The high altitude had a low roar that stretched far and wide throughout the atmosphere it encompassed. The Vestal Destroyer was plunged into the depths of the Empyrean's island deep enough so it wouldn't fall out.
Everyone who was aboard the spacecraft managed to get off and find themselves on a small natural trail that went up towards the Empyrean's base. Albeit steep, it was a lot better than an uneven path and climbing on the unnatural formation. It was weird enough with the magenta networks flashing every time they jumped onto the solid ground.
"This is Julie here, coming back to all with the most recent development!" Julie chimed into the camera. "The Vestal Destroyer has just touched base with the Empyrean! The Brawlers and everyone else started disembarking, and are about to make the drastic climb towards the tip top!"
"Is everyone alright at the moment?" Nurzak asked. "We've finally reached our destination, so I trust that everyone here understands what's at risk."
"Yeah, 100%!" Dan declared.
"Since we've docked, it's safe to assume that Riaan is very much aware of our current location." Spectra chimed. "From what we know, the Empyrean is the very last obstacle between us and him. It's reason enough to believe that he'll be waiting for us at the top."
"Then I say we better speed things along." Paige retorted. "Did you see how huge this tower is from afar?!"
"She's right. We need to hurry." Rafe agreed. "If the others really made it, then they must be close by. We saw them this way last."
"They must be up ahead." Mira noted. "C'mon!"
"I'm with you, Mira!" Wilda chimed.
"Then I say we better get a move on like Paige said," Dan turned towards the trail that was going to take them upwards towards the Empyrean's main entrance. They all looked ahead like he did and looked heavily expectant of what's to come. 'I have a strong feeling this isn't gonna be easy. Better hope we make it up and defeat him in time. If we don't, everything would've been for nothing!'
Gathering their bearings, Luke's team had finally made their way towards the Empyrean's main entrance. They stood at the foot of the extremely large base, where their enemy's most prominent stronghold was held. The entrance was completely pitch-black onside. With the rims glowing with bright magenta networks all around. There were six orbs that shined above the arches, most likely to resemble the six attributes. In the center, separating the six evenly was a magenta orb that was brighter and larger than the others.
"We have arrived. This is the entrance to the Empyrean Alpha's domain." Jase announced.
"It suits Riaan to a tee, something grand and over the top." Maggie prodded.
Luke glanced up and recognized the magenta orb as Riaan, and the six being Hades Pillars. 'They're all waiting inside for us. We've made it this far, but…this is still a lot. Now's not the time for cold feet. This is what we came to do, even if it risked our lives. Don't let the anticipation overwhelm you that you can't delude yourself.' Luke calmly turned towards the others. "This Empyrean, it probably has to be the toughest one yet. We better watch our step if he rigged it with traps for us."
"You're one to talk about caution out of all of us, c'mon." Shawn chimed.
"But Luke is right. If the networks mean anything, Riaan is well aware of our presence. There's no point in hiding even if we're inside the Empyrean. We need to cover each other's corners the best we possibly can."
Shuji looked straight up, seeing the gargantuan range the Empyrean's circumference alone would make. "This has gotta be as big as those tournament stadiums we had on earth. You could fit an entire army in there."
Shawn looked up, focusing on the sky. "Yeah, and that's a long ways up."
Everyone looked straight up, taking a step back to see just how high up the Empyrean would take them. It seemed to be endless. They couldn't even see the tip-top.
"It looks like it could reach up to the stars!" Maggie gasped. "Can it really go that high?"
"I heard the Empire State Building was over 1,400 feet tall. Compared to this, it makes that building look like small-fry…" Shawn stated, before getting serious. "But with such a height, I can only imagine how cold and rasped it'll be up top."
"The oxygen levels should be tolerable enough." Jase said. "The wildlife is primarily a cross between Earth and New Vestroia. New Vestroia's overgrown vegetation means there's plenty of oxygen in the atmosphere. Although temperature-wise…can't say it'll be the same."
"Whatever the case may be, we don't have any options other than march on." Shuji prompted.
"You said, partner." Fly Beetle chimed.
"Um, guys?" Everyone turned towards Jelldon, who shuffled on Maggie's shoulder. "Before we go through this, I just wanna say something."
"Like what?" Maggie questioned.
"In case anything goes wrong, I just wanna say…" Suddenly, he started choking up. "I love you guys! I love you all! I'm so happy that I could make such great friends out of each and every one of you!"
"Jelldon…" Abis mumbled.
"And we…reciprocate that gesture as well, my friend." Atmos said. "It has been my greatest honor to battle and beside my own comrades that we told dear."
Jase closed his eyes and prodded his glasses with his fingers. "Well, I suppose that's a s best as anyone could word it…but I suppose we all share a familiar bond like that." He chimed whimsically.
"Yes, I, too, am very much appreciative of my fellow Bakugan. You all helped us out. It's only fair that we pay back in full." Atchibee stated.
Esther nodded in agreement. "Likewise."
Shuji smirked as he careened his head ahead. "Well, you lot are a big pain…but I held up with you this long, so I guess I wouldn't mind hanging around a little while longer."
"What he said." Fly Beetle stated. "Glad to be here. Definitely not bored and idle, I can say to that."
"Same here, everyone. Let's give it our best shots." Verias said.
"…" Abis took a long pause. "I…haven't been the best Bakugan in the beginning, but I'm really happy. Happy to have you guys as my friends. It really makes me feel alive just by being around you all."
"Abis." Luke looked at his Bakugan, grinning shortly. 'So he felt the same way I did.'
Jelldon sighed. "Okay…I said my peace. Now…let's give him what for!" he snarled, the last sentence chiming a dreadful seriousness in it.
With all of them prepared, the others eventually caught up behind at an alarming pace. Once they all caught up, Luke and everyone turned around and noticed their presence.
"You guys made it, that's good." Luke prompted.
"Sorry for the holdup, but looks like we're just in time." Dan smirked. "You guys keep pacing us that it's hard to keep up, you know?"
"Woaaah…" Marucho's gaze drew upon the Empyrean's gargantuan wake. "Do we have to climb all the way up there?!"
"It's…gigantic!" Shun gasped, his gaze showing complete shock. He remembered the Alternative being large itself, but this was something else entirely.
"Do we seriously have to climb all the way up there?" Gunz asked. "Look how high it is!"
"Maybe, but it's the only way. The atmosphere around here is too heavy to fly or jump up in." Reptak pointed out.
"Reptak has a point. If there's really one place to go, it's inside." Drago said. "This definitely feels like a trap."
"Maybe so, but this is the only way." Dan gathered his fortitude, steeling his glare. "We're done sitting around, we have to take out Riaan. That's the whole reason why we're here."
"Agreed."
Ren glanced over at Fabia. "Fabia, you ready?"
She nodded. "Yes, Ren. Aranaut and the Castle Knights here…will protect our worlds!"
"Well said, Queen Fabia." Elright smirked, barely standing on his own. He was still laced in bandages, but he was still able to at the very least move around. "I can't let these silly burns…hold me back from doing my duties for you. I'd rather fall in battle, than give it all up here!"
"Good to see that everyone's here in agreement." Shawn chimed. "So Luke, guys, you ready?"
"Yeah, we are." Luke looked up to the Empyrean one more time. He steeled himself one last time before looking back at everyone one last time. All the faces that he's seen before and befriended; the many who came to know and genuinely respect him. It was so wholesome, he truly felt like he belonged. He gave Esther one last look, in which she nodded at him. He faced forward and breathed in and out calmly.
"…okay…everyone, let's go!"
"Right!" They all yelled. Luke walked inside, beginning the ascension into the Empyrean. They all walked in behind him, entering the dark roots, which gave birth to a surprisingly bright light.
Upon entering the room brimming with light, the atmosphere that the insides took up was…angelic, much like the Vestal Empyrean. There were deep accents everywhere aligned like runes along the walls and flooring. The tiling was a pure white. Magenta networks flowed smoothly from the flooring constantly, moving towards the runes and up through the walls towards the top. There were a number of stairways that led up to two-story tall structures supported by refined pillars. The light coming from above was also from the small windows that had the blue sky beaming from.
When they all came into view, the large group found themselves stunned at the gargantuan and majestic sight. It felt like some kind of heavenly dimension, for a lack of better word. Some of them were slackjawed at the dimensions that the Empyrean Alpha's interior took up.
"Woah…what…just what kind of place is this?" Paige mumbled.
"It feels, weird…but majestic. It's strange." Rafe stated.
"So this is Riaan's Empyrean tower." Nurzak stated. "The name Empyrean is another stand for heavenly. Such aptly named."
"With it being so high up, it certainly feels like it." Zenet chimed.
Ace put a hand to his hip. "Well I'm not buying this. We have to get to the top, right? We're at the bottom of this thing. Now where are those stairs?" He looked around, seeing a lot of stairways that led up to several structures that arched into one another. The diameter alone made it look like the stairway was faded into the walls. There were only very faded stairways where they were where the arches let up into the blue sky. "…okay, just who designed this anyway?"
"Stop it, Ace. We have to focus and find our way up, pronto." Baron reprimanded.
"This place is even bigger inside than it is on the outside." Shun stated, feeling just as amazed. "It'' be impossible for us to find the stairway without knowing where it is."
"Guess we should start moving then." Keegan sighed.
"Huh? Is that it over there?" Marucho pointed out. Everyone turned their heads towards the long arch on the other side of the domain. It started off on a second-level platform that arched like a bridge or turnpike into the wall and along the arches that gave a brilliant view outside.
"Nice eyes, Marucho!" Dan praised. "That's a good place to start as any." He turned towards Luke's group. "So, we're set?"
Esther nodded. "Yes, but knowing who we are dealing with, it won't be easy. Please, be careful where you step."
"Right." Dan understood and nodded back. He and everyone else began their ways towards the first staircase that was standing at the base where the floor was. It was a long ways still, but regardless, it was the best lead they had going for them.
"Now listen up, guys! Don't stop no matter what! We don't have a lot of time on our hands so we need to kick it into high gear, pronto!" Dan led the charge for them, but he wasn't tailed too far behind by Luke and everyone else.
As they were running along, Jase was carefully looking at the two-story structures that were all over the place. He kept his eyes fixed on them as they went on, but he could have sworn that he saw something glimmer at the end of the one pillar's top.
"Oh yeah, we're gonna beat that guy for sure this time!" Zenet cheered. "Let's go get'em!"
"Wait!" Jase shouted.
On cue, Dan stopped and looked back in shock. "Huh? What is it?!" Sure enough, thanks to Jase's warning, Dan was saved by a few centimeters when a thin red laserbeam intersected him. He backpedaled. "Woah!"
"What was that?" Lena looked in the direction where the beam is aligned with. "A laser security system?"
At the top of the pillars supporting multiple platforms, a few laserbeams were being fired. They trailed along the ground at a mild rate, making smoke as it passed Jesse and Plitheon. Their eyes widened as they watched a small stairway get sliced to pieces, only to rapidly regenerate.
"Superheated rays?" Shuji realized this, immediately seeing another streaming laser coming for his direction. He managed to dodge it.
"Looks like Riaan's not making this easy after all." Shun said. He saw a laser heading his way across the ground and narrowed his eyes. He flung a kunai into the ground, where the laser would hit. It sliced it slowly, but the beam was slowed down enough due to the angled slope it had for Shun to disappear and reappear elsewhere.
Looking up, he stood tall and glared the beam's lens on the columns. "They're coming from the columns!"
Another laser streamed across the ground, coming from the columns like Shun said. As it went towards Gunz, Luke stood in front and drew up his sword. He bunted the blade, causing the beam as it closed in to redirect itself across the airspace into the rims of a nearby column.
Shawn and Esther were back-to-back as they drew their weapons as well. Shawn's rapier and Esther's spear took the laserbeams and deflected them to other angles, giving everyone else room to get around.
"Hurry, everyone! Gate to higher ground at once!" Jase shouted. "Luke, can you keep the lasers off of us?"
Luke kept his eyes on the laser he deflected. "Yeah, we can! Now go!"
Without a word of thanks allowed, everyone, excluding Luke, Shawn, and Esther, all hurried along as they kept the beams focused on them. As they departed for nearby flights of stairs, more laserbeams followed them until Esther caught wind. Much like Luke deflecting across the rims, she did the same and deflected the beam into the column. The laser's lens was struck, making it explode and deactivate.
"Good thinking, Esther!" Shawn shouted. With his slim rapier, he angled the flat end into a nearby column's lens.
Luke copied this motion, covering Shawn's back. He deflected the beam with an angled bunt of his sword that flung across the rim, causing lenses to erupt into smoke and fire.
"Luke, on your left!" Esther warned.
Catching wind of her call, a laser traced across the ground that he deflected in time. He angled it into another beam perpendicular that was getting close towards Esther. With the space, she swerved out of the way and looked up to see another beam darting from a corner towards her. She maneuvered by rolling across the ground and kneeled as she parried a laser close by.
Everyone else managed to keep to second-level platforms, overlooking the others getting swarmed by laserbeams that were beaming from all sides. It was a fireworks show, and Julie was catching it all on camera.
"We are currently safe from Riaan's first wave of threats! However, from the looks of it, we're not out of the woods yet!"
"Those guys down there need help taking out those lasers." Dan declared.
"Dan, we better take out those floor lasers then. We won't be able to get to the stairs otherwise if we have to run again." Shun stated.
"That's the most prominent solution as of right now." Jase deduced. "Let's be quick. It looks like they could use a hand."
Luke, Shawn, and Esther were deflecting rays back at the directions they came from, destroying lenses as swiftly and promptly. Even so, more beams were cutting off their room to maneuver, nearly making their backs turn on each other.
"Ready, Fly Beetle?" Shuji asked.
"Evermore." The insectoid responded. He closed his ball form and was clutched hard. Everyone did the same as they pulled their arms back.
"Bakugan…brawl!" They all shouted. They all fired their Bakugan at once. "Bakugan, stand!"
"Baku Sky Raider, jump!"
Multiple lights exploded from the ground as all of their Bakugan arose to their full forms.
"Let's give them a hand, Contestir!" Zenet shouted. "Ability, activate! Vanguard Lola!" Contestir's horn shined brightly before a dense yellow beam raced across the rims of a platform. The lasers exploded harshly.
"Ability, activate!" Shun followed up. "Moonlight Shadow Slash!" Jaakor jumped up, evading laserbeams that were closing in along the ground. With a victorious shout, he sent green energy shuriken that accurately fanned out and took out various laser lenses.
In distances close by, lasers were still firing, until a fist intended into a column by Sabator. He pulled his hand back and snorted out steam. "Hm! Too easy!"
Luke glanced back. "Thanks, guys!"
"It's…our pleasure!" Plitheon scowled, rising up and bared his talons. "Slag Tornado!" He fired green energy beams from his talons, beaming into the lasers that were getting too close to Luke, Shawn, and Esther.
The eruption around them made a smoke surge that left them unseen and undetected. A red tentacle came around and wrapped around all of them at once, pulling them up gently but swiftly. "We've got you guys!" Maggie shouted on Jelldon's shoulder.
"Keep them close, Jelldon!" Maggie chimed.
Laserbeams traced themselves closer towards the ground, but at the moment, the only thing they touched were the unbreakable carapace of Fly Beetle as his swung across, bulldozing columns down to make the platforms collapse upon themselves.
"Don't let up, Fly Beetle!"
"I wasn't planning on it!" He stomped his heel down, wrecking clean through a platform straight down a column, reducing it to dust.
Atmos flew right over the debris, Jase holding onto his Bakugan as he beelined into the distance afar, making all of it fly in his draft and crash into several other structures. The Ventus battler prodded his glasses. "The Empyrean must have an installed defense system for anyone who sets foot on the ground."
"In that case…" Dan jumped onto Drago's shoulder. "We'll just have to stay higher if you say it like that! Let's go, Drago!"
"You bet!" Drago blitzed into the nearest column, kicking it down hard.
"We're right behind you guys!" Reptak turned around, firing a Grapple Buster with his right hand into a nearby pillar.
Phosphos slashed his claws, while Rubanoid and Avior fired beams throughout the area. Linehalt supported them with his Gigarth Ray jettisoning into a large structure, taking down the platforms. Andro Elico used his Seith Circle and carved pillars right through their centers to make them collapse like Linehalt did.
"Keep it going!" Dan shouted, his face intensifying with unadulterated resolution. "We won't stop no matter what!"
High above, the explosions wouldn't have made it very far. However, the magenta networks streamed as Riaan sat on his knees in patience. His eyes were shut as he was channeling all of that energy the Bakugan were creating. They were all fighting as best they could, much to his relief.
"You feel that, too, Master? The energy they are giving off."
"Yes, Armagedoid. I most certainly do." Riaan opened his eyes. "Now that they're fighting back, it's time that we invest in phase 2." He smirked. "I'm actually intrigued in what they will do against our latest allies…"
Everyone stood on their Bakugan's shoulders as they overlooked their handiwork. Many who were airborne descended as all the platforms were destroyed. Smoke arose from the debris as they all landed promptly with no lasers pinning the others down.
"That looked like the last of them." Drago said.
Helios scoffed. "Hah, do they really think that a couple of lasers was enough? What fools."
"I don't know about that, Helios. Something about this doesn't seem quite right." Rafe noted, looking around. "Riaan always has some kind of backup weapon laying around. If the incident in Solaris and outside weren't enough, I don't know what is."
There was an odd tension in the atmosphere, but they all knew they had to press forward.
"C'mon, we can't stay put. If we don't hurry, everything might regenerate again." Percival said.
"You're right." Wolfurio nodded. "We better hightail, pronto."
"Agreed…huh?" Drago was about to turn away, when something on the ground caught his eye.
"What is it?" Dan turned his head as well, following with everyone else doing the same. All their eyes were glued on the ground.
It was small, almost spherical shaped. The ball was completely clear, being seen through like a diamond. Even inside, they could seethe red iris kept shut. It was seemingly by itself, almost idly misplaced. But for some reason, nobody had a good feeling.
"What's that?" Shuji grimaced.
"I'm not sure, but I guess it ain't good." Fly Beetle pointed out.
"It looks…like a Bakugan." Luke pointed out.
The sphere eventually popped open, with the entire top going up to reveal a red eye. Two small arms dropped from the sides. The capsule shined a rainbow light rather than a single color like most attributes do.
Rising up from the ground was a towering, clear blob that had a glowing red, cyclopean eye. It had two tendrils, one for each side like arms. On its stomach were small glowing dots with lights and formation of all the attributes, with a clear center. The unknown specimen gave off a hiss as it arose in front of everyone.
"Who's that supposed to be?!" Nemus backpedaled, looking shocked.
"I don't recognize its kind from New Vestroia." Hydranoid glared.
"And we don't have that species on Neathia either. Wolfurio is right, something is wrong here…" Fabia grimaced.
"But I thought we destroyed all the Interacian Bakugan." Keegan thought, before an epiphany came to mind. "Unless, maybe it's…!"
The blob's red scoped out everyone that was in front of it. It eyed Aranaut, moving towards Jaakor, and Radizen. It looked at Jelldon, intrigued by his gelatinous bulk. However, when Drago stepped up with fists ready, the Bakugan turned its eye onto him.
The red eye shined brightly as it growled. Suddenly, a rainbow glow enveloped it, causing its shape to alter. Everyone covered up from fear of being blinded.
"What's it…doing?" Dan grunted with an eye open.
Gradually, the Bakugan's shape and molecular structure changed until it grew more solid arms with fists. Wings protruded from the back, with a star-shaped tail extending outwards. There was also a horn on the head with the body turning solid with a familiar pigment from a familiar Bakugan, who looked the creature's transformation into himself.
"What…?" Drago was dumbfounded. He and everyone looked startled and offended by the unknown Bakugan suddenly transforming into Drago, almost perfectly.
"Hold on! Did it just transform into Drago on the spot?!" Dan questioned.
"Okay, that isn't creepy!" Radizen stuttered, before his red eyes glanced over upon seeing another clear hemisphere. "Huh? Uh-oh!"
"What is it?" Marucho worried.
"Looks like we've got trouble." Shun grimaced, seeing another clear ball in front of Jaakor.
Both hemispheres shined, erupting into a rainbow light. Two copies of the earlier blob arose, gurgling out roars as they faced Radizen and Jaakor.
"You serious, more of them?!" Gunz quipped. "Just how many are there?!"
The Bakugan eyed Radizzen and Jaakor as they let out low, vibrating gurgled. Their eyes shined brightly as they recognized their DNA and morphed their bodies in a rainbow matter before transforming into them respectively. Similarly enough, more of these Bakugan surrounded them and popped open more blobs, getting all their attention as a copy that Avior turned to took shape after him. Likewise with Sabator, another one also transformed into him.
"It's like these guys are cloning after us!" Keegan spooked. He turned to see another clear blob nearby. Andro Elico faced it, and the creature gradually transformed into him as well. "Great, we just had to get jinxed like that."
"Worry about that later! We're surrounded!" Linus shouted.
The Bakugan all roared out, with the copy of Fusion Dragonoid expelling a voluminous howl that shrieked throughout the air and into the bright ceiling's divine lighting.
…
"These Bakugan that were created…are known as Kimera." Riaan explained neutrally. "They are a bio-engineered species that was created as the last line of defense for the Empyrean. These Bakugan do not have any attribute, nor any power. Rather, using my genetic replication, they have the ability to stabilize their DNA to match that of any Bakugan that they engage with. It's taking much for Galilea to have her faith restored. She had far too much pride that she let into her head. But at least here, it shows her work isn't in vain after all. Now…let's see exactly what our biological aids have in store…by turning their greatest strengths into our own."
…
The Kimera copy of Drago stood in his path, impeding him while the original one grew visibly impatient. "Out of my way, you fake fool! Dan!"
"I hear ya! Ability, activate-!" Drago shot into the air, careening his head back. "Dragon Thrasher!"
Rago let out a loud cry as he reeled back forward, expelling a vibrant and powerful red beam that bolted town towards his doppelganger.
As the beam drew closer, Kimera-Drago stood perfectly still, suddenly turning bright red and blitzing out of nowhere. The beam diffused, hitting nothing as Kimera-Drago appeared in front of Drago, much to his shock.
"What?!"
"He used Dragon Spur?" Dan realized.
In their confusion, Kimera-Drago whipped around, slamming his tail into Drago, who used his forearms to block the impact, although it buffered him some. Kimera-drago zipped behind, making Drago glance back to see a foot stamp his way. But this time, it was too fast and struck his back, sending him falling forward with a scowl.
"Hold on, Drago!" Dan shouted.
"We've gotta get rid of these fakes, Reptak!" Gunz shouted. "Ability, activate! Harvey Cannon!"
The shoulder cannon on Reptak charged up and aimed for his opponent. With a strong cry, he unleashed a bolstering yellow beam that streamed across the battlefield. Kimera-Reptak responded by bringing out his shoulder cannon, unleashing the same yellow beam in retort. The two attacks met in the center, making a bright explosion between them.
Radizen faced his copy alongside Roxtor, the four in readiness for their battle. The real Radizen accusingly pointed at Kimera-Radizen. "Listen here, you two-timing faker! You may look like me, just you sure aren't anything like the real thing! How's about we show you what I mean!"
Kimera-Radizen gave no verbal response. It just glared at its original with a ready disposition.
"Oh, a silent type, aren't you? Well suit yourself buster. You see, Roxtor, you can probably learn a thing or two from this guy."
Roxtor responded in some kind of gibberish, which didn't go unnoticed by Radizen. "What so you mean it's the other way around?! You babble as much as I do! Don't go blaming stuff at me just because-!" He was cut off when a blue crescent slashed against the side of his face, inflicting pain to make him cry.
Roxtor used his claws, better prepared than his ally as the blue crescent grazed him next. It followed its way back towards Kimera-Radizen's crest, fading back to a standard color. Kimera-Roxtor attacked by summoning debris using Power Granite and flung them at the opponent.
"Hold on, guys!" Marucho shouted. "Ability, activate! Zap Screen!"
Shaking off that initial slash, Radizen generated a bright blue shield that blocked off the barrage of debris and boulders from them. They were still rather strong, however, as Radizen was grunting with lower structural power.
"C'mon guys, hang in there!" Marucho cheered.
"Jaakor! Skytruss! Orbeum!" Shun shouted.
"Right!" Altogether, the three ninja Bakugan jumped into the air, overshadowing their counterparts.
Shun readied his ability. "Ability, activate! Ultimate Kazami Combo – Rapid Fury!" Jaakor and his students erupted into green and dark purple energy and zigzagged throughout the air around them. They ricocheted off of debris and stable platforms as they tried to confuse their foes.
Time gradually slowed down as the three ninjas intercepted the three clones. "Lights out for you all!" Jaakor hollered. With a battle cry, they all zipped into them at point-blank, but at the last second, a green rippling barrier blocked them off, completely diffusing their attacks.
Shun's eyes widened. "Sonic Reflector?"
Jaakor was caught surprised by this as Kimera-Jaakor was kept behind the shield. Skytruss and Orbeum's copies suddenly appeared behind them. Before they had time to react, point-blank feathers and projectiles blasted them into Jaakor, sending him into his clone, who shot his fist out in a Fierce Demon – Thunder Clap. The green beam engulfed Jaakor and everyone in an explosion, one so powerful that the ground rumbled.
Shun grunted as debris flew right over him. He kneeled to duck from a flying debris piece. "Guys, no!"
Lena watched as her Phosphos was currently locking claws with its counterpart. She glanced back with a dreadful gaze. "These creatures also mimic our abilities as well! They'll counter whatever we throw at them!"
Zenet watched from a platform as Kimera-Contestir fired a Bolting Storm beam into Contestir. He moved out of the way, leaving Zenet to run away along a platform as the attack beamed into it, destroying a segment of it. She labored in breath as she looked back with shock. "You're not kidding…!"
Kimera-Raptorix drilled across the sky, but Elright's Haos Raptorix was able to maneuver wide enough while his rider stayed on. He winced s the movements stung his burns. "Stay…strong…!"
As Kimera-Sabator and Sabator went at each other with Brute Cam Wilder, Nurzak got onto a platform, glowering down with a stern glare. "I see…so this is what Riaan wanted. He wanted us to unleash our Bakugan to defend ourselves, thus give these Bakugan the ability to copy our own powers and abilities."
"Then what do we do?" Baron fret.
Nurzak frowned. "Well, for starters, getting to the top of the Empyrean would be a stat. Or rather-!" He stopped mid-sentence to jump away from his position when Kimera-Sabator shoved Sabator. His Bakugan fumbled over, causing a huge magnitude to shake before Nurzak continued. "And secondly…defeating these mimics!"
Sabator grunted as he gradually arose for battle once more. "Oooff…" He snorted steam out of his nostrils. "That just made me mad! Let's go, Nurzak!"
"Yes, absolutely!" He held up another ability. "Ability, activate! Range Sonic!"
Sabator opened his maw as wide as possible and concentrated bright orange energy into a single point. "Chew on this!" He brought his head back and then forward, screaming out as loud as possible as a sonic blast wave beamed into Kimera-Sabator.
The attack drew closer, but the copy's entire body heated up with a molten energy fume. Steam erupted from him as he stood still, taking the attack head on without budging.
"Gnnnngh…!" Sabator snarled through his attack, but it still didn't work.
"That ability…it's Sabator's Tough Rock." Nurzak realized. "This won't be an easy fight."
As fights and battles broke out with Kimera copies of the originals, Luke's group realized what would happen with them as they watched everyone get into trouble.
Luke looked on, but he realized what was at stake. He frowned heavily as he turned away. "Everyone, listen! Get to the stairs if you can! We shouldn't stop for anything!"
Esther gave him a straightforward look. "Yes, we need to be vigilant. If we don't our efforts will be further delayed."
Low, grotesque growls happened around them. Shawn stopped and glance back, his brow furrowing as he looked skywards. "Looks like we're in trouble!"
Everyone turned and realized that more Kimera arose out of nowhere, growling as they gazed at Fly Beetle, Jelldon, and Atmos. The three Bakugan realized what was about to happen as they watched the clear blobs glow rainbow lights, becoming one of each of them respectively.
"Here we go!" Shuji growled, staying on Fly Beetle's shoulder. "Guess we don't have a choice now, huh? We'll just have to bulldoze through them at this point."
"I'm with you there! Jelldon, let's go!" Maggie enforced.
Jelldon raised all his tentacles, getting into a stroking position. "I'm ready, Maggie!"
The Kimera-Jelldon clone let out a gurgling snarl as it mimicked Jelldon's actions.
"This should be most interesting." Jase chimed. Atmos spread his wings and let out a searing caw, distorting the air around him. The Kimera-Atmos mimicked him to a tee.
Shawn drew his fencer and glared forward. "Look alive, Luke. Here they come."
Luke turned around to find a Kimera clone facing him. It gurgled down at him, and – without hesitation one would say – raised a tendril and pierced a blow into Luke. Using his sword, he bunted the blow, and deflected the gel-like shot. The Bakugan snarled as it slammed its other tendril down, but Luke backpedaled and slid to a stop.
Gathering his bearings, he fixed his glare on the opponent in front of him. "Guess we don't have a choice then, do we?"
"Doesn't look like it." Abis said. "I know that it will transform into me once I roll out, but we don't have a lot of options."
"You're right." He paused. "Listen, we know your abilities, so we should be able to counter promptly. Let's hurry!" He grabbed Abis, who readily closed his ball form and went flying out. "Bakugan, brawl! Daedalus Abis Omega, stand!"
In a deep blue light, a deep blue water pillar exploded from the ground, causing the Kimera to look up and see its opponent rising with a blistering, serpentine roar that expelled across the air. Luke was on his armored forehead as he glared ahead with his partner at the opposing Bakugan.
"Bakugan…" Shawn threw his in as well.
"Brawl!" Esther flung Atchibee in as well.
A dark, cosmic powder erupted, followed by a ghastly visage in the form of a moth. Eclipse Atchibee arose with a loud, searing hiss, with Esther atop of her. Nearby, however, a light erupted, followed by the wake of a staff that stamped the ground with its diamond bottom. Sage Verias arose with a loud, disrupting roar of his own, causing a gargantuan tremor as Shawn prepped himself onto his partner's pauldron.
The last two Kimera responded by scanning Atchibee and Verias' DNA, instantly transforming into mimics of them. The two let out simultaneous scowls as they faced their opponents.
Everyone's glares hardened on their respective clones. All twelve faces showed distinct intensity at what was at stake.
Shuji spread his feet on Hercules Fly Beetle's shoulder as he pulled out a Gate Card. He flung it into the ground, making it fade into the flat ground below.
"Okay, Fly Beetle…guess we're gonna fight muscle, with muscle!"
"Don't worry Shuji…because together, we're unbreakable!" Fly Beetle exerted a violent roar that exploded throughout the area, reaching Kimera-Fly Beetle. In response, the Bakugan's eyes glimmered as he lowered his horn, bellowing back to attack.
Hercules Fly Beetle: 900 Hercules Fly Beetle: 900
The real Fly Beetle put one hand on the ground, making it crack. "Let's…go." He flicked open his wing shields and flapped his wings so fast that airwaves disrupted airflow. He took off after his counterpart, making the ground sunder as he took off in a high-speed tackle. The copy saw him incoming as it clutched its fist.
Shuji's eyes narrowed as time slowed down at their charge. 'He's making the first move.'
Kimera-Fly Beetle plunged its fist into the ground, causing the ground to shudder before sharp, spiked pillars of stone to erupt and blitz across in a linear fashion after the incoming Fly Beetle. Tectonic Edge closed in rather hastily, much to their indifference.
Hercules Fly Beetle: 900 (+500) = 1400 Hercules Fly Beetle: 900 (-500) = 400
"Ability, activate!" Shuji countered, Fly Beetle still barreling ahead. "Gaia Armadura!"
Fly Beetle's entire body aligned in a mass of heavily shimmering energy as the stones continued their path. The real one lowered his horn and bulldozed through the stones, not even bothering to flinch as he beelined into the path of his opponent's stones. They shattered like loose gravel around him as he closed the gap onto the opposing Bakugan, who stood there ready.
Hercules Fly Beetle: 1400 (-500) = 900 Hercules Fly Beetle: 400 (+500 +500) = 1400
Fly Beetle tucked down and finally collided with his doppelganger, their horns colliding so ferociously that the wake made a massive shockwave that diced the ground beneath, only to be repaired shortly after. However, the air still trembled fiercely in their tussle.
Their hands reached and snagged each other, holding on tight as each one pushed further, causing an intense airwave to shock the atmosphere again. However, the clone was quickly losing ground.
Shuji growled intensely. "YOU'RE GOING-"
"-DOWN!" Fly Beetle's eyes flashed as he shoved even more, causing the clone to stammer a foot back. He clutched a fist and drove it into its face, but when it was about to make impact, the clone's body glowed a similar shimmering filament, stopping Fly Beetle's fist cold.
He recoiled. "He nullified it?"
"It's using Gaia Armadura, too. Here it comes!"
The enemy beetle retaliated by bulldozing his way back at them. The ground dented in and debris went flying passed it as its horn was tucked in for a piercing blow.
"Ability, activate! Earth Shield!" Fly Beetle's lower arms slammed into the tiling beneath, creating a small rupture before a huge, thick wall of earth came up between Fly Beetle and the clone. The clone's horn pierced the thick wall with a lot of force. However, the shimmer around its body diffused due to it being stopped cold by the wall.
"Alright…now, let's go! Ability, activate! Land Crusher!"
Fly Beetle balled his fist and raised his top right one into the air. He then plunged it deep into the ground, causing a seismic rupture that worked its way down underneath the clone's feet. Fissures opened up as shockwaves of dust erupted beneath.
Hercules Fly Beetle: 900 (-500) = 400 Hercules Fly Beetle: 1400
On the other side of the large earth-like shield, the sound of a cry followed by an eruption of earth and dust. The wake of the attack shuddered the ground. Fly Beetle remained unfazed as he gazed deeply with Shuji at their defensive earthbound wall.
The insectoid stepped forward. "Did that do it…?"
Shuji glared ahead, his frown ever so serious. He didn't believe that it could be that easy.
Gradually, the earth wall started shuddering, becoming cracks that protruded a growing mass that distorted the air behind the barrier. They could feel a charge happening as something cracked and churned throughout the atmosphere. It got brighter, making the entire wall melt away.
Shuji held firmer than ever. "Look out, that's-!"
Before he could finish, the wall reduced to oblivion as a monstrously dense, orange beam exploded right into Fly Beetle's face. He blocked with his forearms at the last second to reduce the impact on his face. However, the blast wave streamed into him still, and he was taking the full brunt of it all with the earth beneath exploding from the terrifying wake.
Hercules Fly Beetle: 400 (+600) = 1000 Hercules Fly Beetle: 1400 (-600) = 800
Shuji was spared thanks to being mounted on Fly Beetle's framed, but he had to use a forearm and shield himself from the small debris that went flying passed him. One piece of rock hit his thick arms, causing a scrape that he withstood with gritting teeth.
'It used Horn Gaia to blast its way through!' He felt Fly Beetle's feet gradually give in to the exploding wake he was defending against. 'We can't survive this for very long! Have to turn the offense around on it!'
His arm still scraped, Shuji persevered and used and ability. "Ability, activate! Precipice Slate!"
Fly Beetle toughened his way through the mass swallowing him and leaned forward a little. He was able to hold off long enough with all four arms while he stomped into the ground with one heel and turned it. Gradually, the earth beneath rumbled before jagged, angled stones appeared in front of him and took the full brunt of the attack. This gave Fly Beetle room as the stones angled the beam into several smaller streams that zigzagged into individual slates before they all angled back and congregated onto the Fly Beetle clone.
There were several flashes of light that made it fade away, until an explosion of raw energy erupted everywhere. The quaking erupted into a full-on destructive blast wave that shot skywards, swallowing the clone while the real one and his partner toughened through it.
It took several moments for the full wake of the attack to depreciate back to a smoke and dust cloud, but the ground was completely repaired within split seconds thanks to the Empyrean's hyper regeneration. They watched as the smoke simmered down to a silhouette that stood in the center, looking to be unmoved.
"…I should've figured as much." Shuji growled. Fly Beetle mimicked him.
The dust settled, revealing a broad set of four armored arms that were defined and sharply edged. They were as hard as the toughest metals that could withstand atomic blasts, and it covered all of Hercules Fly Beetle's clone.
The clone's Armored Ultima shimmered brightly as it raised its head to expel a violent roar, distorting the airflow. Its power bolted towards 1600 instead of depreciating.
Even though Fly Beetle's power bolted towards 2000 thanks to the reversal, he was far from pleased. His slates returned to the ground. "Should have figured I'd try something like that." He grunted. "It's like it knows what we think and how to fight back…do you think it has our knowledge of battling?"
"It's possible…here it comes!"
Kimera-Fly Beetle charged ahead full force, making deep ditches into the ground as the original stood his ground against the oncoming wake.
Elsewhere high in the Empyrean atmosphere, two green bolts were at it. Kimera-Atmos and Atmos were in an ultrasonic dance that made them look almost nonexistent. Then they did a double-take on the other, they drew into a helix that made them nosedive and stream across the ground, denting in the earth before beelining back into the high-mass altitude of the tower's insides.
As they were dancing to try and outmaneuver one another, Jase whipped a Gate Card down towards the battlefield below. It faded into a green light into the ground.
The fake took the lead and spun out of their straight path. It barreled around Atmos and shot high into the altitude of the ceiling. Moments later, it came blistering down at Mach 3 speeds for Sonic Rain.
Jase anticipated this, using his green Bakumeter to instigate an ability to counter. "Ability, activate! Hurriblade!"
As Kimera-Atmos came blistering down, the real one swatted a backwing, projecting a sudden explosion of shredding cyclones that bordered around him. The whirlwind sliced up the platforms and debris below into dust that spread outwards. The whirlwind was a giant mass that Kimera-Atmos had to back away from at the last second. Meanwhile, the real clone's power increased towards 1000.
Within the shredding wind wall, Jae and Atmos gazed through, having a feeling of what the opponent will do. Their gazes suddenly went up at the tornado's top to find a bright green glint shining brightly and coming down.
Apex Atmos: 900 (+500) = 1400 Apex Atmos: 1000 (-500) = 500
'It's using Storm Bullet from above.' Jase promptly observed. "Very well then…" He readied two abilities at once. "Double ability, activate! Anemoi Wings, plus Storm Bullet!"
Atmos' eyes glinted green before he jettisoned back at the incoming enemy at lightning speeds. Hie entire body spun like a drill as a green emerald energy surrounded him. It fused with a dark green and green funnel coming from him, which ate away at the earlier cyclone and turned into Atmos jettisoning with emerald shining wings with brightened green energy streaming around him into his copy.
The two met in the center, meeting like drills that ate their ways through the other's storms. The hurricane around them dissipated to thin air in nanoseconds and spread out its wind pressure to dice up the ground beneath.
However, the typhoon bullet that Jase and Atmos were in had far greater momentum. Their tornado visibly ate all the way up towards the end of the Kimera clone's attack, arching and controlling it into a giant serpentine streamline that bent down and smashed the clone's back into the ground with a jettison eruption.
Apex Atmos: 1400 (-700) = 700 Apex Atmos: 500 (+700) = 1200
Atmos' attack diffused as he returned to the atmosphere, wings revealed to be glistening in bright emerald energy. He let out a caw as their doppelganger was embedded into the dense crater of destroyed Empyrean tiles. They watched as it synthetically recovered and the clone dislodged itself before retaliating with a caw of anger.
"It seems it's rather durable." Jase observed. "It must have a strong enough tenacity that was replicated from you."
Atmos gazed down, wary of his lookalike. "It would appear so. He's coming!"
The clone skyrocketed back into the air, following them as they gave headway into the altitude once more. The clone went right back to chasing them.
As they beamed throughout the atmosphere, Kimera-Atmos' beak opened wide as a dark green cyclone gathered into its maw and blasted ahead at Jase and Atmos for Apex Speed.
Jase looked back, knowing what was coming their way. "Fusion Ability, activate…!" Atmos hit the airbrakes and turned around to face the incoming cyclone that intended to wipe out his ability effects. He gathered momentum and adjusted his wing angles. "Mach Maelstrom!"
Just as the cyclone swerved into him, the wings folded in and engulfed Atmos. The attack seemed to have swallowed him, much to the Kimera's relief. However, the vortex was suddenly overwhelmed but a spiraling aerodynamic green wake that spun at the tip of Atmos. He jettisoned straight through the wind, reaching his counterpart in milliseconds.
Apex Atmos: 1100 Apex Atmos: 800 (+700) = 1500
As he closed in, Kimera-Atmos was barely able to hold up. It barely barrel-rolled off to the side, moving just enough that Atmos' direct wake didn't hit. The shockwaves, however, blew it around and off balance. With it spiraling out of control, Atmos streamed across the air in an emerald-green streamline that swerved down after their for, gradually closing the gap.
The Kimera clone's eyes opened up, where it turned on its axis and beamed away, making a streaming tornado from its sharp tailfeather. Apex went straight through, cutting right through the attack. However, he lost all of his momentum, spiraling to an unbalanced level until he had to arch and fly around to adjust.
Apex Atmos: 1100 (+300) = 1400 Apex Atmos: 1500
Upon adjusting, Jase looked over his shoulder and watched the opponent sail around with the tornado stream. 'That's Skyliner. I see, then regardless of what the Gate Card does, it won't matter with it….and it can be nullified by our other abilities. If we use Apex Speed, it can use Mach Maelstrom in defense.' Jase's eyes narrowed. 'In that case…'
Atmos looked back over. "Jase, I presume that you have an idea as well?"
Jase smirked. "My, Atmos. You catch on fast, don't you?" he prodded his glasses. "Then listen well…"
Atmos sailed throughout the sky, whereas the clone glided right over them, beelining with a shrilled caw.
"Gate Card, set!" Maggie threw her card down as fast as possible, making a red shockwave fade outwards. "Jelldon, we're on!"
"You bet, Maggie! Let me at you, me!" He declared to Kimera-Jelldon. The Bakugan retaliated with a snarl as his numerous tentacles were wriggling about.
Astral Jelldon: 900 Astral Jelldon: 900
Maggie didn't hesitate. She knew they had to make the initial move. 'I can guess what it'll do first. But first we have to put it on the defense!' She activated an ability at the ready. "Ability, activate! Volt Inferno!" Jelldon readied his tentacles and raised them as high as possible. He brought them down onto the fake as they became plasmatic whips.
The fake's seven eyes gazed up at the incoming whiplash, but instead, its body turned into a translucent, cosmic mass that made Jelldon's attack bounce right off.
"Just as I thought, it used Cosmos Body." Maggie prompted.
Kimera-Jelldon snarled as it fired back the same Volt Inferno. It sent all six tentacles at Jelldon instead of just the one. Jelldon braced himself as Maggie prepared an ability.
'Using Solar Flare will only stop Volt Inferno, and it'll be pointless since his power level won't drop. We'll just have to cancel them both out in one blow!' As if by subconscious, her next move was laid out. "Ability, activate! Flash Atom!"
Jelldon saw all the tentacles stood perfectly still. The accents on his body glowed a faint light before exploding into a huge beaming light that atomized the plasma on those tendrils. They retracted back towards the enemy, who leaned back from the shock while the cosmic stardust on its body faded away.
Maggie and Jelldon narrowed their field of vision. 'An opening!' Acting out of his pure second-nature actions, Jelldon's plasmatic flaming tendrils reactivated as his power rose towards 1500. He aimed a sharp jab that beelined straight into the large center eye of Astral Jelldon – a weakpoint. The blast struck a clean, crisp blow, causing plasmatic lightning and flames to engulf the top of Kimera-Jelldon as he screamed in agony.
With it distracted, the real one looked at his flailing clone. It didn't have a battle partner, but they had a grim feeling about this. In their minds, they remembered what the clone of Drago did to nullify that attack, and then strike back. If that were the case, these ones must act on a subconscious like their counterparts.
'…which means, we have to anticipate faster than what we normally react to.' Maggie came to this conclusion promptly.
Just as fast as she came to that conclusion, there was a small flare inside the fire that crackled. Suddenly, hundreds of small lightning bolts exploded from the fire cloud and beamed after Jelldon.
Astral Jelldon: 900 (+500) = 1400 Astral Jelldon: 1500 (-500) = 500
Knowing it was Thunderstorm, Maggie already applied a counter. "Ability, activate! Solar Flare!"
The lightning bolts closed in onto Jelldon, but with Maggie on his shoulder, he had to be absolutely that he had to be faster. His lower half spiraled into a fire helix that blocked off the lightning bolts, and then diffused them as a shockwave of highly concentrated fire spread in all directions. Nearby structures reduced to ash as the flames continued towards Kimera-Jelldon.
However, the flames didn't reach it; instead, they went straight through while plasma crackled where the line of literal fire passed through. The plasma remained visible while the fire kept going, spreading into the area behind the Kimera before fading. Seconds later, everything lit up in fire that exploded spontaneously.
Even with the temperature at a high around them, Maggie was not concerned with them. Rather, they were focused on what happened. "Maggie, you think that's…"
She nodded. "Yeah, I do…I think that's your Plasmorphis ability, Jelldon. It has to be." Her brow furrowed. "Which means that as long as that ability is active, our abilities won't touch it."
Limera-Jelldon gave off a low, incomprehensible growl. It snarled as it raised a tentacle and its red chest core shined brightly. Maggie and Jelldon were on their guard as their opponent eject plasmatic energy from his tentacles that shaped right beside him. It gradually shaped into a lookalike of Astral Jelldon, putting Jelldon between two enemies at once.
Astral Jelldon: 1400 Astral Jelldon: 1500
Astral Jelldon: 1400
"Now it copied my Binary Plasma ability?" Jelldon gasped.
Maggie grimaced. She had a grim feeling this would turn out like this. Her mind raced at what they were witnessing. 'Since its defenses were wiped out, it's resorted to evasion and using numbers for manipulation.' Despite being 10, she was definitely no slouch when it came to thinking. 'And it made it so that our abilities, no matter what they were, never work on them. The clones are immune to abilities, and as long as the real one has Plasmorphis active…'
It took a little thinking, but Maggie realized what they had to do to get the ball rolling. Just then, Jelldon reacted promptly as the clone used Volt Inferno, raising its power level to 2000. "Ability, activate! Cosmos Body!" Jelldon didn't waste a beat as he also turned his body translucent. The broiling inferno-plasma whiplash went into his body, but immediately bounced right off, much to its displeasure.
"Jelldon, we have to focus on the real one, make him use any other ability." Maggie insisted.
"Got it, and the clone…?"
Her brown eyes shared a hidden depth like a deep flame would. "Then I guess we'll have to fight fire with fire. Be ready, Jelldon!"
Jelldon had a pretty good idea with what Maggie had in mind. And with what abilities they had on them and against them, they could pull it off. All they had to do was hang in there.
A gate Card flung out from Shawn's hand, retreating into the ground in a bright yellow shockwave. Once it faded, he and Verias gazed at the opposing Verias, who let out a bolstering battle cry. Verias, in turn, expelled a violent roar of his own that shrilled through the atmosphere.
Sage Verias: 900 Sage Verias: 900
"Here it comes." Shawn warned.
Verias readied himself as he held a battle-affirmed stance against his fur-caped kin. There was a momentary pause before the fake gave off a bright glow from around its body. It suddenly projected a bright yellow halo from the staff that raced across the ground, tearing it up as it beamed after them.
Sage Verias: 900 (+500) = 1400 Sage Verias: 900
Shawn instantly recognized what it meant. 'That's Lore Halo. No use nullifying…' He shot his rapier forward. "Ability, activate! Polaris Hammer!"
Verias' staff glowed brightly as his doppelganger gained ground onto them. When the opponent's halo drew closer, time slowed down between them as Verias' staff came down, while Kimera-Verias' light beam had a greater mass around it. Time gradually returned to normal as an explosion of light erupted between them. The real one snarled through the light, trying to win the parry.
However, Verias' had more momentum, and he swung through, throwing his opponent off balance. He twirled his sage-like staff around and used one arm to thrust the diamond end like a spear that stabbed the golden abdominal armor.
But once again, time slowed down between them. A yellow forcefield appeared in front of Kimera-Verias, defending him while making the light diffuse from Verias' attack. Kimera-Verias went up towards 1800, yet Sage Verias depleted towards 900.
"Icarus, huh?" Verias' glared hardened. "In that case…" With his free hand, he reached out and touched the shield. "Let's try this!"
"Ability, activate!" Shawn followed. "Sagacity Gem!"
The giant jewels on Verias' bodily armor shined brightly. They started gathering power and drawing in the shield that their copy had made. The power it had absorbed was drawn back into Verias' frame, making all the jewels shine with a bright flare.
Sage Verias: 1800 (-400) = 1400 Sage Verias: 900 (+400 +500) = 1800
Verias brought his fist back slowly and let out a violent roar of declaration. He pivoted and transferred the tower into his staff, making its bright glow intensify. He slammed it against Kimera-Verias' shield, making it shatter like glass. The fake brought its own staff in front and bunted from the attack, but it was still so strong that that several flashes resulted in an eruption of Hao energy that sent the fake skidding across the ground. It used its staff as an anchor and snarled back at Verias.
There was another brief standoff between them. However, it didn't last very long. The enemy raised his staff, giving off an extremely vibrant glow from it.
"That's Sagacious Arrow!" Shawn warned. "Ability, activate! Siba Strider!" Verias' body ignited in a bright flare before he suddenly bolted off towards the opponent.
The arrow was launched from Kimera-Verias at an alarming rate. At the speed of light, it blitzed into him, whereas he swung his staff and cleaved right through it. The wise ape traveled through the light arrow, bringing his arm back before jabbing forward and thrusting it into the opponent.
At the last second, Kimera-Verias sidestepped, grabbing Verias by the staff with his own glowing limb. The power in his glowing frame transferred over through the arm, and into the staff that raised against them.
Sage Verias: 1800 (+500 +500) = 2800 Sage Verias: 1900 (-500) = 1400
"Ability, activate! Haos Savior!"
Just before the staff was about to come down, Verias' frame exploded with an enormous array of light that came from his staff. The sudden pulsation of power made him jerk away and evade the staff that smashed where he was originally. Time momentarily slowed down as debris freely flung itself everywhere, with Shawn having to use his rapier and slash one rock in half that got too close to him.
Sage Verias: 2800 Sage Verias: 1400 (x2) = 2800
As debris rained down between them, Verias found his momentum again when the copy caught up with him. Their staffs clashed, creating a shock that shoved both contenders away from each other. They regained their ground and pivoted their staffs into each other, swinging so hard that another bright flare exploded between them, engulfing everything in their perimeter.
Esther gradually opened her eyes, giving a glare skywards as she dropped a Gate card below. The field gave off a dark purple glow as the Kimera responded with a shriek and raised its scythes in prime battle. Atchibee responded by doing the exact same.
Eclipse Atchibee: 900 Eclipse Atchibee: 900
"Atchibee…" Esther twirled her spear, pointing its end at the enemy moth. "Go!"
"I'm on it, Esther!" The moth flapped her wings, ascending some to go for a slash. The enemy Bakugan retaliated by bringing up her twin blades, intending to intercept her. Their blades connected with violent cries following, resulting in a momentary draw.
Kimera-Atchibee went for a side swipe, but Atchibee ducked, barely avoiding having her antennae sliced off. Esther used her spear and deflected it away from her, but a second swipe from the Kimera made Esther's legs move on their own and her reflexes kicked in, making her jump over the next blade and land on the flat end of it as it still swung. This resulted in her following through and being flung off to a nearby pillar, which she managed to anticipate. She planted her feet on it and plunged her spear into the side. With it stuck in, she used it as a poll vault and flipped onto her Atchibee as she swooped around from behind.
As they sailed around, Esther's blue eyes took notice of a glance from above. "Incoming!"
On cue, Atchibee suddenly flapped her wings, bolstering herself up when Kimera-Atchibee's stinger stabbed the platform, making a crushing dent into it that made it shatter. As it crumbled, the enemy clone observed Atchibee and Esther glide in an arch at a higher angle. It glanced skywards, hissing as its two scythes turned into four. They manifested to a single point, gathering energy that turned into a Violet Pulsar that tore into Atchibee.
"Ability, activate! Solaris Moondance!"
Atchibee watched the attack draw close, but she flapped her wings to spread her scale powder in the form of a cloud, successfully disclosing herself into it and blocking off the dark beam and making it dissipate through the powder.
However, the clone moth gave another hiss as it spread its wings and created a dark hole that drew in the cosmic dense cloud. The powder gradually disappeared into the enemy's portal, giving a power of 1400.
"It used Black Hole." Esther grunted.
With heightened power, the enemy moth screeched as it went diving after Atchibee with its claws ready. Atchibee, on the other hand, spread her two scythes to make four as well, and prepared for the incoming impact.
"Double ability, activate!" Esther shouted. "Penumbra Geist! Plus, Fusion Ability, Jet Black Buster!"
Atchibee's assailant drew closer, its blades going for a solid slash. As it was about to hit home, until the atmosphere went entirely dark. Kimera-Atchibee followed through, but it felt like it struck air instead. It kept going, coming to a momentary halt and having forced to a standstill. With its night vision-like cellular eyes, it glanced around to get a scope on the original Atchibee, but found little luck.
Suddenly, its antennae picked up on something…from above? The clone suddenly backpedaled when a glowing, grim scythe came from out of nowhere, seemingly by Atchibee's outline, which was her glowing scythes, eyes, and the accents all over her body.
Even when not fully visible, when time slowed down, Esther looked just as grim, her blue eye fixed on Kimera-Atchibee with her spear stuck out. Even with Atchibee's scythes as the distraction, Esther's spear shared very little light qualities as she slashed at a nearby claw, causing the Kimera to recoil.
With the opponent flinching, Atchibee brought her blades around and slashed a hefty mark on Kimera-Atchibee, causing it to recoil yet again. With the space provided, the forehead eye on Atchibee shined as she concentrated a quick concentration of energy in the form of a pitch-black and purple beam that the enemy.
Eclipse Atchibee: 1400 (-500) = 900 Eclipse Atchibee: 900 (+500 +600) = 2000
The enemy Atchibee was actually able to see the attack coming its way and brought its four scythes together for one more attack, this one being another Violet Pulsar. A dark purple and black energy beam channeled in the center of the lunar-shaped scythes until a peak was reached.
Eclipse Atchibee: 900 (+600) = 1500 Eclipse Atchibee: 2000 (-600) = 1400
The two beams collided in the center, immediately creating a dark purple ripple between them before it exploded into a negative shockwave that ran across the Empyrean's domain. Nearby platforms cracked until the shockwaves disintegrated them. Walls cracked as a dark whirlwind flourished between Atchibee and Kimera-Atchibee, yet neither were deterred as scythes and claws intercepted each other dead center yet again.
'We won't lose this…not by a long shot!' Esther glared in her desires.
The two Daedalus Abis Omega were on the ground and were in coils, lowly growling at one another. Abis opened his maw wider as his armored frills quivered and stretched; the enemy reciprocated with a less than intelligible bellow of his own.
"Gate Card, set!" Luke shot the card down, making a deep blue shockwave that faded into the ground. His green eyes fixed ahead on their foe. "Alright, you ready, Daedalus Abis Omega?!"
"As I'll ever be." He raised himself out of his coils, his giant, arched frill wing ridges showing off for a striking position. "Let's go!"
Daedalus Abis Omega: 900 Daedalus Abis Omega: 900
Kimera-Abis' eyes dilated before it went from the initial strike. Its entire body uncoiled as it broke into a biting lunge. Abis instinctively got off the ground and swerved into coils that funneled around the enemy. He swerved out of range and into the air, where he had much more maneuverability space than just on the ground.
Luke's eyes gazed down, seeing the five diamonds on each side of the torso shine. 'It's going to attack!'
Abis braced himself above as his counterpart turned and screeched up at him. The ten diamonds fired deep blue projectiles that streamed up at him. Depth Fire closed in dramatically.
"Ability, activate! Crash Coil!" Luke roared.
Abis growled as he started twisting and turning in his long, large body. A coil passed in front as the bombastic blue beams came into contact, exploding the air like crackling fireworks across the air. They expelled energy that seared through the air, but started churning into a single point; accommodations by Abis as he twisted his body like a top that manipulated the attack back at Kimera-Abis.
The cyclone of exploding blue energy gained ground onto the clone, but rather than move, it simply swatted its tail, drenched in a spiraling vortex of dense, blue water that projected through the attack. Its pressure caused a momentary stalemate between the flares, making Abis lose his momentum and glance down.
"That's my Hydrair Tornado ability." Abis realized.
Kimera-Abis roared as it pushed further, ultimately pushing the cyclone further towards its original. Luke instantly made a counter. "How about this!" He showed the ability on his right wrist, shimmering intensely. "Fusion Ability, activate! Poseidon Surge!"
Abis snarled as he careened his head around, all the accents across his body shining brightly and ferociously with blue energy. Liquid-like matter formed around him that fluctuated into a spinning blue cyclone. The tornado closed in on him, seemingly engulfing him and Luke, but after a second, the seawater exploded into a counterclockwise vortex of dense, blue water that erupted back down at the Kimera. Abis roared mightily as his counterattack resulted in washing out the ability with a blue aura around his body.
Daedalus Abis Omega: 900 Daedalus Abis Omega: 400 (+500 +500) = 1400
The aquatic cyclone drew closer, the clone growled as it watched the ability water close in for a concentrated blast wave. Again, it made no attempt at moving as a dense blue shield appeared in front and around the attack, cutting off the water and making it flood around the Bakugan instead.
Abis was, again, caught by modest shock. "That ability…it's my Pressure Shield."
Luke furrowed his brow at their ability doing nothing good for them. "Guess these guys really can use our abilities." He paused, watching as the water dispersed, while the shield faded with the opponent gaining power.
Daedalus Abis Omega: 900 (+500) =1400 Daedalus Abis Omega: 1400
'If we attack, it can turn that power onto us with Crash Coil, or use Pressure Shield. That's a lot of how we use our abilities, tricking our opponents to use higher power to make our strength as well.' His brow furrowed. 'It's thinking, I can feel it.'
Luke repositioned his sword, poising to strike. "That case, we better see what move it makes then, and draw it out so we can fight back! Let's go!"
Abis opened his maw wide and screeched down towards the clone. His entire, long serpentine structure streamed and wriggled as he went after the clone, who got into a striking position and shot up at him with a roar and maw opened wide.
At the same time, both Bakugan snapped their jaws on the other and began to spiral around each other, their dancing, coiled frames going into a helix to surpass the other. But with how long they were, they reached a pinnacle before separating outwards.
Time slowed down through the recoil as Luke held on with all his might through the wake of it all. The clone retaliated by opening its maw and lunging back at them full force.
Kimera-Helios' maw widened to expel a blistering dark purple and black fire with crackling purple lightning in it. Its Destroy Quasar closed in on its original without any other target in mind.
"Don't hold back, Helios!" Spectra declared. "Ability, activate! Ragnarok Buster!"
Helios' chest plating pried open, unveiling a compression cannon that rapidly charged up until a dark purple energy atmosphere was ready. "Chew on this, imposter! GRAAAHHH!" With all his might, he dug his heels into the ground and expelled a raging dark beam that went through the dark fire, burning it out as it ate its way towards the enemy Helios. Its tremendous might drew too close for the cyborg dragon to dodge, and ended up engulfed in a momentary flash of bright purple that pulsated everywhere. The shockwaves went everywhere, leaving Helios to hold his ground as the attack gradually settled down.
The atmosphere gradually settled down, all that remained was a dust cloud that swirled around the battlefield, much to Helios' indifference. His chest cannon retracted back towards his body as he scoffed.
"Ha! Let's see them copy that."
Spectra frowned with crossed arms. He looked ahead with uncertainty as his eye slit fixed on the figure within the dust cloud. As it faded, he could have sworn he heard something all too familiar.
"65% damage caused by Ragnarok Cannon repaired. All systems rebooted. Increasing defensive systems by 120%. All systems functional. Restoring power level by 600 Gs."
As the dust lifted, Kimera-Helios was shown to have come out without a scratch. It raised its head, giving his original a snarl of contempt.
"Impossible!" Helios snarled.
"It seems that it's mimicked your FARBAS system also. What a truly disturbing Bakugan this is." Spectra frowned in disgust. He was offended first of all facing a duplicate, but now he was disgusted by how easy Riaan made it look when he had it on his side. 'If we don't do something soon, we'll run out of time.'
Two extremely heavy fists collided, dealt by two Rex Vulcan that intercepted one another as they overpowered each other. It became a deadlock between them that neither were capable of breaking away from. "C'mon, Vulcan! We have to help Master Spectra and Helios, no matter what!"
"Don't worry. I…won't fail you, Master!" Vulcan strained. He pulled a fist back into an uppercut, managing to land a heavy blow on his counterpart to where it toppled over like a giant metal limp doll.
Andro Elico stood against his counterpart, who unleashed a Glide Gauntlet attack that Keegan was ready for. "Ability, activate! Seith Circle!" His Andro Elico spun his back scythes, generating energy that rotated to a point that it was a wheel of blue energy that detached and seared through the air. It went in and bisected the claw, continuing its wake into Kimera-Andro Elico and force it onto its back, slamming into platform debris.
"Don't give it time to use FARBAS Delta! Hammer away as hard as hard as possible!" He held up another ability. "Ability, activate! Droid Hydra!" The scythes on Andro Elico kept beaming energy along the sides, but the wheels stopped and the multiple ends faced the down copy. Energy beams raced into the enemy, who sat up and saw the energy beams just before being struck by intense beams.
Wilda brought his hands overhead to create a powerful brown mass that turned into a ball of energy overhead. "Hyper Earth Ball!" When he was all ready, he fired the molten hemisphere across the ground, into his counterpart.
Kimera-Wilda countered promptly, making two extra chest plates jut out to make a V for Chest Burn. It eviscerated the earth hemisphere right on the spot, leaving nothing in his way.
In an instant, Wilda closed the gap, his fist pulled back. "Made you look! Gallows Punch!" His fist steamed heavily before he drove it into his counterpart.
At the last second, the Kimera drove its own fist into the ground, creating a quick rupture before magma erupted in front of Wilda. Unfortunately, he couldn't stop his fist in time and it went through the magma. That's when the magma rapidly cooled into igneous rock like a shield wall that Wilda was stuck in.
"It used Atlas Shield to trap Wilda?" Mira's eyes widened in shock. Never would she have thought of that.
Wilda grimaced as he tried prying himself free from the magma rock shield, but his fist was embedded into it tight. "Grrrrrrgh…! C'mon! C'mon you! Gnnngh…!" He was so preoccupied he didn't realize a hemisphere of orange energy congregating to a single point.
"Wilda, look out!"
"Huh?" Mira's warning reached him, but when he turned around, all he saw was a bright ball of Subterra energy head his way. "Uh-oh!"
Two Knight Percival's slashed their blades into each other, attempting to overpower the other. "You…will not defeat me…fake!" Percival declared.
"That's right, keep pushing!" Ace declared. "Let's take this copycat slimeball down a notch!"
Nemus raised his staff, a bright yellow and golden hemisphere forming. "Sparkly Arrow!" With all his might, he threw the sphere at the opposing Saint Nemus, who stood in wait as his entire staff glowed brightly and twisted it around. When Nemus' attack hit it, it diffused into thin air.
"What? Seriously?" Baron gasped. "It used Borehole Reflection to nullify our ability!"
"Not good…" Nemus grimaced.
Kimera-Nemus kept twisting its staff until a stop was made. It suddenly split off, separating into other copies of itself that fanned out and surrounded Nemus with staffs pointed directly at him, the tips gathering bright yellow energy. Nemus didn't have time to process it when all the beams fired simultaneously against him.
"AAAHHH!" Nemus screamed in agonizing pain, swallowed by the wake of the attack at its fullest. Baron shielded himself as the shockwaves from the energy were too bright.
"NEMUS!"
"This is getting us nowhere!" Rubanoid huffed, facing off against his double. He fired a Corundum Tusk attack, but the copy countered by making translucent red hexagons that amplified abilities. It fired a Red Deeper attack in retaliation, beaming through the shields to give them a stronger effect that vaporized clean through the shards. Rubanoid was overwhelmed when the beam engulfed his entire front, causing an explosion that forced Linus to kneel and shield using his forearms.
"Rubanoid!" he shouted.
The beam dissipated, revealing the ruby dragon's entire body steaming and sizzling from impact. He wavered some, but he caught his feet underneath in time. "I'm…I'm okay, Linus…" He faced his clone, who stepped forward without any sign of wear. "We won't…lose this time." His eyes glimmered. "I swear it."
Kimera-Aranaut parried his counterpart with a kick, matching him blow or blow. Every time Aranaut would duck, the clone would be like a mirror and follow him. Punches matched up with one another in lightspeed flurries, yet to no avail.
"Don't let up, Aranaut! Keep fighting!" Fabia shouted.
"As you command, my Queen! I will fight!" He landed a successful kick that swept across the clone's face. "Until the very end!"
"Phosphos, go!" Lena shouted. At her behest, Phosphos scowled as he met his clone's claws with his own.
Avior roared through the air as he evaded an Ifreet Cannon from the clone, which continued and melted away a platform down below. Mason held on tight as he had a serious frown on his face as he held up an ability. "Long Aercules!"
Avior opened his maw wide, firing back at the clone with searing ferocity. "Go down~!"
Plitheon's twin melee was him and his copy parrying the other in ultra-fast swipes, with Contestir countering a Shining Monk with Advance Rapier, making a bright explosion. Elright's Raptorix was spinning against his double, with nearby having Wolfurio and Boulderon meet their copies' fists with their own bodies.
"Don't slow down, Drago!" Dan roared. "It may be your double, but it doesn't have something that you have! Me!"
"Yeah…you're right!" Drago ducked when a Dragon Blade swiped across, cleaving clean through the pillars behind Drago. With the low angle, Drago had a clear opening. "Now!"
"Ability, activate!" Dan shouted. "Dragon Exploder!"
A circumference of fire stirred around Drago as the heat gradually built up around him. It expanded gradually until it erupted into a large mass of flames that the Kimera was too close to and was blown away upon combustion taking place. Drago roared mightily as he stood tall, blowing everything away around him.
The Kimera clone roared out as it landed on its back, slamming into debris. Drago stepped up, fists balled with a passion. "You won't ever get a leg up on me, fake! You're not the real thing, no matter how much you look similar! And because of that…!"
As Kimera-Drago got up for a lunge, he shot at Drago full-speed…but it was anticipated and Drago sidestepped. He kneed his clone hard right in the chest. "-WE'RE TAKING BACK WHAT IS OURS!"
"Our homes may be a wreck, but if we really have to kill Riaan to restore it all…" Dan balled his fists tighter. "Then we'll do just that! That is a promise!"
Kimera-Fly Beetle's heavily ironed frame charged at full might into his counterpart, who caught him with all his brute strength. However, the impact was so massive that another volley of shockwaves exploded everywhere, dicing and flattening the plates beneath. Fly Beetle dug his heels in as deep as he could, but his opponent was not only more durable, his armored form made it impossible to scratch him the way he was now.
The insectoid snarled as his heels grinded against the ground, holding back his foe as best he could. "You're…a tough guy, aren't you…?!" he snarled.
Shuji gritted his teeth as he held onto Fly Beetle. He had to get this thing off his back. All he needed was a little elbow room. 'Gotta get us some distance…let's try this!' He glanced down at the ground. "Gate Card, open! Phantasm!"
The Gate Card shined below them, making Kimera-Fly Beetle's entire body momentarily pause. For a brief moment, stone appeared on its legs, making it stiff for a brief moment. However, while his power refused to drop due to the effects of Armored Ultima, it was just for a split second that Shuji and Fly Beetle needed.
Opening his wing shields, Fly Beetle flew into the air to get an aerial advantage on their foe. The enemy, however, looked up and gave another unintelligible roar. The stone around the heels cracked and chipped away, the carapace showing no signs of deterioration.
"Tougher than rock, most definitely." Fly Beetle told himself.
"Here it comes!" Shuji warned.
Kimera-Fly Beetle gave off a violent roar as his wing shields spread as well. The Bakugan lurched as it produced a monstrous wake of seismic shockwaves that depressed the ground instantly. The Gate Card shattered to fragments, which were vaporized by even more shockwaves that pushed through. They expanded upwards in all directions, causing Fly Beetle to use his forearms and take the attack head-on. It was so harsh that it pushed him back down towards the ground, sliding across the battlefield.
Hercules Fly Beetle: 1600 (+600) = 2200 Hercules Fly Beetle: 2000 (-600) = 1400
His left arms gripped the ground, making dense ditches that intensified traction to a full stop. Fly Beetle growled, but he lifted his head and growled.
"That was Seismic Grandum." Shuji grunted. "I knew that wouldn't hold off for long…"
"Alright, Shuji! It's on now!" Fly Beetle stomped on the ground, gathering his bearings. "Let's give him what he asks for!"
His eyes narrowed with a smirk. "You read my mind. Let's go!" He held up two abilities. "Double ability, activate! Armored Ultima-!" Fly Beetle lurched incredulously as his frame hardened, the edges becoming sharper, and far sturdier than before. "Plus Fusion Ability, Terra Phalanx!" Where Fly Beetle stood, the ground magnified in gravity and made an outline of his body in dense, brown-orange energy. His carapace was even harder to where it creaked every time that he stirred. The beetle expelled a violent roar as he declared battle.
Hercules Fly Beetle: 2200 Hercules Fly Beetle: 1400 (+600 +400) = 2400
Kimera-Fly Beetle charged head-on, going for nothing short of a brutal collision.
"You asked for it! Let's go!" Fly Beetle charged ahead as well.
The two tanks above any and all Subterra Bakugan collided centerfield, resulting in a blistering shockwave that leveled the ground and repulsed anything and anyone. It sounded like two metal planes that crashed into one another without any fire. The only indications being gritting sparks that churned with their bodies. Their feet churned ground as they adjusted their positions for optimal destructive force. They were horn-to-horn, throwing their tusks and large structures with parried blows that made individual impacts on the areas they stepped on. The air trembled around them as flashes happened between each consecutive blow to tire the other out, but head-to-head as they were, it seemed like nothing was getting by the other. It was taking Fly Beetle everything to keep his clone from pushing forward without hesitation. The insectoids snarled at one another as magnitudes quivered within. They were in a severe deadlock with horns interlocked, as were tusks.
Shuji held on with all the grip he had going for him. He eyed down the Kimera, looking for an opening. When the insectoid lurched, that's when he found it.
"NOW! FLY BEETLE!"
Fly Beetle pulled his fist back. "Okay, you're on!" He pivoted forward, driving it into the face that didn't budge. But that's what Shuji wanted.
With that small window, Shuji, who was clinging to the arm at the time, jumped off upon impact and went into freefall over the upper right arm. He came down with the intention to land on it. His feet planted on the forearm's hard surface, holding on firmly.
'Made it!'
The Kimera snarled as it looked down at Shuji on its forearm, but it was too focused on its opponent to use its other limbs properly. It jutted its horn a little more, elbowing Fly Beetle for enough rom so it could raise its left arm up.
Shuji held firmly as he watched the fist raise. 'That's right…try and squash me.'
The insectoid Kimera copy balled a fist tight and drove it down onto Shuji to get him off. At the last possible second, Shuji counted and turned to jump off. He successfully evaded the iron punch that smashed onto the forearm, causing a loud rupture.
Kimera-Fly Beetle raised its head for a cry of pain. Its forearm was badly dented in; chipped so much that it looked like bulletproof glass that still didn't dent in enough, but seemed bitterly broken no less.
Fly Beetle realized the opening and took it. He grabbed Shuji with his lower left hand to save him from the fall and thrust his horn into the opponent's face, causing cracks to appear along the left side as it stammered away in genuine pain.
Shuji's eyes were fixed on the damage the opponent had taken. "Looks like that did the trick. His Armored Ultima's wearing off." He thought briefly back to when he jumped off just now. 'I knew there was a limit to how long Armored Ultima would last. Unlike Carapace Riot, which lasted for like a minute, this one lasts much longer. But since we had harder bodies as well, we just had to shorten that gap. Now's our window.'
The hardened exterior of Kimera-Fly Beetle gradually reduced to normal, its low growls indicating its discomfort.
Shuji's eyes dilated. 'Now!' He held up an ability. "Ability, activate! Rupture Shield!"
Fly Beetle raised his lower hand and stamped it into the ground. The earth trembled beneath Kimera-Fly Beetle as it realized something was coming up from below. All around, stone and boulder gradually created a dome that it was too slow to act up against before sealed off. The Bakugan was completely enclosed inside.
"That'll keep him from gong anywhere for a little while." Fly Beetle commented.
"It won't even be able to use abilities while trapped inside. Not even Armored Ultima will work." Shuji replied.
Inside the barricade, Kimera-Fly Beetle faced the wall in front and growled. It charged head-on, colliding its horn into the boulders. The result was a huge quake and rupture that buffered it, causing its power to drop towards 2100. Its eyes dilated in anger and it threw a punch with its left arm into the barrier, causing a similar eruption of earth and dust right into its face. Its power again diminished towards 2000.
"We won't get a better opportunity than this. Let's go!" Shuji held up his Bakumeter, showing three holographic abilities lined up with each other. "Triple ability, activate! Horn Gaia, plus Tectonic Edge, plus Fusion Ability, Terra Phalanx!"
Fly Beetle's already outlined frame got an even brighter and denser mass around it. The earth trembled beneath him as he gathered so much power into his power, which concentrated in between the lower and upper horn. It magnified its mass and he raised his head, then plunged it deep into the ground. Jagged stones with bright orange energy pillars in their centers beamed up from below, working their way towards the dome and into their opponent.
Hercules Fly Beetle: 2000 (-600 -500 -400) = 500 Hercules Fly Beetle: 2400 (+600 +500 +400) = 3900
Inside, the ground violently shook as the trapped Kimera felt another uprise. However, it was helpless when spikes of rock and terrifying Subterra matter exploded into a beam from straight below. It let out a terrified shriek as its body – along with the shield – were engulfed in white before fading to a bright flare.
A massive explosion of energy shot skywards into a pillar. Shockwaves blew everything away, making the ground leveled. With his monstrous bulk and armored force, Fly Beetle stood still like a statue, unmoved even in the face of this atomic rupture.
As it diminished, he and Shuji glanced forward at the fallout of this attack. They watched their Kimera copy roar mightily as it reverted to a blob-like mass, before vaporizing in the attack.
The attack gradually settled down, with the two standing tall over the sizzling landscape that was their defeated foe.
"That's what happens when you try to show unbreakable we are." Shuji scoffed. "We break you."
The enemy Atmos shrieked as it closed in; its body spun at an alarming rate with a green tornado with slicing currents that snaked through the air after Atmos. Its power increased by 400 thanks to Anemoi Wings' effects, bringing its power to 1800. Atmos and Jase swerved through the air, trying to stay out range of the cyclone, but it drew in too fast.
"Ability activate, Skyliner!" Atmos heard the ability loud and clear. Wind exploded from his tailfeather as he jettisoned through the air to get a distance between himself and the razorblade tornado. As much as it served around, the scrapping cyclone was unable to keep up and dispersed when Atmos' tailwind storm.
Apex Atmos: 1800 Apex Atmos: 1500 (+700) = 2200
With them having been able to outpace the cyclone, Jase and Atmos swerved through the sky, gradually gaining up on their opponent. They outmaneuvered the falcon and got above, where Atmos took a beeline downwards.
At the last possible second, the Kimera clone did its own barrel roll, rotating out and around. Atmos gathered his bearings and went on, whereas the clone took the rear and followed after them.
'Even without Anemoi Wings, its wings give it aerodynamic abilities that allow it to control the wind pressure around it.' Jase thought as they traveled at Mach speed, the clone was right on their tail, though Atmos' tornado stream gave him some leeway for distance. 'It's not gaining up on us. It appears to be keeping its distance for the time being…' His eyes narrowed. 'In that case, it must be doing something…'
The Kimera clone kept up its pursuit, angling its wings back further to increase speed and catch up above their foes, wings spread thin.
"Here it comes! Ability, activate! Aerial Stream!"
As Kimera-Atmos expelled a gravitational wind for Draft Burden, Atmos angled his wings back farther and jettisoned across the atmosphere, barely evading the downward wind that would have plundered him to the ground. Atmos swerved left and right, his tailwind draft replacing his tornado with the current that carried the gravity storm on his tail. He spiraled into a funnel, displaying acrobatics as he danced about into loops that carried the draft right into the Kimera's direction.
The two avian were going for a head-on collision with one another, with their speeds suddenly breaking the sound barrier.
Jase narrowed his eyes. 'Now!'
As the two avian were about to collide, Atmos' yellow eyes widened and he angled out enough that his neck was exposed. The Kimera clone passed by, with in that small window, it didn't realize the taser lance that was jutting out from the side by Jase. As they passed, the sharp, electrified ends crackled and slashed on by right in the eye.
The Kimera released a blistering wail at the surprise attack and lost focus. Atmos angled out while the clone was in freefall right in the path of its own attack. The Draft Burden's gravity returned in full, shoving it through the air and downwards in a shrieking panic.
Atmos arched around as Jase pointed down towards the field. "Gate Card, open! Capacity Overdrive!"
The Gate Card shined brightly far below, giving Atmos above a vibrant aura around his body. The aura infused into his emerald wings, making them thicker and glossier than before.
The falling Kimera-Atmos was unable to regain its balance. Its eye still stung from Jase's taser lance and kept plummeting, whereas the original was ready.
"It would have been a hassle since Bottom Draft and Skyliner would make the Gate Card ineffective against Apex Atmos." Jase noted. "So if not my opponent, we can use the Gate Card for ourselves…let's end this, shall we?"
"Absolutely!" Atmos twisted his frame and followed straight down onto their falling foe. While not fast, it was still plenty to get a good shot through his keen eyes. Once he was locked on, he was all set.
Jase held up an ability for the signal. "Ability, activate!" He raised it high, light reacting over momentarily, then passed over as he reached down dramatically. "Whirl Barrage!"
Atmos' eyes widened before opening his beak as wide as possible for the loudest caw he's ever made. The emerald gleam around his wings erupted into four massive cyclone that channeled around each wing. Each one had an intensified wake embedded in each one and fired down onto the enemy falling falcon. Each tornado was emerald and spun at a rate that far exceeded the standard hurricane mileage, and each one infused into one big tornado wake that went beaming straight down onto the falcon.
Apex Atmos: 1800 (-1200) = 600 Apex Atmos: 2200 (+1200) = 3400
The tornado beam steadily closed in, reaching a point before they branched into smaller tornado beams that closed in on the Kimera. It barely noticed at the last second before they engulfed it.
At the same time it slammed into the ground, grounded at that, the tornadoes disappeared for a moment before a blast wave of winds and cyclone erupted like a tsunami wave in all directions. A pillar of drafts and wild winds shot skywards in front of Atmos and Jase as they remained unfazed by the attack's recoil.
The winds ripped everything apart, including the Kimera clone as it shrieked in agonizing pain and glowed a rainbow light, reverting to a Kimera that dissipated into the winds.
They gradually simmered away, leaving the ground debris completely decimated and left in dust that scattered in the winds. That same wind shifted Jase's hair as he looked down in a serious frown and prodded his glasses once more.
"I suppose that takes care of that for now. But truly…" He paused. "Making use of an original for a meager substitute…" He glared forward. "It's starting to wear on me."
The Kimera-Jelldon's plasmatic double whipped its tendrils forward in plasmatic hyper flares. Its power shot dramatically towards 2000.
"Ability, activate! Plasmorphis!" Maggie shouted. Jelldon's body started feeling lighter as plasmatic energy flowed through him. In split seconds, he was fazed through by the tendrils, which erupted into a large mound of fire behind Maggie's back as she stood calmly on Jelldon's shoulder.
The enemy Jelldon cloned copy retraced its tendrils, recoiling them back as it snarled at the original.
'With Plasmorphis, we won't have to worry about our abilities being nullified. Now for the next phase.' Meggie held up another ability. 'And Minion Deluder won't work on the clone. So that leaves us to do this.' "Ability, activate! Binary Plasma!"
"Alright then!" Jelldon's excess plasma leaked from his body, gradually working through the air to manifest into what can be described as a lookalike of him right down to the cellular structure.
Astral Jelldon: 1400 Astral Jelldon: 1500
Astral Jelldon: 2000 Astral Jelldon: 1500
"Now we have a deadlock of our own." Maggie stated. "Binary Plasma makes the clone Jelldon immune to abilities since it's just made of plasma. Now, let's see what they do next."
Both Jelldon waited for the right opportunity. The cloned plasmatic copy by Kimera fired more plasma tendrils like projectiles that showered through the atmosphere. They were like lightning beams that were as hot as the sun. Maggie made sure to stay low and behind Jelldon's shoulder armor as his body opened holes from the plasma, still unaffected by the attack. Likewise from the copy that was projected. Both were spared.
The original Kimera-Jelldon snarled. It didn't like what was happening. Its body began flashing, signaling its start of Flash Atom.
'Now!' Maggie reached down. "Gate Card, open! Evil Clear!" The Gate Card shined below them, making a bright light that beamed intensely.
The explosive flare Kimera-Jelldon was about to do completely turned off. Moreover, the plasmatic body frame it had began solidifying yet again. The plasmatic clone on its side gradually dissipated until it was no more.
Astra; Jelldon: 1400 Astral Jelldon: 1500
Astral Jelldon: 1500
"That'll nullify the abilities it's laid out. Get ready!" Maggie shouted. Both Jelldon braced themselves upon her order.
The singled-out clone snarled lurched as it began bolstering heat around its body until a critical point lead to it pressurizing.
Maggie's eyes widened. "Ability, activate! Cosmos Body!"
The Kimera clone expelled an omnidirectional blast wave of fire centering around a pillar, via Solar Flare. It raced after them in an attempt to incinerate them, but the clone on Jelldon's side expelled another explosion of bright red light that seared the attack into atoms. The flames gradually dissipated, leaving a blinding light that left the enemy to stare into with its seven eyes covering up.
"Now, Jelldon! Ability, activate! Cell Matter!" The real Jelldon whipped one of his tentacles at the Kimera, drenched in rainbow loops that extended towards the tip. The bright flare his clone gave off was the perfect cover, for with it blind, it couldn't see what was in front of it until it was too late.
Jelldon's tentacle struck into the core with a hefty grunt, shimmering a bright rainbow light that caused it to lurch with a groan. The Bakugan snarled and careened its upper body up as the rainbow infection stuck with it, changing its attribute from Pyrus to what looked like Aquos.
Jelldon retracted his tendrils, glaring at his copy. "Alright, let's finish it off!"
The clone didn't appreciate that/ It shook its head and gave off a loud roar, its entire body wriggling about frantically. A bright shimmer expelled around its body as particles and ions circulated throughout the area.
"It's using Element Storm." Maggie realized. "Okay…go!"
"You bet!" Jelldon and his clone went beelining right for the clone.
The enemy Jelldon snarled as it eventually reached a peak in its potential. Plasmatic lightning crackled as it aimed for the original, expelling a typhoon of raging, blue particles much like shards that stormed into him and Maggie. The little girl held up her Bakumeter.
"Ability, activate! Cosmos Body!"
Jelldon coiled up his six tentacles in front to shield his upper body and Maggie from the intense attack wave heading their way. The spiraling storm of blue and sapphire ions struck, him, engulfing him and Maggie in a huge wall of shards and eruptions that the jellyfish held off against.
Within the eruption's wake, the Kimera clone looked on unimpressed. It reached into the eruption, attempting to snatch up something, using Cell Matter as well. It reached in and seized Jelldon's upper left arm, infecting it with a glow to transform him into Ventus, much to his chagrin.
"Our attribute changed, that means our Pyrus abilities either." Maggie realized.
The Astral Jelldon faker snarled as it pulled back, dragging Jelldon closer, eventually slamming him into the ground with a large thud. The dust quickly settled, revealing Jelldon and Maggie still held firmly by the clone.
"You forgetting someone?"
The clone heard a familiar voice and its two antennae eyes turned to look above, seeing a swirling red and ruby ion cyclone that gradually charged up, much to its shock.
Maggie smirked. 'It took the bait!' She held up two abilities. "Double ability, activate! Element Storm, plus Fusion Ability, Element Booster!"
The Astral Jelldon clone's eye shined brightly as plasmatic rainbow lightning crackled throughout the body and channeled into the chaotic mass swirling around its body. It made it far more electrified and sparkly, causing fireworks and lightning bolts to sear through its wake as it came down onto the enemy Jelldon.
Astral Jelldon: 1400 (-300) = 1100 Astral Jelldon: 1500
Astral Jelldon: 1500 (+1500 +300) = 3300
The funneling mass came down, the Kimera quickly turning its attention to make a bright flare to neutralize it. However, when it seared on, the bright light momentarily obscured everything, including Maggie and the real Jelldon's vision.
'It's true that Flash Atom nullifies all the opponent's abilities but….'
The Bakugan's light shined bright red glimmers that ate away, revealing the storm continuing, much to its shock.
'Jelldon's clones are immune to ability effects. Which means…!'
The Kimera-Jelldon's eyes shrunk before the raging mass of energy hammered it head-on. A volcanic blast of ions and rainbow crackling energy shot skywards, bolstering eruptive shockwaves that made Maggie and Jelldon back away since their opponent was too busy being obliterated.
The roaring of the attack continued searing into the air, repulsing anything that would have been too close. The enemy Kimera inside had no means of holding onto this strength as its durability gradually ate away. The Bakugan screamed mightily as it reverted to a blob again, before disappearing into the red flare.
After a minute, the flare became several glints that dispersed, revealing behind a decrepit crater with atomized ash that sizzled over the two Astral Jelldon. As it sizzled on, synthetic repairs were being made on the spot.
The Astral Jelldon looked at each other, before Maggie winked and gave a thumbs up at the clone. "You did great giving us a hand. Thanks!"
"Thank you, Maggie!" the clone chimed, before he slowly dissipated into plasma and then thin air.
Jelldon's green light faded, turning him back into Pyrus as he and Maggie looked at each other with glee. "Who knew I was such a helpful guy?" Jelldon bashfully chimed.
"I did of course, silly." Maggie chimed. "We'll need that."
Kimera-Verias twirled its staff in one hand and slammed the tip into the ground, causing a series of golden energy chains to stream into Verias.
"That's Incarceration!" Shawn held up an ability to defend. "Ability activate, Icarus!"
The chains whipped themselves closer, but just as it seemed they lacerated around Verias, in a split second, a yellow dome of pure energy ignited around him and kept the chains from constricting him in time. Moreover, he subconsciously made the dome expand rapidly, shattering the chains to make fragments go into freefall around him, whereas his power escalated towards 3200.
The Kimera-Verias snarled as its attack failed. It gave off a bright glow as it power gradually started to climb. The earth gave off a very bright magnitude as its light manifested into a pillar of Haos energy that echoed with its roar.
Sage Verias: 2800 (x2) = 5600 Sage Verias: 3200
The Kimera-Verias raised its staff high and let out an unintelligible roar as it was slammed into the ground. Several flashes occurred until a shockwave of light beamed across the ground, ripping it apart while Verias and Shawn readied themselves for its incoming.
"Ability, activate!" Shawn declared. "Power Trick!"
Verias out his staff forward as a radiant light emanated from it. His body shimmered brightly between himself and his opponent. Even as the shockwave drew closer, he failed to budge. A rainbow light gradually eroded from Kimera-Verias and sped t the speed of light over towards Verias, whose staff absorbed it in time before the shockwaves struck.
Sage Verias: 5600 (-1200) = 4400 Sage Verias: 3200 (+1200) = 4400
The dust gradually settled away around Verias as he stood unharmed, save for some dust that was on his fur cape. He and even Shawn looked like they were having none of it from their clone.
The Kimera expelled a loud roar that distorted the air around it.
Shawn reached down towards the field. "Gate Card, open! Random Meinzer!" The Gate Card beneath shined brightly a moment later, including a paralysis effect that caused Kimera-Verias to go completely stiff.
Sage Verias: 4400 (-200) = 4200 Sage Verias: 4400 (+200) = 4600
With the gargantuan wise ape immobilized, it could only do no more than a loud roar of frustration at the inability to move. This was the small window that they needed to get it done.
"NOW!" Shawn shouted.
"I hear you!" Verias raised his staff high, gathering power into a bright Haos light source. The light's gleam brightened, becoming a powerful mass at the flat diamond jewel in the center. He and Shawn gave the clone a dead serious look.
"Double ability…activate! Polaris Hammer, plus Fusion Ability, Holy Destruction!"
Verias clutched the staff as tightly as he could and gathered up as much momentum into his staff. Once the light was compressed to the right amount, it made the entire staff's top expel a large mass of yellow energy that he directed into the ground. Verias roared out with all his might as he smashed the end into the ground. An eruption of light seared the one spot before directed ahead, expelling a hammer-like shockwave of pure concentrated light that sped into the paralyzed foe.
Sage Verias: 4200 (-1000) = 3200 Sage Verias: 4600 (+1000) = 5600
The shockwave shot at voluminous speed with such a force that a wall of light sped into the Kimera clone. It gazed forward, unable to fight back as the giant wall rammed into it head-on. The Bakugan almost immediately reverted back to being a blob before disintegrated into the explosive wake with a divine shriek of pain and agony.
By the time the light dissipated, there was a destroyed terra in front of Verias that led up to the tip of the Empyrean's side. The ground almost instantly synthesized itself to repair and of the damage that's been dealt with.
Verias stood over his area, lowering his staff and making the rings jingle. Shawn withdrew his fencer, sheathing slowly and giving a long sigh.
"Honestly, if this is how Riaan wants to move forward…."
"He has to realize we know ourselves by now. We won't lose to what weaknesses we have." Verias declared.
The two moths shrieked as they danced through the air, clashing blades with one another. Two demonic beings of angelic beauty was a paradox that could not begin to describe the unfathomable wake of their strikes against each other.
The clone raised its stinger and prodded forward, which the real one clocked against with crossed blades. Esther jumped off her partner and twirled her spear before coming down onto the underside of the thorax, causing a small but aggravating pain in the enemy. The Kimera's claws arose, but she jumped away, parrying the claws with her spear. They easily overpowered her, but the metal against the blades spared her.
The Kimera was so focused on Esther that it didn't realize the red scythe raised overhead. With a split-second notice, Atchibee slashed into the Kimera's head, causing a searing cry as a dark streak dissipated. It backed away for some safe distance, leaving Atchibee to use her lower claws to seize Esther from a small fall.
The Kimera clone gave an incredulous screech that signaled its annoyance. Atchibee responded in kind with her own. The clone's forehead eye shined brightly, emanating a distorted purple ripple that faded into the battlefield.
'That's Gleam Disruptor. It intends to reverse our powers onto us.' Esther held up an ability to prepare herself. "Ability, activate! Solaris Moondance!"
Atchibee's eyes glinted before she ascended higher with a strong wingbeat. Her scales fluttered everywhere with a cosmic dust escaping her body. It gradually engulfed her and fogged up her surroundings.
It gradually spread towards the opponent Kimera, but the accents on its body shined brightly. Its wings fanned out, expelling a Darkus-like light that vaporized through the scale dust, leaving Atchibee exposed to their adversary.
The dark purple glow got into Esther's eyes, making her use a forearm to shield her eyes.
Eclipse Atchibee: 1500 Eclipse Atchibee: 1900 (-500) = 1400
"This light…it can't be." Esther paused, realizing the case of the dark glimmering light. "Darkus Indignation."
The Atchibee fake's light faded. It screeched out once again as it glided after them, holding its scythes up for another slash. This time, Atchibee crossed her blades, being the one on defense this time. However, the clone's blade continued through, pushing so hard that it buffered the moth and Esther.
Esther held on the best she could, one eye open – though her bangs concealed it anyway. 'With Darkus Indignation activated, the opponent's Darkus Abilities are always nullified. Which means…'
Atchibee swept back, flapping her wings to straighten out. 'All we can do, is hold off until it uses another ability.'
As they gathered their bearings, a notable shadow loomed over them. Esther was the first to realize the scenario. "Atchibee, incoming!"
"Huh?!" The moth looked up, seeing the silhouette of what looked like its doppelganger far above them. With the light ever so bright above the ceiling, it looked like a ghastly insectoid eclipsing the light's warmth. Its shadow was so cold to be in.
Kimera-Atchibee spread its wings out, covering even more airspace that projected onto their opponents below. The accents shined brightly as a concentrated ray of glimmering powder and dark light engulfed Eclipse Atchibee. Particles raced from her back through the center of the light ray back towards Kimera-Atchibee.
"It's Black Solstice." Esther grunted.
Eclipse Atchibee: 1725 (still increasing) Eclipse Atchibee: 1125 (still decreasing)
Atchibee grunted as her power was being sapped away gradually. Her strength was neutralized, and worse of all, she couldn't use an ability to fight back. It wouldn't be long now until all of her power would belong to the fake's.
"Atchibee, hold on just a little longer." Esther demanded.
"I…will hold…" She grunted back. Her power was dropping fast, already in 600 and depleting.
Esther looked up towards the dark light, seeing through its coursing glow. 'When Black Solstice is active, the opponent cannot activate abilities for themselves. And on top of that, Gleam Disruptor will reverse our ability increases. That's why…' She reached down towards the field. 'We'll enact this.'
"Gate Card, open! Ring Zero!"
As Atchibee's power was gradually reducing itself away towards nothing, the Gate Card below shined, dispelling the attack completely and making Atchibee's power returned to 1400. The Kimera on the other hand was completely stiff and cold, unable to move at all. It was like it was frozen in place.
"Thanks for the save, Esther." Atchibee gracefully said. "Now, let's go!"
The moth went flying skywards, getting higher above its opponent, who was completely frozen in midair like time froze around it. With Atchibee high above, she dove down, with Esther twirling her staff again as they went for a piercing headshot.
Seeing them incoming, Kimera-Atchibee had to act quick. It hissed, before expelling a negative, dark purple glow all around its body. It shined everywhere, engulfing Atchibee and the battlefield. By the time the light dissipated, the Gate Card was pitch-black, indicating that it was nullified, and the two Atchibee were apart from one another evenly.
Eclipse Atchibee: 900 Eclipse Atchibee: 900
"It used New Moon to nullify everything and bring it all back to square one." Esther realized.
Kimera-Atchibee hissed in aggravation and ascended some.
"Atchibee, get ready!"
"I am always, ready, Esther." The moth declared.
The counterpart gave off a loud hiss as the two scythes separated into four slimmer blades that made the shape of a full moon. Darkness and purple energy amassed into a singular point, via Violet Pulsar.
"Ability, activate!" Esther declared. "Darkus Indignation!"
The Kimera screeched out as it unleashed a pressurized beam from its blades into Atchibee, who spread her wings to project the same sinister dark glow from her accents this time. Her radiant glow dispersed the beam before it could even hit.
With the glow active, Kimera-Atchibee hissed as it attempted to counter with its own Solaris Moondance, but as the powder was coming out, the accents on Atchibee shined brightly, dispelling them.
"Now it can't use Darkus abilities to be effective anymore." Esther prompted.
The enemy moth didn't take to it lightly. It raised its blades high and went for a furious slash at Atchibee, but the moth outmaneuvered her adversary and ended up overhead, her wings spread out.
"Ability, activate!" Esther cried out, pointing her spear downwards. "Black Solstice!"
Atchibee's wings flexed a bit more. "You're mine!" She expelled a blistering ray from her wings, which gazed and trapped Kimera-Atchibee in place. Like before, sparkles fluttered down from the wing rays, in which energy fluttered from the clone towards Atchibee, giving her all of her opponent's strength in full.
Eclipse Atchibee: 621 (still decreasing) Eclipse Atchibee: 1179 (still increasing)
The Kimera clone quivered and careened its head around, but it was unable to do anything. Unable to activate any abilities was one thing, but unlike Esther, it didn't have an escape plan.
"There's a line that separates those from being their own person, and those who know who they aren't." Esther spoke down coldly. "That very line, is defined by what actions you take to prove who you are."
The Kimera clone's power gradually sapped all the way to 0, causing its moth form to revert to a blob that wailed before disintegrating to nothing. Its violent, unintelligible cries dispersed through the air. Atchibee's bright ray faded as the Kimera's rainbow particles floated in front of them.
"From these actions, it shows…" Her eyes slowly opened, showing deathly serious blue eyes gleaming dead ahead. "…that we're alive, and because you attempted to reenact our experience, is where you cross the line. This is your punishment."
The air trembled as two armored serpent heads collided with one another in midair, making airwaves spread everywhere; the ground debris around them flattened from this force.
With their heads being so close to one another, both serpents were at another deadlock, and opportunity that Luke took to jump into the air, bringing his blue energy blade down. 'Abis' front and jaw are covered in thicker armor than his last two evolutions. Plus his scales are a lot harder now to deal with water pressure from seafloors. So…'
Abis careened his head up, buffering the clone to allow a momentary timelapse to expose the glowing gills connected to the diamonds. '…I have to target the most exposed point that aren't the scales!'
The Kimera copy was still processing when its brain wired on the human aiming for his exposed gills. It instinctively backed off, leaving Luke to follow through without any success.
'Damnit, he's still too fast!'
Kimera-Abis took the opportunity to open its maw wide and do a quick bite onto Luke. Just as it was coming down onto him, Abis' tail swung from the side, sweeping Luke across without enough force to crush his bones. He swept across as the clone continued its dive straight down, the extremely long body still running its course.
"Abis! Go for the tail, now!" Luke yelled.
When the tail-end was drawing close, Abis narrowed his eyes at his chanced attack. He didn't dare to hesitate as his immense jaws snapped onto the base of the two tails. With Luke getting his momentum on his partner's tail, he held on as Abis jerked up and swung around, whipping the massive opponent around like it was a whirling ragdoll.
When enough momentum was reached, he brought the clone around and whipped him right overhead, slamming it head-first into the platform far below with a destructive explosion of dust and porcelain tiling. The rest of it fell and slunk into the cloud as Abis let go and remained airborne.
Luke was levered up to his partner's head once more, taking a moment to process what just happened. He knew that it couldn't have been that easy. His partner had highly durable scales that could hold water pressure that even steel would be crushed against. He could actually see something stir beneath the dust – a coil!
"Get ready!" he shouted.
The Kimera suddenly bolted its long body out from the dust cloud, its upper half sticking out with its maw opened wide to show off its vicious rows of razor-sharp fangs. Dense blue energy compressed was compressing until it expelled into a deep blue beam, via Flood Quasar.
Abis realized what the attack was and quickly swerved about and around, evading the wake of the attack as it beamed across the atmosphere.
Daedalus Abis Omega: 1400 (+500) = 1900 Daedalus Abis Omega: 1400 (-500) = 900
The blue beam raced across the sky, yet Abis was being absolute in keeping tabs on not being struck by the blue beam. When it came too close, the clone tilted its head, making it speed into his face. That's when Luke used his sword and used its hyper-intense laser to bisect the beam around Abis' head, giving him space needed to arch down like he was diving.
"That was too close." Abis said. "These clones are reading our movements really well…here it comes!"
Luke gasped when he looked down, seeing another blue beam race up towards them in a direct line.
"Double ability, activate! Pressure Shield, plus Terror Torpedo!"
Abis' eyes gleamed brightly as he bellowed out at the incoming attack. He scrunched his body up a little, expelling a blue, translucent bubble-like shield that surrounded him and deflected his opponent's beams into dozens of smaller rays around. Kimera-Abis kept firing, despite the shield's force.
"NOW!" Luke yelled.
Behind the walls of his dense blue bubble, Abis' diamonds and accents along his body ignited into a blue energy that engulfed him. He let out an earsplitting shriek as he shot in a steep dive through the beam, keeping the shield afront to protect himself through the projected attack.
Daedalus Abis Omega: 1900 (-500) = 1400 Daedalus Abis Omega: 900 (+1000 +500) = 2400
Abis kept pushing with all his might. He beelined into his clone, closing the gap at lightning speeds. Luke held on tight as his sword was stuck out.
The clone saw him incoming and knew it had to act fast. Its instincts were yelling at it to. Its eyes narrowed as a change in pressure happened around it.
Luke's eyes narrowed further when he saw the accents on the enemy clone brightening. He could see the energy amassing into its maw that pressurized its Flood Quasar. It changed its hue to a darker shade and aimed for Abis and Luke. 'That move…not good! It's-!'
Daedalus Abis Omega's clone expelled a violent roar as its maw opened wider than before. The range of Flood Quasar transcended the usual mass, erupting into Hydrias Impact. The denser, darker blue beam roared as the entire airspace seared with destructive pressure. The full wake of the blast wave caused the ground to depress around the clone. It pressed once, then twice, and when a third time hit, it diced and defied gravity. Debris blew everywhere as the attack jettisoned and eradicated everything that it touched, presumably Luke and Abis as well.
The roaring attack continued its wake until gradually dispersed, becoming nothing more than a thin blue blast that faded into the atmosphere. Its gargantuan roar still lingered, however. The clone let out a violent roar into the atmosphere, slithering up off the ground to swerve around, showing of its triumphant strength.
As it screeched high and mightily, it was oblivious to something that moved within the debris below. It shifted a little, staying low so as to avoid detection. With what light was provided, it looked to be Luke as he looked up at the roaring clone.
Luke glanced up, seeing the huge visage of his adversary looming overhead as he hid amongst the debris. 'That was too close. Good thing I was able to read that quick. But that transition of the two beams…if I had noticed it a second later, we wouldn't have been able to react in time.'
Luke jumped a little higher onto a portion of the debris. He looked straight up at the monster swimming high in the atmosphere. His blood was running cold due to the shock he was trying to get over, but he clutched his sword tight and braced himself.
'This battle is far from over.' He cleared his throat as he took a stance. "Hey! Forgot something?!"
The clone leviathan-sea serpent ceased its screeching and took notice of the vocals that its frills quivered at. Its orange eye gazed back down towards the ground, where it saw and seemingly recognized the human that stood on the debris. His sword was held up high as he faced it head-on. It's reptilian slit for an iris dilated as it sneered down at Luke and roared with animosity. Its humungous frame went in waves as it went racing down after Luke with teeth bared. The hero bent his knees as he awaited for his foe to close the gap on him.
KKWWRROOOOAARR!
Its maw was wide open as it lunged for Luke from above. Suddenly, something that felt like a whiplash smashed into the side of its face, throwing it off course onto Luke's left and grinding into the debris. If it wasn't for the armor on the lower jaw, it would have messed up the alignment tremendously.
As it reeled from that sudden attack from literally out of nowhere, something invisible picked Luke up from his spot and glided skywards. The human held on as the cloaked mass serpentine about.
It took a moment for the Kimera to get its conscience in the right place and look up at where its attacker came from. It roared as it saw Luke high in the air, his blade still active.
"Here it comes…!" Luke braced himself.
Kimera-Abis careened its head straight up and bellowed out with a ground-shaking wake. Suddenly, vapor began swirling around it that turned into water. The water cells multiplied into a giant mass that exploded out large volumes of waves. The waves spread vastly, instantly drowning the debris and platforms within the area. Aquatic cyclones gradually arose around Kimera-Abis as it careened its head up, gurgling with vibrating scaled and glowing accents. Its body had a deep aura around it as it drew in power.
KKWWWRROOOAAAARRR!
With all its might, the Kimera lurched forward, sending the water cyclones and the vortex of oceanic water up towards Luke. It looked like the entire ocean was out for him.
"Now! Gate Card, open! Chain Link Force!" he shouted.
The Gate Card shined beneath, causing the water's direction to completely turn around onto his opponent. Kimera-Abis suddenly was swamped by a giant wake that it was unable to stop from crashing into it. It submerged from the heavy slam of the wave it was unable to fully defend against. Swirling deep blue water coursed around it, trapping it in a large ocean of water that crashed waves and submerged it. Bubbles came out of its mouth that indicated its loss of momentum
Above the water, in the giant waves that swayed too and fro, Luke remain high in the air as Abis gradually reintroduced himself, his Stealth Dweller ability having been active for a short time. He and Luke overlooked the enemy as the spiraling waves were under Abis' influence now.
Daedalus Abis Omega: 3000 (-500 -500) = 2000 Daedalus Abis Omega: 2400 (+500) = 2900
Debris mixed with the seawater, causing Kimera-Abis to scream as currents made the platform masses slam into its sides under the tides. It wasn't able to do anything, while Luke and Abis looked on complacent at their fake adversary.
"We've managed to use Stealth Dweller in time before Hydrias Impact hit. That was just what we needed." Luke declared. "I feel kind of bad…sorry, but we're ending this! Abis!"
Abis lurched his frame. "You bet!" He arched himself into the water, diving into the raging tides that he was able to manipulate. He descended until he was eye-level with his ensnared opponent. Kimera-Abis was flailing around in place, unable to manipulate the sea it created.
Mustering his fortitude, Abis' accents on his body glimmered brightly, like a beacon underwater. Suddenly the tides completely overturned and exploded into a monstrous cyclone that raged around them. It became a giant funnel of seawater that engulfed the two Bakugan.
Kimera-Abis was trapped in midair, surrounded by tidal currents that rushed from all around into a center point in front of the real Abis. Luke's drenched attire gradually dried up as the water on his clothes was absorbed into the pressurized point in front of Abis. They glared forward as the enemy Bakugan blindly rushed into them.
"We'll hit you so much water pressure and energy, you won't be able to evade for a second!" Luke activated two abilities. "Double ability, activate! Tidal Divide, plus Hydrias Impact!"
Abis' accents shined brighter in split seconds as the water he absorbed drew in even faster. They became rain droplets from all over that spiraled into a single point and expelled a ripple-like wave of energy that fueled the fully0charged blue, aquatic mass in front that he unleashed at full might. "YOU'RE GOING DOWN!" Like his opponent, a monstrously large beam that engulfed everything. The enemy was completely helpless when it couldn't even use its own Stealth Dweller or Crash Coil to evade the highly condensed aquatic energy.
Daedalus Abis Omega: 2000 (-1000 -600) = 400 Daedalus Abis Omega: 2900 (+1000 +600) = 4500
The beam was so extreme that it erupted into the side of the Empyrean, making the walls feel under immense pressure until it became too much and crumbled. A gaping hole was within the very base of the Empyrean that erupted blue and dark blue energy into its distance and kept going.
KKWWWOOOOAAAH!
The enemy Kimera went limp as it was engulfed by the attack in full by its enemies. It tried getting a good look at them, but all it saw through energy was a silhouette with neon blue with a sword that shined at its top, almost like a horn.
The serpent reverted back to being a blob, which gradually reduced to oblivion in the attack's might. Its screeches went hoarse as it faded through the beam.
As the attack dialed down, the airspace roared with the wake of the attack gradually dissipating. Blue glints dispersed through the atmosphere where a massive, gaping hole was produced through the Empyrean's walls. It gave a brief view of the cloudless blue sky outside that Luke and Abis gazed at before synthetic energy lines materialized out of thin air. They gradually gained surface to white walls that rebuilt themselves.
Abis careened his head up and around, expelling another roar of triumph. Luke held his blade tight, holding firm to what he believed in most.
"Let's kick it, Drago!" Dan held up an ability. "Ability, activate! Dragon Eternal Force!"
The diamond on Drago's chest shined brightly as he opened his maw as wide as possible. He expelled a ferociously violent red energy flame that engulfed his clone, who was caught in too much shock to counter the energy attack. The flaming energy pulse resulted in a bright flare, which imploded into a large pillar of energy that shook the ground.
Drago's clone let out a violent cry as it slowly dissipated back into a Kimera, which disappeared into the fading fire.
"Alright!" Dan cheered.
"Ability, activate!" Shun held up an ability for Jaakor. "Moonlight Shadow Breaker!"
Jaakor appeared out of nowhere and crossed his arms, creating two huge green blades of energy that he crossed into an x-formation as he passed his clone. The clone, having been caught by surprise, was completely stunned, with the Skytruss and Orbeum clones taken back as well.
"HRAH!" Skytruss and Orbeum followed up and kicked their clones when they were stunned. They slammed into Kimera-Jaakor, grounding all three imposters at once. They gradually eroded back to being Kimera again, before melting away.
"A ninja must know how to manipulate deceit properly, unlike you." Jaakor scrutinized.
"HRAH!" Radizen and Roxtor slammed into their copies with all their might, finally putting them on their backs. As they reverted back to Kimera and dissipated, Radizen held up a fist and looked prideful.
"Aw yeah, who's the boss?! Not you, you freaks!" He boasted so proudly, until Roxtor spoke some gibberish back at him. "Wait, you're saying I called myself a freak?" He grew annoyed at Roxtor. "You know what I mean, Roxtor!"
"Ability, activate!" Gunz shouted. "Mega Harvey Cannon! Light'em up, Reptak!"
"You got it, Gunz!" Reptak aimed his shoulder cannon with all his might. "Goodbye!" He fired a compressed yellow energy beam that seared through the air, traveling into the clone. It stood no chance as it was engulfed in a bright explosion of energy. It reverted to a Kimera copy, then disappeared.
"Go, Hydranoid!" Alice shouted. Hydranoid opened his three maws wide, expelling what appeared to be his Hellion Pulse that sped into his clone. The attack made impact and struck all three heads at once, erupting them in a large explosion of darkness.
Andro Elico clawed at his copy, slashing so hard that it also reverted to a Kimera and vanished.
Phosphos blasted blue poison, where the other Gundalian Bakugan were unleashing blows to counterattack their enemies. Linehalt screamed with all his might as he passed his clone with Dark Saber, striking a pose behind as his counterpart reverted to a blob and faded away.
The Neathians were holding off as well, with Aranaut landing an Aurora Impact as he passed his clone, which faded into the Kimera and then nothing. Rubanoid's clone was trapped inside Mirage Field as he unleashed Scarlet Plate, sending ruby-colored energy shard that surrounded the incapacitated enemy before discharging a large sum of red lightning directly into it. Unable to fight back, it reverted to a Kimera, then to oblivion.
"Ability, activate!" Spectra held up his ability. "Mauser Impact!"
Helios' abdominal cannon opened wide as it gave off a bright hum. It charged up until the booster systems were at their maximum. "This one's gonna HUUUURT!" He tightened his muscles as he unleashed a monstrously large park purple energy cannon that tore across the ground, completely eating away at the enemy Kimera-Helios. Even with the FARBAS Infinity on its side, the Bakugan was still no match as Helios expanded the depth even more, causing it to become a Kimera once again and fade away.
As an eruption exploded and engulfed everything in its path, nearby, the Kimera-Vulcan was distracted by the attack that took down its ally, leaving Vulcan to aim Heatblast Cannon that beamed intensely into the clone, blowing it onto its back and making it splatter.
Percival screamed with all his might as he slashed across his clone, causing it to screech in agonizing pain before reverting to a Kimera. Nemus and Wilda fired spheres of yellow and brown energy as they bounced back to their opponents, hitting critical hits onto the Kimera. All three Kimera slammed into each other, leaving them to disperse into a gelatinous mass into the ground.
KRRRRRRRR!
The last Kimera that stood before everything wriggled around and screeched. It overcame with too much pain tolerance breached and gradually reduced to a puddle, fading away with its kind.
With all of the Kimera having been dealt with, magenta networks raced through the flooring, repairing the damage faster than what the species and Bakugan were panting. It was all cleared away, leaving a clean slate and white accents and platforms that reformed on the spot.
As Drago panted, Dan looked ahead, looking equally as exhausted. "Looks like…that did it…"
"Yeah…that was a close one." Dan took a second to gather his bearings. He frowned heavily; something about that clearly making a less than amicable suspicion boiling up inside. "Still, I didn't like what just happened. Those things, just what were they exactly?"
"Beats me." Drago said. "But, whatever it was, it packed a wallop."
"Those Bakugan…if they weren't from New Vestroia or the other planets, they must be artificial. Just like Armagedoid must be." Mira stated.
Some of the people turned towards them in shock.
"What was that? Artificial Bakugan?!" Zenet gasped.
Spectra put a hand to his chin. "That would make sense. The DNA forbidden card we used to neutralize the Interacian Bakugan should have wiped them all off the face of Interacia. If those Bakugan still remained even after, then that must mean Riaan's DNA structure must have something to do with it."
Paige raised a brow. "Hm? Well, that's a bit of a stretch, but…it's not like we have much of a lead to go by."
"Paige is right." Boulderon said. "They could have been created after you guys used that card."
"Maybe…" Spectra frowned. "However, we have more pressing matters to assess. It's clear that whatever circumstances those Bakugan were created by, they were specifically designed to pit our strengths against us. In other words…"
As he trailed off, more magenta networks shined brightly beneath everyone and their Bakugan.
"Guys, look!" Orbeum shouted.
"The floor…it must be sensing everything we do!" Skytruss realized.
Jase prodded his glasses again. "Naturally. The Empyrean was designed to draw in energy. The excessive energy from the fighting will no doubt lead towards Riaan at the very top."
Linus turned towards him in surprise. "So then…our battles just sped up the process?! That can't be!"
"We need to hurry! We've wasted too much time!" Marucho shouted.
Nurzak stepped up in front of his worn out Sabator. "He's absolutely right. All the traps that were laid out before us were specifically designed to stall. If we dillydally, we'll be caught in another one too soon to blink."
KWWOOOOOOH
Everyone turned and heard the grotesque roar in front of them. They all flinched at the sheer volume that it took up.
"What the-?! I thought we've dealt with them all?!" Maggie gasped.
"Wait, hold up guys, I see something ahead!" Shun directed everyone forward. "Look!"
Drago's eyes widened, as did Abis and Helios as they recognized small clear balls that rolled out of nowhere. They were in large numbers, exploding into bright, explosive rainbow glows that transformed into Kimera. Gelatinous masses erupted with twin tentacles and red eyes that looked ahead at everyone. Even more that were already out of ball form shuffled from behind platforms to reveal themselves from all sides.
Julie stepped back in shock. "Oh no! More of them?!"
"They're in even greater numbers than before. This is bad…" Alice fret.
Kimera growled as they all looked at the opposing Bakugan clustered together. Many copies of their originals formed; so much in fact that every other Kimera that transformed looked to be a copy. Dozens of Fusion Dragonoid, Jaakor, and Radizen for example were everywhere. And along them, Sabator and Linehalt, with dozens more Plitheon and Wolfurio.
"What the-?! More of me?!" Phosphos panicked, seeing clones of him wherever he turned.
"This is bad. We're severely outnumbered from where we stand." Lena worried. "Just where did all of these cloning Bakugan come from?!"
"We can't just stand around forever either, you know!" Mason chastised. "We've gotta go!"
"Exactly what I was thinking!" Plitheon said. He took to the skies, but he was intercepted promptly by an Apex Atmos clone that sped out of nowhere. "What the-?!"
Jase gasped. "So fast…Plitheon move!"
But it was too late. The Apex Atmos spread its wings and projected a downwards gravity wind that struck Plitheon hard, via Draft Burden. He screamed as he went plundering towards the ground with Jesse, slamming him down onto Avior and Mason, blasting all four into the ground with winds drowning them.
Ren covered up as the shockwaves of their crash passed him. "Jesse! Mason!" He pointed ahead. "Linehalt, help them!"
"Got it, Ren!" Linehalt jettisoned skywards, reaching a high enough altitude before bringing his wings back. "Release my friends you fakes! Darkness Blizzard!" He flapped his wings, unleashing a dark whirlwind with snow and ice that went swirling up after Kimera-Atmos.
Just as the exact seemed like it was gonna hit, however, a Kimera-Elico jumped in front, expelling a bright light that lampshade the incoming Blizzard until it was fully dispersed. Rena and Linehalt covered up from that glow blinding them, much to their dismay.
Keegan, who recognized that light, opened an eye. "That's Element Core! Which means-!"
Just as he was about to finish, the glow from Kimera-Elico faded away as it flipped downwards. As it reached the ground, its skin tone and attribute colors were changed to Subterra-based. It plunged its claw into the ground, using Subterra Core to create a large fissure-like wake that spread out beneath everyone. The fissures all eroded below, seemingly disappearing until they exploded dust.
"AAAHH!" Aranaut lost his balance, making Fabia slide off.
"Aranaut!" Fabia screamed.
A Kimera-Sabator unleashed a Range Sonic that blasted into the real one's side, causing him to stammer away and nearly collapse. Nurzak was barely hanging onto his partner with all the rocking that's been going on. "This is bad. We are outmanned right now. And we have exhausted ourselves from the earlier fight. We have to hurry and fall back from them at once!"
"Let's hurry and give them some cover, Radizen!" Marucho shouted.
"You got it, boss!" Radizen shouted, taking a stance in front of his peers.
"Ability, activate! Matter Shield!" Marucho yelled. Radizen crossed his arms and tensed up as he created a thin shield of blue water in front of himself and everyone.
Kimera-Phosphos fired beams of blue poison alongside red flames from Kimera-Drago and dark energy rays from a Kimera-Linehalt. The shield managed to hold up, completely blocking off the attackers from them, much to Radizen's relief.
"Ha! You really think that'll work against this ability? Good luck with that, chumps!"
A Kimera-Fly Beetle and Kimera-Helios' bodies intensified, hardening with either sharpened edges or metal taking over scales. They targeted Radizen's shield, and went into glides across the ground to charge with all their might.
"That's Battle Warrior, look out!" Spectra shouted.
"And that's Armored Ultima!" Shuji warned
"Wait, huh?!" Radizen didn't catch their warnings in time when he turned back forward; two ironclad bodily frames splashed clean through his shield, dealing two spiky and metallic blows that sent him airborne. "Gaaaah~!"
"Radizen, no!" Marucho fret.
"Snap!" Dan gritted his teeth. "Drago!"
"I'm on it!" Drago dropped to a knee before he went beelining into a dash skywards. He jettisoned until he was high enough to where he was in the center of it all. "Now, Dan!"
Dan held up an ability ready to be activated. "Ability, active-!" Drago scrunched his body to charge up electricity, which turned into a growing red hemisphere that expelled outwards. "Dragon NR Gear!"
Drago roared with all his might as he expelled bolstering red energy that began enveloping Bakugan. However, the energy was disrupted when a spiraling blue wake that was a tornado of water sped through, Drago was barely able to catch it before he crossed his arms. The water cyclone enveloped him, dissolving the massive blow in no time while sending him coursing towards the ground.
A Kimera-Abis roared mightily as it careened its head around, successfully blocking off Drago's attack with its Hydrair Tornado.
Drago regained his balance in midair and looked back up. "Gngh…what power!"
"How are they stopping everything we do?!" Dan worried. "They're just countering everything that we throw…"
"They must have our battling styles figured out by now." Mira analyzed. "When they copy us, they must have a good idea of the experience in which we battle. In other words, in Luke's friends' case, they know when to follow up and corner a foe."
"I knew it was too easy." Shun grunted, his palms clutching aggressively. "If only we saw this happening sooner!" He snarled aggressively. "Jaakor, help them out!"
"You got it!" Jaakor leaped into action.
"We're right behind you, sensei!" Skytruss flapped his wings, flying with Orbeum directly beneath in the wake of the bulky ninja.
Reptak readied Harvey Cannon. "Count me in, guys! HRAH!" He fired a yellow beam into nearby foes that impede his path, however, it was all for naught when a Kimera-Avior fired a bright brown beam, via Battle Howling. It collided with Reptak's attack, making a bright explosion with brown ripples extending around Reptak.
"Heh?!" Zenet turned around, seeing a Kimera version of Contestir behind them. "Look out, Contestir!"
"What the-?!" He turned around to face his twin copy, but the copy was faster when a bright sphere projected and collided with his body. He yelped as his frame gradually stiffened to stone-literally. "This is…bad…" he muttered, before becoming fully encased in rock.
"CONTESTIR!"
A Kimera-Phosphos went beelining after Jelldon, but he caught it barely, becoming translucent with Cosmos Body so the attack wouldn't hit him. The creature bounced off, throwing it off balance for Atchibee to swoop from the side and sting it right in the main head, causing the clone searing pain as it fell over.
"We have to get to the stairs right away! If we don't, we'll all be stuck here!" Esther warned.
Luke turned towards everyone. "Everyone, we need a diversion! Right now!"
"How about this then?!" Keegan declared. "Ability, activate! Droid Hydra!" Andro Elico's metal clippers pointed in all directions, making blue beams gather up momentum before firing away.
"Hydranoid, let's pitch in!" Alice shouted "Ability, activate! Extreme Chaos Leap Sting!" Hydranoid opened his wings, the metal tendrils with demonic head shooting out with readied energy charges. Hydranoid let out a violent roar as he aimed his six tendrils in every corner, expelling dense energy that was on rapid volley projection.
Blue and purple energy beams fired in tandem, surfacing tiling and hitting random targets all at once. Explosions went off in every corner, igniting everything within a mixture of violet and darkness. The atmosphere was swirling in the energy provided.
"Nice work, guys." Mason complimented. "Now, let's get out of here-!"
"Wait!" Avior paused. "Look!"
As the violet explosions went on, all of the eruptions were being drawn into something that looked like a vacuum. The projectiles Hydranoid and Elico released were being sucked into a single point high over everyone's heads. When they looked up, they all saw that it was a dark hole that sucked up everything – even light!
All their eyes widened as the energy that was being absorbed was sucked into a Kimera-Atchibee, which fluttered aimlessly with a banshee screech.
"Oh no!" Alice exclaimed. "It's absorbing our attacks!"
A Kimera-Verias twirled its staff around and slammed it into the ground. Golden energy chains shot out of the ground at lightning speed, rapidly chaining up and anchoring everyone's Bakugan to the ground. Even the flyers like Atmos and Skytruss were suspended by these chains in midair, unable to break free.
"Incarceration?!" Shawn exclaimed.
"Gaah! Can't…move…!" Arnaut grunted. "My body is…chained up…"
"Get it together, everyone!" Fabia shouted. "We need to get out of here!"
A grotesque roar got their attention. Behind them, a Kimera-Hydranoid was blocking off their path. It snarled at their chained state, along with a lot of Wilda and Percival clones. Copies of all their Bakugan closed in on them in an attempt to take down their originals for good.
"This is bad. Very bad." Mira worried.
Jesse morbidly kneeled. "I'm afraid…this is where our script ends our characters."
Abis strained as he and his fellow Bakugan were trying to pry themselves out, but it was futile. Even Fly Beetle, who would bust out no problem, couldn't harden his carapace to get out of this one. The serpent and human partner grunted heavily. "Luke…"
Luke grunted, his grip tightening on his hilt. He looked down at the chains surrounding Abis' neck and jumped onto one without even a second thought. His priority at the moment was making sure that they could at least move around. With a battle cry, he swung the blade down as hard as he could. He cleaved clean through the one giant chain, managing to unhinge his neck. This made Abis more able to move his upper half around more freely.
As Luke fell towards the ground, Abis' freed neck allowed him to hunch over and use his jaws to grab Luke by his clothing. He flicked him back onto his forehead, making him kneel and watch the situation afront.
'It's gonna take forever to get these chains out of everyone. We have to move fast!'
A shriek from above got his and everyone's attention. They saw the ghastly visage of a Kimera-Atchibee fluttering until it positioned high above them. Its wings spread as it unleashed Black Solstice. The energy downcast onto the Bakugan, draining them all on the spot.
"Gnnngh…! My…energy is…draining…!" Drago grimaced, struggle inside the chains.
"Drago! Fight it!" Dan pleaded.
Helios grunted as he was hunching over, the strength that he had being drained away along with everyone else. "Helios!" Spectra shouted, but to no avail. "Even Helios' raw power isn't enough to break free. And worse, we can't even fight back."
"Sir, what do we do?!" Gus shouted, his Vulcan gradually losing his will.
All the Bakugan screeched out in agony as their power was being taken from them by force. As they were grunting and wheezing, many more continued closing in with open maws and respective weapons showing. Tentacles, tailfins, claws, anything that was there at their disposal.
"Percival~!" Ace shouted to no avail.
"Nemus, hang in there!" Baron's plea was futile as Nemus screamed in agony.
The opposing Atchibee let out a bloody cry as its claws and blades were raised high overhead. It descended lower, its shadow overcasting a darkness that no one could fully escape.
Luke raised his blade as Abis' freed neck made him roar up at their descending adversary. They weren't going down without a fight.
FWOOSH!
Before the energy could fully deplete all their energy, a sudden eruption of fire blasted from seemingly out of nowhere right into the Kimera-Atchibee. Its entire body went ablaze as its ability deactivated from the superheated rupture. Everyone watching and preparing for the worst looked up with shock at the surprise attack's play.
"What…?" Drago grumbled.
Jaakor and his fellow ninjas were still too struck with confusion to realize their energy was coming back to them. The Bakugan alongside them were all feeling their strength return.
As the Atchibee was ablaze and screech wildly, a Kimera-Hydranoid turned around and saw what looked like green projectiles that gunned everything within sight. It was caught off guard as the attack erupted in its face, making it falter backwards.
Many other Bakugan were caught off guard as the explosive green bursts traveled throughout the domain, arching across the platforms and levels the many Bakugan stood on. A long series if explosions expelled in the wake of it all. What's more, it looked like orange-brown bombs of energy were joining in, going in random directions causing Kimera to shield or jump away.
"What's going on?" Verias wondered.
A Kimera-Plitheon hollered as it went flying about through the air, but it was shot down by an explosive dark hemisphere that beamed from out of nowhere. A dark ripple came from it and ignited the Plitheon in its destructive wake. They all watched as the Bakugan fell head-first, dissolving into Kimera mush.
"Huh?!" Hydranoid raised his head at that negative energy attack. "That power…"
"Huh?" Jelldon's two antennae eye glanced back, seeing something shift through the explosions.
"What is it, Jelldon?" Maggie asked.
"I think I see something…"
Fly Beetle shifted in the chains to look back. "Yeah, me too."
Everyone looked back through the blaze going on at the entrance, explosive fire happening from the bombastic attacks gradually simmering away. They were suspicious of what could have possibly saved them…or missed their targets? If the latter they certainly would have lousy aim.
Maggie's eyes squinted. "You see that…?"
Jase frowned, glaring at what he and everyone were looking at. Through his glasses, he could see several silhouettes slowly walking through the explosions like they were nonexistent. They were all in various shapes and sizes, but what stayed constant was the six smaller sized frames that lead the way.
"Hm?" Spectra was seeing things. They looked familiar…all too familiar.
Everyone squinted and narrowed their eyes as the individuals were coming into view. It was hard to tell from their point of view, and adding in the flames was another problem as well. But those who recognized them were more than shocked to say the very least.
As the flames gradually eroded, the figures revealed themselves in slow motion. The tattered hood and cape combo by a hunched-over man was a dead giveaway. It was none other than Rogue Zero, all six members slowly walking through the frames, with their Bakugan following in their footsteps in the background of smoldering fire.
Abis' eyes gradually widened. "Is that…?!"
"Maximus…and Rogue Zero?" Luke gasped.
Nobody said anything. What could they say? They were speechless at the faces of the foes that they left behind in the Doom Dimension. Verias and Atchibee were gazing with shock, along with Fly Beetle, Jelldon, and Atmos. Their partners held the same exact sentiment.
As the fires kept flourishing, they were slow moving with a deadly serious vibe coming off them. All of them.
Cesar floated in his chair with a whimsical smirk, his Deep Freezer wriggling across the ground following his master's direction as the professor lifted his chin, flicking a lock that was out of place with a scoff.
Hendrix had his eyes set straightforward with fists balled. His footsteps were large and strict. He had a solemn look as Rafflesian followed him behind.
Ariella walked with a sassy sway in her hips, a sense of pride becoming of her as she rest a hand on her waist as her heels slowly tapped in front of the other. Unlike Hendrix's stone-cold expression, she seemed a little more easygoing, but no less deathly in her stare.
Killian walked with Swarm Moskeeto behind him. The former's glasses weren't showing any light, showing his eyes fixed ahead on the job. His stature was forward, ready to go at whatever came his way.
Xander smirked maliciously as he walked with strong strides, his miniature cape flailing in the depths of the shockwaves happening around him. He seemed unfazed by them, as was Ultra Dragonoid, who walked behind him instead of flying.
Leading the dramatic charge, Maximus was slouched forward, sauntering with sides swaying him to and fro – a fashion that Daemon Goblinball mimicked. The former's hood was up so the angle to be seen as more intimidating when barely seeing the dead-serious look on his paled and wrinkled face.
"Ariella…and Hendrix, too?!" Maggie quipped.
Shuji's eyes narrowed. "What's going on here?"
Dan turned towards them with surprise. "Wait…you know these guys?"
Esther nodded. "Yes. We've been adversaries from the very start. They were the ones who we've been fighting against for a long time, as long as Hades Pillars in fact…" She squinted. "And last it was we saw them, they were left in the Doom Dimension."
Rogue Zero and their Bakugan walked up towards the allied forces that was in trouble. They took a brief look around at the forces that were exact copies. The group didn't seem too concerned as they were with how everyone was stuck.
Luke eyes Maximus, who glared up at him with his gaze unhinged by any sense of remorse. "Maximus…"
The Interacian gave no response, instead his eyes shifted towards the sound of a grotesque roar in the form of a Kimera-Helios, charging head-on with metal coating its body for Battle Warrior.
Xander held up an ability. "Ability, activate! Molten Valkyrie!"
Ultra Dragonoid went for a lunge across the battlefield, screeching with all his might as he met Helios' double head-on. They intercepted the other, interlocking claws with a shockwaves between them. A red aura enveloped Ultra Dragonoid's body, gradually absorbing in the metal through Helios' arms and inti his own. His body got even hotter as he took in the energy and expelled a bolstering blaze directly into its face, sending it driving into the ground with a thunderous explosion.
Cesar revealed an ability of his own. "Ability, activate! Atomic Freeze!" Freezer's eyes glowed brightly as he channeled cells and solidified them. The atmosphere grew drastically cold before the Bakugan let out a shriek and unleashed an immense shockwave of frost and absolute zero ice that spread swiftly.
All the Kimera clones within sight were screeching in aggravation from before, then the shockwaves the ice and frost finally reached them, engulfing everything within a thick sheet of ice. Kimera clones were frozen solid underneath them, stiff like statues whereas the others were unharmed.
"Go, Swarm Moskeeto!" Killian shouted. "Ability activate, Swarm Cannon!" Swarm Moskeeto flew overhead and reeled his nose back, before making it extend into a long-range sniper rifle that charged up glistening green energy. Once it was at full power, a streaking beam expelled from it, which separated into dozens of smaller projectiles that smashed into the frozen clones. They shattered like glass upon impact, and many more were caught in the wake as Moskeeto arched around, causing the entire first floor to erupt is a green explosion.
Everyone covered up from the shockwaves of Killian's move. As they all tried to hold on, Rogue Zero was unmoved by the shockwaves.
Abis was recoiling, but he got over it and opened an eye. "What the…?!"
Suddenly, a jet of bubbles expelled from Clawcer, which spread across the battlefield and encompassed everyone. The foamy bubbles rusted up the ethereal energy chains in an instant, giving Fly Beetle the strength he needed to pry himself free. Jelldon, Atmos, Verias, and Atchibee were all freed as well. The chains shattered as many more Bakugan were using their strengths to break free from the restraints.
"I'm free!" Drago looked at his hands, realizing he could move freely.
"The ability was lifted? How was that possible?" Rafe questioned, looking at the Foam Dowser bubbles beneath Wolfurio.
Luke's group was shocked to say the least, but it didn't stop there. They looked back at their foes to find Rafflesian raising his tendrils.
"Ability activate, Yggdrasilium!" Hendrix declared. Rafflesian's briars plunged into the ground, where they gradually arose beneath everyone and laced thin roots around them, filling them all with a grand strength to make even Vulcan feel his gauntlets again.
"My strength is…returning to me." Vulcan muttered.
"I feel it, too." Reptak realized. "It feels like the roots are filling me up inside with its power. It's incredible."
Luke's eyes widened in disbelief. He could have sworn that they were going end up on the receiving end of Rogue Zero's hate. But they were actually…lending a hand? He was too shocked for words to say anything appropriate. "Maximus…I thought you were in the Doom Dimension?"
"…" Maximus didn't reply. Instead, he reached for his repaired gauntlet, with his claws sharpened in fact. An ability revealed itself. "Ability, activate! Nebulous Destroyer!"
Daemon Goblinball channeled a negative plasmatic energy sphere between his hands and fired it with all his might. Just as it looked like he was aiming for Abis, it curbed at the last second around, exploding upon impact with a Kimera-Abis that didn't see it coming. It fell to the ground, the ice shattering beneath its wake.
Rogue Zero stood in front of the allied forces as their Bakugan were hard at work with holding off the enemy forces. The allies themselves were still gathering their bearings at what just happened, let alone what was going on.
"What's the matter, Luke…you look like you've just seen a ghost." Maximus' raspy voice taunted. "Or are you happy to see me?"
Getting an understanding of what was happening, Luke stared down everyone. "…so then, how did you guys get out of the Doom Dimension?"
"Hmph, does that even matter right now? I thought you cam here to defeat Riaan, not extort pointless facts out of us." Ariella chastised.
Cesar chuckled as he flicked another lock. "It make no difference either way, but…you have my genius to thank for this marvelous plan of ours. You are welcome, I do not accept petty thank yous."
Spectra crossed his arms, frowning heavily. "You all certainly took your time getting here, didn't you?"
Shuji turned towards them. "You remember them?"
"Of course. They were the ones who assisted in applying the Forbidden data that was needed for that exodus we activated in Solaris." Everyone looked startled by this revelation. "So then, I take it that what you needed to do on your end has been complete?"
"Yes. We are ready to fight." Hendrix declared.
"Ready whenever you all are." Killian prompted.
"So then, it's safe to assume that for now, our odds are at an equilibrium?" Jase asked.
Cesar chuckled arrogantly. "Dear Jase, just what are you talking about? This has nothing to do with the likes of you simpletons. We have another agenda that we must address to Riaan ourselves if you don't mind."
Xander crossed his arms, giving them all a smug look. "What are you all look at? You got frozen by Freezer's ice blast or something? Don't we have somewhere to be? We don't have all day you know."
Ultra Dragonoid landed behind Xander, looking up. "Better make your decisions fast, more are coming!"
As he said, more Kimera clones were facing after them from all different angles. They were closing him, but Percival suddenly slashed a clone of Linehalt to throw him off, and a blast of light intercepted Kimera-Rubanoid.
"You won't get the jump on us again, clones!" Percival declared. He slashed again, this time with Kimera-Linehalt countering with Dark Saber to make a bladed showdown.
"Let's get back in there, Linus!" Rubanoid grunted. "We have to keep these guys off our tails at all costs, right?!"
"Right, Rubanoid! We must make a path!" Linus replied.
Spectra frowned at the onslaught happening. "It seems that these Bakugan are more resilient than we've thought. They won't go down without a fight I'm afraid…" He stepped forward. "Helios, go! Ability, activate! Warfire
Helios grunted as he opened his maw wide and faced skywards. He created a fiery hemisphere of dark flames before expelling it up into a high pinnacle. It seemingly faded, before a dark ripple exploded outwards and rained down pellets of dark fire onto so many Bakugan. Explosions went off as many were going down from the raid.
"That's right, keep them off our tail!" Dan shouted. "Ability activate, Dragon Astral!" Drago shifted in front and opened his maw, projecting a searing blast of flame-like energy that shot straight ahead. It severed into multiple other streams, striking down frontlines.
"Awesome!" Baron praised.
"Yeah, but we're still not out of the woods yet guys!" Mason warned.
"He's right. We need to stay behind and make sure that these creatures remain at bay." He looked over at Luke's group and Rogue Zero. "You all better hurry! We'll be sure to catch up, don't worry!"
"Are you sure about that?" Maggie worried.
Jase turned away, facing the stairway. "It can't be helped. If we don't keep moving, I'm afraid that we will be running slim on time to manage. We have to take the opportunity and strike."
"Jase is right. This is no time to be worrying right now." Luke said, his tone resolute. "We need to keep moving."
Maximus scoffed as he turned away, walking towards the platform that lead to the stairs. "Hmph. Good. At least we can both agree on the big picture then. The stairs are this way. If you're all smart, I suggest making headway by now. Rogue Zero, come!"
"Right behind you, Max." Xander jumped just as Ultra Dragonoid passed by. He jumped onto his partner's hand and sailed off in his lead.
Luke looked back at his close friends to see them all having the same, undiscerned facial expressions. They haven't the slightest clue of what to say or do about how the tables have turned, but they knew they had to get going, and quick.
Steeling himself, Shawn pivoted and started behind Rogue Zero. "C'mon, we better follow."
Maggie gasped. "Wait, hold on! Are we seriously going to trust them on this one?"
"It's not like we're fighting against each other right now. Truth be told, I'm suspicious as well…but I'm willing to believe in the cause for the time being outweighs any personal vendettas we've had for this whole tome. I'm sure that Rogue Zero took that into consideration. Otherwise they would have killed us when we were in sight."
"Shawn, you are absolutely right." Jase commented. "We have a goal. And we cannot afford time for anymore doubt. We need to use whatever opportunities and press on. Let's be on our way."
"Yes, let's." Esther agreed, before she started,
"Let's go, Fly Beetle." Shuji directed. Together with him, the insectoid and human started for the stairs.
As they all were making headway, Luke was being very quiet as he shifted looks with Abis. A part of him couldn't help but think back to what they said before.
"Maximus…I understand that you don't want to die truthfully. I don't want to either. But living a life of fear without knowing what you can achieve is something I don't want."
Maximus sneered. "Shut up. You…don't know me."
Luke continued. "…you're right. I don't know what it would be like to live alone your whole life. You didn't deserve to be here for so long, and now everyone thinks you're not like them. The truth is…we're all victims to someone or something. But if I'm going to die someday, or by someone…I want to at least try and know what it feels like to live."
'Maximus…is he really?' Before he could digress into his thoughts, Luke paused to realize that they had to keep moving forwards. "Abis, let's get moving." He mounted his Bakugan once more as they took off for the pathway that was available for them.
"We'll be right behind you guys!" Ren shouted. He faced forward, seeing Linehalt fending against an Aranaut and Vulcan clone. "Go, Linehalt! Don't hold back!"
"Gngh! You…bet, Ren!" He broke the stalemate and ascended above them, before coming down with a painful kick.
"Keep it going!" Dan shouted.
"Go, Helios!" Spectra followed up.
Both of their Bakugan expelled bright red and dark fire that blasted ahead. They were so close that they actually fused into a singular inferno vortex that smashed into copies of themselves. The entire area bloomed with flares that erupted skywards, while both Bakugan let out strongarmed battle cries.
Wilda's punch was intercepted by a Kimera-Jelldon's body turning translucent. However, he kept focus. "Get going guys! We'll-!" He was cut off when the Jelldon slammed a tentacle from the side, knocking Wilda onto his side with a loud crash. "Gngh! That's gonna leave a mark!"
The Jelldon raised a tentacle, endangering Wilda as he looked up. As the Bakugan screeched, it was suddenly intercepted by a claw grabbing it, holding it for the moment.
Mira gasped. "Radizen!"
"Gnnngh…I'm…fine." He grunted. "But…I refuse to be shown up…by the fakes of those new guys! We'll show them!" He shoved the tentacle away. The Kimera swatted another tentacle horizontally, but Radizen jumped to dodge. He landed safely. "You wanna go, you spineless freak of nature? Let's do this!"
"Keep it together, guys! We can do this!" Marucho exclaimed, but in his head, worry skyrocketed. 'At least I hope so.'
Luke's group and Rogue Zero made their way towards the stairs, the humans and Interacians coming to a stop with their Bakugan at the steps.
"Now then, shall we get going?" Cesar slurred. "I should warn you that it'll be a rather treacherous climb. You sure that you can keep up?"
"What kind of a question is that?" Maggie chastised. "You're only saying that because you don't have to use your legs, don't you?"
Cesar placed a hand over his heart. "My goodness, such a young one but so full of bite. I'm almost wounded. Very well then."
'Dramatic much…' Everyone thought in silence.
"Will you all just pipe down already?" Ariella hushed, before turning towards Xander. "Enough talk, don't you?"
"Heh, look at that, something I can agree with." He turned ahead. "Ready or not, here we come!"
Maximus started up the pathway. "Let's get going." He led the way, his tone rather neutral – if not slightly apathetic. The others weren't far behind with their Bakugan taking up the guarding from stray enemies heading their way.
"Incoming!" Abis warned.
Everyone saw an Infinity Helios and Hercules Fly Beetle fly up after them. And screeching from above, an Apex Atmos chimed loudly.
"Guys, keep them occupied!" Luke warned.
"That won't be necessary." Maximus insisted. "Cesar…do it!"
"Certainly, maestro!" He chimed. His antigravity chair zipped up and spun around, floating high above everyone on the giant stairwell. "Now, behold the power of my genius!" He tapped his gauntlet, a single button actually. He held it up high as the green shined bright green, unleashing distortion waves that spread to a very thin area.
As the green shockwaves faded outwards, the oncoming Bakugan were roaring into them when they passed them. They turned into a rainbow light that cascaded around them as they reverted to clear ball forms and dropping.
Similarly, Luke and Rogue Zero's Bakugan reverted to ball form at the same time as well, returning to their owners.
Cesar lowered his gauntlet, which still shined with a green screen on it. "There, that should suffice for now. It's not much, I admit, but it'll buy us the adequate space we need."
Shuji looked at Fly Beetle in his hand before facing Cesar. "What was that?"
"A built-in Dimension Controller." Cesar callously explained. "It's an artificial one, so its range only extends to 400 meters. But rest assured it works all the same. I do apologize, I didn't have the time to adjust the wavelengths to affect only the Kimera."
"That's self-assuring. We appreciate it, even though you could do better." Jase teased.
Cesar turned back with a scowl. "You try working under pressure for a change…!" In his profusion, he shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. "No matter, no one would understand the struggles of a genius. What a pitiful burden indeed."
"We must move on." Hendrix said, continuing stoically. "Don't let even the smallest obstacles impede your path."
"He's right, c'mon." Killian said.
Rogue Zero continued their way, with the others finding themselves almost completely at a loss for words.
"Well, they seem to have cooled down some…I think." Maggie prompted.
"It would appear that way. Then again, they're not exactly the ones to be warm-at-heart." Jase pointed out crudely. "Perhaps their time in the Doom Dimension may have knocked a few of their unhinged screws loose that their gears fell out of whack."
"I'd take that bet, but maybe later." Shuji started. "We better start climbing and stay within range."
"Yeah, let's go!" Luke followed. He tailed behind Maximus as they all continued.
The allies were giving it their all, as the constant cries of Bakugan clones fell upon them. Climbing the wide staircase that spiraled around the Empyrean's inside, Rogue Zero and Luke's group had one goal in mind: To reach the top. No matter the cost.
The atmosphere howled as magenta networks circuited through the Empyrean, reaching the center, where Riaan and Armagedoid were patiently waiting. A recent magenta network absorbed into Riaan, making him break the long silence he's been giving off.
"…so, Rogue Zero has finally shown themselves. I was beginning to wonder what other tricks they would have up their sleeves than just their entry." He paused. "It seems that they're doing rather well. But I wonder, will they be able to crumble my own surprises in store? Hades Pillars…show them your new power."
Down below, six sets of eyes were gleaming in various lightning. Lipstick was put on, and gauntlets and knives were sharpened to the brim. Visors and Bakumeters were fastened, with darkness swaying within the realms of a cape.
Little did anyone know, this war inside the Empyrean was about to take a drastic climb.
Tada~! Thought I was gonna jump right into Hades Pillars and Riaan? Think again! I decided to add a little spin of making not only clones, but the badass entry of Rogue Zero once more. How will they affect the battle from here on? We'll see! I'm really excited for what I plan on next! I'll do my best to make these upcoming chapters one to leave a mark!
Thanks for supporting me so far, and I'll do my best for next chapter!
