Episode 26: Mistakes Can Be Fixed

[Dasia Turano]

After defeating King Richard and Queen Lauren at Echo City, Xavier and the head scientist got themselves examined at the hospital after an alarming revelation that something may be wrong with Dasia. The head scientist was on his way to Dasia to pass on the message and get her checked too. He was picked to do it himself while Xavier watches. Xavier must have been too scared to do it himself, so he let the head scientist be the scapegoat. He wasn't too happy about that, but he did it anyway.

They didn't find Dasia on the throne, so they had to search around the palace for her. The head scientist found her in her room stuffing her face with cinnamon rolls from Earth - the one place she was telling everyone else not to go. When she realized someone barged in there, she was chewing slowly as the thought of being exposed clouded her thoughts.

"You saw nothing! And you're supposed to knock! What if I wasn't fully clothed?" she shouted with her mouth full.

"That'll only be a problem for you, ma'am," the head scientist responded.

He screamed in pain after he was allegedly punched in the face for making that comment. They both met in the throne room to have their discussion afterwards.

"What can I do for you?" Dasia asked.

"Well, I'd like to..." He was having a hard time spitting it out since he wasn't sure if Dasia was going to ask him why he wanted to check her for Hurranian infection. If she did question him further, he didn't know what he would say. This was something they should've planned before walking up to her.

"Like to...?"

"...Examine you?"

Dasia scoffed at this comment. Considering what he said earlier, this easily made her take that one the wrong way. "You've wanted to do that since we were teenagers. Try asking me something that I could think about saying yes to."

"Oh, I'm sorry! Your brother has me paranoid about you killing me if I asked you to participate in a Hurranian infection test!" The head scientist shrunk his head down as soon as he blurted that out.

"Huh? Since when did you all start giving those tests out? Did something happen?"

"Since we did it for Beta City when the waters were decontaminated, we thought we should do it across the cities and towns we occupy so we don't get stuck in that situation again. You're the next one we have to do, so..."

Relieved, Dasia put on a cutesy smile. "Awww. Why didn't you just say so? You didn't have to act all nervous. Xavier likes to exaggerate certain details. I wouldn't hurt you for asking me that. Go ahead."

"I didn't want it to seem like we didn't trust you. He said that you chased him with your sword when he made a joke about you infecting Jamal with Hurranians so you could have at least two people think you're cute, one of them being me..."

"I can always change my mind about hurting you."

"Right...I'm sorry."

The head scientist started the checkup with the obvious signs. He looked at Dasia's eyes to see if they were either dilated or contained the color gray in the iris. None of those were present, so he scanned her with his BakuMeter to check for any irregular pulses. That's when Dasia gently touched the device.

"I need you to do me two favors. Can I count on you?"

"I'll do anything for you."

"Good. I made some modifications to Boriates and Dryoid while you were away. They should be able to build the mechanical Bakugan themselves now. They currently have two assignments, and I want you to oversee their completion."

"What are they?"

"One will have Gargulion and Donovan's battle data. It'll be used as a mobile spawn for new mechanical Bakugan, essentially acting as a mother. The second will be using Drago and Helios's data, and I want that particular Bakugan in my hands when it's completed. You got that?"

"Yes, ma'am. I will get to that immediately."

None of that was spoken out loud, but rather through some form of telepathic communication that only took three seconds in real-world time. The scan was soon completed and it found zero complications with Dasia's health. He then wanted a blood sample from her, which she didn't object to. That concluded the test.

"Keep up the good work." She winked at him after she sent him off. He nodded his head and walked out of the room, showing zero signs that anything suspicious just happened.

[Noland Hardy]

The purge of Beta City was the perfect opportunity for a certain former resident to return there to reminisce on all of the memories she has had there. It was the Aquos member of the Spartans, Roxy Grimm. It was the first time she had been there since she left. She decided it was finally time to pay her respects.

As a consequence for the manner in which the city was barred from entrance, it was never restored back to its former glory. It was left in shambles just as it had been from before. The buildings were in ruins. It had the appearance of a desolate wasteland, just like No Man's Land on Earth.

Roxy could remember the exact spot where her home used to be. It was just near the port, where the seafood market used to be. She could picture herself accompanying her father to the water where she would watch him bring in the catch of the day. It wasn't something she enjoyed; it was something she missed doing, since her family is dead and/or embedded into the Hurranian network.

When Roxy located the ruins of her house, she summoned Aquarius to have her etch the Aquos symbol on the ground with her tail. This was done to honor the Bakugan who fought on her family's side, and they were all Aquos Bakugan. Roxy did think of an idea for a memorial of some kind - along the lines of a statue - that would keep all of the victims in mind. She remembered that Markus and Gargulion would be capable of helping her with that, but she quickly deleted that thought when she thought about him.

As she thought about that, a Hurranian in the area was unhappy that its friends were destroyed by Macubass when it entered the water, so it started reviving a bunch of dead folk, her parents being among the ones brought back to life. Roxy was too stunned to move at this point, a costly symptom of her recurring PTSD. Her parents acting like nothing was wrong with them and that they were a fully-functional family again made it even worse.

It took Deon's timely arrival to prevent her and Aquarius from being overwhelmed. Tyr made short work of them by trampling through their ranks without any stress. The strongest brawler among them - Roxy's father - had a Juggernoid that Tyr had to lift off of the ground with his horns and into Macubass' range. The mechanical Bakugan deleted the Juggernoid soon afterwards. Deon asked Roxy if venturing out on her own in unapproved areas was her thing. Roxy was honestly shocked to see him there, much less save her from death.

[Noland Hardy]

During the ensuing conversation that took place after Deon defeated the Hurranians, Deon figured out the underlying details surrounding Roxy being the sole survivor of the tragedy that hit this city. He remembered always hearing Dasia and Xavier talk about not letting Roxy see much action when it comes to Hurranian activity, but he never knew why. Now he could piece those facts together.

Roxy immediately questioned him about why he was there. Deon didn't think she would press him about that so soon since it was a good thing he was around, but he answered. Roxy was detected by Slipstream heading out in this direction and he needed something to do with his time. It became awkwardly quiet after he said that mostly due to Roxy not wanting to say much to him, but Deon kept talking. He let her know that the both of them had some attributes about them that made them similar. Roxy confusingly asked what he was talking about.

Deon told her that they were the only Spartans originally from Earth, so they're both technically considered to be outsiders. He noted that it was simple for the other Spartans to have already established an inner circle between each other since they're from the same planet, unlike him and Roxy. He even argues that they are thought of to be the weakest of the six because of this factor as well. He thought they should at least understand each other, since no one else will bother to take the time to.

While on that subject, Deon wondered how Roxy ended up on Vestal. Roxy just told him that her family deemed the planet unfit to live on anymore due to safety and economical reasons. Her father was actually a Vestal who was a descendant of one of the people who fled the planet before the Bakugan Termination System was fired, so they used the transport device passed down to them to get away from Earth. Deon found that interesting because that's similar to how he got on the planet. He stole the device from his tribe leader who had it from one of the Vestals who lived with them in the past.

Deon confirmed that he was part-Native American before Roxy could be confused with what he just said. Roxy then wondered why he left. Deon explained that his tribe was known to be a very peaceful people who refused to fight, even when the U.S. government continued to screw them over by coming onto their land as uninvited guests and stealing their resources, even going as far as to contaminate their drinking water with their "globalization." Deon would then go against his teachings by learning how to fight from crooks, such as domestic terrorists. He had to turn against one particular terrorist when he planned a coup against the President who was the only realistic hope his brothers and sisters had back home. Not wanting to be identified and bring the entire tribe into danger, he fled to Vestal where he worked as a hitman before inevitably going down the same road when they threatened to kill Dasia.

Roxy curiously asked if him still learning how to fight was the reason why he lost to Seiki. Deon was saddened to see that people were still making fun of him for that. Roxy reminded him of how embarrassing it was, especially since Damian had a parade over it. Deon admits that he severely underestimated Seiki's power. He thinks that his behind-the-scenes operations got him complacent about taking people out too quickly, leading to a neglect in his training. Deon thought it would be good if Roxy became his training partner to help each other out. He saw that Roxy had a goal in mind on the battlefield as well.

Roxy kindly rejected his offer, shying away from the thought that Deon seemed like he was warming up to her. Deon noticed this and assured her that he was not like the other Spartans who only cared for themselves, save for Jamal of course. In a flash, Deon gave up on trying to convince her to trust him. He changed his mind after noticing that everyone that came near him ended up being brought down by his actions and that hearing what he has done probably made her think that the same would happen to her; the other Spartans probably thought the same and kept him away for a reason. He clarified one detail about all of those cases: he was friends with the people he later had to betray and he wouldn't have done what he did if he could have stopped them any other way.

This made Roxy think about Markus a bit. She thought about how he could have potentially stopped the terrorists if he had the power to, but she would never know for sure; he just turned and ran. Deon suggested to her that he would stay there until they left since they couldn't have her wandering around by herself when the Hurranians could strike at any second. Roxy suddenly changed her mind about them becoming training partners. She wanted to figure something out for herself, and she needed power to make that happen. Nodding in approval, Deon told her that they should get started right away so it would appear like they're good for something and not get left behind.

[Noland Hardy]