NOTE: Sorry about the long wait. I pretty much hit writer's block and lost interest in this fic for a bit, but I'm back! The Battle Royals just aren't going to be written out, because they were a massive pain to try and figure out. You're still getting battles, but they won't be fleshed out until the finals.
Enjoy and Review!
Chapter 20: Tournament of Weirdos
"C'mon, Alice, I'm sure it'll be fine." Yuji held her hand as he led her into the stadium. Today was the start of the Royal Rumble Tournament, and the start of their difficult journey. After the events of the previous day, where Dan and Drago were hospitalized and Runo declared war against them, Yuji had found himself sticking much closer to Alice's side. The poor girl looked utterly miserable after Runo had basically terminated their friendship. Alice had attempted to contact the other Brawlers to gain their support to help Runo see reason, but that didn't really work out well.
Marucho, while not agreeing with the way Runo had handled things, didn't disagree with the idea that Yuji and Leonidas had a part to play in their friends' current condition.
Julie seemed just as pissed as Runo and didn't bother letting Alice try and explain the situation.
Shun didn't even bother answering her calls.
"Alice…" Yuji muttered.
"W-why is this happening…?" Alice softly cried. "E-everything was going fine, b-but now…none of my friends even trust me anymore."
Yuji led her over to a bench so that she could cry a bit more privately. "I-I'm sure that's not the case. They're all just confused and don't know everything. You can't blame them for that-"
"I can, Yuji!" Alice yelled; her eyes red with tears. "It's not fair that everyone keeps judging you and Leonidas without actually getting to know the both of you!" Alice took the sleeve of her sweater to dry her tears. "D-don't make excuses for them, Yuji…they need to apologize to you and Leonidas." She steadied her emotions for a bit. "...I hate this."
"I hate this too." Yuji agreed.
"How's Leonidas?"
Hearing his name, the Haos dragon ascended from Yuji's pocket to face the non-brawler. "If you're concerned about my mental fortitude, don't bother. I am more than capable of battling by Yuji's side."
"But the news about Drago-"
"I will never waver from my path again. The one who dared to defeat Drago before I will pay for their sin." Leonidas promised with a venom laced tone.
Alice frowned at the malice rolling off the dragon. "Leonidas, you shouldn't chase after revenge. It's no good to be swallowed by anger like that. Right, Yuji?" The look on his face just made her worry even more.
"Sorry, Alice, but I have to agree with Leonidas on this one. Whoever hurt Dan and Drago, then framed us needs to pay."
"EXACTLY!"
"EEEK!" Yuji and Alice squealed. The two dorks grabbed one another, which caused them to tip over and fall onto the floor. Leonidas wasn't startled and turned to the source of the disturbance with a soft grunt.
"Serena, Nene, and bucktooth."
"Why am I the only one not called by name?!" Akira whined. His female companions just rolled their eyes, obviously not caring that much about his plight.
Yuji glared at his little sister. "What the heck, Serena?! Can't you tell we're discussing something serious?!"
Nene pointed at them. "Before you start scolding the Smurfette, how about you get off of her before she overheats." Yuji blinked, then looked down to see that he was still on top of Alice. The poor girl's face was the brightest color of red possible. The two-tournament champion blushed just as brightly and scrambled off of his friend. Then he quickly helped her up off the floor.
"S-sorry, Alice…!"
"I-it's fine…" She was really enjoying their intimacy, but now she needed to focus on the three kids that were clearly sneaking around them. "S-Serena…what is this about?"
The blueberry Shujin pulled out a detective cap and placed it upon her head. "Well, you see, bumbling big brother, his dorky love-interest, and as sharp as a crayon box dragon-"
"Bumbling?"
"D-dorky love-interest?!"
"What's a crayon box?"
Serena ignored their comments to continue her spiel. "My companions and I were overhearing your conversation and decided to lend you our aid!"
"I didn't decide that." Akira interrupted.
"Yeah, because nobody asked you!" Serena hissed at him. The two growled at each other while Nene was more focused on checking on her hair in the mirror.
"U-uh…aid in what exactly?" Yuji got their attention back.
"Aid in solving who it was that hurt Dan and Drago and framed you two!" Serena exclaimed.
"As much as I don't like Dan, hearing about what happened didn't sit right with me." Akira said.
Nene glanced up and closed her mirror. "I'm just here to make sure those two don't get arrested."
Yuji smiled a bit at their desire to help, but he shook his head at the three. "Thanks, guys, but you shouldn't get involved in all of this. Whoever it was that took down Dan and Drago is definitely dangerous. I don't want you three getting hurt if you happen across him."
"Please! I'd totally kick his butt before he could do anything!" Serena scoffed.
Alice glared lightly at the little girl. "We're serious, Serena. This isn't the time for joking around."
Serena met Alice's glare with her own. "I AM being serious, Alice! I like Dan and Drago, so whoever hurt them that badly needs to get their butts kicked!"
"It's not like we're planning on fighting them either. As soon as we've figured out who it is, then we'll let you two know." Nene reassured the teens.
Yuji still looked unsure. "I-I don't know-"
"Let them, Yuji." Leonidas declared.
"Leonidas?"
"If they want to help, then let them. I'm certain that whoever dared to take our victory away from us will appear in this tournament. The faster we find them, the faster I'll be able to strike them down." Leonidas explained.
"...Fine." Yuji sighed.
"Yuji!" Alice was clearly still against it.
He turned to her with a soft smile, his hands softly taking hers. "It'll be fine, Alice. As much as I don't want to drag them into this, Leonidas isn't wrong that we need all the help we can get. Your friends are clearly not going to listen, and all want to take down Leonidas and I." Alice furrowed her brows, thinking back to the ways her friends have constantly treated the duo since meeting them. "Whether it's against the mysterious brawler that took down Dan and Drago or against the other members of the Battle Brawlers…Leonidas and I are gonna have to fight."
"I know…" Alice whispered.
"We'll be okay."
"I know…" She looked into his eyes with a soft smile. "You two always manage to pull through when you need to."
Looking away from the beautiful girl in front of him, Yuji eyed his sister. "Okay, you guys can help us out."
"Perfect!" Serena pulled out something from her pretty pink bag. "I already have our lists of suspects ready!"
"Let me see that." Alice took the pictures from the youngest Shujin. Her face scrunched up in confusion at the suspects. "Klaus, Chan Lee, and Julio?"
"Yup! They're our first round of suspects!"
"I-I mean, sure, they worked with Masquerade before but they're good people now. I'm certain that they couldn't be the ones to have hurt Dan or Drago." Alice explained. Her confusion turned into annoyance when the three kids started laughing at her. "W-what's so funny?!"
"Dear, leave the detective work to us." Nene gave a gaudy laugh.
"Y-you're not even real detectives!"
"Yes, we are, I have the hat." Serena pointed at her hat.
"That doesn't make you a detective!"
Yuji took the pictures from Alice to look through them himself. "Uh? Why is Shuji on this list? I don't think he'd go that far."
"Can't rule out any possibilities. You saw just how much he hated being a tutorial character." Akira responded.
"He's honestly top of the suspect list." Nene added.
"I feel like they just want to mess with him." Yuji and Alice sighed. The stack of pictures was taken back by Serena, who stuffed them back into her bag.
"Anyway, we should get started on our investigations! Good luck on your matches, big brother!" The three scurried away down the hall.
"Serena! Stay away from Runo and the others if you see them!" Alice yelled. She received a thumbs up from the troublesome trio. "...I don't think they're going to listen to me."
"Probably not." Yuji sighed.
"It'll be fine." Leonidas said.
Alice looked a bit uneasy. "You don't think they'll go too far, do you?"
"..."
"Yuji?"
"Let's just get going." He started walking away with Leonidas following him. Alice really had an uneasy feeling about this tournament. It just felt like something bad was going to end up happening.
The Subterra Battlefield wasn't as small as the other two fields the tournament had used. This time it was practically as huge as the stadium itself. There were even obstacles in the way to prove as a challenge for the brawlers and their Bakugan. Yuji was impressed by the design, but if there was one thing he didn't like it was that the center of the field, where their cards and Bakugan are placed, was a little too far away. Guess, it was a good thing that the Bakugan could turn into giant Kaiju when in battle.
His opponents in this first round were pretty weird, but at this point Yuji was certain he was used to weirdos. There was Shuji, the loud older brother of Akira and Nene, some Ventus user named Komba with a talking female Bakugan, and then a Subterra brawler named Billy with his own talking Bakugan.
Yuji was pretty surprised to see that there were other people besides the Battle Brawlers and Masquerade who had their own talking Bakugan, but it made more sense when he thought about it a bit more. Not every Bakugan that came to Earth would lose their ability to speak. However, he had to admit that these two were…uh…
"YO, CYCLOID!" Harpus, a Ventus harpy-type Bakugan, looked over at the one-eyed titan-like Subterra Bakugan. "WHY DON'T WE TEAM UP ON THIS PESKY DRAGON?!" Harpus' loud screechy voice echoed throughout the field.
"DOESN'T SOUND BAD TO ME!" Cycloid was just as loud. The cyclops looked down at his partner. "YOU OKAY WITH THAT, BILLY?!"
"Sure! I'm all for it!" Billy gave a thumbs up. Billy is a teenage boy with white skin, freckles on his face, and long, yellow hair, which is the exact same hair color Marucho has. Billy also wears a t-shirt and an orange and black jacket along with it that has a lightning bolt on the back, wears black fingerless gloves, and a hat that also has a lightning bolt on it. "You ready, Komba?!"
"Hell yeah! Let's teach this newbie who's really boss!" Komba agreed. Komba is a young boy with tanned skin and has a brown curly afro hidden underneath his hat. He wears a yellow jacket over a white hoodie, and a pair of blue jeans.
…To be honest, all four of them were pretty annoying.
Leonidas stared down his opponents, unflinching from Cycloid's huge stature or Harpus' sharp fangs. "It doesn't matter if both of you join forces, I'll crush you both and continue on!"
"KEEP DREAMIN', LIZARD BOY!" Harpus laughed.
"Let's do this, Harpus! Ability Activate! Feather Storm!" Komba yelled.
"You too, Cycloid! Ability Activate! Right Giganti!" Billy followed suit with his own ability card.
Cycloid's right hand grew in size, big enough to swat Leonidas or any other Bakugan away like a bug. Harpus' feathers ascended around her like a tornado, the powerful winds strengthened the feathers' edges into blade-like weapons. Cycloid raised his fist and brought it down on Leonidas. "GET READY FOR A GRAND SLAM!"
Leonidas pushed his hands against the cyclops' massive appendage with a fierce growl. His struggles didn't end there as Harpus swooped in next. "NOW A TASTE OF HARPUS!" She screamed, flapping her wings to unleash her feathers into Leonidas. The tornado of feathers surrounded the dragon, cutting into his body with each rotation.
"Alright! We got him now!" Billy pumped his fist.
"Oh yeah!" Komba agreed.
"Pathetic…" A low growl called.
"EH?!" The brawlers and their guardians exclaimed. They stared at Leonidas, whose eyes were still burning brightly with a powerful flame.
"Attacks as weak as these will never defeat me!" Leonidas' body started to glow with white energy. Cycloid gasped when the dragon was starting to push back against his hand, until with one final cry, Leonidas toppled the cyclops over. His power burst, dispelling away Harpus' feathers.
"H-HOW?!" Harpus cried.
Yuji raised a card, his body also giving off a white glow. "Let's finish this, Leonidas! Ability Activate! Alpha Blaster!"
"RAAAAAAH!" Leonidas ascended into the sky with a beastly roar. His mouth opened to release his signature attack that left the other brawlers gaping like fish as it rained down like a meteor. Cycloid and Harpus screamed in pain as their bodies were burnt by Leonidas' attack, they returned to ball form and rolled down to their partners' feet.
"No way…" Billy fell to his knees as the battle ended.
"T-that Bakugan is way too crazy…" Komba picked up Harpus, looking pretty terrified.
Leonidas scoffed at his defeated opponents. "Hmph! Not even worthy of being a warm-up."
"Way to go, buddy. We still got it." Yuji nodded at his partner.
"Obviously, Yuji. None of these weaklings are a challenge for us." Leonidas said.
Yuji shook his head at his partner, then looked back at their defeated opposition. His eyes narrowed when he only saw two people instead of three. "Wait…where did Shuji go?" Like, he knew the guy got knocked out of the fight pretty quickly, but he didn't think the guy would leave that fast. Yuji hoped that Shuji was okay…maybe he should try talking to him later.
Shuji released a staggered breath as the dirty sack was torn off his face. The brawler found himself in a dark room, tied to a chair, and his only means of communication were taken from his body. The bully had to admit that he was pretty scared at the moment. Suddenly, a lamp light was flash on, almost blinding him with how close it was to his face. "W-what?! W-who's doing this?!"
"WE'RE ASKING THE QUESTIONS HERE!" Shuji's fear subsided for a moment when he recognized that annoying voice. He managed to see a streak of blue hair standing behind the bright lamp.
"Y-you?! You're that noob's annoying little sister!" Shuji growled. "What the heck do you think you're doi-OW!" He was bonked on the head by a large paper fan.
"I said I'M asking the questions here, pal!" Serena hissed. She leaned in close, glaring at the large teenager. "Now then, punk! Where were you on the night of November 8th?!"
"W-what?!"
A face-palming could be heard in the background. "Why are we letting her ask the questions again?" Shuji recognized that annoying voice as well.
"I figured it would be funny." Another recognizable voice was heard, followed by the slurping of a beverage.
"N-Nene?! Akira?!" Shuji called out to his little siblings. The two walked forward out of the shadows, clearly unconcerned for their brother's predicament. "What the hell are you two brats doing?!"
"Torturing you."
"Investigating you."
"Basically, the same thing." Serena answered.
"THOSE ARE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT THINGS!" Shuji comically screamed. He started thrashing about. "What is all of this even about?!"
"We're investigating the mystery behind the one who hospitalized Dan and Drago. You're at the top of our list, Shuki!" Serena explained.
"It's Shuji!"
"That's what I said." Serena shrugged. "Now, are you going to admit to the crime or are you going to continue lying to us?"
"Tch! As if I was the one that took down those losers, though I wish I was though. Would've been nice to put those losers down a peg." Shuji grinned.
"...I see. Seems you've decided to keep lying." Serena sighed.
"I'm not lying, you brat! I just told you the truth!" Shuji yelled.
Nene shook her head. "You're a notorious liar, Shuji. We shouldn't have expected you to be honest."
"Looks like we'll have to do this the hard way." Akira agreed.
Serena picked up a hair razor, making the larger teen's face go pale. "W-what are you going to do with that?!"
"Nothing too bad. Just a bit of a…haircut is all." Serena flicked it on, the tool vibrating in her hand. She brought it up to the top of Shuji's head, causing the teen to start fidgeting. He turned to his little siblings for help.
"N-Nene! A-Akira!"
"Eh, Mom said you've needed a haircut recently. This one'll be free at least." Nene clearly didn't care. Akira just turned and left the room, leaving the girls to handle the 'investigation' without him. As he did so, he could hear his brother's crying as Serena gave him the haircut of a lifetime.
"Welp, it seems we'll have to move further down the list." Akira said. He pulled out a list of names and crossed out his brother's name.
Chapter End
NOTE: I swear, I don't hate Shuji, but those kids are menaces. Each chapter will have an 'investigation' at the end, and you can probably guess who's gonna be the next ones to get questioned by the kids. Yeah, letting them help was probably not the best move.
Alice here is a bit angrier about recent events now that she's had time to mull over them. Her friends (Minus Dan and Drago) have continuously been antagonistic towards Yuji and Leonidas since they met the two. Shun and Julie haven't even met them and are still looking at them as the 2nd coming of Masquerade and Hydranoid. There will be conflict and there will be consequences to everything that has happened.
Yuji feels very mature. Our boy is growing up, isn't he? I feel like a proud parent.
Have a great day!