Episode 27: Crossing the Line

[Noland Hardy]

Noland's victory proved to be short lived once Gorem emerged from the rubble barely damaged from the spawn's crash. Allen's quick response was to rush Drago and Kuzuha with a physical attack while using his boosters to increase the amount of force he put into it. Noland was quick to realize this and had his fusion ability, Dragonic Boost, on standby. Despite being ready to counter Allen's power, Noland was unable to follow through with the attack after hearing Seiki break down on the battlefield. Tank and Markus were very brutal with their words towards her, and while it would make more sense for the victim to be hurt the most by it, Noland was very heartbroken by it. He was so heartbroken by it that his anger began to overtake him. His friends being their opponents did not cross his mind once he reached this boiling point. The only thing that mattered to him once these three were defeated was mass murder. What also bothered him significantly was the fact that he was not aware that Seiki had trouble dealing with depression.

This issue really highlighted multiple issues in his own life since Alana's parents were noticeably going through the same thing after the 9/11 incident, and they completely lost their minds while Seiki has harbored these negative emotions for months now just like he has in the past, and it was only for a brief moment where she considered giving up just like he did right at the beginning of the school year. Noland hesitantly began making steps towards Seiki as he contemplated running to her side just to comfort her, but he knew he couldn't do that with Allen on the loose. Suddenly, Ahio began talking some sense into her while she evolved. Noland was relieved to see her still alive and able to calm Seiki down just before using a technique that could very well win them all of their battles. With that done, Noland nodded in approval, and was intent on giving her a big hug once this was all over.

Once Gorem was stunned, Daniel made the first move. He was definitely shocked about what happened, but didn't allow that to deter him from using the great opportunity Seiki gave them by assaulting Gorem using power she "borrowed" from Drago's form. "How flattering, Kuzuha," Drago sarcastically responded back when she commented on copying his abilities. Noland was very impressed to see her close quarters abilities improved when using Drago's power to her advantage due to her not being stellar in that area of combat. He was thinking Daniel was going to finish Allen off himself after witnessing his power, but he did the complete opposite. Instead, he left that honor to him. She transferred the remaining power she had in that form to Drago, which caused a peculiar symbol to appear in the center of his chest. "I'm almost tempted to give you back that energy considering how much fun you were just having," Noland thought. He engulfed his hand with rainbow energy, and Drago's body followed this command by having his color scheme transform into the same color. He then held one card in his hand and tossed it in the air a couple of times, catching it in between his index and middle finger every time. "Alright, Drago. If they want to see us knock them out, we'll show them. Hit him quick though. I'm tempted to change my target to Gladion." As anyone could tell, Noland was not too fond of Tank calling him weak.

"Fusion ability activate! Dragonic Boost!" Drago shook the area with the outburst of his power. A bright column of light struck Drago and surrounded his entire body as it poured vast amounts of energy into him to push his power to dangerous heights. It was so much power that Drago's muscles began to bulge more than what it was when used in the championship, revealing that he was putting some more "oomph" into it. "What goes up..." Drago remarked as he quickly flew alongside Gorem as if he teleported there. "Must come down..." Drago finished his statement by delivering a high-powered punch to Gorem's gut, driving him all the way down to the ground. Due to the power transferred to him through Kuzuha's technique, this was more than enough to ensure Gorem's passage to defeat when he hit the ground, making a dust cloud surround them both for a brief period. The impact was so great that their battle area was a near replica of a wasteland. Gorem's ball form lied at the center of it all with Allen unconscious not too far from him. "Seems you weren't going to end us like you said you were. Isn't that a shame?" Noland taunted after winning the battle.

Suddenly, a loud crack was heard somewhere close to them. "Hm?" Noland looked around to see what it was per his curious nature, and he was suddenly reminded of the reason why they had as much time to deal with Allen, Tank, and Markus. Kuzuha had erected a barrier to keep the Pack out of their way while they deal with their commanders, but even they knew the barrier wouldn't last forever. Their constant pounding on it was causing it to give as cracks started to appear across the entire thing. "I know this should have been talked about before we did this, but we do have an escape plan, right?" Drago hesitantly asked while not trying to show his apparent fear for what was going to happen if the barrier was destroyed before they were done. Noland swiftly moved towards Allen to take control of Gorem and ensure that Allen wouldn't be effective upon his awakening. "...We didn't really get that far in that discussion, did we?" Noland realized the flaw in his own thinking since he knew none of that was said before they battled these three. He did know that Kuzuha had an ability that can allow them all to make a quick getaway, so he would mostly rely on that. However, if Kuzuha didn't do so, then... "We might be screwed if Kuzuha is unable to cast it..."

[Tracy White]

Tracy was dumbstruck when Tank played the most powerful fusion ability she had ever seen aside from Drago's Dragonic Boost. The technique literally made him close to invincible from any range as he had access to every weapon to attack and defend at the same time. It was really unfair that he had that kind of power from her point of view. There was no surprises that Tracy and Makoto were forced to be defensive again since they could not find a weak spot with all of the attacks being declared by Gladion. She wasn't worried about Skystar being defeated by this maneuver at all since she trusted her own defense to hold out. When being assaulted, Skystar used her discs to shield her from Gladion's weapons by the usage of her Orbital Shield ability that granted her the same control over them as Sentinal Automation did with the exception of this being used solely for defense. They each emitted a blue hardlight shield around them and moved from side to side whenever an attack threatened her. She could guard against them effectively, but Gladion's personal confrontation was a surprise. He bypassed her defenses and fought her hand to hand, which was a big no no for a cleric like her. After taking some damage, Gladion retreated to his chariot and used an ability to send them backwards along with the debris that he forced from the ground below. 

"I know exactly how to deal with those weapons, but will it work with him this focused? One disc can distract him while the other destroys the weapons, but what if he sees through my strategy?" Tracy began to doubt whether she could touch Gladion with his weapons still able to be used at will. She could have focused entirely on that matter to come up with an idea, but it would be hard to keep the attention on her own fight when hearing Seiki losing more than her own. For a moment, Tracy was frozen in place with grief flowing through her veins as soon as Markus and Tank dealt the final blow through their hurtful words. "...I...can't..." Tracy silently spoke when looking at Seiki's predicament. "Why would anyone ever do that...? That's just too evil...even for any of you in your mind controlled states...if you're even mind controlled...and for Nero. Is this what winning a battle has come down to? You have to literally destroy every ounce of life anyone has left by attacking them like that?" Tracy was really close to changing her target to Gargulion out of spite when he had mercilessly struck Seiki and Akane down. Fortunately, Ahio had managed to evolve, and used a new ability to stun all three of their opponents. This was especially necessary for her battle with Tank since his weapons needed to be destroyed in order to damage Gladion safely. Tracy was excited once Seiki had done this for her, and silently thanked her for the assistance. 

Knowing she would not have much time to act after Ahio stunned Gladion, Tracy put her plan into action. All she needed was one card to do the job, but she pulled out two cards anyway as a form of expressing what she really thought about the insensitive comments that were made for no good reason. "I'm ashamed to know that you're nearly as much of a douche-bag before as you are now, but that'll all change with this next assault. Don't bother saying anything else as if it'll change anything; you're done." Tracy played both of her cards simultaneously, pointing her gauntlet towards Tank in a threatening gesture. "Double ability activate! Frost Fire plus Judgment Arrow!" Skystar dislodged herself from the wall Gladion pinned her to and utilized her discs for presumably the last time due to the energy used to charge them fading a little. They hovered on both sides of Gladion and unleashed a steady stream of fiery ice over the entire area. Doing so froze all of his controlled weaponry instantaneously as they were touched by the flames. The discs then proceeded to travel across Gladion's personal space to cut all of the ice sculptures they just made into pieces, effectively neutralizing the massive threat his fusion ability posed to them. 

It was as if Gladion's nightmare had just begun. Tracy has been able to counter all of Tank's weapons at once, but she did not end it there. The discs may have been forced to attach themselves to Skystar's body to recharge after their extensive use, but she had another ace up her sleeve in the form of Judgment Arrow. Once the discs had returned to their resting places, Skystar had applied lightning to her staff to form an arc on both ends of the weapon, essentially making it an makeshift bow. Skystar charged three orbs in the center of her arrow. They changed into three lightning-enhanced arrows that were growing in power as Skystar focused her shot directly on the dazed Gladion. She fired the shots directly in his chest, piercing him without trouble and infusing certain energy into him. Although the damage inflicted was sure to be substantial, the trick here was that it had planted a mark on him that can allow her to dictate what technique will only be brought upon the one that is marked. Fortunately for her, she chose to make it so that anything that affected Skystar or Ahrangi's power levels will be laid off of them for a while and have Gladion hurt himself with them, which was beneficial at the moment considering Gladion's inability to move as well as he could before. "Makoto, he's all yours," Tracy signaled.

[Makoto Nakashima]

Ahio managed to do something decisive for the entire battle against three controlled Resistors. 
That gave Tracy enough time to use her strategy against Gladion sending him hit after hit. This time odds were on their side and it was just about time for Makoto to react.
"I didn't hear you well, Stryker. Was I the one who was supposed to be defeated. I hate to disappoint you, but this battle is over." Makoto said to Tank with a smile and then put an ability card into his gauntlet. "Ability Activate! Twilight Falcon Blade!"

Ahrangi's swords and metallic wings started to charge up with intense energy. Then he swiped all four swords releasing energy blades against Gladion putting dents into his armor and releasing static electricity. If that was not enough Ahrangi kept on slashing and impaling Gladion with his numerous swords and when he was about to end his move Makoto played another card.

"Fusion Ability, activate! Twilight Warrior!" Makoto yelled and then card was active. Ahrangi made a thrust in midair and then slashed Gladion with all four blades at once. Gladion fell on the ground and Ahrangi launched thunderstorm out of his metallic wings wrapping Gladion into it.

"Game over" Ahrangi said and landed on the ground. Gladion was revealed to be in his ball form on the ground and Tank seemed to be knocked out unconscious due to the blast.

[Akane Huomoto]

Markus was easily the winner of that battle once Gargulion severely injured both Ahio and Torahu. Akane was really disappointed in the outcome of the fight since she did not fight him to the best of her abilities; instead, she was forced to hold back due to her teammate either launching attacks that could interfere with her own or getting trapped in dangerous situations that Akane was forced to help her out of. She could have easily fought by herself, but her emotions got the best of her since she did feel a little sorry for the Ventus girl. Unfortunately, that amount of attention may have lost the battle for her, and it was a definite stain on her own battle ability considering she could have done so much more. "Why couldn't I have teamed up with anyone else except for her? I can't believe I put myself at risk to help this girl..." Akane was really hard on herself for the state of the battle when looking at Torahu, who, after taking a serious blow from the gargoyle's final attack, was almost in the same condition as her battle partner. "Torahu may die if she's hit by either of those three, and it doesn't look like Ahio will be getting up soon, if ever again. We're in hot water now..." Suddenly, Seiki started to lose control of her emotions.

Akane was startled by the sudden outburst, having a wide-eyed look on her face when she turned to her side to see what was going on. She was very confused as she thought about what Seiki could possibly be doing saying what she was saying. Once she heard words related to suicide, Akane then became even more confused as she had always thought the dumbest of humans would ever consider such an option; she did give Seiki the benefit of the doubt in this situation though. "Is this some kind of mind trick that we're playing on the enemy now? I don't think I can do that, and I also don't believe it works on people that are evil," Akane whispered even though Seiki was not going to hear what she just said in the middle of her episode, and for good reason since what she just said might make it worse. Ahio then evolved into a much more powerful form and easily stunned all three of their opponents, making it much easier to deal with them. "Well...that was...um....interesting. Torahu, how are we doing down there?"

Torahu was using the last remaining strength she had in her reserves to return to her feet with the knowledge that one good hit on her may be the end. Seeing Gargulion vulnerable to an attack was what she needed to see to give her the motivation needed to continue despite her injuries. "I'm doing absolutely fine. I'm just slowly dying at the moment and struggling to move. Thanks for asking!" Torahu hissed. Akane rolled her eyes with a smirk on her face, holding up a card that was sure to give their opponent an attack worthy of their time now that she didn't have to hold back too much anymore. "Good. I was hoping you'd be fine. You don't really have to move to use this ability, so all I need is an accurate shot and we're golden. Ability activate! Amaterasu!" Torahu weakly opened her mouth to charge a flame. As she did this, her power level began to rise again along with the size of the fireball. Once it was complete, she released in it Gargulion's direction. Once it touched the gargoyle, it engulfed him in a blaze where there was no escape. "Have your retribution, bird. He doesn't have anywhere to go now," Torahu coughed.

[Seiki Maki]

"Did I...just do that?" What was once sadness due to not being useful on the battlefield has been overhauled by the shock of what she had just did. Ahio's attack gave Noland and Tracy the opening they needed to defeat Allen and Tank with alongside their Terrorist teammates. Seeing them emerge victorious after the attack she had just used made her feel very useful. "See? I told you you were worth more than what you say. Now it's up to us to finish off Gargulion," Ahio stated. Surprisingly, Torahu was still able to rise after their ordeal and use an attack against Gargulion while he was still. The fireball that was sent towards him ignited his body as soon as physical contact was made, which made his current bindings even worse than what it was before. After using the last of her energy to cast that attack, Torahu gave Ahio the opportunity to finish Gargulion off. Neither her or Seiki needed to think about doing that after going through what they've experienced; they were more than happy to defeat Markus after being slapped around the entire battle. "Awww. You're too kind," Ahio said in mockery of the Terrorist's inability to move and her obvious care towards them. "Seiki-chan, one powerful impact in his center mass should do the trick. Whenever you're ready..."

Seiki acknowledged Ahio's suggestion and picked out another card that matched the description of her words. "Lets try this one," Seiki called out when playing the card. "Ability activate! Tragic Hybrid!" Upon activation, Ahio's body started going through a slight transformation. Near her backside is where the third leg that her previous form wore proudly emerged once again. A green triangle formed on the ground with each side proportionate to the positioning of her three legs. Energy from the triangle's edges amassed above her head that formed a lucent orb. After a couple of seconds of materializing, the orb was thrown at Gargulion with unprecedented haste. As Ahio had previously planned, the attack had hit Gargulion in the center, which caused enough damage to send the gargoyle back into ball form and knock Markus out, all of which was seen following the disappearance of the smoke the attack's impact had caused. "We did it...we finally did it... Seiki breathed a sigh of relief once it was all over after spending so much of her energy just to make it through.

[Noland Hardy]

Noland saw all of the attacks that led to Tank and Markus' defeat, and was very pleased with the result. Now that all three of them were beaten, it was their job to ensure that Nero could not use them to do any of his dirty work again. To do that instead of killing them, Noland was going to get these three into a hospital so the chips can be removed as quickly as possible so that the mind control will cease to exist; however, in the event that they weren't chipped, and they did all of this with their own free will, which was highly unlikely since he didn't think Allen would do anything like that, they would be forced to deal with them either through killing them or imprisoning them as if they were terrorists. Drago scooped up their bodies in his right hand while Noland gathered their Bakugan in his own. This was when they realized that the Pack was getting closer to breaking in their barrier as the cracks started to become more plentiful than last time. "It seems like we're just in time. That barrier is pretty much done. We need to move, now!" Drago warned with a slightly high pitched voice, hinting at his apparent desire to not want to be there when the Pack invites themselves in.

"I agree. Daniel?" Noland looked at the Terrorist leader for an escape route. After watching him escape from Nero via teleportation, he figured that was the safest and quickest option for all of them to take to evacuate the mountain region before they were consumed by the Pack. "I don't know how far Kuzuha's teleportation ability is good for, but if we're going to have the best chance of living to see another day, we need her help, and we need it now before the Pack barges in here." Noland was reluctant to be thankful to who he still considered one of his greatest foes, but he couldn't deny that their assistance made fighting against the other three Resistors much easier considering they were slightly handicapped with two of their opponents outmatching the two girls due to their national status. "...We don't all agree with each other in a variety of areas, but what you've done for us today proves that there is still hope for all of us if we work together. There's a high chance that we would have been beaten if you hadn't been here. I'm grateful that we had each other's backs this time instead of fighting each other." Drago was tapping the ground with his toes waiting for Kuzuha to use the technique to get them out of there as he was getting impatient. "The clock is ticking, and we don't even know where these things are coming from either. How exactly will we push these things back?"

[Daniel Andersen]

Battle against three controlled Resistors finally ended in sweat and pain as those three lost the battle in their rampage. Even though Daniel didn't expect it to turn out that way he was quite pleased with the outcome as there sure was not enough time to hang around anymore. 
Members of the Pack started to do severe damage on Kuzuha's barrier and that was a sign to escape. It wasn't in Daniel's nature to escape, but at situations like those escape was a luxury that shouldn't be taken as a bad thing.

"I don't have a death wish for staying here." Daniel silently replied and nodded to Kuzuha to prepare for escape. Due to the long and exhausting battle even she needed some time to concentrate on some location where she was supposed to teleport others.
"Give me a second." Kuzuha said silently and then rose her wand in order to detect a proper location out of the danger zone and Pack's reach.

"I agree with what you said, Hardy." Daniel replied to Noland when he heard him talk about their combination of forces. "Unlike many humans I have met and talked to you seem to understand the importance of all this. Of humanity and Bakugan as well. Things that happened a decade ago set me as a nemesis of humanity." he continued talking and then set it on a more serious tone.
"Don't get me wrong here. I am not trying to justify what I have done in the past. It was not of my own will to do such things, but that is not important anymore. Past cannot be changed..." he added and then stopped realizing Kuzuha has finished her preparations.

"You wanted to know where they all are coming from and how to stop them? If you want the answer then seek it in the No Man's Land..." he added before snapping his fingers and signalizing Kuzuha that the time has come to disappear from the area. She hit the ground with the bottom tip of her wand opening some sort of the gate on the ground. Gate was like a pool of light with ancient symbols that were too complicated to read. Upon doing this Kuzuha's wand flashed and triggered a chain reaction in the gate.
Extreme light emerged from the gate and flooded the area with blinding effect and static sound. It was present in a few moments and then it suddenly disappeared....

...along with all Resistors...and Terrorists...
 

[Noland Hardy]