Episode 32: Deadly Rivalry

[Daniel Andersen]

"My purpose is not the reason for killing humanity. In order to act I need orders and there were none, so I never acted...but this body had other intentions...just because I control it now it does not mean my control over it is ultimate and so goes for my actions..."
Daniel pulled out another ability card and activated ti immediately as his gauntlet made multiple crimson flashes. "Destroyer Arts: Suicide" Daniel spoke and then granted one of Wolveride's dangerous abilities to Kuzuha. Kuzuha's armor that was given by Wolveride detached from her body and launched itself towards Drago. Armor then reshaped itself to look like a war airplane. Armor used its powerful jets and directly struck into Drago's chest forcing Drago into the wall and making a large crater on the wall. As that was not enough armor flashed in blue color and an explosion occurred. That started a chain reaction of explosions chaining one after another making Noland realize that Daniel made that armor self-destruct near Drago doing him massive damage in the whole process. "Sakura Art: Clock Of Past" said Daniel and activated one ability that was quite close to Kuzuha's sorcery nature. Violet flames engulfed her and everyone in the room could hear a clock ticking even though there was none. After clicking a few times it stopped and mechanic sound was heard from Kuzuha's flames. Flames disappeared revealing Kuzuha in a new Wolveride armor again. Daniel was not bothering in repairing the old armor since it was making a good use as a kamikaze while the new one could be built by using a copier ability.
"It is weird, Hardy...living in this body...however, this body was not a doll created for me to take...it is a human that was forced to live in one body along with me...I hear him every day...screaming...crying...I guess that is all of his life that is left...despair...

[Noland Hardy]

Noland simply closed his eyes and shook his head at Daniel's final comments while Kuzuha used the armor in a kamikaze attack. His left hand and BrawlX was already glowing with an ability before it ever made contact with Drago, giving him reassurance that he was still able to keep on going. "I've heard enough out of you for one life, Daniel. It's ironic how you consider Kuzuha your puppet while you allow whoever created you to pull your strings. You're a really sad soul, Terrorist." The smoke from the self-destruct revealed a heavily fortified Dragonoid on the wall with his wings covering the front of his body as well as three Nova Dragons wrapped around his body. This time, both Drago and the avatars were rainbow colored, signifying that they powered up using the special power in order to fortify their defenses even more. "It seems Faultless Guard and Eternal Gazer together are more than a match for that mechanical armor of yours. But hey, like Drago said earlier, at least you tried."

Noland placed a rainbow-colored ability on his BrawlX in order to quickly dominate the battle to a point where Kuzuha would not be able to adequately keep up. "I wonder if this will make you question the extent of your own power," he joked. "Ability activate! Hyper Supremacy!" Noland had activated the supremacy ability that was theoretically more powerful than his strongest abilities, Genesis Supremacy and Dragonic Boost, in terms of overall objective use. This allowed Drago to combine two of his attacks into one, and any attack used with this ability automatically scaled to supremacy tier regardless if it was already on that level or not. He decided to join Diffuse Buster and Power Bomb. A total of four giant rainbow fire balls were launched from Drago and the three Nova Dragon's mouths. The diamond on his forehead shined in order to manipulate the fireballs to join together, forming a huge mass of fire that was highly potent in explosive power. "Catch this one for me." Drago then used Power Bomb. He gathered large amounts of colorful energy towards the center of his chest that formed a large orb that was a bit reminiscent to the orb shown on the murals. Once he deemed the attack large enough, he flapped his wings to release the attack towards the attack he declared earlier. Diffuse Buster would then be detonated by Power Bomb the moment the two energies collided with each other, which is sure to severely damage anyone caught in the blast.

[Daniel Andersen]

Attack Drago initiated hit Kuzuha since she was unable to avoid it in the time with her ability cards. Blast spread through the area and sent Kuzuha flying into the wall with her armor being destroyed. Daniel looked at the whole spectacle from Noland without even making a blink or following where Kuzuha went. 
Kuzuha barely got up to stand using her wands as her support. Blood was coming out of her mouth and she was obviously damaged from the attack and a lot damaged.
"Useless...." Daniel said quietly as he looked at wounded Kuzuha without concern about her health or anything. He made one sinister look as the crimson energy started to spawn around him; the same energy from moments ago; the same energy he used on Ahio and attempted to use on Karen. "What...what are you...?" Kuzuha mumbled since she couldn't figure out what were Daniel's plans now with her. She was quite frustrated and tired from the battle, but he did not seem to care. "Slumber..." Daniel said as he wrapped up Kuzuha in the energy his body was producing. Kuzuha was in huge feat as she did not know what do anymore, but before she was even able to decide or say anything it was too late.

Daniel took complete control over her body making her glow in crimson and he used some kind of a booster on her. Her wand completely transformed into a large scythe and her suit went completely black as the blood that was dripping from her body started to burn the ground where it fell as it was some kind of acid. Daniel stepped in the middle of the battlefield.
"Whether you die or not it will not make difference. So, let's at least make some use of you..." Daniel said to Kuzuha who made a step towards Daniel and stood right to him with her scythe and her now mindless body under complete Daniel's control. Only thing Kuzuha could do was to mumble words without making any sense since she had no control over her mind anymore that she only could mumble words. They both stood on the battlefield waiting for Noland's move at the moment.

(Boss Theme 2)

[Seiki Maki]

“Aw gimme a break, now THAT is sickening!” Ahio screeches, mildly disturbed by the sight she saw in more ways than one. It was just… strange. For this ventus bird at least. She gets up onto her legs slowly, her power coming back to her from that attack that Daniel decided to throw at her, sapping her energy or something like that.

Seiki sighs as she gets up, her energy now recovered as well. The attack had effected Ahio but it had also affected her as well. With a strong bond between her and Ahio, they could somewhat feel each other’s feelings. Both the good and the bad ones. “Let’s see how this one shall play out.” She murmurs as she draws her card, holding it in-between her index and middle. In a swift motion she flips the card over as she calls, “Here we go! Echo!”


Ahio gives what can be considered a cross between a happy chirp and a feral growl as she charges right in and smashes into the possessed Kuzuha. At the site of the impact, the field was suddenly plunging into a haze, one that resembled TV static. “Sorry for doing this Kuzuha… This should really be directed at Daniel instead but I’ve gotta stop you first.” The bird chirps quietly, wanting to help the darkus bakugan. Even though they were enemies, and Ahio hated enemies with some passion, she wanted to help this one. Maybe it was because she was being used in such a way?

Seiki walks over to a get a nice and somewhat safe view of the field. “This should have blinded both sight and sound for Kuzuha… But… I’m not too sure if it was actually effective at all seeing how Daniel is the one now in-charge of her.” She runs her fingers through her ruffled up hair, amber eyes reflecting stress. Seiki didn’t want to get knocked down again and just sit on the sidelines watching, so she had to avoid being beaten down again. “Daniel is really going through about beating us down…”

[Daniel Andersen]

At this point Ahio was able to recover its power and do damage to possessed Kuzuha who was already beaten from the fight with Drago. Daniel simply rose one finger upwards and made a telepathic connection with Kuzuha's mindless body. Even though she was knocked down by Ahio she simply rose back without any trouble.
"Brave attack, but...she is asleep...I am the one in control..." Daniel said in his sinister tone which has gone even darker and for some reason Noland and Seiki could notice his eyes water as he was going to cry. That really looked unusual on Daniel that he could even produce tears, but it did not seem he was doing it on purpose or in any current reaction.
"Shackles...of...Fallen One..." Daniel said as he used his own skill at Kuzuha to initiate an attack she naturally could not use since she was 10 evolutions away from it. 
Kuzuha summoned chains with shackles around her and made them float before launching them all against Ahio who couldn't follow their speed. Chains wrapped up Ahio not letting it to move and the shackles captured Ahio's neck and legs. When that happened Kuzuha pulled chains towards herself and grabbed Ahio by its neck. In that moment a black cloud was created by Kuzuha's transferred skill and it wrapped up both her and Ahio making them basically invisible in all that rush. Only things others could hear were sounds of rapid and strong slash against an object...or more like against Ahio. After a few hundreds of slashes which seemed ridiculous to do in only 3 seconds black cloud disappeared leaving everyone in a shocking sight.
Kuzuha's scythe not only broke through black cloud, but destroyed shackles and heavily wounded Ahio after which it was punched by Kuzuha into the ground making another crater.
Kuzuha was still mumbling since she couldn't speak and her blood kept on burning the ground as some sort of deadly acid. Daniel slowly pointed towards Ahio and Drago and Kuzuha didn't even make a word, but started walking towards those two as some kind of a zombie.
When she came close to them she rose her scythe at Daniel's hand command and then the scythe started glowing in dark-blue announcing the next attack.

[Seiki Maki]

Everything happened in a blur, not even Seiki who was watching from the sides could comprehend what had just happened, but she knew something bad had happened once Ahio’s body had come in contact with the ground.

Ahio lets out a few incomprehensible chirps in attempts to say something but with no avail. Her feathers were coated with the stuff inside of her that wasn’t supposed to be flowing out of her at such a rapid pace and decorated the ground as a puddle beneath her, it felt like that once battle where she evolved all over again. Except she was in a lot of in her evolved form and Seiki wasn’t in too much depression on anything. Her blue colored eyes wander over to see the scythe that was held over her, a dark shadow looming over her. Hey look. It’s my own personal reaper.

“Not this again,” Seiki grumbles as she starts to go into a massive coughing fit, violent enough to the point where blood started to appear and drip onto her clothes. Falling on the ground her vision then started to flash a dark red and her surroundings where changed into something you would see out of a gory horror movie. There was blood splattered all over the place, most of it on Ahio, and then the unnecessary stuff that is supposed to be staying inside of your body to help you live a healthy life, lying around the place. W-what is this? The girl asks herself as she curls up into a ball, holding her head and closing her eyes shut to avoid seeing the gruesome sight. Her body continues to shake due to her shivering and coughing, the red liquid continuing to dye her clothes crimson.

[Daniel Andersen]

Kuzuha moved away from Ahio who was severely damaged and crushed to the ground.
Ahio was already crushed an unable to counter-attack while Seiki was engulfed in shock, despair and depression, so there was no battle to be expected from them. Daniel was not interested in battling Ahio since there was no more battle inside Ahio and Seiki.
He pointed his finger to another direction moving Kuzuha with his control as well.
"....ghh...." Daniel already seemed as he was in pain as well as Seiki, but not in that much pain. It looked like his usage of power started to meet limits of the human body he was using making his heart skip beats, eyes shed tears and blood boil. Even though he was perfectly able to control Kuzuha and fight in the same time he was reaching his limits due to an incapable human body. 
"...Ignore the girl...and the bird....." Daniel said to Kuzuha who was still in her zombie mode and prepared to fight Ahio like a beast despite Daniel had no interest in continuing battle against her.
Kuzuha then was brought to Daniel's side of the field awaiting for two Resistors to do what they were intending to. Since Daniel simply couldn't exceed the limit of the body he was using there was no point in rushing into an attack.

[Noland Hardy]

Noland disregarded Seiki's depression completely this time around. Daniel posed too great of a threat to him and everyone else to falter from a disturbance such as this. That didn't mean that Noland simply had lack of care for her. He cared about her greatly and wanted to comfort her; however, as he implied at the beginning of the battle, he was not going to allow anyone else to jeopardize him or anyone else based on their own actions, so if they did something that provoked Daniel and/or Kuzuha into doing something violent, it was their responsibility to handle the situation, not his. Still, Daniel's handling of Ahio in her weakened state was definitely gruesome and uncalled for. He brutally put her down in order to make sure she didn't get back up to attack him again, which was a very understandable move when faced with such odds in battle. That part didn't bother Noland as much as the next and most important detail from that entire process: the complete takeover of Kuzuha's bodily function despite severe injury and lack of sufficient power to use such forbidden techniques. "I'm shocked, Daniel. I really am," Noland sighed as he shook his head at Daniel's nonsense. "You had the chance to take her life, but you chose to leave her incapacitated on the floor. I would have given you a round of applause for finally doing something right in your life, but then you took control of a dying Kuzuha and exerted more power than she has right now, completely neglecting the state of her health. All of the positive points you earned just plummeted straight back down."

While a bit fatigued from his arduous fight with Kuzuha, Drago landed on the floor to recover and eyed both of his opponents to see if there was anything that could be effective against Daniel's power. As he did this, he noticed something very strange about Daniel that none of them normally see. Daniel was actually shedding tears. This caught Drago's attention when he noticed Kuzuha being recalled from using her scythe to attack. He began to wonder why Daniel would cancel an attack like that and call her backwards. "That decision may not be based on his morals," Drago hinted since he knew one or both of them must have hit a power cap. He shook the pain off while smiling at his opponents in a slightly evil manner. He didn't smile because he discovered their key weakness; he smiled because he knew that there was nothing Daniel or Kuzuha could do to win themselves the battle. "This is the perfect ending for you two. You've always claimed you had us in check throughout all of our clashes, but now, you have nowhere else to go. The battle has finally come to its end, little boy. Checkmate," Drago declared with a stern expression on his face.

"Karma's a bitch, isn't it, Daniel?" Noland asked as he clenched his left fist and put the corresponding arm up one final time to signal his finishing move. "Ability activate! Oppresive Air!" Without moving a muscle while his feet were fastened to the floor, Drago glowed with bright colors for a brief moment before releasing heat from his body that coated the entirety of Daniel's side of the field like a heat wave. At its weakest, the hostile environment was more than enough to send the weakened Ahio back into ball form where she returned to their side at Seiki's knees. As for Daniel, the situation was only going to become worse from there. The temperature of the heat was too much for even Pyrus Bakugan to survive in safely. Its damning heat completely destroyed any hope for solid air quality through the poisonous gases that were released from below due to that area essentially becoming volcanic. Steam erupting from the destroyed portions of the floor only intensified the dangerous conditions Daniel had to deal with, and it was only going to get worse as time went on. "There's nothing more we can ever say to each other that may make things better. Neither of us have to say anything really. The arguments we all have are nothing without action, and it looks like yours didn't have enough backing to prevail against Nero's, or against mine. I have one final talking point for you though: I win, you lose."

[Daniel Andersen]

Attack that Drago directed towards Daniel and Kuzuha obviously packed a lot of power not only to damage those two severely, but to kill them without doubt. Considering Daniel's body limit to use his more powerful attacks this was more or less like a dead end to him and Kuzuha.
At this point there was a thin line between life and death to him and this Drago's attack might turn it even more towards death. "I remember...this...it is something like Krakix's ability...Homura Firestorm if I am not mistaken...well then..." said Daniel and then surrounded himself in crimson energy as his eyes turned red completely and red mist was coming out of his mouth and nose.
He started looking like something from a horror fiction movie as his hair took spiky form and weird marks started to appear around his body. 
"Limit Breaker...Dragon Demon Eclipse" He started to pump up with energy as he used one of his limit breakers in order to exceed limits of the human body he was using. 
Doing that he then started to initiate another ability which was far more powerful than ones he used before and that is why using it without limit breaker would be instantly fatal.
"Curse of Seven Deadly Sins" was activated by Daniel at that moment and seven marks appeared around his body in a circle formation and it appeared that those marks were marks of Seven Deadly Sins known in Christian religion. "Obliterate!" he ordered and once he did that his body suddenly created an extreme explosion of energy in seven different colors which symbolized deadly sins and collided with Drago's attack. Two forces started to cause explosions all over the place and ground started to crack while walls and ceiling were already severely damaged.

This went on for about 10 seconds where not Daniel or Drago were at advantage and then another explosion occurred. And it was the last one. Blinding light was produced from that explosion that no one could see anything. Blinding light soon disappeared only to reveal ruined area covered in craters, dents, cracks and debris. Smell of death, fire and blood could be sensed wherever a step was taken. This battlefield was more of a mortal combat area; it looked like a massive graveyard itself. 
Daniel's hands, head, legs; almost whole body were covered in blood. Not like the last time when Drago and Gorem evolved, but this time was even worse.He looked like he was swimming in a pool of blood and that scenery was surely not a nice one to watch.
He was breathing heavily while covering one of his eyes with the left palm. As for that crimson energy was wrapping him in form of static electricity. 

Kuzuha was released of his spell at the time and her reaper form was changed back into her natural form. She was barely holding ground after Daniel used his forced power-pump on her and she had to kneel on hands and knees since there was no more strength in her to keep her running anymore. "Wh..what...is happening...where am I...?" she was whispering and then looked at Daniel. Once she noticed his appearance she was completely shocked to see that he did that to himself. She was not even aware that she was under the spell, so couldn't even tell what else was happening. "....what happened...to you?" she powerlessly whispered to him as he was not even moving, but just standing on that one place with his gaze turned to the floor.
"Andersen happened to me...I cannot reach my full power...without losing balance when I'm in his body...I am cursed to be this weak..." Daniel answered to Kuzuha with a dark tone without even moving his head to look at her. He was disappointed with the body he was using since its capacity was as much as of any human. 

"His voice...is still ramming through my head...it is just too painful...to listen..." he continued while referring to a voice he was hearing. "Why am I to blame...for his destiny...?!" he continued referring to the voice in his head. "Quit it..." he said and the grabbed himself by the head as he was in some sort of great pain. With moving his left hand he revealed his left eye he was covering moments ago. His left eye was not of the crimson color was it used to be. Unlike the right crimson one, left way was colored in sea-blue color for some reason. "I said quit it..." he kept on repeating as some sort of unbearable pain was coming to his whole body and was not coming from Drago's attack, but from something inside.

[Karen Valentine]

The struggle was finally over. In an intense final battle in one of the most deadliest rivalries in existence, Daniel had truly been defeated this time by Noland. This came as a surprise to Karen that Noland was able to win despite what he was up against. Montai was the more surprised one since she didn't think the result would be so far in their favor. "I didn't think anyone in here could do that except for Nero. That boy can brawl," Montai accepted. The amount of power Daniel had in unison with the extremely versatile sorceress Kuzuha placed the Terrorist on a level where the only one who could safely dispatch him was Nero, but Noland just proved that even he can stare down any powerful enemy that stands across from him and beat them without showing a hint of weakness or surrender. "Noland, your father would be very proud that this victory of yours just saved millions of lives across the planet, a purpose which was Vince's original goal with that project of his. Whether you kill or spare Daniel is completely up to you, but do one of them quickly so we can go. He has wasted enough of our time."

Karen was not as optimistic about Noland's decision as Montai was. The Terrorist has stabbed her with his words and attempting to kill her too many times for him to just be able to squeak by again. The length of the battle allowed her to be brought back to full power, allowing her to stand up on her own without any signs of fatigue or injury. "I don't care what the hell that thing over there is. He's fucking dead," Karen grimly stated. She began cracking her knuckles in anticipation of doing what should have happened to Daniel after he was beaten by Noland and Allen months ago. She took steps towards the fallen Terrorist while staring at him coldly the whole way through. On her way there, without looking, she reached in her pocket and pulled out two items: a pair of keys and an ink pen. She took the pen in her left hand while holding out a key in her right hand. "There's no need to worry about anything else, Daniel. I'll just do to you what you tried to do to all of us, and what you've already done to many others. Our pain is now yours."

[Noland Hardy]

After the power struggle, Noland had finally put his rival down for what seems like the final time he will have to do so. After the battle, he knelt down and closed his eyes for a moment while breathing a sign of great relief that the Terrorist was finally brought to his lowest in what seemed like forever. This was only a brief moment where he silently celebrated since the fight wasn't over yet. Nero was still active, and Daniel had wasted enough of their time to where anything could have been done by the CIA Director. He got back up and was non-sympathetic for Daniel's current condition. Their lack of care was especially seen through what Drago did after Daniel and Kuzuha were defeated. He took steps towards the beaten Kuzuha like a giant. Once he reached her, he lifted his right foot and said, "There's a simple answer to explain what happened to Daniel. He lost, and so did you." He kicked Kuzuha with only five percent of his power to send her back into ball form. This finally brought Daniel's life gauge to 0, winning Noland the brawl.

Noland heard Montai's words about his actions and offered a very clean response to what she said. He looked back over his shoulder and, with a conceited smile, said, "It's not just about my dad and what he thinks anymore. The belief in fighting for what's right is shared by plenty of people across this planet. As long as anyone sharing that belief with him and I are brave enough to stand up and resist, then they're just as important in this fight as we are. That's what's important." Noland didn't offer a comment about what he was going to do about Daniel since he truly didn't know what to do about him. Daniel and Kuzuha are not in any position to pose any danger to them any longer, but an enemy this dangerous being spared could be extreme incompetence on his part. Before he could offer any input, Karen already made the decision for him. She began approaching him with two improvised weapons in order to finish off the heavily injured Daniel who was vulnerable to any amount of damage the two objects could cause. Drago looked down at Karen as she walked past him. He didn't seem to care about what she was about to do at all. "You do know how to use those, right?" Drago joked about her attempt at a gruesome retribution.

[Noland Hardy]

Before Karen got her revenge on Daniel for all that he has done, the remaining Resistors barged into the room with their respective Terrorist subdued. Markus was carrying Akane while Tank was dragging Makoto. When they walked in, Markus casually joked about the destruction of the area by saying Noland never ceased to disappoint in throwing around his weight. Tracy noticed that Seiki was injured and ran over to her to check on her. She summoned Skystar and began healing her and Ahio, which Seiki was very grateful for. Tank was overjoyed to see Daniel on the floor defeated for the final time and personally thanked Noland for finally bringing him down. Noland accepted his thanks and turned to Allen. With a smile on his face, Noland bumped fists with him while joking around about him keeping Tank in check in relation to the sparing of Makoto since he knew Tank was more than ready to end the lives of the Terrorists. Allen smiled back and said that it took a lot out of him to not let it happen. He then looked at Karen and Montai and was rather confused about what was going on; however, once he got a good look at Daniel's body, that in itself distracted him from the two women being by his side. Allen was very curious to know what resulting in this battle since Akane and Makoto's cases were completely known.

Noland did not answer any questions relating to the battle and was primarily focused on getting to the Dark Zone, which he urgently asked Montai to show them the way to. Before she did, Montai asked the Resistors a difficult question: Will they kill the Terrorists or spare them? Noland didn't feel that it was necessary to kill Akane or Makoto since they were no longer threats, but was on the fence about killing Daniel since he was the most threatening opponent to him other than Nero due to his status as a Bakugan, which completely shocked every Resistor and Terrorist that didn't know about it. Tank seconded Noland's suggestion. While he did hint that there was a lot of retribution he wanted to personally hand out himself, Tank knew it was in the best interest of everyone else if Daniel dies. Seiki also suggested to kill him due to what she was put through with Ahio rushing them to hurry up and do something since she was getting really impatient. Karen was on board with this without a doubt, but Tank rudely interrupted her by saying her opinion didn't matter since she should be in the same boat as they are. Karen thought about getting mad over it, but noticed it was no use considering she needed the Resistor's protection due to her being unarmed and knew they wouldn't take duress as an acceptable excuse. Gargulion playfully theorized that it must suck for a Bakugan to ever be stuck in a human's body since he knew that same attachment he has for his own gargoyle body wasn't felt by Daniel at all, but wasn't opposed to trying it some time. Markus warned the Bakugan not to get any ideas, believing that he could become a potential host for Gargulion if he was thinking along that path.

Tracy then theorized that it might be a bad idea if they kill him considering they would only be taking an innocent life in the form of the actual Daniel Andersen, which was something she didn't feel too comfortable doing. Markus noted that she had a point in her statement, but was more concerned about what type of Bakugan was actually inside Daniel that could potentially be released by the death of Daniel's mortal body. Torahu's sprite took this as a hint of affection for backing Tracy up and made it known to them all that she was shipping them both, which caused both Tracy and Markus to shout at her to shut up in a comedic fashion. Allen informed them all that those three were likely going to perish anyway since their crimes were already worthy of carrying the weight of the death penalty, so it would be best for the entire world to know what they've done rather than locking it away forever by putting them out of their misery. Noland turned to him and asked if he had an idea to keep them imprisoned while they attempt to end the apocalypse. Allen acknowledged that he did as he summoned Gorem and ordered Tank and Markus to place Akane and Makoto next to Daniel. They did so, and Gorem covered the three of them in hard rock using his Rockslide Entombment ability to encase them on the wall, which was then hardened by Drago's Molten Surge ability. Markus then summoned Gargulion and shot the structure with Petrify, making the prison even more impossible to escape. He then absorbed the power of their bodies and their Bakugan, which sealed off their Bakugan from being used and preventing the Terrorists from having the energy to move on their own.

Montai noted that she informed the police on the whereabouts of the transporter so that they'll be dealt with. She then told them all to follow her quickly as she led them down the same hall Allen and Tank came from. Before they departed, Daniel cursed Noland and made sure he knew he would never forget this defeat. Noland shrugged his rival off by telling him that this was only the first step in the idea of justice he told him about during their fight. He brutally shamed Daniel for doing the things he did in an innocent person's body and made it clear that there will be a day where he will pay without bringing harm to the actual Daniel. With that said, he departed from Daniel along with the Resistors and never looked back. During the journey, Noland began explaining everything that happened throughout their trek in this strange, hidden facility including the powered up versions of the Pack that they'll have to deal with momentarily. They went in the room where Makoto committed the first act of murders. Montai was horrified at the scene of death and did her best not to pay attention to it as she went to the console and opened the hidden elevator door that was blocked by all of the dried-up blood on the wall. Montai told them all to get in without her as she chose to stay behind, but gave Karen a Bakugan to use for her own safety. Karen asked why she wasn't coming with them out of confusion. Montai simply kept it as paying her dues to society, but promised that they'll meet again soon. With that said, the doors closed and sent the Resistors to the Dark Zone.

During the elevator ride, Noland made one final statement to everyone before facing their ultimate challenge. He understood that all of them have various things in common, and knew that they all had their differences with each other whether they admitted it or not, but in the end, he was glad that they were making a difference as a unit. He didn't know whether life or death was to be the result, but he knew that all of them, even Karen, shaped him into the brawler he is now, and that he can fight Nero without any regrets of the past nor the shamefulness of the present; rather, he can focus on what's important for all of their futures to be intact. Markus noted that this was the most humbling year in his life, and praised the fact that he had lost so many battles as he had gained so much more out of them than he would have if he won since they changed him. In fact, he noted that all of them were changed as a result of this, and if anything, the only thing remaining for them to do is to have faith in each other's abilities and fight as one like they always have. He placed his hand in the middle, which was then followed by everyone else except for Karen, but her hand was forced in there by Noland who stated that she was there with them, so she was just as important. Tank made a quick rundown of what they were going to do once they reached the Dark Zone, and stated that this will not be their final battle if they keep each other accountable. The scene ended with all of them shouting a chant that Tank usually kept with his original teammates: All for one, and one for all.

Meanwhile...

The Police manage to creep their way into the base after being told how to get there by Montai. She met them at the entrance and led them to the captive Terrorists. Once they got there, they were really excited at the opportunity to put them behind bars that they began acting in an unprofessional manner in front of them all by celebrating. Daniel spat on their parade by calling them weak for needing the help of children to have a crack at them. This was countered by an officer who stated that they were now being taken into custody by the "weak" law enforcement, and asked what that makes him. Makoto silently whispered to Daniel that there was nothing that could be said to argue that point. Daniel angrily retorted that he never says anything anyway. Akane told them both to shut up since none of their talking was going to get them out of this mess. Daniel silently regretted that she was right, and resorted to cursing Noland out loud as they were being arrested.

[Noland Hardy]