Episode 31: Final Moment of Peace

[Allen Silva]

While Noland and Alex were testing thier power against each other, Allen had his own sparring session. His opponent, none other than Markus, the Darkus resistor. He wasnt the only one who recieved new power. And he wanted to test it out on another.

Thier battle was to be conducted in the same alternate dimension as Noland and Akex, but a different area. Thiers was mote of a ruined city. A couple buildings had fallen over, some with windows missing, and still others without roofs. It was the picturesque apocalypse.

With Gorem already in his ball form, Allen wanted to start the battle off immediately. " Lets see what you're made of Markus. Ability activate, Megalith Boxer."

With the activation, Gorem bull rushed after Gargulion, seeking to land a flurry of punches. It probably wasnt going to land, but Gorem had to push the pace to win. And winning was the plan.

[Markus Hederick]

This was the kind of match Markus needed. A confrontation against a stubborn brawler of Allen's caliber was ideal for someone who preferred wearing someone down. The question that remains is what Markus would do when his opponent refuses to be worn down like he wants.

What will he do?

"Ability activate! Shade Winger!" Gargulion's plan was the opposite of Gorem's, not wanting to be defeated by a charge such as this one. With Markus playing this ability, Gargulion converted his body to that of a shadow. Phasing through the physical world was very simple. The strength of the strongest physical attacker in the Resistors could not be felt because they were not on the same level of existence as Gargulion was; they went right through him, and Gargulion phased right through Gorem, appearing behind him in a hasty dash.

"Those punches were heavy. It's a good thing they didn't count," Gargulion admitted. He sensed that Gorem was tougher in his base now than ever before just like Drago was with only that one attack, except that he wasn't aware of what the dragonoid was capable of just yet. The pressure waves sent from those punches were dense enough to be felt across a large distance. The raggedy buildings that were across the horizon couldn't keep themselves from being ruthlessly broken down from Gorem's barrage.

"So you're already aiming to punch our faces in? Typical." He swiped another card. This was not a direct attack option. He was obviously in the position to score a huge blow to Gorem's back, but that wasn't going to work. Why? Because it's the Iron Juggernaut they're hitting. That's why. "Ability activate! Venom Shot!"

Gargulion phased back into the physical world, turned around, and spat a yellowy glob of disgusting poison at Gorem's back. The impact would surely corrode Gorem's body without any other outside forces involved.

[Allen Silva]

Of course Gorems initial assault was dodged in spectacular fashion by Gargulion. The one thing that kind of bothered Gorem and Allen was that he immediately responded with a poisonous attack." That one looks like it hurts. Allen, i wanna hit him, not get hit."

Allen knew what Gorem was getting at. Gargulion was a expert at trickery and breaking the opponent down. Gorem prefered to smash right through. With that, Allen set up his next move, carefully waiting for max effect." Ability activate, deadly counter. Hit hard and hit fast, got it Gorem."

" oh yeah." Were the subterra bakugans only words before dissapearing from the poisons range. Appearing behind Gargulion, Gorem swung a haymaker at his opponents face. This time, he kinda wanted to hit.

[Markus Hederick]

At that moment, Markus knew that he was going to have to use a certain ability of his in a way in which he never has before. He knows Allen is capable of stopping this, but in Markus' mind, it was better to force him to do so than to let him do something else. What they just did was nasty.

"And he's faster too... You're looking pretty powerful over there, Allen," Markus commended. Judging by his positive facial expression when he was swiping his own card, Markus must have thought the same was going to apply to him, and it would. "Ability activate! Fusion Gargoyle!"

Whenever someone hears the name of that ability, they would immediately think he's initiating a BakuMutation with one of his own Bakugan or an ally. That was not the case here. Rather than use it for himself, Gargulion decided to fuse with the enemy. It was unorthodox, but Markus believed this was going to do some dirty work for a limited time. Here's why.

Considering that Gorem's suprising hit would already carry enough weight to damage Gargulion's frame internally, Markus decided it would be best to intentionally have Gargulion suppress his energy so that Gorem destroys the body. This would save Gargulion from having to do it himself to initiate the mutation. Once Gorem did that for him, Gargulion attached the broken pieces to Gorem's body and entered into Gorem's inner being in his true, spirit form. Now Gargulion was in the position where he could not be damaged unless Gorem declares an attack against his own body.

"Do me a solid and keep this move between us. I don't want Tank to know about this one. I've been saving it for our real match," Markus confidently told them. He then swiped another card on his BrawlX to complete his maneuver. "Ability activate! Soul Eater!"

The definitive power absorption move in Gargulion's arsenal was being used to siphon Gorem's power and have it under his own dominion. In doing so, he was beginning to mesh with Gorem's body, beginning to fortify Gorem's armored body with the layering from his own and giving it similar markings too. He was also starting to have more say on what goes on with Gorem's body based on the power he was progressively taking, so to make matters worse for the Iron Juggernaut, Gargulion would force him to steadily move towards the impact location of his earlier Venom Shot so that he would step into the poison and become affected by it, albeit with great struggle due to Gorem's iron fortitude.

[Allen Silva]

Gargulion did something extremely annoying. He used Gorems own ability as a catalyst for his. This made it so Allen had no time to react before his bakugan was possesed." Neat trick. Can't say i expected that from you. I got to give you props." He said to his resistor teammate. But he still had to deal with the attack." I do have to say the air is a little thick. Let's clear it."

Gorem knew what Allen was reffering to. He went from fighting against Gargulions control to relaxing his entire body. This made what was coming next easier.

" ability activate, Equilibrium purge." The next ability Allen activated was stragely not a physical counter. Instead, Gorem expelled energy from his body to elminate any standing changes. Essentially t reset the battle to before any powerups or debuffs occured. This included Gargulion possesing him.

" Good try Markus." Gorem snidely commented on thier opponents strange move." Maybe next time i wont let him out as fast, just to see what was next."

[Markus Hederick]

"Knew it," Markus announced. Allen would have to be stupid not to activate one of the best defensive abilities ever crafted in that situation. Now Gargulion was expelled from Gorem' body without one to use himself.

"If your will was just a bit weaker...perhaps we could've seen what I was going for..." Gargulion regretted. His orb form flew out of Gorem's body when he was kicked out. He appeared in front of the golem, floating at the same height as the latter's head.

"This isn't what I would normally use, but I just want to see how it works against someone with a build like Gorem's," Markus prefaced before declaring his next attack. "Ability activate! Spirit Force!"

Markus' Life Gauge :: 450

The abilities used in Gargulion's spirit form are so powerful that they'll detract from Markus' life gauge with each use, just like they did for the battle against Excedra. Markus wanted to do this to see if that level of power would be enough to make Allen struggle a lot. That's all he wanted to know by using this, considering the penalties involved in doing so.

Gargulion's orb shapeshifted into a potent blade. The blade itself burned with a powerful presence that was Gargulion. The hilt appeared as stony and majestic as his own body. Using an overhead swing, the blade swung straight on top of Gorem, hoping for a colossal hit. Regardless of whether the opponent is struck directly by it or not, the properties of the ability causes a forceful spreading of energy outward from the impact site. It offers it some forgiveness if Gargulion happens to miss, but that wasn't very important since he didn't expect his aim to be faulty.

[Allen Silva]

Allen was caught off guard by Markus using his life gauget to attack. It was the risky kind of manuever that Markus wasnt really known for. This one turned him into a blade. Allen had to do something that he didnt want to. He prepared three different abilities." I gues we're getting serious. Triple ability activate. Lets start off with Kinesis barrier."

Gorem lifted his stone axe from the earth itself, then swung it around to create the twister that marked this technique. Its intent was to blow back Gargulions phantasmal blade form, giving Gorem time to preform the rest of his combination. After he stops, the next in line starts to take effect." Now thats out of the way, Kinesis rejector activate." He used the power of his fusion ability to embue his swing with the power to negate the negative effects of Gargulions. He made one more swing, but this time the axe exploded before it made contact.

Allen and Gorem had large smiles on thier face though, as Gorem continued the swing, brandishing the energy axe of his ave in the hole." Advanced Fusion ability, Kinesis Dominator, activate!" Both Allen and Gorem shouted, as the bakugan made a massive downward strike at Gargulion, hoping to crush its new ability with his own.

[Markus Hederick]

Markus offered a smile at the scene of Gorem being able to withstand Gargulion's attack while in that form. He wasn't upset in the slightest that Allen managed to stand up to him; it was to be expected of someone as strong as he is. He just spent his and Gargulion's insurance, and it paid off.

"That's a little frightening..." Markus remarked on how powerful this Advanced Fusion Ability was. There was a huge crater in their wake, obviously from the impact. Gargulion - in his sword form - was stuck in the center, with the blade part stuck in the earth. He reformed himself back into a humanoid form, but he was kneeling from the attack, possibly a sign of him being significantly hurt.

"I guess it was only a matter of time before I had to deal with a situation similar to Gladion's..." Gargulion commented on Gorem's new power, comparing it to that of Blade's Axostriker when he fought Tank.

"It seems we have some catching up to do, but don't worry. We'll be there in a second." Markus pressed a certain button on the BrawlX's screen to initiate his DNA Stimulus attachment to Gargulion. A Darkus-colored star of light emanated from his BrawlX as Gargulion changed.

Gargulion moved back into his starting position as a collection of stone revolved around him and assembled a fiendish body with a muscular build. This upgraded frame allowed him to freely manipulate the powers of his lesser frames, albeit to a greater extent. He held the staggering power of Subterra on his right hand and the unpredictable swiftness of Ventus on his left.

[Allen Silva]

Markus had activated his brand new power, the one Allen was waiting to test himself against. It boasted a ton of power, and was not to be trifled with.

Allen prepared Gorems next offensive ability. He had to make use of his buff, before it wore off. " lets show him what We've got. Ability activate, Gravitron Balistae." Allen gave his comand to the powered up Subterra bakugan.

Gorem charged the purple aura that would be fired, but this time it was different. This time, the earths energy flowed, mixing in with the original attack. The actual projectiles launched were darker than normal, and moving fast. Now to see what the Dna stimulation could do.

[Markus Hederick]

Gargulion clenched his fists when Gorem declared his attack. Still not accustomed to this stronger body, he was steadily getting a feel for it. Other than overall strength, the comfortableness of the body was an advantage that Gorem undeniably had. As him and Markus had done before, what they lack in raw power is made up for in the various techniques that they use. This situation was not going to be any different.

"Hmph. We got this," Markus assured Gargulion. "Ability activate! Power Trick!" Utilizing the properties of Ventus and Subterra and having their characteristics into one body gave Gargulion the ability to manipulate attractive and repulsive forces. Gargulion shot a finger beam at Gorem's attack to magnetize it. He then shot his own body with the same attack. The attack and Gargulion were now of the same pole, making Gargulion's body push Gorem's attack elsewhere as it pushed him without having to do anything else.

"I dare say my evasiveness is equal to your defense if I were cocky enough, which I am," Gargulion remarked on his capabilities.

"And there's power," Markus added on. "Ability activate! Terra Breath!" Gargulion clasped his hands together as if he were about to perform a double axe handle. He did perform this strike, but the target was the ground. Once he struck it, there was a slight pause before the transition into an eruptive gust of wind coming from underneath in an explosive fashion. Gorem's area was the primary target.

[Allen Silva]

Markus had the Balistae easily scouted, unleashing a ability that made good use of his new power. The wind gust was the troubling part. Gorem would have to brave it, plus release a counter attack all at once. Only one ability could do that.

Allen held up the selected card, it glowing with the telltale brown energy of Subterra. " ability activate, alloy trasmutation."

The ability would normally change his body into a powerful, yet light alloy to absorb the force of a ability. But, with the boost from the advanced fusion, the alloy became much denser, giving him the power necessary to trek through the gust. Gorem found himself feet from Gargulion. He realed back for one final punch, hopefully to end this battle.

[Markus Hederick]

All Markus could do was watch in wonder. He had a flashback to when Allen told him what made him and Gorem want to become so durable, and that was to make sure he could take attacks that come from opponents like Noland and Drago. It was very difficult to not see why he's making the attacks from Gargulion's DNA Stimulus look like a mere child.

The manner in which it was done made it so Markus had to react fast to prevent Gargulion's body from scattering all over the ruined city.

"Think fast," Markus called out to Gargulion, swiping a green-colored ability. "Ability activate! Reactive Blow!"

It was a mild ability that admittedly used less power in comparison to the stronger physical attackers out of the Resistors, but it was meant to be that way for a good reason: quick reaction time. The main concern with this ability's activation was to get something out as quick as possible, as strong as possible. It was like a sprinter heading out of the blocks when the gun is shot. The ability gets activated, and Gargulion's left arm shot straight forward to meet Gorem's, backed by a powerful gust of wind.

[Tank Stryker]

As Gargulion and Gorem's blows connected with one another, so did Gladion's and Skystar's in an identical manner, albeit with a sword against a staff. It was Gladion going on the offensive while Skystar was barely holding back his assault.

Due to Tank and Tracy having more control over their weight being thrown around in the battle arena, they were allowed to battle in the Silver Knight's arenas that weren't inside that little dimension. A bunch of brawlers from the Silver Knights had to standby and watch it too just to see how it was going to go down.

"C'mon, Tracy. You'll have to do better than that if you want to beat me," Tank said to try to goad her into unleashing more of her power. Gladion's longsword was creating sparks along Skystar's staff as he was about to break through her guard.

[Tracy White]

"Tch...he's right..." Tracy acknowledged the fact that Skystar was being pushed back by Gladion continuously getting in her face, but that was soon going to change. While not specializing in close quarters combat, Skystar knows how to get other Bakugan out of that range, and Gladion wasn't going to be any different from how she handles anyone else.

"Alright. Take this! Ability activate! Amplify Power!" Tracy's unique ability for Skystar, this ability imbues an attribute energy onto Skystar's scepter to give her passive abilities related to the respective attribute. A purple veil streamed over the scepter, meaning that she had chosen the Darkus attribute. Doing so gave Skystar the right to absorb Gladion's power just by him being in close proximity to her and engaging her in this manner.

"Get back!" Skystar commanded in a battle cry-like fashion. When the absorption gave Skystar the advantage in the power struggle, she released a swirling wave of Darkus energy when she pushed Gladion outward with her scepter. She assumed a careful battle stance to make sure she was ready to attack and defend against the nimble warrior she had in front of her.

"Now we're back in this," Tracy assured Skystar. "Be ready to move at a moment's notice."

[Tank Stryker]

Gladion did a backflip as he was blown backwards and skidded along the arena floor. With his power sapped, he had a light feeling in his muscles, almost as if he felt like their strength had just gone down. That'd be a shame too; he just gone done lifting.

"Not bad," Gladion respectfully commended.

"But not good enough," Tank assured Tracy. He got one ability ready and swiped it quickly for a counterattack. "Ability activate! Weapons Cache - Aegis!"

Gladion placed his longsword in his right hand so that he could take Aegis, the legendary shield, in his left when the portal dropped it off. With it in hand, he pointed it towards Skystar, briefly immobilizing her. He charged towards her with the shield up. He would use his blade to target Skystar's arms, hopefully depriving her of the ability to wield the weapon that grants her the wide array of magical abilities she uses.