Narrator pow:
BEEP BEEP*
"Uoohhh..." Soldier groaned, waking up at the sound of clock alarm. "Mako, you heard it?" He asked, turning right to look at her.
BEEP BEEP*
"Nnnghhh..." Mako also groaned, fighting of her sleepyness as she managed to extend her arm and turn the alarm off. "I hate... Waking up..."
"Me too." Bakugan nodded before jumping up to her and landing on her forehead. "Now move up or I'll use your face as a trampoline."
"Fine, fine. Jeez..." Mako sighed, moving her torso up before wiping her eyes. "I hope you had it better."
"Sure I did." Soldier nodded, flying to her side with a white headband on top of himself. "Now come on, grab your socks and let's get to work!" He added before flying away to the kitchen.
"Where you going?" Mako asked, slowly curling up her legs from undeneath the quilt.
"To not look at you!" Soldier responded quickly. "You have to change clothes, remember?"
"Oh, right." Mako nodded, slowly regaining her senses. "Give me a minute or two, okay?"
"O-kay!"
"Alright..." Mako said, walking into the kitchen, dressed in a black t-shirt, white pants, white headband and pair of pink socks. "What did I miss?"
"Nothing." Soldier responded, peeking his head up from the sink as Mako's head turned to the table and prepared ham n' butter sandwiches on the plate.
"You did them yourself?" She asked, looking back at him turning back and forth over the paper towel.
"Yeah, got myself dirty tho." Bakugan nodded, standing back up to face her. "Hope you like them."
"Meh, it will do." Mako said calmly, walking up to him and taking the paper towel in hand. "But you need to actually wash yourself after this."
"... Oh no."
"Oh, yes."
"Does it still hurt?" Mako asked, looking behind at rather wobbly Soldier flying up to her.
"Not really, I think I'm fine now. Just had to cool down and endure." Her guardian responded, making few spins before looking down at her small case with three round holes. "Ooh, I see you also got one?"
"I figured I'd need it." Mako responded, taking two marbles from her nigh desk. "Today I'll take Serpenoid and Saurus alongside you."
"Sounds good." Soldier nodded, moving himself forward before landing on her shoulder. "So, ready to brawl?"
"Mhm."
"Then let's go!"
"Oh, there you are!" Julio waved his hand, seeing Mako walk up to him at the entreance to the arena.
"You expected her to be late?" Soldier asked jokingly.
"No, just happy to see a pal of mine." Julio shrugged him off, turning to face the entreance corridoor. "Now then, let's go and do something great."
"Mhm." Mako nodded. "But I have one question."
"Really?" Julio asked, suprise. "Go on."
"Now that I think about it, am I going to ve recongnised by people here as a school dropout?" Mako asked, maintaining her unfazed glare.
"Pfahahah! Of course not!" Her patron laughed, breifly covering his face to stop the laughing. "People come to bakugan specifically because they don't care about the Sensha-something or however you call it. In fact, some people play bakugan for a living to the point of abandoning education altogether. And even if they were to ostracise you, arenas are build in a way that brawlers don't hear the stands, but stands hear the brawlers, so no insults will be hearable. It doesn't include the brawlers themselves tho."
"That sounds good." She nodded with a smirk.
"Now let's go!" Soldier exclaimed before the trio went inside for their first battle.
"Welcome everyone, for a third match of Traypot Double Team Tournament Quater-Finals!" Electronic voice announced as Mako and Julio walked into the arena on battleground level.
"Traypot?" Mako asked, somewhat baffled by the name.
"Originality is hard." Julio answered shortly.
"On the left side, we have a team made of Salazar Coelho and Nika Oyazawa." Voice pointed out as two mid-sized boys with black hair dressed in tracksuits walked into the arena on the opposite end.
"Oh great, a girl..." First one, with blue stripes on his pants groaned. "Don't they have tanks to battle?"
"Keep it calm, Sal." Second one with purple stripes countered him.
"And on the other side, we have a pair consisting of Julio Santana and Mako Reizei!"
"Ready to get this over with?" Mako asked, looking to her right at Soldier and Julio.
"Yes!"/"Yeah!" They responded in unision.
"Good."
"Begin!"
"Gate card, set!" All four contestants shouted at command, throwing their matchingly coloured gate cards against eachother in a X-pattern, making Mako's card land in front of Nika and Julio's before Salazar and vice versa.
"Like it or not, I'll put you down!" Salazar shouted, taking a step forward as he reached for one of his bakugan. "Bakugan brawl! Aquos Warius stand!" He shouted, tossing him sideways onto Mako's gate card.
"How genius." Mako commented, looking forward as the muscular ogre with spiked club rised from the ground. "How strong is he?"
"Three-hundered and thirteen." Soldier responded. "Do we risk it?"
"No, I'll do something else." Mako responded, throwing her second gate card to the left of Julio's one before reaching down to her picket container. "Bakugan brawl! Haos Saurus stand!" She added, throwing forward her bakugan over to the new gate card.
"Wow, how genius of you." Nika commented, taking his turn as he pulled his arm back for a throw. "Bakugan brawl! Darkus Stinglash stand!" He followed up, throwing his marble all the way to his own gate card.
"Hmm, that's nice." Julio commented. "I'll take him on." He added, reaching for one of his bakugan.
"In case they turn difficult, I still can use Market Garden." Mako added, seeing him take a hold on something special.
"It's feeding time, Tentaclear! Bakugan brawl!" Julio shouted, sending his pardner forward onto Nika's gate card, where he turned onto a floating eyeball with multiple testicles waving around as it's reyelashes.
Tentaclear - 370g. Stinglash - 300g
"Gate card open!" Nika commanded, at which the battlefield quickly got covered by dark mist.
Stinglash - 300g = 380g
"And ability card activate, Abyss Ruler!" He added, flipping the card in his fingers as spiky, raging aura came front undeneath Stinglash's legs. "Now you won't close the one-hundered g-gap, you overgrown sumo!"
Stinglash - 380g = 480g
"Maybe I don't." Julio shrugged his arms. "But this will." He added, taking a card from his pocket. "Ability activate! Mega Flare Blinder!" He shouted as Tentaclear's surrounding turn into infinite godrays, blinding the opposition and pushing the deep storm from undeneath Stinglash.
Tentaclear - 370g = 470g. Stinglash - 480g = 400g
"That's enough, his gate card won't open again!" Soldier pointed out, looking down on Julio's electronic clock that just happen to display battlefield overview before something distracted his from the other side. "Wait, is he pulling out an ability-!"
"Gate card open." Mako said calmly as ground below her Saurus turned into a illusionary space of white light.
Tentaclear - 470g = 570g
"Manual gate card activation?!" Both Julio and Soldier exclaimed in shock.
"A what now?!" Nika asked from the other side.
"We can't see, you goblins!" Salazar added in anger, just before the blinding light ended and they saw Stinglash rolling back to Nika's feet.
Nika - 2/3
"All right!" Julio smiled, catching his returning Tentaclear. "But your Saurus is now exposed with his gate card being worn off." He added, looking forward as blackened texture of atribute gate card came below Mako's second gate card.
"I have it under co-"
"Bakugan brawl!" Salazar shouted, tossing his next bakugan towards next target. "Aquos Griffon stand!" He added as lion-like creature with pair of wings stood up against Saurus.
Saurus - 310g. Griffon - 340g
"Mako, you know what to do when they interrupt." Soldier said in confident manner.
"Mhm." She nodded, taking an ability card from her rather thick collection. "Ability card activate, Equalizer!"
"Here we go..." Soldier said reluctantly, jumping from the sideline into the battle on Saurus's side.
(Saurus - 310g, Soldier - 300g) - 610g
"How?!" Salazar exclaimed, seeing Soldier fend off his Griffon with pickaxe while Saurus slowly flanked the Aquos bakugan from the side into the corner.
"Soldier has a lot of ability cards." Mako smiled, showing his a broad stack of cards "Ninety precent of those alone are his abilities."
"But-t... You can only use three abilities in a battle!" Nika protested, slowly feeling how bad his situation was.
"Take three from any number equal or higher than three and you still have three." Mako responded, looking as her Soldier and Saurus together managed to strangle Griffon up to him giving up and turning back into a ball. "So better play nicely."
Salazar - 2/3
"Nice work!" Soldier called out, as he and Saurus shared a high-five before turning back into balls.
"Grrr..." Salazar growled with anger, looking down at his bakugan. "I won't be bested by a girl!" He tantrume-d all over his place as Mako caught her duo back in her hand.
"Then shut up and think before acting!" Nika shouted at him as he threw his gate card back to where his original one stood earlier. "Bakugan brawl, Darkus Fear Ripper stand!" He shouted as balck-purple humanoid with long claws as fingers stood up from the ground and jabbed the gate card.
"Hmm..." Mako hummed, looking into her phone. "He has three-hundeder twenty g's. You can take him own with your own if you want."
"No, no, no. I have something better." Julio smiled before tossing. "Bakugan brawl, Haos Fear Ripper stand!" He added as same, but white with yellow decals monster rised on his own gate card.
"Bakugan brawl! Aquos Siege stand!" Salazar shouted, quickly throwing his last bakugan onto his gate card.
"Hmm..." Mako hummed again, seeing a blue knight with a long lance rise up and spin his weapon as an entreance. "I'm going for his Warius." She said as she picked one of her bakugans from the pocket. "Bakugan brawl! Haos Saurus stand!"
Saurus - 310g. Warius - 330g
"Oh, so now you're attacking?" Salazar asked. "What are you gonna do? Nothing?"
"More than that, gate card open!" Mako responded swiftly as the ground below Saurus turned into sparkling ring.
Saurus - 310g = 360g
"A mere fiveteen g-power gate card?" Salazar asked dumbfounded. "That's just sad... Ability card activate! Defensive Mace!" He shouted as his Warius moved the weapon into sideways grip and covered it's front with water.
Saurus - 360g = 260g
"Now you won't be able to use any ability cards!" Salazar laughed trumphantly as Warius rushed forward and smashed Saurus in the jaw with a bottom swing, sending him flying into the sky.
"Oh..." Mako gasped as she saw her bakugan turn into the ball and land under her legs with a bounce.
Mako - 2/3
"Hah! Now we're even personally." Salazar added, catching his bakugan upon it's return.
"I hope we did get something from it." Soldier commented.
"He just used a card that blocked my ability cards and strapped one-hundered g's from opponent." Mako explained. "His Warius is way more vulnerable now."
"Good enough. Bakugan brawl! Haos Centipoid stand!" Julio shouted, throwing his bakugan into Nika's gate card, where it transformed into a long centipede with armored skin.
Centipoid - 340g. Fear Ripper - 320g
"How foolish form you!" Nika shouted. "Gate card open! Positive Delta!"
Centipoid - 340g = 140g
"Centipoid!" Julio shouted, seeing and hearing his bakugan screech in pain as it crumbled down to the ground.
"Minus two-hundered G for every opposing Haos, Aquos or Pyrus bakugan is a sweet thing." Nika smiled, looking down at his Fear Ripper slowly walking up to Centipoid. "Now, slash him down!"
"Ability activate!" Mako shouted as Soldier flew forward into the battle and knocked Fear Ripper's hand away with a shovel. "Market Garden."
(Centipoid - 140g, Soldier - 300g = 100g) - 440g = 240g. Fear Ripper - 320g = 220g
"You are scum!" Soldier shouted, vishiously pushing suprised Fear Ripper away. "You are nothing but a bunch of cowards!"
"Ability card activate, correlation of Darkus and Aquos!" Nika shouted, pulling his ability card as Fear Ripper gained a strenght transfer thanks to Salazar's Siege being present.
Fear Ripper - 220g = 320g
"What's your last ability card, girly?" Salazar boasted from the side. "Actually, why don't you crawl back to the tank's turret or something?" He added as his Fear Ripper briefly managed to push Soldier away.
"Ability card activate! Batalltion's Backup!" Mako shouted, taking her last card and flipping it around for activation.
(Centipoid - 140g = 240g, Soldier - 100g = 200g) - 240g = 440g
"Nyeh heh heh!" Soldier laughed as he grabbed a small megaphone from scrap-made metal box on his back. "You're screwed up now!" He added before using it to let out a battle honk.
"You already used that too?" Julio almost exclaimed, suprised by the quick pace with which Mako went over her deck.
"Come 'ere, cupcake!" Soldier taunted as he jumped forward to Fear Ripper and punched him in the face while Centipoid jumped from above him and slammed himself on top of him.
Nika - 1/3
"Damn it!" Nika cursed as he looked down at his returning marble. "I was so close!" He shouted, falling onto his knees.
"Uff..." Julio sighed, catching his returning Centipoid. "You're out of ability cards, you know?"
"But you aren't." Mako responded, freely extending her arm as Soldier slowly flew into a palm of her hand. "Look, you have your Fear Ripper on your gate card and so Salazar has his Siege. Both Nika and Salazar have one bakugan in spare."
"Stand up and fight these clowns, idiot! Gate card set!" Salazar shouted at Nika before throwing his card over to the place where Mako's original one stood earlier. "Bakugan brawl! Aquos Mantris stand!" He added as his quickly thrown marble turned into a giant blue mantis with sinister look on it's face.
"Now, I am willing to bet Salazar has Marionette ability card waiting for our next move." Mako paused for a moment, looking back at the battlefield. "That's why we need to bait him." She added, throwing a gate card to the spot in which the Nika's one started the battle. "And no better way to bait than attempting Centipoid's Attractor ability." She added, throwing her Serpenoid onto the newly formed gate card. "First however, we need to disable their counters."
"You thought that's gonna make me move, kid?" Salazar asked, almost snorting.
"Meh, you're too emotional." Nika responded, taking his last available option in hand. "Bakugan brawl! Darkus Robotallion stand!" He added as the purple robot with human look rised in front of Serpenoid.
Serpenoid - 290g. Robotallion - 310g
"Gate card open, Triple Battle." Mako commanded as the series of straight lightning lines separated the two.
"Oh come on! That's bullshit!" Salazar protested.
"Now all their bakugans are out on the field." Mako said to Julio on the side. "You know what to do."
"Damn me if I'm not." Her partner boasted, taking a swing with his right arm. "Bakugan brawl! Centipoid stand!" He shouted as he tossed his white marble over to Mantris's gate card.
Centipoid - 340g. Mantris - 280g
"Meeehhh, I'll pass." Salazar yawned, taking a card from his sleeve. "Ability card activate, Marionette." He added as his Mantris extended a series of lines towards him. "Mantris, dump him to Siege please." He added as Centipoid was dumped behind the caped kinght's back and onto his gate card.
Centipoid - 340g. Siege - 340g
"Challenge accepted." Julio smiled, pulling out two ability cards. "Double ability card activate! Attractor plus Haos Stasis!" He shouted as his Tentaclear jumped into the action with a sparkling aura.
(Centipoid - 340g, Tentaclear - 370g = 470g) - 710g = 810g
"And now I can play some more!" Julio taunted catching three ability cards falling from the space above him.
"Not so fast!" Salazar cut in. "Gate card-!"
"Ability activate, Mega Flare Blinder!" Julio shouted with anticipation, managing to get his move done first.
(Centipoid - 340g, Tentaclear - 470g = 570g) - 810g = 910g
"N-No! My Hyper Merge!" Salazar panicked, stuttering as he covered his eyes while Tentaclear's stings jabbed into Siege before Centipoid grabbed him by the torso with pincers and threw him up i to the air. "I-I was so- Damn yooouuu!" He shouted at the floor, ignoring his Siege returning in the ball form near his legs.
Salazar - 1/3
"Another one down to the last!" Julio smiled as he catched returning bakugans. "Now, we go for Robotallion first or deal with Mantris?"
"Mantris." Mako responded shortly. "We can't guess if they have duplicate cards in their deck."
"Very well!" Julio nodded before tossing his Centipoid over to the mentioned opponent. "Ability card activate, Attractor!" He shouted as the ground below his Fear Ripper collapsed, taking the latter down under.
"Who-o-ooo..." Salazar stuttered, noticing that he has a serious trouble as Fear Ripper rised from the ground besides Centipoid.
(Centipoid - 340g, Fear Ripper - 330g) - 670g. Mantris - 320g
"Judging by the looks, his gate card won't help here." Soldier commented as they blandly observed Mantris being bitten, grabbed and then slashed by the Haos duo before eventually meeting it's limit and turning back into the ball.
Salazar - 0/3
"That picks one guy out." Julio nodded, catching his returning bakugans. "Now, onto the Nika guy." He added as he looked forward onto the last remaining battle. "Let's go Tentaclear! Bakugan brawl!"
"Ability card activate, Robotallion Fury!" Nika shouted, turning around a card in his hands as the floating eyeball rised behind Serpenoid.
(Serpenoid - 290g = 240g, Tentaclear - 470g = 420g) - 760g = 660g. Robotallion - 310g = 410g
"Last ditch effort is usually a futile one." Mako made a dry comment as the two Haos bakugans quickly wrapped themselves around the humanoid before straining him to the point of giving up.
Nika - 0/3
"At least I tried..." Nika sighed, looking lifelessly as his last bakugan rolled back to his legs.
"That was an amazing killing spree." Soldier said happly as Mako and Julio caught the returning duo. "By not-the-other team!"
"Julio and Mako have qualified to the semi-finals!" Electronic announcer proclaimed with an upbeat tone.
"Maaan, that's gonna be enough for a month with me." Julio grinned as he and Mako turned around and began walking out of the arena.
"Really?" Mako asked. "How do you know that?"
"An app on the phone, we brawlers earn a small precentage from bookmaker bets for every won match. If you play and win often enough you can afford to brawl as your singular job."
"Mhm, and it goes onto a bank a count supported by the Bakugan City?" Mako asked again.
"You catch up reallly fast." Julio commented. "But that's enough for a moment, now let's-!"
"Hold it!" An angry feminine tone made his stop.
"Oh, it's you again..." Julio groaned as Mako looked forward and met face to face with average-height bright blue-haired girl with two ponytails dressed in a yellow top, white skirt, pair of long orange socks and brown ankle-high boots.
"I have a name, you know?" Girl responded, placing a hand on her hip. "And it's Runo. As a Haos brawler you should know that."
"Oh, riiiggght." Muscular man said with obnoxious accent. "The best Haos brawler, even if outside of top twenty-"!
"I'm twenty-first while you're at all time low in thirteen!" Runo jumped up to him, pointing her finger into his chest. "In fact, I'll be right back up after this tournament. You'll see the standings after I win the final."
"Mhm, because your boyfriend carried you up there again." Julio crossed his arms with cocky grin all over his face. "I don't buy it."
"I'm speedrunning a migrane." Mako thought, blandly observing the two go away with their own business. "And I thought I already met very obsessive individuals."
"Are you still hearing?" Soldier asked her in a joking manner.
"You? Yes. Them? No." Mako sighed before resuming her own walk back to the apartment. "But since she also participates, I think our match against her and her second companion will be about Julio not letting emotions get ahead of him."
"Let's hope we can help him with that." Soldier concluded before they went off to have the rest of the day.
"Yeah..." Mako nodded. "I hope my school has it good too, I won't check on them to keep myself away."
"... You know, I really miss Mako." Saori sighed as she and Hana walked alongside the starboard of the Oarai school ship, watching the sunset go down. "It's been a long time by now, and all I managed to get was a short phone call two days ago in which she simply told me to leave her alone for longer."
"..." Hana didn't responded, instead taking the hardly swallowed silence as her ginger friend looked at the sunset with sour face.
"She did say that she wants to apologise, but..." Saori continued, grabbing herself by the elbows as she rested her hands on the railing and leaned forward. "She thinks Sodoko will do anything to keep her out of the school for good."
"And she thinks right!" Angry tone made her jump away in panick.
"Sodo..." Hana said with gentle tone as her heavly bandaged on the head schoolmate joined the two.
"Assault to the point of hospitalization is beyond forbidden." Sodo continued, narrowing her barely visible from distance eyes. "I still don't believe they released me in just three weeks. Still, I did miss the match against St. Gloriana and Pravda and won't be back to Sensha-do for a long time."
"Luckly for us, Saint Gloriana agreed to transfer Rukuriri for a time-being to gain experience." Hana added from the side.
"We already know that." Sodo responded with cold tone, turning slightly to the left. "Still, we have no idea if we ever get to see her again in Oarai uniform after today, let alone ever in the future."
"What do you mean by that?" Saori asked her with nervous face.
"Look up on the internet, were you born yesterday?" Sodo retored with angry stare, making her almost gulp in suprise. "But I'll speed it up for you two. After what Mako did after National Championship's finale got to his ears, Renta Tsuji got new reason to close our school down despite us getting the agreed guarantee for winning the whole tournament. Now Anzu has to run an extra mile to save us all while we don't know if tomorrow we will have to suddenly leave our school and start new lives somewhere else."
"What?!" Saori exclaimed.
"What, I just said." Sodo responded, turning back to Hana. "You don't seem too moved by this revelation."
"You changed-"
"Yes. People change after traumatic experiences! Is this something new for you?!" Sodo shouted at her, walking up to her face with violation of personal space. "Now what, you're gonna tell me to reconcile?"
"... Yes."
"Oh, is that so?" Sodo asked, taking a step back with curious glare. "And if someone would slash you all over the face, would you forgive him?"
"..." Hana didn't respond, instead looking down at her with hollow stare from the eyes.
"Hm... At least you don't lie out loud." Sodo responded. "Well, guess what. You still have it easier since you never had any consequences from your actions, let alone someone else's."
"What are you talking about?" Hana asked her, finally breaking the patient listening.
"I talk about people suffering consequences from something they didn't do." Sodo responded with cold voice. "Mako decided to beat me up for not deleting her class cutting from evidence. But there's a twist for you: now outside of us two having our trouble, our entire school will be disbanded. Entire. School. And it's all because of her."
"It's not like that!" Hana protested.
"So how is it then?" Sodoko pointed finger at her, earning no response as Hana took a step back. "Was I supposed to just delete her missed classed as a reward for a small piece of our team's entire team effort? Or maybe submit to a bully behavior becauss she'a your friend?"
"..."
"That leads me to the grudge I have towards you." Sodo continued, pulling her arm back down. "You defend, a person, that beated me up, and put my school at risk, of being closed down." She recitated with string emphasis on every part. "Do you realise how much trouble we all have right now? Or maybe the worst consequences you had in life was being disinherited for few weeks before your mom just gave-!"
"Keep my family, out of this." Hana said, slightly narrowing her eyes as her gentle hands on instinct turned into tense fists.
"Or what, you're gonna swing your nails into my face?" Sodo asked her, tensing her body into a straight posture. "I don't down when good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people. I survived Mako, I'll survive you too."
"..."
"Well, if you won't follow you friend's steps, you can leave." Sodo concluded, turning around with a frown. "But if you do, then may your expulsions be many, and good grades, few..." She said as a goodbye before walking away to from she came from.
"... Uff." Hana sighed, catching herself by the head after Sodoko left the scene. "It was too much Saori... Saori?" She looked around, only to notice that she was left alone. "Right, she propably got scared and run to tell Miho about it. I need to be less forward about opinions next time.."
