From Depths We Rise

by Insane Dominator

1 year has passed since Dan and the Battle Brawlers saved the universe, and when things were serene, a new group of Bakugan players are sent to New Vestroia when a dimensional interference forces them to meet each other. Caught in the crossfire with aliens seeking resources, Luke, Abis Omega, and new friends must fight using unlikely odds if they're to save all from extinction.

16. Collapsing

The crowd was uproariously cheering as everyone present and all over the city were looking to the face of their lord and savior – their salvation, as he had put it. In a crumbling world of enriched turmoil, the way his face was so composed made him look almost unargumentative. The crowd certainly looked thrilled, but the same couldn't be said for a certain group of people watching.

Luke was completely at a loss for words. He was completely lost in what he was supposed to do other than stand up and look down at the man who was his master. He taught him loyalty, but even now his head was weakly shaking.

Riaan raised a hand to silence his captive audience. In a matter of a few moments, their celebration was lowered to mumbles as he continued on with his soliloquy. "I appreciate the very warm greeting that I am beseeched to. It is because of you all here that I have chosen to forego this path of redemption; not for myself, but for every individual that stands before me. We have all suffered a great deal, it being hunger, thirst, space, funds, losses most unbearable. I once again am ashamed of myself for allowing all of this to happen…"

As he lowered his head in shame, the audience looked raptured in his speech. From the grim look on his face, he truly did mean it.

Luka glared down from the high point. 'So you say that. But are you really?'

Riaan raised his head, giving them all another serious look. "…but that's why I am here. I…no, we, have to do something. We will do something. Rather than speak about the endless possibilities, I believe now is better for action to speak louder than the words we share and learned." He raised a fist, making it ball tightly. "We Interacians have learned the hard way that watching everything fall around us has been a factor in natural selection, an impossible evolution that we cannot change. But that means not that we can still make a change for ourselves. For the sake of our home, the very least we can do…is give our lives for its survival! The change we speak of, is already beginning!"

The roaring of the crowd once again boomed like a megaphone throughout the area. Everyone looked to be into it; some more than others, and those who were indifferent. The land they stood on and above them were barely stable. They themselves had to be willing if they were to survive. It was time to make a stand.

Maggie watched with Esther beside her, completely bewildered by this change of events. "A revolution?"

"So this is what his motives were all along." Esther configured with sharpened eyes. "He…" She was cut off when a pair of footwear stomped on the ground, rising with a body apparent. "Luke?"

Luke glared out ahead with an exasperated look on his face. "HEY! MASTER RIAAN!" he roared. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"

"Luke!" Shawn snapped.

Shuji recoiled from Luke's horrendous shouting. "Hey, what the heck man?!"

"MASTER RIAAN! DON'T TELL ME THIS ALL TRUE! YOU WOULDN'T REALLY DO THIS, WOULD YOU?! IT'S ME! LUKE! YOUR STUDENT! HEY~!" He wanted to let the master know he was there, but it looked like from the distance it carried that he couldn't get that far. His shouts compared to the crowds even were hardly even audible. He needed to let Master Riaan know he was there. He needed to know. He needed to know everything. This was just unacceptable, and he wasn't having it either way. "MASTER RIAAN! TELL ME THE TRUTH NOW!"

"Luke! Keep it down!" Shawn hushed.

Luke refused to listen. "MASTER RIAA~N!"

Far ahead, standing in front of everyone, it looked like the message didn't get anywhere. The leader of Interacia was looking dead ahead with no signs of audible selection. He glared ahead while his fans cheered on, their salvation making action look possible.

"Xander."

"Yes, sir." The Pyrus lackey of Rogue Zero ceased his kneeling and retreated out of sight.

Shawn grabbed Luke, trying to hold him from behind the arms. "Luke, stop! You're gonna get us caught!"

But Luke refused to listen once again. He was kicking and trying to break free of his friend's grip. "RIAAN…! RIAAN!" He was sounding more like on the verge of tears with every time he shouted out. His eyes were even misting up as he tried desperately, but it seemed to be insufficient as Riaan's face showed no care. He was so focused on the people and not him instead. He struggled as much as he could, but he wasn't getting anywhere with Shawn holding him back. The more he struggled, the worse it felt for him.

"What is he thinking?" Maggie grunted. Having enough, the preteen went and grabbed one of his legs. "Can it already!"

"Let go of me!" Luke snarled, but Shawn held him tight. "Don't get hasty, Luke! What are you even doing anyway, trying to give us away?!"

Luke craned his head around, trying to move his shoulders with little success. He struggled relentlessly, turning left and right to essentially no breakage anywhere. It certainly didn't help that Maggie was holding down one of his other legs.

Esther looked neutrally at Luke, despite seeing how much in denial he was. "Luke…"

"This isn't Riaan! It can't be! It's all not true!"

Shawn could feel his grip getting loose. "Luke, what are you saying?! Get ahold of yourself!" Finally, the Haos battler lost his grip after so long of a struggle. Luke's trashing set him and Maggie both falling on their butts while Luke plundered onto his side. He thudded painfully, more so than his other allies.

Everyone got their space need and allowed the three to get up. Maggie groaned as Jelldon popped up.

"Maggie, you okay?!"

"Yeah, I'm fine…" the little girl groaned as she started getting back up.

Shawn aroused rom his seat next. He and Maggie and the others looked down as Luke was hesitating to get back up.

Luke got onto his behind as well, sitting back while everyone looked at him. "What's wrong with you guys?!" In his eyes, those green, slanted orbs he had were fixations of something that he was feeling ever since he got separated from Riaan from the start, the very security he was let go of and had to embrace, but only grew worse. Fear. That very emotion that haunted Luke that he tried to ignore and hide from, but even with Riaan around now, the fear he was feeling was greater than ever.

Esther gave him another serious face. "Luke…"

Luke glared back at everyone, unable to respond in time. A sudden rupture from nearby grabbed his attention, making him and the others falter and almost lose footing when something large landed right in front of them on the wall. They all gasped when they turned, seeing Hyper Dragonoid glowering down with the Metalfencer in Battle Unit Mode.

The Hyper Dragonoid mockingly snickered down at the bunch. "Well, well, look what we have here. A couple of rats who didn't seem to get formal invitations." He looked towards Xander, who was perched on his shoulder. "Master Xander? What do you believe?"

The Pyrus superior looked down and gave them a deep snicker. "Why, Hyper Dragonoid, rodents sound so crude, don't you think? I'd like to think of them as…pestering insects."

Luke stammered up to his feet from shock.

"Xander!" Esther exclaimed.

"I don't believe we ever told you that you could come here without an invitation. Sorry, but I've been asked to close the door on outsiders." He reached down. "Hyper Dragonoid!"

Hyper Dragonoid aimed his arms at the extraterrestrials, the guns on Metalfencer beginning to gather orange energy to fire and incinerate them on the spot. They all began to back up from shock slowly, their slow moving hoping to stall for a short period.

A shimmering bright yellow ring went flying out of nowhere, flying into Hyper Dragonoid with his side turned away. The attack knocked right into his two arms, sending a force strong enough to redirect the guns that fired two sharp lasers that went into the distance. They bolted into a nearby tower, making a small burst of dust and debris flare.

Hyper Dragonoid grunted, with Xander trying to keep his balance after that sudden push. "Who did that?!"

A figure jumped right in front of them, revealing a pair of white and purple legs. Everyone looked up to find yet another Bakugan towering over them, this time facing the other direction, away from them. And behind that Bakugan was Luka was he stepped in.

"Oh, sorry~." Alto Brontes said facetiously. "Looks like my hand slipped."

Xander's glare hardened. "You!"

Luka said nothing in response.

Shuji's eyes widened. "Huh?!"

"What's the meaning of all this?" Jase inquired.

"It's you! From back in the chamber!" Maggie exclaimed.

Luke was at a loss for words. He was staring at him in wonder as he started to think back to when he met him from last night. His eyes widened as well as he began to process what it was he was looking at; someone who hinted him, or maybe someone who baited him. Slowly, his fingers began to twitch. "You…"

Luka glanced over his shoulder. "What are you all standing there for?! Get going already!"

"W-wait, what?!"

"I don't have time to explain! If you wanna get out alive, you need to go!"

"B-but what about Master Riaan?!" Luke snapped. "What the hell's going on here already! Tell me!"

Esther approached Luke from behind. "Luke, we should do as he says."

He looked at her like she committed a crime. "What? How can we trust him?"

Hyper Dragonoid lunged at them again, getting them all to jerk back ahead. Alto Brontes suddenly got in front and intercepted with his four arms. He held Hyper Dragonoid off like a wall while Luka shot everyone another intense glare.

"I'm not asking a third time! Get out of here!"

Though he had his own suspicions, Shawn grabbed Luke's arm and began to pull him away. "C'mon, Luke. We better get going."

"Wait-!" He tried to pull away, but he was so distracted that he didn't another flash from the side. The purple flash faded, revealing a pincer-like tail that snagged Luke's abdomen. "Wha~!" He was yanked off the ground and held by Atchibee's tail claw.

Everyone loaded up on Atchibee as quickly as possible. This time, Jase and Shawn got the two massive blade arms, and the rest got onto her back. With everyone aboard, Atchibee flapped her wings and began taking off.

"Go, Atchibee!" Esther encouraged.

"Right away!" The moth Bakugan turned and made her way from the massive wall into the distant skies.

As they drew away, Luke was looking back, his eyes shrunken as he barely saw the face of Riaan in the ever-shrinking court. "MASTER RIAAAAAN~!" he cried out.

They all went away in the distance, leaving Luka and Xander to watch them go. Their Bakugan were glaring the other as they knew the competition would go down. "So you let those hitchhikers escape, huh?" Xander mocked. "That's a pretty ridiculous move you've made."

"What's ridiculous here is how feeble you are to follow such a precarious man." Luka admonished. "Do you even know what he wants?"

Xander smirked arrogantly. "Why of course. He desires a new world…one you're not supposed to be apart of." He reached out. "Hyper Dragonoid!" Beside him, the Bakugan angrily hollered.

"So be it." Luka readied himself as Alto Brontes stood beside him. He slowly reached out as well, glaring intense green daggers at Xander. "Don't let them get pass us, Brontes!"

Both Bakugan let out laughter and shrilling roars, while the crowds beneath were completely unaware as Riaan overlooked them all with a smile.

---

Atchibee sailed through the atmosphere over the city. She remained ow and hovered over the rooftops to avoid high aerial spotting. When she found a nice open alley, thanks to her physique, she arched down and slowly fell into the darkness. Lower to the ground, she almost touched the bottom, where it was just enough to allow everyone to hop off. Once they were on the ground standing, Luke was let go of the claws, plopping on his stomach painfully.

She went into ball form, caught by Esther in silent recognition.

"Man, that was a close one." Shui sighed. "I thought I was gonna be toast."

"Yeah, extra crispy." Maggie nervously added. "But at least we made it out of there."

"Indeed." Jase crossed his arms, eyes shut as he processed what happened. "If it weren't for that man stepping in front, we wouldn't have reacted in time."

Maggie slumped down, sighing heavily. "That was too close."

Shawn remained silent. He had arms crossed and was against the wall of the building they were close to. The awkward silence he had going was caught on by everyone. They all turned towards him, seeing his arms folded and looking heavily deterred.

"Shawn…?" Maggie looked towards him, hoping he would answer. But from the way he was being so quiet, that wasn't the case.

Verias looked worriedly at his partner. "Shawn…"

His eyes were closed as he was remaining as silent as possible. A long while finally went on until he sighed and looked away. Once processed, he had eyelids barely opened in despondent fashion. He then shot a glance at everyone else, seeing how their looks were that of worry.

"You okay?" Shuji asked.

"Yeah…I'm fine." Shawn said dryly.

Esther looked down at her heels, her brow furrowing. "So all this time, Riaan really was…"

Maggie tilted her head in confusion as Esther trailing. "Hmmm…you mean…" she gasped. "An alien!"

Jase put a hand to his chin. "In hindsight, I suppose technicality works."

Shuji folded his arms. "Man, this is all so messed up. First we go planet-hopping. Then the next thing we know is this strange guy ends up being a stranger guy in the end from another world. If that ain't so messed up, I don't know what is."

Shawn sighed for the second time now. "I had a feeling something was off when he was on New Vestroia. I can't believe he was able to keep this from us for so long."

"Was he showing signs back home?" Esther inquired.

"No, he was always good at focusing at the task at hand. You wouldn't be able to tell if he was thinking or doing his job." He calmed his nerves down as he put a hand to his chin. "Then again, that would explain a couple things that's been bothering me."

"Like what?" Jelldon inquired.

"Well, when I think back to it, Riaan was always more focused on others other than himself. He's been focusing on us more than his personal gains and needs. That why he became the head of security and the team at Luke's estate."

Still on his knees, Luke was facing away as his bangs covered his eyes.

"So what does that mean?" Maggie asked.

"It means it shows how less factual he was about his life." Jase noted. "In other words, you can say he centers his life around everyone else' so that way they wouldn't have to feel the need to pry in his own way of living."

Shuji raised a brow. "Sounds like he needed a hobby."

"You can say that, but the Revolutia family did have a lot of money, plus with Bakugan starting, they were beginning to fret over security. So that's when he came around." Shawn's eyes slowly widened in realization. "Wait…that's it."

"What's it? What's wrong?" Verias inquired.

"He was hired almost immediately after the incident ten years ago. When all those cards fell out of the sky."

Everyone went wide-eyed at the disturbing revelation. When they all looked at it, they were more than flabbergasted. Shuji could still remember that day all too well. He was watching his younger siblings with the window open and a few cards flew out of it. And Maggie was barely even learning how to walk. She was barely learning to walk and say her mom's name, and even then she never played the game. And Jase was still in his early 20s. He was in an office in an undisclosed location writing up a report when a card flew right underneath his seat. He didn't realize it until he saw the news later that morning. And Esther, she was outside on the balcony, playing a song she was practicing for a recital when cards fell out of the sky. One landed right in her palms that night even.

"The day Earth and Bakugan intertwined for the first time." Esther deduced. "That's it then."

"So Riaan was hired when New Vestroia was still Vestroia." Jase added. "That's getting us somewhere, but has he been on Earth beforehand?"

Maggie shrugged. "Well I wouldn't be interested in a planet of it didn't have monsters and cards."

"Sounds like the case, but there's also something else." Shawn said. "When he said 'home'…he never said where he was from."

Shuji looked at Shawn with a bead of sweat running down his face. "Well gee, I guess that's how background checks started."

Shawn sighed. "Luke's folks were never the brightest of thinkers…"

WHAM!

Shawn was cut off when the sound reverberated throughout the area. He, and the guys all around, were all staring in the direction where it came from, revealing Luke ramming his fist into the ground. His body was shaking profusely from anger, his face still concealed.

"Stop talking…" he mumbled.

Jase blinked. "Pardon?"

"Stop talking…"

Maggie raised another brow. "Hm? Hey, Luke, this isn't the mumbling game. Feel free to speak up!"

"Shut up." He growled.

Esther gave him a look. "Luke…"

"Shut up, shup up, SHUT UP!" He whipped around, standing in front of everyone with a look of pure anger in his eyes. His glare with green eyes seethed intense fire that made even Maggie recoil in shock. They all saw those gritting teeth, that shadow over his eyes, and lastly those menacing eyes. He was purely angry. "Don't you dare say anything bad about Master Riaan! Okay?!"

Shawn wanted to say something to his friend. "Luke-"

"SHUT UP, SHAWN! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT!" His fists balled with such an intense vibe that one could've seen the veins popping out, throbbing intensely. His eyes retreated behind his bangs again, enclosed with his denial. "You and I have been with Master Riaan from the very start. He would never do anything like betray us…he swore he'd give his life for us…he'd keep us safe…he would do anything for us…"

"But not for himself now?" Jase inquired.

"That's selflessness and you know it! He was one of the most inspirational people out there who stuck his neck out when he needed to. He's a great person who never let us down!"

"And yet did you ever ask anything about him?" Esther inquired.

Luke fell silent as her words were sinking in deep. In all his time knowing Master Riaan, when he thought about it, he never really did ask those personal questions. In all honesty, he was just shocked to see him display sword skills and how stoic he was. And the way he had a fatherly personality was also something that made him deeply respectable to him.

But Esther was right, and the teeth gritting was significant proof of that.

Shawn closed his eyes, looking down in shame. "He was the deflective type. It wasn't easy asking him personal questions."

"And you didn't find that suspicious?" Shuji scoffed. "So you're saying this guy's family has been holding a spy, who is basically a king of another world, inside their estate?!" He pointed at Luke to make a point, a tick mark on his head at the disbelief that something that important was so keen.

Luke looked at everyone with deep exasperation. He looked as though he was about to cry like a 3-year-old. "Stop it…all of you…" he threateningly sneered. "I'm serious, this can't be the same Riaan."

"Luke…" Shawn could see the denial on his face. It was too much for Luke, and he can see he was on the verge of a serious breakdown.

"Wait!" he snapped. "How do even know if he really was the ruler? Y-yeah…" he smiled nervously in false hopes. "I mean, he could've been brainwashed for propaganda or something, right?"

"Then why would they target Riaan to brainwash then?" Jase reason. "If that were the case, then they could've taken any one of us by now."

"W-well we were on the surface at the time. S-so…"

Shuji put his hands up in the air, groaning so loud that it was like him coming home from work after a long day. "You know what, I'm not doing this!" he declared. "You can believe whatever you want, but stop acting like a baby man, seriously, it's sad!"

"Me? You're the one who acts like a child!" Luke defended.

"At least I don't go deliberately blowing covers!"

"But he's my master!"

"Yeah, your master! This was your problem, Luke, you just so happened to get us all wrapped up in this!"

Luke looked away, snobbishly refusing to accept such an ordeal. He huffed angrily at the comment and said nothing more.

Jase propped his glasses up, frowning with the rest. He turned away like Luke and faced the streets. "Well nothing can be said or done about this."

"What?" Luke gasped. "There's gotta be something we can do, right?"

"Like what?" Maggie inquired. "You got any ideas or clues?"

"W-well…"

Jase began to walk. "We've wasted enough time over facts and trivial arguments. If we're to really find out about this mystery of Riaan and this planet, staying here won't bring us solutions."

"Finally, someone actually getting somewhere! Thank you!" Shuji praised to the air above.

Esther and the others followed up, them all looking around as they prodded nearby the alley. She looked left and right, seeing that they were in the clear for the most part. "Okay, we're clear."

Everyone slowly filed out of the alley, heading away from the massive court nearby.

Luke looked up at the huge domain, hearing the cheers of everyone inside. Even in front, meters away, people were filed so they could still be within the open gates. His frown was as heavy as a stack of bricks, and he wasn't looking at all pleased with the ideas going on. "Master Riaan…please…we'll find out what's really going on. Just wait." With that, he turned and scurried with his friends to safety, away from the growing mystery and revelation.

In this case, running away from the truth.

They all hurried downtown. They went on until they went to an intersection, where they saw traffic. As expected, they were halted by Fangoid carrying riders atop of them. And behind those some Jetro and Scaboid holding onto other riders. They waited for the signal across the street, which eventually went and the Bakugan began to move.

Like a humungous herd, the ground beneath vibrated intensely as they began to move all their gigantic bulk. They paced themselves as moderate as possible, and meanwhile, the others were waiting, with Esther talking to them with a straight face.

"So where do we go from here?"

"We'll have to make it out of here first. Once we reach the gates to here, we'll hurry back to the Trailer. I have a feeling that if we hurry to certain places, then perhaps we'll be able to get a better fixation to this."

"Got it." Shawn nodded. He looked over, noticing how quiet Luke was. "Luke, are you okay?"

Luke glare was fixated, but he responded well. "Wha…yeah, I'm fine." He stammered. "But...why aren't you worried, Shawn?"

Shawn gave him an expectant stare. "Well of course I'm worried, Luke. Who wouldn't be? It's just…a lot to take in is all." His gaze cascaded towards the ground, his brow furrowing as his arms folded. "I knew something was off when that odd wave struck us back in your house and all, but it's all just a lot to take in."

"But we are going to do something about Master Riaan, right?"

Shawn heard the sound of desperation in Luke's tone. Even after taking in all of the deplorable material he's been hearing and seeing, he can believe Riaan was beating them around the bush, but he wasn't of ill will ever. He had his reasons certainly, but acceptance was still hard to swallow.

"Honestly Luke, I just don't know. There's still so much going on around here that I can't even think straight." He admitted. "Look, maybe you might be right. Maybe Riaan was brainwashed and using him for an image of sorts. I can't really tell myself. But for now, we have to wait and see what we can do about this. There's so much that we don't understand yet that we need to figure out first."

In a way, Luke knew Shawn was right to a degree. He really did want to get to the bottom of all this, but there was a lot of benefactors and variables that far outweighed what his brain could handle.

As the signals turned, the Subterra Fangoid stopped in front of the walkway like a car would. The green light went on, and Luke and everyone else begrudgingly powered on.

Esther looked over as she noticed Jase meddling with his Bakumeter. The green coloring it had was trancing to say, but his fingers gliding on the very few buttons had her curious. "Jase."

The Ventus battler didn't look at her. "Yes, Esther?"

"Can I ask what you're doing?"

"I'm rewiring the live feed of the message to here. We should at least be able to see from a distance, or in other words, get some message." Jase resumed his fingers gliding across the small buttons, his concentration unwavering to any and all degree.

As they made it to the smooth cement on the opposite side of the walkway, everyone was getting a better look of their surroundings. They were noticing how everything was very Earth-like, but the regality it had wasn't as enamoring. Rather, the way it was all designed was also unlike anything they were accustomed to. The massive buildings had sharp edges, almost like prisms. And while there were a lot of colors everywhere, dark colors were the most noticeable. In a way, it resembled a metropolis, as disturbing as that sound.

"Man, this place just gets weirder by the minute." Shuji said as he looked towards his side.

Maggie looked all around, seeing all of the buildings and different cultures it had. "yeah, and there's no banners or signs anywhere."

"Is that bad?" Jelldon inquired.

"Not necessarily." Shawn answered. "You see, on Earth, we have a lot of this ordeal that we call advertisement. It's…how should I put it?"

"Annoying." Maggie chimed.

"Right, exactly. Just like that. But it's a way to get good and products noted by buyers, and they are seen around every corner. There's endless amounts of that in big cities such as these." The Haos battler once again found himself inquiring silently as they went on past a lamppost. 'Now that I think about it, did Thermosphere and Troposphere have propaganda like that?'

Jase tapped against his Bakumeter for the umpteenth time, making the screen shine once more. "There. We're in."

"Let me see!" Almost immediately, Luke cut right in front of everybody to get almost immediately in front of the screen. From the Bakumeter, the projection shined to allow another holographic screen show. This time, it revealed Riaan standing in front, looking like he was speaking at a press on Earth.

All around Solaris, those who could not attend could be seeing the vision on special stones that projected screen above them like a movie would. Others had other means like massive holes in walls with liquid rippling to another channel, or along those lines one might say, but even now, Riaan was speaking out.

"…to this, Thermosphere and Troposphere, two of our three prestige cities, has been selected. As you have noticed of their absence, the reason was for the sake and safety of the populace itself." He reasoned. "The world we live in now is crumbling, but that means not that we have to sit by and watch potential livestock and esteem essence that these two cities offer be in vain. With the help of my trusted colleagues, we were successful in managing to find a sustainable planet with clean air and a vibrant atmosphere for our beloved citizens."

"Wait, is he talking about New Vestroia?" Shuji questioned.

"He's talking." Fly Beetle hushed.

"Our planet's system has been in great hamper because of this operation, and I know well of the water that we have has traces of Devil Miasma, but with our location set on New Vestroia, we were able to bring back samples of their water, and thus the filter system for Troposphere will be revitalized within the passing days."

The audience once again clapped for their leader's tough decisions. They have been suffering and been having rough times making themselves clean again with all the poisonous water. They could barely drink anything, let alone worry about hygiene.

As they cheered, Riaan raised his hand, silencing his people once more. "But…it also brings me great distress to tell you that while we were successful in making steps to our water, the time it had taken to do so for both cities has been less than cordial. The timespan for the two cities on New Vestroia to help cope with our population was cut off due to engineering faults, and as such, the program had been run short. As we speak…I'm afraid that while Troposphere is in little to worry, Thermosphere now lies within the Devil Miasma that sprouted beneath."

The audience looked at each other with mumbles of worry as they saw a hologram project itself behind the man. Above them all, they could see their point of view in Solaris, and the map thereon expanding to show a red point alongside water in the west, but another point farther northeast.

The diagram changed once more, zooming on footage of the dome that locked Thermosphere's boundaries within. On the screen, they could all see what looked like a dark purple mist from within. The mist was more like fog, but inside, they could feel a foul energy.

The people looked sickened looking at it.

"The malfunction happened to be in the core, where there, a power deficiency occurred. It was also here where our engineers and staff were spread out. We were able to receive word almost instantly upon their arrival back here, and has such been taking measures to make sure the citizens make it to safety. As we speak, we are sending help to those trapped inside the Devil Miasma. At this point, I ask for full cooperation and for everyone to pray for those souls."

"Thermosphere?" Maggie inquired. "Weren't we just there not even a week ago?

Shawn put his hands to his hips, looking at the image still up with a morbid impression. "Damn, they don't look so good."

Esther narrowed her eyes as she looked deeper into the picture. "Wait, hold on. Is that the same substance we saw on our way here?"

"It would appear so." Jase deduced. He turned his Bakumeter off and began to press in further coordinates. The Bakumeter beeped several times with each button pressed and a new screen took up its place, this one looking like a grid on a radar. "Fortunate for us that I was able to get a good image of that map he presented, that way we know where we're going rather than look at what's in front of us."

Shuji took a step back out of shock. "Woah, slow down there. Are you serious about…?"

"It's not ideal for us to turn a blind eye to these sort of things Shuji, not to a soldier who swore to protect others." Jase prodded. "Besides, if memory serves, we should find food and any available needs there, no matter if pungent."

Maggie sulked forward. "Sounds dirty."

"And a little…dangerous." Jelldon nervously added.

"Maybe." Esther noted, but the look on her face showed anything but mercy. "But it's not like we have much of an option lying before us. If we stay here any longer, odds are that Rogue Zero might find us. We can't let his stalling be for nothing. We have to go, now."

Luke looked at them all with shock. Of course he agreed they had to go as well, but that's farther away from Riaan. Then again, maybe he could find clues there that could lead to a cure for whatever happened to his leader."

Atmos popped up on Jase's shoulder. "Then it would appear that we have all come an agreement."

Jase nodded. "Indeed. Everyone, to the Trailer."

They all hurried along, keeping themselves secured and quiet throughout their trek back the way they came.

---

Getting around the guards and the security system took some work, especially on Jase's end. Abis Omega insisted they'd breakthrough, but Jase offered a more subtle way. So once again, they had to make way pass the guards, who were still inspecting the few wayward citizens who were coming from all over and out. They were making some progress with maneuvering, until more staff came, making them feel more pressure weigh them down. Jase answered the questioned needed, telling them about 'returning to the city'. Having been jotted down as Troposphere, which was still looking to be in reasonable condition, the guards allowed an all clear. With them free, they crossed the land and made it to the Trailer, still in good condition and went on the move. They hurried to the best of their abilities with what little time they had to procure, in which case was perhaps little to none.

They needed to get to Thermosphere; not just for their own benefits, but out of general worry itself. They heard Riaan was dispatching help, but they weren't sure what he meant by that. In any case, they couldn't afford another day without much water, and they were practically out of food. Shuji may have lost a couple of pounds with all this trekking and these battling, but if Maggie was too busy dozing off, then that had to have meant she was smart enough to conserve energy.

The only one who seemed to be restless on this whole voyage was Luke, and he was taking it all with a big pout. If anything served to be accurate so far, it was his lack of understanding. He wasn't the smartest person out there, nor was he the most knowledgeable of them all, but he was knowing when something was wrong, if he truly did pay attention at least. And there's only a few instances – very few – that he cared about, and that meant Master Riaan in his eyes. When he thought back to it a such long time ago, ten years really did roll by. He could still remember when he saw cards fall out of the sky that night. It was a shock, and he saw one fall onto his balcony. He was so curious that he thought his parents would know, but he was so shocked when they told him to get rid of it, which he did when the security team procured every card that had fallen into the area. It was also not a week later that with these cards summoning monsters that the family had gotten worried, hence the arrival of Riaan. When Luke laid eyes on him, it was like looking at a hero. Something he's always wanted to be. A hero. Someone who saved others and revered to rather than be looked down on; someone who gets acknowledged rather than tutored; someone who did just. The way he showed his swordsmanship, and the way he always looked after Luke when he was around, it was completely shocking at first at how tentative he was being. It was like looking at a second father. He was the best father figure he had, way more than his actual father. Of course that's not to say he didn't love his real father as well. It was all just a matter of personal preference, and right now, he preferred to keep it all the way it was before. When things were simpler, before hell broke loose.

Abis Omega popped open to look at the boy who had a distressed, angry look on his face. He could scoff as much as he liked, or maybe mick Luke, but knowing him, he'd probably throw him outside a window. But that's also not to say he had to empathize with Luke. It must've been hard to know the greatest person you've ever looked up to ended up being someone whom had it out for you.

He wouldn't know. Abis Omega was a damn water serpent for crying out loud. While Luke was pampered and got in trouble like any delinquent would, he would just be swimming idly without a thought in is mind. Peace was on New Vestroia, so fighting wasn't much of a reason itself.

Now it's all changing.

Finally breaking the silence, Luke glared ahead with a frown. "So how much further already?"

"Another few hours." Jase answered.

"Well speed it up! The sooner we get there, the faster we can get this stupid adventure over with!"

Esther looked over to give him a look. "Luke, don't tell us that you're still not listening."

"Hey, I am listening, alright?" he argued. "I know something's wrong with Master Riaan now, but maybe we can still fix this if we hurry towards Thermosphere. So let's just get there and try to fix him and this mess we're in." He settled into his seat with his arms behind his head. He sat his hands behind his head with the legs up and crossed like he gave no damn to the world. Which case, he really didn't.

Esther sighed for Luke's behavior.

"Hmph, sounds to me like someone can use a little spanking." Maggie chimed.

Shuji scoffed in a small laughter. "Or maybe a roller to the head would work. That's what my mom would do to knock some sense into me." Though he did beam with pride, behind that proud smile was hidden fear as he recollected the few times he was out doing mishaps when he was supposed to be with his brother and sister, and that's when he almost blacked out a few times. He really needed to buckle down on that lesson the hard way…same going for his grades.

"Gee, you'd think something was wrong about you." Maggie deadpanned.

Shuji grew a tick mark on his head. "Watch it." He growled.

"But this stuff that he spoke of before, just how deadly did he say it was?" Verias wondered.

Shawn looked down at his partner, seeing his genuine curiosity. "I think he called it Devil Miasma."

"Mi…asma?" Maggie repeated slowly to get the syllables right.

"It's another word for unpleasant vapor or atmosphere." Esther answered. "Putting the word 'Devil' in front of it certainly brings a grave alarm to it if you ask me."

"My thoughts exactly." Jase typed into his coordinates again, bringing up his monitor in front to show the Trailer's position on the map that he was able to copy. On it showed the red dot being them heading to a large red spot dead north. "We should be within range soon. Or now, conserve yourselves."

Luke folded his arms and gave a disappointed pout. He folded his arms and hung his head down as he eased himself into his seat.

"Honestly…" Abis Omega groaned in quiet dismay.

---

Within a few hours, the tires of the convertible were finally grinding to a screeching halt. Inside the massive automobile, everyone who was dozing off looked up to find that they finally made it. Jase looked on ever so casually as he kept an eye out for a while.

"We're here."

The gang all made way out of the huge structure's top. They opened the hatch and made it up one by one until they at last made it to its roof. There, they all looked up and saw the massive wall. They could all once again see the huge structure's integrity to border them out.

Shawn looked up at it, seemingly a little amazed. "Looks like we've made it after all. Didn't think we'd get here this soon."

Jase stood beside him, frowning at the bizarre pulsation he felt. "Does anyone else feel that?"

Jelldon could feel his body tingle as he was open on Maggie's shoulder. "Uh, y-yeah. Now that you mention it, I'm feeling kinda funny."

"There's a lot of negative energy inside. I can feel it." Fly Beetle evaluated.

Verias lifted himself a little. "I can feel it, too. A lot of it."

Maggie noticed something else as well, something that made her nostrils flare. Almost instantly, she covered up her nose. "Bleh, smells like a butcher's shop, too!" she muffled. "Are we sure we're at the right place?"

Luke was the first to jump. He landed on his two feet and on a knee before he slowly lifted and stood straight up. He looked up at the huge entrance Thermosphere had to offer, the one that had security. He took a couple steps forward before he was able to see that the door to it was looking sealed shut.

"Looks like it's off." He evaluated.

Shawn went up beside him, looking at it with hands to his hips. "Yeah, looks like it." He turned towards Luke with a strange brow raised. "It's kinda strange, don't you think?"

"What?"

"Didn't Riaan say something about sending help? If so, wouldn't there be people guarding this place?" He put a hand to his chin, starting to think on a deeper scale. "Then again…it's gotta be something with that Devil Miasma."

"That must be the case." Jase said. "We'll have to find another way inside."

Maggie hopped with glee. "Oh! The ventilation system! We can still use that, right?"

Jase turned towards the little girl. "That's possible. If it's not closed off as well, maybe we can use that to get inside."

Luke began to walk. "Then let's get going."

Soon enough, the group started walking towards the spot where they broke in before. It wasn't that long of a venture, but as they went on, the smell was beginning to worsen some. It had a tint of smog in it, making all their noses wrinkle some. When they made it to the massive ventilation system, they saw the same slits that Luke made before to infiltrate.

"This the spot?" Shawn inquired.

"Looks like it to me." Verias informed. "It even has those same slash marks."

"How curious." Atchibee said.

Luke approached the massive opening he made. He peered inside, squinting to get a view and see purple mist inside. Even from where he lied, there was barely a haze coming out of the vent. When he got a strong whiff, he recoiled. "Bleh! Man, that smells! And here I thought it was bad before!"

"Well it's a good thing I don't have a nose." Abis Omega noted.

Luke shot him an angry look. "Shut up! You're not helping!"

"Is it really safe to go in there?" Maggie worried. She, and everyone else, watched as Jase approached the opening. Where he peered inside as well. Like Luke, his own nose wrinkled from the atrocious smell, making him back off, albeit subtly.

When he turned towards everyone, he had an expressionless face. "This smell definitely isn't natural. It smells like…"

"Death." Atmos finished.

The guys all looked at each other with an uneased look on their faces. They all could feel a great and dense uncertainty rise up, especially for Shuji and Maggie. The two swallowed large lumps as the tense air thickened like the ventilation's mist.

Esther mustered her strength to break the uncomfortable silence and looked into the decrepit entry. "So what do we do now?" she asked the group.

Jase began to walk closer once more. "Well for now, suppose we find our way through here. This may as well be our fairest shot after all."

"But what about flying over the Devil Miasma?" Luke inquired.

Esther looked at him. "It won't change the fact we'll still have to go into it." In all honesty, she didn't like it herself. As far as she knew, it could be poisonous. However, she went down a sewer before. What could be more revolting than that?

"Suppose proceed with caution is in order." Jase advised. "Everyone, stay close."

Without delay, Luke was the first to make his way forward. He led on, with Esther and Shawn following next. Jase followed in afterwards. With Shuji and Maggie following close behind. Eventually, they were all able to make it into the system, making their way step by step down the dark halls.

As they went deeper, they were noticing how the purple mist was not only retaining its atrocious smell, but also upheld its thickness. It was repulsive to look at and feel. It wasn't thick like water, but it was a certain humidity to it that made it a lot more difficult to walk through.

Maggie remained in the back, blocked by Shuji as he was the one beginning to cough a few times. Instantly, the little girl looked worried. "Shuji, are you alright?"

Shuji took a moment to clear his throat. When he found his breath, he kept going. "Yeah, I'm fine." He wheezed. "But man, this stuff is nasty."

As they went on, Jase was making note of something, something that was keen. When he and the others were making way before, it was clear air was flowing. But this time around, it felt off as the mist didn't move at all. In fact, it was sitting. Like a fog. He moved his head around to look and see for himself where everything was and going about. To his own slight bewilderment, nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary other than those two variables.

Then it hit him. Something was off, literally.

"Guys, look!" Luke pointed ahead to an object that was once an obstacle they had to get through. Everyone looked ahead pass him, seeing the massive fan that has stopped moving.

Esther moved in front, seeing the object off to her own surprise. "The ventilation fan. It's off."

"But why?" Atchibee inquired. "If this miasma is about, shouldn't they be working on getting it out?"

Shawn looked ahead with folded arms. "Guess we'll find out soon enough."

Luke brought his mindset back to where it was supposed to be. He wasn't here to admire how the fan was stopping. He kept on going with a stern look on his face. He wasn't stopping until he reached Thermosphere and got to the bottom of all this.

Everyone soon managed to reach the other side of the fan, where they were now starting to see the Devil Miasma grow thicker. When they hopped down and met solid ground, they all looked up to see something completely wrong.

What they saw, was nothing less than shrill horror. The Thermosphere they once knew…wasn't there.

The bushes and trees that were right in front of them were all dead. They were nothing more than dead branches with dying, crackling leaves dangling and falling off like the end of Autumn. The grass they right in front of them was dead as well, wilted and lying like straw. As they looked about, purple fog encompassed everything, making it barely see-through, yet all around, some populace were coughing, and some were hardly able to stand. In fact, the stands themselves all around were empty. Those that were occupied were by stubborn vendors who were doing their absolute best to sell their products to sickly customers. Even then, some were running with what money they managed to save – or steal – to random places. The people, the Bakugan they carried…everything. It was all suffering. It was intoxicating to even watch.

Luke and the others took a few more silent steps ahead of them. The confidence Luke displayed was completely erased for a moment, shrouded by the shock of seeing a terrible side of a city and its pollution. So much coughing and groaning was heard that some who were close by.

"Wha-what is this…?" Luke trailed off, unable to finish from his own shock.

Jase furrowed his brow at the sheer discomfort he was seeing in person. "This is worse than I thought."

A coughing sound came from afar and closing in. The group turned to see someone close in on them, but this person was an all too familiar person who was ringing bells inside Shuji and Maggie. Seeing him made their eyes shoot wide.

"Well…I'll be damned…" The guy menacingly smirked, though his smirk was weak and feeble. The man revealed himself as Shuji's opponent from the semifinal round.

Shuji stepped up, looking completely paralyzed in disbelief. "Wait, aren't you-?!" He wasn't able to finish because the shock he had plastered on his face was all too clear. He never expected to see Keegan like this.

Keegan scoffed. "Tch, didn't think I'd see you again. Where've you been, amateur?" The arrogant, always winning Keegan was weakly smirking at the adversary who bested him. However, the Keegan Shuji remembered was in much better shape. He had paler skin compared to before, and there were wrinkles underneath his eyes. The look on his face spelled unhealthiness everywhere imaginable. Even his clothes looked a little unfastened.

Shuji stepped up to meet his former foe. "You! You're that guy I fought in the semifinal!"

"So what else is new?" Keegan sneered teasingly before coughing. His coughing was so abrupt that it made Shuji and the others falter backwards. After a long gasp, the battler recomposed himself. "Certainly have seen better days, huh? What, gonna gloat over my flu or something?"

Shuji furrowed his brow, giving him a small glare of seriousness. "Look pal, what happened at the tournament…"

"Pfft, save it." Keegan scoffed. "I didn't need your pity before, I don't need it now."

Esther was next to furrow her brow as she shot Keegan a look. "But you do need help, right?"

Keegan as he turned away. "Give me a break…" He walked on over to the edge of a building corner, where he turned and slowly slumped against its edge. "Like we'll be getting help." He sighed tiredly, as if accepting defeat. The way his head slumped down towards the ground made him look even more depressed.

Shuji looked worriedly at his former foe. While he did still feel happy over the victory before, that was still a long time ago. He was stronger now, and equally as sensible. It wasn't beneath him to overlook everyone, especially the way he played. He looked at everyone before he saw the expectant looks on their faces. He turned back at Killian and approached him.

Shuji looked down, glowering at Keegan with his head down. He slowly bent to a knee, making Keegan look from the corner of his eye to see Shuji once more. "What happened?" the Subterra battler asked.

Keegan once again rolled his eyes. "Even now you're being a nuisance? I must be in bad shape then if I didn't beat you to get a radius around me, hehe…" he paused to allow his breath to catch up. "Well, where do I start?"

"The teleportation back here might be a start." Jase slid in the comment.

"Well, after I was busy gritting my teeth and seeing fatso over here beat that crazy strong Ventus battler…" He cocked a brow at mocking Shuji, whom snorted back. "The next thing I knew was a light erupting from beneath my feet. Next thing we all knew, we ended up back where we started. We weren't even prepared when we landed smackdab in Devil Miasma."

Esther stepped up next. "What is Devil Miasma anyway?"

"Man, you guys must be living under rocks. Maybe that explains why you're asking so many damn questions. Devil Miasma is what's been all around us as of late. It's this world's toxic fumes you can say. It's disgusting."

Jase looked away with a hand to his chin. "I see…so it's unstable fumes?"

"Basically. The world's literally crumbling around us. All these ruptures and fissure are bringing up all sorts of disgusting stuff. Stay in this stuff too long…" He trailed off as he wily smirked. The look he gave everyone showed his callous demeanor as he ran his thumb over his throat.

Shuji backed away from shock. "B-but what are doing here then?!"

Keegan shrugged. "Where else can I do? The tower is crammed with people already, and the exit ain't budging for nobody."

"But…what about the ventilation fan?" Maggie wondered. "If that's the case, can't it just blow out this stinky stuff?"

"Weren't you listening half-pint? It's broken!" he said with emphasis. "We were able to get by this long because the core was functioning thanks to all these battles. With the power distributed, we were able to make do until the Devil Miasma got out of hand."

"And that's how you came to New Vestroia." Shuji realized in a trailing tone. He backed off as Keegan's raspy breathing was making a lot of discomfort grow on their faces. Shuji looked back at everyone with a horrified face, one of deep, deep regret.

Maggie began to piece it all together. "So then…they didn't come to New Vestroia just to colonize…"

"But to get away from Death's Door." Esther finished. She felt like the biggest idiot ever to believe there was any other reason they would come to New Vestroia. Given experiences from what she heard about beings called Vestals, Neathians, and Gundalians, she assumed they were trying to take over and populate. She never thought they had any alternative other than that. All she could do now was grieve. "My god, what have we done?"

Jase looked down at the ground. "So then the power core was designed to also help with ventilation and to get as much Devil Miasma out as possible. When that wasn't enough, your leader made you all leave to escape." He deduced.

"Yeah, Lord Riaan told us we can inhabit New Vestroia as long as we uphold ourselves. I would've thought he would be able to fix this crap…looks like I got my hopes up for nothing." Once more, Killian sighed in defeat.

Shawn folded his arms, looking down at the styled street that was basically empty. "I hate to say this, but I think we misjudged the whole situation."

"We all have, Shawn." Jase said. "In hindsight, we should've been looking for another perspective on this."

"But we didn't have a choice. Bakugan were imprisoned because of them!" Maggie defended.

"Be as it may, that still lead the course to now. We can't change what's happened, but we must do something if Riaan hasn't sent any help."

Esther looked around, seeing all of the people that were scattered. Some were faced down, and some were looking not so well. "Let's see if we can try and help as many of these people as we can. There may still be time for them." She looked over, seeing everyone ready and focused. All expect for one person of course. "Luke!"

"H-huh?" Luke looked at her, a little started by her shout. "Uh, sorry, you say something?"

Esther sighed in great annoyance over Luke's terrible insight. "Just do what you can. Look around to find any clues or anything to help."

"Whatever."

The group began to spread about through the main avenue. As they all diverged on the main street, Shuji took one more look back at Keegan to see him crippled and coughing. He was groaning weakly and looked like he wasn't going to make it.

It was sickening to watch…but it was even more sickly to leave him here.

Shuji went over, kneeling and getting Keegan over his shoulder. "H-hey! What the hell, fatso?!" he snapped.

Shuji hoisted him on his shoulder, looking dead ahead to ignore him. "Just shut up, alright?"

Keegan wanted to pry, but all he did was scoff and turn his head away. He was too weak to even argue. "…fine. But don't blame me if you breathe in too much of this stuff."

---

As they went on through the streets, one could describe it as hell, or so to say for unfortunate. Some people already lying down on the ground were laying like sprawled dead animals, which was a sickly thing for even Maggie to see. As she looked around, she and even Jelldon were at a loss for how to help.

As she walked on, she had a worried look on her face as she was seeing the two people she's already seen before, the ones who 'supposedly' bullied her. To her upmost surprise, Rhett and Ray, the two brothers whom she and Shawn fought before, were both staring at her as she passed them. They were on their butts and sitting quietly like hobos in the Devil Miasma.

"It's you." Ray sneered.

"You guys…"

Rhett snorted. "Save it, shorty. We don't wanna hear it. We just came out for some fresh air."

Maggie was confused by what they meant. When she slowly looked up, she could see that they were sitting in front of a doorway that was shut. It was connected to a subtle home, or as one could say a shabby apartment. It certainly looked decent for guys like them. She looked down at them, seeing their stares more morose than ever.

"Why are you even here?" Ray questioned sadly.

Maggie blinked twice in innocence. "Because we wanna help."

Rhett snickered with a smile. "Well, the kid's got character. I'll say that much."

Ray shared the same scoffing smile. "Well tell you what, we're fine. You'd best worry about yourself now before this Devil Miasma gets you too."

Maggie frowned. "So then, what are we gonna do?" She looked down towards Jelldon, but the Bakugan looked equally as confused as her.

Rhett shrugged. "Well don't say 'we', because 'you' can't fit in that tower up there, can you?" He pointed to the humungous tower that was atop and standing tall and mighty. Maggie looked at it, seeing it as that same one she entered through its ventilation.

"We can still walk, kid. Just get going and find someplace nice and comfy, okay?" Ray said callously.

Maggie was taken back by their actions and declining of help. In a way, she wanted to help, but then again, what could she do? If they said the tower was full, then where could they go from here. Her face fell as she turned and began walking away, leaving the brothers to watch her go off her way to find more people to try and help.

"Poor kid." Rhett mourned.

Ray sighed in grief. "How long do you think she has?"

"Longer than all of us I hope."

---

Jase knelt up and hoisted another guy on his shoulder. "Alright, in we go now." He carried the guy into the abandoned door into the abandoned home, where he hoped to get him some levity.

As the door shut behind, Shawn was limping across the street with a guy and girl, both around their 20s, on his shoulders. He was struggling, but he was doing what he could to get them to safety. "Gnnngh…get as many…inside as…possible." He said as he lugged them.

Esther was doing what she could in getting a guy on her shoulders towards a nearby doorway. The guy she tried to lift was heavy, too heavy for her.

Luke continued walking by nonchalantly. "Guys, what are you doing?" he asked them so callously.

Esther looked towards Luke with a frown as she strained. "Luke, can you help me over here? This one's pretty heavy."

Luke looked at her like she grew a second head. "Wait, why would I do that?"

"Because these people are suffering, Luke." From the side, Shawn, having finally deposited the folk in a house nearby, passed him. "You can't really expect to just sit by and see all this happen, right?"

Now it was Luke's turn to shoot his own look. "But we've got more important things to worry about than catching some disease. We gotta find a way to fix this mess."

"What mess, you loser?" Abis Omega scoffed. "You mean the one here or the one you can't seem to accept?"

Luke snapped at his partner. "The hell you call me?!"

"You tell me? I know what you are, but am I?"

"Why you…!"

"Stop it, both of you!" Esther barked. "We need help getting these people to safety. We can't argue like this, it's not settling anything."

"Well neither is lugging around people to begin with!" Luke berated. "If we're going to stop this Devil Miasma, we should be moving about faster and finding clues. That's what I'm trying to do."

"Luke…" Shawn growled.

Luke turned towards Shawn. He could see him give an expectant and disappointed glare. "W-what…?"

"You can't really think that, do you?"

"Think what? What do you mean?"

"Just use your head for once. Look around you, what do you see?" Luke did as told and saw that many of people were still lying about sickly. He could see the purple toxic fumes about everywhere, and seeing Esther and Shawn carrying the sickly. Shawn went and tried to pick up another guy that had fallen a long time ago and paling. "Come on, Luke. Let's do what we can."

But Luke wasn't having it. The way he turned and the way his face looked pained made him look like the victim here. "That's what I'm trying to do. Carrying them off one at a time would just take forever, you know that." He started walking off. "I'm gonna way to fix this, one way or another."

"Luke, wait a minute…" Verias looked on as Luke went away from them. Even now, the cold shoulder was freezing over. "Well that was harsh."

Shawn sighed in defeat. He should've known Luke would be like this. He could only watch for a moment before he continued carrying the guy. "We need all the help we can get. One way or another, he's going to learn to open before it kills him."

"But we need all the help we can get right now." Atchibee said. "Esther?"

The Darkus girl looked at Luke with a despondent stare of her own. Her brow was furrowed, and her blue eyes were fixated on the back of Luke. Ever since she met him, she's known him to be selfish, but he did mean well. He was very much helpful at that, too. He wasn't the most competent battler out there, but he was able to hold himself. But there was a problem with all of this: He never did this stuff on his own. He needed a guiding hand, because in the end, he was nothing more than a misguided child.

The way Esther frowned was nothing less than pity and disappointment for Luke.

---

"Hey, don't you think it was a little cold back there just them with those guys?" Abis Omega asked as he floated beside him.

"I don't see why. We've gotta find a way to bring Master Riaan to his senses somehow." Luke argued.

"Are you sure it's not your head that needs examining?" the serpent sniped.

Luke growled angrily as he looked from the corner of his eye. "Shut it, alright? I know what I'm doing!"

"Oh really? Then I would love to know!"

"Just watch! I'll find a way to fix this and he a hero that everyone can look up to!" Luke went on, making his way towards the center of the avenue. As he did, he passed by many of bodies that weren't even able to move. 'Everyone's been on my case this whole time. First they find me a nuisance, now they think less of Master Riaan than before. I'm gonna prove them wrong. I'm gonna be a hero, a hero like Master Riaan is!'

The distanced Aquos battler went up the avenue to where the thick purple cloud he was in was beginning make him feel a little nauseous, but he tried not to care. He wasn't going to look weak anymore, not ever again. With a scowl on his face, he trudged onwards with as much vigilance that he could muster until he saw the huge tower that centered in front of him. The humungous structure went high into the atmosphere, where they were hiding away from the Devil Miasma.

"You think that a lot of people are up there?" Luke questioned.

"Probably. It's probably jammed pack."

Luke looked down at his shoes, looking distressed as he tried to think once more. "So all this started when we malfunctioned the core, huh…then, if that's the case…"

"Luke…?"

Luke was silent as he was thinking. He was backtracking as much s possible to get to where he wanted with what's stirring inside his head. When he began to formulate a plan, his eyes went wide, and he raised a balled fist. "Alright! I know I'm gonna do to fix this!" Without another word, he went right around the large structure, making way to where its front lied. He paced himself quickly and with heavy pants, making way as fast as possible until he finally found the elevator.

Soon enough, he was finding himself going skywards all alone. As he ascended, he was looking out ahead of him, seeing everything all around him. However, to his own dismay, he was seeing nothing more than Devil Miasma everywhere. He remained stern and stoic, even as far as tapping his foot impatiently.

When he reached the top, the door finally opened. Inside, he made a mad dash inside, looking around to see a lot of people crowded. They were all looking around aimlessly, with some still looking to be passing out leftover bread, and whatever nourishments some were able to get from the streets. They could've sent only such a small few due to the elevator's capacity and the Devil Miasma caught in it. They had to tread carefully, even keep distance just in case.

Luke looked angrily ahead. "Great, it's crowded. I hate crowds!" Without any hesitation, he hurried as past as possible, sucking in his gut as he tried to make way through. He even bypassed a few people, going as far as rudely bump him. But he didn't care, he just kept going. "Where is it…?" He soon looked along the wall, seeing the keypad that was right beside the hidden elevator. "There!"

With nothing holding him back, Luke made it to the elevator keypad. When he finally nearly globbed the whole thing, he looked to be in a panic as he tried to use the same code that Jase used from before. Thankfully, thanks to him learning it from observation and asking a few times out of curiosity.

When the door opened, the white insides were shown. Luke hurried inside, ignoring the people's stares as he looked dead ahead with a deep frown. The doors closed, and like the massive elevator that ran on its own limited power, the shoot went flying downwards with its secret elevator.

Finally, after three minutes of waiting, the doors finally opened, revealing the chamber that Luke and the others fought the guards from before. But this time, everything was reset, so there were no doors blocking him. His brows once again furrowed. "Alright…let's fix that core!" He bolted off, pacing as fast as he could once more down the insanely long hall.

"That's your plan?!" Abis shrieked. "Do you even know how difficult it was to even look at?! What makes you think we'll be able to operate it?! Luke~?!"

But Luke didn't listen. He kept going on, resolute on fixing this mess. 'Maybe if I can find a way to get this core to transport itself back to Riaan in person, then maybe that'll be a distraction. With everyone shocked, maybe their brainwashing on him will cause him to snap back to it! And then e can find a way home, away off this stupid planet!'

'What are you doing, you idiot?'

A pain ached in Luke's head. The sudden shock he felt once again made his head throb. He grunted as he touched his head, stopping for a moment to stop the pain itself.

"What the…?" Abis looked over, startled by his partner's sudden cease. "What's wrong?"

"My…head…" Luke strained.

'Don't go any further. It's not what you think it is.' The voice warned once more.

The pain Luke was feeling was beginning to throb his head once more, this time with greater results. It was so great that it was driving him to a knee. "Gnnngh…this…voice…" He barely opened one eye, showing his hazy green eye. "Wait, are you…!"

'Stop and think about what you're doing. You're not thinking this through!'

Luke's teeth gritted angrily. He snapped back to his feet and shouted up to the ceiling. "SHUT UP!" With as much power as he could muster, he made a mad dash down the massive corridor, getting away from the voice as far away as possible, and closer towards his intended goal. To save the city and be a man Riaan wanted him to be.

He kept on going, making his way to the far reaches of the corridor with quick strides. Even as he began to sweat up a storm and burn those calories, he was making sure he was managing to the best of his own abilities. As he went on, he was getting the partial headaches again, but he didn't care, or at the very least tried not to show it. It was aching like hell, even at times the voice was making progress coming in and out as before.

'Are you trying to get yourself killed?' At one time, it spoke up just like that. 'Listen to me!'

"No! I'm tired of you always getting inside my head! I'm sick of it!"

He just kept going, ignoring everything. Everyone. Every little fiber that meant to pull him away. All of it. He's had enough being bossed around. Now it was his turn to show them who was the boss.

Finally after such a long ways, something dark and shambled was coming into view. He could see what looked like a shabby, broken wall that had made entrance inside.

"There it is!" he gasped. Without hesitation, he bolted inside, where he was finally successful in reaching the dark room. The lights were weakly on, with the core being a very bleak, swampy green. The atmosphere all around was evident of a few cracks here and there from their battle. There were some small geysers containing Devil Miasma following in everywhere, but not enough to spread drastically. When he looked ahead, he could see that the core was in the same condition as before as well. He ran on up towards its complicated panels and switches, looking about to see what was available to work with.

"Do you even know how to work any of this?" Abis Omega inquired.

"Hey, can it, alright? I'm trying to think!" He looked about, veering left and right to see the many switches. However, all that he could take note of was the dark green core and its very weak humming. The longer he stared, the more annoyed he was. "Gnnngh, great! Where the heck is the manual for this stupid thing? It's gotta be around here somewhere…"

"Luke!" a voice called behind.

Luke instantly snapped to attention at the familiar tone the voice carried. 'This voice…no, it can't be…' He slowly turned around, looking at who it was that made him feel so alarmed. He looked startled as he could see a man with a cape shifting behind his back.

The most noticeable feature he had as well, could very well be the crown on his head.

"I'm truly surprised you made it here all by yourself." Riaan said with a serious face. "You've gotten to be resourceful, Luke, you know that?"

Luke's eyes were shuddering from shock. As he glared at him, he could feel his own heartrate escalate from shock. Standing right before him was someone of whom he was looking for answers from, and now he was here. He couldn't feel anymore shocked than he was now. "Master Riaan…"

The man approached Luke, looking at him dead in the eye.

Luke eagerly took a step forward, approaching him with a worried look on his face. "M-Master Riaan, is that really you? You're not some illusion, o-or some sort of trick here, right?

Abis Omega felt sorry. "Luke…"

Luke's bangs covered his eyes. "Everyone keeps thinking and saying a lot of things about you lately…how you've been secrets from me and Shawn. Even Shawn's been having doubts about you, can you believe that?! You wouldn't keep any secrets from me, I know it!" From the tone in his voice, Luke was sounding to be displeasingly desperate for the truth right about now. His eyes were beginning to mist out of a deep, cold plea. "They really think that you were responsible for all this…they really believe you were behind all this. I-it was all an accident, right? You didn't mean to bring us here on purpose, right?"

"Luke." Abis muttered.

"Tell me now! Please! You're not some ruler here, you're my family's most trusted ally! You have to remember who you are! Do you, Master Riaan?!"

Riaan was looking at Luke with the same expression as before, as emotionless as possible. He could see the dark plea in Luke's raspy breathing. He could especially see the way he was looking was that of betrayal.

The two upheld a long silence, looking into each other's eyes before the silence was broken by Riaan.

"…yes, I remember now."

Luke's eyes misted even more as he smiled wide. He could feel as though a lead weight had finally lifted from his heart as he barely had the strength to stand from shock. He looked so relieved to see and know that his beloved master was finally able to come to his senses and not be a liar.

He sighed heavily. "Thank god. You had me scared there. I was beginning to think you really were lying behind my back."

Riaan kept his quelled composure as always. "I'm sorry if I caused you to worry. I needed to keep the act up for as long as possible until the coast was clear."

Luke shook his head. "No, it's fine, really! You knew what you were doing."

"Indeed." He looked up towards the large machine and generator behind Luke. As he gazed up, he saw the damage that it took was only to the main control panel. But overall, it looked to be functional to a very weak extent. "If I may ask, what is it that you are trying to do down here, Luke?"

Luke faced the core as well. "Huh? Oh, this? I was gonna try and find a way to make this thing warp us to Earth. I mean it was possible to get it to New Vestroia, right? Maybe if we find a way to generate enough power, we can teleport to home, and get all these people away from the Devil Miasma killing them."

Riaan nodded in understanding. "I see. Pure intentions, just as the Luke I know."

Luke sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Don't mention it, seriously."

Riaan looked at the mechanical marvel and began to pace ahead of Luke. "If you think that it is truly able to, then for you, it's worth a shot." Once he stopped at the base, he turned and looked at Luke. "So, shall we do this together then?"

Luke pumped both fists. "You bet! Let's make ourselves heroes!"

Riaan grinned. "Of course. Heroes."

---

Jase walked through the street, looking around to find that the occupants were now fully away. "It looks like we were able to clear out the commoners in this area for the time being."

"Colonel!"

Jase turned around, seeing Esther run up towards him. "Esther, what is it?"

"Colonel, there's something wrong! I can't find Luke anywhere!"

Jase narrowed his eyes. "What's that?" He put his hand to his chin once more, looking down at the ground. "Then that explains why I haven't seen him in a while. I thought he would be around you or Shawn?"

Esther shook her head. "No, he looked distressed."

Shawn came walking up with Maggie and Shuji in tow. All three were looking exhausted, especially Shuji since he was trying to carry Keegan the now unconscious Keegan on his back. The Haos battler put his hands to his hips, looking at the two with deterrence.

"I know I said Luke wasn't going to be of much help, but this is getting to be a problem. We haven't seen him in over an hour now."

"Great, just what we needed." Shuji groaned.

"Well where do you think he went to all by himself?" Maggie inquired. "I think it's a little dangerous to keep someone like him unattended."

"Yeah, that's for certain." Shawn noted, partially from the experience he had with Luke since they were growing up from such little kids.

Esther looked down at the ground, her distress growing for the person. "This is worse than what I imagined. First these people, and now Luke…"

From behind, another voice was heard. "Hey, you all!"

Everyone turned towards the sound of the voice. To all of their surprise, they saw that from it, someone emerged in a mad leap from out of the blue. The man revealed himself to be the one who helped them escape to begin with, and as usual, he didn't look all that pleased to see them.

"It's you!" Esther exclaimed.

"Hey, you're that guy who helped us escape!" Maggie chirped. "What happened?"

Luka's face showed growing annoyance. "Forget about it, now is not the time to rethink about that!"

"What do you mean?" Jase inquired.

"Your stupid friend is gonna kill us all, that's what I mean! That idiot is going to destroy everything without him knowing it!"

Shuji raised an inquired brow of his own. "What…?"

…

Luke flipped two more switched right beside each other. Once more, he could feel the humming of the core intensify.

As Riaan was on the opposite side of the humming core, he was moving panels and flipping a few switches as well. "Good! Just like that, Luke!" he shouted.

Luke looked over, seeing Master Riaan once more. "So what switches should I flip now?!"

"The red one a foot above eye level. Hold that for twenty seconds! That should supply a reset!"

Luke did as told and saw the medium-sized button engraved into the wall. While it was surrounded by other switches and white buttons, he knew to focus solemnly on just that. He reached and held the button in its place, waiting for the resetting of power. Slowly, he and Riaan could hear the vibrating of the core beginning to faintly diminish.

"It's working!" Luke chirped. "I-I think we'll be getting to work again!"

"Good. Keep it up." Riaan turned back towards the many knobs and switches before him. He pressed a varied code into one panel, which led to a variety of options. He then made it to a white knob beneath that turned and forced the selections to change. As the panels alter, the look on his face showed a faint smirk.

…

Esther approached Luka, her fist to her ample breasts as she clutched in worry. "Tell me, what's going on? Where is Luke?" She sounded more like it in a demanding tone rather than of asking.

Luka gritted his teeth in growing annoyance. "Damnit, we don't got time for this! Everyone stay still, alright? We gotta stop that moron before it's too late! Alto Brontes!"

The Haos Bakugan popped open on his shoulder once more, smiling smile. Without another word, the Bakugan's eyes glowed bright, causing an energy field to flash in an erupting light around them all. This time, Shuji wasn't so much panicking as he was startled by the sudden transport.

Further underground, in the corridor beneath them, a bright hemisphere enveloped the middle of the hallway. The light slowly dissipated, revealing Luka and everyone else present and accounted for.

Esther looked up towards the ceiling, making quick note of the terrain. As she looked about, she almost instantly recognized the place. "The core corridors!"

"Why are we here?" Maggie wondered. "Feels weird to be around this dump again."

Shawn picked up on the problem and looked towards Luka with an expectant stare. "Wait, you mean Luke's down here?"

Instead of respond by standing in place, Luka went darting away. "Just hurry! We don't have time! Follow me!"

Everyone looked towards each other with some sense of confusion and worry on their faces. Slowly, they began to fee their spines shudder, Maggie especially with fears of something terrible coming. With words of the Colonel ushering them to move, they did just that and powered onwards, following the brash man.

---

The sounds of the core were to a low hum, which eventually stopped for a moment. The turbines inside of it were starting to slow until at last they were beginning to turn weakly in the opposite direction. The dark green color it had going along the wall and its network was eventually altering to a bright green, same as it was before.

Luke looked over, seeing that the color and its power was back. "Alright, yeah!" He looked over towards Riaan seeing his expectant face. He rushed on over and abandoned his post on the other side. He met up with him as he was moving the panels through knobs and controls. So now what, Master?"

"Hold on, I'm just about there." He continued to press in a very long, very intense code into the panel, where it was beginning to react with a few hums surging every now and again. Once the screen showed an "OK" sign, he touched it with his finger and the screen went completely black.

There was a moment of silence that fell between the two before at last, two panels lined up besides the other finally began to move away in sliding fashion. The black hole behind began to slowly emerge with a slot that had a large, red button on it with a purple atom symbol on it. Luke looked at it is great wonder.

"This is the button that will save us from this decrepit place." Riaan told Luke. "Luke, if you push this button, then we may return to where we belong. You, and you alone, will be able to save many lives on this day."

"R-really…?" Luke looked down at the button, fixated heavily on its bizarre feature.

Riaan nodded. "Yes, Luke. Just as you wanted. Just push it, and we can all make this end."

Abis Omega popped open beside Luke, floating rather closely to the button. "Luke, are you even sure about this? Looks weird."

The Aquos battler shot him a look. "Abis! Don't worry, Master Riaan knows what's going on. We can do this thanks to him."

"I know, but…"

"I'm going to get us home, one way or another!" Luke looked over to his hand, where he saw his glove. As he took a nice, long look at it, he slowly balled his fist to make it clutch tight. Even the gloves tightened. He looked ahead, smirking with readiness. "I'm ready."

"Then do as you must." Riaan ordered.

"Okay then…" Luke raised his arm, holding it up high in a hammer fist position. "LET'S END ALL THIS!"

Abis looked intensely worried. "LUKE, NO!"

Luke brought his fist down onto the button, making it glow and buzz exceptionally loud that went all throughout the atmosphere. The echo went even down the hallways, and into the corridors of the underground chambers.

The buzzing went on for a long time, making Maggie cover her ears in pain. "Gah! What is this sound?!" she shrieked as she continued running.

"I don't know, but it sounds bad!" Jelldon panicked.

Luka's eyes narrowed as his teeth gritted ferociously. "Damnit~!" His pacing only grew as he sped along. "NO!"

The buzzing slowly stopped and silenced, allowing nothing to happen at first. After a few passive moments, the green core was beginning to slowly change its colors to a deep, bloody red. It's color change meant something was happening, and sure enough, the turbines began to churn and grind inside of it.

Luke backed away, looking up at the core as it began to hum loudly once more. The expression he had showed slight shock and confusion respectively. "Did I do it? Did we make it work?"

Riaan looked up at the core as well, his expression undeterred. "Yes, Luke, you've done it. Now all the suffering shall be put to rest here."

Luke's smile began to brighten more. "So then…then I'm a hero. Just like yo-!"

BAM!

An intense force went right into Luke's gut. His eyes widened as that same force was so potent that it was making his diaphragm spasm. Even now, he couldn't anything but pain. "Wh…wha…?" With what conscience he had, his shaky eyes trailed down to the fist that met his gut. The arm leads up to Master Riaan, who overlooked him by the shoulder. "Master…Riaan…?"

Slowly, Riaan remained close to Luke's ear. He looked forward as the core hummed slowly in the background. "…and now, your own suffering shall end, with the people of Thermosphere as well."

Unable to understand, Luke's world began to grow hazy. He found himself falling over, clutching his abdomen like a toddler having a stomachache.

"LUKE!" Abis exclaimed.

Riaan towered overhead, giving a despondent stare. "I'm sorry, Luke. From the bottom of my heart, I truly feel pity for you…but you are a soldier, and soldiers don't go home as heroes."

From nearby, footsteps treaded closer towards the core chamber. All around, the place was beginning to shake violently. The shuddering was so massive that the ceiling above was beginning to rattle. Through it, Luka appeared with the others behind him.

"Riaan!"

Riaan turned towards the voice, seeing the group gathered before him. "Luka, so we meet once again I see." He looked towards everyone else behind him. "And I see you brought along more soldiers that followed."

Esther looked ahead to see Luke lying on the ground, holding his damaged gut. "Luke!"

Riaan looked down once more, seeing the boy stiff s a rock while everything was quaking and cracking all around. "For once, I actually see you in a useful light, Luke. Be thankful for that."

Shuji looked around as he still had Keegan on his back. He turned and saw the red chords running like a network and making vibrations roar. They were so intense that it was almost making him falter. "Wha…what the heck is going on?"

Maggie stood close to the Colonel, but she reached out and pointed at something in the distance. "Look, it's the core!" Everyone followed her finger and saw the bright red core now humming at an intense level. "What's going on? I-is it working after all?"

"No, this is bad." Jase cursed. "Just what happened here?"

Luka glared ahead, his fists balling. "I'll tell you what happened, that idiot listened to that monster!"

Knowing he was referred to, Riaan looked disinterested. "A terminology so weak and yet so hypocritical. If I am the monster, then why was it Luke who lacked the common sense to do so?"

"You…!"

Riaan turned away, frowning at the bright red, churning core. "This world's retribution is at hand. Make it out if you can, if you wish to see its rebirth."

"Hold it!" Luka ran right for him, but Riaan instantly teleported away. When he realized how late he was, Luka stopped in place and glared harshly. "Drats!"

The walls began to crack; not just in the room, but all throughout the corridor. The atmosphere began to churn as the core's bright red center began to churn its turbines to where they were beginning to electrify.

Shawn hurried on over, looking over Luke as he laid on the ground. "Luke! Are you okay? C'mon, man! This is no place for a dirt nap!"

Luke groaned weakly in response.

"No good. He's out cold!" Verias warned.

Shawn's brow furrowed as he knew they were running out of time. Making haste, he hoisted Luke over his shoulder and stood up once more. He took one more look at the core, seeing all the panels around beginning to spark. Some were already smoking, and some switches burst. "This thing is gonna blow!"

"AH! I DON'T WANNA DIE!" Shuji panicked.

Jelldon shrieked incredible loud, floating in circles around Jase and Maggie. "AAAAH! AH! AAAHHHH! AAHH! AH!"

"We need to leave while we still can!" Atchibee told everyone.

Jase turned around, the vibrating so intense that the debris from far away was crumbling downwards. Their exit was literally falling apart, dust and smoke rising up all around them. "Damn! The corridors are collapsing!"

Luka got in the center once again, looking back at everyone accounted for. "Everyone stay close, don't move!" he ordered. "Now!"

Once again, Alto Brontes activated his powers. A bright hemisphere hurriedly swallowed everyone nearby, making a bright center in the growing despair of darkness. Eventually, the light vanished, revealing nothing there in the next moment, moments before a piece of debris fell and crushed the spot that was on it.

---

The whole city of Thermosphere was shaking violently. Buildings, markets, people, the vibrations were getting out of control as it felt like an earthquake was breaking everything apart.

Atop of the massive observation tower, the hemisphere of light showed itself. On its somewhat flat top, everyone fell to their knees, trying to keep their footholds to the best of their abilities.

"W-where are we…?" Maggie asked shakily, clinging onto the Colonel for dear life.

"We're on the tower, I think!" he exclaimed.

Luka looked down and saw the Devil Miasma shifting with the earthquake happening. Even from here, the core's vibrating was making it sound like it was going to implode. Parts of the earth began to crack apart, expelling not only dust, but also more Devil Miasma; some I in many people's faces and making them scream. Others who were incapable of moving had fissures open up beneath or nearby, making them scream and groan in distress as they fell in.

The anger he felt began to rise…but it was still too late. He turned towards everyone as they looked at him for answers.

"Wait, what are you doing?!" Esther exclaimed.

"You're on your own from here! We're done here, Brontes! There's nothing we can do now!"

"…Alright." The Haos Bakugan answered dryly.

Luka looked at everyone one more time, giving them all a scowling expression. "Don't fall too hard. That's all I can say." With that, he took a leap away, jumping off the building. As he was descending, the hemisphere of light enveloped him and Alto Brontes, making them both vanish on the spot.

"Wait-!" Esther peered over the edge of the tower to see Luka and Alto Brontes vanish, but what she saw made her grow stiff and stare in deep horror. A hitch in her breath was followed by her eyes shrinking.

Shuji and Maggie also peered over, them too sharing horrified gasps.

Down below, the core was expelling too much explosive force. The core room ultimately collapsed, and as such, the whole thing began to expel beams of vaporizing light that went through all of its network channels.

Everywhere those channels reached; to homes, to the colosseum, it didn't matter. The explosive light trails went and pulsated underground towards nearly everywhere in a web. When every last light finally made it home, it vanished momentarily…before they glinted several times and broke everything into smithereens. Everything; from places, to things. To people.

The walls of Thermosphere were crumbling as beams of light erupted beneath, their concave features breaking inwards. Some were so massive that they shattered into pieces upon making impact. Some homes holding people inside fell victim was the huge wall caved in like a mountain's avalanche. Homes, business, even the people themselves had light explode beneath them. Those on the streets had ruptures and falling buildings crumble onto them. So many screamed, even inside their homes as either gigantic structures fell on them or their own homes fell first from cave ins.

Everything was literally breaking apart.

Maggie was paling as the tower was shuddering like mad. "W-wh-what's happening?! Why are we falling?!"

"I…I don't know!" Shuji closed his eyes tight. "Somebody tell me this is all just a bad dream!"

Esther continued watching the horror unfold from above. She watched the ground erupt and expel dust as various places collapsed upon themselves. Light pillars vaporized what was in front of everything and created sinkholes, swallowing up bodies and debris that fell into bottomless depths. Even the bottom of the tower was breaking apart and collapsing. Its base was nowhere near as sturdy as so many people inside were screaming their lungs out as the whole thing began to sway off onto the sinking ground beneath.

The Trailer, even outside of the reaches of Thermosphere, was no match for the sinking. It, like the ground beneath Thermosphere, was plundering into the ground beneath.

"AAAHHH~!" Maggie screamed with tears in the corner of her eyes. "MAKE IT STOP!"

Shuji was hanging on for dear life, but even he was having trouble as everything fell apart. He was barely holding ground as the tower's base blew to literal pieces. The massive top of the tower holding everyone fell like a chess piece to its side.

"EVERYONE, HOLD ON!" Shawn shrieked.

They all held onto one another as they moved towards the other edge now leaning towards the sky. They all grabbed its edge just as the huge building's observatory smashed into the ground, creating an even bigger rupture than anything else as the city sundered.

Like everything else, it all crumbled. The sinkholes were too much, and the weight over everything as no base covered Thermosphere. As fast as lightning, everything plundered into shrilling darkness below. Far underground, everything collapsed into and broke into little pieces along the way.

Everyone – conscious – was screaming as they tried to hold onto each other. However, as they fell into the monstrously huge chasm beneath, their footholds they had shattered to pieces. They crumbled away while Shuji and everyone were barely holding themselves up.

Trying to stay calm, Jase did what he could and grabbed Atmos. Without a word, he threw Atmos skywards towards other falling debris.

High above, Atmos vanished, until a green flash enveloped the air, moving away debris as a green falcon zoomed down with a massive caw. He zoomed as fast as possible, using his claws to reach and seize both Jase and the falling Maggie.

'Our Bakugan, of course!' Catching Jase's drift, Esther grabbed Atchibee and threw her skywards as well in a hurried fashion. The sphere climbed up and popped open, making a purple flash to reveal the moth Bakugan.

"Esther!" Hurrying, Atchibee swooped downwards and flew in to get Esther atop her head. She moved her body to swoop beneath and catch Shawn and Shuji as they held onto the unconscious Keegan and Luke.

The two Bakugan were able to slow down their grizzly descent as everything crumbled around them. Debris from above continued falling, and to soon pass and fall in a nosedive, the Trailer plummeted like a rock as everyone else was trying to stay on their Bakugan.

"The Trailer!" Jase exclaimed.

"Everyone quick, after it!" Esther exclaimed.

Atchibee and Atmos gave chase after the falling automobile. The two Bakugan raced as fast as possible with what room available. As debris fell, they maneuvered passed it all and closed in on their transportation. Once they were able to get to it, with the hatch still open, Atmos used his talons and dropped Jase and Maggie into it first. Both were able to get inside, leaving him to move out of the way to allow Atchibee to get to the hatch as well. With her head first, she let Esther fall in first, and leaning in afterwards, Shawn and Shuji fumbled onto the falling machinery next. They staggered and nearly fell pass the hatch, but together, they allowed Shuji first, and then Shawn.

With everyone now inside the descending Trailer, all hell broke lose as the pieces of the outer land and debris were plummeting far below into what sounds like splashing. When Atmos and Atchibee looked down, they could see water far below.

"Water!" Atmos exclaimed.

"Quick, let's slow them down!" Atchibee urged.

Atmos hurried and flew to one end of the Trailer, while Atchibee went to the other. Their talons gripped what railing was available, and Atchibee's pincer tail seized the front's upper railing. They held on as tight as possible while all was plummeting around them.

"NOW!" Atchibee shrieked.

Together, the falcon and the caterpillar/moth creature flapped both their wings. They flapped as hard as possible to slow the fall down, in which case was the biggest plummet ever. The Trailer was falling so fast that it was too much to pick up altogether; not to mention that it was ridiculously heavy to begin with. They both flapped even harder because of that. They pulsated one flap after another to where gusts were blowing away debris all around them. They were doing all that they could when it came to saving their friends.

They drew so much close to the water where there, they gave it one more push. "One more!" Atmos cried as he flapped his wings one last time, as did Atchibee in unison.

The Trailer steadied upright and both Bakugan steadied out the massive piece of machinery at long last. They got the strength needed to hold it up as everything crumbled and splashed everywhere else in the water. They held it in place, waiting for Jase or somebody to get to the controls inside.

Inside the now steadied Trailer, the whole placed rocked about incredulously due to being dangled by Atchibee and Atmos. Jase grunted as he tried to get up, and soon enough managed to do so once he found his breath.

The Ventus battler scrambled to his feet and stumbled about as he went for the main chamber. The doors barely opened, where he squeezed through them and hurried towards his seat. "Now…" He hurriedly pressed a few sequences, making the options available before him. "Activate auto-pilot!"

Beneath the Trailer, it once again transformed, its features once again altering as the tires began to turn and go beneath the massive tank mode. The tires altered to show rudders spinning rapidly, with the rubber tires themselves managing to keep the whole thing afloat. Atchibee and Atmos finally chose to let go, allowing the whole thing to drop an extra ten feet into the water with a massive splash.

Inside, everyone was bounced around haphazardly, with Keegan hitting his head against the wall. They all were sprawled and groaning as Jase was holding onto his seat for dear life.

Atchibee and Atmos returned to ball form, both getting inside the hatch before its automatic closing settings kicked on. With it all set, the ship mode it now had maneuvered and motored into the water, zooming as fast as possible with what power it was able to muster up.

As it went on, debris and rocks fell everywhere, the walls to the chasms themselves plundering to burry further what was Thermosphere's remains.

And to that, on that day, Thermosphere was forever wiped off the map.

---

How long was it to past? Seconds. Minutes. Hours. Days. However long it felt, it didn't stop the Trailer from going. The massive piece of foreign machine made its long trek out of the mouth of a collapsed basin in the far reaches of where cliffs were. By now, the mouth was completely blocked off, burying everything to oblivion and back.

Within the dark, crude sea that they were now swimming in, the hatch to the top turned and once again opened. The first to show themselves was Esther and Atchibee, both doing their best to make it out of the opening.

"Esther? Esther! Are you okay?" Atchibee worriedly asked.

Esther hesitated to answer, but she managed to open and eye and se her partner. "Gnnnngh…At…chibee?" She slowly arose, managing to sit up on the top of the wayward ship. "Where…are we?" She looked around, seeing nothing but open water everywhere imaginable. When she looked back, she could see that the faraway cliffs were almost completely unrecognizable. Her eyes were wide as she glared at the devastation far away, buried underneath metric tons of water and rock.

Slowly, everyone else began to surface. Jase was able to surface next, with him reaching down to get Shuji up next. The next was Maggie, who was shaking like a frightened puppy. They all soon stood on top of the Trailer as it floated gently on the sea of dark water beneath.

Jase looked around, seeing everyone all shaken up, but otherwise present. "Is everyone here alright?"

Esther looked down, distraught evident in her eyes. "Yeah, I think so…" She trailed off in awkward silence. It wasn't accurate to say she was well at all, but it was also fair to say she was still breathing.

Shuji, however, was a complete mess. He looked back in the direction of where they came from, seeing nothing but massive cliffs far away. "My god…" he gasped. He took a moment to catch up on the adrenaline that was pouring on, the look on his face quickly turning to fear. "What…what…what the hell just happened…? WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED?!" He screamed frantically. "Did…did that all just…it…it…"

Maggie was on her hands and knees, looking in the same direction with a horrified look on her face. Jelldon popped up beside her. "Jelldon…?"

"Maggie…"

The little girl slowly inched away, closer towards the center of the Trailer as the cold breeze of the sea air filtered through them. It didn't help to warm their cold feet. The 12-year-old had a frightened look, not at all believing that it was a dream. It was too real.

"Did that all seriously just happen…?" Shawn was in disbelief of his own. He wouldn't believe it even if it was possible. He was still catching his own breath, if it were possible that is.

Verias looked ahead with shock. "Thermosphere…"

"It…vanished." Atchibee finished.

"No." Fly Beetle shook. "It literally crumbled away."

"How is that even possible?" Jase inquired meekly.

"Guys…?" Everyone turned their attention back towards Maggie. The youngest of all of them were looking at her brown eyes as they spelled terror. She looked back at them with shrilled worry plastered on her face. "…I don't think this is fun anymore."

Everyone indeed felt her pain and sentiment. What they witnessed, and what they were able to make way through, it was worse than what they imagined. They just looked down at the Trailer with depressed looks on their faces, with Jase turning away and adjusting his glasses.

"For once, Maggie, I completely agree with you."

Esther's eyes narrowed. "All those people…"

A groan was heard from inside the Trailer. They all turned their attention towards the hatch to find one last person getting up through its ladder. Following the arms, it revealed Luke as he finally came around. He strained heavily as he tried to get up and stand on two feet. He was still clutching his stomach, aching like crazy.

"Owww…what the heck happened?" he strained. "Master Riaan didn't say anything about…!" His eyes suddenly widened when he realized what it was. He gasped and picked up on something amidst. "Wait, what the hell happened?!" He looked all around, seeing that he and his Bakugan were both surrounded by a large body of water rather than solid ground. There were no walls; no core; there wasn't anything like Thermosphere around now. He and Abis Omega were in complete shock of what just happened. He looked towards everyone else, who showed nothing less than absolute horror on their faces. If anything, they looked just as disoriented as him. "Guys, what…?"

Esther closed her eyes with a pained look before she chose to face Jase. "How is the Trailer's condition?"

The Colonel gave her a serious look of his own, choosing to move on. "That fall and those shockwaves gave it sustainable injuries during the fall. If it wasn't for our Bakugan, it's be in pieces."

Shawn faced them next. "How far can we go from here?"

"I'm afraid not that far from here. Our power supply was also something we suffered damage from. We can't move very fast from this point on unless we intend to play castaway."

"I see…"

"W-well, do you know where we are?" Maggie shakily asked. "I really wanna go home now."

Jase closed his eyes to think. "I was able to get a quick read as we were making our escape. That plunge took us directly to the bay north of Troposphere, which is supposed to be by the coastline."

"So that escape took us all our max power to get far underground." Fly Beetle deduced. The beetle had to give credit where credit was due. That was so much mileage they had to cover, not to mention that Thermosphere itself was far inland.

"I was able to set coordinates for auto-pilot to direct us there." Jase continued. "But unfortunately, the trip is going to be for a short while to go."

Shawn looked around, seeing crumbling pillars that feel gigantic structures in the distance. Large islands held up by estrange rock formations like floating enchantments were also high above, but otherwise intangible and pointless. His fists balled as he looked distressed. "No matter where we go, nothing's in sight. Are you sure we were carried all the way out here?"

Esther looked at the water all around them. "I can't imagine any other explanation. We've been adrift for a while now it seems if we traveled that far from inland."

"Maybe the underside or far underground, there's pillars and structures that kept it all up." Atchibee said. "Perhaps that explains the water we landed in."

"Makes sense to me." Jelldon said. He looked back, his spongy body quivering as he no longer saw the cliffs.

"At any rate, we were saved from the fall thanks to Esther and Jase's quick thinking." Shawn spoke again.

Jase put both hands to his hips. "What happened? I would've thought the ground was sustainable this far inland."

"Maybe so, but…I think the last of the support beneath Thermosphere gave in."

"Which explains why we fell so far down." Atmos finished.

"But…how?" Maggie questioned.

Esther said nothing to answer, she didn't need to say anything. The answer lied just a few feet away. She turned her head towards Luke, who looked shocked at the look he was given like he had done something wrong. Everyone soon picked up on the message and began to leer at him in disgust and disappointment. Abis Omega even turned towards his partner, looking at him with the same manner everyone else was.

Feeling threatened, Luke took a step back. "…w-wait a sec! I don't know what you're talking about! I was only trying to use the core to teleport us to Earth is all! He helped me adjust the power settings, and-"

"Riaan betrayed and deceived you." Esther's tone, it was cold. Sheer, shrilling cold that was worse than a motherly scolding, harsher than that even. "He made you push the button that made the core self-destruct on itself, and you didn't even question that."

Luke looked horrified. "But I…"

Atchibee stood on Esther's shoulder. "He told you which coordinates to set to make the core collapse. The ground beneath was barely stable as it was, and that explosion shattered what support was left."

"Sounds about right?" Atmos accused. "To think he would make Luke do such a thing."

"I only wished Luke told us about this before going off on his own, maybe then we could've done something about it." Jase grimaced. "…of course now that's just wishful thinking."

"A-and you think it's my fault…?" Luke pointed to himself nervously as he looked at everyone around him. They all fell silent and gave Luke a long, cold stare down that made him feel a cold shoulder emerge from his body. Whatever he was trying to do, he was doing the best he could in scrambling for an excuse, no matter how little it would do. "But Master Riaan said I would…y-yeah! Master Riaan!" He nervously grinned. "He said he would send help, didn't he? Maybe the help was delayed or something, o-or maybe he had them on standby elsewhere."

"Don't you get it, Luke?" Esther groaned. "We were the help."

"W-what…?" His eyes shrunk deeper in horror.

Shawn looked down at the ground in shame. "He must've known we were going to do something about Thermosphere, and we played right into his hands."

"B-but he said we would save all those people from suffering!"

"And that you did."

"But…I…I was only trying to-!"

WHAM!

A harsh punch to the face sent a shock through Luke's body. The man in denial went falling onto his back as Shuji towered over him with angrily pained expression. He looked like he was about to cry.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" the Subterra battler roared. "WHAT! THE! HELL?!"

Luke strained to get up, but he was too frightened by Shuji's shouting.

"Do you have any idea on what we just saw?! There are things that we were not supposed to see! We saw a lot of people get crushed and sink! Everything just vanished...BECAUSE OF YOU!" He kicked Luke in the gut, making him grunt and hold on with a pained cry. "And people say I have problems? You're so messed up man! You're just messed up!"

"Shuji!" Fly Beetle exclaimed.

Shuji wanted to beat some sense into Luke so bad for what just happened. He wanted to make him pay so bad for the deaths and the horror he made them all experience, but as much as that sounded enjoyable, just seeing the look on his face was making him look like a monster himself. His shaking fist soon fell to his side. The least he could do was wave Luke off as he turned away.

"You know what…forget it. You're not even worth beating up." He huffed angrily. "Not like it'll change anything anyway."

Luke kept a deeply shocked expression plastered on his face as Shuji was the first to walk pass him. He went down the ladder back into the Trailer as it drifted silently on.

Luke got back to his feet shakily, unwilling to touch where Shuji left a good mark on his face.

Jase was the next to turn away. "Let's go, Maggie. If we stay any longer I might go deaf from this ridiculous noise pollution in the air."

"Jase?" Luke watched as the Ventus battler walked pass him next. He looked ahead, seeing Maggie looking at him with a despondent look. "Maggie…?"

The younger girl was teary eyed as she swallowed another lump. The longer she looked at Luke, the more pain she was feeling. She snuffed her nose up as she mustered the strength to pass by. "Right, Jase. I think I just might get sick."

Luke turned around as Maggie went down the hatch next. "B-but you guys couldn't do anything about it either! This isn't my fault! Right, Shawn?!" He desperately looked towards his life-long best friend for any hopes out there, but all he was getting was a straight face. "Sh-Shawn…?"

The Haos battler frowned in disappointment. "Luke…don't make this any less degrading for you as you are now."

The despairing man gasped at the shrilling horror rising up. Now, it was Shawn who passed him, albeit slower compared to the others. There, as he stood in deep shock, he could barely give out audible words to speak of. There was only one person left who he could look to for hope.

"E-Esther?" He called out to the Darkus girl, who was frowning deeply in angst over the events. "You believe me, don't you…?" He got no response from her. "Esther…?"

The girl gave Luke what could be the coldest stare she's ever given to anybody. She knew many of sins from her home and where she came from, and there were some that she can live with seeing…but when she knew of grave sins when they were dealt, this was by far the true peak of them. Thousands of lives were gone…and who was to blame for their lack of insight? She knew the answer, and the way she looked at Luke confirms it.

With what words came out of her mouth next, it's what sparked the mental breakage beyond the mind's imagination. "…and to think I thought there really was good in you. I was wrong."

Luke stood like a statue out of despair. His world, everything that he knew, from Riaan, to the friends he's made…they were all gone. Time slowed down as he was in shock over the whole event. He stared straight ahead as Esther passed him in slow fashion, unwilling to look him in the eye. She went down the hatch, closing it right over her head.

Luke's eyes began to mist as his fists started balling. "Why…why is everyone hating me…? I don't…I don't understand!"

Abis Omega was on the Trailer, watching his partner with cold snake eyes. "You should know by now…"

"Shut up!" Luke raised his foot angrily, but Abis Omega closed and rolled out of the way to avoid his stomp. "I didn't see you stopping me either! You should've known it was going to go bad!"

"Hey, I warned you like a hundred times! And how many of those times did you really listen?"

"But that's not my fault either!"

Abis Omega turned away. "Hmph! Well too bad, everyone else hates you because of that. Hope you're proud of the choices you've made, pal!"

"Don't you dare say another word!" Luke roared angrily. "You didn't do anything either! You're just a weak snake who I should've thrown back into that river a long time ago!"

"Well good, I would've been so happy, because then I wouldn't have to deal with someone with half a mind!"

"Well I…I…" Tears started to run down the sides of Luke's face. He shut his eyes angrily, turning away and balling his fists so tight that circulation was cutting off blood he needed. He slowly sunk to his knees, silently weeping at his own folly. "Why…why…?"

Abis Omega kept himself closed, remaining silent as the oceanic water was treading beneath their mode of transportation.

---

Using Luke's bed for the time being, Esther loomed over it as she and Shuji both looked over the body – the sole survivor of the incident. Laying on his back with his eyes closed, Keegan had a deep frown as bandages were on his forehead. Even when comatose, he still had a scowl on his face.

Finally having applied all the medical needs needed, Esther backed away. "There, that should about do it for the time being."

There was a silence that fell as Shuji looked at the arrogant battler he barely defeated. He looked to be in so much pain that it was making him feel like the loss of an appetite wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. Maggie always did say he should lose a couple pounds, and he did so throughout this whole journey. In fact, even if his stomach was empty and consuming its own fat, even that sickened him right now.

"So this is it, huh? The lone survivor of Thermosphere." Esther continued to silently mourn for the lives that were lost unintentionally. She could feel the guilt over her shoulders weigh her down like heavy water pouring during rain. "At least we were able to save one."

Shuji slowly nodded. "Yeah…"

Esther looked over to give Shuji a thoughtful look. "If it wasn't for your thoughtfulness, he also wouldn't have made it. Thank you, Shuji."

Shuji kept his morbid frown as he folded his arms. "Yeah, don't mention it…" He held his tongue as he looked over once more, seeing Keegan lying on Luke's bed. "He may have been a jerk and all…but even jerks should know when not to quit…I should know."

"Shuji…"

Appearing in front of the doorway, Maggie scurried over, looking at the group with shock. "You guys, Jase says we're there."

Esther and Shuji looked towards her, showing signs of surprise on their faces.

"He says he wants us to meet him at the bridge. C'mon." Maggie turned and went down the straight hallway. Soon enough, Shuji and Esther both followed along the path and made it towards the bridge. There, they could see Shawn was already there beside Jase as they kept their eyes on the prize.

Shawn turned his head, seeing everyone else – willingly – gathered. "So you guys are here huh?"

"Yes." Esther nodded. "Are we there?"

"Take a look for yourselves." Jase aforementioned their arrival and let everyone turn ahead towards the sight.

It was still a short ways ahead of them, but even from here, they all see that in the distance, there lied a city in chrome, and in what looked like stable condition. But there was something else about it that made it so enticing as well. And it wasn't just the fact that there was some clean water flowing into it seemed, but the fact that high above, they could see that there was an open hole. The hole looked just as big as any other hole in the ground above them. It looked huge that it seemed that if any debris fell, it would only go around Troposphere.

What was even more trancing was that within the surrounding area of it, there was a number of large, ethereal grid-like pillars, encompassing Troposphere's radius it seemed. The pillars all looked hollow as their grids continually went skywards to even more holes surrounding the main hole atop the huge city.

"So that's it? That's Troposphere?" Shuji inquired, looking at the structures with deep scrutiny. "It looks weird."

"That's putting it mildly." Jase looked up as well. "It looks like this city at least has support pillars, so we should be safe."

"Yeah…but what the heck are those things anyway?" Maggie wondered.

"They appear to be artificial pillars. If one loses a leg, sometimes a prosthetic leg can be a replacement, much like that."

"Oh."

Esther glared ahead. "Let's not waste time. Let's try and dock to look around for what we can find for the Trailer."

The Trailer went on, trekking weakly like a tired fish swimming for ages without food itself towards the docks of the city they once visited.

---

The Trailer was settled at the front of a makeshift plate of smooth rock that acted as a docking area. It was on the far ends of Troposphere, where it was hardly miles away from flowing water down other waterfalls surrounding its lustrous glamour.

Once fastened thanks to some rope they had, everyone exited the Trailer, still holding its tank mode in the events of an escape like before. They all left for shore…even Luke. However, unlike everyone, Luke was dragging his heels far behind the rest. He still had stained tears in his eyes from before. It looked like he was sulking for hours.

Maggie put her hands to her hips. "Hey now, it looks like Troposphere is okay!"

"Don't jinx it, Maggie." Jase doubted. "Even a beautiful rose still bears its thorns."

"Jase is right. There might be some matters that have changed." Esther said. "If what Riaan said was true, weren't there concentrations of Devil Miasma here as well?"

He put a hand to his chin. "That would explain why we aren't seeing so many people then. They must have relocated somewhere."

"So then what do we do from here?" Maggie inquired. "Is it safe even?"

"Hard to say. I think at the very least we should still look around to find materials we can procure."

Shuji nodded. "Gotcha…but, uh, this time…should we stick closer to each other now?"

Jase smirked. "Live and learn. Exactly."

Everyone continued their trek forward, making way from the pier into the city. As they went on, Luke slowly dragged himself to a stop just where the docking area stopped. He looked down at the ground in deep shame, whereas the others went on without him.

The only one who took notice, or care for that matter, was Esther. "Luke, are you coming, or what?" she asked in a scolding tone.

Luke refused to look her in the eye. "No, I don't wanna. I'm just going to get ridiculed for things I didn't know."

"Luke…"

"There you are! You idiot!" A stern, cold voice came from behind them. Luke and Esther turned back towards the sound that came from the dock's walkway.

As everyone went on, they were painfully oblivious as Esther and Luke were face to face with Luka as he stared at Luke cold in the eyes.

Luke slowly turned to stare at him with deep, deadly shock. "You…" When he heard that sound; that very noise he heard from before that gave him headaches back in the corridor rung like bells once more. He pointed at Luka accusingly like he did a crime. "You're the voice that was inside my head!"

"Tch, took you that long to put two and two together, huh?" Luka scoffed.

Luke balled his fists angrily. "You! What's going on?! Where's Master Riaan now?!"

"Even after he shot you down, you still call him 'Master'? I'm not sure if I'm supposed to pity you or feel sorry for your stupidity…no, nevermind. Pitying monsters like you is just a waste of time."

"'Shot me down'…?" Luke's eyes widened. "Wait! So he really did want me to kill Thermosphere?!"

"Thank you, Captain Obvious! Took you this long to realize it!" Luka snarled with disgust. "If only I was able to get there sooner, then none of this would've happened!"

Alto Brontes popped open on his shoulder. "Oh come now, what happened, happened." He swayed. "After all, all things considered, we did warn him, Luka."

"…you're right. If anyone's to blame for the lives lost, it's this guy in front of us."

Luke began to bear his teeth as his eyes started to mist. "S-so then you're blaming me, too?!"

"Of course it's your fault, moron. Don't even try to blame it on anyone but yourself. You didn't even think about the consequences before you even laid foot in that room."

"But…it's not my fault! Master Riaan, he-!"

"He's the one who you can't understand!" Luka snapped. "You just wanted to go home and not think about anything but the past! Well I hate to be a baron of bad news, but the Master Riaan you once knew…he's been nothing but an undercover liar this entire time!"

"Shut up! What do you know about him that I don't!" Luke pulled out Abis Omega, holding him between his fingers. "You better tell me or else…"

Luka scoffed. "So we're doing that then? Fine by me."

Luke: 100% Luka: 100%

"Gate Card, set!" Luke threw his Gate Card down first. The blue shockwave went outwards, dissipating into nothing. "Bakugan, brawl! Bakugan, stand!"

In a blue glow on the pier, Abis Omega appeared in coils and adjusted to make his long slithery body arch and sneer.

"So that's it then…then go!" Luka threw his Bakugan next. "Bakugan, brawl! Alto Brontes, stand!"

In a bright light, Alto Brontes' feet planted firmly on the ground. He held a bright smile that was borderline sinister.

Abis Omega: 350 Alto Brontes: 600

Luke reached down towards the card. "Gate Card open! Aquos Reactor!" The card beneath his Bakugan glowed, showing the reactor insignia and background. The water beside Abis Omega and Alto Brontes began to spout geysers, which rained water that sprinkled on Abis Omega. As his body was enhanced with a blue aura, his power level grew from 350 to 650.

"Is that all?" Luka sneered.

"We're not done! Ability activate, Fin Melee!" Abis Omega charged at Alto Brontes, his power level shooting up to 850 as his tail swung around in a blue streak.

Luka made no effort in making his arm containing his Bakumeter go up. "Stop them cold. Ability activate, Shining Nightmare!"

Brontes' four arms exerted four glowing energies that evolved into silver blades with yellow trimminf. As his power level jumped all the way to 1000, he crossed them and waited for Abis Omega to draw closer. As the serpent swung his fin-like tail, Brontes twisted his upper body and did a full spin. Not only did he completely bypass Fin Melee, but the other blades, cleaved into Abis Omega, sending him flying backwards in searing pain.

"What?!" Luke gasped.

"Not even worth the effort." Luka begrudgingly scowled.

Luke's eyes were shrinking by the second. For a moment, he flinched as Abis Omega fell onto the pier with a harsh thud. The rattling made even his own heart stop. As he looked ahead, he saw his Bakugan straining to get up as he suffered a harsh blow.

Slowly, Luke began to stammer back to his feet. "No…no! Get up, right now!" He snapped, making Abis Omega groan louder as he tried to fight through the pain.

Luka's eyes closed. "Do it."

Brontes didn't waste time allowing Abis to get up. He slashed his outer arms in an X-formation, making trails follow that sliced into him. He screamed out in pain as he glowed bright blue and went back to ball form. Luke gasped and looked down as his life gauge dropped to 70%.

Alto Brontes went back to ball form, easily caught by his battle partner without so much as a smile.

"But…how?" Luke exasperated.

"It's simple…you and that pathetic snake of yours are both too weak. You're not even worth the effort."

Luke stood back up tall and balled his fists "No you're lying! We are strong! We defeated Rogue Zero all those times!"

"Only because you had someone watching your back the whole time." Luka interceded. "…but now I ask you, what's it like to be alone? Now you get what I meant before you sat your clumsy step in Solaris?" He pulled out another Gate Card, throwing it out himself. The card went out and dissipated into a yellow shockwave across the ground. "Let's finish this, Brontes! Bakugan, brawl!"

Alto Brontes once again arose, cackling his snickering laughter, while standing at 600.

Abis Omega remained on the ground as he still grimaced from that last blow. "Luke…" He was picked up by him, though he was met with his angered stare.

"Shut it! Alright?! We're winning this thing and proving I'm not the fool here! Everyone get off my back! Bakugan, brawl!"

Abis Omega was once again thrown out to battle. He arose with a hiss at 350.

"Why can't you just accept the truth already?! You're nothing but a weakling who picked the wrong Bakugan and side to favor!" Luka scolded.

"No I did not!" Luke cried, his eyes misting in despair. "We did just fine, and I don't need someone who doesn't know anything about me judging me!"

"Yet you don't hold anything against that liar?"

Luke's teeth gritted in searing annoyance. He's just about had it with however this guy was. He may not know him, but he knew one thing, and that he was being made fun of. Everyone's left him; he was all alone; Esther was watching from afar; it was all a big mess, and he wasn't having it. With a violent shout of anguish, he raised his arm to unleash two abilities that overlapped.

"Double ability, activate! Dry World, plus Fusion Ability, Blue Mega!"

Abis Omega hunched over and raised his head high, exerting a loud shriek as the seawater all around him was erupting. It poured into a swirling mass that tower above Alto Brontes. The Bakugan looked up as all the water became a tornado of seawater that soon dissipated, revealing Abis Omega inside of a glowing blue sphere of water. It was shimmering like crystal water thanks to the fusion ability.

Abis Omega: 350 (+200 +200) = 750 Alto Brontes: 600 (-200 -100) = 300

"FINISH HIM!" Luke desperately shouted. Abis Omega did as told and went shooting down at Alto Brontes. One way or another, he wasn't gonna be made a fool of again.

Luka stretched his arm out ahead. "Gate Card, open! Silent Hanger!"

As Abis Omega went shooting down, Alto Brontes offered nothing to the likes of anybody. Instead, he remained silent as the Gate Card opened beneath. As it revealed itself, Abis Omega was so close until some odd force stopped him in place, as though time completely froze him in his tracks. Even the water bubble he was in was completely frozen, a prisoners of time itself.

Luke gasped. "No…!"

"How naïve. You're so focused on winning and getting your Bakugan to do as you say that you're not even opening your eyes anymore." Luka scolded.

"Wha…what's going on! Tell me!"

"There's nothing to tell you. You won't pay attention anyway."

"I said tell me~!"

Luka showed one more ability, carrying his straight face once again. "Ability activate, Atmosphere!"

Alto Brontes lifted his arms and had his four hands flipped up. Materializing above the palms were four silver spinning gyros with golden blades on them. In a way, like small planets with saws. He reached out, sending them all at the sphere of water.

Abis Omega: 750 (-400) = 350 Alto Brontes: 300 (+400) = 700

"ABIS!" Luke cried in terror moments before the sharp gyros all came from different directions. They cut straight through the shimmering cold water with great precision, making the water bubble burst with Abis Omega in the dead center, the few more remaining went everywhere, flying in like a swarm that cut deeply into the Bakugan. Out of shock, time slowed down as Abis Omega found everything going white around him.

"So…powerful…" The poor Bakugan didn't stand as chance as he fell straight down. Before he landed on the ground, his body went into a blue sphere once more as went to Luke's feet.

Luke's fingers were twitching profusely as he was staring ahead, his life gauge dropping to 0% just like that.

Luka closed his eyes once more, showing no remorse over his landslide victory. "As I thought, you're too naïve. Maybe if you had tried like you did with Maximus, then maybe you would've gotten a few good hits in."

"SHUT UP!" Now completely blinded by his own delusions, Luke pulled out his sword and went diving at Luka.

"Luke, stop!" Esther reached out towards him, but she was too late. Luke roared ferally as he blindly rushed for Luka.

Luke slashed at him, but he simply leaned to the side. He pivoted and swung again, but Luke effectively dodged by leaning again. "Stop it! Make this all stop right now!" he yelled with a maniacal plea on his face. He wasn't even sane enough to realize what he was doing.

With effortless movements, he leaned left and right, dodging all of Luke's attacks. One slash after the other, Luke was tiring himself out for no reason. It was pointless, just like his denial. As Luke came around for one more swing upfront, Luka reached to the scabbard he had and pulled out his own energy sword. The molecules that vibrated made up the blade that he held, and he use it to block Luke's simple sword. The two were in a moments confrontation before Luka swung clean through. The overpowered Luke went flying backwards and fell on the floor, where his own blade was sliced in half clean through. The pointed tip pierced the ground, while the other half slid right to his side.

Luka approached the defeated man as he withdrew his weapon. "You've gravely misjudged your own chances. You're not just scum…you're worse than scum."

Luke tried to stand up once more, but he found that easier said than done. As he looked up, he could feel his muscles stiffen, like he was paralyzed by fear. His heart raced as he saw the grim look on Luka, the terrorizing sensation of when he was attacked by those forbidden cards. "No…get away from me…get away from me!"

"Seems you need to learn the hard way then." He looked up towards Alto Brontes, who was still in his true form still. "Alto Brontes. Do it."

Luke looked towards Alto Brontes, watching as the cackling Bakugan moved his hands up. Without a word to say, the bizarre eyes of this Bakugan began to glow bright yellow. Large, shimmering waves expanded outwards, reaching towards Luke as he covered up, unable to escape what terrible fate was to become of him.

Everything for him then on faded to black.

---

Here's a nice chapter for the middle of May. Hope you guys were enthused with it for the most part. I would like to say I hope you enjoyed, but this chapter would be anything but. Luke's gone off the deep end out of denial, and now lives were lost because of hos selfish decisions. Now I know what I did here was perhaps graphic, but let's keep in mind that Mechtavius Destroyer destroyed Bakugan City with children in it that one episode, so you can say that it was fair.

So now we're getting deeper with Luka and who and what he is. Next chapter, I can't say much because I don't want to spoil what I have planned for Luke and Abis Omega, but we'll be getting a little into the planet's physiology and Riaan's intentions.

I got a crazy work schedule going on, so it'll still be awhile after alternating to the next part of my other story. So until then, hope you review and leave your thoughts on my storytelling skills! :)