Episode 35: Deadlocked

[Noland Hardy]

The battle between Tank and Niko proved to be fiercer than expected. What was definitely known from that battle was that the Spartans were not a joke. Someone who was thought to be their weakest actually turned out to be one of the most threatening brawlers on both planets, even by national and Silver Knight standards. For Tank to have had that performance against power like that showed that he was much more powerful than previously anticipated. 

This next pairing was going to be a bit confusing for some people since the Resistors had one more person on their roster: Alana. That anomaly didn't discourage Kyuki from throwing her in the mix anyway. He relayed the next battle to the announcer. When the announcer called it, many fans were outraged for it being unfair while at the same time thinking it was a fair fight, citing Alana and Tracy as being weak.

By hearing that, it was easy to guess what the pairing was: Yita versus Alana and Tracy, a 2-on-1 situation.

Xavier opted to make it a quartet battle with himself participating in the fight with Dryoid, but Kyuki denied him from taking part, unless he'd like for Yita to be penalized on the spot. Dasia pulled him aside and asked him what he thought he was doing. Xavier relayed to her how foolish it was to think that the same result was going to occur this time after seeing the vast might of the Resistors who already fought. If Alana went through any kind of special training, then she was going to be even more dangerous than she was before. Yita confidently told them that she had it under control.

Maria and Zero Hydranoid took special interest in this fight and observed it very closely to see if Alana and Hydranoid had been able to grasp anything from what they've been through. Zero Hydranoid didn't want to admit it, but she was desperately hoping that Hydranoid didn't lose.

There had to be a twist to this fight to make it more fair for Yita's side too. There could only be one person left standing to win the brawl, meaning that even if Alana and Tracy ganged up on Yita, one of them would have to lose and suffer the consequences. Who was it going to be? 

(Boss Theme)

[Yita Aileen Nyx]

YITA AILEEN NYX

Hao "Spartan"

"Aww, lookie here. My two favorite resistor gals. If only that other one were here, then I'd be knocking out three birds with one stone. Oh well, two will do." Neri was already in the field, watching her two opponents calmly. She had fought them before, but they were weak then. Perhaps they have gotten stronger? Though would be nice.

The moment Hydranoid was launched into battle, Yita and Neri were quick to make their first move. "I'd use Power off, but I trust that you've gotten stronger. So here's something a little more advanced for someone like you Alana. Ability Activate, Shut down!"

Neri tethers Hydranoid with the help of the ring on her tail before doing a quick and powerful blow to the dragon's head. It was almost like Niko and Donovan's method of putting their opponent to sleep, but Neri actually did stuff rather than relying on whatever magic their darkus counterpart has.

"Now for Skystar. Ability activate, Corrupted files." The feline bakugan bares her fangs and rips open space to reveal that binary code that Yita and Neri seems to love fiddling around with so much. She scoops a series of 1s and 0s with her tail and rolls it into a ball which she then hurls at Skystar. Once it made contact, the data spreads through Skystar like a wildfire, messing with her systems. Even down to the cells if given enough time.

"I'll continue to watch over my darling."

► kaigra ◄

[Alana Cortese]

Yita was very fortunate to have placed a stronger binding on Hydranoid this time around. She really had no choice. She didn't know about Hydranoid's stunning growth from his absorption of battle energy as his species is known for. Hydranoid's actual base strength was so far up the chart that he could be said to be the middle ground between Drago and Gorem in their new base forms.

To think that Neri would go so far as to do that to Hydranoid on the first movement in the battle represented the feeling of underestimation and complete ignorance. What Yita didn't know was going to bite her later on. The look of annoyance on Hydranoid's face after he was hit clearly showed what his intentions would be to make that happen.

"Is that really it?" Alana inquired about Hydranoid being "locked down." She sounded very unimpressed with the move in general. "You can't send him back into ball form, so you're content with just tying him up? What a joke."

Hydranoid attempted to move, but his muscles locked up to prevent him from completing the motion. He then wanted to try his sawblades, which never finished revving up. Finally, he wanted to breath some fire out of his mouths, but smoke came out, just like always. This gave everyone the impression that Hydranoid was shut down, just like the namesake implies; however, when Skystar looked at Hydranoid to check on his condition, his right head winked at her.

"Rip her to shreds!" Hydranoid encouraged.

[Tracy White]

What was happening to Skystar was nothing of Tracy's concern. It would be dealt with swiftly, not even requiring Skystar to move a muscle. Tracy still had something to say though.

"Seiki has nothing to do with this. That just shows how much of a bully you are, placing targets on innocent people's backs," Tracy shamed concerning the implication of Yita being able to wipe Seiki out as well in this conflict. Speaking of which, "I suggest something heavier than a stone to knock us down. Your words are too light to make us move. You should try something else."

Speaking like a serious competitor, Tracy drew her card and swiped it. "Ability activate! Relinquish!" As a spell that could only be activated when an ailment is upon Skystar, this ability grants her scepter the power to lift the terrible effects and their condition from the user and send it back over to the one who inflicted it with even worse stipulations.

The data exited her body like a bright star and flowed into Neri, placing her under the same penalty and making her suffer way more than Skystar ever would.

"You should have taken another piece of string with you before you got here, but I guess you bit off more than you could chew," Skystar insulted in mockery of her technique.

[Yita Aileen Nyx]

YITA AILEEN NYX

Hao "Spartan"

"She also plays a part in this, as much as you two do. Don't think I don't know my rivals when it comes down to him." With a huff, Yita pulls out her next ability. "Keep going Neri. Curse of creation."

The feline lets out a pained roar, her white fur shedding itself. For a good 5 seconds, her endoskeleton was exposed. The one that Yita formed her with. After those few seconds, Neri's white fur grows back, new as ever. "I have 'string' for you too Skystar. I'm just not using it on you because I want to toy with both of you, one by one." Neri circles Skystar, eyes never leaving her form. "Seems more fun that way, when your companion is show down slowly, and all you can do it simply watch!" Neri launches herself at Skystar's legs, the feathers on the feline's back barely grazing the haos bakugan. "Act fast, those legs will soon fade."

"I'll continue to watch over my darling."

► kaigra ◄

[Tracy White]

A hint of laughter broke out from Tracy when the only reason Seiki was included in this was because of Noland. "You are such a child," Tracy said. While still laughing, she provided a great response to Neri's offensive. "Ability activate! Crystal Sundown!"

"You're going for my legs? That's very telling," Skystar accepted as a compliment. Skystar's body was enveloped in a special solid light that behaved like a hard substance, and the good news was that it didn't limit Skystar's mobility. While it's in use, the only damage that matters is Neri's attack at half strength, and all of that damage is absorbed by the hardlight until it's broken.

It didn't seem like a very powerful defensive ability. It was more of a diversion tactic Skystar has to avoid damage for a short time. It was no Bound Barrier, that's for sure.

"I think you've realized that I can stand on them now," Skystar mentioned after Neri went past her legs, her attack leaving a scratch on the hardlight skin. She shifted her scepter into a mace when Neri got within arms reach in front of her, quickly reeling back and giving her a nice one-handed bat swing. "And it must scare you!" she exclaimed as the mace struck Neri in the face.

The blow lifted Neri off of the ground in a surprising show of strength as Skystar was never really keen on displaying her feats in close quarters. The feline found comfort on the ground next to Yita. The imprint of Skystar's mace was shining brightly on the right side of her face.

"Try not to toy with me, Yita," Tracy challenged. She raised her right hand and curled her index finger towards her palm in a hooking motion. This was a gesture that was easily used for provocation towards Yita. "You're supposed to act a little bit older before you can handle me."

[Yita Aileen Nyx]

YITA AILEEN NYX

Hao "Spartan"

Yita tilts her head to the side slightly, "So women can't be childish? Man, you human sure know how to stereotype and such, most of you have dull lives." She grins, much like a child. Perhaps that was to tick Tracy off, or it was just her being goofy. "I know things change in your society, but some stereotypes just don't die off. It's quite amusing to observe."

Neri gets up at a slow and steady manner. She opens her jaws and they unhinged themselves much like a snake's jaw would went consuming their prey. In a few moments, the mark that Skystar left on Neri was no longer there. When the jaw popped back in with a mechanical 'click', Neri's face looked as if nothing had ever happened to her to begin with.

"Cut and affix," Yita calls up as Neri charges towards Skystar, her tail in the form of a blade that resembled half of a pair of scissors. Neri leaps over her opponent, the blade grazing over the bakugan. It did absolutely no damage though. The small slice Neri did with her blade tail glowed a white color as it began to engulf the haos bakugan. In a batter of seconds, Neri had the same exact barrier ability Skystar did, and she knew its limits.

"I'll continue to watch over my darling."

► kaigra ◄

[Tracy White]

Neri's regenerative properties were annoying. Her theft of Skystar's defensive ability was even more annoying. Yita's personality was just aggravating. The idea of behaving in this manner was considered entertaining for this Spartan. That's an easy way of recognizing someone being more trouble than they are worth. It was here that Tracy could not understand how anyone would not compare Yita's dangerous mind to Damian's at this juncture.

Speaking of which, Damian's style may be something Tracy can exploit on the battlefield. When it comes to how she can change her arsenal on the fly, Tracy was the best on the field.

"I'm tempted not to consider you a woman based on how you act. You're making the rest of us look stupid. None of us have to desperately cling to someone we like because they wouldn't like us in any other way, and we don't have to target others because of our own insecurity that we're going to be rejected," Tracy countered.

"Skystar, attribute change!" she ordered. Skystar's belt cycled to the Subterra symbol, granting her access to that attribute's powers. The symbol on her scepter changed to match that as well. ​

"Ability activate! Iron Chain!" Skystar tapped the ground with the bottom of her staff. A brown wave spread throughout the area. The ground shook briefly before numerous brown chains jumped out of the ground like Wormquake and attempted to strangle Neri with its unmatched hold over the enemy. Being restrained by this technique deprives the target of their abilities and renders their attempts to escape ineffective, except in extreme circumstances.

[Yita Aileen Nyx]

YITA AILEEN NYX

Hao "Spartan"

The chains snagged Neri into their chaos, rendering her useless, unable to hurl anything at Skystar. "I don't need your approval, telling me what I am or not. Nice to know that you don't think of me as a woman, feel's mutual." She says was a beaming smile. "Besides, I'm not clinging to him. Just watching. I also have no fears of being rejected. I just don't want anyone getting in my way. Don't you find it annoying when you work on some task you have and then someone annoying comes into the room and bugs you over a nightmare? It's like that." She huffs, the example she had provided bringing back memories when her younger brother was still alive and her older sister made more sense. "Oh, Reconfigure."

The cat stops struggling to release a loud roar that overran Skystar's ability of them not being able to use abilities. It was something that Yita internally thanked herself to doing to a handful of abilities if her own chaining methods were to be used against her. The earth chains disintegrate into dust and were swept off the field by the blowing wind.

"I'll continue to watch over my darling."

► kaigra ◄

[Tracy White]

"You should ask Alana that same question. You'll get a loud yes. I promise," Tracy fired back. She found Yita to be a hypocrite for even saying that. She was the main person interrupting Alana's reintegration into society over what happened in the Doom Dimension. She didn't have the right to complain about someone getting in her way.

"Ability activate! Attribute Extraction!" It was rather unorthodox to perform a move like this, but it was necessary due to Yita's annoying battling style. This was similar to Skystar's Amplify Power in that she could amplify her powers with that of an attribute energy; however, this ability did not amplify her powers in the exact same way.

What it did was take all of the Subterra energy she had and mix it with her base form so that she would have its powers regardless of what attribute she was using. This also replenished a fair amount of health for her, something that couldn't be complained about after Neri's data breaching of her body. This did lock her out of switching to Subterra again though. The symbol's color turned gray on her belt as a result of this move.

"Patience...we will disrupt her pattern soon enough," Skystar reminded herself. Letting Neri set up was probably a bad idea, but if Skystar sees her attacks aren't working, it's time to change up the pace.

[Yita Aileen Nyx]

YITA AILEEN NYX

Hao "Spartan"

The feline blinks, unsure on what to make of the ability Tracy and Skystar had just did. "So... She's a dual type now?" Neri asks out loud, mainly her partner. It looks like she had absorbed the subterra element, but yet the symbol on her belt had lost it's color. Such details bugged Neri, but she had to follow her creator who probably shrugged off this detail. With their luck, this would probably come back to bite them later on.

"Might as well. Data blockade," Yita calls out. Neri does a back flip, the tail-ring glowing as it releases a stream of data which circled her, forming a protective sphere. It was a rather simple ability of defense, but it did give Neri to charge up for any attacks that Yita may want her to perform in the near future.

"I'll continue to watch over my darling."

► kaigra ◄

[Tracy White]

Seeing Yita playing defense this time around was a bit of a shocker. Tracy thought Yita would try and manipulate some type of power like she always seems to do. Tracy definitely wasn't complaining. Having the benefits from Subterra in her base form allowed her to do this next maneuver way too easily.

"Skystar, attribute change!" Tracy ordered again. This time, Skystar's belt shifted to the Ventus attribute. In case anyone was keeping count, that just formed a diagonal relation: Haos and Ventus. That relationship culminated into a power surge, one that Neri couldn't afford to take.

"Ability activate! Arc Thunder!" Skystar ejects her shoulder discs to have them hover out in front of her. She liked to think of her current position as the middle line between both sides of the arena. She placed one disc on the right side so it sat in the middle between the end of the arena and Skystar's position. The same process was applied to the left side as well.

Two streams of lighting emerged from Skystar's scepter and entered the two airborne discs. This bestowed the ability's power onto them so that they could launch the attack on their own. The first thing that they did was strike Skystar. Because of her Ventus attribute, she disappeared from the battlefield and resided within the electrical currents on her discs. This process gave them a surplus of energy that they discharged in all directions as long as she was within the objects. Out of nowhere, a lightning bolt was released from them and flashed above Neri's barrier. That's when Skystar emerged and crashed right on top of Neri's shield with an energized blade. She then struck herself again so she could continue this process, aiming to decapitate Neri with the next blow.

[Yita Aileen Nyx]

YITA AILEEN NYX

Hao "Spartan"

"Time for our our trick, Neri!~" Yita hums as she watches Skystar pound at the barrier. "Double ability activate! Absorption gate," Neri absorbing the data that she received from Skystar when she mashed herself against the force field. The feathers on the feline's shoulder-blades grew more prominent, and formed wings almost. The strange thing is that they seemed pale. That was until Yita activated her second ability.

"Blood bond!" The wings shifted to a pitch black, much like a black one would see in their nightmares. The headdress Neri wore became more earthy, like a nice shield to protect her neck, slowly extending to accommodate for her back. It was growing in a way so that it would still allow her movement. Darkness and subterra, the two elements that laid side by side the haos point. Alongside that, Neri had obtained a bit of the ventus attribute from Skystar.

The feline leaps out of the barrier, shattering it as she did so. The wings she now bore had its feathers glide across Skystar's form, causing a bad, infected cut. "I told that looser she would be better with me." Yita grumbles under her breath, watching her handywork..

"I'll continue to watch over my darling."

► kaigra ◄

[Tracy White]

It was a good attempt by Tracy to make that move, but it looked like Yita still had a few tricks to show off. Tracy wouldn't dare to think that she had seen it all though. This was a dangerous foe to anyone. A Bakugan with this many deceptive tactics with a child commanding it was worse than most of what the Spartans had to offer, maybe even worse than Niko.

Of course, it was handy that Skystar carried the Subterra energy in her base form. Without it, she would have felt much more from Neri's cut. Considering that Skystar was about to do the same thing to Neri's battle plan, it would all even out. "You should come up with better tricks, preferably ones that actually gets me more interested," Skystar insulted. She remained out of the confines of her discs to counter Neri immediately.

"Ability activate! Illumina: Strength!" A small energy ball materialized on the hilt of Skystar's scepter. It dispersed to gleam Skystar in a soothing light. This allowed her to push through the harsh environment of the battlefield, progressively healing the wound Neri dealt to her. The shoulder discs tracked Neri and tethered her with lightning charged within them from Skystar's previous attack. Skystar's scepter then switched to a blade made of holy light, one that she used to pierce Neri's midsection when she turned around to lunge at the paralyzed feline.

"Your tricks aren't so effective against a healer, are they?" Tracy inquired. She noticed that her fighting style was a counter to Yita's. The potency of Neri's attacks didn't seem to be that much of a problem due to Skystar's role as a cleric. It almost seemed like a cheat that refused to allow Yita's true power to be shown against Tracy.

[Yita Aileen Nyx]

YITA AILEEN NYX

Hao "Spartan"

Neri's subterra headdress armor grew just in time to block Skystar's attack to her midsection. "Your attacks don't seem to affected on one who has the full support from their siblings." Yita hums, thankful that the armor kicked in fast enough to avoid a damaging strike. That would take some adjusting, such as using abilities that would get Neri back to full health, and of course, that was no fun.

"Ability activate, Griffin wing." The dark wings that Neri now bore had found their way out if the restrains by some mysterious means and began to flap wildly. This caused some form of chaotic distraction, one that gave Neri enough time to find the way around the ability coding and break free so that she was no longer paralyzed. Neri then took the pleasure of sabotaging Skystar's disks after agreeing with Yita that they were quite a nuisance. It was a quick and simple motion that had Neri hitting the vital points of the mechanism with the claws-like-talons she had.

"I'll continue to watch over my darling."

► kaigra ◄