Beyond the Mask - A Bakugan fanfic

Chapter 8

"Prepare yourself now, little lady, I'm a lot stronger than I look."

"And he's not going to go easy on you just because you're a girl," Akira added. Amari rolled her eyes and held up her gate card. The world around them stopped as the cards brought them to the open Battle Field. She felt the familiar compression of her chest when the battlefield appeared. She was ready for the battle, and she wasn't going to lose.

Shuji went first.

"Gate Card, set! Dragonoid, go!"

From the boy's hand came a red dragon, bursting from his marble shape into a ferocious beast. The dragon roared as he took form. It looked familiar, similar to the one Dan Kuso recently began using, but this one was somehow different; his features weren't nearly as distinct as Dan's Dragonoid. The ferocity of his growl seemed almost duller, too.

"Throw me in," the Rogue Bakugan said. "I can take him."

But Amari didn't listen;  she  pulled out one of her other Bakugan instead.

"Not yet. I want to see if I can take these guys out myself."

The Rogue Bakugan didn't protest as Amari thought he would. She pulled her Gargonoid out from her bag and threw him onto the field. She wasn't going to play with any safety net this time around. This boy looked like he didn't even know the meaning of the word 'strategy.'

"Ability Activate! Power Surge!" Shuji called out. As Amari predicted, his Ability Card only raised the power of his Bakugan. It wasn't a bad strategy, per say, but Amari had a few cards of her own that could change a few things.

"Ability Activate! Reroute!" She held up her glowing card and watched as the Dragonoid's additional power transfer over to her Gargonoid. The dragon moaned and slouched over with each passing minute as his newfound power drained out of him.

"What! What's going on?" Shuji cried. Akira only stared in disbelief.

"My Ability Card takes whatever power you gave to your Bakugan and gives it to my Gargonoid. Did I mention it also prevents you from opening your Gate Card, too?" Amari kept her voice light and sweet as her Gargonoid swept down and delivered a defeating blow to Shuji's Dragonoid, sending the Bakugan back to Shuji's feet. Amari's Gargonoid returned to her not too soon after.

"Urgh, that was a fluke! You just had a better card than me!" the taller boy reasoned, stomping his foot onto the ground like a toddler.

"I have better Bakugan than you too," Amari muttered under her breath. She drew out her closest Gate Card and without even looking at it, threw it onto the field. If the battle was going to be anything like that first round, then Amari had nothing to worry about. She'd wipe the field with whatever copycat Bakugan this Low-Ranker threw at her. Just as she drew her arm back to launch her Gargonoid back into play, the Rogue Bakugan flew into her face.

"Amari, you said you would throw me in. I'm ready to battle."

She lowered her arm.

"What would be the point of throwing you in if I can beat these punks in three rounds flat? It'll be over soon, it's not that big of a deal," she arched her arm behind her, ready to throw, only for the Bakugan to get in her way again.

"It's a big deal to me. I want to fight whether it's a challenge or not."

"We'll see," Amari said, and left it at that. She ignored the Bakugan's further attempts to distract her to throw in her Gargonoid.

"Is that all you got?" Shuji scoffed at its reappearance. "And here I thought you'd want to show off that super cool talking Bakugan!" He shrugged and looked down at Akira, though his words were meant for Amari; she could hear them clearly from across the field. "I guess she really does want to lose."