Episode 29: Fiery Passion

[Akane Huomoto]

Akane's dark red eyes widen in surprise at the move while her partner... Well, she almost fell over and had the bomb go off. "What the hell is that... thing?" The pyrus terrorist growls, gritting her teeth together. It was all going just fine until they decided to become one with one another to create some mutant. "This is going to be a real pain..." She sighs as she looks over to her partner to see her reaction.

Torahu's was similar... But with a... different interpenetration.

"Is it really happening?" Her eyes that were once filled with shock were replaced with a sparkle. She attention shifts from the baku-mutant to the two brawlers who had fused them together in the first place. "YOU GUYS MUST BE GETTING MARRIED! Or, have some kind of veeery close relationship with one another." She hums, a smile on her mouth and her two tails waving happily with her ears twitching along. Then she whispers quiet enough for Akane and possibly her opponents to hear. "I ship it."

"Really?" Akane thinks as he mentally facepalms herself. The things that her feline partner thinks of sometimes... They truly are some of the strangest thoughts she's heard before. "No... They just fused together to make some mutant. Although, if they fused together like that, it must mean some type of close relationship..." Her words switch back to thoughts,"But not in the marriage sense." She shifted back to reality, now seeing that the mutated bakugan had shot some light stuff around the place. "Head up! Ability Activate, Freezing Flames!"

"Whoops, forgot to pay attention to the battle," Torahu states before she emits a ground-shaking roar, the flames that made her shooting out towards the attack and freezing the beams of light on contact, therefore nulling the ability and rendering it useless. "I froze the attack before it froze me!" Torahu chirps, adding a small hop to what she said, moving to another spot on the field where the beams of light wouldn't strike her if they were to be reactivated.

"That should work... Hopefully... But seeing how they are now a combination of one another... They could have more tricks up their sleeves," She murmurs to herself mainly, eyes part-way closed in semi-deep thought.

[Markus Hederick]

Markus was not too disappointed that Akane was able to avoid their attack the way that she did simply because their only purpose of activating that card was to get rid of the flames. He didn't think they would make it that easy, so it wasn't too much of a setback. Petrify was cancelled by the Mutant Skystar soon after it was stopped since she didn't want it being a hindrance to where she could move. However, what did rattle his mind a little was Torahu's suggestions about him and Tracy possibly having a deeper relationship than what was displayed. He simply shook his head at this behavior knowing that it was nothing more than utter nonsense only thought of by an imbecile. "That ridiculous statement doesn't deserve a single response from me," Markus calmly portrayed while revealing two ability cards to be used by their new BakuMutant. He started his move by only playing one to allow it to take its desired course before the real assault came into play. "Ability activate! Void Ripper + Starlight Breaker!"

The power of the combined duo manifested itself with this ability combination. Skystar's staff transformed into a sword. The entirety of it was bathed in a dense purple aura, which became clothed in Skystar's Haos energy to essentially form a twilight sword crackling in both conflicting attributes of light and dark. "Even though I could easily find a new body if you do something wrong with the cutting, you should still be careful where you aim, Skystar," Gargulion warned when supplying the energy for the ability. Markus didn't end it there though. The second card he had up his sleeve was more devastating than this ability. "We made a mistake letting you breathe from that last move. That mistake won't be made twice. Ability activate! Trio Synchro + Specter Flight!"

This was another combination ability that utilized Gargulion's craftiness in conjuction with Skystar's mix of variety. Trio Synchro temporarily removed the attribute symbols from Skystar's belt, but in return, two copies of herself appeared on her right and left side that carried one attribute she lost: Aquos on the left and Pyrus on the right. They also inherited the same twilight blade she was currently wielding, making her a triple threat. Then Gargulion's Specter Flight came into the equation. As an upgraded version of his pre-evolution's Shadow Flight, this allows the user to become with the shadows for a variety of offensive and defensive options. Markus chose for it to serve both purposes. All three Mutant Skystar's assumed a shadowy form to descend into the floor. They then traveled throughout the arena to mix up their approaches with Torahu being the main target. The Pyrus Skystar came up on Torahu from the West, rose out of the ground really quickly, and slashed her hip before returning to the ground. The Aquos one then approached from the East, swiftly cut across her arms and legs, and returned to the ground. The actual Skystar rose from the South right under Torahu's belly, sprang up, and jabbed her as she began steadily rising into the air with the tiger at its tip. The shadows then emerged from the ground and fused with her sword, thereby creating a triple node to make the weapon even stronger as it continuously cut into the Pyrus Bakugan in the hopes of decapitating her to remove the bomb. "You probably should've dodged that one," Markus sarcastically implied with a smile on his face.

[Akane Huomoto]

"Erm... Uh... What's going on?" Torahu asks as she watches the attack start to play out. "Being absorbed into the ground... And those absorbed spots are moving towards me..." It finally went through that mind of hers, but it was a few seconds too late. "Oh blazes!" The flaming blue tiger made an attempt to run, but was quickly shot which...

Made her tumble over.

Which means the bomb had been set off.

"Oh hey look, he's on," Akane hums happily like how Torahu did not too long back with her wedding statement, "Now you two are going to see what this little guy can do! It should be a very nice result."

A pair of double colored eyes widen, "I'm going to explode? In to smithereens of ashes and other fire-related rubbish?" She looks at the bomb which had indeed been set off by her tumble. "Yup, everyone here and close enough in a radius or something is to be effect by it's kaboom." She she says bluntly, "aaand we're dead..."

"Come on Torahu, let's keep going while we still have some sweet time!" Akane rather cheerfully in a predicament like this, calls as she draws out an ability. "Ability Activate, Flaming Insanity!"

"Do we have to die today? I wanted to see Markus and Tracy's wedding!" Torahu cries as she quickly adds, "maybe a double wedding with Gargulion and Skystar." Then her eyes started glowing in their respective colors as her flames really started to eat the air up, the bomb still ticking down with somewhere around a minute or so left? She charged straight at them as her body started to go corrupt slightly, the dark blue flames flickering to a black color. Her burning hot claws, unsheathed, lashed out at her opponents and dug deep in various places where she had went in a scratching frenzy, dealing some very lethal damage. It lasts not for too long, with the speed Torahu was going at, and landed swiftly on her four feet like felines were said to do. The effects of the attack Akane had sent out had started to die down, leaving the tiger at exhaustion. Alongside that, her dark blue flames had mostly converted to a deathly looking black.

[Tracy White]

"...Who gives a bomb a gender? And I already have a crush. Thank you for not asking." This is what Tracy was thinking about saying when Akane referred to the now-active bomb as a he, but then there was the problem of it being active in the first place. Tracy's gulp could be heard across the entire floor once the bomb activated. This gave her and Markus an easy doorstep into the afterlife when the allotted time given before the explosion expires. What made the feeling worse was that the person who was more than likely able to rectify the situation decided not to do anything about it and just accepted a fate that she could avert herself. Akane did declare an attack after the alarming revelation and dealt significant damage that, without Gargulion's enhancement, could have been detrimental to their overall success. "Any ideas of getting rid of the bomb now?" Skystar stepped back after being pounced on as she became very concerned about their survival at this point in the battle.

Tracy gritted her teeth while going through the nerve-racking process of thinking about a way around this predicament. The result was too significant to allow a weapon that powerful to be unleashed. They were supposed to be the heroes of this battle to save everyone. Was it still possible? "We're not going to get anywhere if we just stand here and let the time tick away. Let's go!" Tracy activated another combination ability. Hopefully, this would get them one step closer to the explosive. If not... "Line it up well, Skystar! Ability activate! Judgment Arrow + Touch of Stone!" This was the true test of fortitude for Skystar, her finest hour. The attack Tracy just declared would decide which direction the battle would take. If it hits Torahu, they would just need Markus's intervention to get them closer to the bomb. If it misses, it's game over. The ticking noise of the bomb was too fast to not be somewhere within the expiration.

"Here goes something." Skystar applied lightning to form an arc on both ends of her staff, transforming it into a makeshift bow. Three lightning-enhanced arrows were summoned and were being used as the projectiles. When the arrows were placed on the arrow and handled by Skystar, Gargulion added his own energy to the arrows to make them green in color. She focused her shot steadily as she viewed the fatigued tiger. Once she took aim, she shot the arrows at a breathtaking speed and was able to nail all three arrows into Torahu. "Bullseye!" Skystar celebrated. The effects of the arrows started to take its grip on Torahu. The feline was zapped with electricity around her body as the ability stripped her ability of affecting power levels. In addition to that, Gargulion's side of the ability took effect by gradually turning her to stone from the feet on up.

[Markus Hederick]

"She just had to tip over. You couldn't have still stood on your own two feet. You colossal idiots..." Markus was apparently unhappy with the bomb being activated. Gargulion interrupted the flow of battle and responded to Skystar's question about what could be done. "Well, I can't really think straight since you sound afraid. Since you're scared, I'm scared. Now we're all going to die." Instead of panicking, Markus took the time to think about what he knew about the bomb since it wouldn't help to beat Akane and take the bomb for themselves if they didn't know how to defuse it considering she did in fact de-activate it when it was touched the first time, revealing that it was actually possible to stop it; Akane just didn't seem to want to do that for some reason. He remembered every word that Akane said about "She did say that the bomb utilized the triple node that Skystar has... Hmmmm. That gives me an idea..." Markus was thinking creatively with the approach to this situation. With Torahu temporarily immobilized, now was the perfect opportunity to do what needed to be done to end the fight.

"It seems listening to Noland actually has its uses. There's no need to worry." Markus revealed two ability cards to use for his move. Instead of having a serious look on his face like Tracy had in a dire scenario such as this, he was smiling. It took him longer than usual to figure out what was going on, but this time, he had it all figured out. "You really should have kept your mouth shut about the components of the bomb," Markus noticed, eyeing Akane specifically when making that comment. "Go to hell, Terrorist! Double ability activate! Gargoyle's Grudge plus Soul Eater!" Skystar used Gargulion's ability to surround herself in a dense dark red aura that boosted her power to a significant level. She transformed the staff into a mace, and rushed towards the frozen Torahu using her shoulder pads as jets. She released this power in an upward swing to Torahu's jaw that sent her upwards. In the process, it dislodged the bomb from her back.

"Catch it!" Markus shouted. Skystar managed to keep her attention on the bomb when it fell and caught it before it hit the ground. "Skystar, activate the triple node you have, and then absorb. You have the same triple node contained in the bomb. You should be able to take that away." As she held it in her hand, she ignited all three symbols on her belt to make use of the triple node's power. She then used Gargulion's infamous Soul Eater ability that allows the absorption of power. She rapidly absorbed power from the bomb as it reached its final seconds. She then stopped once the process was completed and began tossing the explosive up and down in her own hand. "Without the triple node influencing its destructive properties, this should just function as a more powerful version of a frag grenade. It doesn't have the same power as it used to, which is a good thing." Markus gave a slight grin when confirmation of the bomb being rendered completely useless in terms of what it was actually designed to do made its way to him. "Go on then. Give the girl what she wanted all along," Markus signaled. Skystar jumped backwards as she threw the explosive towards the plummeting Torahu. She aimed it to where it would meet Torahu's intended crash path upon reaching the floor. She then took out her staff and shot a blast at the bomb to cause it to detonate where Torahu was.

[Akane Huomoto]

The tables have really turned, with Akane and Torahu obviously on the loosing end of the situation. The bomb that the terrorist had so carefully crafted was now going to be the death of her, and supposedly only her due to it being weakened to nothing more than your ordinary, weak and sorry excuse for a bomb. "Hm... I didn't expect for it to be turned out like this..." She mumbles to herself, "But, an ending like this should be rather fitting... I suppose..." Her eyes close as she awaits for the impact of the bomb. It was suppose to be skin-blistering and corpse burning... But that sensation never came.

"Ya know... Bombs and I... Don't really mix..."

All that could be seen was a dark screen of smoke which started to fade away. Akane was still herself, all in tact with only a few burns here and there. But...
"Tora...hu?"

The said once flaming blue bakugan only had a few spots of flickering blue left, lying on the ground in front of Akane. Majority of herself was stone due to the attacks she had received, and the rest were the deathly black flames that appeared due to the life draining attack Akane had set out to play. "Hey Akane... I used the remainder of my blue flames to protect you from the bomb... Isn't that... Cool?" The feline rasps, blinking irregular and breathing very unsteady.

"No Torahu... You can't..." Akane gently picks up the once flaming beast and hugs her, what was left of the feline that wasn't covered in all stone. "Yeah... It was pretty cool..."

Torahu gives a weak smiles before the stone-making spell crawled up to her face. "Don't be so sad... We'll meet again soon... Perhaps... Sooner than you think..." And with that, she had been completely covered in stone. An aching feeling tugged at the pyrus terrorist's chest as a single tear rolled down her pale cheek.

"We'll meet again soon..."

A rather familiar small blue flame hidden in the background of the place appeared for a brief moment.

"Perhaps... Sooner than you think..."

[Tracy White]

"It's finally over...but at what cost?" Tracy was a bit sorrowful that they had to resort to mortally injuring Torahu in order to save them and everyone else in the surrounding area from being burned to ashes by a weapon that should have been kept out of anyone's hands in the beginning. It was fortunate enough that her and Markus were enough to prevent this catastrophe from overlapping the current one where there would have been no hope for stopping the Pack members that have already spread themselves among the surrounding states. She looked down at the emotional Akane with skepticism. Tracy wondered would the Terrorist would do from here on out considering that her guardian had received enough damage to not be useful in her endeavors any more unless the form she assumed was temporary while she healed. Maybe it was a blessing that this was the fate brought to her, but was it really right to think that way? Probably not, but for the sake of argument in this situation, it was for the best.

The transformation deemed Akane defeated, so her life gauge immediately plummeted to zero. The result of the brawl made Tracy think a little. She remembered herself being at the mercy of Belphenoid back at school when she recalled her original intentions when she acquired Skystar: to become a 'Justice Fighter' equipped with the ability to purge all evil. "It's a bit strange that what I said then is what I think now. I always wanted justice, but...what does that even mean? Is this really the only road to so-called justice? They apparently have feelings too..." Her mind was filled with so many questions without answers. Skystar took notice of this when observing her surroundings for any more threats. Tracy's face was in a state of shock and thought, so she did what she usually does and gets involved. "Is something on your mind, Tracy? I imagined you'd be proud of what you both were apart of just now. You saved so many lives....including the lives of your friends and rivals. You should be happy." Despite still thinking about answers to those questions she had to ask herself, she looked up and put a smile on her face. Despite how it was done, it did save a lot of people. That's what they set out to do in the first place, so she can't be disappointed in that. 

"Oh, it's nothing important," Tracy responded to play it off. "I guess the obvious question now is whether Makoto or Daniel has any schemes of their own planned after Akane brought this up out of nowhere. If it's anything like this, they could be in serious trouble." She looked at her partner in battle to see if there were any possible thoughts as to what was going to be done about Akane at this point. He would more than likely have a better thought than her considering he isn't as compassionate for villains as she possibly was just now, so whatever he had in mind, whether it was the right or wrong thing, would finally deal with this threat to humanity and Bakugan for good. "Well, we have to do something about her now. We can't just leave her here by herself. It's not like she's going to be able to harm anyone else, so...do we have to...you know...?"

[Markus Hederick]

The aftermath of the bomb detonation resulted in Torahu going through a death animation of some sort. That's at least what Markus thought about it. He didn't know the specifics of what happened with Torahu's final defense. Not a single piece of care was given towards that subject matter either. All he was worried about was the threat finally being silenced for good. He was fortunate that he finally took someone on like this and actually won like he should have been doing from the start of this year, but that was a topic he was forgoing in favor of this victory for now. "Torahu's flame being extinguished for the last time was the best thing that could have happened for everyone that has been tortured by this maniacal arsonist. In truth, she doesn't deserve to feel sad about the state of her Bakugan. If you can't handle what you dish out, don't serve it. That's the fucking bottom line," Markus heartlessly conveyed to everyone in the room, including Akane, purposely ruining what was supposed to be a sad moment.

The BakuMutation was cancelled by Gargulion upon defeating their foe. He separated from Skystar's body and began assembling his body parts around him. He built himself back up from scratch. He soon merged with the gargoyle body that he called home, a much nicer place to be in than someone else's. "I think it's safe to say that I'm keeping that technique's usage to a bare minimum. It did feel weird," Gargulion admitted. He began preparing himself for dispatching Akane and Torahu permanently until he noticed something very disturbing. He looked at the flame sprite that was supposedly Torahu. Seeing that made the Darkus Bakugan reconsider doing something that was going to be the most proper thing to do in this situation so that no one else can feel the wrath of this surprisingly threatening criminal. "What pain could she bring...when left like that? It's almost as if nothing will change regardless of what happens to her now. There's no use in striking her down. She's finished."

Markus was surprised that this depiction of an emotional event was enough to turn Gargulion away. He didn't understand what was going through his head. All Markus could think about was the massive amount of struggle they've all been through at every twist and turn with Daniel continuously managing to survive every encounter with law enforcement and the Resistors. He couldn't tell whether it would be the right thing to do in Gargulion's case due to Torahu seemingly being incapacitated or if it would be extreme incompetence on their part if they were to allow the Terrorist to live and give Torahu enough time to turn back into her previous form if such an action was possible, thereby giving her free reign to continue in her active duty as an arsonist who enjoys burning other things regardless of the effect it has on people.

Before Markus could respond to Gargulion's decree, the gargoyle charged Akane and drove her into the wall forcefully with his fists, injuring her to the point where she couldn't move. "Gargulion...didn't you just say..." After what he just said about not wanting to kill her, Markus was in shock that Gargulion pulled that sudden maneuver. "You didn't plan on leaving her in here, did you? She has to go with us somehow. A healthy Akane being handled by you two could cause more unnecessary conflict. It was best that she gets hurt now and everyone is good later." Markus nodded in agreement and proceeded to put Akane in his arms as they got ready to head out. Unfortunately, they were met with some heavy resistance before they got close to the exit. Guards were apparently dispatched to their location to deal with them. "So Tracy...you want to show these men what the state's best Haos brawler can do?" he asked out of respect for her abilities.

[Noland Hardy]