A.N.: Sorry for the long wait, people! Here is chapter 5! Enjoy reading it and don't forget – I need at least 10 reviews before I post chapter 6(I lowered the quota of reviews a bit since I only got 11 for the last chapter)!^_^

Disclaimer:

Me: Unfortunately it seems that I can't track down any of my characters, so I'll say it – I, unfortunately, don't own Bakugan.

Chapter 5:The Start and the Discovery

On the next day Alice calmly waited for the school day to end and wondered what kinds of outfits her two best friends had put together. Bella and Sarah were too excited in the morning – therefore hyperactive and as a result the two girls had left the school during their second hour – Maths. Riling up their Maths teacher was easy for those two, but Alice had refused to leave the classroom with them and so she had to hold out until the last hour. The second the bell rang Alice got out as quickly as possible and practically jogged back to her grandfather's mansion.

The moment she entered her room she saw two people with masks standing there – not recognizing either of them. At her confused expression the two masked people grinned and took of their mask at the same time, revealing two familiar faces.

"Sarah! Bella! I could barely recognize you. Your outfits are great – no one would even suspect that it's you two" Alice exclaimed as she observed her friends outfits in more detail and noticed that they were actually almost the same.

Sarah had an almost ankle-long, black coat with long sleeves, a dark red and yellow T-Shirt underneath and black baggy jeans that were tucked into a pair of…biker boots with small silver spikes? Her Bakupod and fingerless gloves were the ones she usually brawled with. Her mask covered the upper half of her face and was a dark red color with golden decorative swirls.

Bella had an almost ankle-long, black coat with long sleeves as well, a dark red and black T-Shirt underneath and the same black baggy jeans and spiked biker boots. Her mask also covered the upper half of her face and was dark red with black decorative swirls. Same as her friend, Bella had opted to keep her usual Bakupod and fingerless gloves.

"Now that we've showed you our outfits…" started to say Bella.

"…you must show us yours" finished Sarah.

"Alright, but you'll have to get out of my room first. I want it to be a surprise for you" the red haired girl told her friends, shooed them outside and closed the door after them. She went over to her closet, opened it and carefully took out her outfit. Not more than 5 minutes later she opened the door and hiding behind it let her friends back in. The moment she closed the door both Bella and Sarah turned around and barely recognized their friend again.

"One word - wow! You should dress like this more often, Alice – it really suits you" commented Sarah as she took in the new look of her friend.

"I agree with Sarah – wow! How come you don't wear clothes like this at school?" agreed Bella.

"Girls – may I present the Darkus brawler Dawn" the red haired teenage girl told her friends whilst theatrically bowing "Oh yeah, that reminds me – what are your new names going to be?" she asked as she straightened up again, took off her mask and looked at her two best friends who, for some reason, both had devious smiles on their faces.

"My name is Jane" replied Bella.

"And my name is Ana" said Sarah.

Both girls mimicked Alice's movement and then started to laugh. After they stopped laughing all three girls put their masks back on and then Alice explained to them how the DT card worked.

"Alright. First stop – Paris" Alice announced and waited for Sarah and Bella to grab on to her before she closed her eyes and imagined the famous Eiffel tower. The moment she did that a bright light surrounded the three girls and when they opened their eyes again they saw that they were exactly under France's most well known landmark.

"So – when do we brawl?" the red haired girl asked her two friends who apparently still couldn't believe that they were in another country.

"Uh…well, I think if we go to a park we'll eventually find someone to brawl" suggested Sarah after she accepted the fact that they were indeed in the capital of France.

"There is a park a few minutes away from here" the Russian girl informed them and her accomplices looked at her with a questioning look.

"What? I checked the area around Paris before I went to bed yesterday" she justified her knowledge whilst at the same time blushing a bit.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's get going people!" Bella enthusiastically said before she started going towards the direction of a long fountain-like thing before she stopped and turned to her red haired friend.

"Uh…which direction is the park?" she sheepishly asked and Alice and Sarah sweat dropped.

After making clear where the park was the trio started walking and 5 minutes later they found themselves at its entrance. Nodding to each other the three girls proceeded and started walking through the park. The weather was very pleasant for the beginning of October and the three brawlers enjoyed the warmth of the autumn sun.

They would have continued walking if a voice from behind hadn't called out to them. They turned around and saw a boy around the age of 11 or 12 standing there and looking at them as if he expected something.

"Excuse me, could you repeat what you said" Sarah asked the boy who raised his eyebrows when he saw that the three people in front of him were all wearing masks.

"I said that I challenge you to a brawl" he repeated and his gaze fixed itself on Alice.

"Which one of us do you want to brawl?" Bella inquired, although the red haired Russian girl suspected what the boy's answer was going to be.

"The girl with the red hair and green mask" he said as he took out a black card. The three girls did the same and they shouted "Field open!" at the same time before a bright light surrounded them and time stopped in the real world.

All 4 landed smoothly on the ground and both players immediately threw their own gate cards.

"What's your name, kid?" Alice questioned the boy.

"My name is Pierre. And yours?" he returned the question.

"The name is Dawn. Prepare to be defeated, Pierre" Alice said as a small smirk crossed her face.

"We'll see about that. Bakugan brawl! Pyrus Griffin stand!" he shouted as he threw a red and yellow sphere onto his opponent's card. A reddish light erupted from the sphere when it landed on Alice's gate card and when it faded a red griffin appeared

'So, he's a Pyrus brawler. And a daring one at that, playing his first Bakugan on my gate card. Then I'll use...' Alice quickly thought.

"Bakugan brawl! Bakugan stand! Darkus Wormquake!" the red haired girl said as she threw a black and purple sphere and a creature that reminded her of the monster in "Dune Sea" appeared after it landed on her gate card.

"New battle detected. Pyrus Griffin at 390G's. Darkus Wormquake at 380G's" the voice from Alice's Bakupod said.

"Griffin– attack!" the boy ordered and the Pyrus Bakugan jumped on top of the Darkus Bakugan's head.

"Gate card open! Energy merge!" Alice shouted whilst pointing at her gate card. Suddenly a purplish-blackish glow surrounded the Griffin and then the same glow passed on to the worm-like creature.

"Change in power level detected. Pyrus Griffin at 290G's. Darkus Wormquake at 480G's" the Bakupod announced.

"Not so fast! Ability card activate! Fire tornado" Pierre said and suddenly a tornado of fire surrounded the boy's Bakugan.

"100 G's transferred back to Pyrus Griffin. Pyrus Griffin 10G advantage"

"Go get that Wormquake, Griffin!" the boy confidently shouted but Alice only smiled.

"You are too impatient, Pierre. Ability card activate! Spice Slayer! This ability card transfers 70G's from my opponent's Bakugan to my own" the Russian girl said whilst throwing the card at her Darkus Bakugan.

"70G's transferred from Pyrus Griffin to Darkus Wormquake. Darkus Wormquake 130G's advantage" the Bakupod said.

"Go Wormquake!" Alice ordered and then watched as her Wormquake swallowed the griffin. Both Bakugan returned to their spherical form and Alice caught hers whilst the Pyrus brawler disbelievingly watched his Bakugan return next to his feet.

"Nice job, Alice" Bella congratulated her friend.

"Thanks. Gate card set! Bakugan brawl! Darkus Rattleoid!" The red head threw another gate card and then threw a black and purple sphere onto it. A black and purple rattle snake-like creature appeared on it.

"Bakugan brawl! Bakugan stand! Pyrus Ravenoid!" her opponent threw his second red and yellow sphere onto Alice's gate card and a red and yellow giant raven-like creature faced her Rattleoid.

"Gate card open! Joker's wild!" the teenage girl calmly said. A purplish blast shot up from the card and hit the Pyrus Bakugan which transformed back into a sphere.

"What happened? They didn't even brawl!" exclaimed the confused French boy as he looked at his masked opponent for an explanation. Bella and Sarah were also curious – they had never heard of such a card before.

"The Joker's wild card. With it the Darkus attributed Bakugan wins unconditionally" the Darkus brawler explained.

'Man, I never knew Alice was this good' were Bella's thoughts as she carefully observed her friend.

"Bakugan brawl! Bakugan stand! Darkus Rattleoid!" Alice threw the rattle snake-like Bakugan again. It landed on the boy's gate card.

"Bakugan brawl! Bakugan stand! Pyrus Rattleoid!"

Another rattle snake-like creature appeared on the boy's gate card – the only difference between the two Rattleoids being their color.

"Battle detected. Darkus Rattleoid at 350G's. Pyrus Rattleoid at 370G's" the Bakupod and Alice's wrist told her.

"Ability card activate! Fire judge! Ha! My Rattleoid gains 100G's! There's no way you can beat it now" the boy confidently said.

"Ability card activate! Ability counter!" the red haired Darkus brawler replied.

"Still isn't enough to beat me!" the boy shouted over, doing a small victory dance as his Rattleoid bit Alice's and both Bakugan turned back into spheres.

"Not bad, kiddo. Gate card set! Bakugan brawl! Bakugan stand! Darkus Wormquake!"

"Bakugan brawl! Bakugan stand! Pyrus Rattleoid!" Pierre played his last Bakugan again. He looked at his masked opponent and waited for her next move but she only smiled at him.

"This battle is over and done with. Gate card open! Mine Ghost!" Alice calmly stated before snapping her fingers and her gate card exploded. Both Bakugan returned to the feet of their owners. The field around them disappeared and they found themselves in the park again.

"It was nice brawling you, Pierre. I hope we meet again" the red haired Russian told the young boy and put out her hand. Pierre took it and they shook hands. Then he left and the teenage girl turned around to see her friends staring at her incredulously.

"What? Do I have something on my face?" she jokingly asked her two best friends.

"Mine Ghost? I never expected you to use that gate card…or to actually brawl this well. Where did you learn how to brawl anyway, Alice?" Sarah questioned her friend. That fight was amazing and she didn't know if being a good strategist meant that you were a good player.

"Well, ever since the school year started I have been teaching myself how to play" was her answer.

"Oh, well, you did pretty well for your first brawl" Bella congratulated her and Alice smiled happily.

That was the trio's first fight and every day they would go to a different place and whenever they brawled they never lost. At the end of her second week of brawling something important for Alice happened – she found her very own guardian Bakugan.

They were in the middle of a brawl with a Haos brawler in Vienna when Alice heard a voice calling her name. At first she tried to ignore it, but the second time it called it was as if it had shouted at her. She looked around but the only people around her were her friends.

"Down here, you silly girl!" the voice said and so the red headed Russian girl looked down and to her great surprise she found a black and purple sphere at her feet. 'Odd. I haven't lost any battles to the girl' she thought as she carefully picked it up from the ground.

"Did you just call my name?" the teenage girl asked the sphere and imagined how stupid she must look, talking to a little ball.

"Yes, young one. I did call you and it took you some time to finally notice me. My name is Darkus Balaur and I am your guardian Bakugan" it said.

"My…my guardian…Bakugan?" the Russian girl slowly and disbelievingly inquired. 'I can't believe it! I finally found my own guardian Bakugan!' she happily thought.

"Yes. Now focus, you are in the middle of a brawl. Play me in the next round" she(the Bakugan had a feminine voice) reminded her new protégé.

"Yes, of course. Ability card activate! Summon wave!" she shouted and the card she was holding glowed a bright purple color before the card disappeared. A gigantic wave of a purple and black mist-like substance appeared behind her Darkus Siege and came crashing down on her opponent's unfortunate Haos Stinglash that turned back into a white and yellow sphere and rolled to her owners feet whilst the Russian girl skilfully captured her Darkus Siege.

"Now play my gate card and throw me. Then climb on my head" said her guardian Bakugan. Alice looked sceptically at the black and purple sphere on her shoulder but only shrugged and threw the gate card that had magically appeared in her hand as well as two other cards the moment she had picked up the Darkus Bakugan. She carefully took the sphere from her shoulder and threw her onto the gate card.

A tornado of the same purplish-black mist substance appeared on the card and slowly a spiked tail and two wings emerged from the tornado's wall and suddenly the tornado was gone and in front of her stood a magnificent black dragon with dark purple tattoos, two bat-like wings, silver spikes from the head to the end of the tail and two dark purple, curved horns on either side of the head. It was standing on four legs that had sharp claws and its slitted eyes were a dark red color. The dragon look back at her protégé and opened her maw(is this the right word???), revealing a row of sharp, white teeth.

"Well? What are you waiting for, girl? Hop on my head" she said and Alice didn't hesitate before she carefully, but easily, climbed onto her guardian Bakugan's head.

"New Bakugan detected. Darkus Balaur at 400G's" the Bakupod announced and the red haired girl's eyes widened at the number.

"Wow! Is that a talking Bakugan?" asked the girl who looked with awe and fear at her opponents Darkus Bakugan. However, she quickly concentrated on the battle and brought out her third and last Bakugan – a Haos Saurus that was at 380G's.

"Gate card open! Mist of Darkness!" the red haired girl said as the gate card opened and a dark-purplish mist surrounded her and her Bakugan.

"Darkus Balaur at 800G's. Haos Saurus still at 380G's"

"Ability card activate! Solar Ray!" the Haos brawler threw the ability card at the dinosaur-like Bakugan and a light, yellowish glow surrounded it.

"Haos Saurus now at 480 G's" the Bakupod updated both brawlers.

"Ability card activate! Draconian fury!" shouted Alice from her place on Balaur's head as a big purplish-black ball started to form in the Darkus Bakugan's open mouth. The Dragon-like Bakugan didn't shoot it though, as if it was waiting for something.

"Darkus Balaur now at 900G's. Haos Saurus still at 480G's"

"Ability card activate! G-Power Bump!" the Austrian girl played her last ability card – she knew it wouldn't be enough.

"Haos Saurus now at 540G's" the girl let her head fall down in defeat after she heard and saw the numbers.

"Ability card activate! Shadow impact!" the Darkus Brawler threw down the last ability card and her eyes widened even more when she heard the voice and then looked at the numbers on the display of her Bakupod.

"Darkus Balaur at 1000G's. Haos Saurus power decrease to 380 G's"

The huge purplish-black fire ball that had been waiting to be released was finally fired and when it hit the Haos Bakugan it created an explosion. The field around the 4 girls disappeared and the group were surrounded once again by the beautiful trees in the Tuerkenschanz Park.

"It was a pleasure being your opponent Kathrina. I hope that we meet again someday" Alice told the Austrian girl with smiles on both girls' faces as they shook hands and then parted ways.

"I am impressed, young one. You used my powers very well in that battle" said the voice of the red haired teenager's guardian Bakugan from her shoulder where it was sitting in its spherical form.

"My name is Alice. I am honoured that you are my guardian Bakugan, Balaur. By the way, out of curiosity, you are a female Bakugan, right?" Alice asked the Darkus Bakugan on her shoulder.

"Yes, I am a female. I am honoured to have such a talented brawler as my protégé" the female Bakugan replied.

"Then I promise you that you and I are going to get stronger together" the Russian teenager told her Bakugan.

"Hey, Alice, is that you guardian Bakugan?" Bella questioned her best friend, jumping up and down because of her excitement.

"Yeah. Girls, meet Darkus Balaur – she is my guardian Bakugan. Balaur, these are my two best friends – Bella and Sarah. They also brawl." The red haired girl presented her guardian to her friends.

"It's pleasure to meet you, friends of Alice" the Darkus Bakugan said as she popped open and inclined her head towards them.

"Balaur? Is that you?" came Tigorra's voice.

"Tigorra? I haven't seen you in ages!" Balaur joyously exclaimed as she hoped up and down on her protégé's shoulder.

"You two know each other?" asked Wolfress who had popped up on Bella's shoulder. The three girls looked at each other and then at the Haos and Darkus Bakugan who had started to chat excitedly. After a few seconds the two Bakugan noticed the looks.

"Yes, we know each other. We were something like best friends back in Vestroia" explained Tigorra.

"Yes, we met when I accidentally crossed into Haos space. The fight between us was long and tiring and it ended in a very close tie. After that we became best friends and regularly met" added Balaur. Then she turned towards the Pyrus Bakugan and looked at it.

"And who are you? I've never seen you before, Pyrus Bakugan" the dragon inquired.

"My name is Wolfress and it's nice to meet you, Balaur" the Pyrus Bakugan replied.

"Now our team is complete" said Sarah and Bella and Alice understood what she meant – they had all found their own Guardian Bakugan.

"I guess that out journey has truly begun now" continued the Pyrus brawler as she looked at her two friends who nodded at her statement.

"I have a question though, Alice" inquired the Darkus Bakugan and the red haired Russian girl looked at it "Why are you all wearing masks?"

"Well, you see, Balaur, I want my real identity to stay secret so that a certain group of people doesn't recognize me and Bella and Sarah both agreed to come with me. Since we brawl really well and have gained a reputation people have started calling us "The Masked Trio" or just TMT for short" the teenager answered her guardian Bakugan's question.

"What? I didn't know that" exclaimed Bella as a small smile appeared on her face.

"I've been looking at the internet chats and people have given us a nickname. Some are afraid of us though, because we appeared two weeks ago out of nowhere and, if you haven't noticed, we have been moving up in the ranking list rather quickly ever since. Some people even compare us to Masquerade since he sort of did the same thing and we are, well, wearing masks, just like he does. Even the Battle Brawlers have started to discuss us" the Russian teenager explained to her friends, a small smile appearing on her face and gradually turning into a grin.

"The Masked Trio? I like it" announced Sarah, grinning as well.

"So, which ranks are we at? Before we started brawling with you, Alice, Sarah was at 98th place and I was at 97th" Bella asked her red haired friend.

"Let me see" she replied before she looked at her Bakupod and checked the ranking list. Her eyes widened. Her two accomplices noticed this and got worried looks on their face.

"Girls, I don't know how, but we managed to get ranked from 46th to 48th place. I am on 46th, Bella, you are on 47th and you, Sarah, are on 48th" the Russian teenager cleared up her friends.

All three girls were silent after Alice finished the sentence and then they looked at each other.

"Wow – I never expected us to be so high ranked" Sarah finally spoke.

"Well, if we want to go higher then we have to get moving!" Bella enthusiastically proposed, making the other two members of the trio smile.

"I say we show the world just how good we are" Alice added, her smile turning into a devious smirk.

"And I will be with you all the way, Alice" her guardian Bakugan promised. The Pyrus and Haos Bakugan nodded at the Darkus's statement, all agreeing that they would be there for their protégés.

"What are we waiting for then? Next stop – Rome, Italy" announced the red head to her friends as she brought out the DT card. Her friends nodded, grabbed hold of her and the next moment the trio had disappeared.