Episode 16: Pushed Too Far

[Noland Hardy]

The shocking revelation that his younger brother was a Gundalian did nothing to deter Noland from defending him. He confronted the police out in the open and condemned their foul practices, but they continued to fire at Kendrick with Noland in the way. Having already suffered enough mental trauma, Noland's anger had finally been unleashed, and he assumed his Gundalian form himself, ready to kill every officer in sight. 

(Boss Theme)

[Noland Hardy]

Noland showing his Gundalian skin just made the officers more trigger happy than they have been. They were eager to erase him and Kendrick from existence. They didn't care about Noland being a U.S. citizen. They didn't care about him being a hero. They didn't even care about being told that they have a problem. All they cared about was one thing and one thing only: genocide. Maybe it was just to make them feel better about actually doing something rather than nothing; the world knows they've done a lot of that lately.

"This is Bravo 117. Shots fired. Officers involved. Suspects are heavily armed and dangerous. We need reinforcements." The officers were already calling for backup before Noland pounced. That was very telling.

"Go ahead. Invite them here," Noland allowed. "Bring them all here so they can perish with you. Everything that you care about...I'm going to burn it all to the ground! Drago, let's go!"

"On it!" Drago lifted one foot, and the police opened fire on Drago's position.

"Ability activate! Nova Sentry!" Drago released two Chinese dragons from his body - colored darker than usual thanks to the dark power he was now wielding. They absorbed every shot fired, making themselves more potent through each defense. Drago let them out into the wild. They cruised through their ranks, pile driving through each piece of machinery they had. As for the police officers that were commanding the Bakugan-driven battle suits...the Nova Sentries either pierced through them as they ran through or...ate them.

"It's not so pleasant when you're on the other end of the killings, is it?"

[Noland Hardy]

The people running in fear of Noland's terror didn't affect him at all. He didn't feel sorry about it either. His focus was dead-center on the ones he wanted to kill. He didn't go completely dark to want to kill them...yet.

"Reinforcements!!!!!" The officers came back with even larger squads than ever. They had multiple steel-plated battle suits with shield-like arms, and they were in a line formation, very akin to the one used by the Fifth Paladin, the one they copied off of the former Gundalian Emperor, Barodius.

"Awww. Did you come up with that all by yourselves?" Noland swiped another ability. "Just die already. Go, Pyre Might!" The Nova Sentries became tainted with even more power, enabling them to enhance their flame properties to be more out of control. This allowed them to unintentionally spawn even more Nova Sentry just because of their fire spreading. This ability also gave its wielder the power to use that flame as a form of a bolstered physical attack, making whoever holds it very dangerous if they intend to collide with something. That's exactly what they intended to.

The Nova Sentry spawns zoomed around the Fifth Paladin knock-offs so they appeared behind them, exploiting their weakness of everyone's back not being watched. Altogether, they ran straight through them all, causing explosions that made their own brawlers catch on fire. They ran hysterically at Noland to try and engulf him with Drago's flames before they burned out. Drago allowed them to do it, knowing that their tactic would fail. When they got to him, they smothered him in the flames, but all they got was Noland giving them a very dirty smile as they began to be reduced to ash.

"I guess you had to find out I was immune to fire the hard way, ladies," Noland said, watching their faces turn really grim. "Oh, don't be like that. Someone had to be fodder for your miserable departments. It came with the job." Noland pushed the officers off of him so they could die on the ground. He stomped on their ashes once they were gone.

[Noland Hardy]

The two original Nova Sentries flew into Drago's body, giving him the classic cloak that made him nigh invincible within the confines of how much power he can take. Doing so set Drago on fire with the same intense flames the Nova Sentry had; his scales also folded outward a bit, making them able to viciously cut anyone who touches it.

"Oh wow..." Drago said in shock of how powerful he was getting. "Yeah...you guys definitely died." After saying that, he rushed into the crowd of battle suits, ruthlessly taking each one apart through brutal melees, tackles, swipes, bites, and his favorite part: ripping off an arm part of a battle suit and using its blaster to fire a concentrated laser, circling around in the process to wipe out anything in his surroundings. He might have had too much fun doing that.

"Fire!"

The officers used a group of particular battle suits that had barrel blasters mounted to their shoulders. They unleashed their power at the same time, creating a gargantuan barrage of missiles that appeared to be never-ending, and it bombarded Drago without any mercy. "Critical hit!"

"Oh really?" Noland wouldn't deny that the attack was effective, but was it critical? Definitely way off. All it managed to do was strip Drago of his invincibility, but he emerged from that salvo without a scratch. "That was your move. Now here's mine. Ability activate! Novia Edge!" Why Noland chose to go with a technique that's arguably his most lethal attack right now was unknown. What was known was that what the police concocted could be a threat to him without protection, and that he had to stop.

Drago lifted his tail up and pointed it in the officers' direction. The trident on the end was imbued with the foul aura on his body with a little bit of electricity added into the mix. He flicked it to fire the trident like a ballistic projectile. He also shot the various thorns scattered along his body at the enemies as well. The officers tried to stop it with their blasters, but the trident just didn't alter its flight path. They were forced to try and dodge, but they were tracked down thanks to the technique's innate ability of tracking kinetic energy, allowing it to adapt its trajectory on the fly. They were sliced completely open, leaving nothing but scattered parts of the Bakugan's bodies and the suits themselves. The brawlers themselves were stabbed by the thorns Drago released, leaving them paralyzed on the ground, but not dead...yet.

Then Noland realized that something powerful was heading towards him. He saw something coming down on their heads from the sky, and he recognized it all too well. He never imagined it would be used against him though. "Mortars..."

[Noland Hardy]

Drago hastily turned around to fly towards Noland while using himself as a shield at the same time. Once Noland and Kendrick were safely in his possession, Drago took off into the sky to avoid being rocked by the mortar fire. "They must have called in the army," Drago guessed. He looked around him and saw the National Guard filling in for some of the police, most of them having been killed already. A lot of Saurus stood on the ground in the surrounding area. They all looked up at Drago, ready to take him down by any means necessary.

"That's cute. Those Saurus believe they can actually kill me. If they were still Juggernauts, maybe..." Drago laughed.

"I wish they hadn't done that. The police is the only problem here, not them," Noland said. "But anyone who sides with them will be just as guilty as they are, so they must be destroyed. Our priority are the Lasermen who are firing those mortars. Burn them out!" Noland played the ability to complete that mission. "Ability activate! Hyper Igniter!" Drago jetted across the sky using his amazing speed. He looked down as he flew, breathing a searing stream of flames on top of the opposition. Its impact on the ground had the appearance of a twister ravaging through the area, meaning that the flames would consume more space than the initial fire breath would.

"Sooner or later, they'll run out of people to have die, and then we'll be rid of these depraved killers once and for all!"

[Vengeance]

Walking through the abundant field of corpses was this masked fellow. He/she strolled through there like there wasn't someone slaughtering dozens of people each passing second. "You're still ways off of the record set a while ago, but you're off to a good start I suppose," he/she said of Noland's spectacular showing of carnage. "Who would have thought their country's beloved hero would turn out to identify himself as apart of the most hated race in the world? This is a very interesting twist...very interesting indeed."

He/she came upon a few officers who were getting ready to succumb to their injuries. "You...please...help me..." one of them asked of him/her. He/she didn't really care too much for them. What happened to that person instead of receiving help was getting the front part of his/her foot etched onto the mouth.

"The prince was right. You never listen," he/she acknowledged. "That's okay though. You're getting all of the help you need right now. Can't you see it?" The person dropped dead right in front of him/her. "Of course you can."

Looking up at Noland and Drago cause even more destruction was pleasing to the eyes. "Yes...kill them...kill them all..."

[Alana Cortese]

Alana and Allen were caught in the crowd on their way out when Kendrick's appearance made everyone run. They didn't find Noland until after he started killing people. Being surprised and horrified at Noland's identity was simply being nice when describing how Alana felt when she saw what was going on. Her face was locked on Noland and the dark Dragonoid. She couldn't believe what she was watching. She just couldn't, and even if it was real, she wouldn't accept it. This just wasn't who Noland was to her.

"So...um...yeah. This is happening. He's really...killing them..." Hydranoid thought out loud in the awkward silence. "It's really hard to imagine that I was the one doing this earlier..."

"But...why...?" Alana's voice cracked, almost too horrified to even form words at this point. "Why are you doing this...?"

She remembered what went down prior to showing up to the scene. Noland's grandmother and Maya were tucked away in a corner, and Allen managed to see through all of the confusion. She sternly warded them away out of concern for them, not wanting any more Hurranian infections. She didn't keep them long though since she gave them one job. "The Gundalian they're up in arms about is Kendrick," she revealed, greatly shocking Alana and Allen. She didn't let that fact quite sink in since they had to hurry. "I know what I'm about to tell you is not like any of us to say, but if those officers either kill him or make contact with Noland, he'll be the cause of death for a lot of people tonight. You have to stop them before it's too late."

Alana gripped Hydranoid and was prepared to throw him into combat at a moment's notice.

[Allen Silva]

Allen was shocked to say the least. Both Noland and Kendrick were Gundalians. His best friend,the only person to have his back, was now going on a rampage, killing everyone who got in his way. Alana almost sent Hydranoid into the battle, but Allen grabbed her wrist.

" what do you plan on doing?" Allen asked Alana. He knew that she wanted to stop Noland, but in his current condition there wasnt anything they could do." If you want to help, than we have to lay low and get who we can the hell out. If we attack him while he's like this, theres no telling what will happen next. Think about it for a second. Noland is so mad that he now resorts to something he would never do. At east in his right mind. We cant say wether he wont turn and attack us."

"If my memory serves me correctly,Noland has already beatten you once." Gorem added to his partners argument. " theres a lot more going on here than just a out of control bakugan. Our best option is to, like Allen said, reduce the possible casualties. After that, we can deal with Noland in any way we need to."

[Alana Cortese]

"You just had to bring that one up, didn't you?" Hydranoid felt a little bit insulted by Gorem bringing that battle up. "You lost to me twice according to what I've been hearing, so if you want to cower in fear of being out of your league, then go right ahead. I didn't want your help anyway."

"What do I plan on doing? Are you kidding me right now?" Alana ripped her arm from Allen's grip. "What do you think I'm doing!? I'm not standing here watching this happen and making excuses on why I can't help my friend!"

"So...am I going to get sent in now? That is if you don't mind...there's death popping up everywhere...not that I'm complaining or anything..."

"Look, I don't care what you've learned after that fight with Jamal, but it's not going to work with me, okay?" Alana then asked him a very important question. "Will you be satisfied with going after Noland after he either kills everyone else or the military kills him? Will you be proud of not doing anything for him then?"

[Allen Silva]

Alana was obviously mad. And Allens questioning of her only made matters worse. But he knew what he was talking about." Look Alana,right now, we cant do anything. Think about it for a single second. If we were to try and stop Noland as he is, he could easily take it the wrong way. You know what happens then, right?" Allen started to lay out thier "options" on the table. If he was going to be absolutely honest, none of these were going to work." We will die. If we try to help Noland,we might as well dig our graves right here. Trying to calm the chaos would only cause more chaos."

" in response to your comment Hydranoid, yes. When i was Force Gorem, you did defeat me." Gorem answered the darkus bakugan." But right now isnt the time to play ' whose the better bakugan' because we all know who it is. And he is rampaging like a lunwtic right now."

After Gorem finished giving his input, Allen cleared his throat in preparation to ontinue." Look Alana, Noland was crushed when we lost you and Vince. You are our friend. Id be a shitty friend if i let him go through that once again. So thats why no matter what, we are not joining in."

[Alana Cortese]

Hydranoid laughed out loud after hearing Gorem surprisingly admit his inferiority, something that he has never done before up until now. Despite that, it was all he needed to hear to make a point. "That's not what any of you said when it was Dharak and I desolating this country," he pointed out. "You acknowledging that Drago poses a very substantial threat to life in that state says it all. Friend or foe, strong or weak, and big or small shouldn't be important; it wasn't to you back then, so why should it be now?"

"Even when it seemed impossible to save me, he did. He SAVED ME WHEN I WAS CERTAINLY GOING TO BE LOST FOREVER, EVEN WHEN IT COULD HAVE KILLED HIM," Alana angrily responded.

Reminiscing on the doom card incident was enough for her to draw a comparison. Going into the fight, Noland knew that he had practically zero chances of winning in the way that he wanted, which was to get rid of the card itself. While he succeeded in doing so, it wasn't very conventional as it was more opportune, but that didn't change the fact that Noland had turned to darkness to fuel his vengeance; even if the end result from either scenario would result in death, she wouldn't be happy allowing this to happen when Noland didn't allow it on her behalf, even going as far as to voluntarily surrender his body to the Dharaknoid just to stand a fighting chance.

"You know what else would make you a shitty friend?" She slightly paused, making sure she was looking straight at Allen before she gave her answer. "Watching the people you care about the most going through the same path that I - more than anyone else - know leads to pain and misery!"

"I'm also going to throw this in there: I'm not a Bakugan fond of watching; I take action, meaning that if I see something that makes me sick, I don't just look at. I stop it," Hydranoid added. "Consider this scenario while you're coming up with all the possible death routes. You see what they're doing right now? That's the military - the freaking military, and they're reducing them to ashes. Do you really think this is going to stop? The police were only the first step. They're bringing in all the guns they have, and as long as they keep doing that, they'll keep on dropping. This isn't going to change by us standing here arguing over this nonsense."

Hydranoid independently rolled himself out of Alana's hands and onto the ground, standing in his battle form ready to go on the front lines. "We became Resistors not to start anything, but to end conflict, and that's exactly what we're going to do right here, right now."

[Allen Silva]

In response to Hydranoid transforming into his monster form, Gorem followed suit. The large golem bakugan stood in front of Hydranoid, intent on not letting the beast another foot closer to Drago.

" You're forgetting a key reason the resistors exist Alana." Allen said, the seriousness could be heard in his voice." We also formed the resistors to protect our friends. Remember that whole deal when you two were having your squabble? I didnt intervene, did i? That wasnt because i idnt want to, but because i knew i shouldnt."

" if you dont remember that, than surely you remember Emperor Barrodias. The cruel Gundalian who seeked power at all cost. One I have no doubt you remember is Nero. A stricken man who devastated this country and the world." Allen reminded his comrade of the tragidies of the past." There isnt a doubt in my mind that if you risked your life and died, Noland would fall down that same exact path. Its really nice to see you still care for him so much. But think about the consequence of your actions. If you were to try and save him, then got shot through, that woukd be it. And dnt think the military wont do it. They most likely would have done it if Noland tried to protect Kendrick. "

" if you want to intervene, then youll have to go through me." Gorem piped up." And im the kind of bakugan to place my feet firmly down. I am the defender, the wall of the resistors. If you think you have what it takes, then bring it."

[Lydia Andersen]

Doors from which Kendrick entered the battlefield screeched announcing arrival of another person there. It was a young woman in black and white clothing that was somewhat uncommon to see outside of science facilities. She held a purple laptop in her right hand as she walked over the debris and trash. Behind her was another young woman walking. Her appearance was specific by her long white hair and light-gray suit.
Those were Lydia Andersen and her Bakugan in human form.
Lydia jumped over the debris and then found herself in front of a disgusting scenery.
She put her hand on her mouth in disgusting as seeing those things was severely painful for her; death, blood, killing, fighting in general.

"Ugh...I can't stand this..." She whispered in disgust and covered her nose and mouth with a tissue made of silk.

She then looked at the battlefield. Scene she was dealing with was leader of Resistors, Noland, fighting Bakugans and battle suits sent by the government. It sure was hard to recognize it was Noland if relying on eyes alone, but Lydia had very keen senses. She could smell his scent right through that tissue. Seeing what he was doing was confusing her.

"Why are you doing this...? What happened...?" She whispered in confusion.

She then looked at all those corpses of officer lying around. "Now it's officers...and it won't take long before he turns his eyes on others...innocents..." She whispered again.

She felt sorry for everything that was happening there. So much unnecessary death. So much chaos. "I would do something to help you...but what's the point of dying twice...right?" She said to those dead officers in disappointment. She wanted to do something, but it seemed pointless in her eyes to attempt it.

[Alex Andersen]

Not long after Lydia went through that door another person appeared.
That person was wearing a winter coat and thick pants.
Yes, unusual clothing for that time of the year.
Lydia's brother ladies and gentlemen, Alex Andersen.
Unlike Lydia, he had no Bakugan that could take human form.
His Bakugan was more direct with his approach that than girl Bakugan.

Dante, Alex's Bakugan, soared around the arena and then forcefully landed near those officers who were still barely alive and stupid enough to continue fighting and ordering their Battle Suits to fire their weapons at Dragonoid, who was obviously not giving a single fuck about their pointless efforts. Dante then took off a bit to take his regular levitating pose he preferred.
He looked at Noland and Drago who were having a blast with officers and their weak weapons. Literally, having a blast.

Alex jumped over all those fences and walked past by Lydia giving her a sign to remain where she was and not to interfere. He then walked to Dante, close to those officers who were struggling with Noland.

"Hey kid!...No way....you...you're..." One officer mumbled at Alex. He was still shaking after seeing so many comrades getting killed.

"Officer. Would you mind explaining me the situation?"

"There...there's no time for that. That kid in the sky. You must to take him out, fast!"

"..." Alex was not replying.

"Are you deaf?! Master Blaze is a Gundalian. And he has gone berserk! Do something!"

"I am. I'm asking you to explain the situation."

"Moron!"

"..."

"Alright...Kid's brother. We found him and his grandmother in the hallway with some people...Those people were infected by Gundalians. And we...we didn't...we just didn't want to..."

"You didn't want WHAT?" Alex asked strictly.

"Look...it would spread all over the place. We had to put them down...but he...he was a Gundalian...he killed a few of our men..." Officer said in hesitation as he was afraid to admit their act considering they knew who Alex really was.

"And we...we...we chased him. Master Blaze wanted to save him...protecting a Gundalian is a serious crime....and...and we managed to take care of that little shit...but this one has gone berserk. He's also a Gundalian. We have to take care of him. That's all."

"Because he is a Gundalian..."

"Well...y-yeah." Officer hesitantly said.

"You wanted to kill a kid and his grandmother...for being infected..."

"...huh?"

"...You disgust me." Alex looked at the officer like a beast.

"...What...? What are you...?"

"You wanted to kill a kid who did no wrong deed. You shot him for being a Gundalian. You forced this darkness out of Master Blaze. You disgusting worms. You alone are responsible for this...Monsters..."

"How dare you, kid?! I told you what needs to be done! That's the law! Now do it or else!"

In that moment Dante turned towards those Battle Suits standing by officers' side. He looked at the officer speaking. "We don't abide by your laws!!" At that moment Dante pointed his shield towards those battle suits and shouted. "Absolute Purifier!" His shield started glowing and holy energy accumulated on it. Then all that holy energy blasted towards those Battle Suits.
Every single Battle Suit that was standing there was turned into dust; not a screw or any piece of metal was left. Dante destroyed them all.

"WHAT?! What are you doing?! This is an attack on government?!"

"Hmm...and you had no problem attacking a child...Irony." Alex replied coldly and then his left eye started glowing intensely in red color. His stare was almost demonic. It was power Alex unlocked after fighting Daniel; Deathcrown's curse.

"Are you one of them...?!" Officer asked in complete shock.

"Good question... Viper's Eye." Alex said and his eye flashed in red at those officers. All of them were watching Alex and after being flashed they all immediately fell unconscious and fell on the ground without resisting it.

After doing that he and Dante looked at Noland and Drago. They certainly noticed that there was some commotion down in the arena and that Dante and Alex destroyed those Battle Suits and then did something to those officers to make them fall on the ground.
Alex made a few steps forward looking at Noland.

"Master Blaze!!" Alex shouted. "I see you are doing well, so mind coming down?"

He knew Noland's situation. Last thing he intended to do was to act in hostile manner to someone who had a situation he could completely understand. Being forced into something.

[Noland Hardy]

The sound of Alex's voice distracted Noland from the amount of killing he was doing. "It's him again..." Even in this state, Noland was well aware of Alex's position. It made him think that the United States was getting desperate sending in the biggest guns they had, and Alex was one of them. If what he and Tank saw last time was any indication on what Alex may do, Noland would have attacked him on site. This time must have been different. He didn't detect a sense of haste in him or Dante; they didn't declare an attack at all when they could have.

"Heh. So I'm actually going to get a challenge this time. Sweet," Drago praised, obviously still in the killing mindset regardless of what Alex and Dante were doing.

Drago stopped what he was doing. He flew in the direction Alex and Dante were standing. He slowly descended, keeping a watchful eye on Dante in case he tried anything. Noland dismounted the Dragonoid. His skin was resonating well with the flames scattered all over, appearing a bit more red in color than usual when in its light.

"All I want to know from you, Andersen, is whether you're here to join or stop me," Noland stated, obviously not very interested in what Alex may have to say.