Arc 1: Back in the Game

[Rashad]

The surrounding area was quiet, something to be expected of a medical facility not inhabited by the greatest doctors on Gundalia. It's everything you'd expect of a typical hospital here. The equipment wasn't too flashy despite being high-tech - not as much as the Vestals though. We were more focused on getting people what they needed rather than what they can buy, but that's neither here nor there. From the eerie hallways to the grinding of nails by the people who were in too much pain to keep still, it all seemed like the usual routine. It's a shame it wasn't, but why take my word for it? I wouldn't really know too much about that anyway.

That's because I've been dead for four years...

Pronounced dead, anyway. My body was kept in some tube meant for restoration. There were people constantly keeping an eye on me, telling each other that there was just no way I'd die and that there will come a time where I'll wake up and fulfill whatever prophecy they want me to fulfill. Apparently, I must not have gotten the message to wake up yet. I'm guess it got stuck on its way to the afterlife in the middle of limbo. I figured that'd be the best way to describe where people in a coma go to just to make the kids and the people afraid of death feel better about what's inevitably going to happen to them. Even in that state, there was something pulling me back, something telling me to wake up as soon as I'm able. It must have been the fuel for vengeance flowing through my still body, wanting to put anyone I could grasp into this state permanently, especially those who were responsible for me being in this position.

How did I get here, you may ask? I'd say it's simple, but I know you're smart enough to know I'd be lying. We'll begin at the point before I denounced my heritage.

[Rashad]

I know it may be shocking for you to be told this, but I was apart of the royal family. For those of you who are unfamiliar with that term or what I'm implying, it means I'm related to someone who has the highest power within our jurisdiction - the entire planet in this case. If you still haven't gotten it yet, my surname is Barodius. If you're still too slow to catch on, then yes, I am the son of Emperor Barodius. Got it now? Good. You better not ask me about that later.

With that in mind, I'm assuming that having women from all over envy your attention was expected of you. This was done for two reasons. One, being married into the family granted you certain legal and financial benefits that being a regular citizen didn't carry. This meant that I didn't have to be loved by anyone; they'd get on my really good side just so they can leech off of me, a gold digger as you might call it. If the economy screws them over and they lose their houses due to war, why should they care? They could come live in the castle and forget their responsibilities. Two, they can take advantage of me in any way that they want to. All they have to do is accuse me of doing something to them for me to get in hot water. While they try to get me in trouble over something I didn't do and take all of my money, they form a relationship with someone else over social media three months before they even tell you about it and will accuse you of acting like a child when you cut them off...

...But I digress.

For that reason, the parents are usually in favor of arranged marriages. I believe I was five when I was paired up with my supposed fiancee. Barodius figured that it would be easier on all of them if they kept it in their inner circle, so he talked with his most trusted adviser, Nurzak, the only one that had served his father. He has a daughter named Floria. I couldn't tell you how she looks because she still looked young the last time I saw her and I don't want to know if you're a creep right now. That's to say that we haven't talked or seen each other that much since Nurzak's falling out with the emperor meant that he thought twice about how close I was to Floria. She was around me...a lot. She took the pairing too well...I may or may not have warmed up to that idea.

[Rashad]

So I have bad luck with women and have a fiancee I can't see without having my head cut off first. What's my point?

The point is...there's a possibility that she betrayed me. That's why I'm here...

In addition to the problems Barodius had with someone on a planet called Earth, we've had our own conflict with Neathia. I don't know how and don't know why we were at war with each other. Some say we've been at war for a thousand years. Some say Barodius's father started it and we were left with the broomstick to clean his mess up. I don't really know. What I do remember is that I was thrown right into the mix. While I was weaker than my father was, I was still the only one other than my mother that could counter him if needed, making me naturally strong and fit to be a leader to our soldiers. I was given command on the Neathian front while Barodius focused his attention on Earth. I never lost a single man or woman on my watch. That's probably why my parents were killed on Earth...because I wasn't there.

You know what else happened when I wasn't there? Someone usurped the throne...

I arrive back on Gundalia after a hard-fought mission. I was hoping to get some relaxation, still unaware of my parents' fates. My squad and I approach the castle gates, and I could see Floria rushing down there to greet me. Then I saw Nurzak come out not too long after she did, giving me a stern look in the process. I was thinking it was because he didn't want her and I to meet with each other, but I was horribly wrong. Next to him was someone I didn't recognize. It was a Gundalian who looked exactly like Barodius. He personally thanked her for choosing him with Nurzak's approval, and then then a whole bunch of Bakugan were summoned from the guards.

I didn't know what to think after that. I didn't even want to focus on why it was happening. I just summoned my partner, Tyrant Dharak, and fought fiercely alongside my teammates. I did the best I could with what and who I had. We continued fighting them off wave by wave until I was the only one left alive. Battered and bruised, I defiantly stood against this false emperor, pleading to Floria for answers in the midst of my struggle. The best she could give me was, "Sorry, but I'm with him now...at least when I come of age..." Dharak was out of gas, so there was nothing he could do to stop the next batch of soldiers from coming out. That's when I noticed something interesting. We were played. The Bakugan we were up against weren't those issued to Gundalian soldiers. They had something more sinister in their blood, and I was too wrapped up in confusion to notice that they were bringing in far more Bakugan than I could've taken out.

They broadcasted this event all over Gundalia, painting me as the ultimate betrayer of our people and even pinned the blame of my parent's death on me, erroneously accusing me of destroying their bodies in the process. They sentenced me to death on the spot. He declared that the Barodius family has betrayed them long enough and that it was time we've been purged from their memory. He declared himself emperor, the all-powerful Shawn Gallagher, before everything faded to black for me...

[Rashad]

I'm not really sure about the level of damage Dharak and I have taken, but if it was enough for me to be pronounced dead for four years running, it's safe to assume that we got bodied at the end of that brawl.

The good news in all of the bad was that four years seemed to be enough. My strength was beginning to return, and someone figured that out before I did. It was a Dharaknoid, or THE Dharaknoid to be more formal. It knew I was going to awaken soon, so it chose to relay details to me in order to antagonize me, make me more like my father if you will. It led me to believe that Floria's transition to the dark side was completely voluntary and that Gallagher had "returned" with Bakugan of old to rework our history to how it was in the past...the dark, dark ages.

I listened to that without offering a response. As the restoration tube opens up to release me, I continued to be non-responsive. I face-planted on the floor much to the surprise of those who were supervising me. I felt the fall, but couldn't move to do anything to stop it. I could hear the sounds of gasping, yelling, and running when I was released. It made me curse my body's unwillingness to move as I wanted to see what was going on since I've been asleep. There was nothing I could do to push it though; however, a Bakugan's power was able to get me on my feet. One landed on my back and instilled some energy into me that forced my body to wake up. I opened my eyes, returned to my feet, and was breathing once again. I looked around to see that it was Dharak that woke me up, ignoring the surprised looks from everyone else as I did so.

[Rashad]

People started amassing a crowd in that laboratory just to see if the rumor that I was alive was real. My initial response to this was how surprised I was to find out that Dharak and I were alive considering the report of me being branded a traitor who should be killed as soon as I was sighted, but that didn't happen where I was brought. They were delighted to confirm that I was active. I inquired about this. A girl said that there are some that fact check and form their own opinions on what happened than blindly following the herd. According to someone else that stepped up, this girl was actually the reason why I was alive right now. She rescued me from Gallagher's clutches before the final blow was dealt despite her nearly dying in the process. When I looked at her, she looked a lot like Floria...

I stared at her for a moment, making her uncomfortable in the process. That's when I realized something. I wasn't on Gundalia anymore. I...was on Neathia...

She confirmed that my guess was correct. I should've realized this from the beginning since their skin tone was lighter than mine, but should it really be my fault? I've been "dead" for four years.

She revealed that her name was Fabia, the princess of Neathia. She mentioned that she saw me being struck down by Gallagher on her way out of Gundalia following her narrow rescue of her guardian, Aranaut, who was taken away from her by one of our own during our campaign on Neathia. She took me along for the ride back to her home out of the kindness of her heart. I didn't buy this for one second. I knew they've seen the level of destruction I've dealt to their population, so there'd be no reason to keep a supposedly dangerous Gundalian alive knowing that it was highly possible that I'd kill them all when I get back up. She confessed a little bit to this, but she wanted to talk with me first since I was the only one who never overkilled any one of their forces while the rest disrespected the bodies of everyone else, citing me as different.

It was confusing logic for me to understand, but I went with it. That may have been because of the state of Gundalia in the last four years. They said they already won the war, so there's no reason for them to kill me at all.

[Rashad]

I expressed my lack of care towards what they thought they won or lost as kindly as possible. All I wanted was a briefing on what this punk has been doing for the last four years. The surprising news was that Gundalia formally surrendered to Neathia approximately three days after I lost the ability to respond. It was said that it was done as an apology to what my parents and I were capable of. Gallagher must have said that to cause a ceasefire so his rule is left uncontested. This may be the case as Fabia also warned of a mass buildup of power surrounding the planet's atmosphere. Something was happening there that no one could quite understand, but it could only be assumed that it was something bad; if it wasn't there before, it's abnormal.

I asked if my repayment for them letting me live is that I stop Gallagher from succeeding in whatever he's planning. Fabia noted that I grasp situations better than anyone else. This did seem very odd since my last attempt at fighting him didn't go so well, so I figured there would be some form of help. Fabia noted that they're still monitoring what the energy amassing Gundalia is being used to do, and the hierarchs were too paranoid about losing any more people, and that's not accounting for what could happen if some of their strongest brawlers are absent while the planet itself gets attacked in one way or another. I began to understand why things were this way since I played a huge part in that, so I was content with them sending me on my way.

Before it could come to that, I requested a battle with their strongest brawler. I had to become acquainted with how battling works before I set foot on my turf again. Many of my skills became locked as a result of my coma; battling was one of them. It didn't have that natural feel to me anymore. Dharak had also agreed to it since he hasn't battled since I've been knocked out, which not only makes him rusty, but that he could have lost some of his power as well. In fact, he admitted that his base power level has gone down steadily since that encounter.

If he would have told me that earlier, I wouldn't have given myself enough credit to automatically make anyone less than the Neathian's best worthless. I couldn't back down from my own challenge though. Fabia revealed herself to be the current strongest, so she would be my opponent. This marked the first time I was ever afraid of losing.

[Rashad]

Thankfully, one of my lost skills didn't involve movement. I could clearly walk outside for the first time in forever and feel the sun beaming onto my skin. I was led away from the encampment to a wide-open space full of dirt and crushed dreams, probably because I recognized this place to be the exact location of my final battle on Neathia before everything went downhill. I could even see the same marks of destruction across the field that have yet to be fully repaired.

I ignored this as I faced Fabia. Knowing her now to be a silent expert in psychological warfare, I kept my feelings distant from her. I didn't want to give her the satisfaction of making me feel guilty to distract me from the fight at hand. She summoned her guardian, Aranaut, and I could already feel tense from the loss of experience I had compared to her. I threw in Dharak, and I could already tell that something was wrong with him. His power level had definitely gone down, lower than where he was at an evolution ago. It was like he devolved. This meant I was left with a limitation, one that I didn't truly appreciate.

I suppose this is a good time to inform you of my battling style. My Dharak's raw power was not equal to my father's since mine hasn't matured into that role just yet. It was taking him a bit longer to awaken that kind of strength, but what he could do didn't make it that much of a disadvantage. While my father focused on using that high power to its fullest, I'm more relaxed, only using what is necessary to down an opponent. Dharak's abilities compliment this style perfectly. Our repertoire consists of techniques designed to affect power levels in various ways, one of which involves the specific targeting of an opponent's body that allows us to shut their flow of strength down automatically. We usually do this before ending the fight with Dharak's strongest area, brute force, of course.

Fabia's style seemed to be all about calculated movements. Her Aranaut had deceptive strength and speed. She could cover pretty much any area of battling with just one Bakugan, which is probably why Aranaut was captured in the first place. Offense, defense, support, recon, healing, stealth...Aranaut had them all. Normally, one would think that having all these characteristics means that there would be a lack of mastery in multiple areas, but that's wrong, very, very wrong. Aranaut was a master in all areas, even brute force.

Pair those qualities against mine and take into account that I'm way weaker than I was before and guess what's about to happen to Dharak and I. We, are quite literally, going to be bodybagged.

[Rashad]

Well, not really. It was true that Aranaut was a more balanced Bakugan than Dharak at the moment. That didn't mean she had the power to beat me while I was weak. I thought that way when she attempted to get the better of me by striking Dharak from unforeseen positions since Dharak stripped Aranaut from the use of his right arm. That thought changed when I saw him regain use of it by forcing his arm back into action through some healing technique.

Fabia started to taunt me once that was done. Aranaut seemed like he was utterly dominating Dharak enough to make her think that I had really gotten weak since 20% of their power was enough to make me, a very "famous" person among the Neathians during the war, look pitiful. I took the opportunity to remind her that she's only using that much power because I forced her too. She was confused by that, so I showed her what I meant when Dharak pinned Aranaut using energy cables: Aranaut's power was actually being restricted every time he struck Dharak.

Already irritated that I allowed someone like her to get the better of me throughout the battle, I put Aranaut out of his misery by commanding Dharak to one-shot him with the brute force I was talking about earlier. She tried to put up a defensive option to counter me, but it was useless; I had already gained too much of a foothold on Aranaut's body to make him unable to even use them. I had won without expending a fraction of the dense power my Dharak holds.

Defeated, Fabia falls to the ground while dumbfounded at the sudden loss and confusion as to why she couldn't win. I avoided telling her that she was an inadequate training partner as I only had to wait rather than take proactive measures. I also didn't acknowledge that I felt remorseful over my war activities. What I did was approach her and question her. It did not make sense for her to avoid killing me upon the implication that I was "different" and then act vengeful by both bringing me to a location I have previously besieged and attempting to avenge the fallen. I questioned her on those things, but I did not receive an answer.

[Rashad]

I finally swallowed my pride after that moment of silence and said that I was sorry. I didn't tell her that I was only following orders, even though I really was that time. I compared her will to suppress me to my confusion as to why they let me live. After everything that has happened, I wasn't very surprised that she still had hostility within her heart. Then she revealed part of the reason why: her fiancee was killed in battle, and I led the squad that did it. The person responsible is no longer living - fortunately; she made me sick, sucking large amounts of cock for political advantages.

I didn't remember the exact moment when that took place; I didn't mention that either because there was nothing worse I could have said - other than saying I'm glad he died - other than telling her that her loss was so insignificant that it got misplaced in the many other people I was responsible for killing. Just hearing that made me question why I was alive even more. Dharak cut to the chase by asking for a method of transportation back to Gundalia so we can go about our business. Fabia revealed that they had a plan to drop us off far away from the capital so that we don't get bombarded by security we can't handle yet.

I asked if that implied I was handling this problem on my own. She confirmed that to be so, much to our displeasure. At that point, I was sure they were trying to get us killed as atonement for our sins. What they were suggesting was close to suicide, but what other choice did I have? I was probably going to end up in a near death situation either way you look at it. Then again, the fact that they know about the energy spikes on Gundalia shows that they're at least monitoring what's going on down there. Perhaps I'd have eyes watching over me even though she didn't want to admit helping me out.

I was fed briefly in that village's dining area before boarding a vessel that landed not too far from where I fought her. The ship's captain introduced himself as Captain Elright. He apologized for any confrontation I may have had with Fabia on the account of her dealing with a lot of emotional strife against me at the moment. He clarified that keeping me alive was on the order of their queen, Serena, and that I would have to stop Gallagher as payment for letting me live. Knowing this already, I agreed to the terms that they have provided as we made the jump back to my ragged homeland.