Episode 2: "Friendly" Competition

[Noland Hardy]

A few days after battling at the jail, Noland was starting his first day of high school. After battling for the first time in over a year, he started to remember a lot things surrounding the Bakugan; he was reminded of why he quit in the first place. He picked up a picture that was near his bed and began to concentrate on it; it was a picture of himself and Alana right next to him. Those were the happiest moments of his life up to that point, and remembering the fact that he would not be able to see her after school like he always had almost brought him to the point of crying. The voice of his grandmother, who decided to take care of him and Kendrick following his father's "disappearance", interrupted this and called his name as a sign of telling him to hurry up and leave before he's late. He gathered his belongings and allowed her to drive him to school. As Noland expected, school was a bit of a hassle; everyone was very interested in the "Master Blaze". Too bad the "Iron Juggernaut", another brawler on legendary status, wasn't there to ease the attention since he could have used the extra help.

Noland managed to survive the school day and was prepared to leave. Unfortunately, he was interrupted from doing so as a couple of students asked him to consider creating a brawling team. Instead of telling them that he was really not into brawling that way anymore, Noland asked them why they need him to do that since the school already had a brawling program. They explained that a lot of people opted to have their own teams within the school and they just battle to see which one is a better team to represent the entire student body. Noland didn't buy this excuse as they could have just held tryouts, so he wanted to find out why that was the case by watching a battle between two teams at the school's battle stadium. He walked there and sat in the stands, ready to observe a battle between two individuals.

 

[Tank Stryker]

Tank stood in the eastern end of the stadium with his teammates, John Whitmarsh and Steve Jackson, behind him. The coach of his Varsity brawling team had asked him, the captain, to bring a couple of his friends to do an exhibition match against a normal student-led team. Tank, while a brawling enthusiast and prodigy, wasn't too happy with the situation. He had finally gotten a date with Kathrine Wilconson, the captain of the drill team, after two years of hounding her, and this farce was getting in his way. Tank was up first against the other team's captain, some girl named Tracy White who's parents were activists or something. She showed mercy in her brawls, and that was something Tank was not exactly fond of. He had done so before, and it nearly cost him the match. He had heard she was a powerful brawler, but she didn't look like it. Tank was smart, though; he knew not to underestimate opponents. He didn't want to turn out like any of those Greek heroes he read about while bedridden.

Brushing a strand of his black hair out of his face, Tank took off his Varsity brawling jacket and hung it over the railing, light reflecting off the numerous medals on his jacket. It's patches showed all the major first place victories that Tank had gotten over impossible odds. His Guardian Bakugan, Aquos Gladion floated above his right shoulder. Reaching into the back pocket of his whitewash jeans, Tank pulled out a Gate Card. He threw it into the field silently before grasping Gladion.

"Alright, Tracy," Tank yelled across the battle field, "Let's see how you handle The Colts!" Tank wound up and threw Gladion into the battlefield, "Bakugan brawl! Aquos Gladion, stand!"

Gladion rolled onto the Gate Card and opened up. A bright flash of blue light filled the arena, fazing everyone but Tank. Gladion towered in the arena, a gigantic armored humanoid; very Siege-esque. He turned to Tank and saluted.

"I am ready to fight, General," he stated before turning around to face Tracy.

"Let's go, Tracy," Tank called, "I have somewhere to be! And remember," Tank's face turned into a smirk, "Show no mercy."

[Tracy White]

Tracy has just finished planning good strategies for her team so that they can utilize them in battles. She rushed out of their training ground and dashed to the stadium. Prepared for her match with a guy that she dislikes, she took 2 of her team partners in case of interference. As soon as she arrived, she went straight to the field and watched her opponent, Tank, throw out his bakugan.

"Quit the talking, supposed tough guy! Let's settle this." Tracy wore her yellow outlined gauntlet and held her bakugan in her hand. Before tossing the bakugan, she activated her gauntlet saying, "Gauntlet Power Strike!". This produced a shockwave and a glow of light from the gauntlet's center. Then she yelled, "Bakugan Brawl! Haos Skystar Stand!" The thrown bakugan opened on the gate and transformed into its monster form, having a surrounding yellow aura and a light smoke that immediately faded away, revealing the bakugan.
Yeah!, Skystar yelled. Let us shut both of them up and prove our strength!, she added.

[Tank Stryker]

"Supposed tough guy?" Tank asked with a chuckle, "Where'd you learn English, Seinfeld?" Tank then looked a bit closer at his opponent's arm. "Is that a GAUNTLET?" Tank yelled in faux surprise, "My GOD, where'd you get that relic, your grandpa?" Tank's teammates and the student audience laughed. Tank raised his own arm and tapped the device on his wrist. The device looked like a classic wristwatch, but with a touchscreen instead of a watch face. The gold base was accented with blue sapphire lines running along the outside of the screen and base, creating a border. "BrawlXs are the way to go, nowadays. Mine was given to me by the creator when I met him after winning the Varsity National Championships. It has SAPPHIRES and GOLD in it, and runs like a dream. Not that you'll ever get one like this. Only the winners of nationals got them, which you wont be seeing anytime soon. They're way better than those gauntlets."

Tank reached into his back pocket again and drew out a card. He swiped it across the touch screen, making the BrawlX screen light up. ABILITY CARD DETECTED. ACTIVATING,[/color] it said in a monotone, robotic voice.

"Ability activate!" Tank yelled, "Weapons Cache - Gladius!"

Gladion charged at Skystar, moving fast. As if out of another dimension, a Roman Gladius appeared in Gladion's hand. Doing a combat roll, Gladion got behind Skystar and slashed at the back of her knee, forcing Skystar down. Jumping back, Gladion stared down his opponent silently, twirling the gladius in his hand.

"Come on, little girl," Tank said with a sadistic smile, "Let's see what you've got."

[Tracy White]

"Hey! I don't think the battle mechanism matters, it is the battle technique that does. You may have the fanciest mechanism, but you don't have what it takes. Don't also think your taunt affects me. If you do, you're totally mistaken." Major diss, sis!", a student in the stadium yelled.
Then, Tank rose his own mechanism revealed to be BrawlX and activated an ability with it. Gladion got to Skystar's back and slashed her.
Arrgh...! Skystar screamed in pain.
"Don't worry, Sky! Help is on the way.", Tracy assured.
She then placed an ability on her gauntlet but it didn't glow.
"What! I can't use that! Why?" Tracy was confused. "I don't know what you've done, but I pretty know what to do." She then inserted another card and yelled, "Special Ability Card Activate! Morphing Star!" Skystar dived into the gate and emerged, revealing the gate as hers and activating it. Skystar also returned the favor by hitting Gladion with her mace, causing great damage to Gladion.
"Gate Card Open! Purification!" The gate card glowed with pure light and cleansed Skystar of the damage, reflecting the damage to Gladion. "Thanks to this, Skystar gains 2 reinforcements." Tracy brought out 2 bakugans and prepared to launch them. "Bakugan brawl! Gargonoid Stand! Bakugan brawl! Tigrerra Stand!" Their combined power levels created a yellow aura that surrounded them and gave them a sense of strength. Then, all three bakugans assured their owner saying, Ready for battle!

[Tank Stryker]

Reeling from the attack, Gladion caught his balance and stared down the opponent. The mace had scuffed his armor a bit, leaving a grayish-white streak where the mace had made contact. Tank swiped another card on his BrawlX. "Ability activate!" He yelled, "Battle Charge!"

A clear, yet blue aura engulfed Gladion as he let out a fierce and terrifying roar. The arena began to shift and change at an alarming rate. Pillars in the shape of tridents burst from the ground, and the metal stands of the arena turned into a deep blue marble. The arena's floor became nothing but two islands separated and surrounded by what seemed like a bottomless lake.

"Welcome to Poseidon's Colosseum, boys and girls!" Tank yelled, showboating a bit. A blackish portal opened up in the sky, and a Longsword fell from it, given from the arena to Gladion. On top of that, the other two bakugan brought out by Tracy's Special Ability turned into two balls of light before disappearing from the field. Still pumped from his ability, Gladion dove into the water, swimming faster than any Aquos bakugan has ever swam, and jumped onto Skystar's island. Gladion began to slash Skystar with both the Gladius and the Longsword at lightning fast speeds. As the attacks hit Skystar, her color changed to a red and orange color scheme, signifying her forced change to the Pyrus attribute.

Getting in a few more slashes after the attribute change, Gladion performed the most famous kick in all of popular culture: the Sparta kick. The kick sent Skystar into the water, who was immediately followed by Gladion. Gladion dove under, his Aquos attribute coming in handy here to prevent drowning, and pulled Skystar far underneath the surface, to the point where her own armor was weighing her down too much to swim out. With one swift motion of his legs, Gladion shot out from the water and landed onto his island, his two weapons twirling in his hands.

"That Pyrus attribute isn't going to help your drowning bakugan," Tank said with a smirk, "And neither is that armor she's wearing. I hope she can swim, because where she is right now, that's the only thing she can do."

[Tracy White]

"Nooo...!", Tracy cried. "What will I do now?". The now pyrus attributed Skystar was drowning deep into the water. "Skystar! Skystar!! Skystar!!!" Tracy yelled but got no reply from the bakugan. "Well I guess this is the end..." As she turned her back on Skystar and the match, a scene flashed through her mind. It was her previous matches. In it, she discovered that she had never given up on a fight. "No. I can't quit. If I do, I'll be embarassed and disgrace. Moreso, I am a role model to people. What would they emulate?" She soliloquized. Then, she picked herself up and faced the battle.
"Listen now, Tank. I know you might think this game is over. To me it's game on!" She pulled out a card and inserted it in her gauntlet. "Ability Card Activate! Illumina!" After the enunciation of this card, deep from the water, there was turmoil. It arose to the surface to create waves that didn't suffice. The noise increased and the ground shook. Then, the noise sufficed and a few seconds after the noise reduced, the drowning bakugan woke up and her eyes turned yellow, illuminating the water and making it glow yellow. Tracy watched in astonishment what the card did, but that wasn't the end. Skystar summoned enough haos energy and dove out with an energy orb filled with pure energy, able to protect what's inside.
She then landed slowly on the ground and immediately she landed, she burst open the orb and with the speed of light, she gave some light but powerful strikes to Gladion and destroyed the whole Poisedon's Colloseum, returning the arena to the way it was. When Skystar returned to her spot, the audience, including Tracy, noticed a slight change in her appearance. Skystar had extended armor and the gem on her chest glowed.
"Whoa! Skystar, you're alive! What a comeback!"
It's all thanks to the card you used. I've never felt so much power before and it just overwhelmed me.
"Now I have a relief. At some point I thought I would lose you. I will never lose you, Skystar." Then, the two returned bakugans glowed yellow and were forced back on the field. Tracy turned to Tank's direction and gave a fashion pose. "Deal with that!"

[Tank Stryker]

"Deal with what?" Tank said with a smirk, "So you managed to get rid of the Colosseum, big whoop. I figured out how to do that way before you did." Tank swiped another card on his BrawlX. "Double ability, activate! Special Ability, Art of Battle - Air Strike plus Weapons Cache - Aegis!"

A portal opened above Gladion again, and took the Longsword from him before lowering a shield with the image of the Gorgon Medusa's head and face pounded into it. Gladion then charged full speed at Skystar, the face on the shield facing outward. The enchantment of the shield made Skystar cringe back as Gladion launched himself into the air. With the gladius' point aimed at Skystar's heard. Gladion landed on top, slashing at Skystar's chest before rolling off to face them. Tank began to laugh hard.

"You call yourself a role model for other people? Really?" he yelled, "You're a teenage girl! The only people that would take after you are in diapers! Just give it up. This fight has been one-sided from the beginning."

[Tracy White]

"That isn't funny." Tracy said, after Tank made a mockery of her. "You think this battle has been one-sided, Eh? Well, I think you have been the one getting your butt kicked by a girl!" She pulled out a card and prepared to use it. "All the strikes you made on Skystar didn't do damage. Luckily for us, the strikes were on her protected chest. She is able to minimize your attacks with her previous ability. Hah! Nothing gonna stop us!" She placed the already pulled out card on her gauntlet and yelled, "Ability Card Activate! Grand Haos!" Skystar become equipped with her wand and summoned a transmission path made of pixie dust. It was linked from Gladion to Skystar and gradually, Gladion's power was drained to Skystar, filling her with energy.
"That should do. Tip: if you aren't going to do something, this battle will be over."

[Tank Stryker]

"Oh no," Tank said in a mocking, faux-concerned voice, rolling his eyes, "You created a power sapping link between our two bakugan. Oh, woe is me. Is there anyway out of this?" Tank retrieved another card from his back pocket and swiped it over the screen. "Oh yeah. There is. Ability activate," Tank said, "Arena Trap - Bear Trap."

A portal like the one that gave Gladion his weapons opened up under his opponent's feet. Not even half a second passed before the razor-sharp teeth of two bear traps clamped down into the legs of Skystar, breaking her concentration on the ability and making the bakugan cry out in pain. Blood from the wounds began to seep out onto the teeth of the trap. Gladion rolled around Skystar and sliced into the back of both of her knees, bringing her to the ground. Gladion then stood up, and delivered a hard kick to Skystar in her back, making the bakugan face-plant into the arena floor, before Gladion jumped over and turned around to face his opponent.

"You really should start thinking about who you're up against," Tank called to Tracy, "Also, while you're thinking, which, obviously, is a rare thing to happen, you might want to consider that the damage to your bakugan might be more severe than you think. Armor doesn't really stop internal damage. For all we know, your bakugan could be bleeding on the inside."

[Tracy White]

Skystar was badly hit and probably lost power. She couldn't even get up. "Noooo!!!" Tracy screamed, "It can't end like this!" She inserted another card out of anger. "You use terse words a lot. I'll have to shut that mouth of yours!" She then looked at Skystar and said, "Skystar, hold on! I'll try my best!" Activating her ability, she yelled, "Ability Card Activate! Indigo Slash!" Upon activation, Skystar gained small energy to stand up. Skystar then made a "girlish" roar and charged up an attack from the palm of her hands. The attack would have gotten bigger but her power was way to low. Tracy then prepared another ability and yelled, "Light Tornado, Activate!" Gargonoid flew to Skystar and aided her by throwing an energy ball from its maw, transferring some of Gladion's power to Skystar. Then, the gigantic energy ball that Skystar was charging up became ultra sized. As soon as the attack was ready, Skystar launched it at a great speed, followed by a stinger blade thrown by Tigrerra. The blade was targeted at the center of the energy ball. The three bakugans cheered as they made the attack.

[Tank Stryker]

Gladion was thrown back into the wall of the arena. The wall cracked from the force of the hit, and Gladion fell to one knee, the blade launched by Tigerra lodged in his shoulderblade. Getting up, he silently removed the blade from his arm, the sound of the blade being pulled out resonating throughout the arena. Gladion then roared a warrior's roar and looked back at his opponent and began to crack his joints, starting with his neck, and moving down his body. "Is THAT all you've got?' he taunted, "Even with three bakugan, all you did was succeed in making me angry. I've fought Serpenoids with more strength than you."

Tank laughed a hearty laugh. "If you think a little energy ball will do anything to Gladion?" Tank continued, "He's a seasoned veteran. You're just a lowly amateur. In fact, you're such an amateur that you forgot to get out of the bear trap!" Tank pulled an ability from his pocket, "Ability activate! Earthshaker!"

Gladion raised his gladius into the air, where it absorbed extreme amounts of blue energy that seeped from the ground. Gladion then stabbed the short sword into the ground, where it split the ground and sent plots of land into the air, including the one where Skystar was still attached. The two additional bakugan brought out by Skystar's effect were defeated as debris hit them. Getting a running start, Gladion rushed forward and began jumping from plot to plot before getting close enough to Skystar to launch a swift thrusting attack into the bakugan's shoulder. "An eye for an eye," he said as the sword cut.

Gladion landed on another aerial plot of land before launching himself back at the bakugan again, hitting the back of the knees one more time, sending Skystar to the ground again. Gladion landed back on the actual ground as the plots of land fell back to their original locations. Gladion turned to Tank and nodded his head, to which Tank held out a fist in front of him, and gave a thumbs down. Gladion nodded once more and began to walk slowly towards the grounded bakugan, sword in hand and shield up, ready to protect himself from any sneak attacks.

[Tracy White]

"I think this is it." She thought, "Just remaining my last card and if after this he counters, I'll lose. But there's always a room for trial. I'll try." She got a card ready and placed it on her gauntlet. "This is it, Tank! Ability Card Activate! Sky Superior! At the sound of this card, Skystar got up with an granted energy and got invisible. In her invisible form, she charged at Gladion with speed, slashing front, back, front, back. She then turned back to her visible form and summoned Dual Sabers. She got extra potential energy and slashed Gladion again. After the strikes, she returned to her initial spot with upgraded armor, as a result of her total gained energy. "Now, what do you have against that!" She said in disbelief.

[Tank Stryker]

Gladion's head hung for a couple seconds before snapping up again to stare down his opponent. "Tank," Gladion called, "Let's end this."

"Agreed," Tank replied, "This is starting to bore me." Tank swiped one more card across his BrawlX. "Ability activate," Tank said, "Weapons Cache - Javelin."

The portal opened above Gladion's head as he sheathed his gladius. A javelin with a black blade fell from the portal into Gladion's waiting hand. Spinning it into a throwable position, Gladion took a step back before launching the javelin at Skystar. The javelin hit a chink in the armor right above where the breastplate stops before the neck. The javelin sent Skystar back, impaling her into the ground before Gladion took off in a sprint towards Skystar, unsheathing his sword while running. With one more quick slash, Skystar turned into a yellow energy and fell to the ground by Tracy's feet in her ball form. Gladion sheathed his sword and returned to ball form, Tank catching him in his outstretched right hand.

"How surprising," Tank said sarcastically, "You lost. You know, I didn't really expect much from this battle, with you being an amateur and all, and it looks like I was right to do so. This battle was a bore."

---

Tracy's Life Gauge :: 0%

[Tracy White]

This was the end. Skystar was badly hit by Gladion and returned to her ball form in defeat. The proud guy began to "insult" Tracy and called her an amateur. Tracy's head hung in defeat and she sobbed, picking Skystar up and holding her in the palm of her hands. The words of Tank annoyed Tracy's teammates. They then took a step forward and challenged Tank, throwing out their bakugans onto the field in anger.
Tracy was surprised to see what happened. She rushed to her teammates and asked, "What are you doing?". One of her teammates who was a Ventus brawler answered, "We can't just stand here and watch this guy abuse you. He deserves some serious beating." "As you wish." Tracy said, while going behind her friends. The second brawler who was a Subterra brawler yelled at Tank saying, "Yo! Hot head. You're going down!" Then Tracy's teammates both grinned, waiting for Tank's action.