Episode 30: The War Starts With You

[Tank Stryker]

Little did Deon know, Gladion was already using his Remnant of the Titans - Eyes of Prometheus when the Spartans showed up and had already predicted how this conversation would turn out. Deon's words were never going to make a difference; what was said was going to be said, and by then, it was too late for a reconciliation.

"You're the idiot if you consider what just happened to be a joke," Gladion retorted. "It's far from being funny. It was already too late for a reconciliation the moment your 'friends' opened their mouths."

"All of you should have really taken a hint from Tracy and actually listened to her, as hard as that is for people as judgmental like yourselves," Tank suggested, even though it was far from too late for them to get the concept now. "This isn't the first time I've found myself working with someone I disliked at first, but I don't recall any of them EVER holding past actions against me as a form of weapon against my emotions. You dumbasses clearly don't understand the meaning of teamwork based on the way you continue to disrespect us, and that's without that pile of shit Kyuki being here in person. How do you expect for us to have faith in you while we're fighting him when you can't even control yourselves when he's away?"

Tank rolled Gladion a couple of feet in front of him and had him stand in monster form, threatening the Spartans without saying a word about what he planned to do at that point. "This is what I think about your 'partnership,'" Tank threatened.

[Damian Knight]

That was a bold move from Tank to threaten all six of the Spartans at once by himself. Damian had to match that level of intensity somehow; it was in his nature after all. So what could he do to match throwing in a Bakugan to attempt to intimidate the entire squad? Do the same thing, of course.

"That's a new record for you, Tank. You just did something I'd usually do first. Shame on you," Damian mentioned. He rolled Helios in an identical manner to Tank and had him stand to confront Gladion.

"If you want to be taken out before the battle even starts, go ahead and keep standing, every single one of you," Helios openly challenged. "I'd be more than happy to get rid of someone as troublesome as you are."

"I'd be more than happy if I had to fight you, Tank. I've been meaning to do so in the pro circuit, to send you back to relegation where you belong."

[Noland Hardy]

Noland had always been very indifferent to the behavior of the Spartans as a whole, but Damian was at the top of the dislike list. Other than being Noland's primary nemesis, Damian was the chief one responsible for why this conversation went in the direction it did. They had to go.

"That's it, Damian. You're done," Noland decreed. "I've had enough out of you." He rolled Drago into the mix and had him stand alongside Gladion. By then, there was no excuse for one of them not to know where this was heading to. This was about to be an all-out-brawl. Everyone started to follow suit. Their Bakugan starting popping up all over the place. This resulted in a standoff, and, surprisingly, Jamal and Allen had not entered themselves into the fight yet.

"As far as I'm concerned, I can care less about what's going to happen to you. I know what's going to happen if we lose, so that's enough of a reason to put you down once and for all like you deserve. You want to act all big and bad and attack our emotions? That's fine and dandy. Don't expect me to feel sorry for you when one of your dumbasses gets killed."

[Jamal Armstrong]

Jamal was getting very angry at everything he tries to do being ruined by one Spartan or another. It's always like this. All he wanted to do was to come down here and talk peacefully, and the other Spartans just had to speak and ruin everything.

He had to desperately stop himself from erupting into a fit of rage, but that wasn't going to stop him from getting involved in combat if it was absolutely necessary. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath while closing and opening his fists at the same time. Vulcan, who noticed Jamal's change in behavior, began to wonder what was going through his head, even though he had a good idea of what was wrong with him.

"So...is this really happening?" Vulcan could hardly believe that it had come to this himself.

"I thought we could cut off our childish antics and come together against a greater enemy once - just ONCE in your lifetimes. Why is this so hard for all of you!?" Jamal threw Vulcan into battle and stood in front of every Spartan-owned Bakugan, preferring to engage the entire Resistor force by himself to prevent anyone else from being harmed, as was his job.

Vulcan raised his arm and opened his fists as if he were about to attack. He was doing that as a warning since he didn't want anyone to go to blows. "I don't care who's mad and who's not. This is not the time to do this. Don't you get it? Kyuki wants this to happen. He wants us to be enemies. I don't want him to win. Why should all of you?"

[Allen Silva]

Vulcans attempt at a attack was Allens last straw. He stayed queit until now, but couldnt do it any longer. But first, Gorem batted down Vulcans hand, attempting to end whatever he had planned." You're one to talk. You were the ones to pull the trigger. Next time, try to think about that." Gorem offered up advice to the Spartans. He knew it could lead to more problems, but he no longer cared. His pride as a earth bakugan kicked in.

Allen chuckled a little bit at Jamal." If you really wanted to stop it, you would have not even shown up. Hell, not showing up to this planet would be amazing." He begun his rant. Meanwhile, Gorem kept himself close to Vulcan, ready to end any attacks prematurely. " but you are here now, and instead of acting like guests in someone else's world, you act like you own it. You dont want Kyuki to win, then leave. And take your Hurrians with you."

[Vince Hardy]

Vince whistled at Allen's entrance into this brawl that was about to erupt near the Silver Knight HQ. As was hinted when he had a bunch of fun laughing at Noland for how Yita entered, he heard every word they spoke. He was stationed at the entrance of the Silver Knights' HQ, just waiting for the opportunity where he would have to step in.

"Those are fighting words," Vince noticed of Allen's speech. He heard the sounds of Bakugan pushing and shoving each other to go along with that too. "And there they go."

"You say that like you knew this was going to happen," Excedra accused. He was standing next to Vince in his robed form. He didn't want people to notice his gargantuan form. It would be very hard for anyone not to see him in that state. Frosch was standing by along with them in the same form Excedra was in; he didn't bother saying anything since Excedra said what he wanted to say.

"Well, of course. I knew the moment this Damian character opened his mouth. Surely, you would have noticed that before me, right, Excedra?"

"...You're a funny one."

"Hehehe. Always the one to make some fun out of a serious situation, aren't you?" Frosch wondered.

"It's inconvenient to be serious all the time. We have to retain all aspects of our existences regardless of who the enemy is. My eyes are more open to other areas by loosening up rather than just one thing grabbing my attention. That's my philosophy. You have to have something good come out of this terrible universe we live in."

"Hopefully, it's not on the same level as that guy over there."

"You're kidding. Speaking of which, you two should go deal with that right about now."

"So...let's say I get over there and cripple them. Wouldn't that be doing the Resistors some good if the particular Spartan - well, Spartans in this case since I won't be leaving any of them out - were to be...dismembered?"

"As appealing as that sounds, we can't do that. Should we overstep our boundaries, they'd have no defense against what's planned for them. Figuring out what those things were was the entire purpose of this gathering so that we could know the potential danger it could mean for all of us if Kyuki were to act on those desires. That's clearly an impossibility right now. Dealing with the Spartans will be their job, not mine, Silver Knights, Eden, or yours."

"Makes sense. Now let's hurry up and get them to scram before I think twice about that."

In their robed forms, Excedra - carrying Vince - and Frosch made the leap to the Resistors' and Spartans' makeshift battleground, two-hundred meters out from the barrier just like they said they would be. They chose to ignore occurrences like Gladion punching Helios in the face, Drago stopping Tyr in his charge by grabbing his horns before the impact, Vulcan choking Ahio with his detachable hands while Hydranoid lifted him off the ground and threw him into Neri, Skystar countering all sleep-out attempts from Donovan, Gorem warding off Aquarius' claws and stinger, and so on. All of that stopped when the two Legendary Soldiers touched down on the ground with Vince in tow. The three of them were a couple of feet north from the central point of contact.

"Oh. That's good. It seems you're all done," Vince announced. He looked at the Spartans with a deceptive smile, hiding the fact that he would definitely like to do something along the lines of what Excedra had planned - minus the dismemberment part. "You have two choices, ladies and gentlemen. You either fight here or in the coliseum, but keep in mind that one choice is legal while the other is not. You're on our home field, so if you continue to make the illegal choice, then you'll be dealing with a lot more than the Resistors. If you think you can handle the consequences, keep doing what you're doing; otherwise, take a hike off the planet and cool down for a while. You have a battle coming up."

[Niko Adrian Nyx]

NIKO ADRIAN NYX

Darkus "Spartan"

Niko was extremely tired and fed up with all that chaos that was present on the field. It was way too noisy for her liking, especially if her sight is gone and her hearing has been amplified. At this time of the day, she would be fast asleep in a more appropriate environment. This is why she was a little more talkative than usual, not her usual self. The darkus brawler lays on her side, her hoodie off and using it as a pillow- all right in the middle of the battlefield. She had dubbed herself not important which means she probably will be attacked by very few, or barely attacked at all.

"You all are too noisy." She mumbles to the general bunch of brawlers followed by another one of her yawns. Niko would have been covering some ground on what seems like this battle royal, but she was much too lazy to do anything other than sleep. By the looks of it, they had to face Tracy for some unknown reason. Maybe the others were too occupied with others to have to fight two or something. "Why can't you go attack someone else?" She groans out loud, placing the hoodie over her head to try to block out all the noises. "Just keep using that attack Donovan."

The said bakugan blankly stares at his partner with his bicolored eyes before sighing. Niko must have really been looking forward to today's sleeping session. She made no effort to try to establish the link between them so she could see the world through his eye. "I understand you're tried, but must to lay down in the middle of the battle grounds? You're bound to get hurt." Niko makes no response to Donovan's question since he already knew the answer. Niko will be Niko, and there was already a barrier Donovan placed around her just in case.

"Without my partner active, looks like I can only do some simple attacks." The wolf-like bakugan says to his current opponents with a small grin. "I'm glad, because you seems like good people with bright dreams. Quite fitting for a haos duo." Donovan charges himself up for another sleep-blast attack and launches it towards Skystar.

"Tangled in the darkness, all I see are nightmares."

► kaigra ◄

[Vince Hardy]

Vince glared at Niko when she insisted on continuing this ridiculous battle. He eyed Excedra when he immediately shifted to his monster form, showing his actual body to the Spartans. He stretched out one of his heads to impede the attack headed for Skystar - even though Skystar was more than capable of blocking it herself.

Frosch followed suit. He assumed his gargantuan frog form. He whipped his tongue out and swiped it across the Spartans' side of the field, resulting in all of their guardian Bakugan being stamped with his saliva. The properties of this saliva completely the supressed their Bakugan's abilities. This opened the chance for Excedra to threaten destruction upon them all with another attack of his own, one which required all eight heads to conjure purple orbs in their mouths and then release them: the Ultimate Trident.

"It looks like you're taking our kindness for granted, Spartans. I did just warn you of what was going to happen if you kept that up, didn't I? Now I'm going to change my tone with you since you're already at strike two, one for picking a fight and the other for the fool who chose to attack regardless of what I said. Go home, or die here. Time's wasting; pick your destination," Vince instructed, arguably for the last time.

[Damian Knight]

"Did that frog just lick me!?" Helios roared. He was insulted - insulted by the fact that something so disgusting was done without any sort of recourse or indifference towards the act. It seemed to work too; Helios' flames weren't burning as hot as they were when the fight started.

"You know what? I didn't want to say this, but I'm going to be the elephant in the room and say it anyway," Damian announced with glee. "What Donovan just did was way dumber than anything I've ever done, and I bet no one here would have had the guts to say it either because I'm such an important person to look at when it comes to these encounters."

Acting as if he wasn't really worried about being obliterated by Excedra, Damian took the situation very casually and found the opportunity to see if anyone else was paying attention to what was really going on there.

"So tell me, 'friends,'" Damian gestured towards the rest of the Spartans. "You have any idea on who those two Bakugan are? I bet half of you don't."

[Roxy Grimm]

Roxy was all caught up on who they were now engaging. She wasn't stupid nor was she lost in what their jobs as Spartans included. They knew about those Bakugan, and if they didn't, then shame on them because they have heard too many back-and-forth arguments between the queen and the prince regarding this topic. This was a very important portion of Vestal's history, probably the most important one right now in terms of its relevancy to current events.

These were the same Bakugan who were responsible for what happened three centuries ago...

The ones who activated a weapon that eradicated the majority of Vestal's population in an instant...

The same ones who slaughtered thousands of innocent Vestals to make that happen...and against the one enemy who Roxy still has post-traumatic disorder from...

The Legendary Soldiers...they were the ones who did it, and now they were back in full swing.

"Yeah, the one 'friend' that no one likes, we know who they are. Thanks for thinking we were smart," Roxy rudely responded with a strong hint of sarcasm at the end. "Now it's my turn to be that same elephant in the room and say what everyone else is thinking. Can you please be the only one to attack one of those Legendary Soldiers? Pretty please?"

[Jamal Armstrong]

"Very classy, Roxy. Indirectly telling one of your allies to kill himself," Jamal shook his head in disapproval of these comments. "I think this is what frustrates our gorgeous queen so much. We should have been learning from the Resistors on how to act as a unit. That's what we are and what we have been, even though you hate to show it."

Vulcan tried spinning the gears in his fists to get to the bottom of why Frosch would lick them. When he found out they were jammed by this disgusting substance, he realized that it was really an inhibitor. That didn't have to be mentioned again seeing as how Helios was proof of that already, but it was worth a nod to check on how effective the attack really was.

"I may or may not have thought that they were a myth. Surely, if it were true, that weapon they used wouldn't have missed one...right?" Vulcan inquired, and it was a very good question to ask too.

"Well, you've made your point loud and clear. If there are two members of the fabled Legendary Soldiers here, then there's a good chance that the other four are nearby too, including the devastating Apollonir. I don't want to test my abilities against you right now due to our current situation, so you win this battle," Jamal conceded to Vince. "Perhaps when things do not look so glum, we'll see how those legends of yours stacks up. Until then..."

Jamal gave them the nod before the Spartans left the area via dimensional tunnel.

[Tracy White]

When everything seemed to be cooling down from the tension between the Resistors and the Spartans, Tracy chose to pay someone a visit: Alex. It wasn't for any particular reason other than seeing how he doing. She heard about what he did to help Noland, so it was only courteous to check up on someone that can will be a very strong ally to have down the line.

She knocked on the door first before walking him, being polite as usual. She entered the room to see him laid out on his bed. He didn't seem like he was paying her that much attention, but she stayed in there anyway. She stepped to the side of the bed, a couple of inches away from it.

"How bad is it?" Tracy wondered. "Your wounds...and Kyuki..."

[Alex Andersen]

It has been some time since Alex took such beating.
Last thing he could have expected was that the he'd get it from the same people who did it the last time and just seeing those people alive was not a very pleasant thing.
Well, not that they can be called 'people' anymore after being revived by Kyuki to stain their hands with blood instead of him doing it himself.
Man wearing black armor and wielding a gigantic axe was responsible for causing severe wounds on Alex's body. And woman wearing black snake-skin armor caused Alex's memory of lab's location vanish still leaving memories of his humiliating loss.
Those people were no other but Andrew and Jennifer Andersen. Alex's parents, or at least the shadow of what is left of them.
Even after Alex and Daniel killed them to protect the city they were revived again by Kyuki and Alex's senses were not mistaken; they were much more powerful.

Except for them there was a horror from 4 years ago dwelling through Kyuki's laboratory. Alex never could forget those other two faces. Person who made Alex aware of that unworldly power he carries, Necro Brawler, and his insane Bakugan, Necro Hydranoid.
It seems that Kyuki did not waste time; he revived one of the most-feared terrorists of his time. Necro Brawler was even deadlier than Kyuki, but then he met his end by being careless.
It troubled Alex that he could not just wipe them all out.

Seeing one of the Resistors, Tracy White, Alex snaps out of his thoughts about Kyuki's minions. Hearing Tracy's question Alex slowly grabs bandages on his left arm and tears them off. Previously, there was a huge cut going through Alex's arm and nearly making it to the bone, but all that is now left is a long red scar that seems to be slowly fading.
"Not too bad. Being a monster seems to pay off after all..." He replies to Tracy as he gazes at where used to be a big cut. "It could have gone better... *sigh* Too late now." He adds regarding the situation with Kyuki. He deeply regrets that he did not call for reinforcements and rushed in the laboratory on his own.

[Tracy White]

"Monster? Really?" Tracy got within close proximity of Alex to observe the specific places where he was hurt. The large cut did look gruesome, but it was nothing that the doctors couldn't handle, and, by extension, a cleric like herself. She grabbed Skystar and pressed her ball form against Alex's chest.

"You're not a monster. None of you are. You're just different, and that's okay," Tracy promised him. As she spoke, Skystar glowed as energy was being transferred into Alex's body to progressively heal him of his ailments. "You don't need to compare yourself to our enemies; they are the actual monsters. That Kyuki, Dharak, the Hurranians, Daniel's Virus...none of them are like you."

When the energy transfer was finished, she stepped back to give Alex some space to see how he would do. "How's that?"

[Alex Andersen]

"That's better, thanks." Alex replies silently.
Despite the circumstances he was far from death to begin with.
If Kyuki had no intention of using him to send Resistors a message he would have ended his life in that laboratory. If Alex could barely stand up to his 'father' in their last fight, then he would have no chance against both Andrew and Jennifer.

Despite what Tracy said it did not make Alex feel any better.
He did not call himself monster because he was different than the others. If that was the case then the whole point of being a Knight would be useless; point of trying to protect Noland from the public for being a Gundalian would be very ironic.
He opens up his left palm and blue static electricity starts to form around it before a small blue crystal forms on top of his palm and creates a cold climate around Alex's body.

"Does that look human to you?" He asks. "I don't want to be different. No one asked me if I wanted this. I don't even know why I have it." He says in annoyance as he grips the blue crystal and then tosses it across the room and into the wall. Crystal hits the wall and rolls down the room still emitting a strong blue glow and sparks.
He does not even consider it useful for anything except for the accident where he killed Necro Brawler with it and then that 'revived father' of his. Daniel's power is to destroy and defend, Lydia's is to recover and shift. Compared to them Alex's power seems to be useless for doing his job of protecting.