Episode 34: Will Attack

[Noland Hardy]

Markus and Roxy were sent off of the field after their match concluded. The audience still did not understand what the underlying threat was after everything that happened in that last battle, even with Roxy blatantly assaulting Markus. What was clear was that the power scale tipped towards the Resistors thanks to Markus. The Spartans now had to prove themselves to get back in the running.

And what could be more unfortunate of a situation for the Spartans to have to do that against Tank, arguably the best combatant balance-wise for the Resistors? 

Even though he knew the situation was serious, Tank couldn't prevent himself from taking in the crowd's cheering. It seemed like a coping mechanism for him. He was aware of what he had to fight for. He didn't want to show it, not wanting Kyuki to see him phased by his threats. And who was "the General" going to be matched against?

Niko...the blind and quiet sister of the creepy stalker - in Noland's own words - who had somehow risen to the point of being able to one-shot a Silver Knight Admiral in battle. 

Maria had not told anyone about that. When she got word of the matchup by looking at it on tv, she became slightly worried for Tank on account of him possibly underestimating Niko. He had previously made a fool out of her on national television. How would he know about the power creep?

That was what Tank would have to deal with. Whether he knew it or not, he was about to be in for a fight, and he may just need more than his skills to survive against her. 

(Boss Theme)

[Tank Stryker]

After seeing Markus take an undeniable command over the battle, the crowd could only expect for Tank to do the same. New York Revolution fans were pleased; New York Revolution members were pleased. Now it was time for the Washington Legion fans and members to receive a treat in the form of Tank's spectacular battling. The main difference between the previous battles and now is that this was serious, enough for Tank to forego showing any kind of showmanship.

That seemed out-of-place for him to do, but he had a code. This was no longer a game. He expects for someone like Damian to treat it as one though. He refused to be compared to someone like that. The entertainment could wait. As long as lives were hanging in the balance, the value placed on his presence in the form of money was irrelevant.

Tank took his place on the battlefield not too long after his name was brought up. He couldn't just throw Gladion in just yet though. Both competitors needed to be there before the ref would allow any of them to do so, and Niko's laziness was already proving to be a nuisance.

"I know. Markus gave all of you a scare as to what's about to happen to all of you, even though he didn't go all out," Tank theorized as to what the Spartans could and should have been thinking at the time. "Tell you what, Spartans. I know you're about to lose. They," pointing at the Resistors, "know you're about to lose. Everyone knows you're about to lose. So why don't you just take a hint and piss off so we can go about our business?"

[Niko Adrian Nyx]

NIKO ADRIAN NYX

Darkus "Spartan"

Niko yawns and grogillly gets up from the ground she was peacefully snoozing on with Donovan. With her bakugan's help, she made it up to the battle arena safely without missing a step and falling to her death, or something like that. The moment they stepped onto the playing field, Donovan turns into his toy form and placed himself in the hands of his partner.

Tank's words only barely made it to Niko's ears. Being recently awoken, her hearing wasn't as good as it should being blind. "How do you know we've lost when we've barely just begun?" She says in a groggy voice. Despite her tired tone, her words were coming from the heart, a rare moment where Niko will actually place a decent amount of effort. There was no one else around, just her and her opponent. "The final verdict will be set once the brawl has reached its end. Until then, no one knows who shall win."

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

► kaigra ◄

[Tank Stryker]

Tank paused for a bit at the change in Niko's tone. He remembers how she sounded before: tired, unmotivated, and bored enough to lull herself to sleep. This time, she sounded more like a brawler. That made Tank smile a bit. He might actually brawl the person he should have battled before.

"It wasn't much, but that's all the show biz they're going to get." Tank brandished his lustrous BrawlX to prepare for battle. "Right now, it's brawling time."

"I don't leave my heart exposed as often as Markus does, so I'm not as merciful when it comes to battle," Tank differentiated. "So, believe me when I tell you this. If you haven't improved way more than his girlfriend has, then we'll run you over just like we did last time. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. That could work in your favor though."

The ref signaled for the battle to begin, so it was about time they got it under way.

"Because you'll get put to sleep sooner than later," he finished. He tossed Gladion up and down in his hand before reeling back and tossing him to the center stage.

"Bakugan brawl! Stand, Emperor Gladion!" A bright blue and red light engulfed Gladion's ball form when it landed and stood. When he rose, he appeared to be kneeling with his right fist on the ground. He slowly rose to his feet in his normal fighting position. His eyes lit up in blue in unison with Tank's own eyes, showing their synchronization with each other.

[Niko Adrian Nyx]

NIKO ADRIAN NYX

Darkus "Spartan"

Niko grips Donovan in her hand and gently tosses him to the ground. The soft throw had Donovan rolling out slowly, but he gradually became faster. The black shadow he left behind as he went faster made him look like a black snake with glowing purple eyes. He did a quick dart around Gladion before taking his position at the opposite part if the battlefield. The nearby shadows came together to form Donovan, who was curled up in a small ball of his purple fuzz, his head could be seen over his tail. His two eyes open, revealing his deathly amber gaze.

"Vision link." Niko mumbles, Donovan's right eye now glowed red, as well was Niko's. The pup uncurled himself and got up, his scorpion tail swaying teasingly dangerously behind him. He doesn't growl nor howl, just stands there with his head held high, awaiting for the signal to begin.

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

► kaigra ◄

[Tank Stryker]

Neither Tank or Gladion paid too much attention to the obvious attempt at an intimidating appearance. Their focus was locked at twelve o'clock, only turning a hand when the time will change.

"Hey, Tank," Gladion called out, still managing to stay in control after getting a feel for how much power their Darkus foe was now packing underneath that fur. "Are you ready?"

"Is that even a question?" Tank played off. He knew what Gladion was thinking at the time. It shouldn't matter that much though. If there was one quality about them that got them both where they are now, it's their battle intelligence. They know how to bring any opponent down, no matter how weak or strong.

That being said, he swiped one ability card on his BrawlX, choosing to start off differently than last time.

"Ability activate!" Tank roared. "Weapons Cache - Handaxes!" Two portals appeared to the left and right of Gladion. Gladion extended his arms and had his hands ready to receive the two handaxes that would be delivered to him. Once he received them, he skillfully twirled them, ensuring that his reflexes would be warm enough by the time Donovan makes a move so that he can lodge them into a vital area or two.

"There you go, your time to shine," Tank sarcastically challenged.

[Niko Adrian Nyx]

NIKO ADRIAN NYX

Darkus "Spartan"

Niko's eye narrow at the sight of the axes their opponent has in their hands. Well, it would be better to say she saw the axes that Donovan saw, since they shared the same vision as of now. "Would you like to take care of them now, or later Donovan?" The girl asks, looking at her said partner.

"Let me have one, Gladion can hand onto the other." The darkus bakugan huff, awaiting an ability or command from Niko.

"Very well then. Ability activate, Glutinous Tendrils," Niko calls, but not in a roaring voice like Tank's, but in that ominous voice that made her Niko Nyx.

With that said, Donovan launched towards Gladion's left battle axe and forcefully fanked it out with the tendrils that grew from his mane. The tendrils threw the weapon back towards where Donovan had been standing. Once that was done, Donovan falls back onto the ground and trots over to where he had thrown the weapon. When he was close enough, the tendrils that threw the very weapon back extended forward to devour it. It only took a few second for the whole thing to be eaten by the tendrils, swallowed in its dark mist. "I must say, your axe is quite tasty." Donovan says in a carefree voice for this situation. "I wonder how the rest of you will taste, especially your dreams and nightmares."

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

► kaigra ◄

[Tank Stryker]

Tank kept his poker-face throughout that entire process, but he couldn't help but grimace on the inside that his opponent's Bakugan actually made a comment like that. It was beyond disturbing; it was disgusting. There was this feeling he had that something was definitely wrong with them, and it had nothing to do with the blindness or this unhealthy obsession with the dream world.

"Oh, no. Your Bakugan has a fetish even stranger than Damian's crush on Noland and Drago. I'm so scared," Tank sarcastically played.

Gladion shrugged when one of his axes were swallowed as he could not understand why they didn't just eat the other one as well. Like it or not, they were going to get a mouthful anyway. Gladion's shrug was a masking mechanism for his eventual, but lightning-fast, follow-up. He threw his remaining axe in Donovan's direction so it could lodge itself into sleeping beauty's neck. The force of the impact sent the lapdog wailing towards the stadium walls, keeping it attached to something as it should be.

The surprise attack sure drew in a lot of cheering from the crowd who thought that Tank had succumbed to criticisms for his handling of his opponents when they realized Niko was blind.

"Let me guess. You couldn't see the other one, could you?" Gladion dissed to his disabled opponent.

"I did warn you ahead of time, didn't I?" Tank reminded Niko of what he told her before the battle began before it was brushed off as being just talk. "Gladion, make this one quick! Double ability activate! Weapons Cache - Crossbow plus Poison of the Hydra!"

"Got it!" A portal opened above Gladion and dropped off a crossbow. Gladion took hold of it and imbued the bolts with an extremely potent poison that saw no equal. Its lethality on the opponent's body was just as dangerous as the speed at which it sets in. The only thing more unfortunate for Niko and Donovan was that Gladion was now firing off multiple projectiles that carried this toxin.

[Niko Adrian Nyx]

NIKO ADRIAN NYX

Darkus "Spartan"

The duo's comments of her disability didn't seem to phase the darkus brawler. "You want to insult my blindness? I've already heard stuff like that. If you want to mock my disability, please do it properly," Niko scoffs before sighing. Her blind eyes look back up, glinting with mischief, "Why don't we fool around for just a little bit Tank?" Niko hums as she draws her card. Her gaze seems to be locked tight onto his figure, despite her being blind. "Your fans didn't come here for a quick, half baked fight. Let's at least draw it out and... Give them something to roar about, hm? Ability activate, Prince's Mayhem."

Donovam wasn't all too concerned about his position, being pinned up to the stadium wall and having arrows being shot at both him and Niko- Well he was worries about his partner, seeing how she couldn't 'see' them if they were to make their way to her. The bakugan's mane seems to ruffle to life as they spiked up, detaching him from the wall, his double colored eyes watching the arrows shoot at them, tipped with toxin. Donovan licks his chops in anticipation and excitement, toxin was his kind of game.

The tendrils that ate the axe formed into a sphere around Donovan, preventing the damage of the attack from getting to him. Once all the arrows were fired, the tendrils burst apart, shooting the pointed tips all over the place. He then launches himself for the crossbow, crunching down on the weaponry without a second thought. The tendrils which had absorbed the toxin from the arrows made brief contact with Gladion while his scorpion tail strikes him, all in one fluid movement.

The darkus bakugan falls back, avoiding all the arrow ends that were lodged into the ground.

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

► kaigra ◄

[Tank Stryker]

Seriously? In a serious time like this, someone would come out and attempt to form a spectacle for fans? That was Tank's job, and not one he wanted to bring into this battle, because it wasn't the time for that. People are literally about to die. This wasn't a game anymore where people got to have fun with it, and that's basically what Niko was alluding to. She wanted to have "fun." In Tank's mind, she should have had her fun when things were relatively peaceful.

Tank had every intention on letting her know this. Thankfully, none of the repelled bolts found their way into Gladion's body or he'd be in a bit of a bind. All he got was a bruise across his chest from the tail whack. Other than that, his condition was green.

"Fool around at a time like this, huh? Yeah. I already knew you were fucked up in the head when your Bakugan made that comment about wanting to eat us. You just confirmed in my mind that the attention you get from inclusion programs wasn't enough. No wonder your sister doesn't like you," Tank spat. "Gladion, let's open her eyes to what's really important in this battle!"

"Understood, Tank!" Gladion acknowledged. Despite his wound, he stood strong as if he had never gotten damaged at all. His focus was dead-center on their powerful foe.

Tank rapidly fired two abilities off on his BrawlX. "Double ability activate! Weapons Cache - Gladius plus Weapons Cache - Aegis!"

His signature combo, Gladion caught his Roman short sword in his right hand and the legendary shield in his left hand out of the purple portals that dropped them off. With Aegis in hand, he put up his guard to have Medusa's head give Donovan the powerful gorgon's gaze, freezing him in place. This gave Gladion the opportunity to quickly close the gap. First, Gladion ran through Donovan with his shield to propel him backwards. Gladion then jumped over his head and performed a front-flip slash, striking Donovan's head. Now appearing behind Donovan, Gladion forcefully stopped Donovan's advancement with Aegis in an attempt to break his back. He ended the assault by slicing cleanly through Donovan's mane before leaping off of the canine's head back to his own side of the field.

"Stay mobile, Gladion! That thing has one hell of an appetite!" Tank warned Gladion.

[Niko Adrian Nyx]

NIKO ADRIAN NYX

Darkus "Spartan"

The ability that froze Donovan with a look in the eyes seems to have affected his partner as well. It wasn't until Gladion advanced that she snapped back to her senses. Niko sighs and comments back on what Tank had said about her being a lunatic. "You're siding with someone who has some overly possessive relationship over Noland? She stole his undergarment the other day for the sole purpose of.. I don't really want to know, and you're siding with her? I thought you would have better logic that to side with her." Niko scoffs before continuing, "It's times like these I'm glad I'm blind, I have no clue what's in that room of hers... If you plan on calling me a lunatic or whatever, just don't side with my sister. Side with your Silver Knights, they're a better figure to be siding with." Her attention then shifts back to the battle at hand. "Also, sure brawler and bakugan have a special connection, it doesn't mean it makes us the same entity. Donovan just has problems finding food in this realm. That aside, ability activate, endurfaeoingu."

The weapons hit Donovan right in their mark, hitting what seems to be a vital point to the eyes of many. "You forgot I'm not like the others," Donovan chuckles as the shadow tendrils remove anything that protruded and would lead to hindering his body. "I will admit that shield of yours is rather painful. The spine hit and the attempt to behead me it seems were doable." He looks over to Niko, "So that rebirth isn't all too beneficial at the moment. though I'll gladly take use of it." With that said, the mangled looking Donovan opens a wormhole in space with his tail that he leaps into, a flash of black light coming from the portal as he went in and it closed up. "Hey Gladion, care to take things up in the air? I'm sure Uranus or Zeus could help with that." Donovan's voice says, echoing throughout the field. The demon appeared out of the same wormhole which this time appeared behind the said opponent. Donovan clings onto him with his for legs and pair of tendrils as a pair of shadow wings formed behind them. With a mighty flap of the wings, Donovan shoots both of them up into the air, and releases Gladion when they were a high enough level to caught some king of lethal injury if one were to fall.

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

► kaigra ◄

[Tank Stryker]

Tank nearly grimaced at the thought that Yita took her obsession with Noland to the absolute extreme. Stealing someone else's underwear? The only suitable explanation as to why that could happen was concluding that some people were just sick.

"Side with her?" Tank scoffed. "I was only making an observation. I'd give up my immunity to the Hurranians before siding with any of you ever becomes a thought."

Gladion did not seem to be considered in the slightest about Donovan dropping him to his death, if it could even kill him. His lack of interest in the attack itself said all that needed to be said about what Tank would think about it as well. He unveiled one ability and used it to show Niko the differences between his power and hers.

"Have you tried Hermes? I heard he was pretty fast," Gladion asked, sarcastically debunking Donovan's suggestion of using either of those gods' powers.

"Ability activate! Weapon of the Gods - Hermes' Sandals!" The legendary winged footwear worn by Hermes himself materialized on Gladion's feet. Their materialization halted Gladion's descent as it granted him the ability to fly. It also gave him the trademark speed the god was known for, allowing it to be used as a reliable form of evasion.

Because of this, it did not take long for Gladion to use these sandals to quickly close the gap between himself and the airborne Donovan. He made it particularly difficult for Donovan to keep up with his movement, occasionally mocking the dog - especially in a place where it shouldn't be - by going in and out of close quarters around him in a circle. Gladion suddenly swiped at Donovan's head with Aegis, which, through the racing speed via Hermes' Sandals, inflicted a force that would usually be enough to knock someone out.

"I thought you were supposed to be good enough to draw this battle out." Tank laughed about that as Donovan crashed into the arena from Gladion's blow. "Is this really all you got? Remember, you have to make sure the target is weak before you can catch it."

[Niko Adrian Nyx]

NIKO ADRIAN NYX

Darkus "Spartan"

The blow to Donovan's head wasn't all that bad... Only if his eyes weren't targeted. More specifically his right eye. As Donovan flew to the ground with the headshot, Niko stumbles back, holding her right eye in pain it seems like. With Donovan's right eye out of commission for this battle, Niko wouldn't be able to view the battling grounds. The female looks over to Tank, a smile on her face. "Good job, you've officially rendered me blind for the rest of the battle. Have fun with that." She opens her eyes, her left eye was her normal light brown, but her right eye. It was a blood red. "My contact broke, don't mind the red color."

Donovan gets up from his crash, his paw brushing over his eyes. His right eye was damaged like his partner said, and it would probably stay like that until they go back to sleep when he could heal- Wait, that was it. "You drew Niko into this battle Gladion. It's only fair I can do the same to Tank." The canine says, his scorpion tail curling and uncurling as he keeps his eyes on Gladion. "Neyddist sovn." His claws and tail glowed a sickly green as he launches himself into the air, using what was left of his shadow wings to propel himself up high enough to reach Gladion and scratch his claws against the bakugan. He drags Gladion back down with him as he fell, his tail reaching out just enough to barely scratch Tank's cheek with his tail. It was a very light cut, one that barely penetrated the epidermis, one would barely feel it at all, but it was enough for Donovan's signature sleep venom to get through. The same substance was in the claws he dug down into Gladion. He then bit down on Gladion to pin him down, long enough for the venom to take action. "Sleep."

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

► kaigra ◄

[Tank Stryker]

Tank was mortified that Gladion's blow had affected Niko somehow. Now the media was going to tear into him for this one.

On a serious note, it wasn't something that Tank would even think about. Him and Gladion share a lot of things, but pain wasn't one of them. He had never seen this happen before, or at least paid enough attention to her to know that it would happen.

When Donovan plotted to make it an eye for an eye, no pun intended, Gladion became increasingly worried that Tank may get attacked just like Markus did in the previous fight. "Tank, watch yourself!" Gladion ordered. By then, it was too late. Donovan's plan had come to fruition. Tank was scratched, and Gladion was writhing in pain from Donovan clawing and biting him.

"What the fuck...?" Tank was now seething with rage after he was intentionally attacked by his opponent's Bakugan. That was a line you do not cross. He brushed over the cut with his hand to see if blood was drawn, but he didn't notice anything substantial.

"Gladion! Enough messing around! Rip that damn tail off of him and shove it up his-" A shocking feeling fell upon Tank that made him feel very drowsy. The way Noland was brought down during his rampage and what Donovan said earlier in the battle started to come to pass now. He was about to fall asleep, and it looked like there was nothing he could do to stop it.

Tank stumbled to his left and right before nearly face-planting on his platform. He was smart and chose to get in a more stable position on one knee, not wanting to fall in any way that could incapacitate him.

He then found himself returning to his feet. He observed the battlefield and saw that Niko had been soundly defeated by him, and the crowd was celebrating his victory. There was one thing missing that Tank did not easily notice.

"William!" That voice sounded familiar, and it was not very often that someone would call him by his actual name. He turned around and saw a not-so-happy person.

"Katherine...?" Tank was perturbed that she appeared out of nowhere. She was next to the other Resistors, spectating Tank's battle with Niko. All of his Legion teammates and fraternity brothers were standing by her side as well.

"So this is where you ran off to, huh? This is a very nice setting. It's too bad we had to come all the way here to find you though. You forgot a few things back home, didn't you?"

"Forgot...?"

"This was your game from the very beginning, wasn't it? You wanted to become this huge celebrity and leave everyone else in the dust, even the people who came along with you for the ride?"

"Wh-what?"

"You haven't changed a bit. You're the same naive ruffian I met back in high school!"

This was so unlike Katherine that Tank had to think it was a dream - no, a nightmare. Steve then rolled up to the scene with his wheelchair and offered a few words as well.

"I'm sorry about this, Tank. We understand what you have to do. We're not as strong as you or any of the Resistors are. The only thing us being where you are most of the time is good for is getting in your way."

Tank descended down to them when he heard that. The look on his face was as serious as ever. He was not pleased by what he was hearing at all.

"What did you just say to me?" Tank angrily questioned him, daring him to say it again.

Some of his pledge brothers tried to step in front of Steve to prevent Tank from approaching him. That did absolutely nothing though. Tank just walked right through them, easily moving everyone out of his way. He got within arms reach of Steve, but did not make an attempt to put his hands on the guy.

"We got here together, smartass. What makes you think that I gave you up!? That goes for every single one of you, especially you!" Tank faced Katherine with a menacing eye. "This isn't about fame. This is about life! There are scumbags out there who are after me because of my DNA, and they will use you to get to me! It'll be my fault if you get caught up in this mess! You don't deserve any of this! No one does!"

"What's the point of being friends if we can't stick together through all these highs and lows?" Steve added on. "It's our lives too. Why can't we use them in any way we like to?"

"Because you'll die!" Tank finally admitted to them. "You..are all...gonna die if you come out here. I can't take that...not anymore."

"I may never walk again because I decided to fight. Imagine if it were the other way around. What if it were you rolling around in these wheels? With your fighting spirit, do you imagine yourself being okay with me saying to you that I can't spend however much time we have left forming more precious memories with my best friend?"

Tank sighed as Steve was forming this response to him. "Am I not the same fighter I was standing up than I was sitting down?" Steve continued. "That's where my heart is. I didn't care that I was on the sidelines watching you shit on your competition. You're living the dream. You're living our dream. Now you want to take it all for yourself, and I'm not happy about it."

Katherine turned away from Tank for the last time as if she was leaving him forever. "I never cared what happened to me, Will. I know we're at risk. I felt more comfortable knowing that you'd be by my side whenever they chose to come for us, but the only thing you did to cope with your insecurities from before was push us away and forget that we were by your side in the first place. Good luck having that work on another woman. I'm done."

Tank didn't want to admit this, but he fell for the illusion. That's only because it seemed so real. It didn't even feel like he was asleep, but deep down, he knew there was something terribly wrong.

[Niko Adrian Nyx]

NIKO ADRIAN NYX

Darkus "Spartan"

Donovan detaches himself from Gladion when he was that his venom was working its magic. "Who would have thought a mighty figure like him would succumb to such a dream?" The canine hums, watching Gladion struggle much like his partner was. Donovan takes a deep breath of air and a dark blue aura flashed around Tank. It was then invisible to normal eyes, no one would see that blue essence of Tank's dream was being sucked into Donovan's being. Mainly speaking, his mouth and pendant-collar he always wore around his neck. "It tastes so bitter, yet sweet at the same time. What an interesting taste," the demon says, licking his lips before glancing over to Niko. "You okay over there? I believe that's the first time anyone has ever hit our right eye."

The female rubs her right eye. It stung a bit, and she knew it wasn't from the contact that had somehow forcefully fallen out. "Yeah. Just slight stinging. Nothing bad though." She says in response, looking over at where she could hear Tank. "And I wouldn't classify that as a dream... Its like a nightmare with him groaning like that." Her voice softens, so that only she would be able to hear herself speaking. "He is quite lucky to have such people in his life though."

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

► kaigra ◄