Beyond the Mask - A Bakugan fanfic

Chapter 11

"I needed to - to try it out-"

"Ohmygod, Amari, this isn't like trying on some new pair of shoes and walking around the store. This is someone's Bakugan we're talking about. You of all people should be able to understand."

Her voice sounded like a scolding, like she was disappointed. Amari didn't like it, but a part of her knew that Kumiko was right.

"Yea, you're right," Amari conceded. She looked down at the card and met with a pair of red eyes. What had possessed her to-

"You know, ever since you 'found' that new Bakugan, you've been nothing but a terrible player, Amari," Kumiko said. "You only think you're good because you have that new Bakugan and that stupid card. If it weren't for them, you'd be just like the rest of us trying to climb the ranks with these useless park matches. But here you are, still trying to prove something when you're not that special."

"Kumiko,"

"Forget it, Amari. If you have to rely on such cheap tactics to become a good player, then what kind of player are you?"

The words hurt, stung more than what she'd just said before. In all the time she'd played the game, she had never once cheated, not even now with the card in her hand. If she lost, she took it as well as she could, and she never rubbed one of her wins in any of her opponents' faces. Even if she hadn't used Masquerade's card, Leonidas would have absolutely annihilated that Scorpio anyway; and Amari was sure that she and Leonidas would have held their own in that battle against those boys without Kumiko anyway. Her so-called "friend" had no right to say what she just did. Amari was furious, completely done with acting like a pitiful loser getting their hand slapped by some moral dilemma that her friend shoved in her face.

"Well, if you have a problem with my playing, then you don't have to join in on battles with me anymore. In fact, we don't even have to be friends anymore."

The words felt good to say, for a moment, but they didn't ease the pain that she felt in her chest.

"Fine," Kumiko replied, reaching down to haul her basket back into her arms. "I had to get going, anyway."

Amari didn't say anything as Kumiko shoved passed her, the elated feeling Amari had felt just moments ago drastically disappearing with each step Kumiko took. The pain in her chest became all encompassing; it was the only thing she could feel. It soon traveled to her head and squeezed at her throat until she could hardly breathe. What was wrong with her?

Amari looked down as she felt a push at her hand. Leonidas broke through the gaps in her fingers and flew up to Amari's eye-level.

"What happened? Why did the battle stop?"

She stared openly at the Bakugan but didn't say anything.

"Why are you - what is coming out of your eye?"

Her vision had gone blurry. She swiped her hand by her eye, and – she was crying.

"Nothing, sorry." She coughed, hoping to clear her throat but to no avail. She could still feel the tightness at her neck. She turned away from him as she wiped the rest of them away before they could spill over. "Kevon's Bakugan was taken by that black portal thing and he decided to end the battle early."

"A black portal? Where did that come from?"

"I don't know, I-" Amari hiccupped. A sob stuck to the back of her throat like paint to a wall; she coughed again, hoping to cover it up. Her Bakugan followed her as she took a seat at the fountain, landing just on her knee. Amari took a moment to breathe, to compose herself once again, before speaking. "I think it was the card that Masquerade gave me that caused it to appear."