NOTE: Sorry this took so long. Life got in the way and I really struggled on how to figure this one out. I've finished exams, so for the moment I'm kinda free for the summer.

Enjoy and Review!

Chapter 13: Confrontation

"Yuji, calm down." Alice advised as she watched the tournament champion nervously walk beside her. She had gone over to Yuji's house to accompany him to the stadium for the first rounds of the tag tournament. She expected to see Serena with him, but surprisingly the little girl had long since left for somewhere else.

"S-sorry, Alice. It's just that I've never battled without Leonidas before." Yuji replied, looking down at the stadium floor.

The soft Russian placed a hand on his shoulder. "You shouldn't worry too much, Yuji. Sure Leonidas isn't in the mood and the moment and who knows when he'll be ready to battle again, and if this wasn't a tag tournament then you'd be having a very difficult time and-"

"Ugh…"

Alice winced, realizing she must've gone on a little too much, not that she meant to. "What I mean to say is, that you shouldn't worry too much. You'll have Dan and Drago right by your side to help you. It's a tag tournament, so you're not alone."

Yuji allowed himself to smile. "You're right, Alice. I'll be fine!"

"Right!"

"I-I'll be strong!"

"Exactly!"

"And we'll win the tournament!"

"Of course!"

Yuji allowed his chest to swell up with confidence as Alice's positive reinforcement empowered him. He was ready to take his first real confident step towards his goals until another person ran straight into him, sending the poor champion flying across the hallway.

"Yuji!" Alice cried rushing over to check on him. She knelt down towards the item of her affection, taking notice of his dazed expression. "Yuji, are you okay!?"

"N-n-never getting confident again…"

"You're okay." Alice sighed. The Russian Brawler turned her attention to the assaulter with a stern glare on her face. "Who do you think you are, barreling into people like that!?" That was when she realized that it wasn't one person who had hit him, but two.

"Who are we?" The first one was a young woman with fuchsia hair and blue eyes. She's dressed in overalls that show off her shoulders, parts of her stomach, and back. Around her waist is a yellow skirt with blue shorts underneath. She's wearing a yellow and blue necklace, blue boots, blue arm covering, blue socks, and blue jewel earrings.

"What a stupid question to ask." The second person was also a young woman, but with green hair and brown eyes. She's dressed in a white and pink robe with a blue belt and pink boots. The accessories on her body were a black necklace and yellow earrings.

"We're Jenny and Jewls of JJ Dolls!" The pop idols clasped their hands together, posing cutely. Like usual the two expected to see Alice fawn over them as most fans would, but the only thing they received was a look of pure bewilderment.

"W-what…?"

Jenny put her hands on her hips, huffing slightly. "C'mon! This is the part where you go all starry eyed for us and ask us for autographs!"

Jewls brushed some of her hair out of the way. "How can you call yourself a fan if you don't freak out upon seeing us?"

"I'm not your fan." Alice responded simply.

Her words didn't register in their heads at all. "Like, don't you have posters of us hanging up on your walls? Surely you use our CDs as shrine accessories that you've built to honor us?" Jenny assumed.

Alice sputtered incredulously. "N-no! Who even does anything like that last part!?"

"It amazes me that we can have such lazy fans. Maybe, we haven't been dazzling them enough with our breathtaking performance?" Jenny fretted. Jewls quickly pulled her friend in for a hug to comfort her.

"Of course not, Jenny! It's not our fault that we have such a disappointing fan in front of us!" Jewls reassured her.

"I'm not a fan!" Alice exclaimed, starting to find these two annoying. She had heard from Dan, Runo, and Marucho that these two used to work with Masquerade, but she really wasn't expecting them to be like this. No wonder Runo only ever had bad things to say.

Thankfully for her sanity, Yuji finally decided to get off the floor. When he faced the idols, he was surprised to see them. "Woah! It's Jenny and Jewls from JJ Dolls!"

"You listen to their music?" Alice asked, not expecting it.

"No, but Serena enjoys listening to it a lot-EH!?" Yuji squealed when the idols crowded him, promptly pushing Alice out of the way.

"Oh my gosh! You are pretty cute!" Jenny exclaimed.

"Like, super cute!" Jewls agreed.

"EH!?" Yuji's face turned as bright as a tomato.

"Eh?" Alice's face darkened.

"Have you ever thought about joining the entertainment business? We could, like, collab together if you get popular enough!" Jewls exclaimed.

"N-not necessarily." Yuji replied.

"You totally should, like, think more about. I mean what else would you-" Jenny was interrupted by Alice grabbing Yuji by his arm, dragging him away from the idols.

"Sorry, but we have a tag tournament to get ready for and he's not interested in being an idol." Alice shot down their proposals with a cold stare. Yuji was confused by what was getting into her, it wasn't like Alice to get upset like this.

Jenny huffed. "Y'know it's rude for fans to interrupt their idols like that!"

"Yeah!" Jewls added.

"I'M NOT YOUR FAN!"

After dropping Yuji off at the waiting area for the participants, she was making her way over to the audience section to find her seat. It didn't take her long to find it and to take a nice rest on it, trying to calm herself down from the earlier events. The usually calm teen had no idea what had come over her when it came to those idols, but she really didn't like how close they were getting to Yuji. "Recruiting him to become an idol just because he's cute? Yuji can't become an idol! He's a brawler! A cute brawler-wait what-"

"Excuse me, miss?"

Alice was pulled from her thoughts by the new voice. Looking up she saw a young man with silver hair and three red bangs going down the left side of his head. He was dressed in all black, which in her opinion had to be uncomfortable in this heat. "Uh, yes?"

"You wouldn't happen to be Alice of the Battle Brawlers, would you?"

Alice nodded her head, not seeing the harm in it. "Yes, and who would you be?"

The young man smiled, and she didn't know why it slightly unsettled her. "Oh, I'm just a fan. Nobody too important. I was just wondering if you wouldn't mind taking this seat next to you?"

"Oh, sure. All of my friends are taking part in the tournament, so I'm not exactly waiting for anyone."

"Thanks." The young man took his seat. His eyes looked up at the screen where the matches were listed, his eyes trailing over to Dan and Yuji vs Jenny and Jewls. "Interesting first match up."

"Yes…unfortunately." Alice muttered that last part.

"Hm?"

"I-I said that it should be a very fun match to watch! Hehehe…"

The young man felt a little weirded out but didn't say anything. His eyes went back to the screen as the match started. He couldn't care less about Yuji, the newbie just got lucky to win the last tournament. His attention was fully on Dan and Drago.

Dan and Yuji - 2

Jenny and Jewls -1

Yuji felt terrible at the moment as the battle in the brand new Aquos field took place. Of course with his luck their first opponents would be the two idols he met earlier in the day. The battle hadn't started out the best with him screwing up with an ability and giving Jewls the chance to counter with her gate card. Dan was forced to carry him through this battle even though he was at the biggest disadvantage in this field.

Oh yeah, type disadvantages are a thing now. In an Aquos field, Pyrus was made weaker in terms of power.

Of course, that didn't stop Dan, who still had the most confident smirk plastered on his face. "C'mon, is that all you two got or I'm not even breaking a sweat here!"

Jenny was fuming. "Like, so, not cool, Dan! Give us a bit of a break, will ya!?"

Jewls was also fuming comically. "Yeah, Dan! Like, we can't just lose in the first round and all!"

"Sorry, ladies, but we can't afford to lose in the first round either, right, Yuji?" Dan turned towards his partner, who jumped a bit.

"R-right!" Yuji replied. Even though he agreed verbally, Yuji didn't feel like he actually agreed with Dan. He hadn't done much in this battle but played defensively, leaving most of the fighting to Dan. Looking down at the pockets on his hoodie, he could still feel the stillness of his partner. "Leonidas…"

Dan picked up his partner. "What do you say, Drago? How about we end this battle?"

"Let's do it, Dan!"

"Alright! Bakugan, brawl!" Dan tossed out Drago onto the battlefield. The dragon Bakugan landed on the gate card that Jewls' Subterra Centipoid was standing on. "Drago, stand!"

"RAH!" Drago roared as the area around the gate card erupted into flames. The mighty Pyrus dragon stood confidently against his bugly opponent. Once again, the field's effects hit Drago, weakening the Dragonoid.

Pyrus Dragonoid: 450 Gs to 430 Gs!

Jewls smirked, raising an ability card. "Nice try, Dan, but you fell for it! Ability activate, Attractor!"

"Attractor?" Yuji tilted his head at the card.

Jewls was more than happy to explain. "This ability allows me to add an ally Bakugan on another gate card to Centipoid's battle, and I choose Jenny's Siege!" Jewls pointed over at the Aquos Siege that stood on the opposite gate card.

"Sweet thinking, Jewls!" Jenny complimented her partner as she watched her ace Bakugan transfer over to the battle.

"Thanks, Jenny, but that's not all! The Bakugan that moved over does have to compensate a bit and give at least 10 points of their G power to Centipoid." Jewls explained.

Aquos Siege: 240 Gs to 230 Gs!

Subterra Centipoid: 240 Gs to 250 Gs!

Siege and Centipoid: 480 Gs!

"And with our combined Gs, there's no way Drago can beat us!" Jewls and Jenny.

Dan grinned, raising an ability card. "Oh really? Ability activate!"

"BOOSTED DRAGON!" Drago roared, opening his mouth to unleash a devastating blast of fire.

Pyrus Dragonoid: 430 Gs to 630 Gs!

"OH NO!" The girls cried, hugging each other in fear as the arena went from cool to boiling hot in a second.

Yuji couldn't help but admire the strength and power that Dan and Drago possessed. Even with odds stacked against the two they never wavered or felt fear. They welcomed every challenge with a smile on their face and lived like any day could be their last.

As Drago's final attack decimated the opponents, ending the match with their victory, Yuji reached into his pockets and pulled out Leonidas. He didn't know why he felt the need to hold his partner or to try and show his partner what was happening, but it felt necessary. "Can we reach them, Leonidas? Would we be able to get as strong as them?"

He didn't receive an answer, and he honestly didn't expect to.

Yuji sighed as they exited the arena, the upset feeling in his stomach still bothering him. It was good that they won, but it shouldn't have been like this.

"Don't stress too much about it, Yuji." Dan said.

"Huh?" Yuji looked over at him.

Dan didn't elaborate, too busy rubbing his stomach. "I need a good meal after a match like that, ya know?"

Yuji shrugged lightly. "Guess I could go for something to eat." The young champion looked over to see most people had already cleared out of the waiting room. Though, over in the corner were two small figures dressed in black cloaks. Thinking back, Yuji remembered seeing them sticking mostly to the back as matches were being made. It seemed that the two were arguing over something with the way one of the small figures was punching the other repeatedly. Before Yuji could intervene Alice quickly made her way over with Marucho and Runo in tow, and some other guy he didn't recognize.

"Good job, guys!" Alice congratulated them.

"T-thanks, Alice." Yuji gave a small smile.

"Yeah, it was no problem." Dan grinned. The Pyrus brawler turned to the other team. "I'm guessing you guys won your match as well?"

Runo scoffed. "Of course, as if we'd lose in the first round."

"Our victory was within my calculations." Marucho added.

Dan laughed softly at his friends before gazing over at the newcomer. "Uh, who's your friend?"

The young man stepped forward. "Just call me M, and it's a pleasure to meet you, Dan Kuso." His eyes lazily trailed over to Yuji. "You too, Mr. Champion."

"M?" Dan questioned.

"Just a nickname." M responded.

"I see, well, I hope you enjoyed watching the matches, M." Dan said.

M nodded his head. "I did. It was all pretty interesting, especially yours, Dan. I mean, the way you controlled the entire battle as if it was nothing, then the raw power of Drago was a sight to behold."

Dan blushed, rubbing the back of his head. "Hehe… I was pretty cool, huh?" All of the praise was going straight to his head. Runo and Drago both rolled their eyes at him, knowing he wouldn't shut up about this for the rest of the day.

"But unfortunately, I can't say the same thing about your teammate."

That sentence snapped Dan out of his daze, his face growing a bit more tense at M's sentence, the same could be said for everyone else. Yuji, on the other hand, looked slightly more nervous. Even the small figures in the back stopped their arguing to listen. "What do you mean by that?" Dan asked, voice tense.

M didn't care, in fact, he enjoyed the looks on everyone's faces. "I mean, for someone who won the previous tournament it's pretty embarrassing for him to have such a piss poor performance. Like, seriously it was comical the way you stood there like a scared puppy! Even that mighty dragon of yours refuses to show his face. I guess his power isn't all that, what a pathetic coward."

"Hey! That's going too far!" Dan exclaimed.

"M!" Alice exclaimed. Runo and Marucho were surprised as well, not expecting such harsh words from this guy. Unknown to them, one of the cloaked guys in the back was attempting to charge in but was being held back by their teammate.

Leonidas felt the words of M stab into him like knives, hurting him worse than any wound in battle has done previously. The dragon would've sunk deeper into his thoughts if the movement of his partner didn't happen.

Yuji, in a rare case of confidence, stepped up to M. "Take that back."

M raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Take back what you said! I don't care what you say about me, but don't you ever call Leonidas a coward! The only coward here is the guy insulting people for no reason!" Yuji yelled back, surprising everyone present.

"WHAT!?" M's face twisted into a snarling frown. The young man got right into Yuji's face, allowing the young champion to meet his boiling red eyes. "You think you're some hot shot, because you won some tournament!? You're nothing more than a lucky brat who had to rely on some unknown Bakugan to carry him forward! You're nothing!"

Yuji didn't back down at all. "I'm not nothing! I'm Yuji Shujin and that unknown Bakugan is called Leonidas! He's my partner and together we're going to defeat everyone who comes our way!"

Before the argument could escalate even further, Dan pulled Yuji back as the others also got in the way. The Battle Brawlers all glared at M, who merely scoffed at their interference. "What?"

"I think it's time you leave, M, and don't you ever bother us again unless you apologize." Alice spoke first, her words cold as ice.

"Fine. I got what I wanted anyway." M's eyes trailed over to Dan and Drago one last final time before he turned on his heels and left the waiting room.

Once he was gone the others turned to Yuji to make sure he was alright. "Yuji! Are you okay? I know he didn't physically hurt you but…" Alice trailed off.

"I'm fine, Alice." Yuji said softly. "I-I just need to think about some things…" He pushed past them and left the waiting room, leaving nothing but a sullen air inside the room.

That was until Alice felt two pairs of arms grabbing her from behind. "Huh!?" The Russian girl and her friends turned around to see Jenny and Jewls had appeared out of nowhere. "W-where did you two come from!?"

"We just came back from taking some photos with our fans!" Jenny answered.

"Once that was over we just had to rush back to see if you were still here!" Jewls continued. The two began dragging Alice away towards the other exit. "We couldn't just leave one of our fans to remain so ignorant of our grace!"

"I-I'm not your fan!" Alice cried as she was taken against her will by the idols.

"S-shouldn't we help her?" Marucho asked.

Runo shook her head. "Nah, she'll be fine."

M marched through the hallway, his anger hadn't decreased at all. The young man's hands were grabbing onto his face, nails digging into his skin. "That…that…that arrogant little brat!

"Calm down."

M felt his emotions soothing slightly after the voice spoke in his head. "Right…right."

"Focus on the task at hand. What do you think of Dan Kuso and Drago? Their power…"

"It's impressive, I'll admit that. But it's nothing compared to the power we possess, both Dan Kuso and Drago will be crushed like the ants they are." M answered. A dark purple aura began pulsating around his body, extending itself outward to create a white door for him to walk through. Suddenly, his face once again twisted into a nightmarish snarl of fierce anger. "And then…"

"I'm not nothing! I'm Yuji Shujin and that unknown Bakugan is called Leonidas! He's my partner and together we're going to defeat everyone who comes our way!"

"I'll crush that arrogant little brat and his damn dragon into nothing but specks of dust in the wind!"

M entered the door and vanished from the tournament grounds.

Chapter End

NOTE: A bit of a serious note here, huh? Three heavy chapters in a row, though I try to inject some lighthearted stuff here and there. Poor Alice.

Honestly, the ending of this chapter wasn't supposed to be what it was, but it ended up happening on its own. I really liked setting up Marduk here. I'm saying that it's him because we ALL know that it's him.

Could you guess who those two cloaked figures are? You'll get a gold star if you get it right.

Have a great day!