A/N:

Jet: Thanks guys for all the reviews and encouragement!

kd: We really do appreciate everyone's support!

Jet: This part is going to be a lot of fun too XP

kd: At least, that's what Jet has been telling me, we write the AN before we start writing the chapter! ^.^;;

Jet: Yeah but together we can never fail! :D

kd: ...I find your logic at fault…

Jet: Awww don't be such a demy downer...Demy isn't a word is it… Well don't be such a downer!

kd: I always thought it was "Debbie Downer", like, that's another girl's name, right? And, more importantly, I am not a downer! I'm a vulcan!

Jet: You're a greek god?

kd: Uhhhh...no. It's the same species as Spock. You know, Star Trek?

Jet: I didn't exactly… watch Star Trek.

kd: Then I shall snub you! Good day infidel!

Jet: Aww before you snub me can we write this chapter? :)

kd: Highly illogical...but I shall.

Chapter 8

Rachel rubbed her head with a groan as she started to come to her senses. When she feels someone shift beside her she sits straight up, instantly regretting it, "Damn it! My head!"

"...Rachel? Is that you?" Dan's voice calls out, hoarse and dizzy.

As soon at the world stops spinning Rachel stands up and surveys the room. It was definitly unconventional, as all sides consisted of a slightly yellow plush material, only to be interrupted by a door and a one sided mirror, "Holy... shit…"

"What is it?" Dan asks when he finally gets the focus to sit up and looks around, "Are we in your room? So soft…"

"No, Dan, it looks like we're in some kind of isolation chamber used to lock up the mentally unstable... I can't say it's all that surprising, though…" she didn't know whether that was aimed at Dan or herself.

"Whoa!" Dan tries to stand up, his vision having refocused, but instantly lands on his bum again, "H-how did we end up here?"

She doesn't need to look into her foggy memories to know who did this, "Hal-G."

"Weren't we, like, someplace sunny, too?"

Rachel tries to push through the fog to get some idea of what happened before but is met with a headache, "Maybe…were we?"

"Well, yeah. Otherwise why would we be in our swimsuits?" Dan says successfully standing this time, there seems to be some uncharacteristic signs of awareness and worry on his face.

"W-what?!" Rachel instantly blushes and looks down to see that, though her torso is covered, there's not much covering down there.

"Why, it's good to see you sleepy heads have finally woken up!" a familiar voice seemed to emanate throughout the room making Rachel stiffen. There must have been speakers throughout the room.

"Fuck you! Fuck all of you!" Rachel screams at the point where the hideous man was probably watching, them through the one-sided mirror. However, to her, it looked like she was yelling at her reflection, "Deciding where I sleep, what I eat, what I do, how I feel!" she takes in another breath, "When I get out of here, I swear it, I'll kill you! You and your oversized lizard you wrongly worship as a god, you pieces of trash." Dan gaped at Rachel as the girl continued. "No, worse than that, trash is worthless. You're all negative worth! Scourge on the planet. I'll find, not only, a way to kill you all, but give you all true non-existence, that no one will remember any of you, a true final death that everything will be like you never existed!"

"What you do not realize, my dear Masquerade, is that Naga can do that exact thing to you." Rachel could hear the smirk in his amused tone, "Now, on to the matter of your reason for being here."

"Wait…" Dan says almost breathlessly, the hamster running in his head trying to go as fast as it can, "You're… Masquerade?"

Masquerade turns to him, at first, with the discomfort of confrontation on her face, but soon straightens herself out, "Yes."

"But…" Dan reaches his hands out, as if trying to physically grasp the concept, "I thought you were a guy."

"And I thought you were a good brawler. Funny, how opinions don't always reflect the truth."

"But that's not really something that's an opinion…" Dan ignored the burn, focusing on his confusion instead.

"It's all thanks to my genius and Naga's great power that we have shaped Masquerade to do our bidding!" Masquerade snarled and glared up at the speakers. "True sex reassignment, for those that seek it, is somewhat superficial and does not affect fertility. Here, it is a different case."

Dan jaw dropped, "So...you're saying she can get pregnant!?"

"Well, of course," Hal-G mumbled, "Why else would we do such a thing?"

"That sounds really sexist…" Dan said incredulously.

"It's not about being politically correct," Hal-G spits the word out like it was poison, "It's about serving Naga in his plans of world domination!"

"Well, Naga's going to have a little trouble with his plan if I'm not willing," Masquerade protested.

"Oh, but you don't have to be willing," he chuckled, "Naga has selected the top brawler to be your mate. And soon, very soon, he will become something that you cannot refuse."

"Ummm...I'm pretty sure I can, I've got lots of practice."

"Awww…" Dan lowered his gaze to the floor.

"Dan! Are you serious! You just learned that I'm Masquerade! We're enemies, you idiot!" Masquerade snapped.

"No! No, we're not! I feel like we've become really close over the past month. And I've learned that you're not a bad person! Hal-G is the only enemy here!"

'Whoa' Masquerade thought taken aback by Dan's outburst. She frowned as she scrutinized him. "Uh...you don't, I don't know, feel betrayed? Cheated? Lied to?"

"No! Because you're my friend now, Masquerade. And we probably wouldn't have become friends if you hadn't lied. So of course I forgive you!"

"I…" she stood there, almost speechless. She never had anyone who really... defended her like that, someone who forgave her when she did something they didn't like. Hydranoid was an amusing distraction but he wasn't all that loyal or emotionally complex. Naga only knew how to train someone's obedience like a dog. He did not forgive, he forced change on others, "You just… clean slate? Forgiving me for everything?"

"Well...sending anyone to their ultimate doom is still pretty up there on all the bad things someone could do but everyone makes mistakes! I at least forgive you for lying about your identity!"

"That's...that sounds like a good start…"

Dan grinned, "Good new starts are always the best!"

"What the hell does that mean?" Masquerade asked raising an eyebrow.

They were interrupted by Hal-G clearing his throat, "As you may not have noticed through your sickening friendship session the gas has already started being pumped into the air of the room you share. Soon you will both feel the effects."

They both looked down to see a purplish gas pooling near the floor, rising up.

"Uh...are we going to die?" Dan asked.

There was no answer from Hal-G.

"Dan, were you paying attention?!"

"Only to you...what's going to happen to us?"

Masquerade face palmed. "Seriously? Ugh." She lowered her hand and glanced around eyes narrowed. "I have a good idea...but I'm not going to say it…"

"What?! Why not? If it does something really bad then you just can't not tell me!"

"Just stand as tall as you can so we can last longer!"

Dan tried to go on his tiptoes but soon lost his balance as he fell face first into the intoxicating mist.

"For FUCK'S sake, Dan! You always manage to make things worse for me don't you!" she shouted but felt a little tug of guilt in her chest. She knew she didn't really mean it, she was just frustrated.

"I...uh...what did you say?" Dan said from his spot on the floor, the drug taking an obvious effect, "Hey...Masquerade...can we...cuddle?"

"Nope, I'm going to move away now." Masquerade said edging away from him.

"Wait!" Dan shouted as he grabbed Masquerade's ankle, causing her to plummet to the floor.

"God da...uh...damn it, Dan! Why would you go and get me drugged too?!" She snapped propping herself up with her elbows as she tugged on her ankle trying to free it from his grasp.

"Because...because, I feel weird, Masquerade." He said frowning slightly as he released her ankle and began to move closer to her.

"Yeah, well, now...I'm going to...feel weird...too…" it became harder and harder to speak as an alien warmth spread across her entire body. "I guess...this doesn't feel so bad," she smiled as she admired the ceiling.

"Masquerade...it hurts!"

She lazily turned her head to the boy now next to her, "What hurts?"

He grabbed her and humped against her knee, "It hurts! I just know it hurts a lot" he almost had tears running down his face.

She tilted her head, as if not noticing the fact that Dan was servicing himself on her leg, "I guess it is starting to hurt a little…"

Dan tries his best to wiggle out of his swim trunks.

"Whoa there!" Masquerade draws back sitting up, "What do you think you're doing? I don't want to see your dick!"

"But it hurts! It's so hot in here!" Dan says in a low gruff voice that sends shivers down her spine.

"Then...go to a dick doctor or something. I don't know!" she shouts as she tries to avoid looking at Dan's not-so-little problem.

"You'll help me, right?"

"No!"

"But we're friends!" Dan protested.

"Friends don't do this!" she squirms only even more aware of how thin and how little fabric there is around her crotch.

Dan whimpered but continued to crawl over Masquerade anyway, "Please" he leaned in for a kiss, pressing his lips against hers.

Her eyes widened but she didn't try to end the kiss. After all, it did make her feel more of that addictive heat and it made her feel less awkward about the fact that Dan was completely naked. However, when Dan started whining again and started playing with the straps of her bathing suit, enough was enough.

"Dan," she tried to gather up enough authority in her voice when everything was still in a haze, "If you don't stop...trying to get me naked...I'm going to hit you where it hurts most…"

He pants, "My heart?"

She grit her teeth, Dan was hard enough to reason with without the drugs, "No, your dick. I'll snap it in half if you don't get off me."

Dan flinched at the thought and that was what she needed to finally push him off and crawl away. She paused when she heard a soft sniffle. Blinking she looked towards the boy and her eyes widened as she took in the sight of the brunette boy with tears in his eyes. She had expected Dan to be upset, but she didn't expect him to cry.

"Ummm...are you okay?" She ventured

"No." He said reaching a hand up to rub at his eyes.

"I'm sorry if I hurt you," she tried to remember if Dan had landed badly after she pushed him.

"No...no you're not! You're not sorry!" he continued to weep, "I tried to tell you, multiple times that I liked you. And you knew I did! But you don't care. Why don't you love me back?"

Masquerade frowned. "Do you really?"

"Huh?" Dan said blinking.

"Let me phrase it like this, 'Do you love me or do you love Rachel?'"

Dan just looked blankly at her.

Masquerade sighed. "Look, Dan, Rachel isn't me, she's a disguise, a lie. I'm Masquerade, I served Naga, I sent bakugan to the doom dimension, I've been nasty and cruel, and I'm a guy. I'm doing everything in my power to change back. When I'm back to normal, would you still love me?"

Dan frowned for a moment and seemed to be mulling it over wiping at his tear stained face. "Well, I-"

He was cut off by a loud banging noise coming from the speakers followed by Hal-G's panicked voice.

"What?! How'd you get in here! No! I won't let you interfere you-Agh!" A loud thud sounded followed by several softer thuds and a few bangs before the speakers went dead silent.

Dan and Masquerade looked toward the door as it opened.

"Stop!" Masquerade called out, "Don't breath it!"

Shun saw the mist curling out the door and jumped back, He drew away from the door and looks at the control board Hal-G was using. Padded rooms aren't the most technologically advanced things in the world so it didn't take him long to guess the right switch. There would be no more gas being pumped into the room but it would take a while to disperse. He looked over at the two figures that were still seated on the floor, "Are you two going to be able to walk out or am I going to have carry you out?"

Masquerade used the rest of her strength to crawl out. She takes a large intake of the cleaner air and instantly feels better. Shun offers his hand which she takes as she struggles to get up on wobbly legs. As Shun was helping Masquerade up he did not notice that Hal-G had regained consciousness and was fleeing. Masquerade on the other hand spotted the goblin hightailing it out of there.

"Get him!" she coughed. Shun thought she meant Dan until she pointed behind him before falling backwards, "I'm going to make that bastard turn me back right now!"

"Well," Shun flung Masquerade's body over his shoulder, "Seems like you can't do it alone."

She tried not to cuss or grumble as Shun made his way down the hall leaving behind a very naked, very tearful, very drugged Dan.

A/N:

Jet: Well that's one way to end a chapter XP

kd: I bet we've might've ended other chapters in even funnier ways, idk, I haven't actually reread it recently but, in seriousness level, we've come a long way from Hydranoid making pregnancy jokes…

Jet: Yeah, well we're ramping up the rating to M, because well… obviously things are getting a bit too mature to just be rated T.

kd: (shrugs) I know I'm kinda biased but...I don't think reading sex scenes before the age 18 has really done anyone harm. Ummmm, not that this fanfic will have a sex scene (though I keep encouraging Jet to let me).

Jet: I've been tempted, many times for many different fics, I can't begin to tell you for Places Switched, and DD how many people have been asking for sex scenes, it's crazy.

kd: Uhhhhh, this is news to me! Why do you not request my services?! I would definitely write any kind of sex scene to your liking! Whatever you want! PLLEEEEAAASSSSSEEEE? The fans want it! Do it for the fans!

Jet: Whatever I want?

kd: YES! I'm co-writing this really strange story, aren't I? And I don't judge! I'm a horndog! Actually, we might as well ask the readers, right? Whether or not they want a sex scene? We might even put it in a different place so it's optional!

Jet: Oh I was going to use that to ask if you'd write a JetxMasky sex scene for me, but that works too. Make this democratic I guess.

kd: If they read this part O.O;;, but I'll make you that Jet x Masky anyways!

Jet: Aww you're the best, and my fans would be oh so grateful I'm sure XP

kd: O...k...then...I'm doing this for the art, man. Not the man, man!

Jet: O...k…Anyways please review guys and we'll be sure to post another update soon! :D