikan's words.

"She was talking about a moving teddy bear who does domestic chores and loves bullying Mikan." Hotaru explained.

"Hotaru!"

"Anyway, this bear is different," Hotaru said ignoring Mikan's retort, "I can see it from its look."

"You are right," Eiji said, "Ne, Momo-chii, can you understand what the bear is saying?"

Momo looked at him and scratched his head, "I am trying but the bear keeps saying 'dub' and 'Dada Dadda' to me."

"Try not to copy him." Ryoma suggested boredly.

Momo looked at the bear and said, "Hello, no understand dub."

"Dub?"

"Dub? What?"

"Gak!" Then the bear suddenly turned around and walked away. Momo was shocked when the bear walked away from him.

"W-wait, Mr. bear!" He said as he tried to reach him.

Eiji started to laugh when he witnessed the scene, "Momo-chii was rejected by a talking bear."

"Stop it, senpai!" Momo blushed furiously. He just couldn't believe that he was being ditched by a talking—no—incomprehensible bear.

The others started to laugh even Sakuno. When Momo looked at her, she stopped laughing and apologized.

"Party's over," Hotaru called everyone's attention, "Let's ask someone for help." The inventor walked ahead of them.

"Like you can understand the peop—bears around her—"

Baka! Baka! Baka!

"You were saying?" Hotaru said blowing the imaginary smoke from her baka gun. Her piercing eyes were glaring straight to her victim who was Kokoroyomi.

"N-none…" the mind reader said raising his hand with a white flag.

"Good." With that she turned around and continued to walk.

Everyone sweat dropped when they saw that scene. Eiji leaned closer to Fuji and whispered;

"We should not mess with Imai-san."

"Saa…" Fuji agreed still smiling at them.

The others decided to follow the inventor. Tsubasa was quiet all the time and it was odd for Mikan to see him like that but she let it go for a while. Natsume and Ruka were just walking quietly and didn't bother to initiate a conversation. Ryoma as usual was acting indifferent.

As they continued to walk, they entered a tavern at the western part of the place. There weren't enough people in the place. Sakuno looked around and saw something weird at a corner.

It was a guy that looked like a puzzle piece.

Curious about it, she walked closer to the guy. Ryoma just watched her walk closer to him but he prepared a tennis ball that was inside his pocket just in case something went off.

"Do you want to talk dudbear language?"

"Eh?" Sakuno stopped on her tracks when the guy suddenly talked.

"Do you want to talk dudbear language?" The guy repeated.

Somehow, Sakuno didn't get what he was saying. She could only give him a puzzled look like how he appeared in front of her.

"Ryuzaki-san," Tsubasa leaned to her ear from behind and whispered, "I think he will teach us how to speak with the bears."

She flinched at the sudden closeness between them. She blushed as she looked down, "I—I see."

Unbeknownst to the girl, Ryoma and Ruka glared at the shadow manipulator. Fuji and Tsubasa himself noticed them. Teasing the two, Tsubasa grabbed the girl's shoulder and gestured her to the guy.

"Can you teach us?" Tsubasa asked the guy ignoring the invisible flames behind them.

The guy looked at them first before he said his purpose, "You have to sell the lamps to the dudbears before you talk to them."

"We will sell lamps?" Sakuno repeated thinking what he was telling them.

"Yes," The guy said and then he started giving information. The others went closer as well. Even Ryoma and Ruka did the same thing. The guy then started to instruct them;

"When you say 'dub', that means 'hello' or 'yes'. 'Dud' means 'goodbye' or 'no'. 'Duba' means 'you' while 'duda' means 'me'. 'Dubba means 'friends'. 'Bubu' means 'dudbear'. 'Gugu' means 'everyone else' while 'Da' means 'Light' or 'stars'. 'Ba' means 'night'. 'Dadda' means 'lamp' while 'Dubababa' means 'many' or 'very'. 'Du' means 'little' while 'Baba' means 'music'. 'Dada' means 'please'. 'Gak' means 'displeasure' or a way to showing it. 'Bub' means 'I don't understand'."

Everyone looked at the guy and blinked for several time.

"…"

"Bub?"

Everyone sweat dropped when Momo said that. That could only mean one thing.

They didn't understand most of it.

The guy sighed and he looked at them, "I'll repeat. Make sure that you will understand me this time." The puzzled piece guy repeated what he had said a few minutes ago and this time he did it with a slow manner making everyone understand it. If Inui was there, they would probably have the reference for the translations.

"Got it?" The guy said after that.

"I got it." Fuji said nodding in the process.

"Good." The guy gave three lamps to Fuji, "Be sure to sell these to the bears."

"Why would we do that anyway?" Natsume said boringly.

The guys smirked at them and said, "You'll get what you need after you finish the task."

They made faces after he said that. They understood what the puzzled guy meant. Without saying another word, they left the tavern one by one except for Sakuno who thanked the puzzled guy for the lesson.

Later on:

"Who do we sell the lamp first?" Eiji asked to no one.

"A bear, perhaps?" Kokoroyomi said sarcastically.

Baka! Baka!

"Mind your manners to the senior, baka." Hotaru said who just hit the mind reader on the head with her baka gun.

"Let's search for bears minna." Momo said leading the way. The dunk smasher looked around and finally saw one. The bear was walking to and fro and it looked like it was panicking. He approached the bear and tapped it, "Hello—"

"Gak!" The bear suddenly walked away after that.

"Momo-chii! Look what have you done!" Eiji said walking closer to his junior, "You let bear-san walk away."

"Mada mada dane, senpai." Ryoma teased.

"Oh, quit it!" Momo glared at Ryoma, "You speak bear then."

"che…"

"There's another one," Ruka pointed out as he walked closer to the bear, "Dub."

The bear stopped walking and looked at the animal lover, "Dub."

"Da da." Ruka replied to the bear.

The bear smiled a little and answered him, "Ba Gak!"

"Dub," Ruka looked at Fuji and asked for a lamp. Fuji gave one to him and looked back at the bear, "Dada Dadda?"

"Dadda Dud Ba?" The bear asked.

"Dub." Ruka smiled.

"Dubababababa Dub" The bear smiled back at him. The lamp was being sold after that. The bear immediately walked away and used the lamp the he just bought.

Ruka on the other hand, smiled at the penny that he got. He then turned around to the group, "Guys, I've sold th—"

"SUGOI!" Sakuno, Mikan and Eiji went closer to him and showed an unbelievable expression towards him, "How did you do that?!"

Ruka sweat dropped as he tried to lean away, "W-well… I… I…"

"Nogi-san is an animal lover," Tsubasa said catching Fuji and Ryoma's attention, "No wonder that he understands what the bear is saying."

"The dudbear language is just his guideline but I think he can talk to them without it." Fuji said watching them from their location.

"We have to try too," Tsubasa smiled at them, "I guess it's okay if we failed. It's fun I guess."

"I'll try next," Eiji volunteered and looked at his best friend, "Give me a lamp, Fuji."

Fuji smiled at him and gave him the lamp. The acrobatic player started to look around and search for a bear. Later on, he spotted one. He went closer to the bear and smiled at the same time;

"Dud!"

"Gak!" The bear suddenly walked away from him.

Eiji was surprised at the bear's reply, "M-matte!" He tried to reach for the bear but it ran away from him. He then looked at his friends and scratched his head, "What did I do?"

Everyone sweat dropped when they saw his reaction. Natsume answered his question;

"You were supposed to say 'Dub' not 'Dud'."

"Eh?!"

Ryoma explained it to him this time, "'Dub' means 'yes' or 'hello'. 'Dud' means 'good-bye' or 'no'. You messed up senpai and you kind of offended that bear."

"What?" Eiji was pretty shocked, "I just started talking to them..." He looked down and became gloomy. Sakuno was about to comfort him and told him that it would be alright when Eiji surprised her by raising his head up, "Yosh! Time to approach another one!"

Sakuno and the others watched him look to his side and tried to spot a new one.

"Bear-san!"

Everyone comically sighed when they saw that.

"Gak!"

"Ah!"

"Dub!"

"Kikumaru-senpai…" Momo tried to talk to him.

"Don't worry, I can do it," He gave them a thumps up sign but when he turned around the bear was walking away from him again, "Ah, Duba Dubba!"

The bear stopped from walking and turned to him. Eiji smiled when the bear did that. He walked closer to the bear and talked;

"Duba Duda Dubba, Dub?"

The bear nodded at him, "Duba Bubu?"

Eiji thought hard before he answered, "Duda Gugu."

The conversation went on and they were pretty amazed at the event. Everything was supposed to be fine when the bear suddenly said 'Gak!' to him. Eiji wobbly walked back to them with the lamp in his hand;

"Why is it so hard to sell lamps to them?" The acrobatic player said teary-eyed in the process.

"Mada mada dane, senpai." Ryoma smirked at him.

Eiji pouted and shoved the lamp towards him, "Why don't you try then?"

Ryoma accepted the lamp and smirked at him, "Watch."

They did watch for a few minutes but later on, Ryoma returned back to them, shoving the lamp back to Fuji, "Annoying dudbears." He murmured.

Eiji laughed at his attempt, "Even Ochibi is no match against the bears." He teased.

"Shut it." He glared at his senpai.

Sakuno weakly smiled at their activities. Truth to be told, she was having a hard time at that very moment. Talking to dudbears was a challenge for them but they didn't realize that it was fun to do it.

The others tried as well but failed in the end. Even Sakuno and Mikan tried but they also failed. In the end, Fuji suggested that he should give it a try.

Fuji walked closer to a bear who was just standing at a corner.

"…"

"Dud."

"Gak!"

Everyone comically fell down. Ryoma, Sakuno, Momo and Eiji knew that it was impossible for the tensai to commit mistakes but it was proven wrong about now.

"Sorry guys, it's my fault." Fuji looked at them and stuck his tongue out. His eyes were still closed but he was smiling as he did that.

"Fuji!" Eiji said, "Stop playing games. You did that on purpose."

"Saa… I don't know that." Fuji said looking around once again and looked for another bear. When he found one, he slowly walked closer to that bear and smiled at it.

"Dub."

The bear looked at him and said, "Duba Dadda Dub?"

Fuji nodded and showed the bear his lamp, "Dadda Dud ba."

"Ba Gak!"

Fuji nodded, "Dada Dadda."

"Dubababababa Dub!"

They exchanged materials after that. The dudbear walked away smiling and carrying the lamp in his hand. Fuji walked back to them and showed the money that he got from the dudbear.

"Second lamp, sold." He announced smiling.

"Senpai…" Momo sweat drop as he looked at him, "Tell me; what are the things that you haven't done yet? Let me do it for you please."

"Fuji-senpai is really cool," Mikan said amazed at the turn of event, "He's indeed genius."

"I don't know what you mean guys," Fuji said tilting his head to his right, "I just talked to the bear with their language.

"Yeah, too good to be true." Eiji whispered who was crouching at the corner, drawing some imaginary circles on the ground.

"Senpai, heki dayo." Sakuno comforted him by tapping his back.

The acrobatic player tried a lot of times but failed. For some reason, Ryoma and others didn't bother about not being able to sell one lamp. At least they could try again.

"We need one more lamp," Tsubasa said holding the last lamp, "Who will try for the last time?"

Natsume completely ignored the question. Hotaru totally denied. Momo never tried again.

"I can try."

Everyone looked at the last person who talked. It was Kokoroyomi. Tsubasa walked closer to the mind reader and gave him the lamp.

"Here you go," He said smiling at him, "Good luck."

The mind reader nodded and looked around. He spotted a dudbear and walked closer to it. He stared at the bear for a while before he talked;

"Duda Gak Duba."

"…"

"GAK!"

Everyone comically collapsed once again when they witnessed the mind reader being hit by the dudbear and ran away from him. Mikan shouted at him.

"Just what do you think you were doing?" She asked him.

Kokoroyomi smiled as he stood up scratching his head that the bear him, "I was just kidding."

"Put your jokes in place, dummy." Hotaru warned aiming the baka gun to him once again.

Kokoroyomi saw that and immediately walked away, "I am sorry. I'll be srerious now."

The others chuckled at his action and sighed afterwards. Soon after, he finally found a new bear.

"Dada Duda Dubba." Kokoroyomi said to the bear.

The bear looked at him and talked, "Duba Bubu."

Kokoroyomi thought first before answering, "Duda Duba."

"Duba Duda Dubba, Dub?"

The mind reader closed his eyes and smiled, ""Dubababababa Dub!"

"…"

"I got it!"

Everyone looked at his palm. There was money on it. They remained speechless as they were still observing what had really happened there.

Kokoroyomi sold the last lamp… in his own way.

"How'd you do that?" Momo asked him.

"I talked like a Dudbear." Kokoroyomi answered the obvious.

"We could see that." Everyone murmured.

"Saa… Kokoroyomi-san did a different tactic from Nogi-san and me." Fuji commented.

"Well, we sold all three then, what's next?" Momo asked.

As if on cue, the money that they collected lit and went up. The others followed the location of the light. Sakuno's heart was beating fast once again. She felt it. She felt that strange aura once again. Her stare was focusing at the light that was brightly shining in front of them.

Sakuno walked closer to the light. No one tried to stop her as they knew what was going to happen next. The light suddenly went closer to her but before it could absorb her, a sudden gust of wind went between her and the light. She closed her eyes and covered her body. She also felt that someone was pulling her away from the location.

"Looks like I just made it in time."

Everyone looked at the last person who talked. Their eyes widened when he saw someone standing not far from them. What surprised them, especially Sakuno and Mikan.

The person was carrying the light. The light became materialized and turned into a rare stone.

Ryoma who was actually the one pulling Sakuno from the commotion stared at the newcomer. It was a tall man that clad in a black suit. He was a new face that he didn't know or perhaps the Seigaku didn't, especially when Mikan uttered a word.

"S-Shiki-san…"

Done! How was this chapter? I am very sorry guys… I am lagging from my chapters but I promise that I'll keep updating my ongoing fics and there is no way that I'll abandon them. I am just busy these days but I'll do my very best. Just reach me on my FB page, if you can't reach me here… Domo… ^^

Reviews Please. Need motivation… domo… for the other reviews of my other fics, I am going to review to them later when I come back... domo... ^^

about the dudbear language, I only gave the simplest translation that the guy that looked like a puzzled piece. If you cannot understand their sentences I'll give you the meaning but for the meantime, try to understand the literal meaning mentioned above.

Dudbear event was originated from the game, Legend of Mana, as well. I didn't follow what really happened in the game but the main character did sell lamps as it was the character's task. I do not own the game alright... Zero-related. ^^

A new character from Gakuen Alice appeared... what now? Find that out domo...

Next Chapter: Barrier Alice