Episode 19: Am I My Brother's Keeper?

[Noland Hardy]

After watching the meet, Noland's team became fully acquainted with how much of a problem Markus and his teammates would pose to them on their quest for the championship title. While the meet was nearing its conclusion, Tracy went outside for a quick break. Noland followed her out there to see if he could get her to talk to him again after the mishap at his house. She lashed out at him when he got close and warned him not to come close to her, which caused Noland to question why she was acting this way over hanging out with his girlfriend, implying that Tracy had problems handling general rejection. Tracy noted that he not only led her on by hanging out with her like he did early in their friendship, referencing the dinner she thought was a date. She stated that was the least of her concerns when compared to her greatest reason why she didn't want to talk to him, which was due to the fact that she believed Karen was evil ever since the stunt she pulled at the Complex, stating that she didn't really care about him at all while there was someone like her that did. Noland admitted that he could have done better in terms of communication, but informed her that it didn't give her the right to continuously disrespect Karen in the way that she did. This soon shifted into a fight where Tracy threw in Skystar to deal with Noland's Bane Dragonoid. Due to his evolved powers, Drago easily subdued Skystar despite her impressive resistance. After his victory, Noland walked away without saying another word to her. When he got back inside, he informed Tank that they had some serious issues that need to be dealt with before their next meet.

The following day, Noland and Karen had a scheduled date together. Before either of them left, they had some complications with their respective guardians. Nero noticed that Karen had been slacking off with the information she was gathering and wondered what the reason was for the lack of progress. He was already increasingly upset that Daniel did not follow the instructions of his briefing and attacked Noland anyway, which caused Drago to evolve into a more powerful Bakugan. He also didn't appreciate Karen being attacked by Daniel at all. Karen insisted that things were slow because of her schedule in school and in the brawling circuit, but Nero countered her claim by accusing her of having feelings for the Master Blaze, and that she could no longer provide information to someone willing to potentially take him away from her. Karen disregarded him completely and left, which caused Nero to begin tracking her by her BrawlX's location so that he knows what is going on. He silently regretted having others work for him and decided that it was better in the long run if he started to take action himself.

On the other hand, Noland was getting ready to leave when his grandmother approached him and asked if he could take and pick Kendrick up from the community center while he was out since he started to take an interest in brawling and wanted to learn. Noland refused to do so because the terrorism was too big of a problem to continuously have kids play over there when it has been targeted numerous times, including the times where he was there himself as a kid. This was met with harsh ridicule where she stated this would not be necessary if he would teach him how to play himself, which caused Noland to state that he would rather have Kendrick not know about it just to prevent him from ending up in the same dreadful situation as he is in at the moment. She then gave him an ultimatum where if he refused to teach him or have someone else teach him, then his freedom would be limited as they were living under her roof. Not wanting to disappoint Karen with a sudden disappearance, Noland complied and took Kendrick to the community center when she arrived. Knowing that Bakugan such as Belphenoid or Sakura do not waste their time in that location, he asked Karen if Elico could stay with Kendrick until they get back. She accepted his request and gave the Aquos Bakugan to Kendrick for safekeeping temporarily with hopes that he wouldn't have to use him.

The couple hopped on Drago's back and flew both of them to the movies. Once that was done, Karen wanted to have lunch in one of her favorite places to go, Washington D.C.'s Chinatown. Noland was reluctant to do so in his mind where he remembers spending time with Alana at that same location as well, but chose to disregard it for his sake. With that in mind, Drago pinpointed the location and transported them there swiftly. They had lunch in a restaurant called Wok & Roll, a place of historical significance due to it occupying what was once a boarding house where John Wilkes Booth and his conspirators plotted President Lincoln's assassination. They then shopped at the stores around there before deciding to call it quits by having a walk near the pond before spending the night at his house. Before that could be done, they had to be pick up Kendrick first. Noland called him in advance to check on him before he came, and Kendrick reported that nothing bad happened ever since they left.

Relieved, Noland and Karen mounted Drago once again and headed back to the center to pick Kendrick up. While this was happening, Nero arrived at the community center transformed into a little boy, which was done using the same technology used to transform into Daniel, but he obtained the DNA from one of Daniel's secret victims. He entered the center with the Bakugan he usually uses as a servant and completely dominated everyone else. Kendrick approached him after seeing his power and challenged him to a battle, which peaked Nero's interest since he knew who the kid was. He accepted the challenge and used his dark Bakugan against Elico, whom Kendrick decided to use. Elico was disturbed at the identity of the little boy since he knew who the Bakugan was and asked him what was going on. He didn't receive a reply and was immediately attacked, forcing him to defend himself as best as he could. Unfortunately and as expected, Elico was outmatched by Nero and was soundly defeated. Nero then took Kendrick hostage as he blew a hole into the wall to escape with him. Noland arrived shortly after to find the hole in the wall and a defeated Elico on the ground. This caused Noland to panic and immediately question what happened. Elico faced Karen and said that Nero took matters into his own hands and pointed in the direction where Nero went. Karen opted to get Elico back onto his feet in the same manner that he did for her, and told Noland to be very careful of the Bakugan he was dealing with before sharing an intimate kiss with him. Noland summoned Drago and was able to catch up to a fleeing little boy who was riding on the back of a hydra-like Bakugan. Knowing the identity of Kendrick's captor, Noland revealed that he knew who it was and couldn't hide any longer. 

[Nero Bullock]

Nero, in the form of a little boy, looked behind him as Noland and Drago was approaching them from behind. He chuckled at Noland's remark about knowing who he was, and began purposely cycling through his various transformations, changing into each known Terrorist starting with Makoto and ending with Daniel as he said, "That's nonsense. You don't know who I am, and know one will." He then reverted back to himself after making that statement while having Kendrick close behind him, bound by an electrical chain that restricted him from making any movement without his discretion. "I'll be nice to you this once and allow you to recognize me as the mysterious person who warned you that I would be returning, Nero. I believe you were partially acquainted with my partner a while back when your ruffian friend attempted to kill Daniel? You remember Hydranoid, right?" Nero asked as he rubbed the Bakugan's back. 

Hydranoid continued sprinting through the streets as he was awaiting what was about to take place next. Instead of immediately attacking, Nero felt like having more dialogue before he started focusing on the impending battle. "I'm trying to figure out which one of you in your household was dumb enough to allow a child to be in one of the most dangerous areas in the entire country currently. Would someone like you willingly send your little brother to his doom? That's shocking from a so-called 'legend' such as yourself. It is of no concern to me, but that decision was quite interesting." He then began activating the BrawlX on his arm to get ready for battle. "In a way, you owe me every ounce of gratitude you could muster. As we speak, Daniel and his sidekicks are plotting to level the entire building with the impression of burying it with your little brother inside it, possibly an act of revenge against you for completely destroying his pride, which is completely understandable when coming from someone as crazy as him. There's obviously still a problem with that regardless of me taking Kendrick out of there. Your girlfriend is still there, isn't she? That isn't as much of a price to pay as a little brother in my eyes, but the prize seems significant enough."

His BrawlX activated the battle mode and was ready for use. Upon activation, he uploaded an ability swiftly. "It seems you have a choice to make, Noland. You either engage me in combat and leave your girlfriend and plenty of other innocent adults and children defenseless against the carnage that will await them, or you return to the center to save them and relinquish custody of your little brother," Nero said as he activated the ability, allowing Hydranoid to quickly warp across multiple buildings instantaneously to escape Drago. "It will be this decision that will determine what his true weakness is," Nero said to himself.

[Noland Hardy]

Noland stared in shock as Nero revealed his ability to morph into other beings with his BrawlX. His state of surprise was quickly turned back into anger once he saw Nero's face and Kendrick bound close behind him. He reluctantly listened to Nero's banter while he attempted to figure out how to deal with Hydranoid considering its body looked prime for a devastating offense. He also expected this Bakugan to be a tough opponent if he was able to defeat Elico in such a way. When he heard Nero accuse someone from his family for being foolish enough to send Kendrick there, Noland said to himself, "That's the same thing I said to her, but she doesn't listen. She never listens to anything I tell her. At least I'm not the only one here that knows of her apparent stupidity in situations like this."

Noland activated his BrawlX in response to Nero's activation of his. Nero then resumed his commentary, discovering that Daniel, Makoto, and Akane had planned to attack the community center and intended to have Kendrick die in the rubble as they laid waste to the civilians due to his crushing defeat last time. Noland uploaded an ability onto his BrawlX and activated it, causing a clone of Drago to appear alongside him as he flew through the dark skies as the sun disappeared from view. "It's rather fortunate we can still use abilities from your past evolution. I was under the impression that we couldn't at first. Rapid Fire Takedown always has its uses," Noland said in his mind. "I'm disturbed that Nero would even force me into a situation to choose to save my little brother or my girlfriend. It's like he knows which one I'm going to pick since he's aware of my relation to both of them, which begs the question. Is Kendrick his intended target, or is it Karen? What if he wants to get rid of them both?" With that said, he sent the dragonoid's clone back to the community center to aid Karen in the incoming attack. He reached into his pocket for his cell phone and called her immediately and informed her of what was about to take place, both from his point of view and what was coming near her. "There's plenty of girls out there, but I only get one little brother right now," Noland lamented.

Drago began chasing Hydranoid as the Darkus Bakugan warped across multiple buildings. "That's a fast Bakugan. It'll be difficult fighting against that thing. We don't know who or what is in these buildings, so attacking without causing unnecessary injuries and deaths will be problematic in this case. I would say we're at a disadvantage already without taking Hydranoid's strength into consideration," Drago concluded. Noland realized this and responded with a dark answer by saying, "We'll simply chase him until we find a necessary reason to use such force then. He can't get away from us by speed alone." Drago then got within a close distance above Hydranoid and stayed close to him as he began attempting to hit him.

As they tried to cause damage to Hydranoid, Noland and Drago had a very cold attitude towards their opponents. Noland, who was extremely upset that Nero took Kendrick, began expressing his apparent hatred for the man. "Don't give me that bullshit about me owing you anything. You know that wasn't the reason why you kidnapped my little brother in the first place because you don't care about any of us. Your claim probably would have had more merit if you actually went out of your way to get Karen out of there as well, but you obviously left her for dead," Noland remarked. "What you're going to do is tell me why you abducted Kendrick and why you orchestrated this entire attack."

[Nero Bullock]

"He was pretty defensive about my choice of words with those comments," Nero said in his mind. "I guess it's safe to declare it as a fact then rather than an assumption. Karen did fall in love with this boy, which is the primary cause of the lack of information. If he is the reason why she has deviated from the job she said she was going to perform, then I'll have to perform the role I've been assigned to. I could either implant the chip into her and force her to forget him, or I could simply deal with him in this fight. I suppose the latter option would be easier to do legal wise." Nero sharpened his eyes as Drago began getting closer to him. As the dragonoid attempted to tackle him numerous times, Hydranoid warped to other roofs to evade him without trouble.

"Normally, I wouldn't answer to such a threatening declaration, but this is a special circumstance considering I feel like telling you information," Nero proclaimed. "We'll just get one thing out of the way. I did not tell those idiots to attack the community center. They're acting on their own accord now as far as I'm concerned. After they attacked you that one night and allowed two of the strongest brawlers in my eyes to evolve their Bakugan, their defiance was simply unacceptable; I told them not to attack you surprisingly, and they did it anyway. They must know it too as they have failed to appear before me ever since then. I am not affiliated with those three, so don't place me with them."

Nero then prepared to activate another ability as he said, "Kendrick is a remarkable child that I would like to examine for my own purposes, and no, I'm not going to molest or kill him. That's all you'll get from me until that research is complete." He uploaded an ability onto his BrawlX and said, "Ability activate! Demonic Gravity!" Suddenly, the sky turned into an ominous, smoky setting as numerous Darkus Bakugan consisting of three Reapers using Griffons as their mounts appeared beside Hydranoid with their scythes ready to swing. "I'll let you warm up a bit before you try Hydranoid," Nero taunted as the Reapers flew towards Drago, swiping at him continuously.

[Daniel Andersen]

As Noland and Nero were in a struggle which more seemed as playing cat and mouse Daniel, Makoto and Akane were closing in to the community center. Their intentions were to destroy the whole place and they didn't seem to care about people dragged into that.
Last time Daniel appeared in public didn't bring him any good since he used his own life force for rising powers of the Pack. His health was so deteriorated that he had to attach several of bionic vessels he made in order to keep him alive. This time he was determined not to fight anymore as he was determined to kill.

Three Terrorists were closing in to the community center. They were walking through dark alleys to avoid being seen before they were in range of attacking. They came to the last dark alley before the center and they stopped to get ready to attack. Daniel attached a new gauntlet as he lost the last one in battle with Noland and Allen. It was almost time to attack the center.

[Makoto Nakashima]

Makoto was quite upset with the whole situation since he couldn't even have a good fight.
Last good battle he had was when the whole Resistor team was battling him and other two his teammates and that was a long time ago. Plan led him and other two Terrorists against the community center which had to be turned into dust and he knew that there was going to be resistance from security and other people in the near. He was ready to take them all out and he was not going to think twice.
At this point Terrorists were just waiting for the right and perfect moment to attack and demolish the community center along with all resistance that comes along.

[Akane Huomoto]

"So, how do you think we should take this place down?" Akane hums in a somewhat childish sounding tone, looking at the community center with an intent to somehow destroy the place, weather it be wreaking the whole place till it topples, blow it up with some bombs from somewhere, or just burn it to the ground, she was ready.
Sure many lives would be lost in this attack, but that didn't bother her...

Too Much.

Since sometime along the road of being a terrorist, a strange thought somehow crossed her head. A person killed wouldn't effect the world like it would explode or anything, but I would effect that ones close to them. Like that saying she heard somewhere sometime, all is one, and one is all. She never understood that saying, but after some thought, pieces started to form and put themselves together, something that she didn't like too much. She's a terrorist! Why is it that all of a sudden that she started caring for the measly people she was killing?

That thought pushed brutally aside, she placed her thoughts on bringing down the community center, one way or another. Her ears open for any suggestions suggested to her by her terrorist teammates.

[Karen Valentine]

While Karen was allowing Elico to regain his energy, she noticed her cell phone vibrating as she was receiving Noland's call. She answered it and was notified that Daniel, Makoto, and Akane were closing in on the center in order to kill everyone inside the building. She was also told about the incoming Drago clone that was going to provide as much help as it could. "It sounds like Danny boy is becoming an evil genius again," Karen chuckled. "I'll play hero for a little bit just to see his miserable face. I wonder if the damage he took is as bad as Noland and Allen said it was."

Karen walked over to Elico to check on him, but rushed him into recovering due to what was coming near them. "Noland is dealing with Hydranoid, but there is a clone of Drago on his way here. Daniel is still pissy about his loss, so he was going to target Kendrick for revenge since he couldn't take Noland on himself," Karen said. Elico sat up slowly while his injuries started healing as he said, "So in a way, it's a good thing Nero took him away from here so Daniel couldn't put his hands on him. I don't mind fighting those three since they've apparently defected from the cause. If you're game, I'm game." Elico returned to ball form and landed in her hand. "Cool. We'll play hero for a little while. I've been wanting to get revenge since he hurt me earlier," Karen declared.

Before she stepped outside, Karen went through every portion of the building to make sure everyone evacuated in a timely manner before the Terrorists showed up. Many of the little children took a liking to her and called her their hero for what she was doing, which stunned her for a bit as she was getting them out. "If they only knew..." she said to herself. She got them as far away from the community center as possible. As the civilians fled, Karen turned her attention to the surrounding area. She activated her BrawlX as she summoned Elico and became blessed with Drago's presence in the form of a clone. She kept a keen sense of her surroundings until Elico sensed the presence of the Terrorists approaching from the west. He stood next to the airborne Drago as he stared down the trio and prepared for battle. "Ummm, that's definitely not attractive at all," Karen remarked as she looked at Daniel's current state. "I've already evacuated the people who were here, so you won't be killing anyone. That's too bad since I almost felt pity for you." As she said this, Elico and Drago attacked.

[Noland Hardy]

"So a grown man takes a minor without permission and wants to control what he reveals about it when confronted? No, that's not how it works!" Noland snapped. "You don't dictate what you can tell me when you have my little brother bound like that! He is not an object nor a statistic to be used for research!" He immediately activated an ability on his BrawlX in response to the multiple Reaper Bakugan that were threatening to decapitate them. "Your extra Bakugan are worthless pawns. Ability activate! Novia Shredder!" Noland announced.

"If only I could do this with my horn..." Drago lamented upon activation of the ability. He detached his tail from his body and shot it with one growing back quickly as its replacement. The tail had a red aura originating from the tip of the pitchfork revolving around it, increasing its penetrating power ten-fold. It pierced through the Reapers and Griffons as if they were paper and was headed for Hydranoid's backside.

[Nero Bullock]

"That's interesting..." Nero said as he saw Drago use an attack that was unfamiliar to him. The attack's power was so vast that its power was high enough to break the windows of the buildings that it traveled across and left slash marks on the walls. "That evolution definitely brought your legendary power to a higher level, Drago. Those three stooges couldn't possibly measure up to it regardless if the three of them together battled you. It's nice to see that we're completely equal now in terms of battle expertise." He then uploaded an ability on his BrawlX immediately so none of them would be pierced by Drago's ability.

"Ability activate! Shadow Shroud!" Upon activation, an ominous entity began circling around Hydranoid. As soon as Novia Shredder made contact, a purple barrier appeared to guard against it. The attack was relentless in its attempt to slice through the shield as sparks could be seen from the clash as it continued along its intended path. Eventually, Hydranoid was able to redirect the attack to his right, becoming exhausted afterwards due to how much power he had to use to reflect it. Drago's attack cut through many buildings, knocking them all down to the ground. It soon stopped when the attack was very far away from them, causing an explosion at its impact site that left a large crater in its wake. "Fascinating!" Nero exclaimed as he witnessed Drago's might. "I wonder how many people you potentially killed with that attack. The greatest heroes can easily become the greatest villains you know.

[Noland Hardy]

Noland gritted his teeth when Novia Shredder was deflected and used to cause that much structural damage to the surrounding buildings. "He did that on purpose..." Noland said in his mind. He then prepared to play an ability to pressure Hydranoid even more since he realized he was considerably tired from countering his ability. "He doesn't even seem to be taking this seriously either. He has only used an ability to summon rather weak Bakugan to attack me. Hydranoid hasn't actually attacked Drago with a threatening ability yet, and I've been chasing him for almost two minutes. Judging by what he said when he used Demonic Gravity, he might be placing Hydranoid's power above Drago's. Just how much power does that thing have?" The thought of Nero's lackadaisical battle style didn't deter him from trying to knock him out, so he continued to battle just as he would battle the Terrorists.

"You're not getting away from me, Hydranoid!" Drago declared as he quickly flew at his recovering enemy. Noland then uploaded an ability. "Ability activate! Diffuse Buster!" Drago unleashed a giant fire ball from his mouth upon activation. Once the fire ball was released, the diamond on his forehead began to shine and amplify the attack. The light soon disappeared, revealing that the attack had been split into multiple meteor-sized fire balls that soon rained down on Hydranoid. As each one hit its mark, it scatters into a volley of energy lasers as it explodes.

[Nero Bullock]

Nero looked back and saw multiple meteor-like fire balls approaching them at an impressive speed. He did not waste any time in activating his next ability since he knew that an attack like that would cause massive damage. "Ability activate! Chaos of the Darkness!" Hydranoid looked towards the sky as a dark, stormy atmosphere began looming over the horizon. A lightning bolt struck Hydranoid, which caused him to absorb a large amount of power. He then used it to rapidly fire energy bursts from his mouth at the incoming meteors. Each collision caused a massive explosion that began to shake the area as if an earthquake occurred. "At this rate, he's going to beat me, Nero noticed. "It's awkward fighting against a tough opponent with me running away from him. There has to be a more open area that I can take this to.

Using his peripheral vision, Nero discovered an area that was perfect for them to settle this in. "A park is not the most conventional place for destructive beasts to battle it out, but it'll have to suffice for now," Nero said in his mind. Hydranoid took a giant leap towards the grassy areas of the park and landed. As soon as he did this, he turned around and glared at Drago with his demonic eyes and stood ready to battle his opponent in a more organized setting than rooftop wars. Nero stepped down and stood with a bound Kendrick by his side with his opponent doing the same. "Don't get too comfortable over there. This won't take too long to finish," Hydranoid threatened as Nero began uploading another ability.

[Daniel Andersen]

Noland and Nero finally stopped playing games of cat-and-mouse and started a real battle.
Both of them were fighting to keep Kendrick. In the meanwhile Karen was fighting three Terrorists. Things were not going very well for her, but it would be much worse without the Drago-clone present. Still, it was just a clone and its powers were nothing as an original Bakugan.
Despite Elico was quite powerful Bakugan he had to face three extremely powerful Terrorists and their Bakugans which was not a piece of cake. Even his attribute-changing didn't bring him any good at this point since Terrorists didn't hesitate to answer with even deadlier tactics.

Sakura was still in a good shape since she didn't spend much energy on fighting Elico and Drago-clone. She was ready to battle Elico and was intending to use his attribute-change in her own advantage. She walked slowly to get closer to two opposing targets and then stopped.
"I hope you enjoyed so far, Karen, because Elico is going to get a special treatment" Daniel said quietly as he pulled out a card with a weird-looking emblem. He put the card into the gauntlet which started glowing in dark-purple light. Sakura thrusted her wand and slammed it onto the ground. Ground started glowing in colors of different attributes until it formed a ritual circle.

"You like horrors, Karen? Dead Rising!!" Daniel yelled as weird figures started to emerge from circle. It was somehow similar to Belphenoid's Demon Excavator, but it didn't seem to summon wild Bakugans. What Sakura summoned were not Bakugans of any kind, but horrific-looking abominations that resembled zombie-creatures. Ten of them emerged from the circle and surrounded Elico and Drago-clone. "This ability allows me to bring back any 10 Bakugans that were killed by me in the past. Thanks to power-channeling their powers are far higher than normal. Let me see if you're up to fighting these things."

Horde of zombie-like Bakugans hurled at Elico and Drago-clone. Their powers were abnormally high and they currently got the upper hand against Karen. As these zombies were attacking Karen Daniel pulled out two more cards and crossed his arms waiting for Karen's next move.

[Makoto Nakashima]

Makoto observed the situation with interest and was just waiting for the moment to attack again. Since Karen was already busy with a horde of zombies Makoto found a perfect moment to make an assault and a possible mortal blow.
He uploaded an ability: "Ability activate! Kunai Shower!"
Ahrangi made a super-speed sprint quickly reaching Elico and clone of Dragonoid. When he reached them he jumped in the air to get a better angle and range for attack. Green flames were created around his body and were launched towards Elico and clone. As flames were heading to their targets they transformed into kunais, ninja knives and spears.
In no time these things impaled Elico and clone giving them a huge pain. Elico did not receive that much damage since zombies were all around and he partially used them as shields, but Dragonoid's clone received huge damage since he was in the air and there was no cover for him.
"Will you surrender already?" Ahrangi asked retorically as two opposing Bakugans were being pummeled by kunais and zombies at the same time.

[Akane Huomoto]

"Hm, pity we couldn't remove a few useless lives here on earth," Akane hums, her eyes now a bloodshot red, all previous thoughts of that useless topic roughly shoved aside. It's like she had two sides or something in the lines of that. One that was quiet and always in thought, the other side being described as insane... Maybe not that insane in comparison to the other member (or members, depending on how you look at it.) of the terrorist group though. 

Torahu jumps into action as Akane activates her first card pick, "Ability activate, Swift Thruster." With the said command, the blue flaming tiger rams herself into Elico, adding onto the damage points inflicted upon the aquos attributed female. "Why not play with us for a bit, to make up for taking out the fun in our attack, hm?"