Episode 21: Return with a Vengeance

[Noland Hardy]

Upon describing what just happened to him with very little detail, Noland was embraced by the sobbing Alana after nearly succumbing to his injuries. Alana allowed him to get up and asked what he was going to do now. Noland told her he was going after Nero to save Kendrick before it was too late. Although he was in a rush to do that, Noland did not know where he was going to find him nor did he feel confident to do so in his weakened state. Since he was aware of the Resistor's presence due to the image Alana showed him earlier, Noland woke up briefly in the real world to eliminate the fears of his friends, his grandmother, who just walked in the room, and Karen. The Resistors gladly celebrated his return, especially Tank and Tracy, who were eager to get their teammate back to begin preparing for the championship. The only person he was surprised to see was Seiki since he doesn't usually see her aside from the battles they've participated in against Daniel. He welcomed her the same way he did everyone else. They all questioned him on what happened, and Noland replied with a long, descriptive story of everything he saw and heard; however, he purposely withheld the information of Nero's true identity and Karen's affiliation with him to avoid conflict being started in the room.

His grandmother asked him what he planned to do about Kendrick's abduction, which caused him to openly tell them that he was going to hunt him down and take Kendrick back by force. Tank and Markus strongly advised him to reconsider doing that, which was the first thing they've ever agreed with each other on. They stated that none of them knew where Nero was located, which makes him even more dangerous than he already is considering he was strong enough to cause this to happen. Although she was still angry at Noland, Tracy supported his decision by countering Tank's argument, stating that he had the same resolve to destroy Daniel when John was killed by Belphenoid regardless of him being on a high threat level. Seiki also agreed with Tracy by reminding them of what happened to her 'family' and asked them why it would be better to avoid Nero if Noland has a chance to save his little brother, which was something that most of them never got. Allen agreed with both sides of the argument, which caused him to ask if Noland knew where Nero could be found. This tempted Noland to throw Karen under the bus and reveal her secret, but he knew that the situation can potentially become worse since his teammates and rivals will most likely attempt to attack her for the information. This may leave her uncooperative and ruin their chances of finding him in a timely manner. He was left with no other option but to say that he didn't know, but stressed that he knows enough about his enemy to alert the authorities about him. His grandmother warned him to not take the law into his own hands and to let them handle it this time unlike what he has been doing already. Noland refused, stating that they couldn't handle someone on Nero's level. He went back to sleep before hearing any counterarguments.

Upon returning to sleep, Noland awoke at the same location he battled Alana. He told her he was going to spend the night there to think of a possible way to handle the situation with the Resistors being on the fence about confronting Nero. Alana happily invited herself to stay with him for the night. Noland immediately began talking about the conversation him and Drago had with each other at the battle's conclusion, and asked both Siege and Krakix what they thought about being used in the manner they are being used in. Krakix didn't mind battling for the entertainment of others since he liked to battle himself. On the other hand, Siege was a pacifist just like Drago was, and understood the frustration he has about being used in battle as often as he is. Krakix did state that he disagrees with what Drago said about things being better if the Bakugan had never interacted with the humans. He believed that the Bakugan were more civil and peaceful living alongside the humans than they were back home, which consisted of never-ending war. He also stressed the fact that there were always going to be evil people and Bakugan existing in the universe, but one race shouldn't be condemned based on the actions of certain individuals. In his eyes, there was no definite way of preventing bad things from happening all the time, but doing what they can to stop the impending threats was the best way to go. Agreeing with their points, Noland wondered how someone could deal with a Bakugan who has a somewhat deep hatred for the humans. Alana chimed in and told him that he was the one who could change Drago's view of them in the same way the Dragonoid could change the view of the Bakugan to him. She noted that his determination is what causes people to fight with him in times of crisis, which was one of the reasons why it was so easy to accept fighting years ago. Alana placed her hand on Noland's and told him to find whoever did this and make him pay for what he has done. She assured him that his friends and their guardians will have no problem backing him up whenever he is battling someone that is a threat to both humans and Bakugan. 

Later in the night, Noland crept away from Alana while she was sleeping and sat on the vista overlooking an expansive valley. He had a lot of conflicting thoughts in his head that prevented him from sleeping. As he was thinking about what to do, Drago suddenly appeared as a hologram and asked him what was troubling him. Before telling him about any of his problems, Noland apologized to Drago for what he has done involving his usage in battle, how he treated the Bakugan in the past, and told him that he never intended to make the Dragonoid resent the humans for continuing to do this. Drago told him that he didn't have to apologize and stated that all he needed for Noland to do was continue being who he is. Drago sees how much Noland cares about preventing the harm of innocent humans and Bakugan in the way he has battled. Drago also offered an apology for the way he spoke about the humans in the flashback with Vince since it shouldn't have been said at all. He is aware that evil exists everywhere, and Bakugan have abilities that are highly coveted by certain individuals. He explained how he was born and raised on Earth after his parents fled their homeworld, Vestroia, and the racial discrimination that he had seen on Earth made him lose faith in the humans long-term.

Drago was already aware that Noland was contemplating searching for Nero, but he questioned him on what he was going to do about Karen. Noland's idea was to have her take him to Nero; he didn't think it would be that easy, so he stated he would most likely have to use force to get that done. Drago knew he was leaving some details out since the plan didn't have enough depth to it, but he left it alone and disappeared while Noland returned to Alana's location to sleep. To his surprise, Alana woke up briefly moments after he got back and cuddled with him. Before she went back to sleep, she asked if he recalled the reason why they were called Resistors and referenced what happened with the little boy who was killed by a criminal before all of the fighting started. She remembered someone in the community center's gathering saying something about Bakugan being weapons and should not be available to them. She wondered if that little boy was right, much to the shock of Noland, who decided to disregard the comment since he believed she was attempting to see it from someone else's perspective.

Noland was released from the hospital the following day after Drago replenished his life energy. While he was getting ready to leave, Noland asked him how he was able to do what he did since that power seemed very unusual for someone to have access to. Drago described it as being something he always had since birth and never knew the reason why he had those powers. Noland was scheduled to go back to practice later that day to train relentlessly with Tank and Tracy, but he had other plans. Fortunately, he didn't have to search much for Karen since she waited for him in the main lobby the entire time. He told her that they needed to have a talk, which caused her to become very afraid of what he was about to say even though she expected a break-up to happen. His grandmother followed them closely to see what he was about to do without his knowledge. Upon reaching a wide-open area, Noland informed Karen that he is aware of who she really is and stressed the importance of telling him where Nero is currently so that Kendrick can be recovered. As he expected, she did not answer, which caused Noland to become more forceful and demand to be given Nero's location. Karen refused to incriminate her 'father' and told him that Kendrick was going to be just fine since she visited him earlier. Her response quickly angered Noland to the point where he didn't bother trying to be nice about it and began activating his BrawlX. Not willing to accept his attitude, Karen responded back by throwing in Elico to combat the Dragonoid and yelled at him for attempting to force her to throw her only provider to the wolves.

Elico used the experience he got from battling Hydranoid to handily pressure Drago, especially in combination with the gate card called Silent Hanger, which freezes the enemy and leaves them open to a combo attack. Likewise, Drago was more attentive to strategic information such as a species' certain weakness or flaws in their attack pattern. This allowed him to get the better of Elico by exploiting Elico's inability to continue his attribute changes to combat the dragon's deadly abilities. Using a small window of time between Elico's attacks, Drago used Novia Shredder to pierce the now-Subterra Bakugan through his chest and sliced all all of his tentacles off, immobilizing him completely. Drago finished off Elico with Diffuse Buster after only launching one blast out of the various ones he had, leaving Elico laid out on the ground with Karen's life gauge going to 0. Regardless of this fact, Drago continued assaulting Elico after the battle was over by torturing him with the remaining blasts until he was left in a near-death situation. He sent his last blast near Karen and allowed it to explode close enough to her that she would only suffer splash damage. This caused Karen to fly backwards and was helpless to defend herself.

Noland approached her and stated that she is lucky she hasn't committed any of the actions Nero or Daniel has committed or he would have killed her himself. He removed the BrawlX from her wrist to see if there was anything on there that could track where she last made contact with Nero; fortunately, the information was still on the device. Since he got what he was there for, Noland left Karen out there, but not before dumping her and telling her that she would have to find another place to live after he was done with Nero. Horrified at her grandson's antagonistic ways, his grandmother rushed over there after watching the battle, but couldn't stop Noland from leaving on Drago's back. She immediately called Allen to inform him that he is about to go after Nero, and asked if there was any way he could gather the other four to look after him. Allen told her that he could, but it wouldn't be of any use if he didn't know where Noland was going. She could only guess that he was heading to Northeast D.C. based on where Drago was flying before tending to Karen's injuries. Allen was never informed by Noland or his grandmother on where he was going. It made it look like Noland wanted this to be something he does alone, which greatly concerned Allen, who thought this was an enemy they shouldn't be soloing. 

Noland arrived at an abandoned building in a timely manner and stormed his way through the entrance. Noland recognized this building as the same one he faced Daniel in years ago during their 'final confrontation'. He discovered Nero inside with Kendrick at his side. Delighted that Noland was so eager to see him again, Nero informed him that he was already aware he would be found this way and purposely set it here so they can personally demolish what Daniel had built up so many years ago rather than him knowing where the stronghold was. Nero used the parental controls he had and deactivated the BrawlX Noland stole from Karen so that it would be useless in tracking him any further. He then ordered Kendrick to engage Noland in combat, which greatly annoyed Noland to the point where he believed Nero lost his mind; however, Kendrick complied with Nero's order and began to brawl, which was a huge wake-up call for Noland. Unfortunately, the Bakugan that Kendrick chose to battle with was Hydranoid himself. Noland threw Drago into battle and fought the Darkus Bakugan while asking his little brother why he betrayed them like this. Kendrick was unresponsive to all of Noland's comments. Kendrick's abilities were astonishing, making his brawling prowess on par with Noland's despite being two years shy of being able to own a Bakugan legally. This made the battle more difficult than it had to be with Kendrick beginning to dominate Noland in every category until all compassion the latter had for him began to disappear. Noland rose to the challenge and responded with his own skill set, making this very entertaining for Nero to observe. Eventually, Noland was able to outplay Kendrick by forcing a similar scenario to occur where Hydranoid absorbs massive power using Merge Shield. Drago purposely upped his power enough to where Hydranoid began to overload himself due to not being able to handle it in such a large quantity, allowing the dragonoid to hit him directly with a swift Infernal Bind to incapacitate the hydra. The blast did cause Kendrick to suffer a first degree burn on his right arm due to the nature of Drago's attack. Hydranoid's defeat did give Drago the opportunity to capture Kendrick with a beam fired from the diamond on his forehead, imprison him with energy, and place him on Noland's side of the field before returning to ball form. Without anyone left to fight on his behalf, Nero joined the battle and decided to fight Noland during the second round of the battle.

Suddenly, the other 5 Resistors appeared and joined the battle before the second round began.

[Nero Bullock]

As Nero threw Hydranoid into the battle on Noland's gate card, he was prepared to acquire a new strategy since Noland was able to cleverly bypass Merge Shield against Kendrick, who was potentially better at brawling than he was. Although he didn't admit it, Nero understood that the situation was problematic since Noland appeared to be far stronger than he was at the previous encounter. He figured having Noland brawl his own little brother at the risk of hurting a loved one would deter him a little and give Nero the undeniable advantage, but Noland surprisingly was not affected by it at all despite causing Kendrick to suffer a burn. "Kendrick is a remarkable child, isn't he? The kid has a lot of potential," Nero commended. "I didn't capture him just to make him battle you in case you were assuming that to be the case. I already did everything that requires his presence, so I had no need for him. Since I was going to give him back anyway, I saw no harm in making a game out of the whole situation by making you two battle; however, I'm quite surprised that you harmed your own little brother. I did hope it would deter you a little, but you don't seem to care about anyone else's safety when it comes to fighting your enemies. I admire that villainous attribute about you."

Before Nero could declare an attack, five brawlers and their Bakugan suddenly burst through the entrance to the building, prompting Nero to activate an ability before things got ugly. "At least there won't be any reason for you all to not die together when you're such close buddies. Your resistance, no pun intended, will be put to an end here. Ability activate! Negative Charge!" Hydranoid roared loud enough to shatter every window in their vicinity as a purple aura began enlarging starting from the center of his body. Once it grew big enough, he released multiple lasers in quick succession towards the ceiling to cause debris to fall on top of every Resistor and their Bakugan. "Be careful. That looks dangerous," Nero sarcastically warned the Resistors.

[Seiki Maki]

The ventus resistor scoffs at Nero's comment. "Oh yes, very dangerous. I'm so scared that I think I'll have nightmares for the rest of my life," she shouts back in the same sarcastic manner, riding on Ahio's back as the ventus bird soars gracefully through the air. "And if you were too busy basking in all that overflowing ego, I was being sarcastic, if you haven't noticed!" She adds on, as she slips on those usual headphones of hers. 

"Now, Ahio and I will take that nasty junk, search for an opening and beat this wretched monster down!" She says before drawing out the two ability cards she plans to play to prevent the stuff from causing any damage to her allies. "Double ability activate! Senbonzakura and Sleep Rage... Awakened!" 

First Senbonzakura came into play, Ahio spreads her wings wide open during in mid flight to summon what seems like a thousand of feather blades and sends a few of them flying towards the debris close to crashing on the ground to prevent any major damage by breaking them into smaller, harmless bits. The rest of the feather blades fly towards the other rocks, breaking them down into decent sizes for dealing some damage for the next ability in line, purposely avoiding a rather large piece of debris for the same reason why Seiki and Ahio were breaking down the other pieces of debris. 

Seiki knew which ability would kick in next, and when her bird partner starts to flap higher into the air glowing a soft green, she clutched onto her partner for what seem like dear life as Ahio does a single, powerful flap which sends a violent gust of wind towards the broken down rocks. The rocks, in a manageable size were sent flying towards Hydranoid, hitting him quite a few times.

That one large chunk of debris, Ahio made a dive for, charging into the junk and giving it a mighty push to the Hydranoid. "That should have done some damage. But I'll tell ya this, fighting with debris and all isn't my thing. Now that last attack was a hassle, having to push that piece. It isn't as light as air, I'll say that." The ventus bird chirps as she glides down towards a fairly large tree, close to the other resistors. In a single move, she drops down to land on one of the more sturdier branches, Seiki hopping off a second or two after their landing.

"And I haven't felt this much excitement in brawling for such a long time, I'll be riding you more often during brawls." Seiki says with a small grin, her amber eyes watching the Hydranoid carefully, seeing if they had damaged any damage at all. The terrorist bakugans were some tough cookies to crack, and this one wouldn't be any walk in the park.

The bird merely chortles as she too examines the scene as she carries on the small conversation. "If you say so... Just make sure you hold on, I don't need my partner flying off in the very wind I create for my attacks."

Seiki nods in agreement as she continues to carefully watch along with her brawling partner, "Let's hope- not hope but get, this beast gets put in his place soon, or even more unnecessary death will occur... That's something I don't need happening any more while I'm around..."

[Noland Hardy]

"Do you ever get tired of hearing yourself talk?" Noland asked out of annoyance of Nero's constant banter. "You at least tried to use my little brother as a weakness, but it only made it worse for you as I'm more motivated than ever before to take you down. I've already beaten Hydranoid once already, and I'll do it a second time. I will beat Hydranoid as many times as it takes to kill you."

Before Noland could initiate an attack against Hydranoid, he could hear and feel the movement of multiple beings approaching right behind him. He figured it was another demon that Nero had under his control that was about to hit him from behind. "I wonder what I will see if I look back this time..." He turned around and noticed that the other members of the Resistors were coming to his aid out of nowhere. Before he could comment on how much he was horrified to see them follow him here, Nero already declared his attack. Thankfully, it wasn't an issue thanks to Seiki.

"How in the world did you all even find out where I was? Why are any of you here to begin with?" Noland asked out of confusion.

[Seiki Maki]

Seiki jumps to a branch closer to the resistor group as Ahio follows not too far behind, watching for any attacks that may fly their way. The ventus resistor chooses a sturdy branch a few but not to many feet away from the group before replying to Noland's question. "Now now Noland, we all have our ways of knowing stuff," she says in a playful manner, enjoying the feeling of knowing something that someone else wants to know. "I'm sure there will be some time later when we can discuss this matter. That time being... I dunno, when we don't have some giant bakugan with bad intentions on our hands?" She's suggests before adding on her second part. "This is just my opinion, you guys can tell him I ya want..." Seiki says with a small shrug. "Just wanted to point out the fact that this is going to be one tough cookie..."

[Nero Bullock]

Nero smirked at Seiki's downplaying of Hydranoid's attack as if he knew she didn't have a clue about anything she was speaking of. Unbeknownst to him, she had a very clever trick to reveal to him. The ventus brawler cleverly stopped the incoming debris from causing any major problems for the Resistors, which was disappointing for Nero since his attack didn't have any significant effects after launching it, but it was a good thing in his eyes that the materials for Daniel's stuff were being treated in this manner. Unfortunately, the debris that he wanted to use to crush his opponents ended up being used against him. He was pummeled continuously by the smaller rocks and received minimal damage from those as they shattered into pieces upon impact, but the kicker was in the largest one Ahio sent towards Hydranoid. The hit was powerful enough to send Hydranoid backwards by six inches, leaving him noticeably stunned by the unexpected projectile. "Hmph...lucky shot..." Nero stated with Hydranoid beginning to recover from a dazed state.

"You won't get me with that again. Try and dodge this one. Ability activate! Demonic Gravity!" The sky turned into a dark, ominous setting as six Darkus Lasermen began appearing on the battlefield in formation. They pointed their weapons at the Resistors in their entirety and unleashed their onslaught, sending plenty of blasts in their direction that caused many explosions to occur on their side of the field. As the explosions began engulfing his opponents, Nero decided to say, "Is this your idea of fun, little girl? Do you really think power on this scale is anything close to being fun for Bakugan who use this power and take the hits? Is this what the human race has devolved to ever since the introduction of the so-called sport, a gladiator-type battle to the death?"

[Markus Hederick]

"Alright. This guy needs someone to teach him a lesson, and that person...is me." Markus was angry at the actions of Nero's minion, Daniel, especially because of what he did to his sister. He quickly wrapped Gargulion up and threw him into the battle. "Bakugan - Brawl! Darkus Gargulion stand!" he yelled while throwing the darkus Bakugan. The Bakugan rolled and then open up, transforming into its monster form. Projectiles where released as a result of the transformation process, hitting the spawned Lasermen.

Markus grinned at Nero, and then turned to Gargulion. "Ready?" he asked, and with a salute, Gargulion replied, "Yes, sir!"
"That's great!" Markus replied with a smile later replaced with a smirk. "Ability card activate! Power Theft!" Markus swiped the ability through his BrawlX while activating the ability.

This caused all Lasermen to begin experiencing some sort of energy transfer. From their chests, their power burst out and began flowing over to Gargulion's chest. The Lasermen where getting weak and weaker by the second. Soon, they were left with no power, causing them to vanish. "Yeess! I love power!" the gargoyle hissed. Markus was satisfied with the card and said to Nero, "You're going down."

[Nero Bullock]

"Oh, am I?" Nero sarcastically questioned as he activated an ability to respond to the power increase. "Ability activate! Merge Shield!" All of the power that Gargulion gained from absorbing the energy of his Lasermen appeared in the form of a dark stream that steadily made its way into Hydranoid's direction, who swallowed the the siphoned power once it reached him to enter his mouth. The result was a massive power increase in Hydranoid's favor based on the amount of power his opponent has gained. This placed his power level on a dangerous level compared to his opponents. Hydranoid's demeanor became even more sinister than it already was once he began embracing the acquired power. He started grinding his teeth in anticipation of his next onslaught.

Nero revealed two cards that he slid on his BrawlX immediately following the absorption. "Ability activate! Chaos of the Darkness, plus Fusion Ability, Destruction Buster!" Nero declared. A dark lightning bolt struck Hydranoid from above, charging him with enough energy to rapidly fire dark blasts at all six of his opponents. Due to the effects of the fusion ability card that was activated in unison with the ability, Hydranoid's blasts became even deadlier as the resulting hit on Gargulion nullified his ability, removing his power increase in its entirety. This allowed Hydranoid to waste his opponents without fear. "This...is the power of darkness," Nero said as his opponents continued to be hit by the continuous blasts.

[Tank Stryker]

"No way you're wasting us!" Tank called as he swiped a card through his BrawlX, "Ability activate, Weapon of the Gods - Trident of Poseidon!"

Storm clouds descended upon the battlefield, lightning striking all around, passing through the streams of energy connecting to Hydranoid before a torrential downpour began pounding away at the opposing bakugan. Gladion lifted his arm to the sky and was gifted by the gods with the legendary Trident of Poseidon.

Spinning the weapon around in his hand, Gladion slammed the spear into the ground, throwing Hydranoid off balance, before rushing at the beast and striking into the heart of his shield, breaking through.

Taking his chance while he had it, the gladiator bakugan began slashing with the points of the spear and jabbing Hydranoid in the joints before jumping back with the other Resistors.

"You think you can take us ALL down?" Tank yelled, "You're one man!"

[Nero Bullock]

Hydranoid bellowed in agony after suffering massive damage from Gladion's assault and hunkered down a little while he thinks about what he's going to do next. He became increasingly angry at his opponents for how difficult they were making it for him to land any significant blows. Realizing that his opponents were awaiting his next move and adopting a defensive fighting formation, Nero deemed it necessary to constantly pressure all six of his opponents as best as he could as it was the action that had the greatest chance of earning him a victory in this battle. Despite hearing his opponent's words of an obvious advantage that they have against him, Nero defiantly pulled out two abilities to prove just how menacing Hydranoid can be against multiple opponents. "They're really starting to irritate me," Nero silently revealed.

He swiped two cards through his BrawlX and declared, "Double ability activate! Auragano Revenge plus Gravity Chamber!" A purple aura engulfed all of the Resistor's Bakugan and stripped them of their power like a pestilence. Unlike his foes, Hydranoid received a hefty increase in power from their own misfortune, allowing him to gather the strength necessary to stand up straight completely once again following his encounter with a punishing trident. The latter ability surrounded the revived hydra in a dark sphere that had the properties of a black hole. The gravitational force that it produced was powerful enough to begin pulling in all six of the Resistor's Bakugan towards him. Many parts of the building also broke off due to the power Hydranoid was emitting, which caused debris to pummel his opponents on their way in as the debris were effortlessly destroyed upon coming into contact with Hydranoid. "One man is all that is necessary to make a difference," Nero countered. "I've conquered many in my line of duty by myself. You should be more worried about how to survive against someone who could very well erase you from existence regardless of the number of opponents I am faced with."

[Tracy White]

"So...this is where Karen gets her personality from," Tracy said to herself. She was rather disgusted about how self-centered this man was and knew that some of it must have made its way to Karen as well due to her attitude towards the Resistors in general. Not wanting to divide interests in who was supposed to be taken out in this battle, she decided to stay silent about Karen only because she believed Noland received enough punishment by being forced to do what he did, but she didn't have a problem with telling him she told him so should they make it out of this predicament alive. While not paying too much attention to relationship-related topics, she found herself more concerned with how powerful Hydranoid actually was. She found it hard to believe that Noland was capable of handling Bakugan like that all by himself; it was enough to make her feel sorry for him in a way since he always gets stuck having to deal with vermin such as Nero.

The Resistors were doing a wonderful job at combating Hydranoid, but he seems to always have the power to turn the tables very quickly after they gain the advantage. Their power levels were brought down at the same time as well as a gravitational attack pulling them in to their doom. "If this attack was enough to beat Drago, then it's surely going to beat all of us if we don't stop it!" Skystar yelled, winking at Tracy for her to activate an ability card. Tracy held up her gaunlet and declared, "Got it! Ability activate! Streaming Steel!" Skystar roared as she started gathering energy. While the energy was being pulled into her, her body began to grow in terms of her size until she was at least three feet above her comrades. She then gripped her staff and fired a high-powered laser directly towards the center of the gravity mass in order to nullify Hydranoid's ability.

[Nero Bullock]

Hydranoid was successfully pulling them in nicely until the Haos brawler activated an ability that allowed her Bakugan to grow in size and fire a very powerful beam towards him in hopes of cancelling his ability. Nero didn't think much of it at the time of its activation, but his thoughts about her started to change once he saw how much power was exerted through the attack. "I remember Daniel saying you were one of the weakest brawlers he has ever come across, but that attack seems too advanced for someone of that kind of strength. It seems Noland and Tank helped you improved your skill after all," Nero admitted in a surprised tone. The laser Skystar fired briefly clashed with Gravity Chamber despite the power decrease Hydranoid placed upon them through Auragano Revenge. Unfortunately, it was enough to match his power as the ability shattered Gravity Chamber, dropping all of the Resistor's Bakugan abruptly following the removal of the gravitational pull. "Now I have you right where I want you," Hydranoid declared.

Nero placed an ability on his BrawlX and shouted, "Ability activate! Renegade Buster!" Hydranoid surrounded himself in a dark aura that is able to shield him from attacks as well as boosting his power by double of what it was. Due to this, he decided to rush towards the Resistors and attempt to ram them with the powerful energy he has gathered in order to inflict serious injury on his opponents. "If I were any of you, I would be asking myself if I was as powerful as I thought I was when six brawlers couldn't even take down one person. Now be honest with yourselves and answer this question truthfully. Were any of those abilities your best shots?" Nero gloated.

[Allen Silva]

Allen smirked at Nero's current move. He decided to rush recklessly into the resistors bakugan. Now it was Force Gorem's time to shine. Allen loaded in a ability into his gauntlet, one he knew would do the trick." C'mon Nero, you have to do better than that. We aren't your average brawlers, but you already know that." Allen gloated, satisfied with the turn of events as far as the battle is concerned." Now ability activate, Goliath Fortress."

This was Gorem's favorite strength based ability. Gorem embued the soil around him with a portion of his power. This allowed it to create a gigantic golem, in the shape of Gorem. Then, Gorem and his newly created giant shoved against Hydranoids rush. And it appeared they were winning." How does it feel to be on the losing end of my Goliath Fortress ability, Hydra-freak. Now how bout you raise the white flag before we knock you into the fifth dimension." Gorem taunted his darkus opponent.

[Nero Bullock]

Hydranoid struggled to push through both Gorem and his new ally. He was being shoved backwards away from the Resistor's Bakugan as he continued to clash against the golems. As this happened, Nero was planning around Allen's attack since he knew he wasn't going to emerge from the clash the victor with his current ability active. "You know what, Allen? You're right. I do have to do better," Nero sarcastically responded. "Fortunately for you, there is a certain ability of mine that should fit that criteria. I'll happily use it since you asked nicely. The bad news for you is that not even Gorem will be able to stand from being hit by it, and I could easily target more than one person with it. This'll be a wake-up call for you, Iron Juggernaut. You can't protect yourselves from everything...not even from death."

Nero activated an ability on his BrawlX as a countermeasure against Gorem and made him his primary target. "Ability activate! Demolition Impact!" Using the leftover energy from Renegade Buster, Hydranoid began to charge a catastrophic blast in his mouth while Gorem was continuing to shove him. A massive energy ball formed in front of his open mouth that absorbed energy at a quick rate thanks to Renegade Buster already powering up his attacks, and the energy mass continued to grow larger every passing second. This attack was definitely going to be a deadly one especially when launched at something in close quarters. "How does it feel to stare at your impending death?" Hydranoid countered as he was getting ready to fire. "Your demise will be a reminder to anyone who dares to spit in my face with that remark. Underestimating me or any of my brethren is a death sentence."

[Noland Hardy]

Noland was dumbfounded by the Resistor's overwhelming support when he never asked for their assistance. They each served their purpose in driving back this monster and placing him in a dire situation, forcing him to use his more powerful set of abilities to make a difference. Seiki cleverly made any environmental damage against them ineffective and was able to use it against Hydranoid. Markus rendered any reinforcements Nero could launch against them obsolete once he absorbed their powers. Tank handily saved them all from being obliterated with a well-timed barrage with his weapon. Tracy learned the capabilities of Skystar and used her affinity for a supportive role by nullifying an ability as powerful as Gravity Chamber. Allen easily thwarted any possibly close-range attacks from Hydranoid. They made it seem like they were in perfect sync with each other, and that made him happy that they were able to coordinate a strong battle strategy with each other despite some of their differences. "Alana...how did you know?" Noland asked himself with a smile on his face. He then turned his attention to Nero.

"You should take your own advice, Nero," Noland warned. "You can't protect yourself from everything either despite all of the resources you have under your control. The wrath of everyone you've brought harm to because of your ridiculous orders to the Terrorists cannot be overcome by any wall you build. Your greatest crime is that you believe yourself to be invincible as you bask in the suffering of thousands of people. Two men have already been down that road, and you know what their end result was."

He then held up his arm and declared, "Ability activate! Diffuse Buster!" Drago fired a giant fireball from his mouth that was nearly on par with the size of Hydranoid's attack. The diamond on his forehead shined, and the fireball was split into multiple energy bursts that were soon going to make their way towards Hydranoid. As this happened, Noland's hand glowed as he followed up with his new favorite combo ability. "Eternal Gazer!" Suddenly, the energy bursts returned to the same size as what it originally was when they were combined together. They were transformed from their red coloring into rainbow-colored blasts that came together to form a more potent attack. The attack was aimed at Hydranoid's mouth. "You'll need more dental work once that goes through," Drago openly remarked.