"Are you sure you're good enough to come?"
"I'm not made of glass uncle, I won't break with just that"
It was the Saturday, Kaen had brought all of his students out in the market to take them to New Vestroia and buy them their Bakugan, among them was Kiran, who's eyes were still bandaged while he clinged to the man's arm.
As always, Kaen was worried about his nephew.
He might hate the boy's mother, but Kiran was just an innocent boy at the end of the day.
An innocent boy who was well aware of all of his mother's schemes and was against all of them, although it brings more harm than anything else.
This last vision took a much heavier tool than they expected, taking most of Kiran's vision from his left eyes and at least a third of it from the right eye, Kaen could definitely heal part of this damage, but not completely.
Yet, the boy insisted on coming too.
"I need to" Was what he said.
Elias and Val also insisted on bringing Kiran to the store, but none of them actually told him why.
But he trusted them, so he brought the boy.
"It's right there" He said.
New Vestroia wasn't exactly hidden nor discrete, but it was very humble when compared to the big stores around it.
Kaen opened the door, expecting only the bell and the same calm wlecome that greeted him when he visited last time, only for that to not happen.
"Welcome!"
They were greeted by a soft looking green haired boy, who smiled happily at them as he stood close to one of the terrarion, and an albino person sleeping at the counter.
A strange scene to see when you're expecting a man with vixen eyes and a crooked smile.
"You two work here?" He asked with a bit of hesitation.
"Just temporally" The boy said "Dan have been working himself to sleep recently because of a new product for the store so me and my sibling here decided to help out"
A loud snore coming from the counter said otherwise.
"Please ignore them" The boy said with a professional smile.
He pointedly did so, more focused on something else.
"A new product?"
The boy nodded, rushing to the door behind the counter, disappearing there for a moment before returning with a computer.
"The battle simulator!" He introduced "It contains all and every card used for battle and a program that runs every possible battle you can imagine, be it on the Field or not! It's a core thing for newbies and strategists! It costs one middle-grade core, it also has a forum where you can interact with other registered Brawlers, aka everyone that has a Bakumeter, and it will recharge every time you enter the Field!"
Ok, now he was invested.
The battle aspect of Bakugan has been confusing for him and the others who also have Bakugan, so having a battle simulator obviously got their attention, especially the young baron's.
"How many do you have in stock?" Ferri asked, eyes gleaming.
"About fifty for now" The boy said.
"I'll take two!"
The baron was already throwing cores at the boy when Rockfield grabbed him by the collar.
"Calm down! I know you're excited, but you should worry more about your public image!"
The baron laughed in embarrassment as the Young Lady scolded him while Argentum and Kiran giggled.
Kaen didn't know when these four became so close, but he had to admit, he liked this outcome.
It sounded foolish, be wished for these peaceful moments to last.
Bang!
The door behind the counter opened, revealing a demon with horns that simulated a crown, his eyes were sharp and violet, and his skin was gray and his dark gray hair was messy, just like his clothes, that were crumpled and worn in a way that made it obvious that he put them in a hurry.
His eyes wandered around the store with a furry so intense that it was practically palpable, then his eyes closed on the green haired boy, who now had a sheepish smile, and the albino person, who woke up and fell from where they were sleeping.
"You!"
In that moment, Kaen was shut speechless as the demon jumped to tackle the two, why?
Because that voice belonged to Dante.
—
"I'm so sorry for this"
Dante bowed to them, seemingly embarrassed.
The other two were under Dante's arms, both with one ear red like a tomato after Dante pulled them.
"It's no big deal" Kaen said.
"It is for me"
The young man's face was red with embarrassment.
"We shouldn't interfere with each others business" He said "It's our first rule"
"We were just trying to help" The green haired boy said as the albino person nodded.
"You're looking for a reason to avoid Hoopa" Dante retorted before turning to the albino person "And you're looking for an excuse to not work and sleep all day"
Both shrunk, apparently getting caught in their lies.
With a huff, Dante turned to Ferri.
"Could you open the door for me?"
The young baron comoplied, opening the door.
Kaen and everyone else was taken aback with what happened after that.
The door that previously took them to the commercial district, now showed the inside of a big room where many people passed by with strange creatures with them, many stopping to look in their direction.
"Dan!"
Dante, who approached the door, stopped as a short creature with bright feathers and various scars came into view with a gigantic old man.
"Hawlucha! Good to see you!" Dahte greeted cheerfully as he threw the green haired boy through the door "Is that your trainer?"
"Yeah!" The creature said proudly "And I have a name now! It's Maverick!"
"Now that's a cool name!" Dante said "Sorry, I'll head out for now and drop Manny back at his place, but I swear I'll come by to meet your trainer properly, so can you keep Nate for now?!"
"Deal!"
Dante then closed the door, only to open it again and show yet another scenario.
A store with a few people and more strange creatures, who also stopped their things to look at them.
"Manager!"
A red creature called out from the counter, seemingly mortified as Dante threw the albino person on the other side.
"Eli!" Dante called out "Get Manny some work to do before I make them work"
"I will" The creature said seriously.
Dante then closed the door again, sighing before turning to them, ready to speak, only for the door to open again, revealing a young girl in a wooden cabin with many people there looking bewildered.
"I sense drama" She said "What happened"
"I'll tell you later Star" Dante said, not turning back.
"You better kid"
"Again, not a kid"
The woman just giggled before closing the door.
Dante sighed again, pinching his nose.
"Family huh?" Kaen said.
"Always" Dante growled back.
He stood there for a moment before taking a deep breath and finally looking at them.
"Now that this is resolved" He said while walking to the counter "What can I help you with?"
Well, Kaen had to admit, he prefered Dante's calm demeanor rather than the cheerfulness of the green haired boy and the inactiveness of the albino person.
It seemed easier to speak this way even though he was still surprised by his appearance.
Who was he to judge a demon from hiding his appearance when one of his students was just tge same.
"I came to buy some Bakugan for my students" He said "Two for each of them"
"I'll get just one" Ferri said.
"Me too" Rockfield added.
"Then you can look around the store and see if anyone wants to be with you" Said the young man before looking at the Darkus terrarium "And you all! Contain yourselves, you'll turn the terrarium over!"
Surely, the Darkus bakugan were all gathered in a single side of the terrarium, the same direction where the little princess was.
"I don't blame them for their enthusiasm"
From Dante's hood, three Bakugan jumped to his shoulders.
"That child has a lot of Darkus energy" Said one of the white ones with a feminine voice "I wouldn't be surprised if they fought to get to her"
Right on cue, a fight broke out in the terrarium, and Dante groaned.
"I'll take you all to the back if keep that up"
That was enough to stop the fight, but brought a question to him as all the kids went to pick their bakugan, well, all but Kiran.
"The back?" Kaen asked.
"The Bakugan in the terrarium are less than a one percent of the total I have him" The young man said "The back is where most of them stay, they can only come to the front and stay in the terrariums if there is space, which happens when a Bakugan is sold-"
"What a disgrace" Commented the other white one, the one with the masculine voice.
"-when they misbehave, so they lose their chance and someone else will come to the front, or when they just want to go around in their original forms for some time"
Kaen was confused by that.
Bakugan were huge, like, gigantic.
There's no way he could fit them in this store while in their true form, even with the arrays that keep them smaller.
He didn't say a thing and Dante already changed subjects.
"Hey bud, I got a call yesterday from someone on your side asking me to fix you up, but seriously, what happened to your eyes for you to be bandaged up like this?"
"Dante!"
The Pyrus Bakugan and the white female Bakugan on his shoulder sounded mortified, but Dante and male bakugan didn't seem to mind that, much less Kaen's shocked expression.
"It's not that odd of question" Said the male "The guy practically begged over the phone for Wavern's help, I want to know why my sister is required to help you, how bad even is it"
Well, it was fair to make this type of question, but still…did Elias and Val know about this? Was this the reason they insisted on bringing Kiran?
"I can show you"
Without leaving room for argument, Kiran took off the bandages, revealing his bloodshot sclera and two milky unfocused eyes, one more than the other.
He was speechless that the kid would be so eager to show his state to a stranger, so much that he couldn't say anything.
But the female Bakugan could.
"I'll heal you first, then you can tell us what happened"
And, with her brother's protests, the Bakugan closed herself and glowed with various colors, floating to Kiran and circling him for a moment as particles fell from her.
He saw in real time as Kiran's eyes returned to how they used to be back when he was younger.
Clear bronze eyes full of life.
The boy blinked a few times as the Bakugan returned to Dante.
Then he looked up and stared at Dante, Thunderstruck.
"You're quite different from what Ferri described"
The young man looked down on his own gray hand and then a moment of silence.
"F*uck"
Oh heavens, he forgot that his nephew was still learning how to hold his tongue.
***
"My class can be a bit… unhinged, to say the less"
Dante had closed the store temporarily and had brought them to the second floor of the building, leaving everyone in his living room and taking Kiran and his uncle, along with the Bakugan, to the kitchen and closed the door.
He decided to tell them about it, not everything, just enough to satiate curiosity.
"One of his skills let him see things in another perspective" His uncle said "But it sometimes activates on its own and, each time that occurs, his vision get worse, it doesn't affect how the skill works, but I was certain that he would lose his vision next time it happened have you not helped, so now the royal family has a debt with you"
The demon nodded, hands fidgeting as he stared at the table.
"Can I ask for one thing for us to be even?" He asked.
"Of course"
The demon hesitated, eyes wandering across the kitchen as his hand ran through his head before he finally looked at them.
"Can the royal family help us register as a Survivors as quietly as possible?"
The room suddenly felt cold as Kaen's expression became serious.
"You're a Survivor?" He asked.
Survivor, a title given only to those who survived their own death or the death of their world, given by Deus Machina, the System, itself.
Most species nowadays descend from Survivors, like elves, dwarves, beastfolk, dragons and more.
It has been millennia since a Survivor species coming from a dead world was seen.
Yet this person was Survivor?
"Yeah…" The demon said shilly "All Bakugan here are from Vestroia, but their world collapsed after Naga here absorbed the Silent Core and threw off the balance that held it together"
Said Bakugan growled something intelligible, but Kaen didn't pay him any mind.
"And you?" He asked.
"A planet called Earth" The demon said before avoiding their eyes again "Not in the same realm, but I knew about Bakugan, I… kind of died there"
That… made sense…
He tried to see the man's past once, to see how such an important figure to the future came to be.
He received the Death card in response to his attempt.
Ominous, but precise, it seems.
"How…?" Kaen asked, voice a bit shaky.
"Lost bullet in the middle of a robbery" He said dismissively "After that Deus Machina put my soul in a new body of a species lived in the same realm, a Gundalian, as Bakugan and told me to sell them"
The room went cold, colder than before.
"But… your family…" Kiran couldn't help but say.
"Oh, them?" Said the man "We're not related but have more or less the same end, we kind of just adopted each other after Deus Machina gave us a way to contact each other, trauma bonding, or whatever Star call it"
The way he spoke… it was so casual one might mistake he was speaking of a little misfortune, like when you stub your toe on the table leg.
Unfortunate, but common.
Normal.
"How are you so calm about it?" Kaen asked.
The de- no, the Gundalian, just shrugged.
"Honestly? I only know how I died because I wrote it down before I forgot it, the others too, Deus Machina erased practically all our memories, and we all have years to go around this, some got it better and had more years to think about it, like Star, who got eighteen, and, like me, some just got two"
That… was terrifying.
To think Deus Machina could just… pick someone and send them somewhere without their memories.
It's not something to take lightly.
And Kaen seemed to think the same.
"We'll help you with the registration" He said while getting up "But we'll need tk report this matter to the royal family, you might need to come with us to explain the situation in detail"
"I don't mind" The Gundalian said.
Well, this situation escalated in ways they couldn't ever imagine, but it seemed it had been resolved peacefully.
He and his uncle were ready to leave the kitchen when Dante offered something that made both stop.
"Hey, would you guys like to see where the other bakugan stay?"
Oh well, now that was an interesting offer.