The girl looked up. There was something in the sky that made her notice. She was sitting on a very high wall in the park, crossed-legged, and a small, black leather bag on her lap.

Next to her was a Darkus Bakugan, in a shape of a ball. He was Gawain, one Bakugan who had chosen to stay behind with his brawler when every one had returned to Vestroia.

“Virvana?”

The girl turned to him.

“Did you see what I just saw?”

“No-what is it?”

“A bright flash of light on the sky – and I swear it’s not the sunlight.”

Virvana flipped her raven hair over the shoulders. She’s a sharp and keen girl, with long raised eye slits and a pair of deep black eyes. Judging by her outfit: dark, purple t-shirt and black leather thigh-length shorts, there’s no doubt that, she’s a Darkus Brawler.

“Virvana, are you ok?”

Gawain asked in a low voice.

“No-I’m not. I can sense something was up.” Virvana jumped down from the wall, grabbing Gawain with her. “I’ve gotta tell our friends, and quick.”

She dashed through the crowded park on her black Converse sneakers and soon vanished out of sight.

At the Misaki’s cafe…

The bell rang when the door was opened, and in ran a girl on top speed, like a typhoon breaking in.

“Welcome to the Misa… oh, it’s you, Vanna.” A light-blue haired girl greeted her. She had green eyes and was wearing a cream apron on the top of her white skirt. Her name is Runo Misaki, daughter of the cafe’s owners.

“Runo, where’s Julie? And Dan, and Alice, and-and the rest of the Brawlers? Where on Earth are they?” gasped Virvana hard when she leaned on the counter for some support.

“Geez, just look at you Vian,” Runo stood with her arms on her hips, lowered her eyes down to her friend. “Calm down. Julie’s in the kitchen, Dan’s playing basketball, Marucho’s doing some experiments in his lab, Alice’s in Russia, Shun’s probably ninja training, and I’m here talking to a sweeping hurricane lying on the counter! Get up, Van! The boys are looking at you!”

Virvana heard snickering around the cafe.

“Forget those losers Runo!” she tried yelling, but the sound came out was a tiny shrill. “All that they’ve ever done in their whole life is-is going to the cafe and-and…”

Just at that moment, Julie walked out of the kitchen, carrying a tray of mashed potatoes.

“Wow, looks like we’ve got an honor guest, Runo! Vanna, what’s up?”

“She’ve been running the whole way her and slammed the door in like a destructive hurricane.” explained Runo.

Julie giggled as Virvana sent her an exhausted look.

“Don’t use up all the day’s energy so soon, Van. It’s only twelve in the afternoon.”

“Looks like she needs a reboot.” Runo added.

Ok, that’s enough. Virvana slammed her hands on the counter with all her strength and shouted:

“I don’t need any energy reboot! I’m here because of important information! Will you just quiet and listen?”

In a moment, there was a silence gap between the girls and Vianna.

“What’s wrong, Virvana? You don’t look normal to me. What happened?” asked Runo anxiously.

Virvana glanced at her.

“What happened is… Duh, do you have any comm. device?”

“Yes, it’s here. I always bring it by my side.” Julie took out her white-and-black skinned cell phone. “Here.”

“Please call the rest of the Brawlers. I need to inform them, and fast.”

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

A short period later, Runo, Julie, Dan, Marucho and Virvana were in the Marukura’s mansion, in the communication room. On the big holographic screen, there showed Alice’s image, a girl with chrome-orange hair, and big hazelnut eyes.

“So, what’re you going to tell us, Vianna?”

“Wait, where’s Shun?” Virvana asked. “We can’t go on without one member!”

Dan scratched his head.

“Err … Shun doesn’t make much contact to us. He has disconnected us for the whole summer, don’t you know?”

Virvana shrugged.

“We can tell him later, Virvana,” Marucho said. “Now go on with your news.”

“Alright,” sighed the girl, reluctantly.

She took a deep breath.

“I can sense that… something hyper-natural is going on. I can feel… darkness upon the land of Vestroia. I can see… that… a spirit of Darkus is returning, and something horrible is about to happen… The Eternal War…”

For a moment, the room was a gap of silence.

And then a stream of endless laughter and hysteria burst out. The only ones who didn’t laugh at the time were Alice and Virvana.

“Cut that off! I’m serious here!”

“Nice story! Did you make that out?”

“You’re really talented Vanna!”

Releasing a sigh, she sat down, folding her arms.

“I think she’s right.” whispered Alice, loud enough for all to hear. The laughter stopped automatically, and all turned their attentions toward Alice.

“Alice?”

Looking up her friends, Alice continued.

“I can feel the same feeling as Virvana too. I can sense… something’s wrong. Last night I dreamed of… the Doom Dimension… and the Dimensional Gate… and Vestroia was in a war… The war was brutal, and it was beyond the world of Bakugan… and I saw…”

The sentence ended up in the middle.

“Go on, Alice. What’s wrong?” Julie encouraged her.

“Never mind then.” Alice smiled. The normal sweet and innocent one.

But Virvana could see through her mind. Alice was hiding something, which she knew very well though.

“Alice. You saw him.”

Virvana went on.

“You saw… that Darkus Brawler, didn’t you?”

“Virvana, I-I don’t know what you are talking about…” Alice blinked.

“You don’t need to hide. We’re here for you.” Runo said.

Silence.

“It was… Masquerade. He has returned.”