Had to tinker with this for a while for the formatting to work correctly, FF could use an onsite tutorial (or maybe I could use a better brain). Enjoy All Knighter: Bakugan Retold!
"Someday in the future someone will read this and go, 'that can't be true, can it? But I'm telling you, it is! My whole world changed one day when out of nowhere, random cards began falling from the sky everywhere, like rain. But it wasn't wet (wet, haha, joke). We didn't know where they were coming from or who sent them, but we did know they were more than ordinary cards. They landed all over the planet, and each one contained a small sphere, which opened up into a creature we decided to call Bakugan. Pretty soon, us kids decided to create a cool name game (due to a lack of the internet or parental concern for our safety), which was when we discovered that the cards and bakugan within weren't just toys after all; they could transform into fantastic beasts, which we used to fight each other in amazing battles we call Brawls. My name is Greyson, and with my friends Yui, Kai, Yama, and Kasai, we call ourselves the Bakugan Battle Brawlers!".
"whatcha doing?" A voice came.
Greyson looked up from the paper he was doodling on, now fully covered in words and pictures describing the full Bakugan backstory. He looked beside him, his friend and classroom neighbor Yama looking inquisitively toward him, his brown eyes glowing behind his glasses. "Dwawing pictures." Grey responded in a slightly higher pitched voice, looking over the paper he had decorated proudly. "can i see?" his friend asked, mimicking his tone of voice, one a person would use to speak to a baby or a dog. Greyson nodded, picking up his masterpiece and handing it to Yama, who reached out to grab it with his light brown hand.
Yama had a darker skin tone, tan in a way, matched by his buzzcut chocolate coloured hair. This contrasted Greyson intensely, whose hair was grey (because of reasons that were related to lightning, an aluminum baseball bat, and being the age of 5 in a thunderstorm), not really styled and left to sit the way it did naturally. He also possessed a more typical skin tone for the area, being caucasian and all. Both wore average clothing, Greyson sporting a black and blue t-shirt sleeved hoodie over a greyish Bepis shirt with a pair of black sweatpants (the ones with the two blue lines going from either hip to the ankle). Yama meanwhile, was sporting this seasons green Ireland sports jersey and tan cargo pants. Average clothing, for sure. Yama soon handed back the paper, giving a thumbs up and a smile, his brown eyes meeting Grey's own, his left was green, and his right was blue (for reasons not related to lightning). "neat." was the rating. "wanna see something amazing?" Yama asked after a few moments had passed. The classroom was decently rowdy by this point, with enough people speaking so that no single conversation stood out. "Sure!" Greyson responded, excited, as usually when Yama said something was cool, it almost always was. The shorter boy leaned over and gripped the zipper of his schoolbag, slowly dragging it over the arc of the item, revealing its contents. Inside were several books, a brown water bottle, a megaphone, and an almost empty paper bag once containing the remains of a lunch.
Did I mention the megaphone.
"Dude, that is sick!" Grey said slightly louder as Yama zipped his bag closed. "Are you gonna use that during the brawl?" he continued, referring to the match planned after class had concluded. "yep, yama's going LOUD." he responded, emphasising the last word in a way that brought out the power behind his voice, leading a few students to turn their heads his way. "Oh yeah, they're brawling after school" someone said, the topic of several conversations switching as Yama sank into his chair, slightly embarrassed at his "outburst". Grey chuckled in response, with the conversation continuing on until class ended, the former describing their battle strategy, and Yama detailing as to how he got his hands on the amplification device.
"BUNG BUNG BUNG BUNG"
The sound of the school bell was loud yet somehow soft, not like a bell but almost like a distorted piano key played four times over. Nevertheless, kids flooded the hallways and began their routes toward whatever way was home, with Grey and Yama transitioning into the efficient stream of people headed toward the school atrium. The structure of the atrium itself was an interesting design, an octagon shape with hallways running around it, with tiers running down toward the middle into a clear area, commonly filled with tables during lunchtime. A large stage also ran through the area, and it was overall well designed, and the perfect location for staging a brawl. Grey and Yama walked down the steps heading down the left side of the atrium structure, seeing their two friends waiting for them.
Yui, wearing her blonde hair in her typical extravagant manner with two rear ponytails combining into one, wore her turquoise kittenz hoodie open, showing a white tank top underneath. She also had a pair of jeans with tears over the knees (ones she had made herself no less) and a pair of, ugs. Why ugs? Because they're comfy and fun to say the name of, according to her. Kai meanwhile stood a few paces taller than the rest of the crew, his short black hair kept combed forward, parting sideways across his forehead. He wore a black coat with a plaid interior, also open and exposing his green racoon t-shirt, paired with dark baggy jeans and a pair of worn hiking boots. The other twos choice in footwear contrasted Grey and Yama's, who simply wore sneakers (though Greyson's were significantly dirtier). They had blue and green eyes respectively, both with caucasian skin.
"Hallo!" Yui greeted the two arrivals in a higher pitched yet deeper toned voice, waving to them. "Greetings fellow humans!" Grey responded. "Are you prepared for some bakugan brawling action!". "Hell yeah!" Kai said, retrieving his hands from his jacket pocket and placing them within his pants pockets, retrieving his brawling gear. Greyson nodded to his opponent, taking his backpack off and opening it, retrieving his own card holder, bakugan rack, and a small, cushioned baggie that contained his beasts. As a congregation of other students arrived within the atrium to watch the match, Greyson and Kai fixed their gear onto themselves, with Yama quickly mounting the stage beside them, taking a quick swig of water from his brown bottle while Grey and Kai arranged themselves perpendicular to each other.
"GOOD EVENING EVERYBODY!" Yama announced in a voice that sounded as if it was not his own based on how loud and passionate it was. "ARE Y'ALL READY FOR SOME BRAWLING?".
"Shut up and make animals kill each other!"
"JOHNNY HAS THE RIGHT IDEA!" Yama responded as Kai and Grey drew their field cards from their respective holsters. Each of them shot a glance and a nod to Yama, signalling they were ready.
"ALRIGHT FOLKS!" he roared, raising a fist into the air. "LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!"
"BAKUGAN, FIELD OPEN!"
Kai and Grey quickly drew their cards upward, both yelling the words in perfect synchronization, causing their rectangular items to glow in a rainbow light. Reality began to distort as a pentagram circle formed beneath them, bearing the six bakugan attributes spinning around as the circle did, with people from the crowd stepping into it to ensure their spectating places in the arena. Outside of the circle, time began to slow down to a crawl, sound distorting, the hum of cars outside and the drone of conversation warping to a standstill.
Somewhere some dude's pudding was about to hit the floor.
The skylight of the atrium was slowly replaced by the sky of the field, with the somewhat messy floor of the area being replaced by pure white. In a manner of about ten seconds, the atrium had been completely replaced by an area built not for education, but for brawling.
The distance between Kai, Greyson, the spectators, and Yama had grown significantly during the fields formation, which is where the megaphone came into play. Yama had opened his bag during the field formation, used to its reality bending effects due to the sheer number of brawls he had spectated, and had the white amplifier in hand by the time the fight was ready to commence, holding it up to his mouth and inhaling. "ALRIGHT, TODAY'S FIGHT IS A ONE ON ONE BRAWL BETWEEN THE AQUOS VENTUS BRAWLER KAI TENSHI-"
Kai raised his fist into the air at the mention of his name, gripping a card in his other hand-
"- AND THE ALL ATTRIBUTE STAR GREYSON NOBORU!"
Grey made a face and waved to his audience, also taking hold of his gate card with his out of use hand.
"WITHOUT FURTHER ADO- adieu? adoo? hmmm… BRAWLERS, BEGIN!"
With Yama's permission to brawl given, both brawlers immediately raised the cards they had prepared.
"GATE CARD, SET!"
The two cards flew toward each other, bypassing the other and landing opposite to the brawler that had thrown it, with Grey's in front of Kai and Kai's in front of Grey. The two small rectangles glowed for a moment in the colours of their respective attributes before expanding to massive size, the two cards bridging the distance between Greyson and Kai near instantly. Not one to let the fight turn into a staring contest, Grey immediately pulled out one of his bakugan, a red and orange sphere, and prepared to fire it.
"Bakugan, Brawl!"
The Pyrus Serpenoid was launched onto the gate card directly in front of Greyson, which belonged to Kai. The small sphere landed on the gate card, flipping open before its eyes began to glow, the creature disappearing in a vortex of fire and red light. "Serpenoid, Stand!" was heard as two large red coils of scaled flesh emerged from the card, rotating as Serpenoid familiarized himself with his new form, his serpentine head emerging from the card, with his pointed tail not being to far behind. Serpenoid reoriented himself to face Kai, sticking his tongue out as to sniff the battle environment, and possibly to intimidate his target.
"Pyrus Serpenoid, 240 g's." was heard from Kai's bakupod, a small wristwatch device used for brawling. He glanced down at it, then quickly sent a spectator's invite to Yama so he could narrate this.
"LOOKS LIKE THIS BATTLE MIGHT GET A BIT SNAKEY SHAKEY!"
"That was awful!"
"I DON'T CARE!"
Kai, knowing he had the advantage in this scenario due to Grey's bakugan being on a gate card he owned, quickly selected his next bakugan, a small blue sphere which slightly smelled of crab. "Alright, les do this!" Kai mumbled to his bakugan before arcing his hand backward in preparation to throw it.
"BAKUGAN, BRAWL!"
The Aquos Limulus shot toward the gate card of Serpenoid, landing on it and rolling to a stop before popping open. "BAKUGAN STAND!" accompanied the crablike creatures opening as the sphere disappeared into a whirlpool of water, Serpenoid slithering to reorient himself in a defensive stance. The now formed Limulus surfaced out of the watery vortex, snapping its claws at Serpenoid as if to taunt the bakugan. Grey quickly glanced at his bakupod; Aquos Limulus, 240 gpower, same as Serpenoid, but Limulus was an aquos bakugan, which had a natural advantage over Pyrus. Greyson's own bakugan shot him a glance, looking for guidance on what to do, Grey responding with a raised fist; a sign to attack. Serpenoid faced back forward, coiling himself and preparing to attack as Greyson drew a new card.
"Ability Activate: Rapid Pyrus!"
The card in Greyson's hand glowed in a red light, transferring its energy toward Serpenoid, causing the bakugan's tail stinger to ignite, a searing fire engulfing it and forming what could best be described as a flaming blade. Serpenoid immediately went to utilize his newfound weaponry, snaking towarding Limulus and swiftly dodging the fortress bakugan's claw attacks. The pyrus serpent quickly began coiling his body around Limulus' shell, oriented in such a way that the bakugan's claws couldn't reach him, and began repeatedly stabbing his flaming stinger at the chitinous barrier protecting the aquos bakugan. Limulus' gpower rapidly lowered as Serpenoid intensified his assault, being empowered as his own energy rose due to the ability cards effect.
"Pyrus Serpenoid 290 g's, Aquos Limulus 190 g's" Greyson's bakupod piped, its user feeling rather proud of himself. "Keep going buddy, he can't take much more of this!" Grey yelled, encouraging Serpenoid, who began attacking with even greater intensity. Limulus meanwhile, while being brutalized, was still relatively calm, knowing Kai likely had a plan up his sleeve.
"GATE CARD OPEN!"
And there it was.
The terrain beneath Limulus and Serpenoid began glowing in a blue light, its effects taking hold immediately. "ENERGY MERGE!" was heard being yelled by Kai as the card took hold, transferring 100 gpower from Serpenoid to Limulus, the former's fire tail fizzling out as his energy was drained. Taking advantage of Serpenoid's weakness, Limulus quickly spun around in a circle, surprising Serpenoid, who had loosened his coiling grip, and causing him to go limp, completely exposing himself. It was but a moment before Limulus quickly utilized its two claws, making an x-shaped slash across the bakugans neck. Serpenoid barely had a chance to hiss in pain before his body converted back into energy, which reformed back into his sphere form, being shot back toward Greyson, bouncing off of the ground near him. "Pyrus Serpenoid 190 g's, Aquos Limulus 290 g's, Pyrus Serpenoid: Defeated." Grey's bakupod chimed, leading him to exhale heavily out of his nose while he retrieved his bakugan off of the ground. Serpenoid popped open in his hand, the now tiny anxious creature's head lowered in shame. "Don't worry bud." Greyson said, nudging the pyrus bakugan's head with his index finger. "We'll get em next time.".
"AND IT LOOKS LIKE KAI AND LIMULUS WINS THIS ROUND, WATER BEATS FIRE… unless you live in california, then nature just hates you." Yama said partly into the megaphone, Limulus celebrating on the gate card by snapping its claws repeatedly in what could be described as a victory song. The student spectators cheered at what they were witnessing, with Limulus returning to its ball form shortly after, shooting back toward Kai and landing in his hand. "Hell yes! Thas how we do it!" he yelled triumphantly, shoving his closed hand around Limulus into the air. "Match isn't over yet cowboy!" Greyson yelled toward him, grinning. The next match would be on his gate card, giving him the advantage. Kai nodded at Greyson, each brawler grabbing their next bakugan and preparing to brawl once more.
"Bakugan, Brawl!" Greyson yelled, shooting his bakugan out first. A small black sphere shot out across the field and landed on the gate card directly in front of Kai. A darkus Griffon opened upon landing, with a spiral of dark energy quickly engulfing the area around it. A chimera-like beast, still shrouded in shadow energy, shot out of the card, floating in the air as the dark power dissipated off of it, revealing the darkus Griffon's true form, a majestic winged lion creature and one of Greyson's best fighters. Griffon hovered in the air, occasionally flapping his wings and looking down and Kai, growling lightly as if to taunt the brawler. Kai smirked back before grabbing his next bakugan, ready to brawl.
"BAKUGAN, BRAWL!" was yelled as a light green sphere shot out of Kai's hand at high velocity, heading toward the card in front of him and opening on impact. The green Mantris' eyes glowed as a vortex of wind spun up and around the bakugan, its insectoid limbs emerging from the gate card and pulling the rest of its body into stance. The praying mantis bakugan gazed up at Griffon, who still maintained stable flight despite the turbulence caused by Mantris' entrance.
"DARKUS GRIFFON VERSUS VENTUS MANTRIS, TWO ABOMINATIONS OF SATAN, ONE SLIGHTLY MORE CUTE!" Yama amplified, checking his bakupod for the data on the brawl.
"I LOVE YOU GRIFF!" Yui yelled toward Grey's darkus bakugan, Griff grinning at his seemingly biggest fan.
"Darkus Griffon 260 g's, Ventus Mantris 240 g's." was the information provided, Greyson had the advantage, meaning Kai would need to pull off some major strategy in order to win. Greyson knew this as well, and intended to make his temporary advantage count as he pulled an ability card.
"Ability Card Activate: Griffon Stance!"
The card in Greyson's hand glowed in a purple light, with Griffon beginning to glow in a similar aura. Griffon Stance was one of Griffon's many unique cards, allowing the darkus bakugan to access his roar abilities. Griffon continued hovering in place meanwhile, grinning and barking at Mantris in the bakugan's typically cocky fashion. Mantris would have glared back if it was capable, but instead prepared itself to attack as Kai readied his own ability card.
"ABILITY ACTIVATE: TWIN MACHETE!"
Matris' already formidable bladed appendages glowed in a green light, extending into an even more dangerous serrated form. Should contact be made, it would be devastating to Griffon, who was still airborne and out of range. Mantris quickly ejected itself into the air toward him, blades primed for attack against Griffon as it headed toward the darkus bakugan at high velocity.
"Gate Card Open! Warlock!"
The gate card that hosted the brawl glowed, Mantris' energy blades dissipating back to their original form due to Warlock's negation effect, much to the surprise of the ventus bakugan, still traveling at velocity toward Griffon. Using this velocity to his advantage, Griffon immediately performed a mid-air flip, using his hind leg to stomp Mantris' head, sending the insect back down to the ground. Mantris hit the ground with force, sending a small amount of dust into the air as the spectators cheered for Griffon, who returned the favour with a cocky grin, Grey already priming his next move.
"Ability Card, Activate: Griffon Roar: Crystal Cannon!"
The card in Greyson's hand glowed before dissipating into energy, energy that shot immediately toward his darkus bakugan and gathered within its horn. As darkus power continued to charge, Mantris was coming back to its senses, mainly the sense of hearing, which detected the key sound of Kai yelling: "GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE!". Mantris, confused and attempting to recall previous events for a moment, looked up, seeing Griffon charging his ability before desperately attempting to dodge it.
But it was too late.
A projectile of darkus energy shot from Griffon's crystalline horn, enveloping Mantris in the cone-shaped beam of the attack, sending dust flying as the laser continued firing. Griffon, still smirking, stopped the attack after 5 seconds of continuous fire, grinning as Mantris came back into view, nearly incinerated by the energy projectile. Mantris quickly returned back to ball form as Griffon roared in triumph, the ventus sphere shooting back toward Kai, who barely managed to catch it. "WAY TO GO GRIFF!" Greyson yelled. "Damn it…" Kai mumbled, looking at Griffon's celebratory roaring.
"WHAT CAN WE SAY, GRIFFON CAN'T LOSE, NOT WITH AN INSTAGRAM PAGE WITH THIS MANY OVERLY DEVOTED FANGIRLS!" Yama announced, Griffon continuing to smirk as he reverted back to ball form, shooting back into Grey's raised hand. The two brawlers were tied, and it was agreed that the next match would decide the winner. As the crowd quieted down, the two brawlers thought of their strategies, each of them looking over the bare field and thinking. The tension was rising.
"ALRIGHT LADIES, GENTLEMAN, AND BEINGS OF ALL ATTRIBUTES, THE NEXT MATCH STARTS-
Meanwhile, at this very moment in time, something interesting was occurring within an entirely new dimension. A slow, cold wind blew over the cold surface of the realm, its rocky terrain hosting no life. The fossilized corpses of countless bakugan lined the landscape, many of them frozen in stasis in the exact positions they had entered the dimension in, the agony still captured in their facial expressions. The entire land was dead, its sky providing little light and the occasional darkus lightning storm.
Until now.
Out of the fossilized corpse of a Pyrus Serpenoid, a small glowing sphere emerged. Not a bakugan ball, but instead just a sphere of pure energy. Pure hatred. An amalgamation of hate, anger, and distrust, all directed toward the bakugans emotions of being trapped within the hellish realm known as the Doom Dimension. The small sphere began hovering along the terrain, traveling over the stony landscape in no direction in particular before it noticed something. Out of the fossilized body of a Juggernoid, a blue sphere, composed of similar emotions, rose. The two sphere gravitated toward each other, soon only being separated by a few feet. That's when something interesting occured.
They combined.
The new purple sphere grew slightly in size, continuing its journey through the dead plains, soon finding more of its kind wandering. Out of the bodies of Ravenoids, Sauruses, Hynoids, Lasermen, Griffons, Terrorclaws, and many other bakugan, more and more spheres of negative emotion emerged and merged with each other, soon joining the new amalgamation sphere that started with the red hatred energy. This sphere found itself rising into the air as it grew in size, more and more hatred energy forming into it, fueling it. The emotions themselves found purpose; personification.
First bones, sturdier than anything found naturally in this world, were formed, purposefully weaponized at the hands, feet, tail, and wings to personify the violence contained within. Then came the flesh, hyper efficient, purely muscle, infused with the best parts of all bakugan at play with its creation. Then came things like skin, eyes, teeth, all made with the most impure of intentions. They were designing a predator.
Then came the brain. An object that would be created and infused with the anger, hatred, and violent nature of all those who had come to form its body, purely composed of instinct and vile energies.
It was complete.
The massive sphere of energy exploded, sending a massive shockwave across the dead realm that would have disturbed any living thing existing there. As the energy dissipated, a single life form was found floating where the sphere once was. It was white and gold, with blades hands, feet, wings, and a tail that could easily cut stone. Eyes that were made for hunting opened, processing their first pieces input data. The mind of the creature began working, the nature of its formation giving it purpose. It was created by an anger of imprisonment within this realm. And given its physical form, it could now escape. Escape. That was what it needed to do. Quickly, the bakugan made a single downward stroke of its wings, sending it flying into the sky and toward its target.
"Vestroia"
"-RIGHT NOW!"
"GATE CARD, SET!" both brawlers yelled, throwing two new gate cards down in a pattern identical to before. "Bakugan, Brawl!" was yelled by Greyson as his darkus Griffon was shot at Kai's gate card, the bakugan popping open and emerging from a dark vortex of energy, performing a opening roar and staring down Kai in what he referred to as "The Cocky Griffon Death Stare". Kai, not to be upstaged, quickly retrieved his own bakugan, throwing it and saying, rather yelling, the phrase: "BAKUGAN BRAWL!". Limulus shot out onto the gate card Griffon was on, a vortex of water absorbing the opened sphere while the Aquos bakugan's true form took hold, the horseshoe crab of death soon emerging from the watery vortex. "Alright, les do this!" Kai said, shoving his hand forward and signalling, his other hand already gripping Mantris. "GATE CARD OPEN! TRIPLE BATTLE!".
The gate card hosting the brawl glowed in a brilliant white light, the two combatants seemingly pausing, Griffon hovering in mid-air with no propulsion from his wings, and Limulus sitting still, claws aimed forward. As was Triple Battle's effect; the battle is paused until a third bakugan enters, hence Kai's preparation in having Mantris at the ready. "BAKUGAN BRAWL!" was audible as Mantris entered the fight, a torrent of wind signalling the insectoids arrival into the fight. Griffon began flapping his wings once again, and Limulus' movements were not longer restricted. Griffon's smirk faltered for a moment as the battle resumed, now with two opponents instead of one. He quickly glanced back at Greyson, who he assumed had things under control. Greyson shot the look back, nodding in an attempt to give Griffon a semblance of his confidence back, quickly grabbing an ability card in an attempt to salvage the situation.
"You can do it Griff!" Yui yelled, encouraging her favourite competitor as Greyson held his ability card up.
"Ability Activate: Griffon Stance!"
Griffon's body began glowing in the darkus purple aura seen in the previous round, empowering the bakugan slightly and giving him access to his specialized abilities. Still, Griffon's confidence was faltering, and the fact Kai, Limulus, Mantris, and a crowd of fans seemingly all glaring at him was not helping. "Alright boys, les get this done!" Kai yelled, pointing toward Griffon.
"CHARGE!"
And thus began their melee brawl, though somewhere else within the Bakugan realm, a different sort of combat had began. The creature from before, one of hatred and anger, found itself flying toward what he assumed was Vestroia, heading toward a pair of twin lights, both shining brightly. It stopped itself as it approached, sensing something resonating within itself.
"The Cores…"
The bakugan of hatred was about to resume his approach when a new instance formed. A square portal opened close to the two cores, with a white, dragon-like creature exiting it. It was Naga, intent on taking the powers of the cores and achieving ultimate power. Vestroia was already unstable, anyone inside of it knew that, but the action about to be taken by Naga would wreak havoc to a scale never before seen by the bakugan species. "Yes… Finally…" Naga said, moving toward the core, still not noticing the doom bakugan, who kept their distance, coasting the perimeter. Naga continued to move closer toward one of the cores, one glowing with darker energy; The Silent Core. The Doom Creature observed with his almost telescopic predator eyes as Naga laid each of his winged arms around the core, the negative energy beginning to transfer into his body. "Yes… YES!" he yelled, feeling his body flooding with power. "THE POWER, IT'S…" Naga began, getting momentarily distracted by something in the corner of his eyes. It looked like a bakugan, possibly a Haos one based on its colour scheme. "How did you get here…" Naga thought for a moment, distracting himself from the task at hand, causing his focus to shatter. Negative energy began to flood into Naga faster and faster, his momentary lapse in focus being his downfall. Naga's body began to fall into the core, unable to contain the amount of power being flooded into it. "Wait, No, STOP!" he roared, his body sinking into the silent core, inducing a pain beyond the likes of anything he had ever felt before. The lower half of his body had already been absorbed into the core, and he was sinking fast, unable to use his arms to pull himself out as they to began descending into the sphere of Silent energy. Naga could only watch as his neck slowly sank in as well, glaring toward the bakugan who had broke his focus, which was flying away at this point. "This is your fault…" he mumbled before his head sank in fully.
"THIS IS YOUR FAULT!"
Naga's presence within the Silent Core almost immediately began sending shockwaves through Vestroia, the disbalance of energy being to wreak havoc and dim the lines between the separate worlds. Shockwaves were sent out from the cores, causing the realms of Vestroia to begin warping. The doom being that Naga held responsible paused its flight, looking out over the realms for a moment, sensing that something was occuring. Before it could decide its next move, the dimensional lining degraded further, causing not only the realms of Vestroia to begin to overlap, but the lines between dimensions themselves began to distort. The doom being felt itself being quickly yanked backward as a dimensional tear opened behind it, pulling it inward.
"No… NO, I'M SO CLOSE!"
Despite its best effort, the Doom Creature found itself being dragged into the dimensional warp, quickly grabbing at the edge of the portal in an attempt to remain in Vestroia, but to no avail. It quickly found itself barrelling down the interdimensional portal, feeling its body being torn apart into energy.
"NO, THIS CAN'T HAPPEN, NO!"
"Ability Card Activate! Griffon Roar: Spiral Power!"
Griff's wings glowed with darkus energy as Greyson's ability card bestowed power unto the bakugan in question, boosting its g power by 100.
"Darkus Griffon 360 g's, Ventus Mantris and Aquos Limulus combined 480 g's."
"Dang it… HIT MANTRIS WITH IT FIRST!" Greyson commanded, pointing toward the Ventus bakugan in question. The brawl was intense, being quite balanced despite one side outnumbering the other. Griffon was stronger than both Mantris and Limulus individually, but together they outclassed the darkus bakugan by over 100 g's. The outcome of the battle was anyone's guess. "Well Grey? Les finish this!" Kai yelled, grinning at his friend. "Hehe, no way you'll beat us!" Greyson responded, pounded his chest with his fist. Kai grinned, pulling out an ability card, with Greyson mirroring him.
"ABILITY ACTIVATE: SLICE CUTTER!"
"Ability Activate: Griffon Roar: Crystal Cannon!"
"ABILITY ACTIVATE: AQUA CANNON!"
Mantris' claws began glowing as darkus energy collected within Griff's horn, Limulus also preparing its own beam attack, each bakugan prepared to unleash its power at maximum. And then it happened. Limulus' Aquos Cannon and Griff's Crystal Cannon both shot out from their respective launchers, colliding with explosive force, sending out an energy explosion in all directions. Meanwhile, Mantris quickly flanked Griffon, jumping at him with claws outstretched. Griff prepared to counter with his own claws when the shockwave hit, the reaction from the cores of Vestroia finally reaching the field.
The field shattered like a mirror, the terrain, the skyline, reality itself within the field broke like glass in a flash of white light, momentarily blinding everyone inside.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?" Kai yelled, the sound of his voice being drowned out as even sound began to distort within the field. "I don't… What the heck?!" Grey yelled, the field fully destabilized, quickly collapsing as the outside world re-established dominance over the localized pocket of reality. Time quickly returned to normal, the sounds of the school; people talking, cars driving outside, swiftly went back to how they once were.
Some dudes pudding hit the floor.
"What the…?" Kai mumbled, pushing the palms of his hands into his eye sockets, his optics hurting from the flash. "What was that?" Yui asked, gripping her forehead and standing up, looking around. "the field just… collapsed…" Yama said, noting how the environment had returned to the school atrium. Greyson walked forward, picking up all three bakugan balls, which were arranged in a similar fashion to how their battle forms were moments prior, and looking down at them. "Maybe it was the collision?" Grey suggested, tossing two of the bakugan back to Kai, who caught them both with one hand. "You know, from Griff and Limulus' cannon attacks?". "that's a possibility but… i've seen ability collisions before, but they've never been strong enough to literally cause a field to collapse." Yama noted, scratching his head. Grey nodded, unsure of what to do next. "Did anyone else notice something, just before the field collapsed?". "Like what?" Yui asked, unsure of what he was referring to. "Yeah, just before the field broke…" Kai began, holding a hand to his forehead. "I felt something, saw something, like a shockwave or… I dunno…". "You alright?" Yui asked, looking at Kai, who was gripping his forehead. "I dunno, that lightwave just gave me an instant headache, hehe" Kai said, chuckling a little. "Grey, you wanna finish the brawl later man?" he asked, kneeling down and searching through his bag. "Sure." Grey responded, feeling a bit woozy himself from the light. He also didn't want to resume brawling, mainly due to a headache of his own developing, but also for the fact that their audience was faltering, with many people leaving with similar symptoms. "Oh yeah, you guys wanna go to the park later?" Yui asked, seemingly excited. "The ice cream truck is gonna be there!". "The 200 Flavours one?" Kai asked, taking a drink from his water bottle. "Yeah! Wanna do Ice Cream and Brawl?" she responded, zipping her hoodie closed and picking up her school bag.
"Heck yeah!"
"sure."
"Alrighty!
"Okay! See you guys around 5:00?"
The group agreed and went their separate ways. Greyson went home to grab food, Kai traveled home to let his fosters know he wasn't dead, Yama traveled back and swiftly completed his homework, and Yui dropped by her place of work quickly to chat. The day was rather mundane in all honesty, aside from the field collapse that is, and it seemed everything was going well.
"I was so close…"
It continued flying through the portal, feelings its body slowly degrading into attribute energy, incapable of settling on any one form. It felt as its body slowly converted down into its smaller form, all the while it only felt agonizing pain…
"I'm… I'm gonna kill whoever caused this when I get out…"
It felt tired, as if its energy had been drained by its transformation process, it felt pressure as it entered this new world.
"I'm… I'm gonna…"
"I'M GOING TO KILL THEM ALL!"
5:00 rolled around and the brawlers reassembled in one of Wardington's many park facilities, this one's centerpiece being a fountain. It was quite a large park, extending for some distance with trails and bridges winding through the area. It occasionally played host to town events, but usually it was rather quiet, making it quite popular with the bakugan crowd. Today it saw a noticeable increase in activity however, mainly due to the presence of several food trucks within its parking lot, with 200 Flavours being the one the brawlers had chosen to endorse with their hard earned currency.
"So I said: He's not an eggplant, he's just an idiot." Kai concluded, giving the rest of the crew a good chuckle. "i always did wonder what the lead up to that joke was." Yama added, taking another sample from his mint chocolate cone. "Yeah, it's actually really funny with the beginning part." Grey said, taking a sip from his slushie which was clearly empty, the child attempting to salvage all that remained. It was still relatively warm out, and the sun was beginning to descend. The group was walking around the park, intent on finishing their luxury foods and then initiating the brawl they had planned. "I'll be right back, gonna throw this out." Grey said, finally accepting that the slushie cup was empty and no more sweet goodness could be gotten from it. "And he never came back." Kai said jokingly as Grey headed off toward the fountain area, knowing there was a trashcan near there. Greyson chuckled at this, quickly scaling down the steps and onto the plaza that held the fountain, and more importantly, the trashcan. Going toward it, Grey pushed it open with his hand, preparing to put the empty cup inside before something stopped him.
A flash would be the best thing to describe what he saw. He quickly raised his head and looked around, unsure of its origin. "Huh." he said out loud, the flash reminding him of when the field collapsed earlier. "Wonder what that was…" Grey thought, depositing the cup inside the trashcan before turning to leave.
Then another flash occured.
And another.
And another.
Grey glanced around, noticing the source of these flashes, a bright white light near the top of the fountain. "What the heck…" he mumbled, covering his eyes with his arm. "What is that?!".
A small white object shot out of the light source, moving at projectile velocity. It bashed against the rim of the fountain, deflecting off and leaving a sizable dent behind.
"GAH!"
The white sphere bounced several times before losing the kinetic energy to do so, rolling toward Grey, lightly tapping against his foot, though he failed to notice due to being ever so slightly completely blinded. The white light dissipated shortly after, the light level of the park returning to normal under the evening sun. Grey lowered his arm, staring at where the white light had once been, now only seeing the water from the fountain spraying gracefully into the air.
"What was… What the he-"
"Grrrrh…"
Greyson immediately looked down to the source of the sound, seeing the small white sphere at his foot. "A bakugan?" Grey wondered out loud, leaning over and picking the small white creature up, holding it in the palm of his hands. "Never seen a bakugan like you before…" Greyson noted, observing a white colour scheme, but a lack of any visible attribute symbol. The sphere suddenly popped open, the bakugan's true form showing.
"What… Where is… Where am I?"
"You can talk?!" Grey asked, stunned yet also fascinated. He had heard stories of talking bakugan before, but he had never actually seen one, and had just assumed they were just unfounded rumours. "I asked you a question-" the bakugan began before pausing, looking over itself. Its body had been completely changed, the being only now noticing how small it was compared to the creature holding. "Who are you? Where am I? Is this Vestroia?" it interrogated. His voice was aggressive, intimidating, weirdly so for a creature so small. "Well, uh…" Greyson scratched his head with one of his hands, unsure of exactly how he should answer these questions. "Well my name's Greyson, and you're not in… Vestroia?". "WHERE AM I THEN?!" the bakugan countered, angry. "Okay, uh, first off, please calm down. Uh, you're in Wardington." Grey replied. "Planet Earth ring a bell?".
The bakugan stewed for a moment, mumbling to itself, to low for Greyson to hear.
"YO, GREY, YOU ALRIGHT MAN?"
Grey turned his head, Kai and the others heading toward him. The bakugan in his hands also saw them, clamping shut in response. It was already confused, and the introduction of more of these creatures was likely not going to help his situation. "We saw that light, are you okay?" Yui asked, Greyson turning to face them. "What's that?" Kai added, looking at the bakugan in Grey's hands. Grey looked down, noticing how the creature had shut itself in its sphere form. "Uh, well…" he began, trying to think of how to relay the events that had occured in a meaningful way. "Well you saw that light right? Well, this little guy came flying out of that, and, here's the thing, he freaking spoke to me! Like, words, he talked to me!" he explained, excited. "Wait, seriously?" Yui asked, looking down at the ball in his Grey's hands. "i've heard of talking bakugan but i thought they were just rumours…" Yama said, keenly observing the bakugan in Grey's hands. "It doesn't have an Attribute sign." Kai noted, pointing at a blank circle on the creatures wing, a location where a normal bakugan would have its attribute symbol inscribed. "You said it spoke?" Yui asked, looking back toward Grey, looking slightly doubtful, yet also excited. "Yeah." he responded. "But it locked itself closed when you guys came over.". "Hmmmmmm." Kai mumbled, wearing his doubt on his face. "You sure that light wasn't a flashbang and you don't have brain damage right now?". "Moderately confident yes." Grey replied, flicking the sphere with his free hand. "Come on, say something…".
"Grrrrrrr." was heard, the creature vocalizing its frustration.
"Haha! We got a growl!" Grey said triumphantly before looking back over the group. "What do you think we should-"
"HEY NERDS!" a voice came, interrupting Grey's inquisition for guidance. The group cast their gaze over, finding Shuji, a brawler and professional not a nice guy walking towards them, accompanied by his younger brother and sub-not a nice guy Akira next to him. "What are you kids up to?".
"Oh, you know…" Grey began, thinking of an excuse. "What're you doing?" Kai asked, crossing his arms and turning toward Shuji, to the relief of Greyson. "My brother was gonna battle some kid, but he never showed." Akira explained, sticking his hands in his pockets. "i still don't think they're biologically related…" Yama mumbled, triggering a few stifled chuckles. "What are you doing, huddled in a circle like that, huh?" Shuji asked, crossing his arms to match Kai, looking nowhere near as cool. "Oh, you know, Grey found a bakugan and now we're trying to find out more about it." Yui responded casually. "Yep, that's the gist of it" Grey added, looking down at the bakugan, still clamped closed. "You got a new bakugan, huh?" Shuji asked, the cogs of his mind turning. "i think we all know where this is going…" Yama mumbled, continuing to eat his ice cream. "Well then Greyson or whatever your name is-"
"It's is Greyson, by the way-"
"I CHALLENGE YOU, TO A BAKUGAN BRAWL!"
"Bakugan… Brawl?"
Greyson looked down at the sphere in his hand, everyone else in earshot also looking at it.
"So what do you say Grey? Wanna brawl?"
The bakugan in Grey's hand popped open, turning around and looking up at Grey's face longingly. It wanted to fight.
"Yeah…" Grey said, nodding and looking up. "I'll take you on Shuji!" he continued, drawing a field card from his pocket. Shuji grinned in response, also pulling a field card. The rest of the brawlers gathered behind Grey, with Akira standing behind Shuji as his support. The two brawlers held out their cards in front of them, prepared.
"FIELD, OPEN!"
The two cards glowed as the attribute circle formed on the ground below them, spinning around on its centre point as the attribute symbols rotated like hands on a clock. Time began to slow as the sounds of the park warped. A flock of pigeons started by the field opening began to slow their flight, a nearby car began traveling slower and slower as time moved to a crawl. The field began to materialize, Wardingtons evening skyline being replaced by the elemental skies of the field, and the ground turning a pure white colour in place of the park plaza's stones.
The field had formed, the brawl had begun.
Both brawlers quickly selected their gate cards, throwing them down with the ceremonious "Gate Card Set!". "You gonna start with the new guy?" Yui asked Grey, the brawlers standing behind the main combatant. "No." Grey replied. "I'm gonna see what kind of bakugan this guy uses, figure out what I should use to counter him.". Greyson quickly found the answer to his question as Shuji launched out his first bakugan.
"BAKUGAN, BRAWL!"
A Subterra Mantris found itself being launched out onto the field, landing on Shuji's card, closest to Greyson. The bakugan rolled onto the card, popping open and disappearing in an orange light, the newly formed Mantris climbing out of the gate card, gazing down upon the brawlers, likely expecting them to be intimidated.
"Neat." Grey said before looking down, looking at the bakugan he had before pulling out Griff, taking the darkus bakugan into his hand and reeling it back.
"Bakugan, brawl!"
The darkus Griffon did not have to travel far to reach its destination, standing on the card directly ahead of Grey. Griffon's ball form disappeared in a haze of darkus energy, the bakugan's battle form emerging and hovering in the air, flapping his wings and growling at Mantris.
"Subterra Mantris 270 g's, Darkus Griffon 260 g's." Grey's bakupod chimed. "Alright, I'm on his gate card so-" Grey began before being interrupted.
"GATE CARD, OPEN! FINAL JUDGEMENT!"
The card below Griffon and Mantris opened, its effects taking hold immediately. Final Judgements effect was devastating, with any bakugan that was not of the same attribute as the owner of the card having its g-power reduced to zero. Griffon was immediately weakened, quickly falling to the ground with a massive thud. "Hold on Griff!" Grey yelled, drawing an ability card whilst glancing at his bakupod.
"Subterra Mantris 270 g's, Darkus Griffon 0 g's"
"Not good…" Grey commented, quickly raising an ability card, doubting if Griff even had a chance at surviving this round.
"Ability Activate: Wing Burst!"
"ABILITY CARD ACTIVATE: WHIRLWIND"
Griffon's wings ignited under a purple light, with the bakugan barely able to launch two wing shaped projectiles off of them. These two projectiles were immediately anihilated however, with Mantris' Cross Ray projectile slicing through both of them and colliding with Griffon, causing a small explosion. "GRIFFON!" Grey yelled, concerned for his bakugan. The explosion left a large amount of dust in the air, with Griffon's ball form flying out of the debris field and toward Grey, landing and rolling several feet away from him.
"Haha! Take that punk!" Shuji yelled as Mantris reverted back to ball form, shooting back towards its owner. "You can't beat my brother, that's for sure!" Akira supported, jumping in the air as an excited child would. Grey bit his lip, moving over and picking up Griffon, gripping the bakugan tightly. "Oh, he's gonna pay for that." Kai said, encouraging his friend, causing Grey to look back, nodding. He looked back forward, noticing Shuji had already selected his next bakugan and was preparing to throw it.
"BAKUGAN, BRAWL!"
A small orange brown sphere shot out toward the remaining gate card. "TERRORCLAW, STAND!" was heard as the sphere popped open, the bakugan in question glowing in an aura of earthen energy. The ground soon split open in chunks, a crablike entity bearing massive razor sharp claws and thick armour emerging, looking down toward Grey and the rest of the brawlers. Greyson looked down toward his hand, the new, seemingly Haos bakugan sitting on his palm. "Alright buddy, let's see what you can." Grey said. "Let me at them..." was the given response. Greyson smiled for a moment, it wanted to fight, and he was okay with indulging its request, especially if it meant putting Shuji in his place. He arched his hand back, preparing to throw the enigmatic creature into battle.
"Bakugan, Brawl!"
The small sphere shot outward, landing on the gate card closest to Shuji, rolling to a stop, then opening, the small creature's eyes glowing. A vortex of attribute energy soon enveloped the being, it's sphere form disappearing in a whirlpool of elemental forces. A powered roar was heard as the newly formed dragon like creature emerged from the gate card, Terrorclaw clearly intimidated by its features. The creature bore a humanoid form, though its hands were replaced by three pointed claws, its feet, wings, and tail also weaponized. It bore a single horn on its head, facing forward, and a colour scheme of white, gold, and cobalt blue on its underside.
"That's uh…" Shuji began, at a loss for words having never seen a bakugan like this. "whoa…" Yama commented, his jaw going slack for a moment. "He looks dangerous!" Yui said in a mix of excitement and what seemed to be fear. Grey, noting everyone's surprise to the bakugans form, including his own, quickly checked his bakupad for the information on the brawl.
"Subterra Terrorclaw 270 g's, Leonidas 340 g's, Attribute Data Unavailable"
"340 gpower… Never seen a bakugan with a base level that high before…" Grey commented, looking up at the beast, claws outstretched in an attack stance. "Alright then!" he continued, excited to be using a bakugan with such a high gpower rating. "Let's see Leonidas, what kind of ability cards do you-"
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAH"
Grey looked up to see the bakugan warrior charging toward his opponent, waiting for no authority on his brawlers part. Terrorclaw prepared to counter Leonidas' charge, claws facing in an attack position, though it did little to deter the charging draconian. As Leonidas got close, Terrorclaw sprung his attack, slashing as the bakugan with its claws, nearly dumbfounded as the attack was dodged entirely. His enemy swerved underneath his claw attack, spinning itself into a flip before kicking Terrorclaw into the air. "Whoa!" Grey exclaimed, stunned at the pure power of the bakugan in question. "Hehehe… HAHAHA!" Leonidas cackled, using his powerful legs to eject himself off the ground and toward his now airborne target, intent on continuing his brutalization of Terrorclaw, helpless to stop it. "Hold on Terrorclaw!" Shuji yelled, preparing to pull an ability card.
But it was too late.
Leonidas performed a mid air flip, sending a wind blade kick down into Terrorclaw's skull, a teeth grinding crunching noise being heard. The subterra bakugan was sent flying back down to the ground, smashing into the gate card and sending a cloud of dirt and dust into the air. Leonidas followed suit, laughing wildly as he dive bombed back down toward his disabled foe, soon disappearing into the debris cloud, claws in attack position.
"SHHHHHHK"
The sound made everyone wince. It was shortly followed by a second noise, that of Terrorclaw returning to ball form, shooting out of the dust field and back toward Shuji, who made no attempt to catch it. Grey simply stood there, shocked by the brutality he had just experienced, never having seen a bakugan behave this violently.
"Subterra Terrorclaw Defeated, Winner of this round is Greyson" his bakupod chimed.
Greyson took a step forward as the debris cloud began to clear, the silhouette of Leonidas soon becoming visible. The dust soon settled, providing a visual on the bakugan, who stood hunched over, looking down at where his opponent once was, claws in an almost grabbing position, Leonidas looking at them as if they had been soaked in blood. The bakugan made eye contact with Grey, who only saw one thing in those eyes:
Pure Rage.
Leonidas' body quickly converted back into ball form, shooting back at the brawler, who caught his new form somewhat clumsily. "What the heck was that?" Grey inquired, looking down at the bakugan psychopath in his hands. "A "brawl" as you put it." he responded, looking up at Greyson with little remorse. "Brawl? You looked like you were trying to murder him!". "I won, didn't I?". Greyson looked up as the previously unused gate card evaporated. Leonidas, despite his methods, had indeed won the fight, and without any assistance at that. "Fair…" Grey admitted after a deep breath, looking toward Shuji, who was looking rather steamed, pulling out a new gate card.
"GATE CARD, SET! BAKUGAN, BRAWL!"
Shuji threw down his gate card and bakugan in quick succession, the terrain card just having finished expanding by the time his subterra combatant had hit the ground. A Subterra Fear Ripper popped open on the card, soon being lost in a spiral of earthen energy. Two massive claws emerged from the gate card, pulling the bakugan out of the terrain and into the field, staring down his foes. "A Fear Ripper, huh." Grey noted, checking his bakupod. "Subterra Fear Ripper, 280 g's." it chimed in its typical monotonous voice. "It's on his gate card too…" he mumbled. "I don't have anything that can overpower him except…". Grey looked down at the brightly coloured Leonidas, hesitant to use him again due to his brutality in the previous match. Greyson had to consider his options carefully
"What's wrong, you scared?!" Shuji taunted, crossing his arms.
"Here we go…" Kai mumbled, smiling. If there was one thing the brawlers knew not to do, it was to challenge Grey's ego.
"Oh, you're gonna be scared in a minute big boy…" Grey mumbled, gripping Leonidas. "Hehehe, YES!" the bakugan exclaimed as Greyson arched him arm backward.
"Bakugan, Brawl!"
Leonidas shot out, landing on the same gate card as Fear Ripper. The bakugan popped open, disappearing into his spiral of attribute power before emerging into the air in his warform, ready for combat. "Don't charge him this time, he has the upper hand!" Grey called to his beast, invoking little reaction. Leonidas replied with a simple dismissive growl, not very intent on listening. Fear Ripper was staring him down, reading him, as any predator would do to its prey. Then the subterra bakugan charged, its claws stretched out beside itself in preparation for his assault.
Fear Ripper sent two slashes forward toward Leonidas, who dodged them with little effort, using his wings to propel him over his opponent and land behind him. Fear Ripper turned to counter, only to be immediately kicked in the face by Leonidas' powerful hind leg, sending the bakugan stumbling. Leonidas then charged, sensing he had the upper hand.
"ABILITY CARD ACTIVATE: SLASH ZERO!"
Fear Ripper's intimidating claws were quickly enveloped in an orange subterra energy, extending their reach and power. The subterra bakugan quickly slashed at the incoming Leonidas, unprepared for his attack. "DAMN IT!" Leonidas mumbled between locked teeth, quickly sliding under the Ripper's slash attack, returning to his feet behind his subterra foe.
"Subterra Fear Ripper 360 g's, Leonidas 340 g's."
"No way I can fight that…" Leonidas admitted in his head, glaring at Fear Ripper, who was turning to face him. "DAMN IT, WHAT DO I DO?!" he thought as his opponent began charging toward him, glowing claws outstretched in attack position.
"Ability Activate!"
Leonidas glanced back to see Greyson holding a now glowing card in his hand, the energy from it transfering toward him, charging within the tips of his wings. "Rho Gun!" Grey continued, the power within Leonidas' wings reaching critical mass. "Wha… What the hell do I do with this?!" the draconian questioned, weary of the approaching opponent. "Shoot him with it!" Grey responded, pointing toward the still charging Fear Ripper. Leonidas' panicked face turned to a grin, the dragon looking back forward.
"WITH PLEASURE!"
Two beams of white light shot forward from Leonidas' wing tips, firing faster than any bakugan could reasonably dodge. The projectiles collided with Fear Ripper, who attempted to block them via the use of its giant hands. The Rho Gun's projectile nullified Slash Zero's power on contact, the orange aura over the subterra bakugan's claws dissipating near instantly.
"Subterra Fear Ripper 280 g's" Shuji's bakupod chimed. "That's more like it…" Leonidas mumbled, grinning intensely. "Yeah, that's how we do it!" Grey yelled, jumping in the air and pointing toward Fear Ripper, who was still getting up after recovering from Rho Gun's impact. Leonidas glanced back at him for a moment; maybe the child would be useful to him after all. Shuji growled, realizing how powerful the newfound bakugan really was. "C'mon bro! Step up your game!" Akira yelled at Shuji despite being only a few feet away from him. "Oh, I'll step it up alright!" Shuji replied angrily, watching as Grey and his beast resumed their seriousness, waiting for the brawl to continue.
"Take this, GATE CARD OPEN: SUBTERRA!"
The gate card beneath the bakugan quickly began shining for a moment before sandy terrain replaced it, the terrain of the battlefield changing from the white matter it usually was to a desert environment (complete with pyramids in the distance.). Fear Ripper began glowing as a result of the terrain, empowered by its effects. "Subterra Fear Ripper 430 g's, Leonidas 340 g's" Grey's bakupod chimed, causing him to waver. "Thats over 100 g's…" he mumbled. Leonidas was also intimidated, sensing the power increase that Fear Ripper had underwent. He glanced back at Grey, who had the look of someone who didn't know what to do next. "Guess it's my turn to show off." he said, Fear Ripper beginning to run toward him, ready to attack.
Leonidas crossed his arms over his chest, inhaling for a moment as power charged inside of him. His eyes glowed, the bakugan swinging his arms out and roaring, a small shockwave being sent out across the field, causing Fear Ripper to stop in his tracks. Beginning from his chest, the colour of the bakugan's hide began changing rapidly. A wave of terran colour spread over his body, his golden trimmings remaining the same while his white hide turned a shade of brown, his cobalt underside turning an even darker version. Leonidas concluded his pallete swap with a second roar, even louder and more aggressive than the first, all eyes on him.
"He just…" Grey began before his bakupod interrupted via its incessant beeping, leading him to quickly glance down at it. "Recalculating… Subterra Fear Ripper 430 g's, Subterra Leonidas 490 g's." it said, adjusting for the new development. "He can change his attribute…" Grey said to himself. "You can change your attribute?!" he called again, Leonidas grinning in response. "You're not the only one with a few tricks kid." the newly subterra bakugan responded, looking straight forward. Greyson grinned, looking back forward toward Fear Ripper.
Shuji meanwhile, was not in such a position of power. "How can he…" he began, trailing off as Akira interrupted him. "C'mon bro, you gotta win!" he whined, bringing Shuji back into the correct brawling headspace. "Yeah!" the big brother replied, quickly pulling out another ability card.
"ABILITY CARD ACTIVATE: EARTHEN ENFORCEMENT!"
Fear Ripper began glowing in a subterra light as the attribute power from Shuji's ability card transferred to his bakugan, empowering by 100 units of energy. Now outclassing Leonidas in terms of gpower, Fear Ripper charged once more, claws at the ready. The subterra dragon glanced back at Grey for a moment, who nodded, quickly pulling a new ability card.
"Ability Activate: Theta Claw!"
The now glowing orange card in Greyson's hand split in two, its energy shooting toward Leonidas's hands. The power of the card quickly enveloped his claws, causing them to extend to over twice their original size. Leonidas marveled at his new weaponry for a moment before assuming a battle stance, ready for Fear Rippers attack. The subterra foe launched itself at Leo, attempting to perform a cross slash. Fear Ripper was somewhat startled as the newly subterra bakugan caught its claws in his own glowing ones, holding them back. Theta Claw had made contact.
"Subterra Fear Ripper 480 g's, Subterra Leonidas 540 g's" the bakupod chimed. "Perfect" Grey said, looking back up at his battling beast. Leonidas quickly gripped into Fear Ripper's massive hands, digging his energy claws into them, grinning. The draconian bakugan proceeded to jump up slightly, then swing both of its legs into its opponent, letting go of the bakugans claws, letting it go flying. Fear Ripper landed near the edge of the gate card, just short of a ring out and crushing Shuji and Akira to death.
"Let's finish this!"
"RIGHT!"
Leonidas shot into the air as Greyson pulled his finale card out, preparing to raise it. On the other side of the field, Fear Ripper layed on the ground for a moment before "encouragement" told it to get up. The subterra bakugan rolled itself over, pushing itself into a stand using its massive hands. Fear Ripper looked back toward its opponent, currently hovering high in the sky.
"ABILITY ACTIVATE: ALPHA BLASTER!"
Leonidas's head arched upward as an electrical charge built up around his muzzle, energy from the ability card gathering in preparation for his final attack. Leonidas quickly shot his head down and opened his jaws, a massive orb of energy formed within his mouth. The orb fired, a white, beam-like projectile launching out of the bakugan's mouth, his entire body pushed back slightly from the recoil. The energy projectile traveled fast, aimed directly at Fear Ripper, and soon made contact. A massive white energy explosion erupted from the impact point, blinding everyone on the field as a wave of light cascaded across the still sandy environment.
And then, there was quite.
Grey opened his eyes, seeing only white, the sound of the explosion messing with his hearing somewhat.
His hearing seemingly began to return as the whiteness faded, the sound of water flowing being heard, birds chirping their songs pleasing his ears. The sound of a nearby car accelerating was heard as Grey's vision fully returned.
They were standing in the park, bathing under the evening Wardington sun.
"What just…" Grey began before noticing Leonidas' brown ball form falling from the air, moving to catch it. "What the hell just happened?" Kai said, rubbing his eyes. "We're… Back in the park? Did the field collapse?" Yui asked, looking around at the pleasant scenery. "that light, it was like before…" Yama began, moving his arms away from his face, seeing Shuji on his knees, Fear Rippers ball form sitting in front of him. "I… Lost…" he said, shocked at the recent turn of events. "Wait, what?! How did you lose bro?" Akira exclaimed loudly, more concerned over his brother's brawling loss than the enigmatic event that had just occurred. Grey looked at Shuji and Akira for a moment before looking down at Leonidas, his ball form resting in his hand, the bakugan popping open and looking up at him. "I activated Alpha Blaster, you fired it, then…" Greyson said, attempting to connect the dots. His face then lit up realizing what had occured. "WE WON!" he exclaimed, jumping in the air lightly in excitement. "Hahaha, YES!" Leonidas responded in a less but similarly excited tone. "Thas how you do it!" Kai yelled, joining in on the celebration. "You guys were awesome!" Yui added, equally as excited. "Expertly performed" Yama noted, also joining. Greyson smiled before looking back down at Leonidas, who was now the centre of attention, and had also been celebrating up until this point. "Couldn't have done it without you dude." he said, smiling warmly. Leonidas paused his celebration for a moment, seeing that he was now centre stage, quickly clamping closed in embarrassment that he had let his serious exterior falter. "Come on bud, you know you were great!" Grey said, nudging Leonidas' subterra coloured ball form with his index finger, prompting a brief "Hmmmph." from the bakugan. Even his grunt couldn't hide his satisfaction in victory.
"HEY, GREYSON!" Shuji yelled, prompting the brawlers to return to reality. "I WANT A REMATCH!". "I mean, I would but…" Grey began, feeling tired, and sensing his bakugan likely felt the same. "Well uh, my Mom said to be home by 6:00 and uh… Yeah, I'm gonna go." he continued, beginning to walk off. Shuji, disappointed at the lack of a rematch against Grey, looked toward the other brawlers, who sensed he wanted to get his payback from them.
"Uhm… Oh my gosh, it's almost 6:00? I gotta go to work!" Yui said before quickly running off despite not having a shift booked for today.
"Yeah fam, uh, I gotta go make sure my fosters don't think I've offed myself!" Kai added, also zooming off.
"i have to go make up an excuse." Yama concluded, turning and walking toward his house.
"Bye!" Akira called. Shuji was just left sitting there, dumbfounded, on his knees under the warm Wardington sun.
8:49pm. Grey had returned home after the brawl, spending some time completing homework and other menial tasks, but the majority of his spare time was spent trying to get Leonidas to speak again. None of his questions had been given answers, with the bakugan locking itself closed, only responding to questions in slightly miffed grunts. "Yeah." Grey replied into the phone, lying down on his bed. He had since switched from his outdoor clothes to a simple sleeping getup: a red tank top and plaid night pants. "He hasn't responded to a single thing I've asked." he continued, looking over toward the window sill which Leonidas' still-subterra ball form sat upon. "Have you tried hitting him with a hammer?" Kai asked, also in his night clothing, a panda onesie that he swore he didn't own.
"Kai, no…"
"I'm just saying…"
"Say no more… I think I'm gonna go to bed early anyway."
"Those brawls took a toll of you huh fam?" Kai inquired. "Yeah, they were pretty intense." Grey replied, yawning. "Alright then, see you tomorrow bro?". "Yeah, see ya cowboy." "Alright, I love you bi-" Grey hung up before Kai could finish his goodbye, going to turn his phone alarm on before placing it on the nightstand next to his bed. Grey then took a moment to look at Leonidas, still clamped shut. "You know, we make a pretty good team Leonidas." he said, knowing the bakugan could hear him. "You know some people have a certain bakugan be their guardian bakugan, their partner." Grey continued. "I think we make a good team, you're a great fighter and I'm a good strategist. We work well together.". Leonidas continued to not give off any response, leading Greyson to sigh and give in. "Alrighty then, think about it at least, sleep on it." he said before turning over, turning off the lamp light, and covering himself with a purple blanket, settling in. "Goodnight… Leo.".
Leo.
Leonidas couldn't help but feel a stir when Greyson said this, a warmth inside him. The human child had a passionate soul, he knew that.
Leonidas slowly popped open, as to not make Greyson aware that he had done so, and looked out the window, viewing the sunset in the Wardington sky. He felt, comfort. Like he was home strangely enough, knowing this was not the ultimate destination for him. He was meant for Vestroia, that was his purpose, his thoughts running back and forth before he remembered what he had saw before being shot into this world in a tiny sphere form. A bakugan, a white one, attempting to somehow interfere with one of the Vestroian Cores. His memory was foggy, and he felt quite tired after the brawl, struggling to recollect what had occured. He remembered hearing something, someone yelling. Was it the bakugan?
"This is your fault?" he said aloud to himself. What was his fault? It was that bakugan's fault more likely, they had interfered with the cores. In fact, it was likely them who caused Leonidas to be sucked into this dimension. Onto Earth, a planet inhabited by children who took his species' existence as a game. It made him angry, it made him want to vent.
But there was no point.
Leonidas stewed for a while, thinking of what his options were before looking back at Grey. The battle from earlier. It offered relief, a point to release the anger built up inside of himself. Maybe staying with the human child, "brawling" with him, would be beneficial, at least until he found a way to make it back to Vestroia. Yes. This would be his plan. But for now, he would sleep. For the first time in fact since his birth only some time prior.
Leonidas went to sleep, dreaming of flying in warm Vestroian skies.
"This is his fault…"
And now, a preview of our next episode: Je Ne Parle Pas Francais
"I TOLD YOU I DON'T SPEAK FRENCH!"