You know, I nearly forgot to work on this. I spent a couple of hours thinking that I just needed to work on that last chapter of the Demon's Reign's Epilogue, then move on to Gwrthryfel y Ci Du and More Then You Think. Lucky me, I bothered checking as my schedule for reasons I can't recall didn't have this penned in, though that's been fixed. However, I might only do another few chapters and put this on ice for a while, as I really don't like posting on Saturdays. I now have two stories set to upload stuff on Friday.

But that's for later; this chapter was its own issue as I'm trying out a new style with it, limiting how much is said as background to when characters talk since I noticed with a chapter of Gwrthryfel y Ci Du that it helps with word count, allowing me to say more in a single chapter.

Chapter 4: Partners

After what have been the upset of the decade, the arene-no, the entire city was in shock, giving Alban just enough time to make it to his bike before the shock faded and people lost it. How could they not be defeated so thoroughly when they saw one of the best, a local celebrity? And by an unknown, unranked brawler to boot.

Fastening his helmet in, Alban could already see people rushing him to talk and learn more about him.

Which wasn't what he wanted, as he revved his bike right as they closed and took off; most only cursed and called for him to return but didn't give chase when he had the speed advantage. But there were always the few who didn't go with the flow. Alban hadn't even reached the third intersection when he noticed he was being chased by people using cars, bikes, and even what looked like the city taxi service.

Those were just the ones behind him as he saw others, who had been watching the match on their phones through one of the many screens across the street, turn to him; Alban dreaded the sight of a group of teenage girls who gave him the same look he got from girls back at Ashford.

"Just my luck." He muttered as he didn't wait for the light to change; he just booked it, evading traffic that careened out of his way or came to a sudden stop to avoid him, drivers honking and yelling at him, but he paid them no mind and as he served through traffic.

Much to his dismay, it would take the better part of an hour and some creative driving to avoid them, though to be on the safe side, he stopped to hide out till sunset; only then did he make the trip home, using a route that added 20 minutes to the ride just from how many turns he took just to be sure he wasn't being followed, and if he was, then he would have confused any pursuer. Driving inside, he sighed as he figured he might need to change how his ride looked; he chose a generic color, but now that was the color associated with Alban Ganymede.

He felt so drained that when he removed his visor, he didn't put it aside but let it drop to the floor while he slumped into his chair. "Well, we certainly accomplished our goals," Juggernoid pointed out.

"Yes, and by doing so, we ousted ourselves to the entire city," Clawcer stated, as there was no way they wouldn't have more eyes on them now. Sure, it meant more battles and more changes to free their kind, but it also came with an increased risk.

"It was inevitable that this would happen, but I wish I could bet with her," Alban stated, his Bakugan taking their place on the table.

"What, for information about how they're keeping us in this form? I doubt she would know." Clawcer stated.

"True, and it would be awfully suspicious to her father if she started asking questions. Who to say he would even acquiesce?" Siege pointed out, as something told her, that Shalta wasn't the type that was typically interested in that.

"Still, we did manage to get Sirenoid away from here, so while we didn't gain information, I would still call that a win." Juggernoid looked towards the positive side, even if it was just the one Bakugan, that was one less Bakugan at the Vestal's mercy.

"Speaking of," Alban turned to the table's side, where Sirenoid's ball was apart from the rest. "Would you like to speak up, Sirenoid? You are among friends here."

"…Who…" It took a moment for her to speak, and when she did, her words were tinged with suspicion. "Are you?"

"What do you mean? You heard them calling his name." Terrorclaw pointed out, as it wasn't like they had been silent on the way home.

Sirenoid turned to them, and while she had no face to emote, it was clear she wasn't happy with that response. "I'm no fool, and I suspect neither are all of you. Why would he be different than the rest of them? How would he know the truth about the Bakugan and what the invaders have done to us? More importantly."

She turned back to Alban, having asked all those admittable good questions. "Why would he care? So I'll ask again: Who are you?"

Alban paused to think about her questions and how to answer them. He was learning every day that this wasn't like Earth; this wasn't the type of battle he was used to or prepared for. Thus, he would need to adapt to it or risk failure.

"Well, I will say this, you're straight to the point." He conceded, looking at the rest, even those who liked to remain silent in group chats. "Do all of you wish to know? Do you all want to ask those questions?"

His Bakugan looked at one another, sharing a silent conversation they weren't happy to have but couldn't avoid. "I mean…"

"You've given us no reason to doubt your goals, Alban." Juggernoid old him, the old coot trusting in him, though Lelouch knew it was different to the trust that the Black Knights placed in him, even other to what Kallen had in him.

"Yeah, and you actually speak with us, consider our thoughts. Are those actions not warranting some level of trust?" Clawcer, one of his more suspicious Bakugan once upon a time, is now someone firmly in his corner. Again, it was a different kind of trust. It wasn't the trust one placed in a commander or ruler-even a symbol like Zero was.

It was the trust placed in a comrade and a friend. That…that was new to him. He had friends, and the student council were all his friends. They trusted one another, but they didn't know what he did. What he fought. And when Shirley tried to get close to this side of him…she paid for it, though only because of his recklessness as he never let himself forget.

"Don't be foolish…" Sirenoid cut through the sentiment like a crashing wave smashed through old, weak wooden piers. "It's been 4 years now. 4 years of humiliation, 4 years of abuse, 4 years of being forced to be little more than voiceless beast fighting, clawing, and hurting each other for the amusement of those animals."

Sirenoid, whose voice even now was smooth and alluring, carried a heavy sense of anger, loss, pain, and near hopelessness. Such sentiment was shared among the rest as Alban could tell how low their moods got. Yes, Lelouch could see that much, at least a little, from what he had witnessed the Japanese go through.

He knew that comparing them might be insulting. Still, he felt at least a little of what she thought in those early days after the invasion when it was just him and Suzaku to fend for themselves and Nunnally in war-torn Japan, then those years before Lord Ashford stumbled on him when he did whatever he could to provide for his sister.

There was never much work for a weak orphan boy who didn't even have a middle school education, but he was still Britannian and could use that to garner side jobs or sympathy, which meant that while money was always tight, he could manage if only barely. The Japanese didn't have that luxury, and he saw it repeatedly. How even their personhood could be disregarded as when Clovis did to save his ass, and what Cornelia replicated just to lure him out.

How much worse was it for Bakugan? Who weren't human or Vestal, who, in a hypocritical sense of cruelty, were treated as aliens, mindless beasts that were powerful tools for the entertainment of the masses, things to be owned by brats as cruel as that petulant child, Shalta?

He didn't have an answer, not a concrete one, but he would imagine plenty and none of it was pretty. Sirenoid had every reason to mistrust him, to hate what she had been reduced to as he saw her proper form. She was beautiful, she was majesty, she should have been free, all should have been freed.

Sirenoid rolled closer to the rest as she wanted-needed answers. "So why should I think this one is any different? So he talks with you, so what? You all still battle. You all are still forced into this…this form!"

At the end of her triad, the room fell silent as no one knew what to say. But Alban eventually came up with a response that he had to fight against his nature to implement. "There are many things I could say there. I can think of 11 things I could say with a reasonable probability of convincing you that I'm this great person who believes in free will and independence."

Sirenoid seemed less than impressed. "The fact you're not doing that means you're setting up one of those means, or you're admitting you're just like the rest."

"It's a little of option 2…and 3," Alban replied before taking a breath and forcing down the desire to diverge. "After everything you, all of you have gone through. The least I can be is truthful with you all."

"I'm not a Vestal. To those of you who've been with me longer, you've seen me without my visor." He pointed to his face, more accurately, his eyes. "I imagine you all thought it was some sort of mutation, which would make it easier to find me if people saw it."

"I suspected, as such, that along with your name being fake, make it harder to track you down," Juggernoid stated, as it was strange, but he didn't put much thought into it.

"Correct, though there was some truth in my cover story. Just dumbed down enough that any real secrets are lost in translation." Alban replied.

"Then, if you're not a vestal…what are you?" Terrorclaw asked the 10-million-pound question.

"I'm a human, probably the first one ever to ever step foot in New Vestroia," Alban replied; that much he was… reasonably sure about, as it would take a lot to hide someone discovering alternate worlds and even traveling to one.

"A human?" Sirenoid asked, looking to the others, who, in turn, looked towards Juggernoid.

"Don't look at me. I've never heard of them." He was old, but not that old. He wasn't sure if humans had even been a known thing before now. "Then again, we had no knowledge of the vestals till they literally popped up. Maybe this human's the same."

"Hold on. They arrived with entire cities and through their sciences. How did you arrive here if you're not a vestal? Does their homeworld have more than just them?" Siege asked another good question.

Alban sighed, wondering if Wavern could lend some aid, but their connection remained silent as it had been since he arrived. "I wouldn't know because I'm not from Vestal. I'm from Earth and was…well, it wouldn't be incorrect to say that I was chosen and sent here to aid the Bakugan."

That drew more interest. "By who?"

"Wavern." At his response, the Bakugan all gasped in shock and disbelief.

"What?"

"Impossible!"

"He couldn't have ever met the Goddess!"

"Yet, he knows her name!"

Alban listened to their words, their responses coming as fast as the retort before it, melding till he struggled to make out details. But he could catch that Wavern was just as important as he thought, but a Goddess? She mentioned no such thing; was it just not necessary? Did she not view herself as these Bakugan viewed her?

Sirenoid rolled forward, stopping to gaze at him. "Human…explain."

The mayor of Beta City, chosen by his majesty, felt a headache forming. He sat in his office, overlooking the city he managed as day turned to night, but while his seat was comfy, his office luxurious and spacious, and the view gorgeous, it was all ruined by a call from his irate daughter. He knew she had a match today but couldn't watch it himself as he was busy, as was typical.

He had been sure she would win, and when she called, he expected to hear confirmation of that: He did not. His angel had been beaten so badly as she had lost Sirenoid to her opponent, who took off. "What do you mean you can't do anything, Daddy? He stole my Sirenoid!" Shalta yelled over the video call, the girl being driven home.

The man sighed. "I meant what I said, dear. You were the one that challenged him and lost in an official dual. You and I know that I can't just take his Bakugan from him." It wasn't just illegal; it was impossible to steal a Bakugan, or else they would be hearing stories of it happening all the time.

Shalta blew up at his reasonable response: "It's not his; it's mine! You went through so much trouble getting her for me, and I want her back!" He saved himself from placating her when he saw that he was getting called, the number listed as work-related.

"I'm going to need to call you back, sweetie; work is calling." He ended the call before she could protest, but he knew she would rise hell for that later. 'Oh boy, she's not going to be happy.'

That was an issue for later; he had problems now as he answered the call, and the face of his chief dimension controller came on. "Did you figure out what the issue was?"

"We believe so, sir. It wasn't that the dimensional controller had any issues; rather, it was the match. It generated a massive amount of energy." The middle-aged woman replied though the mayor frowned as the response seemed ludicrous.

"But to damage the system would require an insane amount of power. It's laughable to say that a single brawl could do that." He replied, as that system was one of the, if not their most vital, and had been over-designed to account for power surges. From what he had been told, it even had fail-safes and redundant systems.

It was alarming that

a single match could generate the kind of power required to damage the system, as had been reported earlier.

"Well…normally, I would agree with you, sir. But this brawl was different." The technician replied as the screen split, one side showcasing data and the time it was recorded. "Right at this moment, the system flagged the issue, and the damage started."

"Right as this Alban character managed to pull out a new card." The major guessed as he didn't watch it, but his daughter had already filled him in on the details.

When she nodded, he pressed for answers. "How rare is that?"

"It's never happened in Beta City, sir. Alpha City has only reported three such incidents, two of which involved incredibly powerful Bakugan." His brow creased at that. This wasn't his field, but he had heard rumors…

"Contact Gamme City and see what they have to say about this." No, he wouldn't get further involved with this. He would do as was expected of him and report this to their science branch; they'll be the ones who judge whether this was worth the attention of his royal highness.

"Wow…" Terrorclaw uttered. She, like the rest, was complexly floored by what Alba...Lelouch had told them. The boy hadn't kept anything from them: his true name, his past, his actions, and his goals. Nothing.

"I would say that, like…a lot to take in," Juggernoid replied, as he wasn't so sure about someone that could take life so casually as Lelouch. The battle was harsh, and life could be lost, but that wasn't something to brush aside so quickly.

"But wait, if she could act now, why not earlier?" Siege asked, as Wavern had the power to pluck some random human into their world but not even appear to any of them.

"She seemed to take a lot of power just pulling the human into this, and I wouldn't be surprised if she was affected the same as us," Sirenoid, who kept silent throughout the explanation, spoke up. "Or am I wrong?"

Lelouch shook his head. "No, I have the same thought. But why do you call her a goddess?"

Limulus was the one who answered that. "Many thousands of years ago, she sacrificed herself to become one with the infinity core to keep it out of the hands of her brother, who wished to absorb it and the silent core to gain unmatched power."

"In doing so, she gained immeasurable power but lost her form, as she is now half the force that keeps our world together. And keeping her brother in check, for he became one with the Silent core and can be…restless." The Ventus Bakugan added, as their world wasn't known for lack of...incidents, all attributed to their Silent core and monster sealed within.

Lelouch leaned into his chair in thought. "So, it probably took a considerable amount of her power just to split from it and request my aid, nevermind lend me some help before I was killed." No, perhaps it was a wise decision. Wavern was in ball form when he last saw her; if the vestals could capture her in that weakened state…

"Yet you accepted," Sirenoid said, drawing his attention and locking eyes with him. Why? From what you tell us, your world is far from perfect, and you're fighting against oppressors like the Vestals. Why choose our struggle over yours?"

"I believe," Juggernoid cut in, turning to Sirenoid in what must be a disapproving way. However, she hardly cared before he turned back to Lelouch. "She means to ask if you aren't worried for your sister, friends, or comrades. It didn't seem like you could tell them what was happening or say goodbye."

"Is that a real question? Of course, I'm worried about them. I've been gone a month now, a month! I've never been away from my sister more than a weekend, and I always told her beforehand…" Yeah, Lelouch could see that, as not a day had passed since he hadn't thought about his sister. She would have no clue, and this comes after that mess with Mao. An incident that gave her nightmares as she had no clue who Mao was and why he was so fixated on hurting him through her.

With his disappearance, no one would know what happened as while he had faith Kallen could convince the others of what she saw, that was only a glimpse; even then, was she supposed to just…return to school? Act like nothing happened? Reveal herself to his sister? She didn't even know he was Zero; he made sure of that so his disappearance at the same time as the masked terrorist wouldn't register as anything more suspicious.

"I just have to trust that my friends…and Suzaku are keeping an eye on her." Lelouch took a calming breath, as he had plenty to say about Suzaku and how stubborn a fool he was, but he knew he cared for Nunnally almost as much as Lelouch did. If there was anyone he could trust to protect her, it was him.

"That is something you could do, so why aren't you?" Sirenoid didn't let up. "Don't give me that look, human. Why choose us over your own kind?"

"My kind…"Lelouch repeated, looking at the dirty ceiling. "If one looks at it like that, I suppose that it makes little sense why I made the choice I did. In fact, if you had asked me before I ever met Wavern, I wouldn't have even considered it a serious question."

Lelouch suspected that Wavern's presence influenced him somehow; perhaps it was the light. However, unlike what would typically come to mind, he didn't view it as direct manipulation like his geass. Rather, it was like she gave his better side more impact in decision-making.

Past that, there was something more, as he had thought about it a lot since arriving and seeing Bakugan brawls for himself.

"But…what sort of thinking is that? 'My kind, your people. Don't all living sentient beings long for the same things? Don't we all share common fundamental things? Are we not all deserving of love, dignity, respect, and freedom?" He asked, chuckling at the contradiction of him advocating for freedom.

"At first, I thought it was because of my sister. If she were in that position and could fight for the world she dreams of, would she really just…refuse? Of course not. Her heart's too big for that." His sister, bless her heart, was a little too much like Euphie, but he liked to think he taught her to look before she leaped. "But, while she would move for the love of life, I move for my hatred of restraint, of chains and slavery."

He understood his nature. He hated Britannia. He hated it because of the snakes, backstabbers, and cowards that bled the world dry to feed their greed and egos. Oh sure, he branded the Black Knights as different, but as he told C.C., he was purely a pragmatic move.

Even his efforts to fight crime and Refrain distribution were less for the good it did and more to gain support among the Japanese and give his recruits a chance to gain experience against weaker enemies than soldiers and knightmares.

But…it was that mindset of wishing to see his enemies defeated, that callous disregard for the people, that led to his humiliation at Saitama, where he let his ego get the best of him, deluding himself into thinking he could fight Cornelia the same way he fought Clovis. And for that, Saitama's ghetto bleeds for his mistake.

It happened again at Narita, as he chose not to run more comprehensive tests or seek the advice of an expert about his plans, and as a result, he-not Kallen-not his Black Knights. Lelouch killed over 200 civilians, including Shirley's father. And again, he didn't achieve his goals, as Cornelia escaped and he had to be bailed out by C.C. again.

Yes, he understood his nature, and that was precisely why he wanted to change, to take at least some of his lies about fighting for liberty, justice, and freedom and try to turn them into reality. That might not have been why he initially agreed to aide the Bakugan for Wavern, but it was why he hadn't regretted the choice despite the literal inter-dimensional distance between him and everything and everyone he loved.

That conviction, that desire to be a better person, shined in his words as he looked toward his Bakugan. "I refuse to tolerate your mistreatment, and even if I must fight alone to see it undone, I shall."

Sirenoid remained silent as the human laid out his convictions: "Sirenoid, I won't tell you to trust me. I won't lie to you that I'm a good person. I have done terrible things, I will do terrible things, and I won't feel a shred of remorse for much of it because I truly believe that the goal I seek is worth the bloodshed and destruction."

Taking a breath, he concluded. "And that means I will fight to see you and every Bakugan free once more and the Vestals expunged from your world."

"…" Sirenoid remained silent, even as the others looked towards her, wondering what was going through her mind before she finally spoke, distrust underpinning her words. Still, also there was a weak hint of hope. "I shall keep an eye on you, Lelouch. But if you're truly serious and genuinely desire to aid our struggle, then you can count on me. You'll need a powerful partner for the battles to come."

"Thank you," Lelouch nodded, but he got a glint in his eye as he got up. "If I'm taking on a new partner, I should change things."

"What do you have in mind?" Sirenoid asked as Lelouch went to the side and pulled out a chest.

"Something…familiar." He opened it up and brought it over for them to peer inside.

"Oh?" Juggernoid sounded.

"Snazzy," Terrorclaw noted.

"It's definitely going to draw eyes," Sirenoid stated, the Bakugan seeing her reflection off that white and blue mask.

'Interesting…very interesting.' A man thought as he looked through some data, matching that to some video.

"Professor?" His assistant, or at least one of them, spoke up; the man hardly bothered recalling their names as long as they were useful.

"This came from Beta City, correct?" he asked as the man worked in a lab in the depths of Gamma City, far from home. He didn't mind; it wasn't like anyone was waiting for him there.

"Yes, sir. It came in around an hour ago." He mused as he thought about that that meant. This battle he was watching wasn't standard, or at least, it appeared to be on the surface, but when one looked deeper…

"Delay my other projects." He was already busy, but that could wait as this became a priority. "This requires my full attention. And get his royal highness on the line."

"Sir!" His assistant rushed off to make the arrangements; the researcher took a little extra time analyzing the data but set it aside for the moment. Clapping his hands, the lights around the lab turned on, not just those at his desk, and he moved to the center of the room. Moments later, the holo screen activated, and he bowed to the person who appeared on it.

"Professor, I trust you have a good reason to call me?" Prince Hydron asked.

"Of course, your highness. I have some news that might interest you." The professor kept his bow, missing the eager look on his prince's face.

"Is it related to you…"

Sadly, he didn't have news on that issue; they had run into several roadblocks, delaying them. "I'm afraid not, sir. This is something different. This afternoon in Beta City, we saw a spike in power that damaged the dimensional controller. However, the damage wasn't serious, and the system operates well within the parameters."

Prince Hydron sighed, his excitement replaced with boredom as he started twirling his hair. "So, this interests me why?"

"The cause of the power surge, your highness." The professor sent a summarised report of the incident, along with freeze frames of the brawler that caused all this. "It come from a single battle and was generated by just one brawler and their Bakugan. The surge was similar to that…of the 6 Legendary Bakugan."

That drew the prince's attention. "Was it one of the missing ones?"

The professor shook his head. "Unfortunately, no, it was a mere Griffon. However, the odds of this being a mere coincidence are slim, to put it mildly. This brawler is connected to our missing Legendary Bakugan. However, I can't theorize how yet with so little data."

"No, this is fine," Hydron replied, a smile forming on his face as, at last, they had a good lead after years of nothing. "Pyrus, Haos, and Aquos, all missing from my collection. If this…Alban character could be the link, then all the better. Better we get to them before the resistance does."

"I shall continue to review the data then, but if I might be so bold, could I request that the Vexos lend some support in capturing this brawler?" the professor asked, as his role was research, not battle or capture. If this was related to their missing Bakugan, then sending anyone weaker than the Vexos would only end in failure.

Prince Hydron thought about it for a moment before he made a decision. "I'll have whoever's closest handle it."

"Mira, you might want to take a look at this." A young teen turned from the conversation she was having with her teammate. Walking over from one side of the bridge to the other, she saw that their 3rd member was watching something.

"A brawl?" she asked, her sapphire blue eyes catching a sight common among the vestal population, though she didn't know why this was any different from the rest.

"Not just any, but this guy isn't even ranked, and he cleaned the clock with the 420th-best brawler in Beta City." Their 3rd showed his inexperience and youth with how excited he got over that.

The teammate she had been speaking with scoffed. "Is that really all that impressive? So, he beat someone that wasn't even in the top 100 in their city, so what?" While he was rather brash, Mira agreed that defeating someone of that rank was impressive, but not that impressive. The kinds of battles they got into needed experienced and powerful brawlers.

"I mean, there was how they spoke during the match, listen." Their youngest increased the volume and rewound a little, allowing them to hear the conversation between the two brawlers, where the masked Brawler seemed to speak in defense of the Bakugan.

Muting it again, he turned to the two. "Come on, that's gotta count for something. How often do people talk about the Bakugan like that?"

"It is a rarity among the vestals, and his skills aren't to be ignored." Mira could admit that much, but should they make a move? They were planning to set up closer to Alpha City instead, but on the other hand, if they could convince someone new to join them…

"Baron, how long would it take for us to travel to Beta?" Mira asked, with Baron blinking momentarily before doing the math.

"Well, around a day."

Their abrasive teammate looked at her, disbelief on his face. "You're serious? We know nothing about this guy besides his one match."

Mira chuckled at his incredulous look. "You know, I thought the same thing about you, and you haven't proven my intuition wrong yet." She told him as he patted his shoulder as she walked towards the bridge exit. "Baron set course for Beta City. I think it's time the Bakugan Battle Brawlers Resistance meets this Alban Ganymede."

It's not the longest chapter, but that new writing style seems to be coming along well. However, we can expect that in the next chapter, things will pop off as Lelouch now has the attention of both the Vexos and the BBBR, and he doesn't even know it. Though it's not as if he's done anything besides intelligence gathering and battling, that will be pretty interesting. Funny enough, I had plans for him to meet them, similar to how Shun reunited with Kan and Marucho. Cut it as while he is all for the drama, it can't always be in enough control to pull off the presentation.

He also did something new, which was to come clean to his Bakugan. Something I hope I was able to convey was something typically out of character for the generally secretive guy, which is why he did it. He's trying a new approach here to not repeat the mistakes of the past, which could be seen as practical in itself, but it's more him trying to be more like his sister, who he views as the objectively better person.

The next chapter will be out on Jaunaury 30th but if you want to read it early, well the link is at the bottom for my p a t reon.

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