Episode 40: The Finest Hour

[Noland Hardy]

Drago and Hydranoid created a power clash so violent that it disrupted Karen's BrawlX, which released her from the technology changing her appearance and revealed her true identity: Alana Cortese. Noland was initially too confused at her sudden revelation to continue the fight, so he requested the facts surrounding her disappearance and her appearance there on Earth. The discussion revealed acts performed by Alana that were deemed questionable by Noland. It eventually led to him writing her off completely when he was given details surrounding Karen's death and what happened to Vince when he tried to stop her. Noland's rejection of her gave the Dharaknoid easy access to Alana's emotions when her heart was shattered by the former's view of her. Alana claimed that it was her desire to see the one she loved that allowed her to plow through all who threatened her safety. Noland later admitted that he was unable to fight Alana regardless of what she did to Karen or his father, so he used her ideology to his benefit as it gave him the tools needed to reassure himself that his goal was too important to allow the appearance of a person to deter him from what has to be done. Once the Dharaknoid was content with Noland and Alana now viewing each other as a threat, it regained control of Alana's body to finish Noland and Drago off. With his new-found motivation, Noland declared that the remaining act he can do in his father's stead is to stop Alana before the Dharaknoid uses her on its desired targets.

(True Final Boss Theme 2)

[Alana Cortese]

When both brawlers were finished with their confrontation, the referee signaled for them to throw their Bakugan back into the battle. Drago and Hydranoid got into a short scuffle before repelling each other back to their respective sides. Hydranoid roared menacingly at his rainbow-colored opponent due to his power now being on a fairer level with his own when compared to the previous round. With Noland's denouncing still fresh in her memory, Alana assembled a battle plan that was best described as abominable from an ethical standpoint. "Couples don't always stay together through thick and thin, do they?" Alana jokingly asked. Ominous power began congregating to the center of her right palm as she held it up. The Doom Card that has been the root cause of everyone's calamity was materialized in her right hand.

"Remember, women's appearances can be deceiving." She flicked her wrist to send the Doom Card into the ground, sending an energy wave throughout the arena to let everyone know that the loser will depart from them. It also produced a transparent wall of darkness around Noland and Alana's space to prevent anyone else from interfering. The referee saw this as a threatening act and called for a cancellation of the battle rather than a disqualification as even he wasn't ignorant to what was going on with the Dharak; that was the assumption of what the ref was going to say. When he started speaking, Hydranoid fired an electric bolt at the man using his tail that not only put him in critical condition, but it sent him to the Doom Dimension without delay.

"In comparison to the refs in soccer and football games, these brawling refs are among the dumbest of your kind," she mentioned in regards to the man thinking calling the match off would halt her progression. She revealed a new ability card from her arsenal and activated it to cue the beginning of the end. "Ability activate! Trident of Doom!" Hydranoid charged three purple blasts in his mouths similar to what he did for Death Trident. Instead of launching them directly at Drago, he aimed it upwards. Launching them in the sky gave the blasts the opportunity to merge together into a larger mass. The big blob of darkness began expelling smaller pellets of its energy downwards to bombard Drago nonstop while it steadily descends to land on top of the enemy to explode.

[Noland Hardy]

Noland glared at Alana when she manifested the Doom Card and was bold enough to set it in front of him. This eliminated the majority of all possible hints of defeating her without any compromises. He wasn't surprised at all when Hydranoid sent the referee to the Doom Dimension after inflicting a potentially mortal wound on the poor man. Drago looked back at Noland to see if there were any signs of wavering his approach. He was delighted to see that Noland's facial expression had not changed from the moment he was thrown into battle. All of the attention was focused on the fight in front of them, and that was all they needed to see. "In this battle, love is only a word. It lost all meaning it had," Noland reminded his villainous opponent. He prepped his eyes and ears for what they had to throw at him next.

Hydranoid used an ability that was undoubtedly tough to handle. This gave him little room to react to it, which slightly affected his overall response time. Suddenly, the left side of his head started pulsing with pain that couldn't be described by conventional words. "That...negative energy...is strong..." Noland grunted with the assumption that the amount of energy he took from his teammates is starting to take a severe toll on his overall health. That's when he started reliving different situations related to the people he purged. The first one was Allen, his counterpart and arguably the best friend he ever had. Portions of Allen's past were replaying themselves in Noland's head, forcing him to live through the events as if he were standing there the entire time. "Is this what the Dharaknoid meant about Alana being forced to relive certain memories?" Noland remembered.

This turned out to be an accurate depiction of what Alana had told him prior to her fight with Allen. It started off with the most painful of Allen's memories, and it was the 9/11 incident without a doubt. "Have I always been this powerless?" Allen quoted in unison with the experience. Noland painfully watched Allen suffer for what happened to Alana and Vince. It wasn't just the emotional appeal from losing a close friend and his best friend abandoning everyone after the loss, but he experienced a dramatic role strain where he went from an adventurous and courageous brawler to an over-protected, sheltered peon whose only job was to wake up, go to school, do his homework, go to bed, and rinse and repeat; brawling was completely eliminated from his life to the point where his parents confiscated Gorem as if he were a toy and not the brother-like figure he saw him as.

"That was my full power; yet, that wasn't enough," Allen recalled in remembrance of those events. Allen's demeanor got progressively better when Noland began talking to him again and renewed his rivalry with him after a long time away from the game. It allowed him to continue hardening his shield to ensure that he wouldn't break against the toughest of enemies as seen in his decisive victories against Makoto and Nero when it really counted. "We might be tough, but we put so much into that just to pull ahead." The moments of victory then turned into dire endings when Gorem was pressured to the brink of his control against foes like Daniel, Tank, and Alana. When Gorem was on the ground, it would be a sign to give up to some, but Allen had more heart than anyone, even by Noland's standards. "We are not done! THIS is where the weak are separated from the strong!" Gorem encouraged as Noland braced himself for his ability's activation.

"Battle routine is a go, Drago! Ability activate! Sky Supremacy!" Drago surrounded himself in an orb that collapsed into him shortly after materializing. "This is it guys. All that pain, all that destruction, here's where we lay that to rest," Allen cheered. Drago expelled his energy in the form of an energy wave that traveled across all directions. It drove through the dark pellets and counteracted the energy mass that was coming towards them. It caused an explosion that shook the arena with power. "Hyperstrike!" Drago declared. His horn shined brightly throughout the darkness Alana was creating. He used it to fire a focused laser from the tip towards Hydranoid in an attempt to burn through Hydranoid's hide. "We either put an end to it now, or die trying," Gorem whispered as Drago's attack started hitting its mark.

[Alana Cortese]

"You don't love me anymore? Hm...I get the feeling you wanted me to feel just as heartbroken as you are that you can't seem to avoid incredible disaster with your relationships. It's a shame I'll never have the sympathy to care once this brawl is over," Alana rudely responded. She became a bit disgusted when Noland canceled out Hydranoid's Trident of Doom attack and quickly put her on the defensive. Hydranoid moved his left arm across his body so that the beam would touch his brace rather than his skin. It progressively moved him backwards and produced sparks that lit up in their faces almost nonstop. The dragging of his monstrous feet dug up the ground each time he moved, sending pieces of debris into the air for a brief second only to be reduced to rubble by the immense power the Dragonoid was displaying.

Alana swiped an ability card to provide a necessary defense against her rival's advancement. "Ability activate! Infernal Bastion!" she commanded. An energy veil with fiery-like characteristics rose from the ground to cover Hydranoid's body starting from his feet and working its way up to his heads. This proved to be a countermeasure designed to function similarly to Merge Shield in that it allows him to absorb power; however, instead of directly taking it away from the opponent in large masses, it gives him the ability to absorb the power he takes in to essentially cancel out any opposing attacks. This was one of Alpha Hydranoid's more refined defensive abilities thanks to that capability. He gradually absorbed the power the Dragonoid was sending his way. He then swung his left arm forward to forcefully negate his foe's ability that was keeping him confined to the ground. He then took flight while Infernal Bastion remained active and continuously swiped his tails in the Dragonoid's direction, sending fiery waves that were shaped like a crescent downwards.

[Noland Hardy]

Noland smirked when he managed to get a reaction out of Alana for what he said. "At least we agree on something based on your last sentence," he noted before swiping an ability card. "Ability activate! Nova Dragon!" Drago released a chinese dragon avatar from his body that wrapped around him in anticipation of blocking Hydranoid's attacks. The avatar attempted to do its usual job of absorbing the opposition's attacks, but as the power waves made contact with it, Drago began to realize just how wide the power gap was between him and Hydranoid. The attack power coming from Hydranoid's Infernal Bastion was too much for even his Nova Dragon ability to absorb. It was definitely on the verge of stressing Drago's power to the point of collapse. "And here I thought I was actually doing something..." Drago silently remarked about his power being dwarfed by the painful waves battering his Nova Dragon.

"No...I can't lose this one...not today..." Noland's head pulsed again and made him relive the memories of another person. This time, it was watching the upbringing of someone Noland admired in terms of his dedication to getting better in the midst of adversity and tough challenges: Markus Hederick. "Defeat is always a learning experience," Markus remarked when presiding over what he considered his greatest failure: his inability to protect his sister from an assailant he never anticipated. Without him knowing, the saboteur planted a poisonous bomb to replace the Bakugan she was actually supposed to receive as a present over the holidays. That marked the beginning of what would later become a string of losses down the line that botched what he thought he was great at considering that he has always been a highly devoted person when it came to his duties, which has sometimes turned some people off due to his serious nature. He realized this strength when he was younger when he discovered his love for history and brawling after allowing Bakugan to distract him long enough, but it also became an ironic weakness as he never really analyzed past events as much as he should have.

"If there's anything I've learned from you, it's that the best brawlers do not stop when things get tough. We've worked too hard and spent so much time together to allow this to stop us," Markus reassured Noland and Drago as the former pushed past his stumbling blocks to fight amazing battles against his greatest opponents - Noland and Tank - and even avert the extermination of every living being in that hemisphere from Akane's bomb. He even used that same power to do what he previously didn't do: protect his little sister, Maya, from becoming another victim. His love for her was comparable to Noland's love for Kendrick, and there was nothing that could be said to prove otherwise. "I've lost so many battles doing the wrong thing, but this is one battle that has everyone's life on the line. What matters is how I end this." Noland then prepared to swipe two more cards on his BrawlX using the strength Markus's memories was giving him.

"Hard work. Dedication. There isn't a brawler on this Earth that knows those two values as well as you do, and to keep that in mind in a hostile environment where everything just seems to point to your failure takes a strong will to keep on going. Even now...when I first saw Alana across from me, she had won the battle without anything else mattering, but now..." Noland then proceeded to swipe the card across his BrawlX as Markus chimed in and finished, "It's about time I've set my record straight." The cards were swiped, so Noland called out the activation to Drago. "Ability activate! Rage Fire, plus fusion ability, Dragonic Boost!" Drago's Nova Dragon intensified with a fierce flame, but not as much as Drago's body as he became ripped in power as a result of the enhancement. He absorbed the Nova Dragon into his body once he went through the excruciating process of stealing as much power as he could, donning him with an invincibility cloak for a short time. He then charged straight for Hydranoid and began butting heads with him in the sky. Each hit sent a violent ripple throughout the arena, placing everyone in the audience on edge. "There's no more hiding. This is where it all ends..." Markus reminded him.

[Alana Cortese]

The unmerciful melees Drago and Hydranoid were giving each other distributed an even share of uncomfortable feelings throughout the coliseum. As they went back and forth with each other, Alana started developing an uncomfortable atmosphere around herself. "Where is all of that power coming from...?" she thought to herself. She couldn't understand what was giving Noland and Drago a consistent stream of energy. It must have been something significant since neither of them have been in such an empowered state since their trial with Barodius. "That's the only problem with being amused at making people mad. They start getting encouraged, and then they kill you." The Dharaknoid knew that it was being pushed too far by a lesser opponent, which seemed to be the case with the battle against Allen from before; yet, just like in the past, that never stopped it in its tracks.

After the combatants continuously battered each other, they each broke away with only a fraction of their power enhancements remaining. Hydranoid made an abrupt landing on the ground that extinguished three quarters of Infernal Bastion's flame. Meanwhile, their ferocious adversary stood strong with only his Nova Dragon shield being the only thing that continued to exist albeit with an above-average distortion. "Let's say I relinquished control for a couple of seconds and let her give her piece about what she thinks about you striving to send her to the Doom Dimension again. Is that the type of hero she admired or was she clueless about the antagonistic qualities you have embedded in your heart?" Alana questioned before making her move.

"Ability activate! Terminal Trident!" This was the second variation of the Death Trident ability that Alana had used, and it was more of a heavy variation of the former. Hydranoid constructed each of his individual blasts into a central point in front of him so that they'll form an unstable bomb-like sphere. Once it was configured, Hydranoid fired the blast down range. As the Dharaknoid had asked, it allowed Alana's free will to kick back in very briefly. She looked at the state of the battle and quickly figured out what was going on based on the barrier erected by the Doom Card. "Noland...please..." she hesitantly called out to her alienated friend. "If sending me back there is the only way you can punish me or to stop me or this Dharaknoid from hurting you anymore, then...I guess I wasn't worth your time from the beginning."

[Noland Hardy]

Drago stomped on the ground with a sense of urgency when he was forcefully dismissed from Hydranoid. The Nova Dragon that was keeping his body from being crushed by Hydranoid's power was on its last leg. The same could be said for Noland's patience as the Dharaknoid was unhealthily focused on toying with his emotions. He was extremely close to losing his mind once the actual Alana resumed control and called out to him one last time. "Are you fucking kidding me!? Do you really think I don't already feel bad enough for it ending this way!? What was saying that to me supposed to accomplish, you insensitive prick!?" His head drummed with more excruciating pain this time, and a very familiar voice was heard to get him back in line. "Urasai!" she said. Noland paused for a moment when he heard a female voice speaking to him. Judging by the language, it wasn't hard for him to guess who said that.

"Don't let their words get to you." Noland was subjected to the grim scene at her studio where Belphenoid gutted every personality in that building like a fish. As much as she wanted to be strong to fight for those that will never have the chance to fight again, she was rejected by success constantly. It drove her into a dark corner that made suicide appear to be a wise alternative for both herself and everyone else she felt she was dragging down. "Your frustration is understandable, but..." Ahio started. "Sometimes...pain is vital for our growth." It was at that point where Seiki's future started getting even brighter. They persevered in fights that she never thought were possible. Being the one to knock Markus out of a brawl was a very important stepping stone for her that eventually led her to stand with the Resistors against Nero and their greatest challenge, Baalenoid. Seeing her become a courageous girl that she wasn't before was definitely good material for an inspiring story that Noland couldn't possibly ignore.

"If you do allow this to beat you down, then what will really be the reason for us being here? You could have quit a long time ago when it happened, but you fought like you always do," Ahio reminded him. Noland nodded to acknowledge that what Seiki and Ahio were advising him to do was ultimately for his own good. He returned his focus on Drago and sent him an attack to avert their demise. "So you want to know what she saw in me then, Dharak?" Noland revealed two abilities, but he swiped the lead one first. "How about both? Ability activate! Triple Threat!" Drago deviated from his original method of using this attack and used the alternative access point to the triple node: Subterra, Darkus, and Ventus, which was proportionate to the voices they've received help from. Drago charged a brown orb in his mouth and formed a green and purple orb in his left and right hand respectively. Once they were fully created, Drago launched the blast from his mouth and then threw the other two into the mix to generate a power surge.

Its attack power was superior to Hydranoid's Terminal Trident as it kept pushing the opposing force backwards. To finish his attack, Noland swiped his other card. "Here we go!" Noland exerted at the same time Ahio quoted that same statement of hers from the past. "Ability activate! Power Bomb!" Drago assembled a large, unstable orb towards the center of his chest. He ensured that it was instilled with the highest explosive capacity he could offer it before flapping his wings to hurl the attack towards his own, detonating it along with Hydranoid's Terminal Trident to cause an unprecedented amount of damage to the opposing side. Its power was enough to begin destabilizing the energy field keeping the audience safe from being damaged by the Bakugan's attacks.

[Alana Cortese]

"No...I didn't mean it that way..." the emotionally crushed Alana tried to explain as the force from the collision starting pushing her back. Adding on to the fact that her memory hasn't adapted to the entire confrontation up to this point aside from the Doom Card being activated, she had no idea that the tension escalated this far from the last time she was in control of her body. "I'm ashamed that the only thing either one of us will remember at the conclusion of this battle was what I've done and have been forced to do rather than the person who stood by you and Allen until the very end. Since our fate seems to be tied to this card, I'm only saying that...I'm not mad at you for being mad at me, and that you shouldn't feel bad about stopping someone that is a threat to you..." Once Drago initiated his Power Bomb attack, Alana gasped very quickly before the Dharaknoid took control once again and hastily used an ability to prevent Hydranoid from being knocked out.

"Awww. Isn't that sad?" Alana teased. "Phantom Transmission!" Before the detonation, Hydranoid instantaneously teleported his body across the battlefield so that he would appear in front of Drago, narrowly avoiding the powerful explosion altogether. Hydranoid delivered a powerful right hook to Drago's jaw that eclipsed the remainder of his protective power. He then used his powerful tails to attempt to continuously batter him into submission before leaping backwards to prepare his ultimate attack. "There's nothing sweeter than your own special friend asking you to gut her like a fish because she feels so apologetic for what she did to you, and she only wants to blame herself for your villainy. It's almost too sickening to repeat." Alana swiped a card across her BrawlX, and judging by the evil smile she gave when using it, she seemed to be very fond of its power.

"It's time to say goodbye, Master Blaze! Ability activate! Peacemaker!" The ability Alana just activated was currently the strongest ability Hydranoid had access to so far. Hydranoid revealed all of his tentacles and began accumulating power while simultaneously doing the same with his three heads. "You've fought valiantly as always, Drago. You are a boon to your creed; however," Hydranoid evoked as he lined up his shot. "This game...is...over!" Hydranoid discharged his energy from every outlet to form a death-dealing laser that progressively obliterated the ground it traveled across.

[Noland Hardy]

Hydranoid surprisingly evaded Drago's attack and landed a fierce punch on him that completely broke down his defenses. "Defend yourself. He's not very tough, trust me," a male voice told him. Without delay, Noland played an ability to do just that. "No need to tell me twice. Ability activate! Faultless Guard!" After Drago was punched, he covered himself with his wings to shield him from Hydranoid's tails. He managed to link his Hyperstrike ability to his shield in order to electrify his wings, which gave Hydranoid a reason to back off of him from now. Drago was successful in getting him off of his back, but he was still reeling from the hit he sustained out of nowhere. The ultimate ability Hydranoid was concocting made the conditions even worse. "I can't take much more of this..." Drago warned as he showed signs of incredible pain and fatigue. His rare signs of struggle made Hydranoid's impending attack even more frightening for both Noland and Drago, but someone was determined not to let that be a problem for them.

Noland relived a summary of what Tank, one of the more influential brawlers he has encountered, has had to endure. Some of them were events that he never knew about. He saw Tank's successful household turn upside-down when his father began beating him and eventually disappearing, leading him on an anger-filled trail to the football field that ultimately became a thing of the past when a drunk driver struck him with their vehicle. Tank's meeting with Gladion at the Roman Colosseum was a blessing to him that inspired him to keep going, and it worked out for him until that uneventful incident with Daniel that led to John's death and Steve being confined to a wheelchair for a very long time, if not the rest of his life. "We must be strong," Gladion advised them, and then added, "...for John."

Tank's service to the community and in the battle arena became the pillar of what his ideals were in relation to continuing where his late friend left off. Ending the freedom of the nation's most lethal serial killer was hardly what he imagined himself doing, but that didn't matter to him. He knew that what he did on and off the arena was an accurate depiction of John's character, and to him, that's all he needed to know that John was still alive through him and every Resistor that never backed down. "I've finally learned, Noland...Your actions, even those in good faith, have consequences," Tank informed him with a silhouette of him extending his hand outwards to turn his attention to Alana herself. He shook his head at what she has become, and then commented on it even further. "It was odd at first...but patterns exist for a reason."

Noland held one card in front of him before playing it. He looked directly at it, and then glanced at Alana one more time while silently regretting what he was about to unleash. "I...I have no words. All I can really say is...end this. For John." Tank commanded him. Noland swiped the card on his BrawlX and declared his ultimate attack as well since there was nothing else he could do to match Hydranoid's power. "The more those words get used, the more I start to realize that the titles of hero and villain are meaningless as labels and are only fit to be considered opinionated babble. You can put any word next to my name as much as you'd like, but that's never going to change what my life's journey has entailed. I fought for what I believed in as five others have alongside me, so regardless of what happens to the both of us, I will walk away from this battle knowing that how I fought was not to destroy Alana, but to kill you, Dharak, for every inch of darkness you've spread to the innocent."

He finally declared his move by announcing, "Ability activate! Hyper Supremacy!" The most powerful technique he had at his disposal was his final answer to the incoming death trap Hydranoid placed them in. Drago was planning to combine his previous evolution's ultimate attack, Genesis Supremacy, with Diffuse Buster, bringing that ability to supremacy tier to match the former. When lightning struck around Drago's body, he developed a source of power that split into multiple orbs in front of him. He charged every single one of them with the raw power that has to be expected from his ultimate attack. Once he was finished, every single orb he created fired a gigantic laser beam that merged with each other to form a colossal monstrosity. As a penalty for using that much power, cracks started to form around Drago's arms. "I don't think my body in its current form can take that much stress..." Drago silently noted concerning his evolutionary state.

The two superpowers clashed at the center of the field. Each blast seemed to be giving each other equal competition, but Drago was struggling to cope with his over-exertion despite displaying the persona of holding it down pretty well. "Cold and calculating only goes so far on the battlefield," Tank reminded him as the blasts canceled each other out, creating a huge explosion that clouded both sides of the field in an opaque cloud of smoke. Before Noland could offer any comment on what just happened, a bright red light became lit that was bright enough to see through the aftermath. "But when it comes down to it," Tank started when Drago dispersed the smoke with one swipe of his wingspan in a new and improved body and did it again to send a violent wave of red energy down range before anyone could comprehend the changes that the Dragonoid just went through, "the soldier who thrives in battle is the one with passion and drive."

[Alana Cortese]

"Again? Really?" Alana shook her head when both attacks were canceled out as if Noland was really not supposed to live through that. "Are these two unable to be killed? There's a Bakugan on the field that is past this Dragonoid's evolutionary limits, but he's still able to fight him off like this? What kind of sorcery is this? What kind of power is flowing through those veins?" She eyed the smoke with keen curiosity. She was just as impatient concerning getting to the bottom of this situation as the audience was. The bright light coming from Drago's location was bright enough to cause even the blindest people to look on. "Great. Now what is he going to do? Am I going to heed another speech?" The smoke was cleared instantly by an amazing display of strength from what appeared to be a newly-evolved Dragonoid based on the level of power. The wave was the only thing that caught her attention; Drago's appearance was a mere afterthought.

"Hydranoid!" Alana called out when putting an ability in play quick enough to form some defense against the enemy. "Survivor Shield!" This was an upgraded form of his favorite late-game abilities, Final Fusion. The technique blackened his scales to make him an impenetrable fortress; at least, that was what was supposed to happen. When Drago's new ability connected with Hydranoid, the ability held itself together for a good five seconds while he attempted to approach Drago for a final take-down, but once time ran out, that was the end of it. He was progressively propelled backwards by the attack, and he regained his footing on the arena grounds every time until the third push. "Dang. And I did all of that talking too..." Alana angrily regretted. "Is this what you humans refer to as...just desserts?"

Hydranoid's body gave up on him after trying to thwart Drago's attack for that long, so the wave continued on its path and struck both him and Alana, nearly knocking her unconscious after the Dharaknoid was repulsed from her body. Per the effects of the Doom Card, both Alana and Hydranoid booked an all-expense-paid trip back to their home away from home: the Doom Dimension. The rift opened a couple of yards behind them. "It seems I stole your girlfriend again. That's a better reward than being a champion in my own opinion," the Dharaknoid celebrated in the typical sore loser fashion. "I do encourage you to follow us back though. That would really be appreciated." With her senses barely active, Alana held her hand out as she was lifted into the air along with Hydranoid and was being carried into the dark world. "I'm...always...yours..." she gasped at Noland in defiance of the Dharaknoid's wishes.

[Noland Hardy]

"Dude...what just happened...?" Noland didn't know how or why Drago became decked out in a more powerful body through an unexpected evolution, but he definitely wasn't complaining about the kind of power that was used to bring an end to Alana's winning streak; at least he wouldn't complain if it didn't involve supernatural forces such as the Doom Card spoiling the moment of victory. "It's finally over...but at what cost?" a female voice said to him in his head. Noland instantly recognized who was talking to him and tried his best to block it out since he recalled what happened when Krakix was placed in a similar situation where he ended up saving Drago from being sent there at the cost of his own freedom. "Noland...is this really the only road to so-called justice? It can't end like this!"

Tracy's memories started to pour out starting from her upbringing. Her parents were great examples of what made activists stand out in the most controversial issues. They were actually one of the early protesters when terrorism became a problem in today's society, so it was only natural for her to adopt the conventional cliche of wanting to be on the side of justice just because it seemed cool and, most of all, was the right thing to do. She believed she would do what her favorite brawlers were doing and blot out all evil, but it wasn't until her later high school years when she figured out just how wrong she was. "We were always taken advantage of and took a backseat to those whose convictions were strong enough to allow them to achieve any goal they set out to do," Skystar remembered in reference to her various shortcomings against Tank and his crew.

"But we've achieved far greater things." After meeting Noland and completely revealing her feelings for him without any shame, she started to follow through with what she said she was going to do from the outset of her journey. She didn't just succeed in becoming a fighter like she drew out for herself, but her success on the battlefield was more than a rookie could ever ask for compared to those of her skill level that will never see what she has experienced. She then formed her own path to success after discovering her hidden talents as proof that there is always an alternative even when everything seems unreachable. "We can't just leave her here by herself. It's not like she's going to be able to harm anyone else," Tracy declared while pointing towards Alana, a gesture that meant that he had better save her...or else.

"C'mon, Noland. You can do this! We're right behind ya!" Unsure of what he was going to do, he hesitated numerous times as he contemplated whether to ensure his safety remaining where he was at the cost of someone he wanted back or to bet everything by stepping in on her behalf. "Everything that we've worked for to reach this level was not all for nothing," Skystar suggested to him as she tapped him on the head with her staff. After the back-and-forth in his mind, Noland finally rallied the courage needed to make a decision. "You're right...it sure wasn't," he acknowledged in response to Skystar's message. Without warning Drago, Noland charged forward towards the portal in an attempt to retrieve Alana. Drago stared at him in disbelief that he was doing something this risky. "Love makes you do crazy things, doesn't it, Noland?" Drago theorized as he sprung into action to get Hydranoid as well.

[Alana Cortese]

"Nice job deviating from the script. Most people your society assigns as heroes would never willingly listen to the ones they call villains in dire situations such as this one. At least you'll be aware of the obvious reason why I will not contest your reckless action out of affection for this girl...at least not in the way you think I will," the Dharaknoid stated. The Doom Card that was planted in the soil started rising from the ground. It hovered around Alana after achieving its physical form once more. The skull in the center of the object lit up to excrete a spectral entity that accurately represented the appearance of the Dharaknoid behind this madness. It was the most advanced Bakugan seen by the human eye up to this point. The quadruple wings, two shoulder cannons, and his dominant physical stature would have been much more frightful if it were truly able to manifest its actual form, but the ghostly depiction was enough of a deterrent to some.

"It takes a lot of mettle to earn my attention. I guess it can be said in your terms that I have respect for you as a nemesis...somewhat." The Dharaknoid compressed itself into an orb that started pumping Alana's body with its energy, which proved to be both sinister and debilitating to her already weakened body, which had negative reactions in store for her health-wise. The faint screams Alana struggled to let out as a result of the continuous manipulation was a strong depiction of an imminent bad ending. "Kill...me..." she suggested as the pain was too excruciating for her to handle any longer. The Dharaknoid chose to be smart with its remark in its lack of care towards the suffering her or any other party may be going through as a result of its actions. "And what if he doesn't want to? What will you do then? They do say suicide is never the answer."

[Noland Hardy]

The distance Noland and Drago had from the rift was getting closer each step they ran. They knew what they were getting themselves into by making this sacrifice, but none of them cared. What mattered to Noland was finally redeeming himself by giving someone their life back, and Drago was behind by his partner through the thickest fog. They were getting within arms reach of Alana and Hydranoid when the Dharaknoid chose to infest her body with its filth again to purposely jeopardize her health to fulfill its disgusting taste in entertainment and job completion. Seeing Alana bleed from her arm earlier pushed him past his limits, but to see her hurt to the point where she specifically told him to kill her re-imagined the fear of not being able to save her again.

"If you were going to kill her, why even bother giving me the choice to follow?" Noland questioned, implying that the Dharaknoid should already know that he was going to come after her if she was in danger, which he knew was what the Dharaknoid wanted to do to pull him into the Doom Dimension for its second attempt. "Since you think you know so much about humans, the question asked wouldn't have been what Alana was going to do about it. What should really be your concern is what I'm going to do about it, and judging by your performance in this battle, you don't appear to be ready." Drago grabbed Hydranoid's hands to pull him in the opposite direction of the rift. Noland clenched Alana's hands for the first time in three years, and the look on his face showed his determination not to let go; the Dharaknoid's negative energy in Alana's body that began resonating with the energy in Noland's body nearly tempted him to let go due to the ridiculous amount of agony, but he was too motivated to give up because of a knife in his chest.

"I think I might actually have a chance here," Alana realized in his mind. Giving Noland the strength to save her meant reminding him of what she thought made him strong in the first place. "You know me well enough...for obvious reasons." Noland remembered everything he watched just as if it happened right in front of him in real time. Alana was pretty much at the bottom of the low tier brawlers, so it caused her to get ridiculed a lot since there weren't any brawlers she could win against. She tried to be proactive and get some help, but some people easily turned that into a dating opportunity that she didn't tolerate at all. She didn't become encouraged until she saw Noland and Allen constantly force each other into a stalemate, and even then, she never had the courage to ask them in fear of identical scenarios to the past occurring again. They took her by surprise with their showing of gratitude, and she became roughly on par with the two powerhouse brawlers. "I was lonely and depressed, but...it's because of you...that...I learned so much. You made what I thought was impossible possible," she explained while transitioning to her eventual plight against the terrorists.

"Noland...I really missed you, but...why did we have to meet like this?" The fight against terrorism may have gotten her closer to who she thought was her main attraction, but her descent into darkness after being defeated by Barodius altered the memory that Noland remembered her by, and that hurt her more than anything else in this battle. "I lost one of the best friends I ever had - the one person that made me feel comforted and loved when things went wrong - from that colossal fuck up. I guess now you're paying me back...as if I genuinely wished to kill her from the beginning." She looked at her dying body as Noland was trying to pull her out of the Dharaknoid's grasp, but she couldn't bear to look at what was going on. Her disbelief that she turned out the way that she did from Noland's field of vision was all that she needed.

"I didn't know if someone wanted to help me or if you were just going to blow me off like the others. I never met anyone my age that could be such a brawler that had what we all were lacking: talent and courage. I didn't know who you were, but that moment meant a lot to me...it was the nicest thing anyone did for me. As you can see by now, there was a clear...disagreement." She held his hand very firmly before fading her memories from his conscious. "I'm sorry I wasn't who you expected. I...love...you...in what feels like forever." Noland and Drago's power soared to new heights after being rejuvenated by Alana's message to him concerning her path. He already admitted that he could not accept what she did to Karen or Vince, but to intentionally deprive her onlooking parents of their long-lost child would contradict everything Noland believed in. Plus, unlike some people, he believes in what he said to her during his outburst.

"Don't think that just because you made a decision different from mine that I would suddenly wish for your death. I never became a brawler to kill nor did I fight this hard for a second chance at this just to let you get taken away from me again," Noland assured as he engaged in a tug-of-war style duel with the Dharaknoid over Alana. He started pouring some of the last remaining portions of his energy link with Drago to counteract the insidious forces with a sincere feeling of love. What this did was extract the Doom Card from the center of her chest. "Is this the answer you were looking for?" Noland challenged. He let go of Alana's left hand to grab the Doom Card with his right. Without wasting another second, he threw the card directly towards the rift. "They also say losing is never the answer either."

[Alana Cortese]

"...Really? You really don't want to? Are you just saying that for emotional impact or do you actually mean that?" the Dharaknoid asked in confusion of what Noland's resolve was. Regardless of what the boy's reason for doing that was, the Dharaknoid was slowly getting its way until Noland did the unthinkable by drawing out the Doom Card from Alana's body. "Okay...so you're touching me without permission. Now what?" When Noland was poised to toss it into the portal, that's when the Dharaknoid ended all of its care towards the current situation. "I guess delaying the inevitable is a better choice than not doing anything at all," it understood. "Being bested by a human is one of the most scarring insignia's that the species I have given birth to has ever had to accept; yet, the manner in which you've done so gives us confidence rather than doubt. You haven't shown the signs of gallantry by throwing me away; instead, what you present through this act is that you are afraid...and you always will be."

When the Doom Card entered the portal, it closed, which also meant that the Dharaknoid's hold over the people it had infected was cured. The negative energy present in their bodies disappeared, returning everyone to the desired normal that was desperately needed to bring their fight to a close. Hydranoid was pulled to the ground by Drago after he struggled to pull the hydra inward. Alana was safely pulled into Noland's arms following the struggle. Although she was unresponsive for a short while due to the weight on her body, she finally woke up with her chin on his shoulder. "I think I might need a doctor..." Alana suspected since she could barely move a muscle.

Hydranoid had taken too much damage from his loss to Drago that he immediately collapsed on the ground when he was pulled back down. His three heads looked towards Drago and told him, "Thanks for seeing the good in me...two times now. At least I know for sure that...I will not look at you from the opposite side anymore...as long as it stays this way." Hydranoid's defeat reduced Alana's life gauge to 0, ending the battle in Noland's favor. Alana closed her eyes as she was motionless from the fight. A tear had rolled down her face from the altercation between them when she first figured out what was going on, and she didn't know what he was about to do next.

[Noland Hardy]

Noland was exhausted after the Dharaknoid's power was expelled out of his body. He held Alana close when the portal no longer existed. He was also bound for a moment due to how much stress was placed on his body, but his condition was a lot better than Alana's since he wasn't exposed to it as long as she was. "Alana..." Noland was too drained to depict a charade of an extremely emotional worrywart, so the look on his face didn't show what he was actually thinking about. Fortunately for him, he got to breath much easier after she became responsive in a couple of seconds. "It's finally finished," Noland sighed with a slight smile on his face. "What's it looking like over there, Drago?"

Drago fared better than the rest as the healthiest being on the field. After rescuing Hydranoid, Drago placed him back on the ground where he was laid out due to his injuries. "I'm taking a well-deserved break regardless of what anyone wants me to do. I'm all battled out," Drago smugly replied. He listened to what Hydranoid had to say shortly before Alana's life gauge dropped, which made him say, "None of us can predict the future after what we've experienced, but I'd rather have the opportunity to go against that with us as allies, not enemies. It's good to finally have the same vision."

It was by coincidence that Noland had what he heard of Alana's activity in his mind around the time the tear fell from her face. Without him knowing of it beforehand, he started giving his final say on that confrontation. "I'd be lying to you if I told you I wasn't conflicted on how I should look at you after what I've heard," he sincerely expressed quietly. "Right now, I'm more interested in ending this on a high note rather than focusing on those details. Whether you listen to me or not concerning what I believe you should be thinking right now instead of that situation, I and plenty of others have missed you ever since you've left, and we couldn't be happier that we finally have you back." Another coincidence was the audience clapping shortly after he said that as if they heard him speaking.

In the midst of the people continuously chanting his moniker, the announcer officially named Noland and Drago the new national champions of the United States and expressed gratitude on behalf of the entire nation and possibly the world for their actions in stopping another insidious plot from realizing its full development. "I don't think a championship title or a thank you note covers what we've done in the past year or the emotional damage it caused," Drago thought to himself. "Still..." He looked down at Noland and thought about how many times he blamed himself for losing Alana only to win her back today. Regardless of what transpired in between, it made him happy knowing that he could make dreams come true for him just as a certain someone would have wanted. "Even after all of that...I think we made it out just fine."