Episode 39: No More Chances

[Alana Cortese]

The blast from the clash created an energy spike that proved to be too much for both combatants to handle. Karen was briefly stunned when she was blown backwards by the force, but it did more damage to her than her opponent. Her BrawlX began to malfunction since it had taken damage from that stunt. "It seems you've broken her, Master Blaze," the Dharaknoid has acknowledged in its head rather than speaking through her body. In fact, it had ceased controlling her entirely. "We'll see if your belief still holds true when you gaze upon the awe-inspiring beauty of my greatest champion. This is where it'll be determined if everything you've said up to this point will have any meaning."

The BrawlX was utilizing some of the United State's most powerful technology. The one that was in use was the same application that Nero and Montai have utilized where they could assume the form of someone else provided they have a sufficient DNA sample. The form Karen was being shown as throughout her time there must not have been her original since she reverted back into someone quite familiar. It can be said that the certain someone was too familiar to Noland. Once the transformation process was reversed, it revealed the girl Noland had always blamed himself for losing and have wished for her return for as long as he could remember: Alana Cortese.

"Hmmm?" Alana observed her surroundings to see that she was in a coliseum full of strangers looking at her with surprised looks on their faces. "Why is everyone looking at me like that? Did I do something wrong?" She then looked on the scoreboard to see that she was listed on there along with Noland. She saw she was winning the battle, but that didn't seem to concern her too much. "How did I get involved in a battle, and..." She then looked at Noland, and his facial expression gave the gesture that he was the most shocked out of everyone in the coliseum. "Why are you giving me such a hostile look?" She looked down and saw a Darkus Bakugan next to her feet. She was confused that there was a Darkus Bakugan there since she remembers Siege as her guardian, and he was Aquos. "Can someone tell me what's going on here? You're all making this weird."

[Noland Hardy]

Drago was noticeably concerned about the battle itself since his efforts placed both him and Noland in a disadvantageous scenario where they're lagging behind Hydranoid by 20% of their power. If that wasn't enough to converge their full attention, they now had another problem presented in which the argument of Alana's presence being more unsettling than Karen's turning to the dark side was incontestable. "Oh my God..." Drago turned his head towards a very distraught Noland to shamelessly ask, "We're still going to stick with the 'whatever it takes' model in our battle plan, right?" Drago didn't want to think about Noland somehow having second doubts about his will to fight upon seeing Alana as an enemy, but he had a legitimate concern to think this way given his track record with the mentioning of the girl's name.

In normal circumstances, this can be cited as a good thing since she was still alive, which gives them hope that Vince is also remaining active despite missing in action; however, this wasn't anything remotely close to an average situation. Seeing someone he cared deeply for hardly represented Noland's thought processes when her appearance made him struggle just to return to his feet. His rage started building up inside, which was depicted nicely by the negative energy in his body reacting in a way that brought him close to being converted entirely. He started to wonder what kind of person he would be in striking down a girl who acted as a motivational symbol for him that shaped the majority of his character for the past two years, and that wasn't counting the fact that he had hoped to redeem that failure this day by saving Karen only to be confronted with the daunting task of defeating someone he wanted back.

Ambience

"This...changes...nothing..." Noland affirmed. He slowly picked himself up after being blown out of the water by Alana's frightening advances in power. Since he was trying his best to provide some checks and balances for the Dharaknoid's contempt for both his and Alana's bodies, he wanted to avoid going off on his own accord by aimlessly yelling threats down range when all that was going to do was fuel that devil's appreciation for its talent in creating discord out of anything it touches. "How...and why...?" Noland impatiently growled.

[Alana Cortese]

"Noland...what did I do...?" Alana was breathtakingly bewildered about Noland and Drago's response to her appearance. She guessed it would be the best thing in the world to finally be reunited, but their adverse opposition to her according to the way they responded shows that she may have caused more trouble than even Noland could tolerate from her. "The answer to the boy's question is more gruesome than telling you what we're accomplishing together today," the Dharaknoid morbidly confirmed. After chuckling under its breath momentarily, the Dharaknoid proposed an idea to answer the question their enemies asked since it was a rather entertaining story for anyone to know about from its perspective. "Don't try to play any mind games with him, princess. Even you remember most of the details surrounding your development. I'd prefer you fill in the missing pieces considering it'll make him even more angry, but I can do the honors instead if you're too afraid."

"So...um..." Alana became noticeably nervous at the thought of revealing what happened after she was sent to the Doom Dimension. That feeling intensified when she began recalling everything her, Noland, and Allen had done together that formed who they were as people rather than how they're looked at as brawlers. She was afraid that what she had to tell him will undoubtedly contradict everything that he valued in her and what she valued in herself. It was not a subject that she wanted exposed, but the Dharaknoid was insistent on ruining relationships before it continued its quest for absolute dominion over their dimension. "I hope this doesn't compromise our friendship..." Alana silently wished for in her head. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before revealing information that she didn't want told; the only reason why she was going to do it herself was mainly due to the Dharaknoid's amusement about this factor and how it would definitely follow through with its threat of exposing her, which may end up being exaggerated on its end.

"Go on. We're all eagerly anticipating your version of the story," the Dharaknoid pressed with a hint of amusement of its voice. Before she spoke of anything relating to that situation, she glared at the imprint of the Bakugan in her conscience. "Fuck. Off," she said. "You RUINED my life, and you find joy in crushing the lives of others. You're no different from the slave masters of the past; you're all talk behind the whip, but you're frail both in the mind and in your physical ability when there's an uprising." The Dharaknoid chuckled when it heard these allegations. It showed reckless abandon in the display of its power by exerting his anger on Alana's body as depicted by the sight of blood on her left arm where the BrawlX rested. "Sticks and stones, my dear, but this isn't about me. Let's hear about the lives you've ruined. There's a special someone that comes to mind when that topic has relevance. Want to talk about the actual Karen Valentine perhaps and how you ruined her life...permanently?"

[Noland Hardy]

Noland was getting increasingly bitter towards the Dharaknoid when it was attempting to coerce Alana into revealing information that wouldn't have been too pleasing to hear coming from her according to what was implied; yet, Noland only wanted the truth and didn't care who it came from. Even the combined optimism of the audience couldn't measure up to his agonizing pain that resulted from this revelation. He was really about to lose his cool once he saw blood running down Alana's arm due to the Dharaknoid's lack of care towards her body even. When he thought this would just end in him being solely focused on vanquishing the demon inside of her, one question that the Dharaknoid asked her caused every emotional fracture to be sealed up temporarily in favor of considering the abilities Alana might have gained following the events of the Gundalian invasion.

"You ruined her life permanently..." Noland processed through his mind. He didn't know if the Dharaknoid was trying to direct all of the attention away from itself. Regardless of what was intended by this diversion, it was a detail worth considering. "Based on the technology Nero and Montai used to utilize that application, a DNA sample was all that was required to adopt their appearance. Either Alana or someone else may have acquired Karen's DNA through unknown means to make sure no one knew of her return to the light," Drago understood. Hearing himself relay those facts to Noland caused him to slightly question their allegiance to Alana according to the language used by the Dharaknoid when bringing that story to their attention. He slightly turned his head to Noland and whispered, "This may be the perfect time to question our allegiance to her. I'm looking at her as she is now rather than what she was, and if that thing is alluding to what I think is being assumed, I don't imagine her looking too hot right now."

Noland took that opinion with a grain of salt. He rubbed his head softly since he was developing a headache due to the build-up of negative energy in his body. He looked Alana in the eyes and offered a straightforward response that can only be rectified through one solution. "Push the Dharaknoid to the side for now...I know what kind of monster it is," he said. "But...who is the person standing in front of me now? Based on what you've done using the power you grew with, are you a hero or a villain?"

[Alana Cortese]

"Uh oh. Someone's not going to love you anymore," the Dharaknoid sang in amusement. Alana was getting even more frustrated this time. The blood on her arm was a definite annoyance, but it was bizarre how she became the center of attention in the midst of the Dharaknoid even though she knew Noland's concerns were understandable. She simply sighed as there was nothing she could do to shut him up. Noland wanted answers, so she decided to give them up regardless of what results from it. "Being in the Doom Dimension is a traumatizing experience. The only element that brings life to that doomed place is the crying and hissing of the people and Bakugan that have perished there. That's not including the ones that had completely given up within twenty seconds of us being dropped off in the Dharaknoid's domain; yet, even though your dad and I wanted to think otherwise, we couldn't help but feel very uncomfortable about our chances of not joining the wandering plagues that tortured us every second."

She started developing a slight somber tone due to what she was describing since she was coming close to talking about certain things she doesn't want to relive. "He wanted to help that girl - Karen - for some reason when he saw her. She was just an emotional train-wreck who had been raped repeatedly by a certain guy and chose to side with him when her and her current boyfriend were having problems. Her constant moping was making our condition worse since we were already in a depressing environment. It was a shame to see who looked like a beautiful, intelligent girl turn out to be so...stupid, and that's just me being nice." The Dharaknoid mumbled a little while it waited for the actual statement to be said about what she did. "Alana savagely murdered Karen and possibly your father as well. The End. Fantastic. Congratulations. Fin."

[Noland Hardy]

Hearing those words from the Dharaknoid really took Noland and Drago's emotions and jammed them into a shredder. The thought of someone like the Dharaknoid or Nero doing that to Karen and Vince was much more preferable than someone accusing one of his closest friends of performing the deeds. What softened the blow for Noland was the fact that the Dharaknoid became impatient with her trying to form her telling of the events through a narrative rather than just admitting her guilt in the situation when so many more factors could be applied. He understood that from when he assaulted her during Kendrick's abduction since the mentioning of that event without explaining why would have given him a lot of flack in the arena and in the community. Drago didn't quite match Noland's optimism when he heard what the Dharaknoid said; what he chose to do with that information was store it in the certain section in his memory that reminded him of every reason why they previously wanted Karen out of the game initially.

"You may not want to hear this, but hear me out real quick," Drago started. "This is going in a direction I don't like. That Dharak may be crafty and insensitive, but it's surely not stupid. It put up that much of a fight to prevent us from getting to Alana, who it actually called its greatest champion. There would be no reason to entice us to fight her based on slander if we were that much of a threat to its dominance. Every foul thing that came out of its mouth has come to pass, and I don't think this one's any different. We can deny what we've just heard all we want to for the sake of preserving what little of a romantic reunion this is, but I fear that what it said might be the truth. She has 'changed.'" Noland closed his eyes, shook his head, and attempted to convince himself that it wasn't what it seemed. He opened his eyes to look at Alana one more time and kept it very short with her. "Is...is it true?"

[Alana Cortese]

Alana knew that what was said made her seem like the opposite of who she was to Noland when they first met, but the truth had to come out some time. She was definitely going to be badgered about the events surrounding his dad if she made it out of this situation an occupant in the world of the living; the way she made the Doom Dimension sound would cause someone to believe they're already dead. She was forced to accept whatever Noland chose to do with it, so when he asked the question in a very disheartening manner, she hesitantly gave him a couple of nods before continuing with her story. "If you were placed in my position at the time, and someone offered you a way out to see your loved ones again if you followed set guidelines, would you turn your back on your own people to achieve it? The cliche nowadays is for the usual hero to reply with an automatic no, but me...I came up with a different answer after the others locked theirs in."

Alana continued, "A skeletal Bakugan approached us within fifteen minutes of landing and offered us a proposition. Considering that Krakix and Siege weren't a match for him and his four gigantic bodyguards even after rallying others to their side, we were given a simple task. All we had to do was gut each other in a disorganized free-for-all; the last one standing gets the opportunity to go back home with a slight abnormality in their cognitive function. If all of us refused, we'd get our bodies taken over - kinda like you're seeing now - and will be forced to do whatever they say until our bodies can no longer handle the amount of stress the negative energy places on us. Everyone preferred the latter option except for the drama queen who thought it was a good idea to transform her suicidal antics that she had been developing from her relationship's fallout into killer instincts."

She did her best to refrain from showing any signs of laughter since she didn't want to give Noland the impression she thought something this serious was a laughing matter. She did find Karen's behavior rather comical, but it was curbed in favor of removing any doubt that she completely lost her mind. "No one just wanted to die without putting up a fight, so it quickly turned into a bloodbath where Karen ended up killing a substantial portion of us with a Darkus Midnight Percival. I didn't want to be next, so I put her down by having Siege impale her and Pervical from behind. Vince and Krakix tried to stop this by combating me since they thought I was such a disgrace for worrying about my own safety rather than hers, which, in all due respect, is ridiculous when thinking about the damage she could do here with that kind of power. As you can see by now, there was a clear winner in that disagreement."

[Noland Hardy]

"This isn't real...it can't be real..." Noland shook his head in disapproval after listening to Alana's reasoning behind killing someone. "So what you're telling me is...you saw someone that needed professional help, and instead of you subduing her just as you, Allen, and I have done whenever we could, you killed her? As for anyone who tries to get you to understand the full weight of what your eventual mistake would carry, you'd kill them too?" Drago was tempted to say the trademark statement whenever something like this would happen: "I told you so." He was curious of Noland's ultimate reaction to hearing such a callous method of fighting come from someone of Alana's caliber. Whether that would be enough to make him turn against Alana completely remained to be certain, but there was definitely a mismatch between them when it came to what would be done in that scheme.

"I really can't believe what you're saying to me. You couldn't have always been like this. This just doesn't make any sense. How could this happen?" he started back up again. "The three of us - you, Allen, and I - sparked the resistance. The three of us were figures everyone looked up to. Do you think it's appropriate to have an image like that serving as motivation for our peers? How is anyone supposed to use what you just told me as a shining example of who we truly are and what everyone should be?" He paused briefly before raising his voice by shouting, "We fought to protect others, not kill them, Alana! Everyone has their problems, but she had hope through you and Vince until you snatched that away from her!" Noland placed his palm on his face after letting out his frustration. "I looked up to you, Alana. You were my source of inspiration after I lost you, but now...I see that I might have lost you forever."

[Tank Stryker]

Tank and the rest of the audience were beginning to grow impatient with Noland and Alana, many not understanding the situation at hand. Rising from his seat, Tank cupped his hands around his mouth and bellowed, "Just brawl already!" prompting the audience to begin to laugh.

"You're an asshole, Tank," Gladion said between chuckles.

Tank then sat back down, hoping that the situation would be resolved quickly.

Hardy knows that he needs to defeat her, Tank thought to himself, Why doesn't he just get on with it?

[Alana Cortese]

"Do you expect every brawler to think and behave the same way, Noland?" Alana countered. "I might have been a front-runner along with you two, but that doesn't mean we all had the same ideals. I did what anyone would do in a hostile environment if they needed to ensure their safety was guaranteed without a reasonable doubt. Look at the facts; she went on a killing spree in front of me. Do you think subduing her would be the first thing that comes to mind when one of the Dharaknoid's minions is breathing down your neck as one of your own cuts you into pieces? You talk to me as if I genuinely wished to kill her from the beginning, so it's no surprise to me that you're flabbergasted at what you're hearing now since you never truly understood me."

Alana's emotions started to turn dark as the Dharaknoid's energy started pouring into her body to resume their confrontation. Before she was completely taken over, she offered a few more words to Noland despite their relationship being severed. "I didn't fight Karen and Vince to prove I was anyone's champion. I fought them because they were obstacles to the goal I wanted to achieve. That goal was to escape the Doom Dimension and see the one person that always made me feel comforted and loved when things went wrong: YOU. If I didn't have to go through anyone to do that, I would have, but I could not have behaved in any other way that wouldn't have resulted in our deaths."

Alana soon realized that what Noland said to her dealt a serious blow to her heart. It was one so severe that she was prevented from providing at least some resistance to hostile takeover in her own body. "I'm sorry I wasn't who you expected," she sobbed. As the Dharaknoid resumed its activity after purposely allowing that confrontation to happen, she gripped Hydranoid in preparation for the second round. "Too bad I'm not."

[Noland Hardy]

Noland didn't make an attempt to respond to Alana's defense. Tank's outburst relayed a clear message to him. Unlike Alana's situation, he doesn't have much of a choice in this matter. "Unfortunately for you, Alana, I have a goal in mind too," Noland reminded her. He gripped the Dragonoid as he closed his eyes in an attempt to remove all attachments he had to Alana, which was done by taking a hint from Drago where he claimed to look at her for who she is rather than who she was. When he opened them back up, he was filled with a new-found vigor to do what he needed to do regardless of who was in front of him. "My plan is to send the forces of the Doom Dimension a message - one that I and many others will happily declare in the faces of darkness. If Baalenoid's destruction didn't give them the memo, then the expunging of this bastard will. You are an obstacle to my ambition, Alana, and if going through you to end this nightmare is something I'll have to bear for the rest of my life, then bring it on."

His hand started glowing in the radiant energy he always covers his hand with whenever his special power with Drago becomes visible. This translated nicely to Drago despite him being in ball form. What resulted from this was his color scheme changing to a rainbow color. "Is your mind truly prepared to handle something on this level? We can't afford to drop another round." Drago questioned to reassure himself that Noland was in the right spirit to combat Alana properly. Noland adamantly responded, "I was never prepared to get in a fight with her, and I probably never will be just as you've seen with Allen and Kendrick, but their identities do not matter to me. The people across from me on the various battlefields we've been on are just people. The real opponent is the spirit they bring with them, and I refuse to lose to them just because their appearance struck me first." He got prepared to throw Drago back into the brawl for their last gambit. "Besides, I owe it to Dad to finish what he started..."

[Noland Hardy]