Disclaimer: I do not own Bakugan
So here it is. Chapter 7. Bit of a longer chapter this one so hopefully you will like this one. And thank you for still liking this story, especially since it took what over two years for the last chapter to come up. This one hopefully will not take nearly as long to come out. Nothing more to say just enjoy.
Right now I was washing dishes with Runo in the Misaki cafe. The rush hour had just ended, and right now nobody was in the cafe besides just us, who were taking on the giant pile of dishes the customers left behind. So just a pretty normal day for us.
Yesterday Marucho, Julie and Shun came back from the doom dimension. Each one of them had passed their test, which meant that all Bakugan were freed from the doom dimension. I remember seeing the joy on Runo's face as she was reunited with terrorclaw, which was her favorite Bakugan before she lost him.
It certainly helped lifted off a huge chunk of the guilty feeling, that I still carried with me, from being Masquerade. But at least now I know that all of those Bakugan are free now. Speaking about being Masquerade, while me changing my profile from Masquerade to Alice, revealing who I was caused quite a ruckus online. I know for a fact that my inbox and voice mails became filled, when I did that. Not that I have ever looked at those messages.
But in real life nobody at least so far has recognized me yet. If someone ever did, they didn't show it. But it still makes me nervous, because I know that at some point I'm going to be confronted by someone, who does recognize me. A part of me thinks, I should have just deleted that cursed profile.
Hopefully when that day would come up, they wouldn't be so angry with me now that they got their Bakugan back. Thankfully nobody has recognized me so far. Especially before the three brawlers returned from doom dimension, along with all the Bakugan. If someone had recognized me then, that encounter could have even ended in violence in the worst case scenario.
Still I was just glad that now those Bakugan are back. None of them deserved to be there. Even the Bakugan Masquerade used to put them in there. After all I know all too well, how many Bakugan Masquerade went through sacrificing them willy nilly, just to get an advantage.
And then I dropped the plate I was holding as the realization hit me. Something very important.
"Alice are you okay?" Runo asked worryingly.
I nodded my head at her in response. "Yes I am. Sorry about the mess. I just realized something very important." I answered her back.
"Well what is it then?" Runo asked still worry in her voice.
"Right now I have three Bakugan, that Masquerade had. Hydranoid, Wormquake and Laserman." I said as I motioned upward, as right now all three of the Bakugan were currently in Runo's room, which was upstairs. "But Masquerade had a lot more Bakugan than just those. He had lots of other very powerful Bakugan in his arsenal, and I don't have them." I explained to her.
"So Masquerade had other Bakugan. What's so important about that?" Runo asked me a little confused.
"Even though these Bakugan aren't as strong as Hydranoid, they are still very strong Bakugan. What if Hal-G gives those Bakugan to some other brawler, who is willing to do his bidding? Just imagine the damage that would cause." And from the look on Runo's face she was starting to get what I was talking about.
"That does sound bad. Even with Tigrerra being evolved, this brawler probably wouldn't be easy to defeat, if he knows what he is doing." Runo said realizing the danger.
"Exactly, which is why we need to go get those Bakugan back, before it's too late." I said to her.
"That sounds like an idea. But Alice do you even know where Masquerade kept them?" She asked a little unsurely.
"Yes I remember where they are being kept. I have his memories you know." And Runo just mumbled in response to this.
"Alright so you remember where they are being kept. So where are they then?" She asked.
And that got me a bit uncomfortable. Because the place where they are being kept, isn't exactly close. And it might be a bit of a touchy subject as well. "Remember that creepy mansion where you woke up, after you followed Marucho, when Klaus defeated him?" I asked her and she simply nodded. "Well they are there. In fact it was in that room, where you discovered that Hydranoid was the most powerful Bakugan in the world. His Bakugan were under your noses the whole time." I explained her and I saw how her face turned a bit shocked.
"You mean we could have taken his Bakugan the whole time!?" Runo asked shocked about this fact. I just nodded in response. "Should have looked more at the desk, than the computer it seems." She says in frustration, now that she learned how she could have crippled Masquerade quite badly then. "Anyway do you know where this mansion is located?"
I nod to her in response. "Off course. There's just one problem, it's in Germany." I said to her a bit unsurely.
"Well luckily we have Marucho for things like this." Runo simply responds.
I was still yawning and stretching as I left the bedroom of the aircraft. Runo and I went to Marucho and talked to him about this. And he too agreed that we should get those Bakugan to us, before it would be too late. So very soon after that we were off to the skies and heading towards Germany.
Knowing that I had a long flight ahead of me. Not long after we were in the air, I decided to go to one of the many bedrooms in this plane and catch some sleep. I hadn't slept the best since I was out of the doom dimension and besides I wanted to avoid the feeling of jet lag. So for the most of the journey I had been sleeping.
I finally woke up and decided to join Runo and Marucho on the plane. "Hey guys." I said as I opened the door and went to the living area of the plane, where Runo and Marucho were sitting in the couch, watching the planes tv. "How long until we have to land?" I asked them as I joined them in the couch.
"You actually woke up at quite a good time. We are almost there." Marucho said.
"And here I thought, I was gonna have to drag you out of that bed." Runo teased me while at it.
I couldn't help but smile and that. And for the next thirty minutes we kept on watching the TV, while chatting about all kinds of things. Mostly about Bakugan. Such as how Preyas evolved differently than other Bakugan, giving Marucho Preyas II instead of Preyas just evolving. And about our life away from Bakugan, though I couldn't didn't tell them much. Mostly because my life tends to be quite uninteresting.
"Strap your seat-belts, because we are about to land." Kato's voice boomed from the speaker all of a sudden. And just like that we were here. In a few minutes we were in the ground and all three of us exited the plane. We had landed not that far away from the mansion, but we still needed to walk the rest of the journey there.
Once we reached the mansion both Runo and Marucho marveled at just how large it was. I would have too, if the place wasn't so familiar thanks to the memories I have.
"So this is where we were trapped?" Runo asked out aloud while still marveling at the mansion.
"It sure is big, but we have a job to do. Let's get going." Marucho then said and we headed towards the front door. And then came a problem. How were we supposed to enter the mansion. Runo tried to open the door but it was locked and Marucho looked around if there was any spare keys nearby. But he couldn't find any.
"What are we supposed to do now? We can't get in." Runo said with a mix of frustration and desperation.
"Wait. Maybe I'll remember something." I said to them and then began searching through my memories. Trying to find anything that would allow us to get through the door. And then it hit me. "Off course that's it." I said out loud and then pressed a hidden button in the front door. It revealed a fingerprint scanner.
I then simply just put my finger there. "Access granted." The machine said, after it had scanned my fingerprint. And just like that the door opened allowing all of us to enter.
The insides of the mansion was just like the outside. Big and elabrorate. "How were you able to afford this? I didn't know your family was rich." Marucho said as we entered the mansion.
"We didn't. I mean we do live quite comfortably. But we could never afford anything like this." I explained to them as we began to enter one of the many hallways this mansion had. "Similarly to what we did with the doom brawlers, we got the original owner under control through negative energy. And just like that we were able to have him hand over this place to us. Once everything is fixed, we should give this place back to him." I said as we continued walking around in the mansion.
"Do you remember where the room was?" Marucho asked me while we were walking. "It's been too long since Runo and I were here." I simply nodded to them and we continued our journey.
Eventually I found the door that led to the dungeon. "I forgot how creepy this place was." Runo commented as we continued heading down the stairs, in the dark dungeon. And yeah it was definitely creepy, but luckily I knew exactly where we would need to be. Once we made it down the stairs I headed to the door, which I knew would lead us to Masquerade's room.
Once we opened the door, I knew we were in the right place. It was a simple room with only things being there, the desk that had the computer. And rows of masks on the opposite side of the room. But I ignored that, and went to the desk to get the one thing we were after.
"Let's hope we aren't too late." I said as I pulled the drawer from the desk. And I sighed a very big sigh of relief once I pulled the drawer, and inside it revealed a gray metal box. "This is it." I said as I took the box. "This is where the Bakugan are."
"So we got what we wanted, so let's bail out." Runo said and I nodded. But just as I was about to leave, I heard the computer behind me turn on.
"Look what we have here." I heard the familiar voice of grandfather or as he was now known, as Hal G. I looked back in the computer screen, I saw his green goblin like face. "You may think that you won this time, but you are wrong. Because you will never be able to leave hahahaha." He said as he started laughing. And then the rest of the room was lowering, as the room was turning to it's computer mode.
"Alice come!" Runo shouted and just like that I began to run to that end of room. I had to jump from the platform, that had the computer and desk just to reach there, before it was too late. And then we quickly got out of the room and began to run up the stairs of the dungeon. Only the door at the end was quickly closing and soon we would be stuck here.
Runo luckily reached the door just before it would close. And she began struggling to hold it open. Me and Marucho weren't that far behind her and pretty quickly got through the door. Once we were back in the hallway, we needed to get to the front door once again. And we ran there as fast as we could.
Only when we reached it, the door wouldn't open. And then his voice started being heard around the mansion. "Like I said there is no escape from here. But if you return back to me Alice, I will let your friends go free." His voice boomed around the mansion.
"I will never do that!" I shouted back to him.
"Well too bad then. Hopefully you will like to be stuck here forever then." He said back and then went quiet again.
I couldn't help but slump, when he finished. We were trapped and with our only exit being sealed. And since I didn't have the DT, I couldn't just teleport us out. Which meant unless I did exactly what he said, both Runo and Marucho would be stuck here.
Tears were already forming in my eyes, until Runo forcefully pulled me back up. "We aren't going to lose to that creep. Come on Alice we'll find a way out." She said determined.
"But how, all the exits are sealed?" I asked her hopelessly.
She just smirked back at me in return. "Then we'll have to make one. Come on follow me, let's find the dining room." And then we went on a search around the mansion, finding the dining room. It wasn't a room I used a lot as Masquerade, so even I was quite unfamiliar where it would be.
Eventually though we did find it. "And how is this room going to help us escape?" Marucho asked sceptically.
"With this." Runo said and then grabbed one of the chairs in the dining table. She then started carrying it and headed towards one of the giant windows facing outside. She then with all of her strength threw the chair through the window breaking it. "And just like that we have our own escape route." Runo said and then motioned us to follow. All of us fit our way through the window and as soon as we were outside, we began to run for it. Heading straight toward where the plane was landed.
We didn't stop running until we finally reached the plane, and then began to catch our breaths.
"Hopefully that's going to be the last time, I'll have to go inside a creepy mansion." Runo said as we made our way back to the living area of the plane. "Well Alice I think we should look at our score." She said motioning the box that I was holding.
I then opened it and inside was full of different Bakugan. Most of them were Darkus but there were few Bakugan of other attributes. Such as one Bakugan which I recognized was the Aquos Siege, that Masquerade gave to Rikkimaru. Only to take it back from him, when he failed to defeat Dan. I started taking each of the Bakugan from the box and settign them up in the table.
Eventually after going through over a dozen Bakugan, I was getting to the bottom of the box and took the last Bakugan. And when I took it out, I couldn't help but freeze, when I recognized it's markings. "Reaper." I said out loud, as there was no doubt who the Bakugan I just picked up was.
As soon as he heard his name being said out loud he opened. "You." He said bitterly as he looked at me. Clearly he recognized me even though Masquerade never showed him his real identity. Probably he knows because of my visit to the doom dimension.
"I'm sorry." I said almost out of habit. It was a sentence that I had grown so used to saying after it was revealed I was Masquerade. "I'm sorry for what Masquerade did to you." He just turned away from me and let out a "hmph".
Then I swallowed bile that had been forming in my throat. As I prepared to ask him a question, that I knew most likely he would answer no. But still I had to try it. "Reaper I know Masquerade used you and threw you away like dirt. But if you want to, you can join my team and fight for the brawlers." I said to him. Part of it was because Reaper had become very strong in the doom dimension. He would be my second strongest Bakugan only behind Hydranoid. Other part was, because I felt that by doing this I could make up for what Masquerade did.
Reaper turned to look at me, and while it wasn't easy to see in his ball form, I think he was glaring at me. "Fine. But not because I want to fight for you or with Hydranoid, especially after what you did. But only because I know I'd spend rest of the days inside that box, instead of battling."
Even though his response was far from a positive yes, it was still a yes. And I couldn't help but smile a little when he said that. "Alright Reaper welcome to the team. I'll be much better than Masquerade I'll promise that."
"We'll see that." Reaper said rather dismissively.
Now that our business is over here, how about we head back home." Runo said. And I was about to say yes, but then I remembered where I am. Aunt Clara and Uncle Ben live quite close to where we are now. And I haven't seen them for a very long time. I know it was selfish with Naga trying to take over Vestroia. But I did want to see them again.
"Well if we have the time, I remembered that my aunt and uncle live quite close to where we are now in Germany. And it's been too long since I last saw them. If we could give them a little visit before we head out, I would appreciate it." I said to the two of them.
"I guess we could go to see them. I would like to meet your aunt and uncle." Marucho said.
"Thank you. I'll call them to see if they're in home." I said and then took my phone out of my bag and dialed Uncle Ben's number. After a little while he picked up the phone. "Hello Uncle Ben." I said to the other end of the line.
"Oh Alice it's been too long since you last called." Ben's voice said on the other line.
"It sure has been. Hopefully I didn't call at a bad time. Are you and Clara still at work?" I asked him.
"No no no. Both of us are right now on summer Vacation. We still have over two weeks left. So what is it about?"
"Well you see me and few of my friends are visiting Germany right now. And we aren't too far away from where you live, so I thought that if we could drop by and say hi. Assuming you aren't traveling somewhere right now." I said ot him.
"Please come by anytime. Both of us are at home and we don't have any plans to go anywhere. It would be lovely to see you again, since it's been what years since we last saw you." He said over the phone.
"Alright. I'll tell my friends we are coming to visit you. We'll be there probably in less than an hour. So I guess see you then." I told him.
"See you then." He said and then hung up.
I then turned to look at Runo and Marucho once again. "It works for them. So I guess we'll start to fly over there?" I asked him.
"Yeah. I'll go tell Kato to head over to your Uncle's and Aunt's house." He said and then called Kato through the intercom. And very soon we were back again in air, heading to the town that my Uncle and Aunt live in. The town was actually located quite a bit away. Would have taken hours if we had driven by car. But with an airplane the journey would be over very quickly, which is why I told them that we were quite close to them, even though we aren't. Since I didn't want to spoil the surprise of our method of transport.
After a short walk, we arrived to their house. I knocked on a door and soon after Uncle Ben opened it. "There you are Alice, it's been too long." HE said as he pulled me into a hug. Eventually he released me from it. "So these are the friends you talked about." He said turning to other matters. "You have to tell us all about them, please come on in."
Until all the way to the evening, I was just catching up with my uncle and aunt. They did ask a few questions from Runo and Marucho. But it was mostly just me who was having a conversation with them. They were mostly just speaking with each other through the day, but they did chime in every now and then. Eventually in the evening all five of us played a board game against each other. Which took quite a bit of time. But finally that one ended too.
"Oh would you look at the time." I said as I looked outside and it was very dark. "I would like to talk more with you, but we do need to get going."
"You need to leave already?" Aunt Clara asked. "That's a shame. We were kind of hoping you would at least stay the night with us." I would have liked to do that, but I felt like I was already wasting too much time. And that we would need to go back to Japan and start training our Bakugan for what's to come. But then I looked at Marucho's face and I could tell, that it would be fine with him if we stayed the night here.
"I mean I would love that to be honest. But is it fine with you." I then asked Marucho and Runo.
"Sure. It's been a hectic day anyway." Marucho said.
"I don't think I can even handle a flight home without rest. So yes we can sleep here." Runo said.
So we did end up staying at their house for the night. Runo and I shared their guest bed, while Marucho did have to learn to sleep on a couch. Before we fell asleep, I was debating whether to tell Runo about the tests I was tasked to take. But instead decided to do that some other day.
Then we woke up. Did our morning routines. And right now were gathered at the breakfast table, eating breakfast that Ben and Clara had cooked for us. And probably soon after that we would leave for Wardington.
"I do understand that you are going to be leaving soon." Uncle Ben then brought up in the middle of the breakfast. "But maybe you would find time for Clara to make her famous Berlirners before you go."
The mere mention of the word Berlirner got my mouth salivating. Aunt Clara would make them every time, I went to visit them in the past. And they have always been so delicious. Simply put there was no way I could resist them, Uncle Ben sure knew how to get me to stay just a bit longer.
"Off course." I said and then turned at Runo and Marucho. "You have to try them out, they are super good."
"I'm missing a few ingrediants. So could you go to the store, to quickly pick them up for me?" She asked.
"Off course I can." I replied. I had gotten used to tasks like this working at the Misaki Cafe. So I was more than willing to do it for them. Clara then wrote a small grocery list and gave it to me, along with some money.
"We'll come with you." Runo said and she and Marucho got up. And then we headed out to the store together.
The store wasn't that far away and it was open. We picked up the ingredients from there and then started to head back to their house. However I did make a quick detour. I wanted to head to the local park here. I had been there a few times, back when I visited here. I wasn't going to stay there for too long, I know Runo and Marucho would get annoyed if I stayed here forever.
We then arrived at the park, while I was still carrying the groceries. "Look how peaceful it is." I said even though I knew, that a hothead like Runo didn't care too much at being here. But I had to marvel the nature, even if it was just for a minute. I sat down in one of the benches just to look at the sights for a minute, and then we would head back.
"With the firewall ability card my Saurus becomes unbeatable." I then heard from the corner of my ear and then turned to look, at the source. It was a group of kids, that looked like they were still in elementary school. And they were showing off their Bakugan at each other.
"Look young Bakugan players." I pointed at Runo and Marucho. As one of the earliest players, I did get inspired whenever I saw kids quite a bit younger than me play andb enthused about Bakugan. There was something about their pure love for the game, that was just radiating.
However then things got bad. One of them spotted me and then pointed at me to the others. They then started whispering amongst each other and then one of them opened up their Bakupod. It was at this point I realized, that I was recognized, as they started approaching me.
"Hey! You are Alice right." The kid shouted at me and held his Bakupod in front of me. Which was currently logged in at the rankings, and right there at number 1 was me. Which a short while ago was still Masquerade's profile. It wasn't as if I could lie at him and say it wasn't me. There was a picture of me sitting right in front of me.
"I... yes that's me." I responded nervously.
"So you are the one behind the mask of Masquerade. You stole my friends Falconeer! You made him quit the game!" He shouted at me.
I could already feel the tears forming up. I remember the countless kids who Masquerade battled against and they would always end the same way. When I changed that profile and revealed to the world who was behind the mask, I thought I would be ready for the inevitable day, when one of those kids would recognize me and confront me about it. Turned out I wasn't.
"I'm sorry." I said those two words, that had become very familiar to me over the past week.
"Didn't he get his Falconeer back recently though?" I heard one of the other kids chime in, but by this point I wasn't listening.
The guilt and shame of being Masquerade started flooding in. How many countless other kids like his friends are out there? Who lost their entire team of beloved Bakugan and completely quit the entire game because of me.
"Alice let's get out of here." I heard Runo say but I wasn't really listening to her either.
"I'm sorry!" I yelled and then ran off crying, dropping the bag of groceries along the way. And I kept on running as fast as I could away from that place. Away from those kids. Away from anything that reminded me of Masquerade. "I can't forgive myself ever for what I did! Ever!" I shouted out loud as I was running away.
And then I stopped. And in front of me was a beautiful castle I had never seen before when I visited here. "I never remember seeing that before." I said out loud.
"Alice!" I heard and turned around to see Runo and Marucho running after me. "There you are!" I heard Runo say as they stopped. "Why did you run off like that?"
I didn't respond to that. Instead I asked them a question. "How can you forgive me so easily?" I asked them with the guilt clear in my voice.
"Because you aren't him. Now let's get out of here." Runo said.
But I couldn't help but feel drawn to that castle. Like I was meant to find it. "I don't know. Something is pulling me to that castle over there." I said to them.
"Ehmmm okay. Let's check it out quickly and then head back." Runo responded.
And so we did go and see the castle. And very quickly it looks like I was meant to find it. Because inside the castle I saw Klaus Von Hertzen himself. Part of me thought about turning away and pretending I was never here. But I knew I had to go forward and explain myself to him. So I did.
"Hello there Klaus." I annouced as I stepped forward.
And so I explained everything to him. How I became Masquerade and how I didn't know about it the whole time. And how it was eventually revealed to me that I was him. And I told him also how I along with the brawlers freed the Bakugan from the Doom Dimension. And also I mentioned multiple times of just how sorry I was, for doing those things.
His expression through the whole time was unreadable. I couldn't tell if he still blamed me for his doings or forgave me the whole time. Which made me nervous. In the middle of the conversation Klaus pulled us inside so I continued the story there until I finished it.
"So you were him the whole time." He said once I had finished telling the story.
"Yes." I simply responded.
"Hmmm." There he had again that unreadable expression. And then he snapped his fingers. And just like that the security shutters around the room started lowering until they eventually sealed off the whole room. There was no escaping.
"What's going on?" Marucho asked.
"Before Sirenoid was returned to me, I was gathering a team of Bakugan to have my revenge against you." Klaus began. "Now off course there is no reason for revenge anymore, but I still want that match against you. Just to see if you really aren't him." He said as he turned to look at me holding his Bakugan card.
"I'm not really sure if this is a good idea." I said. I honestly didn't want to battle him at all.
"Win, lose or draw. Either way you and your friends will be able to leave this castle once you have battled me." Klaus said.
"She said she doesn't want to battle. You can't force her to." Runo interjected.
Knowing Klaus and especially the pain of losing Sirenoid, I know he isn't going to budge that easily. We could easily be stuck here for the whole day. And there really wasn't any pressure to win, so it wouldn't take that long. All I had to do was this one match.
"You'll let us go after this?" I asked him to be sure.
"Like I said. Win, lose or draw." He responded.
I then very hesitantly nodded at him. "Alright then I accept the challenge." I said but I could feel the nervousness creep up.
"I assume you have three of Bakugan of your own. But if you don't I can provide them to you." He offered up.
"I have." I simply said.
"Well let us begin then." He said as I took my own Bakugan card out of the card clip.
"Field open!" Both of us exclaimed as we turned our Bakugan cards.
And then we were in the all familiar battlefield. A battlefield that I hadn't been in anywhere near as often as the brawlers. At least Alice hasn't been. Masquarade on the other hand... let's not think about that now. I thought while trying to push the memories of him away.
"Gate cars set!" Klaus exclaimed almost as soon as we were on the battlefield, and threw his first gate card to the field.
I on the other hand didn't throw my gate card in. For variety of reasons. Nervousness was one of them. After all this is just the third actual battle I have been in, if you don't count the coutless battles Masquerade took part in. The only other times I have battled was that one match against Christopher and that match against "Masquerade" in doom dimension. And I felt forced to battle in the former one, and the latter one was a battle I had to do, both to save myself and the Bakugan.
And the other one was, that I was hesitant to do this battle. Part of me was doing this battle just because I felt guilt about what I did as Masquerade to Klaus. And that maybe letting him have his revenge would make it up. Second was that part of me wanted to see if I can handle a battle I wasn't forced to be in, and to see if I was truly worthy of being a brawler. And last reason was, I wanted to give Reaper a chance to battle, and maybe one day he would trust me again.
Still I wanted to end this match quickly. And I had to figure out a strategy, that would allow me to do just that. And as I looked at the various cards I had, eventually I found one that might just work.
"Gate card set!" I exclaimed, when I threw my first gate card in.
"Ladies first." Klaus then said, giving me the first turn. And I wasn't sure, if this was him truly being chivalrous or he just did this because his plan involved me being the first one to throw. Still I took it, besides my strategy worked better with me having the first turn.
"Bakugan brawwl!" I yelled when I threw my first Bakugan in. "Centipoid stand!" I yelled when the Darkus insect transformed.
I then opened my Bakupod. "Welcome Alice." Looks like changing my profile meant, that my Bakupod finally uses my name. "Darkus Centipoid enters battle at 370g's."
And now it was Klaus' turn. "Bakugan brawl!" He said and threw an Aquos Bakugan at his gate card. "Stinglash stand!" He exclaimed and then the Scorpion Bakugan transformed to it's full form too.
"Aquos Stinglash enters battle at 350g's." Bakupod said.
So he brought out one of his big hitters early. But I couldn't let that distract me. Just follow the plan, and this will be over in a hunch.
"Gate card set!" I exclaimed and threw a second gate card the field. And then I turned to look at Reaper. And instantly I got nervous about the thought of using him. But I had to use him in this battle, so that maybe after few battles, he can trust me again.
"Reaper are you ready?" I asked him hesitantly.
"Hmmph." Reaper simply grunted and closed into a ball. But at least he was letting me use him, it was a sign of little progress.
I then grabbed him. "Bakugan brawl!" I exclaimed and threw him into the newly thrown gate card. "Reaper stand!" I exclaimed when he landed on the card. And to my surprise the Bakugan that was transformed to the card, was not the withered husk that I saw in the doom dimension. Rather Reaper looked like just as he had before getting sent to the doom dimension.
It seems that the legendary soldiers did more for the bakugan sent to the doom dimension, than just sending them back. After all the amount of Bakugan in doom dimension that had been turned to statues that were missing pieces was immense. If they were just sent back in that condition, half the Bakugan that came back would be missing features. But I couldn't help but be glad to see Reaper like that. Because if he was still the husk I saw in the doom dimension, I don't think I would be able to ever get rid of the guilt for what Masquerade did to him.
"Darkus Reaper power level 450g's." It's still amazing just how powerful doom dimension had made Reaper. That he is now as powerful as Hydranoid was before he evolved.
"So this is the famous Darkus Reaper. Interesting." Klaus said from the other side of the battlefield. And then he said something which I couldn't hear from where I was, but I could read his lips a little bit and he did seem to say the word "powerful" somewhere in the sentence. "Gate card set!" Klaus then exclaimed and threw a gate card right in front of the card Reaper was standing at.
"Bakugan brawl!" Klaus exclaimed and threw the Bakugan at the card he just threw to the field. "Griffon stand!" He said and I couldn't help but wince a little when I saw the Griffon. Because I recognized it as the Griffon Masquerade sent to the doom dimension, in the battle against Klaus.
"Aquos Griffon power level 330g's."
And now it was my turn again. Meaning it was now my turn to send Hydranoid to the field. Which made me a bit hesitant. After all it was the same Dual Hydranoid that sent Sirenoid to the doom dimension. "Are you ready?" I asked Hydranoid a bit hesitantly.
"Always." He simply replied and closed as I grabbed him.
"Bakugan brawl!" I exclaimed and threw Hydranoid. "Hydranoid stand!" I exclaimed when Hydranoid finally landed on his gate card. And in a move that most likely confused Klaus, that card ended up being the card Reaper was standing on now.
"Dual Hydranoid enters battle at 500g's. Reaper stable at 450g's." Bakupod said.
When Hydranoid transformed I could see Reaper readying himself. And as soon as Hydranoid had finished transforming Reaper lunged at him. "If you wanted us to have a rematch you should have said so." Reaper said and hit Hydranoid with his Scythe, to which Hydranoid responded with a pained cry.
"Reaper stop!" I ordered but he didn't. He just kept on hitting Hydranoid more and I knew if he didn't stop soon, Hydranoid would respond eventually.
"And why would I do that? This is the same thing what happened last time we were sent to a same card." He said refering to the fact, that last time they were in the same gate card as "allies", led him to be banished to the doom dimension.
"This time it's different!" I yelled at him desperately hoping he would listen. And to Reaper's credit he did oblige albeit it was clear he wasn't happy about it.
"And why would I do that?" He simply asked.
"Because of this. Gate card open! Warp gate!" I exclaimed and just like that the command card opened. "Now transport both of them to Centipoid's card!" I exclaimed and just like that Reaper and Hydranoid were teleported to the same card Centipoid was standing at.
When Reaper and Hydranoid landed both of them just stood there, waiting for my next move. But it was clear the animosity between them was still there.
"So your plan was to put all of your Bakugan in one place." Klaus remarked. "Interesting but rather risky move." He commented. "But it's time to finish this battle. Gate card set!" He said and threw his final gate card to the field, sending it right next to the card where my whole team was standing at. And I just knew what Bakugan he was going to send there. "Bakugan brawl!" He said and threw Sirenoid at that gate card. "Sirenoid stand!" He exclaimed when Sirenoid landed.
When Sirenoid rose from underwater I was both terrified and glad. Terrified because Sirenoid is little intimidating and I don't know just how big of a grudge she holds. But also glad to see her once again.
"Aquos Sirenoid enters at power level 370g's." It really put in perspective how powerful my Bakugan were, considering Klaus' strongest Bakugan was as strong as my weakest Bakugan.
"And now it's time for her to play a song for Hydranoid. Ability card activate! Anthemusa!" He exclaimed and activated his ability card.
Then the song that sent Preyas to the doom dimension started to play, as Sirenoid started to play with her harp. And just like that Hydranoid was begining to be attracted by the music. "Must resist!" He was saying but it was proving to be futile and he was quickly approaching the water, in Klaus' card. And once he would stepped in the water, it would be over.
"No!" Reaper shouted and then grabbed Hydranoid's two tails and tried to pull him back with all of his strenght. "I'm not allowing her to defeat you Hydranoid. Only I can do that." He said. But while he was slowing Hydranoid down, he couldn't stop Hydranoid heading towards the water.
"Come Hydranoid. Join me here." Sirenoid said while playing her song. And now Hydranoid was just few steps away from the water.
"Do something!" Reaper shouted at me while trying to pull Hydranoid back as much as possible.
And that snapped me out of my trance. "Ability card activate! Double dimension!" I yelled and played the familiar ability from Masquerade's playbook. And just like that Sirenoid's ability was nullified. And the effect took place when Hydranoid was just one step away from stepping into the water. Had I been even a second late Hydranoid would have lost.
"She reversed it." Klaus said to Sirenoid.
And right now I needed to focus. I had a plan and I had to stick to it. "Ability card activate! Black is darkness!" I exclaimed and activated a special ability that only a Darkus Centipoid could use. And just like that purple tendrills wrapped around all of Klaus' Bakugan. And they were all slowly being pulled to the card, where all my Bakugan were standing at.
"Sirenoid watch out!" Klaus warned a bit too late as all three Bakugan landed on the gate card. "So this what you planned all along? Have a one big battle to determine this battle." Klaus observed.
"Combined power level of Hydranoid (500g's), Reaper (450g's) and Centipoid (370g's) is 1320g's. Combined power level of Sirenoid (370g's), Stinglash (350g's) and Griffon (330g's) is 1050g's. Advantage player Alice's team by 270g's." Bakupod observed as it had to do more work, than it would normally do.
"And ability card activate! Spiced assault!" I exclaimed and used my final ability card on Centipoid. A wave of Darkus energy then overtook Klaus' team as a result of the ability.
"Centipoid power increased to 470g's. Sirenoid's, Stinglash's and Griffon's power level decreased by 100g's. Combined power level of player Klaus' team 750g's." Bakupod informed me.
"And to finish this. Gate card open!" And then the gate card opened and revealed Centipoid's character card. And it was going to increase Centipoid's power so much, I was a bit afraid it might be too much power for him.
"Centipoid's power level doubled to 940g's. Combined power level of all three player Alice's Bakugan 1890g's." And this had to be the end. My team had a 1140g advantage over Klaus. Centipoid alone was 190g's stronger than his team.
But then something happened that was bad. Very bad. Just as my team was about to attack Klaus' team, Reaper hit Hydranoid from behind. Which caused Hydranoid to start to fight against Reaper. Leaving Centipoid to be the only Bakugan to fight against Klaus' 3 Bakugan.
"Reaper why are you doing this?" Hydranoid asked as Reaper hit him again.
"You sent me to the doom dimension. I am owed my revenge!" He said and was asbout to hit Hydranoid for the third time. But Hydranoid intercepted the attack and punched Reaper, before his attack could hit him. This caused Reaper to stumble to the ground and lose his weapon in the process. But that didn't stop him as he got up without his weapon, and then he started gripping both of Hydranoid's hands. And then a test of strenght between the two began.
"This isn't the time to do that." Hydranoid said to Reaper while in the test of strenght. And while Hydranoid was slowly winning the test, Reaper put up a formidable fight.
Then I looked at the other side of the battlefield and saw Klaus holding up two ability cards. It seemed that in the middle of the all the chaos Klaus realized, that if he wanted to win this was his chance to strike. "Ability card activate abyss ruler!" He exclaims and activates first of the two ability cards on Stinglash. Causing Stinglash to glow from the power increase. "And ability card activate Forcement wave!" He exclaims and activates his final ability card on Sirenoid, who also starts to glow from the power increase.
I then looked up on Bakupod. And oh no. "Abyss ruler increases Stinglash by 100g's to 350g's. Forcement wave increases Sirenoid by 100g's to 370g's. Combined power level of the three Aquos Bakugan 950g's." And when I looked at that final number I realized I was in trouble. Centipoid was only at 940g's meaning that against Centipoid Klaus had an advantage. It was a small advantage but an advantage still.
Sirenoid, Stinglash and Griffon then all started to gang up on Centipoid, who was the only Bakugan of my team actually fighting against Klaus, while Reaper and Hydranoid were still too busy fighting each other. Centipoid was holding up surprisingly well against the three, while Hydranoid was slowly starting to gain an advantabe against Reaper.
But it was starting to take too long for Hydranoid to defeat Reaper. As Centipoid put up a fight against the three Aquos Bakugan, but slowly but surely he was losing that battle. And if he doesn't get help soon, the three Aquos Bakugan will defeat him. And another worrying thing revealed itself as I calculated the G-powers. Hydranoid and Reaper combined were 950g's. Meaning if Centipoid gets defeated and that would cause the two of them to work together, it will only be good enough for a tie.
And both of us have spent all of our ability cards. And if this ends up in a tie, I only have one gate card left, while Klaus still has three. Klaus would most likely win in that scenario.
The three Aquos Bakugan had put centipoid in a very bad spot then. As Griffon and Stinglash started holding onto Centipoid, so he couldn't move. Allowing Sirenoid to have free shots at him. And from the looks of it, Sirenoid only needs to hit Centipoid a few times and it's over.
"Hydranoid Centipoid needs help!" I shouted at him. Hydranoid's other head then turned to look at what was happening to Centipoid, while the other was still focusing on Reaper. Hydranoid then used his greater strenght over Reaper and pushed him away, causing him to fall to the ground. He then Rushed towards the three Aquos Bakugan.
When Sirenoid saw that Hydranoid was approaching, she disengaged from the fight against Centipoid and turned to attack Hydranoid with her harp. Hydranoid intercepted the attack and grabbed her weapon, and used his strength to keep her in place. And then one of his head moved to bite Sirenoid in her arm.
"I will not lose to you again." Sirenoid said defiantly to Hydranoid while trying to resist the pain. But it was clear she was already struggling.
On the other side of the battlefield, Centipoid was able to overpower Stinglash and Griffon now that Sirenoid wasn't there to weaken him. It started to look like this battle was now going to end in my victory. Until I looked at Reaper. He was getting up and was glaring murdelously at Hydranoid. Eventually he got up and picked up his scythe. And part of me already knew what he was about to do.
"Reaper no!" I yelled at him but it was too late. He was sprinting straight towards Hydranoid, who was too preoccupied with Sirenoid to notice Reaper, who then hit Hydranoid from behind, which caused Hydranoid to return to me.
Sirenoid then moved out of the way before Reaper could attack her. And she went straight towards Centipoid, who by this point was still tired from fighting the three Aquos Bakugan earlier. Sirenoid then proceeded to hit Centipoid with her harp, which was the final blow Centipoid could take, which caused him to return to me as well.
And just like that the battle was lost. Reaper would not be able to take the three of them alone. But still he lunged at Sirenoid, only to be intercepted by Griffon who took him down to the ground. And Stinglash then grabbed his arms with his pincers so he wouldn't be able to fight back.
"Fool." Sirenoid simply said before hitting Reaper with the final blow. Causing him to return as well. And just like that the battle was over.
We were then transported back to the mansion with Runo and Marucho standing behind me once again. "How did it go?" Marucho asked, though if he had looked closer to me, the result would have been obvious. Even though I really didn't want to battle in the first place, for some reason I felt... disappointed that I lost.
"I have to say, that has to be the most unique battle I have ever been in." Klaus said, but it offered little consolidation to the feeling of disappointment.
"I don't get. I didn't even want to battle and just wanted get the whole thing over as fast as possible. Yet I feel disappointed that I lost." I said to him.
"Because you are a battle brawler." Klaus answered like it was so obvious the whole time. "We all feel disappointed when we don't win. But it could also be, that by all accounts you shouldn't have lost. You had me completely outmaneuvered." Klaus explained. "But I'm still surprised how you chose such a risky strategy."
"I just wanted to end the battle as fast as possible. I knew it wasn't the best way to do it." I asnwered him back.
"Still your strategy would have worked, if it wasn't that Bakugan are more than just playing pieces. But that looks like a mess for you to sort out." Klaus continued and then snapped his fingers and just like that his security shutters raised up, allowing us to leave. "I'm a man of my word. You are free to go. Though next time we battle, I intend to win based on my strategy. Not just because your Bakugan can't work with each other."
I bowed to him as I turned to leave. "Thank you Klaus. This helped, more than you know." I said to him and then I walked away along with Runo and Marucho.
It dawned on me how much I needed something like this. After the battle I felt disappointed, but the words Klaus said helped me open my eyes. I was a brawler. And for what feels like first time ever, I want to battle again. Before the only reason why I battled, was because I was forced to. Even this battle was one of those times. But now I was looking, forward to the next battle. Whether it be against one of the brawlers as part of my test or against someone else entirely.
I also needed to try to do something about Reaper and Hydranoid. I still want to have Reaper on my team, but they cannot function like this. But that would be a problem for an another day.
"That battle seemed to go very weirdly. You have to tell about it, while we head home." Runo said.
"Yeah, you have to send me the data." Marucho chimed in.
"Well let's not hurry too much. I'll still need to eat auntie's Berliners before we go." And then I remembered that I dropped the bag, when I ran away after those kids recognized me. "And I dropped the bag." I muttered to myself as the memory came back. "We'll have to buy the ingredients again don't we." I said as I shook my head.
I swear I heard a light chuckle coming from both of the brawlers. "Don't worry I'll pay for it." Marucho said as we continued walking.
There it is. Chapter 7. Took long enough to come didn't it. Honestly I wished I could have gotten this out sooner. But I guess better late than never. The battle segment I had written down quite a long time ago actually, I think all the way back in July. However it was the story segment where I ran into roadblocks, which is why it took so long to make this. Anyway you may have noticed a few things have changed. I quietly in December updated Chapter 4 a bit. I changed Reaper's power level from 400 to 450. And I changed that when Alice opens up her Bakupod in Doom Dimension it is in Masquerade's profile. Give that chapter a read if it's been a long time. As for chapter 8. Well it's 90% finished. There is a small story segment that I need to finish up, which I could do quite quickly. However the issue is, that for the next 6 months I don't even know, when I will have access to my computer. So it can take quite a while for it to come out due to that. Nothing more to say. Hopefully you still enjoy the story.