Everyone's faces were undoubtedly pure gold. Even Alice, who normally has a calm and mature demeanor, was in shock with her eyes and mouth wide open. I took a screenshot to immortalize those faces. After coming out of her shock, Dan was the first to speak.
Dan: What the heck! Ryu, how did you do it? You didn't even move your mouth.
Yeah, at least he thought I spoke instead of the Bakugan. I guess that's normal. Even when Drago spoke to him, he didn't believe the Bakugan were alive.
"I can assure you, I didn't say anything, Dan. He spoke himself. Believe me, I was surprised when I found him." It was a lie because I already knew that Bakugan were actually living beings.
Marucho: It's incredible, but how is that possible?
Runo: Seriously, you're not joking. How is it possible that a Bakugan can talk? Tell us the truth. You built something similar to a Bakugan, right?
"Kids, calm down. I can see your doubts, but I can assure you, it's real. It really speaks for itself."
Dan: But that should be impossible. Bakugan is just a game. How is it possible for a Bakugan to talk? Tell us the trick.
Leonidas spoke again when he heard Dan call him a toy. "Human, do you really think Bakugan are just toys that you can dominate at will? I'm not a slave, I'm a partner. If you keep talking nonsense, I'll make sure you regret it."
He said all this in a rather chilling tone. Although, since it was a ball, it wasn't noticeable, it seemed like it was enough to scare Dan.
Dan: He did it again!
Julie: That's incredible, Ryu. I knew you were special. Now you even have a talking Bakugan. You're the best.
Well, that's Julie being Julie. It doesn't surprise me. At this point, I'm sure she loves me so much that she'd probably believe anything I told her.
Alice: But it's certainly surprising. I'd never heard that Bakugan could talk. I didn't think it was possible. Hi Leonidas, it's nice to meet you. My name is Alice.
"Hmm," he just said that. I guess he's still upset, or is that just his normal attitude?
Runo: He doesn't seem very happy.
"Well, he's not really a big talker, but I'm sure anyone would get offended if they called him a toy."
Runo: See what you did, Dan. Quickly apologize. My name is Runo. It's nice to meet you anyway.
Julie: Hi, I'm Julie!
Marucho: Hi Leonidas, my name is Marucho.
However, Leonidas didn't say anything else. He just snorted again and remained silent. I guess what Dan said was what made him talk so much just now.
Dan: What the hell! Do you guys really think he's talking? I still think it's a trick. Because I have to apologize. I didn't say anything wrong.
I had forgotten how unbearable Dan was just now. Even having a dragon and seeing him talk, it took him a while to accept that he was alive and not just toys.
Runo: You're really unbearable! I'm sorry about what that idiot Leonidas said.
Dan: Say that again!
Alice: Guys, please calm down.
However, Leonidas didn't say anything.
"Well, I guess that's all he's going to say right now. Don't worry, it's not his fault. He still has to get used to interacting with humans."
Marucho: But it's still fascinating. If he talks, that means that, could any Bakugan do it?
Julie: If that's true, I'd like to have one too. It would be amazing to have a talking Bakugan.
Runo: This time I agree with Julie. I'd like to talk to my Bakugan too.
After that, we continued talking for a bit and then disconnected because it was getting late, but they told me to make sure I came back tomorrow because they wanted to hear more about Leonidas. Marucho asked my permission to upload a video of Leonidas speaking when he introduced himself, and I had no problem with that.
After that, I simply said goodbye and went to sleep. Leonidas didn't speak again, but hey, there's no rush.
As for the video, I didn't have any problem because I knew that tomorrow, a Bakugan talking wouldn't be weird anymore. Tomorrow would be when Naga's destabilization of the Silent Core would cause Vestroia to begin collapsing and merging with our world, which would help the Bakugan interact better with ours.
With many thoughts in my head, I simply went to sleep, looking forward to tomorrow's conversation and everything that would happen.
The next day, I really didn't have anything to do before the night, so I preferred to keep trying to connect with Leonidas. In the meantime, I decided to take a walk to familiarize myself with the city. As for challengers, for my part, from what I've seen, no one wants to challenge me.
All my battles have been clean 3-0 battles using only one Bakugan, so right now, no one really dares to challenge me except for the top players. But almost all of them live in different countries or continents, so there aren't many opportunities for them to challenge me.
I actually understand the others, it's like when you meet a player in an RPG who is at their max, you can try to challenge them at the beginning out of curiosity or just to see how you fare against them, but after many attempts and seeing that you keep losing, it certainly loses its fun.
While that worked in my favor, if I couldn't even walk because someone was constantly challenging me, I wouldn't even be able to leave. Although, well, now I was stopped by a lot of people who knew me for having a talking Bakugan. Many asked me if I could make them talk. Of course, Leonidas didn't say a word. I could see him quite annoyed by it when I walked away from everyone, although I assured him it wouldn't last long.
Speaking of him, at least I got him to talk to me. Although most of them were complaints about him not being a source of entertainment for humans. At least he's giving me better answers than just a snort. At least he's speaking complete words now, which is progress.
As I was walking home, seeing how late it was getting, I could feel something thanks to my enhanced senses due to my enhanced body, and it seems Leonidas felt it too.
"This is it," I could hear the questioning tone in what he said.
"Can you feel it too, Leonidas?"
Leonidas replied, "What surprises me is that you can feel it. I suppose this is what you were telling me about, about how things would get more dangerous later."
If what we felt was the moment Naga tried to merge with the Silent Core, causing the Infinite Core to disappear, destabilizing the center of Vestroia, and blurring the barriers between worlds.
"Something like that. Let's just say I'm something special. Although the sensation is interesting, can you tell what's going on?"
Leonidas replied, "Yes, I can feel it. When I first arrived in your world, I didn't feel like I belonged here and felt restricted, but now I feel much more comfortable."
Interesting, I can imagine what he means. The Bakugan could only exist here in sphere form because of the barrier between Vestroia and our world. The reason they can return to their normal form in battles is because the cards allow us to enter a dimension, which I assume is near Vestroia, or at least somewhere between dimensions.
But now that everything has been destabilized, the barriers between dimensions have weakened. It's not enough to allow the Bakugan to enter their true form, at least right now, but they have fewer restrictions. It was only after this that the Bakugan were actually able to start talking, though I assume they must have a certain level of strength to be able to speak.
In the end, the Bakugan that could talk were the unique Bakugan, of which there are many copies. I assume they weren't strong enough to break their restrictions. The only common Bakugan I remember that was able to talk was the Reaper from Masquerade. Speaking of which, that means he's probably already appeared as Alice's alter ego.
I actually haven't registered Leonidas's data in my player base yet because I want to see his reaction when he sees the power he has. It'll definitely be fun.
I got home around the time of the meeting. In the meantime, I certainly watched the news online. I could see hundreds of people talking about their Bakugan talking to them. By the time I got online, I could see everyone, and Dan was the first to speak.
Dan: Hey guys, my Bakugan just talked. See, Ryu, it seems you're not the only one anymore. I'm very close to catching you.
I'm not sure what his talking Bakugan has to do with beating me, but hey, as long as he's happy, it's fine.
"Well, I never said it was special that it talked, and I told you it was real, Dan."
Runo: And you're not special either. You're not the only one this happened to.
Dan: What are you talking about?
Alice: Haven't you seen the internet, Dan?
Marucho: There are a lot of people who have said the same thing.
He showed a forum full of people talking about how their Bakugan could talk, and many of them couldn't quite believe it because, to them, Bakugan was just a game. Dan looked quite surprised to learn this and also seemed to look at his Bakugan with a look of doubt. I don't blame him; I knew he also had the mentality that Bakugan was just a game.
Julie: This is incredible. So, Ryu, you're even better than I thought. You were the first to have a talking Bakugan. In fact, a lot of people are even asking about you to find out how you did it. Now I'd like one too.
She certainly looked quite excited. As for what she said, it's because so far the people who've heard her Bakugan speak only did so during battle. Leonidas has been the only one they've seen speaking outside of battle so far, although that was also about to change soon.
Leonidas then spoke, "Of course we speak human. I told you that Bakugan aren't just toys." This time, Leonidas didn't immediately curl up into a ball after finishing speaking. I suppose he's getting a little used to the others.
Runo: So it was real.
"Seriously, you still didn't quite believe it even though you saw it yesterday, Runo." I could see his cheeks flushed as he scratched his cheek with a pained expression.
Runo: Well, it was still something that felt surreal, sorry, Leonidas.
"My partner had already told me about how humans saw us, so it's the same, as long as they now understand that Bakugan aren't toys."
Dan: I still think it's weird that they can talk; it doesn't make sense.
Dan stopped calling him a toy, but it seemed like it was still hard for him to believe.
Alice: But it's certainly still weird that everyone who heard the Bakugan speak only did so during a battle. After that, no matter how hard they tried to talk to them, they couldn't get a response.
Julie: It's true, it's weird.
Marucho: Could it have something to do with the type of Bakugan Leonidas is?
Everyone started asking Leonidas questions. This time, he answered several of their questions with short answers, though I guess he reached his limit of interaction because after a while, he curled up again and stopped answering. Everyone took that as a sign to go to sleep and continue talking afterward, since there was school tomorrow.
The next day was also a quiet day. It was very boring, to be honest. I endured it because I knew things would get more interesting after that. As for why I go to school even though I have money, it seems my parents' will stated that in order for me to inherit, I had to at least finish high school.
But seriously, the topics were so simple that I felt like I was falling asleep all day. I spent my brain shutting down during class time, especially since it's not like it's a school with female protagonists like in some anime, so I didn't see much value in coming here. Although, well, I guess at least it gave me something to do.
There were also a lot of people asking about Leonidas, the usual, asking if I could make him talk. I simply told them that he talked whenever he wanted and I couldn't really force him. Thanks to that, they left me alone, although they looked pretty disappointed when they left.
At the end of school, I decided to go to a ramen restaurant for lunch. I found it by chance, and it was definitely the best thing I've ever had.
I got home during the night, but before that, Runo had texted me that a guy named Masquerade beat her up and took her Bakugan. This was what I was waiting for.
I logged in, and Dan logged in a few minutes later. Runo complained, blaming him for getting beaten. I'm not sure why, but hey, she just loved blaming him for everything. When Dan asked about Masquerade, the others told him about him.
Alice: He's a mysterious player who appeared out of nowhere and has been winning battles and taking everyone's Bakugan.
When she said that, I just glanced at her because I knew who was behind the mask.
Marucho: He hasn't lost a battle since he appeared, and the rankings ranked him as the second-best player in the world.
Dan: Second-best?
Marucho: Yes.
Dan: Damn, who does he think he is? Wait, Runo, I'll take your Bakugan too.
Runo: Yes, my beloved Terrorclaw is gone.
Dan: Well, I'll beat him up and give him back to you.
Runo: Don't bother. I already told Ryu, that guy doesn't know who he's messing with.
Julie: Yes, we have the best player in the world here. He won't know who hit him.
Dan: Yes, of course. I'll beat him first to prove to them that I'm the best player.
"Dan, don't underestimate him. If he makes it to the top 2 in such a short time, he's not an easy enemy. If you're really going to challenge him, you better be careful," I told him seriously. Although I knew he wouldn't listen, it didn't hurt. Besides, I knew this would be good for Dan, since it was his consecutive defeats that helped him improve. But I was worried about his Bakugan, which would be sent to the dimension of doom.
Julie: That's true, Dan. Ryu will take care of him. It's better if you don't try to face him.
Runo: Yes, you'll just get in the way. It's better to stay out of it.
Dan: You'll see, I'll finish that guy off!
With that, he logged off to record his video challenging him. Everyone else just shook their heads.
Runo: Still, you should be careful, Ryu. If his skill is real, I couldn't do anything to him.
Alice: That's true, you should be careful too. We don't know what he's capable of.
"Thanks for your concern, girls. But don't worry, I know what I'm doing. I'll make sure to beat him so hard he won't mess with you again, Runo," I said with a serene smile on my face.
Julie: That's my ryu. Make sure you hit him for me too.
Runo: What are you talking about, idiot! Hmm!
Even though he said that, I could see a small smile on his face. We disconnected after that, and I simply went to sleep.
The next morning, I decided to go for a walk in the afternoon, and I could hear Leonidas talking to me.
"Hey, you shouldn't have sent a challenge to that guy like that human, Dan. How are you going to find him?"
I just smiled at him. "Don't worry about it. I don't need to look for him. He'll find me." I actually left after the time Dan challenged him, so I guess I must have defeated him by now. Dan issued the challenge because Masquerade obviously wasn't interested in someone like Dan, at least not before he knew who the dragon was. I'm different. Being that I'm still in the top 1, and Masquerade being someone obsessed with being the best, I knew he'd come looking for me on his own. So I just came to a secluded spot on the outskirts of town to wait for him. At least I hope so, otherwise I'll look really stupid waiting here for hours and not seeing him show up. But it seems my worries were in vain.
A few minutes later, I could feel a presence materializing between the shadows of some trees, so I turned to look there.
"So you really came. Tell me how long you're going to hide, or are you just scared?" I spoke in a provocative tone, though it seemed like I was speaking into thin air. Shortly after, footsteps were heard, and someone walked out of the shadows.
"It's surprising you found me before revealing myself. I guess I could say what's expected of the best Bakugan player," he said in a calm, almost condescending tone.
Shortly after, I was finally able to see him. The main villain of the first Bakugan game and Dan's biggest obstacle in the original series, a 15 or 16-year-old boy with long, spiky hair that defied gravity. He was wearing something resembling a white lab coat that covered his upper body and reached the floor, with several buttons.
He was wearing long purple pants and heeled boots with strange protrusions on top. He had gloves that seemed to be the standard one here, red, with black rings around his arm. On his face were huge blue glasses. They covered almost his entire face, so only his nose and mouth could be seen.
"So you're the guy who's been defeating players all over the world and the one who took his Bakugan runo," I said, trying to imitate his tone to mock him.
"Heh, just a bunch of weaklings. I guess you already know me, but I'll still introduce myself. You can call me Masquerade."