#hes definitely not stronger than spectra or gus or mylene. but like

[hexados-on-a-string]

lync and shadow are never shown to have actual guardian bakugan like most brawlers in the series, until they get their mechanical bakugan and i dont think its said why in the show?

while i have no ideas for shadow prove other than, as i often justify most of his actions, being shadow prove. BUT for lync i like to think that his strategy to make him the supposedly best ventus brawler in vestal was for him to swap out his bakugan in every tournament brawl. every brawl he used a new bakugan so he'd constantly have the element of surprise and his competitors would be consistently unprepared. and i think would have 0 issue tossing out his bakugan after each brawl whether he knew they were sentient at that point or not bc. he's lync. u know what he's like.

i like to think that thats also why he struggles a lot in his brawls in the show. while i do have issues with some of the win/lose rates for characters in nv and how inconsistent it is, and i also dont think the win/loss ratios in nv is a good way to determine skill level bc sometimes it does contradict information we're given (looking at you baron). i DO think lync losing all his brawls when brawling solo and only managing to win when teamed up with someone else is intentional. if he relies on the element of surprise, but is now using the same bakugan in every brawl, its a bit difficult to have that element of surprise with that one bakugan, meaning he's had to change up his brawling style.

this is all probably disproven in the show in some way or form but its my hc at least