Bakugan (reboot) oneshots

Puppet Vs Hero (+ A Former Thief)

This was unexpected.

Okay, well, the events of the previous day were unexpected.

This was more than unexpected.

From everyone's separate accounts, they'd all deduced the reason for the events of the previous day were that Dan Kouzo had been controlled by Haavik.

Ajit had been the first to give his account, then Barbara Kouzo had spoken about her interactions with her son that morning, Dragonoid explained his part and the remaining Awesome Brawlers chipped in with what they knew.

The only one who didn't comment was Dan, he just kept apologising repeatedly, even after everyone had told him it was fine.

Everything in the incident had struck a chord with Magnus, he knew what it was like to be controlled by someone else. Hell, he still had the puppet strings to prove it, even if he was the only one who could see or feel them..

So it was unusual, yet understandable why he'd felt the need to speak with his rival that night.

He wasn't sure of the exact reason, if he wanted to check the other was okay or if he more selfishly just wanted to speak with someone who understood what it was like. But it wasn't like his reasoning mattered anyway, the point was he was going to speak with Dan Kouzo.

It hadn't surprised him too much when he'd found Dan sitting on his front porch staring blankly up at the stars.

Overwhelmed.

That seemed like the correct word if Magnus was to try to guess how Dan was feeling at that moment.

The red streaked boy was so spaced out, he didn't even notice Magnus's presence until the puppet was right in front of him.

"Wha- Magnus? When did you get here, wait- Actually, what are you doing here?" Dan asked, genuinely surprised but with such a fake, tired edge to his perky tone that anyone who knew the boy could tell he was putting on a front.

The puppet sighed, "I wanted to speak with you." He responded, not bothering to elaborate more. Knowing the other would know why he wanted to talk.

Dan's reaction instantly confirmed Magnus's assumption that he'd understand the reason for this conversation. The boy grimaced, "Right... I had a feeling this would be about..." He trailed off, forcing a small laugh.

Magnus sat down beside him.

"Look, Magnus. It's not-"

The puppet filled in the remaining gaps "It's not easy to explain what happened."

He looked at his rival, "I get it." He simply told him, hoping that his tone would get across that he was trying to be nice in this moment and offer support.

"No."

He barely heard it at first and Dan was quiet for so long afterwards he almost believed he'd imagined it until it was repeated again louder.

"No, you don't." The blue eyed boy glared at Magnus.

The puppet raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" He asked, mostly rhetorically. "I went through the same thing when Tiko controlled me."

In those seconds where it seemed like Dan had simply forgotten about Magnus's experience with Tiko, things were still normal.

That changed when Dan spoke again, sending a slight chill down Magnus's spine.

"No." He repeated again, "It was nothing like that." His tone of voice was firm, although there was a slight waiver of uncertainty as if he was unsure he wanted to continue speaking. Unsure if he should continue speaking.