Disclaimer: I do not own Bakugan Battle Brawlers (and related series) or the Fear Masters. They belong to TMS Entertainment & Japan Vistec and Fear Masters Entertainment respectively. This story is a work of fanfiction. No profit is being made from it.

Author's Note: This story was inspired by "Thir13en Ghosts" by Charles Xavier. It's an awesome fanfic that I highly recommend. I sent a PM but haven't gotten a reply yet. Charles Xavier, if you are reading this, then I hope you don't mind my borrowing the basic idea from yours. I promise that while there are some similarities, this story will be very different from yours.

It had been several months since the Battle Brawlers had ended the war between Neathia and Gundalia. Neathia's capital city had finally been rebuilt and so Princess Fabia had come to Earth for a surprise visit, bringing with her Coredem, Akwimos and Hawktor. All of the Brawlers had been delighted when they had turned up unexpectedly.

Ren had wanted to come as well but he was very busy dealing with the paperwork that had come with his new position as Commander of the Gundalian Army. He had however sent a message to his friends to let them know that he was fine and urged them not to let his absence keep them from having fun.

That night, Dan, Shun, Marucho, Jake and Fabia had gathered together at Marucho's mansion. After several hours of partying the group had settled down to tell each other ghost stories.

Jake held a flashlight under his chin as he spoke. "So Jack accepted the dare from the other kids and agreed to camp out for the night in the abandoned old house. That night he crept into the main hall and set up a video camera to record himself for evidence. As the hours slowly ticked by he tried to sleep but outside a heavy storm was raging. The rain was hammering against the boarded up windows and the wind was howling like a wild beast. As Jack lay restlessly he heard a new sound over the howling wind. It sounded like something was slithering over the floor towards him. Jack sat up and shone his flashlight all around. He could see nothing there but the sound was growing ever louder. He knew that he was not alone. Something was there in the house with him."

He paused and looked around at his friends. Marucho and Fabia were listening intently with looks of fascination. Shun wore his usual calm neutral expression. Dan was…

"Hey Dan the Man are you okay?" Jake asked as he noticed how his friend was fidgeting and his eyes were darting around the darkened room.

"S, sure. I'm fine" Dan said uneasily.

"Are you sure Dan?" Drago asked. "You look kind of anxious."

"I'm fine" Dan repeated. "I'm just, uh, eager to hear the rest of Jake's story."

"Okay" Jake said and then resumed his tale.

"The next day his friends came to look for him and found only the camera. Curious they switched it on to see what it contained. As they watched they saw the camera being set up and the sleeping bag rustling but there was no sign of Jack himself. As they watched, something dark and shapeless slithered across the screen and then the recording ended."

"No one ever saw Jack again. Not only that, but his image disappeared from every photograph he had ever appeared on. It was as though his very soul had been taken, so that there was no trace he had ever existed at all." Jake lowered his head and turned off his flashlight, indicating he had finished his story.

"Wow, that was a great story Jake" said Fabia.

"Definitely" Marucho agreed. Shun nodded.

"Thanks guys" said Jake.

"What did you think Dan?" Marucho asked.

When there was no reply they turned to see Dan was sitting completely still and was gripping the arms of his chair so tight that his knuckles were white.

Shun reached out and tapped him on the shoulder. "Dan…"

His friend jumped at his touch. "Oh uh sorry Shun" Dan said sheepishly.

Marucho peered at him curiously. "Are you scared of ghost stories?"

"No way" he said immediately.

"Dan its okay" Fabia said reassuringly. "We all know how brave you are. Everyone has things that they're afraid of."

"Thanks Fabia" Dan replied. "Well okay, maybe I'm a little scared by that kind of stuff. I know it's dumb but…"

"It's not dumb" Shun said firmly. "Fabia's right, everyone has fears. Even if they know it's irrational. There's no need to be embarrassed."

Dan smiled. "Yeah I know. Thanks."

None of the Battle Brawlers could have known that far away, in the city of New York, events would soon unfold that would show them that some ghost stories had their roots in truth…

Stone tapped his foot and fidgeted impatiently, eager to get the job done and be away. He was keenly aware that he would be easily identified if anyone saw them carrying out this caper. Stone was a huge man, nearly seven foot tall and massively muscled. He wore a black tank top, torn black jeans and combat boots. A studded belt encircled his waist and studded bands adorned his wrists. The fading light gleamed off his hairless head and his eyes were the colour of granite. That was how he had gotten his nickname.

The street was completely deserted, but that did little to ease his worries. A chilly wind blew stray pieces of rubbish across the road. The sun hung low in the sky, turning it a beautiful pinkish-red colour. The sight was alas, completely lost on Stone. His foot tapping increased until at last a car pulled up and three people got out. "What kept you?" he asked in annoyance.

"What's wrong Stone? Did you get scared?" drawled Todd. He was of average height and build, and dressed in a grey hooded sweatshirt. Like Stone, he wore combat boots and black jeans. His hair was cut into a Mohawk and dyed scarlet.

Stone glared at him and he raised his hands in a pacifying gesture. "Hey, hey, easy man. It took a while to get the stuff we need, but we're here now."

"Let's just get on with it," said Brad. He was the youngest of the gang, handsome and well muscled with black hair and blue eyes. He wore a black t-shirt and blue jeans. "This place creeps me out."

"I here you there" agreed David. Brad's older brother (by twenty minutes) he had the same black hair, blue eyes and muscular body as his twin. He wore grey joggers and a white t-shirt.

The four men gathered their equipment and marched into the building where Stone had been waiting. It was a grand, stately house located on one of the quieter suburbs of the city. Getting inside was no problem. Brad had a key to the front door.

The house had belonged to one Mr. Weller, an eccentric elderly gentleman who had employed Brad as a cook. During his employment, Brad had noticed that his boss occasionally went into one room from which he would emerge after only a few moments. No one else was ever allowed into the room and Weller had refused to tell anyone what was inside. So naturally, Brad had assumed that it held something valuable. Thusly he and the other members of his gang had waited until Weller had left for a weekend, sending his entire staff home and had then gathered as much safe-cracking equipment as they could and headed to the house in the hopes of taking whatever it was for themselves.

They made their way through the house's corridors, trying to cause as little disturbance as they could. Before long they came to a door. David whistled as he saw it. "Dang bro, you weren't kidding. Whatever's behind that door has got to be worth something big."

The door was solid steel and locked with a series of dead bolts. Stone put on a welder's mask and fired up an oxyacetylene torch. The others stood well back as he began cutting through the door. It took nearly an hour before he was done and all of them were getting increasingly on-edge.

Behind the door was a staircase leading down to a pitch-black room. They descended slowly. "Where's the light switch?" complained Todd.

"How should I know? I've never been down here before" Brad snapped. He felt along the wall. "Hang on, I've found it." He flicked the switch and the room filled with light. All four men's eyes widened at what they saw.

The walls were bare brick and the floor was concrete. The room was completely empty save for a solid metal table upon which there lay a stone sarcophagus covered in elaborate symbols and with heavy chains wrapped around it.

"A coffin" said Stone in disgust. "You gotta be ******* kidding me."

David was more optimistic. "Come on. The coffin's just to **** with us. I'll bet there's a fortune in there. Here, give me that torch."

Stone shrugged. "I guess the old guy wouldn't have gone to all this trouble for nothing" he admitted. He handed it over and David walked up to the sarcophagus, fired up the torch and began cutting through the chains.

The thieves waited impatiently, each of them fantasising about the wealth they imagined they were about to get their hands on. Finally the chains were fully cut away.

"Give me a hand" said David. All four of them lined up and pushed the lid with all their might. It took several moments of all of them straining and grunting with effort, but after a while they succeeded in pushing off the lid. It fell to the ground and shattered into pieces with a tremendous crash!

No sooner had the lid fallen than a horrible high-pitched scream filled the air as a blood-red glow shone forth from inside the sarcophagus. The thieves stood frozen in terror as the glow intensified…

Mr. Weller sighed as he pushed open the front gate. He started to move forwards but then stopped and instead stared up at the house in front of him. Certainly it was a fine sight to look at and many passers-by no doubt admired it. They had no way, after all, to know of the terrible secret locked away inside the old building.

And they never will if I can help it Weller thought. Like his home he appeared completely innocuous, a thin, elderly man with short grey hair wearing a well-tailored suit and glasses. No one would have suspected that there was far more to him than there appeared.

He sighed again and walked up to the front door. Most people would be glad to return home from any kind of trip, but not him. Despite the years he had lived in this house he couldn't feel comfortable here, knowing as he did what was lurking inside, ever-waiting for the chance to once again be unleashed upon the world.

As he mused upon this Weller took out his keys and went to unlock the door. To his surprise it was already unlocked. A sudden terrible foreboding seized him as he hurried through the house as quickly as he could.

"Oh no" he whispered when he came upon the steel door only to find it had been breached. He forced himself to step through, hoping against hope that the thieves had ignored the contents of the room in favour of something more obviously valuable.

His hopes were immediately dashed as he saw the open sarcophagus and the severed chains. Furthermore in front of the opened sarcophagus were four piles of ash and charred fragments of bone.

Upon seeing that the blood drained from his face and he placed a hand on the wall to steady himself as he felt his knees turn to rubber.

"They're free" he said in a low aghast whisper. "The Fear Masters are free!"