Beyond the Mask - A Bakugan fanfic

Chapter 14

The battle ended in a flash of white light, the very same that opened the field, closed it, returning the players to the park. Everything was still a blur to Amari. She couldn't get the images out of her head, as though they were still happening right in front of her – the darkness, the blood, the screams – it was a horror show, nothing like what a battle should be like.

Masquerade placed his hand on her shoulder, pulling Amari out of her stupor.

"Let's go." He whispered to her, leading her away.

She looked up to the Battle Brawlers, or what was left of them. They looked no better than how Amari felt herself. Marucho had tears streaming down his red-splotchy face and Runo wasn't too far behind him with tears welling up in her eyes as well. She still clutched Tigrerra close. Dan as well, was quiet, gazing down at his Bakugan still residing on the ground. He hadn't picked up Drago yet, hadn't touched him since he returned from the battle.

The boy then knelt down and picked him up. He wasn't as bad as the Mantris, Drago still had his limbs attached, but there were pieces that hung away from him, hanging on by only a fraction. Amari's stomach turned at the sight.

It was permanent, it had to be, Amari thought to herself.

"How – how could you do this?" Dan whimpered. Before Masquerade could retort with something sarcastic, the boy continued on, distraught. "How could you do this? First you take the Bakugan away, and now you hurt them? How could you do something so terrible? Do you even care about your Bakugan?"

Amari wanted to plead to him, to beg to him that yes, yes, she did love her bakugan and she loved playing with others. She hadn't set out to hurt anyone – she just wanted to play. They had all seemed so unreachable. This teaming up with Masquerade had felt like it was the only way to do it.

Leonidas felt cold in her hand, like a river rock she scooped up from a cold stream or an ice cube she had popped out of an ice tray; he didn't burn like he usually did right after a battle.

"Let's go, Amari," Masquerade repeated from farther behind her, his voice much more tense than before. This time she obeyed, turning away from the defeated Brawlers, leaving them and their battle behind, though the memories remained fresh in her mind.

Amari and Masquerade did not have to walk far to find a veil of foliage, and they didn't have to walk much further to return to the point where they had exited the portal from. That all felt like hours ago. It must have been far away enough from the Battle Brawlers because Masquerade pulled out the card he had before, the dark one all covered in swirls, and opened the portal once more. He offered his arm out to her with a proud smile on his face. She took it in silence, keeping her head down.

The portal opened with its whipping winds that sent chills down Amari's spine. It appeared before them in a pale blue light spinning endlessly into a voice where the end was not visible to them. Her stomach turned, unsure whether it were from the spinning or residual unease from the battle just before. She took in-step beside Masquerade, venturing into the portal once again.

The trek through the portal felt no different than the first time. The winds were absent within the portal, but the swirls of blue continued to move regardless as they walked through, stepping on nothing that Amari could see but the open air. None of it felt real to her, but so far everything that happened that so far seemed so surreal.

The exit of the portal appeared as a small dot before growing large enough for both of them to walk through. The end didn't look as bright as Amari had expected it to be, seeing as it was still midday. But she paid no mind as they drew closer. She held her breath, worried that she'd lose it from the wind as they stepped beyond the portal's edge and back into the world. It wasn't until the winds began to die down and after she pulled away from Masquerade that she looked around her.