NOTE: Welcome back! Here's the next part of the tournament and our daily torture!
Yeah, no, those kids are committing crimes. Shuji just has a bad haircut, nothing too serious.
Enjoy and Review!
Chapter 21: Supporting Me
Julie Makimoto walked through the halls of the stadium with a flame burning in her eyes. For someone who usually enjoyed being full of positive energy, anger wasn't really her favorite emotion, unlike Runo. However, when it came to the people she cared about, she was more than willing to dig deep inside to bring out the fierce warrior inside of her. She looked up at the screen and scowled at the footage of Yuji's victory during his round one battle. The female Brawler's body trembled from her overwhelming emotions.
"Julie…" She heard the voice of her guardian Bakugan, Gorem, who sat on her shoulder. "Are you okay?"
"I-I'm fine, Gorem! It's just…" Julie gave a strained smile to her guardian. When her eyes shifted back to the screen, Gorem started to understand.
"It's about Yuji Shujin and Leonidas, right?" Julie didn't respond immediately. "Don't worry, Julie, we'll bring them both to justice for what they did to Dan and Drago."
Julie's hands slammed against the wall, starting the Subterra Bakugan. "J-Julie?!"
"Gorem! It's not about that…! I-I mean it is, but…but…!"
"What is it, Julie?! What's wrong?!"
"HE'S SO DAMN CUUUUUUUUTE!" Julie screamed, falling to her knees. She slammed her fists against the floor as Gorem floated above her.
…
"What?" Gorem blinked.
"Yuji Shujin is just so freakin' cute! A cute boy is my ultimate weakness, Gorem, you know this!" Julie cried rivers in front of her Bakugan. "Why do all of the evil guys have to be so hooooot!"
"J-Julie… I don't think-"
"GRRR! I wanna get revenge for Dan and Drago, but I also want to ask the Shujin boy out on a date!" Julie started rolling across the floor like a child who was just told 'no'. "What makes it worse is that Alice has already sunk her teeth into him! When did that girl get so bold, dammit?!"
"Are you sure this is where your priorities should be, Julie?"
"Of course, Gorem!" She shot up like a viper, glaring at her Bakugan. "Think about it! By avenging Dan and Drago, turning Yuji to our side, and showing him just how cool I am, then he'll totally be charmed by me!" Julie explained.
"But what about Alice?"
"...Well, I'm sure she won't mind sharing-"
"Julie!"
"I'm kidding!" Julie waved off her Bakugan's concerns. "Look, Gorem, we'll just focus on kicking their butts for now. Though, I do still think he's a cute boy. I seriously wonder how he managed to get our dear sweet Alice to fall for him."
"Evil magic?"
"Hmm…maybe."
"Being a good person?"
"Could've been a trick."
"His…uh…nice features?"
"Definitely near the top of the list."
"Hypnotism?"
Julie snapped her fingers, a light bulb going off over her head. "That's it, Gorem! It's hypnotism!"
"Are you certain?"
"Obviously! Only a true genius mastermind with a totally cute face would be able to hypnotize our dear, Alice!" Julie exclaimed.
"Do you have a plan, Julie?" Gorem asked, getting absorbed in her energy.
"Of course, Gorem! We're going to solve this mystery of how Yuji Shujin managed to brainwash our sweet Alice by investigating him, like detectives!"
Serena stopped, body going completely stiff. She turned around with a piercing gaze, staring down the hallway like a threatened animal. Her friends stared at her with raised eyebrows. "Is something wrong?" Akira asked.
"Yeah…something terrible." Serena muttered.
"It's going to be something stupid." Nene crossed her arms.
"Someone is stealing our detective shtick!"
"Yup, something stupid." Nene sighed.
"You do realize that actual detectives exist, right?" Akira reminded the blueberry.
"They're fakes."
"They're professionals!"
Nene walked past the two. "You're wasting your breath, Akira. Besides, we have more important things to deal with, like clearing your brother's name."
Serena huffed loudly at the shorter girl. "I'm aware of that, short stack. I'm saying that whoever decided to copy us is going to pay dearly for it!" She took the lead back and started making way for the cafeteria. "Now come on! Let's get something to eat before we handle our next targets!"
Julie watched from a distance as Yuji and Alice ate together in the cafeteria. She narrowed her eyes slightly to try and focus. "Ugh! I can't see them too well from this distance, let alone hear them!"
"We could get closer, Julie." Gorem suggested.
"Yeah, but we'd risk getting seen. If only we had disguises…" Julie's eyes found a trench coat and hat sitting on a chair on the table next to her. Clearly someone left their stuff here while they went to do something. Julie was raised to know that stealing is wrong, but she was doing something very important. As long as she returns it later, then there wouldn't be anything wrong.
After yanking the garments from the table, Julie swiftly made her way towards the two dorks. Gorem kept close, hiding behind the coat's long collars. The Subterra Brawler quickly took her seat by a nearby table and used a menu to keep her face hidden. "Now to hear what they're talking about."
Alice looked up from her tablet. "Your next opponents aren't gonna be very easy to be, Yuji. You'll be facing Chan Lee, Julio, and Klaus. Pretty powerful Brawlers with their own guardian Bakugan." She took one of her french fries and popped into her mouth and swallowed before continuing on. "You're gonna have to tread carefully with these three."
"Anything you can tell us about them?" Yuji asked as he took a sip of his cherry lemonade.
"We don't need any of this information gathering, Yuji! We're strong enough to blow them away as is!" Leonidas exclaimed.
Alice giggled at the dragon. "Nothing wrong with being prepared, Leonidas. Though, I'm certain you're gonna beat them easily."
The dragon blushed at her praise of his power. "O-of course! Nothing's gonna stand in the way of our victory!" Yuji smirked at his partner, then turned back to Alice with a nod that she can continue on.
"All you need to know is that Chan Lee is much like Dan, she's aggressive in her battle-style and will likely gun for you immediately. Julio is similar with his brute-force way of fighting with attempts to overpower you. Klaus is the most level-headed of the three and will likely attempt to keep attention off of himself to get his wins with strategy." Alice explained. She turned the tablet around to show them the stats of the three Brawlers. "They're top ranked Brawlers for a reason."
Yuji had to admit that their win and loss ratios were very impressive, and a bit intimidating. But after losing that battle against Dan, he had become more aware of what true power felt like. Dan was a very powerful Brawler who earned his place in the top 5 of the leaderboards, and the fact that he lost meant something.
Whoever it was that defeated him was stronger, much stronger. He didn't have time to be worried over the strengths of other ranked Brawlers, they were as Leonidas would put it: Steppingstones to our true goal.
Yuji reached out, softly placing his hand on top of Alice's. "Thanks, Alice, really."
She blushed brightly and savored the feeling of their contact. "I-it's nothing really! This is all stuff you could've been doing yourself!" Alice stumbled on her words a bit.
"Not really. I'm not the smartest, so I likely would've been running into these blind. Would Leonidas and I be fine? Maybe we would and maybe we wouldn't. Either way, your support during all of this has been relieving. I honestly don't know how to repay you for all of this."
Alice placed her tablet down on the table and placed her other hand on top of his, holding his hand tenderly. "You don't have to repay me for helping you. I'm doing this, because I care for you guys. But if repaying me means so much to you, then do so by winning and showing everyone that you two aren't bad."
Yuji nodded his head. "You got it, Alice. We won't lose again, right Leonidas?"
"That's right, Yuji! We're strong and we'll crush every Bakugan and human that stands in front of us!" Leonidas declared.
Julie's eyes widened as she saw the way the two humans were looking at one another. She recognized those kinds of gazes, she's seen them plenty in romance shows and even from her own parents. "Is it really hypnotism or are they really in love?"
"Don't trust anything they say, Julie! Yuji Shujin and Leonidas can't be trusted!" Runo's warnings echoed in her head.
Julie was truly wondering if Runo's words held much truth. Deciding that she had done enough snooping, Julie quietly left the table and walked towards the cafeteria's exit.
Unaware of her friend's presence, the two continued on with their conversation. Alice reached into her bag and pulled out a card. "In fact, here Yuji, use this."
"An Ability Card?" Yuji held the card, reading over the card's effect. "Woah…"
"Yup! I think this one will be pretty useful." Alice winked.
Leonidas roared fiercely as he sprinted forward towards the Haos Bakugan across from him. Haos Tentaclear, a singular eye creature with eight tentacles as eyelashes, generated a powerful yellow beam to fire at the dragon. "Such a weak attack won't stop me!"
"Ability Activate! Phase Breaker!"
Suddenly, a sword swept through the air and slashed through Tentaclear, stopping its attack and blocking off Leonidas. A humanoid Pyrus Bakugan with four faces and four swords on his back stomped down. The Ashura Bakugan's face showed a look of grief as he stared down his opponents. "Woe is me! Why must I face such impudent opponents such as these?!"
"Huh?! What does that word even mean?!" Leonidas angrily asked.
Julio, a tall muscular man with a bright bald head, glared at the left side of the field. "Chan Lee, what the hell?! You're getting in the way of our epic Haos battle!"
Chan Lee is a young teenage girl with medium-length black hair tied into a ponytail, dressed in a red and gold Vietnamese styled ao dai. She smirked at her bald rival with an arrogant smirk. "Pssh, who cares about that, Julio?! This is a battle royal; thus you have to keep your eyes on all of your opponents! Like this, Gate Card Open!" Chan Lee waved her arm, activating the card the three Bakugan were standing on. "Let's do this, Fourtress!"
"Not so fast! Ability Activate! Dive Mirage!" The fourth Brawler in this battle intercepted Chan Lee's move. The glowing light from the Gate Card faded away, instead it began rippling like water. A mermaid-like Bakugan emerged from the depths to make herself known. "Time to make our move, Sirenoid!"
"Yes, Master Klaus!" Sirenoid exclaimed with a loving tone. She strummed her harp, filling the field with a soft harmony.
Klaus Von Hertzon is a handsome young man with light blue hair and teal-colored eyes. He wears a blue and grey dress shirt with stylish white pants. Klaus smirked and brushed some of his hair behind his ear. "I think it's time for Sirenoid and I to bring this battle to a close!"
Yuji narrowed his eyes, realizing the position he was currently in. Though the Gate Card was dead, there was no way to know if any of them had an ability that could turn the situation into their favor. He and Leonidas needed to end this quickly.
"Tch! As if I'm letting you two get in the way! Let's get them out of here, Tentaclear! Ability Activate! Solar Ray! Tentaclear gains 100 extra Gs!" Both Chan Lee and Klaus grunted at the extra power granted to the giant eyeball.
Alice frowned as she watched the battle on the screen. "C'mon, Yuji…use it now! They all don't have anything else left!"
Leonidas grunted as Tentaclear blasted him with another solar beam, pushing him towards the edge of the ring. Fourtress swung his blades through the beam, then turned them onto Sirenoid, who ducked under the blades. The Haos dragon roared and rammed his horn into Fourtress to knock him back.
Klaus scoffed. "Just one more push is needed to break this stalemate! Ability Activate-"
"Ability Activate! Time Freeze! Every Bakugan other than Leonidas is frozen for the rest of the battle!" Yuji had acted first, using the Ability Card that Alice had gifted him earlier. "Also, while this card is active no other Ability Cards can be used!"
"No way…!" Chan Lee gasped.
"You're kidding!" Julio yelled.
"You…!" Klaus glared at Yuji.
"Sorry, guys but Leonidas and I have someone we need to beat! And you guys are in our way! Let's finish this, partner!" Yuji raised his signature card into the air. "Ability Activate!"
Leonidas loomed above the three in the skies above, a plasma beam burning between his mighty jaws. "ALPHA BLASTER!" His beam descended upon the three with a thunderous roar. The three other Bakugan stood no chance as they were blown away by Leonidas' strongest attack.
"We win." Yuji declared over his defeated opponents. "You guys were really strong. We should brawl again sometime."
Chan Lee stood up, brushing off her dress. She walked over to the Haos user with a heated smirk on her face. "Certainly, Shujin. You managed to beat me, thus you're a fellow rival. I won't lose to you in the next tournament we face off in." Chan Lee playfully punched his shoulder, making Yuji wince from the force of the blow. She turned away and walked out of the room.
"Sure, kid! We still need to decide which one of us is the strongest Haos user!" Julio gave him a thumbs up before taking his own leave.
"Tch! Clearly, we are the strongest, since we won!" Leonidas declared.
"You never know, buddy, they might beat us next time."
"That'll never happen. I'll never lose again." Leonidas swore. His partner rolled his eyes playfully and turned to see Klaus approaching them next.
"Nice play with that time freeze card of yours. If you hadn't used that, then I would've used Sirenoid's other ability to end the battle." Klaus said.
Yuji rubbed the back of his head. "T-thanks, though it's thanks to my friend Alice that I even had the card in the first place. She's the reason we won today."
"Alice? This Alice wouldn't be Alice Gehabich of the Battle Brawlers, would she?" Klaus inquired.
"She is…is that a problem?"
"Not really. It's just that it's odd to see her interacting with people other than her close circle of friends. She's a very closed off person." Klaus hummed.
Yuji's eyes narrowed slightly. "What are you talking about?"
"Just that a beautiful girl like her usually has secrets in her closet. I'm just wondering if you're certain that you want to keep interacting with her."
"Don't talk about her like that! Sure, I might not be getting along with the rest of the Brawlers, but Alice has been nothing but kind to me since the day we met. I don't know what your deal is with her, but I won't let you talk bad about my friends!" Yuji declared. Leonidas's own growl could be heard as he rose up to glare at the rich young man.
Klaus raised his hand in a surrender. "I apologize if I came off sounding rude. I just wanted to be sure you actually care about Alice. I don't mean anything rude by my comments, but she's a nice girl. The fact that you stood and defended her instead of stumbling under the weight of my words fills me with assurance."
Yuji scrunched his eyes at Klaus, a bit confused. "W-wait? Do you have a c-crush on her or something…?"
Klaus smirked, turning around towards the exit. "Maybe I did at a certain point and time. But… I recently discovered my true love." His eyes drifted down towards Sirenoid. "However, I still see her as a dear person. Don't hurt her, okay?"
"I wouldn't dream of it." Yuji's steeled gaze filled the Aquos Brawler with confidence.
"Be sure you don't." Klaus walked out of the room, leaving the two alone.
…
"What a weirdo." Leonidas scoffs.
"Agreed, partner."
"Yuji!"
The Shujin boy was nearly tackled to the ground by Alice, who wrapped her arms around his neck. "You used the ability at the perfect time! Good job!" She pulled her head back to smile brightly at him. "You showed those three who's boss!"
Yuji's hands held her waist to balance her correctly. "Yeah! I honestly couldn't have done it without you, Alice. Thanks for the card. You can have it back if you want."
She shook her head. "Nope, that card is yours. It's my gift from me to you, like a way of knowing that I'm always supporting you."
Yuji thought back to Klaus' words as he listened to her. "Yeah…you've been supporting me all of this time, huh?"
"Well…there were some bumps in the road." Alice looked away for a moment.
"But still, you were there for me all the same. I…want to be there for you too." Yuji muttered that last part, but Alice managed to pick up on some of it. She whipped her head to stare at him with wide eyes.
"Y-Yuji?! What did you just-"
"Alice!"
She and Yuji broke away, startled by the shout. They turned to see Julie standing across from them in the hallway, a strained look on her face. "Julie…?"
"I-I mean-can we talk? All three of us?"
SPLASH!
"GWAH!" Julio coughed as a bucket of water was dunked over his bald head. He somehow struggled in his bonds, glaring at the impudent children who had managed to ambush him on his way out of the arena. "Y-you brats are so in for it once I get out of here!"
"Shut it, cueball!" Serena poked him with her finger. "We know you were the one who put Dan and Drago in the hospital!"
"I didn't do anything! I'm an innocent guy!"
"Oh yeah? Then what were you doing on the night of November 8th?!"
"You can't just repeat the same joke and expect it to work!" Akira yelled from the background.
"Shut up, extra!"
"Extra?!"
Nene stopped sucking on her lollipop with an audible pop. "Look, the cueball can't have done it. Everyone knows he's all muscle and no-brain. Whoever did has to have been someone with at least a brain cell."
Serena nodded at that, while Julio looked offended at the insult thrown his way. The blueberry jumped off the wooden table. "I see the logic in that. I guess we'll have to get our answers out of the other two suspects."
"Other two?" Julio questioned. Akira walked over to the darker area of the room and turned on the lights. Julio was greeted to the sight of his previous evil partners, Klaus and Chan Lee, tied up and gagged. Both were clearly trying to break out of their bindings but were struggling just as much as he was. Not only that, but their Bakugan had been trapped inside of a sealed case that laid on top of the table. "H-how did you even manage all of this?!"
Akira rolled his eyes. "Look if we took the time to explain it, then it would make even less sense. So, just keep quiet and let us handle the rest of our investigation." He tied the gag back around Julio's mouth to keep him silent.
Serena walked over to Chan Lee and undid her gag. "Now, miss-"
"You brats are DEAD! Do you hear me?! I'll remember your faces and-MMGGHF!" Her gag was immediately put back on.
"You're too loud. We can't have anyone finding this room." Serena decided to wait until the Pyrus Brawler calmed down.
Nene looked at Klaus. "Are you going to scream too?"
He shook his head.
Serena undid his gag. "Now, were you the one who injured Dan and Drago?"
"I did not."
"I believe you." Serena shrugged, shocking the other two prisoners-I mean-suspects. "No way a guy this pretty would hurt a fly."
Nene nodded her head. "Agreed. Handsome guys are never evil or misleading."
"I genuinely can't figure out if you two are serious or not, and that scares me." Akira shuddered. He shook his head and pointed at Klaus. "So, do we let him go?"
"No, he'll probably call security. Best to keep him here until the plot needs him again." Serena wiped her hands. "Same goes for those two, and Shuji, wherever he went." She and her friends walked towards the exit. "We'll be back later with some snacks, so keep quiet, okay?"
"MMMGHFFMF!" Chan Lee and Julio screamed in their bindings, while Klaus just made himself comfortable.
Chapter End
NOTE: If it brings you guys any peace of mind, Alice WILL eventually find the people they've hidden away to let them go. And then convince them not to press charges or attack the children. Or Masquerade will convince them...IDK.
We got some development with Yuji x Alice, and Julie is very curious about them. I wonder how their conversation will go. Find out next time!
Have a great day!