Episode 11: Target Practice

[Nero Bullock]

Nero recalled all three of the Terrorists to his office following their recent activities such as causing collateral damage to the environment with Asmodeus and being responsible for the death of an elderly woman with Belphenoid's help. Nero took Ahrangi away from Makoto to make the necessary repairs after the unfortunate result of his confrontation with Gargulion, and he soon gave it back in the condition it was in before the accident. Before he could brief them on what was going to happen next, he caught "The Pack" being animals; Asmodeus and Abbadon were hissing while circling around each other as if they were going to fight to establish dominance. Belphenoid stopped the confrontation before it got physical, stating that they were all brothers and shouldn't be fighting against one another. He noted that if anyone was going to be the alpha male, it was going to be himself given the fact that Abbadon and Asmodeus could not exist without his energy. Belphenoid was able to calm them down in a timely manner so Nero could finish without being rudely interrupted a second time.

Upon analyzing the battles "The Pack" participated in, Nero concluded that there was enough data recorded on Noland, Tank, Tracy, Allen, and Markus to fill the gaps in their fighting styles; however, there was one brawler present in one of those fights that he did not have sufficient information on to rule out any possible evidence of a threat. Nero set his attention on the unsuspecting girl that was found battling alongside Allen and Markus, Seiki Maki. The amount of power that the Ventus Bakugan contained remained unknown since Asmodeus did not give her a chance to reveal what she was capable of. Nero decided to make her his next target to fill in the missing information. Since Makoto and Akane had their turns, Nero sent Daniel to fulfill this mission.

Nero instructed him to "catch her attention" by any means necessary. Daniel followed through with this command and made a visit to Seiki's recording studio while he waited for her eventual arrival. As he was doing this, he took it upon himself to mess with some of the people inside. They instantly recognized who he was and deployed their Bakugan to attack him, but Sakura instantly defeated all of them with a single blast and left them powerless. Belphenoid decided to eat one of the employees and forced them to comply with every demand before they were added onto his plate. He commanded them to call Seiki and tell her to come over there without delay, and wanted the call to be on speaker so he can hear every word. Once she was made aware of what she needed to do, Seiki eventually arrived at the studio.

Upon hearing of her arrival, Daniel decided to confront her at the entrance, but not before allowing Belphenoid to add the rest of them onto his meal plan in order to not leave any remaining witnesses. He walked outside to meet Seiki there and ordered her to battle him at that very moment. As she didn't particularly care for the Terrorists as much as she should have, she questioned whether there was a good enough reason to warrant her attention. Belphenoid suddenly exited the building, still licking his lips from the entrees he had treated himself to. Daniel jokingly responded that it would be a long time before she records a song again, which prompted Seiki to deal with him before she's next.

[Seiki Maki]

“You know… I don’t have a good feeling about this…” Seiki murmurs as she grips onto Ahio’s feathers as her bakugan soared through the airs. The two of them left a nice stroll in the park on an urgent call from her recording studios, causing Seiki to gobble up the ice cream she was eating and getting a brain freeze.


“Maybe it’s some aftermath of the ice cream,” Ahio chortles, attempting to make a small joke to at least bring her partner out of the dumps for a moment. Seiki did smile in appreciation as the two landed in front of the recording building.


Seiki hops off Ahio and the bird reverts back to her toy form, perching on the Ventus Brawler’s shoulder, almost like a parrot would. She would walk into the building, but an unknown person standing there had stopped her, and the faint scent of blood. She wasn’t a vampire, but her sense of smell was rather sharp to some smells, blood was one of them.


The mysterious figure had a strange creature walk up beside him, licking its mouth which had a crimson color around its mouth. The mysterious figure, which sounded like a male which therefore lead to her assume the figure was a male (she never relied on appearances too much), made a joke. Not the one that Ahio made when the two of them were flying here.


But a sick and twisted one.


Upon realization, she felt her heart drop, her shoulders drooped slowly. “No… They can’t…” She murmurs, lowering her head down, a shadow casted over her face. She took a moment to mourn and grieve for the many lives lost in that recording studio, Ahio following, but keeping her guard up just in case the two in front of them decide to make a move.


“Y-you… You killed them… You killed them all,” Seiki grits through her teeth, holding back the many tears that dared to fall. She did a pretty good job at that, only one running down her cheek. At that second her whips her attention to the male and his demonic creature behind all those deaths, glaring at him with tear stained eyes. “They were my second family!” She takes Ahio into her hands as she hold back all of her emotions. Showing emotions on a battlefield isn’t good, what she was doing was bad enough, for that could cause reckless decisions.


“Ahio!” She shouts without saying anything cool in the process of summoning her into the battlefield. The bird gave a loud screech, her partner’s emotions being reflected in her. “I’ll fight… To keep on living and avenge them… And to do that I have to survive this brawl…” She thinks, narrowing her eyes and planning out her first move.

[Daniel Andersen]

Daniel was in his "rage mode" which was actually his signature as a Terrorist; eyes glow in crimson, intentions become dark and evil which was an example of letting Belphenoid kill all those people at the studio. 
Seiki sent her Ventus Bakugan, Ahio into the battlefield with an intention avenge people at the studio. Ahio was ready to battle for Seiki's goal and was ready to attack Daniel and Belphenoid.
Daniel was practically feeding on people's anger and rage, so he was enjoying that Seiki was enraged; it was quite amusing to him.
Then he looked at Seiki with a cold, crimson-eye gaze and said in a dark tone: "Vengeance? You think that will do good for you? That will bring you to an early grave..." said Daniel and pulled a dark-colored Bakugan ball that was in his pocket and then threw it in front of Ahio. Sakura took her monster form and prepared for the battle. 
"So, this is the legendary Ahio? Let's see how you can match darkness with wind?" said Sakura sarcastically taunting Ahio into attacking her.
"That would be enough talk." said Daniel and pulled out a card uploading it to his gauntlet which began glowing in a mysterious, purple light and creating dark thunders around Sakura. 
"Ability activate! Sakura Twister!" yawled Daniel while summoning one of Sakura's Ultimate Abilities. 
Upon calling for that ability Sakura rose her wand creating an air pressure and not long after that she created a dark-purple tornado that was swiftly directed towards Ahio.
Ahio was caught in a tornado which continued to damage her heavily by throwing her into the walls and every possible obstacle that could be found over there. After several hits Sakura lowered her wand deactivating the tornado which before disappearing swiftly sent Ahio into the window of Seiki's studio shattering it into pieces. 
Daniel ordered Sakura to move a few steps ahead and wait for Seiki's respond.

[Seiki Maki]

"I've gotta calm myself down... I can't risk making any mistakes in this brawl... Grieving and mourning can come later when I'm safe," Seiki says to herself lowering her anger and slowly coming back to her senses to see the actual brawl, Ahio being thrown around the place like some playtoy ball thing. 

"It's at least some motive giving me a reason to continue on living in this world," she growls, pulls out her headphones. "Ahio, don't let their worlds get to you!" She shouts, placing the device on her ears and playing her playlist labeled "Brawls" 

The three-legged bird was struggling to get up from from Sakura's most recent attack, staggering up to her feet, swaying a bit as she did a small nod in response to what her partner said.. "Let's fly Ahio! Trick and Treat!" Seiki shouts, activating a special ability, one of her personal favorites if you ask her. Ahio screeches once steady on her feet, causing the whole place to grow dark and having the effects of the card occur. The ventus bird was indeed still seemingly deathly weak, but now with the special ability activated, it was what was allowing her to take the lead.

[Daniel Andersen]

Seiki's respond to Daniel made him almost laugh. He was watching Ahio charge up leaving him more than enough time to crush her with the ground.
"First time I witness such stupidity from a Ventus brawler...pitiful, just pitiful I say..." said Daniel in a cold tone as he looked a pretty slow charge-up on Ahio.
Sakura was ready to continue when Daniel uploaded an ability.
"If you cannot beat Sakura then I want to see you beat this! Ability activate! Silver Wind!"

Upon calling for this ability Sakura jumped high above Ahio and pointed her wand towards Ahio launching some sort of an ice blast that frost Ahio's wings. Sakura landed and created a powerful silver tornado once again, but this time it was somehow different; it was glowing from the inside with a dark-purple glow that was revealing a portal to something.

Suddenly, Daniel threw something into the tornado and tornado started to glow even stronger. 
Something big appeared in the tornado and swiftly rushed to frost Ahio crushing her into the nearby wall of Seiki's studio and turning walls into dust as Ahio fell down in pain.

When the dust cleared a large figure showed up in front of Sakura...it was a large wolf cyborg
Wolf looked amazing as lights were reflecting on his metallic body blinding Seiki and Ahio.
He stomped on the ground shaking the whole area. 
"Darkus Wolveride, ready!" Daniel yawled as cyborg wolf looked at Ahio ready to strike again.

Seiki's studio walls started to collapse and turn into dust.
"Have you had enough yet? Better do something before it goes 'checkmate'!" Daniel said while preparing for Seiki's next move. He pulled out a card with Darkus emblem and prepared for another strike.

[Seiki Maki]

"Oh geez, well this is getting confusing..." Seiki murmurs, squinting her eyes in thought, not really caring that she was in the middle of something very chaotic. "If Trick and Treat allows Ahio to have the advantage because she is of lower gp... Then it's swapped with that Silver Wind move, how would that work? Would the opponent have to have lower gp rather than rising it?" She shakes her head, shaking off all the confusing thoughts and averting her attention to the battle, which she now deemed rather confusing.

Ahio glanced at Seiki and gave her a small shrug to say that she as well was clueless. "Now here we go," The ventus brawler puts on her headphones, protection from the move she was about to make, "Ability Activate! Cry of the Wind Phoenix!" The three-legged bird jumped up into the air, taking flight as she flapped off any debris that was on her, and emitted an ear-piercing screech, which went everywhere on the field.

Once the bird was finished, she hops down and shakes herself, ruffling up her feathers, "That actually felt refreshing..." She coos, keeping her attention on the two opposing bakugans even in what looks like her moment of relaxation.

"I'm just going to clarify this move because I think it would help you making a suitable move that wouldn't cause the explosion of my brain," Seiki says, her goofy-ish side coming out, because she simply felt like it. "This ability should prevent you from any abilities, until you have something else which I'm sure you do knowing you. Also the ability should bring your power down a few notches every turn..."

[Daniel Andersen]

Ahio managed to recover herself, but did not do any significant damage to Sakura or Wolveride.
Two Bakugans kept on staring at Ahio for a couple of seconds and then Sakura started laughing quietly as it was entertaining for her to watch Seiki's move. Sakura turned to Daniel and said with a sarcastic expression: "Such a big threat to Nero that WE had to come".
Daniel did not respond momentarily, but he gazed at Seiki with his crimson eyes and then looked at Wolveride while rising his hand with a card in it. Card had a Darkus emblem and was glowing in dark-purple color. He looked at the ground and closed his eyes and then again looked at Seiki while activating a card. 
"If you think prevention and little power-degradation can defeat me you must be an idiot" said Daniel with an obvious anger that Sakura made a very good point with her sarcastic comment of Seiki's power. He was expecting a much more intense battle from a Ventus brawler.
"Wolveride, fry that overgrown sparrow! Special Ability, activate! Wolf Cross Freezer!" Daniel yelled while his eyes were burning crimson-red.

Suddenly, metal wolf jumped a few meters ahead and opened all hatches on his body. Before Ahio could even realize what was happening Wolveride launched countless missiles from each of those hatches and created a whole volley that headed right to Ahio. 

Missiles probably made contact with Ahio as massive explosions roared like lightning in the sky. When explosion stopped and smoke cleared a huge iceberg appeared to be floating above the ground, but Ahio was nowhere to be found. Iceberg fell on the ground and Seiki could see Ahio trapped inside of an iceberg; like an ant in an ice cube. Wolveride's missiles were heat-guided, so some of them headed to Seiki, Sakura and Daniel as well threatening to destroy them.

Daniel looked at incoming missiles and raised his hand while his gauntlet was glowing in a combination of white and dark-purple colors. All missiles heading to him and Sakura disappeared while some of them are still heading to Seiki threatening to kill her.

[Allen Silva]

Allen had been watching the news for any sort of indication of the terrorist's next move. He had probably been searching for a few hours that day when he saw the news of a attack on a recording studio. But of course it wasnt just anyone's recording studio, but where Seiki Maki, who had allied herself with Allen and the others,or at least had the same feeling about the terrorists as the rest. He quickly grabbed Shatter Gorem, and rushed to the scene.

" Hey Gorem, think we will make it before any more damage is done?" Allen asked, concerned for the lives already undoubtably lost and for the devastation that could follow. All the while he was running as fast as he could to get to the studio.

Gorem pondered the question for a while, before clearing his throat to answer." Honestly bro, all we can do is hope Seiki is holding her own. Other than that, we can only go so fast."

" yeah, I guess."

Allen and Shatter Gorem saw the current state of the studio. He also saw that Seiki was in a brawl with Daniel, and he had brought out a dark bakugan. The dark bakugan had unleashed a attack that launched missiles at Ahio, but the missiles had mostly been deflected back at Daniel and his two bakugan. But a couple of the missiles continued towards Seiki. Allen tossed out Gorem and activated his landslide shield ability almost simultaneously. The golem bakugan turned to his monster form and used his energy shield to block to incoming projectiles." Hope ya don't mind if I but in?" Allen joked with Daniel.

[Daniel Andersen]

"So, it's the rock-head moron 'Iron Juggernaut' and his pathetic minion 'Shatter Gorem" said Daniel while looking at Allen with his crimson eyes that looked like a pool of blood. He turned his back to Seiki and Ahio as they were not important to him anymore; he had his full concentration on Allen who just came to battle.

Belphenoid rose on his feet to battle, but right before he was going to make a move Daniel rose his hand in order to signalize Belphenoid to stop.
"Daniel, did you say 'Iron Juggernaut'?! He is Allen Silva?" said Wolveride with his metallic, cybernetic voice as he looked at Allen with a surprised expression. 

"He claims to be a legend among Subterra brawlers and defense-based brawlers in general" Wolveride started to talk again to Daniel who was not quite interested in the talk.
Daniel made a few steps towards Allen and closed his eyes...A few seconds later he opens them only to terrify Allen who saw to crimson lights coming from Daniel's eyes like from a demon.
Allen was left speechless as he couldn't even realize if Daniel was a normal person.

"What is it? You look petrified...Ah, look who I am talking to." Daniel said in a diabolically weird and deep tone that was darker even than Nero's twice. 
Then his tone got even darker as he calmly commander while rising his hand and watching Allen with his crimson eyes: "Obliterate him, Sakura...Ability activate! Soul of Destiny!"

Sakura started spinning her wand and created two triangles on the ground that together formed a six-pointed star and started glowing in both white and dark-purple. Gorem was standing on the south part of the star and he suddenly started to feel a little weird. Suddenly, he went berserk and started hitting nearby civilian buildings with his fists crushing them into dust. 

"I guess this won't help with your reputation. When people see YOU crushing their buildings" said Daniel while looking at Gorem with his crimson-glowing eyes. It seems that Gorem was brain-controlled. "Go ahead and try to stop Sakura. Wolveride is just waiting for you to do that"

[Allen Silva]

As expected from Daniel, Allen started out in a bad position. Gorem was raging around mindlessly, and there was nothing Allen could do about it. Or so Daniel thought. Although he didnt start on the right foot, he wasnt the Iron Juggernaut for nothing. Even up against Sakura and this dark bakugan, he could at least hold his own. Allen held up two abilities. One of them glew white, while the other the common brown for subterra." Dual ability activate."

Gorem glew in the same white light as the first ability card. Then the effects took place, and Gorem was freed from the darkus bakugans control." That first one, in case you don't know was the generic ability breaker." Shatter Gorem informed the trio. Then brown energy first charged in the golem bakugans hand, then formed a whip that he aimed at Sakura." This next one isnt so generic. Force breaker go!"

" So Daniel, you couldn't face us like a real brawler, but instead had to play dirty." He sarcastically spat out at the leader of the terrorists. Finally face to face with the man who is orchestrating the whole masquerade." You know that me and Noland will always be here to beat you down again?"

[Daniel Andersen]

"You can beat me as much as you want, but I will always come back for more." shouted Daniel as his eyes glared in crimson color. "You are such a fool. You think I just come for beating and leave when defeated? Even an idiot would understand that there is a deeper meaning." Daniel continued with a dark tone and a diabolically dark voice.
He pointed at Shatter Gorem and spoke again: "Hiding behind that humanoid piece of rock and saying I am not a real brawler. It is not strange that Noland is a superior to you...He is not hiding behind some piece of living rock."

"You want to see the power?" Daniel said while looking at Allen and then turned to Wolveride who was standing in the near. " Ability activate! Wolf Tomahawk!" he declared as cyborg-wolf Bakugan began to roar.
"Eat this, rock-head!" shouted Wolveride and jumped in the air. He made a back-thrust while opening a hatch on his chest. As he was doing his back-thrust a missile was launched from the hatch at enormous speed. 
It was a large missile with mark of "Wrath" on left and right sides. Missile was heading to Shatter Gorem at enormous speed while producing a powerful sound. As Gorem and Allen were ready to intercept the missile Daniel declared quietly: "You idiot..."
Missile suddenly disappeared and while Allen was looking for it, it reappeared right in front of Gorem who did not have much time to make a defensive move.

Missile hit and created a huge explosion, smoke was all over the place and pieces of buildings caught in the blast were raining down. Seiki's studio completely collapsed and crashed into the nearby building turning all around to dust.
Allen could not see if Gorem survived of all the smoke.
As he was trying to figure it out Daniel spoke sarcastically: "What an irony. This was one of my basic cards and yet so much fuss about it..."

[Allen Silva]

Force breaker would have done some serious damage to Daniel's combo, especially to Sakura. But,the dark bakugan the leader of the terrorists had brought with him had other plans. Daniel activated one of its abilities, launching a volley of missiles at Shatter Gorem. They would have been easy to block, if they hadn't disappeared and returned within feet of his bakugan. Allen had only seconds to make a defensive countermeasure, and he had to be creative. He tried to activate his tremor lariat ability, but was too late. The missiles hit their mark, exploding on the skin of the rock giant." Gorem! You good pal?" Allen asked Shatter Gorem.

" That's the hardest I've ever been hit, but I'll be good." Shatter Gorem emphatically responded. He then held up his fists for the next attack." Or at least I think so. Load up the next ability Allen."

Allen was already pulling out his next move. " ability activate! Rush Wrecker! Target Sakura." Allen activated the ability he had used many times before. Gorem brought some of his stored energy out, using it as a sort of armor as he runs at Sakura, intending to knock the bakugan off its feet." Here's a fun fact for you. My Rush Wrecker links with another ability, giving me a variety to chose from. You've already seen the ability that I chose, the Landslide shield. Meaning you're dealing with a moving shield. Eat that!"

[Daniel Andersen]

Shatter Gorem incomes at Sakura and Wolveride with extreme amount of force and it doesn't seem to be slowing down. Daniel looked at his gauntlet and spoke to himself: "Too much time passed...I've already dragged too much attention...we have to go..."

Sakura turned to Wolveride and yawled: "We need to go, police is coming...We can't let them surround us...". Daniel suddenly pulled out a card and made his eyes glare in crimson again, but this time he spoke in normal tone: "I'm sorry 'iron Juggernaut', but it's time for me to go...Ability activate! Rook: Crusher!"

Suddenly, Wolveride jumped out in front of Shatter Gorem and hit the ground creating a powerful shockwave that torn ground apart. Shatter Gorem couldn't stand on such unstable and destroyed ground and he stumbled and hit the nearby wall instead of Daniel's Bakugans.
While that was happening Daniel pulled out another card and announced: "Enjoy cleaning up. I have a train to catch. Sakura, now!" 
Card started to glow in dark-purple light and Sakura rose her wand. She created a blinding flash that made Allen close his eyes in pain. When he opened them again there was no one except Seiki and partially frozen Ahio on the other side of the street.

[Seiki Maki]

Seiki silently stood there for a moment, as if in a trance, before falling to her knees, Ahio doing her best to make her way over being partially frozen still. The ventus brawler caught onto her bakugan's feathers before she went limp, resulting in her being somewhat buried in Ahio's semi-frozen feathers.

She was quiet for a moment before she started sniffling and letting all her emotions go rolling downhill. "T-they're gone... All gone!" She cries, clutching onto her bakugan in sorrow and anger. Ahio glanced over at Allen with an approving look, thanking him softly before going to comfort her heartbroken partner.

Some may think this is just another event in life, but everyone in that recording studio was her second family. "Was... It seems unreal to use..." Seiki murmurs, mindlessly saying what was on her mind. "That damned Daniel," Seiki growls before succumbing to her tears again.

Ahio was slightly shocked at her partner's use of words, but she was in a vulnerable state, one where she was in deep sorrow, and grieving for the many lives lost. 'Did that Daniel guy just want to brawl her? ... He seemed to determined to brawl her to start of with...' The three-legged bird slowly strokes Seiki with her wings, energy slowly sapping away. 'If so, why did he have to go all the way on destroying the place? What are his intentions?' Ahio sighs in deep thought, 'Well if he did want a brawl, he didn't fight the true Seiki... But a more shattered state of her. Maybe I should try confronting him or his bakugans if I encounter them. I don't need anyone else falling to the same fate as her,' The bird looks at the girl, continuing to cry, 'She looks so hurt... Not like her normal tough yet carefree side...'

"I'm sorry... For not being able to be strong enough to beat them..." Ahio murmurs, softly resting her beak in Seiki's now messy hair.

The said girl shook her head, eyes shut, cheeks now patterned with tear marks, "No... It's my fault for not being strong enough to help you... I am the one to wield your abilities aren't I?" She meekly says, now sniffling with tears still falling. Seiki tried to crack a joke in attempts to brighten the situation, at least a bit, but it resulted in her sobbing again, and Ahio stroking her hair.

A soft breeze blew by, carrying various types of leaves and petals. Her second family was a mix a nature, some being as strong as an oak, shy as a maple, soft as a sakura petal, and so on. Seiki was this and took it as a sign that her second family's spirits were close, or had moved on to a better place. With that thought she was at a momentary state of peace, only sniffling and hiccuping.

If only I was able to protect you guys... Everyone... I'm sorry...

[Noland Hardy]