Episode 16: Pushed Too Far

[Niko Adrian Nyx]

Niko stirs from her slumber, brushing her pale hands against her snoozing partner at the sound of her sister's comments. "That one they call Noland? It that who you're talking about now, sister?" The brawler mumbles, slowly getting up from her sleeping spot underneath the bleachers in the shadows with Donovan assisting her. The spartan was napping there for a while, probably even before the whole clashing event began. Yita did kinda drag them here after all for company. Niko stopped midway and her bakugan froze alongside her, but that's just to make sure he didn't push her over. "The tension in the air... it has increased tremendously. And then there's the presence of-"

"Fresh blood." Donovan finishes as he nudges Niko, getting her back on her feet after that statement. "Loads of it." The darkus bakugan keeps close to Niko to leader to the railing where they could view the battle, at always he could. His partner would simply have to use her other senses to 'see' what was happening.

Niko's eyes widen slightly at the familiar feeling of an aura she wasn't all too fond of, "the fourth kingdom..." Donovan nods in agreement to Niko's statement. She raises her hand in the direction of where Noland and Drago were, it was most likely them with the type of aura they were giving out. "He's experiencing a nightmare, one that may cause his demise." She lowers her hand to stroke Donovan's mane, thinking over the problem she and her sister were now in. "The power he and the dragon wields is a dangerous one. They don't have the proper vessels to contain the power." Her thoughts flash back at the two "resistor" girls she had met on one of her dream walks and how Noland seems to be a beacon of hope figure to both of them. "Their dreams would lack meaning if the pyrus boy is removed." Niko murmurs to herself as she mounts Donovan.

Once on, she pats Donovan's back, and the bakugan begins to make his way to the ground where Noland and Drago would be. "Time to go see what I can do to help."

[Noland Hardy]

If the current situation didn't do a good enough job at depicting Noland's shift to the dark side, then there was only one other thing he could do to solidify his transition: kill Alex and Lydia, the two remaining beacons of hope for the officers, national guard, military, and, perhaps, even the country itself. The battle with Dante steadily increased his dark emotions. There just wasn't any room to revert back to his old self now. In his mind, he had to do it; he had to destroy everything.

"You know what's more disturbing than making all of you die?" By that time, Noland's entire body was covered in the dark aura, not just his left hand anymore. His voice got even darker, deeper than ever before. It was akin to that of a familiar foe...the Dharaknoid. "What's worse than your pitiful demises is this sad thought: the same people my father, my friends, and I have sacrificed so much for have forsaken us all. And for what reason? My skin? Assumptions? Because you think you can? You all make me sick."

It was the one moment where everyone knew they messed up. Noland had ANOTHER ability of the same color as the previous forbidden abilities, and he was ready to play it. "That moment where you realize that fighting Nero was a mistake...apparently the only thing this world understands to learn a valuable lesson is DEATH." He played it right away. "Ability activate! Absolute Desolation X!"

Normally an ability he shouldn't have been using in his semi-sane mindset he was in prior to the confrontation, this forbidden ability was a detriment to everyone in the surrounding area, if not the entire planet. This would involve Drago performing a roar so powerful that it literally destroyed everyone and anything in the path of its destructive wave. In more precise terms, anyone caught in its destructive wake would be devoid of life completely. Drago was progressively gathering the energy required to do the attack due to the immense power of it. Thankfully, Dante and Angelight were powerful enough to accelerate this process by an impressive margin. It'll only take two minutes to charge at the worst thanks to their power.

[Niko Adrian Nyx]

"He's much stronger than that ventus resistor, we'll have to use a different approach to put him to sleep. We're going to need a more direct approach. Lets try this..."

From the shadows of the area comes Donovan with Niko mounted on his back, a plan already worked out- sorta. "Open! Tear to the fourth kingdom!" Niko and Donovan both call out to have the space around Noland and Drago be torn apart to reveal the chaos and horrors of what is called the fourth kingdom to them.

The girl hops off of her bakugan's back and looks at Noland's estimated position. "Just for safety. If you were to shoot that blast somehow, it would head to the fourth kingdom where it belongs, or fit in pretty well at least. Donovan begins a sprint towards the raging duo as Niko then musters up her energy, "Noland, Drago, if you can hear me please do listen to what I have to say!" It had been a while since the darkus brawler had spoken this loud. She takes a deep breath before continuing what she had to say. "Your vessels aren't suited for this power which can lead to your demise!" As she thought about what she was going to say next, that was when her emotions started to take control of her. "You have people that you have unfinished business with, people who wish for you to continue on living for a reason, heck even people who truly love you still here in this realm!" The girl was glad that she even did a bit of research on the resistor that stood before her to add onto the strength of the speech, if he was listening that is. "A grandma, a younger brother, friends who genuinely care about you. Are you going to throw that all away for something like this?!" Niko finishes her outburst with heavy breathing before stomping her foot on the floor, a signal for her partner to get moving.

At the feeling of the vibration that Niko produced by stomping her foot the darkus bakugan leaps for Noland and Drago, calling out his own ability as he body begins to turn into a dark shadow, "Esoteric adroitness," At this moment, Donovan had became a black shadow, but his voice could still be heard echoing throughout the stadium."Coercion torpor!" He had quickly engulfed the two targets in his dark shadow and merged into them. Hopefully this would have caused them to become tired super fast, fast enough to stop that blast just in case it were to somehow tear through the tear and back into the first kingdom. "Go to sleep."

[Noland Hardy]

Noland was completely unaffected by the gloomy scenery of the "Fourth Kingdom" considering he was already at the point where nightmares actually fuel his power. He was well aware of Niko's presence, but he didn't care. The power he was concocting could not be contained by a simple dimensional shift since it's her power holding it together. She'd be obliterated as soon as the attack was launched.

The best reaction she'd get out of Noland was a stare out of the corner of his eyes; he wouldn't even acknowledge her by turning his head to see her face-to-face. His look basically says, "If you don't cancel whatever you're doing and leave, you're going to die." Seeing that she wasn't planning on leaving, Noland set his sights on Niko and had Drago launch a tentacle just as Donovan was planning to enter their consciousness. It came within literally one centimeter of stabbing Niko before it was abruptly paused.

Drago began losing control, which further meant that he lost the concentration necessary to charge Absolute Desolation X. He stumbled to his right, causing him to accidentally launch the attack prematurely. It tore through Donovan's tear and was seen traveling past Dante and Angelight's left hips. The results of it were catastrophic; the pressure disintegrated all matter that existed in its path across a ridiculous distance - currently unmeasured, leaving everything completely lifeless. It only charged for thirty seconds, so the attack was only at twenty-five percent at the worst.

Both Noland and Drago began to feel droopy afterwards.

Noland was struggling to stay on his feet due to drifting in and out of a deep sleep. He was constantly opening and shutting his eyes. He was stubborn, refusing to be stopped by this spell. He did not want to go to sleep, and that was final. Sadly, he had little to say about it. His body was reacting negatively to his desires in favor of rest, which Donovan somehow is able to force.

Drago didn't want to go down either. Dianos Durance X started to dissipate, freeing the captive Dante and Angelight from his clutches. His dark aura from Dianos Cocos X was starting to disappear too. He collapsed on the ground, on his knees and desperately trying to get back up. He was actively hissing at everyone in the surrounding area too.

Before Noland became unconscious, he placed his left hand on his brother. His strategy was to infuse some of his energy into Kendrick's body the same way Drago did for him in the past. When he tried to do so, it didn't work. All he saw was a dark aura come out of his hand, and even that disappeared quickly due to the tired state his body was in thanks to Donovan. "It...didn't work....? Kendrick....please..." Noland collapsed on the ground next to him, and was fast asleep.

Drago was still struggling to remain awake. He lasted longer than Noland did, but his body was not going to let him stay awake that much longer before it gave up on him. He yawned twice before he dropped. His scales returned back to their normal color as the dark power surged out of his body.

[Lydia Andersen]

"Huh...o-okay..." Lydia gasped.
After seeing such dangerous attack missing for just an inch she was there in shock thinking of what could have happened if that hit Angelight. She did not want to think about it... But she could not help it. "...Falcon..."
Flashback of her good old deceased partner and Guardian, Falcon, just appeared before her eyes chilling Lydia's spine with fear. If that attack hit Angelight...it would be like with Falcon...another friend dying to protect her from evil and darkness.
But she quickly snapped out of it when young Spartan, Niko, used abilities that made Noland and his Drago feel drowsy resulting in both of them ultimately collapsing onto the ground and falling asleep.

She looked at the Pyrus Resistor and his Bakugan saddened that they had to go through all of that. And because of what? Because of someone's stupidity. Because of someone's stupidity people ended up dying. Laws were resorting to something that was entirely racist; murder someone because of who he was.

Lydia stared at the ground plunged into thoughts. "...I now understand what dad said that day...It was not Bakugans...aliens...or zombies...Humans are monsters..." Lydia whispered to herself after thinking about the whole thing for a while. Well, human kind indeed showed its teeth that day; it's monstrous teeth. And it resulted in causing unnecessary problems for everyone...literally everyone.

[Alex Andersen]

And battle was finally over.
Ability young Spartan, Niko, used on Noland was miracle in danger. Noland was put into deep slumber after struggling for a minute or two to retain his consciousness. He failed to resist and ultimately succumbed to effects of Spartan's Ability card. Not even overpowered dragon was capable of resisting for too long either; he collapsed seconds later after his brawler and his form was backed up to normal.
Battle, indeed, was not a clear victory, but at least the final result was positive for little Kendrick who was close to succumbing to his terrible wound inflicted by a gunshot minutes earlier.

Alex observed how the situation unfolded and assumed it was safe to approach the young man. Now that he was sleeping he could not oppose Alex's decision of taking them to Silver Knights and do what he intended from the very beginning. Alex rushed towards Noland and Kendrick followed by Dante who knelt on his left foot right near two unconscious brothers.
They were picked up by Alex who carried them putting them in Dante's right hand.
"...Geez...you kids are bound to give me a heart-attack one day..." He complained sarcastically to them shaking his head repetitively. "...Well then...I guess it is your turn..." With a blue flash of his left eye Alex aborted Drago's monster form turning him back to orb and then putting him inside his pocket.

Upon doing this he impatiently sighed like he was getting prepared to complain, but not a word was said. He too climbed onto Dante's arm following Dante's take-off and then a brief turn towards Resistors and Spartans. "We'd like to thank you for assistance...ehh...well, at least to you two..." Reference to two Spartans since Allen and Alana were so useful to stay behind and do nothing like good little children. Yes, Alex was displeased to see such irresponsible decision from Resistors, but it could not be helped. "Don't overthink it. They can't stay here, so we're taking them to a safe place. Plus, the kid will a surgery at this point. We can't count on a normal hospital in this situation, so we hope you understand."

Dante made a swift turn preparing for the upcoming ride. "They will be in Washington, if you care for a visit." One-sided conversation was done, so Dante charged up and launched himself towards Washington at high speed carrying Noland, Kendrick and Alex to Silver Knights' Headquarters.

A few battle suits were in the way. A police officer on one of them. With a megaphone. "Knight, I demand you hand over..."
"GET OUT OF MY WAY!!" Officer was very close to wetting his pants after Dante's enraged screech and fast soar that knocked those battle suits away upon passing by. And with that joyful moment image of Dante quickly vanished from sight.

[Damian Knight]

Off to the side, away from the action, was Helios scraping his fingernails across a broken battle suit piece - the one he destroyed from the battle suits targeting him while in pursuit of Noland. Damian watched all of that go down with a smile. He pretended like the battle was an entertaining show, not like he didn't just kill people to watch or anything.

"Look at Niko saving the planet," Damian congratulated off to the side. "I'm impressed she did anything. Something must have sparked her interests. It definitely wasn't her verbally abusive sister."

"The Third Layer is all it would've taken," Helios commented in regards to Drago's unrestrained power. "Maybe even the Fourth if I had to..."

"That's going too far." Damian watched this intriguing Silver Knight handle the situation afterwards by taking the liberty of getting Noland out of there safely.

"I'd follow them, but...the police may mistake me for a human and shoot me by mistake. This planet's hosed." Helios threw the battle suit piece up in the air and incinerated it with a fire breath before him and Damian departed the area by means of dimensional transport.

[Noland Hardy]