The Bakugan Battle Brawlers in:
Paradigm Shift - Part 2
A large transport was slowing down as if closer to the entrance of Relic City. The time was around the late afternoon and the driver, Andreas looked out of the window. And to his relief, there were none of the riots that he initially feared. "Hmm, it's pretty calm here," Rogue stated as he stepped next to Andreas.
"It sure looks that way," Andreas said. "If it is calm, then I say we'll camp around here for a few days." He turned to his crew that was all in the back. "Right… Rogue and I will head into the city. See what we can learn what is going on?"
"Wait… why can't we all go?" Vesta asked.
"We don't want to bring too much attention to ourselves. Our first objective is getting new clothes so that we aren't recognized as escapees… or rather, you aren't recognized as escapees. My name is probably on the Royal Guard's list."
"But… will Yurina really want the law to come after us?" Lola asked.
Andreas shook her head. "While Yurina has the power to do so, she hasn't handed out pardons yet. And she doesn't get to do something like that until after her coronation." Andreas stepped near the door. "Lola, you're in charge till I get back."
"Me? Haha, nice!" after this. He noticed Tammy looking at him, but she quickly turned away with flushed cheeks.
"Tammy?" she got up to face Andreas who called her with what sounded like an exhausted tone. "Want to come with?"
Her cat ears and tail perked up. "WOULD I!?" she quickly became self-conscious of the other people staring at her. "I mean… sure if you want me to."
Andreas folded his arms and rolled his eyes. "Well, are you coming or what?"
Rogue smirked to himself after he saw Tammy getting up and cheerily skipping to them. "You two should take the lead, I'll cover our rear," Rogue said.
Andreas saw right through this, but Rogue was strong enough to repel anyone that might come after them. He sighed and gazed away. "Not a bad idea… but don't think I don't know what you're planning…"
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
Putting Rogue's intentions to the back of his head, he led the way with Tammy skipping by his side. "Hey…" Andreas turned to the cat Alursian who spoke to him with an apologetic voice. "I'm sorry for before… I didn't mean to bother you back there."
"Forget about it… I'm just afraid of what will happen. Honestly, if Yurina is in charge and she's an Alursian… given how strong she was against the King. That's an adversary I wouldn't dare come close to with a fifty-foot pole. So I guess we focus on survival, she's going to make life better for Alursians for sure, I just don't know her true intentions. None of us do."
"Well, maybe this is good for us."
"I suppose, but we're still fugitives, so we need to focus on staying in the shadows and making allies."
"Got it!" Tammy said with a smirk. "I've got your back! And if anyone tried to mess with you… I'm going to make sure they will face these first!" she showed her feline claws.
Andreas chuckled. "No need to hunt anyone… yet. The last thing we need is to draw attention to ourselves."
On top of one of the buildings of Utopia City, Xaramesi was looking at the entire city while Zaria was pacing behind her. The half Alursian turned to face the lioness. "Zaria… I" Zaria held her hand up.
Zaria had her hands folded and her eyes were closed as she tried to calm herself down. "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10." she counted to herself. "Ok… I'm calm, I'm calm… what are you doing here?"
"I-I'm so sorry…"
"I don't want an apology, I just want to know what's up?"
"Well I was here to get to Zavanna's friends, that way Draconoid won't die and Fabrega won't fall apart."
"I know about that. I set them up for their Reversion Ritual."
Xaramesi immediately went defensive. "I intended to bring Zavanna back to her friends to revive Draconoid. That's all. I swear!"
"I believe you…" Zaria said. "And the High Council?"
"I left them…" she looked down. "You and Sakuya were right… the whole time I thought I was making a difference, but I was just being used."
Zaria kept her arms folded. "Uh-huh."
"Right now, I'm not ordered to do anything, that was all me."
Zaria sighed. "Aside from the obligatory 'I told you so', I've thought about this. Fabregans and Alursians can be good and bad. And I've thought of making you pay dearly for hurting Sakuya. I figured you would be living the high life. But after seeing you right now… you're far from the monster I pegged you out to be. You trusted that Aurea woman… and she threatened Sakuya, honestly… I'm not sure if I would have done any different if I was in your shoes."
Xaramesi still looked down. "I'm so sorry."
"Look… you don't gotta apologize, me and that Aurea woman had to make you choose between two sides. And well, if you chose to help me and Sakuya, we might have lost Sakuya that day." Xaramesi looked up at her with tears in her eyes. "If anything, I owe you an apology. Even when we first met, I was nasty to you."
"Oh, Zaria…"
"But… you need to stay away from Sakuya."
"B-but why… I need to apologize to her…" she looked down. "I haven't been the same since then."
"Neither is she. Her mind isn't well." Zaria said. "The experience shocked her so badly that she developed a second personality."
"A second personality?"
"That's right. Her name is Reiko, she comes out to basically handle situations that Sakuya can't. Reiko even battles for her."
"Oh…"
"Yeah, and to put it in short. Reiko hates you. So since Sakuya saw you, her emotions would have gone through the roof, and is probably taking all the mental strength she has to keep Reiko in check, assuming Reiko hasn't taken the wheel already."
"S-so what do I do?"
Zaria sighed. "I don't think you and Sakuya can go back to how things were. She… hasn't taken it well since. She barely even talks anymore, she does a lot of talking with hands now. So I can only go off her body language… There are moments when she does talk… but those are very, very rare."
"And it's because of me… I need to apologize to her."
"Yeah… and the moment you try, Reiko is going to hurt you - physically!" Zaria approached Xaramesi and put her hand on her shoulder. "Want my advice? Just… leave. We already owe you for bringing Zavanna back to us, and one day we'll pay you back for that. But, I think for Sakuya's good, and yours. You can't be around her."
"Well… I was planning on heading to the royal capital to help those that Yurina trapped…"
"This isn't me saying: 'Get out of here'. I'm just saying… maybe it's better if you kept your distance from Sakuya."
Xaramesi sat down in defeat and it took so much for her to keep herself from sobbing. "Well, I messed up badly… Aurea lied to me, Yurina lied to us all, I'm… I've been in the High Council… and nothing good has come of it. I still get those stares, Zaria. Not as much as before though. And weirdly enough, a lot of guys are trying to hit on me."
Zaria chuckled as she sat down next to her. "Heh, guys am I, right? But who could blame them? You're damn attractive."
"Zaria…" she awkwardly rubbed her shoulder.
"Hey, I'm not hitting on you! I ain't into girls, but I recognize it when I see it. So… I take it you still have feelings for Sakuya?"
"No… I mean yes?" she held her head in frustration. "Ugh! I don't know!" she stood up. "I need to think about things for a bit."
Zaria got up, and she helped Xaramesi to her feet. "Ok… that's fine. You've been through a lot. But if you need to talk, you can come find me, got it. Meanwhile, I'll try to find Sakuya or Reiko."
Xaramesi tearfully nodded to her. "Ok… I need to go back and see how Phoenix is doing."
"Phoenix… I think I've heard of him. Is he the one you dragged in?" Xaramesi nodded. "So did he realize he was on the wrong side? Or did you worm into his heart with your charms," she asked with a smirk.
"N-no! Nothing like that… he just needed a kind helping hand and well. We decided to help each other."
Zaria chuckled… "Hehe, alright…" she turned around to leave but she turned around to give her one more look. "It isn't fair what happened to you, what we all did to you. And I'm sorry…"
Garfield and Maia were sat, cross-legged while facing each other on the beach. They were holding each other's hands and their eyes were closed. The attribute sign was on top of Garfield's right hand and it was shining brightly.
When Maia opened her eyes, she found herself in what looked like a dark void, she was simply floating there with no one around her. "What the? Where am I?" she asked as her voice echoed through the void. She didn't get an answer, then she angrily folded her arms. "Great, did that guy seriously trap me within my own head!?"
"Hello?" she heard. She quickly tried to 'swim' through the void and she found Garfield way below her.
"Up here!" she exclaimed, getting his attention. He looked up to her and his attribute circle was still glowing. After he swam up to meet her he apologized.
"Um… sorry. I've never really done this before with anyone else's headspace before."
Maia folded her arms. "Whatever, you want to tell me where we are?"
"Well here's the thing, I don't really know. The last time, I ventured through my own head, I had someone showing memories to me and they were coming back to me so… Perhaps I can do the same… but we gotta do this in order. Try to remember as far back as you can before your memories go blank."
"Ugh… the only thing that I remember is being… saved by Yurina, but even she said that those were false memories…" she gasped. "Wait… you said that someone could show memories right?" Garfield nodded.
"That's what I think anyway… why?"
She dug into her pocket and she pulled out Liaru who opened himself on instinct. He then curiously looked around. "Glad somehow we can bring Bakugan in here. Hey Liaru… are you still messed up in the head" Liaru didn't answer. "I thought so…"
"What's the matter with him?" Garfield asked.
"The Fabregans did something to him. The reconditioning or whatever brought him to a primal state, like he can only growl, grunt, and fight for me and that's it. But he turns into his apparent real-self when the two of us are in Reversion."
"You're going to try to use Reversion in here?"
"That a problem?"
"W-well I've never tried it in my own mind… But I don't think it should be a problem." Maia shrugged as she closed her eyes and focused. When she opened them, her eyes became blue feline eyes with black sclera. She still had her blue eye rings. Her skin became bright with her twin-tailed hair becoming white and ending in bright yellow tips. Her clothes were replaced with a white crop-top with bright yellow accents and her skirt became yellow with red, bone spikes and dark leggings were over her lower half. Her white boots remained the same while a white, open jacket with yellow shoulder pads and yellow spiky accents appeared.
She grew a bright yellow mane on her neck and she had nine lion tails stretching out from her back-side.
"Whoa…" Garfield started blushing, "You look… um" she flicked him in the head and he recoiled back. "OW!"
"Focus will ya!?" she eyed Liaru who's ball form had changed appearance. "Well, Liaru… anything there?"
"H-Hikari…?" he asked.
"Yep, that's definitely you. You good?"
"Yes… where are we?"
"That's a good question." she eyed Garfield. "Hey, where exactly are we?"
"I told you, I don't know. If I had to guess, we're somewhere in your head right now." Garfield turned to Liaru. "So Liaru, do you know anything about Hika- I mean Maia's memories.
"Yes… the Fabregans did recondition me but they didn't erase all the memories I had of Hikari at least. My memory is hazy… but I can remember what I can."
A white light had blinded both Maia and Garfield. When the light had faded, they could see an early morning sky, and a pod was half-buried in a park. A woman was walking her dog and she came across the pod. She approached it and it suddenly opened.
The oxygen within the pod rushed out in a hiss and it revealed a sleeping child with a Bakugan inside it. "GAH! Who is this child?" she picked up an unconscious Liaru. "Is this her toy?" after she picked him up, the child started to shuffle uncomfortably and sounded like she was about to cry. The woman panicked and put her Bakugan back and she immediately calmed down. "Right… Who can I call for this?"
Liaru hovered as they both watched the scene. "This is what happened after we escaped Gundalia," he said. "Eventually the woman called someone and Hikari was classed as an orphan."
Maia gasped to herself. "Orphan? Ugh… why does that seem so familiar."
They soon found themselves at a house where other children were. Past Maia was walking around and she had Liaru in a plastic capsule that was tied around her neck for easy transport. "What is this place?" Maia asked.
"I believe this is what they call an 'orphanage'. This is where she was named 'Hikari'." she looked to be reading a children's book on her own. She had new clothes which consisted of a pink shirt with a depiction of a cute pig's face on it with a white skirt and pink shoes.
"Hikari!" they all saw a boy with some other children standing with a large ball in hand. "You wanna play?"
"Um… ok…" Hikari got off and ran to play with the other kids.
"Why… why does this feel familiar?" Maia said. "Is this what is supposed to happen?"
"Are you ok?" Garfield asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine… just feeling weird." she eyed herself kicking a ball and it never went very far. "So this is what really happened to me huh?"
Liaru nodded next to her. "Yes…"
Maia looked to be thinking hard. "It's coming to me… and…" she smiled. "I'm going to kick that ball right into that kid's face."
"What?" Garfield asked as they all saw Hikari kicking the ball as hard as she could. The ball somehow sped fast and crashed into a brown-haired kid's face.
He started crying and all the kids including Hikari tried to calm him down. "Must have been those super-soldier genes," Maia said. She eyed Liaru. "So what happened after that?"
"You were adopted into a foster family… unfortunately I can't remember their faces too well. It seems the Fabregans got to those parts of my memories after all."
Maia shrugged. "It wouldn't matter. In this timeline, I don't get folks anyway." she eyed Garfield. "Ok, lover boy. It's your turn."
"Oh… r-right." he blushed. "So uh… let me try?" he closed his eyes.
Garfield proceeded to show Maia everything he knew about her, this started back to when they met and were a part of Team Generation. How Garfield didn't make a very good impression when meeting her, but she would eventually warm up to him. Then the worst part, the memory which Garfield himself struggled to describe. Where he and Hikari were beaten by Phoenix and Isolde in the Tower, during all this, Hikari would reveal herself to be a Gundalian to Garfield. And after they were beaten the two Fabregans would take her away to get reconditioned.
They both found themselves back on the beach, and afterward, Garfield let go of her hands and Maia stood back up and rubbed her them slowly. "Huh… so that's how I ended up in their hands?"
"Are you ok?"
"Me? Yeah, at least now I know which side of the fence I'm on. Sorry that I'm not the sweet girl from your memories. I guess memories can't really shift personalities, can it?"
"It's… ok." Garfield begrudgingly said. 'It wouldn't be fair if I held it against her. It wasn't her fault.' He eyed the water that was crashing against the sand.
"Thank you for all your help Garfield. I can't thank you enough for all that you have done. Goodbye, Garfield."
'I guess it really was goodbye…' he remained on the sand looking defeated.
"Are you going to be ok?" Maia asked with concern after seeing his eyes behind hidden his bangs.
"Yeah… I just gotta be alone for a while. Sorry I can't do anything for Liaru."
Maia smirked. "I'll make those Fabregans turn him back!" he chuckled to himself, though it was an, obviously forced laugh. "If you mope here all day, I'm going to drag you back to the others!"
Garfield lay down on his back as he listened to the waves crashing. "R-right I still have to do the same for Alice."
"Are you sure you don't need a break? You don't seem alright." Garfield shook his head.
"I have to help her, and she probably wants her memories back. I think I'm getting the hang of these shifter powers." He stood up and let out a long sigh as he watched Hikari take the lead. "Dammit…"
Yurina was lying on her bed and she was sleeping with drool leaking out from her mouth. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything." her eyes shot open and she saw Aurea standing at the door.
"Aurea…? What are you doing here?"
"You… called me here…"
"Haha right!" she got up and shook off the tired look from her eyes. "What did I want to talk about again? Right, about what we'll do next from here!"
"Ok… so what is the plan?"
Yurina tiredly shook her head. "You see, I'm not content with just fixing Fabrega, Gundalia and Neathia had a war, and Earth… from what I've heard about Earth, it's a mess. They have people called 'World Leaders', and, 'Presidents' and 'Prime Ministers'."
"Your point?"
"Earth is on a system where the planet can't even unite under one leader, not as Fabrega and Alursia have. "They've also had many wars. I'll take what I did here, and bring it to the rest of the universe. But a lot of people may quit and we'll need to use the reconditioned battlers. And we may need more, but we're not taking them from Earth."
"You want us to Recondition the battlers on Neathia when we head there?"
"We'd have to defeat them first, which I'm sure we can do. My coronation is in two days, by then we'll need an army. And the reconditioned battlers will also let the people know about how diverse my new empire will be."
"What about the Arc project?" Aurea asked.
"You keep building those things. Once we take over Earth, Neathia and very soon, Gundalia. We can let our people explore the universe at their leisure, and the people of those planets explore at their leisure. We'll create a united universe. It will be awesome!"
Aurea nodded. "Yes, and should I talk to Leiya?"
"Who is she again?"
"She is the newest member of the Royal Guard, but she isn't taking you being the new leader of Fabrega very well. She doesn't really like Alursians."
Yurina huffed. "If she doesn't want to fight… then I won't make her. Maybe I can talk to her. Hopefully, make her see things my way. If she doesn't feel the same, then she can leave." Aurea nodded. "Hey, Aurea… give me your honest opinion. How do you feel about all this?"
"Well, a world where we are all united will work out better in the future. Alursians and Fabregans have their own individuality, so they aren't all the same. I suppose we should find a way to look past our differences for the sake of progress."
"And that's why I like ya, Aurea! You know the bigger picture, can you imagine how much we would get done if both Alursians and Fabregans could work together. Or if we all in the Universe could work together. We'd live in a utopia, and those that don't like it, or want to hang onto their power or their prejudices… well we'll just cull them. We don't have time for unjustified hatred."
Aurea bowed. "Understood, so do you want me to prepare the brawlers for Neathia."
"We're going to nip this in the bud and do it as fast as possible. "Two teams, one for Neathia, one for Gundalia. Apparently, there are still people roaming around Gundalia who we have to defeat, then we still need to take Neathia as well, no doubt Queen Fabia will put up a fight till her last breath. And once we've taken them both, we'll have everything we need to wrestle Earth into our control. Then we will all be united, as we should be."
"I will prepare all the battlers we have. I assume this will all have been done before your coronation."
"Neathia and Gundalia? Correct! Which means…" she gestured her hand to the closed ball form of Kyubis. "Kyubis and I need as much rest as possible before then. So Rena will handle my duties for the next hour, then I'll be in the throne room to address the Leiya issue."
"I see… Well, I'll take my leave, enjoy your rest."
"Goodnight~!"
"WHAAAT!" Liz angrily roared as she was in front of Bones desk in his resort home that didn't suffer too much damage.
"I told you, Liz, the answer is no." he sternly said with a calm tone.
"If you're worried about my safety! I can take care of myself and it's just a coronation! What's the big deal anyway?"
"Two things, one I'm not sure Yurina is a good influence on you, and two, going to the capital by yourself is dangerous, even if you have a Bakugan."
"I think you're forgetting that those kids that Draconoid chose, traveled from another different world to come here. But now I can't go to the Royal Capital to see the greatest event this month."
"That doesn't matter, Liz. My answer still stands."
Liz folded her arms and gave a glare to the Panther Alursian. "You know what, I don't even know why I'm asking you! You can't tell me what to do! You're not my Dad!"
"That doesn't matter!" he exclaimed, spooking the girl. "I am your legal guardian, which means I have to watch over you at least until you turn 18 and I say: You can't go!"
"RAAGH!" she kicked his table. "Why do you have to be so UNFAIR!?" she began stomping out of his office. "YOU SUCK! You know that!" she closed his door with a slam leaving Bones alone in his office. A tired sigh escaped his lips before he saw Shino slowly entering his office.
"Everything ok, Master?"
"Liz asked to go the coronation. I have no interest in letting her get anywhere near Yurina."
"That's understandable. But won't she just ask one of the others to take her?"
"Luckily they wouldn't want to go near the Capital at the moment. Plus they wouldn't believe I gave her permission to go anyway." He gazed at her. "I think it's time we gathered everyone to discuss what to do next." he stood up from his chair. "Shall we go and find them?"
Shino nodded silently as they both left the room.
…
Liz was angrily walking around the cracked pavement of the city and she looked up and she angrily stomped on the ground. "AAAH! Who does he think he is!? He's not my real dad! He can't just say what I can and can't do! I'm my own woman!"
Marvellion opened on her shoulder. "Perhaps you should calm down, Liz. Bones is only doing what's best for you."
Liz defiantly folded her arms. "Ah stuff it!"
She could hear a trio of futuristic motorcycles rolling past the sidewalk, but they all stopped close to her. The person stepped off and he looked like a hyena Alursian. He smirked when he saw Liz and the little girl blushed.
"Hey." he greeted, his friends, a Meerkat and a rat-Alursian got off their bikes. "We saw you at the hall and we couldn't help but notice you're a huge fan of Yurina." he said with a toothpick in his mouth."
"ARE YOU KIDDING!" Liz quickly deflated to look cool. "Uh I mean… yeah, Yurina's cool. We've needed a leader like her for some time now. You know…"
"Couldn't agree more, that stuffy king is finally gone," he said in a cool sounding voice. "Apparently he's going to be publicly exiled in the Capital just after the coronation. We were on our way to see it!"
"I really wish I could see it!" she huffed. "But I've got no way of getting there, and no one will take me!"
"Hey, I've got something? Why don't we take ya?"
The meerkat Alursian was startled. "Um… are you sure we should be taking this kid?" she asked.
"HEY! I'm not a kid!" Liz hotly said. "I can cook! So I can take care of myself!"
The Hyena Alursian chuckled again. "Aren't you a little firecracker?" he slightly bent down to her. "I'm Tad, what's your name Firecracker?"
Liz was blushing as she watched Tad stretch out his hand. "I-I'm Liz! Short for Elizabeth… only my parents can call me that long name."
"Speaking of which? Where are they?" the Rat-Alursian asked.
"Probably dead by now! But thanks for bringing it up, you ass-"
"Hey, hey… not calm down…" Tad patted her shoulder. "Hey, look don't worry about him. But if you want to come with us, we'll give you a ride."
Liz had stars in her eyes but she quickly turned away. "I mean, yeah that's cool… I guess."
"Liz…" Marvellion opened on her shoulder and whispered into her ear. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"
"Not you too, Marvellion!" she exclaimed.
"This doesn't sound very safe, and you can't leave. Bones said-"
"Why should I care what he said!? That old man and the others just look at me like some kind of dumb kid! But I'm not!"
"Liz please… reconsider."
She folded her arms. "Well if you're going to take his side! I don't see why I should let you come with me!"
She shook her head. "I'm sorry. I want us to stick together."
"Glad you see it my way." she looked at Tad. "Right… I'm all set, lets go!" She leaped on the back of Tad's bike after he got on the seat.
"Hold on, Firecracker!"
Liz held on and her face was heating up as she held his stomach. The three bikes rode off, going through Utopia City heading onto the path to the Capital. As the bikes rode off, Marvellion looked up and wasn't sure about Liz's decision and she looked up to the sky. 'I hope this isn't a bad decision Liz…'
The trio of Andreas, Tammy, and Rogue was going through Relic City. It looked like a smaller town that had a lot of homes that were made out of metal. They could, first of all, see that the town was inhabited with a mixture of Fabregans and Alursians, the town was even decorated with old, rusting pieces from large machinery.
"So… what is this city like?" Tammy asked.
"Relic City is mostly a mining town, this place isn't actually far from the Pyrite Mines. That's where most of the mining takes place these days. It is rumored that there are huge underground caverns if you dig deep enough into the mines. And the caverns go for miles apparently."
"Wow… really?"
"Those are rumors… Tammy. There is no way of knowing whether those rumors are true. Even if we reach those caverns, there is a very, good chance we'll get lost in them."
"Not with my night-vision we won't!" Tammy bragged while her eyes shone for a moment.
"I think we should focus on the task at hand before we think about any underground exploring." a desert wind blew past them. "How are we going to do this? This place hasn't succumbed to the chaos that I thought it would… then what was that smoke we saw?"
Tammy pulled on his arm. "You mean that?" they looked to see what was a building in the middle of town that was letting out that big black smoke.
Rogue caught up to them. "Heh, I'll check it out, make sure what's going on there! Plus I can give you two some alone time."
Tammy's face immediately went red and tried pushing Rogue away but couldn't move his large frame due to his huge muscle mass. "Ugh! Rogue that's not funny!" she then grabbed Andreas's hand. "C'mon Andreas, let's leave this jerk!" they entered the nearby store which prompted the store bell to ring, notifying their entrance into the inside. Rogue smirked.
"Hehe, those two are going to make one odd couple."
Andreas and Tammy were in the store and the latter was still blushing as she let go of him. "You don't have to take him so seriously." Andreas mouthed. "He's just messing with you. Cause he knows the kind of reaction he'll get when he teases you."
"Hehe… right… I knew that!" Tammy nervously fiddled with her fingers as she watched Andreas walking through.
"Hey!" They heard footsteps in the store and they both saw an old Fabregan man who was short in stature. He had a red gown with brown pants and a white shirt. "Ah… afternoon, you ones… Do you need anything?"
"We're just looking for a change of clothes."
He adjusted his glasses. "Uh… sure… just let me…" he stepped behind the counter and he pressed the button underneath the table. Suddenly turret guns were aiming at them, and the old man had a shotgun primed in front of their faces. "You aren't robbing me, you escaped convicts!"
Both Andreas and Tammy placed their hands above their heads. "AAAH! WE SURRENDER!" Tammy exclaimed.
"Calm down!" Andreas said to both of them. "We were imprisoned under questionable circumstances. We don't have any weapons on us!"
"And your Bakugan?" the old man asked.
"Tammy… surrender Arminx," Andreas ordered when she nodded, they both put down Arminx and Sentinel Gleamroller.
The old man put his shotgun down and disabled the turrets. "Sir if you let me explain the situation… I'm sure we can come to an agreement. We have money, and we just need to purchase some new clothes to stay out of sight."
The old man grumbled and he walked out from his counter. "What is this world coming to?" the old man mumbled. "Arresting kids ain't right. You kids didn't kill anyone right."
"Not at all!" Tammy said. "I… I admittedly stole medicine we couldn't afford for my sick grandfather. I was caught and was arrested. We just need to hide away for a while."
The old man nodded. "I wish I had a grandchild that cared for my well-being as you do for yours," he said to Tammy. "My grand-kids don't even call me anymore, living it up in the Capital! They don't even visit anymore."
"I'm sorry to hear that!" Tammy said, feeling pity for the old man.
"Heh, you're sweet. Tell you what, I'll let you both take some clothes for free. You kids have been through a lot and I'd be happy to help out." He angrily glared at them. "But if you get caught, you don't know me, and you've never seen me!"
"Deal!" Tammy exclaimed.
The old man chuckled. "What's your name child?"
"I'm Tammy."
"Nice meeting ya, Tammy. Sorry for the scare earlier…" he turned to Andreas. "You've found a real gem, young man. You better not let her go."
He folded his arms and he decided to play along just to keep the old man happy since he took a liking to Tammy. "I w-wouldn't even think about it." 'Oh, Kishu… how could I have sunk this low…?'
…
After a while, they had some clothes already packed up for the others. Andreas was dressed in blue jeans with a brown shirt with brown miner's boots. He was sitting on a chair, waiting for Tammy to leave the change room.
The curtain opened and Tammy was dressed in a short-sleeved black shirt with blue jeans that had straps that held onto her shoulders. She decided to stay barefoot so her pawed feet can breathe. "How do I look?" she gave Andreas a wink.
He was internally defeated and he looked down. 'She's going to milk this, isn't she.' He looked up and forced a smile. "You look great… sweetie…" he couldn't say 'sweetie' without cringing internally while his right eye twitched.
"Aw~!" she leaped onto Andreas and hugged his arm. "You're so sweet, dear."
The old man chuckled. "Ah… awkward young love. So are you guys all set?"
Andreas turned to the old man while Tammy let go of him. "Not quite, we still need a place to get some food, preferably, cheap, canned stuff."
"There is a general store in the main plaza, to the left of the Forgery. You shouldn't have anything to worry about since you don't look like escaped prisoners."
"Well we should get going, we don't want to attract any more attention to you."
"Good luck young ones." he held out their Bakugan. "Don't forget your Bakugan." they both grabbed them.
"Thanks for helping us! Your grand-kids don't deserve you!" Tammy chirped.
He smiled as they left his store. "I hope those kids keep themselves safe…"
Outside the store, Andreas took a deep breath. "Well, that went well!" Tammy said though Andreas didn't look to share her glee. "Andreas…?"
"Tammy… please don't do that again."
"R-right… I guess there were better ways than pretending to be a couple, huh?" Andreas folded his arms. "I'm sorry, Andreas… I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."
"Look… it's whatever, we got what we came for."
"Are you mad at me?" she asked after Andreas walked ahead of her.
"No… I just… Can we not do this now? If I have to talk about my feelings and vulnerabilities again, I think I'm gonna puke."
"Ok sure… but I won't judge you, you know."
"I already told you a lot about myself. I'm not afraid of your judgment at this point."
"But you're afraid of something, aren't you?"
"It is this Yurina thing. I don't like it, and I don't want to mention that I don't trust Yurina in power. It's stupid but I don't want to lose the respect of the others. So that's why I don't know what to do now. Part of me just wants us to run away and live away from society. Like some Fabregan tribes out there. But it's tough to survive in the wilds."
"Then why don't we do it! I'm sure Rogue would also be into the idea!"
"I'll think about bringing it up with the others… but now, we should just focus on survival. Let's not get ahead of ourselves."
Tammy walked in front of him and she cheerily walked forward towards the plaza. He thought back to Zavanna and Jayden battling him and Daro. 'I wonder how Zavanna is dealing with this…' he shook his head. 'STOP IT ANDREAS! I need to move on from this…'
A pair of eyes looked up at a white ceiling and they saw a worried Xaramesi looking down at him. "Phoenix?"
"Xaramesi? Where am I?" Phoenix asked, he noticed his right arm covered in bandages. "A hospital? Where are we?"
"We're in Utopia City… are you ok?"
He chuckled. "Well I recall being given painkillers, but I was falling in and out of consciousness so my memories can't be that reliable. What did I miss?"
"Um… kind of a lot. So Yurina's taken over from the King, and she's taken in many of the elite viewers as prisoners."
Phoenix fell back into his pillow. "Hey… mind slapping me? I think I'm dreaming."
"You're not dreaming…" sitting on the opposing bed was Akira with the room's remote in her hand. "I watched it the whole time, Yurina made your king look pathetic. Did you guys know she was an Alursian?"
"She kinda revealed it to us to get us to fight for her," Phoenix said. "I'm surprised, I managed to beat her though. And the King was supposed to be the strongest on all Fabrega."
"Your king is overrated," Akira said before facing the two. "So what are you two planning on doing from here?"
Xaramesi looked sad. "I don't know… so much is going on right now…"
"You're Xaramesi? Right?"
"Yes… how did you-"
"Zaria mentioned you maybe once or twice… apparently something happened between you and Sakuya. Am I right?"
Xaramesi looked down and she sat on a stool near Phoenix's bed. "Hey, lay off…" Phoenix said. "It hurt her to go through that story so-"
"It's ok," she replied. "Sakuya and I used to be in love with each other… but things went wrong at the capital one day. I joined the High Council and after that, I didn't know what happened to her. But apparently, she has a second personality now… and it's all my fault. I want to go find her so I can apologize…"
"What's stopping you?" Akira asked.
"Zaria said that her second personality is going to try and hurt me if I get close… But, I just can't leave things the way they are."
Akira eyed the ceiling and it brought to mind her own regrets with a certain someone as well. "How do you feel about Sakuya now?"
Xaramesi remembered seeing Sakuya's face, she was grown up but she could still easily recognize her. "I…I don't know… I still cherish her as a friend…"
"Then maybe it's worth it to try." When Xaramesi eyed Akira, she was met with a serious expression. "Listen, I know all about having regrets, and it hurts. If you still feel strongly about Sakuya, then I think you should try. If it doesn't work… at least you tried. It's better than sitting here and wondering about 'what-ifs'."
Xaramesi thought about what she said. Deep down, she wanted to do everything in her power to make it up to Sakuya. She couldn't get her out of her mind no matter how much she tried. "Phoenix… what do you think?"
Phoenix blushed and turned away, trying to look down into his pillow. "It's not up to me… do what you want. As long as it makes you happy, right?" she saw Xaramesi grabbing his left hand with both her hands.
"Thank you." His cheeks got hotter and tried to hide them further. She let go and stood up off her stool. "Thanks, you guys… I think I know what I have to do." she took off out of the room leaving Akira and Phoenix alone in stunned silence.
"So… speaking of feelings. Is she aware of how badly you're pining over her?"
Phoenix tried to look away. "In case you haven't noticed, she's got a wolf girl to chase after. So even if I did feel that way about her. I'm not about to say anything! Besides, she was brought to tears when she talked about her, there's no room in her heart for someone like me. Mind if we change the subject? What brought you to the hospital."
Akira eyed her wound. "Daro… I was stupid… what about you?"
"Fought Yurina and lived…" he said.
"Well, you're definitely going to be here longer than me. That's for sure but Yurina had a strange power around her… and it definitely was more than Reversion. But I have no idea what it was."
"Well I was passed out, so your guess is as good as mine."
"Tell me something. The King used a Reversion Catalyst on himself, how dangerous is it?"
"Well, you can potentially die. I've only seen Evolution Catalysts before, never Reversion ones but I imagine they hurt. Plus… I've got a mechanical Bakugan, kind of out of my expertise as far as Reversion transformations go."
"So what about your other friends?" Akira asked. "Where are they?"
"Well, I assume you know where Daro stands. Last I heard, Andreas and Isolde were arrested. I don't know what happened to Aiden. Eh, our old team sort of fell apart at the seams." he turned away. "If you don't mind, I'm going to sleep now. I think whatever the doctors gave me is kicking in again."
Akira chuckled before she took a look at her sword. She then remembered the final blow Yurina struck against the king with her sword. 'So… are those the battles we will be having from now on…?' she remembered how she saw Yurina meditating before the second round in her match.
"Radion… do you think you can meditate with me?"
A question mark popped over her head. "Huh? Just sit in silence and just go 'Ommmmm'. Sounds boring."
"We just sit in silence and breath… I…want to try something. Humor me?"
"I won't say no to that request… alright." she sat in front of Akira and opened her ball form. "I can't exactly cross my legs so um…"
"It's ok… I think we just have to clear our minds." Akira shut her eyes and she focused on the black space around her, trying not to think at all, but just focus on the breaths that she was taking. But suddenly she thought of Cameron and Zavanna kissing, Cera, and the stinging words she said to her in their battle in Bakugan Valley. When Daro cut her many hours ago. Her eyes shot open and she took deep breaths.
"Are you ok?" Radion asked as she could feel how tense Akira became.
"I think I'll need some help with this."
Leiya who was in the Royal Palace was slowly moving through the halls. As she got closer to the throne room, she could see that the regal purple and gold walls and accents were being redecorated with red and white.
"Oh hey there… Leiya right." Yurina greeted after the girl entered the throne room. "You don't have to bow by the way."
Leiya folded her arms. "Good, I wasn't going to anyway!" she then made sure to tighten her stance. "So… you summoned me here?"
"Well, Aurea said that you have some… problems with me…" Leiya swallowed a heavy gulp.
"Yes… Who in Kishu's name do you think you are!?" She hotly yelled.
"Well, I know who I am. The new leader of Fabrega. I made a bet with your king and he lost. Do you want to fight me too? I'll hand over the reins if you beat me!"
"Don't be absurd, I'm not dumb enough to face you with my skill. But I won't stand around and watch you soil the royal bloodline! You don't deserve to lead!"
Yurina stood up from her throne. "You know I'm thinking of getting rid of this throne… I don't need it. But back to our issue. You say I don't deserve to lead, I completely disagree. You see a leader, should lead by example. I did that against that man! No enhancements, no catalysts. Your king used that and he still lost!"
"NO! You cheated, what kind of technique was that you used in the battle?" she exclaimed. "That was a dirty trick."
Yurina suddenly disappeared from her throne. "You really think so?" she appeared behind Leiya and touched her shoulder.
"GAAAH!" she exclaimed as she backed away.
"I'd teach you the technique… but I'm not sure your mechanical Bakugan is up to the task. And for that matter, neither are you." Leiya backed away as the same white aura was forming around Yurina and Kyubis who was in her ball form on her shoulder. "Did you really think about this? About you walking up to me and demanding that I step down? What, you really think I'm just going to give it up because you said so? Because you and those other entitled elites don't like it? I imprisoned them in a stadium because of their disrespect, because they can't get over their prejudices. Now… ask yourself… what will I do to you, since you disrespected me, in front of my face?"
Leiya's eyes grew wide as she started to shiver to herself. Yurina smirked… "Heh, feel that? That's fear. But I've got a proposition for you. You beat me… I'll step down and you get your pathetic king back. If I beat you, you're out! And I get to toss you in with the rest of the elites! Is that what you want?"
"F-forget it!" Leiya ran out of the throne room, Yurina let the aura around her die.
"Well, Yurina?" Kyubis asked.
"I'm not going to deal with her. I'll have someone else do it." She stood up and looked at one of the guards. "Does anyone know where Darius is? I'd like him to deal with her."
"We will find him right away, Ma'am." one of the Fabregan guards said.
Yurina groaned. "Again, just call me Yurina! Don't call me Ma'am, do I look old to you?" she questioned with a giggle.
"O-oh no not at all!"
"Great…" she gleefully exclaimed. She started to eye the throne room. "You know… we really should add a bed here…" she eyed her two guards. "What do you think?"
"U-um…"
"C'mon be honest, we can't build an empire on lies."
He looked nervous. "U-um… well I don't think it would work. People would come in and not take you as seriously if they saw a b-bed in here."
"Hmm?" she thought for a moment. "Yeah you're right, people will think I take naps all day." she patted the guard on his shoulder. "Thanks for your honesty, keep this up you may get a promotion!"
The man smiled nervously. "W-wow, thanks."
"Now, first one to bring Darius here earns a paid-day off! Who's up for it?"
All the guards raised their blades spears. "Yes! Yurina!"
"Ooh… aren't I popular?"
Zaria was running on the far reaches of Utopia Beach, the waves were crashing all over as she got to where there were large rocks close by. Zaria tried sniffing the air to locate Sakuya's scent.
"C'mon lion nose you can do it…" while she didn't have as good a nose as Cooper, she then sniffed again and her circular ears were trying to listen out for her. "SAKUYA!" she exclaimed… "It's me! ZARIA!" she cupped her hands around her mouth to allow her voice to travel. Slowly coming out from a cave was Sakuya, she was scanning the area and only saw Zaria. She crawled out and rose to her feet and ran up to Zaria. "Don't worry, I'm here on my own. How are you doing? Where's Reiko?" Sakuya shook her head. "Still gone for now ok… I tried to tell Xaramesi to leave. I don't want Reiko taking over."
Sakuya let go and pushed herself off Zaria, she eyed what looked like a dark figure that was on top of a short cliff that overlooked the beach. The figure's scarf blew in the wind. It leaped down and landed on the sand with her legs and one hand. The light revealed her to be Xaramesi.
"Crap!" Zaria said. "I told you to stay away, you don't know what you're doing!"
"Sorry, Zaria… but this is something I have to do! I'd rather Sakuya hate me after I tried to make things right than have done nothing at all!"
"No… you don't understand!"
Sakuya's eyes were hidden by her bangs as she looked down. The wind blew against the three of them. "Sakuya… please… can we just talk?" tears were running down Sakuya's face.
"Sakuya isn't here…" she replied as her eyes were sharper and she leered at the half Fabregan. "You've got a hell of nerve showing up here!"
"You don't sound like Sakuya… you must be Reiko, right?" Xaramesi asked. "Let me talk to her! I have to apologize to her!"
"SHE DOESN'T NEED TO HEAR ANYTHING FROM YOU!" she snapped, her mouth starting to growl.
Zaria stood in between them and held her hands out at both of them. "Reiko… Xaramesi isn't here to cause trouble. Xaramesi… please just leave."
"Not till I talk to Sakuya!" she exclaimed.
"ENOUGH! Sakuya isn't coming out, and it's all for the better. She shouldn't be here to see what I'm going to do to you!"
Xaramesi took a step forward and glared at her. "I'm not going anywhere till I talk to Sakuya!"
Reiko growled. "Persistent, aren't you! If you're not going to leave! I'm going to make you leave!" she had her Bakugan Nightshade standing on her shoulder. "Nightshade!" she tossed him out and he stood on his feet and howled. Sakuya's Libra, Reversion symbol shone bright purple. "Nightshade, get her!" Nightshade growled and sped past Zaria, pushing her out of the way.
Xaramesi rolled out of the way before Nightshade could smack his paw into her. She quickly placed her gauntlet on her arm. "Xaramesi!" Boreanta exclaimed. "You've got to throw me in!"
"Um… well…"
"Whoever this Sakuya person is. That person clearly isn't her! Worse off she is trying to kill you! If you don't defend yourself, you'll never get your chance to apologize…"
Xaramesi got up. "Ok…" she stood up. "Bakugan Brawl!" she tossed in Boreanta onto the beach sand. "Boreanta stand!" Boreanta rose and was in a defensive stance as he faced Nightshade.
Nightshade: 800 / Boreanta: 850
Xaramesi panted to herself and saw Reiko glaring at her. "If you want to fight me so bad? Then fine!"
"Great! This is going to be fun, for me!" Reiko exclaimed as she held up a card. "Punishing Flames!" Nightshade was covered in crimson flames that brought his power up by 200Gs, putting him at 1000Gs. "You're going to pay for everything you've done to Sakuya! Ability Activate, Fear Pulse!" There was black energy that was gathering in Nightshade's mouth. He released the energy attack which exploded into two shadow orbs. The orbs were surrounded by the same crimson flames.
Nightshade: 1000(+250 +200)= 1450 / Boreanta: 850(-250)= 600
"Remember those red flames, they will increase all of Nightshade's abilities' power by 200!" she exclaimed.
One orb was heading to Xaramesi and another was speeding to Boreanta.
"Watch out!" Boreanta exclaimed as he glared at Xaramesi. "Do something!"
"Ability Activate, Spinning Block!" Boreanta was spinning in place and he became a cyclone that managed to block the two shadow-fire orbs. His power increased by 500.
Nightshade: 1450 / Boreanta: 600(+500)= 1100
When Boreanta stopped spinning, dark flames were surrounding him as they continued to burn him. "Sakuya please!" Xaramesi pleaded. "This isn't who you are!"
"Sakuya doesn't want to talk to you!"
"I want to hear her say that!"
"You don't deserve to! Ability Activate, Shadow Shift!" Nightshade became transparent and he melted into his shadow. Both Xaramesi and Boreanta didn't know where he was.
"I got a plan!" Xaramesi exclaimed. "Fly up, that way if he strikes… you'll see him coming."
"Right!" Boreanta flew up into the sky and was scanning the beach, Xaramesi saw that Nightshade's power increased by 400+200
Nightshade: 1450(+400 +200)= 2050 / Boreanta: 1100
There was a smirk coming from Reiko's lips. "Oh you poor, naive girl…"
There was a large shadow that emerged close behind Xaramesi, and they all saw Nightshade leaping out of the shadow and was glaring at Xaramesi.
"REIKO! DAMMIT!" Zaria knew what was on Reiko's mind and she started sprinting.
"Ability Activate, Soul Eater!" Nightshade absorbed the energy around him and he was firing a white/purple energy and he blasted the large beam directly at Xaramesi.
She stood still in fear as it was getting closer while her eyes shrunk completely. "GET DOWN!" Zaria speared into her, threw her body down into the sand and the beam had flown right over the two girls, pushing winds above them.
Nightshade: 2050(+400 +200)= 2650 / Boreanta: 1100(-400)= 700
"HEY!" Zaria roared. "ARE YOU SICK!? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"
"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you? I thought you hated her as much as I did!"
"I honestly did… but don't you get it? She hurt as much as us! What's killing her going to get you!? Is that what Sakuya wants?!"
"It's what she needs! I have to do this… only then will Sakuya get closure."
"By killing her?! That's not protection! You're only using her for your own sick goals!"
"Shut up! You don't know Sakuya as I do!"
Xaramesi suddenly got up from the sand and her bangs covered her eyes, but as she raised her head, her yellow cat eyes were still shrunken and she was breathing hard to herself, her leopard tail was puffed up. "RRAAAAAAAGH!" Xaramesi screamed and the next moment she punched Reiko in the face, sending her back. "You're. Not. Sakuya!" she exclaimed. "You're only using her!"
"Shut up!" Reiko exclaimed with a bloody nose. "You know noth-"
Xaramesi screamed again and while she went in for another punch but Reiko grabbed her hand. "LET HER GO!" she screamed.
"Not for you!" she raked Xaramesi in the face, drawing bloody claw marks on her cheeks.
She raised her gauntlet. "I've had all I can stand from you!" Xaramesi exclaimed. "If Sakuya really doesn't want to see me again, then I want to hear it from her! Until then I will fight you and make her come out!" Xaramesi declared but as she did, she had a tear fall from her eye.
Zaria noticed Xaramesi's shivering pose. 'I-Is she crying?'
Dragness opened on her shoulder. "Aren't you going to help her?"
"I would… but…" she remembered when she would often poke fun at Sakuya and Xaramesi when they were in a relationship. "I'm hoping that Sakuya can come out herself if she does… then we can maybe find a way past this. Reiko is just filled with nothing but hate… and it's not good for Sakuya as well."
"I see…"
Boreanta landed beside Xaramesi with a crash. "Boreanta… I'm sorry I held back… Sakuya… I think I still, I still…"
"You don't have to say it. I know how you feel, but if she beats you, I worry what she will do after the fact. And if that happens… I'll never forgive myself…"
Xaramesi imagined a broken-minded Sakuya kneeling over her corpse and she saw Sakuya letting out a crazy chuckle which turned into a loud cry. "From what Zaria told me about her, Sakuya is still as meek as before… I can't let her go through that. What could be worse is that Sakuya will allow Reiko to completely take over permanently. I can't let that happen!" she glared at Reiko. "One. Last. Time! Let Sakuya Go! If she really doesn't want to see me again, I want to hear it from her! If she can do that… then I will leave you all alone forever and you'll never see me again. Give her that chance, and I will leave."
Reiko held her head suddenly. "Ugh… be quiet! I'm doing what's best for you! This girl hurt you… I wouldn't have to protect you if it wasn't for her!" she muttered to herself. "Pipe down! This is for your own good!"
Xaramesi glared at her. "I thought so… she's keeping her prisoner within her own mind!"
"What do you want to do?" Boreanta asked.
She had a card in her hand. "I have to end this…" she pointed at Reiko. "Don't worry Sakuya! No matter what. I'LL SAVE YOU!" she threw the card into her gauntlet. "Double Ability Activate, Running Start plus Jagged Tornado!"
Boreanta leaped up and his talons were pulsing green energy. He leaped up and his blade wings extended and engulfed his blade wings and a green tornado surrounded him as he was speeding down to Nightshade.
Nightshade: 2650(-600)= 2050 / Boreanta: 700(+200 +300)= 1200
As the cyclone was falling, Reiko glared forward. "You know what to do next, Nightshade! Ability Activate! Fatal Nightmare!" the two rows of back fur was covered in a bright purple aura before crimson flames covered it.
Nightshade 2050(+500)= 2550 / Boreanta: 1200
Boreanta was headbutted out of the sky and had crashed down back to damp sand hard.
"Boreanta!" Xaramesi exclaimed. "I'm sorry… he's grown too strong… I'm not sure if I can hold out much longer."
"We've got to close the gap somehow!" she put another card into her gauntlet. "This will have to do it! Double Ability Activate! Razor Arrow plus Winged Sword!" Boreanta shot forward, streamlines his body, and was surrounded by bright green winds, his crest also shone green. As he got closer he crossed his arms and white energy blades appeared on his wrists. Razor Arrow transferred 450 between them while Winged Sword added another 400 over it
Nightshade: 2550(-450)= 2100 / Boreanta: 1200(+450 +400)= 2050
Boreanta had sliced right through Nightshade and the wolf took a hard hit as a while escaped from him. He was struggling to stay on his feet.
"No! I can't lose to you! Double Ability Activate! Terrifying Glare-" He stomped hard on the ground and there were purple chains that tied themselves around Boreanta, easily restraining him.
"Ugh! What's happening!?" Boreanta asked as his power level was brought down by 500 putting him at 1550Gs.
"You can't activate any more abilities…" Reiko said. "And since you're trapped there… plus Extirpating Gravity!" Nightshade howled and above him, there was a dark purple sphere that grew and grew in size, it was sucking up everything and the chains holding him down were starting to come loose.
"What did you!?" Xaramesi asked.
"Extirpating Gravity generates a gravity sphere that sucks all Bakugan into it, and when they are dragged into the sphere…" the chains around Boreanta broke and he quickly flew into the sphere and it compressed and imploded. Blowing sand everywhere and making a crater on the beach. Inside the sandy crater was the ball form of Boreanta and after it was revealed that Xaramesi lost her life gauge fell to 45%. "Every Bakugan with a lower power level that enters the sphere is immediately defeated…" Reiko said as a smirk was glued onto her face. As Xaramesi moved to pick up Boreanta, she saw Reiko glaring at her. "Are you done being a thorn in our side! Sakuya wants nothing to do with you! You just got off easy, now get lost before you really get hurt!"
There was an explosion of green energy and Reiko shielded her eyes to make sure sand doesn't get inside them. She saw Xaramesi standing in the sand, making a crater of her own as electricity surrounded her. "I don't care how badly I get hurt! No, because all I care about right now is making things right with Sakuya. I…I want to see her smile again… If Sakuya hates me forever then that's something I'll have to accept. But I won't let her be controlled by someone like you!"
"What is wrong with you! She hates you! Why won't you just give up!?"
"I can't give up… because… I LOVE HER!" there was an explosion of energy around her and both Zaria and Reiko were shocked to see Xaramesi in her Reversion Form.
"Whoa… a Reversion Form… no way…" Zaria breathed. 'How strong did you get, Xaramesi?'
Boreanta stood beside her and he had transformed as well. "Y-you have a Reversion Form!? YOU!?"
"Sakuya… I know you can hear me…" Xaramesi softly said. "I'm sorry for everything I did. I abandoned all of you, years ago, and because of me… I allowed a monster to take over you. I'm so sorry." she cried. "And I'm sorry for what I'm about to do… If this is the only way to get to you… then I'll do it. It's incredibly selfish of me, I know… but Dammit, I love you! And some monster personality is not going to keep me from trying to make amends! DO YOU HEAR ME!?"
Reiko growled to herself. "Your Reversion can't save you! I'll make sure you stay as far away from Sakuya as possible!" she tossed in Nightshade who stood beside her as they restarted their battle.
Because of Boreanta's Reversion transformation, he gained an additional 200Gs to his base level
Nightshade: 800 / Boreanta: 1050
The sun was beginning to sink over the horizon. "You're making a mistake you damn half-and-half! Double Ability Activate!" both cards let glows from their dark cores and Nightshade was sprinting to Boreanta. "Punishing Flames, plus Shadow Shift!" Nightshade was covered in a crimson fire before he sunk into his shadow, disappearing from Xaramesi and Boreanta's sight. Punishing Flames added 200 while Shadow Shift added 400. An additional 200 was added due to Punishing Flames.
Nightshade: 800(+200 +400 +200)= 1600 / Boreanta: 1050
"He's going to appear anywhere… and I can't stop it…" Xaramesi muttered to herself. 'Then I'll just play her game!' she threw in a Fabregan Reversion Ability card into her gauntlet. "Reversion Ability Activate, Shadow Slice!" On the battle display, Xaramesi and Boreanta changed their attributes to Darkus and when Nightshade appeared from out of nowhere, he tried to bite down on Boreanta but he went right through him and rolled on the sand and growled. Both Boreanta and Xaramesi appeared as shadowy hazes.
"What cowardly tactic is this!?" Reiko asked.
"So it's only cowardly if I hide? Talk about hypocritical!"
Nightshade: 1600 / Boreanta: 1050(+100)= 1150
'I can only use three abilities, so I have to make them count.' "Take this, Jagged Tornado!" there was a glow from Xaramesi's gauntlet and there was a shadowy figure that leaped into the air, and suddenly an indigo tornado formed in the sky that was threatening to suction Nightshade. He lost 600 while 300 was added to Boreanta.
Nightshade: 1600(-600)= 1000 / Boreanta: 1150(+300)= 1450
"C'mon Nightshade! You can't let them do this to you! Ability Activate, Fatal Nightmare!" the crimson flames surrounded him and his two rows of back fur was covered in a purple aura. He launched off his feet to headbutt Boreanta who was inside the tornado. He added 500 to himself which put him up to 1500. He launched off his feet into the tornado and as he got closer to it, he expected to hit Boreanta but he passed right through where his shadowy figure was and the cyclone spun him around and around before being thrown into the water.
"Nightshade!" Boreanta's cyclone stopped spinning and Reiko couldn't see where he was, she could see footprints in the sand, rushing over to where Nightshade was just getting up. "Hey! Watch out! She's coming for you!"
"Yeah, but what are you going to do about it!?" Xaramesi challenged as she streamlined herself. "Razor Arrow!" she shot forward and purple winds surrounded her as she closed the gap towards Nightshade. She torpedoed through him before he could fully stand up, making him whine as his knees weakened.
Nightshade: 1500(-450)= 1050 / Boreanta: 1450(+450)= 1900
Reiko saw Xaramesi's figure skip on the ocean before seeing it fly up into the air. "Focus Nightshade, she's up there! Ability Activate, Fear Pulse!" he transferred 250 between them as he powered a large shadowy orb in his maw. He fired two orbs into the sky where Xaramesi was hovering but they went through her shadowy figure as her figure was seen shooting down towards them "W-what! Did we miss!?"
Nightshade: 1050(+250 +200)= 1500 / Boreanta: 1900(-250)= 1650
"Not quite! Ability Activate, Spiked Melee!" her claws were shining bright purple as she fell to Nightshade and raked at him constantly as Nightshade couldn't do anything to stop her other than back away.
Nightshade: 1500(-350)= 1150 / Boreanta: 1650(+350)= 2000
Once Xaramesi had scratched through him one last time, both she and Boreanta shifted back to their Ventus attribute, becoming visible to both Sakuya and Nightshade.
"What was that?" Zaria asked in an astonished tone.
"That was Shadow Slice," Xaramesi answered. "Once me and Boreanta go into that form, we can't be hit by any abilities until we have used three abilities of our own." she briefly explained.
"And you used that to widen the gap…" Reiko muttered. "You're a lot more clever than you look."
"Go ahead… insult me, cause that's all people like you do! You have no idea how much crap I've heard people say about me. But to hear it from you, to see you… making Sakuya say that. That just pisses me off!"
"Oh take your victim complex somewhere else! Do you think I'm the bad guy here? How diluted are you!? You're nothing but a parasite!"
'Stop it, Reiko!'
She held her head in pain and she quickly tried to shake off the pain. 'I'm doing this for you! Just let me do this, alright!'
Xaramesi rolled her eyes. "Wow, haven't heard that one before! And you're one to talk about parasites considering you're using Sakuya as a host! Say what you want about me, but you're just hurting Sakuya by keeping her within her own mind!"
Reiko's eyes glared at her. "We can go back and forth all day, but nothing will change. I'm going to make sure you stay as far away from Sakuya."
"Then I guess I have to beat you!" she raised her gauntlet. "Ability Activate, Rapid Bayonet!" her blade wings extended and the blades aimed at Nightshade and were firing copies of their blades to impale Nightshade.
Nightshade: 1150(-500)= 650 / Boreanta: 2000(+200)= 2200
Sakuya extended her hand. "Nightshade, avoid those blades, quickly!" he ran across the beach and tried to avoid the blades, but some of them stuck themselves in him and there was blood leaking from the wounds.
"This isn't over!" Reiko growled. "Ability Activate, Terrifying Glare!" dark chains shot up from the ground and ensnared themselves around Boreanta.
"Ugh… I can't move!"
Nightshade: 650(+200)= 850 / Boreanta: 2200(-500)= 1700
"Boreanta!"
"You're never going to defeat me! Double Ability Activate! Soul Eater plus Fusion Ability, Looming Terror!" There was a white and purple energy core charging in his mouth he fired it and there was a bright yellow tint to the attacks. Xaramesi was too late to react and she was caught in the blast and she was flung in the sand as the beam had fired her to the other side of the beach. She crashed into a huge pile of rocks which created an explosion that vaporized the rocks.
"REIKO!" Zaria growled.
"Don't give me that look, Zaria, you'll thank me later."
Nightshade: 850(+400 +300 +200x2)= 1950 / Boreanta: 1700(-400)= 1300
But through the dust, Xaramesi was struggling to get to her feet as she had bruises all over her body. There was blood leaking from her mouth.
"Xaramesi!?" Zaria exclaimed, secretly relieved that she was somehow standing from that last attack.
"Ugh, you just won't stay down will you!?" she held up a Gauntlet. "This will be the end for you! Nightshade! Extirpating Gravity!"
Both Zaria and Boreanta feared the worst as they saw Nightshade fire the orb right at Xaramesi. "NO!"
The orb exploded over Xaramesi and it turned into a large, black, starry gravity sphere that was sucking in everything around it. She couldn't prevent herself from getting sucked into it as she was floating into it.
"CALL IT OFF!" Zaria roared at Reiko.
"As if… this will be better for everyone! No one wants her here! She should just disappear!"
While Xaramesi was getting dragged into the orb, her eyes slowly closed as she could feel herself passing out. The pressure of the gravity sphere was already attempting to put her unconscious. After she unconsciously floated inside the gravity sphere, she remembered back to her time on Neathia when she saw a younger version of Sakuya attacking her and she remembered that during that time, she wished that she would disappear. "Maybe… she's right… everyone would be better off if I just…"
"XARAMESI!" her teary eyes shot open and she recognized that voice, sure it may have changed slightly over the years, but there was no mistaking who was calling out to her.
'Sakuya…?'
"AAAHHH!" Reiko exclaimed as she held her head again. "STAY OUT OF THIS WOULD 'YA!"
"Look at that!" Zaria exclaimed, she pointed to the orb and though Xaramesi was clearly already sucked up by the orb, it was threatening to collapse on to her but it looked unstable.
There were bright green beams of light that were breaking through the gravity orb. "That's Impossible! Not even light can escape the gravity sphere!" Reiko exclaimed.
"CYCLONIC…" the gravity orb was starting to grow in size and there were rips in the sphere that revealed green winds inside it. "SLASH!" the orb exploded, and the dark energy was cut into pieces. The green cyclone that Xaramesi created was fading away.
"H-how… you should be DEAD!"
Nightshade: 1950 / Boreanta: 1300(+700)= 2000
Xaramesi remained hovering, and her glare was fixed on Reiko and Nightshade. "SAKUYA!" green energy surrounded her, and she boosted right to Nightshade. "EDGED COMBAT!" her claws and talons were shining bright green and she was slashing Nightshade over and over, drawing blood from the cuts she was making.
Nightshade: 1950(-400)= 1550 / Boreanta: 2000(+400)= 2400
"HAAAAAAA!" Xaramesi screamed as she continued to slice through Nightshade, without relenting. Eventually, the Bakugan had enough and he retreated to his ball form in a dark purple flash of light, he shot right back to Reiko and rolled to her feet. Her life gauge took a heavy hit as it fell to 15%.
After Nightshade was defeated, Xaramesi was breathing deeply as her claws and talons had returned to their normal color.
Reiko backed away in slight fear. "No… you're not just a halfie... you're a damn monster!"
Xaramesi had calmed down and got to her feet. "You know… for a long time, I thought I was a monster too… and people thought I was a menace for just existing. I've held in a lot of anger over the past few years… "And I just found the perfect someone to take it out on!" Reiko's tail was dipping downwards and Xaramesi noticed this. "So… want to let Sakuya out?" Reiko stood firm and clenched her fist. "Right… I should have expected that! Ball in your court! You wanna finish this or what!?"
Reiko glared at her while she felt another attempt from Sakuya to try and take back control. "Ow… that's getting really annoying you know!" she tightly held Nightshade. "We can't lose again!" she threw him in once again.
The desert town of Relic City had smoke rising from it. Andreas and Tammy entered the building after they got to their food rations. They also carried the clothing that was for everyone in their group.
After entering the building, they saw that there were many different kinds of bladed weapons that were hanging on the walls. "Ooh… do they make weapons here?"
"That's right!" they saw a Bulldog Alursian with futuristic goggles over his face. "Best Weapon-smith on Fabrega!" he boasted.
Rogue walked out from the back. "Haha, I certainly agree. Have you seen his wares?"
Andreas had his hand over his chin. 'Well the mine and Isolde's gauntlet blades are disabled…' he thought. "But let me guess, you charge a lot for these weapons?"
"I charge a fair price, I put my heart and soul into these!"
"Hey, you know how to use weapons, leader?"
Andreas nodded. "Yeah, it's in the Royal Guard training program, we mostly train with gauntlet blades, the closest thing to that is a sword, but I'm not a sword person." he looked on the wall at a particular axe. There it was behind very tough glass. There were red runes on it. "What's with this axe?"
"Oh no… you don't want to touch that! That axe is cursed, it used to belong to what was possibly the most dangerous person in the universe."
"I'm pretty sure Yurina wouldn't like being referred to in the past tense."
The bulldog glared at him. "Laugh all you want, but there is a reason I charge a fortune for this! It is the very same axe used by the 'Bloodhunter of Alursia.' Rogue flinched.
"You don't mean?"
"Yes… but he's gone now so this weapon is nothing more than a collector's item. Only those in the know would appreciate and fear the amount of blood that this has spilled."
Andreas sighed and he took off his gauntlet that was stolen from the prison. "I just want the energy blade in this thing enabled, can you do that?"
The dog sighed. "Right, typical Fabregan energy tech. Great for convenience but lacking in raw power." he looked at Rogue. "For you my friend, you've got big muscles, how does a large Strike Hammer sound." he directed Rogue to it. "Made of the hardest steel reinforced with obsidian and-" he directed Rogue to a trigger which was wired to dual thrusters on the hammer. "Pull the trigger, it fires up these babies for extra strike power."
"Haha! Oh, I gotta have this!"
The weapon-smith looked to Tammy. "What about you little lady?" she cheerily held up her sharp claws with a silly smile.
"I've got these!"
"As long as you don't rake metal and rock, you'll be fine." he turned to Rogue and Andreas. "As for you two… can you afford what you're asking for?"
Andreas thought for a moment and they could, but they would need to trade something to do it. He let out a sigh. "Give me a moment…"
...
A few minutes later there was a suitcase on the counter. Lola and Dwayne were also there and Andreas opened the metal case, revealing the Dragonoid catalyst. "A Pyrus catalyst, we nabbed it from the now destroyed Badlands facility. They think it's destroyed, so they won't be looking for it."
"WHAAAAAT!?" he was panting excitedly at the offer. "Do you have any idea how much these things are worth!?" he exclaimed. You give this to me, and I'll equip you and your whole crew! And I'll fix that outdated Fabregan tech of ours."
"Awesome!" Tammy exclaimed. "We really are like an army!"
Andreas glared at the bulldog. "Look, just help us as quickly as possible, ok. We can't stay in one place for too long."
He put his goggles over his eyes and he held what looked like a battery as Andreas's and Isolde's gauntlet was on the table. "Yeah, just give me a few minutes to get everything set up."
…
All of them were waiting outside and Lola had her hands over her head. "Heh, things are looking good for us!" Lola said. "We got a good thing going on here! What's next for us!?"
Andreas looked up at the setting sun. "Well with Yurina in charge… she practically did her job for us." He walked in front of them. "So… what do you guys want to do?"
Lola had her arms folded. "I'm still pretty mad for being imprisoned… and I'd like to keep bashing Fabregan heads, but since Yurina is in charge… eh. I have no idea… you're the smart guy."
Andreas sighed. "Well heading to the capital might not be such a good idea."
Tammy leaped up. "Why don't we start our own village?!" she exclaimed. "Andreas wanted to share the idea but he was too nervous." she smiled while jabbing her thumb to him.
Andreas let out a long sigh. "Ugh… what in Kishu am I going to do with you?" he sighed.
"We start our own society and make our own rules?" Lola questioned. "I've heard worse ideas, but we gotta bring our families and stuff, right?"
Andreas nodded. "Sure… looks like we have some traveling to do." Tammy awkwardly turned away. "Listen, give us a moment would you?" He took Tammy's arm and they walked behind the building.
"You think they are going to make out?" Lola asked and Dwayne punched her on the shoulder. "What?" Dwayne shook his head.
…
"What's up?" Tammy asked as they were both behind the building.
"I saw your face… you're nervous about seeing your family, aren't you?"
"I'm just worried… My grandfather might be… I don't know if can take it." she looked down and her cat ears drooped.
"But if he is gone… wouldn't you want to say goodbye?" he put his hand on her shoulder. "Loss is a part of life, Tammy. You can't hide from it forever." Tammy leaned against the wall and sat down while hugging her legs.
Andreas bent down in front of her as she was lightly sobbing. "I'm sorry… if I didn't get caught he'd still be alive now."
"You can't let the past hold you back, Tammy. It's a quick way of getting depressing yourself. It's part of life… plus what if the rest of your family thinks you are dead? Imagine their faces when they see you're out of jail." Andreas tried to force a genuine smile just to try to put Tammy at ease.
She giggled to herself. "Surely you can smile better than that."
Andreas looked away in embarrassment. "Don't make fun of me. I'm trying to help you out here… And to think I used to be in the Royal Guard, battling anyone they told me to. Now, look at where I am. The past me would have slapped me and kicked me in the shin by now."
"Wow… the old you is such a jerk." he offered her a hand and he picked her up.
"Yeah, I'm starting to see why Zavanna dumped him." Tammy folded her arms and puffed her cheeks while giving a slight glare at him. "Right… too much."
Tammy started to leave the alley. "You'll find someone better."
"Well if I do… remind me not to be a total idiot next time and mess it up."
"I could… but what's in it for me?" Andreas groaned and was leaving her behind. "Your tough guy act doesn't work on me anymore. You're a giant softie on the inside aren't you?!"
Andreas stopped walking. "Tammy, if I start acting like a jerk again… I need you and Rogue to snap me out of it! I thought I was becoming better but I regressed, then I got into the situation I'm in now."
Tammy grabbed his arm. "Don't worry… I'll make sure you don't become that guy again. I-" she blushed and let go. "WE can't lose you right now."
"Thanks… it means more than I'd like to admit…" he shook his head. "I still think you guys need better role models, but if I'm the best you've got. I'll have to make sure I live up to those expectations."
"Eeeh!" Tammy squealed. "You're so cool!"
Andreas rolled his eyes and moved to join the others that were waiting.
Nightshade: 800 / Boreanta: 850
Zaria looked between Reiko and Xaramesi and she could see they were both furious at each other. 'I hope those two don't rip each other apart.'
Reiko had a card in her hand. "You had your chance to run away, now I just want to rip you apart! Ability Activate, Punishing Flames!" Crimson red flames surrounded him and all of his abilities would be bolstered by 200Gs. Not to mention the 200 that the ability had added. Putting him at 1000Gs.
"Figured she was going to do that?" Xaramesi commented. "Let's do this Boreanta! Ability Activate, Tailwind Burst!" a tailwind blew behind the pair of them. Their speed was doubled instantly and their power increased by 200 while the headwind blew against Nightshade taking 200 away from him
Nightshade: 1000(-200)= 800 / Boreanta: 850(+200)= 1050
Reiko felt the wild wings blowing against her. "Grr! Nightshade go! Ability Activate, Fear Pulse!" Nightshade's maw opened and there was a shadowy orb inside it. The orb exploded outward into two shadowy orbs that were pushing against the winds.
Nightshade: 800(+250 +200)= 1250 / Boreanta: 1050(-250)= 800
The two orbs split off to head to both Xaramesi and Boreanta. "Ok…" they both managed to leap away from the orbs easily and they were both speeding to Nightshade.
"Huh!?" Reiko gasped.
"You might have extra power… but it's useless if you can't hit us! Reversion Ability Activate, Edged Combat!" the claws and the talons shone bright green and two both of them were speeding to Nightshade.
Nightshade: 1250(-400)= 850 / Boreanta: 800(+400)= 1200
"Nightshade, be strong, you can take this two! Ability Activate, Fatal Nightmare!" his back fur stood up and a purple aura covered his body. He ran right into Boreanta, headbutting him, throwing him off his feet, making sure he couldn't slash him.
Nightshade: 850(+500 +200)= 1550 / Boreanta: 1200
Xaramesi was high in the air and she slashed Nightshade with her claws and talons, making the wolf roar, angrily. Xaramesi glared at Nightshade as she stood in front of him. "Double Ability Activate, Running Start, plus Fusion Ability, Winged Sword!" Xaramesi had green energy surrounding her talons and energy blades were appearing on her talons too. She was quickly approaching Nightshade while appearing and disappearing due to the tailwind being pushed onto her.
"Don't let her touch-" Nightshade was being bombarded with a multitude of kicks on his face. Her sharp talons were easily cutting Nightshade, drawing blood. "No, no, NO!" she exclaimed.
Nightshade: 1550 / Boreanta: 1200(+200 +400)= 1800
The large wolf backed away, his main problem was that Xaramesi was so small and fast, that his attacks were going to be fruitless against her. As soon as Reiko realized this, she hatched a plan in her head. 'This has to work! Ability Activate, Terrifying Glare!' Nightshade stepped on the ground, and purple chains shot out and they tied themselves around Xaramesi, restricting her movement.
"Ah snap!" she exclaimed.
Nightshade: 1550(+200)= 1750 / Boreanta: 1800(-500)= 1300
"And now you can't activate any abilities!" Reiko said walking to Xaramesi who was trying to get out from the chains. "Meaning I can freely do this!" she smirked at her and stuck her claws through Xaramesi's stomach, drawing blood and shrinking the girl's eyes.
"AAAAAAAAHHH!" Xaramesi screamed as lines of blood fell from her stomach.
"XARAMESI!" Boreanta exclaimed as he glared at Reiko, but Nightshade stood in front of him.
"I'll hurt you so bad that I'll drag you out of that Reversion Form. Then I'll finish this!" Boreanta felt weakened as well as he could feel the intense stomach pain that Xaramesi was going through. She raked her stomach again, forcing another pained yelp from Xaramesi. "What's the matter? Got nothing else to say?!" she went in for another slash but she stopped and held her head again. "Oh c'mon… not again, dammit!"
Xaramesi was confused as to what was happening. "Xaramesi!" her eyes widened when she saw that it was Sakuya's eyes looking at her and not Reiko's. "You have to run, Reiko won't stop until you're- AAAH!" she held her head once again and lost control to Reiko.
"Stop doing that!" Reiko exclaimed.
"Sakuya…" Xaramesi said as she was still being held up by the chains.
"You're never going to see her again!" Reiko exclaimed. But unexpectedly, she was punched in the face by Zaria who threw all her weight into it. Reiko was sent to the water. "Zaria!? What is your problem!?"
"You've gone too far, Reiko! Whether or not Xaramesi deserves a chance or not, isn't up to you. That's for Sakuya to decide!"
"I thought you were on my side here!"
"Don't you think she's suffered enough!?"
Reiko got up. "Oh, not even close!"
"Zaria…" Xaramesi called out in a weak tone. "You might want to back away from me now." there was a green cyclone forming around them.
"Quickly, Nightshade! Get her!" Nightshade turned around to attack Xaramesi but Boreanta grabbed him by his tail and tossed him to the rocks that were at the bottom of the cliff. He hit hard and whined in pain.
"CYCLONIC SLASH!" an explosive cyclone formed around Xaramesi and the blades of air had cut the chains apart. Xaramesi floated into the air and her blade-wings floating beside her.
Nightshade: 1750 / Boreanta: 1300(+700)= 2000
The large cyclone that formed and Xaramesi was inside the cyclone and there was green thunder roaring inside it. Before the cyclone could stop spinning, Xaramesi shot out of the rapid winds like a cannon. She was speeding to Nightshade and the pupils in her eyes were missing as she let out a leopard roar. "RAZOR ARROW!" She straightened her body and was cloaked in bright green winds. Her long ponytail was whipping in the wind. She broke the sound barrier and crashed into the already weakened Nightshade, driving him deeper into the cliff face.
Nightshade: 1750(-450)= 1300 / Boreanta: 2000(+450)= 2450
Xaramesi flew back out and hovered in the air as her wing blades floated beside her. "PIERCING CUTLASS!" the blades on her wings were multiplying themselves over and over until 100 blades were floating around her, all of them aimed at Nightshade as her shrunken pupils focused on her target. "RAAAAAAAHH!" all the blades had thrown themselves at Nightshade.
The blades impaled themselves through Nightshade, Xaramesi didn't relent until all 100 blades had impaled the wolf Bakugan. After a colossal amount of dust formed, the attack subsided, the sound of a Bakugan being defeated was heard and Nightshade's ball form sped to Xaramesi's hand and she tightly clenched him.
She lightly landed on her feet and she angrily turned to Reiko who fearfully stood on the sand. She watched as Xaramesi flew right to her and speared into her, pushing the pair of them closer to the water. She formed a fist in her right hand and looked over the terrified Reiko.
"GIVE SAKUYA BACK YOU BIT-"
"XARAMESI!" Zaria exclaimed and she managed to snap her out of her rage state. She made a gesture to Xaramesi, telling her to calm down. Sparkles started to leave her body as she looked over Reiko who was covering her face, but upon closer inspection, tears were leaking from where her eyes would be.
"Sakuya…?" the wolf girl uncovered her eyes and she looked up at her with her round eyes and she sniffled to herself. "Sakuya… I…ugh!" she threw off her scarf and she tied it around her stomach, just to stop any bleeding. "OW… looks like the adrenaline is gone…"
Zaria knelt to the both of them. "You idiots… what's wrong with you two!?" Zaria helped the both of them up. Xaramesi struggled to stand and Zaria had put her hand over her shoulder to help keep her stable. "Don't worry I got you…" Xaramesi then looked to her right side to see Sakuya helping her up. "Or… I guess we got you."
Xaramesi looked down in shame. "I'm so, so sorry… I've got a lot to make up for."
"Stop." Zaria started. "Listen, we're going to patch you up first. Then we're going to figure this out, okay."
"B-but…"
"Focus on getting better. Reiko did a huge number on you."
Xaramesi turned to Sakuya. "Speaking of which…" she dropped Nightshade into Sakuya's hand. "Sorry about hurting him. I kind of lost it… ow." After Sakuya took back her Bakugan she took more of Xaramesi's weight.
"I'm… sorry…" she Sakuya whispered, and Xaramesi's eyes grew and she turned to her in astonishment. It was the first time she's heard her true voice in some time.
"We can do the apology party later," Zaria said. "We've got to get you to the hospital."
Xaramesi nodded at her and had tears falling from her face, she sniffled to herself. "Thank you, so much…" She looked back to see Boreanta following them.
Cameron, Zavanna, Aisha, Jayden, Akane, Cera, and Alice were inside Bones's compact home. Waiting for them was Bones, Shino, Jax, and Cooper.
He noticed that they were short of a few people. "We seem to be missing a few people. But I'm sure… you'll spread this to the others." he eyed them. With a serious expression, his door opened, and saw Maia entering with Garfield behind him, though he had a very downcast expression.
"Ah, looks like everyone is here."
"Is this going to be about what we saw? Like how Yurina dethroned the king?" Zavanna asked.
He nodded. "I feel like you need to know a few things. Firstly about Yurina, that power you saw and about the first person to ever use that power."
Aisha spoke up. "But wasn't that just Reversion?"
"No way," Maia answered. "I fought against her, in her Reversion form and she wasn't that powerful. Whatever we heard on the radio, that was far from what I faced."
"Yes…" Bones looked away from the others for a moment. "At the moment, Yurina has ascent to a point where she is virtually unbeatable. That's why we need to determine if it is a good idea to go against her. Because our sole goal is reviving Draconoid, whatever happens after… we need to figure out if Yurina is our enemy or not."
"But…" Cameron started. "She imprisoned all those people. Are we going to just do nothing?"
"That is up for all of you to decide. I am just giving you all the facts that I know."
Jayden leaned against the wall. "So… what exactly could we be dealing with?"
Bones was silent and his eyes were closed. He walked over to one of the dressers and placed his hand on it. "There is a power beyond Reversion. And that power is called Limit Break!"
"Limit Break?" Cameron and Aisha questioned.
"It is a power that anyone is capable of… but it requires intense mental fortitude to reach. It requires you to already have hit the ceiling of your strength. Then through intense focus, one can theoretically break through their limits, but this has to be done from the battler, not the Bakugan."
"What does that mean?" Maia said. "We need to increase our own strength ourselves?"
"Precisely." Bones answered. "As of right now there are only two people who have ever gotten to that level. Yurina, and the most sadistic person to have ever existed… Zoracian."
They all could sense the dread in his voice, Zavanna's pupils shook as that name was also familiar to her. "Zoracian? B-but I thought he was just a non-existent myth that is used to scare naughty children into behaving."
"No… he is very real! And he is someone who always seeks to satisfy his blood-lust!"
"So… who is he?"
"He is an Alursian, the result of breeding between a Wolf and Dragon-kin. For some reason, he was able to achieve the Limit Break from a young age, and he grew up to go on a killing spree, terrorizing Alursia. Along with his serpent-dragon Bakugan, Azulong. Those two had ravaged every village that stood in front of them, showing no mercy to anyone. Anyone who challenged him was reduced to ashes."
"Holy Crap…" Aisha breathed.
"So where is he now, you talk as if he is still alive," Jayden noted. Bones gave him a look. "He's not dead… is he?"
"Not dead… comatose. And hopefully not a threat anymore. He is trapped in a casket, that is tied with chains and is buried deep, deep underground under tons of rubble. We've built a tomb around him, and given that Alursia uninhabitable at the moment. He won't be coming back anytime soon. But Yurina seems to have that power now, and that is scary. While she isn't going to go on a killing spree. She will use her strength to enforce her will onto everyone around her. She wants unity, but also wants to dispatch of the elites that have made life awful for those with a lower status than them."
"So what do we do?" Aisha asked.
"Why do anything?" Maia asked. "I mean, Yurina is better off leading, right? Better just leave her be."
Bones looked at Maia. "You may have a point… but we can't just leave things as they are. I know Yurina… and while she might be spontaneous and seems decent… I'm just not sure about her. Something about seeing those eyes..." He remembered how furious she looked as she held her sword in front of the king. "...They were very different from when I saw her as a child. It was probably the death of her mother, maybe this is her way of rectifying that."
"I am worried too…" Zavanna said. "But I've slowly been feeling Draconoid's presence less and less as time went on. I fear we are running out of time to revive her."
"Then we should make sure we do the ritual as soon as possible." Bones stated. "We must leave tomorrow morning."
"No later than that!" Shino added.
They all nodded, Maia lazily raised her hand. "Mind if I come with you guys… I've got nothing else to do?"
Cameron looked at Akane. "What do you think?"
Akane thought about it. "Ugh… well I'll take stock on my sister, Zaria, and the others." she looked at Maia. "You can come with us, but you can't hold us back!"
Maia winked at her. "You don't worry about me keeping up. I took pre-Limit Break Yurina to… heh the Limit I guess!"
Garfield then walked over to Alice. "So Alice… ready to get your memories back?"
"Well… yes. But are you ok? You don't look well." Alice replied.
Garfield let out a sigh. "Yeah, I'm fine. We should just do this already, we've waited long enough."
Leiya was sprinting through Valhalla City, but she stopped running when she saw Darius standing in front of him, waiting by a street lamp. "Darius… what are you doing here?"
"Well you made Yurina mad… and well, she doesn't want loose ends, unfortunately, you're a loose end so... I gotta take you down… nothing personal." He placed his gauntlet on his arm and gave a calm look at Leiya who was shaking.
"F-Fine!" Leiya then threw her gauntlet on her arm. "If you're going to take orders from that fox! Then you're no ally of mine!" she angrily glared at Darius. "I will not be hunted down!"
"Well, it's too bad they sent someone whose Bakugan's sole purpose is to hunt! Prepare yourself,"
But before they could start, they heard footsteps walking towards them. The priest Maximus appeared and he glared right at Darius. "If you want to fight, then you will fight two of us. I already had to deal with the displeasure of imprisoning our king. No longer will I let Yurina make a mockery of our society. I will defeat you, then I will defeat Yurina and restore order."
"You've always been a real stick in the mud," Darius said. "Oh well, more fun for me!"
A camera caught the three of them and Aurea was in her office and she was watching their battle. "It doesn't look like Maximus still wants to follow the old regime."
"So where do you stand?" Servavi asked.
Aurea hummed to herself as she folded her arms, she suddenly got a notification for a call on her computer. She answered it and saw Yurina sitting on her throne sideways while swinging her legs. "Yo Aurea… are you watching the feeds too?"
"Yes." Aurea formally replied. "I don't suppose you had something to do with this?" she saw Yurina eating popcorn.
"Oh, Aurea… I have no idea what you are talking about!"
"Right… So what do you need me to do?"
"You can do whatever you want! You can watch, join, go to sleep if you want…" Aurea kept her arms folded. "Want to have a friendly wager on who's going to win?"
"I don't gamble, Yurina."
"You're no fun. You need to learn to relax, maybe we'll go to a spa together in our downtime. Would you like that?"
"I don't relax, there is always a problem that needs fixing. So I can't rest, the only time I'll rest is when I retire."
Yurina sighed. "Jeez woman… you're a workaholic. Tell you what let's watch this together and see how this ends."
"Fine."
Another chapter is done and dusted, sorry if it feels rushed near the end. Anyway hope you enjoyed it and I'll see you in the next update :)
P.S: my very good friend Insane Dominator created Zoracian.
