Episode 17: The Terrorist Who Almost Stole Christmas

[Noland Hardy]

The next meet took place in November after having two months of practice time. It would have taken place in October instead of pushing the event back to November; it was postponed due to the number of terrorist attacks increasing. The good news of it being postponed was that teams would have more time to prepare for what's ahead. The bad news was that people are more likely to be harmed by the danger in addition to the season being shortened since it takes a lot of time to put these competitions together. It seems more resources were put into stopping the villains than giving everyone a fair chance in battles. If you didn't bring your A game, you might as well not compete at all. The competition was ruthless, and it only got worse as Noland and Markus's team advanced.

Markus's team excelled in the competition once again, proving that his team might be truly unstoppable with the back-to-back victories. While he was pleased that Karen was doing her job as the first brawler in line, Allen was not as pleased to see that neither him or Markus were getting any action. Markus agreed since they want to make it to nationals as well, so they were going to have to battle sooner or later. Karen reluctantly stopped hogging all of the victories and allowed them to switch the order around as they wished so everyone gets their fair share. Although this was a cocky tactic, they backed it up well; they had zero losses.

Noland's team was unfortunately not as spectacular as Markus's team was. Unlike Markus's coach, Noland's coach took the initiative to tell them that he was going to change the order they were brawling in every so often so that they can all get their stats recorded. Noland, Tank, and Tracy were okay with this and allowed him to do that, but Tank found multiple instances where this was done questionable because he was aware that Tracy was progressively starting to be acquainted with competitive battling and found it unfair who she was being matched against. She did lose a couple of battles when placed as the starting brawler, which forced Noland and Tank to clean teams up. Despite her losses, they did place well, but were ranked behind Markus's team who was ranked first at the time. Tank didn't like taking second place, but knew that there was nothing they could do to change that unless someone on Markus's team were to lose, which was very unlikely. 

As everyone started their Christmas break, the Resistors were eager to get their well-deserved break after brawling both competitively and for their lives. Noland, Tank, Tracy, Allen, and Markus sent cards and gifts to Seiki due to several losses she had to endure. She didn't know them all too well, but was very thankful that they thought about her during her time of recovery. While looking through everything they sent, Seiki discovered a letter from Noland himself. The words he included in the letter stated that he wished to offer her an invitation to fight alongside him against the Terrorists. He also wrote that he understood if she declines since she was dragged into this by a series of unfortunate events and probably wanted nothing to do with it. He gave her the holiday to ponder over this invitation and hoped that she is able to do what she desires regardless if she says yes or no.

During this time, Noland and Karen were hanging out with each other regularly. It was suspected by multiple Resistors that they liked each other, which irritated Tracy a lot every time she heard it. Their behavior around each other seemed to match with the thoughts the rest of them were having. This was later confirmed to be true when Noland deemed it the perfect time to ask Karen out and received a yes. Karen wasn't sure if Nero would have appreciated her assignment being taken this far, but she didn't seem to care at the time. She remembered telling him that she wanted to live a normal life, and that was exactly what she intended to do regardless of what diabolic plan he had.

[Noland Hardy]

A week prior to Christmas Day, Noland was soaring through the sky on Drago's back. He was comfortable in his jacket, but he hardly needed it as Drago's Pyrus energy provided all of the warmth he could ever need. He had a sheet of paper in his hand that detailed all of the places that he needed to go to drop off certain items he had in his possession. There were a lot of things that Noland had to carry, so he couldn't do what he needed to do by himself in a timely manner. The Bakugan was carrying boxes full of items that Noland couldn't haul by himself. They approached their first stop at an orphanage. Noland dismounted the Dragonoid and carried a box inside the building. Drago waited five minutes for Noland to come back outside and mount him again for departure. He didn't feel like staying quiet for something he was doing that he didn't know the purpose for, so he began to ask questions as he got himself back into the air.

"This is a lot of stuff," Drago started as if he was tired of being a hauling truck. "What's in here anyway?"

Noland replied, "They're donation items that I've collected on my spare time and through campaigns started at school. Each of these boxes are filled with things such as clothes, blankets, food, money, and anything that the less fortunate require that is either scarce or unavailable. We're helping to save and rebuild lives basically."

"So there is good in you inside that dark personality of yours," Drago noticed. "I still think this is a hefty load for just the two of us to transport at this pace. It almost seems like you've been collecting this stuff for a while even when dealing with school, competitions, and terrorism. You've been overworking yourself, haven't you?"

"I wouldn't call it overworking, but being too concerned," Noland responded. "I'm mainly targeting the locations where I know people have suffered from these continuous acts of terrorism. I don't want them believing that hope for a brighter future is dead like I did. After losing my mom shortly after Kendrick was born to my dad being taken away right in front of me due to these things, I feel like I have to fill the big shoes that he filled and deal with the problem. It doesn't just involve what the terrorists do, but it also involves the effect it has on other people. While I'm still able to move, I can at least do what I can to help those people in the same way they helped Kendrick, my grandmother, and I make it through these dark times. One could never truly understand how important it is to help the less fortunate until something like that has happened to you." 

"That is one of the things that I despise about some humans," Drago admitted. "Some are too selfish to pick others up when they're down. Many forget there is a difference between not being able to and choosing not to. Some are too greedy to even consider it."

Noland nodded in agreement to the Bakugan before saying, "I wouldn't be so judgmental on certain individuals since there are some in existence who abuse the kindness of people. Some are fakers for example and just act like they're in trouble just to make a quick buck off of someone. I'm careful with who I donate to though. I'm confident they will appreciate what we're doing."

Noland looked down as he pulled out a package that is addressed to Seiki and thought about everything that was placed into it. "Some of the ones we know have either suffered just as bad as I have or maybe even worse. Tank was abused by his father and saw his friend get killed. Allen lost someone too since Alana was a close friend to both of us, and I would be surprised if his relatives weren't concerned about him since I know mine were. But most of all, Seiki lost A LOT from that attack, which is why I wanted to drop this one off at the post office before it closes. I don't know her all that well; in fact, neither of us do. Somehow, I got everyone to pitch in to make a gift for her. I don't know if she'll like it, but it's better to know that she is being thought about than to simply do nothing at all."

The duo ran their errands and flew back to their house to find out that grandma was making her list of who to send invites to. Noland noticed her as soon as he walked into the house and started being nosy. He took a good look at who was on that list to make sure that anyone coming inside that house were people that he would have no objections to. He looked for a good reason. The moment he skimmed over Alana's parents, he became very protective of himself and everyone else. "Ummm, how about no?" Noland said as he pointed to their names.

"Excuse me?" Grandma said in shock that a child was attempting to tell her what to do.

"You can't bring them in here. They're toxic!" Noland exclaimed. "Those two have been on drugs ever since Alana disappeared. You remember that they reeked of marijuana when they came over for Easter, or when they brought a load of alcoholic beverages around the kids when you specifically told everyone that alcohol was not allowed, and they were wasted in the process." Noland's paranoia got the best of him as he started looking all over the house in search of drugs in case any was being hidden right under their nose. "What if they are hiding drugs in here? We'd be getting hauled off to prison right with them if someone snitched and thought we were involved in some conspiracy."

"Oh, you're overreacting. They won't be doing anything like that," Grandma said. 

"I did see them put something under the cushion one time. Just saying," Drago noted.

"Oh hush it, Drago!" Grandma shouted. "I know they're in bad shape right now and it would probably be best if we exclude them, but this is one of the only times we get to see them. They obviously can't do it alone, so we're going to help them. They will be present at Christmas time and that's the end of it. Now go upstairs and get ready for dinner."

Noland gave up and went upstairs in his room after failing to convince his grandmother to prevent them from coming. Since it was still fresh in his memory, he gazed at his dresser where he housed a picture of Alana being with him. It was the best picture he ever had of her being alongside him. Although he was already going out with Karen at the time, he couldn't help but fantasize how much better things would have been if she was still here and the terrorist attacks never happened. "I really miss her," Noland said to himself. "I cry every Christmas knowing that she isn't here. I'm not sure Karen's company can even bring my mind off of this, but I have to move on. Alana wouldn't want me moping over her like this." Noland shed a tear as he said, "I just can't help but always have the Christmas wish that she would come back."

[Karen Valentine]

Karen was also invited by Noland to come over for Christmas, and she happily accepted his offer. Before she could attempt to leave, Nero told her that he was going to visit his family in Pennsylvania for Christmas and gave her the option to either go with him or continue gathering information on the Resistors. She chose the latter option knowing that she was more than likely not to do that and left for Noland's without Nero being aware of anything she had done so far. He acknowledged her decision and advised her to get some rest along the way and said that he loved her. Karen did not respond to the comment and left as soon as possible.

She arrived at Noland's house on Christmas afternoon. Upon entering the residence, she noticed that the behavior of a certain man in the kitchen hinted towards him being high. She ignored what she saw as best as she could and allowed Noland's grandmother to welcome her with open arms. Before she could respond, a few of Noland's male cousins began making comments saying that Noland scored big time, which was flattering for her while being irritating at the same time. She found Noland playing video games on their Xbox 360 with his little brother Kendrick in their basement. Upon seeing her, Kendrick commented on how pretty she was. Karen thanked him for his compliment while also apologizing if she was interrupting anything they were doing.

A few minutes later, the boys around Kendrick's age decided to play outside, which led Kendrick to join them. This left Noland and Karen in the room by themselves. She immediately asked Noland about the man she saw when she entered the house. Noland responded that he was Alana's father who became addicted to drugs following what happened years ago and briefly explained who Alana was. Karen was saddened despite the fact she already knew who Alana was and revealed that they weren't so different from her own parents. She said she was taken out of her home because her parents neglected her while showing similar behavior patterns, and was taken in by someone. When asked about who that was, Karen told Noland that the person who is taking care of her now is named Andrew, who is the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, or CIA for short.

Not wanting to stay on that topic for long, Karen gave Noland his gift. Noland unwrapped it and found a red watch, which was confirmed to be a BrawlX. Noland was utterly shocked as he looked at it and wasn't sure about what to say to Karen. She wasn't asked about how she got the BrawlX, but she revealed by speaking to herself that she stole it from Nero's lab shortly before departing from there. Noland then gave Karen her gift while stating that it wasn't as pricey as the gift she gave him assuming she bought it, but hoped she enjoyed it nonetheless. It was a necklace that had a heart attached to the bottom that was a symbol of their feelings towards one another. The gift made her happy, but she was also saddened at the same time since she knew that she would probably hurt him if he knew what she was doing behind the scenes.

[Tank Stryker]

Tank was out walking alone on Christmas Eve as the light left the sky. The last few streaks of gold and red disappeared after about five minutes of the sun's last fiery corner descending over the horizon. Tank was wearing his Letterman jacket, a pair of whitewash jeans, and a button down white shirt. He was supposed to go to Katherine's Christmas party, but decided to take a detour on the way to clear his head a bit. This was the first Christmas without John, and Tank had no idea if he could even bring himself to go to the party because of that.

He walked down the street he used to live on before his father disappeared. He had resented his father because of his disappearance and his drunken beating of Tank, but he knew that his father loved him very much from the hefty sums left in a trust fund with his name on it. His mother and him moved a block away to a much smaller house next door to Steve and his family, which allowed him to become friends with Steve. John, however, had lived across the street from Tank's old house, next to the old park where they would both play together when they were younger.

Tank stopped in front of his old house. He had passed it and explained to Gladion what it was, but had never really stopped to take a look at it in the two years he had been gone. It was a solemn sight; the same for sale sign was in the front yard because no one who was able to afford it had come along. Everything had been moved out into the new house, sold, or put into storage, so the inside was barren. Tank grabbed the trident pendant he had received from his father and grasped it for a second before walking up to the front door. He lifted up the doormat and saw the spare key under it. Tank was almost tempted to pick it up and go inside, but he decided not to, and dropped the mat back on top.

Turning around, Tank saw John's house. The lights were off and the cars were gone, but Tank couldn't help but feel like someone was still there. Tears welled up into Tank's eyes as he left his old doorstep and turned back towards where he was going. Tank wiped his eyes dry, trying to make sense of it all. He was just so... angry. Angry that around the country, kids his age were sitting around an open fire with their friends, family, bakugan, and significant others without a care in the world. No tragedy, no death, nothing. They were having a normal Christmas, and, besides the return of his dead friend, that's what Tank wanted most.

Tank stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets as he continued along the sidewalk, his head hanging low. He had to weave his way through a couple drunk party goers, some his age, some adults. Tank finally arrived at his destination: the old park where he, John, and Steve used to play when they were little. Sitting down on a swing, Tank began to remember the first time he met John. They were no more than five years old, barely old enough to grasp the concept of friendship, but they were inseparable. Until Tank moved away, the duo would always walk to the park and talk about everything going on in their lives, even if it had only been a day since they last did that. Just thinking about that made Tank's eyes tear up again and tightened his grasp on the swing's chains. Gladion popped out of the pocket he was in and landed on Tank's shoulder.

"It's not your fault, you know?" Gladion consoled, "The only people to blame are the terrorists."

"I know, Gladion," Tank replied, "I know. I just... I just want to have a normal Christmas. No death, no destruction, nothing like that. Just... Just peace and quiet with my girlfriend and family."

"Then come to the party," a voice from behind Tank sounded. Tank turned around to see no one other than Katherine, his girlfriend.

"Katherine," Tank said, surprised.

"I thought I might find you here," Katherine said, "This is where we first met. Back when I first moved to DC from Pittsburgh. I met you and John right over there, on the jungle gym." Katherine pointed to the run-down, old jungle gym at the edge of the playground. "It hasn't aged as well as we have."

"I totally forgot," Tank said, chuckling, "I thought girls were icky back then and had cooties."

"And I had a massive crush on John when we first met," Katherine revealed with a chuckle, "Good thing I lost interest in him, or maybe we wouldn't be together."

Katherine sat in the swing next to him, her golden blonde hair falling just below her shoulder blades, straightened out from its usually wavy appearance. Her blue eyes sparkled in the moonlight as she looked at Tank. She was wearing her favorite fake fur jacket, a pair of skinny jeans, and black boots. Tank could smell a bit of nice perfume coming off of her, too. A nice added bonus to her already stunning looks.

"Yeah," Tank said, laughing, "I guess I owe John that one since he thought girls were the ickiest things ever back then."

"Yeah," Katherine chuckled, "Come to the party, Tank. Everyone's waiting for you. You're pretty much the guest of honor."

Katherine got up and extended her hand to Tank, "John would want you to go."

Tank took her hand and stood up, being sure not to pull on her as he did. After he was fully up, he pulled Katherine in close, pressing her body up against his lightly. She was 5 foot 6, more than half a foot shorter than Tank, but while she was pressed up against him, she would stand on his feet to gain some extra height. Tank put his hand around her waist, his hand in the small of her back, and gently kissed her, moving his hand up her back as he did. The kiss only lasted for about thirty seconds, but it felt like an eternity of bliss for Tank; the only good thing that had happened on Christmas so far. After the kiss, the couple embraced as they walked out of the park towards Katherine's house for the party holding hands.

When they arrived at the party, Tank walked up and thanked Katherine's parents for hosting and went around talking to people. About halfway through, John's father, John Sr., raised his glass and hit it with his fork.

"I'd like to propose a toast," he began, "To Tank. You fought for my son, and you continue to fight for him without any hesitation." John Sr. began to cry a bit, "And just by that we know that you were his best friend. You are going to go very far in life, and we know that you will carry on John's character. We all support you, Tank. Here's to you."

The crowd clapped and cheered for Tank as his mother's eyes welled up. Tank couldn't help but shed a couple tears from the speech. He felt a tap on his middle back, turned around and looked down to see Steve in his Letterman jacket with all the patches from their past battles together staring at him from his wheelchair with a big grin on his face. Tank reached into his pocket and returned Steve's bakugan to him with a "Merry Christmas." Steve then raised his glass and tapped it.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the party," Steve began in his usual grandiose, joking style, "I would like to turn your attention once again to Tank, as Katherine, the Whitmarshes, and I have something to give to him. Katherine, if you would?"

Katherine walked behind Tank and gave him a wrapped object. Tank began to object to the present, but Katherine, Steve, and the Whitmarshes all insisted he take it. Opening the package, Tank was curious to as what the gift was, but quit wondering immediately after looking into the half opened wrapping paper. Discarding the wrapping, Tank held up John's Letterman jacket, everything stitched up and replaced.

"When Mr. Whitmarsh said we knew you would continue to fight for John," Steve continued, "We decided John should be with you on the battlefield, so we had this repaired and resized."

"Please wear this when you brawl, Tank," Lana Whitmarsh, John's mother, pleaded, "We know John would want you to."

"I... I have no words," Tank said, his voice cracking as he shed his jacket and put on John's, "All I can really say is thank you, and that I will continue to fight for John. For all of you. Nothing will stop me!"

The crowd of people began to applaud again, more cheering than before. Tank had never felt so appreciated in his life. He felt like he could take on the world. Katherine gave him a long hug during which Tank looked up and swore that he saw John Whitmarsh in the backyard, staring in at him smiling. John gave Tank a nod and disappeared in a sparkle of white light.

[Allen Silva]

Allen's family, not surprisingly, had recieved the invitation and answered with a yes. They had gotten too paranoid with all of the terrorist attacks happening. Despite that, they saw this as a chance for Allen to at least try to live a normal life. He was luck he could get this, because with each attack, His parents were getting more and more restricted on his movements. It got so bad that he was unable to go to the gym for his usual workouts.

Before arriving at the party though, Allen was told to stay with the adults, and not to wonder off. This anoyed Allen because he felt that he needed to discuss a new gameplan with Noland, one that would hopefully put the resistors in the drivers seat. He shook those thoughts from his head. its the holidays, no need to have these lingering problems ruin it.

Once at the party, he saw plenty of familiar faces. One of such faces was that of Karen, who had been getting closer to Noland with each passing day. As was tge pattern thesr days, she was talking to Noland.Allen managed a chuckle, then left the two to themselves. No need to be the third wheel. He found a spot by Alana's parents. It shocked him that they would come, what with thier daughter bieng gone still. He found Kendrick playing video games with his own friends.

" so Gorem, doesn't everything seem almost rehearsed here?" Allen asked, using his only free time to asses the situation.

" it does. And so it will. No body can have real happiness with Daniel and Nero running around breaking things." Gorem answered." We should at least give it a try as well. This is a party, no body wants to hear our naysaying."

Allen caved in to his partners logic, returning to the cackle of people present. The gift exchange came and went as it normally does. Each person giving the other some sort of a present, with the thoughts aimed to the recipient. Allen gave Noland a hat bearing the Pyrus symbol. It all went like that, until Karens gift to Noland was revealed to be a brawl-x." Show off." Allen responded.

[Seiki Maki]

"Seiki-chaaan!" Ahio chirps, flying to the ventus brawler who was lying down, curled up on the floor staring at the fire, as if in a trance of some sort. The three-legged bird was in her monster form, but smaller so she was about the size of a mid-sized parrot chirps with excitement, "It's Christmas!"

Seiki continued gazing at the dancing fire with emotionless eyes. "Yeah... I know..." She mumbles, her amber eyes not once leaving the site of the flames. Her parents were on business trips now, so they weren't seen too much at all by their daughter. They were aware of the incident that happened to the recording studio and sent her their gifts, seeing how they weren't going to be able to get back with their tight schedules and all, with unavoidable events. So at this point she would be at her recording studio, her second family. But now they're gone...

The bakugan looks at Seiki for a moment, wondering what she was deeply thinking over. "You are still grieving over them. Aren't you?" The bird got no response, except for a single tear rolling down Seiki's cheek. Ahio sighs, knowing that her brawler was in depression… again. "Come on, you need to get your mind off that for a bit, it's not good for your health." A few seconds later, the doorbell rang, and Seiki made no effort to go and get it.

"Oh goodie..." Ahio lands on the carpet over the wooden flooring and returns to her usual size, somewhere around the size of a very big dog. She swiftly makes her way to the door and opens it with her front leg of the three she has, welcoming the cool air of winter.

"Hello there. I'm looking for Seiki Maki." The person at the door says. Correction, two people, well more like kids... And they looked like twins, the boy talking to her. Very familiar looking twins, though Ahio had never seen them before.

"Yeah, that would be her over there…” Ahio says to the twins, stepping to the side so they could see her depressed state by the fireplace, the only source of light in the household at the moment.

The girl with the bow tied to her headphones rushes in and hugs the depressed girl, “Seiki-chan!” She cries as her brother follows her, holding a few boxes which he placed by Seiki. “We heard what happened and came by as fast as possible!” The girl says, placing Seiki in a sitting position with her legs crossed, rather than idly lying down on the floor.

“If I may ask… Who are you guys?” Ahio asks with her head titled to the side slightly.

The boy coughed a bit and looked over to the bird, “Sorry for our rudeness, it’s just that with all that’s going on right now we kinda forgot… I’m Kagami Taigai and that is my twin sister Ka-“

“Kagami Nira at your service,” Nira chirps, dipping her head to substitute for the bow she would usually do, but right now she was kneeling down and comforting Seiki, her arm wrapped around the ventus brawler.

“Anyways, we came by to… How should I put this?” Taigai explains, murmuring the question asked at the end to himself as her narrows her blue eyes in thought.

Nira hops in on his thinking, “House-buddies!”

Taigai held his finger up, along with his facial expression lighting up, “Yeah, you could call it house-buddies. We are being house-buddies with our cousin. And you must be the Ahio Seiki talks about often. You sound pretty cool, and cooler in flesh and feathers” He says, ruffling the feather on Ahio’s head.

“Aha, thanks,” Ahio chirps with embarrassment, then her gaze is drawn to the nicely packed boxes. “What’s in there?”

Seiki dully looks over at the boxes as Taigai explains why he brought the stuff, “The post office is down due to some… Issues, and while I was there picking up some stuff our parents had mailed us, I overheard the mail people talking about out this is urgent package. Apparently they couldn’t do it because they were rushing back to their families for the Christmas holidays.”

“And being the good person he is he took on the job on delivering it, just so happens to be you, who we were coming to visit.” Nira says, finishing off what her twin was going to say.

Taigai chuckles at Nira’s antics, “Heh. Yeah, anyways Seiki, these were addressed to you. I think you should open it, it seems to contain some stuff that both Nira and I are eager to see.”

“Who is it from? Does it say?” Seiki croaks due to not using her voice for a while as she scoots over to the box and skims the address information. Her amber eyes shot up in shock at what she read. “W-what?”

“Hm? What is it?” The Kagamine twins say in unison, peeking over Seiki’s shoulder.

“It’s Noland and his buddies…” Ahio made her way over as well. “My question is, how did they get my address?”

Nira giggled a bit at a few thoughts she had, “Don’t tell me you grew up faster than us while we were away Seiki-chan,” She says in a teasing tone.

“W-what!? Don’t get the wrong idea Nira! I barely know him!” Seiki squeaks, gently pushing her to the side.

Taigai softly smiles at how Seiki wasn’t sad anymore along with Ahio, who gave a chortle. “Oh that’s what they all say,” Nira scoffs playfully.

“Urusai! Besides, he already has a girlfriend Nira!” Seiki says, recalling something about that topic, which he didn’t pay attention to because she wasn’t the type to be talking, or listening to that kind of stuff.

“Oh fine, I’ll let you off the hook for now.” Nira says as she pats her back, “Now open up those boxes and see what’s inside.”

“I’ll be getting some dinner ready,” Taigai says as he walks down the wooden flooring hallway towards the kitchen.

“It better now be just fruits this time!” Seiki jokes, referring to the last time they came and he made a big fruit bowl for dinner.

A “yeah” was year before the sound of dishes echoed throughout the house, something that the girls knew that he was getting ready for supper. “Just tell me what you find in there later, okay?”

“She will!” Nira chirps as she turns her attention back to Seiki, who had opened the first box.

Ahio had shifted back to her mini bird form and was perched on top of Seiki’s head, “A gift inside a box… How creative…” The bird chirps as Seiki takes out the present. The wrapping paper was of a dark range of colors, and said it was from the darkus brawler Markus.

Nira was watching curiously as Seiki took off the bow and peeled of the tape, for she didn’t like ripping open presents too much. “It’s a charm of some sort…” She says, pulling out the string that held a small stone charm.

“It looks like a charm in the shape of a gargoyle! Maybe it’s to ward of anything unwanted, like bad spirits and such,” Nira says, recalling her history class on some subject that mentioned gargoyles being protectors of the castle, or something like that…

She then takes the one that was addressed from Allen, and carefully opens that as well. “Cool! A new pair of headphones! And they’re Bluetooth!” Seiki cheers, holding up the pair of headphones. “Now I don’t have to worry about a certain someone tripping over the headphone wire and breaking them” She says, looking at Ahio who was whistling away the statement of her being the one wreaking her headphones all the time.

“This one is from the aquos kid…” Seiki says, referring to Tank with the nickname she gave him when he and Markus were simply wasting time at the meeting with their brawling. Like the others she carefully undid the wrapping to find a book on Roman and Greek gods, and a small note from him saying how the Roman and Greek gods lifted his spirits when he fell into depression from an accident he had a while back.

Ahio hums in delight as the book, “I was always interested in mythology of any sort, and I know you do to Seiki, don’t try to hide it from me.” She then opens the book to find the god of the underworld and his three headed dog. “I wonder how someone can go around the place with three heads and one body?”

“Must be kinda painful now that you mention it…” Nira says as she stroke her imaginary beard. “Having three minds argue over what to do with one body… Or they are all listen to Hades so there’s no problem? I don’t know too much about mythology.”

The parrot-sized bird shrugs and flies over to the light colored present, pushing it with lots of effort towards Seiki, fighting against the friction of the fluffy carpet laid upon the wooden floor of the simple living room. The ravenette takes the box from Ahio when it was within arm-reach and opens it like the ones before. “So so? What is it?” Nira asks eagerly, scooting closer to Seiki.

The said girl notes it’s from Tracy from the sticker tag placed on the wrapper as she takes the item out, a nice looking sketchbook and a few drawing utensils. “A drawing set.”

Nira scoffs, “Nawwh, you don’t draw Seiki!”

“Actually, I do…” Seiki mumbles, which was somewhat heard by her dear cousin.

“Waah? You do? But I thought you didn’t…” Nira exclaims, recalling a time where Seiki threw a tantrum saying that she shouldn’t draw again because her drawing looked like nothing more than a blob of… something.

Ahio flies up onto Nira’s head, “She must have pushed that aside and dug her own path when she grew up a bit more, she says she find drawing comforting.”

“So this makes this a good gift, for calming myself down whenever something stirs again that rouses my anger,” Seiki says, placing the gift in the gifts and the wrapping paper neatly folded with the rest of the wrapping papers.

“Oh, this one is from your parents, I have a feeling it’s something good,” Nira says as she hands her cousin the rainbow colored present.

Seiki shakes the box a bit to try to figure out what was in there before carefully undoing the wrapping. What was behind the paper had surprised everyone in the room. “YESSS!” Seiki cheers, hopping up and holding the box in the air, causing some clattering in the kitchen and the thumping of running towards the living room.

“What? What is it,” Taigai asks, looking what Seiki was holding in the living room air for all to see. “Oh no…”

“Yup! Project Diva! And the best thing is that you two are in there,” Seiki says with an evil grin, whipping out her PSP and inserting the game in there.

Taigai sighs as Ahio flies off Nira’s head, “That’s the exact reason why I dislike it, it’s strange playing yourself in a game…”

“Well brother, I on the other hand have to object. When it’s a fixed character game, I’m glad it looks like someone I imagine, so it make stuff easier,” Nira chirps as her brother shakes his head.

“Well I’ll just leave you guys to do that… I’ll be finishing up dinner. And no it is not a bowl of fruit,” he says before making his leave and heading back to the kitchen to finish preparing the dish thaty wasn’t a fruit bowl.

“Now now Seiki, you have one more gift before you go off playing Project Diva,” Ahio says, now perched on the gift in red. “This one is from Noland, I wonder what he could have in store…”

Seiki looks over at her bakugan and powers off her PSP, placing it on the floor where the gifts are before walking towards the gift she was sitting on. When close enough, Ahio jumps onto Seiki’s head as she picks up the gift.

Nira from the side was watching with curious blue eyes as Seiki carefully undid the wrapping to find a picture of a very familiar place. “The studio…” her murmurs, holding the picture.

After taking out the gift from Noland and examining it with a strange feeling of deja-vu washing over her, she looks back in the gift to see a letter addressed to her. “Hm? Something else in here too…” She takes out the letter and opens it carefully like the presents.

“Huh? A letter? What does it say?” Nira asks, now sitting on the couch and looking at Seiki with her head slightly tilted.

Seiki’s eyes narrowed as she read the letter and processed what he was saying without too much trouble. “He’s offering me a place to fight alongside him against the terrorists,” she says, summarizing it all up in a single statement.

Nira’s blue eyes closed in thought, “Terrorists huh? Aren’t they the ones who…” She opens one eye to see Seiki nodding slowly. “Heh, I know what I would choose if I were in your shoes, but it’s up to you to join or not. I know you are thirsting for revenge, but you should try to find the actual reason for why you fight them. If you really where thirsty for revenge, you should have joined the terrorists already and slowly stalking the one terrorist down till you see him in a weak state. That’s how you are ya know.” She then opens her eyes back up and gets up from the couch. “I’m going to see if Taigai is really speaking the truth with a fruit bowl-less supper. It shouldn’t take you too long to take care of everything here, knowing how neat and organized you are. I’ll see ya in the kitchen where all three-“

“Four,” Ahio chirps with annoyance, her feather slightly ruffled up, seeing how she was being neglected on Seiki’s head.

“Sorry, where all four of us will enjoy some dinner.” Nira says as she walks out of the room, leaving Seiki to her thoughts and Ahio to start piling all the wrapping papers together to throw out later.

“Join his little group on fighting the terrorists, huh?” She murmurs to herself as she picks up the gifts that she had recently got, and placing them in the spots she knew that would be suitable for them around the living room and in her bedroom upstairs. She places the letter on her table cluttered with drawings of bird of all sorts and looks at it for a moment. “Maybe…”

And she heads back downstairs with her room door left ajar, ready to enjoy a nice dinner with her cousins.

.

.

.

"TAIGAI! THIS IS A FRUIT BOWL!"

[Tracy White]

Christmas is a special day for everyone including Tracy. But before every Christmas, there's an Eve. On every Christmas Eve, Tracy and her parents go to the stores and supermarkets to get what they need to celebrate the day after. During this period, Tracy gets to select the clothes she like, shoes, jewelries, and other accessories. It is really an expensive day. Often times, her parents regret buying unnecessary items chosen by her, but on the other hand, Tracy loves placing orders on her parents because she's their only child and whatever she likes, they buy. However, there is someone that is usually forgotten. Skystar. Sky is always left alone on Christmas eves. The statement that's always made by Tracy is, "I'll be back, Sky! Won't stay long!"

Nothing much happened yesterday but today, Christmas, is gonna be explosive for Tracy and Sky. It was a beautiful morning as Tracy woke up and got off her bed. She went to shower and brush her teeth in her bathroom and came out, ready to begin the day. Just before she opened the door, she remembered Sky. Then she went to Sky who was sleeping and yelled, "Good morning, sleepy head! It's the day!" The Haos bakugan in ball form sprang open immediately as a result of the loudness of Tracy's yell. "You shouldn't wake me up like that you know," Skystar retorted, "I could die of heart attack." she continued. Looking back at Skystar, Tracy replied, "As if. Enough of that. Let's get ready!" excited. Without talking further, they both went out of the room to the dining, getting ready to eat their breakfast prepared by Tracy's mum. Finally, breakfast was served. They all feasted, except Skystar; Bakugans in their marble don't eat. At the end of breakfast, Tracy didn't wait for any other thing before she dashed out of the house carry a black backpack. And of course, she was accompanied by her Guardian Bakugan. They both hummed their favorite tunes as they walked through the streets. It took a while after which she got a cab and headed to her planned destinations. She went to the houses of her friends and dropped gifts that she deemed fit to them. It was getting past the time she was to return to her house when she remembered some people that haven't received a gift from her, with the most important person in her life that haven't received a gift from her too. That someone was Noland. She didn't know the homes of others so he headed straight down to Noland's house. It didn't take long before she arrived. It was a great occasion. Kids came in and out of his house with excitement. She took a step into the house and gazed round before taking another step. She felt a bit nervous about the fact that she wanted to ask Noland for something and she wanted to give him a "Surprise Gift". She found Allen who was around for where Noland was and he replied with the answer. Before going further, she gave Allen his gift: a brown hooded sleeved shirt.

"Alright, Sky. I have to do this." Tracy said to Skystar. Skystar replied saying, "It's nothing to be scared of, partner. Just go, give him, and out we go!" Taking a deep breath, Tracy went to where Noland was. To her surprise, she found Noland and Karen together again. Tears rolled down her eyes as she witnessed what was going on. She had no option but to run back home with tears after Noland noticed her. She locked herself up with Skystar in her room not wanting to talk to anyone. Skystar didn't want to interfere at this moment so kept quiet. Probably the worst Christmas for her. She has done all she could to be with Noland and this is what she got.

[Nero Bullock]

Prior to Nero's trip to Pennsylvania to spend Christmas with relatives, Nero stopped by a local Walmart to gear up on supplies and a few gifts. He pushed a shopping cart all over the store as he gathered food and other necessities. Once he had enough food, he visited the electronics section to buy a Playstation 3 for one of his nephews. It wasn't a problem for him considering how wealthy he was running an underground business, which could easily be described as an organization of terrorists if a full analysis was done on it. He bought the console and visited the toy section afterwards to pick up gifts for his younger family members. While in the process of browsing the store's inventory, he became aware of a noisy little girl's voice in the adjacent aisle. Wondering why there was so much noise being made, Nero walked over there to find a little boy and girl pulling an older boy along.

"Interesting how someone so young yells just as much as Karen does," Nero noted in his mind. He observed the older gentlemen that accompanied her and came to the realization that he knew who the boy was based on the information that Karen provided to him. "That young man looks familiar. He resembles the child who was obsessed with gargoyles, which is actually quite strange." He pulled up a picture on his phone and compared what he saw on the photo to who was standing in front of him. "Yeah. That's Markus Hederick, an ally to the Master Blaze. It's quite unfortunate that he finds himself in my path. I wonder what that girl's affiliation to him is."

The young lady was pointing to the various Bakugan on display in that particular section. Nero was rather disgusted by this and said to himself, "I wish these idiots would stop putting these things on the shelves. All they're doing is selling super weapons. I'm surprised that even the Bakugan have nothing to say about being enslaved by mankind. He couldn't be stupid enough to purchase such a creature for this girl who is not old enough to wield that kind of power." His view of the Resistor changed once he picked up a Darkus Bakugan contained in a box as soon as the boy's apparent mother or guardian took the little girl away from him and left him alone. As Markus walked away with the Bakugan, Nero facepalmed and said to himself, "Stupidity at its finest. We'll be changing that gift pretty soon. I have a better idea. This one will be the killer."

Nero kept an eye on the Resistor while he made his final purchases. He made sure he made it back to his Honda Pilot first to store his items in there. Once he finished, he pulled out a Darkus Bakugan from his pocket and placed him on the dashboard while giving specific details about his plan. "I'm going to park this in an isolated location to cover my escape. Your abilities will be key to my movement around the parking lot. I also want you to transport me back in this vehicle once I'm finished with what I'm doing," Nero instructed. He revealed a command inputted on his BrawlX to the Bakugan in order to inform it on what was going on. "The app I'm about to use is illegal for a civilian to carry, but some acquire it regardless to use it for other things. All I have to do is take any material that contains the DNA of the select person and I can transform into that person as long as I please; however, this does waste significant battery power, so it can't be maintained for longer than one week without a recharge, which is perfectly reasonable considering that a BrawlX can last for about three weeks on average. I have hair samples from all three of our missing links, but we'll just use the one that seems to attract the most attention." Using the hair sample, Nero instantly transformed into the Terrorist leader, Daniel Andersen. In his voice, he declared, "This young lady will receive the Christmas miracle she's been asking for. It'll be the one that is irreplaceable. She'll never ask for anything else ever again."

"Daniel" made his way back into Walmart's parking lot to find where Markus was heading to. By luck, the young man was exiting the store and walking straight back to the car to leave. "Daniel" watched them from a rooftop and waited until they attempted to cross the street into the lot. He threw a flash-bang to blind everyone in the area including Markus. In the midst of their inability to see, "Daniel" was transported to the ground by his Bakugan and used it's abilities to tamper with the contents of the box Markus was carrying. He switched the Bakugan ball with a different ball that had the same size and color. "Daniel" purposely stayed until the blinding effects had worn off so everyone could see his face to know that he was the one responsible. He was instantly transported back to his vehicle just as he had instructed and transformed back into Nero as he began to drive off. "Merry Christmas, Resistors," Nero said. "And have a toxic New Year."

[Markus Hederick]

"C'mon, partner! We gotta finish this on time so that we can prepare properly for tomorrow!" Markus yelled, hurrying Gargulion who was engaged in a battle with two street punks. "Ability card activate! Gargoyle's Breath!" The gargoyle-like bakugan then charged up gray fire blasts continuously at his opponents' bakugans which completely eliminated them, turning them all into their ball forms. "Good one!" Markus commended, after which he picked up Gargulion who was in ball form, and exited the warehouse where the battle took place. He headed to his house where he lived. It was very late by the time he arrived home, and as a normal thing for parents to do, Markus' parents questioned his late arrival. "Ummm, I was followed by robbers who were after the money I was carrying, so I had to misguide them." Markus explained. But deep within him, he knew he told a lie. The expression on his face could show that he wasn't telling the truth, so he quickly sprinted to his room before his parents noticed.

Already bed time, Markus went to his parents room and bid them good night. Then he went back into his room and began a conversion with Gargulion. "Thank goodness!" Markus exclaimed while laying on his bed and placing his heads on his hands. "I was almost caught lying. At least I enjoyed the night beating up those guys." Gargulion jumped in his ball form on Markus' belly and replied, "Those bakugans I faced weren't that tough. They didn't bring a challenge." Now with an annoyed tone, "I was enjoying myself by messing with them and you abruptly ended the match. Next time you do that, I'll not obey you." Markus then sat up and placed the bakugan on his palm while cuddling it. "Sorry, man, I just couldn't stay longer over there 'cause my parents will be dead mad at me for coming late. Look at what happened few minutes back." Markus said, "I gotta sleep now. Goodnight." They both greeted each other and slept.

It was already morning as Markus was already set for the day. To be exact, it was Christmas. Markus decided to get a few things from a local store to be used in the celebration. He was about to leave when he was informed by his mother that she would accompany him. Markus, his mum, and his kid sister who cried and insisted on following all went to the store. They took their truck along. Within an hour time, they arrived. Markus' mum went to a section while Markus and his kid sister went to another. Markus had already selected a few things and put them in his shopping cart when his sister spotted a show glass that contained a variety of bakugans in their ball forms. His sister requested for a Darkus one and yelled and cried until she got it. Just then, his mum came by and took his sister away with her. His mum instructed him to go home alone, and that she and his sister will go home later. He obeyed and finished shopping. He then went to pay for them and after, he headed towards the truck.

Before Markus could get to the vehicle, a bright light flashed. It was sustained for as few minutes after which it disappeared. Thinking it was something that had to do with the climate, Markus just went to his truck, entered, ignited it, and off he went. At home, he brought out the items he purchased earlier, and assembled them. Then he went out with Gargulion to confront a guy. His challenged was accepted and so, the battle commenced. Shortly after Markus left, his mum and sister arrived. Without waiting for anything else, his sister went to where the items were assembled and took the bakugan ball which was purchased. As she opened it, a foul smell came out. It was very toxic that the little girl began coughing. He coughed repeatedly until she fainted and fell down, unconscious. Markus' mother rushed to where the girl was, calling out her name but received no response. She didn't have any option than to rush the girl to the nearest hospital. The girl was immediately attended to but was still unconscious. Soon enough, Markus and his father were called and informed about the situation. They both left what they were engaged in and hurried to the hospital. With tears, this family watched their daughter and sister suffer on a day meant to be joyful.

[Noland Hardy]