Episode 1: Vagabond in the Heart of Hate

[Kendrick Hardy]

With no sign of the law enforcement or the military, the Belphenoid would have easily made short work of us had it not been for the timely use of mace. The pepper spray I kept handy in certain situations since Daniel's rise to power gave Maya and I enough time to escape from the Belphenoid that attacked us at the shelter. I was hoping that he would worry more about treating himself rather than focusing on us, but the Belphenoid was highly pissed at me for using such a crime-deterrent. He made a loud howl that we could hear the full force of in the couple of yards we ran away from him. This was a calling mechanism used to summon more of his brethren by his side. I didn't look back to check how many of them responded to his call; however, I did hear the numerous leaps and landings performed by those who were in attendance. By the time I heard the last one, the only focus was making sure they didn't make it to us. Since there was zero chances of us outrunning any member of the Pack, I was constantly looking for ways out of the killzone since we out in the open. Fortunately, the Pack's activity damaged the nearby manhole covering that was blocking access to the sewers. Luck managed to be on my side this day by allowing us to have the most unsanitary escape route around. I didn't want to go in there, but it beats being mauled by Bakugan. Maya looked like she didn't want to go in either, but neither of us cared about what we thought about it. All we knew was that we wanted to live, so we went in before Belphenoid gave the order to come after us. 

After entering, I moved the manhole cover over the entrance to the sewer before any of the Pack saw us head in. Just being at the top of the ladder we had to climb down already exposed us to the horrible smell that was down there. While it was very close to intolerable for me, I couldn't imagine the effect it would have on our bodies in terms of our scent, which may make it easier for the Pack to keep track of if not dealt with very soon. We finally touched down on solid ground after the longest ladder descent ever since Maya was taking her time getting down. When I landed, the first thing that came out of her mouth was that she was surprised at how well the sewers were lit, which was very surprising to her considering Markus always told her certain scary stories involving the D.C. sewer system. She wondered if the tales of sewer gators were actually true. I couldn't confirm if they were down there or not, but I did tell her that there was a high chance Serpenoid were down there. This made her shriek since snakes were at the top of her most feared things. I was confused that she was so surprised by it and referenced the fact that a woman had an unfaithful encounter last year with a seven foot Serpenoid when it crawled out of the toilet. She angrily asked me why I didn't say anything about it earlier since she was more afraid of Serpenoid than the Pack, and punched me in my left arm. That was honestly the hardest any girl has ever punched me. I knew I would be feeling the pain from that one for a very long time.

[Kendrick Hardy]

As I'm holding my left arm from all the pain I was feeling from that punch, I was considering giving this girl a piece of my mind for treating me like that after saving her, except for the fact that I only succeeded in sacrificing my chances of being among the safe ones and didn't really avert any dangerous situation. The thought still counted in my opinion though since I didn't just leave her there. All I could say to her after that was that we had a very "nice" first impression of each other before going off on my own to cool off. That's when she stopped me and asked where I thought I was going. I simply told her that I was finding my own way to safety since I apparently brought her into a death trap full of ravenous Serpenoid, not that I would have known that prior to coming down here in the first place since she never said anything nor had any knowledge of them. I suggested she climb back up the ladder and join her "buddies" on the surface even though I probably shouldn't have said that. Before I tried to leave once more, I sincerely apologized for bringing her into such a tragic mess. Those comments stunned her enough to not pursue me any further as I continued down the path alongside flowing sewage.

It would come as no surprise that I had no idea where I was going. I was stricken with pain and anguish after being hit on the same arm that I hurt from the Asmodeus incident, and I was worried about how the Pack was going to be stopped. More importantly, I was worried about Noland. I didn't know where he was nor what could have become of him after this assault. I was definitely concerned with how Grandma must be feeling right now with her grandsons in hostile territory. This was the scenario that she was trying to avoid for the both of us; yet, even I couldn't prevent myself from being in the same boat as my brother this time. The scary thing about all of this was my abandonment of Maya despite originally getting caught up in turmoil trying to save her. There was so much going through my head that I didn't have time to correct my sense of direction. Wherever the path led me was where I'd be.

[Kendrick Hardy]

Five minutes have passed since I departed from Maya. I ended up in a large water complex where the paths began to branch out. This caused me to think of Maya a little since I knew she could have gotten as lost as I was provided that she didn't actually listen to my advice from earlier. Using stress as an excuse for why I left her by herself wasn't completely justified since I'll most likely have to answer for her condition since it's already known that she was with me. Then again, I could easily say that she was lost in a gamble with Belphenoid and completely throw away all of my morals to get off easy. It was there that I knew I had made a mistake out of being pushed to my limits. I suppose learning to keep your composure when people anger you is apart of the growing up process. As smart as I claimed to be before, this was a stain on my established reputation. Looking for her would be a smart thing to do now that I've gotten myself together, but where would I start? I don't even know the exact path I took to get to this complex, so what makes me think I'll have any luck finding Maya? Stupidity can be a harsh creature to tackle sometimes.

Once my resolution was clear, it was time to think of possible routes I could take to possibly get closer to finding her. As this was done, there was some background noise heard that awakened the fear in me. I paused for a moment to check my surroundings. I looked down to my feet and saw a rat run past me as if he was startled. I believed that the rodent was the one making the noise, so I began to calm down. Still, the fact that a rat was enough to do this clearly shows that Maya's questions at the beginning brought a little paranoia into the mix. The possibility of a sewer gator or a Serpenoid gracing me with their presence was something that only the most suicidal person would want to wish on themselves. For the time being, there weren't any of these species detected in the sewer so far, so that is a good thing even if no one knows for sure. The lights were extremely dim on the path to the east, so I ignored it for now since I wouldn't see Maya taking a path like that. I chose to go west.

As I did so, something blue stuck it's head up at the center of the complex, or so I've heard. I immediately turned towards the center to pinpoint whoever caused the noise this time; yet, nothing was seen on the water's surface. The water's dark color may have been a contributor to me not being able to see much of anything, but the sound was too clear for it to be ignored. Something was definitely in that water. The mere thought of something jumping out on me caused me to make the quickest exit from a room that I've ever done. While looking down at the water as I was running, a ripple could be seen in the water where an assumption could be made that there was a swimmer keeping up with me. That was when I knew I was in huge trouble. Out of nowhere, the creature jumped out of the water and landed a couple of feet in front me, revealing itself to be an Aquos Serpenoid as predicted. I slowly backed away from the snake as it was slithering towards me until I ended up at the water complex again. By that time, there were numerous heads being stuck up on the surface. One of them appeared as a large one in the center of the pool. It then began to talk, and ordered me to explain why I was in their territory.

[Kendrick Hardy]

Their sudden appearance startled me to the core, so they didn't hear a peep out of me. Whoever asked me that question grew impatient, so it took my arrival there as an exact of aggression. The Serpenoid that got my attention earlier, the one who they call Viper, wrapped it's tail around me, yanked me from the walkway, and placed me close to the head of the creature that spoke to me. It then reiterated the same question as last time, and stressed that it would be in my best interest if I provided an answer for it this time. Not wanting to get eaten in the same place I escaped to in order to prevent myself from being eaten, I them I was hiding down there in the sewers to escape from the Pack invasion and was sorry that I unknowingly trespassed onto their territory. The creature then poked it's head out some more and revealed it's blue color hue, signifying that it was an Aquos Bakugan. It became curious about what I was talking about and wanted to know more. I explained what the Pack were currently doing to the Bakugan and the humans while they were casually ransacking the place. The Bakugan sighed as it had an idea of what I was speaking about. It ordered Viper to release me back onto the walkway as it began revealing who it was.

I didn't recognize who the Bakugan was, so I automatically asked for a name. The Bakugan's species were referred to as Phosphos, a species native to the waters of Gundalia. I didn't know what Gundalia was, but Phosphos told me that it wasn't important that I knew of such a place at the moment. What she did say was that she was left there from an earlier attack the Gundalians made against the United States due to the fact that she had failed to uphold the duty she was assigned for by the Emperor. She considered attacking the humans unnecessary, so taking a backseat to the destruction is what got her alienated from the planet; thus, she took refuge in the sewer system since the humans were already irritated at her presence from the attacks and kept bugging her in the oceans when they attempted to fish her for cold-blooded murder. She did admit that she was awfully disturbed by the uncontrolled amounts of snakes occupying the sewers and shamelessly suggested that the humans were almost as unsanitary as the Gundalians.

With her past dealings aside, Phosphos began focusing on the predicament with the Pack. She asked if their was anyone above them that they listened to. Nero was the only name I had on record that was remotely close to filling that role, so I made sure he was known to them all. Viper hinted that the person in question sounded awfully familiar to the person that dumped Phosphos off at a place like this. When he said this, Phosphos looked over towards him and activated an ability, Head Plasner. This technique lit her exposed forehead with a bright blue color. She would then shoot a powerful stream of energy from it. The attack struck right beside Viper and hit something, later revealed to be another snake-type Bakugan I knew as a Rattleoid. The Rattleoid managed to flee the area with its life in shambles. Phosphos was disappointed in everyone else's lack of awareness of their surroundings and ordered all Serpenoid to migrate to another area before they are attacked again. Confused, I asked what all of this was about. Phosphos turned her head towards me to ask if I came into the sewers alone. This made me think about Maya again, and of course, I was forced to answer the question truthfully and admit that I didn't know her whereabouts due to us splitting up. Phosphos shook her head in disgust, making sure I knew that what I did earlier was a grave mistake.

[Kendrick Hardy]

Viper picked me up with his tail once more to place me on Phosphos's back since she would move faster swimming than I would running. She led the clan through the dark path I avoided earlier to a more colonized area where there were a bunch of Serpenoid slithering around as if this was their home. What scared me the most was that it was their home, which would scare anyone else who isn't aware of the intimidating number of their population down here. My presence on Phosphos's back caught everyone's attention, which scared me a lot since I wasn't comfortable with this many snakes looking at me wide-eyed. Phosphos mobilized all of the Serpenoid for an attack against the rival clan in search for a human. Hearing that caused my heart to stop for a moment knowing that she was referring to Maya being messed with by the Rattleoid.

A Darkus Serpenoid in the crowd was confused about why they should even have to do that when a human would get animal control to remove them from their space when they're minding their own business. A Haos Serpenoid voiced her disgust about it by recalling the events of how a human tried to hurt her with a hoe for sleeping near their front porch. A Pyrus one wasn't too happy about the order either since he was messed with quite a lot when he was keeping the rat population for someone's house quite low until they found out he was there. I told them that snakes aren't really the most favorable animal humans want to look at, which is why they often receive a negative reaction. Another Serpenoid popped up and asked what made us think they wanted to look at us every day. My response to that was that whoever said that proved my point by acknowledging that everyone has a different tolerance level for certain things, and that snakes, with Rattleoid often being the culprit of this, scare people a lot with their behavior and threat level, especially the Black Rattleoid, an evolution of that species that is the most poisonous snake known to the humans. I also mentioned the fact that a Serpenoid climbed up someone's toilet, which caused one of them to yell out that it was an accident because they were curious.

Phosphos grew tired of the constant back-and-forth conversation. She brought Belphenoid's name into the conversation, which shut all of them up instantly except for the Darkus Serpenoid who spoke up earlier. He still didn't understand what the Pack's presence had anything to do with me or Maya. Viper stated that they all owe Kendrick for acting as a messenger to what's about to happen to them concerning the Pack's purging of the Bakugan. He then asked if it would be wise to prove Nero's point about them being mindless animals if they were to sit back and watch a human be killed by their own rival species out of disgust for what has happened to some of them. He took it even further by questioning how they value someone else's life regardless of what species they are, citing Phosphos as one of those Bakugan that didn't have to save them from Lythirus. While that short speech did win over the Serpernoid's allegiance, I was once again confused about the name Lythirus since I don't remember any Bakugan like that being seen on Earth.

Phosphos knew that I didn't know what a Lythirus was, so she explained it to me. She said that it was a crustacean native to Gundalian waters. She also cited him as a jerk who shares the Rattleoid clan's love for taking over areas of the sewer that he doesn't need. That pretty much confirmed that Maya was taken hostage by the description of Lythirus' behavior, so I asked how much of the sewer they actually had control of. Viper stated that it was very little in comparison to Lythirus. Phosphos theorized that the reason why Kendrick was still able to walk around freely throughout his territory was due to wanting to see where they were, which was why they were ambushed by the Rattleoid hiding in the shadows. With nothing more to know about what we were up against, I asked if they would escort me over there since I had a bone to pick with Lythirus if Maya had actually been taken by them, which definitely happened. Phosphos agreed since she actually owed me as Viper stated.

[Kendrick Hardy]

Out of nowhere, a voice was heard that acknowledged Phosphos' statement by saying that she owed me death. From the direction where it came from, three Bakugan in ball form rolled into the complex and stood, revealing themselves to be the Bakugan that I definitely did not want to see down there more than Lythirus. It was Belphenoid, Asmodeus, and Abbadon. The Darkus Serpenoid that I've actually started to dislike lunged at the Pack, but was swiftly dealt with by Belphenoid's Gorgon's Gaze ability that turned him into stone after staring into his eyes. He was then shattered into pieces by Abbadon's brute strength. The Haos Serpenoid actually thanked the Pack for doing that, but was met with a grim response from Belphenoid as he stated that she was next. Phosphos quickly denounced the Pack and was prepared to attack them. Asmodeus released a fake screech toward us that sent Phosphos and the Serpenoid backwards with ease. This also launched me off of her back and into the wall. Belphenoid didn't seem to think Phosphos was a threat to him by the way he called her weak. He was rather disappointed that she didn't take him leaving her on this planet as a sign of her needing to toughen up. Phosphos recovered from the attack and was very confused at what Belphenoid said to her since she didn't know the Bakugan...at least not in the current form he's in. Belphenoid laughed at her for not catching on to what he was saying and told her to listen up as her Emperor was speaking.

Phosphos didn't care that he wasn't done talking and revealed more of her form by releasing two of her other heads. She then used the ability Spit Poison to fire a stream of energy from all three of her heads towards the Pack's faces. The attack successfully hit them thanks to its impressive speed. The Pack became blind by the poison on their faces as it started to spread throughout their bodies. Before the Pack could nullify the ability, Phosphos rushed towards the three of them and pulled them under the water using her jaws. The only thing that could be seen after that was blue energy lighting up under the water before an explosion occurred underwater. After a couple of seconds, Phosphos emerged from the water unscathed. I was impressed by her strength to be able to handle three of the Pack members by herself without anyone's assistance. Despite what was said about the Serpenoid that just perished, she jumped out of the water and picked up what was remaining of the Serpenoid to have a moment of silence for him. Once she was done, I warned them all that there were more of them on the surface that are stronger than the ones Phosphos just defeated and that they can summon Bakugan whenever they want to, which meant that they needed to get out of there before more of them show up. Phosphos nodded her head in agreement. She ordered all of the venomous Serpenoid to stay with her while she's in stealth since Lythirus can see through her ability. All of the Serpenoid that weren't venomous had the strongest bites than their allies, so they stuck by me.

With everyone's assignments given, Phosphos commanded everyone to begin moving. We crept through the sewers for 10 minutes as she kept checking each corner for a Rattleoid. Phosphos openly admitted that they were all at a disadvantage since all Rattleoid are venomous snakes that can camouflage themselves while only a few Serpenoid reach that level, and even then, their venom is a joke compared to theirs; however, what the Serpenoid did have over the Rattleoid was a stronger bite and superior coil. This was said to prevent anyone from doing something they had no business doing and to ensure that they pay very close attention to their surroundings. As soon as we started to get close, Phosphos used Stealth Claw to turn invisible. She began seeing a couple of Rattleoid camouflaging, so she quietly dispatched them using her claws. We were only a step away from Lythirus' base when Phosphos was shot at by him, forcing her to disengage her stealth and hide behind the wall leading to his complex.

She commanded all of her venomous Serpenoid to spit their venom at the enemies, which caused them to fall back into their actual home. I couldn't help asking if this was some kind of underground city since I never thought that there would be this many Bakugan able to live in a place like this nor did I think there were suitable conditions for an extended stay here given what this actually place actually is. One of the Serpenoid beside me told me that there was a reason why they don't like workers coming down there since they're usually armed with Bakugan to check the area, which explains the amount of space that the sewer has. He also said that was the reason why the sewer smells better than normal is because the workers come down here way too often, and that they stay out of the human's mess. We confronted Lythirus and his gang of Rattleoid and demanded for Maya's location. Lythirus started joking around about it by acting like he didn't know who we were talking about. This really made me upset, so I began to yell the question. Lythirus laughed maniacally about my anger and said that he didn't know where she was. He paused for a moment before saying that she had left already. I wasn't sure if I should take that as a dirty way of saying he killed her or if she truly had exited the sewer already, but his attitude got me fired up really fast. Phosphos threatened Lythirus to disclose her general direction so she could be found, but he didn't have any of it. He opted to "have some fun" as he put it, so the Rattleoid clan jumped out of the water by his side and were poised for battle.

(Boss Theme)

[Kendrick Hardy]

This is where I regret being the age I'm at now. Since I'm not of the legal age to be a brawler, I did not have access to Dad's gauntlet, which was now in Noland's possession. Without it, I couldn't analyze Phosphos to download her cards, which meant that I was basically a liability in the battle; yet, she decided to include me in it anyway. The Serpenoid and Rattleoid charged at each other viciously. As I watched the carnage unfold, Lythirus began laughing uncontrollably as he assaulted Phosphos with his Megalo Scannie ability. His eyes acted as his sensor, which made it possible to constantly track Phosphos' movements as he shot multiple laser blasts at her through his pincers. She struggled to dodge it as a result of this, but countered with Head Plasner to shoot at him using her forehead. Unfortunately, Lythirus' pincers were hard enough to resist the attack without any noticeable damage, placing a look on my face that made it seem like what he did was undeniably unbelievable. He expressed his delight that Phosphos was just as easy to deal with as Maya was in an attempt to get me even more angry, and it worked. He then used Merfolk to bombard Phosphos and the Serpenoid with an electric attack from his mouth.

Since I didn't feel comfortable being a useless member of the team, I began shouting commands to Phosphos and the Serpenoid despite the fact that I was unable to use their power efficiently without the proper brawling devices. I ordered Phosphos to slow down and watch her movement. When I looked at Lythirus' eyes, it showed a reflection of Phosphos, which automatically said to me that her movement was being tracked, allowing him to easily anticipate her movements on-the-go without moving a muscle. I told her to make a splash in the water with enough force to block his visual of her, which she did without question. Once she was out of sight, I told her to go into stealth. She used Stealth Claw to become invisible. Lythirus was unable to detect her in a timely manner unlike what he could do if he had 100% visual perception, so he was wide-open for an attack from behind when Phosphos cut him from the back. She continued slashing him until some of the Ratteloid caught on to what she was doing and attacked that position with their Poison Fang ability. Since they thought they were being sneaky by it, I alerted her to the incoming attacks. She quickly cut through them using her Hunter Rip ability, but this allowed Lythirus to regain his visual of Phosphos. At the very least, the damage inflicted was substantial, and it made him not joke around about the circumstances anymore.

I told the Serpenoid to spit venom at Lythirus to keep up the pressure, which was something I learned from Noland. He withdrew to the deeper part of the sewer and ordered the Rattleoid to retreat. Phosphos was impressed with the way I directed the assault despite facing superior opponents and wondered where I got my sense of battle from. Part of me wanted to give credit to Noland, but I didn't want anyone to know me just for being Noland's brother. I wanted my own sense of identity, so I decided to tell her that I've always had a natural instinct for strategy. Thankfully, she took this reason without asking any further questions. Many of the Serpenoid gave me high-fives with their tails, but Viper warned everyone that it wasn't over yet since we still had Lythirus to deal with as well as finding the little girl. Phosphos completely agreed with him and ordered everyone to get in formation once again as they went to face Lythirus in his lair, which, by that time, I didn't know how many hideouts these Bakugan had since I've seen so many of them. I was the last person in line as we went on through to the back to see Lythirus being backed by a Belphenoid. As if this scene didn't make it enough of a freak show, I looked up and saw Maya webbed onto the walls as she was tortured constantly by the slithering of the Ratteloid tongues.

[Kendrick Hardy]

I angrily called Lythirus out for lying about Maya's status. The Belphenoid was rather disturbed that a Bakugan as crafty as Phosphos defeated three of the Pack members by herself, but still congratulated her on her accomplishment. He said he was just passing through to check on his former subordinates, one of which has willingly been accepted back as an honorary member of the Pack, Lythirus. Phosphos asked how far he had fallen to be placed in a body like that since she found out from the way Belphenoid worded his sentence from earlier that he was Dharak. Belphenoid rudely ignored her question. He used his energy to open a portal in the area to summon a horde of demonic water bugs that resembled Lythirus. He eyed me specifically as he addressed the earlier macing when one of them tried to eat me. He told me to consider it a miracle that he doesn't have the time or energy to spend dealing with Maya and I personally since he was ordered by the original Pack members to return to the front lines to take care of the anti-terrorism unit. He did promise that once he was finished dealing with them, he was coming for us unless Lythirus deals with us before he does. Once he was finished, he faded away into the darkness, leaving Lythirus with his army consisting of Rattleoid and the swarm.

Due to Belphenoid's interference, we truly were outgunned this time. We were attacked immediately after his departure, leaving no time for me to think about how to retrieve Maya. Viper stayed behind and discussed a possible route we could take to get closer to her. Before we came up with the plan, I asked if Phosphos was going to be alright combating Lythirus herself. As she continuously sliced through multiple bugs, she confidently said she would handle him. Lythirus slyly activated his Eel Weakness ability to restrict her ability usage. When Phosphos attempted to attack him with an ability, it simply became nullified upon activation, allowing Lythirus to have the Rattleoid sink their teeth into her with Poison Fang to complete the combo attack. He then used Acid Bath to cover her face in a poisonous, bubbly substance before sending her away with a focused blast from his pincers using Megalo Theria. Phosphos was sent into the water horribly injured from the blasts. Now the only Bakugan left to defend me were the Serpenoid, and I wasn't sure if Viper was strong enough to handle this monstrous Aquos Bakugan on his own.

His strength didn't matter to me though. My only concern was if the snake was skilled enough to outmaneuver Lythirus in time to still make victory a possible achievement. I told Viper to lead a squad of Serpenoid underwater to check on Phosphos and to stay under there until I call for his help. Viper asked what the purpose of that was since Lythirus could still detect their movement, but I assured him that every strategy isn't perfect. Left with no other bright ideas, Viper complied with my order and had Serpenoid dive into the water. Lythirus deemed my attempt to outsmart him futile and used Megalo Scannie to constantly shoot anything that moved underwater. At the same time, he ordered all of the Rattleoid and bugs to attack me and the Serpenoid standing guard. I yelled for Viper to resurface as soon as they began their approach. As I predicted, the multitude of Bakugan consisted of too many to be tracked effectively by Lythirus, which allowed all of the Rattleoid and bug Bakugan to be pulled into the deep to meet their end by the resuscitated Phosphos who later resurfaced with noticeable injuries. She made it clear that there isn't a single species in the Bakugan race who has the venom necessary to kill her, indirectly calling Lythirus' and the Rattleoid's poison vastly underpowered compared to hers.

The Serpenoid started to lunge at Lythirus from every direction. He cursed my ability to discover the flaw of his Eel Weakness ability and attempted to cut through the approaching Serpenoid, but he was unable to land a hit due to so many coming at him at one time. Because of this, the Serpenoid were able to constrict him. Using three of her heads, Phosphos activated Tri Viper to fire streams of energy towards Lythirus. It began tearing through his skin rapidly until Lythirus finally grew tired of the situation. He activated his most powerful ability, Death End Merman. Multiple water spores appeared out of nowhere that filled the entire area with water, which was a very dangerous move towards Maya and I especially. Considering she has seen this technique used against us during the 9/11 incident, Phosphos ordered all Serpenoid to evacuate the area as soon as possible. Viper took this opportunity to cut off the restraints holding Maya to the wall and was proceeding to skedaddle with his Serpenoid, but we weren't fast enough. Lythirus' technique submerged us all underwater, and he was preparing to hit us all with a high-powered hydro-pressure blast.

Considering all of the injuries I've received, the commands given, and the stress from worrying about Maya too much, I couldn't put up a fight against the strong current. I was swept away without too much effort on Lythirus' part, but Phosphos gave him a parting gift. She fully opened her form to reveal all seven of her heads for her usage of Gorgon Viper, her most powerful ability. As she did before with Tri Viper, she charged a blast in all her mouths, but this time, she made it a conjoint beam that clashed with Lythirus' cannon. My eyes were open long enough to see the clash, but I had fainted before I could see who the winner was. As I was unconscious, I saw myself in a strange vision where I relived an entire lecture given from Noland when he listed all of the reasons why I shouldn't become a brawler. He solemnly expressed his regret that what they thought was a game where everyone could come together as a community was only a war starter meant for causing pain, and that if I were to come into contact with the Bakugan and have something even worse happen to me, he'd never forgive himself or the Bakugan for what they did to him and his family. Those were the words of the legendary hero, the one who now fights to protect us all from the darkness, the one who never wanted anyone else to know the same pain, and the one who could erupt at any moment since I now know this same struggle.

I awoke some time later after being rescued by the Serpenoid. Viper was tending to my body while I was unconscious. When I rose to my feet, I saw Phosphos swimming beside me, confirming that she had won the fight against Lythirus. He was laid out on the walkway with numerous bruises. I congratulated them on their victory since they earned it, but Viper corrected my statement by saying that we earned it together, including me in their group now. I was delighted by his showing of gratitude, but I wanted to know more about Maya's situation than anything else. The Serpenoid's mood changed into depression as they directed me towards her body. I stood there speechless by what they were intending to communicate through their facial expressions and silence. I begged for them to tell me that this was all a joke, but they looked very serious about it. I quickly approached her to check on her vital signs, but as I did so, Maya sprang up and latched onto me, which probably came close to ending my life out of fear. She considered it payback for leaving her there with that monster of a Bakugan. She then hugged me closely and thanked me for saving her, which made all of the Serpenoid stare in complete silence as they shipped us. I blushed in embarrassment of the situation, but was happy that all of this didn't end in complete disaster...yet.