Episode 10: Worst First Date Ever

[Markus Hederick]

Belphenoid released multiple explosive rounds on top of the entire party. Fortunately, Aquarius's ability was able to destroy the projectiles before they could do any damage. That was definitely confirmation that Roxy was in it to win it.

"It's a shame Gargulion's frame was shattered," Markus silently regretted. "The Ventus Frame would give us the speed and coverage we need to keep Belphenoid grounded and easily susceptible to Aquarius, but I can't do it. The sudden reconstruction placed too much stress on his body. I can't build the body."

It was here that it should have been realized that the slightest mistake or distraction could get them killed. Belphenoid's power increase was too powerful for anything other than fighting to be thought about. It was unlike anything they've ever seen, and Markus knew neither of them were properly equipped to handle that kind of power. The only chance they had was to work together, not unlike the their chemistry that's sort of in-between.

"This is one of the most bs things I've ever seen," Gargulion complained.

"Aside from his firepower, Belphenoid hasn't really improved all that much."

"Really now?"

"We were outgunned before that suit was formed. The only thing that's very different is his speed. If we can destroy its wings, it'll halve his firepower and make him an easy target." Markus got ready to swipe an ability to slow Belphenoid down. "Ability activate! Tumultuous Gargoyle!" Gargulion's eyes flashed for a brief moment. A storm of spotty aura-like tornadoes and lightning strikes buried the entire area in darkness. Gargulion made sure to erect a personal barrier around himself and Aquarius to ensure they weren't caught in the mix.

Belphenoid was forced to fly lower due to not wanting to be hit by Gargulion's ability. He was now in prime position to take a hit. Markus began preparing for this moment using a fusion ability. "This will only be temporary, so don't mind the intrusion, please?" Markus asked Roxy before playing the ability. "Ability activate! Fusion Gargoyle!" Gargulion deconstructed his entire body and merged with Aquarius. His artificial body combined with Aquarius, giving her an effective coating around her shell and amplifying her power level extremely. Her eyes glowed the same green as Gargulion's; they now had the same eye on the prize.

"I know this seems weird, but trust us. This actually works..." Gargulion stated.

[Roxy Grimm]

Roxy couldn't believe at what happened and knew Aquarius hated it. "It isn't me you gotta worry about it is Aquarius" Roxy said before Aquarius spoke. "Once we beat this hunk of junk here...you better run Gargulion or you will be the next to feel my poison...." Aquarius said in a cold tone clearly not happy at all but nodded at Roxy telling her to play a card. "OK time to roll! Ability Activate! God's Water Rule!" Roxy shouted as she placed the card into her gauntlet making it glow once more. Aquarius smiled as the tip of her tail came off and shot towards her left pinser.

The tip then murged so that pincher was larger and has the poison like abilities that the tip of the tail normally have. Not long after another tip grew in it's place. After the new tip had grew Aquarius got ready to begin her plan. She slashed the air with her left prinser allowing the played ability to finish up. Darkish blue energy followed the path and after the slash stopped, it was shot as a beam towards Belphenoid to try and stop it in its tracks.... That is if Gargulion held his part but Aqaurius would still hurt him when this was over. She hated having armor on her... she was a scorpian, she already has some armor even if it isn't noticable.

[Markus Hederick]

Gargulion got a little irritated by the threat Aquarius had just made. "I don't like doing this as much as you do, especially when the person I'm fused with can hold me back. Shots definitely fired."

As much as he didn't like fusing with Aquarius, Gargulion couldn't ignore the benefits it carried. Their combined power was more than enough to match the incoming Belphenoid who tried to run all of them over. The attack gradually pushed his suit back. That was the perfect moment Markus was waiting for.

"That's a perfect job, you two. Gargulion, cancel!" Markus called out. "Ability activate! Void Ripper!" Gargulion left Aquarius's body, and his body parts followed suit to reform his base form. Once this form was regained, his arms pulsed with dark energy, enough for his hands to be masked by it and to look like he had blades for arms. He was on the approach.

"Nighty night!" Gargulion performed a front flip while his blades were extended, slicing clean through the battle suit's wings. Before the flip was finished, his heels found comfort in Belphenoid's face, sending the demon to the ground. Gargulion tried to follow up by running his blades through Belphenoid's chest while he was grounded, but that wasn't allowed. Belphenoid used his remaining cannons to shoot a concentrated laser blast at Gargulion before there was a chance to move.

"Gargoyle's Beam!" Gargulion produced a green energy stream to counteract the sudden blast attack. It didn't look like he was going to win the struggle, but they at least forced Belphenoid to stay confined to that position or else he'd be destroyed. The wings on his battle suit started a regenerative process that was restoring his wings little by little. They didn't have much time to win. Markus looked at Roxy for a solution. Did she have the answer? "You got this," he encouraged.

[Roxy Grimm]

Aquarius smiled as her attack did good and continued to smile as Gargulion managed to break the wings of Belphenoid's suit. However she saw that the Bakugan could still use some attacks and saw the winds were being repaired. Roxy looked at Marcus after hearing him offer support to her surprise but just looked at Aquarius and smirked. "Shall we give what the doctor ordered?" Roxy asked her Bakugan before getting a reply. "Of course!" Aquarius shouted as Roxy got out another card and placed it in the gauntlet.

It began to glow blue once more and Roxy called out the card name, "Ability Activate! Water Flow!" Aquarius smiled before she began to glow in the same blue as Roxy's Gauntlet This card was designed to stop any positive effects the opponent has meaning hopefully Belphenoid's regeneration would stop and would be given to Aquarius and Gargulion. Whether it did or not didn't matter as Aquarius flicked her tail upwards causing the glow around her body to rise up before being shot at Belphenoid as a beam towards neck/face as Gargulion's attempt at the chest failed.

[Markus Hederick]

Getting struck by Aquarius was Belphenoid's downfall. The regenerative properties he had thanks to the Hurranian's help was slowed by the ability she used. Coupled with the fact that Gargulion was already in a power struggle with him and wasn't weak enough to just let the blast go through normally, there was little hope for him to survive Gargulion once his attack was interrupted by Aquarius's strike. Once it all went down, Gargulion's blast went through, and that was it for him. The remaining bits and pieces of the battle suit flailed all over the ground. Belphenoid was stretched out on the ground, beaten once again in its pursuit of vengeance, but not without causing a scare. It was digitized away, not to be seen again for a while.

"Whew." Gargulion settled down on the ground, completely exhausted from their ordeal with the battle suits. "Aquarius, as much as we've talked about you, you really did your thing today. Great job."

"I concur. You both looked really good." Markus looked at Roxy. "Sorry about forcing you into the battle like that. I didn't know what else to do to get all of us out of here alive, and I figured you would have to have been a great help since you're a Spartan, and it turns out you were, exceeding our expectations even."

[Roxy Grimm]

Roxy smiled as Belphenoid was defeated and nodded at Aquarius. "I did it" She quietly to herself, happy she got to change the outcome this time. However she and Aquarius then heard Markus and his partner complimenting their skills. Roxy blinked at this before thinking in her head. Maybe they aren't so bad-What are you on about Roxy?! They were staring at you before, you should be thinking about answerers for that! With that decision made Roxy took some steps over to Markus before speaking. "Tell me one thing Markus...Why did you stare at me when we battled before? And don't try to avoid my question" Roxy said with a serious look on her face now. Aquarius walked over too looking at Markus to try and tell what he might try to do with his answer.

[Markus Hederick]

"Yeah, Markus." Gargulion got close to Markus just to look at his face. He got closer like he was looking down on him, apparently attempting to embarrass him on purpose. "Why have you been looking at her?"

Taken by surprise by all of the eyes suddenly placed on him, Markus stepped back a little. "Gee, you really hold onto things don't you?"

"As I ask that question, I realize I already know she does. That's why I've been afraid..."

He was still afraid, but he knew Gargulion was setting him up to say it so he could stop being depressed over it. He still messed around a bit, doing what he could to not directly say that it was him... "So...about that..." Markus got really nervous bringing this up. It was easier to go through it in his head than confronting her about it. "You...you used to live here, didn't you?"

"If your next words or actions isn't anything related to the picture, I'm going to take it from you to show it to her," Gargulion planned secretly.

[Roxy Grimm]

Roxy sighed before nodding. "yes I did live here and i am from here as well...it was the less than acceptable living conditions and unsafe environment that made me leave" Roxy said before pausing for a second. "Most all... that day where i was with a boy i liked and i was....Gang-banged by three people and the boy i was with didn't help me. It tunred out he was allied wiht the three boys. That is where my trust issues come on as well." Roxy continued before relising something about Markus. "You know what...the boy acted simular to you markus but i don't hate you for that. it doesn't mean you the person..." At that moment Aquiarius began tugging at Roxy with her claw and pointing at Markus with the tail. "Hey Aquarius let go" Roxy said before pulling her clothing out of her claw. However Aquarius kept doing it annoying her. "Thats it!" Roxy sai before hitting Aquarius on the head, it wasn't too hrd but it was just enough to cause Aquarius to go to ball form. With that roxy put Aquarius in her pocket and waited to see what Markus would say. "Hmm" Aquarius on teh other hand wasn't really happy that roxy wasn't listerning to her.

[Markus Hederick]

Gargulion listened to what Roxy said, observed Aquarius pointing her tail towards Markus, and thought about everything that he knew so far about Markus's depression over this girl. The little tidbit of Markus wanting to be forgiven for something was all Gargulion needed to remember to piece this mystery together. "This guy..." Gargulion couldn't help himself from face-palming right in front of everyone.

Markus thought about reaching for his wallet and made small moves to do so, but hearing Roxy say that about the incident broke his heart. He just froze up in grief and sorrow. There was just no way he could show her that picture when they were happier. He really had an effect on her by the way the situation ended, and it wasn't a good one. She doesn't even trust anyone any more because of him. That's very sickening to even hear.

"Roxy..." He gulped and thought over his life so far, particularly the moments of constantly being behind Tank in competitions. He was legitimately fearing death at this point. "I'm...sorry...I didn't know..."

Gargulion was concerned about what she might do to him, so he was watching closely in case anything violent erupted. "That's the trigger...here it goes."

[Roxy Grimm]

Roxy blinked at what Marcus said  and slowly though about it. Hang on...he acts quiet like what that boy did...and what he just said.... "YOU!" Roxy shouted as she went to lanch at Markus to ring his neck. Aquarius however came out of Roxy's pocket going back to monster form to keep Roxy back. "Let me at him Aqaurius!" Roxy shouted at Aquarius before getting a shock of the head from her. "Any apolegy means NOTHING Markus! YOU were meant to help me but what did you do?! Turn your back on me when i called to you for help!" Roxy started shouting at Markus then still trying to get past Aquarius. "Roxy cut him some slack, he did come to your aid against the hurrianians-" Aquarius began before interupted by Roxy. "It doesn't matter! I got rapped by terrorirsts Aquarius!" Roxy said before looking at Markus once more. "It is appalling that you loooked at me like you were attracted to me! If i see you again Markus I WILL ring your neck! Got it?!" Roxy shouted before turning away with Aquarius closey beside her. A portal appeared in front of them andthe two didn't hesitate to walk through before it closed behind them.

[Markus Hederick]

There it was. This was the first time a girl had ever threatened to kill Markus and he believed with every inch of his being that she'd do it. He was more terrified of her reaction than depressed that her realization of who he was produced the expected reaction. He was still frozen in fear even after she had left.

"Markus, I have a question," Gargulion interrupted.

Snapping back into reality and the depression starting to sink into his head, Markus drowned in his own despair. He almost didn't want to respond to anyone at this point. "Yes, I use to be allied with Terrorists," he admitted. "Is that what you wanted to hear? Will you just let me be depressed now without all the questioning?"

"Well...no...I didn't want to hear that. That's the last thing I'd ever want to hear you say, but that's not what I was going to ask. What I wanted to know was why you told her. You knew she was going to react like this. I just don't understand why you'd put yourself through that."

"I...I don't know, Gargulion. I thought I had a chance...I thought."

Markus started along the path to the Washington Legion's stadium with his head hung down. Gargulion followed closely behind him, not knowing what could be said to get his partner out of the mess he was in.

[Noland Hardy]