For Mimzy94.

"Heeeyaaaghaaaa!!!" Yawned Lance as he slowly started to arise from his peaceful night's slumber, rubbing his eyes as he cracked his neck and back into place. "Ahh now that is what I call a good night's sleep." Said the young Neathian man "Oh man Finally! Lance Listen I gotta tell you something super Important right now!" said Terraroid in a concerned voice as he floated up off of the dresser top on the other side of the bed room he shared with his partner. Softly on Lance's shoulder the red and black haired young man who was still half asleep couldn't really hear what the little red Chinese dragon like bakugan was saying. "Yeesh, major bed head." he muttered, grabbing a new change of clothes from his dresser drawer, his hair jel,and favorite brush "Shower time for me!" He said heading out of the room and straight for the bathroom. "Lance! Dude have you been listening to me at all sheesh! This is a more pressing matter then your morning Shower!!" growled Terraroid. "Look buddy chill out what ever it is I am sure it can wait." Lance said with his usual relaxed tone and smerk. "No. No it can't look I messed up big time and should of reminded you of this like 2-" Terraroid sadly never had a chance to finish his sentence as his partner closed the door and he heard the sound of the bathroom radio along with the water start up which was a crystal clear sign that he was Incomunicado until a good hour and a half later. "Weeks ago."  finished the Pyrus Bakugan. "You forgot to remind Lance about today didn't you." said Neo, a darkus Dragon like Bakugan as she appeared with her partner Ryuji, Lance's roommate  in toe His   purple and black hair covering over his right eye as usual, He let out a groan of irratation as he took a swig of coffee. "Man he  is gonna be kicking himself in the ass when he gets outta there. " he muttered. "He's gonna be kicking himself in the ass? That will be nothing compared to what you Know who is going to do to him if She finds out." Fabia, thier other roommate said as she passed him by.

About this time Lance was starting to get a strange feeling that he had forgotten something about today, what exactly that was though was a mystery to him. "Was today the day the rent was due?" No it couldn't of been that, he kept that date logged in his memory firmly in place. "Did I have a dentist appointment today, a haircut, was there a tournament or something?"  Something about the tournament did seem to trigger something from deep in his mind, but that wasn't it persay. "I had practice with Dan and the gang today? Or was it the day I was suppose to help out ARIA?!?!?!?!! GYAAHHHHHHHHHGH!!!!!!!!" Lance yelled at the top of his lungs  which Echoed through the apartment.  Out in the living room, Both Ryuji and Fabia sat with thier Bakugans nodding solmenly and silently. "He remembered." Fabia said. "Yep, I'd say so." Ryuji agreed. Lance wasted no time in getting dried off and clothes before shooting down the hallway and skidding to a hault right in the doorway to the living room. " Aria! Today! Big problem! Me! Forget! In trouble!!!!" Lance babbled, his eyes darting over to the calender beside him.  Sure enough it was, December 21st, Aria's Birthday. " Dude, heh heh you are soooooo dead." Ryuji chuckled leaning back in his chair.  Lance looked to Fabia for reassurence but she just shrugged and grinned along with Ryuji, "Don't look at me. I tried to remind you like 3 times about today. Lot more then this little one here." She said pointing at Terraroid who was now trying to use Aranaut as a sort of  "Baku shield".   Lance let out a groan and started pacing back and forth across the room. Fortunately it was still early which meant there was a fairly good chance his girlfriend wasn't even awake yet, but her cousins should be. "Gimme the Phone." He said, quickly dialing Dan's place, "Dan for once pick up the freaking Phone." he said  waiting for the line to connect. "Hello? Lance, Man where the hell are you?! You were suppose to be here half an Hour ago!" Dan snapped at him. Lance explained how his Idiot roommates should of tried harder to remind him about today, "Idiot roommates, piff! I'm not the one who forgot my Girlfriend's birthday was today either."  Ryuji   whispered.  

"Well thankfully for you. She is still asleep so you have time to get over here and help me Distract her while Mom and Sora call the others to help set up her Party tonight." Dan told him. Lance felt a huge wave of stress come lifting off his shoulders once he heard that "I hope you didn't forget to come up with a distraction too."  Which he did but he couldn't let Dan know that. "Umm, Umm Of course I didn't! I, I, I got a great plan! And Aria will love it that is for sure!" he said. Dan wasn't sold at all but right now wasn't the time to argue. "Just get over here Now, please." Lance nodded and clicked off the Phone then grabbed Terraroid and put him on his shoulder "Come on you two we gotta motor, and figure out a way to keep Aria away from the house for the day. " he said. "Wait  a minute this is your mess to have to clean up." said Fabia. "Yes but you guys should of tried harder like I said to remind me  beforehand. So this is your guys faults too."  Lance countered. " How did you come to that conclusion?" Neo asked. " All I know is that If I go down I'm taking you all with me!!!"  Like lightning the three Neathians and thier Bakugans were at Dan's place, panting heavily at the front door. "Next time I'm taking the Bus." Fabia  wheezed. "Ditto on that one." Ryuji said. Perhaps running all the way here without stopping to grab a bite to eat first wasn't Lance's best Idea,  his Stomach seemed to be yelling at him about as loud as Dan had been earlyer. " Yeah Yeah I know Shut up already." he  thought. As soon as the doorbell Rang Dan and Drago were right there and glad to see them. " Come on in, Aria is just getting out of the Shower now, good for you that she overslept too." Drago said. Lance got a bit of a kick out of that, he could picture the purple and teal haired girl   just rolling out of bed and bumping on the floor like she usually did. " She and I really are 2 of the same kind." He thought. "I hope you came up with some kind of distraction like you said you would." Dan asked hopeful. "Umm well I suppose. We could... Umm, Maybe hit the battle arena in the mall per chance?" Lance said sweating a bit.  Fabia groaned and shook her head, that was the best Lance could come up with at the moment? Sure Ryuji and Dan thought it was a good idea but come on! Didn't these guys ever think about anything besides Brawling in thier free time?

"Oh Lance You're here!" said a sweet voice. Lance turned his head to the stair case and saw his girlfriend heading down to meet him as she swallowed him up in a hug. " Happy Birthday Babe." he said kissing her on the forehead and smiling. Aria blushed looking up at him. "Thanks."  Lance felt the same way about Aria as Dan and Shun did about Fabia and Sora, She was extremely precious to him and he wanted to do what ever he could to make her happy. He knew that Brawling was one of her favorite things ever, of course it didn't start out that way. When he first met her Aria didn't show much interest if any at all about Bakugan battles. It actually took quite a while to get her to try them out,and as expected she wasn't too good at first.  Be it at building a deck or finding her perfect attribute She needed quite a bit of help. That was where Lance came in, he became like her coach teaching her everything from the ground up Gate cards, ability cards, the different strengths and weaknesses of the attributes, all about Bakugan Traps and Battle gears... Everything.  It wasn't too long after that, he gave her Panzer, a wolf like Haos Bakugan from back on Neathia who quickly became her partner and friend. That was also the day he asked her if she would start going out with him.  Granted it had been quite the rocky road he hand't antisipated her temper or her stubborness but that was just something he had to admire and accept about her. " Heh come on I got an Itching for some Brawling!" He said   clenching his fists as he did so. " Oh, eager for another beat down are we? Guess I will just have to add another victory under my belt." Aria said. "Don't be so sure I got a few new tricks you haven't seen yet."  "But Lance, hasn't she beaten you like 10 times in the past month?" Dan snickered.   The red and black haired young man growled at this truth perhaps he had taught her a little too well honestly. " Don't be too proud Danny boy. I've beaten you like 12 Times this month." Fabia grinned  While Dan looked for a counter, Aria was already pulling Lance and Ryuji out the door and off to thier destination. " Come on already! The sooner we get there the sooner I get to winning!"

"Man talk about packed today." Said ryuji as the 5 of them made thier way through the parking lot into the enterance. "Bet Keith is loving this, he is bound to have tons of Customers at his shop today." Dan added. Keith ran a sort of  Bakugan shop inside the Mall, he did things like helped new players find thier partners and traps, sold and fixed battle gear, sold cards, launchers and holsters... so as long as the battle field was up an running you could gurentee that his shop was busy. " I gotta stop at Keith's while we are at it, Gotta pick up a little something I ordered a while ago." Lance said. The thing in question was Aria's birthday present, thankfully that was the one thing he did remember about today and in general. "I'm gonna go grab us a little something to munch on. I don't know about you guys but I hear my stomach calling my name." Said the Birthday girl  heading for the food court, With Fabia in toe. " We'll come meet you at Keith's place ok." She said.  The guys nodded and quickly made thier way up to the 3rd floor of the Mall. Not far from the Elevators was thier destination, "Baku Zone." Keith's store which true to form had a line of kids waiting to get inside and grab the latest upgrades they could. "Yo! Keith get your butt down here already!!!" Lance yelled "Remind me not to take any stealth jobs with you ok." Ryuji said   Lance just play punched his friend in the arm and took his place on the counter. "Ahh there ya are. Just the guy I was waiting for, I can only assume you are here to pick this little baby up." Keith said as he placed a small box on the counter. Inside it was a brand New battle gear he had developed and Lance had begged him to let him get one of early as his gift to Aria for today. " The Grand Chariot." Keith said as he typed up on the tablet next to him.

Bringing up a picture of Panzer equipped with the Gear, Grand Chariot looked like a large high powered cannon settled in the middle of his back while his shoulders were protected with thick armor that consealed two small blasters on each. Finally on his long tail was a sharp scythe like blade. " The gear's ablility card will add up to 200 extra Power to the user and with these cards it can be amped up for triple the effect. Just make sure to tell her that the recoil from the cannon is touchy so she needs to make sure her aim is spot on cause if not. It could bounce back and cause Panzer quite a bit of damage." Keith explained. A touchy gear for a trigger happy girl, Seemed like the perfect Gift to Lance. "I owe ya big time for this one man." He said as he paid for the gear and the cards. " Aria really is lucky to have a guy like you ya know Lance." Dan said. "Well she has done just as much for me as I have for her." The two of them had been dating for at least 3 years now and in that time Aria had been everything from a friend and battle partner, to a shoulder to cry on and a source of encouragement and strength. He had told her things that he hadn't anyone else and she had also done her best to help him get over the loss of his older brother as well. Aria often told him that Jin was still with him, watching over him like he had in thier childhood, she felt he would be proud of the man he had become. "She is the best thing that could of ever happened to me." He said which was also why he felt so damn bad about messing up and forgetting about today, " Sometimes I think she deserves better then me." Lance admitted. "Ok Now come on man Don't talk like that." Ryuji said  "Aria cares about you a lot I can tell. It was all over her face when you were holding her before back at my place." Dan added, "So you make a few mistakes here and there along the way what guy hasn't Trust me we may look good all the time but I have Pissed Fabs off royally before and she has me too we always forgive and forget though cause that is what love is about."  Love, neither of them had ever really said those words to each other before but he assumed that she knew he did by his actions. " Saying stuff like that is... well its just hard for me, doesn't feel right for some reason I don't know." Lance explained. " So what, Like I have said before, Actions speak louder then words sometimes." Terraroid  said.   "The things  you have done for her say it all."  Lance nodded slowly as he put a hand to his shoulder. " I am really sorry for not listening to you earlyer buddy and to to you and Fabs too Ryuji."  Ryuji shrugged and showed a rare smile towards his friend. " It's over and done with so let's forget about it." he said.

Not long after this Aria and Fabia finally returned to the others  bringing a few Donuts they had grabbed along the way. " Heh she knows me well." Lance thought. While Dan and the others talked with Keith. Lance pulled Aria aside and took her outside to a little quite spot out back of the mall, they stayed there for a bit munching on thier treats and talking and over all just having a great time like Always. " She is so sweet and kind. Not to mention great looking too, Guess I got the golden ticket when you finally picked me." He thought. "Lance, I know you are uncomfortable saying stuff like I love you and  pet names but that doesn't matter to me as long as I know I am important to you and that you care  that is enough." she thought. "Hey guess it is about time I give you this too." Lance said as he handed Aria the box containing her battle gear and cards. As soon as she saw them her eyes lit up wide but even more so when she found the small scrap of paper hidden in the lining. She un folded it quickly and read the message there in.

"To the girl who makes me feel like the luckiest guy on any world. I know I am a block head and forgetful. But I thank my lucky stars every time I am able to kiss you.  You are not just my girl but also my best friend.

I love you. Aria.

From Lance."

Aria's eyes started to water a bit as Lance leaned in and kissed her on the mouth.  It wasn't an extremely long one but it carried with it no less emotion and it carried most of all the thing that he needed to know. " I love you too, Lance." was what it said. " Hey let's quit wasting time and go test this baby out already!" said the Birthday girl, heading back inside. " Sure if you are that eager to get beat!" " Oh not gonna happen!!" she laughed. Yes  some people feel comfortable speaking thier emotions while others show it in other ways. Regardless of which though as long as they are respected and returned it doesn't matter.