Episode 15: Make Your Move

[Noland Hardy]

The first meet concluded with Noland, Tracy, and Tank placing exceptionally well in the tournament that took place for an entire week, which vastly increased their chances of making it to the state championship. Tank opted to spend more time with his girlfriend since he was slacking a little due to the terrorist attacks lately, so he said his goodbyes to both of them before heading back home, leaving Noland and Tracy alone with each other. Since Noland allegedly had nothing better to do at the time, he proposed the idea of taking her to dinner to celebrate their victory, which caused her to blush a little at the unexpected question. She quickly brushed it off by accepting his offer, which startled him a little. The two went to a nearby restaurant together and had discussions ranging from Noland's life to Tracy's development. The owner ended up giving him special treatment and allowed every item they ordered to be free of charge due to this heroic reputation, which relieved Noland of any pressure since Tracy ordered an expensive dish. Whether or not this was a date was left entirely up to speculation by both of their standards, but Tracy had said to herself that she wouldn't have minded if it was considered as such.

In the following days, the three of them revisited the Complex after their suspension was lifted and began to practice there in hopes of not encountering any more trouble. Markus's team was there as well since they were also kicked out, but he made extra effort to not allow what happened previously to happen another time and stayed away from them. He advised Allen and Karen to do the same since he did not think it was fair for their conflict to inconvenience other people. Karen defied this order and approached Noland anyway, angering Markus even further. Instead of causing any more trouble, she simply offered her apologies to all of them for what happened last time, which surprised Markus completely. Tank was still furious about that situation and called her a word that was a very inappropriate term. Before she could respond to that, Markus stepped in the middle of them and told him that what he called her was not necessary since they were already punished for it, and that he was always too harsh on certain situations This comment brought back their conflict as they started arguing with each other. Tracy did her best to remedy the situation by trying to break up the fight. Not wanting to be involved in the conversation, Noland turned his attention to Karen and forgave her for causing the incident, and suggested they they all practice together while Markus and Tank settle their matters since their argument was not going to end for a long time. Allen declined the offer and stated that his coach was going to train him specifically and only went into the fieldhouse to warm up before he goes to another part of the building. This left Noland and Karen by themselves with a concerned Tracy looking on.

Tracy eventually gave up on Markus and Tank, considering them a lost cause. She spent her time there spying on Noland and Karen who seemed to be getting along really well as they continued talking; it was going too well from Tracy's point of view as she saw the two being a little flirtatious with each other, but not too noticeable. Without a moment's notice, two brawlers approached Noland and challenged him, which Noland accepted as long as he could have Karen as his tag partner. She gladly accepted the offer and battled alongside him. Tracy was utterly shocked at how much those two overpowered the random brawlers. This made her increasingly upset at how much attention she was getting, which prompted to Skystar to comment about her apparent jealousy. She ignored this up to the point when it was time to go back home. When she saw Karen willingly give Noland her contact information and hug each other, Tracy silenced Skystar before anything could be said.

Noland, Tank, and Tracy were called back to the community center as well as Allen, Markus, and Seiki in order to conduct another meeting in hopes that this one won't be ruined due to some unfortunate event like last time. For some odd reason, Karen, Allen's teammate, tagged along regardless of the fact that she wasn't asked to come. She quickly embraced Noland as she walked in and engaged in a conversation with him. Tracy, who was sick of watching this happen, interrupted this and challenged her to a battle. Karen, who noticed the jealousy in her eyes and the tone of her voice, indirectly accused her of being jealous by pointing out what it sounded like. Noland piggybacked on this and asked the same question, which caused Tracy to give him a cold stare. He took a hint and kept his mouth shut from that point forward, and allowed the girls to battle it out in the arena just to see what this would amount to; however, he wasn't sure of whose side he was really on.

[Tracy White]

"Alright, Karen," Tracy said mocking her, "You are so evil. Now, don't think I don't know you agenda, because I do know." Pulling out a gate card from her pocket, she continued. "You look like an angel, but from the first day I set my eyes on you, I knew you weren't." Already holding the gate card, she yelled, "Gate card set!" while throwing it to the ground. The gate card expanded to form a larger card, with a yellow shockwave released from the expansion. "Sorry, but this is just to teach you that NO ONE, messes with me, or my friends, just like that!" For a moment, Tracy set her eyes on Noland, probably unconscious that she was. Just then Skystar in ball form whispered to her partner, "Tracy! Get a hold of yourself. It's embarassing." Tracy immediately snapped out of it and focused on Karen, pretending to not have even turned have eyes off her. With a grin, Tracy threw out Skystar on the gate. "Bakugan brawl! Haos Skystar stand!" She yelled. "You're gonna pay for what you did!" Tracy screamed, not revealing what Karen actually did because Noland was obviously watching.

[Karen Valentine]

"This girl is really working my nerves," Karen said to herself upon hearing Tracy's opening statement. "I think it's cute that she's so upset about Nolly and I becoming such great friends. I'd be jealous if I were her too. You can't find them like you used to anymore." Karen was undoubtedly becoming increasingly bitter towards Tracy for her persistent attempts to discredit her overall character in front of everyone, but she decided to keep a calm personality to make it seem like she's the more mature girl out of the two in comparison. In contrast to her angry opponent, she did not return any insults and tried to keep herself from saying those things as much as possible. She simply dismissed these claims with a smile by saying out loud, "Jealousy will make you believe a lot of the things you say, but it doesn't make them true."

Karen quickly glanced at her side to see if anyone on the sidelines were skeptical of Tracy's accusations being correct, but she only found out that their facial expressions remained unchanged. She was particularly interested to know Noland's opinion, but figured he would not say much of anything after somehow making Tracy mad. His expression was emotionless at this point as he seemed to want this quarrel to be resolved and did not care who won or lost. "Alright, darling. Let's get this over with," Karen said as she reached into the side pocket of her jeans and pulled out a Bakugan that was azure in color. She placed her own BrawlX on her wrist as well. "I'll show you why I'm the most versatile brawler in the state," she declared with a wink.

She gripped her Aquos Bakugan and prepared to throw it into battle. "Here it goes. Bakugan brawl!" Karen yelled as she launched her Bakugan onto the gate card. "Stand, Aquos Mystic Elico!" The Bakugan stood and revealed a humanoid/fish type Bakugan. It had spikes stick out from its knees and elbows as well as having numerous tails with spears on each tip. The Elico stood upright and had an intimidating appearance, looking fit to deal with his opponent in a timely fashion. "Ready or not, here we come!" Karen cheered. 

[Tracy White]

"Me? Jealous? Who do you think is the jealous one here? Isn't that you!" Tracy replied looking angry. With swift movements, Tracy pulled out a card and placed it on her gauntlet. "Ability card activate! Crystal Sundown!" Immediately, the field started glowing yellow from the underneath. It began to rise and rise till it reached the point where the two bakugans were engulfed in the light. "Do you think Elico can stand the light? Ha! I don't think so!" Tracy said putting on her sunglasses she luckily brought along on. "It's a good thing I brought it along with me. Guess I was prepared. On the other hand, you are without any. That's not my fault, is it?" The radiation from the light increased, blinding everyone it came in contact with. Skystar wasn't affected by it due to her being used to the light; she basically pulled off moves that emitted light in her battles.
Skystar's mace then transformed into two swords made of diamond. Skystar made a good grip of the swords and charged at Elico. Of course, Elico was blinded already and open for attacks. Sky made her way through and hit Elico. KABOOM! "Oh, I think I should tell you this. Whatever move Elico makes on Sky will be half the damage it's meant to have! Deal with that!" Tracy, with her glasses, tried to see through the light to see what was really going on. Unfortunately for her, she couldn't. Now talking to herself, "This is potentially harmful to my chance of winning. I can't even see a thing."

[Karen Valentine]

The light was too bright to be bearable to the human eye and made it impossible for Karen to see the battlefield clearly, which could be a massive hindrance on their ability to fight her off. "Where'd she learn to have light as bright as Tentaclear's?" Karen asked herself. She looked away from the blinding light that appeared because of Tracy's ability. She didn't say this out loud, but her opponent had just got the upper hand on her on her very first move; however, it was to Tracy's own detriment since there was not a chance she would be able to see the field either. "I guess I'll have to spoil the surprise to get rid of this light. I was going to save it for later, but it doesn't seem like it'll be that way," Karen said.

While grunting continuously due to the light, Karen commanded Elico to activate its special ability. "Elico, attribute change!" Karen shouted. The Bakugan responded faithfully after receiving minor blows from Skystar's attacks. "Consider it done," Elico acknowledged. While going through the transformation, Elico narrated the entire process by saying, "Go! Attribute Change!" He waited until the transition to another attribute was completed before saying, "Haos!" Elico's body was covered in glimmering body armor, and the tips to his numerous tails were sharpened as they became colored in chrome, turning into a viable weapon that can be used as a blade. The spikes on his elbows and knees became more defined in appearance, further improving the intimidation its appearance has.

Elico waited until Skystar made another attempt at an attack to intercept her swords by clashing with them using a few of his tails. "I see what you did there. You didn't want anyone to see you get crushed. That's okay though. I'll fix it," Elico said as he began absorbing the Haos energy that was engulfing them. This rapidly decrease how bright the light was until there was nothing left of it. "Valkyrie Blade!" Elico activated as he used the chrome blades on his tails to viciously assault Skystar continuously, and then landed a swift punch to her chest, which sent her flying across the battlefield into the walls. "Your abilities are nullified and your Bakugan was blown away," Karen noted. "I dealt with that attack of yours like you asked, so what's your response?"

[Tracy White]

"Ugh!" Skystar groaned as she went through hard walls and crashed into the ground. The bright light that radiated through the arena was shut down by a trick pulled of by Karen. That didn't move Tracy; she cared less about what move Karen makes. Now that the light was nullified, everything came back to normal. This time, Elico had the upper hand. "That doesn't move me, Karen,"Tracy said, tilting her head and at the same time pulling the glasses off her eye. "I commend you though for you effort to stop me, but just keep this in mind: you can't always win. With that said, see how I'll respond to the situation." Tracy made a step backward and pulled out a card. "Ability card activate! Magical Sunburst!" Tracy yelled while placing the card on her gauntlet. Skystar reluctantly stood up due to the moves she pulled off being exhausting. She just had to obey. As the Haos bakugan stood up, she held her already transmuted staff and jumped up, doing a 360 degrees turn and landing, hitting the staff hard on the ground. This move produced a shockwave that switch the powers of Elico and Sky. Instead of Sky being weak, she was better than ever, and on the other hand, Elico was the one suffering.

With this boost, Skystar charged at Elico. "Takedown!" Skystar yelled while charging. She splitted into three entities. These entities took the form of Sky but with different weapons; at this time, Sky was with a staff, so one had a sword and the other had a mace. Together they dashed with speed towards Elico. Tracy had a satisfied look on her face as all three bakugans knocked Elico out, sending it to dreamland; Elico was slashed by the sword, struck by the staff and blasted in to air by the mace. The now Haos bakugan, Elico, flew high and later dropped down and penetrated almost deep into the ground. As a result of this, smoke arose and began reducing, little by little. "Don't be too excited about that attribute change of yours 'cause it's useless. You saw what I did? That's called payback!" Tracy just couldn't control her emotions and feelings towards Noland, creating an unconsciously active impulse that triggers this new attitude hers. It's somehow taking over her that Noland will be stolen from her and she's kinda getting. . .crazy?

[Karen Valentine]

Despite Tracy's hostility towards her, Karen smiled at her regardless of what was being said to her. As she heard the word payback being used, Karen decided to ask, "Payback? Payback for what?" She didn't bother waiting for an answer since she was likely not to receive one, so she returned her attention to the battle. Elico had just been sent into the ground, which caused Karen to be happy as if this was something she wanted her opponent to do all along. Her attitude didn't make it seem like this was detrimental to her at all.

"The attribute change wasn't just for stopping your attack, sweetie," Karen began. "Ability activate! Hydro Booster! The ground was progressively filling with water until it flooded and filled portions of the arena. The water was seen in an electrified state due to Elico combining the power of Aquos and Haos into one attack, which is a unique effect given to him by the ability. "What was that about the attribute change being useless?" Karen mocked. Suddenly, water tornadoes began to emerge from the pool in an electrified state as they continuously collided into Skystar and her clones.

[Tracy White]

Karen requested to know what Tracy meant my "Payback" but before Tracy could say anything, Karen had already initiated a move. Tracy looked satisfied with her last move and thought that was the end. That was why she included "payback" when she was adressing Karen. Surprising to her, Elico used the situation to his advantage. Sky and her buddies were spinning along with the water tornadoes created, helplessly. Tracy began to think on what would help. She then figured out something. "Guess I was wrong about the attribute change, huh. But I have my own surprise too!" After saying this, Tracy yelled, "Special ability activate! Skystar Smash!" Immediately, the bodies of Sky and her clones began flashing yellow. Soon, Haos energy filled the water, so the Aquos energy in the water was overriden. Now that all Skys were in their environment, they gained enough strength to jump out of water. Already out and still in the air, the Skystar with the staff pointed at the water, releasing a linear energy discharge into the water. The water suddenly drained up as a result of this. Tracy wasn't done yet. She activated yet another ability. "Ability card activate! Indigo Slash!!" Tracy yelled as loud the could and upon activation of this card, all Skystars jumped high and dove straight down into the gate, one by one, and all came out, revealing the gate used earlier on. The gate activated and brought the light disaster again. It brought upon everyone, a major blinding of the eye. Regardless of even being Haos attributed, Elico was subdued and overwhelmed by it and even if it was a pretense to play possum, Elico couldn't see. Skystar and her clones weren't affected that much because their powers were undoubtedly superceeding. Even as Tracy wore her glasses back, she felt the effects on her eyes. No comments came from everyone as they were all grunting in agony.

[Karen Valentine]

"That light...." Karen grunted as she felt the blinding effects from the light attack once again, staring away from the battlefield.

She then started speaking to herself about her next move as she usually does; it became a bad habit of hers since she likes to hold conversations within her own subconscious to figure out if the move she makes next will be the best thing she could do. "I can still command Elico regardless if I can see or not. Elico shouldn't be affected as much since he's underground. In that case..."

Karen hastily gave an order to Elico in hopes that he would recognize what she was planning. "Elico! I need another attribute change! This time, change into something fitting for your environment." She then uploaded an ability as Elico carried out this action hoping that he was able to comprehend what she was saying.

"Affirmative," Elico shouted as he was being blinded by the glaring light from above. "One Subterra Bakugan at your service," Elico proclaimed as he was going through the transformation animation into a brown colored Bakugan. His armor became very solid and durable. The tips on his tails turned from detailed blades to stone blades that could drill into the ground. The spikes on his body became more jagged in appearance. His physical ability was tremendously increased from the transition as he became more on par with Shatter Gorem's juggernaut ability.

Elico used this shift in attributes to his advantage as he could pinpoint Skystar's location from underground. He detected multiple targets above ground, so he figured Karen would have made the decision to strike them all at the same time. He moved directly under the multitude in preparation for a surprise attack. Karen's BrawlX soon recognized the ability and activated. "Ability activate! Almighty Smash!" Elico clenched his right fist as brown-colored energy began to surround it. He pulled it back in order to ensure he put some strength into this attack. He suddenly released a massive burst of energy as he launched his fist upwards toward the surface, shattering the arena's ground completely and launching all of the Skystar's into the air with each one getting pummeled by the debris sent up from that attack. The gate card was shattered into pieces, causing the glare to cease. Clones dispersed one by one as they reeled from the force of the attack and the multiple hits they've taken from the rocks until the lone Skystar was left.

"You're finished!" Elico declared to Skystar as he launched himself into the air to catch his opponent. He caught her mid-flight and turned her upside-down with her head pointing towards the ground. He wrapped his arms around the Haos Bakugan to restrict her movement. Elico crashed Skystar headfirst into the ground, shattering all of the rocks around the impact site and instantly sending her back into ball form.

Tracy's Life Gauge: 5 (1%)

"That was a fun round, Tracy," Karen remarked as she caught the returning Elico in ball form. "In all seriousness, why are you mad at me? You've been like this towards me ever since I started hanging out with him. Unless... Karen thought about the reason why she was getting this reaction as soon as she made that statement. There was only one logical explanation for behavior like this whenever a girl hangs out with a guy. "You wanted to be me in this situation? You feel some sort of way about him don't you?"

[Tracy White]

"Noooo...!" Tracy yelled in defeat as Skystar was sent back to ball form. The aftermath of Elico's attack wrecked havoc; some of the scattered rocks found their way on Tracy's skin, causing bruises. Tracy wasn't ready to give up yet. She picked up Skystar and made a mini-growl while making a fixed glare at Karen. "I won't reply to any of those questions because you don't deserve my answer." Tracy said.

"You see, I always knew you were up to something. I always disliked you, your appearance, your attitude and behaviour. I'm suspecting that you have an evil agenda. Not to worry, I'm sure you'll be confessing by the time I'm done with you." Tracy has never had this attitude before. She has always been a normally girl. Not that she hasn't behaved like a boy, but she has been displaying some unusual attitudes from the time of this issue between Karen and her.


"Elico!! You come out here! You're gonna be sorry for what you did!" Skystar yelled in ball form, requesting for Elico's appearance.
"Don't worry, Sky," Tracy assured, "We're gonna win this one. I promise you." Now at this point, both Tracy and Skystar had a fixed stare at their opponents, eager to fight. "Alright, Karen, your go."

[Karen Valentine]

"Um..." Karen became increasingly irritated that Tracy disrespected her in such a way just because she was with someone she enjoyed being around. She was very tempted to snap and say certain things that she actually wanted to say about her opponent. The desire to preserve her image for the current situation outweighed her desire to stoop to that level, so she decided against it even though her face displayed much of what she was thinking regarding what was just said to her. She closed her eyes for a few moments to decrease her anger towards Tracy as much as she could before she said anything else, not wanting to say anything she'll regret on a later date.

"Well, it's nice to know that Noland is the only person on your team that doesn't hate me and wouldn't falsely accuse me or call me a bitch," Karen noted in a rather monotone way. "I believe your animosity towards me stems from the fact that Noland and I hang out. Like I said, you haven't acted this way when I didn't talk to him, which leads me to believe that you like him. That isn't necessarily a bad thing to like Noland, but I think admitting it would be better than this nonsense since this is getting us nowhere. Just saying."

She pulled out a gate card and threw it to the field while saying, "Gate card, set!" She then gripped Elico to throw into battle. "Bakugan brawl! Elico stand!" Karen shouted as she launched the Bakugan onto the gate card. He stood when he made contact with the card and flexed his muscles in front of Tracy as a form of showing his power. "Come on out here so we can deal with the last 1% you have left in your gauge," Elico threatened.

[Tracy White]

"You don't scare me, Karen," Tracy fired back, "Just keep this in mind: You'll always lose." She then smirks. Preparing for the new round, Tracy held Skystar and spoke a few words to her. After that, she made a good grip of Skystar, and threw her on the field. "Bakugan brawl! Haos Skystar stand!", she yelled while throwing the bakugan on the gate card. The bakugan brawled rolled till it touched the magnetic point on the gate, and immediately, the ball opened and transformed in the Haos bakugan.

After the transformation process was complete, Skystar spun her staff which was in her hands and took a battle stance, ready for her opponent.
"So, you're trying to threaten me, Elico?", Skystar rhetorically asked, "You're so pathetic! I'm gonna teach you some manners this time!", Skystar yelled, as she dashed off towards Elico.

[Karen Valentine]

"I'm not trying to scare you at all. All I'm doing is encouraging you to admit your feelings instead of placing your frustration of losing him on me. That's all," Karen stated. Elico was taking the opposite approach to the situation after threatening his opponent prior to her being thrown into battle, and continuously taunted Skystar as she approached him with the intent on causing severe harm to him. He looked back at Karen and said, "I'm about ready to be done with this. It's on your order." Karen nodded in agreement and responded, "You can run faster than Skystar, can't you?"

Elico knew what Karen was referring to and initiated an attribute change. "Indeed. I can," Elico stated as he changed his color scheme from blue to green, shifting the ends on his multiple tails to razor-sharp talons. "In fact, let's make a game out of this, Skystar. We'll see how long it takes for these so-called 'manners' to be taught. You'll have to catch me first though." Karen then activated an ability on her BrawlX as soon as Elico's transformation was completed. "Ability activate! Mach 5!" Elico suddenly gained the ability to sprint at unprecedented speeds upon activation. He made us of this by quickly evading Skystar's push and forcefully rammed his way through her from a variety of different angles as Elico ran around the field at such a high speed, not giving her a chance to recover from the pain from one hit as he continuously battered her with shoulder-rams.

[Tracy White]

Elico just switched his attribute to Ventus and initiated fast-speed strikes at Skystar. Skystar couldn't even get a good stance to initiate a counter attack as Elico made his sprints constant, continuosly ramming into her. Jaw-dropped, Tracy couldn't believe what she was seeing. However, instead of her to quit, her anger burned and heated up.

"You'll need more than that to take me out, Karen!" Tracy exclaimed as she placed an ability on her gauntlet. "Special ability activate! Sky Infusion!!" On activation of this ability, the gate card suddenly began emitting yellow energy. This emission kept increasing, and finally overwhelming the gate card. "Haha! Now that YOUR gate is in MY control, I'll finish you off!" Skystar was still receiving the rapid impacts from her opponent when Tracy yelled, "Gate card open! Purification!" This triggered Skystar to roar so loud, that Elico's ear was disturbed, and couldn't concentrate, forcing him to stop. Her body size began to increase and become hugh. In her new huge form, she then concentrated energies on her transformed staff and when it was big enough, she directed it in form of a continuos energy stream towards Elico.

[Karen Valentine]

Elico made a quick change to the Subterra attribute once Skystar unleashed the giant energy stream that was threatening to take him out. Karen relaxed comfortably as she played another ability card on her BrawlX named Acurus, which caused Elico to spin rapidly as the debris underneath him started to revolve around him like a tornado. Suddenly, brown energy started encircling him in his entirety and was able to protect him from the effects of Skystar's attack. Karen laughed as she said this also meant she could use any attribute's power on demand as long as she wanted to; however, this still meant Elico had to transform rapidly to do this, which could be a detriment to her in the long run. The weakness in the attack was something she didn't reveal. She had Elico activate multiple abilities by rapidly changing Elico's attribute until she eventually had abilities from all six attributes active at once, which boosted Elico's power to abnormal heights that allowed him to demolish Skystar in her new form and decrease Tracy's life gauge to 0, giving Karen the win.

She reveals that she didn't need to use all of that power to win the battle, but wanted to do so just to show how much more powerful their team is compared to Noland's. She also claims that Acurus wasn't her strongest abilities, which further discouraged Tracy. Aside from her gloating, Karen advised her that she tells Noland how she feels before it is too late since waiting too long often results in regrets. Frustrated at her inability to prove herself in battle to Noland, Tracy coldly ignored her and walked away. Skystar informed her that she agreed with what Karen said and urged her to do it since they're already aware of Noland and Karen becoming closer each time they see each other. She ultimately refuses to do so, claiming that it wasn't the right time to tell him after he saw her like this.