Chapter 31

After the mechanical bakugan were destroyed, the brawlers had a small sense of victory, but that was relatively short-lived as for seconds, different weapons appeared.

Elfin Percival, Nemus, and Reaper fought against the weapons, while Ophelia and Preyas were dodging them.

Vulcan was smashing parts of the Alternative.

At that moment, Hydron appeared having a smug look.

"You are back to your daddy as it seems."

Gus looked him in the eye.

Near the Alternative, the brawlers plus Gus were resting for a second.

Gus discreetly looked at the person who was supposed to be Hades. For him, that was the same person Spectra described back when they were stuck on Earth. He had so many questions that he would ask later.

"Guys, do you know where Mira and Keith went?"

Dan looked around.

"As if that's going to help."

Blake thought.

"Last time I saw them, they were trying to make holes. Maybe they have found a way in."

Ingram inquired.

"If that's the case, we should make our own too."

Dan said enthusiastically.

"If we can get there …"

Marucho started a sentence, but Dan didn't let him finish.

"We can defeat them from the inside."

Dan said.

"We need to find the power reactor to make it go boom."

Shun said.

The moment boom was mentioned in the sentence; Blake couldn't take him seriously even though she should and without realizing let out a tiny chuckle, which Gus heard, unlike the rest.

"What's so funny?"

Gus asked.

"Nothing."

Blake answered.

At that moment, Dan summoned Drago's battle gear, Jetkor.

"Ability Activate Jetkor Level 2."

Drago shoot and made another giant hole in the Alternative.

Dan jumped slightly from happiness.

Suddenly a swarm of robotic bakugans appeared near the hole.

"Are you kidding me?"

Dan exclaimed.

"Go. I'll take care of the rest."

Gus said.

"You heard it, guys. Let's go."

Dan said.

The brawlers minus Blake left with Dan.

Dan saw that.

"Aren't you coming?"

Dan asked.

"I'll help Gus. Now go and don't waste time."

Blake expressed her decision.

Dan nodded and left.

"Let's destroy them."

Blake said.

"Thought you'd never ask Hades."

Gus taunted.

Blake chuckled.

The two started fighting.

Vulcan was punching the mechanical bakugans to a pulp, and of course, that took its toll on his body.

Ophelia used her shadow form to destroy them from the inside, followed by Reaper's scythe attacks as support.

The mechanical bakugans kept appearing out of nowhere.

The three bakugan were close to their limits. Even if Ophelia hadn't fought as much as the others, the abilities she used took some significant toll on her physical self.

Gus was barely holding onto Vulcan.

Blake looked at Gus and Vulcan, then at the mechanical bakugans. If she were to use Ophelia's Haunting Screech, she would destroy the mechanical bakugans and hurt Gus and Vulcan further considering their condition.

"Damn it."

As if fate reading her mind, the mechanical bakugan were quickly sliced one after another.

Blake looked at the direction of the sliced parts of what used to be mechanical bakugans.

She then saw another Subterra bakugan and a person with blonde hair.

"Prince Hydron."

She thought.

At that moment, the two guys exchanged something.

Blake couldn't hear them that well, but could only guess it was something sad as in the end Hydron looked so done and tired even if he put a front that didn't say the obvious.

Meanwhile, the brawlers who went inside the Alternative were facing problems.

At first, everything was ok until it turned out to be a trap set by king Zenoheld.

The place turned out to be something similar to Interspace, but also not quite as the power reactor for the Alternative's power was shoved in the middle of the arena.

Bakugans beyond from New Vestroia appeared out of nowhere and transforming into their actual forms.

"I've never seen such bakugans."

Dan said, looking at the unusual bakugan.

"Do you know any of them, Drago?"

Nemus asked.

"No. I've never seen them on New Vestroia."

Drago replied.

Shun looked thoughtful until something hit his thoughts.

Baron saw something was wrong in Shun's eyes.

"What's the matter Master Shun?"

Baron asked.

"I think I know why is that? Remember those times when Blake explained to us about the Battle Gear and Phantom Data additional details."

Shun said.

"Kind of."

"Those bakugans are either from Neathia or Gundalia, but my instincts are saying the latter."

Shun said.

"Man, I should have tried to convince her better to come."

Dan said with a bit of pout in his voice.

"What's done is done."

Drago said.

"It doesn't matter now. We've got bakugans to defeat."

Ace interrupted them.

Drago, Percival, Nemus, and Ingram started attacking the bakugans.

After a short while, the bakugans were defeated by the four's efforts.

"Now it's time to set the place on boom boom."

All four guys shouted their bakugans' respective abilities destroying the reactor. Small explosions that had no desire to finish quickly started to occur after that.

"Let's run, guys."

Shun said, and the four of them left with their bakugans.

Professor Clay looked in horror when he saw his creation destroyed and was close to fainting.

Mira was ready to catch him if that happened, but he stopped himself from doing so.

"This place is going to blow. Father, come with us."

Keith said.

"Father, we have to go."

Mira said after Keith.

Professor Clay had hesitance in his eyes.

"Judging from the explosions, they have succeeded. I hope you get out safely. Keith."

Blake thought while she sat near the hole that was earlier made.

Marucho and Gus had similar opinions like hers.

Blake chuckled in her mind.

She couldn't believe she was going against the big evil again.

"The irony, but that's what I get for making decisions when I'm bored out of my mind."

Blake made a discreetly glance between Marucho and Gus and the hallway back and forth.

While she was there, her two bakugans were conversing with each other telepathically.

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

Reaper asked telepathically.

"Definitely. I don't think what I've caused to Blake be fixed with a simple apology."

Ophelia answered.

"I see where you come from, but don't you think that's a bit extreme."

Reaper said.

Ophelia chuckled telepathically.

"Mind you. This isn't the first reckless thing I've done. Besides, being alive for millions or so years can get boring and uninteresting."

Reaper was silent.

"Besides, I am the past that needs to be put aside while you are the present and future."

Reaper continued being silent. He didn't know what she was about to say but had a feeling it won't be a happy ending.

"I've done enough damage. All I am asking is for you to continue taking care of her."

Ophelia said.

"That's what I am already doing. And I still stay by my word that if you do anything funny, I'll deal with you."

Reaper had thought within his thought, forgetting that Ophelia could hear his thoughts.

"Anyways, for my parting gift, I'm giving you something that will help you."

Ophelia said, raising her arm, revealing her hand. She then used it to collect her life essence slowly.

Reaper was shocked after realizing what she was planning to do, but It was too late to stop her as her life force was extracted fast. Her body showed signs of age until it felt like a badly decomposed corpse and then exploding into dust. Her physical body was no more. All it was left of her was the life essence.

"Ophelia."

Reaper thought sadly. How was he supposed to explain what happened to Blake?

The life essence circled him like a form of a shield.

It was not painful, but it wasn't comfortable either until suddenly it possessed his body.

Reaper groaned.

Blinding pastel periwinkle light surrounded him.

It was so light it made Gus, Marucho, and their bakugans double shield their eyes by closing and then putting their hands on their upper faces.

"What's happening?"

Gus asked.

"I don't know."

Marucho answered.

Blake squinted her eyes.

"Reaper's … evolving."

Blake couldn't believe it.

He wasn't supposed to evolve any further. Unless…

"Forced evolution."

Blake whispered, realizing how that happened.

In five minutes, the blinding light disappeared, revealing Reaper's new form, which was more muscular than the previous one plus getting some elements of Ophelia's form, but it was still obvious it was him.

"Wow."

Elfin expressed.

"I think you should have done this earlier."

Preyas commented, which resulted in a lightly punch in the shoulder by Elfin.

"Let's get out of here."

Vulcan said, ignoring the bickering.

Blake jumped on Reaper, escaping the incoming explosion with the other two brawlers, but the rest weren't here yet.

Blake looked at the Alternative blankly until she saw big dots that appeared to be the rest of their group. Everyone looked on the edge. That was until her eyes landed on Mira's, which looked empty and full of sadness.

After everyone got into one place, Spectra tapped something on his gauntlet, teleporting everyone back in the Vestal Destroyer.

Seconds after the teleportation, the Alternative exploded along with the lives inside it.