Episode 31: Final Moment of Peace

[Noland Hardy]

The previous confrontation between the Resistors and the Spartans has let everyone involved know that Dr. Kyuki could not be dealt with in a cooperative manner and that what he was organizing may as well be a war between Earth and Vestal.

Both squads had to make sure they were prepared as this was no ordinary brawling competition. People were actually going to live or die based on what they did. They had to train; they needed to be prepared for their finest hours ever in a competition.

What compounded on the issue even more was the lack of care exhibited from the individuals and organizations covering this event. They behaved like nothing was going on, like they had already been corrupted by Kyuki's maniacal, psychological demeanor and never even considered that a snake was slithering right under their feet. All they cared about was the countdown before the event - three days after Kyuki gave the memo. Three days would be the last three days everyone would see of relative peace and quiet.

Were it not for the urgency in the matter, everyone would have gotten themselves deeply prepared mentally, concentrating on what was to come from Kyuki's threat level. They had to multi-task; they had to learn to cope with the fall of humanity and strengthen themselves to the point to where they will fight as the last sane - semi-sane in certain people's cases - members of their respective societies.

[Alex Andersen]

Alex and other Knights had their own share of nightmares.
Not being specifically threatened by Kyuki like Resistors and Spartans did not mean Kyuki was going to leave them out. He dared to send a direct strike on their Mirage Towers and Crystal Cell Factories despite knowing what protectors of those facilities were capable of.
Not long after that stunt he pulled he went for another one sending a prototype of 'Kaze'; a wind-attribute bio-mecha Bakugan he made for purpose of aerial strikes on Silver Knights.
These 'experimental' attacks gave Knights a pretty good clue that the real deal would be much harder than Kyuki's insane experiments.

After finishing with those obligations Admiral Asuka took command over Knights' training sessions since Admiral Maria was stopped. Asuka assigned Alex to help Noland to get used to the strength of Switch Code, so he can strengthen it even more.
However, even Knights do have special rules regarding transformations because they can yield a lot of power in a very short amount of time and that can cause severe damage to the interior of the Arena and possibly damage other facilities.
For this purpose Admiral Asuka ordered Alex to take Noland to the SS Dimension.

SS Dimension stands for Senpu Shinigami Dimension. Senpu Shinigami is one of the Six Lost Generals who resides within this dimension. It is an artificial dimension created by Senpu himself and it is normally used for training like these where high amounts of power have to be used. Considering he maintains the dimension with his godlike force there is no chance than entire Silver Knights' force could break it down.
So Alex took Noland to the Teleport Room where many beautiful crystals were stored. Once he touched one specific green crystal both of them instantly disappeared.

---

Next moment their bodies materialize in the middle of nowhere; in the skies.
They both start falling down and charge towards the ground. However, in a few seconds their bodies simply cease to fall as if they were resisting gravity.
"Ragnarok activate!" Loud female voice says.
As some sort of a miracle a massive machine forms below them
It is a massive airship armed to the teeth. Word 'R.A.G.N.A.R.O.K.' says on its sides and on its deck. Noland and Alex gently lands on the deck of the airship.


"Welcome, to Senpu Shinigami Dimension." Alex greets Noland now that they are back on their feet again. "This is an artificial dimension created by one of our ultimate Bakugans and you are safe to go overboard as much as you can. Even this airship we're standing on is just a bad copy of Silver Knights' official superweapon... Feel free to enjoy the scenery and don't lean over the edges. We'll start in a moment."
As he says that he goes of a bit further to stretch and Dante jumps of his shoulder going into his monster form. Alex quickly finishes his stretching. "Okay, we're good to go."
He takes out a transparent card and throws in onto the deck of the airship. "Gate card, set!"

Dante steps onto the Gate signaling that he is ready for the brawl to begin.

[Noland Hardy]

The entrance was at least more subtle than the one performed by the Legendary Soldiers. Noland didn't have anyone to fall on top of - regardless if he did or didn't enjoy falling on top of the particular person. He was fortunate to have traveled by air for years on Drago's back. Had he done anything different, he would have been screaming like a baby on the way down, as out-of-character as that sounds. He was very calm. Alex didn't seem to panic, so there was no need for him to do so.

"Going overboard sounds like a good plan to me," Noland agreed. That sounded a bit cocky coming from him, but Noland knew that where he was at now power-wise could not be contained in a normal environment. "Although, I'm not really sure what constitutes as going overboard right now."

Noland grasped Drago's ball form, held it up to his face, and communicated what they were trying to go for in this challenge. "Are you absolutely sure you want to ask that of them?"

"That's the level of power we have to exceed if we're going to make it through this," Drago reminded him. "We either go big or go home. We can't settle for anything less now. We've gotten too strong...we all have..."

Noland nodded and threw Drago into battle, making him stand on the gate card that he was sure wasn't going to be allowed in the competition considering the PBL's rules were being used. "Hey, Alex. We're a bit similar now. We both have control over the powers of light and dark. We already had our dark halves compete against one another. Don't you think it's time to see how our better halves stack up?"

Noland was essentially challenging Dante's Valiant Strive mode. Although he never saw it in action, he heard about the devastating power the form uses. With the Switch Code in hand, Noland was sure Drago could handle it now.

[Alex Andersen]

That question came as a surprise for Alex.
It was clear what Noland wanted.
He wanted to test his Switch Code against Valiant Strive.
What surprised Alex was the amount of people who now knew he could use Valiant Strive in the first place; originally it was all a big secret and now seems to be some common knowledge among people.
Considering how many times he had used it by now perhaps he should not be surprised. His Valiant Strive participated in many events that would lead to rumors. He mainly used it against terrorists, but it was not as helpful because Alex's luck was to run into opponents that could entirely bypass Valiant Strive.

"So you know, too, huh...?" Alex mumbles quietly.
He is not very fond of using Valiant Strive.
He rarely uses it, but for the sake of the training it would be useless if Switch Code was used against simple base form of Dante. It would not be as fruitful.
"I guess it's fine. We should both learn something from this experience. My aim is to make you feel used to the Switch Code, so controlling it doesn't bother you." Alex says.

"As for going overboard... breaking this airship down to bits might be a good warmup." Alex says as he looks around knowing that the airship was still just a copy of real Ragnarok. Even though it is pretty good with endurance it cannot match its original. Force of Switch Code and Valiant Strive would probably turn it into ash just from a warmup.

[Noland Hardy]

Noland cracked a cocky smile that Alex accepted the agreement to use the transformation. He was excited to fight against him and Dante. This time, they'd brawl each other as mutual allies, and be a bit more equal to each other without any interference.

"Looks like we got ourselves a fight." Noland observed Drago powering up, which wasn't very noticeable in the slightest since the acquisition of the Switch Code made them both more aware of energy conservation. Strength was easier to maintain and easier to control. This made Drago significantly more powerful in his base form, almost as if the non-stabilized Switch Code form they used to use could now be considered their base level now.

"Here we go. Ability activate! Rage Fire!" A nice little throwback to Bane Dragonoid's arsenal, this one was a surefire way to test their power output early. By engulfing his fists with a fierce flame, Drago slammed the deck beneath them to send a fiery wave down range, hoping to engulf his opponent in them. The act formed cracks along the deck's design, not that Noland was paying attention to that.

[Alex Andersen]

Time for the brawl has come.

Noland and Drago went for a fiery brawling start.
Alex did not pay attention to cracks they were producing, but Dante noticed it all very well. Drago has improved a lot with time and training; a regular Bskugan would probably crack their own bones before cracking ship's deck.
Now that their attack was in motion it was about time Alex responded with his own force.


Alex takes a card from his pocket and puts it into the gauntlet. "Dante!“ Alex shouts signaling Dante to make a move.
With a single swift move Dante jumps high and circles around the attack quickly avoiding the flame. "Ability activate! Knight Joust!“ Alex activates the ability and Dante's lance immediately responds to it. Dante quickly points the lance towards Drago launching a lance-like energy stream that travels very quickly towards its target.


"Pretty fast for a Bakugan all in metal, huh?“ Alex sarcastically commented on Dante's speed to avoid Drago's attack and launch his own in a short amount of time. Considering Dante's armor is heavy as all hell one would assume he would move very slowly.

[Noland Hardy]

Noland didn't expect for Dante to be that fast. He wasn't moving at that speed the last time. It seems Noland and Drago weren't the only ones to have improved; Alex was steadily getting stronger by the minute.

"Sure is," Noland shrugged as he played an ability on his BrawlX. Drago had tanked the incoming projectile using his horn. The impact produced a smoke cloud that covered the arena, followed by a sizzling heat wave that expanded the said cloud across the horizon. "Knowing you, you'll probably stop Drago's Oppressive Air from melting your armor. It's a good thing dragons can cross distances pretty quickly, sometimes in the blink of an eye. Right, Drago?"

It turns out that Drago had flew out of the smothering smoke into the outer reaches of the ship. He was flying around the structure as Noland was swiping another card for him to use. "Hyperstrike, now! Hit it!" Drago's horn lit up as penetrative lasers were being shot at the airborne Dante continuously, preferring to aim for blind spots and vital areas of his body.

[Alex Andersen]

"Not bad, not bad at all.“ Alex comments.

Noland and Drago were not slowpokes either.
They quickly combined and unleashed abilities to take advantage of Dante not seeing the attack coming for him. "Ability activate! All-Rounder!“ Alex says as he places am ability in the gauntlet quickly, so Dante would not be easily caught in Drago's attack.
Dante's armor produces but a single flash.
Drago's attacks hit Dante continuously, but he seems to ignore that fact as he maintains his position.



"Now go! Shield Buster!“ Alex says. He takes another card and activates it. It is a new one in his set, just like All-Rounder. They developed some abilities primarly to reduce energy loss by immediately resolving to Absolute-type abilities.
Dante points his shield towards Drago while still being hit by lasers.
Shield starts glowing in cyan, then purple and blue colors. Finally, Dante launches a projectile from his shield. Projectile is shaped EXACTLY as Dante's shield and constantly switches between blue, cyan and purple as it heada towards Drago. Dante then fires another one and another… until he fires off 10 of these dissolve-type abilities. While they do not really dissolve material existence they do dissolve energy stored inside a Bakugan once they make contact.



This is exactly Alex's intention to see how his opponents would react.
Considering Switch Code contains a significant mass of power and uses a lot of power ,abilities that could take all that power away would be a very bad thing to happen.
Even when not using Switch Code they should avoid these and escpecially when Switch Code is in place.

[Noland Hardy]

"Nothing, huh?" Noland took good notes on the armor enhancement in play for Dante. Seeing Drago's attack do nothing to hinder him wasn't a good thing, especially when they respond with a nasty attack like that.

Noland swiped his response, praying that what he had in mind was going to work. "Ability activate! Rapid Fire Takedown!" Usually used for his offensive needs, Noland put this in play to suit a defensive role. Drago breathed a small fireball from his mouth that materialized into a carbon copy of himself, albeit an explosive one if defeated.

"Here!" Drago signaled. He launched the clone in front of him to make him a giant bullet. The clone's horn was perfect for striking the shield bursts. The amount of power used in its launch proved to be very effective at driving it through each individual blast. What Noland didn't know was that clashing with those projectiles erased the detonator off of it, something Drago took notice of when he saw the condition of his clone; nevertheless, it did its job by crashing into Dante and bear hugging him after knocking him over. That was the best it could do after Dante's debilitating assault.

"There's a chance. Go, Drago! Ability activate! Crimson Bonding!" Drago charged an electric current on his horn and then zapped his clone. Doing so transferred burning energy into it that began to seep out and affect everything around it, Dante included. The obvious trick here was that it immobilized those it touched and burned the affected targets from the inside, but that wasn't the complete truth of why Noland had done that. The clone is intended to be explosive, and the reaction Crimson Bonding would create inside its body would potentially reignite that fire and burst, decimating one who would be unlucky enough to still be within the blast radius by the time that happens. The hindrance would make this likely, and the foe only had five seconds before it goes boom.

[Alex Andersen]

Dante definitely could not get himself out of that one before clone exploded. By the time one just activated an ability clone would explode and there would be no use of protection. "Great job.“ Alex compliments as he inserts a card into the gauntlet. He has something perfect for this occasion when time is short and risk is too high. "Absolute Armor!“
With activation of this ability Drago's attack is condemned to fail.
Distortions which Dante's signature abilities create are unbreakable if enemy goes with physical attacks such as this one since these abilities break laws of physical existence itself.
It simply bypasses physical damage of any sort regardless of who opponent is.

Dante's armor starts to glow in white color excluding his shield and lance.
Drago's attack activates and explodes creating a massive blast of fire that surrounds Dante and soon he disappears from sight from all those flames.
A dozen of seconds passes and fire finally clears revealing Dante.
As it appears his armor did not even earn a scratch from that attack thanks to Absolute Armor.
"A newborn Serpenoid or a Legendary Soldier. It makes no difference for this. If something physically does not exist it cannot be damaged.“ Alex says commenting on his own ability.
That is simply what it does. Makes Dante's body merge with distortion; he does not exist during usage of this. Damaging him with this in use is like trying to damage light emitted from a bulb with bare fists.


"Radiant Victory, activate!“ Alex uses a Haos ability this time. Though Dante does not belong to that attribute he has a little help from a secret power that lies within him. His protective distortion vanishes as he points the shield towards Drago. Holy triangle shapes start glowing intensely and each fires a stream of light that soars in a curve line towards Drago.
Eight streams go towards him and are close to hit, but before doing that they suddenly change course and all hit each other in ine exact spot in front of Drago. All streams are connected this way.
Energy contained within that spot becomes unstable after 2 seconds and explodes creating an omnidirectional blast of Haos that is about to hit Drago. "Haha, Clear Bakugans can be tricky but I don't think this will be a problem to you two.“ Alex encourages two opponents mainly because he wants them to avoid getting hit by that one. It is not as strong as his previous attack when it comes to a long-run, but directly it should be more threatening

[Noland Hardy]

Drago did not bother to pay attention to where these omni-directional blasts were going to travel to. He knew he was going to be hit one way or another, even in a blind spot. Considering he didn't wasn't comfortable with losing sight of Dante just yet due to him being as fast as he is with the armor's resistance, he and Noland chose a more unorthodox method in line with how he used Rapid Fire Takedown.

"Ability activate! Molten Ire!" Drago's improved base didn't require him to perform any straining activity to don a dark red energy veil around his body. This would enhance his physical parameters by an obscene amount, enough to take Dante's attack head-on and emerge unscathed, albeit losing a considerable portion of his protective cloak in the process. The distortion was noticeable. Bits and pieces of the cloak were still over his body, but all it would take is for Dante to strike those open spots so that it wouldn't matter. That's why there wasn't much effort put into putting it up in the first place.

"I have to admit, Alex. I haven't felt this excited in brawling someone in a very long time. You're strong and you have a power I don't quite understand how to combat correctly. I'm struggling trying to figure out how to beat you and we've only gone 15%. This is great," Noland gladly admitted.

[Alex Andersen]

Alex laughs hearing that comment.
"Is that so? Well, glad to be a positive annoyance."
He then takes another card planning to give Drago some puzzles on how to get out of that mess that is about to come. Knowing that Noland and Drago are going to go through hell later to make sure Kyuki does not get what he want it would be best to implement as many tactics as possible to strengthen those two as much as possible. "After all, it's supposed to be tough. I want to see you guys kick Spartans' asses for good." Alex says with a smile on his face. "And now, Ability activate! Siegfried's Joust!" He shouts as he activates the card.

"This one is supposed to hurt." Dante says. He points his lance towards the sky and blue fire-like energy forms around the lance going for the tip and accumulating there. Ultimately, a massive amount of blue energy is accumulated on the tip and it is producing a blinding blue light. Dante points it towards Drago and then fires a blast in form of a blue scorching star.
During its course towards Drago blue star reforms its shape into something.
A knight on a horse.
Attack is shaped like a knight on a horse charging in with a massive lance towards Drago. One of the unusual abilities in Dante's arsenal that share Clear attribute.

It will be a minus for Drago if he is caught in this blast.
Though it might not contain any special effect to it Siegfried's Just is a purely-damaging ability with purpose of breaking through defenses and getting to its opponents. "Hah, that one actually looks cool." Alex comments on that ability after actually seeing it in use for the first time himself. It is not new or anything, he just never got chance to use it before because... he does not want to kill anyone, but Drago is extremely capable of surviving it anyway. "You seem more disappointed than happy. Are you sad Andrea was not there to see it?" Dante provokes Alex mentioning his good 'friend'. "You need to stop." Alex replies defensively.
 

[Noland Hardy]

Drago eyed the attack and could judge its potency based on the way that it was approaching him. This was a piercing ability; he was not going to guard against that attack safely. It looked like the ideal way to rip a Dragonoid into pieces.

"We can make that look even cooler," Noland assured. He swiped an ability to counter the advancement of this attack. While his past self would probably grimace at the thought of this type of ability being used this way, Noland had to expand his horizons, keep the opponent guessing. "Ability activate! Havoc Ignition!"

Drago was intending to take advantage of the tunnel vision the jouster would likely appearance as a result of charging in that way. The speed at which it was coming would likely catch Drago if he didn't make any substantial movements, but by then, Dante could come over there and punish him for being out of position. With that in mind, the best choice they could make is to blow it up before it reaches them.

Out of Drago's eyes came a dual laser that was going to connect with each other at a central point: the jouster. Not wanting to have it potentially stopped by the lance itself, Drago aimed it carefully so the lasers could slip past it, safely into the knight's chest. This forced the energy construct to become unstable, overload itself and detonate, which is exactly what this ability does when it comes into contact with other energies.

The uncomfortable rocking of the ship that the explosion produced wasn't so spectacular as the sight of the spectacle itself. Noland's composure stayed intact though. He was smiling - smiling because he was proud of becoming more powerful and picking up new things along the way, like he was a kid running around in the community center again.

"I guess I should take that one as a sign that you're increasing your power level now," Noland noticed from the lethal nature of the ability. "You're on. Let's go."

[Alex Andersen]

"Isn't this a nostalgia?" Alex says.
Battle with Noland reminds him of Michael Schulz; Darkus member of the Mighty 5 and Alex's best friend among the Knights. Since the day Alex joined the organization those two have been battling and they could be compared to Noland and Allen in terms of rivalry.
"I recall fighting a Dragonoid was a pain." He adds recalling battles against Michael's Ferrum Dragonoid who has a rare combination of high speed and ridiculous defense. Two really annoying combinations. Noland's Drago is just a different kind of pain.

"Ability activate! Exalted Knight!" Alex activates another ability unique to Knight-type Bakugans. A very popular ability used among Silver Knights with Sieges. Dante's body starts to glow in pure white light brought by this Haos ability. "Stack activate!" Female mechanic voice says from a speaker that is placed God knows where.
This ability has 3 immediate buffs: attack, defense and speed. Every 5 seconds after this ability is active another 3 buffs of same kind will stack. For every hit Dante scores or deflects 3 same buffs stack. Meaning that if Drago gets hit, fails to hit or waits for too long Dante will just become overpowered without using any other abilities.

And considering this buff is giving Dante speed he is making the use of it. He charges towards Drago while violently moving left, right , up and down at high speed making it nearly impossible to assume from which direction he is actually going to strike. And thanks to the attack buff Drago is not going to be happy if he gets hit by that lance.

[Noland Hardy]

Drago saw the power increase Dante exhibited, but he didn't change his positioning at all. He finally landed on the deck to reset. "Seems they're all warmed up," Drago noticed.

"Yeah. The battle's now starting," Noland agreed. He swiped a card, one that he hasn't used in a while that he usually used frequently in the past. The power Drago got from the evolution already made it easy to decimate targets, so this one would have been overkill in those instances. Against Bakugan like Gorem, Hydranoid, and Dante, that may be a different story. Still, it was a bit nostalgic to put it into action again.

"Ability activate!"

"Maximum Rising!"

"Maximum Rising!" They said in unison. Mastery of the Switch Code allows Drago to tap into the powers the form holds in his base form. It wasn't anywhere near making it on the same level as the abilities he has while in the form, but it was substantial nonetheless.

A Dextra-attributed pulse emanated from Drago as he powered up. The broken Molten Ire cloak from earlier began to regenerate. It bathed in the power's influence to not only reform the cloak, but generate a much stronger veil around him. With his body enhanced once again, Drago jumped back into the action. He kept up with Dante's speed, and the two combatants went at each other: Dante with his lance, and Drago with his fists. Both weapons of choice were at equal lengths when they went to strike each other. Once they did, the rest was history.