Chapter 1
Unknown Dimension
26 Ananeosis, 20 Zenoheld
After a few minutes, Volt started to stir.
How long was I out? he thought. And what is this place?
When Volt opened his eyes, he found himself lying on his back staring at a peaceful, blue sky. As he got up, he noticed that he was in a grassy field, not unlike those of New Vestroia. Trees and mountains could be seen in the distance. Furthermore, the air was breathable, not oppressive in the slightest.
If I wanted to send someone somewhere to suffer, I would have chosen some far-off, barely-habitable planet! Volt thought. But this planet looks almost idyllic! Did the Vestal who invented the Death Bomb plan on just boring the banished to death?
Well, whatever the situation is, it's useless to just stay here. Best to try and figure out what I can about this place.
Volt started to walk forward.
I may no longer be welcome at the Motherpalace, but I know that there are still people who admire me as a brawler. I could easily find a place to lay low. The question is, how am I supposed to get back to Vestal in the first place? With a gasp, he realized, Wait a minute: Is there even a Vestal to get back to? How long have I been out?
Panicking would not help in the slightest, so he took some deep breaths. OK, First priority is figuring out where I am and if I can even get back to Vestal. Then I can worry about Zenoheld's Alternative.
All of a sudden, a strange sight grabbed Volt's attention. It was a small red bug with six legs, the front two being considerably larger than the rest; these ended in small claws. It had big solid-blue eyes and two visible teeth on each side of its mouth. But the weirdest thing about it was that two tiny mushrooms grew out of its back.
Whatever it was, it seemed to have been spooked at Volt's approach, because before he knew it, the bug was shaking its back, causing a huge cloud of orange dust to spread out from the mushrooms. Concluding that the dust was likely a defense mechanism, Volt covered his nose and mouth and started running as far away as he could from the bug and the cloud that it was emitting.
When he felt that he was far enough away, he turned around. The bug was gone. But at the very least, Volt knew that he wasn't on New Vestroia. That bug was no Bakugan; it was way too small for that.
However, a bug that could emit spores from its back did not look like any animal species that he knew of.
As Volt continued to look around, he ran across a tree that bore a juicy-looking red fruit. At once, Volt's stomach growled, and he remembered that he had not had anything to eat since breakfast that day.
Returning his gaze to the tree, he decided to try his luck with the fruit. He climbed up the tree and tried to pick one of the fruits. However, as he pulled, he encountered more resistance than should have been the case for dislodging a fruit from a tree branch. After a few more tugs, he finally pulled off the fruit—and saw a wicked-looking silver-colored spike.
His eyes shot wide open. Is that what the tree branches here look like?
But Volt did not have to wonder for long. The spike moved, and eventually revealed itself to have been attached to the foreleg of a three-foot-long insect. It looked like a much larger, organic version of Professor Clay's mechanical spies, or "Bees", right down to the head shape and yellow color scheme. Four legs extended from its thorax, the front two ending in those silver-colored spikes. The abdomen had black stripes running around it, and ended in a long stinger.
And the giant insect wasn't alone. With a series of buzzes, it summoned fellow drones to its side.
Volt put the fruit down slowly in an attempt to show that he wasn't a threat.
The bees still continued to approach.
Several hours and a marathon's worth of running later, Volt hid inside of a bush and was soon relieved to hear the buzzing noises fading away. That made the third time that Volt had attracted the ire of those giant insects. Do those giant bees nest in every fruit-bearing tree on this planet?! Volt asked himself.
Over the course of the past few hours, Volt had managed not only to evade three different swarms of those giant insects, but in the interim, he had also avoided being gored by a furry, horned quadrupedal creature with three tails and being pecked to death by a Vestal-height two-headed bird.
Enjoy your suffering! Hydron had said. Was this what he had meant? Was Volt doomed to wander this planet forever, forced to survive until one misstep got him killed by one of these creatures?
As Volt tried to regain his composure after his latest brush with death, he heard a sound nearby. He got ready to run away in case the giant bees had found him again, but he relaxed when he figured out what the sound was: conversation! There was intelligent life on this planet!
Heading towards the noise, he saw that it came from three humanoids. Volt hid behind a nearby tree and listened in.
"We won't ask again, old man: where's the breeding ground?"
The question came from an aquamarine-haired male wearing a black long-sleeved shirt that had a red "R" on the front, black pants, a white belt, white boots that extended an inch above the ankle, and white gloves that extended an inch above the wrist. In the man's right hand was a brown belt, with some sort of firearms holstered at opposite points of the belt. The blonde woman next to him wore a similarly-colored outfit, but with knee-high boots and opera gloves where the man had the normal variety.
The two were standing next to a bound old man who was seated on the ground. The old man was wearing an unbelted pair of khaki pants, and a tan vest over a blue dress shirt. He was tied up with a rope binding his arms to his body, another rope tying his wrists together behind his back, and another rope tying his legs together.
The old man replied, "I didn't tell y'all the last five times ya asked, so why would I tell ya now? If y'all hadn't tied me up an' taken my guns, I'd've run the whole lot of y'all outta here by now!"
"Very funny, old man," the aquamarine-haired male replied. "But you should know that it's only a matter of time before we find it ourselves, so you might as well save us the trouble."
"Don't try that line on me, young'un," said the old man. "Y'all are in a hurry 'cuz the parents'll back here any minute! Time is on my side."
The aquamarine-haired man leaned closer to his captive. "Is that so? Who says that we don't have anything planned for them if they do show up?"
The old man snorted derisively. "You did. You two idjits done tied me up, and yer grunts are all over the place. If y'all were so sure y'all had everything under control, y'all wouldn't be wastin' yer time here pesterin' me!"
"We'll see about that," the blonde said smugly. "With or without your help, that egg now belongs to Team Rocket."
Volt was confused at the exchange. What was "Team Rocket"? And what could be so special about an egg that someone would go through all this trouble to find out where it was?
Seconds later, Volt saw another humanoid running their way. He, too, was wearing a black uniform with a red "R" on the shirt; however, the gloves and boots were gray, probably to denote his inferior status. Attached to his belt were three small balls, half-red, half-white; each ball was slightly bigger than a Bakugan in ball form.
The new one saluted the other two and reported, "Sir, ma'am, one of the teams has found the breeding ground. It's a lake a few kilometers to the northwest of here. The lake was difficult to spot because of all the cliffs around it, but now we've got the egg and are bringing it to the copter as we speak."
Upon hearing the news, the blonde said to the old man, "Well, looks like we're done here. Thanks for nothing, old man."
"Here, you can have your pea-shooters back," the male said, tossing the belt on the ground next to the still-bound old man. The three black-clad humanoids then ran off.
Once Volt judged that the three were far enough away to be out of earshot, he came out of hiding.
The old man squirmed to look in Volt's direction. Seeing that the newcomer was not part of Team Rocket, he cried out, "Hey! You over there! Come over here an' untie me!"
Volt approached the old man and asked, "Who are you?"
"M'name's Kaiser. I'm the proprietor of this here Safari Zone," the old man answered.
"Who tied you up?" Volt asked.
"That would be Team Rocket, that bunch of no-good Pokémon thieves!" Kaiser replied.
"Pokémon?" Volt asked.
"Yeah, but not just any Pokémon. They look specifically for rare and powerful ones, an' Pokémon here in Kanto don't get much rarer, or more powerful, than a Dragonite."
So "Pokémon" must refer to the creatures that live here. If "Pokémon" are this dimension's counterpart to Bakugan, that might spell trouble.
"So that's a … 'Dragonite' … egg they stole?"
"Are ya gonna untie me, or are we gonna play Twenty Questions? Yeah, that's a Dratini egg they done stole, and they're gonna get away with it if I don't stop 'em!"
If this "Kaiser" person is telling the truth, then he might be my best bet for getting some answers. I'd better help him get that egg back from this "Team Rocket."
Before long, Volt had untied the ropes around Kaiser. The old man then reattached his belt.
"Thanks a lot," Kaiser said once he was done. "Now let's see if I can't catch them Rockets before they—"
His sentence was interrupted by the sound of a motor powering up. He then ran off in the same direction that Team Rocket had gone, but did not get far before seeing a flying machine lift off from a considerable distance ahead. After it had risen to a certain altitude, it turned to the onlookers' right and started to fly away.
"Just my luck. They're gettin' away! Now how'm I gonna stop them? How'm I gonna get that egg back before its parents return?"
"Don't worry, Kaiser," Volt replied. "I'll shoot it down."
The old man stared incredulously at him. "How're you gonna do that? Unless ya got an RPG under them clothes or somethin'..."
"Like this." Volt took his Gauntlet from a hidden pocket inside his cape and clamped it onto his left arm with the flat side out.
"Gauntlet, Power Strike!" he commanded. The flat side of the Gauntlet started to glow.
Volt then entered a code into the Gauntlet. A mechanical female voice replied, "Custom Battle Ability has performed a program update."
Volt then pulled what seemed like a white marble with yellow highlights out of his cape. "Bakugan, Brawl!" he yelled, throwing the marble onto the ground.
"Bakugan, Stand!" Volt commanded once the marble stopped rolling.
The marble popped open into a figure that had arms, legs, and a horned head.
"Rise, Haos Boriates!" Volt commanded.
The figure and surrounding area began glowing brightly, and the figure grew exponentially. When the light waned, a sixty-foot-tall robot, predominantly white with gold highlights, stood in the marble's place. Unlike most types of Bakugan, Boriates looked vaguely human, albeit a human wearing an ancient samurai helmet. Golden-colored horns extended vertically from its temples, each horn as tall as the head itself.
"Boriates, I want that flying machine shot down, not blown up. Aim for the tail and fire!" He then pulled a card out of his cape and set it into a slot that had extended from the Gauntlet. The slot closed, and the mechanical voice said, "Ability card set."
"Ability, activate: Prometheus Cannon!" Volt ordered.
Two gun barrels extended from a box on Boriates' left forearm. Boriates aimed the cannon at the helicopter and fired.
The yellow lasers that issued from the cannon barrels grazed the helicopter's tail. Gray smoke began pouring from the tail, and the helicopter went into a tailspin.
Kaiser watched the entire scene with mouth agape. Once he saw the helicopter begin to descend, he said, "Congratulations, ya shot it down. But how're we gonna get ta them before they run away?"
As if on cue, Boriates bent down and lowered its right hand onto the ground.
Volt jumped onto the outstretched hand and said, "Climb on!"
"What?!" Kaiser exclaimed. "Ya want me ta get onto that thing?"
"Do you want to get that egg back or not?" Volt replied.
At that, Kaiser reluctantly climbed on. Boriates lifted its hand towards its left shoulder. Once the two humanoids were on its shoulder, Boriates started walking towards the downed helicopter.
When Boriates arrived at the crash-landing site, Volt noticed that the blonde that he saw before was talking to one of the underlings, who was tightly clutching on to some kind of box. When Boriates stopped moving, Volt called out, "Team Rocket!"
The blonde turned towards Boriates. "Who are you?"
Kaiser—who had been lying prone throughout the ride—stood up at once and crowed, as if he had shot down the helicopter himself, "Team Rocket, this robot here's Chaos Four-Eyed Hades—"
"That's 'Haos Boriates,' sir," Volt corrected.
"Whatever," Kaiser replied before turning back to Team Rocket. "And unless y'all want another taste of the power that shot down yer helicopter, gimme back that egg!"
"I know that you're gun-crazy, but what were you thinking?" Aquamarine said. "You're lucky we stored that egg in a shock-proof case, or else your stunt would've shattered it!"
The blonde, however, was far less convinced. "Are you seriously believing what's clearly an illusion in front of you? Think about it: Where could they have hidden a sixty-foot robot in the Safari Zone?" Turning to the underlings, she said, "Whoever has a Pokémon with Foresight, get to the bottom of this!"
At that, one of the grunts took one of the tiny balls from his belt. After he pressed a button in the middle, the ball expanded to about twice its previous diameter. The grunt then threw the ball to the ground, commanding, "Noctowl, use Foresight!"
When the ball hit the ground, it split along its center line and disgorged a mass of white plasma. In less than ten seconds, the mass coalesced into some sort of avian with plumage in various shades of black and brown and a crest on its face that looked like a unibrow. The bird, presumably Noctowl, hooted once. Beams of red light emerged from its eyes and swept over Boriates, Volt, and Kaiser. Whatever the technique was supposed to accomplish, the beams did nothing.
Now trembling, the blonde said, "What? That thing's real?!"
Aquamarine replied, "Well, they say that the bigger they are, the harder they fall."
Volt had Boriates help him and Kaiser get back onto the ground.
Meanwhile, Aquamarine picked up a ball from his belt and threw it to the ground, saying, "Go, Aggron!"
The mass of plasma that emerged from that ball coalesced into a seven-foot-tall bipedal dinosaur with dark-grey armor plating throughout, three claws at the ends of each of its limbs, and a silver head with horns extending from holes in the sides of the forehead.
"Aggron, use Thunder!" Aquamarine ordered.
At the command, a spark of electricity formed in between Aggron's horns. Three seconds later, a massive burst of electricity issued from Aggron, heading straight to Boriates …
… to no effect. Boriates didn't even flinch.
"What?" exclaimed Aquamarine. "It's a giant robot! How can electricity not affect it? Aggron, try Thunder again!"
Aggron loosed yet another bolt of Thunder, this time aiming for Boriates' head. The bolt made contact, but Boriates did not so much as move.
"So, immune to electricity, is it? Well, let's see how it likes a little Earthquake!" said the male.
At the word "Earthquake," Aggron jumped. A shockwave rumbled across the ground when it landed. However, the shock wave proved too small to make Boriates even flinch, much less lose its balance.
"Oh come on!" Aquamarine groused.
"Now that you see that your attacks are useless against Boriates, why don't you just give up that egg? It's clear that you cannot win," Volt said.
"You want it?" said the blonde. The box was now in her hands; she had taken it from the underling in all the confusion. Throwing it towards the duo, she said, "Then have it!"
Volt and Kaiser scrambled to get the box before it crashed into the ground. Before the box could land on the ground, Volt dove for the box, arms outstretched. The box landed in his arms, and Volt kept them elevated as his slid across the ground for about four feet.
While Volt and Kaiser were scrambling for the box, however, the blonde had ordered a retreat.
"You don't have to tell me twice!" one of the grunts said in reply.
"I knew that Kaiser was crazy, but where did he get that giant mecha?" said another.
"No one said that we should have brought a mecha to this mission!" cried a third.
By the time Volt and Kaiser recovered their wits enough to look for the Rockets, the agents had disappeared in a nearby wooded area.
"Well, it looks like them Rockets got away," said Kaiser. "But let's see if we at least got what we came for."
Opening the box, Kaiser found an eighteen-inch-tall egg, blue all over with a picture of a white fin on each of the sides.
"Yep, this is the egg we were lookin' for," Kaiser said. Inspecting the egg, he added, "Good, it didn't get a scratch. Now let's bring it back ta its nest before its parents get home."
A/N: The Custom Battle Ability, whose only appearance is in Volt's Revolt, is an ability that is activated from the Gauntlet. It nullifies any subsequent abilities that the opponent tries to play, and allows the user's Bakugan to stay out of ball form even when the battle is over. For the purposes of this fic, the Custom Battle Ability also allows a Bakugan to appear full-size without the necessity of starting a Bakugan brawl. That's why I had Volt activate it before he summoned Boriates.
As for Kaiser, he's an actual character from the Pokémon anime. He's the proprietor of the Kanto Safari Zone and appears in episode 35, The Legend of Dratini. It did not air in the US because of Kaiser's use of guns in the episode.
To anyone about to review, please remember: no spoilers of future chapters!