NOTE: Welcome back to another chapter, sorry this took so long to put out. Baby Leonidas needs as much help as possible if he's going to grow into a big strong dragon. Good thing he has Drago here to keep him in check.

Enjoy and Review!

Chapter 12: Relationship Advice

Yuji rubbed his arm nervously as he and Dan walked down the sidewalk. The newbie knew that Dan wanted to talk to him about his fight with Leonidas. And maybe he was about to go over the line before Dan stepped in, but for once Yuji felt justified in his actions. Once again, his partner had gone back on his own words and acted selfishly. There was a big tournament coming up and he was still hung up on a single loss! Why can't Leonidas just-

"We're here."

"Eh-Gah!" Yuji walked face first into a pole. Hissing in pain, Yuji winced as a humiliating wide red mark could be seen on his face.

"Pfft!" Dan tried not to laugh.

"Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up." Yuji winced, rolling his eyes. Looking up, the Haos Brawler realized just where it was that Dan had led him. "Runo's family restaurant? Why would we come here?"

Dan smiled knowingly. "It's got the best service in town!"

"Because Runo works here?"

"W-why would you assume that!?" Dan exclaimed, blushing.

"Alice likes to gossip sometimes." Yuji shrugged.

Dan fumed, making a mental note to have a private chat with Alice later. "As if I'd feel anything for Runo of all people! She's the combination of a caveman and a sabertooth tiger!" Dan exclaimed. Yuji probably would've verbally agreed if he didn't notice blue twin tails standing directly behind Dan. The student started shaking his head, nervous sweat trickling down his face.

"She's always hitting me and stuff for things that are totally not my fault! She enjoys nagging at me about my diet, clothes, hair, school, and brawls!" Dan continued to rant, still not picking up on Yuji's warning signs or the deathly aura behind him. "And before you think that I'm afraid of her, I'm not! I'd say all of this to her face too!"

"Really, now?"

All color drained from Dan's face after hearing the definitely pissed off tone of a familiar Haos female right behind him. Slowly turning around, Dan was staring face-to-face with Runo's chilling smile. A smile that he has only seen a couple of times…

And each one of those times it was pointed right at him.

"Runo-"

POW!

Yuji watched with absolute fear as Runo laid Dan out on the ground without a shred of hesitation. When her eyes turned to him, Yuji honestly believed that he might piss himself that day, making it even worse than it already was. Much to his surprise, instead of attacking him, the Battle Brawler just sighed.

"Drag his body in here and take a seat. I'll get the first aid kit and some water." Runo turned around and entered the restaurant. Leaving Yuji to awkwardly drag Dan's body into the restaurant and as he did so, he wondered just what his sister and mother were getting into.

Serenity Shujin sighed happily as she stood up from her seat after the hair salonist was done with her hair. The matriarch's black hair curled beautifully down her back with a nice shine to it that she just absolutely adored. After thanking the employee, she made her way to find her daughter, who should've finished her own hair appointment by now.

After entering the children's side of the salon, she found herself staring at a sadly familiar sight. Surrounding her daughter was a bunch of younger girls, who were listening to every word Serena said as if she was a profit. Though, from the looks of things it seemed that her daughter had gotten her hair done without any issues, which was good. The Shujin matriarch wondered just what it was that her daughter was possibly telling these girls.

"So, if you ever run into an annoying, possibly buck toothed boy, make sure to annoy him at every point possible." Serena advised.

"Why?" One girl asked.

"Because he's a pain in the neck." She answered immediately. "Also, if you have any older brothers make sure to educate them on the importance of treating their little sisters with respect and kindness."

"Oh! I have a big brother!" Another girl exclaimed.

"Does he bend to your will?"

"Uh huh! Mommy says my puppy dog eyes are a powerful weapon!"

"Keep that weapon for as long as possible. It'll help you in many situations, trust me." Serena said seriously.

Serenity sighed, prepared to grab her daughter and head home. That was until another woman giggled right next to her, gaining her attention. "Hm? Is something funny?"

The woman turned to her, looking apologetic. She had short brown hair with chocolate-colored eyes. She was dressed in a white top with orange sleeves and blue jeans. "Sorry, I was just passing by and couldn't help but notice the little cult forming in there. I'm assuming the ringleader is your daughter, right?"

"Yes." Serenity answered.

"Cute." The woman giggled. "Oh, sorry, where are my manners? My name is Miyako Kuso."

"I'm Serenity Shujin." Serenity returned the introduction.

"Shujin…? That sounds familiar." Miyako hummed for a moment. "Oh! Does your son happen to be Yuji Shujin?"

Serenity was surprised that this woman knew her son's name. "Well, yes, he is."

"Wonderful! Dan speaks about him a lot, always boasting at dinner that he finally has someone who looks up to him." Miyako giggled.

"You're Dan's mother!?" Serenity gasped. "But now that I think about it you two do look similar."

"And your daughter has your looks as well, except for the hair." Miyako noticed.

"Oh, she dyed it blue. Her natural hair color is black." The two mothers continued to talk to each other for the next several minutes, ignoring the growing cult going on inside of the hair salon.

Yuji was honestly surprised that nobody in the restaurant bat an eye at him dragging Dan's body into the establishment or at Runo applying some cream to Dan's face. What shocked him even more was that neither of the two were acting like anything strange had just happened and were bickering as usual.

He realized that Alice was right. "They really are in love!"

"OI!"

Yuji snapped out of his thoughts to see Runo glaring at him. "Why do you look as if you just realized something life changing?"

"I-I do!?"

"Yeah, you got that stupid look that Julie gets whenever she jumps to conclusions." Runo replied.

"He thinks we're in love." Dan answered. When she didn't react, Dan turned to look at her strangely. "Which we're totally not… right?"

Runo blushed slightly. "R-right! Totally not…"

"I-I see." Yuji muttered. "Though, what's the reason for bringing me here, Dan?"

"It's obvious, isn't it? You're upset at Leonidas, and you don't know how to deal with it." Dan explained.

"Wait, you brought him here, because he got into an argument with Leonidas?" Runo asked.

"Yup."

"Then where is Leonidas right now?"

Tigrerra popped up from her apron's breast pocket. "And I don't see Drago either."

"They're having their own chat. I wanted to take Yuji somewhere to help cool his head off, since he almost said something, he would regret." Dan explained.

"Wow, you got angry?" Runo blinked at Yuji.

"I-I can get angry!" Yuji pouted.

"I'm just saying you don't seem like the first person who would resort to anger." Runo said, raising her hands up.

Yuji sighed, staring down at his glass of water. "That's because I'm not. I'm usually good at keeping my emotions in check, but after meeting Leonidas it seems like I barely remember the person I used to be." He knew that before arriving at this town he'd never have dreamed of standing on a tournament stage in front of hundreds of people or having friends.

Runo hummed softly, thinking back to Yuji's battles during the tournament. He definitely got very emotional during it, thus bringing out some latent power inside of Leonidas. At least that's what Marucho had told them. Once again, that dragon was proving to be a problem if he was causing this kid issues like this.

"He's still so hung up on our loss to Dan and Drago that he refuses to battle again." Yuji spat out with a tense breath.

To say that Runo and Tigrerra were shocked would be an understatement. "Refuses to battle!? You are talking about the battle hungry Leonidas, right!?" Runo asked.

Yuji nodded his head. "I-I can't believe it myself either. Even after everything we've done together, he just can't take into account how I feel. It's just a single loss, I get being upset over it but there's more important things than tha-"

"Have you considered how he feels?" Tigrerra spoke up.

"Eh?" Yuji blinked.

"Tigrerra…?" Runo stared down at her partner.

"You speak a lot about how Leonidas doesn't seem to think about your feelings, but from what I'm seeing you're no better, Yuji." Tigrerra said.

"She's right, Yuji." Dan added. "It's understandable for you to be upset at Leonidas for disregarding everything you guys have been through. But this partnership thing is a two-way street, Yuji. Have you ever thought about what could be going through Leonidas' head? About why he's so obsessed with battling?"

The boy thought about it for a moment before realizing that Dan and Tigrerra were correct. He's questioned Leonidas' desires, but never truly tried to understand it. In a way, he confused it with his own desires to win the tournament. If there were no stakes on the line and they had lost, then he'd have been a bit upset but would've moved on.

Leonidas was different from him in many ways. His entire life was dedicated to battling and fighting for the right to prove himself the strongest. The weird hatred for other Bakugan fueled his bloodlust for battling, which unlocked his monstrous power.

Dan continued talking. "Drago and I weren't so perfect either when we first met. We didn't listen to each other, argued, and I even tossed him into the river."

"W-what!?" Yuji yelped.

"Yeah, I sound pretty awful, don't I?" Dan smiled at the painful memory. He truly didn't understand Drago back then or the truth about Bakugan. It took him getting his butt kicked badly for the truth of everything to finally click in his head. Dan felt a hand being placed on his arm and turned to see Runo trying to comfort him. The Pyrus Brawler appreciated it and smiled at Runo. "But after that, Drago and I grew stronger. Not everything starts out perfect and that's fine, Yuji. But you have to be willing to understand each other and come to an agreement over what the two of you need from the other."

Runo, as much as she didn't like the dragon, decided to add her own two cents. "Even if that dragon doesn't feel like talking now, you just have to give him time. And hopefully it gets through that thick skull of his that his desires aren't the only ones that are important."

Yuji stared at the three with awestruck silence, their words sinking into his head perfectly. He slowly stood up from the booth, confusing Runo and Tigrerra. "Sorry to cut this short, guys. But I-"

"Go to him, buddy. That's the whole point, right?" Dan understood.

"Right!" Yuji rushed out of the restaurant, heading straight back to the park.

Dan leaned back in his seat, feeling proud of himself. "All's well that ends well. Obviously, of course, with me as his teacher."

Runo rolled her eyes, giving him a playful shove. "Yeah, right, bozo. You're just lucky that the two of them are easy to understand, otherwise you'd be as lost as a mouse in a maze."

Tigrerra stared at Dan for a moment. "Dan."

"Hm? Yeah, Tigrerra?"

"Shouldn't you be going too?"

"Why?"

"Because you left Drago in the park too."

…

…

…

"CRUD!" Dan jumped out of his seat in panic. The Pyrus Brawler sprinted out of the restaurant to get to the park, hoping that Drago wouldn't be pissed at him.

Runo sighed as she watched him run past the window. "What am I gonna do about that idiot?"

"Excuse me, miss?"

"Huh?" Runo looked up to see a young man around her age staring at her. He was dressed pretty casually in a black shirt and pants. His hair on the other hand was pretty strange to her; he had silver hair with three red streaks pointing in different directions. His eyes were a ruby color, slightly mesmerizing to stare at. "U-uh, yeah! Can I help you?"

"Yeah, I was hoping you could help with the menu." He answered.

"Sure, I'll be right with you." Runo stood up and walked away to grab a menu. She never noticed the way the boy's eyes glowed or the way he stared at Tigrerra on her shoulder.

After grabbing Leonidas from the park (And having to wait for Dan to arrive to grab Drago), Yuji was slightly disappointed to see that his partner was silent again. Whatever it was that he had talked to Drago about had an effect on him. It would've made him angry again to see this, but Runo's words from earlier were still fresh in his mind. Yuji had to give Leonidas time to fully work through his own feelings, regardless of what those may be.

Which did mean that he'd need to figure something else out for the tournament, but at least he won't be fighting alone. Dan will be at his side the entire time, so hopefully things go over smoothly.

He laid down on his bed, staring at his ceiling. His nerves were eating at him again at an all-time high just like the previous tournament had. The champion trophy on his desk reminded him that he wasn't much of a newbie anymore and that he should be more confident in his own abilities. Yuji just wished that he had the energy for that type of confidence in the first place. Well, maybe everything won't be that ba-

"MOM, YUJI'S MUTTERING TO HIMSELF AGAIN!"

Wait, he was speaking out loud?

"I THINK HE'S POSSESSED! GET THE SALT AND PUPPETS!"

"ON IT, SWEETHEART!"

"WAIT, NO, IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!" Yuji cried, rushing out of his room.

The Darkus Brawler, Masquerade, sat on the branch of a tree, taking in the sight of the full moon that reflected off his mask. He felt a new presence arrive at his location and turned his head slightly to see his new 'partner'. "So, what did you think?"

"Tch, they're not much. I still don't understand why you want me to keep an eye on them. I'm sure that me and-"

"Not yet." Masquerade interrupted him. "There's more to these Brawlers than you might think and watching them will be perfect training for you."

"Why bother sitting on the sidelines instead of crushing them right now?"

Masquerade stood up on the branch, staring down at him with the moonlight adding to his flare. "Because you're not ready."

The young man's eyes narrowed. "And who are you to make that call?"

Masquerade jumped off the branch, standing right up to the young man's face. "The strongest dictates the rules for the weak and as long as you're weaker than me you'll listen." Then a predatory smile graced his lips. "Unless you wish to test that?"

The young man growled, his hatred for being looked down on festering in his chest. He raised a Gate Card to initiate the challenge. "We're more than ready to beat you!"

Masquerade brought his Gate Card up as well. "Don't blame me for what happens."

"FIELD OPEN!"

Chapter End

NOTE: Don't think I need to explain who Masquerade challenged at the end there. If you don't know, then you're in for a big old surprise. Next chapter will start the Tag Tournament. Do remember that I'll be skipping through some of the battles, and you'll mostly get character interactions. Until the finals, the finals will be written out in full.

I didn't want it to seem like Leonidas was the only one at fault, Yuji also is at fault for not understanding how much that loss hurt Leo. Dan, Runo, and Tigrerra helped him see that, but Leonidas still isn't ready to talk to him yet.

Dan's mom and Serenity met and are going to be really good friends. If only Dan had a little sister or brother, then Serena would have someone other than just Akira.

Have a great day!