Chapter One: Crashing down at the Finals

Candace Emiya could hear the cheers coming from the stadium. She's done this so many times but for some reason she was really nervous. This was going to be their sixth championship and her group wants to take it home. She watched the big screen as two of her team mates were fighting a fierce battle. The team's Ventus brawler Shiro Kazemike and Subterra Daichi Tachibana stood nearby as did Candace's brother Lucas Emiya and their manager Asami Satsuki. The cheers suddenly got louder when the final attack was successful. Her team mates, Aquos Brawler Kenta Sakurai and Pyrus Brawler Makoto Chisato won their match.

It was the Emiya sibling's turn to battle. A queasy feeling started to build up inside of Candace. The voices around her sounded like murmurs and her ears started to ring. A hand feel on her shoulder as if to say everything was going to be alright. Candace looked over her shoulder to see her brother standing behind her with a smile on his face. His confidence seemed to rub off on Candace. Before heading off to the arena another hand fall on her other shoulder. Lucas' best friend Daichi Tachibana gave her a smile of reassurance that she and Lucas were going to do just fine.

"There's no need for you to be worried about this battle. You and Lucas are two of our best brawlers and I know you'll win in the finals."

"But Daichi, this would be our sixth championship. If I don't keep up with Lucas I'll only slow him and the rest of you."

"Don't think like that Candace. You'll do fine. Now, get out there and do your best!"

Little tears filled her eyes as she started to worry even more. Candace felt hands suddenly cup my face, and automatically it stopped the forming tears and she looked straight ahead.

"Stop that right now little mouse! Go and show everyone how great you are! Don't do this for us, your brother, or the crowd...do this for you and you alone!"

Candace became shocked at Daichi's outburst as she stared at him wide eyed. She looked over Daichi's shoulder to see the rest of their team smiling and giving her the thumbs up. Candace then looked to her brother who had a really big smile on his face. Taking a deep breath, Candace put a determined look on her face.

"There you go little mouse! Now, go out there and do your best!" Daichi had a goofy smile on his face that he always makes to make their only female brawler feel better whenever she was feeling down and he called her by her nickname, little mouse.

The crowd's cheering were like drums in Candace's ears. Her heart was beating so hard she thought it was going to burst out of her chest. The nerves were starting to come back as she and her brother waited for their moment to shine.

"Do it for you little mouse!" Kept echoing in her head. "That's right, do it for me and me alone. I have nothing to prove to anyone but myself!"

The brawling arena opened up. The bright lights lit Candace's face and ringing cheers hit her ears like a blow horn. Lucas and Candace stepped out into the arena to meet their opponents. The ones who always came second.

Candace looked up at her brother, her partner, her best friend. It's all thanks to him that she was standing next to him, both of them doing something they loved.

"Alright everyone! Welcome to the final battle of the Bakugan Tag-Team Brawling Tournament! On my left we have your returning Champs, Lucas and Candace Emiya! On my right we have your returning runners-up, Ty Randals and Alice White! Now let's Brawl!! Field Open!!"

The crowd broke out into booming cheers as the brawl was about to begin.

"Gate Card...Set!!!!" All four brawlers yelled as each threw down a Gate Card onto the field.

"I'll be starting things off!" Lucas took one of his Haos Bakugan from his Bakugan holster. "Bakugan...Brawl! Haos Serpenoid stand!"

A giant snake-like Bakugan raised up onto the battle field and hissed at the opponents. There was a great amount of confidence in Lucas' eyes as he waited for his opponent to make their move.

"Heh, this is going to be a piece of cake. Bakugan...Brawl! Ventus Bee Stricker stand!" Ty threw out a wasp-like Bakugan onto the same Gate Card as my brother's Serpenoid. "Ready Lucas?!"

"I was born read Ty!"

Lucas' Haos Serpenoid and Ty's Ventus Bee Stricker started to battle it out, each at 350 Gs. Lucas decided to end the battle.

"Time to end this. Gate Card...open!!!"

Lucas' Gate Card glowed and the G power of his Bakugan started to increase to a total of 410 Gs. Serpenoid wrapped around Bee Stricker and started to squeeze.

"If you don't do something soon Ty, Bee Stricker is going to lose." Lucas taunted Ty.

"Bee Stricker isn't going down without a fight! Ability Card Activate...Scarlet Twister!" Bee Stricker suddenly went back to Ty before Serpenoid had a chance to finish it off.

"That's a victory for me. Even though you saved your Bee Stricker from my Serpeniod, you still sacrificed it when you used Scarlet Twister. Your Bee Stricker can't return to battle." Lucas smiled big as he caught his returning Serpenoid.

"Whatever..." Ty mumbled to himself.

It was now Candace's turn to throw down with Alice. A girl with a pixie cut hair style and she was one cocky brawler. Candace took out one of her Darkus Bakugan from her holster but before she could throw it out onto a Gate Card Alice threw hers out.

"Stand...Aquos Falconeer!"

A giant humanoid falcon-like Bakugan stood on my Gate Card. Alice smirked at Candace, trying to get under her skin and she was.

"Bakugan Brawl! Darkus Mantris...stand!"

Candace's own Bakugan raised up in front of Falconeer. Mantris, a mantis-like Bakugan. Alice's Falconeer had 340 Gs and Candace's Mantris also had 340 Gs.

"Gate Card...open!" Mantris' G power went up to 345 Gs. She thought she had Alice, but she was able to get into Candace's head.

"Ability Card activate! Aqua Stream!"

Falconeer's G power went to 350 Gs. Candace's Mantris didn't stand a chance against Alice's Falconeer. Falconeer came soaring out of the sky and onto Mantris' back. Mantris came back to Candace, defeated.

"I'm sorry Lucas. I let her get into my head and I got carried away."

"It's alright Candace. It was the first round. You'll get your chance again."

Lucas was right, she did get her chance. Candace ended up beating Alice, twice, while Lucas defeated Ty again. They were all down to their last Bakugan. Ty had a Ventus Monarus and Alice had an Aquos Griffon waiting for battle. But Candace started to notice something strange about her brother. He kept clenching his chest, his breathing became heavy, and she could see beads of sweat streaming down his face. Candace wasn't the only one who started noticed. Daichi watched his teammate's battle carefully with the rest of our team. He noticed something was wrong with his best friend.

"Hey, Asami. Something doesn't look right with Lucas."

Asami looked carefully at Lucas on the big screen.

"Yeah, it looks like he's about to faint."

Asami was starting to worry about Lucas, and she had a good reason to because Lucas was about to give his team an unforgettable scare.

Candace threw down a Gate Card and then took out her ace Bakugan, Darkus Pegasus. Lucas had not yet play his ace Bakugan, but Candace had a plan to help him with that in just one move.

"Alright...Bakugan Brawl...Bakugan Stand! Darkus Pegasus!" Black and purple feathers danced as Candace's Bakugan partner made her entrance onto the field. The crowd awed at the sight of the winged horse of the Darkus attribute. Pegasus landed on Ty's Gate Card with both Ty's and Alice's last Bakugan.

"Ability card activate! Calling of Haos! Now a Haos Bakugan can join in and assist my Darkus Pegasus!"

They had them! Candace knew she and Lucas had them and that their title as champs was going to be theirs once again. Lucas' Haos Pegasus appeared onto the field next to Darkus Pegasus.

"Ability Card activate! Blow Away!" Ty played an ability card that formed a giant wind storm that tried to blow away Haos and Darkus Pegasus.

"I don't think so! Ability Card...activate! Haos Freeze" Lucas commanded, but sounded out of breath.

A giant shield of bright light canceled out the cyclone. As the wind disappeared Lucas collapsed to one knee.

"Lucas!?" Candace went to rush over to her brother.

"Candace! Focus on the battle!" Lucas snapped at his sister.

"Now Ty! We got em' !"Alice said in a happy tone.

"Gate Card...Open!"

Everything was a blur after that, and time seemed to move in slow motion. Something was seriously wrong with Lucas as he continued to collapse to the ground. Almost automatically so did their Bakugan.

They had lost the finals and their title. The crowd gasped but it wasn't because of the outcome of the battle but for the condition for Lucas Emiya. Everyone fell silent as people watched and waited to see if Lucas was going to be alright. Even Ty and Alice were concerned. Candace felt a hand on her shoulder and saw as the medics starting to surrounding her brother. She turned around to see Daichi, Asami, Makoto and Kenta standing there. Tears started to fill her eyes as she buried her face in Daichi's chest.

"I'm sorry...I'm so sorry Daichi! It's because of me that we lost our title!" Candace started to babble between her whimpers and sobbing.

"It's alright little mouse. Lucas wouldn't blame you and neither do we." Daichi wrapped his arms around Candace and let her bawl her eyes out.

Lucas was rushed to the hospital where he was diagnosed with a heart condition that he's had since he was a little. Over the years, Lucas was fighting and hiding it from the people around him. Everyone waited to hear how he was doing when Candace heard her father coming down the hospital hallway.

"Candace!!! What have you done this time?!"

Mr. Emiya was a strict man. A successful business man that believed that if there's no money in the outcome then it's not worth doing. To him, Bakugan was a waste of time.

"Mr. Emiya, did you know that your son has a heart condition?" A nurse came out of Lucas's room just when he was about to yell at his daughter.

"No! How could he have a heart condition when he's a star athlete?!" Mr. Emiya pushed Candace out of the way and followed the nurse into Lucas' room.

She sat back down next to Daichi and started to bounce her leg (something she did when she get nervous).

"I'm going to be in so much trouble latter." Candace berried her head in her hands.

"What do you mean? You didn't do anything wrong." Kenta leaned forward and looked at his teammate confused.

"You're pretty new to the team Kenta, so you don't know Mr. Emiya like the rest of us do." Makoto leaned back in his chair with his hands behind his head.

"What do you mean?"

"Mr. Emiya thinks Bakugan is a waste of time and he blames Candace for getting Lucas involved with when it's the other way around. He's an uptight businessman who likes money." Makoto continued but seemed bored about it.

Candace was lost in thought the entire time until her father came out of Lucas' room. He looked at her with angry eyes and said nothing to her until he was getting ready to go.

"I don't want to see you for a while. You're going to go live with your aunt until I come to get you."

Everyone's eyes widened after hearing what Mr. Emiya just said. He was throwing his only daughter out of the house. Mr. Emiya started walked towards the hospital's double doors when Daichi suddenly snapped back at Mr. Emiya.

"Now just wait a minute! That's not fair Mr. Emiya! You're kicking Candace out because you think that she's the one who put Lucas in this situation? Didn't you ever think that maybe Lucas enjoys Bakugan?!"

Makoto and Shiro had to hold Daichi back or else he was going to attack my Mr. Emiya.

He ignored Daichi and the others. He only focused on Candace.

"The arrangements have already been made. Your things are being removed from house and are being sent to your aunts." He turned away and walked through the double.

The young girl's heart was beating so fast and she couldn't hear what was going on around her. Slowly, Candace started having an anxiety attack. Tears filled her eyes, she fell to the floor, and let out a loud scream. Her mother had left them three years ago, her brother is in the hospital, and now her father is kicking her out of the house. Candace's family was falling apart. Even after hearing his daughter's scream Mr. Emiya didn't hesitate or turn around. He kept going, leaving her there on the floor with only her friends and a broken heart.