"The worst pain in the world goes beyond the physical. Even further beyond any other emotional pain one can feel. It is the betrayal of a friend." -Heather Brewer, Ninth Grade Slays
The masked girl sat at the table in Bakugan Interspace, slowly rolling the small, white sphere between her fingers. Her legs were propped up on the chair across the table, despite the fact that she was wearing a skirt. It didn't matter, though. She wore shorts underneath that anyway.
She adjusted her position so that she was sitting upright but her cape got pinned against the back of the chair. She tugged on it absently and it came free, but it caused the satin white fabric that had been placed over her blue bun to be displaced. In irritation, the girl adjusted it again, setting the golden headband the veil was attached to in the correct position. The warmed metal that lined the back of her neck shifted, and a cooler portion made her shiver and bite her tongue. After that, she pulled out a compact mirror and straightened the thin, translucent fabric that covered her lower face.
Her golden eyes, she noticed, still had small traces of redness lining the irises. After a moment of staring at the redness and realizing that she still couldn't place where it was from, she folded up the mirror and slid it into the pocket of her shorts.
Rin stood up and glanced around, tucking the Bakugan ball into the pocket that didn't house the mirror. She knew that Splight didn't like to be pressed against hard things, especially metal. Even though she couldn't remember being told that, and she knew that Splight didn't talk, her muscle memory still abided by the rule.
As she walked away from the virtual cafe in Interspace, sipping the last of a latte, she leisurely made her way toward the commons. It was time to see if her request for a battle this afternoon had been processed.
She kept her chin up as she walked, her back and shoulders straight. Just that action alone made her cape flare out dramatically, and her skirt ruffled in the slight breeze conjured by her movement. The boots on her feet gave her an extra two inches in height, and even though her mistress had assured her that she had been wearing heels her whole life, Rin still stumbled every so often.
But despite that, she still attracted the gazes of the nearby brawlers. Almost every one of the plainly clothed amateurs turned their heads to get a look at the regal, masked brawler who had only just shown up today. Whispers were hissed about her, about her veil, cape, and attribute pendant that was fixed just upon the neckline of her shirt. About her oddly colored eyes. Nothing about the redness that so faintly lined that liquid metal, though.
A few girls nearby were murmuring to each other about how expensive the outfit looked. The girl in the head, with a dark mop of curls, had her back to Rin, yet continually glanced back at her. Her eyes were blue, a sharp contrast to Rin's yellow gaze. Rin stopped, masking this action as tossing her empty coffee cup in the garbage and not liking the look the girl was giving her in the slightest. It was a steely, challenging gaze. Defiant, although what she was defying was a mystery to Rin.
After a few moments, the girls moved away, throwing cold glares back at her. The blue haired girl gave them a chilling glance in return, but she continued on her way. Her jaw clenched unconsciously, but she quickly let it relax. The slight discoloration that was forming underneath the burns on along her chin was sufficiently masked, she assured herself. Even though the translucent purple face veil fell from just beneath her eyes to about an inch below her chin, she couldn't help but be nervous that the dark red burns would be noticed.
Her mistress had said they were punishment for her acting out earlier that day, and it was from that struggle that she lost her memory. Rin wasn't surprised. It made sense, after all, with all the bruises and electrical burns that snaked over her skin. Her arms were covered in the same mesh-like material as her face veil, effectively concealing the spiderweb like markings and other discolorations. Thankfully, none had been transferred to the exposed parts of her legs.
It was now that Rin realized that she had reached the center of the commons, where three screens rotated around each other. One showed the battle that was currently taking place: Shun Kazami against some brawler ranked fifteen. The unnamed boy was getting hammered.
The screen to the right of this one showed a warning message about a battle arena that was closed for restorations, and then it's content switched to show another battle currently taking place. This one showed an orange haired girl dressed in brown brawling with a Sub-Terra Bakugan against a girl with green eyes. She was brawling with an Aquos Bakugan and seemed to be giving the Sub-Terra battler some trouble, but somehow, Rin got the feeling the Sub-Terra girl was going to win.
And the last screen showed the battle lineup. That was the one that Rin focused her attention on. Her hand ducked underneath her skirt and dipped into her pocket, fishing out Splight again. Her eyes scanned the screen quickly, searching for her name. It took her a few moments, but they locked onto the bar with her name on it.
"Rin Vs. Ace Grit of the Bakugan Battle Brawlers." The battle was to take place at 7:30 that evening.
Rin smirked. This would be interesting.
"Ace?"
Ace glanced toward the door of the waiting room at the sound of Mira's voice. He tugged the glove on completely before getting to his feet and giving her a confused look.
"What are you doing here?"
"Wow, that's awfully cold," she grinned, crossing the distance between them. She seated herself on the bench to the left of where Ace was standing, casting a slight gray shadow on the white floor and bench. Her cape fluttered as she placed her hands behind her on the edge of the bench, and she flashed him a smile. He returned it and bent down to zip up his boots, but as his back made that downward motion, he caught the smile dying on her lips.
"Can I talk to you for a second?" He glanced up in surprise, noticing how quickly her expression darkened. His fingers paused at the top of the first zipper, which he had completed, before yanking the other one up and straightening upright.
"What's up Mira?" he questioned, sitting himself beside her. His arm came around her back so that his left hand rested on her left arm, pulling her close. She fell against him gently, molding perfectly against his frame. Her head rested on his chest, and her free hand laced her fingers through his. He smiled despite her serious demeanor and breathed in the sweet, honey-like scent of her hair.
"Ace... I just... this is all getting so out of hand," she whispered, rubbing her thumb against the skin of his hand. Instantly, Ace's mood dropped. "Can't you feel it? It's just... Without Dan here..."
"I know what you mean," he murmured, rubbing his own thumb against the bare skin of her upper arm. "He always acted like an idiot, and at first, that was annoying."
"Really annoying," Mira agreed with a small, smothered giggle. Her shoulders relaxed as she delved into her memories of the good old days. "I kept wondering if it would even be possible for us to beat my brother and the Vexos, even though Dan was a strong battler. He acted really silly all the time. I couldn't tell if he was taking it seriously."
"I know, right?" Ace chuckled. "But after his first battle with Gus, I think we all noticed a change in him."
"Yeah... He got much more dedicated."
"He was pretty dedicated to start with, wasn't he?" Wilda asked, popping out of his ball on the bench beside Mira.
"Yeah, he was," Mira agreed. "Remember we thought he'd lose to Lync and Volt right of the bat?"
"We thought that way because he was a human," Ace nodded. "Boy, were we wrong!" Mira giggled softly, but then pulled herself into an upright position next to Ace. She let go of his hand only to encase the other in the warmth of it.
"It's only been a week, but already, the Brawlers are fractured," she said quietly. Her eyes were sad, but no tears sparkled. The only time in the past three years Ace had seen Mira cry had been when she learned that there might be a way to find Mylene and Shadow. Those had been tears of relief, because both she and Keith had felt responsible for their fates.
"Only a week, huh?" Ace sighed, turning his gaze down to the floor. "Only that long..."
"I know. It seems like it's been a month or something..." Her hand constricted around his. "We have to find him."
"I know," Ace agreed. "But it's a really crummy feeling when you know you're doing your best and-."
"-it's not good enough," they said together. Mira and Ace locked gazes, both sad, both determined. Both mirrors of each other.
They sat together for a few more minutes before Percival popped out of his ball beside Ace, moving to float in front of him. "Ace, I apologize for interrupting, but our battle will be starting shortly."
Ace nodded. "Thanks Percival," he said. His voice had gone from polite, worried sorrow to confident almost disturbingly quickly, but Mira was used to it. She stood up and gave him an encouraging smile. He smirked up at her as he also straightened up, pulling his sleeves up and tugging on his white gloves again.
"Who are you fighting?" Mira questioned.
"This new brawler named Rin. Apparently she joined the ranks of Interspace battlers today. She's got a cape and is supposedly masked." Mira stared at him in mild surprise.
"Masked?" she repeated. Ace nodded, adjusting his sleeves and then picking up his cape from the bench.
"Can you help me with this?" he asked. Mira moved behind him fluidly to secure the cape beneath the shoulder pads of his vest, and all the while, Ace noted from the mirror that the troubled expression on her face never left. He extended his arms to the side while she did her thing, and then she pushed them back down. Ace turned around to face her, not the least bit taken by surprise when her lips came and lightly kissed his cheek.
"Please be careful," she murmured in his ear after she had wrapped her arms around his neck. "If the Brawlers have bad luck with anything, it's opponents with masks."
"The Brawlers with masks caused a bit of trouble, too," Ace grinned. "That's how we took Alpha city."
"That just proves my point!" Mira replied indignantly. She pulled back a bit so that she could glare at him. He grinned at her at first, then he realized she was serious. He blinked.
"Mira?"
"All the masked brawlers are rather powerful. We should know that by now. So, I don't want you to underestimate your opponent. Okay?"
"Okay Mira," he replied, his eyes wide. "I won't, I promise." She nodded, the glare fading from view but the worried creases around her eyes remaining. "Hey..." He reached around his neck to take her hands, bringing them in front of him so that he held them together between them. "I'm going to be fine. Don't worry."
"Sorry," she smiled. "I guess I got a bit carried away. Take 'em down!"
"No problem," he grinned, starting toward the doors. "Gonna watch?"
"I wouldn't miss this for the world!" Ace smirked to himself, satisfied that she sounded like her own self again.
"Good luck, Percival," Wilda called.
"Thank you, Wilda."
"Attention Bakugan Battle fans! The match between the mysterious masked brawler Rin and Ace Grit of the Bakugan Battle Brawlers will now begin!"
Ace and Rin glared at each other from the opposite sides of the field. Their faces appeared on screens above each brawler, magnifying their images for everyone in the arena to see. The roar of the crowd blocked out most noises from their ears, and despite the close up of Rin, her lower face was masked from everyone in the crowd.
"Bakugan field, open!"
The ring of light appeared in the center of the battle area, spreading out in a large circle quickly. A roar erupted from the crowd around them while both battlers dropped their smirks for glares of equal intensity.
"I'll start!" Ace cried. "Gate card, set!" He tossed the card down into the arena, leaping into the air as he did so. When his feet touched the ground again, he was smirking. "You're going down, Rin!"
"We'll see about that," she replied. Her voice echoed and repeated itself a few times before fading. Ace shuddered at the realization that Masquerade's voice had echoed the same way, from what Dan and the other Brawlers had told him. He shook it off, though, and prepared to fight.
"Bakugan brawl!" he shouted, jumping up and flinging the tiny ball into the arena. The force of the throw sent him into a front flip, which he recovered from by landing on his feet. "Darkus Alpha Percival, stand!"
Dark, purple beams of light circled around the Bakugan in a manner eerily similar to a tornado. Rin braced herself, her cape, skirt and veil flapping heavily in the gale conjured by his emergence. Bright violet sparkles surrounded the tornado, and the first things to emerge were Alpha Percival's horns. They come down over his head to point toward his opponent shaped almost like the horns on the Darkus emblem. His head came into view next, shaped exactly the same as his previous evolutions had been. Then, the tornado exploded outward, revealing the spiked armor on his chest and legs. His long purple and red cape hung from the heads on his shoulders, completely still despite the violent torrents buffeting Rin and Ace. Ace, however, didn't seem to be bothered by it.
Rin eyed her opponent with a calculating gaze, sizing him up. Her Baku-Collar showed that he sported a power level of 1200, which was 200 more than her own Bakugan. Rin smirked. For the first battle she could remember, this would be interesting.
"Bakugan, brawl!" She spun, her cape catching the wind gracefully before she shot her Bakugan into the arena. "Bakugan, stand! Rise, Haos Splight!" The Bakugan emerged from its ball with a roar, raising it blunt arms threateningly. Ace's eyes widened despite his eyebrows creasing. Something was wrong here. He could feel it, but what was it?
"Did I do something to upset you? Poor baby," Rin taunted when he didn't do anything but watch with a blank look. Ace hissed.
"You'll be the upset one. Percival!"
"I hear you Ace!"
"Ability, activate! Unpenned Future!" Percival clenched his fists and let out a growl as his body began to glow a beautiful, misty violet color. The energy surrounded him and his cape began to flap slightly.
Rin frowned at her Baku-Collar as Percival's power level jumped up by two hundred points. Her lips then curled into a small smile, and she pulled out a card of her own.
"Ability, activate," she all but whispered. "Volting mirage." Splight let out a sound similar to gas leaking out of a pipe before vanishing into thin air, leaving behind an inky purple cloud to grow. Rin lowered her arm, where the card floated, and smirked as the metallic mist darkened the arena.
Ace hissed as soon as he saw the fog, but once it surrounded him and clung to his clothes like dust, rendering him completely blind, he licked his lips and tasted sulfur. The silence that had grown around him left an annoying ringing in his ears, prompting a growl to escape his throat. "Percival!" he shouted. "Can you hear me?" He got no response, and in nervous anger, he checked the score on his Baku-Collar. Splight had gained 200 points. He was still behind Percival, much to Ace's relief.
"Your move." Ace jumped when Rin's voice echoed through the darkness. Ace hissed.
"What are you playing at?" he yelled.
"Oh, I suppose you're right..." The smug satisfaction in Rin's voice served only to anger Ace further. He growled, glancing from right to left in case the masked girl happened to appear beside him. "You can't make a move right now, can you?"
"Isn't it a little early to make a move like this?" Ace grumbled, holding a hand up in front of his face. It wasn't dark, but he couldn't see it. He shuddered.
"Oh, don't tell me you're going to whine, Ace..." Rin's voice was taunting. She was baiting him. "Looks like you have no choice but to open your Gate Card."
"Agh!" Ace hissed. How'd she know that I'd have an ability nullifying Gate Card? "Fine, you wanna play like this? Gate card, open! Ring Zero!" And just like that, the metallic cloud that smelled of sulfur vanished, revealing a smirking Rin and Splight. Before Ace could react, however, Rin held a hand out.
"Go!" she shouted, a card appearing above her wrist. "Doom slash!"
"What?!" Ace yelped as Splight jumped forward, his claws shooting out of his arms.
"Ace!" Percival warned.
"Agh... Ability, activate! Eternal shield!" Two hundred points suddenly bumped Percival's power level up, and a black, obsidian barricade appeared in front of him. There were numerous facets along it, and each one reflected the oncoming Bakugan like the eyes of an insect.
The claws slammed into the shield with a loud ringing noise similar to a knife being sharpened. After a few tries to get the shield to break, Splight jumped back. His breath came in pants.
"Something's weird here," Ace murmured. He squinted across the battle field at Rin. "Why do I feel like I know her? And why didn't she attack when we couldn't see?"
"Focus Ace!" Percival growled. "Don't let her distract you."
"I'm not distracted! Ability activate! Delta Claymore!"
"Ooh, yes..." the armored, Darkus bakugan chuckled. "This is one of my favorites." A large, amethyst and silver sword appeared in front of Percival in a cloud of yellow, poisonous looking mist. Once again, the smell of sulfur made Ace want to gag, but he bit his tongue. Percival's hand closed around the jeweled black hilt of the weapon, which was hanging horizontally in front of him. In an instant, he had yanked it down so that it was angled out toward the ground to his right.
With his legs spread in a steady stance, Rin could finally get a clear view of all his armor. The plates from the tips of his toes to his knees were dark crimson, lined with silver. Spikes were placed at random places all around them, and the tips were stained in an even deeper red. The color of blood. Where those plates ended, they gave way to Percival's purple legs. Leading from his hips were black plates that overlapped each other along the sides of his calves to his knees, much like Knight Percival. His breastplate was silver, featuring an indigo gem set just over where his breastbone would be if he were a human, and extended to his golden horns shaped like horse shoes. His cape, which was red on the underside and the deepest of purples on the back, was secured over his shoulders by the two heads that mirrored his own, also like his Knight Percival evolution. His arms were protected from his wrists to his elbows, where inky forearm guards covered his skin. Two circlets wrapped around his biceps, defining the muscle there. His eyes glinted in the bright light of the arena, and upon the appearance of the sword, a deafening roar had arisen among the spectators.
"How do you like that?" Ace smirked at Rin. She sneered back.
"Please. You call that a counterattack?" Rin pressed two keys on her Baku-Collar, causing the screen to appear. "Battle gear!" she cried out, snatching the gear out of the air.
"Did she say Battle Gear?" Ace breathed.
"Battle Gear, boost!" Rin shouted, doing a backflip and tossing the gear up in the air using an underhand throw.
The gear appeared after glowing brightly, causing the stands to quiet naturally for the first time since the battle started. Ace hissed as several long chains appeared around Splight, encircling him. They waved in the air, acting like tentacles attached to a triangular backpack fixed on Splight's backside. This feature was gold and white, and every so often it would send a lightning strike out to flow along the chains.
Ace smirked. "Two can play that game!" he shouted. He tapped three keys on his Baku-Collar.
"Ready, Stratus Medley."
"Battle Gear, boost!" Ace yelled, twisting before tossing the Gear into the arena.
Percival's cape glowed before wrapping around his upper arms, melting around the circlets on his biceps and forming sturdy, platinum armor. The armor molded perfectly around the heads on Percival's shoulders before jutting down over his already protective breastplates. There, more spikes appeared, and his stomach was gifted with a layer of silver coating. Percival held out his empty hand, then closed his hand tightly around the solid hilt of a deadly looking black sickle. Percival then crossed them in front of his chest, and Ace was sure that if he were a human he'd be smirking at that moment.
"Impressive," Rin called. "Does it come with extra batteries?"
"Shut up," Ace snarled.
"Battle Gear Ability Level Oxne, activate!" both parties shouted.
"Arbitrary Dimension!" Rin cried.
"Trinity Deimos!" Ace yelled.
Percival braced himself, holding his weapons steady in front of his chest as they began to glow. Splight was silent as each of his chains branched out in random directions, shooting past Percival and instead disappearing in some place far out of sight. Purple energy began to appear in front of Percival's heads, appearing to be sucked from his swords up his arms to the heads on his shoulders. They rotated so that they were pointing toward Splight, just as his Geor Gunner ability had three years ago. And it was then that Ace realized that there were golden lights growing in intensity in the distance... attached to the chains that Splight had unleashed.
At the same time, the attacks erupted. Percival's landed first, but the victory was short lived. Instantly, thirty golden beams slammed into his chest and back, and his cry of pain even overshadowed the yells of the crowd.
"Percival!" Ace shouted as wisps of the energy shot around him. He was holding up an arm in an attempt to shield himself from the attack when his eyes found the scoreboard. He was still ahead by two hundred and fifty points, thanks to his Battle Gear.
"Ability activate! Daybreak!"
"Huh?" While his mind rushed to figure out how her Splight had recovered so quickly, the only things he could make sense of were the two golden rays of light arcing from Splight's claws. His eyes flicked to the scoreboard. Splight had surpassed Percival's power level by more than five hundred points! But that didn't make sense, he reasoned with light speed. Rin should have been four hundred points lower than the power level she had...
Percival: 1450
Splight: 2100
"Ace, look out!" Mira screamed from behind him.
He didn't even know he was activating an ability until Percival moved to defend himself.
"Ability, activate! Eternal shield!" he called out numbly. The beveled, obsidian shield sprung up in front of Percival, sparing him from the worst of the attack. Ace's eyes were glued to the scoreboard, though, and in his panic, the two hundred point increase on Percival's behalf seemed like oxygen to a drowning man. His momentary relief, though, was snuffed out when Percival let out another grunt, his feet beginning to slip on the smooth surface of the arena. Ace gasped, stumbling backward as the last powerful gusts of wind buffeted him.
"Ace, I'm sorry!"
"Percival!" The shield shattered and the Darkus Bakugan was knocked off his feet, causing him to fly through the air as he was propelled by the blasts. That was when Ace noticed he was heading straight for a crowd of people, all of whom had realized what was about to happen. Their screams reached their peaks just before Percival began to glow, and he swirled back into his Bakugan ball. The Bakugan shot back to Ace, landing with small sounds of impact at Ace's feet. He could only hear them because the arena became deadly silent after the spectators stopped their fearful shrieking. He growled, glancing up at the display of his Life Gauge on the scoreboard. It had dropped by 200 points.
"Wait, she should have been down four hundred points," he protested. "I should have won that."
"That was pathetic," Rin sneered, holding up a hand and inviting Splight to return to it. He shot back to her like a comet, and her fingers wrapped around the tiny white ball as though it were made of velvet. Her fingers were relishing the sensation. Ace bent over, his eyes not leaving her petite figure for a second as he scooped Percival up off the ground with shaking hands. "If you think you should have won, think again. I activated an ability called Oblivious Sinner. It completely nullifies the opponent's ability, which, in this case, was Trinity Deimos." If anything, this served to anger Ace even more, and if he wasn't already going completely crazy, the smug smirk her eyes hinted at was going to make him go insane. Suddenly, she reminded him of Mylene, and that only served to give him the chills.
"I'm sorry, Ace," the Darkus Bakugan apologized. "It appears she got the better of me."
"Me too," Ace muttered. "I don't understand what it is. I can't focus enough to finish this battle like she did, and she seems to know it. And find it funny. And I can't shake the feeling that I know her from somewhere."
"Apparently Mira feels the same way," Percival pointed out. Ace blinked.
"Huh?" he murmured as he turned. His eyes found her right away from her glinting golden shoulder plates. She was leaning forward in her seat and her lips moving quickly, leading Ace to assume that she was having a similar discussion with Wilda. After barely a moment she noticed his perplexed gaze and she flashed him a just as confused, nervous glance. Its reappearance unnerved Ace even more than the mystery battler across the arena.
"I haven't seen her look that way since-"
"-Keith was Spectra," Percival and Ace both said. Ace shot him an uncertain look.
"This isn't good..." Ace muttered, glancing back at Rin. "I know I know her from somewhere."
"You do, I feel it as well," Percival pointed out. "As do Mira and Wilda."
"But did you notice that when she fought, it was like she was just toying with us?"
"Yes. When she activated Volting Mirage..." Ace froze as Percival's mention of the ability, and at that moment, Percival seemed to get it, too. "It can't be-"
"Shit!" Ace snarled, whirling around. "Is that Runo?"
"What are you whispering about over there?" Rin questioned, the amusement evident in her familiar yet still echoey voice. "I hope you aren't saying bad things about me... That would be rude, wouldn't it? Especially after I gave you so many chances to take me down!" Ace hissed.
"That voice could definitely be hers," he growled. "Damn!"
The uneasy murmuring that had subdued the arena echoed exactly how Ace felt but would never admit. However, he knew that Mira felt it, too, simply because he knew that she'd pick up on something like that. He licked his lips, but then stepped back up to his place on the edge of the arena.
"Let's see if we can throw up enough wind to blow her veil around." Ace held Percival up near his lips, locking his eyes on Rin's white and gold headdress. "Or maybe get the one on her face to blow up near her eyes. I think that she had gold eyes on the close up... Damn, we need Marucho or Ren..."
"Gate Card, set!" her next move was meant to interrupt their conversation, but Ace continued speaking anyway.
"Do you mind taking a few hits for Dan and Drago?"
"Not at all, Ace," Percival assured him. "Just keep our power difference less than five hundred. We can drag this out for as long as we want."
"Hey, don't you know it's rude to gossip, huh? Bakugan, brawl! Bakugan, stand!"
"Can you guess what Gate Card she has?" Percival asked.
"It'll take a few minutes, but we'll worry about that later. Let's go!"
"Alright!"
"You may have gotten the drop on me last time, but that won't happen again!" Ace yelled. "Bakugan, brawl! Bakugan stand! Rise, Darkus Alpha Percival!"
"Tell me, Ace Grit," Rin asked, her voice filtering into Ace's perfectly clearly despite their distance. He stiffened. "Why do you fight?"
"Why do I...? What sort of question is that?" he demanded. Whatever he had expected her to ask, it certainly hadn't been that.
"Just give me an answer," she rolled her eyes, "before I tear you and your Bakugan to shreds."
"As if that's going to happen," he snarled. "Percival!"
"I hear you Ace."
"Ability activate! Vrondi Striker!" Percival jumped up into the air, crossing his arms in front of his chest. His cape waved in an invisible breeze, and dark clouds began to gather in the space above the arena, and purple lightning strikes shot out randomly.
Percival: 1200
Splight: 800
Before the strike the Darkus team was waiting for could hit, Rin had decided to go on the offensive.
"Fine, have it your way. I'm afraid you'll come to regret it. Ability, activate! Doom slash!" Splight moved faster than the lightning could, and it shot down to leave a dark shadow on the ground where he had been standing.
"What?" Ace and Percival both yelled, then Percival was bowled over by Splight's attack. Percival grunted as the two of them stumbled closer to Ace, Splight growling as he struggled to land a hit and Percival gasping each time he managed to avoid one.
Percival: 1200
Splight: 1200
"Ace," Percival panted.
"Ability, activate! Delta claymore!" Percival caught the hilt easily, then swung it at Splight's claws. They collided with a clang, sending sparks flying across the arena. Ace drew in the smell of burning metal and gritted his teeth, but kept at it.
"Ability, activate! Daybreak!" Splight leapt back, holding up his claws in front of him. The rays of light shot out quickly, slamming into Percival's armor with several bangs and small explosions.
"Percival!" Ace shouted.
"I'm alright, Ace," Percival called a moment later, once the smoke had faded away. Ace nodded.
"Alright then. Let's heat things up! Fusion ability, activate! Omicron Achlys!" he called, pointing his left fist up in air.
The heads on Percival's shoulders all turned so that they were pointing toward Splight, but Percival also held his sword steady toward his opponent. The energy gathered in Percival's mouths and at the tip of his sword, preparing to be released at the same time. Rin clenched her jaw, then let it relax. The bruise there was irritating her to no end. Despite this, though, she smirked.
Percival: 1700
Splight: 1500
"Ability, activate! Darkus affirmation!" Splight's colors shanged from white and gold to purple, black and silver in a matter of seconds, and in that time, Percival's power dropped. The attack collided with Splight harmlessly, but sent powerful blasts of wind in either direction. Ace and Rin both braced themselves, but Ace squinted at Rin as hard as he could while still making out defining features. It was no use, though, because the distance was still far to great for him to make out any characteristics of the sort.
Percival jumped back, breathing hard, to take in what new card he had been handed by Fate. Ace took several deep breaths, beginning to feel that familiar strain hard battles had on him. But his blood was flowing, adrenaline pumping, and he felt alive. And that was doing wonders for his processing ability.
"Runo's Splight can change to Darkus," he said, trusting Percival to hear him.
"Yes, I know. Let's keep going!"
"Okay! Rin, don't think that you have the upper hand just because you have the higher power level," he smirked. Rin smirked at him. "Ability, activate! Time Locked Fate!"
Percival let out a satisfied breath before leaping into the air. His body began to spin, rotating so that the horns atop his head formed a perfect, golden circle. His cape wrapped around his body so that he was shaped like a torpedo, tapering off by his feet so that he could move through the air with ease. With this accomplished, he began to circle in the airspace above Splight, who let out a roar, then ceased moving.
"Time Locked Fate is an ability that shuts down the movement of the opponent Bakugan and prevents abilities from being activated," Ace smirked. He pointed across the arena at Rin. "But best of all, it takes down the opponent's power level as long as Percival keeps circling."
Rin smirked. "Good move. Your idea is to try to force me to open up my Gate Card, right?" Ace didn't say anything, only continued to smirk at her.
"It's your funeral if you don't do something. I'm just limiting your options."
The smirk was the largest lie he had ever told in his life. She should have been freaking out, doing something to stop Splight from losing the match. The longer she kept up her relaxed act, the lower the numbers got, and the more anxious he became. Her power level had dropped from one thousand eight hundred to one thousand in a matter of twenty seconds, and it was still dropping. But she still wasn't bothered.
"What's her problem?" he asked no one. Rin said nothing, but once the number dropped to five hundred, she made a move.
"Ready, Perpetual Vengeance."
"Battle gear, boost! Gate card, open! Enemy resetter!" she shouted, chucking the small, hexagonal Battle Gear into the arena. Ace and Percival hissed.
"Damn, she has a Darkus gear?" Ace muttered.
"Enemy Resetter is a Gate Card that nullifies all of my opponent's abilities," Rin called. The glee in her voice was going to make Ace sick. "But on top of that, it also activates the Level 2 Class Battle Gear Ability! Bet you didn't see that one coming, did you?"
Ace stared at her for a moment, then smirked. "Fine then. Two can play at that game. Percival?"
"Go for it, Ace," Percival grunted from where he had been forced out of his spiral. He was floating high above Splight, out of reach of the now black chains that waved from Splight's back. Additional chains had grown from where his claws had been, but these were shorter and tipped with what looked like sharpened grappling hooks.
"Ready, Stratus Medley."
"Battle Gear, boost!" Ace shouted, jumping up and flinging it toward Percival. Seconds later, Percival floated with the Battle Gear attached to his back and a sickle grasped in his hand, glaring down at the Darkus Splight.
For a few moments, neither of them made a move. This time, Ace didn't want to be the attacker. If he were on the evasive this time, things might be a little easier. But first, he had to get his power level back up in a safe range.
"You're not going to make a move?" Rin asked. "What is this, chess?"
"Hmph. You want something interesting to happen? You should do something for a change. It's like I've been hauling dead weight!" Rin chuckled.
"Fine then. Doesn't seem like you'd want to fight a defensive battle considering how things have been going, but alright. Battle Gear Ability activate! Perpetual Expiation!" Instantly, the arena was filled with painful, white light. Both Ace and Percival yelled in unison with the spectators at the burning that assaulted their eyes. Ace dropped to the ground, covering his eyes to try to ease the burning, but even if he had left his eyes uncovered, he wouldn't have been able to see the chains that snaked up from Splight's "fingers". They all shot toward Percival with a force ten times that of rocket launchers, and the grappling hooks swung around his ankles, wrists, and body like anchors.
"Ace!" Percival choked, his voice straining as he struggled to remain airborne. His eyes were shut tightly, just like everyone else in the audience, but Rin just laughed.
"That's not even the best part!" she giggled insanely. Ace growled, squinting against the light. "Your power level is too low, Ace! My mistress will be quite pleased with a new, lively specimen." Ace froze. No!
"Runo!" Mira shouted. "Stop it!" Her voice was so agonized Ace could hear the tears in it. A sensation that rivaled physical pain burned in his chest at the sheer distress in Mira's voice. He groaned.
All of a sudden, the sound of a gasp reached Ace's ears. "Runo?" Rin whispered. The light died, but Ace didn't move for a moment. After he reasoned that the attack had stopped and all chatter had ceased, he dared open his eyes. Amazingly, no flashbulbs greeted him, but the first thing he looked for was Percival. He found him a second later when he collided with the ground. After determining that he wasn't seriously injured or about to go back into ball form, he found himself staring across the arena at a close up of Rin's face on the screen. Her golden eyes were wide, and the utter fear on her face reminded him of Runo's when she was stuck in the Dimensional Gate.
"Wait... why does that name sound familiar?" she murmured, taking several steps back. Her hand flew to her forehead. Her eyes darted around, and Ace noticed a slight shift in color. They flashed emerald green. This was Runo!
"It's Runo!" Ace shouted. "Mira, get Ren!"
"No need!" the Darkus brawler called. He let out a grunt as his feet touched down within the circle beside Ace.
"That was fast," Ace commented as he straightened up, despite the giddiness he felt at nearly losing Percival. He definitely owed Mira a dinner at the most expensive restaurant here on Earth as soon as this battle was finished.
"Don't mention it. Activate Erebos Enforcer," he said in his raspy tone. Ace was too distracted by the friend who was struggling to grasp what was going on the other side of the arena to protest against the order.
"Fusion Ability, activate! Erebos Enforcer!" Ren opened his hand and Linehalt glowed, shooting into the battle field. He emerged with a threatening snarl, after which Percival's power level increased by three hundred points.
Linehalt: 900
Percival: 1550
Splight: 2100
Percival held up his now serrated sickle, just as Linehalt took a battle stance. However, his intervention was apparently not needed, as Runo suddenly dropped to her knees and let out a horrible scream. It cut through the silence of the arena like a knife through butter, and several people began to teleport out.
"Can you get everyone out of the arena?" Mira cried, running down the path from the door to the waiting rooms. Briefly, Ace wondered how she had gotten there. She must have jumped from up above. "This is an emergency, there has to be some sort of failsafe, right?"
"Yes and no," Ren explained. "There is if the system is in danger of shutting down. It automatically transports all the battlers-"
"We don't have time for this!" Ace snapped. "What if the Gundalians are here? They'll snatch her before we can do anything unless we do something now." Ren shot him a serious look, but nodded a moment later.
"I understand. We'll have to transport them directly to the outside world, otherwise we'll overload the system."
"Well, do that then!" Mira cried before jumping down into the Bakugan arena.
"Wait!" Ren and Ace protested, the latter starting to call her name and run after her, but Ren grabbed his arm.
"Stay focused! See if you can snap Splight out of the hypnosis. If you can, Runo will get out of it, too," Ren said urgently. "Linehalt will get Mira across safely." Ace nodded.
"Percival!" he shouted. "You gotta shut Splight down!"
"I hear you, Ace!" Percival leapt toward Splight, raising his sickle in preparation of the coming fight.
Mira was sprinting across the arena but had only made it about a fourth of the way across before Linehalt scooped her up. She yelped in surprise, but upon realizing that it was a friendly force, shouted her thanks.
"Anytime, Mira," Linehalt replied gently. Mira offered no further conversation, because then, she was at Runo's side.
"Runo!" she cried, kneeling beside her friend. Runo laid there in a fetal position, her hands pressed as hard as they could be against her head. She let out another cry of pain, screaming out into the arena, where her yells were being lost in the rising chaos.
"No!" she screamed. "No! Leave me alone!"
"Runo! Snap out of it!" Mira's hands came down hard on Runo's shoulders, only to be slapped away.
"NO!" Her scream was the worst thing Mira had ever heard. She froze, the sheer tortured edge to the cry piercing her deeper than any blade could. Her hands hovered there as the world fell away to be replaced with a twisting, darkened dimension. Mira gasped, her eyes darting around as the rest of her remained paralyzed. Runo was floating before her, convulsing in silence. Mira could see everything at once, including the front of Runo's body, and her mouth that was open in a silent, eternal screech. And her dark green, horrified eyes.
Mira's mouth was open wide in awful amazement at the darkened world around her friend, but whether or not she still had a mouth in this realm was beyond her. Her body seemed to have vanished into the watery, purple expanse. She felt nothing physical at all, not the metal that she knew was beneath her body's legs, nor the wind from the battle her mind knew was happening nearby. Nothing existed but her friend, floating curled up, in this bottomless nothingness. She was the only blur brightness in this place that was considerably absent of light, despite the ability to see through it. The liquid like substance they floated in shimmered, and that was the closest thing the girls had to light here aside from Runo's white skirt.
"Runo!" she tried to call out, but the sound was dulled, as if she were speaking into a pillow, or underwater. Runo didn't stir, only convulsed in the same rhythm she had before. Her ears ringing was the closest thing to sound Mira could perceive. Not even her own voice registered with her ears.
Then, images appeared throughout the realm. Random images, Mira realized. One was of a younger version of the man she remembered as Runo's father. Another was of a cracked picture of Tigrerra. Still another was her peering out a window as a bottle of some orange drink flew into her hands. No sounds registered throughout this silent cinema, but it didn't take long for Mira to realize that she was gazing at Runo's memories.
At first, nothing too surprising rose up. Images of battles appeared, against faceless battlers. After a few seconds, or perhaps it was an eternity, Mira wasn't sure, the first image of Dan appeared. He was on the ground, holding his head, before looking up at meeting Runo's gaze.
The first time she met Dan? Mira wondered before turning her attention to another memory. In this one, Runo was fighting Dan, both of them were screaming at each other in what looked like the same amusement park they had visited upon their arrival on Earth. In another, Runo was trying to hold his hands when she was still stuck in the Dimensional Gate.
Another one that seemed to take up a lot of space in the infinite darkness was the image of a blue skinned Gundalian woman, smirking in cold, malevolent glee. She was holding a pen with a wire attached to it, but from what Mira could see, the pen had no ink, nor was it actually a pen. At the tip was an oddly shaped point, and she could feel the intense fear Runo must have felt building inside her stomach. Then, the tip was at her skin, and her head was behind held still. She felt what happened next as though it were happening to herself. Intense, blinding pain exploded on the sensitive skin along her jaw bone, branching under her chin in a single, steady line. Then, seconds later, the burning stopped, and the ringing in Mira's "ears" ceased.
Other pointless ones came and went before Mira, but the one that disturbed her the most was the last one to appear. It eclipsed all the others not just because it had sound, but because she realized that she had not seen it before. And on top of that, it was a memory of Dan.
There was the image of a screen, Mira could make it out unconsciously. But she was not focused on the gray lining of the moving image at all. Instead, she could feel the color leak out of her "face", just as she could hear Dan's screams. He thrashed and jerked in a metal chair, where his arms and legs were bounds tightly. The howls that infiltrated and echoed the empty space were all the more terrible because this was her focus. Blue jolts of electricity shot from Dan's arms and legs, jumping from one part of his body to the other. His sunglasses flew off his head, falling to the ground where the tinted plastic came apart from the blue rim.
Then, Mira's attention was ripped from the memory."Move!" The command echoed around in the nothingness, at first nothing but a whisper before echoing into becoming a yell. And then the burning started.
Mira was back on the ground in Bakugan Interspace, a harsh, ear splitting scream slicing through her vocal chords. Her whole body was on fire, but the most concentrated pain was from the center of her chest to her right shoulder. Branches of fractures had been inflicted upon her skin, which now felt strangely cool despite the flames. Dimly, she was aware of Ace and perhaps Ren and a closer, much more frantic voice calling out, and then she crumpled onto the ground. Her muscles convulsed involuntarily and she choked, all of a sudden realizing that she couldn't breathe. Tears fell from her eyes with surprising speed. What breath she could grasp came in raged, uneven gasps, and her leg kicked out without her having any control over the action.
It collided with something, and that something let out an angry yet pained yell. Something else slammed into her stomach with surprising force, and she noticed it upset her breathing even more than the pain that came with it. But as she returned to her surroundings here, she became more and more aware of the action taking place around her.
A man was standing there, clad in something green and blurry. Mira squinted up at him as she choked and thrashed, but her vision wasn't clear enough to make out the disgusted look he gave her. She thought what was supposed to be his face was gray, but that didn't make much sense...
"Leave her!" a voice snapped, but Mira could neither see its owner nor make out the words. She could only tell it was male. "Kazarina only wanted Runo."
"Mira!" The frantic voice nearby continued, but like the conversation above, Mira couldn't understand what it was saying.
"Fine, but what should we do about Ren and that other Darkus brawler?" the green clad man questioned, apparently ignoring the small voice and fixing his gaze on the figure Mira couldn't see.
"Leave them. They'll have enough to deal with if we just leave her." Mira could tell they were speaking about her, but what they said exactly was a mystery. Her mind was jumbled and everything was completely out of focus. The only thing she was completely sure she knew was that her name was Mira, and that a friend of hers had been strapped to a chair and tortured. The image kept replaying and replaying, the screams echoing in her ears.
"Mira, are you okay?"
"Fine," the one in green said, but his voice was more of a growl than anything Mira had ever heard before.
"Nnnng..." was her attempt at moaning, "no." She didn't know why, but they couldn't do whatever they were conspiring. She tried to roll over, but that only resulted in even more pain. The fire branched out to her arteries and veins, and certainly wasn't dulled by the additional screams that echoed through the arena.
"RUNO!" and "Mira!" were the only words she could hear clearly, even though she couldn't place the voices. One was feminine and rather high pitched, she realized, a brown color coming to mind, and the other was masculine and much more familiar. If she were sure she had a brother, she would say that was his voice. Then something hard connected with her skull, and darkness blanketed her like snow.
It's not even funny how many times I had to go get my calculator durring the making of this chapter. Please let me know if you want me to upload Splight and Percival's abilities to my DeviantArt page.
Review!