Episode 9: Just Like Old Times

[Noland Hardy]

The conclusion of Allen's story led Noland to believe that the suspicious man that called himself "Nero" may have a deep connection to these three Bakugan that are known as "The Pack", but they were not aware of this name at the moment. It also disapproved the accusations Tank held against him since someone was attacked that did not have any affiliation with neither of the brawlers who fought the Terrorists in the past. Before Noland got the chance to respond, Kendrick barged into his room, rudely interrupting the call; he kept telling his older brother to turn the tv on and tune in to the news. In order to quickly shut him up, Noland did what he asked, but was surprised to view what showed up on his screen.



The news story took place at a scene near the Anacostia Library in Washington D.C. The reporter was standing close to the area that was sealed off from the public as he began to relay the information. Eye witness accounts reveal that a young man was seen walking with a strange-looking Darkus Bakugan and began scaring the local residents on purpose for his own amusement. Everything seemed all fun and games until he crossed paths with an elderly woman that he wasted no time in scaring. The result of the scare caused her to have a heart attack and perish near the library's entrance. Noland simply told himself that Daniel had stooped down to the level of thinking frightening those people was funny even when it unexpectedly caused someone to die.



Allen informed Noland of the police proposing the idea for them to gather the known victims of these attacks in the same location so they can exchange information on what they experienced. Noland agreed with this and asked where it was going to be. Allen revealed that the officer chose the community center, which they visited when they were younger, as the location for the meeting because he wanted to be as close to the affected areas as possible rather than exposing the force to the enemy if they were being tracked, and he promised that the center would be closed off to the rest of the public. Before ending the call, Noland warned Allen to do what he could do to keep Markus from snapping since he was fully aware of the rivalry between him and Tank based on the information given. The meeting would occur within a week as soon as things settled down after the tournaments and school tests.



In the following week, Noland informed Tank and Tracy that they needed to attend the meeting at the community center per the recommendation of the police department. Tank surprisingly complied with this order while Tracy was getting concerned, but Noland assured them that this was for informational purposes since they made first contact with the enemy. Allen was not so fortunate in his efforts as Seiki started acting difficult; she was very upset with her schedule being ruined since she was sniped out of the air by Asmodeon, declaring that she was minding her own business and wanted nothing to do with this. She is eventually forced to go once her recording studio is made aware of it by the police department, which put her in a sour mood.



The six brawlers arrived at the center before the police and were able to communicate with each other before they could get there. Noland and Allen naturally started talking as if they hadn't been separated from each other all this time. Tracy was astonished to meet the counterpart to Noland and stayed close to both of them. Seiki was sitting on the side listening to her music as usual. This left Tank and Markus, who are rivals, alone with each other. The tension grew as they exchanged words relating to Tank losing his role as his school's champion to a freshman and Markus's inability to place as well as Tank has consecutively. This eventually turned into a heated argument that the two decided to settle on the battlefield with Noland, Allen, Tracy, and Seiki standing to the side watching this entire thing go down.

[Tank Stryker]

The arena was empty of spectators, minus a couple people sitting around in small group talking. Tank was wearing his Varsity jacket, albeit without the captain's "C". He rubbed the new blank spot a bit. If he got into a college for brawling, that's where he would put the logo. It was a bit colder out, at least for summer, so Tank had on a pair of slightly darker jeans with some leather boots on. Most people wore shorts, but Tank didn't really care. He liked his jeans. Besides, he wanted to taunt Markus with all the National Championship patches he had on his jacket from their many rounds together.

Tank knew his opponent well. They were fierce rivals; to the point where they couldn't even be in the room with each other for very long without an argument breaking out. Everything about them was different, their fighting styles (Tank preferred the direct approach while Markus liked to dance around the battlefield like a fairy), their upbringing (Tank didn't know much about Markus' past, but he could guess it wasn't nearly as bad as his childhood), even down to their choice in clothes (Tank was getting ready to go to college and join the brawling team and a fraternity, so he began to look the part while Markus looked like he just didn't care too much). The only thing they had in common was their temper, which usually caused situations like this.

"Honestly," Tank said, swiping the hair out of his face, a cocky smirk faint on his mouth, "The only reason you even HAVE that BrawlX is because of your constant second place finishes." Tank held up the wrist that his BrawlX was on. "THIS is a real BrawlX!" Tank grabbed a Gate Card out of his back pocket and threw it into the arena. "Gate Card, set!"

A blue wave of energy expanded through the arena, dissipating at the borders. Grabbing Gladion, Tank wound up. "Bakugan brawl!" Tank yelled as he pitched Gladion into the arena, "Aquos Gladion, stand!"

Gladion landed in the middle of the arena and arose from his ball form roaring. He pounded his chest a couple times, clanks echoing from his armor. "Now where is that weakling bakugan of yours?" Gladion bellowed, tauntingly.

"I may have lost my spot as captain of my team, but at least I haven't lost a national championship!" Tank taunted Markus, "You choke so much under pressure, it's not even funny anymore!" Tank began to chuckle, "Oh, who am I kidding? It's HILARIOUS!"

[Noland Hardy]

Tank and Markus exchanged blows for at least five minutes before everyone else started to get annoyed at their constant badmouthing of each other. Seiki was apparently the most annoyed by the battle and called them little children. Noland was mostly paying attention to Gargulion and remarked that he would have been saying the same things Tank was saying given that it was a Darkus Bakugan, which he detests. Regardless of its attribute, Noland still respected Markus enough to say that he was at least around Gladion's level of power and made it difficult to figure out which Bakugan was better. Allen had a different opinion and said that Gladion was definitely the superior Bakugan out of the two. Seiki interrupted their analysis by saying that she didn't care, and asked that they hurry up so they can get this meeting over with.

Meanwhile, a young boy was walking on the sidewalk two blocks away from where the community center was. He was in a peaceful state of mind as he was minding his own business. As he began to round the corner, he came across an alleyway that was isolated. He stated that he would use this a shortcut to get home quicker, so he walked in, unaware of who could cross his path. The path was absent of anyone, so he figured there wouldn't be any sign of trouble. The peace and quiet was suddenly interrupted by the appearance of Makoto Nakashima. Makoto walked right in front of the young man and asked him to surrender his possession of the Bakugan he was carrying. He quickly refused, which prompted Asmodeus to be summoned. Out of fear, the young boy threw in his own Aquos Limulus to fend off his attacker. Asmodeus dominated the Limulus and towered over the boy and said that no was the wrong answer before striking him. He mutilated the boy's body and launched it toward the city streets.

The battle between Tank and Markus was coming to its end as Gladion equipped himself with a warhammer while Gargulion was surrounded in a dark-red aura from its Raging Gargoyle ability. Before either side could strike the final blow, a police officer burst into the building and told them all to come quick. They stopped the battle and followed the her to a crime scene where the deceased boy was located. All of them were horrified at what they saw, but Noland and Allen did not let it get to them as much. They looked at each other and knew that what was going on was deja vu all over again. Out of the corner of his eye, Noland observed a rooftop in the distance and noticed three figures standing next to each other. The one in the center gave a thumbs up to him, and the two beside him or her did the same. Noland responded to this by giving them a thumbs down, which made the rest of the group confused at what he was doing until they looked in his direction and saw what he was seeing. The one in the center donned his cape, which confirmed his identity as Daniel Andersen, and disappeared along with his two accomplices, which would most likely be Makoto and Akane. Noland remarked that war was not what he wants, but it was the desire of those three and whoever reigned over them. He hung his head down, not wanting to go back to the old days.

[Noland Hardy]