Episode 25: The Mistake You Will Never Make Again

[Daniel Andersen]

Threats of Nero and the Pack would scratch an average soul, but in this room there was no case of 'average' or 'soul'. Evolved forms of Terrorists' Bakugan were indeed strong, but due to Nero's tactic of calling in the whole Pack against Terrorists odds have quickly changed and not in the good way for them. Still, at this point nor Daniel nor Kuzuha cared about Nero's threatening, regeneration or firepower. They were only determined to prevent Bakugan race from being exterminated by a egocentric whose intentions were so selfish that he had no problem in killing a whole race. Daniel's attitude changed despite he was determined to prevent the Pack from reaching the world. "So, your pets confess you want to take over the whole universe. You could just say so, Nero, instead of blabbing about the safety of humans instead. Phew, and they call me a 'Terrorist" Daniel replied to to Nero upon hearing what his pets were saying.
"Well, whatever...you know, just....whatever...." Daniel said as he was barely holding a laughter when thinking about Nero taking over the world while Noland and Allen were still in the picture.
"Ability activate! Violet Infusion! Use Hydranoid, Kuzuha!"
Kuzuha was suddenly wrapped in dark-purple light which started to spread through the room protecting Kuzuha from whatever might come at her. In only a few seconds process was done and she had a new look; completely clad in dark-blue armor with dark-purple spikes and horns coming out of the armor that was glittering in blue. Kongou was transformed into a dark-purple beautiful sword with rubies shining in it. "I guess Hydranoid is the most powerful Bakugan in the room. Let's see what his power might do to the Pack. Ability activate! Violet Hydra!" Daniel yelled and activated a variation of Kuzuha's original ability 'Violent Violet'. Her dark armor charged with energy and she rose the dark sword which was also charging. Suddenly, sword released dark-purple blast that engulfed the whole area and was burning every single opponent without stopping. Hordes of Bakugans were burned continuously and were fading into darkness.
Pack was getting burned terribly by dark flames and weren't able to regenerate properly since these fires copied Hydranoid and were burning enemies without a second of stopping to let them attempt the regeneration. "What an ugly armor. You could have picked something good at least..." Kuzuha complained as flames continued to burn the whole room. "No wonder it's ugly; I copied Hydranoid."

[Makoto Nakashima]

"Heh, what you say is a nonsense just a bit bigger than a reason of your existence" Ahrangi replied to the pack commenting on their intentions. Ahrangi then set to the battle positon when Makoto activated another card making his gauntlet flash in green. "So, you regenerate quickly, eh? In that case, Ability activate! Blade Tornado Sprinter!"
Ahrangi jumped near Kuzuha's flames and the started sprinting around his enemies until he reached the speed that other Bakugans were unable to follow. He was faster than the eye could see and considering Ahrangi's weapons it was a deadly trait. He then started swiping his swords and positioned his wings so they were like deadly blades. He started dashing rapidly through enemy's team with his wings and swords spread, so they were cutting through the Pack and Hydranoid. Thanks to amazing speed of his attacks he was not letting members of the Pack to gain time for regeneration or counter-attack. They were in huge pain as their limbs were getting cut off due to high-powered force of swords and metal wings. 

[Akane Huomoto]

Akane starts to awkwardly cough at The Pack's comment. She was lost in thought, then was slowly fading back into reality, hearing some strange stuff said by Abbadon. "A tad bit too much information there..." She murmurs in-between a few of her coughs. A few seconds later, she managed to regain her composure, swiping the few strand of hair that fell onto her face.

Torahu was hit badly by The Pack's attack, screeching loudly in pain, being thrown back and crashing into her partner. "Oweee, that hurt..." the flaming feline meows as she slowly gets back up, nudging Akane up as well. "But it didn't hurt that much... If that darkus wasn't infused in there then I wouldn't have taken so much damage... Oh well, gotta keep going, right?" She looks over to Akane, who was lost in thought again.

How in the world did I not burn because of Torahu's flames? She shakes her head to rid of the thought, saving it for another time when they weren't going to be pummeled to death by their opponent. With her mind now focused on the battle, she looks over the brawl and stares at Hydranoid with mild interest. "Regenerating armor huh?" Torahu's ears perk up a bit, her face with a small smile on there as she walks forward, in front of Akane and facing the battle, having a feeling knowing what Akane would do next.

"Let's try this one." She murmurs, looking at a card she had in her hands, skimming over the effects. "Ability Activate, Amaterasu!"

"I was waiting for the ability forever! I never thought you would actually activate it!" Torahu says as she charges up the ability. Her power levels started to rise, so did the flames which keep waving in the direction of Hydranoid. "Amaterasu release!" The tiger roars, the big flame she was charging up being thrown in the way of Hydranoid. The fireball lands on his armor, and starts to eat it away slowly.

"Says here that the Amaterasu flames with devour all that lays within it's path. And can't be extinguished unless a week has passed or the caster of the flames calls it off." Akane says, reading from the card. "This really is a helpful card. I have to start paying a bit more attention to what cards I have..."  

[Nero Bullock]

"It seems you're using your brain for once even if your accusation is incorrect. I suppose you remember me saying that the purpose of the chip was to rob the target of their free will and replace it with what I desire; however, if you think about that statement for a little bit, if I had taken control of them completely, then you should be prepared to explain to us all why the Pack fought against Noland and Allen despite me telling all of you not to do so. Common sense would tell you that if they were completely controlled by me, then you three wouldn't have received their assistance since they would know what I had wanted. There are certain times when you should read between the lines to come to a proper conclusion," Nero countered. "I figured you would have been smart enough to know you were being mislead when I initially performed the procedure considering that you continued killing humans with Belphenoid anyway, namely the Seiki incident, but it was not as problematic in terms of disobedience as it was before. The memories of their past lives will disappear, but that chip will serve its purpose soon." With that said, Nero begun forming his final attack procedure that had a surefire way of ending the brawl. The Pack each turned their heads to each other as soon as Nero made that comment and each said to themselves, "Our lives are our own, and what we choose to do with them is not up to you."

Nero considered Ahrangi's continuous attacks to be the immediate threat since he viewed the Ventus Bakugan as the most powerful offensive Bakugan in their lineup. "Ability activate! Merge Shield!" Hydranoid absorbed the energies of every member of the army that was summoned by Belphenoid and collected them all into his mouth. The power increase that Hydranoid received was near the brink that caused his defeat against Bane Dragonoid in a previous battle, but it was not enough to cause any significant impairments in his body's responsiveness. All of the power sapped by Hydranoid caused the entire army to be subject to Kuzuha's attack without any means of defending themselves, so they were destroyed in a moment's time. While that happened, Hydranoid was flailing his tail in anticipation of Ahrangi's expected return to hit them with his attack once again. As soon as Hydranoid saw where he was going, he swung his tail and said, "You're mine!". His tail slammed into Ahrangi and sent him flying towards his teammates in a visibly battered and injured state with all of his swords scattering across the arena. Once the Pack saw that it was safe to move about again, Belphenoid lead a counterattack by activating two abilities to fix the damage that was done to them. "Power Scale!" The ability Belphenoid just used is only possible with the other two members of the Pack present with him. An orb of light hovered above all three of them, and they were sprinkled with power that was emanating from Hydranoid in order for all three of them to rise to the same level as their superior. He then activated another ability by saying, "Inner Hate Wave!" This allowed him to suck all of the fiery abilities that were constantly torturing them into his mouth as darkus energy that was eventually going to be used to fuel his next endeavor. 

"'The Pack' is an alias that denotes the largest movement of rebellion in history, and you would dare to think of our existence as an insignificant thing? We are not nonsense; WE ARE SALVATION!" Belphenoid declared. Having the power necessary to end the battle, Nero scoffed at the remarks of his opponents and knew that what they were saying would not have any meaning once he initiates the final attack as the only input that would actually happen would be his own. "This scenario brings back memories. It reminds me of the first time you three stood in front of me together across the battlefield aiming to prove your worth to me. You've always had the courage and dedication to battle to your fullest capability when it mattered the most, but it sadly wasn't enough against the Resistors, and it sure wasn't enough against me," Nero coldly stated. You will go to your graves with the single thought of making the greatest blunder that you could ever make in this instance. In the battle against humans and Bakugan, you three have chose incorrectly in terms of who or what you would fight for. Your defeat will mark the end of the senseless massacring of the humans while the purging of the Bakugan will be upon us all very shortly. Ability activate! Destruction Gazer!" Hydranoid used an extension of his already powerful ability Demolition Impact by allowing the Pack members to combine their blasts into his. A massive energy ball was charged by Hydranoid and was supplemented by the electric current moving along his back into the energy mass. Likewise, the three Pack members charged their own attacks as well with Belphenoid's attack being the more powerful one out of three due to the energy he absorbed through Inner Hate Wave prior to this ability. Once it was completed, Hydranoid launched his attack, and the Pack's blasts merged into his to form a giant, bright energy blast.

[Daniel Andersen]

Daniel looked at the incoming blast and suddenly threw another Bakugan ball on the field.
"Go to hell, Nero! Darkus Wolveride, stand!"
Last time Daniel used Wolveride was in time he faced Allen and Seiki in the battle after Belphenoid killed and ate people from Seiki's studio. That Bakugan was known to have enormous attack and defense power; far higher than Sakura's and was still above Kuzuha's.
"Triple Ability activate! Veil of Mystic Crystal! Cyber Shield! And Fusion Ability; Void Tunnel!"
Kuzuha used her Kongou which came back to her to create a huge barrier of darkness. Wolveride jumped near her and created an energetic pulse that started flowing around Kuzuha's barrier boosting it. Kuzuha's Void Tunnel brought another wave of darkness supporting both her ability and Wolveride. Two Bakugans were protecting themselves and trying to avoid Torahu and Ahrangi getting killed in the process. In one moment Wolveride turned to Daniel and painfully screeched saying: "This is not going to hold...it seems that your plan of using the Pack powered them up..."
Kuzuha then interrupted Wolveride and it was noticed that she was in pain as well: "And now it's going to cost us..."
Daniel looked at his two Bakugans struggling to maintain the protective shield, but it was obvious that it was not going to hold anymore. He then looked at the ground and whispered: "Let it go..."
At that point Wolveride looked at Daniel in surprise: "Let go?! But, we will lose!"
Daniel didn't even bother to play anything else anymore and then just calmly whispered: "We will lose either way. You've weakened their attacks enough. It means we will lose, but still survive..."
As he finished those words attack broke through the shield blasting both Kuzuha and Wolveride into their ball forms along with Ahrangi and Torahu. Terrorists were blasted away as well. Makoto and Akane fell unconscious, but Daniel was still awake. He looked at Nero and smiled while a stream of blood was coming out of his mouth: "I...don't care...anymore...my life...worths nothing to me anymore....you will die....one way...or another".

[Nero Bullock]

Nero approached the fallen Terrorists beside Hydranoid and the Pack and observed how much damage his last attack actually did to them. Makoto and Akane were unresponsive as soon as they hit the floor, but Daniel was still awake with noticeable injuries. Although he was bleeding from the mouth, he was defiant to the very end, which was something that Nero actually respected out of his enemy. "So you kept your beliefs even after being defeated? I may hate you, but that deserves a hint of respect from me. It's more interesting to me when the people I face are strong and unwavering in what they fight for," Nero stated. Since his opponents were incapacitated, he was going to go through with his plan as originally intended while contemplating what he was going to do with them. He signaled Montai and asked, "Can you get the President on the phone for me? Him and I need to have a quick talk." She did as he asked and called him before handing the phone to Nero so that they could have their conversation. "Excuse me for a moment, Daniel. I will deal with you shortly."

Nero stepped back away from him and began talking with the President. He informed him of his re-acquisition of the Pack as well as the capture of the Terrorists. The President congratulated Nero for doing what was necessary in keeping the country safe and told him that Vince would be very proud of him. Since he mentioned his name, he also informed him of the details surrounding the presentation of their new defense against the Bakugan that are threatening the security of their home domestically as discussed prior to the plan developing, but Nero had something different to say about it. He noticed that the President was planning to use the Pack along the lines of self-defense should they ever get attacked by aliens again, but Nero sought to use them to get rid of the Bakugan so self-defense would not need to take place; he figured that taking them down before something happens is better than doing it after someone has already died. When the President informed him that was not what was discussed when the document surfaced, Nero disregarded his plea and was going to use them for attacking purposes, but promised not to bring humans into this unless they attempted to harm them. He urged him that he vowed in his presidential campaign to cut the crime rate involving the Bakugan and still has not fulfilled that promise since the percentage has only gone up. He also asked him why it was illegal to own a firearm without the proper licensing while people can own creatures such as Bakugan, which is definitely more destructive than a gun, as early as ten years old. "You're a smart man, so I don't need to explain to you in full detail about what the problem is with the laws in this country. Every time someone commits a crime with a Bakugan, you treat them as a weapon, which is what they are; however, you forget that they are sentient beings who have minds just like we do and know right from wrong. If that is the case, why do we continue to make our own people answer for their crimes against us? When will we make the Bakugan answer for their crimes? You all spew all of that crap about overcrowding the prison and take statistics on the crimes some people are committing when the Bakugan are actually the ones doing them, yet those fiends go unpunished. That changes in a couple of minutes. I will wipe this world clean of them. You'll regret cutting funding for the law enforcement for this project soon enough."

With that said, he hung up the phone and walked back to Daniel and said, "I thought about two things that I could have done to you. I could kill all of you right now for attempting to murder my daughter and jacking up my plan, or I could plant a chip into you to force you to fight alongside me. I chose not to do either of those things. It's actually not as satisfying when someone wants you to kill them, and I don't think it would be a suitable form of revenge, which I'll discuss later. Plus, I noticed that the chip I planted into Hydranoid works somewhat since he's naturally diabolical towards Bakugan as he has been when I discovered him; Hydranoids feed off of the Bakugan's energy they steal to grow stronger, so it was a simple implementation to get him to follow me. On the other hand, the ones in the Pack haven't really been that efficient. I'm not too sure what is making them so resilient to it, which is why I haven't been able to take full control of them. I'm forced to create three more without the flaws if I hope to accomplish that, and I don't feel like wasting them on you three. In the meantime, I believe there is a better thing to do to pass the time."

Two hours have passed since Nero's victory over the Terrorists. He healed Daniel of his injury to the point where he wasn't going to bleed out and also revived Akane and Makoto. He purposely left them considerably injured to the point where they couldn't provide any more resistance, but he wanted them awake. He did not mess with their Bakugan at all since they ended up sealing themselves in ball form. While he tended to them, he placed all three members of the Pack into their recovery tubes in order to restore them back to their prime condition prior to their unforgettable meeting with the two legendary brawlers. Once the Pack was healed, they each returned back to ball form and came under the possession of Nero when he was about to enter the field. As he was departing his hideout with the assistance of Hydranoid providing transportation for himself and the Terrorists, Nero said, "You used Bakugan to murder humans when they have done nothing to threaten the Bakugan. Now I'm going to show you how it feels when a Bakugan is mercilessly killed out in the field in the same manner you killed my people. I'm going to make you watch me kill them, and only then will you get a glimpse of how it feels to be on the receiving end, you murderous bastards."

[Noland Hardy]

Following the championship battles between his team and Markus's team, Noland was constantly searching for clues relating to the whereabouts of his dangerous adversary, Andrew "Nero" Bullock. With the national tournament taking place in a month, he had enough time to focus on making sure this guy gets put down for good. During his search, he came across multiple construction Bakugan that were working hard to rebuild some of the locations that have sustained a lot of damage from the war they were currently fighting. The other five Resistors were doing the same thing he was doing, but they opted to split up just to cover more ground. Regardless of their intentions, Noland didn't believe they were having a lot of luck with the search. "Why are we even doing this anyway? Isn't this supposed to be the law enforcement's job? I feel like something must have happened within the department to cause this much incompetence. It just doesn't feel normal that six teenagers can do the job better than they can. Why hasn't the National Guard been called in either? FBI? Army? Someone!?"

Drago understood his frustration and impatience that nothing was being done to combat Nero. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could say to change the boy's mind on the matter. Saying something along the lines of "They will do something eventually" would only make matters worse considering that their track record hasn't been so great; the law enforcement was on the top of their game when the first domestic war started years ago with Noland caught in the mix of it, but ever since then, their activity has dropped. It took a while for the police to get themselves together when Daniel returned, but they fell of quickly after that too. He was just as confused about the situation as Noland was. Before he could think of an answer, Noland picked up his phone as he felt it vibrating in his pocket. When Drago looked on the screen to see who it was, he jokingly asked, "You can tell me if she's your girlfriend now. I'll keep it a secret."

Noland quickly responded, "I'll be honest. I like her, but I don't think a relationship is the best way to go about this right now. My mind can't handle the stress of it when people like Nero are running around. Plus, I don't want it to become somewhat serious like it did with Karen, and then end up feeling terrible afterwards when they do something against you or someone else you care about and you're forced to cut ties with them when you loved them all along. I'm not saying Tracy is a bad person, but I'm not willing to go through it right now. Maybe once things have settled do-" Noland was cut off before he could finish that sentence when people started to scream once a construction Bakugan was impaled from behind and killed right in front of them. As he looked up, he saw the lifeless body tossed aside like a ragdoll and left for dead while the killers began digging their nails into the Bakugan's skull slowly. "What the hell did I just watch?" Noland asked.

[Nero Bullock]

"Surprise," Belphenoid whispered as he assassinated one of the Subterra Bakugan from behind, specifically a Subterra Saurus. Once the Bakugan was killed, Belphenoid stepped back and allowed Asmodeus to throw the body out of the way. The Pack then preyed on the remaining construction workers and tortured them before ultimately taking their lives much to the dismay of the Terrorists that were bound in energy shackles by Nero's side. They dug their nails into the Bakugan's skulls very slowly so that the killing could be done in a manner that the Terrorists could savor for what seemed like an eternity. "The scent of their blood makes me eager to feast upon them, but I'd rather have the spicy flavor of the Pyrus Bakugan on my plate rather than a rock-hard Subterra Bakugan," Abbadon said.  

Nero then looked at Noland and stated, "I guess I might have done something good in terms of scheduling. You're all alone. That makes it easier for me. I guess you should have chose to come in a group instead of wandering on your own since you never really knew when I was going to come back like I told you before. Still, it's not my problem you weren't prepared." Nero then activated his BrawlX as he commanded the Pack to summon their armies and scatter across the area. "The end of the line has been revealed. Are you prepared to cross it?" Nero asked as the Pack approached Noland in a very hostile manner with the blood of the Bakugan on their hands.

[Daniel Andersen]

Terrorists were not able to move since their state was not suitable for movement.
They were just watching as the Pack was killing Bakugans on the street and didn't even make a word since they couldn't even find any words. Daniel looked aside and noticed Noland standing there; nothing less shocked than him. He heard Nero threatening to Noland who was in danger to be slaughtered by the Pack. Makoto and Akane decided to keep their mouths shut as they were probably afraid of what Nero could do to them, but Daniel decided to risk it anyway.
He looked at Nero and made an evil smile. He quietly said to Nero: "Well, well...It seems that Master Blaze himself appeared to take your life away...Truth to be told, I'd rather enjoy your death than Hardy's...he at least doesn't treat Bakugans as expendable junk..."
Then he turned to Noland and started yelling obviously not caring about what Nero could to him.
"Hardy...My apologies for not being able to kill him and save you the effort....so do me a favor...take this bastard down...and make it...painful..."
Then he turned his head back not caring what was about to happen. He wanted to see Nero dead more than Noland, but still he didn't care. For him, regardless whether Noland or Nero wins, was all the same since it would be one enemy less to bother with. 

[Noland Hardy]