Episode 16: Pushed Too Far

[Alex Andersen]

"Hah...I already did my share of violence for today." Alex said referring to those Battle Suits he demolished and those officers he put to sleep somehow. He was not feeling very uncomfortable considering Noland was not absolutely berserk. At least someone could reason with him. Someone...Someone...

He then crossed his arms while looking at Noland and Drago. "Whether you care about it or not I have an offer for you. It is just an option I am giving you." He began.

"You can always surrender and come with me to Silver Knights' Headquarters." Alex said simply, but knowing that alone would not have much effect he continued speaking. "We are not a branch of this government. We are sovereigns and do not abide by laws that approve shooting little children at sight."

Dante entered the conversation. "That might sound ridiculous to you, but we are aware of your situation. You had to do what you had to do to protect yourself and your little brother...."

"...but continuing your fight here will only give this rotten government more reason to hate you." Alex interrupted. "Those who play with laws did not complain about Silver Knights not following their 'shoot the Gundalian' rule and that's why they do not have right to complain NOW. If you receive our protection they will have no right to hurt you...or your little brother."

Alex was aware that Silver Knights could put someone arrested by a Silver Knight under protection. Government would have zero rights to go against Silver Knights in that matter no matter who the subject was. That includes Gundalians as well. Alex's priority was to get Kendrick to Silver Knights, so he could be treated properly. "If they think I arrested you then I have every right to take you to Silver Knights right in front of government's nose. If we play our cards right we can erase you from the black list and cover it in some other way."

"However, priority is to treat your little brother. He is in no condition to wait for medical treatment." Alex added. And then proceeded to end what he had to say.

"I will not persuade you if you don't want to. It is up to you. Whatever you decide I will respect." Alex calmly said closing his eyes briefly. He was not expecting Noland to actually believe him or do what he said. Considering how berserk he had gone it was kinda too much to expect.

[Noland Hardy]

"That all sounds very tempting. Just a few questions though. Does any one of the laws the Silver Knights abide by authorize the attempted killing of your own sister?" Noland plainly started off, progressively changing his demeanor back to anger with each word said. "And what if that so-called protection you'll grant me fails to work on them? The police are supposed to protect us right?" He hopped back on Drago's back just to put Kendrick in his arms so he'll be on display as he makes this point. "Right!? Do you honestly think that the law matters at this point just by looking at him and I!? We're Gundalians; they're not supposed to care! They shot at me just because of the color of my skin! They're not going to give a damn about who's by my side!"

After listening to that, the best thing Drago could do to show what he really thought about that deal was laugh at them. "Everything around you points to us losing our sanity," Drago admitted, "but there's still one thing remaining: our intelligence. I'm not playing your game."

"Neither am I," Noland agreed. He put Kendrick down on the ground next to him. "But we at least agree on a couple of things. Kendrick needs medical treatment, the police have no right to do what they're doing, and the government is terrible. Depending on whose side you're on, I say that anyone who supports their agenda should be destroyed. I wonder if that's going to be you too...that is if you don't get out of here this instant."

[Alex Andersen]

"Hah...fine by me. But, it's not in my manners risking lives of innocents ending up like those officers'." Alex said almost laughing like he was accepting Noland's decision without caring the slightest he picked the hard way to do it. "It must come to this after all. Ah...not that I didn't expect it..." He added while preparing his gauntlet putting it on his right hand.
It was a special gauntlet manufactured specially by Silver Knights, so it could support special transformations or powers brawlers might use through ancient abilities that required enormous boosts.

"Oh, an regarding that card you played with my sister. I will tell you something. Murder IS wrong. But when you are being stubbornly chased by murderers for 11 years who pretend to be your dear little sister, Lydia, it is quite hard to differ right one from wrong ones. I had to kill all of them because I wouldn't be able to survive. Not even with someones strong as Dante." Alex said referring to what Noland said about him attacking his sister. "Pitiful, I know. And then right one appears in a way that would be most appropriate for telling me 'I'm a murderer, too'. That's my luck. But enough about me. It's not important."

"Special Ability activate! Miracle Shining Wind!" Alex said. He put a card that was colored in white and nearly transparent inside the gauntlet. Dante's lance and shield disappeared and he put his palms together creating massive force of energy between them. When energy got concentrated enough he released it at Drago capturing him in a tornado of energy. That energy was constantly damaging him and spinning him, so he would not be able to make a counter-attack while attack was in process. Dante then launched another blast from his palms hitting Drago while in tornado and that blasted Drago right in the ground creating a crater down there. "Nice defense. Despite being hit I don't see that much damage than it should happen. Congrats." Alex said to Noland after witnessing that Drago took less damage than he should have from that attack. If it was Drago in normal mode it would certainly be more.

"Hmm...supporting whose agenda? Of police? Phew, give me a break. Do I look like someone who cares about opinion of those idiots?" Alex said jokingly and he was mostly referring to the officers that he put to sleep. "Oh, you thought they would shoot you while being by Knights' side? Oh my, you sure need to use internet more than you do , Master Blaze." He added.

[Noland Hardy]

Hearing Alex compliment Drago's durability as if he was the so much more powerful than Noland that he had to be surprised, Noland chose to remind him who he was up against.

"That's hardly something I'd be proud of. Compared with what I had to deal with when your brother's Kuzuha merged with whatever Bakugan he was carrying, dealing with you is just a walk in the park," Noland insulted. "Now that I think about it, whatever that was looks a lot like the one you're using now in terms of armor."

Drago got back up and took the time to dust himself off in a cocky manner. He wasn't very fond of showing respect during battle at all, not in this state at least.

"Unless you plan on having any upgrades up your sleeve like he did, you can forget about forcing me into submission. Ability activate! Crimson Bonding!" A lethal electric attack, this ability combined the ferociousness of Drago's body heat with the quick travel time of an electric current to inject foes with an electrocution capable of instant paralysis and burning targets by mere contact. Drago covered his wings with that power, then released it across the field, allowing the currents to sporadically cover the ground and the sky they inhabited.

[Alex Andersen]

Alex did not bother with the attitude Noland was giving him.
Comparing him to Kuzuha was a little bit of an insult considering how weak Kuzuha actually was compared to Dante or Wolveride...or pretty much half Bakugans Alex could think of.
"Haha...Kuzuha...yeah I recall that one. You described your fight with her like you actually had to struggle..." Alex began with a light laughter and humor on that account. He was not a big fan of Kuzuha. Not that he did not like her, but her personality was a total killer when it came to being overprotective towards Daniel.

"A friendly advice...don't brag about defeating Kuzuha...it looks like you had a struggle fighting that noob of a Bakugan and if someone else heard you that it would be pretty shameful..." Alex said in a simple tone. Seeing attack incoming he took a card out of his pocket and then put it inside the gauntlet. It was a white card and Alex held a red card in his hand.

"Absolute Shield!" He said. After that Dante rose his shield and it was surrounded in transparent Clear energy. It was similar to Devillin's time distortion; it was not a shield-type ability, but it was distorting space itself to make opponent's attack useless. That attack did make impact, but it was all pointed at the shield that effortlessly distorted the attack nullifying it and turning it into glitter-like leftovers.

After that Alex put the red card inside the gauntlet signalizing an attack of his own. "That's a handy attack. Thunder, fire...if only that Dragonoid could use light as well it would be perfect. Ability activate! Angel Shield Blaster!" As Alex said that and put the ability card inside the gauntlet Dante's shield started glowing again. This time it was glowing in mixture of red and white colors. Despite being a Clear Bakugan he inherited Pyrus and Haos abilities through an ancient relic he accidentally found. This ability allowed him to shoot out a blast of holy blazing energy that was not a fire of regular kind, but holy fire. The darker opponent's current nature was the better. He launched a comet of light flames from his shield.
It charged into Drago and hit him in the chest. Once that exploded Drago was incinerated by holy flames and his tough scales were being eaten away at very fast rate. Alex used this darkness of their against them by placing a holy ability in it.

"Hah...tip for the future. You're now weaker against light. You're welcome." Dante said after noticing. However, it was only natural at the time.

[Noland Hardy]

"Hey, if she took the powers of your Bakugan and then mixed with Wolveride soon afterwards, you would have been in the same situation I was in. I think I did rather well for where I was at the time. Thank you very much," Noland angrily responded.

Noland revealed an ability card that he had never shown before. It glowed with the same intensity that his rainbow-colored abilities did, but it was far from being the same color. It was nowhere near as bright; this particular one was darker and more dreadful than the dozens of dead bodies scattered all over the ground. Noland's left hand glowed to activate this dark power. It was like a twisted version of his link with Drago, but this was more sinister and more powerful than anything he has ever been before.

"The way I see it, you're just more crafty of an opponent than Daniel is. I appreciate the diversity. It just adds to the challenge, and I'm more than equipped to handle that." He swiped the ability card. He'd never be the same after its activation. "Ability activate! Dianos Cocos X!" Drago's veins started becoming more visible to the eye - definitely the understatement of the year; they bulged more than they should have when powering up. All of the damage inflicted upon him was overridden by this dark power, causing everything on his body to be restored. He was indefinitely cloaked in a dark aura.

"It seems your light isn't strong enough," Noland mocked. Drago roared very loudly, spreading the pressure of his power across the entire field, disrupting even Dante's mighty defenses.

[Lydia Andersen]

When Noland played that ability Lydia stepped back a bit.
Angelight, in her human form, watched and gulped.
Ability Noland was using certainly was not of Drago's nature. It was something that made him go overboard with power. Ability that could exceed Bakugan's limits and was also going against nature of that Bakugan as well. In other words, Forbidden Ability.

"Alex!! Dante!! Watch out!" Lydia shouted at those two catching their attention.

"That ability is producing ominous energy. I don't know what it was, but you must be careful. I've never seen anything like it. Be on your guard!!" Lydia shouted once again.

Angelight mixed in that and threw a few words. "Dark energy is massing inside that Dragonoid. Be cautious."

[Alex Andersen]

"I pretty much see that. It will be fine."  Alex shouted back at Lydia. He did not want to get distracted too much as that could get him in trouble. Not paying attention to the battle would be a fatal mistake. "...*sigh*...."

Alex then returned his attention to the star of the night, Kuzuha-topic. "Eh...If she copied Dante? Not likely. Copying him just backfires. Alex just said simply and then took out an ability card.  "I don't think she is that cute that she deserves so much attention from us." He sure had time for jokes in their situation.

"Anyway...Shatter!" Alex said activating a lance-user ability. Dante pointed his lance towards Drago and accumulated light energy at its tip. After that he launched a light-based projectile at Drago. Projectile produced a sound of a flare while going at it and had a very powerful glow that was quite unpleasant if someone decided to look at it directly. Finally, large spark-like projectile reached Drago ready to hit him and create a burst of holy energy.

[Noland Hardy]

Noland shook his head in laughter when Alex did not heed the warning his sister gave him and continued to attack like he was going to have any substantial effects on Drago. He was about to give Alex a rude awakening.

"I'd agree with that if Dante was as tough as you think he is," Noland sarcastically said. The attack Dante launched was coming closer to Drago. Instead of either dodging, defending, or at least clashing with the attack through conventional abilities, Drago simply stood there. He put his head down to line his horn up with the projectile. Once it reached him, he just let them make contact with each other. The projectile just ceased to exist, almost like his opponent's chances of getting through to them.

"Awww. What happened? Were you really supposed to damage him with that? You're out of your mind." Noland swiped another ability, not like he had to though; he just did it for the fun of it. "Ability activate! Rage Flash!" Drago coated his arms and hands in purple electricity. He smashed the ground with his fists to produce columns of light-based waves that came from the ground in every direction. The columns completely broke through Dante's guard and sent him up in the air before plummeting back down to the surface.

"Just let yourself be destroyed. You've already given up. It shows by how weak you are right now," Noland suggested. "Destroy him, Drago! Grand Destructor!" Drago took aim at the airborne Dante and conjured a giant fireball from his mouth that dispersed into multiple meteor-grade ones. They all headed for Dante and were designed to destroy within multiple hits, only if the target didn't succumb to the injuries after the first blow.

[Alex Andersen]

Forbidden ability Lydia warned Alex about really was something considering it completely nullified Dante's attack. After that Dante was struck against the ground as the main dish while dessert was coming in form of many flaming projectiles. "Hah...nice one. 3 points for the effort and 7 for the fireworks." Alex said after seeing what happened and what was coming next. He then started thinking about something all of a sudden and was completely distracted from what was happening. Dante was not very happy about it and as he expected to be blown up if nothing was done.

"A strategy, perhaps?" Dante inquired.

"Oh... I think I forgot to lock the door of my apartment." Alex snapped out of his thoughts.

"Jesus Christ..." Dante replied in irritation.

Alex then took out another card, but a very different one from the others. It was a dark blue card with red scar-like decorations all over. There was a pitch-black crystal in the middle and it seemed like it was connected to the card with some tiny wires. Pretty unusual card. He then pressed a button opening a special hatch in his gauntlet since this card could not find in the normal opening thanks to the crystal. This new special hatch was designed specially for Alex and a few more Knights. "Not a big fan of darkness, but color is nice." He seemed serious about this statement.

"Chaos Takeover, initiate!" Dante said. Gauntlet Alex had changed its color and shades all went to dark-purple and dark-blue announcing change of attribute as well. Other cards Alex held in his hand changed color in reaction to this. Suddenly shadows surrounded Dante and covered him completely in a veil of pitch-black darkness. Drago's attack hit, but instead of exploding those projectiles merged with the shadows and were devoured whole. After that, something started moving and a more dangerous Bakugan emerged from the shadows.

A black knight. Opposition of Dante's personality and powers. "I apologize in advance for this." Alex politely, but coldly said. Dante suddenly rushed at Drago with huge speed. His speed was significantly higher and more amazing than before. Dante just body-slammed Drago head on creating an explosion-like sound upon impact. It sent Drago flying, but that was not the end.

Shadows that defended Dante before were still attached to his body. They emerged in form of hundreds snakes' heads. These heads started biting Drago all over his body. In that process these snakes devoured Drago's dark aura entirely completely nullifying that ability. Aura disappeared and so was that power-up Drago had. Surprisingly enough, Dante's lance before was not capable of damaging Drago that much, but these dark snakes broke right through his scales to his flesh cutting through it and making Drago bleed all over his body. He had hundreds of bleeding spots on his body after this. All this job was done while Drago was flying and once he fell down Dante  landed back near Alex. Shadow snakes also disappeared from the sight. They were probably just an attachment to activation ability.

"Did we go overboard with this?" Alex inquired. "Ah, nevermind..." He immediately interrupted any possible answer.

"Need help getting up, Dragonoid? I hope it wasn't that serious as it looks." Alex said to Drago. Naturally, it would be much more serious in a different situation. Since power of Chaos Takeover was significantly boosted if Alex felt powerful negative emotions.

[Noland Hardy]

The power boost from Dante's Chaos Takeover should have had Noland concerned, but he wasn't. The rate at which Drago's ability was canceled and then placed in a dire situation should have had him concerned, but again, he wasn't. Something wasn't quite right with this one...

"Whether or not that was sarcasm doesn't bother me too much. I'll go ahead and answer for him." He said this as he had another one of those dark cards on standby in case Alex initiated a transformation such as this one. "The answer's no. Ability activate! Dianos Durance X!"

The same foul energy Drago had with the previous forbidden technique was still present in his body, implying that he could have reactivated the previous ability with his own energy. That would be to his own detriment, undeniably more serious than just playing this one. He only needed to use a little bit this time.

"I would have been a little bit closer to acknowledging you as being tough had you been serious with that last attack, not like it would have mattered anyway. You still would've been weaker." Somehow, Noland noticed what was going on. "My previous ability can still bring him up to par, but something tells me you're holding something back. I'm simply going to deprive you of such power rather than giving you the benefit of pushing me to the brink."

A prickly, rope-like tentacle - extensions of Drago's life force - emerged from Drago's body and impaled Dante in his center mass without a blink of an eye going by. Power was getting drained from him very drastically. It canceled the Chaos Takeover transformation altogether; that energy was used as the building block for reactivating Dianos Cocos X since he didn't want to use his own energy to do so.

"Now I have a question for you, Alex," Noland pondered while Drago was actually killing Dante. "Does Dante need help living? He looks like he's about to die..."

[Alex Andersen]

Dante looked like he was in trouble there.
"No need. Just keep up with that. See where that will take you." Dante said in sarcasm as energy was being drained outside of his body. He did not seem so worried about the whole thing. Well, he was being seriously being played over there.

"Neo-Genesis Ability Activate! Twin Death!" Alex inserted a blue ability with a dark crystal in it inside the gauntlet. Due to this two large blades of darkness appeared above Dante. They charged into Drago stabbing him in the shoulders and almost breaking his bones with it. However, Drago was still continuing with his abilities. "It's no use. Twin Death is too weak when Chaos Takeover is inactive. I must use a normal ability." Alex thought as he saw that dark ability was not working. "Ability activate! Thunder Shatter!" However, this ability was not triggering anything.

That was when Alex came to a realization. Due to a distortion while Drago attacked Dante's Chaos Takeover was nullified, but still had its power active inside Dante. Leaving Dante in a distortion between normal mode and Chaos Takeover; unable to use normal abilities and chaotic abilities are too weak because of the drain. It seemed like quite an uncomfortable position to be in.

"Okay...this might require something more destructive..." Alex said as he started taking out a white card with a crimson ruby inside of it. "Come on, already!"

[Lydia Andersen]

"It's not happening!" Lydia shouted.

Devillin already transformed into her monster form and was now above Dante and Drago. She had a clear vision on what had to be broken over there. Lydia pressed a button and then Devillin used an ability card against Drago. "Demon Rain!" She flapped her wings causing multiple black shards to rain down on Drago and stab his entire body. Not as strong as Dante's snakes, but it managed to get to the flesh. Except for high damage it had side-effects. Small hatches opened on those shards releasing dark smoke that acted as an inhibitor towards Noland's ability.

It started slowing down the drain effect from the card Noland played.
It did not stop it permanently, but simply slowed it down.
Energy was still being drained and something had to be done.
Just throwing those things around was not useful.

Devillin swiftly switched to Angelight. "Time Zero!"
Angelight showered both Dante and Drago with holy dust from her flapping wings. That dust had an effect that was Angelight's signature; time-effect. Both Bakugans stopped struggling in their pain all of a sudden. Aura around Drago's body stopped moving like it was frozen. Neither Bakugan was moving anymore. Effect of Time Zero was pretty obvious. It would freeze time in an area that was affected by this holy dust. All functions and traits of targets affected by this would be frozen in time. It was like they were not existing while affected by this. Drago could not proceed with draining and Dante could not die from life force exhaustion.

There was still one problem. Those two would not be in that 'Time Zero' state forever because it breaks after 25 seconds if user is absolutely concentrated (Angelight's record is 15 seconds). They needed to move either Drago or Dante away from one another. If time expires Dante will be endangered again. Problem? Lydia does not have any heavily-powered abilities for Angelight and switching to Devilin would instantly break the Time Zero. Yes, a problem.

"Now what?" Angelight inquired in confusion.

[Noland Hardy]

"Now, we wait." It didn't seem like Noland cared about what she was doing at all. He knew the level of power Lydia was at would not allow that time spell to stay indefinitely, and time was not the only factor in this setup. Hearing the Bakugan ask what their next step was showed just how deep of a corner those two were pushed into.

"You know, I was actually going to be nice to you and leave you alone until you joined in just now, not that I didn't expect you to," Noland directed towards Lydia. "Unfortunately, you've just made it worse for yourself. You're both looking at my strength in the wrong way. You're trying to use force to break me, but all it's doing is breaking you. Drago is now linked to Dante, so any harm you cause him would just be nonexistent, and he's using Dante's energy to make that happen. You're just progressively killing him off quicker by continuing to attack Drago."

As he was saying that, the time on Angelight's ability expired, and the whole situation was active again. "My mistake. I forgot to mention that another power source was being added to the mix. Let me fix that real quick." Another tentacle protruded out of Drago and impaled Angelight in the chest. Now she was being used as a siphon while her life source was essentially being transferred to Drago.

"This'll disappoint you a lot, but I'll just state the obvious. It did happen; you're both going to die here," Noland promised.

[Yita Aileen Nyx]

If Noland was around then you can expect a certain somebody would be pretty close by, regardless of conditions.

At one part of the stands that where fairly close to the arena was the haos brawler of the spartan group. "M-my..." Yita says out loud, one sleeved arm holding the railings while the other was covering her gaping mouth. Her blue eyes were wide in slight shock which was a feeling which she didn't experience all too often. "He's one of them... huh... Never exactly expected that."

Neri in her normal looking cat form sat at the girl's feet, the end of her tail gently tapping the floor every few seconds. She takes a glance at her partner before looking back to the occurring chaos. "Yita... You're hands, they're trembling."

Yita looks at her hands to see them indeed, trembling in what is most likely fear. "W-What are you talking about Neri? I have no idea what you're talking about" And with that she shoves them in her hoodie pockets to keep them from shivering anymore, along with anyone seeing that she was actually scared for once which was a big first. Neri rolls her eyes at her brawler's actions before shifting her attention back to the massacre. "He's much more powerful that I predicted. I suppose that would be a good thing, considering that I would be his wife and he would have to protect me from all the bad guys in this world." Yita pauses in her fantasies for a moment, falling back into reality. "But what if one of my love rivals get in my way and take him from me? Would that power be used against us?" She shakes her head for a seconds before watching the fight continue on. With her previous thoughts left behind, she was now focused on what was happening then and there.

"Oh Noland, you must be going through a lot of things... My poor, poor Noland."