The energy in the arena is intoxicating. The roar of the crowd fills the air like a battle cry on the warpath. As if the spirits of long-lost warriors filled the seats to bare witness to another onslaught of power. Every seat is filled with a player, aging in ages from the young to the older, from early tweens to those in their late teens, all cheering out for one thing, Bakugan.
The cheers from the crowd all echo down the hollow halls. Every shout, cry, and roar from the audience bounces from the walls to the ears of the one walking down them. "Do you hear that?" A voice asks. "I think they're getting restless waiting for us out there." Another voice calls out, one much deeper and beasty, "Of course. They know a strong Bakugan when they see one. Just wait, I'll show them all my power."
Hovering over the arena, in a floating stand directly above the audience and battlefield is the announcer, Julie Makimoto, former member of the legendary Bakugan Battle Brawlers, now a current announcer for Bakugan City. She wears an exaggerated host outfit for the role. A hot pink jacket over a long-sleeve white shirt, with a black pencil skirt, and high heel boots matching her jacket. On her jacket is a pin with all six Bakugan attributes on it. Her hair is tied back into a large grey ponytail.
"Hellooooooo everyone! Are you ready for the first battle of the semi-finals?" Julie calls out over the microphone and is met with another uproar of cheers from the audience. "That's what I thought. Well, without another further delay, let's bring out our first two finalists."
Two spotlights appear on both sides of the arena. "Okay, everybody. On our left, we have a rising star. A Bakugan prodigy, Micheal Claws." Stepping into the ring, wearing a full-piece red suit and tie, white shirt, and perfectly combed hair, Micheal steps up to the ring, casually adjusting his glasses before making it to the end.
"Annnnnnnd on the right, we have a returning player since the days of cards falling from the sky, and an old pal of mine, Caleb Origami!" Stepping into the light, wearing a light, white hoodie with red accents, a pair of black jeans, and trainers, Caleb steps up to the arena. The light shines in their natural blonde hair as the spotlight remains on him for the journey.
The audience erupts into another frenzy of cheers as the two brawlers make themselves ready at their points in the arena. There's a screen on the side of their podiums with a live feed of the other. "I did some research on you before the fight. Not bad. You had an impressive win record, for your time," Micheal's torn comes off as condescending. "The game has changed a lot since you hung up your Bakugan. So make sure to keep the fight entertaining for me as well as for the audience."
Before Caleb can respond, his partner Bakugan leaps out of his pocket in ball form, "How dare you talk to my partner like that? We've faced opponents a million times stronger than some pompous worm in a cheap suit!" Caleb grabs their partner, "Leo, relax. Save that energy for the fight."
The moment gets to Micheal, making him cringe from the insult, "Oh trust me. My suit is genuine. Much more genuine than whatever you two can provide in this battle."
The trash talk gets interrupted by Julie on the microphone, "Alright boys, time to save it for the match." Her podium hovers over everyone, moving by itself via a remote console. "Okay, folks! Let's see some throws! Field open!" The arena lights up, and a barrier is formed in a dome shape around the ring to keep the fight contained.
Micheal takes the lead, "Gate card, set!" He tosses his gate card onto the arena. It expands to enclosure the fighting arena. He slides a Bakugan out of his holster, before tossing it into the ring, "Bakugan, Brawl! Hyper Dragonoid stand!" The ball pops open, before taking its true form, transforming into a humanoid red dragon. [Hyper Dragonoid 500Gs]
"Okay Leo, it's our go." Caleb takes his partner, before throwing them into the ring, "Bakugan Brawl! Omega Leonidas stand!" Leonidas is also a humanoid dragon, but much larger with a wide wing span, and horns. [Omega Leonidas 600Gs]
"Let me at them, Caleb. I want to take this poser down," Leonidas comes straight for Hyper Dragonoid. They go in for a punch, wanting to knock the dragon down.
"Sorry, but I have other plays. Ability card activate, Dual Dragon!" Micheal uses an ability card right away. The one Hyper Dragonoid creates a clone of itself. They split up, dodging the attack. "What the?" The pair of dragons strike back, both punching Leonidas away. He stammers back, but quickly recovers, shaking it off.
The clones take flight before he could counter-attack. Leonidas looks up to see the two Dragonoids flying overhead, "Caleb! Back up!"
"I know! I know! Ability card activate, Omega Eraser!" [Adds 200Gs to Leonidas = 800G] Leonidas gains power from the ability card. He charges up his attack, before firing upon one of the clones.
"Is that the best you got?" Micheal is ready's another ability, "Ability card activate, Item Core!" The ability provides a weapon to both Dragonoids, one gets an axe, the other a shield. The card also combines the two dragon's power. The one with the shield gets in the way of the attack and blocks it with the shield. [Adds 100Gs x2 = 1200Gs]
With the attack blocked, Micheal orders the other to attack. The axe wielding Dragonoid swoops down and swings the axe at Leonidas.
"Hang in there Leo, I got this! Ability Omega Crisis!" Leonidas catches the axe with one hand and starts to push back against the Dragonoid. [Adds 200Gs then another 300Gs if weaker = 1300Gs]
"Sorry. But you're not the first Bakugan to come at me with an axe. But at least the first one had the strength to back it up," Leonidas taunts the clone Bakugan before shattering the edge of the axe single-handedly. [1100Gs] Leonidas swings their tail, slamming the clone into the drag. The clone disappears, becoming nothing. Without the clone, the original losses its power increase. [600Gs]
Micheal starts to break a sweat when Leonidas takes to the sky. Using their wings, they leap into the air and come soaring right at Hyper Dragonoid. "Gate card open! Flat Power!" Micheal uses his gate card as a desperate gesture. The gate cards effect returns all Bakugan to their base stats. Leonidas is still too strong for Hyper Dragonoid to take one. Leonidas crashes through the shield, defeating the Dragonoid and returning them to ball form.
Micheal's life meter goes down, but due to his quick thinking, not by too much. [400LP] Leonidas returns to Caleb, having run the first match with minor ease.
"Nice one Leo. You just tore through them like they were paper," Caleb compliments his partner, holding them in the palm of their hand.
"It wasn't much. There could be 100 of them, and still not be enough to take me down," Leonidas brags about their abilities, not even trying to be humble, yet not lying.
"Don't get too cocky. Micheal still might have a trick up his sleeve. He only just avoided getting taken out in one hit by you," Caleb tries to think more rationally, compared to his partner.
"Who cares? Throw out your gate, and let's blow this stand wide open," Leonidas is confident in their teamwork, and prepare to fight.
"If you say so. Gate card set! Bakugan, Brawl! Stand, Omega Leonias!" Leonidas takes the opening move this time, standing tall and proud. [600Gs]
Micheal scoffs, "You got lucky with that last one. But this time, I know what you're capable of. Bakugan Brawl!" Micheal tosses out a different Bakugan, this time a Darkus, "Stand! Dragonoid!" The ball turns into a large, black, and purple dragon. [600Gs]
"Woah! An original Dragonoid? Those things are rare," Caleb is in awe. "Doesn't matter. It's nothing compared to the Drago we fought with. Just a soulless rip-off," Leonidas is unimpressed.
"You won't be acting so proud in a minute. Ability card, Boosted Dragon!" Using the signature move of Dragonoid, Micheal increases the power of his Bakugan. [700Gs] Dragonoid starts to fire a barrage of fireballs at Leonidas. With his own speed, he dodges each one by the skin of his teeth.
"I've got moves too. Ability card, Omega Eraser!" Leonidas charges an attack, before firing at the Dragonoid with his own special move. [800Gs]
"I've got an out for that too. Double ability! Dark Barrier! Then, Drosing Dark!" With two abilities, Micheal is able to defend himself, first by making his Dragonoid stronger, [800Gs] then by weakening Leonidas. [700Gs] A barrier forms around Dragonoid, protecting it from the attack. "I'm not done. Bakugan Brawl! Stand again, Hyper Dragonoid!" Micheal brings his previously defeated Hyper Dragonoid back into the fight. [500Gs]
"There's two of them now?" Caleb is in disbelief at the sight of two Bakugan against his, "Be careful Leo!"
"Oh, don't panic just yet. Because I have another double ability coming up. Dual Dragon, plus Item Core!" Micheal's double ability combo clones Hyper Dragonoid, as well as arms both with an item.
Things get worse for Leonidas however as the ability combines all three dragons into one force, combining their Gs. [2100Gs]
"How do you like that? With my Dragonoid triple combo, I'm able to outmatch your Leonidas, and take you out in just one sitting!" Micheal becomes overconfident, sending in his two Hyper Dragonoids to attack Leonidas.
Caleb looks worried, at first, but quickly smiles, "You fell for my trap! Gate card open! Grounded Fight!" Micheal's eyes widen as he watches all three of his Dragonoids come falling out of the sky and slam down to the ground. "There's a reason Leo kept to the ground in this fight, and that's because of my gate card. It makes this battle a no-fly zone. All airborne Bakugan gets forced down to the ground, and lose half their Gs." [1050Gs]
The three dragons struggle to get back on their feet as the weight of the gate card weighs them down. "Next, I activate an ability, Omega Crisis!" Leonidas starts to spark, gaining power twice for being the weakest in the battle. [1100Gs]
With both Hyper Dragonoids within reach, Leonidas takes delight in taking them both down, "I warned you before about coming at me with an axe. Now this time stay down!" Using raw strength, he takes both out of the game, however, Micheal only loses points in his meter for the real one. [350LP]
Micheal grits his teeth at the brutality of his lost Dragonoids. Not helped by his Dragonoid now losing more power without the other two. [450Gs] "Don't think you've won yet. You caught me by surprise with your gate card, but now I have this, Binding Spice! This will cancel out your gate card." The gate card effect is lifted from Dragonoid, letting it sit back at full strength. [900Gs]
"I guess you don't like it when things don't play out as you hoped. You got spoked and lost your nerve and forgot you had that," Leonidas talks directly to Micheal.
"Silence! I'm a prodigy of the game. There's nothing a beast like you can understand!" Micheal feels insulted by Leonidas questioning him, "Maybe you should just sit back and be quiet like a good Bakugan, and let the real players talk."
"Hey! Don't you dare insult my friend like that? I don't care who you are, Leonidas is my buddy and I won't have anyone talk to him, or about him, like that again!" Caleb speaks up, calling out Micheal's behavior. This sentiment is carried over to the audience as they start to heckle and boo Micheal from the stands.
Micheal's anger grows more, "Enough. I can still win this and show you why you should respect me. Double ability activates, Boosted Dragon, and Lunatic Burst." Micheal's Dragonoid gains more power, preparing a signature attaching, creating a fireball of darkness to form in its mouth. [1300Gs]
"Two can play! Double ability! Omega Eraser, plus Fusion ability Omega Cannon!" Caleb is able to use a double ability in return, pulling out the stronger version of Leonidas's main move. [1700Gs] Leonidas gets on all fours, charging up his attack before firing a beam of energy out of his mouth.
The two attacks collide, creating a beam struggle. There's some back and forth before Leonidas's attack wins out, and pushes through the attack, disbursing it before hitting Dragonoid at the end. The attack combusts around the Bakugan, exploding. Dragonoid falls out of the sky but turns into a ball before it hits the ground. It was enough to reduce Micheal's life meter to nothing. [0LP] Leonidas watches this unfold before him, "Take that, faker."
"And that's game folks!" Julie screams out in glee over the microphone. "The first win of the semi-finals goes to Caleb and Leonidas!" The audience cheers in excitement about Caleb's victory. Micheal collapses onto his knees, distraught and shocked at his loss.
Caleb is jumping on the spot, brushing his cheek against Leonidas, "Woah! Finals! We did it, Leo! We did it!" Leonidas tries to object to the touching, "Hey! Hey! Easy! I'm a warrior, and you are embarrassing me! Cease!" Caleb is still so excited by his victory, "We still got it! The winning team of Caleb and Leo is back, and the world better remember it!"
Watching from the sidelines, a figure in the shadows is standing behind the audience, taking in the conclusion to the battle before them.
The mystery brawler wears black and grey clothes. Grey cargo pants with a chain around the belt rings, a black long-sleeve shirt with a navy shirt underneath, and visible behind a popped collar. He steps out of the shadows, revealing his dark tint, blue hair.
"That was quite the fight. Wouldn't you agree?" Leaping out of their breast pocket, a black Bakugan jumps onto their shoulder and opens up, "Leonidas isn't any ordinary Bakugan." Their partner scoffs, "Careful Wolfie, you're starting to drool."
"Can't I admire another's strength without being judged?" The Bakugan jumps on the spot to turn to face their partner.
"You can, but what you were doing was boarding on being a fanboy. Besides, I wasn't so impressed."
"Jayden?" The 'Wolfie' sounds confused by their partner's words, calling them by name as a single response.
"He took on three Bakugan at once, granted. But, they were only Cyber Bakugan. If they were really like you, then I'd be singing a different tune." Jayden turns to face the widescreen on the side of the arena displaying the four finalists in the semi-finals. "We'll just have to wait for the finals to see just how strong he really is." The display for the next two battlers appears, and his face is one of them.