"Oh, it'll be SIMPLE, Ace!" Ace sang in a mocking tone. Dan tried to shush him, worried that one of the prowling guards surrounding the Vexos' aircraft would decide to check the rock spire they were hiding behind and see them. "We'll just rush in and rush out, it'll be a piece of CAKE!"
"Don't worry, Dan," Percival said as he reassured the panicking Vestal. "My cloaking makes us completely invisible to Vestal scanners, and eyes. I only took it down earlier because we wanted them to track us instead of the trailer base."
"What we really should be worrying about is how to pull this off," Drago sighed. "Any way you look at it we're outnumbered."
"We should probably just rush in," Dan whispered.
"What!"
"No!"
"Do NOT."
"Whaaaat? If Drago and Percival get out and start stomping around, all the guards would scatter and the Vexos would come out and brawl us!"
"We would squish about 20 of them in the process! We are not killing anybody!"
"Dan I assure you that would NOT BE WISE."
"Well, we don't have to stomp around, maybe just some lasers–"
"AHem."
The argument stops abruptly. All eyes snap to a fifth member of the conversation, who by all accounts should not be here.
"Mi– Mira!" Ace stuttered. Normally he'd be relieved to see his team leader, but normally she wasn't glaring daggers at him.
"I cannot turn my back on you two for ONE blink–" Mira fumes, crossing her arms "–without you running off, chasing your next adrenaline high! What were you two thinking!?"
"How'd you even get here?" Dan's confusion won out over sheepishness.
"Uh," Baron waved from behind Mira's back. He and Julie were a little ways behind her, looking a bit annoyed as well, but not nearly as ticked off about it.
"Nemus can use a cloaking ability as well, but it needs a card to be activated." Percival explained. "I can just use my Cloak whenever I want."
"You guys parked the trailer, right?" Ace mentioned, desperately trying to change the topic.
"No, we just left it out in the open OF COURSE WE PARKED THE TRAILER! Right after Shun kindly informed us that you two had run off in the middle of an important team discussion on a suicide mission!"
"Yeah," Julie mused. "He's been, weirdly quiet lately, even for him."
"Daniel," Drago said suddenly, floating in the air by the edge of the spire where he could be seen. "The guards all went back into the ship."
The minlin's arguments came to a stuttering halt. Ace was the first to crane his neck to peer around at what Drago was seeing, followed by all of the rest of them in an awkward pile as they pushed each other to get a better view.
The guards were filing back into the ship in disorderly rows. They were a lot less than they had seemed when they were all spread out, and they were all inside in the next moment.
The door closed with a hydraulic hiss, and an eerie silence settled over everything.
It was abruptly interrupted by an ear-splitting feedback screech.
"We have a hostage," came from the speakers of the still grounded aircraft. The voice sounded male, scratchy, and a second away from bursting into mad cackles. "Surrender now or else he's getting electrocuted."
Dan took one last look at the terrain. The valley where they had lured the Vexos to bare and big enough for a good battle, and Dan intended to use that to his advantage.
"Are you ready?" Drago asked from his shoulder. Dan nodded, and Drago jumped into Dan's palm. He stepped out from behind the rock, and walked up towards the machine, feeling very conscious of the weight of the pilfered Gauntlet on his arm.
"There you are! Are you surrendering?" taunted the voice.
"NO!" Dan yelled. "I'M CHALLENGING YOU TO A BAKUGAN BATTLE! IF I WIN, MARUCHO GOES FREE, AND IF I LOSE I TURN MYSELF IN. DEAL?!"
A beat of silence followed Dan's challenge as the Vexos had a brief yet heated argument, the microphone turning midway through it. Dan looked back at the Resistance and the Brawlers, all of them hiding nearby. The microphone turned back on again with another feedback screech.
"No. Just surrender. No battle."
"WHAT'S THE MATTER, HUH? SCARED YOU'LL LOSE?!"
"...Yes."
A loud whacking noise followed this, and the line cut out. Half a minute later, the mic turned back on and a new voice spoke.
"We are not afraid to lose, WE ARE THE VEXOS AND WE DO NOT LOSE, SHADOW. We simply tire of fighting pointless battles that get in the way of our job. Now, I'm going to count to three, and if you don't surrender right now your little friend is getting electrocuted three times for every second I waste counting, and then stabbed when I reach zero."
Mira walked out onto the field next to Dan with a megaphone and turned it on. It let out a noise like nails on a chalkboard that didn't go away until Mira was halfway done with the thing she was saying.
"Cruel and Unusual punishment of any sapient being is punishable by a 75% income fine and ten nectals in prison. And if the crime is performed by, because of or within the knowledge of a registered public servant who made no attempt to stop the crime, the public servant is subject to punishments of the same severity or higher, depending on the court's ruling."
Mira shut off the megaphone, looking smugly up at the ship.
The line cut out once more. The Vexos needed nearly five minutes of time to discuss before the speakers turned on again, and a third voice spoke.
"We accept the terms of the brawl that your brown-haired friend suggested. The four of us will battle you in a Battle Royale brawl."
"The Bakugan Battle Brawlers Resistance thanks you for your cooperation." Mira deadpanned into the megaphone and turned it off just as it began to screech with feedback again. She grinned at Dan and he held out a hand for a high-five. She looked uncomprehendingly at it.
"Just hit it," said Dan, waving his hand a bit so she wouldn't leave him hanging.
He didn't expect Mira to punch it.
"GAAAAUGH Not that hard, dude!" said Dan, shaking his hand from the pain. "When this is over, I'm teaching you to high-five."
A light and a scraping sound broke out from under the aircraft, and four figures suddenly materialized out from it. They looked like they had stepped out of a carnival a second ago.
"Hey guys! Who's going to brawl too?" said Dan into his Gauntlet, the first of the very few things Ace had taught them how to do during the ride there.
"Me!" "Of course I'm going to brawl," "Oh, oh, I wanna brawl! Can I?" said Julie, Ace and Baron at the same time, and Mira, at hearing this, simply sighed.
"Very well then, it seems I'm missing this battle," she said, and stepped aside to make room for the other three. Wilda doesn't leave her shoulder, and she still leaves her Gauntlet in "stand-by for battle" mode, so Dan bets that if things don't turn out like they hope, she won't just accept defeat that easily. But she does open a video streaming app to let the brawlers in the trailer watch what's happening.
The other three arrive after a short sprint with excited smiles, and all of them switch their Gauntlets to battle mode smoothly. Dan hurries to imitate them and he's pretty sure he doesn't look as cool since Julie is a pretty good actress and Baron and Ace have done that a lot. Great, he's going to get pegged as the rookie of the group.
"Are you done being immature?" drawled Mylene, and without waiting for anyone's cue, she raised her Gauntlet and said "Gate Card, open!"
Everyone else scrambled to follow, even the people from her own team, beginning the battle with shouts of "Gate Card, open!"
The guy who looked like a not-bald Santana was the first one to make a move, throwing a Gate Card to the ground and watching it expand.
Dan didn't like how Gate Cards worked here. The card could have been a Mind Ghost for all he knew and since it was all over the floor the only way to escape it would be to negate it. That was just a huge hassle.
He didn't have time to complain about it though!
"Bakugan Brawl, Bakugan Stand!"
–––––––––––––
Percival let energy flow through him as he burst into his true form, landing firmly on the dusty earth. Beside him, his fellow warriors did the same, except the Dragonoid, who took to the skies as soon he was able.
It was a sensible choice, mused Percival as he surveyed his opponents, two of which are able to fly. It would certainly be a hassle to fight Darkus Sylfee and Ventus Atmos while earth-bound, but in the air it was a different matter altogether.
"It would be an honor to fight beside all of you," says Nemus, shifting himself into a fighting stance.
Percival takes the polite offer of alliance and the acknowledgment of their skills with grace, adopting a fighting stance of his own.
Dragonoid roars agreement from the sky, and Gorem stomps once, shaking the field with his might.
The Bakugans fighting for the Vexos look even more on-edge and tense than they had before, but they nevertheless accept the challenge politely by readying themselves for combat.
Good. If they had adopted half-assed stances, or even worse, no stance at all, Percival would have had no mercy on them. But respect begets respect, so he will fight with honor and take a clean victory.
The first ability is called out, and Percival dodges as Atmos glows with green energy and starts zooming towards Percival.
Percival has just enough time to see Dragonoid begin attacking Aquos Abis Omega, taking advantage of it's serpentine body not being entirely meant to move outside of water.
Just as Atmos is about to impact, he feels the familiar rush of Darkus Thunder run through him, so he lets himself be struck, only for Atmos to cry out in pain at the black voltage.
Percival goes flying and controls his trajectory in order to land on his feet, scratching gouges into the earth but remaining absolutely unharmed. He then has to leap out of the way of a falling Haos Dynamo, struck down by Gorem's hammer, who returns to ball form.
Mira claps and cheers at the win, and Gorem nods solemnly before returning to ball form for the next assault. Julie squeals loudly and blows a kiss to Mira, who laughs and gestures for Julie to continue the battle.
"C'mon Percival, I have a plan!" shouts Ace, and Percival nods, jumping back into the fray by punching Sylfee out of the sky.
Still, Ace gestures to towards Abis Omega and then does a drill motion with his finger, which is all Percival needs to know.
Nemus unleashes a discharge from his staff, paralyzing Abis Omega, and Percival takes the boost of energy the Ability Card gives him to make himself into a drill using his cape, and bore one final hit into Abis Omega.
Percival returns to normal, letting his cape flare out behind him for a bit of dramatism, and crosses his arms in proud victory.
He returns in a flash of purple light into Ace's hands, the feeling of his whole body compressing still unnerving him, despite all the times he's done so before.
The minlin engage in customary taunts, and Percival uses the time to check the life meters.
At least half is left for Volt, a bit more than a third for Mylene, three quarters for Shadow and a fourth for Lync.
Percival discreetly jumps to Dan's shoulder, and asks Dragonoid: "Why is Lync's meter so low?"
"He decided to throw two Bakugan on the field, and Nemus managed to push one of them behind the other, just as I was letting loose a Boosted Dragon," he explained in a hushed tone, looking to see if their minlin were finished with their business.
"Thank you, Dragonoid," says Percival, dipping his head slightly in politeness.
"Please, call me Drago."
Percival nods and jumps back to Ace's shoulder, pondering the strange change of name. There was no other Pyrus Dragonoid with their group, so why would he change his name in such a way?
Still, the battle seems to be commencing once again, and Percival jumps to Ace's outstretched palm.
This time, it's Baron who throws the Gate Card down, and soon enough Percival's flying through the air.
He angles himself just so that he knocks into Darkus Hammersaur, knocking it completely off-course. His adversary at the moment grows into his true form in the wrong angle, and falls to the ground. Ace obviously thought of the same thing as Percival, so he gets a boost of power and unleashes Tri-gunner before Hammersaur can stand back up again, and just like that Hammersaur is defeated.
"Where was the challenge?" Percival laughs triumphantly at Shadow, who very predictably begins throwing a tantrum.
"Shut your mouth! You stupid rebel, I'll get you back for teaching your Bakugan to say that!" shrieks Shadow from the other side of the field.
Percival ends up reverting into ball form with a frown on his face and the urge to take Shadow into his fist and shake him around a few times to finally make him understand that he is sentient and Ace was not his damn puppeteer.
"Don't worry, Percival. We'll make all of them understand," assures Ace, placing Percival on his shoulders so he can watch the rest of the battle.
Apparently, Ventus Verias and Dragonoi– Drago managed to knock each other out at the last moment, thus emptying Lync's life meter.
Haos Hexstar gets a lucky hit to Gorem's back and he goes down, halving Julie's life meter.
And suddenly, it's just Nemus against Aquos Abis Omega, Darkus Anchorsaur and Haos Hexstar.
Not good.
Ace holds out his palm, and Percival jumps into it to go to Nemus' aid.
"Wait!" calls Mira.
"What are you doing, Mira!" immediately retorts Ace. "That's three versus one, and if you haven't noticed, all of of them have different brawlers! There's no way Baron can make a win out of that on his own!"
Dan seems to share the same opinion, and Julie keeps glancing from Mira to Baron with a frown.
Mira doesn't answer, and instead looks back at the fight.
The three Bakugan rush Nemus, all of them with abilities active. It looks like the battle is lost, until Baron shouts: "Ability Activate, Fuse Shade Cocoon and Flow Skylight!"
Percival watches with an open mouth as their G's are exchanged, and Nemus ends up with a whopping 1750 G. Nemus doesn't wait, and in a single strike, empties the life meters of the three of them, and the Bakugan fly from the Vexos to the Resistance.
There's a moment of silence as the Vexos realize they have lost.
"WHOOOOOOH! GO BARON!" Dan grabs the flustered Vestal in a noogie.
Baron's Gauntlet beeps and he automatically looks to see what it is.
Percival's curiosity gets the better of him, and he jumps to his shoulder to catch a peek.
It turns out to be a photo of a grinning Runo, with her hand in a fist, with only a thumb sticking out, for some reason. Alice is doing the same in the background, smiling softly. It's slightly blurry and off-center, but pretty good for someone's first time taking a picture with a Gauntlet.
"That was quite a performance, Nemus." Drago said, hopping onto Baron's shoulder and giving Nemus a friendly shoulder-bump.
"Very impressive indeed," Gorem said from Julie's palm. "I am always surprised and amazed by the clever ways you Haos bakugan win your battles, and you are certainly no exception."
Nemus and Baron both looked a little faint.
"Well?" says Mira, walking to the front of the group, looking defiantly at the four Vexos, one touch away from summoning Wilda into the battle. "We won. Are you going to uphold your part of the bargain?"
